Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Mýa Talks Creative Freedom, Navigating the Industry, Independence

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INTERVIEW: Mýa Talks Creative Freedom, Navigating the Industry, Independence · The Breakfast Club

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Every day up, week ago, click your ass up the
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: breakfast club.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Finish, y'all done?
• 0:07
  Speaker 3: Morning? Everybody is d J n V.
• 0:09
  Speaker 4: Just hilarious, charlamage the guy we are the breakfast club lawn.
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: The roast is here as well. We got a special
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: guest in the building.
• 0:15
  Speaker 5: Yes, indeed, maya welcome morning. Is this your first time?
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Is it?
• 0:21
  Speaker 6: I think so? Wow? Morning I met everybody before.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: How you energy this morning? You feel good?
• 0:27
  Speaker 6: I got a good, nice rest. Okay, that's happening, tacos
• 0:31
  Speaker 6: for Taco Tuesday.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: She's married to a Mexican, so.
• 0:36
  Speaker 5: Every day is also as well. Yes, I'm good.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: How are y'all doing new album retrospect?
• 0:44
  Speaker 6: Yes, sir?
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: What is this album mean to you?
• 0:46
  Speaker 6: M hm? This album is a journey back into time,
• 0:49
  Speaker 6: the time that influenced me to sign up to music.
• 0:51
  Speaker 6: You know, when I fell in love with music for
• 0:53
  Speaker 6: the first time. It was literally sou bunk, R and
• 0:58
  Speaker 6: B that filled my household by days, the collection that
• 1:02
  Speaker 6: my parents had a lot of dancing going on, a
• 1:04
  Speaker 6: lot of singing going on in the living room, but
• 1:07
  Speaker 6: culture as well, the block parties, the skating rinks, those
• 1:12
  Speaker 6: gatherings where your family would come over laughter, children playing,
• 1:17
  Speaker 6: So it's a celebration.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: Nobody could look at you and tell you grew up
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: in that era.
• 1:21
  Speaker 6: Literally, no, no, I'm a seventies baby.
• 1:25
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 1:26
  Speaker 6: Yeah, so the whole experience.
• 1:28
  Speaker 7: But I'm glad that you said that because we were
• 1:30
  Speaker 7: listening to the album and I instantly got Prince.
• 1:33
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 1:33
  Speaker 5: So it's like that was totally intentional.
• 1:36
  Speaker 6: Oh yes, the Minneapolis sound. I've worked with Jim and
• 1:39
  Speaker 6: Lewis before, performed with Prince before, but that whole era
• 1:43
  Speaker 6: of funk, the performance, the aesthetics, the fashion, you know,
• 1:47
  Speaker 6: the little expressions and the facial expressions and the hand gestures,
• 1:52
  Speaker 6: just the ultimate performers during that time, the rehearsals. You know,
• 1:55
  Speaker 6: I'm a musician's daughter. Yeah, and it really inspired me.
• 2:00
  Speaker 6: I've done stuff like that before on previous albums. I
• 2:03
  Speaker 6: did a Rick James cover, but I just wanted to
• 2:05
  Speaker 6: embody a whole body of work, which is is what
• 2:09
  Speaker 6: an album is to me. So retrospect is literally digging
• 2:13
  Speaker 6: into the crates of my influences and going back into time,
• 2:17
  Speaker 6: those joyful times of my childhood that first influenced me
• 2:20
  Speaker 6: and introduced me to music.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Performing with PRINSI what was that like.
• 2:26
  Speaker 6: It was beautiful. You know. I got to see him
• 2:29
  Speaker 6: two nights in a row at the O two in London,
• 2:32
  Speaker 6: and he had a lot of artists join him on
• 2:35
  Speaker 6: that run and I learned a lot just by being
• 2:38
  Speaker 6: there for two nights. There was a jam session of
• 2:41
  Speaker 6: course afterward, at the end of Go and of course
• 2:44
  Speaker 6: the conversation about independency, you know, the first conversation i'd
• 2:49
  Speaker 6: met him before that. But he was a big advocate
• 2:53
  Speaker 6: of empowerment, no sampling, playing an instrument, all of those things,
• 3:01
  Speaker 6: and then really investing in your craft. And there were
• 3:05
  Speaker 6: gems that were jopped. See I'm not friends. And I
• 3:09
  Speaker 6: started this independent journey very early before it was a thing,
• 3:13
  Speaker 6: and Len and nine is my label, and I didn't
• 3:16
  Speaker 6: necessarily know what it was all about when I stepped
• 3:18
  Speaker 6: into that new territory, and he was the person that
• 3:21
  Speaker 6: was the voice of reason that sort of kept me
• 3:23
  Speaker 6: on that path even when it got tough. You know,
• 3:26
  Speaker 6: it requires you to of course finance one hundred percent.
• 3:29
  Speaker 6: That's the way I've done it, and you know, grind,
• 3:33
  Speaker 6: but also wear several different hats and wear many roles.
• 3:36
  Speaker 6: And it's been a beautiful educational journey of empowerment, but
• 3:40
  Speaker 6: learning and then also developing relationships when you become the
• 3:45
  Speaker 6: label yourself and figuring it out because you know the
• 3:48
  Speaker 6: business of music, and then also the technological side of
• 3:51
  Speaker 6: things changes every few weeks, there's a new platform. So
• 3:56
  Speaker 6: it was really wonderful just to be in his presence,
• 3:58
  Speaker 6: but also to receive the spiritual conversations, the business conversations,
• 4:03
  Speaker 6: the new business models, the rehearsal conversations, finding your niche conversations,
• 4:08
  Speaker 6: the performance aspect of it, and then encouragement.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: How ahead of what he find was he?
• 4:14
  Speaker 6: Oh? I mean he was in his own world. He
• 4:17
  Speaker 6: was one of one playing over seventeen instruments, you know,
• 4:23
  Speaker 6: I don't know anybody that does that, and was very passionate, meticulous,
• 4:29
  Speaker 6: very detail oriented. I witnessed him doing a sound check
• 4:32
  Speaker 6: at the O two both nights, and so I actually
• 4:37
  Speaker 6: ran into him on my way to my soundcheck coming
• 4:40
  Speaker 6: from his soundcheck, and he was out there mixing on
• 4:44
  Speaker 6: the board in the front of house.
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 4:46
  Speaker 6: And he cares that much about how the audience or
• 4:50
  Speaker 6: the listener receives the art down to the mixing, and so,
• 4:56
  Speaker 6: you know, I get asked often how come there's been
• 4:59
  Speaker 6: an eight your gap in between albums. I mean, I too,
• 5:02
  Speaker 6: have really taken my time to be in that process
• 5:05
  Speaker 6: of mixing. This is the first album that I am
• 5:10
  Speaker 6: releasing independently in Dobe atmos as well as Sony three
• 5:14
  Speaker 6: sixty Spatial Audio, which is an immersive experience so that
• 5:18
  Speaker 6: you're like inside of the music's around sound three hundred
• 5:22
  Speaker 6: and sixty degrees. But now that you know they're doing
• 5:25
  Speaker 6: this with music now versus just soundtracks for films, house.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: Like, what's gonna sound like? I'm just listening on my little.
• 5:34
  Speaker 6: There are headphones actually being developed now so that you
• 5:38
  Speaker 6: can get the immersive experience. Got Yeah, it's so wild.
• 5:42
  Speaker 6: I did the whole test thing at the Sony studios
• 5:44
  Speaker 6: where they have these little wires that they stick in
• 5:47
  Speaker 6: your ears and they can actually see how you're ingesting
• 5:50
  Speaker 6: the sound, and then they calibrate it to your ear. Wow,
• 5:53
  Speaker 6: it's crazy. And then they take it off with I
• 5:56
  Speaker 6: don't know how many speakers are around you three hundred
• 5:59
  Speaker 6: and sixty degrees above, left, right, and below, and you
• 6:04
  Speaker 6: cannot tell the difference between like thirty different speakers in
• 6:06
  Speaker 6: the room and the little tiny wired earbuds that go
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: in your ear, Like, what's going on right now? This
• 6:12
  Speaker 6: is so advanced?
• 6:13
  Speaker 5: So did it take for you to make this whole
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: album retrospect?
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: How long it just do whisper? Because my whispering.
• 6:22
  Speaker 6: This is my morning, right she just set We're still early.
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: So so how long did it take you to make this?
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: How long did it take?
• 6:38
  Speaker 6: Who chilling back? Okay, So I didn't have an actual timeline,
• 6:44
  Speaker 6: you know. I actually cut the very first record in
• 6:47
  Speaker 6: twenty sixteen, which opens my album Give It to You.
• 6:50
  Speaker 6: I released it as a single in June of last year.
• 6:53
  Speaker 6: D Nice is now on it for the album version
• 6:55
  Speaker 6: shut Up Yes, legendary d Nice, and he introduces this
• 7:00
  Speaker 6: album with that song. And so I'd released other albums
• 7:04
  Speaker 6: during that time. There were Smooth Jones that came in
• 7:06
  Speaker 6: twenty sixteen, and then TKO, which is one of the
• 7:09
  Speaker 6: slow Jams Baby Miging Music project in twenty eighteen. In
• 7:14
  Speaker 6: twenty seventeen, I recorded the second song. So it was
• 7:17
  Speaker 6: like in between touring and in between album tours and
• 7:20
  Speaker 6: promotional and grind stuff that I would just go in
• 7:23
  Speaker 6: the studio. My production partner is Migay Mars from fifteen
• 7:27
  Speaker 6: hundred and nothing, and we would get together in between albums.
• 7:32
  Speaker 6: But it was actually the pandemic that was confirmation for
• 7:37
  Speaker 6: both of us, like, Yo, let's start making some playlists
• 7:41
  Speaker 6: that get us out of this funk because this is
• 7:43
  Speaker 6: a very uncertain time for all of us the world.
• 7:46
  Speaker 6: We had so many different directions we wanted to go.
• 7:48
  Speaker 6: There was a mixtape Lang Maya Lanski, but we were like,
• 7:52
  Speaker 6: it's too dark right now, Let's bring the joy. Let's
• 7:55
  Speaker 6: go in this direction. We had a face to face conversation. Look,
• 8:00
  Speaker 6: if we had one direction we wanted to go in,
• 8:02
  Speaker 6: and we only had one choice, which one would you
• 8:05
  Speaker 6: do this one of that one? We chose Joy. And
• 8:09
  Speaker 6: then in the end of twenty twenty is when I
• 8:11
  Speaker 6: rented the studio in Glendale, California, and we got to work,
• 8:15
  Speaker 6: and so we literally finished the whole project, just the
• 8:19
  Speaker 6: blueprint without all the features in twenty twenty one.
• 8:22
  Speaker 7: Wow.
• 8:22
  Speaker 6: But the pandemic inspired that, and then the process of
• 8:26
  Speaker 6: reaching out in the dms, etc. Or relationships that we
• 8:29
  Speaker 6: already had came the features. And then all the legal
• 8:32
  Speaker 6: processes took place over the years and featured artists, clearances
• 8:36
  Speaker 6: and publishing and all this kind of stuff. And now
• 8:39
  Speaker 6: it's seeing the light of day. But I'd also recorded
• 8:41
  Speaker 6: two other albums in between, TKO twenty eighteen and now,
• 8:46
  Speaker 6: so those are already mixed, mastered, ready to go, damn.
• 8:49
  Speaker 6: And you know we were working.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I got to ask.
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: You know, when we heard the album, we were listening
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: very seventies eighties, right, Yeah. Then when you walk in,
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: I see Londell behind you, Yes, sir. Now, Londell is
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: a state manager. I don't if he's still a state
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: manager for the Prince of State, so he's estate managed
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: for princes.
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: Did he have.
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: Any I guess did you go to him for advice
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: for dealing with Prince and the music to sound, et cetera,
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: et cetera.
• 9:12
  Speaker 6: Well, Londell was very instrumental in Prince's entrepreneurship, you know,
• 9:17
  Speaker 6: and the empowerment behind that. He started in law and
• 9:22
  Speaker 6: does so many other things, and he's been in that
• 9:24
  Speaker 6: practice for such a long time. But he also has
• 9:27
  Speaker 6: a management company, media company, owner of Source magazine, And
• 9:31
  Speaker 6: I'd been dealing with several lawyers to try to get
• 9:33
  Speaker 6: these projects solidified and there was no luck, you know,
• 9:36
  Speaker 6: But Londell has a lot of weight in this business
• 9:38
  Speaker 6: and can literally reach.
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: Out based on those a couple of people.
• 9:41
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and so I actually know Londel. My dad and
• 9:44
  Speaker 6: I know him for a long time. We've known each
• 9:48
  Speaker 6: other for a long time and we've had business conversations
• 9:50
  Speaker 6: in the past as well. And so I told my dad,
• 9:54
  Speaker 6: I like, look, I'm so frustrated right now with these lawyers.
• 9:58
  Speaker 6: Find out where Londell is. Get him on the phone.
• 10:00
  Speaker 6: So we started talking collectively and Londell mentioned, you know,
• 10:06
  Speaker 6: I'm doing other things outside of law. Let me listen
• 10:09
  Speaker 6: to the music, see where you're at. There were lots
• 10:11
  Speaker 6: of conversations to also find out if this was aligned
• 10:14
  Speaker 6: with him, if I was aligned, and what my mission was.
• 10:18
  Speaker 6: And it holds that entrepreneurial spirit always, which was also
• 10:25
  Speaker 6: held together by Prince for so long in spirit. You know,
• 10:28
  Speaker 6: we lost him and he's still here in spirit. But
• 10:33
  Speaker 6: Londell is now my manager and leading this thing so
• 10:37
  Speaker 6: that it sees the light of day with a quickness,
• 10:40
  Speaker 6: but also supporting the project with strategy, these other teams
• 10:45
  Speaker 6: that are very necessary to roll things out. And I
• 10:47
  Speaker 6: was just kind of throwing out music during my independent career.
• 10:50
  Speaker 6: So happy anniversary fans, Thank y'll so much for writing
• 10:53
  Speaker 6: with me. But now it's a new day and I
• 10:55
  Speaker 6: want to do it right. I want to do it
• 10:57
  Speaker 6: better and elevate every time. Teamwork makes the dream work.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Gotcha, Sure, it's interesting because you said it's your first
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: three job man eight years. It makes me think, were
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: you protecting your piece, of protecting your artistry?
• 11:10
  Speaker 6: Honestly, I was really just having a ball experiencing what
• 11:14
  Speaker 6: it is to create from a real, free, pure place.
• 11:18
  Speaker 6: It wasn't even protection. It got very addictive when I
• 11:21
  Speaker 6: went independent because I had the freedom to create whatever
• 11:26
  Speaker 6: genre with no ceiling. I wanted to the timeline. I
• 11:29
  Speaker 6: set no deadlines. I didn't have to focus on charting
• 11:32
  Speaker 6: or numbers and validate myself based on someone else's definition
• 11:35
  Speaker 6: of success and all that pressure that does come from
• 11:38
  Speaker 6: the major label system and the investment I knew, excuse me,
• 11:43
  Speaker 6: the investment I knew was going to be very boutique,
• 11:45
  Speaker 6: you know, and very startup under the radar because I
• 11:50
  Speaker 6: started in Japan on my very first few releases, and
• 11:53
  Speaker 6: so it was really fun because I didn't have all
• 11:55
  Speaker 6: those rules, and of course the criticism that comes with
• 11:58
  Speaker 6: releasing a full body of work over me. But that
• 12:01
  Speaker 6: was the time to get acclimated to what this independent
• 12:03
  Speaker 6: journey was about. Do it in a very under the
• 12:06
  Speaker 6: radar situation and a one territory release here and there,
• 12:09
  Speaker 6: mix stapes et peas along the way, and then something
• 12:12
  Speaker 6: magical happens. Your relationships are built, you know the process
• 12:17
  Speaker 6: because of that education and practice, and then you show
• 12:20
  Speaker 6: up and you put together an album, throw it out
• 12:24
  Speaker 6: just for the love. It gets nominated for a Grammy,
• 12:27
  Speaker 6: and then it's additional confirmation to keep going. And Prince
• 12:34
  Speaker 6: always said, you know, I will help you if you
• 12:36
  Speaker 6: stay independent, and there's been so many times you want
• 12:41
  Speaker 6: to throw in the towel, questioning self, is this really
• 12:44
  Speaker 6: worth it? Do I need to go back into the
• 12:46
  Speaker 6: system and all of these things, because it is very
• 12:48
  Speaker 6: hard and you have to be very relentless and resilient
• 12:51
  Speaker 6: in your grind, especially when you're financing one hundred percent
• 12:54
  Speaker 6: of it, and then sometimes people don't even know it exists.
• 12:57
  Speaker 6: So you're also getting oh, you're washed up, or you
• 13:00
  Speaker 6: how come you don't make music anymore? And nobody's paying attention.
• 13:03
  Speaker 6: So nobody's paying attention. So to answer your question, you know,
• 13:09
  Speaker 6: there's been so many times that question mark has popped up,
• 13:14
  Speaker 6: but I don't measure success in the way I used
• 13:17
  Speaker 6: to when I was in the system because there's a
• 13:20
  Speaker 6: new definition that's been introduced to me. My sanity is kept,
• 13:24
  Speaker 6: my spirit's intact. I'm literally having more fun now in
• 13:28
  Speaker 6: my forties than I was as a teenager, just kind
• 13:32
  Speaker 6: of trying to figure it out and understanding that, you know,
• 13:36
  Speaker 6: if it doesn't reach a certain number or a chart position,
• 13:39
  Speaker 6: then you can be canceled, you can leave, you can
• 13:42
  Speaker 6: be shelved. And I love music so much, I think
• 13:46
  Speaker 6: I've protected just the love of the art, not intentionally,
• 13:51
  Speaker 6: but that's what Prince was always talking about, and that's
• 13:53
  Speaker 6: what he was an advocate for for those he thought
• 13:56
  Speaker 6: or maybe saw a little spark of love and passion
• 14:00
  Speaker 6: in so that they could preserve their art themselves and
• 14:06
  Speaker 6: still work in the business.
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: Were you nervous about going into the seventies era because
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: it's it's like, you know, you have to think about
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: what does it fit, where does it fit, And especially
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: with this generation so loving the nineties, the era that
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: you came out and the cool.
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: When it was pure. People comment on this album and
• 14:28
  Speaker 6: they're like, oh, you go into the era when it
• 14:30
  Speaker 6: was pure.
• 14:32
  Speaker 5: Rick Jay's.
• 14:33
  Speaker 6: But no, I don't even create from that place anymore,
• 14:36
  Speaker 6: from fear based on who I think should like it,
• 14:40
  Speaker 6: or considering every demographic. You'll go in circles trying to
• 14:45
  Speaker 6: do that. My measure of satisfaction is does it feel
• 14:50
  Speaker 6: good to me? You know? Does it feel right? Does
• 14:53
  Speaker 6: it feel ready? Is a modulation needed? Is this in
• 14:57
  Speaker 6: the right key? Do we need to rework this record
• 14:59
  Speaker 6: so it it has a little bit more slap? Is
• 15:01
  Speaker 6: the mix right? Is the feature right? Did I do
• 15:05
  Speaker 6: my best on it? Can I live with this in
• 15:07
  Speaker 6: my car over and over and over and over again?
• 15:09
  Speaker 6: Can I write to it? Can I share it with others?
• 15:12
  Speaker 6: You know? And that's where I create from. And if
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: I love it, of course I start sharing secretly and
• 15:19
  Speaker 6: privately to my friends, the people that know me, the dances,
• 15:22
  Speaker 6: my creative director, and you know, you can always test
• 15:27
  Speaker 6: with your fans. We have private chats. You can always
• 15:29
  Speaker 6: go on Instagram live if you really want to test
• 15:31
  Speaker 6: a record before you invest as a business. But no,
• 15:35
  Speaker 6: I don't make music from fear. There's nobody judging but
• 15:40
  Speaker 6: me now, you know. And I'm never nervous about my
• 15:44
  Speaker 6: favorite era of music because I knew. I knew that
• 15:48
  Speaker 6: it hit different during that time. My dad is a
• 15:52
  Speaker 6: singer performer. I watched him and his band in my childhood,
• 15:58
  Speaker 6: right in my living room rehearse, and I was just
• 16:00
  Speaker 6: dancing away and singing away with hair brushes and broomsticks.
• 16:04
  Speaker 6: And that's the feeling that I wanted to capture. So
• 16:07
  Speaker 6: you'll get all of that joy from the Trailblazers, the Rich,
• 16:11
  Speaker 6: James Prince, the Tina Marie, the Shalamar, Atlantic Star is
• 16:16
  Speaker 6: all over the ballads, Soos Band, Gap Band, Evelyn Champagne, King,
• 16:21
  Speaker 6: Patrice Russian, so many influences, MJ. You can hear it.
• 16:25
  Speaker 6: This is like Quincy Jones and Rod Temperton influences all
• 16:29
  Speaker 6: in that that come from my favorite era of music,
• 16:33
  Speaker 6: which is the late seventies, and then it bleeds into
• 16:36
  Speaker 6: the eighties with synthesizers. And you also have the hip
• 16:39
  Speaker 6: hop element on this project because Mike got Mars the
• 16:44
  Speaker 6: executive producer partner of my as well as Mike and
• 16:47
  Speaker 6: Keys who work with a Nipsey hustle and list goes
• 16:50
  Speaker 6: on and on and on. They know hip hop, they
• 16:52
  Speaker 6: know drums. The iconic pioneers like Jay Dilla are all over.
• 16:59
  Speaker 6: You know, they're product, so you get that fused. I'm
• 17:03
  Speaker 6: in love with this project.
• 17:04
  Speaker 8: You said, nobody's judging, but you now, does that come
• 17:07
  Speaker 8: from the independence not that that okay I was gonna asks,
• 17:10
  Speaker 8: or does.
• 17:10
  Speaker 9: It come from where you are in your womanhood now?
• 17:13
  Speaker 6: Like it comes from both places. The independency has allowed
• 17:18
  Speaker 6: me to create from that space of freedom where there's
• 17:21
  Speaker 6: no number that I have to meet, there's no sale,
• 17:23
  Speaker 6: there's no first week pressure. I just want it out
• 17:25
  Speaker 6: in the universe, you know, And that's success for me, Like, hey, enjoy,
• 17:28
  Speaker 6: I might not be here tomorrow. We never know when
• 17:31
  Speaker 6: our last breath is. But the fact that I have
• 17:33
  Speaker 6: birth something and I just put it out for those
• 17:36
  Speaker 6: to enjoy. Whoever's ready to receive it, wants to receive it,
• 17:38
  Speaker 6: stumbles upon it, you know, word of mouth is shared
• 17:43
  Speaker 6: with that's success, you know. And then to bring it
• 17:47
  Speaker 6: to the stage is like a cherry on top for
• 17:49
  Speaker 6: me because I love to perform. And if my dad
• 17:53
  Speaker 6: likes it, because I always play it for him being
• 17:55
  Speaker 6: a musician, you know, is he satisfyment? Those are some
• 18:00
  Speaker 6: good ears back here, and you know, I'm not really
• 18:05
  Speaker 6: fearful also because of my womanhood, and there are a
• 18:08
  Speaker 6: lot of lessons that I've learned along the way, even
• 18:10
  Speaker 6: in just as a songwriter. Some gems practice I've had,
• 18:15
  Speaker 6: and it's a wonderful journey to just kind of be
• 18:17
  Speaker 6: refined and step out fearlessly. That's the error that my
• 18:20
  Speaker 6: is in.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Do you think modern music lost something emotionally like when
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: everything became algorithm and numbers driven.
• 18:28
  Speaker 6: Well, I think there's pros and cons to everything. You know,
• 18:31
  Speaker 6: Algorithms can definitely be a focus when you're talking about
• 18:34
  Speaker 6: business and return of investment. When somebody's investing because they're
• 18:38
  Speaker 6: putting up some money, they're literally financing something and they
• 18:42
  Speaker 6: want their money back plus some You know, when you're
• 18:46
  Speaker 6: doing it for the fun, it's a little different. Sometimes
• 18:50
  Speaker 6: you're like, I don't care if I'm in the red zone.
• 18:52
  Speaker 6: I can go on debt for this. I'll pay extra
• 18:54
  Speaker 6: to just be there, or I'll pay extra so that
• 18:57
  Speaker 6: this is out and I'll get my money elsewhere, whether
• 19:00
  Speaker 6: it's touring or a brand deal or whatever it is.
• 19:04
  Speaker 6: Algorithms can shoot really affect validation, and I think it's
• 19:10
  Speaker 6: affecting our youth the likes because they're also growing into
• 19:16
  Speaker 6: themselves in real time, and that's a part of what
• 19:20
  Speaker 6: they look too, which is also addictive as how they
• 19:26
  Speaker 6: define themselves, and that can be dangerous. As a grown woman,
• 19:29
  Speaker 6: I'm not thinking about that, but of course, you know,
• 19:32
  Speaker 6: when you're talking to a social media team or your
• 19:34
  Speaker 6: PR that's their job to let you know, okay, this
• 19:37
  Speaker 6: is actually working. You should do more of that raw stuff.
• 19:40
  Speaker 6: You don't have to be put together all the time.
• 19:42
  Speaker 6: You know. Those are the things I'm still open to
• 19:45
  Speaker 6: because people want to be talked to. You got to
• 19:47
  Speaker 6: connect some way. But algorithms are how businesses make their
• 19:51
  Speaker 6: decisions because it's a risk out here. And if you're
• 19:54
  Speaker 6: not a ticket sale, if you're not putting butts and seats,
• 19:58
  Speaker 6: if you're not selling, then we have some hesitation rights.
• 20:02
  Speaker 6: It's just business, so you can't take it personal, and
• 20:05
  Speaker 6: so I encourage artists to learn the business so that
• 20:09
  Speaker 6: first of all, you can protect your mental health and
• 20:11
  Speaker 6: know that it's not just criticism and an attack on
• 20:15
  Speaker 6: you all the time. It's literally business, and you don't
• 20:19
  Speaker 6: find that out until you become the business. And it's
• 20:21
  Speaker 6: your money, you know, so you gotta of course have
• 20:26
  Speaker 6: tough skin. But it's an awareness, and it's an education,
• 20:30
  Speaker 6: and it's an understanding. So I think all of that
• 20:33
  Speaker 6: is really essential now when you're dealing with other financiers
• 20:39
  Speaker 6: to understand or major labels with a lot of people
• 20:42
  Speaker 6: and a lot of voices involved for your own mental health,
• 20:45
  Speaker 6: but also awareness and how you navigate so that you
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: can still be open, learn as a student, and then
• 20:51
  Speaker 6: move forward with some grace, but also know that everything's
• 20:55
  Speaker 6: not going to be perfect. You know you're gonna have
• 20:57
  Speaker 6: some wins and some losses, but its very essential that
• 21:01
  Speaker 6: you define that yourself and then also have a degree
• 21:03
  Speaker 6: of separation while you're operating in both and they can
• 21:05
  Speaker 6: coexist and they can intersect.
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: You know, I was going to ask, you know you
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: started so young. I did, But we haven't heard a
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: lot of maya crazy stories. Is that because your dad
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: is still with you now and he's still got in
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: making sure that he's controlling everything else. Because a lot
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: of times when people start young, you start hearing crazy stories.
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: Eight the industry runs them down, the industry makes them crazy.
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: But we haven't heard that, no stories from you.
• 21:30
  Speaker 6: I mean, there's always controversy because wild stuff out there,
• 21:34
  Speaker 6: of course that I actually experienced at the birth of
• 21:38
  Speaker 6: you know, a lot of the bottom feeder type of sites.
• 21:42
  Speaker 6: You know, you can't avoid that in a public forum,
• 21:45
  Speaker 6: you know, as a public figure, and everybody's a public
• 21:48
  Speaker 6: figure nowadays.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: But going to all the bottom feed of sites right now.
• 21:58
  Speaker 9: A whole lot afford on her to sit down.
• 22:02
  Speaker 8: That y'all did, and I made some notes about just
• 22:05
  Speaker 8: what it felt like being there at the break of
• 22:08
  Speaker 8: it all, because we feel like we get it so
• 22:10
  Speaker 8: bad from what we experience now.
• 22:11
  Speaker 6: Anytime you step out into this world, be prepared to
• 22:16
  Speaker 6: get attacked from every direction. Even if you are mother
• 22:21
  Speaker 6: Teresa and your fundamentals, it does not matter. So you
• 22:24
  Speaker 6: do have to understand that the world that we live in,
• 22:26
  Speaker 6: plus everybody's opinion being who on front Street, it's gonna happen.
• 22:32
  Speaker 6: And if you know that everybody's kind of going through
• 22:34
  Speaker 6: it wonderful. We didn't have social media when I was
• 22:36
  Speaker 6: a teen, so I survived. We had, you know, tabloids
• 22:41
  Speaker 6: and blogs, but I was really under the radar because also,
• 22:46
  Speaker 6: and I'm thankful for that, because I was still a
• 22:48
  Speaker 6: test dummy when I first started. They weren't sure of
• 22:51
  Speaker 6: R and B and if it could live on a
• 22:53
  Speaker 6: rap and rock label. I was literally on Interscope when
• 22:56
  Speaker 6: it was just in rock as an experiment. I was
• 23:00
  Speaker 6: not signed on my first album during their investment to
• 23:03
  Speaker 6: see if it could even work and exist. I was
• 23:06
  Speaker 6: not even signed to Terscope on my first album. I
• 23:09
  Speaker 6: was signed to Hawk Islam out of DC on University
• 23:13
  Speaker 6: Music Entertainment, So it was real soft pedal ish. I
• 23:17
  Speaker 6: didn't get the Britney Spears exposure, but we were positioning
• 23:20
  Speaker 6: and aligning on oh soundtracks, ghettle, superstar pop stuff here
• 23:24
  Speaker 6: and there, good looks to just try to figure it out.
• 23:27
  Speaker 6: So I didn't have the initial I would say, stamp
• 23:31
  Speaker 6: of approval yet I was in a real void gray
• 23:35
  Speaker 6: area like R and B. We don't know what that is.
• 23:39
  Speaker 6: We don't know if that's going to work over here.
• 23:42
  Speaker 6: We're willing to take a chance somewhat. Let's see how
• 23:45
  Speaker 6: it does. But what's the first best business decision? Shout
• 23:48
  Speaker 6: out to Baltimore Drew Hill Cisco. But it's also on
• 23:53
  Speaker 6: the same independent label that helped me break onto the scene.
• 23:59
  Speaker 6: You know, there's a lot of piggybacking that happens when
• 24:01
  Speaker 6: you're new to this business, which is a very competitive business,
• 24:05
  Speaker 6: and I'm thankful for that move, even though that wasn't
• 24:07
  Speaker 6: my first choice for the first single I had a
• 24:12
  Speaker 6: strong camp. You know, my dad was there during that time,
• 24:16
  Speaker 6: and my mom was my accountant. She's always kept me
• 24:20
  Speaker 6: debt free and finances intact, even in the hardest times,
• 24:25
  Speaker 6: you know, so that I'm very responsible, but I also
• 24:28
  Speaker 6: understand how quick and could go out the door. But
• 24:32
  Speaker 6: also you know, to plan for the future of state
• 24:35
  Speaker 6: planning as well and what you want to avoid. So
• 24:38
  Speaker 6: I've been really truly privileged and blessed to have family
• 24:44
  Speaker 6: involved in my business but also present, so just kind
• 24:48
  Speaker 6: of keep me protected from all the things that we do.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: Hear about you think social media would have helped your
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: career more.
• 24:54
  Speaker 6: Heart it both both. You know, you get to know
• 24:58
  Speaker 6: people too much. You can be some strong effects personally. Spiritually,
• 25:06
  Speaker 6: you know, to open yourself up to the world is dangerous,
• 25:10
  Speaker 6: and I think there's a lot of judgment that's very
• 25:12
  Speaker 6: fragile when you're learning yourself as a teenager. Yeah, I
• 25:16
  Speaker 6: see it all the time with child stars in the
• 25:20
  Speaker 6: public eye trying to grow into themselves. So I think
• 25:24
  Speaker 6: the popularity and of course the investment might have been
• 25:28
  Speaker 6: enhanced because of the exposure that you get from social media,
• 25:32
  Speaker 6: but it could have gone so many different ways. Are
• 25:35
  Speaker 6: you ready for it? What are the dynamics going on
• 25:38
  Speaker 6: in your personal life? I don't think at that time
• 25:40
  Speaker 6: I would have been ready for too much popularity. I
• 25:44
  Speaker 6: was still learning me. I was also still learning the
• 25:47
  Speaker 6: business and also just how to conduct an interview, how
• 25:50
  Speaker 6: to do radio drops, like the real things when you're
• 25:53
  Speaker 6: just a newbie to any territory.
• 25:56
  Speaker 8: At a lot of fans when they have conversations about
• 25:59
  Speaker 8: your care they always talk about how like your fourth
• 26:02
  Speaker 8: album was like either it was delayed or like the
• 26:04
  Speaker 8: release wasn't as big as fans felt like it should
• 26:06
  Speaker 8: have been. Yeah, and they feel like it was unfair
• 26:08
  Speaker 8: to you and that's why certain things didn't happen for
• 26:11
  Speaker 8: you afterward.
• 26:12
  Speaker 9: How do you feel about that time period of your life?
• 26:15
  Speaker 6: It's so interesting looking back at that time. So when
• 26:18
  Speaker 6: I mentioned Interscope, yes, a series of events go like
• 26:22
  Speaker 6: this hockey slam, you know, signed to an independent label,
• 26:25
  Speaker 6: they invest in you. Demos were shocked to several different labels.
• 26:30
  Speaker 6: Interscope said, yes, but it's still maybe second album I
• 26:33
  Speaker 6: got signed to Interscope officially did another album. Third album
• 26:37
  Speaker 6: was Mood Rang two thousand and three, did a tour
• 26:40
  Speaker 6: all that I start wanting to record my fourth album
• 26:44
  Speaker 6: and the budget was closed and they're still recouping. A
• 26:47
  Speaker 6: lot was spent making that third album with Ron Fair
• 26:50
  Speaker 6: and you know, I didn't have management at that time.
• 26:54
  Speaker 6: So I'm now kind of in a transition where I
• 26:58
  Speaker 6: got to either put up my own one, and I
• 27:00
  Speaker 6: started to do that, and it was like a lot
• 27:02
  Speaker 6: of money every week I was spending in studios twenty
• 27:06
  Speaker 6: thousand over the course of two weeks. I said, this
• 27:08
  Speaker 6: is ignorant. What I'm going to do is go home.
• 27:12
  Speaker 6: I'm want to build a studio. I'm want to build
• 27:14
  Speaker 6: a rehearsal space. But I'm also going to purchase a
• 27:16
  Speaker 6: house so I can have living take care of family,
• 27:20
  Speaker 6: but also cast a crew that's based from my hometown,
• 27:23
  Speaker 6: that's hungry, that's thirsty, provide opportunities, start a foundation. Because
• 27:26
  Speaker 6: something doesn't feel right living in La something is missing,
• 27:31
  Speaker 6: and I was out there by myself, so I called
• 27:33
  Speaker 6: my dad up. I was like, look, I'm not happy here.
• 27:37
  Speaker 6: Let's sit down. I can't create. I don't want to
• 27:42
  Speaker 6: come home and I want to do things from the
• 27:44
  Speaker 6: ground up. He took me to Motown via Sylvia r Own.
• 27:48
  Speaker 6: It was still within the universal system and that's where
• 27:51
  Speaker 6: R and B was supported. It was understood culturally understood.
• 27:54
  Speaker 6: It has a history going back to Detroit. And so
• 27:57
  Speaker 6: Sylvia r Own allowed me to executive produce my own project,
• 28:00
  Speaker 6: and it was a wonderful project called Liberation, which would
• 28:03
  Speaker 6: have been my fourth album. Things happened. There was Napster,
• 28:06
  Speaker 6: there was social media, there was iTunes, and so when
• 28:09
  Speaker 6: you change the release date so many different times, there's
• 28:13
  Speaker 6: the farthest territory furthest territory Japan. That's a whole day ahead, right,
• 28:19
  Speaker 6: And when they changed the release date the last minute,
• 28:22
  Speaker 6: Japan had the album and it was out and then
• 28:25
  Speaker 6: it leaves and then it got shelved, and a whole
• 28:28
  Speaker 6: bunch of other stuff around that time. Well, they're just ahead,
• 28:33
  Speaker 6: you know, regarding a whole day ahead. So they got
• 28:37
  Speaker 6: it before they got the memo, or somebody didn't click
• 28:39
  Speaker 6: in the metadata to check off that one territory, and
• 28:42
  Speaker 6: so once it's out anywhere, it's out, and your whole
• 28:46
  Speaker 6: rollout is fumbled. The whole investment. It gets shelved, you
• 28:52
  Speaker 6: can choose to go back in the system. I was
• 28:54
  Speaker 6: just in a place of look processing, which has happened
• 28:57
  Speaker 6: after spending a year and a half literally putting up
• 29:00
  Speaker 6: in some of my own money, of course, you know,
• 29:03
  Speaker 6: to be thrown out, discarded, dropped all of these things
• 29:09
  Speaker 6: with negligence and made to look like I wasted somebody's money.
• 29:15
  Speaker 6: When I show up, I show up on time. I
• 29:19
  Speaker 6: really invest my own money into situations. I just decided
• 29:25
  Speaker 6: to sit with self for a minute and figure out,
• 29:27
  Speaker 6: you know, well, what it is I want to do.
• 29:30
  Speaker 6: Broadway called immediately, which was wonderful. Prince called immediately when
• 29:36
  Speaker 6: he heard the word independent, and there were these wonderful
• 29:39
  Speaker 6: things that happened immediately for me, where I was quickly
• 29:45
  Speaker 6: gathered up and shown that this actually is probably going
• 29:50
  Speaker 6: to be your greatest blessing. There are opportunities coming. You
• 29:53
  Speaker 6: have a catalog already, But I was always living in
• 29:56
  Speaker 6: this spider flight correctional facility mode. I wants you all
• 30:00
  Speaker 6: to understand that I'm not lazy. I want you all
• 30:02
  Speaker 6: to understand that the perception is not I wasted anybody's money.
• 30:06
  Speaker 6: The perception is is I'm gonna go get this and
• 30:08
  Speaker 6: I'm going to go show you that I mean business,
• 30:13
  Speaker 6: show you that I'm really about this art, show you
• 30:15
  Speaker 6: that I'm really about this music, and do the best
• 30:18
  Speaker 6: I can with what I got to work with, whatever
• 30:20
  Speaker 6: that is. It's always just figuring it out in real time.
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: Can you expound on that you said you're always in
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: fight or.
• 30:25
  Speaker 6: Flight correctional facility mold when you're in that devastation after
• 30:30
  Speaker 6: you've had all of this press, all of this expectation,
• 30:34
  Speaker 6: the release dates announced changed, you know, investment made, but
• 30:39
  Speaker 6: also a narrative that says, oh, you wasted two million
• 30:42
  Speaker 6: dollars a motown money, all these things like you're somebody
• 30:46
  Speaker 6: irresponsible or real high maintenance and doing all these crazy things.
• 30:51
  Speaker 6: That's not the case. Things happen.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: I feel like that energy can exist for everybody now
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: if you allow it to.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: Because of social media, of course.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: Are flight correctional You always feel like you're in a
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: fighter flight and a feel like you got a correction shit, but.
• 31:03
  Speaker 6: You also get called washed up, you fell off your
• 31:08
  Speaker 6: careers over and all of those things are placed over
• 31:12
  Speaker 6: your head. So you go into a real deep spiritual
• 31:15
  Speaker 6: dive to save yourself and that's actually what I did.
• 31:19
  Speaker 6: I started studying Outer Space DVDs because I finally got
• 31:23
  Speaker 6: the chance, which was a blessing, to sit down, went
• 31:26
  Speaker 6: to the library, got a library card. And that's how
• 31:29
  Speaker 6: planet and I was worthed by being in this state
• 31:34
  Speaker 6: of self like insignificance but also significance at the same time.
• 31:38
  Speaker 6: We all exist in this very blink of an eye moment,
• 31:41
  Speaker 6: right on this little ball amongst trillions and trillions infinite universes. Yeah,
• 31:54
  Speaker 6: and then what does your world look like? You're no
• 31:56
  Speaker 6: longer a part of that world. It's time for you
• 31:58
  Speaker 6: to build your own from the round up. And it
• 32:01
  Speaker 6: was so spiritual for me, and things just started happening
• 32:04
  Speaker 6: when I finally just made the decision and got out
• 32:07
  Speaker 6: of my funk that I had to prove something to others,
• 32:11
  Speaker 6: others others, and it still stays with you, of course,
• 32:14
  Speaker 6: to just learn the lessons that this was trying to
• 32:17
  Speaker 6: teach me. But I also took myself to where music
• 32:21
  Speaker 6: inspired me. My great grandmother's name was Alberta Davis, and
• 32:26
  Speaker 6: at four years old, I knew I wanted to sing
• 32:28
  Speaker 6: when I heard her sing. My dad is also a singer,
• 32:31
  Speaker 6: and at King Guard Baptist Church in Kensington, Maryland. I
• 32:36
  Speaker 6: witnessed something, but I also felt something so undeniable when
• 32:40
  Speaker 6: I heard her singing and her tenor. Boy, she had
• 32:42
  Speaker 6: a very deep voice in the Baptist church. I took
• 32:47
  Speaker 6: myself in two thousand and seven to go study disciples
• 32:50
  Speaker 6: class and I went to the altar. Just so happens
• 32:53
  Speaker 6: the same day that I go to church to just
• 32:56
  Speaker 6: receive a word. I'm just spiritually called to that. It
• 33:00
  Speaker 6: was the eightieth anniversary of that church that I didn't
• 33:04
  Speaker 6: even know. My great great grandmother, Carrie Davis, founded WOW
• 33:11
  Speaker 6: and that's the same place that I was moved musically
• 33:13
  Speaker 6: through gospel music, and I didn't know what a recording
• 33:17
  Speaker 6: artist was. I just knew that music is in my blood,
• 33:21
  Speaker 6: it's in my veins. I'm on an assignment to do music,
• 33:25
  Speaker 6: and that was my source of everything. And everything has
• 33:28
  Speaker 6: just been so aligned since then because that's always where
• 33:30
  Speaker 6: I pull from. And I'll never forget that. I don't
• 33:33
  Speaker 6: walk alone. It's in this record retrospect on face to face.
• 33:38
  Speaker 6: So I just go back to my roots, my foundational roots,
• 33:41
  Speaker 6: which is Black music, but also the core of everything
• 33:45
  Speaker 6: and American music is black music, and that's what this
• 33:48
  Speaker 6: project is rooted in. So that helps me always get
• 33:52
  Speaker 6: out of anyone when the world is judging you, just
• 33:55
  Speaker 6: to go back and retreat to the time that you
• 33:57
  Speaker 6: fell in love and were spiritually moved where you couldn't
• 33:59
  Speaker 6: even articulated at the time. And that's how I picked
• 34:04
  Speaker 6: me back up and keep going.
• 34:07
  Speaker 7: In this era, the seventies and eighties, it resonates with you.
• 34:11
  Speaker 7: So that's how we got retrospect. Are we seeing any
• 34:14
  Speaker 7: visuals because I love the single cover art for just
• 34:16
  Speaker 7: a little bit like this was.
• 34:19
  Speaker 6: Obviously you intention.
• 34:22
  Speaker 5: But your idea.
• 34:23
  Speaker 7: And then also the album cover it gives seventies eighties
• 34:28
  Speaker 7: funk disco. I'm reading the old sorry that but like
• 34:31
  Speaker 7: I'm breaking it, fucked up and just right exactly.
• 34:35
  Speaker 5: Are we getting visuals to match this?
• 34:37
  Speaker 6: Yes you are. And I want to give a shout
• 34:39
  Speaker 6: out to my creative director who's been rocking with me
• 34:41
  Speaker 6: for over twenty years, Derek Brown. When I made that
• 34:42
  Speaker 6: shift to go back home, I did an audition. We
• 34:45
  Speaker 6: had a gym audition. He started off as a dancer
• 34:47
  Speaker 6: for me, but he shoots videos now, he edits, he choreographs,
• 34:51
  Speaker 6: he does everything. He's a director, and he put his
• 34:54
  Speaker 6: foot up in my album shoot. He's doing the lyric
• 34:57
  Speaker 6: digital book clip right now. That was his idea.
• 35:00
  Speaker 5: He was there.
• 35:01
  Speaker 6: He's a seventies baby as well. So we key key
• 35:03
  Speaker 6: in my basement or in my studio or in rehearsals
• 35:06
  Speaker 6: or whatever, and we said, you know, I had done
• 35:10
  Speaker 6: a previous photo shoot that leaned a little bit toward
• 35:13
  Speaker 6: more pop eighties and we just both agreed, it's not
• 35:16
  Speaker 6: resonating culturally. This is the culture, this is person. We
• 35:19
  Speaker 6: were both there, that's what we wore, that's what the
• 35:22
  Speaker 6: hair looked like. Let's lean into all of it so
• 35:24
  Speaker 6: that people get it when they see it, but also
• 35:26
  Speaker 6: the music compliments it. So that was the thought process
• 35:28
  Speaker 6: behind that. And yes, to answer your question, just a
• 35:31
  Speaker 6: little bit feature into a short yeah, music video, just
• 35:35
  Speaker 6: a little bit featuring too Short. The music video just
• 35:38
  Speaker 6: dropped a couple of days ago, and it embodies all
• 35:42
  Speaker 6: that the eighties glam, eighties glam from that era. Too
• 35:46
  Speaker 6: shorts and a suit. I've never seen him in the
• 35:48
  Speaker 6: suit before. It's really dope.
• 35:51
  Speaker 7: You're gonna have so much fun performance album on tour
• 35:53
  Speaker 7: because I am you already be having fun. I just
• 35:55
  Speaker 7: start righting DC just oh my god, killing it with
• 35:58
  Speaker 7: the go go roots.
• 35:59
  Speaker 5: Yeah, having fun.
• 36:01
  Speaker 7: So I totally believe when you say I'm having the
• 36:04
  Speaker 7: most fun I've had, like in my life forties.
• 36:08
  Speaker 6: And I've always wanted to do it. I did co
• 36:11
  Speaker 6: Blood It by Rick James, a cover on my third
• 36:13
  Speaker 6: album way back in two thousand and three. I've always
• 36:16
  Speaker 6: wanted to go in that direction. But the labors, the labels,
• 36:19
  Speaker 6: excuse me, the labels were looking at me crossside. An
• 36:23
  Speaker 6: R and B artist wants to do funk, you know,
• 36:26
  Speaker 6: especially on a rock label. It did, but they didn't
• 36:30
  Speaker 6: even get R and B. You see what I'm saying.
• 36:33
  Speaker 6: Interscope was rapping rock. So if you don't understand R
• 36:35
  Speaker 6: and B right all the things and my influences, it
• 36:39
  Speaker 6: was kind of hard to digest at that time what
• 36:42
  Speaker 6: that was. So now I get to do that, and
• 36:45
  Speaker 6: I'm so happy that it's out in the universe and
• 36:50
  Speaker 6: coming out. But also, you know, I'm looking forward to
• 36:53
  Speaker 6: the tour, the retrospect tour, the Maya Live experience, the
• 36:57
  Speaker 6: real Maya show, and of course bring my roots. So
• 37:01
  Speaker 6: the arrangements and the dance and the fashion.
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: You weren't happy when you was having fun doing like.
• 37:09
  Speaker 6: And of course I was happy. No, no, no, I said,
• 37:13
  Speaker 6: I always wanted to do a funk novel, but also
• 37:15
  Speaker 6: being on a wrap and rock label where R and
• 37:19
  Speaker 6: B itself wasn't even understood when you start talking about
• 37:22
  Speaker 6: other genres that also stem from soul in R and B,
• 37:27
  Speaker 6: but it's hard for others to understand. No, You know,
• 37:32
  Speaker 6: I was always happy for the opportunity. I was always
• 37:36
  Speaker 6: happy to be able to create and very grateful, and
• 37:40
  Speaker 6: I'm still grateful for all of those things. I'm grateful
• 37:42
  Speaker 6: for all the hitfalls as well, and some of the
• 37:46
  Speaker 6: things that supposedly didn't work out, because they redirect you
• 37:48
  Speaker 6: and propel you into spaces that you wouldn't even start
• 37:51
  Speaker 6: dreaming of if those things didn't happen, and then cultivate
• 37:56
  Speaker 6: you sharpen the iron. So I'm happy all the time,
• 38:00
  Speaker 6: you know, and truly acknowledging how great I do have it.
• 38:07
  Speaker 6: You know that I'm here, I'm breathing, I'll start there,
• 38:11
  Speaker 6: and to have the opportunity every week and day to
• 38:14
  Speaker 6: make somebody else's day a little better through music and.
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: The catalog too.
• 38:18
  Speaker 4: I was watching your interview with Gena views that she
• 38:20
  Speaker 4: was talking best of Me. She didn't know Best of
• 38:22
  Speaker 4: Me Part two was a remix to the original.
• 38:26
  Speaker 9: I didn't know that either.
• 38:28
  Speaker 6: I know.
• 38:31
  Speaker 8: Jersey dress. I literally created a jersey dress because of that.
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: You do that.
• 38:40
  Speaker 8: So I have a brand called Brown gar Grinding, and
• 38:42
  Speaker 8: we were trying to figure out something for the summer,
• 38:44
  Speaker 8: and I love the music video, so we created the
• 38:46
  Speaker 8: jersey literally because.
• 38:48
  Speaker 5: Of about it.
• 38:53
  Speaker 9: He's a hater literally that.
• 38:55
  Speaker 8: I had no idea that there was a Jadakis version
• 38:57
  Speaker 8: of tosaterviews in that interview.
• 39:00
  Speaker 6: It well see it was my street single, so you
• 39:03
  Speaker 6: know it was also a mid temple I knew.
• 39:06
  Speaker 4: I know people thought back then that's when Jada and
• 39:13
  Speaker 4: and jay Z were going back and forth. Really they
• 39:15
  Speaker 4: always used to say that Jay did that because he
• 39:18
  Speaker 4: wanted to one up j D Kiss because they have beef.
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: Back then, they were going back and forth.
• 39:22
  Speaker 6: So I didn't even know that.
• 39:24
  Speaker 9: I love that she was I loved that world.
• 39:28
  Speaker 6: It was just a remix.
• 39:30
  Speaker 3: How did that come about?
• 39:30
  Speaker 4: I heard you tell him the story, but he was
• 39:32
  Speaker 4: Swiss and something about so.
• 39:34
  Speaker 6: I was in the midst of recording my second album.
• 39:37
  Speaker 6: I did a lot of it in New York and
• 39:40
  Speaker 6: worked with wy Cleft, got in with Swiss. Always loved
• 39:44
  Speaker 6: Swiss's rhythm on his tracks, and uh, he was playing
• 39:48
  Speaker 6: me some beats. Jimmy Cozier there to Ron Balashanda was there.
• 39:52
  Speaker 6: I picked a specific beat. He was like, oh no, no, no,
• 39:55
  Speaker 6: that belongs to d m X. I beat the back
• 39:58
  Speaker 6: back ba oh no. Swiss did the original featuring Best
• 40:04
  Speaker 6: of Me original mixed featuring Jadakiss, Swiss Peats produced. That
• 40:07
  Speaker 6: was his very first R and B record that he'd
• 40:09
  Speaker 6: ever produced, but it belonged to d m X. The
• 40:12
  Speaker 6: actual beat. There was another song over top of it
• 40:14
  Speaker 6: that I didn't hear, but I think he stumbled upon
• 40:17
  Speaker 6: it by accident and I said, oh, rewind that real quick.
• 40:21
  Speaker 6: So I said, I want to write to that one,
• 40:23
  Speaker 6: and Jimmy Cozier and I Jimmy Cozier, Yeah, So we're
• 40:35
  Speaker 6: all in the studio, Jimmy Cozier to Ron Bio, Mashanda
• 40:37
  Speaker 6: and I and we just come up with a concept
• 40:40
  Speaker 6: what we wanted to feel like. And that's how Best
• 40:43
  Speaker 6: to Me Part one was born. It was a solo song.
• 40:46
  Speaker 6: First might have had a bridge on it. We took
• 40:49
  Speaker 6: the bridge off and put Jadakiss on it because we
• 40:51
  Speaker 6: decided that that would be my very first street single.
• 40:54
  Speaker 6: What they do, or what they consider street singles to be,
• 40:57
  Speaker 6: is to warm up you know, the streets first before
• 41:00
  Speaker 6: you go with your pop hit.
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: We know what it is.
• 41:05
  Speaker 6: Yeah, So we knew that we want a Case of
• 41:08
  Speaker 6: the X to be a single, but it kind of
• 41:09
  Speaker 6: leans toward the pop world a little bit, and we
• 41:12
  Speaker 6: did not want to leave the urban crowd out of this,
• 41:16
  Speaker 6: so we did best to me featuring Jada first. Steve
• 41:20
  Speaker 6: Stout and Hawckey Islam were kind of working together. Steve
• 41:23
  Speaker 6: Stout was at Interscope, but Islam was running the independent
• 41:26
  Speaker 6: label side of University Music Entertainment, and so Steve Stout
• 41:30
  Speaker 6: had all these relationships and had Jay z Hoop on
• 41:35
  Speaker 6: the remix, you know, because of his relationship with him
• 41:40
  Speaker 6: and Makata and I Makata Davis Uh wrote the remix
• 41:47
  Speaker 6: here at the Hit Factory in New York, Masters and
• 41:54
  Speaker 6: then Jay and Irish in the video and Malibu, California,
• 41:58
  Speaker 6: June Ambrose shows up with a jersey. I didn't anything
• 42:00
  Speaker 6: of it. It was I guess, you know, customized to
• 42:04
  Speaker 6: fit my measurements at the time, and that was that.
• 42:07
  Speaker 6: That was the shortest video set I'd ever been on,
• 42:09
  Speaker 6: six hours total including hair, make up, glamb time, and
• 42:14
  Speaker 6: then we were done, no choreography, no rehearsals. And then
• 42:19
  Speaker 6: it comes out and kind of like takes hold of
• 42:21
  Speaker 6: the clubs and whatnot.
• 42:22
  Speaker 5: Oh so she bought that and bought that. You didn't
• 42:24
  Speaker 5: even say, oh, this is what I want to wear.
• 42:27
  Speaker 6: I showed up, didn't know what we were doing.
• 42:30
  Speaker 5: Wow, So did he know?
• 42:37
  Speaker 9: Because I know they've been working together forever?
• 42:39
  Speaker 6: Maybe they did. I wasn't a part of that process.
• 42:41
  Speaker 6: I kind of just showed up, got glam ready. I
• 42:44
  Speaker 6: was fighting to put dances in the video. I was like, hey,
• 42:47
  Speaker 6: can we at least have two girls and you know,
• 42:49
  Speaker 6: I want to do a little dance or something. You're like, no,
• 42:52
  Speaker 6: we don't have time for that. The shooters here, the
• 42:54
  Speaker 6: shooters then, and we just got to go and run
• 42:57
  Speaker 6: with it before we missed the summer. And that's what
• 42:59
  Speaker 6: it was.
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: I didn't make you feel.
• 43:05
  Speaker 6: A little one two step in there here and there
• 43:08
  Speaker 6: to give something more than just be cute. Of course
• 43:11
  Speaker 6: I will, but if the budget doesn't allow, or the
• 43:14
  Speaker 6: time frame doesn't allow, then it might not happen, So
• 43:18
  Speaker 6: I tried the light.
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: It was a huge cold.
• 43:22
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: Did that success feel empowering or did it come with
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: pressure to compete with like I don't know, other women?
• 43:29
  Speaker 6: Oh No, I didn't feel any competition because we're all
• 43:32
  Speaker 6: number one so different. We were all established at the
• 43:35
  Speaker 6: time doing our individual thing in this business. And that
• 43:39
  Speaker 6: was also very quick. We got in the studio to
• 43:42
  Speaker 6: just lay our backgrounds together on one session in one session,
• 43:47
  Speaker 6: and then we cut our leads separately. Ron Fair was
• 43:50
  Speaker 6: involved in that, Missy as well as Rock Wilder, laid
• 43:53
  Speaker 6: the foundation and blueprint of that record. Ron Fair took
• 43:57
  Speaker 6: our vocals and then he edited them and kind of
• 44:01
  Speaker 6: oversaw the executive production process of that, and that became
• 44:05
  Speaker 6: this version of Lady Marblot.
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 44:08
  Speaker 6: So got into rehearsals for a couple of performances want
• 44:13
  Speaker 6: to Grammy together. There was absolutely no competition. I didn't
• 44:17
  Speaker 6: feel that. I thought it was a blessing. I thought
• 44:21
  Speaker 6: it was wonderful to win.
• 44:22
  Speaker 8: Which is how did you navigate always making sure that
• 44:25
  Speaker 8: that was what happened though, Because I feel like during
• 44:27
  Speaker 8: that even earlier on like you had like Brandy Monica, right,
• 44:31
  Speaker 8: and then like Aliyah and I know Brandy and Monica
• 44:32
  Speaker 8: now they talk about it and it wasn't them, it
• 44:34
  Speaker 8: was everybody around them. How did you make sure that
• 44:37
  Speaker 8: like that didn't even come in your atmosphere and you
• 44:39
  Speaker 8: like shut the competition thing down from Rick?
• 44:42
  Speaker 6: Well, it actually never did come into my atmosphere. Maybe
• 44:46
  Speaker 6: if there were another, you know, female singer that was
• 44:49
  Speaker 6: similar to me at the time, it could have become that.
• 44:51
  Speaker 9: Yeah, on the.
• 44:52
  Speaker 6: Record, but it always works in the press if there's
• 44:56
  Speaker 6: a little controversy.
• 44:57
  Speaker 9: Yeah, like they leaned into it.
• 44:58
  Speaker 6: They leaned into that narrative often to pit women against
• 45:01
  Speaker 6: each other or even men because it's buzz. It's a
• 45:04
  Speaker 6: big investment with big budgets, individual budgets that have to
• 45:09
  Speaker 6: cohesively come together to make it work like clockwork, and
• 45:13
  Speaker 6: something's happened, you know, in reality, and some things don't.
• 45:18
  Speaker 6: But you can also play up into it in this
• 45:20
  Speaker 6: business and people wouldn't even know. But that's also part
• 45:22
  Speaker 6: of strategy that I've learned that actually works for rappers
• 45:26
  Speaker 6: now and then when anyone when you are just trying
• 45:31
  Speaker 6: to get seen and heard. But I'm thankful I was
• 45:34
  Speaker 6: never a part of that.
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: You want to be you want to be right now?
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: You talking about.
• 45:44
  Speaker 9: That's not even in my nature.
• 45:47
  Speaker 6: I don't like beef. I don't I don't do beef.
• 45:49
  Speaker 6: You know, I'm begging, That's right?
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: Huge, Like, was there was there some type of disconnect
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: between the label and you? Because I just feel like
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: you had a great run. Don't get me wrong, but
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: I just feel like with the rector you were on,
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: it was another level how fans fail?
• 46:12
  Speaker 6: Yeah, he said, was there a disconnect?
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah? I feel like there was another buttons should have
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: been pressed between label management.
• 46:19
  Speaker 6: Well, things happen the way they're supposed to happen, and
• 46:20
  Speaker 6: I really believe in the divine, you know, And of
• 46:23
  Speaker 6: course everything could have been bigger. It also could have
• 46:27
  Speaker 6: been worse, you know. And I'm thankful for the specific
• 46:30
  Speaker 6: exact journey that I've been on because I hear that
• 46:32
  Speaker 6: a lot. I would rather be underrated versus overrated, And
• 46:36
  Speaker 6: now is my time, you know, where I'm so aligned
• 46:40
  Speaker 6: and educated and aware. But like I said, being a
• 46:43
  Speaker 6: test dummy and not being all in from your investors
• 46:46
  Speaker 6: because they're very unsure and uncertain of you, that means
• 46:49
  Speaker 6: a couple of years need to be put in to
• 46:51
  Speaker 6: prove yourself, to prove your worth, to prove that you
• 46:53
  Speaker 6: can as a teenager. You know, So maybe some buttons
• 46:58
  Speaker 6: weren't pushed during that time. And if that's understandable when
• 47:01
  Speaker 6: you're taking a big financial risk in a territory and
• 47:04
  Speaker 6: a genre that you haven't even played with before. So
• 47:07
  Speaker 6: I don't hold that against anybody. I understand that. But
• 47:10
  Speaker 6: it was an opportunity that I took full advantage of
• 47:13
  Speaker 6: by saying, yeah, let's go, let's try this. Yeah, it's wrap,
• 47:17
  Speaker 6: it's rock, and here I am this own little.
• 47:19
  Speaker 9: R and B curly from the DMV.
• 47:21
  Speaker 6: It may work, it may not, but I'm going to
• 47:24
  Speaker 6: do everything in my power. But I'm also an art studient.
• 47:30
  Speaker 6: I have discipline. I'm used to rehearsing for twelve hours
• 47:32
  Speaker 6: to get it right or days at a time. So
• 47:35
  Speaker 6: we'll try it, you know. And my parents raised me
• 47:39
  Speaker 6: like that to make sure that whatever I choose to pursue,
• 47:42
  Speaker 6: I will win. I can learn, I can mess up,
• 47:45
  Speaker 6: I can make some of the mistakes, but I'm at
• 47:48
  Speaker 6: least armed to go for it with no fear and
• 47:53
  Speaker 6: live with whatever happens. And that's also why I'm a
• 47:56
  Speaker 6: huge advocate of arts programs, its programs to instill those
• 48:01
  Speaker 6: life skills that you need to win in any field
• 48:06
  Speaker 6: that you choose to pursue.
• 48:07
  Speaker 4: Was there any record that you didn't want to do
• 48:09
  Speaker 4: or you look back at it it was like, I
• 48:10
  Speaker 4: really didn't want to do that?
• 48:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, which one my love is?
• 48:14
  Speaker 6: Like? WHOA? I wasn't really a fan of it when
• 48:17
  Speaker 6: I first listened to it because it was mid tempo.
• 48:20
  Speaker 6: I thought we needed something more dynamic. I thought it
• 48:23
  Speaker 6: was real chill. I love the harmonies, but it was
• 48:27
  Speaker 6: also kind of oh sallacious. When it showed up in
• 48:32
  Speaker 6: my hands, it said a whole lot more that Missy
• 48:34
  Speaker 6: can say because she wrote it. But when Maya, you know,
• 48:37
  Speaker 6: coming from her second album Fear of Flying, is going
• 48:40
  Speaker 6: into this whole grown woman era back then and what
• 48:44
  Speaker 6: that was as a young woman it was it was
• 48:47
  Speaker 6: a little uncomfortable. I changed some words around so it
• 48:50
  Speaker 6: could fit me, and then okay, I said, in order
• 48:54
  Speaker 6: for this to work, how can I balance this out?
• 48:57
  Speaker 6: So I brought the theater to it in the visuals,
• 48:59
  Speaker 6: where you know, I can live a little bit more
• 49:02
  Speaker 6: with that record. I wanted to go with something else
• 49:06
  Speaker 6: completely out of the box from that project, But.
• 49:11
  Speaker 7: What about the real quick you had me walking around
• 49:14
  Speaker 7: telling niggas like my lother was like whoa boy?
• 49:17
  Speaker 6: What?
• 49:17
  Speaker 5: Like I was really.
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: Don't? I was the girl?
• 49:28
  Speaker 5: Yeah, my like whole thing like my love is like
• 49:32
  Speaker 5: about but it was still like a whole.
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: Thing for me.
• 49:35
  Speaker 3: Pops looking at you liked.
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: That was me?
• 49:45
  Speaker 5: Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore.
• 49:52
  Speaker 9: Wait, so you didn't want to do the song?
• 49:53
  Speaker 6: Was it?
• 49:53
  Speaker 9: The labels pushed to do it? Then it was making
• 49:56
  Speaker 9: you do it?
• 49:56
  Speaker 6: It was, but you know, they hold the weight, they
• 49:57
  Speaker 6: hold the power with the finance. I cut everything, you know,
• 50:00
  Speaker 6: just to see if I like it first, and you know,
• 50:04
  Speaker 6: I wanted to go with something a little bit more
• 50:07
  Speaker 6: like I said the Street singles. I wanted to leave
• 50:09
  Speaker 6: with a record called why You Got to Look So Good?
• 50:11
  Speaker 6: And start the way I started my second album and
• 50:13
  Speaker 6: leave with the streets. I did that record with rock Wilder,
• 50:16
  Speaker 6: Why you Gotta Look So Good? The beat was so hard.
• 50:18
  Speaker 6: Lloyd Banks was on it, and it's of course not
• 50:23
  Speaker 6: what people think. I would say, Why you Gotta Look
• 50:26
  Speaker 6: so good? You make it so hard to leave you?
• 50:28
  Speaker 6: Why you Got to Look So Good? I don't want
• 50:29
  Speaker 6: nobody else to have you like, but the beat was
• 50:31
  Speaker 6: so hard and he was like, I can't give you
• 50:34
  Speaker 6: his beat. On one of those occurrences again the beat
• 50:37
  Speaker 6: belongs to jay Z. I was like, please just let
• 50:40
  Speaker 6: me write something to it and if you don't like it, cool.
• 50:47
  Speaker 6: He had to give it to me because he's like, Yo,
• 50:50
  Speaker 6: this is fire. That's what I wanted to be my
• 50:54
  Speaker 6: first single for my third album. But you know, they're
• 50:58
  Speaker 6: thinking about appeal, also thinking about investment, and it worked,
• 51:03
  Speaker 6: but it's not quite the one that I wanted first.
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: If people haven't mistake your like laid backness, you know,
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: for being mysterious or.
• 51:14
  Speaker 6: Maybe ting to be difficult, maybe I think because you know,
• 51:19
  Speaker 6: I'm just like my parents. They're just real chill, real
• 51:22
  Speaker 6: laid back. They only speak when they have something to say,
• 51:26
  Speaker 6: and they're not really really talking to people. They're very
• 51:30
  Speaker 6: expressive people, maybe through art. My mom is a painter,
• 51:34
  Speaker 6: she's into fashion, she's sewn all my clothes that I
• 51:38
  Speaker 6: went to school in. Or they're dance recitals, and they're
• 51:41
  Speaker 6: very artistic people and express themselves differently. Now, you know,
• 51:47
  Speaker 6: when it comes to negotiations or you know, getting on
• 51:50
  Speaker 6: the phone and knowing business My dad's been in this
• 51:52
  Speaker 6: business sin se he was seventeen, so he's a very
• 51:56
  Speaker 6: vocal guy when't necessary regarding business. But yeah, I think
• 52:01
  Speaker 6: it can be misconstrued that you may be meek or
• 52:04
  Speaker 6: timid or shy or not confident, or you don't have
• 52:08
  Speaker 6: what it takes or bougie or stuck up or high maintenance. Yeah,
• 52:13
  Speaker 6: that could come with being soft spoken. There's a beast
• 52:18
  Speaker 6: here though, There's a real beast here that comes out
• 52:21
  Speaker 6: when it's supposed to where it's supposed to, you know.
• 52:24
  Speaker 6: And I'm just laid back naturally until I hit that
• 52:27
  Speaker 6: stage period and you're giving it out. But you know,
• 52:30
  Speaker 6: I got friends, We get lout, you know. It's a
• 52:34
  Speaker 6: time and place for everything in Different parts of my
• 52:36
  Speaker 6: personality come out depending on the environment, you know. And
• 52:40
  Speaker 6: also I haven't really been on Front Street for people
• 52:43
  Speaker 6: to really truly get to know me, you know. And
• 52:46
  Speaker 6: it's also a tricky world to navigate through. During that
• 52:50
  Speaker 6: time when you are meant or actually groomed to be
• 52:56
  Speaker 6: put together, there was artist development. You don't say certain
• 52:59
  Speaker 6: things and inner you got to cross your legs a
• 53:01
  Speaker 6: certain way. You can't just be out here any way.
• 53:04
  Speaker 6: You choose like you can now. You know, pregnancy was like,
• 53:08
  Speaker 6: you can't be pregnant, you can't do this, you can't
• 53:11
  Speaker 6: be normal human beings. And I look at a lot
• 53:14
  Speaker 6: of the pioneers and on how they struggle with, oh
• 53:19
  Speaker 6: what the label said about them being a mother or
• 53:22
  Speaker 6: having family time or taking time off, like real human
• 53:26
  Speaker 6: things that are necessary for the train to keep moving forward.
• 53:31
  Speaker 6: And those things were punished back then. So I've come
• 53:34
  Speaker 6: from the era of cassette tapes and recording to tape,
• 53:38
  Speaker 6: not pro tools and digital but analog, but transitioning into
• 53:42
  Speaker 6: the new world with just new ideologies and new fundamentals.
• 53:47
  Speaker 6: So I can be a little bit more open now
• 53:50
  Speaker 6: and not punished for it, I think. But I also
• 53:52
  Speaker 6: know myself more to be more open.
• 53:54
  Speaker 8: I saw you talking, I saw you talking to Melissa
• 53:58
  Speaker 8: for it, about motherhood and just different things that right
• 54:00
  Speaker 8: now you are focused on your independent music journey, so
• 54:03
  Speaker 8: you can't it's just not your focus right how it's
• 54:06
  Speaker 8: not my focus just right now becoming a mom or
• 54:09
  Speaker 8: being married. And like that whole conversation that people throw
• 54:11
  Speaker 8: on you.
• 54:11
  Speaker 6: Well, I am a godmother, I am the rich auntie,
• 54:17
  Speaker 6: and I enjoyed all of it. I love kids, but
• 54:20
  Speaker 6: that's misconstrued as Oh, she don't like kids. Oh something's
• 54:24
  Speaker 6: wrong with you, you know, or nobody chose her. How
• 54:27
  Speaker 6: come nobody ever wifed you up? Oh they've tried, or
• 54:30
  Speaker 6: they have or it just didn't work out.
• 54:33
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 54:33
  Speaker 6: You don't have a ring on your finger, something's wrong
• 54:35
  Speaker 6: with you. But a ring doesn't hold any weight if
• 54:38
  Speaker 6: the vows are not being adhered to. Ye, what is
• 54:41
  Speaker 6: a ring that I can buy myself if it means nothing?
• 54:46
  Speaker 6: And the fundamentals of what a marriage really means, which
• 54:51
  Speaker 6: I deem sacred, and of course want to be selective
• 54:54
  Speaker 6: in choosing the right one, so that might take time,
• 54:57
  Speaker 6: that might require me to be solo for a while
• 55:00
  Speaker 6: versus just always being in something because I gotta be
• 55:02
  Speaker 6: taken and chosen for y'all to feel that I'm living
• 55:08
  Speaker 6: in a happy space. But I don't know too many
• 55:10
  Speaker 6: people that are happily married as well. I think for me,
• 55:17
  Speaker 6: the focus hasn't been what the world may want of
• 55:21
  Speaker 6: women and men on the world's timeline. I think it's
• 55:25
  Speaker 6: a beautiful thing. Love makes the world go round and round.
• 55:28
  Speaker 6: I'm an advocate of all of it. It's a lot
• 55:31
  Speaker 6: of love in this project. I yeah, projects, but I
• 55:34
  Speaker 6: love children. Don't get me twisted. I love men, don't
• 55:39
  Speaker 6: get me wrong. It's just when there's a calling and
• 55:45
  Speaker 6: you invest in answering it, but also being an example
• 55:48
  Speaker 6: for the girls out there that may be discouraged in
• 55:51
  Speaker 6: giving up and throwing in the towel, something else is
• 55:53
  Speaker 6: calling you to do something, And love is also all
• 55:56
  Speaker 6: around me. There's different forms of love, which I'm very
• 56:01
  Speaker 6: very clear on and very vocal about. But I'm also
• 56:04
  Speaker 6: an advocate of self love because I don't expect somebody
• 56:07
  Speaker 6: to just come into my world to be my savior
• 56:10
  Speaker 6: and my end all be all happily ever after, because
• 56:13
  Speaker 6: that requires self love for the right one to show up.
• 56:15
  Speaker 6: I want a mirror of me at my best and
• 56:17
  Speaker 6: eyes right to be matched and paired in divine timing
• 56:25
  Speaker 6: with a reflection of the best me, because that means
• 56:30
  Speaker 6: I'm also giving and pouring. I'm not here to be
• 56:33
  Speaker 6: wiped up. I'm not here to be in a situation
• 56:36
  Speaker 6: for validation. I'm here to give the best of me
• 56:39
  Speaker 6: in every area of my life for the world, for myself,
• 56:45
  Speaker 6: or my family, for a companion. But I'm also very
• 56:49
  Speaker 6: aware that you know, love is all around us every
• 56:51
  Speaker 6: single day in so many different forms. And I'm patient,
• 56:54
  Speaker 6: I'm not seeking. But that's different, you know, for the
• 56:57
  Speaker 6: society that we came up in. But I think it's
• 57:00
  Speaker 6: very different.
• 57:02
  Speaker 9: It's very different.
• 57:06
  Speaker 8: Because of the ownership that you take, and especially coming
• 57:09
  Speaker 8: from the era where they're telling you, guys, how you
• 57:11
  Speaker 8: have to live your life and you've been like kind
• 57:12
  Speaker 8: of built that way as an artist to like know,
• 57:15
  Speaker 8: career career, because I can't do it all.
• 57:16
  Speaker 9: But you take ownership and I can do what I
• 57:18
  Speaker 9: want when I want.
• 57:20
  Speaker 6: Yes, and so can you. But of course, you know,
• 57:22
  Speaker 6: we grew up in a society that says to do
• 57:24
  Speaker 6: it by a specific book and a specific timeline. And
• 57:27
  Speaker 6: if you're not following that, you know, expectant I'd say, flow,
• 57:35
  Speaker 6: then are you happy? You must not be happy. Oh
• 57:38
  Speaker 6: that's really bad. It's going to be too late.
• 57:40
  Speaker 5: Your eggs are going to expire.
• 57:42
  Speaker 6: But something's wrong and everything's right for me right now,
• 57:46
  Speaker 6: and I'm living in that space. I don't want to
• 57:48
  Speaker 6: be in the wrong situation. So I'm going to be
• 57:50
  Speaker 6: more patient and align myself but also not expect anything
• 57:54
  Speaker 6: to show up. And also lean on another person to
• 57:57
  Speaker 6: make my world great. I'm going to create the best
• 57:58
  Speaker 6: world that I can for me to live in, first
• 58:01
  Speaker 6: for others to live in. Make sure I can, first
• 58:04
  Speaker 6: of all, financially take care of another person a baby
• 58:08
  Speaker 6: that is one dependent on me. But I also want
• 58:13
  Speaker 6: to sit my ass down and have the time to
• 58:16
  Speaker 6: do it. Pick you up from school, help you with
• 58:19
  Speaker 6: your homework. I mean, it's so hard as a mother,
• 58:22
  Speaker 6: a working mother, and just in general, I want to
• 58:24
  Speaker 6: be available before I have kids, and I also want
• 58:27
  Speaker 6: to adopt kids. It's not that I don't want kids,
• 58:29
  Speaker 6: it's just not then the focal point and the end
• 58:33
  Speaker 6: all be all of my journey.
• 58:38
  Speaker 2: Trying to.
• 58:40
  Speaker 5: Journey.
• 58:42
  Speaker 8: But the reason around is because I feel like a
• 58:45
  Speaker 8: lot of people when they talk to working women or
• 58:48
  Speaker 8: women that have things happening and you say something like
• 58:50
  Speaker 8: what I heard you say in that interview, the pushback is, oh, well,
• 58:53
  Speaker 8: the time clock and you are very much in control
• 58:56
  Speaker 8: of what you want and when you want it. And
• 58:57
  Speaker 8: I was like, I think you can kind of daviogate
• 59:00
  Speaker 8: that conversation a little bit differently now for my own self,
• 59:04
  Speaker 8: but it's the thing of your You've got so much
• 59:08
  Speaker 8: going on. But like when I go home Mother's Day weekend,
• 59:10
  Speaker 8: this weekend, my family, I go home, the first thing
• 59:12
  Speaker 8: is you're doing great, but when you're gonna have a baby,
• 59:14
  Speaker 8: or when you're there some real conversation.
• 59:18
  Speaker 6: But it's also coming from a place of love because
• 59:21
  Speaker 6: experiencing having a baby for many women, fathers, there's of
• 59:25
  Speaker 6: course oxytocin on the biological scientific side of things, but
• 59:29
  Speaker 6: it's an experience that changes you forever. It changes you forever.
• 59:33
  Speaker 6: The love is so overwhelming and it's so pure, and
• 59:36
  Speaker 6: it's so innocent. I mean, I love animals just the same,
• 59:39
  Speaker 6: so I have a ton of animals. But it's coming
• 59:41
  Speaker 6: from a place of love and tradition and our specific
• 59:44
  Speaker 6: culture that we're here, I've realized, because they want you
• 59:47
  Speaker 6: to experience it as well and not miss out on that.
• 59:50
  Speaker 6: Of course, we live in a very interesting time where
• 59:53
  Speaker 6: there's inflation and you want to have your bag and
• 59:56
  Speaker 6: all these things together. But that's not how existence ever happened.
• 59:59
  Speaker 6: We didn't have the modern world. Once upon a time,
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 6: women were popping out tribes of babies, you know, for
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 6: a long time ancestrally, and we're just not living in
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 6: that natural world anymore, and so I'm also very aware
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 6: of that so that I can set up, first of all,
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 6: a safe lifestyle and a comfortable lifestyle and a supportive
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 6: lifestyle for the life that I might want to build.
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 6: And then I'm also growing at rapid rates, discovering new
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 6: parts of myself, new parts of healing, plant medicine, and
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 6: an ancestral wisdom that there's so many things I realized
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 6: I didn't know five years ago, and I want to
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 6: get myself time. It might not necessarily be my own child,
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 6: it might be a whole orphanage of hundreds of kids
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 6: that I want to build and invest in. My vision
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 6: might be a little different than you know another person,
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 6: but there's love inside of me that I still want
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 6: to give. It just me come across as different because
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 6: it's not non existent right now to the world. But
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 6: I'm working on other things and it just starts with self.
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 6: And I've also been on a journey where it's all
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 6: about alignment and all the beautiful things fall into your
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 6: world and not my timing the most highest timing, and
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 6: I'm good with that.
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 2: Sounds like you went on a journey with mother, Aya.
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 6: No, I've never done Ayahuasco. But there are other things
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 6: I hear that the world will be put up on
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 6: very soon. You know, it's already being talked about. It's
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 6: not even it's not even drugs, right, But that's not
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 6: for me to speak on today. But administration is about
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 6: to adopt some very powerful stuff that the world is
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 6: going to want to align with because it comes from
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 6: our source, which is God. No man made that, and
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 6: that is not a drug. Drugs come from nature, and
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 6: then it becomes chemical compounds of it. But we're in
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 6: a very unnatural time away from the natural world, and
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 6: we all could use a little recalibration based on you know,
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 6: realignment the natural way. That's all I'm gonna saying.
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 2: Did you see all the religious leaders.
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: Some of the religious leaders are saying they all had
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: to meet and they got briefed on UFO disclosure.
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 6: I've seen a lot of that stuff. I'm deep into
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 6: conspiracy theory and UFOs and outer spaces. Yeah. Absolutely, listen.
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 5: I want the last thing I want.
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 7: I want to say, Wow, I want to answer you
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 7: real quick before I say the last thing I want
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 7: to say. You said you want somebody that's a mira
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 7: of you at your highest because I'm writing down. I
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 7: know I'm already married, but it's just something nice when
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 7: I hit my husband be.
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 6: Like, So that means you got to take care of
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 6: you inside of your relationship. You can't neglect you just
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 6: because oh it's your duty. Yeah, oh as this title
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 6: to neglect yourself as a mother, neglect yourself as a wife.
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 6: You have to show it for you first before you
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 6: can show up for anybody else within that space. That's
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 6: what I've learned and I'm constantly being reminded of. If
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 6: I'm going to show up for you know, my tribe
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 6: the best possible way as a leader of that, then
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 6: that means that I need to block out and carve
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 6: out a moment over here to recalibrate my brain to
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 6: do a woolsaigh, breathe through a thousand. If I have
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 6: to go away for five days so I can be
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 6: my best self. So everybody benefits from that, you know,
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 6: if you're a source, because.
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 7: We do this thing with me and my husband, We
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 7: do this thing where we will ask each other like
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 7: why did you marry me? And I want to say
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 7: now because I wanted somebody.
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 5: Well, I'm not gonna say.
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 7: Like that I'm gonna tell you because he don't need, no,
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 7: don't need to do that. I want to say I
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 7: married you because I wanted somebody who was a mirror
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 7: of me at my highest self.
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 2: That's nothing like me, God with me in your life
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 2: to help you heal.
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 6: But you know what else, you know, you don't have
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 6: to be perfect for love to show up as well.
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 5: Period love can come.
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 6: So I'm not I'm not I'm not preaching to anybody.
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 6: Oh you got to be perfect and be your higher
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 6: self to know because you can literally attract light from
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 6: being your most darkest, broken self in a hole and
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 6: somebody is there to lift you up because they've done
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 6: some work, or maybe because they're just aligning in tune,
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 6: whatever the spirit calls that day. They are beautiful people
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 6: that show up in your life at the most devastating time.
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 6: So you got to trust that too. Some of them
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 6: are just narcissists and smell the vulnerability, so be aware
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 6: of that. And that's a whole education in itself too,
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 6: and I've been through that. But my job for my
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 6: personal journey is I see what being a line means
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 6: and I would only want the best partner. So let's
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 6: start with self to become the best me so that
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 6: I could pour into that person as well. I don't
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 6: show up to any table empty handed. I want to
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 6: pour in just as much as I want to be
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 6: poured into. So that's what I'm saying, without expectation, and
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 6: really give from a place of overflow versus lack. And
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 6: that's up to me to fix or to generate.
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 5: All right, all right, my favorite song is falling.
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 7: Just wanted to say that, because girl, you're trying to
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 7: wrap it up, But my favorite song is falling. Girl
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 7: two thousand and three, that had me like that was
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 7: my favorite song from move Ring. Now move Ring is
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 7: my favorite album. On my favorite song it's falling.
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 6: So why is it your favorite?
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 2: Girl?
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 7: Because I thought I was in love in two thousand
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 7: and three and I was telling this, I'm telling you like,
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 7: it's a whole era you had in my life fit now.
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 5: So yes, And that's when you think that you the
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 5: boy that you love and you mean that's the one you.
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 7: I'm telling him like, you got me, you complete me,
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 7: you got me falling head over heels for you, and
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 7: just and he's just sitting there like okay, yeah, he
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 7: ain't not even hear a song, and then when we
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 7: broke up, he heard the song and was like.
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 5: You quoting an artist the whole time, but this is
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 5: not a song.
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 3: This she told me this.
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 2: This is this.
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 5: She told me this in my face.
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 2: Maya he married language.
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 3: Your little hot ass was sixteen during that time. I
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 3: really maya appreciate what you should.
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 2: Do audio books or something.
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 6: That's what they tell me. I will, I'll get into ready,
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 6: I do guid meditation, all of it. I'll do that
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 6: voice and whatnot.
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 7: And in the name was Roger, I should have even known,
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 7: like hot ass, you're a fourteen year old named Roger
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 7: named that grandfather.
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 5: I shouldn't even I should And even.
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 6: With the letters toxic, this is that was.
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 3: But this is my fault.
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 5: She had me in shambles.
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 3: What do you want to have the album? What do
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 3: you want to have your mind?
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 6: What do I want to hear off the album? My goodness,
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 6: let's play the latest single, feature in Too Short?
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 2: All right?
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 4: Well, the album comes out next Friday, and we appreciate
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 4: you for joining us. It's my ladies and gentlemen. It's
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 4: the Breakfast Club.
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 3: Good morning.
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 5: Every day I wake up the Breakfast Club. Finish y'all done,