Questlove Supreme: Adam Blackstone

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio Ladies and Gentlemen.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
I'm gonna try to say this without bring up they
grow up, Yes, exactly, breaking news. I don't have kids yet.
I will say that I probably I heard that. I
will probably say that I use my guests as an
excuse to being with pride. Uh that of that of

(00:32):
a dad watching uh his kid or an older brother
watching his kid brother shine.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
And in the big game.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
It's it's literally because I've seen this person in his evolution.
And yes, it's even scary to me, but you know,
I'm gonna save as much. And this is where I
get my fio. So on, y'all, if you are an
entertainer or a singer, you know, worth.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Your your weight in gold or whatever.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Like, if you even think you're gonna do anything creative
in this lifetime without this, gentleman, oh ho ho, you
are sadly mistaken. Seriously, I can go through it. It
will probably take a half hour before I say his name,
Jill Scott needs work done, whatever you call Adam Blackstone,

(01:20):
Jimmy Levado, Jonas Brothers, Adam Blackstone, Moroon five, Adam Blackstone, Algebra,
Adam Blackstone and Al Green, Adam Blackstone, who's Doctor Drake
call when it's Super Bowl time? Adam Blackstone, Who's jay
Z call when it's time for his show to be tight?
Adam Blackstone, even the artist now known as the unmentionable huh,

(01:45):
Adam Blackstone, Jianna Jackson, Adam Blackstone, Eminem Queen Latifa, Alicia Keys, Timberlake, Rihanna.
Like when you're watching the Oscars, even when I accepted
my own Oscar, when you're watching The Voice, when you're
watching the Grammy Awards, when you're watching the Soul Tree

(02:07):
and Awards, all them specials on VH one, on BT,
on MTV. Even my boss, Jimmy Fallon uses for that.
That's my jam the masked singer Adam Blackstone. Let's not
forget he's currently Yes, he will be an easy egot
any day now, like he's currently working on his Grammy

(02:30):
for his awesome I didn't even get to talk to
you about this. I really like legacy, yes, even his
awesome legacy LP.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
I just have to.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
Say that I don't have the worry to express the
pride that I have for my guess. I'm sorry, I
use the entire ninety minutes to brag about our guest today,
Adam Blackstone on Quest Left Supreme.

Speaker 3 (02:54):
How you doing, man, I am wonderful. That was the
best introduction ever.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
I'm trying. Man. You know you you deserve your your
past flowers. Man, you're like you're.

Speaker 4 (03:04):
I think everybody needs to know that seventy five percent
of the artist that you named for me came from you.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Not no, not even like your your reputation, Like I
remember the day that and rest in Peace Room Five's
manager Jah Jordan. Yes, when Jordan hit me up, you
know about adding some spices to the group and arrangement
or whatnot. I don't know, Man, Like for you, I'm

(03:34):
I'm in awe because of all levels of creativity, I say,
even though people will say, like the greatest strength of
my career or my legacy, of course is the roots
live show. The pressure that it takes to think of
ideas to spice up someone's live show, man is like,

(03:55):
I don't know, I don't know how you do it.
I will say that it's one of the most things
thankless jobs, because no one ever thinks about what the
music director has to go for.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
Man, it's a it's a it's a beast.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, and and you know I have so many questions
to ask you, so thank you. I'm glad we finally
got to take time out to do this. Where you
hitting me from right now?

Speaker 4 (04:17):
We are in Las Vegas right now working on the
Soul Train Awards. Of course left just left, which I
didn't see you at. We're going to talk about that too.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Saturday.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
How was it?

Speaker 3 (04:31):
It was really good? Man?

Speaker 4 (04:32):
Andy Lennox asked me to move to London whe her
you know, don't tell my wife, but nice, nice honored
the rhythmics, Jam and Lewis right and Lewis.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
Charlie Simon and Eminem and Lionel Dolly Parton.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
Really did Lionel perform at you guys? He did?

Speaker 3 (04:52):
We did Hello easy and all night long? Was crazy?

Speaker 1 (04:56):
Bro Yo?

Speaker 5 (04:58):
Can I ask you Adam because you did a few
up and even though you didn't invite me and Jimmy
Jam did you did this nice tribute to Jimmy Jam
and Terry.

Speaker 4 (05:07):
I just wanted this to be in the big quest
love letters. You are invited to my life?

Speaker 3 (05:13):
Oh okay, well that's did.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
You know about the jam session?

Speaker 5 (05:17):
Layah when Jimmy Jam told me, oh after the fact, no, no, no,
I went. So that's what my question was, because he
did this jam section with a lot of kind of
maybe unknown singers that were very dope that did like
all these Jimmy and Terry songs, and I kind of
wanted you to talk about that too.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah, I will say that the night after. It's rare
that Sean G h supermanager, Live Nation executive. It is
rare that Sean Ge will ever.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
The house.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
That too, But it's very rare, like Sewan is a
family man. But I will say that if we get
a text from Sean G. Eleven o'clock East Coast standard time,
like he's basically off the clock after five pm, he
couldn't stop talking about how much he liked this damn legacy.

Speaker 6 (06:06):
Yeah, and he called.

Speaker 4 (06:09):
Exactly exactly, Yeah, that's exactly what I did. And and
you know, cultivating what you Rich Nichols, you know my
my father in the game, and you know Sean G
have brought to me. I brought East Coast vibes to
l a man and it was much needed. Like, yeah,
it's interesting that you said you didn't know. But one

(06:30):
of the things that happened with the Lily before social media.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
It was word of mouth.

Speaker 4 (06:36):
I'm really cultivating that I didn't post anything about Yeah, no,
it wasn't.

Speaker 3 (06:42):
It wasn't like a thing. It was just like, you know,
one of the And.

Speaker 4 (06:45):
I hope I don't get in trouble for talking about this,
but I felt really bad with Jimmy and Terry for
Rock and Roller Hall of Fame not getting a performance slot,
you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (06:57):
Their their music has impacted me.

Speaker 4 (06:59):
And culture and the global world past R and B
or pop or whatever.

Speaker 5 (07:06):
It's just their induction wasn't really promoted like that either.
So it wasn't until he told me that, I was like,
oh shit.

Speaker 4 (07:13):
And so when I found that out. This is my
first year MD and the whole show. When I found
that out, I said, yo, I gotta do something.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
You know what I'm saying. That's because like this is
what they need.

Speaker 4 (07:25):
When I called Jimmy, you know, we had an emotional
moment because he was very thankful about what I was
about to do. And we ain't know it was going
to turn that into what it was, but it was.
It was awesome.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
Man. I gotta give people their flowers, you know.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
So dude, where did you find because I've seen the clips. Yeah,
And the one thing I always wonder about is the
legacy like who you know? Where are where are the
heads that would have been at Black Lily in twenty twenty?

Speaker 1 (07:57):
Like who's that audience?

Speaker 4 (07:59):
One?

Speaker 1 (07:59):
How how did you find the singers? Two? How did
you find the audience that would receive them as well?
Got you?

Speaker 4 (08:06):
So A big part of what I've been doing with
this legacy experience I'm mayor, is that the narrative is
that I've been on the road with everybody from Okay
player tour to more recent you know Jay and JT
or something like that, and so along the way, because
I'm such a fan of music and vocalist, I find
my own favorite singers by playing with these incredible artists.

(08:30):
So a lot of them have either sang backup for
who I've for who I've rocked with, or there'll be
a new artist in the city. And you know how
we used to like go to London or something and
we just go to a jam session and find you know,
Daily or find Amy or find Jesse j. I remember
pulling up somewhere random and in London like and same

(08:52):
thing with Philly is like you know, Jill Music, India, Erica.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
At any point, somebody could walk in there.

Speaker 4 (08:58):
But then you also get somebody like a new kid
at the time, Blow, you know what I'm saying, or
you get a new kid at the.

Speaker 3 (09:04):
Time, Vivian Green or something like that.

Speaker 4 (09:06):
So it's like I'm cultivating that same structure that you
guys have laid in. What it is is I'm letting
everybody shine in their element, but also trying to dictate
the same sort of tour type of set lists that
I would do if I was out on the road
with a Jimmy and Terry and matching the voice with
the moment. That's why we had somebody like a co

(09:29):
Coke Jones do I guess so lonely who She's the
new vibrant, sexy, you know it girl kind of doing that.
But then I had a Naya Do Damage and she's
kind of like this raunchy, you know, Houston rapper singer.
And then I had somebody like Lena Byrd Miles new

(09:49):
gospel album coming out, and she did I wanted to
highlight Jimmy and Arry's Yolanda Adams catalog. You know what
I'm saying who people don't know about? So she ended
up doing Open My Heart and so like it was
just a night full of gyms.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
Man Like, straight up.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
How many nights do you have to prepare from the
moment you decide you know what I'm gonna pay, you know,
pay tribute to them? How many nights do you have
to prepare for such a thing?

Speaker 3 (10:15):
So this is where you have taught me wrong.

Speaker 4 (10:18):
Okay, okay, I have been in so many instances where
it's the day of through roots, through play or whatever
and it comes off without a hitch, or I would
say externally without a hitch, you know what I mean,
Because you know I might get a I might get

(10:39):
a every once in a while, but a note that
I've been or whatever. But yeah, so I take about
a day and a half to two days. Really, curating
the set list is the most thing, is the most
important thing for me because people move off of energy,
you know what I'm saying. So it's like a bad

(10:59):
set list again, which I've learned from you, is like
a bad setlist can dictate a bad show. You know
what I'm saying. You got to know, you know we yelling.
I've seen me yell you yell at key or whatever.
It's like, go get you now, right, where's da da?

Speaker 3 (11:17):
Where's it?

Speaker 4 (11:17):
So that's kind of what I've been doing the week
leading up to and then it's like, yo, I just
want to catch a vibe, you know what I mean,
and let it.

Speaker 3 (11:25):
Let it be a natural thing.

Speaker 1 (11:26):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (11:27):
So for our audience that is not familiar because I
mean to the industry, you are literally the Quincy Jones.
I mean, the part of Quincy Jones that I play
is being a connector. I always say that Quincy Jones'
telephone or his rolodex was always his best instrument his
ability to reach people. But the idea of what we

(11:50):
think Quincy Jones is, which he also is, is just
to be the go to guy to get the right
performance out of the artist, live, studio, whatever. And the
thing is you you do have to do both because
you know, in my world, I will say that maybe yes,
with the addition of like Stroe Elliott, or even with

(12:13):
Jeremy like in the Roots, we're now just adding sample
elements to the show in the last for you know,
four or five years. But with you, I know that
you not only have to you know, comb through their
entire studio history and grab that background vocals and are

(12:35):
you doing this all yourself? Like, all right, take take
me through a process of So I assume that since
Rihanna's got something cooking in the kitchen for top of
twenty twenty four, let's just hypothetically, let's just hypothetically say
that you might have gotten a call from Rihanna, you know,

(12:56):
saying that all right, I'm about to ramp up and
surprise job this album then maybe April or of twenty
twenty four, and she wants she wants to go on tour.
And the way you're smiling right now, I think that
this conversation actually might have happened, even though I don't
know Jack, so I know how NDA's are.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
But walk me through the process.

Speaker 3 (13:15):
Yeah, no problem. So I used to do everything.

Speaker 4 (13:20):
I was super hands on as far as like curating
the set list. I would sit down with the artists.
I would say, what is the story you're trying to tell,
like through either this album or through this live show process.
I've done it with every artist. I just want to
sit down and talk. I just want to see where

(13:41):
your head was when you were singing freaking pour it up.
I want to see where your head was when you
wrote Diamonds. You know what I'm saying, like, what what
is the story? Are you trying to go to the
strip club or are we going to the stadium to
hold up the phone light?

Speaker 3 (13:55):
Are you trying to do both? Okay? Cool?

Speaker 4 (13:57):
So now I take an artist like and say, you know,
how do we start, what's the middle, and what's the end.
I like to build my show in what I call acts, right,
because you take the listener, the audience on the journey.
So that first process is about getting the song list together,

(14:19):
no specific order or anything.

Speaker 3 (14:22):
Then I kind of work backwards. I say how do
we start?

Speaker 4 (14:25):
How do we end? And then I fill the middle
end like that. Now with a pop artist and a
lot of artists these days, but pop specifically, as far
as getting the tracks and stuff together, the backing tracks,
playing with a little bit of backing vocal stuff like that,
I call my programming team, and I call my you
know a lot of my lot of.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
My how many on the programming team, it depends on
what it is.

Speaker 4 (14:48):
What I just did with this past super Bowl was myself,
Terrence Vaughn and Derek Cobbs, and I had Omar there
with me. Omar Elwer was there with me every step
of the way, because in a gig like the Super Bowl, specifically,
I'm going to set design meetings, I'm going to choreography rehearsal,

(15:10):
I'm going to how are the instruments gonna look? So
once I have the concept and the idea, my team
for sure begins to try to execute in a rehearsal
setting where I'm in and out of because of the
other things that are going on as a musical director,
and like I said, I've learned that a musical director

(15:31):
is half about the music and more about the other stuff.
And it's really really crazy. The higher up you go.
I'm gonna get blasted for saying this, but the higher
up you go, the less it is about the music
when it comes to the MD.

Speaker 1 (15:47):
All right question, So all right, you just you just okay.

Speaker 2 (15:52):
Now, in there's always an inside joke with musicians and
we do it all the time, and that is hashtag
you've been Blackstone.

Speaker 1 (16:04):
And this is a real hashtag.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
Whenever we joke you've been Blackstone, that always means that
there's a part of the song that just has extra
spice into it.

Speaker 1 (16:19):
Trademarks.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
But it's it's almost like the way I could just
describe it to you. If you guys remember TLC's video
version for Digging on.

Speaker 5 (16:29):
You, Yes, yes, yes.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
If if you also remember the Hovie Baby sample Dan,
and there's always that element in the song that happens
and always wonder will you add your trademark, like that's
your version of you add the trademark.

Speaker 6 (16:54):
Wow?

Speaker 1 (16:56):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:57):
But when you add your trademark Blackstone eyes thing, yeah,
I wonder where's that come from? But then you tell
me that you are also in the meetings with the choreographers.

Speaker 4 (17:08):
That's twenty seventeen and above. You feel what I'm saying.
This is why this interview is so good, because these
young kids ain't see the work that I put in
a four or five coming off of favor and like
you throwing me to Kanye and you throwing Omar to
Jay and all of that, where it was like we

(17:30):
then had to take everything we had learned for the
last seven years and put it together on our own
and give that same amount of energy, same amount of
musicianship to these new artists out there. And you know,
I have been big. The Holy Baby thing means so
much to me that you would even say that, because.

Speaker 3 (17:53):
I try to make my shows a movie.

Speaker 1 (17:57):
You know, you are the John Williams, a musical director.

Speaker 4 (18:03):
That is a really I appreciate that, but that is
a great analogy because I want to take like, you know,
I got a folder of sounds that's called Jurassic Park,
you know, and it's just like shots, like it's like,

(18:24):
you know what I'm saying, Like I'm in my head.
I'm like, yo, if somebody, if I start my show
like that, you are tuned in from minute one, and
it's very different than what I what I grew up on.
But I've always been a fan of pop music, and
not like you know, just Britney pop, but just like
you know, popular and what was on the radio. It

(18:47):
was something for me about adding that backing track. One
of the first times I did it was working with
a sixteen eighty over at Carving and Ivans because they
were pro and music soul trials show, you know what
I'm saying, and so they wanted some of those samples
like Girl next Door because we didn't have an upright out,

(19:09):
or they wanted like the Just Friends beat box, and
it was like, how do we accomplish that, and so
I started being like, yo, why don't we just play
along to the loop, you know what I'm saying. And
then that grew from there to me, you know, me
and yay At Fade the Black and then like doing
Glowing the Dark tour, and then it was like, Okay,
there's a song with daft Punk in it, and we

(19:30):
don't have daft Punk on stage with us, what's the
best way to achieve that? Okay, let's run with their track.
But then at the same time, I always like to
have the backing track playing along with us. This is
what I call it, and us not just playing to
the backing track. If you notice with my tracks I'm here,
they all kind of move even though we're locked into
a tempo.

Speaker 3 (19:51):
It's a live, feeling thing.

Speaker 4 (19:54):
And so yeah, I've been the one to create that sound.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
You know.

Speaker 4 (19:58):
Now I'm able to when you laugh with me all
the time, depending on who's coming on Foulan and you'd
be like, did you do this?

Speaker 3 (20:05):
Did you do this?

Speaker 4 (20:05):
I'd be like, nah.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
You know, you're you're you now have a generation of
new Blackstones, and that to me is even crazy of
your legacy. Wait, I always wanted to know, all right,
right now in the DJ world, Yeah, there's been a
new development that's happened for DJs, and most of us

(20:28):
are using beta beta products. And the risk with with
when you're using beta programming is you might get a
visit from.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
The rainbow will.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
Absolutely And I always wanted to know, Yeah, one, have
you ever been in a predicament where you've been rainbow willed,
or in a predicament where I left my laptop at
a hotel or it fell to the like a hard drive.

Speaker 1 (20:56):
Crashed or yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, And how do you
handle a situation?

Speaker 4 (21:03):
Well, this is where the musicianship comes in, right, Like,
don't get it twisted.

Speaker 3 (21:08):
We are rocking with some.

Speaker 4 (21:09):
Backing track and we got some samples and some loops
in there, and as budgets get cut, I may not
have a percussionist and stuff like that, so it's like whatever.
But when that swirly will comes up, we playing good
and live like don't I will wear you out on
that base like live, you know, and Omar will wear

(21:31):
you out on them kids, and Brian Fraser Moore will
wear you out on the drums, and you know, Randy
Bolin will wear you out on the guitar, so like
the backing track is there, but that's really given album vibes.
Sometimes when we hit that swirly wheel, it doesn't happen.
Often knock on would right, But when it does we
are able to go live. I remember one time at

(21:51):
Essence Fest with Janet, we was playing Funny How Time Flies,
and we got the swirly wheel and we were able
to just vibe, you know what I'm saying, because it
was just like the two chords, and then we were riding.

Speaker 3 (22:04):
We had the guitar solo. It just come in until
it so we had to.

Speaker 4 (22:07):
Shut down booooooo, re runned it up, but it was
like we was playing.

Speaker 6 (22:11):
Is it like an eye.

Speaker 5 (22:11):
Language, y'all look at each other and even acknowledge it.

Speaker 6 (22:13):
Y'all just.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
There is there a warning that she gets like we
might have a technical difficulty or well.

Speaker 4 (22:20):
I'm talking to her in her ears, or I'm talking
to Justin or I'm talking to Red or whatever it
might be, like, you know, give me a second, I
need to like we're gonna vibe for a second. Don't
worry about it, because you know, I mean, when that
click cut off, we all look around like what the heck.

Speaker 3 (22:37):
It's like the sound silence is the sound.

Speaker 4 (22:40):
Of death when you run into it with with some
backing track, but it doesn't happen often. One of the
craziest things I remember is it's not that it crashed,
but walking to the stage, Kanye said, oh yeah, Adam,
I don't want to do the second verse tonight, and.

Speaker 3 (22:56):
It's like yo four three and the lights come on.
I'm like, wait, what did he just say?

Speaker 4 (23:04):
And so I run over to the side of the
stage with my programmer, Demetrius.

Speaker 1 (23:09):
The show is Demetrious is God?

Speaker 4 (23:12):
Yeah, demy is the guy. Yes, I run the show
is playing on one laptop. We're editing on the next
laptop for the next song, and we take the verse
out of that song.

Speaker 3 (23:24):
We switched to the B rig.

Speaker 4 (23:26):
When it's the second song is about to come on,
and then we switched back to the A rig.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
So you have two computers running at the same time
in case.

Speaker 3 (23:34):
What we call redundant systems.

Speaker 5 (23:37):
But you also walk into the stage talking to Demitrius
at the same time while you walking to the stage
because you just said it and you got to hurry
up and evain show.

Speaker 3 (23:43):
That all happens, right, he's.

Speaker 4 (23:45):
On this demy is at the stage already and me
and Yay are walking.

Speaker 3 (23:49):
He's like, oh yeah, I don't want to do.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
And I was like, wait what So I was going
to ask who is your Who's been your most wild
pitch client.

Speaker 4 (23:59):
That's the question I've ever Kanye West after I did
the Kanye West Go On to Dark Tour, I could
do anything. He said, I want you to make a
robot fly across the stage and score it, but I
want the scoring to sound like flashing lights. I was

(24:19):
just like, huh huh, and we bro we did it.

Speaker 2 (24:29):
Do your artists have a basic general understanding that any
slight suggestion they might have might be a five minute timeout.

Speaker 1 (24:39):
Like a guy like Prince never had patience for his engineer.

Speaker 4 (24:42):
I don't think any of the artists do right now.
And a lot of that is our fault, ar Mayor,
because we make it happen, you.

Speaker 3 (24:49):
Know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (24:50):
You know, five minutes, fifteen minutes, whatever, it's just like
get it done, you know what I'm saying. I pride
myself on making sketches ahead of time so that they know,
okay yo. I was feeling that, but I'm not feeling
this work on this as opposed to showing up to
rehearsal or showing up to the gig and then asking
for the change then because it is a stop down,

(25:10):
you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (25:12):
But that's why team is so important.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
Man.

Speaker 4 (25:14):
When I have somebody like Demetrius, or I have somebody
like Danny Chung with me, I know they like boo boo,
and it's like we speak the same language, you know
what I mean. But I think every artist is impatient,
especially when you're on that stage, especially when you at
the rehearsal studio.

Speaker 3 (25:30):
It's like, yo, let's let's get this popping, you know
what I mean.

Speaker 5 (25:33):
I know that this is like a moment where y'all
don't really get to talk that often, and we are
in it. And even Amir even forgot to say our
names or whatever. But Amir, you got to ask him
the question that we ask everybody. We got to know,
like the beginners and even y'all story I forgot to
go yes, like who is the fuck Adam blaste Right.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Court. Love Supreme
got sugar Steed, unpaid bills somewhere and making millions. No, no, seriously,
y'all don't get.

Speaker 5 (26:03):
This time, and y'all don't get this time. So I
totally get it.

Speaker 2 (26:07):
I'm so close to Adam that I'm actually having a
conversation that I would have if we were actually on
the telephone. You are all right, So yeah, let's let
let us start at the beginning. What was your first
musical memory.

Speaker 4 (26:21):
My first musical memory, yes, in life? Wow, yeah, Well
I remember just playing at church. And one of the
high praise moments was when I was about six or
seven years old and I went from drums to base
to Oregon and as a kid, and they everybody was

(26:42):
like you better playboy, Oh my god, And I was cool,
got up on the played the bass boom, sat down
to orgon. I don't know what I was playing, good
or bad, but they hyped me up and I just
I was like, Okay, I can do this. And one
of my other early memories is more non direct musical.
But my dad came home and quit his job and

(27:04):
he told my mom like, yo, I want to do
music full time. And we looked around like what are
we about to do? And he supported us and sustained us.
What you would call today, you know, a wedding band
singer or whatever. But it's like, you know, he played weddings,
bar mythahs, three services on Sundays, you.

Speaker 3 (27:24):
Know, banquets, all of that. He did it full time. Man.
So it was like, that's one of my other early
music memories.

Speaker 6 (27:31):
What did he play?

Speaker 4 (27:32):
My dad plays keys? My dad plays keys. As I
look back at it, he was really the first MD
that I saw, because I don't know if I knew
what that was like, you know, getting into musical director terminology.

Speaker 3 (27:44):
But he have a little TR nine O nine.

Speaker 4 (27:47):
He just throw on a beat at one ten and
he would play brick House, Electric Slide Macarena all to
the same beat and just.

Speaker 7 (27:56):
Like, hey, she's all bread all night long.

Speaker 4 (28:10):
And then folks would just go crazy, like you know,
like keep the party going. It's like, you know, it's electric,
Like he was one of those dudes man. And as
I look back at it when I became older, I
was like, Yo, that's a big part of how I
put set lists together for freaking justin Timberlake or Rihanna,

(28:30):
I'm like, what's the feeling, what's gonna keep the party going?
How I've done the last four Super Bowls is like,
we can't stop.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
We only got twelve minutes, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (28:41):
And like a big part of that, as I look back,
is my dad like curating his banquet sets or his
Saturday night party you know lodge.

Speaker 3 (28:54):
Yeah, straight up, you know, and he sustained less.

Speaker 1 (28:57):
And did you ever join his actual.

Speaker 4 (29:01):
So I did as I became thirteen fourteen fifteen, Like
I played drums with him a little bit. I played
bass with them a little bit. But you know that's
also another detriment to like non rehearsal, but it works, so.

Speaker 3 (29:13):
It's like like, oh, yeah, we don't need to rehearse.

Speaker 4 (29:18):
And I think when I got a little baby budget
and I was like, oh I could rehearse for a week,
it was like, oh we rehearsed.

Speaker 3 (29:24):
I'm tainted by questlove and my dad.

Speaker 1 (29:28):
Not no man, Sometimes you just got to sink or
swim with it.

Speaker 3 (29:33):
You gotta go with it.

Speaker 4 (29:34):
Yeah, but those are my first early memories. And then
moving to Philadelphia in two thousand just changed my life,
like hand, So what were you previously? Before I was
in Willingborough, New Jersey. I grew up born in Trenton,
you know, Willingborough was like Jan Yay and Ty Triviat
and City. They were like, you know, shout out.

Speaker 6 (29:55):
To Jayski poaching peace too. Yeah in Shaka Zulu.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
And Stupid Yes yeah, Mike Zombie all you know Mike Zombie.

Speaker 4 (30:09):
Yeah, so William bor Man And then I went to
college at University of the Artists and moved to Philadelphia.

Speaker 1 (30:14):
And changed what year did you go to university?

Speaker 3 (30:17):
Two thousand? Make you feel old?

Speaker 1 (30:20):
Yeah, man, you did.

Speaker 2 (30:23):
I'll explain to our audience that you know, you know,
back in back in ninety seven, late ninety seven where
Richard Nichols our beloved North Star where we were trying
to do this for a fourth time, and rich was
sort of like, this is our do or die moment.
And his suggestion was like, we gotta we gotta come

(30:45):
up with a story for Philadelphia. This is what's not working,
Like we got the critical claim and you know, we're
getting slow traction, but we need a story that that
will stick. And his version of the story was we
got to have a jam session.

Speaker 1 (31:00):
And I was like, why do we have to have
a jam session?

Speaker 2 (31:02):
He's like, well, one, you know, collaborators for your own record,
but more than that we have to build a music community.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
And because he said that.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
You know, it's like we always thought we were going
to be like the adopted little brothers of.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
You know, the Native tongues and yeah and all that stuff.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
And I mean, no, you know, they they were feeling us,
but none of them were really in the mind state
of doing those things that they were doing earlier in
ninety one, like postsecuts and all those things. So you know,
Rich was basically like, well, we could either wait for
someone to adopt us, or we better just do it ourselves.

Speaker 4 (31:43):
So I'm so glad he did, because you guys became
the Big Brothers instant, bro Like, instantly.

Speaker 1 (31:50):
We have no choice.

Speaker 4 (31:52):
I walked into the five spot and I was like,
I ain't never seen nobody play like this, look like,
smell like this, eat like this, thing like.

Speaker 3 (32:03):
This, dance like this, rap like this.

Speaker 4 (32:06):
It was just a card shifting moment for me, even
as a black man, because I grew up in Wilborough,
very affluent African American town, you know, almost you know, Huxtable, Like,
but I thought Philadelphia was so far away culturally, you
know what I'm saying, And like just crossing the bridge
thirty minutes. It's nothing, you know what I mean. But

(32:27):
I thought it was so far away and it was
a whole nother world. When it came to the music
meeting rich and Jazzy fat nasties like changed my life,
like straight up, like just my entire like literally changed
my life.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
Well, yeah, what I was going to say was that
the plan worked.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
Everyone wound up getting record deals and every you know,
then we wound up going on tour, and I will
say that it morphed from the roots jam sessions, and
then around ninety nine it became more black lily focused.

Speaker 1 (33:00):
So for you, can you talk.

Speaker 2 (33:03):
About just the the because even I don't know, like
I would just come to the five spot to see
the results of it.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
But are you guys rehearsing with Joe all those times?
Are you rehearsing?

Speaker 6 (33:16):
And how did you get in the mix period?

Speaker 4 (33:18):
How I think I stalked Larry Gold studio. I stayed
there for days on end, just with my guitar. I
was the big dude that played the bass, waiting for
my chance, like just waiting. I got invited down by
a fourteen year old Jasmine Sullivan. She did invite I

(33:44):
love it yeah, I mean her band, you know, Darn
Robertson and Aaron Draper.

Speaker 3 (33:48):
Yeah, and at that time, it was like.

Speaker 4 (33:51):
Aaron Draper and continues to still be the connector, like
I don't care what nobody says. Yeah, Aaron Draper, you know,
has has really plugged ninety percent of our generations musicians
too rich to sean to my mayor to read to

(34:12):
hug you know what I mean. Rest of Peace is
like you know, Aaron Draper was that guy and he
would just always say, hey, yo, come down to He
wouldn't ask. He still don't ask. He's out with Adel
right now. He's like, man, just come over.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
Just yeah, shout out to Aaron for my ADEL discount
because you know, two thousand dollars a little bit too steep.

Speaker 1 (34:35):
Even for a guy with a good job like me.

Speaker 4 (34:36):
So we hear now, bro, and they killing it's gonna
be worth it. We out in Vegas now they over there,
they cross the street. And so when I got the
opportunity to go to the studio, I just sat there
like yeah, like I just sat there for days and
weeks and then it was a few of y'all, it
was a lot of It was a lot of us
and then you know, Rich said, man, so y'all were

(34:59):
just chilling wait see waiting, and then Rich would say.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
Laughing because she knows where I'm about to go with this,
Like I might not have been paying attention or using
the background like you were.

Speaker 5 (35:10):
Not you kept a straight D line to the studio.
You know how I'm gonna go.

Speaker 1 (35:15):
Be like damn who these niggas all right?

Speaker 4 (35:16):
Anyway, So there was a couple of times I think,
like as y'all were making like this might be a
little what's the album before Tipping Point.

Speaker 6 (35:27):
That's when they did the jam sessions Phrenology.

Speaker 3 (35:29):
That's when they started on Phrenology.

Speaker 4 (35:30):
It was like, let's just get our mirror and reek
some ideas like you know what I'm saying, like you know,
and uh Me and Omar and and Aaron and Daryl
were just and Randy and Kevin Hansen like we would
just go down there and just give I like, do
loopy ideas with you for with you in mind, with

(35:53):
wreaking mind from Dice raw and stuff like that.

Speaker 3 (35:55):
But at the.

Speaker 4 (35:56):
Same time we didn't know that that was our audition
right for Rich to actually bring us to you, because
there was a vetting process. I don't care what nobody
say about that back room. You if you make it
to our marror's room, you made it. Hey, Am I

(36:16):
telling the truth?

Speaker 8 (36:17):
Nah?

Speaker 4 (36:18):
All facts you have to If you don't know that
bell door to the studio and you can go straight on.

Speaker 6 (36:25):
A secret route, that's hilarious.

Speaker 1 (36:28):
You don't know.

Speaker 4 (36:30):
So when you go past the main door and you
go to the back room, that's the audition that ain't
and so and so listen and then fast forward where
you make it through the big door. Right you be
picking your head out like, oh y'all going in the
back Yeah, no, we were in here, bro.

Speaker 3 (36:47):
We we're in the j room.

Speaker 6 (36:51):
In the room.

Speaker 4 (36:52):
Yeah, man, so that we you know, huge, I can
I can't do any interview with out big ing up
Rich Nichols and his vision for us and his vision
for for me and us as as a generation under
you guys, where it was like we passed some of
us as the test to make it to you for

(37:14):
then you to say and James to say and and
say like yo, come do black party or come do
hole or come do whatever. Where it was like you
guys were then to me like you know it it
was hard to lock y'all down because you was on
the road so much, you know what I mean. But
we also make records and we were getting calls for

(37:37):
bigger gigs and I got a whole.

Speaker 5 (37:39):
Nother still doing the Lily too though, right, Adam, Like, so,
how does that work?

Speaker 1 (37:44):
When did you officially.

Speaker 4 (37:47):
Like li, No, I never outgreed. I'm bringing Lily. What
I'm doing now is all Lily five on my head, So.

Speaker 1 (37:55):
I'm not that but I don't.

Speaker 4 (37:57):
But it's like, it's like, so, so you guys got
all these people and themselves as well, So let me
big up to all the artists. But once somebody gets
a deal, they then have to They want that same
vibe that got them the deal to have row with them.

Speaker 3 (38:11):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (38:12):
Let me explain all so that once this outgrew my
living room and then went to the Five Spot and
sometimes Wetlands in New York. Then eventually these artists started
getting record deals and next thing, you know, like they
would pull six band members and whatnot. There was one
point where I came home and without any context whatsoever,

(38:36):
I was walking.

Speaker 1 (38:37):
Down the five Spot. I was like, Yo, that look
like Diddy. And I called rich so I say, Yo,
what the fuck's pop Daddy.

Speaker 3 (38:41):
Doing here watching the.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
New artists and literally, like you know, I've been going
for like four months, and Richard's explaining to me like
you don't even know, like now's the wild wild West
and everybody done herd that Philly has the best musicians
and they're really.

Speaker 1 (38:57):
Coming down stealing.

Speaker 2 (38:59):
But even even the musicians that I felt weren't even
up to part on that left like everyone was getting work.

Speaker 4 (39:07):
The stigma of Philadelphia alone got people a lot of
work based off of this city.

Speaker 1 (39:15):
Yo.

Speaker 6 (39:15):
It's funny. I just had a flashback.

Speaker 5 (39:17):
I'm like, I remember when Fonte had his album released
at the five Spot in Philly, like Florney Change like
it was.

Speaker 8 (39:24):
Nah nah.

Speaker 9 (39:24):
We had we had our release party at uh Fire
Spight in Philly, and then when we did this is
O three. I want to say, when we did the Roots,
y'all did y'all Christmas Winter Break Tour, and that was
when y'all you played you were playing bass for us,
little brother.

Speaker 8 (39:38):
That was the first time we met. Yeah, straight up,
that was the first time it was us.

Speaker 9 (39:45):
Jean Gray, okay player to that's right, it was okay
Player Tour, yup, oh three, And that was the first
time me and you worked together and you played for us,
and I just remember thinking, like, Yo, this is the
happiest bass player I've ever seen in my life.

Speaker 4 (40:00):
I was like, I gotta say, man, going on then, okay,
Player Tour my first tour.

Speaker 1 (40:09):
How was your first time?

Speaker 3 (40:10):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (40:10):
As I look back at a mirror, had us there
to uh he overworked us?

Speaker 3 (40:19):
Right? But did I go no?

Speaker 4 (40:23):
Now, this is what I want to say you you
stayed on the drums the whole night too. So it's
like I always I tell young kids. Now, I'm like, yo,
if i'm playing too, like, I'm not, you know what
I mean. I'm not telling y'all to do anything that
I wouldn't do. And so I don't see it as that.
What I see it as as setting the blueprint for

(40:43):
how to work hard to achieve success and you have
to go above and beyond.

Speaker 3 (40:49):
And we love music so much.

Speaker 4 (40:51):
I was like, I'm going to play for everybody out
here that they allow me to play for because that
relationship equity means more to me and anything, you know
what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (41:02):
So, when was the first time that you played for
a non Lily Act.

Speaker 4 (41:08):
My first big gig, I tell the story was you
guys did Unplugged and the big homie called Yall said, oh.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
That's right, I forgot that philadelphonics.

Speaker 4 (41:22):
Ladelphonics, and so he was going to retire, and it
was like and it was super loose though, Bro, I
don't know if you remember that, but it was like
we went up to sir wait.

Speaker 10 (41:32):
Faith the Black was your first big big gig, yes it?
Oh three, yeah, Man, I could have sworn by then.
You was kicking at Michael Jackson's house.

Speaker 4 (41:44):
And I mean, you know, Vivian music, so child all that,
but oh three is like, you know, that's that's that's
I was.

Speaker 3 (41:51):
I was nineteen turning twenty.

Speaker 2 (41:53):
So that's the first time you were in like Madison
Square Garden all that stuff.

Speaker 3 (41:56):
Absolutely first first time.

Speaker 2 (42:00):
You rarely hear me say, I mean, now I'm having fun.
But that week was so fun to me, man.

Speaker 3 (42:07):
So fun, Bro, so fun.

Speaker 4 (42:09):
And that taught me so so much about how to
curate a set. You know, at that time, we didn't
know who was going on next, second, last, first, whatever.
It was like, yo, I saw you put that whole
thing together. But at the same time, utilize the genius
people around you, and you know, young Beyonce and Mary

(42:30):
and you know, just like this is Jay's last album
and we're playing encore too, and everybody saying, oh right, yeah.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
It's just like super crazy.

Speaker 4 (42:42):
And that gig spawned me meeting Yay, which spawned me
meeting Ree, which spawned me meeting Janet, which spawned me
meeting Drake, which you know with spawn me meeting justin timulate.
So that Fade to Black alone set the path for
my entire career. And I like to tell the other

(43:04):
thing I just wanted to speak on real quick, is
that one thing in Philly that we do do as
musicians is we try to be nice and speak to
everybody because you never know who up next, right, So
it's like, you know that week as well American expound
on it, but like it was some heavy hitters in
there and them rehearsals.

Speaker 3 (43:21):
That who they were then.

Speaker 4 (43:23):
Is not who they are right now, and like they
we treated everybody equally like and so you know, Beyonce
then was not Beyonce now, and you know, just blazed
in and Swiss and you know what I mean, arguably
even you know what Jay has done the last twenty

(43:43):
years from that show alone.

Speaker 3 (43:45):
You know what I mean. Right, They didn't even let
yay on that night.

Speaker 1 (43:49):
Yeah, I was going to say that.

Speaker 2 (43:51):
I I remember him not being able to get backstage.

Speaker 1 (43:56):
Yep, you remember speaking to him.

Speaker 3 (43:59):
Yeah. So one of the things that happened after that,
he was.

Speaker 4 (44:01):
Like, Yo, I'm working on my music too, we should
work together, Like you know.

Speaker 3 (44:06):
What I mean.

Speaker 4 (44:06):
I just just say yes to everybody, because that's how
it was for me being in Philly, you know what
I mean. I was just like, you never know which
opportunity is going to be the next big thing.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
Okay, I'll ask you now because I know that you're
older and wiser now when you are vetting and auditioning,
if someone says, yeah I got this young boy, and
d d d da da da da da da, Like
my dad told me the audition process. He used to
always make me audition musicians by playing a ballot. He
would make me play the most simple He would say, no,

(44:44):
don't do the intricate shit. He says, I'm gonna teach
you something. Pick the simplest ballad that we got in
our repertoire and make them audition then and sure enough,
like musicians would fall apart because they couldn't play something
so simple.

Speaker 1 (44:59):
They knew that intricate ship, but they couldn't play the
simple shit. Well, first of.

Speaker 2 (45:03):
All, are you a don't come to me, I'll come
to you type of cat? Like if I say, Yo,
I got this young boy, da da da da use
the shit? You should use him? How how do you
know how good he'll be? Do you just go to
his YouTube page or like what?

Speaker 3 (45:20):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (45:20):
But like you know, are we talking now, because before
you know, twelve years ago, we ain't have none of that,
like you know, so it was total word of mouth,
and that's how I got on, you know what I mean?
Like my my career spawned from people singing and hearing
the music on stage, but also a word of mouth,
like yo, let me get that dude's number whatever whatever.

Speaker 1 (45:40):
So what I look like, I mean more or less?

Speaker 2 (45:43):
Like I know that you should at least know two
to three people that play the same thing. Like you'll
use Klay Sears for guitar, it's not you'll use Randy Bowling.
But I'm certain that there's put me in coach.

Speaker 1 (45:56):
Energy always all the time.

Speaker 2 (45:59):
So how do you deal with the expectation factor of
the music.

Speaker 1 (46:05):
And I'm sure and right now is even past Philly.

Speaker 2 (46:07):
I'm sure that you know musicians worldwide Now it's global.

Speaker 4 (46:11):
Man, the dms go crazy with videos and stuff like that.
Now I have to be honest and say, people hiring
me are hiring me for my sound.

Speaker 3 (46:21):
So I'm not up.

Speaker 4 (46:22):
I'm not mad at using the same twenty folks because
I know I get what I get out of them,
you know what I'm saying. It's very rare that, you know,
even back in the day we used to just tag
somebody in.

Speaker 3 (46:36):
It's very rare that that happens, you know what I'm saying.
And so when it.

Speaker 4 (46:41):
Does happen, it's because they have a vocabulary of genre
that I love, Like I love a dude to, you know,
play country beat and then play a hip hop beat
and it still feel very authentic, you know what I'm saying.
And then just like feel timing and feel James Poyser,

(47:01):
let me have it. The first time I played the
bass show, I had a six string Ken Smith and
he said, hey, yo, don't ever come in this studio
with this furnit. He said it was a He said,
my bass was a piece of furniture, yo, And so.

Speaker 3 (47:20):
I didn't know what that meant. I went to a
jazz school, you know.

Speaker 4 (47:23):
I thought I was freaking Anthony Jackson at the time,
like I was doing everything like that. And he handed
me Little Brother Slum Village Voodoo and then I was
like Pine, Pino Pine, you know, no he knew, and
I was like, oh, Pino Palette, okay cool, or like Dyla,

(47:47):
oh okay, my electric bass should sound like some MPC pads,
like you know what I'm saying, And like he he
put me, James and Omar put me on so much
music that you had either giving them or they that
opened their ears up to when he told me my.

Speaker 3 (48:05):
Base was a piece of furniture, bro, I was like,
I saved up.

Speaker 4 (48:10):
I saved up the fastest three hundred and seventy five
dollars that I could to just go get a four
string Fender Jazz and I don't know choice. It's still
my weapon of choice. I do play five, but like
that base. You know, we did Yes Sirs with We
did joh Stone, That's on a lot of records.

Speaker 3 (48:30):
We did Our Green you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (48:35):
That was the one and to the point where even
Rich was like, hey, yo, where's the bring the four
string in? Like, you know, like I had to learn
genre specific vocabulary, not just what I hadn't known through
chops or whatever. So that's even what I look for,
you know, the antithesis of what I started is what

(48:55):
I look for now.

Speaker 3 (48:56):
You know what I mean? You hate the music.

Speaker 4 (48:59):
I'd made a lot of money and a big living
playing low on the base, Like you know what I'm saying,
Like I don't have to do all that up high
stuff to make it feel right for me personally, you
know what I'm saying. And like, coming from a dealer record,
it's like that ain't even what he was doing, coming
from a from a from a slum or a voodoo place,

(49:21):
it's like, you know, I mean, Peanut can play anything,
but it's like it was really about the groove and
the feeling.

Speaker 3 (49:26):
So that's what I tried to hone in on for
about two years.

Speaker 9 (49:31):
What were you listening to growing up? Because you were
saying that James and everbody were putting you on like
the slum.

Speaker 4 (49:35):
I had never listened to that stuff, so I was
listening to the Clark Sisters gospel well, and then like
a lot of now Rogers, but through samples, like you couldn't.

Speaker 1 (49:47):
I was.

Speaker 3 (49:47):
I was Biggie Smalls in my head. So I was like,
who's hot? Who's not? Tell me.

Speaker 4 (49:54):
Who got to So I was like, wait a minute,
but that that guitar part is cold, Like let me
find now what that is?

Speaker 2 (50:02):
Edwards was your base god in and now Rogers.

Speaker 3 (50:06):
Now Rogers.

Speaker 4 (50:07):
And then I was like a lot of Yo, I'm
gonna be I'm gonna keeping the honey. I ain't never
said this out loud, but like, you couldn't tell me
that Bad Boy didn't have the coldest musicians.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
Before I knew they were samples. I was like no, no, no,
no, no no no. I was like what I was like?
Boom boom? I was like, Yo, they killing in the studio.
I was twelve years old, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (50:42):
So I'm listening to One More Chance, I'm listening in
the warning, I'm listening to more Money, more Problems. I'm
listening to hypnotized boom boom Oh. I played that at
my marching BANDJO and they was like, yo, you Biggie Sall.

Speaker 8 (50:55):
But that was but the way you described that album,
that's the same way. That's what midnight As was for me.

Speaker 9 (51:01):
Yeah, Dog, I swore you you couldn't have told me
mann Mardas.

Speaker 8 (51:05):
Wasn't them playing all that role?

Speaker 2 (51:07):
Like you know what I mean the amount of times
I grew Bob Power about Electric Relaxation. Yes, even Michelle
Degolchella gave like damn near her whole entire Rolling Stone
interview about like qtup is the the next uh just
his court structure of blah blah blah blah blah.

Speaker 1 (51:30):
You buy the record like damn No.

Speaker 2 (51:32):
But I mean even then to Discovery and hear it
in that way, that's still genius.

Speaker 1 (51:36):
So that's not to take away.

Speaker 4 (51:37):
From no no, no no, but I'm just saying, like,
those are the baselines that like, tell me what you
want from dude.

Speaker 3 (51:46):
I'm like, Yo, these dudes is cold. The Hitman is cold.

Speaker 4 (51:51):
Yeah, And so you know, learning where they came from
and Eld the Barge flips and and and you know
Bernard flips and now slips, it was like it was
mind boggling to me. So then when I finally dove
into the original records and really honed in on my
own tone, I was like, this is where it comes
from you know what I mean, the original, the original vibe.

(52:13):
And then like you know, a huge Ron Carter fan
and you know, flipping that from tribe as well, Like
was mind boggling too.

Speaker 8 (52:21):
Did you commission for hamm were you?

Speaker 3 (52:25):
I was more take six?

Speaker 8 (52:26):
You would take sick? Okay, gotcha?

Speaker 3 (52:28):
I was more take six.

Speaker 1 (52:29):
Wow the generation after commission?

Speaker 3 (52:32):
Right, I was, I'm being honest. I was a Fred
Hammon fan.

Speaker 4 (52:36):
And then it was like, oh he came from commission,
so you know, I'm just being honest.

Speaker 3 (52:39):
I'm just.

Speaker 1 (52:42):
Church all right.

Speaker 4 (52:43):
And then lastly, my uncle had a gospel group, so
to me, they was like they was commissioned in New Jersey.

Speaker 3 (52:50):
I was like, oh, that's they better than they like jobicy.

Speaker 8 (52:54):
In my town.

Speaker 2 (52:56):
I always wanted to know, have you ever been in
a musical situation where it did not work out?

Speaker 1 (53:03):
Well?

Speaker 4 (53:04):
I don't know if this is what you mean, but
I'm gonna tell this one story. We're doing Coachella with doctor.

Speaker 1 (53:08):
Dre Right, right, is this the Tupacca.

Speaker 4 (53:15):
He brings in, this this new young kid rapper from
from from La Compton. Right, I was like, he's all right,
I mean, y'all want me to arrange. He's gonna he's
gonna do two songs in the middle of ourselves, Like
I don't know, man, like he he okay, you.

Speaker 3 (53:35):
Know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (53:37):
I was like, you know what, i'ma I'm gonna let
my man do this one because like I really want
to concentrate on this pop and I'm a really, you know,
I really want to get this right.

Speaker 3 (53:46):
Eminem's on the way.

Speaker 4 (53:47):
And it's like, nah, like yo, just you know, help
the kid out. I was like, I can't do it.
And I was like, all right, he comes in great energy.
I was like, what's your name, man, Kendrick, And I
was like all right, all right, okay.

Speaker 3 (54:05):
Like you know what I'm saying. So it's like I've
lost twice like that in my life.

Speaker 4 (54:13):
Really wasn't really feeling it when I first heard it,
and then I'm his his energy is what brought me
into him, if I can be honest, you know what
I'm saying.

Speaker 8 (54:22):
Before the music, before.

Speaker 4 (54:25):
The early music, it was like he was just like
and then same thing, Sean G said, Yo, I need
you to work with this kid from North Carolina. I
was like, oh, you know, I'm busy, bro, Like he
said listen to this he could rap.

Speaker 3 (54:40):
Bro.

Speaker 2 (54:41):
I was like Friday Night Lights all right, you know,
ran Friday Night Lights down my throat man like yo,
cold man.

Speaker 4 (54:50):
Jay Cole Bro, And it was like, Yo, just let
me fly you to North Carolina. I was at ninth
Wonder was like, come to North Carolina and same thing.
His energy is what did it for me?

Speaker 3 (55:02):
Over to me?

Speaker 4 (55:02):
So I got two l's for sure, I got else. Like,
you know, they arguably top ten of all time right now.

Speaker 5 (55:10):
Yo, But how many more Kendred shows have you been
kind of forced to md anyway based off of like
from halftime to award shows, Like it's been.

Speaker 4 (55:19):
Great to work with him, you know, specifically yeah, last halftime,
you know, And like I said, the relationship and the
energy is always right. But I'm saying I've taken creative
l's because I was like, I don't hear it, Yo,
I don't. I don't know what to do, I don't
know how to range. I'm not I'm not connected to
this two l's Kendrick and j Cole for sure, arguably

(55:41):
like I said, number one, two great human black men,
just great guys hey, and then arguably top ten lyricists
and then it was like, you know, I almost missed it.

Speaker 2 (55:52):
I do want to ask I mean, so many questions
to ask you about your career.

Speaker 1 (55:56):
But now with you winning the Emmys, yes, and I.

Speaker 2 (56:03):
You know, I know that to be in that particular position,
like it's such a teugh line air tight space where
one person can monopolized the whole marketplace.

Speaker 1 (56:15):
Like for the longest, I thought, what's the brother's name?
A bass player?

Speaker 2 (56:20):
Yeah, like I thought, like, oh god, Ricky Mine is
going to own the Emmys until he's one hundred and
ninety seven years old, like not ever giving up space
or whatever.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
But tell me about navigating your.

Speaker 2 (56:34):
Way through non concert stage, non studio world, like getting
into television scoring, and I mean eventually, I guess you're
going to start doing movie soon.

Speaker 3 (56:44):
Yeah, man, I'm looking forward to that as well. I've
worked on a couple.

Speaker 4 (56:48):
Big ones, Greatest Showman, I did the soundtrack in the Heights,
and I just did a kid's one called Lyle Lyle Crocodile,
and all of that is what our brother our Philly brothers,
Binge and pop.

Speaker 3 (57:01):
But yeah, you know how I got into the television
space for sure.

Speaker 4 (57:06):
You know, I remember two thousand and twelve thirteen be
ET Awards. I had about six.

Speaker 3 (57:11):
Or seven clients on.

Speaker 4 (57:14):
The BET Awards and Jesse Collins was like, y'all, I'm
giving this dude seven checks, Like just hire him to
do the whole show. We could save some money. I'll
never forget that. I just remember like showing up to
meeting after meeting and they were like, Yo, you hear again,
you hear again. And that was one of the things
that I saw Ricky Minor do, and you know, at

(57:38):
the time like Patreus Russian and like you know, Ray
Schu of course, and from the Apollo I had been
doing killing touring sets. So in my head I was like, Yo,
what of these artists for three minutes and thirty seconds
get a touring Adam Blackstone experience on television? And when

(57:59):
I'm made up in my mind, I was going to
spend the same amount of time programming and arranging one song.

Speaker 3 (58:07):
As I did a whole show.

Speaker 4 (58:09):
It was a game changer, man, And they haven't been
able to, you know, like move forward from that because
I give each artist an experience in that TV moment
that they've never had before. I'm not just playing the
record most of the time, I'm giving them that live
show experience in their three minute segment, you know what

(58:30):
I'm saying, and so that makes audiences excited, that makes
the network excited. It was hard to navigate, though, and
I'm still learning a mayor, like you know EMD and
the Oscars last year and following you it was like
making those sandwiches and writing out charts and you know, conducting.

Speaker 3 (58:49):
Sixty piece orchestra. It was like, Yo, I'm still learning.

Speaker 4 (58:53):
But at the same time, I believe in myself so
much that I know I can do anything. And if
I don't know something, huge question.

Speaker 2 (59:01):
Asker, So, all right, answer this question for me. Yeah,
I've been dying to know for awards shows especially. Yeah,
when you're doing award shows, how much leeway do you
have a knowing who the winner is going to be?

Speaker 1 (59:19):
Or like, what is the process?

Speaker 2 (59:21):
Do you have five different sets of music on standby
and they're like the winner is.

Speaker 1 (59:30):
Super so you're like, all right, see dude three?

Speaker 4 (59:33):
Like how so what we did for Oscars was the
winner music. Specifically, I pre recorded down there in the
pit each of the five nominees so that we could
just trigger it almost like playback, depending on who won
you know what I'm saying. They do not let me know.
I want to be super clear with that. I do

(59:54):
not know until it flashes up on the screen. But
I've been able to kind of trick the system a
little bit with how our normal playback works is now
just putting all the music for that one moment in
playback and they can play whichever one that they want
to play.

Speaker 3 (01:00:10):
Now, if I'm doing something a little more general.

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
Not even a ten second warning or.

Speaker 4 (01:00:15):
Not really, man, Nah, it might flash up on the
screen five seconds before you know what I'm saying. But
if I'm doing something a little more general category, I
might just do something super you know in that space,
you know what I mean, or tempo for somebody to
walk up on.

Speaker 3 (01:00:31):
Stage or something like that.

Speaker 4 (01:00:33):
But when it's when it's it's a direct you know,
Oscars movie song thing, I'm like, yo, without us messing up,
let's record all of the nominees music and let you
guys pick one's or what you want to play.

Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
So there's thirty seven categories for the Oscars.

Speaker 3 (01:00:50):
Times five or six or seven.

Speaker 2 (01:00:53):
Yeah, So you're trying to tell me that you have
to at least prepare once like one hundred and thirty
plus music cues I did.

Speaker 4 (01:01:01):
I was at eighty seven because some of the categories
weren't on TV this year. I did eighty seven music cues.
Bro it was nuts and that's not also play on
music when they say lazy and Gentlemen Puff Daddy or
lazy and Gentlemen Danny.

Speaker 1 (01:01:15):
Oh shit, I forgot the nominees and all that stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:01:17):
Yeah yeah, no, it's like.

Speaker 6 (01:01:19):
What is that in time? Like in time? How many
how long is that you think Christmas?

Speaker 3 (01:01:24):
To do the Oscars, which was April, and I work
every day like straight up.

Speaker 4 (01:01:31):
My team Dante Winslow, thank god, and Derek Hodge thank god.
I brought them on first, all black conducting team. Yes,
and those of you who know those two gentlemen.

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
Oh yeah, Derek Mann, Yeah, they don't. They don't let
nothing get passed.

Speaker 4 (01:01:49):
So it's like we pretty much divvated up and just
was like, yo, you take these thirty.

Speaker 3 (01:01:53):
I would do these thirty, but how.

Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
Do you notate like orchestral arrangements, because even you know
there was orchestra there, you.

Speaker 3 (01:02:01):
Know, Summer of Soul, Big Winner.

Speaker 4 (01:02:02):
It's like, you know, we took one of those records
from the thing, and I orchestrated it with no vocal
So maybe trumpet is playing the lead line for a
BB King joint, you know what I'm saying, right, And
and then I put you know, low brass and strings
playing like it's an organ.

Speaker 3 (01:02:20):

Speaker 2 (01:02:20):
So well, I'm only I'm only asking because like, all right,
so the year before you did it last year because
of COVID, I DJ'ed.

Speaker 1 (01:02:30):
It, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:02:31):
Yeah, And even then, up until forty five minutes beforehand,
you know, there were there are a lot of monkey wrenches.
Regina King's going to now do the intro so fine
to me, you know, to clear stuff like shit, we
were calling Londel McMillan like a half hour before the Grammys, like, Yo,
can we please clear this print song right now so

(01:02:54):
I can imagine for you it's even more of a nightmare.

Speaker 3 (01:02:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:02:58):
Interestingly enough, I will say about the orchestral music.

Speaker 3 (01:03:02):
If you choose four bars.

Speaker 4 (01:03:04):
And let's just say we're gonna vamp something or we're
gonna move these four bars to a different intro because
it has a similar vibe, you're able to do that,
but that still comes with the preparation. I still got
to do eighty nine ninety pieces to go which bars
make sense for Regina Hall, and to know which bars
make sense for Amy Schumer, to know which of the
third set of bars make sense for Wanda.

Speaker 3 (01:03:25):
Sikes this year, like you know what I mean. So
we had to play through the whole thing.

Speaker 4 (01:03:28):
It was I was one of my hardest jobs ever
and very much like my first big, huge, huge tour
with Kanye.

Speaker 3 (01:03:36):
I feel like like now orchestral wise, I can do anything, you.

Speaker 4 (01:03:41):
Know, and as you know, with the Oscars or Grammy specifically,
we're not linked to any time thing.

Speaker 3 (01:03:50):
So all this talk about playback and stuff like that.

Speaker 4 (01:03:53):
No, we're rocking live, So if somebody trips or if
somebody starts way.

Speaker 3 (01:03:58):
Back you was kind of far. Oh, we had to keep.

Speaker 1 (01:04:00):
Playing, Like I was gonna say, Matt.

Speaker 2 (01:04:04):
One, I can say with certainty that I had the
most slowest awkward walk of all time to that podium
all time.

Speaker 6 (01:04:13):
Well, who could blame you? Who could blame you?

Speaker 1 (01:04:17):
So it's a processing thing.

Speaker 3 (01:04:18):
Are we going to talk about this or no?

Speaker 1 (01:04:21):
Oh wow, I'm going on record before, but.

Speaker 6 (01:04:24):
I do want to hear from the three.

Speaker 5 (01:04:25):
It's interesting two coming from like y'all who also share
this night of being from the same area. I mean,
it's just so many levels to it, right, Like.

Speaker 4 (01:04:34):
I cried in that moment, happy for my brother.

Speaker 3 (01:04:40):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
You know something though, I will say this much.

Speaker 2 (01:04:45):
So yes, they they because of the whole COVID situation
first of all. And you know, they chose the right theater.
It was the Kodak right where we at the right,
so they sat us. They set the documentary people way
in the back, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:05:02):
So even then what they.

Speaker 6 (01:05:03):
Do every year, it just happened that they got you
this year.

Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
So well, I think in normal times we would have
been a.

Speaker 3 (01:05:09):
Little closer and like a little more intimate.

Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
And yeah, and if it were normal times, we would
have been in a bigger thing and we would have
been closer to the front. But they had us all
spread out because of COVID and the documentary people way
in the back. And so even then, I mean, three
things are happening in my head. One was that was
that a bad sketch going wrong, going wrong, And it

(01:05:33):
wasn't until you know, and then like I'm managing my
mom and she crying on my shoulder.

Speaker 1 (01:05:37):
Whatever, So that's distracting.

Speaker 2 (01:05:40):
And then I distinctly all right, I distinctly remember by
the time I got towards the front, I was looking
at the Williams sister and the look, the look they
had on their face, like we're being held hostage. Then
I was like, oh shit, that might have been real, right,

(01:06:04):
because even then, when it's happening.

Speaker 4 (01:06:06):
No, you go, I was in the pit bro watching
it from underneath directly, and I was like, I was like, man,
I'm yo, I'm mayor, I promise to God.

Speaker 3 (01:06:15):
Like yeah, I'm like, I'm like, that's not in the script.

Speaker 1 (01:06:19):
I'm like, right right, And even as it's happening.

Speaker 3 (01:06:24):
Like, yo, somebody, what where was that?

Speaker 5 (01:06:26):
Like?

Speaker 1 (01:06:26):
Where? Right?

Speaker 2 (01:06:28):
So one, I was doing transmeditation. When you're doing transmeditation,
I mean I do all the time, even with the Grammys.
Knowing I'm not going to win, I'm like, okay, and
remember your mom and remember I'm like trying to remember
names and ship. And only when I heard the word
fucking came out. When I heard fucking twice, I looked
at my mom like, Yo, that's how.

Speaker 4 (01:06:49):
You knew it was That's how you know it was real.
When the expensive started.

Speaker 8 (01:06:52):
Right, no.

Speaker 2 (01:06:53):
Even then I said, I said, dag, Mom, like will
will Packer is allowing.

Speaker 1 (01:06:58):
Cursing on television. Take a risks, right.

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
And so I'm talking to my mom, still not hearing
what's happening, and there's no television monitor.

Speaker 1 (01:07:09):
I'm way in the back.

Speaker 2 (01:07:10):
So when I'm walking to the front, the first thing
that I noticed, I was like, Ah, these bastards they're
playing it.

Speaker 1 (01:07:19):
They they're they're playing the.

Speaker 2 (01:07:20):
J Dilla, the j Dilla sample, the fat Cat loop
that was in Summer of Soul. So that was the
first thing that helped me down. And then once I
got closer, then it.

Speaker 1 (01:07:34):
Was like, oh shit. And then you know, by then
my mind went blank.

Speaker 2 (01:07:41):
But I do remember at least walking to my chair
to when I saw the Williams sisters, I was like,
oh damn, Adam Adam chose a jay Dilla sample from
Summer of Soul to bring me on to that.

Speaker 1 (01:07:55):
I really appreciate.

Speaker 4 (01:07:56):
It ran up there because, like I said, in my head,
I'm about to go crazy because I'm like, y'all didn't
tell me about this, this this.

Speaker 1 (01:08:09):
This extra skit.

Speaker 3 (01:08:12):
And then by the time I got in the room,
I saw.

Speaker 4 (01:08:17):
Tifa and she was just had a dejected, sad look
you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (01:08:23):
I was like, oh, that was real. And then they.

Speaker 4 (01:08:25):
Said quest love and these four of the white guys
that it was just so much.

Speaker 3 (01:08:30):
It was, yeah, I got it just was like a.

Speaker 5 (01:08:34):
I was like, y'all should have seen us at home watching, like,
oh god, yah.

Speaker 1 (01:08:42):
Yo, I'll say I'll say this much.

Speaker 2 (01:08:44):
I never went on a record with this before walking
off stage, maybe I mentioned it obviously, you know, like
once you win your award, you got to take the
march to the backstage in the press room. So I
don't know what segment was next. I assume that it
had something to do with the anniversary or either The
Godfather or something my field sewish because backstage, I'm looking

(01:09:09):
at the Niro but Sheino like Scorsese, like all the
characters that I've known from these gangster drawings right and
walking past them, and you know, Chris kind of went
to them, like I remember hearing like that heavy talk,

(01:09:32):
like just fucking got like that sort of.

Speaker 3 (01:09:34):
Thing like.

Speaker 2 (01:09:38):
Yeah, I don't want to you know, I'm not even
trying to lose. But it was definitely that sort of
energy of like, oh my god, this entire cast of
like The Godfather and Goodfellas like here in the corner,
and they were definitely like.

Speaker 3 (01:09:53):
Yeah, it was. It was. It was weird, but I
will say in that moment, man like we.

Speaker 4 (01:09:58):
Was also proud and his speech was amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:10:02):
You honestly brought us.

Speaker 4 (01:10:05):
Stephen Hill just text me, he said, you brought it back,
and then shout out to Amy Schumer because she came
in the next seven and said, man, I was in
the back.

Speaker 3 (01:10:18):
It's real heavy in here. What happened?

Speaker 4 (01:10:22):
I just remember laughing like about that, like you know,
like she was like, did I miss something?

Speaker 3 (01:10:31):
Like it's real heavy in here right now?

Speaker 4 (01:10:35):
So so yeah, man, but that was an amazing expert
to see you represent Philly. And I felt the same way,
like going up to get my Emmy, I was like, yo,
like all the work that you do because listen, Summer
Saul was never going to be a bad movie. I
feel like the super Bowl, my super Bowl was never

(01:10:55):
going to be bad. We do things in excellence, right,
But it feels a different way to have the outsiders
recognize it as an award winning whatever, you know what
I mean, Like whether you want or not.

Speaker 3 (01:11:10):
And I gotta say I might be easier to say
this now.

Speaker 4 (01:11:12):
Because we got the trophies, but whether you want or
whether I want, it doesn't diminish the work that we did.
You know what I'm saying, And that's instilled in us
at such a young age that, Yo, whatever you do,
I don't care if you at the five spot, I'm Meares,
living Room, Wetlands, Oscars, Emmys, do it in excellence and
that's what I continue to strive to try and do.

Speaker 1 (01:11:36):
What is hard as super Bowl preparation or like award chills.

Speaker 4 (01:11:42):
I'm gonna say award shows for me because the last
four Super Bowls I've done, I've been fans of the artists,
so it helps me navigate how I would want to see.

Speaker 3 (01:11:54):
And hear it as a fan.

Speaker 4 (01:11:56):
You know, I'm a fan of Justin Timberlake and Timberland music.
And then after that, I did Shakira and j Lo,
so I really dove into what that Latino sound and
culture was and.

Speaker 1 (01:12:09):
Doing is it the Weekend before? Right?

Speaker 3 (01:12:11):
I didn't do the Weekend. I didn't think that.

Speaker 4 (01:12:13):
That year is when I did Jasmine Sullivan, Yes National Anthem,
that was yes, I raised the anthem, and then Dre
last year, huge fan and then coming up now you
know we got a special one.

Speaker 5 (01:12:29):
I need to I need to know this, Adam, because
for a lot of folks that don't know, like you're
connected in a lot of different ways, whether you're music direction,
whether you're for award show, for a tour, but then
also your business, your agency with your wife. So I'm
kind of curious with your history with everything that you've
done with this agency. Are you ever present in a moment,

(01:12:50):
whether it be an award show, probably an award show,
probably a music award show, is when it really happens
when you look around and you see every single band
and you see them from this background singer to every
where you have a deep musical connection with, Like you
could say either I've played with you or I put
you on this on this gig, Like have you had
a present moment like that?

Speaker 3 (01:13:10):
I think like a couple Coachella is in a row.

Speaker 4 (01:13:13):
I'm like looking at the lineups and I'm like, that's
my folks.

Speaker 3 (01:13:17):
That's my folks. That's my folks. That's my folks.

Speaker 4 (01:13:20):
But I really see the fruit of it, Like Yah,
when I do something like that Legacy experience where we're
jam packing five, six, seven hundred people in the room,
no posting, no ticket sales, and they come out and
support and love on one another through the gift of
music spawned by whatever I've done to create that environment.
And so that's one of the times that or those

(01:13:42):
are the times where I really see feel to love.
I feel genuine, I feel thankful, I feel humbled by
who comes out, and you know, Stevie hopped on stage
last week, New Addition, you know before that, Stokely and
just all these people where you know, they want to
just say thank you for what I've contributed to music

(01:14:03):
in their own way.

Speaker 3 (01:14:05):
And so those moments feel really good.

Speaker 4 (01:14:09):
I have to get more into the moment of the preparation,
and I don't know if I know how to do
that yet because I'm waiting for it to be over.

Speaker 3 (01:14:18):
Unfortunately. If I can be.

Speaker 1 (01:14:20):
Honest, I got a question I'm been drying to ask you.

Speaker 2 (01:14:22):
Yeah, okay, I know you're dealing with a new crop
of what we call young boys. For instance, I saw
Omar Edwards's kid that stay to the TI.

Speaker 1 (01:14:33):
I'm like, yo, dude, I used to take you bowling
when you were six, kid, and you're now twenty three.

Speaker 3 (01:14:41):
Twenty four years old.

Speaker 1 (01:14:43):
Yeah, yeah, twenty four you're drunk, Like what the hell?

Speaker 2 (01:14:46):
Like you used to put them the boundaries on the
bowling alley, so you're you're bowling gutter now, Like that's happening.
So how are you How do you deal with mentoring?
Because I know that also when you put sometimes you
can put a pack together and not even step on stage.

Speaker 1 (01:15:02):
Yes, like you could put you can.

Speaker 2 (01:15:03):
Put Timberlake show together and not have to be on tour.
So I guess it's the two part of one. How
do you deal with artists that expect you to physically
be there with them as opposed to you just put
their jew on together? And how do you train the band?

(01:15:23):
Like do they hire the band or do you also
put together the band that you feel can best do it?
And how do you just how do you deal with like, yo,
make sure you're on time, make sure you're not late.

Speaker 4 (01:15:36):
I think the easiest thing bro is for me with
putting things together. I make sure people have seen me
lead by example, you know what I'm saying, Like they
see my work ethic, they see me on time, they see.

Speaker 3 (01:15:50):
How hard I work in rehearsals.

Speaker 4 (01:15:53):
They see I'm a no nonsense, guy, Have you got
to do a little something on the side and all that,
don't bring it into the rehearsal. Like there's time everybody
they had their own extracurricular thing. But when we're here
to work, we're here to work. As far as managing
the artist's expectations, that just comes with time and comfortability
and trust. If I get on the phone, I'll be
just a little baby on filin right. So it's like

(01:16:14):
I was in La and I'm talking to baby, and
I'm like, yo, I got you. I have a set
of guys. What I'm going to do again, we're talking
about these sketches. I'm going to send you a sketch
and a rehearsal recording, so when you walk in, you
know what it is, or if you hear something that
you don't like, I can fix it ahead of time,
so you're not walking in having to try to communicate

(01:16:35):
an idea with me not being there. So it's very
much still myself pre prepping so that when they walk
in they already know what they're walking into. And then
as far as the guys are concerned, I'm like, yo,
if you ain't seen me, do it, don't do it
on my gig.

Speaker 3 (01:16:50):
You know what I'm saying. And I know that sounds simple,
but it's like.

Speaker 2 (01:16:55):
But have you had to have a situation where you're like, yeah,
I gotta let you go and I'm sorry.

Speaker 4 (01:17:00):
Like, yo, it's not going to work. And then I
break it down and say, this is what you did.
Like and mayor me and you are very similar in
our countenance with people. If you explain to somebody what
they did and they actually take a step back and
know who we are to know that we don't want
to fire them. Really, they'll be like, yo, yeah, I
really jacked up. So sometimes it's not a hard thing.

(01:17:25):
I've learned to in the last five years. Like people
really want me and so whoever I put on that
stage represents me right, and if there's anything that goes wrong,
it's a bad reflection on me and my brand and
my business that I've worked so hard to bill. You know,

(01:17:45):
we talked about spawning, you know, inspiring young young boys
with the programing and stuff. It's getting easier and easier
to find out who has studied me and who has
you know, their Adam Blackstone BB templately already in that laptop,
but at the same time being a people person.

Speaker 3 (01:18:04):
You can't teach that. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (01:18:06):
And so that's one of the one things that I
would tell the young kids is like, yo, be humble,
but at the same time, don't be afraid to speak
and say hello, look people in the face and you know,
oh yes, talk through ideas and shake hands and it's
and it's all love because you remember those people who
have had an impact on you.

Speaker 3 (01:18:26):
Over there playing yo real t.

Speaker 4 (01:18:28):
Everybody can plan and sing these days, everybody, and they
playing circles around me, these young kids now. But at
the same time, when I'm when I need to talk
to a justin Timberlake or I need to talk to
an eminem, they don't know how to do that.

Speaker 3 (01:18:40):
I think social media has been a crutch. I've been
saying that and not be.

Speaker 4 (01:18:45):
Able to actually articulate their ideas verbally and just play,
you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:18:51):
So who are five of your most pleasurable clients to
work with. I'm sure you love or with everybody, but
like when you're like, ah, I man, it's gonna be fun.

Speaker 4 (01:19:04):
I can't wait for this, like no particular order at all,
jay Z. I love playing his music. I'm a fan
of the music as you really. As you see I'm
married from three on. It's gotten more and more musical
as well, you know. So I'm gonna have to say,
I don't know if this is another person or slash,

(01:19:26):
but puff Daddy. I did the bad Boy Reunion toward
twenty sixteen, and like I said, I was talking to
fine Tee like that music spawned how I felt. Sampling
and hip hop and live bass playing, like what that
was about for me as a kid, before I met
the roots and before I was able to, you know,
kind of do things. It was like the samples alone

(01:19:47):
were the music bars that I was like, Yo, I
gotta I could play this. And when I play this
at the football game on Saturday morning, oh, they gonna
go crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:19:57):
Right.

Speaker 6 (01:19:57):
That was a musty tour that year or two. I'm
so mad i'.

Speaker 1 (01:20:03):
Jenny Jackson even one verse, one verse penny, like.

Speaker 3 (01:20:08):
One verse penny.

Speaker 4 (01:20:09):
Listen when I smack, when I smacked, miss you much,
just the chorus it's okay you It was, And she
she taught me that.

Speaker 3 (01:20:19):
She'd say like, Yo, we're just gonna get in and out.

Speaker 1 (01:20:21):
You know, I hate that, but go ahead.

Speaker 4 (01:20:25):
This is a this is this is a You can
ask me this every day and it might change, So
I apologize it.

Speaker 3 (01:20:31):
Sharon, Okay, very musical, he's the White quest Love. He
don't want no tracks.

Speaker 1 (01:20:39):
Yeah, I was gonna say.

Speaker 2 (01:20:40):
Every time I seen Sharing, he's on stage by himself
with his guitar.

Speaker 3 (01:20:44):
So he's been doing this looper thing all his life.

Speaker 4 (01:20:47):
But very recently we just did Tiny Desk and we've
taken that Tiny Desk show to a bunch of different things,
whether it be TV shows.

Speaker 3 (01:20:54):
Or whatever like that NFL, and so that's been really cool. Man.

Speaker 4 (01:21:00):
Like I said, you asked me this any other day,
it's gonna it's gonna change. But the last one I'm
gonna say, Kurt Franklin, Marry Mary, Nicki Minaj.

Speaker 1 (01:21:10):
Justin everybody all right? Number five is everybody.

Speaker 3 (01:21:22):
Nick Mary Mary Justice to relate.

Speaker 2 (01:21:25):
How does it feel, too, finally like fulfill your wish
up making albums?

Speaker 3 (01:21:34):
Yo?

Speaker 4 (01:21:35):
I never in a million years, I'm gonna be completely honest,
thought that I would be an artist.

Speaker 1 (01:21:40):
And what took you so long?

Speaker 4 (01:21:42):
Well, I'm gonna be honest with you man, like, well,
I lost some friends through COVID, Like straight up, you
know one of them. I lost a cousin forty five
years old through COVID. A couple of my friends lost
their parents, but specifically I lost Paris.

Speaker 3 (01:22:02):
Bonds, who parents.

Speaker 4 (01:22:04):
That's right, is arguably one of the greatest keyboard players
and over that, one of the greatest human beings. Right,
And so when I went to the celebration services, it
really inspired me because I was like, Yo, Bible says like,
you know, our day is are numbered, and.

Speaker 3 (01:22:22):
It's like we don't know the time or the day.

Speaker 4 (01:22:25):
But I don't want and this is no disrespect to anybody,
but I don't want my service at the at the
altar and the screens is showing.

Speaker 3 (01:22:35):
Me at the super Bowl or like I'm on.

Speaker 4 (01:22:41):
Support or I'm at you know that's my jam or
something like that.

Speaker 8 (01:22:47):
Talk.

Speaker 4 (01:22:47):
I mean, I understand what you're saying. Those are all Listen,
let me tell you something. Those are all positions that
I'm so thankful for. People would die to be in
right now. But I had to leave a legacy of
something from my family, my children, and the people who
know and love me to be proud of that I.

Speaker 3 (01:23:06):
Did on my own.

Speaker 4 (01:23:09):
I did my album in thirty days man and what
me and my team have been found have been calling
relationship equity right, And what that means to me is
I have poured so much into people un without asking
for anything in return, just because I value people in

(01:23:30):
relationships for the last twenty years. That when I made
a call to Questlove, when I made a call to
James Poison, when I called Jasmine Sullivan, when I called Mary,
when I called Kirk Franklin, when I called Leslie Oldham Junior,
when I called Queen Latifa, when I called Robert glasper
they immediately said, whatever you need, we got you.

Speaker 3 (01:23:49):
You've had us for all this time.

Speaker 4 (01:23:52):
And I get choked up even thinking about it, because like, nobody,
nobody in twenty twenty two got the track list that
I got, Perry, I don't care what maybe.

Speaker 1 (01:24:00):
Call it all right, Like my track.

Speaker 4 (01:24:04):
List is crazy, and it's like it's only because I've
loved on these people.

Speaker 3 (01:24:10):
I exclaim it. I'm proud of who I love.

Speaker 4 (01:24:12):
I'm proud of the people that have inspired me, and
for whatever reason, they also felt like I've inspired them,
and so they returned that musical favor and we made
this album called Legacy that I'm so so.

Speaker 3 (01:24:24):
Proud of That's what took me so long.

Speaker 4 (01:24:27):
Man, I think you know, you know, seeing loss and
experiencing joy with my children. I was like, you know,
it ain't nothing like having my son sing my song
as one of his favorite songs, hearing him wake up
and sing fly Me to the Moon.

Speaker 5 (01:24:41):
Or I was going to ask you what made you
do the singing because people know you for playing, but
also on his record as special because we get to
hear you sing.

Speaker 3 (01:24:49):
Yeah, I sang a little bit.

Speaker 4 (01:24:51):
You know, I've been inspired by big band music all
my life. Tony Bennet and rat Pack and Sinatra and
Sammy and Nat came Cole. You know there's I mean,
they all can sing, but it was it was the
swag that made them songs cool too, you know what
I'm saying, Like Louis Armstrong is like the swag behind it.

(01:25:14):
So I was like, you know, man, I got some swag.
Let me let me throw it on a record.

Speaker 6 (01:25:19):
Make me think I'll be sure more of a stylist.

Speaker 3 (01:25:22):
That's what.

Speaker 1 (01:25:27):
You know.

Speaker 4 (01:25:27):
And even the song that I sang on at the top,
So yeah, the song I sang on it is called
back on the Strip, and it's a it's a not
the Philly in Jersey and do it with Queen Latifa
and it's going good. So yeah that I'm so excited
about Legacy. And it's able to showcase many, many different
like facets of who I am.

Speaker 3 (01:25:50):
You know. This this is volume one.

Speaker 4 (01:25:51):
I don't know when or if Volume two happens, but
it's like at the same time, I had to, I
had to do it.

Speaker 3 (01:25:58):
You know. People have been great to me, music has
been great to me. We blessed what.

Speaker 4 (01:26:01):
We do and and this is my this is my
olde and and thank you to the music industry.

Speaker 5 (01:26:08):
Note for putting Lauren to Lease on there too, because
everybody might not know her name, but you gonna know
their voice.

Speaker 4 (01:26:13):
I feel that's why Philly Cleveland girl right there, that
the project is on their you know yeah Baylor Yeah.
And then I you know, made a call to John Schofield.

Speaker 3 (01:26:25):
He ended up jumping.

Speaker 1 (01:26:26):
Yeah, I see you got Schofield on the record.

Speaker 4 (01:26:28):
Scholfield on there, Kean, Harold, Wayne Burge, Run, Dante Winslow,
the Truth, Jilly from Philly, spitting bars, yeah, uh, Swizzy
on the backgrounds.

Speaker 3 (01:26:41):
It's just you know, it's it's fire man. I'm so
so thankful.

Speaker 5 (01:26:45):
We just kind of went through your whole like crazy
days and times. What does the rest look like? When
do you end your day? Is your week seven days
a week? What are the barriers that you put on
for your own self and your family?

Speaker 4 (01:26:57):
That is that is a great question I'm still learning
at forty years old, like where to say no?

Speaker 3 (01:27:02):
Where to draw the line. One of the reasons I
think I haven't said no is, first of all, I
grew up with the roots.

Speaker 4 (01:27:11):
But at the same time, we are and I'm mayrior
you can attest possibly, but I'm so much further along
in my head in my career than my dreams could
ever imagine. So sometimes when I get an offer to do,
I'm be completely honest. Like Stevie called me to day
and was like, Yo, I need you to mdy his

(01:27:31):
house of toys. I can't do it.

Speaker 3 (01:27:34):
That's the craziest thing for me to say.

Speaker 1 (01:27:35):
I was going to say, what prestigious person.

Speaker 4 (01:27:39):
It just happened to me today. It just happened to
me today, and it happens all the time. But I'm
speaking of today because Yo, I got I have Super
Bowl rehearsal right, and I've already committed and I would
wear myself in my thirties or twenties be like I'm
doing it all.

Speaker 3 (01:27:54):
But at the.

Speaker 4 (01:27:55):
Older I get the more responsibility that these prestigious gigs
have as well. So the responsibility for me to be
at a meeting is different than me going to another gig.

Speaker 8 (01:28:06):
You know, the workload is higher when you like overseas.

Speaker 4 (01:28:10):
Higher up I get, the more responsibility that workload is on.
It falls on me, and my team is incredible, do
not get me wrong. But at the same time, at
some I gotta show face and I have to implement
my own knowledge into what makes this show what it is.
So I had to say no to Stevie, and I
think that that is is crazy, but it's also a

(01:28:31):
testament to being a stand up person and what you've
already agreed to, and then also knowing the time that
I spend with my family and my children and my wife.

Speaker 3 (01:28:42):
That's what makes me a better.

Speaker 4 (01:28:43):
Musician, because we've all had that moment where you get
that nod in your stomach and you like, I can't
even perform today. I'm jacked up. I don't know what's
going at home or or whatever. The you know, personal
case may be in some of our lives. But it's like,
as long as I make sure that routine and that
home is straight, I'm a better person for the rest
of the world. And sometimes in this business, unfortunately, the

(01:29:06):
world doesn't care if we're greater, if we're better people,
as long as we're servicing them.

Speaker 3 (01:29:12):
I've been blessed to be able to. I've been blessed
to be able.

Speaker 4 (01:29:15):
To the last two three four years have people that
want to pour back into me in certain gigs and that,
and that is a blessing to me. It's a blessing
when I can say, yo, I need a break, or
I can't do this, or I got to get home,
or my son got a soccer game or my daughter
got swimming lessons. I promise you it's going to be okay.
I'll be right back. They say, oh, man, we got you.

Speaker 8 (01:29:36):
It's okay.

Speaker 3 (01:29:37):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (01:29:37):
So those are the moments that matter to me, which
in turn supports what why I do what I do
for them this legacy.

Speaker 1 (01:29:46):
You know, Adam, if there were a versus for mds, whoa.

Speaker 2 (01:29:56):
Whoa who would be the Adam Blackstone versus.

Speaker 1 (01:30:04):
For and someone that you didn't and I don't mean like,
bro that.

Speaker 3 (01:30:10):
Do you about the this is that's really good?

Speaker 8 (01:30:13):
No?

Speaker 1 (01:30:13):
No know, well who's an MD out there? That's like okay,
so I see you.

Speaker 3 (01:30:18):
I mean, listen, you know my West Coast brothers fifteen
hundred and nothing they're.

Speaker 4 (01:30:24):
Doing they Yeah, I got like Rant and Mars.

Speaker 8 (01:30:29):
I got Mars.

Speaker 4 (01:30:30):
So that a lot of my influence in pop music
came from Kevin and Tunes. Okay, I'm not sure if
people are familiar with him, but he did every boy
band in the nineties, So Backstreet, Incent Id Degrees, Bretty Spears,
Christina Aguilera, them, Jurassic Park Sounds and all that.

Speaker 3 (01:30:49):
Like the in Sync was doing that. You know what
I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (01:30:53):
Remember when the TVs came over their heads at Massive Squirrelark,
So like Kevin and Tunes would be another one. And
then I'm just inspired by so many others. You know,
Ricky Minor with what he did with Whitney Houston. I
took a lot of that catalyst and tried to bring
it to Jill.

Speaker 3 (01:31:12):

Speaker 4 (01:31:13):
It was like, our live versions of this music is
almost just as good or hopefully better experience than some
of the record joints.

Speaker 3 (01:31:22):
That's how you feel about Whitney. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (01:31:24):
He was doing when Ricky was doing Whitney, and so
like we Jill loved singing live, you know what I'm saying,
And at that time I hadn't experienced somebody that was.

Speaker 3 (01:31:33):
Like, Yo, let's go on the stage and were just
gonna vibe.

Speaker 4 (01:31:35):
And it's Jill is such a you know, a class
act when it comes to that and commanding that stage.

Speaker 3 (01:31:42):
She taught me so much of how to just be.

Speaker 8 (01:31:44):
In the moment.

Speaker 4 (01:31:46):
I got a lot of that from watching Ricky and
with Whitney and all the other TV things he has done.

Speaker 1 (01:31:52):
And Jill still use colorful metaphors when she wants something.

Speaker 8 (01:31:56):
I need, I need, I need.

Speaker 3 (01:31:59):
Yeah, yeah. I sent her a song for my album
that this sounds like that tying down. She said, it's
not yellow enough.

Speaker 1 (01:32:08):
Yo, dog.

Speaker 2 (01:32:09):
Every Jill is the most song rejecting person I know
in this lifetime.

Speaker 1 (01:32:14):
And it's always a metaphor.

Speaker 3 (01:32:17):
It's gotta be green. It's like.

Speaker 1 (01:32:20):
She's big on synesthesia.

Speaker 3 (01:32:22):
Yeah she gets it, but but let me write that
word down.

Speaker 1 (01:32:25):
Say what now?

Speaker 6 (01:32:25):
Synesthesia?

Speaker 2 (01:32:26):
Synesthesia that's when you hear music or sounds, and it
makes you think of a color. That is all. That
is all Jill Skoy is about. Yes, and he wanted
like strawberry moon.

Speaker 4 (01:32:39):
Yeah, and her wanted and her genius allows her to
convey it right in a way where you like, oh,
this sound, this chord.

Speaker 3 (01:32:48):
This feeling, whether you're.

Speaker 4 (01:32:50):
You're I'm gonna make this up, whether you're a synesthetic
or not, you understand what she's saying back.

Speaker 1 (01:32:57):
To right, we play. We can do that, all right?
So I learned a lot this episode.

Speaker 4 (01:33:03):
Also listen, I gotta I gotta do this man. I
gotta give my man quest love his flowers. I continue
to say in every interview, every problems, I just gotta
say this, Like every MD also has an m D
and a mere quest love. Thompson is my forever m D.

(01:33:24):
I he can or cannot. I set three in the
morning and I say, Yo, what you think about D
D D D D or what the cord for this?

Speaker 3 (01:33:32):
Or how should I do this?

Speaker 4 (01:33:34):
Or like I'm still asking and gaining knowledge and and
and hopefully you know, you know, bro that what you've
spawned in me is so many other Now the people
you say I've inspired, they got to know that where
I get it from. And so between you and James
and Rich and and and just the whole crew, it's like,

(01:33:54):
I appreciate you for taking a chance on me. Literally
Philadelphia changed my life and you know here we are QLs.

Speaker 1 (01:34:02):
Well, thank you very much, thank you. Yes, I'll take
these damn flowers.

Speaker 3 (01:34:07):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:34:08):
Now you know what I learned. You know what I
learned this episode.

Speaker 2 (01:34:11):
And I was quasi joking when it came to me,
but now realize, like, damn, Adam's right, like I gotta
control my my deaths is a real Yeah. I don't
want nobody showing that damn Like every time I go
to sports events, they always show the damn Justin Bieber
drum battle.

Speaker 3 (01:34:32):
Yeah you like you know, listen, I gotta say.

Speaker 1 (01:34:35):
Man, like, no offense is just to biberm only.

Speaker 3 (01:34:39):
No, no, we're not talking.

Speaker 4 (01:34:40):
It's not about Beber, but what we've done in our
lives that what has made the you know, the impact on.

Speaker 3 (01:34:47):
People, because you don't you know that casket.

Speaker 4 (01:34:49):
Man is real and we don't want to be like,
oh he was an asshole, look at him up there
with like you know what I'm saying, like that, ain't
we want to. We want to know when you freaking
started playing drumming jungle and drumming based on you got me? Like,
whoa how? That just was like what the like? Those
are the things? You know what I'm saying, that's.

Speaker 6 (01:35:11):
My moment to Adam, that's my favorite quest.

Speaker 1 (01:35:13):
It's called a legacy.

Speaker 3 (01:35:14):
Legacy, Baby, it's.

Speaker 2 (01:35:15):
Called a legacy left that you've yet to do that
you want to do.

Speaker 4 (01:35:21):
Winning that in me, bro let me know that Egot
was was stop playing very much was very much a
real thing, and it's attainable. It's very much attainable. Watching
you get two in one year, it was like okay
and there you go and inspira And sometimes we just
need to see our own whether it's our own color,

(01:35:43):
or our own people or our own friends, like do
it because you know that you can do it. What
I want to do is inspire kids to know that
follow your dreams and it could happen like I. You know,
earlier I might have thought I wanted to be in
the NBA or play baseball. Now I'm like doing halftime
at the NBA All Star Game every year. I'm like,
if this is if the music is what got me

(01:36:05):
to the NBA. Thank your you know what I'm saying.
But I don't know if there's anything else. Man, I'm
gonna just take it day by day and you know,
gig by gig and you know, just be super thankful, yo.

Speaker 3 (01:36:20):
Thankful music.

Speaker 4 (01:36:21):
Music has the power to take to do anything and
heal and take us anywhere.

Speaker 5 (01:36:26):
Inspire and grown ups to just so you know a
lot of us.

Speaker 3 (01:36:30):
Yeah, well you gave question Love all his flowers. Now
to tell everybody who your favorite you.

Speaker 4 (01:36:35):
Is Mandell Mix, don't get in trouble'd be right.

Speaker 3 (01:36:48):
That's a hard question, a rough question.

Speaker 6 (01:36:51):
About the day.

Speaker 1 (01:36:52):
We are chilling and ship everybody.

Speaker 11 (01:36:57):
We love every God No, Adam, I yo, man, I
couldn't be more proud of you man and I and
just to see your growth, this is awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:37:09):
I thank you for doing this and it's it's amazing
to see your work.

Speaker 1 (01:37:14):
I can't see what you have in the future.

Speaker 2 (01:37:17):
And thank you for spending this time with us on
behalf of Unpaid Bill who's working on his umteeenth Tony
and Sugar Steve, our favorite person of all time, voniglo.

Speaker 3 (01:37:30):
An inside joke between me and.

Speaker 1 (01:37:32):
Adam and and my year. This is another great episode
of Quest Love Supreme. You know we will see you
on the next go round, all right? What's Love Supreme?

(01:37:55):
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visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
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Laiya St. Clair

Questlove

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Questlove Supreme: Adam Blackstone