The Breakfast Club Sits Down With Erykah Badu To Discuss Her Iconic Fashion Sense, Social Media's Affect On Art, And New Music. Listen For More!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wake that ass up in the morning.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
The Breakfast Club Morning.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Everybody's the j n V. Jess hilarious, Charlamagne the guy.
We are the Breakfast Club. Jess is on maternity leave,
so Laura l Rossa is filling in, and we got
a special guest in the building, the Icon Living. Yes,
Miss Erica, bad dude, welcome back.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Peace, Peace, peace, How you feeling exquisite?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
There you go?
Speaker 1 (00:22):
All right? Well, I don't know if you know this.
Last time you were in here, the art wasn't up,
but you see the art now.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
And look how you sent it though. You got Queen
Mother blessing the whole room.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I got to pull out the pussy in.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
You got bo, you got the incense, I got it.
I've been burning.
Speaker 5 (00:42):
I've been burning an incense since you dropped them. I
saw y'all two together at the awards.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yes, congratulations on that too. Congratulations on receiving the cf
D A Fashion Icon Award.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Oh, thank you very very much.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I have no idea what that means, but I feel
like you deserve all the awards.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Congrat they say, I found out it's the Oscar of
fashion really, so that that award means a lot to
people in the fashion industry, and thank you, sir, and
to us as artists as well, you know, creators who
are I love it as well, trying to you know,
(01:23):
evolve our our culture, you know, so that means a
lot to be recognized.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
It's always felt like you had an effortless style. Do
you really put a lot of thought.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
In how you how you d sometimes? Okay, you know,
sometimes I do, and sometimes it's just grace it happens.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
You're not supposed to blow out instance, the old googles
don't like that?
Speaker 6 (01:46):
Why you told me, I'm not But I'm not kidding, Okay,
I'm just trying to say it ain't on me.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
We got so much of this sit the house. Yeah,
when you first put it out a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
After that, now you said that during your speech that
this was an award that you wanted for a long time?
Was true that long after?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Since? You know, I didn't even know that you could
get an award for that, but just wanted to be
recognized for the canvas that I create. When I go out, man,
it's really important to me. It's my therapy. You know,
I can't leave without half of mind. Like I said
(02:33):
in the speech, shit together. You know, it's just something
that came with my head. You know, it's a nagging thing.
You know, make sure you shit it together. And sometimes
when I don't try, it really hard and sometimes gracefully
comes together. I guess maybe because of my intention, the
fashion gods gave me the keys out here in these streets.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
We get it from your mom and grandma.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yeah, definitely cold right. They used to call her Twiggy
in high school after the model because she was just
so original and she had bleached her hair white. She's
a really skinny kid with big eyes. It's really creative.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
And how difficult is it for you to have so
much of a fashion sense?
Speaker 6 (03:20):
Right?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Because you travel a lot. How much luggage do you
have to carry? How much do you go shopping? I
know that's what I'm saying. You carry a lot of
freaking lug Like her luggage has her own bus.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Well, I'll explain that when you're your own stylist and
your own makeup person and your own hair person. And
then I do the band's wardrobe, and you know, they're
just instruments and all kinds of things. So I'll carry
a production so I like to see the vision all
(03:54):
the way through and have my hands in it. There's
a word for that, an artist who has their hands
in every aspect of the work of the vision. It's
called the all tool. I think a beut oh I
r our tour and that's just describe it as an
(04:20):
artist or visionary who has an idea and has to
see it all the way through in each department because
they have the ability to do that.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
So you write a song and you know what the
video gonna look like, You know what you're gonna well
you okay, Wow.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
You talked last night about your best friend who accompanied
you to the awards and afraid of on him introducing
you to a lot of the fashion houses and stuff
like that. Were fashion house houses always like open and
like rushing to support you in all of your creative
ideas or did you have to Was there a fight
because a lot of artists talk about it being a
fight trying to get into the cortur houses.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
You know it was.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
I was out since nineteen ninety seven, and social media
was really the opening to a lot of these relationships
because they could now directly get to the artists where
they probably didn't know how to get to the ones
that they wanted to feature before. But the first person
that reached out to me was Tom Ford. Tom Ford
(05:20):
wanted me to do a perfume at White Patuli, which
was his natural innocense flavors. This was two thousand and two. Yeah,
so that's tom Ford and tom Ford's from Texas as well,
so we kind of formed a bond. And I guess
(05:42):
as I evolved my style other houses or artists, because
it's really the creative directors the person he is the
he is the house at the time because his vision
is trusted most. And they started, you know, kind of
paying attention to you know, the guardliness or the freeiness
or the hobo sheekness. It's been called all kinds of things,
(06:05):
but yeah, they caught notice. And next was Roberto Tichi
and he was the creative director of Jivnshi at the time,
and that was my first full campaign and he let
me co style with him and put things together. And
(06:28):
I think it just after that I was kind of,
you know, I was on the radar for certain things.
Definitely the page to go to if you want to
know what's next, and how do.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
You pick, Like last night you were in Tom Brown
or the other day at the CFDA Wards you were
in Tom Brown, how do you pick which designers in
which houses now you want to work with?
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Because I'm sure they're all banging. You can do anything
you want now, right.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
And I picked Tom specifically for this event because he's
the chairman of the event. Yes, and he's he's also
a very very good friend of mine and his art
is just so amazing. So I thought, since I was
being honored, I would also honor him by wearing one
of his pieces. And I chose one from Runway, uh
(07:12):
and a really beautiful architectural shape, really pretty. And I said,
but I need something huh, futuristic ancient to go on top,
you know. And I saw this AI. I think he
saw this post this morning. I'm not sure, but I
saw this AI rendering of this this head piece, and
(07:36):
I reached out to the person and I told him
this is really beautiful. I would love to challenge a
designer to bring this to life in the in the
five D world War D world. And he said okay.
So I called a friend, Chris Habana, who does a
lot of crafting and amazing jeweler, and he said yes,
(08:02):
and he had three days, and he pulled the team
together and they did some.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
What do you call it, some renderings?
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Yeah, they did some put it in a machine. It's plastic.
You can make a gun with it, you can make
a house, right, Yeah. They did some three D printing
to try to really is it's amazing, it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Do you remember where you were at when you got
the call that you was getting the c FDA.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
I was at home, h and my agency, uh Forward
forwarded me the email. I was like, wow, okay, it's good. Good,
that's good stuff. That's good.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Did you immediately know what you was going with? Did
you see that vision?
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Absolutely not? Okay, absolutely not. This thing was three weeks away. Yeah,
I know I was gonna wear it tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
You've done capsules before with people and collaborated.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Have you ever thought about just you trying to talk
low and soft just because everybody you don't even talk
like that.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
You know, calm down every time.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
I don't know, but I was an ass.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
You know, I will never blow the incident again either.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
When it comes. You ever thought about doing your whole line,
like a full clothing line for America? I do from
rude to tutor and everything in.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Between, and I have thought about that. I had a
chance to practice that with Marnie and French Francesco Riso.
Uh we did a collapse Marnie and last year a
lot of things happened for me in fashion last year,
you know, there was the last two years. It was
my first fashion week. So that's when I really started
(09:48):
to catch the bug. And I met Francesco because we
went to the met ball together and we drew up
some things and talked about some things and had a
appsol line that came out and these leaves are part
of it.
Speaker 5 (10:06):
The collab was everywhere. It was, Yes, everybody was in
y'all collab in Marnie. That was your first fashion week? Yes,
like you attending or like what do you mean by that?
Speaker 6 (10:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (10:16):
It was my first fashion week in twenty twenty three?
Speaker 5 (10:22):
Yeah wow, And that was so during that time that
collab is now two? Is that collab the collab when
you got to work with your daughter Puma two with
Marnie or was it a difference?
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (10:32):
Okay, yes, And how did that feel because it's like, okay,
we see Lebron and Ronnie on the court and they're
like you know, but like this is your lane and
now your daughter's coming into it and y'all are working
with a fashion house.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
How did you feel just doing that with her?
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Oh? It was surreal. It was a dream, you know,
because Puma is such an individual person that I didn't
know what direction she wanted to go in, and I
still don't. You know, she's she's twenty, so she's kind
of finding her way. And sometimes when your kid is
an artist, they don't want to follow your shadow. They
(11:08):
want to find their own thing, you know. But she
was cool with supporting me and standing beside me, and
she's like, Mom, I don't care, this is for you,
you know, So.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Dress if they tried, like what happened with the line?
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Because you what they got to do with what we're
talking about?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Because even I feel like I feel like, I feel
like everything you do is spirit art, even down in
your fashion. So I don't know if you don't embody
that spirit, I don't even know how that would even.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Man, you are such a wise person, you really are.
Ever since I met you. You tap into things so well, Yeah,
I approach everything the same way. It's a feeling I feel.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Yeah, yeah, So would you do your own line? Do
you want to do your line. I know that's not
something that's in your cost right now.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Absolutely, would you have the time for it? Oh yeah,
I would make time.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
This is my last fashion question.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Fashion awards.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
I didn't know. I didn't know.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
If you want to get to I've been trying to
get this award since I was because I'm loaded, ask
me everything. I've been playing with paper dolls, trying to
make sure that people, you know, really appreciate my my work.
It's kind of like putting putting your picture on the
refrigerator so your mom sees it, and you never respect
(12:37):
your mom to say nothing bad. So it's such a
shock every time. It's always new when people are disrespectful
and mean.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
Think disrespectful of me to you. Yeah, I'll them up,
like you're going against to do that to you.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
I mean they try it, you know what I'm saying.
But I'm annointed and detected and I don't have a heart,
so they can't. You know, they can't penetrate me.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
You don't have a heart.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
I'm choking.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
And paper up.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
You don't have to take notes about this.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
I saw online you were doing some interviews just after
their wards, and you were in some Jordan's, Yes were there,
that was a Jordan Virgil clab No, okay, it was
That's not true then, because they were saying it was
like an unreleased It was.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
An unreleased one, but it wasn't Virgil. It was shoe
sergeing got you?
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (13:35):
People just give you like how do?
Speaker 2 (13:37):
How do?
Speaker 5 (13:39):
People line was going crazy over the collap They were
trying to figure out where, like how you even got
the shoes?
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Showed up at my door on the Yo.
Speaker 6 (13:50):
Yo.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
I was like, I was like, yo, all my fashion
block pages out.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Yes, shoot, y'all zoomed in on it.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
I zom did so because I'm like, I don't even
see any of Virgil's like you know he has the
thing he does and you know it's him.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
I'm like, I don't see none of that.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
To get busy, yeah yeah, yes, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Yeah. Maybe I'm not gonna say nothing about that nothing, but.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Damn yeah, how'd you feel about that?
Speaker 3 (14:33):
It was my first time, so I'm trying to I'm
trying to throw throw off the audience so they don't
know what I.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
Told you because I was sitting here like I want
to hear your answer.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
I don't know will tell y'all another time when the
news come out.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
That's right, I feel about that. Now, You've always been
an artist that's sensitive about your ship. You told that
a long time ago. But you said in your speech
at c fd A, that is scary being an artist
in the social media era. So how is social media
made that critique worse?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
I guess yeah, it is scary. I mean, I've heard
my own kids be afraid to express and share their art.
Eric Abadu, kid is scared to share their art and
express themselves because the audience is so vicious at this point,
and they have such a huge appetite for blood, and
(15:24):
they want people to be disciplined and humbled and punished
for their success. Almost it's what it seems like. So
that's why, you know, a lot of kids are afraid to,
you know, share their work or share their art or
feel like they have to come at it with some
kind of armor on, and that armor doesn't allow for
(15:46):
the art to truly express itself. In my opinion, so
it's a scary time for art. We didn't have to
do that. We didn't have to deal with that. You know,
you heard the few little comments and things, but those
weren't strong enough to penetrate a strong person. But these
(16:08):
things are now because when people come in your numbers.
You know, we've talked about group thinks so many times.
It's what It was a prediction that I made with
Windows Seat in twenty ten group think would overshadow art,
(16:32):
and it is right now, yes, because people can. People can.
I think it's very smart to get at the the
channels and even the whole instead of getting at the
(16:55):
bloggers and the people. We see artists penalizing the channels themselves,
and I think that's the smart thing because that's what
has to change. If that doesn't, if there's no place
to do that, then then it won't be done.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Get back to that, you think it'll ever get back
to where people feel comfortable releasing music or not hesitant
because of the amount of people that go at them.
I mean we see it in everything comedy, we see
it in movies, we see it in this regular conversation.
People are afraid to be quote unquote canceled.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Yeah, it's kind of like if it's eating if it's
feeding season, you know, you're a little bit more cautious
to go outside. You know, squirrels are not going to
try to run free and not be cautious when it's
lion season.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
You know, you know it's.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
It might get back to it if we really want
ah kindness. Kindness seems kind of boring to people, you
know what I'm saying, It's kind of boring. There's no
people don't feel that there could be some kind of
dope of being released from being kind being right?
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Does that make you hesitant to release music? No?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Not me, But you haven't dropped in fourteen years?
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Fourteen years, fifteen, I can make you put your phone down, yeah,
twenty fifteen, okay, ten years.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
But the album?
Speaker 3 (18:29):
But album since well, well, one reason I don't have
to it's because I am a performance artist and I've
been doing that constantly for the last thirty years, eight
years out, eight months out of the year, all year round.
I do it. So that's what I love to do.
Only put out albums when I have something to say.
(18:52):
I have something, yeah, something pressing to say or push out.
But I'm I am. I have more than enough space
to get my art on stage, so it's not totally
necessary to put an album for me.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Yeah, I would just love to see the like the
Division of God has shown you, because like if you
look at your catalog right, your catalog literally has predicted
where we are now. So I can only imagine the
stuff you're creating right now. How far into the future
you're seeing things.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
M hmm, me too. I mean I'm writing right now.
I got a project coming.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Out soon, a full album.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
But I can't tell y'all.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
How soon.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
I just got I just got goosebump, So how soon
it will be soon?
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Soon, like by the end of the year, soon or
next year. Soon, we'll see.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Yeah, it's an important one. It's a collapse album.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Oh, you're another artist.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
You're not going to say, who are you?
Speaker 4 (19:58):
You can Andre three thousand again.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
He's a guy that's Do I think he'll rap again?
Speaker 5 (20:04):
I say, is this gonna be the colab album that
gets on the rap again? And also you can answer
do you think he'll rap again?
Speaker 3 (20:09):
And and why would you say is this gonna be
the collab album? Because you're assuming that it's him. Yeah,
I'm asking you can assume whatever you want. But I
don't know. I mean, I don't know. I don't think
he has to. He's speaking with that instrument. It's the
same thing. It miss the same kind of thing. Yeah,
(20:31):
the way he make us feel when with bombs over
bag Dad is the way he makes people who are
ready for that feel. It's the same thing. It's his energy.
It's I feel it. That's the rap, you know. To me,
he rapping to me, that's true.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
I want to go see it. I want to go
see the New Blue New Blue Son tour. When he
performed in Brooklyn, and I felt very fulfilled, very fulfilled.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
I felt fulfilled because he was. He was fulfilled. He
was happy, he was doing what he wanted to do
at his own pace. There was no urgency, you know,
to be right. He was happy with making mistakes. It
was cool. I really enjoyed it, and I love himprov
(21:23):
so I was happy he had a chance to get
up there and express himself because I don't know, if
you understand it. We have to do this or we
may be sick or something. Artists who use their art
as therapy or use their art as a coping mechanism,
(21:43):
you know, helps me with all of the things that
are off balanced.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
I have to do that.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
So seeing him being able to do that, because I'm
assuming that he may feel the same way I do,
it's just such a blessing to have that platform to
do it.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
You know, I can see what y'all are twin flames too,
because he was on stage and it was one part
of the show where he just started going making all
kinds of noises and the crowd was answering them back,
and then he goes, I wasn't saying ship.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
Last night. He I keep saying last night. I don't
know what data is coming up.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
But he presented you with your c FD a fashion
that kind of word on the way that like, I
know you, you reached out to him to have him
present to you, and you guys had a conversation.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
He was saying, I did, well. It was a kind
of tricky thing. I actually reached out to Tiana Taylor
because I think she's next wh Okay, I think she's
I think she has a really good grasp art in
fashion functional art. I'm really impressed and inspirer. But I
(22:52):
asked her and ah, I'd asked Andre before but he
didn't respond. And then they came back and told me
after I asked, you know that andres would said yes.
And I had to figure out how to maneuver that,
you know, because that meant a lot to her. Yes,
(23:13):
I want to tell her I love you so very
much and I'm so happy that we're friends. And I
hope that that did not bring a wedge between us
in any way. But that's Andre two thousand, girl.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
And your best friend. You got to talk to people.
You got to talk to people to get to him. No, oh,
you just said my sister.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Well sometimes, yeah, it depends you know how busy he is.
I'll follow proper protocol. Ya.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
How do you handle the challenge of balancing like your
personal expression with the expectations that your fans in the
music industry might might place on Eric Abadu? How do
you how do you handle the challenge of balancing like
the personal expression with the expectation the fans may have,
like they might expect you to show up a certain
way all the time.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
That's fun, you know, it's part of it's part of
the art, because this, this career is an art. It's
what it is. There's an art of longevity. There's an
art of conceptualizing, there's an art of building a persona.
There's an art of knowing when to divvy the art out,
(24:29):
knowing when to pull it back. It's all an art,
So what the people feel and think are very very important.
It's a major part of it because they decide who
and what you are. I like to surprise them. I
like to give them what they did not know they
they may have wanted, because I hope that I'm doing
whatever I'm doing presently as well as I was doing
(24:52):
what I was doing in the past as an artist.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
When did you realize that you didn't say that you
didn't give a fuck. Can you say You're going to
do what you want to do. You're going to put
out what you want to put out. You don't necessarily
have to fit in the box of every artist. You
don't have to follow the platform and say this is it,
taken leave it?
Speaker 3 (25:09):
When did you get to that point in the contract
negotiation in nineteen ninety seven? It was never a felim
Oh no, I mean I didn't have to do it,
you know, and they didn't have to.
Speaker 6 (25:27):
You know.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
I figured it was a partnership and I was doing
the record label of Favor. I knew who I was,
I knew what I was getting ready to do. I
had a mission, and nothing was going to infiltrate it,
not even my own fear and doubts, and I'm still
on mission. Best work is still in me and I
(25:47):
have not accomplished whatever that is yet, because there's still
this feeling of abuse and greenness and gross.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
When did you realize it was on divine assignment in
your life?
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Little?
Speaker 6 (26:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (26:01):
I always thought I was very very special, very annoyingted
or a narcissistic one because I just believed it. I
always have. Nobody can tell me that that it's not true.
That I have a mission and I am. I am annointed,
and I am special and I am blessed. And that's
(26:22):
why I choose service over anything, because I know things.
Some things come easier to me than they will to
someone else. So I already know.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
When you look at other artists without saying names, do
you see it in them like they're selling themselves out?
I know they're different. Do you see that? And a
lot of artists like they're selling themselves out for a
check or selling themselves out for a label where you
see they can go something different? Do you see that
a lot?
Speaker 3 (26:50):
And be I don't know, I don't ever look at that, Yeah,
selling themselves out for I don't know. People do what
they have to do. You know, and it's not a race.
We don't all have to be at the same understanding
at the same time. You know, everybody, our artists don't
have to be responsible for your kids, you know. Yeah,
(27:11):
so I don't know. I mean people doing what they
have to do. I remember needing money too and doing things.
It's strange things with a piece of change, you know,
like performing and venues I didn't want to perform in
or h Yeah, so I don't know. I can't judge that.
But what do you think about that?
Speaker 1 (27:35):
I think sometimes they got to realize their assignment. And
I think we all go through that sometimes realize while
we're there, you know. And what made me think about
it is, you know, when j Cole jumped into that beef,
he came back and said this is not for me,
and you know, people ished on them and said this,
that and the other. But that was his assignment and
you can't be mad as assignment, and even me as
(27:56):
a fan, was kind of he was on a mission.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Realize.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
I understand that sometimes I believe that, you know, being
a mission or your assignment is not always to do
something heavenly and great and good. Sometimes it's to create
some chaos so that you may shake things up. Fertilizer
is put into a pot to disturb the roots. It's
poisoning them so they have to move. So yeah, I
(28:23):
can't really judge it. You don't know what somebody's mission
is because it all counts, it's all.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Matter, and you don't know what journey God got them
more you don't. You don't get Michael Max without Malcolm Little.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
That's right. You don't get eric about without I'm trying
to think it was.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
Street name.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
You don't get eric about without butchery knife Betty, that's
my new monarcha.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Everybody, when when you said that you was, you knew
you was of service. Did you know what that was
going to look like? Did you know it was gonna
be music?
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Actually I did not, But I don't consider that the service.
I consider music my privilege because I'm using the audience
as therapists, a thousand million therapists to get my idea
of my thing out. Services are the things that I
don't charge money for that I do because I feel
(29:24):
like it's the right thing, not because of a promise
of heaven or or accolades or trophy, just but because
of integrity and the connection between two people. And when
people hear this, they don't believe that that nobody believes that.
It's so strange to me that people don't believe that
(29:46):
that kind of human can't exist, you know, they don't
believe it. Maybe it's strange. Is it strange that I
don't need anything back or I don't ask for anything
when I pray? Is it strange?
Speaker 2 (30:07):
I don't think so, no, because I think, to me,
prayer is for gratitude. I find myself when I'm praying,
I'm just saying thank you. And I guess coming from
where I come from, a dirt road and most going
to South Carolina, I'm always felt good. I feel like
whatever God has given me in that moment is what
I'm supposed to have, and I'm grateful for that.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
It seems like it's becoming more of a general consensus
that we don't need anything. We're realizing that that we
don't need anything, and the biggest gift we probably need
is peace of mind, you know. And I'm rewarded with
peace of mind when I do service for others for free,
(30:51):
for nothing, just because right there too, peace of mind.
That's what we just what the green juice for what
the your goo force, what the music is for, with
the singing is for, the money is for bitchess is full. Yeah,
one point to kids and husband and house and cars
(31:11):
for we all looking for peace of mind and that's
how I get mine the most service.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Do people take advantage of that though? Sometimes?
Speaker 3 (31:19):
Absolutely? Absolutely, but that's none of my business.
Speaker 5 (31:26):
Absolutely, were there points, like bag Lady, I was saying
earlier in the room that I remember when bag Lady
for me started hitting differently and I was listening to
it and it was like, Ooh, I get it now.
When I was younger, I was just listening to it
because it was played in my house and I loved
the song. But I literally remember that feeling for you,
(31:46):
were there points in your life where you had to
be like, ooh, I get it, like I felt it
bag Lady, or like was this song of service.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
For someone else?
Speaker 3 (31:54):
You mean feeling my own song?
Speaker 5 (31:56):
You're feeling your just even before Bad Lady was created. Yeah,
maybe there was a time in your life that you know,
created or inspired the song. When did you get out
of the bag Lady phase? And what did that feel
like for you?
Speaker 2 (32:07):
She has a lot of baggage, so she's trying to
see if did you have too or was it just
a song.
Speaker 5 (32:11):
What I'm saying is what I realized is number one.
With my mom, I always I never understood why she
couldn't be happy about certain things. And then I got
older and I'm like, man, you're carrying so much stuff.
I tell all the time, like just let that go,
like we can handle that.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Men have told Lauren that she need doing this with
a couple of men did that to Lauren. They said,
to spend the block what you need to heal, You
need to work on yourself.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
Who said this first? Of all?
Speaker 4 (32:38):
The two people that said it to me, they ain't
even They probably can't even spell hells.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
So so what y'all think about the two guys, I
think they're right on the journey. She's on the journey.
And the two men that you respect, one of them
I respect, told you that you need to work on yourself. Yes,
as an insult or as an encouragement and love.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
The second one I think it was insult and deflecting.
The first one.
Speaker 5 (33:05):
Yeah, the first one I think it was like he
really cares, Like that's why when he said it, I
was like, Okay, I hear it. I'm in a point
in my life now where I can do the accountability.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
Does he need to work on himself as well?
Speaker 4 (33:15):
Yes he does?
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Does he know?
Speaker 4 (33:18):
Yes he does?
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Okay, cool?
Speaker 4 (33:19):
Second one really know, like it's you.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
Really know he got to work on himself.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
I don't even want nothing to do with that, like
it's bad.
Speaker 5 (33:25):
But I asked that because I just feel like, as
I got older and realized how much you do care,
especially emotionally, sometimes it weighs into other things and it
closes doors, or it cuts off relationships, or you just
miss out on good things. And every time I listen
to that song, I'm like, man, how does she know
that people was going to need this?
Speaker 3 (33:43):
I don't know, you know, I was writing what I felt,
you know, in my heart, and you know I did
hear it later And I'm talking to myself, my future self.
Speaker 5 (33:56):
Where were you at at that time of your life
when you were talking to your future self? Like, what
was the transition as you were.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Trying to make I think I was transitioning out of
a relationship where I was not happy about it. Yeah,
and realizing that I had to leave some things behind,
some parts of me behind. So it felt like a
funeral of sorts. Yeah, like because you have a party,
(34:20):
you have to die every time you evolve, you got
to leave it back there. You know, you want it
because it's familiar, and a lot of times we like
to resort to the familiar, even if it's toxic. Yeah,
So you have to leave it. That corpse, that beautiful
old you has to be left, and you have to
(34:41):
walk forward and I look back. That's the hardest part,
not leaving the people, but it's leaving your own ways
and you.
Speaker 4 (34:49):
Yeah, it's about of discipline.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
It is.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
It is when did you get to the point where
you knew you you had? When did you get to
the point where you loved every version of yourself? Though?
Speaker 3 (34:59):
H I don't know when that happened, but I definitely do.
Speaker 4 (35:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
I look forward to waking up and getting to do things,
getting to experience, getting to test out my kindness.
Speaker 6 (35:15):
You know.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
I prayed for kindness. I was like, I wanna practice kindness,
you know, my last big whatever meltdown we were going
through twenty twenty or somewhere, I just wanted to praxe kindness.
Two or three days later, I went to the airport.
My ticket was wrong, my bags got put somewhere else.
(35:36):
They were left on the tarmac of all bags mine.
The lady was talking to me crazy, asked me, h y,
this is first class. You can't put your you know
that whole routine. It was everything that was hard. M
So I was assuming that the creator was saying, we'll
here practice on this mm if you wanna practice kindness,
p here, I'll give you some things to practice some
(36:00):
because you just don't get to beat that.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
How did that work out?
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Worked out great?
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Some parts from the last time. Mama wanted to pull out.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
A gun at the airport, but I just settled for
having my fist balled up like Arthur. And yeah, I
got through it because I kind of it took me
a little bit to realize what was happening, Like wait
a minute, I see what I see what this is.
(36:30):
I see what that said, you know, And.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Yeah, I don't see you getting outside of your vibe,
your zone.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
What vibe do you think I got? I'm your tell
me about it.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
I don't. But every time I see you, you just
seen mellow chill and at peace. I don't.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
This is the place to be mellow chilling, at peace.
There's no reason in here to be any other kind
of way. If anybody else comes on y'all show without this,
call me just shine.
Speaker 4 (37:02):
A light on that.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
You're also playing Lucille in the Netflix movie The Piano Lesson.
Were you a fan of the play?
Speaker 3 (37:16):
I went to as HBC Grammling State University. I was
a theater major. I was a despian, So we did
a lot of August Wilson material, Lorraine's Hands, Lorraine Hansbury,
h a myriad of black artists, play rights, but we
did do that play as well. And Lucille's part is
(37:37):
very tiny, you know. But the most important role I
played was composing music for the for the movie. Malcolm Washington,
who is Denzel's Sun, is directing, and he called me
and asked if I would uh put together some music
(38:00):
for it. And I call my very good friend Daniel Jones.
Got restless, so safe journey. Daniel Jones. He came and
put some beautiful pieces together nineteen thirties and I wrote
lyrics over them. Wow, and they're they're used in the
movie The Piano Lessons on Netflix.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
So before we get this collaboration album, I think November eighth,
right eight, So before we get this collaboration album. We're
getting original music on this soundtrack.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
Yes, yeah, nineteen twenties, thirties, so there's an acquired taste
period piece, period piece.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
Does acting? Does acting feel like restricted? Does it feel
like it's restricting you in any way?
Speaker 3 (38:47):
No, it just feels like work. Okay, yeah, my touring
and music doesn't feel like work. But acting does I
feel like work?
Speaker 2 (38:57):
I can't even see you on the say it feel
like you know, you don't seem like the hurry up
and wait, like you want to be doing something like Hey, yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
I do, I al, I got something. I'm gonna bring
an easel and some pain. I'm you know, I really
miss my kids being little. That really took up a
lot of mind playtime. I just want to play all
the time, make something, play, do something, and I have
to carry everything with me to make that happen. Like
(39:22):
if I'm working on a movie set, because there are
long hours and I should be reading over my lines,
but I always wait and do it the last minute. Yeah,
but no, I don't really dig that too much being
an actor in a film. I like theater though. I
(39:43):
think that's a wonderful place. I like the immediate connection
between you.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
And the artists, and you only get like one take
to do it when you're on that stage.
Speaker 3 (39:54):
Yeah, that's it, that's what's beautiful about it.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Yeah, one stop, he's producing the piano lesson right. Yes,
was he involved late, he was.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
Around, but he stepped back and let his children work.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Yeah. What do you learn from your children now now
that they're grown?
Speaker 3 (40:14):
Oh, so many things. Like I told you guys, they
are definitely improvements on my design. Puma is at a
place now at twenty that I was thirty before I
was at her level of understanding and emotional intelligence and
compassion for people. Integrity, yeah, discipline, Yeah, I was still
(40:40):
a child kind of at twenty. I learned a lot
from them. And they aren't very judgmental, you know, so
they just kind of go along with whatever I do.
We never had rules. Who was just do what I say?
And they did that and watched me, you know, never
(41:00):
hid anything from them. So yeah, they're they're turning. They're
having their turn at showing me and teaching me patience
and severity. Mama, you gotta say what you feel, feel
what you say. Tell that that's that. That's the electronic
A little good mars. Yeah, they will, They'll tell me
(41:21):
it can only be so kind now that.
Speaker 6 (41:25):
You know.
Speaker 3 (41:26):
And our first favorite saying is a couplistic saying that
severity without mercy is cruelty. Mercy without severity, it's weakness.
So we try to walk that line. You know, kindness
(41:46):
isn't only being, you know, appearing nice. Kindness is all
also telling somebody to beat it, count yourself.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
Because you still could you write a old to hip
hop now in twenty twenty four, like, based off this
era of music, would hip hop be the love of
your life? Right now?
Speaker 3 (42:05):
It still is always you only have one love. You're
lucky just to have just one mm hm.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
Uh one love, one love? Yeah, Wodini? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (42:22):
And who did who did it? Over?
Speaker 2 (42:26):
No?
Speaker 3 (42:26):
No, yeah, boys, I'm saying, I'm saying, you know, y'all
looking to be like why you're asking that? That's that's
simple arithmetic. It was.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
Yeah, how the relationship evolved or change because relationship and
hip hop?
Speaker 3 (42:47):
It has not, because hip hop is still here. It's recorded.
You can never go away. Nobody can take it away.
It has been recorded in time. Hip hop will be televised.
It is down, it's I can access it at any
point in time, So it is there. Yeah, so I
feel the same way.
Speaker 5 (43:07):
How do you feel about people having a conversation all
about it being like the third most popular genre behind
with Latin music, I think in country music, Like, how
do you feel about that?
Speaker 4 (43:16):
Because I think, yes, hip hop at one point, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
No, it's not third is first. I'm talking about all
over the planet everywhere I go, Gossip, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Africa, Mexico,
(43:40):
everywhere I go, we are praying to different gods, different
names of God. But everybody is not in their heads
in agreeance to the one kicking the snare. It's hip
hop is like, it's the religion, it's how it's what
brings us all together, the whole world. Yeah, nah, hip
(44:01):
hop it's the biggest They know that. Oh they're talking about.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
Not cult yourself.
Speaker 5 (44:10):
Okay, okay, but like culture wise, they wouldn't even be
able to understand it, to rink it.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
But yeah, what made J Dillers so brilliant were gonna
get you out of here?
Speaker 3 (44:22):
His approach uh to music was authenticity. He was authentic.
That's what made him different. Uh. He had a metronome
and he was true to it. He did never used
the quantization button. He never quantized. It was always his
inner metronome. So the snares were live. Usually when when
(44:46):
we produce, we are using a kick in the snare
button and we push a button called quantize and it
puts it on the grid on the and the four.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
So what's the same all the time.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
Yes, which gives us a certain swing depending on what
what the feel you want. But Deyler's field was his
field because it was always live. So he would do
maybe a couple of quantized things, you know, he had
a little tricks here and there with the snares, but
for the most part he was very simple and unquantized.
Speaker 1 (45:22):
So for four minutes he would actually play the beat
so the snares wouldn't necessarily be on them. Yeah, which
is amazing because it's feeling not not necessarily feeling all
the time.
Speaker 3 (45:31):
Sometimes he would just play the play the kick and
the snare alive, or play the kick and snare live
and do the high hats live, gotcha or the shakers
because those those are laying back, so his beat's laid back.
I don't know how to explain it, but he had
a laid back. He was on his own beat rhythm,
(45:52):
and he brought he brought all of us to that place. Yeah,
it was a certain hump that he had can't be explained.
But that's what made him so special, and his choices
and samples and his collection of music. Uh. He was
(46:13):
a historian. M hm. He was also very You have
to be mathematical. But I told stories before how when
I opened this refrigerator, all the coke cans will be
lined up like so symmetrically. I wouldn't want to get one,
(46:34):
you know. But I don't drink coke nowhere. But you know,
I have to make that clear. As you said, people crazy.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
I've seen the behive. The behive chased you a little
bit for a little bit.
Speaker 3 (46:52):
Where's the behid now?
Speaker 4 (46:55):
On Twitter?
Speaker 3 (46:59):
I ain't seen to be yuh a long time. And
I love bees. They don't know I like it.
Speaker 7 (47:08):
I love bees and my totalm Yeah lately though, mm hmm,
they're gonna tell.
Speaker 1 (47:21):
Men see them tomorrow, see him tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (47:25):
I like the tweet when you said, Jay, you're gonna
let this woman needs be something. Let this woman need be.
Speaker 3 (47:34):
I don't know why people think take things so serious.
It's just my sense of humor.
Speaker 5 (47:39):
I love j When you saw the cover though, knowing
that there is the inspiration, like, does do those inspiration moments?
Are you feeling like, oh my god, they saw what
I was trying to do, they love it, they still
doing it? Or do you feel like, oh, that was mine? Like,
don't bite.
Speaker 3 (47:56):
I have to be very careful with this because my children,
you're not watching me, and that generation is watching. And
as much as we love our art, it doesn't belong
to us once it goes out in the world. However, though,
you can't You can't manage what people are going to
(48:23):
do with the art. You can't manage whether they're going
to duplicate it or do another interpretation of it, or
just enjoy it or use it as an inspiration. You
can't manage that. But you don't have to remain silent
about it. Yeah, you can. If it makes you feel
the way, you should say something about it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (48:46):
But outside of that, there are a lot of artists
that get there. You can tell their style, their approach
everything from you and you do see that. Does that
bother you or do you look at it like I
put my art out there and it is what it is?
Or do you mind it all that they don't show
you respect and love and say what it came from here?
Speaker 3 (49:04):
As I'm mature, more I have less of a need
two h own own something. And the more I let
go of it, the more I am acknowledged. Isn't that something? Yeah?
The more I let go of the need of that,
then you get a call and say, hey, we want
(49:26):
to give.
Speaker 4 (49:26):
You an award.
Speaker 3 (49:27):
That's how the universe works in my world. So I
saw that, and I was very proud of that award
and proud of that moment because I had let go
of some things that were no longer evolving me thinking
you know, and then there it comes. They give it
to you because I became it, because they don't give
(49:49):
you what you want, to give.
Speaker 1 (49:50):
You what you are.
Speaker 2 (49:52):
Yeah, that's a ball. You heard that one.
Speaker 1 (49:55):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (49:56):
My last question. I feel like everything you do is
spirit all. Like I said earlier, is it even possible
for you to do any type of art without divine
energy being involved?
Speaker 3 (50:05):
I don't think so. Even if I'm not aware of it,
it's always involved. Yeah, something there's something I know what
it is, but there's something we floating on that's giving
us life choices of some sort. Yeah, you know, we're born,
(50:31):
we're told you know, once we're born, you know that
our religion was here already. What we're supposed to believe
in the tribe, the ways, the hunting ways, the what
we worship, how we worship, how we learn, how we cook,
how we dress. There's a tribe and you learn that.
(50:52):
Hopefully you go outside of that once you are of
age to explore other things, because you want to see
if that is true. Yeah, then you explore even further.
You want to go outside of that and see how
you feel being entangled with another person, another human, and
(51:16):
then after.
Speaker 2 (51:16):
That you go like entangled, entangled and entanglement.
Speaker 3 (51:20):
Entanglement is when two cells meet and become something. Yeah,
so you become entangled with another human in the next
phase of your life. Then hopefully you learn that and
learn some boundaries. And then now you're an individual human
which creative in spirit, and then you have to learn
(51:43):
how to walk in that humanness, in that spiritualness. I
don't know what I was saying or how we got
to this, but because I asked.
Speaker 2 (51:53):
You, is it possible for you to make art without
that divine in?
Speaker 1 (51:56):
No, not for me.
Speaker 3 (51:57):
Because I believe that. I believe that. Yeah, do you
think it's possible to do anything without.
Speaker 2 (52:09):
Not anything meaningful?
Speaker 3 (52:11):
Not anything meaning So you so you think or you
feel that there's an opposite of the BT.
Speaker 2 (52:18):
Yes, yes, yes, I feel like there's just I think
that you know, you have your divine and then you
just have your human right. So we're all spiritual beings
living in human existence. So you can do all types
of things in the human existence right, and you may
think they feel good in the moment, and they may just,
but it's not lasting, it's not fulfilling. You can you
know when you're doing something divine, you know when God is.
Speaker 3 (52:41):
Oh, absolutely, and you don't have to do much, it's
just your body feeling.
Speaker 4 (52:44):
You just show up and do what you do, and
everything around you just move.
Speaker 3 (52:48):
That's how music and performing is to me. It's the
only thing in my life that is like that. Yeah,
when I get up there, I'm not wrong, I'm not
too skinny, I'm not too ugly, I'm not too anything.
Everything is right.
Speaker 2 (53:08):
You got some shows coming up.
Speaker 1 (53:11):
Maryland this weekend, Yes, d C First and second, Brazil
on the sixth, that's right in San Francisco on the sixteenth,
and also you can check out do worldmarket dot com
if you want to get all types of things like
the order.
Speaker 2 (53:29):
There.
Speaker 3 (53:30):
I know I've been waiting even we don't realize how
big the fan base is, the reach is, but it's amazing.
Speaker 4 (53:39):
Because it's always so out.
Speaker 3 (53:41):
I bought you guys from Funko. You do, y'all gotta
cut it open if you want to see it.
Speaker 1 (53:50):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (53:51):
Oh, this is the figure that you've created.
Speaker 3 (53:54):
This is the this is the Buncle Buncle pop is
just collected.
Speaker 2 (54:01):
Look at the email. Look at this afford this to
my wife. I like this. She sent me back this morning.
It's so cute.
Speaker 1 (54:10):
Now we got one.
Speaker 3 (54:11):
So they're pop culture Vinyl Toy Collective and and they
specialized in artists are icons.
Speaker 4 (54:25):
Yeah, they specialized and not doing it.
Speaker 1 (54:27):
You need to put a shelf up there.
Speaker 3 (54:30):
You'll get it before okay, okay, And she's cute man.
Speaker 2 (54:36):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (54:39):
So this first one they did is the call Tyrone video,
so that we I actually reached out to Funko to
do this because I thought it was important for my
kids to have these. They love Funkos, and I surprised
them one day and said I have a funk go
(54:59):
so like your own funk you Yeah, yeah, you.
Speaker 1 (55:07):
That's dope. Thank you again for joining us. We always
appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (55:11):
Absolutely. I appreciate you too.
Speaker 1 (55:13):
No, we do, definitely do.
Speaker 2 (55:14):
We love you, value you, appreciate you. I literally just
told somebody last week, I said, I don't play about er.
Speaker 3 (55:21):
Didn't have a conversation either or envy there you go
at all and I don't play about you.
Speaker 2 (55:28):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (55:29):
And if something happened, you called me. I got you.
Speaker 4 (55:32):
I'm gonna call you. Yeah, because may be acting up
in here. Honestly, that's not true.
Speaker 3 (55:36):
I don't believe it.
Speaker 4 (55:39):
I might need to leave.
Speaker 3 (55:39):
Nothing like that. Don't do that.
Speaker 4 (55:41):
It'd be hard.
Speaker 3 (55:42):
Don't do that.
Speaker 4 (55:42):
It'd be tough.
Speaker 2 (55:44):
He'd be tough, just like.
Speaker 1 (55:48):
Some incentse he'll calm down.
Speaker 4 (55:50):
Now we got the puts in here. Maybe he'll relax.
Speaker 3 (55:52):
Everybody. Everybody gonna relax, thank you. Yeah, within a thirty
miles ready, everybody, they're gonna be relaxed. I appreciate y'all
always porting me.
Speaker 1 (56:03):
Eric Abdu sister, it's the Breakfast Club. Good morning, thanks,
good morning. Wake that ass up in the morning.
Speaker 2 (56:10):
The Breakfast clubh
Wake that ass up in the morning.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
The Breakfast Club Morning.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Everybody's the j n V. Jess hilarious, Charlamagne the guy.
We are the Breakfast Club. Jess is on maternity leave,
so Laura l Rossa is filling in, and we got
a special guest in the building, the Icon Living. Yes,
Miss Erica, bad dude, welcome back.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Peace, Peace, peace, How you feeling exquisite?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
There you go?
Speaker 1 (00:22):
All right? Well, I don't know if you know this.
Last time you were in here, the art wasn't up,
but you see the art now.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
And look how you sent it though. You got Queen
Mother blessing the whole room.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I got to pull out the pussy in.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
You got bo, you got the incense, I got it.
I've been burning.
Speaker 5 (00:42):
I've been burning an incense since you dropped them. I
saw y'all two together at the awards.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yes, congratulations on that too. Congratulations on receiving the cf
D A Fashion Icon Award.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Oh, thank you very very much.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I have no idea what that means, but I feel
like you deserve all the awards.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Congrat they say, I found out it's the Oscar of
fashion really, so that that award means a lot to
people in the fashion industry, and thank you, sir, and
to us as artists as well, you know, creators who
are I love it as well, trying to you know,
(01:23):
evolve our our culture, you know, so that means a
lot to be recognized.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
It's always felt like you had an effortless style. Do
you really put a lot of thought.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
In how you how you d sometimes? Okay, you know,
sometimes I do, and sometimes it's just grace it happens.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
You're not supposed to blow out instance, the old googles
don't like that?
Speaker 6 (01:46):
Why you told me, I'm not But I'm not kidding, Okay,
I'm just trying to say it ain't on me.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
We got so much of this sit the house. Yeah,
when you first put it out a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
After that, now you said that during your speech that
this was an award that you wanted for a long time?
Was true that long after?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Since? You know, I didn't even know that you could
get an award for that, but just wanted to be
recognized for the canvas that I create. When I go out, man,
it's really important to me. It's my therapy. You know,
I can't leave without half of mind. Like I said
(02:33):
in the speech, shit together. You know, it's just something
that came with my head. You know, it's a nagging thing.
You know, make sure you shit it together. And sometimes
when I don't try, it really hard and sometimes gracefully
comes together. I guess maybe because of my intention, the
fashion gods gave me the keys out here in these streets.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
We get it from your mom and grandma.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yeah, definitely cold right. They used to call her Twiggy
in high school after the model because she was just
so original and she had bleached her hair white. She's
a really skinny kid with big eyes. It's really creative.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
And how difficult is it for you to have so
much of a fashion sense?
Speaker 6 (03:20):
Right?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Because you travel a lot. How much luggage do you
have to carry? How much do you go shopping? I
know that's what I'm saying. You carry a lot of
freaking lug Like her luggage has her own bus.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Well, I'll explain that when you're your own stylist and
your own makeup person and your own hair person. And
then I do the band's wardrobe, and you know, they're
just instruments and all kinds of things. So I'll carry
a production so I like to see the vision all
(03:54):
the way through and have my hands in it. There's
a word for that, an artist who has their hands
in every aspect of the work of the vision. It's
called the all tool. I think a beut oh I
r our tour and that's just describe it as an
(04:20):
artist or visionary who has an idea and has to
see it all the way through in each department because
they have the ability to do that.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
So you write a song and you know what the
video gonna look like, You know what you're gonna well
you okay, Wow.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
You talked last night about your best friend who accompanied
you to the awards and afraid of on him introducing
you to a lot of the fashion houses and stuff
like that. Were fashion house houses always like open and
like rushing to support you in all of your creative
ideas or did you have to Was there a fight
because a lot of artists talk about it being a
fight trying to get into the cortur houses.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
You know it was.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
I was out since nineteen ninety seven, and social media
was really the opening to a lot of these relationships
because they could now directly get to the artists where
they probably didn't know how to get to the ones
that they wanted to feature before. But the first person
that reached out to me was Tom Ford. Tom Ford
(05:20):
wanted me to do a perfume at White Patuli, which
was his natural innocense flavors. This was two thousand and two. Yeah,
so that's tom Ford and tom Ford's from Texas as well,
so we kind of formed a bond. And I guess
(05:42):
as I evolved my style other houses or artists, because
it's really the creative directors the person he is the
he is the house at the time because his vision
is trusted most. And they started, you know, kind of
paying attention to you know, the guardliness or the freeiness
or the hobo sheekness. It's been called all kinds of things,
(06:05):
but yeah, they caught notice. And next was Roberto Tichi
and he was the creative director of Jivnshi at the time,
and that was my first full campaign and he let
me co style with him and put things together. And
(06:28):
I think it just after that I was kind of,
you know, I was on the radar for certain things.
Definitely the page to go to if you want to
know what's next, and how do.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
You pick, Like last night you were in Tom Brown
or the other day at the CFDA Wards you were
in Tom Brown, how do you pick which designers in
which houses now you want to work with?
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Because I'm sure they're all banging. You can do anything
you want now, right.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
And I picked Tom specifically for this event because he's
the chairman of the event. Yes, and he's he's also
a very very good friend of mine and his art
is just so amazing. So I thought, since I was
being honored, I would also honor him by wearing one
of his pieces. And I chose one from Runway, uh
(07:12):
and a really beautiful architectural shape, really pretty. And I said,
but I need something huh, futuristic ancient to go on top,
you know. And I saw this AI. I think he
saw this post this morning. I'm not sure, but I
saw this AI rendering of this this head piece, and
(07:36):
I reached out to the person and I told him
this is really beautiful. I would love to challenge a
designer to bring this to life in the in the
five D world War D world. And he said okay.
So I called a friend, Chris Habana, who does a
lot of crafting and amazing jeweler, and he said yes,
(08:02):
and he had three days, and he pulled the team
together and they did some.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
What do you call it, some renderings?
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Yeah, they did some put it in a machine. It's plastic.
You can make a gun with it, you can make
a house, right, Yeah. They did some three D printing
to try to really is it's amazing, it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Do you remember where you were at when you got
the call that you was getting the c FDA.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
I was at home, h and my agency, uh Forward
forwarded me the email. I was like, wow, okay, it's good. Good,
that's good stuff. That's good.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Did you immediately know what you was going with? Did
you see that vision?
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Absolutely not? Okay, absolutely not. This thing was three weeks away. Yeah,
I know I was gonna wear it tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
You've done capsules before with people and collaborated.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Have you ever thought about just you trying to talk
low and soft just because everybody you don't even talk
like that.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
You know, calm down every time.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
I don't know, but I was an ass.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
You know, I will never blow the incident again either.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
When it comes. You ever thought about doing your whole line,
like a full clothing line for America? I do from
rude to tutor and everything in.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Between, and I have thought about that. I had a
chance to practice that with Marnie and French Francesco Riso.
Uh we did a collapse Marnie and last year a
lot of things happened for me in fashion last year,
you know, there was the last two years. It was
my first fashion week. So that's when I really started
(09:48):
to catch the bug. And I met Francesco because we
went to the met ball together and we drew up
some things and talked about some things and had a
appsol line that came out and these leaves are part
of it.
Speaker 5 (10:06):
The collab was everywhere. It was, Yes, everybody was in
y'all collab in Marnie. That was your first fashion week? Yes,
like you attending or like what do you mean by that?
Speaker 6 (10:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (10:16):
It was my first fashion week in twenty twenty three?
Speaker 5 (10:22):
Yeah wow, And that was so during that time that
collab is now two? Is that collab the collab when
you got to work with your daughter Puma two with
Marnie or was it a difference?
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (10:32):
Okay, yes, And how did that feel because it's like, okay,
we see Lebron and Ronnie on the court and they're
like you know, but like this is your lane and
now your daughter's coming into it and y'all are working
with a fashion house.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
How did you feel just doing that with her?
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Oh? It was surreal. It was a dream, you know,
because Puma is such an individual person that I didn't
know what direction she wanted to go in, and I
still don't. You know, she's she's twenty, so she's kind
of finding her way. And sometimes when your kid is
an artist, they don't want to follow your shadow. They
(11:08):
want to find their own thing, you know. But she
was cool with supporting me and standing beside me, and
she's like, Mom, I don't care, this is for you,
you know, So.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Dress if they tried, like what happened with the line?
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Because you what they got to do with what we're
talking about?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Because even I feel like I feel like, I feel
like everything you do is spirit art, even down in
your fashion. So I don't know if you don't embody
that spirit, I don't even know how that would even.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Man, you are such a wise person, you really are.
Ever since I met you. You tap into things so well, Yeah,
I approach everything the same way. It's a feeling I feel.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Yeah, yeah, So would you do your own line? Do
you want to do your line. I know that's not
something that's in your cost right now.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Absolutely, would you have the time for it? Oh yeah,
I would make time.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
This is my last fashion question.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Fashion awards.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
I didn't know. I didn't know.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
If you want to get to I've been trying to
get this award since I was because I'm loaded, ask
me everything. I've been playing with paper dolls, trying to
make sure that people, you know, really appreciate my my work.
It's kind of like putting putting your picture on the
refrigerator so your mom sees it, and you never respect
(12:37):
your mom to say nothing bad. So it's such a
shock every time. It's always new when people are disrespectful
and mean.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
Think disrespectful of me to you. Yeah, I'll them up,
like you're going against to do that to you.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
I mean they try it, you know what I'm saying.
But I'm annointed and detected and I don't have a heart,
so they can't. You know, they can't penetrate me.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
You don't have a heart.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
I'm choking.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
And paper up.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
You don't have to take notes about this.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
I saw online you were doing some interviews just after
their wards, and you were in some Jordan's, Yes were there,
that was a Jordan Virgil clab No, okay, it was
That's not true then, because they were saying it was
like an unreleased It was.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
An unreleased one, but it wasn't Virgil. It was shoe
sergeing got you?
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (13:35):
People just give you like how do?
Speaker 2 (13:37):
How do?
Speaker 5 (13:39):
People line was going crazy over the collap They were
trying to figure out where, like how you even got
the shoes?
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Showed up at my door on the Yo.
Speaker 6 (13:50):
Yo.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
I was like, I was like, yo, all my fashion
block pages out.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Yes, shoot, y'all zoomed in on it.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
I zom did so because I'm like, I don't even
see any of Virgil's like you know he has the
thing he does and you know it's him.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
I'm like, I don't see none of that.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
To get busy, yeah yeah, yes, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Yeah. Maybe I'm not gonna say nothing about that nothing, but.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Damn yeah, how'd you feel about that?
Speaker 3 (14:33):
It was my first time, so I'm trying to I'm
trying to throw throw off the audience so they don't
know what I.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
Told you because I was sitting here like I want
to hear your answer.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
I don't know will tell y'all another time when the
news come out.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
That's right, I feel about that. Now, You've always been
an artist that's sensitive about your ship. You told that
a long time ago. But you said in your speech
at c fd A, that is scary being an artist
in the social media era. So how is social media
made that critique worse?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
I guess yeah, it is scary. I mean, I've heard
my own kids be afraid to express and share their art.
Eric Abadu, kid is scared to share their art and
express themselves because the audience is so vicious at this point,
and they have such a huge appetite for blood, and
(15:24):
they want people to be disciplined and humbled and punished
for their success. Almost it's what it seems like. So
that's why, you know, a lot of kids are afraid to,
you know, share their work or share their art or
feel like they have to come at it with some
kind of armor on, and that armor doesn't allow for
(15:46):
the art to truly express itself. In my opinion, so
it's a scary time for art. We didn't have to
do that. We didn't have to deal with that. You know,
you heard the few little comments and things, but those
weren't strong enough to penetrate a strong person. But these
(16:08):
things are now because when people come in your numbers.
You know, we've talked about group thinks so many times.
It's what It was a prediction that I made with
Windows Seat in twenty ten group think would overshadow art,
(16:32):
and it is right now, yes, because people can. People can.
I think it's very smart to get at the the
channels and even the whole instead of getting at the
(16:55):
bloggers and the people. We see artists penalizing the channels themselves,
and I think that's the smart thing because that's what
has to change. If that doesn't, if there's no place
to do that, then then it won't be done.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Get back to that, you think it'll ever get back
to where people feel comfortable releasing music or not hesitant
because of the amount of people that go at them.
I mean we see it in everything comedy, we see
it in movies, we see it in this regular conversation.
People are afraid to be quote unquote canceled.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Yeah, it's kind of like if it's eating if it's
feeding season, you know, you're a little bit more cautious
to go outside. You know, squirrels are not going to
try to run free and not be cautious when it's
lion season.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
You know, you know it's.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
It might get back to it if we really want
ah kindness. Kindness seems kind of boring to people, you
know what I'm saying, It's kind of boring. There's no
people don't feel that there could be some kind of
dope of being released from being kind being right?
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Does that make you hesitant to release music? No?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Not me, But you haven't dropped in fourteen years?
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Fourteen years, fifteen, I can make you put your phone down, yeah,
twenty fifteen, okay, ten years.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
But the album?
Speaker 3 (18:29):
But album since well, well, one reason I don't have
to it's because I am a performance artist and I've
been doing that constantly for the last thirty years, eight
years out, eight months out of the year, all year round.
I do it. So that's what I love to do.
Only put out albums when I have something to say.
(18:52):
I have something, yeah, something pressing to say or push out.
But I'm I am. I have more than enough space
to get my art on stage, so it's not totally
necessary to put an album for me.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Yeah, I would just love to see the like the
Division of God has shown you, because like if you
look at your catalog right, your catalog literally has predicted
where we are now. So I can only imagine the
stuff you're creating right now. How far into the future
you're seeing things.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
M hmm, me too. I mean I'm writing right now.
I got a project coming.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Out soon, a full album.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
But I can't tell y'all.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
How soon.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
I just got I just got goosebump, So how soon
it will be soon?
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Soon, like by the end of the year, soon or
next year. Soon, we'll see.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Yeah, it's an important one. It's a collapse album.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Oh, you're another artist.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
You're not going to say, who are you?
Speaker 4 (19:58):
You can Andre three thousand again.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
He's a guy that's Do I think he'll rap again?
Speaker 5 (20:04):
I say, is this gonna be the colab album that
gets on the rap again? And also you can answer
do you think he'll rap again?
Speaker 3 (20:09):
And and why would you say is this gonna be
the collab album? Because you're assuming that it's him. Yeah,
I'm asking you can assume whatever you want. But I
don't know. I mean, I don't know. I don't think
he has to. He's speaking with that instrument. It's the
same thing. It miss the same kind of thing. Yeah,
(20:31):
the way he make us feel when with bombs over
bag Dad is the way he makes people who are
ready for that feel. It's the same thing. It's his energy.
It's I feel it. That's the rap, you know. To me,
he rapping to me, that's true.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
I want to go see it. I want to go
see the New Blue New Blue Son tour. When he
performed in Brooklyn, and I felt very fulfilled, very fulfilled.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
I felt fulfilled because he was. He was fulfilled. He
was happy, he was doing what he wanted to do
at his own pace. There was no urgency, you know,
to be right. He was happy with making mistakes. It
was cool. I really enjoyed it, and I love himprov
(21:23):
so I was happy he had a chance to get
up there and express himself because I don't know, if
you understand it. We have to do this or we
may be sick or something. Artists who use their art
as therapy or use their art as a coping mechanism,
(21:43):
you know, helps me with all of the things that
are off balanced.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
I have to do that.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
So seeing him being able to do that, because I'm
assuming that he may feel the same way I do,
it's just such a blessing to have that platform to
do it.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
You know, I can see what y'all are twin flames too,
because he was on stage and it was one part
of the show where he just started going making all
kinds of noises and the crowd was answering them back,
and then he goes, I wasn't saying ship.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
Last night. He I keep saying last night. I don't
know what data is coming up.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
But he presented you with your c FD a fashion
that kind of word on the way that like, I
know you, you reached out to him to have him
present to you, and you guys had a conversation.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
He was saying, I did, well. It was a kind
of tricky thing. I actually reached out to Tiana Taylor
because I think she's next wh Okay, I think she's
I think she has a really good grasp art in
fashion functional art. I'm really impressed and inspirer. But I
(22:52):
asked her and ah, I'd asked Andre before but he
didn't respond. And then they came back and told me
after I asked, you know that andres would said yes.
And I had to figure out how to maneuver that,
you know, because that meant a lot to her. Yes,
(23:13):
I want to tell her I love you so very
much and I'm so happy that we're friends. And I
hope that that did not bring a wedge between us
in any way. But that's Andre two thousand, girl.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
And your best friend. You got to talk to people.
You got to talk to people to get to him. No, oh,
you just said my sister.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Well sometimes, yeah, it depends you know how busy he is.
I'll follow proper protocol. Ya.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
How do you handle the challenge of balancing like your
personal expression with the expectations that your fans in the
music industry might might place on Eric Abadu? How do
you how do you handle the challenge of balancing like
the personal expression with the expectation the fans may have,
like they might expect you to show up a certain
way all the time.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
That's fun, you know, it's part of it's part of
the art, because this, this career is an art. It's
what it is. There's an art of longevity. There's an
art of conceptualizing, there's an art of building a persona.
There's an art of knowing when to divvy the art out,
(24:29):
knowing when to pull it back. It's all an art,
So what the people feel and think are very very important.
It's a major part of it because they decide who
and what you are. I like to surprise them. I
like to give them what they did not know they
they may have wanted, because I hope that I'm doing
whatever I'm doing presently as well as I was doing
(24:52):
what I was doing in the past as an artist.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
When did you realize that you didn't say that you
didn't give a fuck. Can you say You're going to
do what you want to do. You're going to put
out what you want to put out. You don't necessarily
have to fit in the box of every artist. You
don't have to follow the platform and say this is it,
taken leave it?
Speaker 3 (25:09):
When did you get to that point in the contract
negotiation in nineteen ninety seven? It was never a felim
Oh no, I mean I didn't have to do it,
you know, and they didn't have to.
Speaker 6 (25:27):
You know.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
I figured it was a partnership and I was doing
the record label of Favor. I knew who I was,
I knew what I was getting ready to do. I
had a mission, and nothing was going to infiltrate it,
not even my own fear and doubts, and I'm still
on mission. Best work is still in me and I
(25:47):
have not accomplished whatever that is yet, because there's still
this feeling of abuse and greenness and gross.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
When did you realize it was on divine assignment in
your life?
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Little?
Speaker 6 (26:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (26:01):
I always thought I was very very special, very annoyingted
or a narcissistic one because I just believed it. I
always have. Nobody can tell me that that it's not true.
That I have a mission and I am. I am annointed,
and I am special and I am blessed. And that's
(26:22):
why I choose service over anything, because I know things.
Some things come easier to me than they will to
someone else. So I already know.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
When you look at other artists without saying names, do
you see it in them like they're selling themselves out?
I know they're different. Do you see that? And a
lot of artists like they're selling themselves out for a
check or selling themselves out for a label where you
see they can go something different? Do you see that
a lot?
Speaker 3 (26:50):
And be I don't know, I don't ever look at that, Yeah,
selling themselves out for I don't know. People do what
they have to do. You know, and it's not a race.
We don't all have to be at the same understanding
at the same time. You know, everybody, our artists don't
have to be responsible for your kids, you know. Yeah,
(27:11):
so I don't know. I mean people doing what they
have to do. I remember needing money too and doing things.
It's strange things with a piece of change, you know,
like performing and venues I didn't want to perform in
or h Yeah, so I don't know. I can't judge that.
But what do you think about that?
Speaker 1 (27:35):
I think sometimes they got to realize their assignment. And
I think we all go through that sometimes realize while
we're there, you know. And what made me think about
it is, you know, when j Cole jumped into that beef,
he came back and said this is not for me,
and you know, people ished on them and said this,
that and the other. But that was his assignment and
you can't be mad as assignment, and even me as
(27:56):
a fan, was kind of he was on a mission.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Realize.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
I understand that sometimes I believe that, you know, being
a mission or your assignment is not always to do
something heavenly and great and good. Sometimes it's to create
some chaos so that you may shake things up. Fertilizer
is put into a pot to disturb the roots. It's
poisoning them so they have to move. So yeah, I
(28:23):
can't really judge it. You don't know what somebody's mission
is because it all counts, it's all.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Matter, and you don't know what journey God got them
more you don't. You don't get Michael Max without Malcolm Little.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
That's right. You don't get eric about without I'm trying
to think it was.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
Street name.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
You don't get eric about without butchery knife Betty, that's
my new monarcha.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Everybody, when when you said that you was, you knew
you was of service. Did you know what that was
going to look like? Did you know it was gonna
be music?
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Actually I did not, But I don't consider that the service.
I consider music my privilege because I'm using the audience
as therapists, a thousand million therapists to get my idea
of my thing out. Services are the things that I
don't charge money for that I do because I feel
(29:24):
like it's the right thing, not because of a promise
of heaven or or accolades or trophy, just but because
of integrity and the connection between two people. And when
people hear this, they don't believe that that nobody believes that.
It's so strange to me that people don't believe that
(29:46):
that kind of human can't exist, you know, they don't
believe it. Maybe it's strange. Is it strange that I
don't need anything back or I don't ask for anything
when I pray? Is it strange?
Speaker 2 (30:07):
I don't think so, no, because I think, to me,
prayer is for gratitude. I find myself when I'm praying,
I'm just saying thank you. And I guess coming from
where I come from, a dirt road and most going
to South Carolina, I'm always felt good. I feel like
whatever God has given me in that moment is what
I'm supposed to have, and I'm grateful for that.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
It seems like it's becoming more of a general consensus
that we don't need anything. We're realizing that that we
don't need anything, and the biggest gift we probably need
is peace of mind, you know. And I'm rewarded with
peace of mind when I do service for others for free,
(30:51):
for nothing, just because right there too, peace of mind.
That's what we just what the green juice for what
the your goo force, what the music is for, with
the singing is for, the money is for bitchess is full. Yeah,
one point to kids and husband and house and cars
(31:11):
for we all looking for peace of mind and that's
how I get mine the most service.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Do people take advantage of that though? Sometimes?
Speaker 3 (31:19):
Absolutely? Absolutely, but that's none of my business.
Speaker 5 (31:26):
Absolutely, were there points, like bag Lady, I was saying
earlier in the room that I remember when bag Lady
for me started hitting differently and I was listening to
it and it was like, Ooh, I get it now.
When I was younger, I was just listening to it
because it was played in my house and I loved
the song. But I literally remember that feeling for you,
(31:46):
were there points in your life where you had to
be like, ooh, I get it, like I felt it
bag Lady, or like was this song of service.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
For someone else?
Speaker 3 (31:54):
You mean feeling my own song?
Speaker 5 (31:56):
You're feeling your just even before Bad Lady was created. Yeah,
maybe there was a time in your life that you know,
created or inspired the song. When did you get out
of the bag Lady phase? And what did that feel
like for you?
Speaker 2 (32:07):
She has a lot of baggage, so she's trying to
see if did you have too or was it just
a song.
Speaker 5 (32:11):
What I'm saying is what I realized is number one.
With my mom, I always I never understood why she
couldn't be happy about certain things. And then I got
older and I'm like, man, you're carrying so much stuff.
I tell all the time, like just let that go,
like we can handle that.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Men have told Lauren that she need doing this with
a couple of men did that to Lauren. They said,
to spend the block what you need to heal, You
need to work on yourself.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
Who said this first? Of all?
Speaker 4 (32:38):
The two people that said it to me, they ain't
even They probably can't even spell hells.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
So so what y'all think about the two guys, I
think they're right on the journey. She's on the journey.
And the two men that you respect, one of them
I respect, told you that you need to work on yourself. Yes,
as an insult or as an encouragement and love.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
The second one I think it was insult and deflecting.
The first one.
Speaker 5 (33:05):
Yeah, the first one I think it was like he
really cares, Like that's why when he said it, I
was like, Okay, I hear it. I'm in a point
in my life now where I can do the accountability.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
Does he need to work on himself as well?
Speaker 4 (33:15):
Yes he does?
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Does he know?
Speaker 4 (33:18):
Yes he does?
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Okay, cool?
Speaker 4 (33:19):
Second one really know, like it's you.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
Really know he got to work on himself.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
I don't even want nothing to do with that, like
it's bad.
Speaker 5 (33:25):
But I asked that because I just feel like, as
I got older and realized how much you do care,
especially emotionally, sometimes it weighs into other things and it
closes doors, or it cuts off relationships, or you just
miss out on good things. And every time I listen
to that song, I'm like, man, how does she know
that people was going to need this?
Speaker 3 (33:43):
I don't know, you know, I was writing what I felt,
you know, in my heart, and you know I did
hear it later And I'm talking to myself, my future self.
Speaker 5 (33:56):
Where were you at at that time of your life
when you were talking to your future self? Like, what
was the transition as you were.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Trying to make I think I was transitioning out of
a relationship where I was not happy about it. Yeah,
and realizing that I had to leave some things behind,
some parts of me behind. So it felt like a
funeral of sorts. Yeah, like because you have a party,
(34:20):
you have to die every time you evolve, you got
to leave it back there. You know, you want it
because it's familiar, and a lot of times we like
to resort to the familiar, even if it's toxic. Yeah,
So you have to leave it. That corpse, that beautiful
old you has to be left, and you have to
(34:41):
walk forward and I look back. That's the hardest part,
not leaving the people, but it's leaving your own ways
and you.
Speaker 4 (34:49):
Yeah, it's about of discipline.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
It is.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
It is when did you get to the point where
you knew you you had? When did you get to
the point where you loved every version of yourself? Though?
Speaker 3 (34:59):
H I don't know when that happened, but I definitely do.
Speaker 4 (35:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
I look forward to waking up and getting to do things,
getting to experience, getting to test out my kindness.
Speaker 6 (35:15):
You know.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
I prayed for kindness. I was like, I wanna practice kindness,
you know, my last big whatever meltdown we were going
through twenty twenty or somewhere, I just wanted to praxe kindness.
Two or three days later, I went to the airport.
My ticket was wrong, my bags got put somewhere else.
(35:36):
They were left on the tarmac of all bags mine.
The lady was talking to me crazy, asked me, h y,
this is first class. You can't put your you know
that whole routine. It was everything that was hard. M
So I was assuming that the creator was saying, we'll
here practice on this mm if you wanna practice kindness,
p here, I'll give you some things to practice some
(36:00):
because you just don't get to beat that.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
How did that work out?
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Worked out great?
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Some parts from the last time. Mama wanted to pull out.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
A gun at the airport, but I just settled for
having my fist balled up like Arthur. And yeah, I
got through it because I kind of it took me
a little bit to realize what was happening, Like wait
a minute, I see what I see what this is.
(36:30):
I see what that said, you know, And.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Yeah, I don't see you getting outside of your vibe,
your zone.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
What vibe do you think I got? I'm your tell
me about it.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
I don't. But every time I see you, you just
seen mellow chill and at peace. I don't.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
This is the place to be mellow chilling, at peace.
There's no reason in here to be any other kind
of way. If anybody else comes on y'all show without this,
call me just shine.
Speaker 4 (37:02):
A light on that.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
You're also playing Lucille in the Netflix movie The Piano Lesson.
Were you a fan of the play?
Speaker 3 (37:16):
I went to as HBC Grammling State University. I was
a theater major. I was a despian, So we did
a lot of August Wilson material, Lorraine's Hands, Lorraine Hansbury,
h a myriad of black artists, play rights, but we
did do that play as well. And Lucille's part is
(37:37):
very tiny, you know. But the most important role I
played was composing music for the for the movie. Malcolm Washington,
who is Denzel's Sun, is directing, and he called me
and asked if I would uh put together some music
(38:00):
for it. And I call my very good friend Daniel Jones.
Got restless, so safe journey. Daniel Jones. He came and
put some beautiful pieces together nineteen thirties and I wrote
lyrics over them. Wow, and they're they're used in the
movie The Piano Lessons on Netflix.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
So before we get this collaboration album, I think November eighth,
right eight, So before we get this collaboration album. We're
getting original music on this soundtrack.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
Yes, yeah, nineteen twenties, thirties, so there's an acquired taste
period piece, period piece.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
Does acting? Does acting feel like restricted? Does it feel
like it's restricting you in any way?
Speaker 3 (38:47):
No, it just feels like work. Okay, yeah, my touring
and music doesn't feel like work. But acting does I
feel like work?
Speaker 2 (38:57):
I can't even see you on the say it feel
like you know, you don't seem like the hurry up
and wait, like you want to be doing something like Hey, yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
I do, I al, I got something. I'm gonna bring
an easel and some pain. I'm you know, I really
miss my kids being little. That really took up a
lot of mind playtime. I just want to play all
the time, make something, play, do something, and I have
to carry everything with me to make that happen. Like
(39:22):
if I'm working on a movie set, because there are
long hours and I should be reading over my lines,
but I always wait and do it the last minute. Yeah,
but no, I don't really dig that too much being
an actor in a film. I like theater though. I
(39:43):
think that's a wonderful place. I like the immediate connection
between you.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
And the artists, and you only get like one take
to do it when you're on that stage.
Speaker 3 (39:54):
Yeah, that's it, that's what's beautiful about it.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Yeah, one stop, he's producing the piano lesson right. Yes,
was he involved late, he was.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
Around, but he stepped back and let his children work.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Yeah. What do you learn from your children now now
that they're grown?
Speaker 3 (40:14):
Oh, so many things. Like I told you guys, they
are definitely improvements on my design. Puma is at a
place now at twenty that I was thirty before I
was at her level of understanding and emotional intelligence and
compassion for people. Integrity, yeah, discipline, Yeah, I was still
(40:40):
a child kind of at twenty. I learned a lot
from them. And they aren't very judgmental, you know, so
they just kind of go along with whatever I do.
We never had rules. Who was just do what I say?
And they did that and watched me, you know, never
(41:00):
hid anything from them. So yeah, they're they're turning. They're
having their turn at showing me and teaching me patience
and severity. Mama, you gotta say what you feel, feel
what you say. Tell that that's that. That's the electronic
A little good mars. Yeah, they will, They'll tell me
(41:21):
it can only be so kind now that.
Speaker 6 (41:25):
You know.
Speaker 3 (41:26):
And our first favorite saying is a couplistic saying that
severity without mercy is cruelty. Mercy without severity, it's weakness.
So we try to walk that line. You know, kindness
(41:46):
isn't only being, you know, appearing nice. Kindness is all
also telling somebody to beat it, count yourself.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
Because you still could you write a old to hip
hop now in twenty twenty four, like, based off this
era of music, would hip hop be the love of
your life? Right now?
Speaker 3 (42:05):
It still is always you only have one love. You're
lucky just to have just one mm hm.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
Uh one love, one love? Yeah, Wodini? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (42:22):
And who did who did it? Over?
Speaker 2 (42:26):
No?
Speaker 3 (42:26):
No, yeah, boys, I'm saying, I'm saying, you know, y'all
looking to be like why you're asking that? That's that's
simple arithmetic. It was.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
Yeah, how the relationship evolved or change because relationship and
hip hop?
Speaker 3 (42:47):
It has not, because hip hop is still here. It's recorded.
You can never go away. Nobody can take it away.
It has been recorded in time. Hip hop will be televised.
It is down, it's I can access it at any
point in time, So it is there. Yeah, so I
feel the same way.
Speaker 5 (43:07):
How do you feel about people having a conversation all
about it being like the third most popular genre behind
with Latin music, I think in country music, Like, how
do you feel about that?
Speaker 4 (43:16):
Because I think, yes, hip hop at one point, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
No, it's not third is first. I'm talking about all
over the planet everywhere I go, Gossip, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Africa, Mexico,
(43:40):
everywhere I go, we are praying to different gods, different
names of God. But everybody is not in their heads
in agreeance to the one kicking the snare. It's hip
hop is like, it's the religion, it's how it's what
brings us all together, the whole world. Yeah, nah, hip
(44:01):
hop it's the biggest They know that. Oh they're talking about.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
Not cult yourself.
Speaker 5 (44:10):
Okay, okay, but like culture wise, they wouldn't even be
able to understand it, to rink it.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
But yeah, what made J Dillers so brilliant were gonna
get you out of here?
Speaker 3 (44:22):
His approach uh to music was authenticity. He was authentic.
That's what made him different. Uh. He had a metronome
and he was true to it. He did never used
the quantization button. He never quantized. It was always his
inner metronome. So the snares were live. Usually when when
(44:46):
we produce, we are using a kick in the snare
button and we push a button called quantize and it
puts it on the grid on the and the four.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
So what's the same all the time.
Speaker 3 (44:57):
Yes, which gives us a certain swing depending on what
what the feel you want. But Deyler's field was his
field because it was always live. So he would do
maybe a couple of quantized things, you know, he had
a little tricks here and there with the snares, but
for the most part he was very simple and unquantized.
Speaker 1 (45:22):
So for four minutes he would actually play the beat
so the snares wouldn't necessarily be on them. Yeah, which
is amazing because it's feeling not not necessarily feeling all
the time.
Speaker 3 (45:31):
Sometimes he would just play the play the kick and
the snare alive, or play the kick and snare live
and do the high hats live, gotcha or the shakers
because those those are laying back, so his beat's laid back.
I don't know how to explain it, but he had
a laid back. He was on his own beat rhythm,
(45:52):
and he brought he brought all of us to that place. Yeah,
it was a certain hump that he had can't be explained.
But that's what made him so special, and his choices
and samples and his collection of music. Uh. He was
(46:13):
a historian. M hm. He was also very You have
to be mathematical. But I told stories before how when
I opened this refrigerator, all the coke cans will be
lined up like so symmetrically. I wouldn't want to get one,
(46:34):
you know. But I don't drink coke nowhere. But you know,
I have to make that clear. As you said, people crazy.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
I've seen the behive. The behive chased you a little
bit for a little bit.
Speaker 3 (46:52):
Where's the behid now?
Speaker 4 (46:55):
On Twitter?
Speaker 3 (46:59):
I ain't seen to be yuh a long time. And
I love bees. They don't know I like it.
Speaker 7 (47:08):
I love bees and my totalm Yeah lately though, mm hmm,
they're gonna tell.
Speaker 1 (47:21):
Men see them tomorrow, see him tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (47:25):
I like the tweet when you said, Jay, you're gonna
let this woman needs be something. Let this woman need be.
Speaker 3 (47:34):
I don't know why people think take things so serious.
It's just my sense of humor.
Speaker 5 (47:39):
I love j When you saw the cover though, knowing
that there is the inspiration, like, does do those inspiration moments?
Are you feeling like, oh my god, they saw what
I was trying to do, they love it, they still
doing it? Or do you feel like, oh, that was mine? Like,
don't bite.
Speaker 3 (47:56):
I have to be very careful with this because my children,
you're not watching me, and that generation is watching. And
as much as we love our art, it doesn't belong
to us once it goes out in the world. However, though,
you can't You can't manage what people are going to
(48:23):
do with the art. You can't manage whether they're going
to duplicate it or do another interpretation of it, or
just enjoy it or use it as an inspiration. You
can't manage that. But you don't have to remain silent
about it. Yeah, you can. If it makes you feel
the way, you should say something about it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (48:46):
But outside of that, there are a lot of artists
that get there. You can tell their style, their approach
everything from you and you do see that. Does that
bother you or do you look at it like I
put my art out there and it is what it is?
Or do you mind it all that they don't show
you respect and love and say what it came from here?
Speaker 3 (49:04):
As I'm mature, more I have less of a need
two h own own something. And the more I let
go of it, the more I am acknowledged. Isn't that something? Yeah?
The more I let go of the need of that,
then you get a call and say, hey, we want
(49:26):
to give.
Speaker 4 (49:26):
You an award.
Speaker 3 (49:27):
That's how the universe works in my world. So I
saw that, and I was very proud of that award
and proud of that moment because I had let go
of some things that were no longer evolving me thinking
you know, and then there it comes. They give it
to you because I became it, because they don't give
(49:49):
you what you want, to give.
Speaker 1 (49:50):
You what you are.
Speaker 2 (49:52):
Yeah, that's a ball. You heard that one.
Speaker 1 (49:55):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (49:56):
My last question. I feel like everything you do is
spirit all. Like I said earlier, is it even possible
for you to do any type of art without divine
energy being involved?
Speaker 3 (50:05):
I don't think so. Even if I'm not aware of it,
it's always involved. Yeah, something there's something I know what
it is, but there's something we floating on that's giving
us life choices of some sort. Yeah, you know, we're born,
(50:31):
we're told you know, once we're born, you know that
our religion was here already. What we're supposed to believe
in the tribe, the ways, the hunting ways, the what
we worship, how we worship, how we learn, how we cook,
how we dress. There's a tribe and you learn that.
(50:52):
Hopefully you go outside of that once you are of
age to explore other things, because you want to see
if that is true. Yeah, then you explore even further.
You want to go outside of that and see how
you feel being entangled with another person, another human, and
(51:16):
then after.
Speaker 2 (51:16):
That you go like entangled, entangled and entanglement.
Speaker 3 (51:20):
Entanglement is when two cells meet and become something. Yeah,
so you become entangled with another human in the next
phase of your life. Then hopefully you learn that and
learn some boundaries. And then now you're an individual human
which creative in spirit, and then you have to learn
(51:43):
how to walk in that humanness, in that spiritualness. I
don't know what I was saying or how we got
to this, but because I asked.
Speaker 2 (51:53):
You, is it possible for you to make art without
that divine in?
Speaker 1 (51:56):
No, not for me.
Speaker 3 (51:57):
Because I believe that. I believe that. Yeah, do you
think it's possible to do anything without.
Speaker 2 (52:09):
Not anything meaningful?
Speaker 3 (52:11):
Not anything meaning So you so you think or you
feel that there's an opposite of the BT.
Speaker 2 (52:18):
Yes, yes, yes, I feel like there's just I think
that you know, you have your divine and then you
just have your human right. So we're all spiritual beings
living in human existence. So you can do all types
of things in the human existence right, and you may
think they feel good in the moment, and they may just,
but it's not lasting, it's not fulfilling. You can you
know when you're doing something divine, you know when God is.
Speaker 3 (52:41):
Oh, absolutely, and you don't have to do much, it's
just your body feeling.
Speaker 4 (52:44):
You just show up and do what you do, and
everything around you just move.
Speaker 3 (52:48):
That's how music and performing is to me. It's the
only thing in my life that is like that. Yeah,
when I get up there, I'm not wrong, I'm not
too skinny, I'm not too ugly, I'm not too anything.
Everything is right.
Speaker 2 (53:08):
You got some shows coming up.
Speaker 1 (53:11):
Maryland this weekend, Yes, d C First and second, Brazil
on the sixth, that's right in San Francisco on the sixteenth,
and also you can check out do worldmarket dot com
if you want to get all types of things like
the order.
Speaker 2 (53:29):
There.
Speaker 3 (53:30):
I know I've been waiting even we don't realize how
big the fan base is, the reach is, but it's amazing.
Speaker 4 (53:39):
Because it's always so out.
Speaker 3 (53:41):
I bought you guys from Funko. You do, y'all gotta
cut it open if you want to see it.
Speaker 1 (53:50):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (53:51):
Oh, this is the figure that you've created.
Speaker 3 (53:54):
This is the this is the Buncle Buncle pop is
just collected.
Speaker 2 (54:01):
Look at the email. Look at this afford this to
my wife. I like this. She sent me back this morning.
It's so cute.
Speaker 1 (54:10):
Now we got one.
Speaker 3 (54:11):
So they're pop culture Vinyl Toy Collective and and they
specialized in artists are icons.
Speaker 4 (54:25):
Yeah, they specialized and not doing it.
Speaker 1 (54:27):
You need to put a shelf up there.
Speaker 3 (54:30):
You'll get it before okay, okay, And she's cute man.
Speaker 2 (54:36):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (54:39):
So this first one they did is the call Tyrone video,
so that we I actually reached out to Funko to
do this because I thought it was important for my
kids to have these. They love Funkos, and I surprised
them one day and said I have a funk go
(54:59):
so like your own funk you Yeah, yeah, you.
Speaker 1 (55:07):
That's dope. Thank you again for joining us. We always
appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (55:11):
Absolutely. I appreciate you too.
Speaker 1 (55:13):
No, we do, definitely do.
Speaker 2 (55:14):
We love you, value you, appreciate you. I literally just
told somebody last week, I said, I don't play about er.
Speaker 3 (55:21):
Didn't have a conversation either or envy there you go
at all and I don't play about you.
Speaker 2 (55:28):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (55:29):
And if something happened, you called me. I got you.
Speaker 4 (55:32):
I'm gonna call you. Yeah, because may be acting up
in here. Honestly, that's not true.
Speaker 3 (55:36):
I don't believe it.
Speaker 4 (55:39):
I might need to leave.
Speaker 3 (55:39):
Nothing like that. Don't do that.
Speaker 4 (55:41):
It'd be hard.
Speaker 3 (55:42):
Don't do that.
Speaker 4 (55:42):
It'd be tough.
Speaker 2 (55:44):
He'd be tough, just like.
Speaker 1 (55:48):
Some incentse he'll calm down.
Speaker 4 (55:50):
Now we got the puts in here. Maybe he'll relax.
Speaker 3 (55:52):
Everybody. Everybody gonna relax, thank you. Yeah, within a thirty
miles ready, everybody, they're gonna be relaxed. I appreciate y'all
always porting me.
Speaker 1 (56:03):
Eric Abdu sister, it's the Breakfast Club. Good morning, thanks,
good morning. Wake that ass up in the morning.
Speaker 2 (56:10):
The Breakfast clubh
The Breakfast Club News
Hosts And Creators
Charlamagne Tha God
DJ Envy
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