QLS Classic: Marsha Ambrosius

Of course.

Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora.

Hey, what's going on y'all? This is Fante Fonticelo. This week's QLs classic is with none other than my homegirl, my friend, singer songwriter Marsha Ambrocious.

She stopped by. We talked about.

Everything from working with Michael Jackson, writing Butterflies, doctor dre Flow a Tree, and most importantly, how we've been pronouncing her name wrong and fucking it up for all these years. This episode was from January nine to twenty nineteen, and this is this week's cure Less Classic. It was an incredible time and we hope you enjoyed. Catch out next week, I Get Peaceful.

Here we go.

Supremo Supremo, Roll Call, Suprema, Sun Supremo, Roll Call Supremo, su Subprimo ro looking.

Scared se roll Chameleon.

Yeah, Karma Karma, Karma, Yeah, I'm sorry, jan Yeah, Marcia Marshall, Suprema.

My name is Fantee and I would listen to Flow Yeah back in the day when I was doing my hole with you.

Supremo Supremo. My name is Sugar. Yeah, I know John Mayer. Yeah, so she cheated on me. Yeah with John Mayer.

Yeah, pay Bill, Yeah, I hope you're hearing. Yeah, I wish you could see. Yeah, like he is hearing.

My right, it's been years since. Yeah, Boss Bill was in England. Yeah, I had a real chill time.

Yeah.

My idea of fun Brollie gets up.

Supremo roll Suprema Son Supremo roll Ye.

Yeah and Marcia yes, Yeah, was like a beast.

Yeah.

And she sings the best.

Whoa Suprema Son Supremo roll.

Call, Suprema son So Sopremo roll call.

My name is Marsha. Yeah, and I'm on this mic. Yeah, I'm with my husband. Yeah, I'm so high.

Supremo roll call, Suprema So Supremo, roll call, Suprema Son Son Supremo roll call.

And I sound like Mary Puffins.

Might have everyone bodied their verse. Y'all.

Man, Wait, I didn't know that my godmother ear rings.

Shout the jeans hanging. I know you had a scar for the repurpose some parasuco.

I believe these came from the stable collective. Shout out Toterrina Scott. I'm just saying I don't.

Know Scott's wife.

Okay, there's some funked up earrings. Edit. I'm so happy about everything. I'm so happy to be back. Raight up. It's all right, man. My stomach hurts my side. I know I don't show.

Yeah, I'm here quest Love and we're with Teams Supreme and there's unpaid Bill. Yeah, you're back. I'm back, thank you. I was on my walk about you. I did like, were you three weeks working up your bathroom as well?

Or no? I am renovating the basement. There's no matt finish or waterless heater, waterlessankless tanklas water heater, but there are some walls.

Probably got some cool job ship going on, Bill that you try and make jokes, but you probably got some real cool shit going on while you missed us.

Right.

Oh yeah, Sesme Street was filming season fifty. Wow, fifty years of Sesame Street.

Fifty years? That's crazy. Am I say anything about that? Or do I just wait until it happens? Or I think you should say something?

Okay, Well, I'd like to thank you for finally it's been a lifelong more than soul trained and to come on Sesame Street that I can help.

So you so you actually only you made it on I'm Battling Grover.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's quite amazing man, all right.

And it's weird because like when you get in front of the muppets, you start talking to the muppets like they're real people.

Also, Amir was like, legit flustered on the set. It was pretty funny. Yeah, he usually can't stop talking. He was like it was it was like, I'm just gonna play the drums cause I don't know how to talk.

Because like even even when they yell cut, Grover's still talking to me.

Jimmy, Well, you know, I just kept on it and then like you realize, forty seconds later talking to a band and talk to it having a whole conversation.

Yeah, I was getting analytical everything about my creative process.

And I was like, wait a minute, gets to the heart of the matter. Yeah, yeah, sugar, Steve, how's it going? Welcome to your Yeah yeah, well how you I have a whole network? Actually, how's your network doing? Network is blossoming? Really? Yeah, that's driving. That's great. Thank you for asking. H bost Gardens. Are you are you happy as or Yeah? I'm good. I haven't been getting in again. This is not a pun. I haven't been getting any headaches lately, So amen, amen to that. First listen to music.

It just smell.

We we know, we know, we know, Mars, So don't bring up old stuff.

She's a mod and.

I'm good man, I'm glad March is here.

Man.

I haven't want to do this on a long time yet.

Our guest today.

She made her mark in the music world as one half of the pioneering neo soul outfit entitled Floatry. Her reputation as a songwriter, I'll say, uh, grew after the creation of what many, including myself, will probably say, Okay, how big of a hyper bulwick movement can I make this?

You're pretty good.

I personally think that Butterflies is maybe one of Michael Jackson's finest vocal performances in the last ten years of his life. Without without, without, without a diet. It's actually enunciating, yeah and not gritting. I'll ask you, how did you not get into yell at the So there's a take where he just let me actually say your name first. You will be in the show? Yeah, yeah, all right. So she collabed with all of our favorites. Uh now, Salem village. Uh buster rhymes the game earth within and

Late nights in early mornings.

Uh.

The very strong friends and lovers, extremely strong friends of lover. Her husband's in the room right now.

He knows all the stories, respectful, and the latest being Nyla, which is not for New York LA.

It's not about you being bicoast. It is, yeah, but I would like to think that it's also named after your.

My daughter daughter, who was also named after my husband, was born in LA and raised in Buffalo.

New York, n y Laka. And that's our tour schedule.

I literally I thought that you wanted to correct a thirty five year wrong in which another famous person from the U k uh once had her version of coast to coast only being elert to Chicago.

I still laughed about that even in school.

I was like, geography, this is amazing because it's not coast to coast. But I love that she's my favorite and she allowed me to cover strong on the pride to so right, that's crazy, So yeah, coast to.

Straight straight out of Liverpool, marsh and.

What's up?

Yeah, this is gonna be like all times, it's not even you know, so now I'm thinking Late to Chicago western Maine.

Is that the western may right, Western Lane.

Was absolutely clear because that's the don't know, late to Chicago to Maine.

Yeah, that's a that's like a Bermuda tribal with South Dakota el south.

To it's western Male.

I just wanted to express the world. It wasn't about a coast to coast thing. It was we're lyrically going to infuse places.

Okay, do.

You guys realize that there's three versions of that song in rotation otor Really when you buy the single version, it's I inquired this to Stewart.

They did. They did, like.

Stewart what's his name, Matthew, Matthew Man. I was about to say Jamaica last Stewart Zendad Right, Yeah, they they did like five takes of it. But the version on the album of Day is like night and Day. I don't know why didn't notice it earlier, Like I thought it was just a regular smooth operator that we've always known. But if you compare the album version to the single version, that's on radio and whatnot.

It's night and day like.

Yeah, her vocal performance everything. So the things you learned question, yes, exactly.

You know what you saying Western Maine?

Yeah, Western Male. Google I think was wrong on this one. It says Western Mail m a l e.

Oh yeah no that oh wait that context.

That's oh yeah, it could have been mm hmm. Let's just spend the whole episode.

Figure out.

And say, you know what.

Anyone, Drake, I don't not no more. That's the whole number.

Oh man, that number was like eight eight numbers. Yeah, he didn't throw his wire phone away.

How are you doing, Mar?

I'm great?

How are you fine? I'm fine. Wait, that's what I did not know that you were born in Liverpool. I thought you were just straight up London.

No, born in Liverpool and we moved when I was about five years old, so I only really went to school in London and went back for every holiday. So I guess how your semester's work. It would be what easter break, summer?

When you think of home, it's Liverpool.

I think of the place.

Really, I was thinking of Surelle.

Nah No, not not really.

I think of Liverpool, but I do reference London because that was the you know, trying times. It was parents separating. It was okay, I'm going to play basketball, I'm going to do music. I'm going to do everything to keep myself occupied and then go.

Back to Liverpool. How old are you when your parents have read it like six? Wow?

So that picture on the cover of Nylo, that's I'm about eight there, yes, seven or eight. So it was my dad's base in the background with his giant amplifier that I used to just switch on and off in the middle of the night so you can hear.

That, like go back to sleep.

So that was my that was my upbring was a musician.

Yeah.

He was in a seventies band called super Charge signed to Virgin Records back.

In the day.

And if you google that, yeah, well if you do find the YouTube footage of said things.

He's doing the Robot in nineteen seventy six on live television in Australia.

Somewhere there's footage of this is incredible.

I can't.

You can't, but it's it's definitely googleaball and just being brought up in a household where music was everything.

My mother has more Vinyl than you.

She does like it's not even like, oh my mom's got no she does like where she keeps crazy.

We have like a storage unit. My uncle has some and she has.

Some at the house in Liverpool. She was just a Vinyl lover or yeah, like from radio station there.

No, but that was very popular in the UK and she could she may as well have done at that point. But I remember, you know that pivotal point when you realize what music actually is. And for me, that turning point was Purple Rain. Purple Raining. Off the wall did it for me personally where I was like, you know what, I know what makes me feel really really happy? And it was I can't help it, And it was take Me with You the drum intro in the beginning and Computer Blue that outro, and.

Those records were just as big over there as they were in the state. Absolutely, even though he didn't tour. And yeah, it wasn't.

Really about that.

Yeah, like I didn't see Prince Live until my latter years.

Thankfully I did. But were you allowed to watch?

No?

But we did.

I realized that I watched what was it the thing? John Carpenter is the thing? When I was like five? Who does that? But I loved it.

When the spider the head gets detached and it's great. I was a horror movie junkie, like the house on the cover of the Night album that had to be haunted.

It was definitely we were living in a very haunted group.

Really, yeah, it had to be. Are you the only Do you have any siblings? Yeah?

My brother and my dad remarried, so I have a little sister. Now that was way late, So it was me and my brother growing up.

Are they musically inclined as low Yeah.

My brother riots, he plays instruments.

But we were torn in this very, very crazy place between basketball and music, and it was my dad was also a ball player and a coach, so it was every weekend go to the outdoor, call ball out. We were both Division one, both played for England two. It was really two three over there.

And then I realized that, yeah, it's weird because I think that anybody in the UK is just all about football and really help me that thumbs their nose up at.

American No, it was a lot bigger than I guess you would think basketball.

Over in the year.

Where did you start playing ball as.

Soon as I could touch a ball?

Really?

Yeah, my dad had me and my brother playing like from early so once I got incredible, if I must say, I had relaship. Yeah, I was actually going to play for Georgia Tech. And my friend was playing basketball in New Jersey. And it's crazy how life works. He actually had a demo of a performance that I did at Jazz Cafe in the UK and played it for like some promoter in Philly.

I'd say that was yamine or tone or something that how.

I probably, I mean, and that's how I got to Philadelphia by ways of the guy that was going to get me to play basketball at their high school, and then we were all going to go to Georgia Tech.

But I.

Well, I mean, didn't I tore ligaments two years prior to that happening. And then this friend that still played ball had my demo played it for for you, I mean, and then I was already in Atlanta doing ying Yang Cafe open mics and stuff. I'm sure, I mean, I'm just it's like black Lily. No, like, no, that's a real R.

I P Black Lily.

Yeah, just like, so you were what position? Did you were? You afford two and three? I'm a musician, so I don't know about that.

I was like, okay, yeah, uh So I was bawling, bawling until I tore ligaments and then it was like Plan B had to be music. So I watched Michael Joy didn't come fly with me every day?

Wow h.

And I was like, come fly with me because I couldn't walk.

So I used to rent that from the video store. She never would.

With me.

It was like a Michael Jordan's documentary. I haven't seen it for ages, but I literally watched it watching like yeah, Jordan's really yeah, wait wait.

Can I skip a little bit because technically, were you guys under Hidden Beach at all or were you just straight up it was.

Not even epic.

So we did a meeting with Hidden Beach and then it was like nah, and then we ended up with DreamWorks.

Because people know that Hidden Beaches Jordan kind of story of Michael Jordan's label.

He's the money, right, So that was kind of there was plugs there because Jill was already there, and we kind of did the whole you know, Steve.

Had the whole house in Malibu. Cute touch and it's very l a, it's very oh my god, the ocean. I'm not signing here.

I'm also means that Steve uh caraculously uh re release Jill Scott compilation over and over.

When it did.

This is two thousands, So yeah.

Got collaborations. I mean we're past that. I mean like it's literally like the same thing over and over. It's like the sixth version of the same.

If it's not that they unwrapped, that's my worst nightmare.

Unwrapped the roots unwrapped happened, happ.

Yeah, the intro that you got me was us making fun of him rapped if we decided just to keep it on there for sits and giggles. But yeah, James Poyser is notoriously obsessed with taking songs that sound good and putting them in like major chords so they sound like it's it's bing Crosby.

So I met James Poyser before I met any of you guys in the UK, before I even came to the States. Him and uh Shape Hope together really in like ninety eight ninety.

Nine, Pope, yeahs, yeah.

Well yeah, basically, so it's crazy how life works.

And then Foster war would I run into what is Philadelphia at the time, and it's Black Lily and you guys are abandoned.

So you literally came to in state of y'all means crib and then like.

Well people two different people taking credit to for this era of your life.

Yeah, means always taking credit.

But oh, this is a long.

They didn't meet yet, how did you? How did you meet?

So now and myself met through basketball in the UK, so it will be basketball tournaments in South London, and I guess played against her older sister, and I don't know, it just became cool. You go to summer camps and it's oh, now we go to the same performing art school. Fast forward to that and we're teenagers. Now I'm like, oh, yeah, I remember you cool. Our parents knew each other. It was my dad works with your mom in the same building.

And we were just cool, okay, And then was it just like okay, we got a dream.

Do you know what?

Absolutely by a very very well incredible accident. I was doing music over there, but in the UK it's like it's hit all miss literally for black music. So you're only allowed maybe a handful of five people that can be successful at the same time. So I was the up and coming writer producer that at sixteen seventeen I'd written Butterflies, but I have Warner Brothers over there telling me that it's not good enough, it's not a good song, and I'm just disencouraged, Like.

You know what, this is not for me?

I quit music because what I'm hearing in my head is excellence, and if you think it's trash, then I don't think I can do this for a second.

I hold you say you were when you wrote.

Butterflies sixteen seventeen.

Wow.

So I kind of hung up music for a little bit, went back to basketball for a couple of seasons. Fast forward to graduating from performing art school, and I heard that Natalie was doing poetry.

So I was like, you know what will be dope.

I have this song called Fantasized, and if a poet was on it, let me see. I'm a here so a hair up, yo, put some poetry to this song.

This is the hook.

I'm a beat bucks beat you know, come in when you come in. So she wrote her ass and we performed it and there was Flowtry.

Now, even though you were not of club age at that timement. Yeah, I know you're laughing, like, yeah, okay, mere wink.

Well eighteen over there it was never twenty one.

Oh okay, so you were of club age, were you?

Because all the ideas that the roots ever had as far as jam sessions were concerned, and all that stuff that we brought to the States. I mean, we literally stole living in London between ninety three and ninety six.

So was anything like Ici or any of those clubs in London when they are on your radar.

No, not even a little bit.

So none of like Jazzy Bees and Nelly. No.

I worked with Jay Zibe in his camp for a year or so, maybe a little less than that, and it was just very much in the studio. You'd do an R and B song and it'll be great in the moment and it would only go so far, or it will be sign your life away here, kid, and we'll own ninety percent of this because we gave you the studio time. And it's like, that's not how this works.

I'm sure. I went to school for that part.

So nah, I'm good. And I was always on that like, I don't need this for the bread. I want to be creative. So I always kind of created and chucked the deuces when it just didn't feel like it was done for the right reasons.

So nobody that was popping at the time in London was.

Ever gave me a ali nah. I mean it was.

You know what was big over there. I think he went to jail because he was driving without a license.

Is still that fear into me that if you drive without a license, you're going to be this guy?

And I never did. I never believe that.

I always felt because he did an interview like after he got out of jail whatever, and.

I was like, you know, I feel like a lot of the stories in Bellish like.

Over here, because I remember it being about a license, and I think my mother told me that.

I remember we defin knew jail, but I can't remember. Probably just ripped the pillow off, but let the candid license.

I'm pretty sure if you google it that was what it was.

But wait, do you remember there was a there was a hip hop crew that was like no, no, no, to keep on.

That was my joint, right, I'm grown, I'm grown. I would admit this to you know that what's her name, Buffalo Nina.

Cherry without a record.

I was like, oh, this is good old time. You don't know ya though this is cute.

I don't think you know what show we have your social Security numbers.

But there was there was a there was an up and coming crew that obviously you know, they took their cue from Wu Tang. It was them on like steroids and they were part I mean, it was like they were part drumming bassed.

They were part.

Also the whole garage that.

Yeah, but I mean it was a cruise there that era.

I actually got to Philadelphia when that really popped off and took off because I was more into the club scene, like going to party to it, not necessarily making it, so I kind of missed the whole wave of let's do a house and garage track, like when Craig David became the pop version of what was going on, because so much of that was going on in the UK. But when Craig David came in smashed it and took it to a whole other level with that, but so solid with the authentic you know London that.

Were you know.

The thing with who's the d J O with the oh no, not real? Tim is definitely the white from Master Flex. Yeah that's that.

Yeah, that's a good way to put it.

I actually pretty much well, speaking of being too young, to be in the club. I was too young to be at a biggie show in the UK, but me and my best friend K at the time, we definitely went Yeah, So I'm glad I got to see Biggie Life.

So you were those guys like two seven nine and all.

Those jigs choice f M.

Yeah, Trevor Nelson Nelson still doing like BBC B at that time.

Was he was he doing it?

He was?

He was like, well he was really Giles Peterson's apprentice.

So when I first met Benji b like ninety six, ninety seven, he was like, you know, doing answering phones and that sort of thing. Like he really started coming up in ninety nine to like when we started coming up. Yeah, No, I was only asking because I always wanted to know if so solid was I remember that, uh Westwood got shot?

Yeah, which if you get shot in London?

Like Tim what got shot?

Yeah?

Remember remember that?

Yeah.

I'm not saying no, no, no, he got shot.

I remember I remember that. I remember that.

I mean, I mean for guns to even be in London was like yeah, because they don't sounds like Canad did to me, So it wasn't happening.

I just wanted to know how solid was that crew? They were so silent.

No, it was UK Love, but he kept the gangster.

He never stitched on who shot him?

So yeah, anyway on London.

Like Peterson, No he like, I mean, but I'm just starting like Flex was always on his show.

If anything, I feel like Flex really nuanced.

His relationship with Tim Westwood to let the world know, like hey, worldwide, like yeah, every that's how no funk Master Flex like him coming to London, America's own from Master.

I was living in London, okay, because you know that's that's how you know.

Yeah, Like I'm not in New I wasn't in New Yorker then.

So I had this crazy manager back then, Danny Gale his name was, and I was. I was a kid at the time, and he was trying to make me do the whole second and do all these demos. And I opened for boys to men and be man.

Think about that Bill.

Who closed because I.

Grew open. Well me.

Me in like a Adidas track suit. I have my short Hallie bay tony Oho, and yeah it was. It was a hot mess, but I just knew I was about to blow up the Hippodrome, a place called the Hippodrome.

I remember the.

Right on the corner, Yeah, by the tube, literally right in the corner.

And that's crazy. So that manager at the time trying to get my parents to fire him because I was under age. Really it was like, Bro, you're not taking me to this next level that I see for myself, and you've got to go and claim that I will never be ish ever in life. It's never going to happen.

That away from you. I'm seventeen. I don't know what I'm going to do.

I don't know what I'm going to be.

You had it in your head that I was really about to be something, so.

You had the fort right that he wasn't going to take you the place that you need to.

Take age that kind of There's one question I didn't ask your voice when was it fully developed?

Still developing? I don't really I get it.

But when I started the Martian Nuances was roughly around sixteen or seventeen, maybe younger than my mum will probably say younger than that, but like fifteen sixteen, and that was really.

No, no, no, So you say you're sixteen when people started taking you serious as a singer.

No, When I started taking myself serious as a singer.

Oh okay, So I'm saying.

When I knew I was Marsha was when I started to sing the synth solo that you know, Teddy Riley would do in the middle of a guy record.

So it was very much new Jack Swing. Was like, oh my god, I'm gonna do this.

Why am I trying to Stanley Brown.

Exactly do this?

But I listened to weather Report my whole life, and I'm like, straight widow.

Best moment of my life. Side note.

I was at the Blue Note. I don't know who I was drumming for, but Stanley Brown got up on stage. I'm losing the audience, don't know who Stanley Brown is. I'm losing my mind. James Boyce just like Stanley Brown, and I was like, I lost my mind.

I'm giving it to my holy Stanley Brown. Stanley Brown was the church I'm just.

As I'm gonna beat the one. I'm gonna beat the one he was.

Go on YouTube and watch the video for run him some pause.

But I mean he was also the go to keyboard guy. He would be the James Boys of the eighties. Okay, So during during that R and B period of New York when Teddy Riley's really starting to get established, like mid eighties, you know, eighty six. You know, Stanley Brown is the guy that like was playing you know, Alison Williams, Orange, ju S Jones and he, Stanley Stanley Brown was the man.

He's doing church stuff now. But like I gotta get for him that that saxophone patch.

Oh like on JM.

Yeah, but it's like it it's so artificial sounding, but it's so vintage now, Like you need the solo.

The way that people felt like you remember when Amy Wineouse came aunt, like it was so old sounding. But like now that cheesy.

Saxophony sound is to me, that's that's my Like, yeah, I'm I'm trying to get him more like something I played on before I die.

You might have to have Roy Lee produce a track.

Look, well wait, Marshall, you said you don't sing. What did you mean when you said that? You said you know it wasn't singing.

I was like, k new Jack Swing moving into what was then?

You know?

Joe, you said you still haven't When Emir asked you, you know how your voice is matured and grown, you were like, it's still You're still not done.

You still don't sing to your fullest yet.

No, what is it mm hmm, because it's more so an instrument. It's like what solo am I going to do today? I don't think like a singer. I think like what calls for the moment.

I think real singers think as an instrument. Algio definitely thought he was an instrument. Anita Baker says she's an instrument. Yeah, like real singers are.

You know everyone else is struggling struggle everybody else, a.

Lot of people. Yeah, Well, I enjoy making sounds.

I do.

I enjoy picking parts that make sense to me and all of the the heavily New Jack Swing era, It's a Bad Boy era. It was oh my gosh, Faith Evans, Oh my gosh, One's twelve and like singing along to that album every day. Jodicy and all the inflections of those harmonies and having one almost be off key and if you pan them left and right, they're not doing the same thing. And that was okay. I didn't know

I missed off key singing, Like I seriously.

Everything it's too tuned.

I think that one is failing to the point where, oh my gosh, I believe that you want to right now. It's very you know, in an industry talk for hey, they got one is oh, you have a song that sounds the same pitch, same tempo, and has a hook that possibly belongs to something else already.

Probably the worst case example of that to me is both the New Edition and Bobby Brown biopics, Like all the singing done on there, yeah, yeah.

The race, It's like, do you realize what Bobby Brown was really doing?

Now?

And I feel like, I'm glad this happens so you can reference what was really going on at that time where melodyne and auto tune wasn't a choice for you.

I wasn't going in the studio go and take that again. Okay, we'll fix it. Ain't no fix it? Be it again and yeah, and that's it.

So it's a it's also an appreciation of, you know, what's actually been done.

Well, you're the you're the first uh Black Louie graduate or class of whatever two.

That I've had on the show.

So I have to ask, well, I mean, it's hard to describe to people how magical the five spot was.

And when it was in its zone where.

Every week you would get prime Jaguar, all right, Prime Jill Scott, Prime Fluwatry.

Jasmine Sullivan waking up, you know, coming up to do yeah, like the right exactly how much was was it ever a thing in your head like Okay, this is a.

Movement or we gotta we gotta come with it, because I know, at least with I know that with Jag and Jill, there was always.

A hmm, okay, all right, next week, I'm gonna have something, and.

They would you know, you got six days to think of how you top what you saw? Yeah, So I don't mean from competition sick, but was it just like okay, what we got.

To do there?

Well, I think the the initial first show was what defined what we were going to do every week because it was weighing, Oh, we've got these two British chicks in town that they called themselves flow a Tree. Well International was like, oh my god, like these farms showed up.

Nubians. Also time it was like, yo, we gotta come to the States. And suddenly I was like, we're gonna do it in French.

It ain't work for them like they it was different, didn't that was over there.

Yeah, when they can understand is going to Philly and being at the Black Lily and getting into that building and seeing Jill Scott and seeing music Soul Child and seeing Blao, seeing the roots of the house band, Like that's overwhelming, but it's also okay, I'm in here now, I have to bring it. But that first show, it's waiting until two in the morning to do it, and it's who stays, And that sweat Box was just okay,

They used to kill any so right, rhythm of life and then we'll be all jumping up and down and out of breath. Then it will be a moment.

But then it was okay, we're going to get on and it was hey, we're flower Tree and there's fantasize that first time and everyone's like, oh okay, okay, and I was like, okay, next week, this is what we're gonna do and straight Planet. So if we do get an earlier slut, there's going to be more people there. The word has gone around town. There's these two girls. They do this thing fantasize.

You gotta start off with the Late shift.

Yeah.

See, we were on tour. We were on the Late Show to reach advance.

Sorry listen right, but we.

Remember blue Funky, Blue Funk John Barbers Show first, and at that time it was Jeff Bradshaw was doing like the band and stuff.

I think Terry Tribbett might have been on base. Yeah, so it's spoiled.

Wait, I hate to go for it. Go for it.

I think I know where this is going, but go for it.

Was it your tour bus yet?

No?

No no no no no no no no no no no no no.

There's two stories.

Are you talking about the stolen one or are you talking about Canada?

I'm talking about.

That.

You got it. Back it up, back it up, back back it up. Yeah, I've been waiting to hear the official story.

Okay, once upon a time, Flowstry, we're opening for Alicia Keys. What happens is when people are going into Canada and you don't have visas nor you have issues to get across that border.

You are left in Buffalo, New York.

So these tour buses round about let's say load out was midnight the prior show.

We get to Buffalo.

However, long after that, drop everybody off that said, you know what, I'm gonna have some issues at the border. So I'm a role I'm not coming through. You guys do the show and come right back. So granted I'm asleep on this tour bus at the time, wake up at the border, and we are asked to get off and present our passports to make sure everything is good. So we're now sitting curbside and we're waiting for our passports to be brought back to us.

So there's the.

Inspector and a dog continuously going on and off of our tour bus. So I'm looking at each other because at the time, I wasn't smoking weed like that, especially on the bus. If we were, it was definitely on some dressing room shit.

So I'm like, well, who mm mmm. I was like, nah, no, no one's smoking.

On the bus.

I was like, we have Paris at the time, and like I was like, we charged, We're good, We're good.

Oh man.

So then the inspector is getting continuously frustrated with all of us who claim that we have nothing tied. So now I'm getting scared. I'm like, well, what's about to go down? Because he looks really upset. Roughly around twenty minutes after this debucle this inspector and two dogs, now with two other people.

Are carrying off.

Our drummer at the time, ah who was on the bus, and they found him in you know the back cabinets that have mirrors and you can kind of crawl up.

He was smoking a joint up there, and that's why he.

Was smoking at the border. I heard that.

Okay, you know when stories get because the Chinese whisper, is this what happened?

We heard?

Is he in a big family?

Yes, okay, he's in the big family, and sometimes he takes you on an emotional roller coaster.

Okay, well, actually that could be away.

You know.

A couple of rolling around.

Your account of this story is, well, how it ends his.

In the that he somehow inserted himself inside of the back of the couch of the tour bus.

Well if anywhere, it's.

Yeah, well it would have been four hours because we would have left Buffalo and you know, did a rest up, and you know, we were so by the time you get to the border, it is what it is. So now we're all detained and questioned.

Did we know he was there?

Were we trying to bring drugs into Canada? I'm like, why would we do that? Your weed is way better?

Why would we play our own?

This is two thousand and what two at the time, two thousand and three.

So I'm like, you know what shot I didn't even know was y'all. I thought it was maybe Jill.

Then he goes in the bus business.

I love it.

Well, get to a bus.

Yeah, then became a bus. First thing was like, hey, can I drive out to a bus? He was like, nah, we call it. So there was a story. Never mind, So Michael Jackson.

Right fast forwarding too. Yeah, we were detained. It was bad and questioned and.

Yeah, this was a shot in the dark. I swear the guy didn't even know y'all. He said, we didn't do the show, and I was like, have you heard that.

Story about I didn't know. Yeah, oh that's crazy. Okay to our stories? How easy is it when you're in a partnership.

Now it's weird because with me and Tarique, like on music, he's lyrics or whatever. But in the fluw try situation, how do you guys come? Who navigates? Who's fifty one to forty nine?

Who?

Well, this is the thing. It's like chicken or the egg. And I never claimed it even though I initiated. Look, I have this buddy of music and song that if you paired up some poetry to this fantasize, it will make Tadah Flowa try so even in the studio, it's She'd never been in the studio at the time, so

So you have the Way Long Walk, just.

Friends in one day, and I'm going okay, ABC rooms, bouncing from room to room and doing floetic the first day, do it headache, after that, running to Dray and Ye and going okay, videal play those chords again. Oh yeah, it's Ganley. Yeah that's all I'm gonna say. I'm a singer this hook and then you come in and it.

Will literally be that.

So I'd never even controlled It's it was always fifty to fifty to me. But everyone's like, as you wrote this whole song, she came in and did eight bar poem. I'm like, that part doesn't matter to me, you know. So as far as the magic of Flower Try, it was more than just about us when it came to a controlled studio environment on stage, it's the same dynamic. I could stand stage left and closed my eyes and sing for two hours, like, oh my god, that was amazing.

I'm like, I didn't do anything.

I meant I know that I know that someone's going to play an alpha role in I know that one should be diplomatic and it's a compromise and into relationship. It's almost it's like a marriage where how much power you have doesn't matter.

Or more equal than others.

So I mean, because there were other factors to this.

So the people that were there, whether that is dre and VI, whether is carbon Ivan or Keith, they're just going to be like Marlesh. You were in the studio grinding, you were writing and playing this music every day, coming with these ideas, every day, coming with a concept. So if that chimed in with a title cool, it will take on a life form of its own. Does that mean I own seventy thae?

Maybe? Okay, all right, No, I just wanted to know how.

But yeah, that's the dynamic only because I'm the musical, melodic end of it.

But what comes with that is.

Because I always think it's it's hard as hell starting business with someone that you were friends with first.

Oh, it's horrific.

It's horrific, and there's so much you don't take into account, thus it turning out the way it does for many, hopefully not for most, but for me it was the growing pains of oh, I have to live.

Adult life dolo.

Now I moved away from the UK, I've got to rely on my surroundings. And when people morph and changed into unrecognizable people, both spiritually and all the above, it's it's kind of like takes you back a little bit.

And it was working with Touch of Jazz kind of like interesting in the sense that everybody in a Touch of Jazz is broken off into duos anyway, right, right, So then you get to kind of observe their dynamic too, Like you get to observe the dynamic of Dre and Vidal and what each one brings.

Yeah, so, and they were also a unit.

It's supposed to be a touch of Jazz to six of you, but you were two's anyway, so it was two splitting off into twos. So if one vibe with just Videal, it's just Vau or just Ray or you know, it was whatever, but you can press play on that music of that era, not only with Flow a Try, but with Jill's album, with Music's album, and hear what everyone was doing collectively like it's it was, Philly was on some shiit and I wasn't gonna leave like I was sold on Philly.

So where what was your reaction when you first got the news that Michael Jackson was interested in one of your songs?

Didn't believe it? You want to believe it? The thing was Jeff.

We all went to Jeff had that other room opposite the sea room and the office, and I guess we'd all missed a phone call from MJ. They were referring to this guy as I like, who's MJ? First of all, not Michael Jackson. I'm not even putting that in my head. So Jeff is like, YO, you have to come listen to this. You have to come listen to this. So I listened to the answering machine that is Michael Jackson requesting that he work with whoever wrote this song. I'm

How did he hear?

John McLean is like, but he's like, I don't know. It's like a viking, like.

Like you're about the ninth John McQueen story.

He's like a shadow but appears and creates magic and then disappears once again. So John McLean has a hold of this flow demo that gets us signed to DreamWorks, and he hears say yes and butterflies and goes those two are the two that are going to catapult this thing into the stratus fare. Mike wants this one though, and Denzel Washington at one point had say yes on repeating, was going to do something to it. I don't know, going to be going to be it was fresh off of giving me bleak Gillian vibes.

But he had that he had to say yes before anybody has say yes.

He was like, I don't care rights to my songs and say yes. Drey and myself did that. We wasn't even supposed to go to the studio. Jeff is like, I'm shutting the studio down. No, we can go, Dre, you get the key.

Cool, let's go.

And then that happens to be room in two minutes like, sorry, I'm not playing them cards again, all right, I'm gonna just go cut it and then there's that.

But if songs are your kids, were you slow to give it up or was it just like, Michael.

Can adopt my kid?

Michael absolutely can take this because I guess when I when I wrote Butterflies, Initially it was just piano based. I didn't add the you know, the Philly very dragged snack, you know, the behind the beat, which you hey, I'm never never gonna stay on this one. I'm gonna always be a millisecond behind, don't care. But when Dre added that flare to it, I'm like, Okay, I have this.

To me.

It made me feel like everything that I led up to get into Philadelphia, this is the demo that I wanted. So when Mike wants to do it, you give it to Mike, you do. And I thought this entire time that Jeff is playing as this answering machine. I thought it was Dre playing like yeah, I was like he played too much.

I was like, you're lying.

This is the best impression of Michael Jackson. I've ever heard in my life, and you shouldn't played.

Yeah, I don't know. You'd have to ask Jeff. Yeah, Jeff with him anyways.

Yeah, I didn't even get fresh Yeah the first album.

Yeah, Yeah, Jeff is the Yeah.

So so how long was it from you getting that message? What happened? Yeah?

How long was it from the phone call until when you're actually cutting his vocals?

Well, he was recording with Rodney and yeah, from I guess that demo was done in September two thousand, so we worked March two thousand and one when he was finishing the album. Like Teddy Wiley's bus is parked outside the Hit factory here and when I was here in New York and I get there.

And I'm telling Michael Jackson what to do Bar for bar.

The only he ever hit was at the outro the outro ad libs on two outro ad lib tracks, and the first thing he did was Whisper Butterflies. He was so meticulous in wanting it to sound like the demo that he made me like, how do you do this? What was the harmony for this?

Well?

How did you make it sound like that?

And I remember when I heard the when I heard the dimmer. I was shocked. I was like, he pretty much did it like d lib note for note, I.

Can say I vocally produced Michael Jackson into What Questlove Deans is one of his finest works of us.

How long did that take?

It was a week even. No, No, it's like the most worst. It's not a good job.

I hate it.

I do hate it.

But that watching him so excited and doing every layered harmony, having me do my harmonies over again, having Matt Cappy, Jeff Bradshaw do those horns again.

It was just fun.

It didn't feel like a week like we were with the kids. Paris and Prince were like yay high at the time, and we had Jezebel's sore food every day.

It was great with you.

Yeah, he's it's like Santa Claus, like warms my heart. And he kept calling me his sang and heifer Mike hear me. Mike kept saying, Michael Ja, Mike, you know you're.

Calling her a cow, calling her a cow. Half is a cow? Stop calling her half?

Bruce.

I'm like, you can call me anything here. Yeah, that was just magic, Bruce and Mike in one studio.

I know, he's a perfectionist, but can you even be objectionable when you're Can you say that was flat?

Or yeah?

Well, once I got into the groove of things, and at that time, it was the talk back button, and it was one more time, Mike, you're dragging.

It's a little flat, little sharp time is straight?

All right?

Breathe into that one elongate the note.

It was, I was on it.

If you look at you like okay, told.

Michael Jackson, he asked me for permission to leave the studio one day or miss a day because he was being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Didn't tell me that's why he couldn't make it. It was like, myrs, I just wanted to let you know that I just can't come into the studio today. Is that okay?

And we have a lot of work to do. I was like, Mike, you can do whatever you want to do in life. You do not have to ask me permission for anything. And then he said he had this thing and then.

So I'm going to score record.

Excuse me. So I'm staying at you know, the Hudson Hotel. So those rooms are like lug cabin, wooden.

Walls, and because of the lead up on VH one, they're showing everything Mike, so they're showing you know, James Brown, impersonating Mike through and through to remember the time, through and through to anything.

I'm looking at, I'm like, this is the same.

I go to the studio every day with this guy and a bit at that time, been in the studio with him every day for five days. And I the tears that I like, there's no tears of joy that I can express that I haven't cried like that. I don't even know what cry that was. But I was like, I'm not worthy. This makes me Quincy Jones, this makes me Paul McCartney. There's only a halful of people that

Not shade to the R word. Were you allowed to do it alone or were people over your shoulder as well?

No?

We were Dolo, was me, Dre and Chris. Yeah, I got the picture of him.

I see them had a car, remember the two other engineers, but they were really Bruce, this is right hands but no, it was straight us.

Nobody there the man's spleen or or.

Nothing.

How long did you talk to him afterwards? Like how does that relationship dissipate? Like it was cool, she was cool.

So we were in New York for two weeks and then we mixed in l a spent you know, a couple of days on that that. He listens to everything way too loud. I couldn't handle it. Like see speakers vibrating, imagine your.

Eyeballs doing that. That's how loud it was.

Him and doctor Dre the loudest like playback I've ever experienced in my life.

Michael Jackson and Dre.

And that's just like.

There's a lot going on. It's a lie.

So got I had a moment because you don't be having a moment you were.

You just step aside for a second and understand what you're doing and be present in the moment, Like, oh, you don't.

Hate being sentimental. I know you think you're gonna break me on it's gonna break me down on.

His own show in those earrings.

That was my way of giving I can't be sensitive in the moment because I'm a parent now.

No, seriously, it's emotional. It is highly emotional and.

I think that's a that's awesome I think for him. I mean, of course, yeah, I wish he was still here making music. But if that has to be his swan song of a single, I mean that's his last living single it is, then that's that's a way to go out for me.

Yeah, justin nothing, justin John, I'm just.

He was.

I like that song. But he did that in nineteen eighty one.

And not to Drake one either because whatever.

Okay, yeah, that's posthumous, like Butterflies is his last released single as he's living on his last album. When did the Acon Joints come out? But that was going to be starting something the whole my hand. Yeah, it takes it official. Yeah, I'm not trying to take anything away from.

You know what, between Mike and Prince, there was the most unrealistic like deaths as far as celebrities that I just never saw life without them.

Me and Fante were in Atlanta or no, you weren't there. I wasn't there, so you called me. I was in Atlanta to do a Prints party and it ended up turning to a Michael Jackson party.

Really crazy because he came because Michael was I don't know, yeah, yeah, Mike died he was there. Nice s wrong the whole deeper, deeper.

J that's what you said.

Okay, So.

What were your what were the the moves uh that prompted you to finally come with your your your solo phase of your career?

Mm hmm too many things.

Is this something that you can step away from and maybe we'll get back together in three.

Years or oh no, it was split dead done so when.

We did so when we did the show, because we did a show together like this was like twenty fifteen. Yeah, was that just a show and then.

That was it?

That was crazy. But the reuniting of what was dead end of six. So flow Tree really only existed from what nineteen nine, ninety eight, ninety nine till two thousand and six, officially and making our mark clearly in Philadelphia where it catapulted, but by ways of Atlanta of course, Ying Yang Cafe, Black Lily gets signed wherever Mike in two thousand and one, Floet It comes in two thousand and two. We tour four years, but then we did two albums, well technically three because we did the live

So then what was the Amanda, are you going to why you're looking why you're looking at I'm ready are going to ask I forgot about that question.

So that happened by ways of management. So I'm still signed that Geffen DreamWorks dissolved, and that turns into Okay, we'll keep these three artists from that label and turn you over to Geffen into Scope, one of which was Flowistry, So we're now we're into Scope. I have the relationship that I have with One Fair and Jimmy Ivan, and they're very much into Okay, Flowology is this album. Superstar is the single What's next? So I'm like, we'll make going to and make another album.

Cool.

Fast forward to management on r N. Jay Irving, who was Flow choose manager that entire time. Nat doesn't want him to manage her anymore. She's now got this boyfriend at the time managing her, who poses, so it's kind of like, you know, it's like, you know where they So we're talking about being young women that have come up in this industry.

You think it's going to be one way.

People have their own agendas, and he was clearly steering her in the wrong way. So once he gave an ultimatum with Geffen that if they don't offer.

Her a solo deal, they're walking.

Jimmy I been and Rounfair say okay, yeah, which is kind of what I mean. It was no one was there was there was no room to call any bluffs here, like you didn't have a leg to stand on going in there for that what that was we're talking about Gwen Stefani here.

This is nothing that they were checking for.

There were ways to go about whatever it is that you wanted, and it was just done the absolutely wrong way. So once management was one sided for Flower Try it was okay walk. Now we're no longer. Now we're missing a member. I'm still signed and obligated. Well, what I thought at the time was obligated to fulfill this contract in order to get out of it.

So I'm stuck with Geffen and they want to do a to all.

So the idea was get a standing, So management says, well, a friend of a management thanks, Ryan says, I know this chick. Amanda Will was a manager at the time. Amanda Sales and we meet hit it off immediately. I'm like all right, cool, this is what it's about to be. But the layers too, That is, you don't have a level of understanding of what you what effect you have on people until you're presented with that. So when you're on tour and you're standing there with what was people's flowatry,

Do to that.

So it was a lot of negativity from fans at first. That turns into Amanda turning on me.

It's your phone. I'm like, listen, do you know what happened in order for you to stand there right now?

I know your tears are warranted on your end, but you don't have a floaty tier to drop right now. You don't understand what I've been through to do this. So it's like I kind of want to I wanted to pull out hair. I'm ready to fight.

It was.

It was bad, but it was bad for several reasons, and that was just that one summer tour. So oh no, no, no, no, Well, because me and Amanda were recorded a bunch of songs like just they wanted to hear flowtry songs too, so it was like exactly, So the tour was very much Flowerty songs embellished a little bit, and then that was that. So that was two thousand and seven Flower Try Remixed Tour.

And then.

Good old Peter Edge that was then A and r J Records and a fellow brit I felt like the right move and I.

Was welcomed with open arms. And there's late nights and early mornings.

Wow. So the very strong hope she cheat on you with the basketball? Oh about that?

I you streamed.

One late night and I freestyled that I was playing the chords and we were joking about something and I was like, oh, you should record it.

So I did.

Came to New York and KNI by ways of just Blaze did that record together, and before I knew it was on the radio. I didn't even know that was going to.

What do you think about all those theories about what the song was about, because you know, the blogs were talking there were theories about I hope she teaches you on you with a basketball player.

Yeah, there was a theory that it was a boat on shoot. Now I'm going to put people's how do.

You do this?

How do the quest level?

There was a theory that it was about an artist that you knew that you were affiliated, who had cheated with your a friend of your These are two males and they were friends, and they were working with each other and once slept with the others. That's the facts, okay, And then they had to fight at your at your gym session, grabar party.

Oh, it was a whole thing.

Oh wow, I need to smoke signals. I need I'm lost.

Because I know you know.

You on stage and you gave me the look because that was the year you wanted to infuse.

I think I did like a Josy feen in Mary j f or something like.

I didn't eyes that that was inspired from that. What was going on?

That was age.

It was scary. It was scary.

It was It was scary because you know your boy from Baltimore. You know what I'm saying, your other boy, he not knowing the fight, So I was like, please don't kill him, like.

Because and he was just a friend.

Yes, he was just a friend. Don't you say a name.

I was just.

Yes, Mario who fought.

Stories.

And everyone's like, oh, mysh, what happened with such and such. It's just it's not only just me that was there. That didn't happen, you lion, No, we were all all saw it.

So you can google it, just look up Mario.

But that's exactly what really.

It was on YouTube.

It was on it was news.

I didn't know that. Okay, let me see Christmas time with and this is what happens.

I I call people anytime I'm doing an interview. I was like, you know, I run my mouth like, this is this is all of it. It's not about you. This is never shade. This is just facts.

So if you want to heal, you can't heal what you don't reveal.

You cannot heal if you don't reveal, So.

Then don't heal. Just don't reveal keyloids.

My mother almost tortured me with pictures of keyloids, saying that I would never get my ears pissed and fear that that.

Was going to happen to me.

I got something from the chicken pox.

I see, it's not right.

It's really where this conversation, I don't know. He out Keloyds is what happened when you heal too much. Don't gossip about other people's business right.

Here, I'm sorry late nice early mornings.

So that's how Late Night Chasing Clouds is.

Like Science Michigan produced I record, and I remember hearing Science and all of his production and I was like, I want that. It was so cinematic and it makes me cry. I can't even perform that song. It's just so like never ending story on top of foul call.

I remember, I wish I remember before it, before the album came out, we were doing the show. It was for an exchange and we were doing the show and maybe it was Baltimore, but anyway, we were doing the show and we were all hanging out at the hotel and you were playing me early stuff late night, like before I came out. You had all these jams on your laptop and you had a jam called first Position.

This is how Petty Marsh is and I love it.

She has a jam like she would be playing her I think you said that you were playing your cousin brother like with like brand.

PlayStation.

So it's a racing game and so she beat the nigga and she recorded a jam called First Position.

So she be.

Like, it's like, it's like if Freddie Mercury with Phil Collins drum intro came and just did like Bohemian rats, straight, very loud harmony in flash Gordon's about to.

Marry Dale or something.

It's just like a short little snippet you'll play with. It was like.

My favorite, so putting it out there.

I don't know what video game it could be synonymous with, but First Position.

Is He'll make you feel like.

Place.

I love that. I never forgot that.

That is incredible.

Wait. Also Far Away was on the Yeah, that was Yes, that's late.

Night morning to that video. Yeah, shut and where was that across the wall Edgewood, New Jersey.

Yeah, I was proud when you did that video. That was dope for the community.

Just curious, how did you look up Sterling Sterling Sims for that record?

You know what?

I'd known Sterling through Ivan Barias, who introduced when he was doing Yeah, I never noticed.

I never knew.

Because ambrosious, but I don't know sounds right to me.

Wait you're ambrosius? Wait wait wait, I'm getting it was five seconds old when I just.

Learned, so you've been saying ambrocious, that's the merit.

Guy, Ambrosia.

Well, this lady in the mall called me, I'm Burrows, you know again.

I was just like, wow, I've been saying it right for ten years, thinking I've been saying it wrong.

He got it here with it.

Wow.

Atarling was in what was Mike MacArthur in them studio home cooking, Home Cooking.

Yeah, it was a home cooking upstairs and they had that basketball court in there, and I was like, oh, Philly kids work with him. Then when I went to Atlanta, we were working together, and then we just ended up doing a whole bunch of sessions and we're in la at the time, and.

I was like, well in La.

Yeah.

So I was like far Away, I have a hook, I have a verse one. I was like, hit this verse two, hit verse two, and then tell that far Away.

How did you you covered? Uh? Well, I knew if Lauren's version lose myself, how did how did that? So?

I love the song and I remember Peter Rech and myself had the conversation. It was like I need to hear this song, and I was like, I know it. I said, you're talking about Lauren Hill happy. I said, you listening to this lyrically? He was like, yo, if you slow this down kind of sold it out to do an uptemper version of it.

I was like yeah. I was like, I'd love Lauren to do that. I said, no, you do that, and I was like okay.

And then I went through a bunch of production ideas, and because CANi and I had, you know, built a rapport at that time doing hope she cheats and you know other things, it was okay, let's do let's do this.

Ended up doing this myself.

So how did you develop your relationship with doctor dre So? And I feel like.

I've heard the story from a comrade of ours shoringy shout out to Schorngy.

He was just like, yo, man, doctor dre is like obsessed with Marshall. That's his favorite singer of all time? Like, so, how did how did? How did?

It's crazy because of other people that have worked with him, it was like I might be the only artist period that can go in there and do what I want.

I'm like, dre this is good.

He's like, okay, no, I've heard that. I've heard it from other people.

This, yeah, so you'll make everybody do something like a million times with Marsh's like okay, like it's good.

It's like just add more backgrounds in there. A couple of others like cool. So he came to a Flowatry show. He came to the Roxy in La on Sunset, small little dingy Roxy and we were doing a double gig. Oh, this was a wild night. So it's doctor Dre, Swizz Beats, A couple of other people came to the first half, and Prince comes to the second show.

So it was just a wild night. But we get back on the tour bus and I get Jay.

Jay Irving says, you know, You've got a phone call and it's Dre's people saying they want me to come.

Through to the studio. So this is like oh earlier six. So I'm like, you know what, Sure go over there and I cut a record called Mama's House. Like one take.

He played me this beat him and Mark Batson. Yeah, Mark Batson and him did this track.

And I was like, what is this?

Put me in the booth because I felt like I had something to prove it's Dre. I was like, I'm not about to fund this up, put me in the booth and he was like, you got something already to this.

Oh yeah.

So then after that, after that demo, we were just cool and then clearly did the stuff with the game with Bus and then it turns into do a project over there. I'm like, yeah, But from that I built the relationships that I have with you know, his other team of producers, one of which Focus, And that's how we.

Got how many people in Jay's Dre's click Like, is it steroids?

No?

Not really.

He's very contained and it will be like, okay, I'm banging with this sonically and stay there. So it's really two or three people that will stay in rotation at one time. But Focus has been and still is and will remain to be the most consistent.

Yeah, Focuses, that was how I really.

I mean because I knew you of course, like from Floydri and stuff, but like when you and Focus started working together, me and him was doing stuff at the time and he was playing me stuff. It was the first mixtape y'all did, right, yours truly, yours truly.

We have a ten year anniversary coming out. That's ten years ago. Yeah, that's crazy, but yeah, what the fuck. So I still bump that mixtape still Sunshine.

Oh yeah, damn. We did do something that record. Yeah, we did it, a little Brother Marshall record called Sunshine. This was God.

That was ten years That was ten years ago and still bangs like yeah, So that's how that happened.

And then who's the conceptualizer of friends and Lovers? Because me, I do all of my albums songs. That's my favorite. That's the one for me.

Pop and oak Well Pop oak Flip produced that. We did that at Sigma Sounds in Philly. Well, what was Sigma Sounds?

That's so sad.

And the music just got me gone, right the building, I think it's gone. The building is gone twelve and what's that twelve?

And racing was gone?

So you and I was, I don't know.

The music just sounded sad. It sounded very throwback.

I pictured the Jackson five singing the hook and then this chick on a train like I'm gonna go tell him I love him, but I know he about to get married.

But I'm just have to tell him to get off of my chest.

Repercussions and repercussions, and I did so conceptually, that was the story that I wanted to have for that.

But I love that song Thank You.

It's this is the real story of y'all two getting together, as as interested as all these songs.

Oh yeah, our stories.

We're talking.

Song?

Is it?

I'm like, which song I thought we were.

Not?

Sorry?

Sorry, you have to know how to get there?

So yeah, sorry, other songs on the album, you go for it?

What else is on that? We spend all my time? Oh my god, Charlie.

Now my aunt passed away from cancer, and I remember my cousins hitting me like, oh, she's good, she's doing good, she's in remission. Oh it came back, but it's not that bad. And over a two month, three month period, it went from being okay to really know being okay, Like in the blink of an I felt like and I was like, you know what, you can't get time back. Everyone's like, I don't want to spend all my time with you. So it was never about there's no money

To spend all my time with you.

Charlie Wilson was your.

Yeah, only choice. It was original, just just me on the track. I was like, if I had someone has to be uncle Charlie.

You ever watching warm up his voice before he listen? Have you ever seen him do this person? He did a little bit.

He love it.

Yeah, but that's that's maintenance, Like he plays no games, like he sounds like records on records on records.

And he don't sing in the session unless it's at least seventy two degrees something. We don't sing, no air conditioning, Charlie Wilson, session.

Everything, Charlie.

So yeah, I spend all the time. They're the emotional songs. So what are we getting at here? What's this going?

It was a point.

Take care shoes sixty nine.

You want to do a freaking one? Yeah, we do a freaky one?

So what is the story?

Where's the story with you and your husband? And then we can kind of feel in Yeah, yeah, I think sixty NFL good segue.

We don't know martial like sex like it's cool. No, I had a wild dream that I was a stripper, okay. Within that week that I was recording with the interns so Too and Coase. At the time, we're on this very much sexual wave and I.

Was like, you know what, I have something for that I don't think people expected from me.

So it was.

Six ten nine, but it was really like, I don't know.

I was like, if Vanity six or Apolloni six did a song in what was that twenty fourteen, I think it would have been.

At six Tina.

It was just like cute. I just thought it was cute.

It was very light work.

Yeah, it was very cute.

It was it was nice kissing fuck, it was amazing.

Yeah.

I didn't want it to be an interlude. It was an entire song.

And then they were like, oh, it's two acoustic guitar is because it's an acoustic guitar and vocalist.

Why does it have to do anything else other than But I was like, you know what, I'll make it a universe and.

Yeah, that was cute.

So talk about the transition, because I know that this album was released on is it this your own.

Label or yeah?

So have our own situation Human Resources jeving our label, and we partnered with E one for NYLA. So transitioning from what we're friends of Lovers on A well, I wanted it to be Jay Records, and then that dissolves and it becomes RCA, and then half the industry assigned to that label, and it's I don't I can't do Hamster Wheels anymore. And I remember Prince just being like, yo, we just go independent.

I'm like, I don't know, I'm scared.

Go independent. Yeah, going, so thank you Prince. Then once I was cleared, I was like, you know what, now I can just create. Now I don't have to I want to. And that spawned the idea for NYLA because Friends and Lovers I was in a before I met you, bab. Friends of Lovers was tough because I had to admit that nothing was good for me, nothing, whether that was the relationship I was in the things that I was holding onto.

This industry that's full of.

Yes men and women and full of open bars and anything that's to you, you can have it. And if you just say yes to everything, like who are you really? So I was struggling. Yeah, I was definitely struggling a little bit. And then I had to center myself and go you know what, whatever I really want, I just want to be happy. The one I was decided on

Is out?

Let's anyway?

No keep that going?

Sorry?

I was like, he's fine, fine, like Ralph Angel, Queen Sugar, fine, Like who is that?

But can he talk louder than Ralph Angel? Yeah?

It's very very.

Watch everything subtitles, you.

Know what I say?

The other day he's like you know Christian Bell does his Batman voy ye that he's gonna stopped, but I think it's good for that current Don Ralph angels that.

Anyway. Desmond, Yeah, back to dead let's go.

He was wearing this red fitted and I was backstage and I was like, who is this? It's like, oh, my role managem. Mitch was like, I told you, I'm bringing someone else on the tour, you know you and I was traveling separately, like he's gonna cover that side of things. I'm gonna cover you. I was like, oh, so he's on the tour, so I'm gonna see him married day.

Okay. Cool.

So that's what right about this last week of June apparently twenty fifteen, So apparently we met in an elevator in Cleveland, Ohio, and I didn't say hello or I kind of gave him the brush up.

Y'all did the whole tour and didn't Oh no, no.

Wait wait wait, So June fifteen it was because he was Game six.

Okay, I was going to Game six Caves versus worries.

That was on my mind.

I wasn't taking no one, no, no, no. So I am still having issues with the whole flowtry situation. I was like, Wow, nothing will ever change, but you know what this is for me. This isn't about nothing else but for me. So I'm gonna go through it. Watch game six caves lose worries when Andrea goodal MVPs very bizarre. Fast forward to that last week and I'm like, you know what, I'm just gonna say, what's up? So I approached, Yeah, look at the risks.

Still there.

So so.

I initiated the conversation and it was very much you know, yes or no answers, and I'm like, okay, we get to Norfolk, Virginia.

Though uh.

Yeah, Virginia is for loving Virginia.

I love you because at the North the actual venue, they have a basketball court upstairs and a spar jakoozie and a great upright piano in the room, but more importantly a basketball court. And I saw him taking a couple of shots and I was like, oh, I.

Play, you know exactly exactly.

So that night.

Everything in Norfolk was closed. Why is everything closed eleven or something crazy? So I wanted to.

Grab a bite to eat. I texted him and said, Yo, you wanted me to be down in the lobby off.

Did you beat him the game?

No, we didn't play, said no, and our holds up there and all of my show outfit and high heels. Was like, oh, so he checked the form and stuff and then rolled and then I texted him and said, yeah, you want to go grab something to eat?

Everything's closed, mind you. So we walk from what is downtown It's that more right there next to the river.

We ended up with the cookout listen to cookout, Milkshakeshake.

Cookout.

It was it was like a three hour, four hour walk, but it was corny too. We ran through sprinklers. It was very, very wrong com made for TV. Lifetime could have got a Netflix still would have been like a you know, a limited series and HBO.

We went X rated. So that night I remember calling my mother. He broke me back to my room.

We got the burgers and talked about love life, god, everything, believes, dreams, aspirations, and I was like, Mom, I've met the one.

He's the one I'm telling you. She was like, well, what happened?

I was like, we kissed.

She was like a memoir. I was like, that's it. I was like, who do you think I am waiting for? This elaborate, dirty story.

I was like, this is the date, this is like the first date, so technically, and then by the time we go to Philly a week later, we were doing it.

Well I'm sorry, sorry, sorry.

It's just the most wonderful time of the wonderful So yeah, but we can.

We get to Philly and we're doing it, and I guess at that point the whole tour, you know, every musician, every bad memory.

Gentlemen, you have to understand that he's literally sitting like a yard heard.

He knows it's the most wonderful time of the year. I can this platform to talk about microphone quar.

It. No, no, I don't want to you know, infrared uh beam.

Well, we finished that tour on my birthday actually, and August eighth, we were in Maryland a thing, or might even Baltimore. So do that show and find out that, you know, we both live in LA and said, when we get back to LA, you know, let's not make this just a tour, like make this the thing thing.

So I was like, do you know what is going to happen?

I'm a fall in love and what's going to be weird is if I come home for Christmas. You know, from August eighth through to December. I said, I don't want to come home in December with someone. You guys, what's this guy wanting to meet him now? Because I just know so, Daddy, but that's weird and weird. He wasn't weird, no, because I met his mother day one because we were picking her up and his other auntie from a concert.

I remember what concert that was, like the o Jays.

Something said, aunt.

We walk around the house just just periodically, like blurting out, like you have to for anybody's auntie.

So yeah, shout outs to Ken and yeah.

We moved in about September fifteen and went home for Christmas. We went back to the UK for like a month because we did a floaty show out there, and then he met my entire family, like straight Liverpool strong scouse accents, like it was this marshal you moved to America eighteen years ago and we haven't seen one fellow.

Who's this I'm still I put on an accent just to make you.

Give us a proper version.

This is like a hybrid I've lived in I used to live. I hate marm anyway, I hate I hate football, and well I'm from Liverpool, so Liverpool, come on, you Reds can't be Everton.

It's not gonna happen.

But yeah, I'm I'm I'm okay, No, not really, because I do mince pies at Christmas.

I love that.

I love a good old custard with a nice sponge cake. I love tea and biscuits, bangers and bank as a mash. I love Shepherd's pie.

A mash see is good night?

So we have nothing else?

Do we get what we so?

Yeah?

And then well fast forward to after that Christmas. We get back April. We're about to go on the second reuniting a flowtry because popular demand wants us to go on tour again. Those guarantees came in. I looked at them and said that we can do this within the year. What about house babe, Let's go went back out on tour. Because it's our job and our career and against everything I wanted to do. Yeah, yeah, So we did flow Try again twenty sixteen, which would be the last.

But one week into that tour we find out we're pregnant. So if you've played at Yoshi's before in Oakland, so you do two shows a night.

We did two shows the night at Yoshi's, four days back to back to start the tour. So the first date was in Sacramento and we were on a flight on the way there and Des, my husband collapsed on this flight, like we had an early Black Girl's work was in New Jersey. We taped that got on an early flight to get to the first Floaty show.

Hadn't really eaten. I think that's what it was. We just didn't eat.

But he collapsed on this plane that they were about to land. It in the middle of nowhere, and I guess there was a nurse on the flight that assisted kind of made sure everything was okay. They took us blood pressure and when we googled it, pregnant women come up. So I'm like, whatever, and this is early, so this is like the first couple of days Aprils might have been April second so we do that showing Sacramento. He's

I was.

I paid on it and it said pregnant. So I'm waiting for the not to come up, like I was like, how does this work?

Does it? Just? That was good?

That was good.

That's right.

I was created, and.

Then Dyla was created and we're pregnant.

And it was so early on I didn't want to tell anybody on the tour, but I didn't want to not do the tour. So by ways of the doctor, They're like, you're fine, you know it's early if you're healthy. Let's just see how this goes. So I booked doctor's appointments throughout the tour.

My first one was.

In Phoenix and if you played at the venue, the celebrity arena stage, oh my god, I was going to die.

I was like, I'm so dizzy.

I couldn't wear the high heels that I anticipated wearing for that tour and I'm now wearing these low what the SB golgedes No, but I had chucks on my Nikes, my sb's and I'm like, I'm dizzy.

This is weird. I don't like it. So we get to the doctor's like, yep, you are pregnant about you know, five or six weeks. I'm like, oh, I'm on tour for like another month and a half or so, and I'm like, you know, just just see how you feel sow it goes.

So I get to Pensacola, Florida, and I almost throw up on the front row.

Whoa.

It was rough because it was like one hundred and ten degrees and humid, and I could smell everything. It was like the bar and it had like the lemons and like that citrus smell. Anything sweet. I'm a dessert fanatic, and when I was pregnant, I couldn't touch sugar without throwing up. It was so it wasn't fair, Like nothing I was straight. I needed lazed potato chips and like bacon double cheeseburgers. I stopped eating red meat for seven years, and as soon as I was pregnant, I needed steak.

But I guess your body just tells you what you need. And it was ridiculous. But yeah, So by the time you know, we get off tour, everybody were pregnant. Peace by love you. And then December nineteenth, Nithera's here, She's I love already. You kept say.

I still love her.

My grandma comes on that kind of cuspy, but she's definitely a saggy so tell us.

So you were saying a couple of questions. So you were saying, when you did that floaty tour, you knew that was going to be like your last one. Oh yeah, and what was how did you know?

When?

Not even about that?

Because Nat and myself could do a floaty show with our eyes closed, like we could have had a whole fight and been on stage and given you the whole show, and you would know no different. The creativity part of it that will never well, hoping never will, but never die.

Personally could not tolerate.

Not only past, but if you're someone else's trigger for what just didn't happen for you, you can't help that.

You can forgive everything.

But if I'm the one that remained in the US and still doing what I'm doing, I'm a constant reminder of what happened in two thousand and six, I'm a constant reminder of reasons why things went left or right, and there's nothing you can do to heal that other person. So I feel once we got to the end of that tour and there's still smoking weed on the bus, you know I'm pregnant.

Though it's the end.

It's then I was like, you don't wish well for my life, and I don't care if it was done out of well. This is because in two thousand and six you said, I'm like, I did this for right now. I know what I've done, I know what I've said, I know things that I've possibly done that have killed you in some ways. And if you, like I said, if you can't heal what you don't reveal, if you can't tell me what it is, I don't know.

I don't know.

It's like saying, you know, I'm okay now, Well I'm not like you don't when you like break up with someone or you're you're mad at someone and you try and reconcile. I'm not ready to reconcile. And I guess for twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen. Initially with the twenty fifteen, we both were. But you've also shown me who you still are and still will be. And I'm cool on that.

And that's okay too. Wish you well on everything that you do, but I don't.

I'm collectively we've all been in group situations where it's a lot of See I didn't think of that, but you know what it is. It's it's it's micro managing personal lives. Because the music is that's your first hand. We knew, we knew that part. It's everything else you have to deal with that comes with that. So so Nyla's out in stores, Nyler is out unavailable.

Yeah, actually let's not. I do have a question about the music, Okay, go for it.

Are we ever going to get an officially released version of Yes, indeed, the team recover that you did.

Dre and I discussed this and hopefully when it calls for the moment it deserves, it shall be. But that was a tough one to tackle about Tina Marie be and one of my.

Said, right, oh yeah, yeah, and I remember you played it at that show and it's on YouTube and everything.

Good God, I played it like five six times in a row.

You can't it crazy? But yeah, one day, one day I'll hit Dre.

Also, uh, first position and we still what happened.

First position when you gave said the text I want to see.

Can't wait see. I wanted to ask about Cloud nine, but.

So well, I will say about Cloud nine live, played it live, You're the only drama I have seen that on the planet.

Because I wasn't going to be embarrassed by my first gospel chops challenge.

Have you heard Cloud Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's it's straight godless, It's I was like, never again.

I went I went to that's the first night I spent the night at fallon my first night ever.

I was like, no, I'm not going to get embarrassed. On stage because I don't know how the gospel chop. I went on YouTube learn how to play the drums. Yes, I typed in gospel chops for dummies.

Yeah, it's eleven year old, like Filipino kid with his own pate dog.

It's YouTube, it's the Internet.

Why not just call a tribute.

Anyway? Oh f is this episode? To get there? Yeah? And I had to shed for like five hours straight.

Wow.

Wow, that's how hard.

It's a tough one, but it's it's so good. Another focus, Yes, shout out the focus.

That's the homie. I really yeah, I have great chemistry. Yeah. I was so happy to see y'all work together for like a whole.

That's my brother for real. It's definitely a musical assault mate. He I mean, he's music woralty like it's in the DNA like your dad is chic.

Yeah, so crazy.

Before we wrap up the show, what are your future plans? Mars?

My future plans are creatively yo.

I asked you that question four years ago. You said I just want to get married and have babies.

So here we are four years later and now crusted TV and film horror being my favorite genre.

Yeah, I would love to see you in a horror film. I think you were about to say you.

Okay, yeah, okay, yeah, So what level are we talking like round zombie level or are we talking well.

The zombie stuff is just Gore for Gore's sake. For me, sometimes it's it's I love it.

I'm about because he's like, it's that.

Yeah, never mind, it's the things that you don't see, the scary.

And you.

So you you like thriller, psychological thrillers, Yeah, I love Okay, we.

Added like horror.

I'm gonna go, well, go on a whim and say and you can say, this is my original idea and I gave you here for it's gonna happen.

Okay.

Picture of the movie.

Elm Street, And it's really about the suburban area of Elm Street and the parents that pluck to kill this man, Freddy Krueger, who allegedly sexually abused a kid.

That's why he dies.

So it's the horror that you see in normal people that you just go to the supermarket with. And they've decided that this missing kid is his responsibility and we're gonna kill him. And then Freddy has to like then declare his soul to the devil and says, you know what, I'm gonna come back and haunt your kids and your kids kids. That entire flick is creeping me out thinking about it. Has to happen, though, prequel it is telling you that's my artist name.

Now be in six years mark over them so you got time to write them.

It's done.

There you go, Marsha. I thank you for coming on.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Sugar Steve, what'd you learn today? You haven't done this in a while. Man, Wow, her entire story essentially. Okay, even her you've known her and that I'm the only one here. Ironically, I suppose you've been pronouncing her name correctly.

Yes, uh, unpaid Bill Man. Good people make good music. Okay, you just learned that.

I learned that Matt Cappy is on a Michael Jackson song. Yeah. I was a low key jealous Matt Cappy. And then you learn how to drum on? Yeah, I learned that that eleven year old boys out of drump on the on the buckets.

I didn't know you were in the basketball so much, so I thought that's pretty awesome. And as well as the horror flicks. That's that's pretty awesome. So two unrelated to music, things that I think are really awesome about you awesome, Like where'd.

You learn today?

Learned that dev is seven years younger and looking for a younger man. No, but you know it's that it works. I still think it works more than a female's favor because of that. You know about the physical anyway, and I what they he would be still ready to go ahead it when she hits her peak, you'll know.

I'm all about the sexual peak. You wouldn't think about Okay, I know you did anyway. And I learned that Marsha is gonna write the prequel for Nightmare on Elm Street.

Yes, she's got a good idea for idea, man.

I learned that Marsha is like healthy and happy and like it's still like from the last time we saw each other, like your life has just gotten better cause and like I'm just happy to see you. I mean because we've had conversations just before about the game and the industry and like just kind of finding your way.

Crazy this ship can be.

So to see you still here, still doing it and be able to do it on your own terms, that's really uh, it's really smart business moves.

Like having kids can be positive, having kids can't be positive. Learned to start risking it all I've learned.

I've learned how to use one's own podcasts to deflect any love life.

I appreciate you see all that go around. Of course, love Supreme.

Courts loved Supreme. It's a production of iHeartRadio. This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.