Marsha Ambrosius On 'Casablanco,' Relationship With Amanda Seales, Dr. Dre-Produced Album + More
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
What's app It's way up for Angela. Ye, I'm here
and look at who's here today? Back again Marcia Ambrose.
I saw you say, Ambrosius, Ambrosius. I don't I gotta
step saying Marcia Ambrosius.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
But it sounds fly still. But that's twenty four years
living in America and everyone's just saying what they want
to do. Yeah, we say with Amber am.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I really enjoyed watching you on the R and B
Money podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Oh thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
That was a fun.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
It was a fun time, Like Tank Jay Valentine, they're
just hilarious anyway, So yeah, we had we had a time.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
It made me think of what it must be like
to be in the studio with you.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, pretty much. I kind of laid it out on
the line with them and felt comfortable to do so
because I know they know how that feels like, just
the feeling of being in the studio and coming up
with an idea from scratch and building it. So it
was really nice to tell the stories in that way
and for them to connect and relate to that.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
And you know, the last time I said you, it
was for the single one night Stand on Lip Service.
That song is such a beautiful song. Like I still
to this day, I'm always like, what a beautiful way
to sing about a one night stand?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
From the beginning, it's it's like an orchestra symphony, and
it's ultimately the one night stand that turned into ten
years and a seven.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Year old, Yeah, which is not a one night stand.
I just want to know definitely.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Was one night. I don't know do the math between
twenty fifteen and now. It's all the nights.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
I think about people Like recently Lato was talking about
getting with you know, the guy who she's with now,
and she was like, that's the only person I ever
had sex with on the first night. And you never
know what something can turn into. And sometimes we really
restrict ourselves, like holding back because of what we think
the other person might think about us or what society
tells you.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
It's like the interlude on The Love Below, where are
my panties? And he's thinking, you know, maybe I'll just
lay in ahead play with a booty, like it's that moment.
But why deny yourself the moment? You know? So I
feel like anyone that had that feeling, hold back and
(02:15):
play the game for what you missed out on the moment.
Now it might not be good three nights later on
the second day, and now you can't recreate this magic.
So if it's magic, Oh, if it's magic, what a
beautiful song? Yeah, oh here we go. We got a
thank you Stevie, but yeah, go ahead and do it.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
And you know what else. So we've heard three singles
from the new project so far that you've blessed us with, right,
So it gives us a feel for what the album
is going to be like. And it is a lot
of nostalgia involved with this too, but beautifully done because
it's not like a straight up sample. It kind of
goes in and out of things that I feel like
have been impactful musically to us. So when you're listening,
(02:58):
you're like, where did this just come from? And this
sounds like this was a paying O Mys to this track.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Right, And that's what it was. It was like Dre
and myself coming together, him being the superducer, super producer
that he is, maybeing the writer and vocalist and all
the things that I am. It was like we were
having an EMC DJ bow. So it was who could
outdo the next moment because we wanted this Casablanco moment
(03:25):
to be influenced by everything that we've cared about in music.
So it was like, I'll give you Michael Jackson. He
was like, Okay, I'll meet you with Duke Kellington. Okay,
I'll meet you with Patrice Russian. Okay, I'll meet you
with George Benson. And we're like, how can we make
all of these things make sense on one album? Wu
Tang Like it just went all over the place, but
(03:48):
there was such a cohesiveness because of that nostalgia, because
it was all the elements of the things that made
you feel good about music, and we just managed to
make it work on one project.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yeah, and it's even like some of the songs like
you said George Benson, but then that was also a
sample from previous like even with Mary J. Blige, And
then like that's really dope to me because it's it's
also different age groups. Like some people will relate and
look at this like, Okay, this song is from what
is Leon Russell?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
But then somebody going to know if it's a George
Benson thing. Most of the audience may not know who
that is. But then you hit them with the Mary
run or something oh that's Mary j. Blige. So it's
connecting the two worlds and making them make sense so
everyone can get something from each element of every song
(04:39):
on this.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Album, because you know, I used to work for Wu Tang.
That was my first job, right, And one thing that
they were really great at also was like some of
those old soul samples, and it kind of reminds me
of and back in the day they used to do
this party soul kitchen, and so it was really like
all samples and I feel like Questlove and q Tip
used to do that field.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
It was an absolute master at it completely and that's
exactly what this was. And I feel like Casablanco when
you play it is like one of those soul kitchen
parties where you're trying to identify, Oh, that's that Wheel Tang,
that's that nas, Oh that's that Mary Jane girls, and
you're like going on this roller coaster ride of music
(05:23):
that we've been influenced by, and Dre and myself in
one room ultimately complimenting each other in such a way
made Casablanco really what it is now.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Did you were you in La during this whole Kenjick
Lamaya Juneteenth, I know you mean, I.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Know you were mas. I just said this. Listen, I'm
not let this is out today, but if I had
some West gear, I'd have it on and throw up
the dub because Wow, I was here in New York
and I'm watching it happen. I'm watching it all unfold online,
and I had, you know, my peoples that was there,
dre pops out. The West popped out like it was
(06:02):
for hip hop. It wasn't even about it just being
the West. It was about it being so very unapologetically
black and for us, by us, for real, and for
Kendrick to share in the elevation and evolution of hip
hop and embody that in such a classy way.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yes, Oh, the community that we got to see on that.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Stage amazing, And I think that doesn't happen if it's
not believed. You know, we've only had so many hip
hop icons that one carried that torch and carried that weight.
Kendrick has carried that weight and carried that torch with class.
And we've lost some of our heroes very early on,
(06:50):
and it's just great to see during a lifetime this
play out so positively in such a way, even in
its the battle was crazy. The Drake Kendrick battle was
one to just share online with the world in real time.
It felt like what it would have felt like back
(07:10):
in the day of that it happened. But now we're
all reacting at the same time, and it's just great
for the genre. It's great for us. And Kendrick really
did that ship.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yes, he really did. And when I tell you even
that whole battle, because first of all, to be clear,
they both are huge. You know, it's not like artists
is big the other ones not as big, and it's
like why and I responding it was like two of
the biggest hip hop artists. I have a.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Feature with both of them, you know. So it's like
it wasn't about who won. I know who won. No, everyone,
I don't debate. It's not a debate a debate, but
hip hop absolutely won. And I think it's never ending
because that's what a battle was supposed to do.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, it was kind of like when Nas and jay
Z were going at it and they were both huge,
huge artists, and at the end of the day all
the streams ran up. You know, Kendrick that actually pushed,
not like us, even though it was a number one
song back.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Up out the stratospheres. So think about twenty twenty four.
Now Nas is still nazing, Jay is still jing Yep,
getting money. Still absolutely humongous icons in the field because
ultimately hip Hop one, we've got all the eyes on it,
regardless of how it happened, whose feelings got hurt because
(08:29):
there's some words, and you know, the fans take it
for serious and everyone's like, ah, my guy one or
my girl or what like, just let the sport win,
and we won hip Hop one.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
I have like ten things I want to ask you
right now. First, I want to ask you this, since
you said like it's some words, are you sensitive about things?
Like are you the type of person? Because I feel
like a lot of artists are sensitive, but for some
reason with you, I think that you can. You have
been able to just kind of put out music that
you say things that other people might judge and be like,
I can't believe she said that, But I love that
(09:01):
about you.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
But I'm the most unbothered person when it comes to
my pen Like I'm gonna say it. I hope she
cheats on you with a basketball player. I'm flagrant, but
I'm gonna say it even if that's how I feel. Yeah,
so it made sense to me, So it's gonna make no.
I don't back down from my pen Am I sensitive
(09:22):
if somebody else says something about me or to me,
it's words and it's opinion. So I can only feel
how I feel about me, and I care enough if
I care enough, Like where's this coming from? If I
don't know you, you're not in my life like that, and
it's like, I like when she said or she did, Okay,
(09:43):
well I'll just go and talk to Michael Jackson or
Prince Stevie said, you know, like this is wild, but
very much, you know. So it's the level of unbothered
on that end took some doing because we're all human
and anything can her the most smallest.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Thing on the wrong day, the wrong get to you, and.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
You're like, let me send to myself again and realize
that none of that is important and help Nila with
some second grade math or something. I need more help
than she does. Second grade math is ridiculous. I did
not know a thing when I was her age. It's
getting crazy, Yeah, it is. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
I listen when they be putting them little math problems
on Instagram and I'm like, dude, they asked you, like, Okay,
what's the correct answer? I'm always got to get.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
We've had to google, and we've had to call family
friends and figure this out because yeah, we're back in school.
We're all back in school. We're all back in the
second grade now because of our kid, which is crazy.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Now, my shot, Now I want to flash back to
something that just happened right since we were talking about
all of this. So Flower try and then recently Amanda
did Club Shaysha, So what's going on like with the
two of you? Do you have any hard feelings to her?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
She felt like, no, there's absolutely no hard feelings on
my part. I'd only ever come across her recently in
twenty twenty three. Physically, I hadn't seen her since twenty thirteen,
where we were cool, like we did an event here
in New York for a hair care product. We reminisced
about old times and she'd send me text messages and
(11:19):
throughout the years after the whole Floatory actual reunion for
the Flow Treo fans, it just didn't work out. They
weren't receptive of it being anyone else, even if it
was her.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
It wasn't personal. It was just that they were used
to seeing Natalie on estay and.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
There's nothing you can do about that part. So parting
ways was inevitable because the record company were like, oh no,
this is not going to work. Management, Oh no, this
is not going to work. Flow tru fans, this is
not going to work. So fast forward into seventeen years later.
It was never on my mind. I apologized to her
with you right there as witnessed to that seven years
(11:55):
ago when we were on the Breakfast Club, you know,
And that was seven years ago where am I apology
was to her? But I hadn't seen her since, so
I kind of just left it at that. And I
don't know, maybe people google talking points, Oh Marsh's back
in the person. Let me make a I don't know
what the reason is, but I've healed over this time
(12:15):
since seven seventeen years ago three weeks of my life
that was that tours.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Was only three weeks.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Yeah, I know there was definitely like fifteen or sixteen shows,
but it was for sure three weeks during the summer
seventeen years ago. So I kind of you have to
understand in two thousand and seven, I was still talking
to Michael Jackson. At that point, I'm still talking to Prince,
I'm still doing all of these other things. I'm producing
(12:42):
and Ryan for other people, and this thing that i'd
held on dearly too just didn't work out, and I
moved on. So fast forward seventeen years later and I've
got a project with doctor Dre and I'm doing all
of these things. Last thing on my mind. So absolutely
no hard feelings, but I can't dismiss or diminish someone
else's version of how they felt about what happened. So
(13:06):
she's valid in her feelings, but there were also other
people there to validate what actually happened. And sometimes you
take your l's different like a round of applause and
wrap it up be sound exactly the same to someone
who's seeking adoration. And there just wasn't enough of a
(13:28):
welcoming reception publicly for it, and that was nothing I
could do for that. I tried everything. I tried to
switch up the show. She wanted to do her own song,
and I'm like, you were crying last night because of
how you were very poorly received. Maybe that's not such
a good idea. So yeah, I did tell the MD
to take it out all the things. So it was
(13:49):
like war on the.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Bridge for me, because clearly you would want to have
a good tour too. It's not like you.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I'm taking it as I'm getting booed, not you getting booed.
I'm looking at something I built, ground up, eh, crash
and burn. So it hurt for that and it wasn't
gonna work. So moving forward, reunited with Flowa Tree down
the line, met my husband twenty fifteen, and that and
myself get back on stage and do Flower Tree twenty sixteen.
(14:16):
I'm pregnant with Nyla twenty twenty four, I'm doing a
project with doctor Drey. Right, that's my timeline.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
What made you say that you even wanted to do
you know, after the group broke up originally, why not
just be like, Okay, I'm gonna do my own thing.
Why didn't I didn't want to do or even go
and do the songs just yourself.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
In hindsight, I could say that I would do that
right now, but that was ready to do. I wasn't
about my soul. I wasn't doing a solo thing. That
was never on the table for me personally, was offered,
but I took the offer to try and make it
work with someone else, because that's what I was accustomed to.
Stage left, close my eyes, sing some songs, and I
(14:58):
was comfortable in.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
That your reservations were being solo.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Back then, I wanted to. I've always wanted to do
Quincy Jones, Dr Dre stuff. I can't find the scenes.
I love paget writing, so it's very much collaborative. And
I've worked with so many people up until that point too,
just making features with ninety eight percent of hip hop
(15:23):
at that point and still counting, So it was very
much a comfort zone for me. So yeah, in hindsight,
I could say, oh, I should have done that tour.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah, you would never know. You don't know what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
I'd never did it if I knew it was going
to transpire the way it did. But you want things
to work, and when they don't, they just don't work.
So I'll take that l and fast forward years down
the line, when yes, I do get late nights and
early mornings and it is a solo thing classic I
end up it's all timing.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
So I feel like everything also happens for a reason,
like sometimes you need something like that to happen to
show you where you're supper to be.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
It's not even that just I guess it's not even
where I was supposed to be. It's the experience and
figuring things out and seeing them through. If you kind
of have a plan, it doesn't always work out, and
that's okay. So it's where you end up because of that.
It's not oh, let me just figure this out so
(16:23):
it gets me to a certain space. I wasn't trying
to do.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Yeah, but I'm saying, maybe that happened to tell you
this is what you need to do, you know, because
sometimes like something doesn't.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Work baby, and then it's like how it all turned out?
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Now? The truth is sometimes it is the best thing
is to kind of like try to do things. Nobody
does everything completely alone, right, but it's it is nice
and when you don't have to rely so much, like
you can move when you want to move, do what
you want to do, figure out. This is when I
can tour. I don't have to think about like when
can you do this? Right?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I mean I absolutely I think Natalie the Fluicist and
myself will very much solo artists. We just found this
thing that worked together. I was trying to do my
solo thing when I was in my teens, like early twenties,
early early twenties, So that didn't work out, and I
was okay with that, like, uh, they don't want me
to rap and sing at the same time, this little
(17:14):
British girl that's trying to do this thing absolutely fine.
And by the time I find this thing that works,
I'm comfortable. So when it's different, it's oh, who am I?
What am I doing? Why am I doing it? And
you get the opportunity to do it, I'll throw myself
in the deep end. Because I remember performing Feelings at
(17:36):
Constitution Hall in DC and having a different, overwhelming feeling
about performing because it felt very much solo. It felt
very much secluded, and I think I cried my eyes
out on that stage that night, like something happened. I
don't know what it is, but I liked it. It
(17:57):
opened me up a little bit. I want to say
that was late two thousand and seven, no two thousand
and six, rather, and I knew something was happening. But yeah,
it's just the course of life and just experience, and
I've done so much of that and living and happy
to be doing it now.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
And when you met the love of your life and
you guys had your quote unquote fake one nice thing
because it wasn't really it's so fat, But did you
have like when you woke up, what did you think
was going to happen?
Speaker 2 (18:27):
We were going to do it again? Absolutely want to
get out? He exactly roll over like it was this
It must be some amazing. It had no expectations, but
knew what it felt.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
But sometimes we tell ourselves like why did I do that? Now?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Oh no, there was no why. Even if this was
that one night, it will be the most unforgettable. I
would then tell my future husband, I had the best time,
oh like my life.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Ladies, don't try to.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Twenty You have to be honest with the.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
I would say, I had the best night in my life.
It wasn't you, but it was twenty years ago.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
There might be something that stays on my mind about
that one night, and I'd have to tell my significant
other if it wasn't that person might look something haunts
me about, maybe something not happening or happening because of
how I felt that night with this person. But if
I then fell for someone else, there's a reason for
that also, which might might I have to I have
(19:35):
zero filter and if that's my superpower and my downfall.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
No, that's it. Hey, I'm not mad at it. Now,
let's talk about this song Greedy for a second. You
know they always say in relationships there's givers and takers, right,
and there's always somebody that gives a little more and
somebody who takes a little more. Which one are you?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
I'm a competitive giver because I always end up with
someone that gives and we try and outdo how much
I did each other, which is great. With Greedy, the song,
it wasn't necessarily about just one relationship. It was people,
it was things, it was circumstances, it was people being
greedy with your time and your energy. And sometimes what
(20:19):
you have to give is never enough. So I could
give you the moon, and it's just not enough for you, right,
So you want the stars and the sun. Now you
want the universe. When my effort, in that moment, when
I was at my lowest moment, I gave you an
entire moon, and you have to understand what that took
for me to do. And it's still not enough. You're greedy.
(20:43):
I don't even think, I say, I don't even sing
the word greedy in the song, but the overall premise
of what it meant was just greed, greedy.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
So you think about this from a business point of view,
from everything, family, every friendship, bit of it, all of it. Yeah, man,
that is so too. You could give somebody the moon
and all the stars except one, and they went that
one star, right, that.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
One is like the perfect size. It's not right, but
it's just bright enough, like, well, here's the rest of
this universe, and you were in that one little star
can walk now.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Also, so that I told you we heard three songs
so far that had come out as we're waiting to
see And the way you've done everything, it feels like
you want to be really interactive with your with your audience.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yes, we're just people, right exactly. But I feel like,
because this album speaks.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
To Chris Green, come on, come on, we know you're
from Brooklyn, we know you're from Brooklyn, and Chris.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Well, get that dough, get that done.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Is it just like the song or a ringto you
have raintown? Still I was gonna say, remember raintoon my.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Gosh and the mill Oh my god. I was speaking
about her the other day. I really want to do
a song with her. Always said she's got one of
the best female voices.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Can we find a milk? Because let me tell you
a mil If you're listening and Mushia and Brosia said
she wants to do a sum with you, you should do it.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
She's got one of the craziest female rap voices. It's
the nostalgia for me, and I think she has a
gorgeous voice, so I would love that. That's your fault.
So you just put good job, Yeah, good job.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
But a milk can thank you? Okay?
Speaker 2 (22:19):
No. So the interactive space for this album casta blanc
Hole is because everyone can get something from it. So
even with the track list reveal that I just did
on Instagram, is because the album cover reminds me of
the Goonies, remember the movie. Oh yes, so the Treasure map,
so you kind of.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Look at it's like we have a treasure to find a.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Giant map map full of music that you're finding each
and every time. I don't know if everyone's going to
be able to read these credits, but it's the Guinness
Book World of Records of samples on this album.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Listen seriously, and you know what was great about it?
Because I'm listening to it, and I love like all
different genres of music, and I grew up like listening
to vinyl and everything. Like my parents had a whole
lot of records in the house, so I would be listening,
like what song is this? We really I'm like, Okay.
Then I would go look it up and then I
would be like, oh, I didn't even realize that was
(23:13):
also a sample, right, you know, exactly before that and
then like Na's on the Greatest Whose world is this exactly?
But then I'm like, then I started thinking, is that
a sample from something else? Because I don't know.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
So Perry Mason the TV theme is also in there.
And then we just did too much. This album is
so unrealistic. And by the time Dre was like, look,
this is what it is. We're going to go into
trying to clear the samples, and I was clearest, they
will never clear. It took a year. It took a
(23:44):
little over a year to actually clear the album, and
there were two songs that we did that we couldn't
get clearances on. So I changed some of the lyrics
and some of the verse melodies so we could still
do the songs okay. And that was lucky because the ones.
There was only one song I was begging for. I said,
I don't care what doesn't make it. If this one
(24:06):
doesn't make it, throw the whole album in the trash.
And that was Oh, can I say these titles?
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Say it?
Speaker 2 (24:12):
I want to know that, Okay, okay, thrill Her. Thrill
Her was the one thrill Her. I was like, if
I can't clear that song.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
What song was it on? There?
Speaker 2 (24:26):
It's called thrill Her?
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Now, I mean the sample that.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
The samples are cream Woo Tang, Doke Kellington's in a
sentimental mood, Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
That's a lot of heavy. So I gotta ask, like, financially,
this album is not about.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Doctor Dre, Doctor Drey.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
This album is not about making money from the actual album,
because I have to imagine, all these samples are so expensive,
Doctor Dre.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Okay, the whole album is expensive and it's Doctor Dre.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
So No.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
It was, like I said, it was something that felt
so unrealistic to actually release. It wasn't about how much
the samples were going to get to career or any
of those things. It was are we allowed to share
this moment with the world for them to hear what
we did with these samples, and by the time Dre
(25:29):
has hit me back like it's time, it's clear everything.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Wow, it's did you think it was going to happen?
Because you know what, Doctor d people think it's never
coming out. Everybody that's tried to do it happened with him.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
One week, it's never happening. One week, still not happening.
You have a track list and people are playing it
and sending the records now, and I'm like, is this
real life? This can't be real life. I cannot be
the only person on planet Earth that has an album
produced and mixed by Doctor Dre. I'm the only person
(26:04):
on planet Earth that has an album completely produced and
mixed by Doctor Drey.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
That is amazing, Like who am I right? Like he
we even get him to put his own album out
exactly so, and here you are this mean.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Much as his album as it is mine, Like we
are straight fifty to fifty on this thing.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
I saw him posting that too, and you guys had
the same yeah post and that was unintentional.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
That was literally the mood and feeling. This is some
of my greatest work. I don't know what surpasses this
because of the time that we created it, in what
we did to create it, what we overcame to create it,
and it's a dream come true.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
And you guys were working on this before he had
his aneurysm.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Right after, oh, right after, we'll work on. What I
did know at the time was the GTA soundtrack. So
once he had the health scare, I was just recovering
from my own health scare, and we kind of, I
don't know if I'm using the term correctly trauma bonded
over surviving these things. And then he flew me out
(27:20):
within weeks of him just getting out of the hospital
from that brain aneurysm. So twenty twenty one January, his
health scare, I was there by the end of February.
We start working on Casablanco by mid April, because I
told him, I don't want to do this music thing anymore.
I mean, I want to say, do this music thing anymore.
I didn't want to do the artist thing anymore. I
(27:40):
was like, no, I'm really in my Quincy Jones now,
I really want to just produce, right. I love your team.
I would love to stay here and work for as
long as it takes on. Whatever projects you're doing, and
he was like, nah, nope, you got one more in you.
I just want to keep you inspired and let's see
where this goes. So when we recorded the very first
song from Casablanco that's now Castablanco, which was Tunisian Knights
(28:04):
Tunisian Nights, it was magic in that moment, like such
a wow, I can do more, there is more to me,
and he pushed me in such a way and we
tested boundaries and just really took it there. I had
no choice for the Leo competitive person that I am,
(28:29):
to see it through to the end, because I was like,
we do one, we have to do two, we do two,
we have to do four, we do four, we have
to do eight. We had just had to keep getting
better and better each and every time, and we did,
and we created this within that timeframe three or so
weeks in April. Between April and May, we're mixing and
(28:50):
tweaking things. By June, we're in with a twenty seven
piece orchestra. By September, we're in clearance mode. By the
end of that year. For all of twenty twenty two
to the beginning of twenty twenty three, listening party just
to get the feelers everyone's hype. Then it was let's
get the business straight and get to work and hair right.
(29:11):
It doesn't feel like the time has done that these years.
It's now I feel like you're rushing me, and you mean,
like what waits is slow down? Like which is crazy,
but it's It's been a wild ride and a necessary one,
even in its craziness and madness. Just that is this industry.
(29:32):
It's uh, it's all worth it.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
I see people calling for you to do a tiny desk,
which I think would be amazing.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
I would love to It would be so much fun.
So yeah, keep calling.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Yeah, because I saw, you know, people were like Marcia
needs to do a tiny desk Like that would be
a ridiculous. And I bet in your head you already
know how I know.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
The set list. I already know. I've already yeah, I
already sketched that out. I already know what I'm going
to be doing. We might have to do some after
hours and uh stay there and do two different versions
of it, but I would absolutely love that.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Do you consider yourself to be a shy person in general?
Speaker 2 (30:08):
A little bit? But I'm open when I'm open, Like
this feels intimate and close enough for us to have
a conversation, but then put me in a public setting
and I'm chilling until something's initiated. So shy reserved, I'd say,
not necessarily shy, be shy.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Sometimes people will say like, oh, you were a little
stand up fish like about me, But until it's not
necessarily that, I just don't ever want to, like, you know, overstep.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Someone said it to me the other day. They were like,
you're the most kindest, unapproachable person I've ever met, and
I was like, oh, that's perfect, And it's not a
negative to be unapproachable, it's you feel like the type
of person that I need to be worth your space.
So I'm not coming at you because I feel like
it's not even necessary for me to do so. So
(31:03):
it's unintentional to be standoffish, like you're not doing that.
They're perceiving that of you because how they feel about
you or I you know what I mean, So I
know how you are, wouldn't be connecting.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
We're cool. But if you didn't know that, you know,
I always knew great things about you, just because like
I'm really good friends with Ryan Press. And then so
you've been working with Jay Irving since and he's forever.
He's been your manager for how long.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Now, twenty three years.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
There's not a lot of people that can say they've
had the same manager for twenty three years.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
More than management, it's family and support. So regardless of
him or I being off the radar and me not
doing my artist thing, he then goes on to manage
other people and vice versa. It's I step away, he
steps away, and he wishes me well. I wish him well.
(31:57):
It's a bit bigger than him just being a manager.
We've been together in this thing like Bryan Press, like
the whole squad day active, exactly like your team.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
I feel like everybody loves you so much. They're like
my shait.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
My brother's like it's wild. I'm like the little big sister.
And then I'm still one of the boys. So they
find it really odd when I get in my feelings
because they forget female. Sometimes I'm just gonna be in
my you know, I've been one of the guys for
twenty four years.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
How was it for your husband to adjust to your
lifestyle because I'm you know, it is a little different.
And then now you're also about to be on.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
The road, you know, met on the road.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Yeah, and now.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
He saw it hands on, what the lifestyle was like,
and just the fact that we ended up getting pregnant
and we were still on the road during that propect.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
But he's I don't think he has he ever dated
like a person who is actually you know, it's different.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Yeah, it was kind of wild, but I don't know
it was perfect. It's just ready for that. I don't
I don't know how it works. And I'm not claiming
to have all the answers for that. It's it's just works.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Just now. I know her mom is a celebrity.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
She kind of does. And we have a running joke
that we're going to go and see Marshall and Brosius
in concert or oh, you're going to do radio with
Marshall Ambrosier. Is she going to be there? She wearing
your outfit too, Like.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
I think she was on the list. I thought we
were going to get a.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Chair and they want to go grab some food.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
I forgive it time.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
It's so done. But yeah, she knows, but she doesn't know,
and it's so cool like that, but she knows, like
it's it's it's beautiful and disarming and all the things.
She's seven now, so she the songs to her like,
I'm never doing that, it's not happening. I remember my
(33:58):
nephew and he was really really young and Friends and
Lovers album came out and sixty nine is on there,
and we told him it was it was about a
bus because there was a bus route in South London,
but it was a sixty eight and he was like,
I was like, it's about the sixty eight bus, but
we just needed one more minute to make it and
then it changed numbers. I don't know if he still
(34:20):
believes that's twenty years old. He was for sure like eight,
What do we tell him? He's twenty now? He knows
what that song's about. But it's gross. So yeah, no,
I'm not looking forward to these moments where I have
to explain what I meant when I said, oh, so
many things, it's gross.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Well my stually, I just want to say congratulations. I
hope that you are taking in the moment for yourself
because you're so chill and calm about it.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
It's because I'm taking it and why I feel like this,
but I am. I'm trying.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Catablanco is definitely coming out.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Oh, my gosh, we'll see next Friday.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Next Friday.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Say, it is out in these streets and there's nothing
I can do about it.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
And what's the plan. Is there a tour? What are
we doing?
Speaker 2 (35:06):
There's gonna be a tour for sure, that'll be announced
very soon. And I encourage the dress code to be
tucks and Chucks, So tuxedos and your tucks, jays Chucks,
ball gowns and jays, whatever that's gonna be. When you
(35:26):
press play on this album, you're gonna feel like you
may be underdressed. So if you have your silk pajamas
or if you have like a nice little just you're
gonna want to throw something on.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Just It's very theatrical and musical and beautiful from what
I've heard.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
But you also need a grill on some gold rope chains.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
And you know it incorporates.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
It's all the fame.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
I don't even see how that was possible, but you
managed to make it happen, man, doctor Dre and you
and you and that voice.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Fifty fifty we did this thing all right.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Well, congratulations, thank you so much for always coming and
showing me so much love. Due I appreciate it and
it's an honor to have you here, and I'm so
excited for Casa Blanco. It's definitely coming out, so next week,
next Friday.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
So June twenty eight.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
June twenty eight is the day, all right, Marcia Ambrosias,
thank you well
What's app It's way up for Angela. Ye, I'm here
and look at who's here today? Back again Marcia Ambrose.
I saw you say, Ambrosius, Ambrosius. I don't I gotta
step saying Marcia Ambrosius.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
But it sounds fly still. But that's twenty four years
living in America and everyone's just saying what they want
to do. Yeah, we say with Amber am.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I really enjoyed watching you on the R and B
Money podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Oh thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
That was a fun.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
It was a fun time, Like Tank Jay Valentine, they're
just hilarious anyway, So yeah, we had we had a time.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
It made me think of what it must be like
to be in the studio with you.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, pretty much. I kind of laid it out on
the line with them and felt comfortable to do so
because I know they know how that feels like, just
the feeling of being in the studio and coming up
with an idea from scratch and building it. So it
was really nice to tell the stories in that way
and for them to connect and relate to that.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
And you know, the last time I said you, it
was for the single one night Stand on Lip Service.
That song is such a beautiful song. Like I still
to this day, I'm always like, what a beautiful way
to sing about a one night stand?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
From the beginning, it's it's like an orchestra symphony, and
it's ultimately the one night stand that turned into ten
years and a seven.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Year old, Yeah, which is not a one night stand.
I just want to know definitely.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Was one night. I don't know do the math between
twenty fifteen and now. It's all the nights.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
I think about people Like recently Lato was talking about
getting with you know, the guy who she's with now,
and she was like, that's the only person I ever
had sex with on the first night. And you never
know what something can turn into. And sometimes we really
restrict ourselves, like holding back because of what we think
the other person might think about us or what society
tells you.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
It's like the interlude on The Love Below, where are
my panties? And he's thinking, you know, maybe I'll just
lay in ahead play with a booty, like it's that moment.
But why deny yourself the moment? You know? So I
feel like anyone that had that feeling, hold back and
(02:15):
play the game for what you missed out on the moment.
Now it might not be good three nights later on
the second day, and now you can't recreate this magic.
So if it's magic, Oh, if it's magic, what a
beautiful song? Yeah, oh here we go. We got a
thank you Stevie, but yeah, go ahead and do it.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
And you know what else. So we've heard three singles
from the new project so far that you've blessed us with, right,
So it gives us a feel for what the album
is going to be like. And it is a lot
of nostalgia involved with this too, but beautifully done because
it's not like a straight up sample. It kind of
goes in and out of things that I feel like
have been impactful musically to us. So when you're listening,
(02:58):
you're like, where did this just come from? And this
sounds like this was a paying O Mys to this track.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Right, And that's what it was. It was like Dre
and myself coming together, him being the superducer, super producer
that he is, maybeing the writer and vocalist and all
the things that I am. It was like we were
having an EMC DJ bow. So it was who could
outdo the next moment because we wanted this Casablanco moment
(03:25):
to be influenced by everything that we've cared about in music.
So it was like, I'll give you Michael Jackson. He
was like, Okay, I'll meet you with Duke Kellington. Okay,
I'll meet you with Patrice Russian. Okay, I'll meet you
with George Benson. And we're like, how can we make
all of these things make sense on one album? Wu
Tang Like it just went all over the place, but
(03:48):
there was such a cohesiveness because of that nostalgia, because
it was all the elements of the things that made
you feel good about music, and we just managed to
make it work on one project.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yeah, and it's even like some of the songs like
you said George Benson, but then that was also a
sample from previous like even with Mary J. Blige, And
then like that's really dope to me because it's it's
also different age groups. Like some people will relate and
look at this like, Okay, this song is from what
is Leon Russell?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
But then somebody going to know if it's a George
Benson thing. Most of the audience may not know who
that is. But then you hit them with the Mary
run or something oh that's Mary j. Blige. So it's
connecting the two worlds and making them make sense so
everyone can get something from each element of every song
(04:39):
on this.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Album, because you know, I used to work for Wu Tang.
That was my first job, right, And one thing that
they were really great at also was like some of
those old soul samples, and it kind of reminds me
of and back in the day they used to do
this party soul kitchen, and so it was really like
all samples and I feel like Questlove and q Tip
used to do that field.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
It was an absolute master at it completely and that's
exactly what this was. And I feel like Casablanco when
you play it is like one of those soul kitchen
parties where you're trying to identify, Oh, that's that Wheel Tang,
that's that nas, Oh that's that Mary Jane girls, and
you're like going on this roller coaster ride of music
(05:23):
that we've been influenced by, and Dre and myself in
one room ultimately complimenting each other in such a way
made Casablanco really what it is now.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Did you were you in La during this whole Kenjick
Lamaya Juneteenth, I know you mean, I.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Know you were mas. I just said this. Listen, I'm
not let this is out today, but if I had
some West gear, I'd have it on and throw up
the dub because Wow, I was here in New York
and I'm watching it happen. I'm watching it all unfold online,
and I had, you know, my peoples that was there,
dre pops out. The West popped out like it was
(06:02):
for hip hop. It wasn't even about it just being
the West. It was about it being so very unapologetically
black and for us, by us, for real, and for
Kendrick to share in the elevation and evolution of hip
hop and embody that in such a classy way.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yes, Oh, the community that we got to see on that.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Stage amazing, And I think that doesn't happen if it's
not believed. You know, we've only had so many hip
hop icons that one carried that torch and carried that weight.
Kendrick has carried that weight and carried that torch with class.
And we've lost some of our heroes very early on,
(06:50):
and it's just great to see during a lifetime this
play out so positively in such a way, even in
its the battle was crazy. The Drake Kendrick battle was
one to just share online with the world in real time.
It felt like what it would have felt like back
(07:10):
in the day of that it happened. But now we're
all reacting at the same time, and it's just great
for the genre. It's great for us. And Kendrick really
did that ship.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yes, he really did. And when I tell you even
that whole battle, because first of all, to be clear,
they both are huge. You know, it's not like artists
is big the other ones not as big, and it's
like why and I responding it was like two of
the biggest hip hop artists. I have a.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Feature with both of them, you know. So it's like
it wasn't about who won. I know who won. No, everyone,
I don't debate. It's not a debate a debate, but
hip hop absolutely won. And I think it's never ending
because that's what a battle was supposed to do.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, it was kind of like when Nas and jay
Z were going at it and they were both huge,
huge artists, and at the end of the day all
the streams ran up. You know, Kendrick that actually pushed,
not like us, even though it was a number one
song back.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Up out the stratospheres. So think about twenty twenty four.
Now Nas is still nazing, Jay is still jing Yep,
getting money. Still absolutely humongous icons in the field because
ultimately hip Hop one, we've got all the eyes on it,
regardless of how it happened, whose feelings got hurt because
(08:29):
there's some words, and you know, the fans take it
for serious and everyone's like, ah, my guy one or
my girl or what like, just let the sport win,
and we won hip Hop one.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
I have like ten things I want to ask you
right now. First, I want to ask you this, since
you said like it's some words, are you sensitive about things?
Like are you the type of person? Because I feel
like a lot of artists are sensitive, but for some
reason with you, I think that you can. You have
been able to just kind of put out music that
you say things that other people might judge and be like,
I can't believe she said that, But I love that
(09:01):
about you.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
But I'm the most unbothered person when it comes to
my pen Like I'm gonna say it. I hope she
cheats on you with a basketball player. I'm flagrant, but
I'm gonna say it even if that's how I feel. Yeah,
so it made sense to me, So it's gonna make no.
I don't back down from my pen Am I sensitive
(09:22):
if somebody else says something about me or to me,
it's words and it's opinion. So I can only feel
how I feel about me, and I care enough if
I care enough, Like where's this coming from? If I
don't know you, you're not in my life like that, and
it's like, I like when she said or she did, Okay,
(09:43):
well I'll just go and talk to Michael Jackson or
Prince Stevie said, you know, like this is wild, but
very much, you know. So it's the level of unbothered
on that end took some doing because we're all human
and anything can her the most smallest.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Thing on the wrong day, the wrong get to you, and.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
You're like, let me send to myself again and realize
that none of that is important and help Nila with
some second grade math or something. I need more help
than she does. Second grade math is ridiculous. I did
not know a thing when I was her age. It's
getting crazy, Yeah, it is. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
I listen when they be putting them little math problems
on Instagram and I'm like, dude, they asked you, like, Okay,
what's the correct answer? I'm always got to get.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
We've had to google, and we've had to call family
friends and figure this out because yeah, we're back in school.
We're all back in school. We're all back in the
second grade now because of our kid, which is crazy.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Now, my shot, Now I want to flash back to
something that just happened right since we were talking about
all of this. So Flower try and then recently Amanda
did Club Shaysha, So what's going on like with the
two of you? Do you have any hard feelings to her?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
She felt like, no, there's absolutely no hard feelings on
my part. I'd only ever come across her recently in
twenty twenty three. Physically, I hadn't seen her since twenty thirteen,
where we were cool, like we did an event here
in New York for a hair care product. We reminisced
about old times and she'd send me text messages and
(11:19):
throughout the years after the whole Floatory actual reunion for
the Flow Treo fans, it just didn't work out. They
weren't receptive of it being anyone else, even if it
was her.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
It wasn't personal. It was just that they were used
to seeing Natalie on estay and.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
There's nothing you can do about that part. So parting
ways was inevitable because the record company were like, oh no,
this is not going to work. Management, Oh no, this
is not going to work. Flow tru fans, this is
not going to work. So fast forward into seventeen years later.
It was never on my mind. I apologized to her
with you right there as witnessed to that seven years
(11:55):
ago when we were on the Breakfast Club, you know,
And that was seven years ago where am I apology
was to her? But I hadn't seen her since, so
I kind of just left it at that. And I
don't know, maybe people google talking points, Oh Marsh's back
in the person. Let me make a I don't know
what the reason is, but I've healed over this time
(12:15):
since seven seventeen years ago three weeks of my life
that was that tours.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Was only three weeks.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Yeah, I know there was definitely like fifteen or sixteen shows,
but it was for sure three weeks during the summer
seventeen years ago. So I kind of you have to
understand in two thousand and seven, I was still talking
to Michael Jackson. At that point, I'm still talking to Prince,
I'm still doing all of these other things. I'm producing
(12:42):
and Ryan for other people, and this thing that i'd
held on dearly too just didn't work out, and I
moved on. So fast forward seventeen years later and I've
got a project with doctor Dre and I'm doing all
of these things. Last thing on my mind. So absolutely
no hard feelings, but I can't dismiss or diminish someone
else's version of how they felt about what happened. So
(13:06):
she's valid in her feelings, but there were also other
people there to validate what actually happened. And sometimes you
take your l's different like a round of applause and
wrap it up be sound exactly the same to someone
who's seeking adoration. And there just wasn't enough of a
(13:28):
welcoming reception publicly for it, and that was nothing I
could do for that. I tried everything. I tried to
switch up the show. She wanted to do her own song,
and I'm like, you were crying last night because of
how you were very poorly received. Maybe that's not such
a good idea. So yeah, I did tell the MD
to take it out all the things. So it was
(13:49):
like war on the.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Bridge for me, because clearly you would want to have
a good tour too. It's not like you.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I'm taking it as I'm getting booed, not you getting booed.
I'm looking at something I built, ground up, eh, crash
and burn. So it hurt for that and it wasn't
gonna work. So moving forward, reunited with Flowa Tree down
the line, met my husband twenty fifteen, and that and
myself get back on stage and do Flower Tree twenty sixteen.
(14:16):
I'm pregnant with Nyla twenty twenty four, I'm doing a
project with doctor Drey. Right, that's my timeline.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
What made you say that you even wanted to do
you know, after the group broke up originally, why not
just be like, Okay, I'm gonna do my own thing.
Why didn't I didn't want to do or even go
and do the songs just yourself.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
In hindsight, I could say that I would do that
right now, but that was ready to do. I wasn't
about my soul. I wasn't doing a solo thing. That
was never on the table for me personally, was offered,
but I took the offer to try and make it
work with someone else, because that's what I was accustomed to.
Stage left, close my eyes, sing some songs, and I
(14:58):
was comfortable in.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
That your reservations were being solo.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Back then, I wanted to. I've always wanted to do
Quincy Jones, Dr Dre stuff. I can't find the scenes.
I love paget writing, so it's very much collaborative. And
I've worked with so many people up until that point too,
just making features with ninety eight percent of hip hop
(15:23):
at that point and still counting, So it was very
much a comfort zone for me. So yeah, in hindsight,
I could say, oh, I should have done that tour.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah, you would never know. You don't know what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
I'd never did it if I knew it was going
to transpire the way it did. But you want things
to work, and when they don't, they just don't work.
So I'll take that l and fast forward years down
the line, when yes, I do get late nights and
early mornings and it is a solo thing classic I
end up it's all timing.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
So I feel like everything also happens for a reason,
like sometimes you need something like that to happen to
show you where you're supper to be.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
It's not even that just I guess it's not even
where I was supposed to be. It's the experience and
figuring things out and seeing them through. If you kind
of have a plan, it doesn't always work out, and
that's okay. So it's where you end up because of that.
It's not oh, let me just figure this out so
(16:23):
it gets me to a certain space. I wasn't trying
to do.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Yeah, but I'm saying, maybe that happened to tell you
this is what you need to do, you know, because
sometimes like something doesn't.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Work baby, and then it's like how it all turned out?
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Now? The truth is sometimes it is the best thing
is to kind of like try to do things. Nobody
does everything completely alone, right, but it's it is nice
and when you don't have to rely so much, like
you can move when you want to move, do what
you want to do, figure out. This is when I
can tour. I don't have to think about like when
can you do this? Right?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I mean I absolutely I think Natalie the Fluicist and
myself will very much solo artists. We just found this
thing that worked together. I was trying to do my
solo thing when I was in my teens, like early twenties,
early early twenties, So that didn't work out, and I
was okay with that, like, uh, they don't want me
to rap and sing at the same time, this little
(17:14):
British girl that's trying to do this thing absolutely fine.
And by the time I find this thing that works,
I'm comfortable. So when it's different, it's oh, who am I?
What am I doing? Why am I doing it? And
you get the opportunity to do it, I'll throw myself
in the deep end. Because I remember performing Feelings at
(17:36):
Constitution Hall in DC and having a different, overwhelming feeling
about performing because it felt very much solo. It felt
very much secluded, and I think I cried my eyes
out on that stage that night, like something happened. I
don't know what it is, but I liked it. It
(17:57):
opened me up a little bit. I want to say
that was late two thousand and seven, no two thousand
and six, rather, and I knew something was happening. But yeah,
it's just the course of life and just experience, and
I've done so much of that and living and happy
to be doing it now.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
And when you met the love of your life and
you guys had your quote unquote fake one nice thing
because it wasn't really it's so fat, But did you
have like when you woke up, what did you think
was going to happen?
Speaker 2 (18:27):
We were going to do it again? Absolutely want to
get out? He exactly roll over like it was this
It must be some amazing. It had no expectations, but
knew what it felt.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
But sometimes we tell ourselves like why did I do that? Now?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Oh no, there was no why. Even if this was
that one night, it will be the most unforgettable. I
would then tell my future husband, I had the best time,
oh like my life.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Ladies, don't try to.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Twenty You have to be honest with the.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
I would say, I had the best night in my life.
It wasn't you, but it was twenty years ago.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
There might be something that stays on my mind about
that one night, and I'd have to tell my significant
other if it wasn't that person might look something haunts
me about, maybe something not happening or happening because of
how I felt that night with this person. But if
I then fell for someone else, there's a reason for
that also, which might might I have to I have
(19:35):
zero filter and if that's my superpower and my downfall.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
No, that's it. Hey, I'm not mad at it. Now,
let's talk about this song Greedy for a second. You
know they always say in relationships there's givers and takers, right,
and there's always somebody that gives a little more and
somebody who takes a little more. Which one are you?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
I'm a competitive giver because I always end up with
someone that gives and we try and outdo how much
I did each other, which is great. With Greedy, the song,
it wasn't necessarily about just one relationship. It was people,
it was things, it was circumstances, it was people being
greedy with your time and your energy. And sometimes what
(20:19):
you have to give is never enough. So I could
give you the moon, and it's just not enough for you, right,
So you want the stars and the sun. Now you
want the universe. When my effort, in that moment, when
I was at my lowest moment, I gave you an
entire moon, and you have to understand what that took
for me to do. And it's still not enough. You're greedy.
(20:43):
I don't even think, I say, I don't even sing
the word greedy in the song, but the overall premise
of what it meant was just greed, greedy.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
So you think about this from a business point of view,
from everything, family, every friendship, bit of it, all of it. Yeah, man,
that is so too. You could give somebody the moon
and all the stars except one, and they went that
one star, right, that.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
One is like the perfect size. It's not right, but
it's just bright enough, like, well, here's the rest of
this universe, and you were in that one little star
can walk now.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Also, so that I told you we heard three songs
so far that had come out as we're waiting to
see And the way you've done everything, it feels like
you want to be really interactive with your with your audience.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yes, we're just people, right exactly. But I feel like,
because this album speaks.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
To Chris Green, come on, come on, we know you're
from Brooklyn, we know you're from Brooklyn, and Chris.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Well, get that dough, get that done.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Is it just like the song or a ringto you
have raintown? Still I was gonna say, remember raintoon my.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Gosh and the mill Oh my god. I was speaking
about her the other day. I really want to do
a song with her. Always said she's got one of
the best female voices.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Can we find a milk? Because let me tell you
a mil If you're listening and Mushia and Brosia said
she wants to do a sum with you, you should do it.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
She's got one of the craziest female rap voices. It's
the nostalgia for me, and I think she has a
gorgeous voice, so I would love that. That's your fault.
So you just put good job, Yeah, good job.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
But a milk can thank you? Okay?
Speaker 2 (22:19):
No. So the interactive space for this album casta blanc
Hole is because everyone can get something from it. So
even with the track list reveal that I just did
on Instagram, is because the album cover reminds me of
the Goonies, remember the movie. Oh yes, so the Treasure map,
so you kind of.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Look at it's like we have a treasure to find a.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Giant map map full of music that you're finding each
and every time. I don't know if everyone's going to
be able to read these credits, but it's the Guinness
Book World of Records of samples on this album.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Listen seriously, and you know what was great about it?
Because I'm listening to it, and I love like all
different genres of music, and I grew up like listening
to vinyl and everything. Like my parents had a whole
lot of records in the house, so I would be listening,
like what song is this? We really I'm like, Okay.
Then I would go look it up and then I
would be like, oh, I didn't even realize that was
(23:13):
also a sample, right, you know, exactly before that and
then like Na's on the Greatest Whose world is this exactly?
But then I'm like, then I started thinking, is that
a sample from something else? Because I don't know.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
So Perry Mason the TV theme is also in there.
And then we just did too much. This album is
so unrealistic. And by the time Dre was like, look,
this is what it is. We're going to go into
trying to clear the samples, and I was clearest, they
will never clear. It took a year. It took a
(23:44):
little over a year to actually clear the album, and
there were two songs that we did that we couldn't
get clearances on. So I changed some of the lyrics
and some of the verse melodies so we could still
do the songs okay. And that was lucky because the ones.
There was only one song I was begging for. I said,
I don't care what doesn't make it. If this one
(24:06):
doesn't make it, throw the whole album in the trash.
And that was Oh, can I say these titles?
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Say it?
Speaker 2 (24:12):
I want to know that, Okay, okay, thrill Her. Thrill
Her was the one thrill Her. I was like, if
I can't clear that song.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
What song was it on? There?
Speaker 2 (24:26):
It's called thrill Her?
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Now, I mean the sample that.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
The samples are cream Woo Tang, Doke Kellington's in a
sentimental mood, Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
That's a lot of heavy. So I gotta ask, like, financially,
this album is not about.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Doctor Dre, Doctor Drey.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
This album is not about making money from the actual album,
because I have to imagine, all these samples are so expensive,
Doctor Dre.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Okay, the whole album is expensive and it's Doctor Dre.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
So No.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
It was, like I said, it was something that felt
so unrealistic to actually release. It wasn't about how much
the samples were going to get to career or any
of those things. It was are we allowed to share
this moment with the world for them to hear what
we did with these samples, and by the time Dre
(25:29):
has hit me back like it's time, it's clear everything.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Wow, it's did you think it was going to happen?
Because you know what, Doctor d people think it's never
coming out. Everybody that's tried to do it happened with him.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
One week, it's never happening. One week, still not happening.
You have a track list and people are playing it
and sending the records now, and I'm like, is this
real life? This can't be real life. I cannot be
the only person on planet Earth that has an album
produced and mixed by Doctor Dre. I'm the only person
(26:04):
on planet Earth that has an album completely produced and
mixed by Doctor Drey.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
That is amazing, Like who am I right? Like he
we even get him to put his own album out
exactly so, and here you are this mean.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Much as his album as it is mine, Like we
are straight fifty to fifty on this thing.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
I saw him posting that too, and you guys had
the same yeah post and that was unintentional.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
That was literally the mood and feeling. This is some
of my greatest work. I don't know what surpasses this
because of the time that we created it, in what
we did to create it, what we overcame to create it,
and it's a dream come true.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
And you guys were working on this before he had
his aneurysm.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Right after, oh, right after, we'll work on. What I
did know at the time was the GTA soundtrack. So
once he had the health scare, I was just recovering
from my own health scare, and we kind of, I
don't know if I'm using the term correctly trauma bonded
over surviving these things. And then he flew me out
(27:20):
within weeks of him just getting out of the hospital
from that brain aneurysm. So twenty twenty one January, his
health scare, I was there by the end of February.
We start working on Casablanco by mid April, because I
told him, I don't want to do this music thing anymore.
I mean, I want to say, do this music thing anymore.
I didn't want to do the artist thing anymore. I
(27:40):
was like, no, I'm really in my Quincy Jones now,
I really want to just produce, right. I love your team.
I would love to stay here and work for as
long as it takes on. Whatever projects you're doing, and
he was like, nah, nope, you got one more in you.
I just want to keep you inspired and let's see
where this goes. So when we recorded the very first
song from Casablanco that's now Castablanco, which was Tunisian Knights
(28:04):
Tunisian Nights, it was magic in that moment, like such
a wow, I can do more, there is more to me,
and he pushed me in such a way and we
tested boundaries and just really took it there. I had
no choice for the Leo competitive person that I am,
(28:29):
to see it through to the end, because I was like,
we do one, we have to do two, we do two,
we have to do four, we do four, we have
to do eight. We had just had to keep getting
better and better each and every time, and we did,
and we created this within that timeframe three or so
weeks in April. Between April and May, we're mixing and
(28:50):
tweaking things. By June, we're in with a twenty seven
piece orchestra. By September, we're in clearance mode. By the
end of that year. For all of twenty twenty two
to the beginning of twenty twenty three, listening party just
to get the feelers everyone's hype. Then it was let's
get the business straight and get to work and hair right.
(29:11):
It doesn't feel like the time has done that these years.
It's now I feel like you're rushing me, and you mean,
like what waits is slow down? Like which is crazy,
but it's It's been a wild ride and a necessary one,
even in its craziness and madness. Just that is this industry.
(29:32):
It's uh, it's all worth it.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
I see people calling for you to do a tiny desk,
which I think would be amazing.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
I would love to It would be so much fun.
So yeah, keep calling.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Yeah, because I saw, you know, people were like Marcia
needs to do a tiny desk Like that would be
a ridiculous. And I bet in your head you already
know how I know.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
The set list. I already know. I've already yeah, I
already sketched that out. I already know what I'm going
to be doing. We might have to do some after
hours and uh stay there and do two different versions
of it, but I would absolutely love that.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Do you consider yourself to be a shy person in general?
Speaker 2 (30:08):
A little bit? But I'm open when I'm open, Like
this feels intimate and close enough for us to have
a conversation, but then put me in a public setting
and I'm chilling until something's initiated. So shy reserved, I'd say,
not necessarily shy, be shy.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Sometimes people will say like, oh, you were a little
stand up fish like about me, But until it's not
necessarily that, I just don't ever want to, like, you know, overstep.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Someone said it to me the other day. They were like,
you're the most kindest, unapproachable person I've ever met, and
I was like, oh, that's perfect, And it's not a
negative to be unapproachable, it's you feel like the type
of person that I need to be worth your space.
So I'm not coming at you because I feel like
it's not even necessary for me to do so. So
(31:03):
it's unintentional to be standoffish, like you're not doing that.
They're perceiving that of you because how they feel about
you or I you know what I mean, So I
know how you are, wouldn't be connecting.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
We're cool. But if you didn't know that, you know,
I always knew great things about you, just because like
I'm really good friends with Ryan Press. And then so
you've been working with Jay Irving since and he's forever.
He's been your manager for how long.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Now, twenty three years.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
There's not a lot of people that can say they've
had the same manager for twenty three years.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
More than management, it's family and support. So regardless of
him or I being off the radar and me not
doing my artist thing, he then goes on to manage
other people and vice versa. It's I step away, he
steps away, and he wishes me well. I wish him well.
(31:57):
It's a bit bigger than him just being a manager.
We've been together in this thing like Bryan Press, like
the whole squad day active, exactly like your team.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
I feel like everybody loves you so much. They're like
my shait.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
My brother's like it's wild. I'm like the little big sister.
And then I'm still one of the boys. So they
find it really odd when I get in my feelings
because they forget female. Sometimes I'm just gonna be in
my you know, I've been one of the guys for
twenty four years.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
How was it for your husband to adjust to your
lifestyle because I'm you know, it is a little different.
And then now you're also about to be on.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
The road, you know, met on the road.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Yeah, and now.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
He saw it hands on, what the lifestyle was like,
and just the fact that we ended up getting pregnant
and we were still on the road during that propect.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
But he's I don't think he has he ever dated
like a person who is actually you know, it's different.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Yeah, it was kind of wild, but I don't know
it was perfect. It's just ready for that. I don't
I don't know how it works. And I'm not claiming
to have all the answers for that. It's it's just works.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Just now. I know her mom is a celebrity.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
She kind of does. And we have a running joke
that we're going to go and see Marshall and Brosius
in concert or oh, you're going to do radio with
Marshall Ambrosier. Is she going to be there? She wearing
your outfit too, Like.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
I think she was on the list. I thought we
were going to get a.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Chair and they want to go grab some food.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
I forgive it time.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
It's so done. But yeah, she knows, but she doesn't know,
and it's so cool like that, but she knows, like
it's it's it's beautiful and disarming and all the things.
She's seven now, so she the songs to her like,
I'm never doing that, it's not happening. I remember my
(33:58):
nephew and he was really really young and Friends and
Lovers album came out and sixty nine is on there,
and we told him it was it was about a
bus because there was a bus route in South London,
but it was a sixty eight and he was like,
I was like, it's about the sixty eight bus, but
we just needed one more minute to make it and
then it changed numbers. I don't know if he still
(34:20):
believes that's twenty years old. He was for sure like eight,
What do we tell him? He's twenty now? He knows
what that song's about. But it's gross. So yeah, no,
I'm not looking forward to these moments where I have
to explain what I meant when I said, oh, so
many things, it's gross.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Well my stually, I just want to say congratulations. I
hope that you are taking in the moment for yourself
because you're so chill and calm about it.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
It's because I'm taking it and why I feel like this,
but I am. I'm trying.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Catablanco is definitely coming out.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Oh, my gosh, we'll see next Friday.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Next Friday.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Say, it is out in these streets and there's nothing
I can do about it.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
And what's the plan. Is there a tour? What are
we doing?
Speaker 2 (35:06):
There's gonna be a tour for sure, that'll be announced
very soon. And I encourage the dress code to be
tucks and Chucks, So tuxedos and your tucks, jays Chucks,
ball gowns and jays, whatever that's gonna be. When you
(35:26):
press play on this album, you're gonna feel like you
may be underdressed. So if you have your silk pajamas
or if you have like a nice little just you're
gonna want to throw something on.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Just It's very theatrical and musical and beautiful from what
I've heard.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
But you also need a grill on some gold rope chains.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
And you know it incorporates.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
It's all the fame.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
I don't even see how that was possible, but you
managed to make it happen, man, doctor Dre and you
and you and that voice.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Fifty fifty we did this thing all right.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Well, congratulations, thank you so much for always coming and
showing me so much love. Due I appreciate it and
it's an honor to have you here, and I'm so
excited for Casa Blanco. It's definitely coming out, so next week,
next Friday.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
So June twenty eight.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
June twenty eight is the day, all right, Marcia Ambrosias,
thank you well
Way Up With Angela Yee News
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