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DA CREW PODCAST SEASON 1_ EPISODE #152_ HOST BLAQUE DIAMOND · DA CREW Podcast

0:14
Hey, and welcome to the group podcast. We are the hottest podcast rocking
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right now. We are currently looking for a sixth amazing hosts to join our
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family for season two that will keep off February the first, twenty twenty four.
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If you're looking for an opportunity to allow your voice, your perspective and
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your brand to be heard around the world and theme around the world, then
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join Duck Crew Podcast three two. What is going down Like? Pretty?
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What a to? No? One's just a kin? Are you tired of
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the burden of cost financial mistakes winging you down? Look no further than and
1:00
Force Shift Week Shift Change one, supers and for Shift Week and Ford and
1:57
Ford Shift Week Change. Hello everyone, my name is Alitia Robinson, professionally
2:13
known as Budda by Raka. I'm an international recording artist, film director,
2:17
producer, screenwriter and actress. I'm a two time best selling author and playwriter,
2:23
as well as the host of Transparency Talks podcast, which airs on six
2:28
syndicated international stations in London, Italy, Japan, Nigeria, South Africa and
2:35
Canada. I'm also a model. I've had the pleasure of working with Kanye
2:39
West, Janet Jackson, TLC akon Nas Collective so Zach Brown's name a few
2:49
I was recently featured on Billboard's Hip Hop magazine. I was also a guest
2:54
speaker at the Safe Summit and was added to the Billboard, which was featured
3:00
in Times Square with Miss Lynn Whitfield MC light, Mark Cuban and Gene Simmons.
3:07
From Kiss, I performed at the City Gala with Wesley Snipes, Randy
3:12
Jackson, Mario Lopez, and Les Brown and afterwards mister Brown became my mentor
3:20
and I worked for him for eight months as his personal assistants. I also
3:24
performed at the LA two with Jack Black, Alyssa Milana, Sheila e Boutsie
3:30
Collins, and I came on after the legendary Miss Dion Warwick Last. I
3:36
am the CEO founder of Artists Rock the Mike Foundation. My mission is to
3:42
bring creatives together in the music, film and entertainment industries to impact change in
3:46
the communities across the world. We worked to encourage and advocate through the influences
3:53
of the arts. We strive to integrate educational programs, benefit concerts, and
3:59
charitable drive giving back to the homeless college students. That's a little bit about
4:02
myself and I look forward to working with you. Hey, everybody, this
4:24
is Black Diamond from the Crew Network and you're listening to Basic Black after Dark
4:29
podcasts to show that meets you where you are and gives you what you ask
4:32
for. You know, when I was growing up, I had big dreams
4:35
of being an international judge. But life happened and now I'm a social worker
4:42
and author and parenting twelve children. Now, some people dream of being an
4:46
actress, singer, model or author. Well, tonight I'm talking to a
4:51
woman who was doing it all and doing big things. You heard from her
4:56
earlier during the intro. Have to introduce her, but I will. I
5:02
just love saying her name. Please welcome butterbe Roca to Basic Black after Dark.
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Thank you so much for the one welcome. Oh no, thank you
5:14
for being here tonight. I was so excited, I think I was trying
5:16
to bite my nails, like, oh my god, she's going to be
5:19
here, and I say, thank you, thank you. I am just
5:23
so happy that you're here. I Bi, butterbe Roca. How did you
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get that name? Because I've been talking about it all week, the name
5:34
they used to call me Butter in Tampa, said I had a really smooth
5:39
voice and everything like spoken and stuff like that. And then when I was
5:44
saying they said it was real creamy and smooth, right. And then when
5:47
I started doing backgrounds in the studio with TLCD, Star called me be Roca.
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And so when I put out my album, I just, you know,
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decided to merge the two because butter be Rocking. You're more than a
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triple thread. You're a two time best selling author, international recording artists,
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executive, film director, producer, screenwriter, songwriter, model, and actress.
6:15
Now I saw them shots and I love them. You are the host
6:18
of Transparency Talks. You're editor and chief of a Team magazine. I definitely
6:24
want to know about that, and the CEO and founder of a nonprofit artist
6:30
Rocker Mike Foundation along with bb R Media Group. With all that you're doing,
6:35
besides being talented, how could you how could you describe yourself in five
6:40
words? Oh? Lord, creative, creative, creative, creative, creative.
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That's that's just me. Like I, I believe that if you can
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see it in your mind, then it's meant for you to do, because
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that's the blueprint. You know, God gives us all visions and every thing
7:00
that you see around us was formed by someone thinking of it, you know
7:03
what I mean. And so even if I don't reach that goal, I'm
7:08
going to still go for it. Wow, you've ben going for it.
7:12
I have. When was you a big break? My big I started in
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music when I was thirteen in Townpa, Florida. We started doing I was
7:26
in a female girl group with my cousins and some friends from school and we
7:30
started doing different talent shows and stuff like that. I would consider that to
7:35
be the first break, you know, And I come from that era of
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when it was artists development. You know, the boys to me and everything,
7:45
your dance moves, your harmonies, everything you had to be in sync
7:48
and your clothes matched, and you know, real precise on the dance moves
7:54
and you know, intricate parts and stuff like that. So I come from
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that era. I know, I'm telling my age, and but that that
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was when I knew that this was something that I wanted to do for the
8:03
rest of my life and we just started pursuing it. Then from then on,
8:09
my mom was my manager at the time, and she's one of those
8:13
ladies that you know she's gonna push you, and she's gonna you know,
8:18
if it's something that you really want to do, She's gonna support you one
8:22
hundred percent. So, you know, when you have somebody like that behind
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you, that believes in you that much, that just gives you that extra
8:28
push, you know, to keep going. Well, I'm glad she pushed
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you, you know, I'm so happy that you that she did. If
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you were given an ultimatum to give up one thing that you do, what
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would you choose and why would you choose him? If I had to give
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up one from books, films and music, yeah, it would probably be
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books. Oh yeah, it would probably be books if I had to give
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it up. But but here's the irony of that. I'm still able to
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write in my songs and I'm still able to write in the films, So
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it's still I wouldn't be losing, you know what I mean. It would
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just be one of the formats, one of the formats of it, but
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I wouldn't lose in that aspect. Now I can't help but compliment you on
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your beautiful voice. Your song Time Stands Still. I love it. Thank
9:22
You is so unique. It is smooth light, It's like but I appreciate
9:30
that that song is real near and dear to me. I was about to
9:33
get married and I put the first time in my life. I've been married
9:37
before, and he's been married before. But when we got together, neither
9:41
one of us was looking for a relationship, and you know, it just
9:43
sorted happened. And I wrote that song for him, so you know,
9:48
that was really special for me. And then I ended up singing it to
9:52
him on National TV. We did a TV show. The show hasn't came
9:58
out yet, but we did. We ended up doing a TV show with
10:01
our family and I sung it to him live. I love it. It
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is so smooth. I'm saying, if you haven't heard it yet, you
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really need to hear it, because when I say it's smooth, it's smooth.
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What is your style? Mm hmm, you know, my style changes.
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My style flows because like when I go overseas, pop is more well
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received, but I like I like pop, I like R and B.
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And I'm now about to do a gospel album, so my style changes.
10:35
I actually don't want to be labeled as, oh, she only sings this,
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you know this genre. So I'm cool with being, you know,
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fluent in all styles. But right now, my my albums. My first
10:50
album is called switch Lanes, and I named it that intentionally because in that
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you have multiple genres. So I go from pop, I do a little
11:00
off rock, and then I also do R and B, and like I
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said, right now, I'm about to do my very first gospel album as
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well. Oh well, I can't wait. I can't wait. I could
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just imagine if there's anything like what I've heard already and what I've been listening
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to. You got yourself a fan right here. I appreciate it. I'm
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really excited because, like I want to get, you know, real religious
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and everything. But for a long time, I was kind of like running
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from the church and I thought that you couldn't do both. But you know,
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God knows my heart and everything, and so I'm ready to do both.
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So I think it's going to be fantastic. You've worked with many celebrities,
11:41
as you mentioned, Kanye WESTLC Nins, A, kon Booty Collins,
11:45
and Janet Jackson, just to name a few. What was it like working
11:48
with them and who were you most surprised to work with When I got the
11:54
phone call to come to the studio. The word with Janet that was really
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dope. I mean, I was really excited about that. She's really soft
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spoken and everything. I only got a chance to work with it one time,
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but that's one time I will never forget in my life. And when
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I worked with Collective Soul, I really enjoyed them as well. I did
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a couple of songs on their album, and they're an amazing Grammy Award winning
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rock group and they just I did the backgrounds and everything, and they let
12:26
me put my own melody, you know, in my own style to it.
12:30
So I like that as well. Well. I hope you don't mind
12:31
me saying it, because I almost slipped up and said you were a Grammy
12:35
Award winner too, because I said that song has to be you know,
12:37
I'm saying that we can put that in the atmosphere. That is one of
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the things that I'm here. That's why I felt when I heard it and
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I had to listen to it again, and I know my kids was probably
12:48
saying, man, you're listening to that again. Look, when you get
12:52
older, you'll appreciate it, that's all, like I said, and you'll
12:54
appreciate you. Were also featured in my hometown, New York City, on
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the Billboard in Times Square. How did you feel looking over New York City?
13:03
Oh my goodness. You know, first of all, I was on
13:07
the panel with Mark Cuban and Gene Simmons from the group Kiss. Then they
13:13
took it even further than that and put me on the billboard about the event.
13:18
So now I'm on there with Lynn Wickfield mc light Ellis Hall. I
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mean it was I was like, oh my god, to be featured amongst
13:30
all of those amazing artists and actors. It was surreal for me. Oh
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wow, I can just imagine Times Square, all of them. Oh gosh,
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artists. Rock the Mic is your nonprofit organization? Is it a mentoring
13:43
program for local artists? It is not what we do. I'm not opposed
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to that, but what we what we do is I throw different concerts.
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We work with indie artists, and we also work with national recording artists,
13:56
and we throw events and we get back to the college homeless students. We
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was doing that. We work a lot with Kennesaus State. At the moment,
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they have over a thousand students that are homeless. They have scholarships,
14:09
but it doesn't pay for their room and board and it doesn't cover their food,
14:13
and so when we found this out, it was like, Okay,
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what can I do that I'm already doing? How can I use my platforms?
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And I go to open mics all the time, you know, you
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go to different things, and I'm like, Okay, if we can get
14:28
up at these open mics and sing a song or two because we're doing it
14:31
just because of the love of music, then I can. We can we
14:37
can start helping other people. So I called on my friends and I'm like,
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look, just give me one song, give me two songs, you
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know what I mean. And I would do the majority of the songs in
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between, because I'm asking you to do favors, you know. So one
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of the things that we started doing is not only was we giving them the
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money from the proceeds that we received at the door, but we started collecting
14:58
various items. So we collected over five hundred coaches to give to them,
15:03
We collected water, I mean, all these different things. But what started
15:07
happening is other nonprofits started contacting us, wanting us to work with their organization
15:13
too. So we partnered with I Will Survive and started getting them gas cards
15:18
so that the cast and cancer patients could get back and forth to their chemo
15:24
therapy, and then we worked with We sent over fifteen hundred bottles of water
15:31
to Flint, Michigan when they had that water. You know situation. We've
15:35
sent over eighty pair of shoes to Haiti. I mean, we just started
15:39
working with a lot of different companies and we would still the core of it
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is we would give the door to Kinnessouth State, and then whatever we collected
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if we worked with other organizations, we would give that to them. So
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how does someone get involved with your organization? You can just contact us and
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go to artists rockthmc dot com and sign up and let us know. And
16:04
I mean we need we need all the help we can get artists rocked the
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MIC, M I C MIC okay. And that's from motivating individuals in the
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community. So some people don't realize that college students are are homeless because they
16:18
see them on campus and walking through and sitting in classes. Everybody has a
16:23
backstory and they just don't realize that some college students are homeless, that their
16:27
biggest thing is being on campus and then the dorms because they have some place
16:30
to be. But once they have that break, the summer break, you
16:34
know those winter breaks, they really don't have any place to go. Yeah,
16:37
let me tell you this. So what they do is called couch hopping,
16:42
where they would go dorm to dorm, you know, sleeping on the
16:45
couches and everything. And the lady that I have ran into that contacted me,
16:49
she was going sleeping dorm to dorm, but she was also eating out
16:56
of the dumpster from the kitchen air area, and then she would go into
17:02
the gyms and take her showers and stuff, and she made straight a's.
17:06
Now, imagine you trying to concentrate in school. You got a scholarship that's
17:11
covering you know, the overall, but you don't know where you're gonna lay
17:14
your head and you don't know where you're going to get your next meal.
17:18
To concentrate and to keep your your scholarship, I mean, imagine it.
17:22
I went back to college and I made straight a's. By the way,
17:26
Magnum Kot and the first black president of the Golden Key Hiana Society, you
17:32
know, right right, Imagine if I didn't have a place to stay,
17:37
and what you would do to concentrate, to keep to keep your grades up
17:42
so that you can keep going to school like I couldn't imagine it. It's
17:47
just so hard. Yeah, you are a best selling author. Your books
17:52
fear of failure, fear of not trying. It is so true. And
17:56
Ki the Koala and Friends, my niece would have loved that she was growing
18:00
up. It's a children's book. What or who inspired you to write those
18:04
books? Well, with Kai, that will be my nephew. He is
18:11
two years old. And I wanted to create a book that you know,
18:14
the children could relate to and everything. But I also wrote a book called
18:19
This was My Very This was my second book. It's called The Adventures in
18:22
Buda Butterland, and it is a spin off kind of of Fear of Failure,
18:27
because fear of failure is talking to the adults and letting you know that
18:32
you can get over your different fears and you know, to just go for
18:34
it. So now with the Adventures of but of Butterland, she's overcoming this.
18:40
In this episode, she's overcoming fear in doubt. And my goal is
18:45
to turn it into a series. In each series she's going to be overcoming
18:49
different things. You know. Wow, So not only are you a best
18:55
selling author, but you also have a podcast, Transparency Talk. What is
19:00
it about and when do you when you in your shown? Okay, So
19:04
Transparency Talks podcast, we get transparent with people in the music and film industry.
19:11
You know, I'm I'm I'm gracefully in both right, and so I
19:17
can ask the tough questions because you know, people see the glisten glam of
19:19
everything, but they don't understand, like we we have our we have our
19:25
issues, we have our problems, we we have our downtown, we get
19:29
depressed. We you know, it's a lot of different things that we also
19:30
do, but you only see the glisten glam and you at some points you
19:36
can't talk about it because you see us one way, and that's the way
19:41
we're supposed to stay. You know what I mean that we sometimes we have
19:44
to have a mask on, you know, in in the public and everything.
19:48
So I'm able to ask those type of questions because I'm in their shoes
19:52
and I know, I know what it's like. You know, you don't
19:56
have a backup plan when you're singing like I fell in twenty nineteen and dissipated
20:03
my shoulder, Tormaniscus torn acl You you can't do paid time off, you
20:11
know, so it's like, what are you going to do? When you
20:14
ain't got that money and when you can't pay your bills because of such and
20:17
such, or when COVID happened, Like I talked to Tony Terry, who's
20:21
a good friend of Mine's had him on my podcast, what are you doing
20:25
now that COVID is happening, because I know you're not torn, because I'm
20:27
not torn, you know what I mean. So I'm able to really ask
20:30
the real questions that we really want to know, you know. And so
20:37
I started Transparency Talks podcasts in twenty twenty. It was just something to do
20:41
because of COVID. Couldn't go nowhere. I was already out of commission for
20:45
a whole year in twenty nineteen because of my fall. So during the fall
20:51
is when I created my books and we started my boys magazine, Defying One's
20:56
Team Magazine. And then I got released to be to go back on tour
21:00
and I was headed on tour in Africa for April, but in March of
21:07
twenty twenty is when the world kind of starts shutting down, so the tour
21:11
I didn't even get to do that tour. So now you know, it's
21:15
we owned already a year, now got another year to wait. You know,
21:18
so I created Transparency Talks podcast. Initially I was just talking to my
21:25
musical friends and it started spreading like wildfire to the point now where I am
21:32
on six sydicated stations overseas. I'm in London and thank you. And then
21:38
I ended up getting just recently picked up on Roku and on two other radio
21:44
stations and I'm on iHeart and I mean, it's it's just been a week
21:48
journey that I didn't expect everywhere, when you deserve every bit of it.
21:52
Thank you, just unbelievable. We're going to go to a commercial break and
21:59
we come back. We're going to be coming back and we're gonna be speaking
22:02
more than you about everything because you're doing everything. Okay, Okay, Hi
22:23
supers. Hello everyone. My name is Althia Robinson, professionally known as buddaby
22:36
Raka. I'm an international recording artist, film director, producer, screenwriter and
22:41
actress. I'm a two time best selling author and playwriter as well as the
22:45
host of Transparency Talks podcast, which airs on six syndicated international stations in London,
22:52
Italy, Japan, Nigeria, South Africa, and Canada. I'm also
22:59
a model. I've had the pleasure of working with Kanye West, Janet Jackson,
23:03
tlc akon Nas Collective, so Zach Brown, to name a few.
23:11
I was recently featured on Billboard's Hip Hop magazine. I was also a guest
23:17
speaker at the Safe Summit and was added to the Billboard, which was featured
23:22
in Times Square with miss Lynn Whitfield MC light, Mark Cuban and Gene Simmons.
23:29
From Kiss, I performed at the City Gala with Wesley Snipes, Randy
23:33
Jackson, Mario Lopez, and Les Brown, and afterwards mister Brown became my
23:41
mentor and I worked for him for eight months as his personal assistants. I
23:47
also performed at the LA two with Jack Black, Alyssa Milana, Sheila E,
23:52
Bootsie Collins, and I came on after the legendary Miss Dion Warwick last.
23:57
I am the CEO founder of Artists Rock the Might Foundation. My mission
24:03
is to bring creatives together in the music, film and entertainment industries to impact
24:08
change in the communities across the world. We work to encourage and advocate through
24:14
the influences of the arts. We strive to integrate educational programs, benefit concerts,
24:19
and charitable drives giving back to the homeless college students. That's a little
24:25
bit about myself, and I look forward to working with you. We are
24:36
back with butterbe RockA discussing her journey and entertainment. You've added executive director and
24:44
produce it to your resume. Wow, your stage play. I cheated.
24:48
So what was it hard to write the play as well as performing it?
24:55
It wasn't hard to write the play with the play. I had never rolled
24:57
a play before, and I met a play director from another play that I
25:03
was in and he was the director of it, and we start talking about
25:07
music and stuff like that, and I said, I write deep music,
25:11
and I sent in one of my songs and he was like, well,
25:14
this is a play right here. And I said, you know, I've
25:17
always wanted to do a play, but I don't know how to do a
25:18
play. And he says, well, I can write it for you.
25:22
And I said, well, I don't need you to write it for me.
25:23
You can write it with me, because if I could see it,
25:26
if I can understand it, I can write. You know, I'm a
25:29
writer. So we wrote it together. At first he wrote, you know,
25:33
of course he wrote the first half because I didn't know what to do.
25:36
I didn't understand formatting. And a song is just one person singing,
25:40
you know, it's just one form of dialogue. But with a play,
25:45
you got multiple dialogues, you got people coming in and out of the conversation
25:48
and stuff. So I had to understand that. But once I did,
25:52
we was able to create the play. But like I said, we had
25:56
a blueprint because it was based off of my song already. So but it
26:00
was really cool. I had Christopher Williams in it. I had Robert carry
26:06
from day twenty six, Rico Barrino, which is spantagious brother, had Gospel
26:11
Artists, Award winning gospel artist to meet a handler, Chandler Hadding, sorry
26:18
to Meeta Hadding. Yeah, so it was it was wonderful. Wow,
26:22
you have a new play, Finding the Perfect Guy. I watched the trailer
26:26
and I was so impressed with it. Where can I watch the entire play?
26:30
So that's not a play, that's actually a film. That's very actually
26:34
a film. Good, good, good, good good. Yes, that's
26:37
my very first feature film. Again, while cod while COVID was going on.
26:41
Now we're in twenty twenty one, because you know, it was shut
26:45
down for a minute again, I gotta be creative. I gotta think of
26:48
stuff. I gotta, you know, create something. And so I always
26:53
wanted to do a film, and but I never knew how. And my
26:59
Mike, my way of looking at life right now is if I can conjure
27:03
it up in my mind, I'm going to do it. I'm gonna go
27:07
for it right, because the life is short, you know, And I
27:10
don't want to be a Koda with a shular chick. I want to be
27:11
able to say no, she lives. She said off and did everything that
27:15
she wanted to do. You know again, I don't have to. I
27:18
might not make it, but nobody can say she didn't go for it right.
27:22
And so I wanted to write a film, and I wrote thirteen episodes
27:27
to this film. I was going to turn it into a series. When
27:30
I found out the price of how much it was gonna cost me to shoot
27:36
all of these series, it was like, Okay, let me diw this
27:40
all the way back. So I ended up turning it into a feature film
27:44
and I had the premiere here in Atlanta, Georgia at Studio Movie Grill,
27:49
which is a real luxury type of studio place that does food and drinks and
27:55
stuff like that. I rented out the biggest night on the biggest week on
28:02
the weekend, and typically indie films are shown money through Thursday. I said,
28:06
nope, I want the biggest room. I won't. I want,
28:10
you know, a big night, I want, I want the one,
28:11
and so we ended up selling out in two weeks. It was star studied
28:17
from Less Brown and I had some BT executives in there. I had a
28:22
lot of music. It was wonderful and at that time I didn't have distribution.
28:29
But after we ended up getting all of the write ups about us,
28:33
and we started pitching it to different company distribution companies. I ended up getting
28:37
six different offers for distribution. We finally went with one. The film has
28:41
been out now for two and a half months and I am on fifteen streaming
28:47
platforms. The first one that picked me up was Amazon Prime, then to
28:51
be I'm on Plex Reval, I am on a station in India called a
28:57
no Ki, I am in Africa, I am in the UK now.
29:03
So I'm just like, and it's only been two and a half months,
29:07
we're here, but you're everywhere, so that I'm still on the high from
29:12
that because I'm like like I had a cast of thirty two self funded,
29:18
you know, and it was tough. It was so many setbacks, so
29:22
many I wanted to give up so many days time, I lost eleven pounds
29:26
out stressed, you know, because you're dealing with personalities, you're dealing with
29:30
just different things that you don't expect. And then I'm in a whole different
29:36
genre because I know music, you know, I don't know films. I
29:38
don't know you know the ins and outs of films. I don't know all
29:41
of the the terminology. It was just so many things that I didn't know,
29:45
but I dove right in. I did that YouTube university, you know,
29:49
to learn, and then you know, I directing, producing, starring
29:57
in it. You know it's lot well, so you know what Tyler Perry
30:03
does it? So why not if yeh Landa, he does it? So
30:07
why not what I see? And You're off to a wonderful start with this.
30:11
And I'm not sure whether this is something I should be sitting and watching
30:14
with my girls or should I just be doing this by myself. You could
30:17
definitely watch it with your girls and y'all gonna laugh. But even if you
30:19
watch it by yourself, you're gonna crack up and then you're gonna calling your
30:22
girlfriends and you're gonna say that you should watch this, So you know either
30:26
one. Well, you make acting look so easy. What do you enjoy
30:30
most about acting? And what would you say are some of your most valuable
30:34
skills as an actress? Well? I think that if when it comes to
30:40
acting, if you can make it more relatable. You know, if you
30:42
don't talk a certain way, then why are you talking a certain certain way?
30:45
If you don't, you know, if that's not the way you do
30:48
stuff. If you the more authentic you are to the character, the better.
30:53
I think it is. So for me, especially with my film Finding
30:59
the Perfect Guy. Uh, it's about I had been married before and got
31:03
divorced, right, and now what do you do when you now go back
31:07
into the dating world. So that was natural for me to really do because
31:11
half of the people that you're going to see that I dated in this film.
31:15
I mean, it wasn't all the same people, but you know,
31:18
and I bellished, you know a little bit on the stories and everything.
31:21
But it's not too hard to play that because it was stuff that really did
31:26
happen, and I forgot what was your second question to that, Oh,
31:30
the second question was what would you say are some of your most valuable skills
31:36
as an actress? My most valuable skills, I would actually say it's just
31:44
being authentic and really learning those lines. Like that's tough. It's tough.
31:49
It's tough to get into character, learn these lines. I mean, I've
31:53
been in other people's films too, which I really like too, because you
31:56
were able to be a whole different characters. It's one thing to write your
32:00
own, but it's another thing to now have to see what somebody else is
32:06
writing and be what they want you to be on their set for that person,
32:09
for that character, and make that character come to life. Well,
32:13
I love your uncle standing on the top of the steps with this, because
32:16
everybody has a bunk of Bobby. Everybody has that one crazy family member everybody.
32:22
I don't want to bring nobody around. So there's no stage right,
32:28
What do you do before you step on stage? Do you usa pray or
32:32
just walk out there with your familous self? Oh? No, please understand,
32:37
she has stage fright. Trust me. Yes, what's crazy is I
32:43
can be in a crowd of twenty thousand and I'm fine. I go in
32:46
a small setting where it seems like everybody is looking at my every word,
32:51
in my every move, I'm like, God, my heart is raising,
32:54
you know. And then and then sometimes depending on how many you know,
33:00
big celebrities are there, I'm a little bit more nervous, you know,
33:02
because you want to do good. Well, do you feel like you're more
33:07
nervous when you had written your own and you start in it or in somebody
33:12
else's music, wise or the well music. I don't even want to touch
33:17
that with, you know. I don't think that there's a problem with you
33:20
no matter where you are seeing because it's just like you just slow, that's
33:24
just like your thing. And to watch them like just it's like when you
33:29
caress that mic, it's like it's just a pillow. Yeah, it's so
33:32
soft, and I'm just looking. I said, I'm feeling this person.
33:38
I'll blowed up in there and not to say I sound good, but I'm
33:42
comfortable in there. But you just seem to be so comfortable just there.
33:45
And even just from the pictures, it's just like it just jumps off at
33:49
you. God, it's just look, guys, she's not paying me to
33:54
say this. I'm not just saying this because she's on here. But you
33:58
have to look at some of the stuff that I you'll see what I'm talking
34:01
about. I posted those for a reason because that's the way that I felt.
34:05
So you you, you will definitely get that same feeling. Are there
34:07
any actors you believe are role models? And it's so, which ones do
34:12
you believe ony role models? For you? I love me some Angela Bassett.
34:15
You know, she she has that grace and and then I love that
34:21
she's not afraid to take on different roads. You know, she's not stereotyped
34:24
into one thing. She can kick tell in one she can be soft like
34:29
a mom, and another she can be rolling on the river, and another
34:30
you know the next one. And I really look up to her. I
34:37
like Taraji as well, Like she don't play, and I believe she's like
34:40
that in person. You know, never met her before, but I believe
34:45
that, like like, I believe that she's extremely down to earth and that
34:52
she will tell you how it is and read you if she needs to read
34:53
you. But she can also you know, be really nice to and stuff.
34:58
And you picked some wonderful one ladies. Yes, I admnd all of
35:01
their work. Yeah, So what makes a performance most believable? Is it
35:06
the script or is it the actor? I think it's the actor, because
35:10
I mean, you can have a great script, but if the actor doesn't
35:15
make the words come alive, then it's not going to portray what you really
35:19
wanted to portray, you know. Now. See for me, when I
35:23
watch certain shows and I say, well, I don't like that person,
35:27
my daughter say, mine, you just hating on I said, no,
35:29
she doesn't realize that I'm saying it because they are so good, they're so
35:31
believable. Yeah, you just don't like them. Yep, that makes it
35:37
great. It does, It makes it, It does, it makes it.
35:40
It makes a difference for me. So you know, I'm gonna pay
35:43
for something. I'm gonna pay and I'm gonna watch something. I don't care
35:46
if I hate you throughout the whole thing because I want to remember you.
35:49
Yep. Let me tell you what's funny about that. They're so in my
35:53
film, of course there's a bad guy, or it's a couple of bad
35:57
guys. But there's this one bad guy that when he came on said he
36:01
was in character before he even got there. So when he walked in,
36:05
he was in his character when he did his lines, he was in his
36:07
character. When he left, he was in his character so much to the
36:12
point that people was like, man, I don't like this dude, thinking
36:15
that that's really how he is. He's nothing like that. So even when
36:17
we did the premiere in this in the movie theater, you know, it's
36:22
more women than men in there. When I say, the ladies were really
36:27
mad at this man, like for real, for real, And I said,
36:30
that means he did his job. That means he did his job to
36:32
give you a reason to Yeah, I want to ask you something and you
36:37
might not answer it, but I'm going to ask you anyway. Okay,
36:39
the boyfriend ever go to the bathroom? When he said I got a peek
36:43
and he was going down the stairs gets shot or blown up in did he
36:52
ever go pig? That's too funny. No, he didn't make it.
36:59
You're gonna make it to the bathroom. Just let it to the bathroom.
37:04
If you had to do a remake of any movie, film, or anything,
37:07
which one would you do? Who would be well, let's just say
37:13
which one would you do? I like the five heartbeats and I love what's
37:17
love got to do with it? I like. I like musical based you
37:21
know, films that I know are have truth in it. I love those
37:24
type of films. I like Cadillac, any of those type of films.
37:28
Put me in it, let me saying, let me act, put me
37:30
there. Yep, you mentioned the five part beats. I love it.
37:35
That's my favorite temptations. I love that type of stuff. What's love got
37:40
to do it? I'm not even gonna say anything about that. I mean
37:45
listening to and I fell apart just recently. I think the world fell apart
37:49
when we lost it, so absolutely, I don't even know what to say
37:52
about that. Sometimes I just want to punch people when I see that,
37:55
like just just to punish them for whatever reason. About and I love it,
38:01
Butter Butterland. I just love it. Butter Butterly. When I saw
38:06
it, I'm like, wait a minute, and I'm looking like, Okay,
38:09
that is her, that's her, and she's waking up, and I'm
38:14
like, Okay, what happened? Did she get lost? What happened?
38:17
Tell me just a little bit about butter butter Land. I love it.
38:22
That's a song and the song is called Strange Love. But she goes into
38:28
she's at her she's at her she's at a picnic in the woods with a
38:32
man, and she ends up falling asleep. And when she wakes up,
38:38
she's in butter butter Land, right and you know, hints but butter.
38:44
So she's in butter butter Land. And so she's now trying to find her
38:47
way through this, through this forest. And I did like an Alice in
38:52
Wonderland type of theme. And so you're right. And so when she touches,
38:57
she touches, she sees a guy in the middle of the woods.
39:00
The microphone. She sees, you know, a whole band in the middle
39:05
of the woods. The mic is not plugged, the music music is coming
39:07
out right, and so she's like, you know, and my dreaming,
39:12
and she touches him. And when she touches him, she goes into the
39:15
whole as well. And then she comes up as a character herself. And
39:21
so thank you. So she's you know, she's hitting it. Thank you,
39:27
thank you, thank you. That was something. Now I'm not going
39:30
to ask you to share the next five years of your life, but can
39:34
you tell us what you're working on now? Okay, yeah, definitely.
39:37
So what I'm working on right right now is I have seven IPS, which
39:43
is intellectual properties that I'm writing my projects on. So I have seven films
39:47
that I'm working on, but I'm writing on two of them currently. And
39:52
in the meantime, I have started with my film production company. We are
39:58
doing screenings. We just had our very first screening this past Wednesday. And
40:02
that is where, you know, the best feeling in the world is to
40:06
see your film in a movie theater, on the big screen, amongst all
40:12
of the big films, you know, and so when I had that experience,
40:16
I wanted to open it up and let other people have that experience that
40:20
might not be able to do that. And so we started doing screenings of
40:24
listening to you know, having people submit their stuff. We picked some amazing
40:30
filmmakers and we just recently, like I said, just had our first event.
40:35
We also had panelists. I had a music supervisor. I had a
40:42
big, big casting director came out. We had he's the third largest film
40:50
production company in Georgia, black Man, and I also had a big actor
40:57
come out that is on The Wonder Years, Bmth The Wire, and so
41:04
you know, we got a chance to not only see these films, but
41:07
we got a chance to get transparent with these panelists and I'm asking them a
41:13
real question, like what how do you really get on these films? You
41:15
know, what are you doing? What sites do we need to go to
41:19
for this cast? And like where are you pulling these people from? And
41:22
how do we get our music on these stuff? So we was asking,
41:24
you know, some real questions for people that are brand new, and even
41:30
if you wasn't brand new, I think people learned a whole lot, you
41:31
know, because you're hearing it straight from the source, you know, type
41:35
of situation. So we opened that up, it went amazing, and now
41:39
our next one is going to be January tenth. As of today, we
41:43
just opened it back up for submissions and the tickets are now back on sale
41:47
and everything, and I already know this one also is going to sell out
41:51
because the first one sold out. I already know it is. So let
41:54
me ask you, are you a quick change artist? Because you're going to
41:59
have to go from changing from one wardrobe for the Emmy, for your Grammy,
42:04
for your Oscar, for your Tony. So you're gonna be changing quickly
42:07
and that's gonna be your year. I see it, I see it happen.
42:09
You know, I am a quick changer. I do. Uh,
42:14
I do cruise lines, right, I seen on cruise lines as a guest
42:19
entertainer, and we do have to do quick changes. Ironically, on the
42:22
side of the stage, we have our dresses already ready opened up, and
42:28
literally all we're doing is stepping in, taking the next one off and getting
42:30
back on stage and you know, getting the show on. So yeah,
42:35
I think I can click change with it, and I you too. You're
42:37
gonna need to because it's gonna be happening. So them flights, red eyes
42:40
and everything else, get that stick because you can be going from place to
42:44
place. I received that. Thank you. I receive it. And it's
42:46
funny that you said that because I had I had an interview earlier today and
42:52
she was asking me, you know, where do I see myself? And
42:55
you know, what are my goals? And I said, my goals is
42:59
the Emmy, the Oscar, the Grammy, Like I see that for myself,
43:04
and you have to see the stuff, you know, you got to
43:07
see yourself where you want to be. And so to hear you also say
43:10
that, I receive it. Well, you know what, once that happens,
43:14
people are gonna be breaking your door down to get the interview. I
43:16
got the first one right now, So that's it. Damn the first one.
43:22
So now y'all are all second. When did you realize that you made
43:27
it? Mm hmm. So that's that's a that's a tough question for me
43:30
because I don't feel like I've made it. I feel like i've I've I've
43:36
had milestones, you know, stepping stones. But everybody has a goal,
43:40
and but you're never content with the goal because if you don't continue to grow,
43:45
you're stagnant. Right, So I might accomplish one thing that I had
43:51
on my bucket list, but then now my eyesight is set for something else,
43:54
because you should always want to strive for more, you know, to
44:00
And so I don't feel like I've made it. I feel like I'm just
44:04
touching the surface. Well, you know that was gonna be my next question.
44:07
What advice would you give to someone who want to walk in your steps?
44:10
Oh? Man, you know what, it's just to start, you
44:15
know, because fear can stop you from everything. When years ago I had
44:20
two deals on the table, one with Warner and one with Warner Brothers and
44:24
one with Sony, and I ended up getting into a car accident, and
44:28
that car accident left me drinking from a straw for six months. It took
44:30
me a year to come back out, and when I came back out,
44:32
the deals were no longer on the table. And then I went to the
44:37
third label that was interested in me, and they told me I was too
44:39
old. I'm eighteen years old at this time, but at that time they
44:43
were signing, they had just start signing the Brittain Spears, you know,
44:45
the twelve and thirteen year old that was the big thing at that moment.
44:50
And so I really thought that I had, you know, missed the boat.
44:54
I went and got a job, got married, had kids because I
44:57
thought I missed the boat. And then it had to be it was something
45:00
inside of me that had that finally said you can't let somebody else, version
45:07
or opinion dictate who you are. You know what I mean. If you
45:10
want to write that book, if you want to do that song, you
45:14
want to get that job, whatever you want to do, go for it
45:15
because nobody else is going to live your life but you. So true,
45:20
so true. We sat here and we learned about butterby Rocketter, actress,
45:23
singer and producer. I want to go behind the scenes of Alithia Robinson.
45:30
Uh oh, loo's a perfect Friday night for you. Oh man. Anytime
45:34
with my kids and my husband is perfect. And I like looking at movies,
45:39
but now I look at movies a little different because I'm looking at the
45:42
lighting and I'm looking at I'm looking at all. Right, be a critic,
45:46
you could, but those are perfect. Anytime I can I can be
45:51
with my family is perfect for me. Wow. Now you've done it all.
45:57
But there must be something that you wanted to do that you haven't done
46:00
yet, that you didn't get a chance to do. What would that be?
46:02
I want to I want to start on some major films, you know,
46:07
not just my own films and not not indie films. I'm ready to
46:12
start in some major films. I'm looking forward to that. I know it's
46:14
going to happen, you know, very soon. Eventually. I'm putting it
46:17
out there in the atmosphere. And like I said, I'm definitely I still
46:22
have in my vision the Grammys, the Oscars, the Emmys, the Telly
46:25
Awards. I'm going for it all. Like I'm I'm going for it all.
46:30
Well, you got it all. I see that. Tell me about
46:34
the three most influential people in your life and how they impacted you. Mm
46:38
hm. Honestly, the most influential people in my life would be my mom,
46:44
who is a go getter all by herself. This lady is back in
46:50
college. I swear she's she's been in college like forever, but she didn't
46:52
went to school like she didn't got so many degrees, it's ridiculous. But
46:57
when she was getting her degrees, my grandmother she was going back and forth
47:00
to Kentucky. My grandmother had passed my granddaddy. In the timeframe of her
47:06
getting her degree, she had lost her brother, she had lost her sister,
47:09
her mam and her within the four years, right, but she maintained
47:15
her grades and was working at a hospital and you know hospital hours, it's
47:19
like twelve sixteen hours. And she maintained her grades, she stayed the course
47:24
and she's still you know, graduated Magnan kun Lottie. So she's always been
47:30
Okay. Yeah, I definitely get I definitely get it from my mama.
47:34
And then my boys, I mean they have, oh my god, they
47:38
have that tennacty about themselves. You know that they just going for it and
47:44
I love to see them just walking their own purpose. And then my husband,
47:46
like, he is just super awesome. He's he's doing so many amazing
47:52
things all by himself. So I look up to him when I see him
47:55
doing all of the things that he's doing. So yeah, oh wow.
48:01
Now you also have that teen magazine. Are your boys involved in that?
48:06
Yes, it's their magazine. It's called Defining Ones teen magazine, And I
48:10
was involved in it when you know, when we first started it and we
48:15
was trying to figure out how to do magazines and stuff like that, and
48:19
then they start taking it over and they it's it's uh, it's been We
48:24
have people that come from Nickelodeon, that come from Yeah, we have all
48:32
these big celebrities that have been in the magazine. But what makes the magazine
48:37
special to me is that at that time because now it's doing a little transition
48:43
because they're not teenagers anymore. They're both in college and stuff and they're older
48:46
or they're twenty and twenty two. But when we started it, they were
48:50
teenagers. And so the magazine not only does it features as celebrities, but
48:55
they talk about sex trafficking, they talk about the mental health and wellness of
49:01
teens, they talk about financial literacy for teens, you know, they talk
49:07
about all these things that you really don't usually talk about. They talk about,
49:12
Okay, your GPA and you know, you can have you can have
49:15
all of these you can be the best track star. But if that g
49:17
p A ain't right, you know, you're getting to know d one school,
49:21
you know. So they talk about all these different types of things and
49:25
I love that. And then, like I said, we started having all
49:29
these companies started contacting us to be featured in it, and we even had
49:34
the Miami Dolphins. Alan Horn was featured in it. So yeah, well
49:39
I implored them because young men don't usually touch on some of those mental health,
49:45
right, you don't human trafficking, ye, we talk about that,
49:51
so you know that they don't usually do that. But for it to be
49:53
coming from males yep, and black males that that black males that are that
50:00
aren't out there in the world doing the craziness because you know, uh,
50:02
sometimes what you see on TV you only see us in one light, and
50:07
they're not doing that. You know, they're entrepreneurs and they're they're showing that
50:14
they can work together because you know, men usually don't work together, and
50:17
they're showing brotherly love and then they're showing a positive image and that's things that
50:22
we need. And so the goal of the magazine is to get into the
50:27
different juvenile detention centers and even in the jails, because like I said,
50:31
they are transitioning. So it's gone from just being Defiant One's Team magazine to
50:37
now it's about to be Defiant One's Magazine. So you know they're in a
50:42
transition transition stage because my oldest son, he's third year in college and my
50:47
youngest son is just turned twenty, so you know they're not teens. You
50:53
know me and now so you know James a little bit, both of you.
51:00
Thank you. If you had to write a book about your life,
51:01
what would the title be? Who would you play? Who would you like
51:06
to play you? And who would be your leading man? You know that
51:10
that's some of this stuff right there that is really good. Okay, my
51:17
title would be my title would probably be the Comeback Kids, because it's been
51:30
so many. It's been so many. It's been so many you know,
51:36
trials and your relations setbacks, like it's been so many, and I've always
51:43
believed that it you know, like Les Brown said, is if you if
51:45
you can look up, you can get up. I really do believe that.
51:47
And you know, I'll get I'll get knocked down, and then I
51:51
have to dust it off. I might have to sit there for a minute
51:52
and catch my breath, but I'll get back up and then I come back
51:55
stronger because I learned from it. It's like, okay, all right,
51:59
I'm ready for the next week. I'm ready now. You ain't gonna catch
52:01
me slipping this next time, so it'd be called come back kid. And
52:06
who would I have played me? Hmm, I don't know who ever have
52:13
played me? If I'm being very honest with you, the man who would
52:17
I want? Man, I don't know. I don't know. I guess
52:27
you have with the person who's gonna play you. Because some people don't tell
52:31
together on the on the screen. They don't. They're good people, but
52:35
they don't look like the people that would be together. Yeah, yeah,
52:38
yeah, that's honest. Thank you so much, Butterby Rocker. It was
52:43
more than a pleasure to sit here and talk to you. Thank you.
52:45
I appreciate I appreciate your show. I had a really good time, and
52:50
you asked some you asked some really great questions, like questions that are not
52:54
basic questions you know that really make me think and be like hmm okay,
52:59
so I appreciate that. Well, thank you for sharing your journey and doing
53:04
all that you do. You're just you're doing it all. How where can
53:07
people contact you or connect with you? That is easy? Butterby RockA everywhere
53:13
Literally bu Tta b r Ocka. You are not on my website, you
53:20
can find me on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram. Everything is butterby RockA.
53:23
I made it easy. Well, if you're interested in a song, you
53:29
already know where to go. If you're just sitting back on one of those
53:31
rainy days, you know what you can watch. And if you just want
53:36
to thumb throw a magazine, her boys got you. We all have goals
53:39
in life, things that we dream of doing or being. They may be
53:44
small, or they may requie years of work. Don't dream your dream,
53:47
just live your dream. Maybe a butter butter Man. Join us on Friday,
53:53
November seventeenth, when we are uniting youth and we're also uniting African American
54:00
entrepreneurs. So buy black from the end, support black businesses here on Basic
54:05
Black after Dark at APM. Thank you so much for having me. Basic
54:15
Black after Dark The all new podcast show with your host, Black Diamond