Lalah Hathaway Shares Her Experience Working With Prince, New Record ''Vantablack' + More
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
What's up his way up with Angela Yee and we
are honored to have a legend in the building. Leilah
Hathaway's here with us.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Thank you, good to be here, Thank.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
You for joining us. I feel bad that before this
interview started we were talking about nasty things.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Right, It's all right, We're a big city. It comes up,
it comes up.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
All right, Well, let's talk about what you have going
on right now. First of all, a new project on
the fourteenth June fourteenth, Banta Black is outs, and so
explain what banton black is because that's my first time
even hearing that.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, ban to black is a is a name for
a color which is the blackest black. And I think
some cars have been made, some things have been made
for real toe. He's working on some stuff with that color.
And I really feel super black right now, and that's
where that comes from.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
That's good. Super black is how we need to be
feeling right now because there's so much going on here
with politics, with our rights getting rolled back, with books
getting banned, with education and danger, with women's bodies in danger.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, it's a lot happening. And that's I mean. I
reflected on a lot of that in making the record,
and while it's not a protest record, all of those
themes are in there in some way or another.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Man the son that I and I saw the video
for so in love. It feels like a writing song
or like a celebration, maybe like a first dance song
after you get married. I like that, And so let's
talk about that video because it is definitely feeling very
in love.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, we wanted to just kind of explore love in
all kinds of forms. So my mother's in the video,
there are kids in the video, there's all kinds of
different people showing love in the video, and there's me,
like actually laying on top of a mirror singing to myself.
So we just really wanted to explore what the song
(01:46):
meant and how we could express it. And then we
wanted to explore all those fits. We wanted to explore
all the clothes.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yeah it looks it looks amazing, and you look amazing,
by the way. So yeah, how do you feel now?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I feel good, I feel healthy, I feel energized. I'm
always excited, Like this part of a record for me
is Christmas to get to come and talk to people
about it, and you know, what I mean, see how
people feel about the record and put it out. It's
always like a birth.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Oh that's good. So you enjoy doing press because some
people get it.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I enjoy, you know, I enjoy talking to people about
music and about what I'm up to.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Well, you started the album off. Now I've only heard
the three songs that have been put out, but with
Common and Rhapsody with Black, what a great combination.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Isn't it wonderful? It's like an opus. We had a
piece of music and my producer Phil Boudreau kept coming
back and having more of it, and I'd say, well,
this part I'm imagining I'm a phoenix rising up all
of the ashes, and he'd come back with something to
fit that. And so to get Common and rap on
it was such a coupe. You know, we're so happy
(02:51):
with it.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
You know who else I enjoyed seeing you with Jennifer.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Hudson, Oh thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Just seeing the two of you together as like artists,
and Perry giving you your flowers that you so very
much deserve, and you also throwing it right back at her.
You know that has to feel nice to see, like
everybody coming up in this space and thriving the way
that they have been, and you've worked with so many
like tremendous artists, and you're a tremendous artist yourself. And
I know for the song so on Love, you said
(03:18):
that was a song that you had actually planned to
write for someone else.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, we actually planned to write it for something else. Okay,
we were trying to do something for Leana Waite. She
had something going on and we tried to write a
song about love and we kind of expanded the song
and she didn't choose the song, but we we sat
on it because we knew it was a great song.
So I'm so happy that it made it onto this project.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
When you're on tour and when you're performing, what are
some of the songs, because I know people get very
emotional when they get to come to your shows. So
what do you feel like are some of the songs
that you can never leave off the playlist?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
You know that's hard because some of them are Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Some of them, people are probably like, she didn't.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Do this song, And invariably in the last thirty five years,
somebody will say to me, you did not sing track thirteen.
I don't know what that track is, but you know,
we kind of have to play Angel, we have to
play Forever for Always, for Love, I'm coming back breathe.
Oh my gosh, it's just thirty five years of records.
It would be impossible. And there's so many silos of
(04:20):
people that want to hear the stuff I did with Kendrick,
or want to hear the stuff I did with Snoop,
or want to hear that Take six or the Joe sample,
or the David Sanborn stuff or the Marcus Miller stuff.
There's so many sections of my career to try to
cover in that little hour, hour and a half A
have I never get all the songs.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Yeah, you're definitely not pigeonholed in any space because you
do jazz, you do R and B, you could do
hip hop, and you worked down to Pimp a Butterfly
and I remember seeing that you were in and out
of the studio pretty quick. Yeah, but you managed to
be on a whole lot of that album.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I went in there Tersmart and called me. He said, hey,
can you come tonight. We're gonna just try to sing
some extra parts on this song. And the song Mama
onto Pimp a Butterfly is actually a flip of a
song I wrote Call on your Own with Rex Rideout
and Rassa and Patterson and I just went in and sing.
This is what happens. You go in they say we
(05:15):
need you for one thing, and then you go in
there and they say, well, wait, what if I play this?
What will this inspire you to do? So you end
up you end up on you know, Black or the
Berry with Rhapsody, and I ended up on Complexion with ThunderCats.
So I'm on a lot of that record.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
That's amazing. And you did that quick.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Though, right, Yeah, I mean it's just Atlas.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
They said, you go in there, you just be at
one take. You know who else was up here the
other day and talked about you, Eric the architect, love him.
Let me tell you something. He First of all, just
the story is amazing because he talks about he's from
Brooklyn like I am, and moving to LA and how
difficult kind of that was for him. But then he
talked about you like coming to work with him and
(05:54):
how that was like a dream come true. Wow, So
can you talk to me from your point of view
how that happened? Because he was definitely raving about it.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
You know, he called he called me or his folks
called my person, and uh, I hadn't. I wasn't really hip.
But I liked the song that he sent me and
knew that I could augment the song that he sent me,
and so we got together. I went to his house.
He has a super cool house. He had all kind
of stuff in there. I wanted to play with. He
has a lot of games and figurines and stuff in there.
(06:24):
So we basically spent the day working and talking and
looking at games and playing games. But he's super cool.
I want to work with him again.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
I really imagine literally had the way just coming to
your house to record and hanging out and do it
all all that dream come true.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
It was. It was fun.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
You know what else? I know that you're also you
went to Berkeley, right, so you studied music and you
started putting out music while you were in school.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Yeah, just at the end of that, at.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
The end of that, how important And how did that
help you? Because I know you could sing even before that,
But what made you even say because some people can sing,
but that doesn't mean that they're going to go to school. Yeah,
and it does, Yeah, not that you have to, But
how did it help you that was.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
My path and my chorus. I come from two musicians
that met in school for music, and so it was
very important for us to have our education and to
be educated in our craft. That's just something that went
on in our household. I feel like, you know, I
left college without my degree. I'm six only six credit shy.
(07:24):
I feel like I've put in enough hours to say, Okay,
I'm good. They gave me an honorary doctorate last year,
so I'm okay with it. So I'm Doctor Hathaway. But
I really feel like, whatever your path is, just get
on your path. School school was good for me because
I want to know as much as I can about music.
I love music. I really love what I do. I
(07:45):
love the art of how it's done. I love the history,
particularly of black music all over the world. And so
for me, that's the path I took, and it it
augmented me as an artist. It made me a more
informed musician. So you can't hurt yourself by that learning
right at any time.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
I do think that, even for myself, I look at
myself as a student always, So if there's something I'm
interested in, I'm always trying to make sure like I
take classes read up YouTube, go on YouTube because YouTube
is like school right now? Absolutely, and what about the
business of music? How was that process? Learning about that?
Because it is always a changing landscape. Things are so
(08:25):
different now, that's.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
True, It's true. I mean I feel like I'm still
I'm learning about the music industry. I mean, I learned
something just now when I was out in your green room.
And things are changing and eras are so short in
the music industry.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
What did you learn in the green room?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
I learned. I learned something from Craig, who I learned
from all the time. And that's why I try to
also surround myself with smart people who understand what's happening, right,
you know, it's it's very helpful to me. I feel
like the music industry, you could you could be in
your whole life and not understanding. It's not built for
you to understand. Right, There's a moving target. There's a
(09:00):
lot of racism, there's a lot of sexism, a lot
of artists get cheated, a lot of the what you
would call like the lower level artists make the money
so that the bigger artists can go flying a private jet, right,
you know what I'm saying. So the music business is
ever changing. When kids asked me in a clinic, like,
can you give us some advice about how to get
(09:21):
in the music business, I'm always like, no.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
I cannot. Everybody's path is definitely different.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Absolutely I can give you all the musician advice.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Did you feel like you had a heads up, like
you said your mom a musician. Obviously we know your
father as well, the famous Hathaway name. So do you
feel like you had a bit of an edge, like
where they aware of the business of music when you
were getting into that space and you did go to school,
or do you feel like there were times because everybody
feels like you have to pay your dues and everyone
ends up signing a bad deal, like getting in a situation.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
It happened to me. I mean, I feel like I
had some knowledge of the music industry growing up, but
it was so it was so different than when my
father was in it, and he died in nineteen seventy nine,
and my first record came out in nineteen ninety, so
there's probably seven eras in between all of those times,
and everything has changed. Even from two years ago. The
(10:13):
last record I put out, we treated differently than this
record we're putting out, so everything changes and rolls over.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
But you still love it though, And that's the main thing.
And you know what, you worked with My favorite artists
of all time? Who's that Prince? I did? Yeah? That
is my absolute favorite? What was I gotta get? Like
everybody has great print stories.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I wish you know. My greatest print story is that
they asked me, they said, what song would you like
to sing with Prince? So first of all, you have
to slide down the wall for a couple seconds on that,
I said, I'd like to do Diamonds and Pearls. Oh okay,
And they said, oh, well, he doesn't do that song anymore.
Remember Prince went on his thing.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
He didn't do eerrotic City, would city?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
It was not playing the records you want to hear?
And I said, okay, I'll choose sometimes it snows in April.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
So he ran past me. He said, take the mic
under the stage. He ran past me. He said, take
this mike, just stand right here and I'll meet you
up there. I said, okay. So I took the mic
and I'm standing there and the thing, you know, it's
a toaster, but it's not the pop up toaster. It's
the slow rise toaster. And when I got to the
top of that stage with the eighteen thousand people in there,
(11:30):
and my little dress was blowing in the wind, and
then suddenly, out of nowhere, he was right there. He
was right there. I've wanted to lick him, but I didn't.
I didn't want to ruin it. So we sang sometimes
it snows in April, which is amazing. Yes, and I
said to him, thank you so much. This means so
(11:50):
much to me. It was the night before my birthday.
Oh wow, I said, thank you so much. I hope
I get to work with you again. He said, oh no,
we're not finished, and he took my hand. He took
my hand and walked over to the piano and we
played Diamonds and Pearls and sang it.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
You got to do your song that he doesn't even do.
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
It is, it was, It was. It was incredible.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
And you know what, you're touching other people that way
that he touched you. It's hard to imagine you didn't. Definitely,
I grew up with.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Prince though, you know what I mean, He's to me.
Prince was like, wow, that is That was the biggest
it got right because he had all the I remember thinking,
this guy's music is so deep. I thought I was
deep at that age. I was listening to mountains like
I get this music. Not to mention the fact that
he was in my cousin's closet with a leather g
(12:44):
string on us, so I would peek in the between
the clothes and see what Prince was talking about every
now and again. That was my favorite some of my
favorite music growing up.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Yeah, I agree with you, and the fact that he
could play all those instruments, and then doing a movie
like Purple Rain or Under the Cherry Moon like the
most phenomenal. What are some things that you haven't done
that you feel like I need to make this happen.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Oh, I would love to act. I've done a little
bit of that. I would love to write things for
people to say and sing, but really to say, Okay,
I'm so always caught up in music. I don't even
know really what else I'm great at. So I'm trying
to figure all that stuff out.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I feel like if you can write the great music
like you have been, you can write a great script.
Maybe maybe you know. I just I do think those
things kind of linked. Yeah, it can be a tar
or a musical.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Yeah, I'm working on it.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
You are for real, I am. Listen, I go to
Broadway places. I just went to go see I just
went to go see Home. Yeah, which was amazing. If
you have a chance to go see that while it's
doing this limited run. But you know, The Wizard is
on Broadway and The Notebook is on Broadway, both of
those directed by a black woman, Home by black men. Listen,
(13:56):
this is it. And I think if you did something
like that, the press that something like that could get
and people going out to see because even when you
do your and friends, you know, concerts, you never, like
you said, you never know who's going to show up.
What has been the best surprise for you when you
do your Leila Hathaway and friends, the best surprise, Yeah,
like the biggest, Like even you didn't know.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Gosh, Anita Baker was always in surprise whenever she showed up.
That was a surprise. I don't know. I haven't done
it in a while either. Faith came out, Sid came
out for me. So many people just come out and
I'm so blessed by that and edified because in this business,
(14:41):
particularly now, in this age of social media, sometimes you
feel a little unseen. You don't feel seen, and so
whenever I get with my peers, I remember like, Okay,
y'all can see me.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Do you pay attention to social media?
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Like yeah, I mean, I'm on social media? And I
had a website in ninety seven that was like it
was literally Facebook, I just didn't know, right, and it
was Facebook, but we used to communicate and we had
the Pink Room, and it was people from around the
world talking about the music that was happening in their place.
And so sometimes yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Sope, because yeah, I remember my Space when that started.
That really was supposed to be for music and band.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
And you could program your page and make it what
you wanted it to be, you know. So I find
it interesting. I am a techie. I'm into all of
that kind of stuff. I do, you know, ninety eight
percent of all my own social and.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
I'm always like, I need to get better. I have
barely been doing anything. And you know how we always
say that that's part of the business now, which it
never used to be.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
It sure wasn't. I saw a kid with a me
and he said, all I wanted to do was play music.
I didn't want to have to learn about algorithms, so
it's hard.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, it's definitely a new world. And so you have
a tour that you're starting also right in August, so
talk to me about that.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
I'm excited about the Vanta Black tour. I'm really excited
to take this record out to people. Well it's I
feel like it's the best record I've ever made, and
I've never really felt like that before.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Yeah, I'm really excited.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
And you look great. Thank you. I just want to
say just the music. But you said the best record
you've ever made, and you had some classics. That's a
huge statement.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
I think so too. I'm really excited about it. I
can't wait for people to really hear it and get
the feedback on it. It's a really good record.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
How long did it take you to We started.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
In twenty twenty. I didn't start with a goal of
like this is my record. I just started writing and
writing with people over zoom and making records like that
over zoom, where I would text a piece of a
vocal and they plug it in, and then the record
just grew and grew and grew, and we just finished it.
You know, A couple of months ago before we got
it mixed and mastered and to give to you guys.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
So isn't that wid that you could finish a record
a couple of months ago and then be ready to
put it out like that never used to be the case.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Oh no, but you know these kids are making records
on their office the next day.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Yeah, literally, you're right about that. Yeah, good well, I
cannot wait to hear the full record. MC Light is
on there, so I got a chance to hear that
song too. But I love the fact that, like I said,
you can work with anybody. We can see you work
with Robert Glasberg, we could see you work with Kendrick Lamar.
Just you know, people will definitely give you your very
well deserved props and accola so much so, if y'all
(17:18):
can get out to the show, make sure you go.
It starts August in Birmingham, is it?
Speaker 2 (17:22):
I think we start in New Orleans? Birmingham, were started Birmingham? Yes,
you are correct.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
New Orleans is probably gonna be a time I can't wait.
Let me tell you one thing I love about New
Orleans is I would just walk down Bourbon Street and
walk into all these random places where people are just
playing music and it'll be like the middle of the
day and you just and you're like, these are everybody
is so talented?
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Oh yeah, it's a lot happening there. It's another world.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
What do you do for fun?
Speaker 2 (17:46):
What do I do for fun?
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Besides music?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I'm a gamer?
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Oh wow?
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Yeah? I play games?
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Like what that's your gamertag for people?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Okay, my gamer tag. I don't even want to give
you my gamer attach because then just see all the
boring games I'm playing. But right now I'm into v
are gaming okay, and I'm playing the most what may
seem like the most boring game, but it is so exciting.
It's Power Power Wash Vry. It's a crazy game. You
just have you played it? It's so fun. Download it.
(18:14):
You can get the demo.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
It's so good.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
It's really fun. That's all I say.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
And what about AI? Have you been paying attention? Because
I keep saying I want to take some AI like
classes and learn more about it.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
I definitely want to learn more about it. I am
I am reticent to I don't want anything trying to
cop what I do. I mean, you could try it,
I don't. I don't I'd like to hear what it
would sound like. But there is a particularly in black music,
there is a soul full experience happening that a computer
(18:47):
will never be able to authenticate. And so it's going
to be interesting to see what the next few years bring.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Does Leila hath the way pay attention to hip hop
beef and like you watching.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
What listen, I'm part of a thread called down the
rabbit Hole right now with my besties and we.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Are in there taking it apart. Yeah, we are.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
We are in all levels of conspiracy and beef in
the hip hop industry, for sure. It's very interesting.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Do you'll be like delete this so in case somebody hacksh.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
We just we just we have our opinions, and I
mean it's everybody knows. I'm like a huge, huge, huge
Kendrick fan, So it was interesting to watch all that
develop and I really love the fact that people can
channel their energy into music, right.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
And then he made a hit song out of a
distance me. You know, if somebody asked you to sing
on a this song depends on who's.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
This Okay, I think it depends on whose Oh.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
My gosh, all right, but happy, We thank you so
much to meet you. Thank you, it's a pleasure. And
make sure y'all check her out. Is there anything that
you want to make sure you mentioned too that we need.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
It's Fanto Black, it's out Friday. They can reach me
on my socials. That's Leila Hathaway.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
I've been ever ever and it's her. She checks her DM.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I sure do.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
And then she didn't give us her game attack. But
if you d M her maybe she'll she'll play you Powerwatch.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Just Powerwash. I do all the other stuff too, but
I'm into like Japanese kind of RPG games, so no
one wants to play those with you.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
All right, I'm gonna check that out alright. His way up,
way up,
What's up his way up with Angela Yee and we
are honored to have a legend in the building. Leilah
Hathaway's here with us.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Thank you, good to be here, Thank.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
You for joining us. I feel bad that before this
interview started we were talking about nasty things.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Right, It's all right, We're a big city. It comes up,
it comes up.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
All right, Well, let's talk about what you have going
on right now. First of all, a new project on
the fourteenth June fourteenth, Banta Black is outs, and so
explain what banton black is because that's my first time
even hearing that.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, ban to black is a is a name for
a color which is the blackest black. And I think
some cars have been made, some things have been made
for real toe. He's working on some stuff with that color.
And I really feel super black right now, and that's
where that comes from.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
That's good. Super black is how we need to be
feeling right now because there's so much going on here
with politics, with our rights getting rolled back, with books
getting banned, with education and danger, with women's bodies in danger.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, it's a lot happening. And that's I mean. I
reflected on a lot of that in making the record,
and while it's not a protest record, all of those
themes are in there in some way or another.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Man the son that I and I saw the video
for so in love. It feels like a writing song
or like a celebration, maybe like a first dance song
after you get married. I like that, And so let's
talk about that video because it is definitely feeling very
in love.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, we wanted to just kind of explore love in
all kinds of forms. So my mother's in the video,
there are kids in the video, there's all kinds of
different people showing love in the video, and there's me,
like actually laying on top of a mirror singing to myself.
So we just really wanted to explore what the song
(01:46):
meant and how we could express it. And then we
wanted to explore all those fits. We wanted to explore
all the clothes.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yeah it looks it looks amazing, and you look amazing,
by the way. So yeah, how do you feel now?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I feel good, I feel healthy, I feel energized. I'm
always excited, Like this part of a record for me
is Christmas to get to come and talk to people
about it, and you know, what I mean, see how
people feel about the record and put it out. It's
always like a birth.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Oh that's good. So you enjoy doing press because some
people get it.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I enjoy, you know, I enjoy talking to people about
music and about what I'm up to.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Well, you started the album off. Now I've only heard
the three songs that have been put out, but with
Common and Rhapsody with Black, what a great combination.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Isn't it wonderful? It's like an opus. We had a
piece of music and my producer Phil Boudreau kept coming
back and having more of it, and I'd say, well,
this part I'm imagining I'm a phoenix rising up all
of the ashes, and he'd come back with something to
fit that. And so to get Common and rap on
it was such a coupe. You know, we're so happy
(02:51):
with it.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
You know who else I enjoyed seeing you with Jennifer.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Hudson, Oh thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Just seeing the two of you together as like artists,
and Perry giving you your flowers that you so very
much deserve, and you also throwing it right back at her.
You know that has to feel nice to see, like
everybody coming up in this space and thriving the way
that they have been, and you've worked with so many
like tremendous artists, and you're a tremendous artist yourself. And
I know for the song so on Love, you said
(03:18):
that was a song that you had actually planned to
write for someone else.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, we actually planned to write it for something else. Okay,
we were trying to do something for Leana Waite. She
had something going on and we tried to write a
song about love and we kind of expanded the song
and she didn't choose the song, but we we sat
on it because we knew it was a great song.
So I'm so happy that it made it onto this project.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
When you're on tour and when you're performing, what are
some of the songs, because I know people get very
emotional when they get to come to your shows. So
what do you feel like are some of the songs
that you can never leave off the playlist?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
You know that's hard because some of them are Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Some of them, people are probably like, she didn't.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Do this song, And invariably in the last thirty five years,
somebody will say to me, you did not sing track thirteen.
I don't know what that track is, but you know,
we kind of have to play Angel, we have to
play Forever for Always, for Love, I'm coming back breathe.
Oh my gosh, it's just thirty five years of records.
It would be impossible. And there's so many silos of
(04:20):
people that want to hear the stuff I did with Kendrick,
or want to hear the stuff I did with Snoop,
or want to hear that Take six or the Joe sample,
or the David Sanborn stuff or the Marcus Miller stuff.
There's so many sections of my career to try to
cover in that little hour, hour and a half A
have I never get all the songs.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Yeah, you're definitely not pigeonholed in any space because you
do jazz, you do R and B, you could do
hip hop, and you worked down to Pimp a Butterfly
and I remember seeing that you were in and out
of the studio pretty quick. Yeah, but you managed to
be on a whole lot of that album.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I went in there Tersmart and called me. He said, hey,
can you come tonight. We're gonna just try to sing
some extra parts on this song. And the song Mama
onto Pimp a Butterfly is actually a flip of a
song I wrote Call on your Own with Rex Rideout
and Rassa and Patterson and I just went in and sing.
This is what happens. You go in they say we
(05:15):
need you for one thing, and then you go in
there and they say, well, wait, what if I play this?
What will this inspire you to do? So you end
up you end up on you know, Black or the
Berry with Rhapsody, and I ended up on Complexion with ThunderCats.
So I'm on a lot of that record.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
That's amazing. And you did that quick.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Though, right, Yeah, I mean it's just Atlas.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
They said, you go in there, you just be at
one take. You know who else was up here the
other day and talked about you, Eric the architect, love him.
Let me tell you something. He First of all, just
the story is amazing because he talks about he's from
Brooklyn like I am, and moving to LA and how
difficult kind of that was for him. But then he
talked about you like coming to work with him and
(05:54):
how that was like a dream come true. Wow, So
can you talk to me from your point of view
how that happened? Because he was definitely raving about it.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
You know, he called he called me or his folks
called my person, and uh, I hadn't. I wasn't really hip.
But I liked the song that he sent me and
knew that I could augment the song that he sent me,
and so we got together. I went to his house.
He has a super cool house. He had all kind
of stuff in there. I wanted to play with. He
has a lot of games and figurines and stuff in there.
(06:24):
So we basically spent the day working and talking and
looking at games and playing games. But he's super cool.
I want to work with him again.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
I really imagine literally had the way just coming to
your house to record and hanging out and do it
all all that dream come true.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
It was. It was fun.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
You know what else? I know that you're also you
went to Berkeley, right, so you studied music and you
started putting out music while you were in school.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Yeah, just at the end of that, at.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
The end of that, how important And how did that
help you? Because I know you could sing even before that,
But what made you even say because some people can sing,
but that doesn't mean that they're going to go to school. Yeah,
and it does, Yeah, not that you have to, But
how did it help you that was.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
My path and my chorus. I come from two musicians
that met in school for music, and so it was
very important for us to have our education and to
be educated in our craft. That's just something that went
on in our household. I feel like, you know, I
left college without my degree. I'm six only six credit shy.
(07:24):
I feel like I've put in enough hours to say, Okay,
I'm good. They gave me an honorary doctorate last year,
so I'm okay with it. So I'm Doctor Hathaway. But
I really feel like, whatever your path is, just get
on your path. School school was good for me because
I want to know as much as I can about music.
I love music. I really love what I do. I
(07:45):
love the art of how it's done. I love the history,
particularly of black music all over the world. And so
for me, that's the path I took, and it it
augmented me as an artist. It made me a more
informed musician. So you can't hurt yourself by that learning
right at any time.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
I do think that, even for myself, I look at
myself as a student always, So if there's something I'm
interested in, I'm always trying to make sure like I
take classes read up YouTube, go on YouTube because YouTube
is like school right now? Absolutely, and what about the
business of music? How was that process? Learning about that?
Because it is always a changing landscape. Things are so
(08:25):
different now, that's.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
True, It's true. I mean I feel like I'm still
I'm learning about the music industry. I mean, I learned
something just now when I was out in your green room.
And things are changing and eras are so short in
the music industry.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
What did you learn in the green room?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
I learned. I learned something from Craig, who I learned
from all the time. And that's why I try to
also surround myself with smart people who understand what's happening, right,
you know, it's it's very helpful to me. I feel
like the music industry, you could you could be in
your whole life and not understanding. It's not built for
you to understand. Right, There's a moving target. There's a
(09:00):
lot of racism, there's a lot of sexism, a lot
of artists get cheated, a lot of the what you
would call like the lower level artists make the money
so that the bigger artists can go flying a private jet, right,
you know what I'm saying. So the music business is
ever changing. When kids asked me in a clinic, like,
can you give us some advice about how to get
(09:21):
in the music business, I'm always like, no.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
I cannot. Everybody's path is definitely different.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Absolutely I can give you all the musician advice.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Did you feel like you had a heads up, like
you said your mom a musician. Obviously we know your
father as well, the famous Hathaway name. So do you
feel like you had a bit of an edge, like
where they aware of the business of music when you
were getting into that space and you did go to school,
or do you feel like there were times because everybody
feels like you have to pay your dues and everyone
ends up signing a bad deal, like getting in a situation.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
It happened to me. I mean, I feel like I
had some knowledge of the music industry growing up, but
it was so it was so different than when my
father was in it, and he died in nineteen seventy nine,
and my first record came out in nineteen ninety, so
there's probably seven eras in between all of those times,
and everything has changed. Even from two years ago. The
(10:13):
last record I put out, we treated differently than this
record we're putting out, so everything changes and rolls over.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
But you still love it though, And that's the main thing.
And you know what, you worked with My favorite artists
of all time? Who's that Prince? I did? Yeah? That
is my absolute favorite? What was I gotta get? Like
everybody has great print stories.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I wish you know. My greatest print story is that
they asked me, they said, what song would you like
to sing with Prince? So first of all, you have
to slide down the wall for a couple seconds on that,
I said, I'd like to do Diamonds and Pearls. Oh okay,
And they said, oh, well, he doesn't do that song anymore.
Remember Prince went on his thing.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
He didn't do eerrotic City, would city?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
It was not playing the records you want to hear?
And I said, okay, I'll choose sometimes it snows in April.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
So he ran past me. He said, take the mic
under the stage. He ran past me. He said, take
this mike, just stand right here and I'll meet you
up there. I said, okay. So I took the mic
and I'm standing there and the thing, you know, it's
a toaster, but it's not the pop up toaster. It's
the slow rise toaster. And when I got to the
top of that stage with the eighteen thousand people in there,
(11:30):
and my little dress was blowing in the wind, and
then suddenly, out of nowhere, he was right there. He
was right there. I've wanted to lick him, but I didn't.
I didn't want to ruin it. So we sang sometimes
it snows in April, which is amazing. Yes, and I
said to him, thank you so much. This means so
(11:50):
much to me. It was the night before my birthday.
Oh wow, I said, thank you so much. I hope
I get to work with you again. He said, oh no,
we're not finished, and he took my hand. He took
my hand and walked over to the piano and we
played Diamonds and Pearls and sang it.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
You got to do your song that he doesn't even do.
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
It is, it was, It was. It was incredible.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
And you know what, you're touching other people that way
that he touched you. It's hard to imagine you didn't. Definitely,
I grew up with.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Prince though, you know what I mean, He's to me.
Prince was like, wow, that is That was the biggest
it got right because he had all the I remember thinking,
this guy's music is so deep. I thought I was
deep at that age. I was listening to mountains like
I get this music. Not to mention the fact that
he was in my cousin's closet with a leather g
(12:44):
string on us, so I would peek in the between
the clothes and see what Prince was talking about every
now and again. That was my favorite some of my
favorite music growing up.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Yeah, I agree with you, and the fact that he
could play all those instruments, and then doing a movie
like Purple Rain or Under the Cherry Moon like the
most phenomenal. What are some things that you haven't done
that you feel like I need to make this happen.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Oh, I would love to act. I've done a little
bit of that. I would love to write things for
people to say and sing, but really to say, Okay,
I'm so always caught up in music. I don't even
know really what else I'm great at. So I'm trying
to figure all that stuff out.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I feel like if you can write the great music
like you have been, you can write a great script.
Maybe maybe you know. I just I do think those
things kind of linked. Yeah, it can be a tar
or a musical.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Yeah, I'm working on it.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
You are for real, I am. Listen, I go to
Broadway places. I just went to go see I just
went to go see Home. Yeah, which was amazing. If
you have a chance to go see that while it's
doing this limited run. But you know, The Wizard is
on Broadway and The Notebook is on Broadway, both of
those directed by a black woman, Home by black men. Listen,
(13:56):
this is it. And I think if you did something
like that, the press that something like that could get
and people going out to see because even when you
do your and friends, you know, concerts, you never, like
you said, you never know who's going to show up.
What has been the best surprise for you when you
do your Leila Hathaway and friends, the best surprise, Yeah,
like the biggest, Like even you didn't know.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Gosh, Anita Baker was always in surprise whenever she showed up.
That was a surprise. I don't know. I haven't done
it in a while either. Faith came out, Sid came
out for me. So many people just come out and
I'm so blessed by that and edified because in this business,
(14:41):
particularly now, in this age of social media, sometimes you
feel a little unseen. You don't feel seen, and so
whenever I get with my peers, I remember like, Okay,
y'all can see me.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Do you pay attention to social media?
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Like yeah, I mean, I'm on social media? And I
had a website in ninety seven that was like it
was literally Facebook, I just didn't know, right, and it
was Facebook, but we used to communicate and we had
the Pink Room, and it was people from around the
world talking about the music that was happening in their place.
And so sometimes yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Sope, because yeah, I remember my Space when that started.
That really was supposed to be for music and band.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
And you could program your page and make it what
you wanted it to be, you know. So I find
it interesting. I am a techie. I'm into all of
that kind of stuff. I do, you know, ninety eight
percent of all my own social and.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
I'm always like, I need to get better. I have
barely been doing anything. And you know how we always
say that that's part of the business now, which it
never used to be.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
It sure wasn't. I saw a kid with a me
and he said, all I wanted to do was play music.
I didn't want to have to learn about algorithms, so
it's hard.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, it's definitely a new world. And so you have
a tour that you're starting also right in August, so
talk to me about that.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
I'm excited about the Vanta Black tour. I'm really excited
to take this record out to people. Well it's I
feel like it's the best record I've ever made, and
I've never really felt like that before.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Yeah, I'm really excited.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
And you look great. Thank you. I just want to
say just the music. But you said the best record
you've ever made, and you had some classics. That's a
huge statement.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
I think so too. I'm really excited about it. I
can't wait for people to really hear it and get
the feedback on it. It's a really good record.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
How long did it take you to We started.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
In twenty twenty. I didn't start with a goal of
like this is my record. I just started writing and
writing with people over zoom and making records like that
over zoom, where I would text a piece of a
vocal and they plug it in, and then the record
just grew and grew and grew, and we just finished it.
You know, A couple of months ago before we got
it mixed and mastered and to give to you guys.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
So isn't that wid that you could finish a record
a couple of months ago and then be ready to
put it out like that never used to be the case.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Oh no, but you know these kids are making records
on their office the next day.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Yeah, literally, you're right about that. Yeah, good well, I
cannot wait to hear the full record. MC Light is
on there, so I got a chance to hear that
song too. But I love the fact that, like I said,
you can work with anybody. We can see you work
with Robert Glasberg, we could see you work with Kendrick Lamar.
Just you know, people will definitely give you your very
well deserved props and accola so much so, if y'all
(17:18):
can get out to the show, make sure you go.
It starts August in Birmingham, is it?
Speaker 2 (17:22):
I think we start in New Orleans? Birmingham, were started Birmingham? Yes,
you are correct.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
New Orleans is probably gonna be a time I can't wait.
Let me tell you one thing I love about New
Orleans is I would just walk down Bourbon Street and
walk into all these random places where people are just
playing music and it'll be like the middle of the
day and you just and you're like, these are everybody
is so talented?
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Oh yeah, it's a lot happening there. It's another world.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
What do you do for fun?
Speaker 2 (17:46):
What do I do for fun?
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Besides music?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I'm a gamer?
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Oh wow?
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Yeah? I play games?
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Like what that's your gamertag for people?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Okay, my gamer tag. I don't even want to give
you my gamer attach because then just see all the
boring games I'm playing. But right now I'm into v
are gaming okay, and I'm playing the most what may
seem like the most boring game, but it is so exciting.
It's Power Power Wash Vry. It's a crazy game. You
just have you played it? It's so fun. Download it.
(18:14):
You can get the demo.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
It's so good.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
It's really fun. That's all I say.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
And what about AI? Have you been paying attention? Because
I keep saying I want to take some AI like
classes and learn more about it.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
I definitely want to learn more about it. I am
I am reticent to I don't want anything trying to
cop what I do. I mean, you could try it,
I don't. I don't I'd like to hear what it
would sound like. But there is a particularly in black music,
there is a soul full experience happening that a computer
(18:47):
will never be able to authenticate. And so it's going
to be interesting to see what the next few years bring.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Does Leila hath the way pay attention to hip hop
beef and like you watching.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
What listen, I'm part of a thread called down the
rabbit Hole right now with my besties and we.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Are in there taking it apart. Yeah, we are.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
We are in all levels of conspiracy and beef in
the hip hop industry, for sure. It's very interesting.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Do you'll be like delete this so in case somebody hacksh.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
We just we just we have our opinions, and I
mean it's everybody knows. I'm like a huge, huge, huge
Kendrick fan, So it was interesting to watch all that
develop and I really love the fact that people can
channel their energy into music, right.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
And then he made a hit song out of a
distance me. You know, if somebody asked you to sing
on a this song depends on who's.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
This Okay, I think it depends on whose Oh.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
My gosh, all right, but happy, We thank you so
much to meet you. Thank you, it's a pleasure. And
make sure y'all check her out. Is there anything that
you want to make sure you mentioned too that we need.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
It's Fanto Black, it's out Friday. They can reach me
on my socials. That's Leila Hathaway.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
I've been ever ever and it's her. She checks her DM.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I sure do.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
And then she didn't give us her game attack. But
if you d M her maybe she'll she'll play you Powerwatch.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Just Powerwash. I do all the other stuff too, but
I'm into like Japanese kind of RPG games, so no
one wants to play those with you.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
All right, I'm gonna check that out alright. His way up,
way up,
Way Up With Angela Yee News
Host
Angela Yee
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