Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This week on Mixed
and Mastered, I am joined by an
industry legend whosefingerprints are all over the
past, present and future ofhip-hop and soul music, faith
Newman, being one of the firstfive employees of Def Jam
Records.
Her legacy includes discoveringNas, executive producing
Illmatic and signing Jamiroquai.
Faith brings an unmatchedinsight into the art and
(00:24):
business of music.
Akwae.
Faith brings an unmatchedinsight into the art and
business of music.
Currently executive VP of A&R,catalog Development and
Reservoir.
Faith has signed iconic artistsin their catalogs, from De La
Soul to the Isley Brothers andYoung Thug.
Faith Newman is next on Mixedand Mastered.
Welcome to Mixed and Mastered,a podcast where the stories of
(00:45):
the music industry come to life.
I'm Jeffrey Sledge, bringingyou real conversations with the
people who have shaped the soundof music.
We're pulling back the curtainon what it takes to make it in
the music business.
These are the stories you won'thear anywhere else, told by the
people who live them.
This is Mixed and Mastered.
Mixed and Mastered with an oldhomie and former neighbor.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah, a former
neighbor of mine, Faith Newman.
Hi the legendary Faith Newman.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Thank you, Jeff.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
When I was telling
people that you were taping,
people were like oh shit, faithNewman, the legendary Faith.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Newman.
Thank you, Jeff.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
When I was telling
people that you were taping,
people were like oh shit, faithNewman.
I'm like yeah, yeah, I knowFaith Newman.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Oh, that's dope,
that's dope, she's dope.
Yeah, man, I've just been doingit a long time.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah, we both have my
.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
God, oh, my God.
Yeah, I mean I was talking toDJ Pooh last week.
He was recalling, you know,when they first, you know, they
brought them to New York to workwith Todd and they put them up
in this apartment in Brooklynbut they weren't really paying
them anything.
So we used to bring them likeMcDonald's and stuff, and he was
(01:59):
like I remember that, you know,because we were like
practically starving and yousaved us and I was like Pooh,
like poo.
That was 1986.
You do realize it's almost 40years ago.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
We're going to talk
about all that.
I don't want to give it allaway at the front because you
have a long.
You're one of the well, not few, but I guess nowadays you're
one of the people who has beenaround longer than me.
You know what I'm saying.
Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
There's not many people left.
There's not many people leftthat have been around longer
than me.
I started in 89 and you werealready rolling.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, yeah, 89, I was
at Def Jam, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah, you were
rolling, so let's start from the
beginning.
You're a Philly girl, I'm aPhilly girl, I'm a Philly girl.
Okay, real quick, real quick.
What's your favoritecheesesteak place?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Pat's, okay or no.
You know what it's really JimSteaks on South Street.
I know that sounds reallytouristy or whatever, but I like
Jim Steaks.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
And then Pat's second
.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
You're a Philly girl,
born and raised.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yes indeed.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
And how did you, what
was your first kind of, I guess
, spark to get into the music?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Music business.
Well, I you know it's funny.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
I have a Not even
music business, just music in
general.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Music, yeah, no,
because there was always music
in my house.
I mean, I'm talking, like youknow, three, four years old,
remembering my dad playing musicon.
Uh, they had one of those oldreel to reel players and he
would play like Ray Charles andJonas Joplin and the birds and
all kinds of really they'reactually soulful stuff.
(03:37):
Um, which I really gravitatedtowards.
And so that you know there'sactually gravitated towards and
so that you know there'sactually, there's a picture on
my wall behind me, of me atthree um, playing with a
turntable and some 40 and a boxof 45s.
Um, you know, a little djaction at three years old.
Um, I don't know it, just itjust spoke to me somehow and I
(04:01):
would memorize lyrics.
I was really good at that.
So there's always music playingin the car and I would like
sing along and and startedcollecting records.
I guess when I was about sevenyears old, eight years old, I
remember my first album was withmy dad in the mall and we were
(04:22):
walking past Woolworths.
You remember Woolworths, Ofcourse, of course, and there was
Soul Train.
The hits that made it happenwas on display in front of
Woolworths and, Chris, I loveSoul Train.
I used to wake up everySaturday morning and run to the
TV to watch Soul Train.
And I said to my dad I said Iwant this one.
(04:44):
He said are you sure you wantthat one?
I said I want this one.
And I still have it.
And now you still have that Istill have it and which is nice
because I sold most of when myparents moved out of the house.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
I sold most of my
vinyl wow, I think my first
vinyl was the Jackson 5Christmas album.
I think they were.
Yeah, I don't have it anymore.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Up to that point, you
know I had collected 45s and
then, like you know so, soulTrain.
That Soul Train album was myfirst album purchase and then my
second one was Cool in the Gang.
So I definitely had apreference for r&b.
You know, that was me, spoke tome that those were the records
(05:32):
that I was buying and then, ifyou fast forward to me, it so I
used to do also was like I had abook where I would like put all
my records in with thecorresponding number next to
them.
And I did the number on therecord so that I cataloged all
my music, you know, and that waslike eight, nine years old.
(05:54):
So I guess, if you fast forwardto 14, because I don't want
this to take up too much- yeah,I got you, I got you um, I went
to a concert.
Uh, the group called the cars,who I used to love yeah, I
(06:15):
remember they were playing atthe spectrum in philadelphia and
my brother, who was 16 at thetime, took me and I remember, uh
, being very excited because Iloved the group and I thought
you know I was their biggest fan, and all this no, and, and I
get to and I'm sitting in in thespectrum and I'm like looking
(06:35):
around like 20 000 people.
I'm like I don't like this shit, like you didn't like to be
general population no, exactly,exactly, I said.
I said I want to be somebody whomakes these things happen.
That's what I want to do withmy life.
Okay, so that was at 14.
So everything I did from thatpoint on was pointed in that
(06:55):
direction that's dope and I.
When I was 16 I got aninternship with electric factory
concerts in phil.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
And so I got to be
backstage at a bunch of shows.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
How was that for like
a 16-year-old girl to see all
that, what's happening in theback?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
It was wild.
I mean, you know there was alot of cocaine, Not that I part.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
I know, but it was
happening around me.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
It was happening
around me, but I do very vividly
Marvin Gaye's sexual healingtour.
Wow, came to the spectrum and Idid get to meet him briefly and
that was incredible.
He was kind of high out of hismind but it was still Marvin
Gaye, so that was incredible.
(07:42):
That's amazing, yeah, andthere's a funny story related to
that because Ashford andSimpson opened for him.
And do you know who JimmySimpson is?
Speaker 1 (07:53):
No, I know, didn't
her other brother sing for
Village People?
I think her brother was thelead singer for Village People,
but don't quote me.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Okay, it's very
possible.
Anyway, he kind of was pushedup on me a bit and you know, and
there's a longer story to it,but the story ends with him
being at a party in WashingtonDC in a hotel room with like a
(08:27):
bunch you know 100 people, andthen all of a sudden all the
people leave and then it's justthe two of us and he's like puts
his hand on the door and saysyeah, and says you know, you
want to be in the music business.
You know you don't getsomething for nothing.
You know like you're not goingto just leave here without you
know, don't get something fornothing.
You know like you're not gonnajust leave here without you know
.
It was just, it was liketextbook, like something out of
(08:48):
an after-school special orsomething and um he dropped his
hand and I ran out the door andran down the hall and oh my god,
you've been through it, boy,you've been through it and boy,
You've been through it, and theperfect ending to that is that
by 87, I was working for Def Jamand I saw him at remember that
(09:13):
there it was called 2020?
I don't remember 2020.
Crosford Simpson had arestaurant, slash club, slash,
yeah.
Anyway, I saw him there and Igave him my business card.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
I was like wow wow,
yeah so you leave philly
graduate, graduate high school,blah, blah, blah yeah, yeah you
come to nyu come to nyu and you,you, just this is this isn't.
Uh, when the music because Iread a piece on you, um, and it
was very it brought back a lotof memories and this was the
time when the music business wasin new york, was pretty new and
(09:47):
it was like a lot of smalllabels and people kind of moving
around, and so how did you getget to def jam?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
because you came up
to be a student yes, I came up
to be a student, but you know,my goal was to be in the music
industry, you know, like not asan intern but full, you know.
And I started by.
This is a weird story, okay, soI was, I modeled when I first
(10:16):
came to New York, okay, and youknow, some print work,
advertising stuff, whatever.
And I did a show.
I did a fashion show at studio54, which wasn't like it was in
the old days, but they werestill having events there.
And uh, this guy, my mom wasthere with me, and this guy
(10:36):
comes up to me afterwards andhe's like, you know, my name is
steve pipitko, I'm a musicattorney.
Because, oh, they had asked thegirls who were, who were in the
show, what they wanted to dowith their life.
And I said I want to be in themusic business.
So he said, if you ever have anyquestions or whatever, you know
, come to me and I'll, you knowand it wasn't like I didn't get
(10:56):
a skeeby kind of vibe from himwhich turned out to be correct
because he ever was, because westayed friends for many years he
got me an internship at SlackRecords.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Wow, fred Mineo.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Fred Mineo.
So that was you know.
Whistle UTFO Real Roxanne.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Was Kidding Play
there at the time.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Not yet.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Okay, they weren't
there yet Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Okay, this was like
the summer of 86, I want to say
Okay, so I did that.
And then there's such weirdstories.
I go to a party with Steve forBilly Ocean's Platinum Record
(11:47):
Party.
It was a Jive Records party.
And so Barry would have beenthere.
I don't know if Clive wouldhave been there.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Probably.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
And that's where I
met Gary Harris.
And Gary Harris was, like youknow, we just started talking
about music and he was like Idon't even know, like where do
you come from?
Like you know, I don'tunderstand, who are you, you
know?
And he said you know you should.
I said I'm looking, you know,my internship at Select is
(12:16):
ending, I'm looking to getanother internship.
And he suggested that I reachout to his friend at Columbia
Records who was doing promotionat the time.
So I got in late, like late 86,I turned 21 and I had this big
party and Houdini was there andRun DMC was there and the
(12:38):
Beastie Boys were there.
It was pretty awesome.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
And so I started an
internship at Columbia Records,
which was very enlightening.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
And now, who did you
work under?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
I worked under a
woman named Gail Bruzwitz who
did a dance club promotion.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Okay, and just give
me a little brief overview how
you liked it.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
You know, I stuffed
envelopes and I kept my ears and
my eyes open yeah no, I mean itwas.
The company was run by, youknow, white men, and strictly,
and women were relegated toassistance or pr and gail was
the only woman in the promotiondepartment, and so I can't even
(13:26):
imagine what she had to dealwith.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
It was a different
one when I left Wild Pitch and I
went to Chrysalis Records,which was Billy Idol and Pat
Benatar, and it was pretty mucha rock label, yeah, but it was
the same thing.
It was like white dudes.
It was the same thing, rock androll like white dudes, and the
women were assistants.
And then there was a woman inpr and I still remember her name
, francis pennington, becausefrancis actually was the was, uh
(13:51):
, the guy from tears of fear'sgirlfriend, but it was the same
energy that was the recordbusiness back then.
It was.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
That was totally the
record business back then and I
had a deal with getting hit onby the, you know the 40
something guys and the you knowthe 40-something guys in the,
you know in the promo department, and because you got to think
that those guys started out inthe 70s, right?
Because 86 is only 10 yearsapart from 76.
(14:17):
And you could just, you know,like whatever was going on back
then, they carried it through.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Carried it through
exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
And Walter yetnikoff
had actually just left when I
got there, so I'm sure thatwould have been interesting yeah
, so tell me how you get fromthat to now.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Let me tell the
people, because I don't know if
you want to say this, but yeahyou were one of the first five
employees of death jam recordsthat's correct that's insane,
that's yes.
That's like literally insane.
Like no, like you were there.
You were like Crush, groove orwhatever.
Like you were literally thereat the beginning, like with all
that you know what they show inthe movie, like in the, from the
(14:55):
dorm room to the thing and allthat.
You were like literally therefor all of that.
So tell us about that.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
So I so that, um, so
I, so you know, just to
backtrack real quick, I, youknow, I, I, my internship was
was ending with with columbia,and my last day of my internship
, gail took me in her office andsaid you know, do yourself a
favor and get out of thisbusiness.
It's no place for women.
She was crying.
I mean, this was like.
She's like they'll like eat youalive and you know, try to find
(15:29):
something else to do with yourlife before you.
Wow, wow, I'm like.
You know, I'm 20 years old, soI'm like.
I'll be all right, I'll be allright, don't worry about me, I
know I got.
(15:50):
Be all right, don't worry aboutme, I know I got, I got this, I
got this, yeah, you know, so.
So.
So then, like steve camethrough again and he said look,
I have got you an interview withcharles huggins at hush
production wow yeah charles andbo huggins char Charles and Bo
Huggins, so I think it was to bean assistant to Hank Talbert.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I didn't know Hank.
I didn't know Hank Talbert, no.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
And so I went.
I did the interview.
They wanted to hire me the daybefore I was supposed to go back
to meet Charles.
I came home from class, I wasstill at NYU.
I came home from class and,there know, I was still at NYU.
I came home from class andthere was a note on the
refrigerator that said RickRubin called.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
I was like.
I said to my roommate I waslike, is this a joke?
And he said no, I don't thinkso.
He said it sounded for real.
So I called the number slowlyand Rick, you know how he has
that way of speaking.
He's like hello.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
And.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
I'm like this is, you
know, faith Newman, and you
know I didn't know, you called.
He said yep, we need some morepeople at Def Jam and we want to
hire you.
I was like okay.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
You bet.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Okay, yeah.
And he said do you want to knowhow much you're going to make?
I don't care, I'm like I'll payyou.
Exactly, I was broke, but I waslike I will pay you.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
So what was Aldi's?
Speaker 2 (17:26):
you know my parents
sent me $50 a week.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
That was like my was
LO out at that time was the LO
out.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
at that time was that
album out, the first album the
first album, yeah, wow and wasthe Beasties, but the Beasties
no the Beasties had just put outLicense to Ill just okay, wow,
yes, wow, and Public Enemy, theBeasties had just put out.
License to Ill, just okay, wow,yes, wow.
It's crazy and Public Enemy.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
The first album.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
The first album.
So it's funny.
So he's like well, come see meat the office and we can talk
about what you're going to bedoing and stuff.
And so I go see him and he'slike I was talking, you know,
because I was I was also, youknow, club kid, so I was at land
quarter and I was at unionsquare and I was at rooftop and
(18:15):
I was at all those places and Iused to go to music factory to
get my, my records, you know,and um, and he was just like
where's I going with this?
Yeah, oh yeah.
So I said I would talk.
I was talking about like newhip hop stuff that was coming
out.
And he was like, yeah, I'm notreally, you know, I'm in a
different place right now.
(18:35):
I'm more into like rock stuffright now.
So that's like he, like we hadalready, like he was such a
visionary I got, I got to say Imean this was, you know, this
was early 87 and he was alreadylike moving on to like Danzig
and Slayer and all the stuffthat he was doing at that time
(18:58):
you know, Wow.
So this was April of 87 and myfirst first day at Def Jam was
June 1st 1987.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
And who were the
other four employees?
Do you remember?
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Sure yeah, Dave
Funkin' Klein yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Dave, that was my guy
.
That was my guy.
Man Loved him.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
George Solmers.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I didn't know him.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Bill Stephanie
Lindsey Williams.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
And Don Greco.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Okay, I didn't know
her.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
So I know, three out
of the five Okay.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
So how was it like
starting a small label like that
?
That became obviously apowerhouse.
It was amazing.
I mean, we worked it likestarting a small label like that
.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
That became that
obviously a powerhouse.
It was amazing.
I mean, we worked in a shittylittle office like on the second
floor, 298 Elizabeth Street,which had no heat and no air
conditioning, and I would likecomplain to Russell.
I'm like it's so cold in here Idon't know what to do.
He's like go home that was.
Russell yeah, go home.
(20:07):
That was so, russell.
Yeah, it was, but it was likethe time of my life, I gotta say
it just.
You know it was funny becausepeople would come from around
the world to Def Jam and theywould walk into our little
office and be like, oh, this isit.
Yeah, right, thinking it'sgoing to be some big old like oh
, this is it.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yeah right, Thinking
it's going to be some big old
conglomerate.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Rush management on
the ground floor was much more
impressive than we did.
Wow.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Don't you know.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
It was like we shared
desks and phones.
There weren't enough foreverybody.
Oh, did I mention GeorgeSolmers?
Speaker 1 (20:42):
You did, I didn't
know him.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
What did he do?
Mention George.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
What did George do?
Speaker 2 (20:50):
George did stuff with
getting sponsorships from Troop
, from some skateboard companythat I can't remember the name
of, okay.
He did that kind name of Okay.
Okay, he did like that kind ofstuff.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Cool.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
And Dave Klein did
promotion and marketing stuff.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
So I'm thinking about
my first experience at my first
record company job.
Yeah, did you?
Did you even know kind of whatyou were doing, or you just got
to doing shit?
Speaker 2 (21:24):
I just, you just kind
of did whatever needed to be
done.
I remember none of the artistshad signed up with the PRO, so I
took everybody on a field tripto ASCAP and got them all signed
up.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
So you didn't even
know they had money out there
because they were signed up.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Yeah, yeah, they were
leaving money on the table, wow
, so that was one thing that Idid.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Did that start your
interest in publishing?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Actually it did, it
did, it did.
It was funny, I mean.
And the way you had to dothings back then in terms of
copyrights was like getting acassette and getting a lyric
sheet and mailing it to theLibrary of Congress, I mean,
that's you know.
So I remember like being withFlav and I was doing Don't
(22:18):
Believe the Hype.
And I was typing out the lyricsand he said no, gee, I can do
it.
And he was like starts typingwith like one finger.
He was so great yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Oh wow, no, let me
ask you a question what was your
?
What was some of your favoriterecords during that period, from
from Def Jam and just ingeneral?
Do you remember?
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Oh, yeah, well Slick
Rick.
Yeah, well, slick Rick.
Great Adventures and Come On.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Yeah, I was just at
that record the other day.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Yeah, it still holds
up.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
It holds up crazy.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
And PE, nation of
Millions, just genius.
And then later on third baselike the Cactus album Joe.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Hub, of course.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
LL when he did the
like I.
You know I wasn't a huge fan ofPanther, but I thought that
Mama Said Knock you Out was likea yeah yeah, I wasn't.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
I wasn't a fan of the
Panther album, but there were a
couple records on there.
I just thought, like I stillremember that record, fast Peg
yeah, a couple of records I was.
There was couple of records onthere that was amazing, like as
an album it was kind of.
But then you look backwards andit was kind of visionary.
You know, the album wasn'tgreat because he was working
with West Coast people, right,so he was kind of, you know,
(23:38):
pushing the line and doingthings that people do now like
take for granted.
He was doing that back then,you know.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Right and for granted
he was doing that back then,
you know right, and and marleyturned everything around.
So yeah, which is great becauseI did a deal with him here.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
So it's all full
circle, full circle.
I'm sure you got a lot of fullcircles I got a lot of full
circle moments give me, give meone before we move to columbia
and nas and everything.
Give me one crazy def jam story.
Yeah, I know you, you got abillion of them, but give me one
that doesn't incrimin.
I know you got a billion ofthem, but give me one that
doesn't incriminate anybody, orsomething like that, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Oh man, I might have
to come back to you on that,
okay.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
We can do it.
We can do it later.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yeah, I'll come back
to you.
I'm trying to think there's somany, okay, fine.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
So as Def Jam started
to grow, what was that like
watching?
You know this company that youstarted.
You said five people and youguys had no air and no heat and
it's cold.
There's probably mice in thereand all kind of shit yeah to
like to grow into, like becomingwhat you know become coming a
legit powerhouse record label.
What was that?
What was that like?
Speaker 2 (24:46):
um, for me it.
You know, I'm a purist and Ifelt like what?
What happened was is that rickleft.
As you know, he just moved, hejust said to me he was going to
la one day and he never cameback.
And so russell was was much moreinterested in starting a
(25:12):
modeling agency and talkingabout a clothing line at that
point, and there was this powervacuum there at depth jam, and
that's when leor stepped in okayand that was difficult for me
because we had the RushAssociated Labels situation
which everybody was getting thelabel you want a label, you want
(25:34):
a label, you want a label andslapping the Def Jam logo on it
and I thought that it dilutingthe label Because if you went to
Music Factory or you went toTower Records or you went
(25:55):
wherever you know, if you saw aDef Jam label you bought it.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Immediately.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Immediately, and that
wasn't the case anymore and I
felt like we were becoming toobig and too unwieldy and that
was kind of like you know, andwhen I made the decision, yeah,
yeah, I remember that erabecause that's kind of when I
started.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
I mean, it was like
so everybody got a label and it
was like bitches with problemsand it was like all these kind
of small kind of all the um, theAfros and all this kind of
stuff and it was cool.
But it wasn't like.
It was like where's the heat?
You know the heat.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Right, it wasn't Def
Jam.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
It wasn't Def Jam
anymore, right, you know.
So after you leave Def Jam,where do you go next?
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Columbia Records.
Right back to Columbia.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Full circle.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Full circle, not as
an intern this time, but as an
A&R person, you know.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Tell us about that.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
It basically like
Lior and I famously just yeah,
respectfully, not hard to dowith him.
No, and I just one day heaccused my assistant of losing a
cassette that was supposed togo to Todd to LL in.
Los Angeles and it wasn't herfault.
(27:15):
And he's screaming at me and Ijust get quiet, you know, and
also just to for context.
I mean I used to go toColumbia's A&R meetings as a
representative of Def Jam.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
So I would go to
their confabs that they had and
they had a conference out inMontauk that I went to and stuff
like that.
So I was already kind of in themix with Columbia and Donnie
Einer, who is the president ofColumbia Records, basically told
me if you ever change your mindabout me at Def Jam, you know,
just give me a call.
(27:51):
So I gave him a call.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Just like that.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Just like that.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
And for the people
who don't know Def Jam, before
they went to the Universalsystem, def Jam was distributed
by Columbia Records.
That's correct.
So some people might not knowthat.
So OK, so you give Donnie acall.
He says come on board.
Come on board, he's in our gigand you know, tells you to go do
your thing.
What was your first signing?
Nas?
(28:17):
Nas was the first signing.
I didn't know if you guyssigned anybody or not.
I didn't know if you.
You know because I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Yeah no, that was I
literally had I signed.
I was two weeks into being atColumbia, records, oh wow, I
didn't realize it was that quick.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
And we'll be right
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Speaker 1 (29:06):
And now back to our
show Wow.
So tell us about the Nas Sada.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
The Nas Sada started
when I was still at Def Jam and
I had heard him like everybodyelse in live at the barbecue
Flipped out, you know, like whois this kid and what the fuck?
Speaker 1 (29:24):
And slap boxing with
Jesus.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Slap.
What the hell for snuffingJesusesus.
He said that you know, so Iwanted to connect with him.
So I knew large professor andlarge was, like you know, wanted
me to talk to akineli first,like he felt like maybe Nas
(29:50):
wasn't ready.
You know, and long story, hedid bring Paul, large and Nas
came, came to see me at Def Jambut I had already left.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Sorry, not to cut you
off, but you are.
I saw you are the only otherperson I know that calls large
Paul besides me.
I really I call him Paul.
I've never called him largerfirst in my other person.
I know that calls Large Paulbesides me.
Really, I call him Paul.
I've never called him LargeProfessor in my life.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
I know I call him
Paul you call him Paul, yeah,
yeah.
So you're a left Columbia.
He is like the sweetheart of aman he is.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
He's a great dude,
great dude, great dude.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Yeah, so I wasn't a
dev jam.
So anyway, he ended up doingthe Back to the Grow with Search
.
And so I remember like, andthen I'm talking to Tragedy,
who's in Queensbridge.
I'm like, can you bring me tomeet this kid Nasty Knots?
(30:42):
You know, somehow it just never.
I went to Queensbridge, it justnever happened.
And so all this was going on,it was swirling around, and one
day search comes to my officeand he says the kid you've been
looking for, I got his demoright here.
Wow.
And I said just wait here.
(31:03):
You know, don't go anywhere.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Stay right here.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Stay right here.
And I went down the hall to thehead of a and r, who's david
khan, really great guy and Isaid to him you know, I know you
may not know what this is, butif you don't let me sign
anything the entire time I workhere, you have to let me sign
this guy.
And he said okay, and I toldsearch that it was in the
(31:28):
evening and I told him thatevening, you know, we're we're
going to do the deal.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Wow, yeah, so there
was no battle, there was no like
war for now.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
There were other
people I know.
Wow, I think it was a wildpitch.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Maybe Cause cause.
Remember main source was onwild pitch, so it probably main
source was on wild pitch.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
So it probably
exactly so.
I know that they were.
He was talking to wild pitch,but you know it's interesting
that naz like I remember, youknow from our first meeting,
like he being at columbiarecords and seeing the people on
the wall, the famous you knowpeople from from the turn of the
century to the 20s and 30s and40s, like that really impressed
(32:08):
him really yeah, he said thatbefore that he was just like I
didn't think he noticed, but henoticed and um, you know, I mean
, he's such an old soul, it'slike he wanted to be one of the
greatshe wanted to be one of the
greats.
So it it, it all.
It all made sense and we had areally funny first meeting.
(32:29):
He was, you know, he had hishoodie on and a bubble goose and
he was like, you know, had hishead down and he wasn't really.
I mean, he was kind of talkinga little, but not a lot.
And then he raised his head andhe was like, so you're like the
woman in Wild Style.
I was like no, yes, no.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Kinda.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Kinda, I'd like to
think not.
And then he laughed, you know,and that's what broke the ice,
and it was, you know, it was along haul.
It took two and a half years tomake nomadic.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
So so I wanted to
talk about that because I mean,
I it's so funny, like you knowagain, you know we again, you
started before me, but kind ofbeing in that same kind of era,
there's so many now we'retalking about this stuff which I
don't know we've never talkedabout before.
It's so many things that wewere like right around each
(33:33):
other not knowing like example,like I try I wanted to sign
tragedy, you don't say.
And I remember I tried to usedemo and I called him and talk
and there was all these other.
This other guy on the tape wasa tape and I was like who's the
other guy, though he's kind ofnice, and he was like that's my
man, nori nori was on his demo.
So it's all these things andlike, so it's kind of all these.
(33:54):
I worked a while, yeah, Iworked a while pitching you just
, you know.
So it's kind of all thesethings coming together.
So I'm saying that to say whenyou were in the process of
making ilmatic, I was working adrive with q-.
Wow I was hearing a lot about it.
I wasn't hearing it, but I washearing about it.
Right and he was telling meabout the process.
And, again, I had my first job.
(34:16):
My first group I worked withwas Gangstar, so I knew Premier,
okay, and then LES used to gethis hair cut uptown.
So it was all these things youknow, know, it's all these kind
of things that we were likewe're having these parallel
movements.
So our q-tip was telling wouldtell us about nas and how nas
was, how great this album wasgoing to be.
Yeah, and so tell me about theprocess of making our, because,
(34:38):
again, there's only nine it'sreally good.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Yeah, well, we.
We did it out of necessitybecause it was leaked the album
was so out there already that wedidn't have a choice but to get
it out commercially and because, honestly, we would have
probably done two more songs.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Interesting.
I didn't know that.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Oh yeah, it was
everywhere.
It was like worldwide leakage.
It's why it didn't.
You know, it took forever justto go gold.
I mean, so many people had therecord.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
I didn't remember
that, wow, okay, okay.
So the process of making thathow did you decide to work with
Q-Tip and Pete Rock and Premier?
Speaker 2 (35:20):
That was all Nas.
Nas said I want the best ofevery New York producer.
That was him 100%.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
He pulled that
together.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Yes, best of every
New York producer, that was him,
so he a hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
He pulled that
together.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Yes.
At 18 years old or whatever.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Well, people were
resistant because he was so
young and new, or they just theybelieved in his talent.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
All they had to do
was like hear him and be like,
okay, you know did.
I did have an incident wherethey were asking me to drop him
from the label really tell usabout that?
Yes, um, when he put outhalftime, he had his first show
at a place called muse I'm gonnalose yeah, and it's funny
(36:07):
because I didn't know this twoyears later, but what I was told
at the time was that jungle,his brother left a gun in the
grand car service car that I hadcalled them grand car service
grand car service to pick themup in queensbridge and bring
them to use, and so soapparently the driver found the
(36:31):
gun and went to the police andit was like a whole thing and
jungle called up the precinctand screamed on them that he
wanted his gun back.
I mean, it was, it was, and thenmy illegal gun back.
And then he's like then he'slike calling people that the
label at Columbia Records not me, but some other people and
threatening them and just, youknow, just going off on them.
(36:52):
And you know, donnie Einercalled me to his office and he
was like you know, I can't havethis shit.
Like you know, I can't, thisisn't how we operate.
And I was like, well, where doyou think he comes from?
yeah he doesn't.
He doesn't come from where youcome from or I come from.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
It's a foreign land
to him.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Yeah, and cause,
cause he was like Donnie was
like I'm not going to have this,Like I'm going to drop him for
the label, kind of thing, and Ijust had to go in there and
state my case and and the andthe and the and.
The PS to all of this is thatabout two years ago I was
talking to Jungle and he waslike no, no, no, no.
(37:35):
I asked the driver to hold itfor me.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
I just want him to
hold it.
I'll get to him later.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Why could you hold
this for me while I go in the
club?
Real quick.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
So you work on this
record.
You said two and a half yearsit took.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Two years or so.
And when it drops, what's theresponse?
The critical response to it.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Oh, critical response
was insane.
I mean you know the first fivemics and the source and you know
I mean people just talkingabout him like he's like the
Messiah, you know.
I mean, how does somebody soyoung create lyrics like that?
You know, it's just astounding.
I mean, to this to this day,like I'll listen to new york
(38:20):
state of mind and get likechills.
I mean, yeah, you know what doyou do?
Speaker 1 (38:25):
what do you think
that was that that was coming
from?
Like I said to the kid, it waswas 18 or so at the time.
How was he able to do that?
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Well, he was really,
really, really well-read and he
was in a musical family becauseof his father.
His mother stressed education,like Naz will just say.
He always had all these booksin the house, a million
different topics, and would readthem.
He was special he is special.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Well, it is, yeah,
it's special.
Yeah, so you have the successfrom that especially over 50
years old now.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
So yeah, exactly, but
now he's turned into like a
venture capitalist, which isincredible he is that and he's
that as well you know, I'm justyeah, and I want to say, because
this was like I guess last year, the year before, there was an
event and I went to the event atphotographista, whatever it's
called jungle and snacks, andthese other guys were all
(39:24):
hanging out like outside andthey were like thank you, faith,
you saved our lives.
I was like you did that shitlike hit me hard and I started
crying.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
I bet that shit's
real, though, like if it wasn't
for this, you know, thereweren't many options.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
No, and they lost I
mean, a lot of the.
If you look at the albumartwork um, the picture of the
guys sitting on the park bench,they're either all dead or in
jail.
Damn like, I'd like, like, like, every single one damn yeah
damn.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Yeah, um, so you have
that, this, this amazing
success with naz and I didn'tknow this, I read this so you
worked with jamar aqua next Isigned your miracle.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
Yeah, I didn't know
this.
I read this, so you worked with.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Jamar Kwai.
Next, I signed Jamar Kwai.
Yeah, I didn't know that.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
I know a lot of
people don't know that, but yeah
, tell us about that um, it'spretty simple really.
I I was friends with somebodywho was friends with this guy,
kieran Hurley from Acid JazzRecords.
She asked if Kieran could comesee me at Columbia and so he
came to see me.
He had a one song, demo of thissong when you Gonna Learn, and
(40:37):
I thought it was a woman singing.
I couldn't tell, you know, butsomething just struck me about
it and I was just like he isincredible, I have to know more.
And I told David and I said,look, I'm going to go to London.
It was a week before Christmas.
I said I'm going to go to Londonto meet him because this, you
(41:00):
know, just this one, all forthis one song.
And I went to London and I methim and I met the other people
Eddie, eddie Pillar from AcidJazz and so Acid Jazz wanted to
do like a label situation withColumbia and we didn't end up
(41:20):
doing that.
But I think why people don'tknow that I signed him when I
did was because it was a Britishact, and so they decided, tommy
and Donnie decided it needed tobe signed through the UK office
.
And so with this guy, lincoln,did you know Lincoln, elias?
Speaker 1 (41:42):
No.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
He was A&R at Sovo
Squared, which was Sony's London
, you know.
Okay, which was Sony's London,you know.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
You know, I mean
Eddie wrote about me in his book
and you know, and you know,anybody from Jamiroquai will
tell you that you know.
I was there, you know.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
It kind of got
overshadowed by the UK office.
Yeah, because I I fell for it.
I thought it came out of the uk.
I had no idea you were involvedin it.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
No, it's all.
And you know what?
What's really funny is likelincoln and I got into it once.
He was in new york and he'slike, well, maybe you just want
the kudos.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
I'm like damn right,
I do yeah, what else we got,
besides getting played?
Speaker 2 (42:31):
your backyard and you
, you didn't, you know, I met
with acid jazz, which was likefive minutes from Sony's office,
you know so.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
Wow, wow.
What are you?
Speaker 2 (42:40):
going to do.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
So you leave.
So what made you decide toleave Columbia?
Speaker 2 (42:46):
What made me decide
to leave Columbia?
That's a good question.
I just Decide to leave Columbia?
That's a good question.
I just I felt like I wanted togo back to a smaller label again
, Like I was missing, like theDef Jam days.
Speaker 3 (42:56):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
And I wasn't.
I was kind of disillusionedwith the you know the whole Sony
system, and I wanted to go backto a smaller label again.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
Okay, and so where
did you go after that?
Speaker 2 (43:13):
Jive Records.
Speaker 1 (43:14):
Jive Records where we
worked together.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
We did.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Yeah, and tell me
about your Jive experience.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
It was tough, jeff,
you know.
I mean I came in as Britney,backstreet Boys and NSYNC were
exploding.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
And you know groups
like UGK or people like E-40 or
Spice One or Too Short.
Too Short, Mystical, Like Ithink they all felt overlooked.
Would you agree with that?
Speaker 1 (43:44):
I agree with that
100%.
No, 100%.
I mean, like you said, you know, obviously I had been there
before you and so we had thoseartists and Tribe and blah, blah
, blah, krs, and they literallybuilt the company brick by brick
.
Yeah, and then Clive called thewho's the genius and I'm not
saying the genius, yes,absolutely.
It doesn't need to bedisrespectful at all but he
(44:05):
decided to.
He had a long-term plan ofselling the company which we
didn't know about, and so hedecided to shift and go pop.
He signed the Backstreet Boys,who were initially on Mercury
Records, and he picked them upand then they started.
They fucking exploded.
And then he signed, I thinkNSYNC was next.
(44:26):
They actually were on RCARecords at first A lot of people
don't remember that and he gotthem and obviously they exploded
.
And then he found this girlfrom Louisiana named Britney
Spears and then she exploded andall of a sudden, money is like
literally raining down.
It's so much money from thoseacts coming in, so much money.
It was unbelievable that theacts that we mentioned just now
(44:52):
definitely felt overlooked andwere being overlooked.
I remember being in thosemeetings, the marketing meetings
, and if somebody went like goldit was like next, like it was
like only gold, because peoplewere selling 10 million albums,
so like, and things were likeselling 600,000 albums, which is
a lot, you know, which is agood money, a way to really
(45:13):
build and hold a company yeah,but you know that's 15 million,
you know.
So yeah, so it was exactly so,you already know what the story
was there, I I was.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
My timing was not
good.
Um, you know, I do.
I do remember.
One funny story is is barrytelling me I had to go to
houston to get ugk's album tolisten to their you know, and
fucking jay prince yeah was inthe hotel, like like stationed
(45:50):
somebody in the parking lot ofthe hotel to like follow me.
Mm-hmm, I mean I know it soundsright, right, no no, that's.
Yeah, but I do remember havingdinner with Chad and Mama Wes,
(46:11):
and them taking me to a veryfancy steakhouse.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
Okay, okay, let me
ask a question.
I don't think I've ever askedyou this how was it being this?
You know, white girl fromPhilly was totally entrenched in
black music, like likelegitimately, it wasn't like you
were, you weren't doing as a, afan like this is who you really
(46:38):
are.
I know you to know this is whothis is who you are, so it's
sincere.
But how was that?
Uh, how was that?
You know we're dealing withmaybe other your white kind of
parts of you and your black.
How was that?
Speaker 2 (46:48):
yeah, it's funny,
jeff and I I could be.
You know, maybe I'm naive, butI never really had an issue.
I never had somebody call meout and say, you don't know,
because you're a white girl, Imean I had like nasa's jokey
(47:09):
joke about me.
That was funny, you know.
But I think you know because Iwas there early on, because I
was you know, you could find meat the Latin Quarter, you know,
yeah, yeah, yeah, in it, in itfor real.
I just, yeah, I don't know.
I mean I don't know what peoplesaid beyond my back, obviously,
(47:30):
but to my face, I never reallygot into it with anybody.
Good, yeah, good.
Speaker 1 (47:38):
I think it's because
people could sense immediately
that it's sincere, right, yes,and your love for Black music is
real.
It's not like just a kind offly-by-night thing.
Right, and because you neverreally left, you know you're
gonna be doing, I'm gonna gowork at, you know, with some pop
rock label now and do this likeyou never really left the
(47:59):
culture music, you're true to it, and I think people could see
that it's like, okay, she mighthave I don't know, but you might
have opportunities to do otherthings.
But you was like, nah, this ismy shit and I want to do what I
could do with my shit and helppeople and stuff, exactly.
Speaker 2 (48:14):
And by doing
publishing deals that I've done
with the Isley brothers, with,say, confunction, with Willie
Mitchell, with Birdie and White,with the Commodores.
That's like my heart rightthere.
So, I've been able to havegreat dialogue with them.
Be extra fair with them, youknow, because they're at a time
(48:39):
in their life when they reallywould like to just cash out you
know yeah.
But to make sure theyunderstand exactly what that
means.
You know, yeah, I've justcontinued to kind of do that.
Yeah, I want to get into that.
Speaker 1 (48:50):
We're going to get do
that?
Yeah, I want to get into that.
I'm going to, we're going toget to that next, but I, I want
to talk into you.
I just remember I don't know.
You remember I was asking you.
You remember you threw thisgreat birthday party.
Speaker 2 (49:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (49:03):
In the hotel I was
cause.
I remember Dan Charnas wasthere.
Was it the New York Hotel?
I?
Speaker 2 (49:12):
had a birthday party.
Speaker 1 (49:13):
We've had a birthday
party Maybe I mean I'm going to
have to go now.
Speaker 2 (49:19):
I used to have
birthday parties, but my 21st
was epic.
Speaker 1 (49:24):
No I wasn't there,
that was before me, but I don't
think I'm getting mixed up,because I met this girl named
Baby Blue there, oh, that party.
You remember, there you go.
Speaker 2 (49:34):
Yes, yes, that was
2013.
Speaker 1 (49:38):
Yes, that was a great
party, man, that was a great
fucking party.
Yeah, I had it at the top ofthis hotel in this dope-ass
suite.
Speaker 2 (49:45):
I didn't pay a dime
for that whole thing.
Speaker 1 (49:48):
That's unbelievable.
That was a great party.
Speaker 2 (49:51):
They wanted.
You know, two chains came, theywanted, they wanted celebrities
in there and you know.
So it was like a promotion forthem Exactly For me to have that
party.
Speaker 1 (50:01):
That was a good party
.
That was a good party.
So tell us about Reservoir andwhat you've done and what you're
doing now, because this is areally interesting you were.
We were talking before the showand I said that you were really
uh, ahead of the curve withwhat you started at reservoir
and what's happening now with,like you said, setting artists
and producers up to maybe cashout on a catalog, and people
(50:22):
weren't really doing that whenyou first started no, they
weren't.
Speaker 2 (50:25):
We were really early
I got to I started at in 2011.
So it's been 14 years, wow.
And you know, I just I don'tknow how.
I mean, I knew that there wassomething about catalogs of old
(50:46):
stuff that was, you know, wortha lot, but it also had to be
equitable to the people who wereselling.
That was my thing.
So the first deal that I didwas for a record label called
Philly Groove and the biggestartists on that label were the
(51:07):
Delphonics and First Choice, wow.
So I got to know the Hartbrothers the one william was
still alive, wilbert and we madeit.
We made them whole because theoriginal deal, we had copies of
the original contracts and theywere just like I'm sure they
were terrible.
(51:28):
Terrible.
The royalty raids just awful,yeah, you know, and we wanted to
make it right with them and weredid the deal with Wilbert
going forward, and so that wasthe first.
Well, the first thing I signedactually was 2 Chainz in 2012.
And that was before he droppedhis first album.
Speaker 1 (51:48):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (51:49):
Not Player Circle,
but or this was was like his.
He had put out the threemixtapes true, and all that
stuff yeah, exactly.
And then it was really funnybecause I was like a lot of
people were vying to sign himand I talked to his manager, to
this guy, coach tech, and he'slike, well, he wants to meet you
(52:10):
.
And I said, great.
So we went to meet him andwe're standing outside the hotel
just talking and he's like yousigned Nas right.
Speaker 1 (52:20):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (52:21):
Two chains.
I'm like really, he's like,he's my favorite, I want to sign
with you.
I'm like cool, wow.
Well, that's how that happened.
That's amazing.
And then you know, I've done alot of deals with philly writers
norman harris, alan felder.
You know, like I said, you knowwe did a big deal with the
osley brothers, so, and I'mclose with ron now, which is
(52:45):
like a dream come true for me,you know, and um, he's still
doing it.
Speaker 1 (52:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (52:52):
Yeah, he's still
rolling.
He's got a young wife, so thatkeeps him.
Speaker 1 (52:56):
I'm sure it helps.
Speaker 2 (52:57):
Yeah, but you know
I've signed just a ton of stuff
here, you know, from artists.
I like doing the catalog dealsa lot.
Speaker 3 (53:09):
Why is?
Speaker 2 (53:09):
that I like
preserving the history.
I think it's important and Ithink it's important that the
music continue to live on, youknow.
Speaker 1 (53:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (53:24):
One of my favorite
deals that I did was with Willie
Mitchell.
Speaker 1 (53:27):
Wow, is that Drake's
uncle?
No, no, like Graham.
That Drake's uncle?
No, no Like Graham is Drake'suncle.
Speaker 2 (53:38):
Yeah, willie Mitchell
wrote all the Al Green great Al
Green stuff.
Just knowing that we have thesethings here is really amazing.
Speaker 1 (53:53):
That's incredible.
Speaker 2 (53:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (53:55):
You're doing good
work.
Speaker 2 (53:57):
I think so.
I think I am, and we'llcontinue to.
The space has gotten verycrowded.
Speaker 1 (54:05):
Very.
Speaker 2 (54:06):
I mean I was supposed
to go see.
Can I say who I was supposed togo see?
I guess I can.
I was on my way to see GeorgeBenson.
Say who I was supposed to gosee?
I guess I can.
I was on my way to see GeorgeBenson in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Okay, the day before he wassupposed to leave, he signed a
deal with Harvard View.
Wow, there's a lot of playersright now.
A lot of players.
(54:26):
You have to really, reallyreally be on top of it.
Yeah, you have to really reallyreally be on top of it, yeah,
and ready to like really openthe chef book, cause it's, it's.
There's a lot of players rightnow.
Speaker 1 (54:38):
But I yeah, I mean I
don't have to tell you this, I
think you're one of youradvantages will be some of those
rappers from the lady from theeighties and the nineties.
Cause of your relationships,cause those guys are stuff.
Speaker 2 (54:50):
It's a burning deal
with Marley, so that was he
didn't deal with KG.
Speaker 1 (54:57):
Yep, oh, that was a
good one.
Speaker 2 (54:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (54:59):
Because KG's stuff
like he is absolutely one of the
most underrated producers ever.
I'm like this dude has done somuch stuff that still plays Like
I heard Naughty Gun acommercial yesterday, oh yeah,
has done so much stuff thatstill plays like I heard Naughty
Gun a commercial yesterday,like all the time, but nobody
ever talked about him as one ofthe greats.
I'm like, dude, this guy wasdoing hard body rap hits and R&B
hits and R&B sub Jean A.
Speaker 2 (55:20):
I mean come on.
Speaker 1 (55:21):
Puffy Brown and Next.
Speaker 2 (55:24):
And like he's amazing
, jaheim, he's incredible and
he's a hell of a nice guy he'simportant to me because I can't
deal with.
I have a no asshole policy.
I can't.
Speaker 1 (55:34):
I respect that.
Speaker 2 (55:35):
I respect that I
can't, I can't, I just don't.
I've been doing it too long andI just don't have the patience
yeah, the patience, yeah.
I mean there's a little.
There's some rappers that I'vesigned that that are can be
difficult, but it's also aboutthe people that are around them,
you know managers and lawyersand stuff like that to keep you
know.
So yeah, Cool.
(55:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (55:58):
Well, thank you,
Faith Newman.
Speaker 2 (56:00):
Thank you, Sledge.
Speaker 1 (56:01):
I really appreciate
this.
Speaker 2 (56:03):
Of course I was happy
to do it.
Speaker 1 (56:07):
You can catch Mixed
and Mastered on Apple Podcasts,
spotify, iheart or wherever youget your podcasts.
Hit that follow button, leave areview and tell a friend I'm
your host, jeffrey Sledge.
Mixed and Mastered is producedand distributed by Merrick
Studios.