Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviews Legendary R&B singer WILL DOWNING. He is affectionately dubbed as The Prince of Sophisticated Soul, with a repertoire consisting of signature interpretations of R&B classics like "I Go Crazy," "Wishing On A Star," "Stop Look & Listen," and "I Try," with original hits "A Million Ways," "After Tonight," "Sorry I," "Everything I Want in My Lady" and the show-stopping, chart-topping duet with Rachelle Ferrell, "Nothing Has Ever Felt Like This." He has released a new single, "Till We Meet Again." The song offers a message of hope and understanding that will resonate with anyone who has faced mental health challenges. According to Will Downing, the song was inspired when he lost his daughter to suicide in January of 2023. He is on the show to discuss his career and the song, Till We Meet Again" to alert you to mental health issues and suicides.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Money Making Conversations.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It's to show that she is the secrets of success
experience firsthand by marketing and branding expert Rashan McDonald. I
will know he's giving me advice on many occasions. And in
case you didn't notice, I'm not broke. You know he'll
be interviewing celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry decision make because
it's what he likes to do, it's what he likes
to share. Now it's time to hear from my man,
Rashwan McDonald. Money Making Conversations.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Here we go. Welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass. I'm
your host, Rashawn McDonald. Our theme is there's no perfect
time to start following your dreams. I recognize that we
all have different definitions of success. For you, it may
be the size of your paycheck. Mine's inspiring you to
accomplish your goals and live your very best life. It's
time to stop reading other people's success stories and really
(00:50):
when you think about it, and start living your own.
People always talk about their purpose or gift. If you
have a gift, leave with your gift and don't let
your friends, family, or choral stop you from planning or
living your dreams. That's the way life is. I always
tell people, is about you, not about what other people
think of you. My guest is legendary R and B
singer Will Downing. He is affectionately dubbed as the Prince
(01:12):
of Sophisticated Soul. Where the repertoire consisted of signature interpretations
of R and B classic like I Go Crazy, Wishing
on the Star, Stop Looking Listen, and I Tried with
original hits like a Million Ways After the Night, Sorry,
I Everything I Wanted, My Lady and the show stopping
chart topping duet with Rachelle Farrell. Nothing has ever felt
like this. Here's a new release song out Till We
(01:35):
Meet Again. The song offers a message of hope and
understanding that will resonate with anyone who has faced mental
health challenges. According to Will Downey, the song was inspired
when he lost his daughter to suicide of January of
this year. He is on the show to discuss his
career and the song Till We Meet Again to alert
you the mental health issues and suicide. Please welcome the
Money Making Conversation Masterclass, Will Downing. How you doing, sir brother?
Speaker 3 (01:59):
That intro was like, you know, when I go out,
that's the way I want it. I want it just
like that.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Well, you know, we thank you, thank you know, my
snap said Richie, you really wrote this on up today.
I said, Well, I said, I sat down. You know
when I think about why you wanted to come on
the show, and then our relationship over the years, the
interviews we had, and you know, I know you got
to my pieces doing this thing out there you on tour.
How you doing right now before we get into our interview.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
You know what, I'm pretty good man for the most part.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
You know, I have my moments based on everything that
you just said, the passing of my daughter in January.
So I can't say that everything is perfect. You know,
sometimes during the day a brother breaks down, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
I see a.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Picture or a memory or whatever it is, and it
reminds me of you know, of her. But you know,
we keep going, and you know, we try to spread
the good word in spite of and hopefully help other
people up.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
In definition of a song.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Well, you know that's your talent, your gift. My gift
is you know. I used to work at IBM and
then I started making people laugh. I was a stand
up comedian, and then I became a writer on sitcoms
and that created a body of work that people can
turn on Netflix and see did you write that episode?
Did you write that about Sister and Sister Jamie Fox?
All these different shows, the Parkers, and you have a
body of work, and that body of work allows you
(03:19):
to see thousands of people walking in the street and
people just walk up to you. How does that affect you?
When people pick out certain songs, they say how important
that music is to them.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Well, it's a great feeling, and you know, you feel
like you've had a sense of accomplishment. You know, that's
what every artist the goal is is to you know,
to make sure that the world reaches that the song.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Reaches the world, and that it affects the world in
some sort of a way. So I hear that all
the time. Matter of fact, I was out.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
To lunch yesterday with my guitar player and we were
sitting there this young lady who was our waitress. That's
what I call almas. They have a specific term I
always say. So I just saided to her that way,
I said, listen, you know, what do you really want
to do in life? She says, well, you know, I
want to be a singer. I said, oh okay, And
so the guitar playoffs with he said, well do you
(04:10):
know you're talking to and then he said my name
to her and she, you know, just like she lit
up a little bit. And I was like a little
bit too young for me, you know, honestly, like.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
How do you know who I am? My mother loves you?
And then she got a mother on the telephone. Wow. Yeah, yeah,
it was interesting man.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
So all that to say, it was a great feeling
to know that you're still relevant, that you know, the
younger generation still appreciates what you do or they appreciate
what you do, and the generation you came up with,
they still appreciate what you do.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
So it's a great feeling.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
We know.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
The interesting thing about music how important it really is.
You know, let's let's be honest. It can lift you up,
it can motivate you, it can inspire you. And then
your song that you've written based on the death of
the suicide of your daughter, is it inspirational, motivational? What
is the sense of that particul the song?
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Well, it's supposed to be all of that, but it's
almost when it was written, it was almost like a
conversation that I've had with her more times than I
can count. Right, So the first couple of lines on
the song is, can you tell me what the hell
was on your mind?
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Right? I heard you say that.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
I went, WHOA okay, right, because when I last spoke
to you, you were doing fine. So I've had that conversation.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
With her, and all my children, have three of them,
more times than I can count. You know, they do
something and it's like, come on, man, really, like, like
what were you thinking?
Speaker 3 (05:37):
You know, last time I talked to you, you said you
weren't going to do this, or you told me you
were going to do this, whatever it might be. So
it's it's a conversation from a parent to a child.
But at the same time, when we've had our conversation off,
I said what I've had to say, and I kind
of opened up my arms and go, I still love you.
Come on, come on, give me a hug.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Don't do that again, you know, let's think this out,
talk this over. So that's kind of what it is.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
And unfortunately it's a conversation that we can no longer
have as two individuals. But it's still like, you know,
my spiritual conversation, like what was going on with you?
All right, Okay, that moment's passed. I'm letting you know
it's okay. You're not alone. Someone's watching over you. I'm
always here. We can talk however, we can communicate, but
(06:27):
it's okay until we meet again. When we meet again,
we don't had this conversation, right, but until we meet again,
know that I love you thinking about you.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
God's got you, He's holding on to you till I
get to you.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
We know the interesting partner. Thank you for that statement
of what it was all about. Cler I said, you
heard you say that. At the top, I went, that's
pretty strong. But then they got me to the end
because I think when I was listening to the song
Till We Meet Again, I'm talking to Will down in
R and B legend, you know, the whole approach to
(07:01):
how you feel. I thought that the line was like
the one line in the song and not saying the
rest of the song that you was like the ultimate
frustration of why you didn't call me, Why didn't you
just back up the phone, Why all the days where
were you at mentally that you thought you could speak
to dad, right, you spoke to Dad on so many
(07:23):
things that were irrelevant, so many things that were selling,
so many things that didn't matter just to you. But
I was there for you.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Right right right, And here's the day. All you had
to do is pick up the telephone and we could
have talked this through because four or five days prior
to that we talked on the telephone, and then five
was you know, five days prior to that, which was
like New Year's Eve. You know, even I left the
message on the song if you listen to the song,
I left her voicemail that she held me on the song.
(07:52):
So eleven days later she was dead.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
So it's like, wait a minute, how did we get there?
How do we get what happened?
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Like, you know, talk, Why didn't you talk to me?
Why didn't you say something? Was it what were you
going through? Was it financial?
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Was it? Was it mental? Was it someone messing with you?
Was it? You know? Like it just leads you down
a rabbit hole of the amount.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Of questions that you can come up with as to
why you did what you did and how did you
think that the ultimate solution was to take your own
life right?
Speaker 1 (08:25):
And I just you know the whole thing about this interview.
I wanted to make sure that we got to talk,
will you know, because you know your daughter, you know,
initiated this interview because of the tragic turns she took
with her life taking care. But it's really a bigger
problem out there, especially in our community, because when such
denial about because you mentioned that your daughter at the
(08:46):
top of the song the video I saw it talked
about bipolar, depression, and some farmer schizophrenia. You know, if
you could tell our audience what exactly all those type
of symptoms are, if you're familiar with it. I'm not
trying to put you on the spot, but you know,
I've heard bipolar, I don't know what that means. I've
heard depression of some maybe I maybe even experienced some
(09:06):
depression and really didn't know understand what I was going through.
And then you have schizophrenia. Can you talk about those
three forms that your daughter dealt with that eventually led
to her death.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Well earlier on in her life, and she was thirty
one when she passed away. You know, we had noticed
certain things, me and my ex wife had noticed certain
things that she was doing that very moody unbelievably moody,
Like you could go from from zero to one hundred,
you know, like okay, we're cool, we're cool, We're cool.
You say one word and then another person would come
(09:38):
out and it's like, all.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Right, okay, Well I attribute that to growing things. I remember,
you know, growing.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Up, and my parents would say something to me and
I'd be the same way, like, you know, I hate.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
You know, me not to that face.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
You know in the back of my mind, you don't un'erstaying,
and so I'm you know, we attributed that to growth.
And as the years went on, I remember going to
my parents and especially my dad, and just kind of
saying like, you know, I'm seeing some stuff that I
ain't really comfortable with, and you know, my father hit
me with you know, like, hey, when you were that age,
you were kind of the same way. Then the years
(10:14):
went on, I said it again to him and he
was like, you know what, you need to take her
down home. Down home was North Carolina, that's where you
know my parents are from. Let him run around in
the fields and get some polygraensentlemen, and right at need
some ice staters.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
I don't know if that's a solution.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
But and then she got older and then you know,
he kind of saw some stuff and it was like,
all right, now, what are.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
You gonna do about this? I'm like, what am I
gonna do?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
I told you, I said, I bought this up to
you seven eight years ago. You told me let him
run around in the field.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
So and so.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
She she got professional help in that reguard and found
out that the bipolar aspect of it is more of
internal uh and balance, you know.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
That could be him with medicine, correct by both right.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
And she was diagnosed with medicine, was diagnosed.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
She was given medicine, but she hated the way the
medicine made a feel and made her feel methargic and
tired and made it feel like she wasn't in control
of herself, so she would stop taking the medicine. So
then she started kind of like self medicating. You know,
she started drinking a little bit, you know, I started
smoking a little something something to make her feel better.
And that wasn't the answer either. So that's the bipolar
(11:30):
aspect of it. The schizophrenia part, and and that was
a very small part of it. Was kind of seeing
and hearing things that wasn't necessarily true, right, you know,
kind of like oh, yeah, you know, this is woman.
She looked at me, and you know, she called me
in my you know, in her mind, it was like, yeah,
she looked at me a particular way, she said a
(11:52):
particular thing to her or something like that, or she
felt a particular way about if someone was trying to
help her.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
It's like really trying to help me. I know what
you're up to. I know what it is. So it
was a lot of that as well, and you know,
some of it was aimed directly at me and her
mother as well. So you know, we had some some
instances that were just kind of like you know, whoa whoa,
whoa wha.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
How we get here? Like, no, that's not the case
at all. And then you know, you didn't have to
like talk her down or something like that. Not that
it was going to be a physical confrontation or anything
like that, but it was certainly like, you know, just
like you could just.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Physically see her amped up. It's like, hey, no, that
that wasn't the case. What I meant was we want
to this is what we like to do.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
And then it was kind of like oh okay, all right, okay,
you know, because I thought that you were, and so
it was.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
It was. It was a lot of that as well.
So those are the two aspects.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Now I want to talk about it because you mentioned depression,
because I want to look at that because I'm in
one of those high stress worlds when I say that,
because sometimes I think music helps me. I think I
watched TV a lot. You know, I'm always keeping my
mind active, so I won't just stay on the subject that.
Because you know, entertainment, that's like, you know, it is
(13:06):
one of the most emotionally up and down businesses you have.
You know, you can have a concert, there was a
soul lot this concert half field. You know, you can
have a hit song in the next five years, maybe
not another hit song, and then people start questioning you.
I'm just talking about myself too. On shows, you get
on the show, you think that show going to be
on for a year. They canceled left to three months.
(13:27):
That's what happened. When I was on our Senior Hall sitcom.
I thought, this is our senior Hall, We're gonna be
working for five years. A few months later they pulled
the plug and so then so you went from this
big high to this major low and that's what depression
can really trap you. And so you mentioned that, can
we talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Well, you know, all the things that you just said
apply to a lot of people in entertainment, sports and
life in general.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
There's always like this, this picture in your mind that
you have and ay not necessarily turn out to be that,
and so you start to look at that as being,
you know, somewhat of a failure. I think, you know,
one of the best answers I heard even recently was
from Giannis, you know when you say, right when a
reporter asked, hey, you know, are you are you defining
(14:17):
your career by this loss?
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Or or or was the year a loss? Was it?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
And then he kind of gave this amazing definition of
you know, what success is or or what a failure is,
or what a failure.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Is not you know. So, you know, I think we
all go through stuff like that.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass
with Rushawn McDonald. You are now tuned into the Money
Making Conversations Minute of Inspiration with Rashawn McDonald.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Despite being known for loud, bombastic comments and his trademark
propensity to debate. A much softer side of Steven A.
Smith is revealed when discussing the inspiration for his success.
The fin product is for the fans.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
I'm about the work, the process, the grind, the day
in and day out, meticulous, tedious work that you have
to put in to perfect your craft. And the reason
why that resonated with me so profoundly, Rashaan is because.
Speaker 5 (15:15):
Now let's return to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashaan McDonald.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
That was my next question. Continue, well, that was my
next question, that social media is really an issue now?
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Well, yeah, I mean, if you don't get excellent of likes,
this gives everyone a false sense of everything, like how
many friends you have or anything like that. So there's
no there's not as much human contact as they used
to be to even find out whether someone is genuine
and or not genuine. Everything is just keeping up and
(15:48):
you're always reinventing yourself, especially these days. Every freaking week
you gotta be somebody new. You got to post something
or stay relevant, like let people know you're still alive,
you're doing something that's relevant and interesting and this, that
and the other.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
So you know, she was caught up in that as well.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Yeah, because she did artwork, right, she had that was
a skill set, right, So I'm sure posting had a
lot to do with people reacting with likes and things
like that tell us about her her skill, her talent.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Well, she was a phenomenalon She was phenomenal with everything
she touched. She was also an esthetician, so you know.
But but when things didn't really like rise to you know,
that certain level, it's like, well.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
I got to do something new, all right, So I
got to I'm doing art. Now.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
You know, she's always done art, and so she would
do that. And you know, art is subjective.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
You know what one person's trash is another person's treasure.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
So you know I always kind of encouraged her in
that regardless, like I'm not bringing enough moneies. It's like,
you know, life is a balance, you know, do something enjoyable,
enjoy yourself at the same time while making some money.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
You're gonna be okay. But I got to keep up.
I got to keep up. I got to keep up.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
So you know that that played a huge role in it.
But you know, a really great artist, uh. The artwork
that we used on the cover of the single that's
something that she had painted, uh, she had, and.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
It's a it's a fairly large piece as well.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
So I have it hanging in my home and I've
distributed some of her other artwork to family members, so
they think that they can have her in their household
and thinking for all the time.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Right, you know? Till with Me again is the song
that he's talking about that unfortunately is tied to the
suicide of his daughter. How can we gain access to
this song? It has? It is released, it is available.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Where can we go If you want to see the
video and hear the song, you can always come to
my website, you go to will Downing dot com. If
you want to support it and you know, purchased like
the music or something like that, you can come to
the Prince of Sophisticated Sooul dot com and the video
is there as well. You can go on YouTube, you
can go to iTunes, all the places that you normally
(17:47):
get your music, so you can support in that regard.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
So, so you was able to get the r M
for the Prince.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
I don't think anybody else will wanted it.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
That's a lot of type of man, I mean, sophisticated Prince.
I got the prince sophisticated. They're gonna have a problem,
right there, sophisticated with.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
The F you know s O F S.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
T No, no, no, you know, you know, as it.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Was something I want to move back in your conversation
because as the black community, I want to stay on
that a little bit, because that's really the reason we're here,
because of the fact that it's about education and motivating.
Because as you said, our parents and our grandparents, how
they handled these signs, these warning signs of things like that.
It's really really my computers on mute. Huh, mute my computer?
(18:48):
What's going on? Oh that, don't worry about that.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Cool.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
They were worried about my computer was dinging. At the
same I thought, I, hey, we did this whole interview.
Mute problem. I'll be taking some people this wrong. You
gonna do some old school flogging around there. No, they
were just talking about my computer was a dingy in
the back of you. They heard you and I we
did in our conversation.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
We need nothing.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
But I wanted to talk about as we talk about
our parents, because I come from phield Ford, Texas, six sisters,
two brothers, and I remember our parents and you know
we're born. I was born in Houston, Texas, play from Sreeport,
Louis Atham. So we go back into the country, outhouses
and all that stuff. And as I said, you know,
we didn't even want to acknowledge the gay community and
(19:38):
the black community, okay, because we didn't know what that was.
Uncle uncle was like this and like that, Uncle dressed
that way. But we just just hushed it right up.
And then you come back to this major turn of events,
the mental structure of the black community because we're always
getting beat up. A lot of people need to understand
about the black community racism, so we can't ever show weakness.
(20:00):
We always the last higher, the first fire. So a
lot of those things will come into play. Well, we're
willing to say show vulnerability and to say that you
are mentally quote unquote unstable. They gets you out to
do real fast. Do you think that plays a role
as well?
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Well, definitely.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
I mean, as you just said, it's something that we
as a community do not talk about openly. You know,
there's a sense of shame attached to it. And you
pretty much hit like the top two. You know, the
sexuality is one thing, and you know mental illness is
sort of like we have this picture in our mind
that you know, people think that you're crazy because you
(20:40):
talk to someone about what's going on with you internally
in your mind or how you feel a particular way,
especially these days when we're in a very uncaring society.
You know, we hold everything in and then when you
do birst it's like, you know, how do we get this?
It's like, well, this person ever had the pleasure of
talking with someone and releasing it and getting a different
(21:02):
perspective on what's.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
Going on in your life. You're not being judged.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
This person is there for you to listen to or
to listen to you and to maybe kind of give you,
like a different perspective as to how they see it. So,
you know, a lot of times we sort of look
at that we have this vision in our mind of
a couch and you know, you're sitting there, someone's in
this white jacket then writing down all of this stuff,
you know, and then they hand you a bill and
(21:28):
give you a couple of bills and pick out the door.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
They say, you.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Know, we ain't gonna talk about this, right you'ren't telling
nobody else here. So you know, that's the picture that
I have in my mind and to those who I've
spoken to about this sort of thing, that's the vision
that they have as well. And you know, we're very
apprehensive about talking about it. So you know, we have
to do better as a society. We definitely have to.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Well, you know, black people prostate cancer don't want to
do that, you know what I'm saying, and tell us
what that's what we need to do. You know, mental health,
mental care don't want to do that. Well, don't any
knowledge to our sexuality within our community because you know,
and I'm not pointing no finger, but guess what. We
live in a racist country, Ladies and gentlemen, a country
(22:10):
that enslaved us. Don't want to acknowledge the fact that
they did enslavers. In fact, they want to take that
out of books. They want to take all that out
of the book. They just want to go, we freed, y'all,
and just skip everything else.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Well, either that or the fact that it happened so
long ago we're still talking about, like what.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Yeah, if if we don't talk about it and then
it would happen again. Like you said, it's hard to
repeat history when you can see it happening again and
then you can stop it, okay, But if you don't
know your history, then all of a sudden you can
be stunned and say I didn't see they coming. And
so when I think about your career and I think
about the longevity, as we wrap up this interview, well
(22:50):
and thank you again for coming on my show. You
know it's really true. I remember I started doing a
stand up I left my job at eighty six to
do stand up comedy, and you know, I and see
the future. You know, you just out there performing. You know,
in ninety two I did death comedy Jam and I
started writing those sitcoms. And it's that longevity conversation I'm
(23:10):
having with you. It's like it's like you look at
your success and that's where the worry. Fear comes in
fear of can I keep it going? Fear As we
rapt this interview up and talk about your success, how
you've overcome fear, how you overcome doubt. Because when we're young,
(23:31):
there's no fear. We're just out there. But as you
have success, sometimes success can work against you because can
I do it again? Will I be able to do
it again? Will I be able to sell out this show?
When people know who I am next year or five
years from now mentally as an artist? Can you talk
to my autists, talk to my fans about that?
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Well, I always say when I hear stuff like that,
you know, chasing success is has killed the best of
who we've had musically, you know.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
So when you look at Michael.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
Jackson's, when you look at Prince, when you look at
your Whitney Houston's, people like that, you know they all
passed away chasing success. In my opinion, you know, Michael bleached,
his skin, changed, physically changed his features, would stay up constantly.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
Just to kind of keep up, you know what I mean.
So it's kind of like, Okay, I've been to the mountaintop.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
I know what it looks like, and someone else is
coming up, but they're not as good as I am.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
So you know what do I have to do to
keep up? Well? Okay, stay up? Okay, Well I'm tired, Okay,
well I need to get some rest, all right.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
And then he started taking the profofall which gave him
the best rest you ever had. And you know, the
doctor dropped the ball. I forgot to wake him up.
I gave him too much or whatever. However that went down,
but it was all chasing success. Whitney Houston same way.
You know, I'm up, up, up, up up. Oh this
girl can sing better than me. What do I have
to do? I got to and then started doing whatever
(25:01):
she was doing. Prince, you know, was was physically hurt,
you know, with his hip. It's like, oh, man, you
know you're hurt, Like I mean, I can keep going,
I can keep going, and you know, then you know
his unfortunate demise. So I think that what people have
to realize.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
And it hit me on top of the head as
well when I got sick and.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Started realizing when I had all that time off to
myself that this is just one aspect of who we
are as entertainers or you know, who I am, you know,
and being an entertainer is just a small aspect of that.
So you have to live your life, have a balanced life.
There's nothing more important than to be honest with your
success is one thing. And if you gain a whole
(25:41):
lot of it, where you're gonna go after a while.
You know, if you can't go out and be seen
in society, what's the point of being successful If you
can't enjoy what with your friends and you can't go out,
can't go to the mall, can't go to the movies,
can't go I can't do anything.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
You know, you are going to do it with people
that are like you. You know, they don't even know you.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
So you know, just be careful, just have a balanced life.
And what's for you, what's meant for you?
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Till we meet again? That's the song, meet again, till
we meet again, you know. So as to that propos,
you know, because we're gonna meet again and we're gonna talk,
We're gonna smile, we're gonna share stories about because I
have a daughter, she's twenty six, so this is a
very personal conversation and just to share you our thought
when she calls, I stopped talking to everybody to talk
(26:26):
to you, girl, because I don't know. So when it
happened to your daughter, it magnified my attention to her
that you know, she called me at ten and I
apologized and I didn't see the call, you know, because
she called me for a reason, whether it's just say
she loves me, or just to share a personal story.
Because again she's out there by herself, she's out there
(26:47):
working remote and all these life has changed, so much
how people live. You know, they don't have to go
into work, they don't have to interact. That gives them
more time to think, more time to go online. Like
you said, the internet, the social media. But as we
close teal with meat again, how can my fan base participate,
be a partner support you in getting this song this
(27:08):
sing once again?
Speaker 3 (27:09):
Come out to my website, go to Willdowning dot com,
go to the Friends of Sophisticated Soul. I love you brother,
and then you go to will down In dot com.
They'll tell you where I well, then come on out
and come see.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
The show as well.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
So all of that and already make sure you always
send banister, because there was one thing about my life man,
as I always said, once you get past fifty on
the down side of your life, I want to support
people like you and uh individuals who have supported me unbeknownst.
Your music has uplifted me. Your music has got me
through my down days. Your music have inspired me, made
(27:45):
me feel good when I felt down. So it's artists
like you man play such a major role in the
black community by getting this through our tough times. Thank
you Will down If for coming on money and it
comes to Masterclass.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
I appreciate, appreciate you, sir.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
We talked soon.
Speaker 5 (28:05):
Thank you for joining us for this edition of Money
Making Conversations Masterclass. Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan MacDonald
is produced by thirty eight to fifteen Media Inc. More
information about thirty eight fifteen Media Inc. Is available at
thirty eight fifteen media dot com. And always remember to
lead with your gifts
Welcome to Money Making Conversations.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It's to show that she is the secrets of success
experience firsthand by marketing and branding expert Rashan McDonald. I
will know he's giving me advice on many occasions. And in
case you didn't notice, I'm not broke. You know he'll
be interviewing celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry decision make because
it's what he likes to do, it's what he likes
to share. Now it's time to hear from my man,
Rashwan McDonald. Money Making Conversations.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Here we go. Welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass. I'm
your host, Rashawn McDonald. Our theme is there's no perfect
time to start following your dreams. I recognize that we
all have different definitions of success. For you, it may
be the size of your paycheck. Mine's inspiring you to
accomplish your goals and live your very best life. It's
time to stop reading other people's success stories and really
(00:50):
when you think about it, and start living your own.
People always talk about their purpose or gift. If you
have a gift, leave with your gift and don't let
your friends, family, or choral stop you from planning or
living your dreams. That's the way life is. I always
tell people, is about you, not about what other people
think of you. My guest is legendary R and B
singer Will Downing. He is affectionately dubbed as the Prince
(01:12):
of Sophisticated Soul. Where the repertoire consisted of signature interpretations
of R and B classic like I Go Crazy, Wishing
on the Star, Stop Looking Listen, and I Tried with
original hits like a Million Ways After the Night, Sorry,
I Everything I Wanted, My Lady and the show stopping
chart topping duet with Rachelle Farrell. Nothing has ever felt
like this. Here's a new release song out Till We
(01:35):
Meet Again. The song offers a message of hope and
understanding that will resonate with anyone who has faced mental
health challenges. According to Will Downey, the song was inspired
when he lost his daughter to suicide of January of
this year. He is on the show to discuss his
career and the song Till We Meet Again to alert
you the mental health issues and suicide. Please welcome the
Money Making Conversation Masterclass, Will Downing. How you doing, sir brother?
Speaker 3 (01:59):
That intro was like, you know, when I go out,
that's the way I want it. I want it just
like that.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Well, you know, we thank you, thank you know, my
snap said Richie, you really wrote this on up today.
I said, Well, I said, I sat down. You know
when I think about why you wanted to come on
the show, and then our relationship over the years, the
interviews we had, and you know, I know you got
to my pieces doing this thing out there you on tour.
How you doing right now before we get into our interview.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
You know what, I'm pretty good man for the most part.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
You know, I have my moments based on everything that
you just said, the passing of my daughter in January.
So I can't say that everything is perfect. You know,
sometimes during the day a brother breaks down, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
I see a.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Picture or a memory or whatever it is, and it
reminds me of you know, of her. But you know,
we keep going, and you know, we try to spread
the good word in spite of and hopefully help other
people up.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
In definition of a song.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Well, you know that's your talent, your gift. My gift
is you know. I used to work at IBM and
then I started making people laugh. I was a stand
up comedian, and then I became a writer on sitcoms
and that created a body of work that people can
turn on Netflix and see did you write that episode?
Did you write that about Sister and Sister Jamie Fox?
All these different shows, the Parkers, and you have a
body of work, and that body of work allows you
(03:19):
to see thousands of people walking in the street and
people just walk up to you. How does that affect you?
When people pick out certain songs, they say how important
that music is to them.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Well, it's a great feeling, and you know, you feel
like you've had a sense of accomplishment. You know, that's
what every artist the goal is is to you know,
to make sure that the world reaches that the song.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Reaches the world, and that it affects the world in
some sort of a way. So I hear that all
the time. Matter of fact, I was out.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
To lunch yesterday with my guitar player and we were
sitting there this young lady who was our waitress. That's
what I call almas. They have a specific term I
always say. So I just saided to her that way,
I said, listen, you know, what do you really want
to do in life? She says, well, you know, I
want to be a singer. I said, oh okay, And
so the guitar playoffs with he said, well do you
(04:10):
know you're talking to and then he said my name
to her and she, you know, just like she lit
up a little bit. And I was like a little
bit too young for me, you know, honestly, like.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
How do you know who I am? My mother loves you?
And then she got a mother on the telephone. Wow. Yeah, yeah,
it was interesting man.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
So all that to say, it was a great feeling
to know that you're still relevant, that you know, the
younger generation still appreciates what you do or they appreciate
what you do, and the generation you came up with,
they still appreciate what you do.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
So it's a great feeling.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
We know.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
The interesting thing about music how important it really is.
You know, let's let's be honest. It can lift you up,
it can motivate you, it can inspire you. And then
your song that you've written based on the death of
the suicide of your daughter, is it inspirational, motivational? What
is the sense of that particul the song?
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Well, it's supposed to be all of that, but it's
almost when it was written, it was almost like a
conversation that I've had with her more times than I
can count. Right, So the first couple of lines on
the song is, can you tell me what the hell
was on your mind?
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Right? I heard you say that.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
I went, WHOA okay, right, because when I last spoke
to you, you were doing fine. So I've had that conversation.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
With her, and all my children, have three of them,
more times than I can count. You know, they do
something and it's like, come on, man, really, like, like
what were you thinking?
Speaker 3 (05:37):
You know, last time I talked to you, you said you
weren't going to do this, or you told me you
were going to do this, whatever it might be. So
it's it's a conversation from a parent to a child.
But at the same time, when we've had our conversation off,
I said what I've had to say, and I kind
of opened up my arms and go, I still love you.
Come on, come on, give me a hug.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Don't do that again, you know, let's think this out,
talk this over. So that's kind of what it is.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
And unfortunately it's a conversation that we can no longer
have as two individuals. But it's still like, you know,
my spiritual conversation, like what was going on with you?
All right, Okay, that moment's passed. I'm letting you know
it's okay. You're not alone. Someone's watching over you. I'm
always here. We can talk however, we can communicate, but
(06:27):
it's okay until we meet again. When we meet again,
we don't had this conversation, right, but until we meet again,
know that I love you thinking about you.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
God's got you, He's holding on to you till I
get to you.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
We know the interesting partner. Thank you for that statement
of what it was all about. Cler I said, you
heard you say that. At the top, I went, that's
pretty strong. But then they got me to the end
because I think when I was listening to the song
Till We Meet Again, I'm talking to Will down in
R and B legend, you know, the whole approach to
(07:01):
how you feel. I thought that the line was like
the one line in the song and not saying the
rest of the song that you was like the ultimate
frustration of why you didn't call me, Why didn't you
just back up the phone, Why all the days where
were you at mentally that you thought you could speak
to dad, right, you spoke to Dad on so many
(07:23):
things that were irrelevant, so many things that were selling,
so many things that didn't matter just to you. But
I was there for you.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Right right right, And here's the day. All you had
to do is pick up the telephone and we could
have talked this through because four or five days prior
to that we talked on the telephone, and then five
was you know, five days prior to that, which was
like New Year's Eve. You know, even I left the
message on the song if you listen to the song,
I left her voicemail that she held me on the song.
(07:52):
So eleven days later she was dead.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
So it's like, wait a minute, how did we get there?
How do we get what happened?
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Like, you know, talk, Why didn't you talk to me?
Why didn't you say something? Was it what were you
going through? Was it financial?
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Was it? Was it mental? Was it someone messing with you?
Was it? You know? Like it just leads you down
a rabbit hole of the amount.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Of questions that you can come up with as to
why you did what you did and how did you
think that the ultimate solution was to take your own
life right?
Speaker 1 (08:25):
And I just you know the whole thing about this interview.
I wanted to make sure that we got to talk,
will you know, because you know your daughter, you know,
initiated this interview because of the tragic turns she took
with her life taking care. But it's really a bigger
problem out there, especially in our community, because when such
denial about because you mentioned that your daughter at the
(08:46):
top of the song the video I saw it talked
about bipolar, depression, and some farmer schizophrenia. You know, if
you could tell our audience what exactly all those type
of symptoms are, if you're familiar with it. I'm not
trying to put you on the spot, but you know,
I've heard bipolar, I don't know what that means. I've
heard depression of some maybe I maybe even experienced some
(09:06):
depression and really didn't know understand what I was going through.
And then you have schizophrenia. Can you talk about those
three forms that your daughter dealt with that eventually led
to her death.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Well earlier on in her life, and she was thirty
one when she passed away. You know, we had noticed
certain things, me and my ex wife had noticed certain
things that she was doing that very moody unbelievably moody,
Like you could go from from zero to one hundred,
you know, like okay, we're cool, we're cool, We're cool.
You say one word and then another person would come
(09:38):
out and it's like, all.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Right, okay, Well I attribute that to growing things. I remember,
you know, growing.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Up, and my parents would say something to me and
I'd be the same way, like, you know, I hate.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
You know, me not to that face.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
You know in the back of my mind, you don't un'erstaying,
and so I'm you know, we attributed that to growth.
And as the years went on, I remember going to
my parents and especially my dad, and just kind of
saying like, you know, I'm seeing some stuff that I
ain't really comfortable with, and you know, my father hit
me with you know, like, hey, when you were that age,
you were kind of the same way. Then the years
(10:14):
went on, I said it again to him and he
was like, you know what, you need to take her
down home. Down home was North Carolina, that's where you
know my parents are from. Let him run around in
the fields and get some polygraensentlemen, and right at need
some ice staters.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
I don't know if that's a solution.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
But and then she got older and then you know,
he kind of saw some stuff and it was like,
all right, now, what are.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
You gonna do about this? I'm like, what am I
gonna do?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
I told you, I said, I bought this up to
you seven eight years ago. You told me let him
run around in the field.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
So and so.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
She she got professional help in that reguard and found
out that the bipolar aspect of it is more of
internal uh and balance, you know.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
That could be him with medicine, correct by both right.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
And she was diagnosed with medicine, was diagnosed.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
She was given medicine, but she hated the way the
medicine made a feel and made her feel methargic and
tired and made it feel like she wasn't in control
of herself, so she would stop taking the medicine. So
then she started kind of like self medicating. You know,
she started drinking a little bit, you know, I started
smoking a little something something to make her feel better.
And that wasn't the answer either. So that's the bipolar
(11:30):
aspect of it. The schizophrenia part, and and that was
a very small part of it. Was kind of seeing
and hearing things that wasn't necessarily true, right, you know,
kind of like oh, yeah, you know, this is woman.
She looked at me, and you know, she called me
in my you know, in her mind, it was like, yeah,
she looked at me a particular way, she said a
(11:52):
particular thing to her or something like that, or she
felt a particular way about if someone was trying to
help her.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
It's like really trying to help me. I know what
you're up to. I know what it is. So it
was a lot of that as well, and you know,
some of it was aimed directly at me and her
mother as well. So you know, we had some some
instances that were just kind of like you know, whoa whoa,
whoa wha.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
How we get here? Like, no, that's not the case
at all. And then you know, you didn't have to
like talk her down or something like that. Not that
it was going to be a physical confrontation or anything
like that, but it was certainly like, you know, just
like you could just.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Physically see her amped up. It's like, hey, no, that
that wasn't the case. What I meant was we want
to this is what we like to do.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
And then it was kind of like oh okay, all right, okay,
you know, because I thought that you were, and so
it was.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
It was. It was a lot of that as well.
So those are the two aspects.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Now I want to talk about it because you mentioned depression,
because I want to look at that because I'm in
one of those high stress worlds when I say that,
because sometimes I think music helps me. I think I
watched TV a lot. You know, I'm always keeping my
mind active, so I won't just stay on the subject that.
Because you know, entertainment, that's like, you know, it is
(13:06):
one of the most emotionally up and down businesses you have.
You know, you can have a concert, there was a
soul lot this concert half field. You know, you can
have a hit song in the next five years, maybe
not another hit song, and then people start questioning you.
I'm just talking about myself too. On shows, you get
on the show, you think that show going to be
on for a year. They canceled left to three months.
(13:27):
That's what happened. When I was on our Senior Hall sitcom.
I thought, this is our senior Hall, We're gonna be
working for five years. A few months later they pulled
the plug and so then so you went from this
big high to this major low and that's what depression
can really trap you. And so you mentioned that, can
we talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Well, you know, all the things that you just said
apply to a lot of people in entertainment, sports and
life in general.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
There's always like this, this picture in your mind that
you have and ay not necessarily turn out to be that,
and so you start to look at that as being,
you know, somewhat of a failure. I think, you know,
one of the best answers I heard even recently was
from Giannis, you know when you say, right when a
reporter asked, hey, you know, are you are you defining
(14:17):
your career by this loss?
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Or or or was the year a loss? Was it?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
And then he kind of gave this amazing definition of
you know, what success is or or what a failure is,
or what a failure.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Is not you know. So, you know, I think we
all go through stuff like that.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass
with Rushawn McDonald. You are now tuned into the Money
Making Conversations Minute of Inspiration with Rashawn McDonald.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Despite being known for loud, bombastic comments and his trademark
propensity to debate. A much softer side of Steven A.
Smith is revealed when discussing the inspiration for his success.
The fin product is for the fans.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
I'm about the work, the process, the grind, the day
in and day out, meticulous, tedious work that you have
to put in to perfect your craft. And the reason
why that resonated with me so profoundly, Rashaan is because.
Speaker 5 (15:15):
Now let's return to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashaan McDonald.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
That was my next question. Continue, well, that was my
next question, that social media is really an issue now?
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Well, yeah, I mean, if you don't get excellent of likes,
this gives everyone a false sense of everything, like how
many friends you have or anything like that. So there's
no there's not as much human contact as they used
to be to even find out whether someone is genuine
and or not genuine. Everything is just keeping up and
(15:48):
you're always reinventing yourself, especially these days. Every freaking week
you gotta be somebody new. You got to post something
or stay relevant, like let people know you're still alive,
you're doing something that's relevant and interesting and this, that
and the other.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
So you know, she was caught up in that as well.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Yeah, because she did artwork, right, she had that was
a skill set, right, So I'm sure posting had a
lot to do with people reacting with likes and things
like that tell us about her her skill, her talent.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Well, she was a phenomenalon She was phenomenal with everything
she touched. She was also an esthetician, so you know.
But but when things didn't really like rise to you know,
that certain level, it's like, well.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
I got to do something new, all right, So I
got to I'm doing art. Now.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
You know, she's always done art, and so she would
do that. And you know, art is subjective.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
You know what one person's trash is another person's treasure.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
So you know I always kind of encouraged her in
that regardless, like I'm not bringing enough moneies. It's like,
you know, life is a balance, you know, do something enjoyable,
enjoy yourself at the same time while making some money.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
You're gonna be okay. But I got to keep up.
I got to keep up. I got to keep up.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
So you know that that played a huge role in it.
But you know, a really great artist, uh. The artwork
that we used on the cover of the single that's
something that she had painted, uh, she had, and.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
It's a it's a fairly large piece as well.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
So I have it hanging in my home and I've
distributed some of her other artwork to family members, so
they think that they can have her in their household
and thinking for all the time.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Right, you know? Till with Me again is the song
that he's talking about that unfortunately is tied to the
suicide of his daughter. How can we gain access to
this song? It has? It is released, it is available.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Where can we go If you want to see the
video and hear the song, you can always come to
my website, you go to will Downing dot com. If
you want to support it and you know, purchased like
the music or something like that, you can come to
the Prince of Sophisticated Sooul dot com and the video
is there as well. You can go on YouTube, you
can go to iTunes, all the places that you normally
(17:47):
get your music, so you can support in that regard.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
So, so you was able to get the r M
for the Prince.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
I don't think anybody else will wanted it.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
That's a lot of type of man, I mean, sophisticated Prince.
I got the prince sophisticated. They're gonna have a problem,
right there, sophisticated with.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
The F you know s O F S.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
T No, no, no, you know, you know, as it.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Was something I want to move back in your conversation
because as the black community, I want to stay on
that a little bit, because that's really the reason we're here,
because of the fact that it's about education and motivating.
Because as you said, our parents and our grandparents, how
they handled these signs, these warning signs of things like that.
It's really really my computers on mute. Huh, mute my computer?
(18:48):
What's going on? Oh that, don't worry about that.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Cool.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
They were worried about my computer was dinging. At the
same I thought, I, hey, we did this whole interview.
Mute problem. I'll be taking some people this wrong. You
gonna do some old school flogging around there. No, they
were just talking about my computer was a dingy in
the back of you. They heard you and I we
did in our conversation.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
We need nothing.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
But I wanted to talk about as we talk about
our parents, because I come from phield Ford, Texas, six sisters,
two brothers, and I remember our parents and you know
we're born. I was born in Houston, Texas, play from Sreeport,
Louis Atham. So we go back into the country, outhouses
and all that stuff. And as I said, you know,
we didn't even want to acknowledge the gay community and
(19:38):
the black community, okay, because we didn't know what that was.
Uncle uncle was like this and like that, Uncle dressed
that way. But we just just hushed it right up.
And then you come back to this major turn of events,
the mental structure of the black community because we're always
getting beat up. A lot of people need to understand
about the black community racism, so we can't ever show weakness.
(20:00):
We always the last higher, the first fire. So a
lot of those things will come into play. Well, we're
willing to say show vulnerability and to say that you
are mentally quote unquote unstable. They gets you out to
do real fast. Do you think that plays a role
as well?
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Well, definitely.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
I mean, as you just said, it's something that we
as a community do not talk about openly. You know,
there's a sense of shame attached to it. And you
pretty much hit like the top two. You know, the
sexuality is one thing, and you know mental illness is
sort of like we have this picture in our mind
that you know, people think that you're crazy because you
(20:40):
talk to someone about what's going on with you internally
in your mind or how you feel a particular way,
especially these days when we're in a very uncaring society.
You know, we hold everything in and then when you
do birst it's like, you know, how do we get this?
It's like, well, this person ever had the pleasure of
talking with someone and releasing it and getting a different
(21:02):
perspective on what's.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
Going on in your life. You're not being judged.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
This person is there for you to listen to or
to listen to you and to maybe kind of give you,
like a different perspective as to how they see it. So,
you know, a lot of times we sort of look
at that we have this vision in our mind of
a couch and you know, you're sitting there, someone's in
this white jacket then writing down all of this stuff,
you know, and then they hand you a bill and
(21:28):
give you a couple of bills and pick out the door.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
They say, you.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Know, we ain't gonna talk about this, right you'ren't telling
nobody else here. So you know, that's the picture that
I have in my mind and to those who I've
spoken to about this sort of thing, that's the vision
that they have as well. And you know, we're very
apprehensive about talking about it. So you know, we have
to do better as a society. We definitely have to.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Well, you know, black people prostate cancer don't want to
do that, you know what I'm saying, and tell us
what that's what we need to do. You know, mental health,
mental care don't want to do that. Well, don't any
knowledge to our sexuality within our community because you know,
and I'm not pointing no finger, but guess what. We
live in a racist country, Ladies and gentlemen, a country
(22:10):
that enslaved us. Don't want to acknowledge the fact that
they did enslavers. In fact, they want to take that
out of books. They want to take all that out
of the book. They just want to go, we freed, y'all,
and just skip everything else.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Well, either that or the fact that it happened so
long ago we're still talking about, like what.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Yeah, if if we don't talk about it and then
it would happen again. Like you said, it's hard to
repeat history when you can see it happening again and
then you can stop it, okay, But if you don't
know your history, then all of a sudden you can
be stunned and say I didn't see they coming. And
so when I think about your career and I think
about the longevity, as we wrap up this interview, well
(22:50):
and thank you again for coming on my show. You
know it's really true. I remember I started doing a
stand up I left my job at eighty six to
do stand up comedy, and you know, I and see
the future. You know, you just out there performing. You know,
in ninety two I did death comedy Jam and I
started writing those sitcoms. And it's that longevity conversation I'm
(23:10):
having with you. It's like it's like you look at
your success and that's where the worry. Fear comes in
fear of can I keep it going? Fear As we
rapt this interview up and talk about your success, how
you've overcome fear, how you overcome doubt. Because when we're young,
(23:31):
there's no fear. We're just out there. But as you
have success, sometimes success can work against you because can
I do it again? Will I be able to do
it again? Will I be able to sell out this show?
When people know who I am next year or five
years from now mentally as an artist? Can you talk
to my autists, talk to my fans about that?
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Well, I always say when I hear stuff like that,
you know, chasing success is has killed the best of
who we've had musically, you know.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
So when you look at Michael.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
Jackson's, when you look at Prince, when you look at
your Whitney Houston's, people like that, you know they all
passed away chasing success. In my opinion, you know, Michael bleached,
his skin, changed, physically changed his features, would stay up constantly.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
Just to kind of keep up, you know what I mean.
So it's kind of like, Okay, I've been to the mountaintop.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
I know what it looks like, and someone else is
coming up, but they're not as good as I am.
Speaker 4 (24:34):
So you know what do I have to do to
keep up? Well? Okay, stay up? Okay, Well I'm tired, Okay,
well I need to get some rest, all right.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
And then he started taking the profofall which gave him
the best rest you ever had. And you know, the
doctor dropped the ball. I forgot to wake him up.
I gave him too much or whatever. However that went down,
but it was all chasing success. Whitney Houston same way.
You know, I'm up, up, up, up up. Oh this
girl can sing better than me. What do I have
to do? I got to and then started doing whatever
(25:01):
she was doing. Prince, you know, was was physically hurt,
you know, with his hip. It's like, oh, man, you
know you're hurt, Like I mean, I can keep going,
I can keep going, and you know, then you know
his unfortunate demise. So I think that what people have
to realize.
Speaker 4 (25:17):
And it hit me on top of the head as
well when I got sick and.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Started realizing when I had all that time off to
myself that this is just one aspect of who we
are as entertainers or you know, who I am, you know,
and being an entertainer is just a small aspect of that.
So you have to live your life, have a balanced life.
There's nothing more important than to be honest with your
success is one thing. And if you gain a whole
(25:41):
lot of it, where you're gonna go after a while.
You know, if you can't go out and be seen
in society, what's the point of being successful If you
can't enjoy what with your friends and you can't go out,
can't go to the mall, can't go to the movies,
can't go I can't do anything.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
You know, you are going to do it with people
that are like you. You know, they don't even know you.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
So you know, just be careful, just have a balanced life.
And what's for you, what's meant for you?
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Till we meet again? That's the song, meet again, till
we meet again, you know. So as to that propos,
you know, because we're gonna meet again and we're gonna talk,
We're gonna smile, we're gonna share stories about because I
have a daughter, she's twenty six, so this is a
very personal conversation and just to share you our thought
when she calls, I stopped talking to everybody to talk
(26:26):
to you, girl, because I don't know. So when it
happened to your daughter, it magnified my attention to her
that you know, she called me at ten and I
apologized and I didn't see the call, you know, because
she called me for a reason, whether it's just say
she loves me, or just to share a personal story.
Because again she's out there by herself, she's out there
(26:47):
working remote and all these life has changed, so much
how people live. You know, they don't have to go
into work, they don't have to interact. That gives them
more time to think, more time to go online. Like
you said, the internet, the social media. But as we
close teal with meat again, how can my fan base participate,
be a partner support you in getting this song this
(27:08):
sing once again?
Speaker 3 (27:09):
Come out to my website, go to Willdowning dot com,
go to the Friends of Sophisticated Soul. I love you brother,
and then you go to will down In dot com.
They'll tell you where I well, then come on out
and come see.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
The show as well.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
So all of that and already make sure you always
send banister, because there was one thing about my life man,
as I always said, once you get past fifty on
the down side of your life, I want to support
people like you and uh individuals who have supported me unbeknownst.
Your music has uplifted me. Your music has got me
through my down days. Your music have inspired me, made
(27:45):
me feel good when I felt down. So it's artists
like you man play such a major role in the
black community by getting this through our tough times. Thank
you Will down If for coming on money and it
comes to Masterclass.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
I appreciate, appreciate you, sir.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
We talked soon.
Speaker 5 (28:05):
Thank you for joining us for this edition of Money
Making Conversations Masterclass. Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan MacDonald
is produced by thirty eight to fifteen Media Inc. More
information about thirty eight fifteen Media Inc. Is available at
thirty eight fifteen media dot com. And always remember to
lead with your gifts
Host
Rushion McDonald
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