QLS Celebrates Black History Month Part 2

For Black History Month, QLS opens up the archives to look at accomplishments in the media. Questlove selects and annotates clips involving legends of stage, screen, and broadcast — while dropping some thoughts of his own. This clips, featuring Donnie Simpson, Wayne Brady, Erika Alexander, Big Lez, and others highlight the progress, impact, and accomplishments of so many. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Good People. What's Up is Questlove?

Speaker 1 (00:12):
And this is part two of qls's Black History Month celebration.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
All right, this particular episode, we're focused on the media.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
We got pioneers and innovators from radio, television, and theater.
Last season, we had two episodes that really touched on Black.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
History from a media perspective.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
In the first, you'll hear Erica Alexander speak about the
Freedom Theater in my hometown of Philadelphia, where she spent
time growing up, and I missed it so much. Shout
out to Dice Fral who's now one of the chair
people at the Freedom Theater. All right, here's Erica Alexander.

(00:53):
What part of Philadelphia? Where are you from?

Speaker 3 (00:55):
Mound Area? Oh?

Speaker 4 (00:57):
Nice?

Speaker 5 (00:57):
He was nice part of town.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
See, when you're from West Philly, I just think anything
that's north of City Hall is just n o RF
North Philly, even if it's Mount Area. So what was
your beginnings in the world of acting? Like, were you
a Freedom Theater kid? Or was this stuff in your school?
Did you not want to go to creative and performing arts.

Speaker 6 (01:22):
Or well, you know, I think we had a conversation
in Mire and I know you've had plenty of them,
But you went to school with my little sister Charlanda. Yes,
he's the one who went to the School of the
Artists that you did. But I was discovered when I
was fourteen in the basement theater called new Freedom Theater.

(01:42):
The Freedom Theater closed. I talked to the council in
the other day.

Speaker 4 (01:46):
We got to get that back.

Speaker 5 (01:47):
That theater is beautiful.

Speaker 6 (01:49):
It's beautiful, but it's stuffed in the middle of Temple
University and surrounded by I don't think people who understand
what it's.

Speaker 7 (01:57):
Significant gentrification, what's going on with Howard University. I can
Roger that Roger that so discovered.

Speaker 6 (02:03):
In the basement theater by a movie company, merch should
Ivory Film Independent Film came to Philadelphia. They were looking
for Little Girls Back and Brown to audition for this movie.
And after nearly twelve to thirteen auditions.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
And for screen screen tests, screen.

Speaker 6 (02:23):
Tests, yeah, I was the one they chose. When this
is both cleared, Wow, Okay.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
What happened at Freedom Theater?

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Like because that was one of the places where I
wanted to go, but instead my parents put me in
Settlement Music School and my sister went to Freedom Theater.
Like it was like, Okay, we're going to have her
act and he's going to do music. But we would
only pick her up afterwards. But I never knew like
what happened in there, Like what was what would they

(02:52):
teach you there?

Speaker 6 (02:53):
Well, Johnny Allen Junior and his partner, they started it.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
They started in the sixties.

Speaker 6 (03:00):
Sixties famously were starting to try to train black children
the way the Black Panthers did. That they knew that
the schools that were primarily white weren't giving them any
sense of themselves. And you had people like the Great
Meanness Simone talking about young gifted in Black so that
that's really what was going on. There was some sort

(03:21):
of idea that if you infused a child with the
strong sense of themselves and you also gave them creative outlets,
got them in touch with their body, discipline, voice, sound, body,
all of those things, performance, speech, communication, that you could

(03:43):
influence the rest of their life. And they proved their point,
like a lot of the schools that were going around
the country at the time and new Freedom Theaters of
that kind of tradition.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
How old were you when you started Freedom Theater, Like
at what age did you start?

Speaker 3 (03:58):
Fourteen?

Speaker 6 (04:00):
I only went there for the sixth week program, and
then I also did like two summers of a play
called under Pressure, which was their residents production that they
put on every year every summer.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
Is the Hope where I guess the goal of the
school to draw people, notable people to see the kids
and have them work with someone notable or or is
it just like we teach you the craft of acting
and then you're out there in the world, like, are
they like this how you get an agent?

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Or this is how you you know this?

Speaker 1 (04:34):
This this commercial casting directors come into our thing tonight,
Like is it any of those things involved? No?

Speaker 3 (04:41):
Not. When I was going it might have changed.

Speaker 6 (04:43):
It really was about self love, self reverence, power, black power,
young gifted in black, A sense of yourself inside of
a white world.

Speaker 3 (04:52):
How can you move through it? How do you stand?

Speaker 6 (04:56):
Lifting your head, your skins, making the children go home
and get undressed and look at themselves in a mirror,
all parts of themselves, the lower parts of themselves, having
some kind of regard and respect for hygiene. The way
you spoke, the way you stepped up rammar, all of
those things. It was really more like a boot camp

(05:18):
for life for black kids.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
Did you realize that immediately or is this like in hindsight,
like I hated going to Okay, I'm sorry. I did
not hate going to Settlement music school, but I hated
the homework assignments. However, I now realized, thank god, I
went to sell them in music school. That saved my life.
But you realize that stuff like when you're way older.
Did you realize that at the time, or because even

(05:44):
when we were doing those types of exercises at performing
art school whatever, like we'd be in the back laughing,
like you know, they want us to learn Elizabethan and
project with your voice, and you know.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
We're just like that.

Speaker 7 (06:00):
Settlement wasn't as black as freedom in that way though,
that's like a different experience, right right, that's true.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
I think my sister went to Settlement to my baby's sister.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
How many siblings do you have.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
I'm one of six, and fourth there's too younger than me.

Speaker 6 (06:12):
There's Charmanda, who you know, and then there's Mayesha, and
I think she went to Settlement.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
And all of you have dabbled in the arts.

Speaker 6 (06:21):
Yes, in some way. Although my sister, he was a
social worker, there in Philadelphia, and my brother's a Philly.

Speaker 4 (06:30):
Copp Oh, so your family really stayed in Philadelphia?

Speaker 3 (06:34):
They did, did we?

Speaker 6 (06:35):
Both My parents were orphans, so we didn't necessarily have
a place to be. Wherever we were was where we
were at. But I think you were talking about did
I recognize what it was doing?

Speaker 8 (06:50):
Then?

Speaker 6 (06:50):
Yes, they were very over. They kept it was like
a boot camp. It was like an officer and a gentleman.
They were going to make you understand the power of
being black and blackness, and more importantly, the power of
self love. And we needed that because at the time
I was going in there, the streets were a battleground.

(07:11):
It was crack incarceration, Young women were getting pregnant. It
was really like some kind of weird pathology movie. And
I think they couldn't be soft about it. They had
to be over. They didn't have the privilege to set
back and not act like they were trying to do.
They were trying to radicalize you, and I think that.

Speaker 3 (07:32):
It worked well.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
When you said offers and a gentleman, I'm like, wait
a minute. I remember Lewis Gossig making it.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
Cry in the right in the rain. I'm like, wait
a minute.

Speaker 6 (07:44):
So yeah, a lot of people cried, but they were
crying because it was like church. You got in there
and you had real awakenings and you reckoned with even
though you might have thought a lot of people had
to confide events and didn't have. I guess the fears
that some children had, they all had that we weren't

(08:05):
allowed to be children. And there I think that they
knew they were different type of child and that they
needed to break us down so we could be vulnerable,
all right. Not me though, by the way, I'm a
preacher's daughter. I came in already vulnerable. I was scared
of Philadelphia and students and I wait, your dad was

(08:26):
a pretty different student.

Speaker 3 (08:27):
Yeah, Church of God in Christ, baby, what's.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
All a kojak kojak? Sure? Where where was the church?

Speaker 6 (08:35):
Well, my parents are coming out of New Mexico, Carlsbad,
Las Cruses. They were Bible students. They traveled around in
the car, and that's why I spent the first eleven
years of my life in a hotel called Starlight off
a Root sixty six.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
Wow, that was where you lived?

Speaker 1 (08:52):
Yeah, all right, that was Erica Alexander h Part one.
Next up, we're gonna hear from Wayne Brady. In part
two of his interview, Wayne told the story of him
getting down with Chappelle's show, but not after his feelings
were hurt and something that have shaped his journey. So

(09:14):
my version of the story was when I was a
staff member of the Chappelle Show.

Speaker 9 (09:19):
Sorry, I mean sorry sounds yeah, I don't want to
hear here.

Speaker 10 (09:23):
What's your version is?

Speaker 1 (09:24):
Okay, So I'm a staff member of Chappelle, I wouldn't
go on location with those guys. I did all the
music for season two, and so the roots just happened
to be in La at the time when we were
shooting a lot of the La Chappelle things. And what
you have to understand is that most shows are like

(09:44):
planned week in events.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
They have a writing staff.

Speaker 1 (09:48):
The genius of season two was the fact that Neil
Brennan and Dave Chappelle were pretty much just flying off
the seat of their pants, knowing that on there is
day night they had to turn in that tape the comedy.
Really you're supposed to turn in like the Tuesday before,
like days before. I mean there would be times where

(10:11):
like maybe a half hour before the show's on the air,
like the Sesame Street Q tip.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
Thing, that snoop thing.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
I happen to know that they finished the edit maybe
a half hour before airtime. Yeah, before airtime, like Comedy
Central has to like approve things were standings, like we
went down to the wire. So I do know that
we had went out to the Four Seasons because we
wanted to get our Sinio to do the whole cheese things.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
Why don't you tell me the cheese was good, good.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
Right, that whole thing, and also got Anthony Anderson to
do the Ashy.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
Larry You remember the dream?

Speaker 1 (10:54):
Yeah, what I remember was we have met Anthony Aji
and the hotel lobby, Anthony Jay the bar wash. He's
also the father Maya Rudolph's Fire and Bridesmaids and.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
He's legendary comic.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
We had spent so much time talking to him, and
our Senio was there like just comedian war stories from
the seventies or whatever. That I had to go so
I can go to the airport. So what Neil will
tell me when I landed? He says, dude, we just
created a masterpiece. Like the way they were describing how
the night was was like they had made Purple Rain

(11:36):
and thriller at once, and I'm thinking, like, wait, from
the whole.

Speaker 2 (11:42):
From that sketch.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
He says, no, man, He's like, so when you were
leaving and checking out at the last minute, guess who
we saw in the lobby. I was like, who it's
a dog. We saw Wayne Brady and I said, oh
my god, what happened? Because I instantly went back, Mooney,
ipect this is going to be like even broccoli.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
I said, well, went down? What went down? He said, nah, man,
we shot something.

Speaker 1 (12:05):
And so I'm under the belief that it was off
the cuff.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
You just happened to be in the lobby.

Speaker 10 (12:11):
You and Dave.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
Had a meacopa kind of understanding moment thing, and then
it was like, so what are you doing?

Speaker 2 (12:17):
Do you want to shoot something?

Speaker 1 (12:19):
And it was very off the cuff, and I was
not prepared for any of those things.

Speaker 10 (12:24):
Like oh no, no, no, no, no no. It was
so much different for you.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
All Right, So what's your version of it?

Speaker 9 (12:29):
Well, well, my version is, well, just going back to
when the sketch aired, and I'll do it really really fast.
And this isn't me complaining because I've said this before,
like on the Breakfast Club, and there's always an asshole
in the comments like like, well, you shouldn't have the
reason that the sketch bothered me. And I'll just say
it in the nutshell. Jokes are jokes. I do comedy.
Everything jokes. A joke's fine. I just happened to come

(12:49):
from a very, very particular place. And you can't tell
me what I can and can't feel. I feel Paul Mooney.
I worshiped at the shrine of Paul Mooney. I never
said that Paul Mooney wasn't funny or home. Mooney was
in a genius and a writer. I love Paul Mooney.
I love Dave. So imagine my shock. I'm sitting at home,
I'm getting my barber. Came over to my spot. He's

(13:12):
doing Da Da Da Da, and the Chappelle shows on.
I'm excited. I was like, okay, we can get through
the whole thing. And then and then boom, Negro was
Wayne Brady looked like him. I went, oh, oh, okay.
I didn't laugh at it, not because I was like,
I'm above being made fun of. If your joke is funny,

(13:33):
please make fun of me. That's what we do. But
to me, and now, because you saw me talk to
my bullies. Oh, also Kendra and Nicole and Nicole come
on now, it's Adams Jones, Johns Harris. Race has always
been a subject that has played because what does it

(13:54):
mean to be black? You know, the kid that grew
up watching certain things, doing certain things, like making certain
things that have died, so those things form you. So
I've always had that in the back of my mind
as a as a thing. So when I see that,
I'm like, the joke isn't funny to me, It doesn't
even scan because you're now making fun of Brian Gumbel, who, like,

(14:17):
say what you want to say. But Brian gumble this
incredibly successful man in his own right, doing this thing.
So now you're gonna use me to take down him
or him to meet And then that means that I'm
not black enough? And so does that mean that one
of my comedic heroes, Dave Chappelle, who I've rocked with
since Robin Hood Men in tights and watching him at
evenings at the Improv before he blew up, This dude

(14:40):
really knows who I am. Oh, that's awesome, but nothing
gonna shit on me. And Paul Mooney, who I love.
He doesn't think I'm black enough. That's really wow. That shakes,
which is why Wayne doesn't go out and talk to people,
because I don't want to deal with that shit sometimes.
So I was already in my feelings about it from
a race place and just from a joke point.

Speaker 10 (14:58):
I didn't feel that it was a good joke. I
thought it was too easy, so blah blah blah blah blah.

Speaker 9 (15:03):
So fuck those guys immediately, and I'm like, I don't
give sex second and third chances. I am a I'm
a very petty, angry person inside sometimes when it comes
to certain things. So I was already like, well, I
guess I can watch a Chappelle show. Click, I can't
enjoy the genius that is Dave Chappelle. Fast forward to
I forget what the show was. It was an award show.

(15:25):
It might have been the Hoodies Steve Steve Harvey's Hoodies
or something. But Donnelle was in the lobby bar. We
were in the bar. Donnelle was with somebody else, and
I recognize them immediately because I like the show. Oh
it's ashe laire, but you gonna drink my drink. He

(15:48):
comes over so wonderful and gracious, Wayne, Hey, I'm Donelle.

Speaker 10 (15:53):
I play.

Speaker 9 (15:54):
Actually I know who you are. I've seen your little
play all right, just just through the energy. And he
was so sweet. He was waiting blah blah blah. I said, oh, yeah,
that's great. I love the show up until that whack
ass joke by Paul Mooney.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
Blah dah da da da. But thanks.

Speaker 9 (16:13):
He goes, Oh my god, I mean we you know,
we have love for you. I was like, I was like,
to be honest, I don't know. And I have to
preface it. I had been drinking. I had been drinking,
so I was like, really, was that how you love me?
Black man?

Speaker 2 (16:28):
Is that really?

Speaker 9 (16:29):
And so just going about my day, cut to the
next day.

Speaker 2 (16:33):
This is how fast the shit did happen.

Speaker 9 (16:35):
So I don't know the timeline that you're talking about
in terms of when you came out to LA, but
it happened where well.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
I was at the fourth season hotel, so.

Speaker 9 (16:41):
Okay, so that might have been so so whenever I
saw him. Then the next day I was doing my
talk show. I get my assistant comes as I'm in
the writer's room.

Speaker 10 (16:52):
Wait, wait, got phone call, who take Chapelle? I was like,
why no, you're lying Tay Shamelle.

Speaker 9 (17:00):
Okay, hello, hey man, it's Dave oh Man, just so
sweet as like, look, I didn't write that joke.

Speaker 2 (17:09):
Mooney came up with it.

Speaker 9 (17:10):
I really didn't like the shit either, but you know,
I like the character and da da da, no offense
was meant now the fact that and now we live
in a day and age, no one's gonna backtrack on
a joke for folks like I said what I said,
and I said it like like I said, Dave was
one of my guy He's one of my heroes. So
that itself, we could have just stopped it there. It
couldn't have gone any furthers like thank you, and I

(17:32):
mean you didn't. Thanks, It's fine, it's cool. He goes, Hey,
would you ever want to be on the show? Said,
are you kidding me? It would be a dream of it. Well, then,
what are you doing doing this weekend? Or if this
was a Friday or something. So I flew out. I said,
I'll come to New York immediately. Great, I'm gonna puts
you in touch with Neil and you guys decide what
we're gonna do, and we're gonna do something great with that.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
Great. Thanks Dave.

Speaker 9 (17:55):
I was on cloud nine, so I immediately started thinking
of ideas. And this is where it is so cool.
So I so I'm writing stuff on the plane. Neil
had already worked out some stuff. So when I get
to New York, it all happens like this. I get
off the plane, we go to where you guys shot
a think in Brooklyn or someplace whatever.

Speaker 10 (18:11):
We get up. As soon as soon as I.

Speaker 9 (18:13):
Get in, I go. Neil's waiting for me. He's like, so,
what do you want to do? Blah blah blah blah.
He goes, We've got this idea of like doing this
training day thing, because you know, like you do your
talk show. Oh and at this time, this is when
I was leaving my talk show because I found out
that because I told somebody off at Disney that they
that they threatened me and said said, oh, you know,

(18:34):
if you don't do this particular thing, we always can
find someone to do your show. And I said, oh,
if you can find another Wayne Brady to do the
Wayne Brady Show, please be my guest.

Speaker 10 (18:41):
I come back in. Tony Danza's name is in the papers.
But that's cool. I was like, great, I'm out.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
Of this bask the wrong goddamn question.

Speaker 9 (18:47):
I'm handling all the black people because they they they
had a band, not a band, because they were gonna
say we never said that. Certain guests that I'd bring up,
they'd go, oh, no, you can't do that, blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah. So I was like, really,
I had Missy Elliot bust the rhymes if you were black,
and my favorite rapper. You were on that show you
show at that time, so this was great. I was
like yes. So in my mind, I was like, we

(19:09):
need to do something that will burn burn the house down.
Fuck it, let's go. So Neil's idea was the training
day thing, and I said, well, if we're doing training
day where I'm showing Dave through the neighborhood and doing shit,
then we really need to lean into the fact of
when folks are like, oh, Wayne, I love you because
I see your talk show where you're this you're everybody's
favorite black guy. Blah bah blah blah. I said, I

(19:31):
want to do a thing where a cop stops me.
And he started singing my jingle and I wrote that
and then I'm gonna go, but be behind him.

Speaker 10 (19:37):
And I'm gonna kill him and that'll freak.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
That'll rereak out.

Speaker 9 (19:43):
Dave and I want a microphone to come down and go, great, well,
let's do that and then we'll do the other thing
with an ATM and you'll get your money. So like,
we'll follow the beats. I said, great, So we came
up with it. So we had these two ideas and
mushed them together. We shot it all night. We wrapped
like six in the morning. I had to get back
on a plane to go back to shoot and then

(20:03):
I get a call like Monday. He's like, dude, this
is amazing. You aren't going to be ready. I think
we I think we've made history. Yes, and I knew it,
like not often are you in the middle of something,
but I knew it as we're doing it, because there
was such desparate worlds right of Daving this and me

(20:24):
especially of that time, of what folks thought of me
and the gigs I was doing. It's like, well, wow,
does that all fit together? And we weren't doing a sketch.
In my mind, I was like, no, I'm really doing
this shit because I'm also showing you what I do
as an actor. It's like we're really doing this and
the way that he shot it. It was a beautiful
thing that came together. And I knew that we made
TV history.

Speaker 2 (20:44):
I knew it. And I'm telling you this, like Rick James.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
This we have a problem, right, Rick James and Prince
they were excited about but we were more excited about
the scripts because we had the scripts way before they
were shot. But I do remember we up until that
point they were really excited about the racial draft. But
the way they were talking about how quickly this thing

(21:10):
came together and how and I was I was disappointed
because I couldn't add music to it.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
Like I was like, all right, so what am I
gonna do? What am I gonna do? They're like, it's done.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
Already, man, you just you wait till it comes on
and literally okay. So I mean that was that was
the beginning of what we call like the viral phase.
How did your hour was perception of you or reaction?
How did that change after that episode?

Speaker 9 (21:37):
It was instantaneous because at that point, you know, the
Chappelle Show.

Speaker 10 (21:42):
Was everywhere all the time.

Speaker 9 (21:44):
It was on a loop, so everywhere you went and
being on tour and going you know, to very various cities.
I could see the reactions like if and right after
that it was on tour, you know, like I was
in Philly and New York and and Atlanta and Chicago
and Troit, so I got to see firsthand black reaction

(22:04):
to the sketch. Now, the thing is that I never
wanted the narrative to be like all black people voted
unanimously that Wayne Brady was corny or whatever, because that
was not the case.

Speaker 10 (22:15):
More black people rocked with me than not.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
It was.

Speaker 10 (22:18):
It was some fine, you couldn't say what you wanted to.

Speaker 9 (22:20):
But I did notice as soon as that sketch hit,
this is the thing that I got, which I loathed
to this day. But I know where it comes from.
When like there's a particular cat comes up, Yo, Wayne, nigger,
that's that dude, i'mosa slap me a home. It's like, no, no, man,
it's actually it's actually it's actually it's actually choko.

Speaker 2 (22:46):
That's what I meant. That's what I meant. I gotta
tell you something.

Speaker 10 (22:49):
I gotta tell you something. I didn't fuck with you before.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
I didn't.

Speaker 9 (22:52):
I didn't fuck with you, honest, I didn't fuck with
you before. I was like well, thanks for telling me
you're in the thoughts I did. Really you didn't digest
my Okay, fine, but.

Speaker 11 (22:59):
Now now.

Speaker 9 (23:02):
Now now hug me, now, man now, And then I'm like, well,
thank you. But the funny thing is, oh, so you
love me now because I had hoes, made Dave take drugs,
and it was yeah, I get I get it, I
get it. But the thing that I loved the most

(23:23):
about it is whatever your reaction and whatever you felt,
and I feel it to this day. It's a classic sketch.
It's in the Museum of Television History. I love Dave,
and I thank Dave, and I thank Neil for and
I thank Donnelle for coming up to me because I
got a chance to do something that was so dope,
and I see the effects of it today that people

(23:43):
got to see because I was doing a Disney talk show,
I was doing an a ABC talk show. I was
on a Who's Line at night. I was doing those things. Now,
the people that followed my act, that saw me in
the comedy clubs and theaters, they knew that it's kind
of like the Bob Saget thing. My act is my acting,
and you tell you tell folks just because you watched
whose line or your kid likes Sophia the first, don't

(24:05):
bring your kids to my show because it's not that
kind of show. So it's not that. So I felt
that that began a shift where folks to your point earlier,
where folks say that they really don't know me, they
know the things that that I do. I feel that
was a step in people going Okay, I guess there's
more to the person than I thought. And if it
takes an event like that to make you open your mind,

(24:25):
then cool. I don't care where it comes from, as
as it comes.

Speaker 8 (24:29):
Well, then I'll ask you something I thought. We're on
our way to being best friends. We started with we
wanted to be friends friends?

Speaker 1 (24:39):
Is so excited, Yes, sir, And this is an objective question,
so I don't know if I can get a definitive answer.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
Of course, is the grass greener on the other side.

Speaker 9 (24:54):
Well, you know, I would not know still because and
this is a larger conversation for a thing I have
issues where I still feel where now it's mostly oddly enough,
ironically it's white Hollywood and white studio exects. And I'll
even say agents that I've had in the past and

(25:15):
people because black is black to me, we are not
a monolith. That's what Whiz is about. Come see the
Whiz until June tenth. So until oh no, no, but you
got a seed in general. But just know that's onory.
So black is all these beautiful things. But the problem
is that when we call each other out and we go, oh,
you're not black of this or your experiences in this,

(25:35):
there are people on the other side listening, like studio
execs and like other people that they're oh, so that's
not black enough.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
So what is black?

Speaker 9 (25:42):
Jamal tell me what is black? And he's like, well,
I don't mess with that, do But I think that dude, okay, great.
So my problem on the grass side isn't even with
my own folks. I love my folks, and my folks
mess with me. It's how I am perceived. I think
even for roles even in series that I know that
I would kill it, I am by by the gatekeeper

(26:04):
who maybe the show creators black, but the studio head
is like, oh no, I wouldn't consider Wayne Brady for that.

Speaker 2 (26:10):
Are there three roles that got away?

Speaker 10 (26:12):
Three roles that got away?

Speaker 2 (26:14):
Three? Is there one? What role? Almost?

Speaker 3 (26:18):
Well?

Speaker 9 (26:18):
I have a few that I have almost had it
that that I'm not gonna blame on Race because maybe
I wasn't the dude on that day. But I was
offered some a couple of things, and then offers got oh,
because but the one that sticks out in my head
that and I feel it We're going so long, so
I'm trying to make things quol Okay, this is not
a great movie by any stretch, but it was one

(26:41):
of the ones. It was around the Chappelle things that
I was like, I'm gonna show folks what the fuck
I do. It was snakes on the plane and here's
the thing. It was for the role of the rapper. Now,
now the dude that got it, that's my boy Flex.
I did a movie with Flex. I love Flex. So
if I'm happy that, yeah, she said. I was like

(27:04):
doing another Flex, So if anybody got it, I was
happy because Flex, And yes, that's fam But what I
did and my audition was so genius. I have to say,
this ship was genius. It was for the rapper. I
looked at the script like, uh, not a great script.
The concept you said. I was like, screw it, I'm
going to go in. So I hired two actors to

(27:28):
play my bodyguards, and I hired a couple of girls
to be my video vixens, and I for the audition.
For the audition, I'll never forget, I drove in traffic.
Like if any of you were actors back in the
day in la if you had to go over to
Santa Monica to audition for this day, it was horrible
getting there. I spent about an hour and an hour

(27:49):
and a half in traffic, and I came up with
the idea. I said, I could do this script, but
what I'm gonna do is I'm going to be this
dude and then I'm in a freestyle what's in I'm
gonna freestyle the story of snakes on a plane, and
then I'm gonna walk out. So I get there. I

(28:09):
timed it so that my time was I don't even
know what time. My time was like four thirty. I
now keep keep in mind, I'm in full like I'm
in my Adidas thing. I've got chains, the whole nine,
I've got these rings, my shit to the side. I
walk in and the dude, the one of the bodyguards,
has a boombox. Were the track I walk in the
casting office click boom booms, boom boots, the boom booms.

Speaker 2 (28:32):
Walking.

Speaker 9 (28:32):
There are actors waiting. I walk right through. I walk
right through into the wait. Wait, you can't get a click. Hey,
how you doing? Oh wait is it yo? I'm not waiting.
I'm gonna read that shit. Blah blah blah. Went on
this whole thing about that script, like that script. Look,
he hit the thing and I did all. I can't
even remember what I said, but it was based basically,

(28:54):
because you want me to explain. I got snakes on
a plane that's up in their legs and the contempt,
and we got this dude, want to sit next guy?
And Sam Sam said, fuck these planes.

Speaker 2 (29:02):
You know who I am. But I come and I
do this about a da da dad.

Speaker 10 (29:05):
And when it's finished, like.

Speaker 9 (29:06):
I I cleared their desk of these papy flash dance
of like the.

Speaker 12 (29:11):
Good shots in the scripts.

Speaker 10 (29:12):
I was like, because clear shit.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
And I through the script because I reading this ship.
Let's go.

Speaker 9 (29:18):
Walked right back out, walked out of the casting office,
went to my car and I was.

Speaker 10 (29:24):
Like, oh, hey, thanks, here's fifty bucks. Thank you so much.
You guys were great.

Speaker 9 (29:29):
I'm get as I'm driving home by the time I
get home, I have on my next tail.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
I had a cease and desist.

Speaker 9 (29:38):
I had a message from my agent call nine one
one oh. They wanted to offer me the role. They
really liked you for this role is. I was like,
I did it. It actually worked, and it was that
thing of I've got a name. You see me on

(30:00):
TV every day. Of these things, I'm still begging and
fighting people to get into rooms, and I'm even trying
to get into this whack movie. So at least I
was like, at least I know that I'm good, and
this thing happened, and now it pays off. Now here's
where I'm gonna be careful because all I know is
what I was told by my reps at this time.

Speaker 10 (30:18):
So they get a call.

Speaker 9 (30:19):
I'm not gonna name who the person was, but somebody
who was in a position of power at the studio. When,
of course these names are being run up the flag pole,
Wayne Brady's name comes up, and this white person says,
oh no, uh uh, not Wayne Brady. He's not black enough. No,

(30:40):
he's not black black, He's not black black black black.

Speaker 2 (30:45):
There's always an expert air quotes, Yeah.

Speaker 9 (30:48):
But I love how he hit black black, so I'm
not black black, but so so then flex gets it
and that's cool. And I found out this information because
I guess somebody at some point in the chain felt
so They're like, I just want want you to know.
So I was like, okay, So that one stung me,
not because I didn't do a great job, but because

(31:09):
I knew it would be something that i'd be facing
and I'm not gonna boohoo because it's something that just
as black actors, black people, black, black lawyers, black, we
face a certain thing. The naivete that I had up
until that point was, well, surely if I'm really dope
and you've seen me do things and I'm a great actor,

(31:30):
I do Broadway I do, surely I should.

Speaker 2 (31:34):
Get the job.

Speaker 9 (31:35):
Like Nope, because I don't think that you are based
on blah blah blah. I was like, oh, I'm an adult, now,
fuck it, I get it. So so that helped me understand. So,
so that's that's the one that got away that I
was disappointed in, not because of I didn't get it,
but because I was like.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
Man, you're being judged.

Speaker 9 (31:53):
If I'm dealing dealing with this, then that sucks for
the actor. Who is coming up and doesn't have any
cloud or doesn't have who's a thing to fall back on.
So so that made me very sympathetic to that.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
Damn man, I'm sorry you didn't get that, and it's
this could have been.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
That movie was terrible though, right, I mean it was a.

Speaker 13 (32:16):
Commercial yeah, yeah, because it was actually one of the
first movies I remember like that really went viral, Like yeah,
the viral because the campaign that later later because they
was like people.

Speaker 9 (32:35):
Right, I don't even say right, like, am I right?
Thinking that Sam was already doing this thing? Of course
he was Sam Jackson. But I feel like that line
in that membost kind of made the mythos of Sam
Jackson where in every movie motherfucker. That that and and
the Tarantin Tino joint, so like those are the two
that cemented Sam as that dude.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
You know what, I made a promise on that episode.
Probably the one complaint that people have on me is
sometimes my non committal and not by choice. I'm not
saying noncommittal like as an I don't consciously choose to
not commit. But of course even I can acknowledge that

(33:23):
perhaps my love of work sometimes and maybe purposely keeps
me from having to interact with people. I know that
sounds mean to say, but I don't mean it in
a such a blatant way. But yeah, I'll acknowledge that
oftentimes when people are addicted to work and do long

(33:47):
work hours, it's often because.

Speaker 2 (33:50):
Socially they lack in other area.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
So, you know, I said I would stay in contact
and start a friendship with Wayne Brady. I have sort
of dropped the ball on my end. We text occasionally,
but yeah, we got to do that dinner. I just
think it's important for birds of a feather to flock together.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
And if we take.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
Time out, I think we will all notice that we
all have creative commonality, social anxiety commonality, a lot of
things in common, and if we sort of just took
time out to explore those things and share stories with
each other, war stories or common stories with each other,

(34:35):
we'll be better off.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
So but yeah, Wayne, I love that guy. Man.

Speaker 1 (34:41):
You know it's beautiful cat And I will hold up
my end of the bargain.

Speaker 2 (34:47):
I'm saying this to the world, all right.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
So here is Kathy Hughes, who pioneered the quiet store
format from her own record collection. Keep Mad that like
you run a radio station, you got to use your
own records to keep it afloat. So part one of
our interview, and this is from twenty twenty three, Kathy,

(35:12):
you shares a story and this is important history, so listen.

Speaker 14 (35:17):
But one of the things that I've been proud is of,
quite frankly, was the assistance that we did provide for
the do wop groups and for the oldies but goodies
as they call them, because so many of these individuals
were starving. Okay, all right, I mean they loved the art,
they loved the music, but they couldn't work any longer,

(35:39):
and disco just killed so many of them off. And
it was not until we, during that same era, came
up with this concept of you know, basically oldies, but
we you know, put more sophisticated titles to it dealt contemporary.

Speaker 1 (35:55):
Okay, So you help us here in like nostalgia.

Speaker 4 (36:00):
Or the urban ac category.

Speaker 7 (36:03):
I mean, I think she's saying that they created the
urban acne category.

Speaker 14 (36:07):
No question, okay, And it was to really provide platforms
we have this had this event for years until it
became too big, quite frankly for us to handle. I
admired the fact that Philadelphia still is able to do.
There's called the Stone Soul Picnic, and the Stone Soul
Picnic was only these old groups that you know, the

(36:29):
Ohio players, Okay, all these groups that had been dormant. Okay,
nobody was buying them, nobody was sampling them, okay, nobody
was recognizing them for their their brilliance, and uh, we
started resurrecting them, Okay. And I kind of stumbled into
it after I had created the Quiet Storm, because the

(36:52):
Quiet Storm was love music, love was ballots, and I
had to really reach back, all right to eras where
lyrics told stories.

Speaker 4 (37:07):
You gotta tell that story. You need to tell the
Quiet Storm story.

Speaker 2 (37:11):
Where's the name from?

Speaker 1 (37:12):
Explain to us who Melvin Lindsay was and how you
guys invented. You guys basically helped triple the population.

Speaker 14 (37:21):
And let me tell you that. The reason, the main
reason I want to write my book is because when
w h U R celebrated as anniversary, there were several
inaccurate accountings of the Quiet Storm. Number One, Melvin Lindsay
was not the originator. Melvin Lindsay was my third era
whoa not my first? He was my third. Okay, whoa

(37:44):
all right. First was a kid named Don Roberts, who
broke my heart because he was the most talented of
my first three. But he was good looking, and he
said to me, I got a face for television, missus
linccoln's okay, because I wasn't even married to do even,
He said, I don't want to be in at a

(38:05):
radio studio where no one could see me. Sure not
went on to be a big time anchor in Baltimore, Maryland. Okay,
Don robert My first. My second was a young man
named Jack Schuler. Jack Schuler was Melvin Lindsey's best friend.
Melvin Lindsey was my intern that I paid out of
my pocket. He picked my son up from school. He

(38:28):
came because Howard said that they didn't have a budget
for interns and I needed some of the students to
actually be in a position to earn some money. So
Jack Schuler was vomiting literally after each show or doing
the show. He was so nervous, he was trembling. He said,
please don't make me do this no more, missliggoans. Please

(38:50):
please Melvin to do it, Melvin to do it. So
Melvin told me he would do the Quiet Storm if
I didn't make him open the microphone. So if there
were any early tapes that you're looking for it, yeah,
he would say good evening and welcome to the Quiet Storm.
The next time you would hear Melvin Lindsay's voice, he

(39:11):
would say, thank you for listening to the Quiet Storm.
I'm Melvin Lindsay. There was nothing in between from Melbourne
except the music. Great taste in music. It was my
private music collection. And I started it out on Saturday
night and then on Sunday, and then I decided that

(39:35):
it was the conception of the Quiet Storm was for
a senior to be chosen by the faculty, two seniors
in fact, one for each semester, to give them a
commercial experience on their resume. Okay. It was never for
one person to host the show. It was never supprised.

(39:55):
It was supposed to be a rotation opportunity. As I
came to it was Milton Allen who was married to
Pat Prescott in La Sheila Eldritch and Franklin. Those were
my three, Okay, students that I was able to rotate. Okay,
nobody else rotated. Okay. People came and got stuck, including Melbourne. Well,

(40:20):
Melvin did so good that kys Kiss told him that
they would give him an opportunity if he would come
and be on the air at Kiss. So Melvin walks
into my office. Now, this is like I told you,
he said Jim Tern. I had literally supported him. Okay.

(40:41):
His parents would say to him, well, you need to
ask miss Liggans first before you do so. And so
I had picked his classes for him the whole nine years.
He tells me on a Friday that he's got an
offer and he's going to work at Kiss. And I'm
thinking he's somebody after graduation and all this. And I said,
when he said Monday, I was so irate. I told
him get out of my office. Hey, yes, So Dewey Hughes,

(41:05):
who at that time had fourteen Emmys for his productions
at the r City NBC fourteen Emmy's Okay, he created
youth News, he created music videos as Quiets as Kep. Anyway,
Dewey comes to my office and he tells me that
it's a setup, that NBC just wanted Melvin off the air,

(41:27):
and that they had him in the mill room and
would I please bring him back? And I said bring
him back, and he said, let me take you to
dinner and talk to you about this well ultimately doing,
and I got married and Melvin came back. Okay. And
years later, okay there and years later, I'll never well forget.

(41:50):
We were at this big affair and Melvin was being
honored and I was in the audience with Dewey and
Melvin didn't acknowledge the fact that I was even in
the audience. And Dewey had torn his achilles, attended to
play a basketball, he was crutches. He went up to
the head table. He grabbed Melvin Lindsey around the neck

(42:12):
and he said.

Speaker 15 (42:13):
I'm married because of you, Okay, and then we went
back to the microphone.

Speaker 14 (42:24):
Well, I'm so sorry. I didn't know she was here.
He grabbed her right in front of the whole room.
It was hilarious because that's how Juey and I ended
up getting married. The reason my name is Kathy Hughes.

Speaker 1 (42:35):
How did you get Melvin out of his shyness? Because
I didn't know Melvin Lindsay as a radio personality. I
knew him as when we first got cable. I knew
Melvin Lindsay as a news personality. So he was like
Brian Gumbele is, and I'm like, wait a minute, you
were a quiet storm guy in so.

Speaker 4 (42:57):
Sexy and I was too young to even know it all.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
Yes, I was like, so how did you?

Speaker 3 (43:03):
And did the song come afore the show?

Speaker 14 (43:05):
I cannot take full credit for getting him out of
his shell. Number one, Melvin was introduced to the gay
lifestyle by I also had the distinction of hiring the
first openly gay air personality, Robin Holden in d C.

(43:26):
Robin Holden, I had to talk in code back in
those days. She said, the children will be meeting this
Friday night and so and so she was talking code
and Howard University was up my rear end. Okay, are
you out of your mind?

Speaker 2 (43:39):
Conservative?

Speaker 14 (43:41):
Okay, executive, conservative, homophobic, all of that, okay, and uh.
At the same time, I'm getting all these rave reviews
from the UH because d C, as quiet as it's kept, okay,
is a big gay and lesbian sick all right, okay,
all right, okay for many many decades and so okay.

(44:06):
So Robin was, and Robin was an incredible air personality,
incredible air personality, all right. And she helped Melvin come
out of his show because I think that she made
him comfortable with his sexuality. She made him feel that
it was okay because Melvin was very closeted at that time,
which contributed to his okay. He was engaged. I bought

(44:31):
the engagement ring for a young lady and she left
him because she recognized that he wasn't comfortable with her.
But during those times when Melvin was quiet and withdrawn
and went to open the microphone, his show was almost
like a black musac, and so it grew in popularity.

(44:53):
We didn't have any commercials because it was a student shift, okay,
so they popular. We became number one in a matter
of like eighteen months. We went from no listeners to
being number one in the market because Melvin wouldn't open
the mic and I had no commercials, so it was
NonStop love music. Wow, Okay, okay, okay music the theme

(45:19):
of Philly International. There's a message in our music. Okay.
We believed in that, and the message was one of
love and affection and attention. And so Melvin blossomed and
went on to become an incredible personality, incredible, He grew
into himself, He got comfortable with himself. Deanna Williams was

(45:40):
very much a part of his growth and development, okay,
because he realized that he could be loved regardless of, okay,
his sexuality. His sexual preference had no bearing on his talent.
And he really, really really blossomed and became this incredible,
credible television and radio personality and died too soon, too early,

(46:07):
and so age took him away, way too soon. But
he was he.

Speaker 4 (46:12):
Was our first right like I felt like he was
our first major.

Speaker 8 (46:16):
He was.

Speaker 14 (46:18):
It just it just hurts me to my heart to
think what he could have been, what he could have
done had he not been discriminated against, had he not
been unable to be who he really was, because talent
personality galore, and once it started coming out, it was

(46:39):
only out for a short period of time and then
he was gone.

Speaker 4 (46:43):
He still needs to be in the Radio Hall of
Fame somewhere.

Speaker 14 (46:46):
Absolutely absolutely deserved it. He became my most popular, but
the most popular of all the hosts of the cliss
Starm was Von Harper in New York. Von Harper, let's.

Speaker 7 (46:58):
Talk about the franchising, the franchising of the Quiet Storm.

Speaker 4 (47:01):
Then, yes, I'm sorry, I don't mean interrupt you.

Speaker 14 (47:05):
Howard wouldn't let me franchise it. They wouldn't let me
license it. And at one time it was on there
were stations that actually called themselves the Quiet Storm station.
Howard could have supported not just the School of Communications, Uh,
they could have supported the entire school off just licensing.

Speaker 16 (47:24):
Yes, sounds like.

Speaker 14 (47:25):
The reason I left Howard University was I realized that
they had taken a billion dollar baby that God had
given me, you know, uh, the motherhood of Okay, that
I had birthed a billion dollar baby for Howard University,
and they had thrown the baby the bath water and

(47:47):
me out of window. And so I resigned. Because I
resigned telling Doctor Cheek that I did not want to
miss the next billion dollar baby that God might impregnate
me with. I would not allow anyone else to be
in charge of my destiny. And that's what Radio one became.
They became that Okay, that that baby that God once

(48:10):
again blessed me with. Because before Howard they persecuted me.
They punished me for the Quiet Storm.

Speaker 2 (48:18):
Really why terribly.

Speaker 14 (48:21):
I was very very very provocative in my days at
Howard University. I stood up for the students. I you know,
opened doors, and it wasn't Howard's fault HBCUs only you know,
recently realized that education is a business. You have to

(48:42):
make money at it, Okay, and all this to be announced, books,
not being in classrooms, not being a signed, having to
stand in line for hours to register, Okay, all of.

Speaker 12 (48:56):
That, that's that's part of the experience.

Speaker 14 (49:01):
But Howard was very good to me. Howard sent me
to Harvard University for six weeks to learn broadcast management
because when they told me they wanted to put me
in the job as general manager first as sales manager.
I said, I don't know how to do it, and
they said, well, you know, you know some of the basics,

(49:23):
and they paid my tuition to the business school at
that time they had a six week course called broadcast Management.

Speaker 11 (49:32):
Wow.

Speaker 14 (49:33):
And then they paid my way for a two week
course at the University of Chicago called psychographic programming. That's
when I came back and created the Quiet Storm. So
both times, so you know, they say that, you know,
I was their best student that never matriculated at Howard University.

(49:53):
But Howard invested in me quite seriously. I would not be,
you know, professionally who I am or what I do
now were it not for university. And so it was
easy for me. When I found out that the School
of Communications was, you know, in a danger of not
losing his accreditation and perhaps having to close that, I

(50:17):
was like, oh, no, that cannot happen. I can't allow
that to happen, because they produced me. Okay, even though
I was never a student. Okay, Howard University produced who
I am professionally. You know, I think that that over
the years that some of the things that I wanted
for the students and for the university have come to fruition,

(50:38):
and for that I'm eternally grateful.

Speaker 1 (50:45):
So the Quiet Storm. I lived in Philadelphia and we
were lucky to have the legendary Doug Henderson. Like even
when you talk about Doug Henderson and your voice goes
down a couple of octaves. So we had Doug Henderson
back in WDASFM one oh five point three. I believe

(51:11):
he also came to Did he come to Power ninety nine.
I'm not too sure I think he did, but yeah,
the Quiet Storm format. When I was young, I didn't
appreciate it. But you know, after they got rid of
the Quiet Storm format in nineteen ninety seven, and suddenly

(51:32):
I became the Quiet Storm format. So many of you
have heard me many times sort of name drop and
talk about all my illustrious friends that I make playlists for.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
This February is no different.

Speaker 1 (51:47):
Once a month I give over four hundred people my
mixes because music calms the soul sometimes and so yeah,
now I'm the guy that makes quiet Storm mixes. But
back in the day, you needed a platform that could
play slow songs all the time. If not, then you
had to take time out to make like a three

(52:10):
hour mixtape. So that way, when your loved one comes.

Speaker 2 (52:16):
By the spot, you got a soundtrack. And that's important.
That's how we all got here.

Speaker 1 (52:23):
So all right, So next up is the legendary Lady B,
the first woman on a rap record.

Speaker 2 (52:32):
She released a single to the beat Y'all back in
the day. A little history for you.

Speaker 1 (52:36):
She spoke about the power of black radio in Philadelphia
and how the legendary Mary Mason. If you're from the
Tri State area, especially Philly, you know the name Mary Mason.

Speaker 2 (52:47):
Mary Mason shaped Lady B on air and off air.

Speaker 1 (52:51):
And there's also a great story about Nancy Reagan in
there too, all right, enjoy for our listeners listening. She
may h a t w h A T was an
AM radio station. I knew as a kid. I knew
it because like my I mean the way that people
always listening to talk radio. Now, we had a woman

(53:13):
by the name of Mary Mason in Philadelphia, who I
owe grand mom, And I mean, I don't know how
typical it was for a black woman to have her
own platform to that of like, uh, I mean, who's
just can tell you something.

Speaker 12 (53:33):
In terms of like Alex what's his name?

Speaker 16 (53:35):
Like, let me let me just share one Mary Mason stories.

Speaker 2 (53:39):
Please.

Speaker 16 (53:39):
Yeah, I'm eighteen years old and Nancy Reagan walks into
the lobby the Secret Service with her blah blah blah.
She just doesn't pop up right, dude, stop by to
say how to marry? This is how politically strong she
was was. And she told me, and I quote, tell

(54:00):
that bitch.

Speaker 14 (54:00):
I don't want what.

Speaker 16 (54:04):
I'm trying to get.

Speaker 4 (54:05):
Carter and off.

Speaker 16 (54:10):
Here I am so here, I am, y'all eighteen Like
how do I.

Speaker 4 (54:15):
Oh, she told you to tell that bitch.

Speaker 16 (54:16):
Yes, So I gotta go out here and look this
lady in her face and like, ma'am, I'm so sorry,
but miss Mason, it's a flattered that you stopped by, however,
her schedule, you know, I had to go through the
whole shebang. But that's what she told me. I've heard
her hurst at the Mayor and hang up on them
about her Philly's tickets like she Miss Mason was to be.

(54:37):
She is the reason I have the backbone and that
my shoulders are back. And I've never let anyone talk
to me or or or try to get over at
least not knowing me. I mean they ended up a
couple of times anyway, but they had to sneak and
do it. No, I've never allowed anyone to be blatantly
disrespectful in my face.

Speaker 4 (54:58):
If you will, Oh, I'm gonna talk about that to me.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
She was like the original Russe Limbaugh like she's very
controversial also, like I know she supported like Frank brazil
Or she cried.

Speaker 16 (55:12):
He was a politician on the radio. Is what Mary was.
And I will have to say that she walked her walk.
She was dedicated to this community of people. She got
on the air and talked about things that other people
wouldn't even touch and called people on it like she

(55:33):
she she may she I witnessed this woman changed lives.

Speaker 12 (55:39):
Yeah, and she was something.

Speaker 4 (55:42):
And then you took some baton and now you do
the same thing well.

Speaker 16 (55:46):
Later, because I mean I didn't take the time from
her then, because we take it. I mean she when
she passed that the time.

Speaker 5 (55:51):
To me, I was doing hip hop.

Speaker 16 (55:52):
I was crazy. We was having fun.

Speaker 5 (55:53):
Y'all was having fun.

Speaker 16 (55:54):
You just said it. I was playing all that good
stuff with y'all. I just came. I just came into
my Mary Made vibe right now, That's.

Speaker 1 (56:01):
What it is.

Speaker 2 (56:02):
Yeah, okay.

Speaker 1 (56:05):
So I remember like discovering your show around like late
nineteen eighty early eighty one, you know, every Saturday afternoon whatever,
we my brother and I would just record.

Speaker 16 (56:19):
Like everybody says, I remind them of Paul's record. Paul's record.
Whenever I see Banie Sgual, he goes, Paul's record.

Speaker 1 (56:26):
All right, No oh, you're world famous, fat get your part,
press your pause, press your pause button. But to have
a radio show, and you were on for like two
to three hours, But I'm thinking, like back in eighty one,
was there even two to three hours worth of quality
hip hop to play?

Speaker 16 (56:45):
I like to explain it like this. I laugh every
time I hear the term digging into crates and that's
crates with an S. Because when I started playing hip
hop on the radio, there was a crate one crate.

Speaker 4 (56:59):
Was it full?

Speaker 16 (57:01):
It was full to the max. I mean not everything was.
I was picky. It was was good enough to play right.
You know when when we first started, when we realized
we could take what we were doing in our backyards,
in our neighborhoods and our courtyards and put it on
wax and that you know, this was possible. Everybody tried

(57:22):
to do it, whether they could rap or not, but
I was very I think the thing that number one,
you have to understand when hip hop started, it was
its purpose was to stop a terrible disease in the
black community that was full of violence and gang war,
and it was it was crazy. It was getting a

(57:42):
little out of hand with it. So hip hop gave
I mean, I'm sure if you spoke to an Africa
band body he would co sign this. But hip hop
gave us away to battle each other and represent our neighborhoods,
not with knives and guns, but with turntables and microphones.
And it became this thing like you had to wrap
your nameighborhood with your rhymes and God forbid. If you've

(58:03):
been to anybody else's rhyme, you had to come with
your shit and it had to be real and it
had to be raw, and it had to be authentic.
And everybody couldn't do that. Some people just thought they
could just get out a book of words that rhyme
and put some shit together and hand it to me
to get on the air, and that that happened a lot.
But if I couldn't understand number one, what you were saying,

(58:25):
like I no disrespect to what people like these kids
like today or whatever, but mumble rat was it just
makes my skin call because for me, a good MC
is very articulate. You can hear everywhere. I don't care
what if he's saying something wrong, disrespectful. I have to
hear what you're saying or why did you waste that
banging ass beat? Like why are you here?

Speaker 7 (58:47):
B do you remember like your first show and the
records that you had to play out of the crate,
like all right, this is my first show.

Speaker 4 (58:53):
I gotta get so well, you have.

Speaker 16 (58:54):
To understand then we kind of got, you know, we didn't,
you know? I laugh when I see Jeff and Cash
and and Richard Dean and them Casts and U Quest
and and Biz. May he Rest in peace, go deep
into this this DJ thing. But you have to understand
when hip hop start is when we first learned how
to cut and scratch a brake beat. So that took
up so much time. And not only am I gonna

(59:16):
just take the train, but I'm gonna take the train
for about good twelve fourteen damn minutes, so that with
a lot of.

Speaker 5 (59:21):
Time on the road, you know what I mean?

Speaker 16 (59:24):
Yeah, you go, You're gonna cut that joke, what sucker
mcs And then you got the flip side, Then you
got the instrumental that you could cut in with that joint.
Then you got another DJ. At one time on Power
ninety nine, it was so dope, me and Jeff Mills.
May he Rest in peace. Had he got two turns, Yes,
he had two turntables on his side. I had two

(59:44):
turned turnative tables, and we had a reel to reel,
So we have six elements coing in. I'm cutting in
other songs in the minute people it was blowing People's
make Blueyna cross my mind.

Speaker 7 (59:55):
I'm gonna just have a real dumb moment because I
know I'm not alone in this I don't think it
ever crossed my mind.

Speaker 4 (01:00:00):
And as you were literally mixing records like that.

Speaker 16 (01:00:02):
I remember run And and Dal coming to my studio
for the first time. They're like, so you're gonna mix
the record and interview us. I was like, yeah, right.

Speaker 2 (01:00:12):
You were more than just a personality. It's like I
was a big.

Speaker 16 (01:00:15):
Girl on a radio and I still am.

Speaker 12 (01:00:18):
Yeah, I was gonna say that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
You also, you guys would at least on like the
like the midpoint or at least the last hour of
the w H a t portion of your show, like
you were also playing like craft work, like what would
become like b boy, you know, like it's time.

Speaker 16 (01:00:39):
Well, you have to understand, break dancing was a major
element for us in the beginning of this thing, So
if you couldn't break to it, it definitely didn't get played.
And they demanded it because you have to understand, I
am taping the only hip hop y'all gonna have for
the week, and then y'all with Jones until the next week.
Like I was the only one with PEPSI understand, I'm
the only only place you can get it. People were

(01:01:01):
driving you canna ask Chuck d they would drive down
to Philly to take my show. Yes, so it was
like that. It was it was like this thing and
everybody had to have it, and it was just so
much freaking fun doing and it.

Speaker 7 (01:01:15):
Was so And Mary Mason never said she never pulled
your coat on anything, not a record.

Speaker 4 (01:01:20):
Nobody ever said, listen, I can't be playing that no more.
It was never.

Speaker 2 (01:01:24):
We won't even.

Speaker 12 (01:01:24):
Mention the discombobulated boobulator.

Speaker 16 (01:01:26):
No, I'd love this combined bulat you love that anymore?

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
That all right, I'll get the nineteen eighty six in
a second. Hang on, we had a small controversy with
mc breeze discoboblaated boobulator. But wait before before I go on,
there's two things I gotta ask you. One, how often
did you record your own shows on w h A t.

Speaker 4 (01:01:57):
He wants them?

Speaker 16 (01:01:58):
I know everybody tap money, every DJ has asked me
this question. So in my possession, I have not gone
through them. I do have some real deriels, but as
far as cassettes, people have been given them to me
over the years. I meet a listener on the air
and said that they used to take me and they
still have them. As a matter of fact, I've been
asking people to give them back or I can make

(01:02:19):
a copy off them of them and give them back
to them because and I didn't even have a cassette
player in the house, but my niece and nephews brought
me one last year. So it's fly little joint. It
looks like a boombox, but its Bluetooth compatible.

Speaker 14 (01:02:33):
Is so cute.

Speaker 16 (01:02:34):
But I have was sitting there here on my desk,
but I now want to get the cassettes so I
can hear them. But I do have, like I do
have some of those real to reels.

Speaker 12 (01:02:41):
You got to convert those in like I have to.

Speaker 16 (01:02:43):
I know I'm getting to the point. COVID did allow
me to do a lot of purging, so there is
a little order to my madness. So I'm getting it
all together. At least I know tapes are here, real
de reels are here, and now I just got to
dive into them.

Speaker 1 (01:02:58):
Okay, I gotta ask a question. There's a record you
used to always play and I thought it was a
Philly record, and I'm just finding out that this guy
is from New York. But do you know the whereabouts
of our sela rock a ka the mic stro are.

Speaker 16 (01:03:15):
You ready, hold your hat, hold your hand, because you're
not gonna believe it is right here. Hit me Sunday night.
My show was sold out, by the way at the
Dell Music Center. It's been sold.

Speaker 7 (01:03:28):
It is.

Speaker 16 (01:03:30):
It's my fortieth anniversary in radio and hitting the stage
for the very first time at the Dell. We'll see
everybody around the nation give you because I have to
fulfill my obligation and set you on a gutification.

Speaker 5 (01:03:51):
But you don't need no vessel.

Speaker 12 (01:03:56):
You found our sela rock the micstro Yo.

Speaker 16 (01:04:00):
He's so hyped about doing this show that me and
Charlie Mack are like, I don't know how old is now?
And I'm like, does anybody told me he's gonna have
to put a track behind him because he's not going
to make her do all the lyrics.

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
Like, there's no way me and Turk will drive down
and do the lyrics for him.

Speaker 12 (01:04:18):
Yo, this is nine d expecting.

Speaker 16 (01:04:21):
Sunday night at the Dell. B there or B Square?

Speaker 12 (01:04:26):
Who else?

Speaker 16 (01:04:28):
Oh, you don't want to know you ain't ready. I've
never had EPMD. They will be in the building because
I've been doing this for ten years now. I've never
had nice and smooth. They will be in the building.
I have my iconic Sugarhill game Melo Email and his
crew I have I've said Shantee, I always trying to
have a female every year. She's my female. This year, EPMD,

(01:04:49):
nice and well CuMo d will be in the building.
And uh my headliner is Big Daddy King.

Speaker 12 (01:04:56):
Oh man, Yo, you know where the mixtro is.

Speaker 16 (01:05:01):
He's gonna be on my state. You gotta see this video.
I gotta. I'm gonna say, send me your number. I'm
gonna send you this video that he did. He is
he He's the mice trop That's all I can say.

Speaker 6 (01:05:12):
Wow.

Speaker 16 (01:05:13):
You can't want somebody old lady beatings your bull or
see the rock I'm coming down here to rock the joint.

Speaker 7 (01:05:19):
Or it's making be the promo videos for everybody.

Speaker 16 (01:05:24):
People were doing oh when you have to do one too.
People are doing happy forty aeth the anniversary videos. We're
trying to make happy fortieth Lady be. Spread the word,
get everybody to do it. Let's blow the spot up
hashtag happy fortieth Lady beat.

Speaker 2 (01:05:38):
Let's go woo wow.

Speaker 1 (01:05:46):
You know now, I think because we have the Internet,
there is a sense of community in the Internet, but
before the Internet, black radio was the Internet. It's where
you learn new music. And you know, they had a
trust in the DJ. The DJ was a taste maker.

(01:06:10):
You hired someone that had good taste. That's the one
thing I wish we could really, really truly grapple with
the issue of taste. Someone discerning, someone that can make
informed decisions on.

Speaker 2 (01:06:27):
What is good, what is not good.

Speaker 1 (01:06:30):
You know what needs work, what needs practice, what needs
to be upheld, what is getting too much time? And
that's what black radio was. You know, it was like
a community billboard. You learned about, you know, local gatherings.
You learned about like anything from like local inner city
farming on Saturdays, like a farmer's market type thing, or

(01:06:53):
an event happening at you know, local theater or that
sort of thing, or concerts coming up. Music should be on,
especially at nighttime. Radio would get more experimental. So that
lasted up until about like nineteen ninety seven, and then
you know, kind of the corporate arm of radio as

(01:07:14):
money tool sort of came into play. But yeah, man,
black radio was important for back in the day to
keep you abreast of all you needed to know, all
types of music. You needed to know, not just hit singles.
All right, So here is Donnie Simpson. If you are

(01:07:35):
my age slightly older living in America and you had
cable television, you.

Speaker 2 (01:07:44):
Know who Donnie Simpson is.

Speaker 1 (01:07:46):
Donnie Simpson is such a pioneering figure in black radio.
I believe on this show he shares with us that
he is the reason why you know the song Benny
and the Jets by Elton John. Having DJed in Detroit,
he premiered the song like around seven pm at night

(01:08:10):
on Detroit radio instant hit, and people just kept requesting
Benny and the Jets. And then suddenly Elton John got
word because you know, they heard that they were playing
Biddy and the Jets in Detroit, and then nearby territories
like Chicago, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and then of course you

(01:08:33):
know the Tri State.

Speaker 2 (01:08:34):
And d C, you know the DMV.

Speaker 1 (01:08:37):
Suddenly the song just spread like wildfire, and Donnie Simpson
is the first domino that fell.

Speaker 2 (01:08:45):
So yeah, man, Donnie.

Speaker 1 (01:08:46):
Simpson such a legend of BT in its early days
with video soul. Such a hero is from back in
twenty seventeen, and Donnie's going to discuss his experience as
an ambassador of black culture on radio and television. How
are you convinced, uh to Well, you didn't totally abandon

(01:09:08):
radio when you did video solo. Oh no, you did both.
But did you figure that, Okay, it's time for the
black version of MTV too, uh to come to fruition
and I.

Speaker 2 (01:09:20):
Want to be a part of history.

Speaker 11 (01:09:22):
Now, Well, this has not happened. I mean, it wasn't
my creation. I got a call from Bob Johnson asking me,
or actually was Jeff Lee, his right hand man, said
we're starting this show called Video Soul, and we like
for you to host it. At the time, I was

(01:09:43):
still doing radio, of course, but I was also I
just started.

Speaker 5 (01:09:46):
Doing TV locally in DC.

Speaker 11 (01:09:48):
For the last two years, I was a sports anchor
George Michael, Yeah Michael.

Speaker 5 (01:09:54):
Backup for George Michael Sports.

Speaker 11 (01:09:55):
Machine, so you know, so yeah it was cool. I
mean I enjoyed that, but I like music, you know,
sports is not what I do.

Speaker 5 (01:10:05):
So anyway, thank you, go ahead.

Speaker 1 (01:10:12):
Sports that you're thinking, that's actually how how I know you.

Speaker 17 (01:10:17):
I went to school down in College Park, Maryland in
late eighties early nineties, so I was watching the George
Michael sports.

Speaker 1 (01:10:24):
Oh wow, cool dream machine sports, machine sports legend Donnie Simpson.

Speaker 11 (01:10:35):
So so anyway, they said, wanted me to do this show,
and I'll be very honest with you, my first answer
was no. You know, no, I didn't want to do it.
I've always been very careful about what I get involved
in because all I have to sell is image, you know,

(01:10:56):
so I'm very protective of that. You know, it's got
to be right. And b e T in its infancy
wasn't a pretty baby exactly exactly right.

Speaker 5 (01:11:13):
So I didn't want to do that, but I thought
about it for two.

Speaker 11 (01:11:15):
Days and then finally the bottom line became this that
this is our first black television network.

Speaker 5 (01:11:24):
If you have something to offer it, you have to
do that.

Speaker 2 (01:11:28):
Period. Let's go.

Speaker 5 (01:11:29):
And so I'm glad I did, man.

Speaker 11 (01:11:31):
I mean it was, uh, you know, it was amazing.
When we first started, we were in one and a
half million homes. When I left, that number was like
forty five million, you know, now it's like one hundred
or something.

Speaker 5 (01:11:42):
I mean, it's just crazy, you know.

Speaker 11 (01:11:44):
And uh, you know, it put me in black houses
all across this country.

Speaker 5 (01:11:49):
You know that.

Speaker 2 (01:11:51):
Just know about your radio career.

Speaker 5 (01:11:53):
I just yeah, most people around the country don't get
shocked when they find out.

Speaker 10 (01:11:57):
How do radio?

Speaker 5 (01:11:59):
Yeah? Yeah, but you know it was really something special, man.

Speaker 2 (01:12:03):
It was you know.

Speaker 11 (01:12:06):
Terry Lewis, we were talking about it recently and he
was saying how that I was just telling him about
the love and respect that I get and how it
just blows me away, you know every time. And he says,
it's because you mean something to people. You know that
you represented a time when music was fun. You know,

(01:12:27):
the videos were fun and.

Speaker 5 (01:12:29):
All of that.

Speaker 11 (01:12:30):
You know, it was clean fun, you know, and you
represent that time. It's like, well, I've never thought about
it like that, but you know, it's I remember one
night VH one did a series called Black in the
eighties and then he had interviewed me for it, and
so they told me it's coming on, So I watched

(01:12:51):
it that night. It was an hour long and the
first fifteen minutes they did Brian Gumble, the first black
to host the early morning national television show.

Speaker 5 (01:13:02):
Then they did or Senel Hall, first black to host
late night talk show.

Speaker 11 (01:13:08):
Then they did Cosby The Cosby Show and first black
TV show where uh, the mother and dad were doctor
and a lawyer, not a plumber and a Janitor or something,
you know, and then they did Donnie Simpson and Video
Soul and man, I'll never forget it. When the show ended,
all I could think was, well, how the hell am

(01:13:28):
I supposed to sleep tonight?

Speaker 5 (01:13:32):
Seriously?

Speaker 11 (01:13:32):
Because I never had it put in perspective like that,
you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:13:36):
It's like.

Speaker 11 (01:13:39):
A line from that I've always loved from Elton John
rocket Love. Not rocket Love, that's Stevie Wonder Rocket ma
Man right when he says in all the science, I
don't understand it's just my job five days a week,
you know.

Speaker 5 (01:13:54):
I mean, you think this is a rocketman an astronage.
It's like it's so glorious.

Speaker 11 (01:13:58):
You know you were DJ's a glorious man.

Speaker 5 (01:14:02):
I don't care who you are, what you do. It's
just what you do.

Speaker 1 (01:14:07):
So at the time, you weren't thinking that you're doing
a historical service for mankind, that there's.

Speaker 2 (01:14:15):
A bunch of eleven year olds watching.

Speaker 1 (01:14:17):
You and recording this because we will record the show
and watch it over and over again.

Speaker 5 (01:14:24):
Crazy to me, No, I never thought.

Speaker 11 (01:14:26):
I've had three or four to ESPN anchors come up
to me and tell me you're the reason I do
TV because I used to watch you.

Speaker 5 (01:14:34):
It's like.

Speaker 3 (01:14:36):
That.

Speaker 5 (01:14:36):
Man, that's mind blowing to me. Of course, I'm telling you.

Speaker 1 (01:14:38):
Man, Between you and probably probably the only person that
could challenge or even match your cool might be Don Cornelius,
like you two are parents.

Speaker 2 (01:14:51):
It was cool one the next. And that's the thing.

Speaker 1 (01:14:55):
You always pervade, this, this level of of intelligence and
cool and knowledge no matter who the artist was. Like
if I were interviewing like Wild Animal era Vanity, I

(01:15:15):
would have been sweating profusely.

Speaker 2 (01:15:20):
But you gave her the.

Speaker 1 (01:15:23):
Same level of respect that you would have done for
Sergio Mendez or or Side Garrett or Quincy Jones or
I'll be short, like you know what I mean. Like that,
to me was was even more amazing. Like it's one
thing to interview someone that you love and that you're

(01:15:44):
you know that you have history of, Like I'm sure
that you know if a Motown luminary comes on the show,
then you know you're just.

Speaker 2 (01:15:50):
Giddy about it. But how do you prepare yourself.

Speaker 1 (01:15:55):
For an artist that you might not know of, Like say,
of first year Karen White comes on the show and
you might not know that much about her, but.

Speaker 5 (01:16:03):
I ask her.

Speaker 4 (01:16:07):
Like you did.

Speaker 11 (01:16:09):
Seriously, that's how I prepare. There's no like ten years,
but there there's no preparation. I mean, every artist I've
ever had on Video Soul, they would give me a
bio and a list of questions and I would take
a car right set.

Speaker 5 (01:16:22):
That on the side.

Speaker 11 (01:16:24):
Seriously, I would never look at it because I felt
that there's nothing wrong with me not knowing you grew
up in Tuscaloosa that I can ask you that. I mean,
this is an interview, this is getting to know you.
What's wrong with that being the first so where you
grow up at? You know, Oh, I grew up in
Philip oh Man, what happened to the Sixers the other night?

(01:16:44):
That's conversation?

Speaker 2 (01:16:46):
Okay, you know it.

Speaker 5 (01:16:48):
That's just you know.

Speaker 11 (01:16:49):
I mean, if it's somebody I knew, I'm telling you
this may be the depth of the preparation. I'd go,
all right, Luther's on this show today. I'm riding in
and I go, what is it you want to know
about Luther Man? Why you why does your weight keep
going up and down?

Speaker 5 (01:17:09):
I said, all right, that's what I'm going to ask him.

Speaker 13 (01:17:11):
And you know it's but you could ask him that
though I don't think nobody else could get away with.

Speaker 5 (01:17:16):
But you know, and and that is a blessing for
you to say that you get.

Speaker 11 (01:17:21):
It, that it's just like uh on, with all due respect,
I'm going back to Johnny Carson the Tonight Show that
when the conversation with Johnny was always different from any
other host I ever saw because they had so much

(01:17:41):
respect for him.

Speaker 5 (01:17:42):
He could ask things that others might not because they
just lose. But but Jimmy's like that too, because he's
so cool.

Speaker 11 (01:17:50):
You know, when you when you're cool with people like that, man,
and they feel you and it's real, it's not staged questions.
And you know, when you've read the bio, the chances
are I'm to ask you a question based on that bio.

Speaker 5 (01:18:02):
It's something that you've been asked a thousand times already before.

Speaker 1 (01:18:06):
What was your first interview on Do you remember your
very first interview on the show?

Speaker 11 (01:18:10):
Who was your first My very first interview is with
the Fat Boys? Eighty three or eighty four? God, so
like that? Yeah, man, the Fat Boys.

Speaker 5 (01:18:24):
Second one was with Rick James.

Speaker 2 (01:18:26):
Bitch Okay, what was that like? Okay?

Speaker 1 (01:18:33):
We have yet to have a potential off the chains
guests we're kind of entertaining that, like all of our
guests are either like super legend or we've worshiped them. Yeah,
but okay, Rick James a perfect example. If someone has
the potential disorder be off the.

Speaker 2 (01:18:53):
Chains, Oh, how do you wheeld them in? How do
you how do you maintain how do.

Speaker 12 (01:18:59):
You drive the car and not have them drive the car?

Speaker 5 (01:19:01):
Wow? That's wow, what a great question.

Speaker 12 (01:19:04):
Because you still have to steer and navigate.

Speaker 11 (01:19:06):
Yeah, you still gotta steer and right.

Speaker 1 (01:19:11):
And it was the eighties, so we know that Rick
might have been on that, you know, so you don't
know where the conversation was going to go.

Speaker 5 (01:19:18):
But I've never had that problem.

Speaker 11 (01:19:19):
I never had anybody, had anybody go rogue on me,
just you know, go crazy, go just it just never happened.

Speaker 4 (01:19:26):
But a little left, you've had some people maybe go
a little because even.

Speaker 5 (01:19:29):
That in every Everybody Left, you know, shoot.

Speaker 1 (01:19:38):
You has an interview going a little weird, and you
guys had to do a lot of editing magic.

Speaker 11 (01:19:43):
Well back in the day for like what interview was
like most of the years on Video Soul, we were live.
It was live until the last three or four years.

Speaker 5 (01:19:56):
Really, Yeah, I never do that. Yeah, yeah, we used
to do it live Man Risky.

Speaker 11 (01:20:02):
Well yeah, but today that's the way I liked it
because that made it like radio.

Speaker 12 (01:20:07):
For me.

Speaker 2 (01:20:08):
I hate tape.

Speaker 5 (01:20:09):
I hate recording.

Speaker 11 (01:20:11):
It's just it's a different pressure that you perform better
when it's live. For me, you know, when it's live,
and I know you don't get to back it up
and then it's real.

Speaker 5 (01:20:20):
Because for me.

Speaker 11 (01:20:21):
When you backing it up and editing, then you're trying
to make it perfect. And like I never ever ever
watched video soul. I don't listen to tapes of my
radio show because I feel like I'm trying to make
myself perfect and I'll never be that.

Speaker 5 (01:20:38):
All I need to be is me.

Speaker 2 (01:20:40):
That's it.

Speaker 5 (01:20:41):
That's all I need to be.

Speaker 4 (01:20:42):
Donnie Simpson.

Speaker 7 (01:20:43):
Does that mean a programmer has never pulled you in
an air check meeting and it said.

Speaker 5 (01:20:45):
Oh lord, no, since.

Speaker 7 (01:20:47):
You were a teenager, there's never been a boss because
I meant people know this, but like in radio, usually
your boss will at some point at the end of
the week, pool you in a room and say let's
listen to what you did here.

Speaker 5 (01:20:57):
You know what.

Speaker 11 (01:20:58):
For one period when I moved to DC, in seventy seven,
we did have a program director and oh my goodness,
it was crazy for me. For a year and a
half I did live under that. I've forgotten that because
it was such you know, that's out of how many
years got I started in sixty nine, so you know,

(01:21:18):
one and a half years of slavery. But you know
where he would walk in with a stopwatch and go
that was seventeen seconds. You had to come in under
fifteen seconds on anything you said, you.

Speaker 5 (01:21:33):
Know, I mean, it was just so finally I was gone.

Speaker 2 (01:21:36):
I was gone.

Speaker 5 (01:21:37):
I said I can't do this.

Speaker 10 (01:21:38):
I'm leaving.

Speaker 11 (01:21:39):
And I had a job offer in la and so
they offered me the music directorship to keep me. So
I stayed and then I worked under this music director.
My music director was he's a brother, but he had
so much or let me be careful.

Speaker 2 (01:21:56):
Yeah, really we know when we get it.

Speaker 5 (01:22:00):
Yeah, we need Muller to investigate this one.

Speaker 11 (01:22:07):
But he we would have our record meetings or every week,
you know, the music meetings, and he'd go around the room.
I was the music director under him. He was the
program director, and I had two assistants and both of
them were political appointees.

Speaker 5 (01:22:21):
This is DC.

Speaker 11 (01:22:22):
One was David Brinkley's son, the other was his senator's son.
He go around the room, he play, Uh, I'll never
forget this. When he played Beast of Burden Rolling Stones,
you know, so he goes, so, John, what do you
think of that? Oh?

Speaker 5 (01:22:34):
I love it. I think it's great.

Speaker 10 (01:22:36):
David, what do you?

Speaker 5 (01:22:36):
I think it is great? I think Donnie, what do
you think? I think it's great.

Speaker 2 (01:22:39):
We can't play that ship you.

Speaker 5 (01:22:47):
Right, you know, I mean I love it, but it's
got the fit brothers.

Speaker 1 (01:22:52):
Can I assume that that was the single after Miss You?
Were you guys playing Miss You?

Speaker 9 (01:22:56):
No?

Speaker 5 (01:22:56):
That was that was before Miss You?

Speaker 11 (01:22:58):
Because I Miss You came after, as I recall it,
because I played Miss You as a program director, so
I wasn't programming then. Yeah, I'm pretty sure we could.
We could check the records. Yeah, I think that's the
way it went. Because I played Miss You. That works,

(01:23:19):
Beast Burden does not. Little River Band reminiscing we can't.

Speaker 5 (01:23:23):
Play that, man, you know. Yeah, it's it's.

Speaker 7 (01:23:29):
Because you also got to consider the area, right, Like,
it's not just the people.

Speaker 5 (01:23:32):
In the d C and go go baby.

Speaker 6 (01:23:35):
You know.

Speaker 5 (01:23:36):
It was hard, Yeah, that's my next question.

Speaker 1 (01:23:39):
Okay, Now, as the the top taste maker of DC
that had the world's ears, how is such a beautiful
subculture like go Go, How's it meant so many obstacles
And I feel like the ripple never gets to expand.

Speaker 2 (01:24:03):
West West more West than West Virginia or.

Speaker 12 (01:24:07):
Ohio West Virginia or Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:24:11):
It's like, let's let's just go back to Virginia. Yeah,
but it's You've lived in DC for decades and I
assume you still do oh yeah. How is black people's
jam bam music not resonated to the rest of the
United States of America at least?

Speaker 5 (01:24:32):
I have no idea why that is.

Speaker 11 (01:24:35):
It's like, I mean, we thought it was going to
break out when we've had Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:24:41):
Well and good to that movie came out.

Speaker 11 (01:24:43):
Chuck was the first bust and Loose was the first
number one go Go song in the country. I mean
it was number one song in the country. That was
Go Go and uh. And then the second was the
Butt by EU with the help of the movie School Days.
You know, so we're thinking, man, it's great break out now,
and it never did. Those are the only two to
this day that ever went number one in the country.

Speaker 5 (01:25:05):
You know, you had people like Grace Jones.

Speaker 2 (01:25:07):
Some people used it, elements, yeah, I used.

Speaker 11 (01:25:10):
Elements, yeah, but it just never broke out for some reason.
And I don't know, you know, I don't know why
Western world never.

Speaker 5 (01:25:17):
Caught on to drop the bomb on the white boy.

Speaker 14 (01:25:21):
You know, I just don't get that.

Speaker 1 (01:25:23):
I wonder, all right, So that was Donnie Simpson back
in twenty seventeen, and now we are fittingly going to
Big Les in twenty twenty. So big Les came at
a time in which, you know, to see people pivot,

(01:25:48):
especially hip hop people pivot. You see the fresh Prince
morph into Will Smith. You see a rapper morph into
an accomplished actor.

Speaker 2 (01:26:01):
That's important to see. You see Jay.

Speaker 1 (01:26:05):
Z more from back of the trunk business to real
business and real is and quotes. And for me, you know,
big Les was such a pivotal figurehead and hip hop dancing,
which often doesn't get celebrated as much as MCN and

(01:26:26):
DJ and and graffiti art. So the fact that big
Les was taken street dancing to a higher level, and
you know, she became one of the most sought after
choreographers and dancers and kind of pivoted to media personality
and so yeah, such a legend to come on our

(01:26:49):
show and talks big less from twenty twenty. What was
the moment that led to you sort of ease out
of comfort zone and go into being a personality because
I've seen you on mini of Red Carpet doing Rap City,
Like was that your first job as a Like how

(01:27:11):
did you know that you had a personality? Because it's
it's you know, even even for me to ease into
this zone is a little weird, Like just because I'm
a public figure doesn't mean that you know, just because
you could do that doesn't mean that you can carry
a conversation, go to be engaging and all that stuffing.
You're really engaging, like you are a personality. It's almost like,

(01:27:32):
you know, when I when I saw that you first
started like doing red Carpet stuff and starting with Rap City,
I was like, Oh, she's a natural, Like she is
a personality, Like where did that come from?

Speaker 14 (01:27:44):
Wow?

Speaker 18 (01:27:44):
Thank you for saying that. Career, It's interesting the things
that you write in your diary have so much power.
When I was in high school, I was going to
study journalism and I took like three journalism classes, and
the last one I took I didn't like. So I
was like, I'm switching to sports medicine and athletic training
and all that other stuff. But I still always kept
a journal. I always still wrote short stories and always

(01:28:06):
kind of like been inquisitive by nature. Rahap City is
a blessing that came after I did not become a
fly girl, Like that's a whole other was curious audition.

Speaker 16 (01:28:16):
I didn't want to ask, that's so okay, Oh yeah, what.

Speaker 2 (01:28:19):
Gigs didn't you get that you wanted?

Speaker 18 (01:28:21):
Well, being a fly girl was the gig that I
wanted more than anything. I literally did not get it.
And it was already like set up. I had the
best audition. All the local news channels are interviewing me.
I did all these flips and this, that and the other.

Speaker 4 (01:28:37):
Everybody knew you.

Speaker 7 (01:28:38):
It was the New York fan, the Wayans and Rosie
and yeah.

Speaker 18 (01:28:42):
But Rosie came over to me side barbers like can
you lose ten pounds? And Jenn already been on the show,
and I'm like, but Jen at the time was bigger
than I was, Like I was really muscular, but she
was thicker. And then I found out that you know,
by Josie's own words, that she had been approached well
before the audition, by I guess one of the ways
called her and said, listen, we need you to show up,

(01:29:02):
but we want to know if you want the gig.
So she pretty much already had and just kind of
had to look like she had the audition. And you know,
usually they do what's called typecasting. You say you want
somebody likes in this tall, Latino women, black women, whatever.

Speaker 14 (01:29:16):
You very specific.

Speaker 18 (01:29:17):
This was an open audition, but they already knew who
they wanted and what they wanted. And Rosie years later
came and apologized for even asking me that question and
wishing that she had fought for me because she knew
that I was the baddest thing in the room at
that time. But rejection is God's protection. Right after I'm
flicking my wounds and I don't get flygirl, I go

(01:29:38):
on Madeline Woods Show video LP and dance on the show.
I'm talking about all these artists that I've worked with,
you know, as a dancer, that you spend time with
on the tour bus and in rehearsals, so you know
them more than the fans do, sometimes even better. Than
the family does. And so they're like, you know these people,
You've been around them even before some of them had
their deals, And would you like to audition for rhaps City?

(01:30:00):
And I auditioned, and the producer Keith Patchell and Sanita
Brooks and Eric Watson still had to fight with me,
had to fight for me with the producers upstairs, because one,
I didn't look a certain way right there goes our
lovely black on black colorism, and there wasn't a female
voice really in hip hop on that level other than

(01:30:21):
Dee Barnes who came before me. So once they were
able to give me a couple of episodes to prove myself,
I got the job. But they were gracious enough to
let me do the show while I was still dancing.
I think I was on tour with Heavy d And
it worked it to their benefit because now as we're
city to city, I could do interviews in city to
city and they didn't have to pay like any extra

(01:30:43):
for it, so I could catch up with Common in
Chicago and so and so and so and seem when
it became too much, they were like, you're gonna have
to choose. And by that time, you know, I had
already done like fifteen years of gymnastics, even though I
wasn't ready to quit dancing, but I had transitioned into choreography.
I was still doing more choreography and I could the tour,
so I just kind of was like, let me focus
on TV altogether. And that's kind of how that happened,

(01:31:04):
and then radio was born from that.

Speaker 17 (01:31:07):
I think the thing I used to always like about
you hosting Rap City, I would notice how a lot
of times guests would change up who they were with
you in a way that they wouldn't with like d
or you know, Chris Thomas orhoever.

Speaker 2 (01:31:20):
I remember it was a Boogie Monster's episode.

Speaker 17 (01:31:22):
Hell shit, one of the guys he was trying, Yo,
he was trying so hard to kick it to you.

Speaker 2 (01:31:27):
I can't remember which one it was. Yeah, Yo, man,
I'm sorry.

Speaker 12 (01:31:31):
We all tried to kick it to Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:31:34):
I mean, but I was so obvious though.

Speaker 5 (01:31:36):
He was like talking all my daughter.

Speaker 2 (01:31:37):
Shirt that day.

Speaker 1 (01:31:38):
I was like that first day of school feeling when
you standing at the outfit iron my shirt, you know,
iron shit.

Speaker 2 (01:31:45):
I get out there, I was like, Yo, we doing
rap city today.

Speaker 12 (01:31:49):
Let me use my good shirt.

Speaker 18 (01:31:52):
The blessing that happened for me with that is that
a lot of the labels and the artists would request me,
and I think because they knew of me as a dancer,
they knew me from the clubs, they knew I had
been around and been in the trenches, and that they
could trust me with their story. And then I actually
knew the story, you know what I mean, because I
was there, I was part of it, So it was
easy for them to like come on the show and
us just have real conversations. And you know, if you

(01:32:15):
see my first episode to my like twentieth, yeah, I
grew a whole lot because I had real you know,
producers who would teach me how to talk and to
listen and this and that and stuff. So it made
a difference, and I felt really comfortable. I think when
you're a performer, and maybe it's a little different for you,
quest like there's certain things you're comfortable with or not.
Like I've always, as a gymnast, been comfortable on camera

(01:32:36):
and performing and being a show person. And I've always
been a talker and I'm always inquisitive, like I'm nosy,
and I can ask you like eight hundred questions and
without a que Card and just because I want to
hear your story and I have human interests love, Like,
I just really want to know how you got from
A to Z and I'm curious about it. So I
think you kind of get that and appreciate telling their story.

Speaker 14 (01:32:59):
In that way.

Speaker 3 (01:33:01):
All right.

Speaker 1 (01:33:02):
I want to thank y'all for celebrating Black History Month
with Quest Love Supreme and stay tuned for more.

Speaker 2 (01:33:08):
Episodes coming soon.

Speaker 1 (01:33:13):
Thank you for listening to Quest Love Supreme. Hosted by
Amir Quest, Loft Thompson, Why You, Saint Clair, Sugar, Steve Mandel,
and Unpaid Bill Sherman. Executive producers are Mere Quest Love, Thompson,
Seanch and Brian Calvin. Produced by Brittany Benjamin Cousin, Jake Payne,

(01:33:37):
Eliah Saint Clair. Edited by Alex Conwod. Produced by iHeart
by Noel Brown. West Love Supreme is a production of
iHeart Radio. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the

(01:33:59):
iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.