Robert Glasper

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quess Love Supreme is a production of I Heart Radio.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to another addition Brand Imperial. Another wait,
I don't feel too encourage when you guys are sneakering

(00:20):
behind my back. You know that's that's words rappers say,
you know the professors. No, Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to
another episode of Coesse Love Supreme. My name is Coess Love.
We have Team Supreme with us uh snicker and laya.
You know that makes me sound like the person that
leads our world with his weak ass uh him. Yeah,

(00:46):
I know exactly. I'm doing good contrary to the world.
I'm doing No, actually, no, I'm doing I'm doing good.
I'm feeling good about about life and whatnot. That's cool.
I'm talking to you also, yes, I know this is
this is the highlight of you know, I I look

(01:07):
forward to these conversations with my friends. Never now, Sugar Steve,
how you doing, Hey, quests, Hey, Team Supreme? Are you Steve?
I'm feeling real good right now. You know, it's been
a long time since we asked you about your sugar network.
What's what's the HAPs of the Sugar networks? Since funny
you should ask. We just ended season three and began

(01:29):
season We just started season four, which is the Blueberrious Network, Blueberries.
You're gonna pretend after three years you don't know how
the Sugar Network works, Like, I'm sorry, Yes, everybody gets
a season. I'm sorry, yes, season we're on season four,
but we've only been around for like two and a
half years. But we're already on season four and the

(01:51):
new founder is Blueberrius, so you can find him at Blueberrius.
It's the Blueberrious Network for season four. Thank you for
you're still the executive producer, right, Yeah, I'm the original
founder Sugar Steve. It's yeah, it's named after I've seen
that and take I'm good, brother, I'm good downth Cacollact.

(02:12):
It's cool man. Um. I think the governor said that
they're about to do um a phase what they call
a phase two point five or something, so like now
they're starting to open some gems, so like gyms can
open it like thirty percent capacity. Um, I think restaurants
can open it like something crazy. My asses to in

(02:33):
the house, so this ship needs nothing to me, but
but the gems out here doing the little outside things,
like they're going into the parking lot too. Yes, some
of them, yeah, yeah, some of them were. They were
actually actually my gym for a minute. They were kind
of doing it outside, but I don't know, I think

(02:54):
it kind of fell off. But I don't know. Just
being around a bunch of people just breathing hard and
sweating like that not seem like a good life planing.
So um, yes, I've just been sticking to my old
man walks in the evening and uh old man walks. Yes, yeah,
just I hit my walk. Brother, Still getting your tenth

(03:15):
That's that's what's up, man, Yeah, I'm morning. Still are
you still every morning? Six o'clock? Rick Ruben put me
up to the task, and I'm still doing it ten
thousand a day. That's great, man. That's I'm trying to
unleash my inner strict Uh grown a bug, and I'm
actually gonna get on the plane. Really did you coming

(03:36):
back to your people? See your mom my mom is
turning seventy, and I'm like, ain't missed that? So I'm man,
s I actually flew from l A. She she did
that flaight, She flew from l A to d C.
And she said it was actually it ain't it ain't
that bad like it was. No, it's all good. I'm
make sure I eat everything I need to eat for

(03:56):
I get on the plane, don't drink nothing. And you know,
and if I do, I got mclarx whites. I'm gonna
have my gloves, I'm gonna have my mask, I'm gonna
have my shield, and I'm gone. No, I'm probably do do.
My Mama's my Mama's Career United, the one that has
you know, housed and fed me for four day something years.
Oh that's right, Yeah, I forgot. I forgot that. Hey,

(04:19):
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that this particular
episode of course Left Supreme is being brought to you
by Mazda. Um. I gotta say shout out to Mazda
for letting me test drive their c X thirty. I
gotta say it's my first grown man car that I
personally enjoyed myself. Well, that's like one of those cuvs, right,

(04:41):
like they got they had SUVs, but now they got
the crossover. The crossover kind of that. Yeah, but you know,
like when I get in it, like my driving experience
doesn't warrant a turnaround, Like what's that I've never for
cars that I drive, you know what I'm saying. Most
cars that I drive are Yeah, it's really like the playhoufs.

(05:05):
But I gotta say this, this is kind of official.
I enjoy driving it and good luck and trying to
get this card back from me. App It's comfortable and plus,
you know, I'm on I'm on the farm, driving two
hours every day to the city, and you know, this

(05:26):
is where I listened to all my favorite podcasts and
my audio books and my meditation and stuff. So yeah,
this this came right in time. I appreciate on Spotify
and I saw you listening to, like some some meditation something.
I was like, what the hell is this the Mirrort
playing I was listening to. I forgot that Spotify actually

(05:47):
snitches on what I listened to right now, Yeah, you
follow me, You don't, don't see mean this is nothing
but the brand album for them. Ever forgot the world
can see what I'm listening to because all I'm listening
to is the meditation and stuff. Yeah, but it'll be

(06:09):
the time too, so it'll be it's not you know,
I mean, it'll be like damn two o'clock in the morning.
It'd be late and so I see, I'll say that
from midnight till like eleven in the morning, that's my
meditation hours. So you gotta get to the change this
picture though they got your Philadelphia Experiment picture. I don't
even know what that person is. Yeah, not not you

(06:35):
follow my see people follow always look for quest love.
Now you gotta follow my my my, Oh your government
government name? Shoot? All right, Neil kay Thompson, it's right there.
You are so right. Yeah, I mean I don't think
people know this, because that's why your listeners are different.
You got no yeah, like only only for certain people now, yeah, yeah,

(06:59):
that's on the Cuban link nigas because exactly only for
certain for certain nis. That's exactly why I did that, exactly. Yeah.
It's good to hear that you're you're facing your fears.
I too, am going to get on the plane tomorrow.

(07:20):
Ain't you been getting on the plane. Don't play me
play loto. No, I've not been on the plane since
so you drove because you'all drove to I've been driving
to Ohio since that time period. I have questions about
what y'all doing up there. Y'all doing something productive out there?
I am you mean, what do you want to know?

(07:43):
Not just you. I was just curious. I didn't know
how I had to ask that. I see all the
pictures posted, and I see you know, all the social celebrities,
and I'm just wondering, since we know we're in an
entrance the state of the world, are y'all like actually
talking about things that could help, you know, since you
all the powerful individuals. Well, I mean it's not G thirteen,
but I will say that a good four to five

(08:05):
hours is pretty much. Um. I don't know when these
episodes are coming to be or I don't know if
it belongs to quality or Dave owns the content, but dude, um,
it's about Yeah, it's at this rate I think he

(08:26):
has I know, Lie, I think there's about forty hours
of content. Yo, Nicol, we're releasing Dave Chappelle. It was
so that No, I'm just saying, oh man, I'm just saying, well,
it's not that's the thing. I don't think Dave has
a platform. But this is going to go somewhere someday.

(08:48):
But um, the last time I did it, last time,
it was really good episode like most like basically each
episode is most quality Dave, like they're the anchors, those
three of the anchors, and then me, um and whatever,
comedian Kevin Hart, Uh sometimes uh Kevin Hart, Bill Bird

(09:10):
was last time before that was Jon ham Common, Tiffany
Hattish and uh, you know, but I will say that, yeah,
and it's it's it's not just uh what I won't say. Uh,
it's not just us. I don't want to say fluffing. No,
it's it's not um it's us, Yeah, it's not. Yeah,

(09:34):
it's actually us holding people's feet to the fire. Like
everything that including an hour about you know, quality situation
would be with social media and all that stuff like
she got real. So I don't know when or where
it's coming or how it's coming or whatever, but I mean, um,
I mean besides that, um Dave. Actually he's taken over

(09:59):
his town. I gotta commend him, like he has the
resources and the governor's blessing too. You know, Ohio is
very Important's another and you know there's another is that
I was asking, especially in the election. Very important. Yeah,
but it's yeah, he's you know, he has medical people
don't standby. He's testing, testing his audience, testing his guests.

(10:23):
And then once you do that. I mean you just yeah,
it's it's rather incredible. Well that is nice for me
to go back a third time. But I also do
hope that you'll figure out some other things to do,
like some things like similar to what Lebron is doing.
I know everybody doesn't have Lebron money, but on some
levels of opening up stadiums and figuring out how we're

(10:44):
going to get people out to vote and whatnot, comfortable
places and say spaces, anything that could help the cause.
You know what I'm saying outside of just some good conversation,
but I appreciate the conversation as well. Well. All I
can do online and is raise money. So I tell
you, you you tell them and then you know, working out.
Um yeah, I'm certain that that's on his mind. I

(11:06):
mean that that's been discussed. I don't know what his
direct plans are for November, but yeah, right now, I'm
a member of team. When we all vote, we're registering
about thirty seven thousand people every night. Um yeah, just
trying to we can win as long as our heads

(11:31):
to the sky. This whole renewed sense of optimism is
what I feel. Yes, No, I do have optimism. What
I'm what I'm more worried about. Um. I mean, I'd
be lying if I didn't say that I was. I
wasn't worried about the transition period like November. Actually I'm
actually getting out from November January win or lose, Like

(11:55):
you know he wins, Yeah, November to January's help for
the next four years as hell, Um, but lose you know,
who knows what that transition will be like for those
three months, Um borderline hoping that he I predict that
he's going to. I realized you can lose the presidency

(12:19):
if you remove the goal posts of the election day.
So if he moves the election day, then instantly um
Pelosi becomes president. And so I think in his head
it's like I'd rather be removed than lose, right, So

(12:40):
that's gonna be another that's another theory. Oh my god,
that's saying that he yeah, he'll plan it as the
Democrats forced me out. D da da da da, like,
so that's what I'm hoping for. But you know, of
course that they followed the law, but they've been low
of the time, so yet why not. Yeah, y'all getting it,

(13:02):
But I'm just saying I ain't getting the mailers like
I used to exactly I got I actually got my
meal today. My mail has been running pretty smooth. But yeah,
it's yeah, this is nuts. So let's get to our episode. Uh,
ladies and gentlemen. Today our Steam guests is a is
a G. That's right. He's a multi Grammy Award winning

(13:26):
and Emmy Award winning not I'm sorry, not ghetto, but
your your g have a soul Trend award that going
there somewhere that doesn't count SOUTRA award. I have a
social award. I'm jealous yo, from the last and that
was still alive when I got it. I got a

(13:50):
real one. You mayor that intro lad Robert, Yes, I
love it. Whatever got on? Brot one man, I got
a one month old of a girl nothing you know quarantine? Yeah,

(14:23):
that do the math. That's a coming season. Wow one
old man. Congratulations bro bro, thank you man. What's up? Steve? Congratulations? Right?
How you doing? I'm good? Kick and play and play. Wait,
let me alight. Let's let our listeners know for those
who don't know, because it will be a bunch of

(14:45):
inside jokes and you know, so literally. Yeah, our our
guest today is uh, He's literally worked with the best
of them, name him uh Tip Uh, Cello, Stella, I do, Jill, Scott, Jez.

(15:06):
Have we worked work together? My fault? We did, y'all did,
y'all did? Hey and way way to circle back speaking.
Our our theme today is having renewed sense of optimism,
and our guests actually covered sounds of slackness immortal classic

(15:29):
optimistic with Brandy right now, Yes with Brandy and August
Green featuring Common and Kareem riggans Um and probably one
of the craziest, funniest people I know. Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome Robert finally, but can we just for the people

(15:50):
that's listening, we should tell them the only reason it's
taking as long as because Amir always wanted to be
in the studio, in a really banging as studio with Robin,
and that we haven't made this happen because lady somewhere
exactly when we thought we had like hopes and dreams
of like jam sessions and whatnot. Yeah, I kept looking,
I kept looking at my resume, like God, damn it,
am I good enough to be friends? I don't show

(16:18):
Robert wait time out? Okay, So I just I pulled
up your Wikipedia page. Have you seen your Wikipedia page lately?
I haven't seen it. What's with this photo? The photo
that they got for you, is it with the dress?
It's like his Sears Roebuck catalog pose. It's the Ray

(16:41):
Kuan you know when Ray Kwan puts the temple is
uh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not proud of that.
I'm not proud of I think we all have one
of those poles that picture with that pose, because when
you're deep, that's exact what you do. Right. I was
doing my time where I was really fighting against taking

(17:03):
photos at the piano because every time it's like photos
at the piano. I was like, that's corny. I want
to be away for the piano. And that was during
the time where I was like no, I wanted to
do other stuff and I didn't know what to do,
and it was weird. This is this what I was like,
This is that one photographers suggested the piano to you

(17:24):
is like photographers telling the routes, we gotta go out
to the forest to take photos. I have an idea
to go up to the forest or put shackles on
your feet one of the two roots exactly next to
Alex Haley. Where are you right now, Robert? I'm in

(17:48):
l A. I'm at the l A Spot of us.
Now you live out in l A right now? Yep? Yeah,
Well I've always had an l A Spot in New
York spot. But now I'm just here in l A
for a long period of time, So I'm pretty much
I'm pretty much here. I think I'm gonna call this home.
How long have you lived out there? I had this
place here for about four years, but I've never really

(18:10):
spent you know, you just come in for a week
here and you know, but now I'm like staying here,
you know. So See, I always thought I always thought
there was a stigma. Well, you know, you are a
serious musician, and I always thought that l A had
a a stigma um on serious musicians. Like there's always

(18:32):
been this this this cloud of sort of pretentiousness with
with l A session musicians and l A jazz musicians,
at least in the sixties, seventies, eighties, and nineties. I
don't know if it's still has held over or not,
but you know, I mean, I don't when I'm out here,
I'm not being a musician. Okay, when I'm out here,

(18:54):
I'm producing, I'm being a film film I'm scoring films,
you know what I mean. Like I always say, New
York is where you learn how to play, and then
l A is where you make money. So that's why
I got here. You know, I'm actually long overdue being
here in l A. Really, you know what I mean.
I should have been here ten years ago. Yeah, yeah, man,

(19:17):
just for the opportunities of what I want to do,
because I'm not trying to be the best jazz piano
player in the world anymore. That's what I've moved to
New York to do. And as the high school, I said,
I'm going to New York, I'm gonna be the best
jazz piano player. And it was all about that, all
about bigging musician years who were there already. I'm over that, Yeah,
I mean, I want to work I want to work out. Yeah,

(19:41):
But that's why it's supposed to be though, That's how
I was supposed to be. I had like an og
tell me, like, you know, the first part of your
career it's about becoming the best, right, But then after
a while, it's like Nick, I gotta put myself in
a position to make the most money boom as a fan.
Does that mean that you've done everything you want to
do musically? Like are your music goals or or oh no, no,

(20:03):
no no no. I put myself in a position where
I can always go back and do that. You know,
I can always make records. I don't have to do
the New York grind anymore. I have to be in
New York and be play the clubs and play the gigs,
you know what I mean. I can go to New
York and play my show when I want to play
my shows and stuff like that while I'm out here
also doing film scores and and all that that stuff.

(20:23):
You know, that's why you strategize and did those those
that you had a whole residency in New York right
before you left, right that that worked? Yeah, it worked out.
So that's all I gotta do. Every year. I go
to New York and stay one month and do all
my shows New York, all your shows, your quara, get
your quarter done, and then I'm out. I'm out. I've

(20:46):
seen my son, My son's in New York, so I
go there. I get You know, the only reason I
just keep my New York spot is so I can
go back and see my son all the time, you
know what I mean. But you know, other than that,
it's it's by by New York. We have as had
a chance. Has your son had a chance to meet
his sister yet? Yeah? She's one month out now yet
Oh yeah, it's just whatever, that's it. You know, your

(21:10):
son of hilarious, how dangerous as a musician? Now yo, Now, dude,
Now he there's not a deal of joint he doesn't know.
And he there's not a deal of joint that he
doesn't know how it's made. Like he's producing beats. Him
and Kareem Riggins Sundries are making the EP together, glasper

(21:32):
Reem glasper Riggins Like yeah, because he first of all,
Kareem Son is crazy with the have you heard his beats?
He's like maybe thirteen first of all is gonna kill
me yore first of all drums, he's crazy. Like I
hired him right now for a hip hop get not

(21:53):
even joking. We jammed, and we jammed a few times
here in l A. But then his beach are his beat?
Your stupid? So him and Riley open my son right.
They always played Fortnite. They're always on the playing Fortnite
ship and then they started making beats and going back
and forth with the beats and ship. So now they
make and yeah, they're about Yeah, he's literally that's what

(22:17):
he's on now, that's literally what he's on. Now, these
kids with Swiss Beats Son and oh my god, Jill
scott her Son making beats too. Yeah, now they have
access to the tools that we didn't like. I mean
the technology is so I mean, you can make beats
on your damn phone, now, you know what I'm saying.
But Riley was like hed me yesterday that that can
you give me an NPC one. I was like, uh, yeah,

(22:45):
I don't know that you working on right now? Uh
you just released the project with uh ninth correct? Yeah,
so an album called We Get an album called Dinner Party.
Um yeah me Terre Smart and MASSI and Knife and
uh yeah, sox Felix Felix and Dope Felix is really dope.

(23:11):
This beats a dough too. He make Dope Beach too.
Made tracks, Ok, yeah, stupid tracks. Yeah, I need to
making tracks. Everybody making tracks. Everybody makes tracks. I know
I've never been a track. I've never been I've never
wanted to make tracks. I gotta make some beach right exactly. Yeah,
it's like I know all the dopeest musicians. This is
getting the room and make the dope ship. That's why

(23:31):
I'm always like that, like pluck that. But yeah, you
gotta make tracks. But but yeah, So we just did
Dinner Party right now. We're just we're just finishing up
Dinner Party kind of remix, kind of situation where we
took all the songs where we put guests on them. Um,
so we got Corday and Snoop and a few other
artists allow on there and a few other artists on

(23:53):
those actual songs. Tank from taking the Bengas. Um, yeah,
she's dope. I love her. Man she's done. Uh so, yeah,
I finish it up that that should be done in
a few days actually, and then, um, I'm still in
the middle of working on Black Radio three as well.
Oh my god, So wait all right, can't we just
real quick? Don't you don't know I'm working on Black

(24:14):
Radio three. No, no, no, no, you don't know. Listen.
I know, I just forgot. I just forgot it was group.
So I forgot that was coming. That means that Radio
three you're supposed to be I was supposed to be.
I maybe like, here's the thing I'm not playing. Let

(24:35):
me tell you, let me first what it happened. Was happened.
Hey man, you can't put me on BLANSK but you
don't want to say myself, So let me set the straight. Look,
we in a goddamn pandemic. I don't feel like doing shit.
I have to learn to let me look who, I'm

(24:57):
in a space where I have to learn. The first
like three or four months of this ship was just
like what the fuck right? So I had to learn
how to create in this space. I knew how to
create in the old world when we was out tourn
and moving around and bumping in each other and all
that ship. I know how to feel that creative tank.
I had to learn how to feel that creative tank

(25:17):
in the space where we can't go no fuckingwhere. So
now I'm waking up again. I'm kind of finding it,
you know what I mean. I'm kind of finding my
voice again. So now to everyone, to Robert Glass and everyone, now, yes,
there's a big possibility I would probably be on black
Radio now because I know how to create. I'm kind
of finding my voice now. But at the time when
you leached out to me. He was like, yeah, man,

(25:38):
I got this joint send it. I'm like, Nick, I
just watched my aunt that on zoom Nigga Like what yeah, literally,
Like yeah, I had to log into an app to
watch the funeral right now, like fatime, Yeah, yeah, might

(26:06):
be there. What's up? Okay, this might be my old age,
but I'm under the impression that you actually invented or
pioneered d I wideness when it comes to know you
have an Apple on your phone that you do the
vocals on, then you'd just be sending it to motherfucker's

(26:27):
well yeah, I mean when me and Nick did for
in exchange, Yeah, that was kind of the first, you know,
in terms of I mean it was us doing it,
and then I think before that it was the postal
service with your boy from death Cab, but they were
actually sending it through the mail. We were sending it
just through I Am. But even within I mean, that
was still at the time where you know, the world
was open, like we were going out, I was going

(26:48):
to doing shows and whatever. So the thing about now
is just creating in this part where I think people
are having most of the artists, my homies I talked
to the thing that the kind of prevalent feeling is
that we're still being held accountable or we're still being
held we're still accountable for the same we're still under
the same pressure, but we no longer have those things

(27:08):
we were able to do to release that pressure. So
it's like your mothercker still won't meet to day and
rapidy rap rapidly saying and do all this ship, But
I can't go to the gym, right, Where's where's the release?
Like I can't I can't go to the gym, I
can't go to the movies. You know what I'm saying, Like, well,
I apologize and I appreciate you for having this moment

(27:28):
because there's so many people that feeling the same way.
You right, you're right, you yeah, but I'm coming. But
you know now, like I'm figuring out like I got
I'm me and Poob been working on ship like I
got ship coming, so so now I mean I'm waking
up now like now I figured out so so now
blast for like with joints like us being black ready
to three Yet that more than like will happened because

(27:49):
it's always and I have a studio to Robert I
there too. I don't gonna hit you, but I had
a whole idea I want we'll figure that out. Yeah,
I'll do it. If if Fante doesn't do it, I'll
do it. You can see that, little brother you do.

(28:15):
I'm just joking, but I'm more curious about who else
is because I was just curious because I was like, damn,
you gotta I know people becoming at you when you
do these black radio albums, like yeah, well I haven't
even I haven't even said it out loud that I
was doing it until I released a single um a
few days ago, one of the singles off the record
with the song I did called Better Than I Imagine

(28:36):
and with her with her and Michelle dail Cello. Uh yeah,
so that's that's something I was holding for Black Radio three.
But I was like, funk it, yeah, you know, because
I can still go on the record correct, Yes, yes,
But I was like, I don't want to hold it
any longer. I'll put this one out, you know, just

(28:57):
to just put it out there because I need to
put some music. I just out like I want to
put something out and this is a good time for it,
you know what I mean? And you know. So, yeah,
I got to December to finish it, and I'm gonna
go come next year. What have you been doing the
last six months? Have you been working at home or
just like doing nothing? Well? No, I learned how to

(29:18):
do logic pretty good. I got better. That's what I do.
That's all. That's where I got. I got better at logic.
And actually I'm building a mea terrorist building a studio
right behind my house right here, like literally ten steps away.
There's a one apartment behind my crib and my landlord
moved out of there and we took it over and

(29:39):
made it the studio. So we'll be finished with that
and like two or three weeks, so that would be
a place where we can really go work, you know
what I mean. And so we've been doing that. And
about the noise, no, you can't even they can't. It's separate.
It's just no neighbor. The way it is. My lanlord
had it. My landlord had it built by and people

(30:00):
from our church. It's like all cement and it stands
on its own. It's like isolated. Is dope. It's really dope.
So you're in Okay, Okay, that's curious. Yeah, yeah, Wood yeah,
you know this is we've we've known each other for

(30:21):
the longest, but we really haven't never had an in
depth conversation. And what I no, no, But the thing
I was always curious about was that I don't think
it's a same way that Philadelphia had its renaissance and
two thousand Yeah, you know, I felt that Houston had
that same renaissance in two thousand and six, two thou seven.

(30:45):
You know, with all these musicians who at the time,
like what was going on in your high school? With
with all these musicians that were thinking left a center,
like what was what was in the air, what was
going on? The cool thing about my high school, which
you know art high schools, because you went to one

(31:06):
of the best ones in Philly, so you went to
I want to perform in out of high school in
Houston High School for performing arts. And the cool thing
about my high school, which I think we might be
the only high school that did this. I'm pretty sure
or maybe not. You can tell me if y'all did this.
My jazz director and not even just the jazz director,

(31:28):
and all the art areas they hired teachers that didn't
have degrees. Wow, so our jazz cats that were teachers
were just cats. They didn't have degrees. They did this
by design on purpose or yes, because the motherfuckers that
have to degrees most of the time, you know. But

(31:53):
the cats that the cats, they're just playing. They out
there playing. So they was coming to the school showing
us was hit right now because they're out there playing
right now. So the cats that was over our our jazz,
our jazz classes are our jazz professor. Dr Morgan had
a degree, but he made it so he would just
hire different and sometimes we can see one dude for

(32:14):
three months and never see him again, but he was done.
But it was And what the one of the cool
things about us school also is we had a class
period called listening. You didn't play. You came in and
we had a CD player and everybody in the class
could bring anything they wanted to and you just sat

(32:36):
there and listened. Damn. And part of the problem with
a lot of musicians is they don't listen, and they
don't know what to listen to, and they just don't listen,
you know what I mean. And our our jazz rector
made a class called listen, so I would brief stuff.
It could be gospel. It could be anything and and

(32:56):
and all the kinds to bring stuff. You know, every
Mark Kelly, that's Mark about it. So it was would
you go to school with? Like with in my class?
In my I went to school with Mark Kelly. I
went to school with Kendrick Scott uh drummer, really guitar player,
Mike Moreno, um Beyonce, she was there for one year. Um. Brian,

(33:20):
Brian Cox, he was my best friend. Yeah, I met Yeah,
I met Brian grad and he told me to come there.
We met at a talent competition because the Sammy David's
Junior Awards, and I was playing I was playing piano

(33:40):
with a gospel group and he was singing with an
R and B group called Business or Pleasure. Oh that
was that was like that was two yeah, please tell
please tell me, Please tell me. Pleasure was spelled with

(34:01):
a Z, right it might have got so. Yeah. So
so Brian we met at that competition. He's like, yo, man,
you gotta come to p b A where you were
all all the cats playing this. But I was like,
what's that? You know? But so he told me about it,
and I didn't go with my freshman year because I

(34:21):
thought I was gonna be a basketball player, so I
was like, nah, I want to play basketball. So I
wasn't even serious about piano yet. Yeah, I want to
play basketball. I wasn't serious. How old were you when
you got serious about piano? When I got serious, uh,
I was in like ten grade when I was like,
all right, good night, But I was playing the church

(34:42):
or stuff I was playing. I started playing the church.
I really started playing piano. My mom was My mom
was the musica director at church, and she sang in
clubs all to the week, like clubs like R and
B gigs and stuff like that. She was literally like
Whoopi Goldberg and sister at all that. And then on
Sundays did she have a group. Yes, her and my
stepdad had a group. They were literally like seafist and received.

(35:03):
It's absolutely hilarious early eighties, the curls, the colors, so
for real. But but but on Sundays, my mom was
a mister music. I have a small church, you know,

(35:24):
so they allowed me to play the little or broad
Gass Oregon that was in the corner. So I used
to play every Sunday that passed. Whose birthday is it?
And when I was eleven, I was playing with one finger.
Happy Birthday. I figured out how to have a birthday
of one finger. And then they just let me every Sunday,
they just let me sit there and figure the the
service out. I started playing with the band songs with
one finger because my dad played with the banche off

(35:45):
to the house every day all the time. So I
was learning all that kind of songs and just and
then I just I really talked. I really taught myself. Yeah,
and then I just you know, and then at age like, yeah,
maybe age fourteen, that's when I know what's te tenth grade,
I don't know tenh grade is whatever you say. I

(36:07):
auditioned with. I auditioned with three gospel songs because I
don't know need Jason's. So there was no wait. But
from beginnings of church to the fifteen there was nobody,
got no guidance, nobody to say, but this is how
you really do this? But I see, my mom had
a band and in the band there was a piano
piano player nam Alan Mosley that nobody knows, one of
them cats from your hometown. That was drunk, but it

(36:29):
was really good. And no, you know, he's a legend.
You never see him. So I used to sit next
to him at the piano bench and they would have
rehearsals because we have rehearsales at our career. We had
pianos and answers have a heards of the cris. So
I would sit there and watch him. So the only
song I played at my audition that was jazzy was
he taught me how to play the Spider Man theme

(36:50):
in the in the in the form of a c
mind of blues. So he told me how to walk
a baseline boo boo boom boom boom boom boo boo boo. Well,
so that's what I did that, and I did three
gospel songs and then I got in wait speaking Robert,
you remember the time I bet you that you wouldn't

(37:12):
h man. This this is the most the most devastating
gig of my life was Robert as a joke, you know,
I think Robert says, I'm gonna sneak the Smurts theme
into this jay Z song, all right, So it was
one of them, just one of them, It was all right.

(37:32):
So me and Robert Glasper were we were like paying
tribute to jay Z at one of these like you
know tho dollar plate, banquet spots and uh. At the
last minute, I told Glass when I said, yo, like,
you know, do do something like really uh, you know,

(37:55):
high class for these people, like you know, to make
it sound like classical stuff. And he gets at the
piano and starts off like you know, you know, like
Alicia Keys first came out playing for at least you
think like some deep ship. So Robert goes ringing and

(38:16):
the audience like Mariah carry Yoka Owner. Everyone's looking and
all of a sudden, this is Motherucker's I was playing
the sperson I love you. My communication Michael Phone, I

(38:36):
was like, what are you playing the smurst right now?
But then we'll be stag. It went downhill from there
because then Taik forgot all jay Z's lyrics in front
of jay Z. Yes, Yo, man, worst ever. But I

(38:57):
remember when we gotta stage, y'all go on the wh
for ruing on your shoe. She came. She just threw
up and just fell on me and like a hug
and fell up on it. She was like Yoga owner
or her sister threw up on somebody's shoes, And yo,

(39:21):
that's like, y' that's like a George Clayton story. Y'all
make sure remember that James just signed to the Leave.
I thought he was about to get dropped, calling me like,
how could you guys forget his music? Everyone knows this song? Right?

(39:42):
Were you always this person? Like in school too? Were
like were you always funny and like, you know, outgoing
or whatnot? Were that is that the same you always? Yeah?
I was the kid that I would had to sit
out in the hallway like, yeah, I was. That was me.
That was me the whole all the time. Yeah. Literally

(40:04):
I ran into a girl, dude. Maybe in January, I know, December.
I was in Houston, went to a went to a
Bars of Noble, ran into an elementary school friend of
mine I met. We were in the same play. We
played Hucky Huckey Berry Finn play. I played Huckey Berry Fan.
Oh wow. In fifth grade. That was my debut on stage.

(40:29):
That's the only thing I've ever done acting Tom Sawyer.
Tom Sawyer was an Indian dude. We're we're ahead of
our time. We were out there the first of all.
Look and I meant that I saw this girl. She
looked at me. Oh my god, Robert, So I saw her.

(40:50):
I was like the pig, That's what I said. She
was the pig and the play. She looked exactly the same, exactly,
and she was like, oh my god, you still haven't
changed since you're in fourth grade. This is so crazy.
I was like, damn, I have I literally haven't. Great question,
was Chris at your school as well? Chris Dave? I

(41:11):
don't know how old Chris is Chris, but he's Chris.
He's supposed to be as good as as he's a
hundred thirteen Chris God, damn Like, no, Chris went. Chris
graduated from p b A in nineteen nine. What Chris

(41:32):
is my age? Chris is like Chris is like forty?
Is he is God? Yo? Because his voice make you
think that he's he keeps bringing prodigy because you keep
thinking he's the little kid. It's old as fuck. You're like,
this is a thirteen year olds amazing, How do you

(41:54):
do that? No, so Chris win, No so Chris. That
was a drummer named Mark sim Is before you. Did
you know Mark Mark Simmons? No, okay, so Mark Simmons
was probably the beginning. Before Mark Simmons. There was something
going to the lineage of drummers at the school. There
was what's the fucking dude that played with Tyra Power

(42:15):
anyway for Ta Power grummans um Uh, fucking Dave Gibraldi. No,
not the famous one, the other guy. Maybe he did
some tourists never mind. Yeah, maybe after that there was

(42:36):
Mark Simmons. Mark Simmons if you ever saw in the
last twenty years or whatever Al Jaro or fucking George Benson,
he was on drums. He's the guy that was like
maybe a year or two older than Chris that made
Chris like really shad because he did something to Chris
in high school really bad. So Chris was mad at him.
He had a vendetta against him the whole time. So

(42:58):
Chris that fire under Chris. That's what little fire have
to do with the girl that made Chris go in
the practice room and never come out. That's the story.
All my friends are around that time, tell that story.
They're like, yo, he went to practice with the come
on practice room. So it was. And there was Eric
Harlan after Chris. They went together around the same time.

(43:21):
Maybe Chris is a senior, maybe Eric was, you know,
a sophomore or something, or a freshman. Uh. After that,
then it was Kendrick Scott and then Jamaya you know,
Jamiah Williams, Jameyer. Yeah. Um, they're still putting out some
great motherfucker. James Francis, you know he's he's a Francis

(43:41):
Francis from his parents used to drop him off when
I would do gigs in Houston. James used to do
his parents us to drop him off in my sound
checks so he could watch a sound check because he
was too young to come for the show. So I
used to let him sit like right by me and
stuff and watching my sound checks because he wasn't Yeah.
So when he got to New York. Yeah, when he

(44:02):
got to New York, I told I called poison. I
was like, yo, okay, I see yeah. Yeah. So when whenever,
whenever James or Ray Angry or Kamal, I can't do
the Tonight show. That uh James Francis. I mean he
was a young boy back then. But now you know

(44:23):
he's one of his own gigs at Blue Note. You
know that's the thing. I used to think him in
Brooklyn Bowl. Now you know, I need a daughter to say,
like I went to school with like these young lions.

(44:45):
Like when I was in school, like my third day
of school, Di Francisco is getting pulled out by Miles
Davis because like it'll be like, who was Miles and
keyboard playing? Was it Kenny Kirkland? No? Uh before he

(45:07):
passed away like eighty six during the two tube era
one of those guys. Definitely Kner. Okay, I forget it was,
but you know, I'll be like, yo, where are you going?
And he's like, now it's sucking up against some miles
and send them for me. I mean, they was the
typical of that, like Christian you know, Elis Marcella's come

(45:28):
and take Christian own school for two weeks, you know,
so like basically they were. They were the young lions
of my generation. But the thing was is that they
were following traditional jazz. And obviously, I guess my introduction
to your world was via Blau And you know, in

(45:53):
hearing Bloud break every rule of of what song structure
was m and I'm wondering, well, okay, and I asked,
I was like, well, who's the who's the music version
of you? Like who else is breaking the rules? And
then I met all of you guys in a month
or so, and I just never seen because I knew

(46:18):
you guys were seeing as jazz musicians, but I was
always wondering if whether or not you get embraced by
the jazz community, Like would they let you play in
reindeer games? Because you guys were looking at the rule
books and sort of just throwing it out the window,
like did you have to master it? Like did you
have to sneak in the house first and sort of

(46:40):
talk their language and da da da da, and then
hold them hostage once you had your power? Like about
that process? Ibute Cloud and you too that. I'll tell
you why. I'll tell you why because when I got
to the New school and I need nineties seven for college. Um,

(47:03):
I met below the first day of school and we
were like one of eight black people at the school,
at the new school, at the new schools, like in
the jazz program. Yeah, what a lot of black people.
Maybe exaggerating, maybe they were fifteen. Honestly, everybody is black. Yeah,
so check it out. Though they put out a freshman

(47:24):
in the room and they called you at random to
come on the stage. They called me a blow on
stage at random together to play a song together. Don't
tell you what to play is just whatever, y'all. You
go there with a cat. They called on drum songs
on piano, Robot, glass room vocal, Balou Oliver, I'm doing
a little uh. We get to play the song. We

(47:45):
got off the stage and we look at each other like, yeah,
well they did they give you a fake book at
least they're like, what do you know? You just called him? Nope,
call two years supposed to know it? Yeah, or you
talk to each other and like you know this now
you know this, I don't know kind of you know,
just like like could do at a dat club now
because you know so and so I think, so, yeah,
you figure it out. But whatever, we think remember what

(48:07):
it was. I have no idea what it was. But
when we got off and we we were you know,
you couldn't separate us after that because it was like,
you know, he actually all spoke a different language immediately,
and so we began working on stuff together and one
of the president of the school at the time, Arnie Lawrence,

(48:30):
he passed away. He saw us and was like, you
two have something, y'all should go in and work on
the demo for Balad and we were like okay. So
he said, my friend has a studio around the corner,
y'all can I talked to him already, y'all can go
over there and kind of come up with some stuff.
And his boy was Aaron Comus doctors spend doctors, so

(48:52):
men believed this story when Balau told me, I'm like,
who we're doing this here and Coma and I was like, uh, yeah.
So we were going over there after school every day
just writing songs and yeah, a bunch of just jazz
music is are on the album because we didn't know

(49:12):
anybody that played anything else. We just knew the cats
from the school. So that was Queen of Sanity the demo. Yeah, yeah,
and y'all came just about you and James came in
there and redid it. Yeah, we had liked the drums. Yeah,
that was essentially when I when I heard that demo, man,
I you know again, I'm I'm happy to say that

(49:35):
my my, my record of the six demos I ever
heard and listened to and became fans of, like they
all became like something in the world. Of course, you know,
little brother Jill Scott, Slum Village Um. But hearing that
Bellowed demo, I don't know how it came across. I

(50:00):
don't know who played it for me whatever, but I
just I thought, this person, I remember you being hyplamir
about those Yeah, much much to my detriment. If there's
ever a recapping of the kind of Black Lily Roots

(50:20):
jam session story, like an oral history or whatever, uh,
my enthusiasm for wanting to work with Bilal definitely made
one of just feel a certain way because I mean
basically every everyone had a job at this thing, and
it was more like, Okay, I'm the money from you know,
like so tour money back to the jam sesn't back

(50:43):
to the you know. And I would make appearances every
now and then, but it's like after working on you know,
the stuff at Electric Lady and then coming back to
do Roots stuff, Like I wasn't trying to like also
do five hours at these jam sessions, but here in
Blo sing Man, and I was just like alright, I'll
come yeah, so you know, just ye and those those

(51:08):
jam sessions so blow. So we started working on the
demo whatever, and but me and him used to get
on the bus from school and go down to Philly
on Monday Monday nights to the five tuesdays used to
go the bus and go we go stay at his
mom's house in Germantown. That was my first times. We're
ever going to Philly just a week and go to
those jam sessions. And then y'all started coming to doing

(51:31):
the ones at Lake Street. Yeah on uh uh what's
the name is? Uh? Wetlands Wetlands. So seeing y'all play live,
but I was always trying to get me to understand
how to play y'all ship, and I didn't understand what
the funk he was talking about. He's like, you know, like,
you know, like play, don't play it on? Play it off?

(51:53):
What play like? You know how to play, but you
don't know how to play? What the fun you talk of?
The about? No? N like like? And then I saw
y'all live and I saw James Poyser. I was like,
so that made me. I kept going back. Then he
would let me sit in with you or yo, you

(52:13):
would let me sit in you know. I was like,
I was a jazz friend and I would sit in
with you all. And because of sitting in with you
with the roots, that's how I learned how to play
that ship. I didn't I never heard it. I didn't
understand what it was so weird to me because in
my mind you and all your Houstonians just have another

(52:34):
relationship with time, with with meter and time that is
beyond anything I've done or you know, dare say at
Dila or whatever like I I just I've never seen.
I mean, it's like watching the animaniacs running the water tower,
like you know, when you see them running and help

(52:55):
the smooth. That's a crazy analogy. We all know it
or the like. That's what I mean. Like, but what
I want to know is how did you force the
jazz world to your will? Because I don't think that's
I don't think that's an easy it's not task like

(53:17):
That's here's the thing. I always knew that I had
to make sure that I could play jazz with the
best stuff and before I decided to do anything else,
you know what I mean, I had to Like when
Herbie played with Miles put his first few albums out,
there was no you couldn't question her about ship, about

(53:39):
canny play, that all that that was already solidified. There's
no argument there. So when he did Headhunters, you cannot
like it if you want to, but you can't dispute
him as a jazz artist, you know what I mean,
as a jazz piano player, especially being black, they're so
quick to want to call you a hip hop piano
player or R and B pian third, they're really quick

(54:00):
to not want to give you the title of that.
So it was it was in my mind I was like, well, no,
even when I before I got signed, I said, in
my mind I knew I was, I want to do
a few jazz albums first, to ship these motherfucker's up
who are gonna be talking, and then I want to
do my other ship, you know what, Like you reminded
me of like the like Donald Bird. That's how I

(54:22):
always kind of saw your career as like Donald Bird.
But then you know, he did his thing. But then
when he got with Mazelle Brothers, yep, it just became
you know something, yeah, for sure, exactly exactly, and that's
my thing. I wanted to make sure. So then when
that happened, my thing was just grabbing all the young
people because I felt like jazz whether for young people anymore.
And what made what made me get into jazz with

(54:43):
Roy Roy came to my Roy Roy came to my school,
and when I was in eleventh grade. I never forget it.
He went there too, right, No, he went to the
one in Dallas with Erica. He went to the went
to the book of Team Washington. Yeah, Nora Jones and
the whole thing. So that was our rival. We rivaled

(55:05):
them off time for all state jazz competitions. And so
when Roy came to our school when I was in
eleventh grade, he was already real heart growth the albums
that he came to the school and he had on
like overalls and Tim's you know, and his band was black.
I've never seen that. I've never seen five young black

(55:28):
guys that looked like me, dressed like me, talk like
me up there playing jazz. That's never You've never seen that,
because when you're at school to the pictures of jazz
is what they give you, and it's all in black
and white, and it's everybody has in the suit and
it's not you know, it's nothing, it's nothing that has
anything to do with you right now, you know, So Roy,

(55:48):
maybe he completely changed my whole ship. So that's literally
why I am the way I am now, because I
feel like I'm killing the stereotype, you know what I mean.
I feel like when people look at me, a lot
of times they don't know. They don't know what the
funk I did, you know what I mean. And when
I was, you know, selling out the Blue Note and
the Vanguard and all these places, white people will walk
by me. I would be outside hang on my friend.

(56:08):
They walked by me looking at me like what are
you doing here? You know? But the people on the bust,
a lot of that is like, you know, they don't know.
They come to New York and get on the bus
and they take you to where somebody famous is playing.
You know what I mean. But they look at me
and my jeans and my T shirt and it's like, oh,
we if I was walking down the street, you think
I'm a rapper or you think I'm whatever. You know

(56:29):
what I'm saying. You don't think I'm about this here
and play stell Up by Starlight or actually play this
piano the way I do, you know what I mean.
And that's where I got literally got that from Roy
and that's what made kids. He inspired me so much
because he looked like me. So I was like, that's
what I want to do, you know what I mean.
I want to inspire the young cats. So I think
when it came to the jazz world, I just ignored

(56:50):
them and really went for the young people, you know
what I mean, by still keeping the integrity of jazz,
but making it to something where they could identify with,
you know what I mean, And that's a wow. The
jazz world couldn't deny it anymore. They try to. I
think you have to do that though, because I think,
you know, even like in all forms of music, you
have to kind of, if not necessarily, appeal to the

(57:10):
young people. You at least have to know how to
communicate with them because they're the ones that's coming next.
So if you want your thing to live on, you
gotta get the young uns so they can carry it on,
you know what I mean. Bradford in that conversation, you
like in a way with like his projects, like, Yeah,
I was gonna ask, I was gonna ask when the

(57:34):
jazz there was the jazz police of like when Marcellus
all those cats, Um, is there such thing as the
jazz police? Like there's still people himself that's okay, jazz

(57:57):
at the agent took Grand Jazz Police that. Oh y'all
didn't see it. Y'all didn't y'all didn't see it right
that years ago Branford, turn on you hold on, Branford,
put put me out. Look, this happened maybe two years
two years ago, maybe three years ago. Two years ago
he did a uh he did an interview for one

(58:20):
of them, jazz magazine, maybe Downbeat or something like that,
and in the middle of interview, they were like, so, Brandford,
what do you think about what people like Robert Glassper
and Macy Washington are doing. You know, you did Buckshot
La Funk. What do you think about Robert glasp was doing?
He said, well, you know, Jack commosity, he's not a
jazz he's not a jazz saxophone player. Just to him

(58:43):
all the way over. Then he said, and Robert, I mean,
I'm glad he's doing what he's doing because he's he
has the limited jazz vicca but vocabulary also And then
you ask him, he'll tell you the same thing. Those
were literally his words. So, Robert, do you have a
jaz like what who? I'm heartbroken? What are you talking about?

(59:11):
What are you talking about? Do you not know who
you are? So so far the listener, if you have
a limited jazzer cavalery who has an unlimited jazzer caval
Who is that? Yeah? That was like, come on, bro,
like that's now you're now that was that was just
like that's reckless, that's reckless. That's like you know he

(59:32):
they didn't even ask him that. That wasn't even the question.
He didn't add do you think they're jazz musicians or
do you think what they're doing the jazz? They said,
you did bus shot la funk. So they were literally
speaking to crossing over and he took that time, took
that little platform to put us down instead of being like,
oh well ship Robert Glass and Black Radio that's doing

(59:55):
That's great. I'm happy, but something you don't use that
platform the shoot down on the two top black instrumental
jazz musicians that you know what I mean, why why
would you do that? Come on, bro, like what do
you think it's required? I mean, you know every genre
has there and they were disrespecting Brantford. You know, just

(01:00:17):
there's always the grumpy will go out Branford. Just know
he did that. I love him. If y'all have you
have you seen him? Y'all ran into each other? No,
but before he said that, I ran into him at
the club but we had dreams he was playing. I
went to see him play. I had had a night
off in Seattle. He was playing. Me and Chris and
a few other people went down there hung out. I

(01:00:37):
always showed brand for love. He's always actually show him.
We've been cool every time I see him, you know
what I'm saying. But I just felt like he was
gonna say that. You could have said that to my face.
You could have been said that to my face. Bro No.
In fact, I saw him at International Jazz Day. I
saw him International Jazz Day in Russia maybe two years
ago something, and that old you know what, and we
had a little uh, you know, it's all coming in

(01:01:02):
bad jazz, you know. You know that. It's like they
bring in a bunch of jazz musicians and and and
then they put it. They put you in a different
country every year and to promote jazz, you know, and
you do a concert together and they break you up
a little groups and you do like one song. So

(01:01:23):
we did the Jazz Day thing and me and Bradford
backstage and somebody came up and was like, so, um,
what do y'all think? What makes jazz jazz? And we're
talking about it you know, and and Bradford said the
space between the quarter notes. Okay. I was like, what

(01:01:45):
before it sounds what do you mean the space between
the like literally the space between the corter notes, like
the space between the so I was like, the space
between the course. So literally it's a mathematical thing, like
if you do this space with this spaci recording those,
that's jazz. We kind of got into a think about
it because the answer he gave was like, come on, bro,

(01:02:06):
like it sounds it sounded like witten, I mean, no
one has the two and like there, no, we don't.
But there's nerds like me that wanted a scientific definition,
and there's creatives like you that you know that will
never have the right answer or whatever, Like I don't
think any creative truly knows what the definition of what

(01:02:28):
makes their art form tick. You know. Yeah. Right. But
then but we're having to just a discussion and I'm like, yo,
we start talking about tunes. I said, so because this
is not swing, we're talking about talk about right symbol everything.
And it was like, so you're you're you're now defining
a whole genre by a rhythm. So because it doesn't
intend to thing it's not jazz, So what's Red play?

(01:02:50):
And he was like, not Jack, right, I said, so
Red Clay's not Clay jazz Nick. So this is this
is trapped versus real hip hop. I get this is
us so long argument. I get it for somebody, but
for somebody who made but something the funk, I just
suspected something different. I expected different answer, different answer. But

(01:03:15):
that was but again, that was twenty six years ago.
That was me. Look even on Winton went and innovated
the music and then stopped. He did Black Codes and
then stopped. Black Code is such an innovative record, you know,
Black Codes from the Underground, Black Holes from the Underground. Bro.
It's like absolutely fucking incredible, you know, and one of

(01:03:37):
my favorite records. Absolutely absolutely you know. Uh something went
and called me go ahead, oh wait, go ahead, go
back to that because he called you a whole another round.
I don't know if you want to step into because
because it was because of the Lord Hill stuff, only

(01:04:00):
go in, come on, come on with the smoke. No
went and called me. I was in Japan and never
forget it. He called. He texted me and it was like,
yo is this Robert Glass. I was like yeah, who's this?
It's like this went and I was like, oh, Ship,
what's up? How you doing? Man? It's like, hey, man,
you know I just wanted to call and tell you,
you know, let this Lauren hillship go. And I was like,

(01:04:22):
that's his first words to you ever, yes, you whatever?
On the phone. We don't talk on the phone. I
don't talk to Win on the phone. You know you
text me this ship is costing me extra money? You
facing my dad to talk me like this ship. He's like,
let this Lauren Hill should go. First of all, I

(01:04:43):
never drugging arm. I said I think that ready interview
and I never posted about it. I never said anything
about it there again online. You know what I'm saying.
I did that that ready to interview posted and I
didn't put ship on my I G. I didn't even
put that ready when on my face. But nothing. So
he hit me with that let this go. And I
was like, well, I'm not doing anything, but you know,
the truth is the truth. I don't really know what
you want me to do. He was just like, man,

(01:05:04):
you know she's got all these followers and stuff, and
you know you're not gonna win that battle. And I
just think it's best if you just a battle. I'm
not battling. I'm not Wait, you were missing the most
important part. When Marcellus knows who learned, who is what? Yeah,

(01:05:26):
he has as a whole another level too, you yourself,
seven million albums, niggas know who the definitely dude dude
first of all, Yeah, this if I never thought when
you left this jazz bubble. I know, I know, but
things to bring up, that's crazy. That's what he texts
me about our first text and only texts to this day.

(01:05:48):
You know your word movie what I told him? I said,
but every time I saw him, every time I see
him in person, and honestly, when I go see him play,
he invites me up to play, He calls me up
on stage and ship, you know what I mean. So
I don't have a beef with no real beef and win.
You know, some things he says, like come on, bro,

(01:06:09):
you know, but it's fine. It's fine. And he's never
thrown me under the bus in some interview or you know,
or try to do anything malicious, but you know, so
we were texting about that and then finally I was like, yo,
don't every time I see himself I'm gonna get you
on some hip hop ship. He was like, oh, bro,
you know I'm I'm gonna just deal with the swing.
I ain't down with the bitches and the niggas. And
I was like, I said that, That's what I said.

(01:06:33):
I say, brom, all hip hop isn't like that. That's
one little second. Different styles of jazz, there's different kinds.
And I say, if you ever checked out anything I've done,
you don't hear that? He was like, you know, well,
I don't know. We'll well, we'll see. But he always
says that every time I see I'm not the grades,

(01:06:54):
It's like, come on, bro, that's not Yeah, it's so
crazy when at one point you was a young dude
like and Jack. Jazz beats are so funny to me.
They've been happening for like, it's just the beginning. Have
have you? Have you? And have you and Lauren ever
talked after that? Since posting back radio? You know you
know what are you doing? Look? But look hold on

(01:07:17):
and let me on that song so I can also
olive Branch that moment too too. Yeah, you got you
gotta men. You helped feed the fire. Robert Glasses, but
bet Patty Beat, Patty Chef, you change your Twitter, your
Twitter handle to Robert glasses Beat Patty Chefs. No healing,
It's no healing, It's man The Shockers of with Marcel

(01:07:40):
No Lauren Hills. Lauren Hill, no social media Twitter. This
is a great day. Look, I'm must saw her at
atu what is it? North c Jazz Festival just right.
I literally was sitting outside and a bust up and

(01:08:01):
it was her tour bus and all the cats came
off like yo, rab blah blah. They were like, well,
Lauren just got off at the other place. So there
I was like, okay, cool, that would have been amazing
if I'm sorry, I haven't seen that since then. But
my thing is my thing is that you saw her
statement she wrote after that, right, it was in it

(01:08:24):
and honestly, and I didn't know it was the twenty
when I did that interview. I didn't know what the
twenties anniversary of Sucking that the album Miseducation where the
guy and I've never talked that my Lauren situation happen
in two thousand seven. We did this interview and what

(01:08:45):
two thousand six, I've never said it out loud on
the interview. They asked me, what's the worst musical experience
we've ever had? And that is the first thing that's
the first one that ever comes to mind is working
with Lauren. It was terrible. A lot of people texted me, Yeah,

(01:09:06):
a lot of people texted me like thank you, you know,
thank you. Ship. We can't I can't say that ship,
but thank you. A lot of cats was like good looks,
you know, because some of them casts, you can't. They can't.
You know, I can say that ship. I'm gonna fuck
you know, but you know, and other cats that she
uses in that way don't have the platform say ship,

(01:09:27):
you know what I mean. So I felt like for
the power sation and my it wasn't me purposely coming
at her. It was just that's what it was, and
that everything was truth, everything was fat, and everything's still happening,
you know what I mean. So it's like, you a
whole gift to jazz in so many ways you have.
But look, I'm here, I'm serious. I thought about this
the other day. I was like, wouldn't it be? I

(01:10:04):
thought about that though, what if what if we got
her on black Readio three? Look? Man, it's and we're
running out of space on our Bingo cards. You produced.
What happened? You produce it? Lets that would be crazy.
What it was y'all come up with? It was your idea.
I'm doing for you in a silly way, in a silly,

(01:10:25):
weird way. I feel like there's a possibility it could
possibly happen. I think it'll be dope. So because as
an artist, I have nothing against her, She's sucking incredible.
You might have to extend your due date, but I
think it could happen. Yeah, it'll definitely. It probably won't
come out to a black Badio nineteen, but he'll be

(01:10:45):
back to the theme of the show and renewed optimism.
Now it's gonna get done. No one mirror, It's gonna
get done. Listen, as as a president believes in manifesting

(01:11:08):
positive energy and whatnot, Yes, we're gonna make it happen.
I would love it, I will say, Lauren Hill, we
are officially putting out the Olive Bridge. Yeah. I think
better the world will work better with our artistic contributions.

(01:11:29):
It's needed in the world right now. So actually, really
really all right, So questions while we on optimism the
Lauren Jail. Yeah, oh I mean, if I'm still alowed,
I got six teams for you. Okay, yeah, about this question, Brandy,

(01:12:01):
and I want to ask you specifically, what is it
like tracking her in the studio, tracking her vocals? Probably
Brandy might be the illest tracker I've ever seen. It's incredible, bro,
I've never seen nobody phase themselves out. I was gonna
ask you about that. I saw another interview three times
in one and in the in the middle of doing

(01:12:23):
up the mystic, she phased herself out three times. That's
how how on top of her vocal she is with
with That's how her vocals she is when she stacks
her ship is so exactly alike that she faces the
computer out and it makes you think you're doing the
same the track again or some ship. You're not really,
you know what I mean? Because most people, when you
read do when you sing something else and you sing

(01:12:44):
it again, sing it again, a stack it, there's always
something different. It's always something and something. She's so dead
on that ship, phase the funk out three times from
the breath, from the briefing, from when she cut it off,
where did my brother Will stopped? Like everything? It's incredible
and she don't leave the booth to the fucking ship's
done it, Like she come out and listen and vibe.

(01:13:07):
She's like no, and she won't stop with the ideas.
You have to stop her. No Brandy, no more vocal,
no more stacks, no harmony. Yeah, and she wants to
get it. She's so enthusiastic about getting it right and
just that's wanting to try more and more ideas. She's
not a lazy singer at all, you know what I mean, Like,
it's incredible work with her. Man, she has to be

(01:13:28):
one of the nicest too, you know what I mean.
Like even when I did when she was on my
Black Radio album before that, she paid for the studio
time because she was lait the other time or something
like that. She couldn't make it, and she was like, yo,
and she paid for the studio time and she you
know what I mean, I don't even know we're back there,
you know, She's just this is such a nice a

(01:13:48):
really really nice person Black Radio on Black Radio two. Man,
you had a record, um it was. It was a
lot of records on the album I love. I really
loved the Emily Son send joint that. Yeah, I love.
That's just a great song. Just the lyrics. She wrote
that in twenty minutes. Are you serious that song? That song?

(01:14:09):
Originally Mary j Blocks was supposed to sing it, and whoa.
I had lyrics and everything already done, but getting with
Mary just always kept, you know, we couldn't make it happen.
So I had the lyrics in the song. I even
had the song sung by somebody else to you know.
Emily was in town and she came by the studio.

(01:14:29):
I played her the song and she was like, I
love it. I love it. She's like, do you mind
if I changed the lyrics. I was like, no, dude,
you feel she gotta pain? And pad out walked around,
wrote that joint like twenty minutes bro wow literally and
put that ship down The great Great gat to be
premier some ship. Yeah, the record you did with um

(01:14:53):
the Nora record that Mossino. Yeah, I love that joint. Man,
How did job do you Assino? Like? Seeing the shot?
That's yeah, y'all's cover of God Rest You Married gentlemen.
Oh yeah, I need you to send me that. I
love it. For years, I kept doing I would do

(01:15:13):
that with different artists every year. I was I would
just pick the artist hit him up like, yeah, you
went to a Christmas song together, you know, And I'll
send them to music and then put some ship on
it and we put it out. I think it with
Dooby Powell, think with Kimberber did it with her a
few different people. Just throw it out, throw it out
there for you know, for fun. But that joint, the
Nora Jones joint. So me and Nora went to jazz

(01:15:33):
camp together in high school in eleventh grade. A matter
of fact, I'm here, you have something to do with
this too. I'm a connector. You're a connector. You don't
even know it. So, uh, Me and Nora went to
high school to jazz camp together in eleventh grade. So
that's where I knew her from then. When I got

(01:15:55):
to New York, I saw her maybe my freshman year
at she was at college in the practice room at
my college at the piano. I looked in there. I
was like, Nora. I walked in there, was like, what
are you doing? She's like, She's like, oh, I'm working
on the demo. I was like, oh dope. Next time
I saw her was on TV when you damn Grammys.
After that, After that, I sat in with the roots

(01:16:17):
at Radio City. Remember you did the two nights at
Radio City. Oh crap, I forgot. Yeah, yeah, dude, that
was one of the when people ask me some of
my top moments being on stage of crazy shit. That's right,
and remember Yeah showed up. He didn't know that he

(01:16:39):
could play Radio City musical dude, never forget that where yeah,
and I'll never forget in the in is you like
jay Z is here and we did up? We did up. Yeah,

(01:17:00):
we started playing it. He walked out and had back
to the audience of the hoodie and the lights is off.
We started playing that and no one knew he was
coming when we started playing that. After the flying the
lights flash, he pulled his hoodie up like this, still
with his back to the audience and then uh, dude,

(01:17:20):
when they when he turned to dude, the amount of
like it was so crazy, bro, Like, I'll never forget
that moment. I'll never forget that moment. And that's where
I met Dave. That's where I met Chapelle too. I
get piano listening back stage at that show. Oh so
you're the one that taught him. After midnight, he's still
playing that, still playing that ship he played he did

(01:17:42):
a solo piano at My Blue residency last October. He
went on stage by himself and played Round Midnight on
my piano by himself and thank you and walked off
playing that for like Twitter. He played that at the
party like he's but anyway at that show and we're

(01:18:05):
gonna see the show after it that after party thing
upstairs or something like that. And I'm sitting on I'm
sitting on next to you, talking on next somebody next
to you, let me be one or two people over
from you, and I reached for some ice and Nora
was on the other side of you, and she reached
for some ice. And that's what we were. I'm like,
oh ship, And then we got in. We changed numbers

(01:18:31):
and that's how we just kept kept in connection, you know,
from that that you know, but she killed that joint. Man.
I love Nora. I love hearing Nora and other situations.
Her voice is so dope, you know, really dope. Let
it ride. Yeah, And Massino was sick. She didn't want
to write it. I said it to Messina and I said,

(01:18:52):
and I didn't know who was gonna sing it. Yeah,
I just I wrote the song and I was like
I need some lyrics, and I sent him, said, hey,
write something this and I need I need to get
it done by this week. I was hoping to sing it,
but write it, and she was like, I'm really sick.
I don't feel I said, write the damn song. We'll see.
She's like okay, and wrote that joint and send it

(01:19:12):
to me the next day. Who have you yet to uh?
I guess for phil bucket list wise? I mean, I'm
sure there's everybody, but what close cause have you had
with your projects that you didn't get a chance to
work with it? Don't say her name. As I was

(01:19:35):
asking this question, I'm like, oh god, no anything. I'm
gonna say, oh you don't remember the Oh yeah, Mail
l Aruf stop what she before? Salons Solans came through

(01:20:01):
like a champ and so she was gonna do that
the Little Dragon cover. Yeah, wow, what's she doing with
the mail? We tried to make it. Yeah, yeah, I
didn't really work out for us, Okay, So yeah, yeah,

(01:20:26):
look I have a song in my computer. I did
a song to the Baker. Was yo? Was it for
the Blue Note album that like never came Yes? Because yeah,
she did a cover of Lately by Tyrese, which on
paper sounds in wait what bro you never Anita Baker

(01:20:53):
covered Lately by Tyrese and it is fucking amazing. Nigga,
she bodied that ship. Oh, It's like it's the only
it's like one of her only song if it's still
on because you're a none of her ship on streaming.
It's like one of the only joints of hers that's
like on streaming services that came out. That song came out,
that song came out, that came out. Oh my gosh,

(01:21:16):
she bodied that ship. Bro. I like, I was like
Lately she covered Lately, Yeah, no, I was. It happened
because we're both on Blue at the same time and
Don Was was trying to hook us up because like
he also hooked me up with Shaka Khan. I was,
I produced a half of record, have four songs on Shaka.

(01:21:37):
We're gonna do a whole We went into do a
whole album because he gave her Black Radio. It was like,
just check this guy out to do your album because
she was gonna do a record Blue Note, So she's like,
oh my god, I love it. I met up with
her Boom boom. We went and did a week in
l A and did like four or five songs, and
then her deal with Blue Note went some went left,
So I got five songs of Shock in my computer

(01:21:59):
that I don't know I was ever gonna come out.
But with Anita Um, she was working finishing that album.
She was finishing it up, and I tweeted I was
landing in l A. I'll never forget it. I tweeted,
I'm in l A. Blah blah blah blah. She tweeted me, Oh,
come by the studio. I was like, what I did.

(01:22:21):
They're like, I need, like, yeah, come by the studio
and listen to some of the stuff I've been doing.
Her son is a DJ. He goes to he at
the time. He's like going to Berkeley. He's a big
fan of mine. So you know that helps, you know,
you know what I mean. So I went by the studio.
She played me the album and she's like, what do

(01:22:41):
you think? And I even fixed some stuff for keyboard
parts and some stuff. She's like, you know, did some
things on there. She was like, Man, if I would
have known you were coming to town, I would have
did a song with you. I said, don't play. I
saw I write a song right now, right now, right now.
She was like, I mean, but I gotta turn in
this album in two day. I was like, I need yeah. Bro. Look,

(01:23:05):
first of all, when I walked to the studio, she
was making ribs. Let's just talk about this for a second.
The blackness units, the vocal booth was next to the kitchen.
It's the same studio, same studio, same studio. She did
Angel Lynn, same studio, all of the same one. Because

(01:23:28):
that's that's what that's well back then when I did
that song, that was three years ago. When I did
that song. When I did that, yes, so she had
an oven miss and everything. You're hungry. I'm I'm making
some ribs. I'm like, what ribs? Does it get me better?
I need? The Baker offered me ribs in the studio
she did angel I'm good so anyway, uh, but she

(01:23:50):
said that. I was like, Nina, I'm gonna write something
for you right now. I literally went to the piano.
I swear the guy. I wrote some ship like I
live and breathe me. The Baker like, giving you the
best that I got. It's one reason. That's one reason
between give me you the best that I got. Between
that my moms people. Look. I mean it was like thrillers.

(01:24:14):
So it's like you can't even you need the fans.
I always want to outdo someone by letting you know
that compositions is your record. That's the one man ship.
That was a motherfucker. Look between that and and Luther
Van Drass albums nottt Adelaide Jr. Those were those sounds.
Maybe want to play piano period like, because that's all

(01:24:36):
we heard. I heard that in the house a lot. Anyway,
I wrote the song like ten minutes. I went over
Andre Harris's crib. I said, yo, I need you to
put some ship on. Here's ford the baker. Dre was
like cool, put drums, bass, guitar, did that. About the
hour we called sir over. Sir came over to the

(01:24:56):
crib and did his own ship and wrote the song,
saying it down we can know. Heard the song that night.
She learned it that night, came to the studio, sang
it down to one take wow, and then said then
said this to me. She said, only in my life
three times has a song fit me like a tour
a dress. This is the third dress. I don't know

(01:25:20):
what that was was, Oh alright, oh, Houston represents. Yeah,
anybody she likes that. I was like, so exactly that

(01:25:43):
shoot popa to know that that um but yeah, she
said that. She was like there was a thing that
George Duke did for her, some kind of arrangement of something,
and then I forget the other song, but she was like,
this is the third she do. She literally sung it
down one take. But what is out? Where is it now? Yeah?

(01:26:04):
In my computer, in that computer and you're talking to
us on computer. I'm talking that computer computer with Gmail
on it, and that computer trying to think triangle six

(01:26:28):
hours with my air drop. Okay, my dream I wanted.
I'm going to hit it up because I wanted to.
I want to see if I can use it for
Black Radio three. That's what I wanted. Yeah, I want
to do it so bad. That's my hopes for George.
You mentioned George do did you if you before he
died at y'alliver hook up or dude opened up for

(01:26:50):
George for like nine shows in Europe. He never remembered
me after any of the shows. You know, people like
that they off to that, you know, and this was
back in like I don't know, oh oh, eight oh nine.
You know, I was at like three years, so you know,
I wasn't ship really, you know, so I'm not tripping

(01:27:12):
because he's yours, do you know what I mean? But
after each show in different cities, I'd be like, hey, hey,
musr do, how are you doing? Man? He's like, hey,
with that face you and I'll be like, I'm a
robb I played key um Key's earlier, earlier before you
start everything, and every every night, every night. But you
know he ain't coming to the sound, you know, to

(01:27:33):
the the shows before him, so you know. But then
we finally got to connect in the real way at
International Jazz Day, not that one I talked about, but
before and it was in um Turkey and meet him
and Herbie like got a chance to hang out and
sit down and talk and you know what I mean,
chop it up in that And that's in that situation
he passed. He literally pass I'm not the period of them,

(01:27:57):
but he literally passed a few bucks. Name that's what
I'm saying. You know, I'm play keys. He knew I'm
playing keys. That's the first I got. But then he
passed a few a few days a few months later
after that. All right, So who who is the the
hero figure? All right, there you go. You know what

(01:28:20):
you gonna say, or you're gonna say, Herbie comes to mind, Herbie,
it's about to ask you what is it like? Because
I mean the last show I went to yours, you
did this whole thing. He was like, Oh, I'm about
to go take a bathroom break, and he was I'm
gonna have somebody feeling for me real quick. And it
was Herbie hand talking. I was like, what does that
feel like to be you and have that relationship with

(01:28:40):
that man? Man, he's so awesome and he loves to
he loves to be around because he you know, he
got that from Miles. I think, you know, just like
you know, want to soak up the younger energy and
just be around that. Even that was him, that was
always Sam. So yeah, that's my dude, man, Like I
love Herbie. He's so open and cool. And he just

(01:29:01):
pulls up like he always pulls up, pulls up to
the shows, pulls up to my last record. He's on
my last record, fuck your feelings, because I was. He
just heard I was in the studio and just pulled up.
I was like, oh ship, you know, okay, cool? And
he pulled up into a fucking Hinson and I was like, Yo,

(01:29:22):
don't you hear you wanna no, no, no, no, no,
you know, pante just speaking to your point. Me and
Herbie talked maybe two three weeks ago. He said, this
is the longest time he's ever gone without touching his piano. Wow,
he said, He's in the same funk. He was like, man,
I'm not even I don't feel like you know, He's like,
I've never gone seven months whereever longs a bit when

(01:29:46):
I'm touching my piano. He's like, it's just sitting there.
He's like he's just it's just sitting there, you know.
You know, so like you gotta take a break, you
gotta you gotta take a break and then come back
to it. I was gonna to ask, I think it's
different for keyboard players now because of the the advanced
way that technology moves in your world. Were as at

(01:30:10):
least with me personally, like I'm not too interested in
you know, like new drums, and you know that the
company always be like, you know, these are special trees
that we used in Japan to make it, you know,
And I always tell them like give me the trashy
you need the high school set. It's all in your anyway.
It's anyway right. So as far as being a are

(01:30:33):
you a gear head or are you just using the
same I am not. You know what, because when people
were doing gear ship, I was just practicing being really
good at the piano. You know what I'm saying. I've
never because my whole thing was always acoustic piano. So

(01:30:55):
that's been my thing for a social long time. You know,
when I got signed a blue Note piano trio ship
acoustic piano, it wasn't even a keyboard yet. I wouldn't
even using keyboards for a while. They're putting piano acoustic
pianos and clubs for me because I didn't want to
play jazz clubs anymore. I want to play cool ship,
hip hop venues and ship like that. And I was
trying to get pianos in there. So Stein would put

(01:31:16):
pianos in there for me and ship, but a lot
of times that sound would be sucked up. It wouldn't
sound good, you know what I mean. And so I like, okay,
let me get the key let me do the keyboard thing.
But I've never really been a gearhead at all. People
think I am for some reason. But to me it
always seemed like I think that's the gearhead thing is
more so for people who think of themselves as producers first,

(01:31:38):
or you always kind of seem like a player, you know, primarily, Yeah,
we need strings. I know a string player that can
do the like what we did when we sucking did
the twice you know, I'm here. Wasn't like y'all pull
up some string sounds he called some cellos and violence,
you know what I mean, Like, we know those guys.
We don't need the patch. I know them. I'm always that,

(01:32:01):
you know, and all the patches they're like, but it
sounds real. This one sounds realer than that one. I
was like, I know real people. Yeah, I know, I
would imagine employed. That's dope. Yeah, And obviously obviously you
got to tap into it a little bit because as

(01:32:21):
you can't just get musicians like this anymore, especially now.
So that's why now I've been even tap into it,
tapping into just sounds and getting all the plug ins
and stuff like that, even if even if it's for
demo demo's sake, you know what I mean, I'll do
stuff like that. But I'm just such a live person.
That's just my thing, you know. I would imagine, like

(01:32:44):
you know, I'll say, like maybe what Steve. Like once
every four months, the rolling guy comes in with new
toys and whatnot, and we're like, oh, it's just like
Christmas all over again. Like I'm certain that every board
making from Yamaha, like all these guys are, I wasn't

(01:33:06):
try our product. Well here here's the thing though. I
was on Yamaha for a long time, but they wasn't
giving me that love you were talking about. I'm just
like heya too, yeah, because I'm like, yo, why am
I having to call the mdeed Icia keys to get
to the head of Yamaha Keyboards. I'm actually a keyboard player,

(01:33:28):
but I have R and B Grammys and hip I'm
Grammy's this ship. I'm here. Hey, this works for you guys,
you know. But the m d s of the people
get those people get those looks, and I'm like, yo,
but I'm an actual panel player, like you know what
I mean, Like I should get those looks, and I
wasn't getting them. So I left and and I, like
you said before, everybody else is like yo, for for

(01:33:50):
years wanted me. So I'm on cork now, you know,
and they treat me, they they're great. I have to
stop them from giving me ship. You're right, I do, yeah,
how many? Well, the thing is is that when keyboards
are manufactured and they put all those patches inside of
one thing, like does it matter how much product they make? Like,

(01:34:11):
isn't it just the same version of basically? But for me,
what interests interested me and keyboards initially two was because
I started needing to use a keyboard on the road
when I was playing my shows, and I needed something
that felt good, that felt close to a piano as possible,
and that sounded as close to the piano as possible.

(01:34:32):
So that's what I became interested in plug ins and
interested in different keyboards because you know, but so the
one I have now, the one I used now, the Chronos,
feels the best when it comes to have me having
to get around like that, you know what I mean,
like really get around. So for me, it was always
that what felt the best, you know, because in my

(01:34:53):
my shows, Yeah, I use the piano when I was
have a friend the Rhodes, and then I have something
on top, you know, kind of like I have a
smaller Chronos on top for my extra those sounds here
and now. For for years I didn't have to do
a lot of sounds because I had Casey Benjamin here
a million sounds and this ship right right right. Yeah,
I remember we did that gig. It was a ruge.

(01:35:15):
It wasn't Rugeles going he was I think you were
playing you were you playing the lead, the Nord lead,
the little red keyton Yeah, I think you're playing that
at night and Casey had yeah, all yeah, yeah, I'm not.
I'm just I'm not really interested in a lot of sounds.
I like piano. I like roads, like a few leads
and a pattern right now and then. But I like

(01:35:35):
to you know, I know those guys who are great
at those sounds, and not even hire those guys to
come through sounds. Hey, you want to make some sounds,
you do that. It frees me up. It frees me
up to just do what I want to do. You know, Hey,
I was just gonna ask you about the Miles project
that I was like honored fucking to be on, Like
just to log into my ass cap and see a

(01:35:56):
song and it's fine. Take COVID Miles Davis, like nigga,
what know what I'm saying like for like, for real,
for real, like so yeah, I mean I've told you
this is a billion times. I just want saying for everybody, brother,
thank you so much for sure. But um but now, man,
I wanted to ask you, like, so when they give
you just carte blanche and say all right, do whatever,
how I guess how much of an undertaking is that

(01:36:20):
and how involved is his family in that? And you
know kind of you know, making sure that you know
that ship has done tastefully or whatever, Like what was
that process? Like, man, just doing that everything album? It
actually was a nephew, right, yeah, that it was Vince,
his nephew. And I've been on Vince for years and
he's always he's a fan of the music, and he

(01:36:41):
you know, he knows that I'm I shadow a lot
of what Miles already did and I think like that
and I look see what you know. So he hit
me up about it. First. I was already doing the
score for the movie. I was in the middle of that.
I was already in the middle of the movie. And
then Sony hit me up about doing that doing the

(01:37:02):
because it was about to be his ninety birthday or something.
I think at that time it's gonna be his ninetieth birthday.
And they were like, want do a remix album, blah blah,
and I was like, I'll only do it if it's
I don't want to do a remix album, Like I'm
not interested in putting some Miles trumpets over hip hoppie,
you know what I mean, Like that's been done. I
want to do that. I said, the only way I'll
do it is if you let me in the vault

(01:37:22):
and let me take what I want. And they were
like okay, so they gave me eight hours was in
the vault. Eight hours in the vault. I thought, you've
been eight hours to do the album. I was like, God, damn, no, no, no,
gave me eight hours at the vault. That's way too little,

(01:37:45):
way too little. I took as much as I possibly
could in that time because they didn't want to let
me in the vaul originally you know what I'm saying.
But it was like a back and forth from my
people there. People. Then if find like, okay, we'll give
you eight hours, you know how much I'm unreleased. Miles
was in there. I have a lot of ship What

(01:38:05):
were they what? What? What were you taking right, How
you doing well? What? What? What were you taking MP
three's tapes? What are you talking about? No? MP three Ship?
Yeah I did. I brought my hard drive in and
they were just like, take what you want? What do
you want to pull up? Now? What? I'll be gonna

(01:38:26):
pull up now? But you know something, some stuff digitized yea.
Some stuff was to track what you can't do much with.
But then they had ship that was like eight tracks
and person out teal. I got so much. I got yeah,
I got that, got him turn right, I got him

(01:38:46):
talking ship cussing out talking to Ron Carter when he
was trying to learn from them jazz dance. I wait,
did I share this previously? On another I found out
something that I don't think the jazz world is aware of.
I was recently told by a lot of JA I
had to ask at least six of them. I did

(01:39:08):
not realize that Ron Carter does not know how to
solo good. So someone someone brought this up to me
when I was asking my, my, my, other, my older
jazz heads about stuff, and to them, they're baffled that

(01:39:29):
one of the most iconic hip hop samples and they're
referencing um the McCoy tyner um sample for the Choices
Yours with Ron Carter and Ron Carters on base doing that,
and I guess the the whole thing is that they're
laughing at the irony that the world's worst soloists. And

(01:39:55):
I was like, blasphemy right now, They're like, no, no, no, no, no,
Ron's a perfect foundation for music. But if you notice
he Miles never gave him a solo or any of
his records. And I was like, I don't believe it's ship.
And then I went back and for a whole month
listen to every one Miles Davis. Couldn't find one. There's anything.

(01:40:17):
It was just just walking. So if there was one,
it was just like he was there just as foundations.
And then when I was like, wait a minute, why
is that so? Because Ron Carter is just like he's like, no,
this is y'all fault is, that's tribes, fault y'all may
y'all may be worst and Miles staveens Arsenal King and

(01:40:41):
I'm like this is for me. But I didn't realize,
like how do you judge? Maybe I don't know, Like
how do you know if a cat is real or not?
Well that's it depends on the instrument, because the reality
is no, most people don't want to hear based solo anyway,
Thank you, thank you well McBride. You went to school

(01:41:03):
with the most incredible based soloists in the history of
jazz music, so you have a different outlook on it,
but most people don't want That's when you go to
the bathroom, man all that that's the joke. Yeah, no,
I acknowed. I believe that Chris is I mean next
to Mingus Like, I feel like Chris is the god
of jazz base. So maybe I'm spoiled, but period, there

(01:41:27):
has no never been a soloist like Christian McBride. That's
not even that's not even up for debate. There's not
one person that's even close to it. Jazz based soloists
like McBride is. No one gets around like that. No
bass player makes other instruments scared to play after them.
Christian McBride when they solo. I've had this conversation with

(01:41:48):
all everybody. He's the only bass player that when he solos,
you're like, funk, what I'm about? What am I gonna play?
You know what I'm saying? Like most based most basicists
stay in their base range and they don't have vocabulary.
Because you don't, you don't get to work out as much,
you don't get the sold as much. You have the
one based solo in a set at best. You know
what I'm saying. For everybody else, that's what you do.

(01:42:09):
You just so without you, without you throwing your contemporaries
under or your idols under. Yeah, but I always want
to like and this is where because comedians have a
whole another standard. I guess I have a you know,
like when I criticize Kanye's patches, yeah, you know, his

(01:42:32):
drum patches or whatever. And even Kanye him something now
I feel like the optimistic he'll tell you. But it's
just like you know, I hear people just dismiss it
as like, oh you have like dog withinsile ears, like
you hear something that we can't hear. But you know,

(01:42:54):
like when I hear a producer, I could tell like
based on there, you know, the way they they chopped
their their patches and what they're using their arrangement and
their tone and all that stuff. You know, stuff that
I can hear that the average person can't hear. But yeah,
how do you know, like my dad would know how
good a musician was based on how they play ballot.

(01:43:17):
He bade them play a ballot, and he was like,
I can instantly tell who is good and who's not
good when you play when you give them the easiest
ship in the world to play and they fall apart
in front of me. So yeah, I know that's that's
a good one too, Especially the piano player. When you
play a ballot, you're exposed because that's it's really about
your touch and then space there. So what how much

(01:43:41):
knowledge do you have to fill up that space? What
what can you do to fill up that space? A
lot of people feel like and be tasteful about it.
A lot of people feel like, especially piano players, they
feel like when I go to ship like nam or
stuff like, that's a million piano players. Everybody's trying to play.
I went on. I went twice in my life. I
had to go over last I did a thing for
cored just read recently. I did a show there for

(01:44:04):
cored and so it's, yeah, you already know. Anyway, everybody
wants to play the fastest thing they possibly can, giant
steps or something like that. And then when you play
fast you don't have to have touch. It's not about touch.
It's not about this, not about that, and they go
by so fashion. I paying attention. But with piano players,
you can, like I can sit down, I can see
a piano players sit down and in five seconds I

(01:44:27):
can know what I'm about to hear. Sometimes I can
do it just by your posture and what you how
you hold your hands. A lot of times I can tell, okay,
you actually don't play jazz. You have to play church organ,
but you're playing piano today. Like for instance, you see
me play Oregan, you think I don't play keys because
I suck at Oregon. I know real order. I know

(01:44:48):
Sudrick Mitchell, of Corey Henry and James Poison, these kind
of cats. I'm not an Oregon players in the technique.
So that Corey does like that, you would have to
practice a lot to get to that. When he plays chords,
not lines is different like lines and on Oregon are
easy because the keys the plastic and there's no weight.

(01:45:09):
A real piano has weight, so you can when you
can tell somebody's real chops when the play a piano,
because that's when the weights there. You know what I mean, Yeah,
if you're slow on Oregan, you're I can't help you
because it's a plastic key. You're just supposed to be fast,
you know what I mean. But Corey, Yeah, any Oregon
player that's really good moving from chord to chord. It's
a fucking spider technique. Like everything has to be connected,

(01:45:32):
and you voice things different because you're used to having
bass pedals, so your voicing is up here are different.
Piano players are not used to having bass pedals with
the bass here, so our our voices are different. To
make it full, because we have to make a fool here.
Oregan players have the pedals, so they're they're just there.
The chords, the structure of the cord and stuff be
like what the hell you know? So immediately you can

(01:45:54):
tell what that somebody plays by like sitting sitting down,
you know what I mean. And yeah, and the vocat
there is super easy to tell immediately. You know that
players is another thing too, like I know, like that's
a whole another thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, everybody that plays
piano can't play roles and vice versa, and like all

(01:46:14):
those different touches and different vibes and like, so what's
your accordion game like I'm crazy on the courting. I'm
crazy on the courting, depends on what you're talking about.
Gotta play. I do know one that's amazing though. I
used to see him with Jeff Tain Watts on Monday
Nights at the Z Bar years ago. Really according and tame.

(01:46:37):
He was smashing bro Wait a minute for the guy,
how did How does it feel to be the person
that got Malcolm and Jamarro Warner his first gram? What's funny?
You know what's crazy about that? Though? That wasn't supposed
to have Most of my stuff in Black Radio. I'll

(01:46:57):
tell you everybody all the time. It's like, whenever I
make an album, the universe is always a co producer
because it never goes how I wanted to go all
the way. And I know that. I know that going
in and I'm okay with it because great things, better things,
because have happened, because the universe is like, look, nigga,
this is what's gonna happen, So sure this can't do
it about it? So when I did the song that

(01:47:20):
Jesus Chris of America, it was it was in and
and Oh to the Children of the Sandy Hi tragedy.
That morning of the actual tragedy, I was doing it
Stevie Tribute I Believe I'm here. You came and sat in.
Wasn't that moment that day or the next day, we
did two nights at Harlem stage of a Stevie won
the tribute. Damn man, I needs you around just to

(01:47:43):
remind me of Ship. Yes, yes, and you can and
and I mere came by. It might have been those
two nights. The first night was of that day that
that tragedy happened, and another night and you came. One
of those nights, I can't remember which one. And that
was my first time doing that arrangement of Jesus Chrisen
of America with Laila for for for for Them. And

(01:48:04):
it was that that day that happened. I woke up
and my good friend Jimmy, Jimmy Green, his daughter was
killed in that m was the first Jimmy. She was
the first grade on the show a few times. Yeah,
she was the first grade. And so that sucked me
up because I have at this point, I have a son,
you know what I mean. It's like, oh, Ship, she
hits you harder when you have kids. Things that happened

(01:48:25):
with kids. If you don't have kids, it's one thing.
We Once you have a kid, it's oh no, I
can't even watch movies the same. You know, when you
have a kid, everything different, like oh ship. So anyway,
fast forward, when black Radio time came around, I told Layla, hey,
I want to do Jesus was in America. You know.
She's like okay. She came in and as usual as
she did for the shaw Day song Cherish today was

(01:48:51):
one take. She was reading the lyrics on her phone.
It was actually it was the sound check. She was
right beforehand. She said Mike check one to Mike check
one too. That's why I faded it in because right
before that she was checking the mic and that take
you here is the sound check. So when she finished,
she was like, okay, I'm ready. I was like, thanks,
We're good. No, that was it. That was it. She

(01:49:13):
had the same thing for Judicus. She's in America. Jesus
chose in America. She came in, did that ship one time,
one take. I don't have bonus tracks of Laila. I
don't have bonus because she just doesn't want to take
and I'm good, and I'm like, I'm good. And anyway,
we did the song, and in my mind, I was
gonna get Jimmy Green to do a poem for his
daughter in that song, you know, in the actual song.

(01:49:35):
And so I was reaching out to him and and
you know, trying to see if you want to do it.
And my other friend who was really close to the otis,
was like, man, there's not a good time for Jimmy,
you know, blah blah blah. So he couldn't do it.
Malcolm and hit me and like, yo, I want to
come hang out at the studio next time to the studio.
So I hit Malcolm like, yo, well come hang out
the studio. I'm doing some mixing some songs. Blah blah blah.
And we started mixing Jesus to in America. And I

(01:49:59):
told him I was I was trying to get a
poem on here. He was like, dude, I'm a poet.
I was like, I forgot about that. He was like,
he was like, bro, give me a stab at it.
I'm gonna I'll go rack something right now. Give me
stab You don't have to use it if you don't
want it. He went to the We're in We're in
the Westlake. He went upstairs, took it like an hour,

(01:50:20):
wrote it, came down, spit it, and then that was it.
That was it. Surprise Yeah, yeah, bro, But a lot
of those things were black Radio. That's how black radio
actually album, the actual album. I canceled it like four
times because it was too hard to make because nobody's
schedule was lightning up. So I literally said, fuck it,
we'll do it next year or something. Ship four times

(01:50:42):
and then out of the blue, my manager hit me,
I was on tour. I was a tour of my band,
and my manager hit me like, I don't know what happened,
but every guest is available next week in l A.
And this is two one one. You know, everybody's available,
And yeah, I was like, oh Ship, yeah, might have been.

(01:51:04):
It might have been. It might have been everybody was
februaries where you catch all year. Yeah. So I was like, oh,
s okay. So I canceled my tour and I flew
I flew in, and I flew right and I went
right to, uh, what's the girl King's house? That was
when when they had a little and irror you were
like talking about King and Erica. My friend Megan, she

(01:51:28):
was happy to kind of be managing them at the time,
and she was, and I told her. I was like, man,
I want to get them on the record. I think
that'd be dope. They got some fire now talking to
the house moved up, and I went to their house
and I to to meet them and to write the song.
And they happen to have a washer and dryer, and
I had just came from Europe. I would stretching the career.

(01:51:48):
I got laundry. I was like, nigger. I wrote some
cords and I said, okay, y'all finish it. I went
to the laundry room and did laundry while they were
writing a song. And in the middle of that, I
had Loupe come over to their house to meet up
with him to give him the idea I had for
him to do what he's gonna do for the record.

(01:52:10):
And then I had Most come over a little bit later.
So they were freaking out. They're like, what, oh my god.
You know, Most came over a little bit later so
I can tell him, Hey, this is what I'm thinking
about doing tomorrow when you come too, you know, blah blah.
But that's and then literally that's just how that happened.
That that that process was Black Radio one was a
five was five days of recording, and then Black Radio

(01:52:32):
two was like six days of recording. You know, man
on Black Radio two, we have to ask a guest
that we had earlier, but it wasn't music. Lord Jesus
does music like oh yeah, oh, because well that's a

(01:52:54):
real you don't like it what he says. So he
has a he has a very complex relationship with his
back catalog. When we had him on the show, we
didn't specifically ask him about this song. So no, he
didn't slander. No we didn't ask. But no, that ship

(01:53:15):
as hard as fun. But like what was the was
with like recording that did he into it or what
was it he loved a matter of fact, the last
time I saw him live, I just happened to be
in Oakland and I saw he was at YO She's.
I just walked in and he was playing all yeah,
he was saying, so like he like like, oh yeah,

(01:53:35):
that's another universe. That's another universe thing. Because I flew
to Atlanta. I did the music already. I flew to
Atlanta so he could um write the song and we
went to the studio and that's why he liked it.
The first night, the first night we were in the studio,
he came up with the hook and blah blah blah.
We had another night. So the next day, a matter

(01:53:55):
of fact, you have something to do with this Fonte.
We never talked about this because I'm tired of I think,
I know, I think I know what this is. If
it's okay, go ahead. I was in Atlanta and the
next day you, for Exchange, was having a show at
some festival or something in Atlanta. Yo, that's right, because
we hit you. Yeah. You came on stage and I

(01:54:17):
came up with hell yeah that she was dope, remember,
and Chris set Michelle was there, and I think she
played after you. Yeah she did. I stopped the seven.
I didn't say first of all Radio, I love All

(01:54:39):
because that was that was shout out to Jodine on
that Jodin hit me. Jody, she hit me. She me
because at the time our keyboard player and m D Zoe, Um,
he had like another gig, he has something to do.
It's like the only FI gig you ever ever missed
and um and she was like yo, um Joe name
was like yo. So Robert, would you mind if he

(01:55:00):
just come up. I was like, Rob, She's like glass.
But I was like hell, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what
I tell him to come on. So from that is
it from sitting in with you, Chrisette saw I mean,
it was like I saw her after that. I was like, yeah,
what's up? What she was like? She was like, I
was going to fly back to New York but it
was a storm in New York really best her Sandy Hurricane,

(01:55:23):
and she was like, I can't fly back to New York.
So I'm gonna be here nextterday. What are you doing?
And I was like, Yo, I'm in the studio, Come
hang out, come by. She came by the studio and
I handed her a pan in the pad that was
like right the second verse. So that's literally how oh yeah.
I came about the two her being on it because
originally just music, but literally came about because I came

(01:55:45):
to sit in with you and Chrisette was there. Watch
I'm Black Radio too. The Bill Witherston. Bill Withers came
to the so for a random for some random reason,
Casey when we set up at the studio was like, Yo,
let's do Let's play a lovely day for the sound check.

(01:56:07):
And I was like, okay, we literally never played Lovely Day.
I'm like, okay, well the changes again, you showed me
the change. I'm like cool. So we just took did
one one take down Lovely Day? Boom. That's literally what
you hear on the album on the on the extended version.
There was a black radio too. Then that's extended. So anyway,
one of the guys there was like, yo, I know Bill,

(01:56:28):
I'm gonna call h and tell him you did that.
I was like, okay, right, cool, all Bill, everybody didn't
call Bill. He called Bill put put me on the
phone with him. He was like, yeah, young man, I
wish I could come and hear your song, but you know,
I'm feeling a little sick or whatever. I was like, okay,
no problem, honor, honor that you even took the time
to talk whatever. Cool. So fast forward the next day,

(01:56:50):
Uh who's that? I was gonna comment and uh, Macy
Gray I think the next day and Ross was right
in his rhyme and he ended up having like a um,
right is black in one part? So we're just upstairs
chilling kind of talking or whatever, and walk up up
the stairs build with his walk there what dude. He

(01:57:13):
walks in and he's like, let me hear this song.
Oh sh okay. So we go to the downstairs and
studio playing the song. He's like, yeah, I like the song,
like what y'all did with it, and then talk to
us for three hours straight. Stories just stories and stories
and stories got all video story and story story from that.

(01:57:35):
Rashi was sitting behind him, were the pinioning the pad,
writing some of what Bill was writing, dance sing. So
Rash's second verse on I stand Alone from Black Better
Too is a lot of Bill Wither's words. I mean, yeah,
I'm gonna listen to the right Yeah, listen. I hate

(01:57:58):
we never got a chance to get him for the past. So, Rob,
are there any like, is there any uh? I mean
besides the eventual collaboration now you'll do with your son yep?
Are there any bucket list projects that you you have

(01:58:19):
yet to you know, are you going to do a
free into classical music? Will you? You know what? The
guitar and I don't know, Like I would like to
hear a Robert Glass for take on like a Brazilian
love affair? What's funny though, Lady cover app not covering that,

(01:58:41):
but you know something and that you know your own ship.
But just that like the movie, like the movie, um
my lady is Cuban. Okay, So I went to Cuba, hits,
we have a kid. What Cuba? She took me. I
be to the Cuba, but she took me the Cuba

(01:59:02):
in November to to see the vibe and go to
see the music of the clubs and everything. It was
so fucking inspiring, bro, Like the musicians out there are
fucking incredible. You got to see like the whole aprol Cuba,
all of it, all of it. And I even got
cool with Cho because that I've been to Chis carib
and we hung out and play and you know what
I mean, like crazy. So I want to do like

(01:59:23):
a I definitely want to do a like a project
like my ship meeting Cuba, you know what I mean,
like red Hot back in the day, you know red Hot? Yeah, yeah,
I definitely want to do something like that where it
brings that that's that sound together because so many people
take from Cuban musicians, but you don't see the musicians

(01:59:45):
because the motherfuckers can't come over here, you know what
I mean? You know, for me, that part so it's like, yeah, man,
I'm learning so much from her about the culture and everything,
and so it's so deep and rich and so dope,
you know what I mean. So, but also I thought
a resilient one too, bro, Like I want to do
something just like you know the chords in Brazilian music.

(02:00:06):
You just be like, oh, you know, just over the
so many Yeah, yeah, I have so many. But I
have so many projects in my mind. That one that
I want to I want to get done, you know
what I mean. But you know, I definitely want to.
I want to do an official like some ship, an
official thing with the roots, a real one, you know
what I mean. I've sat in so many years, but

(02:00:27):
I attribute a lot of people asking me, like you
know what I'm saying, like where my where my sensibilities
to come from? Playing hip hop and and things like that.
How I got into it because I wasn't. I wasn't
playing hip hop when I was in Houston. I just
started playing hip hop until I got to New York.
And but I'll start taking me to your jam sessions.
And my first time playing hip hop with the band
was with you, you know what I mean. Like, so
I got a chance to play with the Roots a

(02:00:49):
lot which trained me in that in that world and
to sit there and watch James Poison and you know,
and watch June. You know what I mean, play, You
know what I mean like dumb cats and and and
mirror that that really train. That's part of my part
of my whole ship. You see nothing better word, Let's
do it. And I'm gonna be looking out to Glass.

(02:01:10):
I don't be hitting you up. We're in the process.
I was putting the buggy ere now since your l A.
We're trying to figure out somehow trying to write a
sketch for season two a Sherman Showcase, and we want
we want you to be we want you to play
the Loneliest month. Yeah, I just readyse Yo. Can I

(02:01:41):
just a little suggestion for the mirror Robert Glass for thing.
I don't know if you recall, Robert, but there was
a Roots picnic about what was that side six years
ago that you perform that in the morning. Okay, So
you remember telling me. I remember I was talking to
you and Marcia and I asked you, like, you know, what,
what would you like as far as the ruse p
He was like, I would really like to perform when

(02:02:01):
he gets dark outside people, I was really there. I
was just like for you to also take this moment
like when the Bruce Pickton did come back outside. Look
they were setting up tables and ship like people forming
for the food truck man like Robert even I don't
attend the first Routes Picknic, Guy Retead. It was really

(02:02:25):
it was yeah, no, none of the cant even gotten
none of them. So let everybody seems me like, yo,
you're playing. I was like I played nine hours earlier,
poor baby, no matter all there on Front Street. Because
I'm like in a way too, I don't know how
much he gotten a real live, great Black radio lives.

(02:02:46):
I was just saying, when if we could like recreate
something most were you not part of the um the
joint I did with um Esperanza or was that not you? Okay,
because you confirmed it? That was probably right. See I
had on a good path. So back to the bus show.

(02:03:08):
This is no, no, we're doing some boding. Come on,
build this picnic hill in the studio first, and then
well the next roots picnic and then by the office,
so that way we can have a roots picnic. Oh
there you go. Yeah, exactly there's that that part part

(02:03:31):
all right, well it probably be twenty two, but yes, whatever,
I just I want Robert class in the Roots. I
was just saying, let's do it, let's go, yo, I'm here.
Whatever happened to that? Did that thing ever come out
that we did in Dallas with the orchestra? You know what? Um,

(02:03:51):
you know it's weird shockers portion made it on YouTube.
I don't your Your guess is as good as my.
I think whoever like underwrote that like put it out
for quarantine entertainment. But that's a good question. No, it
hasn't officially come out, but that I think I did
a piece with Erica. Yeah, we did Erica you soccocon

(02:04:15):
the Roots in the Dallas Uh yeah, yeah, we did
some amazing stuff together. So with you know Dog, you
know you're my favorite. Absolutely we're gonna do together. Let's go.
Let us go, yo, Rob, We thank you for doing

(02:04:39):
You're in two parter um. Yeah, so on behalf of Sugar,
Steve Laya Fontigelo and uh I'm paid build somewhere. We
also like to give a shout out to our our
pals at mazda um and they're glorious. C X dirty. Well,
thank you very much, Rob, We appreciate it. Congratulations again

(02:05:00):
on you on your daughter, Man I have what what's
her name? Her name is Lola? Lola? Oh yeah, honest man,
Riley going up for you exactly. Sure. Alright, this is
Quest Love and we'll see you on the next go

(02:05:21):
round of question. What's Love Supreme is a production of
my Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my heart Radio,
visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever

(02:05:44):
you listen to your favorite shows.

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