Pop culture writer, James Down Williams, joins Ryan to talk about the 1992 Reginald Hudlin film, Boomerang and it's 3x Platinum soundtrack. The soundtrack boasted 6 singles including Toni Braxton's "Give U My Heart" and Boyz II Men's "End of the Road", which would top the Billboard Top 100 for 13 weeks, which was a record at the time. Equally impressive is the film's cast, which included Eddie Murphy, Hallie Berry, Martin Lawrence, David Allen Grier, Chris Rock, Tisha Campbell, Robin Givens, and Grace Jones (who is also on the soundtrack).
Also Discussed:
-Hudlin's post-Boomerang career
-Babyface's strangehold on the top of the Billboard Charts in the 90s
-How the film is responsible for one the most iconic sitcom couples
-Grace Jones' outrageous role in the film
-Creative Breakups
To Keep Up to Date with James Deon Williams:
Website
Bluesky
Instagram
Also Discussed:
-Hudlin's post-Boomerang career
-Babyface's strangehold on the top of the Billboard Charts in the 90s
-How the film is responsible for one the most iconic sitcom couples
-Grace Jones' outrageous role in the film
-Creative Breakups
To Keep Up to Date with James Deon Williams:
Website
Bluesky
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
M m.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
M hm hm hm h m hm h m hm.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
My name is Ryan Packed and this is Soundtrack Your Life,
where we speak with the guests about a soundtrack that
is important to them. Today our guest is film writer
James D. Williams. You can find him on Blue Sky
at Photo Jimmy and on Medium, where we will link
to his writing and our show notes. So welcome, Jimmykay, Hey, hey, Ryan, Hey,
(00:38):
you should I call you James or Jimmy.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
It doesn't matter, really, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Okay, So why don't you tell our listeners a little
bit about your writing and where they can find that.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Okay, right now, As far as writing, mhm, see what
what out? Other? I write movie reviews and I write
in its etainment articles, So like it's pretty I'm gonna say,
(01:18):
a good blend of pretty much movies and music and television.
So yeah, it's just a big little and I just
love to write.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Yeah, yeah, it's cool. I read. His most recent article
is on Kendrick Lamar. Obviously I'm a huge fan if
you listen to this podcast, so that was a really
fun read. You should check that out. But today we
are going to talk about the nineteen ninety two Reginald
Huddland film Boomerang. So why did you pick Boomerang for
(02:00):
us today?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
As far as soundtracks go, I feel like it is
in the top of tear. I was born in ninety one,
so I probably first saw this movie maybe in like
ninety five ninety six, and I was young, so I
(02:26):
really didn't know likes too much about what was a
going on. So I would say probably the next time
that I saw it after that was maybe in middle school.
And man, like, I just loved it. I loved it.
(02:46):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, it's a movie that is. The cast is very stacked. Right,
we have any Murphy, we have a very young Halle Berry. Yes,
you know, Chris rock Having, Givens, Martin, Lawrence David.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Allen, John Witherspoon, John.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Witherspoon, John Witherspoon's so good in this movie, Oh my god,
comedy legend, John Witherspoon, and the soundtrack equally stacked.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Right, who babyface?
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Right, babyface?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Tell me Bragston, Charlie Murphy, I mean not.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Lord, Charlie Wilsonie.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Charlie Wilson. Lord, I'm so sorry. Oh no, bro, Charlie Wilson.
Oh let die.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Yep, Left Eyes on Here and Yeah, tribe called Quest Quiz.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
It's just it is just one of those top tier
sounds tracks and just I love it.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, it took me back. I remember a lot of
these songs. I kind of didn't realize they all came
from the soundtrack, I know, right, Yeah, it spawned six singles,
sold three million copies, so obviously it was a big
hit at the time. The Tony Braxton track is kind
of the one that launched her career, which is really awesome.
(04:18):
And then obviously, like Babyface in the nineties, was just
a hit machine. Anything that was Yes, sir, he was
popping it out, he was. I mean, I feel like,
I don't know what's the what's the modern equivalent Jack Antonoff?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Maybe maybe I would say maybe Jake anson Off, Yeah
you say Jake anson Off. Maybe maybe Brahma Cocks Jaguz.
I can't think of nobody else as far as U,
(04:54):
R and B really.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, I mean and the baby Faces and baby Face
pretty much wrote almost all the songs on here, except
maybe like the pm DON song and obviously the track
called Quest song. You know, he doesn't write, he doesn't
write their raps for them, so.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
PM DON I remember a funny fact about PM DON.
I think if I can remember this correctly, I think
the first time that I ever heard a song from
them was when I watched I mean, you know man,
and their song is I think it's in like the
(05:33):
first five to seven minutes, and it is when they
introduced Sean Afton's character, and man, it's slat.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
So yeah, yeah, And I guess the fun fact about
this song I Die Without You is it also is
in Jane Silent Bob reboot.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Oh you don't have to rewards that and suic up.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Yeah. So I was, look, you know, trying to get
all the songs for the soundtrack to listen to it,
and for some reason with Apple Music, like the song
is great out but it's like here, it's on the
Jay and Silento reboot soundtrack, and I was like, that's
good enough for me. Yeah, so that song is on there. Obviously,
(06:27):
that was I think written in nineteen eighty two, so
that's not written for the soundtrack, but you know they
use it in the movie.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Marcus Miller, who worked a lot with Miles Davis. He's
kind of the composer for the movie. Though I would
say that the movie is mostly you know, based off
these songs, especially the Grace Jones song.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Definitely, it's Yeah, the Grace Jone's song is in probably
like four scenes.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Yeah yeah, yeah, so kind of like the theme of
the movie almost.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
And then of course, you know, Grace Jones is a
big part of this movie. She is playing kind of
a parody of herself called Stranja, and she is equally
hilarious and outrageous and terrifying.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Man.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
It's funny because we covered the Pewee Christmas Special podcast
and she's in that as well.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Is that the one that was on Netflix or or
is it the one from back in the day?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Back in the day?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Okay, okay, okay, okay, come on, I remember he had
a Christmas questionial on Netflix. But yeah that was pre Yeah,
that was maybe a few years before I was born.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
So yeah, so she's in here, and she is playing
a very like extreme version of herself. But you know,
obviously anyone who probably watched this movie watched it because
of Eddie Murphy. Definitely, so he's in this movie. He's
(08:07):
the star. He kind of came up with the idea,
had a couple of writers that he worked with They
kind of helped flush it out. And he wanted to
work with Reginald Hudland because him and his brother they
directed and produced House Party.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yeah, and I think far as far as the writers go,
I think it was his only Maddie and Charlie. I
think it was just into I think it was just
themto it. If I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
It was written by Barry W. Blaustein and David Sheffield,
who worked with that. Oh, but Anie, I think maybe
came up with the idea with Charlie.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Okay now that okay, yeah, okay, now that makes more okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Oh and speaking of us, and now, Chris Rock is
in this movie. We forgot to mention Chris Rock. That's
how stacked it is. I forgot to mention the Chris
Rock this movie.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yes, Chris Right is in this.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Movie working in the mailroom. You know, I was, I
was thinking of it. I was, you know, if they
had made House Party ten years later, I feel like
it'd be more like a Jed Appatow movie.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
And I feel like it'd be like I think there'd
be like a lot more like raunchy stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yeah, oh yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
But One of the things I love with this movie
is the friendship with Martin Lawrence and David Allen Greer
and Eddie Murphy here, Yeah, just them kind of like
bullshit around, even though Martin Lawrence is, you know, obviously
kind of annoying because he is like some misogynistic and stuff. Yeah,
you know, it's it's I mean, he's so he's just
(10:06):
so funny and I'm you know, like I feel like,
if they made it later, one of them would, you know,
either David Allen Grey or mar Lawrence wouldn't end up
being gay. But they didn't decide to go there. Yeah,
not back then though, And it's you know, it's an
all black cast, so I guess I think Eddie Murphy
(10:29):
didn't want to go that route with any.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Of his characters.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
So Tisha Campbell is in the movie. She's just got
a very small roles as Eddie's kind of obsessed neighbor
he has a restraining order against, I think and I
read that. You know. Obviously, she worked with Hudland on
House Party, and I guess she and Martin Lawrence hit
(10:57):
it off, and that's kind of how she became Gina
for Martin Cool. It kind of spawned. You know that
that you know, that's a very famous like sitcom relationship
Martin to Damn Gina, Right, yes, sir, so that was
really cool to learn. But yeah, I mean just so
(11:17):
so stacked. And I was talking to my wife. I
was like, I know who Robin Givens is. I you know,
I can match the name and the face. But when
I like look at her like filmography, like, I was like,
I don't. I haven't seen too many of her shows. Yeah,
(11:38):
I mean I saw a head of a class one
head of the class when I was a little kid,
I guess. But I was like, why why am I
so familiar with her? And my wife goes, oh, because
she was married to Mike Tyson, And I was like, oh,
I I mean I it rang a bell when I
you know, read through her BI. I was like, oh, yeah,
she married.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
I remember, Like she wasn't really able to do a
lot because I feel like I've only seen her maybe
like the most is maybe like five seven movies in
a few US TV shows.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Yeah, she has a lot of like you know, one
episode spots in like sitcoms. But yeah, I think I've
seen like this and like Head of State, the Chris
Rock movie. Yeah, but like, you know, she's a very
memorable person when she's on.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Only in the Boomerang universe can you see halle Berry
and be oh, she's just like the girl next door.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
The only thing I'm telling you, like, the only thing.
Then in the Last Boy Scout, I think she played
I think she played a stripper in there, so it's like, you.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Know, yeah, it took me like a second to be like, wait,
that's halle Berry. But she was so good, like you
could tell like, oh, yeah, she's gonna be a star.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Definitely.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Like I said, she's it's so stacked where it's you know,
halle Berry is like the second prettiest woman in this movie,
or that's what we're supposed to believe.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
That's that, that is what we are supposed to behave,
But nah, she's the first.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yeah. So let's let's talk about the soundtrack. So twelve songs,
six of them became singles. That's how crazy stacked the
soundtrack is. What are some of your favorite songs from
the soundtrack.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Oh, I would say the Johnny uh uh gilsong definitely,
that was that is definitely one of my favorites.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
There you go, and that's that's a baby face co right,
such a good song.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
The Trolley Wilson record.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Oh yeah, that's a good one. It's gonna be alright,
It's gonna be all right.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Yeah, both of the us totally Braxton songs. I would
say I would, I would, I would. I would pretty
much say the whole sound track honestly, I would say
the whole soundtrack is pretty much bought on.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Yeah, that's fair for me.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
And it was definitely one of the first soundtracks that
I had ever heard. So this is definitely and like
maybe like my top ten favorite sound tracks. So I
would saying my top ten.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah, I mean I think if you like this, uh
this era of R and B, I don't see you know,
it's it's full of like great songs. I misspoke earlier.
The Pantan song was actually written for the movie What So.
Even that song is for So So I'm guessing Kevin
Smith really like Boomerang and that's why he put Without
(15:12):
You in a Jane sound Bob reboot. Yeah, I mean,
I think those are all great songs. I also like
the Shanis song. I feel like she's kind of underrated.
People have kind of forgotten about her from from the
early nineties.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Yeah, you know, I.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Think everyone thinks to like Mariah and Whitney and Tony Braxton,
and you know, I thought Chanise had some really good
songs too.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Yeah, she should be, should be.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
And you know, because I have two daughters, so we're
watching a lot of Disney movies. He says, the end
credit song for Pocahontas with John Socicatta.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yeah, that's a that's a great fact. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
I always trying to make little connections here and there,
you know.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
I like, like a tribe called Quest is like one
of my favorite artists, but Hot Sex is maybe not
my favorite tribe called Quest songs.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
No, definitely, no, No, it's probably like maybe top top thirty.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Yeah, like it says in the tribe called Quest like
singles chronology, like it's between Scenario and Award Tour, and
like those are two of their best songs. Yeah, and
then you have hot Sex, which like, okay, it's all right,
you know, like I like it because they're still talented rappers,
you know, but it's like, you know, not a very
(16:44):
interesting beat in my opinion, and usually usually they have
a little bit more to say yeah, definitely, like even
when they're rapping about sex, like usually they have a
little bit more to say yeah. And obviously the big
hit from this soundtrack is Boyeman End of the Road.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Oh, that song. That song lay through the nineties in
the early two thousands. That song just ranty and even
to this day it is class day to this day.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah, I didn't realize that it was from a soundtrack.
I thought it was from Cool High Harmony, but it
was it's not actually on that album.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Mm hmm, I'm m hmm. I'm spread that this was
a soundtrack, that this was like a just like a
song on the main soundtrack and that's it.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Yeah, is that the only thing?
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Wow, I could have sworn that it was on one
of their uh album from.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Then they ended up then up like doing a new
version of the album like a reissue, and then they
put it on at the.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
End of the put on there, Okay, there you go.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
It wasn't originally on their album, so at first it
was just part of the soundtrack. And obviously it went
to number one for thirteen weeks.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Thirteen weeks. It just seemed like, I feel like thirteen
weeks back then when it comes to like a box
office or when it comes to the music charts, like
(18:45):
thirteen weeks back then, it feels a lot different then
a thirteeen weeks now.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Right, because now they like take streaming numbers.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
And yeah, yeah, yeah, it's yeah, it's a lot different.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah. Back in nineteen ninety two they counted physical copies
of the single being purchased, and so back in ninety
two when it hit thirteen weeks, I believe it broke
like a record by Elvis. And then later that year,
(19:22):
Whitney Houston made it to fourteen weeks with I Will
Always Love You from the Bodyguard, and then Bois to
Men and Mariah Carey broke that with One Sweet Day,
which was sixteen weeks, so a good time for sound
(19:46):
track track. But I feel like Boys to Men has
like they're able to like tour comfortably because of this song.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Definitely.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
I mean, obviously they've got lots of jams, but I
feel like end of the Road is like they're big one.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Yeah, that's the one. I would say everything from those
first three it's just hits on, hits on, hits on,
hits on, hits on, hiss on, hits.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Yeah, and I believe they obviously working with a babyface
was a good business decision for them, So yeah, I
think he continued to write with them.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Right, Yeah. But I remember, like I remember hearing a
story about why they stopped working two yeah, and I
think that they said because it was of the manager
or something. Oh interesting, Maybe I'm wrong. I think was
(21:01):
because a manager had had a scheduled a studio time
and they said that that they weren't coming or something
like that.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Maybe I won't yeah, because I know that he wrote
he co wrote I'll Make Love to You, which is
another one of the big hits. And I believe he
also did a song for Mama, which is off Sulfur.
So you know, at least they had a few more
hits with them. I'm surprised they didn't just like do
(21:36):
a whole album with him with hits they made together.
Maybe he wanted too much money. Hey, But like you said,
there's uh Lisa Leftie Lopez. She's on Reversal of a Dog,
which is one of many songs that samples Parliament's Atomic Dog.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Parliament is all in through this movie, like when Marcus
is just in there, Macan you here yeah, yeah, me.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
I think I was watching it last night in my
room and my wife went to sleep early, and she
kept waking up during the movie because of scenes like that.
You can hear like the dog barking, you know, and
it's supposed to kind of startle you a little bit,
you know, And I was like, oh, sorry, but I
(22:38):
need to watch this for work, son. But yeah, parliaments
throughout this movie. The fashion in this movie is pretty
top launch.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
I would say that when I really started to care
about fashion, we were definitely in the three X talks
to pay band stage. We were definitely in that stage. Yeah, definitely, yeah, definitely.
(23:14):
I feel like that was the time in which I
just really started to care about fashion, and that was
like for me, that was like sixth seventh grade. So yeah, yeah, yes,
it is all great.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Yeah, but the fashion in this movie is very distinct.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Oh yes, yes, And.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Even like the set design, like the apartments in this
movie they look like they're like unreal, how amazing these
apartments look. I did think it was funny that when
they reveal the really bad commercial, they're in that that
boardroom and then they like they're in that conference room
(24:00):
when they opened the doors and there's just that really
small TV and you know, obviously like it looks like
junk down because you know everyone's got like a wide
screen TV, but it's like dinky TV and you can
tell it has like a VCR on it. Oh, but
(24:21):
that that commercial is like terrifying.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
It is very unsettling.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Like it. It reminded me of a little bit of
like like Tales from.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
The Crypt a little bit, a little bit, but like.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
A more twisted version. You know, you gotta you gotta
give Grace jens for Flowers for subjecting herself to that scene.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Most definitely. She is definitely one of the few people
that could do that type of saying it something and
it's just like this is amazing.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, it might have been her idea.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yeah, she could have.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Been like it's not gross enough.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
You know, and she does a lot of outrageous stuff
in this movie. I think she first shows up in
the movie on like a chariot that's being driven by
by human people.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
By sixteen yes, and she got the yeah you wow, wow, man,
she wired this movie.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
It's probably one of the only people that's like, yeah,
I can pull all this off. And I think I
saw a YouTube video of her, like from her tour
like recently, and like she still got it. She's like
in her seventies and she's still like this. So good
for her. Yeah, the Seven Day Weekend song is actually
one of the few songs that Babyface did not write.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Dallas Austin.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
He's pretty good by himself too. You know, he's done
a lot of work with TLC, all.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
That work with the uh Dudgeon of Family, and.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
He's done some stuff with Pink when Stefani. But you know,
obviously no slouch. He can a pretty big name by
himself as far as like the writing talent on this soundtrack,
Like it's all people that like like they're all like
all time greats. You know, Babyface, you got you know
(26:41):
a cute tip from Tribe called quest, Dallas Austin, You've
got Lisa Lefti Lopez and then obviously Pian Five dogs Dogs.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
I have a five dog story and it's it's trust me.
It's it's very small, but it meant a lots.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I would love to hear it.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Okay, So I think it was about twenty thirteen, if
I'm not mistaken. I had spoke to Fife via a
(27:25):
Twitter because that was back then when shoot, everybody was
just speaking to everybody on there like it was. It
was different back then, yeah, because it's like you could
really like talk to the uh celebrities and I don't
care who it was. It could be fight Dog, it
could be Carmelo. You could really talk to him back then,
(27:50):
but nowadays you can't really do that. Well then if
you do, like nine times out of then it might
be for something negative maybe, but just back then, you
could just talk to them like they would just like
apply back in a day. It might take a week,
(28:10):
it might take a month almost, but they would definitely
talk back to us. And that was fire. That was fire.
But yeah, but yeah, like I had talked to him
and I was really trying to.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Schedule an interview with him, because that was back when
I was doing a lot of video of production.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Work when I was living in at Atlanta, and yeah, man,
like I was trying to just schedule something and I
think leap yep were we definitely talked in like twenty
get like twenty thirteen, maybe twenty fourteen, and yeah, like
(29:08):
the next the next year, the next two years, like
he passes away, and I like I was hurt like
I remember, like, uh, my girlfriend of back then and
now wife. You know, I remember the morning when I
found out that I cried in her arms, like I'm
(29:32):
not even byesing mare, like I was hurt because that
was when it comes to a rap like I don't
care what nobody says. Like you could say, yeah, like
Fife was the number two, but listen, Fife didn't wrap
like no number two. Fife was the one. Fife was
one of than once. He was one of them once
(29:55):
bars On bars On, bars On bars He was funny,
he was witty, He was one in ones man indefinitely.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
I miss him, Yeah, I did too. I remember when
he passed away. I was not in a good place,
but I remember I think it was some weather guy.
He was like dropping like five lyrics and like while
he was like telling the weather and that made me
feel a lot better. But yeah, I mean he he
(30:26):
was like the perfect compliment to Q Tip. It was,
you know, like it was more like a one A
one B sort of situation. I agree with that. I
think even in the song, which I'm you know, it's
not my favorite tribe song, he makes that really funny
line about you know, going to on one like John Ritter,
like my man John Ridder, and I was like, oh,
(30:47):
that's actually a really funny line. He's always got a
good joke in there, you know ya. So what is
your favorite tribe called quest album? If I may ask, I.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Will say Midnight Marauders that it is definitely always between
day and in the low end of low in theory,
I would say Midnight Marauders is definitely the one that
I go back to the most. Yeah, I agree, Yeah,
(31:24):
it's definitely the one that I go back to the most.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
I have a kind of a sad tribe called quas
story lord h. So this was after five passed there
were they were plant doing like a tour to kind
of pay tribute to Fife, and so we were going
to go see him at this music festival in San Francisco,
Come Outside Lands and uh, basically like the show before
(31:49):
this festival, like Cuta decided he couldn't do it anymore,
and so they didn't announce until the festival had already
started that tribe perform and the rest of the guys
were all in San Francisco like they were at the festival,
and Keita was like, Nope, not doing it.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Wow, I have a story like that. It's about Tiso touch.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Down, touchdown.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Yeah. He was supposed to perform at barcol the City
last year and I was there, you know, going on
like he was like super late and at the last
minute they had their people come out to us tell
us that they kind of basically said that, like due
(32:48):
to the size of the stage, he did not want
to uh perform, And I was just like, bro, what
you about to be doing? Like the stage was not small,
The stage was not like super duper small, but it
(33:08):
was just like a normal size concert stage that was
a set up outside. So I kind of feel like
he wanted to be on the main stage. It makes
sense because I've seen some of his live of performances,
(33:31):
so it makes sense.
Speaker 4 (33:32):
But I was just like, bro, like, we didn't pay
all this money out here, dog like, Like I mean
like you got like probably like five hundred people out
here waiting to see you, and I'm like, you here
because everybody's aw there, So it was just like, he here,
you don't want to perform? Man, that sucks, then bru
(33:53):
come on man, So for real, you know, have you
ever noticed that like a lot of times whenever even
whenever he has like something like small as like he's
saying probably about like five words on the song.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
He's always listed as a feature. Have you ever peeped that?
Have you ever like peeped that before? And it's just like, bro,
like you got five Like I mean, like you're saying
five words on here? Why are you listed as a feature?
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Maybe he thinks it'll help sell.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Not most of them records. I won't be honest with you, bro,
I have I have a problem with him as of
the past maybe few years, especially now. You know, I'm
not gonna say that he's not one of the greats.
I'm not gonna I'm not gonna say that because that
would definitely be a lie. But you know, it's just
(34:55):
like the way that the way that he been moving
behind the scene, especially with Chad and the netnes of breakup.
I mean, I kind of went down a rabbit hole
last year and I was looking at us Chad's tweets
(35:16):
and I saw one from maybe a couple of years ago,
and he tweeted what does a trademark mean? Or like
what is a trademark for? And I kind of put
that together with their with their legal problems, and I
(35:38):
was just like damn Doug. I was just like, oh god.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Oh yeah, it's sad to see.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Yeah, man, definitely it's sad them. And I would say
them and Hallan Oates Holland Oats, they've been beefing since
back then, like.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
I kind of feel like before you were born, dog Like.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
I'm just like, bro, like those two have had a
bad relationship on and off for about like five decades.
For decades, yeah, you know, like damn dog.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Yeah, it's it's it's it's sad to see you know,
you made so much great art together and you just
can't get along. And like I could understand it if
it was like over a girl or something, but when
it's just kind of like business, like you guys are
both getting paid.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
I mean, bro, not even a girl. Like I can't
let no, I can't let no woman or no man
get between which y'all got going on. You can't be
very true, very true. I can't do that. I don't care. Man, woman,
I don't care. You can't let a man or a
woman get in between of you and your business whatever
(36:56):
that business is. No Surrey Bube, no man, no.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Yeah, back and actually that that is something that happens
in the movie, right, they decided to not yesterday.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
It all circles back, it all comes back around.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
That was a nice That was a nice moment.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
It was.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
David Allen Green very underrated in this movie just in general.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Yeah. Man, I was listening to one of my people's
hike cast. Uh they have a horror of Hike cast
and it it's called people under the Uh Scares podcast. Yeah,
(37:41):
and they just did a review on Jumanji and David
Allen Greer man, like, I feel like that was one
of them rolls in which he was just like, what
they're about to have me doing out here? Like I'm
on this said with all of this stuff, and I'm
just like, hey, man, like, I'm just like a comedian, like,
(38:05):
but they about to have me a dude out here?
And man, he was doing a lot in Jumaji. He
was doing a lot in that movie. Man, He's yeah
in that movie. But definitely that's definitely one of his ros.
And we're like, what is he doing in this? But
it's okay, Yeah, I know, all right, bro.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
Yeah, yeah, I love that. Recently he's kind of come
back and he's been in more things. I really enjoyed
him on The Carmichael Show. Sat here even though like
it's just like the cranky old dad. Yeah said that
show is off the year.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
I thought it was very smart. That could have lasted
at least two more videos.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
But big fan of grad.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Yeah, did you watch the Boomerangue show?
Speaker 1 (38:56):
No, I read about that.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
I haven't set You gotta check it out. You have
to check it out that I think it on the
Grand for two seasons, which was unfortunate because I feel
like in the second season they definitely started to really
like grow as a lot of shows. And yeah, they
(39:20):
canceled probably about like maybe about like seven months after
their second season of finished, and it was just one
of them cancelations. I was just like, come on, y'all,
all they needed was a couple more just just to
maybe finish up everything.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
But no, yeah, I mean, and they had good people
behind it, you know. Lena Waite was an executive producer.
Obviously Halle Berry was involved as well.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Yeah, lean away, you know she I appreciate her and
I and I appreciate most of her patri chance and
I'm gonta leave it at that.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
He respects her. He may not be here Vickers fan,
but you respect some other fun facts about this movie.
So this movie has three different people who have appeared
in James Bond movies. So halle Berry obviously is the
Bond girl. Jones, Grace Jones. Who's the third one, the
(40:28):
guy who plays Nelson, you know, the guy that makes
the really like gross commercial. Yeah, yeah, he's from like
an old school Bond film, from Living Let Die.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
I don't think I've seen Leaving Let Die.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
Yeah, I haven't seen it. I just know the polema.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
I don't think I've seen that one, Okay, but.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
Yeah, three Bond connections there. We had Martin and Tisha
Campbell kind of meet here to do to kind of
set up that, you know, Martin and gena relationship. It's
kind of interesting that, you know, reginal Hudland didn't really
(41:12):
do a lot of directing after this.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
Yeah. I have always said that they I would say
that him and his brother. I feel like that they
should have done a lot more. But the hollywoods system
is a nice two people that look like me to
and to people that look like you, Hollywood, they just
(41:39):
be on some mess and I hate that that is
still going on.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Yeah, I think there was a funny quote from Hudland
about you know, I think the reviews for this movie
were like mixed to kind of negative. Yeah, and he said,
you know a lot of critics thought this was like
a science fiction film because they've never seen a successful
black company before.
Speaker 2 (42:02):
Okay, no, that's a pretty good dig right.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
Oh but Hudland did uh, he did be he did
become a executive producer, so he uh it was the
executive producer. He was the executive producer of The Bernie
mac Show, which is one of my favorites that coms
of all time. So he directed a lot of that.
(42:28):
He's done some Modern Family and Office episodes as well.
He was also the president of B E T for
a few years. And he's actually done some comic writing
as well. He's done uh some Marvel Comics stuff for
X Men and Storm. So pretty like diverse portfolio definitely,
(42:53):
So you know, he didn't just fall off the face
of the earth, but he did some pretty cool stuff.
The last thing I wanted to bring up because we
like to make jokes about stuff, so he is. So
when you know this movie, Eddie Murphy's character Marcus very well,
(43:13):
one joke that they kind of cut to a lot
is when he is trying to find stuff that is
wrong with these women that he's hooking up with, he
looks at, yeah, their feet after he sleeps with them. Yeah,
and uh, you know, when I was watching that, my
brain was like, oh, you know, that seems like a
(43:34):
very Quentin Tarantino thing, you know, because people like to
make fun of his thing with feet. Well, come full circle.
Reginald Hudlin. He's one of the producers of Jango Unchained Crazy,
and I wonder if Tarantino was like, I gotta work
with that other foot guy. Oh yeah. So Hudland also
(43:54):
has executive produced like the Emmy Awards. He doesn't one, sir,
I mean word ceremony. So good for you, reginal Huddling.
They might not let you make another movie, but you're
still working in the industry, and you're still doing cool things.
You know. For it's a surprise because I think the
movie costs forty million to make and it made over
(44:15):
one hundred million dollars. You think they'd be like, here's
a blank check, make some more things.
Speaker 2 (44:19):
Yeh. I say that that was better back then than
it is now because.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
Now you can with inflation and stuff.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
Yeah, yeah, I would say, like like now, it's just
like that's really just like a drop in the in
the bucket kind of sort of. But you know when
it comes to box off numbers now, it's just like
it's just like, okay, like how long is the movie
going to be in the theaters? Like is it gonna
(44:51):
be in the theaters for just a couple of weeks?
Is it gonna be in theaters for like a month?
Maybe two months? You know? And and that right there. I
just I hate it because.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Helsa did The Ladies Man to Meadows, so maybe.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
That's okay, yes, because man, it's just like box office
wise is just like most movies are in the theaters
for maybe like three weeks and then they are on.
Speaker 3 (45:29):
V o D.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Maybe like a week or two after that.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
It's just like, man, yeah it's weird now, like, yeah,
it's weird. We went to see We Live in Time
was Andrew Garfield movie back in October, and they had
a uh, they had a trailer for Conclave, right, the
big you know, big movie Conclave. Like a month later,
(45:57):
it's like, oh, Conclaves on Peacock. I was like, what
I thought it? I just saw a trailer for it.
You can watch on Peacock like, oh, I guess mm hmm.
But that's a whole different other discussion.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
Yes, it's a whole other bag.
Speaker 1 (46:15):
Yeah. But but James, thank you for coming on our podcast.
Speaker 2 (46:19):
No problem, man, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (46:22):
I have so much fun, Yeah, so much fun talking
about with you, talking about music. So if people want
to find you on the internet to read about you,
to talk to you, how do they find you?
Speaker 2 (46:36):
Yes, you can find me at photo Jimmy on pretty
much everything from a Twitter to uh blue Sky uh,
mister Graham Photo Jimmy on everything you know. I love
(46:57):
to talk about it all. I love talking about music
and movies, TV shows, Yeah, pretty much everything.
Speaker 1 (47:05):
So very cool. So follow him there and you can
talk to him about what's on your mind pop culture wise.
You can find us on Blue Sky at soundtrack your
life dot net and on Instagram and Twitter at soundtrack
cast and uh once again, thanks again James, and no
(47:26):
pinch you next time, all right,
M m.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
M hm hm hm h m hm h m hm.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
My name is Ryan Packed and this is Soundtrack Your Life,
where we speak with the guests about a soundtrack that
is important to them. Today our guest is film writer
James D. Williams. You can find him on Blue Sky
at Photo Jimmy and on Medium, where we will link
to his writing and our show notes. So welcome, Jimmykay, Hey, hey, Ryan, Hey,
(00:38):
you should I call you James or Jimmy.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
It doesn't matter, really, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Okay, So why don't you tell our listeners a little
bit about your writing and where they can find that.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Okay, right now, As far as writing, mhm, see what
what out? Other? I write movie reviews and I write
in its etainment articles, So like it's pretty I'm gonna say,
(01:18):
a good blend of pretty much movies and music and television.
So yeah, it's just a big little and I just
love to write.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Yeah, yeah, it's cool. I read. His most recent article
is on Kendrick Lamar. Obviously I'm a huge fan if
you listen to this podcast, so that was a really
fun read. You should check that out. But today we
are going to talk about the nineteen ninety two Reginald
Huddland film Boomerang. So why did you pick Boomerang for
(02:00):
us today?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
As far as soundtracks go, I feel like it is
in the top of tear. I was born in ninety one,
so I probably first saw this movie maybe in like
ninety five ninety six, and I was young, so I
(02:26):
really didn't know likes too much about what was a
going on. So I would say probably the next time
that I saw it after that was maybe in middle school.
And man, like, I just loved it. I loved it.
(02:46):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, it's a movie that is. The cast is very stacked. Right,
we have any Murphy, we have a very young Halle Berry. Yes,
you know, Chris rock Having, Givens, Martin, Lawrence David.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Allen, John Witherspoon, John.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Witherspoon, John Witherspoon's so good in this movie, Oh my god,
comedy legend, John Witherspoon, and the soundtrack equally stacked.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Right, who babyface?
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Right, babyface?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Tell me Bragston, Charlie Murphy, I mean not.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Lord, Charlie Wilsonie.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Charlie Wilson. Lord, I'm so sorry. Oh no, bro, Charlie Wilson.
Oh let die.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Yep, Left Eyes on Here and Yeah, tribe called Quest Quiz.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
It's just it is just one of those top tier
sounds tracks and just I love it.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, it took me back. I remember a lot of
these songs. I kind of didn't realize they all came
from the soundtrack, I know, right, Yeah, it spawned six singles,
sold three million copies, so obviously it was a big
hit at the time. The Tony Braxton track is kind
of the one that launched her career, which is really awesome.
(04:18):
And then obviously, like Babyface in the nineties, was just
a hit machine. Anything that was Yes, sir, he was
popping it out, he was. I mean, I feel like,
I don't know what's the what's the modern equivalent Jack Antonoff?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Maybe maybe I would say maybe Jake anson Off, Yeah
you say Jake anson Off. Maybe maybe Brahma Cocks Jaguz.
I can't think of nobody else as far as U,
(04:54):
R and B really.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, I mean and the baby Faces and baby Face
pretty much wrote almost all the songs on here, except
maybe like the pm DON song and obviously the track
called Quest song. You know, he doesn't write, he doesn't
write their raps for them, so.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
PM DON I remember a funny fact about PM DON.
I think if I can remember this correctly, I think
the first time that I ever heard a song from
them was when I watched I mean, you know man,
and their song is I think it's in like the
(05:33):
first five to seven minutes, and it is when they
introduced Sean Afton's character, and man, it's slat.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
So yeah, yeah, And I guess the fun fact about
this song I Die Without You is it also is
in Jane Silent Bob reboot.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Oh you don't have to rewards that and suic up.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Yeah. So I was, look, you know, trying to get
all the songs for the soundtrack to listen to it,
and for some reason with Apple Music, like the song
is great out but it's like here, it's on the
Jay and Silento reboot soundtrack, and I was like, that's
good enough for me. Yeah, so that song is on there. Obviously,
(06:27):
that was I think written in nineteen eighty two, so
that's not written for the soundtrack, but you know they
use it in the movie.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Marcus Miller, who worked a lot with Miles Davis. He's
kind of the composer for the movie. Though I would
say that the movie is mostly you know, based off
these songs, especially the Grace Jones song.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Definitely, it's Yeah, the Grace Jone's song is in probably
like four scenes.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Yeah yeah, yeah, so kind of like the theme of
the movie almost.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
And then of course, you know, Grace Jones is a
big part of this movie. She is playing kind of
a parody of herself called Stranja, and she is equally
hilarious and outrageous and terrifying.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Man.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
It's funny because we covered the Pewee Christmas Special podcast
and she's in that as well.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Is that the one that was on Netflix or or
is it the one from back in the day?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Back in the day?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Okay, okay, okay, okay, come on, I remember he had
a Christmas questionial on Netflix. But yeah that was pre Yeah,
that was maybe a few years before I was born.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
So yeah, so she's in here, and she is playing
a very like extreme version of herself. But you know,
obviously anyone who probably watched this movie watched it because
of Eddie Murphy. Definitely, so he's in this movie. He's
(08:07):
the star. He kind of came up with the idea,
had a couple of writers that he worked with They
kind of helped flush it out. And he wanted to
work with Reginald Hudland because him and his brother they
directed and produced House Party.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yeah, and I think far as far as the writers go,
I think it was his only Maddie and Charlie. I
think it was just into I think it was just
themto it. If I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
It was written by Barry W. Blaustein and David Sheffield,
who worked with that. Oh, but Anie, I think maybe
came up with the idea with Charlie.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Okay now that okay, yeah, okay, now that makes more okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Oh and speaking of us, and now, Chris Rock is
in this movie. We forgot to mention Chris Rock. That's
how stacked it is. I forgot to mention the Chris
Rock this movie.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yes, Chris Right is in this.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Movie working in the mailroom. You know, I was, I
was thinking of it. I was, you know, if they
had made House Party ten years later, I feel like
it'd be more like a Jed Appatow movie.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
And I feel like it'd be like I think there'd
be like a lot more like raunchy stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yeah, oh yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
But One of the things I love with this movie
is the friendship with Martin Lawrence and David Allen Greer
and Eddie Murphy here, Yeah, just them kind of like
bullshit around, even though Martin Lawrence is, you know, obviously
kind of annoying because he is like some misogynistic and stuff. Yeah,
you know, it's it's I mean, he's so he's just
(10:06):
so funny and I'm you know, like I feel like,
if they made it later, one of them would, you know,
either David Allen Grey or mar Lawrence wouldn't end up
being gay. But they didn't decide to go there. Yeah,
not back then though, And it's you know, it's an
all black cast, so I guess I think Eddie Murphy
(10:29):
didn't want to go that route with any.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Of his characters.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
So Tisha Campbell is in the movie. She's just got
a very small roles as Eddie's kind of obsessed neighbor
he has a restraining order against, I think and I
read that. You know. Obviously, she worked with Hudland on
House Party, and I guess she and Martin Lawrence hit
(10:57):
it off, and that's kind of how she became Gina
for Martin Cool. It kind of spawned. You know that
that you know, that's a very famous like sitcom relationship
Martin to Damn Gina, Right, yes, sir, so that was
really cool to learn. But yeah, I mean just so
(11:17):
so stacked. And I was talking to my wife. I
was like, I know who Robin Givens is. I you know,
I can match the name and the face. But when
I like look at her like filmography, like, I was like,
I don't. I haven't seen too many of her shows. Yeah,
(11:38):
I mean I saw a head of a class one
head of the class when I was a little kid,
I guess. But I was like, why why am I
so familiar with her? And my wife goes, oh, because
she was married to Mike Tyson, And I was like, oh,
I I mean I it rang a bell when I
you know, read through her BI. I was like, oh, yeah,
she married.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
I remember, Like she wasn't really able to do a
lot because I feel like I've only seen her maybe
like the most is maybe like five seven movies in
a few US TV shows.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Yeah, she has a lot of like you know, one
episode spots in like sitcoms. But yeah, I think I've
seen like this and like Head of State, the Chris
Rock movie. Yeah, but like, you know, she's a very
memorable person when she's on.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Only in the Boomerang universe can you see halle Berry
and be oh, she's just like the girl next door.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
The only thing I'm telling you, like, the only thing.
Then in the Last Boy Scout, I think she played
I think she played a stripper in there, so it's like, you.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Know, yeah, it took me like a second to be like, wait,
that's halle Berry. But she was so good, like you
could tell like, oh, yeah, she's gonna be a star.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Definitely.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Like I said, she's it's so stacked where it's you know,
halle Berry is like the second prettiest woman in this movie,
or that's what we're supposed to believe.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
That's that, that is what we are supposed to behave,
But nah, she's the first.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yeah. So let's let's talk about the soundtrack. So twelve songs,
six of them became singles. That's how crazy stacked the
soundtrack is. What are some of your favorite songs from
the soundtrack.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Oh, I would say the Johnny uh uh gilsong definitely,
that was that is definitely one of my favorites.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
There you go, and that's that's a baby face co right,
such a good song.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
The Trolley Wilson record.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Oh yeah, that's a good one. It's gonna be alright,
It's gonna be all right.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Yeah, both of the us totally Braxton songs. I would
say I would, I would, I would. I would pretty
much say the whole sound track honestly, I would say
the whole soundtrack is pretty much bought on.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Yeah, that's fair for me.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
And it was definitely one of the first soundtracks that
I had ever heard. So this is definitely and like
maybe like my top ten favorite sound tracks. So I
would saying my top ten.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah, I mean I think if you like this, uh
this era of R and B, I don't see you know,
it's it's full of like great songs. I misspoke earlier.
The Pantan song was actually written for the movie What So.
Even that song is for So So I'm guessing Kevin
Smith really like Boomerang and that's why he put Without
(15:12):
You in a Jane sound Bob reboot. Yeah, I mean,
I think those are all great songs. I also like
the Shanis song. I feel like she's kind of underrated.
People have kind of forgotten about her from from the
early nineties.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Yeah, you know, I.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Think everyone thinks to like Mariah and Whitney and Tony Braxton,
and you know, I thought Chanise had some really good
songs too.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Yeah, she should be, should be.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
And you know, because I have two daughters, so we're
watching a lot of Disney movies. He says, the end
credit song for Pocahontas with John Socicatta.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yeah, that's a that's a great fact. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
I always trying to make little connections here and there,
you know.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
I like, like a tribe called Quest is like one
of my favorite artists, but Hot Sex is maybe not
my favorite tribe called Quest songs.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
No, definitely, no, No, it's probably like maybe top top thirty.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Yeah, like it says in the tribe called Quest like
singles chronology, like it's between Scenario and Award Tour, and
like those are two of their best songs. Yeah, and
then you have hot Sex, which like, okay, it's all right,
you know, like I like it because they're still talented rappers,
you know, but it's like, you know, not a very
(16:44):
interesting beat in my opinion, and usually usually they have
a little bit more to say yeah, definitely, like even
when they're rapping about sex, like usually they have a
little bit more to say yeah. And obviously the big
hit from this soundtrack is Boyeman End of the Road.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Oh, that song. That song lay through the nineties in
the early two thousands. That song just ranty and even
to this day it is class day to this day.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah, I didn't realize that it was from a soundtrack.
I thought it was from Cool High Harmony, but it
was it's not actually on that album.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Mm hmm, I'm m hmm. I'm spread that this was
a soundtrack, that this was like a just like a
song on the main soundtrack and that's it.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Yeah, is that the only thing?
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Wow, I could have sworn that it was on one
of their uh album from.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Then they ended up then up like doing a new
version of the album like a reissue, and then they
put it on at the.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
End of the put on there, Okay, there you go.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
It wasn't originally on their album, so at first it
was just part of the soundtrack. And obviously it went
to number one for thirteen weeks.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Thirteen weeks. It just seemed like, I feel like thirteen
weeks back then when it comes to like a box
office or when it comes to the music charts, like
(18:45):
thirteen weeks back then, it feels a lot different then
a thirteeen weeks now.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Right, because now they like take streaming numbers.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
And yeah, yeah, yeah, it's yeah, it's a lot different.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah. Back in nineteen ninety two they counted physical copies
of the single being purchased, and so back in ninety
two when it hit thirteen weeks, I believe it broke
like a record by Elvis. And then later that year,
(19:22):
Whitney Houston made it to fourteen weeks with I Will
Always Love You from the Bodyguard, and then Bois to
Men and Mariah Carey broke that with One Sweet Day,
which was sixteen weeks, so a good time for sound
(19:46):
track track. But I feel like Boys to Men has
like they're able to like tour comfortably because of this song.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Definitely.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
I mean, obviously they've got lots of jams, but I
feel like end of the Road is like they're big one.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Yeah, that's the one. I would say everything from those
first three it's just hits on, hits on, hits on,
hits on, hits on, hiss on, hits.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Yeah, and I believe they obviously working with a babyface
was a good business decision for them, So yeah, I
think he continued to write with them.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Right, Yeah. But I remember, like I remember hearing a
story about why they stopped working two yeah, and I
think that they said because it was of the manager
or something. Oh interesting, Maybe I'm wrong. I think was
(21:01):
because a manager had had a scheduled a studio time
and they said that that they weren't coming or something
like that.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Maybe I won't yeah, because I know that he wrote
he co wrote I'll Make Love to You, which is
another one of the big hits. And I believe he
also did a song for Mama, which is off Sulfur.
So you know, at least they had a few more
hits with them. I'm surprised they didn't just like do
(21:36):
a whole album with him with hits they made together.
Maybe he wanted too much money. Hey, But like you said,
there's uh Lisa Leftie Lopez. She's on Reversal of a Dog,
which is one of many songs that samples Parliament's Atomic Dog.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Parliament is all in through this movie, like when Marcus
is just in there, Macan you here yeah, yeah, me.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
I think I was watching it last night in my
room and my wife went to sleep early, and she
kept waking up during the movie because of scenes like that.
You can hear like the dog barking, you know, and
it's supposed to kind of startle you a little bit,
you know, And I was like, oh, sorry, but I
(22:38):
need to watch this for work, son. But yeah, parliaments
throughout this movie. The fashion in this movie is pretty
top launch.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
I would say that when I really started to care
about fashion, we were definitely in the three X talks
to pay band stage. We were definitely in that stage. Yeah, definitely, yeah, definitely.
(23:14):
I feel like that was the time in which I
just really started to care about fashion, and that was
like for me, that was like sixth seventh grade. So yeah, yeah, yes,
it is all great.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Yeah, but the fashion in this movie is very distinct.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Oh yes, yes, And.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Even like the set design, like the apartments in this
movie they look like they're like unreal, how amazing these
apartments look. I did think it was funny that when
they reveal the really bad commercial, they're in that that
boardroom and then they like they're in that conference room
(24:00):
when they opened the doors and there's just that really
small TV and you know, obviously like it looks like
junk down because you know everyone's got like a wide
screen TV, but it's like dinky TV and you can
tell it has like a VCR on it. Oh, but
(24:21):
that that commercial is like terrifying.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
It is very unsettling.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Like it. It reminded me of a little bit of
like like Tales from.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
The Crypt a little bit, a little bit, but like.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
A more twisted version. You know, you gotta you gotta
give Grace jens for Flowers for subjecting herself to that scene.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Most definitely. She is definitely one of the few people
that could do that type of saying it something and
it's just like this is amazing.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, it might have been her idea.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yeah, she could have.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Been like it's not gross enough.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
You know, and she does a lot of outrageous stuff
in this movie. I think she first shows up in
the movie on like a chariot that's being driven by
by human people.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
By sixteen yes, and she got the yeah you wow, wow, man,
she wired this movie.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
It's probably one of the only people that's like, yeah,
I can pull all this off. And I think I
saw a YouTube video of her, like from her tour
like recently, and like she still got it. She's like
in her seventies and she's still like this. So good
for her. Yeah, the Seven Day Weekend song is actually
one of the few songs that Babyface did not write.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Dallas Austin.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
He's pretty good by himself too. You know, he's done
a lot of work with TLC, all.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
That work with the uh Dudgeon of Family, and.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
He's done some stuff with Pink when Stefani. But you know,
obviously no slouch. He can a pretty big name by
himself as far as like the writing talent on this soundtrack,
Like it's all people that like like they're all like
all time greats. You know, Babyface, you got you know
(26:41):
a cute tip from Tribe called quest, Dallas Austin, You've
got Lisa Lefti Lopez and then obviously Pian Five dogs Dogs.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
I have a five dog story and it's it's trust me.
It's it's very small, but it meant a lots.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I would love to hear it.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Okay, So I think it was about twenty thirteen, if
I'm not mistaken. I had spoke to Fife via a
(27:25):
Twitter because that was back then when shoot, everybody was
just speaking to everybody on there like it was. It
was different back then, yeah, because it's like you could
really like talk to the uh celebrities and I don't
care who it was. It could be fight Dog, it
could be Carmelo. You could really talk to him back then,
(27:50):
but nowadays you can't really do that. Well then if
you do, like nine times out of then it might
be for something negative maybe, but just back then, you
could just talk to them like they would just like
apply back in a day. It might take a week,
(28:10):
it might take a month almost, but they would definitely
talk back to us. And that was fire. That was fire.
But yeah, but yeah, like I had talked to him
and I was really trying to.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Schedule an interview with him, because that was back when
I was doing a lot of video of production.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Work when I was living in at Atlanta, and yeah, man,
like I was trying to just schedule something and I
think leap yep were we definitely talked in like twenty
get like twenty thirteen, maybe twenty fourteen, and yeah, like
(29:08):
the next the next year, the next two years, like
he passes away, and I like I was hurt like
I remember, like, uh, my girlfriend of back then and
now wife. You know, I remember the morning when I
found out that I cried in her arms, like I'm
(29:32):
not even byesing mare, like I was hurt because that
was when it comes to a rap like I don't
care what nobody says. Like you could say, yeah, like
Fife was the number two, but listen, Fife didn't wrap
like no number two. Fife was the one. Fife was
one of than once. He was one of them once
(29:55):
bars On bars On, bars On bars He was funny,
he was witty, He was one in ones man indefinitely.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
I miss him, Yeah, I did too. I remember when
he passed away. I was not in a good place,
but I remember I think it was some weather guy.
He was like dropping like five lyrics and like while
he was like telling the weather and that made me
feel a lot better. But yeah, I mean he he
(30:26):
was like the perfect compliment to Q Tip. It was,
you know, like it was more like a one A
one B sort of situation. I agree with that. I
think even in the song, which I'm you know, it's
not my favorite tribe song, he makes that really funny
line about you know, going to on one like John Ritter,
like my man John Ridder, and I was like, oh,
(30:47):
that's actually a really funny line. He's always got a
good joke in there, you know ya. So what is
your favorite tribe called quest album? If I may ask, I.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Will say Midnight Marauders that it is definitely always between
day and in the low end of low in theory,
I would say Midnight Marauders is definitely the one that
I go back to the most. Yeah, I agree, Yeah,
(31:24):
it's definitely the one that I go back to the most.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
I have a kind of a sad tribe called quas
story lord h. So this was after five passed there
were they were plant doing like a tour to kind
of pay tribute to Fife, and so we were going
to go see him at this music festival in San Francisco,
Come Outside Lands and uh, basically like the show before
(31:49):
this festival, like Cuta decided he couldn't do it anymore,
and so they didn't announce until the festival had already
started that tribe perform and the rest of the guys
were all in San Francisco like they were at the festival,
and Keita was like, Nope, not doing it.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Wow, I have a story like that. It's about Tiso touch.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Down, touchdown.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Yeah. He was supposed to perform at barcol the City
last year and I was there, you know, going on
like he was like super late and at the last
minute they had their people come out to us tell
us that they kind of basically said that, like due
(32:48):
to the size of the stage, he did not want
to uh perform, And I was just like, bro, what
you about to be doing? Like the stage was not small,
The stage was not like super duper small, but it
(33:08):
was just like a normal size concert stage that was
a set up outside. So I kind of feel like
he wanted to be on the main stage. It makes
sense because I've seen some of his live of performances,
(33:31):
so it makes sense.
Speaker 4 (33:32):
But I was just like, bro, like, we didn't pay
all this money out here, dog like, Like I mean
like you got like probably like five hundred people out
here waiting to see you, and I'm like, you here
because everybody's aw there, So it was just like, he here,
you don't want to perform? Man, that sucks, then bru
(33:53):
come on man, So for real, you know, have you
ever noticed that like a lot of times whenever even
whenever he has like something like small as like he's
saying probably about like five words on the song.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
He's always listed as a feature. Have you ever peeped that?
Have you ever like peeped that before? And it's just like, bro,
like you got five Like I mean, like you're saying
five words on here? Why are you listed as a feature?
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Maybe he thinks it'll help sell.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Not most of them records. I won't be honest with you, bro,
I have I have a problem with him as of
the past maybe few years, especially now. You know, I'm
not gonna say that he's not one of the greats.
I'm not gonna I'm not gonna say that because that
would definitely be a lie. But you know, it's just
(34:55):
like the way that the way that he been moving
behind the scene, especially with Chad and the netnes of breakup.
I mean, I kind of went down a rabbit hole
last year and I was looking at us Chad's tweets
(35:16):
and I saw one from maybe a couple of years ago,
and he tweeted what does a trademark mean? Or like
what is a trademark for? And I kind of put
that together with their with their legal problems, and I
(35:38):
was just like damn Doug. I was just like, oh god.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Oh yeah, it's sad to see.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Yeah, man, definitely it's sad them. And I would say
them and Hallan Oates Holland Oats, they've been beefing since
back then, like.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
I kind of feel like before you were born, dog Like.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
I'm just like, bro, like those two have had a
bad relationship on and off for about like five decades.
For decades, yeah, you know, like damn dog.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Yeah, it's it's it's it's sad to see you know,
you made so much great art together and you just
can't get along. And like I could understand it if
it was like over a girl or something, but when
it's just kind of like business, like you guys are
both getting paid.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
I mean, bro, not even a girl. Like I can't
let no, I can't let no woman or no man
get between which y'all got going on. You can't be
very true, very true. I can't do that. I don't care. Man, woman,
I don't care. You can't let a man or a
woman get in between of you and your business whatever
(36:56):
that business is. No Surrey Bube, no man, no.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Yeah, back and actually that that is something that happens
in the movie, right, they decided to not yesterday.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
It all circles back, it all comes back around.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
That was a nice That was a nice moment.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
It was.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
David Allen Green very underrated in this movie just in general.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Yeah. Man, I was listening to one of my people's
hike cast. Uh they have a horror of Hike cast
and it it's called people under the Uh Scares podcast. Yeah,
(37:41):
and they just did a review on Jumanji and David
Allen Greer man, like, I feel like that was one
of them rolls in which he was just like, what
they're about to have me doing out here? Like I'm
on this said with all of this stuff, and I'm
just like, hey, man, like, I'm just like a comedian, like,
(38:05):
but they about to have me a dude out here?
And man, he was doing a lot in Jumaji. He
was doing a lot in that movie. Man, He's yeah
in that movie. But definitely that's definitely one of his ros.
And we're like, what is he doing in this? But
it's okay, Yeah, I know, all right, bro.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
Yeah, yeah, I love that. Recently he's kind of come
back and he's been in more things. I really enjoyed
him on The Carmichael Show. Sat here even though like
it's just like the cranky old dad. Yeah said that
show is off the year.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
I thought it was very smart. That could have lasted
at least two more videos.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
But big fan of grad.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Yeah, did you watch the Boomerangue show?
Speaker 1 (38:56):
No, I read about that.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
I haven't set You gotta check it out. You have
to check it out that I think it on the
Grand for two seasons, which was unfortunate because I feel
like in the second season they definitely started to really
like grow as a lot of shows. And yeah, they
(39:20):
canceled probably about like maybe about like seven months after
their second season of finished, and it was just one
of them cancelations. I was just like, come on, y'all,
all they needed was a couple more just just to
maybe finish up everything.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
But no, yeah, I mean, and they had good people
behind it, you know. Lena Waite was an executive producer.
Obviously Halle Berry was involved as well.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Yeah, lean away, you know she I appreciate her and
I and I appreciate most of her patri chance and
I'm gonta leave it at that.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
He respects her. He may not be here Vickers fan,
but you respect some other fun facts about this movie.
So this movie has three different people who have appeared
in James Bond movies. So halle Berry obviously is the
Bond girl. Jones, Grace Jones. Who's the third one, the
(40:28):
guy who plays Nelson, you know, the guy that makes
the really like gross commercial. Yeah, yeah, he's from like
an old school Bond film, from Living Let Die.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
I don't think I've seen Leaving Let Die.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
Yeah, I haven't seen it. I just know the polema.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
I don't think I've seen that one, Okay, but.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
Yeah, three Bond connections there. We had Martin and Tisha
Campbell kind of meet here to do to kind of
set up that, you know, Martin and gena relationship. It's
kind of interesting that, you know, reginal Hudland didn't really
(41:12):
do a lot of directing after this.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
Yeah. I have always said that they I would say
that him and his brother. I feel like that they
should have done a lot more. But the hollywoods system
is a nice two people that look like me to
and to people that look like you, Hollywood, they just
(41:39):
be on some mess and I hate that that is
still going on.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Yeah, I think there was a funny quote from Hudland
about you know, I think the reviews for this movie
were like mixed to kind of negative. Yeah, and he said,
you know a lot of critics thought this was like
a science fiction film because they've never seen a successful
black company before.
Speaker 2 (42:02):
Okay, no, that's a pretty good dig right.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
Oh but Hudland did uh, he did be he did
become a executive producer, so he uh it was the
executive producer. He was the executive producer of The Bernie
mac Show, which is one of my favorites that coms
of all time. So he directed a lot of that.
(42:28):
He's done some Modern Family and Office episodes as well.
He was also the president of B E T for
a few years. And he's actually done some comic writing
as well. He's done uh some Marvel Comics stuff for
X Men and Storm. So pretty like diverse portfolio definitely,
(42:53):
So you know, he didn't just fall off the face
of the earth, but he did some pretty cool stuff.
The last thing I wanted to bring up because we
like to make jokes about stuff, so he is. So
when you know this movie, Eddie Murphy's character Marcus very well,
(43:13):
one joke that they kind of cut to a lot
is when he is trying to find stuff that is
wrong with these women that he's hooking up with, he
looks at, yeah, their feet after he sleeps with them. Yeah,
and uh, you know, when I was watching that, my
brain was like, oh, you know, that seems like a
(43:34):
very Quentin Tarantino thing, you know, because people like to
make fun of his thing with feet. Well, come full circle.
Reginald Hudlin. He's one of the producers of Jango Unchained Crazy,
and I wonder if Tarantino was like, I gotta work
with that other foot guy. Oh yeah. So Hudland also
(43:54):
has executive produced like the Emmy Awards. He doesn't one, sir,
I mean word ceremony. So good for you, reginal Huddling.
They might not let you make another movie, but you're
still working in the industry, and you're still doing cool things.
You know. For it's a surprise because I think the
movie costs forty million to make and it made over
(44:15):
one hundred million dollars. You think they'd be like, here's
a blank check, make some more things.
Speaker 2 (44:19):
Yeh. I say that that was better back then than
it is now because.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
Now you can with inflation and stuff.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
Yeah, yeah, I would say, like like now, it's just
like that's really just like a drop in the in
the bucket kind of sort of. But you know when
it comes to box off numbers now, it's just like
it's just like, okay, like how long is the movie
going to be in the theaters? Like is it gonna
(44:51):
be in the theaters for just a couple of weeks?
Is it gonna be in theaters for like a month?
Maybe two months? You know? And and that right there. I
just I hate it because.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Helsa did The Ladies Man to Meadows, so maybe.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
That's okay, yes, because man, it's just like box office
wise is just like most movies are in the theaters
for maybe like three weeks and then they are on.
Speaker 3 (45:29):
V o D.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Maybe like a week or two after that.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
It's just like, man, yeah it's weird now, like, yeah,
it's weird. We went to see We Live in Time
was Andrew Garfield movie back in October, and they had
a uh, they had a trailer for Conclave, right, the
big you know, big movie Conclave. Like a month later,
(45:57):
it's like, oh, Conclaves on Peacock. I was like, what
I thought it? I just saw a trailer for it.
You can watch on Peacock like, oh, I guess mm hmm.
But that's a whole different other discussion.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
Yes, it's a whole other bag.
Speaker 1 (46:15):
Yeah. But but James, thank you for coming on our podcast.
Speaker 2 (46:19):
No problem, man, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (46:22):
I have so much fun, Yeah, so much fun talking
about with you, talking about music. So if people want
to find you on the internet to read about you,
to talk to you, how do they find you?
Speaker 2 (46:36):
Yes, you can find me at photo Jimmy on pretty
much everything from a Twitter to uh blue Sky uh,
mister Graham Photo Jimmy on everything you know. I love
(46:57):
to talk about it all. I love talking about music
and movies, TV shows, Yeah, pretty much everything.
Speaker 1 (47:05):
So very cool. So follow him there and you can
talk to him about what's on your mind pop culture wise.
You can find us on Blue Sky at soundtrack your
life dot net and on Instagram and Twitter at soundtrack
cast and uh once again, thanks again James, and no
(47:26):
pinch you next time, all right,
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