Black Music Month QLS Classic: Solange

In this Black Music Month QLS Classic, singer-songwriter Solange talks about what it takes to be a strong Black woman today, the making of her new album and just what it is she loves so much about New Orleans.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. This classic
episode was produced by the team at Pandora.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
What up, y'all, it's unpaid bill from Quest Love Supreme.
As you may have seen throughout June, we are celebrating
black music a month. We are releasing an episode every day,
so every day you would either hear especially picked a
QLs classic, and on Wednesdays we are dropping new two
part episodes Wayne Brady and the legendary James Poyser, both
of which were filmed in studio. Black music is deeply
important to me and has been an influence throughout my
entire career. It's also something we celebrate here at QLs.

(00:31):
In twenty sixteen, during the first season of QLs, we
had Solange Knowles on the show. This was a special
and spirited conversation with a tremendous artist who was in
the season of an amazing album.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
A set of the table.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
Supremo Sun Supremo, Roll Call Suprema Sun Sun Supremo, Ro
Call Suprema s S Supremo, Ro Call Supreme Son Son
Supremo Role Call.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
My name is Questlove. Yeah you got the message? Yeah,
I'm pretty sure like you.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
I say.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
Supreme Supremo role came Suprema So Supprivo roll.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
My name is Fante.

Speaker 4 (01:20):
Yeah, I am not bitter. Yeah, thank God is real life?
Yeah and we not on Twitter. Supre roll call Supremo
Supremo roll call.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
My name is Sugar Yeah, hell so lunge. Yeah, let's
eat some but the cookies. Yeah and smoke some gun.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
Suprema role called Suprema Son Son so Brea.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Role called Bill. Yeah, I ain't that legit. Yeah, back
with quest of Supreme. Yeah, I ain't got some ship.

Speaker 3 (01:57):
Oh, Supreme Son Son Supremo role called Suprema Son Son Suprema.

Speaker 5 (02:05):
Role call my name's like yeah, yeah, my day is made?

Speaker 6 (02:10):
Yeah, cut so Lodge is here, Yeah, no shade roll call.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Supremo son Sign Suppremea roll call Supremo Son Supremo.

Speaker 7 (02:21):
Roll come until is here? Yeah an electric Lady. Yeah,
So Lounge's new album. Yeah it's crazy.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
Rome Supprima Sun Sign Supremo role cal Supremo Sun Sun Supremo.

Speaker 5 (02:37):
Roll called names Lone.

Speaker 8 (02:40):
Yeah, and I'm hungover. Yeah, ask me some week.

Speaker 3 (02:44):
Yeah er Suprema Suprema roll call, Suprema son Sign Supremo.
Role called Suprema son Son Suprema roll called Supremo.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Supremo, dude in the ship that was that was wow
on time in rhythm go with message. I'm like, what
is it going wround with?

Speaker 3 (03:19):
You?

Speaker 9 (03:20):
Used the five minutes on the record and everything that
was some ship five minutes before I thought of Yo,
Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to another episode of Quest Love
Supreme on Pandora.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
We're broadcasting from the legendary Studio A at Electric Ladyes
Studios in New York. I'm your host Questlove, and we
have an incredible show for you today. Our guest is
an amazing singer. She's an amazing songwriter, dancer, choreographer, and
so much more. She recently released her critically acclaimed new
album called A Seat at the Table in my opinions,

(03:56):
one of the best albums of twenty sixteen. Uh Solange
noses on the show today, y'all, and we'll bring on shortly.
But before we do, let's check in out with Team Supreme. Yes,
of course Love, Team Supreme. Yes, Uh Fante, you've been.

Speaker 4 (04:12):
On the road, have you not? I have been on
the road. My vand of Foreign Exchange. We performed, we
did our West Coast run, so.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
In the black and white vans.

Speaker 4 (04:21):
Yeah yeah, and I segregated vans okay because I am
from do y'all ask for a black.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
And white man?

Speaker 10 (04:28):
Were?

Speaker 4 (04:28):
Now when we written the event, well, well we actually
own a white van, Like we have a van that
we y'all drove to the West Coast. No, no, no,
we didn't. We didn't this time. No we No, I'm
not I'm not that adventurous. But so we actually own
a white man. So when we go out, like really
it's the members. The black members are in one van
and the white members and the other van. But we
come together on stage.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
And make music. Wait, wait, through is there a difference
besides melononlas melon man? Like I said, a we ben
Now do we know? Straight up, let's talk about it.

Speaker 4 (04:59):
There is a we a surprisingly it is is the
white man is the white man is the we man,
and the black man is the conservative man. Yeah we're
pretty conservative. Absolutely, No, no, that's no bullshit. We've been
pulled over like I got pulled over on ninety four
on our.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
Way to Detroit. Uh, dude, made us, made us get
out the car. Just get.

Speaker 10 (05:33):
Right.

Speaker 6 (05:33):
Now, you are witnessing a reference to a Five Heartbeats movie.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
Is that right? It was five heart Beats meat? But
you were right, You're right. But but nah, man, we
toured tours. Dope. I'm glad it's over, you know, because
I already don't like touring. But you're touring all the time.
Why not?

Speaker 4 (05:52):
I know, just I just cause like, fuck that ship touring, man, Like,
here's the thing with me with with touring, Like, I mean,
it's necessarily evil, right, you gotta go get your money
and the time while I'm actually on stage, I do
enjoy you know what I'm saying. I do enjoy performing,
you know, the interplay with the band, I do enjoy that.
But everything leading up to that and after that, I

(06:12):
fucking hate what.

Speaker 1 (06:15):
Touring?

Speaker 4 (06:16):
Okay, we the parls of touring are just pretty much.
It disrupts your patterns. So whatever it is that you're
trying to do in your life to be better, whether
if you're trying to eat better, you're trying to exercise,
you trying to stay off these holes, whatever it is
you're trying to do. You're trying to stay off cocaine,
You're trying to leave drugs along, You're trying to stop drinking.

(06:37):
Whatever it is that you're trying to do. The road
is like the last place you want to try to
do it. So when I'm at home, my routine is
very simple. Wake up, you know, hit the gym, you know,
work a little something around the house, go pick up
my boys from school, homework, dinner, I right, go to bed, whatever,
play some dune, you know what I mean, not a

(06:57):
hole to be found, saying. The only hope we find
is in the is in the garage. So but when
you go on the road, it just disrupts everything. So
like you're eating, goes to ship, you know what I'm saying,
You're up crazy hours and then you perform. And after
you perform, I mean that's essentially energy that you've absorbed
from all these people.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
So now you can't go to sleep. So now you
got to figure out how do I get to sleep?
So you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (07:22):
Yeah, So you know, I never like, I never liked,
so I just don't. I like just a real simple life.
And so my goal is to get enough money to
where I ain't gotta do it no more.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
But I bet the road is good for someone who's
in their whole face now listen, let me tell you something.
I feel like next door you and me, I'm coming
with man.

Speaker 4 (07:41):
Let me tell you one got damn thing, Bill Sherman. Yeah,
come out here on your whole face. Man, listen.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
Bro Oh my god, I'm gonna do it. No, no,
just sound like Entourage is one of the I mean
that show was.

Speaker 4 (08:03):
It's kind of candyass as it was, but it was
real in the sense that it showed how the guy
didn't really get to have the fun.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
All the guys around, the guys right, they got to
live it up. The star, the person who's in the
epicenter never has the fun. Never Matt Well, okay, referring
back to our Alan lead show, like Brown Mark of
the Revolution used to always get fined more for like
one minute late two minutely simply because like he had

(08:33):
the freedom to really clean and rack up in the
bars and in the hotel lobby because he was known
as the guy from a Revolution. But it wasn't like
kass and Mayhe he it wasn't the guy. Prince on
the other hand, would cause Kasos and Mayheim everywhere he went,
so he was basically a prisoner in his hotel.

Speaker 4 (08:51):
Absolutely he couldn't go to nowhere. He did all that
work for nothing. Yeah man, so yeah, so yeah, so
I generally hated it. I'm not print but but I mean,
but really after the show, I don't know, maybe Mars,
maybe I'm Maris, I'm on Morris than Prince.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
But uh, you know, I'm thankful for the opportunity. I'm
thankful for the work. You know what I'm saying. I'm
thankful for the checking.

Speaker 5 (09:09):
So much joy to the people.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
Know when I'm on stage, I love it and the
minute it ends. Yeah, she came. She was that engine
came to the LA show. Oh lord, oh lord, exactly
with the.

Speaker 6 (09:22):
T and plus I've been coming to Fontae shows. I'm like,
I'm not as much as your shows. Don't get it
twisted because he's a little I don't.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
Perform as much. Like God, damn, the old jokes keep coming.

Speaker 4 (09:36):
No, I called, I was that was hard. But but nah, man,
I'm yo, I'm I'm good. I'm happy. I've been playing
on Xbox, so I'm good. All good. Let's get to
her special guest right now. Hey, surprises a bum.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
Actually this is not a surprise though, because I guess
back in twenty fourteen. Uh, I kind of made a
cry to the Internet for artists to really start making
music relevant to the times we live in. And somehow
the gods have heard my cry. And I knew that

(10:14):
something was coming up the pike from our special guests,
but I didn't know the magnet, the levels level of
deepness that was going to come with it. Ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome to Quest Love Supreme Clon's no.

Speaker 8 (10:34):
Thank you?

Speaker 1 (10:38):
How are you? Solon?

Speaker 8 (10:39):
I'm doing really really well.

Speaker 1 (10:45):
What was drinking all? What was drinking all last night?

Speaker 8 (10:47):
Tequila and wine?

Speaker 5 (10:50):
Oh wow, to Como party and I know.

Speaker 8 (10:57):
Not Titos.

Speaker 5 (10:58):
I think it was like, that's not a drinking.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
I thought it was. It was I'm sorry, I'm I'm
learning to what's Tito's? Yeah, you know, I wish people
would stop like, ah, like look, I'm still drinking from water. Yeah,
it's that fise like frad wise like night training me.
That's like a hard what is frame wall? What is
what is Lambic? Frame boishek rhyme that one and say

(11:26):
nothing new. Okay, it's a Belgian beer, but it really
tastes like uh Welch's grape juice with a little bit
of like non alcoholic near beer in it, and I
take it they only sell this in neighborhoods where you'll
find hot cheeto wrappers on them.

Speaker 3 (11:43):
This is.

Speaker 1 (11:45):
No this is a high ended beer.

Speaker 10 (11:49):
I guess it's been like five weeks without drinking, just
in preparation for my Saturday night live performance, so I
had a little.

Speaker 8 (11:58):
Catching up to.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
I'm glad you still agreed to come.

Speaker 8 (12:04):
Oh man, I'm honored to be here with all of
you guys. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
Thanks you too.

Speaker 5 (12:10):
See me, I'm playing I'm playing cool. What are you
talking about?

Speaker 1 (12:17):
A special sweater for tonight?

Speaker 6 (12:20):
Wearing sweatshirt from I Forget the Ages?

Speaker 1 (12:25):
Yes?

Speaker 8 (12:26):
Great.

Speaker 6 (12:28):
By the way, congratulations on your Saturday live performance.

Speaker 5 (12:31):
That joint was so much.

Speaker 8 (12:35):
Was beyond nervous.

Speaker 1 (12:36):
Why are you nervous?

Speaker 8 (12:38):
You know what I think, because through.

Speaker 10 (12:41):
The process of making the album, it was such an
insular experience in some ways that it felt so mine
and so personal. And to have that platform and and
that be offered to me was just such an honor.

Speaker 8 (12:58):
I was so honored.

Speaker 10 (12:59):
And of course you don't say no to that, but
for your first time delivering these songs, to be on
such a huge platform and almost like the safety net
in the space that I've created throughout making this album
and releasing it.

Speaker 8 (13:16):
That was the moment where it was like, Okay, this
is outside of that safety.

Speaker 1 (13:21):
Oh your comfort zone. Yeah, but I would think you've
been performing all your life. Yeah, about some point you
would just be numb to the experience of like, oh,
this ain't nothing, it's just another No.

Speaker 8 (13:33):
Actually it was not you air yeah, no, no, no, no, no,
no no.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
I've seen you singing at the age of seven on
videotape and all that stuff. That's the thing. I'm shocked
that you still get nervous about performance, you know.

Speaker 10 (13:50):
I actually about three years ago I suffered from my
first bout of stage.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
Right.

Speaker 10 (13:59):
I had a show and it just came out of nowhere.
And it's really really something that I've been trying to
work through. It's fairly new. Like you said, I have
been performing for a really long time. So yeah, I
was working through a lot of stuff before that performance
and again just sharing it in such a big space

(14:26):
because after I put out the record, I actually went
to Mexico, as you know, for ten days, like the
day after I put the record out, so I didn't
have a lot of the outside noise, you know. In
that experience, I was able to just shut my brain
off and really just live in the moment of releasing

(14:48):
and sharing such a big part of myself with the world.
And so as soon as I came back, it was
time to prepare for Saturday Night Live. So I really
didn't have I have that time to transition into that
that headspace and the way that I maybe would have liked.

Speaker 4 (15:06):
From the time they say, hey, we want you to
do it to the time you're on stage. How much
time is that the prep I.

Speaker 10 (15:11):
Had three weeks? Okay, about a week of that time
was putting together a band I wanted to put together
a new band, a New Orleans space band, and then
I actually choreographed the entire show as well, the band's choreography,

(15:33):
my choreography. So I spent a week on that and
then yeah, a solid week of rehearsals. So not a
whole lot of time for such a big platform.

Speaker 1 (15:44):
But and that was your first time ever performing those
songs live ever. Wow, So are you are you saying
that you essentially finished the record, mastered sequence it whatever,
released it as an hell Mary Throw and then you
just fled the country kind of with your fingers over

(16:07):
your ears and your eyes closed and like, Okay, let
me see what's gonna happen. Kind of yeah, And you
did it just to protect yourself from either what you
either criticism of it or the not knowing what the
response would be.

Speaker 8 (16:23):
No, I think I did it as a personal retreat
for myself.

Speaker 10 (16:27):
I worked on the album over a three year course
of time, and you know, it was at times a
very taxing experience emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually, and the two
weeks leading up to releasing the album were some of

(16:49):
the most challenging days that I've ever had in my life.
I had a lot of issues with clearances and mastering
and you know, all of the stuff that comes at
the very end of putting an album. I almost lost
my album date. There was just a lot of internal
stuff that was happening, and I think towards the end

(17:13):
I kind of lost a little context because everything was
moving so rapidly.

Speaker 8 (17:19):
But I always knew that for.

Speaker 10 (17:21):
My sanity that when I released the record, I needed
to just have some quiet, reflective time.

Speaker 1 (17:27):
You told me at the very beginning of the recording
process of the record back when you just had demos
that you were going to make the quote, the statement
the quintessential you know what you felt would you've been
dying to express, which I know for you that had

(17:54):
to be a challenge because I mean I can imagine
based on and I've been on uh where I reach
your that sounds stalky, like I'm always on your website,
a website that's not stalker, that's not I know.

Speaker 8 (18:12):
I'm like he's also acting like we don't talk.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
No, no, that's the thing. But that's the thing, like, yeah, no,
I mean, I'm sure like we're genuinely friends, but our
friendship really hasn't been on the musical worship side of things,
like we rarely talk about each other's projects, you know,

(18:35):
and but just in general.

Speaker 8 (18:39):
Yeah, we built that friendship off of a ginuine friendship connection.
I know that.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
There was there was one entry on your site that
really had me curious and I wanted to call you
about it, but I forgot to. And that was the
I guess we can call the the craft work incident. Yeah,
and the thing was I understood. I guess what I
got from it was that it's really hard for you

(19:10):
to make people understand that you still go through human experiences,
which because people perceived you as coming from such a
this perceived dynasty of giants that you know, would be

(19:30):
time to pull out the violin or whatever, like, oh
that's good, you know, and it's never validated. What I'm
saying is that what I got from that entry was
the fact that you were frustrated that you really couldn't
figure out a way to express the anger you have
when those injustices and those situations happened to you, because

(19:53):
people don't see you as a human being and just
see you as part of this, you know, this dynasty
that's supposed to be tafline to emotions, and I can
imagine that being frustrating. Can you explain the craft work situation?

Speaker 10 (20:11):
Yes, but I will say before before I get into that,
just to carry on what you said. The thing is
is that doctor Dre is going through this in front
of his home, and Oprah Winfrey is going through this,
you know, in the Hermez store, and these are billionaires,
so that in that landscape, I think those kind of

(20:34):
micro aggressions happen to everyone daily as as a black
woman and man in this country.

Speaker 8 (20:42):
It doesn't matter your class.

Speaker 10 (20:45):
It doesn't matter how much money you have, what kind
of quote unquote empire dynasty you come from.

Speaker 8 (20:53):
That's just the lay of the land. Essentially.

Speaker 10 (20:57):
My husband and my son who's twelve jewels, and his
friend Rashid, we went to see craft Work. And the
interesting thing was it was a Friday night. My son
had his friend over. They had never heard of craft Work,
to be honest, that was the last thing that they

(21:18):
wanted to do with their Friday night.

Speaker 8 (21:22):
So, you know, Allen and I.

Speaker 10 (21:25):
Are showing them YouTube videos and trying to make the
link with hip hop to get them more interested, and
showing them visuals and like, no, you guys are gonna
love this, like, you know, just relating and specifically showing
the samples that.

Speaker 8 (21:46):
Jules's uncle sample of Craftworks.

Speaker 1 (21:51):
So whoever that is because it took me a minute.

Speaker 8 (21:56):
So essentially.

Speaker 10 (21:59):
That's important to note, just just for the story itself,
that here you have two young black kids who are
not really interested, don't have much, you know, knowledge about
this band. Yeah, and we are you know, trying to

(22:19):
navigate them into the show and build interests and whatever.

Speaker 8 (22:24):
As soon as we walk in, we got our three.

Speaker 1 (22:27):
D glasses said their museum run.

Speaker 10 (22:31):
No, this was at the Orpheum Theater, and so yeah,
we're basically walking to our seats and it just so
happened the very song.

Speaker 5 (22:50):
Yes exactly was on.

Speaker 8 (22:53):
And so we were super stoked. We had box seats.

Speaker 10 (22:59):
There was two rows in front of us in one
row behind us, and we walked to our seats and.

Speaker 8 (23:09):
We're dancing, and these women essentially just started yelling at
the top of their lung sit down, now, sit down,
shut up. You guys are been so disruptive.

Speaker 10 (23:26):
And I turned around, and I, in that moment, had
to make a decision. Am I gonna respond or am
I just going to enjoy this song and deal with
it later. I actually clocked into myself, you know, you
have that moment and said, I'm gonna dance to this
song and then I'm gonna sit my ass down because
I already know where this is heading. Simultaneously, which I

(23:51):
didn't write about, which Alan thought was really important for
me to note and note you My son is he
was eleven at the time, and this the attendant comes
over to him and his friend who are sitting down.
They weren't standing up dancing.

Speaker 8 (24:10):
Alan an hour and says put your no electronic cigarettes.
Put your cigarettes away to these children. Yes, yes, cigarettes,
know you. As soon as we walked in and.

Speaker 10 (24:24):
We saw these two older white men sitting in front
smoking the cigarettes, we took note of that.

Speaker 8 (24:31):
We weren't bothered, but you know.

Speaker 10 (24:34):
It was just the assumption that if someone was breaking
the rule, surely it was the two eleven year old
black kids.

Speaker 8 (24:43):
Yeah, yeah, vapin.

Speaker 10 (24:47):
So it was just a lot of tension in general,
and thank god, by the grace of God, Alan hopped
into that immediately and was like, ma'am, these are children,
You've got the wrong people.

Speaker 8 (25:00):
Whatever.

Speaker 10 (25:03):
And then after that, Alan's going to kill me for
for blanking on the name of the song automond Ye
that comes on.

Speaker 8 (25:15):
And on the ride there, Alan had played me the
entire twelve minute song and.

Speaker 10 (25:23):
It just so happened that that's what they played. So
I was like, well, I'm gonna just dance to this
one too, because we had just had that moment, right,
and we're at an electronic dance music concert.

Speaker 8 (25:37):
It's not like.

Speaker 1 (25:40):
Engaged in.

Speaker 8 (25:42):
So there's two there's two parts of this problem.

Speaker 10 (25:46):
The problem is also that you know, we probably should
have asked for floor seats.

Speaker 8 (25:53):
But we were under the assumption that people were going
to be dancing all night long.

Speaker 1 (25:59):
So you're in the balcony the theater.

Speaker 10 (26:00):
Yes, So we're dancing, and then I feel something hit
me on the back of my head.

Speaker 8 (26:09):
But I say, surely I am tripping.

Speaker 10 (26:12):
Must be tripping, must be tripping, right, So I actually
tell Alan, I said, I swear, and maybe I'm just
losing my motherfucking black eyes light.

Speaker 8 (26:22):
But I just felt something hit.

Speaker 10 (26:25):
Me on the back of my head, and he was like, babe,
you might just be tripping, like just lay low.

Speaker 8 (26:31):
So I actually, you know, shook it off.

Speaker 10 (26:37):
And then I felt something harder, Oh yeah, me on
my shoulder, and my son, my eleven year old son,
tapped me. He picked up a line from the ground
I half eaten lime, and he said, Mom, I just
watched these women throw this at you in front.

Speaker 5 (27:02):
Used to be tested in all kinds of ways.

Speaker 8 (27:13):
A reference, And I feel so bad because they gave
us the tickets.

Speaker 10 (27:18):
I've never met them, but you know, it just it
just sucks that they also had to be associated with
this incident. But yeah, you know, in that moment, I
basically knew we had probably three choices one was to react,
which probably would have led to someone getting arrested, you know,

(27:42):
just spiraling out of control, or I called the police
on them because essentially.

Speaker 8 (27:49):
You know, they did throw ship at me.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
Wow. I never even thought, yeah, I mean, you know,
you're going we can.

Speaker 5 (28:04):
Sometimes exactly that's what they.

Speaker 8 (28:06):
Do literally, But I knew that even if that happened,
that somehow.

Speaker 10 (28:10):
It would still be our fraud, or just to just
take it and be silenced, because I knew that if I.

Speaker 8 (28:19):
Spoke to them that it would escalate.

Speaker 10 (28:21):
And my son was there, it was already traumatic enough
for him to have to experience that, especially in a
context where it was a predominantly white space and he
didn't want to be there in the first place. And
so now I think the thing that saddened me the
most is that here we are, as parents trying to expand,

(28:45):
you know, his horizon and his experience and make him
feel like he belongs wherever he chooses to be.

Speaker 8 (28:55):
But that was not the message that we got that nex.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
What do you think he took from that experience? Did
you explain them? Oh?

Speaker 8 (29:01):
Yeah, I had several talks. No, no, no, we had
several talks. In fact, you know, the we had. It
was it was quite a three days after that, I
think that.

Speaker 10 (29:17):
Number one, I think just as a young man and
him and Alan, both as the men and the family
also felt silent and powerless just in protecting me in
that situation because they are black men, and no matter
what would have been said or done, they would have
been the aggressive in the situation. So on one end,

(29:39):
it was about teaching him, you know, after the last
eleven twelve now twelve years of teaching him about injustices
and how to stand up for himself and to not
be afraid and to speak up and then having to say.

Speaker 1 (29:57):
But there to say.

Speaker 8 (30:03):
Right. So it was it was just very complicated. But
I felt the need to write that piece for him.
I felt the need to essentially not be silenced.

Speaker 10 (30:16):
In that situation and to let him know that there
is an outlet in a way to use his voice
responsibly because there are so many people who read that
piece who I felt had a deeper understanding of the
microaggressions that we face as black men and women on
a daily basis, who were able to empathize, which is

(30:37):
something that we have the expectation of people to do
on a daily basis and to treat us with humanity.

Speaker 8 (30:45):
But it was really.

Speaker 10 (30:47):
Interesting, and I felt regretful because I had so much
rage in the moment that I started tweeting because I
wanted them to see it. When they got home, they
were put on black. But I wish that I would
have just channeled my emotions and that waited and channeled in.

Speaker 8 (31:06):
In that piece. And it was a great lesson learned that.

Speaker 10 (31:09):
You know, it really is no way to condense that
experience in however many letters that you get on one
hundred and forty.

Speaker 5 (31:20):
Characters had to write a book about it.

Speaker 8 (31:23):
Yeah, yeah, it's really no way.

Speaker 10 (31:25):
But I wanted them to get home and to see
them and to see they have some accountability. I honestly
thought that it would come up at this point because
so many people are.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
Just put two and two together.

Speaker 10 (31:44):
It was widely widely talked about locally and normal. The
real crazy ship, though, is that they got up and
started dancing.

Speaker 8 (31:54):
Of course, after you.

Speaker 5 (31:55):
Get out of your pistom, like you burning right.

Speaker 1 (31:59):
Youst we're going to take that word, yes, And.

Speaker 10 (32:04):
I did forget to note that Alan went over to
them and said, did you just you know, throw fruit
at or whatever? At my wife, and one of the
women says, I just want to make it clear that
was not me saying those horrible nasty things, streaming those
horrible nasty things.

Speaker 8 (32:23):
So we don't even know what they actually were saying
while they were throwing Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but again you.

Speaker 1 (32:34):
Can figure out who, and I would be happy to
listen listen to you. What should be noted, though, is
I feel like that was very mature of you to
just stop pondering. Think we're having a fascinating conversation with

(32:58):
our guests to lunch. I don't even think do you remember?
I remember the first time I met you, I was
in the audience at an Apollo show.

Speaker 8 (33:09):
Probably was no stop pondering and thinking.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
And the first time I met you, you were confronting
someone in the audience about what they said about That's
the first time I met you.

Speaker 8 (33:20):
They were out of control though, and.

Speaker 1 (33:22):
Well, yeah, I know, but it's just like, you know,
I always felt that you had to walk the thin
line between any any defense, your family, your art, your
you know, and the fact that you I think I
would have lost it, you know, especially as like, oh,

(33:45):
you're trying to masculate me in front of front of
my kids. That's that is amazing. I just want to
say that to be committed.

Speaker 10 (33:56):
But I felt like, honestly, throughout the course of making
the album, that was it incredible amount of growth that
I was able to achieve through channeling you know, this
rage and just frustration and pain through my art and

(34:19):
through my writing, and I feel like I have a
better toolbag, were.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
Able to get it, were able to get it out,
and I was.

Speaker 10 (34:30):
Even you know, some things happened last night that I
would not have responded in the same way. But I
honestly feel like everything that I could have said, I
wrote on this album. So when those things are happening
to me now versus pre this album, I feel like

(34:51):
it's there for you to discover if you want to
have that conversation. But I don't feel the need to
have those conversations as much as I did prior to
releasing this record.

Speaker 8 (35:05):
The conversation is.

Speaker 1 (35:06):
There, you know, the period between the true album Yes
and this album, Like why didn't you feel that you know,
twenty twelve wasn't the apropros time to do it, or
even with the Heavey Street record, or even did you
have any say in the very first record, so it's oh.

Speaker 10 (35:25):
Yeah, that's my baby, I wrote. I wrote probably seventy
five percent of that record at fifteen.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
Well you wrote all your material practically, okay, but were
there people that you can't do that? I honestly, when
you told me that I was scared, I was like no, no, no.

Speaker 10 (35:48):
Honestly, at fifteen, through throughout that record, I think that
that was just such an interesting time in music.

Speaker 8 (35:56):
That was at the height of.

Speaker 10 (35:59):
You know, Britney Spears, Christine Angular and sync and here
I was. Everyone goes to that phase. I was thirteen,
I went to Jamaica. I was that suburban kid who
you know, was definitely felt connected and I still do

(36:21):
feel connected to a lot of principals of Rastafarism. But
I definitely, you know, cut all my hair off.

Speaker 8 (36:32):
I was a vegan. I was really doing some soul searchinges.

Speaker 1 (36:39):
So this was like your snoop lyon period wow alone
or like under the guise of like we was Miss Tina.

Speaker 8 (36:52):
Like no, no, we no.

Speaker 10 (36:56):
But it was more so about I really did feel
a lot of connectivity to my body being a temple,
and you know, it had a really strong effect on
me and I actually feel like though as a songwriter,
I was at my most potent and honest. Even still
to this day, I say it all the time, the

(37:18):
way that I approached songwriting. Yes, there was a sense
of clarity and like, I'm dying to make a playlist
of my fifteen year old songs that I wrote because
I still still feel like there's some of my strongest
songwriting to this day.

Speaker 8 (37:38):
Yeah really, yeah, I mean, but I also.

Speaker 10 (37:44):
Was, you know, extremely privileged to have been in the
studio during that time with Pharrell and Timberland and Rock Wilder,
and I was around some real musicians, you know, so
it must be interesting for them to have seen you
then and then see you now like have you gotten

(38:04):
I'm sure Farrell's hit you up like whoa yeah. And
Pharrell has been such a champion of me since day one,
and I am so grateful for that. I remember, you know,
a lot of times being fourteen, going into those studio sessions.
I was signed to Colombia then it was a very
different Columbia, like I said, and two three ooh.

Speaker 8 (38:32):
Probably two probably two.

Speaker 10 (38:35):
And I would walk into these sessions with these producers
and they would say, okay, like we have a few
tracks that we want to play you and I was like, no,
actually write my own music.

Speaker 8 (38:47):
Can you play some instrumentals?

Speaker 1 (38:49):
Oh?

Speaker 8 (38:51):
Fifty percent of the time people were like, we need
to call the A and R. And you know, because
they thought that this was just going to be easy.

Speaker 10 (39:01):
I was younger sister, like, let's just come in, get
this check and keep a cute and quick.

Speaker 8 (39:08):
And I was playing like, you know.

Speaker 10 (39:11):
Shuggary Otis Records and like, I actually have brothers Johnson
play guitar on some of my songs on.

Speaker 8 (39:18):
That album, and like your first record, yes, yeah, but
I have to say for real was one of the
ones I was just immediately.

Speaker 10 (39:31):
Like, Okay, if you want to write it, then let's
do it, you know. So yeah, I feel like, what's
really interesting is.

Speaker 8 (39:44):
That album cover.

Speaker 10 (39:45):
I actually I have on my little Cari shells and
my red in the Rosta cap and then in Hadley Street,
you know. I I it was still really really important
to me to incorporate social activism and black pride and

(40:06):
black history into that record and my first video. I
had images of Malcolm X and Angela Davis and aside
of Secure and Chay, and it was people weren't peeping.

Speaker 6 (40:22):
But I'm like, this is I decided.

Speaker 10 (40:25):
I decided, if you look back at that that video
on the history, it was all of that was in there.

Speaker 1 (40:34):
So where does that come from?

Speaker 5 (40:35):
Sound?

Speaker 1 (40:38):
I was to do the question, Yeah, I'm gonna go
back to the beginning, because they're going to me from repetition,
all right.

Speaker 8 (40:49):
So I was just saying that to say that it's
always been there.

Speaker 10 (40:53):
You know, it's always the storytelling through the lens of
a black woman, and our stories in our history has
for me, always been there.

Speaker 8 (41:03):
It has always been a part of my work.

Speaker 10 (41:06):
I don't think it's ever been as explicitly as honest
and spelled out and unavoidable.

Speaker 8 (41:14):
I always did it in ways that were kind of
less at the forefront.

Speaker 10 (41:22):
But I think it was the album that I was
really destined to make, you know, from a very young age,
and I had gone through enough experiences between that timeline
of releasing True and the aftermath of that to where
it really challenged me to say, what is it that

(41:45):
you can write now that is what you are living
through and existing in, and that that was it, you know,
those stories that are told on the album, that's what
I was living and existing in every day.

Speaker 8 (42:02):
So it felt really good to get that out.

Speaker 1 (42:06):
Between True and Headley. Your your fondness for the word fucking.
The first thing I noticed the one True was with
some the second song some Things don't just seem to
fucking work to me. It was the ultimate title. And

(42:27):
then I think Headley's last song was fuck this industry, which.

Speaker 8 (42:36):
That's a man. I have to say.

Speaker 10 (42:41):
Dev actually wrote the line some things never fucking work.
So I didn't say fucking two times. I didn't write
fucking two times in a song.

Speaker 8 (42:51):
But sometimes that's just the only way that you can.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
Well just kind of let you know that it's on
on another level. So now I do want to go
back to the beginning to take I think no. I
think it's only important because the way that this album
is built, especially with the interludes and master needs to

(43:19):
drive an audio book.

Speaker 10 (43:24):
I've got like two hours of audio from p that
will blow your mind.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
Now, Okay, white guy questions purpose like that? Why can't
they just be questioned? No, but this is the purpose
of the show is for all of us different cultures
and background, black and white people and bosses and minions
and bosses. I pointed to myself when I said minions,

(43:53):
it's got real Disney for a second. Okay, minions, No,
but he Okay, I was shocked that master P got
so much uh space on the album. I mean, he's
borderline the narrator of the record.

Speaker 5 (44:08):
Yeah, I'm sorry, Are you right?

Speaker 1 (44:13):
I wasn't shocked that you chose him to narrate it
because unbeknownst to me, he did have a story to tell,
which again, I think the thing is that hip hop
Maybe this couldn't answer your concern Bill, your question?

Speaker 2 (44:33):
What was the question and why master And I said,
I reallyct the record was to deal with master P.

Speaker 1 (44:39):
That was the first because I was listening to the
entire ride here and that's what I thought.

Speaker 5 (44:46):
So what you know about how I worked together?

Speaker 10 (44:49):
You know.

Speaker 1 (44:50):
But the thing is is that with ninety percent of
the participants in hip hop culture, you really don't get
to see the vulnerability and the human side of them.
So thus we would just think that Masterpiece the guy
from the from about about it. Yeah, and just like

(45:12):
you know, like, Okay, it's some guy in the trap
and he has money and Da da dada and c murder,
and you don't think of them as human beings. Human being, right,
The thing that shocked me the most was like I
was engaged. I started looking. I didn't even look at
the credits. I was just like, Oh, I wonder if
there's another Master, Oh he's back. How did you know

(45:35):
that he had a story to tell and why did
you think it would be engaging and why did you
provide the platform for him to not tell his story
but also to kind of tell your story as well well.

Speaker 8 (45:49):
First of all, I think that.

Speaker 10 (45:51):
Master is incredibly regal, and there was a thread of
regality that I wanted to connect to the album and
to the visuals. I really wanted to present Black people,
as you know, regal, stately beings that we are, and

(46:16):
I think that regality can be expressed in so many
different ways.

Speaker 8 (46:21):
But I remember, and this might be generational, like.

Speaker 10 (46:28):
Seeing MTV Cribs with Master B on it and him
having like a gold toilet seed and all old everything
and being incredibly ornate. But I also remember my father

(46:49):
really looking up to Master Be because he was a
black man who entered this music industry and this landscape
completely independent, and he held on to his independence. And
that was something that was really important from my father

(47:09):
as someone who is transitioning as a music executive and
learning the business. He you know, had a great deal
of respect for MASTERP and I would hear about that.
So I think that there's like a few different levels
to it. One is again the regal aspect. I've always

(47:32):
you know, thought of him in that way. And then secondly,
throughout the course of this album, independence and empowerment is
one of the messages that I wanted to constantly drill
in and hone in on. And who better to tell

(47:53):
that story to me than Master Be. I mean, he
is honestly one of the own only ones who didn't
sell his company, who did not you know, shortsight his
company and his empire for a check. And he really
really started in the trunks in the trenches. He saw

(48:16):
a vision. What I love about him is that he
saw so much within his twelve blocks. He saw so
much potential and belief within his local community that it
was never an idea or he when he speaks about this,

(48:39):
he says like he never was thinking about mainstream or
building this global empire. He was thinking about a need
and demand in his community. You know, he actually opened
a record store after he started selling trunks in his
car and that was during a time when and I

(49:01):
guess you couldn't like the idea of FedEx and overnighting
CDs like was so foreign. But he was in Oakland
or somewhere Richmond, Richmond, California, where it was really hard
to get a lot of explicit hip hop records, and
so he struck up a deal with a lot of

(49:23):
the southern distribution places and he with FedEx.

Speaker 8 (49:28):
Albums overnight, and that was like unheard of at that time.

Speaker 10 (49:32):
So he was basically like importing CDs locally and right exactly,
but just the idea for him of wanting to supply
that for people who wanted to have access to that,
that was super inspiring to me.

Speaker 8 (49:52):
And then I also think that I see a lot of.

Speaker 10 (49:57):
Similarities in my father and and the empowerment of being
a self made black man and navigating through that.

Speaker 4 (50:08):
One of the things I wanted to ask you about
in regards to your dad, the interlude where he's talking
about how he was angry as a kid, that really
resonated with me as someone born and raised in the South,
and just from hearing I don't know how you guys
recorded it, I don't know the setting, but it sounded
really intimate, and it sounded like, was that your first

(50:29):
time hearing that story from him?

Speaker 10 (50:32):
No, So I always heard the stories about my father
integrating his schools. He did that in both elementary and
junior high school and gas in Alabama, and my parents
are no longer married. I wanted to close the chapter

(50:52):
of the album making process by interviewing both of them
and hopes that a I could really break down and
get to the root and the origin generationally of how
some of these traumas have been passed on to me,
because I do think that there's generational trauma as black

(51:13):
people that you just inherent and I wanted to be
kind of cleansed of.

Speaker 8 (51:20):
That in some kind of way. And if something made
the record, then it did. But that was truly for me.

Speaker 10 (51:30):
And one of the beautiful things about this album is
that my father and I have had a very complicated
relationship and we are so much closer and I was
able to forgive him for a lot of things and
understand him in an entirely new way. So although I

(51:51):
had heard the stories before, it was something about having
that formal moment of him getting to explicitly tell his
story without all this background noise and have the focus
be on him getting to be honest and have that moment.
He deserved that and we I'm thirty years old and
he's never really had the opportunity to.

Speaker 8 (52:13):
Do that in that kind of a setting. And I
think that it was just so powerful. There's so much
from his story that I couldn't even put on the record. Unbelievable,
I know. I actually both of.

Speaker 10 (52:32):
My parents, like, I want to do something with that
audio much bigger because I think that now, through me
making this record and my sister making her last record,
I think that people have come to have a better
understanding of what kind of household we grew up in,
and the kind of values and just the environment that

(52:58):
we were raised in. And I think that both of
my parents have such interesting stories that are not, you know,
unique to a lot of.

Speaker 8 (53:08):
Black folks parent.

Speaker 1 (53:10):
Yeah, but not at all.

Speaker 10 (53:10):
Yeah, but I will say that there's something specifically about
carrying the weight of integration that I hadn't thought of
in that way, and that is very unique.

Speaker 8 (53:22):
Like you can't not many people can say that their
parents integrated.

Speaker 1 (53:26):
But we're the.

Speaker 6 (53:27):
Last, well not really you, but you're probably more your sister,
but that's we're the last generation of parents who have
experienced that. I mean, most of our parents were of
a certain age in nineteen sixty five when they were
able to vote. But it's funny because listening to those
interviews it made me happy. I actually listened to my
mom with my mom and I was like, oh my god, Mom,
I'm so happy because people get to see the foundation
of which you two come from. And for a lot

(53:49):
of black people, especially a lot of black women, it's
just a level of even more comfortability.

Speaker 5 (53:54):
Of course, it also made me worry.

Speaker 6 (53:56):
Yeah, because I was like, you, part of your life
is in a pop world and I don't.

Speaker 5 (54:02):
Know, just even even with a little bit of I
was like I was and I was like, oh, here
comes to Launch, here comes Tina. It's real, it's really
not a secret.

Speaker 6 (54:18):
They're black, and they're they're black. It's just like a
lot of other people's black. And four minute I did have.

Speaker 8 (54:23):
A little worry.

Speaker 10 (54:24):
Yeah, yeah, now that the Anelus were really they were
really powerful, and I think that just having that documentation,
I honestly just feel like it's something that everyone should do,
Like everyone should have that of their parents that some

(54:47):
kind of documentation of the storytelling. I understand them so
much better, and I honestly feel like I will be
a better, better person and a better.

Speaker 8 (54:57):
Parent for it.

Speaker 10 (54:59):
Like just certain things that my dad was telling me
that that I had not heard before, like the electric
prodding that he was electric product. Maybe two or three occasions.
I didn't understand how much of a participant that my
dad was.

Speaker 8 (55:19):
In terms of the civil rights movement in Gaston, Alabama. Yeah,
he was.

Speaker 10 (55:31):
He was a classmate of CORRETTA. Scott's and he was
a freedom fighter. He did sittings And.

Speaker 5 (55:37):
Did Daddy look young?

Speaker 8 (55:39):
Because I went up, Wow, So I learned. I learned
all of that. I didn't know that.

Speaker 10 (55:43):
And it was really interesting because my dad, he had
a full scholarship and to uh Tennessee for basketball, and
he spoke about how he didn't actually love that basketball,
but he used it as a defense to basically have

(56:06):
safety from racism because then people were able to like
him and accept him and protect him from all of
the fuckery that was happening. And it carried him through
high school and kind of gave him a safety net
from all of the violence that was happening.

Speaker 8 (56:26):
Got a full scholarship and played Fisk. There was a
huge riot because he was.

Speaker 10 (56:39):
A black kid on this college team, which that was
also the very early stages of that happening. And there
was a huge fight between the two schools and people
you know, were flipping cars and they got really violent
and really crazy, and he bore the weight of that

(57:00):
because black people were mad at him.

Speaker 8 (57:02):
They were calling him a trader. You know, how could
you and you uncle Tom and all of that.

Speaker 10 (57:09):
And there was a coach from Fisk who said, listen, like,
we know you have this full scholarship and that you said.
And at this point, my dad had been in predominantly
white schools for you know, fifteen years. That's who he
was around all the time. And they offered him a

(57:31):
scholarship to Fisk, and everyone thought he was absolutely crazy.
And he left Tennessee and State and went to Fisk.
And when he went there, he thought like, I'm about
to be bawling and fly. And it actually was super
corny at the time to be an athlete, and it

(57:55):
was much cooler to be an intellectual and be on
the debate team and to uh, you know, be stylish
and you know, just be smart, and that was his
first black experience was that it was awesome to be smart,

(58:16):
and so he really was a nerd. My dad really
was a nerse. So he was just like super stoked.
So just hearing all of that, like that's the ship
that you never hear about, Like I never knew that
during that time that that was considered more cool, you know,

(58:36):
like you don't hear that story. So it was just
a lot that came out of it that really really
empowered me through the making of this record.

Speaker 1 (58:49):
We're here with salone in studios, Yes.

Speaker 10 (58:55):
And my album by the way, I turned in in
my album, I played it for the label here only
I don't know two months three months ago.

Speaker 1 (59:06):
Wow.

Speaker 10 (59:07):
Yeah, So the engineer who was walking around, I remember
him from that day. But imagine, yeah, imagine now like
me having to play this for you know, my white
record label heads.

Speaker 5 (59:21):
Yeah, when when Don't Touch My Hair came on? What
did they what did they do?

Speaker 6 (59:25):
Because you know, I gotta tell you for that record
with such a because a lot of us, I'm not
gonna say, bring it up so.

Speaker 5 (59:32):
Long, don't you understand.

Speaker 6 (59:33):
While I'm a little befuddled, because it's something that we
go through all the time. And to be able to
the way that you said it in such a calm way,
and then to watch what you say to me. But
it was still like smooth. But in my mind I
translated it what you say to me. You know what
I mean, don't touch my hair. But can you walk
us through this song and why you chose to do it,

(59:55):
and you chose to do it on Saturday Night Live,
which was really brave and I appreciate it.

Speaker 8 (59:58):
Oh, thank you.

Speaker 6 (01:00:01):
You know.

Speaker 10 (01:00:01):
I had a jam session or a week of jam
sessions when I first started to write the album, and
for whatever reason.

Speaker 8 (01:00:14):
I just sang one day, don't touch my head.

Speaker 10 (01:00:19):
Don't know why, I just said it, and probably wrote
that song in like ten fifteen minutes.

Speaker 8 (01:00:28):
I think it was so.

Speaker 10 (01:00:28):
Potent at the time, and it was less about, you know,
the actual physical touching of the hair and more about
the allowance to have our safe spaces, our cultural you know,
things that we celebrate, our pride, our glory, and sang

(01:00:53):
like don't touch that.

Speaker 8 (01:00:55):
Don't come for me. Let us have this moment, let
us revel in this culture that we have built from
nowhere and still have to protect on a daily basis.

Speaker 5 (01:01:06):
Because in my minds too, And.

Speaker 6 (01:01:08):
In that metaphor, you're like because every day we see
it being taken from us. And so in that moment,
because I knew what you meant, I knew it wasn't
just a physical don't touch my hair, but which.

Speaker 8 (01:01:17):
Is annoying, right, it's all don't.

Speaker 6 (01:01:20):
Touch my hair, don't touch my culture, don't touch let me.
Can I have this?

Speaker 5 (01:01:23):
Can I have my corn rolls and not.

Speaker 8 (01:01:25):
My box breaks experience?

Speaker 5 (01:01:27):
It's just can I ask?

Speaker 1 (01:01:28):
And this is not a okay, you're already unfull, like
you already.

Speaker 5 (01:01:38):
Like off, like I'm just all the chicks who loved
this record, okay, and thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:01:48):
I want to ask a question. Is it possible two
in the age of the internet kind of of deluding
regionalism and culture at the same time. Is it possible

(01:02:08):
for culture practices to not be appropriated when the internet makes.

Speaker 4 (01:02:16):
It too easy for you to have access to it.
I don't think it's well. I think it's just all
in how you do it, you know what I'm saying.
I think if you do it like in a tasteful way,
then I don't think nobody getting mad at you.

Speaker 5 (01:02:28):
Just don't act like it's yours. And you created it.

Speaker 6 (01:02:30):
I'm sorry, I didn't mean, but that's always been my
or like.

Speaker 4 (01:02:34):
When they try to like what you said, I mean
with the corn rolls and like they were like Caitlyn
Jenner's and not Caitlyn the other one Incredible, Kylie's new
incredible news, like doing that.

Speaker 1 (01:02:57):
Shout out. Appreciate that.

Speaker 10 (01:03:03):
Appropriation is such a complicated conversation and it's really hard
to simplify.

Speaker 1 (01:03:10):
But but it's rarely a conversation because because I only
see it on I see it as rest on Twitter, right,
but I never hear the conversation of it. Part of
my dismay or what Twitter has taught me at least, Wow,
what is what Twitter has taught me? Exclusive? The general

(01:03:36):
belief is that basically, you know, the idea that black
culture there's a there's a difference between loving black culture
but not black white people. So usually, especially with the
onslaught of the police activity, the police assassinations that have

(01:03:56):
been going on in twenty sixteen, you know, the sudden
silence that you see some of our appropriators that are
speaking that you know won't speak up for us, but
we'll still you know, right, Yeah, and so well, yeah,

(01:04:19):
to explain the bill and to Steve here, a lot
of the a lot of the seeds of dismay and
anger lie in the fact that you have artists that
are quick to you know, borrow you the fashion uh

(01:04:40):
and and the language and the dances and the music
and the inspirations and the swag and the lifestyle. But
when it comes to us as human beings again, it's
like black people are rarely seen as human beings. Like
even listening to like from what we generally hear about

(01:05:02):
your father and just seeing him in the news, I
just seeing him as an overprotective, you know, guy in
the background that caused all the shots, and I'd like
this this, yeah, this is humanizing. Yeah, now I want
to know more about Matthew knows that I never knew about.

Speaker 8 (01:05:21):
My dad's story is really powerful.

Speaker 4 (01:05:24):
Yeah, when you said it was difficult with you guys before, Like,
what what made it difficult with your relationship or complicated?

Speaker 1 (01:05:30):
That was your word.

Speaker 10 (01:05:31):
I just think that, honestly, the weight that you have
to carry as a black man, especially coming up in
that time, there are just things that I can never
understand how that tolls on you emotionally and your decision
making and not being able to have an outlet to
really say I'm flawed, you know, I made mistakes because

(01:05:53):
you've had to be black excellent your whole life, and
he had to be black excellent in order to give
what he gave to my sister and I And so
I think that that's a heavy burden to carry. I
think that this album was as much of a tribute
to my parents and my grandparents and my ancestors and

(01:06:16):
my lineage of everyone who played a role in the
privilege that I have today.

Speaker 8 (01:06:22):
And I don't take that for granted, you know, I know.

Speaker 10 (01:06:27):
Now, I'm very clear on all of the steps that
my parents took for us to be who we are.
When I say who we are, I mean as humans,
as women, as Black women, as mothers.

Speaker 8 (01:06:41):
As wives. And I think that he was, you know,
sort of a chosen one.

Speaker 10 (01:06:49):
And I do my little quote hands there because I
think that in black communities, especially in that day and age,
there is a little bit of a chosen one complex
in terms of like, oh, you're a smarter black little nigga,

(01:07:10):
or like, you know, you're one of the really intelligent ones,
are articulate, Yeah, you're you're the exception.

Speaker 8 (01:07:21):
And I think that.

Speaker 10 (01:07:23):
Him being chosen to be integrated. My my grandparents were very,
very poor. They did not have even high school education,
and my dad was just they were very.

Speaker 8 (01:07:41):
Smart, but they were not educated at all.

Speaker 10 (01:07:45):
And so for him to have gone through that journey
as like sort of this chosen one and it just
continued from the every phase in his life essentially from
elementary school on up.

Speaker 1 (01:07:58):
Did you have siblings or is he the only child?

Speaker 10 (01:08:01):
So he had fourteen foster sisters, brothers, but he was
the only biological child of my grandparents.

Speaker 8 (01:08:14):
It's such as now and he has he has my
half sister, my aunt Shaquita, and that is his mom's
daughter from another relationship.

Speaker 1 (01:08:35):
We're just I can't that Jesus, okay, But yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:08:43):
It's it's loaded.

Speaker 10 (01:08:44):
And I remember going, you know, two gass and and
like my grandparents still having an outhouse and I seventeen,
the outhouse of the bathroom and my sister and I
would be like this is some fun shah.

Speaker 8 (01:09:00):
Gross and crazy.

Speaker 10 (01:09:01):
But honestly, my my dad's side of the family was
so ged up. Like my grandmother was a boot My
great grandmother was a bootlegger, and she was like eighty
years old, seventy five years old, still bootlegging alcohol.

Speaker 8 (01:09:21):
And she was like she was like the most un.

Speaker 10 (01:09:29):
Yeah, it worked out really well for her because she
was like the little old lady. So she basically they
owned a property next door and in the wee hours
like she would basically, you know, have this little juke
joint going and people would be like, who is running

(01:09:49):
this and she would be complaining, like it's.

Speaker 8 (01:09:51):
Keeping Holland and I'm seventy eight years old and they keep.

Speaker 10 (01:09:57):
So that was that, and then my great grandfather on
that side, his name was Dave Hoak. He was one
of the first black men to own that amount of land,
and he actually was so smart. He didn't have enough
money to turn the land into farmland because that would

(01:10:18):
have meant him having you know, lumber chopped down and
he didn't have the money the cash flow to do that,
but he had the land, so he struck up a
deal with the city that and charged them, of course,
that they could you know, come and use his land

(01:10:39):
as lumber. Yes, So that basically they cleared out his shit,
but he also got a check.

Speaker 8 (01:10:46):
So they were incredibly smart.

Speaker 10 (01:10:49):
They were not educated, but they were really really smart
business people and entrepreneurs, and so I think to answer
your question because I just went all around the block
and back, I.

Speaker 8 (01:11:01):
Just think that he had a very heavy burden to wait.

Speaker 10 (01:11:06):
And to hold, and especially my sister's group when they
were like thirteen fourteen, their manager passed away from Lupus
and Tillman and they had just gotten an offer from

(01:11:27):
the face actually, and she passed away really tragically, and
my dad stepped in and was like, well, someone has
to step in, like this offer is on the table
their kids, and she was doing all of the paperwork,
and he literally just went to the library and bought

(01:11:48):
every book that he could find on the music business.

Speaker 8 (01:11:52):
He had no experience.

Speaker 10 (01:11:54):
He was vice president regionally of Xerox in the Southern region,
so he's an incredibly you know, gifted businessman, but he
basically knew nothing about the music industry and he had
to step up to the plate and make sure that
no one was going to screw these fourteen year old girls.

(01:12:16):
But that's not the narrative that everyone has, you know,
been so he could have sworn he was Joe Jackson and.

Speaker 6 (01:12:25):
We had Alan Lee's here and Shep Gordon and listening
to how they became managers with so more matter of
facty like they didn't. It was no studying involved, It
was no going to the library. It was like Jimmy
Hendrick said, you're Jewish, you should be a manager.

Speaker 5 (01:12:38):
Wow, no struggle a little different.

Speaker 10 (01:12:41):
Yeah, yeah, And he basically applied all of the knowledge
that he knew from Corporate America in terms of negotiations.

Speaker 8 (01:12:51):
My dad Rax, the department that he actually led. A
lot of people don't know this.

Speaker 10 (01:12:57):
X RAX is the leading manufacturers for X rays and
MRIs and medical equipment, and so it was his job
to basically go to hospitals and sell this super expensive.

Speaker 8 (01:13:09):
State of the art medical equipment.

Speaker 10 (01:13:12):
And he basically just utilized all of those skills you know,
in the music industry. And I just think, you know,
he had a lot of pressure, and knowing his story
and having the space for him to be allowed to
tell that explicitly, it really really changed the dynamic of

(01:13:33):
our relationships.

Speaker 8 (01:13:34):
And I'm really really grateful for that.

Speaker 1 (01:13:36):
Okay. I know, like we kind of the modus operandi
of the show is to really dissect the music and
the art and everything. So this is probably the first
time we've ever dealt with social issues on the show.

Speaker 8 (01:13:53):
But my god, damn it, I just had therapy in here.

Speaker 1 (01:14:01):
Every week. I would be remiss. I would be remiss
if I didn't mention, uh, the Lil Wayne incident, not
to be confused with the craft work incidents. But I
guess I should let the listeners know that there's kind
of been grumbling in debates on the room on how

(01:14:23):
I guess brother Tip t I has decided to handle
his chastising of Lil Wayne. I guess Bill and.

Speaker 8 (01:14:33):
And and.

Speaker 1 (01:14:39):
Okay, the little Wayne.

Speaker 4 (01:14:40):
Okay, I'll be I'll be Lil Wayne, or maybe you
should be t I because you have the more stately voice.
Maybe I'll be I'll be Wayne. I'm a young, rich mother,
young I know black lives matter. I'm a nigga.

Speaker 1 (01:14:56):
He a white man. He feeling me my life matter,
especially my bitches.

Speaker 4 (01:15:02):
So that's a little way, especially especially to my life matter,
especially to my bitches.

Speaker 1 (01:15:10):
MS.

Speaker 4 (01:15:11):
She didn't play that part. It's online, It's it's on Twitter.
You add this to the things you learned from Twitter. Wow,
his life matters, especially to his bitches, which I think
is a motivational statement.

Speaker 1 (01:15:21):
Can I make a shirt? I think that's wait a minute,
this is about to take a whole another turn. I
didn't know that statement. To my bitches, let me be
particular about this, Fiel.

Speaker 5 (01:15:33):
Did you find you ready for your part with t I?

Speaker 10 (01:15:36):
Why?

Speaker 4 (01:15:38):
But then so then U t I got on Instagram
and like he you know, I guess he had you know,
dictionary dot com over.

Speaker 1 (01:15:48):
Time out wait for the record, like we're sparky, We're sparky.
And we talked about this last night, and well, I
commended him on handling it, okay, was like to stop

(01:16:15):
cooning and basically was like, but it's a first. It's
a first.

Speaker 8 (01:16:22):
I have to say.

Speaker 10 (01:16:22):
I really appreciate what t I has done, the work
that he's done for the movement, you know.

Speaker 8 (01:16:31):
Over the course of these this last year.

Speaker 10 (01:16:34):
Really, I think it takes a lot of bravery to
step up and actually try to walk and live in
that truth outside of just making art about it.

Speaker 1 (01:16:45):
You know, he's saying that he because he has children, hm,
that he sees life different now than say, eleven years ago,
when he was mired in a lot of trouble on controversy.
You know, it's like he was about that life quote.
But I guess the grumbling in the room was whether
or not he should have sund him in public or

(01:17:11):
have a conversation.

Speaker 10 (01:17:12):
Maybe he did both and maybe he felt like he
had a responsibility to.

Speaker 1 (01:17:19):
Yeah, I don't think the sunning was self serving like
some people's son just to be self serving, as in
to be like yo yo, that nigga woke like you
see what he did? You see? And that's and that's
kind of where I'm at with it.

Speaker 4 (01:17:31):
I feel like on like Twitter, Instagram, everybody's competing for
woke points and ship, you know what I mean. And
so for me, my thing is like I feel like
everything that t I said in was valid, But I'm
just at a point with me now where it's like,
I'm very careful about the way we talk to each
other in front of white people, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:17:48):
What I'm saying. Always been that way though, except for
this radio show.

Speaker 8 (01:17:55):
How does that?

Speaker 1 (01:17:56):
What does that sound like?

Speaker 5 (01:17:59):
People don't even know about this general rule amongst black people.

Speaker 1 (01:18:03):
This last time, the last time that someone was on
this level was caros One and Prince B. And we
know how that after that confrontation that the PC.

Speaker 6 (01:18:19):
Better give us a circle after nineteen ninety.

Speaker 1 (01:18:22):
Oh, don't act like you you don't remember that, right. No,
Prince Be in an interview said he's a teacher, but
what kind of teacher is a teacher? Of what? He?
In Details? It was so okay in Details magazine. Uh,
he was basically saying that a lot of message teacher rappers.

(01:18:44):
He was referring to Chuck Dye and Caris one, we're
making mountains out of mohills and you know basically that
we are hypocrites. And uh actually, later in line of
Prince B's death, I think a lot of us when
we saw the source. You remember, like the source on
the last page you used to have that cartoon. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

(01:19:06):
we're talking right. So there's there's an illustration of karas
One grabbing grabbing the stage and and later I found
out and actually uh later verified through uh T Bunny
whose birthday party it was tea money formally on TV
raps and original concept on Deft Jam Records that it

(01:19:27):
wasn't that level of like him getting kicked off the
stage and throwing off. It was kind of like, okay,
it was maybe a lighthearted coudeta like they just took
over the stage and performed and Pmdring just exited stage
left So that's that's one thing that happened. Like it
is this pre like Instagram and Snapchat when it was
could be verified, right, so you could tell tall tales

(01:19:50):
and right, but the urban legend of the stories that
Kris One and his anger came and just dropped kick
I mean, Prince VI, it was like three hundred and
seventy trillion pounds bigger than me. My whole point is
that after that period of or at least the you know,

(01:20:14):
the idea of you could lose your career if you
criticize somebody publicly and may respond to you, I felt
that we lost something because after that incident, every person
that would otherwise have an opinion or two cents about
what he feels about another rapper, Uh, that just got

(01:20:36):
squashed because no one wanted to risk the public humiliation
of the retaliation of Oh, you're going to share your
two cents about me, Yeah, I'm gonna see you at
blah blah blah blah blah. Yeah. The confrontation basically stops
since nineteen ninety three. So I just felt that was
necessary one because that is the first time that that
level of public criticism has happened, and in general, yeah,

(01:21:00):
I mean, dude, I mean Wayne is Wayne's family, Like
I'm about to work with him in a month and
a half or so. My point is that I just
feel as though, maybe now once we start confronting each
other and those that know better, right do better, and
those that should know better, I feel, yeah, I feel
as though even if Wayne doesn't know better, I would

(01:21:23):
like to think that now he might surround himself.

Speaker 6 (01:21:30):
Like, let's be real, he is who he is, and
especially at the age it's hard enough to get a
regular black man to change, but a rich black man
does not know he is working.

Speaker 5 (01:21:37):
How did you feel like now that he's been on
the Mad Song?

Speaker 10 (01:21:40):
I think that I feel really conflicted about the whole situation.
I think that his verse, he's so yeah, and I
think that, you know, he really was the perfect person
to obviously speak to being mad.

Speaker 8 (01:21:58):
He does have a lot to be mad about. And
I've been really conflicted.

Speaker 10 (01:22:03):
Do I have a responsibility as an artist and who
I align myself? Do I take on their politics and
their ideals just by creating with them? But ultimately the
answer is no, I don't. I created a song and
a message that was very clear. I think people are

(01:22:26):
very clear on my stance and my politics, especially when
it comes to black issues, and I would I would
just uphold him to a responsibility, Like you said, now
that you know you have children, My son is twelve

(01:22:48):
years old, and he respects him as an artist. He's
a fan, and I would like to see us uphold
a certain level of responsibility for our children and the
internalized messages that they're already having a fight so hard against.
We don't need to be on the same team, you know,

(01:23:11):
combating those messages in that way, like we gotta be
more unified than that.

Speaker 1 (01:23:18):
This is me not playing Devil's advocate again, which I
guess kind of means that. But based on the interview,
which I still didn't hear that last statement, but I
had the feeling that he literally did not know what

(01:23:38):
she was talking and what Black Lives Matter was.

Speaker 10 (01:23:41):
Yeah, well, I think a lot of people are unclear
on Black Lives Matter as an organization and an entity
and the movement itself.

Speaker 8 (01:23:50):
But do you respond to the statement, the statement.

Speaker 10 (01:23:54):
Itself in that Black lives matters? There should not be
in hesitation to, you know, just be able to say
that and be proud and feel pride in that what
is there to combat?

Speaker 1 (01:24:11):
But I don't think he literally I think he literally didn't.
I don't know mad people in Brooklyn that are proud
to not to not have a television. OK, right, So
we take those people and then there's the uh oh,
I can't watch the news because it's too it's too much.

Speaker 5 (01:24:32):
He has like six children who have homework. I'm not
doing that with you.

Speaker 1 (01:24:35):
I see where you're going.

Speaker 4 (01:24:36):
But this is where I think it falls apart because
he said because he starts off and he's like, well, nah,
what is black man?

Speaker 1 (01:24:42):
What is that? But then he says, well, no, what
it is it's actually police killing people. So he's aware
of what it is, but he just doesn't agree with
the way that the argument is being framed.

Speaker 4 (01:24:53):
So he's aware of what it is, but he's just saying,
you know, that doesn't have anything to do with me,
which I mean fairness. I think that's his reality, you
know what I mean, Like, you know, if you ask
for a lot of you know, rich black people.

Speaker 1 (01:25:08):
He's taking black Republican stance. I mean, dude, that's his reality.

Speaker 4 (01:25:14):
That's why again, back to our guest, back to Solange,
why your album I think is resonating with so many people.
It is because it its present and you have your
finger on what everyone is talking about, Like just you know, you.

Speaker 1 (01:25:30):
D way better. This is lives matter. This is the
blackest episode of Quizov Supreme to date.

Speaker 4 (01:25:37):
But No, your album, I think it really speaks to
where people are feeling right now. And that's why it's resonating,
because you know, even though with all your success, and
you know, with your sister's success and you being involved
in all these things, you're still just saying, like listen,
all of that or this is my interpretation, you know,
with all of this is whatever, I'm still a black

(01:25:57):
woman in America and these white bitches still.

Speaker 1 (01:26:01):
Throwing lives at me. You know what I mean? You
know what I'm saying. So it's you know, so I
commend you for that.

Speaker 4 (01:26:08):
I really that really speaks like when you have people
like a Wayne and not to beat up on him
because I fuck with Wayne too, like that's my man.
But but you know, there is a difference, and I
think it shows that when people like you make a
record like this, that makes it even harder for me
to give cats like Wayne whoever pass It's like nah, bruh, like,

(01:26:28):
if she know what's going on?

Speaker 1 (01:26:29):
How you don't know? You know what I mean, right?

Speaker 10 (01:26:32):
And I think we have a responsibility, especially in the
places that we are in, to want to know and
to have a yearning to understand. There's still so much
that I'm learning that I'm not privy to about other
cultures and sexualities that you have to go and google.

Speaker 8 (01:26:51):
And learn your shit.

Speaker 10 (01:26:52):
You have to have a yearning to want to treat
people in the way that they deserve to be treated
and to have empathy and humanity. And no one expects
everyone to know everything and to just have a plethora
of knowledge, you know, sitting there, But you have to
want to know and to take on that responsibility to

(01:27:16):
expand yourself.

Speaker 8 (01:27:17):
And I think that as artists, if.

Speaker 10 (01:27:20):
You move all the other stuff aside, I would just
hope that as artists that we're.

Speaker 8 (01:27:25):
All doing that so that we can become better artists.

Speaker 10 (01:27:29):
And you know, I think that that's a really important
thing to just want to evolve and grow in yourself
so that you also are doing that in your artistry
so that it inspires people and people are able to
build off of that.

Speaker 8 (01:27:47):
So I think that that was kind of my stance
on that.

Speaker 4 (01:27:50):
Just one lyric that I always wanted to ask you
about it was it was a It was a Beyonce
lyric where she says and pardon me, butcher, but you're saying,
you know, my my sister taught me to speak my mind.

Speaker 1 (01:28:04):
If I'm.

Speaker 4 (01:28:06):
Okay, I got it? Where what explain that? Like, what
influence did you play or do you do you think
you played on her in that way?

Speaker 8 (01:28:17):
I don't know.

Speaker 10 (01:28:19):
I didn't know that that lyric was going to come out,
so I was just as suc surprised as everybody else.
But I think that our relationship is really cool because
since we've been younger, we've both been very very protective
of each other, and we both have pushed each other
in the boundaries and our ways of communicating through just

(01:28:43):
humans and women, but also as artists. And I think
everyone who's around me, friends, family, my son, his friends.
I'm a huge, you know, advocate for people getting to
live in their honesty and their truth.

Speaker 8 (01:29:00):
I think we all deserve that.

Speaker 10 (01:29:01):
And even when I think back to my SNL performance,
like you know, just the feeling of being able to
say that everything that we do as humans is not
going to be perfect, and it's going to be flawed
and to be able to own those imperfections and speak

(01:29:22):
up on them and not feel hindered.

Speaker 8 (01:29:26):
Or you know.

Speaker 10 (01:29:29):
That I would like to think that maybe you know,
just as family, that I have played a role and
also constantly telling her that as well, you know, just
I tell all of my especially my black women friends,
like we have to operate in the world so heavily

(01:29:54):
and carrying so much weight on a daily basis, the
black woman in America, and I think that we're not
told like it's okay to be flawed and to not
be so strong all the time.

Speaker 1 (01:30:08):
And write out my mouth. Okay, I know you're mad regular.
I don't even know if I'm allowed to say that
I am. I'm pretty.

Speaker 8 (01:30:25):
You know, that's very funny. A lot of my friends
describe me as that way, and I'm like, I.

Speaker 1 (01:30:29):
Don't know what is like, Well, that's when I knew
you would be cool.

Speaker 8 (01:30:33):
Okay, But you know, at the.

Speaker 1 (01:30:34):
Beginning, it's okay to an outsider because the perception of
the dynasty is so gleamingly blinding that again, people don't until.

Speaker 8 (01:30:51):
My mom was on Instagram.

Speaker 10 (01:31:00):
To be getting it.

Speaker 1 (01:31:01):
But what I'm saying is that do you still feel
I know that you fight for your private life, and
you fight, well, not fight just.

Speaker 8 (01:31:12):
To you you protected, well, not even protected, just you're.

Speaker 1 (01:31:18):
Gonna do what you're gonna do, and sometimes you just
want mad normal moments. And you guys indulged in mad
regular normal Hey, the you know, the the noles.

Speaker 4 (01:31:32):
When I saw her, when I saw Miss Tina and
mister Lawson posing in the parking lot of Costco, I
was like, yo, data realist niggas outright now.

Speaker 1 (01:31:45):
I'm like, yo, she real for that, and she was
happy to get.

Speaker 10 (01:31:47):
The savings, Like, oh my god, she's so serious about
those mic downs.

Speaker 1 (01:31:54):
But I mean, do you at what point did you,
collectively all of you decide like I'm done, I'm tired,
like we could just be regular. I mean, because some
of y'all are super heroes to some people, and then
you want to be regular. So at what point do

(01:32:15):
you just decide like I gotta be regular and what
I'm gonna just be me? Yeah?

Speaker 8 (01:32:21):
I don't know.

Speaker 10 (01:32:22):
I think I personally have always operated from a space
of like you said, like what, I'm drawn to the
things that bring me the most joy, and I try
to nurture them whatever that is. And I've also lived
in places that have allowed me to do that safely, Like.

Speaker 8 (01:32:44):
Living in New Orleans is a huge part of that.

Speaker 1 (01:32:46):
And why did you choose New Orleans? I love New Orleans.

Speaker 8 (01:32:50):
I just love the city. I love the people, I
love the culture.

Speaker 6 (01:32:53):
Did you kind of break up with New York because
I read something like that you kind of got tired
of certain aspects of New York or East post elitism
liberally like that.

Speaker 8 (01:33:02):
That was definitely a part of it. That was definitely
a part of it. But I think you're doing in Brooklyn.

Speaker 1 (01:33:09):
We were doing so good in Brooklyn. You give it you.

Speaker 5 (01:33:16):
How do you doing all that gentrification in Brooklyn?

Speaker 10 (01:33:18):
And it's a lot, it happens, It's happening, It's happening, Yeah,
but it's everywhere.

Speaker 1 (01:33:24):
Do you still have those house parties in New Orleans?
Her last night in Brooklyn was was really cool. Like
I had not even had a house party in my house,
Like when I do a party, I gotta do it
somewhere that's not in my house. Ship. Yeah, but it
was like it was like a cool house party, like DJ.
It was people on Earth. Yeah, I was.

Speaker 5 (01:33:51):
It's been twenty years.

Speaker 1 (01:33:53):
I didn't know.

Speaker 6 (01:33:54):
Can I just add on this to something that you said?
I wanted to ask you, you know, Amir said something
about just the perception of you. But I feel like
Solange fans have a different perception.

Speaker 5 (01:34:05):
Of you, and I think, yeah, like I feel like
in kind of going back.

Speaker 6 (01:34:09):
To what Fante said, because I said to Fante when
we first were talking about having you on the show,
I was like, you know, Solange is like she's free,
you know, and either.

Speaker 1 (01:34:18):
The male.

Speaker 5 (01:34:22):
Who else?

Speaker 6 (01:34:23):
He said, what does that mean to you? And I said, well,
to me, it means that whatever she does and whichever
way she decides to do it, people who love her
will follow, and that fuck with you. And you don't
have any leashes or any fences around you, like and
the way you said, it's so easily, like, you know,
I get to say all these things that I want
to say and do all these things I want to do.

Speaker 5 (01:34:42):
That's like freedom.

Speaker 6 (01:34:44):
Do you know that? Do you know your fans look
at you as kind of like the free.

Speaker 10 (01:34:50):
Yeah, I mean, it's it's it's it's a lot that
comes with that, because I think even just the design
of the.

Speaker 8 (01:34:58):
Term like care free black girl.

Speaker 10 (01:35:01):
Parts of that I embrace, and then parts of that
I reject because I do have a lot of care.

Speaker 8 (01:35:06):
I don't know, I didn't say the care I know. Well,
you know that's a girl.

Speaker 1 (01:35:12):
That's the new thing to care for you, that's the
new Twitter turn.

Speaker 5 (01:35:17):
What is a carefree black girl?

Speaker 6 (01:35:18):
There's no such thing, but you were well, I.

Speaker 10 (01:35:23):
Of if we claim that, and we we claim that
as our names, that people are not allowed to see
black women as carefree individuals. They see us as angry
black women, as you know, very wonful.

Speaker 1 (01:35:42):
This just turned into an episode of.

Speaker 6 (01:35:45):
You know, can I just ask as men, like what
you just said, I feel all the time, y'all, don't
that doesn't.

Speaker 5 (01:35:56):
Just make you tire, just might be real.

Speaker 4 (01:36:00):
This this is like black healing time. No, No, that
was real because what she said, because sometimes she took
the words out of my mouth when she was talking
about like strong black women, And that's something that I've
always what I think is like, you know, kind of
the gift and the curse, so to speak of black
women is that that's like the first thing that black
women always described as she's so strong, she's so strong,

(01:36:23):
so strong, and so when you do that, it's like, yeah,
they're strong in the sense of like what we've had
to endure as people and how like women have been
the backbone of the family and all the voise, right,
But it wasn't a choice. And too, when you characterize
something as always being strong, you don't ever give it
a chance to be delicate. So you don't ever get,
you know, a black black woman get to be soft

(01:36:45):
or vulnerable or delicate or fragile, you know what I'm saying.
You never get to see them in that way. So again,
that was just one of the things I liked about
your album. Gives a full portrait of just a black woman.

Speaker 5 (01:36:59):
Yeah, I'm like getting.

Speaker 1 (01:37:02):
On the other hand, apparently you are your friends free
in the Black Woman. I love black women.

Speaker 10 (01:37:13):
And Bill.

Speaker 4 (01:37:16):
And I must say, and this is all because me
and slides we had a Twitter incident.

Speaker 1 (01:37:22):
There was a lot of incidents.

Speaker 5 (01:37:24):
Definitely had a Twitter incident.

Speaker 1 (01:37:26):
But it was all good about that.

Speaker 8 (01:37:32):
But you know what I will say about my black asses,
I will pick up a phone.

Speaker 1 (01:37:36):
She was and that day was when it was little
brother to reunite. That's all I wanted. And now we're here,
that's all. Now this is happening.

Speaker 8 (01:37:49):
But it was cool.

Speaker 1 (01:37:50):
I mean, we traveled off.

Speaker 8 (01:37:52):
It was all respect for each other. That's the way
it should be.

Speaker 10 (01:37:55):
I'm really really like clean and sober Twitter beefs for
very long time, but I really really try to pick
up the phone. So I appreciated that moment because a
lot of people are scared of that dialogue, like they
want to to leave it there, and.

Speaker 1 (01:38:12):
It's like, nah, were in the real world speaking of
your Twitter beast. I must say.

Speaker 4 (01:38:21):
I liked that it was her uh deep album Deep
Brandy album, yea necessary necessary.

Speaker 8 (01:38:30):
She has a song called It's necessary that I love
that record.

Speaker 1 (01:38:33):
That's all.

Speaker 8 (01:38:37):
You're like, Yeah, that was the set up huge feld.

Speaker 1 (01:38:41):
John from the New York Yeah, have you spoken to
him about so? Yeah, we must love the album because.

Speaker 8 (01:38:50):
Love the album. Yeah.

Speaker 10 (01:38:52):
So what I will say is that again, me, me,
and and I pick up the phone you call looking
at us. So yeah, after that happened, I tracked down
his number.

Speaker 8 (01:39:08):
And I emailed him immediately because, like I said, I
really do.

Speaker 10 (01:39:16):
I'm a big fan of conversation, Like, nothing about conversation
scares me.

Speaker 8 (01:39:21):
I think again, not to bring it back to my dad.

Speaker 10 (01:39:24):
I think that was one thing that for whatever reason
he put a lot of emphasis on, like never be
afraid of conversation. So when I, you know, heard and
read those statements that he made about don't let the
hand write the hand that feeds you and wouldn't be
solange if there was no Grizzly Bear and YadA YadA,

(01:39:49):
I immediately reached out to him. I said, can we
have a conversation about your statements? And he wrote back
something very snarky and I speak record in fact, if

(01:40:11):
I'm going to be perfectly honest, and I think that
this is it sucks that he has to bear the
weight of this. But this really was sort of the
catalyst and the moment that I said I have to
write this album. So it's an important part of the
conversationis it was? It was I lost a lot of
sleep about that, and I wrote him and I second,

(01:40:32):
I have a conversation you wrote back he said, I'm
assuming you don't want to talk about to me. So
I just kind of scratched my head and was like, okay,
this is what we're doing here, And ultimately a conversation
was not had, and I felt very silenced. And again
it's sort of like that craft work incident where you

(01:40:55):
are like brewing in this incident.

Speaker 8 (01:41:00):
And you're not really able to speak your piece.

Speaker 10 (01:41:04):
And it was so crazy because the conversation about Brandy
was completely isolated. It had nothing to do actually with
what they were originally talking about, which was like a
review of a Chief Keef album, which I couldn't tell
you anything.

Speaker 8 (01:41:23):
About a Chief Keef album.

Speaker 10 (01:41:25):
That was an isolated thing that I just kind of
got looped into through virtue of the topic of cultural tourism.

Speaker 8 (01:41:33):
And I think it was all relevant in that way,
but I was just kind of being looped into it,
and it was so weird.

Speaker 10 (01:41:43):
Marty Garras in New Orleans, I have a very different experience,
is very spiritual for me, and it's like when fat
Tuesday comes, that's.

Speaker 8 (01:41:51):
The day of release and relief. And for whatever reason,
it was Marti Gras three years later.

Speaker 10 (01:41:58):
And I just said, I have to free myself of
this one incident before I go through this next chapter
of Marti Gras. And it was actually, I believe like
Pitchfork or someone wrote something about Brandy. I can't remember

(01:42:20):
exactly what happened, but I know Saint Hron had written
something around the same time and so it just brought
up a lot of emotions and shit got ruined. And
I got his phone number from someone and I called
and I just say, you know, last night, I just

(01:42:43):
got really pissed, and it was the day before Mardi Gras.
I needed to get it off my chest.

Speaker 8 (01:42:49):
I went to Twitter. It probably wasn't the best form,
but I wanted to call and really explain to you
what the deal was.

Speaker 10 (01:42:57):
And he immediately knew he apologies, guys. He felt very
remorseful for using that terminalogy. But I still feel like
there's a lot of fuzziness, like a lot of people
still don't really know.

Speaker 8 (01:43:09):
They didn't hear the podcast.

Speaker 10 (01:43:12):
So it felt again very reactive from a black woman,
you know, rolling her neck and smacking her gumbs.

Speaker 1 (01:43:20):
Okay, real quick, this question, Love Supreme Wan Ben Duran.
We're talking with our guests a lunch about Twitter beefs,
and one in particular she had with the writer from
New York Times. Can I catch light you up? Do
you know where you are in the story now?

Speaker 8 (01:43:34):
I know I did not tell that very clear.

Speaker 1 (01:43:36):
Okay, Okay, so basically I don't. She expressed well justified
admiration and fandom for Brandy's work.

Speaker 8 (01:43:48):
Of which I'm a megastan.

Speaker 1 (01:43:50):
I guess. I guess Bill and I can also agree
to this. You look at me like I pulled you
on the agree to what about to be in the ship? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, absolutely,
I think everyone can agree so as especially her debut record,
I mean just in general, but her debut record was

(01:44:10):
probably one of the probably a very pleasant surprise in
it's in its artistry. And you know, oftentimes black music
is so cut and paste and and quick money and
here's the hit, and here's the follow up hit, and
it's disposable. But Brandy and her producers Keith Crouch and

(01:44:35):
Jipper Jones. Kipper Jones really made something that that that
was lasting and you know, really amazing, and she expressed
admiration for that, and I guess and kind of the
way that we kind of dismissed La with her opinions,
just like we do. Yeah, exactly. You look at her

(01:44:57):
looking at you right now, Margaret.

Speaker 5 (01:45:00):
I'm sorry, right, I do, I do. I'm sorry.

Speaker 6 (01:45:06):
I want to hear about this though, because I want
to I want to not like this motherfucker.

Speaker 1 (01:45:08):
What do you say?

Speaker 10 (01:45:14):
Essentially, it became it became no he didn't throw he
didn't throw some shade. Essentially, I expressed this, and it
became a little bit of a joke between indie white bros.
I expressed, you know that, as a music journalist, that
you shouldn't even feel qualified, which I still stand by

(01:45:35):
to write about R and B music unless you really
understand Brandy's influence on the culture of R and B music.
When you're writing about Frank Ocean and the innovation of
black artists today, she needs to be a part of
that conversation because she is valued.

Speaker 8 (01:45:54):
In that way.

Speaker 10 (01:45:55):
And essentially it became a hashtag, primarily by white music
journalists who Wright wrote for indie blogs and magazines, and
they turned it into a hashtag deep Brandy album cuts,
and it became like a.

Speaker 1 (01:46:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (01:46:13):
And so New York Times reached out to me. They
said they were doing a podcast about cultural tourism. Apparently
around the same time there was a lot of resistance
from black hip hop writers who had problems with the
way that a Chief Key review was written about. So
they were having this podcast about cultural tourism, invited me on.

(01:46:34):
I decline. I did not see any incentive for me
to go and have a debate with two white men
about cultural tourism just didn't make sense. So I was
not present, and they brought up me speaking about Brandy
and the little hashtag, and essentially he said that he

(01:47:01):
was a fan of mine, that he went to my
show and made him feel good and fuzzy inside. But
let's be clear that there would not be a Solange
album if if it weren't for Grizzly Bear.

Speaker 6 (01:47:18):
Right, and they are I thought we were using cold language.

Speaker 10 (01:47:28):
Actually, dear friends of mine and I put out that
record on one of their labels.

Speaker 1 (01:47:36):
I love the label terrible.

Speaker 10 (01:47:44):
To him, he did not know the general landscape of
my album. He didn't know that Hadley Street il Soold
True five six times over. But what he was saying
was that because that was a primarily black audience who
bought that and True was a primarily audience, that my
relevancy rested in that that world, and his friends and

(01:48:07):
his bros knew about me and valued me in that way.
And he actually ended off that statement by saying, does
she know who buys her records? And if I were her,
I would not bite the hand that feeds me.

Speaker 1 (01:48:22):
Trying to say, don't all these white Yeads depending was
mightier than and.

Speaker 10 (01:48:27):
Then he named on his Twitter the podcast, like his
introduction to the podcast was called does Solange know who's
buying her records? Oh? Wow?

Speaker 1 (01:48:39):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:48:39):
This is times where I feel like it like that
was one of the instances where I really feel like
it should kind of go back to days of like
you know, when chi Ococa got knocked out by uh yeah,
like where journalists were really you know, held accountable, held
account of, held accountable.

Speaker 10 (01:48:57):
I mean I had a lot of I had a
lot of black men that I have to say came hard,
like if you want me to do this.

Speaker 8 (01:49:06):
There was definitely a lot of conversations like that.

Speaker 10 (01:49:08):
But ultimately, and I actually on Don't You Wait on
my album, I say, I don't want to bite the
hand and with my whole life, but I didn't want
to build the land that has fed you your whole life.

Speaker 1 (01:49:22):
I know that is so I wanted to ask you
about that.

Speaker 8 (01:49:27):
I said my piece, But I think I think ultimately
that was just.

Speaker 10 (01:49:34):
The emotional tormal and taxing that goes on and being
silenced and me feeling like there's no way that I
can actually break this down and him still be held
accountable at the level that he deserves to be held accountable,
because that's just the way that things work, and that

(01:49:54):
is the alliances that this industry has.

Speaker 8 (01:49:58):
Created to protect people to be able to say this.

Speaker 10 (01:50:02):
And then one day I just had enough and I
went on Twitter before Marty Gras was like, it's been
three years.

Speaker 8 (01:50:09):
And I've been wanting to tell you. Don't you ever
tell a black woman not to bite the hand? My
mama was so mad. She wouldn't let it go because
someone told her baby, don't bite the hand. That feet.

Speaker 1 (01:50:24):
Of that.

Speaker 8 (01:50:25):
It's really deep and I had to hold him accountable
for that.

Speaker 10 (01:50:29):
I'm sure he is a nice guy and I'm sure
he's learned a lot through this incident. And he told me,
you know, he had people calling him that were really disappointed,
and I felt validation in that. I felt like, we
have to be held accountable. I surely have been held
accountable for my functionit, so you have to too. And

(01:50:52):
it sucks when that has to be public. But you know,
the incident was made public when you decided to say
that on.

Speaker 6 (01:50:59):
Record, And we're learning what not to say in these
days and age. I think we're really on track to learn.

Speaker 1 (01:51:06):
I thank you for that, because especially the way that
I publicly have declared my life uh and uh in
a way that's like it's it's so in depth to
music critics and how I acknowledge that they have their
hands on the guillotine button in any moment, they can

(01:51:27):
make or break my life. They once did this to
Donald Glover with a very mean spirited, uh like one.
I think Pitchford gave him like a one, not why no, no, no,
this is his one of his records got a one.
It was just like a mean spirited we can wow,

(01:51:48):
you know, like if you get a one, that's like,
I mean to put it in perspective like Motten Tomatoes
and Andrew originally from Whim got a half from Rolling
Stone like they'd never review it. They just wanted to
be mean flexed about it and do that.

Speaker 6 (01:52:04):
Don't y'all remembers the critics names they remember y'all and
so who you are?

Speaker 1 (01:52:08):
You have one? Just in general since since the onslough
what I call Pitchfork culture, which is yeah, I do too.

Speaker 8 (01:52:19):
It's it. It sucks when it feels like it is
a modern day good old boys club.

Speaker 1 (01:52:25):
Can I ask because on the other side of that coin.
One of the best, most eloquent reviews of your album,
ironically also came from Pitchwork, which I was shocked at
the level of all the right things that were said. Now,

(01:52:49):
you know, I've known that since since two thousand and four,
they've really diversified.

Speaker 8 (01:52:54):
Absolutely, I'm happy.

Speaker 10 (01:52:57):
I'm happy about the work that they've done. And this
this is the thing about that situation that happened. I
felt like there was a spin on that story in
that I was like somehow unhappy or being braddy about
the way that they were talking about me. I have,
you know, always had great reviews from my albums in general,

(01:53:23):
I feel which I've been, you know, really happy about.

Speaker 8 (01:53:27):
But I do feel like there were certain narratives coming
out of that brand of.

Speaker 10 (01:53:35):
Indie music blogs in general during that time, and people
have held them accountable and I've seen the changes and
I've seen the transformations, and I'm happy. That's all you
can ask for, is when you can plain about some
shit and you uphold people to that responsibility that they're
willing to make the changes that people are asking for.

(01:53:57):
And I've seen that and I've respected it.

Speaker 1 (01:54:00):
I'm just saying I'm glad you did it, because oftentimes
I feel like journalists can also be ass petty they
want to and then wait till the next record comes down,
and you know, I mean for those that are are
in the dark. I guess a lot of my disdain
for some of the Well, first of all, the Internet

(01:54:22):
just gives anybody the right to be super journalists if
they want to be. But I often noticed that, Uh,
there was there was a period in which I guess
they they were trying to determine what was authentically black
absolutely and really what was pretentious. So there was a period.

(01:54:45):
There was a period where like there's there's a really
glowing review of Hell haf No Fury, the CLIs second album,
which was a dope album, which it was amazing.

Speaker 7 (01:54:58):
It was amazing Internet blocker Bible, I swear to god,
they went so fucking crazy over that record.

Speaker 1 (01:55:04):
Yeah, it was like but at the level of eloquence
and beauty, like the review, the Pitchwork review of Hell
Have No Fury was almost as incredible as the album itself.
But then it left me questioning because I knew why
I love the record, but just see the levels of salivating,

(01:55:24):
Oh my god, you know, watch but it was it
was like looking at.

Speaker 5 (01:55:31):
Land like, wait, are you.

Speaker 1 (01:55:34):
Never you're laughing with me or you're laughing at me.

Speaker 10 (01:55:36):
It's it's kind of right, right, and so that's I'm
so happy though that that's like deading.

Speaker 8 (01:55:43):
It feels like it is. You think, maybe I'm being optimistic.

Speaker 10 (01:55:48):
But I remember it was like during that time where
I went on all of the profiles of people who
were saying, oh hell yeah I was.

Speaker 8 (01:56:00):
I saw every single one of them had a profile
picture of of something ratchet and.

Speaker 1 (01:56:09):
They would never subscribe to you.

Speaker 10 (01:56:11):
I was like, let somebody drop your ass off in
that part of Chicago and take a field trip for
the day and see how that goes for you. Since
we want to talk about cultural tourism like you know. So,
but I do feel like I feel like we're.

Speaker 8 (01:56:27):
Moving away from that.

Speaker 10 (01:56:28):
No, I don't know.

Speaker 8 (01:56:32):
I couldn't be wrong. Maybe I just stop giving au.

Speaker 10 (01:56:37):
But I think I think honestly, when it comes to
you know, reviews and things like that, like you can't
give that energy in that way because I just feel
like in two thousand and eight, during the Hadley Street
shows and the aftermath of shows and meeting black girls

(01:57:00):
who said some of the most profound, powerful things that
I felt like I had to then live up to,
you know, after the shows, those are the reviews for me,
those are the moments, and even with this album, you know,
it's been really important to me that I honor those moments.

(01:57:21):
You know, this is so wonderful that my music is
being able to reach as many people as it is
and the dialogue of like, oh, this is your best work,
and it is definitely an elevation of my work. But
I feel proud of all of my work, and I
feel really proud of the connectivity and the black girls

(01:57:46):
that have been at my show since I was twenty one,
who are still there and are still connecting, like those
are my reviews. Those are sacred moments of being in
Paris and black girls telling me like we were never
told that we can wear I makeup blue and crazy lipstick,

(01:58:08):
like this be aloud and it be like, those are
my reviews. You know, There's nothing that can feel better
to me than that, because I was that girl. I
was that girl with Reese and Caalise and all of
these girls were coming out and I saw people how
I saw myself and what that did for my confidence
and my self worth.

Speaker 8 (01:58:28):
That was everything to me. So the reviews are nice,
but that's what I thrive off of.

Speaker 10 (01:58:36):
That's what makes me get back in the lab, Like, Okay,
I gotta write some shit to honor that. And if
you feel a connection to it and you write something glowing,
that's beautiful. But what you won't do is disrespect my heroes.
I feel very, very very protective of my heroes, whoever
that might be. And I feel like still to this

(01:58:58):
day that like Full Moon for me, like that's such
an experimental, weird as avant garde progressive record and going
further than half of the shit that you're writing about
and saying it is so innovative. I mean, the sounds
and the landscapes that they created with that album. So

(01:59:20):
you just aren't going to leave people out of this context,
you know, like even for my record, like Tweet is
my vocal bible, Like, you're not going to leave these
people out of the context that all of us are
actually building and inspired by. And that's the part of
that culture that I don't have respect for, is the

(01:59:44):
pet favorites of the moment without honoring the work and
the influence behind them.

Speaker 5 (01:59:51):
How did Brandy receive all your fighting and all the.

Speaker 8 (01:59:55):
This is really a lot.

Speaker 10 (02:00:01):
No, she actually, you know, publicly says she really appreciated
it and it made her feel really good.

Speaker 8 (02:00:09):
And you know, she says some really kind things. But
one more time it could get weird.

Speaker 1 (02:00:23):
So Solann's what, how eclectic has your record collection always been? Actually? Actually?

Speaker 8 (02:00:31):
Okay, this is like a cool way to answer.

Speaker 1 (02:00:35):
Okay, well, growing up? All right, let's take it the
late eighties, early nineties, when you're no, when you're younger, Yes,
what does the Noles family record collection look like like?
If you're taking family trips somewhere?

Speaker 7 (02:00:50):
Right?

Speaker 1 (02:00:50):
Who controls the radio?

Speaker 8 (02:00:52):
So?

Speaker 10 (02:00:53):
Okay, so you have to understand that Kelly from Destiny's
Child is like a sister me. She moved in with
us when I was five, so as far as I
have memory, she was there. And then we have my
cousin Angie, who's also like a sister to me.

Speaker 1 (02:01:11):
You're still trying to play guitar, she is, she's.

Speaker 8 (02:01:15):
Doing really good. Angie moved in when I was ten,
so as far as I can remember, I have four sisters.
And then my mom.

Speaker 10 (02:01:25):
So my dad was outnumbered by women. It was a
five woman household. So the really cool thing about that
is that all three of my sisters had very different
musical tastes. Kelly was very much so into alternative music.
She listened to a lot of Fiona Apple and Elena's Morriset.

(02:01:49):
My sister actually listened to a lot of Mariah Carey,
and then when she got older, she listened to a
lot of soul music, Arita Sugy, She's the one who
put me up on all of that stuff. And then
Angie listened to a lot of hip hop, a lot
of Tupac, Little Kim Too Shore, a lot of Houston shit.

(02:02:13):
So I had the experience to grow up around so
many different types of music between my older sisters and
then my parents were just all about earth Wind and
Fire Isley Brothers.

Speaker 8 (02:02:27):
My mom owned a hair salon, so they had like
a stack of CDs that she would.

Speaker 10 (02:02:33):
Play, you know, throughout the day at the hair salon,
And I actually used to play the records when I
would get home from school, but it was only like.

Speaker 8 (02:02:44):
Twelve earth Wind and Fire records I could choose out
of our Isley Brothers. That was like the two favorites.

Speaker 10 (02:02:52):
My parents, though, actually met arguing over records my music.

Speaker 8 (02:03:00):
Yep. My dad was like kind of a man around town,
and he had his.

Speaker 10 (02:03:07):
Apartment and he had all these like parties there that
people knew about.

Speaker 8 (02:03:12):
And my mom went with.

Speaker 10 (02:03:13):
Her friend and he was an extensive vinyl collector, like
hardcore don't touch my records type of guy, and my
mom started flipping through his records and he walked over
to her and the first words of them ever meeting
was him saying, don't touch my records, and she was.

Speaker 1 (02:03:34):
Like, records, yes.

Speaker 10 (02:03:39):
So they had like a little argument actually, and then
I guess it turned into flirting, but.

Speaker 8 (02:03:49):
Exactly.

Speaker 10 (02:03:50):
But yeah, I mean I grew up, I would say,
primarily like soul music was at the forefront, but through
the influence of my sisters, I heard a little bit
of everything. And then when I became about thirteen, I
started dancing for Destiny's Child and I went on the

(02:04:12):
road with them, and we spent a lot of time
in Europe, and as you know, over there, the radio
formats are extremely different. So I'd be in London, you know,
for two weeks and here in New York and Chemical
Brothers and all of this shit on the radio, and
I would go back to actually I was eleven. It
was before I started dancing for them, because I remember

(02:04:34):
going back to my junior high school and playing New
York records.

Speaker 8 (02:04:38):
My friends like, I don't know what the fuck. Yeah,
I'm doing over there, but we don't really dig this shit.

Speaker 10 (02:04:47):
And so I went through like a serious, downbeat, electronic
middle school moment where it was just like All Boards
of Canada.

Speaker 8 (02:04:55):
Pevery or.

Speaker 5 (02:04:57):
Seven, all that.

Speaker 10 (02:05:01):
Canada, and so I kind of went into that landscape.
And then I would say, really like the thriving moment
of my musicality in terms of, you know, just collecting
music was around thirteen. That was, like, you know, obviously

(02:05:22):
around the time that the sol Aquarians came onto the scene,
and I, for the first time felt a connection outside
of the music, but more so just culturally of people
who I felt like I could identify myself with.

Speaker 1 (02:05:40):
Honest no, no, no, I'm not.

Speaker 5 (02:05:41):
Just laughed at me.

Speaker 1 (02:05:42):
No, no, no, it wasn't that. I don't know if
I want to tell the story now, because you just
said something and it triggered off. Do you not remember Sacramento?
All right, So we're in Sacramento. The Voodoo Tour is
in Sane Sacremento. But for some reason, h one of

(02:06:04):
those like uh power jams or whatever, you know, like
everybody that is also supposed to be the same night,
but for some strange reason, they decided to mix both nights.
So this is one of the rare times in which

(02:06:24):
d'angelo's voodoo tour is also sharing a bill with Destiny's Child.
Oh wow. So the whole point was that you said
all these things, and it reminded me of the time
that you're not aware of. All right, So Devil Spy
is the first song that's performed. Here's the thing. If

(02:06:44):
D'Angelo knows that someone notable is watching him perform, that
could be a good thing. I'll i seeing shock of
combackstage and him really being in rare form, or that
could be a bad thing. Allah Destiny's Child in the

(02:07:05):
corner watching him. Now, there was a slew of women there,
So I'm assuming that you're also in this or you
don't have a recollection of the story. Anyway, My point
was that in Deed's excitement of this moment, uh, and
he was very big on the James Brown moves and
all that stuff. There's a point in Devil's Pie where
he runs across the stage and he slides to the

(02:07:27):
microphone right before we get to that hole. All a lot,
but there was a nail. Oh fuck wait, I didn't
even get to the punch on yet. There was a
nail slightly sticking out the stage and he had on
like very thin leathers. Did you have yes. So the

(02:07:52):
point was that I was noticing that, Wow, he's really
singing the ship out of this song like his life
depends on it. And then when I looked to the left,
I was like, oh God, he's showing off. And the
thing was when he slid and imagine like sliding the
home plate, he just basically sliced his entire side of

(02:08:13):
his pants off. So I mean, he wasn't naked. It
was just that when she mentioned voodoo and soul aquarians,
it just triggered, wait a minute, we did it show
together and D'Angelo not only split his pants, a mirror

(02:08:35):
ruins another moment. Thank you for the compliments. No, I
wasn't okay, Maybe I was psychologically deflecting the compliment, but
what is it like.

Speaker 6 (02:08:45):
To have a mir and Rafaela that's interesting on this
last album, Like.

Speaker 1 (02:08:49):
He explained everyone on this record.

Speaker 8 (02:08:51):
A lot of these songs I actually just wrote like
sketches of to the.

Speaker 10 (02:08:57):
Piano, like Rise when I'm came, I had already sketched
it out on my little struggle piano course, And it
is a very vulnerable thing to like share that with
someone and hopes to build it into something tangible. And yeah,

(02:09:18):
Amyor and Ray and Greek came over one night and
I just like you know, kept playing it and singing
it on the piano, and they started to build soundscapes.
So a lot of these sessions happened like that. In
the case of Raphael, who is just so so wonderful.

(02:09:42):
I had actually thought that the album was pretty much done,
and I went to New Iberia, a little town maybe
two hours north of New Orleans two you know, finished
writing the album and I actually produced a great deal

(02:10:03):
of it there as well, and I had a lot
of program sounds that I was working with, and towards
the end, I felt like an order for the album
to punch in that way that I wanted to replace
a lot of my digital sounds and replaced the sens

(02:10:27):
with piano and live bas and live drums. And I
actually took it to quite a few different people, and
I won't name them, although I want.

Speaker 1 (02:10:41):
To, but.

Speaker 10 (02:10:46):
Raphael was actually the person that I played it for
and immediately had the chemistry that a I was going
to have someone who really respected my vision and really
respected my voice. And I think as a songwriter and
a producer, as a woman, I've been very very sensitive

(02:11:09):
about my role in my art and how a lot
of times when you invite that space open for men
that it's just nature of the beast that they get
a lot of credit for that. And I felt like Raphael,
I knew that I was in good hands, and I

(02:11:31):
knew that he would respect my vision and just be
there to elevate it, and that he did. And he
did such a phenomenal job of translating these sounds and
making them that much richer and making them, you know,
cut through his baselines, just cut through so.

Speaker 8 (02:11:56):
Emotionally, and they're like just like a direct connection of
God's space.

Speaker 5 (02:12:03):
I feel like, you know, is that and on.

Speaker 6 (02:12:09):
It is?

Speaker 8 (02:12:12):
So Yeah. Essentially, the album went in three parts.

Speaker 10 (02:12:17):
I had the preliminary writing, just concepts that I sketched
out to piano. Then I had jam sessions with a
number of people of Samfa being one of them, Dave
long Street being one of.

Speaker 1 (02:12:38):
Them, amazing from thirty Projectors, Yes.

Speaker 8 (02:12:43):
Whose drum sounds are incredible, and.

Speaker 10 (02:12:47):
So yeah, I kind of like assorted all of these
people from all different worlds into a space and for
a few weeks we just jammed and and I essentially
took those damn sessions, lots of them an hour long,

(02:13:08):
and produced them into four minute songs. And then I
went and wrote and filled in all of my lyrics
and melodies to those, and then I took it to
Raphael and we you know, elevated a lot of those sounds,

(02:13:29):
so it went in three different parts. But it was
just really just such an honor to have everyone who
worked on the project, in the spirit of collaboration, just
have those experiences where we could just.

Speaker 6 (02:13:44):
Let it go in the music, to them all believe
in your vision, yes it does.

Speaker 8 (02:13:50):
And to trust me with it.

Speaker 10 (02:13:52):
And again because it was such a male oriented set
of musicians and producers, also having the utmost respect and
you know, being clear that I was leading the process,
and I think that that was something in the past,

(02:14:15):
especially starting off as a little I feel like I'm
like a little writer baby, like got I signed my
publishing deal when I was fifteen, and I would be
in sessions, you know, every day in LA I would
go there for a week and a lot of people
don't know how those things work, but they're very tedious
and a lot of times you just feel really vulnerable.

(02:14:37):
You just meet a producer and then it's just like
write a song. Or I would go to Miami like
Circle House Studios and it be like a bad boy
writing camp and you're just there with like twenty producers.
And as a young girl navigating that world with primarily
male producers and leading that a lot of times I

(02:15:02):
would have to fight for my voice to be heard
outside of just like here's the song. And so this
was a really special environment to create that because I
do think it's important to note that though the album
is overall the expression of the black plight and our

(02:15:27):
social issues, it's written through the lens of a black woman,
and naturally that's going to resonate with black women in
a very specific way. So I think having that male
energy just in terms of being in the space really
translates on the production.

Speaker 8 (02:15:46):
I know a lot of nighgas who are like them.
Beats is hard.

Speaker 4 (02:15:52):
Your record is like the modern day equivalent of like
My Life by Mary It is my sh because it
was just one of those records that I mean as
a man, I mean I like the record.

Speaker 1 (02:16:04):
I was like, Okay, yeah, this is dope. But like
women like it's so crazy though, men.

Speaker 8 (02:16:10):
Really really.

Speaker 5 (02:16:13):
Like every day.

Speaker 10 (02:16:16):
Like blasting cranes like it's got bars. So that's been
like really phenomenal.

Speaker 1 (02:16:23):
Definitely, can't deny that baseline, can.

Speaker 8 (02:16:25):
Deny that ray based man, So yeah, it was. It
was awesome.

Speaker 6 (02:16:30):
We didn't even get a chance to talk about like
the visuals that went like cranes and don't touch my
hair and what you and Allen came together do and
I read the whole cinematographer from Daughters of the Dust
like that.

Speaker 5 (02:16:43):
July dashed but the cineatographer director of that.

Speaker 6 (02:16:47):
But you just got a lot of energy between the
images and then the choreography.

Speaker 8 (02:16:53):
It's a lot thank you.

Speaker 10 (02:16:55):
I have to say that honestly creating these visuals with
Alan was such a phenomenal experience, and I don't think
that anyone else could have translated the way that I
see the world better than him. And he put his

(02:17:16):
motherfucking foot and back and elbow and everything he does
look so cool that yes, and there was a journey,
you know, we we started off with the AJS and
all of you know, the crew of twenty five when
we first embarked on the journey of this video, but
we actually ended it just the two of us. So

(02:17:38):
most of what you see in Crane specifically was actually
shot by Alan holding the camera himself, hiking up mountains,
across the rivers and doing that, you know, through love.

Speaker 6 (02:17:51):
So what was y'all like, Like, did you guys sit
down and say, let's pick out some images of direction
that we're going?

Speaker 10 (02:17:57):
Like?

Speaker 8 (02:17:57):
What was the So I knew that I wanted to again,
you know, really have a meditation and a reflection of
the way that I see blackness in.

Speaker 10 (02:18:12):
This super regal, ornate, stately way, but also encompass just
the vulnerability and the texture and the nuances, especially of
the black woman, and the solidarity between us and the sisterhood,
especially for Cranes, because I feel like so much of

(02:18:34):
those things that I'm trying to work out through the song,
like black women, I can identify so closely to that.
So it was really about me, like emotionally mood boarding
first and then I just started looking up all these
locations that either felt like very regal or almost in

(02:18:55):
this Grecian way, but wanting to see black people presented
it in that way. And then for Cranes, I essentially
wanted to create this meditation of like moving through all
of these spaces still trying to work this shit out.
And that literally took us from New Orleans to Houston,

(02:19:17):
to Lubbock, to Austin, to Big Ben National Park, to
Santa Fe to White Sands, New Mexico.

Speaker 8 (02:19:28):
To get all of those landscapes.

Speaker 10 (02:19:31):
And yeah, like I basically moved boarded all of that.
I shared it with Alan, I said this is my vision,
how can we do this? And he just went to
the trenches like and mapped out all of the ways
that we could do that and assembled a team that
he felt could put forth that.

Speaker 8 (02:19:51):
But I have to say, like we started off with
a crew of.

Speaker 10 (02:19:56):
About twenty two people and we he went from and
we were in two RV's and we went from all
those cities that I said, And towards the end of it,
everyone was so burnt out, tired, frustrated, hungry, sleepy, yes,
that they all went home and Alan, being the director

(02:20:19):
that he is said, there's still so much of this
that we don't have. There's still so many pieces of
this storytelling that we did not complete. And he went
to Enterprise and rented a van and we did the
trip all over again, from New Orleans to New Mexico

(02:20:40):
in a van with just him and I and four
other people, and he actually depeed the shoot he directed
defeat catered and I think that the beautiful car. I
definitely did that. It's the whole twenty three hour drive.

(02:21:04):
But I have to say that I had so many reservations.
We've been together eight years. Amir has been there like
from the time I met him until now, and I've
always been a fan of his work. Likewise, he's always
been a fan of mine, but we've never bridged that
gap creatively because I was so scared that it would

(02:21:26):
fuck shuit up.

Speaker 8 (02:21:28):
And it made it. It made the art itself. I
feel like you see and experience.

Speaker 10 (02:21:37):
So much love and magic when you're watching those and
I think that was really through the lens of what
we put into it together. And again, like you're with someone,
you see the way that they see the world, and
that scene and don't touch my hair at the very
end when we're all on the steps and I'm dancing.

Speaker 8 (02:22:01):
Like that scene. Specifically, I remember trying to coordinate this ripple.

Speaker 10 (02:22:08):
Because I did all of the choreography and all of
the videos with like one hundred people who weren't dancers,
like and now.

Speaker 8 (02:22:14):
We're gonna do this, and then you do this.

Speaker 5 (02:22:16):
I was wondering who all those.

Speaker 10 (02:22:16):
People are so long just friends, right, No, those those
were just New Orleans magical people. But we spend so
much time trying to like coordinate all of this dance
stuff that we were losing light and everybody on set
was saying it's too dark, we can't shoot it, We're

(02:22:38):
gonna have to reshoot it, and Alan saying the right
the light just got right, Like the darkness, the birthlaze
is what we need.

Speaker 8 (02:22:49):
This doesn't need sunlight. It's not bright, it's not cheery.

Speaker 1 (02:22:53):
This is the mood.

Speaker 8 (02:22:54):
So it was just things like that that I really.

Speaker 10 (02:22:57):
Really appreciated, you know, having to explain myself choreography, thank you.

Speaker 5 (02:23:04):
I don't know.

Speaker 6 (02:23:04):
It's like, I don't even know what you call between
modern dance and I don't even know, especially what you
did on Saturdy ny Line.

Speaker 5 (02:23:13):
What do you what was what influences that. I don't
mean to get all gross on.

Speaker 6 (02:23:18):
I'm sorry, but the choreography is kind of amazing, and
it's not it's she ball because that's not where you
first started.

Speaker 10 (02:23:25):
So yeah, I think I've had such an interesting relationship
with dance, being that I actually thought that I was
gonna be a modern dancer growing up. That's what I
wanted to be. I wanted to go to Juilliard. And
then when I started to dance for Destiny Shot, I
was doing hip hop, but I was looking absolutely crazy

(02:23:47):
at that, like that was just not the way that
my body language really spoke that I was trying.

Speaker 8 (02:23:54):
And I think maybe, like really like.

Speaker 10 (02:24:00):
Six years ago, as my son got older, as I
got more confident in who I was and who I
was becoming, I was just like, fuck it, this is
actually how I move, this is when I'm at home,
this is actually how I communicate. And I remember even
through true like when I started really expressing myself in

(02:24:22):
that way, people being like what.

Speaker 8 (02:24:23):
The fuck is this ship? Now I feel like people
are like, Okay, that's just what it is.

Speaker 1 (02:24:31):
But I don't think people would question that though.

Speaker 8 (02:24:34):
Because oh yeah, people are like.

Speaker 1 (02:24:36):
Really like what she doing? People still question not I
mean no, I think now my cousins and friends are
like no.

Speaker 10 (02:24:46):
I meant like, you know, just people reacting to the
visuals online and stuff. But I think that consistency is
so key and like now that it's just like no,
this is just the way I'm moving and sharing it.
It's it's really cool doing it with the band because
like you know, two of the dudes are like thea's from.

Speaker 8 (02:25:09):
New Orleans.

Speaker 1 (02:25:11):
Over here, but.

Speaker 10 (02:25:14):
Everybody has just been so and trusting. So I actually
enlisted PJ. Harvey Oh Wow to help me find musicians
in New Orleans, and he he auditioned a bunch of
kids from Loyola and Diler and just New Orleans based musicians,

(02:25:38):
and I came in at the end and we did
like chemistry tests.

Speaker 8 (02:25:43):
And then it was like, well can you dance? And
everybody was like, well, like what, So I showed them
some moves and that actually eliminated like for people. But

(02:26:04):
it's such a strong part of of how I like
envision the show that.

Speaker 1 (02:26:11):
Matter of fact, I've not seen the show where you're
being you're being kind to put just a shame because
you know, the time be doing like I definitely when
when she when she Uh did the Roots picnic like
two or three years ago, he was jamming on stage
and was like, damn, we don't got no choreography.

Speaker 10 (02:26:31):
Oh my god, I want to do it more for
other people. So if you want so, yeah, graciously gracious
because it brings me so much.

Speaker 1 (02:26:45):
Jo please do that.

Speaker 5 (02:26:48):
And mark all day because you're like the young ones
up making work.

Speaker 1 (02:26:51):
How are you going to deal with this presentation live?
Because I'm still see this album from beginning to end.
I see it as a sweet and I don't see
it in concert. I see it.

Speaker 8 (02:27:06):
I love that you thought you were like texting me
that as if I was not already working.

Speaker 1 (02:27:09):
Thinking about that. That It wasn't that. It's just that
the album had moved certain people so much that they
wanted to be a part of history. Even when I
called you to congratulate you on the record, I forgot
I was on the record you did.

Speaker 5 (02:27:29):
I don't wait for you to tell us, But I
was like, forget it no, And she.

Speaker 1 (02:27:32):
Got mad at me because like I didn't. It was
a going on, Like Yo, why did you instagram about it?
I forgot I was on it first saw.

Speaker 8 (02:27:43):
And those are popping.

Speaker 1 (02:27:46):
No, But you know, I was just I was so
amazed by the record. I totally forgot that. I thought
she took me off the record, you know, and.

Speaker 6 (02:27:58):
It was.

Speaker 8 (02:28:00):
Everyone.

Speaker 1 (02:28:01):
Well, no, it was makes so different that I couldn't
tell that that was you. I got you. Yeah, And
that's the thing. I just thought, Oh, okay, well you
should I.

Speaker 10 (02:28:09):
With those drums. I had fun like mixing and queuing
and panning and all of that. But I remember that
day so so well because that was the first time
that I had shared my sketches with anyone, and I
remember being really really scared of adding drums on it.
And you were like, come on, son, like I'm gonna

(02:28:30):
keep this farce and go in and I was like,
of course you are.

Speaker 8 (02:28:35):
But it was still a lot of trust.

Speaker 1 (02:28:38):
I was too, because I sometimes call you the Queen
of No.

Speaker 8 (02:28:42):
So it's true. I've been known to say no came
out phenomenon. I'm so gracious.

Speaker 1 (02:28:53):
So I don't know, like I don't I don't want
to name any names of people. But the way that
I see this presentation like it's almost as if I
wish you were and I feel like you will be
or you could already be in a position where you
could present this on a unnamed artist with the letter

(02:29:16):
K and his name, like what he would do to
his show floating stages the letter Oh, Kanye, I know
this show is not going to be a normal presentation.

Speaker 8 (02:29:33):
Yeah, so I'm excited.

Speaker 10 (02:29:35):
I've been developing some ideas for the last couple of
weeks and even through the SNL performance, like visualizing how
that would carry out, and I'm really excited.

Speaker 8 (02:29:47):
I think that it's important for me to.

Speaker 10 (02:29:55):
One of the reasons, like I went to Stanford and
had to talk because I wanted to ground the work
in conversation and.

Speaker 8 (02:30:04):
Has Perry, Oh, she's so happened, No, she's not.

Speaker 10 (02:30:11):
No, but I want to be able to have that
conversation really closely, and so even things like performing the
album on a ground level where I'm able to be
on the same physical level as people and look.

Speaker 5 (02:30:31):
Instead of the eyes yeah, looking down.

Speaker 8 (02:30:34):
Yeah, I'm really excited about working out how I can
do that.

Speaker 10 (02:30:38):
But it's it's a lot of logistics. I've been working
on it. But of course, when you know you're trying
to present something in that way and work with other
venues and vendors, and promoters and all of that. That
stuff gets very complicated, but I'm working through it and
I'm really really excited.

Speaker 8 (02:30:59):
I just I just think that I have to.

Speaker 10 (02:31:04):
The songs are so emotionally charged, and again, they feel
so insular, and that even a lot of people have
shared with me that they primarily listen to the album
alone and that they feel kind of weird playing it
in group settings.

Speaker 8 (02:31:22):
I feel the same.

Speaker 10 (02:31:23):
Way performing it and SNL was a big wake up
call for me because I was emotionally charged in a
way that I had never been performing before. Like my
voice was shaking because of the words that I was
saying and all of the things that were encompassing that
in that moment, and who it was reaching and how

(02:31:47):
it was reaching people who voted for Trump, and you know,
just saying don't touch my hair, don't touch my pride,
Like I have the hone in how emotionally I'm going
to perform that without shaking because it's so fresh and

(02:32:07):
it's so raw that I also have, like you know,
the challenge of most of this stuff is intentionally falsetto
and sweet, and like Minie Riperton and Serita Wright were
huge influences in terms of vocal presentation for this, but
that takes a great amount of air and control and stillness.

(02:32:30):
But I'm saying things that are strong and aggressive.

Speaker 1 (02:32:37):
That's that's an awesome kind of contrast.

Speaker 10 (02:32:40):
Yeah, I mean it's intentional. It's intentional, but it's not
easy to pull off live. And I feel like I
have to have a great deal of meditation and control
to be able to do that because a lot of
people don't understand like the nuances of having to say

(02:33:01):
these is one thing to put them on the record
and say here you go, I'm gonna allow you to
have a seat at this table and share this with you.
It's another to deliver that face forward in full on
and feel that kind of exposure.

Speaker 8 (02:33:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:33:20):
I don't know. I'm just having brainstorming moments right now.
And I feel like like b Yorick is someone that
I've seen in concert a lot of times, and all
of our presentations are just like.

Speaker 8 (02:33:31):
Some next level Yeah, they are the influence.

Speaker 1 (02:33:34):
She did one particular show in which she chose like
a church in Harlem, oh Wow, and gathered the audience
stood in a circle and she just sang everything a cappella.
She just walked in the middle and just saying everything
a cappella, no music, no nothing, just a very intimate
her walking, no amplification, no microphone. But everyone attend that

(02:33:57):
show still maintains that was like the most powerful music
experience of their life.

Speaker 10 (02:34:03):
Like where you're going, I think that you have to
really identify. I guess I've had to really identify, you know,
what it is that I feel like I'm going to
really really connect to and feel gravity and in that moment,
like I realize now that I've gotten like award show

(02:34:26):
offers and all of those things, and I realize now
that that's not my space. I'm not going to never
say never, I be open to it, but that's not
the space right now that I'm reaching to connect with,
like come February, Like yo, I don't think that that's

(02:34:51):
why I feel like I thrive, And that could change
and I could work at it.

Speaker 1 (02:34:56):
But I you could write your own ticket.

Speaker 10 (02:35:00):
I know, and that's that could evolve and that could
change and I can feel differently and that's the cool
thing about having, you know, I guess not putting the
kind of pressure on myself to say, like if I

(02:35:21):
do it and then basically.

Speaker 8 (02:35:24):
I don't know. Like the ESNL experience.

Speaker 10 (02:35:27):
Was very I feel really happy that I did it,
But at the same time, I think that it reveals
a lot to me about in what space I want
to present this album in live. And it's like even
the concept of FUBU is like, do I want to
perform that song at Bonner? You know what I mean? Like,

(02:35:49):
it's a lot that I'm like just working out as
I go along, and that's fine, and it's okay. And
I think as artists we should be able to be
allowed to do that and change our minds and work
it out and figure out what works best for us
and our storytelling and that.

Speaker 1 (02:36:17):
All right, Well, this has been the most real question
Love Supreme. Yeah ever Yeah, yeah, definitely our blackest episode
by far. Matter of fact, we'll have some lounge in
the reflections. All I've learned. I've learned that, uh, that
master p Percy Miller such a soulful name, Percy, that

(02:36:43):
Percy Miller, uh was a human being. And and I
learned a lot about Matthew Knowles that I didn't know.
I learned that Tina Noles controls the music. Matter of fact, Uh,
boss Bill, this this is my Serrito DJ list. Read

(02:37:06):
the highlighted blue playlist on the left. This is this
is my only challenging This is a very serious I
named my playlist after you know. It could be Saturday nights,
it could be that at our wedding. But that's called
what Tina Knowle's Gonna Love Me? Dak dat? What is

(02:37:30):
in that play? What's in that Tina and Lowell's Gonna
Love Me playlist? I've never had a client or an
attendee at a quest love DJ gig that put more
pressure on me than Tina Knowles. Seriously. I played for
presidents and kings and whoever. But yeah, Tina Knowles is

(02:37:55):
one of the hardest clients ever. So what does she does?
She like, what's her what's her jams? Okay?

Speaker 5 (02:38:03):
And I'm assumed for her daughter as well.

Speaker 8 (02:38:05):
I will say so, it's really funny.

Speaker 10 (02:38:07):
It's like he played my my house party, and I
think that she felt like he was playing stuff to safe.

Speaker 1 (02:38:16):
She thought I was playing too safe.

Speaker 8 (02:38:17):
Cater to her and she was like, no, I want
the people to get turned.

Speaker 1 (02:38:21):
The quote was do you know who my son is
at the time?

Speaker 5 (02:38:30):
Okay, because she wasn't playing her son.

Speaker 1 (02:38:32):
No, no, I was pretty okay in the beginning.

Speaker 8 (02:38:34):
He was just kind of player clean and real safe.

Speaker 1 (02:38:38):
Tell me, did you not tell me to just be
careful because all types of people are going to be
in attendance.

Speaker 5 (02:38:46):
I did, But I don't know.

Speaker 10 (02:38:48):
I guess like, like, yeah, she was like when he
says that, she was like, do you know my son's language?
You know that he says in his music, Like I'm
not just like yeah, like play the ship. That's gonna
keep the party.

Speaker 1 (02:39:08):
What she doesn't know is that in any party I
will play Benny Goodman. Of course, I was doing the
Quest Love thing, the all inclusive and it was like
just cut to the chase and get to the.

Speaker 10 (02:39:28):
Just like playing with you gonna play like my mom
was in the kitchen like handing out pizzas.

Speaker 1 (02:39:34):
Yeah she was. Yeah, she takes pictures at Costco Bro.
I think she can handle.

Speaker 6 (02:39:42):
I was.

Speaker 7 (02:39:46):
I gotta say miss Tina that she's a very funny woman.
The first time I met her was there's an MTV
taping or something. She was backstage cutting up with Ed Lover.

Speaker 1 (02:39:56):
Just they're just cutting up.

Speaker 5 (02:39:58):
I believe she's just going Then I.

Speaker 7 (02:40:02):
Did a brief stint at Music World your father's company. Yeah, yeah,
for like three months. The holiday party, we had it
at some Chinese spot in the Chinese restaurant on the
Lower East Side, and your mother did karaoke.

Speaker 1 (02:40:20):
I can't remember what she's saying. Are you seriously she
did karaoke. I think I think I might have pictures
of that. Oh might.

Speaker 8 (02:40:28):
I'm dying to know you.

Speaker 7 (02:40:32):
I want to say you were there early that night.
You and your sister were there earlier in the night,
and then you both left, and then they brought out
the karaoke machine.

Speaker 8 (02:40:38):
And oh wow, Now my mom is fun time. She
was there last night at the AFT party and my sister.

Speaker 10 (02:40:51):
Left and my mom was like riding with her back
until she wanted to stay and get turned.

Speaker 1 (02:40:58):
So that's what I learned, Tina, turn up. No man,
what have I learned? God? So much? To start?

Speaker 4 (02:41:14):
I learned that Solange is probably and I know you
know you say you've heard it a lot, but I
mean like, she's probably one of the most relatable. I
won't say regular, because regular that signifies something that's like,
you know, like ordinary, so and you're and you're not ordinary,

(02:41:34):
but you're definitely one of.

Speaker 1 (02:41:35):
The most relatable people. That I think that I've had
that we've had on the show.

Speaker 4 (02:41:43):
For me, just hearing about your background and as the
as the mother of a son, you know what I'm saying,
I have sons as well, and so there's a lot
of there's a lot of common threads in your story
and then a lot of stuff that I go through
as well. And uh, just to hear that from someone

(02:42:03):
who people would consider, you know, oh, well, she's a
celebrity and she's this, she's that. It just kind of
shows just that common thread of being black in America.
You're never you can be on the Grammys and have
a cousin in County jail. You know what I'm saying, Like,
there's never you you ain't but that far removed from
the bottom, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (02:42:25):
So so yeah, man, I just.

Speaker 4 (02:42:28):
You Once Liya once referred to me as the male Solange,
and I understand that.

Speaker 1 (02:42:34):
Now Solange as the female Solange. Yeah, so it makes
sense now we relate to each other yet very very free.
I try to be free, but.

Speaker 4 (02:42:47):
And I have a greater understanding about the record now.
I never I never looked at it. I never put
it together. When you were talking about you know, being
a dedication to your mom and your dad, even though
they're not together now, just being able for them to
tell their stories and you hearing that now as an adult,
I think that's something that really resonated with me. I

(02:43:08):
think as a kid, you just see your parents as
like these super human people. But then once you get older,
you just see them as just people. You know, you
just realize that they're flawed, and they made mistakes and
they did the best they could with whatever they had,
you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (02:43:23):
And so, yeah, man, Solange's a real chick.

Speaker 5 (02:43:27):
Man.

Speaker 1 (02:43:27):
I focused a long all right, paid, Yeah, what'd you
learn to day? Man? Just like therapy. I'm telling you,
it's like therapy. Come on the show. What did I learn?

Speaker 2 (02:43:47):
I learned two things. One I still don't know why
I'm on this show, but I think bore I learned
every time we're here. That like, I think I'm here
to learn a lot, and I like that, and I
think that I leave here every time being like, first
of all, like at least texting one friend of mine, going,
I still have no fucking idea why I invite me back,
and to like what I what I learned, and I think.

(02:44:09):
And the second thing is is talking about music like
I don't know. We talk about this sometimes when when
are we're artists?

Speaker 10 (02:44:14):
Right?

Speaker 2 (02:44:14):
We write music and fucking whatever, and it sometimes becomes
really business oriented. And so since Soland's here, we should
talk about her. You seem like, at your core such
a fucking artist to me, and that's so, and that's
and so like with me, it's like I write, I
work on saysme Street. I do all this ship, but
I feel like I get confused sometimes about when it's
a business and when it's not. And I always I

(02:44:37):
find myself more often than not, being like, this is
what has to be done right now, this is what
I'm doing, blah blah blah, and and neglecting the other
side of it. And I don't think you ever do that.
And I think that that's great, done out, sugar, Steve.

Speaker 1 (02:44:54):
Yes, would you learn me? Yeah? Would you learn Steve.

Speaker 11 (02:44:58):
I liked all the stuff you were saying about the
way that you feel about having a responsibility to the past.
Maybe your father had felt that way or burdens. I'm
not sure the phrase you put on it, but I
liked all that. I'm a nostalgic person I'm somewhat archival
and historian, and you know.

Speaker 1 (02:45:19):
Your recording engineer, well, he was one of the engineers
of voodoo.

Speaker 11 (02:45:26):
By the way, I like your respect for the past
and making people respect the influences of the of the
artists we have now respect.

Speaker 1 (02:45:35):
On an a I was actually I didn't.

Speaker 7 (02:45:39):
I don't want to say I'd learned something, but you
definitely reinforce something that's kind of been on my on
my head for for a while with the whole you know,
you sat and talked with your parents for a long
time and asked them to tell you stories, and that's
something I've really wanted to do for a very long
time and just haven't had the opportunity to do. My
parents are getting up there in the age. I don't
know how much longer I'm going to have to do it,

(02:46:01):
so you know, I need to hurt U from do it.
So thank you kind of reinforces that.

Speaker 1 (02:46:06):
Means everything that episode Master where oh yeah, yeah exactly, yeah, yeah,
yeah yeah. So Layah, Margaret really need first name.

Speaker 5 (02:46:20):
I don't want you to think that I just have
an attribute. Okay, I wonder Margaret is my first name?

Speaker 1 (02:46:28):
Can you please tell us I don't have what you
learned today.

Speaker 6 (02:46:32):
To be honest, mister Love, I haven't really learned much
because I know a lot about launch. And also I
would not take that back because that sounds like I
didn't learn it.

Speaker 5 (02:46:43):
That's not true.

Speaker 6 (02:46:44):
I learned a lot of ship is she just reinforced to.
I think me and the rest of the sisters that
are listening that she is our sister in our head.
I pray, I pray that you stay where you are
on that whole. I can't perform these songs everywhere. I
have to figure out. That's and because Solons, you don't,
you can you can really do whatever the fuck you

(02:47:04):
want to do. I do hope that you show up
at the Grammys to get your award. But that don't
mean that you got to say you understand what I'm saying.
And but do figure out a way to perform for
us by us, because they need to know. And I
would just say that I've learned that you are super dope.
We already thank you the world.

Speaker 1 (02:47:20):
Well, since you work here now, Salons, you got to
round it out. Oh god, wow, don't focus on spread
spread their life. Okay. I got a lot of patience

(02:47:42):
because I know they would be sleeping right now.

Speaker 10 (02:47:45):
No, I'm really really happy to be here, and to
be quite honest, I learned that there are safe spaces
for storytelling, and I'm so happy that you guys created
this platform to to have that safe space. And I've
been really really protective about how to speak about this

(02:48:08):
album because I feel like it's so explicitly spelled out
on the album that it almost feels like, do I
need to talk about it? But this was such a
such a great start, and you guys are also kind
and funny and charming and nerdy and.

Speaker 5 (02:48:28):
Everybody.

Speaker 10 (02:48:35):
I also learned that a mean cannot take a compliment.
He needs to work on that. I learned that I
sat next to the man that I had Twitter beef with,
that I sat next to someone who actually used to
work with my family, and saw my mom do karaoke.

Speaker 1 (02:48:55):
This is the ultimate fans.

Speaker 10 (02:48:58):
Now, this was really awesome. It was really good therapy
from like the come down of last night. I woke
up being really hard on myself and feeling actually kind
of bummed and sad.

Speaker 6 (02:49:11):
Really, yeah, I do that brought way too much joy
to be feeling like that. You have to remind yourself
I'm so serious. You have to remind yourself. Sometimes your
artists do that. He does that too, out of yourself.
You're bringing people because it's selfish.

Speaker 10 (02:49:24):
To not do that. Yeah, I mean it's true. It's true.
So this is such a great like closing to that,
Thank you guys for that.

Speaker 1 (02:49:34):
Thank you nose ladies, gentlemen, on behalf of on, behalf
of uh yeah, and unpaid Bill and Boss Bill and
Sugar Steve. This is quest love supreme only on pan. Well,

(02:49:59):
let me we gotta do. I didn't sign off. I
didn't sign off. All right, So when Steve, when Steve
stopped working at Electric Lady Studios where we are right now,
where we are right now, Yes, he relocated to Philadelphia. Wait,
can I just be Sugar Steve, like the cool version

(02:50:20):
of Sugar version showing that you're sacrificing your life for
brothers and sisters out there. Sugar, that's Steve. No, this
is the best part of your thing. This it's funny.
Every time we thought it was some sexy ship kind
of sexualized.

Speaker 8 (02:50:42):
Where are we going? We're not going to keep it.

Speaker 1 (02:50:46):
It's unanimous. No, it's not. We'll tell you all in
this room that the truth, raise your hands, damn even.

Speaker 5 (02:50:56):
Even it's a good story, a short one.

Speaker 1 (02:51:05):
Basically, when Steve moved to Philadelphia to be my full
time engineer, UH, we were working on Pharrell's UH in
My Mind record, and for those three weeks Steve basically
adjusted his diet to my diet.

Speaker 8 (02:51:24):
I was just about to say, what was chomping?

Speaker 1 (02:51:29):
No one like Solange does Anyway, at the end of
the day, at the end of the record, Steve wound
up getting the sugars and is now has diabetes still
levels the level of Solange's eyeballs songs were about lollipops

(02:51:52):
and ice cream.

Speaker 11 (02:51:56):
Confused, did you really get he actually likes to take
responsibility for this for some reason.

Speaker 1 (02:52:02):
But yeah, white people don't get diabetes on that level.
And we pissed poor diet my whole life. It wasn't
starting in Philly but culminating health. There was a soul
was down the flock from the studio, so thus we
ate there every night. It's like a recurring theme on
the show for some reason.

Speaker 10 (02:52:22):
Well, that wasn't an era where you were like going
super hard on that, like healthy microbatic.

Speaker 8 (02:52:30):
It was really annoying, so.

Speaker 1 (02:52:34):
Hot there were so much. I wasn't there for.

Speaker 5 (02:52:49):
South Street Diner.

Speaker 1 (02:52:50):
It was there for the mac and cheese. There's a
lot of bone marrow marrow, never any Cavin Grunt.

Speaker 8 (02:53:06):
It was really hardcore and you are being really like
kind of obnoxious.

Speaker 10 (02:53:11):
About this person really like me about food and ship,
like literally calling me up.

Speaker 5 (02:53:19):
Like super foods are superfoods.

Speaker 1 (02:53:25):
And gentlemen on behalf of everybody. Quest Supreme, my name
is Quest, loved this Bandora, good Night, What's Love? Supreme
is a production of my Heart Radio. This classic episode
was produced by the team at Pandora. For more podcasts

(02:53:48):
from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.