July 18, 2023 • 50 mins
In the final episode of our Road Stories series, Matt and I discuss our favorite gigs of all time and what we’re dreaming up for the future!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:32):
Hey, everybody, welcome back to not only a new episode
of Her with Amina Brown, but this is the last
episode of our Road Story series.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
And now we've come to the road Story.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
As y'all can see, Matt is here in the living
room with us. Welcome, Thank you for being here. I mean,
he's normally here because that's how the podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I just did not sing like that, though, boy boy
might have a restaurant.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Okay, okay, might have your singing career.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Child laughing.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
We're laughing because that's a thing that my grandma does.
It's like any any shred of talent that she sees
in you, which on one level is a beautiful thing
and also is very hilarious. It's like any little shred
of talent, like you sing a little song. My Grandma's like, oh,
you might become a singer one day.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Oh you got a beautiful voice.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
And you'll be like, I can't sing like that, Grandma.
I'm not Whitney Houston, child, But shout out to having
grandma who believe in you. Okay, And speaking of good energy,
we're closing out our road stories because because to be fair,
you know, the road can be a harrowing experience and
was for us in certain regards and in other regards
was really wonderful.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
And I thought it would be so great to end.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
With our favorite gigs, our best gigs ever in our
time being on the road. And Man and I have
both talked about this. Now our careers are in a
little bit of like a different place where not as
much people who are on the road all the time
like we used to be, although to be fair, we
are both still stage people. Matt does a lot of
(02:14):
performing that is here in Atlanta area, and I am
hoping to get back to doing some stage work on
the road.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
I think we both hope to get back on the
road at some point.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
We miss the road, Like yeah, like when the whole
world shut down, it was nice to have some like
gigs in your hometown. And I will say I do
enjoy sleeping in my own bed. I enjoy eating food
out of my own fridge. I enjoy like the things
of your life that you have more control over because
you're not my plane, train, or automobile. But there are
(02:48):
just some beautiful things about being on the road, experiencing
some different parts of the country, different restaurants. You're trying
this thing out in this city, well what works in
this city? And then you know at L has some
specific things about it, you know what I mean. So
allways performing at L, I see some stuff being like man,
I sure would like the DJ in that town. Oh man,
(03:10):
that looks cool. And so there's some that stuff that
you know, I'm sure we'll get back to and I
sure hope. So so if you're listening, if.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
You listening, there you got some road gigs, you know,
play and book the hotels, right anyways, no pressure, yeah,
no pressure at all, but please book.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
The next podcast might be about you.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Thank you so very much.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Yes, I think there is also a rush to being
on the road, especially which is this is going to
lead into what is going to be one of my
votes for what had been what has been one of
my favorite gigs or favorite type of gig that we did.
But I think there's something too when you're on the
road and we I got a chance to be tour.
(03:58):
I got a chance to tour with other artists, Matt
and I never got a chance to do the type
of tour where you know, like how you would see
like like right now, Beyonce's doing the Renaissance tour, and
then she books this tour and it goes into all
these different cities, you know, kind of doing a similar
set of you know, performance or whatnot. Matt and I
(04:18):
traditionally did not have a lot of that together when
we were on the road, but we did have the
experience of sort of having a show that we developed
and taking it to all these different cities and seeing like,
how did it feel in Dallas, But how did it
feel in this small town in South Carolina? But how
did it feel in California? You know, all of those things,
and like all the fun stuff you get to discover
(04:39):
about it. So my first vote for best gig ever
was us performing together. We had two shows that we
did together. Our first show together was called God Rhyme Reason,
which honestly morphed into the second version, which was Breaking
O Rhythms, which is pretty much based on my first book.
And that still, even though I think where we both
(05:03):
are as far as how we like to practice our
faith now, how we like to express our faith, there's
a lot about what we were doing message wise that
we would do really differently if we were doing that today.
But just the opportunity that we had to really give
a generation of kids like hip hop history.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yeah, that's my favorite part.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
That was really cool to get to do.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
That.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
We built a show that you could do in front
of one hundred people, but that you could do in
front of like eighteen thousand people. That was really cool
that you got a chance to show students like turntablism.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
You know, I mean this is an era now.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
We were probably doing that for what would be considered
like probably younger or mid millennial age and towards the
tail end maybe we were getting a.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Little bit of early gen z a little bit.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Maybe, But the fact that you got to showcase turntablism.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
I really enjoyed that part of it, Like we would
be out there. I remember when you first came to
me with the idea we were just friends. It just
sounded interesting to begin with, and it was a puzzle
to put together just because how do you DJ behind
a post? I know, a DJ behind a rapper? You know,
I know how to work with a singer, people working
you know, what would be your more standard like song format,
(06:31):
but free verse poetry. But then also that it's going
to be coming in and out of these stories and
these monologues and you doing what would be like many
ted talk, traditional talk, but like chopped up in between
all these different elements. But the ingredients sounded cool. And
your love for hip hop culture, my love for hip
hop culture and the idea of it being a DJ
(06:54):
and somebody on the mic. I was like, ooh, that's cool.
So there would be times that, like, you know, there's
a part where I would be going juggling between the
two turntables, you know, cool like that doom on their doom. Okay,
(07:15):
she's still going in the story. I think I know
where she's head to, but I need to give it
some variation. Let me bring the horns in back. Okay,
we need to bring it back down because she's talking more,
bringing that part with the snaps and so like, even
from the idea of like a beat maker. But it's
(07:37):
like I was sampling these hip hop songs to go
under your talk and then for people like who was
that song with the horns all you? And then this
album Oh my gosh, you get or you know, when
we would get to uh, there would always be a
segment of the show where you would be like you
would talk about the DJ, and by this point, usually
(07:59):
I'm billing up. I'm I'm juggling in the front part
of rappers Delight or something, you know what I mean,
du and it's building up the energy you know, don't
don't don't And then you would step back and give
me a chance to just do a DJ juggle routine.
(08:23):
And then also for me learning how to build a
juggle routine. Uh, for people that might not automatically just
be in on what you're doing. It's one thing when
you're working for a crowd that's like they're immediately going
to get it. They're already into it, they love it, yes,
But then you're in there like, wait, what is this?
(08:43):
What is this music? I don't know this music. I
also find something that's safe and digestible. And it was
such a great time building that with you that I
was like, Wow, what a cool friend. And then come
to find out everybody was right. You got a shot, bruh,
get married and now we on the road, yo, in
(09:07):
all these cities and be like you really like we
were really in this town juggling rappers Delight in talking
about be boys and be girls. That Yeah, that was
a time man.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I mean I will say second gig, which is really
the first gig that we started doing together, which is
one of the best that we've ever done together is
hosting the open mic at Urban Grind. Yeah, and I
still I mean, first of all, shout out to Urban Grind,
which is a coffee shop here in Atlanta, black woman owned.
(09:40):
Shout out to Cassandra still going today. So if you
live in Atlanta or if you come to visit now.
Urban Grind has multiple locations, shout out to Cassandra Ingram
for that, but you can visit on the belt Line
and visit the original location on Marietta Street, where to
this day is still one of my favorite open mics
(10:01):
to go to. Probably, if I'm honest, Urban Grind is
probably my favorite open mic still to go to in
the city, honestly. But I started out there hosting an
open mic and I had a poet who was, I.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Guess trying to DJ.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
So he and I were kind of doing the open
mic together, and then I met Matt and he told
me that he can DJ, and I that was my
That was my trial run. That was me trying Matt
out to see like can this guy really DJ? Because
the stakes at an open mic are not that high
because everyone from all walks of life and all levels
(10:47):
of experience are coming there to do whatever they're going
to do on the mic. So I felt like a
DJ who's not so great is not terrible at an
open mic, and if you don't like it, you can
just like move on whatever. And so of course Matt
came and he was very dope, and then I just
basically asked him to keep djaying.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
For the open mic. So we really, we really.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Together were hosting that open mic. I mean I hosted
it in all for nine years. I maybe was only
hosting for a year if that by the time you
came into it. So, I mean we started out as
friends and then we became booze and then we got married.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
What a great community, you know what I'm saying, the
poetry community in Atlanta. Yeah, I didn't have a window
into that as much, you know, before you and so
you know, it's like you have a lot of people
that come up to you. People always ask me, you know,
how do you get in to do this, Like my
kid wants to be a DJ, or somebody's like, yo,
I want to be DJ, and I'm like, look, now,
(11:48):
like gear wise, you can the entry level as much
as you can buy some entry level gear for pretty
reasonable price compared to when I first got in. Is
because a roommate left their turntables and their mixer and
their needles and their vinyl records and have phone. You
had to figure all that stuff out. But then also
(12:12):
it's going to be that somebody's going to give you
an opportunity to do it, you know, probably for free.
And some of those opportunities you take and go, yeah,
this opportunity doesn't go beyond like, this is where this
opportunity ends. Right. There's a thing that I like, the
call getting paid twice at a gig. And sometimes you're
not getting paid the first time, right, but the second
(12:35):
time is because you do that thing. You know, you're
getting good at a thing when you're at a thing
and somebody goes, ooh this is cool. I also do
this thing over here. Will you come do this here?
Which was the case with you, Hey, I do this
open mic. Oh cool, let's give it a try. Stakes
are kind of low, you know what I mean, for
(12:55):
you and for me. So I show up, I do
this thing, I get some coffee, I meet some cool friends,
I hear some great poetry. Cool. Hey, also, I've got
this idea of putting a poet and a DJ together,
and I was like, let's see where it'll go. Also
from there, somebody else is like, hey, got this other venue,
got this other event, and then on and then that's
(13:16):
when you realize. You also realize you're getting good when
people start going how much do you charge for this?
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Right?
Speaker 2 (13:22):
And you have no idea what to charge? And so
for me, I know that every time I know that me,
I'm probably low balling myself. I'm like, there's no way,
and so I'll say something and they'll be like yep,
and I'd be like okay, they said yeah, real fast.
So I might have said too low. Or if somebody's
like we're like ooh, I might have hit a little
(13:45):
too high on it, which is not usually me. Normally
I'm too low. And now my wife Amina, who much
like my friend Amana at the time, was like, you
need to be charging yeah, and so but then but
then from that experience that you had and from it's
almost like it's almost like a skillet, you know how
(14:06):
they say with a skill it you know, you know
you soap or something, you know you clean it a
certain way because you're collecting all the flavor you got,
and so I would say, from the flavor I picked
up doing urban grind with you, right, the communal aspects
of it. I still carry that with me when I'm
in a venue this past Friday night and it's a
(14:28):
thousand plus people in this place and I don't have
the same touch points with everyone in the crowd. But
who is close to the turntables, who's coming up communicating
with me, who are the people working behind the bar,
Who is the security who came up and said the
thing to me? Who is the Like those communal aspects
(14:49):
of what I loved doing Urban grind I still carry
with me and everything I do now.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yeah, it is interesting thinking about that because I was
talking to someone recently about like event m seeing or
event hosting, and they were asking me like, how did
you become so good at that? And I was like,
it's truthfully being in an open mics setting because we
had to be prepared for me as a host and
(15:37):
for you as a DJ, for anything, and you don't
have any forewarning or fore knowledge about what it is.
Somebody may come up and do a poem about something
really traumatic that happened to them, and you can't just
bop back up after that and be like.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Y'all give it up? Who you know, like you really
got to find a way to that.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
And as a host to hold space for the mood
of the room after someone says certain things, to hold
space for and honor the story that the person's told.
And then you know, the truth is, sometimes poems are
bad at open mics and that makes the room feel weird.
(16:20):
You know, even the audience is like, oh, yikes, I'm
not sure how to feel about that, and we'd have
to like improvise on the spot how we were going
to help the room recover.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
You know.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
I feel like there's so many things that we learned
together in that space, and truthfully, it was the road
that made us have to stop, you know, doing it
because we were just too worn out with travel and
not wanting to go into the open mic and not
be able to do.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
A great job, you know.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
But shout out to Urban Grind because hosting that open
mic was still one of my favorite gigs ever. And
the other best gig I would say that we've done
together is the sei that we did Press Play and
I think this was twenty eighteen. I think it was
twenty eighteen in the fall, if I'm remembering right, and
(17:10):
we did this series, which is still the series we did,
whether it changes names, and certainly would be at a
different venue next time, I'm sure. But the series we
did is like that was like a dream of mine
that I would love to do again. It was basically
like the feeling of what hosting the open mic was like,
(17:31):
except instead of it being open mic, it was curated
and we would feature two artists each night, and one
of them would be a poet or comedian and one
of them would be a music act. I mean, first
of all, we happened to be really really blessed to
know a lot of dope performers, so we really kind
(17:55):
of went around to our friends and we're like, who
want to come here? And and you know, shout out
to the venue. They were able to provide us a
certain amount of budget to be able to pay people,
which is great because then they opened mic. You know,
we had the door, like our share of the door
that we had with the venue with Urban Grind, you know,
(18:19):
Urban Grin would get a portion of the door, and
then we would get a portion of the door, and
so we would take most, if not all, of that
door proceeds to give to our future artist, right, But
then it would kind of depend on how the door went,
you know, if that person got gas money or if
that person got money, they could have paid a small
bill or whatever. So to be doing press play and
(18:40):
really have not like ganggang money, but have some type
of like substantial something that would make a performer be like, yo,
I'm will come there and.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Do my thing, I will bring my band, yes, and.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Like, come there and perform.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
That was amazing, And I've always loved the idea of
mixing a night with music and poetry or comedy, like
I always loved that feeling. And then there was a
lot of stuff I also think, you know, which is
kind of going to be interesting to see, like how
things go on for us in the future, you know,
what else we decide we're going to do on stage
(19:14):
or create together. Because we spent a lot of years
in church world, and because what we were doing was
a little bit hip hop, was in some way like fresh,
you know, then it wasn't for a long time, what
we were doing wasn't considered to be something for adults,
(19:35):
which is why we got booked at youth events and
college events all the time, and then after a while
they were like, Okay, they're married, maybe this is.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
For adults, but it was still like we were in church.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
So there were a lot of like sense of humor,
things that we might have wanted to do on stage
and couldn't do. There was a whole ton of music
that we wanted to play and couldn't do.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
And what a into him in the car on the
way home, right in this space the sacred versus secular,
and it.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Just all got weird.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
And so by the time we got to Press Play,
we had both really stopped performing in church spaces for
the most part, and Press Play, to me, was the
first time that we got to perform together, like outside
of the open mic. It was the first time we
got to perform together and really be ourselves, like when
(20:29):
I was talking to the audience about the songs that
end up in my head when I'm on my period,
and like the way that you, as my husband, will
kind of be like I'm gonna go get that girl
a burger and some fries, and I'm gonna get some chocolate,
and I'm gonna just I'm gonna just slide a tray
in there and hope for the best, and I was like, yeah,
(20:51):
because he knows that, Like in any moment, I could
just hear bone Crusher and to be there with you
as a DJ and you to drop it and to
get the whole room.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Everybody here who has a period, I ain't up scared.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
I'm talking about yelling at the top of the energy
was great. The enegeg was really great.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
I would love to do that again. But that was
one of my favorite things we've done performing together. So
I want to throw it to you when you think
about your career as a performing artist. I mean, I
have a couple of things that I'm wondering if they're
the best gigs for you. But that's my question to you.
What would you say have been like your best gigs ever?
Speaker 2 (21:33):
I'll say that number one. Being on the road with
you for so long it's hard to beat because I
am such a fan of what you do and the
way you work a mic and the way you work
a room and the way you flow, and so to
have somebody that you can get up there with and
(21:54):
it not feel weird cardboardy, right, you know what I mean,
especially when you're kind of replicating the same thing over
and over again in a different city. Like it really
felt fresh. It was really like, wow, I get to
do this thing behind. You know, there were certain songs
that I'm chopping up while you're doing your poetry, and
I know I can hear your voice building here, so
(22:15):
we're like really doing something that only exists in that moment,
right right, it happened. You had to be there, And
that's one of my favorite things as a performer. And
I would say because now as a DJ, mostly performing
like in nightlife entertainment, I'm mostly performing just me. Every
(22:37):
now and then there'll be an EMC personality who's like
yelling over the beat and I'm finding where they're going.
But like that time of like performing with you, it
was like we were a jazz band, a two person
jazz band, just riffing with each other. But we had
like places that we were going to go. But so
now it's kind of all just in my head. You know,
(22:59):
I know, okay, I'm at this venue. I know that
this time this time, I'm gonna kind of do this
warm upset, So I want you to be walking cool,
or I know that last call is by this time,
so I want the energy level to be up here
and then to in order to get people to leave
this venue without fights breaking. Now I need to, you know,
switch to this type of music that's still going to
(23:21):
have you singing, but it's gonna get you. Oh, it's
time to go, you know. So those are all things
that are in my own head. But that time of
being me and you out there and a countdown clock,
there'd be some countdown clock, and so that's still just
my favorite. And so yeah, if we can figure out
how to do that in a venue on the broad,
anybody's listening and you want to, let's come, We're gonna
(23:43):
do it at your time. But that's my unbeatable, unbeatable
I'll say. Beyond that, I would probably say one of
the ones you're gonna say is that I got a
text message from a venue that I've worked with a lot,
and the guy's like, hey, I got something going on.
A band was supposed to be here, but they backed
(24:05):
out on me last minute. Can you get here right now?
I'll pay extra. I can't tell you what it is.
It's middle of the week. We pack sure, I'm itp
I'm inside the perimeter. I can get there. Let's go.
I wasn't doing that rolled up. I remember getting on
(24:28):
the elevator.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
This is also the middle of the week, y'all, Like
middle of the week. It's like a Wednesday, Like we're
like getting to the part of the day where like
you've already worked for the day, You're about to decide
what TV shows you're gonna watch.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Like it's that part of the day.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Yeah, in the middle of the week when Matt is
getting this text okay continue.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
And so I'm on the elevator and they're like taking
people's cell phones and put them in a basket when
you get on the elevator. I'm like, huh, that's interesting.
There's a lot more secure, like for whatever, I guess
because I'm the DJ and I've got all this gear.
They didn't take mine, but you know, I was starting
(25:07):
to catch the okay, so we're not catching a lot
of video at this game. We're like, okay, all right,
keep your phone in your pocket, bro. And so I
get up there. Come to find out, this was the
wrap party for the first Black Panther movie. And so
I get up there and I'm setting up as quickly
as possible because all the guests are there, and they're like, yeah,
(25:31):
the director is here, the actors are here, everyone from
the long list of people that takes to put on
a movie, the camera operators, the grips, everybody. There's like five, six,
seven hundred people at this thing, and they're playing background music.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Yikes.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
And he's like, set up quick, I'm telling you what's
going on. Here's what is And so he's telling me
what's going on. And of course at this time, you
know that, you know, oh cool movie rap party. Cool.
I didn't know, you know, you don't.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
We had no idea how massive, no of a film
it was gonna be.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Yeah, And so I set up as quickly as I
possibly could. I jump in the mix and I'm doing
my thing. You know, I'm kind of eyeballing who's around me.
And somebody's like, oh, the director, he's from Oakland. I'm like,
oh word, okay. So I get into my high feedbag.
I started, you know, flipping, keep the sneak, you know,
(26:35):
e forty and you know, let's find out what's up next. Thing.
You know, this circle opens up and the directors in
the middle. It starts crump dancing, and the next thing,
you know, somebody else jumping, and then this other lady
walks up with an African accent, and she's like, oh,
we played some nas And I was like, yeah, got you.
So I flipped in some nos, you know. And then
(26:58):
when we go to the movie man and I'm watching
the movie and I see the actress on the screen
with that African access, I was like, Yo, that person
was about a turn table. She's like, we played now.
I was like, of course I'll play. That was my
favorite rappers of all time. You didn't even got to ask,
but yeah, but I was like yo, and that person
right there, And then you see how big of a movie.
(27:18):
You're like, you know, those people had a you know,
had a lot of memories of this thing. But I
got to be there after they had already done all
the work and what turned out to be a joyous night,
And I handed my mic over to whoever, and they
handed to the director and he was given the thanks
to everybody for all their hard work, and somebody else
(27:41):
got on and talked on the mic about all the
hard work. I'm like, Yo, that's my microphone right there.
You know, it wasn't. I wasn't in the movie. I'm
not saying I was in movie, but I'm saying it
was all the way down, like it's at the end
of it, and like my microphone was what they got
to thank all these people for this thing that I
hadn't even seen yet. That's why I'm trying, yo. And
(28:01):
so like whenever I we went and saw the movie
and then saw it again, and anytime I see the
movie from then on, I'm like, yo, oh man, Like
I got to be at the aftermath, like the we
made it. Y'all, Yo, what an incredible event.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
That's of I guess of all the gigs you've had
and me like watching you as as your spouse and
also as a business partner, man that like you were
able to get one. You were able to squeak out
like one text to me before you had to put
your phone away and you were like, Yo, I'm here.
This is the rap party for Black Panther. Got to
(28:42):
go by, and I definitely text back because of course, y'all,
you know, by that time of night, I was at home,
you know, in a brawless robes that you can know
like I'm going nowhere, I'm doing nothing, but I definitely
text back just in case he got it. I was like,
you see Angela Bassett up in that hole. I will
throw this robe off and get some on and throw
some makeer. I'll be right there.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
You didn't see Angela though, I'm.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Pretty sure that Angela Bassett. And why why am I
feeling like Larry Fishburn? But was Larry Fishburn in the
first one?
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Laurence Fishburn?
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Yeah, but he used to be Larry when he first started.
Look at some of.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Them early movies, Larry like, I'm not sure if we
need to check the credits of Boys in the Hood,
because I think Boys in the Hood might might have
been one of the last films that he was listed
as Larry.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Yo, Big Larry, Larry Larry.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
So I can't remember now.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
I'm like, mister, I feel like Angela Bassett and there
was somebody else if it wasn't maybe it wasn't him,
but there was somebody else that was in that movie
that I was like, Angela Bassett and whoever that first
I was no, because it was somebody that I was like,
if it is anybody that's not gonna show up to
something like this is Angela Bassett and whoever this other
(29:59):
person was? But my mind always puts puts Angela Bassett
with Larry Fishburne because you know they've been in other
films together. But anyways, okay, yeah, yeah, okay, So all
that to say, though, y'all, he did not see Angela
Bassett there, so I did not try to throw a
cute outfit on the right quick and see if they
would let me sneak in and be like, I'm married
(30:19):
to the DJ. But that was so exciting to me
for you. You you were the right one for the
job because you could go in that night not knowing
at all what it was going to be and not
knowing exactly who was going to be there as far
as the kind of music, and to just be able
(30:41):
to like be prepared like.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
I was DJing and wasn't even all the way everything
wasn't even connected. I was like, all right, let me
connect to y'all system, get a song running while I'm
still hooking up turntables and my speakers, and oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Yeah, that was a great one.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
I was exciting.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
What are some other best gigs ever to you as
as a DJ?
Speaker 2 (31:01):
I would say there's been some events that we've been
a part of. I've gotten to do a lot of
cool events, you know, you know, from from like the
Black Panther Rap Party. From there on, I've gotten to
do several other events where there were going to be
celebrities there, or it was for the team of that celebrity,
(31:22):
and you get there and that celebrity may or may
not be there, but it's still an exciting experience to
prepare for and you know, you do your best. Then
there's other events that you do that you're not as excited.
Maybe it's a cool thing. You're there, you're doing it's
a good gig, but you're like, and then something surprising
(31:43):
pops right right right. Some of those are really some
of my favorite gigs where it's something surprising pops off.
And we were in Toronto doing an event that we
had done some other events with and there are some
unfortunate parts of that story that made us not as
(32:04):
excited to keep doing these events. But there were some
contracts and we had some bills do, and then we
had talked to some people who had advised us and
chose to keep going on with these events. So we're
doing these events and so you get there and one
thing that I kind of like to do is I
look around and be like, who from a customer service perspective.
(32:28):
I still look at what I do as customer service, RIGHTO,
just being served? Who is this room is not being served?
There's everybody in this event may be aimed at somebody,
and that's cool. I want to be in the flow
of event. But if I can like veer off just
a little bit and let somebody in that crowd be like, yo,
I see you. It's me and you working right now,
(32:49):
you know, let's go. And I remember just getting into
my B boy bag and next thing, you know this
again back to the circle. A circle pop open and
like for real B boy culture pops up in the
middle of this event that I never would have guessed
would have been at this event, and then you know,
(33:10):
the breaking window, all the things that's happened, and you're like, yo,
this is so exciting. Yeah, And those also become my
favorite gigs because if somebody's like yo, you see me,
I see you, and then you end up having this real,
like cool exchange. So I'd say that there's as a
number of events that that has happened where you're like, yo,
(33:32):
that's kind of wild.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
My other I thought about two that I was like
there they were my some of my favorites to hear about.
And then one of them I was there for. But
one of them was, you did a Christmas party in
a big stadium for a big soda brand.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
Yeah, I can say, can we say?
Speaker 2 (33:55):
I can say okay? Yeah, so okay. So a friend
of mine who's a DJ I, so I get brought
in to do some cool stuff by other like DJ companies. Yeah,
shout out to all the homies who you know come
to me and you know what I mean, it's still today.
I got a thing from a DJ recently and she's like, Yo,
(34:18):
I can't do this thing. It's a venue that I've
wanted to be in. I was like, Yo, that's thank you,
you know, thank you for thinking of me. You know,
like it's it's a beautiful thing that I do love
about the DJ community and DJ culture. It's like it
is communal and relationship based. So this dude brought me
in on it. He said, Yo, we got his thing.
And so what it was it was the Coca Cola
(34:42):
company was their Christmas party. And again this is right
before the pandemic tip, so the world was still open.
As you're doing this gig, You're like, yo, if this
is this awesome, what's going to happen next? Because you
know each one you get on this role where you
do this one gig, you're at urban grind, right, and
then you don't end up in the Mercedes Benz in
(35:04):
the end zone right. The next gig there's a there's
a you kind of work your way up and then
next thing you know, they're like, oh, I can handle
the Black Panther rap party with zero preparation. Oh I can't.
I can handle where Oh this person's team. I mean, oh,
you're good. Okay, you know, you realize, Oh, and it
grows and grows and grows. So this one it grew
(35:24):
to where at this party you are, they had like
a bunch of DJs and then me and the other DJ,
they had us at the end spot, the headliner spot.
So you're at this on this massive table in this
big stage in the end zone of the Mercedes Benz
Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, where the Falcons play, where Atlanta
(35:45):
United plays, like it's a big thing, and you are
looking out and the whole in what would be the
whole football field is full as far as you can
see of people and lights, and there's moving there's machines,
smoke going up in the air, and it's like all
this excite stuff to where you're like, what is going
(36:06):
to happen next? This is gonna be amazing, and then
the whole world shuts down. Yeah, but for the time being,
we're on this stage doing this thing. And I remember
there were there are a couple interesting things. Number One,
you're rocking with another DJ. So again, as a DJ,
(36:28):
I'm always at least three songs, if not more in
my head. Right there's a song playing, there's a song
that I've got queued up on the other turntable, there's
a song I'm headed to. But then also I'm trying
to take you somewhere, So in order to get to
this song, I'm gonna need at least probably two or
three songs, either tempo wise to get you up there,
(36:50):
mood wise, to get you up there, like we're going,
we're going on a journey. And so working with another
DJ where you might be like, hey, you got this one,
I got this one, you got you got it? That
was an interesting thing. Number Two, Uh, it was an
interesting thing that the company who brought my friend's company
(37:12):
in who brought me in, they were like we really
don't want you to have your phone out taking selfies,
taking video. But you're also like, this is an amazing opportunity, right,
Like as a DJ, or as anybody who's a performing artist,
the best thing you can do is show your work,
(37:33):
because you know, I like to set my turntables up
a certain way so you can see my hands. Because
we would be at a lot of events, these large events,
and people would I notice, people would come up and
ask me, were you really doing that right? Right? Like yeah,
because to me, I I love to perform in front
(37:54):
of crowd. I'm a performance artist, so I like to
put on a show. I like to do something that
would not have happened had I not have been standing there.
And so so you're on the stage, and I want
to show my work because again, somebody sees you at
Urban Grind and says, we do this thing over here,
And somebody sees you over here, like will you do
(38:14):
this thing over here? How much you know? And that's
kind of how it built. And so here I am
on this massive stage, all these lights, and so I
did sneak out a couple of thinking probably still see
them on my Instagram. And then the whole world shut down,
so you know, but so that that was another weird
thing that it's like, Okay, I gotta kind of sneak
(38:37):
it over my shoulder just so you can see this
like huge crowd. And then the other thing that was
interesting working for such a large brand is this was
this was definitely well communicated up front, was that you
are not allowed to play any music from any art
(39:00):
artist who has had a brand deal with our competitor. Wow,
which you run down the list of people who had Pepsi.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
Deals, that's a lot of music.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
The year I was doing this, Cardi B's I like It,
like that biggest song in the world. Well, she currently
at that time had a deal with Pepsi. So I
cannot play the biggest song in the world and from
this massive crowd that at this moment, I know that
song would light this crowd on fire man, and I
(39:36):
just remember. It's also interesting in that environment because in
the venues that I work at, I do kind of
like that I'm accessible to people. I like it. People
are coming at me from all different angles and saying
and you get a lot of weird things. You get
some unfortunate conversations that you're like Okay, you have Now
(40:00):
you're not helping. I'm a person. You just said that
to me. What you know? You do get those type
of interactions. But also, for the most part, I enjoy
it because you get some connection points. You get someone
from a different culture coming up to you. As this
guy asked me for this song this past weekend and
(40:22):
it was from a Bollywood movie and I don't know it,
but I've found it in a way that I could
hit play on it. Most of my crowd had no
idea what to do, so I dropped the music. I'm like, listen,
we given everybody something tonight. Look these are my friends.
Put your hands up. And so these dudes put their
hands up. I was like, I don't know what to
do to this music either, but do what they're doing.
(40:43):
Next thing you help. Flash forward three minutes later, the
whole crowded jumping. I can't tell you where the one, two,
three or the four is on this rhythm that's happening.
But you have these interactive moments. So in this big arena,
you're in the end zone and the lights are your you.
You're far away from the crowd. But it was why
to still see people writing songs on pieces of paper
(41:07):
and holding it up and you're you're like, wait, what right,
but still still finding a way to connect with people
in that crowd. So that was an incredible gig that
I surely thought, oh wow, this company had brought us
in to do this, Oh we're doing this again. And
(41:27):
that was December and the world promptly shut down March.
Speaker 3 (41:33):
What a time.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Yeah, that's the time.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
But shout out shout outs to some best gigs, because
those when you came home from that one, I was like,
that sounds exhilarating.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
When I think of my best gigs ever, I would
probably say on the number one is the Together Live Tour,
And big shout out to Jennifer Walsh and Abby Wamback
and Glennon Doyle for just putting this toy and inviting
me onto the tour. But for those of you that
weren't familiar with it, Together Live was a tour that
(42:06):
Glennon and Jennifer and Abby did many years before me,
I think, or at least a few years before I
was invited to be a part of it. And it
was very women centric. It was very inclusive and feminist
and just very empowering. Of women so on a level
as a performer. I mean, I'm sitting on stage with
(42:29):
Glennon Doyle and Abby Wamback and the War and Treaty
and Ashley Ford and Michelle Buteaux, and I mean it
was just so many amazing people I couldn't even name you, like,
all the people that were on this tour. And my
friend Austin Channing Brown was also on the tour, so
(42:51):
we got to do a couple of dates together. Oh
so much amazing things. And I think why it was
the best gig ever r one of my favorite gigs
to have done, is I was at this point where
I was sort of questioning myself, you know, leaving Christian
space and I'll use the phrasing having done well there,
(43:12):
and I'm using that to mean, you know, I feel
like there were people in that space that enjoyed my work.
I could go to different gigs that were in church space,
and there are people who recognize my work from some
other thing they'd seen. And I knew that my work
worked in like an open mic setting, right, but I
had not been on a big stage where there were
(43:36):
people there who weren't church people. Some of those people
that together live, just really like, ain't Christian, don't want
to be Christian, don't want to be nowhere near a church,
and have good reason to feel that way. And I
only had like seven minutes because there were a lot
of us on stage, you know, so I only had
seven minutes to perform, and just doing my poems out
(44:01):
there and getting that standing ovation from the crowd and
being like, your work is not just for the small
space that you come from, that your work like applies
to other people, is meaningful to other people. And that
was a big turning point for me of knowing what
could be possible in my career. Another thing that the
(44:23):
pandemic came and stole from us because we were actually
planning to do a Fall and a Spring together live
tour for twenty twenty and was just man having so
many wonderful creative conversations about that. So I hope something
else like that comes back around, because that was amazing.
(44:44):
That was one of my best gigs, obviously performing Margaret
in front of Judy Bloom, which I talked about in
an episode here, so please revisit that episode.
Speaker 2 (44:52):
We'll put that credible.
Speaker 3 (44:54):
In the show notes. If you have not listened to
that upodcast from you.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
I got up and ran around the room and incredible,
go me and there go incredible.
Speaker 1 (45:03):
Also there's a video of that on my ig of
me actually performing that in front of Judi Womb. So
obviously that was not the gig I was there to do,
but it was at a gig, and it was the
best gig ever because that happened at the gig. And
probably my other best one, which ironically also happened in
twenty nineteen, was the Pattern Launch Party. And the Pattern
Launch Party wasn't technically a gig of mine because I
(45:25):
wasn't performing or anything there, but it was the unveiling
of the Pattern Manifesta that I had written and did
the collaborating with Tracy Elis ross On, and that was
my first time seeing like the video that they put
together with it, and Tracy was very kind and sweet
(45:46):
to just thank so many people that had helped make
it possible and she thanked me like in front of everyone,
and like, y'oll, this is like a launch party where
you walking around like eating tacos, and like Lena waitewalk
By and Carrie Washington and the whole cast of Black Lady.
Speaker 3 (46:03):
Sketch Show walk by.
Speaker 1 (46:05):
It was like if Black Girl Magic could have been
distilled into an essential oil like it was in the.
Speaker 3 (46:10):
Air that evening.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
In addition, after Tracy thanked me in front of everyone
and then played the video so we all could see
Tracy and her team are good friends with who was
the Los Angeles Poet laureate at that time as well,
And she was there and she walked up to me
and was like, you did that. She was like, and
(46:36):
I know what it takes to write a thing like that,
So I'm not just saying that to you to say
it to you so best gig ever, I have to say,
which you know, I guess I want to close this
episode and close our own story series with this thought.
I feel like, like many of you listening, you know,
(46:57):
many of us have experienced vayving types of grief and
losses during the pandemic, you know, and for a lot
of us, life is just very different, and in some
ways it may not ever like air quotes return back
to normal. I know we've all wanted to like rush
towards that, and some of that may not ever return.
But I think also this can be like a season
(47:19):
of time to be able to let yourself dream again
about what could be, you know, let yourself like dream
again about what's possible. And I think I had a
lot of great time, Babe, talking with you about some
of this wild stuff that happened. These are stories that
we tell at dinner parties and tell to our families,
(47:40):
but have never really talked about in any sort of
public forum. And so the podcasts, so I think I've
just enjoyed like reminiscing on some of that. But I
think also, like you know, we're not done. We're not
finished with this just because that that was a phase
of our life at that point of us are done
(48:00):
with the stage. Neither of us are done with creative work.
And I think there's a lot more to come. I mean,
we actually both have a few things cooking that we
can't tell y'all about just yet, but just know, like
you haven't seen the last of Amina and dj Op
Diggy and the things that we can do and build together.
(48:21):
So I'm really excited about that.
Speaker 2 (48:23):
Cal, I want to work with you again, So come on,
come on, you gotta be over here dreaming, thinking, But
you know, and and we are not done with our
work that we do together, and the amount of collaboration
that happens out of this house, even down to this
(48:44):
podcast or what people may not realize when they bring
one of us in that you're really getting a piece.
There's so much collaboration, Yeah, for sure, and there's a
lot more of it is at least, Hey, what do
you think about? You know, down to the video clips
that I was pulling off of my goalpro from this
weekend and I'm showing to me, you know which one
(49:04):
you think, Oh that one? Yeah, okay, that one? You know?
Or you need to post someone Na She's like, yeah,
just do that makes sense to you, but do it?
And she's right, you know, And so all the collaborative work.
I do look forward to performing with you again in
front of a crowd. And like we always say, is
that one day when our phone stopped ringing and those
(49:27):
emails stopped coming in, and whoever decides that they are
done with us and they've moved on to somebody else,
it's still going to be me and you girl. You
know what I mean, You're my favorite.
Speaker 3 (49:38):
You're my favorite.
Speaker 1 (49:40):
Thank y'all for listening, And I hope y'all weren't too
grossed out by us being very lovey dove. At the end,
we're just used to no one seeing how lovey dow
we are. So there you go, guys, Love you babe.
Thank y'all for listening, See y'all soon. Her with Amina
(50:10):
Brown is produced by Matt Owen for sol Grafeity Productions
as a part of the Seneca Women Podcast Network in
partnership with iHeartRadio. Thanks for listening and don't forget to subscribe, rate,
and review the podcast.
Hey, everybody, welcome back to not only a new episode
of Her with Amina Brown, but this is the last
episode of our Road Story series.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
And now we've come to the road Story.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
As y'all can see, Matt is here in the living
room with us. Welcome, Thank you for being here. I mean,
he's normally here because that's how the podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I just did not sing like that, though, boy boy
might have a restaurant.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Okay, okay, might have your singing career.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Child laughing.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
We're laughing because that's a thing that my grandma does.
It's like any any shred of talent that she sees
in you, which on one level is a beautiful thing
and also is very hilarious. It's like any little shred
of talent, like you sing a little song. My Grandma's like, oh,
you might become a singer one day.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Oh you got a beautiful voice.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
And you'll be like, I can't sing like that, Grandma.
I'm not Whitney Houston, child, But shout out to having
grandma who believe in you. Okay, And speaking of good energy,
we're closing out our road stories because because to be fair,
you know, the road can be a harrowing experience and
was for us in certain regards and in other regards
was really wonderful.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
And I thought it would be so great to end.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
With our favorite gigs, our best gigs ever in our
time being on the road. And Man and I have
both talked about this. Now our careers are in a
little bit of like a different place where not as
much people who are on the road all the time
like we used to be, although to be fair, we
are both still stage people. Matt does a lot of
(02:14):
performing that is here in Atlanta area, and I am
hoping to get back to doing some stage work on
the road.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
I think we both hope to get back on the
road at some point.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
We miss the road, Like yeah, like when the whole
world shut down, it was nice to have some like
gigs in your hometown. And I will say I do
enjoy sleeping in my own bed. I enjoy eating food
out of my own fridge. I enjoy like the things
of your life that you have more control over because
you're not my plane, train, or automobile. But there are
(02:48):
just some beautiful things about being on the road, experiencing
some different parts of the country, different restaurants. You're trying
this thing out in this city, well what works in
this city? And then you know at L has some
specific things about it, you know what I mean. So
allways performing at L, I see some stuff being like man,
I sure would like the DJ in that town. Oh man,
(03:10):
that looks cool. And so there's some that stuff that
you know, I'm sure we'll get back to and I
sure hope. So so if you're listening, if.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
You listening, there you got some road gigs, you know,
play and book the hotels, right anyways, no pressure, yeah,
no pressure at all, but please book.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
The next podcast might be about you.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Thank you so very much.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Yes, I think there is also a rush to being
on the road, especially which is this is going to
lead into what is going to be one of my
votes for what had been what has been one of
my favorite gigs or favorite type of gig that we did.
But I think there's something too when you're on the
road and we I got a chance to be tour.
(03:58):
I got a chance to tour with other artists, Matt
and I never got a chance to do the type
of tour where you know, like how you would see
like like right now, Beyonce's doing the Renaissance tour, and
then she books this tour and it goes into all
these different cities, you know, kind of doing a similar
set of you know, performance or whatnot. Matt and I
(04:18):
traditionally did not have a lot of that together when
we were on the road, but we did have the
experience of sort of having a show that we developed
and taking it to all these different cities and seeing like,
how did it feel in Dallas, But how did it
feel in this small town in South Carolina? But how
did it feel in California? You know, all of those things,
and like all the fun stuff you get to discover
(04:39):
about it. So my first vote for best gig ever
was us performing together. We had two shows that we
did together. Our first show together was called God Rhyme Reason,
which honestly morphed into the second version, which was Breaking
O Rhythms, which is pretty much based on my first book.
And that still, even though I think where we both
(05:03):
are as far as how we like to practice our
faith now, how we like to express our faith, there's
a lot about what we were doing message wise that
we would do really differently if we were doing that today.
But just the opportunity that we had to really give
a generation of kids like hip hop history.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yeah, that's my favorite part.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
That was really cool to get to do.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
That.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
We built a show that you could do in front
of one hundred people, but that you could do in
front of like eighteen thousand people. That was really cool
that you got a chance to show students like turntablism.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
You know, I mean this is an era now.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
We were probably doing that for what would be considered
like probably younger or mid millennial age and towards the
tail end maybe we were getting a.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Little bit of early gen z a little bit.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Maybe, But the fact that you got to showcase turntablism.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
I really enjoyed that part of it, Like we would
be out there. I remember when you first came to
me with the idea we were just friends. It just
sounded interesting to begin with, and it was a puzzle
to put together just because how do you DJ behind
a post? I know, a DJ behind a rapper? You know,
I know how to work with a singer, people working
you know, what would be your more standard like song format,
(06:31):
but free verse poetry. But then also that it's going
to be coming in and out of these stories and
these monologues and you doing what would be like many
ted talk, traditional talk, but like chopped up in between
all these different elements. But the ingredients sounded cool. And
your love for hip hop culture, my love for hip
hop culture and the idea of it being a DJ
(06:54):
and somebody on the mic. I was like, ooh, that's cool.
So there would be times that, like, you know, there's
a part where I would be going juggling between the
two turntables, you know, cool like that doom on their doom. Okay,
(07:15):
she's still going in the story. I think I know
where she's head to, but I need to give it
some variation. Let me bring the horns in back. Okay,
we need to bring it back down because she's talking more,
bringing that part with the snaps and so like, even
from the idea of like a beat maker. But it's
(07:37):
like I was sampling these hip hop songs to go
under your talk and then for people like who was
that song with the horns all you? And then this
album Oh my gosh, you get or you know, when
we would get to uh, there would always be a
segment of the show where you would be like you
would talk about the DJ, and by this point, usually
(07:59):
I'm billing up. I'm I'm juggling in the front part
of rappers Delight or something, you know what I mean,
du and it's building up the energy you know, don't
don't don't And then you would step back and give
me a chance to just do a DJ juggle routine.
(08:23):
And then also for me learning how to build a
juggle routine. Uh, for people that might not automatically just
be in on what you're doing. It's one thing when
you're working for a crowd that's like they're immediately going
to get it. They're already into it, they love it, yes,
But then you're in there like, wait, what is this?
(08:43):
What is this music? I don't know this music. I
also find something that's safe and digestible. And it was
such a great time building that with you that I
was like, Wow, what a cool friend. And then come
to find out everybody was right. You got a shot, bruh,
get married and now we on the road, yo, in
(09:07):
all these cities and be like you really like we
were really in this town juggling rappers Delight in talking
about be boys and be girls. That Yeah, that was
a time man.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I mean I will say second gig, which is really
the first gig that we started doing together, which is
one of the best that we've ever done together is
hosting the open mic at Urban Grind. Yeah, and I
still I mean, first of all, shout out to Urban Grind,
which is a coffee shop here in Atlanta, black woman owned.
(09:40):
Shout out to Cassandra still going today. So if you
live in Atlanta or if you come to visit now.
Urban Grind has multiple locations, shout out to Cassandra Ingram
for that, but you can visit on the belt Line
and visit the original location on Marietta Street, where to
this day is still one of my favorite open mics
(10:01):
to go to. Probably, if I'm honest, Urban Grind is
probably my favorite open mic still to go to in
the city, honestly. But I started out there hosting an
open mic and I had a poet who was, I.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Guess trying to DJ.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
So he and I were kind of doing the open
mic together, and then I met Matt and he told
me that he can DJ, and I that was my
That was my trial run. That was me trying Matt
out to see like can this guy really DJ? Because
the stakes at an open mic are not that high
because everyone from all walks of life and all levels
(10:47):
of experience are coming there to do whatever they're going
to do on the mic. So I felt like a
DJ who's not so great is not terrible at an
open mic, and if you don't like it, you can
just like move on whatever. And so of course Matt
came and he was very dope, and then I just
basically asked him to keep djaying.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
For the open mic. So we really, we really.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Together were hosting that open mic. I mean I hosted
it in all for nine years. I maybe was only
hosting for a year if that by the time you
came into it. So, I mean we started out as
friends and then we became booze and then we got married.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
What a great community, you know what I'm saying, the
poetry community in Atlanta. Yeah, I didn't have a window
into that as much, you know, before you and so
you know, it's like you have a lot of people
that come up to you. People always ask me, you know,
how do you get in to do this, Like my
kid wants to be a DJ, or somebody's like, yo,
I want to be DJ, and I'm like, look, now,
(11:48):
like gear wise, you can the entry level as much
as you can buy some entry level gear for pretty
reasonable price compared to when I first got in. Is
because a roommate left their turntables and their mixer and
their needles and their vinyl records and have phone. You
had to figure all that stuff out. But then also
(12:12):
it's going to be that somebody's going to give you
an opportunity to do it, you know, probably for free.
And some of those opportunities you take and go, yeah,
this opportunity doesn't go beyond like, this is where this
opportunity ends. Right. There's a thing that I like, the
call getting paid twice at a gig. And sometimes you're
not getting paid the first time, right, but the second
(12:35):
time is because you do that thing. You know, you're
getting good at a thing when you're at a thing
and somebody goes, ooh this is cool. I also do
this thing over here. Will you come do this here?
Which was the case with you, Hey, I do this
open mic. Oh cool, let's give it a try. Stakes
are kind of low, you know what I mean, for
(12:55):
you and for me. So I show up, I do
this thing, I get some coffee, I meet some cool friends,
I hear some great poetry. Cool. Hey, also, I've got
this idea of putting a poet and a DJ together,
and I was like, let's see where it'll go. Also
from there, somebody else is like, hey, got this other venue,
got this other event, and then on and then that's
(13:16):
when you realize. You also realize you're getting good when
people start going how much do you charge for this?
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Right?
Speaker 2 (13:22):
And you have no idea what to charge? And so
for me, I know that every time I know that me,
I'm probably low balling myself. I'm like, there's no way,
and so I'll say something and they'll be like yep,
and I'd be like okay, they said yeah, real fast.
So I might have said too low. Or if somebody's
like we're like ooh, I might have hit a little
(13:45):
too high on it, which is not usually me. Normally
I'm too low. And now my wife Amina, who much
like my friend Amana at the time, was like, you
need to be charging yeah, and so but then but
then from that experience that you had and from it's
almost like it's almost like a skillet, you know how
(14:06):
they say with a skill it you know, you know
you soap or something, you know you clean it a
certain way because you're collecting all the flavor you got,
and so I would say, from the flavor I picked
up doing urban grind with you, right, the communal aspects
of it. I still carry that with me when I'm
in a venue this past Friday night and it's a
(14:28):
thousand plus people in this place and I don't have
the same touch points with everyone in the crowd. But
who is close to the turntables, who's coming up communicating
with me, who are the people working behind the bar,
Who is the security who came up and said the
thing to me? Who is the Like those communal aspects
(14:49):
of what I loved doing Urban grind I still carry
with me and everything I do now.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yeah, it is interesting thinking about that because I was
talking to someone recently about like event m seeing or
event hosting, and they were asking me like, how did
you become so good at that? And I was like,
it's truthfully being in an open mics setting because we
had to be prepared for me as a host and
(15:37):
for you as a DJ, for anything, and you don't
have any forewarning or fore knowledge about what it is.
Somebody may come up and do a poem about something
really traumatic that happened to them, and you can't just
bop back up after that and be like.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Y'all give it up? Who you know, like you really
got to find a way to that.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
And as a host to hold space for the mood
of the room after someone says certain things, to hold
space for and honor the story that the person's told.
And then you know, the truth is, sometimes poems are
bad at open mics and that makes the room feel weird.
(16:20):
You know, even the audience is like, oh, yikes, I'm
not sure how to feel about that, and we'd have
to like improvise on the spot how we were going
to help the room recover.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
You know.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
I feel like there's so many things that we learned
together in that space, and truthfully, it was the road
that made us have to stop, you know, doing it
because we were just too worn out with travel and
not wanting to go into the open mic and not
be able to do.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
A great job, you know.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
But shout out to Urban Grind because hosting that open
mic was still one of my favorite gigs ever. And
the other best gig I would say that we've done
together is the sei that we did Press Play and
I think this was twenty eighteen. I think it was
twenty eighteen in the fall, if I'm remembering right, and
(17:10):
we did this series, which is still the series we did,
whether it changes names, and certainly would be at a
different venue next time, I'm sure. But the series we
did is like that was like a dream of mine
that I would love to do again. It was basically
like the feeling of what hosting the open mic was like,
(17:31):
except instead of it being open mic, it was curated
and we would feature two artists each night, and one
of them would be a poet or comedian and one
of them would be a music act. I mean, first
of all, we happened to be really really blessed to
know a lot of dope performers, so we really kind
(17:55):
of went around to our friends and we're like, who
want to come here? And and you know, shout out
to the venue. They were able to provide us a
certain amount of budget to be able to pay people,
which is great because then they opened mic. You know,
we had the door, like our share of the door
that we had with the venue with Urban Grind, you know,
(18:19):
Urban Grin would get a portion of the door, and
then we would get a portion of the door, and
so we would take most, if not all, of that
door proceeds to give to our future artist, right, But
then it would kind of depend on how the door went,
you know, if that person got gas money or if
that person got money, they could have paid a small
bill or whatever. So to be doing press play and
(18:40):
really have not like ganggang money, but have some type
of like substantial something that would make a performer be like, yo,
I'm will come there and.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Do my thing, I will bring my band, yes, and.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Like, come there and perform.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
That was amazing, And I've always loved the idea of
mixing a night with music and poetry or comedy, like
I always loved that feeling. And then there was a
lot of stuff I also think, you know, which is
kind of going to be interesting to see, like how
things go on for us in the future, you know,
what else we decide we're going to do on stage
(19:14):
or create together. Because we spent a lot of years
in church world, and because what we were doing was
a little bit hip hop, was in some way like fresh,
you know, then it wasn't for a long time, what
we were doing wasn't considered to be something for adults,
(19:35):
which is why we got booked at youth events and
college events all the time, and then after a while
they were like, Okay, they're married, maybe this is.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
For adults, but it was still like we were in church.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
So there were a lot of like sense of humor,
things that we might have wanted to do on stage
and couldn't do. There was a whole ton of music
that we wanted to play and couldn't do.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
And what a into him in the car on the
way home, right in this space the sacred versus secular,
and it.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Just all got weird.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
And so by the time we got to Press Play,
we had both really stopped performing in church spaces for
the most part, and Press Play, to me, was the
first time that we got to perform together, like outside
of the open mic. It was the first time we
got to perform together and really be ourselves, like when
(20:29):
I was talking to the audience about the songs that
end up in my head when I'm on my period,
and like the way that you, as my husband, will
kind of be like I'm gonna go get that girl
a burger and some fries, and I'm gonna get some chocolate,
and I'm gonna just I'm gonna just slide a tray
in there and hope for the best, and I was like, yeah,
(20:51):
because he knows that, Like in any moment, I could
just hear bone Crusher and to be there with you
as a DJ and you to drop it and to
get the whole room.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Everybody here who has a period, I ain't up scared.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
I'm talking about yelling at the top of the energy
was great. The enegeg was really great.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
I would love to do that again. But that was
one of my favorite things we've done performing together. So
I want to throw it to you when you think
about your career as a performing artist. I mean, I
have a couple of things that I'm wondering if they're
the best gigs for you. But that's my question to you.
What would you say have been like your best gigs ever?
Speaker 2 (21:33):
I'll say that number one. Being on the road with
you for so long it's hard to beat because I
am such a fan of what you do and the
way you work a mic and the way you work
a room and the way you flow, and so to
have somebody that you can get up there with and
(21:54):
it not feel weird cardboardy, right, you know what I mean,
especially when you're kind of replicating the same thing over
and over again in a different city. Like it really
felt fresh. It was really like, wow, I get to
do this thing behind. You know, there were certain songs
that I'm chopping up while you're doing your poetry, and
I know I can hear your voice building here, so
(22:15):
we're like really doing something that only exists in that moment,
right right, it happened. You had to be there, And
that's one of my favorite things as a performer. And
I would say because now as a DJ, mostly performing
like in nightlife entertainment, I'm mostly performing just me. Every
(22:37):
now and then there'll be an EMC personality who's like
yelling over the beat and I'm finding where they're going.
But like that time of like performing with you, it
was like we were a jazz band, a two person
jazz band, just riffing with each other. But we had
like places that we were going to go. But so
now it's kind of all just in my head. You know,
(22:59):
I know, okay, I'm at this venue. I know that
this time this time, I'm gonna kind of do this
warm upset, So I want you to be walking cool,
or I know that last call is by this time,
so I want the energy level to be up here
and then to in order to get people to leave
this venue without fights breaking. Now I need to, you know,
switch to this type of music that's still going to
(23:21):
have you singing, but it's gonna get you. Oh, it's
time to go, you know. So those are all things
that are in my own head. But that time of
being me and you out there and a countdown clock,
there'd be some countdown clock, and so that's still just
my favorite. And so yeah, if we can figure out
how to do that in a venue on the broad,
anybody's listening and you want to, let's come, We're gonna
(23:43):
do it at your time. But that's my unbeatable, unbeatable
I'll say. Beyond that, I would probably say one of
the ones you're gonna say is that I got a
text message from a venue that I've worked with a lot,
and the guy's like, hey, I got something going on.
A band was supposed to be here, but they backed
(24:05):
out on me last minute. Can you get here right now?
I'll pay extra. I can't tell you what it is.
It's middle of the week. We pack sure, I'm itp
I'm inside the perimeter. I can get there. Let's go.
I wasn't doing that rolled up. I remember getting on
(24:28):
the elevator.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
This is also the middle of the week, y'all, Like
middle of the week. It's like a Wednesday, Like we're
like getting to the part of the day where like
you've already worked for the day, You're about to decide
what TV shows you're gonna watch.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Like it's that part of the day.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Yeah, in the middle of the week when Matt is
getting this text okay continue.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
And so I'm on the elevator and they're like taking
people's cell phones and put them in a basket when
you get on the elevator. I'm like, huh, that's interesting.
There's a lot more secure, like for whatever, I guess
because I'm the DJ and I've got all this gear.
They didn't take mine, but you know, I was starting
(25:07):
to catch the okay, so we're not catching a lot
of video at this game. We're like, okay, all right,
keep your phone in your pocket, bro. And so I
get up there. Come to find out, this was the
wrap party for the first Black Panther movie. And so
I get up there and I'm setting up as quickly
as possible because all the guests are there, and they're like, yeah,
(25:31):
the director is here, the actors are here, everyone from
the long list of people that takes to put on
a movie, the camera operators, the grips, everybody. There's like five, six,
seven hundred people at this thing, and they're playing background music.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Yikes.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
And he's like, set up quick, I'm telling you what's
going on. Here's what is And so he's telling me
what's going on. And of course at this time, you
know that, you know, oh cool movie rap party. Cool.
I didn't know, you know, you don't.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
We had no idea how massive, no of a film
it was gonna be.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Yeah, And so I set up as quickly as I
possibly could. I jump in the mix and I'm doing
my thing. You know, I'm kind of eyeballing who's around me.
And somebody's like, oh, the director, he's from Oakland. I'm like,
oh word, okay. So I get into my high feedbag.
I started, you know, flipping, keep the sneak, you know,
(26:35):
e forty and you know, let's find out what's up next. Thing.
You know, this circle opens up and the directors in
the middle. It starts crump dancing, and the next thing,
you know, somebody else jumping, and then this other lady
walks up with an African accent, and she's like, oh,
we played some nas And I was like, yeah, got you.
So I flipped in some nos, you know. And then
(26:58):
when we go to the movie man and I'm watching
the movie and I see the actress on the screen
with that African access, I was like, Yo, that person
was about a turn table. She's like, we played now.
I was like, of course I'll play. That was my
favorite rappers of all time. You didn't even got to ask,
but yeah, but I was like yo, and that person
right there, And then you see how big of a movie.
(27:18):
You're like, you know, those people had a you know,
had a lot of memories of this thing. But I
got to be there after they had already done all
the work and what turned out to be a joyous night,
And I handed my mic over to whoever, and they
handed to the director and he was given the thanks
to everybody for all their hard work, and somebody else
(27:41):
got on and talked on the mic about all the
hard work. I'm like, Yo, that's my microphone right there.
You know, it wasn't. I wasn't in the movie. I'm
not saying I was in movie, but I'm saying it
was all the way down, like it's at the end
of it, and like my microphone was what they got
to thank all these people for this thing that I
hadn't even seen yet. That's why I'm trying, yo. And
(28:01):
so like whenever I we went and saw the movie
and then saw it again, and anytime I see the
movie from then on, I'm like, yo, oh man, Like
I got to be at the aftermath, like the we
made it. Y'all, Yo, what an incredible event.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
That's of I guess of all the gigs you've had
and me like watching you as as your spouse and
also as a business partner, man that like you were
able to get one. You were able to squeak out
like one text to me before you had to put
your phone away and you were like, Yo, I'm here.
This is the rap party for Black Panther. Got to
(28:42):
go by, and I definitely text back because of course, y'all,
you know, by that time of night, I was at home,
you know, in a brawless robes that you can know
like I'm going nowhere, I'm doing nothing, but I definitely
text back just in case he got it. I was like,
you see Angela Bassett up in that hole. I will
throw this robe off and get some on and throw
some makeer. I'll be right there.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
You didn't see Angela though, I'm.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Pretty sure that Angela Bassett. And why why am I
feeling like Larry Fishburn? But was Larry Fishburn in the
first one?
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Laurence Fishburn?
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Yeah, but he used to be Larry when he first started.
Look at some of.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Them early movies, Larry like, I'm not sure if we
need to check the credits of Boys in the Hood,
because I think Boys in the Hood might might have
been one of the last films that he was listed
as Larry.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Yo, Big Larry, Larry Larry.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
So I can't remember now.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
I'm like, mister, I feel like Angela Bassett and there
was somebody else if it wasn't maybe it wasn't him,
but there was somebody else that was in that movie
that I was like, Angela Bassett and whoever that first
I was no, because it was somebody that I was like,
if it is anybody that's not gonna show up to
something like this is Angela Bassett and whoever this other
(29:59):
person was? But my mind always puts puts Angela Bassett
with Larry Fishburne because you know they've been in other
films together. But anyways, okay, yeah, yeah, okay, So all
that to say, though, y'all, he did not see Angela
Bassett there, so I did not try to throw a
cute outfit on the right quick and see if they
would let me sneak in and be like, I'm married
(30:19):
to the DJ. But that was so exciting to me
for you. You you were the right one for the
job because you could go in that night not knowing
at all what it was going to be and not
knowing exactly who was going to be there as far
as the kind of music, and to just be able
(30:41):
to like be prepared like.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
I was DJing and wasn't even all the way everything
wasn't even connected. I was like, all right, let me
connect to y'all system, get a song running while I'm
still hooking up turntables and my speakers, and oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Yeah, that was a great one.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
I was exciting.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
What are some other best gigs ever to you as
as a DJ?
Speaker 2 (31:01):
I would say there's been some events that we've been
a part of. I've gotten to do a lot of
cool events, you know, you know, from from like the
Black Panther Rap Party. From there on, I've gotten to
do several other events where there were going to be
celebrities there, or it was for the team of that celebrity,
(31:22):
and you get there and that celebrity may or may
not be there, but it's still an exciting experience to
prepare for and you know, you do your best. Then
there's other events that you do that you're not as excited.
Maybe it's a cool thing. You're there, you're doing it's
a good gig, but you're like, and then something surprising
(31:43):
pops right right right. Some of those are really some
of my favorite gigs where it's something surprising pops off.
And we were in Toronto doing an event that we
had done some other events with and there are some
unfortunate parts of that story that made us not as
(32:04):
excited to keep doing these events. But there were some
contracts and we had some bills do, and then we
had talked to some people who had advised us and
chose to keep going on with these events. So we're
doing these events and so you get there and one
thing that I kind of like to do is I
look around and be like, who from a customer service perspective.
(32:28):
I still look at what I do as customer service, RIGHTO,
just being served? Who is this room is not being served?
There's everybody in this event may be aimed at somebody,
and that's cool. I want to be in the flow
of event. But if I can like veer off just
a little bit and let somebody in that crowd be like, yo,
I see you. It's me and you working right now,
(32:49):
you know, let's go. And I remember just getting into
my B boy bag and next thing, you know this
again back to the circle. A circle pop open and
like for real B boy culture pops up in the
middle of this event that I never would have guessed
would have been at this event, and then you know,
(33:10):
the breaking window, all the things that's happened, and you're like, yo,
this is so exciting. Yeah, And those also become my
favorite gigs because if somebody's like yo, you see me,
I see you, and then you end up having this real,
like cool exchange. So I'd say that there's as a
number of events that that has happened where you're like, yo,
(33:32):
that's kind of wild.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
My other I thought about two that I was like
there they were my some of my favorites to hear about.
And then one of them I was there for. But
one of them was, you did a Christmas party in
a big stadium for a big soda brand.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
Yeah, I can say, can we say?
Speaker 2 (33:55):
I can say okay? Yeah, so okay. So a friend
of mine who's a DJ I, so I get brought
in to do some cool stuff by other like DJ companies. Yeah,
shout out to all the homies who you know come
to me and you know what I mean, it's still today.
I got a thing from a DJ recently and she's like, Yo,
(34:18):
I can't do this thing. It's a venue that I've
wanted to be in. I was like, Yo, that's thank you,
you know, thank you for thinking of me. You know,
like it's it's a beautiful thing that I do love
about the DJ community and DJ culture. It's like it
is communal and relationship based. So this dude brought me
in on it. He said, Yo, we got his thing.
And so what it was it was the Coca Cola
(34:42):
company was their Christmas party. And again this is right
before the pandemic tip, so the world was still open.
As you're doing this gig, You're like, yo, if this
is this awesome, what's going to happen next? Because you
know each one you get on this role where you
do this one gig, you're at urban grind, right, and
then you don't end up in the Mercedes Benz in
(35:04):
the end zone right. The next gig there's a there's
a you kind of work your way up and then
next thing you know, they're like, oh, I can handle
the Black Panther rap party with zero preparation. Oh I can't.
I can handle where Oh this person's team. I mean, oh,
you're good. Okay, you know, you realize, Oh, and it
grows and grows and grows. So this one it grew
(35:24):
to where at this party you are, they had like
a bunch of DJs and then me and the other DJ,
they had us at the end spot, the headliner spot.
So you're at this on this massive table in this
big stage in the end zone of the Mercedes Benz
Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, where the Falcons play, where Atlanta
(35:45):
United plays, like it's a big thing, and you are
looking out and the whole in what would be the
whole football field is full as far as you can
see of people and lights, and there's moving there's machines,
smoke going up in the air, and it's like all
this excite stuff to where you're like, what is going
(36:06):
to happen next? This is gonna be amazing, and then
the whole world shuts down. Yeah, but for the time being,
we're on this stage doing this thing. And I remember
there were there are a couple interesting things. Number One,
you're rocking with another DJ. So again, as a DJ,
(36:28):
I'm always at least three songs, if not more in
my head. Right there's a song playing, there's a song
that I've got queued up on the other turntable, there's
a song I'm headed to. But then also I'm trying
to take you somewhere, So in order to get to
this song, I'm gonna need at least probably two or
three songs, either tempo wise to get you up there,
(36:50):
mood wise, to get you up there, like we're going,
we're going on a journey. And so working with another
DJ where you might be like, hey, you got this one,
I got this one, you got you got it? That
was an interesting thing. Number Two, Uh, it was an
interesting thing that the company who brought my friend's company
(37:12):
in who brought me in, they were like we really
don't want you to have your phone out taking selfies,
taking video. But you're also like, this is an amazing opportunity, right,
Like as a DJ, or as anybody who's a performing artist,
the best thing you can do is show your work,
(37:33):
because you know, I like to set my turntables up
a certain way so you can see my hands. Because
we would be at a lot of events, these large events,
and people would I notice, people would come up and
ask me, were you really doing that right? Right? Like yeah,
because to me, I I love to perform in front
(37:54):
of crowd. I'm a performance artist, so I like to
put on a show. I like to do something that
would not have happened had I not have been standing there.
And so so you're on the stage, and I want
to show my work because again, somebody sees you at
Urban Grind and says, we do this thing over here,
And somebody sees you over here, like will you do
(38:14):
this thing over here? How much you know? And that's
kind of how it built. And so here I am
on this massive stage, all these lights, and so I
did sneak out a couple of thinking probably still see
them on my Instagram. And then the whole world shut down,
so you know, but so that that was another weird
thing that it's like, Okay, I gotta kind of sneak
(38:37):
it over my shoulder just so you can see this
like huge crowd. And then the other thing that was
interesting working for such a large brand is this was
this was definitely well communicated up front, was that you
are not allowed to play any music from any art
(39:00):
artist who has had a brand deal with our competitor. Wow,
which you run down the list of people who had Pepsi.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
Deals, that's a lot of music.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
The year I was doing this, Cardi B's I like It,
like that biggest song in the world. Well, she currently
at that time had a deal with Pepsi. So I
cannot play the biggest song in the world and from
this massive crowd that at this moment, I know that
song would light this crowd on fire man, and I
(39:36):
just remember. It's also interesting in that environment because in
the venues that I work at, I do kind of
like that I'm accessible to people. I like it. People
are coming at me from all different angles and saying
and you get a lot of weird things. You get
some unfortunate conversations that you're like Okay, you have Now
(40:00):
you're not helping. I'm a person. You just said that
to me. What you know? You do get those type
of interactions. But also, for the most part, I enjoy
it because you get some connection points. You get someone
from a different culture coming up to you. As this
guy asked me for this song this past weekend and
(40:22):
it was from a Bollywood movie and I don't know it,
but I've found it in a way that I could
hit play on it. Most of my crowd had no
idea what to do, so I dropped the music. I'm like, listen,
we given everybody something tonight. Look these are my friends.
Put your hands up. And so these dudes put their
hands up. I was like, I don't know what to
do to this music either, but do what they're doing.
(40:43):
Next thing you help. Flash forward three minutes later, the
whole crowded jumping. I can't tell you where the one, two,
three or the four is on this rhythm that's happening.
But you have these interactive moments. So in this big arena,
you're in the end zone and the lights are your you.
You're far away from the crowd. But it was why
to still see people writing songs on pieces of paper
(41:07):
and holding it up and you're you're like, wait, what right,
but still still finding a way to connect with people
in that crowd. So that was an incredible gig that
I surely thought, oh wow, this company had brought us
in to do this, Oh we're doing this again. And
(41:27):
that was December and the world promptly shut down March.
Speaker 3 (41:33):
What a time.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Yeah, that's the time.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
But shout out shout outs to some best gigs, because
those when you came home from that one, I was like,
that sounds exhilarating.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
When I think of my best gigs ever, I would
probably say on the number one is the Together Live Tour,
And big shout out to Jennifer Walsh and Abby Wamback
and Glennon Doyle for just putting this toy and inviting
me onto the tour. But for those of you that
weren't familiar with it, Together Live was a tour that
(42:06):
Glennon and Jennifer and Abby did many years before me,
I think, or at least a few years before I
was invited to be a part of it. And it
was very women centric. It was very inclusive and feminist
and just very empowering. Of women so on a level
as a performer. I mean, I'm sitting on stage with
(42:29):
Glennon Doyle and Abby Wamback and the War and Treaty
and Ashley Ford and Michelle Buteaux, and I mean it
was just so many amazing people I couldn't even name you, like,
all the people that were on this tour. And my
friend Austin Channing Brown was also on the tour, so
(42:51):
we got to do a couple of dates together. Oh
so much amazing things. And I think why it was
the best gig ever r one of my favorite gigs
to have done, is I was at this point where
I was sort of questioning myself, you know, leaving Christian
space and I'll use the phrasing having done well there,
(43:12):
and I'm using that to mean, you know, I feel
like there were people in that space that enjoyed my work.
I could go to different gigs that were in church space,
and there are people who recognize my work from some
other thing they'd seen. And I knew that my work
worked in like an open mic setting, right, but I
had not been on a big stage where there were
(43:36):
people there who weren't church people. Some of those people
that together live, just really like, ain't Christian, don't want
to be Christian, don't want to be nowhere near a church,
and have good reason to feel that way. And I
only had like seven minutes because there were a lot
of us on stage, you know, so I only had
seven minutes to perform, and just doing my poems out
(44:01):
there and getting that standing ovation from the crowd and
being like, your work is not just for the small
space that you come from, that your work like applies
to other people, is meaningful to other people. And that
was a big turning point for me of knowing what
could be possible in my career. Another thing that the
(44:23):
pandemic came and stole from us because we were actually
planning to do a Fall and a Spring together live
tour for twenty twenty and was just man having so
many wonderful creative conversations about that. So I hope something
else like that comes back around, because that was amazing.
(44:44):
That was one of my best gigs, obviously performing Margaret
in front of Judy Bloom, which I talked about in
an episode here, so please revisit that episode.
Speaker 2 (44:52):
We'll put that credible.
Speaker 3 (44:54):
In the show notes. If you have not listened to
that upodcast from you.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
I got up and ran around the room and incredible,
go me and there go incredible.
Speaker 1 (45:03):
Also there's a video of that on my ig of
me actually performing that in front of Judi Womb. So
obviously that was not the gig I was there to do,
but it was at a gig, and it was the
best gig ever because that happened at the gig. And
probably my other best one, which ironically also happened in
twenty nineteen, was the Pattern Launch Party. And the Pattern
Launch Party wasn't technically a gig of mine because I
(45:25):
wasn't performing or anything there, but it was the unveiling
of the Pattern Manifesta that I had written and did
the collaborating with Tracy Elis ross On, and that was
my first time seeing like the video that they put
together with it, and Tracy was very kind and sweet
(45:46):
to just thank so many people that had helped make
it possible and she thanked me like in front of everyone,
and like, y'oll, this is like a launch party where
you walking around like eating tacos, and like Lena waitewalk
By and Carrie Washington and the whole cast of Black Lady.
Speaker 3 (46:03):
Sketch Show walk by.
Speaker 1 (46:05):
It was like if Black Girl Magic could have been
distilled into an essential oil like it was in the.
Speaker 3 (46:10):
Air that evening.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
In addition, after Tracy thanked me in front of everyone
and then played the video so we all could see
Tracy and her team are good friends with who was
the Los Angeles Poet laureate at that time as well,
And she was there and she walked up to me
and was like, you did that. She was like, and
(46:36):
I know what it takes to write a thing like that,
So I'm not just saying that to you to say
it to you so best gig ever, I have to say,
which you know, I guess I want to close this
episode and close our own story series with this thought.
I feel like, like many of you listening, you know,
(46:57):
many of us have experienced vayving types of grief and
losses during the pandemic, you know, and for a lot
of us, life is just very different, and in some
ways it may not ever like air quotes return back
to normal. I know we've all wanted to like rush
towards that, and some of that may not ever return.
But I think also this can be like a season
(47:19):
of time to be able to let yourself dream again
about what could be, you know, let yourself like dream
again about what's possible. And I think I had a
lot of great time, Babe, talking with you about some
of this wild stuff that happened. These are stories that
we tell at dinner parties and tell to our families,
(47:40):
but have never really talked about in any sort of
public forum. And so the podcasts, so I think I've
just enjoyed like reminiscing on some of that. But I
think also, like you know, we're not done. We're not
finished with this just because that that was a phase
of our life at that point of us are done
(48:00):
with the stage. Neither of us are done with creative work.
And I think there's a lot more to come. I mean,
we actually both have a few things cooking that we
can't tell y'all about just yet, but just know, like
you haven't seen the last of Amina and dj Op
Diggy and the things that we can do and build together.
(48:21):
So I'm really excited about that.
Speaker 2 (48:23):
Cal, I want to work with you again, So come on,
come on, you gotta be over here dreaming, thinking, But
you know, and and we are not done with our
work that we do together, and the amount of collaboration
that happens out of this house, even down to this
(48:44):
podcast or what people may not realize when they bring
one of us in that you're really getting a piece.
There's so much collaboration, Yeah, for sure, and there's a
lot more of it is at least, Hey, what do
you think about? You know, down to the video clips
that I was pulling off of my goalpro from this
weekend and I'm showing to me, you know which one
(49:04):
you think, Oh that one? Yeah, okay, that one? You know?
Or you need to post someone Na She's like, yeah,
just do that makes sense to you, but do it?
And she's right, you know, And so all the collaborative work.
I do look forward to performing with you again in
front of a crowd. And like we always say, is
that one day when our phone stopped ringing and those
(49:27):
emails stopped coming in, and whoever decides that they are
done with us and they've moved on to somebody else,
it's still going to be me and you girl. You
know what I mean, You're my favorite.
Speaker 3 (49:38):
You're my favorite.
Speaker 1 (49:40):
Thank y'all for listening, And I hope y'all weren't too
grossed out by us being very lovey dove. At the end,
we're just used to no one seeing how lovey dow
we are. So there you go, guys, Love you babe.
Thank y'all for listening, See y'all soon. Her with Amina
(50:10):
Brown is produced by Matt Owen for sol Grafeity Productions
as a part of the Seneca Women Podcast Network in
partnership with iHeartRadio. Thanks for listening and don't forget to subscribe, rate,
and review the podcast.
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