Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Marsha Ambrosius On Linking With Dr. Dre, Blending Genres, Self Care, New Album + More

Transcript

INTERVIEW: Marsha Ambrosius On Linking With Dr. Dre, Blending Genres, Self Care, New Album + More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: The Breakfast Club Morning, Everybody's DJ, Envy, Jesse, Larry Charlamagne,
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: the guy.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: We are the Breakfast Club. We got a special guest
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: in the building. Yes, indeed we have Marsha ambrosis. Welcome back.
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: What's happening, hi, guys, mar seven eight years eight nine years,
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: spend a long time crazy.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: How are you feeling?
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: I'm great?
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: How are you doing well?
• 0:24
  Speaker 4: That's black and Holly favorite.
• 0:25
  Speaker 5: I mean, you got so many classics to me late nights,
• 0:28
  Speaker 5: early morning, friends and lovers.
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: Nyla, you've done it again with Casablanco.
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: Thank you you heard it?
• 0:34
  Speaker 4: Yes, absolutely, they gave it to you.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: I feel it's such a vulnerable feeling when people would
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: like have it now it's like not real, this is
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: all the dream.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Well, congrats, thank you.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: So I heard it was your mom that actually uh
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: got you the link back up with doctor Dreams.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: No, what she did, in true scouse of fashion, the
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: liver Puddlian that she is, she hit me up and said,
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: using words we have no idea means you were born
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: and raised in Liverpool A Liverpudlian. Right, So I'm born Liverpool,
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: born and raised. So my mom calls me. Me. Mom
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: calls me and says, oh, Marsha, have you spoke to hermam,
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: doctor Dre lately. No if I don't even think she
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: referred to him as doctor Dre. She just said Dre
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: like I was supposed to know who that was. And
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: I'm like, no, Mam, I haven't spoke to Dre lately.
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: And I was like, all right, I'll call him up.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: So this is around about the end of twenty twenty December,
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: so I give him a call, say what's up. We reconnect.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: It's like, I'm working on a couple of things. I'll
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: send you a couple of ideas. So we started shooting
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: ideas back and forth what would then be the GTA
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: video game. But I didn't know that that's what was
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: being worked on. You know. Dre's just like, let's just work.
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: You never know what's going to happen. So we're going
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: back and forth, and a couple of weeks go by,
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: and the top of twenty twenty one, he had a
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: brain aneurysm and I was on the treadmill when I
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: found that out, like looked at my phone and you know,
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: it popped up whatever news outlet and it was like
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: what I just talked to him like less than twenty
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: four hours ago and made all the calls, found out
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: everything was okay and stable. Twenty four hours after that,
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: he called me said, look, Marsh I'm cool. I'm in recovery,
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: but I want to get back to work. So I
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: want to get you out to LA and let's just
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: figure some things out.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: So he in a hospital bed, called and you like, look,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: we got to get back to work.
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: All I know was like plugged up, plug up. On
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: the way back, I said, okay, doctor Dre, whatever you say.
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: And within a couple of weeks, I was in LA
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: most of that year twenty twenty one, and the creation
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: of Casablanco happened a couple of months after that, so
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: it was really all the GTA stuff. And then I
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: told Dre that I was overdoing this artist thing. Nyla's
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: mothers now and I just want to chill, like I
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: just want to produce and write. I've never been a
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: uh pick me. I want to be in front of
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: the cap No. I was done, and he said, yeah, nah.
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: Are you was done with music?
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: Really?
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah? Being an artist like I was always going to create,
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: but the whole being the artist thing. I was like,
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: I've done everything that I could possibly do on a
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: this bucket list that I tried to create for myself,
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: I've surpassed.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: My bucket list was on the bucket list.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: I'm just curious get signed, win a Grammy, lose some Grammys.
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: I don't know, like work with my favorite artists, like
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: regular stuff, but my actual things. I didn't write or
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: work with Michael Jackson, work with Prince, work with Stevie,
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: work with Doctor Dray. I didn't write those things out loud,
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: but I wanted those things, and it achieved that. By now,
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: this is twenty four years in for me, so I'm like, ah,
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: what's next. I'm on my Quincy Jones mission.
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I know, you write for other people and produce
• 3:59
  Speaker 5: for other people with It's something about your sound and
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: your music that I don't think nobody else can deliver.
• 4:04
  Speaker 5: Your voice, your energy. It's something about a Marsha ambrocious
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: album that's just different than everything else that's out there.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: This is true. I'd done those I felt like I'd
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: said all the things that I wanted to say up
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: until that point. I say all that to say. I
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: told dra this over like, we had a party for
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: the kids at his crib chilling, and I'm like, look, Dread,
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: I want to do this no more. I'm really into producing,
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: I'm writing. I love this team. I want to stay creative.
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: But as far as me doing it, and he was like, yeah, nah,
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: I just want to keep you creative. I just want
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: to keep you inspired. And we did one song in particular.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: I can safely say the titles now.
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: So we started with a song that used to be
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: called Curfew because there's a line where I say, let's
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: fall in love before the street lights come on, and
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: I was like, mm before curfew. Andre was like, no
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: one likes curfew, No one likes the curfew. So it
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: was we used a sample from A Night in Tunisia. Oh,
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: and I called it to Nizzi and night.
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: Oh, that's that class. It's a classic jazz record, right.
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: So it's a classic jazz record. It starts the way
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: we sampled it. We used this elaborate piano intro that
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: Bluetooth came up with, and I just started singing this
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: intro and then that A Night in too Nisia hits,
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: and then it goes to an entire nas situation and
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: then the merry thing gets into it and it's just
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: all of these things and it was that magic happening
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: in the studio at that moment that we knew, you know,
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: you know, you know. It was one of those moments
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: like sometimes in the studio you're creating and it's like, oh,
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: this is fire, it's cool, We'll go home. Listen to
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: the beat. Everyone in that room felt something shift, felt
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: something new happen. And to have done everything that I've
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: all he done musically, everything that Dre has done, we'd
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: never done this. So we were onto something and it
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: felt like we had to see it through. So Casa
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: Blanco became a destination. Casa Blanco became the mood, the vibe,
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: the standard, and we just took it from there.
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: I like the pedestal you put hip hop on on
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: this album because just because just musically, it just shows
• 6:23
  Speaker 5: how much of a classic musical art form hip hop is.
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: The fact you can go from a that Tannisian records
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: like from the forties, right, yeah, the fact you can
• 6:32
  Speaker 5: go from Nat to Noah.
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: The nineties, right, and it blends perfectly, seamlessly. It doesn't
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: a lot of things that we did on this album
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: shouldn't make sense. Like I truly believe we will be
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: in the Guinness Book of World Records for how many
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: things we sampled and the way that we sampled them.
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: So no, we tang. Duke Kellington and Michael Jackson aren't
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: supposed to fuse, but on Thrill Her they did, you know,
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: So it's yeah, it was a wild ride, but one
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: of the most amazing experiences I've ever had, not only
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: recording it, just the entire process even getting to this point,
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: even it's taken so long to get a release date
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: for it to be available, like the entire thing has
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: just been No one's done this before.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Now, how you talk about you talk about inspiration right
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: in Charlot may say how you inspire so many people,
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: But you must have inspired Doctor Dre as well, because
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: we haven't heard music from Doctor dra we haven't seen
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: him executive produce things. We've only heard rumors, and like
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: it's almost like a.
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: Team that never comes out. You hear Doctor drest such
• 7:37
  Speaker 5: and such album.
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: But you never hear this.
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: He recently said this in a bit in a in
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: an interview he recently did and said, and I absolutely
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: believe this. He may have only released five percent of
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: the music that he's ever recorded. Wow, and now working
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: with him as extensively as I did during the pandemic.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: It's absolutely true. And he doesn't do it purposefully. It's
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: because he loves the creative process, and it's like, no,
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: this is just for us, this is ours.
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: What did you do? How did you? How are you
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: one of a few people?
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Do you ever think it happen?
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: I'm the only only There's not one person before or after.
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: I don't even think this happens again that has an
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: entire project solely produced and mixed by Doctor Dre. How
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: did I do it? Not clear? But I know that
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: I did it. I know that this is something that
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: he'd never done, and I feel like that that was
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: the driving force for it to be something new. He
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: could have just did a hip hop breakord. It could
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: have just been a soul armed. It's none of those things.
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: It's something so specific, so different, but so familiar, and
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: I feel like we were both going through a similar situation.
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: It was here, health scare, id to healthscare, the pandemic
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: is happening. It felt like the end of the earth
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: during that time, so it felt desperate in a way.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: It felt if we don't do this and this world
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: ends tomorrow, what's the mark that we actually leave on
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: planet Earth? And musically, like you said, I've done things
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: that you know, a Marsha Ambrosius album is this specific thing.
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: If I had to leave it all on the floor
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: and put up my triple double and win a chip,
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: that's this album. If it was all said and done,
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: like okay, apocalyptic world that we're now in because of
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: the pandemic and many other things, it was that it
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: was out of desperation and feeling like I could have
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: lost my life, Drake could have lost his. We didn't.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: We survived these things. We're now post COVID. How do
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: we navigate through this? And what does that sound like?
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: And that's why and how this happens. So yeah, drab
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: and inspired by me, I'm inspired by him and it
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: just took off.
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: That's what the title means.
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: So Casablanco I initially within a week of recording what
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: we knew this was going to be. After Tunisian Nights,
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: he threw out some album titles, a couple of which
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: were things like I sing or I sing more of
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: them one of those and I was like, Drake, we
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: need an actual title, like what is this? It was like,
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: I mean you sing, motherfucker, that's it. So I'm like, no, Drake,
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: it seeds to be a title, like what is this thing?
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: So I was in a spoiled circumstance where I'm driving
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: through the Beverly Hills, like just Hollywood Hills every day
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: to the destination to record, and it felt very vintage Hollywood,
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: like the lights, the lambs. It was glitz, glamour, red carpets,
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: the whole nine. And I felt under the rest of
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: the studio every time I got there based on what
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: we were creating. And so it was strings. It was
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: a symphony, but it painted these pictures and I was like, no,
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: it feels like a place. It feels like Casa Blanca.
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: And it was like, okay, Casa Blanca. It's a but nah,
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: it's that Dray shit. So it's a little bit more
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: gangster than that, like Casa Blanco, Giselda Blanco. So the
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: fusion of that very vintage jazz Hollywood feel meets hip
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: hop is how Casa Blanco became what it was.
• 11:39
  Speaker 5: What it is, and all you make it feels like
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: it's soundtracks to make love to of course, like nothing more,
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: nothing less?
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: Why is that?
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: I have no clue, It's just in me. It's ridiculous,
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: Like I've had this. Well, a friend of mine recently
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: was like, how do you even come up with another
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: one this? Why not even in a place of desperation,
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: and even in a place of the world was over,
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: I still find a song to make love to. And
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: it's a gift.
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: It's a gift one night stand music.
• 12:18
  Speaker 5: Too good to have a one night stand too, Like,
• 12:20
  Speaker 5: that's not the type of music you have a one
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: night stand to.
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: Well, that was the point. My one night stand is
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: now ten years long, okay, and I'm saying so I
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: definitely lent from other experiences and wild drunk nights over
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: the course of you know, Grammy open Bar. You know,
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: it gets very ridiculous. So yeah, those those one nights,
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: they're a part of that song too. But ultimately it's
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: that one night that could be your forever.
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: A bunch of people that'll be like, you shouldn't have
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: one night stand?
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: Why not?
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: Exactly?
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: I don't know where it's gonna go. Like if you don't,
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: everything is a one night stand if you think about it.
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: We've all done it. It's whether or not it lasted
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: or it didn't. But you shouldn't be Oh, I'd never
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: do that if I didn't do it ten years later
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: in a seven year old, maybe that doesn't happen if
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: I don't just you know what I mean, like if
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: I don't say.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: Hey, I gotta I want to ask. So I want
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: to go back to what you said. You said the
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: health scare in your child. How did that change your life?
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: With the healthcare in your child? Because I guess if
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: the baby's was six seven years old, happened right before COVID,
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: so you pretty much raised the baby during COVID.
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: It's just COVID babies are different. It's ridiculous, Like, but
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: for me, how it all changed, It changed all of us,
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: you know. So it was being a bit more sensitive,
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: being a bit more open, and I feel like all
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: of our issues, all of our mental health, it was
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: everything was on the table because we could all see
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: each other now we had way too much time to
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: spend with ourselves. So you were like, oh, you're I
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: see you and we're going through exactly the same thing.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: So there was much more well for me anyway, much
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: more dialogue. Even though suicide skyrocketed, like all of these things,
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: all of these numbers, all of these things are happening,
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: and I have my baby, I have my husband, I
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: have my own bubble that allowed me to feel safe
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: amidst the chaos like it was. It still is chaotic,
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: but that was my peace and me being able to
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: be grounded, so that that definitely helped. But at the
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: same time, being in a dark place, I don't think
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: there's anything that could bring you out of that, and
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: that was terrifying during the pandemic, and I'm pretty sure
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: for anybody where you're like, not even your kid could
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: bring you. No my mother, my father, my brother, like
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: close friends.
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: You can write your year.
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: This is what Casablanco ended up being. Casablanco when the
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: timing of it all was I could see the light
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: at the end of the tunnel. Now I was over
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: the other side of that dark place. And even with
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: this tentative, oh there's going to be a release date
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: or we had think about the samples on this album,
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: we literally took over a year to clear the samples,
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: and I didn't mind that because I felt like I
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: still needed time to heal. So waiting for this release
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: date was almost like when I say a death date,
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: it was Okay, that's the end of that era. So
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: whenever it was happening, it was like, Okay, now it's
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: June twenty eighth. I was like, that's the end of
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: all this madness that I had to get through to
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: get to it. So it was like, if I can
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: survive that long, I made it. So what, We've got
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: a couple of couple of days to go until we
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: get there. I didn't think I'd see this moment at
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: one point. So to get here and to be happy
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: and to be in a space that I'm in, it's
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: just wow.
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: Wow. Is that where the song I guess self care
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: on right might come.
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: But even that is a song to make love to.
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean a form of self care.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: Right, it's self care. It's being in tune to oneself.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: Put the do the math one plus one is there?
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: Do you?
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: So?
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, self care And no matter who's wrong or who
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: was right, it was just don't leave me and don't
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: leave that feeling. And once the music started, it was
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: all of those emotions and even in that, like you said,
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: it all came back down to in true Marsha Ambrosiest
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: fashion right in that love song still, so I'm just
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: glad to be able to do that.
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: What's the wrong right part of it?
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: Though?
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: Like what let mean, who's wrong? Self care? Wrong right with?
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: So initially those were two separate songs, and the self
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: care was I needed to do me figure chip for
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: you literally, so by the time we got too wrong right,
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: it's me inviting that person then into my space and
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: it's given me good like you so hood like please
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: don't go. It's that you're so wrong right now for
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: even trying to let me let my guard down. Because
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: I was so cool with just letting me do me
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: and then here comes this m this ugh, this fine
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: dark chocolate swept me off my feet and let me
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: put my guard down. And I'm a Leo and that's
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: hard for me to do. So when it happens, it's
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: both terrifying. But the the fear and the lioness comes
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: out in aggression and anger and a lot of sexual
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: appetite that is or you know anyone that knows that knows,
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: and yeah, that was You're so wrong right now.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: What did y'all meet? Where did you meet your husband?
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: On tour?
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: On tour? How did that go?
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: Down, because when you're talking about him, you just you
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: started mouse started salamating, and you just start getting together.
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: Turn it.
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: You say, I'm thinking about the song long right, I'm like.
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: Hey, and be thinking about your man? Turned on.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: I'm just saying I'm listening. She was just so excited.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: I'm just asking that's where the music Love is Love
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: got me thinking about my wife?
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: All right, I'm sorry, I get it.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: It's fine. No. We met on on tour ten years
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: ago and I saw him. It's ten years later. I said,
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: you know, when you know you know, and you keep
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: like all the movies that you see that's corny shit,
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: like never happy, Yes, it did. It was. I seen
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: him and he had a red fit on and I
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: was like, who is that? And I approached him like yo,
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: what's up? And we got to talking and we haven't
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: stopped talking since.
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: You need to write a book called One Night's Thing,
• 19:29
  Speaker 5: because there's so many people who think you got to
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: make the man wait thirty days or sixty days or
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: ninety days.
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: There's so many formulas to it. But if you don't
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: just follow your intuition, because it all depends on what
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: type of person you are, Like, there are people that
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: are I've never been. I'm not approaching unless I know
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: it's for sure. I don't know. There's many formulas to it.
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: So even if I did write a book, I'm going
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: with what worked for me. I'm not giving you the
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: manual to how this works out, like ooh, you too
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: can find your ten years later or you know what
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: I mean, Like, I'm not giving it as game like that.
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: I'm saying, if you saw what it was that you
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: wanted and you didn't make your move, that's on you,
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: because then you will sit there and ponder and be like, well,
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: what if I just said something? But if I just approached.
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: But by the time that I did, and it was
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: what it was, and I knew that it was more
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: than just that one night in Philadelphia, that one night
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: in Chicago, that one night in Virginia, that one night
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: in LA Now it's many nights. Now it's all you
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: want to move in? Sure, moved in together. And then
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: it's oh, you want to go back to the UK
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: for Christmas with me? Meet my whole family. Sure? And
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: then by April we were pregnant. Wow, was that serious?
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: Sounds ridiculous When I say no, When I say ridiculous.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: It's like that's the timeline though, you know, and we
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: were both very sure.
• 21:03
  Speaker 5: I can't remember what song it is. Maybe it was
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: Greedy was the one song? Maybe I'm tripping it sound
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: you was talking about having a threesome.
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: Oh, thrill her. That was a dream not really came true,
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: but a fantasy. So thrill her. It was a drunken
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: high night. I want to say I took that story
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: from what was it? Atlanta? No, this one might have
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: been at LA. It was definitely a Grammy week and
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: I painted the picture. He came in drunk as hell,
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: give some head. Then a knock at the door and
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: it's another chick. I'm like, who the is this? And
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: I'm like, oh, it's about to go down. Oh it
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: might have been a Philly story too. There's like a
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: lot of stories involved. So yeah, when people hear this album,
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: they can claim them yeah that was me, and then uh,
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: it's just great. I love that figure. Yeah it's yeah,
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: it was a wild night, but.
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: It was a dream. Who knows, Okay, I don't know.
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: It sounded real to me either.
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: Sounded real to me.
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: Too, And the album is very like nineteen ninety now,
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: like how do you have such a nostalgic feeling feeling
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: but keep it fresh, because.
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: That's what I mean. Any hip hop Conoissan or R
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: and B head nineties is just it's unmatched. It was
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: a time if you weren't outside, just say that. And
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: I feel like with this album to have grasped what
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: the nass of the world were doing then, the Mary's
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: of the world were doing then, but making it now
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: it's because that was timeless and that's I think we're
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: all the same age, like our generation of timeless like,
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: whereas our parents it's Temptations, it's you know, Earthwind Vice. Okay,
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: even later than that, but it was timeless music. So
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: it survives now and sounds fresh now because it was
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: that good then. So I couldn't integrate, I want to say,
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: couldn't didn't really want to integrate what we feel like
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: hip hop is now or R and B is now.
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: I can only lem from what I really know and
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: me creating in my creative process has always come from
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: the Jodasy era. It stops and starts there. It's Jodasy,
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: that's my R and B like. Ultimately, so my hip
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: hop is nas it's Jay so it's all of those
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: things in one album that make it fresh because it
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: was good then, so it's gonna be good now. Like singing,
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: what's a classic to you give any class? Right, so
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: you sing that now it's then, but it's absolutely now
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: because it was that good then. And I feel like
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: I've always, when I say, attempted to write timeless music
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: for me to sing say yes or Butterflies. Now I can,
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: but that is twenty four years ago for me in
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: my real time betimes four years later, absolutely timeless. So
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: to create a Casa blanco and know that twenty four
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: years later that can still live, that's the goal. It's like,
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: what is your tomorrow? And musically I've been doing things
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: that could live for tomorrow whenever that future is.
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: I just love the fact that a nas illmatic can
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: inspire something like this, because.
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: When I hit it out, I hear a lot of
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: I hear a lot of illmatic.
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and that was unintentional, I guess. With that first
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: Tunisian Nights, it's trying to outdo how we implemented unintentionally
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: nas in there. And it was all of these things
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: because hip hop back then was still lending from classic
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: jazz records, so it only made sense that we not
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: only borrowed from what the nineties did with those samples,
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: but reinventing and elevating them in the only way that
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: a doctor Dre can And did you know?
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: So I was gonna ask, you know, you talk about
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: doctor Dre only releasing five percent of the music that
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: he actually made. How much music did y'all make? And
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: had what was the process of trickling it down from
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: the amount of songs you made to this eleven?
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: You know what's crazy? We made about twelve or thirteen
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: songs really and knew when it was time to start.
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: We knew it when it was completed. And the only
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: reason why the other two didn't make it is because
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: one of them it made the album play a little
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: longer than we felt comfortable with, and it matched another
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: song on there like evenly, like if you had to
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: get rid of one of the other definitely that one though,
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: and one of them we couldn't clear, like get nah
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: one of them. So I was like, okay, we can't
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: clear that one. We have an album and Dre in
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: the creative process has like a whiteboard on the wall.
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: We'll write the titles for each song. We just looked
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: at it and was like, that's it. That's it, We're done.
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: So between April, end of April twenty twenty one and
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: end of May we were completely done with recorded vocally.
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: I recorded everything, written, everything, and we took a couple
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: of weeks off and reconvened and dre said twenty seven
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: piece orchestra. So we were at Gower Studios. Eric Gorefain
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: did the string arrangements and we were in with the
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: orchestra listening to them go crazy on this album that
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: we created, which was already doing what it was going
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: to do. This symphony just took it to another place,
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: like just didn't even make any sense. So by the
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: time that's happened, it's just timeless in that way.
• 27:09
  Speaker 5: How does you know, really thinking about your mortality and
• 27:12
  Speaker 5: like you know, maybe I guess being face to face
• 27:15
  Speaker 5: with definite way, how did that change just everything about
• 27:19
  Speaker 5: you as an artist, as a person.
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: I don't know if you can see it. I'm so
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: happy and chill, like nothing can really like phase me.
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: And if it's anything that does kind of interfere with
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: my peace, it's whereas I would get upset or combative
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: or defensive about things in the past, it's okay, that's
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: how you feel cool, Like there's so many more important
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: things than being mad about anything or holding onto things unnecessarily,
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: like that brush with what you think death looks like,
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: and that flash across your eyes, like like that was it.
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: The things you think were important never were, And by
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: the time you get your life back, it still feels
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: like that, like it's not important important, Like prioritizing the
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: importance of things in your life changes, like it's not important.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: But you know, with you taking so much time off,
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: it's part of the reason, Like I just don't want
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: to deal with the noise, with.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: The people talking, with the social media, with the conversations.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: It's just you have a clear mind when you don't
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: deal with things and people.
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: Not necessarily that. I love people, I love the internet.
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: It's a very entertaining space. So it was never that
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: it was the obligatory having to do it, the whole
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: artist thing. It's the interviews, right, it's the now I
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: have an itinerary. Yeah, let's just live with chill and
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: maybe do stuff for fun and live how the other
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: side lives or whatever. You think. That looks like it
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: was always that, but as far as noise, I think
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: I've I forced myself to engage to get perspective on
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: where people are actually at in their lives, to understand
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: me more, if that makes any sense, because I couldn't.
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: I think during the pandemic we all internalized a little
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: bit more and understood ourselves a bit more. But I
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: think not enough people were sharing that for the fear
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: of being looked at crazy, because you have more time
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: to think about who you were, why you were and
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: if all I had to end tomorrow, what did you do?
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: You were here, so all of these things are happening,
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: and I was okay with noise, I feel like I
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: was more terrified of the silence.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: Would you say okay with the noise, meaning you didn't
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: mind people discussing and talking and oh not like, but
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: you feel like you're still there?
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Like if I if I wasn't there, I don't know.
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: I want to say, it doesn't matter. I think I
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: was engaging in conversations and catching up with at such
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: and such on Twitter or at blah blah blah, because
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: it was oh, we're still here, We're still able to
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: communicate you, okay, it was negative or positive. I was
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: like you've made time.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: You're talking about it regardless.
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so it was like you've made time.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: It's the fear of not talking about you.
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: But yeah, I didn't mind that. It was life. I
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: was comfortable with again and all of it, in all
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: of its noise. So I think for anyone during the pandemic,
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: that silence, it was like the zombie apocalypse, like, is
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: anyone here? Am I crazy by myself? We're all gonna die?
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: What's happened?
• 31:13
  Speaker 4: Like?
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: It was the silence, especially.
• 31:16
  Speaker 5: If you've never if you've never done any internal work,
• 31:19
  Speaker 5: you never did no therapy, if you never did no meditation,
• 31:21
  Speaker 5: if you never have it on no healing journey, and
• 31:23
  Speaker 5: that was your first time having to deal with yourself.
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: That's noisier than anything. You and your thoughts by yourself,
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: screaming at times, and then it was quiet, but then
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: it was peaceful, and then it was okay, let me breathe,
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: and everyone okay, everyone good? You know? And it felt
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: like that.
• 31:48
  Speaker 4: Why did you learn new about yourself during that time?
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: I have way more patience than I thought. I'm terrible,
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: like terrible Uber eats. Where you at with my food delivery?
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: You said you made a left turn. What do you
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: mean you're still waiting? What do you mean you're yeah,
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: I'm terrible. I don't like waiting. I got no patience
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: and I hate waiting. Get yeah, patience didn't have any
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: Now I have all of it because it's oh, it's
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: not happening right now? Cool? Before What do you mean
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: why went I don't even care when they don't care.
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: It's I can't do anything about time, and it's I
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: thought I had time at one point, and when I
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: realized I had none. Oh, Now I'm patient with everything
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: because now I feel like I've held onto more time
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: than I could have had, So that's different.
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: I was watching the R and B Money podcast shot
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: the Tank and he made a comment, I guess you
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: was joking. I don't know if you were joking or
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: not talking about you dot Stevie want that really can
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: see now, And people took it as they were mad
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: at you for a little bit mad at me.
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: How I don't know, because if you're a Stevie Wonder fan,
• 33:14
  Speaker 3: what I said was, he can see if you listen
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: to the music, to be one of the most prolific,
• 33:25
  Speaker 3: descriptive songwriters of our time, how can he not and
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: maybe not in the way that you believe that that is.
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: But his pen game makes you visualize us with actual sight,
• 33:42
  Speaker 3: visualize everything. He was saying, that's a gift. That's what
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: I said. Yes, he can see because there's no way.
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: He says, I never dreamed you'd leave in summer, and
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: I literally see the summer day he's referring to. That's
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: not fair. Mary wants to be a superwoman, and I
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: know who Mary looks like. I've already made that character.
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: The song plays and nice see it. Stevie more than
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: any song WHERI are. I believe on planet Earth has
• 34:16
  Speaker 3: made me see a song the way Stevie does. That's
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: what I said. I said, what I like, I said,
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: That's why I said.
• 34:22
  Speaker 4: I get what you're saying. He might be blind, but
• 34:24
  Speaker 4: he got a vision. It's a difference, speaking of vision.
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: To use that song on Casta Blanco, I remember Dre
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: actually he might Drey was nervous about using the Stevie
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: record or like asking him, like, yo, listen Stevie and
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: see what he thinks. I'm like, okay, crazy, but yeah,
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: we got to use visions on Casta Blanco and with
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: Stevie's blessing and bucket list, like wow, this fake bucket lifts.
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: I keep making up, like I'll check that one off.
• 35:00
  Speaker 4: You know, did he want to hear it?
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: Or oh yeah, yeah he hear it? So I mean
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: we had to go through that process.
• 35:05
  Speaker 4: But did he love it? Did he give any creative input?
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: We had creative input because I did curse in that
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: song at some point in the bridge. But I when
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: I curse in music, it's for emphasism. So I think
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: with this one, I've taken it too far.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: Steve was like now, now, now, and he might.
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: Have cursed during and not like he might have cursed
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: trying to tell us not to curse. But it was necessary.
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: I took it out. It makes sense. I didn't have to.
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: I wanted to in that emotional moment though, and did
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: and maybe live Steve you with it still sing that
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: same line that I did. But yeah, it was a
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: it was a wonderful experience.
• 35:54
  Speaker 4: Did Stevie FaceTime zoom?
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: I want to say it was a phone call that
• 35:59
  Speaker 3: I had and dre It spoke to him also.
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: So yeah, how involved is d.
• 36:06
  Speaker 3: We're just gonna let that one do this cool?
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: You call it as long as you caught him.
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, you caught it smooth, love it, FaceTime, I love it.
• 36:20
  Speaker 5: How involved is Dre as far as creative direction and
• 36:23
  Speaker 5: like just taking your input?
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: Oh for this, this was a complete hand in hand
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: fifty to fifty battle of the creative minds, and his
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: respect for me, my respect for him allowed us to
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: really do this. And he's a genius. I'm me and
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: he's he said that I was a genius. You are
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: to me, which is it's crazy to hear it from
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: who I'm looking at, a genius and he's looking like
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: it's like the Spider Man me. We're all doing this
• 37:07
  Speaker 3: in the studio and he's like, yeah, I'm Dre and
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: I do this thing, but I ain't tell Michael Jackson
• 37:14
  Speaker 3: what to do. So, ah, you're absolutely right. I did
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: that one. So there was just a respect level there
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: and he let me push boundaries in a way that
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: I'd never done one. It's Dray's budget and he's literally saying,
• 37:32
  Speaker 3: no limits. You can do whatever you want. If you
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: had to make the perfect song and implement all of
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: these things, what is that, just do it. I didn't
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: think that me having Wu Tang, Duke Kellington and Michael
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: Jackson on one song was possible until we did it.
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: I didn't know Patrece Russian and the Mary j and
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: Mary Jane girls one song could happen, but it did.
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: All of these things were happening because Dre said no
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: limits and it's unreal, for real, for real, If I'm honest,
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: I've never done anything like this, like I've made music before,
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: but with the creative freedom and no limits on it
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: allowed me to do things that I'd never done ever
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: and may never will, might really truly be the one
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: of one and I'd be okay with that.
• 38:45
  Speaker 4: Dan, So you don't think you'd put out another album
• 38:48
  Speaker 4: after this.
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: It's not even another album, it's not another this. I'll
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: create music for the rest of my life, whatever that
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: sounds like, whatever that looks like. But this, in its moment,
• 39:01
  Speaker 3: it's like, we can't recreate the timing of when these
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: health scares happened, the desperation of what's happening with Planet Earth,
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: the uncertainty of life, and why we made this album.
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: You know, we can only do celebritory like Happy to
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: Be a live albums after this. You know, everything else
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: is kind of just a But this album was made
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: because we didn't think we'd ever get the chance to
• 39:35
  Speaker 3: make one again.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: How was it when you played the record for method
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: Man during the Roots picnic?
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: Most of my best friends standing behind me, waiting to
• 39:47
  Speaker 3: just hold him, like, give me a second, mother, man,
• 39:52
  Speaker 3: please scause you listen to my I mean, he's a dream.
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: I can still say that. I know I'm married, my
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: husband knows what it is. What's the man? So to
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: play him? I remember when I was writing that moment
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: in the song and the go outside and the rain
• 40:11
  Speaker 3: sample is happening, and I knew the beat was about
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: to come in, and I'm like, you got that m
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: me T H O D man do that thing you
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: do those hands, kiss on this and make it dance.
• 40:26
  Speaker 3: Take it baby, giving you permission with persistence. Oh I
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: l O V E I T And I can't get
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: enough of this ocean flow below my legs, swim in it,
• 40:39
  Speaker 3: go diving inside inside my love babe, love you babe.
• 40:44
  Speaker 4: That's what right, ain't it?
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 40:55
  Speaker 3: You film me like so to play it for him.
• 41:02
  Speaker 3: Fantasy bucket list. You can't make up like this method Man,
• 41:08
  Speaker 3: play wet the method Man and just to see him
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: blush when the moment came in.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: And him do a little two step right, two.
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: Step to that give me all the audibles, said he's
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: going to be the leading man in the video, and
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: it's you know, the Minie Riperton inside me at the end,
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: and it's just all the things. It was a fantasy.
• 41:35
  Speaker 3: All of this feels very surreal, like it's happening, but
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: it's happening in real time. Like I get to go, hey, Stevie,
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: listen to what we did with your Hey, George Benson,
• 41:46
  Speaker 3: here's Patrice Rushing, here is Mary, here's Nah's here's plain
• 41:51
  Speaker 3: it just yeah, so Meth, thank you, Meth my leading man.
• 41:57
  Speaker 5: I've got a couple more questions. You said you didn't
• 42:00
  Speaker 5: tell Michael Jackson what to do. Drey didn't tell Michael
• 42:02
  Speaker 5: Jackson what to do.
• 42:03
  Speaker 3: Dre didn't.
• 42:04
  Speaker 4: Okay, okay.
• 42:05
  Speaker 3: So he's saying, basically his nod to me was I'm
• 42:09
  Speaker 3: Dre and I've made several other goats, but you know
• 42:13
  Speaker 3: I didn't tell Michael Jackson what to do. That was you.
• 42:16
  Speaker 3: So it's I'm coming to the room with something that
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: he's never done. Wow, So don't devalue what it is
• 42:23
  Speaker 3: with you in the room. And I get that, and
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: you have to understand the amount of people that have
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: probably crossed paths and been in the studio with Dre
• 42:32
  Speaker 3: and possibly gotten to a stage where they thought maybe
• 42:36
  Speaker 3: a project is happening. This part has barely happened. For
• 42:40
  Speaker 3: like I said that five percent is just the creating
• 42:43
  Speaker 3: of the music. The actual artists that get to be
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: at this part only happen if you're the five people
• 42:51
  Speaker 3: that you can count six or seven maybe, but don't happen.
• 42:56
  Speaker 3: So it was it was that it's I'm one of
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: one and unja cultable what yes and wanted to be
• 43:07
  Speaker 3: like I think that was the I had a spoiled experience.
• 43:10
  Speaker 3: I was just getting to you know, Atlanta, then get
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: to Philly, get signed by the end of that year.
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: Now I'm in the studio within less than a year
• 43:19
  Speaker 3: of the time it took me to get to the States.
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: Then worked with Michael Jackson because he's heard this demo
• 43:24
  Speaker 3: and we were here in New York Hit Factory and
• 43:30
  Speaker 3: he was there to out. Michael Jackson was there in
• 43:33
  Speaker 3: the studio two hours before call time, just warming up
• 43:37
  Speaker 3: his vocal. He was that guy like he was great
• 43:40
  Speaker 3: because he worked like unlike any other and I'll never
• 43:50
  Speaker 3: forget the first moment where he goes in the booth
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: like that glass behind there, and it was I'm at
• 43:57
  Speaker 3: the mixing board and Bruce Swede and a sist soul too,
• 44:01
  Speaker 3: Andre Harris is at the board. I have the talk
• 44:04
  Speaker 3: back button, and the first chord happens and Mike just
• 44:08
  Speaker 3: whispers like butterfly, and I just started crying wow immediately,
• 44:14
  Speaker 3: just couldn't even hold it back. Just I'm in the studio,
• 44:18
  Speaker 3: I'm twenty two, twenty three at that time, like those
• 44:21
  Speaker 3: were my younger years, my formative years, and I'm doing
• 44:24
  Speaker 3: this at that age.
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: And then it was tat back, one more time, I
• 44:28
  Speaker 3: get your timing right, one more time, might make sure
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: you like vocally produce that entire song. But when I
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: press play is only when I can hear the reality
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: of that because it's steamless. There's nothing wrong with that song.
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: And he allowed me, at my very young, naive, very
• 44:49
  Speaker 3: green to everything industry, not only do me retain all
• 44:55
  Speaker 3: my publishing and flourish in that studio as a vocally
• 45:02
  Speaker 3: as a vocal producer, producer and writer for that record.
• 45:06
  Speaker 3: And Mike was just the king for all reasons.
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: Can you take us back? How did he hear butterflies?
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: How did he hit a reference track? I said, I
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: wanted that.
• 45:18
  Speaker 4: Well.
• 45:18
  Speaker 3: I'd written the song when I was about sixteen seventeen
• 45:25
  Speaker 3: in Camberwell, South London, about a boy that worked in McDonald's.
• 45:30
  Speaker 3: I don't even know his name. I just knew that
• 45:32
  Speaker 3: he was a neighbor's friend and he was fine as hell.
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: He gave you butterflies every time, every time.
• 45:37
  Speaker 3: So I recently put to in McDonald's giving you bubble gud.
• 45:41
  Speaker 3: Then there's that I wasn't eating McDonald's like that though
• 45:43
  Speaker 3: I never really ate my well, I did kind of,
• 45:45
  Speaker 3: but I was basketball back then, so I was in
• 45:48
  Speaker 3: athlete mode for sure. But Camberwell, the place that the
• 45:54
  Speaker 3: McDonald's is in, is called Butterfly Walk, and I never
• 45:58
  Speaker 3: put that together until we recently he went back and
• 46:00
  Speaker 3: started taking pictures there and I was like, look at God,
• 46:04
  Speaker 3: look at that. So I ended up writing this song.
• 46:06
  Speaker 3: Get to Philadelphia, year two thousands, that's a couple of
• 46:09
  Speaker 3: years after that. Meet the team out of Touch of Jazz.
• 46:13
  Speaker 3: One producer in particular, Andre Harris, who'd done two of
• 46:17
  Speaker 3: my favorite Jill Scott songs, Long Walk, and the Way,
• 46:21
  Speaker 3: and I was like, who did those two? Oh, that's Dray,
• 46:24
  Speaker 3: that's Andre. I was like, I want parts. So within
• 46:27
  Speaker 3: a week, Andre Harris and myself had recorded Say Yes
• 46:32
  Speaker 3: and Butterflies together. So Say Yes was for Ron Eisley.
• 46:36
  Speaker 3: So we did that demo together, and that was with
• 46:39
  Speaker 3: the intent that Ron Eisley was going to do Say
• 46:41
  Speaker 3: Yes for his album. He just didn't take it. Restless
• 46:43
  Speaker 3: History and then Butterflies a few days after that, five
• 46:48
  Speaker 3: or slow in the morning, six or so in the morning,
• 46:51
  Speaker 3: play the chords and like Dre, slow those down, YadA
• 46:53
  Speaker 3: YadA YadA, and Butterflies happens. And John McClain, who ended
• 47:01
  Speaker 3: up signing Flower Tree to Dream Works, was Michael Jackson's
• 47:06
  Speaker 3: personal manager, so he has the demo, plays it for Mike,
• 47:10
  Speaker 3: so listen, you have to listen to these girls. Listen
• 47:13
  Speaker 3: to this demo, and Mike was like, I want that one,
• 47:16
  Speaker 3: just Butterflies. Mike, you can have the entire album if
• 47:19
  Speaker 3: you want it. It's yours. I don't have to do
• 47:22
  Speaker 3: another thing. And that's how we heard it. We got
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: the call in Philia a Touch of Jazz. Everyone thought
• 47:29
  Speaker 3: it was a prank call. Went to voicemail the first time,
• 47:32
  Speaker 3: and then I think Jeff spoke to him, well, Carvin
• 47:34
  Speaker 3: spoke to I think Carvin said he spoke to him,
• 47:36
  Speaker 3: and he thought it was dre messing around. We were
• 47:38
  Speaker 3: practical jokers back of the day. And Mike, you don't
• 47:41
  Speaker 3: really know. You think you know his voice. Mike had
• 47:44
  Speaker 3: a deeper, raspier voice, and I think he only used
• 47:48
  Speaker 3: a higher tone just to preserve his greatness, like he
• 47:51
  Speaker 3: didn't want to use or project. He was only using
• 47:54
  Speaker 3: that for the booth or the stage, and that's it.
• 47:57
  Speaker 3: So by the time we've spoken to him, this is
• 47:59
  Speaker 3: the summer of two thousand. I was in the studio
• 48:02
  Speaker 3: with him in New York the following year March, so
• 48:06
  Speaker 3: it's like that quick wow.
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: Now you also mentioned Flowa Tree fans were always what
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: will flowr you ever do an album together again?
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: Or that chapter your life is over?
• 48:15
  Speaker 3: Who knows? No chapters are closed. And I think, rewinding
• 48:19
  Speaker 3: to what you said about you know, when I met
• 48:20
  Speaker 3: my husband, I did a Flowa Tree tour twenty fifteen
• 48:25
  Speaker 3: twenty sixteen, and that's when I met him, and then
• 48:27
  Speaker 3: got pregnant the following year on the other tour, So
• 48:29
  Speaker 3: it was like a back to back Hey reunion its
• 48:31
  Speaker 3: full love and yeah, who knows now?
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: Also I seen Amanda Seals was on Club Shah and
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: talks about she said that she thinks she wanted her
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: to quit flow a Tree?
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: Was that true?
• 48:43
  Speaker 3: The loaded question quit flower Tree is very vague? What
• 48:49
  Speaker 3: was happening with Amanda Seals? And this is what? Because
• 48:52
  Speaker 3: I won't spend a lot of time in this. This
• 48:54
  Speaker 3: is like a quick bit. When did we lost through
• 48:57
  Speaker 3: the Breakfast Club?
• 48:57
  Speaker 4: Because this is like seven came up.
• 49:00
  Speaker 3: Yes, So initially the first thing I said about Amanda
• 49:05
  Speaker 3: Sales is sorry, I can play the clip, you can
• 49:08
  Speaker 3: go to YouTube and see it. And it was she
• 49:11
  Speaker 3: was put in a position that she shouldn't have been
• 49:13
  Speaker 3: in the first place, the label and management of trying
• 49:17
  Speaker 3: to re establish what that was and it just didn't work.
• 49:21
  Speaker 3: So by the time we've put all of these things
• 49:22
  Speaker 3: into action, we've rehearsed a show and you've given it
• 49:26
  Speaker 3: to the public. Everyone has gone, oh nah, and there's
• 49:30
  Speaker 3: nothing I can do about that part. And this is
• 49:34
  Speaker 3: also seventeen years ago, three weeks of a summer to all,
• 49:38
  Speaker 3: we may have done like fifteen or sixteen shows, and
• 49:41
  Speaker 3: it just didn't work out and that was the end
• 49:45
  Speaker 3: of that, really, But we've had nothing but for me,
• 49:48
  Speaker 3: And I'm saying like I, well, for me, we'd had
• 49:52
  Speaker 3: nothing but positive interactions thereafter. Like I saw her twenty thirteen,
• 49:57
  Speaker 3: we took pictures together, we reminisced, and she'd been texting
• 50:01
  Speaker 3: me throughout the years after that, nothing but positive vibes.
• 50:05
  Speaker 3: So I'm in a good space right now, seventeen years later.
• 50:12
  Speaker 3: So for whatever she believes that was, I don't think
• 50:17
  Speaker 3: publicly we can do this combative. Well you said this happened,
• 50:21
  Speaker 3: or I said this happened. I know exactly what happened
• 50:23
  Speaker 3: on my end, But you know, it's kind of seventeen
• 50:29
  Speaker 3: years ago. I've done all this healing between now and then.
• 50:33
  Speaker 3: I'm not the same Like seventeen years ago, two thousand
• 50:35
  Speaker 3: and seven, I'm still talking to Michael Jackson at that point,
• 50:39
  Speaker 3: I've still got prints on speed dial, Like I was
• 50:42
  Speaker 3: still very much Grammy winning, Grammy nominated me, that was
• 50:48
  Speaker 3: in a position to do what I wanted to do
• 50:52
  Speaker 3: at that point, moving forward. And here we are seventeen
• 50:56
  Speaker 3: years later, and I'm still moving on and moving forward,
• 51:01
  Speaker 3: and Casa Blanco with doctor Dre's about to drop and
• 51:06
  Speaker 3: just in a different space.
• 51:08
  Speaker 5: You know, on the song Greedy, it makes me wonder
• 51:11
  Speaker 5: that your husband ever hears certain lyrics and be like,
• 51:13
  Speaker 5: you're talking about us because you say it's never enough
• 51:15
  Speaker 5: to love you, same old, lame old Ain't no way
• 51:17
  Speaker 5: I'm ever going to take that shit. I'm giving you everything,
• 51:19
  Speaker 5: and this the thanks I get.
• 51:21
  Speaker 3: Don't play that shit, even if it was Greedy. During
• 51:27
  Speaker 3: that time, and even during the creative process of Casa Blanco,
• 51:32
  Speaker 3: my husband and I had a conversation about where I
• 51:38
  Speaker 3: was at mentally to create the actual Basically, he said
• 51:50
  Speaker 3: I didn't have to be married Mash and come from
• 51:54
  Speaker 3: that space. And I understood what he said when he
• 51:57
  Speaker 3: said that, because the love songs different if I'm attached
• 52:02
  Speaker 3: to the relationship I'm in and having to kind of
• 52:06
  Speaker 3: skirt around what that looks like. Those songs sound like
• 52:10
  Speaker 3: don't Wait the Baby or just like old Times, and
• 52:13
  Speaker 3: they're different. With this. It was you need to stretch
• 52:18
  Speaker 3: that pen and write from a space of you doing
• 52:21
  Speaker 3: you and what does that sound like. So by the
• 52:24
  Speaker 3: time I got to Greedy, I was angry at the world,
• 52:28
  Speaker 3: like it's never enough to love anyone or anything, and
• 52:35
  Speaker 3: then be satisfied in a way that you feel like
• 52:39
  Speaker 3: you put your one hundred in and they only claim
• 52:42
  Speaker 3: it's thirty percent. So I could give you the moon
• 52:45
  Speaker 3: and it's like, well where the sun at? Like it's
• 52:48
  Speaker 3: the moon family that you don't want, you know, And
• 52:52
  Speaker 3: I feel like greedy I was talking about everyone. It
• 52:58
  Speaker 3: wasn't even just about him, it was everyone and everything
• 53:03
  Speaker 3: playing this tuggerwar of if you're not next to me,
• 53:08
  Speaker 3: you feel as though you're missing out on something that
• 53:11
  Speaker 3: you only gain by being with me or taking something
• 53:15
  Speaker 3: from me. I'm like, what's the endgame? Like what exactly
• 53:19
  Speaker 3: do you want? Because you're really upset, like you mad
• 53:22
  Speaker 3: as fuck that you're not around me like that greedy.
• 53:28
  Speaker 4: M I love that song music on my mind.
• 53:33
  Speaker 5: You said it's a it's that Wu Tang meets Cold Traine,
• 53:37
  Speaker 5: And what I love about that is like what I
• 53:38
  Speaker 5: told you earlier is like you're putting hip hop on
• 53:40
  Speaker 5: this proper pedestal of being like a classic musical art form?
• 53:45
  Speaker 4: Was that intentional throughout the project?
• 53:50
  Speaker 3: Maybe not intentional, but my affinity and adoration for hip
• 53:55
  Speaker 3: hop has stemmed from me knowing all the words to
• 54:02
  Speaker 3: Beach Street breaking like being overseas, getting all of these
• 54:08
  Speaker 3: imported hip hop twelve inch records from my uncle and
• 54:17
  Speaker 3: hip up you the love of my life, and I
• 54:20
  Speaker 3: feel like on this album, it only made sense that
• 54:25
  Speaker 3: I made sure that that last music on my mind
• 54:29
  Speaker 3: was my love letter to music, and I couldn't fit
• 54:33
  Speaker 3: everything in, so I just gave you the bullet points
• 54:36
  Speaker 3: of what those errors and time. So yeah, WU tang
• 54:39
  Speaker 3: it to shout out. I even shouted out Mace and
• 54:43
  Speaker 3: Cam before I even know they would reunite. This is
• 54:46
  Speaker 3: twenty twenty one. I'm calling this out and I know
• 54:48
  Speaker 3: what Horse and Carriage did for me in the nineties,
• 54:51
  Speaker 3: you know, So it was all of these small nuds
• 54:55
  Speaker 3: to things and this is in the same breath I'm saying,
• 54:58
  Speaker 3: you know, MJ. J. Dillar, Marcus Miller, Murder, Max Cam Killer,
• 55:03
  Speaker 3: Miss Pay, Funkadelic, George Clinton, and I even shout out
• 55:08
  Speaker 3: Luke Skywalker, just things that I've loved over the course
• 55:12
  Speaker 3: of my life. And if that were my last speech
• 55:17
  Speaker 3: to planet Earth, like it's been real, this was it.
• 55:21
  Speaker 3: That's what music on my mind and that last statement
• 55:24
  Speaker 3: was the last thing that I say is Dr that
• 55:30
  Speaker 3: mamba mentality, the game winning shut for the three cod swish.
• 55:38
  Speaker 5: It's good, great way to in the project. That's right,
• 55:42
  Speaker 5: great for the fantastic album.
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: Comes out next Friday, June twenty eighth.
• 55:46
  Speaker 3: Oh my goodness, when you say it out loud, it's real.
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: That's right next Friday.
• 55:49
  Speaker 3: Oh man, listen, but.
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: What do you want to hear off that album?
• 55:55
  Speaker 3: What do I want to hear that?
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: You're gonna allow us to play because we got to
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: get it from you, guys. We haveybody.
• 56:02
  Speaker 3: Might be wet, we might be self care wrong, riot.
• 56:06
  Speaker 4: You can do you can do both both.
• 56:08
  Speaker 3: Thrill has a thing though that thing is a story.
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: Ain't got enough time for three, but we got two.
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: We will.
• 56:16
  Speaker 3: It's pick one. Tell us used to be done at
• 56:19
  Speaker 3: the board, like okay, what we're saying thrill her? What scart?
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: Okay cool thrill her and we let's do it all right.
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: We'll get that on.
• 56:27
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for joining us. The album Casablanco
• 56:31
  Speaker 2: comes out next Friday. Today, the track listing is released.
• 56:34
  Speaker 2: You guys can check that out.
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: And we appreciate you for spending it with us today.
• 56:37
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me.
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: It's Marsha ambrosis. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning, wake.
• 56:43
  Speaker 4: That ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club