Mixed and Mastered
Mixed and Mastered is the podcast where the untold stories of the music industry come to life. Hosted by Jeffrey Sledge, a veteran music executive and former VP of A&R at Atlantic Records and Jive Records, each episode dives deep into the journeys, challenges, and triumphs of the people shaping the sound of today. From label executives and producers to artists, songwriters, and managers, Jeffrey brings you behind the scenes to meet the minds driving the industry forward. There’s a gap in the marketplace for these voices, and Mixed and Mastered is here to fill it—one conversation at a time. Because the best stories are told by those who lived them.
Mixed and Mastered
Shanté Paige
This week on Mixed and Mastered, we sit down with powerhouse executive and producer Shanté Paige for an inspiring, no-holds-barred conversation about her journey through the entertainment industry. From her Bronx roots and Silver Spring upbringing to her formative years at Howard University, Shanté takes us through the hustle, the heart, and the hard lessons that shaped her career.
She shares behind-the-scenes stories from managing artists in the early days, to building her rep at Jive and Volcano Records, and eventually helping to revitalize Motown. We dive into the iconic Scream Tour, the magic of Kedar Entertainment, and her bold pivot into television and film production — including working with Tyler Perry and leading campaigns for major brands.
Now as the founder of She’s A Movement Media Group, a transformational speaker, and a mentor to rising talent, Shanté reflects on what it really takes to build a lasting career in entertainment — and why giving back is always part of the mission.
🎙️ Tap in for a masterclass in vision, resilience, and reinvention.
Mixed and Mastered is produced and distributed by Merrick Studio, and hosted by music industry veteran, Jeffrey Sledge. Tune in to the discussion on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you catch your podcasts. Follow us on Instagram @MixedandMasteredPod to join the conversation and support the show at https://mixedandmasteredpod.buzzsprout.com/
This week on Mixed and Mastered, we're sitting down with Shante Page. Shante is a music and TV vet who's done it all, from bringing Motown back to life with artists like Erykah Badu and India Irie, to producing shows for BET, vh1, and Tyler Perry. Shante's media company she's a Movement Media Group is dedicated to pushing out original content and mentoring the next wave of creatives. This is Mixed and Mastered with Shante Page. Welcome to Mixed and Mastered, the podcast where the stories of the music industry come to life. I'm Jeffrey Sledge, bringing you real conversations with the people who have shaped the sound of music. We're pulling back the curtain on what it takes to make it in the music business. These are the stories you won't hear anywhere else, told by the people who live them. This is Mixed and Mastered. Mixed and Mastered. We're here with Shante Page. Hi Shante.
Speaker 2:What's up. Sledge what's up.
Speaker 1:How you doing.
Speaker 2:I'm good. How are you?
Speaker 1:I'm good. I know you for a long time.
Speaker 2:Long time.
Speaker 1:We're going to age ourselves if we say yeah, we're not going to say no numbers or no years. We've known each other for a while, right? For a while other for a while, right? So let's start from the beginning. So you grew up in Silver Spring, maryland.
Speaker 2:I grew up in Silver Spring, but I was born in New York, okay, and I as a young girl lived in the Bronx and then we moved to the DMV. Okay, well, how old were?
Speaker 1:you when you moved to the DMV.
Speaker 2:I was in elementary school, okay, so you did a little time in the BX Mm-hmm, but I spent every summer in the BX, so Okay, my first job in the BX Like yeah.
Speaker 1:So tell me about your summers in the Bronx.
Speaker 2:It was Baychester, New York. Uh-huh. I know, do you know? David Wood. He has a cigar line.
Speaker 1:I don't.
Speaker 2:Okay, he lived right across the street from my grandparents.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:But I had my first job at L&L Farms. It was a little corner store and I was 13 and eight or nine months and I got special working papers. I could only work 20 hours a week but I could walk to work.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I spent every summer with my grandparents.
Speaker 1:That's cool.
Speaker 2:I had no idea you had bronx roots. Yeah, that's cool, right down the street from eden wall projects yeah, yeah, co-op city area.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know that area. Well, bay plaza, yeah, I know, I know where you was at. I know you was at. Yeah, tell me about silver spring. How was that growing up there?
Speaker 2:I love Silver Spring because it was like a melting pot. I went to Montgomery Blair. We had a lot of students that came from other counties. It was truly all kinds of cultures. So I really didn't get the Black experience until I went to Howard and it was a culture shock because I was so used to so many different people.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah, I had an interview with Angelique Miles and we had kind of similar conversation. She grew up in Queens and we talked about how they're going to. She went to Hampton so and I went to Morgan. So we're talking about how we're going to a black school. Even though you're black, it's still very much a culture shock. Yeah, cause it's like I told her culture shock. It was a culture shock. Yeah, because it's like I told her. I always say, when I went to Morgan I realized we're all black but we are not all the same, right? You know, we have all kind of black people. They're rich, poor. You know, people from Chicago ain't like the people from Philly, right, the people from Philly ain't like the people from DC at all. You know, it's all these kind of different things in a good way, but it was just an interesting culture shock.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. At Montgomery Blair in high school, I was the first black homecoming queen.
Speaker 1:Really Wait, wait, wait, wait. Tell me about that. I didn't know about that. Tell me about that experience.
Speaker 2:I was that I didn't know about that. Tell me about that experience. I was voted, I was, I was in the mix, I was doing all things in high school, so I was voted best dressed, most likely to succeed, and I was voted homecoming queen, and that I was the first official black homecoming queen that Montgomery Blair ever had.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow, congratulations. Homecoming queen.
Speaker 2:Thank you. My king was Caucasian and that was fine, whatever, yeah, but I was the first black.
Speaker 1:You made it, so tell me about your Howard experience.
Speaker 2:Loved my Howard experience. It was a culture shock that I had to kind of get used to. I had been going to Howard's Homecomings for quite some time. Growing up in Silver Spring we would always go to Howard's Homecomings. That part of it wasn't a culture shock, but I didn't realize. I was like, oh, it's like this all the time People are on the yard. I kind of messed up my first semester.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's good that I it happens. It's so much going on and you're not used to all that freedom and everything, so it's kind of like whoa, this is crazy. I could kind of do what I want. I could hang out till 2 in the morning as an 18-year-old.
Speaker 2:Well, I still lived at home, so I didn't live on campus. So that was one thing, but like during class, it's like oh. I want to chill in the yard instead of going to class. You know things like that, so the weather breaks. It was rough that first year I got on academic probation that first year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've been there. I've been there too, but I hustled up.
Speaker 2:You know, after that I was good and I excelled the years after. But it's still still hard, you know, to get. I was good and I um excelled the years after. But it's still still hard, you know, to get your GPA back up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it is.
Speaker 2:Once you've had that, that rough patch, so, I had to tell all the newbies going to college like whatever you do, stay focused stay focused. Cause I was doing way too much. I was managing groups, I was on the yard, I was on campus, I had a job. I was doing way too much.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:The group I managed was a guy group. Before, Actually I managed two groups. I managed a girl group and I managed a guy group in college and the guy group had the actor Michael Ealy in it. That's right, and the girl group had Egypt, sherrod. Wow yeah. And Lizette Titi, who's a brilliant writer, now writing for everybody.
Speaker 1:So yeah, and Chucky Thompson was my producer I knew chucky back then because he used to come to one of my best friends at morgan and he used to make music together so he would come up to baltimore sometime. I knew him from back then.
Speaker 2:That's a trip, so you had eye for talent from early yeah, I got the guy group signed to gene griffin who had guy.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, um, I brought, had Guy Teddy.
Speaker 2:Rollins. I brought in Terry Ross to co-manage the group with me because he was the money guy. He was in the streets and I was like you got to do something. Come on the music business, Come with me. I need somebody to help. We were trying to get studio time and do all these things. I'm a struggling college student, Terry Ross he does all the events at Carnegie Hall and everything. Now.
Speaker 1:And he was your guy.
Speaker 2:He was my guy.
Speaker 1:Wow, Wow. You was connected from the beginning.
Speaker 2:Oh, I was moving and shaking, I was doing all the things. That's why, you know, my grades suffered the first year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Wait. So I read that you also did college promotions. Am I correct? Yes, with mark barnes so what tell me about that?
Speaker 2:he was promoting basically back then. It's like he he would do, like he always would do events like he does now but, he would also do these high-end events for various, you know, big events that were coming up. So I was the person getting people to go passing out the flyers talking to people telling them they needed to get tickets.
Speaker 1:I was like the ticket girl, you know, yeah yeah, mark barns event was a big thing back then boy it was like it was a major thing, like people would come from new york and other places just to go to a Mark Barnes party. He was kind of ahead of the curve, I'd say, for what's kind of going on now. It was almost like he was doing what's going on now, like 20 years earlier, with the specialty parties and all that stuff. He was kind of a trailblazer.
Speaker 2:Yes, he was, he definitely was. It was invaluable. And you know, of course I wanted to be in the know. I wanted to be that person that was in touch with the hottest promoters. I knew the hottest acts, you know.
Speaker 1:So back then, he was doing your thing.
Speaker 2:Back then and I knew I wanted to be in music. So, even though I was in music.
Speaker 1:I was going to ask you that how did you be in music?
Speaker 2:I just knew from managing groups and getting that exposure in the studios and placing songs and finding the track with Chucky Thompson and getting the writers and that whole experience.
Speaker 2:I didn't know what it was called. I didn't know it was called A&R, but I knew that that's what I wanted to do, to the point where I was ready to, like, leave college when Puffy left college. Puffy was a year ahead of me when he left college to go be in the music business. I was like that's the way to go. And then he got to Uptown Records. I was like that's the way to go. And then he got to Uptown Records. I was like oh, he's doing it, like this is what I want to do. And my mom was like no, you are gone.
Speaker 2:You're going to graduate, you're going to stay your ass in college. You're going to finish, so yeah.
Speaker 1:So, after you graduated, what was your first gig out of college?
Speaker 2:hold on, I'm gonna um, I'm gonna make myself taller because I feel like I'm looking dim okay so my my first gig out of college out of college, yeah, what was your first job?
Speaker 2:my first job out of college was waiting tables really I waited tables, I moved. My best friend from high school lived in New York already, Ayanna Brown. She lived with Carla Gentry who's married to Chuck Bone now, so they lived together. The day after graduating moved to New York and moved in with them. Wow, and I started waiting tables at the coffee shop. Yeah. And I worked at the coffee shop for probably like a good, a good, the whole summer, that whole first summer of graduating.
Speaker 1:And for those who don't know, the coffee shop was. It's closed now. It was a very popular restaurant in New York City in Union Square, and the popularity came because it stayed open super late.
Speaker 2:Super late and it had all like the models.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all the models and stuff would be in it. You're going like four in the morning after the club and it'd be like Naomi Campbell was in the corner, like you know, this one and that one, they're eating like cheeseburgers and shit. You know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I thought I'd arrived. I'm like, oh, I'm working at the hottest spot, you know, and you had to be a looker to even work there in their eyes. So I was like, oh, okay. And then everybody thought of my family, thought I was crazy, aside from my mom, because it's like you graduated from college and you're waiting tables. But it allowed me because I wanted to be in the mix and be able to go to all the industry events. So it allowed me to have the flexibility to be able to make my own schedule and all the who's who was coming in there.
Speaker 1:Every night.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I was like, okay, this is what I'm going to do. Tyson Beckford used to come there all the who's who was coming in there every night. Yeah, so I was like, okay, this is what I'm going to do. Tyson Beckford used to come there all the time. He was a big model, so I knew him before he blew up.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, cause it gives you. Like you said, the coffee shop was like the place to be. No it was the B plate like the place to be. Like I said, everybody was in there. Like I said, models and music people and, you know, fashion designers, whatever it was at the coffee shop, like I said, at three in the morning eating a turkey club, you know and hanging out. Yep. So tell me about your first job in music.
Speaker 2:So I left the coffee shop to work at Jezebel's.
Speaker 1:Wow Again. Jezebel's was also another hugely popular restaurant closed, now owned by the mother of Michael Wright, who's an actor, and it was also another place that was like everybody would come to there Models and actors and actresses and you know the creme de la creme would come to Jezebel's to eat and hang out. I forget his mom's name now, but she was Alberta.
Speaker 2:Alberta. She was one of my mentors. I'm so grateful for having that experience with her.
Speaker 1:She was a very nice woman.
Speaker 2:Etiquette. She ran us like a madam. Every day we came in she would look us up and down, make sure we were dressed properly, make sure she taught us. She taught us how to stick and move, like. Get to know these people, but not too much. Talk to them and make them enjoy their experience, but don't get too friendly don't get too close, you know, like it.
Speaker 2:I was like I mean, you don't know it then, but looking back on it I'm like she really taught me the art that I, that I pulled on when I got into the music business, because he taught me, you know, get close, but not too close. You know, make them feel good, but not too good, not too friendly.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So it was that kind of thing. And again, I took that job because everybody in the music business was coming there. So I figure, as I'm feeding them this amazing food, somebody's going to come through and the LA Reads and the um um, you name it, If they through in the LA Reeds and the you name it.
Speaker 2:Andre Harrell. Andre Harrell, everyone came to Jezebel's. So I was working at Jezebel's making probably about $50,000 a year back then, which is crazy a year back then, which is crazy, like in in the early, uh, nineties, yeah, the early nineties. So I'm, you know, and I'm working like three days a week, and that's when my mom had a conversation with me like okay, like I'm not going to let you get comfortable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because 50 grand back then was pretty good money.
Speaker 2:It was amazing money back then. It is amazing money now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but back then when rent was like $800 a month.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when you think about 50,000, people are like, eh, that's no money. But when you think about 50,000 for somebody coming straight out of college, even now, and we're talking decades ago. Decades ago, I was what it'd be equivalent to like probably like 150 today. Yeah, so I she was like you can't get comfortable in that job. Like don't lose sight, and partying and doing what you're doing. Like I know you want to meet these people, but okay, you're meeting them now. What? Like? What's the plan? Like what are you doing?
Speaker 1:Yeah, what are you going to do with it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, it kind of. She had one of those tough talks with me and you know it was one of those talks like you hang up the phone and you're like, damn, have I disappointed my yeah yeah yeah, what am I doing?
Speaker 1:Yeah, what am I?
Speaker 2:doing. It struck me to my core. So I said, okay, I have to come up with a different plan. Because I always looked at an assistant's job. I was like I don't want to do that. I've already managed a group. I already got a group signed. Don't want to do that. I've already managed a group. I already got a group signed, I already even though they didn't they didn't, jean didn't do anything under the contract.
Speaker 2:But to me I was like I got them signed to a publishing deal. So I looked at, I don't want to take an assistant's job, I want to. I want to come in as a coordinator or a junior director or something like that. But when she had that conversation with me, something, you know, something kind of clicked. And then I went to lunch with an entertainment attorney and he said I know this guy who's looking for an assistant at Jive Records. And I was like I don't want to be an assistant. And I had the whole conversation with him and he was like sometimes you have to take those jobs and that'll get you to the next level. And so I said, okay, I'll do the interview.
Speaker 2:And it was with Jeff Fenster. And so I met with Jeff and Jeff anybody that knows Jeff knows he's no nonsense. So the minute I met with him he's like well, I already kind of made up my mind on somebody. When I called him he said, but I'll take the interview, but I've kind of already made my mind up and I was like, okay, so I go on the interview. And I nailed the interview and I got the job. And then the reality hit. Okay, when he told me the salary. It was a huge pay cut for me and by this time Carla moved out. She met Chuck. She was with Chuck Bone, she was in love it was me and Ayanna, and we're living in the galaxy.
Speaker 1:We have a doorman. You know I'm living in the water, the galaxy, in New Jersey.
Speaker 2:Yes, oh, wow. Oh yeah, I'm living on the water.
Speaker 1:You're living good I got a car. You are chilling.
Speaker 2:How in the world am I going to afford to live on this salary? I can't. So I talked to Alberta and I expressed to her what was going on and she never allowed the women that worked for her to just work on the best days, going over to Volcano Records. And Brett was leaving Uptown to go to a startup, Volcano Records, and he's like you know, I need an artist development person, you know something real sexy. But yeah, that's Brett. He's like but you're going to be my assistant too. And I was like here we go, I'm going to steal it, you know, because that thing, you could get stuck in the assistant.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And I always heard that. So I was like I don't. But he was like no, we're going to make it sexy, You're going to do artist development. I got you, but then I just need you to answer the phone sometimes. I need you to do my schedule sometimes. You know, Brett.
Speaker 2:So, I was like okay, okay, so I did it and we had Global Soul. Gerald LaVert had Global Soul. That's how I met leonard brooks and we were there. Probably we had like, we had like alcanely and that alcanely was probably one of our biggest artists.
Speaker 2:back then okay put it in your mouth uh-huh and then the owner of volcano records decided to bring in Dallas, austin, and Dallas said one of his stipulations was he wanted to bring in all his people, which meant getting rid of our people. So we came in one day and we all literally, literally had pink slips on our desk that we were terminated. And I have always heard in the music business that you're nothing until you get fired. So, one side. I was like okay, I'm evolving Like I got fired.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, I got that check off.
Speaker 2:Right that the young, unevolved executive in me was like, okay, I'm off from here. Evolved executive in me was like, okay, I'm off from here. But then the young person that I was, it set in that I didn't have a job and that I didn't have income. And I got angry and I, Dallas, was in the office with Dave Gates and I went into their office and I told Dallas how disappointed I was that he didn't even take the time to meet with the people he was firing and that he treated us like we were nothing.
Speaker 2:And, looking back on it, it's business. In business, people want to bring in who they're comfortable with. They want to bring in their regime. It's not personal. The young person I was, I was like I took it very personal and I took it like you should have interviewed me to see who I was and my talents and not just let me go. So basically, I went in there and then I was like you're going to see me again. So many short words and Dave tried to talk Dallas into keeping me, but that didn't happen. Dave and I are so cool. Dallas and I are cool.
Speaker 1:This is you?
Speaker 2:know today, but back then yeah, yeah, you was mad.
Speaker 1:Before you move forward, I meant to ask you this. So, without naming names or incriminating somebody, you got to have at least one, I guess spicy story about working at Jezebel's or working at the coffee shop, like you know something, or do you? Maybe you don't.
Speaker 2:Well, a famous actor who was married, still married, and was having an affair with one of the waitstaff Like a serious affair, like flying her around to meet with him, yeah, wow.
Speaker 1:I'm sure that probably happened a lot in that era.
Speaker 2:Yeah, alberta didn't know about it, because if she did, that was a no-no, but yeah but all the women that worked there knew.
Speaker 1:I'm sure you saw a lot of things.
Speaker 2:I saw a lot of things in the music business period.
Speaker 1:We're going to get to that. I just wanted to do the restaurant stories first. We're going to get to the music thing too. So after Jive you went to Noontime.
Speaker 2:No, After Jive you went to Noontime.
Speaker 2:No, after Jive, this whole time that I'm at Volcano I'm also doing parties with Jay Norris. Jay and I were friends from Howard that was my Howard comrade and Jay moved to New York too. We started a company with Rooney Nelson and Lorna Lightfoot called Net Square and we used to have tastemaker night tastemakers. We had the little booklets called tastemakers and we had MVs on Sunday nights. So I was promoting those parties as well. So when I left, when I got fired from Volcano, I was still promoting the parties at Envy's and those were popping.
Speaker 1:I remember. I remember.
Speaker 2:One of us one of our names to get in the door because it was so small, and that's where I met pretty much everybody.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:From Envy's yeah, pretty much everybody from from MVs. And so, between MVs and then that's where Noontime came in I started to promote. I was already promoting Noontime when I was at Jive.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I was already working with them. They had a bunch of producers and songwriters and I was basically like slinging their tracks, going around trying to sell their tracks in New York, because they were all in Atlanta and I was the one who was working at a label and had all the industry contacts. So, I was always doing two, three things, until Kedar.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Kedar walked up to me at one of those conventions in Nevada. I don't remember the name of it.
Speaker 1:I think I went to that in Reno.
Speaker 2:In Reno. Yeah, I was at that convention, yeah, and I was at the slot machine and I was I'm in between jobs and Tina Davis was like you just got to get here. You could stay in my room Like you got to be here. You're trying to get here. You could stay in my room Like you got to be here, you're trying to get a job, another job, this is the place to be.
Speaker 2:So I'm at the slot machine and Kedar comes up and taps me on my back. And I know Kedar from doing parties at MVs and from working at Jive because he was managing Joe. So he said to me you know, did I want to come work with him? And I was like, okay, if the price is right. Yeah, and I didn't have a job. He didn't know that. And he's like yeah, well, you could come work with me, but you have to let everything else go. He's like I know you've got 50 million hustles and you're always doing a lot of things. He's like you can't do any of that. You got to focus strictly on this. So that's, you know. He was like tell me what you want, tell me how we can make that happen, and you drop everything else you're doing and and then I'll have you go meet with Kojo, because Kojo was running his label.
Speaker 1:Yeah, funny story. Well, not funny story, but Kojo and I went to high school together.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we went to high school together. Yeah, yeah, I call him Emmanuel. We called him Emmanuel back then. I think Kojo was his middle name.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yep, so you decided to work with Kedar. Yeah, I mean I knew I had already heard Erica's, because they were working in Jive Studios.
Speaker 2:Yep, I had already heard a lot of her music. He had already talked to me about her, so I was very clear what he was doing, that he was coming out with Erica, he was coming out with Chico they were still in that process of finishing the albums, so it was an exciting time. I knew he was about to pop. He was already hot from D'Angelo and everything and Joe and everything else he was doing and I really didn't have a steady job. And then NetSquared was kind of fizzling but I was acting like no, what I've got going on is popping.
Speaker 2:So you have to give me a salary that's comparable to me giving all this up Right?
Speaker 1:Right and it works. So did you go over to be Kidara's assistant or you were an A&R person? What did you do? No, I was A&R.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was director of A&R and publishing, so I was his A&R and he had a publishing company. Because he was smart, he signed all his artists to a publishing deal and he had producers like Gerald Isaac and a few other producers, but Gerald is somebody I worked with very intimately, I got one of his songs. I'm looking at my plaque right now, placed on Mary J Blige's album.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so my job was to keep his producers and songwriters working on his publishing company and assist him with finishing erica chico a plus and what was the group that angie stone had over there? I don't think angie had a group. I thought she had a girl was, but it wasn't she. Angie wasn't involved with.
Speaker 1:Profile Okay okay, maybe I'm confused then, okay, his sister, Fatima, was involved with Profile. Okay, okay.
Speaker 2:But Profile, yeah. So Profile was another group, cool. So from there I went to senior director, then vice president, then senior vice president. I mean you know, so you was rolling. Yeah.
Speaker 1:You was rolling, yeah, you was rolling. So tell me about Erica blowing up. Tell me about that period after that first album.
Speaker 2:We were hot because all of that was under Kedar Entertainment, so Kedar made his own rules. Universal would say we need an album and he'd be like, no, you're not getting an album, you're getting an album when I feel like it.
Speaker 2:And he would get away with it because it was hot and there was this rule that once the album was finished that the artist had to come out within three months. They started promoting and marketing the album and then it had to come out within that three-month time period. But when we were at Kedar Entertainment we didn't always do that. We came out when the album was ready to come out. But when we became Motown, things shifted and we had to adhere to certain things that we didn't really adhere to before. So it was almost like we lost the magic sauce. We had to conform to become Motown.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, that happened. I think with a few people Like you get a chance to go to this bigger job, especially a job like Motown, which is like obviously a legendary label. But then you have to run it like a label. You can't kind of be, you can't freestyle at that level. You can't. You have to. Things have to be boom, boom, boom boom, boom. I can't freestyle at that level you can't. Things have to be boom boom, boom, boom boom and sometimes it's hard to make that transition, you know.
Speaker 2:But there was so much magic in the freestyle.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:There was so much magic, yeah, and I truly feel like I remember one day feeling like I'm so happy for him for taking this role at motown. But, like I just knew, I was like kidar as we knew it, the you know, the magic we knew that makes him who he is. I was like I think that's, that's gonna, that's gonna be completely different. I don't wanna say it's gonna be wrong because it can never be gone, but he, he had to adhere to certain things.
Speaker 2:It's almost like his hands were tied that's the way to say that and his hands weren't tied before he was free.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So how did you like the Motown experience?
Speaker 2:Not as much as I liked Kedar Entertainment, to be honest. I mean, of course I was grateful and artists were incredible and we had a hell of a ride and we were in the black after years of Motown being in the red. But I always, when I look back at the best times, the happy times of my career in the music business, it was Kedar Entertainment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, before we move forward, do you have one Stevie Wonder story?
Speaker 2:No, I know people have come out with some amazing stories about him and then we just can't believe in some of the things he did. But no, he didn't. Kedar probably has some of those stories because Kedar spent a lot of time with Stevie.
Speaker 1:I'm sure.
Speaker 2:But he was always charming and would say you know really funny witty things, but I don't have one of those funny stories like people, like I think, think Snoop Snoop said one, chris Spencer, other people. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
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Speaker 4:Master the art of lyricism with pendulum mink, the first school for rap. Learn elite techniques through immersive lessons, real world exercises and guidance from hip-hop icons. This is where mc sharpen their skills and glow boldly on the mic. Ready to level up, visit pendulumminkcom and start your journey today and now back to our show cool.
Speaker 2:So after motown, scream tour no oh yeah, where are you getting all this information?
Speaker 1:my research here, man. Wow, you know I don't know who I'm talking to and you know, I know you, but I learned a lot of things about you researching, you know yeah so tell me about that work with Michael Moore doing a scream tour which was phenomenal, Like that was genius tour to put together and he, he killed you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't even remember how it happened. You know, I spent a lot of time in Atlanta. Every album I produced, I came to Atlanta and worked on it. Okay. Worked with Noontime. Still, even though I wasn't selling their tracks they were producing on mostly every album I worked on. So I met Michael Malden because of me traveling back and forth to Atlanta and he was like going to come work with me with the screen tour and bow, wow, and everything he had going on and brat.
Speaker 2:And so I came in and started working with the Malden brand agency from a contractor perspective not working with him full time and I think that was kind of short lived because I started working with a company in Vegas called CMX. Okay lived because I started working with a company in Vegas called CMX. Cmx was a sporting events company that started promoting all of the popular boxing events and they wanted to get into TV and film and started building a production company and a production studio facility. But they got in bed with Don King and started promoting fights with Don King.
Speaker 2:So, my job and Kiki Tyson. But she wasn't Kiki Tyson back then, she was Kiki Spicer back then. We both moved to Vegas for six to eight months and basically got all the who's who to come. I mean it wasn't a hard job. It was like get everybody who is an A-lister to come to these boxing events and the parties that they promoted after.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a pretty easy job.
Speaker 2:Pretty easy job. I mean, who does not want four seats?
Speaker 1:Yeah, at a prize fight, I guess who's saying no, you know?
Speaker 2:Right. So that kind of took off. So I was living on a different coast. I was living in Vegas. We're living in a hotel. I'm on one room one side, she's on another room on the other side For seven, eight months.
Speaker 1:Wow, how was that experience? Tell me about that. Tell me about the. What was the biggest boxing match that you worked on? Do you remember?
Speaker 2:It was a Roy Jones fight. Okay.
Speaker 2:I don't remember. I don't remember who he was fighting, but I remember it was a Roy Jones fight and how was it like getting people to come? I'm sure it wasn't a problem, but just tell me about the whole thing, what was? It was non-stop. I mean, that was some really great times. She reconnected with her now husband, which which is mike tyson, and we had some of the best times of our life out there. But it gets really old living in a hotel, really old. I've heard that, yeah, you think, oh, who wouldn't want to be in? At the time we were in the Monte Carlo Hotel and it was brand new. It was like spanking brand new hotel. So people would say, who doesn't want to live there? Right, you don't want to live in a hotel that long.
Speaker 1:Tell me why.
Speaker 2:It just gets old. You have a bed, a TV and four walls. You're just in a room.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I didn't have a refrigerator so we had to eat out every day. We just wanted some normalcy in our life. I stayed away from the casinos because I was like that'll get me in a lot of trouble because I love Blackjack, I love the slot machines, so I made you know, I made that like a rule for me. I was like you're not going in the casinos so I didn't like the whole time. But yeah, we had a great time and CMX was involving themselves in a bit too much and basically the company went belly up.
Speaker 1:Bam. So, after CMX, where did you go? Did you come back to Atlanta? Did you come back to New York?
Speaker 2:New York, because I still had a place in New York. Okay, I had a condo in West New York. No, not West New York In.
Speaker 1:Weehawken.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I came back and that's when I said I want to be in TV and I started trying to get into the TV business.
Speaker 1:What sparked you wanting to go into television? Because I still wanted to get into the TV business. What sparked that? What sparked you wanting to go into television?
Speaker 2:Because I still wanted to do something creative. I was burnt out on music, so I was really trying to figure out what's the next thing. I loved the boxing events but I was like, okay, what now? And I realized that my skills in music aren't transferable like it's. It didn't mean anything.
Speaker 2:The fact that I was a senior vice president. They're like okay, but we don't know what you can do on this side, we don't. We don't know what that is. So I started producing my own content. So I had proof of concept because, because you know, in music we always had a demo. Very rare to somebody come to you and say I got this singer, she's amazing, but didn't have something to show. You, didn't have something you could hear, that you could. You would say give me a tape or a CD, or back then it was a tape or a CD, or back then it was a tape.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:You would ask for proof of concept. Today it's like if you try to get into TV, you have proof of concept. Back then I said I took that same approach and said I'll show them. I'll show them what I can do. And I produced a series with two gay stylists, dalimo and Terrell. Terrell still styles to this day and Dalimo is a chef. And they were. It was a makeover. They were. They were. It was a making of an artist. And we took this artist that actually got a deal with Kevin Lyles but she hadn't got the deal yet. We took this artist up and coming newbie and they taught her to walk, to dress, they styled her etiquette and we filmed the whole process. Okay, and I put together these short webisodes. They were hilarious, it was a really good show. And then I started really good show. Then I started shopping the show A guy named Drano, a friend of mine from the music business took my proof of concept to James DuBose.
Speaker 2:James DuBose who has In the Black Now, but then he had the Keisha Cole show and Hell Date and a few other shows on BET.
Speaker 2:He was like one in. He had BET back then. And another friend of mine, erica Kennerly, put me with Roger Bob, who was Tyler Perry's right-hand guy, and also sent him my proof of concept. So I think that's the important thing for people to take away. It's like you can show people better than you can tell them. You've got to be able to show something. And once that clicked for me, things started to move and I, with James DuBose he called me from Drano's referral met with him and he he was in Atlanta and he was like can you get here? You know I'm going to be here for two days. Can you get here to meet with me? So I had to fly to Atlanta and I met with him and I ended up working with James on Hell Date and Brother to Brother and Dreamland and a few other shows that he had. And then I ended up working with Tyler through Roger Bob yes, that he had and then I ended up working with Tyler through Roger.
Speaker 2:Bob so me having that proof of concept definitely came out, and I worked with Tyler Perry for two and a half years.
Speaker 1:Tell me about that experience.
Speaker 2:It was. It was bootcamp, Like. I really learned pretty much it. I think that Tyler pushes you as an executive because I was the head of his post department. So we had, I want to say I want to say staff about 15 people 15 to 20 people in the post department. So I come with editors, offline, online, QC. We had our own QC department. What's QC? Qc, quality control Okay, Very end. They look at everything because we would have to turn episodes into Turner and they would make sure that, because Turner has their own QC department, the minute you give them, you deliver something, they're going to put it through their protocols and a lot of times things would get kicked back because, okay, there's a hiccup here or there's a sound, there's a flip, lip flap here and we think it should be. So we had somebody that would look at every single frame and make sure that we pass QC because we were turning things in like the week before air.
Speaker 1:So you had it had to go out.
Speaker 2:Couldn't be hiccups. It had to go out. So I learned a lot. That's why I say it was bootcamp, because it I was. You think Tyler was shooting like three episodes a week, and in Hollywood they shoot an episode a month, so yeah, so what particular shows did you work on with Tyler? Meet the Browns House of Pain. All of his plays and his late night chalk show, the Tyler Perry show, the opening of Tyler Perry Studios. The grand, the first studio, the grand opening, mm-hmm yeah.
Speaker 1:You did a lot.
Speaker 2:A lot.
Speaker 1:Before we move on, tell me about the opening. I remember reading about it and I mean it looked incredible. But just tell me about it, putting it together.
Speaker 2:It was just phenomenal, a phenomenal experience. That man truly amazes me. He has a vision, he wants to see it through and you know, and matches intensity. It's the bottom line and I think my biggest takeaway from him and from working with Roger is that there is no plan B. It's going to work out, we're going to. This is going to work out. Like we had this big extravagant. It was like a pond and he had people swimming under in a performance on the water and just in lights and in fireworks, like it was just it was all these things and it was supposed to rain that week. Tyler was like it's not going to rain, there's no plan B, it's not going to rain. I don't want to hear about rain, it's not going to rain, it's all going to work out. If I'm sitting there, it's like 80% chance of rain. What are we going to do? It didn't rain.
Speaker 1:Like what are we going to do? It didn't rain, wow.
Speaker 2:He believed he believed, he believed and it, and I think my biggest takeaway from working there is it always works out in the end, and that is his motto, and truly it always works out. It's like we'll we'll make things in our head so much worse than it is and overanalyze it and well, this could happen, and this could happen. And this could happen. No, or it could just work out. How about? Yeah?
Speaker 1:yeah, exactly yeah exactly. Um, I forget what I read it, but I'm I'm paraphrasing because i'm't remember exactly. But I was saying, I've stressed. Some people say, like I was, 50%, even higher, of the things that we worry about never even happen. It's like this it doesn't happen.
Speaker 1:It's like, oh, what about? Like you said, what about this? Oh, what about? And that stuff never happens. If you just kind of like, lock in, yeah, you might have hiccups and adjustments along the way. But if in, yeah, you might have hiccups and adjustments along the way, but if you lock in, it's going to work out. Unless you took yourself out of it by saying what about this and what about that, and what about this and what about that?
Speaker 2:Right, and if you start going into a different direction as a result of it? But I am working on his talk show, I would write the scripts for him and we would go over the script. You know, while he was getting his haircut or you know, or editing something, you know, they would call me in the editing bay and he'd say, okay, let's go over the script. We'd go over the script and then he'd say, okay, I'm ready to shoot.
Speaker 2:I mean, it was like that, like I had to be, you have to be on like there's no. Okay, I need 15 minutes to hurry up and with all of you know your corrections. It's like no, like he's be like okay, let's go ready to go wow, so tell me now.
Speaker 1:I know you're doing we'll talk about that in a second I know you do tv shows and stuff like is there something in particular that you look for in a tv show? Is there something that you could say I think this could work, or was it kind of just filling out stuff and kind of as it comes to you?
Speaker 2:Compelling characters. It's people come with stuff all the time that they swear is going to be a great show, and you've got to have that compelling personality. You've got to have those people that make people want to tune in every week. It needs that. If there's a subculture that people don't know about or that the average person doesn't know about, that you can tap into. That's why Housewives was so successful.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Into these women and their lush lifestyle, but then you had characters like Mimi. Women and their lush lifestyle, but then you had characters like Mimi. If you didn't have those loud and it's called I'm not saying she's loud, it's called loud characters in reality, compelling people, then you don't have anything, why would anybody tune in?
Speaker 1:They're not, they're not going to watch. So now I read you did some branding stuff as well too, am I?
Speaker 2:right.
Speaker 2:So tell me a little bit about that it just all kind of falls in my lap because I'm so hands-on, like in A&R. You know, when you're A&Ring an artist and you spend all that time with this artist and you build with this artist, I was never the person that could just hand that artist off to marketing. After that. I'm like, no, I've got to be a part of that too, because I know what this artist will do and won't do. I know what this artist's favorite food is. I know who his mother is or her mother is. I spent time with them, you know. So it's the same thing. If I'm, if I'm creating a, a show or a concept or a PSA or an ad, I'm a part of that next level. I'm a part of that next level.
Speaker 2:I'm a part of the branding and the marketing, I'm a part of the PR, and it's not because I'm asking like this is what has to be done. It's more, sometimes there isn't funding to do it and then it's like, okay, I'll pull in the favor and get it done this way, or I'll call a relationship I have over here and get it done that way. You know, I'm always thinking outside of the box.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have to.
Speaker 2:You have to. I mean survival.
Speaker 1:Yeah, tell me what's next.
Speaker 2:Well, what's next? What's next? Well, I am a John Maxwell speaker, so I'm doing a lot of speaking engagements. I wrote a book, so I'm about to come out and publish my book with volume one of my book, because it's two volumes and just help raise the consciousness and the vibration of our people.
Speaker 1:So tell me what a John Maxwell speaker is, because a lot of people won't know that.
Speaker 2:John Maxwell is. He has. He sold millions, millions of books in book sales. He is one of the most engaging, charismatic speakers to date and he has a program and certifies coaches and leadership. So I am a certified coach.
Speaker 1:Congratulations, congratulations. Can you tell us a little bit about what your?
Speaker 2:what the first volume of your book is about basically my life story and lessons. It's teachable moments. I'll give a teachable moment and then a moment in my life that correlates with it.
Speaker 1:So Go for the reading that.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to help guide people because I feel like a lot of people don't understand what the entertainment industry is.
Speaker 2:So you're going to get evidence from somebody you respect and somebody who knows a lot about life but they don't know a lot about our life, about life, but they don't know a lot about our life. So anybody who wants to be in entertainment or is thinking about it and has those questions, I want to be able to help them and help guide them and answer them. And I actually had my nephew, Tiago, who I brought in the business, who's a DP.
Speaker 1:I had him read it and he was like he like the, like the most amazing paragraph or text wrote back like he really felt like it was something that would help the next generation I'm sure I mean that's one of the main reasons I'm doing this is to give exposure, obviously to people I know who are have done amazing things behind the scenes, but also let people kind of see from your stories and your careers what the entertainment business really is Really is Up and down or whatever. I want people to hear people's journeys, to understand. Somebody sees you today and you're well established, you're doing your thing, you're rocking, but they might've not not known about Jezebels and how you had to figure it out, and that's, that's the whole thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean when anybody who you see, who you think is well established. There's a story there.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:There's a story. So you know, I just want to be able to to help people through the stories, and I'm also producing a podcast for Peter Thomas.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Before he has to turn himself in.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So helping him with that Good. But yeah, I think this next phase of my life is about giving back Good In some capacity and really trying to be of service and be helpful yeah, yeah, I think, um, some of our generation I'm gonna say all, but some of our generation kind of has failed at that.
Speaker 1:Some of us are very greedy and held it close and didn't mentor people and stuff like that, and I think we're seeing the in the music. Anyway, I think we're seeing the remnants of that in some places.
Speaker 2:The people went up, you nailed it, but I think that they always were that way, you always have takers, givers and takers. And if they were never giving back? If they're not giving back, they never were.
Speaker 1:True.
Speaker 2:So that's how I feel about that and I think, mentorship I was talking about this today when people come up to you and say I need a mentor, will you be my mentor? I absolutely hate that because it's such an intimate thing. It's like I have to bond with you.
Speaker 2:I have to build with you and it's I want. I have to pour into you. I, a mentor, chooses a mentee and it just happens. It's not anybody I've mentored. They didn't come to me and ask me to mentor them. It's just a relationship where all of a sudden I'm pouring into them and then I become the person when something's going on. They that they want to call yeah, they want to say hey, can we go have coffee and can I pick your brain. It becomes that it's never will you mentor me.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, sure, we'll start tomorrow.
Speaker 2:Cause, then it's like, then it's a duty.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like, oh, I know this person and oh, what do they want? And you know Right.
Speaker 2:So I think that's the key thing, and I have plenty of those people that I pour into. But for the masses, that's why I'm doing the book.
Speaker 1:Good, Good Well. Thank you, Shante.
Speaker 2:You're welcome.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 2:I'm glad that you're doing this, because you're pouring back into the people too.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you, I'm trying. I appreciate you coming on. We had a good time yes, we did thank you, thank you, thank you thank you you can catch mixed and mastered on apple podcast, spotify, iheart or wherever you get your podcasts. Hit that follow button, leave a review and tell a friend I'm your host. Jeffrey sledge. Mixed and mastered is produced and distributed by merrick studios.
