Valuetainment - Episode 503： Shai - “If I Ever Fall in Love＂ Where are they now？

00:00:00.000 30 seconds.

00:00:01.800 Did you ever think you would make it?

00:00:04.220 I feel I'm so close I could take sweet victory.

00:00:07.620 I know this life meant for me.

00:00:10.740 Yeah, why would you bet on Goliath when we got Bet David?

00:00:14.580 Valuetainment, giving value is contagious.

00:00:16.420 This world of entrepreneurs, we get no value to haters.

00:00:19.140 How they run, homie? 1.00

00:00:20.120 Look what I become.

00:00:21.400 I'm the one.

00:00:22.440 I'm Patrick Mediv, your host of ITIM.

00:00:23.920 And here's a question I got for you.

00:00:25.200 When you go to your bedroom and you're there with your loved one,

00:00:28.160 your husband, your wife, your boyfriend, your girlfriend,

00:00:30.480 what kind of music do you put on?

00:00:32.400 Because millions of people play the song

00:00:35.080 If I Ever Fall In Love Again by Shy.

00:00:38.040 And if you know this song,

00:00:39.680 I'm somebody that followed these guys for many, many years back in the 90s.

00:00:43.540 This is more a passion type of an interview for me.

00:00:46.400 So you're either going to like this, love this,

00:00:48.720 or you're going to say I know nothing about these guys.

00:00:50.620 But if you love 90s R&B, you're going to love today's interview.

00:00:54.960 Shy, they're here with me today.

00:00:56.700 An interesting stat to give you guys,

00:00:58.740 if you don't know about the folks I got here today.

00:01:01.280 Darnell Van Rensselaer and Garfield Bright.

00:01:04.260 Here's what you need to know about them.

00:01:06.120 When they came up, I think it was in 92,

00:01:08.620 and they hit the Billboard Top 100,

00:01:10.880 their song was number two for eight weeks straight.

00:01:15.480 The only other song that was number two for eight weeks straight,

00:01:18.720 I think was by Foreigner.

00:01:20.960 Foreigner was number two for eight weeks straight. 0.88

00:01:22.700 They had the one song by Foreigner,

00:01:24.740 one of the songs that was eight weeks straight.

00:01:27.480 And the number one song at that time,

00:01:29.260 just so everybody knows,

00:01:30.360 was by who?

00:01:31.140 By Whitney Houston.

00:01:32.740 Whitney Houston's song,

00:01:34.980 which one was it?

00:01:35.980 It was...

00:01:36.560 I Will Always Look Bodyguard soundtrack.

00:01:38.400 The soundtrack from the movie, right?

00:01:40.320 The bodyguard soundtrack.

00:01:41.540 So listen,

00:01:41.920 if you're going to be number two to anybody,

00:01:43.740 it's the great Whitney.

00:01:44.980 Gentlemen,

00:01:45.420 thank you so much for being a guest on Valuetainment.

00:01:47.840 Thanks for having me, man.

00:01:49.080 Why would you go with Goliath when you could vet David?

00:01:51.780 That's the dumbest lie right there.

00:01:53.100 That's the same.

00:01:53.600 So are you going to like the fact that you gave him that?

00:01:56.380 But look,

00:01:57.000 you know,

00:01:57.320 I have a scientific question for you guys.

00:01:59.280 Before we get into any serious stuff,

00:02:00.660 I want to ask a very,

00:02:01.440 very serious question from you guys,

00:02:03.240 just to kind of see how you answer this.

00:02:05.040 You know,

00:02:05.740 there was a heavy duty study done by Harvard University,

00:02:09.420 and I was looking at it,

00:02:10.260 I thought it had a lot to do with you guys,

00:02:12.380 and I want to know your take on this.

00:02:14.180 There was a study done in the mid-90s

00:02:17.080 by Harvard University.

00:02:18.980 Very,

00:02:19.360 very extensive study done.

00:02:21.520 That said,

00:02:22.280 that said the song,

00:02:24.960 If I Ever Fall In Love Again,

00:02:26.400 contributed to increasing the population by 6.2 million people.

00:02:31.200 How much,

00:02:32.240 how much facts is there behind that research,

00:02:35.800 or did I just make it up?

00:02:37.120 Listen,

00:02:37.380 how's it feel knowing,

00:02:38.320 how's it feel knowing you've been in so many people's bedroom?

00:02:42.720 You are probably number one on the baby making music.

00:02:45.380 How's that feel knowing you have one of those songs?

00:02:47.600 That is,

00:02:49.040 it's something that you never,

00:02:50.540 it's surreal at all times,

00:02:52.500 just to be a part of somebody's soundtrack of their life,

00:02:55.180 their coming of age,

00:02:56.040 development,

00:02:57.100 and they know you and your face,

00:02:58.940 and they have an emotional attachment to you,

00:03:01.560 and you don't even know the people,

00:03:02.940 you know,

00:03:03.440 so,

00:03:03.860 you know,

00:03:04.200 and when we go perform in front of people,

00:03:06.280 that very thing is edified,

00:03:08.240 and we,

00:03:09.040 you just can never get used to something like that.

00:03:10.600 It's just bigger than you,

00:03:11.720 but it's like,

00:03:13.000 American Idol would always call us,

00:03:14.800 and let us know that our song was like,

00:03:16.340 the number one most performed song,

00:03:18.940 audition wise for them,

00:03:20.120 and stuff like,

00:03:20.640 year after year after year,

00:03:21.800 and it's incredible,

00:03:23.280 man,

00:03:23.420 it became a classic song,

00:03:24.500 and we just,

00:03:25.080 you know,

00:03:25.580 thank God,

00:03:26.080 we were a part of something like that.

00:03:28.020 Yeah.

00:03:29.660 So,

00:03:30.100 let me ask you,

00:03:30.840 for you guys,

00:03:31.360 you know,

00:03:31.620 the other day I was watching,

00:03:33.140 remember when Eddie Murphy came back on SNL,

00:03:35.580 and he was performing,

00:03:36.500 this was like a few months ago,

00:03:38.320 was it two,

00:03:38.660 three months ago when he came back?

00:03:40.180 Six months ago he came back,

00:03:41.920 and I was watching him,

00:03:43.500 and he looked a little awkward.

00:03:45.080 I don't know if you guys saw that or not.

00:03:46.400 If you haven't seen it,

00:03:47.100 you got to go watch it.

00:03:47.840 I got to check him out.

00:03:48.540 Same old Eddie Murphy.

00:03:50.020 I'm watching,

00:03:50.580 I'm like,

00:03:50.780 I don't know,

00:03:51.140 Paul,

00:03:51.480 I'm just not feeling it.

00:03:52.500 I just don't think it's the same Eddie,

00:03:55.240 and then I watch Martin Lawrence,

00:03:56.880 you know,

00:03:57.320 Martin Lawrence act,

00:03:58.400 and I'm watching some of his stuff.

00:03:59.700 I said to myself,

00:04:01.000 the movie that just came out,

00:04:02.640 part three,

00:04:03.200 Bad Boys 3,

00:04:04.000 and I'm watching Martin,

00:04:05.440 I'm like,

00:04:05.720 you know what?

00:04:06.640 I also don't feel that it's the same old Martin,

00:04:10.260 the way he acts.

00:04:11.860 And then for me,

00:04:12.640 there was a song I used to listen to by MC Light.

00:04:15.060 Remember MC Light,

00:04:16.020 Keep On,

00:04:16.880 Keep Keep On,

00:04:18.280 from Sunset Park.

00:04:19.380 Remember MC Light?

00:04:19.980 She was a, 0.95

00:04:20.520 she was a big. 1.00

00:04:21.800 First of all,

00:04:22.380 let's establish,

00:04:22.960 we hip hop heads.

00:04:23.700 We grew up in the golden era.

00:04:24.640 So you're going to teach me,

00:04:25.900 I'm the student to you.

00:04:26.700 Hey man,

00:04:27.360 come on man.

00:04:28.340 So,

00:04:29.160 but the question I wanted to ask you guys is,

00:04:31.380 when I watch Murphy,

00:04:32.260 and I watch Martin,

00:04:33.200 and I see MC Light,

00:04:36.340 is,

00:04:37.040 as life changes,

00:04:39.680 you know,

00:04:41.080 Eddie Murphy's jokes,

00:04:42.540 to him,

00:04:43.060 maybe in the 80s,

00:04:44.220 to him in the 2020s,

00:04:46.040 like kids,

00:04:46.780 grandkids,

00:04:47.300 kind of like,

00:04:47.680 well,

00:04:48.520 you know,

00:04:48.900 I made some of these,

00:04:49.740 you know,

00:04:50.380 things I said,

00:04:51.140 or some of these guys.

00:04:52.580 Do you,

00:04:53.020 are you guys evolved in a point where you're like,

00:04:55.200 well,

00:04:55.440 you know,

00:04:56.120 the R&B,

00:04:56.920 love making,

00:04:57.580 all this kind of music that we made.

00:04:58.940 Are you uncomfortable with that?

00:05:00.420 Are you very comfortable with the art that you produce?

00:05:02.440 Because sometimes I see the artists changing.

00:05:04.780 And the fan,

00:05:05.560 the fan is kind of connected to the 1992 artists.

00:05:08.480 How do you process that as the artist?

00:05:11.260 Man,

00:05:11.820 we were so fortunate that as young guys,

00:05:15.020 we had the opportunity to go to Howard University.

00:05:18.220 And,

00:05:18.540 you know,

00:05:19.940 there were adult situations that we found ourselves in,

00:05:22.880 in a controlled environment like that,

00:05:24.500 that allowed us to come of age,

00:05:25.860 but kind of,

00:05:26.240 kind of like look at it,

00:05:27.660 metacognitively,

00:05:28.560 understanding how we thought about what we thought.

00:05:30.820 And that allowed us to be writers with a different kind of conscious.

00:05:36.000 Like as a fashion designer,

00:05:37.620 you always,

00:05:38.460 you know,

00:05:38.680 or people who do anything,

00:05:39.820 you want to make it timeless.

00:05:41.460 If you can,

00:05:42.100 you don't want to,

00:05:42.460 you don't want to get caught up in a fad aspect of things. 0.98

00:05:44.720 And if your thing can be streamlined enough and essential enough,

00:05:48.300 it can transcend the time that it's in.

00:05:51.000 And because of that,

00:05:52.760 we,

00:05:53.220 we talking about having your best friend become your lady,

00:05:56.580 make sure that your lady is a friend.

00:05:57.880 And that kind of a theme is not anything overtly sexual or,

00:06:02.340 or anything that's trendy that,

00:06:04.600 that as young men,

00:06:05.360 we can express that with no problem.

00:06:06.480 But as 50 year old men,

00:06:07.600 that's kind of like,

00:06:08.240 uh,

00:06:08.500 no,

00:06:09.260 we can always talk about being phrased before lovers.

00:06:11.920 I love that.

00:06:12.620 I love you.

00:06:13.180 You have no idea how much I love hearing that because that art to me,

00:06:16.380 when you listen to RME,

00:06:17.600 like guys come into the end,

00:06:18.760 they're like,

00:06:19.060 Pat,

00:06:19.760 you know,

00:06:20.140 how much of the RME today do you follow?

00:06:21.740 And I know this may,

00:06:22.540 you guys probably follow it.

00:06:23.960 I have zero interest in today's RME.

00:06:25.960 When I tell you zero,

00:06:27.580 I tell you,

00:06:28.080 I have zero interest in today's RME,

00:06:29.800 or even some of the hip hop.

00:06:31.760 I'm more hip hop from the Tupac days,

00:06:34.680 the Biggie days,

00:06:35.640 the,

00:06:36.260 even Andre 3000,

00:06:37.560 and Al Cap.

00:06:38.220 I like those guys.

00:06:39.280 I like Nas.

00:06:40.100 I like those guys.

00:06:40.900 I can't do with today because I think what you guys did during,

00:06:43.520 I'm not saying,

00:06:44.060 I'm not taking anything away from the guys today,

00:06:45.800 but,

00:06:47.040 uh,

00:06:47.740 love,

00:06:48.380 love songs,

00:06:49.640 RME 90s are very different,

00:06:52.180 man.

00:06:52.320 They're emotional.

00:06:53.140 Like you feel them when you listen to it,

00:06:54.920 you know,

00:06:55.540 do you guys still listen to your own songs?

00:06:57.640 I know you're performing all the time,

00:06:58.860 but do you listen to yourself?

00:07:00.080 Or is it kind of weird to listen to yourself?

00:07:02.800 Go ahead,

00:07:03.360 D.

00:07:04.260 You know,

00:07:04.620 we got a lot of stuff actually that,

00:07:06.140 you know,

00:07:06.420 didn't get to the radio stuff that,

00:07:09.300 you know,

00:07:09.500 we like some of our demo stuff,

00:07:11.160 some of our B-side stuff.

00:07:12.380 So we still listen to ourself and some of our contemporaries,

00:07:16.220 Jodeci and SWV and Silk and,

00:07:19.340 you know,

00:07:20.760 yeah.

00:07:21.520 H-Town.

00:07:22.120 Wow.

00:07:22.280 That's my,

00:07:22.760 well,

00:07:22.920 that's,

00:07:23.140 those are my friends and I'm down here in Houston now.

00:07:25.160 So,

00:07:25.440 you know,

00:07:25.640 I've been hanging out with those brothers and actually get a song together.

00:07:29.300 That's,

00:07:29.540 that's hopefully going to come out soon.

00:07:31.240 Let me tell you that one song,

00:07:32.760 good nut and body rocking,

00:07:34.560 knocking.

00:07:36.000 I mean,

00:07:36.620 that song,

00:07:37.680 man,

00:07:37.980 that was something else when it came out.

00:07:41.280 Right.

00:07:41.820 They had a,

00:07:42.700 they had good things going on.

00:07:43.840 So,

00:07:44.340 so have you,

00:07:45.040 when you were coming up,

00:07:46.100 when it first hit,

00:07:47.400 when,

00:07:47.720 when,

00:07:47.880 if I ever fall,

00:07:48.780 I'm going to get to the other ones as well,

00:07:50.320 but when,

00:07:50.640 if I ever fall in love again,

00:07:52.280 when you performed it and it went out,

00:07:54.860 when did you know,

00:07:55.920 like,

00:07:56.400 guys,

00:07:57.240 this is it.

00:07:58.000 Like,

00:07:58.580 this is taking off.

00:07:59.540 When did you know,

00:08:00.320 like the audience fully received that song?

00:08:03.880 Man,

00:08:04.360 we,

00:08:04.920 we,

00:08:05.380 it was kind of an instant thing.

00:08:06.940 It was just one of those things in life that the feedback was instantaneous

00:08:11.500 because the nature of radio back then was phone call driven in terms of how the playlists

00:08:16.000 were selected.

00:08:16.620 Now you have the big corporate entities dictating what,

00:08:19.600 you know,

00:08:19.800 is played with little wiggle room for the program director to flex their personal taste.

00:08:24.600 But back then you could call in and request your favorite song.

00:08:28.000 And so of course we acted like about 30 different people requesting it,

00:08:32.800 but it picked,

00:08:33.460 it had legs of its own.

00:08:34.720 And when it started getting played in regular rotation on a P one,

00:08:37.780 which is the larger radio stations,

00:08:39.420 um,

00:08:40.200 from which other radio,

00:08:41.580 uh,

00:08:42.200 outlets copied their playlist,

00:08:44.060 we kind of had an inkling that,

00:08:45.640 Hey,

00:08:46.000 without a record label,

00:08:47.180 we're getting radio airplay.

00:08:49.300 And because of that radio airplay,

00:08:50.700 because of the nature of the stations,

00:08:51.980 um,

00:08:53.020 we're charting now without being signed.

00:08:55.120 And so no,

00:08:56.840 by no means have we hit it big or anything,

00:08:58.220 but just those,

00:08:59.040 those,

00:08:59.340 those,

00:09:00.080 those,

00:09:00.400 those earmarks,

00:09:01.180 those different,

00:09:01.880 you know,

00:09:02.800 red,

00:09:03.060 the things to look at those,

00:09:03.940 those,

00:09:04.360 those pieces allowed us to see what it could be.

00:09:06.960 And when we got signed,

00:09:08.240 we kind of knew based on that energy that we were probably going to get well rotated,

00:09:12.640 well played.

00:09:13.120 And,

00:09:13.360 and that's what happened.

00:09:14.380 We crossed over without trying to cross over because of the nature of the song was not a,

00:09:18.500 like I said,

00:09:18.860 it was some black guys.

00:09:20.600 Um,

00:09:20.880 it wasn't necessarily pop.

00:09:22.440 It was just a heartfelt song that people could relate to.

00:09:25.660 And it was acapella.

00:09:26.740 So there was no attention paid to some track or anything.

00:09:29.540 It was just straight from the heart to people's ears.

00:09:31.880 And that between,

00:09:33.220 that being between two other songs allowed us to be embossed in that rotation.

00:09:37.120 So we kind of knew.

00:09:39.120 And then,

00:09:39.380 you know,

00:09:40.000 our label sent us overseas as soon as we got signed.

00:09:42.280 So we didn't get to feel the energy of America just yet.

00:09:45.180 And we hadn't had a video.

00:09:46.400 So it wasn't until we came back to the United States after our promotional tours overseas,

00:09:50.360 when we came back,

00:09:51.240 we came straight to New York,

00:09:52.320 the epicenter of,

00:09:53.940 of just trend setting in America at that time.

00:09:56.160 And they embraced us.

00:09:58.380 And,

00:09:58.520 you know,

00:09:58.720 New York crowd is,

00:09:59.940 you know,

00:10:00.140 if you could,

00:10:00.620 if people in New York embrace you,

00:10:02.940 you,

00:10:03.220 you,

00:10:03.480 you've broken your own record pretty much.

00:10:05.160 And that's what happened.

00:10:05.960 We came back to New York.

00:10:06.760 We did a show in a mall for crying out loud,

00:10:08.580 but the mall was so huge.

00:10:10.760 I mean,

00:10:10.900 we thought it was cheap.

00:10:11.700 We still thought we were like the Howard kids about to perform in a mall.

00:10:15.260 But this particular mall was this incredibly huge mall that was well attended.

00:10:19.380 It was like thousands of people overhanging over the banisters.

00:10:21.940 It was made like the embassy suites where you had the banisters.

00:10:24.380 You could look over.

00:10:25.760 And man,

00:10:26.900 everybody in that place was singing our song.

00:10:29.980 The energy was just incredible.

00:10:31.740 And that day is when we realized like,

00:10:33.500 yo,

00:10:34.560 did,

00:10:34.800 have we made it?

00:10:35.620 Are we here?

00:10:36.420 You know,

00:10:36.580 you know,

00:10:38.180 but later on it,

00:10:39.040 it came to pass that,

00:10:40.700 um,

00:10:41.160 that when I look back on it,

00:10:42.700 that was the day that kind of started it off.

00:10:45.180 I think in,

00:10:45.720 in America for us,

00:10:46.860 that was that day.

00:10:48.100 Darnell,

00:10:48.440 was that,

00:10:48.780 was that the same thing for you when you're thinking back,

00:10:50.840 looking back at the,

00:10:51.800 the,

00:10:52.820 the time where you kind of felt like,

00:10:54.540 I think our song is bigger than we thought it would be.

00:10:58.620 You know,

00:10:59.100 it's funny because I'm a,

00:11:00.660 I was a music major and I played trumpet,

00:11:02.960 you know what I mean?

00:11:03.740 So I was,

00:11:04.400 I was in a marching band.

00:11:05.600 I've been in a marching band.

00:11:06.480 I've been in high school.

00:11:07.300 So I'm really a band guy.

00:11:10.120 And of course,

00:11:11.640 you know,

00:11:12.140 getting the record deal and being on the road and hearing our song on the radio gave me that feeling like,

00:11:16.900 man,

00:11:17.300 you know,

00:11:17.600 this song is a classic,

00:11:19.000 you know,

00:11:19.180 we've made it.

00:11:19.940 But for me,

00:11:21.460 when I saw Florida A&M Marching 100 play,

00:11:24.520 if I ever,

00:11:26.860 I said,

00:11:30.940 man,

00:11:31.180 we made it.

00:11:31.980 That's cool.

00:11:32.660 We made it.

00:11:33.360 Yeah.

00:11:34.540 That's cool because you're in that world.

00:11:36.560 So for you,

00:11:37.160 that's kind of like,

00:11:38.020 you know,

00:11:38.300 look at these guys,

00:11:39.140 they're playing our song.

00:11:40.260 How much after the song came out,

00:11:42.060 did that happen?

00:11:43.460 Well,

00:11:43.860 a few bands started playing it.

00:11:45.820 Matter of fact,

00:11:46.360 one of the highlights,

00:11:47.300 when we first started promoting our song back then in the 92,

00:11:51.460 we did a little performance with Gramblin's marching band at the,

00:11:57.040 what's called,

00:11:57.540 which is big by the way.

00:11:58.800 That's very big.

00:12:00.060 At the Bayou Classic too,

00:12:01.580 which is between Gramblin and Southern,

00:12:03.920 you know,

00:12:04.240 big classic game.

00:12:06.360 So to me personally,

00:12:09.160 just the arranger for Fam U's band,

00:12:11.940 the size of them,

00:12:13.420 there were other bands playing it,

00:12:14.780 but I would say about five years down the line,

00:12:17.440 when it got to Fam,

00:12:19.100 then I was like,

00:12:20.120 yes.

00:12:21.240 That's cool.

00:12:22.280 That's cool.

00:12:23.220 And let me ask you,

00:12:24.360 had you guys at that time already,

00:12:28.740 and this is an innocent question,

00:12:30.920 but this is what a lot of men and boys will probably be thinking about.

00:12:34.280 Prior to that song coming out,

00:12:36.000 were you guys,

00:12:37.080 had you guys already had plenty of experiences with women partying,

00:12:40.600 having a good time,

00:12:41.640 or did it kind of escalate at 20 levels above what you had done prior to the

00:12:45.980 song?

00:12:47.060 Well,

00:12:48.200 coming out of Howard University.

00:12:49.140 You got to know,

00:12:49.760 I understand we're in our forties right now.

00:12:51.720 We're in,

00:12:52.000 you know,

00:12:52.260 maybe early fifties or forties,

00:12:54.080 but to the 22 year old,

00:12:56.120 he's going to look back and want to know a little bit of details of what it

00:12:58.840 was like when a song took off.

00:13:00.520 No,

00:13:00.760 just period during that time,

00:13:02.540 you know,

00:13:02.920 arguably the golden era of the,

00:13:04.900 the renaissance of the R and B group and the hip hop golden era,

00:13:10.300 period.

00:13:10.960 Those two overlap.

00:13:13.320 And there was a lot of,

00:13:14.840 you know,

00:13:15.720 sexual energy because of,

00:13:17.900 you know,

00:13:18.320 people,

00:13:19.360 the youth culture had produced artists that were the first wave,

00:13:22.200 it was kind of like icons in the new youth culture.

00:13:25.000 And that was kind of like looked at as,

00:13:26.820 you know,

00:13:27.780 sexy for a lot of women and stuff like that.

00:13:29.780 And so for sure,

00:13:31.200 like all the artists pretty much,

00:13:33.060 you know,

00:13:33.220 in that day and age had,

00:13:34.400 you know,

00:13:34.540 just like the athletes and stuff.

00:13:35.640 people,

00:13:35.820 there were,

00:13:36.500 you know,

00:13:37.160 proverbial groupies or things of that nature,

00:13:39.400 but it really boiled down to just,

00:13:41.600 I think people in that moment understood the dynamic nature of the type of music

00:13:47.340 that we were doing.

00:13:48.440 The fact that each group was a one of one,

00:13:50.480 like shy was not Jodeci,

00:13:51.840 Jodeci was not silk,

00:13:52.940 boys and men was not,

00:13:53.840 you know,

00:13:54.380 mint condition.

00:13:54.980 And then everybody had quality music that we all enjoy.

00:13:58.520 SWV,

00:13:59.120 like when we,

00:14:00.140 our first tour was the Budweiser Superfest.

00:14:02.100 And yeah,

00:14:02.860 there were groupies in hotel lobbies,

00:14:04.160 but the highlights of those tours were when I got through performing,

00:14:07.880 we get to stand on the side of the stage and watch SWV perform at their band

00:14:11.820 and still perform at their band.

00:14:13.260 Like our peers,

00:14:13.900 we were fans of our peers.

00:14:15.440 And they were also the backdrop to our coming to base.

00:14:17.740 We literally grew up together.

00:14:18.760 We were all like 20,

00:14:19.700 21 years old.

00:14:20.660 That's so cool,

00:14:21.320 man.

00:14:21.560 That is so cool here or not.

00:14:23.720 Yeah.

00:14:24.120 So it was like,

00:14:24.740 and we didn't have beef with each other and stuff like that.

00:14:26.500 It was like,

00:14:27.380 like our toolbox broke down and H-Town picked me up,

00:14:30.960 you know,

00:14:31.420 um,

00:14:32.400 SWV picked us up a couple of times when our toolbox broke down.

00:14:35.200 I saw something Jodeci was talking a little smack in one of the videos.

00:14:38.520 I'm like,

00:14:38.800 I saw Jodeci saying some stuff.

00:14:40.500 Look at these guys,

00:14:41.580 you know,

00:14:42.300 they got a tall guy like this guy.

00:14:44.300 I don't know if you saw that clip.

00:14:45.940 You know,

00:14:46.180 that competition,

00:14:46.820 but we considered Jodeci and boys and men like ahead of us,

00:14:51.140 like before we even got our deal,

00:14:52.620 we were actually in the mirror singing Jodeci songs and boys and men songs.

00:14:57.620 You know,

00:14:57.800 me and Darnell,

00:14:58.440 I was,

00:14:58.780 I was playing the role of Casey.

00:15:00.840 Darnell was doing that sweet Jojo voice.

00:15:03.880 A lot of respect for those guys,

00:15:05.780 even though,

00:15:06.180 you know,

00:15:06.380 I know about the interview and stuff like that,

00:15:08.160 but you know,

00:15:08.500 we were young and all that kind of stuff and everything.

00:15:11.400 You know,

00:15:11.520 I'm sure,

00:15:12.300 well,

00:15:12.420 I will hope they don't harbor those feelings,

00:15:13.700 but.

00:15:14.620 Highly doubted.

00:15:15.500 Myself and Casey and Jojo and Dalvin,

00:15:18.060 you know,

00:15:18.660 I don't know how Devante feels,

00:15:19.920 but I got respect for him.

00:15:21.260 He's a Libra like me and the boy is bad musically and stuff like that.

00:15:24.680 But,

00:15:24.700 um,

00:15:25.180 you're a Libra yourself.

00:15:26.360 You're a Libra. 0.99

00:15:27.160 I'm October the 12th,

00:15:28.140 man.

00:15:28.320 Yeah.

00:15:28.560 I'm a 12th.

00:15:29.300 We're six days apart,

00:15:30.480 man.

00:15:30.580 I'm October 18th.

00:15:32.080 My mom was the 60. 0.88

00:15:33.140 That's crazy.

00:15:34.200 The best people are Libras.

00:15:35.840 I don't know if you're the best human beings in the world are Libras. 1.00

00:15:38.700 This is proven.

00:15:39.840 Darnell,

00:15:40.220 you know,

00:15:40.700 it's your,

00:15:40.960 when's your birthday Darnell?

00:15:42.180 Let's see when your birthday is.

00:15:43.640 Doris.

00:15:44.460 We just had one.

00:15:45.780 So April,

00:15:46.360 what?

00:15:46.660 May 17th.

00:15:47.960 On May 17th.

00:15:49.000 Doris is right.

00:15:49.600 So he's a Taurus.

00:15:50.740 Yep.

00:15:51.020 Brown versus Board of Education Day.

00:15:52.820 So,

00:15:52.980 so Tauruses are extremely stubborn,

00:15:55.620 man.

00:15:55.840 When you guys,

00:15:56.560 you know,

00:15:56.920 a very interesting community of people are Tauruses.

00:16:02.640 He's stubborn.

00:16:03.820 That's my guy though.

00:16:05.220 And his stubbornness helped us out a whole lot.

00:16:07.260 You need that in business.

00:16:08.480 You need that in business.

00:16:09.620 A hundred percent you need that in business.

00:16:11.340 It's very effective for somebody on the team to be stubbornly determined.

00:16:16.760 To get something done.

00:16:17.800 It's very hard to find out.

00:16:18.620 That's a hard idea.

00:16:19.960 Yeah,

00:16:20.400 because Libras have a different personality and Tauruses have a very different personality.

00:16:24.620 Very interesting right there.

00:16:25.960 So,

00:16:26.240 so when you guys were going back and you think about,

00:16:28.540 you know,

00:16:28.780 you brought up the bands,

00:16:29.800 Joe to see all these other guys and you're listening to them,

00:16:32.940 was that almost like a playbook at that time on how to pick up and put a band together?

00:16:37.500 Or what was the,

00:16:39.480 if you were to say,

00:16:41.140 this is how typically bands were started or groups were started together.

00:16:45.780 What,

00:16:46.280 what is,

00:16:46.920 what is the commonality amongst different groups that got started?

00:16:49.240 Whether it's yourselves,

00:16:50.240 Joe to see Blackstreet,

00:16:51.800 Boyz II Men,

00:16:52.360 you name any of those guys.

00:16:53.740 Is there a certain set of formula or everybody has a different story?

00:16:58.020 Yeah,

00:16:58.520 I think,

00:16:59.540 I mean,

00:17:00.200 we had a different story for sure,

00:17:02.180 but I think,

00:17:03.140 you know,

00:17:03.420 you get around guys who are like-minded musically,

00:17:06.380 or,

00:17:07.080 you know,

00:17:07.380 we bounce off each other.

00:17:08.660 Well,

00:17:09.020 writing and music wise,

00:17:10.400 and then performance wise,

00:17:12.380 and then you kind of feel it start building in the harmony.

00:17:15.740 And yeah,

00:17:16.900 I'm sure like that's,

00:17:18.160 that's how it was for us.

00:17:19.620 So I'm sure the other guys,

00:17:21.160 it was a similar kind of,

00:17:22.900 you know,

00:17:23.260 union and feeling each other out and realizing they vibe well together,

00:17:27.320 creatively.

00:17:28.540 And such to the point where they felt like,

00:17:31.220 Hey,

00:17:31.340 we,

00:17:31.480 we,

00:17:31.760 we got something that we can share with the world.

00:17:33.900 You know what I mean?

00:17:34.840 And that's how we felt.

00:17:36.520 It was,

00:17:36.820 it was a trip because back then it seemed to me,

00:17:38.720 when I look at it,

00:17:39.520 a lot of the groups were organically,

00:17:41.800 you know,

00:17:42.480 they came together organically with the exception of maybe like an En Vogue,

00:17:45.060 who kind of got,

00:17:46.000 they won contest individually and got put together by Foster.

00:17:49.100 What's my man's name?

00:17:49.960 Foster,

00:17:51.260 like McElroy or something like,

00:17:52.700 but us shy.

00:17:54.960 If you look at groups like Silk,

00:17:56.640 Jodeci's two sets of brothers that grew up in the church culture together,

00:18:01.140 knew about each other.

00:18:02.580 All of us of H town,

00:18:04.080 all of us kind of organically,

00:18:05.900 you know,

00:18:06.240 like boys and men came from the performing art school,

00:18:09.800 you know,

00:18:10.000 they,

00:18:10.260 they all knew each other in that on those ways.

00:18:12.000 And they organically grew up together and Michael Bivens kind of put them

00:18:15.020 on and stuff like that.

00:18:16.360 So there is a commonality in terms of deep tissue connectivity between the

00:18:20.520 groups.

00:18:20.860 And I know that affects the sound and everything typically,

00:18:23.820 except for like an En Vogue who just came out sounding ridiculously incredible

00:18:27.640 without having grown up together and stuff like that.

00:18:30.160 But the rest of us,

00:18:30.880 I knew Darnell,

00:18:32.080 we met at Howard.

00:18:33.200 He was my roommate freshman year.

00:18:34.580 That was the first guy that I knew,

00:18:36.340 you know,

00:18:36.560 me and Darnell at 17 years old at Howard university day one,

00:18:40.800 that was my guy.

00:18:41.660 So,

00:18:42.400 you know,

00:18:42.860 that took a life of his own.

00:18:44.640 His dad was already the,

00:18:46.440 the,

00:18:46.720 the manager of a group called riff.

00:18:48.900 And he was a guidance counselor at the East side high school with Joe

00:18:51.520 Clark and all that where Darnell actually went.

00:18:53.180 So he had songs before they came out that we were singing to the girl dorms

00:18:56.540 and stuff like that.

00:18:57.420 So we kind of organically were basically practicing for what was going to end up

00:19:01.460 being a singing career without us even knowing at the time.

00:19:04.160 And,

00:19:04.280 and the chemistry itself,

00:19:05.540 you know,

00:19:05.820 like place where you belong.

00:19:07.020 You mentioned that song.

00:19:08.300 That's,

00:19:08.620 that's a kind of a showcase for me and Darnell.

00:19:10.500 If you really,

00:19:10.880 you know,

00:19:11.300 get down to it,

00:19:11.820 he does the first verse.

00:19:12.660 I do the second verse and it's a contrast in style,

00:19:16.180 but it,

00:19:16.480 it,

00:19:16.760 it,

00:19:17.380 it's really emotional and it worked because we were already doing,

00:19:20.020 like I said,

00:19:20.380 I was trying to mimic Casey.

00:19:21.740 Of course,

00:19:21.940 I could never sing like Casey,

00:19:23.460 but I was in the mirror being Casey all day long and him,

00:19:26.580 you know,

00:19:26.900 we had just,

00:19:27.320 we would just watch the five heartbeats and go in the mirror and perform songs.

00:19:30.500 And we would be boys,

00:19:31.380 the men,

00:19:31.660 sometimes we'd be Joe to see,

00:19:32.740 but we had that chemistry way back then.

00:19:35.480 And it developed and,

00:19:36.420 and it's what it became.

00:19:38.760 And now we still stand.

00:19:40.200 We're going shy.

00:19:41.260 So let me,

00:19:41.720 let me ask you this.

00:19:42.440 Were you guys,

00:19:43.280 uh,

00:19:43.580 uh,

00:19:44.020 did you guys kind of have an idea of saying,

00:19:45.680 I think one day we're going to be big.

00:19:46.900 Were you guys like in a group telling each other and friends,

00:19:48.980 Hey guys,

00:19:49.440 one day we're going to go,

00:19:50.220 one day we're going to do this.

00:19:51.040 Was there a vision thing or was it accidental?

00:19:54.120 Well,

00:19:54.280 did you talk about the beginning portion of like how it came?

00:19:57.220 And I,

00:19:57.680 okay,

00:19:59.160 well actually,

00:19:59.940 you know,

00:20:00.380 the,

00:20:01.260 the,

00:20:01.420 the original members,

00:20:02.520 three of us are in a fraternity called Alpha Phi Alpha.

00:20:05.140 We were online pledging two of us.

00:20:07.780 One of the guys was our big brother.

00:20:09.980 And we realized during that process that we were into music.

00:20:13.800 So when we got offline,

00:20:14.680 we just decided to kind of write songs and just get around the piano and see what comes of it.

00:20:20.340 Carl,

00:20:20.860 one of the members that left,

00:20:22.460 he actually was,

00:20:24.260 I guess,

00:20:24.900 the only one at that time that was thinking about a career in the music industry as a songwriter, producer.

00:20:30.700 So he,

00:20:31.520 but he wrote,

00:20:32.220 he didn't play.

00:20:32.940 He just wrote lyrics.

00:20:34.380 So we kind of arranged the music.

00:20:37.200 He would sing us the lyrics.

00:20:38.420 We would arrange the music,

00:20:39.620 go to the studio,

00:20:41.280 produce it,

00:20:41.980 and just start stockpiling songs to possibly sell.

00:20:44.740 So once we started singing around the piano,

00:20:48.620 working out our songs,

00:20:50.760 Garfield,

00:20:51.540 me and Garfield reconnected because from freshman year,

00:20:54.580 we kind of,

00:20:55.380 you know,

00:20:55.620 started doing a different thing on campus.

00:20:57.200 We were still tight as peas,

00:20:58.700 but we were into different things.

00:21:00.280 And then we kind of caught back up heavy again,

00:21:03.680 like freshman year,

00:21:05.080 right?

00:21:05.300 When we were doing this writer,

00:21:06.760 writer thing with my frat brothers.

00:21:09.120 So he started first just coming as my friend coming.

00:21:13.280 And then when we would leave the rehearsal or leave the writing session,

00:21:16.460 he would sing back the songs to me.

00:21:18.880 Like,

00:21:19.040 man,

00:21:19.140 I like that one song you do.

00:21:20.660 And he would sing it to me.

00:21:22.220 And I'm listening to him like,

00:21:24.540 man,

00:21:24.700 this guy can sing a little something.

00:21:26.460 You know what I mean?

00:21:27.140 It's like,

00:21:27.540 he wasn't focused on it.

00:21:29.280 So it wasn't,

00:21:30.300 you know,

00:21:30.660 as polished as it became.

00:21:32.040 It was raw,

00:21:32.780 but I can hear it.

00:21:33.800 Well,

00:21:34.740 so the next session,

00:21:36.440 I put him on the spot.

00:21:37.500 I say,

00:21:38.140 man,

00:21:38.980 G can sing,

00:21:39.620 man.

00:21:39.740 He's holding out on us.

00:21:42.880 You know,

00:21:43.720 we,

00:21:44.160 we started arranging our harmonies.

00:21:45.940 It was four part.

00:21:46.860 And we heard it and it just started sounding like this is right,

00:21:51.860 man.

00:21:52.840 So,

00:21:54.120 yeah,

00:21:54.240 go ahead.

00:21:54.880 No,

00:21:55.140 I would say to add to that,

00:21:57.340 like,

00:21:58.100 you know,

00:21:58.420 a lot of groups that form,

00:21:59.760 you know,

00:22:00.000 they get their feet wet doing local shows and kind of establish a

00:22:03.080 following and that kind of,

00:22:04.520 we did one show before we got a record deal.

00:22:08.180 You're not kidding me.

00:22:09.700 It was,

00:22:10.100 it was in at Howard in a very hostile crowd.

00:22:12.640 Cause they kind of mimic the Apollo,

00:22:14.260 this particular venue.

00:22:15.260 It happens every year.

00:22:16.340 It's like a,

00:22:16.740 a variety show.

00:22:18.440 And it was chock full of talent who eventually got signed.

00:22:21.600 A rapper named Tracy D that Sean Allen from a group called pure soul,

00:22:25.360 a brother named Eric Robeson from New Jersey that can sing his butt off.

00:22:27.980 They ended up becoming a dope artist.

00:22:29.560 Well,

00:22:29.660 they all got booed.

00:22:31.180 And so that show was like a litmus test,

00:22:34.640 you know,

00:22:34.840 like if you don't get booed,

00:22:36.140 maybe you can do something.

00:22:37.560 And we went out singing about seven boys and men songs in the medley.

00:22:41.880 And,

00:22:42.080 um,

00:22:43.100 you know,

00:22:43.460 started off with a 10,

00:22:44.960 nine,

00:22:45.700 eight,

00:22:46.340 seven,

00:22:46.580 you know,

00:22:46.720 we did that,

00:22:47.900 came into it real smooth.

00:22:49.120 So they didn't boo us yet.

00:22:50.260 Knocked that up and went straight.

00:22:51.420 Don't go away.

00:22:52.600 You know,

00:22:52.820 please don't went there.

00:22:54.660 We had them.

00:22:55.560 And by the end of it,

00:22:56.740 man,

00:22:56.900 they wanted us to keep going.

00:22:59.060 So we came out and we were like,

00:23:00.680 well,

00:23:00.760 we're going to sing now.

00:23:01.580 We got the songs.

00:23:02.360 And plus we hadn't got booed yet.

00:23:03.560 I was ready to cut my losses and move because we didn't get booed.

00:23:06.620 Moral victory.

00:23:07.460 But we sung if I ever that night for the first time in front of people.

00:23:10.660 Now,

00:23:10.800 how many people are there by the way,

00:23:12.040 just to kind of give us perspective.

00:23:13.420 It was crowded.

00:23:14.720 How many people can cramping hold D?

00:23:17.340 I'm thinking at least 800,

00:23:19.540 something like that.

00:23:20.160 Yeah,

00:23:20.580 it was,

00:23:20.820 it was a,

00:23:21.180 it was a full capacity,

00:23:22.600 whatever that venue can hold.

00:23:23.860 And the football players in the New York crowd,

00:23:26.360 you know,

00:23:26.520 they're the rowdy ones.

00:23:27.320 They want to boo everybody just to have fun at our expense.

00:23:30.140 They didn't boo us.

00:23:31.120 And by the time the chorus came around the second time,

00:23:34.260 the whole crowd was singing if I ever fall in love,

00:23:36.600 like they knew it,

00:23:37.360 like it was a song that was out already.

00:23:39.400 So we went from not getting booed to the,

00:23:41.960 you know,

00:23:42.160 thanking God for that to like on the stage and immediately after the little

00:23:45.580 encore,

00:23:46.480 when we got that energy from that crowd and the curtains closed,

00:23:49.340 we stood there on that square on that stage and say,

00:23:51.860 yo,

00:23:52.880 y'all want to try to get a record deal?

00:23:54.620 Just like that.

00:23:55.500 No lie.

00:23:55.800 Get out of here.

00:23:56.960 And we went,

00:23:57.660 we said,

00:23:58.080 yeah.

00:23:58.520 And so we just went for it.

00:23:59.660 And about a week later,

00:24:00.480 we were at the avenues of America in New York trying to stop at all the

00:24:03.780 different labels and sing for them and stuff like that.

00:24:06.440 And that was an interesting experience.

00:24:07.520 No,

00:24:07.660 no,

00:24:08.160 nobody got it,

00:24:09.220 you know,

00:24:09.520 because they thought that the acapella song wouldn't,

00:24:12.660 and it was an original,

00:24:13.520 like we wrote it.

00:24:14.040 It wasn't like how boys,

00:24:14.800 me and we made that.

00:24:15.480 Oh,

00:24:15.600 exactly.

00:24:16.580 A known entity or whatever.

00:24:17.800 Yes.

00:24:18.160 I'm not sure program directors are going,

00:24:20.380 you know,

00:24:21.860 and then it just did its own thing in DC and the rest was history on that.

00:24:26.840 So,

00:24:27.240 but that's all.

00:24:28.440 Would you add anything to that?

00:24:30.220 Huh?

00:24:30.960 Would you add anything to that?

00:24:33.280 Yeah,

00:24:33.700 it was,

00:24:34.060 so to your question,

00:24:35.100 it was,

00:24:35.560 it was pretty,

00:24:36.760 I wouldn't say accidental,

00:24:37.760 but it was definitely organic and,

00:24:40.760 you know,

00:24:42.440 that's good to be like stars lined up.

00:24:45.260 That is right.

00:24:45.960 Now at that time,

00:24:46.920 when you guys are doing that,

00:24:48.960 who is the God of R&B at that time?

00:24:51.040 Is it Boyz II Men at that time and Jodeci or who were the main names?

00:24:54.540 They were becoming that like for us,

00:24:56.320 before we got a deal,

00:24:57.240 they were,

00:24:57.580 we were looking at,

00:24:58.300 like I say,

00:24:58.760 he was coaching on the hip hop side was,

00:25:00.480 was on and popping,

00:25:02.200 but the R&B side was kind of like really,

00:25:05.080 really coming of age,

00:25:06.280 getting started with the,

00:25:07.360 like Boyz II Men didn't start it,

00:25:09.060 you know,

00:25:09.560 but those were the guys who kind of like in the new age started jumping out in

00:25:14.040 front of everybody.

00:25:14.780 Jodeci and Boyz II Men had that and everybody could find themselves in either

00:25:18.480 the clean cut crooners of the Boyz II Men or the sexual kind of like vibe of

00:25:23.740 Jodeci.

00:25:24.380 Between those two,

00:25:25.180 you had everything you needed musically for whatever situation.

00:25:28.220 And so,

00:25:29.500 you know,

00:25:29.880 those guys took,

00:25:30.820 took,

00:25:31.060 took that,

00:25:31.820 but you know,

00:25:33.160 we were right behind.

00:25:34.540 I remember you were saying,

00:25:37.580 go ahead.

00:25:38.280 No,

00:25:38.480 go ahead.

00:25:38.760 Go ahead.

00:25:39.420 So,

00:25:39.620 so you were saying that the benefit you had back then is the guys on radio

00:25:43.440 could just call in and say,

00:25:44.920 I want to request shy if I ever fall in love again.

00:25:48.240 So it was kind of controlled by the audience where today it's more controlled

00:25:51.580 by the big corporations on who they want to put up and who they like,

00:25:55.700 right?

00:25:55.860 It's not necessarily all the audience maybe today than before.

00:25:58.720 Although some may say today,

00:26:00.140 because of social media,

00:26:01.140 you kind of have the equalizer because you can see who on social media is

00:26:05.000 taking off.

00:26:07.200 Was jukebox a big play of yours or no?

00:26:09.400 Cause it was,

00:26:10.660 was that another,

00:26:11.300 cause you remember back in the days you'd be sitting there like,

00:26:13.560 man,

00:26:13.800 I hope somebody goes and gets the Janet Jackson anytime,

00:26:17.680 any place.

00:26:18.180 I want to see that one more time,

00:26:19.560 you know,

00:26:19.800 just put Sir Mix-A-Lot,

00:26:21.020 whatever one of Sir Mix-A-Lot songs,

00:26:22.760 or you would say,

00:26:23.820 just put,

00:26:24.680 if I ever fall in love again,

00:26:26.020 you know,

00:26:26.360 cause you had that going on.

00:26:27.620 Did that kind of help you guys out as well or not really?

00:26:29.840 It was just another additional,

00:26:31.260 you know,

00:26:31.940 element of your game.

00:26:34.620 Oh yeah.

00:26:35.240 Video jukebox,

00:26:36.940 VT,

00:26:38.460 MTV,

00:26:39.400 all of those,

00:26:40.880 man,

00:26:41.280 we,

00:26:41.480 you know,

00:26:41.640 they gave us love.

00:26:43.140 So yeah,

00:26:44.480 that,

00:26:44.660 that,

00:26:44.960 that helped push us tremendously.

00:26:46.820 And radio,

00:26:47.400 like I said,

00:26:47.980 you know,

00:26:48.200 radio,

00:26:49.520 like a lot of like,

00:26:50.300 like Jodeci,

00:26:50.840 for instance,

00:26:51.200 at first they,

00:26:52.080 they weren't like a crossover group because they were so urban,

00:26:54.940 even though everybody in the urban community loved Jodeci.

00:26:58.880 But we were a group that was allowed to cross over and still have an urban base.

00:27:03.340 So in terms of like the people who we were exposed to in the tastes that were made,

00:27:08.300 they kind of through us came like,

00:27:11.680 you know,

00:27:11.940 acclimated to what the new R&B stuff was going to be.

00:27:14.660 And then they found the other groups in that way.

00:27:17.240 And you know,

00:27:17.420 boys and men paved that way for us,

00:27:18.940 but you know,

00:27:20.300 it was,

00:27:21.620 it was like,

00:27:23.620 like Darnell just said.

00:27:24.380 So what,

00:27:25.000 what happened,

00:27:25.600 what happened with the band?

00:27:26.820 Cause I know when I look it up,

00:27:27.940 I see,

00:27:28.480 uh,

00:27:29.220 uh,

00:27:29.760 you,

00:27:30.280 you guys are the original.

00:27:31.580 You're,

00:27:31.760 you're from the original.

00:27:32.580 There's four of you.

00:27:33.300 You said,

00:27:33.740 you mentioned Carl earlier and there's also Mark Gay,

00:27:36.260 I believe,

00:27:36.640 right?

00:27:37.280 That means three of you were part of the,

00:27:39.480 you said three of us were part of the,

00:27:41.060 uh,

00:27:41.620 fraternity.

00:27:42.700 You were,

00:27:43.300 so what,

00:27:43.680 what happened?

00:27:44.240 Because almost every single time these bands come together and they're killing it.

00:27:48.220 Some events happen when there's a falling out.

00:27:50.460 What happened to your band?

00:27:51.400 Because you guys for like six years,

00:27:52.980 you were on fire.

00:27:54.820 You were.

00:27:56.580 Well,

00:27:57.260 like I was saying earlier from the beginning,

00:27:59.880 Carl had aspirations on being a songwriter producer.

00:28:03.660 So after that first album,

00:28:06.860 you know,

00:28:07.160 he ended up getting a lot of credits,

00:28:09.240 you know,

00:28:10.740 um,

00:28:11.140 for producing and writing.

00:28:12.900 Um,

00:28:13.340 so he,

00:28:14.160 I guess wanted to parlay that into,

00:28:16.240 you know,

00:28:17.280 a,

00:28:17.560 a solo career songwriter,

00:28:19.920 producer,

00:28:20.440 ASAP.

00:28:22.560 So almost kind of like that.

00:28:24.760 We got a second album.

00:28:26.240 Uh,

00:28:26.480 a second album out of him was good.

00:28:28.520 You know,

00:28:28.940 he,

00:28:29.440 he was ready to go from the gate.

00:28:31.280 Really?

00:28:32.280 Yeah.

00:28:32.900 Go from the gate.

00:28:34.420 Yeah.

00:28:34.700 Like he said,

00:28:35.260 he came into it.

00:28:36.380 Like I'm a writer,

00:28:37.940 producer,

00:28:38.340 my first,

00:28:39.160 you know,

00:28:40.680 stamp on the industry happens to be my group to show you what I do.

00:28:44.120 But immediately I'm ready to go out and produce and write for other people.

00:28:47.180 Like from the gate.

00:28:48.900 So,

00:28:49.540 um,

00:28:51.060 and then also too,

00:28:53.040 um,

00:28:53.640 it was some internal stuff with the label.

00:28:55.260 We happened to come at a time where,

00:28:57.160 you know,

00:28:58.460 uh,

00:28:58.720 right after our first album,

00:29:00.160 I think they got bought out by Seagrams or Edgar Bronfman bought out MCA.

00:29:04.200 Yeah.

00:29:05.500 And that whole staff,

00:29:06.620 all of the field reps,

00:29:07.880 all of the radio reps,

00:29:09.120 all of the artists development,

00:29:11.360 all the people that worked our first album,

00:29:13.520 a lot of them just got fired.

00:29:14.840 They brought in new staff.

00:29:16.180 And so by the time my second album came,

00:29:19.160 you know,

00:29:19.480 new people would have a new agenda.

00:29:21.040 They probably brought some artists with them. 0.69

00:29:23.160 They,

00:29:23.280 you know,

00:29:24.200 so it was just like,

00:29:26.020 then that turned over again.

00:29:27.220 Like they fired them.

00:29:28.380 And you know,

00:29:28.960 during our project,

00:29:29.740 it was maybe like two or three turnovers.

00:29:32.380 So,

00:29:32.540 so in short,

00:29:34.380 just the business,

00:29:35.340 the business of it,

00:29:36.240 you know what I mean?

00:29:37.580 Some people can navigate the business and their interests are alike in a line to where they can still keep moving collectively.

00:29:44.460 Yeah.

00:29:45.140 Sometimes it gets too,

00:29:47.240 you know what I mean?

00:29:47.960 You got to do it.

00:29:48.680 Corrections.

00:29:49.460 And that was,

00:29:49.680 so what's Mark up to?

00:29:50.860 So,

00:29:51.060 so what did it,

00:29:51.680 cause I couldn't find anything on,

00:29:53.520 on car,

00:29:54.100 on Carl or Mark today.

00:29:55.520 Like when I search names on,

00:29:58.020 on Google or YouTube or interviews,

00:30:00.580 I didn't see nothing with Carl Martin and I couldn't find anything with,

00:30:04.580 but I found a lot with shy with the two of you.

00:30:07.100 What happened to them?

00:30:08.280 What did they do afterwards?

00:30:10.800 Well,

00:30:10.980 Mark,

00:30:11.520 you know,

00:30:11.960 Mark,

00:30:12.880 it's funny because Mark is now married to the young lady who was in our video that we did at Howard University,

00:30:18.920 baby,

00:30:19.180 I'm yours.

00:30:20.200 Like they fortuitously met back up in life,

00:30:22.680 like,

00:30:23.440 and got married.

00:30:24.220 Like the leading lady of the video is crazy.

00:30:26.800 But I know Mark had gone through real estate courses.

00:30:29.780 I think he got his license.

00:30:32.000 You know,

00:30:32.380 he was a zoology major at Howard and he got his degree.

00:30:35.740 And that was one of the iffy things that we didn't know if Mark was going to come be in the group or if he was going to graduate first and stuff like that.

00:30:43.280 That was a big deal for him back in those days.

00:30:45.220 But I think the real estate thing is what he kind of like primarily attached himself to.

00:30:49.800 And I'm sure he's still doing some like music somewhere because he was talented.

00:30:55.020 You can't just not do that if you've been doing it.

00:30:57.160 You can play.

00:30:59.000 And what is Carl doing today?

00:31:01.320 Like since then,

00:31:02.700 do you guys know what Carl's doing or no?

00:31:05.520 I don't know.

00:31:06.260 The last,

00:31:06.720 I think he was some kind of tech type of,

00:31:10.540 he had some kind of tech job or some kind of tech,

00:31:13.280 tech work that he does,

00:31:14.760 IT type of stuff.

00:31:15.940 You know,

00:31:16.220 I might be,

00:31:16.720 I'm definitely paraphrasing and lumping it and,

00:31:19.500 you know,

00:31:19.640 rounding it off.

00:31:20.320 But I think he has something to do with that.

00:31:22.440 And,

00:31:22.680 you know,

00:31:23.300 and I'm sure he still has an itch for music and stuff like that because he could really write and that kind of thing.

00:31:28.660 So,

00:31:29.000 you know,

00:31:29.260 but we haven't really kept tabs on Carl.

00:31:31.740 Like me at all.

00:31:32.760 At all.

00:31:33.120 I don't really keep up with him.

00:31:34.760 But Mark,

00:31:35.600 you know,

00:31:35.900 like he had his baby a couple of years back.

00:31:38.360 I got him,

00:31:39.180 his baby got his first Timberland skull cap and his first Timberland shoes for me.

00:31:42.980 You know what I mean?

00:31:44.560 But,

00:31:44.580 but yeah,

00:31:45.860 you know,

00:31:46.340 like I said,

00:31:47.640 there,

00:31:47.920 there,

00:31:48.240 there things in life that kind of like,

00:31:50.400 you know,

00:31:50.760 you see,

00:31:51.300 you saw the movie Five Heartbeats,

00:31:53.280 you know,

00:31:53.660 life is not,

00:31:54.840 life can be asymmetrical the way people grow.

00:31:56.920 And it's never,

00:31:57.460 you know,

00:31:57.700 and how you handle that and deal with that and recognize that in the moment dictates where it ends up.

00:32:01.960 But that guy over there and I,

00:32:04.320 we,

00:32:04.540 we,

00:32:04.780 we were like,

00:32:05.740 I guess like true brothers that,

00:32:07.500 you know,

00:32:07.740 might've even transcended the fraternal thing that he had with the other guys.

00:32:11.320 We were just cut from the same cloth,

00:32:12.680 both from urban type of environments growing up in high school,

00:32:14.780 both hip hop,

00:32:15.500 more hip hop head kind of brothers.

00:32:17.660 Our experiences were like similar.

00:32:19.220 And we were like forged and fired together by being roommates and going through the coming of age stuff together.

00:32:24.080 Then we get into this platinum group and still keep going together.

00:32:26.860 And now we 50 and still,

00:32:28.980 you know,

00:32:29.360 connected at the hip.

00:32:30.280 So that,

00:32:31.520 that,

00:32:31.800 that's something that we're blessed to be a part of.

00:32:34.140 Indeed.

00:32:35.800 That,

00:32:36.240 that's a,

00:32:37.000 again,

00:32:37.540 everybody has a different story,

00:32:38.960 but I'm always curious to know what happens when,

00:32:41.140 when you go back to the song,

00:32:42.660 if I ever fall in love,

00:32:44.460 whose,

00:32:44.980 whose main voices are there that were,

00:32:47.160 I know your face.

00:32:48.100 Like if I go on YouTube right now and I type in,

00:32:50.020 if I ever fall in love,

00:32:50.780 the thumbnail is your face.

00:32:52.220 You're on there.

00:32:53.340 It's 77 million views.

00:32:54.960 I mean,

00:32:55.460 but when you listen to it,

00:32:56.860 whose,

00:32:57.420 whose voice is which one?

00:32:58.740 I'm curious because I can't figure it out when I'm watching it.

00:33:02.560 Well,

00:33:02.920 Carl's on the first verse.

00:33:04.500 And then Darnell is the guy doing the chorus.

00:33:07.540 That's Darnell's pretty voice.

00:33:08.740 And then the high note,

00:33:10.240 that's Darnell.

00:33:11.700 And then the little,

00:33:13.320 that's me.

00:33:15.500 And then,

00:33:16.480 you know,

00:33:17.200 and then,

00:33:17.540 you know,

00:33:18.000 that's,

00:33:18.360 that's how it flowed.

00:33:19.180 And then the little harmonies,

00:33:20.760 fugues and stuff,

00:33:21.600 everybody,

00:33:22.420 but typically shy.

00:33:23.500 When,

00:33:23.680 when we did songs,

00:33:25.200 unless it was a song that one person brought to the table,

00:33:28.160 which is rare.

00:33:28.980 Like if I ever was one of those together forever,

00:33:31.200 I think was one that Mark had in high school,

00:33:32.760 we brought to the table.

00:33:33.700 But usually we will sit down almost like hip hop artists.

00:33:36.920 Somebody will come up with a hook.

00:33:38.220 And then we'll basically pinpoint who we thought vocally would sound good on

00:33:42.560 the song.

00:33:43.000 And that person would then write his verse.

00:33:45.640 And when you heard somebody singing,

00:33:47.180 most of the time they wrote their part.

00:33:49.180 You know what I mean?

00:33:49.800 So.

00:33:50.600 I'm going to play the acapella because I just want to listen.

00:33:54.040 I can't get time.

00:33:56.760 So that.

00:33:58.000 Carl.

00:33:58.220 That's Carl.

00:33:58.900 That's Carl.

00:33:59.720 The harmony.

00:34:02.460 Doing this acapella.

00:34:03.820 Are you kidding me?

00:34:05.680 Oh my God.

00:34:06.660 The very first time.

00:34:09.000 That's Carl.

00:34:10.060 Okay.

00:34:18.140 Still Carl.

00:34:19.920 That's the first.

00:34:20.540 Yeah.

00:34:20.660 And then here comes Darnell.

00:34:22.940 That's Darnell.

00:34:24.120 Yeah.

00:34:24.760 Darnell, you're kidding me.

00:34:26.540 It's Darnell.

00:34:28.200 Bad boy right there.

00:34:29.760 Are you listening to this?

00:34:31.180 He is a friend.

00:34:33.380 He is a friend.

00:34:35.380 He is a friend.

00:34:37.480 Oh my God.

00:34:44.000 That's insane to me.

00:34:46.140 And then Garfield, you're coming up.

00:34:48.380 I'm coming up here.

00:34:51.440 That's you.

00:34:52.500 Yeah.

00:34:53.080 Good for you.

00:34:54.880 Damn.

00:34:55.320 Damn.

00:35:00.320 Right here, man.

00:35:01.340 Say it.

00:35:01.820 If I say that I'm.

00:35:03.440 That's Darnell again.

00:35:04.060 I get the chills, man.

00:35:11.760 You know, for you, it's just the song.

00:35:13.440 To me, it's like, I've listened to this thing.

00:35:15.860 I don't know, man.

00:35:16.500 I think every single one of my kids are sponsored by you guys.

00:35:19.400 Just so you know.

00:35:19.940 That's funny.

00:35:24.840 And by the way, you know, a lot of times people, what's your favorite out of all of them, by

00:35:28.860 the way?

00:35:29.080 If you were to say the one you like the most, because to me, it was always a close between

00:35:35.200 If I Ever Fallen In Love and Comforter.

00:35:37.100 I know a lot of people are not, Comforter's not their number one.

00:35:39.440 For me, it was very close because Comforter is a interesting song.

00:35:46.080 And then you got, obviously, Baby, I'm Yours.

00:35:47.960 Right.

00:35:48.220 And then the place where you belong, which was in, which, was it Beverly Hills Cop 3?

00:35:52.300 Yep.

00:35:53.040 That's it.

00:35:53.600 That's it.

00:35:54.200 What's your favorite out of these songs?

00:35:57.080 Well, it's interesting because Comforter was a song that the label did not want to put out.

00:36:02.080 In fact, they wanted to prove us brash, young, challenge-oriented rookies wrong based on we

00:36:09.920 thought we knew the industry and they knew the industry.

00:36:11.600 And they wanted to show us that, no, Comforter, but what was happening was they were, the label,

00:36:15.520 because we were being pushed towards the big pop stations, we were alienating our black

00:36:20.080 music base.

00:36:21.060 So the black radio stations, we weren't going through those and doing walkthroughs and sit

00:36:24.600 downs and they were kind of getting mad at us.

00:36:27.240 So we knew we had an urban song when we knew the pulse of the black community was kind of

00:36:30.360 like letting us know, yeah, If I Ever Fallen, man, but that Comforter joint, you know.

00:36:34.020 So we told the label, look, man, the pulse of the streets, you know, for your marketing

00:36:37.500 department, put out Comforter next. 1.00

00:36:39.340 And they were dead set on putting Baby, I'm Yours out next.

00:36:41.280 But they were like, okay, we'll show you.

00:36:43.940 And they let Comforter go with minimal, you know, money put behind it.

00:36:48.400 They didn't really do the stuff that they usually do at radio and all that.

00:36:51.860 And Comforter still kind of had its own legs and went gold without any really real support

00:36:55.980 at all.

00:36:56.840 It was just purely the fans.

00:36:58.860 And so that also, because they couldn't say, I told you so, they still put Baby, I'm

00:37:03.680 Yours after that.

00:37:04.800 But I think if they hadn't put Comforter out second, we would have only had two singles 0.92

00:37:08.520 off the album, which would have been If I Ever and Baby, I'm Yours.

00:37:10.400 They would have stopped it.

00:37:11.840 Maybe you let us do another album or not.

00:37:13.740 But we got three singles out of the deal just because they wanted to prove us wrong with

00:37:16.700 Comforter, which happened to end up being one of our biggest songs.

00:37:19.520 And it was in the top 10 and stuff like that.

00:37:21.800 And yeah.

00:37:22.820 I just want to play a clip because for some people that maybe, you know, they're younger,

00:37:26.240 they don't know what it is.

00:37:27.000 This is Comforter.

00:37:28.040 You got to hear this.

00:37:31.040 I mean, it's just, you know, it's like you would bring a girl over to your place and

00:37:36.540 you would say, look, I just want you to know, there's a couple of rules I have if I'm bringing

00:37:40.000 her back to my place.

00:37:41.360 What's that?

00:37:42.420 Don't kiss.

00:37:43.280 No sex. 0.72

00:37:43.960 Nothing.

00:37:44.180 But just let me play one song for us to get in the mood of having a good conversation

00:37:49.520 together.

00:37:50.600 And you would play this.

00:37:52.300 I mean, by the time it's over, you broke the two rules.

00:37:55.360 I see your game over there.

00:37:57.700 It's pretty smooth.

00:38:01.760 Oh, my God.

00:38:03.200 And tell me what's on your mind.

00:38:06.040 This is just something else.

00:38:07.680 So for you guys, you got a lot of them.

00:38:10.880 Which one of them is your favorite?

00:38:12.320 I'm curious.

00:38:12.900 I'm actually curious because for an artist, it's tough to say which one's their favorite.

00:38:16.460 But what's your favorite?

00:38:17.180 Because it's like your baby.

00:38:18.620 What's your favorite out of these songs?

00:38:21.260 I was, yeah.

00:38:23.220 I mean, if I ever, it has a special place because you see the fan reaction when you perform

00:38:30.320 that.

00:38:31.080 You hear the stories like you said of, man, that song was the first time I met my wife or

00:38:36.400 that was a song we got married to.

00:38:38.880 So it has a special place.

00:38:42.300 There's another song we did with Jay-Z called Tonight.

00:38:46.660 And to have, like Garfield said, we're hip-hop heads.

00:38:50.260 So to have the legendary Molly Maul produce that, number one. 1.00

00:38:55.360 And then to have Jay-Z, who was a hot young artist, trailblazing at that time to get on

00:39:01.080 our track.

00:39:02.440 Three verses.

00:39:03.660 Three verses.

00:39:04.400 Right.

00:39:04.700 Exactly.

00:39:05.140 You know what I mean?

00:39:07.120 So, I mean, I'm still kind of like mad.

00:39:10.860 The label didn't really promote that.

00:39:12.360 Like, they should have.

00:39:14.180 But, yeah, that's a gem that we just have, like a special one.

00:39:18.860 That's cool.

00:39:19.820 You're right.

00:39:20.300 Artists did a joint with the great Jay-Z.

00:39:23.240 Let me give you some context about that, man.

00:39:25.880 Just so you can understand how we were coming through this industry.

00:39:29.180 Like, at that point in time, the turnover was crazy within the black music department.

00:39:32.600 And they had just gotten these new cats.

00:39:36.340 Harrell, Harrell, what was his name, D?

00:39:39.160 Harrell, Dave Harrell, Harrelson?

00:39:41.340 Yeah, Dave.

00:39:42.180 So, he was in there now.

00:39:43.660 And, you know, we had a relationship.

00:39:45.180 We wanted to do a remix to I Don't Want to Be Alone.

00:39:47.320 That was, like, the second single that we had on Blackface.

00:39:50.600 And we contacted our manager at the time, independently, not the label.

00:39:55.260 Our manager contacted Marley Mall somehow.

00:39:57.140 And he's, like, all right, yeah, okay, I'll do a remix for you guys.

00:40:01.400 I got a guy I want to put on there.

00:40:04.100 And so, we got the track.

00:40:05.680 And the track was that, you know, like, we hip-hop ass.

00:40:07.700 So, Nobody Beats the Biz or something that we listened to back in the day.

00:40:10.300 Nobody Beats the Biz.

00:40:11.920 Boom, boom, boom.

00:40:13.080 Do, do, do.

00:40:13.780 And that was the track he was letting us rock on.

00:40:15.880 He was, like, whoa, we get to rock on Nobody Beats the Biz.

00:40:18.600 So, me and D happened to write that.

00:40:21.020 And he got this new artist who had just come out named Jay-Z, who his only song, I think, at the time was Ain't No Blank with Foxy Brown.

00:40:29.520 And, you know, he jumped on it.

00:40:32.760 And he was the face of Hot 97 at the time.

00:40:35.300 And Marley Mall helped us blow that up.

00:40:37.220 But we only paid $5,000 at the time out of our own pocket because the label was not trying to support this endeavor.

00:40:42.080 So, we scraped up our little $5,000, gave it to Marley Mall.

00:40:45.020 He put his guy named Jay-Z on there.

00:40:46.780 And because he was the head radio guy at Hot 97, it was in his interest because his project, he played the song, like, Ridiculous.

00:40:54.020 And it was, number one, how they did it in New York for some crazy amount of weeks, maybe eight weeks there, too.

00:40:59.420 But the label, because we paid for it, not them, because we sought it out, not them, they weren't politically invested and they didn't do a video for it.

00:41:07.340 Now, imagine Chey and Jay-Z had a video for that song.

00:41:10.800 They didn't do a video for it.

00:41:12.080 No, they didn't want to do a video for it.

00:41:13.840 Because at the time, they were kind of trying to, like, get us off the label.

00:41:18.240 We had some political stuff going on.

00:41:20.320 Our album was called Blackface.

00:41:21.600 And, you know, Blackface is back to Al Jolson and those types of things. 0.65

00:41:25.180 But we were trying to twist it.

00:41:26.620 We had a statement that said, inside of your own face is a black face.

00:41:31.040 And black, in that way, we were kind of like, it was like euphemistic for pure, for good.

00:41:37.540 And we wanted to switch the narratives coming from Howard University, you know, with black meaning the opposite, devil food cake and all that kind of stuff.

00:41:43.660 So that was our way of kind of giving back in a creative way, taking a stance for kind of innocuous, but not in a label kind of thing under loads of issue with that.

00:41:52.600 And they put our album out before they put a single out for Blackface. 0.94

00:41:56.640 And they didn't let the stores write on the bulletin board that Shai's coming on November or whatever.

00:42:01.760 The album was just sitting there for, like, a month before a single even came out.

00:42:05.320 Usually the single comes out for, like, a month and a half and whets the appetite.

00:42:08.500 Then they drop the album.

00:42:10.040 It was the opposite.

00:42:10.820 So the albums were being sent back to the label because nobody knew they were there.

00:42:15.660 And then the single came out.

00:42:16.780 And when the people came to the store finally to get the single, it was already shipped back.

00:42:19.700 And even with all that, Blackface still out the gate went gold. 0.92

00:42:23.820 But a lot got sent back before it even got to sell.

00:42:26.440 So I'm sure that would have been platinum, too, if it was another way.

00:42:29.600 But those are the types of things.

00:42:30.840 But the Marley Mall thing, we kind of created that.

00:42:32.780 And thank God, because, like, a lot of the DJs now kind of mark each other, you know, in terms of rank.

00:42:38.160 You know, you got that Jay-Z shot joint, you know what I mean?

00:42:40.500 Because it's kind of a little collective item now, you know.

00:42:42.680 That's cool.

00:42:43.760 Yeah.

00:42:44.180 That's cool.

00:42:44.420 What is the place where you belong, rank, for you?

00:42:47.840 I love that song.

00:42:48.760 That's one of the songs that we perform that first when we come out.

00:42:52.360 It has tempo to it.

00:42:53.820 And like I said, that's me and my brother, Darnell, rocking.

00:42:56.820 You know what I mean?

00:42:57.420 But I have to give credit where it's due.

00:42:59.400 Carl and this guy named Trey Lorenz.

00:43:02.060 I don't know if you remember Trey Lorenz.

00:43:04.320 Incredible singer.

00:43:05.840 They wrote that.

00:43:07.080 They got together and they wrote that.

00:43:08.520 Maybe there's some Mariah Carey. 0.96

00:43:09.800 Yeah, Mariah Carey. 0.96

00:43:11.020 And he's in other places I hear his voice.

00:43:12.660 And I think he was with Groovey, maybe a male somewhere.

00:43:14.700 I don't know.

00:43:15.700 Groovey.

00:43:16.560 Yeah.

00:43:17.060 Bryce and them, yeah.

00:43:17.820 Tell Me What You Wanted, whatever that song is.

00:43:20.240 But yeah, we were in Hawaii and we kind of met him.

00:43:23.420 And then we came back to the States.

00:43:25.300 Carl and him kind of went into the lab and that came out of it.

00:43:28.100 And then once we recorded it and put our funk on it, you know, it became one of our favorite

00:43:32.240 songs.

00:43:32.560 But at the time, I remember people at the label kind of like not feeling it because it

00:43:36.880 was so different at that time than If I Ever or Comforter.

00:43:39.880 It was tempo where the others were slow, love type stuff.

00:43:43.040 But after a while, man, we had an overwhelming response from the public because it was so

00:43:47.860 emotional.

00:43:49.040 You know, Darnell coming up there, misery.

00:43:51.320 You know, it just set the tone.

00:43:53.220 And I love to hear that.

00:43:54.520 Walk away from me.

00:43:57.240 I mean, that song is just, you know, I, you know, it's crazy.

00:44:03.620 This video didn't do that well.

00:44:05.240 I mean, I don't know how it did for you guys as a song.

00:44:07.580 But when I look at my 600,000 views, are you kidding me?

00:44:10.900 You know, this ought to have 50 million, 100 million.

00:44:13.180 Well, part of it was the movie.

00:44:15.460 When the movie started to do that.

00:44:18.040 Oh, I got it.

00:44:19.220 It took money off the promotion and then our label took it off the promotion.

00:44:22.240 It was like.

00:44:23.320 Here's the opening.

00:44:24.440 Darnell.

00:44:26.800 Woo.

00:44:32.180 Yeah.

00:44:33.360 Dude, it's a great song.

00:44:36.500 That's what I'm doing.

00:44:38.800 Yeah, that's a sick song.

00:44:40.440 I mean, listen.

00:44:41.180 Here's what's crazy.

00:44:42.640 People ask me what songs I work out to.

00:44:45.700 Obviously, you can't work out to if I ever fall in love.

00:44:48.160 You can't.

00:44:48.980 But I can work out to this.

00:44:50.440 I don't know why this fires me up.

00:44:52.160 Because this, to me, I can work out to the bedroom and I can work out to at the gym.

00:44:57.200 It's a very, it's a crossover song for me.

00:45:01.880 You are ridiculous.

00:45:03.240 That's right.

00:45:04.860 That's right.

00:45:07.320 There's something about it.

00:45:08.500 The beat is also, you know, it kind of moves you.

00:45:10.560 It's not up.

00:45:11.500 All right.

00:45:15.320 Sick, man.

00:45:18.280 Place.

00:45:19.460 Oh.

00:45:20.400 Darnell, let's hear your voice, man.

00:45:21.960 Let's hear your voice, Eli.

00:45:22.940 Give us something.

00:45:23.480 Right here in my arms.

00:45:27.940 Without you, there's something wrong.

00:45:35.940 Now, hey, you know, for some of us who don't have a voice, for some of us who don't have a voice,

00:45:40.720 we wonder if those who have a voice, how often their girl says, can you sing to me?

00:45:45.840 You know, can you do a lyric to me?

00:45:48.380 Can you do something to me?

00:45:49.460 How often does that happen to you guys over the last, you know, since you've been singing?

00:45:52.820 Darnell, Garth, how often does that happen to you?

00:45:55.460 Can you sing a lyric for me?

00:45:57.240 Does that happen often?

00:46:00.120 It used to.

00:46:01.240 Then, you know, I started asking for pay.

00:46:02.840 And then it just slowed down a little bit.

00:46:13.180 Oh, man, that's classic.

00:46:14.980 That's classic.

00:46:15.760 So for you guys, when you think about R&B, I like what you said, Garfield, when you said

00:46:22.600 you're also a fan of the game because you're coming up with everybody.

00:46:25.980 What were some of the songs for you that leveled you and stopped you?

00:46:30.460 I can tell you songs that stopped me.

00:46:32.220 It's three songs that stopped me.

00:46:34.180 What were some songs that completely leveled you when you heard it?

00:46:37.180 You said, oh, my gosh, what is this all about?

00:46:39.900 My favorite group is Mint Condition.

00:46:42.200 So they have a song that's not even their main single.

00:46:44.580 Like, I liked all their singles, but they had a song called 10 Million Strong.

00:46:49.460 That thing, every time I play it is like the first time.

00:46:52.440 And it just kicks me all in my teeth, man.

00:46:54.660 Like, Stokely, 10 Million Strong is one of those songs.

00:46:58.120 And then that song, SWV had a song.

00:47:02.420 Like, all their songs were hits.

00:47:04.020 But when they came out with that Human Nature remix with Teddy Riley, and then when they

00:47:07.420 came out with that, what's the guy, the guitar player that go, what's that guy that plays

00:47:17.320 the guitar, what that melody, that Rain melody that they did, that Pastore, Jaco Pastore.

00:47:24.680 That's his name.

00:47:25.340 He's a guitar guy.

00:47:26.920 That's his melody to one of his things.

00:47:29.380 And that song just floors me, too, man.

00:47:31.920 This one?

00:47:33.380 Rain by SWV.

00:47:34.800 This or no?

00:47:39.760 Not that one.

00:47:41.020 Not this one?

00:47:43.260 This WV, Jaco Pastore.

00:47:45.540 Well, Jaco, no, the song is called Rain.

00:47:47.520 But Jaco Pastore, I did the musical lick that they used for the verses.

00:47:52.440 Came from him.

00:47:53.800 Rain.

00:47:54.580 Yeah.

00:48:00.060 Yeah, I remember this.

00:48:03.240 That's sick.

00:48:03.980 This is one of yours.

00:48:05.020 Woo, that's sick right there.

00:48:06.880 That's sick right there.

00:48:08.180 That's sick, man.

00:48:10.940 Big ups to them, man.

00:48:12.840 I don't know.

00:48:13.080 How about yourself?

00:48:13.880 Songs That Stopped You.

00:48:15.480 You know what?

00:48:16.060 It's been so many, man.

00:48:17.860 But I'll tell you one recently how you were speaking about how music started changing and

00:48:22.300 you felt yourself not being able to tune in to the new song.

00:48:25.980 I know what it is.

00:48:27.500 So, yeah, I'm driving down the highway one day feeling, you know, pissed off about the

00:48:32.540 direction of music.

00:48:33.420 And it was a song called Lions, Tigers, and Bears.

00:48:37.180 Yes.

00:48:38.280 Yes.

00:48:38.660 Lions, Tigers, and Bears.

00:48:40.220 Jasmine Sullivan.

00:48:41.280 Jasmine Sullivan.

00:48:42.780 I mean, the musician, the arrangement, the, what was that, a harp they used?

00:48:48.140 I mean, just to use a harpy type of plucky harp sound in R&B.

00:48:52.520 I mean, I'm not scared of a harp, but I'm scared of a harp, but I'm scared of a harp.

00:49:00.060 I'm the only one who thinks it's a nip-punch of a harp, but I've never heard this before.

00:49:13.220 Woo! 0.99

00:49:13.720 that's 10 years old by the way this is not a new song right

00:49:18.520 yeah i checked out about 10 years ago almost till she saved me with that one

00:49:25.460 what else any other song because you know you you're someone that you you know you uh

00:49:33.620 you you got a you got a ridiculous voice yourself who else is it for you that stopped you

00:49:38.400 don't forget about balau d i know you oh balau i mean take six yeah oh my god yes you know

00:49:46.060 when they came out i gotta see what's take six man i don't know oh wow spread love and

00:49:51.520 like eight like eighths and six in the harmony structures stuff claw mcknight brown mcknight's

00:49:57.720 brother is a part of that this

00:50:08.400 acapella to me is just insane to be able to pull it off

00:50:22.780 because acapella when you do acapella you're naked

00:50:26.140 yeah you can you can and for i mean to understand like in music like when you're when you're doing

00:50:32.740 acapella you can sometimes hide behind uh you know the music or whatever instruments that are

00:50:39.120 playing it's easy to hide behind it sometimes when you're performing but if you're doing acapella you

00:50:43.120 are net you screw it up everyone's gonna catch it made up no risk very risky and i got pledged

00:50:50.180 patrick i got pledged in the group man because you know i like he said i was very raw and i was a

00:50:55.820 bystander basically as they were rehearsing so i was picking up you know some stuff but when i

00:51:00.980 had to enter the fray and really do it the the note that i was intuitively hearing to end certain

00:51:06.960 resolve certain chords on but was the wrong one and i had to memorize where they wanted me to go

00:51:12.560 to fit into the harmonic man you know how hard that was to do and then performance ready and as soon

00:51:18.700 as i'm getting the hang of it we got a record deal and now we're on arsenio hall show i'm like jesus

00:51:23.520 now i gotta see comfort alive like wait a minute hold on it was just it was so fast but yeah i got

00:51:30.520 pledged in that group man that's cool so all time right now if i would ask you greatest r&b band of

00:51:36.680 all time who would you say top five and you rank them i know you guys talk about this because in

00:51:40.880 sports we'll say greatest baseball player greatest football player great you know the golden basketball

00:51:45.500 is jordan no it's this guy are we talking about the 90s or you're just talking about r&b groups like

00:51:51.020 well to me to go all of them are in the 90s anyways let's just stick to let's just stick to 90s

00:51:57.260 90s you know if you want to go into 2000 is fine but 90s 2000 who would you say top five

00:52:02.460 best r&b uh singers or bands you can if you want to go keith sweat rod tevin campbell some stuff that

00:52:08.960 maybe people don't know about you pick and choose well some of them groups have some beasts in them

00:52:13.840 like singer vocally wise like all the groups actually had somebody in there that was ridiculous

00:52:18.440 like silk with lil g then you had like of course jodeci with jojo and kc h-town with dino rest in

00:52:25.680 peace with that voice mid-condition with stokely who actually the drummer of stokely is what he's

00:52:31.820 really his big big gift is he's a drummer par excellence um then you know like swv with coco

00:52:39.680 coco like she was like a machine you know and even jay you know with dying on joy you know 0.98

00:52:46.620 and then us with darnell to be you know darnell with bananas um shoot all of us had like all of

00:52:53.960 us represented the one of one so um the top five would be who's the goat i mean there's got to be a

00:52:59.920 goat though i mean it's i put it in rank i rank them in order of like the old head like the the who can't

00:53:05.280 like new edition was is our is our uncles like in that way like you know they kind of really started

00:53:11.480 the renaissance because they was kids when they came out as the group and they grew up with that

00:53:14.840 so you know they kind of started a youth culture when it wasn't a youth culture they were kind of

00:53:18.820 like the group to gravitate to and we grew up with them for real all the artists in this 90s thing we

00:53:23.960 grew up with new edition as our like um just like we grew up with young mike and all that but so i would

00:53:29.940 have to rank them somewhere up there like you know like they kind of like was our old heads you know in

00:53:34.180 that way you know all they offshoots bbd and all that um and then but then you can't you know and

00:53:38.940 you got to go with like the record sales and stuff with boys the men and joe to see and what they mean

00:53:43.760 they got to be up in there like you know i feel like we got to be up in there too though you know

00:53:47.740 what i mean like we didn't have this long career and a big body of work like a lot of them got a

00:53:51.160 chance to have but just creativity um and just being like a one of one in a way that was not typical

00:53:58.080 and then how organically we came together and our sound was just

00:54:01.660 like it was simple but not basic i think that that

00:54:05.620 dude what you are you kidding me you guys killed it i know you did say oh no 0.61

00:54:09.460 i mean you got it but to us like you know for a guy like me from the fan standpoint you're like

00:54:16.040 what if you guys went seven more years what if you guys just went five more years not even 20 years

00:54:21.420 you know because it's hard to do that long but what if you had a 10 15 year run

00:54:25.160 if we had had a run like that i think we'd have it'd definitely be a different conversation

00:54:28.780 because we were just growing and hitting our stride as young men as well as

00:54:32.700 our talents where like i was just my voice was finally coming into it i was just learning i was

00:54:37.340 just getting the hang of the singing thing and developing a style you know because i got just

00:54:41.480 thrown into this and i was you know and then we didn't get to do another album but as with the

00:54:47.080 four originals but um i think that we would definitely have something big to offer and some

00:54:51.220 more hits definitely for sure and stuff like that but i put us in that top five i have to

00:54:55.800 got to represent but i got to give props to the other crews too you know no no who do you have

00:55:00.420 who do you have that maybe garfield didn't mention any names you have yeah just the way he did it

00:55:07.400 using the criteria he used you got to give new addition there's you got to give even boys the

00:55:12.640 men and josey there's because they kind of started our little segment of the you know r&b movement

00:55:17.560 male group movement um there's a group called riff that garfield was speaking about earlier

00:55:22.920 they were in the movie lean on me they sang a school song in the bathroom yeah man for man i

00:55:28.960 think they were probably one of the best groups of all of us they they did acapella right in the

00:55:34.160 bathroom yeah yeah i remember that yeah they was they serious yeah they're serious they're real

00:55:41.800 underrated they they you know they came out real early where the labels didn't really know how to

00:55:47.920 promote urban music like that they were like one of the first i hate to use this word but test dummies

00:55:53.620 you know like crash you know and so they got caught up in the figuring out of it you know what i mean

00:56:00.360 and but they're they're super talented you know you got that scene

00:56:06.060 you know what i mean

00:56:11.760 and

00:56:12.760 and

00:56:13.760 and

00:56:15.760 and

00:56:17.760 and

00:56:19.760 and

00:56:21.760 and

00:56:23.760 and

00:56:25.760 and

00:56:27.760 and

00:56:29.760 and

00:56:40.460 and

00:56:42.460 and

00:56:43.060 and

00:56:43.460 and

00:56:51.460 and

00:56:53.460 and

00:56:54.460 and

00:56:55.460 It's crazy, right?

00:56:56.460 Well, unreal.

00:56:57.460 I'm telling you, like, it speaks to your spirit and to your soul.

00:57:00.340 It's very interesting when a talent can get to that.

00:57:03.780 And to me, I think acapella was able to do that.

00:57:07.860 It's not everybody's game.

00:57:09.080 It's very risky to do that.

00:57:10.700 And obviously, this movie's got a very special place to my heart.

00:57:14.220 It's a great movie about leadership and being able to make a change and somebody that doesn't

00:57:18.120 give up on people.

00:57:19.960 You guys know about that movie.

00:57:21.120 I don't need to tell you guys about that movie, but it's a powerful movie.

00:57:25.040 Darnell went to that school.

00:57:26.040 Darnell?

00:57:27.040 You went to that school?

00:57:28.040 Yeah.

00:57:29.040 The guidance counselor and the manager of that group.

00:57:31.040 Joe Clark was my principal right at that time.

00:57:34.040 And it's funny because that school song, every morning, he would have the guys come in and

00:57:38.520 sing it on a loudspeaker.

00:57:40.160 That's how we would start our day, the whole school.

00:57:42.760 How disciplined was the school?

00:57:45.260 How disciplined was it ran?

00:57:46.800 Well, you know what, man?

00:57:48.800 I mean, Joe Clark got a lot of credit and made for a good story, and he definitely was

00:57:52.100 kind of like one of the people that made it happen.

00:57:56.100 But really, it was like my dad was a social worker, a music teacher, Mr. Nelson, the guidance

00:58:02.100 counselor, Mr. Smith.

00:58:03.100 Yeah.

00:58:04.100 That time was, man, we had a lot of elders in the community who really gave a damn.

00:58:08.880 You know what I mean?

00:58:09.880 Of course.

00:58:10.880 Yeah.

00:58:11.880 To the point where think about somebody at your age with your accomplishments as remembering

00:58:16.100 how they influenced you coming up.

00:58:18.100 Like, imagine how many kids at that age give them respect for being the men and the women

00:58:22.100 that they are today.

00:58:23.100 Yes.

00:58:24.100 Exactly.

00:58:25.100 Sometimes influence you put into people.

00:58:28.100 You know, one time, one of my teachers called me, my health and guidance teacher.

00:58:31.100 She was emotional.

00:58:32.100 She was having a rough day.

00:58:33.100 She's my pen pal.

00:58:34.100 I'm her pen pal.

00:58:35.100 We write letters to each other.

00:58:36.100 And she was my health and guidance teacher 27 years ago.

00:58:38.100 She says, you know, these students don't do this, and they're not grateful like you guys

00:58:42.100 run all this.

00:58:43.100 But I said, Ms. Sinclair, man, just think about it.

00:58:46.100 I joined the army because of you.

00:58:48.100 You know, I was a 14-year-old kid with a 1.8 GPA, and you believed in this kid, and you

00:58:52.100 were always respectful, but you challenged the hell out of him.

00:58:55.100 She was 4'11".

00:58:57.100 I'm 6'4 and a half.

00:58:59.100 I mean, I'm intimidating.

00:59:00.100 I was a bodybuilder back then, and she would just come up to me and have the respect. 0.54

00:59:04.100 I said, you have to realize, I'm a byproduct of you.

00:59:07.100 Look at the impact you made on this guy's life.

00:59:09.100 I said, be patient.

00:59:10.100 I promise you, these kids are going to come back, and they're going to be grateful for

00:59:13.100 you.

00:59:14.100 We did a special event where we went back and surprised her in front of her students and

00:59:17.100 told her how much she means to me and my family.

00:59:20.100 But I relate.

00:59:21.100 I relate on what she may go down as just a health and guidance teacher, but not in my

00:59:25.100 book.

00:59:26.100 She may go down as a hero in my book on what she knows.

00:59:29.100 People like that have a lot of respect for her.

00:59:32.100 A lot of respect for her.

00:59:33.100 How do you feel about the current direction where music is going to?

00:59:36.100 Is it something that interests you, like this current R&B and rap kind of pull you in,

00:59:41.100 draw you in like it did back then?

00:59:43.100 You know, it's funny because it's interesting.

00:59:48.100 I look at it kind of like a study.

00:59:51.100 You know what I mean?

00:59:53.100 These kids have so much access to information, and it's such a microwave age.

00:59:58.100 You know what I mean?

00:59:59.100 They want to get to the gratification part quick.

01:00:02.100 You know what I mean?

01:00:03.100 So when they're coming from their perspective in their music, that's what it's reflecting.

01:00:09.100 You know what I mean?

01:00:11.100 Our thing, like you said, a love song.

01:00:14.100 Sitting down listening to your elders.

01:00:16.100 Getting the right game for the right woman. 1.00

01:00:19.100 Trial and error.

01:00:20.100 You know, all the feelings of puppy love, all that.

01:00:23.100 Yeah, they just a couple of texts.

01:00:26.100 You know what I mean?

01:00:28.100 So it's interesting just to see, for me, how do they approach the internet age and the information age and having access to, you know, life just being so sped up.

01:00:41.100 You know what I mean?

01:00:42.100 How do they turn that into art and music?

01:00:45.100 How do they reflect that in their art?

01:00:47.100 So some of it is kind of like, oh, that is just something totally different than I'm wired to, you know what I mean?

01:00:55.100 And some of it is like, that's interesting like that.

01:00:58.100 That's pretty interesting, you know?

01:01:00.100 So I won't say bad or good.

01:01:02.100 It's interesting.

01:01:03.100 I just got to land on interesting.

01:01:08.100 What would you say?

01:01:09.100 I say, you know, there are definitely different epochs.

01:01:15.100 And between each one in the same genre, you see music representing like a two way mirror, like a byproduct of your soul.

01:01:24.100 And as reflected by what society is giving it.

01:01:27.100 And those two find a happy medium.

01:01:29.100 And so in this stage, if you look in a bigger picture on the macro scale, there's a lot of convoluted.

01:01:36.100 There's a lot of fast twitch energy.

01:01:37.100 There's a lot of different pieces and places of information and a lot of data at one time trying to figure out.

01:01:43.100 And it forces you to see not only the essential real quickly, but also delegate in terms of you might not know, but you need to know to find out who knows.

01:01:51.100 And so it doesn't allow for deep tissue kind of interrogation of different kind of like a craft, like writing lyrics and stuff like that.

01:01:59.100 It calls for what's the dopest hook, what's the dopest way, the quickest way I can get your attention, drag you in, and then swag it out.

01:02:06.100 And so as a result, you see stuff like mumble rap come into existence.

01:02:10.100 Going right along sociologically with, you used to be able to say, you know what I mean?

01:02:15.100 Because you were seeking understanding.

01:02:17.100 Now I leave off to feel me, but get the understanding, just can you feel me?

01:02:22.100 So mumble rap, just like crump dancing, I see the parallels where the expression of it is purely your soul is being.

01:02:29.100 But the way it comes across musically, if you're comparing it to an older, you know, version of, or iteration of music, it looks like it's coming out wanting.

01:02:37.100 Just like texting by English teachers, look at texting, it's like, oh my God, that's the worst thing you could ever do, all these abbreviations.

01:02:43.100 But the kids, yeah, yeah, but money was a part of it.

01:02:46.100 So you got to use few characters as possible to still convey meaning.

01:02:49.100 So how do you do that and still be effective?

01:02:52.100 You do what they did.

01:02:53.100 And so that's genius in that, but at the iteration in the time, as it's coming from the old way, looks kind of crazy until it finds itself.

01:03:00.100 And now, now it's full out accepted and now it's something that's a thing.

01:03:03.100 But, so I think we're in a growing pain, growing stages of something defining itself to where it can be like a stable spot, whatever the ocean of craziness around us is.

01:03:12.100 Very, very well put, very well put for somebody like me, because, you know, the way you described it, I made a lot of sense on how things have evolved in music.

01:03:22.100 Now, let me ask you this.

01:03:23.100 If somebody is watching this and that they're diehard fans of yours and what you guys did in the nineties and they're a band, they're going to Morehouse.

01:03:31.100 Morehouse.

01:03:32.100 I don't know, you know, because first of all, you guys went to Howard.

01:03:34.100 Howard's, isn't Howard the number one university for, isn't it?

01:03:39.100 Isn't it number one university?

01:03:40.100 African-American leaders come, you know, what that's done.

01:03:43.100 I think you have, what are the schools?

01:03:44.100 Again, correct me if I'm wrong.

01:03:45.100 It's Howard.

01:03:46.100 I think it's Hampton, Morehouse.

01:03:50.100 I'm missing one other one.

01:03:51.100 The Spellman.

01:03:52.100 The Spellman.

01:03:53.100 The Spellman.

01:03:54.100 Clark, Clark in Atlanta.

01:03:55.100 Like that whole AU Center in Atlanta is real good.

01:03:57.100 I mean, any one of those, any one of those you go to, they breed leaders is what they do.

01:04:02.100 They've done a great job breeding leaders.

01:04:04.100 But the, if a kid's watching this two, three friends, four friends, they have similar stories.

01:04:10.100 They kind of want to come up in the RME world today.

01:04:12.100 How different is it today versus your time?

01:04:17.100 Um, well, like you were saying, social media on the, on the business side of it, it allows

01:04:22.100 you to, if you want to put the work in and find, you know, the fan base that you want

01:04:28.100 for what you do.

01:04:29.100 You know what I mean?

01:04:30.100 Um, also, I don't know.

01:04:34.100 I mean, I'm not in it, obviously.

01:04:35.100 So like I was saying, having life so sped up, you know, to where you don't really get

01:04:41.100 the chance like we did to experience the journey of things, you know what I mean?

01:04:45.100 The trial and error.

01:04:46.100 Yeah.

01:04:47.100 I really can't speak to any, you know, I can't speak to how they're dealing with being in

01:04:53.100 a more sped up type of, uh, you know, uh, you know, way of life.

01:04:59.100 So I would just say, just be as creative as you can, you know, and do what you do.

01:05:06.100 Well, I, I add to that and definitely make sure the product is good.

01:05:10.100 Like I heard a comedian's interview the other day and they were asking him a similar question.

01:05:13.100 He was like, Hey man, just, just be funny.

01:05:15.100 Right?

01:05:16.100 So for me, make good music, make music that officially reflects who you actually are.

01:05:22.100 So you can stand the test of time.

01:05:24.100 And as you evolve that essential part of yourself that was expressed musically won't fade too much.

01:05:29.100 Cause if it's you, it's really you.

01:05:31.100 And the uniqueness of today's artists to go directly to the marketplace without having to deal with a label and the oversight.

01:05:38.100 Um, cause it's my dissertation, I looked at how black males navigated spaces, inequitable power spaces, looking at black males in classrooms, black males in the label.

01:05:48.100 And on the label, one of the lessons that we've learned dealing with that power is that once we're artists, once we produce an art piece, as soon as it's burst, it becomes product.

01:05:58.100 It's no longer art for us.

01:06:00.100 And as product is part of the business side immediately.

01:06:03.100 And so to understand that, that your art is going to be a product for somebody else to actually cut the check, to have the oversight and all the different processes.

01:06:11.100 If you can control all that within yourself, you can put out a true expression of yourself and the people who resonate to that will resonate to that because it can be consistently given by you to them.

01:06:20.100 And you might not be famous, but you will have a core audience that won't waver and you can maneuver that and you can grow that and you can nurture that and you'll control that.

01:06:30.100 And so to own yourself, to own your identity is key.

01:06:33.100 At the end of the day, it is the product.

01:06:35.100 You make a very good point.

01:06:36.100 If you have a good product, people are going to pay for it.

01:06:38.100 Whether it's a Chappelle, it's a Heart, it's a Billboard, Seinfeld, or it's a Shy, it's a Jodeci, it's an Usher, it's a SW, it doesn't matter.

01:06:47.100 If you've got a good product, they're going to pay for that.

01:06:50.100 And eventually someone's going to take notice of you.

01:06:52.100 Guys, this is the last part of the interview.

01:06:54.100 I'll give you a name of a talent and you tell me one word that comes to mind.

01:06:59.100 Okay?

01:07:00.100 One word that comes to mind.

01:07:01.100 I'll give you a name.

01:07:02.100 You tell me one word that comes to mind.

01:07:03.100 Usher.

01:07:06.100 Talented.

01:07:07.100 Youngster, soulful, dancer, good kid, good mama.

01:07:12.100 You said one word, didn't you?

01:07:15.100 We knew Usher back when he was coming up.

01:07:19.100 So that's why we actually knew the brother when he was a young guy, man.

01:07:22.100 I would say star.

01:07:25.100 Justin Bieber.

01:07:27.100 Who would you say?

01:07:28.100 Justin Bieber.

01:07:29.100 Oh, my God.

01:07:30.100 Speechless is a good word. 1.00

01:07:32.100 Yeah, there you go.

01:07:33.100 He's an iconic enigma.

01:07:37.100 I don't know, that's two words.

01:07:38.100 I don't know, he's just transcendent.

01:07:40.100 Wow.

01:07:41.100 That's cool, man.

01:07:42.100 That's cool because, you know, sometimes he gets hate.

01:07:44.100 We're families.

01:07:45.100 We're fans of Bieber.

01:07:46.100 It's interesting seeing your take on that.

01:07:48.100 Jodeci.

01:07:49.100 Jodeci.

01:07:50.100 Legendary.

01:07:51.100 Legendary.

01:07:52.100 Boyz II Men.

01:07:55.100 Polished.

01:07:56.100 Polished.

01:07:57.100 Polished.

01:07:58.100 Yeah, golly.

01:07:59.100 Do addition.

01:08:00.100 That's polished too.

01:08:01.100 Teachers.

01:08:02.100 Legendary.

01:08:03.100 Legendary.

01:08:04.100 Wow.

01:08:05.100 Atlantic Star.

01:08:06.100 I'm curious.

01:08:07.100 Atlantic Star.

01:08:08.100 Oh, wow.

01:08:09.100 Come on.

01:08:10.100 I listened to Atlantic Star.

01:08:11.100 Special.

01:08:12.100 Special.

01:08:13.100 Special, man.

01:08:14.100 Yeah.

01:08:15.100 Jackson Five.

01:08:16.100 Wow.

01:08:17.100 The greatest.

01:08:18.100 Heart dwellers.

01:08:20.100 Marvin Gaye.

01:08:21.100 Super classic.

01:08:22.100 Yeah.

01:08:23.100 Black Street.

01:08:24.100 Black Street.

01:08:25.100 yeah jackson five wow the greatest heart dwellers marvin gay 0.77

01:08:38.860 super classic this this yeah black black street oh we forgot we need to talk about black street

01:08:47.180 as family family family you know i probably listened to black streets don't leave me girl

01:08:53.180 i don't know i had it on replay when i i can tell you what month that song came out because i joined

01:08:57.740 the army when that month the song came out to repeat how about 112 ah they when they were before

01:09:05.260 they got a deal they came to us and sung if i ever to us like you know see if we can help put them on

01:09:09.740 or whatever and blew me away and that was before i even heard slim's voice i heard it was a twin the

01:09:14.380 other dude to two dudes but um soulful soulful as hell talented like they can go man you know a lot

01:09:22.060 of guys like uh love me or cupid or they like peaches and cream i was about it's over and i

01:09:28.060 don't know if you remember it's over now remember what is this numbers in your pocket that's a good

01:09:35.500 cool song okay h-town h-town somebody rocking bae oh right man southern soul man just southern soul

01:09:49.100 southern soul yeah i mean you know there are other words to their lyrics but i'll take southern soul

01:09:54.540 it's cool uh how about guy wow original legends rmb oh geez oh geez yeah original just oh geez

01:10:04.860 aaron hall he never called me garfield he always put an s at the end of my name

01:10:08.220 that's my dog all three oh didn't aaron hall uh no that's uncle sam right uncle sam did a song once

01:10:18.460 uh uh i don't ever want to see you uh do you remember uncle sam but when uh uh man i forgot about

01:10:25.020 that guy yeah i don't ever want to see i think he was a one-hit guy but that one song uh had a little

01:10:29.420 bit of momentum uh uh jacket edge just intense soul like you know man they just let's get married

01:10:44.940 they just got the oh yeah yeah walked out of heaven is number one on my list how about as yet

01:10:51.420 oh i didn't do it right here let me tell you one time we lived in a bus for 30 days we went

01:10:59.180 uh 10 000 miles and our buddy here paul escarcega sang as yet on the bus and uh after he was done

01:11:07.660 performing he was still an editor with us nobody signed it we thought someone was going to sign it

01:11:13.260 we thought but but it didn't last a long time it was a three minute career talented man yeah as yet

01:11:19.180 great song by the way yeah very good song shade

01:11:22.060 whoo shade i do with the sweet mood mood mood maya

01:11:32.060 sensuous sensuously polished vegetarian yep vegan vegan tevin campbell oh man a young

01:11:44.220 young young talent you know i'm a little phenom phenom phenomenal keep sweat writer extraordinaire

01:11:56.860 wow if you go to keep sweat concert if you go to keep sweat show you will be there for an hour and

01:12:01.660 every single song for a whole hour will be stuff that you didn't realize he wrote or and they all

01:12:06.540 hits like all number one hits like just the whole night another person like that is my man um the

01:12:13.100 billy ocean billy ocean yeah hits hits man so yeah keep sweating a lot of hits man that's

01:12:20.380 he was going for silk i mean you know well keep sweat was something else i remember when he came up

01:12:26.140 how about whitney houston oh come on you know what i mean i'll give a gesture i'll give a gesture

01:12:31.900 yeah me too well gentlemen this has been a blast talking to you man i really enjoyed it where can

01:12:37.980 people find you if somebody wants to find you and message you what where should we send them to is it

01:12:42.300 instagram twitter or website the channel where can people find you it's um shiro glyphics on instagram

01:12:50.700 and facebook for for shy um and then me like personally if you want to just come say what's up the

01:12:56.860 garfield bright experiences experience on ig and darnell tell them shy 90s darnell uh fellas once

01:13:05.740 again this was a blast for me more than anything else this was a blast i appreciate you guys i have

01:13:12.620 so much love for you guys uh for what you did because you in my mind some of my greatest memories

01:13:19.020 in my life uh had your song playing in the background and i appreciate you guys for taking

01:13:24.860 the time for being a guest on valutainment man really but thank you man i watch this show all

01:13:28.700 the time too and the content that you do and the way you handle yourself and it's dope man i appreciate

01:13:33.740 you thanks brother appreciate you take care guys thank you brother bye thanks everybody for listening

01:13:39.180 and by the way if you haven't already subscribed to valutainment on itunes please do so give us a five

01:13:44.620 star write a review if you haven't already and if you have any questions for me that you may have you

01:13:49.020 can always find me on snapchat instagram facebook or youtube just search my name patrick

01:13:54.060 mid david and i actually do respond back when they snap me or send me a message on instagram with

01:13:59.580 that being said have a great day today take care everybody bye

Valuetainment - July 30, 2020

Episode 503： Shai - “If I Ever Fall in Love＂ Where are they now？

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