February 23, 2022 • 62 mins
Y'all ready for a Questlove Supreme first? We have yet to dive into the world of gospel, so you know if we gonna do it, it has to be done right! That's why the first gospel artist to sit with us is the great change-maker and supreme innovator, Fred Hammond! Yup, another legendary conversation, and 2-parter. Oh, and keep your ears open for a special guest cohost with his own gospel roots...This is Questlove Supreme with Fred Hammond part 2.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
YO, What Up sponsor the Loo.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Last week we got into part one of our interview
with Fred him and and.
Speaker 4 (00:12):
Y'all heard that one. Get ready for part two.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
We go even deep and it's even better Quest Love
Supremes and the.
Speaker 5 (00:17):
House y'all yep, I asked you initially then we got sidetracked,
but can you just briefly talk about what the gospel
circuit is like in remember I told you that the
whole thing? Like, okay, you're touring with the Winings? What
(00:38):
is what is a working musician making with the Winings?
In nineteen eighty eighty one? Just keep it tel conditions
like yeah, are.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Y'all in one hotel and the wine is in another one?
Eighteen were the same.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
There is there a rider.
Speaker 5 (00:57):
I just want to know, like what a working musician
makes in the gospel circuit? Like are you playing chess churches?
Is it banquet halls? Is the theaters? Like take me
through you give me a gig? Darumming with the with
the Whinings. It explained to me.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
The whole process.
Speaker 6 (01:15):
Okay, So the Winings when they came out their record,
they had a great manager they had a couple of
great managers, Derek Dirtson was one of them, a couple
of other people, and they had writers, you know, down
to just like a because these managers managed secular acts.
So they had writers. And we were doing mainly theaters,
(01:36):
and back at that time they had this thing called
the World's Greatest Gospel Show, James Cleveland, Mighty Clouds, and
they were doing arenas. They were doing literal arenas like
Cobo Hall or something, and so we did a lot
of big, big dates. When we did a church, we
felt like, you know, it was beneath us, you know,
even church with big because we were used to not
(02:00):
doing churches. The Wine has had a thing that they said,
we don't want to play churches because we don't want
to alienate some people don't want to come to church,
and we want everybody to hear our music. So we
did a lot of theaters, you know, did a lot
of theaters, Beacon Theater, we did Radio City, We did
a lot of a lot of things. So they had
a writer. We all stayed in the hotel. We traveled
(02:23):
by Greyhound bus and van. Every now and then we
would we would fly, but we we we traveled. We
didn't have no problem loading up in a sixteen passenger,
you know and hiding down the road. You know. So
that was the case. But here's let's let's talk about
the money, thank you. It got strange, It got really weird,
(02:49):
got weird. I started off making because I knew they
were charging like three fifth thirty five hundred the night.
Then they were moving up four thousand dollars that they
were moving up the ranks, and they we started off
making two fifty a night, and we was like, man,
this is great money. Well somebody told them, like, you know,
as you guys make more money, the band is going
(03:12):
to make less money. And they took that wrong. So
when they went up to forty five hundred, we went
down to one seventy five. When they went up to
five thousand, we went down to like one hundred. It
got down to fifty dollars a night because they were like, hey, hey,
(03:32):
you know what else y'all gonna play? Well, who else
y'all gonna play for? You know, we don't we the
only kind of game in town, you know. And we
literally got down to fifty dollars a night, and I
was on welfare. I was literally collecting unemployment and having
to go out of town. So I go to Oakland.
(03:53):
I have to stop off at the unemployment office. I
go into I go into KFC right next to the
unemployment office. Say hey, y'all looking for anybody. Y'all got applications.
They say, now, we ain't hiring and not going to
in the in the.
Speaker 7 (04:07):
Job.
Speaker 6 (04:08):
Yeah, and they say, okay, cool I signed. I go
back because like my fifty dollars from the wine's three nights,
I got a pluck fifty plus that wasn't per diem.
That your perdaem was in your pay.
Speaker 8 (04:21):
So I'm going wait, wait, wait, wait wait wait, oh.
Speaker 6 (04:26):
Wow, it was. It was kind of it was it was,
it was, it was. It was a thing.
Speaker 8 (04:31):
You know, how did you let it get that man?
Why did why did you guys let it get to
that point?
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Like that was yo?
Speaker 8 (04:38):
I mean, I'm just curious, as like you didn't nobody
ever say anything like okay, now it's one hundred, that's no.
Speaker 6 (04:44):
No. My drummer, my my, my, one of my best
friends in the group at the time, his name was
Sandy loved it. He was a great drummer and he
just got your point, said man, I can't go out
for this. I got to get a job. I'm going
to give me a job at Chrystler. And we had
meetings like guys, can we get more money? And they
were at a place where they were so hot. They
were like, if you don't want to play, you know
(05:06):
somebody else. And that was just the way it was.
And they weren't me, and they would just call themselves
being business people. And I stayed as long as I
physically could. I was making I literally man was on
welfare and playing, and I just stuck hung in there.
I never forget we'd do. Went to California for a month,
(05:27):
and I had to pay for my own food every
now and then they would pay for our food. You know,
come on and sit on down. But they only had
a few gigs. We probably had seven gigs out there,
so fifty times seven is what it was. And I
had to eat. So when I went home, I probably
went home literally with like one hundred and eighty bucks
in my pocket.
Speaker 8 (05:46):
If yeah what I'm saying.
Speaker 6 (05:50):
But my thing was, I loved it so much and
I thought, at being young and gumble, I'm like, well
this is how it goes. I'm not leaving. This is
the best place for me. So it's not gonna be
about money. I didn't realize I was learning it's not
about money. When you do this, you got to have
a passion. So that's what it was.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Another question I always wanted to know.
Speaker 5 (06:14):
I'm you know, I grew up in uh uh, you know,
a household with at least three thousand records. I'm very,
very very familiar with the Light label, so I know
about the history of Ralph Carmichael, a man and whatnot.
Could you explain that for our listeners and to me too,
(06:34):
because I know very little, Like was like a Detroit label,
and like why were why was that the was that
the go to? Was that the motown of gospel labels
back then?
Speaker 6 (06:50):
It was Andre Crouch made Light Records. Andre Crouch were
really good friends and Ralph in in Andre's earliest music,
you know, and then Andre just blew it up, man,
and just he just that's what did it. That's what
did it. Andre Crouch built Light Records, and then the
(07:11):
Winers went. At that same time, Andre had a little
something and they had to kind of part ways. Andre
went to Warner Brothers, you know, from there, and so
the Winings ran Light Records, and Light Records was a major,
major force. But it was from La they lived. They
were out in Pasadena and somewhere out there, and you
know out there that's where Light Records was.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
The Hawkers too, The Hawkers were.
Speaker 6 (07:35):
In the Bay area and they were on Light. Yeah.
The first record and all of their records were on
Light Records. Yeah. Light was the major lay with that.
For Word Records hadn't even come into play yet, you know,
Light was the thing. And then Ralph he retired and
gave his reins over to another guy. And that's when
(07:58):
Commission came in and we salvage because we were making
money for Light Records. You know, we was really turning
some records off.
Speaker 5 (08:06):
Okay, so now that we're there, can you please tell
me just the average creative at least for I'm going
on and the go tellus, like your first two records,
can you tell me what the creative process is for
making those albums, as in, who's the alpha that makes
the decisions?
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Who?
Speaker 5 (08:26):
How do you guys especially, I mean there's six of
you or seven of you, six of you, like, is
it really democratic or is it just like what you
say goes or what like, what's the as Fonte would say,
sort of the division of labor in creating these records.
Speaker 6 (08:45):
Man, I was good, and I've always been good at delegating,
you know, I understood it. So I broke the group
up into two pieces because the singers, Carl Mitchell and
Keith they weren't really Mitchell was.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
He was.
Speaker 6 (09:01):
He was kind of key in learning the music side,
but I had a very funk background. So I would
divide it up into here's the singers, this is what
we do, and then it was Michael Brooks and myself,
Me and Mike. Mike was a keyboard player and he
was the songwriter, so we would take his songs. He
would say this is this, this, this this, and then
(09:23):
we would add the flare to we put the swag
on it. Mitchell and I would put the swag on it,
and I was it was never about me, you know,
running the show. We were just glad that Mike Brooks
was such a good songwriter. He was phenomenal. All of
them songs back then basically came from him. We didn't
even know anything about songwriting. He was teaching us, but
(09:43):
we took his songs and we made them as good
as they could be. So, you know, we just we
understood that level. So I was really a producer from
that angle. Mike was the writer, arranger and producer. So
we worked well together. You know. We we never saw
anything different from Timmy, Jimmy and Terry or or from
(10:05):
Babyface in La. So we just took it that. You know,
you work together, you know whatever you feel. How you
feel about that, He said, oh I like that. I say, well,
I like what you're doing. So we just did that
and it worked, you know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (10:19):
That was up.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
What was the in terms of stacking all recording your
background vocals? What was that process?
Speaker 6 (10:24):
Like John Yash a good friend of mine, great great engineer,
He ended up getting fired off our first record because a.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Lot of firing going on in the commission.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Ya was getting people out of there, cud.
Speaker 6 (10:43):
I never heard the word fire so much. So here's
what we were doing. We heard a different sound from
what everybody else heard when it comes to the background. So
we took and we stacked you know, each part, you know,
four fur and for and our backgrounds were more Clark Sisteries.
(11:03):
One of the songs that we learned our first song.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
When you say real quick, just so when you say
four four four are each one of y'all like four
of y'all singing the same part, and y'all are tracking
four of us.
Speaker 6 (11:14):
Singing and racking. We sing two tracks because it was
twenty four track at that time, so we really had
to manage you jump. So we were singing the bottom,
then we sing the middle. Then sometimes Mitchell Carlin and
I would sing the top, or just Mitchell Carlin mitchellul
singing the top. So we had six tracks of vocals,
but we we had intrigates parts because we were always
(11:37):
concentrating on the Clark systems. Our first song we ever
learned in my mother's in my mother's living room was Loukith.
It's the plain speed a praise speed rain lood hell
me to ze. Yeah. When we sang that and learned that, man,
we ran out like we ran a grand We jumped
(11:58):
off off the porch. We learned it. So we said,
this is how our vocals are going to be. So
now we're singing this song. If we have a lord
be full, sure they and we're singing it, and sure
they need surely we need sure they we need him na.
(12:20):
And when we did that part. We were amazed, but
the engineer said, no, you can't have the vocals up
that loud. They need to be back here. I said,
but they don't sound good back there. We want them
up louder because it's like background leads. And we had
a thing because nobody was doing it that way. So
finally he put him where he wanted him and we
(12:41):
just said, okay. Cool. I went into the stage manager,
I mean the studio manager. I told her. I said,
you know, we need to get our masters. She said,
you leave it. Yeah, and she said why I said,
I didn't want to get him, you know, fired I
want you know. He said, well, we think our voice
(13:01):
woes sound better up here. He said, who's paying for this?
Is he paying for this? We pay? Are you paying?
And I said we are. She said, you better grow
a pair. I'm gonna teach you how to be a man.
You record next week came back. It was a different
engineer there, and he turned it up wherever we wanted,
and the commission sound was berthed it. The very next album, though,
(13:23):
we went back with John and he got it and
he was here with the assignment.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
Brother brother Hammond.
Speaker 5 (13:32):
Can you explain the influence and what makes the Clark
sisters their sound or their blend, like, what makes it
so spad than anyone's form a background blending or whatnot.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Twinkie fun word Twinky Clark.
Speaker 6 (13:51):
At that time, Twinkie Clark, Twinkie was Stevie to us.
How she played when she sat down to how she played,
how she arranged her arm andes and what she did.
It was just amazing. And so you have Karen and
Derinda and you have you had Denise at that time,
and Jackie and Tweinky was giving out these crazy parts
(14:14):
and these crazy chords and it was blowing us all
the way. It was amazing. If you go back and
listen to it, the recordings weren't that great productionalizing sonically,
you know, there's a lot of mistakes that kept going.
But if you listen to the heart of Twinkie Clark's
arranged it was just with like that praying spirit. That
(14:34):
is an amazing song. That was our north star to say,
we want to make people feel like this about our
record because at that time we didn't want to sound
like the Windings because they were kind of straight ahead,
you know, four Tops Temptations. You know, they they were
that they were We wanted to be different.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
They were that.
Speaker 6 (14:57):
Go back to go back to, go back to question
is no no no no no no no no no no,
just straight on that.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
So to you, to you, that was regular, just regular
flat like harmony. One on one.
Speaker 6 (15:13):
It was one o one.
Speaker 5 (15:15):
My My parents lived for that record. So I'm growing
up thinking that the Winings are the epicenter of you know,
and the absolute force of gospel singing. But for you,
that was just normalized. And the Clark sisters were top shelf.
Speaker 6 (15:33):
It was as far as being creative, the Clark sisters
were top shelf. As far as the blend the Whinings brothers,
there was a blend like no other because they were family.
So we took the we took the polished of the Winings,
and we took the creativity of the Clark sisters. And
that's what commissioned. So if the Winings commission and Clark
(15:56):
Sists got together, then they produced us, you know what
I'm saying. So that's what you hear, you know, But
it was about Twinkie. Twinkie was beast. She was a beast.
She was she was amazing. And that's where we got
it from.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
So okay, Actually I want to direct this to James,
because here's the deal. Again, we're not you know, at
the top of the show, I explained that when I
was in high school, it was almost like a gang experience,
and I'm ad performing arts school, and you got like
one cat like Kurt rosenwinkles into Frank Zappa, so you
got to learn his language.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
But then like Chris McBride and Joey.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
Di Francesco are heavy jazz cats, so you got to
listen to like anything on Blue Note. And then of course,
you know, my partner Triga is hip hop and whatnot,
and so there was the fourth category of cats who
only lived for Commission. And so you know, like I,
even though we didn't go to the same school together,
(17:00):
like little John Roberts as a drummer, was how I
knew Commission.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Because the thing is, you know, like I'm thinking, like
with my legacy of who my.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
Dad was and Whatnot'm finally like in a high school
situation which I could play like all City Jazz band
all that stuff. So I'm thinking, like the red carpet
is just ready for me, and like, you know, for
me to get my thing on and little John Roberts,
who's way younger than I was, Like, he's like three
four years younger. You know this, this little you know,
(17:31):
eighth grade runt is playing like an adult and I'm like,
wait what and he's little John's let me know, like
like you don't know about commission.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
And I'm realizing, you know, because again I was team Prince.
That's that's who.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
That's who I chose that you know, sprints the time
and all that stuff. I wasn't him to commission. And
yet all my peers, like all those first generation monster
Cats were just like taking every word as like bond
so for you, for you, James, like how how much
(18:09):
of their work, like was influential to you coming up
in your dad's church and whatnot?
Speaker 7 (18:16):
Oh my see, I grew up and my father's a
bishop and a Jamaican bishop, which means that we ain't
we couldn't do nothing. As my dad said, your cont
do this, your count do that.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
He had to sneak to listen to commission.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
No no, no, no no no.
Speaker 7 (18:37):
That was the only those are the only records that
I could listen to. You know, we I grew up,
you know, the records that were in the house where
the Andree Crouch and the Hawkens and so forth and
so listen to that. But when commission came, it was like,
this is something new. All my musician buddies at the
time that grew up in the church were like, yo,
(18:59):
if you check this out.
Speaker 6 (19:00):
The very beginning of.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Going on, it was like what is that?
Speaker 7 (19:07):
So it was like we had something, We had something
cool to listen to, you know what I mean, something
that yeah, something.
Speaker 6 (19:15):
That was explained to me.
Speaker 5 (19:17):
What year did gospel stop really let itself go of?
Like the Gospel Quartet, Like when did gospel really let go?
Because even now I collect, like I love collecting gospel
records that will take that one secular song and turn
(19:37):
it into a gospel song like sha Lamar second time around,
or you know, there's a whispers and the beat goes
on gospel version. There's a Lovely Day that's gospelized. You know,
there's always that one token song where they like take
a secular song and do it. But the rest of
this stuff is like old time gospel. At what point
in the gospel world do you you not have to
(20:01):
feel shame that you're making people dance and not playing
the regular gospel time old.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Time you brought the sunshine maybe right?
Speaker 7 (20:12):
Yeah Clark Sisters, Yeah what the sunshine?
Speaker 2 (20:17):
I mean that was master blast.
Speaker 7 (20:22):
So that's the first time in which like I mean,
if you go back to Edward Hawker edwind Hawkins the
Oh Happy Day too, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
So even then, like that's still gospel to me.
Speaker 5 (20:34):
But like, what's the point where, like you know, where
you if you take the vocals away, it could be
a secular song, Like, at what point does that happen?
Speaker 6 (20:48):
It really took hold with b B and CCS first.
Speaker 8 (20:51):
I owe you me, Yes, I got it right. I
was thinking that, but I didn't want to say it
out loud. Thank you, Fred.
Speaker 6 (20:56):
I'm thinking that's when it really took hold because the
people didn't know if there was a love song album, yeah,
you know, and that's when it got popular to actually
sing music. Steve Thomas was the was the producer at
that time. He was a white boy with a lot
of song in Heaven.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
He did a lot of Vanessa Williams stuff too.
Speaker 6 (21:19):
Yeah. Yeah, so that's what it really kicked in.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
So when you're playing in church, are there any elders
ever giving you side eye? Like because even even mine,
like I'm not I didn't. I didn't come from the
church per se, but I played drums at my church occasionally.
So like you know in eighty six eighty seven, you know,
I might put a little bit of top villain into
(21:44):
whatever we're doing, or play like a run DMC break
beat or whatever, and occasionally, like an older uncle would
give me that look like I.
Speaker 6 (21:54):
Know what you're doing.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
You know how you older people didn't know when the
kids start doing the then they're like, oh, you're playing.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
Secondly, you don't do that like uplood.
Speaker 5 (22:05):
So are you at all ever getting like side eyes
if you start referencing a popular baseline, if you start
doing not just neeedep or something like in your music.
Speaker 6 (22:17):
Man, we caught the blues with that. Man, we caught
the blues with that. We were getting. Man, we got picketed.
We got picket at the show.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
Wait, I wasn't expecting that the.
Speaker 6 (22:29):
Mission we were doing a we were doing a convention
in Kentucky, I believe Cincinnati, Kentucky, and man, there was
they said, Man, we don't want to we don't want
to bum you out, but there's a whole bunch of
people about twenty to thirty people out in the front,
and they got picket signs saying this music is gonna
send you to hell. Oh and I never forgot. I
(22:52):
never forgot. It was like a scene out of a movie.
Driving up. All of a sudden, we in slow motion.
You hear some strings playing and you see these people
god Devil's music, Devil's really and were just sitting there
there like what are you doing? But it was still
a line of young people waiting to get in. And
when we got inside, we played like never before. We
(23:12):
weren't really rebellious. We were kind of hurt because we
didn't see that like that, but we played anyway, and
the kids came in there and they had a great time,
and we did have a lot of elders. And people say,
I don't understand it. Like one pastor was totally against us,
and the only reason he stopped being totally against us
is that another pastor had a son that was on
(23:34):
drugs that was getting clean because he was listening to
our music and he would come to church. He said,
I don't know what them boys are doing, but I
tell you this, if they can get him to do
his job, I ain't mad at it and it started
changing some people around, but it took a long time. Man,
people was picking in us because we had on blue jeans.
We were the first group to ever wear blue jeans
(23:54):
on a record, so we was like new addition, and
people just thought people wouldn't buy a record just because
of what we had on that first open. They wouldn't
even buy it.
Speaker 8 (24:03):
What y'all think the church is keeping? Is catching up?
Speaker 5 (24:07):
Yet?
Speaker 8 (24:10):
They now they okay, everybody, everybody ain't in though. That's
why I was.
Speaker 6 (24:14):
Asking churches go to the Potters House. In the Potter's House,
we have we have dance ministries, we have youth ministries,
and they could do whatever it is as long as
it's not sexual looking. They can do any dance. They
can whoa, they can do whatever they want to do
to anything because he encourages. Man, this is current, this
(24:36):
is what we're doing. This is nothing wrong with this.
We we better offer them something. Somebody else is going
to offer him something. I want to give her something
because if they're gonna the pole is gonna offer her something.
So you know, let's be smart about these young people.
And they're they're with it now, but coming up, man,
Eric Robertson is one of my best friends.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
I want to as so he I never forget.
Speaker 6 (25:02):
They told me. They said they brought him down to
Popados and they said they had a special guest for
his birthday, and they brought me in the room. He
literally started crying and we stayed friends ever since. But
he told the story that really blessed me. He said
he hated gospel music because it was He didn't like it,
and his mother said, you got to listen to it,
(25:24):
but she was praying for something. So one day he
was downstairs ironing his clothes and his mother put our
record on the on the iron board and he saw
that we had closes with like he did, and he
looked at it and he played it. He said, I
literally started crying. He said, because you guys, you said it.
You guys made it cool to do gospels. And that's
(25:48):
when the clipped. He and I talked about to this day.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
That's my guy, Eric's man.
Speaker 8 (25:55):
That's coming soon, the quest Love Spring.
Speaker 5 (26:02):
I'm I'm mind blowing. I wasn't expecting the picketting. I thought, like,
you guys broke through the other side and everyone was
with it. So it's basically like the black footloose like.
Speaker 8 (26:14):
It's always a chicken with a skirt underneath the knees
ready to pick it.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
You know what I'm saying, black footloose.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
Well, I also want to know has there ever been
musically speaking, how how long would you guys rehearse? And
you know, was there ever a pressure to top yourselves
as far as the musicality because you know, again some
of these songs are straight ahead funk songs. But then
(26:40):
like you guys will get on your return to forever,
you know, crazy arrangements at the end thing and you know,
so how how how what's the what's the regiment for
like practicing and coming up with new ideas and whatnot.
Speaker 6 (26:58):
There was a point in time where we're doing the
first several set of records, when our budgets were really,
really small. What we would do is put twenty hours
of practice time in a basement to every four hours
of studio time because we didn't have much money.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
When you're in the studio, you can knock it out.
Speaker 6 (27:18):
We knocking it out. And then we was putting fines
in place. We ain't had no money, but we was
putting fines in place. You know, if you miss it
if you because you had to do a take, you
got one tape because we was like, no, we're going
to be doing this in one take. If you messed
it up, man, that's a five dollar fine, you know.
And so the next one we would honestly, but we
(27:39):
were on it man, because we would and we loved rehearsing.
We didn't really have no jobs, so we loved rehearsing, man,
and we just saw ourselves in a bit of better place.
So we would either be a Michael Brooks's basement and
we were learning. That's where I brought in Field Collins.
You know, if you go listen to Hide the word
on the second album, Okay the drummer, I listened to
(28:02):
Level forty two and I listened to Phil Collins and them,
and uh my drummer was crazy about Phil Collins. So
we said, we're gonna put this one party in there
that Phil does his times all right, So it said
when it looks like thing, you rob boom and they
didn't think instant. And then he would go past the one,
(28:26):
so he goes probo instead of going bot instead of
going to the one he would go. He said, watch,
I'm gonna do.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
This boo boo boo, boom stop boom.
Speaker 6 (28:40):
And and we went into a thing. But we he
would do something, then I would do something, or Mark
King would do this right here boom boom boom, and
this would never do well, let's do this right here.
We were blessed to experiment with music and still keep
a pocket. That was the beauty of commission. Man, that's
what I love.
Speaker 5 (29:00):
Wow Wow, you mentioned level for forty two. I was
about to say, what's his name is bass playing King? Yes, Yes,
I definitely see that.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Yeah, erro.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
He wanted to he wanted to ask you what I
wanted you to tell the story of recording, writing and
recording and running back to you.
Speaker 6 (29:22):
Oh man, it was funny because that's actually just came
up about three years ago as a sore spot just
came up. Oh sore spot. Uh. It was supposed to
be in a little movie thing we was talking about doing.
And I won't blow people's cover, but I'll just tell
you what happened. We were in there and this record
(29:46):
we had a we had an artist named Derek Brinkley,
you know, and I was going to give this song
to him, and they said, well, no, why don't you
keep it. So I said to Keith, I said, because
it's my personal testimony. And I said, Keith, man, why
don't you sing the song? Because we always wanted to
make sure everybody felt more comfortable, you know, like I
don't want to seem like I'm doing everything. So I
(30:06):
wrote this song, you know, and I said, Keith, would
you do it? Keith is more straight lace of all
of us. He was very much the straight lace guy,
you know, very cool. But he went out there in
these streets like we was. We was out there and
he said, man, I'm not real comfortable with doing that song.
I said, well, I'll go do the demo of it,
(30:28):
and you guys kind of listened to it. So what
we would do is I the person, would sing the lead,
and then we go start making a background parts. So
I went in there and I sang the song, and
I'm looking at the guys in there, and they're just
kind of sitting like this, you know, and and so
I'm singing the parts and singing the parts, and finally
I put I look in there after I finished, and
(30:49):
I put the headphones down, and nobody's you know, not saying, man,
great songs that they're just sitting there. And so I
walked from the microphone to the studio ten feet going
past double doors. And when I got in there, everybody
was looking at me like this, and I didn't know
(31:09):
what to expect. So I just sat down and one
of the guys said, good job, man, good job. And
I said, okay, cool. So I'm listening to the playback
and I turned around to the guys and said, so, guys,
let's start putting some backgrounds to it. Let's put some
backgrounds to it. And the guy said, I don't think
you should put no backgrounds. Here's here's the dirt. There's
(31:30):
a little dirt. One of the guys, when I was
coming from the vocal booth to the room, said so
they'll gonna just let him do a solo on this record.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Ah man.
Speaker 6 (31:44):
And when I got in there, everybody was off guard.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
So that was the look.
Speaker 6 (31:50):
That was the look. And so the rest of the
guys told me this literally three years ago.
Speaker 7 (31:57):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (31:59):
I always wait what they just told me this three
years ago?
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Wow?
Speaker 6 (32:05):
And so when I walked in the room, I walked
in and the person said, hey, man, you should just
go ahead and do it yourself. And I said, no, man,
I don't want nobody thinking I'm trying to do no
no solo or nothing like that. They said, Man, now
you're good. The guys were trying to process what they
just dealt with.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Oh.
Speaker 6 (32:27):
So they sat there and what you hear is the
demo is the actual song itself today.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Wow. Wow.
Speaker 6 (32:37):
We were still Here's the thing. We were still regular dudes.
We were still people with insecurities. We were people. We
were guys, boys trying to be raising, trying to turn
into men. We had idiosyncrasies, we had group issues. So
when I see something like The Temptation Story, which is
one of my favorite movies of all time, you know,
I feel that pain when I see that five heart,
(33:00):
I feel that pain. When I see the Jackson's I
see a new addition. Man, we all went through that.
It's nothing different in gospel. People have desires and this,
that and the other. We just didn't cuss each other
a fight, but man, it was still the same drama,
you know what I mean? And that was one of
them moments.
Speaker 5 (33:21):
Well, James and I are from the Tri State area,
so the gospel station I always listened to my parents
went full Christian on me, Like around mid eighties, and
there was a station called WZZB, of which you know
you can.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Hear some whinings.
Speaker 5 (33:38):
But then it would be like the people today, Sandy Patty,
Michael W. Smith or you know, yeah, all those groups
Twilight Paris. Like, were you guys ever accepted in the
sort of white mainstream contemporary Christian set or were you
(34:02):
guys strictly just like on your side of the fence,
or you know, was there mixing?
Speaker 4 (34:07):
You know, would they have not on festivals or churches
would invite you guys or like brilliant question.
Speaker 6 (34:15):
We did have a few churches. So if we did
thirty gigs a year, you know, two of them would
be a white church or a big white festival, you know,
a big white festival. The guy that brought Amy Grant
and Michael W. Smith to town, his name was Art.
He would try to get us in events because he
was just a really good friend in him and Derek Dirkson.
(34:36):
Derek was trying to cross us over to let people
see what we did. But we didn't do a lot
of them, but we had enough. You know, festivals. Festivals
were big back then, so we would go on stage,
you know, right before Petra or right before you know striper.
Speaker 4 (34:54):
You know, would he try to kill him, would try
to kill him.
Speaker 6 (34:59):
We was doing our I saw a picture the other
day somebody sent me something. I'm probably post it in
a day or so where we were doing the monument
watch it's called I forgot what it was called. But
it was a big freedom fest and it's one of
the largest white festivals around and they brought us there.
It looks like the crowd is sitting on us because
(35:21):
we were singing. That's when Marvin Sap was in the group.
He had just got in the group. But the reality
was it was one hundred and eighteen degrees and people
were falling out. They told everybody sit down for every group,
no matter who it was, because people were falling out
and they was taking people away and it had to
be like the mall was filled. So it probably was
about thirty thousand people on the lawn, you know. So
(35:45):
you know, I just saw that the other day and
I'm probably posted in a day or so. But yeah,
we had a decent fear, but we basically stayed on
our side the fence.
Speaker 5 (35:55):
I want to get to his last down with Commission
at least to see what the difference is and starting
the band ten years ago in eighty four eighty five,
and what prompted to the initial split from the group
in ninety four with Matters of the Heart. Could you
(36:16):
just talk about the time period.
Speaker 6 (36:18):
The first record after the split was Number seven. That
was the first record. Okay. What ended up happening was
Michael Brooks ended up getting a really good deal with
PolyGram Raina Bundy and PolyGram in New York, and she
(36:39):
made him her staff producer. And you know, he was
kind of a and R director and he was still
with us, but he was really really busy doing that,
and he reached out to Keith and said, hey, man,
we'll do a solo record on you. And Benson Records
passed on Keith's solo deal. They gave him an option
(36:59):
to do it. They said, no, we invested in commission.
We don't think you should be doing that. Well, we
had something in our contract to say first right and
refusal if you pass, it's hit. Well Keith went on
ahead and signed with Brooks under his production company with
Rayner PolyGram and it's called Election Records was the name
of the record company they ended up. Benson got really
(37:22):
mad Benson Records got really mad. So they came to
me and said, he can't stay in this group. If
this is gonna happen, y'all need to get him out,
and this, that and the other. So the record company
basically made us split and said, well, man, you can't
be a part of us if you're going to do that,
And so him and Mike went their way. So now
(37:42):
the whole record from number seven and then Matters of
the Heart is all in my hands to produce. And
I brought Mitchell on because that was my boy, and
he had Mitchell had an amazing sound. He understood, you know, flavor,
He understood he had a flavor too, So that I'm
learning that's Mitchell in Parks, but that's our groove behind it.
But that's their pin, you know. Ordinary just won't do
(38:05):
Mitchell and Parks some of the greatest songs they had,
they just had that that thing, but we had the
music behind. So number seven, you know, I brought in
my boy Bernard, right, we did King of Glory, we
did I Can't Live Without You, and yes, yes, he
(38:26):
stayed with me, hung out with me, and me and
him was like that. And he so if you listen
to King of Glory, you will hear me and Banar,
you know. And then you listen to I Can't Live
Without You, you hear Me and Banard my first solo record.
I came to Jesus with the flying bannbro Me and Banar,
Grace for me every day, Me and Banar. And then
Bernard went and got his record deal from another record
(38:48):
company and he moved on. So that was what that was,
so our sound. I was able to take the funk
that was always in me and drive it and said
this is what we're gonna do. And then we got
to uh, we got a little bit more polished because
we were we got to matters of the heart and
we wanted to sound a little older. So then I
got with my boy Chucky Booker, and we did you know,
(39:11):
love is the Way, and we did you can Always
Come Home with Run DMC, and we just we experimented
with great music. So we had CCM sound, we had
that funk Chucky Booker sound, and then we had that
commission funk in the middle of there something. So that
was kind of how that was birthed. Yeah, and that
(39:31):
was my last record. That was my last record, and.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Then after that. That was when you did Radicals for
Christ for.
Speaker 6 (39:36):
Christ my last record, and we had another split at
that point in time, and really, and I thought I
was I was gonna get rid of the other guys
and we're gonna be me. You know, I'm I'm being
good with the record company.
Speaker 4 (39:48):
And you know it is what it is.
Speaker 6 (39:50):
Which one of you is going, I'm not leaving you
that I've already proven myself. I'm the golden job. They
loved the records. It's selling and and we had a
meeting one time and they said this. They brought a
lot of different things that wasn't true. And we sat
down with a pastor and I'm like, okay, one of you,
somebody's leaving. It ain't gonna be me. We here, No,
(40:14):
I'm not moving. And somebody read I won't say which
one it was. He said, read the bottom line. And
he said, because the pastor said, I don't see anything
wrong here. There's nothing out of order to seat her
in place. Everything that you guys are saying, I don't
see it. What's the bottom line? And he said, we
(40:35):
do not believe God called Fred to be the leader
of our group. And it took all the air out
of me because I picked, I handpicked the guy that
was reading it. And I sat back in my chair
and I went through all the emotions right there, and
then I told I said, give me a week, and
(40:57):
I went back to my little spot, my little studio,
and I went to everywhere in the Bible in the
New Testament that talked about belief, and the main scripture
was Jesus was in his own town preaching to his
own people, and they said, who does this guy think
he is? Don't we know his sisters and them?
Speaker 4 (41:17):
Who you think?
Speaker 6 (41:17):
Where do you get all this knowledge from? And he
said he marveled at their unbelief. And then this was
the thing that made me give it up. He said,
many mighty miracles he could not do because of their unbelief.
And I closed the Bible. I said, I can get
these guys ten grammys. They all have Rose Royce as
Mentley's and they won't believe it's me. So I'm out,
(41:38):
and I just handed everything over. I said, y'all can
have it, and I went into a wilderness. I did
not know what I was going to do. I went
into a depression. We sang one more year, and then
I had to figure out what I was going to do.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
And this is ninety this is ninety four.
Speaker 6 (41:58):
And that's when I heard started a choir and I
was like, now I'm gonna keep it one hundred, you know,
and I don't, you know, only I gotta keep it
careful because I don't want to get canceled.
Speaker 8 (42:09):
You know.
Speaker 6 (42:09):
I didn't care for choirs for the persona that it
carried at the time, and that's what's all i'm gonna
tell you. I'm gonna do, you know, And I didn't.
I didn't care for it, you know. I didn't care
for what people looked at choirs. And I saw Kirk
on a show, and I saw David Man, I saw
a big day Dalen, uh, my boy, Dalen. I saw
(42:32):
and they was with it. And so then I knew
John p Key. So I started listening to John. And
John was thugging. I knew John me I helped him
get his first deal, and so I started listening. I
started listening to show up, like for four months straight,
and I'm hearing this hard driving thing, and I'm like,
I can do this. I can do this. So I
(42:55):
was friends with Billy Steele, so I paid attention to
sounds of blackness, because at that point in time, Jimmy
Terry just killed the game, which sounds of blackness. So
I'm seeing this transformation and I'm going into it, and
I finally I come up with r f C. I said,
this is gonna be our flavor. We're gonna do this.
We're gonna do praising worship. And nobody knew what praising
(43:15):
worship was at that time. Praising worship is just how
you say the lyrics you're saying. So when people are saying,
I've been down, boom and I'm gonna get back up,
they were singing where they were in life. They were singing, baby,
got need a pair of shoes, even got a light
built do Because this is my problem. I'm gonna turn
over the Lord. He'll work it out. But I started
(43:37):
lifting the Lord up. So I'm doing this beat and
I got my MPC, I got all my cards and
load the samples up and I'm doing this one beat
boom stop boom, boomtop boom boom, and I stopped the sample.
And you know how an NBC the sample would go
over shot? Did you hit it again? Shop to read
(44:08):
to read too glow? And that's how it started, it
changed into a whole thing, you know. So I just
took praise and worship that white people were doing, brought
it over to the Black church and I told I
tell white people and says, you guys cook string beans
and it still has a snap in it. We don't
(44:29):
like that. Like our stuff to be all.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
Those bread, it needs to be wilted, turkey.
Speaker 6 (44:38):
Leg in there, and it needs to have not a
nutrient around taste a rival. I don't want to taste.
Speaker 8 (44:49):
I'll see them on none of that fiber.
Speaker 6 (44:53):
This this shouldn't be no good. So that's what my
praise of worship was. It was we just took their
stuff that was neat. We just put some turkey leg
in there.
Speaker 5 (45:07):
It was such an education, especially in watching with you
and Kirk doing versus together.
Speaker 4 (45:17):
Yeah, and going through you know, going through your history.
Speaker 5 (45:21):
How does it feel where now like contemporary sycul acts
be it Diddy Snoop Dogg did a gospel record like,
how does it feel to be embraced by.
Speaker 4 (45:32):
That community to whom that you know? Maybe ten twenty
years ago.
Speaker 5 (45:39):
I think maybe the most radical thing I saw thirty
forty years ago was maybe like Marie White singing with
a gospel act. But you know, now it's very commonplace,
Like how does it feel to get embraced by.
Speaker 4 (45:54):
The world.
Speaker 6 (45:56):
Respect feels good. Respect just feel good. And that's all
we ever wanted was respect, you know, to be treated
like we're real musicians. We're not church musicians. We're real
musicians who made a choice to sing church stuff. And
now that's what it is. So I can look at you,
I can look at the roots, I can pay attention.
(46:18):
I watched you know, you guys. I remember when you
guys went on and got the gig. We all talked about.
That was stuff about that we talked about. I paid
attention to the sound that came out of Philadelphia music,
soul childs. Now we just embraced each other because you know,
at the end of the day, each every one of
us on here, our brothers and sisters. We're a family
(46:41):
of music. First what we talk about, but it's hip hop,
gos it. That's just something we choose to have a
conversation about. But first and foremost, we all have the
passion of the beat, the drum, the bass, the keys,
the sound, the lyric and now we can have we
have those conversations with each other and we respect them.
(47:04):
Like I said, my brother, we're in here right now
preparing for Ricky, Bobby, Rod, Johnny and Mike were preparing
for them right now. All of our gear is getting
ready to go out. And when I go and see them,
I love them and we just we hug up, we
dap up, and we just respect each other, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 4 (47:21):
I really can't wait for this.
Speaker 5 (47:23):
For me, This education is important because you know, James,
James gonna attest to this. Especially in the last two years,
I've been like really catching up on a lot of
things that I've missed and wasn't able.
Speaker 4 (47:37):
You know, like the quarantine period that.
Speaker 5 (47:40):
We're now is a slow down period where you know,
we get time to ourselves and really I get to
catch up on books and things and music that I
otherwise wouldn't have caught up on because I'm working so much.
And I was you know, when when Laias said that
you wanted to do quest Love Supreme, I was, you know,
I was like thinking God, because I didn't want to
(48:02):
be the only person in life who listened to Crash
Cuts more than I've listened to.
Speaker 2 (48:13):
You know, man cut Man happening to do. Yeah, today
my birthday.
Speaker 4 (48:23):
So I thank you for this man, you know, I
truly thank you.
Speaker 5 (48:27):
Almost in closing, I just want to know, well, in
the aftermath of the pandemic, how has your life changed
and how has the circuit, at least your life of
music changed since March of twenty twenty.
Speaker 8 (48:41):
Because he's about to go on tour allegedly.
Speaker 6 (48:44):
Yeah, we're about to do has A Kira, who was
one of my best but good friends. We're hitting the road,
has k marvels at myself, Israel Holden hitting the road
out March Festival, the praise to it. But you know what, man,
it's weird because US streaming has killed us. Streaming really
(49:05):
has it the church. I mean, here's the thing. Our
people are just starting to get on streaming this year.
They're just starting.
Speaker 2 (49:17):
No no, no, he's saying the because that's choice.
Speaker 6 (49:22):
So they couldn't go nowhere listening, so on their refrigerators,
on their computers listening. They discovered Pandora, they discovered Spotify,
you know what I'm saying. So they're they're listening. Now
here's the thing. It's kind of a cruel joke, and
it's not God's fault. But it feels like a cruel
joke because I still have so much music in me
(49:46):
to create, but there's no real outlet. Like I just
did a record, man, I just did a record with
this was this company called Fennis and I put it out.
It's called Sunday Morning Fred, and it's on on Apple
Music right now. But and it's one of the leading
black streaming records out there. And I'm not on a
(50:07):
major label. But it's not saying nothing because I'm streaming
like seven thousand, like thirty six thousand copies of week
streams a week on this new record. And that's not
really that good.
Speaker 2 (50:23):
It's not really financially.
Speaker 6 (50:26):
Is like, Man, I put a lot of money into
it to make it happen. And so on my Facebook page,
I got a whole I got the whole concert. I
got the whole concert. I did it in my warehouse
and it's a throwback of old Fred. It's pages is
the life for it. It's that vibe and a man
gospel is in a tunnel. Because R and B died,
(50:48):
and I tell everybody that when R and B die,
I'm talking about LTD, I'm talking about time. I'm talking
about Anita and Luther, and we could listen to them.
We were What made commission happen is because you could
listen to something like like you said, man, your father said,
(51:10):
you can listen to them. And we gave you the time.
We gave you some prince, We gave you these people
because we had something to lean on. Well, now those
people are gone that that music is gone. It's nothing
new coming out therefore, and gospel has gone back to
(51:32):
traditional or to Maverick. Maverick is the white version of
Black gospel, and Maverick City, Maverick City is the new
praise of worship. It's the hot it's the hottest praise
and worship company out there lives. And when I tell you,
they got some amazing artists. But what it is is
(51:55):
a lot of the young people now have gone over
there and they've taken the sound of black music and
they've made it less black. Okay, you have to go
research it.
Speaker 2 (52:08):
Okay, I tell you.
Speaker 6 (52:10):
It's people like chander More. I mean, I tell you,
this guy is amazing. But what they're doing is they're
creating a new space for these guys to write and
to do their things. So I can't be mad at
I'm never gonna be mad at somebody doing their thing.
Maverick is the hottest thing going Maverick City. But I
can do Maverick because I'm too I'm too so I
(52:32):
don't have that thing and h Man, check it out,
check it out.
Speaker 5 (52:35):
So you're saying, right now, there's really not there's really
not a space for you to be creative and release
product and have it be monetarily worth it. So would
you fante say the sort of where you were in
like two thousand and three, like trying to figure out
where we fit in. He's saying, this is where you
(52:56):
were in two thousand and three, like when you start
a little brother and try to figure out I mean now,
I would assume now in twenty twenty two, twenty years later,
the lame.
Speaker 4 (53:08):
At you're in is rather lucrative.
Speaker 2 (53:10):
Absolutely, yeah, now it makes sense.
Speaker 6 (53:12):
But at the time, the beauty of what I did
that a lot of my counterparts didn't do back in
the commission days is I really felt God told me
to just keep putting music out, even though I wasn't
in the best record company position, even though they were
making the money and I wasn't. I kept hearing them saying,
just keep putting music out, keep putting it out. And
my guys were saying, rightfully, I'm not gonna let them
(53:33):
pip me. I'm out the game before you pit me.
I'm gonna lead. But I kept making the music. Now
my catalog is what it is Spotify. I did twenty
two million streams this year that Spotify alone, Pandora plus
this plus that, and my catalog is burning through like crazy.
(53:55):
So people want to keep me where they met me though.
Speaker 8 (54:00):
That's what I don't want you to evolve. They don't
want you to like.
Speaker 6 (54:04):
I've reached Frankie Beverley's status red I received.
Speaker 3 (54:09):
I'm gonna make you know, I'm gonna make I will
make a suggestion. I'm putting this out this on q les.
I'm saying this. This needs to happen because I think
I think I see a lame for you, brother Fred.
If I may, if I may off, Okay, listen, this
is the same thing that you know that Rick James did.
Speaker 2 (54:24):
Like when you have the veteran act being produced by
the younger producer.
Speaker 3 (54:28):
So Rick James when he produced The Temptations a mirror,
when he produced Al Green, I think your next James.
Speaker 6 (54:43):
A.
Speaker 2 (54:43):
Jas absolutely ahead, Yeah, both of y'all. Y'all did Al Green.
Speaker 3 (54:52):
I think your next project, Fred, I think you should
be produced by Devin Morrison. Oh like when I'm talking
about I don't know if you know him. I don't
know if you're knowing, But Devin Morris is a singer.
He's a singer producer out of He's from out of Florida,
but he's based in I think La. Now, Devin is,
(55:13):
when I tell you, a student of commission. When I
when I found out you were coming on the show,
I reached.
Speaker 2 (55:18):
Out to him.
Speaker 3 (55:18):
I was like, Devin, like, I know commission, but like
I'm not. I'm not a church dude, so I need
to know you know what I mean. He made me
a playlist of like his favorite jokes.
Speaker 2 (55:27):
He was like, all right, this is what you need.
These are the joints, these are the producers. Like he
knows your whole thing, and.
Speaker 3 (55:34):
Yeah, said I'll see you the playlist. And when I
listened to the playlist, I was like, oh my god,
this is Devin's DNA, Like this is he is a
student and a student of your music and loves you, bro,
Like I think y'all can kill something like for real.
Speaker 6 (55:49):
That's the beauty of it to work with my my
newest these young cats. I love working with him, you know,
I love working with him.
Speaker 2 (55:56):
So I'm down, man, I will link y'all up, straight
up and down like that.
Speaker 8 (56:04):
Happened sometimes.
Speaker 4 (56:06):
Wait, James, is there anything.
Speaker 6 (56:10):
Right?
Speaker 7 (56:11):
Weave heathens over here, so you know, man, it's it's
it's just so much music. I just got to tell
you how much of an influence you've had on my
life musically, and I just want to thank you for that.
I don't know if you remember we met my brother
Marvin mcquittie introduced us when you came to Philly. This
(56:32):
is this is just back rest in peace my brother.
Speaker 6 (56:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (56:36):
But just I just I just got to say thank
you man, thank you for the music, thank you for
for who you are.
Speaker 2 (56:41):
That's all right, up and down for real.
Speaker 6 (56:44):
I appreciate you all, and I this night was special
to me. I have not done a zoom this long.
Speaker 2 (56:57):
Listen.
Speaker 6 (56:58):
I wouldn't have been checked out the whole long time
ago because I'll be okay, we just talked about everything else.
But when you get into the history and you get
into the music, cology of it all. Man, you guys
are amazing. Tonight was amazing. Quest Man, you don't understand.
I really am a fan and I am a fan.
Speaker 5 (57:18):
I really thank you and I received that. Thank you
so much for for doing this for us. I really
appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (57:25):
Thank you nah for yo real quick, Fred, do I
have Do I have permission? Can I get your number
from errow and I'll link you? Okay, I'll do that question.
Speaker 6 (57:36):
I don't mess with people when I go places if
they don't really recognize me. I'm the kind of person
that are staying with my family. And I'm cool, you know,
because sometimes you meet a start and they don't know
you today, they know you tomorrow, they know you when
you ain't in front of people, and I don't know
other people. You and I met one time. Oh no,
we were no, no, no, it wasn't that the Grammys.
(58:01):
We was at the Grammys and I was behind you.
Was in l A and I was behind you, and
somebody was kind of they were they were like messing
with your tickets or something, you know, and it was
you and your mom you a were together, and so
I said, hey, hey, bro, you're good and you turned
around and said, hold on second, man, And and so
(58:21):
the girl I was with's like, don't bother, don't I said,
I think he's having some problems up there. And I said,
I'm I believe in him enough to try one more time.
You got free and I got free. I walked up
to you and I said, hey, man, I just want
to tell you I'm a fan. My name is Fred Hamlet.
And man, you embraced me with the biggest huba.
Speaker 8 (58:44):
You said the name.
Speaker 4 (58:45):
Oh look.
Speaker 6 (58:49):
He went. It was always like snap, oh yeah, okay,
he said, And he said, this is my mom. And
we hugged, and this, that and the other. We talked
and that, yeah, induce you to the person I was with.
And man, that that made my day because I didn't
really walk up to a whole bunch of people that night.
I'm not that dude to walk up and so yo ho,
(59:10):
what's that?
Speaker 8 (59:10):
Man?
Speaker 6 (59:15):
You don't know me, I don't know you. That's right,
But man, you were too close. We were in the
tunnel on our way. You were too close for me
not to say something. His quests love. Man, I'm like, man,
let me just talk to my man for a minute.
It was nervous that first woe like a yellow tree
was growing over because shade was. Brother.
Speaker 5 (59:38):
I didn't get you on site, but definitely your name
holds holy because if there's anyone who made me go
in the basement and rehearse.
Speaker 4 (59:52):
Endlessly to keep up with the cats that was listening
to Commission, it was you.
Speaker 6 (59:57):
You. Thank you you.
Speaker 5 (59:58):
And you know, I give credit to my dad, like
my dad makes me go in the basement rehearse, but
you know that was from like eight to thirteen, But definitely,
once I got to high school, you were definitely the
spark that really really brought my musicianship out, brother, and
I thank you for that.
Speaker 4 (01:00:15):
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (01:00:16):
I'll say this and I'll be done. You guys, when
you do stuff like this, you add validity to who
we are as God's artists. You guys did something and
y'all mentioned my name in the middle of one of
these two three hour shows. And my people listen to it,
and they my guy sent me about five people said yo, man,
(01:00:38):
Chris Love said your name, but they talked about you,
and they marked the spot go to this spot and
you get hear it. And I did it and I
said it there and man, it brought a smile to
my face. It's not like somebody sent me something they
said and I said, oh yeah, when they sent it
to me. I wanted to just know because of how
I feel about you, I feel about your proof, how
(01:00:58):
I feel about your pumplishments and everything that you guys
are doing. I just wanted to hear that, and it
was It was validation to me. It's a respect. And
you guys had such nice things to say, and whoever
the guest was on that time, they were talking nice
about it as well. So I just want to tell you, man,
when you guys do this to us, it's a blessing. Man.
(01:01:19):
Trust me. We're listening. Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (01:01:22):
Thank Youah Sugar, Steve about to win that and and
they and.
Speaker 8 (01:01:35):
Are important and.
Speaker 4 (01:01:40):
And paid Bill and our special guest.
Speaker 8 (01:01:44):
James James soon to come as a quest guests.
Speaker 4 (01:01:49):
Soon. Thank you so much for doing us for us
and we appreciate it. This isus Love Love Supreme. We
will see you on the next go around. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:02:07):
West Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. For more
podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
YO, What Up sponsor the Loo.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Last week we got into part one of our interview
with Fred him and and.
Speaker 4 (00:12):
Y'all heard that one. Get ready for part two.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
We go even deep and it's even better Quest Love
Supremes and the.
Speaker 5 (00:17):
House y'all yep, I asked you initially then we got sidetracked,
but can you just briefly talk about what the gospel
circuit is like in remember I told you that the
whole thing? Like, okay, you're touring with the Winings? What
(00:38):
is what is a working musician making with the Winings?
In nineteen eighty eighty one? Just keep it tel conditions
like yeah, are.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Y'all in one hotel and the wine is in another one?
Eighteen were the same.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
There is there a rider.
Speaker 5 (00:57):
I just want to know, like what a working musician
makes in the gospel circuit? Like are you playing chess churches?
Is it banquet halls? Is the theaters? Like take me
through you give me a gig? Darumming with the with
the Whinings. It explained to me.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
The whole process.
Speaker 6 (01:15):
Okay, So the Winings when they came out their record,
they had a great manager they had a couple of
great managers, Derek Dirtson was one of them, a couple
of other people, and they had writers, you know, down
to just like a because these managers managed secular acts.
So they had writers. And we were doing mainly theaters,
(01:36):
and back at that time they had this thing called
the World's Greatest Gospel Show, James Cleveland, Mighty Clouds, and
they were doing arenas. They were doing literal arenas like
Cobo Hall or something, and so we did a lot
of big, big dates. When we did a church, we
felt like, you know, it was beneath us, you know,
even church with big because we were used to not
(02:00):
doing churches. The Wine has had a thing that they said,
we don't want to play churches because we don't want
to alienate some people don't want to come to church,
and we want everybody to hear our music. So we
did a lot of theaters, you know, did a lot
of theaters, Beacon Theater, we did Radio City, We did
a lot of a lot of things. So they had
a writer. We all stayed in the hotel. We traveled
(02:23):
by Greyhound bus and van. Every now and then we
would we would fly, but we we we traveled. We
didn't have no problem loading up in a sixteen passenger,
you know and hiding down the road. You know. So
that was the case. But here's let's let's talk about
the money, thank you. It got strange, It got really weird,
(02:49):
got weird. I started off making because I knew they
were charging like three fifth thirty five hundred the night.
Then they were moving up four thousand dollars that they
were moving up the ranks, and they we started off
making two fifty a night, and we was like, man,
this is great money. Well somebody told them, like, you know,
as you guys make more money, the band is going
(03:12):
to make less money. And they took that wrong. So
when they went up to forty five hundred, we went
down to one seventy five. When they went up to
five thousand, we went down to like one hundred. It
got down to fifty dollars a night because they were like, hey, hey,
(03:32):
you know what else y'all gonna play? Well, who else
y'all gonna play for? You know, we don't we the
only kind of game in town, you know. And we
literally got down to fifty dollars a night, and I
was on welfare. I was literally collecting unemployment and having
to go out of town. So I go to Oakland.
(03:53):
I have to stop off at the unemployment office. I
go into I go into KFC right next to the
unemployment office. Say hey, y'all looking for anybody. Y'all got applications.
They say, now, we ain't hiring and not going to
in the in the.
Speaker 7 (04:07):
Job.
Speaker 6 (04:08):
Yeah, and they say, okay, cool I signed. I go
back because like my fifty dollars from the wine's three nights,
I got a pluck fifty plus that wasn't per diem.
That your perdaem was in your pay.
Speaker 8 (04:21):
So I'm going wait, wait, wait, wait wait wait, oh.
Speaker 6 (04:26):
Wow, it was. It was kind of it was it was,
it was, it was. It was a thing.
Speaker 8 (04:31):
You know, how did you let it get that man?
Why did why did you guys let it get to
that point?
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Like that was yo?
Speaker 8 (04:38):
I mean, I'm just curious, as like you didn't nobody
ever say anything like okay, now it's one hundred, that's no.
Speaker 6 (04:44):
No. My drummer, my my, my, one of my best
friends in the group at the time, his name was
Sandy loved it. He was a great drummer and he
just got your point, said man, I can't go out
for this. I got to get a job. I'm going
to give me a job at Chrystler. And we had
meetings like guys, can we get more money? And they
were at a place where they were so hot. They
were like, if you don't want to play, you know
(05:06):
somebody else. And that was just the way it was.
And they weren't me, and they would just call themselves
being business people. And I stayed as long as I
physically could. I was making I literally man was on
welfare and playing, and I just stuck hung in there.
I never forget we'd do. Went to California for a month,
(05:27):
and I had to pay for my own food every
now and then they would pay for our food. You know,
come on and sit on down. But they only had
a few gigs. We probably had seven gigs out there,
so fifty times seven is what it was. And I
had to eat. So when I went home, I probably
went home literally with like one hundred and eighty bucks
in my pocket.
Speaker 8 (05:46):
If yeah what I'm saying.
Speaker 6 (05:50):
But my thing was, I loved it so much and
I thought, at being young and gumble, I'm like, well
this is how it goes. I'm not leaving. This is
the best place for me. So it's not gonna be
about money. I didn't realize I was learning it's not
about money. When you do this, you got to have
a passion. So that's what it was.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Another question I always wanted to know.
Speaker 5 (06:14):
I'm you know, I grew up in uh uh, you know,
a household with at least three thousand records. I'm very,
very very familiar with the Light label, so I know
about the history of Ralph Carmichael, a man and whatnot.
Could you explain that for our listeners and to me too,
(06:34):
because I know very little, Like was like a Detroit label,
and like why were why was that the was that
the go to? Was that the motown of gospel labels
back then?
Speaker 6 (06:50):
It was Andre Crouch made Light Records. Andre Crouch were
really good friends and Ralph in in Andre's earliest music,
you know, and then Andre just blew it up, man,
and just he just that's what did it. That's what
did it. Andre Crouch built Light Records, and then the
(07:11):
Winers went. At that same time, Andre had a little
something and they had to kind of part ways. Andre
went to Warner Brothers, you know, from there, and so
the Winings ran Light Records, and Light Records was a major,
major force. But it was from La they lived. They
were out in Pasadena and somewhere out there, and you
know out there that's where Light Records was.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
The Hawkers too, The Hawkers were.
Speaker 6 (07:35):
In the Bay area and they were on Light. Yeah.
The first record and all of their records were on
Light Records. Yeah. Light was the major lay with that.
For Word Records hadn't even come into play yet, you know,
Light was the thing. And then Ralph he retired and
gave his reins over to another guy. And that's when
(07:58):
Commission came in and we salvage because we were making
money for Light Records. You know, we was really turning
some records off.
Speaker 5 (08:06):
Okay, so now that we're there, can you please tell
me just the average creative at least for I'm going
on and the go tellus, like your first two records,
can you tell me what the creative process is for
making those albums, as in, who's the alpha that makes
the decisions?
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Who?
Speaker 5 (08:26):
How do you guys especially, I mean there's six of
you or seven of you, six of you, like, is
it really democratic or is it just like what you
say goes or what like, what's the as Fonte would say,
sort of the division of labor in creating these records.
Speaker 6 (08:45):
Man, I was good, and I've always been good at delegating,
you know, I understood it. So I broke the group
up into two pieces because the singers, Carl Mitchell and
Keith they weren't really Mitchell was.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
He was.
Speaker 6 (09:01):
He was kind of key in learning the music side,
but I had a very funk background. So I would
divide it up into here's the singers, this is what
we do, and then it was Michael Brooks and myself,
Me and Mike. Mike was a keyboard player and he
was the songwriter, so we would take his songs. He
would say this is this, this, this this, and then
(09:23):
we would add the flare to we put the swag
on it. Mitchell and I would put the swag on it,
and I was it was never about me, you know,
running the show. We were just glad that Mike Brooks
was such a good songwriter. He was phenomenal. All of
them songs back then basically came from him. We didn't
even know anything about songwriting. He was teaching us, but
(09:43):
we took his songs and we made them as good
as they could be. So, you know, we just we
understood that level. So I was really a producer from
that angle. Mike was the writer, arranger and producer. So
we worked well together. You know. We we never saw
anything different from Timmy, Jimmy and Terry or or from
(10:05):
Babyface in La. So we just took it that. You know,
you work together, you know whatever you feel. How you
feel about that, He said, oh I like that. I say, well,
I like what you're doing. So we just did that
and it worked, you know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (10:19):
That was up.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
What was the in terms of stacking all recording your
background vocals? What was that process?
Speaker 6 (10:24):
Like John Yash a good friend of mine, great great engineer,
He ended up getting fired off our first record because a.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Lot of firing going on in the commission.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Ya was getting people out of there, cud.
Speaker 6 (10:43):
I never heard the word fire so much. So here's
what we were doing. We heard a different sound from
what everybody else heard when it comes to the background. So
we took and we stacked you know, each part, you know,
four fur and for and our backgrounds were more Clark Sisteries.
(11:03):
One of the songs that we learned our first song.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
When you say real quick, just so when you say
four four four are each one of y'all like four
of y'all singing the same part, and y'all are tracking
four of us.
Speaker 6 (11:14):
Singing and racking. We sing two tracks because it was
twenty four track at that time, so we really had
to manage you jump. So we were singing the bottom,
then we sing the middle. Then sometimes Mitchell Carlin and
I would sing the top, or just Mitchell Carlin mitchellul
singing the top. So we had six tracks of vocals,
but we we had intrigates parts because we were always
(11:37):
concentrating on the Clark systems. Our first song we ever
learned in my mother's in my mother's living room was Loukith.
It's the plain speed a praise speed rain lood hell
me to ze. Yeah. When we sang that and learned that, man,
we ran out like we ran a grand We jumped
(11:58):
off off the porch. We learned it. So we said,
this is how our vocals are going to be. So
now we're singing this song. If we have a lord
be full, sure they and we're singing it, and sure
they need surely we need sure they we need him na.
(12:20):
And when we did that part. We were amazed, but
the engineer said, no, you can't have the vocals up
that loud. They need to be back here. I said,
but they don't sound good back there. We want them
up louder because it's like background leads. And we had
a thing because nobody was doing it that way. So
finally he put him where he wanted him and we
(12:41):
just said, okay. Cool. I went into the stage manager,
I mean the studio manager. I told her. I said,
you know, we need to get our masters. She said,
you leave it. Yeah, and she said why I said,
I didn't want to get him, you know, fired I
want you know. He said, well, we think our voice
(13:01):
woes sound better up here. He said, who's paying for this?
Is he paying for this? We pay? Are you paying?
And I said we are. She said, you better grow
a pair. I'm gonna teach you how to be a man.
You record next week came back. It was a different
engineer there, and he turned it up wherever we wanted,
and the commission sound was berthed it. The very next album, though,
(13:23):
we went back with John and he got it and
he was here with the assignment.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
Brother brother Hammond.
Speaker 5 (13:32):
Can you explain the influence and what makes the Clark
sisters their sound or their blend, like, what makes it
so spad than anyone's form a background blending or whatnot.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Twinkie fun word Twinky Clark.
Speaker 6 (13:51):
At that time, Twinkie Clark, Twinkie was Stevie to us.
How she played when she sat down to how she played,
how she arranged her arm andes and what she did.
It was just amazing. And so you have Karen and
Derinda and you have you had Denise at that time,
and Jackie and Tweinky was giving out these crazy parts
(14:14):
and these crazy chords and it was blowing us all
the way. It was amazing. If you go back and
listen to it, the recordings weren't that great productionalizing sonically,
you know, there's a lot of mistakes that kept going.
But if you listen to the heart of Twinkie Clark's
arranged it was just with like that praying spirit. That
(14:34):
is an amazing song. That was our north star to say,
we want to make people feel like this about our
record because at that time we didn't want to sound
like the Windings because they were kind of straight ahead,
you know, four Tops Temptations. You know, they they were
that they were We wanted to be different.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
They were that.
Speaker 6 (14:57):
Go back to go back to, go back to question
is no no no no no no no no no no,
just straight on that.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
So to you, to you, that was regular, just regular
flat like harmony. One on one.
Speaker 6 (15:13):
It was one o one.
Speaker 5 (15:15):
My My parents lived for that record. So I'm growing
up thinking that the Winings are the epicenter of you know,
and the absolute force of gospel singing. But for you,
that was just normalized. And the Clark sisters were top shelf.
Speaker 6 (15:33):
It was as far as being creative, the Clark sisters
were top shelf. As far as the blend the Whinings brothers,
there was a blend like no other because they were family.
So we took the we took the polished of the Winings,
and we took the creativity of the Clark sisters. And
that's what commissioned. So if the Winings commission and Clark
(15:56):
Sists got together, then they produced us, you know what
I'm saying. So that's what you hear, you know, But
it was about Twinkie. Twinkie was beast. She was a beast.
She was she was amazing. And that's where we got
it from.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
So okay, Actually I want to direct this to James,
because here's the deal. Again, we're not you know, at
the top of the show, I explained that when I
was in high school, it was almost like a gang experience,
and I'm ad performing arts school, and you got like
one cat like Kurt rosenwinkles into Frank Zappa, so you
got to learn his language.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
But then like Chris McBride and Joey.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
Di Francesco are heavy jazz cats, so you got to
listen to like anything on Blue Note. And then of course,
you know, my partner Triga is hip hop and whatnot,
and so there was the fourth category of cats who
only lived for Commission. And so you know, like I,
even though we didn't go to the same school together,
(17:00):
like little John Roberts as a drummer, was how I
knew Commission.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
Because the thing is, you know, like I'm thinking, like
with my legacy of who my.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
Dad was and Whatnot'm finally like in a high school
situation which I could play like all City Jazz band
all that stuff. So I'm thinking, like the red carpet
is just ready for me, and like, you know, for
me to get my thing on and little John Roberts,
who's way younger than I was, Like, he's like three
four years younger. You know this, this little you know,
(17:31):
eighth grade runt is playing like an adult and I'm like,
wait what and he's little John's let me know, like
like you don't know about commission.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
And I'm realizing, you know, because again I was team Prince.
That's that's who.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
That's who I chose that you know, sprints the time
and all that stuff. I wasn't him to commission. And
yet all my peers, like all those first generation monster
Cats were just like taking every word as like bond
so for you, for you, James, like how how much
(18:09):
of their work, like was influential to you coming up
in your dad's church and whatnot?
Speaker 7 (18:16):
Oh my see, I grew up and my father's a
bishop and a Jamaican bishop, which means that we ain't
we couldn't do nothing. As my dad said, your cont
do this, your count do that.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
He had to sneak to listen to commission.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
No no, no, no no no.
Speaker 7 (18:37):
That was the only those are the only records that
I could listen to. You know, we I grew up,
you know, the records that were in the house where
the Andree Crouch and the Hawkens and so forth and
so listen to that. But when commission came, it was like,
this is something new. All my musician buddies at the
time that grew up in the church were like, yo,
(18:59):
if you check this out.
Speaker 6 (19:00):
The very beginning of.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Going on, it was like what is that?
Speaker 7 (19:07):
So it was like we had something, We had something
cool to listen to, you know what I mean, something
that yeah, something.
Speaker 6 (19:15):
That was explained to me.
Speaker 5 (19:17):
What year did gospel stop really let itself go of?
Like the Gospel Quartet, Like when did gospel really let go?
Because even now I collect, like I love collecting gospel
records that will take that one secular song and turn
(19:37):
it into a gospel song like sha Lamar second time around,
or you know, there's a whispers and the beat goes
on gospel version. There's a Lovely Day that's gospelized. You know,
there's always that one token song where they like take
a secular song and do it. But the rest of
this stuff is like old time gospel. At what point
in the gospel world do you you not have to
(20:01):
feel shame that you're making people dance and not playing
the regular gospel time old.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Time you brought the sunshine maybe right?
Speaker 7 (20:12):
Yeah Clark Sisters, Yeah what the sunshine?
Speaker 2 (20:17):
I mean that was master blast.
Speaker 7 (20:22):
So that's the first time in which like I mean,
if you go back to Edward Hawker edwind Hawkins the
Oh Happy Day too, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
So even then, like that's still gospel to me.
Speaker 5 (20:34):
But like, what's the point where, like you know, where
you if you take the vocals away, it could be
a secular song, Like, at what point does that happen?
Speaker 6 (20:48):
It really took hold with b B and CCS first.
Speaker 8 (20:51):
I owe you me, Yes, I got it right. I
was thinking that, but I didn't want to say it
out loud. Thank you, Fred.
Speaker 6 (20:56):
I'm thinking that's when it really took hold because the
people didn't know if there was a love song album, yeah,
you know, and that's when it got popular to actually
sing music. Steve Thomas was the was the producer at
that time. He was a white boy with a lot
of song in Heaven.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
He did a lot of Vanessa Williams stuff too.
Speaker 6 (21:19):
Yeah. Yeah, so that's what it really kicked in.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
So when you're playing in church, are there any elders
ever giving you side eye? Like because even even mine,
like I'm not I didn't. I didn't come from the
church per se, but I played drums at my church occasionally.
So like you know in eighty six eighty seven, you know,
I might put a little bit of top villain into
(21:44):
whatever we're doing, or play like a run DMC break
beat or whatever, and occasionally, like an older uncle would
give me that look like I.
Speaker 6 (21:54):
Know what you're doing.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
You know how you older people didn't know when the
kids start doing the then they're like, oh, you're playing.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
Secondly, you don't do that like uplood.
Speaker 5 (22:05):
So are you at all ever getting like side eyes
if you start referencing a popular baseline, if you start
doing not just neeedep or something like in your music.
Speaker 6 (22:17):
Man, we caught the blues with that. Man, we caught
the blues with that. We were getting. Man, we got picketed.
We got picket at the show.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
Wait, I wasn't expecting that the.
Speaker 6 (22:29):
Mission we were doing a we were doing a convention
in Kentucky, I believe Cincinnati, Kentucky, and man, there was
they said, Man, we don't want to we don't want
to bum you out, but there's a whole bunch of
people about twenty to thirty people out in the front,
and they got picket signs saying this music is gonna
send you to hell. Oh and I never forgot. I
(22:52):
never forgot. It was like a scene out of a movie.
Driving up. All of a sudden, we in slow motion.
You hear some strings playing and you see these people
god Devil's music, Devil's really and were just sitting there
there like what are you doing? But it was still
a line of young people waiting to get in. And
when we got inside, we played like never before. We
(23:12):
weren't really rebellious. We were kind of hurt because we
didn't see that like that, but we played anyway, and
the kids came in there and they had a great time,
and we did have a lot of elders. And people say,
I don't understand it. Like one pastor was totally against us,
and the only reason he stopped being totally against us
is that another pastor had a son that was on
(23:34):
drugs that was getting clean because he was listening to
our music and he would come to church. He said,
I don't know what them boys are doing, but I
tell you this, if they can get him to do
his job, I ain't mad at it and it started
changing some people around, but it took a long time. Man,
people was picking in us because we had on blue jeans.
We were the first group to ever wear blue jeans
(23:54):
on a record, so we was like new addition, and
people just thought people wouldn't buy a record just because
of what we had on that first open. They wouldn't
even buy it.
Speaker 8 (24:03):
What y'all think the church is keeping? Is catching up?
Speaker 5 (24:07):
Yet?
Speaker 8 (24:10):
They now they okay, everybody, everybody ain't in though. That's
why I was.
Speaker 6 (24:14):
Asking churches go to the Potters House. In the Potter's House,
we have we have dance ministries, we have youth ministries,
and they could do whatever it is as long as
it's not sexual looking. They can do any dance. They
can whoa, they can do whatever they want to do
to anything because he encourages. Man, this is current, this
(24:36):
is what we're doing. This is nothing wrong with this.
We we better offer them something. Somebody else is going
to offer him something. I want to give her something
because if they're gonna the pole is gonna offer her something.
So you know, let's be smart about these young people.
And they're they're with it now, but coming up, man,
Eric Robertson is one of my best friends.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
I want to as so he I never forget.
Speaker 6 (25:02):
They told me. They said they brought him down to
Popados and they said they had a special guest for
his birthday, and they brought me in the room. He
literally started crying and we stayed friends ever since. But
he told the story that really blessed me. He said
he hated gospel music because it was He didn't like it,
and his mother said, you got to listen to it,
(25:24):
but she was praying for something. So one day he
was downstairs ironing his clothes and his mother put our
record on the on the iron board and he saw
that we had closes with like he did, and he
looked at it and he played it. He said, I
literally started crying. He said, because you guys, you said it.
You guys made it cool to do gospels. And that's
(25:48):
when the clipped. He and I talked about to this day.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
That's my guy, Eric's man.
Speaker 8 (25:55):
That's coming soon, the quest Love Spring.
Speaker 5 (26:02):
I'm I'm mind blowing. I wasn't expecting the picketting. I thought, like,
you guys broke through the other side and everyone was
with it. So it's basically like the black footloose like.
Speaker 8 (26:14):
It's always a chicken with a skirt underneath the knees
ready to pick it.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
You know what I'm saying, black footloose.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
Well, I also want to know has there ever been
musically speaking, how how long would you guys rehearse? And
you know, was there ever a pressure to top yourselves
as far as the musicality because you know, again some
of these songs are straight ahead funk songs. But then
(26:40):
like you guys will get on your return to forever,
you know, crazy arrangements at the end thing and you know,
so how how how what's the what's the regiment for
like practicing and coming up with new ideas and whatnot.
Speaker 6 (26:58):
There was a point in time where we're doing the
first several set of records, when our budgets were really,
really small. What we would do is put twenty hours
of practice time in a basement to every four hours
of studio time because we didn't have much money.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
When you're in the studio, you can knock it out.
Speaker 6 (27:18):
We knocking it out. And then we was putting fines
in place. We ain't had no money, but we was
putting fines in place. You know, if you miss it
if you because you had to do a take, you
got one tape because we was like, no, we're going
to be doing this in one take. If you messed
it up, man, that's a five dollar fine, you know.
And so the next one we would honestly, but we
(27:39):
were on it man, because we would and we loved rehearsing.
We didn't really have no jobs, so we loved rehearsing, man,
and we just saw ourselves in a bit of better place.
So we would either be a Michael Brooks's basement and
we were learning. That's where I brought in Field Collins.
You know, if you go listen to Hide the word
on the second album, Okay the drummer, I listened to
(28:02):
Level forty two and I listened to Phil Collins and them,
and uh my drummer was crazy about Phil Collins. So
we said, we're gonna put this one party in there
that Phil does his times all right, So it said
when it looks like thing, you rob boom and they
didn't think instant. And then he would go past the one,
(28:26):
so he goes probo instead of going bot instead of
going to the one he would go. He said, watch,
I'm gonna do.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
This boo boo boo, boom stop boom.
Speaker 6 (28:40):
And and we went into a thing. But we he
would do something, then I would do something, or Mark
King would do this right here boom boom boom, and
this would never do well, let's do this right here.
We were blessed to experiment with music and still keep
a pocket. That was the beauty of commission. Man, that's
what I love.
Speaker 5 (29:00):
Wow Wow, you mentioned level for forty two. I was
about to say, what's his name is bass playing King? Yes, Yes,
I definitely see that.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Yeah, erro.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
He wanted to he wanted to ask you what I
wanted you to tell the story of recording, writing and
recording and running back to you.
Speaker 6 (29:22):
Oh man, it was funny because that's actually just came
up about three years ago as a sore spot just
came up. Oh sore spot. Uh. It was supposed to
be in a little movie thing we was talking about doing.
And I won't blow people's cover, but I'll just tell
you what happened. We were in there and this record
(29:46):
we had a we had an artist named Derek Brinkley,
you know, and I was going to give this song
to him, and they said, well, no, why don't you
keep it. So I said to Keith, I said, because
it's my personal testimony. And I said, Keith, man, why
don't you sing the song? Because we always wanted to
make sure everybody felt more comfortable, you know, like I
don't want to seem like I'm doing everything. So I
(30:06):
wrote this song, you know, and I said, Keith, would
you do it? Keith is more straight lace of all
of us. He was very much the straight lace guy,
you know, very cool. But he went out there in
these streets like we was. We was out there and
he said, man, I'm not real comfortable with doing that song.
I said, well, I'll go do the demo of it,
(30:28):
and you guys kind of listened to it. So what
we would do is I the person, would sing the lead,
and then we go start making a background parts. So
I went in there and I sang the song, and
I'm looking at the guys in there, and they're just
kind of sitting like this, you know, and and so
I'm singing the parts and singing the parts, and finally
I put I look in there after I finished, and
(30:49):
I put the headphones down, and nobody's you know, not saying, man,
great songs that they're just sitting there. And so I
walked from the microphone to the studio ten feet going
past double doors. And when I got in there, everybody
was looking at me like this, and I didn't know
(31:09):
what to expect. So I just sat down and one
of the guys said, good job, man, good job. And
I said, okay, cool. So I'm listening to the playback
and I turned around to the guys and said, so, guys,
let's start putting some backgrounds to it. Let's put some
backgrounds to it. And the guy said, I don't think
you should put no backgrounds. Here's here's the dirt. There's
(31:30):
a little dirt. One of the guys, when I was
coming from the vocal booth to the room, said so
they'll gonna just let him do a solo on this record.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Ah man.
Speaker 6 (31:44):
And when I got in there, everybody was off guard.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
So that was the look.
Speaker 6 (31:50):
That was the look. And so the rest of the
guys told me this literally three years ago.
Speaker 7 (31:57):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (31:59):
I always wait what they just told me this three
years ago?
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Wow?
Speaker 6 (32:05):
And so when I walked in the room, I walked
in and the person said, hey, man, you should just
go ahead and do it yourself. And I said, no, man,
I don't want nobody thinking I'm trying to do no
no solo or nothing like that. They said, Man, now
you're good. The guys were trying to process what they
just dealt with.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Oh.
Speaker 6 (32:27):
So they sat there and what you hear is the
demo is the actual song itself today.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Wow. Wow.
Speaker 6 (32:37):
We were still Here's the thing. We were still regular dudes.
We were still people with insecurities. We were people. We
were guys, boys trying to be raising, trying to turn
into men. We had idiosyncrasies, we had group issues. So
when I see something like The Temptation Story, which is
one of my favorite movies of all time, you know,
I feel that pain when I see that five heart,
(33:00):
I feel that pain. When I see the Jackson's I
see a new addition. Man, we all went through that.
It's nothing different in gospel. People have desires and this,
that and the other. We just didn't cuss each other
a fight, but man, it was still the same drama,
you know what I mean? And that was one of
them moments.
Speaker 5 (33:21):
Well, James and I are from the Tri State area,
so the gospel station I always listened to my parents
went full Christian on me, Like around mid eighties, and
there was a station called WZZB, of which you know
you can.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Hear some whinings.
Speaker 5 (33:38):
But then it would be like the people today, Sandy Patty,
Michael W. Smith or you know, yeah, all those groups
Twilight Paris. Like, were you guys ever accepted in the
sort of white mainstream contemporary Christian set or were you
(34:02):
guys strictly just like on your side of the fence,
or you know, was there mixing?
Speaker 4 (34:07):
You know, would they have not on festivals or churches
would invite you guys or like brilliant question.
Speaker 6 (34:15):
We did have a few churches. So if we did
thirty gigs a year, you know, two of them would
be a white church or a big white festival, you know,
a big white festival. The guy that brought Amy Grant
and Michael W. Smith to town, his name was Art.
He would try to get us in events because he
was just a really good friend in him and Derek Dirkson.
(34:36):
Derek was trying to cross us over to let people
see what we did. But we didn't do a lot
of them, but we had enough. You know, festivals. Festivals
were big back then, so we would go on stage,
you know, right before Petra or right before you know striper.
Speaker 4 (34:54):
You know, would he try to kill him, would try
to kill him.
Speaker 6 (34:59):
We was doing our I saw a picture the other
day somebody sent me something. I'm probably post it in
a day or so where we were doing the monument
watch it's called I forgot what it was called. But
it was a big freedom fest and it's one of
the largest white festivals around and they brought us there.
It looks like the crowd is sitting on us because
(35:21):
we were singing. That's when Marvin Sap was in the group.
He had just got in the group. But the reality
was it was one hundred and eighteen degrees and people
were falling out. They told everybody sit down for every group,
no matter who it was, because people were falling out
and they was taking people away and it had to
be like the mall was filled. So it probably was
about thirty thousand people on the lawn, you know. So
(35:45):
you know, I just saw that the other day and
I'm probably posted in a day or so. But yeah,
we had a decent fear, but we basically stayed on
our side the fence.
Speaker 5 (35:55):
I want to get to his last down with Commission
at least to see what the difference is and starting
the band ten years ago in eighty four eighty five,
and what prompted to the initial split from the group
in ninety four with Matters of the Heart. Could you
(36:16):
just talk about the time period.
Speaker 6 (36:18):
The first record after the split was Number seven. That
was the first record. Okay. What ended up happening was
Michael Brooks ended up getting a really good deal with
PolyGram Raina Bundy and PolyGram in New York, and she
(36:39):
made him her staff producer. And you know, he was
kind of a and R director and he was still
with us, but he was really really busy doing that,
and he reached out to Keith and said, hey, man,
we'll do a solo record on you. And Benson Records
passed on Keith's solo deal. They gave him an option
(36:59):
to do it. They said, no, we invested in commission.
We don't think you should be doing that. Well, we
had something in our contract to say first right and
refusal if you pass, it's hit. Well Keith went on
ahead and signed with Brooks under his production company with
Rayner PolyGram and it's called Election Records was the name
of the record company they ended up. Benson got really
(37:22):
mad Benson Records got really mad. So they came to
me and said, he can't stay in this group. If
this is gonna happen, y'all need to get him out,
and this, that and the other. So the record company
basically made us split and said, well, man, you can't
be a part of us if you're going to do that,
And so him and Mike went their way. So now
(37:42):
the whole record from number seven and then Matters of
the Heart is all in my hands to produce. And
I brought Mitchell on because that was my boy, and
he had Mitchell had an amazing sound. He understood, you know, flavor,
He understood he had a flavor too, So that I'm
learning that's Mitchell in Parks, but that's our groove behind it.
But that's their pin, you know. Ordinary just won't do
(38:05):
Mitchell and Parks some of the greatest songs they had,
they just had that that thing, but we had the
music behind. So number seven, you know, I brought in
my boy Bernard, right, we did King of Glory, we
did I Can't Live Without You, and yes, yes, he
(38:26):
stayed with me, hung out with me, and me and
him was like that. And he so if you listen
to King of Glory, you will hear me and Banar,
you know. And then you listen to I Can't Live
Without You, you hear Me and Banard my first solo record.
I came to Jesus with the flying bannbro Me and Banar,
Grace for me every day, Me and Banar. And then
Bernard went and got his record deal from another record
(38:48):
company and he moved on. So that was what that was,
so our sound. I was able to take the funk
that was always in me and drive it and said
this is what we're gonna do. And then we got
to uh, we got a little bit more polished because
we were we got to matters of the heart and
we wanted to sound a little older. So then I
got with my boy Chucky Booker, and we did you know,
(39:11):
love is the Way, and we did you can Always
Come Home with Run DMC, and we just we experimented
with great music. So we had CCM sound, we had
that funk Chucky Booker sound, and then we had that
commission funk in the middle of there something. So that
was kind of how that was birthed. Yeah, and that
(39:31):
was my last record. That was my last record, and.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Then after that. That was when you did Radicals for
Christ for.
Speaker 6 (39:36):
Christ my last record, and we had another split at
that point in time, and really, and I thought I
was I was gonna get rid of the other guys
and we're gonna be me. You know, I'm I'm being
good with the record company.
Speaker 4 (39:48):
And you know it is what it is.
Speaker 6 (39:50):
Which one of you is going, I'm not leaving you
that I've already proven myself. I'm the golden job. They
loved the records. It's selling and and we had a
meeting one time and they said this. They brought a
lot of different things that wasn't true. And we sat
down with a pastor and I'm like, okay, one of you,
somebody's leaving. It ain't gonna be me. We here, No,
(40:14):
I'm not moving. And somebody read I won't say which
one it was. He said, read the bottom line. And
he said, because the pastor said, I don't see anything
wrong here. There's nothing out of order to seat her
in place. Everything that you guys are saying, I don't
see it. What's the bottom line? And he said, we
(40:35):
do not believe God called Fred to be the leader
of our group. And it took all the air out
of me because I picked, I handpicked the guy that
was reading it. And I sat back in my chair
and I went through all the emotions right there, and
then I told I said, give me a week, and
(40:57):
I went back to my little spot, my little studio,
and I went to everywhere in the Bible in the
New Testament that talked about belief, and the main scripture
was Jesus was in his own town preaching to his
own people, and they said, who does this guy think
he is? Don't we know his sisters and them?
Speaker 4 (41:17):
Who you think?
Speaker 6 (41:17):
Where do you get all this knowledge from? And he
said he marveled at their unbelief. And then this was
the thing that made me give it up. He said,
many mighty miracles he could not do because of their unbelief.
And I closed the Bible. I said, I can get
these guys ten grammys. They all have Rose Royce as
Mentley's and they won't believe it's me. So I'm out,
(41:38):
and I just handed everything over. I said, y'all can
have it, and I went into a wilderness. I did
not know what I was going to do. I went
into a depression. We sang one more year, and then
I had to figure out what I was going to do.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
And this is ninety this is ninety four.
Speaker 6 (41:58):
And that's when I heard started a choir and I
was like, now I'm gonna keep it one hundred, you know,
and I don't, you know, only I gotta keep it
careful because I don't want to get canceled.
Speaker 8 (42:09):
You know.
Speaker 6 (42:09):
I didn't care for choirs for the persona that it
carried at the time, and that's what's all i'm gonna
tell you. I'm gonna do, you know, And I didn't.
I didn't care for it, you know. I didn't care
for what people looked at choirs. And I saw Kirk
on a show, and I saw David Man, I saw
a big day Dalen, uh, my boy, Dalen. I saw
(42:32):
and they was with it. And so then I knew
John p Key. So I started listening to John. And
John was thugging. I knew John me I helped him
get his first deal, and so I started listening. I
started listening to show up, like for four months straight,
and I'm hearing this hard driving thing, and I'm like,
I can do this. I can do this. So I
(42:55):
was friends with Billy Steele, so I paid attention to
sounds of blackness, because at that point in time, Jimmy
Terry just killed the game, which sounds of blackness. So
I'm seeing this transformation and I'm going into it, and
I finally I come up with r f C. I said,
this is gonna be our flavor. We're gonna do this.
We're gonna do praising worship. And nobody knew what praising
(43:15):
worship was at that time. Praising worship is just how
you say the lyrics you're saying. So when people are saying,
I've been down, boom and I'm gonna get back up,
they were singing where they were in life. They were singing, baby,
got need a pair of shoes, even got a light
built do Because this is my problem. I'm gonna turn
over the Lord. He'll work it out. But I started
(43:37):
lifting the Lord up. So I'm doing this beat and
I got my MPC, I got all my cards and
load the samples up and I'm doing this one beat
boom stop boom, boomtop boom boom, and I stopped the sample.
And you know how an NBC the sample would go
over shot? Did you hit it again? Shop to read
(44:08):
to read too glow? And that's how it started, it
changed into a whole thing, you know. So I just
took praise and worship that white people were doing, brought
it over to the Black church and I told I
tell white people and says, you guys cook string beans
and it still has a snap in it. We don't
(44:29):
like that. Like our stuff to be all.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
Those bread, it needs to be wilted, turkey.
Speaker 6 (44:38):
Leg in there, and it needs to have not a
nutrient around taste a rival. I don't want to taste.
Speaker 8 (44:49):
I'll see them on none of that fiber.
Speaker 6 (44:53):
This this shouldn't be no good. So that's what my
praise of worship was. It was we just took their
stuff that was neat. We just put some turkey leg
in there.
Speaker 5 (45:07):
It was such an education, especially in watching with you
and Kirk doing versus together.
Speaker 4 (45:17):
Yeah, and going through you know, going through your history.
Speaker 5 (45:21):
How does it feel where now like contemporary sycul acts
be it Diddy Snoop Dogg did a gospel record like,
how does it feel to be embraced by.
Speaker 4 (45:32):
That community to whom that you know? Maybe ten twenty
years ago.
Speaker 5 (45:39):
I think maybe the most radical thing I saw thirty
forty years ago was maybe like Marie White singing with
a gospel act. But you know, now it's very commonplace,
Like how does it feel to get embraced by.
Speaker 4 (45:54):
The world.
Speaker 6 (45:56):
Respect feels good. Respect just feel good. And that's all
we ever wanted was respect, you know, to be treated
like we're real musicians. We're not church musicians. We're real
musicians who made a choice to sing church stuff. And
now that's what it is. So I can look at you,
I can look at the roots, I can pay attention.
(46:18):
I watched you know, you guys. I remember when you
guys went on and got the gig. We all talked about.
That was stuff about that we talked about. I paid
attention to the sound that came out of Philadelphia music,
soul childs. Now we just embraced each other because you know,
at the end of the day, each every one of
us on here, our brothers and sisters. We're a family
(46:41):
of music. First what we talk about, but it's hip hop,
gos it. That's just something we choose to have a
conversation about. But first and foremost, we all have the
passion of the beat, the drum, the bass, the keys,
the sound, the lyric and now we can have we
have those conversations with each other and we respect them.
(47:04):
Like I said, my brother, we're in here right now
preparing for Ricky, Bobby, Rod, Johnny and Mike were preparing
for them right now. All of our gear is getting
ready to go out. And when I go and see them,
I love them and we just we hug up, we
dap up, and we just respect each other, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 4 (47:21):
I really can't wait for this.
Speaker 5 (47:23):
For me, This education is important because you know, James,
James gonna attest to this. Especially in the last two years,
I've been like really catching up on a lot of
things that I've missed and wasn't able.
Speaker 4 (47:37):
You know, like the quarantine period that.
Speaker 5 (47:40):
We're now is a slow down period where you know,
we get time to ourselves and really I get to
catch up on books and things and music that I
otherwise wouldn't have caught up on because I'm working so much.
And I was you know, when when Laias said that
you wanted to do quest Love Supreme, I was, you know,
I was like thinking God, because I didn't want to
(48:02):
be the only person in life who listened to Crash
Cuts more than I've listened to.
Speaker 2 (48:13):
You know, man cut Man happening to do. Yeah, today
my birthday.
Speaker 4 (48:23):
So I thank you for this man, you know, I
truly thank you.
Speaker 5 (48:27):
Almost in closing, I just want to know, well, in
the aftermath of the pandemic, how has your life changed
and how has the circuit, at least your life of
music changed since March of twenty twenty.
Speaker 8 (48:41):
Because he's about to go on tour allegedly.
Speaker 6 (48:44):
Yeah, we're about to do has A Kira, who was
one of my best but good friends. We're hitting the road,
has k marvels at myself, Israel Holden hitting the road
out March Festival, the praise to it. But you know what, man,
it's weird because US streaming has killed us. Streaming really
(49:05):
has it the church. I mean, here's the thing. Our
people are just starting to get on streaming this year.
They're just starting.
Speaker 2 (49:17):
No no, no, he's saying the because that's choice.
Speaker 6 (49:22):
So they couldn't go nowhere listening, so on their refrigerators,
on their computers listening. They discovered Pandora, they discovered Spotify,
you know what I'm saying. So they're they're listening. Now
here's the thing. It's kind of a cruel joke, and
it's not God's fault. But it feels like a cruel
joke because I still have so much music in me
(49:46):
to create, but there's no real outlet. Like I just
did a record, man, I just did a record with
this was this company called Fennis and I put it out.
It's called Sunday Morning Fred, and it's on on Apple
Music right now. But and it's one of the leading
black streaming records out there. And I'm not on a
(50:07):
major label. But it's not saying nothing because I'm streaming
like seven thousand, like thirty six thousand copies of week
streams a week on this new record. And that's not
really that good.
Speaker 2 (50:23):
It's not really financially.
Speaker 6 (50:26):
Is like, Man, I put a lot of money into
it to make it happen. And so on my Facebook page,
I got a whole I got the whole concert. I
got the whole concert. I did it in my warehouse
and it's a throwback of old Fred. It's pages is
the life for it. It's that vibe and a man
gospel is in a tunnel. Because R and B died,
(50:48):
and I tell everybody that when R and B die,
I'm talking about LTD, I'm talking about time. I'm talking
about Anita and Luther, and we could listen to them.
We were What made commission happen is because you could
listen to something like like you said, man, your father said,
(51:10):
you can listen to them. And we gave you the time.
We gave you some prince, We gave you these people
because we had something to lean on. Well, now those
people are gone that that music is gone. It's nothing
new coming out therefore, and gospel has gone back to
(51:32):
traditional or to Maverick. Maverick is the white version of
Black gospel, and Maverick City, Maverick City is the new
praise of worship. It's the hot it's the hottest praise
and worship company out there lives. And when I tell you,
they got some amazing artists. But what it is is
(51:55):
a lot of the young people now have gone over
there and they've taken the sound of black music and
they've made it less black. Okay, you have to go
research it.
Speaker 2 (52:08):
Okay, I tell you.
Speaker 6 (52:10):
It's people like chander More. I mean, I tell you,
this guy is amazing. But what they're doing is they're
creating a new space for these guys to write and
to do their things. So I can't be mad at
I'm never gonna be mad at somebody doing their thing.
Maverick is the hottest thing going Maverick City. But I
can do Maverick because I'm too I'm too so I
(52:32):
don't have that thing and h Man, check it out,
check it out.
Speaker 5 (52:35):
So you're saying, right now, there's really not there's really
not a space for you to be creative and release
product and have it be monetarily worth it. So would
you fante say the sort of where you were in
like two thousand and three, like trying to figure out
where we fit in. He's saying, this is where you
(52:56):
were in two thousand and three, like when you start
a little brother and try to figure out I mean now,
I would assume now in twenty twenty two, twenty years later,
the lame.
Speaker 4 (53:08):
At you're in is rather lucrative.
Speaker 2 (53:10):
Absolutely, yeah, now it makes sense.
Speaker 6 (53:12):
But at the time, the beauty of what I did
that a lot of my counterparts didn't do back in
the commission days is I really felt God told me
to just keep putting music out, even though I wasn't
in the best record company position, even though they were
making the money and I wasn't. I kept hearing them saying,
just keep putting music out, keep putting it out. And
my guys were saying, rightfully, I'm not gonna let them
(53:33):
pip me. I'm out the game before you pit me.
I'm gonna lead. But I kept making the music. Now
my catalog is what it is Spotify. I did twenty
two million streams this year that Spotify alone, Pandora plus
this plus that, and my catalog is burning through like crazy.
(53:55):
So people want to keep me where they met me though.
Speaker 8 (54:00):
That's what I don't want you to evolve. They don't
want you to like.
Speaker 6 (54:04):
I've reached Frankie Beverley's status red I received.
Speaker 3 (54:09):
I'm gonna make you know, I'm gonna make I will
make a suggestion. I'm putting this out this on q les.
I'm saying this. This needs to happen because I think
I think I see a lame for you, brother Fred.
If I may, if I may off, Okay, listen, this
is the same thing that you know that Rick James did.
Speaker 2 (54:24):
Like when you have the veteran act being produced by
the younger producer.
Speaker 3 (54:28):
So Rick James when he produced The Temptations a mirror,
when he produced Al Green, I think your next James.
Speaker 6 (54:43):
A.
Speaker 2 (54:43):
Jas absolutely ahead, Yeah, both of y'all. Y'all did Al Green.
Speaker 3 (54:52):
I think your next project, Fred, I think you should
be produced by Devin Morrison. Oh like when I'm talking
about I don't know if you know him. I don't
know if you're knowing, But Devin Morris is a singer.
He's a singer producer out of He's from out of Florida,
but he's based in I think La. Now, Devin is,
(55:13):
when I tell you, a student of commission. When I
when I found out you were coming on the show,
I reached.
Speaker 2 (55:18):
Out to him.
Speaker 3 (55:18):
I was like, Devin, like, I know commission, but like
I'm not. I'm not a church dude, so I need
to know you know what I mean. He made me
a playlist of like his favorite jokes.
Speaker 2 (55:27):
He was like, all right, this is what you need.
These are the joints, these are the producers. Like he
knows your whole thing, and.
Speaker 3 (55:34):
Yeah, said I'll see you the playlist. And when I
listened to the playlist, I was like, oh my god,
this is Devin's DNA, Like this is he is a
student and a student of your music and loves you, bro,
Like I think y'all can kill something like for real.
Speaker 6 (55:49):
That's the beauty of it to work with my my
newest these young cats. I love working with him, you know,
I love working with him.
Speaker 2 (55:56):
So I'm down, man, I will link y'all up, straight
up and down like that.
Speaker 8 (56:04):
Happened sometimes.
Speaker 4 (56:06):
Wait, James, is there anything.
Speaker 6 (56:10):
Right?
Speaker 7 (56:11):
Weave heathens over here, so you know, man, it's it's
it's just so much music. I just got to tell
you how much of an influence you've had on my
life musically, and I just want to thank you for that.
I don't know if you remember we met my brother
Marvin mcquittie introduced us when you came to Philly. This
(56:32):
is this is just back rest in peace my brother.
Speaker 6 (56:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (56:36):
But just I just I just got to say thank
you man, thank you for the music, thank you for
for who you are.
Speaker 2 (56:41):
That's all right, up and down for real.
Speaker 6 (56:44):
I appreciate you all, and I this night was special
to me. I have not done a zoom this long.
Speaker 2 (56:57):
Listen.
Speaker 6 (56:58):
I wouldn't have been checked out the whole long time
ago because I'll be okay, we just talked about everything else.
But when you get into the history and you get
into the music, cology of it all. Man, you guys
are amazing. Tonight was amazing. Quest Man, you don't understand.
I really am a fan and I am a fan.
Speaker 5 (57:18):
I really thank you and I received that. Thank you
so much for for doing this for us. I really
appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (57:25):
Thank you nah for yo real quick, Fred, do I
have Do I have permission? Can I get your number
from errow and I'll link you? Okay, I'll do that question.
Speaker 6 (57:36):
I don't mess with people when I go places if
they don't really recognize me. I'm the kind of person
that are staying with my family. And I'm cool, you know,
because sometimes you meet a start and they don't know
you today, they know you tomorrow, they know you when
you ain't in front of people, and I don't know
other people. You and I met one time. Oh no,
we were no, no, no, it wasn't that the Grammys.
(58:01):
We was at the Grammys and I was behind you.
Was in l A and I was behind you, and
somebody was kind of they were they were like messing
with your tickets or something, you know, and it was
you and your mom you a were together, and so
I said, hey, hey, bro, you're good and you turned
around and said, hold on second, man, And and so
(58:21):
the girl I was with's like, don't bother, don't I said,
I think he's having some problems up there. And I said,
I'm I believe in him enough to try one more time.
You got free and I got free. I walked up
to you and I said, hey, man, I just want
to tell you I'm a fan. My name is Fred Hamlet.
And man, you embraced me with the biggest huba.
Speaker 8 (58:44):
You said the name.
Speaker 4 (58:45):
Oh look.
Speaker 6 (58:49):
He went. It was always like snap, oh yeah, okay,
he said, And he said, this is my mom. And
we hugged, and this, that and the other. We talked
and that, yeah, induce you to the person I was with.
And man, that that made my day because I didn't
really walk up to a whole bunch of people that night.
I'm not that dude to walk up and so yo ho,
(59:10):
what's that?
Speaker 8 (59:10):
Man?
Speaker 6 (59:15):
You don't know me, I don't know you. That's right,
But man, you were too close. We were in the
tunnel on our way. You were too close for me
not to say something. His quests love. Man, I'm like, man,
let me just talk to my man for a minute.
It was nervous that first woe like a yellow tree
was growing over because shade was. Brother.
Speaker 5 (59:38):
I didn't get you on site, but definitely your name
holds holy because if there's anyone who made me go
in the basement and rehearse.
Speaker 4 (59:52):
Endlessly to keep up with the cats that was listening
to Commission, it was you.
Speaker 6 (59:57):
You. Thank you you.
Speaker 5 (59:58):
And you know, I give credit to my dad, like
my dad makes me go in the basement rehearse, but
you know that was from like eight to thirteen, But definitely,
once I got to high school, you were definitely the
spark that really really brought my musicianship out, brother, and
I thank you for that.
Speaker 4 (01:00:15):
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (01:00:16):
I'll say this and I'll be done. You guys, when
you do stuff like this, you add validity to who
we are as God's artists. You guys did something and
y'all mentioned my name in the middle of one of
these two three hour shows. And my people listen to it,
and they my guy sent me about five people said yo, man,
(01:00:38):
Chris Love said your name, but they talked about you,
and they marked the spot go to this spot and
you get hear it. And I did it and I
said it there and man, it brought a smile to
my face. It's not like somebody sent me something they
said and I said, oh yeah, when they sent it
to me. I wanted to just know because of how
I feel about you, I feel about your proof, how
(01:00:58):
I feel about your pumplishments and everything that you guys
are doing. I just wanted to hear that, and it
was It was validation to me. It's a respect. And
you guys had such nice things to say, and whoever
the guest was on that time, they were talking nice
about it as well. So I just want to tell you, man,
when you guys do this to us, it's a blessing. Man.
(01:01:19):
Trust me. We're listening. Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (01:01:22):
Thank Youah Sugar, Steve about to win that and and
they and.
Speaker 8 (01:01:35):
Are important and.
Speaker 4 (01:01:40):
And paid Bill and our special guest.
Speaker 8 (01:01:44):
James James soon to come as a quest guests.
Speaker 4 (01:01:49):
Soon. Thank you so much for doing us for us
and we appreciate it. This isus Love Love Supreme. We
will see you on the next go around. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:02:07):
West Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. For more
podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hosts And Creators
Laiya St. Clair
Questlove
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