Latest / The Bootleg Kev Podcast / #711 - John Legend Talks New Pharrell-Produced Album, Kanye West, Marriage, Lauryn Hill & More

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#711 - John Legend Talks New Pharrell-Produced Album, Kanye West, Marriage, Lauryn Hill & More · The Bootleg Kev Podcast

• 0:00
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  Speaker 1: doing at the Bootleg Cap Podcast, man. Much love. Let's
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: get into the interview. Yo, Bootleg Cap Show. We have
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: got a special guest, man. Living legend in the building,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: John Legend. What's up, Cap? How you doing, sir? Of course.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: I met you, man. I was 16 years old, so
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: my best friend's brother... Best man at my wedding. His
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: big brother is Ira Science, rocker from Dilated Peoples. Okay, yeah.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: I remember that video. Yeah, so the College Dropout tour. Yeah.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Comes to Arizona, where I'm from. Yeah. They were opening
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: for us. Yeah, I was 16. Yeah. And backstage, hanging
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: out with Dilated. And at that time, I was a
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: huge Kanye nerd prior to College Dropout. All the mixtape stuff. Yeah.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: So I was already super hip to you. I bought
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: your CD you had at the merch table.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: But I got to meet you backstage. I remember there
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: was a big ass security guard named Big John. Yeah,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: I remember Big John. Giant white dude. Yeah.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Who?
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Big Southern boy. Yeah. I got to meet you, Mary Ben-Ari, Hans, GLC.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the whole crew, the whole good music crew. We
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: were all on the road together. One of my first
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: videos that I got to be in was the Dilated
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: People This Way video. I sang on that record. And
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: we were grinding, man. That was the beginning. And that
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: was before my debut album got started. I just got
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: signed in May of 2004 and then put the album
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: out in December. But we were out on the road
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: with Kanye a lot of that time in like early 2004.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: And then we opened for Usher.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there was the Usher tour.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, starting like August 2004. And then Get Lifted came
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  Speaker 3: out in December.
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  Speaker 1: Is there anything from the college dropout tour, any stories?
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  Speaker 1: What was that energy like? Because it was so special.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: That live show was so crazy.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: It was so fun because I was singing. I was
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: playing keys. He would let me do Used to Love You,
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: which was going to be my first single. And I
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: would just sing the hooks on all his songs. And
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  Speaker 3: we were having a good time, man. This was our
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: first real tour. And we were just out there living life, man.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: We were kids.
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  Speaker 3: And it was exciting because I felt like there was
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: so much possibility with my own career, but at the
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: time I was just being kind of part of Kanye's crew,
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: but it was like I could see the future, like
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: this was going to happen for me soon too, and
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: it was an exciting time. I wrote Ordinary People during
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: that time when we were on tour in Europe. I
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: had just gotten signed, and I was in the studio
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: with Will.i.am, and we wrote the hook for Ordinary People,
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: But it was supposed to be a Black Eyed Peas
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: song at the time. And it was written over a
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: hip hop beat. But I decided that I wanted to
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: take it back and use it for myself. And so
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: when I was on tour with Kanye in Europe, every
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: sound check, I was writing the lyrics for Ordinary People
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: on the keyboard. And so that was a great story
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: from that tour. And then, like you said, we had
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  Speaker 3: Dilated Peoples out on the road with us. Keisha Cole
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: was out on the road with us some of the time.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: And then later that year, we opened for Usher. And
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  Speaker 3: that was a great experience just watching Usher and his
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: team and just the level of professionalism and care that
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: they put into every show.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: That was like the first arena. Yeah, we were in arenas.
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  Speaker 3: And Usher, man, he had already been making music for
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: a long time. And you could just see they just
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: worked so hard. And they were so precise. They were
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: studying videotape. He's such a professional. And he still is.
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: And seeing that in 2004 was incredible.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: It's crazy because Ordinary People ends up being like, not
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: the first single, but the single that changes everything, right? Yeah.
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: So that was the second single. Used to Love You
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: was the first single. And it did okay.
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  Speaker 1: Great song. Very like vintage, like it feels like a
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: vintage era, like Yate production.
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  Speaker 3: So we really based the beat off of what he
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: did on Get By, which was the Kweli song that
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: did so well. And the Kweli song was based off
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: of Nina Simone's sample, which was Sinner Man, which is
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: a great record if you ever want to listen to it.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Incredible. Epic track.
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  Speaker 3: And Kanye sampled that piano. And then we did a
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  Speaker 3: version of that for Used to Love You. Very similar.
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  Speaker 3: And the whole groove was based off of what he
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: did for Get By. but we made it an R &
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: B song instead. And that was a great first single,
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: but on the sampler for the album, we were giving
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: to radio stations.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the sampler game, man. Yes, remember that?
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  Speaker 3: So we had Used to Love You First, then we
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: had three snippets of other tracks like Number One, and
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: I forget what else was a snippet. And then at
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  Speaker 3: the end was a full version of Ordinary People.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: And I was.
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: upset when they put it as a full version because
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: nobody told me from the label. KP, my A & R,
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: just told the label, do a full version and just
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: see what happens. And so it turned out that that
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: was a great call by KP because the full version
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: of Ordinary People went out with the single, with the sampler,
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: and WGCI and Chicago started playing the full version of
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: Ordinary People before we were even promoting it. And it
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: took off in Chicago first because the PD there, the
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: programming director, was so struck by the song. He was like, wow,
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  Speaker 3: this song is special.
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  Speaker 1: I know they're.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: Promoting that one, but I want to play Ordinary People.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: And it just blew up in Chicago. And then it
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: went all around the rest of the country.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Talk to me about, because obviously you are no stranger
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: to hip hop. Yeah. I feel like you have some
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: of the most cinematic hooks in hip hop history. Yeah.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: I was just telling, last night I was riding around
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: and I was telling my boy about the Rich Forever mixtape.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: I'm like, I don't think you understand the John Legend
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: intro on Rich Forever. It's so crazy. But, you know,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: you make an appearance on the Clips album, which is
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: probably one of the, it was a very beautiful song.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: Crazy way to start off a classic hip hop album.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: What a way to start an album. A song about
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: your parents dying. Two brothers singing about, rapping about Your
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: parents dying. Like, what a way to start an album.
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: And especially a comeback album that, you know, Malice hadn't
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: rapped in, you know, over a decade.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: We've been waiting years for that album. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: And I'm a true Eclipse fan. Like, I have all
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: the albums. I see Lord Willin up there and Hell
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: Hath No Fury. Like, I have all those albums. I
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: listen to them, like, regularly still. And when that album
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: came out and I was like, oh, they put my
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: track first. And it just felt really... special to be
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: a part of such an epic comeback by them.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: And that was really what started.
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: Muse happening because Pharrell was so inspired by what I
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: did with my voice on that album. And he was like, man,
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: I want to do a whole album around your voice.
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: And he called me up in December 2024 and was like,
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: we got to do a whole album.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: Together, please.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: And I was like, yeah, let's do it. But first
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: I wanted to see how it felt. and if our
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: chemistry was going to be right. So the first time
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: we worked on it together was in January, 2025. I
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: went out to Paris for a few days and we
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: wrote a few songs. I was like, man, I think
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: we're onto something. And we just dove in and kept
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: making more records. We would do some sessions in Paris
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: at the Louis Vuitton offices, then some over Zoom with
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: him there and me here in LA. And over 2025, basically,
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: We finished writing all the songs, and then this year
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: all we did was add the finishing touches and mix
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: it and everything. But it feels crazy because it's finally
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: out now, but it felt like I was sitting on
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: a secret for a long time because we had this
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: music pretty much ready like nine months ago, and now
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  Speaker 3: it's finally out in the world.
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  Speaker 1: What is the... Because I feel like there's a few
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: artists who have had the opportunity to hone in with
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: what I would say like GOAT producers for entire projects. Yeah.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: obviously you've had Ye executive produce an album. Yeah. Um,
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: what is, I guess the creative difference and, and, and
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: how different is the Pharrell process when you are, obviously
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: it's different working on a record, but to say, okay,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: this is a collaborative project. Yeah. He's on records. Yeah.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: He's producing it. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: This was the most comprehensive, like collaboration I've ever had
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: with a producer. Um, Maybe a close second is working
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: with The Roots on that album we did together.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, The Wake Up, right? Yeah, we did a Wake
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Up album together.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: Me and Amir picked all the songs together, and they
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: produced and played the whole album. But this one involved
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: writing as well, whereas that one was all covers. So
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: I think this is probably the most thorough and like
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  Speaker 3: comprehensive collaboration that i've had with any producer um i've
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: had other producers that produced the whole album like blake
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: mills produced my whole um darkness and light album uh
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: rafael sadiq executive produced the whole bigger love album and
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: the christmas album but again uh i think the fact
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: that not only was pharrell producing but he was really
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: writing with me on every song um This was just
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: a lot of his creative energy being poured into this album.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: And that was special, man. Obviously, he's so gifted and
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: he's so creative. He's got so many great ideas, but
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: he's also so busy. He's got so many other things
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: going on. He's men's creative director at Louis Vuitton.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: He's producing other albums.
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: He's Quavo and T.I. and all these different artists he's
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: working with. But he really did give me a lot
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: of his time and energy and his creative team. was
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: involved in all the music videos and photo sessions and
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: just every.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Aspect of the whole story of the album. They were
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: very involved in all of it.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: So it just meant that I had all this expertise
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: around me, this great team around me to help me
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: make this album and help me tell the story of
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: this album to the world. And it was such an
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: honor and a privilege to do it.
• 11:11
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  Speaker 1: Save 20% off. Let's get back into the interview. There
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: is a lot of storytelling on the album. Yeah. And
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: obviously you're somebody who has had a very high profile,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: successful marriage with your wife, right?
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: But with every marriage, because I'm married, there's peaks and
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: valleys of marriage, right? And I feel like you visit
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: some of those peaks and valleys throughout the project.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but also, I always caution people, don't read everything
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: into every lyric. Because I feel like you have to
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: let artists be creative too.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: At the same time.
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: Every song they're writing isn't a direct memoir of what's
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: going on in your life at that time. Some artists
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: will do that, and Some artists may do a whole
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: album based on a breakup or something like that. And
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: some of my favorite albums have been inspired by specific
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: stories in their lives. And that can be really powerful
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: and moving. But honestly, Christian and I have a great
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: relationship right now. No, I mean, you guys are like...
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: We're good.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: I feel like you guys are like the example for everybody. Like,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: we're good.
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: And if you think all the things that I talk
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: about in the album are like what we're going through,
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: you think our relationship was a lot crazier than it
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: really is. But, you know, we wanted to make something
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: that was creative. I would say this. It is super relatable.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah. It's a very relatable body of work. Yeah.
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: And I wanted it to feel like these stories are
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: stories that people feel and experience and they go through
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: at different times in their lives. And they may not
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: be going through it right now, but they remember a
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: relationship where they went through it.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: For sure.
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: And I may not be going through it right now,
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: but I remember relationships that were different. And then sometimes
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: we're inspired by other art, like films and television and
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: conversations we have with other people. So I think all
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: of that inspires my lyric writing. And then remember that
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: I'm also co-writing with Pharrell, so I'm getting his ideas.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: We were working with another songwriter named Sam Henshaw.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Are You Okay's My Shit.
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that one's like, that feels so real to everybody.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: Because everybody needs some kind of therapy. Everybody needs to
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: talk about all the things at the root of their
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: arguments and their problems in life. Because a lot of
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: times we're dealing with past trauma and past betrayal and
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: then putting it on our current partner right and uh
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: i think all of us deal with that i think
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: are you okay may be the most relatable song for
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: most people on the album.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Um i can assume the song everything is from obviously
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: for people don't know you you had to evacuate from your.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: Home yeah and we didn't lose our home fortunately but
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: we had very close friends that literally lost their entire
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: home like nothing was left.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: This is a song that i feel like like you know,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: in the song, you're kind of communicating. Like, yeah, everything
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: burns down. I'm okay.
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: But we have each other.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and literally I have close friends that went through
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: that exact thing. And it makes you value your loved
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: ones because material things can be replaced. Even though some,
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: you know, memoirs and, I mean, memorabilia and family heirlooms
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: can't be replaced. Like, the most important thing is that
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: we have each other. And I think my friends that
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: lost their homes would agree with that, even though they
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: went through a mourning process. They knew that they had
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: each other.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah. It's crazy to think, like, how many classic bodies
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: of work you've had your hands on over the years. Yeah,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: I've been fortunate. Initially, you come in and you play
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: the keys on the Lauryn Hill album.
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that was the very first... On Everything is Everything? Yeah,
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: that was the very first track that I was a
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: part of. And it went on to be, you know,
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: one of the great albums of all time. And I
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: met her just from... directing music at this church. I
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: had a choir member. Her name was Tara Michelle. And
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: she had gone to high school with Lauryn Hill. And
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: she was still friends with her. She was a great
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: singer herself. And she was like, hey, Lauryn's working on
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: a new album. You want to go over to Jersey
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: and hang out with them? And so we go to
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: the studio.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: We're hanging out.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: And during a break in the session, she's like, why
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: don't you get on the piano and sing a little
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: bit for Lauryn?
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: So I did that.
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: And Miss Hill asked me to play piano on the
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: track they were working on then. And it was Everything
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: is Everything.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: That's crazy.
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: And I was still in school. I was 19 years old.
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: Still in college. I went back to college my senior year.
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: And my biggest claim to fame was like, yo, I'm
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: on track 13 of the album that everybody at school
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: was listening to. Literally everyone was listening to. And that
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: was huge for me. And that was really like kick-started
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: my career because... It put me in touch with some
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: of the producers she worked with and they started helping
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: me on my demo. It just kind of was my
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: calling card, my claim to fame that I was part
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: of this album that everybody was listening to. And then
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: I was really working on my solo career around that
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: time too. And it really started with that as my inspiration.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: And then I was in Philly, you know, for a
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: lot of like what the Roots were doing and they
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: were doing like, Black Lily, these open mic nights with
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: all these different artists coming through. Like Black Thought would
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: be freestyle and Common would come through. You'd see the
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: artists they were recording with like D'Angelo and Erykah Badu
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: and Jill and Bilal and all these different artists come through.
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: And I'm there while all this is happening. So it
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: was just an inspiring time to be a young artist.
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: There was so much going on in hip hop and neo-soul.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: and a lot of it was happening right around me
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: in philly and jersey and new york like right around
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: that area where i was.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Do you i feel like sometimes when you get to
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: a certain level of success like you're in it and
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: you're living it so you don't necessarily like you're a
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: busy guy yeah but if you just go back and
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: like your catalog aside look at the albums you've been
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: a part of yeah it's crazy it's like miseducation black
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: album college dropout commons b yeah uh My Beautiful Dark
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Twisted Fantasy, Alicia Keys. It's kind of crazy. If you
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: start breaking down the greatest bodies of work of all time,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: your voice is throughout them. It's wild. And then all
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: the Rick Ross tracks. The Rick Ross shit, magnificent. All
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: the Jay-Z tracks. The intro to Heroes and Villains from
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Metro Boomin' is crazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: May not come when you want, but I'm on time.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Morgan Freeman's on there talking shit after you sing. Yes,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: it's crazy. It's crazy. It's crazy. Yeah, I've been blessed, man.
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: And I love that my whole career has been intertwined
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: with hip hop. Obviously, I'm a soul artist, but hip
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: hop has been a huge part of my story and
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: a huge part of my career. And I've worked with
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: the best in hip hop, literally the best in the
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: whole genre, as Only a few artists that I haven't
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: worked with. Kendrick is on my list of like, I
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: haven't done a track with him.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: I would love to. Outside of Ye, obviously you guys
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: have got such a deep history. Who's another MC you
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: feel like you have kind of, you guys are just,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: you guys get each other. Well, I think the Rick
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Ross collaborations, I feel like we've done. There's so many
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: of them.
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we've done enough to make a whole album together. Jay-Z,
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: we've done quite a few tracks together.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: I feel like you and Rosé got, Got some shit
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: figured out for you.
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a chemistry between our voices, I think. And
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: I think also he picks the kind of beats that
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: I like to sing over.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: It's always cinematic.
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. And he has that... cinematic voice. It just
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: has so much weight to it. And it just works.
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: It really works well. But yeah, I think those are
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: some of my favorites.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Talk to me, man. Because you have one of these
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: songs that's like a forever wedding song. All of Me
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: is one of the biggest songs ever, but it's a
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: song that will be played at weddings. For eternity. For eternity.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: It's a blessing. I'll take it. Have you ever been
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: bagged out enough to go do that at someone's wedding
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: or offered to do that?
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: Well, my thing with weddings is, one, I get paid
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: to come and play at strangers' weddings. But then if
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: I'm going to a wedding that is of a person
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: that I care about and I love enough to give
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: my weekend up for, then I feel like.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: You'll grab the mic? Yeah, I'll grab the mic.
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: Because I'm there because I consider them close enough and
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: family enough that I want to be there. So I
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: figure I might as well do a song or two.
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: But I always tell them I want to do it
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: early so I can have a drink. Because I don't
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: drink before I sing. And so if I'm going to
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: party that night, I got to sing first and then
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: party after.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Have you turned down a lot of stuff where you're like, nah,
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: I'm good? Because I can imagine you probably get five
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: or six of those inquiries a year.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: Well.
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: The thing is, what will happen is like sometimes people
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: will invite me to a wedding when we're not really
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: that close and you feel like.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: It's a back. I mean, like where someone's trying to
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: book you. Yeah.
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: Well, you know, it's just about timing and you got to,
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: you know, the price is the price.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: The price is the price.
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: Yesterday's price is not today's price, as Fat Joe once said.
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: And so, you know, if it's a stranger, they have
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: to meet, you know, our requirements and The timing has
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: to be right. And if it is, then we'll make
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: it happen.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: I love it, man. What's your favorite song on this album?
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Because it's such a great listen.
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: I love Bodies on the Floor. I think that's my
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: favorite right now.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: So good.
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: My sleeper favorite right now is Next Time, too. It's
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: not a single, but it's just something about it. It's
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: been getting to me lately. And then I love Her
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: as well. It's kind of romantic and sweet. When the
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: album has everything, it has the romantic infatuation.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: It has a new love with daylight. It's got the
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: big epic breakup song with bodies on the floor. It's
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: got everything.
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: But I think everyone will relate to different aspects of
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: the songs at different times in their lives.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: Bodies on the floor could end up being the all
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: of me, but for divorce. Yeah, exactly. We got a
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: marriage anthem and a divorce anthem. There you go. There
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: you go. Yo, I wonder, I know you saw Ye's
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: homecoming shows. Yes. Here in LA, Miss Hill came out
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: with them.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: I saw Sean popped up in Chicago. Is there a
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: world in which you feel like you guys could ever
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: patch things up? I don't even necessarily mean performing with him.
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't see myself performing with him, but I'm
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: happy to talk to him and just connect on a
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: human level. We haven't done that in years. And I'm
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: fine with doing that. I don't hold grudges against anybody personally.
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: I think what he did in the world is what
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: he needs to worry about and What he needs to
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: atone for because he put a lot of hate and
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: malice out into the world directed toward black people, Jewish people,
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: like a lot of people that I feel like he
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: needs to continue to atone for that because it was
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: like a long campaign of hate that he put out there.
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: And that's why I wouldn't want to go on stage
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: with him. Honestly, that's the main reason I wouldn't. Not
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: anything he personally said about me because it really wasn't
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: that big of a deal what he said about me. Um,
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: but I think what he said and about large groups
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: of people and the hate that he spread, like it
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: makes me not want to be on stage with him
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: because I don't want to be a part of that.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Um, so that's where I am right now. Yeah. Do
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: you ever, cause you think back to the OG good
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: music days and like, I think about the good Fridays. Yeah.
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: It was a beautiful time, honestly. And, we made such
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: great music together and I'm so proud, honestly, of what
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: we did no matter where we are now.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: I'm so proud of.
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: What we did and I wouldn't be here without us collaborating,
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: without him signing me to good music, without us making
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: Get Lifted together, without me being a part of College
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: Dropout and Dilated Peoples and B and Selfish and all
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: the tracks that he put me on before I was signed. Like,
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: I just wouldn't be here without it and so I'm
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: still forever grateful to him. That's why Like on a
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: personal level, I'm happy to like meet up with them
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: and connect and whatever. But I just feel like in public,
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: in performance, I feel like I don't want to be
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: a part of that right now.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: You already know Arizona, man. The Bootleg Head Podcast brought
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  Speaker 1: Raffi and got a big payday. So make sure if
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  Speaker 1: you get into an accident, if you need help, all right,
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  Speaker 1: here on the Blue Lake Head podcast. All right, man,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: NBA season is back. It's my favorite sport, so I'm
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: super excited. Of course, Koushi, man, we could trade all
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: of our favorite NBA games, futures, awards, all that on Koushi.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: If you hit the link in the bio, if you
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: trade $ 25, you will get $ 55 for free. This season,
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: there are so many storylines. How's LeBron and the 76ers
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: going to mold together? They just beat the Knicks. Will
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: the Knicks be able to repeat? I don't know. Anthony Edwards,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: LaMelo Ball. That is a hell of a one-two punch
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: in Minnesota. How are the Lakers going to play with
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: all the whites? Who knows? And I also, I'm going
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: to tell you the team, I think that... Not enough
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: of us are talking about, and that's the Indiana Pacers.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Tyrese Halliburton's return. Look, basketball season is back. And on
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: Couchy right now, since it's early in the season, I
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: think we got to get in on some of this
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: MVP awards right now, man. Look, Victor Wemignana right now
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: is the favorite to win the MVP. He's trading at 32%
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: on Couchy. I'm liking Luka to win the regular season MVP,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: trading at only 13%. I'm loving Luka at 13% to
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: win league MVP. I think he might lead the league
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: in scoring this year. I think he might average a
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: triple-double or close to it this year. And I feel
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: like the Lakers... Well, I just dropped something. The Lakers
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: are going to be an incredible regular season team. I
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: think they're going to crash out in the playoffs. But, man,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Luka at 13% on Kalshi. It feels good. And I
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: got to give a shout out. Now, if you guys
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: don't know, I am a Giants Suns fan. Can we
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: talk about how petty our guy Dylan Brooks is? Dylan Brooks,
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: all-time petty bruh. I don't know if you guys saw
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: his hate for LeBron.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: Are you tired of hearing about the greatest basketball player
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: of all time? where he goes, what team is he
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: playing for this season, what ridiculous new product he's endorsing.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: Then you need the King Blocker 9000.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: Crazy.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: Advanced breakthrough technology that will mute any mention of or
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: as many nicknames like King's LB, The Chosen.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: Blocked. Sound good? It sure does.
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: Visit the URL today.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, hit the link in the bio too because you
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: actually can go on the link in our bio. And
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: enter to win the King Blocker 9000. Only 23 are made.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: Dylan Brooks, all-time villain, all-time petty. Hit the link in
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: the bio. Get $ 55 for free when you trade $ 25
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: with Kalshi. Man, let's get back to the podcast. I
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: feel like with Muse, this feels like you are really
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: deep in your bag right now in a positive way.
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it feels like a great creative time for me.
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: I feel like so... And I feel like it is
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: for Pharrell as well. And the fact that we were
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: able to do this album together, I was like, man, we,
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: we are, we're cooking.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: You guys are cooking. I was going to say for you, man, like,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: like you said, you were working on this January, 2025.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: It's been a big secret. Are you always creating new music?
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: Cause you have so much shit you do. Your voiceover stuff,
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: TV stuff. Like is it, is, is music still always
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: like omnipresent? Yeah.
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: I would say it's, um, Very dominant in my career,
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: even though I've got other things. We've got a skincare brand,
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: a dog food brand. My wife has her food brand.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: What kind of dogs you got?
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: We have a standard poodle, Petey. We have a basset hound, Pearl.
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: And we have a little terrier mix, Pebbles. And then
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: we've had a lot of bulldogs throughout our life, too.
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: Our first dog together was an English bulldog named Putty.
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: Then we had Paul for a little while. but he
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: didn't get along with the other dogs.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: I had two Englishes, and I have two Frenchies now
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: that I got for free from my boy, and I
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: have a Pomeranian that's like the king of the house.
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we love dogs, and we started our dog food brand, Kismet,
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: and it's all about celebrating how important dogs are in
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: our lives and creating a community around dog lovers too.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: And it's fun. We love doing it.
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: We just hosted the Halloween Dog Parade, In New York,
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: which was a lot of fun.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: So it's just a lot of people showed up with
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: their dogs dressed up. Yeah, dressed up. It was wild.
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: It's wild what they do. It's a tradition, though. In
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: New York, it's been like 35 years of doing it.
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: And we got to be the grand marshals for it.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I love going to PetSmart Halloween time and just
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: seeing what new shit they cook up. Yeah.
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: We just started at PetSmart, actually. And we did a
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: pack walk over there at the one in Culver City.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: And it's cool. That's dope. Yeah, man. It's cool.
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: It's cool having like something that brings people together because
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: like I said, we do a lot of events together
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: with other dog owners and bring people out. We go
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: walking together like hundreds of us walking through the streets,
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: walking on Santa Monica Beach. And it's great.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: What would you say, man, if you had to give
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: anybody advice, let's say a newly wed couple.
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: You have had a very successful marriage, continue to do so.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: What would be, if someone just got married, what would
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: be your piece of advice?
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: I think it starts with making sure you're marrying the
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: right person. And I think Chrissy and I really found
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: our person in each other.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: We respect each other. We love each other.
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: We enjoy hanging out with each other. And I think
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: you have to align on values because once you raise
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: kids together, like your values have to be aligned to
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: the point where you can be on the same team
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: when you're, raising kids together, when you're thinking about what
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: you want for your kids in life, like you have
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: to be aligned on that. And I think sometimes people
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: get married for the wrong reason, like they feel like
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: they're being pressured into it or one reason or another,
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: like they get married and it's not for the right reasons.
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: But if you do, it can be such a beautiful
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: thing to have a partner in life, your ride or die,
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: that you know is going to be with you through everything.
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: And it doesn't mean you're not going to go through
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: ups and downs, But if you know, like, at the
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: core that you're all on the same team, then it
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: can be beautiful.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: I always wonder when you become a part of a meme.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: You've seen the Arthur memes? Yeah, yeah. Because I've seen
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: Chrissy kind of, like, run with them a little.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: You know, it's funny because once I grew my facial
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: hair in, the memes kind of started.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: They stopped. Stopped, I mean.
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: And I'm like, maybe I just got to keep my
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: facial hair at all times.
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: Uh-uh.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: Otherwise, I'm back to the Arthur memes. That's funny. Hey,
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: if you had to pick one of your collabs on
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: the hip-hop side you think doesn't get enough credit or
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: enough love, what is one of those?
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: Let me think about that, like deep album cuts that
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: I'm proud of.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: That's a good question. Let me think about it. What
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: doesn't get enough? Wow, I don't know.
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: You know, one I did with Jay-Z, Do You Wanna Ride?
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: On Kingdom Come? Yeah. I feel like... People pant. I'll
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: say about Kingdom Come, one of the best Just Blaze
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: flips ever when he flipped the Rick James beat on there. Yeah.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: And I think Beach Chair is great. Yeah. I think
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: that that album gets a little unwarranted hate. Yeah. And
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: I was really proud of that track. Great track. Yeah.
• 32:43
  Speaker 3: And I wrote it with Kanye.
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: And I wrote like the hook, but I couldn't come
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: up with verses for it. And so that made it
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: perfect for an emcee to write verses for it. And,
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: you know, only the greatest wrote verses for it. So
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: it's a joy to be a part of that. And,
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: you know, I've been a part of some great Jay-Z
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: songs and albums on his album.
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: Encore.
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Encore, on Khaled albums, God Did. And, you know,
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: what an honor to work with him.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: Have you been able to witness the Jay-Z process in
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: the studio? Because we always hear it's just one take home.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: I've never watched him record a verse. Okay, okay.
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: It's always been kind of pieced together. We record the
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: hook and send it to him, and he does his
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: own thing.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: But I've never sat and watched him write a verse
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: or compose a verse. I always wonder, because you're a
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: part of, obviously, Encore, the background vocals, and when he flips...
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: the encore into the numb Linkin Park joint. Yeah. When
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: you first hear that, what are your thoughts? I was like, man,
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: why'd he take me off? Right.
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: You know, it was just a different expression of the song.
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: And I feel like songs are made to be remixed
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: and flipped. And I thought it was a cool idea
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: for him to do a collab with Linkin Park. But yeah,
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: I did miss my voice on it.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: 100%, man. If you could do a collab project with
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: an MC, who would it be? Oh, man.
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: Um.
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: I feel like now maybe me and Clips got to
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: do an album together. After what I did on their
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: album and what they did on mine, why not?
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: Pharrell produce it.
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: Why not?
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: I feel like you and Common? Yeah, that would be dope.
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: Or the Pete Rock production? Yeah, that would be dope.
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: That would be crazy. That would be great. Like I said,
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: I would love to work with Kendrick. I've never worked
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: with him.
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: Me and Rick Ross have basically made an album together already.
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: We just got to put them all together.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: What's your favorite Ricky Rosé song?
• 34:37
  Speaker 3: Oh, I love Rich Forever.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: And what's funny is I don't even think that's on DSPs.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: It isn't? I don't believe so.
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: I feel like it's like, oh yeah, that's my favorite.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: No, because that was a mixtape. Was it? Yeah, Rich
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: Forever was a mixtape on Dat Piff. Yo, I didn't
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: realize that. Honestly, I thought it was on his album.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: It was the intro to the Rich Forever mixtape. Wow.
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: I feel like it's such an important part of his
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: body of work.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: I mean, his Instagram's Rich Forever. Yeah, exactly. I thought
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: it was on the album.
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: That's probably my favorite. Yeah. I love Freemason. That was
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: really good. Freemasons is crazy.
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: Uh, I did a Maybach music four or five, uh,
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: that I really liked with Lil Wayne, uh, and, and Rose. Uh,
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: I mean, we've got so many good ones together. Magnificent
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: is the first one.
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: That's the, yeah.
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: Um, that's what started it all. So yeah, man, so
• 35:30
  Speaker 3: many great collabs with him. And he's been part of
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: a couple of my albums too. He did, uh, who
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: do we think we are? And, uh, on my two albums.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: Are you already plotting the next album, or is this
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: something that you're going to... Because I feel like you
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: don't drop often.
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: Well, yeah, it's usually every two or three years. And
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: I did a children's album. I did my Legend double
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: album last as my last regular solo album. So it'll
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: probably be another two or three years. I'm going to
• 35:58
  Speaker 3: tour this album next year. And me and Pharrell have
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: talked about doing a sequel to Muse.
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: That'd be crazy. Right.
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: I love what we did, so it's hard to capture
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: lightning in the bottle twice, but who knows.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: Was there a song on this project that Chrissy heard
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: that she gravitated towards?
• 36:18
  Speaker 3: Her, she really liked. She really loves Fireflies. She came
• 36:22
  Speaker 3: to the video shoot and was just amazed.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: She loved Fireflies.
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: She really thinks the whole album is so good, and
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: this is one of her favorites of mine. She said,
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: No skips. She, like, really just loves the whole thing.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: When you have as much success as you have, obviously
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: you're one of the few EGOTs in the world. Yeah.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: You got some of the biggest songs ever. Yeah. A
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: lot of ventures, a lot of success just as being, like,
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: John Legend. You're John Legend, bro. You don't got to put, like,
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: you're relevant forever. You got the Snoop Dogg thing going.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying? Yeah.
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: Snoop.
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: How do you wake up every day and stay inspired
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: to just keep on doing shit at a high level?
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: Because you could skate at this point, you know? I
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: don't want to skate, man. I love creating.
• 37:08
  Speaker 3: I love holding myself to a high standard. I love
• 37:10
  Speaker 3: working with other creatives who hold themselves to a high standard.
• 37:15
  Speaker 3: And that can push you and challenge you. And when
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: you set that standard for yourself, but also work with
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: people that have that standard... like Pharrell, like Lynn Nottage,
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: who was a great playwright that I'm working with on
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: my first musical.
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: You know, it's like you can't help but.
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: Make great work when you surround yourself with greatness and
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: you hold yourself to that standard.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: Before we let you go, just a couple of nerdy
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: rap questions. When Ye gives you the idea for Blame Game,
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: do you have, like, what's the pitch on Blame Game?
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: How does that come up? Well, we were working on
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: it together. Was this in Hawaii?
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: I think we were in L.A.
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: Okay, because that's like one of them ones. It might
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: have been Hawaii. Chris Rock is... Yeah.
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: Well, he did a lot of that album in Hawaii.
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: So it may have been Hawaii because I went out
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: there for a few of the sessions. But one way
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: or the other, we were coming up with it on
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: the spot. And that had that sample, the.
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: So that's where it started.
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: And, uh, it was Apex twin. I think it was
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: the name of the group that, uh, he sampled it from. And, uh,
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: we were just coming up with the lines, you know,
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: I'll call you bitch for sure. As a last resort
• 38:31
  Speaker 3: and the first resort. And I was just laughing because
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: he would come up with some of this shit. And
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: I was like, wow, he's funny. And, uh, and, uh,
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: I felt like the lyric is like funny and relatable. And, uh,
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: You know, some of the best songs are about those
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: arguments we have. Some of the best songs on this
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: new album are that, too.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: Did you get a preview of the Chris Rock portion?
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: I did not until the album came out. I didn't
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: hear what Chris Rock put on there until the album
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: came out.
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: That's hilarious. And then I wonder, around the B-era of
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: the Common album, were you ever able to get in
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: with J Dilla? No.
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: I never worked with Dilla. I think I met him,
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: but I never worked with him ever.
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: I know he was a part of that album and
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: I know he wasn't doing well.
• 39:17
  Speaker 3: I never got to work with him, but obviously I'm
• 39:21
  Speaker 3: close with a lot of people who are close with him. Common, Questlove,
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: you know, so many people. Q-Tip, all these guys were
• 39:30
  Speaker 3: close with him. But I never spent a lot of
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: time with him, though I.
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: Did meet him. When there's the Rosewood era of good music,
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: do you guys get a directive, we have to dress
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: all the same? Oh, yeah. That was the memo.
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: Oh.
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: When we did events together, we were all in the
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: black suit and the black tie. We all had the
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: exact same black tie. It wasn't just any black tie.
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: It was a brief time, but that's what we were
• 39:57
  Speaker 3: on at the time. And we were making great music then.
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: We were doing the Good Fridays then.
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: Good Fridays. Man, I just saw the Christian Dior denim
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: flow someone had posted in.
• 40:07
  Speaker 3: So that was all around that same time.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: It was so good. Yeah.
• 40:10
  Speaker 3: I still listen to some of those records. It's like
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: those records hold up, man.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, some of the best, like, I remember J.
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: Cole was on a joint. Kanye was just in his bag.
• 40:20
  Speaker 3: Just think about that era, because Watch the Throne wasn't
• 40:23
  Speaker 3: too long after that. Just in his bag, man. The
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: creativity was just flowing.
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: We got to get the Good Friday songs on DSPs,
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: along with Rich Forever. Yeah, yeah.
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: Let's do it.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: Please.
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: You know what to do, Tidal, Spotify, Apple.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: There it is, man. And then if I had to
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: ask you, what is your personal favorite album you've been
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: featured on or worked on?
• 40:45
  Speaker 3: Well, Lauryn Hill, Miseducation, definitely. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: is right up there. Black Album is right up there.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a pretty good list right there. Do you
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: consider My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Ye's best album?
• 41:02
  Speaker 3: I think it probably is, yeah.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: I would say it's his best, but it's not my favorite.
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: What's your favorite? Late Registration. Okay, yeah. That's great, too.
• 41:11
  Speaker 3: I mean, he was making great, great, great albums.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: Like, great bodies of work.
• 41:16
  Speaker 3: Like, just look at that streak.
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: It's crazy.
• 41:20
  Speaker 3: How many rappers have done anything like that? I think
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: Kendrick is similar.
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: Kendrick's knocking on that door right now.
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: In terms of just whole discography, six albums straight. Yeah. Crazy.
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: And then the whole body of work.
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: As an album. And then changing music every album. Yeah, exactly. Like.
• 41:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think Kanye and Kendrick have been the most
• 41:38
  Speaker 3: consistently excellent.
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: OutKast had the first four.
• 41:42
  Speaker 3: That's a good entry as well.
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And Vision.
• 41:50
  Speaker 3: I think it's great when artists have Vision because some
• 41:54
  Speaker 3: artists are really good MCs, but they may not be
• 41:56
  Speaker 3: great at the whole Vision of the production, the arrangements,
• 42:03
  Speaker 3: the videos, just everything. And I feel like only few artists,
• 42:07
  Speaker 3: and I think the three we named are perfect examples
• 42:10
  Speaker 3: of that.
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: 100%. So I hope you and Kendrick got to work together.
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: I would love to. Listen, the album is out now.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: Thank you for always being a light man. Yeah, man.
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: I feel like every time I see you, it's hard
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: not to smile.
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: I'm just being myself and just living my life. Most
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: of my life is making music or hanging out with
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: my family, so. Like, that's what I try to focus on,
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: what's important.
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: I wonder, do you have any, are you optimistic or
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: hopeful for the future? Because obviously I know you've never
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: steered away from politics. We're in a very dark place
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: in our country right now.
• 42:42
  Speaker 3: I think the midterms are going to go well for people.
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: If they happen the way that they're supposed to. Yeah.
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: You know, my friends are pessimistic too, but I tell them,
• 42:51
  Speaker 3: I get why you're pessimistic because we have somebody in
• 42:54
  Speaker 3: office that like really explicitly wants to steal elections. He's
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: like tried to steal them before. But it's hard to
• 42:59
  Speaker 3: steal an election in America, especially locally, because we're not
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: talking about one election.
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: We're talking about literally.
• 43:08
  Speaker 3: 435 House seats in 435 districts. We're talking about 33
• 43:12
  Speaker 3: Senate seats.
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: All the gubernatorial stuff.
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the gubernatorial. He just doesn't control all of that.
• 43:19
  Speaker 3: A lot of our system is very spread out and diffused.
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: And so he just can't cheat as easily because of that.
• 43:26
  Speaker 3: So I think that's our comfort. And go out there
• 43:29
  Speaker 3: and vote like, you know, you're trying to, you know,
• 43:31
  Speaker 3: like your life depended on it.
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: Are you excited for the new energy coming out of
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: the Democratic Party? There's so much young face. Like, obviously,
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: Zoran Mandani is doing a great job. I love him.
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: Asaid is killing it. Yes.
• 43:42
  Speaker 3: I love both of them. I think they are great energy.
• 43:44
  Speaker 3: I think it's generational, too. Like, you feel the difference
• 43:48
  Speaker 3: in the generation. Like, it's time for, I think, that
• 43:50
  Speaker 3: old guard to step aside.
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 43:53
  Speaker 3: And let some of these millennials and young Gen Xers, like,
• 43:57
  Speaker 3: take over. because they know how to talk to the people.
• 44:03
  Speaker 3: They've been through certain things, like they've seen the Iraq war.
• 44:06
  Speaker 3: They've seen the financial crisis. They've seen COVID. And I
• 44:11
  Speaker 3: feel like they get what a lot of Americans are
• 44:14
  Speaker 3: going through, and they know how to talk to the
• 44:16
  Speaker 3: people about it. Like you see Asaf. You see Mamdani.
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: Tallarico is great, too. You see El Sayed. You see Tallarico.
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: All of them, you feel like they understand how to
• 44:25
  Speaker 3: talk to people about what's going on in their lives.
• 44:28
  Speaker 3: And a lot of the old guard doesn't.
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: I think Ossoff is a serious, I think he could
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: be president.
• 44:33
  Speaker 3: I've been saying the same thing. Every time I watch
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: a video of his, I'm like, that might be our
• 44:37
  Speaker 3: next president. Because, like I said before, he knows how
• 44:40
  Speaker 3: to speak to the people. And he makes it plain,
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: but he's eloquent at the same time. And what he's
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: doing really well, I think, is explaining the connection between
• 44:51
  Speaker 3: corruption and people's everyday lives. Because he's not just saying
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: these guys are corrupt, but they're stealing from you. And
• 44:59
  Speaker 3: this is how it affects you in your life. Your
• 45:01
  Speaker 3: gas prices are going up and these guys are getting rich.
• 45:04
  Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying? And he does a great
• 45:05
  Speaker 3: job of explaining it so well. And he's charismatic. He's handsome.
• 45:10
  Speaker 3: He's got the whole package.
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we got a few guys. So I'm like,
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: if Tallarigo can win Texas, by the way, that.
• 45:15
  Speaker 3: Would be crazy. He can win anywhere. Yeah, absolutely. So
• 45:20
  Speaker 3: I think it's a really interesting time. And I'm optimistic
• 45:23
  Speaker 3: that the midterms are going to go well. And then
• 45:27
  Speaker 3: we'll take that momentum and hopefully get a real change
• 45:30
  Speaker 3: in direction in the White House in 2028.
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: For sure, man. Well, listen, the new album is out.
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: It's incredible. Muse, go get it. Go support it. It
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: is a vibe straight through. Thank you, brother. Front to back, man.
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: Appreciate you. John Legend, appreciate you for pulling up, man. Yes, sir.
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: What up, y'all? We're here at Eaze. You already know
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: if you're in L.A., Southern Cal, man, tap in. Go
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: to the website right now. Use that promo code BOOTLEGGER
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: to get 30% off Flower Concentrate's Whatever you're into, they
• 45:56
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• 46:01
  Speaker 1: get delivered right to your door. Or if you're in L.A.,
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: pull up because we're here right now. Come on, man.
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: Shout out to Ease.