June 2, 2025 • 48 mins
This week on the podcast we are joined by legendary producer Jesse Collins! In this episode, Jesse keeps it real about his journey from radio to running major live events like the BET Awards and the Super Bowl halftime show. He shares behind-the-scenes stories from Ruthless Radio, reflects on the cultural impact of BET’s Teen Summit, and talks about the power of representation in media. With plenty of insights on staying creative, serving your audience, and building a lasting career in Hollywood, this convo is packed with gems—plus a sneak peek at what’s coming up at the next BET Awards.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Trevin hart Man, like only you can Fox, I'll beat
their baby bells on. Give me a favorite call of
your people, because it's going down.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
On today's episode of Naked Sports, we have television genius
known for producing culture's biggest moments. A week before the
BET Awards are scheduled to air, I was able to
catch up with executive producer of the show, Jesse Collins. Jesse,
tell me who will be honored this year at the
BET Awards. Some of the icons.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
So the icons are amazing. We're checking incredible boxes. First
one is Jamie Fox. The tribute to Jamie's gonna be insane.
Mariah Carey is going to be amazing performance, like unbelievable
for you, the West Coast Snoop Dogg. And then we're
(00:53):
gonna close with God's Boy Kirk Franklin, so we'll be
getting honored as well. So it's like a great mix
of people. They're all legends, they are all icons, and
they all deserve their flowers and we are so excited
to celebrate them.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Welcome to Naked Sports, the podcast where we live at
the intersection of sports, politics and culture. Our purpose reveal
the comedyds them all right now, is what.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
We've been trying to get to for almost thirty years.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
From the stadiums where athletes single game assists record this
is crazy for rookies to be doing. Our discussions will
uncover the vital connections between these realms and the community
we create. In each episode, we'll sit down with athletes,
political analysts, and culture critics because at the core of
(01:52):
it all, how we see one issue shines the light
on all others. Welcome to Naked Sports. I'm your host,
Carrie Champion. I want to tell you that I'm very
proud of you. First of all, let me give you
your flowers. I know you hear all of it and
(02:13):
you're very humble. But I'm only today with Justina and SVP,
you know her at Parkwood and I say, of course,
I said, don't we love Jesse And her exact words,
she was like, he's the easiest to work with. He
gets it, he understands what it is at all times,
what has been. And I'll start with the really big question,
(02:33):
your key to success.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Friend. I'm in the service industry. Everything to me is
about service service, the network or studio service, the artist service.
The project. Shows are going to tell you what they need.
Whether they're an award show or a halftime show or
a movie or whatever, it's always going to tell you
what it needs, and sometimes that's what you thought it
(02:57):
needed from the beginning. Sometimes that changes, but for me,
it's like always come from a place of service, and
I think people appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
When you say service, does it mean that you do.
You go in with an idea of what you want
to see. The creative aspect is where I find people
get very especially when it's a collaborative project. That's when
things get complicated when you say you're in the service industry.
If they say this is the vision, you execute the
vision or you supply your vision in collaboration.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
No, I try to If someone walks in with a plan,
then it's about figuring out how to execute that plan.
And then ultimately you know there's always going to be
things that will cause you to have to adjust, and
that's where the creative comes in of like, we know
you wanted this, but that doesn't exist, But how about this?
(03:49):
Does this spit what you're looking for? How about this
version of it? We're all pretty fearless with the pitching,
so like I'll throw a hundred ideas and strike out
or get to two or three. And I don't care
if any ideas get in something or all of them.
Doesn't matter to me. It's just we just want to
get the best saying.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
On the air you have done from partners. When I
first met you, I think maybe, God, I don't know.
Twenty seventeen, twenty sixteen, You've done so many things that
people have watched, obviously the BET Awards, which we'll talk about,
the Super Bowl halftime shows, the Emmys, the scripted projects
that you've done, to TV shows that you've done. I
(04:30):
think Gabby my Journey to fifty with Gabrielle Union, which
I thought was really amazing. Right, there are so many
baby projects that I think that are beautiful, that really
have your stamp on it. And at the end of
the day, I keep coming back to what our good
friend Justina said at Parkwood, which is he just gets it,
and that to me is a superpower. If you were
(04:52):
able to describe what your superpower is, what would it be.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I think quickly understanding what all of the stakeholders in
something need and just trying to execute that at a
high level. So Justina's talking about when we just did
Beyonce bowl yep. And you know, Beyonce came in with
a very clear vision one or two days before Thanksgiving,
(05:21):
and you know, it was about it was go time,
like Okay, let's find the horses, let's find a march
in Vain, like let's let's go, let's go. And then
you know, going to her saying like Okay, well this
horse isn't but we can have this horse, and like
constantly giving her options and letting her decide what suited
(05:41):
her vision of the thing, and then it becomes about
just executing. You know, she's she wanted a certain look,
she wanted to this, she wanted to that, and we
do everything we can to make that happen. So I
think what Justina is saying that, like, also, it doesn't
matter to me. I'll never be like, well, I'm the EP,
so I'm not going to get in. I'm not gonna
(06:03):
I'm not going to pick up this paper or whatever.
Like I'll do it all. I don't micro manage people.
I'll find the best person to do it. But nothing's
like beyond doing like I'll do whatever it needs to get.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Done, agreed, Because you don't have that luxury anymore. Especially
when you want it to be great. I did a
little research, and so I know that you started your
career in a couple in a different way. You started
in radio. I want to say, you really got your
start in radio and you're from the DC area, and yeah,
and I harkened back to Donnie Simpson. Like Donnie Simpson
(06:39):
is a generational cultural icon for so many of us
who only had one space to watch us on television.
Talk to me about when you first started and what
you envisioned your career. Like you know, we all have
an idea of what we want to do once we start.
But when you started in radio, did you just want
to be an on air personality?
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yes, so I just I wanted to be Donnie Simpson.
That was it. I just wanted to be Donnie Simpson
Casey and guess what Donnie is fat mister Simpson. Boys
and men would not be. Donnie was a great mentor
to me in those days because I Donnie did the
morning show at PGC and I did the overnight, so
(07:22):
I came in from two to six, and I just
tried to do everything that I could that Donnie Simpson did.
Like I remember once, Donnie has this Donnie had a
he would play I think it was Jesus Love. He
had on Earth Wind and Fire song maybe You played
at the end of every show and he would say like, yeah,
like a catchphrase, just like at the end of video Soul,
(07:43):
like reach for the moon and if you don't reach it,
you're amongst the stars. Yeah. And I remember I spent
all this time trying to come up with something, and
I called him and I was like, I can't come
up with a catchphrase like yours. And he's like, first
of all, stop trying to be me. That's just trash.
You gotta be you. When you stop trying to be me,
(08:05):
then it's all gonna work out. And so you don't
have to be the end of the show catchphrase guy.
And I remember I was just sitting there silent on
the phone and he's like, I'm serious, just do you?
And everything kind of changed after that.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Well, what was just doing you? Like when he said
just do you? And I know I've heard that before.
Stuart Scott would say that all the time. May he
rest in peace, don't try to emulate what I do,
don't try to come up with phrases, just do you?
But what was just doing you as an on air
personality and radio. This is so funny to me because
I just I know how you don't love attention, but
(08:41):
maybe you do. Maybe I'm finding out you really do
love attention in a very different type of way.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Radio's easier because there's no camera, but it's doing me
was just not taking it seriously, having fun with it,
playing the music, talking about what's going on, just like
super Light, super Light and fun was me. You know,
Donnie had bravatas he's Donnie Simpson. He didn't curse, you know,
(09:10):
he showed up at the events on time. You know,
he did Donnie does all the things. He's Donnie Simpson. Yeah,
you know, I was at the club. I was at
the go Go. I was like in all the I
was in all the and so that's where I wanted
to be. That's that's where. That's where I was happiest.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
You were living your best life, is what you were doing.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Like I go to the g Yeah, I was. I was.
I was like twenty I think I was twenty maybe
twenty two, twenty three, like like it was like and.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
You were and then you like I read that you
went to the club and then you would go to work.
I'm like, that's how you should do it. That's the
life you should do, like cause you don't know that
you're not supposed to do that. So that brings another
extra level of fun and authenticity. But the beauty of
the time in which I think you were coming up,
what I'm what I'm able to ascertain is that it
(09:56):
was it was a free for all. It's like in
il and sports, we don't there's no regulation and we're
just all trying to figure it out.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
That's what it was. You know, this is you're talking
about from Brown ninety two to about ninety six seven eight,
Like that was like my era of radio between in
major market from like DC and then straight to LA
and so yeah, I was definitely like I had to
be on the air at two. I left Roxbury's on Sunset,
(10:26):
which was the club back then, at one forty eight,
and I got there at two oh two. Lisa Canning
will be getting off.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
She hit the first.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Song for me, and then I was on And that
was how we did it.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Yo, the one forty eight, the exact of it all
get there. If I leave at one forty eight and
I time it right and I'm not so late five
minutes is late.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
But to one song, she was good because the station
was on Yuka, so I could just flight out Sunset
hit that left on Highland right on YUCKA gate would
open and I'm.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
In, you want to hear something crazy. I interviewed Debbie
Brown a couple of weeks ago, and she talked about
how when she was on radio and how things were
very different. Radio was a time, especially growing up in
LA like I did. We could literally hear somebody on
the radio and drive up to KJLH or whatever station
and then wait to see them come outside, and you
just be I remember doing that freshman year in college.
(11:23):
It was whomever I loved and we heard him on
the radio and we drove down to the radio station
to see if we could see whomever it was. I
think it was DeAngelo at the time. But my point
being is that that was such a beautiful time and
everything was for you. So you leave DC, you come
to LA. You work at one of my favorite stations ever,
and I need two point three to beat. But I
also heard you talk about working with Eazye and doing
(11:45):
ruthless radio, and I'm like, wait, I forgot all about
Ruthless Radio, Like, can you tell everybody what Ruthless Radio
was for those who don't know who Easy E is,
Heaven Forbid and what Ruthless Radio was.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
So Ruthless Radio was really the Easy was the first
rap star to do a radio show. This was his thing.
Nobody had done it before, and so he created Ruthless Radio.
We were on Saturday nights from like six I think
it was from six to ten with Easy, Julio g,
Tony G, Keisha Milan, Stefan, and myself and so Julio
(12:22):
and Tony legendary DJs in Los Angeles. Stefan and Keisha
Milan big parts of Ruthless and the culture, and they
needed somebody that could just run the board, run the show,
like give it structure in and out and all that stuff,
and Easy just pick me. So I literally walked into
(12:45):
work one day and they're like, we're doing this thing
called Ruthless Radio and you're gonna be a part of it.
And I met E and we were off and running
and it was crazy because the biggest rap stars would
come in. It was just playing in West Coast all
the way through and it was just wow. I mean,
(13:06):
I'm not gonna say names. Eric used to have these
things called you know, Eric used to have these things
called brown ones. There's a special weed that he had,
and so that's how he would get people to do
the show. So like artists were coming and knowing that
he would have a brown one rolled up for him
and then they would smoke out and they do the show.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
It was crazy, Okay, well yeah, whatever it takes, like
get the interview, like whatever it takes, whatever it takes
to get it done, get it done.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
What it takes. That's because then the wake up show
came on right after us, and so it was just
like a big night at hip hop.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
And then they come in and they have the aftermath
of whatever was happening at Ruthless and you guys would
have to deal with it.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
I heard you guys have security talk to me about this.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Yeah, and it's actually also I missed it. Also, Yellow
was a big part of that show. What Yeah, So
Yellow was on the show and the Twins were security.
So like if you watch the NWA movie The Twins,
you see them in the film. They were there as well,
and so they would be inside and outside to being
a security all over the place.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Because of Easy Now I'm listening to you tell these
crazy stories and for people who don't understand, like the
West Coast versus the East Coast hip hop time, Easy
E really truly was the I think, to your point,
the very first superstar. I never thought about this, the
very first superstar that was a rapper, especially on the
West Coast, and obviously the family and the tree that
(14:41):
came out of it. But you you explain something to
me that I thought was really interesting that during that time,
and it was that battle Biggie Smalls actually couldn't use
his real name or use the name Biggie Smalls because
it belonged to someone else.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
There was another there was two. It was a uh,
I can't it was there was another rapper, Biggie Smalls,
and so it was a whole thing back and forth the.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Right. It was like I'm Biggie Smalls.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I don't remember the record, but he was Biggie Smalls too.
It was a whole thing. It was bananas. That was
just such a wild time because just like I don't
know if they're you know, I don't really go out anymore.
But like you got understand, so you had that show
wake Up show, West Coast, East Coast, all that stuff
(15:37):
going on. You had this Jamaica house club where like
everybody went to like Tribe will perform, like Biggie performed,
Like it was just like that. And then you had
Prince who had glam Slam, so you would hit you
know this, and then you go see princeed glam Slam
and everybody would wind up at uh, Harry, do you
(15:57):
remember Larry Parkers? Remember everybody wound up?
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yeah. I try to get in all the time.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
I couldn't get in.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
I wasn't I didn't have my fake ID ready. In
Beverly Hills, right.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Yes, Yeah, we would hit Larry Parker's and it was
just like that was the era.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Was the era that Larry Parker's for y'all who were
listening and watching, was like that the Black Happy Days,
if you will. In Beverly Hills, That's the only way
I can describe it. And everybody wanted to get in,
and I had this fake I D clearly not me
in order for me to get in. And I remember
going with my friends who were in college and I
(16:33):
was able to get in and Tupac was there that night.
And Tupac, yes was just walking around and apparently he
was having some sort of some sort of pool party
in the jungles right of all places like that weekend.
I'm just vaguely remembering, but it was a pool party,
Ladera Heights, a jungle somewhere. Probably wasn't a junk, probably
Ladara Heights, but it was a pool party. And all
(16:55):
my girlfriends was like, go up and talk to him
and ask him where the pool party is. And so
I just walked up to him because I don't know
any better. I'm like, hey, mister Park, where's this party?
Do you know? This man gave me his phone number.
I gave him my phone number. This man called me
the next day and asked me to go to the movies.
Because I was a legit afraid of boys and still
(17:18):
in high school, I panic, and all my girlfriends was like,
just go, just go.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
I was like, no, I'm afraid.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
I don't know what's happening, what's gonna happen. And I
remember having this like moment where we chatted and I
and I'll, you know, I'll tell you this off air.
I won't get oh my business out, but but I
remember thinking this is crazy. And those were the times
like your career, like your come up was doing during
(17:43):
a very special time and it feels like it was
ordained and set apart if you had to learn anything
from that time and you look back at it, obviously
this there's a movie to be made, a docuseries to
be made. We've seen very different versions of it. But
if you look back at everything that you were a
part of, does it really blow your mind that you
were there for the first being one of the first
or the first of or want to witness does it
(18:06):
blow your mind thinking about that.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
I sometimes that feel like it's a little for ast
gumpish because you were like you were there when this happened,
You were there when that happened, So yeah, it's like
what it does? It does feel like that because people
are like just so many things that I remember being
at that were first or just moments in history that
(18:31):
you just can never uh and they still happen. They
still happened. Where I'm like, like, I was just at
Coachella and I got to see Cynthia Rivo sing Purple
Rain and that was something I will never forget. And
I remember the first note. We were like, oh is
she about to sing purple rain because and then but
when then she hit it, you were like, oh she
(18:53):
sang with an a purple rain. So so there is
like those it was moments. But yeah, then I can
remember Biggie play Jamaica House. I can remember Bone Thugs
coming into Ruthless Radio. Nobody knew who they were. We
all looked at Eric like it made no sense, like
(19:14):
what is this sing rap? What's happening? First of the
month was very confusing, And then we were like, oh,
this is gonna change music. And so, you know, I
just remember all those moments and it's just I'm grateful
for all of them.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
We're gonna take a quick break because we have to
pay some bills. We'll be right back in just a
few moments. Why did you transition from being in front
of the camera to behind the scenes. Is it because
everyone in front of the camera is crazy. I'm not
(19:54):
speaking for myself, I'm speaking for everybody with me.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
No, of course, of course. Now it was first of all,
I lost my job at radio, got fired, and and congratulations,
and I was trying. I really wanted I really wanted
to do late Night. I wanted to be like I
wanted to you know, I wanted to be with our
Senio Hall. I wanted to like our Sinio would retire
(20:20):
and he was just going to give me the show.
That was my theory. I'd even like said that to
him at a club and he was like, you're you
make no sense, so but I try but and then
I was like I was, I was really running out
of money and no work and faise On Love, I
(20:40):
was really faise On Love was still one of my
best friends, godfather of my son, and uh, we always
said we all used to hang out, Me Faison, Chris Tucker,
and Robert Townsend and I used to drive these guys,
not Townshend, but uh Tucker and Faison to the clubs
because I had not his car back then, because uh,
(21:02):
by the way.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
That is a real la thing. It's Carfornia. It is
a real thing. You gotta have a nice car. I
got to go to the spot the Mustang.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Chris hadn't gotten the truck yet, so I had a Mustang.
I think Chris had a busted Jetta face time. Didn't
have a car, so I would drive because Chris hadn't
gotten his money. Talks money yet. Now I'm putting all
of Christmas because there was Friday money, which made the star.
But the money talks like the truck showed up. It
was amazing. So anyway, Robert Townsend was like, what are
(21:38):
you going to do? And I was like, I don't know.
I keep filling out these big ass unemployment forms for
and he's like, you should be a writer on Parenthood,
and so he gave me a script said add jokes
to it. I sat there and I had I was
lucky how things work out. I had just got a laptop.
(21:59):
Marl and WANs had told me about writing, so I
had a book and I had a writing program, and
I rewrote this Parenthood script and Townsend read it. It
was bad, but he still just like walked me into
the writer's room at the WB or at the Parenthood
and was like, this is Jesse. He's gonna be one
of the writers. And he left. And so I had
(22:20):
no deal. I didn't know what was going on. And
I was in there for like I was in there
probably for like three weeks, maybe four weeks, and I
was just like just pitching and working. And then I
never asked about money or anything because I knew. I
knew it was kind of like some hookups, and I
knew if I had asked too many questions I would
they would run me out of there. And one day
they did like walk me off the lot because they
(22:42):
were like, you're not in the union. You don't have
a deal. Robert can't just be putting writers in the
room like there is cousins, Like this is a business.
And what happened was the head writer and the showrunner
actually vouched for me when the studio was barking about it,
and Townshend was like, no, I really want it. He
got the support of all the showrunners and writers and
(23:04):
so they made me a writer trainee and then I
was in the union and then that was kind of
off and running. And obviously Faison was a big part
of that as well. So it was just, you know,
that was it.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
How much writing as an EP of all of these
live events as well as scripted and unscripted events, how
much writing do you participate in now or do you
just not as much? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (23:25):
You overseeed every now and then I try to jam
a joke in just because I want to. I don't know,
they don't always get in. I'm not as sharp as
I used to be. But like he still is still
a love that I have, and so I'll be pitching
BG awatch. I'm pitching Kevin every day. He ain't gonna
use any of it, but I still like I'm pitching
(23:46):
every day on a group text with him and sheets
and I'm like, yeah, did you say this? And he's like,
doesn't respond.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Yeah, it sounds sounds great. Not this here, just man,
he think he funny. Just pushed the button or pushed
the bke just pushed the button when I rehearsed, yeah,
that's it. I do. You mentioned BT and I and
for me, BT is this. It's the culture generational. It's
something that my mom, noh, my mother and my mother's
mother and you talk to anybody to this day. It
(24:14):
doesn't have the same obviously impact for in social worlds,
but when you produce these live shows, it does really
live in a very special social space. Not twenty four
to seven, but it does live in a very social space,
and it is b ET and it does make especially
us for the culture makes you stop and say, okay,
(24:34):
I'm listening, what's going on. I'm really really curious. When
was your very first BEET Awards, your very first live
BT Award that you actually produced.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
The twentieth anniversary of BET. Jamie Fox was the host,
and then that was the pilot for the first BET Awards.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Oh so you okay, So what year was that?
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Twenty or twenty? That was twenty. I think it was
twenty six years ago, because twenty fifth anniversary of the show.
So I did the twentieth anniversary of BET.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
So I want to say nineteen ninety nine, two thousand,
maybe a two.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Thousand life something like that, something like that. And so
that was my first I went in to get the
writer job and I walked out writer and producer, how sir,
Because I was sitting there halfway through the meeting and
I realized that the producer, John Cassette, ma, may you
rest in peace, didn't really know be Et, you know.
(25:33):
I mean, first of all, Cosat Productions produced the Grammys.
They are the company that put the took the Grammys
from a dinner party to a television show. Originally it
was a dinner party and Pierre Cossette went to the Academy.
I was like, this should be on TV and they
were like, oh shit, it should be. And so when
I'm in the meeting to write the big so Anyway,
(25:54):
Bob Johnson called Cosat Productions. He saw the logo and
was like, I want you to do the twentieth Anniverse
Street of Bet. They said yes, and then they were like,
we need black people. So then I went in to
be the writer. And as I'm talking to him about oh,
you got to do video Soul and you got to
make sure that this and that and rap City and
(26:14):
I'm going through all the things teen Summit that were BET.
At that point I realized that he didn't catch any
of these things. But he was like yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I was like, oh, and you should make me
a producer too, and he laughed and he said why.
I said, well, I know Snoop and you can't do
the show without Snoop. I just made that shit, and
(26:35):
so he was he started laughing. He goes, well, we
are going to need Snoop, okay, And so they made
me a co producer. So that was my first producer credit.
I Snoop did the.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Show Graduate and you got Snoop to do the show
on top of that.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
We did that was the Up and Snoop tour, so
we had Dre Snoop. Nobody knew Eminem like Cube like
everybody that was on that up and Smoke tour performed
and then eminem came out at the end.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yo, this is a movie. This is a docuseries. I
hope as you document it while you don't like to
do interviews anymore, this is such a movie. This moment,
I'm watching you in real life as you tell the
story in the meeting, having the conversation, blowing them away,
and you've mentioned so many like these are what I
call luminary moments. For Beet, what was teen Summit to you?
(27:27):
If you had to describe teen Summit? Take you back
to that meeting? What does teen Summit mean for the culture?
Speaker 1 (27:31):
And for Beet, I think teen Summit was. It's funny.
I was just watching Forever this weekend, mar Brockakeel's new show,
and it's like teen Summit was that for us back then,
because there was no Forever. There wasn't anything showing what
(27:53):
young black kids were going through socially and politically, and
just nothing. There was nothing. I mean, you had, you
had The Cosby Show, but that was a sitcom, so
it wasn't like getting into the weeds of it. Teen
Summit was that, you know, this is the era of
parents who really weren't like so tell me about your feelings,
(28:14):
But how do you feel about Like then there was
none of that.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
There was like goch clean room, nothing else matters.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Do you choors, do you chores? Do you homework? Have
you asked in the house before the sun comes in?
Speaker 2 (28:25):
And that's it for streetlight.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Yes, teen Summit was a place where you could discuss
that and see people talk about that and really like
think about what your point of view is on things
and make it make you understand that you're supposed to
have a point of view on things.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Yes, there's no rumor today on teen somemmit, we've got
some great surprises.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Coming your waist. Let's talk about the.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Controversy that recently happened in Florida.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
I believe with two Life Crew.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
So that that, to me was what was important about
that show.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Donnie Simpson hosted the Caribbean What is this the Vibe Show?
To help me with the name, there was like a
career Yes, okay, Donnie Simpson didn't hosta that. It was
with Rachel Caribbean Rhythms where they played Caribbean songs right
and videos of that nature like to me be Et
was so far ahead and with the culture at that time,
(29:20):
there's really nothing like that that where you gonna say,
this is what it's dedicated for. There's nothing. They had
be Et News with Jackie Reid, which was also just
signature programming for the culture. And to me, I you know,
I wonder, I always wonder, I wonder can we bring
all that back? Is there an audience for that? I,
especially in cable, Do you think there's still an audience
(29:41):
for those type of programs?
Speaker 1 (29:44):
We absolutely, especially now as you talk about news, as
news has gotten so fragmented, you know, now more than ever,
we probably need and I think I think our voice,
need to see our voice and all the colors of
our voice. People think that we black people just think
(30:06):
in one bucket, and that is not the case anymore.
And so when you look at news in general, we
kind of see like maybe we're one of four, and
we're one type of four, or maybe there's like and
then there's another black point of view, but it's still
one of four. You rarely get like the whole conversation
(30:28):
because our existence, I think, is getting more and more interesting, complicated,
all those types of things. So it needs to be
thoroughly discussed on a daily, on a daily basis, that
we are.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
I say that all the time, I think, and Jackie
hears this often because you know, I know where I
go that that was a time where I felt we
were represented and well informed in a way that mattered.
And now we have it in different spaces, especially like Look,
I do CNN, I have my podcast, I do all
of that, and I do believe that sports, culture, and
politics all intersects. But we do have such different and
(31:00):
varying opinions based on how we lived, how we grew up,
and it's never an I don't believe that the nuance
is there anymore because of the social media world that
we live in. And as we approach this new Beet show,
I've noticed every year that you produce it, you're able
to intersect all of those things and it's vital and
(31:23):
it's appointment viewing. Do you ever intentionally try to intersect
that with politics and sports and culture and social and
the new versus the old and make it wan and
make it make sense? Is that intentional as you put
the show and at things you put the show together.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Yes, I think we do try to look at it
and say what's the balance and are we touching demos
and more importantly, are we touching everything that happened this
year and everything that's going on right now? And then
by default it becomes informational, It becomes educational without having
to say like and now here's a moment you know,
(32:02):
you know, we don't want to go like I'm thinking
it away in this movie. It's not like screaming message
at the.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
End of the scene, right rights, but it.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Is like, you know, there's so much going on, and
I think we just really work hard to find ways,
whether it's who we honor, the scripts and presenters, the moments,
the performances, like how we try to touch everything even
if it's uh subtextually, which is you know, which is
the best way to do it?
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Yeah, to me, you don't have to slap everybody over
head and say he lives on the nose. Here's the
message on the nose, like you know we like And
with that being said, okay, so two things that just
takes me to my next transition. But June ninth is
the BT Award show in Vegas or in Vegas, Great
Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Know the Peacock, Theata.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
The Peacock THEATA. Kevin Hard is the host.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
I'm hosting Coaches big As Nights to BET Awards. You
just make sure that you get there and you wear
a shirt that fits there.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Do we have anybody and you do want to break
some news? Is there anybody else we need to be
paying attention to why we should be paying it? And
everyone usually everyone I told that I was interviewing you.
Side note was like, why is it so early this year?
Can we talk about that that?
Speaker 1 (33:16):
I don't know, that's a that was a network thing
to move it up. I'm sure it's some kind of
scheduling thing that makes it make sense. Sure, listen, the
one thing that's going to be they got a lot
of talent that they're going to be announcing soon that
are amazing, The people, the the icon amazing. But the
(33:38):
other thing is, so this was all Kevin Hart. The
show is black tie, and so everybody is supposed to
be black tie, like I think Emmy's oscars. That's what
this is supposed to be, and that's what it's going
to be. So I'm very curious, But coming off of
(33:59):
the met know, I feel confident people, it's gonna be dandy.
It's gonna be amazing. But and it's funny because a
lot of like when we tell people that there's a
head tilt and then there's there's an excitement for it. Yeah,
so so it's gonna be a big show out it.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
It always is. And the the the electricity in the
city days leading up to the award show is very special.
LA feels very special when that happens. And I you said,
you don't have to be always on the nose when
you're producing this. I have to go to your Super
Bowl shows. I just congratulations, like just that year, just
every year. I always get a surprise. It's always anticipatory.
(34:41):
It is always even in my world. You know, I
do my show, I'm like, who do you think is
gonna perform? Who do you think it's It's really it's
the show that people show up for. As you well know,
there's a game that's happening. That's fine, but then there's
also the show that we show up for. The game
was great. But when you gave us our West Coast tribute,
and obviously being born and raised in La, it was
(35:02):
it felt big, It felt special, it felt monumental, it
felt overdue, and then it also felt to me like, Wow,
what a what an honor to be a part of something,
And by that I mean just growing up listening to
West Coast Rap. Why I really identified with it, why
(35:24):
it made sense, why it felt like home. You were
able to really encapsulate all of that in that show.
And then there was the entertainment of it all, Like
you don't know what the memes are going to be.
You don't know that everybody thinks fifty gain too much
weight and he upside down like that. You don't know that.
Everyone's like, why is he doing these things? Why is
fifty still so big? Why?
Speaker 1 (35:44):
What?
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Who swallowed fifty? You didn't know that that was gonna happen.
You had no idea, did you.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
No? But you know, don't should get credit for hanging
upside down? You know that's the thing. That was the thing,
and he was game for it from the beginning. The
first zoom, I was like, you know, we kind of
want you to hang upside down.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
You wait a second, Jesse, that was your choice. Tell
me why why him in that way?
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Because that's the record, think about the video.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
I yeah, but you saw him beforehand, No.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
Yeah, you know I had total faith he could do it.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
He did it in every rehearsal. Now listen, I'm just
beating fool stiff killed it, that's all. I know.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
He did a great job. But my best part is
that the man who teases everybody got teased. That's why
I love that that. That was just a joy for me.
I was like, oh, this is so cute.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Yeah, he rolled with it too. You know, it was
all history.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
We're gonna take a quick break because we have to
pay some bills. We'll be right back in just a
few moments. When you're watching this in the control room,
are you understanding what's happening? Is it a is it?
Or are you not? Because when I'm working, I'm working,
(37:13):
I don't understand what's happening. Were you aware special it was?
Speaker 1 (37:16):
I know you saw or I think the emotional moment
for us came in rehearsal, and then when it was
game day, it was game day. It was just like
in rehearsals seeing all of those artists work together, see
it all come together. I'm thinking of ninety four, you know,
(37:38):
meet you Snoop and Dre and like seeing the ninety
four version of them and now where they where they
were in that moment and having that conversation of like,
you know, how how this even happened? Would this ever happen?
You know? It was it was. It was unbelievable. It
was unbelievable to be there for that I knew. And
(38:02):
that's when that's when it was like emotional. I had
that conversation with Snoop about like, did you ever think
that just because you have to look at it this way.
Remember in ninety four, you know, the government was, you know,
like Gore, like it was about hitting Snoop and Dre
off the radio they were destroying. It was all it
(38:24):
was all bad. It was all bad, right, and you
have to think about what halftime shows were then. So
now fast forward to that moment Jay Z makes the decision,
makes it all West Coast performance with Dray and Snoop
and Mary and em and so it's not always but
(38:45):
you know what I mean, like in fifty like for
Jay to make that decision and have the power to
make that decision at the NFL, and then Drey to
pull all these people together and then everybody to do
this performance and at the time, it's the most watched
Super Bowl halftime show in the history and the only
one to ever win an Emmy. Todate.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
That's congratulations, by the way. Congratulations. By the way, look
at that humble brag. The only Super Bowl halftime show
to win an Emmy to date was done by my
friend Jesse Collins. Congratulations. Just let that else.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
You know. It was the first one there on game day,
Snoop Doggie dog I bet professional, like nine thirty in
the morning. He was there, professional, ready to go.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
He understood the moment. He understood the moment, like he
knew this was massive. Then we have Rihanna, you come back.
You have Rihanna, and it's like we haven't seen her,
and everyone's waiting and we can't believe. And what is
she going to start with? And is she bringing anybody out?
And not only does she bring somebody out, she brought
out the most precious gifts you can ever bring out.
She brought out a baby. She was like, hey, y'all,
guess what. Guess what? Like another iconic moment in the
(39:56):
books for us in music. And then I just want
to fast work because we got to wrap. But I
want to fast forward to last year. I was at
the Super Bowl. I was in the suite and I
was watching and my mouth was just open. It was
surprise after surprise after surprise. It was storytelling at its height,
(40:17):
and I was just like WHOA. I was like, I'm
going to go back and watch this twenty times so
I can really understand what this means. I was so proud,
like it was because it was for us. And I wonder,
when you think about that performance, and I know you
say it's in rehearsal when you understand the gravity of it,
but when you found out the current administration would be attending,
what were your thoughts?
Speaker 1 (40:41):
I mean, when I found out that the administration was attending,
I got into like, okay, how does that affect us?
How do we move? Are they shutting down the tusawit?
You know, they shut the tunnels down? Like I'm like, gosh,
this just got harder. I knew the show was going
to be the show, and I knew the show was
going to like I said it. I remember, I thought,
(41:06):
right when I really knew what the creative was, I
was like, this is going to be the highest rated,
but more also like the most meaned the most active
on social media because there were just so many elements
for the culture to go crazy on. And so when
I heard that the administrator's going to be there. I
was like, you know, we got a lot to get
(41:27):
on and a lot to get off, and I really
hope that this isn't going to affect it. And I
think the NFL did a great job of managing everything
so that we were able to do the show without
adjusting it at all.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
That's what I'm getting at. It stayed true to the
message and it wasn't so obvious, but the message was clear.
And did you feel or did Kendrick feel like, should
we alter our message or stay on course?
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Now? I never heard not one possible thing of altering
not one element of it, regardless of who was going
to be there. I mean, that's just not what That's
not how Rock Nations built, That's not how Kendrick is built.
That's not how we're built. Like we are like this
(42:16):
is the creative vision, and everybody lines up and we
we do everything we can to make it happen. And
I would say, also, the NFL was from day one
like they loved it and this is what this is
what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (42:29):
Surprising, that's great.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
Yeah, those everybody can watch it.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
Yes, let's go and let's go now. I also heard.
You can sift through the if you know this is
true that there was a hint that you all knew
in fact that he that that the president would come,
and that's why the message was so still very clear.
Is that true.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
I didn't find out that the president was coming until
I don't know, maybe two days three days before. Okay,
so we was locked and loaded and it wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
Was just can walk it.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
It was it was the same show that it was
over Christmas when we were you know, during rehearsals in
Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
You have a staff I believe of twenty eight maybe
a little more. How do you all do all the
shows consistently, all the time with excellence.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
Okay, everybody's in here just grinding. It's like, you know,
Deon Harmon's our president, She's deep into everything. Madison Merritt
with our unscripted shows, Janey Roseanne Clay with the specials,
and Sam Klin we got some scripted things. Varnel Hill
coming with Martin Lawrence, who are very excited, and it's
like we're just we're all just all working together to
(43:40):
make this, to make this thing work. You know, we
all got bills, bills, we all got bills. We all
got bills.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
Last, but not least. I read in a Variety article
that you said you love to work. Yes, this is
a booming season and a booming time for you, but
you love to work. And just based on your reputation, God,
you have the personality for this. I mv your personality.
I am be how easy you are because you always
(44:10):
know that at the end of the day, you're going
to bring yourself. And there are so many of us
in different spaces in front of the cameras, behind the scenes.
We want to make sure that we stay even and
balance so that we can continue to do what we
love and still be in service. What is it about
you that loves to work so much? Is it the
idea that perhaps maybe it'll go away, or is it
(44:31):
the ideas that you want so much more? And so
you're going to try new things and do new.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
Things, trying new things, and like the fear thing was
an earlier thing, and I've like a lot of therapy,
I've worked my way out of the fear of it
all and gotten into like wanting to be a part
of history, wanting to build build this thing out. And
I also love being a part of other others like Rise,
(44:57):
like just thinking about Kendrick. I mean I've known day
Free for just the beginning of Kendrick, Him and Kendrick
since the beginning of like first TV thing on like
the Hip Hop Awards or something, and I've watched them
from bet Awards to Grammys to now this and with
Mike Carson, I've watched them become like some of the
(45:17):
best to ever do it. And just watching that as
has just been like a joy. And so that's work,
being around younger people that are just taking the torch
and really doing incredible things. And any chance I can
do that, I'm all the way into.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
All right, I am so impressed by you. I thank
you for being the same as from the day we
met to now. I only wish you nothing but the best, not.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
The chance that no, since that's soho has breakfast.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
Yes, give me a job, which cool dude still to
this day, Give me a job, Jesse, give me a chop.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
And we won't get We're gonna get something. This hard
to get you though you're never available.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
Oh that's not true, you know, you know. Listen that
one last show we were working on who Shall Not
be Mentioned, that you that we auditioned for. I was like,
I don't know why, but okay, go ahead and do that.
Then let me go talk. Let me stop being so
shady on camera. No, but no, honestly, the time will come,
(46:25):
it will make perfect sense. I'm gonna text you about
something right now. You are amazing BT Awards June night.
If you guys check it out. Jesse, tell me who
will be honored this year at the BT Awards. Some
of the icons.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
So the icons are amazing, we're checking incredible boxes. First
one is Jamie Fox. The tribute to Jamie's gonna be insane.
Mariah Carey is gonna be amazing performance, like unbelievable for you,
the West Coast Snoop Dogg. And then we're gonna close
(47:00):
with God's Boy Kirk Franklin, so we'll be getting honored
as well. So it's like a great mix of people.
They're all legends, they are all icons, and they all
deserve their flowers, and we are so excited to celebrate them.
Speaker 2 (47:18):
We do know is that it's black tie, and so
they go show up right off the heels of the
meg Gala. Everybody's gonna be dandy, is what you're telling me.
Everybody's gonna be dandy.
Speaker 1 (47:26):
You're telling me that is breaking news. I mean, that's
tune in, Like, let me just see okay, just see
what everybody listen.
Speaker 2 (47:33):
We always I'm on the red carpet.
Speaker 1 (47:35):
We always.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
We know, we know how to show up. I have
a feeling that that folks will be best dressed better
than they were than the meg Gala because we show
up and show out when it's like time time. Absolutely, absolutely,
we show up, we show out.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
Oh, it's gonna be a movie. It's gonna be a movie.
Speaker 2 (47:52):
Okay, I love it so much. Thank you for being
so generous. I am, and everyone make sure you tune
in and support our good friend Jesse Collins and everything
that he's doing over there, Jesse Collins Entertainment. You are
a true, true treasure. I am in awe and I'm
only wishing you nothing but the best good people deserve
to win.
Speaker 1 (48:09):
Thank you. I appreciate it all right, talk to you later.
Speaker 2 (48:13):
Naked Sports written and executive produced by me Kerrie Champion,
produced by Jacquees Thomas, sound designed and mastered by Dwayne Crawford.
Naked Sports is a part of the Black Effect podcast
network in iHeartMedia
Trevin hart Man, like only you can Fox, I'll beat
their baby bells on. Give me a favorite call of
your people, because it's going down.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
On today's episode of Naked Sports, we have television genius
known for producing culture's biggest moments. A week before the
BET Awards are scheduled to air, I was able to
catch up with executive producer of the show, Jesse Collins. Jesse,
tell me who will be honored this year at the
BET Awards. Some of the icons.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
So the icons are amazing. We're checking incredible boxes. First
one is Jamie Fox. The tribute to Jamie's gonna be insane.
Mariah Carey is going to be amazing performance, like unbelievable
for you, the West Coast Snoop Dogg. And then we're
(00:53):
gonna close with God's Boy Kirk Franklin, so we'll be
getting honored as well. So it's like a great mix
of people. They're all legends, they are all icons, and
they all deserve their flowers and we are so excited
to celebrate them.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Welcome to Naked Sports, the podcast where we live at
the intersection of sports, politics and culture. Our purpose reveal
the comedyds them all right now, is what.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
We've been trying to get to for almost thirty years.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
From the stadiums where athletes single game assists record this
is crazy for rookies to be doing. Our discussions will
uncover the vital connections between these realms and the community
we create. In each episode, we'll sit down with athletes,
political analysts, and culture critics because at the core of
(01:52):
it all, how we see one issue shines the light
on all others. Welcome to Naked Sports. I'm your host,
Carrie Champion. I want to tell you that I'm very
proud of you. First of all, let me give you
your flowers. I know you hear all of it and
(02:13):
you're very humble. But I'm only today with Justina and SVP,
you know her at Parkwood and I say, of course,
I said, don't we love Jesse And her exact words,
she was like, he's the easiest to work with. He
gets it, he understands what it is at all times,
what has been. And I'll start with the really big question,
(02:33):
your key to success.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Friend. I'm in the service industry. Everything to me is
about service service, the network or studio service, the artist service.
The project. Shows are going to tell you what they need.
Whether they're an award show or a halftime show or
a movie or whatever, it's always going to tell you
what it needs, and sometimes that's what you thought it
(02:57):
needed from the beginning. Sometimes that changes, but for me,
it's like always come from a place of service, and
I think people appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
When you say service, does it mean that you do.
You go in with an idea of what you want
to see. The creative aspect is where I find people
get very especially when it's a collaborative project. That's when
things get complicated when you say you're in the service industry.
If they say this is the vision, you execute the
vision or you supply your vision in collaboration.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
No, I try to If someone walks in with a plan,
then it's about figuring out how to execute that plan.
And then ultimately you know there's always going to be
things that will cause you to have to adjust, and
that's where the creative comes in of like, we know
you wanted this, but that doesn't exist, But how about this?
(03:49):
Does this spit what you're looking for? How about this
version of it? We're all pretty fearless with the pitching,
so like I'll throw a hundred ideas and strike out
or get to two or three. And I don't care
if any ideas get in something or all of them.
Doesn't matter to me. It's just we just want to
get the best saying.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
On the air you have done from partners. When I
first met you, I think maybe, God, I don't know.
Twenty seventeen, twenty sixteen, You've done so many things that
people have watched, obviously the BET Awards, which we'll talk about,
the Super Bowl halftime shows, the Emmys, the scripted projects
that you've done, to TV shows that you've done. I
(04:30):
think Gabby my Journey to fifty with Gabrielle Union, which
I thought was really amazing. Right, there are so many
baby projects that I think that are beautiful, that really
have your stamp on it. And at the end of
the day, I keep coming back to what our good
friend Justina said at Parkwood, which is he just gets it,
and that to me is a superpower. If you were
(04:52):
able to describe what your superpower is, what would it be.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I think quickly understanding what all of the stakeholders in
something need and just trying to execute that at a
high level. So Justina's talking about when we just did
Beyonce bowl yep. And you know, Beyonce came in with
a very clear vision one or two days before Thanksgiving,
(05:21):
and you know, it was about it was go time,
like Okay, let's find the horses, let's find a march
in Vain, like let's let's go, let's go. And then
you know, going to her saying like Okay, well this
horse isn't but we can have this horse, and like
constantly giving her options and letting her decide what suited
(05:41):
her vision of the thing, and then it becomes about
just executing. You know, she's she wanted a certain look,
she wanted to this, she wanted to that, and we
do everything we can to make that happen. So I
think what Justina is saying that, like, also, it doesn't
matter to me. I'll never be like, well, I'm the EP,
so I'm not going to get in. I'm not gonna
(06:03):
I'm not going to pick up this paper or whatever.
Like I'll do it all. I don't micro manage people.
I'll find the best person to do it. But nothing's
like beyond doing like I'll do whatever it needs to get.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Done, agreed, Because you don't have that luxury anymore. Especially
when you want it to be great. I did a
little research, and so I know that you started your
career in a couple in a different way. You started
in radio. I want to say, you really got your
start in radio and you're from the DC area, and yeah,
and I harkened back to Donnie Simpson. Like Donnie Simpson
(06:39):
is a generational cultural icon for so many of us
who only had one space to watch us on television.
Talk to me about when you first started and what
you envisioned your career. Like you know, we all have
an idea of what we want to do once we start.
But when you started in radio, did you just want
to be an on air personality?
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yes, so I just I wanted to be Donnie Simpson.
That was it. I just wanted to be Donnie Simpson
Casey and guess what Donnie is fat mister Simpson. Boys
and men would not be. Donnie was a great mentor
to me in those days because I Donnie did the
morning show at PGC and I did the overnight, so
(07:22):
I came in from two to six, and I just
tried to do everything that I could that Donnie Simpson did.
Like I remember once, Donnie has this Donnie had a
he would play I think it was Jesus Love. He
had on Earth Wind and Fire song maybe You played
at the end of every show and he would say like, yeah,
like a catchphrase, just like at the end of video Soul,
(07:43):
like reach for the moon and if you don't reach it,
you're amongst the stars. Yeah. And I remember I spent
all this time trying to come up with something, and
I called him and I was like, I can't come
up with a catchphrase like yours. And he's like, first
of all, stop trying to be me. That's just trash.
You gotta be you. When you stop trying to be me,
(08:05):
then it's all gonna work out. And so you don't
have to be the end of the show catchphrase guy.
And I remember I was just sitting there silent on
the phone and he's like, I'm serious, just do you?
And everything kind of changed after that.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Well, what was just doing you? Like when he said
just do you? And I know I've heard that before.
Stuart Scott would say that all the time. May he
rest in peace, don't try to emulate what I do,
don't try to come up with phrases, just do you?
But what was just doing you as an on air
personality and radio. This is so funny to me because
I just I know how you don't love attention, but
(08:41):
maybe you do. Maybe I'm finding out you really do
love attention in a very different type of way.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Radio's easier because there's no camera, but it's doing me
was just not taking it seriously, having fun with it,
playing the music, talking about what's going on, just like
super Light, super Light and fun was me. You know,
Donnie had bravatas he's Donnie Simpson. He didn't curse, you know,
(09:10):
he showed up at the events on time. You know,
he did Donnie does all the things. He's Donnie Simpson. Yeah,
you know, I was at the club. I was at
the go Go. I was like in all the I
was in all the and so that's where I wanted
to be. That's that's where. That's where I was happiest.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
You were living your best life, is what you were doing.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Like I go to the g Yeah, I was. I was.
I was like twenty I think I was twenty maybe
twenty two, twenty three, like like it was like and.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
You were and then you like I read that you
went to the club and then you would go to work.
I'm like, that's how you should do it. That's the
life you should do, like cause you don't know that
you're not supposed to do that. So that brings another
extra level of fun and authenticity. But the beauty of
the time in which I think you were coming up,
what I'm what I'm able to ascertain is that it
(09:56):
was it was a free for all. It's like in
il and sports, we don't there's no regulation and we're
just all trying to figure it out.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
That's what it was. You know, this is you're talking
about from Brown ninety two to about ninety six seven eight,
Like that was like my era of radio between in
major market from like DC and then straight to LA
and so yeah, I was definitely like I had to
be on the air at two. I left Roxbury's on Sunset,
(10:26):
which was the club back then, at one forty eight,
and I got there at two oh two. Lisa Canning
will be getting off.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
She hit the first.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Song for me, and then I was on And that
was how we did it.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Yo, the one forty eight, the exact of it all
get there. If I leave at one forty eight and
I time it right and I'm not so late five
minutes is late.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
But to one song, she was good because the station
was on Yuka, so I could just flight out Sunset
hit that left on Highland right on YUCKA gate would
open and I'm.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
In, you want to hear something crazy. I interviewed Debbie
Brown a couple of weeks ago, and she talked about
how when she was on radio and how things were
very different. Radio was a time, especially growing up in
LA like I did. We could literally hear somebody on
the radio and drive up to KJLH or whatever station
and then wait to see them come outside, and you
just be I remember doing that freshman year in college.
(11:23):
It was whomever I loved and we heard him on
the radio and we drove down to the radio station
to see if we could see whomever it was. I
think it was DeAngelo at the time. But my point
being is that that was such a beautiful time and
everything was for you. So you leave DC, you come
to LA. You work at one of my favorite stations ever,
and I need two point three to beat. But I
also heard you talk about working with Eazye and doing
(11:45):
ruthless radio, and I'm like, wait, I forgot all about
Ruthless Radio, Like, can you tell everybody what Ruthless Radio
was for those who don't know who Easy E is,
Heaven Forbid and what Ruthless Radio was.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
So Ruthless Radio was really the Easy was the first
rap star to do a radio show. This was his thing.
Nobody had done it before, and so he created Ruthless Radio.
We were on Saturday nights from like six I think
it was from six to ten with Easy, Julio g,
Tony G, Keisha Milan, Stefan, and myself and so Julio
(12:22):
and Tony legendary DJs in Los Angeles. Stefan and Keisha
Milan big parts of Ruthless and the culture, and they
needed somebody that could just run the board, run the show,
like give it structure in and out and all that stuff,
and Easy just pick me. So I literally walked into
(12:45):
work one day and they're like, we're doing this thing
called Ruthless Radio and you're gonna be a part of it.
And I met E and we were off and running
and it was crazy because the biggest rap stars would
come in. It was just playing in West Coast all
the way through and it was just wow. I mean,
(13:06):
I'm not gonna say names. Eric used to have these
things called you know, Eric used to have these things
called brown ones. There's a special weed that he had,
and so that's how he would get people to do
the show. So like artists were coming and knowing that
he would have a brown one rolled up for him
and then they would smoke out and they do the show.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
It was crazy, Okay, well yeah, whatever it takes, like
get the interview, like whatever it takes, whatever it takes
to get it done, get it done.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
What it takes. That's because then the wake up show
came on right after us, and so it was just
like a big night at hip hop.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
And then they come in and they have the aftermath
of whatever was happening at Ruthless and you guys would
have to deal with it.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
I heard you guys have security talk to me about this.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Yeah, and it's actually also I missed it. Also, Yellow
was a big part of that show. What Yeah, So
Yellow was on the show and the Twins were security.
So like if you watch the NWA movie The Twins,
you see them in the film. They were there as well,
and so they would be inside and outside to being
a security all over the place.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Because of Easy Now I'm listening to you tell these
crazy stories and for people who don't understand, like the
West Coast versus the East Coast hip hop time, Easy
E really truly was the I think, to your point,
the very first superstar. I never thought about this, the
very first superstar that was a rapper, especially on the
West Coast, and obviously the family and the tree that
(14:41):
came out of it. But you you explain something to
me that I thought was really interesting that during that time,
and it was that battle Biggie Smalls actually couldn't use
his real name or use the name Biggie Smalls because
it belonged to someone else.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
There was another there was two. It was a uh,
I can't it was there was another rapper, Biggie Smalls,
and so it was a whole thing back and forth the.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Right. It was like I'm Biggie Smalls.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I don't remember the record, but he was Biggie Smalls too.
It was a whole thing. It was bananas. That was
just such a wild time because just like I don't
know if they're you know, I don't really go out anymore.
But like you got understand, so you had that show
wake Up show, West Coast, East Coast, all that stuff
(15:37):
going on. You had this Jamaica house club where like
everybody went to like Tribe will perform, like Biggie performed,
Like it was just like that. And then you had
Prince who had glam Slam, so you would hit you
know this, and then you go see princeed glam Slam
and everybody would wind up at uh, Harry, do you
(15:57):
remember Larry Parkers? Remember everybody wound up?
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yeah. I try to get in all the time.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
I couldn't get in.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
I wasn't I didn't have my fake ID ready. In
Beverly Hills, right.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Yes, Yeah, we would hit Larry Parker's and it was
just like that was the era.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Was the era that Larry Parker's for y'all who were
listening and watching, was like that the Black Happy Days,
if you will. In Beverly Hills, That's the only way
I can describe it. And everybody wanted to get in,
and I had this fake I D clearly not me
in order for me to get in. And I remember
going with my friends who were in college and I
(16:33):
was able to get in and Tupac was there that night.
And Tupac, yes was just walking around and apparently he
was having some sort of some sort of pool party
in the jungles right of all places like that weekend.
I'm just vaguely remembering, but it was a pool party,
Ladera Heights, a jungle somewhere. Probably wasn't a junk, probably
Ladara Heights, but it was a pool party. And all
(16:55):
my girlfriends was like, go up and talk to him
and ask him where the pool party is. And so
I just walked up to him because I don't know
any better. I'm like, hey, mister Park, where's this party?
Do you know? This man gave me his phone number.
I gave him my phone number. This man called me
the next day and asked me to go to the movies.
Because I was a legit afraid of boys and still
(17:18):
in high school, I panic, and all my girlfriends was like,
just go, just go.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
I was like, no, I'm afraid.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
I don't know what's happening, what's gonna happen. And I
remember having this like moment where we chatted and I
and I'll, you know, I'll tell you this off air.
I won't get oh my business out, but but I
remember thinking this is crazy. And those were the times
like your career, like your come up was doing during
(17:43):
a very special time and it feels like it was
ordained and set apart if you had to learn anything
from that time and you look back at it, obviously
this there's a movie to be made, a docuseries to
be made. We've seen very different versions of it. But
if you look back at everything that you were a
part of, does it really blow your mind that you
were there for the first being one of the first
or the first of or want to witness does it
(18:06):
blow your mind thinking about that.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
I sometimes that feel like it's a little for ast
gumpish because you were like you were there when this happened,
You were there when that happened, So yeah, it's like
what it does? It does feel like that because people
are like just so many things that I remember being
at that were first or just moments in history that
(18:31):
you just can never uh and they still happen. They
still happened. Where I'm like, like, I was just at
Coachella and I got to see Cynthia Rivo sing Purple
Rain and that was something I will never forget. And
I remember the first note. We were like, oh is
she about to sing purple rain because and then but
when then she hit it, you were like, oh she
(18:53):
sang with an a purple rain. So so there is
like those it was moments. But yeah, then I can
remember Biggie play Jamaica House. I can remember Bone Thugs
coming into Ruthless Radio. Nobody knew who they were. We
all looked at Eric like it made no sense, like
(19:14):
what is this sing rap? What's happening? First of the
month was very confusing, And then we were like, oh,
this is gonna change music. And so, you know, I
just remember all those moments and it's just I'm grateful
for all of them.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
We're gonna take a quick break because we have to
pay some bills. We'll be right back in just a
few moments. Why did you transition from being in front
of the camera to behind the scenes. Is it because
everyone in front of the camera is crazy. I'm not
(19:54):
speaking for myself, I'm speaking for everybody with me.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
No, of course, of course. Now it was first of all,
I lost my job at radio, got fired, and and congratulations,
and I was trying. I really wanted I really wanted
to do late Night. I wanted to be like I
wanted to you know, I wanted to be with our
Senio Hall. I wanted to like our Sinio would retire
(20:20):
and he was just going to give me the show.
That was my theory. I'd even like said that to
him at a club and he was like, you're you
make no sense, so but I try but and then
I was like I was, I was really running out
of money and no work and faise On Love, I
(20:40):
was really faise On Love was still one of my
best friends, godfather of my son, and uh, we always
said we all used to hang out, Me Faison, Chris Tucker,
and Robert Townsend and I used to drive these guys,
not Townshend, but uh Tucker and Faison to the clubs
because I had not his car back then, because uh,
(21:02):
by the way.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
That is a real la thing. It's Carfornia. It is
a real thing. You gotta have a nice car. I
got to go to the spot the Mustang.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Chris hadn't gotten the truck yet, so I had a Mustang.
I think Chris had a busted Jetta face time. Didn't
have a car, so I would drive because Chris hadn't
gotten his money. Talks money yet. Now I'm putting all
of Christmas because there was Friday money, which made the star.
But the money talks like the truck showed up. It
was amazing. So anyway, Robert Townsend was like, what are
(21:38):
you going to do? And I was like, I don't know.
I keep filling out these big ass unemployment forms for
and he's like, you should be a writer on Parenthood,
and so he gave me a script said add jokes
to it. I sat there and I had I was
lucky how things work out. I had just got a laptop.
(21:59):
Marl and WANs had told me about writing, so I
had a book and I had a writing program, and
I rewrote this Parenthood script and Townsend read it. It
was bad, but he still just like walked me into
the writer's room at the WB or at the Parenthood
and was like, this is Jesse. He's gonna be one
of the writers. And he left. And so I had
(22:20):
no deal. I didn't know what was going on. And
I was in there for like I was in there
probably for like three weeks, maybe four weeks, and I
was just like just pitching and working. And then I
never asked about money or anything because I knew. I
knew it was kind of like some hookups, and I
knew if I had asked too many questions I would
they would run me out of there. And one day
they did like walk me off the lot because they
(22:42):
were like, you're not in the union. You don't have
a deal. Robert can't just be putting writers in the
room like there is cousins, Like this is a business.
And what happened was the head writer and the showrunner
actually vouched for me when the studio was barking about it,
and Townshend was like, no, I really want it. He
got the support of all the showrunners and writers and
(23:04):
so they made me a writer trainee and then I
was in the union and then that was kind of
off and running. And obviously Faison was a big part
of that as well. So it was just, you know,
that was it.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
How much writing as an EP of all of these
live events as well as scripted and unscripted events, how
much writing do you participate in now or do you
just not as much? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (23:25):
You overseeed every now and then I try to jam
a joke in just because I want to. I don't know,
they don't always get in. I'm not as sharp as
I used to be. But like he still is still
a love that I have, and so I'll be pitching
BG awatch. I'm pitching Kevin every day. He ain't gonna
use any of it, but I still like I'm pitching
(23:46):
every day on a group text with him and sheets
and I'm like, yeah, did you say this? And he's like,
doesn't respond.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Yeah, it sounds sounds great. Not this here, just man,
he think he funny. Just pushed the button or pushed
the bke just pushed the button when I rehearsed, yeah,
that's it. I do. You mentioned BT and I and
for me, BT is this. It's the culture generational. It's
something that my mom, noh, my mother and my mother's
mother and you talk to anybody to this day. It
(24:14):
doesn't have the same obviously impact for in social worlds,
but when you produce these live shows, it does really
live in a very special social space. Not twenty four
to seven, but it does live in a very social space,
and it is b ET and it does make especially
us for the culture makes you stop and say, okay,
(24:34):
I'm listening, what's going on. I'm really really curious. When
was your very first BEET Awards, your very first live
BT Award that you actually produced.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
The twentieth anniversary of BET. Jamie Fox was the host,
and then that was the pilot for the first BET Awards.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Oh so you okay, So what year was that?
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Twenty or twenty? That was twenty. I think it was
twenty six years ago, because twenty fifth anniversary of the show.
So I did the twentieth anniversary of BET.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
So I want to say nineteen ninety nine, two thousand,
maybe a two.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Thousand life something like that, something like that. And so
that was my first I went in to get the
writer job and I walked out writer and producer, how sir,
Because I was sitting there halfway through the meeting and
I realized that the producer, John Cassette, ma, may you
rest in peace, didn't really know be Et, you know.
(25:33):
I mean, first of all, Cosat Productions produced the Grammys.
They are the company that put the took the Grammys
from a dinner party to a television show. Originally it
was a dinner party and Pierre Cossette went to the Academy.
I was like, this should be on TV and they
were like, oh shit, it should be. And so when
I'm in the meeting to write the big so Anyway,
(25:54):
Bob Johnson called Cosat Productions. He saw the logo and
was like, I want you to do the twentieth Anniverse
Street of Bet. They said yes, and then they were like,
we need black people. So then I went in to
be the writer. And as I'm talking to him about oh,
you got to do video Soul and you got to
make sure that this and that and rap City and
(26:14):
I'm going through all the things teen Summit that were BET.
At that point I realized that he didn't catch any
of these things. But he was like yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I was like, oh, and you should make me
a producer too, and he laughed and he said why.
I said, well, I know Snoop and you can't do
the show without Snoop. I just made that shit, and
(26:35):
so he was he started laughing. He goes, well, we
are going to need Snoop, okay, And so they made
me a co producer. So that was my first producer credit.
I Snoop did the.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Show Graduate and you got Snoop to do the show
on top of that.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
We did that was the Up and Snoop tour, so
we had Dre Snoop. Nobody knew Eminem like Cube like
everybody that was on that up and Smoke tour performed
and then eminem came out at the end.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yo, this is a movie. This is a docuseries. I
hope as you document it while you don't like to
do interviews anymore, this is such a movie. This moment,
I'm watching you in real life as you tell the
story in the meeting, having the conversation, blowing them away,
and you've mentioned so many like these are what I
call luminary moments. For Beet, what was teen Summit to you?
(27:27):
If you had to describe teen Summit? Take you back
to that meeting? What does teen Summit mean for the culture?
Speaker 1 (27:31):
And for Beet, I think teen Summit was. It's funny.
I was just watching Forever this weekend, mar Brockakeel's new show,
and it's like teen Summit was that for us back then,
because there was no Forever. There wasn't anything showing what
(27:53):
young black kids were going through socially and politically, and
just nothing. There was nothing. I mean, you had, you
had The Cosby Show, but that was a sitcom, so
it wasn't like getting into the weeds of it. Teen
Summit was that, you know, this is the era of
parents who really weren't like so tell me about your feelings,
(28:14):
But how do you feel about Like then there was
none of that.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
There was like goch clean room, nothing else matters.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Do you choors, do you chores? Do you homework? Have
you asked in the house before the sun comes in?
Speaker 2 (28:25):
And that's it for streetlight.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Yes, teen Summit was a place where you could discuss
that and see people talk about that and really like
think about what your point of view is on things
and make it make you understand that you're supposed to
have a point of view on things.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Yes, there's no rumor today on teen somemmit, we've got
some great surprises.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Coming your waist. Let's talk about the.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Controversy that recently happened in Florida.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
I believe with two Life Crew.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
So that that, to me was what was important about
that show.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Donnie Simpson hosted the Caribbean What is this the Vibe Show?
To help me with the name, there was like a
career Yes, okay, Donnie Simpson didn't hosta that. It was
with Rachel Caribbean Rhythms where they played Caribbean songs right
and videos of that nature like to me be Et
was so far ahead and with the culture at that time,
(29:20):
there's really nothing like that that where you gonna say,
this is what it's dedicated for. There's nothing. They had
be Et News with Jackie Reid, which was also just
signature programming for the culture. And to me, I you know,
I wonder, I always wonder, I wonder can we bring
all that back? Is there an audience for that? I,
especially in cable, Do you think there's still an audience
(29:41):
for those type of programs?
Speaker 1 (29:44):
We absolutely, especially now as you talk about news, as
news has gotten so fragmented, you know, now more than ever,
we probably need and I think I think our voice,
need to see our voice and all the colors of
our voice. People think that we black people just think
(30:06):
in one bucket, and that is not the case anymore.
And so when you look at news in general, we
kind of see like maybe we're one of four, and
we're one type of four, or maybe there's like and
then there's another black point of view, but it's still
one of four. You rarely get like the whole conversation
(30:28):
because our existence, I think, is getting more and more interesting, complicated,
all those types of things. So it needs to be
thoroughly discussed on a daily, on a daily basis, that
we are.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
I say that all the time, I think, and Jackie
hears this often because you know, I know where I
go that that was a time where I felt we
were represented and well informed in a way that mattered.
And now we have it in different spaces, especially like Look,
I do CNN, I have my podcast, I do all
of that, and I do believe that sports, culture, and
politics all intersects. But we do have such different and
(31:00):
varying opinions based on how we lived, how we grew up,
and it's never an I don't believe that the nuance
is there anymore because of the social media world that
we live in. And as we approach this new Beet show,
I've noticed every year that you produce it, you're able
to intersect all of those things and it's vital and
(31:23):
it's appointment viewing. Do you ever intentionally try to intersect
that with politics and sports and culture and social and
the new versus the old and make it wan and
make it make sense? Is that intentional as you put
the show and at things you put the show together.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Yes, I think we do try to look at it
and say what's the balance and are we touching demos
and more importantly, are we touching everything that happened this
year and everything that's going on right now? And then
by default it becomes informational, It becomes educational without having
to say like and now here's a moment you know,
(32:02):
you know, we don't want to go like I'm thinking
it away in this movie. It's not like screaming message
at the.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
End of the scene, right rights, but it.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Is like, you know, there's so much going on, and
I think we just really work hard to find ways,
whether it's who we honor, the scripts and presenters, the moments,
the performances, like how we try to touch everything even
if it's uh subtextually, which is you know, which is
the best way to do it?
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Yeah, to me, you don't have to slap everybody over
head and say he lives on the nose. Here's the
message on the nose, like you know we like And
with that being said, okay, so two things that just
takes me to my next transition. But June ninth is
the BT Award show in Vegas or in Vegas, Great
Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Know the Peacock, Theata.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
The Peacock THEATA. Kevin Hard is the host.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
I'm hosting Coaches big As Nights to BET Awards. You
just make sure that you get there and you wear
a shirt that fits there.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Do we have anybody and you do want to break
some news? Is there anybody else we need to be
paying attention to why we should be paying it? And
everyone usually everyone I told that I was interviewing you.
Side note was like, why is it so early this year?
Can we talk about that that?
Speaker 1 (33:16):
I don't know, that's a that was a network thing
to move it up. I'm sure it's some kind of
scheduling thing that makes it make sense. Sure, listen, the
one thing that's going to be they got a lot
of talent that they're going to be announcing soon that
are amazing, The people, the the icon amazing. But the
(33:38):
other thing is, so this was all Kevin Hart. The
show is black tie, and so everybody is supposed to
be black tie, like I think Emmy's oscars. That's what
this is supposed to be, and that's what it's going
to be. So I'm very curious, But coming off of
(33:59):
the met know, I feel confident people, it's gonna be dandy.
It's gonna be amazing. But and it's funny because a
lot of like when we tell people that there's a
head tilt and then there's there's an excitement for it. Yeah,
so so it's gonna be a big show out it.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
It always is. And the the the electricity in the
city days leading up to the award show is very special.
LA feels very special when that happens. And I you said,
you don't have to be always on the nose when
you're producing this. I have to go to your Super
Bowl shows. I just congratulations, like just that year, just
every year. I always get a surprise. It's always anticipatory.
(34:41):
It is always even in my world. You know, I
do my show, I'm like, who do you think is
gonna perform? Who do you think it's It's really it's
the show that people show up for. As you well know,
there's a game that's happening. That's fine, but then there's
also the show that we show up for. The game
was great. But when you gave us our West Coast tribute,
and obviously being born and raised in La, it was
(35:02):
it felt big, It felt special, it felt monumental, it
felt overdue, and then it also felt to me like, Wow,
what a what an honor to be a part of something,
And by that I mean just growing up listening to
West Coast Rap. Why I really identified with it, why
(35:24):
it made sense, why it felt like home. You were
able to really encapsulate all of that in that show.
And then there was the entertainment of it all, Like
you don't know what the memes are going to be.
You don't know that everybody thinks fifty gain too much
weight and he upside down like that. You don't know that.
Everyone's like, why is he doing these things? Why is
fifty still so big? Why?
Speaker 1 (35:44):
What?
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Who swallowed fifty? You didn't know that that was gonna happen.
You had no idea, did you.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
No? But you know, don't should get credit for hanging
upside down? You know that's the thing. That was the thing,
and he was game for it from the beginning. The
first zoom, I was like, you know, we kind of
want you to hang upside down.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
You wait a second, Jesse, that was your choice. Tell
me why why him in that way?
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Because that's the record, think about the video.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
I yeah, but you saw him beforehand, No.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
Yeah, you know I had total faith he could do it.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
He did it in every rehearsal. Now listen, I'm just
beating fool stiff killed it, that's all. I know.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
He did a great job. But my best part is
that the man who teases everybody got teased. That's why
I love that that. That was just a joy for me.
I was like, oh, this is so cute.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Yeah, he rolled with it too. You know, it was
all history.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
We're gonna take a quick break because we have to
pay some bills. We'll be right back in just a
few moments. When you're watching this in the control room,
are you understanding what's happening? Is it a is it?
Or are you not? Because when I'm working, I'm working,
(37:13):
I don't understand what's happening. Were you aware special it was?
Speaker 1 (37:16):
I know you saw or I think the emotional moment
for us came in rehearsal, and then when it was
game day, it was game day. It was just like
in rehearsals seeing all of those artists work together, see
it all come together. I'm thinking of ninety four, you know,
(37:38):
meet you Snoop and Dre and like seeing the ninety
four version of them and now where they where they
were in that moment and having that conversation of like,
you know, how how this even happened? Would this ever happen?
You know? It was it was. It was unbelievable. It
was unbelievable to be there for that I knew. And
(38:02):
that's when that's when it was like emotional. I had
that conversation with Snoop about like, did you ever think
that just because you have to look at it this way.
Remember in ninety four, you know, the government was, you know,
like Gore, like it was about hitting Snoop and Dre
off the radio they were destroying. It was all it
(38:24):
was all bad. It was all bad, right, and you
have to think about what halftime shows were then. So
now fast forward to that moment Jay Z makes the decision,
makes it all West Coast performance with Dray and Snoop
and Mary and em and so it's not always but
(38:45):
you know what I mean, like in fifty like for
Jay to make that decision and have the power to
make that decision at the NFL, and then Drey to
pull all these people together and then everybody to do
this performance and at the time, it's the most watched
Super Bowl halftime show in the history and the only
one to ever win an Emmy. Todate.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
That's congratulations, by the way. Congratulations. By the way, look
at that humble brag. The only Super Bowl halftime show
to win an Emmy to date was done by my
friend Jesse Collins. Congratulations. Just let that else.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
You know. It was the first one there on game day,
Snoop Doggie dog I bet professional, like nine thirty in
the morning. He was there, professional, ready to go.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
He understood the moment. He understood the moment, like he
knew this was massive. Then we have Rihanna, you come back.
You have Rihanna, and it's like we haven't seen her,
and everyone's waiting and we can't believe. And what is
she going to start with? And is she bringing anybody out?
And not only does she bring somebody out, she brought
out the most precious gifts you can ever bring out.
She brought out a baby. She was like, hey, y'all,
guess what. Guess what? Like another iconic moment in the
(39:56):
books for us in music. And then I just want
to fast work because we got to wrap. But I
want to fast forward to last year. I was at
the Super Bowl. I was in the suite and I
was watching and my mouth was just open. It was
surprise after surprise after surprise. It was storytelling at its height,
(40:17):
and I was just like WHOA. I was like, I'm
going to go back and watch this twenty times so
I can really understand what this means. I was so proud,
like it was because it was for us. And I wonder,
when you think about that performance, and I know you
say it's in rehearsal when you understand the gravity of it,
but when you found out the current administration would be attending,
what were your thoughts?
Speaker 1 (40:41):
I mean, when I found out that the administration was attending,
I got into like, okay, how does that affect us?
How do we move? Are they shutting down the tusawit?
You know, they shut the tunnels down? Like I'm like, gosh,
this just got harder. I knew the show was going
to be the show, and I knew the show was
going to like I said it. I remember, I thought,
(41:06):
right when I really knew what the creative was, I
was like, this is going to be the highest rated,
but more also like the most meaned the most active
on social media because there were just so many elements
for the culture to go crazy on. And so when
I heard that the administrator's going to be there. I
was like, you know, we got a lot to get
(41:27):
on and a lot to get off, and I really
hope that this isn't going to affect it. And I
think the NFL did a great job of managing everything
so that we were able to do the show without
adjusting it at all.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
That's what I'm getting at. It stayed true to the
message and it wasn't so obvious, but the message was clear.
And did you feel or did Kendrick feel like, should
we alter our message or stay on course?
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Now? I never heard not one possible thing of altering
not one element of it, regardless of who was going
to be there. I mean, that's just not what That's
not how Rock Nations built, That's not how Kendrick is built.
That's not how we're built. Like we are like this
(42:16):
is the creative vision, and everybody lines up and we
we do everything we can to make it happen. And
I would say, also, the NFL was from day one
like they loved it and this is what this is
what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (42:29):
Surprising, that's great.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
Yeah, those everybody can watch it.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
Yes, let's go and let's go now. I also heard.
You can sift through the if you know this is
true that there was a hint that you all knew
in fact that he that that the president would come,
and that's why the message was so still very clear.
Is that true.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
I didn't find out that the president was coming until
I don't know, maybe two days three days before. Okay,
so we was locked and loaded and it wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
Was just can walk it.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
It was it was the same show that it was
over Christmas when we were you know, during rehearsals in
Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
You have a staff I believe of twenty eight maybe
a little more. How do you all do all the
shows consistently, all the time with excellence.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
Okay, everybody's in here just grinding. It's like, you know,
Deon Harmon's our president, She's deep into everything. Madison Merritt
with our unscripted shows, Janey Roseanne Clay with the specials,
and Sam Klin we got some scripted things. Varnel Hill
coming with Martin Lawrence, who are very excited, and it's
like we're just we're all just all working together to
(43:40):
make this, to make this thing work. You know, we
all got bills, bills, we all got bills. We all
got bills.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
Last, but not least. I read in a Variety article
that you said you love to work. Yes, this is
a booming season and a booming time for you, but
you love to work. And just based on your reputation, God,
you have the personality for this. I mv your personality.
I am be how easy you are because you always
(44:10):
know that at the end of the day, you're going
to bring yourself. And there are so many of us
in different spaces in front of the cameras, behind the scenes.
We want to make sure that we stay even and
balance so that we can continue to do what we
love and still be in service. What is it about
you that loves to work so much? Is it the
idea that perhaps maybe it'll go away, or is it
(44:31):
the ideas that you want so much more? And so
you're going to try new things and do new.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
Things, trying new things, and like the fear thing was
an earlier thing, and I've like a lot of therapy,
I've worked my way out of the fear of it
all and gotten into like wanting to be a part
of history, wanting to build build this thing out. And
I also love being a part of other others like Rise,
(44:57):
like just thinking about Kendrick. I mean I've known day
Free for just the beginning of Kendrick, Him and Kendrick
since the beginning of like first TV thing on like
the Hip Hop Awards or something, and I've watched them
from bet Awards to Grammys to now this and with
Mike Carson, I've watched them become like some of the
(45:17):
best to ever do it. And just watching that as
has just been like a joy. And so that's work,
being around younger people that are just taking the torch
and really doing incredible things. And any chance I can
do that, I'm all the way into.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
All right, I am so impressed by you. I thank
you for being the same as from the day we
met to now. I only wish you nothing but the best, not.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
The chance that no, since that's soho has breakfast.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
Yes, give me a job, which cool dude still to
this day, Give me a job, Jesse, give me a chop.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
And we won't get We're gonna get something. This hard
to get you though you're never available.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
Oh that's not true, you know, you know. Listen that
one last show we were working on who Shall Not
be Mentioned, that you that we auditioned for. I was like,
I don't know why, but okay, go ahead and do that.
Then let me go talk. Let me stop being so
shady on camera. No, but no, honestly, the time will come,
(46:25):
it will make perfect sense. I'm gonna text you about
something right now. You are amazing BT Awards June night.
If you guys check it out. Jesse, tell me who
will be honored this year at the BT Awards. Some
of the icons.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
So the icons are amazing, we're checking incredible boxes. First
one is Jamie Fox. The tribute to Jamie's gonna be insane.
Mariah Carey is gonna be amazing performance, like unbelievable for you,
the West Coast Snoop Dogg. And then we're gonna close
(47:00):
with God's Boy Kirk Franklin, so we'll be getting honored
as well. So it's like a great mix of people.
They're all legends, they are all icons, and they all
deserve their flowers, and we are so excited to celebrate them.
Speaker 2 (47:18):
We do know is that it's black tie, and so
they go show up right off the heels of the
meg Gala. Everybody's gonna be dandy, is what you're telling me.
Everybody's gonna be dandy.
Speaker 1 (47:26):
You're telling me that is breaking news. I mean, that's
tune in, Like, let me just see okay, just see
what everybody listen.
Speaker 2 (47:33):
We always I'm on the red carpet.
Speaker 1 (47:35):
We always.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
We know, we know how to show up. I have
a feeling that that folks will be best dressed better
than they were than the meg Gala because we show
up and show out when it's like time time. Absolutely, absolutely,
we show up, we show out.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
Oh, it's gonna be a movie. It's gonna be a movie.
Speaker 2 (47:52):
Okay, I love it so much. Thank you for being
so generous. I am, and everyone make sure you tune
in and support our good friend Jesse Collins and everything
that he's doing over there, Jesse Collins Entertainment. You are
a true, true treasure. I am in awe and I'm
only wishing you nothing but the best good people deserve
to win.
Speaker 1 (48:09):
Thank you. I appreciate it all right, talk to you later.
Speaker 2 (48:13):
Naked Sports written and executive produced by me Kerrie Champion,
produced by Jacquees Thomas, sound designed and mastered by Dwayne Crawford.
Naked Sports is a part of the Black Effect podcast
network in iHeartMedia
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