Episode 4 DJLenny Santowasso talks to Dr.Garfield Bright "Shai"

From the timeless harmonies of “If I Ever Fall in Love” with "Shai" to earning a PhD, Dr. Garfield Bright is a true inspiration and role model. A educator, A teacher, A Author and most importantly "a brilliant mind" and now a friend "The Garfield Bright Experience"
 
DJ Lenny Santowasso has the honor of sitting down with the multi-platinum voice of Shai on the Makin’ Ya Bones a Podcast by ZAZZRADIO.com (The Stories Of Hustle, Respect, and How They Became A Boss!"
 
Author of “Lotus 3013: A Hip-Hop Thought Experiment” — Garfield’s story goes beyond music to wisdom, culture, and legacy

DJ Lenny Santowasso interviews a music legend "one of the voices of the Multi-Platinum group Shai" Dr. Garfield Bright, not only a VOICE, but a gentleman with a phD, a author "lotus 3013", a educator and so much more

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Ladies and gentlemen. Sidaka is own DJ Lenny Centawaso. This
is making your Bones. The story is a hustle respect
and how they became a boss. It's a podcast by
zazradio dot com. It's episode four. Everyone has a story?
What is yours? If you're interested, guy or guid would

(00:24):
like to share your product business story of the world,
send us the email Zazradio Gmail. We'll review it, get
back to you and maybe you two will be interviewed
by yours truly get blessed out to hundreds of thousands
of potential customers followers.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
In the very near future.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Hello USA and the world, R and B hip hop,
entire music community. We have a music legend in the house.
He's a scholar with a PhD, an author, a teacher,
a thinker who's blended music, education and culture in a
way few artists have. From the stage to the classroom

(01:01):
to the written page. He's been writing his story his way.
Let me introduce you all to our new friend, doctor
Golfield Bright in the Gilman Say what's up?

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Golffield was there? Peace?

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Happy to be here, one of the founding members and
voices of the smash.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
R and B group Shy. Let's take it back way
back at.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
The time with the song if I Ever Fall in Love,
the song that hit number two on Billboard's Hot one
hundred Hot Singles chart back in nineteen ninety two. The
debut album followed, going platinum. Other charting hits including Comforter
Baby I'm Yours, both top ten hits. So everyone kicked back,

(01:50):
close your eyes. Reminisce about where you were and what
you were doing when you.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Heard all these songs. Besides getting ready the paint.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
The room blew up, I think because you knew what
was about to go down nine months after. So talk
to us, Garfield after Garfield Bright, take us way back,
let us know how this happened from where.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
October twelfth, nineteen sixty nine.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
That's my birthday.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Yeah, that's her birthday, all right, and we share that
date because Sidiakas married Mike Spinel gave me a proclamation
and making it ZAZ Radio Day on that day now
forever in the city of Yakas my whole town. So
that day is impressible. Twenty yeah, twenty eighteen. So but
not know it's about you.

Speaker 4 (02:41):
That's dope, hear it all. That's dope man, Thank you
congrats on that.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
Shoot.

Speaker 4 (02:47):
We were we were some college knuckleheads running around. Besides myself,
the other three members, Carl, Darnell, and Mark. They were
members of a fraternity together, Alpha Phi Alpha you know APC,
you you know, black fraternity or whatever. And Darnelle and
myself were roommates our freshman year in college, and so
they play. You know, he pledges I think his sophomore

(03:09):
maybe a junior year, and I reconnect with him after that,
but we had always kind of been the touch after
our roommates, our freshman year roommate experience. That was my
boy and I'd going through some things and you know,
our lives kind of got back together.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
I started hanging back out with him. How old were you, huh.

Speaker 4 (03:25):
I came into Horward when I was seventeen, So when
I started hanging back out with Darnell, I was about
nineteen twenty maybe maybe twenty, and so you know, we
were these young dudes at Howard and he was you
know when I started hanging back out with him. You know,
Darnelle was a music education major and he specialized on
a trumpet. He was one of the guys that made
up all the dance moves for the Howard University Band

(03:46):
and stuff like that, even at a young age because
he went to the famous East Side High School in Patterson,
New Jersey the movie Joe Clark Lean On Me and
all that.

Speaker 3 (03:54):
He actually went to that.

Speaker 4 (03:55):
School and his best friends was those guys in there singing.
His dad was the manager and he was a social
worker in that school of that group called Riff. So anyway,
we had a legacy all before we even became a
group with Riff and stuff like that. And so we
used to be singing Riff songs as freshmen to the
adjoining female female dorm on Fridays. Darnall would tell me
the songs, we'll learn them and we'll go sing to

(04:16):
the balconies all the females and hanging out over their
balconies in the dorm. And it didn't hurt that our
other roommate was a saxophone player, Antonio Parker, so he.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
Was like, you know, yeah, we were just out there
and this little alley in between the two dorms, just
giving and giving them work.

Speaker 4 (04:31):
And so, you know, so as a freshman, you know,
we kind of bonded over that kind of stuff. And
then Eventually Darnell we grow up a little bit. Darnell
joins the fraternity with Mark and Carl, and Carl and
Darnell start up a group called Beta because the fraternity,
the Beta chapter of it, is at Howard University. So
they named themselves after Beta, and they had a songwriter

(04:52):
production kind of like duo going, and then they kind
of expanded it.

Speaker 3 (04:56):
It became Shy. When Mark joined.

Speaker 4 (04:58):
They were deep into Egyptology, and so Shi was a name,
an Egyptian and ancient Egyptian name that means destiny and
human form. You know, Egyptology always has polarity, so duality
rather and the female and a male kind of presence
with the same concept similar concepts. So the male version
was destiny shy and the female was renting that, which

(05:20):
is kind of like fake and together.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
Significant, right that It's like tattoos, you know, put someone
in your body, better have significance.

Speaker 4 (05:29):
Yeah, names mean everything, man, So you know those two
weave together future futures, destiny in your fate. And so
we took that that masculine aspect for ourselves through Mark Gay,
who kind of brought that to the group. And then
so I just started hanging with Darnelle. My dad had
claimed me on his taxes, so they revoked my financial
lady at Howard, so I couldn't go to school.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
Just like semester.

Speaker 4 (05:51):
I was like almost a senior and I couldn't go
back to school. But I still have my housing. So
every day, you know, because I had a temp agency
type job and they didn't call you every day.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
So on those days security guard back.

Speaker 4 (06:04):
I see what I'm saying, So on those days I
didn't have work, I was going. I was with Darnelle
in the fine Arts building at Howard and he was
practicing with Shot but it was two more guys there
to two more outphas. They were gearing up for this
huge talent show that's always held annually at Shot at Howard,
and they were getting their songs together. They were singing
boys the men songs actually off the first album was

(06:26):
going to be featured.

Speaker 3 (06:27):
Please Don't Go Away? You know those.

Speaker 4 (06:33):
Now, yeah, I Please Don't Go Away, those those kinds
of songs.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
It was a few of them.

Speaker 4 (06:38):
So they were practicing and then of course they would
wind up with The practice song was if I Ever
Fall in Love a cappella and we were singing that
well they were singing that I'll be sitting at chilling
and I was watching. I was learning basically through ours
most is the notes just kind of be in the
there every day for like three four months straight, every
dayn near day after school after classes. So one day,
right before the actual show, like two of those guys

(07:02):
kind of kind of checked out. They didn't come back anymore.
So it was only three left and Darnelle, you know,
they predicated the whole situation off of having four part harmony,
and so Darnelle was like, Yo, gie man, you've been
in here every day for the past two and a
half months or so.

Speaker 3 (07:15):
You know what I mean. We need to we need
that next note, we need that other note. I know,
you known stuff.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
So I was like, well, you know, I do.

Speaker 4 (07:23):
I do know the bottom you know, I know the
low the low parts of the harmony and stuff. Like
he said, we yo, bring it because I need we
need Oh No, it was just different. You know, different
songs have different you know, and so different notes and
stuff and like progressions and stuff.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
In our four part harmony.

Speaker 4 (07:39):
There's always a bottom note to the four part harmony,
whether it's a high chord or a low chord. I've
seen the bottom of whatever, and so I did that.
You know, we started gearing up and then I was
basically in the group at that point. What happened was
that particular show featured some heavy hitters of you know,
talent wise that came out of high you know, Eric Rogerston,

(08:01):
Tracy Lee, a lot of Debbie Allen's nieces were in there,
a lot of dope people, and that particular show people
were scared of it. I think that's why the other
two dudes checked out, because they treated it like the
Apollo because it was full. The crowd was full of
New York dudes who went to Apollo who know the atmosphere,
want a boo everything, just because it's Friday night.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
They got alcohol. And then the football team.

Speaker 4 (08:22):
It was right across the from the football dorm, so
that's who was populating the crowd base in there, and
so it was rowdy. They were just there to have
a good time at our expense, you know. But the
talent was off the charging there. Nobody got deserve to
get booed, but pretty much everybody got booed just for
the hell of it, for the crowd, because they wanted
to have some fun. But when we came up, luckily
we were last. I guess they got tired of booing

(08:42):
people and they actually.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
Took a listen to us. We came out to U
Eye by Boys and Men.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
Uh you know that.

Speaker 4 (08:50):
Ten nine, A seven six five for that whole thing,
and Jackson feller that whole thing, right, So they didn't
boo us on the first song I was to me
that was a consolation prize. The second song, Please Don't
Go Away, we didn't get booed, and then we did
this is My Heart. We did another song, and then
we went out of songs.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
The hold On and a talent contest, right, and the
show you did three songs.

Speaker 3 (09:14):
Yeah, we did like four. We did like boys the
Men songs.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
And because it was a big, like.

Speaker 4 (09:20):
This particular kind of show at Howard, the talent like
it's you had the audition to even be in the show,
and all the talent was like incredible talent, Like everybody
was incredible.

Speaker 3 (09:31):
So everybody got like a lot evens a night. It
was a whole three hour type event.

Speaker 4 (09:35):
Everybody got three or four songs, you know, you know,
so we went all last and we did those songs
and we left the stage and didn't get bulled. I
was like, yeah, And then it was like an encore situation.
They wanted more, and so we were like, yo, we
don't have no more songs on, not that that we brought.
You know, you know, we had all the boys and men.
We we exhausted that what we're gonna do. So we decided, yo,

(09:56):
y'all want to do it? If iever I practiced song
you know for a form the a cappella, because you
don't need adapt for that, it's a cappella.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
All right, let's do it.

Speaker 4 (10:03):
We get out in front of the stage. They raised it.
They opened the curtains back up. We came to the front.
Oo do do oo do dude? Then Carl you know,
the Vivy first time, and then by the chorus, you know,
dun Nelle comes in. And by the second time that
chorus came around, the whole audience was singing the hook as.

Speaker 3 (10:24):
If they knew it already.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
That was chill.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
That was blowing me away. I was like, why these
same hard dudes that sit up there bull and everything.
They up there, you know, they're thinking this up.

Speaker 4 (10:33):
And so when the curtains closed again because we got
they thrown. They thunderstorm us with their claws, and then
the curtains closed and we literally were standing in backstage
just like looking at.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
Each other like, Yo, what just happened? And right then
in that moment, we said, Yo, y'all gonna try to
get a record deal. Y'll see what just happened. And
everybody was like.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
Yeah, let's try.

Speaker 4 (10:53):
What if they liked it like that? That's a hard crowd, like,
let's try to see what we could do. Plus, Jodisi
had just got a record deal by this mere re
going up to the labels in New York and singing
on the spot uptown.

Speaker 3 (11:04):
Signed on Boom. We was like, Yo, we could do that.
You know, in our naivety, we thought, Yo, we could
do that.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
You know what I'm saying this is.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
This is like ninety one when this was happening, because
we got signed in school, see what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (11:18):
We got signed in October of ninety two, so this
was happening like maybe like in the winter time part
of ninety one.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
The best birthday present for you? Right?

Speaker 3 (11:27):
Well, yeah, well we didn't.

Speaker 4 (11:28):
Yeah, when we got signed, it was October and it
was definitely around my birthday.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
They were showering me. The label was showering me with
gifts and stuff.

Speaker 4 (11:35):
But we went to the Avenues of America shortly after
that little concert, that little talent show, and we got
desked by all these labels. Like we went into the
offices singing. They was on phone, smoking cigarettes, paying us
half attention, and a lot of them ended up.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
Coming to us on spos.

Speaker 4 (11:49):
We got signed like, how come y'all ain't come to
our offices it sing for us?

Speaker 3 (11:52):
I'm like, yo, we was right there singing for you.
What you talk about? I ain't gonna name no names, but.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
People, how many people in the talent show?

Speaker 3 (11:58):
Would you say, Oh, the audience Crampton, It was Field
the capacity, and Crampton probably holds that auditorium. I say
that Crampton can probably hold like five five hundred people,
five six hundred people, Like it's a nice venue, like
the nice stage.

Speaker 4 (12:15):
It might be more than that, but it's a It
was about five or six hundred people in there. Nah, nobody,
you know, even the people that they booed, they didn't
do that. They just and the people that got booed
that did not deserve to get booed in any way.

Speaker 3 (12:27):
Shape or form I'm talking about.

Speaker 4 (12:28):
They were super talented, but they just went on early
where the energy was still up with the crowd and
they just wanted to make some noise.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
How many performance would you say?

Speaker 3 (12:36):
It was about six, maybe six different entities. Some are groups,
some and solo artists and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
You're gonna laugh. You're gonna laugh. Everything's about timing as
you want.

Speaker 3 (12:47):
Know, right everything.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
So here I am had.

Speaker 1 (12:51):
A little group back in the day, went to Western
Community College, Right did the town show, We won live
and direct.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
I was known as Elfflex creded off.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
Right one went the Heavy D's studio, recorded a demo.

Speaker 3 (13:06):
Right, yeah, you said you from younger huh.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
Yeah, And that was it. It was over.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
It was over because when you were I was always
I was always musically inclined.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
I was a drummer, no doubt, Yeah I was. I
was pretty good drummer.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
Yeah, you know, I filled in because I was a
roadie for a wedding band.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
Okay, at sixteen years old, dexterity. Yeah, so the drummer,
you know, had a fell he actually fell out. He
wasn't feeling good.

Speaker 1 (13:34):
So I'll never forget it. I had to fill in
for Johnny be Good and I'm what so sure enough
I did that and uh no, you learned the business,
the music.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
Business, Oh yeah, that part.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
And I became a DJ after that. I sold my
back in nineteen eighty nine, nineteen ninety I started a
DJ company and it just blew up from there. I
was able to do a party for the President of
the United States. I did a little bit of a
you know, a little bit of everything.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
Nice. People don't realize all the people that.

Speaker 4 (14:08):
You meet, and oh yeah, the circle is small, like
you overlap a lot.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
Yeah, it's crazy. So so going back to that, him
and I live of direct.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
We never really we never really pursued it, but there
was just something about the music end of it, you know.
And coming from a strong hip hop background, you know,
I definitely want to get into that where I grew
up on Chuck Chill Out, Molly ma. I met Grandmaster

(14:39):
flash at one of the DJ conventions Nice in Jersey,
because you know, you always want to perfect your craft,
you know, so so sure enough, so I met Grandmaster Flashy.
I mean, this is what it was all about. One
DMC I had the Gazelle.

Speaker 3 (14:55):
Of course, was the era we all had some gazelle's.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
I had the fact that I had the candle, I know,
that's right. And I had the breakdancing group. I would
be too.

Speaker 3 (15:05):
I was in the group.

Speaker 4 (15:06):
I came from a breakdancing group too, and we won competitions.
But I was topping and doing my little thing to
the same thing.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
A pop.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
Twenty pop my back pop with you, you know that.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
Come here, listen. Fifty three years old, you wake up, You're.

Speaker 4 (15:23):
Like, dang yo, I'm fifty five. So I definitely feel
my back if I get it. That's why I take
my tombor re pills every day.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
I mitigate that on a sanitation for twenty seven years.
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (15:38):
Oh man, So he was lifting down, bending up garbage yo.

Speaker 4 (15:42):
Yeah, so that's a good workout though, all day long
doing that though, jumping down the dawn picking up.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
So that's why I had to name this podcast Making Your.

Speaker 3 (15:51):
Phones Nice, because it definitely pays me dues about.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
The hustle, yep, about the respect that you earned. Yeah,
and you know you gotta deserve it, you know. And
everybody's a boss, you know. I will say also, is.

Speaker 1 (16:08):
Everybody has a gift, some more than others, you know
what I'm saying. And I try with my radio station
since twenty eighteen, really twenty seventeen, to take everyone out
of the crazies of the world and make them smile.

Speaker 2 (16:23):
You know what I'm saying. That gift, whatever it is,
show me, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (16:28):
I want to see it, and so I can't believe
that I'm interviewing the legend.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
You know, let's get into see how it happened for me.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
Was I was breakdancing, you know, I was going this
place called Wheels in Yonkers.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
I was checking out rock Steady Crew Breakers. You know
what I'm saying, Kate k in.

Speaker 1 (16:56):
The Bronx, you know what I mean, Like these were
our homes, you know. I was chewing back and and
I was hanging out with my porter Gan friends, American
friends on the block. There was no fighting. You had
a problem.

Speaker 3 (17:11):
Guess what you break right there? Battle now boombox booming.

Speaker 2 (17:19):
That was it, miss man love those days, right.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
But what it was also about, right, it was about
going to families for me, me and my friend Ernie
Cruz's sister missing. We'd go to the Bronx, we'd go
to Queen's, we go to Brooklyn and say, oh, you
know what we would perform for the families.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
No doubt, no doubt to tell you what we perform
killss whisper.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
Oh man, that's hell of a song right there.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
Good. It was all I was just doing harmonies.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
Oh that's that's a that's a heavy hitter right there.

Speaker 2 (18:02):
But that's what it was all about, you know what
I'm saying. It was like the demo.

Speaker 1 (18:05):
It was like the demo tape back in the day,
right before Star Search American.

Speaker 3 (18:13):
Please please listen to my demo.

Speaker 2 (18:15):
You were shopping it, you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (18:18):
And if you had to connect, it was exactly.

Speaker 4 (18:21):
It won't be one of the ones that get thrown
on the floor after they get the mail opens up,
they throw it away.

Speaker 3 (18:25):
You had to connect. They listen to it.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
And if you got a real connect, and you know,
as a somebody who knew a DJ.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
Yeah, and your joint in the place in the club, you.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
Like, that's my that's you really And there were people
you know that are in the crowd that could make
you break.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
You Oh yeah, all day.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
You know that.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
The one thing I will say is one of my
favorite sayings, you never know who you're gonna meet and
how that person can change your life forever.

Speaker 2 (18:54):
That's so real. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (18:57):
Just bend to everybody, that's right, because you want to
what they look.

Speaker 4 (19:00):
Yep, it should be someone that looks like a gender
you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (19:05):
It could be a kitchen guy. But you know what
I'm saying. Just went in there. You don't know, you
know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (19:12):
So I try to be nice to people like this
and up here everybody.

Speaker 3 (19:16):
You know, that's how it should be.

Speaker 4 (19:18):
Because shoot, the gen the janitor could but in two
years turn out to be somebody's manager that's not a
janitor no more.

Speaker 3 (19:25):
Next time you going around to him, he won, you know,
he won things. So that happens right.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
Is to you and the success that you've you had,
it's unbelievable, really is amazing.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
I thank you so much for this interview.

Speaker 3 (19:39):
But we got a long way to go, no doubt.

Speaker 2 (19:42):
Talk to me about your PhD. How this happened?

Speaker 4 (19:47):
Oh well, you know, like I said, you know, we
met at Howard University. So I was always a student,
a scholar, aspiring to do more than just you know, single.
I never actually grew up aspiring to sing in a
group or nothing like that. That kind of just happened.
But I was always pushed towards education. My dad and
mom were educators working in education, National Education Association and

(20:07):
stuff like that.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
And so you know, I'm.

Speaker 4 (20:11):
Majored in political science and I'm mining a history in
college at Howard. I went back to school later on,
after shy start began to dim, I went to cal
State Northridge, and you know, got tryed to want to
just finish what I started, but I ran into a
couple of cool situations there. I had a professor who

(20:32):
taught this class called the Politics of hip Hop, and
it was a political science class that was using hip
hop to kind of frame power dynamics in politics. You know,
like like payola. It's the same things as a political
action committee. Basically you put money behind a candidate to
get your interests met, you know what I mean, same dynamic.
It's just one is in two different genres of life,

(20:54):
but it's the same functions the same, So they were
she was ingeniously using those to parallel so younger people
can understand how politics works. But then we started forming
a team called a hip Hop think Tank, where we
started writing research papers based off ideas and issues on
the landscape of hip hop, you know, misogyny, you know, authenticity,
different things that we were finding. And because Tupac had

(21:15):
just passed away and stuff like that, and now I said,
just dropped illmatic, hip hop was becoming a sexy topic
in the world of academia. So people who were presenting
research on hip hop was getting invited to conferences to
present their research.

Speaker 3 (21:27):
And that's what we were doing.

Speaker 4 (21:28):
So we were some young scholars who got invited to
Atlanta to the National Council of Black Studies, and we
had our team and we presented all our papers on
different various aspects of the hip hop landscape. And they
kind of came to me and was like, hey man,
you know, we like what you do. You know, shy,
that's cool, but we like you as a scholar, Like
if you ever want to come here do some master's
work in African American studies, then you know, let us know.

(21:52):
And so I was teaching in California at Environmental Charter
High School in Lawndale, and I did that for two
years upon graduating from cal State Northridge, and then I
was like, I wasn't trying to make that a career.
I just love education and the youth, so I wanted
to put some experience under my belt.

Speaker 3 (22:08):
But I was ready to go to school. I reached
out to them.

Speaker 4 (22:10):
They invited me, They gave me a fellowship, paid my tuition,
my housing and all that kind of stuff, and I
was going full steam into the master's program.

Speaker 3 (22:19):
I had a four point three gpa. My master's thesis.

Speaker 4 (22:23):
Got at one of the awards you know in my
cohort when we graduated from being one of the top.
And then I applied to a PhD program at Georgia
State as well in educational policy studies.

Speaker 3 (22:34):
They accepted me.

Speaker 4 (22:35):
I got in there, same thing, fellowship, tuition and stuff
like that. Maintained a four point three GPA, and I
did my research. My doctoral dissertation research was on how
black males navigate the landscape when powered dynamics are inequative,
inequably distributed like when it was unequal, and I looked
at black males in the school situations and black mails

(22:58):
in the music industry, which happened to be both sides
of myself that I was zipping up pretty much into
one thing, but I.

Speaker 3 (23:06):
Had I had Tracy Lee D do.

Speaker 4 (23:08):
I killed from Jurassic five on the on the music
music side, dealing with those issues. And I had some
students that were in programs that I had created at
Georgia State on the student side, and that won an award.
They got best Dissertation and stuff for the Arts and
Sciences College. And so I did my thing. I made
my bones as a scholar. I presented at various conferences.

Speaker 3 (23:25):
Did a whole bunch of that.

Speaker 4 (23:27):
I talked on both levels, you know, I was I'm
a scholar, I'm doctor bright, but I'm also in shy
and so that's that's how that went down. And I
still carry that that that, you know, that sensibility, those
sensibilities with me. I'm kind of like two and one
that stays with me.

Speaker 2 (23:42):
You know, I've been into politics all my life, you know.

Speaker 1 (23:48):
You know you all have friends, have friends at Senator
as a semblem and councilman, you know, judges.

Speaker 4 (23:53):
I worked on Capitol Hill in college. I worked for
the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Speaker 2 (23:57):
And I did parties for them.

Speaker 3 (24:00):
They definitely party, bro they definitely party. They party the party.

Speaker 2 (24:06):
Just like the Secret Service. They party.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
They party all the time. That's funny that you was
that guy.

Speaker 4 (24:13):
He was on the other side, like yo, I got
I'm party, the party, you know.

Speaker 2 (24:17):
What I'm saying, party meaning you know everything else. But
you know what I mean, Yeah, they had a good time.
They let they let they hear them. Guess what they
put one paying leg on, just like you and I.
You know, that's right, that's right.

Speaker 1 (24:31):
So to me, I'm so intrigued by politics, you know,
because power is something, and power you want to always
utilize power to the best of your ability to help others.

Speaker 2 (24:47):
Right, That's that's the that's the goal.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
And truthfully, that's why I started Zazrido dot com working
at the Maya's office, you know, and giving.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
Back to my local community.

Speaker 3 (24:59):
That was it.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
Internet radio station that blew up and now it's all
over the world, you know what I'm saying. It was
given back to American Cancer Society. My dear friend was
the guy who started the ice fucking Challenge.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
Oh wow, I every single year out of the Mayor's office.

Speaker 1 (25:22):
I used to be up there at dj UH and
we do the ice fucking Challenge. And but you know,
God rest his soul, his family's beautiful people. And then
it was autism, you know, and what it started. When
I was a kid, I helped the family out. Uh,

(25:43):
they were burned out of their house in the building,
you know what I mean. And and I helped out
them and and I received a proclamation and I loved.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
The way it felt.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
And then I was with my partner, my partner, DJ
Michael Nunziato, seventy years old, and he said, then you
want to do a musclaru.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
Dish your feet. I said, yeah, sure. So you are
who you surround yourself with.

Speaker 1 (26:09):
And I'm very, very, you know, blessed to be able
to surround myself with beautiful people all my life.

Speaker 3 (26:15):
That's what's everybody can't say that, bro, And and.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
That's how it happened for me.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
You know, I have an injury now, so I can't
do anything, you know, and it really bothers me because
that's my love to give back. So I try to
give back on the entertainment end. And I was always
someone that really truly supported local small business and supported

(26:41):
my friends because.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
That's what that's what it was all about.

Speaker 3 (26:45):
True.

Speaker 1 (26:45):
So I brought it from supporting local small business, you know,
because my you know, my thing on on TikTok Guido fellow,
the gotha TikTok and small business.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
Okay, yeah, millions of views, you know, say so I
try to help out everybody and anybody, you know, that's
what's up, and so we put it out there.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
But what I love the most is putting something out
there because I'm.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
A marketing guy. Yeah, seeing the responsive guts.

Speaker 3 (27:14):
Yeah for sure, you know like that.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
I love that too. That's that's my You put something
out there. Now with social.

Speaker 3 (27:21):
Media, it's over, it's over man.

Speaker 1 (27:24):
As I would say, one of my favorite songs by
b DP KRS one, the bridge is over.

Speaker 3 (27:32):
You know.

Speaker 4 (27:32):
We did a song with Charas One. It's called Destiny.
We produced it and everything. You know, he never really
rocked with any R and B group with us ever
in the building ye last semester character teacher man. It
was a song called Destiny.

Speaker 2 (27:45):
It's dope.

Speaker 4 (27:46):
It's like a rare joint, like a lot of DJs
pride themselves on having it, you know, because Chris never
rocked with no R and B group ever, And so
we did a joint and he came, we paid him
and he listened to it, loved to be and then
he like what we were talking about because we want
on some just some love, that kind of stuff. He
was talking about the concept of destiny and that's the
group shot, you know, so he jumped on there and
killed it.

Speaker 3 (28:06):
He did like three verses. So if you ever find
that man, you.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
Know, Bicky Tupac carras one, you know, I mean run
dmc ect boys.

Speaker 5 (28:16):
Yeah, we could talk about that. Every Who's your top five?
You know that's impossible, man, Who's your top five? But
it's funny that you that.

Speaker 3 (28:27):
You said that because I just bought this record the
other day. I just bought this the other day in
the building A Rod Mike, the all them boy.

Speaker 2 (28:36):
There was age. They got me through high school man
for real? Man, right, it's crazy, right, But you know
what the fifth thing is? It was so versatile. Man.

Speaker 4 (28:44):
I didn't even know there was a rock group, and
I never knew. I didn't know that the way after
that there was actually a rock group. I thought they
was hip hop white dudes.

Speaker 3 (28:51):
It was hip hop out side the jam my favorite
was part revered because of that backscratch. But this this
album ran here.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
So that's that's what do you call? That's yeah, like
but the heavy metal and the rock.

Speaker 4 (29:06):
D see I didn't know about them in the heavy
metal I never even knew. I only heard about these
boys when they got signed of Deaf jam is these
three white dudes up there killing it and I was like, yo,
he was like, he was like, give them an m C.
Searching them, you know, saying one of my dear friends.

Speaker 1 (29:20):
Check this out. One of my dear friends. His name
is Crazy Raymond Tabano. Yeah, he's one of the founding
members of Arrowsmith.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
Oh wow from the Yo from Yakers what. Yeah, that's crazy.

Speaker 2 (29:33):
And he's the one that came up with the a
oh yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I came up with
the logo.

Speaker 3 (29:40):
Wow, that's a classic iconic logo.

Speaker 2 (29:43):
So again, when you're in the business, you get to
meet all these people, you.

Speaker 3 (29:46):
Know, yeahs as well you know yeah, yep.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
But let's kick it back.

Speaker 1 (29:54):
Let's talk about shy a little bit, right, Okay, who
made the song?

Speaker 2 (29:58):
Who came up with the song? Now, did you guys
write the song?

Speaker 3 (30:01):
You wrote all of our music? You want to do
all of our own stuff.

Speaker 4 (30:06):
The guy Karl Martin and the group that actually wrote
the lyrics to I Fire Fall of Love. But we
had two different versions, and on the music version, Darnelle
actually bought that that sample that Darnelle ban Rinsli and
my group had an Isaac Hayes sample that we walked
to the table for the remix because we needed a
remix because the label wanted to sign us, but that

(30:28):
we had an original a cappella song, and they were
scared that the radio programmers, even though they might have
liked it, they might have been scared to play an
original a cappella song between two songs.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
With a track under it.

Speaker 4 (30:40):
So they came and made us, you know, boys and men,
said the president, with the a cappella with the Coolie High,
but that that song was a known commodity from the
movie Cootie High already, so people already in DC Cameron,
they knew what it was for this authentic a cappella
song for some college dudes that nobody knew about to
get that kind of run. They needed a music version
to be safe, so they our record deal was kind

(31:01):
of contingent upon this, this remix that we made.

Speaker 3 (31:03):
It was gonna be the difference between us.

Speaker 4 (31:05):
Having a single deal with just a single getting put
out or them giving us a full record deal. So
we went to the lab Darnelle had that sample. We
had a slightly augmented melody a little bit because the
cords are a little different with that sample in there.
It's a slower version and it's a little more diminished,
kind of like chord change. And we put that in there,
sung it up, arranged it. Mark and Darnell kind of
were really instrumental in that thing. Even though Carl wrote it.

(31:27):
It was a group effort and we sung it and
that thing came out beautiful like and so the label
was like okay, okay, now now we're talking, and then
we got our record deal.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
Next thing you know, we were flying the.

Speaker 4 (31:37):
Los Angeles to sign the MCAA Records Ghastline ally MCAA Records,
and that's how that went down.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
And I was on the airplane feeling like.

Speaker 2 (31:46):
This is not real.

Speaker 4 (31:47):
I am not Everything that we said that we wanted
to have happened happened. And then I was realizing more
about the business as we went along, and the fact
that that happened was one in a million.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
So I started.

Speaker 4 (31:58):
Realizing it was naive for us to believe that just
because we had a good song, we're supposed to get signed.
But here I am on the airplane flying to LA
to get signed to this major deal, and I was like, Yo,
this is crazy.

Speaker 2 (32:07):
Ninety one, right, nineteen ninety one?

Speaker 3 (32:09):
Yeah, well, yeah, well ninety two October ninety two is
when it actually got signed, and when we were dealing
with them. We were dealing with.

Speaker 4 (32:17):
Them throughout the year of ninety one, and then we
finally got signed because we were charting a little bit
before that before we got signed, because WPGC, who broke
our record in Washington, d C. They were major P
one radio station who had the other sister stations and
then P two's copy in their playlist they broke. They
put the song out, so all those other stations copied
it and they started charting on Billboard before we.

Speaker 3 (32:37):
Were signed to a deal. And that's what really.

Speaker 2 (32:40):
Yep, it was.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
It was on R and B radio or was it
commercial like commercial radio.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
It was on A. It was top one hundred.

Speaker 4 (32:48):
It was PGC was a an urban CHR they call
it urban CHR where they played all the top one hundred.
You know, it's black, it's urban more like an urban station.

Speaker 3 (32:59):
But it was a major urban.

Speaker 4 (33:00):
Station with four or five sister stations across the nation
that before the consulting game got into it and started
doing through radio one. Those were the ones who set
the taste for other program directors in P two's and
P three's and the smaller markets copied their playlist so
that they were responsible for getting people charting big time
on Billboard Hot one hundred and our little song unsigned

(33:23):
was climbing up the charts because they had put us
in regular rotation. Alb D and Poco was the one
who took it in. So guys, well three guys now,
but it's four guys originally.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
So now you're flying to la.

Speaker 3 (33:36):
Yeah. Oh, I was tripping like, yo, what is what
is life about to be?

Speaker 2 (33:42):
Like?

Speaker 3 (33:42):
What's about to happen?

Speaker 2 (33:44):
It's about to you know.

Speaker 4 (33:45):
I could feel it, you know, because our song was
blowing up on the radio like crazy.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
They were playing it. I got tired of hearing it.
It was like back to back to back to back
to back to back on all you.

Speaker 4 (33:54):
Turn the station, it's on simultaneous with the last station.
You was like, damn, there we go, Damn.

Speaker 3 (33:58):
There we go again, and you overseeds to do our
promotional tour before we did it in these states?

Speaker 2 (34:04):
Was that the aha moment.

Speaker 4 (34:08):
That wasn't even that because I had no reference. That
wasn't even then a high moment, my aha moment.

Speaker 3 (34:14):
It has to do with New York.

Speaker 4 (34:15):
Actually, we were overseas doing our promotion tour when the
record started breaking. Because our president, Randy Phillips, who who
on red Ant, he was a major player, big time.

Speaker 3 (34:27):
He had relationships with MTV.

Speaker 4 (34:28):
Europe and stuff like that, and a lot of European connections,
so he put us over there to begin.

Speaker 3 (34:32):
And started us getting the groundwork.

Speaker 4 (34:34):
We did Top of the Pops, We did all these
big time things overseas to kind of get us for
the international market. So a lot of the money, you know,
we can make a lot of money in the back end,
and so we hadn't done anything really in the United States.
So when we came back to the United States, we
flew back and we had a show set up in
New York. But it was like it was in this mall.

(34:55):
I thought it was a small time because it was
in the mall. But I didn't know that this particular
situation was like a iconic kind of thing. It was
just the concept of it being in the mall. It
was like, what the al right, whatever?

Speaker 3 (35:04):
So we can get to this mall.

Speaker 4 (35:06):
It's all these floors and you know how like NBC
Sweet Hotel, you can look down and see the whole,
you know, over the balcony inside the mall was like that,
and it was from the Manhattan's Gerald Austin. It was
a few artists performing that day with us man when
we came up there to do if I Ever. Because
all we did was if I Ever. You're talking about
the whole mall singing this song I'm talking about it

(35:26):
felt like hundreds of thousands of people and you know,
just everybody like and we had never performed in the
state yet, so we come to New York, which is
a hard market to break in, to do this show,
and it was overwhelming, and my aha moment came, not
even right at that moment. I was kind of like, oh,
this ain't a little thing. But when we got into
the limo and we drove maybe like a mile away

(35:47):
from that area, we were at a red light and
it was this beautiful Puerto Rican woman walking across the
street in front of the limo and she looked through
the front part of the limo through the glass and
she saw me looking at her, looking at her from
back in the back of the thing and she said,
that's Garfield from Shy. I say, hold hold up, she knows.

(36:08):
And that's when I was like, yo, we wants to.

Speaker 6 (36:10):
Be like you know what I'm saying, like okay, you know,
so that was my That was because we were in
New York, and I know my best friend was from
New York, you know, from from Story Avenue in the Bronx,
like like.

Speaker 3 (36:22):
I should always go there, the White the White.

Speaker 4 (36:24):
Stone Cinema, you know, up there, like going towards you know, yeah, that's.

Speaker 3 (36:29):
That's you know.

Speaker 4 (36:30):
So I was always over you know, you know, they
shused to think I was Puerto Rican because of my head.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
And all that.

Speaker 4 (36:37):
But yeah, so that that that made That's when I
realized that in New York somebody recognizing me and actually
tripping over it like yo, and she was beautiful, and
I was like, hold up, this can't be happening.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
They know, damn through the.

Speaker 3 (36:49):
Car like what.

Speaker 4 (36:51):
We hadn't even done a video yet, so I was
still trying to figure out how she could recognize me
like that. And but that's when I knew, oh, we're
on the sum here, Like that's when I realize.

Speaker 1 (37:00):
The biggest, the biggest fan moment, like one of your stories, like.

Speaker 3 (37:06):
Oh, I got one. I could just tell you instantly.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
What was that that man?

Speaker 3 (37:10):
Listen check this out.

Speaker 4 (37:12):
So that year Bill Clinton had got elected for the
second time, and like when Bill Clinton, when the presidents
get elected, they have this big inauguration thing on the
Washington Mall area. And for this one, it's like Quincy
Jones was doing the production of it. Michael Jackson's there,
Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross Freaking Sounds of Blackness, James Ingram, all.

Speaker 3 (37:37):
Of they were performers.

Speaker 4 (37:38):
There Areka Franklin, Bennie King who stamp. So Chelsea Clinton
says to her dad, Daddy, can we have Shy performing this?
So he granted her that wish. And it was because
of Chelsea Clinton that Lil O Shy, this young R
and B group got to be a part of this event.

(37:59):
And what that and telled was there was a whole
week leading up to the event that we all had
to come to practice at the venue, which is the
outside Mall, for maybe four or five hours per day
for like five days straight, take six. And because we
were doing a big number culminating number of we all
the world. Everybody had to join in and sing that.
So we had Ray Charles with the pianist Coenzy Jones

(38:20):
directed that Michael Jackson was up.

Speaker 3 (38:22):
So we were all standing.

Speaker 4 (38:23):
Around and like in a cipher. Diana Ross would come
stand next to shot every time. She had a little
hoodie on, tight jeans and little timberlands, looking all beautiful.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
You know.

Speaker 3 (38:32):
James Ing would be playing little tricks on us.

Speaker 4 (38:34):
He'll come right walk behind us, right by us, and
do this real high note and then run to his spot.

Speaker 3 (38:38):
Quincy Jones would look at us, thinking that.

Speaker 4 (38:40):
The young boys did it and get mad, give us
the evil eye like he was all this little stuff.
When he'd be over there laughing, James, he could be
over there laughing resident feet.

Speaker 3 (38:47):
He was like a fund. And so I met Stevie Wonder,
which is my idol idol.

Speaker 4 (38:50):
Because he was there, I had to go to the
Porter party and they had a huge Porter party with
like twelve stars in it whatever, and I'm sitting at
P and X to Stevie Wonder and I was like,
you can't talking to the bathroom.

Speaker 3 (39:00):
That's just you know, against the ro code.

Speaker 4 (39:02):
But I'm trying to figure out how I'm all even
the dresses, man, I can't call him mister Stevie and
mister Wonder sounds ridiculous. So by the time I figured
it out, we were leaving out of it, and I said,
mister Stevie Wonder, but he knew who we were, he
knew our song and stuff, and he was giving me
props on it.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
And that blew my mind because growing up that was
my still is.

Speaker 4 (39:18):
That's my favorite guy, like him, Donnie and Marvin and
but just that whole we were roommates.

Speaker 3 (39:22):
But they had this makeshift.

Speaker 4 (39:24):
Separated like tent thing outside where we had to wait
in between practice practice moments. They had us paaro that
would take six across the hall from us. Was like
Luther vandras and so that's and they would take six,
was giving us props.

Speaker 3 (39:38):
I'm like, yo, take six with all them harmonies, like
y'all ain't so just being young and being in that
whole meal you and we performed Standing by Me with
Benny King. When we actually performed, that's who we performed.

Speaker 4 (39:49):
We walked out with him and everything and then we
all sung We all the world. But we had a
practice that every day. Michael Jackson be right there singing
everybody like Stevie, Like, you know, it was like, hey,
what's up?

Speaker 3 (39:58):
Well the young guys it love? Yeah, you know.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
How incredible was that moment?

Speaker 3 (40:03):
That was that my favorite? That was my favorite. We're
talking about powerhouses, crazy and they all have respect for Shy,
Like they loved our song, they loved our harmonies.

Speaker 4 (40:14):
It was it was just overwhelming, man like that. That
was one of the greatest things that you know, we
already had confidence, but that gave us even more that
the old heads, the legends liked us. You know that
that made us even more, like you know what I mean,
that's great feeling.

Speaker 3 (40:30):
That was incredible feeling.

Speaker 1 (40:31):
Yeah, what are you doing now? How do you go
from there? And what you're doing now?

Speaker 3 (40:36):
I mean, well, we still do a lot of show
Shy does, but I also I.

Speaker 4 (40:41):
Dipped back into the classroom like like me, you know,
I have a lot of friends that are principles of
schools and stuff like that, and I really don't. I've
done university work a little bit, you know, but I
prefer to deal with high school students, but specifically the
alternative school setting, the kids that are about to go
to Juvee and stuff like that. That's why I like

(41:02):
to deal with the best, and that's who they love
me for some reason. So I jump in the classroom
every few years through a principal of mine or friend
of mine. I'll go in there and I'll actually teach.
I'll sign up get in there, teach history or English,
litter or something. But really it's life and I'm building
a confidence of the young men and women in there
and just giving them an That's not my way of
giving back, and so I use my academic prowess to

(41:24):
do that. Sometimes I've been in a situation where I
kind of like did consulting around creating engagement with your
students and that environment. I have a teaching style that
the students kind of respect respond to, and you know,
you can show other teachers kind of how to create
engagement in their classroom using the curriculum and stuff. I
create programs for young black males around critical and digital literacy.

Speaker 3 (41:48):
You know, I see me.

Speaker 4 (41:49):
I create my experience and the one called raw ink
Rap Academy Incorporated, and we deal with issues of the
day on the landscape of the day. But then we
turn those into products and there's a lot of discuss
communication skills or or you know, paramount and they come
up with a lot of like critical thinking skills and
those types of things, and then fellowship and two on
top of that, you know, doing what they love through

(42:11):
their through their craft, perfecting their helps with their reading comprehension.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
Nice.

Speaker 1 (42:16):
You tell them to believe in themselves, you know, even
though I was in this you know, incredible group job.
But look at me, I had to backup plan and
I'm a doctor and you could be that also.

Speaker 3 (42:32):
And I come in dress regular, I come in dressed
like me. I got my plaque in the classroom, but
I also got my PhD sitting there in the classroom too,
And they can see that you don't have to be
stuffed up in a suit to be a doctor like
you could just be you.

Speaker 4 (42:43):
And it's a great matter that matters, you know, and
your sensibilities. And so I kind of model what that
could actually look like. And you know, looking like them,
it makes a difference. They they stay with me for
a lifetime. I got a lot of students forming students
that's still in my circumference, still rocking.

Speaker 1 (42:57):
With me, you know, I mean the politic of hip
hop Richard music and political science.

Speaker 3 (43:03):
Like, yeah, yeah, that was dope.

Speaker 4 (43:06):
Karen Stanford, she was the person who kind of created
that class, and I helped her, you know, maybe develop
it a little bit through my participation. But I was
just I was also a student, and she kind of
like gave me a perch upon which to kind of
like become that scholar activist type of dude, you know.
Through hip hop landscape and because even though I was

(43:27):
in R and B group, my sensibilities at hip hop.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
I grew up hip hop.

Speaker 3 (43:30):
I grew up.

Speaker 4 (43:31):
Breakdancing, rhyme and all that. Like I went to go
see Beach Street when it premiered at the movies.

Speaker 3 (43:37):
Like you, I mean, Fat Boys and all them up
in there, Curtis Blow Run the Sea Full Force and
all live in.

Speaker 4 (43:44):
There you see hustling there. Yeah, that was a movie.
So all that kind of created me. I got my
first two terntables when I was fourteen. I was trying
to be a DJ.

Speaker 2 (43:54):
My damn.

Speaker 4 (43:55):
So I've got a realistic mixer. You know, I was
up there trying to do my little thing. I had
utlfour record on one. You know, I was doing my
little yeah for sure, see see see exactly.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
So those experiences.

Speaker 4 (44:08):
I played ball, I DJ, you know, I rhyme DJ
played basketball. Growing up, that was like my world. But
I ended up in this R and B group and
the world sees me as Garfield from Sha. So a
lot of them don't realize the other sensibilities that inform
who I actually am. And education is a big part
of it because of my parents, and I happen to
be bright in the classroom. No point attended with my
last name. But I had a good little aptitude going

(44:29):
for myself, talent in that regard. But I also I
was not scared of the hood and my people, so
I was, you know, because of basketball. You gotta go
play in the hood. My friends are all from a
hood for the hood, and if you're gonna pop and
mom and all that, that's where it's going.

Speaker 3 (44:43):
That's what it is, you know. So that's that's what
I am too.

Speaker 4 (44:47):
So as a grown up, I recognize those students and
those kids who are brilliant who life, who have gotten
from by the system, have gotten kind of thrown away
and not believed in. But I recognized the potential in
them and the fact that a lot of them are
just bored and they're probably brighter than a lot of
those other ones as in the SAT tests, like they
got this other kind of gray matter that is kind
of like a non quantity, this qualitative situation that if

(45:12):
you could find a way to figure out what that's
the value is, you will see there's a high value.
It's intelligence in a different kind of way. And I'm
letting them know that they have that. I'm putting a
mirror up in front of them, showing them, now, bro,
what you got is this and this and that, you know,
and we having these real companies and so you know,
giving them confidence to be themselves and do it, do
it through other avenues, you know, apply that in different

(45:34):
ways that thing y'all have instead of trying to steal keys.

Speaker 2 (45:38):
You build that confidence at a young age.

Speaker 1 (45:41):
My son is eight years old, my son Joseph, and
I always tell them yourself, oh for sure, but I
can't do it.

Speaker 2 (45:49):
No, you can do it, continue to do it. You
can do anything you want. Put your mind to it.
You can do anything you want.

Speaker 1 (45:56):
And so to me, that's imperative what it is. There's
so much I want to I mean, we're at forty
seven minutes. Take too much time. But if it didn't
choose this for yourself, what would have been?

Speaker 4 (46:12):
I just kind of, like most of my life situations, man,
I fell into those, Like I kind of I'm a
free spirit, so I'm not ever scared like jump into things.
I don't like wait till the perfect moment to then
try something like I just float around and just do
what magnetically comes and make the best. And because I've
been like that, I found myself in these interesting types
of situations that have made and shaped me for other

(46:34):
situations to come. And you know, I'm easily adaptable to
different environments. You know, if I can say in any environment,
I can adapt, you know, like it's on the ghetto.
And so I'm like that, like I adapt well, so
I'm not scared of being. So what what that's done
for me is allow me to have a broad scope
in terms of my exposure to different landscapes and being
able to kind of like navigate those things.

Speaker 3 (46:55):
And that's helped me in my lifetime. So I don't
know any other way. I can't believe this is my life.
It's the shy thing and all, like I actually have
lived this life. I didn't choose it. It kind of
chose me. To be honest with you. But that's what
I am.

Speaker 2 (47:09):
Is that the platinum is that that's that's.

Speaker 4 (47:11):
That's one of them. I got a few of them.
I gave him one of my parents. That's the double
platinum in triple platinum. I got it when we got
a plaque, when we were in regular platinum, we got
gold ones. We got certain singles that went platinum and
double you know, so my parents have all that stuff.

Speaker 3 (47:25):
I just got one, you know what I mean. But
that's that's that's the that's the that's.

Speaker 2 (47:30):
A uh, that's beautiful. That's something I needed to have.

Speaker 3 (47:33):
And then this look, I don't even have it hanging
up nowhere. I just got I got this thing in
here because it means something to me.

Speaker 2 (47:40):
But I is this the right way?

Speaker 3 (47:43):
This is my doctoral degree.

Speaker 4 (47:45):
Wow, philosophy, doctor philosophy, pH d, Doctor philosophy.

Speaker 3 (47:48):
That's what that's sense for. You know, this educational policy studies.
And a lot of you know a lot of artists
get the uh the uh the.

Speaker 4 (47:56):
Doctors, uh, honorary doctors and stuff, you know, people bestow things.
But I went to school and got this, you know
what I mean, and performed at the head of the
head of the field.

Speaker 2 (48:04):
With the other scholars. Ready, are you a philosopher?

Speaker 4 (48:07):
Yes, yeah, Chris, And that was one of my favorite
albums is too man, I think very deeply.

Speaker 3 (48:12):
Let us begin.

Speaker 2 (48:13):
You know we could go on for hours.

Speaker 4 (48:19):
Christian rock Kim. When you asked me my top five,
I don't have any order, but Christian Rock Kim is
definitely in there.

Speaker 3 (48:26):
Karris.

Speaker 4 (48:27):
But you know, you can't forget Slick rig Big Daddy
came and then you got to go back to like
kb Ford, he was able to curse his blow from
the biggest contract, the first one Force one DMC like
in different.

Speaker 3 (48:36):
Eras, you know, the crush, you know, the treacher is
three in them like Milling.

Speaker 4 (48:42):
Then with the message like it's certain errors that the
paradigm shifted, and certain people shifted the paradigm, like like
rock Kim with that style of I came in the door.
That's how everybody else was going cool mo d. But
Rod set a style that changed the game, and a
lot of people copies. Nobody get copy Slick rick style.
You know him and Dana soun of the life for

(49:03):
a little while just to told them vocally, but Slick
was telling them stories. Yeah, it's all the stories that
he told. But then you know, then the ops came
along and did some things, you know, Wu tang like
LLL you can't forget about double L. Like like just
it's so many icons in the rap game. It's hard
to pick a top five because they all it's it's

(49:24):
so many ones who really literally meant the world to
hip hop when they bust through, and I'm leaving a
lot out. I ain't even it's a lot that I
didn't even say, yeah bam, you know, cool hurt, you
know what I'm saying, Like, like you mentioned Flash and
stuff like that, but Collywood people like that, Like you know,
like it's so many other ones that that that that

(49:46):
that did they thing. Man, I can't even pretend to
act like there's a top ten list because it's a
lot of people tied for first, second, third, and fourth,
you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (49:57):
Going back, my mother, she five of us, two not
her own, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (50:02):
Yeah, in the two.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
Bedroom apartment, six story building, you know what I'm saying
with mice roach your course, and she was a waitress
for twenty six years. You know, this woman won't talk
about a strongman that's the reason why I have.

Speaker 2 (50:16):
To respect women.

Speaker 3 (50:17):
Though I have no doubt my beautiful fiance shining nice.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (50:23):
And I will tell you if I have a fall
in love. That's a tough song. You got to have you.

Speaker 3 (50:33):
That's dope.

Speaker 2 (50:36):
It's like, what what. I appreciate that and she and
of course she had a huge part of this.

Speaker 3 (50:42):
You know, that's dope.

Speaker 1 (50:43):
Man.

Speaker 3 (50:43):
I will thank you for me. Man, I appreciate that
all that all that time.

Speaker 1 (50:49):
I'm gonna bless us out to R and B, pip hop,
all of them. You know, tell everyone, Summon.

Speaker 3 (50:59):
Oh Man, something that they don't know.

Speaker 2 (51:01):
But they would love to know about you.

Speaker 3 (51:05):
It's probably a whole bunch of stuff because we talked
about a lot.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
Of it today with just my hip hop background.

Speaker 3 (51:09):
But my favorite musical genre is straight ahead jazz, Like
I shouldna say that that's my favorite music that that's
my favorite genre right here? Wow, Like straight ahead jazz,
not the easy listening kind of jazz, but you know
the Maga mare, John Coltrane, Miles like straight ahead jazz,
like it's my favorite.

Speaker 4 (51:28):
You know, Sunny Stitt, you know those kind of people.
Willie Bobo on the Puerto Rican.

Speaker 3 (51:32):
Side, like, oh, I got hold up, man, hold up, while.

Speaker 2 (51:37):
You're playing they've wucko was my one of my favorite drummers.

Speaker 3 (51:44):
Get out of here, man, I got you. I'm trying
to tell you. I'm trying to tell you. Oh yeah,
the record Brothers, come on, man, they was smooth. Yeah
with the brushes. Yeah, and I would you know you
know what I'm saying. Yeah, man, that's how I started. Yeah,

(52:08):
this would be some means drummers out there during the time. Mean,
you know, all the way back to like Max Roach
in them days and all them kind of look.

Speaker 1 (52:15):
At look at Buddy Rich. I have so much gratitude.
I have so much respect for you. I consider your.

Speaker 2 (52:23):
Friend now appreciated. I really, I really appreciate your views.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
You know, I'm a very open ended Italian American kid
fifty three years old.

Speaker 2 (52:33):
We're always a kid, right of course, We're always evolving.

Speaker 3 (52:37):
Yeah, definite.

Speaker 2 (52:39):
I always want to be educated.

Speaker 3 (52:40):
You know me too.

Speaker 2 (52:41):
Listen to you want you to educate me.

Speaker 3 (52:44):
I appreciate that, oh man. Likewise, it's always a transaction.
We educate each other.

Speaker 1 (52:47):
Man, and therefore I want to I want to bless
this out and educate everybody because I want them just
to know this guy from Shay was not just one
of one of the four. You know what I'm saying.
He is educator, author, you know, a doctor.

Speaker 2 (53:06):
You know what I mean? Yes, purpose, yes, apply to me.

Speaker 1 (53:12):
There has to be a message at the end of it. Yeah,
and I'm gonna I'm gonna continue to blast that message
out there. You know we always say let your heart zazz.

Speaker 3 (53:22):
Yeah, I like that let your heart zazz.

Speaker 1 (53:25):
Read dot Com consit ourself the ultimate into that smashup
dance radio station rocks all this experience in the world.

Speaker 2 (53:33):
Download the app. We're on the you know the app store.

Speaker 3 (53:36):
Yeah, okay, Wow, this.

Speaker 1 (53:40):
Was something that really this really was. We could go
on all day and all night. I have respect for you.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
I appreciate you like wise.

Speaker 3 (53:48):
Likewise, we'll definitely talk some other time. Yeah, you know
you got my numbers and stuff. Man, hit me.

Speaker 2 (53:56):
I'll definitely reach out.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
But much respect and you you located in young right now,
the next time we do a show, you know, close
up that way, I'm gonna hit you, be like, hey man,
we'll be there. Word up, okay, row word up, all right,
No doubt.

Speaker 2 (54:12):
Pies on the stone no.

Speaker 1 (54:16):
Doubt, but it's a pleasure Doctor Garfield Bright God bless you,
and uh Tuesday, we're gonna put this up around eight
o'clock live audio.

Speaker 2 (54:29):
Okay dot com.

Speaker 1 (54:31):
We're gonna replay it at eleven and then what we'll
do is we'll put clips.

Speaker 2 (54:35):
Out okay on Wednesday. Yeah, hear me up.

Speaker 4 (54:38):
Keep me posting with all that so I can make
sure I'm tuning in. My dad likes to look at
this stuff. I'm gonna tell him, you know, Hey, Dad,
he's coming out, you know.

Speaker 1 (54:45):
Yeah, definitely blast it out on you and we'll blasted
on our end. We're gonna blast it out and we
have millions of views. I'm sure blast it out all over.

Speaker 4 (54:57):
Just make me a collaborator, like you know if you
put it on its Integram, Instagram. So make me a
collaborator and then I'll accept it and it'll be on
both of us.

Speaker 1 (55:04):
One of what they want to mention it is one
of our dear friends is in the business right now.
He's twenty five years old. He's Italian American kid and
he does the oldiest thing. His name was Chris Raggio. Okay,
check out Chris Ragerald sings. He he has hung out
with Connie Francis.

Speaker 2 (55:23):
Wow Valley, he does that gam it. Yeah, so I'm gonna,
I'm gonna you.

Speaker 3 (55:31):
Gotta you gotta fill me on, man, you gotta give me,
give me some links or something. He text me some links.

Speaker 2 (55:36):
Check them out. Chris Ragid sings dot com. You can
check out Chris Ragerald c h R I S R
U G G I E R O.

Speaker 3 (55:45):
Okay, his voice. If he's singing that kind of stuff,
I already know.

Speaker 2 (55:49):
I already know. It's all over Vegas. That's what I
was thinking.

Speaker 3 (55:53):
That's the first thing I thought was Vegas.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
So it's like, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (55:57):
So I'm talking to I have to mention him and uh,
you know we have friends like Tunisia in the freestyle
end of it. But Cybo, man, that's crazy.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
The fever.

Speaker 3 (56:07):
That's crazy, bro yo, that's the Fever's crazy. That's for
real back and that's that's the the fevers is official.

Speaker 2 (56:18):
That's so that's old school, that's old school. That's that real.

Speaker 3 (56:21):
That's that realness right there. Yep, yep, yep, yep the fever. Yeah, yeah,
what called when when?

Speaker 2 (56:28):
When hell box? Memory box? My raining, I believe me.
I like it.

Speaker 4 (56:37):
Walk that long.

Speaker 2 (56:38):
That's the weather in Texas, always hot for no reason.

Speaker 3 (56:42):
Even when it's raining, it's still ninety eight. Like, it's
just ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
What fan are you?

Speaker 3 (56:46):
Are you a Cowboy fan and you say Cowboy? Now?
I see you know, because I grew up in Boston,
I still I still got my even though we sucked.
Now I'm the Wingland Patriots. I'm the Boston Red Sox.
I'm the Boston Ruins, you know what I mean. I'm
I'm the Celtics fan.

Speaker 4 (57:00):
I got the Chicago hats because I like Chicago and
it says shy like style group. So I watched this,
but I got a thousand Boston hats that I usually
always wears.

Speaker 2 (57:11):
Yeah that's my yep.

Speaker 3 (57:14):
Yeah yeah.

Speaker 2 (57:15):
We love that rivalry, right, I know I do.

Speaker 3 (57:17):
I love it.

Speaker 2 (57:18):
I love it.

Speaker 4 (57:19):
But I love the Mets though, because Doc Gooding and
them Strawberry used to rock there. I got a whole
bunch of New York Mets gear, you know what I mean.
But the Yankees is our rivalry.

Speaker 1 (57:29):
Check out my boys. I'm involved. I was, I was
actually involved in it. Season one.

Speaker 2 (57:35):
Graves in series nineteen eighty Brooklyn's mob style.

Speaker 3 (57:38):
Right mobstyle, Yeah, graves In graves In, I texted me.

Speaker 2 (57:43):
All this stuff.

Speaker 1 (57:44):
Man out of Brooklyn again, my friend. He is your
creator and he's the writer, Willie Demo. He's got Shock
Shaquille O'Neil in season three.

Speaker 3 (57:55):
Okay, so you gotta check it out. I gotta check
it out, man.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
Yeah, graves In series check it out Instagram, Facebook.

Speaker 3 (58:02):
You gotta make hey, text me all this good stuff
that you're telling me, Man, text me all this stuff,
and then I go do it. I go do my
due diligence and watch all this stuff. It sounds it
sounds like something I love to watch.

Speaker 2 (58:12):
Yeah, definitely pleasure, pleasure.

Speaker 3 (58:14):
Talk to you likewise, we'll definitely hook out. Okay one
my brother, right, peace, take peace.

Speaker 2 (58:20):
Speak to you God, bless God, bless you. Enjoy the
rest of your day. I will.

Speaker 3 (58:27):
I don't even know how to get off of this, right, Jada, Yo,
you funny man?

Speaker 2 (58:35):
All right, I think I see it all right, stop
God bless cho