NEYO - Cinnamon Toast Crunch

cobra Coka bana. Let's know what you know. I'm very mentally you asked me to no, I want, I want the real Okay, alright, the real and I'm so sick of love song so side up tease, so done, we wish And you still said I'm so sick love, so so sad and slow? So why can't I tune off through radio? Yeah? I smile and so oh my gosh, this was like probably the best moment of my life right now. That was amazing. I am with Neo, y'all. I am in your space. Yes, yes, this is Compound

Studios here in Atlantuck. Yes, yeah, man, this is where the magic happens. This is where the magic happens, and this is where we get to watch and listen to what Neo used to eat when he was bro on the come up, on the come up, what are you gonna have us eating? First of all, well, so we did not come up with a lot of money. Um,

dad checked out relatively early. So it was my my mom and my sister, uh moved to Las Vegas and we're living in the house, my mother, my sister, my grandmother, five aunts, and meat right until I was like sixteen, a lot of estrogen in the crib um. So me and my sister we were alone a lot because my mom had like five six jobs at all times, easily.

So uh it was a lot of you know, syrup sandwiches and catch up sandwiches and basically any condiment that we could find in the refrigerator, put it between two pieces of bread and that was the sandwich. We see. There a lot of that is that because you guys couldn't cook, or well I couldn't cook, and then there was nothing to cook, you know, which makes it harder to uh. So, so it was a lot of that. Uh,

it was a lot of noodles and cereal. Cereal was kind of the saving grace, you know, didn't always have milk, but we have some cereals. Throw that thing in the cup and take it outside with you, like, we used to do a lot of that. Yeah, and we didn't have the name brand cereals, and name brand cereals were luxury, like like the cinnamon toast crunch, for example, is my all time favorite cereal, and we didn't we didn't have

cinnamon toast crunch. We had the cereal came into bags that was kind of like not fruit loops, is fruit rings, Centamon toast crunches is toast squares or something something, but you knew what it was, yeah, exactly. So, yeah, we did a lot of that. We did a lot of that. But every now and then moms were splurs and we can get the real. Every blue moon we get the real. So today we're eating the real day, we are eating our luxury struggle meal, actual cinnamon toast crunch, not the

imitation that comes in the bag. That's honestly not even bad. It's hobnoutly just as good. It just don't say cinnam toast crum. Really you think it's just as good. Sometimes I used to feel like it used to leave like a little residue in my mouth on the like the fruit, the fake fruit fruit, the fruit rings. The fruit rings had a little funny Yeah, you had to be careful with those. The not Captain Crunch, but sergeant or whatever. It had a little bit of joints, his cutting roofi mouth.

This is what it is. Regardless of get the name brand or the other one. They both chopping you up. Yeah. So when you were eating cereal, were you and we well, I guess we'll pour a glass a bowl. So when you were eating seah when I was growing up, we would pile up the bowls high, and then of course your parents would come in and be like, don't eat the ball to cereal? Where you like that or where you you know, just five or ten pieces in the trying to make a last it's activating math. Nope, I

was definitely trying to make last. That was me. So I was I was the one kid my sister's hues. Yeah, that's right. But then I was very I was very much I understood, especially if we had the real, the real deal that week, It's like, all right, now, let me chill out because I need this to last a little while. Yeah, I mean my point for you. Oh yeah, go for it. I was gonna try and disrespect disrespect reasonable amount. Okay, this is a struggle meal, meaning we

are not splurging. Okay, we can't splurt. I'm glad you're pouring it because because Okay, so now this is a real deal. Now how much milk are we talking? Are we going in the cup with the backyard or um? Well, today today we have milk. The cup in the backyard is but it ain't no milk. But what kind of milk were you? You You was drinking the We was drinking cow milk back then, at least we thought it was

cow mill I don't know we were drinking Yeah. Yeah, this the whole almond milk thing didn't happen UNI until much later in life when I realized that I'm not a baby cow actually a baby cow. That's not even necessary to get it in. Look, how much milky? Poor, that's not a lot? What are you talking? Oh my gosh, I wish cameras becazoom in on. You eat cereal like

white people. You have milk just in the bottom of the that's yes, you know what's so funny you say that, But I get made fun of in my house for not being black enough. So like, literally today, this is why you're so white. You eat cereal. Look you're eating it like it's soup. What are you talking about? What this? This is what it's supposed to be. That was way

too much. I'm so glad. Wow, we should have a pole on whether it's black or white if you have too much milk, because that's black people use a lot of milk all of my Okay, well, so when I was coming up, all of my white friends got to stay at the house, and you know, see what money look like and stuff, but they would always eat be a full bowl of cereal and be a glass bowl. You don't both Like in the commercial, that's what I

last bowl. You can see all the cereal and it's milk just in the bottom of the boat, and I'm like, how the hell do you eat it like that? That's so by the time you get to the stuff at the bottom, it's all salt, gross, Like yeah, but you know how at the end of the bowl you get to like drink the milk. Look how much milk you gotta drink? What are you talking about? This is this is full. I'm full all day from this because again we're talking about struggle meals, right, so this might have

been breakfast, sand lunch. This might have been brunched right here. You were really struggling trying to tell you can we try and we know what this is. This is O G classic. I still eat this cereal every every crack, crack on the drugs, but cracks. When you pulled up today, you were driving a white I don't know if that was a Bentley. You know you're with these luxury style cars. I just knew it looked like a couple hundred grand on wheels, maybe more than get a specific just embarrassing.

So what do you think eating cereal trying to make it last for a couple of meals to driving that car? Do you ever think back, like I can't believe all the time all the time. Yeah, man, I Um, I can vividly remember the things that we I mean, we didn't. After a while, me and my sister, we were kind of stopped being hung up on the things that we wanted because we knew we didn't. Just the money is

just not there, right, So I recall vividly. Um just focusing on the things that we needed in those things, even not even being there sometimes because again so many people in this house. Everybody's doing what they can and make ends meet or whatever. But yeah, man, we just did not come from luxury at all. So to be where I am now, it's like it's it's almost surreal,

you know what I mean. And now as now as a parent myself, I'm trying to I'm battling with my kids are not growing up the way I grew up. You know, I grew up appreciating money. Because when you have nine, my kids are coming up the rich already. They came out to womb rich. So I gotta make sure that I don't raise little heathens, you know, little helliens that's run around spoiled as hell, expecting the world to just, you know, catch how to them. How are you able to kind of see through all of the

riff raff and eventually become neo? Like was there something going on that inspired you at that point? Um? Well, at this point, so from age seven, seven nine, somewhere in there, at this point, I'm I'm completely engulfed in music now, not not from a professional standpoint, I'm not doing it trying to get a deal or anything like that. It's it's my therapy at this point, like my mom

gave me the read notebook. Um, at a point where I started becoming a knucklehead a little bit, just primarily because I'm becoming a young man and I got nobody to bounce these emotions and families off, right, So I started doing silly ship, just just kind of lashing out

for no reason. Not for a reason, of course, but so my mom gave me this red notebook and she said write it down, and that was the beginnings of my My songwriting journey started with with journal entries initially, and I used to call it rant writing because whenever I was getting into that place where I was like, just grab my little my pin in my pad and write, and first it would be words and then scribbles and whatever.

But what I realized that once I was done doing that, whatever I was feeling, I didn't feel it no more, because it wasn't in me anymore. It's on the page now. So the music is is there, but it's not so much something that I'm doing to try to make money or be famous or anything like that. That didn't happen until like maybe eleventh grade of high school. Yeah, so this whole time you're writing, so every day all day and now we're these Was it like in a poetry

format yet or no? Or was it just like almost like journaling? First it was journaling, then it became poetry once I learned how much I like girls but was not brave enough to talk to them. Wow, okay, all what Nope? Nope, nope, nope. Was not that dude. Um funny side story, So growing up in Las Vegas, there's not a lot for kids to do, At least initially there wasn't. All we really had with Circus Circus. Circus Cercus one of the first casinos that you hit on

the strip. It's still there. It's like circus acts and all of that type of ship. So every weekend, me and my friends we would go to Circus Circus, walking round upstairs. And mind you, they were the ones that

was brave enough to talk to girls. But I was like, they're they're like acing the whole because like they were going to try to talk to the girls, and if the girls wasn't interested, they'd be like, you know what, my boy can sing A boy that you want to see you a song quick, I'm like, and then I sing and then the night will go well, but that was smart. Yeah. My first manager was my best friend Kevin was up there. Yeah wow, so they was using Now No part of you was like, well I could

do this, maybe just hum up to a girl, you know. No, not not on my own. I just I didn't have that confidence because, mind you, I'm broke. I looked broke, right, It's very obvious that I'm broke. So I was that broke dude who could sing a little bit, but definitely that broke through Did you get made fun up in school? Yeah? All that stuff that I was so so aside from me being broke, um uh. God chose to to make my hair situation a running joke in my life. Right.

My hair started finding here when I was maybe ten, right, and it just kind of continued on through high school to the point where I was allowed to wear my hat because I used to get in fights all the time and hid people talking about wow, didn't you wasn't shaving it then? Or no no, no, no, no, no no, because that that felt I'm ten years old, like, I don't want to be bald. I didn't want that in mind you, I wasn't a I wasn't like really a sports kid, so I wasn't like looking up to Jordan

and all of that. Like the high school I went to didn't even have a team. It was a performing arts high school. So I've been I've been an artie farci kid like my whole life. Okay, okay, now you're you're saying that you were shy with women. You start to your discovering writing, So is it like you would see a girl then, because I have to know where like the love songs come from, like the most amazing love songs, So it's like you see her and you're

like pretty much yep. I had poems about girls, hair, poems about girls, eyes, poems about uh, it's just the things that I liked about these girls. But I would never be brave enough to give the poem to the girl or recite the poem to the girl. So it was just sit in the book. So one day and mind you, my mother, everybody in my family does something musical, bid writing, singing, rapping and producing instrument whatever something, so

music has like kind of always been there. So before I started writing songs again, it was it was journal entries, then poetry, and then one day I realized that if I took these poems and put these melodies to him, that's that's flowing through my head all day anyway, that's a song, oh ship. And then from there just it was songs. It was every time I sat down to write,

I was writing a song. I write a song, singing back to myself, a cool put the notebook back into my bed, and going by, Now, did you share these songs with your family? Oh? So you was keeping your stuff a secret. It was for me. It was for me because mind you, it was. It was again, it was my therapy. It was whenever I, you know, came home from school and and you know, people have been talking ship or whatever the case may be, or or you know, me and my sister got in an argument

about something. Me and my sister really really close. So whenever we would fight a big deal, because like that's like like we're not twins for two years apart, but we might as well be twins. That's that's my twin, right. So it was it was. It was therapy. It wasn't it wasn't about being fly, It wasn't about making money. I didn't even realize I could make money doing it, yet at this point I'm just doing it because it feels good. So what happens in the eleventh grade where

you're like, uh, pop concert? So I told you, I went to performing out of high school every year and thought this big talent show that they were called pop Concert and it was a major, major, major, major deal to everybody in the school except for me and the people that I was with. I was an art major, right, so we would they would they would have us like

make banners and flyers and stuff. But that's the only thing that we would be that we would be obligated to do for the pop concert because we were artists. They don't the singers and the dancers and the tech guys like that it is for them. So every year the art majors just kind of like the grassy no kids, you know what I'm saying. So we're kind of sitting back laughing at how serious everybody is taking this pop concert.

I think people in the cafteria crying can't get the stuff, like, relax, you're not getting signed by this, Okay, that's not happening. To calm down. So um, me and my me and my art friends. We decided this year that we was gonna just do something to kind of ease the tension for everybody, or at least that's what we thought, right, So we pulled straws. I pulled the short straw. The plan was, find a way to get on the concert. Right when you get on stage, stand up moon the

crowd running Ohan. So I pulled the short straw. That was how you were going to ease the tension? Yeah, I mean because it was. It was It was just us making fun of how how serious everybody was taking It was like, y'all think, y'all let the Grammys right now. We're in high school. Seriously relaxed. But but anyway, So so I went to the choir room and I sang Boysmen into the Road, and the choir teacher was like, why are you not in my class? Because I'm not

a singer? Sure I guess you are? Now? Am I am? I end? She said, yeah, all right back, because I again, I didn't have the confidence in myself to like take it seriously. But even though your friends kept making you sing in front of girls, yeah, but you didn't say I'm a singer. Wow, It didn't dawn on me. At that point. So night at the concert, I get up there. You know, everybody's like, you know what you gotta do? You got to playing? All right? Great? Cool, So get

on the stage. The song starts, boys, well, no, no, no no, that's that's I make love to you into the road do yeah. Um. So funny thing happened because I knew what I was supposed to do. I knew what the plan was. As soon as the song starts, act like I'm gonna sing, I stopped turn around moon run right the plan. As soon as the song started, I kid you not. I kid you not. As soon as the song started, I looked up and the room was empty.

The crowd was not there anymore, and I'm uh, and I just started singing, and I just sang the song. I sang the whole song that once I realized the crowd wasn't there anymore, I just closed my eyes and sang the whole damn song. And then by the time was up, mind you, the song ended to no applause because everybody was like, that's a little thing to be drawing the pictures. It was one of those ones, right.

So the following day, and this is this is when I started really thinking, all right, maybe I could, maybe I could do this as a professional. Following day, all of a sudden, I'm getting all kind of attention that I never got before. Girls shape for shaper' is my real name then, and that doesn't want shaper So so roughly after that, a friend of mine that went to another school. Because mind you, at this point, people are talking. It's Vegas is a little people are talking like sing.

So he comes to me it's like, um, me and my friends were putting together a singing group. I won't know if you want to be a part of group. Like, okay, in mind you. Even at this point, I'm not like, yeah, I'm gonna become a part of this group and we're gonna get a record deal and we're gonna make a million sell a million records. It wasn't that yet. It was just this is another opportunity for me to write

and sing because this is what I love to do. Wow, now, your sister, everyone around you is not saying, oh, baby, bro, like, well you're you're younger, right, I'm older, big bro. I'll tell you why. Because so in my family, my sister, my sister sings as well. But my sister was born ready, like she didn't have to. I had to. I had to train and and and practice and become a good singer. She was born with it, right. I heard her ship is effortless, like she'll come in here and blow the

roof off this place. I think she don't have She don't have the drive that I have, which is why I'm here and she's not. But the skill. And I didn't know you could practice to get as good as you, yeah, because I thought it was amongst the way you. You just did a little, and I was like, remind you, I've been doing this since I was ninety two. Anything you do for that long, I should hope you get

a little good at it. So you're saying like, if I practice really hard, if you are not horrible singing in the shower, if you are not toned there, I'm definitely you are. If I sang a tone to you couldn't repeat that tone, I guarantee you I will think I repeated it and you will be like, let's just the literal definition of tone death, right, got it? Got it? I've been like, oh I hit that, I killed him Marai and then not. Ye, that's what tone death is. When if I go h and you go uh and

you think they were doing the same note, that's Tom Death. Okay, I loke. You want to practice this off quickly? Okay, no no, no, no no, no, no, no nice nice in middle of the road. Okay, ready, here we go. Uh do it again? Uh you're laughing? Okay one time when I promise you, okay, just repeat what I do. Uh damn. I'm tone death can never be a singer, well not necessarily, so there there's there have been cases where tone deaf people learned how to sing, but it is exceptionally harder

because you're you literally can't hear the tones. Oh so, I'm like, you're good at so many other things accepted, You'll never I can't cook. Is that why weingrunch right now? Because I can't cook yet? But put me in the kitchen and you don't want your house clearly because it's going up. So I'm sorry, I got us all off off track. So you joined this boy group. Trying to

get you back on. So you joined the boy group. Okay, my name was in the because you're from Nevada in the boats lage in the y. I don't thought that she was so cool and he about don't back. So you joined the guy group. And then you're like, at what point does it start to you start to realize that you're um so all right. So I meet the rest of the guys in the group, and two of them I knew already, just just from again in Vegas

is small. Uh. So we were sitting putting harmonies together and and I'm kind of taking charge, not on purpose, but just because I know, like, all right, so you have the lowest voice, so clearly you would be the you be the base. You have the highest voice that you'd be, you know, and just putting everybody in their places, and we sound good, Like, we sound pretty damn good. So now I was like, all right, so now we just need original songs. And I'm like, oh we ship,

hold on here, let's try this. And they're like, holy ship, you did that fast, and like what does it take a long time? I just did what I normally do, and and they were impressed. And so I meet the manager, the guy that's managing the group, and he's, you know,

he got stars in his eyes. He's like, okay, all right, so yeah, here we're gonna do now this and this and this and that that that and put and as just at this point, I'm really sitting and like trying to like seeing things kind of come together, like this could really this could actually probably really be something like Okay, so now I'm taking it serious now Now now I'm writing specifically, I'm writing songs for my group, like this is who this is who I am at this point,

I'm a member of this group. I'm writing songs for this group. Were rehearsing every day, putting harmonies together, doing talent shows around the city, like you know, good things, good things. Um, we actually did the showtime at the Apollo And how old were you senior in high school? This was right after high school. No no no, no, no, no, i'mline, i'mline.

We were actually still who I've seen in high school, right because I remember having to go back to school and I was like, how did it go a little okay? Because it didn't go okay? Yeah, well okay, I put it to you this way. We didn't get booed off the stage. Sam Man didn't come out, but there were an exceptional amount of booze happening as we were doing what we were doing. That's crazy, yeah, man, we at this point we have been doing talent shows and stuff

around the city. So like we we understood to a degree what the stage was, we didn't know what the Apollo stage was. Like. We got up there and nerves just took over it. We sounded terrible. It was bad. It was bad. You could actually find it on YouTube and stage. Okay, yeah, yes, Neo and a Well, my name wasn't Neo at that time. It was it was Go Go Go Go. Okay. Yes, childhood nickname based off of Go Go the Dodo Birds h w B character. My mom gave me the name because I was it

was silly. Yeah, I was a really silly kid. So when you have that experience at Apollo, do you start to say, well, maybe I'm crazy for pursuing this. Do you start to doubt yourself? Um? I mean it was definitely uh you know what, I think, above anything else, our egos was really harmed with that because we just we walked mind you, We walked in there with all the confidence and chest out like we just knew we

was that next thing. We walked in like that, and it was a very large and disgusting slice of humble pie. But but I feel like it kind of needed to happen. We needed to be brought down a couple of peggs, because you know, we were getting to that place where we were big headed. Every talent show we did except for like one, we we won everything talent show. So we're like a polo. We got this and we went in there and yeah, it was not it was not a good day. Not a good day. So then, now

how do you get from that? I'm going to try to fast track you now to writing your first hit song. Okay, well, um, the group eventually disband not after the Apollo. We kept trying. After the Apollo. We actually moved to California, me and all the guys. Um, we didn't have jobs. So we we we graduated high school and then we sat in the Denny's and wrote out our plan on a napkin. Right moved to California. Right drive to California from Las

Vegas and Corey's van. Corey was one of the guys in the group and the only one of us with a car. Right drive getting Corey's van. Drive to California. Find the Capitol Records Building. Park in front of the Capitol Records Building, stand up on top of the van, sing our songs until the president of Capital of Records runs out and demands that we signed to his record label. Wrote it on the Napkina plan, let's do it. Let's go, all right, So everybody packs, We're getting the van we

had off. We get to Vegas, find a Capital Records Building California, sorry, California, California. Find a Capital Records Building, parking front of Capital Records Building, get on top of the van, singing our songs. People are kind of you know, stopping and watching and whatnot, but keeping they keep pushing. Um security kick this up to property, which we didn't anticipate. Okay, Um, all right, so it's not gonna happen today, got it,

got it. We'll come back. Yeah, we'll just come back tomorrow. Yeah, we'll come back tomorrow. Okay cool? Oh ship, Um, where are we going to sleep tonight? Yeah? See what we what we didn't factor into that. That thing that we wrote down on the on the napkin was shelter food. You guys were like, we're gonna get signed, and that's it, right, We just we just knew that the second we got there, and from the first song we was getting a record deal. This is we just knew this and that did not happen.

So Cory's van became home for about six months for all of you guys, all of us. Yes, shoot, so how did you survive money wise? Did you guys um our jobs here and there? Um? How long did was it? Six months? Six months? Six months? Shoot? Yeah? Man? Now were you comfortable with girls enough to like try to like sleep at a girl's crip every once in a while, every now and then at this point, Yeah, I've learned

to use my powers at this point, Yeah, it was. Yeah, talking to women became a little easier, even as even as broked living in the van. Now I believe in you really well, let me sleep on your cap. You got twenty dollars for the dude you believe in. Yeah, a lot of dudes still do that. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm not proud of it. But the name of the game of survival, damn that do that to do? Yeah? So, um,

the group eventually disbands. You know, everybody's tired of living in the band really, But within this six months, we're moving around the city, were bothering celebrities as they run coming out of restaurants. Hey, excuse, hey, we're seeing you might have we seen free all right? Cool? Well, thank you for like his music anyway, but hurt feelings hurt. Yeah. But but you guys was on it. And this was for social media because if you had social media, y'all

would have been before all that. Now you literally had to harass people find him in run up on? Did he as he working out the restaurant? Did? He actually stopped for us and me saying he was like, that's dope, that's dope, keep doing it, and got in his car and bounced like, so is he gonna call it? He said it was good? Did you get it? I didn't get his numbers? Did you didn't get his number? Dawn? All right, guys back to the van? It get it? Yeah?

But now we wound up meeting uh, this cat who had a boy band signed to Hollywood Records, which was Disney's record label at the time, and he basically said that he was like, if you guys write some songs for this group, I can then talk to Hollywood Records about maybe potentially signing y'all. Alright, cool, so wrote some songs for the group. Mind you, At this time, we don't know anything about publishing and rights and all that because they can write right. No, no, no, no, we

all write. Everybody everybody writes. I was a little faster than everybody else, but we could all we could all right, So wrote these songs for this group named the group was Youngstown. Shout out to Youngstown. They were actually really cool guys, but um yeah, I didn't want up getting the money that we were supposed to get for that. Uh. We learned at that point that the record the music industry is full of people that will absolutely take advantage

of whatever you don't know. Like they're not gonna they're not gonna sit you down and tell you. They're gonna take advantage of the fact that you don't know, right. So, uh, that was a learning experience, but it was also our only kind of end to the music industry. So when the band, when the group this, this band, I kind of stayed in contact with that dude, and um so, so I'm at this point, I'm living with one of their staff producers. Shout out to my man, Paully Paul,

Uh living with him and his family. Minded they're they're they're filthy rich. So they had a big house and I'm in the I'm in the basement somewhere and we just wake up and we do music every day just just because, like not even so much knowing what we're gonna do with it. We're just doing it just because just to do it right. So, um that the guy that managed that group at the time, he's then taking these songs and shopping him, you know, trying to trying

to trying to settle. Are you still under contract at this point when I'm just I'm literally just me and PAULI are good friends and he's letting me live here and we wake up every day and we do music.

This is art. This is what we do. So uh, They're moving around New York and what nott trying to shop these records and people are asking questions about the voice on the records because I'm singing, I'm writing in singing these records to be shopped to other people, and they're like, well, who's the guy singing, Oh, that's the writer. His name that was just using my reading name at the time, Shaffer. So what what what do you want

to do here? You're trying to So manager comes back to me, it's like, yo, they want to give you a deal. And initially I was like, nah, why Because I had never done anything as a solo before. I didn't know how to do that. And I'm like, wait, just me, what can I call my They're like, no, that's done this, they won't to see you. I'm by myself. Oh. So they eventually talked me into it, so I got

a record, a regular son of Columbia Records. Um, it was more money than I than I had seen at that point, which was cool, and I mean my view, it wasn't a lot. It was it was artists advanced. But this moment that I had a time, so uh, going through the process of putting this album together for Columbia Records, I'm excited about the whole thing. Um, it's basically what we've been doing, me and PAULI, just making music every day, but now we're making music for my

debut album. So it's like right, Um, But what I'm realizing is that the A and rs and the record label, you know, they have a very specific vision of who they want me to be, right to the point where they're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, that song is cool, but can you write something more like this? Yeah? And then I don't weary that where these yeah, I don't work with those producers. Work with these producers like like they're molding what it is they want and how old at

this time? Um? Like early and mind you, I'm so green and just so excited for something to finally be happening. And I'm thinking that I can't tell these people know so anything that I'm like ya, yeah, alright, we're doing that. Who alight, who let's do that. That's how I am right now all the time? What the road right? So so um and mind you? And they was they was doing the most like I don't hold grudges or have any regrets, but say our cast was doing me there day.

It was like every time we come to New York, these casts take us to mind you, I'm I'm I'm green. I've never been to New York, taking us to these really fancy restaurants Mr. The Childs and all of that, and every time the bill come, they just pop down the credit card. Everything is all good. What they didn't tell me is that the money on that credit card is my recording budget. Yeah. So we had missed Childs thousand dollars thousand dollar dinners on me and I had

no idea. I had no clue to the point where I finally Okay. So, so album is done, artwork is done, everything is ready to go, and I'm looking at this picture of myself and I'm like, I have no idea who this person is. I don't know this person. I'm listening to the music like, yeah, it's cool, but this is not this is not me. This is this is their their version of me. Like and so I didn't.

So I went to them like, would it be cool if I maybe went in and did a couple of songs that just made a little more sense with who I am? And they're like, well, I mean yeah you could, but your budget. Your budget is depleted. And I'm like, what do you mean, well, you're you're recording budget is gone. I'm like, how I know for a fact we didn't spend all the all the recording money on the recording

and he's like, whoa, yeah, it's gone. And mind you, it took somebody in the office that worked for the A and Are to come to me like soul. So here's what happens. You know those Mr Child's visits, Yeah, that was that was that was on your budget. And I'm like, but but I was I didn't say they could do that. Well, I mean, you kind of don't have to. Like they the label gives them the card and their job is to make sure that you produce

an album. And you know, so if they produce your album for cheap and this is left over, they pretty much get to do what everything to what. I'm like, what ass? That's crazy. Yeah. I don't know if that's still the case. I doubt it nowadays, just because you know, labels are slowly but surely getting the obsolete. But um, but yeah, so that's that's what the deal was back then. So I kind of rebelled. I was like, I don't I don't want to do this. This is not me,

this isn't who I am. And they're like, so you're not going to cooperate. I'm like, well na, I mean I mean, if y'all let me go in and do a couple more songs, maybe alright. Cool. So they shelved me, and I sat on the shelf for two years. No. That was God. That had to have been scary. Um, not so much scary as it was depressing, because I'm like back to square one, Like I have a record deal, I have an album. Um, it's not coming out, and I'm but I'm in the contract, so I can't do

anything else or going or anything. So what happens if you do? Um? What a statement sue when I got anohing? But but yeah, they could. So I'm I'm and I'm at this point, I'm like, all right, well, so how do you get out of a shelf deal? What do you have to do? Um? So my management eventually goes in them and goes listen to kids. Is still young If you're not gonna do not with him and just let him go. So lawyer's lawsuits, la la, la la la.

They finally decided to let me go. They kept the album, kept the rest of the album that I did while I was over there, which I gave up freely. I'm like, fine, take it. I just want to be free, just want to be out of here. So they took it cool. So now I'm back to Score one. I'm living in California. I have my own place, but I'm sharing it with two other guys, two friends of mine, because I'm somewhat broken in right. So some time is passing. Management is

you know, moving around, trying to find another situation. UM. In the process, of all of this. I'm driving down the street one day and I don't know whose car because I didn't have one. I don't know whose car was. I think it was Pauli's sister's car. Anyway, UM driving down the street and a song comes on the radio, a song called that Girl by Marcus Houston. If I wanted that gerl, then I would be with that gerl. But that one ain't for me. I remember, this is

the best day of my life. But every time you sing it's the best day of my life. Every time, thank you, thank you, Let's see you. Sorry blessing, but so so I wrote that song. That song was actually supposed to be my first single when I was signed to Columbia Records. You wrote that I wrote that song. My voice is still all the backgrounds on that song is me. They kept my voice on the record. They just sold it to Marcus Houston. I had no idea

that they sold it to Marcus Houston. I'm driving down the street and this song comes on the radio and I'm like, I know this record, that's my record with what the hell? So I called the management like yo, they so, when did they give the record to Marcus Houston? I don't know what, Well do I get a chicken? Why don't get ye? The rights? Right? I mean we eventually went back in you know, lawyer's walls. La la

la got what I was old. But at the time, I'm like, this is just talk about kick when you down, Like damn, I'm already over. I'm already back in square one. Now at any point in this, are you crying like tears? Like tears, I can imagine you were. Um, I've never been afraid of emotion. Emotion. We have emotions to help us.

We're supposed to use them. The thing that the thing that messes us up is that we we tend to let our emotions run us and you wind up using the wrong emotion for the wrong situation or you know, just going farther than you shoot on an emotion. But I but I've never been My mom raised me like, listen if it feels good, smile, laugh if it hurts, cry, and never be ashamed of either one because you've been giving these or a reason you're supposed to use them.

That whole macho thing. Men don't cry, it's the hell we do. Yeah, we do. If you know what's good for you, because otherwise you hold that ship in and then you blow up at some dude at the store, and now you're in jail. Somebody took your gas pumpers. So you hear your song on the radio, and you know, crying my thug tears, and I called my manager and and he told me that there was pretty much nothing we could do at the time. So I cried a few more thug tears and then I kind of just

kept pushing after that. It's like, at that point, um, my relationship with said manager is doing the ling because you know, um, I don't know, I don't know if they're going as hard to try to find another situation

as they did with that, because they were. They were kind of mad at me, honestly, because I'm part I'm pretty much the reason that we got shelf because there saying all right, so we got this set up and this set up and this set up and it set up, and I'm like, I'm not doing none of that ship because I don't This album is not me. And they're like, oh, okay, well the next thing, and my management is like, yeah right, So we eventually, you know, dad it, So now I'm

really back at square one. I don't even have management anymore. Man, PAULI still cool, but you know, PAULI is moving on doing other things. Um. So that's when I'm I remember, I'm walking down the street. Uh, like a block away from the crib. I was going to the corner store or whatever. And if I'm by myself, I'm by myself then, which means I'm a sing like I'm by myself. So I'm walking down the streets singing at the top of my lines. The people walking past them from ards. I

don't care. I'm just I'm just I'm here. I got the blinders on the right, but I did notice a STUV driving in the opposite directions. Hit thing and come back, turn around to come back, pull up next to me. Hey are you seeing or something? Yeah? Oh well the money I noticed, right. Yes. So Tango, my current manager, we met, shout out to a man, Tango, this is how we met. So mind you. He's like, yo, I got the studio on these producers. We literally right around

the corner. Uh, come let me show you pull up. So I just found him, Like, okay, they do it could be a murderer, Um, but let's go all right. So I hop in the truck pull off. We pull about ten minutes down to down the way to where the studio is at. I made the producers. We sit up and talk. You know. It's a cool vibe. Start making music that same night. Um, but mind you, nobody's

talking deal, nobody's talking anything like that yet. We just I'm literally just writing me songs, you know, sitting laugh and joking with him. And then gone, right, So one day time they don't know your back story or anything. You guys, just nobody knows anything. So Tango goes. After about two three weeks of this, Tango goes, all right, I'm gonna get your record deal. And then I don't know about all that, And he was like, why I had a record deal before, and that that if if

that's what happen, a record deal is owned. He was like, He's like, no, you just went in there with the wrong people. He's like, listen, give me four months. If I don't give you a record deal in four months, walk away, hands washing, no contract on nothing. I'm like, cool too much later at a record months later, I

had a record deal. Uh. And it was kind of it was kind of on purpose by accident, because we started out kind of the same way we started with the other management, just doing records and moving them around, shopping them whatnot. Um. We were in New York on on on a mission like that, just moving around playing records for different record labels. We stopped at the Death Jam building because the person I was with, my man Sauce.

He's a producer, uh from the groups offing of people are early nineties I remember, but anyway, he's my my vocal producer all that. So I'm with him and he says, yo, before we go back to the hotel, let's stop in the Death Cham building, not to shopping on records, but a friend of his works in the Death End building that he hasn't seen since high school. And he's like, I'm in New York. I at least want to go

say what's up? All right, cool? We head upstairs. He didn't tell me that this friend was Tina Davis, who at the time was head of A and R for Right. So we're walked in her office. I've never seen him before, I don't know who she is. I'm like, all right, cool. So I'm sitting the corner on some thumb Twitter like waiting on them to hit the whole reunited and it feels so good. Oh yeah, you look nice seeing you, said, girl, did you cut your hair out of all of this?

And I'm like, all right, I'm hunger. Now go give me a slice of pizza that we leave here. Huh oh nice to meet you. Yeah. So she goes to him, So, what you mean up to I'm doing this, doing that? You know what, I'm working with this writers, Neil, he's a writer. La la la la. Oh you're right, yeah, Well she played me something, starts playing with some of the music. She's listening to the music, but she's but she's locked on me to the point where I'm like,

hell's wrong with right? So so she she goes, you wrote these yeah, and that she's singing too. Yeah you can dance? Yeah a little bit? What right? Right now? Yeah? I got up. I'm sorry performing to the record. I'm like performing to her because I looked at that as a challenge, like, you're not gonna challenge me. This is my music, it's my ship. You're not gonna challenge me. So I got up. I'm performing, stood up on her desk the whole night. I went for it, mind you,

stone faced the whole time no emotions. Jeez, I would have been hold on to say, hey mr ready busy, Yeah, I have somebody you might want me, Okay, come with me. Up. You heard and you knew who that was. I know exactly who that was. So at this at this point, I'm like, I look over itself, was like, what was happening right now? Right right? So we go up, We shiit sit outside his office for a few minutes. I'm sitting there with Sauce. I'm like, bro, He's like, I

don't know unless we're here. We're here, all right, cool. So I walked in the room. I remember at the time he had this long office, or at least I might be making this up, and this is what it felt like in my mind. I walked in the door, just long office because he was all the way over there, big chair and uh and it's like couches on either side. He has his his tastemaker is sitting in the room with him, his taste people that that, you know, the

people who people whose opinions he trust. So I walked in and he's like, so you're the next big thing hunt and I'm like, all right, well, let me hear something. So I started playing the same song that I that I performed for for a Teina earlier. So senior record, same thing. Hop up on the desk, the whole nine right stone faces from the whole room. No one is giving me anything. I'm like, okay, we were just wasting

everyone's time here. Clearly they're not interested. So I finished, no applause, no nothing, and l A goes all right, thank you, can you step out? Let me how let my folks right quick. I'm like yeah, sure. So we go back outside, sitting out there for like an hour, like you know, the lady that she was so nice. She gave with chips and water and everything, and she was like she was like normally if it takes as long, it's a good thing. And I'm like, okay, alright. So

hour goes by. I'm like, you saw they faces. They let's let it all right. So we get up and as we're walking out, like folks, their head out the door says Neil, what's your lawyer's information? LA wants to give you? Uh, I don't have a limople. Okay, we'll work that out. We'll work that out. Congratulations and thank thank you, thank you. We'll call you Tom. All right, all right, I'll tell you. So we walked out of building number what does that? What? What did I just

accidentally get a deal just now? So? Yeah, it was, it was, it was. It was a moment. Now when you talk to Sauce, did you ever ask him like did he know kind of what he was walking you into? No? We literally went in there so that he could see Tina here though. Yeah, am Id we had already we had already been to Death Jam shopping music that week, so we didn't that was what we was going in

there for. Like, we went in there like two days before that, talking to somebody else trying to shop some records, and I was like, oh, yeah, these are nice, We'll call you like all right whatever, and we left went back literally just for that, and and walked out with a record deal. What a story? Yeah, and then you at what point do you have your first major hit breakout record. I'm not talking under because you had hits before your format before the deal. Yeah. Um, so before

the whole record deal situation. Um Tango knew some people that worked with Dr Dre Right, so that's where he took me initially, trying to get me signs. I'm gonna see if Dr Dre wanted to sign me. So I went in there and you know, met with Dr Drames, starts struck moment like wow, man, right, So he's playing me tracks like think you right to this? Yeah? Hell yeah? And he's like hold on, and then you'll play the same track with a song on it already from this

other artist. And I guess apparently I didn't notice at the time, but apparently he was trying to decide between me and this other artist. I don't remember to do his name, but but he had a weird style anyway, it was he was he was. He was a little bit more funned than me. So he eventually wound up going with old Boy. But every time he would play me a record, I'm like, he's like, you like, can you beat this? Yeah? I think so. Right, So I'm

writing records, writing records, writing records. I wrote. I wrote like four records in an hour, right, Damn, you're good, he was. So he was like, he was like, this is good. He was good. Let me let me think about it, right, So come back the next day He's like, yeah, I think I'm ana go with my man, you know, just for what we're trying to do. He just got a little bit more wrong, and I'm like, okay, that's fine,

So back to the drawing board. But as we're leaving, Scott Storch, Scott Storch stops was like, Yo, I don't know the hell dre talking about, but if you ever in Miami looked me up? Okay, I left. I guess him and Tango had a conversation after I left, if you wanted up in Miami to follow on a week he just happened to be working for Mario. Wow. Okay. The first song that we did together was you should

Let Me Love You first on Me and Scott did together. Yeah. Yeah, and I remember, um, I mean when we finished with the record, like we we knew it was special, like we we both said that, like yeah, and we got some addition. Yeah. That's when I was like, I was like, is Mario is that dude gonna be able to pull this off? Because my I didn't know Mario all I knew at the time he was like still young. I remember to break my hair record and I'm like, this was like a it's like a love record like this,

this this record got an old soul. Only is he gonna be able to deliver this man that that dude made me eat my words when he showed up. Mind he I think he had just turned eighteen, So I'm really like, he ain't gonna know what this song. He don't be able to pull it dad and got it in and cut that song in an hour, one hour, whole song finished, start to finish, ad libs everything I had apologized to that dude that I literally going to brom I'm gonna keep funking with you. I counter Drea

before you got here. I didn't think he was gonna be able. I didn't know you was baby Sam cooking this thing. Da congratulations. So we became cool after that. So the song comes out and uh yeah, it blows up. It becomes the number one twelve weeks, the second most play song and radio hits something something nuts like that. So so I went in to that death gam situation with that one in the tuck like I had already did it, and it just came out. So it wasn't like a big, big, big, big wow. So you had

the heat you had had, but but it wasn't. It hadn't blown yet. It was out and like people was talking about it, but it hadn't like really gone yet. So by the time I got to meet jay Z, because you know, remember l Ay was CEO, jay Z was president. So by the time I got to meet jay Z walking the room and I'm like, hey, how you doing. My name is Neil, And he was like, Nick, why do you get that song away? Nice to meet you too, Mr G sir, All right, cool? Uh can

we start over? Because that was that was that was the thing, So he really did. Those are his first words to me, why do you get a damn song away? Because I wrote it for family? Like, nah, but you should have kept that that was yours. I got more I can write, but um, but yeah, yeah yeah. So for a long time I was just a little neigta rot the Mario song. That was my name for like a like a long anywhere I went, especially to James, like a little Neiga with the Mario h um, the

little neiggat pleasure. Yes, it's a long name, is it? Is it foreign? Yeah? It is. At any of these points, are you like I have officially arrived. No, even when jay Z is referring to you as the little No, I'm still not. It's still not registering to me that I've that I've made it at this point because it's just I'm really just working and working and working and just going with the flow, not paying attention to what's kind of happening around me. So like it it's I

never I didn't want. I didn't care to be famous. I didn't get into this for that. I mean, I didn't get into this to make money. I thank God that I've learned that I can make money from this, But it wasn't my motivating factor for doing this. I

love music. If nobody ever paid me ever again to do music, you still pull up and find me right here, like this is my leisure time, right, So I'm not I'm not paying attention to you know, the Mario song is blown up and everybody's I'm like, okay, cool, what's time in the studio? You know, I'm not. I'm not. It literally took ten years for me to finally sit still long enough to go oh Ship. We did win three Grammars, didn't we oh Ship? We did sell it to me and recursent we oh Ship? I did work

with Michael Jackson, didn't not oh Ship. We didn't like like literally, it kind of just all hit me at once, but but it was because we had finally stopped, Like we toured for two years off of um uh, you're too gentlemen, you're a gyman. I'm literally on the road for two years. Show. You didn't get to really take it in because you were just work working, just moving, moving, moving moving. All right. Now we're doing this world show.

All right now, we're doing that a war show, all right now, we're shooting this video al right now, we're working with dis artist and now Bimimi Mimimi. Right until we finally set still, like all right, tours over. We can go home for about a month everybody you know, recalibrate, and then we get back out there. And within that month, I just sat and blew my own damn mind, Like, oh we've done a lot of ship. We've done a lot of really really really cool ship. This has been

a career and it ain't over. We still let you. Yeah, and you're a tough career because it's constantly transitioning and oh man, yeah, getting in is one impossible journey. Right once you get in, getting the success because it's countless people they get signed and put songs out and nothing happens. You never hear from them again. Right, So there's all of these doors that that you have to get through.

You get through one and you think, oh yeah, I'm secure now because I gotta get through this from now. You gotta get a hit record, get a hit record, and I gotta get another one. Keep delivering every time. In mind you as this is happening, you're aging. The game is changing now, We've got social media and we got all of these all of these new the way that people are are are getting them music, they're doing

that different Now. Everything is changing and you just have to keep up with the times, but not become the times, if that makes sense. It was like I've been around, I've watched countless trends come and go, right, And I say, watched them come and go because that's what trends are supposed to do. They come, they do what they're gonna do, and then they move. If you base your artistry off of that trend, when that trend leaves, you leave with it.

Right when you signed to def Jam officially and started releasing records under them, you were able to control your own narrative, right because the neo that I like love and love is you know you and the sound that you put your stamp on versus the first one, right, yes, know that was that was one of the things that that let me know that I was in a much different situation than I was with the Columbia Columbia situation, because I actually went to l A Read and said,

all right, look, I've kind of done this dance before one other time, and it was a really really negative situation. So here's what I'm not doing. Okay, y'all are not gonna tell me what I can and can't wear. Y'all are not gonna tell me what producers I can and can't work with. Y'all are not gonna tell me what kind of songs. Right, I'm not doing it this way? And ll A Rey looked me in my eyes and said, I signed you because I like what you do already.

Why would I didn't turn around and change that? Amen? And I was like, thank you, We're good. That's rocks. What advice would you what advice would you give to someone that is broke, like literally broke, is passionate about music, wants to pursue it to also get out of being broke, which is different from you your situation, but definitely so um okay. So one of the beautiful things about the music industry today is that you don't really have to have a lot of money to do it. You can

get in broke, you can't in now. Um, how far you go, that's gonna depend on your work ethic and then at some point how much money you can invest into yourself. I tell people all the time, don't don't chase your dreams to the point where you chase him right off a damn cliff, Like, make sure you can find forself, like you can work at McDonald's. All right, that's that's this many hours in a day. You still have got all these hours to focus on your music,

to put towards your music. But this these hours is making sure that you can eat these hours, making sure that the lights stay on. You know what I'm saying, do that go get you a little nine of five. It ain't nothing wrong with that, And it ain't nothing wrong with that. That's literally nine to five. After five, get back into your craft. But make sure that you can take care of yourself at least to a degree. Uh. Like the whole starving artist thing, it doesn't have to

be that. It literally doesn't. Um, but did you work their jobs when you were because it seemed like you were busy alot. I've worked every fast food chain you can think of, really, yes, McDonald's, McDonald's first. Yes, none of these jobs lasting longer than three weeks. That's not a good thing. I'm just saying that that. And I learned early on that I might have a slight problem with authority, just like I just look at it like this. I'm not going to let you yell at me over

a French fries. I'm not letting that happen. I just that, just that doesn't make any sense to me as a man and as a person for me to just sit here and allow you to be yelling in my face because I put too much salt on you know what, take this little thing, take a look mountain, dudes. I'm gone. And and pretty much every one of those jobs kind

of ended that way. It's like I did something. I burned a pizza, but in mind, that was my faut because I was talking to my friend it was bullshit, and the manager comes into what the wrong with you? I got fired from McDonald's, and I realized early on that McDonald's and waitressing was very hard For me, I felt like there's a lot of pressure in lunch all right, very stressful, and you're supposed to be nice as people

are jerks. Yeah yeah nice yeah, and those jobs you would think that they look easy, but yeah, I can't. I can't do either. I respect the people that do it too. Oh yeah yeah. But all I have to say, don't feel like, don't feel like you're above it as an artist trying to trying to get it going, like

you're not. You're not above any job. It doesn't mean you have to stay there, doesn't mean you have to thrive and try to become a manager of McDonald's one day and the ship, but you definitely need to do something to make sure that you can provide for yourself at least in the slightest degree of you know, if it's cinema, told crunch, every day, whatever, as long as you can provide for yourself a little bit, and from

there focus on your music. Now you have your Spotify, you have your YouTube, you have all of these different ways that you can get your music, that you can get your art out there that did not exist before. I didn't there was no Spotify when I was hassling Diddy coming at the restaurant like there was no other way to do it, but that now you have all of these other outlets, and really the spoils go to the person that works the hardest where everybody's sleep. You

need to be working. You need to be posting regularly about your music, about your artistry, so that people know where to go to get it, people know that it exists. And I'm not saying post on Monday and don't post again until Wednesday. No, that doesn't work. It doesn't work. It's a job, just like anything else that you would do. It's a job. And the more time and and time and energy that you apply to it, the better if you're gonna be Now, I I've heard about publishing, and

there's there's the artist. You're the artist, and then there's publishing. Can you for the people that don't know how that structure works? Because I was my head, I think that if you're a songwriter, we're gonna talk a money. You make more right from publishing, but from publishing. But then the artists like, how does that whole music? So the artist, the artist doesn't get publishing unless they wrote on the song.

Publishing is for writers for writers and producers. Um. Yeah, and that's primarily the bread and butter of a songwriter. You know, you write a song, it becomes a hit, it lasts for a little while. Anytime that song is played longer than thirty thirty seconds. Anywhere you're getting paid, you get like a check in the mail. You got to check the mail or you know, how are you how do you work it out the mind? They send

it straight to my accountants. But but yeah, that's that's your that's your that's your livelihood as a as a songwriter, you're publishing. And then as an artist, if you're not doing that, you just get the album sales and the you get a portion of the album sales. But I mean most most record deals are set up in designed for you to stay in debt, so you don't get a large portion of the record sales. You get pennies

on the dollar. Um. But as an artist, as the person in the forefront, you have so many opportunities to make money in so many different ways. It's sponsorships and all of that ship. Like you know, songwriters don't really get sponsorships, but publishing pager forever as long again, as long as the song is being played longer than thirty seconds anywhere on the face of the planet. You're making money. I heard a clip on social media, didn't dive into it,

so I can't tell you who it was where. This songwriter said that when she writes songs, she always doesn't she tries not to outsing the singer, and she also tries to dress less. So I guess a sexy or attractive or pretty or whatever, Well, I mean, yeah, hands down, this business is harder for for women than it is for men, just from a standpoint of you know, if you are an attractive woman, you're always an attractive woman.

And every time you walk into the room, even if you're walking into the room as a multi platinum selling artists or or Grammy Award winning songwriter, you're an attractive woman first when you walk in that room, and that's the first thing that people are gonna notice. And then it's up to you and your your your accolades, and your your mental abilities to get people to pay attention

to the other things about you as well. And you know, if you walk into the room, walk into the studio, and you know the things are sitting up and things sitting out, that's probably where the majority of the attention is gonna go, you know, and that you want to sit and talk business, you want to talk about songs. But I'm looking at the citties right now, like the cities, just talking about something else, trying to figure out which conversation I'm supposed to pay attention to you because Tittis

is talking to me. So so yeah, it's it's it's definitely in a songwriter's best interest walking into the studio to walk in, just walk in like you're not there for that sort of attention, you know what I mean. And then as far as out singing the singer, yeah, that's that's something that I that I I pride myself on and had to learn as well, because as a songwriter that can sing, you get in there and you just go for it and you don't realize maybe not

everybody can do what you can do. Maybe not everybody can sing as hid you. Maybe not everybody can do that ad lib is intricate as you, And that will be the instance where an artist will not want the song because they're like, I'm not gonna sing it better than you just did, So what's the point of what's the point in me trying to do this record. So if you keep it kind of the middle of the road, you know, just good enough, that gives the artist's space

to add their thing to it. You know what I mean. If you listen to my demo of Beyonce as they're replaceable and then Beyonce's version to be replaceable, you'll notice the slight differences because I left room for her to create them. Give what I will give to your versus. It's on It's on YouTube. Oh for real, your merchant. I didn't. I just put it there, but I looked the other day to day, okay, okay, and then I just spaced on. But I had a question that I

was like saving in my brain. Not totally. I'm so mad at myself. It was, oh, last question. I'm not gonna try to keep you because I want to invade your space. Um. You write a lot of hit records. How do you determine what you keep for yourself and what you give away? UM? A lot of times it depends on the way the song came to be. Like, for example, if I went into a studio that was paid for by said artists or said artists management, said artists label, whatever the case may be whatever comes out

of that session, it's supposed to go to said artists. Right, Your people pay for the time, pay for me to be here. So whatever I produce in this in this block of time, it's supposed to go to UM. But if I go to the studio, as I told you earlier, I go here just on my leisure, just being here, just creating. Right. So if I go on and do that with nobody's specific in mind and it comes out amazing, of course I'm thinking, all right, I'm gonna hold onto

this one. But there's times where I go in like that and do something and be like, oh, such and such a sound amazing one. I got something you should check out, you know what I mean. So it kind of there's no specific way it happens like it could be. It could be either of those of those instances. Okay, now I love you, but your latest singles says don't love don't love me? Yeah? Did you like the way I did that I love you, but don't love you?

You know, every girl could relate to this. Okay, every girl has heard this at one point in their life. I'm not saying that out of frustration because you're banging them, I could totally relate to the right. I can relate to all your records. That's why I've played them so many times, his love. So tell me about your latest project. Yes, self explanatory? Um, okay calling calling the album self explanatory for a couple of different reasons. First reason being I'm

almost twenty years in at this point. I really don't feel like at this point a neo album needs that much explanation. You kind of know what's coming to a degree, right, It's gonna be There's gonna be stories because I love to tell us stories, thank you very much. It's gonna be melodic. You know, it's not gonna be this this this rap, same thing that everybody's doing right now, at least not all of it. You know, I gotta acknowledge

what's happening right now, but not become right. It's going to be the kind of music that you live life to the kind of music that you cleaned the house on Sunday, to the kind of music that you sit up and think about that dude, who if he had just did this, it would have been perfect. Whatever the case, this is the music that you're gonna get from a neo album pretty self explanatory. Um, second Lee, the self explanatory concept comes from just what music is and what

music does. Like it's it's almost I mean you can try to sit in and put it in words, but it's it's it's easy to just feel it. It's easy to just put it on and let the music take you where it's gonna take you. Let the music explain it to you, you know. Yeah, yeah, so that's what this album is about. Um, there are songs on this album that the die hard Neo fan will definitely latch

onto because it's familiar. And then there are songs on this album that, you know, people who maybe just heard Neo's name or just got familiar you know, some of this new generation some stuff that they can latch on too as well. Um. The song Don't Love Me kind of a heavy record, uh it is. It started out as an open letter to my wife at a really really dark point in our relationship, you know, Um, right

before the pandemic, we were definitely talking divorce. And I've actually credited the pandem me for saving my marriage because you know that that that whole quarantine thing made us sit down in each other's faces and talk about the things that we wasn't talking about, you know, those uncomfortable conversations made us have those and by the grace of God, we figured out how to get back to where we just love each other. And that's that's what that is.

But this particular song, yeah, it was a letter. It was a letter that I had written to her, um, basically telling her that I did not think that I was capable of being the man that she deserved, that she should leave. And of course she didn't want to leave you. We love you, We can't leave. Thank god she didn't leave. But um, but yeah, yeah, that's that's

how the song came to be. And we were initially going to do the video, but we decided not to because we didn't want to even acting wise, we didn't want to go back to that place. I was surprised she wasn't in the video. What does this mean? Let me go on Instagram. Let's see what's his personal life is like. That's when we do just so you know, oh, she's not in the video. Let's go to Instagram. Let's fact check. How is his marriage? What's going on? Now? We're good man, We're in a We're in a really,

really good place right now. I love how you kept that real right there. You know. I when you when you love somebody, when you genuinely love somebody, you don't want to hurt them. And if you know that you're not gonna be what it is that they need you to be to stick with that person, to stay with that person knowing that you're not gonna do right, it's just selfish now as a man, Just for all the women that have heard this line before, is it heartbreaking for the man to say that to the woman? Like

are you sad to say that? Because it's like almost like you're quitting. I was. I don't know quitting is the right word. No, no, no, no, no, that's that's that's actually accurate because what I realized is you can do anything, like there is no I can't be this person. There is no I can't be faithful. I can't there that doesn't exist. We what we want to do, and that is the bottom lines of everything we do. What we want to do. If you want to be faithful

to that woman, you'll be faithful to that woman. Like, don't tell me that you can't. I'm not capable of it that because that's just you basically saying that you don't want to, you'd rather not because there's nothing stopping you. What's what's stopping you? But she had a fat as, She gonna always have a fat ass. That's never gonna change. What what's what's your point? So the sadness to me was, Um, I was sad because I didn't want her to leave. But I also didn't feel like I was gonna I

was gonna do right by her. That I can honestly say now at this at this time, I didn't want to do right by her. I was I was allowing uh, the lustful spirit to to to control me, you know what I mean. Um, But again, through those really uncomfortable conversations and and you know, just blatant, painful honesty, we we got to we got to where we need to be. I realized that I was copping out. And now she didn't deserve that either. So and she was she was

gangs as. She was like, yeah, she's like, no, I'm not going anywhere. She's she's actually the one that said it to me first. She was like, no, it's not that you can't. It's not that you can't do it, it's that you won't do it. Wow, that's what it is. So until you can stop being a coward and figure out where it is you want to be, you know, don't don't don't feed me this wow. Like yeah, So I kind of had this step back and get my thing together, right. But we are in a great place now,

you know. The pandemic was the best part of mine. I would say it was the scariest thing because I had a business and went to zero. It crashed and burned in a micro second. And then of course I was thinking about eating moll broke. I was like, I want to do eaty more broke. I want to do eaty more broke. Well, I had an events company, went to ship you ain't got nothing but time. I did a mural of my garage. I was doing people. I haven't passed my house, Like what are you doing today?

I'm like, bro, I have too much time. But one of the things I didn't have time for was like dating, and I was in all these serious relationships my husband now husband. I was like, I lined up like three guys that I thought looked good on paper, and I like, straight up was like interviewing for this pandemic, Like yo. Then the world's about to happen. It's time to settle down. And every guy that looked good on paper was like, uh,

just we're not fun to hang out with. In the pandemic, I was like, oh, Ship, I don't even have an excuse to get out of hanging out with you. I can't say I'm going to work, you know, yeah, I have nothing. So my husband, who I was looking at as like my fun because he, like on paper, looked like shit, like he was like the worst on paper, but he was the most fun. So I was like,

you know what, I'm stuck. The guy that looks like Ship on paper is who I am having fun with, trapped in the house with, and the guys that looked great on paper, I couldn't stand being in a room with him for more than three seconds. So I decided, bucket, I'm gonna have fun. I'm going to live my best porn star life. And you know, uh, within a year

and a half, I ended up pregnant and married. I said, well, the guy who didn't look good on paper for all the ladies who always assumed like the guy has to have all these things, and it was the best relationship I've ever been in and thankfully it was the pandemic. And before we got into the pandemic, you know, he kept tell me, if he just will give me a chance, I could tell you gonna love me, You're gonna like me. Stop looking at me like a bag of meat. So yes, pandemic,

right than pandemic. Well, thank you so much for eating uh cinnamon toast crunched with me. It was very nostalgic and giving me best. I don't know, I don't know what can top it, but this has been amazing. I get to tour your whole space. Yes, yes, you know, we get to go up up close and personal with you. Oh. I did want to share one last thing. So years and years ago, when early twenties I had a high school magazine, Neo came out. He had the PD record, you know he had. He came out right around the

same time as Chris Brown. I saw Neo. My twin called me up. She said, hey, there's these two guys. You gotta check them out. They're dope, They're gonna be theyre could be huge. And I came off to her house and she, you know, she showed me Chris Brown and Neo, and I was like, oh, my god, this guy Neo and I love Chris Brown to not not gonn, but I ain't gonna lie. I was leading towards new so I called over to death Jam and you know,

made arrangements. I got ahold of to Sean and Tango and anyways, we ended up setting up an interview and I wanted to tell you guys the story because Neo doesn't know what I'm about to say about Neo. So we were we were behind the scenes. Our company was really struggling. We were broke, We were barring cameras just to shoot his interview. We were we were dire you and we would have high school students do the interview with you. It was anyway, one of the guys on

our team was like, Neo, I love your sneakers. You don't remember this. He was like, Neio, I love your sneakers. And you were like, well, what size are you? And well, you didn't say it corny like that, you like, and I think he had the same size sneaker. And we were at the hotel right there in Hollywood. I don't know the name of it, it's and you literally took off your sneakers, handed it to him and walked away in your socks and one and made his freaking day.

And two. I will never ever for get you walking away in your socks. And that was my story. That was That's who Neo is for. I do not remember that, but it does sound like something that I would do, especially if I have more shoes. Yeah, yeah, you were like, it's okay, it's okay. He's like, you sure you know he's walking away the songs you sure you can give you? He was like, it's okay, it's okay, I have more.

I have more. But that's who Neo is for. People that don't know and listen to your records and even when you're dealing with to Seawan and Tango like I call, they answer. I don't know why they listen, and they you know, they always helped me out. So shout out to your whole team. I hung out here the last couple of hours and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Thank you, Thank you so much for coming on. Eating Wild Broke, Eating Wild Broke all right, and exactly Peppe for more Eating while Broke from I Heart Radio and The Black Effect. Visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,