August 16, 2022 • 27 mins
Today host Louis Carr speaks with Lecrae, an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record and film producer, record executive, author, actor, and entrepreneur.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
I'm Luis Carr, host to the Blueprint Connect podcast. The
Blueprint Connect podcast is an extension of the Blueprint Men summing,
where we have consistently given men a prescription cook not
just for themselves, but also for their families and their communities.
During these podcasts, we will educate and motivate our listeners
(00:21):
about entrepreneurship, careers, finances, health and wellness, and relationship. We've
had a presidential election, We've had COVID nineteen, You've launched
the book, you launched new music. Basically, how excited are
you about what the future holds? You know? Um, it's
(00:42):
funny that you asked that. I don't think that, uh
that you know, trials and and and circumstances care about
what year it is. But at the same time, a
new year means means you get two new things. You
get new choices and new chances. And so I'm excited
(01:03):
about the opportunity to make new choices, and I'm excited
about the opportunity for new chances, and so I look
forward to it. So, how's the music in the book doing?
Oh man, the music on On the musical note, today,
I just found out that a couple of songs were
nominated for Grammy. So that's a blessing, you know. That's uh,
(01:26):
that's a big Yeah. That's incredible. And the book is
doing phenomenal. Uh. You know, I'm I'm grateful more than
anything of the response that I've been hearing from the
book as far as people saying, you know, certain chapters
really impacted their lives, their perception and and and and
(01:47):
helped uh them hope again. So so, you know, the
big news coming out of Washington, d C. Is that
we have a new administration that will be taken office
that third week of January. What are some of the
things that you are hoping for with this uh change
(02:10):
and new administration. Oh yeah, Well, with the change in administration,
I'm hoping that our voices are heard. Um. You know
that's been a lot of the rally cry of you know,
the the president elect and the vice president is that
our voices will be heard, the voices of the marginalized,
(02:32):
the disenfranchised, of voices of people of color, the voices
of women will be heard. And so I think we
get the opportunity to really take them to task on
that and to really say, hey man, we we've heard
these um, you know, promises and and uh, we're holding
you to the standard that you presented to us. And
(02:54):
that's what I'm hoping to see. How so we we
we had a lot of young people show up at
the post earlier this month. We were all hoping forward. Uh,
they've delivered for us. How do we keep these young
people engaged and involved and excited uh through twenty one
and beyond? How do how do we do that? Yeah?
(03:16):
I think part of it is just reminding them of
of how necessary they were in this election. And so
when when you know, if you can see it, you
can be it. If you can if you can behold it,
you can become it. And if they can see the
effect that they've had on society, then they realize, oh, wow,
you know, my vote doesn't matter, my participation doesn't matter.
(03:37):
And I think this showed it, uh more than anything
has in my lifetime. So I'm sure you know, people
see it. And now it's just about us recognizing and
realizing how important the local races are and how important
it is for us to get involved in our efforts
and our voices. You know, when you know your voice matters,
you use it a lot more often. You get two
(03:59):
big ones coming up, uh about a month and a
half away. How excited and energize are you about that?
I am. I'm grateful, you know, just to be uh
you know, excited, I mean included in and just knowing people,
you know, just knowing uh you know, Reverend Warnock and
and knowing his contributions and knowing him personally. He's he's
(04:22):
taking me on a personal tour around you know, uh
Dr King's old stomping grounds. And so just to know
that there's somebody who cares and understand the legacy of
leadership um in the country and in society is a
is a blessing to me. So most places of worship
all over the world happened shut down most of How
(04:48):
is that effect that you personally? And how has it
impacted your music? Yeah? What, I think everybody had different perspectives.
I think I went into it initially thinking, man, what
is this gonna mean? And and you know, there was
a panic of just you know, the whole thing is
shifting and there's this virus and how does this what
(05:11):
does this all mean? And it's the economy and how
does it gonna affect the economy? And then you had
all these plans I had, I had a tour, I
had all this stuff planned out for and it was like, nah,
none of that's happened. Um. And so what I had
to do is I had to kind of pause and
remit and remember that even if I can't change the situation,
(05:34):
I can be changed by the situation. So I started
looking internally like, Okay, how can I grow? How can
I what what can I do? And so that was
the time for me to to take more, um time
to learn about some other things that I hadn't spent
time learning about different industries, real estates, so on and
so forth. Um. But it wasn't necessarily I didn't I
(05:55):
didn't take like a lot of people were just trying
to like overdo it and like if you if you
ain't got your second degree during the quarantine, you wasting
your time. I wasn't trying to be that type of person.
I was just trying to be I was taking it
as an opportunity to say, Okay, what can I adjust,
what can I tweak and not necessarily like bury myself
and more work. So it didn't work out like I
(06:16):
planned it, but I gained a lot, you know, mentally, emotionally.
You know, I got to be more more stable than
I and I learned a lot in this process through
your journey. When was that defining moment the craze when
you made a decision that you were very comfortable with
the tope of decisions, the life you're gonna lead, the
(06:38):
faith that you had regardless of what other people said,
the thought. You know, we all go through those moments
in our life where we're going yeah, yeah, yeah. You
wrestle with a decision. You wrestle with should I do
this and shouldn't do that, and then you go like,
this is what I'm doing. I don't care what nobody else.
What was that defining moment for you? I remember, like
it was yesterday. I was so I was working at
(07:02):
a cable company and um, I had actually I had
actually lied to the vice president of the cable company
and said that I had a degree and something I
didn't have a degree in just to get an internship.
So then I got the internship, and then it led
to me getting uh uh position in marketing at this
cable company. So I'm working in marketing. I'm thinking I'm
(07:22):
in corporate America and hustle my way up into this
job and and you know, everybody's happy. My family was like, woo,
you made it. You ain't in jail. He's like, you
got a corporate job, and uh. And I started working
on music and I had finished this whole project, this
whole album, and I was getting some offers to do
(07:45):
shows on the side. And around this time, I had
a choice. They were gonna discontinue my department or I
had to move to Philadelphia and and work if I
wanted to continue this job. And I was like, man,
if I if I stay here, they give me like
a severance package, or I move and get a little
(08:06):
bit of a raise, but I still gotta stay in
this corporate lane. And I knew I wanted to do
music more than anything, and so I said, I'm gonna
take the severance package and make this music thing work.
I'm gonna figure it out. I got my rent paid
for the next six months. I got six months to
make this thing happen. And that was the defined moment.
That was when it was it was faith. It was
all faith. Everybody was like, what do you do? And
this was this is the bread and butter, this was
(08:28):
the milk and honey. But I had to follow what
I knew was was the best opportunity for me at
the time. That's great, We'll be right back with more
of my interview after this quick break. So the way
(08:52):
Maker brand was created to educate, motivated and inspired people
to be their best self. Uh, your music as so
it follows a similar path. All right, how deep do
you go when you're writing music? I mean, you know,
(09:13):
what type of situations are you thinking about? You think
about currently, what's going on in the world, and how
you can impact people. Kind of give us some insight
into how you write your lyrics and how you do
your music and the purpose behind. Yeah, I definitely. I
always want to connect with, you know, the least of these,
the average, the single mom who's got to go to
(09:35):
work every day. I want to connect with the with
the brother who's riding on the train trying to make
his meat and and busting his tail to get the
little bit he can't get. So I never want to
get to a place where I'm I'm sitting in the
Ivory Tower and I'm disconnected for people, So I always
want to talk about real life, real issues, real pain,
real suffering, or real hope, you know, because society said
(09:56):
that this little boy who came from you know, uh
in the city area, single parent home, drug addicted father,
kicked out of schools, brought home by the police, that
I wasn't gonna amount too much. And and I needed
people who believed in me. I needed people who could
believe that there was a future for me. And I
know that there's people out there who need to know
that somebody believes in them. Even if they can't see
(10:18):
my face, I want them to know I believe. I
believe it's possible for you. And so I'm writing for you.
I'm writing to give you a hope. You know, uh
that you know way it will be made for you.
So who would the way makers in your life? I mean,
when you when you look back, Uh we were talking earlier.
I told you I had nineteen and people. It's how
you know it's nineteen because I intentionally went back and
(10:41):
I counted the people who sort of interjected their self
and the interjected advice into me when I didn't even
think I knew it or wanted it or cared about it.
They just they made a conscious effort to try to
be away maker and open doors for me. Who are
some of those people in your life that you think
back and and usually look at you always wonder why
(11:04):
do they do that? M You know, I didn't ask
why don't they care so much? Who are the people
in your life that sort of impacted you in that
way that you'll never forget? Yeah, I think the first
person that comes to mind, I mean outside of my mother,
my grandmother, of course, you know I know why they
did it, But outside of them, first person who comes
(11:26):
to mind is uh is really my um, my fourth
grade teacher, you know, Miss Wolf and Miss Wolf I
could have been seen as a disruptive, rambunctious child, but
she said she she figured out I was bored, and
she said, oh, you might have some some gift thing,
and if we put you in a special class that
(11:47):
challenges you in some different ways, then maybe we'll get
the most out of you. And then that's how it
came to be found out that I had a gift
in the arts. And she would be behind me, pushing
me to to get involved in the creative processes of things.
And and you know I would have never explored those
things where not for her. So I think of Miss
ms Wolf of course, and then um, I think honestly,
(12:10):
you know of Kirk Frankmin He's been a huge way
maker from me. Uh because in what I do, there's
not a forerunner. There's nobody who has done it and
and could tell me how to do this thing. Um
and Kurt just took it upon himself to say, Hey,
(12:31):
let me reach out to you. What you got questions?
Do you understand this? Do you understand that? Let me
tell you about this and and what do you think
about this? And he just took it upon himself to
be a big brother to me. For no reason. I
had nothing to offer this man, you know, nothing at all.
But he sought to help me understand the music industry
a little bit better and to understand um you know
(12:52):
that I had. I was a pioneer and and it
was gonna be rough and uh so that that was
that was massive for me. Who is that way maker
that encouraged you to to to to write a book.
I remember sitting on a plane myself and I'm sitting
next to this guy, and everybody who got on the
on the plane l Craie knew who he was, all right,
(13:13):
They were like, uh, can you sign an autograph? And
I'm like trying to read the signal to the figure
out who he is. So when the plane took off,
I said, I need to apologize and se clearly everybody
on this plane knows who you are. Accept me. Uh
so can you tell me? And he said, my name
is Harry McKay. I wrote the book Swimming with the
Sharks and it turned into a movie. Blah blah blah.
(13:34):
So we kind of laughed and joked, and then he
turned to me and he said, and when is your
book coming out? And I said, I don't. I don't
have a book. I don't write. He said, why are
you being so selfish? So what do you mean by that?
He said, every person has a story that at least
one person on the planet can connect to and interested it,
(13:57):
and you can change that one person's life. So don't
be so selfish. Share your journey. I'll never forget that.
That's the reason I wrote a book. So who was
that person that sort of jobbed your mind and said, hey,
write a book, tell the story? Yeah, you were, you were?
You wrote a couple Actually, my um my Uncathy she
(14:23):
she used to do our family newsletter, so she just
took it upon herself to do a newsletter. For our
our entire family. And she was really good at writing,
and you know, she was a little overwhelmed with work
and some other things, and she asked it, you know,
if I could help out a little bit, and and
she was like, no, you're you. You can write. You
(14:46):
should write like you know, just based off of the
songs and this and this, like you need to write
like I see a book in your future. And I
was like really, you know, and I never really considered it, um,
but that seeds say planet in my mind, that you
know that I don't have to just be a musician,
that you know, my my creative outlet and my abilities
(15:10):
can be using in a lot of different ways. And
so that was probably you know, the initial seed that
that took place. So you talked about Kirk Franklin on
your new album, You have a collaboration with John Legend,
uh tell us who else you want to collaborate with
as as you look towards and we are if it's possible.
(15:34):
My favorite artist, favorite living artist uh right now is
Lauren hill Mrs. Specifically, yes, miss Lauren hill Um. You
know she's she's extremely inspirational to me, and she's been
misunderstood probably for the you know, the latter part of
her career. But she's brilliant and I think she's always
(15:55):
made amazing music and um uh really never had to
compromise who she was in order to be successful in
this industry. And so, UM, first of all, if you
can make one album and still be celebrated, I had
a fun album twenty five years later, then it's you know,
(16:16):
that's an amazing feat. UM. So that would be amazing
for me. What are some of the projects you you
look to work one? Yeah, so in one UM, I'm
working on a curriculum around uh, the imor store book. UM.
(16:37):
Also and working on another book that's more in the
business realm, just just giving away some of the secrets
that I've learned UM and having run a business for
the last ten years. UM. And then also there's some
film projects, film and TV, so I've been trying to
move into that space a lot more UM. And we
just we just um completed a documentary that we've got
(17:01):
a deal for. And then also there's some pilots, a
TV pilot that we just wrapped up. So hopefully you know,
Lord willing, that'll that'll continue the ball moving forward. And
of course documentary on you. The documentary is on me
and and uh and you know my constituents, so just
the world that I existing. Yeah, okay, so speaking of
(17:21):
that world, when when when your name is mentioned in
any circle, the response is always a great guy, good guy.
Is that something that you worked on or that's just
something that has followed you since you were young? Somebody
told me, I'm trying to remember who it was. I
(17:42):
can't remember who it was, but I remember years and
years ago somebody said, don't worry about your name, worry
about your character. That will take care of your name
and UM, and that stayed with me because you know,
you can you always worry about your name, like what
did they say about me? And what do they think
about me? And how my being perceived. But if you're
more focused on your character, then you don't have to
(18:05):
worry about how they think about you, because that's just
who you are. And so I'm always more concerned about
my own personal character and I want people to experience
the authentic real me. Um. And so that's just something
that I've you know, I hopefully, uh, something I can
continue to pass down for generations that people just continue
caring more about the character. We'll be right back with
(18:31):
more of my interview after this quick break. So, uh,
this inaugural issue comes out in black history, monk. So
tell me about two people who have historically impacted your music,
(18:53):
uh and your faith, man Um, I would say, musically,
John Coltrane historically, Uh, John Coltrane. He created the same
kind of music that his contemporaries were creating in terms
(19:15):
of it being it being uh, you know, instrumental jazz music.
But his faith informed his music and so it wasn't
as if he was trying to make a gospel project.
It was that he was. He was. This is just
who he was, and so what was in him was
coming out of him. So you didn't have to be
(19:37):
a Christian to appreciate it or to experience. And that's
what I want everybody to I want my music to
be perceived that way as well. Is that man, wherever
you stand, wherever you however you believe, I want you
to appreciate the craftsmanship and the artistic contribution that I
made because I work hard in my craft. Um. And
so you know, he's been phenomenal for me in terms
(19:59):
of you think and faith. And then I would say
Carter G. Woodson. Uh, reading The mis Education of the
Negro a matter of fact that the author and inventor
of Black History Month. Uh but uh, but reading The
miss Education of Negro literally changed my life. Um. You know,
the book talked about every type of topic you could imagine,
(20:23):
from industry to faith to uh, academics, academia. And the
thing I pulled from his book that one of the
nuggets that I pulled from his book is that oftentimes
the Black community when we when we learn something, we
can get a little bit lofty and we don't find
a way to disseminate that information to those who haven't
(20:46):
learned it, and so we're talking above their heads instead
of you know, if you think about a megaphone, a
megaphone is effective when you speak into the little end
and it comes out in the big end. But oftentimes
we turn it upside down and we have all this
information we're stuffing in there and we can't it does
not make it to the masses. And so uh, he
(21:07):
just helped me with that perspective to to think about
ways to communicate lofty things and bring them down so
that everybody can appreciate them and a joint Okay, Uh.
Next question is Marches is Women's History month. Yeah. Who
are the women that have sort of had an impact
(21:29):
on you as a man? Uh and how you operate
as a man and a professional of the day. Who
are those women? I was raised by all women. So
you know my grandmother, uh, Georgia Campbell, Uh is she
She taught me to consider the poor. She taught me
to be selfless and to to to be a giver
(21:52):
and not a taker. Um. You know, to this day
she's not e three years old. She still goes to
the food bank to to to pick up stuff to
give to people who don't have UM. My mother, Uh,
you know my mother was. She taught me that I'm
I am more than a statistic you know. She put
books in my hand and she made me read the
(22:12):
autobiography in Malcolm X at thirteen years old. She made
me read Lay Was Sold on Night. She made me
read w B. The Boy Sold the Black Folks. You know,
and you're talking to an individual who was more concerned
with gangs and drugs, but she's like, you're gonna read
this book. So, um, just brilliant. And my aunt Teresa,
who sent me postcards from Tokyo and helped me see
(22:36):
that we could go beyond our our our street corners,
in our neighborhoods. And so, you know, those women changed
my life and impacted me greatly. I wouldn't be where
I'm at without So speaking of family, you've got three children,
correct I do. What is it that you want to
change in this country drastically so that they can have
(22:57):
a better opportunity? Yeah, and what we've seen in the past, what,
in your opinion needs to change? Yeah? Um, well, well,
I think the gaps need to be filled. You know,
there's an educational gap that exists in our community. There's
(23:17):
a wealth gap that exists in our community. There's an
opportunity gap that exists in our community. So those gaps
need to be filled. Um. You know, we have plenty
of qualified and even over qualified individuals coming out of
schools who can't find the proper employment because they're not
a part of certain networks. And uh, and that that's
(23:38):
a gap that needs to close. Uh. We have individuals
who you know, don't have access to quality education because
of of of an educational gap. You know, where as
people only want to teach in certain communities and quality
teachers are recruited over here but not over here. Um.
And and then the wealth gap, of course, you know,
we see the discrepancy and of the desparent the sparing numbers. Um.
(24:02):
And so I would like those gaps to be closed
so that my ceiling can be my children's floor, you know,
so they can they can pick up where I've left
off and uh, and continue to to mobilize and to
inform and too, and to continue to spread that information.
And two people like myself, those of us who sit
in corporate America, who are close to the power, who
(24:25):
basically are incorporate board rooms, who understand the things that
are around the corner, tell us what we should be doing.
M Um. That's great. As a matter of fact, I
think it's you know, similar to what what Carter G. Wilson,
you know, was talking about, is that you all are
(24:47):
privy to the insight and the information. How do you
disseminate that, you know, down to the general population. Um.
I think I look at what someone like Stacey Abrams
there a boy getting people registered to vote. She understood
the ramifications and what was going on in politics, and
so she had a grassroots effort to mobilize people so
(25:09):
that they can participate in something bigger than UM, then
even they understood. And so I think that's part of it.
And then the other part is UM, when you're empowered,
there's a level of patience and training. UM. Sometimes it's
not that the person doesn't have the character of the capability,
is that they don't have the opportunity. And so it's
(25:32):
just being able to take somebody and say, hey, I
know you don't have you you just haven't had this chance.
Let me just let me walk with you and teach
you some of these things UM and not hold it
close to my chest. And so I think that's that's
a huge part of it. Um. You know, and what
you're doing right now, this is exactly how you do
those particular things. So uh, final question, it's it's a
(26:00):
good woe. Man. If you had the opportunity to have
with dinner with any icon dead or live, who are
the three what you want to have dinner with any
three icons? There are a lot? Wow, Wow, that's massive.
(26:26):
That is a good one because man, uh, I gotta
have dr King at the table because it's someone I
want to know, you know so much I want to
know I would I would want to know what he
thinks about how people perceive him today. Uh, I would
like to have Angela Davis at the table. You know, um,
(26:52):
she's just a brilliant thinker and and um you know
and fiery love to have her there. And m let
me see who else I got angrew I got, I
got dr king thought somebody in music at that I
was That's what I was thinking. I was like, who
(27:13):
is that person that I really won't sitting there? So
I gotta rewind. I want Tupac there, young revolutionary. That's
a good conversation. You got too bad to Davis. That's
a good one right there. I'm man, oh man, this
has been great. Thank you so much,
I'm Luis Carr, host to the Blueprint Connect podcast. The
Blueprint Connect podcast is an extension of the Blueprint Men summing,
where we have consistently given men a prescription cook not
just for themselves, but also for their families and their communities.
During these podcasts, we will educate and motivate our listeners
(00:21):
about entrepreneurship, careers, finances, health and wellness, and relationship. We've
had a presidential election, We've had COVID nineteen, You've launched
the book, you launched new music. Basically, how excited are
you about what the future holds? You know? Um, it's
(00:42):
funny that you asked that. I don't think that, uh
that you know, trials and and and circumstances care about
what year it is. But at the same time, a
new year means means you get two new things. You
get new choices and new chances. And so I'm excited
(01:03):
about the opportunity to make new choices, and I'm excited
about the opportunity for new chances, and so I look
forward to it. So, how's the music in the book doing?
Oh man, the music on On the musical note, today,
I just found out that a couple of songs were
nominated for Grammy. So that's a blessing, you know. That's uh,
(01:26):
that's a big Yeah. That's incredible. And the book is
doing phenomenal. Uh. You know, I'm I'm grateful more than
anything of the response that I've been hearing from the
book as far as people saying, you know, certain chapters
really impacted their lives, their perception and and and and
(01:47):
helped uh them hope again. So so, you know, the
big news coming out of Washington, d C. Is that
we have a new administration that will be taken office
that third week of January. What are some of the
things that you are hoping for with this uh change
(02:10):
and new administration. Oh yeah, Well, with the change in administration,
I'm hoping that our voices are heard. Um. You know
that's been a lot of the rally cry of you know,
the the president elect and the vice president is that
our voices will be heard, the voices of the marginalized,
(02:32):
the disenfranchised, of voices of people of color, the voices
of women will be heard. And so I think we
get the opportunity to really take them to task on
that and to really say, hey man, we we've heard
these um, you know, promises and and uh, we're holding
you to the standard that you presented to us. And
(02:54):
that's what I'm hoping to see. How so we we
we had a lot of young people show up at
the post earlier this month. We were all hoping forward. Uh,
they've delivered for us. How do we keep these young
people engaged and involved and excited uh through twenty one
and beyond? How do how do we do that? Yeah?
(03:16):
I think part of it is just reminding them of
of how necessary they were in this election. And so
when when you know, if you can see it, you
can be it. If you can if you can behold it,
you can become it. And if they can see the
effect that they've had on society, then they realize, oh, wow,
you know, my vote doesn't matter, my participation doesn't matter.
(03:37):
And I think this showed it, uh more than anything
has in my lifetime. So I'm sure you know, people
see it. And now it's just about us recognizing and
realizing how important the local races are and how important
it is for us to get involved in our efforts
and our voices. You know, when you know your voice matters,
you use it a lot more often. You get two
(03:59):
big ones coming up, uh about a month and a
half away. How excited and energize are you about that?
I am. I'm grateful, you know, just to be uh
you know, excited, I mean included in and just knowing people,
you know, just knowing uh you know, Reverend Warnock and
and knowing his contributions and knowing him personally. He's he's
(04:22):
taking me on a personal tour around you know, uh
Dr King's old stomping grounds. And so just to know
that there's somebody who cares and understand the legacy of
leadership um in the country and in society is a
is a blessing to me. So most places of worship
all over the world happened shut down most of How
(04:48):
is that effect that you personally? And how has it
impacted your music? Yeah? What, I think everybody had different perspectives.
I think I went into it initially thinking, man, what
is this gonna mean? And and you know, there was
a panic of just you know, the whole thing is
shifting and there's this virus and how does this what
(05:11):
does this all mean? And it's the economy and how
does it gonna affect the economy? And then you had
all these plans I had, I had a tour, I
had all this stuff planned out for and it was like, nah,
none of that's happened. Um. And so what I had
to do is I had to kind of pause and
remit and remember that even if I can't change the situation,
(05:34):
I can be changed by the situation. So I started
looking internally like, Okay, how can I grow? How can
I what what can I do? And so that was
the time for me to to take more, um time
to learn about some other things that I hadn't spent
time learning about different industries, real estates, so on and
so forth. Um. But it wasn't necessarily I didn't I
(05:55):
didn't take like a lot of people were just trying
to like overdo it and like if you if you
ain't got your second degree during the quarantine, you wasting
your time. I wasn't trying to be that type of person.
I was just trying to be I was taking it
as an opportunity to say, Okay, what can I adjust,
what can I tweak and not necessarily like bury myself
and more work. So it didn't work out like I
(06:16):
planned it, but I gained a lot, you know, mentally, emotionally.
You know, I got to be more more stable than
I and I learned a lot in this process through
your journey. When was that defining moment the craze when
you made a decision that you were very comfortable with
the tope of decisions, the life you're gonna lead, the
(06:38):
faith that you had regardless of what other people said,
the thought. You know, we all go through those moments
in our life where we're going yeah, yeah, yeah. You
wrestle with a decision. You wrestle with should I do
this and shouldn't do that, and then you go like,
this is what I'm doing. I don't care what nobody else.
What was that defining moment for you? I remember, like
it was yesterday. I was so I was working at
(07:02):
a cable company and um, I had actually I had
actually lied to the vice president of the cable company
and said that I had a degree and something I
didn't have a degree in just to get an internship.
So then I got the internship, and then it led
to me getting uh uh position in marketing at this
cable company. So I'm working in marketing. I'm thinking I'm
(07:22):
in corporate America and hustle my way up into this
job and and you know, everybody's happy. My family was like, woo,
you made it. You ain't in jail. He's like, you
got a corporate job, and uh. And I started working
on music and I had finished this whole project, this
whole album, and I was getting some offers to do
(07:45):
shows on the side. And around this time, I had
a choice. They were gonna discontinue my department or I
had to move to Philadelphia and and work if I
wanted to continue this job. And I was like, man,
if I if I stay here, they give me like
a severance package, or I move and get a little
(08:06):
bit of a raise, but I still gotta stay in
this corporate lane. And I knew I wanted to do
music more than anything, and so I said, I'm gonna
take the severance package and make this music thing work.
I'm gonna figure it out. I got my rent paid
for the next six months. I got six months to
make this thing happen. And that was the defined moment.
That was when it was it was faith. It was
all faith. Everybody was like, what do you do? And
this was this is the bread and butter, this was
(08:28):
the milk and honey. But I had to follow what
I knew was was the best opportunity for me at
the time. That's great, We'll be right back with more
of my interview after this quick break. So the way
(08:52):
Maker brand was created to educate, motivated and inspired people
to be their best self. Uh, your music as so
it follows a similar path. All right, how deep do
you go when you're writing music? I mean, you know,
(09:13):
what type of situations are you thinking about? You think
about currently, what's going on in the world, and how
you can impact people. Kind of give us some insight
into how you write your lyrics and how you do
your music and the purpose behind. Yeah, I definitely. I
always want to connect with, you know, the least of these,
the average, the single mom who's got to go to
(09:35):
work every day. I want to connect with the with
the brother who's riding on the train trying to make
his meat and and busting his tail to get the
little bit he can't get. So I never want to
get to a place where I'm I'm sitting in the
Ivory Tower and I'm disconnected for people, So I always
want to talk about real life, real issues, real pain,
real suffering, or real hope, you know, because society said
(09:56):
that this little boy who came from you know, uh
in the city area, single parent home, drug addicted father,
kicked out of schools, brought home by the police, that
I wasn't gonna amount too much. And and I needed
people who believed in me. I needed people who could
believe that there was a future for me. And I
know that there's people out there who need to know
that somebody believes in them. Even if they can't see
(10:18):
my face, I want them to know I believe. I
believe it's possible for you. And so I'm writing for you.
I'm writing to give you a hope. You know, uh
that you know way it will be made for you.
So who would the way makers in your life? I mean,
when you when you look back, Uh we were talking earlier.
I told you I had nineteen and people. It's how
you know it's nineteen because I intentionally went back and
(10:41):
I counted the people who sort of interjected their self
and the interjected advice into me when I didn't even
think I knew it or wanted it or cared about it.
They just they made a conscious effort to try to
be away maker and open doors for me. Who are
some of those people in your life that you think
back and and usually look at you always wonder why
(11:04):
do they do that? M You know, I didn't ask
why don't they care so much? Who are the people
in your life that sort of impacted you in that
way that you'll never forget? Yeah, I think the first
person that comes to mind, I mean outside of my mother,
my grandmother, of course, you know I know why they
did it, But outside of them, first person who comes
(11:26):
to mind is uh is really my um, my fourth
grade teacher, you know, Miss Wolf and Miss Wolf I
could have been seen as a disruptive, rambunctious child, but
she said she she figured out I was bored, and
she said, oh, you might have some some gift thing,
and if we put you in a special class that
(11:47):
challenges you in some different ways, then maybe we'll get
the most out of you. And then that's how it
came to be found out that I had a gift
in the arts. And she would be behind me, pushing
me to to get involved in the creative processes of things.
And and you know I would have never explored those
things where not for her. So I think of Miss
ms Wolf of course, and then um, I think honestly,
(12:10):
you know of Kirk Frankmin He's been a huge way
maker from me. Uh because in what I do, there's
not a forerunner. There's nobody who has done it and
and could tell me how to do this thing. Um
and Kurt just took it upon himself to say, Hey,
(12:31):
let me reach out to you. What you got questions?
Do you understand this? Do you understand that? Let me
tell you about this and and what do you think
about this? And he just took it upon himself to
be a big brother to me. For no reason. I
had nothing to offer this man, you know, nothing at all.
But he sought to help me understand the music industry
a little bit better and to understand um you know
(12:52):
that I had. I was a pioneer and and it
was gonna be rough and uh so that that was
that was massive for me. Who is that way maker
that encouraged you to to to to write a book.
I remember sitting on a plane myself and I'm sitting
next to this guy, and everybody who got on the
on the plane l Craie knew who he was, all right,
(13:13):
They were like, uh, can you sign an autograph? And
I'm like trying to read the signal to the figure
out who he is. So when the plane took off,
I said, I need to apologize and se clearly everybody
on this plane knows who you are. Accept me. Uh
so can you tell me? And he said, my name
is Harry McKay. I wrote the book Swimming with the
Sharks and it turned into a movie. Blah blah blah.
(13:34):
So we kind of laughed and joked, and then he
turned to me and he said, and when is your
book coming out? And I said, I don't. I don't
have a book. I don't write. He said, why are
you being so selfish? So what do you mean by that?
He said, every person has a story that at least
one person on the planet can connect to and interested it,
(13:57):
and you can change that one person's life. So don't
be so selfish. Share your journey. I'll never forget that.
That's the reason I wrote a book. So who was
that person that sort of jobbed your mind and said, hey,
write a book, tell the story? Yeah, you were, you were?
You wrote a couple Actually, my um my Uncathy she
(14:23):
she used to do our family newsletter, so she just
took it upon herself to do a newsletter. For our
our entire family. And she was really good at writing,
and you know, she was a little overwhelmed with work
and some other things, and she asked it, you know,
if I could help out a little bit, and and
she was like, no, you're you. You can write. You
(14:46):
should write like you know, just based off of the
songs and this and this, like you need to write
like I see a book in your future. And I
was like really, you know, and I never really considered it, um,
but that seeds say planet in my mind, that you
know that I don't have to just be a musician,
that you know, my my creative outlet and my abilities
(15:10):
can be using in a lot of different ways. And
so that was probably you know, the initial seed that
that took place. So you talked about Kirk Franklin on
your new album, You have a collaboration with John Legend,
uh tell us who else you want to collaborate with
as as you look towards and we are if it's possible.
(15:34):
My favorite artist, favorite living artist uh right now is
Lauren hill Mrs. Specifically, yes, miss Lauren hill Um. You
know she's she's extremely inspirational to me, and she's been
misunderstood probably for the you know, the latter part of
her career. But she's brilliant and I think she's always
(15:55):
made amazing music and um uh really never had to
compromise who she was in order to be successful in
this industry. And so, UM, first of all, if you
can make one album and still be celebrated, I had
a fun album twenty five years later, then it's you know,
(16:16):
that's an amazing feat. UM. So that would be amazing
for me. What are some of the projects you you
look to work one? Yeah, so in one UM, I'm
working on a curriculum around uh, the imor store book. UM.
(16:37):
Also and working on another book that's more in the
business realm, just just giving away some of the secrets
that I've learned UM and having run a business for
the last ten years. UM. And then also there's some
film projects, film and TV, so I've been trying to
move into that space a lot more UM. And we
just we just um completed a documentary that we've got
(17:01):
a deal for. And then also there's some pilots, a
TV pilot that we just wrapped up. So hopefully you know,
Lord willing, that'll that'll continue the ball moving forward. And
of course documentary on you. The documentary is on me
and and uh and you know my constituents, so just
the world that I existing. Yeah, okay, so speaking of
(17:21):
that world, when when when your name is mentioned in
any circle, the response is always a great guy, good guy.
Is that something that you worked on or that's just
something that has followed you since you were young? Somebody
told me, I'm trying to remember who it was. I
(17:42):
can't remember who it was, but I remember years and
years ago somebody said, don't worry about your name, worry
about your character. That will take care of your name
and UM, and that stayed with me because you know,
you can you always worry about your name, like what
did they say about me? And what do they think
about me? And how my being perceived. But if you're
more focused on your character, then you don't have to
(18:05):
worry about how they think about you, because that's just
who you are. And so I'm always more concerned about
my own personal character and I want people to experience
the authentic real me. Um. And so that's just something
that I've you know, I hopefully, uh, something I can
continue to pass down for generations that people just continue
caring more about the character. We'll be right back with
(18:31):
more of my interview after this quick break. So, uh,
this inaugural issue comes out in black history, monk. So
tell me about two people who have historically impacted your music,
(18:53):
uh and your faith, man Um, I would say, musically,
John Coltrane historically, Uh, John Coltrane. He created the same
kind of music that his contemporaries were creating in terms
(19:15):
of it being it being uh, you know, instrumental jazz music.
But his faith informed his music and so it wasn't
as if he was trying to make a gospel project.
It was that he was. He was. This is just
who he was, and so what was in him was
coming out of him. So you didn't have to be
(19:37):
a Christian to appreciate it or to experience. And that's
what I want everybody to I want my music to
be perceived that way as well. Is that man, wherever
you stand, wherever you however you believe, I want you
to appreciate the craftsmanship and the artistic contribution that I
made because I work hard in my craft. Um. And
so you know, he's been phenomenal for me in terms
(19:59):
of you think and faith. And then I would say
Carter G. Woodson. Uh, reading The mis Education of the
Negro a matter of fact that the author and inventor
of Black History Month. Uh but uh, but reading The
miss Education of Negro literally changed my life. Um. You know,
the book talked about every type of topic you could imagine,
(20:23):
from industry to faith to uh, academics, academia. And the
thing I pulled from his book that one of the
nuggets that I pulled from his book is that oftentimes
the Black community when we when we learn something, we
can get a little bit lofty and we don't find
a way to disseminate that information to those who haven't
(20:46):
learned it, and so we're talking above their heads instead
of you know, if you think about a megaphone, a
megaphone is effective when you speak into the little end
and it comes out in the big end. But oftentimes
we turn it upside down and we have all this
information we're stuffing in there and we can't it does
not make it to the masses. And so uh, he
(21:07):
just helped me with that perspective to to think about
ways to communicate lofty things and bring them down so
that everybody can appreciate them and a joint Okay, Uh.
Next question is Marches is Women's History month. Yeah. Who
are the women that have sort of had an impact
(21:29):
on you as a man? Uh and how you operate
as a man and a professional of the day. Who
are those women? I was raised by all women. So
you know my grandmother, uh, Georgia Campbell, Uh is she
She taught me to consider the poor. She taught me
to be selfless and to to to be a giver
(21:52):
and not a taker. Um. You know, to this day
she's not e three years old. She still goes to
the food bank to to to pick up stuff to
give to people who don't have UM. My mother, Uh,
you know my mother was. She taught me that I'm
I am more than a statistic you know. She put
books in my hand and she made me read the
(22:12):
autobiography in Malcolm X at thirteen years old. She made
me read Lay Was Sold on Night. She made me
read w B. The Boy Sold the Black Folks. You know,
and you're talking to an individual who was more concerned
with gangs and drugs, but she's like, you're gonna read
this book. So, um, just brilliant. And my aunt Teresa,
who sent me postcards from Tokyo and helped me see
(22:36):
that we could go beyond our our our street corners,
in our neighborhoods. And so, you know, those women changed
my life and impacted me greatly. I wouldn't be where
I'm at without So speaking of family, you've got three children,
correct I do. What is it that you want to
change in this country drastically so that they can have
(22:57):
a better opportunity? Yeah, and what we've seen in the past, what,
in your opinion needs to change? Yeah? Um, well, well,
I think the gaps need to be filled. You know,
there's an educational gap that exists in our community. There's
(23:17):
a wealth gap that exists in our community. There's an
opportunity gap that exists in our community. So those gaps
need to be filled. Um. You know, we have plenty
of qualified and even over qualified individuals coming out of
schools who can't find the proper employment because they're not
a part of certain networks. And uh, and that that's
(23:38):
a gap that needs to close. Uh. We have individuals
who you know, don't have access to quality education because
of of of an educational gap. You know, where as
people only want to teach in certain communities and quality
teachers are recruited over here but not over here. Um.
And and then the wealth gap, of course, you know,
we see the discrepancy and of the desparent the sparing numbers. Um.
(24:02):
And so I would like those gaps to be closed
so that my ceiling can be my children's floor, you know,
so they can they can pick up where I've left
off and uh, and continue to to mobilize and to
inform and too, and to continue to spread that information.
And two people like myself, those of us who sit
in corporate America, who are close to the power, who
(24:25):
basically are incorporate board rooms, who understand the things that
are around the corner, tell us what we should be doing.
M Um. That's great. As a matter of fact, I
think it's you know, similar to what what Carter G. Wilson,
you know, was talking about, is that you all are
(24:47):
privy to the insight and the information. How do you
disseminate that, you know, down to the general population. Um.
I think I look at what someone like Stacey Abrams
there a boy getting people registered to vote. She understood
the ramifications and what was going on in politics, and
so she had a grassroots effort to mobilize people so
(25:09):
that they can participate in something bigger than UM, then
even they understood. And so I think that's part of it.
And then the other part is UM, when you're empowered,
there's a level of patience and training. UM. Sometimes it's
not that the person doesn't have the character of the capability,
is that they don't have the opportunity. And so it's
(25:32):
just being able to take somebody and say, hey, I
know you don't have you you just haven't had this chance.
Let me just let me walk with you and teach
you some of these things UM and not hold it
close to my chest. And so I think that's that's
a huge part of it. Um. You know, and what
you're doing right now, this is exactly how you do
those particular things. So uh, final question, it's it's a
(26:00):
good woe. Man. If you had the opportunity to have
with dinner with any icon dead or live, who are
the three what you want to have dinner with any
three icons? There are a lot? Wow, Wow, that's massive.
(26:26):
That is a good one because man, uh, I gotta
have dr King at the table because it's someone I
want to know, you know so much I want to
know I would I would want to know what he
thinks about how people perceive him today. Uh, I would
like to have Angela Davis at the table. You know, um,
(26:52):
she's just a brilliant thinker and and um you know
and fiery love to have her there. And m let
me see who else I got angrew I got, I
got dr king thought somebody in music at that I
was That's what I was thinking. I was like, who
(27:13):
is that person that I really won't sitting there? So
I gotta rewind. I want Tupac there, young revolutionary. That's
a good conversation. You got too bad to Davis. That's
a good one right there. I'm man, oh man, this
has been great. Thank you so much,
Host
Louis Carr
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