September 4, 2025 • 41 mins
Today on The Breakfast Club, Montell Jordan Opens Up About Prostate Cancer Battle, His Journey From Music To Ministry. Listen For More!
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Every day a week ago. Click yours up the Breakfast Club,
finish for y'all. Done morning everybody, it's the j n V.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Just hilarious.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Charlamagne the guy. We are the breakfast Club. Lola Roast
is here as well. We got a special guest in
the building.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Indeed, the intro you.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Want to sing the intro, that's highway the.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Ladies.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome brother.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
What's up young man? I'm great this morning. I feel good.
I feel good. It's good to be here, if you
don't mind me. Yeah, I'm fifty six. Something to look
forward to.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Absolutely, you talking about absolutely How does it feel to
have one of the record that will never go away?
It plays in pop culture and hip hop and urban
and country and all types of things. Your record always
get played. Do you know when you did that record,
it was gonna that was that record?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
It was going to be that way.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
I knew we had something special. Like I go back
to college days and I knew that even long before
I was in the music business, Like I would go
to the fraternity parties or whatever, and any DJ that
was really doing this thing right around that, you know,
last call for alcohol, that last hour of the club,
that's when they would drop Slick Rick's Children's Story and
that was just already like a timeless record. But I
(01:15):
always said, even back then, if I ever get the
chance of getting music business, I'm gonna sing.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Over that record.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
So I did know that it was already a hit.
But the journey of taking that hit and then turning
it into a classic, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
I could not have known that, but that was what
the goal was.
Speaker 5 (01:30):
Correct, Correct me if I'm wrong, because I was thinking
about it when they told me you was coming in.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
You were You were def Jam's first R and B star, right, I.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Think they had Allison Well when you say R and
B stars, so they had Allison Williams was there. They
had Orange Juce Jones there, so they had some some
R and B stuff. Yeah, I mean we were the first.
Well not only were we the first I think successful
R and B like, we were there their first number
one record that def Jam had ever Yeah and.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Oh wow, yeah wow, the first amazing.
Speaker 5 (02:01):
But I did you know you think of depth Jay,
you think of its being a rap heavy label around
that time. You were even sampling one of their classic
rap records.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Absolutely, and the cool thing though, even with that relationship
of doing the Slick Crick the Children's Story kind of pairing.
On my second album, me and Slickrick got together and
we did a song called I Like That was on
my second album, and we're friends to this to this day,
him and his wife and me and my wife. We all,
you know, do life together.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
But tell us how you wrote that record in the
process of getting into the music industry, because you said
you were in college and you go to parties. What
made you say, you know what I want to do music?
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Well that the making of that record right there was
literally like capturing atmosphere. So I would study guys like
Marvin Gay and the song like got to give it Up.
If you listen to that song, got to give it Up.
Even before Marvin starts singing, you hear crowd, you hear atmosphere.
You hear energy and all that is transformative in you know,
into music, especially when music was more analog than digital.
(02:57):
And so when you hear this is how we do
it before the song ever comes on, you hear a party,
because that's.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
What we did.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
I put people in the studio, put a microphone in there,
games some drinks, and they were all standing around having
a party and then you know, the engineers, we clicked
play and we captured the energy of the room before
the song ever ever kicked.
Speaker 6 (03:15):
In actually the actual studio like live in the studio, like.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Live in the studio, they were just kind of we
just captured everything. The flirtation, the conversation, everything that was
happening is the undergirding of the track and the lyrics
of this is how we do it. So people don't
know it's more than hearing the record. They actually feel
that record, which is why you know, we're talking thirty
years almost thirty years later.
Speaker 5 (03:40):
A record like that is a gift in a curse though,
right because you know, a record comes, it becomes such
so big in life, kind of overshine shines the rest
of your catalog.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Right in a way, it was a It was a
gift because it's around thirty years later. It was a
curse because it was the first record, and because it
was the first record, everybody always wants to put everything
up against that record, you know, and that was a
phenomenon record. And so even I've had records that have
probably sold more or that have done extremely well, everybody
(04:08):
always goes.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Back to that as the first was that record, They're well,
get it on tonight, They're good.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
I had some records that did really probably not sold more,
but I mean as far as just some that has
some legs. I got records that have some legs to
them or whatever, but that record was so when Something
for the Honeys came out, uh, that was a song
that had some legs to it, but it could never
reach number one because it was like ten months later.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
We're like, hey, this is the next single.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
They're like, no, we're still playing this is how we
do it, and so station's, oh, but this is a
pretty cool thing that a lot of people don't know.
The reason why this is how we do it got
to be so big was because, you know, in the song,
I say, south Central does it like nobody does. I
remember coming to New York City getting with all the
Anti Martinez, Willie Williams all that I got to Hot
ninety seven and those stations or whatever, they're like, we
(04:57):
love you, we love depth CHANM, but we're not really
kind of playing that record because you know the whole
South Central thing. So I was like, okay, well let's
let's try and fix that. So we went into the
editing booth, and I re sang.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
This is how we do it. But I said, ooh,
New York does it like nobody does?
Speaker 4 (05:13):
And why I normally do you know, because I was
a rapper before I was singing, you know, I would
do it like this is how we do it is
Friday night, I feel all right, the parties with Angie Martinez.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
So I reached for the old school and I turned
it up bunks.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Some flo and so I started throwing names into the
songs and change it to New York. And so when
I did that, now New York they're playing that song
every hour on the hour. And then DC here's in DC.
It's like, yo, we heard you did that in New York.
We want a DC version, we want a Philly version.
And so I ended up singing the song probably a
thousand times, just so that every station had their own
customized version of it.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
So that is artist, don't put that kind of work
in the.
Speaker 7 (05:51):
I was gonna say, you talked about you being a
rapper a little bit to get into that part of it.
Even in that song, you kind of have verses where
you're it's like you're singing it, but it's it's like
a like you're wrapping it like I reached, Like now
I understand kind of where that comes from.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Yeah, I was Russell Simmons rap singer when I got
signed to Depth jat. That was one of the reasons
why I was documenting street life in Los Angeles and
I was finding ways to to you know, the r
Kelly's were out there, there were other artists out there.
The guy was out there, and you.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Know, I wanted to do the new Jack thing. I
wanted to.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I was a fan of Aaron Hall. I was a
fan of a lot of different things. But the only
way I was able to carve my own space into
who I would be musically was I had to take
rap lyrics and then I would sing them. So if
you were to look at this is how we do it,
and you say I reached for my forty and I
turn it up, designated driver, take the keys to my truck.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Like lyrically that the Dutch that that's like rap prose.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
But that I would say designated driver, take the keys
to my truck and say designated driver. I take the
keys to my truck. And so I literally would write
rap lyrics my entire first album. I wrote rap lyrics
and then I figured out how to sing them.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
I just love the fact that you you know, having
a designated driver back then.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yah, that's what I'm saying. I was very conscious, very.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Responsible, and you went from R and B, you know,
superstar to past.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Like, what was the breaking point that made you step
away from the industry. I was brought up in church.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
I was a church kid growing up, and so from
that standpoint, it wasn't like, you know, I had this great,
big epiphany and then you know, flew to the gospel.
It was like, literally I was brought up a church kid.
Mine and a lot of musicians and a lot of
artists have that training ground. It's like a farm league
almost for the music business where people are growing up,
they're listening. It's the difference between uh, you know, between
(07:35):
rhythm and blues and soul music. So is a little
more attached to feeling as opposed to just sonic hearing,
and so me going back into ministry wasn't like a oh,
I'm ready to do this. It was more of a
God move of saying, hey man, you've done it this
way for so long, you know, why don't you try
and do you know, try and do it my way
and give me the opportunity to show you that what
(07:57):
accolades and what verification and validation and I'm looking for
in man and in people that God's like, I've already
verified you, I've already validated you.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
And so, you know, so I don't have to work
for God's grace. I'm working from his grace.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
And by me stepping away to do ministry, I found
out who I was because, you know, in the music business,
I didn't know who I was outside of music. If
I'm not I don't have an album, if I'm not
on the charts, if people aren't playing them on the radio,
then who I am I? And so God was like,
you know, oh, I'm gracious enough to show you who
you are if you never pick up a mic again.
So it was during that time I found out, Man,
(08:31):
I'm a son and I'm a father, I'm a friend,
I'm a giver, I'm generous, I'm you know, I'm all
these different things.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
I'm a teacher, I'm.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
A communicator, I'm a bunch of different that. If I
never pick up a microphone again, I found out who
I was, and I learned that, you know, music doesn't
define me. I define music. And I was like a pivotal,
you know, pivotal part for me to understand that music
doesn't define who I am. I define who music is.
And then that's when God says, Okay, now I can
trust you with music again, because now you know who
(08:59):
you are.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I was going to ask you, what did you find
in ministry that music couldn't give you?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
And I guess it was just a sense of self.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
What do I find in ministry the music couldn't give me?
I think that with music, I was in an abusive relationship.
I love something that couldn't love me back. And so literally,
you know, I would say, man, I love music so much.
I love music so much. I do it for free.
I love music, and music never loved me back. Even
when I was leaving music to go into ministry. Music
(09:29):
wasn't like no, monself, don't leave, we want you.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
It was nothing.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
It was just like Biden, you know what I'm so
I was like, Okay, cool, whatever, And so I learned
that God did love me and he did care about me,
and he was there, you.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Know, in those spaces.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
And so I think what I got from God is
I got someone and something that could love me back.
And then now I understand that music is something that
I can enjoy, I can appreciate, and I can create,
but it doesn't create me.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
When you got into being a pastor, did you when
you went b performing, did you feel like I had
to take some lyrics out or had to change things
up or anything at all.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Or no, one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
I literally, you know, the story goes of, you know,
when I left the music business, I literally I burnt
the plow, meaning I'm like, I'm not coming back. I
got all my instrumental tracks, I got rid of everything.
I was full ministry for like four or five years.
And during that time period, there was a promoter who
kept calling my wife like every single year, several times
a year. He would call it, Hey, I need Montel,
(10:26):
I need Mantel, I need my Tell And we didn't
even take dudes calls, like we are done with the
music business. And then about four years and she finally,
you know, takes my man's call. She's like, hey, you know,
kind of frustrated.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
You know, what do you want?
Speaker 4 (10:39):
He's like, yeah, I need Montel for his concert. I
got Keith Sweat Silk, I got this whole big thing
and we need Montel and she's like, you know, Montell's retired.
He was like, yeah, yeah, I know, I'm following his career.
She was like, you know he's a minister. Here is
a pastor. Now He's like ya, yeah, yeah, I'm a
Christian too, I know that. And so she's like, well,
why do you keep calling in. He's like, cause my
shows are really dark and I need some light.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Oh. When he drops that, now we have.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
To circle back and we're like, okay, is there a
way that Well first it was like, okay, well, God,
you told me not to sing that song no more?
And God said, no, you told you not to sing
that song no more.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I never told you that.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
And I was like, oh my goodness, maybe it was me.
You know, I had to get rid of my own idol.
I had to sacrifice my own idol that I made it.
But God never told me not to sing that song anymore.
So I did have to say, Okay, what can I
sing and what can't I sing anymore? Can I get
people nostalgia without giving them something that compromises who I am?
And that was the journey of going back and finding
(11:37):
the songs that I could sing, changing some words, changing
some lyrics because I'm a changed man, and then that
became something that was acceptable and it's very welcomed actually
out not only for the audiences, but even like the
artists that I'm out on the road with.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
I'm like a pastor to the unpastored.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
And a lot of spaces because I'm speaking truth and
I'm loving them and I'm out on the road with them.
I understand what they've been through. I've been doing this
for thirty years, you know what I'm saying, And so
I think that was part of the journey of Yeah,
I'm able to change lyrics. I'm able to customize something
quick story like when it comes to Let's Ride, I
do that. That was, you know, a pretty nasty song, Masterpiece,
Silk the Shocker, Strip Club Anthem, big big number one record,
(12:16):
you know, and I'll do that song, but I don't
really sing that song. I'll sing the first verse of
that song. I literally do about forty five seconds to
a minute of the song to instill nostalgia in people.
And then with master Piece, go I get to that
part of the song, like you know, write in the
verse and I go, oh, do that song a nomore
because it's nasty and the crowd laughs or whatever. And
now I'll tell them, yo, I told you I'm a
(12:37):
pastor no more, you know. But but but but I
can do this song. And then I just kind of shift.
So I'm giving them the song and just that much
makes them feel like they've heard the entire song. And
then you know, I keep it moving. I love that.
Speaker 6 (12:48):
So so it was so did you feel guilty?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
You felt guilty before.
Speaker 6 (12:53):
You know, performing those songs, after you stepped away and
did ministry and they wanted you back when that promoter
called your wife. It was the fact that you would
feel guilty when you did the songs. Before I got
closer to God, I never.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Felt guilty, which is which is wild. I felt.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
I maybe felt conflicted, but guilt, guilt is, I think
is a strong word. I felt like, I know I
love the Lord. I know I'm in you know, this
is before ministry. I know I love the Lord. I
know God's got me. I know He's given me a
lot of ideas and I took a lot of those
ideas and I made him more customizable for different audiences
and stuff like that. Uh, you know. And and from
(13:33):
that standpoint, I had to be two Montelles, if you will,
and it probably was three or four. You know, I
call it spiritual schizophrena. It was like, literally, and I'm
not making fun of any diagnosis. I'm saying that I
had to be different montell for different audiences. When I'm
home with my wife, that's one Montell. When I'm at
my church, that's a different Montel. When I'm with my
(13:54):
mom's that's a different Montelle. And so because of that,
I was trying to keep up with a bunch of
different persons now and so, yeah, I think I could
feel guilty from the standpoint of not being authentically who
I am, and ministry allowed me to step into a
space that is like, it doesn't matter if I am
on the breakfast club, it don't matter if I'm in church,
it don't matter if I'm with you know, in any setting,
(14:17):
I'm going to be the same Montel, authentically me all
the time.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
And that's liberating.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
So how do you reconcile to Monte Jordan who singing
about streaky stuff on the weekends with the Monte Jordan
who preachers on Sunday mornings.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Yeah, that dude had to die.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
That guy had to die and I'm okay with that
because now who I am, it doesn't mean I can't
look back and show the world who I was. Even
in my shows. I do a ministry. I do ministry
during my shows. Anybody that goes to a Monto show,
I don't care people drinking, getting doing whatever they do
with the show. Whatever I am literally almost like comedically
(14:53):
weaving a story into I'm just going on and sing songs.
I'm communicating with the audience. We laugh and telling jokes,
and I'm talking to him, and I get to a
point in the show where I actually tell him, Hey,
you know, y'all know I'm a pastor.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Some of you don't know. And I let him know.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
I said, hey, music is part of the soundtrack to
our lives. If you've got a good memory in your life,
there's probably a song attached to it. If you've got
a tragic moment in your life, there's probably some music
attached to it. And I said, what I'm doing is
I'm giving you nostalgia. But I'm also here to show
you what it looks like when God gets a hold
of a man's heart and then changes them and puts
them back in front of people with great influence and
(15:29):
people that know that there's something different about him, but
they don't quite know what it is. And I says,
Jesus that changed my life and transformed me and made
me a different person. And so in that audience, I'll
tell them.
Speaker 5 (15:39):
So.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I know some of y'all don't do the God thing.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
I know some of y'all don't do the church thing,
but I'm here to tell you that God loves you,
and God misses you, and God is not angry at you.
And even if you wouldn't come to a church, he
sent the nineties R and B artist to you wherever
you are to let you know that your life is
that valuable to him. And so I literally get the
minister in every space that I go to, and people
(16:01):
will get an encounter with God not even expecting. You know,
I just came to hear you know, color me bad
saying I want to sex you up, and Mantell's in
there talking about Jesus. Wow, how did that happen?
Speaker 6 (16:10):
You know, it's unassuming, and you never know how many
people will actually go to him. Correct I will follow
that at work, because that's what he wants.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Acknowledge me.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Every now and then just I get a God kiss
where somebody will pop in the DM and they'll be like, yo,
you were talking to me last night, and man, God,
you know, pray for me and for my daughter or
this antity other. So you know, I'm I'm I'm pastoring,
but I'm just outside the four walls of the church.
I just I'm on the expansion program as an artist.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Being tall.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
Hindry you But I remember I promised to Teddy Rolly
to me a long time ago, Teddy Rolly said there's
no such thing as a tall superstar in industry.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
To think about it.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Yeah, now I think it's uh, you know the six
eighties stood has allowed me to to stand out, you know,
head and shoulders above. I think in Guinness, I was like,
in the Guinness Book of World because at what time
for the tallest R and B sing or tallest with
the number one record?
Speaker 3 (17:04):
I can't see nobody taller.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Told me that years ago.
Speaker 5 (17:08):
He was like, yo, you guys, he's like nouch thing
as a tall superstar. I'm like, snoop Jesus, like those
are exceptions to the rules.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
A long time Yeah, yeah, tall, you know, other than
shopping off the rack, you know, height height has been
in that, you know, advantaged for me.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
And you've been married for how long? Thirty two years?
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Graduations?
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Congratulations the same moment.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
So I'm twenty four, what you I build my wife
for twenty seven, we've been married for eleven twenty four.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
So long with that you were young kids. He's like, man,
it was kids for like ten or fifteen.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Kids?
Speaker 1 (17:50):
You know now even no God wanted that.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
But but what what was the secret sauce to keeping
that bond alive, especially in the industry that each relationships.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
Yeah, yeah, I think recognizing that that marriage wasn't something
that humans created. I think marriage is something that God
created meant it's meant to be a covenant. And a
lot of people go in to marriage with an exit
strategy as opposed to having an eternal strategy. They go
in thinking, well, if this doesn't work, then i'll and
(18:19):
that automatically is to set up for the enemy to
be able to know what you're then I'll I'll do
this or I'll do that. That's the strategy that the
enemy will use to take out your marriage. And so
we know that we are going to be married to
each other forever. We're gonna make it the best forever possible.
We're gonna be happy. We got family legacy on the
(18:40):
line here. And by doing that, I recognize that our
marriage ain't just for us. Our marriage is for other
people to be able to see and be like, man,
if they can do it, they can do thirty something
years and still be grabbing each other's butts in the
elevator and still you know, excited about each other. Whatever,
it can be done. A lot of people don't want
to get married or or they're kind of shy away
from it simply because they don't recognize or see enough
(19:03):
that it can be done. And so that's what we're doing.
We want to be an example, uh to we help
a public marriage is hell in private. So a lot
of couples when they go into you know, some challenges
or this or that. We have a spot called the
Jordan River down in Atlanta, UH and we take we
provide marriage and family therapy, but licensed marriage and family.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Therapists, private chefs, all of that.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
They get a chance to come in and uh, you know,
they can go to montel and Kristen dot com or
or go to Marriage Masterpiece dot com p E a
c E. UH If people need help with their marriages.
But uh, you know that's that's something that we do
to keep us. It keeps us tight together because we
recognize other couples needed God bless.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
Yeah, how was that mixing like with the pros and
cons of mixing the marriage with the business, that.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Was hell.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Became a path, you know, it was.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
You know, it was one of those things where you know,
the label had come in and in order to to
help be successful, they were like, well, montell if nobody's
gonna want an unavailable, married R and B artist, you know,
you gotta understand. You know we're talking ninety five, ninety four,
ninety five. You know, if you're not available, they're not
gonna want you. And I would always heard that if
you want to be successful in the music business, guys
(20:16):
have to want to be be you and women have
to want to be with you. If you can do
those things and you could be successful. And so I
had to keep the persona that I was this single
available R and B artist and for her being in
depth chairman and then you know one sixty varick those
days being in that building was a that was a
tough building to be in. And she's a woman manager
or whatever, and it was like, well, if you are
(20:37):
the wife, then people are not gonna respect you. So
as opposed to being Kristin Jordan, she was Kristin Hudson
and she was the manager. And being the manager is
tough because it's kind of like is the manager telling
the artists what to do? Or is the artist telling
the manager? What?
Speaker 1 (20:52):
What do we do?
Speaker 4 (20:52):
And then when we're not artist and manager and then
we go home because remember there's different Montelles at that time.
There's Montela artist and then there's Montela husband, and Montola
artist takes president you know, takes presence over Montela husband
when we get home, like then what does that look like?
Speaker 1 (21:06):
How do we submit to each other? How do we
you know?
Speaker 4 (21:09):
And so it was that was it was very, very tough,
and so at some point something else had to die,
and in that my artistry and her manage managerial capacity,
all those things had to die in order for our
marriage to live. Because whatever you feed grows, right, and
so if we're feeding the industry side of us, that
thing was was crazy. She was managing doing fantastic, I'm
(21:31):
doing my artist thing, and we hemorrhage in at home.
We're bleeding out, you know, and so we had to
figure out what we wanted to live and what we wanted.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
To, you know, to sacrifice.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Now, one thing that I think makes me nervous and
don't make Churelomain nervous, you would diagnose with prostate cancer. Yeah,
that's something that I think we started. And this was
a great thing. We started early, checking everything. I mean,
we didn't went to damn near every skin you could
possibly imagine, because I have six hes four we want
to make sure we did as long as possible.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
He would get his probably check like every week just
for fun with the same where I work at.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
But were you sick?
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Was it just a test or how did you how
did you find out?
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (22:13):
Never sick, never sick, never felt sick. Literally about when
I was in my early forties is when I started
going to get to get checked. And uh, you know
the whole taboo thing about the rectal check, you know,
the finger check and then the blood check. Even when
I was diagnosed, it wasn't rectal check that found anything.
It was really in my blood from the ten years
(22:34):
of getting blood checks, you know, I could see ten
years ago it's like my PSA was like three point one.
It was three point three and three point nine, four
point two, four point five, four point six, five point one,
and then it was kind of like oh, okay, and
then we go from five point one to six point
one was like oh and then So it was the
journey of looking at my blood at that PSA levels
(22:55):
because I had a history because of early detection. Because
of that, it allowed me to when I did get diagnosed,
it allowed me to have options because they caught it early,
and prostate cancer is ninety nine percent treatable when caught early.
They have almost one hundred percent success rate of treating
it if it's caught early enough. But a lot of men,
(23:17):
particularly disproportionately Black men, do not go and they do
not get checked, and because of that, they normally are
finding out too late in the process. What made you
decide to share it publicly instead of keeping it private
as a god thing that's one hundred percent of God there,
because it is very private, very personal, And I think
part of it was what they call a holy discontent,
(23:39):
that thing that just makes it something difficult, you can't.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Sleep at night.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
It was like I watched when chat with Bozman, It
wasn't I don't think prostate cancer. But when chat with
Boseman passed.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Away, I was like, what is that?
Speaker 4 (23:50):
Like? How do you do all the movies? How do
you do all those things? And nobody know? Like, nobody
can tell me nothing you know about that? And then
when I got diagnosed, I didn't have a template. I
didn't have anybody that I could look at that was
telling you know, that was telling the story to be
able to say, Okay, when you get diagnosed, do this,
or even though it's not cancer, not the same for everybody,
but when this happens, here are the steps you know
(24:11):
that you can take. I couldn't. I couldn't find nobody.
And so even right after we got diagnosed, my wife
and I felt like we had the Lord said to us,
film it, tell everything, film it, And so we started
filming this documentary that eventually be called Sustained. I'll tell
you more about that in the moment. But this movie,
this film, in this documentary is literally us telling this
(24:33):
entire story from diagnosis all the way up through how
we vetted doctors, how we vet vetted treatments, what we
chose to do, how I chose to have a radical
protecting me surgery and have my prostate removed November fifth
of twenty twenty four, election day, and from that process,
the journey afterwards, how I got clear margins, and how
(24:56):
that journey is and what it is today with a
ric currents or remergence of cancer, which is I would
love to be here telling the story about, Yeah, I
got prostate cancer, I beat it.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
I'm on the other side of it. I'm actually right
not in the mud, you know what I'm saying of
this thing right now. And I know I'm good.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
I know God's got me. I know my wife's got me,
my family, my children, my grandchildren, like I know that
I am good. I got great organizations like zero zero
Prostate Cancer who I've come along with. They're trying to
help one hundred thousand men be saved from this prostate
(25:40):
cancer and in that journey. And I do want to
say this because they're part of you know the reason
why I'm here to talk about all this, But people
that need to get screened. I'm want to encourage the wives,
the mothers, the sisters, the aunts, the daughters out there,
the men in your life need to be checked. They
need to be screened. It not a it's not a game.
It's not something you wanna, you wanna, you want to
(26:01):
play around with. And I know they can go uh
to zero cancer dot org slash September because this is
officially Prostate cancer Awareness Month.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
I hope I got that, uh that information right.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
But in my diagnosis and in the journey that I'm
in right now, and to think of it, I don't
want to tell. But if I don't tell, I don't
know who else is gonna say it. I've watched and
I watched Dwayne Wiggins from Tony Tony tom at bladder
cancer and he died.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I don't know what his story is. I don't know
if he got diagnosed. I don't know if he got treated.
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
I don't know anything about that. The world heard, oh,
Rennie Moss has liver cancer, uh, and it was like
somebody leaked it and then he had it or he's
fine from it now. And then they had a week
in the NFL where they wore Moss cancer jerseys. But
I don't know how he told his wife. I don't
know what what his kids navigated through.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
I don't know anything when it comes to d Wade
you know, with kidney cancer. I think he's got sixty
percent of his kidney. I don't know what him and
Gabrielle went through. I don't know how he told his
kids or his family. Like, there's not enough data for
me to make the right type of decisions in the
(27:19):
thought processes that go behind any cancer, and in particular
prostate cancer, which is treatable, there's not a template there.
So I'm the template. Now, I'm the template. So I'm
partnering with zero and I'm telling the I'm snitching. I'm
telling everything that I can. You know about this, about
this process from diagnosis to when I'm crying and snotting,
(27:42):
and when I'm shaking my fist at God and when
I'm thanking God for life, all of these bits and pieces. Man,
I'm capturing it all. And this is the crazy thing though.
Last year, from diagnosis up to surgery, I'm out on
the road. I'm singing, I'm performing. I'm doing all these shows,
all these concerts, and all the money that I'm earning
(28:03):
to do this, I'm gathering it so I can tell
a story about cancer. I got cancer, and I'm working
to tell a story about how I'm going to defeat cancer.
And so now even on the other side thinking now
I'm about to do this documentary, Sustain you go to
sustain themovie dot com and help partner with us to
(28:27):
help take some of this load off of me because
me and my wife we've been carrying this thing for
a year and a half.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Now you know, it's been completely you know, on us.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
And now I'm still you know, I've got film, I
got people with me because now it's that this reemergence
of whatever is back.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
I got to continue this story. Thank you for sharing
your story.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
First, thank you so much because there's so many brothers.
I'm sorry, cut, there's so many brothers that have so
many questions and a lot of times we don't have
anybody to talk to, right, there is nobody. We say
this all the time. You never go to the barber
shop and you be like, hey, what's your prostate? Like
you know what I mean, Right, you don't talk about things.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Like that, you know what I mean. But we don't
have those conversations about health.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
To the fact, dude, though we don't say what's your proty?
Speaker 2 (29:12):
No, we don't know.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
We don't do that.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
We're doing the radio, but in the barbershop. That wasn't
a common conversation. We have conversations about We have a conversations.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
I've done more funerals the past years than weddings, God damn.
And not just funerals of people that people don't know,
like known people like I was there for Bismarque, I
was a bis Marquis feuderal. I was there for DJ
mister see you eulogized DJ mister Selwan Hall, like I
was there the night that Fat Man's school.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
I was in the hospital up in Connecticut, Like somehow
I'm around this and these ain't like seventy eighty ninety year.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Old men, these dudes in theties, early sixties. And so
there's a problem with that.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
Not just in the hip hop and the urban there's
a problem in the community, especially in the African American community,
black community, where which is twice likely you know what
I'm saying for people to not survive from this because
of the not getting checked and because not having conversations
about it.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
How do they come back If you got your proce
they removed though had it removed.
Speaker 4 (30:16):
Normally, when you have your prostate removed, your PSA levels
was supposed to go to zero. My PSA level did
not go to zero. It went to like one point something,
and it was kind of like, well, sometimes it takes
a couple of weeks for it to go down, and
so it did go down after a couple of weeks
or one point nine, one point seven, a couple months
one point five. I'm thinking that's cool or whatever, but
(30:37):
actually that's not what the case is. It just is
a situation where even though the prostate was removed and
everything seemed like it was isolated and confined in the prostate,
there were some bad actors that had probably you know,
like I said, when I got diagnosed, it was early
first stage gleas and six prostate cancer. When they pulled
it out and they biaps it, it was like, oh,
(30:57):
it's like stage two aggressive state cancer. And so, you
know what I'm saying, them little dudes, I got they fighters,
and so they apparently, you know what I'm saying, wanted
to try and.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Hide out or whatever.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
But because I still get screenings and I still go
through my regular checkups or whatever, I was able to detect, hey,
there's something in your lymp nodes and something kind of
in the prostate bed, those things will need to be there.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
You need to go for some more treat.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
To go, guys.
Speaker 7 (31:21):
So if you have to go spec Yeah, I saw
that you are going to begin radiation.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 7 (31:26):
Or would you be documenting that process too and talking
people through that, because that's also fear two. Once people
are diagnosed 're scared of the treatment.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
I don't want to, but I feel like I have to.
So I'll be going through proton therapy in Atlanta. It's
seven and a half weeks, thirty seven treatments, which is
like five days a week, an hour a day going
in and getting a very targeted form of radiation on
my limp nose and in my prostate bed. And I'm
not radioactive, but nothing afterwards. It's all that radiation is
(31:53):
taking place when the machine is on. And don't want
to do it, but that's that's how I get cancer.
I am a cancer survivor, but I didn't know there
was such thing as a two time cancer survivor. So
now it's like, you know what I'm saying, this is
the second bout and I want it to be the
last one.
Speaker 6 (32:08):
Too quick, all right, real quick, because I haven't asked
anything about this yet. Okay, So to Envy's point, no,
guys don't usually talk about it, right, Like my dad
he is like he knows something is wrong, but he
don't know how to relate it to his kids. Okay,
So like, how do you, like, how did you tell
(32:29):
your wife? How do you tell your other family members?
Speaker 4 (32:32):
That's thank you for ask asking that question. Hearing it
for the first time for myself, you know, just me
and the doctor. That was hard enough because I'm trying
to figure out how how do I tell myself first
of all. Then from there there's also this thing that
you realize, Okay, I've got this. You know, cancer doesn't
have me, but I've got cancer. Now in this process
(32:52):
when I start to share it, do I give cancer
to other people?
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Meaning?
Speaker 4 (32:56):
Do they now carry the weight of what I'm caring?
So in telling my wife, I became freer because I
now got somebody to take this journey with me, and
a lot of people don't have that. But I gotta,
you know what I'm saying, I got a g riding
beside me to help me do that. But then even
though after I told her, it took us about five
(33:17):
months that it was just us not knowing who to tell,
who to share it with, because we didn't want them
to have to carry the weight of that as well.
And so eventually we told my son, my oldest son,
and then my oldest son was like, Yo, you gotta
tell my brother's and sister. You got you gotta tell everybody.
I told everybody. I had a twelve year daughter at
the time. She's the last one. You know what I'm saying,
How do I tell her?
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Which is a put that weight on it? She has
school old you know, how do you tell her.
Speaker 4 (33:43):
Who also lost her grandfather to cancer the year before
a different form of cancer cancer, And so now how
do I make cancer palatable for a twelve year old?
I don't got a rule book for that, there's no template.
So I become the template. And it's another story for
another to help you'all. Have me come back so I
can tell you how I told my twelve year old
because it's hilarious. But in that process of telling them
(34:05):
and then letting more people know and more people know
that we're just in our insulated circle of influence.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Those are the people that were going to be our
tribe to help us.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
Because everybody don't need to know, because everybody ain't praying
for your health, and everybody don't want to see you win.
Everybody don't want to see you healthy. I know it's
going to be tons of people that are ah this
or that, and you know, but I can silence all
that noise because I knew who I am. And in
this process, I'm telling my story because it's important for
you and for your dad. Yes, I'm telling me, and
I don't even know what your dad is going through,
(34:36):
but it's important that your dad knows that montell the
artist of millions selling this or that the other it's saying.
It's saying, please go and get yourself or share, or
just tell your key or tell tell them, tell them
because they're stronger than you think, right, And it would
be worse for you not to know and then be wondering, oh,
(34:57):
what happened? Oh you know they kept this to themselves.
It would be selfish, and I understand the reason why.
But like I said, this is kind of where I
am now, and and I had to ask permission for
my kids, uh to be able to go and publicly
start sharing this story in the mud in the middle
of the story, simply because it's personal to them, like, yo,
(35:22):
you know, Dad, we appreciate that you sharing this with
the whole world. You could save other people's lives and
get men checked and.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
This or that the other.
Speaker 4 (35:28):
But you're our dad, you know, you're our dad, and
we want to we want to keep this, you know, personal.
But they understand. They've allowed me to share my music,
They've allowed me to share ministry, and now they allow
me to share my medical journey with the world. And
I probably wouldn't have done it without their their coson
to be able to say, yeah, Dad, you know, you
(35:48):
say people's lives through music, You saved people's souls through ministry,
and now you can you can do this too.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
My last question, I know you got to go. You
talk about God's plan in your life.
Speaker 5 (35:59):
How was your faith specifically guiding you during this, you know,
stage of your life, the treatment, recovery to rediagnosis everything.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
I'm unshakable. I'm unshakable. I recognize that I know where
my soul rest in this. I know that this earthly
journey is one that my story is not done being told.
So from that standpoint, all I can do is look
(36:29):
and be grateful of how good God has been to
my life and and listen, it ain't just words, like
you should be able to feel being in my presence
the same way I'm with y'all.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
You can feel that.
Speaker 4 (36:43):
I know without shadow it out, how good God is
to me and to some of y'all in the journeys
that you've been through, that that He's kept you. And
so that's the that's the foundational piece that has me
rooted and grounded that I already know. I know God's
gonna heal me, and I know he could do a
supernatural I know he can do it through doctors, through medicines,
he can do it through treatments. He can do it
(37:03):
however you want to do it. If it was up
to me, I'd be like, God, you know I'm one
of your favorites, you know, just you know, just get
it over with so I can just be able to
tell the whole world. Yo, Jesus healed me supernaturally, and
that's not the story that he gave me. He said,
I'm not gonna do it that way. I was like, well, Lord,
let me just get through it and come on the
other side so I can be able to say, Hey,
I had it, I did this, and God brought me
through through doctors and technology, and now I'm on the
(37:26):
other side of it. And I would have loved that testimony,
and God said, no, you're not going to get it
that way either. And so in this journey that I'm
on right now, I'm great. I'm really really grateful to
be with you all today. It's like, because I'm not
on the other side of it, I'm right in the
mix of it. And I want people to see that
God ain't just on the other side of it. He's
right with me in the mix of it. So while
I'm in the midst of it, God is with me,
(37:47):
and he's not waiting for me on the other side
to come through like he's with me.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
In the midst of it. And so from that standpoint,
that's where I can walk with an authority. I can
walk with boldness.
Speaker 4 (37:55):
I can walk in the place with my family, I
can walk with zero with zero prostate cancer, and I
can tell the story because they're giving me a platform,
you know what I'm saying, to be able to share
in these spaces where my R and B or pastoral
voice may not have the reach that it could have.
Partnerships and things like that allow us to be able
(38:17):
to save some lives. This ain't there's no money grab here.
This is literally I'm trying to grab your pops. I'm
trying to get your dad. I'm trying to get your uncles.
I'm trying to get your brothers. I'm trying to get
your husband's I'm trying to tell them if you thought
Montel Jordan was cool, or you liked his music, or
you you thought he might have had, you know, brought something.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
To the game.
Speaker 4 (38:36):
Now I'm bringing this to the game, and I'm saying
it's important for you to not leave a legacy of
your family of secrets and of death and of misinformation
and of neglect. Don't neglect your family, don't neglect your body.
Find out what's going on. And you know, because people said,
(38:56):
I just rather not know. No, No, that's that's that's
incredibly ignorant to not want to know what's going on
in your body, especially when it comes to prostate cancer,
because and I keep saying this, man, it's treatable when caught.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Early, So why not catch it early before it catches you?
Speaker 5 (39:15):
You like you just got another ministry brother music and
appreciating Now you know you're going through all of this
just to have another ministry.
Speaker 4 (39:21):
Well, I didn't want this one. But that's why God
can trust me with it, though, and trust me with this.
I don't want this. I don't want to tell the story.
I do not want to be the one to tell
this story. And that's why God says, Great. So I
know that, you know, you'll do whatever you have to say,
and do you do what you have to do. You'll
say what you have to say because I know it's
not something that that I want the accolades for. It's
(39:43):
a lot to come along with prostate cancer, you know
what I'm saying, That journey or whatever and the stigmas
and the stuff that comes along with that. It's very personal.
But from that standpoint, you know, I got a lot
to share, a lot to talk about. A lot of
it will be in that documentary. Like I said, I
can't you know, I'm I'm the shameless plug. I need
help stainthmovie dot com. That's a space where people can
(40:04):
partner and be a part of coming to help us
get this documentity told and get your names on the credits,
on the screen and all that type of stuff. I
got to get the story told and I'm either gonna
tell it because people are helping sustain themovie dotmovie dot
com and make sure you lie go on and donate.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
But we need to close out with a prayer of them.
Speaker 4 (40:21):
Oh absolutely, absolutely all right. God, thank you, Thank you
for your sons and your daughters. I think you that
you have given them this space and this voice to
be able to speak to this generation.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
God.
Speaker 4 (40:33):
I pray over their lives. I pray with their health.
I pray over their strength. I pray over their families.
I pray over their marriages. I pray over the future marriages.
I pray over their children and their grandchildren. God, I
pray that what they speak, even as they entertain, Father,
that at the heart of what they do, that somehow
somebody would hear what they say and it always points
back to you, Father, no matter what they are navigating
(40:53):
through personally, I pray that you would be there with them.
Let them know you're not on the other side waiting
for them. That if they've received you as Lord, and
that you are there with them in the trenches in
the good days, you're with them. In the bad days,
you're with them. And I thank you for the breakfast Club.
I thank you for this space, and I thank you
for this platform. I thank you for my life, and
for my wife, and for my children and my grandchildren.
I thank you for everybody under the sound of my
(41:14):
voice that you know you've heard Monsel, but you weren't
here in Montell you were hearing the Lord speak to
you today. To be able to say, your life matters,
your soul matters, and more than your soul mattering in heaven,
which is extremely important, your life here on earth matters.
And so do something to make sure you're preserving your
life here in this earth so that the beautiful things
(41:35):
that we get to listen to and experience. God, you
are the one that allowed that to happen, and we
just thank you for this opportunity. We praise you in
Jesus name.
Speaker 3 (41:43):
Amen, Amen Montel Jordan. Ladies and gentlemen, that's the breakfast club.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
Good morning. Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (41:50):
Every day a wait clicks up the breakfast Club, you
don't finish for y'all done.
Every day a week ago. Click yours up the Breakfast Club,
finish for y'all. Done morning everybody, it's the j n V.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Just hilarious.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Charlamagne the guy. We are the breakfast Club. Lola Roast
is here as well. We got a special guest in
the building.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Indeed, the intro you.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Want to sing the intro, that's highway the.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Ladies.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome brother.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
What's up young man? I'm great this morning. I feel good.
I feel good. It's good to be here, if you
don't mind me. Yeah, I'm fifty six. Something to look
forward to.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Absolutely, you talking about absolutely How does it feel to
have one of the record that will never go away?
It plays in pop culture and hip hop and urban
and country and all types of things. Your record always
get played. Do you know when you did that record,
it was gonna that was that record?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
It was going to be that way.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
I knew we had something special. Like I go back
to college days and I knew that even long before
I was in the music business, Like I would go
to the fraternity parties or whatever, and any DJ that
was really doing this thing right around that, you know,
last call for alcohol, that last hour of the club,
that's when they would drop Slick Rick's Children's Story and
that was just already like a timeless record. But I
(01:15):
always said, even back then, if I ever get the
chance of getting music business, I'm gonna sing.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Over that record.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
So I did know that it was already a hit.
But the journey of taking that hit and then turning
it into a classic, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
I could not have known that, but that was what
the goal was.
Speaker 5 (01:30):
Correct, Correct me if I'm wrong, because I was thinking
about it when they told me you was coming in.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
You were You were def Jam's first R and B star, right, I.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Think they had Allison Well when you say R and
B stars, so they had Allison Williams was there. They
had Orange Juce Jones there, so they had some some
R and B stuff. Yeah, I mean we were the first.
Well not only were we the first I think successful
R and B like, we were there their first number
one record that def Jam had ever Yeah and.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Oh wow, yeah wow, the first amazing.
Speaker 5 (02:01):
But I did you know you think of depth Jay,
you think of its being a rap heavy label around
that time. You were even sampling one of their classic
rap records.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Absolutely, and the cool thing though, even with that relationship
of doing the Slick Crick the Children's Story kind of pairing.
On my second album, me and Slickrick got together and
we did a song called I Like That was on
my second album, and we're friends to this to this day,
him and his wife and me and my wife. We all,
you know, do life together.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
But tell us how you wrote that record in the
process of getting into the music industry, because you said
you were in college and you go to parties. What
made you say, you know what I want to do music?
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Well that the making of that record right there was
literally like capturing atmosphere. So I would study guys like
Marvin Gay and the song like got to give it Up.
If you listen to that song, got to give it Up.
Even before Marvin starts singing, you hear crowd, you hear atmosphere.
You hear energy and all that is transformative in you know,
into music, especially when music was more analog than digital.
(02:57):
And so when you hear this is how we do
it before the song ever comes on, you hear a party,
because that's.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
What we did.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
I put people in the studio, put a microphone in there,
games some drinks, and they were all standing around having
a party and then you know, the engineers, we clicked
play and we captured the energy of the room before
the song ever ever kicked.
Speaker 6 (03:15):
In actually the actual studio like live in the studio, like.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Live in the studio, they were just kind of we
just captured everything. The flirtation, the conversation, everything that was
happening is the undergirding of the track and the lyrics
of this is how we do it. So people don't
know it's more than hearing the record. They actually feel
that record, which is why you know, we're talking thirty
years almost thirty years later.
Speaker 5 (03:40):
A record like that is a gift in a curse though,
right because you know, a record comes, it becomes such
so big in life, kind of overshine shines the rest
of your catalog.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Right in a way, it was a It was a
gift because it's around thirty years later. It was a
curse because it was the first record, and because it
was the first record, everybody always wants to put everything
up against that record, you know, and that was a
phenomenon record. And so even I've had records that have
probably sold more or that have done extremely well, everybody
(04:08):
always goes.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Back to that as the first was that record, They're well,
get it on tonight, They're good.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
I had some records that did really probably not sold more,
but I mean as far as just some that has
some legs. I got records that have some legs to
them or whatever, but that record was so when Something
for the Honeys came out, uh, that was a song
that had some legs to it, but it could never
reach number one because it was like ten months later.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
We're like, hey, this is the next single.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
They're like, no, we're still playing this is how we
do it, and so station's, oh, but this is a
pretty cool thing that a lot of people don't know.
The reason why this is how we do it got
to be so big was because, you know, in the song,
I say, south Central does it like nobody does. I
remember coming to New York City getting with all the
Anti Martinez, Willie Williams all that I got to Hot
ninety seven and those stations or whatever, they're like, we
(04:57):
love you, we love depth CHANM, but we're not really
kind of playing that record because you know the whole
South Central thing. So I was like, okay, well let's
let's try and fix that. So we went into the
editing booth, and I re sang.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
This is how we do it. But I said, ooh,
New York does it like nobody does?
Speaker 4 (05:13):
And why I normally do you know, because I was
a rapper before I was singing, you know, I would
do it like this is how we do it is
Friday night, I feel all right, the parties with Angie Martinez.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
So I reached for the old school and I turned
it up bunks.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Some flo and so I started throwing names into the
songs and change it to New York. And so when
I did that, now New York they're playing that song
every hour on the hour. And then DC here's in DC.
It's like, yo, we heard you did that in New York.
We want a DC version, we want a Philly version.
And so I ended up singing the song probably a
thousand times, just so that every station had their own
customized version of it.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
So that is artist, don't put that kind of work
in the.
Speaker 7 (05:51):
I was gonna say, you talked about you being a
rapper a little bit to get into that part of it.
Even in that song, you kind of have verses where
you're it's like you're singing it, but it's it's like
a like you're wrapping it like I reached, Like now
I understand kind of where that comes from.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Yeah, I was Russell Simmons rap singer when I got
signed to Depth jat. That was one of the reasons
why I was documenting street life in Los Angeles and
I was finding ways to to you know, the r
Kelly's were out there, there were other artists out there.
The guy was out there, and you.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Know, I wanted to do the new Jack thing. I
wanted to.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I was a fan of Aaron Hall. I was a
fan of a lot of different things. But the only
way I was able to carve my own space into
who I would be musically was I had to take
rap lyrics and then I would sing them. So if
you were to look at this is how we do it,
and you say I reached for my forty and I
turn it up, designated driver, take the keys to my truck.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Like lyrically that the Dutch that that's like rap prose.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
But that I would say designated driver, take the keys
to my truck and say designated driver. I take the
keys to my truck. And so I literally would write
rap lyrics my entire first album. I wrote rap lyrics
and then I figured out how to sing them.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
I just love the fact that you you know, having
a designated driver back then.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yah, that's what I'm saying. I was very conscious, very.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Responsible, and you went from R and B, you know,
superstar to past.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Like, what was the breaking point that made you step
away from the industry. I was brought up in church.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
I was a church kid growing up, and so from
that standpoint, it wasn't like, you know, I had this great,
big epiphany and then you know, flew to the gospel.
It was like, literally I was brought up a church kid.
Mine and a lot of musicians and a lot of
artists have that training ground. It's like a farm league
almost for the music business where people are growing up,
they're listening. It's the difference between uh, you know, between
(07:35):
rhythm and blues and soul music. So is a little
more attached to feeling as opposed to just sonic hearing,
and so me going back into ministry wasn't like a oh,
I'm ready to do this. It was more of a
God move of saying, hey man, you've done it this
way for so long, you know, why don't you try
and do you know, try and do it my way
and give me the opportunity to show you that what
(07:57):
accolades and what verification and validation and I'm looking for
in man and in people that God's like, I've already
verified you, I've already validated you.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
And so, you know, so I don't have to work
for God's grace. I'm working from his grace.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
And by me stepping away to do ministry, I found
out who I was because, you know, in the music business,
I didn't know who I was outside of music. If
I'm not I don't have an album, if I'm not
on the charts, if people aren't playing them on the radio,
then who I am I? And so God was like,
you know, oh, I'm gracious enough to show you who
you are if you never pick up a mic again.
So it was during that time I found out, Man,
(08:31):
I'm a son and I'm a father, I'm a friend,
I'm a giver, I'm generous, I'm you know, I'm all
these different things.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
I'm a teacher, I'm.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
A communicator, I'm a bunch of different that. If I
never pick up a microphone again, I found out who
I was, and I learned that, you know, music doesn't
define me. I define music. And I was like a pivotal,
you know, pivotal part for me to understand that music
doesn't define who I am. I define who music is.
And then that's when God says, Okay, now I can
trust you with music again, because now you know who
(08:59):
you are.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I was going to ask you, what did you find
in ministry that music couldn't give you?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
And I guess it was just a sense of self.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
What do I find in ministry the music couldn't give me?
I think that with music, I was in an abusive relationship.
I love something that couldn't love me back. And so literally,
you know, I would say, man, I love music so much.
I love music so much. I do it for free.
I love music, and music never loved me back. Even
when I was leaving music to go into ministry. Music
(09:29):
wasn't like no, monself, don't leave, we want you.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
It was nothing.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
It was just like Biden, you know what I'm so
I was like, Okay, cool, whatever, And so I learned
that God did love me and he did care about me,
and he was there, you.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Know, in those spaces.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
And so I think what I got from God is
I got someone and something that could love me back.
And then now I understand that music is something that
I can enjoy, I can appreciate, and I can create,
but it doesn't create me.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
When you got into being a pastor, did you when
you went b performing, did you feel like I had
to take some lyrics out or had to change things
up or anything at all.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Or no, one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
I literally, you know, the story goes of, you know,
when I left the music business, I literally I burnt
the plow, meaning I'm like, I'm not coming back. I
got all my instrumental tracks, I got rid of everything.
I was full ministry for like four or five years.
And during that time period, there was a promoter who
kept calling my wife like every single year, several times
a year. He would call it, Hey, I need Montel,
(10:26):
I need Mantel, I need my Tell And we didn't
even take dudes calls, like we are done with the
music business. And then about four years and she finally,
you know, takes my man's call. She's like, hey, you know,
kind of frustrated.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
You know, what do you want?
Speaker 4 (10:39):
He's like, yeah, I need Montel for his concert. I
got Keith Sweat Silk, I got this whole big thing
and we need Montel and she's like, you know, Montell's retired.
He was like, yeah, yeah, I know, I'm following his career.
She was like, you know he's a minister. Here is
a pastor. Now He's like ya, yeah, yeah, I'm a
Christian too, I know that. And so she's like, well,
why do you keep calling in. He's like, cause my
shows are really dark and I need some light.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Oh. When he drops that, now we have.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
To circle back and we're like, okay, is there a
way that Well first it was like, okay, well, God,
you told me not to sing that song no more?
And God said, no, you told you not to sing
that song no more.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I never told you that.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
And I was like, oh my goodness, maybe it was me.
You know, I had to get rid of my own idol.
I had to sacrifice my own idol that I made it.
But God never told me not to sing that song anymore.
So I did have to say, Okay, what can I
sing and what can't I sing anymore? Can I get
people nostalgia without giving them something that compromises who I am?
And that was the journey of going back and finding
(11:37):
the songs that I could sing, changing some words, changing
some lyrics because I'm a changed man, and then that
became something that was acceptable and it's very welcomed actually
out not only for the audiences, but even like the
artists that I'm out on the road with.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
I'm like a pastor to the unpastored.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
And a lot of spaces because I'm speaking truth and
I'm loving them and I'm out on the road with them.
I understand what they've been through. I've been doing this
for thirty years, you know what I'm saying, And so
I think that was part of the journey of Yeah,
I'm able to change lyrics. I'm able to customize something
quick story like when it comes to Let's Ride, I
do that. That was, you know, a pretty nasty song, Masterpiece,
Silk the Shocker, Strip Club Anthem, big big number one record,
(12:16):
you know, and I'll do that song, but I don't
really sing that song. I'll sing the first verse of
that song. I literally do about forty five seconds to
a minute of the song to instill nostalgia in people.
And then with master Piece, go I get to that
part of the song, like you know, write in the
verse and I go, oh, do that song a nomore
because it's nasty and the crowd laughs or whatever. And
now I'll tell them, yo, I told you I'm a
(12:37):
pastor no more, you know. But but but but I
can do this song. And then I just kind of shift.
So I'm giving them the song and just that much
makes them feel like they've heard the entire song. And
then you know, I keep it moving. I love that.
Speaker 6 (12:48):
So so it was so did you feel guilty?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
You felt guilty before.
Speaker 6 (12:53):
You know, performing those songs, after you stepped away and
did ministry and they wanted you back when that promoter
called your wife. It was the fact that you would
feel guilty when you did the songs. Before I got
closer to God, I never.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Felt guilty, which is which is wild. I felt.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
I maybe felt conflicted, but guilt, guilt is, I think
is a strong word. I felt like, I know I
love the Lord. I know I'm in you know, this
is before ministry. I know I love the Lord. I
know God's got me. I know He's given me a
lot of ideas and I took a lot of those
ideas and I made him more customizable for different audiences
and stuff like that. Uh, you know. And and from
(13:33):
that standpoint, I had to be two Montelles, if you will,
and it probably was three or four. You know, I
call it spiritual schizophrena. It was like, literally, and I'm
not making fun of any diagnosis. I'm saying that I
had to be different montell for different audiences. When I'm
home with my wife, that's one Montell. When I'm at
my church, that's a different Montel. When I'm with my
(13:54):
mom's that's a different Montelle. And so because of that,
I was trying to keep up with a bunch of
different persons now and so, yeah, I think I could
feel guilty from the standpoint of not being authentically who
I am, and ministry allowed me to step into a
space that is like, it doesn't matter if I am
on the breakfast club, it don't matter if I'm in church,
it don't matter if I'm with you know, in any setting,
(14:17):
I'm going to be the same Montel, authentically me all
the time.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
And that's liberating.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
So how do you reconcile to Monte Jordan who singing
about streaky stuff on the weekends with the Monte Jordan
who preachers on Sunday mornings.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Yeah, that dude had to die.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
That guy had to die and I'm okay with that
because now who I am, it doesn't mean I can't
look back and show the world who I was. Even
in my shows. I do a ministry. I do ministry
during my shows. Anybody that goes to a Monto show,
I don't care people drinking, getting doing whatever they do
with the show. Whatever I am literally almost like comedically
(14:53):
weaving a story into I'm just going on and sing songs.
I'm communicating with the audience. We laugh and telling jokes,
and I'm talking to him, and I get to a
point in the show where I actually tell him, Hey,
you know, y'all know I'm a pastor.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Some of you don't know. And I let him know.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
I said, hey, music is part of the soundtrack to
our lives. If you've got a good memory in your life,
there's probably a song attached to it. If you've got
a tragic moment in your life, there's probably some music
attached to it. And I said, what I'm doing is
I'm giving you nostalgia. But I'm also here to show
you what it looks like when God gets a hold
of a man's heart and then changes them and puts
them back in front of people with great influence and
(15:29):
people that know that there's something different about him, but
they don't quite know what it is. And I says,
Jesus that changed my life and transformed me and made
me a different person. And so in that audience, I'll
tell them.
Speaker 5 (15:39):
So.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I know some of y'all don't do the God thing.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
I know some of y'all don't do the church thing,
but I'm here to tell you that God loves you,
and God misses you, and God is not angry at you.
And even if you wouldn't come to a church, he
sent the nineties R and B artist to you wherever
you are to let you know that your life is
that valuable to him. And so I literally get the
minister in every space that I go to, and people
(16:01):
will get an encounter with God not even expecting. You know,
I just came to hear you know, color me bad
saying I want to sex you up, and Mantell's in
there talking about Jesus. Wow, how did that happen?
Speaker 6 (16:10):
You know, it's unassuming, and you never know how many
people will actually go to him. Correct I will follow
that at work, because that's what he wants.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Acknowledge me.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Every now and then just I get a God kiss
where somebody will pop in the DM and they'll be like, yo,
you were talking to me last night, and man, God,
you know, pray for me and for my daughter or
this antity other. So you know, I'm I'm I'm pastoring,
but I'm just outside the four walls of the church.
I just I'm on the expansion program as an artist.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Being tall.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
Hindry you But I remember I promised to Teddy Rolly
to me a long time ago, Teddy Rolly said there's
no such thing as a tall superstar in industry.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
To think about it.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Yeah, now I think it's uh, you know the six
eighties stood has allowed me to to stand out, you know,
head and shoulders above. I think in Guinness, I was like,
in the Guinness Book of World because at what time
for the tallest R and B sing or tallest with
the number one record?
Speaker 3 (17:04):
I can't see nobody taller.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Told me that years ago.
Speaker 5 (17:08):
He was like, yo, you guys, he's like nouch thing
as a tall superstar. I'm like, snoop Jesus, like those
are exceptions to the rules.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
A long time Yeah, yeah, tall, you know, other than
shopping off the rack, you know, height height has been
in that, you know, advantaged for me.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
And you've been married for how long? Thirty two years?
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Graduations?
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Congratulations the same moment.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
So I'm twenty four, what you I build my wife
for twenty seven, we've been married for eleven twenty four.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
So long with that you were young kids. He's like, man,
it was kids for like ten or fifteen.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Kids?
Speaker 1 (17:50):
You know now even no God wanted that.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
But but what what was the secret sauce to keeping
that bond alive, especially in the industry that each relationships.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
Yeah, yeah, I think recognizing that that marriage wasn't something
that humans created. I think marriage is something that God
created meant it's meant to be a covenant. And a
lot of people go in to marriage with an exit
strategy as opposed to having an eternal strategy. They go
in thinking, well, if this doesn't work, then i'll and
(18:19):
that automatically is to set up for the enemy to
be able to know what you're then I'll I'll do
this or I'll do that. That's the strategy that the
enemy will use to take out your marriage. And so
we know that we are going to be married to
each other forever. We're gonna make it the best forever possible.
We're gonna be happy. We got family legacy on the
(18:40):
line here. And by doing that, I recognize that our
marriage ain't just for us. Our marriage is for other
people to be able to see and be like, man,
if they can do it, they can do thirty something
years and still be grabbing each other's butts in the
elevator and still you know, excited about each other. Whatever,
it can be done. A lot of people don't want
to get married or or they're kind of shy away
from it simply because they don't recognize or see enough
(19:03):
that it can be done. And so that's what we're doing.
We want to be an example, uh to we help
a public marriage is hell in private. So a lot
of couples when they go into you know, some challenges
or this or that. We have a spot called the
Jordan River down in Atlanta, UH and we take we
provide marriage and family therapy, but licensed marriage and family.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Therapists, private chefs, all of that.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
They get a chance to come in and uh, you know,
they can go to montel and Kristen dot com or
or go to Marriage Masterpiece dot com p E a
c E. UH If people need help with their marriages.
But uh, you know that's that's something that we do
to keep us. It keeps us tight together because we
recognize other couples needed God bless.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
Yeah, how was that mixing like with the pros and
cons of mixing the marriage with the business, that.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Was hell.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Became a path, you know, it was.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
You know, it was one of those things where you know,
the label had come in and in order to to
help be successful, they were like, well, montell if nobody's
gonna want an unavailable, married R and B artist, you know,
you gotta understand. You know we're talking ninety five, ninety four,
ninety five. You know, if you're not available, they're not
gonna want you. And I would always heard that if
you want to be successful in the music business, guys
(20:16):
have to want to be be you and women have
to want to be with you. If you can do
those things and you could be successful. And so I
had to keep the persona that I was this single
available R and B artist and for her being in
depth chairman and then you know one sixty varick those
days being in that building was a that was a
tough building to be in. And she's a woman manager
or whatever, and it was like, well, if you are
(20:37):
the wife, then people are not gonna respect you. So
as opposed to being Kristin Jordan, she was Kristin Hudson
and she was the manager. And being the manager is
tough because it's kind of like is the manager telling
the artists what to do? Or is the artist telling
the manager? What?
Speaker 1 (20:52):
What do we do?
Speaker 4 (20:52):
And then when we're not artist and manager and then
we go home because remember there's different Montelles at that time.
There's Montela artist and then there's Montela husband, and Montola
artist takes president you know, takes presence over Montela husband
when we get home, like then what does that look like?
Speaker 1 (21:06):
How do we submit to each other? How do we
you know?
Speaker 4 (21:09):
And so it was that was it was very, very tough,
and so at some point something else had to die,
and in that my artistry and her manage managerial capacity,
all those things had to die in order for our
marriage to live. Because whatever you feed grows, right, and
so if we're feeding the industry side of us, that
thing was was crazy. She was managing doing fantastic, I'm
(21:31):
doing my artist thing, and we hemorrhage in at home.
We're bleeding out, you know, and so we had to
figure out what we wanted to live and what we wanted.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
To, you know, to sacrifice.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Now, one thing that I think makes me nervous and
don't make Churelomain nervous, you would diagnose with prostate cancer. Yeah,
that's something that I think we started. And this was
a great thing. We started early, checking everything. I mean,
we didn't went to damn near every skin you could
possibly imagine, because I have six hes four we want
to make sure we did as long as possible.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
He would get his probably check like every week just
for fun with the same where I work at.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
But were you sick?
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Was it just a test or how did you how
did you find out?
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (22:13):
Never sick, never sick, never felt sick. Literally about when
I was in my early forties is when I started
going to get to get checked. And uh, you know
the whole taboo thing about the rectal check, you know,
the finger check and then the blood check. Even when
I was diagnosed, it wasn't rectal check that found anything.
It was really in my blood from the ten years
(22:34):
of getting blood checks, you know, I could see ten
years ago it's like my PSA was like three point one.
It was three point three and three point nine, four
point two, four point five, four point six, five point one,
and then it was kind of like oh, okay, and
then we go from five point one to six point
one was like oh and then So it was the
journey of looking at my blood at that PSA levels
(22:55):
because I had a history because of early detection. Because
of that, it allowed me to when I did get diagnosed,
it allowed me to have options because they caught it early,
and prostate cancer is ninety nine percent treatable when caught early.
They have almost one hundred percent success rate of treating
it if it's caught early enough. But a lot of men,
(23:17):
particularly disproportionately Black men, do not go and they do
not get checked, and because of that, they normally are
finding out too late in the process. What made you
decide to share it publicly instead of keeping it private
as a god thing that's one hundred percent of God there,
because it is very private, very personal, And I think
part of it was what they call a holy discontent,
(23:39):
that thing that just makes it something difficult, you can't.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Sleep at night.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
It was like I watched when chat with Bozman, It
wasn't I don't think prostate cancer. But when chat with
Boseman passed.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Away, I was like, what is that?
Speaker 4 (23:50):
Like? How do you do all the movies? How do
you do all those things? And nobody know? Like, nobody
can tell me nothing you know about that? And then
when I got diagnosed, I didn't have a template. I
didn't have anybody that I could look at that was
telling you know, that was telling the story to be
able to say, Okay, when you get diagnosed, do this,
or even though it's not cancer, not the same for everybody,
but when this happens, here are the steps you know
(24:11):
that you can take. I couldn't. I couldn't find nobody.
And so even right after we got diagnosed, my wife
and I felt like we had the Lord said to us,
film it, tell everything, film it, And so we started
filming this documentary that eventually be called Sustained. I'll tell
you more about that in the moment. But this movie,
this film, in this documentary is literally us telling this
(24:33):
entire story from diagnosis all the way up through how
we vetted doctors, how we vet vetted treatments, what we
chose to do, how I chose to have a radical
protecting me surgery and have my prostate removed November fifth
of twenty twenty four, election day, and from that process,
the journey afterwards, how I got clear margins, and how
(24:56):
that journey is and what it is today with a
ric currents or remergence of cancer, which is I would
love to be here telling the story about, Yeah, I
got prostate cancer, I beat it.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
I'm on the other side of it. I'm actually right
not in the mud, you know what I'm saying of
this thing right now. And I know I'm good.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
I know God's got me. I know my wife's got me,
my family, my children, my grandchildren, like I know that
I am good. I got great organizations like zero zero
Prostate Cancer who I've come along with. They're trying to
help one hundred thousand men be saved from this prostate
(25:40):
cancer and in that journey. And I do want to
say this because they're part of you know the reason
why I'm here to talk about all this, But people
that need to get screened. I'm want to encourage the wives,
the mothers, the sisters, the aunts, the daughters out there,
the men in your life need to be checked. They
need to be screened. It not a it's not a game.
It's not something you wanna, you wanna, you want to
(26:01):
play around with. And I know they can go uh
to zero cancer dot org slash September because this is
officially Prostate cancer Awareness Month.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
I hope I got that, uh that information right.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
But in my diagnosis and in the journey that I'm
in right now, and to think of it, I don't
want to tell. But if I don't tell, I don't
know who else is gonna say it. I've watched and
I watched Dwayne Wiggins from Tony Tony tom at bladder
cancer and he died.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I don't know what his story is. I don't know
if he got diagnosed. I don't know if he got treated.
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
I don't know anything about that. The world heard, oh,
Rennie Moss has liver cancer, uh, and it was like
somebody leaked it and then he had it or he's
fine from it now. And then they had a week
in the NFL where they wore Moss cancer jerseys. But
I don't know how he told his wife. I don't
know what what his kids navigated through.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
I don't know anything when it comes to d Wade
you know, with kidney cancer. I think he's got sixty
percent of his kidney. I don't know what him and
Gabrielle went through. I don't know how he told his
kids or his family. Like, there's not enough data for
me to make the right type of decisions in the
(27:19):
thought processes that go behind any cancer, and in particular
prostate cancer, which is treatable, there's not a template there.
So I'm the template. Now, I'm the template. So I'm
partnering with zero and I'm telling the I'm snitching. I'm
telling everything that I can. You know about this, about
this process from diagnosis to when I'm crying and snotting,
(27:42):
and when I'm shaking my fist at God and when
I'm thanking God for life, all of these bits and pieces. Man,
I'm capturing it all. And this is the crazy thing though.
Last year, from diagnosis up to surgery, I'm out on
the road. I'm singing, I'm performing. I'm doing all these shows,
all these concerts, and all the money that I'm earning
(28:03):
to do this, I'm gathering it so I can tell
a story about cancer. I got cancer, and I'm working
to tell a story about how I'm going to defeat cancer.
And so now even on the other side thinking now
I'm about to do this documentary, Sustain you go to
sustain themovie dot com and help partner with us to
(28:27):
help take some of this load off of me because
me and my wife we've been carrying this thing for
a year and a half.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Now you know, it's been completely you know, on us.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
And now I'm still you know, I've got film, I
got people with me because now it's that this reemergence
of whatever is back.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
I got to continue this story. Thank you for sharing
your story.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
First, thank you so much because there's so many brothers.
I'm sorry, cut, there's so many brothers that have so
many questions and a lot of times we don't have
anybody to talk to, right, there is nobody. We say
this all the time. You never go to the barber
shop and you be like, hey, what's your prostate? Like
you know what I mean, Right, you don't talk about things.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Like that, you know what I mean. But we don't
have those conversations about health.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
To the fact, dude, though we don't say what's your proty?
Speaker 2 (29:12):
No, we don't know.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
We don't do that.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
We're doing the radio, but in the barbershop. That wasn't
a common conversation. We have conversations about We have a conversations.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
I've done more funerals the past years than weddings, God damn.
And not just funerals of people that people don't know,
like known people like I was there for Bismarque, I
was a bis Marquis feuderal. I was there for DJ
mister see you eulogized DJ mister Selwan Hall, like I
was there the night that Fat Man's school.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
I was in the hospital up in Connecticut, Like somehow
I'm around this and these ain't like seventy eighty ninety year.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Old men, these dudes in theties, early sixties. And so
there's a problem with that.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
Not just in the hip hop and the urban there's
a problem in the community, especially in the African American community,
black community, where which is twice likely you know what
I'm saying for people to not survive from this because
of the not getting checked and because not having conversations
about it.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
How do they come back If you got your proce
they removed though had it removed.
Speaker 4 (30:16):
Normally, when you have your prostate removed, your PSA levels
was supposed to go to zero. My PSA level did
not go to zero. It went to like one point something,
and it was kind of like, well, sometimes it takes
a couple of weeks for it to go down, and
so it did go down after a couple of weeks
or one point nine, one point seven, a couple months
one point five. I'm thinking that's cool or whatever, but
(30:37):
actually that's not what the case is. It just is
a situation where even though the prostate was removed and
everything seemed like it was isolated and confined in the prostate,
there were some bad actors that had probably you know,
like I said, when I got diagnosed, it was early
first stage gleas and six prostate cancer. When they pulled
it out and they biaps it, it was like, oh,
(30:57):
it's like stage two aggressive state cancer. And so, you
know what I'm saying, them little dudes, I got they fighters,
and so they apparently, you know what I'm saying, wanted
to try and.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Hide out or whatever.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
But because I still get screenings and I still go
through my regular checkups or whatever, I was able to detect, hey,
there's something in your lymp nodes and something kind of
in the prostate bed, those things will need to be there.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
You need to go for some more treat.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
To go, guys.
Speaker 7 (31:21):
So if you have to go spec Yeah, I saw
that you are going to begin radiation.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 7 (31:26):
Or would you be documenting that process too and talking
people through that, because that's also fear two. Once people
are diagnosed 're scared of the treatment.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
I don't want to, but I feel like I have to.
So I'll be going through proton therapy in Atlanta. It's
seven and a half weeks, thirty seven treatments, which is
like five days a week, an hour a day going
in and getting a very targeted form of radiation on
my limp nose and in my prostate bed. And I'm
not radioactive, but nothing afterwards. It's all that radiation is
(31:53):
taking place when the machine is on. And don't want
to do it, but that's that's how I get cancer.
I am a cancer survivor, but I didn't know there
was such thing as a two time cancer survivor. So
now it's like, you know what I'm saying, this is
the second bout and I want it to be the
last one.
Speaker 6 (32:08):
Too quick, all right, real quick, because I haven't asked
anything about this yet. Okay, So to Envy's point, no,
guys don't usually talk about it, right, Like my dad
he is like he knows something is wrong, but he
don't know how to relate it to his kids. Okay,
So like, how do you, like, how did you tell
(32:29):
your wife? How do you tell your other family members?
Speaker 4 (32:32):
That's thank you for ask asking that question. Hearing it
for the first time for myself, you know, just me
and the doctor. That was hard enough because I'm trying
to figure out how how do I tell myself first
of all. Then from there there's also this thing that
you realize, Okay, I've got this. You know, cancer doesn't
have me, but I've got cancer. Now in this process
(32:52):
when I start to share it, do I give cancer
to other people?
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Meaning?
Speaker 4 (32:56):
Do they now carry the weight of what I'm caring?
So in telling my wife, I became freer because I
now got somebody to take this journey with me, and
a lot of people don't have that. But I gotta,
you know what I'm saying, I got a g riding
beside me to help me do that. But then even
though after I told her, it took us about five
(33:17):
months that it was just us not knowing who to tell,
who to share it with, because we didn't want them
to have to carry the weight of that as well.
And so eventually we told my son, my oldest son,
and then my oldest son was like, Yo, you gotta
tell my brother's and sister. You got you gotta tell everybody.
I told everybody. I had a twelve year daughter at
the time. She's the last one. You know what I'm saying,
How do I tell her?
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Which is a put that weight on it? She has
school old you know, how do you tell her.
Speaker 4 (33:43):
Who also lost her grandfather to cancer the year before
a different form of cancer cancer, And so now how
do I make cancer palatable for a twelve year old?
I don't got a rule book for that, there's no template.
So I become the template. And it's another story for
another to help you'all. Have me come back so I
can tell you how I told my twelve year old
because it's hilarious. But in that process of telling them
(34:05):
and then letting more people know and more people know
that we're just in our insulated circle of influence.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Those are the people that were going to be our
tribe to help us.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
Because everybody don't need to know, because everybody ain't praying
for your health, and everybody don't want to see you win.
Everybody don't want to see you healthy. I know it's
going to be tons of people that are ah this
or that, and you know, but I can silence all
that noise because I knew who I am. And in
this process, I'm telling my story because it's important for
you and for your dad. Yes, I'm telling me, and
I don't even know what your dad is going through,
(34:36):
but it's important that your dad knows that montell the
artist of millions selling this or that the other it's saying.
It's saying, please go and get yourself or share, or
just tell your key or tell tell them, tell them
because they're stronger than you think, right, And it would
be worse for you not to know and then be wondering, oh,
(34:57):
what happened? Oh you know they kept this to themselves.
It would be selfish, and I understand the reason why.
But like I said, this is kind of where I
am now, and and I had to ask permission for
my kids, uh to be able to go and publicly
start sharing this story in the mud in the middle
of the story, simply because it's personal to them, like, yo,
(35:22):
you know, Dad, we appreciate that you sharing this with
the whole world. You could save other people's lives and
get men checked and.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
This or that the other.
Speaker 4 (35:28):
But you're our dad, you know, you're our dad, and
we want to we want to keep this, you know, personal.
But they understand. They've allowed me to share my music,
They've allowed me to share ministry, and now they allow
me to share my medical journey with the world. And
I probably wouldn't have done it without their their coson
to be able to say, yeah, Dad, you know, you
(35:48):
say people's lives through music, You saved people's souls through ministry,
and now you can you can do this too.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
My last question, I know you got to go. You
talk about God's plan in your life.
Speaker 5 (35:59):
How was your faith specifically guiding you during this, you know,
stage of your life, the treatment, recovery to rediagnosis everything.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
I'm unshakable. I'm unshakable. I recognize that I know where
my soul rest in this. I know that this earthly
journey is one that my story is not done being told.
So from that standpoint, all I can do is look
(36:29):
and be grateful of how good God has been to
my life and and listen, it ain't just words, like
you should be able to feel being in my presence
the same way I'm with y'all.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
You can feel that.
Speaker 4 (36:43):
I know without shadow it out, how good God is
to me and to some of y'all in the journeys
that you've been through, that that He's kept you. And
so that's the that's the foundational piece that has me
rooted and grounded that I already know. I know God's
gonna heal me, and I know he could do a
supernatural I know he can do it through doctors, through medicines,
he can do it through treatments. He can do it
(37:03):
however you want to do it. If it was up
to me, I'd be like, God, you know I'm one
of your favorites, you know, just you know, just get
it over with so I can just be able to
tell the whole world. Yo, Jesus healed me supernaturally, and
that's not the story that he gave me. He said,
I'm not gonna do it that way. I was like, well, Lord,
let me just get through it and come on the
other side so I can be able to say, Hey,
I had it, I did this, and God brought me
through through doctors and technology, and now I'm on the
(37:26):
other side of it. And I would have loved that testimony,
and God said, no, you're not going to get it
that way either. And so in this journey that I'm
on right now, I'm great. I'm really really grateful to
be with you all today. It's like, because I'm not
on the other side of it, I'm right in the
mix of it. And I want people to see that
God ain't just on the other side of it. He's
right with me in the mix of it. So while
I'm in the midst of it, God is with me,
(37:47):
and he's not waiting for me on the other side
to come through like he's with me.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
In the midst of it. And so from that standpoint,
that's where I can walk with an authority. I can
walk with boldness.
Speaker 4 (37:55):
I can walk in the place with my family, I
can walk with zero with zero prostate cancer, and I
can tell the story because they're giving me a platform,
you know what I'm saying, to be able to share
in these spaces where my R and B or pastoral
voice may not have the reach that it could have.
Partnerships and things like that allow us to be able
(38:17):
to save some lives. This ain't there's no money grab here.
This is literally I'm trying to grab your pops. I'm
trying to get your dad. I'm trying to get your uncles.
I'm trying to get your brothers. I'm trying to get
your husband's I'm trying to tell them if you thought
Montel Jordan was cool, or you liked his music, or
you you thought he might have had, you know, brought something.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
To the game.
Speaker 4 (38:36):
Now I'm bringing this to the game, and I'm saying
it's important for you to not leave a legacy of
your family of secrets and of death and of misinformation
and of neglect. Don't neglect your family, don't neglect your body.
Find out what's going on. And you know, because people said,
(38:56):
I just rather not know. No, No, that's that's that's
incredibly ignorant to not want to know what's going on
in your body, especially when it comes to prostate cancer,
because and I keep saying this, man, it's treatable when caught.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Early, So why not catch it early before it catches you?
Speaker 5 (39:15):
You like you just got another ministry brother music and
appreciating Now you know you're going through all of this
just to have another ministry.
Speaker 4 (39:21):
Well, I didn't want this one. But that's why God
can trust me with it, though, and trust me with this.
I don't want this. I don't want to tell the story.
I do not want to be the one to tell
this story. And that's why God says, Great. So I
know that, you know, you'll do whatever you have to say,
and do you do what you have to do. You'll
say what you have to say because I know it's
not something that that I want the accolades for. It's
(39:43):
a lot to come along with prostate cancer, you know
what I'm saying, That journey or whatever and the stigmas
and the stuff that comes along with that. It's very personal.
But from that standpoint, you know, I got a lot
to share, a lot to talk about. A lot of
it will be in that documentary. Like I said, I
can't you know, I'm I'm the shameless plug. I need
help stainthmovie dot com. That's a space where people can
(40:04):
partner and be a part of coming to help us
get this documentity told and get your names on the credits,
on the screen and all that type of stuff. I
got to get the story told and I'm either gonna
tell it because people are helping sustain themovie dotmovie dot
com and make sure you lie go on and donate.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
But we need to close out with a prayer of them.
Speaker 4 (40:21):
Oh absolutely, absolutely all right. God, thank you, Thank you
for your sons and your daughters. I think you that
you have given them this space and this voice to
be able to speak to this generation.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
God.
Speaker 4 (40:33):
I pray over their lives. I pray with their health.
I pray over their strength. I pray over their families.
I pray over their marriages. I pray over the future marriages.
I pray over their children and their grandchildren. God, I
pray that what they speak, even as they entertain, Father,
that at the heart of what they do, that somehow
somebody would hear what they say and it always points
back to you, Father, no matter what they are navigating
(40:53):
through personally, I pray that you would be there with them.
Let them know you're not on the other side waiting
for them. That if they've received you as Lord, and
that you are there with them in the trenches in
the good days, you're with them. In the bad days,
you're with them. And I thank you for the breakfast Club.
I thank you for this space, and I thank you
for this platform. I thank you for my life, and
for my wife, and for my children and my grandchildren.
I thank you for everybody under the sound of my
(41:14):
voice that you know you've heard Monsel, but you weren't
here in Montell you were hearing the Lord speak to
you today. To be able to say, your life matters,
your soul matters, and more than your soul mattering in heaven,
which is extremely important, your life here on earth matters.
And so do something to make sure you're preserving your
life here in this earth so that the beautiful things
(41:35):
that we get to listen to and experience. God, you
are the one that allowed that to happen, and we
just thank you for this opportunity. We praise you in
Jesus name.
Speaker 3 (41:43):
Amen, Amen Montel Jordan. Ladies and gentlemen, that's the breakfast club.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
Good morning. Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (41:50):
Every day a wait clicks up the breakfast Club, you
don't finish for y'all done.
The Breakfast Club News
Hosts And Creators
Charlamagne Tha God
DJ Envy
Jess Hilarious
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