Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Andra Day Talks New Album Cassandra (Cherith),' Super Bowl Performance, Billie Holiday + More

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INTERVIEW: Andra Day Talks New Album Cassandra (Cherith),' Super Bowl Performance, Billie Holiday + More · The Breakfast Club

0:00
Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club Morning.
0:05
Speaker 1: Everybody's the j Envy Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the Guy. We
0:09
Speaker 1: are the Breakfast Club. You got a special guest in
0:11
Speaker 1: the building this morning and your day. Welcome.
0:14
Speaker 2: How are you good?
0:16
Speaker 3: I'm good, I'm blessed, Thank you, thank you.
0:18
Speaker 2: No new album, Cassandra, Yes, how you feeling.
0:21
Speaker 3: I'm good. I'm excited about it, I think.
0:24
Speaker 4: I mean, it comes with like the same nerves you
0:26
Speaker 4: know that a lot of things come with because I
0:28
Speaker 4: had a heavier hand in producing this record, you know,
0:30
Speaker 4: I just I wanted to kind of guide the creative
0:32
Speaker 4: direction a little bit more. But I'm excited about it. It
0:35
Speaker 4: feels like a like a like the name was appropriate,
0:38
Speaker 4: you know what I mean. I feel like I've been
0:39
Speaker 4: multiple people in the last few years because of a
0:42
Speaker 4: lot of different things, and so it felt appropriate.
0:45
Speaker 3: I'm excited. I'm definitely excited. Yeah.
0:47
Speaker 5: And it's after that and Cassandra's your real name? Yeah,
0:49
Speaker 5: So is this album about you? Like how personal it is?
0:52
Speaker 3: It's about me. It's also me kind of like showing up.
0:55
Speaker 4: It's me forgiving myself, I think in a way that
0:57
Speaker 4: I've not before you know, and going through like you know,
1:02
Speaker 4: love and love loss. You know, I think that, Like
1:05
Speaker 4: I said, I feel like I've been a lot of
1:06
Speaker 4: different versions of me.
1:07
Speaker 3: The movies had a lot to do with that as
1:09
Speaker 3: well to relationships.
1:10
Speaker 4: You know, I had a lot to do with that,
1:12
Speaker 4: And so I feel like I'm always trying to figure
1:15
Speaker 4: out how to show up the right way, you know
1:17
Speaker 4: what I mean, to show up, like, oh, take the
1:19
Speaker 4: high road to take so on this album good luck right, yeah, exactly,
1:23
Speaker 4: on this album, I was like, nah, you know, like
1:25
Speaker 4: for me this record, usually I'm like, it's okay, try
1:28
Speaker 4: to be accountable and figured it out.
1:29
Speaker 3: On this record, there's a lot of like, nah, it's your.
1:31
Speaker 4: Fault, you eat that, you know what I mean. So,
1:33
Speaker 4: I don't know, I'm just being very forgiving with myself
1:35
Speaker 4: in this record.
1:36
Speaker 1: You know what do you mean? Forgiven?
1:38
Speaker 4: Allowing myself to feel Oftentimes, if I'm frustrated or I'm angry,
1:42
Speaker 4: or I'm hurt, or I'm disappointed by something or a
1:45
Speaker 4: broken heart or whatever it is, or just I'm not
1:47
Speaker 4: getting along with people, I'm always trying to figure out, well,
1:50
Speaker 4: you must have done something right. You're the common denominator
1:53
Speaker 4: you know, like I kind of have this fear of
1:55
Speaker 4: not seeing myself, you know what I'm saying, because like
1:58
Speaker 4: and so I'm always trying to figure out, you know, okay,
2:00
Speaker 4: what did you do?
2:01
Speaker 3: How did you contribute to that?
2:02
Speaker 4: How did you And so I think for the first time,
2:04
Speaker 4: I'm like, yo, it's okay, Like you're you don't like
2:07
Speaker 4: this person.
2:07
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying.
2:08
Speaker 4: You don't like what it is they bring it to
2:09
Speaker 4: the table, This did not work out. You're mad at them,
2:12
Speaker 4: You're hurt, you know, and like it's okay to express that.
2:15
Speaker 4: So I've actually struggled with that probably for most.
2:17
Speaker 1: Of my life, you know what I mean.
2:18
Speaker 6: I think one of the biggest issues is if you
2:21
Speaker 6: keep attracting I guess fucked up people, you start looking
2:25
Speaker 6: inward to see what is it about you that keeps
2:28
Speaker 6: attracting these type of people, which.
2:30
Speaker 4: I think is like I don't know that that's fully unhealthy, right,
2:33
Speaker 4: because you do want to figure out, like what is
2:35
Speaker 4: the thing? You know what I'm saying, that's like drawing
2:38
Speaker 4: this type of person to me. But what I don't
2:40
Speaker 4: want to do is take on their things anymore, you
2:43
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying. That's the thing I'm always trying
2:45
Speaker 4: to it's okay. So now I'm just like, it's not okay.
2:48
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, how many f people have their
2:50
Speaker 1: been and it seems like it's just been one. It
2:53
Speaker 1: seems like it's been numerous.
2:55
Speaker 3: I mean, I could be the common denominator. Yeah, yeah,
3:00
Speaker 3: for sure.
3:00
Speaker 4: But you know, and that's why I say, I'm like,
3:02
Speaker 4: I mean, it's not like it's been I have a
3:03
Speaker 4: lot of really good people in my life too, you
3:05
Speaker 4: know what I mean. But yeah, it's kind of that
3:08
Speaker 4: imposter syndrome thing I think a little bit. So yeah,
3:11
Speaker 4: I for good people in my life. But yeah, and
3:14
Speaker 4: it's been nine years. Nine years. I didn't plan okay, okay,
3:19
Speaker 4: I didn't plan that, you know. I was like, it's
3:22
Speaker 4: funny because they asked me. I remember in the beginning
3:24
Speaker 4: when I first signed to the label. They were like,
3:26
Speaker 4: whose career do you want to emulate?
3:27
Speaker 3: You know, they asked you, like weird?
3:29
Speaker 4: I didn't actually right, I actually said, I was like, oh,
3:36
Speaker 4: you know, I think I just was people that I love.
3:39
Speaker 4: I actually said Shade and they were like, you know,
3:40
Speaker 4: she only releases albums like every like nine years. I
3:43
Speaker 4: was like, I'm gonna release more albums. I'll do like
3:45
Speaker 4: every two to three years. So it just ended up
3:47
Speaker 4: working out like that because of the movies and because
3:49
Speaker 4: of like, you know what I'm saying this, I'm slow verned,
3:52
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying, Like, I'm really detail oriented.
3:55
Speaker 3: I can procrastinate because I can be a perfectionist. So
3:57
Speaker 3: it's like you know all those things. Yeah, and that's fine.
4:00
Speaker 5: You have a project on the record empty Yeah, right,
4:05
Speaker 5: and you say I'm running on empty. I can't give
4:08
Speaker 5: you what it says. I can't give love until my
4:12
Speaker 5: cup is full.
4:13
Speaker 1: Break that downes.
4:14
Speaker 3: Speak to what you were just saying.
4:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, And I think that's like I said, that's
4:18
Speaker 4: the season that I'm in, so empty is It's exactly
4:22
Speaker 4: I mean at first, I really wrote it for the
4:23
Speaker 4: ladies because like we are constantly pouring out, we are
4:26
Speaker 4: constantly giving. But I said, what everybody's you know, tank
4:29
Speaker 4: is on the everybody's cup cup becomes empty.
4:33
Speaker 3: Yeah.
4:33
Speaker 4: It really is just about just saying like things that
4:37
Speaker 4: people know, you know, like I can't show up and
4:39
Speaker 4: be my best self. I can't actually help, I can't serve.
4:41
Speaker 4: I can't until I actually fill me up, you know
4:43
Speaker 4: what I'm saying, like, which is a concept I think
4:46
Speaker 4: that can feel selfish sometimes, you know what I mean, Like.
4:49
Speaker 3: I grew up in church.
4:50
Speaker 4: You know, I don't know about anybody else who I
4:52
Speaker 4: grew up in church, and some of those themes, like
4:53
Speaker 4: taking care of yourself first are kind of looked down upon,
4:57
Speaker 4: you know, But I think as you get older, you
4:59
Speaker 4: begin to understand, no, I need to be full of,
5:01
Speaker 4: like spiritually all these things before I can actually do that.
5:03
Speaker 4: So yeah, I mean, it's also about a relationship to like,
5:06
Speaker 4: you know this person who just wants so much, you
5:09
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying from you, But it's like and
5:11
Speaker 4: realizing too, like you know, this person, this this dude
5:14
Speaker 4: that I was talking to, you're not pouring into me,
5:16
Speaker 4: you know the way I'm pouring into you. So it's
5:18
Speaker 4: really about taking your space and your time and accepting
5:22
Speaker 4: the fact that, like the scary part about doing that
5:24
Speaker 4: is that you can lose people sometimes, you know what
5:26
Speaker 4: I mean. Like when you're actually taking your space and
5:29
Speaker 4: stepping into your power and taking time to fill up,
5:31
Speaker 4: it's foreign.
5:32
Speaker 3: Like people get comfortable with you functioning.
5:34
Speaker 4: A certain way that helps and serves them and so
5:38
Speaker 4: you know, the scary part for me is like I
5:39
Speaker 4: don't want to lose people, but sometimes you have to
5:42
Speaker 4: be willing for them to grow and for you to grow,
5:43
Speaker 4: you know. So that's exactly right. I'm glad you resonated
5:46
Speaker 4: with that. That's cool.
5:47
Speaker 6: Now you talk about the nine years, right, and you're
5:49
Speaker 6: making a personal album, like you're so many different people
5:52
Speaker 6: within nine years.
5:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so many different seasons, like how do you?
5:56
Speaker 2: How do you?
5:57
Speaker 6: And you had to make more than one project or
5:59
Speaker 6: maybe project took a bunch of different lives.
6:01
Speaker 4: And no, you're right about that. Actually, because we do.
6:03
Speaker 4: We have a lot of songs, you know what I mean.
6:05
Speaker 4: I mean fifteen of them. Technically it's reads of sixteen
6:09
Speaker 4: made the record, but it's a lot, you know what
6:10
Speaker 4: I'm saying. And I think for me, once we kind
6:13
Speaker 4: of came down to putting the record together, it was
6:16
Speaker 4: just about what songs still stand, you know what I'm saying,
6:18
Speaker 4: What songs still represent me, what songs still feel like timeless?
6:22
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying.
6:23
Speaker 4: But you're right, you are a lot of different people
6:26
Speaker 4: in nine years. Relationships change you, you know what I'm saying,
6:28
Speaker 4: Like relationships that her relationships where I made mistakes and
6:32
Speaker 4: I'm like, oh, I've learned from that. The movie definitely
6:35
Speaker 4: changed me. Really, Holiday had a huge impact in my life.
6:39
Speaker 3: Her toxic iss you had to be.
6:42
Speaker 4: My god, you know what I will say, though, I
6:43
Speaker 4: will say toxic and beautiful, both very much. You know
6:46
Speaker 4: what I'm saying, Like we don't we do understand, but
6:49
Speaker 4: like women of that time, black women of that time,
6:52
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, so many limited options, and
6:54
Speaker 4: people really hated her because she was like those options.
6:58
Speaker 3: Nah, you know what I'm saying.
6:59
Speaker 4: Like she has a quote where she said like I
7:01
Speaker 4: don't want to be anybody's damn maide, you know what
7:03
Speaker 4: I mean.
7:03
Speaker 3: And that always really stuck with me.
7:05
Speaker 4: So it was not just like her the drugs and
7:08
Speaker 4: the but it was like the government hounding her. But
7:11
Speaker 4: the other intoxicating thing for me was how people loved her,
7:14
Speaker 4: like they were very, very attracted to her, you know.
7:17
Speaker 4: So that transformed me. I lost a relationship because it
7:20
Speaker 4: because I changed drastically, you know what I'm saying. When
7:22
Speaker 4: I came back, things were the same and and so
7:25
Speaker 4: not that he did anything wrong, he was amazing, you know,
7:27
Speaker 4: but but I had changed.
7:29
Speaker 3: And characters because it was how she loved too. Yeah,
7:33
Speaker 3: and that actually infiltrated in my life.
7:35
Speaker 4: It had to, you know what I mean. So I
7:38
Speaker 4: was definitely changed by that. And you'll hear some of
7:40
Speaker 4: that on the record too, and and so, and there's
7:42
Speaker 4: a few other movies we did, Lee and I filmed
7:44
Speaker 4: another one called The Deliverance. We filmed another one with
7:47
Speaker 4: Titus called Exhibiting Forgiveness. So all of that information, you know,
7:53
Speaker 4: And like I said, love gained, love loss, my relationship
7:56
Speaker 4: with God growing and changing, like it's a lot of
7:59
Speaker 4: different people.
8:00
Speaker 3: Hopefully it just jels when y'all hear it.
8:01
Speaker 1: But yeah, so this is the first time you're up here.
8:04
Speaker 1: So for people that don't know, how did you get
8:06
Speaker 1: into this entertainment world? I know you started out out
8:09
Speaker 1: of high school, started doing all types of odd jobs. Yes,
8:13
Speaker 1: from some of that.
8:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I'm my god. I was talking about this
8:16
Speaker 3: the other night too.
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Speaker 4: I've had like twenty five jobs, and I feel like
8:19
Speaker 4: when people check your references, that's a lie because like
8:21
Speaker 4: they would stop hiring me after like job twelve thirteen.
8:25
Speaker 4: But yeah, so it was I've always wanted to do this,
8:28
Speaker 4: Like this has always been I went to performing arts school,
8:30
Speaker 4: you know, and so but for me, it was really
8:33
Speaker 4: deciding like do I want to do Broadway, you know,
8:37
Speaker 4: cause that's kind of what the school trained you for,
8:40
Speaker 4: or do I actually want to be like an artist?
8:41
Speaker 4: And then, you know, around sixteen, I feel like I
8:43
Speaker 4: finally decided like, Okay, recording music is what I actually
8:46
Speaker 4: want to do, and you an artists create kind of
8:48
Speaker 4: my own you know what I'm saying journey, and so
8:52
Speaker 4: I just I was you know, it's so funny.
8:54
Speaker 3: Sometimes it's hard to you know.
8:56
Speaker 4: Somebody said to me the other day, you didn't skip
8:58
Speaker 4: any steps, and I'm like, yeah, definitely, no step skipped.
9:01
Speaker 2: But you wanted to though I definitely wanted to.
9:04
Speaker 4: I don't want to write out right, so no, but
9:09
Speaker 4: it was so it was everything, I mean, working regular jobs,
9:12
Speaker 4: you know, I did everything from like cleaning old apartments
9:15
Speaker 4: that people moved out of paper route like an account manager,
9:19
Speaker 4: you know too.
9:20
Speaker 3: I used to I used to show up to kids
9:23
Speaker 3: birthday parties.
9:24
Speaker 1: As like entertainment.
9:26
Speaker 4: Entertainment, yeah exactly, which, to be honest with you, at
9:28
Speaker 4: the time, I was like this is like, you know, yeah,
9:31
Speaker 4: the kids I played Elmo, I played Jesus. I played
9:34
Speaker 4: Mickey Mouse.
9:35
Speaker 3: I played the voices and everything I had to do.
9:37
Speaker 3: The voice.
9:39
Speaker 4: Oh, I don't even remember the Elmo voice. I know
9:41
Speaker 4: the mini voice was like it was like a last
9:45
Speaker 4: I was going from last night.
9:47
Speaker 3: No I didn't.
9:48
Speaker 4: I got high when I got there, you know, you
9:52
Speaker 4: know what. I can't No, no, no, I can't do that. No,
9:55
Speaker 4: I'm like.
9:55
Speaker 3: One of those people. You never want to be high with.
9:58
Speaker 4: Me, Like I realiz is that early on any through
10:01
Speaker 4: the roof and we would be like, I love to
10:03
Speaker 4: smoke with you, and they'd be like, oh my god, no,
10:06
Speaker 4: never mind never but no, I so I would. That
10:09
Speaker 4: was actually one of my probably most memorable jobs, because honestly,
10:13
Speaker 4: kids sometimes aren't that excited to see you pop up,
10:16
Speaker 4: you know what I mean. Like, they had a birthday
10:18
Speaker 4: party for a one year old one time and they
10:19
Speaker 4: hired me, and I was like, this is amazing, first kid,
10:22
Speaker 4: kids are gonna love me.
10:23
Speaker 3: Wow, amazing. And I walked in. They started screaming because.
10:26
Speaker 4: They hired a seven foot rap for a one year
10:28
Speaker 4: old's birthday party.
10:31
Speaker 3: I was reiny, like, I was like, so they were
10:33
Speaker 3: super terrified.
10:34
Speaker 4: So yeah, I mean I did a lot of jobs,
10:36
Speaker 4: and then I was doing shows as well too, and
10:39
Speaker 4: recording music, just trying to get in every studio, every
10:41
Speaker 4: little hood studio I could, you know what I'm saying,
10:43
Speaker 4: and just meet people record music and work with them,
10:46
Speaker 4: and and and then I finally got this like demo teon,
10:50
Speaker 4: you know, because we were burning CDs at the time,
10:52
Speaker 4: we had to go to Kinko's and get all your
10:54
Speaker 4: artwork rented. And so I would do shows at Mission Beach,
11:00
Speaker 4: which was like a beach in San Diego, fro and
11:02
Speaker 4: I would pass out like CDs and all that stuff. Well,
11:05
Speaker 4: I was trying to sell them at first, but nobody
11:06
Speaker 4: will buy them, so I just had to exactly, I'll
11:09
Speaker 4: just just listen, you know. And then eventually there was
11:12
Speaker 4: like this kind of local sort of manager there.
11:14
Speaker 3: He was working with artists and so he was helping
11:17
Speaker 3: me do some things.
11:18
Speaker 4: And and then I ended up meeting this other manager
11:23
Speaker 4: in LA because I would come up to LA to
11:26
Speaker 4: try and do like shows or just like you know,
11:27
Speaker 4: at the time, it's like you want to get into
11:29
Speaker 4: parties when you're young. You just think if I can
11:31
Speaker 4: get in the face of this person, then I could
11:33
Speaker 4: get their attention. Or whatever, so you don't realize it
11:35
Speaker 4: doesn't exactly work like that, but sometimes it can. So
11:38
Speaker 4: I'll try to get up to parties, you know what
11:40
Speaker 4: I'm saying, Like artists would have parties. Try to get
11:42
Speaker 4: in and give them my CD or just their tour
11:44
Speaker 4: bus will be there and you try to give it
11:45
Speaker 4: to the security and you know, all.
11:47
Speaker 2: Things that.
11:49
Speaker 4: Everything, you know what I'm saying. Definitely like on the street, yeah,
11:53
Speaker 4: all of that. So like, and then finally I got
11:55
Speaker 4: in the hands of like this one manager who was
11:58
Speaker 4: one of the people he was talking about. But but
12:02
Speaker 4: the good thing that did come from it is after
12:04
Speaker 4: all those years, I sang in a strip mall, actually
12:06
Speaker 4: in this little strip mall, and they just recorded it
12:09
Speaker 4: in front of a shoe store. And then he found
12:13
Speaker 4: himself in a pastry shop with Stevie Wonder's wife at
12:15
Speaker 4: the time.
12:15
Speaker 3: It was Kyle Miller.
12:16
Speaker 4: Morris was amazing, and she heard it and she was like, Wow,
12:19
Speaker 4: I really like her voice. I like her sound. It's
12:21
Speaker 4: so different. She's like, I want to play it for
12:23
Speaker 4: my husband. He's like, who to your husband? She said
12:25
Speaker 4: to Stevie Wondering, So she played it for him. He
12:27
Speaker 4: loved the sound, and then they orchestrated a call and like,
12:30
Speaker 4: y'all when I tell you, I was like, well, it's
12:32
Speaker 4: just like one of those like when worlds collide.
12:34
Speaker 1: You know. No, he didn't shut up, man, what's wrong
12:39
Speaker 1: with you? Man, I'm trying.
12:42
Speaker 4: He got a good sense of humor about that, so
12:44
Speaker 4: that's good. But yeah, no, so I was it was
12:49
Speaker 4: like the world's collided. Like I was living with my
12:52
Speaker 4: mom at the time in this tiny, little like studio
12:54
Speaker 4: one bedroom apartment behind seven to eleven next to a dumpster,
12:58
Speaker 4: like and it was I mean, this apartment was just
13:01
Speaker 4: like no square foot and then he calls, and it's
13:04
Speaker 4: just like the biggest name in the world to me called,
13:06
Speaker 4: and you know what I mean, he talked about he
13:08
Speaker 4: did talk about my sign. He was asking me, like
13:10
Speaker 4: you know what I was, And he talked about a
13:13
Speaker 4: song he wanted to write at the time, and then
13:15
Speaker 4: asked me about my music and if I was intentional
13:18
Speaker 4: at the time, I was making songs that were like
13:20
Speaker 4: like it was kind of retro pop sound, and I
13:23
Speaker 4: was making songs that were like maybe two minutes max.
13:25
Speaker 3: Because like all those old records used to be real
13:27
Speaker 3: short like.
13:28
Speaker 4: That, and so he picked up on that and it
13:32
Speaker 4: didn't work out at the time. And I always share
13:34
Speaker 4: the story so people know, like you'll have moments like this,
13:37
Speaker 4: but like just you never know what's actually happening behind
13:39
Speaker 4: the scenes.
13:40
Speaker 1: So you thought you made it. He was like, I
13:41
Speaker 1: just spoke to Steve.
13:42
Speaker 4: Landaw, but then I heard when I heard back from
13:44
Speaker 4: the manager that I was working with at the time,
13:45
Speaker 4: he was like, Hey, they didn't really like you. United
13:48
Speaker 4: it sounded like they did, but he was like, they
13:49
Speaker 4: didn't really like you. You weren't really good enough. You didn't
13:52
Speaker 4: you know, speak well enough, all of the things, and yeah,
13:55
Speaker 4: all this stuff. Yeah, and so but I found out
13:58
Speaker 4: a year later when him and I saw working together.
14:01
Speaker 4: Kai and Stevie reached out again and we're like, hey,
14:03
Speaker 4: we just wanted to check and see are you still
14:05
Speaker 4: working with that guy blah blah blah, And I said no.
14:07
Speaker 3: They said, we held on to your information. So they
14:09
Speaker 3: brought me up.
14:10
Speaker 4: And told me that that he asked for I think
14:12
Speaker 4: he said twenty or fifty something like that, one thousand
14:14
Speaker 4: dollars in order for me to actually just get in
14:16
Speaker 4: the studio and wow, and that they had to pay
14:18
Speaker 4: him that before I could get with them, and that's
14:21
Speaker 4: what made them be like the businesses, let me move on.
14:24
Speaker 4: But fortunately God's so amazing and put on Yeah literally, yeah,
14:28
Speaker 4: so that's exactly so, you know, for me, it was
14:30
Speaker 4: just a closed door, keep keep grinding, keep ustling that.
14:33
Speaker 1: Yeah.
14:33
Speaker 3: So I saw I say like, I would share that
14:35
Speaker 3: because I'm like.
14:35
Speaker 4: You just never actually know what's happening behind the scenes,
14:38
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. Yeah, So that was a
14:39
Speaker 4: part of how everything kicked off.
14:41
Speaker 2: What have you learned from Stevie wanted?
14:43
Speaker 6: Because sadly, Stevie's one of those people that nobody's gonna
14:46
Speaker 6: truly appreciate that he's no longer you think, so really
14:48
Speaker 6: absolutely fully fully like that man can be celebrated in
14:52
Speaker 6: a whole different way.
14:55
Speaker 4: It's actually funny you say that, because I think I
14:57
Speaker 4: see him like that all the time, you know what
14:59
Speaker 4: I'm saying. But it's only like recently where sometimes I
15:02
Speaker 4: run into people they're like, oh, yeah, okay, you know
15:04
Speaker 4: what I mean.
15:04
Speaker 3: I'm kind of like, I don't.
15:05
Speaker 4: I've always seen him like that because we grew up
15:07
Speaker 4: with him, you know what I'm saying, Like, and so,
15:09
Speaker 4: and he was one of my dad's favorite singers, my
15:12
Speaker 4: favorite singer. So I've learned. I've actually learned quite a
15:16
Speaker 4: bit from him. I will say, I think the thing
15:19
Speaker 4: I've learned the most from him is less about what
15:23
Speaker 4: he says, even though he does say this, and more
15:24
Speaker 4: about how he moves, you know, what it is to
15:27
Speaker 4: stay hungry like always always you know him and I
15:30
Speaker 4: actually went to well, myself and his family we went
15:33
Speaker 4: to like brunch you know, a while back.
15:35
Speaker 3: It was like right after church.
15:36
Speaker 4: And it's funny because he was working on music, you
15:40
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying at the time, and so he
15:43
Speaker 4: had his headphones. He always keeps it on him, just
15:45
Speaker 4: like listening, you know, And so he sits down and
15:48
Speaker 4: he tells me, he puts in my face. He was like,
15:50
Speaker 4: you know, Andrew, I really want you to listen to this,
15:52
Speaker 4: like tell me what you think. And he was so nervous,
15:54
Speaker 4: like genuinely you know what I'm saying, and like really
15:57
Speaker 4: asking my opinion, which you know when certain people, for
16:00
Speaker 4: your you're like, why we don't do like you have
16:03
Speaker 4: done this to the highest level and the highest degree,
16:06
Speaker 4: like you said, your whole life since you was what nine,
16:09
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying, but he's still like, I
16:12
Speaker 4: just don't know if it'll resonate with people, if they'll
16:14
Speaker 4: like it. And and I just thought it was really
16:15
Speaker 4: beautiful in that moment, like his humility of like wonder
16:19
Speaker 4: how people receive this and how they'll like it. And
16:21
Speaker 4: so he's really taught me to just always stay hungry,
16:23
Speaker 4: you know, to not let it cripple you, but to
16:25
Speaker 4: always have.
16:25
Speaker 3: That those butterflies a little bit about what you do.
16:28
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, it's probably are you keep
16:29
Speaker 2: that longevity?
16:30
Speaker 4: VI?
16:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, asking those kind of questions thinks so exactly.
16:33
Speaker 4: I think once you feel like you got it, you
16:34
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying, Like, you know, it's good to
16:36
Speaker 4: be confident, but time changes constantly, seasons change, tastes changed
16:40
Speaker 4: so much, you know so, And I think as artists,
16:43
Speaker 4: if we're truly being ourselves, we have to evolve, otherwise
16:45
Speaker 4: you can't live.
16:46
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying, What did.
16:48
Speaker 6: You learn about yourself and lose about yourself playing Billy Holliday?
16:52
Speaker 3: Oo hmm.
16:55
Speaker 4: I learned about myself that I'm a lot more like her,
16:57
Speaker 4: maybe in ways that I wouldn't necessarily want to be.
17:01
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying, like I'm actually I learned
17:03
Speaker 4: good things and I learned bad things, right, Like one
17:06
Speaker 4: of the tougher things to deal is that, like I'm
17:08
Speaker 4: not good with relationships, you know what I'm saying, I
17:10
Speaker 4: don't make good decisions.
17:11
Speaker 3: I can be very selfish, you know what I'm saying.
17:13
Speaker 4: Like, And so I think that was It's funny because
17:19
Speaker 4: I feel like a lot of that I put down
17:20
Speaker 4: before the movie, but I had to reopen a lot
17:23
Speaker 4: of that. And acting is very interesting because people think
17:27
Speaker 4: that you're like pretending, right, you're faking, you're acting, you're
17:29
Speaker 4: putting on a show. I think if you really really
17:32
Speaker 4: want to do well, you actually have to be more
17:34
Speaker 4: honest with yourself. Then most people are comfortable being you
17:37
Speaker 4: know what I mean. And I learned that from Tasha
17:39
Speaker 4: and from Lee. So playing Billy just it showed me that, like, yeah,
17:44
Speaker 4: we're not different from her, right, she came from a
17:46
Speaker 4: different time period, she didn't, but she was still a
17:48
Speaker 4: woman who wanted love, you know what I'm saying. It
17:50
Speaker 4: was like, you know, willing to do whatever, you know
17:53
Speaker 4: what I mean with whoever to get it. But I
17:56
Speaker 4: also learned about her that like, like I said, referencing
18:00
Speaker 4: earlier that as a woman standing in my power, it
18:02
Speaker 4: will intimidate some people. Some people will be uncomfortable. They'll
18:05
Speaker 4: want you to either come up to where they are
18:07
Speaker 4: or come down to where they are. When you just
18:10
Speaker 4: kind of stay where you are, where you're supposed to
18:12
Speaker 4: be vibrating and resonating, that can be uncomfortable for people,
18:17
Speaker 4: you know. And for her it was dangerous, right, you
18:19
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying. Like for us it can be dangerous.
18:22
Speaker 4: Not quite the same, but you know what I'm saying,
18:24
Speaker 4: give me dangerous.
18:25
Speaker 3: So I learned. I learned that in a good way, right,
18:28
Speaker 3: you know. And I learned that, like.
18:32
Speaker 4: I and and then, like I said, from a negative side,
18:35
Speaker 4: just learning that, like, oh wow, I need to when
18:37
Speaker 4: it comes to relationships, I need I need to examineself,
18:39
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying, Spend more time there in
18:42
Speaker 4: prayer and therapy, you know what I'm saying about all
18:45
Speaker 4: of that, And gosh, there's there's really a lot of
18:50
Speaker 4: things I learned from her also, you know, I'm really
18:55
Speaker 4: what I love about the movie is that people got
18:57
Speaker 4: to know her as like a godmother of the neo
19:00
Speaker 4: civil rights movement, right instead of just a tragic drug
19:03
Speaker 4: addict or a tragic like you know, those things were
19:06
Speaker 4: planted on her. Those things were imposed upon her because
19:08
Speaker 4: of her circumstances, because of her singing strange fruit, but
19:12
Speaker 4: her willingness to give up her life for what she
19:15
Speaker 4: knew was right and you know, regardless of the drugs
19:19
Speaker 4: of anything, for her, like her sharpness to be able
19:22
Speaker 4: to still be clear about that even with everything that
19:24
Speaker 4: was in her body, how her body was breaking down,
19:27
Speaker 4: how people were attacking her like I want to touch that,
19:30
Speaker 4: like I want that, you know what I'm saying. And
19:31
Speaker 4: so I learned a lot a lot from her. I
19:34
Speaker 4: loved being her.
19:35
Speaker 5: I really really loved being And you seem definitely so
19:39
Speaker 5: connected with the character, Like yo, you you're so phenomenal.
19:42
Speaker 5: And she's from Baltimore City, I am yea. All I
19:46
Speaker 5: knew was her as a singer and the drugs and everything.
19:49
Speaker 5: And I really learned her story through watching you play her.
19:53
Speaker 5: So I'm like, damn, it just made me want to girl.
19:55
Speaker 3: Listen.
19:56
Speaker 5: After I watched the movie, I'm like researching. And so
20:00
Speaker 5: she went through so much, so much, and like you said,
20:02
Speaker 5: willing to give up her life.
20:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, or you know things that she believed me.
20:05
Speaker 4: One of the things they didn't show in the movie
20:07
Speaker 4: which we shot is like she would leave the club
20:09
Speaker 4: and multiple times police would be shooting into her car,
20:12
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying, Like it was very like
20:14
Speaker 4: so she but she would still go on and actually
20:16
Speaker 4: sing the song and she had her hesitations. But I
20:18
Speaker 4: love that you from Baltimore because I love I was
20:20
Speaker 4: able to finally see the statue of her that I
20:22
Speaker 4: think is in point right, like, yeah, she's from you
20:24
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying, Like, And when I was there's
20:26
Speaker 4: like I could see her and picture her as a
20:27
Speaker 4: little girl like cleaning steps and doing all that stuff.
20:30
Speaker 2: You know.
20:31
Speaker 3: So yeah, no, she she was.
20:33
Speaker 4: She's And actually the fact that even you being from
20:36
Speaker 4: Baltimore didn't know that, like she was really the civil
20:38
Speaker 4: rights here, like before the movement had really kicked up.
20:41
Speaker 4: It was her singing this song and the death of
20:43
Speaker 4: the Mattila that really kind of sparked everything.
20:46
Speaker 2: But just think everybody over fifty was in the civil.
20:48
Speaker 3: Rights that everybody over fifty was in.
20:56
Speaker 2: New York with them.
20:59
Speaker 4: But yeah, no, I love that you know that now
21:02
Speaker 4: people are acquainted because that was that was the Federal
21:05
Speaker 4: Bureau of Narcotics or investing.
21:07
Speaker 3: I don't even I don't like them, so I don't
21:08
Speaker 3: really know that name.
21:10
Speaker 4: There's the FBI Narcotics was back in thee. But but yeah,
21:16
Speaker 4: so that was their goal. She was way way, way
21:18
Speaker 4: too famous, way too loved. They were trying to really
21:20
Speaker 4: kind of like get rid of her legacy entirely, and
21:22
Speaker 4: they couldn't. But there were a lot of interviews that
21:24
Speaker 4: went missing, all the things. So they just changed the
21:27
Speaker 4: narrative and it was like, hey, she was just some
21:28
Speaker 4: tragic drug addict, like a failure in life. Successful in music,
21:31
Speaker 4: but a failure in life, which is not true. So
21:33
Speaker 4: I'm happy to be a part of telling that legacy.
21:36
Speaker 2: So what did you lose about yourself?
21:38
Speaker 4: What did I lose my part by yourself about myself?
21:42
Speaker 3: Well, physically, I lost part of my voice. I know,
21:46
Speaker 3: she was like, which is you know, here's the truth.
21:49
Speaker 4: I would do it again, you know what I'm saying,
21:51
Speaker 4: because I do feel like she deserved that level of commitment, you.
21:55
Speaker 3: Know what I mean. So and so I will tell
21:57
Speaker 3: you along with that. It's so weird.
22:00
Speaker 4: I gained a confidence, you know what I'm saying, Like
22:04
Speaker 4: once I was done playing her. It was there was
22:07
Speaker 4: I don't want to say a carelessness, but it was,
22:10
Speaker 4: you know, I was sort of walking into rooms a
22:12
Speaker 4: little less.
22:12
Speaker 3: Worried about how it would go, you know what I'm saying.
22:15
Speaker 4: But I think because of the toll after a few
22:18
Speaker 4: years that it kind of took on my voice and
22:20
Speaker 4: me changing as a singer. Then my confidence was actually rocked,
22:24
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, Because then I start getting
22:25
Speaker 4: back in performance spaces working on the record, I can't
22:27
Speaker 4: hit notes I hit before, I can't, you know what
22:29
Speaker 4: I'm saying. Like, so my confidence actually kind of you know,
22:34
Speaker 4: took a hit, you know what I'm saying. And then
22:35
Speaker 4: in relationships, right like I was in a relationship for
22:38
Speaker 4: four years you know before I did that movie, and
22:43
Speaker 4: I thought I thought that I was I thought I
22:47
Speaker 4: was good, you know what I'm saying, And I thought like, wow,
22:50
Speaker 4: you know, like how I used to be in relationships
22:53
Speaker 4: more selfish and did all this stuff cool.
22:54
Speaker 3: I don't function like that. I don't move no more
22:56
Speaker 3: bull of all this stuff.
22:57
Speaker 4: So it kind of really opened this hand of worms
23:00
Speaker 4: that was like, hey, there's still stuff underneath that you're
23:03
Speaker 4: not dealing with, Like We're capable of these things all
23:05
Speaker 4: the time, you know what I'm saying, Like being unfaithful,
23:08
Speaker 4: of being dishonest, all of that stuff. I'm absolutely capable
23:10
Speaker 4: of all of that and have done it and do it.
23:13
Speaker 4: But so I think it kind of popped the lid
23:15
Speaker 4: on that, you know what I mean, and I realized
23:17
Speaker 4: there was more.
23:18
Speaker 3: Work to be done, deeper work to be done.
23:20
Speaker 4: And I realized at the time, I think I was
23:22
Speaker 4: just getting by, you know what I'm saying, performing well,
23:25
Speaker 4: you know what I mean. So it kind of took
23:28
Speaker 4: away the confidence, and that took away the confidence in
23:30
Speaker 4: like singing and showing up.
23:32
Speaker 3: But the good thing about it is that I feel.
23:34
Speaker 4: Like I'm rebuilding a foundation on like solid ground, you
23:39
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying. And so so I kind of
23:42
Speaker 4: feel myself coming back to a place of like wholeness
23:45
Speaker 4: and groundedness.
23:45
Speaker 3: So does that make sense?
23:46
Speaker 2: Absolutely?
23:48
Speaker 3: I can kind of landboth side it. Make sure. I
23:50
Speaker 3: was answering that, is there.
23:51
Speaker 5: Any song on the on the album that you like
23:56
Speaker 5: that you would consider your favorite? Ooh ooh, it's so hard.
24:02
Speaker 5: You had the most fun making this when this is
24:04
Speaker 5: the one you was in there, like.
24:05
Speaker 4: You know, I think, yeah, maybe next time it's one
24:08
Speaker 4: of them. Maybe next time is definitely the song, because
24:10
Speaker 4: maybe next time it's just to read. Like I said,
24:12
Speaker 4: I just had to tell his nigga boy himself and
24:14
Speaker 4: like I was just.
24:15
Speaker 3: Like I just had to get off my chest. I
24:17
Speaker 3: was trying to write to be like I've learned lessons.
24:19
Speaker 3: I was like, yeah, this is what you did. You
24:22
Speaker 3: know what I'm saying.
24:22
Speaker 4: I was like, and I kind of like, so, okay,
24:24
Speaker 4: so I used to do this thing. Do not ask
24:26
Speaker 4: me about I do not have them no more because
24:28
Speaker 4: they were sitting right next to my devotion journal and
24:30
Speaker 4: God was like really and I was like, okay, I'll
24:32
Speaker 4: delete it. I used to write like this raps for
24:35
Speaker 4: like rappers. I felt like the didn't come back hard
24:36
Speaker 4: enough and like, uh, you know in beefs you know.
24:39
Speaker 1: So did you write one for Draco?
24:41
Speaker 4: Oh my god, I wrote one for him like earlier
24:45
Speaker 4: in the like this beef Yeah.
24:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, but it's like, yeah I did one for like
24:51
Speaker 3: I did. I used to do it was like my thing.
24:53
Speaker 3: It was just me in my notes, like I will
24:55
Speaker 3: never record them. I'll never I just write him down.
24:56
Speaker 4: I'm like, they could have said this this person. They
24:59
Speaker 4: even talk about the whole team and the squad and
25:01
Speaker 4: dad also, So I used to do that all the time,
25:04
Speaker 4: so like I think, what maybe next time. I was
25:05
Speaker 4: kind of tapping into that because I was like, I'm
25:07
Speaker 4: not a rapper like that, So I was like, I'll
25:08
Speaker 4: just like sing flow you know what I'm saying, and
25:11
Speaker 4: just like speak what's on my chest. And so that's
25:14
Speaker 4: probably one of my favorite because I got a lot
25:16
Speaker 4: off my chest, you know what I'm saying, and I'm
25:17
Speaker 4: just being pettier in that song, and that's just just
25:20
Speaker 4: necessary sometimes how.
25:21
Speaker 2: Much accountability are you taking?
25:22
Speaker 1: Though?
25:23
Speaker 3: And this record.
25:27
Speaker 4: I did another accountability.
25:29
Speaker 3: I have it not know what I'm saying.
25:31
Speaker 4: No, I think for me this record is like there's
25:34
Speaker 4: always accountability. I think it's like growth. But like, which
25:37
Speaker 4: is why I was gonna say Still at the end
25:39
Speaker 4: of the record is one of my favorite songs and
25:40
Speaker 4: a song called Nervous, because Still is like it's not
25:44
Speaker 4: necessarily just taking accountability, it's just accepting that like all
25:47
Speaker 4: of this stuff you went through and you did you
25:49
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying, like the stuff that I'm I
25:54
Speaker 4: feel not proud of and the stuff that I'm hurt
25:56
Speaker 4: by or whatever.
25:58
Speaker 3: All of that stuff was a part of the journey,
26:01
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying.
26:02
Speaker 4: Like, I feel like life is cyclical and we can
26:05
Speaker 4: kind of but in a cycle, like you know, sometimes
26:07
Speaker 4: you're going up, you're going forward.
26:08
Speaker 3: Sometimes it feels like you're going down.
26:09
Speaker 4: Sometimes feel like you're going backwards, like but you're always moving,
26:12
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying.
26:12
Speaker 3: Forward, Yeah, And so I feel like still.
26:16
Speaker 4: Is a reminder that like, like I do devotion every morning, right,
26:19
Speaker 4: so I pray, you know, rescripture meditator on the word,
26:22
Speaker 4: and then you know, try to live my life, you know,
26:25
Speaker 4: according to that. But like realizing that, like sometimes it
26:31
Speaker 4: doesn't feel good, but that process, like working out in
26:33
Speaker 4: the gym, eventually it will develop it Eventually it.
26:36
Speaker 3: Will best, you know what I'm saying.
26:37
Speaker 4: So the song goes from being stuck still to actually
26:40
Speaker 4: being still and having peace, you know what I mean.
26:42
Speaker 4: So it's less about accountability, it's more about just accepting
26:45
Speaker 4: that the journey is what it is.
26:47
Speaker 6: Every single version of yourself ever deserves exactly what the
26:50
Speaker 6: version of you is getting now, which.
26:52
Speaker 2: Is a feeling point.
26:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely, that's a good point. Can we
26:56
Speaker 3: expect any visuals. Yes, yes, no visuals. You've got to
27:00
Speaker 3: give me a trouble girl.
27:02
Speaker 4: I just kidd right, you know we are we have
27:06
Speaker 4: like we have music videos. Actually that's my creative direcord
27:08
Speaker 4: actually right here to me that we're working on. I
27:11
Speaker 4: just want to my thing for this record is everything.
27:14
Speaker 4: I want to be cinematic and immersive, you know what
27:16
Speaker 4: I mean, because that's like I feel, isn't it that
27:19
Speaker 4: I feel like that's the best for me. Like when
27:20
Speaker 4: you go to a show and you feel like as
27:22
Speaker 4: soon as you walk through the doors, the atmosphere chess
27:24
Speaker 4: like you're transported.
27:25
Speaker 3: You know.
27:26
Speaker 4: I still love Disneyland like I'm a child, you know
27:28
Speaker 4: what I mean. So I like feeling like and so
27:30
Speaker 4: that's the thing. So the album is called Cassandra Parentheses,
27:33
Speaker 4: jeriit and I'm examining through love, you know what I'm saying,
27:37
Speaker 4: through work, through career, through confidence, my spiritual walk you know.
27:43
Speaker 3: Uh, I'm examining this journey from.
27:45
Speaker 4: Like the desert to the water, which for me represents
27:49
Speaker 4: the journey from operating from a place of black right,
27:51
Speaker 4: you know, which is like what consumerism breathes, right, you
27:54
Speaker 4: don't you know pretty enough, so you need to do
27:56
Speaker 4: this to your body. You don't have enough, so you
27:58
Speaker 4: need these clothes and money. If you need this money
28:01
Speaker 4: so you can be loved and you can feel worthy.
28:04
Speaker 3: And I go, like, what happens if I really believe God? Right?
28:07
Speaker 4: Like what happens if, like when God says that everything
28:10
Speaker 4: I need I have not just in me, but like
28:12
Speaker 4: in my community, right in the people that I've been
28:15
Speaker 4: blessed to meet and encounter. What happens if I live
28:18
Speaker 4: life from a place of abundance and fullness and actually
28:21
Speaker 4: operate in that place. So I'm examining that journey and
28:24
Speaker 4: all the bumps along the way, and so I want
28:27
Speaker 4: the experience of that to be really immersive and fun,
28:31
Speaker 4: and so I want the videos to be really cinematic.
28:35
Speaker 4: So I'm kind of taking my time with it. Yea
28:37
Speaker 4: to everybody behind me, dismay what their face is looking like,
28:40
Speaker 4: come on now, But but I really I'm taking my
28:45
Speaker 4: time with it because I want the right people, Like
28:48
Speaker 4: I would like to have, you know, actors in the video,
28:50
Speaker 4: and I want the right people in it. I want
28:51
Speaker 4: the right creative like I just want to make sure
28:54
Speaker 4: everything is there. So I'm a slow burn. So I'm
28:56
Speaker 4: kind of taking my time with data.
28:57
Speaker 3: Well, the way I know is, I'm pretty sure it's
28:59
Speaker 3: gonna be a made thank you so.
29:00
Speaker 2: Much, and you want to Grammy and a golden Glover.
29:03
Speaker 3: I did, and Emmy, which I didn't realize I wanted
29:06
Speaker 3: till like two years? Was it two years later?
29:08
Speaker 1: When did?
29:09
Speaker 3: When did I remember that you didn't know that you
29:13
Speaker 3: wanted to do years?
29:14
Speaker 4: I know it was a friends and family Emmy or
29:16
Speaker 4: something like that for Michelle, and I was like, that's
29:17
Speaker 4: a blessing.
29:19
Speaker 3: That's a good way to wake up.
29:21
Speaker 2: What does that validation mean you?
29:23
Speaker 3: That's a good That's a good conversation. Hmmm.
29:28
Speaker 4: It means this is going to sound really crazy. It
29:31
Speaker 4: means a lot and nothing at the same time. That
29:34
Speaker 4: makes sense a little bit because it means a lot,
29:42
Speaker 4: just because you know.
29:43
Speaker 3: What it reminds me of.
29:44
Speaker 4: It reminds I did not expect this movie to do
29:48
Speaker 4: what it did. I didn't expect the character to do what.
29:50
Speaker 4: I didn't expect my performance. I went to set every
29:52
Speaker 4: day expecting to get fired, which is a crazy mentality
29:54
Speaker 4: to go in with. I I never expected I would
29:57
Speaker 4: get the role and to be honest with you, I
29:59
Speaker 4: didn't want it it first because I was like, I'm
30:00
Speaker 4: not an actor, like so I just thought, I'm gonna
30:02
Speaker 4: do this little movie. I'll probably be terrible, they'll edit
30:04
Speaker 4: around me, or they'll fire me. It's fine, you know whatever.
30:09
Speaker 4: So I think that for me is just like validation
30:15
Speaker 4: of like, you know, there's something in scripture. There's a
30:18
Speaker 4: scripture that I love that says God is able to
30:20
Speaker 4: do exceedingly and abundantly above all we can even think
30:23
Speaker 4: or ask, you know what I mean. And I love
30:25
Speaker 4: that scripture so much because like it helps me to
30:28
Speaker 4: operate in faith because when I let go, you know,
30:30
Speaker 4: I don't have to worry that like, oh it'll be terrible.
30:32
Speaker 4: It'll be better than what I thought, you know. So
30:35
Speaker 4: it means a lot to me. I know, it means
30:37
Speaker 4: a lot, you know, to me for that reason and
30:41
Speaker 4: for the people who put the work in the time.
30:42
Speaker 4: And Lee puts so much work in time into me,
30:45
Speaker 4: Tasha puts so much work in time. My whole cast, everybody,
30:47
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. Trey Tyler, you know, Devine,
30:52
Speaker 4: Miss Lawrence, you know Garrett Evan, you know. Like, so
30:55
Speaker 4: there was a lot of people really rooting for me,
30:59
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. So it just shows me
31:01
Speaker 4: that like community and collaboration is where it's at. You know,
31:05
Speaker 4: I hear the word the term self made often, right, Yeah,
31:07
Speaker 4: got it on my own, nobody helped me do. It's
31:10
Speaker 4: not really a true statement because like even when you
31:13
Speaker 4: work on your own and you self made, at some
31:15
Speaker 4: point to get this job, somebody had to say yes
31:17
Speaker 4: to get funding, somebody had to say yes in order
31:20
Speaker 4: to so there's so it just reminds me that like
31:22
Speaker 4: collaboration and community is really a blessing, and it is
31:26
Speaker 4: nice when the community, you know what I'm saying, recognizes it,
31:30
Speaker 4: but it is not validation for me. It's a blessing
31:34
Speaker 4: and it's a bonus and it's beautiful. But I don't
31:37
Speaker 4: think I would tell any artists that, like, hey, make
31:40
Speaker 4: sure you shoot for that. If that's your goal and
31:42
Speaker 4: that's something you really want, yes, go for it, you
31:44
Speaker 4: know what I mean. But don't let it stop you,
31:46
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying, Because I feel like that
31:48
Speaker 4: can be a thing where you recognize people, it can
31:50
Speaker 4: be a blessing, but it can also be a thing
31:52
Speaker 4: that just makes people feel like they're not capable, you
31:55
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying, or they're less than. So I'm blessed,
31:58
Speaker 4: but it does not define me in that way the
32:02
Speaker 4: terms I can put it, you know what I'm saying. Also, listen,
32:04
Speaker 4: I'm not going to pars words that community. The representation
32:08
Speaker 4: is not really there yet, you know what I'm saying.
32:10
Speaker 4: There's there are people making strides, which is beautiful. So
32:13
Speaker 4: I want to make sure I shout out and highlight
32:15
Speaker 4: the people within these these sort of like organization or
32:19
Speaker 4: these committees that are actually seeking to get more representation,
32:22
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying, for different types of communities.
32:26
Speaker 4: But yeah, so when you have a group of people
32:27
Speaker 4: that don't look like you that say, oh, I didn't
32:29
Speaker 4: resonate with this, and it's like, well, why would you
32:31
Speaker 4: resonate with this?
32:31
Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
32:32
Speaker 4: You don't have this experience, you don't look like me.
32:34
Speaker 4: So those are things, if I'm being really candid, like,
32:36
Speaker 4: those are things that need to be looked at and addressed,
32:39
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. If something like this is
32:40
Speaker 4: to persist, like some of.
32:42
Speaker 6: Those same people, yeah, white people, Yeah, exactly, we're pissed
32:47
Speaker 6: off at you when you're saying the Black National anthem,
32:48
Speaker 6: not you.
32:49
Speaker 2: They were just mad that the Black National anthem.
32:54
Speaker 3: Lift every boys and things.
32:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, how do you feel about that? Backlass?
32:58
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, how was that feeling the Super Bowl?
33:01
Speaker 1: My god?
33:01
Speaker 3: That so first, okay, I'll deal with the feeling first.
33:03
Speaker 3: You're right, Like, the feeling was just like, my god.
33:06
Speaker 4: When I tell y'all, so, here's the thing I these
33:09
Speaker 4: are like it goes back to, like I said, standing
33:11
Speaker 4: in your power. When you have a truth and an
33:13
Speaker 4: understanding and you're willing to sacrifice for that, Like, it
33:15
Speaker 4: can be scary because you lose things, people, opportunities. So
33:19
Speaker 4: performing at the super Bowl for me was just such
33:21
Speaker 4: a blessing. Was a full circle moment, terrifying, Like, oh
33:24
Speaker 4: my god, y'all, Like at a certain point I was
33:26
Speaker 4: so scared these was shaken. But I was like just
33:28
Speaker 4: gonn numb.
33:28
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying.
33:29
Speaker 1: Who called you to say, hey, we need you for
33:32
Speaker 1: super Bowl?
33:32
Speaker 3: Well it so Felicio. That's my manager, Felicia by the way,
33:36
Speaker 3: So it was who called us?
33:37
Speaker 2: Rage are amazing?
33:38
Speaker 4: By the way, Jesse yes, so like and so who
33:43
Speaker 4: Jesse is just like amazing and being an incredible friend.
33:46
Speaker 4: But I stopped singing the national anthem like years ago,
33:49
Speaker 4: and I've been asked a lot to do it, you
33:50
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying for different gangs, for different things,
33:53
Speaker 4: and I just finally got to a point, you know,
33:55
Speaker 4: especially after the Kaepernick stuff and all that, I was
33:57
Speaker 4: just kind of like, you know, I don't want to
33:59
Speaker 4: sing this again, you know what I'm saying in support
34:02
Speaker 4: until I can sing this song in this arena, you
34:04
Speaker 4: feel me like and and for me it was a
34:08
Speaker 4: big deal because because I was like, I'm tired of
34:11
Speaker 4: people acting like this, singing songs that represent other people.
34:14
Speaker 4: You know, yeah, is divisive, and it's not because I
34:17
Speaker 4: feel like it's the black national anthem, but it actually
34:19
Speaker 4: speaks to unity, you know what I'm saying, and I
34:22
Speaker 4: think opens people's eyes. And so it was really a
34:24
Speaker 4: full circle moment because to get the call because when
34:27
Speaker 4: she called me, she was like, they want you to
34:29
Speaker 4: sing the anthem at the super Bowl and I can't
34:31
Speaker 4: even go into I'd sing anthe da da da.
34:33
Speaker 3: They want you to sing that thery words and sing.
34:34
Speaker 1: I was like, even if it was the regular one,
34:36
Speaker 1: you wasn't gonna sing as the Suer.
34:37
Speaker 4: Bowl so like, so the fact that it was that
34:41
Speaker 4: that after all these years, I was able to do
34:43
Speaker 4: it and to sing that song on the biggest stage
34:45
Speaker 4: was so crazy. I was so so nervous, you know,
34:49
Speaker 4: but I but I knew that like I'm aligned, like
34:51
Speaker 4: I'm walking in purpose here and so and to deal with, like,
34:55
Speaker 4: you know, the feeling of all the backlash from just
34:59
Speaker 4: the anger whites you know, who didn't want me to
35:01
Speaker 4: sing it. To be honest with you, it's funny because
35:03
Speaker 4: I think y'all brought it up to me one time
35:05
Speaker 4: and it was like, hey, you know, how do you feel.
35:08
Speaker 3: I honestly was not.
35:09
Speaker 4: Paying attention to it at all, you know what I mean.
35:12
Speaker 4: And I'm not even saying that as like cap where
35:14
Speaker 4: I'm just like to protect my people. I really didn't
35:16
Speaker 4: know at first, you know what I mean. And then
35:18
Speaker 4: once I found out, it was just like I don't care,
35:21
Speaker 4: Like I really don't care. And I think that's the
35:23
Speaker 4: thing like when you walk in purpose. Like I said,
35:24
Speaker 4: it was like some people will be mad, you know
35:27
Speaker 4: what I'm saying, And listen, they're not just mad about
35:29
Speaker 4: the song being sung, you know what I mean. It's
35:31
Speaker 4: just black people showing up in ourselves and as we
35:33
Speaker 4: are and who we are in any arena. We don't
35:35
Speaker 4: want you infiltrating our anything, our games, our shows, our culture,
35:39
Speaker 4: our life. You know, but that's not a real representation
35:43
Speaker 4: of like American life, you know.
35:45
Speaker 3: What I'm saying.
35:46
Speaker 4: So for me, I think my perspective was a spiritual
35:50
Speaker 4: perspective where I go and God's working on me on
35:54
Speaker 4: this part. You know what I'm saying about loving everybody,
35:57
Speaker 4: those white people, So that was my thing. I was like,
36:01
Speaker 4: you know what, what I'm gonna choose to do is
36:06
Speaker 4: love you the way I love everybody and just distance myself,
36:10
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. Because the truth is, y'all
36:12
Speaker 4: gonna be mad, you know what I'm saying anyway, And
36:15
Speaker 4: the sad part is what you in sitting there angry.
36:18
Speaker 4: You're actually going to miss the blessing of what this
36:19
Speaker 4: moment could be, you know what I'm saying, Like, you're
36:21
Speaker 4: gonna miss what this song is actually saying. You're gonna
36:24
Speaker 4: miss what you can learn from these people struggle, you
36:26
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying, and from their triumph, And so
36:29
Speaker 4: more than anything, I.
36:30
Speaker 3: Felt bad for them.
36:31
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying. I was like, y'all, y'all
36:32
Speaker 4: could stay over there. So I was just really like,
36:36
Speaker 4: nothing was gonna stop me from doing this, you know
36:38
Speaker 4: what I'm saying.
36:38
Speaker 2: So nothing did.
36:40
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I feel like the truth is people will
36:43
Speaker 4: always find a reason to be mad. They will always
36:44
Speaker 4: find a reason to be mad as long as they
36:46
Speaker 4: have to share. But that's just time is going to
36:48
Speaker 4: continue to turn over and those people will be phased out,
36:51
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying.
36:53
Speaker 1: Right Well, the album Cassandra comes out May tenth, and
36:56
Speaker 1: we appreciate you for joining us.
36:58
Speaker 3: Thank you. Oh my god, I was really sit about this.
37:00
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen. It's
37:03
Speaker 1: on today. It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning, Wake that
37:06
Speaker 1: ass up in the morning.
37:08
Speaker 2: The Breakfast Club