D-Nice

super producer, super DJ, an extreme gentleman artists, artists. Yeah, yeah, ladies and gentlemen. Mr, I'm giving you, Mr. I'll take take that. That's sad. Yeah, when I'm sitting down on my throne. First of all, a toast to you, my brother, Thank you man man, Major, toast Major. It's been a crazy three years man. Yeah, this is good, smooth and for my last trick in what have you done? What have you done? Nice? Mr d Knix has a mystique, he has an essence, has a style. He's a logo.

Here's a logoy. Too many ain't too many people I know, J westgo Michael Jordan's I really do have a logo. Man in the logo. Yeah, in the logo, Yeah, in honor of my brother d Nice and his logo. First of all, I'm gonna look like uncle Ice Flood once uncle Ice I smell with money. Yeah great, I'm going to go to my bag ye yeah and give some of this. Yeah you get y'all looking like Jim and Jim and Terry. I'm loving this. Yeah yeah, yeah. Nice is here happy. I didn't want him to hold up?

Did Juice? Emberries Man? This is Emberries man? This is this thing. How are you feeling, my brother? I feel so blessed, broh. You know thirty this is what like thirty six years in the music business. Thirty six Yeah, nineteen. First record, South Bronx came out in uh, nineteen eighty six. Thirty six years in the music business. How old were you when I was turning sixteen? You were turned earning sixteen when your first record drop? Yes, it's fifteen two

and sixteen South South South. Yeah, it's crazy, man, I've been here a long time. Bro. It's like I want to like, we can we can start there though, we can. What what was that feeling like or what was that process like even getting to where you're fifteen? Years old, getting ready to drop a record. So back then it was different because the music, Um, you know, hip hop was still in this infancy. You didn't have like many major labels, you know, vying for like hip hop artists,

you know, so we had to record everything. Um. The guy who started my group, DJ Scott l Rock and Careres. They Scott worked in the men Shelter and Caress was homeless and he lived there and um, so that's how they met up, you know. And Uh, I was only at the shelter because my cousin was a security guard at the shelters, So that I literally walked into the music business like it wasn't. I was trying to write

R and B songs. I love like new Dishing growing up, and I knew that I couldn't sing, and I was just obsessed with like reading the credits, and I was like, man, I want to I want to be a writer, you know. And my cousin started working at the men shelter and brought me I brought some food over to him, and uh, and it's funny about that story. I literally I shared this story with our buddy Dave Chappelle. I was like, yo, he was like how did you get into the business.

I was like, ye'all. Took my cousin some food. He worked at the men shelter. Then he introduced me to Scott and Careress and he was like, do you hear that? He said you walked, because I walked to get over there. It was like three miles and he said, you walked three miles with food to feed your future. And I was like, damn, like and that's that's really what happened, man, Like I walked right there. I walked with this food to feed my future. And like, you know, that's why

I never take this business for granted. You know, like, even through ups and downs, I know that I was supposed to be in this business. You know. It wasn't about money. It was about influence and you know, bringing generations together. You know, when you think about it, my fans are like literally from eight years old to eighty. You know, not too many people can say that that they've been in the in the business this long and and that you know we've had like this that kind

of success. You know. Um. I tried never to share that part of the story because because that's that's my book is dealing with that three mile Walk. But now I love that I'm sharing it here. Yeah, thank you. B Yeah, Like I was like, I had to tell that story because I know you know this, but that's probably I think I had heard I had heard before about the about um like literally living in the sheltering.

It's crazy story. The whole thing is crazy, man, Like you know, um yeah, yeah, yeah, the whole story is just you know, it's as as crazy as it sounds. You know, back then it was beautiful to just not worry about record companies or worry about what your fans are gonna think. It was just purely just making records

for the love of music. And so where y'all making it just for the hood though, like just for your neighborhood, because obviously with a record like South Bronx, right, you know that it's regional, yes, but are you are y'all even thinking anything of it other than we're about to turn the hood up. So it was always most most hip hop in New York was always regional, you know, ever being rock him, it was all regional regional music, you know, especially Bis you know, God bless you know,

in rest in peace to business markets. This was one of the people that reminded me even in terms of like the way that our DJ, you know, Bis said like, hey, when you go into these different cities, respect their music. He was like, remember, we used to just be regional South Bronx, Nobody, Beat Beats, the Bills, Those records were really just New York records. You know. It took a while for it to kind of like you know, kind of reach other markets. But that was because back then

you had to be patient. Like right now, people aren't patient. If that record ain't popping in like two months, it's over. Everybody's onto the next. Then you can put a single out and that and rode that joint for like a year and it may not pop off. And mean, look at the Wobble record. That record flopped when they dropped it. But it was something that I saw not long ago. We're Tyler Creator, Tyler the Creator. I don't know the exact thing that he said, but you know our paraphrase.

He was pretty much just like, why would I only promote something that I put my pretty much my blossed sweat and tears into for a week or two weeks. I've been promoting this last thing for a year, and I think that's what it separated him, even in this new industry um from the rest of the the younger generation and the artist. He has a fan base that's insane that just rise it out with him. But it's because he's showing them how passionate he is about his music.

And just you said, you can't like now if they're not on it in whatever the first couple of weeks or a couple of whatever it is, then it's just out the next thing or that didn't work. No, it's a big world out here. It's a big world, and there's someone out there that didn't hear that record that if they heard it, they may just love it. And that's what used to be. That's what it was, discovery, the discovery of something. Man, we used to work like even when I when I dropped my first single as

a solo act. After doing you know, I had a couple of albums with b DP and mind you, we weren't really making money back then and there were no real budgets. You know. When I signed the Drive Records, you know, they signed me for grand I had to make a whole album with dollars, you know what I mean.

But but as hip hop artists. We knew how to do that, you know, Like we didn't go into I mean I did go into like some of the biggest studios that were around the power plays and did a couple of things a hit factory, but for the most part, I program everything at home. It's funny like back then, all of the rock stars used to be in all the big studios, and then the hip hop dudes used to be in like these little small joints, and then

at some point it flipped. The rock sudes were likehy am, I spending this budget, then hip hop dudes because of our egos and like wanting to feel like we made it. When he had giving this budget back to the record company who owns the studio, You're like, it's three six all over again, you know what I mean. So you know, like so I kind of miss hip hop back then for me, which is why even now, like R and B is just it truly is like the love of my life in terms of music genres, like R and

B is just everything. You know, Like when just growing up, the records that I chose to sample or to to have an interpretation of it was always like some R and B stuff that just felt good, like felt sexy and fun, and that's what made me happy. And I was very different than Caress. And for you guys though, at that time, y'all was sampling crazy. It was like the West Trust, They're was no charge. Yet that was them, that wasn't us, because by the time I started sampling,

all of my records were cleared. Like no one will ever go back and see me, like, you know, whether it was the Turtles, that's where I got the baseline for called me d nice. I met those dudes, you know, like they were happy. We split the publishing, like I saw them in Minneapolis. Oh so by time, by time your records came out, yeah, we were clear. We're already having the clears yeah. Um, and yeah we were they

were fair, you know, like they were fair. Um. You know sometimes things that I produced that I didn't get credit for because I just didn't have the knowledge of the music business, you know, like I worked on a lot of the music for b DP, whether it's something still number one, and you know my philosophy all these records. You may not know, but these were like big records back then, and you know, I have no publishing on it, you know, no producer royalty. But I don't care, like

at this point in my life where I am. It took that entire journey to get here, you know, and I happen to like where I am right now. You know, I could be you know, still in the studio trying to shop and you know, wrap demo and I'm not there. I'm like having the time of my life doing exactly what it is that I love and it's music, you know. And um So that process back then, right when when you were fifteen sixteen years old, was it you didn't

even know what to ask? Are like, can you can you kind of give insight on that because we try to we try to make this podcast as if as informative as we possibly can. We want, you know, the new generation to see these things. Obviously they got a lot more information now because you kind of look up whatever you want to if you want to now. But back then, right where you guys are in the studio and you produce a record, does it even cross your mind to say, do I get anything else for it?

You know? So, because I'm sure you probably know what publishing was, and that time, no, I definitely didn't know what publishing was. I didn't know what those splits and know anything about mechanicals. I didn't know anything about this stuff. All I knew was, Hey, I'm in the studio doing what I love, you know, and the finished product, Um, that's what you looked at almost as if that that

was the master. So even like in terms of photography, like I've always been in the photography and I took a lot of pictures missed that you missed that on you Yeah that part digital, digital, creator digital, that that could be included. But but even like back then, you know, like you know, like as a photographer, I thought the value of the image was the actual print. M So all the pictures that I shot on tours, I can't

even tell you that we have the digital cameras. Then, you know what I'm saying that I don't even know what those negatives are. So it's like that's the way that was the way people thought back in the day.

Like in terms of like artistry, like yo, we just when the studio made these records, like we didn't know that hip hop was really gonna have longevity like this, like because you know, I'm from that golden era, so that era is right, I'm from the Bronx and then that that era is right after the explosion of hip hop with like the run DMCs in LLL and you know, you never I didn't know what you know those guys were making, you know what I mean, Like, you know

back then, I would I have you know, gold album. I wasn't makingtllars a night to perform, you know, like because people didn't want to ensure hip hop concerts. There's a lot you know, like when your song is that when they call me when they was getting like five grand a night, that song was massive. It was massive, massive number one song Billboard, like there making five grand a night because that the opportunity to do shows weren't there,

you know, the hard pac venues too. Yeah, I mean, but then you gotta think, like then people were like killing each other hip hop concerts. You know, it was different. You know, it was really the wild wild West, which is why I like the song I produced when I was like eighteen, self Destruction. That record was birth self Destruction, She Headed for self Destruction. Yeah, I was eighteen man when I produced that record, and um, you know that song was birth out of an incident that happened at

one of our concerts we're touring. It was called the Dope Jam Tour and it was headlined by Um Eric being rock Cam, Dougie Fresh, Kumo Dietos were the three headliners and then we had Bis Markee Iced Tea was the opener and we went on second MICROUPDP like it was the Dope Past Tour though it was a dope tour. But someone you know at the concert with this girl, you know, they robbed his gold chain and killed him. So then you know, people were coming down on hip

hop and you know it's very violent. West Coast was you had in way like it was just it was different, bro. Like as much as people hate on on Puff, you know, like oh he changed it to the to the shiny suit yo. To be honest with you, it was kind of necessary at that point to yeah, to to bring some love and and it gets to the next level. To get to the next level, man. You know. Um but that record Self Destruction, Yeah, that was birth out of you know, that kind of incident. So you know,

that's so nearly a million copies. You know, I did get mechanicals off of that, but we actually don't. We donated all the money to the National Urban league. Yeah,

like everybody, we just donated all of it. You know, you still get your mechanicals and and you know, still get publishing off of it, but royalties, we don't neated like a million dollars close to a million dollars, which was a lot back then right now, Yeah, but now it's it's it's funny how how it all works though, bro, because it as much as I love hip hop and that I was a part of hip hop culture, hip hop was and always good to me, you know what

I mean, like making the records. And then by the time I was like twenty three years old, you know, I was considered old school because I've been in the business for so long and and you know, like what do you do when people stopped clapping for you and no one wants to give you a shot? So that's why I said, this journey is so special, bro, because when people stopped rocking with me when I was like twenty three, I don't want to say everyone, but like

no record company wanted to give me a deal. You would think that I had, like, you know, like this whole negative background, and I had none of that. But it was just the fact that even though I was Yeah.

When I was everyone wanted the new toys, the pretty girl that walked into the room, you know, like and because I was but I was still young, but it was I was old school twenty three, so it was Yeah, that was a tough time, you know, like you got that's I think you know, that's a pivotal moment, moment for most artists deciding what to do in that dark place because the lights are not always on, like you said, there not always screaming for you, and in that place,

you gotta you gotta make a hard decision. Am I gonna go home? You know what I'm saying? Am I just gonna be the musician at my family's church? And it is what it was? I tried? Or am I going to figure out the way? Did you take in this? Did you take like like what's the crazy is event? You may have taken in your opinion in that moment, like because you're DJ, you'r DJ, so you can always DJ. I wasn't a DJ, so you weren't a DJ from

the roof. I was a DJ for Careress. I was a show DJ before I put out my solo records. I was a show DJ and producer, meaning I only had to play the songs that we were performing at the show. You would never spending at the clubs. I

had never played in the club. I had never ever played in the club until I became this guy, like I was never in Yo, I'm gonna do a show and then do an after party somewhere like no, I was producer caresses DJ young playing those records that had that was it because I think me seeing you as I'm a young young kid and your song comes out, my name is z nice. I knew you as the B d P DJ, so I'm like, he's a DJ

who just happens to have a song. That's how I looked at I don't know if that was promoted that way through the label. I'm not sure that's all people knew it. Yeah, it looked like, okay, he was on this because you would be calid or you know what I mean, like a drama now stepping out onto the artist side. But I just looked at you as a DJ. Ye I was a jack of all trades, you know. Before Scott passed his home, you know, I used to be a little upset, like yo, when you're gonna let

me rap on? Because I never really rapped on b DP songs man, you know, like it's like, yeah, when you're gonna let me rapping. Scott was like, hey, you know, your job is like if something would happened to Caress and you would be the rappers, something happened to me, you'll be the DJ. Literally, that's what he said to me. And you know, unfortunately lost his life and then I became the DJJ. But I wasn't you know, compensated, like I was compensated like yo, I worked for BDB, you know,

and I don't not that man. You know, I was. I was young, you know, seventeen eighteen years old, touring, got to experience the world and then it made me want to do my own thing and you know, doing you know, doing shows back then as a as a rap artist. I was just happy, you know, like I was able to tour with you know, without cares, you know, no disrespect, you know, but to stand on my own, you know, my tour with you know, I did a seventy five city tour with Ice Cube and Too Short.

It's like me Cube, too short, poor righteous teachers, yo. Yo was the opener um like yeah, you know, yeah, you know, so I've seen all of that. This is all before. Yeah, but then, you know, it wasn't a lot of money being made, you know, because I said I was doing those shows for like five grand. You know, there were no corporate shows there. You know, you could charge ten times out of mount you know, once your

shows were over, that was it, you know. And when I was considered old school, you know, I had you know, I didn't own a home or anything at that point. I was renting, so I was able to like save some money. And then I bet on myself, which is which is another important moment in my career. You know, I had no health insurance and had none of that, and I just had this money saved, and I was like, you know, I'm gonna try to put out my own record since no one wants to do. And I put

out this record. I put out this record and it was like, yeah, the joint was on radio stations everywhere. I had no promo. They were just playing it based on nice. Back then, you didn't have MP three, so you literally have to do deals. You have to get your records printed, press it up, go through a distributor, and then they would shipping them to the record stores.

I had a hundred thousand units printed ship and they sold through all of them, but I never got the check because back then, back then, you know, distribution with some gangster ship, the straight gangster ship. So if you don't have something else coming through the pipeline, ain't trying to pay you, you know what I mean. And I didn't have another record coming back. The money that I was generating from that was what I was gonna use

to to to record that next thing. But because I didn't have that that other record coming it was like they didn't answer the phones, you know what I mean, Like the distribution company didn't answer it. Yeah, that was it. And that that's when I went into the depression because

I I really banked on started my own thing. You know, like back back in the in the in the eighties and early nineties, you had like Dick Griffy and like all of these R and B duos doing solo records, and you had Clarence Avant, but we all know that it started from somewhere, but like they definitely had a little bit more kind of muscle and background, you know, than I had my own, you know, and that that actually that kind of put me in like this real funk of like you know, I was depressed for like

about seven years really, yeah, yeah, it's about six and a half year seven close to seven years, Yeah I was. I was in deep depression, not actually five and a half years because then I jumped into web development. So you're doing any music during that time? Yeah? Man, Like I had lost everything, bro, Like I was literally like just with my ex and you know, living. I had lost my crib, lost my car, like everything, And so

you're not so you're not Djane either. No, So it's not like you're trying to go grab That's why I remember I asked him, like, were there anything any like random no bar mits for is that somebody can pull up and be like d nice? None? No, nothing. All I lived off of was that quarterly published in Check that you know, slowly slowly got smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller, you know what I mean. Where Like yeah,

it was, it was. It was a rough time. But like I said, man, I have no regrets, bro, Like I'm not here without all of that, you know, like without those lessons because no one, no one believed that this was gonna happen for me or or the web development which saved my life, you know what I mean, Like, guess when I met you when I know, this was two thousand. At that point, I was already doing websites

for for for Blackground, so like were you was? This was just your climb back up or like climb back up. So what happened with that was around my best friend who was managing me. Well he was a partner. I've always been like self managed, but back then we were partners in the management company. And yeah he was when we stopped doing music together, you know. Years later he formed a company called trend Setters with like four guys

out of Toronto, which is very important. You have no idea how important you in your in the whole Blackground was to me, Like that moment was, um, you know he Tony is his name, still one of my best friends. Um, he called me up and he was like, hey involved him, Well have development you know, I know, you probably need to make some money, which was probably his way of like kind of repaying me for you know, we had

some great times. You know, so now it is his it was his time to like look out, like yo, I got an opportunity, you know, maybe with your connections. You can go and make some introductions and then we'll give you a piece of it. And I was like all right, cool, you know, and you know, I started making some calls. It was weird at first, you know, like people thought that I was calling to sell a demo or something, and I was really on something like yo,

like no, I'm a part of this organization. This is what we're doing. The one person that gave me the shot shot was Joe Moo Joe More Hankerson, which was Barry's son to all of you that don't know Barry Hankerson's son. He we were competing at that point. I didn't know anything about programming, but we were competing um this trend setter company which we renamed it Boom Digital versus an old company I mean they no longer exists called Razor Fish, which was like the top top. You know,

they were killing everything, and you're talking. Those deals were like multimillion dollars web deals like now you've got like squarespace, you can just put up a website. Then you literally had to program. So, you know, Joe Mo told me he was like yo, you know, after meeting with him over and over again, he was like, you know why I'm going with you. He's like, I know you don't know how to build a website. He was like, but I know you will make sure that your guys give

me what I need. And I'm not gonna go with Razor Fish. I'm gonna go with you guys. That change everything. That conversation changed everything for me because it is an R and B company, you know what I mean, Like this straight arm, legendary R and B. But those words someone betting on me, you know. And and you know, when you are when you've had like failure in the music industry, you felt like people turned their backs on you. To have a conversation like that when they were on fire,

you know. Obviously I think at the time he was they were still managing R Kelly Um and they had a Leah and they had you your stuff wasn't out yet, Missy or no Timberland januine like they were so like to have the company. Oh what was the rap group? Though? Who was in that joint was? Was? Oh my gosh, it was like I remember the picture in the water, the rap group the White Boys. No, it was some black dudes. I don't know if two Chains was down with it. It was a rap group. Two chains might

have been in the group. You know, it was a wrap group from back then. Oh my god, I'm black. Then of this conversation, I'm gonna look it was it was Statics. Uh it was Statics group, status group, you know, absolutely absolutely they was there was out of Louisville. Absolutely, ye was they called I can't remember what it was called to James wasn't in that, but it was. It was. It was Statics like conglomerate. They were like a coalition,

like coalition like it was hard. It was like it was hard, and they had these pictures they were under the water, like coming out of the water like it was crazy. But anyway, so like, you know, that gave me my own confidence and I was like, man, he really believed like that. You know. So I went from like making like seven hundred and fifty dollars a month when when I was just like helping the guys out, and then I started making like twelve fifty a month. You know, like now I got a little bit of

money to you know, I was still stay. I was moved back in with my family, but to take care of my kid, you know what I mean. Like I saw what was happening. I was like, because you had your daughter by this, my daughter was there, you know, my my daughters were in the ninety six and uh, you know, luckily for me man like I didn't have you know, my ex wasn't she wasn't on me about child support. You know, like she understood what I was doing.

She was like, yo, you know, whatever you made and whatever you can give, you know, That's why I like, when I started making money, I gave. I gave it all, Like, no, we're gonna make sure our kids graduates and we're gonna do all of that. Because without that kind of like support, even though we didn't make it, but still without that kind of support, your mind isn't clear. Yea, she could have helped keep she helped ultimately get you out of the space, but she could have assisted keeping you in

that space. About absolutely shout out to her the family, you know. Um. And the other thing that was important during that time was because Joe Moo said what he did about I know, you'll make sure that we get what we need. I used to sit in the office and watch the Guy's program and I was like, oh, so that's how you write cold. Oh, and then they didn't know like I was going Yeah, I was going out and buying books on htmail, you know, PHP flash was new at the time. You know, I was downloading

source files. You know. They used to have these websites where somebody would write a code and just post it for free and then you can just pull it and like you know, kind of like make changes and do whatever you want to do. So I learned all of that stuff, you know, So within like one year, I knew how to write HTML and I just knew like

just from learning. So then that gave me leverage, like with my within my own crew, because most of the deals that they were getting were deals that were and you know, and by the way, my my buddy Tony was always on my side, like, no, we gotta make sure we take care of you. The other guys are not so much because they that's what they did for a living. And then but here's my guy. He was like, no, we gotta make sure that he's a full partner. And those dudes didn't want to make me a full partner.

And then I left and started my own and I both know about guys that you know, make your full partner sharing in the in the well, yeah you know we we've we've all been there. Yeah. I left and then I started. I started my own company called United Camps, and I never I didn't go to your clients and say, hey, don't work with them. I was like, I'm just gonna do my own thing, you know. And I went to Motown.

My first the first project that I did from Motown, this was under United Camps with what we did for you guys was Boom Digital, but under my joint. The first artist was I didn't even have a computer. This is how like my life is. Just I didn't have a computer. I was using their computers to learn. But when I started my own thing, I didn't have any money. All I had was this good credit, you know what I'm saying, like Dell computers. First I went to Motown and I was this woman that used to work over

the named Kelly. She was like Eddies assistant. I was like, listen, on the pop side, they're doing like these these flash e vites to promote artists where artists can you can use that these flash cards and like you can have your album one there like snippers of it, and you know, people can preview it in the emails, but they weren't doing that for hip hop and R and B, and I was like, yo, you know, this is it right now, this is how you're gonna market things, you know, like

you should you know, let me do it, and should give me a deal with like five grand for me to make in the first artist was Rashida the rapper. Yeah, that was like the first project that I worked on the on the United Camps and man, I did that

and then Motown gave me their account. So then I started doing like Queen Pen and like a couple of movie projects with them, and then I picked up J Records and I did Alicia Keys site Diary of Alicia Keys and Boys the Men and Luther and any Lennox And now now I'm making money because those sites used to cost money then it was like minimum six figures, you know. And it was all because of a conversation I have with Joe Moo, you know, like, yo, I

know you'll make sure it'll be right, you know. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, there's so many phases to my career, man, it's crazy. So what moved you into for le d James? Well, I was gonna say, what movie into photography because ye yeah, yeah I skip a step. I did sip a step. Photography happened while I was It was a client. There was a men's underwear client. They were called down under gear. Damn, I remember that. That's crazy because this is about no.

It was some black dudes out of Queen's. They just wanted they just wanted to call that thing and it was undergear, to call it doug and it was just like men's men's underwear. And then when they sent over the assets for me to use to build the website, I thought the pictures were just corny. So I was like, hey, just pad the budget with like a thousand dollars and I went and bought a camera, and then I hired a model like this black model, this dude that, this

African guy. You know, he was handsome dude. I was like, oh, he looks like one of these like underwear models. You know what I'm saying. But I don't have Calvin Clein money, so he's gonna take this dog dollar. Just yeah, we went to Central Park. I'm photographed to dude, the Central Park with like it is underwear and bathroom. It was just straight up. I mean, looking back on it was so gorilla style. But all we needed was like a couple of pictures come out of that that was full

of photo shoot. The lighting was all off, like I didn't have lighting, no assistance. I'm just out there like taking these pictures. But to me, the secret was to just turn everything in the black and white like then then those the lighting like you know, because yeah, it's more interesting the shadows. Like. So because of that, because of that experience, now I own the camera. I was like,

all right, I kind of like this photography thing. So I went to school for photography while I was building websites. I went to this place in New York called i c P International Center of Photography, and I went there for like a year and you know, learn how to process film, learn composition and all of that. Like it was just great, Like that's what I would do at nights, like like I was a college student, you know what I'm saying. But it was just are you moving under

the needle as you're doing this? Are you running into hey? Are you? No? No one No one knew I was, you know. They It was a while in the front. The transition from from from that part of my life into DJ and is when it when it hit me into that Yeah yeah you didn't know that, I know you web yeah, but um the photography which is which again my my buddy, God blessed dad, my man Chris Lydy he um, he was getting married in my in Miami at this museum and he invited me because at

that point I was already like building websites. I was building the Violator website and Chris was like, you know, we had known each other. He was one of my one of my closest friends. You know, when I was married, he was my best man. Like the dude was like yo, yo, he took me an invitation to his wedding, so I didn't have you know, all your R and B and music industry dudes. Was making so much money. He was registered at like this crazy place ABC Furniture in Manhattan,

Like everything on the registry was like five thousand. I'm like, I've got five thousands of VODs man a wedding gift, Like this is crazy. So I was just at the wedding, just taking pictures like no one even knew. I mean a couple of people saw me taking pictures because I would ask him to pose. But like Chris didn't really, he wasn't paying attention. Then my gift to him was just this photo album and I was like, yo, here's

here's yo, here's a gift. Man like then he called me and was like, I guess he was watching it, you know, with with this with his wife, and he was like, yo, I paid all these people mad money and they caught none of these images. You should actually be shooting professionally. And I was like, no, I'm good. I don't want. I didn't want to be a photographer.

He's like, man, take the bag. And my first photo shoot for him was one of fifties rebot campaigns, you know, so even on the photographer way, I was doing like that then and then um then Tyra hit me up and you know she she yeah, I saw what she did. Know. I started shooting out the covers. Do you feel that? Yeah? But because you got a handle, I don't, so yeah I might. I might get to Michael Jackson dropped her in a minute from the Champagne that's followed on my head.

But yeah, yeah, you just Tyra. Yeah, what was was was the motto Tyson Beckford that you shot in the Central Park Man. No, he wasn't Tyson didn't look like you didn't have Tyson's money, man, but he took the Doug dollar. Yeah, he definitely took the Doug dollar. But yeah, Tyra. Tyra was awesome though, you know, she asked me to follow her around, you know from you know, she was like, I want you to come over to my house and just photographed me, you know, from like a full day

in the life of Tyra. And I did that and she loved the images and she was like, Hey, I want you to can you shoot for my talk show? Then I went on. I photographed fifty for a talk show, on photographed Hallie for a talk show, and then tires like, hey, can you do America's Next Top Model? So I ended up being um cycle for me as a sore spot for why were you on there? No? But you're good? Good? Did you not win? But I didn't win. Tyra actually asked me to do the theme song. Oh wow, you

have an opportunity. I never tells you that. Wait what happened? Why? So? Uh? Yeah, shout out to my brother she Cares Stewart and my brother Kenya Barriss, who at the time he was working with Tyra and we used to all, you know, we should be kicking it, and she cared put me on you know, connecting me with them, and we brought you know, Tyra was like she wanted to sing. She wanted to sing at that time, and she came to the studio

a few times. We worked. We worked a little bit and she was like, yeah, you know, I'm I'm doing this this this TV show and I'm like, okay. She's like, yeah, it's spout like models and this whole thing. And I'm thinking to myself TV show models, like well, who's going to sing the theme song? And she was like, she's

going to sing the theme song. I was like, um, you saying even though he had been already doing songs like you know, because I'm thinking it's you know, for fun and it's a whole thing, and I'm like, I don't know about just doing it because obviously on up you watch these shows and you watch different TV and you think to yourself, these songs aren't really songs, they're just kind of like and I think at the time,

I probably have been watching the Jamie Fox Show. Remember he had he was he was making jingles, but it didn't seem cool, right, the jingle thing didn't seem cool, and I was writing real records for real artists. I'm thinking to myself, I don't write jingles, so I didn't write the damn jingle. And I end up running into

Tyra a few years ago. Um, of all places that Jimmy Iveen's like Christmas party or something, I don't know what it was, and she was like, yeah, you remember the whole you know, we're like season twenties seven thousand, Like yeah, you definitely one. Yeah, yeah, so American type model. You know, that's just you know, it happens. It happens. I think I don't know if it happens. It doesn't always know. Okay, okay, he's a fumbler. Fumbled two man ship.

What what did you fumble? Know? His fumbles are way crazier than mine. Give me one of yours. Um. I fumbled an audition. I fumbled two auditions. Probably the worst fumble was the stumped yard audition. W wait what, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. If I tell the story, let me let me get a drink, because you stumped the yard. First of all, this is already very tricky. At the time it was, I was thinking, of course, I had the must say you above, okay, buff dance

and go ahead, go ahead? Um, so I literally shout a twinkie. Um. I literally I had the part. I was playing the part of Darren Hinton. Okay, okay, I can see that. Yeah. That knocked all the all the um all the audition down. Knock it down. He's like, oh you're in. You're the guy, You're the guy, You're in. Okay, so um last thing, We're gonna do this dance audition and then and you'll be good. I was like, okay, cool, I can I can knock that out. I got a rhythm,

you know what I'm saying. Um, I had rhythm, but I don't want a freestyle. Okay. So in my mind, I'm like, okay, this is a dance movie. I can step, but I gotta be able to really, you know, deliver it. So you know I saw I called Christie and Dave Scott. Listen, I need an eight count. I need a real eight count so I can dazzle him. He wants to dazzle niggas for stump the yard, but go ahead, I mean yeah, he wanted to, and so I go in. We get rehearsals.

Rehearsal a couple of days, no rehearsal to day before day up. I learned the routine and I learned the account. I'm killing it in rehearsal, killing it right, But I'm very like I'm O c D in a lot of ways, right, And so go ahead, and I have severe O c D. Right. And so you know with the choreography, once you teach it to me in a certain space, it has to be in that space. It has to be in that space.

It has to start exactly where that one is, exactly at that measure where the music does whatever it died I have, it has to be there or or a malfunction. And so they said, all right, let's go. And when they started the music, it was okay, No, give you some backstory. This will really help you with the fumble. Okay, E League game on Sunday. Okay, I'm going crazy. The guy checking me. You don't want this body, get off, but you can't hold me. Huh, you know you're dealing

with Yeah, maya business win game? Go home? Right? Next day, dance audition, Guess who's the director? M who got the buck? Who got the black? Oh? And he's giving me this and I'm like, you're in my house now. Yeah, I say, hey, man, hey brother, Hey, how do you mean of that? Was that Tim Tim story? Director? We're gonna find out. We're gonna google Yeah, he's a director. And I'm like, oh my god, right, I didn't know. So they're starting the music and they start the music low. I'm turned to

turn up, turn up. By the time they turn up the music, I've missed the one, missed the one, the one that I need to start on in order to be dazzling. I was like, I said, oh, no, no no, no, we got we can start off. No, it's fine, just to start where you are and said, no, I really need to start up. Just start where where we are. I'm like ha ha ah ha ah, and everybody, everybody's going and they turned the music off. They turned the music off, and I just I just looked at everybody.

I said, thank you. I just walked the fuck you wanted them to believe that that was your freestyle And they never called me again. I love it. There's some there's somewhere just take was gonna come out and it's gonna be bad. I hope they've been directed. They see this and be like the country might know she was there. And she was like she called Christie and and damon, she said, what the fuck happened? I was so great in rehearsal. I said, I missed the one. I can't

do it. I can't do it from any other place. I need the one, And I fumbled stumped the yard. I would have been dancer, I mean, but Darren Hinson is a dancer. So dar is a dancer. Of course he got you know what I'm saying that he killed it, but yeah, so I guess I'm kind of a fumbler, not as much as him. Though. It's a great phone story. Yeah, that's a great final story. Your residuals wouldn't have been the same as his. His phone was crazy. Gonna keep

this money. I didn't know, nibe, you didn't know what post you was was teen. You gotta keep bringing up bringing that story up that was back then, Stop bringing up motion. So you become the amazing photographer, extraordinary for many great things that we won't even continue to mention. Um, so, how how long is that spending time for you? I mean, because I was you still you still shoot, you still do your thing. But were you were purely focusing on photography.

It was a short, short period, always collected, like you always had a camera. It's always a camera today. I totally forgot to bring the camera because I was doing an interview. I was like, yeah, I gotta get a shot. These stud dues really left my camera like in the house, and I was like, we're not that important. Go ahead, no, no, no, I know, I'll see you guys again and go back

and get that day. We're gonna still be here. So that wasn't like a long period where you were know, that was like three years, a good three year run of like because then DJ started. So how did that kick off? So DJ and started? Um, you know, I

started promoting parties. Um. When I returned to the scene as a web developer of photography, I started to get the music itch again, not as a performer, but just like, you know, I just want to do something with music because it's just everybody I couldn't get into parties even though I was making money. They weren't letting you in. Now, they wouldn't let me in. That's why I started DJ.

I mean, that's why I started throwing parties because the party, the party scene in New York was very like and by the way, this is not I'm not even being funny. He was like mainly like like black promoters, like one of the biggest promoters back then. I won't mention his name, but like yeah, he was like, oh, I know who

you aren't, but you can't come in. And I was like those are his words, those were I brought it up to him like maybe about four or five years ago, like remember that and um, and then I thanked him because I wouldn't have had that desire, you know, to to do this. But they used to like make people come in with like if you're a dude, dude, you have to bring two women with you. And you know, I never really traveled with anybody. I'm always by myself. You know, I'm the same way, you know. You know.

He was like, yo, you gotta get to the back line and YouTube two girls, and I'm like wow. Then I left, and then I went over to like a q Tip party. Q Tip invited me to it, like his birthday party, and that's when I started to see what DJ and like really was like in terms of that style of djan. So I started throwing parties because no one. No one wanted me to DJ, didn't, I

mean rightfully, so they had never heard me DJ. I just had this desire like yo, I want to spend and you know, I ended up becoming a party promoter. The thing that I hated about the New York party scene was every party that people did that you know, like that was like the cool parties. They were always named after like a candy bar, some ship. It's like juicy fruit Tuesdays and good and plenty of Sundays. I'm not making this up Tuesdays, you know what I'm saying.

Like it was always like that, and I was like, man I joined in on one of them, the juicy Fruit Tuesdays. But I just wanted to. I just wanted, you know, And then uh, that is rich juicy frud Tuesdays, did you know? And then um I went from that. I was like, after about six or seven months, I was like, man, I just wanted I want a djell. I couldn't get any parties out Here's where this is.

Everything for me was overlapping. So you know, web development and photography overlapped, and then those two things overlapped with me becoming a party promoter slash DJ, so I started phasing the web stuff out because I was having a good time, like on this party scene. I was like, all right, and and what what prompted the move was this meeting. I had this meeting and I was building the website for UM for Vitamin Water for fifty. I was shooting part of that campaign and UM and I

had to meet with Reebok so I'm in this. I was in this meeting with UM, Chris Lady, Steve Stout, Paul Fireman, who was the CEO founder reebok Um Q Gasson, who was like Allen Allen Iverson's liaison between Reeboking and and Alan Um. And then this one guy walks in and he walked around the table. He said what's up to everyone? And then he stood in front of me. This white dude sit in front of me, and he he just stood there. He didn't say anything, and I stood up and I was like, hey, I'm Derek Jones.

And then everybody started laughing because they were all in on the joke. And he said, hey, you know, I went to I think he may have gone to like Boston, you whatever, But he was like, I wrote my thesis on the song from your first album called A Few Hours More. It was like on my first solo album and um, and then that that was the moment for me when I was like, holy shit, like the people I was running from the music industry, you know, I

didn't want to be d Nice. You know, when I was building a website, I didn't introduce myself to his D Nice. I was like, yo, I'm Derek Like but in that moment that what he said to me resonated. It was like, man, you spend all this time running from who you are, and why not just embrace it? You know, like be maybe not be that same person like you know, shopping demos or anything like that, but like be who you are. And because of that conversation, I was like, you know what I'm gonna do. I'm

gonna start. I'm gonna go find a club because I remember I was promote promoting a juice fruit Tuesdays and ship like that. I was trying to I was like, yo, I'm trying to forget to choose. I was like, I'm gonna go find a club that would give me a shot to throw my own party. But then I went to DJ's and you know, your cats wanted like back then, they wanted five hundred dollars and I was like five hundred dollars for DJ like that crazy, I know, right,

I'm bugging. You can't even come to me with that. Like I was over here like five hundred dollars J part. I was like, man, I'll do this myself. And then the club. I will never forget this. The club was, you know that in New York City as a hotel called the Chelsea Street legendary hotel where where Donnie Hathaway Um not too far No, actually no, Donny, Donnie didn't die here. Donnie died on like fifty seventh Street, I

believe where you know, committed suicide. But like something crazy happened at the Chelsea I can't remember right now, but iconic hotel. They had this lounge downstairs, downstairs called Serena, and they hired me. They paid me a hundred and fifty dollars to drink tickets and that's a DJ for six hours six But I didn't care because I had my daytime web money. That's why. Okay, okay, it all makes sense. Yeah, So I used to DJ for like six hours for a hundred and fifty dollars. Nobody was

in there. Another another buddy of mine, actually, right before that, a buddy of mine gave me his club in New York was on twenty thirt three as well, called cull True, and I would I would throw parties there and I would occasionally DJ with my cousin. But the first time that I actually was a DJ was that Serena's and the guy that managed Mark Ronson at the time, um Damon the Graft, still a great friend, you know, owns a company called d G I and they managed a

lot of big DJs. He brought me over to this club with Q Tip and Mark Ronson with DJ and called Table fifty. And I used to watch them and I was like I would standing in place was small help like seventy five people. Their drink was on Thursday. Their joint was packed. My joint on Wednesday was empty. It was like ten people. But it didn't matter. I was like, yo, I'm playing music having And then one

day Tipp and Ronson didn't want a DJ. So Damon was like yo, you know, Tips said you should do Table fifty on their night and I was like, oh, that's dope. And I went and I tried the DJ. Like Tip has a very unique style of DJ, and so it does Mark. You know, Mark plays a lot of like pop stuff now, but then Mark was a straight up hip hop dude. It was like brand Nubians and you know, then he was mixing the eighties and and Q Tip was strictly sold James Brown and all

that vibe. So when I went, I tried the DJ like them and then and Um and Damon was like a man, just be yourself. Do what you do as Serena, but do it here. I would only play R and B like eighties R and be Tina, Marie, Rick James when nobody was really rocking all of that, you know. So I started playing like that in the crowd was like crazy. I was like, Oh, this is this is

what it's supposed to feel like, you know. Yeah, And then I went from that, and then I started I had UM had a night and and UM like a legendary night in New York City at a club called Kane on Street, and that became like my residency. I did that for like three years, and then I started to build my name, you know as a private event DJ. With the first private event I did was UM it

was Puff. I went to Puff. I was like, bro, I got a vibe on the streets right now, Like he's like, think, I've never heard of DJ day by Life. He was like, you're not DJ, and my white part of you crazy, Like come on, bro, He's like naughty, I'm good. He was just like that. Never saw him again, but I was always friends with his assistants because I was always trying to get in there. I was like, I'm gonna figure this out, Like I'm gonna do this

white man. I ended up with like a night planning a night at this legendary club in New York called Lotus. Lotus had a Sunday night party with the drummer and all that vib That's why I use the drummer now because it reminds me of that night and like the party was crazy on Sundays. So I was the guest DJ and I got a text from the girls that worked for Puff and they said, Puff just asked us where held where should he go tonight? We sent him

there you gotta put on the show. And they sat Puff right at the table right in front of like this is the DJ booth. There was one table right here. Puff is on it. He's at the table. Now, I'm most people, most DJs that were hot midnight, you're playing whatever the new records are. Me, I'm totally reversed, Like I'm putting Stevie one that midnight when his pack and I know everybody's dancing, Do I Do is coming on? And then that drummer Puff was then on the table.

He was like, oh my gosh, that's the year he was hosting the VMAs. In my mean, he was like, yo, you're doing all my parties and he kept his word I d I didn't headline them, but he had other DJs had flex yet, you know, a couple of DJs. But I was on those parties. And then that was like my first time like like really seeing what it

was like to be at the private events. And then I just went private event heavy, you know, super Bowl stuff and and yeah, and slowly phased out the web stuff because it's not that I wasn't interested in it. What I realized about the web stuff was, um, it was just a means to an end for me. It was something that made me happy because music wasn't being kind to me, and I didn't want to lean on music and I wanted people to accept me for who I am, so I taught myself that, But that wasn't

my passion. My passion has always been music and to to have an opportunity to DJ these events that I played, and I played R and B. Man, you know, I played hip hop, but like manly my sense of like R and B or pope, you know I'm playing, I'm getting in there. You know you can play the police that I'm getting that in there. But like that, that all happened because you know, the hip hop dudes wren't really let me in. They won't let me in the clubs, they wouldn't let me open. Yeah, I have to find

my only and now I play my own lane. Yeah yeah, that your story, bro. It's nuts, but it's it's a it's a testament to not giving up one but also breaking through that glass ceiling of people saying, oh, this is what you do. No no, no, no, no no no, I do what I want right that, And that's for us, clearly, it's what's been our savior, is doing what we want to do and in taking on whatever comes along with that.

But know the earlier, you know, when we before we start feeling you were like, man, y'all think it's crazy after I played you this song, and I was like, yeah, my manager, you're like, but to a certain degree, yes we are crazy. But on the flip side of that is we're just enjoying the process and we're enjoying the journey and this music thing that we get to do for a living. There's you can't just say that, oh,

I can only play one position in this game. I can do what I want to because music, for me, I don't know how you guys feel about it, but music is the last thing that you can purely be completely free in. You get fresh out of jail, do music, you come off Wall Street, do music. Like there's no You don't need any formal education, which sometimes hurts us, but you don't need anything other than your gift, a little luck to for sure, some hard work. Your gift.

Your gift will get you through the music business. If you let your gift get you through the music there, you let your gift get you through the music business in so many other ways, in so many other ways. Because everything that you spoke about it's still creative, that's all I mean. You were just being you were being creative. The entire time. But other guys would have just been like, ah, man, I just gotta go. I don't know about this, and

I'm getting away from that. And and like you said, you had your dark moments in it, but the light of it was that you let your gift guide you. Look. I had my dark moment in this just before the pandemic, you know, like just being very honest, like supposed to be my last year of DJ. I didn't want a DJ anymore. I was tired. I was like, you know, I kept feeling like you look at certain DJs and they were not judging them, but it's like, yo, why is that person playing there and I'm not on that

same stage. I'm a big DJ with my mind, I felt that I was. I played great music, Like why am I not giving these opportunities? And I realized that a lot of it had to do with like ages and you know, like that's some real ship man, whether it was being black and trying to play in like this kind of mainstream world because I never just saw myself playing just urban events. I was like, no, because if you go to a non urban event, they're playing

the same exact song. So why am I not playing there, and like, you know, I remember going to some of these big clubs and like these dudes with like literally give me half the budget or maybe a third of the budget that they were giving DJs that didn't look like me, and I was I was okay with it though. I was like, all right, I just want to be in the room, because my goal was never to just

be a resident as someone's club. It was like, no, I want to be seen as the person that's playing in places that you don't typically see black DJ's, you know what I mean, like playing a night that you don't typically see an old school black DJ. You know.

Like but then after a while, you know, I just became exhausted, bro of like the constant battle, you know, constantly fighting, you know, even with with our own with our own promoters, you know, like the people that would promote more R and B. It was still a constant like oh we don't have that budget and you still do the same job. And then like after fighting and fighting, I was like, man, I'm over these clubs. I remember calling Live Nation and I never worked with a company

like Live Nation. I had done like Jill Scott's Picnic, which was that was a pivotal moment for me. That was like, you know, maybe like seven months before the pandemic and I played the Jill Scott picnic. It was me, well, I wasn't headlined, but it was Jill Scott, Jasmine Sullivan, Music, Soul Child, Mace and I was the opening act. And we're in Philly, Mace Smith his flight. So now they're scrambling trying to figure out what to do to keep people happy. And then the president of Live Nation Urban

came to me and said, hey, we're gonna switch. You're not gonna open music, so was gonna open, You're gonna go on after him? And I was like, are you fighting crazy? Like this man's town he's singing. Yeah. He was like, no, trust me on this one. You're gonna change the whole thing. We can't we that's that's the way you want to do it. And I thought he was out of his mind. And music went on and he killed it, and when I got on for my set, it was ridiculous. It was like by that time, it

was packed, the energy was crazy. And then I went into it because you know, Jasmine was gonna sing slow RM and B songs and Jills, you know, she got something not really up tempos, but yeah, she's on Jill. It's gonna be very vibe, vibe, sitting down vibe like some instnse and like you know. But from my set, it was like, he's gonna go up for a minute, if nuts for like an hour. And I was like, Yo, this is what I need to be doing. I don't

need clubs. And then I hit them up like towards the end of the year, like in November, and I was like, look, man, I just I don't want to do clubs anymore. If you guys have an opportunity for someone like me to just be an opening act for someone like, yeah, I would. I would prefer to do that now because I was I was. I was tired, bro. And then they gave me Jill Scott's tour. They gave me ten dates on Jill's twenty anniversary tour, but we only did one did Radio City Music Hall. And it's

funny how how this whole thing works. And this is no knock to anyone. This is really about how how life works. I was the opening act. I was the warm up act, so my DJ booth was in front of the curtains. Yeah, that was the front. No, you cannot, that's left. But the stage looks like I don't knock it, you know what I'm saying. But I did that one show and then did a couple of more shows and then you know obviously like super Bowl and everything, and

then and then pandemic hit. So before that though, before that, because this is this is this is something that was very near and dear to me and watching what y'all were doing, you and our brother Kenny Burns Nice the nice and Burns right, because that was something that kicked off before the pandemic. And that was when I say, y'all was burning ship down. Yeall was like on some real fly, we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna look good, the music gonna sound good, and we're gonna turn this

thing up right. So that so is this is that before you start doing the opener stuff. No, No, it was always Kenny and I've been doing this since like around two thousand and ten. Okay, we started doing it with the party in Atlantic Soul Fusion, and then we would do it every every like quarterly in Detroit. It

wasn't like the way we do quarterly. Inded Troy, Yeah, because we had a buddy out in Detroit by the name of Dennis Archer, and Dennis would throw a party out in Birmingham, Michigan, and he was just you know, he's an attorney. His wife at the times to judge and yeah, yeah, yeah they had it. Yeah, they had gone. Yeah.

So but he was like he was the dude. He was like he was on the scene, like yeah, he would do these Flis parties and he was like, Yo, I need you and Kenny, It's gonna be flot And Kenny and I are like, all right, cool, Kenny's going host. This is when we really started doing it together. But the thing about Kenny and I, which was dope, we both had our own We're both unique, we had our own background, our own stories. So we didn't do every

show together. We just found like a few, like the wedding and a few things like that that we would do together. But yes, but whatever we did, whenever we did something, it was special, you know, and we would kind of reserve that for like Essence Fest or something like that to do like the parties, but like, yeah, but that stuff, you know, Rocke McKenny is is the easiest thing, man, because we know each other's sensibilities and music sensibilities, like I know when to switch that up.

I know when to change it up because I know if I echo something now, Kenny's gonna say the right thing, and then I could just bring something totally different than that would just excite everyone. So we never talked about music. We never talked about what he's gonna say. It's strictly based on here, based on this feeling that we trust

each other. And you know, sometimes he'll come over and be like, yo, trust me, this is the one right here, you know, like and then I'll play a swag surfing like I was never really in this wag surfing, you know, like because that wasn't my scene. He's going he's going to surfer. Yeah, but like yeah, but you know, our vibe was always dope man, and you know we were we were continuing to build it even more. But then that pandemic hid and then it's like we were separated.

And then, you know, because of what happened, it just to my career to like some crazy, crazy heights man. And so when the so when the pandemic hits, yeah, let's talk about that. Let's talk about the initial right, because there's the conversation that a lot of us don't talk about of the full shutdown, Like it was so different for a lot of other other industries, but for the music business, where we had to literally get out and touch the people, it went quiet. I'm talking about

radio silence. So when that first hits, right, because y'are doing nice and burn show, you're doing your own shows, y'all, y'all like y'all really cooking. You're cooking, y'all cooking, y'all moving around. This money seems like it's never ending because it's just it's like a continuous hit record. You can always go get a bag, and then they say the story is closed. The store is closed. The store was closed, bro. It wasn't closed for me for long, but it did

feel that way because that's when the you know. So the reason why I went on and played it wasn't that I was trying to find like I wasn't trying to find hobbies, you know, Like I was really just frustrated, bro, because I you know, I'm self managed. I've always been self managed. I got a team, but like it's me, I handled the deals, you know, like I talked to everyone because you know, for someone like myself. You know, I just always a new win to make the right deals.

Like A knew when to say no, I'm not going to charge that person that amount of money because I see what this deal is gonna do. Who's gonna be in that room. They may not have this budget. You know. Sometimes when you have representation, they just people just want to take, take and take. And I never really operated that way. I was always like nahnu, yeah for you, what makes sense for me? You know. And then you know, and when when the pandemic hit, you know, when I

was home by myself. Look, you guys traveled a lot, you know, Like I know who you are and what you both accomplished in your careers. We're never home, you know, but you were also in relationship, you know, married at the time. I don't know what your status is, but like there was always someone home making sure that home was great. I was another at home, you know what I mean. Like I had moved to l A a year before, so a pandemic, I wasn't home until the

day before the shutdown, so I had no food. Everybody had broken into the stores, you know, So I was in the stories and I'm you know, at the time, you know, I had a little bit of paper, it didn't matter. I had to buy a line of beans, you know what I mean, and protein bars, you know, and and you know, just things that I don't know, you know what I'm saying, whatever it is that I could get for for this two weeks because everything was

shutting down. And you know, when I was sitting at home and I was looking around, I was like, man, I didn't like where I lived because I had moved to l A a year before, but I was never home to take time to, like, you don't know where you lived, like decorate. I had like four pictures on the wall when you walked through the door. That's literally it.

No art, nothing. I didn't personalize anything, you know. The sofa that I had in there was was the sofa that I had in my New York apartment, which was much smaller. Now I'm in the spacious kind of loft. So when I was looking around, I was like, man, I mean, I gotta sitting here for like for weeks by myself. This is what I did. And I was frustrated, you know, Like so when I got up that morning and um and I went live for the first time

on Instagram um, because I never used Instagram Live. I used Facebook Live, you know, um for the Essence Fest. But I never did all of the lot of stuff. And what was the other one periscope? Ever did any of that? I'm like, who wants to look at me? You know what I'm saying? Like I didn't. I didn't see what what it what it could have become, you know, Like I was just on some wants to sit there and like spying someone's life, you know what I mean. Like,

so it wasn't my vibe and hill. I sat there at that counter and I was like, man, I'm just gonna play some music and tell some stories. And over my laptop up selected a song and I started, I know what the first song was. I was just about to ask you. Yeah, it was a song called Rising to the Top Kenny Burke, And that was my first song. And I started my I g queue that up, and I started telling stories about being a kid, like yo. I was like, oh my gosh, there was two hundred

people in here. This is kind of cool, like yo, yo. And then I would see like my friends in there, Chuck Bone, and this is when I was like we're all in there Blue Williams, and like I was like, oh, yo, no, you know, no, DJ gives just my laptop with the phone sitting and I'm looking at it reading like yo, this is crazy, Like yeah, I'm gonna play this song from like when I used to walk into clubs in like nine six when I first came on the scene and Bruce b was playing this and this is this

was like the anthem. This was the Queen's anthem and this was what they were playing Hallom with Bruce b B was jan at the roof top and I play a song and then people were like commenting like yo, this is dope. Yeah, and I was like yo, And I wouldn't even play the full song because I knew you could you you couldn't play music on Instagram. I would just play a little bit of it. Then I would switch it up, like yo, remember you know this Dennis Edward joint was just rocking, and I would play

a little bit of that. That's literally how it started. And I did that for like hours, like three hours in the first day, and it was like two people. And then I knew John Legend had started doing his thing too, So the next day I hit Hassan Smith up. I was like, Yo, I just noticed that you can go live with someone. You think John would go live with me? And he was like, yeah, I'll call just your man, I'll call him. So he called John and then I started calling all my old school hip hop friends,

like YO called Deggie Fresh. I was like, Doug, Yo, go live to me and say hi to the people like I've never done a lot yet people. I was just trying to make the ship fly. Yo, just come in and Doug was like, I don't even know how he tried. He didn't know how to join the conversation. It's way more people didn't Doug. That did Junk try to get on there, you know, Duncan figured out. Then the first person that I went live with was I

believe I'll be sure. It was I'll be Sure that went live with me first, and he was, you know, he was all on his outbeat. Then Kane went live with me. Dave Chappelle went live with me, but not he didn't have Instagram, so it went from his wife's account, you know what I'm saying. So they was just watching TV and they were they had the music going on in the background. Me on the background when they was

his partying. But Dave went live and talked to the people, and then um the one that I noticed because I wasn't paying attention to how it works. Now I remember I'm a programmer. When I went live with John Legend and he had his daughter Lula on his shoulders and we were just he was just saying how to the people. I looked at the numbers, and my numbers went from like that. It was like at that time floating around three hundred. That joints the six thousand, and I was like, wait,

what the fund just happened? And then usually like when I'm done, I just analyzed everything and I was like, oh my gosh, it's telling people. It's notifying that other person's like whoever they're on with telling their people, because that joint went to six thousand, and then when he left it went down to one thousand. Like now I got a thousand people in there, and I was like, oh ship, Like no one knew all of that. This was early. No one was using I g Live like that.

There didn't no one like in that week it increased because of what I was doing, like no bullshit, So no one knew what was going on? Like, and I saw that and I was like, oh my gosh, this

is crazy. And I was indeed and this was now I'm just having like conversation and playing songs and then back to the and then I decided to call it a party because I called I called Clark kent up and I was like, yo, bro, like this actually feels real, you know, like you know, I don't know, like I'm happy and here my speakers allowed, so it felt like I was in the club. It was like at this point, too, you're in an apartment. I was in an apartment. Neighbors,

how did you? How did you deal with that? I mean, I couldn't kick you out of the pandemic, so it wasn't like they could give me out, but they were banging on the walls and it was like, yeah, very annoying. It felt uncomfortable because I'm not I don't like confrontation and I also like respecting people's space. But they didn't see what I was seeing. But I was seeing what they did. They know that, yeah, but they don't even they didn't even know who d Knights was because I

ended up meeting the neighbors. They had no idea who I was, which is a funny story too. But like when I called Clark, I was like, I'm gonna call I'm gonna name this a party because before that people started reaching out to me. Now like you know, you know chicken spots, you know, I got the call from like someone from wingstop. That was like I knew, I knew it was cracking. When a girl asked me, she was like, and she knows you too, but she was like, do you know where? Do you know where? Do you

know where there lives? No? Listen, listen, listen, it's crazy, but I don't. She's like, would you would you mind like, you know, just calling him and getting his address because I want to. I just want to take him something, so I just want to deliver it. I'll just leave it at the door. I just you know, he's just over there by himself. I'm like, oh, he's craggy, jaty get him jaety, oh ship. We just want to drop off the food. Yeah. Then I started getting food. Yeah,

I'm pretty I'm pretty listen. We won't say, but I'm pretty sure I called you got your address? Ye sitting they were sitting food. They would have the chefs make like yo. It was that first week was like things flipped quickly, like and it was really because I never I didn't ask anybody for anything. Like I was just like, I'm just gonna play some music because this feels good,

like I was. Then I became addicted to it. Then I was like, yo, I'm gonna When Clark said that, I was like, I'm gonna go and get some gear because I didn't have DJ gear at home. And I made it to like guitar Stan I like thirty minutes before they closed. If I didn't make it there, I wouldn't none of this happens, you know. But I made it there. You had no gears. No, I didn't believe in having like gear at home, you know what I'm saying.

Like I lived in an apartment. I didn't want to walk in my living room and see like like turn tables. That just wasn't sexy to me, you know. Um So I didn't have anything. But like now I'm stuck in the house, I need something, and um man, I bought that controller. And then that's when I posted home school, and this dude right here was like call it home school. That's terrible. Man. I was like it's homeschool. Because by that guy, I thought I was you know, I thought

I was warting something. I was like, this home school, I'm teaching these cats about music. You know what I'm saying, like, Yo, I'm educating you on the classics right now. He's always gonna call you with it. That ain't their chick. Yo. He definitely said that, and he was like, what do you mean, I'm hot. He was like, no, it's not in like homeschool. Like that's cool. You should call it club quarantine. Wow. Yeah, yeah, I owe you on that one. Brother.

He was like, you should call it club quarantine. People thought I sold the name club quarantine from other people, and I'm like, yo, I really just got it from this. Maybe he did, but I didn't listen. No disclaimer, no, no disclaimer, no disclaimer, no. I just for me, that's what it was. It was club quarnine. It was you literally brought the club to the quarantine. It was. Now if someone else was saying that, I don't know either because I but I wasn't watching anybody else since so

I wouldn't even know. People were definitely like I had club quarantine and I didn't know if you did if you started a Yeah, your first day we was on and we was telling everybody body, y'all, make sure you know who was he who was a heavy promoter for you. Tyrese Gibson was really And that's crazy because you probably just didn't even know, but Tyrese was promoting Club Quarantine as if he was because he was just so excited and he loved what you were doing that much. I

just I remember that. I remember that, and and that's something, like I said, that's something you should know because as brothers, a lot of times we don't understand sometimes the people that are pulling for us, and we think we're doing you know, we think we're out here by ourselves, right, we think that, man, I'm just I have somebody, and there are people that are literally pushing you forward without even you know, without absolutely I mean that's how we

got excuse me, so many people in there, you know, Um, there were a lot of people like that, Yeah, that were literally sending sending to each other, sending d ms like oh d nights on, getting like reminding each other everything. But like it was really the conversation started. Yeah, it was a community. Then it took on a whole another.

It became a whole of the monster were like you were actually talking to people and telling people what you was drinking and what you're about to order from the bar, and like like I'm doing the running Man right now, what you do. Like it became that the commentary was the better, the commentary the best. You see real different people tap in, you see them blue checks and people like it was going up. It was it was going up.

And I think aside from your gift, which obviously drove it, it was the fact that people were genuinely they were genuinely happy for you because all of us that had encountered you in real life, I knew the guy you were, and we were really happy about something good happening to a good person, And I think that was something that pushed us to promote, to talk about it, to tap in to you know what I mean, like like just like you said you just like man, I just be random.

I've randomly called j about different things, but just even that, it was like, no, this is my friend, but yeah, he cracking, And we've all had friends who get cracking. But it was different, I think for everybody associated with you, because we were just like he deserved this because everybody hadn't experience the d nice party either, because you became very corporate for a minute, were you was you was getting your corporate back. You just weren't you know what

I mean, You wasn't at every single club. They couldn't experience you like that. So now everybody and every Middle America and and you put R and B in a different heaven, heavy heavy, heavy, R and B. You put R and B and out. I love the record you and Neo did. Yeah, like you was really tapping in. It's yeah, you did so much with with that one thing, like you. I mean, it's monumental. So to see how it grew into like going to the Hollywood ball a man,

Yeah that was crazy, bro, the Hollywood Bowl rocking like that. Yeah, it's crazy going back next year too, Yeah that was crazy. Yeah. Yeah, that's to me, that is where that's what CQ represents because that was like the entire pen the entire early

part of the pandemic all I imagine. I couldn't think of any other place that that felt like I was like, man, when the world opens up, I just want to play the Hollywood Bowl because the Hollywood Bowl was the reason why I moved to l A. I had gone to a concert there, like a Lauren Hill concert, and I was it was Lauren Hill and like Dave Chappelle, and I'm like, yo, you mean you can party outside, but I've never been there, Like wait, you can sit here and party and drink wine in your own box in

order food. Yo, they had blankets. I was like, my part with blankets. You know, got blankets and listen, you got some offering. And he was. He was the full kicker of club Quarantine, the prettiest women in the entire world. No, no, I definitely have some beautiful phones. Oh my god. Like I'm like, I'm like Tank one night one night, because because one night, you know, I used to be I just be fooling around and I'm in there playing music. I always get kicked off for playing songs so way

too long, playing songs in a way too nasty. And one night d Nice literally brought his people. I was like, yo, go there, we're gonna go. Let's flood his page. I turned all the way up. What I was like, Oh yeah, okay, y'all didn't know I could get this. I didn't know he was a nasty I'm like, yeah, I'm just happy that you know some of the corporate people maybe they

were there, maybe you know now. But you know what's so funny though, there's I Menna leave her name out, but she's a huge, huge She's huge at one of the film companies, like huge, like CEO type huge like. And I had a chance to speak with her and like about a week ago, and she was with a buddy. She was like, you know, she knew that we knew each other, and he put her on the phone and man, this woman, she was like, you have no idea. I love you like I listened to you in the middle

of the night. So that means she was listening to the slow songs that I was playing, was extra nasty, Like she was like, yeah, I would wake up, I would shower them. You were on. Like it really became u it became a thing, and it was something that people really look forward to, you know. And that's and to me, that's what made like the Hollywood Bowl and these gigs that I have so special. That when you

look into that audience, you see a little bit of everyone. Yeah, you know, you see a little bit of everyone different backgrounds and coaches and because that's what it represented, man like, you know, And the thing that made it easy was the music that I played represented love. You know. I didn't really thug it out. I think I went in your comments and tried to get you to drag it

out a couple of times. You up, because in my mind, what I saw on the other end of the phone was people listening with their families, and I wanted to be respectful of that. You know, I haven't you know, at the time, she was eight. You know, I haven't eight year old. You know, I don't want to hear like crazy with the kids. Sure we danced with kids, you know. Like so that was that that that was on my mind. And I remember, like, um, a few months ago, like one of my friends was in town

and she came over and she just stopped by. She was like, do you mind if I stopped by for a minute. I want you to meet this kid. And she pulled up. Her friend was driving. They pulled up and I went outside the hat on. I'm thinking, I'm gonna meet like a kid like, you know, eight or nine, roll down the back window on his kid turned around and his eyes lit up, and she said, who is that baby? This little kid was two years old and he was like, it's d nice, and I thought about it.

I was like Elmo to this kid because I was always probably on his mother's screens or on that you know in the kitchen. You know, like that's all he saw for like two years. So like it too, even to the kids, it means something, Yeah, yeah, that's wild, bro, it's wild, and it's it's I don't want to say why in the negative way, it's just it's just beautiful. Man, Like to know your music, your music, you know, Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, you know, Level forty two, Like all of

this music kept people dancing. You're dancing your kitchen and ship that you probably didn't even know, but it just felt good and your kids were dancing. You're just having a good time and you know you probably were in there kick in the kitchen cooking and the vibes felt good. And the next thing, you know, like now you know that song, like not too many people was playing Melbourne more.

You know right now, shout out to Melbourne more like Melbourne because now I now interact with Melbourne more because of Club Quarantine. Stephanie Mills and Legends she was in there every day. Now rogers forget about it. Now, I was in there everything like yo. And then now it's like when they see me out, they're like yo. You know, like Melbourne. Melbourne just she's getting her star in Hollywood Walk of Fame and when she posted about it, she

was like yo. Oh. A lot of this to d nice because he reminded people who I am, you know, like you see an icon leave comments like that. It's like wow, like you know, I don't want to make it light, you know that. I was just playing music, but I selected those songs to play when the world was listening because I wanted to remind people of what what love felt like musically, Like sonically this this feels like love, you know, even if you didn't know what

they were singing, that rhythm something. How could you not How could you put on David Boy's fame and not feel like you want to lean your hat to the side or something like the drums and that guitar like or you just want a head not you know what I mean? Like, how could you not play like you know, um, Marvin Gaye Distant Lover and I feel like you want to pour a glass of wine in front of the world, like, Yo, this is what we're listening to right now. Let's this

is it right now? We used to slow dance. Let's slow dance together all over the world in your living rooms. Yeah. So I couldn't have like a Hollywood Bowl without having Tank you know what I mean? Because I was playing those records in the middle of the night, like everyone knew what Tank record I was playing. I was playing dirty like crazy, yo, dirty record. I was like, I played one that I was like, God, damn ye. This ship is nasty, but it's sexy. All types of what

I'm doing with this pillow and a pregnancy music. I put your face to the pillow, so listen, so listen on that note, on that note. Nice, You're a superstar, right and you've you've had success before, You've been known before, but now you are, you're an international star. How does that feel? Because it's it's it's different and managing that

it's different. It's different, you know, like before before the world opened up and when this thing was like blowing up crazy, I was on the zoom call with like it was like puff Jay. Then he asked it was Lenny asked his birthday and we're all in this and I was I was still on c Q DJ and but I would play a song and run back to the laptop, like and I'm in this whole conversation with everyone and like and then Jay kept going, Yo, how does it feel? And I'm like, you're talking about bro.

He's like, how does it feel? He's like not not really, I'm not trying to be an asshole, like how does it feel? It's like, yo, bro, I had success before. He was like, no, you had success, and you had a couple of hit records, but this is different. I didn't know what he meant because I was still at Z asking Jay Z like yo. I was still at home, So I'm like, I don't know if this dude is

talking about your new fan. Yeah at this point, right, you know, I was like, Line was like, yo, Jay, chill man Shi Like he was like, no, I really want to know because this is different. I didn't know until until we put that Hollywood Bowl on sale. Give the people how fast that thing? So that thing sold out in like four days? Man, Like the Hollywood Bowl.

Oh yeah, like in like four or four or five days, sold out, sold out, and then they were reserving some tickets because it was selling so quickly that they held a bunch of tickets because they were like, yo, we

gotta make sure like artists got tickets or whatever. But then when they released the artist tickets, those drinks sold, you know what I'm saying, it was like, holy sh it, you know, and like the one thing that mattered the most to me, well, one of the things that mattered the most, not even the one thing, but it goes back to the days of like opening for Jill and

remembering where they had me, not jail per se. I just never want to say it's about the artist, but like you know, when they set up everything, they're like, oh, he's just the DJ, and having that DJ booth in that corner, I was like, my joint is going to be front and center the castle at L E. D One, I was like, yo, I'm gonna have every top on top.

But I also wanted to make sure that every artist felt love when they came out, that it switched from my logo to big gas tank on you know what I'm saying, and every time someone walked out because it was that's what I personally feel like I represented inclusion and love and like you know, we're all doing this together, you know, so you know, I just remember sitting in that dressing room and take to sit there. He was like, you're DJ, You're sold out the Hollywood Like what the hell,

I've never played the Hollywood Bowl. Hollywood. He's like, Yo, you got the Hollywood Bowl. Like this is wild and that's that's why I'm playing, Like, you know, like when you know I'm playing Carnegie Hall next week, man, and that you know that that feels crazy too, where I'm like, man, I got my own night at Carnegie Hall. Like I went specifically to Carnegie Hall to see, you know how they have like the little billboard posters on the side of the on the side of the building. And as

I walked up, and it's funny. As I walked up, Um, one of the guys from New Kids on the Block was walking up at the same time, and he's just like yo. D turned around him and I was like, yo, I'm trying to find my poster. He was like, I'll go with you. And then we walked over and just stood there together and we were both sitting there like because they had never played Carnkie all either. And I

think he's working on something right now for Carnegie. But like we just stood there and we just looked at and I was like, man, this is wild. This is some wild ship. Man. Like, so not only did it it makes me or you know, kind of put the spotlight on me with fans and like I was able to just play all of the music. But I've also met a lot of artists that I just personally adore, you know what I mean, Like, you know, like you and I, all three of us, we've always been cool.

But like I think the pandemic slowed everything down, and like seeing your names popping all the time, it was like, Yo, these are my brothers, you know what I mean, Like you could have just been doing your own thing, but you chose to come and you chose to be Like, yo, you should call it quarantine or whatever. You know. The first person I hear about, you know, doing the bowl. Because I didn't know how to ask artists. I didn't know, like, ye know, I want I want to see if some

artists will come out. I didn't know how to ask. I was like, man, I didn't know I had your number, But I was like I can't call this man, Like I don't I want him to say no. So I called him. He's like, take to that, man, I think it to it and you did. You did most of them, bro, And you know, like I got somebody didn't want to be not on anything like Jay. So when what's what's what's the schedules, what's the schedule. I'm pulling up. I'm

pulling it up. I'm pulling up. He's like, don't even worry about it, you know, like I just want to be there and that come on, man, Like now, but we're we're really about brotherhood, man like seriously, Like we don't. We don't say that as just some you know, slogan or something little, you know, tagline, Like we really mean it. Like when we fool with you, we fool with you.

I mean obviously you've seen that with us, and I think we've been we've been in this industry long enough to see the other side of it, the foolishness, the dark side, you know, the crabbing, the barrel of the whole thing. And instead of complaining about that, we're just like,

we'll just operate different. What operate friend, and the people that we choose to deal with will operate different with them so that they know Oh, these guys moving a different space and hopefully, you know, as corny as it may sound, hopefully somebody will experience that with us and then pass it and move it and pay it forward. That's not corny at all, bro, Like that's the way it's supposed to be. Pay it forward, you know, Like,

and that's that's the vibe. I'm one man, Like I just want to share it with people, you know, like even even the artists that I select, you know, like a lot of artists, you know, when you talk about like a Hollywood Bowl or talk about the Carnegie, you know what that many like hip hop artists and most black artists that played the stage weren't really are be they were doing like jazz or or you definitely want rap,

definitely right, and you're incorporating all of that. So I'm incorporating that, you know, like you know, I got I got Kane, and I got Jada Kiss. He's gonna do We're gonna make it Carnegie with the orchestra what yeah, yeah, you know what I'm saying, Like I'm on that mission. I'm like, how do we how do we like started corporating real music and not just the drummer like because normally, if dudes aren't on tour with a string section at all and a horn section, that's all synthesizer, you know

what I mean, Like in Stems and No. Bro, I'm like, we're still gonna have the elements of that record because I'm still DJ, and but I you know, I created a whole set list for like the artists in the way it's gonna flow so they can write charts to it so they understand like I want this, yeah, and it's like a DJ experience, but with these live elements that so you're still gonna hear. Yeah, it's bro that part, Like, man, I wake up every day thinking about that. Man, Like, man,

this is going to be like the whole thing. You know, see how smooth do when they reminisce over you with real horns out of here with the strings on top of it. I'm excited, Bro, we gotta pick your brain. All right, Let's do it a couple of seconds. You know you play a lot R and B, Yes, a lot plethora. Okay, I want you to give me your top five R and B artists, My top five R and B artists that I love to play. Um Stevie Wonder Prince. I love playing Michael Jackson, I love playing

um Marmon Gaye, and I love shot Com. That's a cold list. Yeah, that is a cold list. Yeah, yeah, that's what that's what I love playing. Yeah, you know they're gonna be some Beyonce in terms of like what I love from my spirit and I play that as a DJ. Hold on, let's get into that. Let's get into that top five R and B songs or albums. You can mix it in or you can just go songs from from a DJ S perspective, song not through songs. Um, there's a Prince song that I I don't it's it's

something about these core progressions that I just love. It's a song called dirty Minds. Like you probably don't know that song. Do you know that I love you dirty Minds? I love Prince. Oh yeah, dirty Minds. You know there's just something about that record that when I play that, you know, Tank gre Up in the church, so he didn't get you here. My mama's favorite artist and the only light skin man she was ever in love with. My mama, you know, she high yellow. She she only

loved dark skiing man. But Prince, he was the one Light Skin so yes, I record. I grew up listening to Prince. That record moves me, Um, Alexander O'Neill, Charelle stay love that moves me like that? You know? Uh me? Think of another old Stevie Wonders. Do I do? Yeah? That that moves it? I mean, am I the only one that here? Is Ja Rue? Every time that comes on now though I don't hear Joe, Okay, I find it fine. Um that's three. That's three, um man, and

there's a shocker in there. I'm just trying to decide which Shaka I know you, I live you. Do you know that song? I don't know that record. Oh my gosh, Shaka Khan, I know you, I live you. You play it? I know it? Yeah, I know your settlers, you play it. I know. I just can't and I can't sing because I would I would be singing right now. Sure you don't want to try. I don't want to try to

just do like I did with y'r route No. No. Number five, number five, number five songs that I enjoyed playing all about the Benjamin's I can't even like I'm gonna take that every time I play that every where you are. I know we said R and B, but no, no, not come on, Puff needs to be in the conversation. I mean, because he's not only a rap legend. You gotta really go and figure out Puff Daddy and what he's done in a shout out to love, Let's make an R and B votron. Who are you gonna take

the vocals from? Who are you going to take the artistry from in terms of style and and the visual? And who are you going to take the performance from? Those three pieces? Let's start with the vocals. Who you can get the vocals from? Prince? For the vocals, Prince could do anything with vocally. He was anything you know, Um, style, do you want your artists to look like you want to put on any crack it? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, Lenny, Lenny,

Yeah yeah, yeah. I see what you're doing now with the whole Prince vocal No, no, didn't see what you ask Yeah. Performance performer, performance, Um damn, that's that's a that's a tough one for me. Michael was a dope performer, but like it wouldn't go with that style like old Michael,

like young Michael when he was a kid. That Lenny Kravitz looked was his style and used to stuff like I used to like I was never really into like big stadium, Michael Jackson, young kid Mike with the hat to the side like he was, yeah and man like with a child's heart. Yes, exactly, I knew exactly what you're talking about. So like that, that style of performance,

but but not with the Prince vocals. And then Lenny Look, so who would that be Jeesus transfer, Oh my goodness, Teddy Pendergrass when he was like when he was because he made he made women. Yeah, with the open silk shirt, with the open silk shirt, might be three po chains, might see taco me little husky voice, and it was aggressive. He was aggressive, Yo, you got you got just thing about the way he's sang turn them off the scream he's about to play that in the car headed back home.

But he was a performan. I don't turn him goddamn like it was a performan like I don't even think you could do what he did back then, throwing all women concert. You can't, you can't, you can't, can't, you can't, you can't the man listen, it's it's it's coming back. Yes, it's coming back. Yeah, it's coming. It's going back. We

were We've gone through it. We're gone through this stage of trying to be cool for each other instead of being cool for who we need to be cool for the woman that's who we really need to be cool for because everything revolves around man and we've been in this space. But it's it's coming back. I got put on suits in front of Instagram Live for you I hope.

I was like, Yo, this was one of my friends called me and she said this was probably like the first after the first weekend of like really blowing up. And she said, I'm gonna say exactly what she said, so excuse the language, ladies. She was like. She called me, she said, Yo, you're gonna have these bitches falling in love with you. I'm like, what are you talking about? She was like, d your whole audience nothing but women. And at that point nobody was connecting it to their TVs.

You were literally holding it on your phone. And she was like, these women are just looking at you, like for hours, that's all I'm looking at this you. This is crazy, and you're playing the music that they love. They're gonna think you'll sing these songs and I was like the essence or word. They definitely did. Like, you know, women used to find where I lived and show up downstairs with the kids waiting, like what did you say with the kids? Yo? With the kids, like these are

our kids now? I like how he said, but he's about to say something that you had to tell one what I had to tell one woman? Because I went downstairs, I thought, um it was I thought it was like l L was kind enough to like have a chef make food for me, you know what I mean, because at one time gift like yo. So then I ended up and don't even chef sugar for She's always on

I g but like, oh yeah, she gets busy. But you know when when I was expecting this delivery from her, So when concierge's called and was like, hey, there's someone here for you, if that person was coming at the same exact time, so I was like, oh, let me go down and get food. So I was hungry, you know, I didn't had a real home cooked meal like that. So and I'm looking for a woman with food and all I saw I was like this woman with like two kids. And then I went over and I was like, hey,

you here from me. She was like, yes, it's me. Like during the pandemic, a lot of people are lonely, and dudes used to pray on women, so they would create like a fake d Nice account and be like, oh, this is my private this is d Nice, this is my private account. You know, I'm gonna talk to you

from here. So it made them think that they were talking to me, and I was like and then she had a kids, and I was like, man, you weren't talking to me, you know, like unfortunately, you know, plus, you shouldn't bring your girls out to just meet someone like that, you know, like it doesn't really you know, it's not gonna be good for them. You know, it's not. It's very dangerous out here. But it used to be a lot of things like that. You know. Like one woman, man,

she moved from Chicago, she left her husband. I'm not making this up. I had never spoken to this woman ever, not wanting not one conversation, and she moved to l A. So I made the mistake. This is why I moved into my house because when I first moved to l A, I only had like a hundred and fifty thousand Instagram followers. So you know wherever I took pictures didn't matter. You know. I remember sitting on my sofa and I lived across the street from the Stable Center, and I took this

lit picture. But if you had gone back through my Instagram, you knew exactly where I was there. And I was like, oh my god. I wasn't expecting what happened to happen,

you know, to like pandemic kids. And then millions of followers now like I would have never done that, um but this, you know, women, there were so many crazy stories man, like you know, one of my favorite ones was, you know, this woman sent me a video because I used to when I would do like my c Q after dark and I was playing tain dirty and I dimmed the lights. I'm licking my lips and ship you know what I'm saying. People, I hold, I'm breathing back,

I'm playing with the buttons. They started calling me spirit fingers and I'm like, I'm doing this and I'm talking yo. I'm over here, like yo, I'm gonna play with it. I'm gonna let this breathe. I'm gonna play with it. Then I slow it down and stop the record. Boom boom. Now pressing the past boom boom boom, two fingers faby two figures like that was I was out of control, bro I was entertaining myself ro a couple of beverages. In definitely need beverages. You know. This woman sent me

a video. She was naked, she had the iPad, she was holding the iPad up with her with her knees. She had her phone, and then she was masterbating with me in the background when I'm like yo, and you can hear me saying, yo, let me play with it. And she's like, yeah, play with the baby, and she's like master me And I was like, Yo, this is wild. Yeah, this is wild. I'm so excited for I was like, no, I gotta chier with this man DJ for presidents. I gotta chill every he said the R and B life

is crazy, man. Thank god. I couldn't sing, and then I would probably be out of control. Listen you you you are fine the way you are. Yeah, yeah, I'm good. You pay to play the red car. Let's say we had another segment for you. But no, no, no, no, no, no no no no, yeah, he's not getting out of outright. Wait, what's the segment so we have a segment. It's called iin't saying no names because there's some names that he cannot say, yeah, but there's some stories he can tell. Yeah.

So the name of it, like I said, this is the segment is called I no names, and the story can either be funny or fucked up or both. The only rule you don't saying no names. I can't say no names. I ain't saying no names. Damn. I don't know if I have one of those stories. Yes you do, Yes, you do. I ain't saying no stories. I don't know if I have Damn. No. I really don't even have

to be from you don't gotta be from Club Quarantine. No, no, because you know what I mean, You've lived five different lives, my brother a lot of lives. Yeah, but I don't retain the information though. That's the problem. Though I'm being serious, like, yeah,

I don't keep it. It's like, I mean, there's somebody who I'm still trying to figure out if I slept with her back of the day because I'm like, I'm like, did I I don't know because the way she showed me so much love and like sometimes you just gotta ask, just gotta ask him, Like I sometimes you just gotta just left it alone. I was like, I'm gonna assume that we did. But you know, I want to know what I'm like, you know, yeah, I don't know, but I don't. I don't. I don't know, man, I don't

know if my stories. You know, I've always been in relationships, you know what I mean? No, but no, no, no, no, no no no. The other thing, it's not it doesn't have to be those type of stories. They can literally it could be a business story. It could be you know what I'm saying, like even telling them earlier. Obviously it was earlier things and we'll we'll cut this part out.

But like even like when you talked about records you produced or what those situations might have actually like the full stories in a sense of how those situations might have went down with somebody stealing, you're publishing somebody, you know what I mean. Like, I really don't have any those stories, bro, Are you serious? I'm dead as serious. I would tell you if I had one, Like you know, I have one that that happened recently, but I can't say that because it's too recent, Like and there's a

little bit of issue with that one. But other than you can't be the only person to come on here and not tell us a story, though you know you would be the only person who ever come on here and didn't say I ain't saying no names. I'm the only one that you know. I don't start the ship, which I wish I could, like, I mean, honestly can't even think I'm like having like a fucking brain for it.

Like I don't know, like I don't know a story like you know, publishing wise, I only worked with cares, So I'm just using that as a but like, yeah, um man, you know I really don't have one, bro, that's crazy. Yeah, I've had a good life though. Yeah, I'm looking you in your eyes and I'm trying. Really, I really don't have one. I don't have anything that's like I think that's why people rock with me. Man dead as serious. So yeah, there's no no creeping stories.

No I got over in some on, no business deals, none of that ship man, So I can't say any names. And d Nice is just our first ale Nice and throw some tomatoes at n He gave all the good stories. He was another one where he just did see no man you know what. Listen, I know it's somebody crazy, that's Lily your DM. Man. You don't want to say that. It's fine, it's us, you know, give us no no information.

We'll walk away on top. It's fine. Uh. You know, listen, flowers to you, my brother, nothing but flowers, nothing but admiration man, and in salutes. And you know I I personally, um, thank you. You know you played my wedding and you know the circumstance going into that. You were actually a savior in that space for me. So um from me and my wife like like thank you, Like that was I never expected you to do that. I never expected to say I'll do it what I'll do it? Yeah,

I remember when he told me. I was like wait, wait, he said he's gonna do if you renewed your vials, do it then too. The nicest gonna be my DJ. BRO, I said, I don't. I didn't even know what to say. I didn't even know how to thank you. I know how to pay I didn't know what to do. But you know just know that, um that that meant. That meant everything to me, Bro and everything. So I appreciate it.

Thank you for that and continue man, continue to keep um, continue to keep love first, because um, you're in a you're in a very awesome space to where you're able to spread that all over the world. And if if anything is going to change the world or the dynamic, the negative dynamic that seems to be plaguing everything social and everything of all things, it's gonna be love to change.

And it's more it's more likely going to be a song and you're probably gonna play I like that And before before we say goodbye, UM, I do have a story that I'll tell because this is actually an important story. So and I and I won't say any names. When I when I was on the scene, like really just starting to bubble hard in New York, a person that I know was playing like a huge, huge event for the Oscars, like huge and you know, and uh, and

he was extremely arrogant, but we were cool. But when he got that gig, he was like, I was like, man, you're gonna play that? And I say, yo, one day, I want to play that. And he said You'll never laid hmm, like literally said that. And then you fast forward and I'm not gonna tell you which Oscar party, but it was one of the I played four of them. This last oscars, I played the Oscars. I played the Governor's Paul, and played Vanity Fair and I played the

guy Siri Madonna party. And that guy was my opening act at the very party. You know what I'm saying, like people, Yeah, you gotta be nice to people. You gotta be nice to people, you know, like and I did get a kick out of that, like of now, you guys have to honor my ride of request, even though I could have, you know, removed a couple of things. I was like, no, no, no, no, no, because I remember that conversation like a decade ago and then here we are and I was like, oh, I made it. Yeah,

but I won't say any names. So that's my story. So you didn't take the l you didn't take the Eloh folk pockets full and that's what a little baby, because that's what all of the pockets, yeah, is full, ladies and gentlemen. Um man I the brother man just just an amazing brother, beautiful brother man um brother we've all been rooting for and you're getting who all deserved. Yeah, you get I am taking. I'm Jay Valentine and this is Mr Mr d nice and this has been the

Army Money pockets. Y R Money, R and B Money is a production of the Black Effect podcast Network. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the ir Heart Radio, Apple Apple Podcast, or wherever you're listening to your favorite shows. Don't forget to subscribe to and rate our show, and you can connect with us on social media via at Armby Money Podcasts or at the Real Tank or at j Valentine