Every day a week ago, clicks up the Breakfast Club finish for y'all done.
Yep, it's the world's most dangerous morning show to Breakfast Club. Charlamagne the God, DJ NB and Jess Hilarius aren't here today, but LLL Cool Bay Lauren Lerossa is and we got a very special guest celebrating thirty years Man thirtieth anniversary of his ri I double, A certified gold debut album, bona Fide.
John b is here. Man.
What's going on?
Man?
I'm blessed man. Good to be with you, guys, man, thanks for having me.
You know, it's so funny.
I saw you say somewhere I might have been blad TV, Well you were the first white R and B singer, And I'm like, damn you right?
And I remember imber between you and color me back.
I remember, you know, other people being in R and B, but I don't remember any of them claiming R and B the way I have. Like Michael McDonald, you know, you know he's very soulful. You know, Allan Oates, very soulful. The bgs, you know, Liz, you know Tina Marie was an R and B.
You know what I mean?
And she claimed R and B. So that's that's all I basically was saying, is I feel like I was one of the first ones to really claim R and B. You know, George Michaels, he was soulful, but he wasn't an ring.
They were R and B O.
I wonder if that was because they were white, and so the labels probably like, don't say you're RM because that would limit you.
There you go.
Did they tell you that?
Not tell me that? They showed me in their own way, like we want you to work with Diane Warren, David Foster make a pop record, And I'm like, I don't really want to do that, but I'm gonna do it to satisfy you guys. I don't want to look like a difficult artist, you know. But I was like more interested in work with Tupac, you know, more interested in working with Babyface. Warrant is you know, real R and B and hip hop not doing pop music?
What about colling Me Bad? What would they be considered R.
And B but more like Latin R and B because they were more like, you know, kind of with the Latin mixed up. You know what I'm saying a little bit about that. Yeah, they had the me and more, I door, me and more they were saying. So they had that old kind of cross genre thing going on, which is cool because that was new too international you know, everybody involved. No, that's uh it was. It was a great time to see that growing up because I was
trying to have groups growing up in high school. And when we saw Comedy Bad, I was like, oh man, they took our idea. We had a Filipino homie and black homie and me and we used to sing at at lunchtime. So when we saw Colored Be Bad, we were like, oh man, you know, they took our ideas.
If Envy was here, he would say, where'd you get your start? I want to go back? I want to go back. Where did you get your start?
John by Man? You know, just singing in in Altadena, Pasadena and talent shows and you know basically just really loving the music and being around other guys who loved it too, and demoing, you know, basically you know, getting equipment at at an early age enough to be able to make demos. You know, not everybody had a keyboard, not everybody had a you know, multi track recorder, so those things were tools. Back in the day, and I just rather and being outside playing ball or whatever else
everybody else was doing. I was in there writing records and making making songs. And by the time I was sixteen, I had a full, you know, demo ready and just trying to shop it around, and by eighteen I had a deal.
You think that's a lost art, like having to make an actual demo tape.
Like more than one song that defines you.
Absolutely, I think that, you know, now we just go straight to making records. You know, we don't even make demos anymore. I think the demo is the record now, So which is which is? You know, it's cutting a lot of a lot of red tape out of the way. You know. We had to do a whole lot, you know, to get noticed and to get heard. So we were out there hustling.
You know.
I remember my eighteen you know, I turned eighteen my senior year in high school. I was checking myself out of school and going to shop my demo tape, you know, in Hollywood, because I had time. You know, I was like, man, I'm not going to college, you know, I'm getting a record deal.
You know what was demo tape? John be the same as like bona fide John, Did you know a lot of the.
Same records were on my demo? A lot were on my first album. Actually, one of the songs I wrote on my first demo was called I Do What You Say Boo, which was on my second album. We held we held that off for some reason. It didn't make my first album. We just kept that in the wings waiting, and then the second album came and then Sony was like, we want to put that out as a single one.
I was like, yes, because.
That was the first song I sort of wrote and produced one hundred percent myself that was released, But that was on my original demo.
That's crazy to think about because I feel like to a lot of artists now do so much different stuff because they don't know who they are, like feeling wise and sound wise. But you came in strong out the gate, like yeah, knowing that well.
I mean, I was looking up to all my favorite producers, you know, Jimmy jam and Terry Lewis, Babyface of course, and baby Face you know, I'm Teddy Riley, anybody who was making noise at the time. I was trying to reverse engineer what they were doing, how they get that snare sound. How did he get that? You know, and try to you know, make my own sort of version
of that. And you know, you always start off imitating someone, you know, That's the I think all of the greatest artists, I've always had a you know, sort of a muse or someone that they use as an example. And you know those guys with that for me, Babyface, you know, Jimmy James, Terry Lewis. So I just wanted to, you know, basically follow in their footsteps, you know, and learn the chords, learn how to make the beats. And that's what I spent you know, my time doing at sixteen.
Yeah.
Yeah, I've heard you talk about working with Baby Faith and how that helped to shape your career early. What's the most important creative or even life lesson he gave you that you still guide you right now.
Man, keep it honest, Man, just be honest. The more honest you are, I think that's the special stuff that is hard to get.
You know.
It takes time to kind of you know, write those type of records. It's not just a throat, throw together thing.
You know.
Sometimes you'll have a train of thought and it'll just come out in that moment, it's boom.
You know.
I did that one time on this this new album I just released this called Waiting On You, And the title track Waiting on You is actually a song I sat down I wrote in one instance. You know, it's probably about a couple of hours I had this writ you know. But it doesn't always happen like that. But when you have a feeling that you're really trying to convey and your focus, you know, I know exactly what this is about, boom, It's like laser focus. You just
get it done. What about from Jimmy Sam, Terry Lewis, Jimmy James, Terry Lewis, don't be afraid to be as exotic as you want to be with with R and B. You know, R and B is so vast of a style. It's not just one thing. You can't put it in a box. And they showed me that. You know, they've incorporated so many different you know, textures in their music, and I love that about them. They really really helped me kind of find my own style through theirs.
You know, I always wonder, man, I guess this is a question for Jimmy jam and Terry Lewis, and baby Face, but even I guess you're you're an R and B autist, So you could add, how do y'all feel.
About this news sound?
To where there was a point where R and B and hip hop blended so much you couldn't tell what was what The hip hop waters was sounding like the singers. The singers would sounding like the rappers. I wonder how y'all how'd y'all feel about that?
It was kind of a transition to hear like novice singers, you know, sing and be accepted for that, because back in the day and the nightso'd be like, oh, you can't sing, you know what I mean if you try to do something like that. But now it's like, you know, because if you flip it, and you know, you turn the singer who you used to you know, hearing sing into a rapper and he was to try to rap and do a whole rap song, you know, I don't know,
I don't know if that would work. Yeah, So you know, the fact that we were able to accept the singing from the rappers. I remember back in the day, R and B and hip hop didn't really they didn't really gel like that all the way in the nineties, we were still saying, oh, man, you know you dress an R and B.
You know what I mean? You look at real R and B over there.
This is hip hop over here, and you couldn't really play hip hop music at the same time of day as you played R and B. It was not mixed up. So when we did are you still down? You know, it was very very much against the grain. We were doing something that was sort of taboo, you know, and but we were doing it because we wanted to, you know, we wanted that to, you know, be the meeting of two worlds.
You know. How did that collaboration even happen?
Man, just some mutual friend you know, was at the video shoot for how Do You Want It? With Tupac and he's like, Man, he mentioned my name and he's like, man, you know him, hit him up. Pop said, hit him up. So he called me and man put him on the phone and he's like, get down here, man, you know. So I came down there and he's cool, cool as ever.
Man.
We just hit it off. It was chemistry right from the walking through the door, you know, because I was playing my beats for him and he started freestyling right away and just you know, Casey and Jojo was there as well, and I remember there being like, oh, you guys, get that in the studio. You guys got to get that down right there. That sounded like something, you know, And sure enough to weeks later he hit me up and we made are you still down man?
You'all recorded together?
Yeah in the studio, man, I mean I pulled up and my my CD was right there in his in his car, my first CD, bona Fide. He had it like just right there in the front where I could see what he was playing, you know, and I said, oh, man, you might you might have been listening to my music or whatever. You know. So when I walked in, I
felt real good about that. Like, you know, he was he was there early, you know, he was he was there before I was there, so he you know, he looked forward to working with me and everybody that came into the session. You know, he made sure they knew, like, you know who that is, that's John b Up in there. So it wasn't it wasn't the type of situation where I was coming into the death robe. You know, all these guys in the studio and I didn't matter. He
was like nah, this is he told me. He's like, this is my crossover joint.
Was it all love every time you met? Because he embraced you, but internally, like with other artists, was it always all love or was it like who was this white guy with the arm and be like how audition artists?
When I so one of my prerequisites I told I told Babyface, I said, so, you know, if I signed you know this deal, I gotta work with New Addition and I gotta work with Tony Braxton that that has to happen. He's like, I can make that happen. So
he put me in first with New Addition. And I remember coming to this the studio session with New Addition and being such a New Addition fan that they were all sitting outside of the studio just chopping it up, you know what I mean That before we go in and do the work whatever, we parked our cars and
everybody's outside of the studio. But I was so starstruck that I just walked straight past them and I didn't even say hello, why And I walk into the studio and I'm like like, oh man, you know, because I was a little I was like nineteen, you know, and just these you know, these are my heroes.
They didn't know who you were.
They didn't know who I was an engineer. They thought I was an engineer undercovered. But yeah, man, So I'm in there and they think it I'm the engineer and so I you know, and they come in and I was like, hey, guys, what's up man, you know, and I'm talking to him and I'm John B. You know your John B. I'm like, yeah, man, So like wow, we we didn't know he was white, you know. And it's all good because I wrote the record for him and produced it and everything, and they loved it and
they wanted to cut it. So we were already good. You know. We knew the music meant. That's what you know, we were there for. It was a song called Hey Girl. It never came out, but but the song is dope. And every time I see those guys, we always ask we always ask each other about it. What are we gonna do with that record?
Man?
You know, because it was actually one of the on the Reunion album. It was for the Reunion album. All of them was on.
There, so why didn't come out? You know?
It was there was a lot of records for that album. That everybody. You know, they were working with just about everybody on that album. So I was really honored to have just gotten a chance to collaborate. But yeah, you never know, it probably will come out.
I want to go back to the Tupac thing for a second, because you know, I didn't grow up in that era, so to me, Tupac is like a mythical.
Yeah, I feel it.
How was he when you was around him? Like what was his presence?
Like energy, just like you know when you see DMX, Like how he just kind of glowed as a person around his presence. He just had that just that that thing he did to the atmosphere of the room when he walked in. He just felt his presence. A lot of it was the motivation that he had. He was such a motivation type of guy, you know, motivating. His energy was about all right, man, let's get this done. Like, let's let's be be present and be in the moment.
Like I don't care if we're drinking Hennessy and we're smoking, it don't matter, Like you better be in the moment, really really putting your best foot forward. That's what he was really about. And I remember one of the things he said was, Man, if you're not doing like three records a day, you're not really doing this.
Man. You know, you need to be productive.
So productivity I think was his main his main sort of like, uh, that was one of his superpowers.
You know when you debuted with Bonafire, speaking of motivation, what was the sound you were chasing?
What was your motivation?
Well, I mean, I will say my first album was very heavily Babyface influenced, and wanted to be one of the guys that he was, you know, collaborating with. You know, I saw how he collaborated with Tony Braxton and with TLC and with Bobby Brown and with so many different other you know artists after seven and all my favorite are and be growing up. So I thought, what would it be like if I allowed him to produce me? You know, what does that sound like? What is our sound?
What our what would our voices sound like? We blended them together on one record. So Someone to Love was our first time getting to do that. And uh, you know, it's it's one thing to be a fan, but then when you get to actually work with the person and you know, and hear all of the lessons learn how how do you put a course together. Oh damn, that's how many notes you have to do on the on
the stack of the backgrounds. Like I remember stacking that course up so many tracks and I had never done anything like that before as a vocalist, so it taught me a lot. You know, just that first session with with with Kenny.
I saw somewhere you turned down a ton of like million dollar deals to stay signed with the baby and his wife. Talk about your loyalty to him, and you know what the decision to be loyal to him, but also how that paid off for you.
Well, I tell you, loyalty when you say you're gonna do something. I'm the type of guy that when I say I'm gonna do something, I'm gonna do it. You know it's not I'm gonna do it if this is you know, if if if I show up and I say that I'm down with you, that I'm down with you, you know, I mean, you're gonna have to do something pretty pretty crucially crazy, like for me to think I get it for the burn the bridge. Like I'm a
very very loyal person. I'm a scorpio. I mean we're loyal, but I mean will say that it feels good to be thirty years and still have gratitude, you know, not only for what I'm getting to do right currently, right now with you guys and everything, this new album and everything and the support and all the collaborations I have on the new album, but everything I've gotten to do, you know, the thirty year career and what that would be. I don't know what that would look like if Kenny
and Tracy didn't give me that opportunity. And I've never lost sight of that. You know, the business and the patience that it takes to be in this business, it's never it's never changed. You know, You're either going to have the patience or not. You know, and certain people just they it's like, you know, I could feel it. It's like the energy, the love for the music doesn't supersede how much they hate the business, so they don't continue with the music. And I don't want to be
one of those guys. I don't want the music to be overshadowed by the business what it is, because the business is a messed up business. Let's let's who has like the story that that needs to be told with as far as like the business is going good, the.
Whole time, the whole times at the time I came in with fantastic you know who.
Has that story? But I think that, you know, that's what That's when it comes down to having the passion for what you do. You know, do you really do you believe it still? Because if you don't believe it, why should we as the listeners, you know. So I hope that what I'm doing currently now with my music conveys the point that, you know, I still love what I do. I have a passion for what it.
Well, you know one thing about loyalty, like you know, you can stand on that.
What is it returned? Yeah, that's the thing, is the return part is that that's where I put it out to the universe. I'd rather put good energy out and because I know that it'll be good coming back. If it doesn't come back, that's where the patience comes in, you know, because I know what it's like to be the guy to sit to, you know, sit and sort of wait for your shot, you know. And I never also wanted to be the sort of the main dude.
I wanted to be a part of the nuts and bolts of what makes this thing, put this thing together. But I'm always been. I've always been sort of a team player. That's where producing really comes in. Is really if you don't need to be the main guy shining all the time, then you can also, you know, make yourself felt in other ways, like produce the track, you know, write the lyrics. You know what I'm saying, Like maybe
just fall in that way, you know. And I've been able to be a part of different amazing projects just doing that, and that's just it's just as fulfilling.
Really, I was gonna say, while we're talking about things being returned, I know that there was like a bit of a back and forth at one point a couple of years ago with you and Babyface over like you were saying that you weren't paid for certain things he was saying and that it wasn't his duty to pay you, and he was kind of like disappointed. He said that you let the narrative go. Where does that conversation stand now with you guys.
Well, it's interesting that he would say that because I was signed to his production if you want to not call it a label. I was signed to his production company, which was called Edmund's Record Group. So that's the deal that you talk about me passing up the other deals so I could sign with baby Face. You know, that's the company that I signed with. Now, they were distributed and they had they were a subsidiary label of Epic Records, So I had basically half my deal with Epic and
half my deal with Kenny and Tracy. But the deal that I signed was a cross collateralized deal with all of the other artists that they had signed to their label. Now, cross collateralized means that basically, whatever those artists spent, whatever they were given advance, any money, I'm responsible for that under my budget to recoup that. So basically none of those artists ever really came out, but they all got recording budgets and they all got living stipings and whatever.
So at the end of the day, it's a lot of money, right. So basically what it was is that I'm in a situation where I'm not only recouping what I'm spending myself, I'm recouping what this entire label was spending, you know what I'm saying, And that's I think that's a great responsibility to put on a nineteen year old kid who's writing, producing everything pretty much himself. But just
wants to work with his hero. You know, that was a great deal to you know, to have to you know, to sign that deal was it wasn't the greatest deal, let's put it like that, but to work with Babyface, you know, that was what I really had my mind set on. So all of the money part, all of the sort of like the business part, I really let that kind of like be not as important. So that's why it's taken so long to get to come full circle.
But it's been so long that they have to come full circle now and that's where that's where we're currently at right now. It's unfortunate that he didn't really have my back, and seeing how loyal I've been all this time by not speaking on none of this, you know what I mean, and people being like, where you been? What's held you back all this time? Well? Really I didn't allow the financial part to hold me back because if I did, I wouldn't continue putting music out independently,
you know, I mean, I'm funding all this myself. So you know, it hasn't been easy. But what really hasn't been easy is to be so supportive of him and then have it not be returned like in a sense of him just knowing what everything that I've sort of like you know, did to have that opportunity to work with him, you know.
And that's what I meant when I said the loyalty being returned. Know about that situation in particular, but just being a loyal person. Yeah, sometimes you sacrifice a lot for yourself, but it don't never come back to the person you're being loyal to.
Don't give it back to you.
And that's on him, you know what I mean. If if that's how he wants to address the situation, that's on him. You know. When we when we've seen each other out in public and stuff like that, when we do shows together, it's not the same, you know what I mean, And we're not we're not really. I mean, we're cordial, but we're not.
You know.
It's the relationship hasn't really blossomed, you know, into what I thought it would be after all of that that I sacrificed in my in my in my career. I would have definitely wanted to see him at my wedding, definitely, one would want to see him to you know, introduce him to my kids. So yeah, like he doesn't even
know my kids. We don't know each other anymore. So it's like that that part of it hurts me, the fact that we can't go on tour together because I don't really know that Kenny even really likes me as a person. Actually, you know, it's it's interesting, but I don't really care because I did what I I did
what I got to do with. I care because I love the guy, But I don't care if a person's going to be negative just to be negative and tell a negative story or sort of like not respond to what the truth is, because the truth is a lot of people sacrifice a lot to work with Babyface and their stories. I don't really get. I don't really think
that they get to tell their story. That story hasn't really been told for the respect of what it was to uphold the you know the you know what, the magic that we were able to create together and to respect that and to leave that alone. Nobody wants to tank the story with like, oh but the business wasn't you know what I mean, and that type of stuff. So I've never been this is the most I've ever
talked about in my entire career. Right now, actually, in this moment, the information I've devoted I said, I wasn't really talk about, but I think it's important for people to understand what kind of deals we're signed back in the nineties, you know, and what kind of deals can still be signed now if you're you know, if you're not careful, just be careful to I will say, as advice to the kids coming up, be careful not to put all your eggs in one basket, you know, because
that's what that's what I did. I put all my eggs in one basket instead of being like, you know, a little bit more patient and just okay, I'll work with you on a couple of records, but I'm gonna have this over here, publishing deal over here, a production company over here. I have my own label from the very beginning, you know. It's basically what I had anyway, because I was paying for everybody's stuff with my own budget, basically, you know whatever.
It's interesting because I wonder about stuff like that because when I think about you know, of course, I think about the face, and then I think about, you know, the TLC situation, right, and I just wonder was that intentional or was that just the business?
Like I don't know, if these people wake up.
And say, hey, we're gonna take advantage of these people financially. I don't know, or was that just the way record contracts were structured, Like I don't.
Know, I can't really speak on anyone else's like sort of why they you know, make contracts the way they do, because really what it does is it just it delays the process of the artist being able to have you know, you know, being compensated for their art. You know, and it's thirty years later and we're you know, we're still addressing all of this. So it's but it's a wonderful process to watch it happen because I know there's a light at the end of the tunnel that's just getting
closer and closer and closer. As far as really was that light, Like well, just getting paid man, you know what I mean at the end of the days, the checks coming, you know what I mean, Oh, from from from epic, from God. Yeah, they're the they're there. The company that all of this was under, that's where all the money came from. But the fact is that all the money that was spent by the label all was recoupable by me.
You say, by the label you're talking about the label with Babyface and.
Baby Face and Tracy Edmonds, the Edmunds Record Group where that was the production company Slash label that I was signed to under Epic. Epic funded their whole thing, see what I'm saying. So all the artists that they were signed signing, the money would come from Epic, right, but the money was also charged to my account. So John B paid for.
Everything, every water, every everything, artists, every studio time, Hey, such and such needs to get a living stipend because they need to get their rent paid.
So the group that signed to them, I'm paying for all of that, recoup all of that. So all those all those budgets have to be paid back before I can see anything. That's the deal that I signed. So that's why it's taken so long. So but I knew what I was signing. My attorney told me, you know what I'm saying, Yeah, he said, he said, listen, it's gonna take a long time.
You're gonna have to sell a lot of records for this to.
You know, for you to come on top.
How many on top?
And you know we've sold you know, if I'm going to count the singles, it's over ten million, easy because I've sold you know, multiple platinum singles, but the albums have gone multiple platinum as well. So my my second album, care Relax I Believe is quaduple platinum. And you know what's cool about saying that is that we don't sell records anymore. So it's like that means that people actually
went out and lot stood in line and people. So when you think about a million people going out by a record, that's like, that's kind of cool for me, you know, and I still celebrate that, you know, just knowing that those albums are part of people's lives, lives, and you know, evidently if I don't play a certain songs, theyn't want their money back in the show. You know, if I don't play that on no, do you think they did that to you?
Because of how white executives have gotten over on black artists. It's a little payback probably, right. Oh, you want to be an R and B artist? You want to be artist? You want to be an R and B artist? Okay, damn old.
A lot? Wow a lot?
Wow?
So yeah, and the and the beautiful thing is it's like, you know, the money is a byproduct of being as successful you can't hide that kind of that type of you know, because that's how successful it was. It was and and still is. It's you know, still being sampled all the time. The records of the Weekend just sample the actually someone to Love.
Oh we gotta I gotta text from my producer. He's an ov ho O v ho and he said, where is it that? Where's that? I just saw it? What was it? He just texted to me, send it to me again?
He said.
Drake sample John B's Calling on a track off of Take Care called Cameras the Good Ones Go interlude.
Yeah. Yeah, anybody that's been near Drake or been sampled, he goes crazy, Yeah.
No, it's it's it's been cool. Chris Brown sample they don't know as well, Gonna and Chloe sample they don't know. Not too long ago. Yeah we we we won't go there, but but yeah, you know, it's just cool to see the music existing in this time, in this era and be I never thought I'd be the guy that got sampled. You know. I was always sampling like old seventies records and eighties records and you know, and thinking, man, you
know that's where you get your samples from. I never thought I'd be part of someone's out selections, So however, I get flipped. You know, it's a beautiful thing to just yeah, be a part of the times.
How How did it feel to hear your fingerprints?
That's cool, man? I mean something about that song they don't know has really you know, it's resonated with people, and not only the song, but the track too. So I got to give Tim Kelly and Bob robertson their their props for such an amazing track because that they keep sampling that track even if they don't take the hook, they love that that track. So yeah, man, I think that's the one we we we just we got that one.
We got we got it right with that one, you know, and if you can have one of those in your career, you know. And yeah, I penned that record myself. So that's one of the songs I'm probably most proud of you.
After bona Fide and you started leaning into your own vision. Did the did the industry understand your vision?
Yeah?
I think so. I think that what most what really showed me was even if the labels don't really understand what was going on, and they're kind of like going with the flow, and they're kind of trusting my creativity but not really knowing how to necessarily market it or you know, they just I was signed to Epics, so they were rolling out the red carpetfore me. Don't don't get it twisted. We were having like three or four rec you know, records on be et playing at the
same time. Like they knew they had to they had to do something. They just had never done it before. So I was sort of the guinea pig for you know, this this thing now that's you know, sort of like you see it all the time now, you know, But I was I was definitely like a you know, definitely trailblazing. Put it like that. At that time. Nobody expected me to be accepted right away. And I think that was sort of like the Shocker was by the second album,
you know it. A lot of that went into the reason why I wrote a hook like don't listen to what people say.
You know. It was like, you know, it's sort of.
Like me, like literally like it was more than just hear saying it was like, no, I think I have a feeling now, like I know what I'm doing, y'all. You know what I mean, so there was a little bit of that that that confidence starting to show itself a little bit more on this second album. I remember the first the first thing I did on that album was cut all my hair off. I just went straight buzzed it off and did the fade because they were trying to, you know, they wanted me to be.
A pop star.
They wanted me to grow my hair longer and get streaks and all this stuff, and I'm like, that's not me, you know, straighten it out and do all this parted in the side, and I'm like, look, you're making me look a little too, you know, I don't know, it just wasn't my look. And so I buzzed it off and Coo relax was or had the season cut, you know, and the beer whatever. And so I just did that on my own.
You know.
That was kind of like how I grew myself when I was in high school. So I just kind of went back to my old style and that was that was a big move because I remember the labels pissed as hell when they saw I cut my hair off. Yeah, just a shape up real quick, and that was more authentic for me, you know, it's just doing me but.
It's crazy to even think back in the day how much image matters, especially when you see everybody not just doing whatever.
Oh yeah, your board shorts and the T shirt. Now you rock a stage, you know, look like you just going to the beach or something Coachella, you know, after not even dressed for a show. I mean, no, I think it's uh, it's different times, you know, we're living it. But one thing I love about R and B is we we are unapologetically slick, you know. We we just
keep the you know, the fashion going. You know, I've always loved R and B and hip hop for that because we've been sort of the leading on the leading edge of that all of that, I think all the other genres of music sort of followed the lead of that, you know, and just every culture, whether you're whether you even like R and B or hip hop, is influenced by the culture of hip hop and R and B, whether they like it or not. It's probably the most influential style.
Absolutely, you know, we have When you look at each album of your career, because you got what ten albums, Yeah, damn, where do you feel the biggest artistic evolution happened for you?
Well?
I think the biggest you know, probably evolution was probably making the record with Tupac because it was the most revolutionary and kind of risk taking. I remember, I felt like I was treading in water that you know, like I couldn't feel the bottom of the the sand no more. I was you know, you when you when you tread out on the beach and you just you know, you're no longer walking on the on the You're like treading water now, you know. So it's sort of like, all right,
you better float or you're gonna sink. You better swim where you're gonna sink.
You know.
I wasn't really in my element with Tupac Shakur and the Death Row scene. That was very much like I was the Babyface R and B element and working with new Addition and Tony Braxton all of a sudden, you know, I'm you know with Tupac. But what it felt like was it was I was in the right place at the right time. We were we had the right energy. And so what that taught me was just you know, step outside your norm and don't be afraid to do
things that haven't been done. Next thing, you know, I'm in the studio with nas, you know, and we're making the record together and jay Z and you know, and so it's it's just been. It's been really first of all, really dope to be one of the first ones to really trailblaze that sort of collaboration between hip hop and R and B, because there wasn't a lot of that going on. And when I started ninety five.
You know, how did you feel when they named Tupac's whole album.
You still down right? His mother? Yeah, his mother, after you know, his passing. I got to meet her actually at his memorial and uh, I sang at his memorial and yeah, she she felt it necessary because she's like, I'm the you know. I told her thank you so much for allowing the song to come out, because she was the main reason why the record got released. She said, Yeah,
my son played that song for me. You know, he didn't play a lot of his music because of you know, you know, he didn't the lyrics, and but that song he felt really confident about and he's like, this is my song. I know you're gonna like this, mom, you know, And she loved it, of course, and that was the last song that he recorded. So Dan the least it
was two weeks, three weeks before he went to Vegas. Man, wow, yeah, I remember because I went to England to go finish my album and and I found out out in England when when he got shot. And I I remember when it happened because I thought, you know, because he had already been shot, you know, and lived, shot in the head and lived. So there was this feeling of like, oh, he's gonna be all right. That's Tupac, you know, it's
like he's superhuman. So there was this like I remember, it was about four or five days of not knowing what was what was happening, right, It was about I don't know how many days, it seemed like long.
Seven. He died on the seventh day, I believe. Man thirteen.
Oh my god. Yeah, we were, we were, you know. I'm trying to work in the studio that's basically like an old renovated Catholic church. It was called Air Studios in England's George Martin the Beatles Engineers Studios, And it's got these cathedral you know walls, you know, it's like an old church with the you know, stangle glass windows. And I'm working in this in this room and my assistant comes in and say, Pop got shot and he's
in the hospital. I'm just like, we gotta call him, we gotta you know, I'm trying to get in touch with them and can't get in touch with him. Of course he can't get through, and uh yeah, we just it was it was really really horrible to go through that because it was like everything that I was looking forward to doing with him. We were talking about wearing suits in the video. You know, we were just, man, we're gonna be so clean. This is about to be you know, this is think about it. This is before
doctor Dren and Eminem had even done a collaboration. No, there's been There was no collaboration really like this ever done. And we both felt like we were doing something special. You know. He invited me after we recorded the song, he invited me to come watch him work on his other tune. He was recording in the other room and he was doing to Live and Die in La in the other room, and I'm sitting there like he's going to play it for him. I think he's just gonna
play it for me. But he presses record and he goes in there and he does a double vocal right over his vocal that he already had laid and it sounded like a xerox copy. It was. I was like, he's got like photographic memory of what he did, because he just did it exactly the same, right in front of me. And I was like, you just record that right now. He's like yeah, man, you know, just gotta get it done.
Man.
I'm like, god, you are. I've never heard any rapper double his voice like that precise.
You know.
It's incredible.
That's why I'm sitting there.
I'm like, yo, you know, he told you that he wanted He said, you should always record three songs a day. Yeah, Well he recorded with you, and then he didn't record for two weeks, and then I wonder what was going on in his life in those two weeks that he didn't even want to record.
I don't know, man, I don't know. I know that he was doing a lot of collaborating with a lot of people at that time, because I had heard that he was working on a project where he was trying to unify the East and the West.
For the one nation.
Yeah, the one Nation, that's right, that's right. And so yeah, he was doing some things. I mean, there was rumored that he was working with Atlantis more set, Oh wow on something. I mean a lot. I heard a lot of different things, but but our collaboration, man was to say the least that was.
That was the groundbreaking classic record, groundbreaking movement for me. When you think about records like they don't know you know, are you still do? Just having those big classics create pressure when you approach new music or does it free you knowing you already contributed something that's timeless.
Well you're grateful for it because if the new music doesn't catch on, absolutely no. I mean you know what, it's a It's a great thing to shoot for that. You know. It's like if you have a template that you know works with people, then I feel like that's a good feeling. And if I could just get back to that fear, I have an inkling of that feeling. But getting back to what Babyface says, and I'm gonna take it back to the positive about baby Face because
I love that that man. Don't get it twisted. That's my father to the game. So but one thing he will say to you is keep it honest. That's all I'm trying to be is honest. You know that was his own advice he gave me. So, you know, I feel like this this album is very honest. You know, I turned fifty on fifty one now, but you know the year I put the album, you know, March I was fifty and it is my tenth album. It felt it felt very much like this is the album that
I want to be making at fifty. You know, we got Rick Ross on the album, and we have Tank on the album. Donelle Jones is on the album, Alex Eisley is on the album. And to be independent and have all that support like that people coming to my aid and want to bless me like that with their features was Yeah, it was incredible.
Were you ever worried because it took thirteen years for the album to come that you talk about being honest, that you weren't going to be able to be as honest? Is because your life has changed so much or be like, you wouldn't get that feeling or that sound again that you would had in the music prior.
Yeah. I think that when you mature and you get a lot more added to your life in terms of your actual what's happening in your life. In this case, I've been married for eighteen years get chills to protect. Now there's a lot more to protect, So there's a lot more I think that goes into the crafting of these songs. Like actually the lyrics, there's responsibility behind those lyrics. Now, you know, as a as a grown man, I know
what I don't want to say. I know what's sort of out of my lane to say, like I'm not going to go in there and and and for the song live the plight of a single dude in the club trying to holler for the night and just let's get this done, and then and then go back to being like a married man on the next song, Like you're not going to get that on this album. You're going to get one plight, which is basically me just compliment,
you know, being complimentary and romantic and celebrating relationships. You know, that's what this album is really celebrating. But I'm an atmosphere creator, so I'm always gonna have those sexy joints and joints said, you know, the baby makers.
Hopefully you know what's part of your journey that you think people don't talk about it enough, Like something behind the scenes that even shake the John b We know to day.
I think it goes back to just really being a fan of R and B that I would really continue to do this like for free, Like even if I didn't make money doing this, that this would be my first choice, you know, Like like this is the music I listened to at home when I'm cleaning up my place, you know what I mean. And this is the these are the clothes I put on when I'm chilling around the house, Like this is the life I live. Like I'm raising young black women, you know, I'm married to
a black woman. This is the life that I live, you know. So it's like whether you see it in the video and you think, oh, that's cool, that's that's a cool like look, or she's she's pretty for the video, it's kind of representing my life, yo. And I mean my music is representing my life in a real way. It's not for show. You know. This is who I've been for thirty years, and I'm just I'm glad to have been accepted for who I am, you know, and really being able to stay true to that is really
it's been really not even a challenge. It's just been an honor to do so and to sort of be the one who shows up to the gigs that I see my counterparts sort of like avoiding like the plague.
You know.
The places I go are like where real R and B is being felt and real R and B is being you know, celebrated. So that's where I'm going to, you know, and I'm going to continue that walk.
So yeah, I don't think it's enough spaces for it. I know you got Tank on the new album. You know that I think is a great dude. And like even just creating, like you know, tank I thing I did for this R and B Money Award show. I want to see, you know, come to Fruition just because I don't feel like number one, there's not a lot of places that celebrate R and.
That's right, that's right. We don't have the venues. We don't have we don't have the venues. We don't have the shows we need an R and B celebration show, you know what I mean. We have Soul Trained. We've had the Soul Train Awards, which has been our only real venue for that, and I mean that's really been an honor to be a part of the Soule Train Awards, you know, to to that's how me and Donell linked up.
We both got honored that night, the same night, and it was a pleasure to see in backstage and to be like, Man, you nervous. I'm nervous too, Man. We have been on stage for so long, man, you know, let's go have fun with this, you know, celebrate. These people are here for us, you know. So yeah, just you know, getting to you know, have that moment and then say hey, let's let's collab man, let's do something, you know, and we make the song understand from my
album and yeah, he's a he's a great guy. And same with Tank. You know, get to be on the R and B Money podcast and just chop it up. And I'm like, hey, man, and you know you you're the guy. Man, you've been the guy for quite some time. And that's not our first time working together. We've collaborated in the past. But but I was just like, man, you know, you've really really been like one of my main influences over the last ten you know, ever long's been.
And uh, yeah, let me play this record because I think you're going to hear a little bit of that influence. And then I played it for him and he was like, I gotta be on that. I was just like, I was blown away because I wasn't expecting him to say that he was going to sing on the record. And you know, it's one thing when someone says they're going to do something, and another thing when they pull up to the studio and they're there and then you know,
he's like, I don't want to change nothing. You did you body them, versus like I'm just going to add the bridge, play some piano on it, and it's a rap and that's a hit. And I was like, man, I mean, the most confident I've felt in a very long time.
Wow, you lost it for a minute.
Well, I mean, it's just it's one of those things where you're hoping to get one again, you know. And uh and when someone like, you know, the likes of Tank, you know, comes along and co signs for you. Especially in this day and age, there's so much music, so much more music being released than it was when I first came out. The volume of artists that come out
every month is insane. So just to be somebody to even be considered, but you know, it was it was really lovely to wake up in the morning and see my video playing on b Et in the morning again, you know, with all the other new videos coming out and just the support that b Et has shown me all my career. Man, without b ET, I wouldn't be John B. Period.
You know.
I remember the funny story. I was in Jamaica with Beanie Man. I was working out there and we got pulled over by the police and I thought, oh man, we're gonna go to jail in Jamaica. Man, it was you know, and they were like, who the white boy in the car with you the policeman and he's like, that's John B. And they go John B from b E T. John B. Yeah, can we take a picture?
Come on?
So I get out and I'm taking pictures with the police and they let us go. But that's you know, I mean, it just shows you man, people know me from that you know, and that that that era, and without them, I wouldn't be, you know, wouldn't be where I'm at. So I got a big up beet for shure.
How is John B as a dad to his girls like explaining like now you've got your music out and you explained to them like okay, this is what daddy does, and you know, like how are you in space.
My eighteen year old is really just now really I feel like raped her. It's taking her this long to wrap her head around what I do. And now she's part of the team, you know, she's It's funny because like when we do videos and stuff, she'll be the one doing my makeup on the side. She'll you know, give me a little powder or whatever, and you know, telling me, Dad your hair straight or you know, or you need to fix this or whatever, or don't wear that like that.
You know.
She's sort of like a stylist for me. At the same time, she's a little bit of helping up with travel, you know, with booking all the travel because we do everything. My wife's the manager. Everything's all in the house, so everybody's helping out.
You know.
My eleven year old, she's still wrapping her head around what I do. I think that it's still nice for her to sort of be naive to it, you know. And she sees the shows and I'm sure it's intimidating seeing all those people standing on the side of the stage and Madison Square Garden being you know, but but at the end of the day, it's it's wonderful to come back to them and to know that, you know
they're there waiting for me at home. It's it's incentive to go out there and want to work real hard though, you know, give them a good life, you know.
And you're and your wife have been together since two thousand and seven, yes, the right, Okay, so she's been along for the journey for a long time. Oh yeah, this unfolding of the career part is like easy for her. She's probably just like doing it in her sleep.
Well, it's it's not easy for us. I mean, it's a lot of responsibility. It's only on us, so it's no one you know, there's no labels involved. So it's it's really about But you know, that's why I want to come in my fans and thank the fans. Without the fans, I would not be here, y'all. I wouldn't.
You wouldn't hear me on the radio right now, you know, without the people coming to the shows to make it all, Because the shows is what's kept me alive all this time, because I wasn't making money from the records, but I was making money from the shows, and so you got to go out and get that show money, you know, stay on the road man, that's all of them. I've been one of the hardest working R and B guys in the game. Like really, it was me for a long time. It was like me genuine and like Case
and like Jagged Edge and one twelve. We were like the hardest working guys in the games. I was always out in the road with them everywhere we go. H Town two. I mean, I got to give all my guys from the nineties, we stay working because People that's some of the music, that's some of the most celebrated music.
Soundtrack to People Live.
Man, it's just a wonderful thing. Me and Joe and Case are going to perform in Jersey actually tomorrow, we're going to be in Jersey.
Wow.
Yeah, right, what We're going to be in Elizabeth, New Jersey at the Rich Yeah. So that's gonna be a dope show. And you know, it's just it's it's such a beautiful thing to be included with that that line up right there. First of all, I'm such a Joe fan and I'm such a Case fan, so you know, and both of those brothers are good, good friends of mine. We known each other for years, and yeah, that's.
The night we're gonna play on Friday. That's a night of R and B with Joe and Live Band and Yes, Case and John B. How hell I ain't know this new Jersey.
Yeah, gotta come on out man, R and B lovers. You know it's going to be a good night.
How you know you're married to a black woman?
Yes?
How do you great? Great choice? By the way, yes, how do you and your wife feel about doctor Umar Johnson? That is?
I don't know who that is.
I don't worry about it.
Brought our question over here.
I'm sorry.
It's totally fine that you don't know who that is. I guess speaking of so you talk. We talked a bit about your daughters. I know, he said, you don't want to talk a lot about it. But the Chloe moment when Chloe was here and she reacted to you
talking about her song. You seeing her moment here made you like kind of rethink about how you said things when you were asked about her covering they don't know and you mentioned it's because you're raising black you know, daughters that He wanted to be more careful talk about that realization in real time because the world was like, what is happening?
I mean, it's interesting to have an opinion in this day and age, because it's it's a responsibility.
You know.
Sometimes you can say what you think is the way that you say it that can be misconstrued, you know, because everybody doesn't have to like everything. You know, obviously, we live in a canceled culture like society now where if you say something the wrong way, you can be cancer very fast means. But you know, in whatever it means, I think it's the people lose respect for you and
so they they don't mess with you as much. And for me, it's like I'm count on people to continue to you know, to support me, so I'm never I don't want to mess my chance up of that. And first of all, I'm a mature man. I know when to take an l and say my you know, my bad, I didn't mean that. The worst part about is raising daughters and seeing when they get disappointed, how their facial expressions look and how their voices changed, and they you know, to see that happen with her.
Your eighteen year old is a Chloe fan, well yeah.
I mean she you know, she she could feel her energy when she was reacting to it, so could I being that I'm raising an eighteen year old, right and she's not that much older. I mean, you know, but she's a young girl. So to see that I made her feel that way, you know, made me feel bad because I never want to insult anyone or make them feel bad, especially when they're incredibly talented like that. I guess what I want to say is, come collaborate with
me for real, you know, come collaborate. Let me have a chance to really work with you. She's so incredibly talented that I just don't feel like that showed the real you know what I want to see us, how I want to see our styles collaborate together. I think, you know, it worked for what they did for it was just kind of like a jump to put out. But I don't know if I could really get behind that and say that I like that joint, you know
what I mean. I felt like my song is very very deep and meaningful, and when you turn a meaningful record into sort of like a record that's just sort of like, oh, I just want to I just want to have sex with you and let's do it good and then later, you know what I mean, kind of that's fair, you know what I mean? It's just kind of like, that's not what I want to tell my eleven year old, you know, on them right now, you
know what I mean. So it just kind of made me feel like speaking on it and be like they're like you like it, I'm like, nah, I don't like it. But now I'm like I feel bad about saying that, you know, because I know that, you know, we're for every action, there's a reaction, and I'm trying to put good positive energy out in the where I'm trying to build people up, not break them down.
You got a joint for her? You got a record for her?
Definitely got a record for her. I her and if I don't, I will make it for it. No, She's She's amazing. They're so They're so talented and so beautiful, you know, I mean, they got the full package. It's yeah, it's just a matter of us getting in the studio and just making some magic happen.
How does John be want to be remembered.
I want to be remembered as an atmosphere creator, somebody who was really honest with his emotions and somebody who's just made a baby maker music.
Definitely made that Well that's it.
Yeah, Yeah, we want know, I mean I think that you know, at the end of the day, I want I want to be remembered as a guy who was you know, uh, you know, he gave us all, you know, in terms of like everything I do really, from being a father to you know, husband to a songwriter and a performer. I sing my heart out on stage every show I do, you know, whether they're giving it up and giving me the energy I want to have or not.
You know, it's because it's the passion for what I do, you know, So yeah, I want to be remembered for that.
Really.
Yeah.
Well, John b you're doing a phenomenal job. Man. We here talking about thirty the thirty fan a Brest.
You a bona fide, So that means, yes, sir, man, you and Babyface can reconcile too.
Man.
Yeah, me too.
Man.
I think that things are coming full circle regardless and because of that, you know, I think it's just it's you know, it's a matter of just us literally chopping it up one day and just letting each other know how we feel. But that's that that definitely needs to happen in a in a private setting and not on a public forum. You know where it's said I heard you say this, and you know what I mean, and then I'm reacting to that on on this thing, on
this public forum over here. It's gonna go tip tip for tap forever until we just sit down as grown ass men and being like, hey, listen, still got love for you?
You never tried to just call him?
I feel like at this at this point, the only time that I've ever been able to get in touch with him is by going and contacting him. That's all it's ever been is me get reaching out to him. It's never been the other way. So and I just feel like there's only so much you can give to something before if it's not like you said, if you're not, it's like you showed loyalty, but it's the loyalty being
shown back. In fact, I feel like from the truth that I've told, how I've been honest, it's only got it's only made him sort of more angry because you know, he doesn't want people to know those ins and outs of the business, which I understand. But in no way have I defamed him or talked you know, said Babyface did this to me, He he wronged me, you know, No it's not that at all. He only gets praised by me and get that's all I do is praise babyface. But it would be nice also to see him, you know,
return in this day and age right now. Uh, that same kind of energy back my way. You know.
You gotta Valentine's Day cruise having a tour.
Yeah, Valentine's Day Cruise. Yeah, trying to do something I think it's fitting for the album and waiting on you. You know, it's what better way to take in the new album than to h you know, play it on a cruise ship, you know, and go We're gonna go sell to uh Encinata, Mexico, and we're gonna go to Catalina. Just a little mini cruise, you know, three day John. But it's uh, it's gonna be fun and up closer person with the fans, and you know it's a grown up thing.
Let's do it. Well. It's John B. Thank you for coming, My brother.
Charle Man, Thank you, sir.
I appreciate you man. It's the Breakfast Club.
Hold up every.
Day I wake click yours up, the Breakfast Club.
Finish for y'all. Done