Breakfast Club Classic: Mýa Talks Creative Freedom, Navigating the Industry, Independence

Today on The Breakfast Club, Mýa Talks Creative Freedom, Navigating the Industry, Independence. Listen For More!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Every day up weak, click your ass up the breakfast club.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
You don't finish for y'all done? Morning. Everybody is d
j n V.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
Just hilarious charlamage the guy we are the breakfast club lawl.
The roast is here as well. We got a special
guest in the building.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Yes, indeed, maya welcome morning.

Speaker 4 (00:19):
Is this your first time?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Is it?

Speaker 4 (00:21):
I think?

Speaker 5 (00:21):
So? Wow morning I met everybody before.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
How did you energy this morning? You feel good?

Speaker 5 (00:27):
I got a good nice rest.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Okay, that's happening.

Speaker 5 (00:31):
Tacos for Taco Tuesday.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
She's married to a Mexican, so.

Speaker 5 (00:36):
Every day is also as well. Yes, I'm good.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
How are y'all doing new album retrospect?

Speaker 5 (00:44):
Yes, sir?

Speaker 2 (00:45):
What is this album mean to you?

Speaker 5 (00:46):
M hm? This album is a journey back into time,
the time that influenced me to sign up some music,
you know, when I fell in love with music for
the first time. It was literally sou bunk, R and
B that filled my household by days, the collection and
my parents had a lot of dancing going on, a
lot of singing going on in the living room. But

(01:07):
culture as well, the block parties, the skating rinks, those
gatherings where your family would come over, laughter, children playing,
so it's a celebration.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Nobody could look at you and tell you grew up
in that era.

Speaker 5 (01:21):
Literally, no, I'm a seventies baby.

Speaker 4 (01:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:26):
Yeah, so the whole experience.

Speaker 6 (01:28):
But I'm glad that you said that because we were
listening to the album and I instantly got Prince. Yeah,
So it's like that was totally intentional.

Speaker 5 (01:36):
Oh yes, the Minneapolis sound. I've worked with Jim and
Lewis before, performed with Prince before, but that whole era
of funk, the performance, the aesthetics, the fashion, you know,
the little expressions and the facial expressions and the hand gestures,
just the ultimate performance during that time, the rehearsals. You know,
I'm a musician's daughter. Yeah, and it really inspired me.

(02:00):
I've done stuff like that before on previous albums. I
did a Rick James cover, but I just wanted to
embody a whole body of work, which is is what
an album is to me. So retrospect is literally digging
into the crates of my influences and going back into time,
those joyful times of my childhood that first influenced me
and introduced me to music.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Performing with PRINSI what.

Speaker 5 (02:25):
Was that like, it was beautiful. You know. I got
to see him two nights in a row at the
O two in London, and he had a lot of
artists join him on that run and I learned a
lot just by being there for two nights. There was
a jam session of course afterward, at the end of
go and of course the conversation about independency, you know,

(02:48):
the first conversation i'd met him before that. But he
was a big advocate of empowerment, no sampling, playing an instrument,
all of those things, and then really investing in your craft.
And there were gems that were jopped. See I'm not friends.

(03:08):
And I started this independent journey very early before it
was a thing, and Len and nine is my label,
and I didn't necessarily know what it was all about
when I stepped into that new territory, and he was
the person that was the voice of reason that sort
of kept me on that path even when it got tough.
You know, it requires you to of course finance one
hundred percent. That's the way I've done it, and you know, grind,

(03:33):
but also wear several different hats and wear many roles.
And it's been a beautiful educational journey of empowerment, but
learning and then also developing relationships when you become the
label yourself and figuring it out because you know the
business of music, and then also the technological side of
things changes every few weeks, there's a new platform. So

(03:56):
it was really wonderful just to be in his presence,
but also to receive the spiritual conversations, the business conversations,
the new business models, the rehearsal conversations, finding your niche conversations,
the performance aspect of it, and then encouragement.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
How ahead of what he fine was he?

Speaker 5 (04:14):
Oh? I mean he was in his own world. He
was one of one playing over seventeen instruments, you know,
I don't know anybody that does that, and was very passionate, meticulous,
very detail oriented. I witnessed him doing a sound check
at the O two both nights, and so I actually

(04:37):
ran into him on my way to my soundcheck coming
from his soundcheck, and he was out there mixing on
the board in the front of house.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (04:46):
And he cares that much about how the audience or
the listener receives the art down to the mixing, and so,
you know, I get asked often how come there's been
an eight your gap in between albums. I mean, I too,
have really taken my time to be in that process
of mixing. This is the first album that I am

(05:10):
releasing independently in Dobe atmos as well as Sony three
sixty spatial Audio, which is an immersive experience so that
you're like inside of the music's around sound three hundred
and sixty degrees. But now that you know they're doing
this with music now versus just soundtracks for films, house like.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
What's gonna sound like? I'm just listening on my little.

Speaker 5 (05:34):
There are headphones actually being developed now so that you
can get the immersive experience. Got Yeah, it's so wild.
I did the whole test thing at the Sony studios
where they have these little wires that they stick in
your ears and they can actually see how you're ingesting
the sound and then they calibrate it to your ear. Wow,
it's crazy. And then they take it off with I

(05:56):
don't know how many speakers are around you three hundred
and sixty degrees above, left, right, and below, and you
cannot tell the difference between like thirty different speakers in
the room and the little tiny wired earbuds that go
in your ear, like, what's going on right now? This
is so advanced.

Speaker 4 (06:13):
So did it take for you to make this whole
album retrospect?

Speaker 2 (06:17):
How long would it just whisper? Because my whispering.

Speaker 7 (06:22):
This is my morning, right she just set We're still early,
So so how long did it take you to make this?

Speaker 4 (06:36):
How long did it take?

Speaker 5 (06:38):
Who so chilling back? Okay, So I didn't have an
actual timeline, you know. I actually cut the very first
record in twenty sixteen, which opens my album Give It
to You. I released it as a single in June
of last year. D Nice is now on it for
the album version shut Up Yes, legendary d Nice, and

(06:59):
he introduces this album with that song. And so I'd
released other albums during that time. There were Smooth Jones
that came in twenty sixteen, and then TKO, which is
one of the slow Jams Baby Miging Music project in
twenty eighteen. In twenty seventeen, I recorded the second song.
So it was like in between touring and in between
album tours and promotional and grind stuff that I would

(07:23):
just go in the studio. My production partner is Migay
Mars from fifteen hundred and nothing, and we would get
together in between albums. But it was actually the pandemic
that was confirmation for both of us, like, Yo, let's
start making some playlists that get us out of this
funk because this is a very uncertain time for all

(07:45):
of us the world. We had so many different directions
we wanted to go. There was a mixtape Lang Maya Lanski,
but we were like, it's too dark right now, Let's
bring the joy. Let's go in this direction. We had
a face to face conversation. Look, if we had one
direction we wanted to go in, and we only had
one choice, which one would you do this one of

(08:06):
that one? We chose Joy. And then in the end
of twenty twenty is when I rented the studio in Glendale, California,
and we got to work and so we literally finished
the whole project, just the blueprint without all the features
in twenty twenty one.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (08:22):
But the pandemic inspired that, and then the process of
reaching out in the dms, etc. Or relationships that we
already had came the features. And then all the legal
processes took place over the years and featured artists, clearances
and publishing it all this kind of stuff, and now
it's seeing the light of day. But I'd also recorded
two other albums in between, TKO twenty eighteen and now,

(08:46):
so those are already mixed, mastered. I'm ready to go.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
Damn.

Speaker 5 (08:50):
You know, we were working, Yeah, I got to ask.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
You know, when we heard the album, we were listening
very seventies eighties, right, Yeah. Then when you walk in,
I see Londell behind you, yes, sir. Now, Londell is
a state manager. I don't if he's still a state
manager for the Prince of State. So he's estate managed
for princes. Did he have any I guess did you
go to him for advice for dealing with Prince and
the music to sound, et cetera, et cetera.

Speaker 5 (09:12):
Well, Londell was very instrumental in Prince's entrepreneurship, you know,
and the empowerment behind that. He started in law and
does so many other things, and he's been in that
practice for such a long time. But he also has
a management company, media company, owner of Source magazine, And
I'd been dealing with several lawyers to try to get

(09:33):
these projects solidified and there was no luck, you know,
but Londell has a lot of weight in this business
and can literally reach.

Speaker 3 (09:40):
Out based on those a couple of people.

Speaker 5 (09:41):
Yeah, and so I actually know Londel. My dad and
I know him for a long time. We've known each
other for a long time and we've had business conversations
in the past as well. And so I told my dad,
I like, look, I'm so frustrated right now with these lawyers.
Find out where Londell is. Get him on the phone.
So we started talking collectively and Londell mentioned, you know,

(10:06):
I'm doing other things outside of law. Let me listen
to the music, see where you're at. There were lots
of conversations to also find out if this was aligned
with him, if I was aligned, and what my mission was.
And it holds that entrepreneurial spirit always, which was also
held together by Prince for so long in spirit. You know,

(10:28):
we lost him and he's still here in spirit. But
Londell is now my manager and leading this thing so
that it sees the light of day with a quickness,
but also supporting the project with strategy, these other teams
that are very necessary to roll things out. And I
was just kind of throwing out music during my independent career.

(10:50):
So happy anniversary fans, Thank y'll so much for writing
with me. But now it's a new day and I
want to do it right. I want to do it
better and elevate every time. Teamwork makes the dream work.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Gotcha, Sure, it's interesting because you said it's your first
three job man eight years. It makes me think, were
you protecting your piece, of protecting your artistry?

Speaker 5 (11:10):
Honestly, I was really just having a ball experiencing what
it is to create from a real, free, pure place.
It wasn't even protection. It got very addictive when I
went independent because I had the freedom to create whatever
genre with no ceiling. I wanted to the timeline. I
set no deadlines. I didn't have to focus on charting

(11:32):
or numbers and validate myself based on someone else's definition
of success and all that pressure that does come from
the major label system and the investment I knew, excuse me,
the investment I knew was going to be very boutique,
you know, and very startup under the radar because I
started in Japan on my very first few releases, and

(11:53):
so it was really fun because I didn't have all
those rules, and of course the criticism that comes with
releasing a full body of work over me. But that
was the time to get acclimated to what this independent
journey was about. Do it in a very under the
radar situation and a one territory release here and there,
mix stapes et peas along the way, and then something
magical happens. Your relationships are built, you know the process

(12:17):
because of that education and practice, and then you show
up and you put together an album, throw it out
just for the love. It gets nominated for a Grammy,
and then it's additional confirmation to keep going. And Prince
always said, you know, I will help you if you
stay independent, And there's been so many times you want

(12:41):
to throw in the towel, questioning self, is this really
worth it? Do I need to go back into the
system and all of these things, because it is very
hard and you have to be very relentless and resilient
in your grind, especially when you're financing one hundred percent
of it, and then sometimes people don't even know it exists.
So you're also getting oh, you're washed up, or you
how come you don't make music anymore? And nobody's paying attention.

(13:03):
So nobody's paying attention. So to answer your question, you know,
there's been so many times that question mark has popped up,
but I don't measure success in the way I used
to when I was in the system because there's a
new definition that's been introduced to me. My sanity is kept,

(13:24):
my spirit's intact. I'm literally having more fun now in
my forties than I was as a teenager, just kind
of trying to figure it out and understanding that, you know,
if it doesn't reach a certain number or a chart position,
then you can be canceled, you can leave, you can
be shelved. And I love music so much. I think

(13:46):
I've protected just the love of the art, not intentionally,
but that's what Prince was always talking about, and that's
what he was an advocate for, for those he thought
or maybe saw a little spark of love and passion
in so that they could preserve their art themselves and
still work in the business.

Speaker 3 (14:08):
Were you nervous about going into the seventies era because
it's it's like, you know, you have to think about
what does it fit, where does it fit, and especially
with this generation so loving the nineties, the era that
you came out and the cool.

Speaker 5 (14:24):
When it was pure. People comment on this album and
they're like, oh, you go into the era when it
was pure Rick Jay's But no, I don't even create
from that place anymore, from fear based on who I
think should like it, or considering every demographic. You'll go
in circles trying to do that. My measure of satisfaction

(14:48):
is does it feel good to me? You know? Does
it feel right? Does it feel ready? Is a modulation needed?
Is this in the right key? Do we need to
rework this record so it has a little bit more slap?
Is the mix right? Is the feature right? Did I
do my best on it? Can I live with this
in my car over and over and over and over again?

(15:09):
Can I write to it? Can I share it with others?
You know? And that's where I create from. And if
I love it, of course I start sharing secretly and
privately to my friends, the people that know me, the dances,
my creative director. And you know, you can always test
with your fans. We have private chats. You can always
go on Instagram live if you really want to test

(15:31):
a record before you invest as a business. But no,
I don't make music from fear. There's nobody judging but
me now, you know. And I'm never nervous about my
favorite era of music because I knew, I knew that
it hit different during that time. My dad is a

(15:52):
singer performer. I watched him and his band in my
childhood write in my living room rehearse, and I was
just dancing away and singing away with hair brushes and broomsticks.
And that's the feeling that I wanted to capture. So
you'll get all of that joy from the Trailblazers, the Rich,
James Prince, the Tina Marie, the Shalamar, Atlantic Star is

(16:16):
all over the ballads, Sos Band, Gap Band, Evelyn Champagne, King,
Patrice Russian. So many influences, MJ. You can hear it.
This is like Quincy Jones and Rod Temperton influences all
in that that come from my favorite era of music,
which is the late seventies, and then it bleeds into
the eighties with synthesizers. And you also have the hip

(16:39):
hop element on this project because Mike got Mars the
executive producer partner of my as well as Mike and
Keys who work with a Nipsey hustle and list goes
on and on and on. They know hip hop, they
know drums. The iconic pioneers like Jay Dilla are all
over you know, they're product, so you get that fused

(17:02):
and I'm in love with this project.

Speaker 8 (17:04):
You said, nobody's judging, but you now, does that come
from the independence not that that okay I was gonna asks,
or does.

Speaker 9 (17:10):
It come from where you are in your womanhood now?

Speaker 5 (17:13):
Like it comes from both places. The independency has allowed
me to create from that space of freedom where there's
no number that I have to meet, there's no sale,
there's no first week pressure. I just want it out
in the universe, you know, And that's success for me, Like, hey, enjoy.
I might not be here tomorrow. We never know when
our last breath is. But the fact that I have

(17:33):
birth something and I just put it out for those
to enjoy. Whoever's ready to receive it, wants to receive it,
stumbles upon it, you know, word of mouth is shared
with that's success, you know. And then to bring it
to the stage is like a cherry on top for
me because I love to perform. And if my dad
likes it because I always play it for him being

(17:55):
a musician, you know, is he satisfyment? Those are some
good years back here, and you know, I'm not really
fearful also because of my womanhood, and there are a
lot of lessons that I've learned along the way, even
in just as a songwriter. Some gems practice I've had,
and it's a wonderful journey to just kind of be

(18:17):
refined and step out fearlessly. That's the error that my
is in. Now.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
Do you think modern music lost something emotionally like when
everything became algorithm and numbers driven.

Speaker 5 (18:28):
Well, I think there's pros and cons to everything. You know,
Algorithms can definitely be a focus when you're talking about
business and return of investment. When somebody's investing because they're
putting up some money, they're literally financing something and they
want their money back plus some You know, when you're
doing it for the fun, it's a little different. Sometimes

(18:50):
you're like, I don't care if I'm in the red zone.
I can go on debt for this. I'll pay extra
to just be there, or I'll pay extra so that
this is out and I'll get my money elsewhere, whether
it's touring or a brand deal or whatever it is.
Algorithms can shoot really affect validation, and I think it's

(19:10):
affecting our youth the likes because they're also growing into
themselves in real time, and that's a part of what
they look too, which is also addictive as how they
define themselves, and that can be dangerous As a grown woman,
I'm not thinking about that, but of course, you know,

(19:32):
when you're talking to a social media team or your
PR that's their job to let you know, okay, this
is actually working. You should do more of that raw stuff.
You don't have to be put together all the time.

Speaker 2 (19:42):
You know.

Speaker 5 (19:43):
Those are the things I'm still open to because people
want to be talked to. You got to connect some way.
But algorithms are how businesses make their decisions because it's
a risk out here. And if you're not a ticket sale,
if you're not putting butts and seats, if you're not selling,
then we have some hesitation rights. It's just business, so

(20:03):
you can't take it personal, and so I encourage artists
to learn the business so that first of all, you
can protect your mental health and know that it's not
just criticism and an attack on you all the time.
It's literally business, and you don't find that out until
you become the business. And it's your money, you know,
so you gotta of course have tough skin, but it's

(20:27):
an awareness, and it's an education, and it's an understanding.
So I think all of that is really essential now
when you're dealing with other financiers to understand or major
labels with a lot of people and a lot of
voices involved for your own mental health, but also awareness
and how you navigate so that you can still be open,

(20:49):
learn as a student, and then move forward with some grace,
but also know that everything's not going to be perfect.
You know you're gonna have some wins and some losses,
but its very essential that you define that yourself and
then also have a degree of separation while you're operating
in both and they can coexist and they can intersect.

Speaker 3 (21:09):
You know, I was going to ask you know you
started so young. I did, But we haven't heard a
lot of maya crazy stories. Is that because your dad
is still with you now and he's still got in
making sure that he's controlling everything else. Because a lot
of times when people start young, you start hearing crazy stories.
Eight the industry runs them down, the industry makes them crazy.
But we haven't heard that no stories from you.

Speaker 5 (21:30):
I mean, there's always controversy because wild stuff out there,
of course that I actually experienced at the birth of
you know, a lot of the bottom feeder type of sites.
You know, you can't avoid that in a public forum,
you know, as a public figure, and everybody's a public
figure nowadays, but.

Speaker 1 (21:50):
Going to all the bottom feed of sites right now.

Speaker 8 (21:57):
He's a whole lot afford on her to sit down
that y'all did, and I made some notes about just
what it felt like being there at the break of
it all, because we feel like we get it so
bad from what we experience now.

Speaker 5 (22:11):
Anytime you step out into this world, be prepared to
get attacked from every direction. Even if you are mother
Teresa and your fundamentals, it does not matter. So you
do have to understand that the world that we live in,
plus everybody's opinion being who on front Street, it's gonna happen.

(22:32):
And if you know that everybody's kind of going through
it wonderful. We didn't have social media when I was
a teen, so I survived. We had, you know, tabloids
and blogs, but I was really under the radar because also,
and I'm thankful for that, because I was still a
test dummy when I first started. They weren't sure of
R and B and if it could live on a

(22:53):
rap and rock label. I was literally on Interscope when
it was just in rock as an experiment. I was
not signed on my first album during their investment to
see if it could even work and exist. I was
not even signed to Terscope on my first album. I
was signed to Hawk Islam out of DC on University
Music Entertainment, So it was real soft pedal ish. I

(23:17):
didn't get the Britney Spears exposure, but we were positioning
and aligning on oh soundtracks, ghettle, superstar pop stuff here
and there, good looks to just try to figure it out.
So I didn't have the initial I would say, stamp
of approval yet I was in a real void gray
area like R and B. We don't know what that is.

(23:39):
We don't know if that's going to work over here.
We're willing to take a chance somewhat. Let's see how
it does. But what's the first best business decision? Shout
out to Baltimore Drew Hill Cisco. But it's also on
the same independent label that helped me break onto the scene.
You know, there's a lot of piggybacking that happens when

(24:01):
you're new to this business, which is a very competitive business,
and I'm thankful for that move, even though that wasn't
my first choice for the first single I had a
strong camp, you know, my dad was there during that time,
and my mom was my accountant. She's always kept me
debt free and finances intact, even in the hardest times,

(24:25):
you know, so that I'm very responsible, but I also
understand how quick and could go out the door. But
also you know, to plan for the future of state
planning as well and what you want to avoid. So
I've been really truly privileged and blessed to have family
involved in my business but also present, so just kind

(24:48):
of keep me protected from all the things that we do.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
Hear about you think social media would have helped your
career more heart it both both.

Speaker 5 (24:56):
You know, you get to know people too much. You
can be some strong effects personally spiritually, you know, to
open yourself up to the world is dangerous, and I
think there's a lot of judgment that's very fragile when
you're learning yourself as a teenager. Yeah, I see it

(25:17):
all the time with child stars in the public eye
trying to grow into themselves. So I think the popularity,
and of course the investment might have been enhanced because
of the exposure that you get from social media. But
it could have gone so many different ways. Are you
ready for it? What are the dynamics going on in

(25:38):
your personal life? I don't think at that time I
would have been ready for too much popularity. I was
still learning me. I was also still learning the business
and also just how to conduct an interview, how to
do radio drops, like the real things when you're just
a newbie to any territory.

Speaker 8 (25:56):
At a lot of fans when they have conversations about
your care they always talk about how like your fourth
album was like either it was delayed or like the
release wasn't as big as fans felt like it should
have been. Yeah, and they feel like it was unfair
to you and that's why certain things didn't happen for
you afterward.

Speaker 9 (26:12):
How do you feel about that time period of your life?

Speaker 5 (26:15):
It's so interesting looking back at that time. So when
I mentioned Interscope, yes, a series of events go like
this hockey slam, you know, signed to an independent label,
they invest in you. Demos were shocked to several different labels.
Interscope said, yes, but it's still maybe second album, I
got signed to Interscope officially did another album. Third album

(26:37):
was Mood Rang two thousand and three, did a tour
all that, I start wanting to record my fourth album
and the budget was closed and they're still recouping. A
lot was spent making that third album with Ron Fair
and you know, I didn't have management at that time.
So I'm now kind of in a transition where I

(26:58):
got to either put up my own one and I
started to do that, and it was like a lot
of money. Every week I was spending in studios twenty
thousand over the course of two weeks. I said, this
is ignorant. What I'm going to do is go home.
I'm want to build a studio. I'm want to build
a rehearsal space. But I'm also going to purchase a
house so I can have living take care of family,

(27:20):
but also cast a crew that's based from my hometown,
that's hungry, that's thirsty, provide opportunities, start a foundation. Because
something doesn't feel right living in La something is missing,
and I was out there by myself, so I called
my dad up. I was like, look, I'm not happy here.
Let's sit down. I can't create. I don't want to

(27:42):
come home and I want to do things from the
ground up. He took me to Motown via Sylvia r Own.
It was still within the universal system and that's where
R and B was supported. It was understood culturally understood.
It has a history going back to Detroit. And so
Sylvia r Own allowed me to executive produce my own project,
and it was a wonderful project called Liberation, which would

(28:03):
have been my fourth album. Things happened. There was Napster,
there was social media, there was iTunes, and so when
you change the release date so many different times, there's
the farthest territory furthest territory Japan. That's a whole day ahead, right,
And when they changed the release date the last minute,
Japan had the album and it was out and then

(28:25):
it leaves and then it got shelved, and a whole
bunch of other stuff around that time. Well, they're just ahead,
you know, regarding a whole day ahead. So they got
it before they got the memo, or somebody didn't click
in the metadata to check off that one territory. And
so once it's out anywhere, it's out, and your whole

(28:46):
rollout is fumbled the whole investment. It gets shelved. You
can choose to go back in the system. I was
just in a place of look processing, which has happened
after spending a year and a half literally putting up
in some of my own money. Of course, you know,
to be thrown out, discarded, dropped all of these things

(29:09):
with negligence and made to look like I wasted somebody's money.
When I show up, I show up on time. I
really invest my own money into situations. I just decided
to sit with self for a minute and figure out,
you know, well, what it is I want to do.

(29:30):
Broadway called immediately, which was wonderful. Prince called immediately when
he heard the word independent, and there were these wonderful
things that happened immediately for me, where I was quickly
gathered up and shown that this actually is probably going
to be your greatest blessing. There are opportunities coming. You

(29:53):
have a catalog already, But I was always living in
this spider flight correctional facility mode. I wants you all
to understand that I'm not lazy. I want you all
to understand that the perception is not I wasted anybody's money.
The perception is is I'm gonna go get this and
I'm going to go show you that I mean business,

(30:13):
show you that I'm really about this art, show you
that I'm really about this music, and do the best
I can with what I got to work with, whatever
that is. It's always just figuring it out in real time.

Speaker 2 (30:23):
Can you expound on that you said you're always in
fight or.

Speaker 5 (30:25):
Flight correctional facility mold when you're in that devastation after
you've had all of this press, all of this expectation,
the release dates announced changed, you know, investment made, but
also a narrative that says, oh, you wasted two million dollars,
the motown money, all these things like you're somebody irresponsible

(30:47):
or real high maintenance and doing all these crazy things.
That's not the case. Things happen.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
I feel like that energy can exist for everybody now
if you allow it to.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
Because of social media.

Speaker 1 (30:58):
Of course, are flight correction you always feel like you're
in a fighter flight and ael like you got a
correction shit, but.

Speaker 5 (31:03):
You also get called washed up, you fell off your
careers over and all of those things are placed over
your head. So you go into a real deep spiritual
dive to save yourself. And that's actually what I did.
I started studying Outer Space DVDs because I finally got
the chance, which was a blessing, to sit down, went

(31:26):
to the library, got a library card. And that's how
planet and I was borthed by being in this state
of self like insignificance but also significance at the same time.
We all exist in this very blink of an eye moment,
right on this little ball amongst trillions and trillions infinite universes. Yeah,

(31:54):
and then what does your world look like? You're no
longer a part of that world. It's time for you
to build your own from the round up. And it
was so spiritual for me, and things just started happening
when I finally just made the decision and got out
of my funk that I had to prove something to others,
others others, and it still stays with you, of course,

(32:14):
to just learn the lessons that this was trying to
teach me. But I also took myself to where music
inspired me. My great grandmother's name was Alberta Davis, and
at four years old, I knew I wanted to sing
when I heard her sing. My dad is also a
singer and at ken Guard Baptist Church in Kensington, Maryland.

(32:36):
I witnessed something, but I also felt something so undeniable
when I heard her singing and her tenor. Boy, she
had a very deep voice in the Baptist church. I
took myself in two thousand and seven to go study
disciples class and I went to the altar. Just so
happens the same day that I go to church to
just receive a word. I'm just spiritually called to that.

(33:00):
It was the eightieth anniversary of that church that I
didn't even know. My great great grandmother, Carrie Davis, founded
Wow and that's the same place that I was moved
musically through gospel music, and I didn't know what a
recording artist was. I just knew that music is in
my blood, it's in my veins. I'm on an assignment

(33:23):
to do music, and that was my source of everything.
And everything has just been so aligned since then because
that's always where I pull from, and I'll never forget that.
I don't walk alone. It's in this record retrospect on
face to face. So I just go back to my roots,
my foundational roots, which is black music, but also the

(33:44):
core of everything and American music is Black music, and
that's what this project is rooted in. So that helps
me always get out of anyone when the world is
judging you, just to go back and retreat to the
time that you fell in love and were spiritually moved
where you couldn't even aarticulated at the time. And that's

(34:04):
how I picked me back up and keep going.

Speaker 6 (34:07):
In this era, the seventies and eighties, it resonates with you,
so that's how we got retrospect. Are we seeing any
visuals because I love the single cover art for just
a little bit like this was obviously you in.

Speaker 4 (34:22):
But your idea.

Speaker 6 (34:23):
And then also the album cover it gives seventies eighties
funk disco.

Speaker 4 (34:30):
I'm reading the.

Speaker 6 (34:31):
Old sorry that but like I'm breaking it fucked up
and just right exactly are.

Speaker 4 (34:35):
We getting visuals to match this?

Speaker 5 (34:37):
Yes you are. And I want to give a shout
out to my creative director who's been rocking with me
for over twenty years, Derek Brown. When I made that
shift to go back home, I did an audition. We
had a gym audition. He started off as a dancer
for me, but he shoots videos now, he edits. He choreographs.
He does everything. He's a director, and he put his
foot up in my album shoot. He's doing the lyric
digital book clip right now. That was his idea. He

(35:00):
was there. He's a seventies baby as well. So we
key key in my basement or in my studio or
in rehearsals or whatever. And we said, you know, I
had done a previous photo shoot that leaned a little
bit toward more pop eighties and we just both agreed,
it's not resonating culturally. This is the culture, this is person.
We were both there, that's what we wore, that's what

(35:22):
the hair looked like. Let's lean into all of it
so that people get it when they see it, but
also the music compliments it. So that was the thought
process behind that. And yes, to answer your question, just
a little bit feature into a short yeah, music video,
just a little bit featuring Too Short. The music video
just dropped a couple of days ago, and it embodies
all that the eighties glam, eighties glam from that era.

(35:46):
Too shorts and a suit. I've never seen him in
the suit before. It's really dope.

Speaker 6 (35:51):
You're gonna have so much fun performance album on tour
because I am you already be having fun? I just
started ring DC just oh my god, killing.

Speaker 4 (35:58):
It with the go go roots. Yeah, having fun.

Speaker 6 (36:01):
So I totally believe when you say I'm having the
most fun I've had like in my life forties.

Speaker 5 (36:08):
And I've always wanted to do it. I did co
Blood It by Rick James, a cover on my third
album way back in two thousand and three. I've always
wanted to go in that direction. But the labors, the labels,
excuse me, the labels were looking at me crossside. An
R and B artist wants to do funk, you know,
especially on a rock label. It did, but they didn't

(36:30):
even get R and B. You see what I'm saying.
Interscope was rapping rock. So if you don't understand R
and B right, all the things and my influences, it
was kind of hard to digest at that time what
that was. So now I get to do that, and
I'm so happy that it's out in the universe and

(36:50):
coming out. But also, you know, I'm looking forward to
the tour, the retrospect tour, the Maya Live experience, the
real Maya show, and of course bring my Roots. So
the arrangements and the dance and the fashion.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
You weren't happy when you was having fun doing like.

Speaker 5 (37:10):
Course, I was happy. No, no, no, I said, I always
wanted to do a funk novel, but also being on
a wrap and rock label where R and B itself
wasn't even understood when you start talking about other genres
that also stem from soul in R and B. But
it's hard for others to understand. No, you know, I

(37:32):
was always happy for the opportunity. I was always happy
to be able to create, and very grateful, and I'm
still grateful for all of those things. I'm grateful for
all the hitfalls as well, and some of the things
that supposedly didn't work out, because they redirect you and
propel you into spaces that you wouldn't even start dreaming
of if those things didn't happen, and then cultivate you

(37:56):
sharpen the iron. So I'm happy all the time, you know,
and truly acknowledging how great I do have it. You
know that I'm here, I'm breathing, I'll start there, and
to have the opportunity every week and day to make
somebody else's day a little better through music and the

(38:17):
catalog too.

Speaker 3 (38:18):
I was watching your interview with Gena views that she
was talking best of Me. She didn't know Best of
Me Part two was a remix to the original.

Speaker 8 (38:26):
I didn't know that either. I jersey dress. I literally
created a jersey dress because of that.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
You do that.

Speaker 8 (38:40):
So I have a brand called Brown gar Grinding, and
we were trying to figure out something for the summer,
and I love the music video, so we created the
jersey literally because.

Speaker 4 (38:48):
Of about it.

Speaker 9 (38:53):
He's a hater, literally that.

Speaker 8 (38:55):
I had no idea that there was a Jadakis version
of Tosaterviews in that interview.

Speaker 5 (39:00):
It well see it was my street single, so you
know it was also a mid temple I knew.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
I know people thought back then that's when Jada and
and jay Z were going back and forth. Really they
always used to say that Jay did that because he
wanted to one up j D Kiss because they have beef.
Back then they were going back.

Speaker 4 (39:21):
And forth as so.

Speaker 5 (39:23):
I didn't even know that.

Speaker 9 (39:24):
I love that she was I loved that world.

Speaker 5 (39:28):
It was just a remix.

Speaker 3 (39:30):
How did that come about? I heard you tell him
the story, but he was Swiss and something about So.

Speaker 5 (39:34):
I was in the midst of recording my second album.
I did a lot of it in New York and
worked with wy Clef got in with Swiss. Always loved
Swiss's rhythm on his tracks, and uh, he was playing
me some beats. Jimmy Cozier there to Ron Boa, Shanda
was there. I picked a specific beat. He was like,
oh no, no, no, that belongs to d m X.

(39:57):
I beat the back back ba oh no. Swiss did
the original featuring Best of Me original mixed featuring Jadakiss,
Swiss Peats produced. That was his very first R and
B record that he'd ever produced, but it belonged to
d m X. The actual beat. There was another song
over top of it that I didn't hear, but I
think he stumbled upon it by accident, and I said, oh,

(40:19):
rewind that real quick. So I said, I want to
write to that one, and Jimmy Cozier and I Jimmy Cozier, Yeah,
So we're all in the studio, Jimmy Cozier to Ron Viio,
Mashanda and I and we just come up with a

(40:40):
concept what we wanted to feel like. And that's how
Best to Me Part one was born. It was a
solo song first might have had a bridge on it.
We took the bridge off and put Jadakiss on it
because we decided that that would be my very first
street single. What they do, or what they consider street
singles to be, is to warm up you know, the
streets first before you go with chi pop hit.

Speaker 2 (41:02):
We know what it is.

Speaker 5 (41:05):
Yeah, So we knew that we want a Case of
the X to be a single, but it kind of
leans toward the pop world a little bit, and we
did not want to leave the urban crowd out of this,
so we did best to me featuring Jada first. Steve
Stout and Hackey Islam were kind of working together. Steve
Stout was at Interscope, but Hawk Islam was running the

(41:26):
independent label side of University Music Entertainment, and so Steve
Stout had all these relationships and had Jay z Hoop
on the remix, you know, because of his relationship with
him and Makata and I Makata Davis Uh wrote the

(41:46):
remix here at the Hit Factory in New York, Masters
and then Jay and Irish in the video and Malibu, California,
June Ambrose shows up with a jersey. I didn't anything
of it. It was I guess, you know, customized to
fit my measurements at the time, and that was that.

(42:07):
That was the shortest video set I'd ever been on.
Six hours total, including hair, make up, glamb time. And
then we were done, no choreography, no rehearsals, and then
it comes out and kind of like takes hold of
the clubs and whatnot.

Speaker 4 (42:22):
Oh so she bought that and that. You didn't even say, oh,
this is what I want to wear.

Speaker 5 (42:27):
I showed up, didn't know what we were doing.

Speaker 4 (42:30):
Wow, So did he know?

Speaker 9 (42:37):
Because I know they've been working together forever?

Speaker 5 (42:39):
Maybe they did. I wasn't a part of that process.
I kind of just showed up, got glam ready. I
was fighting to put dances in the video. I was like, Hey,
can we at least have two girls and you know,
I want to do a little dance or something. You're like, no,
we don't have time for that. The shooters here, the
shooters then, and we just got to go and run
with it before we missed the summer. And that's what

(42:59):
it was.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
I didn't make you feel.

Speaker 5 (43:05):
A little one two step in there here and there
to give something more than just be cute. Of course
I will, but if the budget doesn't allow or the
time frame doesn't allow, then it might not happen.

Speaker 2 (43:18):
So I tried the light. It was a huge cold.

Speaker 5 (43:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (43:22):
Did that success feel empowering or did it come with
pressure to compete with like I don't know, other women?

Speaker 5 (43:29):
Oh no, I didn't feel any competition because we're all
number one so different. We were all established at the
time doing our individual thing in this business. And that
was also very quick. We got in the studio to
just lay our backgrounds together on one session in one session,
and then we cut our leads separately. Ron Fair was

(43:50):
involved in that, Missy as well as Rock Wilder, laid
the foundation and blueprint of that record. Ron Fair took
our vocals and then he edited them and kind of
oversaw the executive production process of that, and that became
this version of Lady Marblot.

Speaker 9 (44:07):
You know.

Speaker 5 (44:08):
So got into rehearsals for a couple of performances want
to Grammy together. There was absolutely no competition. I didn't
feel that. I thought it was a blessing. I thought
it was wonderful to win.

Speaker 8 (44:22):
Which is how did you navigate always making sure that
that was what happened?

Speaker 5 (44:26):
Though?

Speaker 8 (44:26):
Because I feel like during that even earlier on like
you had like Brandy Monica, right, and then like Aliyah
and I know Brandy and Monica now they talk about
it and it wasn't them, it was everybody around them.
How did you make sure that like that didn't even
come in your atmosphere and you like shut the competition
thing down from Rick?

Speaker 5 (44:42):
Well, it actually never did come into my atmosphere. Maybe
if there were another you know, female singer that was
similar to me at the time, it could have become that.

Speaker 9 (44:51):
Yeah, on the record, but it.

Speaker 5 (44:53):
Always works in the press if there's a little controversy.

Speaker 9 (44:57):
Yeah, like they leaned into it.

Speaker 5 (44:58):
They leaned into that narrative often to pit women against
each other or even men because it's buzz. It's a
big investment with big budgets, individual budgets that have to
cohesively come together to make it work like clockwork, and
something's happened, you know, in reality, and some things don't.

(45:18):
But you can also play up into it in this
business and people wouldn't even know. But that's also part
of strategy that I've learned that actually works for rappers
now and then when anyone when you are just trying
to get seen and heard. But I'm thankful I was
never a part of that.

Speaker 2 (45:35):
You want to be, you want to be right now you.

Speaker 7 (45:39):
Talking about that's not even in my nature.

Speaker 5 (45:47):
I don't like beef. I don't. I don't do beef.
You know, I'm begging, That's right?

Speaker 1 (45:56):
Huge, Like, was there was there some type of disconnect
between the label and you?

Speaker 2 (46:03):
Because I just feel like you had a great run.

Speaker 1 (46:07):
Don't get me wrong, but I just feel like with
the rector you were on it was another level fans fail.

Speaker 5 (46:12):
Yeah, he said, was there a disconnect?

Speaker 2 (46:14):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (46:15):
I feel like there was another buttons should have been
pressed between label management.

Speaker 5 (46:19):
Well, things happen the way they're supposed to happen, and
I really believe in the divine, you know, and of
course everything could have been bigger. It also could have
been worse, you know. And I'm thankful for the specific
exact journey that I've been on because I hear that
a lot. I would rather be underrated versus overrated, And
now is my time, you know, where I'm so aligned

(46:40):
and educated and aware. But like I said, being a
test dummy and not being all in from your investors
because they're very unsure and uncertain of you. That means
a couple of years need to be put in to
prove yourself, to prove your worth, to prove that you
can as a teenager. You know, So maybe some buttons
weren't pushed during that time. And if that's understandable when

(47:01):
you're taking a big financial risk in a territory and
a genre that you haven't even played with before. So
I don't hold that against anybody. I understand that. But
it was an opportunity that I took full advantage of
by saying, yeah, let's go, let's try this. Yeah, it's wrap,
it's rock, and here I am this own little R
and B curly from the DMV. It may work, it

(47:23):
may not, but I'm going to do everything in my power.
But I'm also an art studient. I have discipline. I'm
used to rehearsing for twelve hours to get it right
or days at a time. So we'll try it, you know.
And my parents raised me like that to make sure
that whatever I choose to pursue, I will win. I

(47:44):
can learn, I can mess up, I can make some mistakes,
but I'm at least armed to go for it with
no fear and live with whatever happens. And that's also
why I'm a huge advocate of arts programs, its programs
to instill those life skills that you need to win

(48:04):
in any field that you choose to pursue.

Speaker 3 (48:07):
Was there any record that you didn't want to do
or you look back at it it was like, I
really didn't want to do that. Yeah, which one.

Speaker 5 (48:13):
My love is? Like? WHOA? I wasn't really a fan
of it when I first listened to it because it
was mid tempo. I thought we needed something more dynamic.
I thought it was real chill. I love the harmonies,
but it was also kind of oh sallacious. When it
showed up in my hands, it said a whole lot

(48:34):
more that Missy can say because she wrote it. But
when Maya, you know, coming from her second album Fear
of Flying, is going into this whole grown woman era
back then and what that was as a young woman
it was. It was a little uncomfortable. I changed some
words around so it could fit me, and then okay,
I said, in order for this to work, how can

(48:56):
I balance this out? So I brought the theater to
it in the visuals, where you know, I can live
a little bit more with that record. I wanted to
go with something else completely out of the box from
that project, But what.

Speaker 2 (49:11):
About the real quick?

Speaker 6 (49:13):
You had me walking around telling niggas like my lother
was like whoa boy?

Speaker 5 (49:17):
What? Like?

Speaker 4 (49:17):
I was really don't?

Speaker 9 (49:27):
I was the girl.

Speaker 4 (49:28):
Yeah, my like whole thing like my love is like
about but it was still like a whole thing for me.

Speaker 2 (49:35):
Pops looking at you liked.

Speaker 5 (49:43):
That was me?

Speaker 2 (49:45):
Maryland, Baltimore, Baltimore.

Speaker 4 (49:52):
Wait, so you didn't want to do the song?

Speaker 9 (49:53):
Was it the labels pushed to do it? Then it
was making you do it?

Speaker 5 (49:56):
It was, but you know they hold the weight, they
hold the power with the finance. I cut everything, you know,
just to see if I like it first, and you know,
I wanted to go with something a little bit more
like I said the Street singles. I wanted to leave
with a record called why You Got to Look So Good?
And start the way I started my second album and
leave with the streets. I did that record with rock Wilder,

(50:16):
Why you Gotta Look So Good? The beat was so hard.
Lloyd Banks was on it, and it's of course not
what people think. I would say, Why you Gotta Look
so good? You make it so hard to leave you?
Why you Got to Look So Good? I don't want
nobody else to have you like, but the beat was
so hard and he was like, I can't give you
his beat. On one of those occurrences again the beat

(50:37):
belongs to jay Z. I was like, please just let
me write something to it and if you don't like it, cool.
He had to give it to me because he's like, Yo,
this is fire. That's what I wanted to be my
first single for my third album. But you know, they're

(50:58):
thinking about appeal, also thinking about investment, and it worked,
but it's not quite the one that I wanted first.

Speaker 1 (51:07):
If people haven't mistake your like laid backness, you know,
for being mysterious or maybe to be difficult.

Speaker 5 (51:16):
Maybe I think because you know, I'm just like my parents.
They're just real chill, real laid back. They only speak
when they have something to say, and they're not really
really talking to people. They're very expressive people, maybe through art.
My mom is a painter, she's into fashion, she's thrown

(51:37):
all my clothes that I went to school in, or
they're dance recitals, and they're very artistic people and express
themselves differently. Now, you know, when it comes to negotiations
or you know, getting on the phone and knowing business.
My dad's been in this business sin see, he was seventeen,
so he's a very vocal guy when't necessary regarding business.

(51:59):
But yeah, I think it can be misconstrued that you
may be meek or timid or shy or not confident,
or you don't have what it takes or bougie or
stuck up or high maintenance. Yeah, that could come with
being soft spoken. There's a beast here though, There's a

(52:19):
real beast here that comes out when it's supposed to
where it's supposed to, you know. And I'm just laid
back naturally until I hit that stage period and you're
giving it out. But you know, I got friends, We
get loud out.

Speaker 7 (52:32):
You know.

Speaker 5 (52:33):
It's a time and place for everything in Different parts
of my personality come out depending on the environment, you know.
And also I haven't really been on Front Street for
people to really truly get to know me, you know.
And it's also a tricky world to navigate through. During
that time when you are meant or actually groomed to

(52:55):
be put together, there was artist development. You don't say
certain things and inner you got to cross your legs
a certain way. You can't just be out here any
way you choose like you can now. You know, pregnancy
was like, you can't be pregnant, you can't do this,
you can't be normal human beings. And I look at
a lot of the pioneers and on how they struggle with,

(53:18):
oh what the label said about them being a mother
or having family time or taking time off, like real
human things that are necessary for the train to keep
moving forward. Yeah, and those things were punished back then.
So I've come from the era of cassette tapes and
recording to tape, not pro tools and digital but analog,

(53:41):
but transitioning into the new world with just new ideologies
and new fundamentals. So I can be a little bit
more open now and not punished for it, I think.
But I also know myself more to be more open.

Speaker 8 (53:54):
I saw you talking, I saw you talking to Melissa
for it about motherhood and just different things that right
now you are focused on your independent music journey, so
you can't it's just not your focus right how it's
not my focus just right now becoming a mom or
being married. And like that whole conversation that people throw
on you.

Speaker 5 (54:11):
Well, I am a godmother, I am the rich auntie,
and I enjoyed all of it. I love kids, but
that's misconstrued as Oh, she don't like kids. Oh something's
wrong with you, you know, or nobody chose her. How
come nobody ever wifed you up? Oh they've tried, or
they have or it just didn't work out. You know,

(54:33):
you don't have a ring on your finger, something's wrong
with you. But a ring doesn't hold any weight if
the vows are not being adhered to. Ye, what is
a ring that I can buy myself if it means nothing?
And the fundamentals of what a marriage really means, which
I deem sacred, and of course want to be selective

(54:54):
in choosing the right ones, so that might take time,
that might require me to be solo for a while
versus just always being in something because I gotta be
taken and chosen for y'all to feel that I'm living
in a happy space. But I don't know too many
people that are happily married as well. I think for me,

(55:17):
the focus hasn't been what the world may want of
women and men on the world's timeline. I think it's
a beautiful thing. Love makes the world go round and round.
I'm an advocate of all of it.

Speaker 9 (55:30):
It's a lot of love in this project.

Speaker 5 (55:32):
I yeah, projects, but I love children. Don't get me twisted.
I love men, don't get me wrong. It's just when
there's a calling and you invest in answering it, but
also being an example for the girls out there that
may be discouraged in giving up and throwing in the towel,

(55:53):
something else is calling you to do something. And love
is also all around me. There's different forms of love,
which I'm very very clear on and very vocal about.
But I'm also an advocate of self love because I
don't expect somebody to just come into my world to
be my savior and my end all be all happily
ever after, because that requires self love for the right

(56:15):
one to show up. I want a mirror of me
at my best and eyes right to be matched and
paired in divine timing with a reflection of the best me,
because that means I'm also giving and pouring. I'm not
here to be wiped up. I'm not here to be

(56:35):
in a situation for validation. I'm here to give the
best of me in every area of my life for
the world, for myself, or my family, for a companion.
But I'm also very aware that, you know, love is
all around us every single day in so many different forms.
And I'm patient, I'm not seeking. But that's different, you know,

(56:57):
for the society that we came up in. But I
think it's very different.

Speaker 9 (57:02):
It's very different.

Speaker 8 (57:06):
Because of the ownership that you take, and especially coming
from the era where they're telling you, guys, how you
have to live your life and you've been like kind
of built that way as an artist to like know,
career career, because I can't do it all. But you
take ownership and I can do what I want when
I want.

Speaker 5 (57:20):
Yes, and so can you. But of course, you know,
we grew up in a society that says to do
it by a specific book and a specific timeline. And
if you're not following that, you know, expectant I'd say, flow,
Then are you happy? You must not be happy. Oh,
that's really bad. It's going to be too late. Your

(57:41):
eggs are going to expire. But something's wrong and everything's
right for me right now, and I'm living in that space.
I don't want to be in the wrong situation. So
I'm going to be more patient and align myself but
also not expect anything to show up and also lean
on another person to make my world great. I'm going
to create the best world that I can for me
to live in, first for others to live in. Make

(58:03):
sure I can, first of all financially take care of
another person a baby that is one dependent on me.
But I also want to sit my ass down and
have the time to do it. Pick you up from school,
help you with your homework. I mean, it's so hard
as a mother, a working mother, and just in general,

(58:24):
I want to be available before I have kids, and
I also want to adopt kids. It's not that I
don't want kids, it's just not then the focal point
and the end all be all of my journey trying
to journey.

Speaker 8 (58:42):
But the reason around is because I feel like a
lot of people when they talk to working women or
women that have things happening and you say something like
what I heard you say in that interview, the pushback is, oh, well,
the time clock and you are very much in control
of what you want and when you want it. And
I was like, I think you can kind of daviogate
that conversation a little bit differently now for my own self,

(59:04):
but it's the thing of your you've got so much
going on. But like when I go home Mother's Day weekend,
this weekend, my family, I go home, the first thing
is you're doing great, but when you're gonna have a baby,
or when you're there some real conversation.

Speaker 5 (59:18):
But it's also coming from a place of love because
experiencing having a baby for many women fathers, there's of
course oxytocin on the biological scientific side of things, but
it's an experience that changes you forever. It changes you forever.
The love is so overwhelming, and it's so pure, and
it's so innocent. I mean, I love animals just the same,

(59:39):
so I have a ton of animals. But it's coming
from a place of love and tradition and our specific
culture that we're here, I've realized, because they want you
to experience it as well and not miss out on that.
Of course, we live in a very interesting time where
there's inflation and you want to have your bag and
all these things together. But that's not how existence ever happened.

(59:59):
We didn't have the modern world. Once upon a time,
women were popping out tribes of babies, you know, for
a long time ancestrally, and we're just not living in
that natural world anymore, and so I'm also very aware
of that so that I can set up, first of all,
a safe lifestyle and a comfortable lifestyle and a supportive

(01:00:23):
lifestyle for the life that I might want to build.
And then I'm also growing at rapid rates, discovering new
parts of myself, new parts of healing, plant medicine, and
an ancestral wisdom that there's so many things I realized
I didn't know five years ago, and I want to
get myself time. It might not necessarily be my own child,

(01:00:47):
it might be a whole orphanage of hundreds of kids
that I want to build and invest in. My vision
might be a little different than you know another person,
but there's love inside of me that I still want
to give. It just me come across as different because
it's not non existent right now to the world. But

(01:01:09):
I'm working on other things and it just starts with self.
And I've also been on a journey where it's all
about alignment and all the beautiful things fall into your
world and not my timing, the most highest timing, and
I'm good with that.

Speaker 2 (01:01:25):
Sounds like you went on a journey with mother Aya.

Speaker 5 (01:01:29):
No, I've never done Ayahuasco. But there are other things
I hear that the world will be put up on
very soon. You know, it's already being talked about. It's
not even it's not even drugs, right, But that's not
for me to speak on today. But administration is about

(01:01:52):
to adopt some very powerful stuff that the world is
going to want to align with because it comes from
our source, which is God. No man made that, and
that is not a drug. Drugs come from nature, and
then it becomes chemical compounds of it. But we're in
a very unnatural time away from the natural world, and
we all could use a little recalibration based on you know,

(01:02:15):
realignment the natural way. That's all I'm gonna saying.

Speaker 2 (01:02:20):
Did you see all the religious leaders.

Speaker 1 (01:02:21):
Some of the religious leaders are saying they all had
to meet and they got briefed on UFO disclosure.

Speaker 5 (01:02:27):
I've seen a lot of that stuff. I'm deep into
conspiracy theory, UFOs and outer spaces. Yeah. Absolutely, listen.

Speaker 4 (01:02:35):
I want the last thing I want.

Speaker 6 (01:02:36):
I want to say, Wow, I want to answer you
real quick before I say the last thing I want
to say. You said you want somebody that's a mira
of you at your highest because I writing. I know
I'm already married, but it's just something nice when I
hit my husband be.

Speaker 5 (01:02:54):
Like, So that means you got to take care of
you inside of your relationship. You can't neglect you just
because oh it's your duty. Yeah, oh as this title
to neglect yourself as a mother, neglect yourself as a wife.
You have to show it for you first before you
can show up for anybody else within that space. That's
what I've learned and I'm constantly being reminded of. If

(01:03:14):
I'm going to show up for you know, my tribe
the best possible way as a leader of that, then
that means that I need to block out and carve
out a moment over here to recalibrate my brain to
do a woolsaigh, breathe through a thousand. If I have
to go away for five days so I can be
my best self. So everybody benefits from that, you know,

(01:03:37):
if you're a source.

Speaker 6 (01:03:38):
Because we do this thing with me and my husband,
We do this thing where we will ask each other
like why did you marry me? And I want to
say now because I wanted somebody.

Speaker 4 (01:03:46):
Well, I'm not gonna say like that. I'm gonna tell
you because he don't need no, don't need to do that.

Speaker 6 (01:03:54):
I want to say I married you because I wanted
somebody who was a mirror of me at my highest self.

Speaker 2 (01:04:02):
That's nothing like me, God with me in your life
to help you heal.

Speaker 5 (01:04:10):
But you know what else, you know, you don't have
to be perfect for love to show up as well.

Speaker 9 (01:04:14):
Period love can come.

Speaker 5 (01:04:22):
So I'm not I'm not. I'm not preaching to anybody.
Oh you got to be perfect and be your higher
self to know because you can literally attract light from
being your most darkest, broken self in a hole and
somebody is there to lift you up because they've done
some work, or maybe because they're just aligning in tune,

(01:04:44):
whatever the spirit calls that day. They are beautiful people
that show up in your life at the most devastating time.
So you got to trust that too. Some of them
are just narcissists and smell the vulnerability, so be aware
of that. And that's a whole education in itself too.
And I've been through that. But my job for my

(01:05:04):
personal journey is I see what being a line means,
and I would only want the best partner. So let's
start with self to become the best me so that
I could pour into that person as well. I don't
show up to any table empty handed. I want to
pour in just as much as I want to be
poured into. So that's what I'm saying, without expectation, and

(01:05:25):
really give from a place of overflow versus lack. And
that's up to me to fix or to generate.

Speaker 4 (01:05:34):
All right, all right, my favorite song is falling.

Speaker 6 (01:05:36):
Just wanted to say that, because girl, you're trying to
wrap it up, But my favorite song is falling.

Speaker 4 (01:05:41):
Girl two thousand and three, that had me like that
was my favorite song from move Ring.

Speaker 6 (01:05:45):
Now move Ring is my favorite album on my favorite
song it's falling.

Speaker 5 (01:05:49):
So why is it your favorite, girl?

Speaker 6 (01:05:52):
Because I thought I was in love in two thousand
and three and I was telling this, I'm telling you like,
it's a whole era you had in my life now,
so yes, and that's when you think that you the
boy that you love and you mean that's the one you.
I'm telling him like, you got me, you complete me,
you got me falling head over heels for you, and
just and he's just sitting there like okay, yeah, he

(01:06:14):
ain't not even hear a song and then when we
broke up, he heard the song and was like you
quoting an artist the whole time, But this is not
a song.

Speaker 4 (01:06:25):
This she told me this, This is this. She told
me this in my face.

Speaker 2 (01:06:29):
Maya he married language.

Speaker 3 (01:06:33):
Your little hot ass was sixteen during that time. I
really maya appreciate.

Speaker 2 (01:06:39):
What you should do audio books or something.

Speaker 5 (01:06:42):
That's what they tell me. I will, I'll get into ready,
I do guid meditation, all of it. I'll do that
voice and whatnot.

Speaker 6 (01:06:52):
And in the name was Roger, I should have even
known like hot as you're a fourteen year old named
Roger named that grandfather.

Speaker 4 (01:06:58):
I shouldn't even I should and even.

Speaker 5 (01:07:02):
With the letter is toxic.

Speaker 4 (01:07:05):
This is that was But this is my fault. She
had me in shambles.

Speaker 2 (01:07:09):
What do you want to have the album? What do
you want to have your mind?

Speaker 5 (01:07:11):
What do I want to hear off the album? My goodness,
let's play the latest single, feature in Too Short?

Speaker 3 (01:07:19):
All right, Well, the album comes out next Friday, and
we appreciate you for joining us. It's my ladies and gentlemen.
It's the Breakfast Club.

Speaker 2 (01:07:26):
Good morning every day. Click up the Breakfast Club.

Speaker 4 (01:07:32):
Y'all done,