May 29, 2025 • 54 mins
This week on Mixed and Mastered, we sit down with powerhouse executive and producer Shanté Paige for an inspiring, no-holds-barred conversation about her journey through the entertainment industry. From her Bronx roots and Silver Spring upbringing to her formative years at Howard University, Shanté takes us through the hustle, the heart, and the hard lessons that shaped her career.
She shares behind-the-scenes stories from managing artists in the early days, to building her rep at Jive and Volcano Records, and eventually helping to revitalize Motown. We dive into the iconic Scream Tour, the magic of Kedar Entertainment, and her bold pivot into television and film production — including working with Tyler Perry and leading campaigns for major brands.
Now as the founder of She’s A Movement Media Group, a transformational speaker, and a mentor to rising talent, Shanté reflects on what it really takes to build a lasting career in entertainment — and why giving back is always part of the mission.
🎙️ Tap in for a masterclass in vision, resilience, and reinvention.
Mixed and Mastered is produced and distributed by Merrick Studio, and hosted by music industry veteran, Jeffrey Sledge. Tune in to the discussion on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you catch your podcasts. Follow us on Instagram @MixedandMasteredPod to join the conversation and support the show at https://mixedandmasteredpod.buzzsprout.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This week on Mixed and Mastered, we're sitting down
with Shante Page.
Shante is a music and TV vetwho's done it all, from bringing
Motown back to life withartists like Erykah Badu and
India Irie, to producing showsfor BET, vh1, and Tyler Perry.
Shante's media company she's aMovement Media Group is
(00:21):
dedicated to pushing outoriginal content and mentoring
the next wave of creatives.
This is Mixed and Mastered withShante Page.
Welcome to Mixed and Mastered,the podcast where the stories of
the music industry come to life.
I'm Jeffrey Sledge, bringingyou real conversations with the
(00:41):
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.
(01:03):
We're here with Shante Page.
Hi Shante.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
What's up.
Sledge what's up.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
How you doing.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I'm good.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
I'm good.
I know you for a long time.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Long time.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
We're going to age ourselves if we say yeah, we're
not going to say no numbers orno years.
We've known each other for awhile, right?
For a while other for a while,right?
So let's start from thebeginning.
So you grew up in Silver Spring, maryland.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I grew up in Silver Spring, but I was born in New
York, okay, and I as a younggirl lived in the Bronx and then
we moved to the DMV.
Okay, well, how old were?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
you when you moved to the DMV.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
I was in elementary school, okay, so you did a
little time in the BX Mm-hmm,but I spent every summer in the
BX, so Okay, my first job in theBX Like yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
So tell me about your summers in the Bronx.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
It was Baychester, New York.
Uh-huh.
I know, do you know?
David Wood.
He has a cigar line.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Okay, he lived right across the street from my
grandparents.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
But I had my first job at L&L Farms.
It was a little corner storeand I was 13 and eight or nine
months and I got special workingpapers.
I could only work 20 hours aweek but I could walk to work.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
I spent every summer with my grandparents.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
That's cool.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I had no idea you had bronx roots.
Yeah, that's cool, right downthe street from eden wall
projects yeah, yeah, co-op cityarea.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, I know that area.
Well, bay plaza, yeah, I know,I know where you was at.
I know you was at.
Yeah, tell me about silverspring.
How was that growing up there?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
I love Silver Spring because it was like a melting
pot.
I went to Montgomery Blair.
We had a lot of students thatcame from other counties.
It was truly all kinds ofcultures.
So I really didn't get theBlack experience until I went to
Howard and it was a cultureshock because I was so used to
(03:04):
so many different people.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Yeah.
Yeah, I had an interview withAngelique Miles and we had kind
of similar conversation.
She grew up in Queens and wetalked about how they're going
to.
She went to Hampton so and Iwent to Morgan.
So we're talking about howwe're going to a black school.
Even though you're black, it'sstill very much a culture shock.
Yeah, cause it's like I toldher culture shock.
It was a culture shock.
Yeah, because it's like I toldher.
I always say, when I went toMorgan I realized we're all
(03:30):
black but we are not all thesame, right?
You know, we have all kind ofblack people.
They're rich, poor.
You know, people from Chicagoain't like the people from
Philly, right, the people fromPhilly ain't like the people
from DC at all.
You know, it's all these kindof different things in a good
way, but it was just aninteresting culture shock.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah, yeah.
At Montgomery Blair in highschool, I was the first black
homecoming queen.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Really Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Tell me about that.
I didn't know about that.
Tell me about that experience.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
I was that I didn't know about that.
Tell me about that experience.
I was voted, I was, I was inthe mix, I was doing all things
in high school, so I was votedbest dressed, most likely to
succeed, and I was votedhomecoming queen, and that I was
the first official blackhomecoming queen that Montgomery
Blair ever had.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Wow, wow, congratulations.
Homecoming queen.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Thank you.
My king was Caucasian and thatwas fine, whatever, yeah, but I
was the first black.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
You made it, so tell me about your Howard experience.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Loved my Howard experience.
It was a culture shock that Ihad to kind of get used to.
I had been going to Howard'sHomecomings for quite some time.
Growing up in Silver Spring wewould always go to Howard's
Homecomings.
That part of it wasn't aculture shock, but I didn't
realize.
I was like, oh, it's like thisall the time People are on the
yard.
(04:58):
I kind of messed up my firstsemester.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yeah, it's good that I it happens.
It's so much going on andyou're not used to all that
freedom and everything, so it'skind of like whoa, this is crazy
.
I could kind of do what I want.
I could hang out till 2 in themorning as an 18-year-old.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Well, I still lived at home, so I didn't live on
campus.
So that was one thing, but likeduring class, it's like oh.
I want to chill in the yardinstead of going to class.
You know things like that, sothe weather breaks.
It was rough that first year Igot on academic probation that
first year.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah, I've been there .
I've been there too, but Ihustled up.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
You know, after that I was good and I excelled the
years after.
But it's still still hard, youknow, to get.
I was good and I um excelledthe years after.
But it's still still hard, youknow, to get your GPA back up.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Once you've had that, that rough patch, so, I had to
tell all the newbies going tocollege like whatever you do,
stay focused stay focused.
Cause I was doing way too much.
I was managing groups, I was onthe yard, I was on campus, I
had a job.
I was doing way too much.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
The group I managed was a guy group.
Before, Actually I managed twogroups.
I managed a girl group and Imanaged a guy group in college
and the guy group had the actorMichael Ealy in it.
That's right, and the girlgroup had Egypt, sherrod.
Wow yeah.
(06:36):
And Lizette Titi, who's abrilliant writer, now writing
for everybody.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
So yeah, and Chucky Thompson was my producer I knew
chucky back then because he usedto come to one of my best
friends at morgan and he used tomake music together so he would
come up to baltimore sometime.
I knew him from back then.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
That's a trip, so you had eye for talent from early
yeah, I got the guy group signedto gene griffin who had guy.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yeah yeah, um, I brought, had Guy Teddy.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Rollins.
I brought in Terry Ross toco-manage the group with me
because he was the money guy.
He was in the streets and I waslike you got to do something.
Come on the music business,Come with me.
I need somebody to help.
We were trying to get studiotime and do all these things.
(07:23):
I'm a struggling collegestudent, Terry Ross he does all
the events at Carnegie Hall andeverything.
Now.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
And he was your guy.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
He was my guy.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Wow, Wow.
You was connected from thebeginning.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Oh, I was moving and shaking, I was doing all the
things.
That's why, you know, my gradessuffered the first year.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yeah, Wait.
So I read that you also didcollege promotions.
Am I correct?
Yes, with mark barnes so whattell me about that?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
he was promoting basically back then.
It's like he he would do, likehe always would do events like
he does now but, he would alsodo these high-end events for
various, you know, big eventsthat were coming up.
So I was the person gettingpeople to go passing out the
flyers talking to people tellingthem they needed to get tickets
(08:12):
.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
I was like the ticket girl, you know, yeah yeah, mark
barns event was a big thingback then boy it was like it was
a major thing, like peoplewould come from new york and
other places just to go to aMark Barnes party.
He was kind of ahead of thecurve, I'd say, for what's kind
of going on now.
It was almost like he was doingwhat's going on now, like 20
(08:35):
years earlier, with thespecialty parties and all that
stuff.
He was kind of a trailblazer.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yes, he was, he definitely was.
It was invaluable.
And you know, of course Iwanted to be in the know.
I wanted to be that person thatwas in touch with the hottest
promoters.
I knew the hottest acts, youknow.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
So back then, he was doing your thing.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Back then and I knew I wanted to be in music.
So, even though I was in music.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I was going to ask you that how did you be in music
?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
I just knew from managing groups and getting that
exposure in the studios andplacing songs and finding the
track with Chucky Thompson andgetting the writers and that
whole experience.
I didn't know what it was called.
I didn't know it was called A&R, but I knew that that's what I
wanted to do, to the point whereI was ready to, like, leave
(09:34):
college when Puffy left college.
Puffy was a year ahead of mewhen he left college to go be in
the music business.
I was like that's the way to go.
And then he got to UptownRecords.
I was like that's the way to go.
And then he got to UptownRecords.
I was like oh, he's doing it,like this is what I want to do.
And my mom was like no, you aregone.
You're going to graduate, you'regoing to stay your ass in
(09:55):
college.
You're going to finish, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
So, after you graduated, what was your first
gig out of college?
Speaker 2 (10:04):
hold on, I'm gonna um , I'm gonna make myself taller
because I feel like I'm lookingdim okay so my my first gig out
of college out of college, yeah,what was your first job?
my first job out of college waswaiting tables really I waited
tables, I moved.
My best friend from high schoollived in New York already,
(10:29):
Ayanna Brown.
She lived with Carla Gentrywho's married to Chuck Bone now,
so they lived together.
The day after graduating movedto New York and moved in with
them.
Wow, and I started waitingtables at the coffee shop.
Yeah.
And I worked at the coffee shopfor probably like a good, a
(10:50):
good, the whole summer, thatwhole first summer of graduating
.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
And for those who don't know, the coffee shop was.
It's closed now.
It was a very popularrestaurant in New York City in
Union Square, and the popularitycame because it stayed open
super late.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Super late and it had all like the models.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Yeah, all the models and stuff would be in it.
You're going like four in themorning after the club and it'd
be like Naomi Campbell was inthe corner, like you know, this
one and that one, they're eatinglike cheeseburgers and shit.
You know, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Yeah, I thought I'd arrived.
I'm like, oh, I'm working atthe hottest spot, you know, and
you had to be a looker to evenwork there in their eyes.
So I was like, oh, okay.
And then everybody thought ofmy family, thought I was crazy,
aside from my mom, because it'slike you graduated from college
(11:44):
and you're waiting tables.
But it allowed me because Iwanted to be in the mix and be
able to go to all the industryevents.
So it allowed me to have theflexibility to be able to make
my own schedule and all thewho's who was coming in there.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Every night.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah, so I was like, okay, this is what I'm going to
do.
Tyson Beckford used to comethere all the who's who was
coming in there every night.
Yeah, so I was like, okay, thisis what I'm going to do.
Tyson Beckford used to comethere all the time.
He was a big model, so I knewhim before he blew up.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Wow, yeah, cause it gives you.
Like you said, the coffee shopwas like the place to be.
No it was the B plate like theplace to be.
Like I said, everybody was inthere.
Like I said, models and musicpeople and, you know, fashion
designers, whatever it was atthe coffee shop, like I said, at
three in the morning eating aturkey club, you know and
hanging out.
(12:34):
Yep.
So tell me about your first jobin music.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
So I left the coffee shop to work at Jezebel's.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Wow Again.
Jezebel's was also anotherhugely popular restaurant closed
, now owned by the mother ofMichael Wright, who's an actor,
and it was also another placethat was like everybody would
come to there Models and actorsand actresses and you know the
creme de la creme would come toJezebel's to eat and hang out.
(13:05):
I forget his mom's name now,but she was Alberta.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Alberta.
She was one of my mentors.
I'm so grateful for having thatexperience with her.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
She was a very nice woman.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Etiquette.
She ran us like a madam.
Every day we came in she wouldlook us up and down, make sure
we were dressed properly, makesure she taught us.
She taught us how to stick andmove, like.
Get to know these people, butnot too much.
Talk to them and make themenjoy their experience, but
(13:39):
don't get too friendly don't gettoo close, you know, like it.
I was like I mean, you don'tknow it then, but looking back
on it I'm like she really taughtme the art that I, that I
pulled on when I got into themusic business, because he
taught me, you know, get close,but not too close.
(14:01):
You know, make them feel good,but not too good, not too
friendly.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
So it was that kind of thing.
And again, I took that jobbecause everybody in the music
business was coming there.
So I figure, as I'm feedingthem this amazing food,
somebody's going to come throughand the LA Reads and the um um,
you name it, If they through inthe LA Reeds and the you name
it.
Andre Harrell.
(14:28):
Andre Harrell, everyone came toJezebel's.
So I was working at Jezebel'smaking probably about $50,000 a
year back then, which is crazy ayear back then, which is crazy,
like in in the early, uh,nineties, yeah, the early
(14:49):
nineties.
So I'm, you know, and I'mworking like three days a week,
and that's when my mom had aconversation with me like okay,
like I'm not going to let youget comfortable.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, because 50 grand back then was pretty good
money.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
It was amazing money back then.
It is amazing money now.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Yeah, but back then when rent was like $800 a month.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Yeah, when you think about 50,000, people are like,
eh, that's no money.
But when you think about 50,000for somebody coming straight
out of college, even now, andwe're talking decades ago.
Decades ago, I was what it'd beequivalent to like probably
like 150 today.
Yeah, so I she was like youcan't get comfortable in that
(15:40):
job.
Like don't lose sight, andpartying and doing what you're
doing.
Like I know you want to meetthese people, but okay, you're
meeting them now.
What?
Like?
What's the plan?
Like what are you doing?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Yeah, what are you going to do with it?
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yeah, Well, it kind of.
She had one of those toughtalks with me and you know it
was one of those talks like youhang up the phone and you're
like, damn, have I disappointedmy yeah yeah yeah, what am I
doing?
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Yeah, what am I?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
doing.
It struck me to my core.
So I said, okay, I have to comeup with a different plan.
Because I always looked at anassistant's job.
I was like I don't want to dothat.
I've already managed a group.
I already got a group signed.
Don't want to do that.
I've already managed a group.
I already got a group signed, Ialready even though they didn't
(16:33):
they didn't, jean didn't doanything under the contract.
But to me I was like I got themsigned to a publishing deal.
So I looked at, I don't want totake an assistant's job, I want
to.
I want to come in as acoordinator or a junior director
or something like that.
But when she had thatconversation with me, something,
you know, something kind ofclicked.
And then I went to lunch withan entertainment attorney and he
(16:57):
said I know this guy who'slooking for an assistant at Jive
Records.
And I was like I don't want tobe an assistant.
And I had the wholeconversation with him and he was
like sometimes you have to takethose jobs and that'll get you
to the next level.
And so I said, okay, I'll dothe interview.
And it was with Jeff Fenster.
(17:17):
And so I met with Jeff and Jeffanybody that knows Jeff knows
he's no nonsense.
So the minute I met with himhe's like well, I already kind
of made up my mind on somebody.
When I called him he said, butI'll take the interview, but
I've kind of already made mymind up and I was like, okay, so
I go on the interview.
And I nailed the interview andI got the job.
(17:39):
And then the reality hit.
Okay, when he told me thesalary.
It was a huge pay cut for meand by this time Carla moved out
.
She met Chuck.
She was with Chuck Bone, shewas in love it was me and Ayanna
, and we're living in the galaxy.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
We have a doorman.
You know I'm living in thewater, the galaxy, in New Jersey
.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yes, oh, wow.
Oh yeah, I'm living on thewater.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
You're living good I got a car.
You are chilling.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
How in the world am I going to afford to live on this
salary?
I can't.
So I talked to Alberta and Iexpressed to her what was going
on and she never allowed thewomen that worked for her to
just work on the best days,going over to Volcano Records.
And Brett was leaving Uptown togo to a startup, Volcano
(18:53):
Records, and he's like you know,I need an artist development
person, you know something realsexy.
But yeah, that's Brett.
He's like but you're going tobe my assistant too.
And I was like here we go, I'mgoing to steal it, you know,
because that thing, you couldget stuck in the assistant.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
And I always heard that.
So I was like I don't.
But he was like no, we're goingto make it sexy, You're going
to do artist development.
I got you, but then I just needyou to answer the phone
sometimes.
I need you to do my schedulesometimes.
You know, Brett.
So, I was like okay, okay, so Idid it and we had Global Soul.
Gerald LaVert had Global Soul.
(19:35):
That's how I met leonard brooksand we were there.
Probably we had like, we hadlike alcanely and that alcanely
was probably one of our biggestartists.
back then okay put it in yourmouth uh-huh and then the owner
of volcano records decided tobring in Dallas, austin, and
(19:59):
Dallas said one of hisstipulations was he wanted to
bring in all his people, whichmeant getting rid of our people.
So we came in one day and weall literally, literally had
pink slips on our desk that wewere terminated.
And I have always heard in themusic business that you're
(20:22):
nothing until you get fired.
So, one side.
I was like okay, I'm evolvingLike I got fired.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Yeah, right, I got that check off.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Right that the young, unevolved executive in me was
like, okay, I'm off from here.
Evolved executive in me waslike, okay, I'm off from here.
But then the young person thatI was, it set in that I didn't
have a job and that I didn'thave income.
And I got angry and I, Dallas,was in the office with Dave
(20:57):
Gates and I went into theiroffice and I told Dallas how
disappointed I was that hedidn't even take the time to
meet with the people he wasfiring and that he treated us
like we were nothing.
And, looking back on it, it'sbusiness.
In business, people want tobring in who they're comfortable
with.
(21:17):
They want to bring in theirregime.
It's not personal.
The young person I was, I waslike I took it very personal and
I took it like you should haveinterviewed me to see who I was
and my talents and not just letme go.
So basically, I went in thereand then I was like you're going
to see me again.
So many short words and Davetried to talk Dallas into
(21:42):
keeping me, but that didn'thappen.
Dave and I are so cool.
Dallas and I are cool.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
This is you?
Speaker 2 (21:47):
know today, but back then yeah, yeah, you was mad.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Before you move forward, I meant to ask you this
.
So, without naming names orincriminating somebody, you got
to have at least one, I guessspicy story about working at
Jezebel's or working at thecoffee shop, like you know
something, or do you?
Maybe you don't.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Well, a famous actor who was married, still married,
and was having an affair withone of the waitstaff Like a
serious affair, like flying heraround to meet with him, yeah,
wow.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
I'm sure that probably happened a lot in that
era.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Yeah, alberta didn't know about it, because if she
did, that was a no-no, but yeahbut all the women that worked
there knew.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
I'm sure you saw a lot of things.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
I saw a lot of things in the music business period.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
We're going to get to that.
I just wanted to do therestaurant stories first.
We're going to get to the musicthing too.
So after Jive you went toNoontime.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
No, After Jive you went to Noontime.
No, after Jive, this whole timethat I'm at Volcano I'm also
doing parties with Jay Norris.
Jay and I were friends fromHoward that was my Howard
comrade and Jay moved to NewYork too.
We started a company withRooney Nelson and Lorna
(23:18):
Lightfoot called Net Square andwe used to have tastemaker night
tastemakers.
We had the little bookletscalled tastemakers and we had
MVs on Sunday nights.
So I was promoting thoseparties as well.
So when I left, when I gotfired from Volcano, I was still
(23:39):
promoting the parties at Envy'sand those were popping.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
I remember.
I remember.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
One of us one of our names to get in the door because
it was so small, and that'swhere I met pretty much
everybody.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
From Envy's yeah, pretty much everybody from from
MVs.
And so, between MVs and thenthat's where Noontime came in I
started to promote.
I was already promotingNoontime when I was at Jive.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
I was already working with them.
They had a bunch of producersand songwriters and I was
basically like slinging theirtracks, going around trying to
sell their tracks in New York,because they were all in Atlanta
and I was the one who wasworking at a label and had all
the industry contacts.
So, I was always doing two,three things, until Kedar.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Kedar walked up to me at one of those conventions in
Nevada.
I don't remember the name of it.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
I think I went to that in Reno.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
In Reno.
Yeah, I was at that convention,yeah, and I was at the slot
machine and I was I'm in betweenjobs and Tina Davis was like
you just got to get here.
You could stay in my room Likeyou got to be here.
You're trying to get here.
You could stay in my room Likeyou got to be here, you're
trying to get a job, another job, this is the place to be.
So I'm at the slot machine andKedar comes up and taps me on my
(25:04):
back.
And I know Kedar from doingparties at MVs and from working
at Jive because he was managingJoe.
So he said to me you know, didI want to come work with him?
And I was like, okay, if theprice is right.
Yeah, and I didn't have a job.
He didn't know that.
And he's like yeah, well, youcould come work with me, but you
(25:26):
have to let everything else go.
He's like I know you've got 50million hustles and you're
always doing a lot of things.
He's like you can't do any ofthat.
You got to focus strictly onthis.
So that's, you know.
He was like tell me what youwant, tell me how we can make
that happen, and you dropeverything else you're doing and
and then I'll have you go meetwith Kojo, because Kojo was
running his label.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Yeah, funny story.
Well, not funny story, but Kojoand I went to high school
together.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Yeah, we went to high school together.
Yeah, yeah, I call him Emmanuel.
We called him Emmanuel backthen.
I think Kojo was his middlename.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yeah, yep, so you decided to work with Kedar.
Yeah, I mean I knew I hadalready heard Erica's, because
they were working in JiveStudios.
Yep, I had already heard a lotof her music.
He had already talked to meabout her, so I was very clear
(26:21):
what he was doing, that he wascoming out with Erica, he was
coming out with Chico they werestill in that process of
finishing the albums, so it wasan exciting time.
I knew he was about to pop.
He was already hot fromD'Angelo and everything and Joe
and everything else he was doingand I really didn't have a
steady job.
(26:42):
And then NetSquared was kind offizzling but I was acting like
no, what I've got going on ispopping.
So you have to give me a salarythat's comparable to me giving
all this up Right?
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Right and it works.
So did you go over to beKidara's assistant or you were
an A&R person?
What did you do?
No, I was A&R.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Yeah, I was director of A&R and publishing, so I was
his A&R and he had a publishingcompany.
Because he was smart, he signedall his artists to a publishing
deal and he had producers likeGerald Isaac and a few other
producers, but Gerald issomebody I worked with very
intimately, I got one of hissongs.
(27:31):
I'm looking at my plaque rightnow, placed on Mary J Blige's
album.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Yeah, so my job was to keep his producers and
songwriters working on hispublishing company and assist
him with finishing erica chico aplus and what was the group
that angie stone had over there?
I don't think angie had a group.
I thought she had a girl was,but it wasn't she.
Angie wasn't involved with.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Profile Okay okay, maybe I'm confused then, okay,
his sister, Fatima, was involvedwith Profile.
Okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
But Profile, yeah.
So Profile was another group,cool.
So from there I went to seniordirector, then vice president,
then senior vice president.
I mean you know, so you wasrolling.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
You was rolling, yeah , you was rolling.
So tell me about Erica blowingup.
Tell me about that period afterthat first album.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
We were hot because all of that was under Kedar
Entertainment, so Kedar made hisown rules.
Universal would say we need analbum and he'd be like, no,
you're not getting an album,you're getting an album when I
feel like it.
And he would get away with itbecause it was hot and there was
this rule that once the albumwas finished that the artist had
(28:46):
to come out within three months.
They started promoting andmarketing the album and then it
had to come out within thatthree-month time period.
But when we were at KedarEntertainment we didn't always
do that.
We came out when the album wasready to come out.
But when we became Motown,things shifted and we had to
adhere to certain things that wedidn't really adhere to before.
(29:11):
So it was almost like we lostthe magic sauce.
We had to conform to becomeMotown.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that happened.
I think with a few people Likeyou get a chance to go to this
bigger job, especially a joblike Motown, which is like
obviously a legendary label.
But then you have to run itlike a label.
You can't kind of be, you can'tfreestyle at that level.
You can't.
You have to.
Things have to be boom, boom,boom boom, boom.
I can't freestyle at that levelyou can't.
(29:39):
Things have to be boom boom,boom, boom boom and sometimes
it's hard to make thattransition, you know.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
But there was so much magic in the freestyle.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
There was so much magic, yeah, and I truly feel
like I remember one day feelinglike I'm so happy for him for
taking this role at motown.
But, like I just knew, I waslike kidar as we knew it, the
you know, the magic we knew thatmakes him who he is.
(30:09):
I was like I think that's,that's gonna, that's gonna be
completely different.
I don't wanna say it's gonna bewrong because it can never be
gone, but he, he had to adhereto certain things.
It's almost like his hands weretied that's the way to say that
and his hands weren't tiedbefore he was free.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Yeah, yeah.
So how did you like the Motownexperience?
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Not as much as I liked Kedar Entertainment, to be
honest.
I mean, of course I wasgrateful and artists were
incredible and we had a hell ofa ride and we were in the black
after years of Motown being inthe red.
But I always, when I look backat the best times, the happy
(30:57):
times of my career in the musicbusiness, it was Kedar
Entertainment.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Yeah, yeah, before we move forward, do you have one
Stevie Wonder story?
Speaker 2 (31:06):
No, I know people have come out with some amazing
stories about him and then wejust can't believe in some of
the things he did.
But no, he didn't.
Kedar probably has some ofthose stories because Kedar
spent a lot of time with Stevie.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
But he was always charming and would say you know
really funny witty things, but Idon't have one of those funny
stories like people, like Ithink, think Snoop Snoop said
one, chris Spencer, other people.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
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Speaker 2 (32:19):
So after motown, scream tour no oh yeah, where
are you getting all thisinformation?
Speaker 1 (32:27):
my research here, man .
Wow, you know I don't know whoI'm talking to and you know, I
know you, but I learned a lot ofthings about you researching,
you know yeah so tell me aboutthat work with Michael Moore
doing a scream tour which wasphenomenal, Like that was genius
tour to put together and he, hekilled you.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Yeah, I don't even remember how it happened.
You know, I spent a lot of timein Atlanta.
Every album I produced, I cameto Atlanta and worked on it.
Okay.
Worked with Noontime.
Still, even though I wasn'tselling their tracks they were
producing on mostly every albumI worked on.
(33:08):
So I met Michael Malden becauseof me traveling back and forth
to Atlanta and he was like goingto come work with me with the
screen tour and bow, wow, andeverything he had going on and
brat.
And so I came in and startedworking with the Malden brand
agency from a contractorperspective not working with him
(33:29):
full time and I think that waskind of short lived because I
started working with a companyin Vegas called CMX.
Okay lived because I startedworking with a company in Vegas
called CMX.
Cmx was a sporting eventscompany that started promoting
all of the popular boxing eventsand they wanted to get into TV
(33:51):
and film and started building aproduction company and a
production studio facility.
But they got in bed with DonKing and started promoting
fights with Don King.
So, my job and Kiki Tyson.
But she wasn't Kiki Tyson backthen, she was Kiki Spicer back
(34:14):
then.
We both moved to Vegas for sixto eight months and basically
got all the who's who to come.
I mean it wasn't a hard job.
It was like get everybody whois an A-lister to come to these
boxing events and the partiesthat they promoted after.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Yeah, that's a pretty easy job.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Pretty easy job.
I mean, who does not want fourseats?
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Yeah, at a prize fight, I guess who's saying no,
you know?
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Right.
So that kind of took off.
So I was living on a differentcoast.
I was living in Vegas.
We're living in a hotel.
I'm on one room one side, she'son another room on the other
side For seven, eight months.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Wow, how was that experience?
Tell me about that.
Tell me about the.
What was the biggest boxingmatch that you worked on?
Do you remember?
Speaker 2 (35:09):
It was a Roy Jones fight.
Okay.
I don't remember.
I don't remember who he wasfighting, but I remember it was
a Roy Jones fight and how was itlike getting people to come?
I'm sure it wasn't a problem,but just tell me about the whole
thing, what was?
It was non-stop.
I mean, that was some reallygreat times.
She reconnected with her nowhusband, which which is mike
(35:32):
tyson, and we had some of thebest times of our life out there
.
But it gets really old livingin a hotel, really old.
I've heard that, yeah, youthink, oh, who wouldn't want to
be in?
At the time we were in theMonte Carlo Hotel and it was
brand new.
It was like spanking brand newhotel.
So people would say, whodoesn't want to live there?
Right, you don't want to livein a hotel that long.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Tell me why.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
It just gets old.
You have a bed, a TV and fourwalls.
You're just in a room.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
I didn't have a refrigerator so we had to eat
out every day.
We just wanted some normalcy inour life.
I stayed away from the casinosbecause I was like that'll get
me in a lot of trouble because Ilove Blackjack, I love the slot
machines, so I made you know, Imade that like a rule for me.
I was like you're not going inthe casinos so I didn't like the
(36:28):
whole time.
But yeah, we had a great timeand CMX was involving themselves
in a bit too much and basicallythe company went belly up.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Bam.
So, after CMX, where did you go?
Did you come back to Atlanta?
Did you come back to New York?
Speaker 2 (36:47):
New York, because I still had a place in New York.
Okay, I had a condo in West NewYork.
No, not West New York In.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
Weehawken.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Yeah.
So I came back and that's whenI said I want to be in TV and I
started trying to get into theTV business.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
What sparked you wanting to go into television?
Because I still wanted to getinto the TV business.
What sparked that?
What sparked you wanting to gointo television?
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Because I still wanted to do something creative.
I was burnt out on music, so Iwas really trying to figure out
what's the next thing.
I loved the boxing events but Iwas like, okay, what now?
And I realized that my skillsin music aren't transferable
(37:42):
like it's.
It didn't mean anything.
The fact that I was a seniorvice president.
They're like okay, but we don'tknow what you can do on this
side, we don't.
We don't know what that is.
So I started producing my owncontent.
So I had proof of conceptbecause, because you know, in
music we always had a demo.
Very rare to somebody come toyou and say I got this singer,
(38:05):
she's amazing, but didn't havesomething to show.
You, didn't have something youcould hear, that you could.
You would say give me a tape ora CD, or back then it was a
tape or a CD, or back then itwas a tape.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
You would ask for proof of concept.
Today it's like if you try toget into TV, you have proof of
concept.
Back then I said I took thatsame approach and said I'll show
them.
I'll show them what I can do.
And I produced a series withtwo gay stylists, dalimo and
Terrell.
Terrell still styles to thisday and Dalimo is a chef.
(38:49):
And they were.
It was a makeover.
They were.
They were.
It was a making of an artist.
And we took this artist thatactually got a deal with Kevin
Lyles but she hadn't got thedeal yet.
We took this artist up andcoming newbie and they taught
her to walk, to dress, theystyled her etiquette and we
(39:10):
filmed the whole process.
Okay, and I put together theseshort webisodes.
They were hilarious, it was areally good show.
And then I started really goodshow.
Then I started shopping theshow A guy named Drano, a friend
of mine from the music businesstook my proof of concept to
(39:32):
James DuBose.
James DuBose who has In theBlack Now, but then he had the
Keisha Cole show and Hell Dateand a few other shows on BET.
He was like one in.
He had BET back then.
And another friend of mine,erica Kennerly, put me with
(39:52):
Roger Bob, who was Tyler Perry'sright-hand guy, and also sent
him my proof of concept.
So I think that's the importantthing for people to take away.
It's like you can show peoplebetter than you can tell them.
You've got to be able to showsomething.
And once that clicked for me,things started to move and I,
(40:12):
with James DuBose he called mefrom Drano's referral met with
him and he he was in Atlanta andhe was like can you get here?
You know I'm going to be herefor two days.
Can you get here to meet withme?
So I had to fly to Atlanta andI met with him and I ended up
working with James on Hell Dateand Brother to Brother and
Dreamland and a few other showsthat he had.
(40:35):
And then I ended up workingwith Tyler through Roger Bob yes
, that he had and then I endedup working with Tyler through
Roger.
Bob so me having that proof ofconcept definitely came out, and
I worked with Tyler Perry fortwo and a half years.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Tell me about that experience.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
It was.
It was bootcamp, Like.
I really learned pretty much it.
I think that Tyler pushes youas an executive because I was
the head of his post department.
So we had, I want to say I wantto say staff about 15 people 15
(41:19):
to 20 people in the postdepartment.
So I come with editors, offline, online, QC.
We had our own QC department.
What's QC?
Qc, quality control Okay, Veryend.
They look at everything becausewe would have to turn episodes
into Turner and they would makesure that, because Turner has
(41:41):
their own QC department, theminute you give them, you
deliver something, they're goingto put it through their
protocols and a lot of timesthings would get kicked back
because, okay, there's a hiccuphere or there's a sound, there's
a flip, lip flap here and wethink it should be.
So we had somebody that wouldlook at every single frame and
(42:05):
make sure that we pass QCbecause we were turning things
in like the week before air.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
So you had it had to go out.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
Couldn't be hiccups.
It had to go out.
So I learned a lot.
That's why I say it wasbootcamp, because it I was.
You think Tyler was shootinglike three episodes a week, and
in Hollywood they shoot anepisode a month, so yeah, so
what particular shows did youwork on with Tyler?
(42:36):
Meet the Browns House of Pain.
All of his plays and his latenight chalk show, the Tyler
Perry show, the opening of TylerPerry Studios.
The grand, the first studio,the grand opening, mm-hmm yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
You did a lot.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
A lot.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
Before we move on, tell me about the opening.
I remember reading about it andI mean it looked incredible.
But just tell me about it,putting it together.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
It was just phenomenal, a phenomenal
experience.
That man truly amazes me.
He has a vision, he wants tosee it through and you know, and
matches intensity.
It's the bottom line and Ithink my biggest takeaway from
him and from working with Rogeris that there is no plan B.
(43:32):
It's going to work out, we'regoing to.
This is going to work out.
Like we had this bigextravagant.
It was like a pond and he hadpeople swimming under in a
performance on the water andjust in lights and in fireworks,
like it was just it was allthese things and it was supposed
(43:52):
to rain that week.
Tyler was like it's not goingto rain, there's no plan B, it's
not going to rain.
I don't want to hear about rain, it's not going to rain, it's
all going to work out.
If I'm sitting there, it's like80% chance of rain.
What are we going to do?
It didn't rain.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
Like what are we going to do?
It didn't rain, wow.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
He believed he believed, he believed and it,
and I think my biggest takeawayfrom working there is it always
works out in the end, and thatis his motto, and truly it
always works out.
It's like we'll we'll makethings in our head so much worse
than it is and overanalyze itand well, this could happen, and
(44:38):
this could happen.
And this could happen.
No, or it could just work out.
How about?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (44:44):
yeah, exactly yeah exactly.
Um, I forget what I read it,but I'm I'm paraphrasing because
i'm't remember exactly.
But I was saying, I've stressed.
Some people say, like I was,50%, even higher, of the things
that we worry about never evenhappen.
It's like this it doesn'thappen.
It's like, oh, what about?
Like you said, what about this?
Oh, what about?
And that stuff never happens.
(45:05):
If you just kind of like, lockin, yeah, you might have hiccups
and adjustments along the way.
But if in, yeah, you might havehiccups and adjustments along
the way, but if you lock in,it's going to work out.
Unless you took yourself out ofit by saying what about this
and what about that, and whatabout this and what about that?
Speaker 2 (45:19):
Right, and if you start going into a different
direction as a result of it?
But I am working on his talkshow, I would write the scripts
for him and we would go over thescript.
You know, while he was gettinghis haircut or you know, or
editing something, you know,they would call me in the
editing bay and he'd say, okay,let's go over the script.
(45:40):
We'd go over the script andthen he'd say, okay, I'm ready
to shoot.
I mean, it was like that, like Ihad to be, you have to be on
like there's no.
Okay, I need 15 minutes tohurry up and with all of you
know your corrections.
It's like no, like he's be likeokay, let's go ready to go wow,
so tell me now.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
I know you're doing we'll talk about that in a
second I know you do tv showsand stuff like is there
something in particular that youlook for in a tv show?
Is there something that youcould say I think this could
work, or was it kind of justfilling out stuff and kind of as
it comes to you?
Speaker 2 (46:17):
Compelling characters .
It's people come with stuff allthe time that they swear is
going to be a great show, andyou've got to have that
compelling personality.
You've got to have those peoplethat make people want to tune
in every week.
It needs that.
If there's a subculture thatpeople don't know about or that
(46:37):
the average person doesn't knowabout, that you can tap into.
That's why Housewives was sosuccessful.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
Into these women and their lush lifestyle, but then
you had characters like Mimi.
Women and their lush lifestyle,but then you had characters
like Mimi.
If you didn't have those loudand it's called I'm not saying
she's loud, it's called loudcharacters in reality,
compelling people, then youdon't have anything, why would
(47:08):
anybody tune in?
Speaker 1 (47:10):
They're not, they're not going to watch.
So now I read you did somebranding stuff as well too, am I
?
Speaker 2 (47:19):
right.
So tell me a little bit aboutthat it just all kind of falls
in my lap because I'm sohands-on, like in A&R.
You know, when you're A&Ring anartist and you spend all that
time with this artist and youbuild with this artist, I was
never the person that could justhand that artist off to
marketing.
After that.
I'm like, no, I've got to be apart of that too, because I know
(47:45):
what this artist will do andwon't do.
I know what this artist'sfavorite food is.
I know who his mother is or hermother is.
I spent time with them, youknow.
So it's the same thing.
If I'm, if I'm creating a, ashow or a concept or a PSA or an
(48:05):
ad, I'm a part of that nextlevel.
I'm a part of that next level.
I'm a part of the branding andthe marketing, I'm a part of the
PR, and it's not because I'masking like this is what has to
be done.
It's more, sometimes thereisn't funding to do it and then
(48:25):
it's like, okay, I'll pull inthe favor and get it done this
way, or I'll call a relationshipI have over here and get it
done that way.
You know, I'm always thinkingoutside of the box.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
Yeah, you have to.
Speaker 2 (48:35):
You have to.
I mean survival.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
Yeah, tell me what's next.
Speaker 2 (48:40):
Well, what's next?
What's next?
Well, I am a John Maxwellspeaker, so I'm doing a lot of
speaking engagements.
I wrote a book, so I'm about tocome out and publish my book
with volume one of my book,because it's two volumes and
just help raise theconsciousness and the vibration
(49:02):
of our people.
Speaker 1 (49:05):
So tell me what a John Maxwell speaker is, because
a lot of people won't know that.
Speaker 2 (49:10):
John Maxwell is.
He has.
He sold millions, millions ofbooks in book sales.
He is one of the most engaging,charismatic speakers to date
and he has a program andcertifies coaches and leadership
.
So I am a certified coach.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
Congratulations, congratulations.
Can you tell us a little bitabout what your?
Speaker 2 (49:37):
what the first volume of your book is about basically
my life story and lessons.
It's teachable moments.
I'll give a teachable momentand then a moment in my life
that correlates with it.
Speaker 1 (49:50):
So Go for the reading that.
Speaker 2 (49:53):
I'm trying to help guide people because I feel like
a lot of people don'tunderstand what the
entertainment industry is.
So you're going to get evidencefrom somebody you respect and
somebody who knows a lot aboutlife but they don't know a lot
about our life, about life, butthey don't know a lot about our
(50:14):
life.
So anybody who wants to be inentertainment or is thinking
about it and has those questions, I want to be able to help them
and help guide them and answerthem.
And I actually had my nephew,Tiago, who I brought in the
business, who's a DP.
Speaker 1 (50:26):
I had him read it and he was like he like the, like
the most amazing paragraph ortext wrote back like he really
felt like it was something thatwould help the next generation
I'm sure I mean that's one ofthe main reasons I'm doing this
is to give exposure, obviouslyto people I know who are have
(50:46):
done amazing things behind thescenes, but also let people kind
of see from your stories andyour careers what the
entertainment business really isReally is Up and down or
whatever.
I want people to hear people'sjourneys, to understand.
Somebody sees you today andyou're well established, you're
(51:10):
doing your thing, you're rocking, but they might've not not
known about Jezebels and how youhad to figure it out, and
that's, that's the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (51:18):
Yeah, I mean when anybody who you see, who you
think is well established.
There's a story there.
Speaker 1 (51:23):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (51:24):
There's a story.
So you know, I just want to beable to to help people through
the stories, and I'm alsoproducing a podcast for Peter
Thomas.
Speaker 1 (51:34):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (51:34):
Before he has to turn himself in.
Speaker 1 (51:37):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (51:38):
So helping him with that Good.
But yeah, I think this nextphase of my life is about giving
back Good In some capacity andreally trying to be of service
and be helpful yeah, yeah, Ithink, um, some of our
generation I'm gonna say all,but some of our generation kind
(51:59):
of has failed at that.
Speaker 1 (52:01):
Some of us are very greedy and held it close and
didn't mentor people and stufflike that, and I think we're
seeing the in the music.
Anyway, I think we're seeingthe remnants of that in some
places.
Speaker 2 (52:13):
The people went up, you nailed it, but I think that
they always were that way, youalways have takers, givers and
takers.
And if they were never givingback?
If they're not giving back,they never were.
Speaker 1 (52:26):
True.
Speaker 2 (52:29):
So that's how I feel about that and I think,
mentorship I was talking aboutthis today when people come up
to you and say I need a mentor,will you be my mentor?
I absolutely hate that becauseit's such an intimate thing.
It's like I have to bond withyou.
I have to build with you andit's I want.
I have to pour into you.
(52:50):
I, a mentor, chooses a menteeand it just happens.
It's not anybody I've mentored.
They didn't come to me and askme to mentor them.
It's just a relationship whereall of a sudden I'm pouring into
them and then I become theperson when something's going on
.
They that they want to callyeah, they want to say hey, can
(53:12):
we go have coffee and can I pickyour brain.
It becomes that it's never willyou mentor me.
Speaker 1 (53:20):
Oh, yeah, yeah, sure, we'll start tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (53:23):
Cause, then it's like , then it's a duty.
Speaker 1 (53:25):
Yeah, it's like, oh, I know this person and oh, what
do they want?
And you know Right.
Speaker 2 (53:31):
So I think that's the key thing, and I have plenty of
those people that I pour into.
But for the masses, that's whyI'm doing the book.
Speaker 1 (53:41):
Good, Good Well.
Thank you, Shante.
Speaker 2 (53:44):
You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (53:45):
All right.
Speaker 2 (53:46):
I'm glad that you're doing this, because you're
pouring back into the people too.
Speaker 1 (53:50):
Thank you.
Thank you, I'm trying.
I appreciate you coming on.
We had a good time yes, we didthank you, thank you, thank you
thank you you can catch mixedand mastered on apple podcast,
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
(54:11):
studios.
This week on Mixed and Mastered, we're sitting down
with Shante Page.
Shante is a music and TV vetwho's done it all, from bringing
Motown back to life withartists like Erykah Badu and
India Irie, to producing showsfor BET, vh1, and Tyler Perry.
Shante's media company she's aMovement Media Group is
(00:21):
dedicated to pushing outoriginal content and mentoring
the next wave of creatives.
This is Mixed and Mastered withShante Page.
Welcome to Mixed and Mastered,the podcast where the stories of
the music industry come to life.
I'm Jeffrey Sledge, bringingyou real conversations with the
(00:41):
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.
(01:03):
We're here with Shante Page.
Hi Shante.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
What's up.
Sledge what's up.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
How you doing.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I'm good.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
I'm good.
I know you for a long time.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Long time.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
We're going to age ourselves if we say yeah, we're
not going to say no numbers orno years.
We've known each other for awhile, right?
For a while other for a while,right?
So let's start from thebeginning.
So you grew up in Silver Spring, maryland.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I grew up in Silver Spring, but I was born in New
York, okay, and I as a younggirl lived in the Bronx and then
we moved to the DMV.
Okay, well, how old were?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
you when you moved to the DMV.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
I was in elementary school, okay, so you did a
little time in the BX Mm-hmm,but I spent every summer in the
BX, so Okay, my first job in theBX Like yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
So tell me about your summers in the Bronx.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
It was Baychester, New York.
Uh-huh.
I know, do you know?
David Wood.
He has a cigar line.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Okay, he lived right across the street from my
grandparents.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
But I had my first job at L&L Farms.
It was a little corner storeand I was 13 and eight or nine
months and I got special workingpapers.
I could only work 20 hours aweek but I could walk to work.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
I spent every summer with my grandparents.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
That's cool.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
I had no idea you had bronx roots.
Yeah, that's cool, right downthe street from eden wall
projects yeah, yeah, co-op cityarea.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, I know that area.
Well, bay plaza, yeah, I know,I know where you was at.
I know you was at.
Yeah, tell me about silverspring.
How was that growing up there?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
I love Silver Spring because it was like a melting
pot.
I went to Montgomery Blair.
We had a lot of students thatcame from other counties.
It was truly all kinds ofcultures.
So I really didn't get theBlack experience until I went to
Howard and it was a cultureshock because I was so used to
(03:04):
so many different people.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Yeah.
Yeah, I had an interview withAngelique Miles and we had kind
of similar conversation.
She grew up in Queens and wetalked about how they're going
to.
She went to Hampton so and Iwent to Morgan.
So we're talking about howwe're going to a black school.
Even though you're black, it'sstill very much a culture shock.
Yeah, cause it's like I toldher culture shock.
It was a culture shock.
Yeah, because it's like I toldher.
I always say, when I went toMorgan I realized we're all
(03:30):
black but we are not all thesame, right?
You know, we have all kind ofblack people.
They're rich, poor.
You know, people from Chicagoain't like the people from
Philly, right, the people fromPhilly ain't like the people
from DC at all.
You know, it's all these kindof different things in a good
way, but it was just aninteresting culture shock.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah, yeah.
At Montgomery Blair in highschool, I was the first black
homecoming queen.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Really Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Tell me about that.
I didn't know about that.
Tell me about that experience.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
I was that I didn't know about that.
Tell me about that experience.
I was voted, I was, I was inthe mix, I was doing all things
in high school, so I was votedbest dressed, most likely to
succeed, and I was votedhomecoming queen, and that I was
the first official blackhomecoming queen that Montgomery
Blair ever had.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Wow, wow, congratulations.
Homecoming queen.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Thank you.
My king was Caucasian and thatwas fine, whatever, yeah, but I
was the first black.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
You made it, so tell me about your Howard experience.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Loved my Howard experience.
It was a culture shock that Ihad to kind of get used to.
I had been going to Howard'sHomecomings for quite some time.
Growing up in Silver Spring wewould always go to Howard's
Homecomings.
That part of it wasn't aculture shock, but I didn't
realize.
I was like, oh, it's like thisall the time People are on the
yard.
(04:58):
I kind of messed up my firstsemester.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yeah, it's good that I it happens.
It's so much going on andyou're not used to all that
freedom and everything, so it'skind of like whoa, this is crazy
.
I could kind of do what I want.
I could hang out till 2 in themorning as an 18-year-old.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Well, I still lived at home, so I didn't live on
campus.
So that was one thing, but likeduring class, it's like oh.
I want to chill in the yardinstead of going to class.
You know things like that, sothe weather breaks.
It was rough that first year Igot on academic probation that
first year.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah, I've been there .
I've been there too, but Ihustled up.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
You know, after that I was good and I excelled the
years after.
But it's still still hard, youknow, to get.
I was good and I um excelledthe years after.
But it's still still hard, youknow, to get your GPA back up.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Once you've had that, that rough patch, so, I had to
tell all the newbies going tocollege like whatever you do,
stay focused stay focused.
Cause I was doing way too much.
I was managing groups, I was onthe yard, I was on campus, I
had a job.
I was doing way too much.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
The group I managed was a guy group.
Before, Actually I managed twogroups.
I managed a girl group and Imanaged a guy group in college
and the guy group had the actorMichael Ealy in it.
That's right, and the girlgroup had Egypt, sherrod.
Wow yeah.
(06:36):
And Lizette Titi, who's abrilliant writer, now writing
for everybody.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
So yeah, and Chucky Thompson was my producer I knew
chucky back then because he usedto come to one of my best
friends at morgan and he used tomake music together so he would
come up to baltimore sometime.
I knew him from back then.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
That's a trip, so you had eye for talent from early
yeah, I got the guy group signedto gene griffin who had guy.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yeah yeah, um, I brought, had Guy Teddy.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Rollins.
I brought in Terry Ross toco-manage the group with me
because he was the money guy.
He was in the streets and I waslike you got to do something.
Come on the music business,Come with me.
I need somebody to help.
We were trying to get studiotime and do all these things.
(07:23):
I'm a struggling collegestudent, Terry Ross he does all
the events at Carnegie Hall andeverything.
Now.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
And he was your guy.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
He was my guy.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Wow, Wow.
You was connected from thebeginning.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Oh, I was moving and shaking, I was doing all the
things.
That's why, you know, my gradessuffered the first year.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yeah, Wait.
So I read that you also didcollege promotions.
Am I correct?
Yes, with mark barnes so whattell me about that?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
he was promoting basically back then.
It's like he he would do, likehe always would do events like
he does now but, he would alsodo these high-end events for
various, you know, big eventsthat were coming up.
So I was the person gettingpeople to go passing out the
flyers talking to people tellingthem they needed to get tickets
(08:12):
.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
I was like the ticket girl, you know, yeah yeah, mark
barns event was a big thingback then boy it was like it was
a major thing, like peoplewould come from new york and
other places just to go to aMark Barnes party.
He was kind of ahead of thecurve, I'd say, for what's kind
of going on now.
It was almost like he was doingwhat's going on now, like 20
(08:35):
years earlier, with thespecialty parties and all that
stuff.
He was kind of a trailblazer.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yes, he was, he definitely was.
It was invaluable.
And you know, of course Iwanted to be in the know.
I wanted to be that person thatwas in touch with the hottest
promoters.
I knew the hottest acts, youknow.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
So back then, he was doing your thing.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Back then and I knew I wanted to be in music.
So, even though I was in music.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I was going to ask you that how did you be in music
?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
I just knew from managing groups and getting that
exposure in the studios andplacing songs and finding the
track with Chucky Thompson andgetting the writers and that
whole experience.
I didn't know what it was called.
I didn't know it was called A&R, but I knew that that's what I
wanted to do, to the point whereI was ready to, like, leave
(09:34):
college when Puffy left college.
Puffy was a year ahead of mewhen he left college to go be in
the music business.
I was like that's the way to go.
And then he got to UptownRecords.
I was like that's the way to go.
And then he got to UptownRecords.
I was like oh, he's doing it,like this is what I want to do.
And my mom was like no, you aregone.
You're going to graduate, you'regoing to stay your ass in
(09:55):
college.
You're going to finish, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
So, after you graduated, what was your first
gig out of college?
Speaker 2 (10:04):
hold on, I'm gonna um , I'm gonna make myself taller
because I feel like I'm lookingdim okay so my my first gig out
of college out of college, yeah,what was your first job?
my first job out of college waswaiting tables really I waited
tables, I moved.
My best friend from high schoollived in New York already,
(10:29):
Ayanna Brown.
She lived with Carla Gentrywho's married to Chuck Bone now,
so they lived together.
The day after graduating movedto New York and moved in with
them.
Wow, and I started waitingtables at the coffee shop.
Yeah.
And I worked at the coffee shopfor probably like a good, a
(10:50):
good, the whole summer, thatwhole first summer of graduating
.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
And for those who don't know, the coffee shop was.
It's closed now.
It was a very popularrestaurant in New York City in
Union Square, and the popularitycame because it stayed open
super late.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Super late and it had all like the models.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Yeah, all the models and stuff would be in it.
You're going like four in themorning after the club and it'd
be like Naomi Campbell was inthe corner, like you know, this
one and that one, they're eatinglike cheeseburgers and shit.
You know, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Yeah, I thought I'd arrived.
I'm like, oh, I'm working atthe hottest spot, you know, and
you had to be a looker to evenwork there in their eyes.
So I was like, oh, okay.
And then everybody thought ofmy family, thought I was crazy,
aside from my mom, because it'slike you graduated from college
(11:44):
and you're waiting tables.
But it allowed me because Iwanted to be in the mix and be
able to go to all the industryevents.
So it allowed me to have theflexibility to be able to make
my own schedule and all thewho's who was coming in there.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Every night.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah, so I was like, okay, this is what I'm going to
do.
Tyson Beckford used to comethere all the who's who was
coming in there every night.
Yeah, so I was like, okay, thisis what I'm going to do.
Tyson Beckford used to comethere all the time.
He was a big model, so I knewhim before he blew up.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Wow, yeah, cause it gives you.
Like you said, the coffee shopwas like the place to be.
No it was the B plate like theplace to be.
Like I said, everybody was inthere.
Like I said, models and musicpeople and, you know, fashion
designers, whatever it was atthe coffee shop, like I said, at
three in the morning eating aturkey club, you know and
hanging out.
(12:34):
Yep.
So tell me about your first jobin music.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
So I left the coffee shop to work at Jezebel's.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Wow Again.
Jezebel's was also anotherhugely popular restaurant closed
, now owned by the mother ofMichael Wright, who's an actor,
and it was also another placethat was like everybody would
come to there Models and actorsand actresses and you know the
creme de la creme would come toJezebel's to eat and hang out.
(13:05):
I forget his mom's name now,but she was Alberta.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Alberta.
She was one of my mentors.
I'm so grateful for having thatexperience with her.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
She was a very nice woman.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Etiquette.
She ran us like a madam.
Every day we came in she wouldlook us up and down, make sure
we were dressed properly, makesure she taught us.
She taught us how to stick andmove, like.
Get to know these people, butnot too much.
Talk to them and make themenjoy their experience, but
(13:39):
don't get too friendly don't gettoo close, you know, like it.
I was like I mean, you don'tknow it then, but looking back
on it I'm like she really taughtme the art that I, that I
pulled on when I got into themusic business, because he
taught me, you know, get close,but not too close.
(14:01):
You know, make them feel good,but not too good, not too
friendly.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
So it was that kind of thing.
And again, I took that jobbecause everybody in the music
business was coming there.
So I figure, as I'm feedingthem this amazing food,
somebody's going to come throughand the LA Reads and the um um,
you name it, If they through inthe LA Reeds and the you name
it.
Andre Harrell.
(14:28):
Andre Harrell, everyone came toJezebel's.
So I was working at Jezebel'smaking probably about $50,000 a
year back then, which is crazy ayear back then, which is crazy,
like in in the early, uh,nineties, yeah, the early
(14:49):
nineties.
So I'm, you know, and I'mworking like three days a week,
and that's when my mom had aconversation with me like okay,
like I'm not going to let youget comfortable.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, because 50 grand back then was pretty good
money.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
It was amazing money back then.
It is amazing money now.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Yeah, but back then when rent was like $800 a month.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Yeah, when you think about 50,000, people are like,
eh, that's no money.
But when you think about 50,000for somebody coming straight
out of college, even now, andwe're talking decades ago.
Decades ago, I was what it'd beequivalent to like probably
like 150 today.
Yeah, so I she was like youcan't get comfortable in that
(15:40):
job.
Like don't lose sight, andpartying and doing what you're
doing.
Like I know you want to meetthese people, but okay, you're
meeting them now.
What?
Like?
What's the plan?
Like what are you doing?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Yeah, what are you going to do with it?
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yeah, Well, it kind of.
She had one of those toughtalks with me and you know it
was one of those talks like youhang up the phone and you're
like, damn, have I disappointedmy yeah yeah yeah, what am I
doing?
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Yeah, what am I?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
doing.
It struck me to my core.
So I said, okay, I have to comeup with a different plan.
Because I always looked at anassistant's job.
I was like I don't want to dothat.
I've already managed a group.
I already got a group signed.
Don't want to do that.
I've already managed a group.
I already got a group signed, Ialready even though they didn't
(16:33):
they didn't, jean didn't doanything under the contract.
But to me I was like I got themsigned to a publishing deal.
So I looked at, I don't want totake an assistant's job, I want
to.
I want to come in as acoordinator or a junior director
or something like that.
But when she had thatconversation with me, something,
you know, something kind ofclicked.
And then I went to lunch withan entertainment attorney and he
(16:57):
said I know this guy who'slooking for an assistant at Jive
Records.
And I was like I don't want tobe an assistant.
And I had the wholeconversation with him and he was
like sometimes you have to takethose jobs and that'll get you
to the next level.
And so I said, okay, I'll dothe interview.
And it was with Jeff Fenster.
(17:17):
And so I met with Jeff and Jeffanybody that knows Jeff knows
he's no nonsense.
So the minute I met with himhe's like well, I already kind
of made up my mind on somebody.
When I called him he said, butI'll take the interview, but
I've kind of already made mymind up and I was like, okay, so
I go on the interview.
And I nailed the interview andI got the job.
(17:39):
And then the reality hit.
Okay, when he told me thesalary.
It was a huge pay cut for meand by this time Carla moved out
.
She met Chuck.
She was with Chuck Bone, shewas in love it was me and Ayanna
, and we're living in the galaxy.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
We have a doorman.
You know I'm living in thewater, the galaxy, in New Jersey
.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yes, oh, wow.
Oh yeah, I'm living on thewater.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
You're living good I got a car.
You are chilling.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
How in the world am I going to afford to live on this
salary?
I can't.
So I talked to Alberta and Iexpressed to her what was going
on and she never allowed thewomen that worked for her to
just work on the best days,going over to Volcano Records.
And Brett was leaving Uptown togo to a startup, Volcano
(18:53):
Records, and he's like you know,I need an artist development
person, you know something realsexy.
But yeah, that's Brett.
He's like but you're going tobe my assistant too.
And I was like here we go, I'mgoing to steal it, you know,
because that thing, you couldget stuck in the assistant.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
And I always heard that.
So I was like I don't.
But he was like no, we're goingto make it sexy, You're going
to do artist development.
I got you, but then I just needyou to answer the phone
sometimes.
I need you to do my schedulesometimes.
You know, Brett.
So, I was like okay, okay, so Idid it and we had Global Soul.
Gerald LaVert had Global Soul.
(19:35):
That's how I met leonard brooksand we were there.
Probably we had like, we hadlike alcanely and that alcanely
was probably one of our biggestartists.
back then okay put it in yourmouth uh-huh and then the owner
of volcano records decided tobring in Dallas, austin, and
(19:59):
Dallas said one of hisstipulations was he wanted to
bring in all his people, whichmeant getting rid of our people.
So we came in one day and weall literally, literally had
pink slips on our desk that wewere terminated.
And I have always heard in themusic business that you're
(20:22):
nothing until you get fired.
So, one side.
I was like okay, I'm evolvingLike I got fired.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Yeah, right, I got that check off.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Right that the young, unevolved executive in me was
like, okay, I'm off from here.
Evolved executive in me waslike, okay, I'm off from here.
But then the young person thatI was, it set in that I didn't
have a job and that I didn'thave income.
And I got angry and I, Dallas,was in the office with Dave
(20:57):
Gates and I went into theiroffice and I told Dallas how
disappointed I was that hedidn't even take the time to
meet with the people he wasfiring and that he treated us
like we were nothing.
And, looking back on it, it'sbusiness.
In business, people want tobring in who they're comfortable
with.
(21:17):
They want to bring in theirregime.
It's not personal.
The young person I was, I waslike I took it very personal and
I took it like you should haveinterviewed me to see who I was
and my talents and not just letme go.
So basically, I went in thereand then I was like you're going
to see me again.
So many short words and Davetried to talk Dallas into
(21:42):
keeping me, but that didn'thappen.
Dave and I are so cool.
Dallas and I are cool.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
This is you?
Speaker 2 (21:47):
know today, but back then yeah, yeah, you was mad.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Before you move forward, I meant to ask you this
.
So, without naming names orincriminating somebody, you got
to have at least one, I guessspicy story about working at
Jezebel's or working at thecoffee shop, like you know
something, or do you?
Maybe you don't.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Well, a famous actor who was married, still married,
and was having an affair withone of the waitstaff Like a
serious affair, like flying heraround to meet with him, yeah,
wow.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
I'm sure that probably happened a lot in that
era.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Yeah, alberta didn't know about it, because if she
did, that was a no-no, but yeahbut all the women that worked
there knew.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
I'm sure you saw a lot of things.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
I saw a lot of things in the music business period.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
We're going to get to that.
I just wanted to do therestaurant stories first.
We're going to get to the musicthing too.
So after Jive you went toNoontime.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
No, After Jive you went to Noontime.
No, after Jive, this whole timethat I'm at Volcano I'm also
doing parties with Jay Norris.
Jay and I were friends fromHoward that was my Howard
comrade and Jay moved to NewYork too.
We started a company withRooney Nelson and Lorna
(23:18):
Lightfoot called Net Square andwe used to have tastemaker night
tastemakers.
We had the little bookletscalled tastemakers and we had
MVs on Sunday nights.
So I was promoting thoseparties as well.
So when I left, when I gotfired from Volcano, I was still
(23:39):
promoting the parties at Envy'sand those were popping.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
I remember.
I remember.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
One of us one of our names to get in the door because
it was so small, and that'swhere I met pretty much
everybody.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
From Envy's yeah, pretty much everybody from from
MVs.
And so, between MVs and thenthat's where Noontime came in I
started to promote.
I was already promotingNoontime when I was at Jive.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
I was already working with them.
They had a bunch of producersand songwriters and I was
basically like slinging theirtracks, going around trying to
sell their tracks in New York,because they were all in Atlanta
and I was the one who wasworking at a label and had all
the industry contacts.
So, I was always doing two,three things, until Kedar.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Kedar walked up to me at one of those conventions in
Nevada.
I don't remember the name of it.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
I think I went to that in Reno.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
In Reno.
Yeah, I was at that convention,yeah, and I was at the slot
machine and I was I'm in betweenjobs and Tina Davis was like
you just got to get here.
You could stay in my room Likeyou got to be here.
You're trying to get here.
You could stay in my room Likeyou got to be here, you're
trying to get a job, another job, this is the place to be.
So I'm at the slot machine andKedar comes up and taps me on my
(25:04):
back.
And I know Kedar from doingparties at MVs and from working
at Jive because he was managingJoe.
So he said to me you know, didI want to come work with him?
And I was like, okay, if theprice is right.
Yeah, and I didn't have a job.
He didn't know that.
And he's like yeah, well, youcould come work with me, but you
(25:26):
have to let everything else go.
He's like I know you've got 50million hustles and you're
always doing a lot of things.
He's like you can't do any ofthat.
You got to focus strictly onthis.
So that's, you know.
He was like tell me what youwant, tell me how we can make
that happen, and you dropeverything else you're doing and
and then I'll have you go meetwith Kojo, because Kojo was
running his label.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Yeah, funny story.
Well, not funny story, but Kojoand I went to high school
together.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Yeah, we went to high school together.
Yeah, yeah, I call him Emmanuel.
We called him Emmanuel backthen.
I think Kojo was his middlename.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yeah, yep, so you decided to work with Kedar.
Yeah, I mean I knew I hadalready heard Erica's, because
they were working in JiveStudios.
Yep, I had already heard a lotof her music.
He had already talked to meabout her, so I was very clear
(26:21):
what he was doing, that he wascoming out with Erica, he was
coming out with Chico they werestill in that process of
finishing the albums, so it wasan exciting time.
I knew he was about to pop.
He was already hot fromD'Angelo and everything and Joe
and everything else he was doingand I really didn't have a
steady job.
(26:42):
And then NetSquared was kind offizzling but I was acting like
no, what I've got going on ispopping.
So you have to give me a salarythat's comparable to me giving
all this up Right?
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Right and it works.
So did you go over to beKidara's assistant or you were
an A&R person?
What did you do?
No, I was A&R.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Yeah, I was director of A&R and publishing, so I was
his A&R and he had a publishingcompany.
Because he was smart, he signedall his artists to a publishing
deal and he had producers likeGerald Isaac and a few other
producers, but Gerald issomebody I worked with very
intimately, I got one of hissongs.
(27:31):
I'm looking at my plaque rightnow, placed on Mary J Blige's
album.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Yeah, so my job was to keep his producers and
songwriters working on hispublishing company and assist
him with finishing erica chico aplus and what was the group
that angie stone had over there?
I don't think angie had a group.
I thought she had a girl was,but it wasn't she.
Angie wasn't involved with.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Profile Okay okay, maybe I'm confused then, okay,
his sister, Fatima, was involvedwith Profile.
Okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
But Profile, yeah.
So Profile was another group,cool.
So from there I went to seniordirector, then vice president,
then senior vice president.
I mean you know, so you wasrolling.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
You was rolling, yeah , you was rolling.
So tell me about Erica blowingup.
Tell me about that period afterthat first album.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
We were hot because all of that was under Kedar
Entertainment, so Kedar made hisown rules.
Universal would say we need analbum and he'd be like, no,
you're not getting an album,you're getting an album when I
feel like it.
And he would get away with itbecause it was hot and there was
this rule that once the albumwas finished that the artist had
(28:46):
to come out within three months.
They started promoting andmarketing the album and then it
had to come out within thatthree-month time period.
But when we were at KedarEntertainment we didn't always
do that.
We came out when the album wasready to come out.
But when we became Motown,things shifted and we had to
adhere to certain things that wedidn't really adhere to before.
(29:11):
So it was almost like we lostthe magic sauce.
We had to conform to becomeMotown.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that happened.
I think with a few people Likeyou get a chance to go to this
bigger job, especially a joblike Motown, which is like
obviously a legendary label.
But then you have to run itlike a label.
You can't kind of be, you can'tfreestyle at that level.
You can't.
You have to.
Things have to be boom, boom,boom boom, boom.
I can't freestyle at that levelyou can't.
(29:39):
Things have to be boom boom,boom, boom boom and sometimes
it's hard to make thattransition, you know.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
But there was so much magic in the freestyle.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
There was so much magic, yeah, and I truly feel
like I remember one day feelinglike I'm so happy for him for
taking this role at motown.
But, like I just knew, I waslike kidar as we knew it, the
you know, the magic we knew thatmakes him who he is.
(30:09):
I was like I think that's,that's gonna, that's gonna be
completely different.
I don't wanna say it's gonna bewrong because it can never be
gone, but he, he had to adhereto certain things.
It's almost like his hands weretied that's the way to say that
and his hands weren't tiedbefore he was free.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Yeah, yeah.
So how did you like the Motownexperience?
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Not as much as I liked Kedar Entertainment, to be
honest.
I mean, of course I wasgrateful and artists were
incredible and we had a hell ofa ride and we were in the black
after years of Motown being inthe red.
But I always, when I look backat the best times, the happy
(30:57):
times of my career in the musicbusiness, it was Kedar
Entertainment.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Yeah, yeah, before we move forward, do you have one
Stevie Wonder story?
Speaker 2 (31:06):
No, I know people have come out with some amazing
stories about him and then wejust can't believe in some of
the things he did.
But no, he didn't.
Kedar probably has some ofthose stories because Kedar
spent a lot of time with Stevie.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
But he was always charming and would say you know
really funny witty things, but Idon't have one of those funny
stories like people, like Ithink, think Snoop Snoop said
one, chris Spencer, other people.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
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Speaker 2 (32:19):
So after motown, scream tour no oh yeah, where
are you getting all thisinformation?
Speaker 1 (32:27):
my research here, man .
Wow, you know I don't know whoI'm talking to and you know, I
know you, but I learned a lot ofthings about you researching,
you know yeah so tell me aboutthat work with Michael Moore
doing a scream tour which wasphenomenal, Like that was genius
tour to put together and he, hekilled you.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Yeah, I don't even remember how it happened.
You know, I spent a lot of timein Atlanta.
Every album I produced, I cameto Atlanta and worked on it.
Okay.
Worked with Noontime.
Still, even though I wasn'tselling their tracks they were
producing on mostly every albumI worked on.
(33:08):
So I met Michael Malden becauseof me traveling back and forth
to Atlanta and he was like goingto come work with me with the
screen tour and bow, wow, andeverything he had going on and
brat.
And so I came in and startedworking with the Malden brand
agency from a contractorperspective not working with him
(33:29):
full time and I think that waskind of short lived because I
started working with a companyin Vegas called CMX.
Okay lived because I startedworking with a company in Vegas
called CMX.
Cmx was a sporting eventscompany that started promoting
all of the popular boxing eventsand they wanted to get into TV
(33:51):
and film and started building aproduction company and a
production studio facility.
But they got in bed with DonKing and started promoting
fights with Don King.
So, my job and Kiki Tyson.
But she wasn't Kiki Tyson backthen, she was Kiki Spicer back
(34:14):
then.
We both moved to Vegas for sixto eight months and basically
got all the who's who to come.
I mean it wasn't a hard job.
It was like get everybody whois an A-lister to come to these
boxing events and the partiesthat they promoted after.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Yeah, that's a pretty easy job.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Pretty easy job.
I mean, who does not want fourseats?
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Yeah, at a prize fight, I guess who's saying no,
you know?
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Right.
So that kind of took off.
So I was living on a differentcoast.
I was living in Vegas.
We're living in a hotel.
I'm on one room one side, she'son another room on the other
side For seven, eight months.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Wow, how was that experience?
Tell me about that.
Tell me about the.
What was the biggest boxingmatch that you worked on?
Do you remember?
Speaker 2 (35:09):
It was a Roy Jones fight.
Okay.
I don't remember.
I don't remember who he wasfighting, but I remember it was
a Roy Jones fight and how was itlike getting people to come?
I'm sure it wasn't a problem,but just tell me about the whole
thing, what was?
It was non-stop.
I mean, that was some reallygreat times.
She reconnected with her nowhusband, which which is mike
(35:32):
tyson, and we had some of thebest times of our life out there
.
But it gets really old livingin a hotel, really old.
I've heard that, yeah, youthink, oh, who wouldn't want to
be in?
At the time we were in theMonte Carlo Hotel and it was
brand new.
It was like spanking brand newhotel.
So people would say, whodoesn't want to live there?
Right, you don't want to livein a hotel that long.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Tell me why.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
It just gets old.
You have a bed, a TV and fourwalls.
You're just in a room.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
I didn't have a refrigerator so we had to eat
out every day.
We just wanted some normalcy inour life.
I stayed away from the casinosbecause I was like that'll get
me in a lot of trouble because Ilove Blackjack, I love the slot
machines, so I made you know, Imade that like a rule for me.
I was like you're not going inthe casinos so I didn't like the
(36:28):
whole time.
But yeah, we had a great timeand CMX was involving themselves
in a bit too much and basicallythe company went belly up.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Bam.
So, after CMX, where did you go?
Did you come back to Atlanta?
Did you come back to New York?
Speaker 2 (36:47):
New York, because I still had a place in New York.
Okay, I had a condo in West NewYork.
No, not West New York In.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
Weehawken.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Yeah.
So I came back and that's whenI said I want to be in TV and I
started trying to get into theTV business.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
What sparked you wanting to go into television?
Because I still wanted to getinto the TV business.
What sparked that?
What sparked you wanting to gointo television?
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Because I still wanted to do something creative.
I was burnt out on music, so Iwas really trying to figure out
what's the next thing.
I loved the boxing events but Iwas like, okay, what now?
And I realized that my skillsin music aren't transferable
(37:42):
like it's.
It didn't mean anything.
The fact that I was a seniorvice president.
They're like okay, but we don'tknow what you can do on this
side, we don't.
We don't know what that is.
So I started producing my owncontent.
So I had proof of conceptbecause, because you know, in
music we always had a demo.
Very rare to somebody come toyou and say I got this singer,
(38:05):
she's amazing, but didn't havesomething to show.
You, didn't have something youcould hear, that you could.
You would say give me a tape ora CD, or back then it was a
tape or a CD, or back then itwas a tape.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
You would ask for proof of concept.
Today it's like if you try toget into TV, you have proof of
concept.
Back then I said I took thatsame approach and said I'll show
them.
I'll show them what I can do.
And I produced a series withtwo gay stylists, dalimo and
Terrell.
Terrell still styles to thisday and Dalimo is a chef.
(38:49):
And they were.
It was a makeover.
They were.
They were.
It was a making of an artist.
And we took this artist thatactually got a deal with Kevin
Lyles but she hadn't got thedeal yet.
We took this artist up andcoming newbie and they taught
her to walk, to dress, theystyled her etiquette and we
(39:10):
filmed the whole process.
Okay, and I put together theseshort webisodes.
They were hilarious, it was areally good show.
And then I started really goodshow.
Then I started shopping theshow A guy named Drano, a friend
of mine from the music businesstook my proof of concept to
(39:32):
James DuBose.
James DuBose who has In theBlack Now, but then he had the
Keisha Cole show and Hell Dateand a few other shows on BET.
He was like one in.
He had BET back then.
And another friend of mine,erica Kennerly, put me with
(39:52):
Roger Bob, who was Tyler Perry'sright-hand guy, and also sent
him my proof of concept.
So I think that's the importantthing for people to take away.
It's like you can show peoplebetter than you can tell them.
You've got to be able to showsomething.
And once that clicked for me,things started to move and I,
(40:12):
with James DuBose he called mefrom Drano's referral met with
him and he he was in Atlanta andhe was like can you get here?
You know I'm going to be herefor two days.
Can you get here to meet withme?
So I had to fly to Atlanta andI met with him and I ended up
working with James on Hell Dateand Brother to Brother and
Dreamland and a few other showsthat he had.
(40:35):
And then I ended up workingwith Tyler through Roger Bob yes
, that he had and then I endedup working with Tyler through
Roger.
Bob so me having that proof ofconcept definitely came out, and
I worked with Tyler Perry fortwo and a half years.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Tell me about that experience.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
It was.
It was bootcamp, Like.
I really learned pretty much it.
I think that Tyler pushes youas an executive because I was
the head of his post department.
So we had, I want to say I wantto say staff about 15 people 15
(41:19):
to 20 people in the postdepartment.
So I come with editors, offline, online, QC.
We had our own QC department.
What's QC?
Qc, quality control Okay, Veryend.
They look at everything becausewe would have to turn episodes
into Turner and they would makesure that, because Turner has
(41:41):
their own QC department, theminute you give them, you
deliver something, they're goingto put it through their
protocols and a lot of timesthings would get kicked back
because, okay, there's a hiccuphere or there's a sound, there's
a flip, lip flap here and wethink it should be.
So we had somebody that wouldlook at every single frame and
(42:05):
make sure that we pass QCbecause we were turning things
in like the week before air.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
So you had it had to go out.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
Couldn't be hiccups.
It had to go out.
So I learned a lot.
That's why I say it wasbootcamp, because it I was.
You think Tyler was shootinglike three episodes a week, and
in Hollywood they shoot anepisode a month, so yeah, so
what particular shows did youwork on with Tyler?
(42:36):
Meet the Browns House of Pain.
All of his plays and his latenight chalk show, the Tyler
Perry show, the opening of TylerPerry Studios.
The grand, the first studio,the grand opening, mm-hmm yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
You did a lot.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
A lot.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
Before we move on, tell me about the opening.
I remember reading about it andI mean it looked incredible.
But just tell me about it,putting it together.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
It was just phenomenal, a phenomenal
experience.
That man truly amazes me.
He has a vision, he wants tosee it through and you know, and
matches intensity.
It's the bottom line and Ithink my biggest takeaway from
him and from working with Rogeris that there is no plan B.
(43:32):
It's going to work out, we'regoing to.
This is going to work out.
Like we had this bigextravagant.
It was like a pond and he hadpeople swimming under in a
performance on the water andjust in lights and in fireworks,
like it was just it was allthese things and it was supposed
(43:52):
to rain that week.
Tyler was like it's not goingto rain, there's no plan B, it's
not going to rain.
I don't want to hear about rain, it's not going to rain, it's
all going to work out.
If I'm sitting there, it's like80% chance of rain.
What are we going to do?
It didn't rain.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
Like what are we going to do?
It didn't rain, wow.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
He believed he believed, he believed and it,
and I think my biggest takeawayfrom working there is it always
works out in the end, and thatis his motto, and truly it
always works out.
It's like we'll we'll makethings in our head so much worse
than it is and overanalyze itand well, this could happen, and
(44:38):
this could happen.
And this could happen.
No, or it could just work out.
How about?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (44:44):
yeah, exactly yeah exactly.
Um, I forget what I read it,but I'm I'm paraphrasing because
i'm't remember exactly.
But I was saying, I've stressed.
Some people say, like I was,50%, even higher, of the things
that we worry about never evenhappen.
It's like this it doesn'thappen.
It's like, oh, what about?
Like you said, what about this?
Oh, what about?
And that stuff never happens.
(45:05):
If you just kind of like, lockin, yeah, you might have hiccups
and adjustments along the way.
But if in, yeah, you might havehiccups and adjustments along
the way, but if you lock in,it's going to work out.
Unless you took yourself out ofit by saying what about this
and what about that, and whatabout this and what about that?
Speaker 2 (45:19):
Right, and if you start going into a different
direction as a result of it?
But I am working on his talkshow, I would write the scripts
for him and we would go over thescript.
You know, while he was gettinghis haircut or you know, or
editing something, you know,they would call me in the
editing bay and he'd say, okay,let's go over the script.
(45:40):
We'd go over the script andthen he'd say, okay, I'm ready
to shoot.
I mean, it was like that, like Ihad to be, you have to be on
like there's no.
Okay, I need 15 minutes tohurry up and with all of you
know your corrections.
It's like no, like he's be likeokay, let's go ready to go wow,
so tell me now.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
I know you're doing we'll talk about that in a
second I know you do tv showsand stuff like is there
something in particular that youlook for in a tv show?
Is there something that youcould say I think this could
work, or was it kind of justfilling out stuff and kind of as
it comes to you?
Speaker 2 (46:17):
Compelling characters .
It's people come with stuff allthe time that they swear is
going to be a great show, andyou've got to have that
compelling personality.
You've got to have those peoplethat make people want to tune
in every week.
It needs that.
If there's a subculture thatpeople don't know about or that
(46:37):
the average person doesn't knowabout, that you can tap into.
That's why Housewives was sosuccessful.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
Into these women and their lush lifestyle, but then
you had characters like Mimi.
Women and their lush lifestyle,but then you had characters
like Mimi.
If you didn't have those loudand it's called I'm not saying
she's loud, it's called loudcharacters in reality,
compelling people, then youdon't have anything, why would
(47:08):
anybody tune in?
Speaker 1 (47:10):
They're not, they're not going to watch.
So now I read you did somebranding stuff as well too, am I
?
Speaker 2 (47:19):
right.
So tell me a little bit aboutthat it just all kind of falls
in my lap because I'm sohands-on, like in A&R.
You know, when you're A&Ring anartist and you spend all that
time with this artist and youbuild with this artist, I was
never the person that could justhand that artist off to
marketing.
After that.
I'm like, no, I've got to be apart of that too, because I know
(47:45):
what this artist will do andwon't do.
I know what this artist'sfavorite food is.
I know who his mother is or hermother is.
I spent time with them, youknow.
So it's the same thing.
If I'm, if I'm creating a, ashow or a concept or a PSA or an
(48:05):
ad, I'm a part of that nextlevel.
I'm a part of that next level.
I'm a part of the branding andthe marketing, I'm a part of the
PR, and it's not because I'masking like this is what has to
be done.
It's more, sometimes thereisn't funding to do it and then
(48:25):
it's like, okay, I'll pull inthe favor and get it done this
way, or I'll call a relationshipI have over here and get it
done that way.
You know, I'm always thinkingoutside of the box.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
Yeah, you have to.
Speaker 2 (48:35):
You have to.
I mean survival.
Speaker 1 (48:37):
Yeah, tell me what's next.
Speaker 2 (48:40):
Well, what's next?
What's next?
Well, I am a John Maxwellspeaker, so I'm doing a lot of
speaking engagements.
I wrote a book, so I'm about tocome out and publish my book
with volume one of my book,because it's two volumes and
just help raise theconsciousness and the vibration
(49:02):
of our people.
Speaker 1 (49:05):
So tell me what a John Maxwell speaker is, because
a lot of people won't know that.
Speaker 2 (49:10):
John Maxwell is.
He has.
He sold millions, millions ofbooks in book sales.
He is one of the most engaging,charismatic speakers to date
and he has a program andcertifies coaches and leadership
.
So I am a certified coach.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
Congratulations, congratulations.
Can you tell us a little bitabout what your?
Speaker 2 (49:37):
what the first volume of your book is about basically
my life story and lessons.
It's teachable moments.
I'll give a teachable momentand then a moment in my life
that correlates with it.
Speaker 1 (49:50):
So Go for the reading that.
Speaker 2 (49:53):
I'm trying to help guide people because I feel like
a lot of people don'tunderstand what the
entertainment industry is.
So you're going to get evidencefrom somebody you respect and
somebody who knows a lot aboutlife but they don't know a lot
about our life, about life, butthey don't know a lot about our
(50:14):
life.
So anybody who wants to be inentertainment or is thinking
about it and has those questions, I want to be able to help them
and help guide them and answerthem.
And I actually had my nephew,Tiago, who I brought in the
business, who's a DP.
Speaker 1 (50:26):
I had him read it and he was like he like the, like
the most amazing paragraph ortext wrote back like he really
felt like it was something thatwould help the next generation
I'm sure I mean that's one ofthe main reasons I'm doing this
is to give exposure, obviouslyto people I know who are have
(50:46):
done amazing things behind thescenes, but also let people kind
of see from your stories andyour careers what the
entertainment business really isReally is Up and down or
whatever.
I want people to hear people'sjourneys, to understand.
Somebody sees you today andyou're well established, you're
(51:10):
doing your thing, you're rocking, but they might've not not
known about Jezebels and how youhad to figure it out, and
that's, that's the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (51:18):
Yeah, I mean when anybody who you see, who you
think is well established.
There's a story there.
Speaker 1 (51:23):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (51:24):
There's a story.
So you know, I just want to beable to to help people through
the stories, and I'm alsoproducing a podcast for Peter
Thomas.
Speaker 1 (51:34):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (51:34):
Before he has to turn himself in.
Speaker 1 (51:37):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (51:38):
So helping him with that Good.
But yeah, I think this nextphase of my life is about giving
back Good In some capacity andreally trying to be of service
and be helpful yeah, yeah, Ithink, um, some of our
generation I'm gonna say all,but some of our generation kind
(51:59):
of has failed at that.
Speaker 1 (52:01):
Some of us are very greedy and held it close and
didn't mentor people and stufflike that, and I think we're
seeing the in the music.
Anyway, I think we're seeingthe remnants of that in some
places.
Speaker 2 (52:13):
The people went up, you nailed it, but I think that
they always were that way, youalways have takers, givers and
takers.
And if they were never givingback?
If they're not giving back,they never were.
Speaker 1 (52:26):
True.
Speaker 2 (52:29):
So that's how I feel about that and I think,
mentorship I was talking aboutthis today when people come up
to you and say I need a mentor,will you be my mentor?
I absolutely hate that becauseit's such an intimate thing.
It's like I have to bond withyou.
I have to build with you andit's I want.
I have to pour into you.
(52:50):
I, a mentor, chooses a menteeand it just happens.
It's not anybody I've mentored.
They didn't come to me and askme to mentor them.
It's just a relationship whereall of a sudden I'm pouring into
them and then I become theperson when something's going on
.
They that they want to callyeah, they want to say hey, can
(53:12):
we go have coffee and can I pickyour brain.
It becomes that it's never willyou mentor me.
Speaker 1 (53:20):
Oh, yeah, yeah, sure, we'll start tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (53:23):
Cause, then it's like , then it's a duty.
Speaker 1 (53:25):
Yeah, it's like, oh, I know this person and oh, what
do they want?
And you know Right.
Speaker 2 (53:31):
So I think that's the key thing, and I have plenty of
those people that I pour into.
But for the masses, that's whyI'm doing the book.
Speaker 1 (53:41):
Good, Good Well.
Thank you, Shante.
Speaker 2 (53:44):
You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (53:45):
All right.
Speaker 2 (53:46):
I'm glad that you're doing this, because you're
pouring back into the people too.
Speaker 1 (53:50):
Thank you.
Thank you, I'm trying.
I appreciate you coming on.
We had a good time yes, we didthank you, thank you, thank you
thank you you can catch mixedand mastered on apple podcast,
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
(54:11):
studios.
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