Questlove Supreme: Lisa Cortés Part 1

Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.

This is kind of weird.

Well it's gonna be great. Welcome you mean the weirdness of those those two guys in the corner.

No, everyone, we're good.

All right, let's go kids. Here we go.

Supprimo sub primo, roll sup Primo, Sun sub Premo, roll sub dream Primo, roll sub cream Supremo.

My name is quest Love. Shut up.

Yeah, So, ladies and gentlemen, uh, this is another episode of Quest Love Supreme. I'm your host, Quest Love. I hope you are doing fine. We have a fan Takeolo and Laya and and Sugar Steve and on pay Bill. And our guest today is the Emmy winning director in film. Why y'all looking at me like there's a far tell you alright, knows what time it is. My name is Spante, so nice to meet you. Don't got the coat jam but it's Lisa, Lisa.

My name is Sugar Glad. We're not on zoom Yeah, wop out of lubob Yeah, wop.

Him on.

My mom?

Pay Bill and what the what? Let's talk to the fruity and take it in the butt.

It's like, yeah, and I'm losing my mind. Yeah, I am everything. That's music doc of my time. My name is and I can't rap, but I'm a director and I'm gonna tell you about some little ripe.

I know why you left the rap label.

I'm sorry I was I didn't know.

Actually, I agree with you. It's one of the most important Yo. No for a ladies and gentlemen. Walking to another Quest Love Supreme episode. All right, how are you guys doing doing?

Good?

Man? Yo, we had a field trip. I got to make a butt tex rhyme.

I'm good, Hey, yo, man shot yo unpaid building doing some amazing ship.

Come on, yeah, straight up?

Man, Even though he got You're definitely gonna e got all right? Right, No, first jam Band had showed us on YouTube.

Kids.

It's like my favorite kids show since Yo Gabba Gabba. It is perfectly made for people that like to get high and watch television shows.

Also featuring Fonte and like, yeah, yeah, yeah, she's.

Killing as the book Yeah I meant to give you.

So yeah.

So jam Van is great, and then his show and Juliette, which is on Broadway. We saw it last night at the Stephen Sun Theater. I'm not a musical person at all. Like ever, I was worried.

That was my first Broadway show ever, first Broadway show, not my first play.

I mean I've been to play. I got Culture and Ship, but like I sain't never been on Broadway. You've seen some Sunday plays, you know what I'm saying.

Come on, I seen Mama and the Burning Up the Chicken, and y'all see Short the Box with whatever. But no, a Juliette bro we had a wonderful time, man, great time. It's the music of Max Martin.

So it's like all like the Backstreet Boys Ship and Weekend and brit Britney Britney.

That way and the way they used it. Yeah, I was like, yo, that was that was clever.

Yeah, and everybody the Backstreets Back, that sh it was funny. There's gonna be well. I don't want to spoil it, but.

But no, man, wait, can I ask a question though? When you hear Backstreets Back? My prerogative? Oh not even damn. I didn't even give to that.

I was going to say, are there any other thoughts in your mind when you hear Backstreets Back?

Nah?

Okay, it's only me only because that song is literally the reason why Kel's got a guilty plea because you know his whole thing of saying that you know.

C G I or you know whatever, like that was make me or whatever.

But apparently someone has t r L on in the other room and it was a Halloween episode.

I guess that that song debuted on as a.

Halloween costumes and the videos and stuff, right, and.

So I guess you can hear in the background like special Halloween. There's a world premiere of Backstreets Back but no, no, no, no no.

So it's almost like every time I hear that song, I think like, wow, this is the song that finally, after years and years, is what got call.

I did not know that. Yeah, that was a deep dive. I won't be thinking of that when I hear that song. Sorry, I'll just be doing that. Man, Like great job man the music show. Like we had a wonderful time.

Man, glad you guys got to go.

I appreciate it.

It was amazing, cool and that was your experience last night. Fantastic. I went to see New York New York just Open on Broadway, uh with John Deeler and Linn Miranda, and it was wonderful. He's in it No, he just wrote some additional lyrics.

Okay, I got it.

I got I saw Vanessa Williams though, who I believe worked with our guest here, and that was quite a night.

Vanessa L. Williams Sure, okay, right?

Oh yeah yeah, and I got to rhyme about a butt.

So I'm happy.

It's a good day. I feel you, beatiful, yo.

Our guest today is I mean winning director, film producer, and she's part of the team that brought us Oh Precious.

Wait, can I ask, how's life are you?

I was just messing with you. Go ahead, ask your question, boy, whose.

Idea was it to make?

Like?

Why it wasn't just simply called Precious and not Precious a film adaptation?

Yes, I asked that was your idea? Yes?

Why?

Why was that?

Precious was the character? But the source material was so important and I wanted to make certain that that connection was there at the end of the day. Shorten it, yeah if you want, But I wanted people to connect to the book that you know, back in the nineties on the subway going to Brooklyn, everybody was reading Push. So based on the novel Bye Push.

At thirty Rock, that's always been like an inside joke where people will never say Precious. They'll be like, oh, you're talking about Precious based on the novel, by push and by like literally, they'll give the whole biography or description of the book.

And I was like, why do you guys keep saying that? And I guess it's them.

Like also, because if it was just going to be Precious, I didn't think that gave enough. We worked on that film for so long to get Sapphire to give us the rights option it, to develop it, to write the script, to have one director, to then have Lee step in, to have cast the main character, and four weeks before we're gonna start shooting, Lee's like, we have the wrong person. I'm like, oh, no, we have the right person, because we're gonna start shooting in four weeks. And then we

Wait, I know that anyway.

There's also the Apollo Theater documentary, which she was part of the production team. She also directed Remixed Hip Hop Times, Fashion, All Right, Got It, and Before her Life in film. She was an exec at Mercury and Deaf Jam. Very interesting story of how we're connected. Well, we'll talk about that later, but I will say that her newest film, which I will go ahead and say an instant classic, and that's not Questlove, hypercole or over exaggeration, which of course world famous for it.

But I will say that it is an immensely what you just called yourself world famous for exaggerating, which was.

I will say that it's an immensely powerful and important film, especially where we are today in terms of erasure, in terms of understanding that all people are in a monolith, that we're we have different spectrums and different cultures and different aspects of our lives, and you know, and basically the freedom, the fight.

For the freedom to be free.

And I guess we had quest of supreme want to do everything in our power to amplify this very powerful documentary. Of course I'm speaking of Little Richard the well the full title, because of course.

No it's called Little Richard. I am everything. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome Lisa Cortel.

I just want to say it's so good to see you all. I listen and I thought these are my imaginary friends, and they're real. There's no going.

So before I get to your story, I have to say that you are very, very very key and instrumental in my career.

I don't know.

Do you remember a conversation that you had with Richard Nichols right when? So assuming that your years at Mercury you were part of the Kenyata Bell ed Eckstein Dave gossip, Yeah, rejection demos, that's my favorite line.

So do you remember the story of our the connection with the roots of Mercury Records?

Yeah?

All right, Well one I want to ask what happened the day after?

So I've told this story millions of times, but the shortest version is, you know, we started busking on the streets in nineteen ninety two of the actually all of nineteen ninety three, we start fishing for a deal, winds up into I won't say it, bidding more, but we damn near went to every label, and then at the last minute Mercury was going to be that label. And then the way that I believe the story was when either Kenyada Bell's assistant sent us the contracts because of

They don't off of staff.

We're good, but we wanted the free dinner, like we liked the whole whining and dining courting part of getting a record deal.

So thus, you know, we did the steak and lobster thing, We're three to go and all that ghetto shit.

And then just to mess with her Rich and I decided to call her Bruff and we just literally like just started naming everything like you know, we want you know, pathminder and three apartments and da da da da da da da da da da long story short or longer Sunday. Our lawyers like, uh, she agreed to everything you guys

Rich? And we found later found out in the longest twenty year lesson.

Of the longest fuck around and found out ever.

Literally and so whenever the bullshit happens, we always used to joke.

Lisa Cortez told us this is going to happen.

So do you know, like what was the aftermath of that, because you know, we should have signed to that label, Like you guys took us to the Legion.

I think the Legion was shooting a jingle jingle, jangle wow.

Everything literally, like we.

Went to the jingle jingle said, we met dress and everything, We're like, oh shit, we're going to be stars, you know.

And then you know, so I remember when you guys did a showcase for us. Yeah at s R, Yes, like on fifty something something kind of proxidity and it was fantastic. I was the VP and I had hired all those guys like Dave Gossip had gotten fired a deaf jam and I was like, come over and work with me. And you know, Kenyatta came in and I didn't know this thing about the spelling stuff. See that's the thing when you give the keys to the car to the kids, Like sometimes they don't tell you stuff that.

You know. Our parents were naming us like you know, it's like I.

Don't do that.

Twelve names. So yeah, you know.

I do remember though, telling Kenyatta that because you know, I wanted to do the deal and I wanted to support my team because if somebody came to me and like Lisa, we have to sign, we have to and they had so much passion, they had a vision. I saw you guys. I knew the long tail that we could make an investment in. And when I heard you know, and it's like, I just always blame it on the managers. I'm like, who's the manager who like the ship go down? But with grace, you know, I was Connecticut.

He said, you did it very Claire Huxtables, like the very stern.

Hmm, motherfucker. But I love you, bless you and so. But I was just like, I also as an executive, saw different spaces, and I knew Wendy Goldstein had a great heart and she was there. But the ecosystem, the bigger ecosystem you were going into. It was like, you know, when working for Ed Eckstein, and the Ed story is really interesting how we connected. But you know, he was the president. A black man was the president. He let all of us do our thing, you know. Like I

He was all.

I was like, I didn't know why Stanford.

I did not know that.

Yeah.

I got a tape on a spoken word artist, Reggie Gaines. I was like, I want to do a spoken word record. He's like sure I would produce, didn't sign Regie Gaines.

Okay, okay, no, We're always.

Kind and gentle. So when all of this happened, I just was like, yes, they should be here. But more importantly, I'm a prayerful person, so I was like, I'm just praying that the right people besides the one A n R person who loves this group, is going to come on board, because I know how that happened, like I would love things and I could not get the rest

Were you did you sign el Al Scratch as well? M okay, yeah, how did that come about?

I think that might have been someone might have been Bernadette Williams who's my assistant? And then she became an A and R person. You know, I did a record a label deal with DJ Pooh because I had known

The jam Master, Jason Williams, and so.

The late great Gary Harris.

Ah. Gary.

You know, every conversation I ever had with Gary was always like I don't even know how to visually describe, but he'd just be like one of those cats that would always cover his mouth like uh, like it's it's a casino, like yeah, like the is watching the right right right, But he'd be like, yo, this kid named DiAngelo like whatever.

It was part of the D'Angelo team at Emi. But he was at Mercury first.

Well, he was friends with Ed. He never went there. So Ed had Wing records, and he had Tony Tony Tony. He had Vanessa. They were trying to blow her up and Gary said Joe, you need to meet Cortez. She's working with all the hot hip hop producers. So Hank Shockley Bomb Squad did a remix of the Right Stuff, right, and then I Edward was in California. He would come to New York. You know, we'd take him to Nels,

You were there to witness that.

Oh yeah, Jesus, I'm a hip hop zelig.

All right. You were born in Connecticut, Yes, all right, So what was your first musical memory?

Okay, I was born in Connecticut, but I grew up between Connecticut and Harlem. So I always liked to put that on the map because I'm you know, I'm kind of like Green Acres. I'm like the city and the country.

I can tell already this is gonna be my favorite interview of this whole entire series, Like, oh, she just has an energy first memory.

I'm down on my knees. I'm begging you please, cause I'm busted. Ray Charles, Yes, Ingredients and a recipe for soul. My mother would play that like three times and the house would be She had these records she would play to clean the house and she'd be like, I buy him three times and the house will be clean. So that was one, and then Dinah Washington this Bit of Earth, and then there'd be an occasional show too. So I love musicals. I don't, said the man on his way to it Eco.

I mean, can I ask a question, speaking of Busted, have you ever heard this version of Ray Charles doing Busted? And then someone walks on the stage to suck a punch Ray, because I guess Ray.

Slept with this woman.

Like literally, they're going and he's going through the verse and then all of a sudden, you know the the bands, you know, like on television when they messed up, like literally that moment and someone's.

Like you a dog. You're a motherfucking dog and racist, like bless your hearts, someone, someone come and get this gentleman off.

Fuck you dog.

Why'd you do that to her? You dog? You dirty, disgusting dog.

And then something did you hear like dog dog, someone please come get him off me? And my part was like, wait, why is the band letting Rachel's get beat up like that speaks more than because they knew, right, And so you hear them dragging him to him off like fuck you, Raychel, and you hear him like out the door, and I blessed, blessed this kind of hard all right, two three?

And then literally you never heard that, never never.

That's like my favorite thing, next to like Freddie Ubbert cursing out the band and Buddy Rich Germany.

Yeah, all right, sorry, Well, you know it's funny when you were vamping there. I think for a kid, they're the.

Right.

Even though I didn't know the lyrics, I love the melody. So I think that's why I always remember that so strongly as at musical memory, and just how it motivated my mother to get the house together.

You know, that's called I learned that. I learned this this morning. Okay, I'm doing the slide movie.

It's called Counterpoint, where oh damn, Bill just literally came alive like rum hello, I know you have to get music nerdy.

I like it.

Yeah, Counterpoint, I guess.

Uh.

Well.

Sly also took advantage of this well where Ray has a gospel bass, but the melody is more like a nursery rhyme, So it's sort of like, you know, the the Rece's theory of mixing chocolate and your peanut butter

So can I ask you a question? Yes, did he sleep with Doris Day?

All right, so that's one of the most asked questions of this thing so far.

He was like, what are you talking about?

So far?

I have four no's and two yes's, and the nose might have it.

However, dars Day's son, who was like Slies engineer doing that there's a ride going on, was also his Well, no, they Sly live across the street from the Beverly Hill Billy's house.

This is when they went to bel Air. But turn it real like hood.

Dars gave Sly her BMW and I guess that's how that rumor came.

But Sly every every interview sly sort of.

Sinuated like, yeah, you know, dars Day gave me this BMW, so you know, they're like, wait, are you dating dars Day?

I don't know. Am I dating dars Day? So I don't think you know.

You know Sarah everybody you know I'd be in the Beauty Paul with my mother and then people be like, okay, Sarah cy Doris Day.

But the thing was, I looked in seventy three and I was like, okay, so slies twenty nine, Dars's forty four, and I looked at her in seventy three, and I'd be like, all right, that motherfucker hit.

So like, would you give anyone your BMW just for that?

So hello talk.

Yeah.

So there's one person that can put their life on the fact that they believe they slept together, But the rest of the band's like, nah, I think he was just lying. Right If that's and that was this day after the song you want Me to Stay, that's never that fus. Yeah, I told you she knows how a rabbit hole just like the best of us. What was the first concert you went.

To Stevie Wonder opening for The Supreme.

I thought you said the Rolling Stones, because I was like, what were you doing there?

They couldn't find a babysitter.

Come on, come on, how old old were you? I was like, four, man, do you have memories of it? Or is it fit?

Here's It was at the Bowl, the Bowl in New Haven. It was it was outdoors, it was the summer, and Stevie kept he did like fifteen encores and I just remember my mother going, you know, I really came to see Diana Ross and the Supremes and I was like, I was like, I like this man.

I like him. So your mom was just like I was a little opening at kid.

Yeah, she grew to love him, she could love him. And then I had a very memorable concert with the Jackson five with my mother and father, and that famous memory is it was at Madison Square Garden and my father at like all these screaming kids and my father's like, that's when the Horn and Hearted Automatic restaurant was right across the street. There wasn't you know the train station all that. My father's like, I'll be in the Horn and Heart it having some tapioca pudding because you.

Want to come.

He couldn't take it. It was just like all these you know, prepubescent girls screaming be like.

A parent today at a BTS concert, Like, I don't want to see that, so let me I'll be across the Harry restaurant right.

Exactly what did your parents do for starting?

My mom was an aircraft engineer, and my dad, who's an immigrant. He's from Columbia, South America.

Uh.

He was a rebel, radical and a businessman.

In in my back of my mind, I was trying to Okay, let me figure out where.

Okay, so the whole Pacific coast Afro Colombian. Are you fluent, Lisa? Do you speak of Spanish when I need to cust somebody out? And where's the bathroom? I mean, I think those are the most important language.

Skills to have, but not busting people, because my favorite thing is when I've hung with people that people might think like, oh, they're black or some whatever, and they'll talk shit and then.

Right and then and then you go uh and then they go right.

Exactly, we everywhere, baby, So when when was the moment that you were like, I want to get in the industry.

Nine years old, I convinced my mother to let me go to the children's Theater Workshop, which was a dance school run by Miss Connie, and they put on many musicals. I'm trying to get on your next show, and so we did Gypsy. So you can imagine, you know, from three year old kids to teenagers doing once. I was a Schleppa, now a miss Mazeppa, you know, like, because Gypsy is a musical about a stripper, and I had been very it.

Was you want to be in that musical?

I was, I do it all the time?

Wait, I didn't know that.

Yeah, Stephen Sondheim. And it's the story of Gypsy Rosalie and how her sister was going to be the star and their mother pushed the sister forward and then the sister ran off with one of the dancers because it takes place in the vaudeville time, and then Gypsy they end up in a shitty show and the mother's like, you're going to be an exotic dancer, and Gypsy goes on to become one of the famous vaudeville strippers.

Time. I was in this play in like fifth grade and didn't realize how many kids.

In these plays.

I don't understand what we'll doing this play.

This kid's a performing art.

Well, at my school, it was like from first grade to twelfth grade, so it was the older kids, but they found like roles for like the elementary kids to play in.

So I didn't really did show Boat. We did Mame, we did Gypsyme.

Yeah, I was Vied Charles's assistant. Well, my sister played via Charles and I had to. They made a role for me Bullet Cherry.

I did hair in high school. I was hood.

Were you naked? Fuck? Okay? Then you didn't do hair?

Yeah, I mean it was a very a very tame down, Republican version of air.

But I did it.

You were here, you were bald.

Yeah.

I grew my hair out. But like they wouldn't let us do all the new all that, we wasn't doing that shit plays.

So I found my voice. I went my mother, get your grades up. I got my a's, and I auditioned and discovered that I could sing, and then I loved movement and performance and connecting. Fast forward this summer I was fourteen, when everybody rebels, I locked myself in my room and I just listened to Ella's Gershwin songbook Cole Porter songbook.

I just not heat waved, not.

Of course Evelyn Champagne King, you know, I mean my father's playing Celia Cruise. I mean there was a lot, a lot of music. And I also read the back of albums and I was like, who is this mixer? I just I you know, I would bathe myself in music.

You found bath you said rebelling, So in my mind, I'm like, oh, okay, this is when like she discovers bad brains or sex pistols or the ramos, and I'm like, GIRs, when your parents dream but your.

Pears are like, what the And then I discovered hip hop?

What was your first hip hop record?

I'd say it's it's rappers Delight?

How are you when rappers the like came out? I don't.

I don't talk about age younger than springtime?

I got it? Okay, So how do you nuance your way into was Maroon era? Depth jam? You're a deaf jam or black label def jam?

You're Jenia, No, I'm Maroon, I'm nineteen eighty six.

Tell me everything about it.

Okay. This is one of my favorite How do you get in the music business when you have no connections? So I went to Yale and when I was there, I had this incredible group of friends. One of them's sister named Lisa Jones Mary baraka Starter.

Yeah.

We were just these young, feisty kids and we were working on a magazine that Lisa was putting together. She was part of that great crew at the Village Voice at that time, and she wanted to do a magazine called Diva d'cooning. I was into hip hop, and I was like, I want to write about women in rap. So I talked to her stepsister, Dominique diu Prima, you know, in the in the Bay. I talked to the sister Tequila Mockingbird, who was kind of in the punk scene

Wait you stop.

This is the second time that we've heard the story of someone charming the deaf GM staff to nuance a job via pastries. Because you also remember Kevin Lyles with his girl, you know, his chew money. Every morning at six a m. Would buy everyone orange juice, and le Yor was like impressed, Like this guy's clean up the office and buying us donuts and that's how he got Like Russell was like, get away from you, kid, But pastries timeout, Jimmy.

Spicer's dollar bill.

What So I'm this kid.

Love when he does voices. I have to say that.

Oh yes, So I keep trying to, you know, roll up in there and you know press them, and you know, it was pretty chaotic, but it was also very small. There was not that many people there. And I've went to a Luther Vandro show. I conned my way into the party backstage because you know, you just got you got to get in, or actually you just need to make a whole. You don't even fit in, you make

Call me.

So I keep calling, calling, calling, and then I got him on the phone one day and I said he picked up because Jimmy Spicer was talking to some woman and did not pick up the phone. And I said to Or, you know, I don't really know if you know you'll like me or I'll like you, but I'll come and work for you for half a day for free. And then half a day turned into five years a lifetime.

Wow.

So from eighty six to ninety one. Wow, okay, so licens Bill was about to start to come out.

Yep.

I was there when original concept is definitely yeah.

Yeah, And I was there when we mentioned to ninety eight Elizabeth Street, right when Chuck came in and met with mister Bill Bill Stephanie and uh, you know they signed the Public Enemy. What is leear like then?

Because the lear are we like, no, now, it's such a big personality and he was.

He was he was big, yeah, and look you know what he so he was always that person like the way that people a flower, Yeah, the way people imitate Laurens. That like Lauren and Leo are the two most imitated execs that I know, But they always have a sort of disapproving father and untouchable.

They're untouchable, like it feels like in ways right they sit and glad like you can touch Lauren, but Leon and laurna in that way kind.

Of I know, softer in leor now like Leo.

Is like he's more right right, right, So it's that Bali effect from Russell.

Let me ask you at the time, because I know that it's hard, like I'm such a history buff, but you know, I think people don't appreciate something until like time has passed, like five years later or ten years later, you're like, wow, I was really part of the team that brought one of the biggest hip hop records selling records to the world, like Licensed.

To Ill or you know that sort of thing.

But like for you though, is are you recognizing that history is being made on the spot or was it just like man whatever?

They became my family because the crazy thing is the first week my dad died when I was fifteen, and the first week that I went to work there, my mom died. Oh and you know this small group from Russell le Or, Heidi Smith, Bill Adler, Simone who was our receptionist, Bill Stephanie. They you know, they took care of me. They loved me. I remember one day I

In a nice voice, too pretty gun a very nerdy voice. Nothing scares me more than nerdy thugs.

You know that's rare.

I just want to tell you, as a woman, especially in hip hop, it's rare to hear this level of feeling protected and loved and all of that.

So I'm just get it because I also fought for them. You know, people will tell you we because this is right before everything blows up. I worked very closely with Leor putting together that Adida Steel because I actually wrote a letter to Fila because Houdini had a song called do the Fela, and I wrote him a letter and I was like, you guys need to do a deal with Houdini because they're speaking to this market. Because I

How much did they need though they needed some.

There was a guy named Angelo Anastasio who saw it, and he was the advocate for it. But you know he was communicating with people in Germany. They did the music had not spread there yet. And what I learned in those days it still helps me now, is about the power of community to cross over this music. You know, we had Dave Funkinklin who later came to work there, who was in Colorado playing this music. I don't know,

He never most people on the other side of the fence will go over time to like explain their hip hop petigree. Like we toured with Oakenfell during the area one tour and talked a lot. He never once gave a like hip hop pedigree and da da da da da da da really yeah, damn Hall When they would.

Come over, the first stop is they'd come to to ninety eight Elizabeth Street like that.

It was great.

You know, everybody would come through there. And then when him and Pete Tong become these Dan Selectro people, I was like, wow, interesting. So there was this community. There was the people from Japan there, you know, who ultimately become a part of the groundswell of the music crossing over and the ripple effect culturally. So these you know.

Yo, yo, what's up y'all?

This is Fante Fontigelo. I hate the interrupt this beautiful discussion we had with the Great Relice of Cortez. But listen, come back to part two.

We would discuss her new.

Documentary Little Richard I Am Everything, while also talking about her incredible contributions to music and film.

We love this interview and we hope you enjoyed it too.

It was a lot of fun.

Oh and also in time, go stream that new Little Richard dot available everywhere.

It's a beautiful film.

I think y'all would really like it.

Appreciate y'all. Hi Payson. What's Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.

For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.