Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You were considered the big girl in the group. Yeah,
but you had the biggest voice in the group.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I was the big girl. I wasn't Latasha, and that
bothered me.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
It was just like Gho saying, you go do this.
So I did a lot of work, but definitely was
in the background. I wrote a lot of songs that
never got the credit for it. Biggie Smalls once he
said that he would rather f rue Paul than the
ugly Bes and escape.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
It was very hurtful.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
The group dynamic has changed over the years.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
All of us have kind of contributed to the demise.
Speaker 4 (00:26):
Yeah, of the group for sure.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
When things started to escalate for the last show, I
was definitely on the out. I just didn't understand how
seven women turned into one person being scrutinized.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I was just ostracized to me in that way.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
When the tour was announced and you were trying to
figure out what was going on, you had your lawyer
to send a letter to.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
The group the fans. I never wanted to disappoint them.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
It's like, y'all don't know what's really going on, so
y'all thinking I'm quitting that I'm adiva. They just choose
to move on in the way that they're moving on
without me. Nobody wants to be kicked out of it.
A situation that you started created and nobody calls.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
They say they don't have the number. Yes they do.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
I've called my sister our texter's two years. Say you
imagine not being talking to your sister for two years.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
You said that you've made some mistakes as a big sister.
What do you think some of those mistakes have been.
I know it's hard to talk about because you love
your sister so much. Chirs, Yeah, would you sing with
a group of game Welcome to Valdenpower's Talk. So we
(01:29):
don't just scratch the surface, we dive deep into the
lives of some of the world's most influential change makers.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
I'm your host, Brandy Harvey.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Now, y'all, we didn't gotten the choir practice, we didn't
already started. I have been tasked to sing before the
end of this show. With a gifted voice deeply rooted
in gospel music. Latasha is one fourth of the prolific
R and B quartet Escape. In nineteen ninety three, they
exploded onto the music scene, yielding six consecutive top ten
(01:58):
hits and three platinum albums. In addition to singing, Latasha
has a passion for health and wellness. In twenty eighteen,
she became a staunch vegan and launched her brand, Made Girl,
a healthy lifestyle company. She released her first cookbook in
twenty twenty, Latasha's Planet Lifestyle and created a fitness line
of premium May Girl Athleisure, where her philanthropic endeavor, Made
(02:19):
Girl Foundation served to build creativity in young women through teaching,
arts and music Bought Empowers Talks. Welcome singer and songwriter
Latasha to the show.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Listen that was just beautiful.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Listen memory Lane to be honest, back damn memory Lane.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Okay, I can't Natasha down Memory Lane Lane. I like it.
At least you did it. Most people all right to
do it.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
You do this out to listen call me bone bone,
crush it because I ain't never scared Latasha. So here
we are. I'm so happy that you were sitting down.
We had to interview. Before the interview now, yeah, yeah,
we we had to get get some things.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
What are we gonna talk about? What is following you
in this season?
Speaker 1 (03:04):
But I told you before we got started that you
really shaped my childhood, young adult life with your music.
I mean, come on now, I was a black girl
growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, and four girls came up
when Bandana's in Leather vest One hit the scene talking
about just kicking it. Listen, you and me listen, And
(03:27):
so you've done that all the way to I told
you my favorite album, Softest Place on Earth no skips.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah, it was Traces of My Lipstick, But Softest Place
is your Oh that's my song.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yes, Traces of my Lipstick, Lipstick charistic, that's the intro. Yeah,
Traces on my Lipstick.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, that was an album for you. You know it
was a lot during that time.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
I mean yeah, when you listen to that album, they
always say the same things.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
The sound checking my life. There's a lot in.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
That that album, just recording and finding myself and the
girls and music and shaping the next chapter. So yeah,
when I think about Traces of My Lipstick.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Is a lot Traces of my lipstick. This is the
album cover y'all know they had on the red Yeah.
Maybe all the videos y'all was popping. Honey, got a
little bit more sexier, y'all. My little secret, no more
baggy clothes. Yeah, Yeah, y'all came out more sensual. Y'all
were like, y'all blossomed into the women on that album
for sure.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Because keep in mind, Jermaine was dressing us. When you
said the baggy clothes with the leather, that was Jermaine. Yeah,
he gave us that. He was like, you guys are
like hood hood chicks. You're the ghetto in bold and
we're like, oh really, I mean we did come from
College Park, so in his eyes, it was the hood,
but we had such big voices, incredible voices, so he
was like, I want people to focus on that more
(04:46):
so than what you had over.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yeah, that was an evolution for sure, and I thank
God for it.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
No more cross colors, no more baggy pants wear emails
were growing up.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
You know, I would have never put y'all us the
ghetto involved. I would have put y'all the girl Jodasy
though I like the girl version, like the girl Jodasy,
That's what I saw, y'all.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Yeah, that is true, but in his eyes ghetto in vote,
we were ghetto.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Damn.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
That's the first that's the first time I've ever heard that.
I would have never put y'all as a ghetto in
vogue at all.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
But I mean, here's the thing that.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
I do know, and like, even listening to your journey
and prepping for this, you know, you were considered the
big girl in the group during that time. I was yeah, yeah,
you was the big girl in the group. Yeah, but
you had the biggest voice in the group. And I
think that I can imagine that that came with some
level of insecurities on your part of not feeling maybe
(05:46):
good enough in certain in certain instances, of always kind
of feeling like they had to put you in the back.
You know, what was that time like in those formative years.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
To be honest, I was just happy to have my
voice heard, whether I was in the back of the front.
It was a little it was hard at times because
it's like, Okay, you're gonna sing all these songs, but
we need you to stand here. And like you said before,
I was a bigger I wasn't Latasha, and that bothered me.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
You know.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Of course, the self esteements all at the bottom, so
there were things that were said, going you go in
and singing, and I wasn't even the type of person like, okay,
am I gonna.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Get paid for this? It was just like, go sing,
you go do this.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
So I did a lot of work, but definitely was
in the background, and it was it was very hurtful,
but I covered it up with the voice.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
I'm like, I can sing.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Let me just get onto mind, let me just let
me sing my hurt, let me sing my pain. And
I think that resonated with so many other people as
well back in the day.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
I mean, for sure, I think it still resonates now.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah, I mean, but I have to wonder, you know,
in in that space of trying to find yourself, how
are you putting that into the music because people don't
know that you were a songwriter on all the albums. Yeah,
you know, what was that like in writing those songs?
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Well, to be honest with you, when I'm in something,
I'm in it.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
You know.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
With the group, it was always, you know, myself and
Candy would write as well.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
All of us really wrote what I wrote.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
A lot of songs that never got the credit for it,
you know, And a lot of times I would say,
you know, my sister wasn't always in the studio to write,
but she would always get the credit for it. And
that's that's just who I am, you know, As a sister,
as a you.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Know, just just me.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
So I would write songs and they would come in
and some things they weren't even on, like when you
hear the song keep on keeping on, that's just me,
that's me singing. I think Candy came in and did
some ad libs, but Jamaine would put Escape on it
just to make sure that that name would kind of.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Carry what that is.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
So yeah, I've had to write and just kind of
sit back in this world and not.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Say anything hmmm hmm, but still getting.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
My voice heard because at the at the end of
the day, I was like, at least I'm able to
write my feelings in right Howard you know what I saw?
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah, I mean, what did it play into your mental
because as this young girl growing up not considered because
even recently Jermaine Duprie has been noted as saying, like,
you know, you all weren't considered what would be this
standard of beauty for the music industry. Yeah, and so
(08:19):
sometimes it was a tough sell, very tough, and so
how did that play into how you showed up, whether
that was in performance or whether that was backstage. I mean,
I've always felt, like, like I said before, as long
as I can sing, as long as I can grab
the microphone.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Maybe you guys.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Would not look at the body. Maybe you're not looking
at what I have on. Maybe let me just give you, guys,
what God has given me. It kind of helped it.
But at the end of the day, we know as women,
you know, anytime you feel I'm pretty, it just it
weighs on you in so many different areas.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
You feel like you're not enough.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
You feel like, Okay, if I do this, it may
not be worthy to have the accolades, or you don't
have the confidence as you should. You know, when you're
being scrutinized because of your weight or the way that
you look.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
And that was always what it was.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
And I think Biggie Smalls once he said that we
were he would rather f rue Paul. I think that's
the words he said, than if the ugly be's an escape.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
So I was just like that.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
I don't even remember this. This was a lyric that
that notorious Big said. Oh wow, yeah, wow. I mean,
I can only imagine how that played into your psyche
and how you showed up in the world.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
I mean, but it really helped fuel you.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
By the time two thousand and nine comes around, you
start making this transition to change your life. You get
you start adapting to a plant based diet and that
has since carried you over the years. And now I
mean you done roll back the clock, Latasha.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I mean you, No, you done roll back the clock.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
And it's work everything, if it's disciplined, it's work. Is
having to think about the things that you've gone through
is shaping your character, is shaping everything about you. You know,
what you've gone through as a writer, as a mother,
as a as a daughter, as a person in the industry,
all of those things, you know, And they say, what
do they say?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Adversity introduces a man to himself.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
And when I tell you the things that I've been
through and the things that I've heard.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
And experience, it's definitely shaped me. You know.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
The Tasha back in the day with the back is
I'm not the same not the same girl. And there
were times I would go into rooms and people like, no,
you you don't write on this one, but you go,
you know. But now it's like, oh no, anytime somebody
calls me, I'm gonna write my verse.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah, I'm gonna write my part. And I'm gonna sing.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
From my personal experiences because we were gonna male dominated industry,
so we would come in and they would have everything
written and people like y'all ain't know nothing about this,
Like we just went in and sang it. But now
I have the opportunity in the authority to say, mm hmmm,
I'm gonna write, I'm gonna be a part of this.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
I want to have ownership. Yeah, because that's what it's
about too. At the end of the day.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah, you've become a better advocate for yourself and for others.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Yeah, because you know, when you go through things, it's
not just for you, and I have to learn that
as well.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
It's like, girl, get over yourself.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
You know how many people have gone through worse than
what you've gone through and that need that advice, that
need to be inspired in that way.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
And I never looked at it like that.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
It's always okay, well i've been rejected over here, this
person says something.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
It's like, but you have to be there for someone else.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
I think at the very beginning when you and I,
when I first got here, you were you were saying,
if the old if the latasha could.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Talk to the younger person, that's what we do.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
We take that time, everything that we've learned and experienced
and we give it to the younger.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
We give it to empower them, we give it to
let them know.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
And it's to me it's called wisdom because I get
it from my grandmother all the time. She'll tell you, girl,
I've been through this, don't you You'll be okay.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, my mom too, You'll be okay.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
I mean, I keep trying to tell my little cousin Lexi,
she's twenty four. I do this all the time. I'm
becoming a girl. I got the T shirt, I got
the lug in the topad to try you want to go,
get you one, you know.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
But in the industry, we didn't have that. We didn't
have people saying, hey, let me talk for a second.
This is what is expected and this is what you
may go through.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
I got you. We never had that.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
So as we're transitioning becoming young women in this industry
not knowing, very naive. You know, you actually thrust into
an industry that you know nothing of, and you learn
and then sometimes you know, when you look and you
see people are judging and doing those things, it's like
if you guys can only walk a year. I would
give you guys a year. In this industry, it's a lot.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Yeah, you talk about things you've had to learn.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
I really want to dive into some of the things
you've had to unlearn because there are so many women
who look at you and they see an inspiration because
they may have been carrying some weight for a number
of years and they had to share that weight. I
want you to talk to those women. What have you
had to lose? What if you had to unlearn while
losing the weight?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
That everybody that comes around is not your friend. I'll
start there first, because they're people who actually.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Pray on your downfall.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
They pray on the fact that you don't know, so
they take advantage of you. People who come into your life,
they say, let me help you. Everybody's they're not that.
And a lot of time they'll come in, they'll do
their damage, and they'll spread little rumors and then they leave.
So I had to unlearn that everybody that comes in here,
(13:22):
it's not your friend, it's not a friend. Yeah, when
a friend is a real friend, up and down. They
don't I'm not gonna say they don't judge me. I
think for me my friends. They hold me accountable. They
tell me what it is. They tell me the truth.
My family members tell me the truth is nobody like
they say, blow smoke up my behind. They can't tell
me what it is, don't do they don't say that.
(13:43):
And when you were looking like that people, Yeah, and
so I have to surround myself with people who are
not yes men. M So I have to learn that
and unlearn a lot of a lot of things being
a female in this industry or just being a female
in wife.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah, what if you had to unlearn about your health
journey because you made this transition to be to live
this plant based life. And at one point you told
me off camera, you know, you were the pescatarian and
then you made the full transition to being vegan. What
did you have to What was the first step in that?
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Well, I start with the family dinners. You know.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Growing up, my grandmother and grandfather they had like a garden, right,
so they would go out there and they also had
pigs and they would slaughter the pigs. And you know,
I remember one Christmas, I named this pig Henry, Oh
not Henry. Yeah, and my grandfather we ate good that
Christmas and I go, where's Henry.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
He was like, you ate them? You ate Henry?
Speaker 3 (14:37):
And I was very sad. I was very sad, but
I was like okay. Later on, it's like I didn't
need the pork. I didn't need that part of it,
you know. I learned good about the garden and planting
with my grandmother and doing fried green tomatoes and that
conversation that we had in the Kinchen. But I had
to learn every food is just not good for you,
and then it weighed you down. And a lot of
(14:57):
times food is spiritual as well, and people don't know
that there's something that goes along with it. But I
also talk about the good part of food too, So
I talk about family, how we're missing that part of
just sitting down and talking to our children and our
family members because we're so inundated with our phones and
we never get a chance to sit down.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
And see what it really is.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
If you think about growing up and grandmother's in the
kitchen and we're talking, and if Auntie is going through something,
everybody's there to talk her through it, or we just
were missing that part.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
But for me, it's about the food and what we're putting.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
In our bodies and being just very conscious about what
that is.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah, and so you're very conscious about that right now
because you did a cookbook during the pandemic twenty twenty.
You did a cookbook, And so what are you hoping
that people really walk away with when they get that cookbook,
when they learn some of these recipes that have helped
to change your life.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Well, I use that book as a staple for me,
and I have stories in there about me being in
the industry and being called the big girl and the
things that I've had to do.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
So I want the book to inspire.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
I want the book to make you more conscious of
being able to eat healthier for yourselves. I know when
my father found out he had diabetes and they were like, oh,
it's genetic.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I was like, I don't want it. And I was like,
I have to make a change. I didn't want to
be that.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
So I think with just that alone, it just that
book inspired, you know, And it came at a time
when I couldn't sing anymore. Like when COVID hit, I
was like, Lord, I have to walk in my purpose.
I can't get on stage and affect people in that way.
So what can I do? You know, and he just
kind of brought me back to when we did go
on tour and so many people like what did you
(16:33):
do to lose a weight? And people were coming to
me telling me about their stories about their health, and
he was like, take to the cookbook. You've always talked
about that you still can inspire people in that way.
So I think I feel like the cookbook is just
that to inspire to think about what we're putting in
our bodies and to allow these young girls and know,
I mean, you know, we have these fast food restaurants,
but that is not food. That's not healthy at all,
(16:55):
and then we're fogging in the brain and certain things
are happening and people can't think straight a lot about
the food.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
It's so much about the food.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
I truly believe that I was vegan for five years,
like full vegan for five years, and then you know, Natasha,
one day I was spelling on Instagram and I saw
some crab legs and I said, you know what.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Girl, you still can't do the crab meat.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
It's heart palm. I don't want to know you exactly.
I don't know baby, I know how to cook the baby.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
I don't want no hearts of palm, crab cake, aut
mushrooms and all that other stuff. Give me a fact,
it's nothing wrong. But but I think when we're more
conscious of smaller things like vegetables and things that we're
putting in. I'm not saying stop eating this stuff, but
people are not eating that's at all.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
No I am.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
I call myself plant based right because I really eat.
Most of my meals are fruits and vegetables, whole food diet.
I like, I just recently gave up alcohol, so I'm
probably like, you gave up alcohol. I gave up alcohol,
oh yeah, uh huh and all processed foods.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
I feel absolutely amazing. I think over forty.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
I realize that alcohol does not do me well. And
I keep talking about this on all the episodes because
I just feel so good. You know, you look good,
Thank you?
Speaker 3 (18:17):
I know, you know, friend, I'd be doing my little
one and exercise.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Is key as well.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Oh yeah, well I eat, will give it that and
move my body every day.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
I do every day, you know.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I mean, but I think that there's something because I
know when women are carrying weight, that the weight is
attached to so many different emotions. It's attached to so
many different things, and I can only imagine years of
having compounded, you know, self esteem hits and feeling these
moments of I only feel worthy when I'm on the stage,
(18:53):
you know, doing my thing. I can only imagine what
that feels, what you've been carrying all those years, and
to start to let that go has been probably so
freeing for.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
You, so so freeing.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
It's in the music, it's in my walk, it's in
empowering other women, you know. I think when we did
that last show, it was for the Lady of I
think it was Lady of So Soul trained, and I
think I took to the stage and I told everybody listen,
that's not them, anybody's light. And I meant that. It
wasn't anything about the group and anything like that. It
was about life. And it's like I've done all these things.
(19:29):
I've accomplished all these goals, and yes, the self esteem
was low, and now I'm at a place where I
can help somebody else and I don't wanted them the light.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
I want the light to shine.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
And even what I've gone through, I feel like God
has brought me closer to him so that I could
be a light.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
I mean, you said this in one of your your
recent interviews. You said that the things that you've gone through,
you said, has been God was making you uncomfortable in
a situation to bring you closer to Him. And so
when we think about that situation, I mean, you've gone
through a lot with the group. The group dynamic has
(20:04):
changed over the years, and that has been to some
things on your part and some on the other lady's part.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
I think it's all of us collectively.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
I don't think that one person can point the finger
just at one person. I think all of us. You know,
like I said, we're very young in the industry. We
never had someone to sit down and have therapy or
talk it out. It's like we were always moving thirty years.
It's just like ongoing and we never talked about anything.
And when you ever, when you have a group, a partnership,
(20:34):
anything that you don't communicate, you already know.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
How that's gonna end. It's not gonna end well.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
And then you have people who become successful and they
start making more money. So when with that comes even worse,
it's even worse because it's like I don't have time
to talk about it. Now I have money, I can
move on and do that. But we never really sat
down to talk about any of the differences. We just
kind of carried that all of us and so all
of us have you know, kind of contributed to the
(21:00):
demise of the group for sure.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
So when you think of the lack of communication, if
you look back over this the group in the thirty years,
when do you think was the first breakdown of communication?
Speaker 3 (21:14):
It was going to It was coming out of the
second album going into the third album. That was Off
the Hook, Off the Girl, because it was funny, Get
Me Yeah, Hamma Coming at You was the first one,
and then Off the Hook was the second one. And
that is when the girls were more vocal about singing,
you know, they were like, Okay, we want to sing more,
you know, and everybody's when we come in the studio,
(21:35):
they're asking Tasha to sing a lot of the songs.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
So for the third album, I had oppotion.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
So wait, just for clarity.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
At this point, you were pretty much the lead singer
on most of the records.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
I wouldn't because I don't want to say the lead
who was? Who was? Who can run to? And that
story is such a long story. Who can I run to?
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Jermaine and I were in his basement listening to records.
And keep in mind, I grew up in the church,
so we couldn't listen into secondly, like, we couldn't listen
to music like that.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
So it was pentecostal holiness. Yeah, long skirts, no maker,
no makeup, no no finging up out.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
You know they gonna say something about me now. But yeah,
like we didn't. We didn't grow up listening to that.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
And so when Jermaine put on the Jones Girls Brandy,
I was like, oh my god, the harmon is beautiful.
And so I was like, we need to do this record.
He was like, okay, who's gonna do the record with you?
I was like my sister. He was like, oh no,
mm hmmm, because my sister, when it came down to recording,
she just took a little longer than most. And so
(22:37):
with that he was I said, listen, let me let
me have this, let me help, let me do my part,
and he was like okay. So we recorded that song
and she fought me. She was like, I don't like it.
I don't want to sing it. I don't like it.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
Your sister.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
She fought me. Literally, Oh y'all, was fighting, fighting, like
she threw the tape out, like I don't want it.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Back then it was tapes. Yeah, everybody was tapes by
cassette tape, yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Album.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
So I'm listening to it and I, you know, I
told my mom. I was like, what do you how
you feel about this song? She was like, it's beautiful.
And Tamika came over. She was like, why don't you
want to sing the song? And she was like, listen
to it. So we thought about it and then Jermaine
asked and I said, she's gonna do it, and I
made her come to the studio, sang it with her,
and we went through the whole process. And to me,
that is one of Escape's best records. Like and that
(23:25):
song comes on, it's oh biggest hits. And to this
day they think it's our song. It's not even our song.
It's it Jones girls. It's a remake.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
I did not know it was a remake until until
when you guys dropped that album, when you dropped the single.
I'm driving riding in the car with my mom and
I'm jamming to y'all singing on the radio, singing who
can I run to?
Speaker 4 (23:47):
And my mother said this is a.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Remake, and I said, Mama, knew, how is it a remake?
Speaker 1 (23:53):
This? They just they song and she said, no, the
Jones girls made And that was how I found out
when you all song was on the radio, y'o and
I'm riding in the car my mama and she said, no, no, no,
that's a remake.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Yeah yeah, but y'all own that record, owned it.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
I loved it, lived with it, and I was like,
I gotta do it.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
We did the record. That's one of the big ones.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
But like I said, I didn't want to overcrowd the
third going into the third album, so I told them
I'm not singing on anything.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I'm not traces up my lipstick. You go into the
studio saying I'm not not saying anything. You weren't gonna
sing anything, or you just were sing.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
I'm gonnay, I'm not singing lead, you just sing background.
I focused on it. I told Rocky my family not singing.
So every studio we go in, they're like why. The
producers are like, why aren't you singing? And I didn't
want to explain it, so they were like, why is
it she singing? And then people would explain it and
(24:50):
they would go, that doesn't make sense, it doesn't make sense.
So with the girls Softest Place, I wasn't. I wasn't
on that song. That was not my song. All of
them tried it. Joe at the time, who wrote it.
Joe wrote that song, wrote and produced it. I didn't
even listen to the I didn't want to listen to it.
I got there and we had to do the backgrounds
(25:11):
and he, of course he had the demo version of
him singing and sound amazing.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
His voice is Joe is hands down favorite artists.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
So I got to golf to just his voice period.
And so we go in and do the background vocals.
So we would sit I was sitting outside waiting on
them to do the vocals for the lead and then
he came out. They didn't like it. The next person
went in, he didn't like it, and he was like, gonna
try you. I said, no, I'm not gonna sing on
this song. So there was a whole hour that went
back and forth, and then finally there was a representative
(25:40):
from So So Deaf named Skeeter Rock. He came in
and said, Jermaine is unhappy with y'all taking all this
time on this one song, you need to go in
and try it.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
The girls told Rocky and the.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Management team that they were ready to go home. He
flew them home, and I stayed up there and I
finished the record.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
You bring in the bridge because there's a bridge on
the song. This is when when songs used to have
a bridge and a hook. This is the bridge. You
bring the breakdown in. Now you do the breakdown of
the song.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
And I didn't even know I was pregnant at that time.
I was pregnant with my son.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Yeah wow.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
So it was a lot of emotions when I think
about that one record, Softest Place, which now I heard
just went platinum.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
I think because it was all on TikTok again, it
was like a like like it was. It was definitely
hidden viral on so many different reels and tiktoks and stuff.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Isn't that the power and the beauty of music?
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Like so many people have these resurgence because you know,
now the younger generation is finding these songs. Yeah, and
they're finding all this music that you all have such.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
A great catalog.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
I mean when you all did the Versus, I just
knew that a new album was gonna come after during
the pandemic you all did the verses. I shout out
to DJ a One, who was your DJ on the
on the show, he DJ my forty birthday party because
I saw him on your I'm in a Liverpool.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Yeah. I said, oh, is this Negro cutting up on
this here show? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (27:14):
DJ one DJ DJ yeah my birthday party because of
you all had such a great showing you and s
w V. So it's like to see the dynamic when
the show comes out. You all do the reality show
and then for you to say you found out about
a tour because Coco and ToJ called you on the phone,
(27:36):
it just feels like what happened.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
I mean I was saying what happened as well.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
You got to keep in mind before the verses happened,
I was very intentional with making that happen.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
You know.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
I even went on to tell Coco, hey, let's go
online and let's have this kind of back and forth.
You know, I seen one of your songs, you seen
one of our songs. Maybe that'll help get the verses.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
And I say, then, who knows, we could probably do
a tool. So I was always.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
I don't want to say intuitive with that, but I
always felt like that was.
Speaker 4 (28:06):
You had a vision. You were always a vision.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Definitely, And so when I told her, she was like
girl and she ended up doing it.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
I did it, and then after that the verses happened.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
So immediately the phone started to ring and I was like, Okay,
we're getting somewhere. We may one day do a tour,
which ended up leading to a TV show, and normally
when you do TV it kind of helps to spearhead
a lot of things. And I was excited about the
TV show because I was like, Okay, we're finally gonna
do some stuff together the world to see two supergroups
who whether the storm still here thirty years?
Speaker 2 (28:35):
I think there's a thirty one years. I think that. Yeah,
they came out before us, so I was like, who
better to do it than us?
Speaker 3 (28:41):
And then to come to find out that, yeah, no,
they didn't. They didn't want me, and I'm like, I
spearheaded all this, so I can't be a part of
what this is. And the group just nobody was talking
to me at that time. Not group members weren't, but
the other group members were.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
So this communication riff that started off coming off the
second album, you all were kind of lacking communication. Yep,
now fuels you guys into this new season of you
guys are still not talking and communicating.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Yeah, And then I'll say this, Even in between the breaks,
we did have somebody that was trying to take the
bio pic from us, like talk about our story, and
the girls felt like nobody could tell our story, like
we can talked about that, and so they were trying
to compile all of this information and tell the story
about Escape.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Nobody knows the story of Escape except Escape.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
And so I got a call from my sister, she goes, hey,
you know, the girls called me. They said, don't talk
to nobody. You know, people are trying to get our story.
So it brought us together to talk about that. And
once we started to talk about that, I was out
of town on the West Coast, and then they called
me and said that they were on the big ticket
show and they said Escape is back together. And I
was like, Escape is back together. I knew nothing of it.
(29:58):
I just knew that we didn't like what was happening,
but I didn't know we were back together. And so
the fans started to weigh in, like, oh my god,
the TV show happened. We did Still Kicking It got
through that time, we still didn't talk a lot. It
was cameras on Let's Go, and so we still weren't
able to talk about, you know, what the problems really were.
We kind of touched on a couple of things, and
after that we went on tour.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
But I felt like when I watched that show versus
the last reality show you all did, it seemed like
there was a split between Candy and Tiny and you
and your sister. It kind of felt like the line
was kind of between team sisters team team Candy and Tiny,
and then when the new reality show came, it appeared to.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Me, just to me, that you were the outlier at
that point.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Well, I think when Still Kicking It came on, I
can say for myself that Tiny and I became closer.
We had, you know, we were always the closest ones
anyway in the group, and so we started to talk more,
started to spend more time together. I was always there
for her, you know, in certain times that she needed
and vice versa. So don't I didn't see the two
(31:08):
way split. I felt like we started to communicate more,
and our husbands, you know, they started to get to
get together talk, we had family night. It was a
lot of things that were going on, you know, during
that time. But I didn't see that part of it.
But I do know that when things started to escalate
for the last show, yes, I was definitely on the out.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
It was seven women.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
I just didn't understand how seven women turned into one
person being scrutinized and kind of placed.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
I was just ostracized to me in that way.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
I mean I saw one of the interviews and then
I've read this and some of the publications that have
come out about this. When the tour was announced and
you were trying to figure out what was going on,
you had your lawyer to send a letter to the
group to see if this was what was this tour?
What was with this tour?
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Ye did no response.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Do you feel like there was some opportunity for you
to just pick up the phone and call them or
was the lawyer necessary?
Speaker 3 (32:12):
But then the lawyer was very necessary because you already
have dates, you already have your infringement rights on the trademark.
It was so many different things that you.
Speaker 4 (32:21):
Owned the trademark. You owned the trademark of escape.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
My sister and I Yesah, So at that point it's like,
you guys are not talking to me, and you guys
are having meetings. Coco was in Atlanta for a meeting
that was called for them to have communications to squash
the differences, but I was never called. So she calls
me and says, hey, they flew me in. Are you
going to be here? And I said, beware, we're having
(32:45):
a meeting. They called this big meeting downtown and I
was not invited. And I told her I know nothing
of it. So she said me.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Find out about it.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
I'll call you back. She calls me back and says, yeah,
they're trying to do the tour. We squashed the differences.
We all said what it was. I hate that you
weren't there. What is going on? I told her, I
don't know. She said, they're not talking to you. Still,
I mentioned, why aren't y'all talking to don't worry about
this basically our business. So they didn't want to get
into why they weren't talking to me. And after that,
it's like, okay, I sent a lawyer to make sure
(33:15):
that legally, you guys understood that I didn't know anything
about the tour. Who was gonna call me? Live Nation
was on the letter. Mona me was on the letter.
All the people that were involved were on the letter.
It wasn't to the group to say you know anything?
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Crazy?
Speaker 3 (33:32):
Is y'all not telling me nothing? I didn't know nothing
about the tour? And then the fans. I never wanted
to disappoint them. It's like, y'all don't know what's really
going on. So y'all thinking I'm quitting that I'm adiva
that I said, I'm not gonna. I never quit the group.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Never. You have never quit the group. Never quit the
group even to this day, never quit the group.
Speaker 4 (33:50):
You have never quit the group.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
No, they just choose to move on in the way
that they're moving on without me. So yeah, you get
your legal involved. It's not just a conversation anymore. You
guys are doing more than too much.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
So if given the opportunity, if there's some conversations that
happen and communication becomes a thing again, would you sing
with the group again?
Speaker 3 (34:13):
I mean that's the group that I started out singing with, Like,
why wouldn't I want to sing? Do you think I'm
going through all these lenks to do? What do you
get Layi's and you know how much that's a lot
of money get Lauries involved. To just sit back and
be like what that I don't want to sing that,
I don't want to be on the stage and give
the fans what they're used to. That I don't want
to see the soundtracks of their lives, what they know
(34:36):
because she's unfair.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
You are a missing link for them on stage for sure.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
I mean those are my sisters.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Yeah, of the day, like, nobody wants to be kicked
out of it a situation that you started, that you created.
You don't want to be kicked out. But at the
end of the day, it is what it is, you know.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
I can imagine that has got to be a little hurtful,
though a lot hurtful.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
You got your sister the group, you got two other
girls who you grew up with, and nobody calls. They
say they don't have the number. Yes they do.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
I told you before we got started, because I want
everybody to know I did. I went over all of
these things are questions with you before we started.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
So she is not being like, oh here go Brandon,
trying to be no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
We talked about this and that was one of the
things that I brought up to you. I was like,
I saw the video the and heard your sister called
into the Ricky Smiley Morning Show. And we love Ricky Smiley.
He's a great friend of the show over here. She
called into the show after you did your Residuals challenge
and which was phenomenal. You know, you had great response
(35:40):
when you did the residuals challenge.
Speaker 4 (35:42):
I mean, who.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Record exact artist.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
It's like, you know how people take our music now
when sample, I was like, I'm ready to get jump
on this now, and it was time for me to
just kind of express myself in a way that I
can only express myself with.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
I mean, it reached my sister, It reached her.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Yeah, you know how many times I've called You wouldn't know.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
I've called my sister a texter, her birthdays, christ Like,
you know, it's two years. Can you imagine not being
talking to your sister for two years and we've been
like this.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
I cannot Latasha, And I told you before we started,
I was like the sister piece was it was such
a challenge to watch on the reality show. I said,
because I am so close with my sister. I have
a twin sister. Her name's Carly and she and I
talk all day every day, Like literally before you got here,
we were on the phone in there talking on the phone.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
Right, She's like, how'd your first interview go?
Speaker 1 (36:31):
We're doing the whole rundown right of the morning, Like
literally by nine o'clock. We talked by nine o'clock in
the morning. Every morning we talk on the phone. So
I couldn't imagine two years of going without talking to
my sister, right, And so I can only know how
hurtful that is. And then it gets played out in
the media because I told you your sister she called
(36:51):
in Yeah, Rickie Smiley morning, she said you you have
her number, said she was cooking breakfast right then said
you can pull up any time she misses you. She
wants to have the relationship. She just wants to talk
and yourself that.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
That was perfect for me because I've been calling you,
so you mean to tell me? Because she said her
phone was going off and everybody's like, oh my god,
your sister just did the song.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
So she responded and she said she thought you were
talking to her. She felt like that was like a
message to her when she first heard it.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
Well, when I sing from my heart is a message
to anybody just going through, but for sure my sister.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
I missed her. I'm like, can y'all imagine.
Speaker 3 (37:31):
And when she said call me pull up, I'm like,
I've been calling, said this is perfect. I even went
on her page and said, I'm getting ready to call
you right now. And the plethora it was so many
people like, oh my god, you know, praying hand saying
they were so happy. And I called her and she
was like, I'm busy, I'll call you back. I'm doing
an interview, I'm doing this. And I was like, okay,
(37:52):
I'm gonna wait, I'll called her again. She didn't answer,
and then she ended up calling me back. So we
had a very quick conversation. I told her I loved her,
told her I missed her, and it's just that's what
it was.
Speaker 4 (38:04):
And how long ago was that?
Speaker 1 (38:07):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (38:08):
It was the when was the Rickie Smiley show? It
was the same day.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Okay, so this is just a couple months ago. Yeah,
so this is probably like March maybe, yeah, maybe March.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
I mean, what's so, what's so interesting is that you
both are saying the same thing.
Speaker 4 (38:23):
I know, I want to talk to her.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
I want to talk to her, to talk to her
and yet somehow and you guys are but it's.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Never the conversation.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
I even told her I would love to just us
pull up, just to sit down and talk. And we
kind of laughed about it because she knows I don't drive.
On that part, we did laugh about it. I was like, listen,
you know I don't eat no meat. You know, I
ain't trying to go to no restaurant so people can
hear where we're gonna go, you know. And I was like,
and you know, I don't drive far. And I was like,
I'm stilling on my Patty LaBelle. And she laughed a
little bit. She was like, you still don't drive far.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
You know.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
It was that, But just hearing her voice and talking
to her was cool.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
You know.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
It's it's like, Okay, after two years, I found heard
her voice, not the world, not the critics, like all
these people on our situation.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
You said in one of your most recent interviews that
you've made some mistakes as a big sister. What do
you think some of those mistakes have been?
Speaker 3 (39:17):
She had a big voice, my still said, a big,
big voice, and it was times when she would just
yell and scream out and I'm like, calm down. Maybe
I should have just let her get it out, you know,
maybe I should just.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
See emotions emotions. Even when we were dealing with Jermaine,
she told me some things.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
She's like, you know, it made her feel a way
that I was when I got in the studio. Jermaine
was more like into me singing, but with her it
made her feel like she couldn't sing or you know,
she just didn't have that voice. And maybe I should
have said, Jermaine, this is how she feels. But I
never said it to Jamain. I just pulled her in,
you're gonna sing this. I didn't go off on Jamaina.
(39:58):
It's like he was giving us an opportunity. So so
how dare I go talk to him about my sister
and her not feel in a certain way. So I
just kind of poured her in on that way. I
never put them in a room and say, hey, tell
him how you feel, you know.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
And that may have been a layer for her too.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
It's like every time I go somewhere, Tasha's the one singing,
she's the one writing the songs, and I go in.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
The studio and it's like, you guys are saying I.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
Take forever and you don't want me to sing, so
that could be a lot to do with it as well.
And then be me being the oldest sister and every time,
you know, we would go somewhere else. She's the oldest
And I don't know, but do you.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Think that's a mistake? Would you look at that as
a mistake if I had to say so?
Speaker 3 (40:35):
You know, cause normally when you are a big sister
or a person who could kind of mend the fence,
and you don't mend the fence, it does probably look
crazy to the person who's coming to you saying these things.
And I maybe I did it in a way that
I only knew to do it and not the way
that she needed it to be done.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
You know, Yeah, what are you willing to do in
this season to build a bridge for you and your sister?
Speaker 3 (41:03):
Keep telling our lover, keep on being a pest, but
also letting her know that family is important because nobody's
winning when we're doing this, that my nieces, nobody's winning.
Speaker 4 (41:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
Yeah, there's so much time, right, you said two years right, two.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Years went Bible. When you look at life though, on
this side, is less time?
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Yeah, And that that's a challenge though, you know, to
work through because now you're writing new music.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Yep, excuse me.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
Yeah, it's a lot to take care of them, for sure,
because I know it's hard to talk about because you
love your sisters so much.
Speaker 3 (41:51):
Yeah, you love them, but at the same time, you
want everybody to understand this is family and everybody's weighing
on things that you know nothing of. You don't know
what we went through in the industry. You don't know
what I've had to go through. You don't know what
I've said to her and how we've had to come
together as sisters at the end of the day. So
now it's just a bad space. That's all, just a
really bad space.
Speaker 4 (42:12):
Yeah. Yeah, what would you give to get it back?
Speaker 2 (42:20):
Time?
Speaker 3 (42:22):
Love conversation, blocking everybody else out. I don't care about
what nobody else is saying, just as long as she
and I, like you said, I'm up talking to my
sister in the morning.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
That that right there?
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Yeah yeah, yeah, it's got to feel like I'm missing
puzzle for you for sure.
Speaker 4 (42:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
Our whole lives together, we talk about in tandem. Come on, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
How is this kind of trickled into your other relationships?
Because you've had a very public your marriage has been
very public.
Speaker 4 (42:53):
All the things have been public for your life.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
So how is this played into some of the other
relationships in your life?
Speaker 2 (43:01):
I'm very guarded. Trust is you gotta really really earn trust.
You can't.
Speaker 3 (43:11):
There's no like I said before about friendship, are you
really a friend? You come in to find out what
my mental was that you come in to find out
what I'm going through so you can go take it
back to talk, you know. So trust is not something
that you know, it's you really got to show improve,
you know. Yeah, because I'm a show improve I'm gonna
(43:32):
always be there. I'm that person because I know people
they ask me even today, well, you know, and all
the stuff they did to you, and they said these
things to you, Why don't you just tell all their dirty,
nasty secrets, like you know everybody's business, and I do.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
But what does that do for me?
Speaker 4 (43:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Not that?
Speaker 1 (43:49):
Yeah, what do you think? What do you think this
season is teaching you? With all these different ebbs and
flows and trials and tribulations and relationship upsets and devastations
and betrayals, what is the season teaching you?
Speaker 5 (44:05):
Ah?
Speaker 3 (44:07):
Faith, holding on to it, knowing that at the end
of the day, it's about the relationship that I have
with the creator with the most high resilience. Just because
somebody tells you no, it does not mean that that
is the end result for you. And also being a
(44:27):
light because like I said before, you go through these
things in life. You can neither bend and break or
you can stand up, get through it, persevere, be that light,
help somebody inspire, keep moving, keep proving, you know, show
and prove. Be there for your family so they can know.
Oh no, You're gonna have rough, rough patches in life.
(44:50):
Adversity is gonna always hit you. But that's how you
weather the storm, how you get through it. You know
that makes you the person that you are. So strength
at the end of the day.
Speaker 4 (44:59):
Yes, teaching you strength is teaching you faith.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
Yeah, you're writing a new album, Yes, right now, I
have to.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
That's my therapy. You know.
Speaker 3 (45:08):
I could talk about eight things all day, but until
I write them down and I get in the studio
and just convey that emotional side of me, it never
feels I literally just did a song called Love Changes,
and it's just about the transformative power of love and
how it heals and how it inspires and how there's
(45:30):
a journey that goes along with it and we just
have to embrace that journey. And so I allowed some
people to hear it and when I tell you, the.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
Guys were crying, guys wow, And.
Speaker 3 (45:42):
I'm just like, it was like, oh my god, this
song it does something to me.
Speaker 2 (45:47):
I have some people who that heard it for the first.
Speaker 3 (45:50):
Time and they made me teary out and I'm like,
I just got out of the studio singing a song.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
So so that's what what I have to do.
Speaker 3 (45:57):
I have to continue to allow my music to be
therapy from myself and to just be my voice still.
Speaker 2 (46:03):
Yeah, because it needs to be heard. It needs to
be said.
Speaker 3 (46:05):
Everybody's going through Nothing is perfect, No one is perfect.
We go through things in life. It's just how you
weather the storm. Yeah, and then having good people, you know,
my grandmother and my aunties who I can call on
her and say, listen, this is a lot. Come over here, girl,
let's talk. Let's eat, let's let's talk about whatever it is. Well,
let's let's not talk.
Speaker 4 (46:26):
Yeah, let's just be.
Speaker 2 (46:27):
Let's be.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
Weathering the storm and kind of finding and navigating your
way through it. You just said music has been that
therapy and writing has been a therapy. Has therapy been
a part of the journey.
Speaker 3 (46:43):
Oh, yes, I've gone on a sabbatical talk to some people. Yeah,
spent time with myself to learn to love me again,
and not so much as the industry or what I
felt like people needed to hear from me. Is like,
I learned to love Tashi again. How did you do
things that I like fishing? And I started to you know,
(47:04):
read more books and spend time with my son, you know,
be in his life more.
Speaker 4 (47:10):
Yeah. Yeah, has that been challenging?
Speaker 2 (47:14):
He travels a lot.
Speaker 3 (47:14):
He plays basketball for me, Yes, Because when you're on
the movie, you're trying to create, you know, new things,
You're always doing this, but it's okay to be still.
Speaker 4 (47:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:24):
I got more clarity by being still. Yeah, much much.
Speaker 3 (47:29):
More than I would have just jumping on the road,
getting the microphone, doing this, getting the wardrobe together, making
sure the makeup and the hair is right at the
end of the day.
Speaker 4 (47:37):
Are you right, yeah?
Speaker 2 (47:39):
Is what the inner was saying. Are you right?
Speaker 1 (47:42):
Because I'm sure it's probably been easy to fall into
that over the years of just jumping on tour getting
into a new thing. Let me go, let's go record
a new album. I'm sure that's probably been an easy
way to fall into.
Speaker 3 (47:55):
Yes, yeah, but when you don't have those things, can't
go on tour. They don't want you on the tour.
Now what you're gonna do, Tasha, Yeah, you can't go
saying with what you created, now what you're gonna You're
gonna end your life.
Speaker 2 (48:07):
You're gonna lay down and die.
Speaker 3 (48:09):
Yeah, you have to find new ways, have to have
to live. Yeah, this a gift that God has given us.
How dare me say, oh, that's the end.
Speaker 2 (48:18):
No, it's not the end.
Speaker 4 (48:21):
It's not the end.
Speaker 1 (48:22):
No, the residuals challenge you said there was your marriage
was ended, and then you came back and said that
it's not.
Speaker 3 (48:31):
Ended, separated, it'esn't mean ended, And everybody said divorce.
Speaker 2 (48:36):
I never said that. That's why you hear Tasha. We're
gonna get the clarity, but I never said that.
Speaker 3 (48:41):
I think too, when I talk about thirty years, is
the group as well as my relationship. That's a long
time to be with somebody. To me, the group was
just as much as a marriage.
Speaker 4 (48:50):
It's absolutely I totally see that.
Speaker 3 (48:52):
So me writing for my heart and speaking that way.
And you got to keep in mind this was two
years ago, so I've held on to these things. Things
happened after two years. I've gotten counseling, and we've gone
through marriage. So there have been things that have happened
that people don't know about. So what I'm writing doesn't
mean is right now. That means I've gone through it.
And these are the feelings that I've had this inside
(49:14):
that I haven't been able I haven't been able to sing. Yeah,
So this is me being able to write and say
this is what I'm feeling like.
Speaker 1 (49:20):
I think it was so interesting is for people when
they when they talk about people and their marriages, right,
you kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't. Right,
they damn you if you stay. Yeah, and then they
condemn you if you Yeah. But you have to be happy,
that's the thing.
Speaker 4 (49:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (49:38):
If you're happy and you guys have.
Speaker 3 (49:42):
You're comfortable, and you know each other and you know
what you like and what you don't like, that's your union.
That's your situation. Nobody else is. Because when the lights
go off and you're in the room by yourself, it's
just the two of you or you by yourself.
Speaker 4 (49:55):
Yeah, and you.
Speaker 3 (49:56):
Still have to be comfortable with that, whatever decision that
you make. And I've never made my decisions on people.
Never anything I've ever, I've always had to go to God.
I've always felt that thing inside. I've never had to say.
Speaker 2 (50:08):
Well, what do you think about this? Same what do
you think about that?
Speaker 3 (50:11):
Moving through the industry, I didn't have time to ask
somebody what did they think anyway? So that to me,
I don't care. You know when people did you read
the comment?
Speaker 2 (50:20):
I don't. Don't somebody have to tell me, oh, somebody
said that. Really, that's what they said.
Speaker 3 (50:26):
Like you just said something earlier. I'm like, that's what
they said. Yeah, they know it, But that's just me.
I don't care about that. You know, I never lived
my life, even being the big girl, I didn't. Can
you imagine if I would have read the comments?
Speaker 2 (50:41):
Right?
Speaker 3 (50:42):
So I didn't come from that era. I come from
an era of really having to go through it. You know,
we came it wasn't no internet. We had to get
them in buses and go to cities and stand up
and sing and actually allow people to hear what we
had to say and if they didn't like you, then
you're out, you know. So we had to the chipmin circuit.
We were always on the road. Never have the oh
(51:03):
we're gonna go on Instagram and set this camera up
real quick, right and get on here and sing a
couple of songs.
Speaker 2 (51:08):
No, it was never that.
Speaker 3 (51:09):
So I don't ask people's opinion now if I if
I do as a pastor, like go get you know,
spiritual advice, and that's for me internal.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
It's not for the world to weigh in on.
Speaker 1 (51:21):
Yeah, I mean, thirty years in marriage and partnership.
Speaker 4 (51:26):
What does it taugh to you about yourself.
Speaker 2 (51:29):
That I'm stronger than I thought I was. Your marriage
ain't for the week.
Speaker 1 (51:34):
No, it's not for the week, Tasha. I think that's
probably why I haven't done it.
Speaker 2 (51:38):
You know what I'm saying, is that right. I've watched enough.
Speaker 1 (51:44):
I've seen I've seen quite a few. I think I
have some trepidations. I will, I will be very honest
about it. There's quite a few trepidations about it.
Speaker 3 (51:54):
Yeah, okay, And I'm sure at the end of the day,
you could talk to your sister, you call her anybody else.
Speaker 1 (51:59):
Listen, she she's coming up on ten years. She'll be
married ten years this year, and so I see that.
It's it's not easy.
Speaker 3 (52:09):
Nothing that I've ever done has been. Yeah, the industry,
my mom and dad splitting up, it was a lot.
So for a person like me, I'm not easily swayed.
I work for what I have, always have. I don't
care what it is business. Me being a songwriter, I'm
getting getting better. Everybody gotta keep going. Yeah, me being
a sister or a aunt or mother, I'm working at
(52:32):
it every day.
Speaker 2 (52:32):
A daughter, I'm working on it.
Speaker 4 (52:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (52:34):
So I'm never gonna give up on things that I love.
That's that's first. I don't care what anybody says.
Speaker 4 (52:40):
Yeah, you're never going to give up on the things
that you love.
Speaker 2 (52:42):
I didn't even give up on this gate. They gave
up on me. So yeah, no, it's not.
Speaker 4 (52:47):
That I mean.
Speaker 1 (52:49):
In this season, though, I think the audience is like,
is if this communication comes we almost in the in
the in the we almost halfway in twenty twenty five,
if the Lord works, come on, Lord, come on, come on, look,
come on, I said, don't give me no singing to listen.
(53:12):
If there's a miracle that happens and some communication lines.
Speaker 2 (53:17):
EMC, I come back.
Speaker 4 (53:18):
From the dead. Listen.
Speaker 2 (53:19):
Wow, okay, MC, I come back. Listen.
Speaker 4 (53:25):
You would get on that stage again with those girls
and sing.
Speaker 3 (53:28):
Do the fans want me back out? Do the girls
want me back out? That's the question, not do I
want to sing? Everybody knows that I don't send lawyers
letters from lawyers to sit on the sideline.
Speaker 2 (53:40):
Don't.
Speaker 3 (53:41):
But the communication has to be there, and we all
have to be transparent one another, you know, because the
love isn't lost. I just hate what has been done
to me. Yeah, you know, seven girls on that road,
and I spearheaded the whole verses to look to bring
the tour of life to not be a part of it.
Speaker 2 (53:58):
That's that's hurtful. That's a lot of different things.
Speaker 3 (54:01):
But in life sometimes I do believe as well that
the rejection is a new direction that God has for
you as well. And you don't want to think about
it like that, especially when you keep going and it's
like the walls the doors keep closing. I don't want
to let that be the last chapter.
Speaker 2 (54:20):
For my life.
Speaker 3 (54:21):
Yeah, you know, I don't want people to say, oh,
you know, it's good to escape. No, it's no Tasha. Still,
I'm still gonna sing. Even if they don't, I'm still
gonna sing this. This is what I was born to do.
This is an assignment that I have on my life
that I can I didn't give myself this gift. God did,
and I would be remiss if I didn't use the gift.
I couldn't do that. I couldn't sit on the gift.
(54:43):
And then the words of Whitney Houston, I have to sing.
Speaker 2 (54:45):
I gotta sing on them.
Speaker 1 (54:46):
Yeah, you gotta sing. As we begin to close out,
one word you're committed to in the season of your life,
one word.
Speaker 2 (54:55):
M one word that.
Speaker 3 (54:57):
I'm committed to in this season in my life. I
would have said myself, but I've already I'm good with that.
Speaker 2 (55:08):
My family.
Speaker 4 (55:09):
Family, why, I.
Speaker 3 (55:12):
Mean, that's everything, everything, at the beginning and the end
of the day, because that's all you got. You wake
up to yours and you go to sleep to yours.
It's a blessing that God has given us.
Speaker 1 (55:25):
So yeah, family, this season, you and your sister, this
commitment to family, that means you and your sister.
Speaker 2 (55:33):
Is on y'all on the clock now, I mean we've
been on the clock.
Speaker 3 (55:37):
Now, how we approach the situation. It's totally up to us,
you know. And it's not like I said, it's not
for the world A weag in on them. You guys
can have your comments.
Speaker 2 (55:46):
I don't care. I don't read them. I don't if
I hear him, if somebody else tells me. But I
don't care about him.
Speaker 3 (55:50):
I care about my family and in this season, yes,
I'm gonna do my part.
Speaker 2 (55:55):
Always have.
Speaker 4 (55:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (55:58):
Family, what's that as we close out? What's the song
that encapsulates family?
Speaker 2 (56:03):
Family? Family?
Speaker 4 (56:07):
That's not in my range? Tasha, I can bring it down.
Speaker 2 (56:10):
I can bring it down to the alto to the bottom.
Speaker 5 (56:17):
Oh my god, really my range. I got all my
sisters and me. Hey, we are family. See she's doing
too much harmony.
Speaker 2 (56:29):
Can't you can't sing?
Speaker 1 (56:31):
You listen? That's all I got, Tasha. Don't try to
get no more.
Speaker 2 (56:40):
You got be a clip. They're gonna cut a clip
on the internet for my God. That's okay.
Speaker 1 (56:44):
Bald and Powers talks another good one, Natasha. Thank you
for coming to share your truth with me today. I
am so grateful. Thank you for being so vulnerable. I
think this is probably the most vulnerable I've seen. You
really in your interviews thus.
Speaker 3 (56:57):
Far, you make it comfortable. Its sister is talking and
you understand what that is. You have sisters of your own,
and you know that that's a very sacred place.
Speaker 4 (57:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (57:06):
So I appreciate you for just this time and using
this platform in this way. It's so many platforms that
have been used to demise, you know, demolition for the
group and myself, but this one I feel comfortable with.
Speaker 2 (57:18):
So thank you.
Speaker 1 (57:19):
You are so welcome. I'm so glad I can handle
people with care. You guys, I'm so glad God can
trust me in this season. It's a big one. I
don't take it for granted, y'all. Thank you Latasha for
joining me today Vaudempower's Talks. Share this with somebody who
needs a bridge to bring their family together in this
season of their life.
Speaker 4 (57:36):
Until next time, I'm your girl.
Speaker 1 (57:37):
Brandy Harvey, eat well, give a damn move your body
every single day.
Speaker 2 (57:41):
Body peace. Yes,