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
O'Neal McKnight
This week on Mixed and Mastered, O’Neal McKnight pulls back the curtain on a career that spans styling, music, film, and cultural impact. From his roots in South Carolina to interning at Motown and working alongside his late cousin Andre Harrell, O’Neal shares how he went from dressing stars like Usher, Jessica Alba, and Jermaine Dupri to becoming one himself. He breaks down the creation of Kosher Soul, producing TV specials with legends like Stan Lathan and Cedric The Entertainer, and the rise of Pass the Mic. Plus, why ownership, mentorship, and financial literacy matter more than ever in the business. This one’s packed with hustle, humor, and hard-earned wisdom.
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, I'm talking with O'Neal McKnight, stylist, manager and film producer. Among his clients as a wardrobe stylist are Usher, jessica Alba, p Diddy and Jermaine Dupri. Currently he produces Pass the Mic with DJ Cassidy and is producing films with Alan Hughes. O'neal has touched culture from every angle. This is Mixed and Mastered with O'Neal McKnight. 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 podcast with my man, my country cousin man, my hog mors eating cousin Neckbone and grits. O'neal McKnight, how you doing man?
Speaker 2:Man, I'm good man. I wish I was properly lit like you, because you glowing over there, yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm over here looking like-. I put some Vaseline on too before we started.
Speaker 2:I'm over here looking like Akon and Boo, third cousin.
Speaker 1:We'll figure it out, though We'll figure it out, though We'll figure it out, man. So let's jump right into it, man, we're going to start at the beginning.
Speaker 2:Born and raised in South Carolina, yep, a small town called Lynchburg, south Carolina, to be exact.
Speaker 1:Tell me about it. Tell me about growing up there. Tell me about the family background. Tell me about all of that.
Speaker 2:Wow, man. I mean, being born in Lynchburg, south Carolina was just kind of self-explanatory. Very rule, very humble beginnings. My grandfather was a sharecropper. His father was a sharecropper. We come from a long line of sharecroppers tobacco, cotton, cucumbers. If you could plant and it could grow.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, we did Okay. And how many, how many siblings you got?
Speaker 2:I have, uh, one older brother, uh, his name is Derek, He'll be 55 this year. And, uh, I have an older brother who got killed in oh seven on a motorcycle Sorry to hear that. Yeah, yeah, his name was Tony. And I got a younger sister by the name of Wanda, okay, and they still all live in South Carolina, they're still down in SC.
Speaker 3:They still represent.
Speaker 1:Still representing it, you know. So you're in South Carolina, you're growing up, you're figuring it out, but I saw that you was always an entertainer. You was always the entertainer of the family, right? You was always the dancing one, the one that do your little dance over there.
Speaker 2:I was the one everybody woke up in the middle of the night with my onesies on talking about go ahead and do that, james Brown boy. Do the camel walk, do the camel walk.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:But you know it was I didn't really lock into. I always loved music but I didn't lock into dancing until my late brother, tony, like I said, who passed in 07 from a motorcycle accident. We have different mothers, we have the same father, different mothers, but we grew up together like full brothers and I'll never forget my grandmother who kind of helped raise him. You know, like down south, yeah, you know your parents didn't raise you, your grandparents raised you.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But they brought him over to the house one night and that's. I grew up in a mobile home and my grandmother was like y'all got to see something and we were like what? And she was like turn on the radio. And my brother Tony went in our kitchen area and we moved the chairs to the side and he started dancing. And for me that was the first time I saw a superstar, and it was my brother and I remember watching him dance and the way he was moving and the way he was just controlling it. Because my brother Tony was pretty boy. You know we used to call him Pretty Tony, light skin, light eyes, curly hair. But he was shy, he was very reserved growing up. You know what I mean. But when I saw him and I saw the way he was performing I was like I don't know what that is, but I gotta know how to do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you gotta figure that out, I gotta figure that out Cut to me and him became a dancing duo and every talent show, every opportunity at a high school or high school event or any local anything, and we were able to dance. We always did.
Speaker 1:Dope, dope, dope, and I'm assuming that's how you ended up tapping into the music, being a musical fan and the music side as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would like to say that was a huge part of it. But in my household my dad always had vinyl. He always had Isaac Hayes, he always had Brothers Johnson, he always had Al Green. My mom always loved Al Green. We always had the Jackson 5, the Isaac Brothers, anything that was produced by Gamble and Huff. My dad was playing. I was born in 75, so I remember eight track tapes. You know what I mean. I remember my dad having the eight track stereo system with the strobe lights and everything going. So you know music was always in our house. I come from a very musically inclined family. You know somebody was always in a band, in a choir, playing a guitar, playing drums or something like that. So it was kind of like in our DNA.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So you graduated high school and from that correct me if I'm wrong you decided to go to New York right out of high school. You stayed in South Carolina for a little bit. No, no.
Speaker 2:Initially I signed up to go to the Navy. I got sworn in.
Speaker 2:I got sworn in to go to the Navy, oh, go to the Navy. I got sworn in to go to the Navy, oh wow. And the recruiters came to pick me up to get sworn in for the second time, which is like the full step. And I just looked at my mom and I said, mom, I don't want to do this. And she was like, well, I don't want you to do nothing you don't want to do. I said I don't want to do it. I said I don't want to do this but I don't know what I'm going to do. And she said, well, maybe we'll figure it out.
Speaker 2:And I remember the guy he came. He was like you know, mrs McKnight, if you can give me an opportunity to talk to him and tell him about the benefits of being in the military and seeing the world, and blah, blah, blah, blah blah. And my mom was like he don't want to do it. I don't want him to be persuaded, to be persuaded to do something he don't want to do. We'll figure it out. So cut to. I got a job at a textile company because one of my my childhood best friends by the name of TC OK.
Speaker 2:John Kousa. His government is John Kousa, we call him TC. He worked at this textile plant and he literally got this job. He told me about it. He said they were hiring. You should go down there, fill out an application. I filled out an application.
Speaker 2:I started working the shipping docs. I was too small to maneuver all the stuff that was coming off the assembly line to throw into the truck, so they moved me to the sewing factory. Wow, and I was stitching stuff together. Didn't really like that.
Speaker 2:Then I wound up becoming friends with the president of the company and she said what do you want to do? And I was like I want to work upstairs with you guys and that's where all the sales reps work. And she was like well, you got to come up with an idea of something that's going to help us financially grow within the company. And so I thought about it long and hard because I was kind of like looking at the company and see how the company was working. And I came up with this, this credit application where we were basically, instead of the, our clients were Eastpac, converse, duckhead, all these like nylon denim companies, converse we made the Converse, we dyed the fabrics for Converse and all that stuff and we had a one point five hydrothane coating and a one point zero hydrothane coating and it was fire retarded and early had a 1.5 hydrothane coating and a 1.0 hydrothane coating and it was fire retarded and early on I guess now thinking back on it, I understood naturally the concept of marketing.
Speaker 2:So I helped them market the way they was going to roll out in the presentation because we will go to these different kind of like conventions and we'll show them why these other companies should be in business with us. And I was kind of good with talking to people and getting people engaged and stuff like that. And so her dad was like I'm going to put you on a probation period and if it works out I'll make you a sales rep with the company. And I became a sales rep in probably like six months, had my own office and transitioned from working downstairs where I had to wear like these uniforms with the company name. I could then wear like khaki pants and a polo shirt and some toboggan.
Speaker 2:Wow, that was big back then Back then that was big and I got my first car. I got a Ford Escort. It was black, with wine, burgundy interior. You couldn't tell me nothing, nothing. I had a Ford Escort, you couldn't tell me nothing. And then what happened was in the midst of all that and I just remember my boss by the name of Joe Raffo. He was an Italian guy from New York City and he had this whole like New York kind of attitude, italian kind of, you know, mafioso vibe, and he was like whole New York kind of attitude, italian kind of mafioso vibe. And he was like, if you keep this up, one day you're going to make $40,000 a year. And I was like that ain't a lot of paper. I was like $40,000 a year. One day I was like this is it so? Literally, when that was happening, my late cousin God bless the dead Andre Harrell took on the position of the president of Motown.
Speaker 1:Motown okay.
Speaker 2:I'm looking at, like this dude right here is telling me about $40,000 a year and my cousin just did a multi-million dollar deal to be the president of Motown. What the fuck am I doing right here? I thought about it long and hard and I remember going back to Joe Raffo and telling him about my cousin. He was like so let me get this right. You're related to someone who is the president of Motown who just signed a multi-million dollar deal and he just couldn't wrap his brain around it. He didn't believe it because here I am in South Carolina working for a company that is doing extremely well, but I'm talking about a family member and I'm black who has more money than everybody in the ecosystem of this company.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. Andre Andre deal, for you know, at Motown. When he left Motown they cut him a check for close to $30 million. Wow, you know what I mean. We did maybe a million dollars in revenue a year. So in 30 years we would have made what he made in one check.
Speaker 1:In one check, yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:So it was kind of hard for him to wrap his brain around that for various reasons me, you know, being in South Carolina, and probably me being black as well, and how can I be connected to somebody on that scale? And when I saw that, I saw that he not only had a short dream for me, I was allowing that his dream for me to be my dream for me, and I didn't want to do that. And God working mysterious ways, a week or two later they did a Motown talent search that came all the way to South Carolina and I went up to one of the representatives that was from New York and I said, hey, you know, my name is O'Neill McKnight. And I was like, um, andre Harrell is my cousin. And they was like, yeah, right, andre Harrell, who was the president of Motown Records, the founder of Uptown Records, is your cousin. I was like, yeah, it's my cousin. They was like, yeah, right. And I was like, no, he really is.
Speaker 2:I was like his mother and my grandmother are two sisters, hattie Mae and Mattie Mae and they was like, well, if he's your cousin, why the fuck you down here, nigga? And that for me at that time probably was one of the most profound statements I had ever heard. Why was I down here? Why was I not chasing my dream of being in entertainment, being in New York City or getting closer to what I knew was going to be my truth in this space? And I went home that night and I thought about it and I contemplated about it a lot and I called my grandmother. God bless her soul. She's 93 years old. We talk every day. Maddie Mae, shout out to my grandma, maddie Mae in South Carolina.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:I called up and I basically said hey, can you give me Andre's number? I want to talk to him. And she told me the first thing. She said she don't call asking for anything and don't call begging, because we don't beg. She said if you're going to call, call with, offer him something that he might need in his life that he don't have. And I thought about it and I said I can only imagine being as successful as he was at that time in his life. He didn't have family. He might have friends that became family, but he didn't have family. He didn't have nobody around him that was solely looking out for his best interest as a person. And I knew I had that. And then, uh, I never forget I called him up and he had a live operator and the operator would, if he didn't pick up the operator would say her real residence.
Speaker 2:But as she was saying her real residence, he said hello and the operator was like Mr Harrell, I got it, you can go back to sleep. He said no, no, that's all good. Who this? And I was like this O'Neal who? I said O'Neal. He said O'Neal who? I said your cousin O'Neal. He said O'Neal who? I said your cousin O'Neal. He said I don't know. Nobody named my cousin O'Neal and I was like I'm Harvey Jr's son. He said my cousin Jr From South Carolina. I said yeah, he was like nigga, what you want? He said it's three in the morning. I said I want an opportunity. I said listen, I've been following your career from Dr Jekyll, mr Hyde Crush, groove, da da da. I just went through this whole discography and he got quiet and I was like you there, he's a nigga, I'm listening and I kept talking and when I realized he was awake I knew then it was an opportunity for me to strike. I brought him up to speed about everything I had done at that point. I became a sales rep. I was 19 years old. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But how I longed to be in the music industry. What I had did up until that point, as being a little local performer and winning all the talent shows that I could win in the area and stuff like that. He's okay. He's a sound cue go-getter. He was like you got any vacation time on your job and I was like I don't know. I was like I never took a vacation before. He's where you should check in on your job and see if you got any vacation time. And he's you got a vacation time. You should come to New York for a long weekend. He was like maybe it might be something you might like and I was like, okay, that's what I'm going to do. He said, all right. He said if it all worked out, he said I might be seeing you Simultaneously.
Speaker 2:My grand aunt and Mary Jane God bless her soul. She passed a few years back. She would come every summer to see my grandmother. She would take the train or the bus down. She came down and I had been strategizing how I was going to go back with her and I went back to New York with her on the Greyhound bus and on a Greyhound bus, my late brother Tony and I and we stayed with Andre's mother God bless her soul and Hattie, who passed in 2003.
Speaker 2:She lived in Hackensack, new Jersey, at 245 Prospect Hackensack, and I remember she picked us up in a limo and I had never been in a limo before and I remember it was summertime, it was hot, but she had on a mint coat and I looked at her and I said, hattie, she was like one of my favorite grandaunts. She's my grandmother's sister and me and her were super close. When she would come down during the summers I would always assist her in whatever she needed. Maybe we'll get some ice water, we'll go get me, we'll get me a tangerine, you know, I mean whatever I would do, you know, and she took a liking to me and so I never forget, when she came and she, she scooped us up and it was hot and I said hey, it's so hot why you got you got on a limo. I said Hattie, it's so hot, why do you have on a fur coat? She said it get really cold in the limo. Wow, I was like, oh, these niggas rich. Yeah, they got that different kind of paper.
Speaker 2:We jumped in the limo. She said I know y'all tired from the ride. She said but we're going to go out to the Hamptons. I had never been to the Hamptons. I never knew what the Hamptons was. She said Andre just got a house in the Hamptons. She said they're having some people out and she said we're going to probably spend the weekend out there. I'm unloading the car. I rang the doorbell, russell Simmons opened the door. Wow, my first time Russell Simmons opened the door. I look in the house. I see Heavy D in the kitchen making a ham and cheese sandwich. I look up. I see Puff coming down the stairs His arm's in a sling Wow. I look over there I see Laurieann Gibson, who my cousin Andre was dating at the time, had on a Lacoste tennis dress. It looked like the Lacoste tennis dresses.
Speaker 1:I remember the tennis dresses.
Speaker 2:I remember that era and she had some little Stan Smiths. And then I look and I see Andre walking around the corner. I could see, like yesterday he had on these gold frame glasses with a light blue tint. He had on this gingham check lacquer shirt the gator was tiny on the pocket and he had on these khaki pants. He had on these all white canvas pro kids and he had on a pair of white socks and I remember on the right ankle of the sock it had a hole in it, wow. And he had on a solid gold Cartier watch. And I just watched him I was like, oh shit, to keep in mind, andre's my dad first cousin. He's my second cousin. There's a 15 year gap. I hadn't seen Andre at that time since 1987.
Speaker 1:Wow Okay.
Speaker 2:So I wasn't Andre was. You know, he was that family member that was doing well, he was successful. It was like it's like Michael Jackson for us.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean, yeah.
Speaker 2:You know how many family reunions Michael Jackson went back to in Gary Indiana.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:Not, not that many, you know. So I remember when I saw him I bum, rushed him immediately and was like yo yo, yo yo, something to eat. We were there 30 minutes and mom, I'm back to Jersey. She's asking me. I made a promise to your parents. I made a promise to my sister, your grandmother, that I was not going to have you around, anything that was going to jeopardize who you were going to be, and I was like it's Bill. She was like get stuff. So, dude, we drove two hours just to be there for 30 minutes and two hours back and we was back and I stayed with her for about that weekend.
Speaker 2:It went by so fast and then everything was moving really, really fast and I remember Andre wasn't calling to check. I came in to meet with him so I was like what's going on? And Hattie was like you know, he's really busy, he's president of Motown, and I was like but I'm going to set up a time y'all can meet with him. I never forget we went over to meet with him At the time. His assistant was Norma Argenblatt and Norma Argenblatt was sitting outside the door and Andre was sitting there and he had all these different like NAACP and ASCAP and BMI type stuff in his office and plaques and this uptown records and this and that. And so I was like here's my resume, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And he was you bought that business you want to get down to.
Speaker 2:I said yo, I didn't want to take it the opportunity like he was my family. I wanted to treat it like it was professional and it was business. I didn't want him to look at me like, oh, here's a cousin I don't know wanting something. So I wanted to treat the situation like how I would treat any other interview. And so I came with a binder and a whole thing and he was like, let's talk about some stuff. He was like you know, what do you like? He made it very personable and he said at the end of the day, what do you want to do in life?
Speaker 2:I said I just want to do in life. I said I just want to make people feel the way Michael Jackson made me feel. I said, whatever that is, I'll say if that's as an executive, that's as an artist, that's as a talent. I said Michael Jackson was a superhero for me and I was like he was the first black superhero I ever saw growing up that wasn't bitten by a radioactive spider, that wasn't from Krypton. I was like he was a nigga from Gary, indiana.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean Raising a little, you know, two bedroom house with nine brothers and sisters. Then he asked my brother, he's my brother, I want to make money, I just want to get this money. You know I want to do that. And I don't know what the dynamic of that meant. But he said y'all excuse me for a second, let me talk to my mother. And I'm standing there and I remember I'm standing there and I see a 16 year old, anel ply, and anel is an intern working with norma, and that was the first time like I saw, like you know a latin girl and I remember she was like beautiful, curvaceous, curly hair down to here.
Speaker 2:I was like jesus christ, wow, like what is happening. You know I'm saying to myself. I said don't lose focus. I was like what is happening, I'm saying to myself. I said don't lose focus. Norma said you can go back in. I went back in. He was like Tony, how you want to get back to South Carolina? Tony said I don't know, I got a girl back there. He was like I'm going to give you some money. He leaned back, sitting in a chair very similar to this. He pulled out like maybe $1,000, $1,500. He gave it to him and he said all right. He said I'm going to set that up, make sure you get back. And he looked at me. He said you're going to live with my mother in Hackensack, new Jersey, and you're going to learn how to take the buses from Jersey to the city. You're going to understand how to navigate through the city. I said, but I'm going to be by myself. He said hey, you've got to learn. He's got to figure it out.
Speaker 2:He's your intern for me, he's your intern for Russell, he's your intern for Puff. He was like you're an intern and just learn the game. He said, listen, if there's what's going to, you know, it'll work itself out. And I remember walking down the hall with my brother and I started crying. My brother was like damn, you fucked up, you ain't got no paper. And I was crying because I knew that's where our lives were going, like this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I suspect I wasn't there. I suspect he connected with you because you didn't mention money. Yeah, he wanted the opportunity. I wasn't there. I suspect he connected with you because you didn't mention money. The money would come eventually because it was an opportunity, whereas your brother he mentioned the money and Andre was like okay, he's you know, with me when somebody mentions money earlier makes me a little wary because it's like okay, if.
Speaker 1:I can make you money, then the next I can make you money, then the next person can make you more money, and then you're. I don't know where your loyalty will lie, because you, just you're just about the money, you're not about the opportunity.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and see for me. For me, andre was the key to the opportunity, that was, to the money.
Speaker 1:Exactly, that's my point.
Speaker 2:I knew that early on and I kind of saw that. But you know, to my, to my brother's defense, you know, yeah, and I'm not.
Speaker 1:I'm not. I'm not saying anything negative about your brother he was honest about what he what he wanted. He was honest about what he wanted.
Speaker 2:When I say we came from humble beginnings. We came from humble beginnings Lynchburg, south Carolina. You know what I mean. Yeah, new York city, bright lights, the whole nine. You know we were fish out of water is an understatement, right.
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Speaker 1:Talk to me now about the internship and who you started to connect with and how things started to come into focus, about what the music business was and what you wanted out of it.
Speaker 2:Well, when I started I started hopping around a little bit trying to figure out who I was going to roll with. Who was my clique? You know I would stick my head in Eddie F's office but he was just too busy. He was head A and R. He was too busy. You know, I would stick my head in Sugar Dice's office and he was like nigga whatever get out of here. You know he was like Andrew Rand nigga, whatever, get out of here. You know.
Speaker 1:Andrew Randemmy nigga get out of here.
Speaker 2:I was like damn and I rolled with Kenny Burns and Kenny Burns was the first person that took me to Howard Homecoming, kenny Burns. And Clark Kent immediately adopted me. I was walking down the hallway one day and I used to wear a big ass Mickey Mouse earring and I used to wear creases in my jeans and Clark Kent was like I'm never going to tell you not to be you, but I can't let you do this shit you're doing right now. He's a shit is flagrant. And Kenny Burns was my big bro, not out the gate, because he was young, ambitious, trying to do his thing, but when we click, we click his thing. But when we clicked, we clicked. And I'll never forget Kenny was in his office because him and Fatima Holly were part of the street team at Motown and Howard Homecoming was coming up and I remember going into Kenny's office and Kenny was like yo, howard Homecoming. I said what's that? He said you've never been to Howard Homecoming. I said no, I ain't never been nowhere. He was like yo, howard Holcomb. I said what's that? He said you've never been to Howard Holcomb. I said no, I ain't never been nowhere. He was like yo, you got to go. So at this point, I'm becoming more connected and friendly with the staff than Andre, because I didn't see Andre. Andre was always walking with somebody and they would have a piece of paper and he would be signing it and Andre would see me in the hallway literally every day and give me a thousand dollars or fifteen hundred dollars every day. Wow, he's, are you good, you need anything? Hold on for a second and give me cash. So I had accumulated all this cash and I wasn't going anywhere because I was living in jersey, didn't know jersey well enough to move around, didn't know the city well enough to move around, and so I saw andre, andre. He was like what you doing, what you got going, andre. He was like what you doing, what you got going on. And I was like Kenny Burns told me some some how, how? I mean he was like that's good for you, that's culturally good for you. You need to see that. You need to see empowered black people, educated black people. You need to be around that. You need to understand that. Ba, ba, ba, ba. Yeah, here, take this, here, take this.
Speaker 2:Wow, he gave me like three Gs and I remember I came back to the office and Kenny was like. He was like what's the hot car young boys is driving right now? And somebody said the new GMC Blazers is hot. And he was like no, I'm going to get them a GMC Blazer for the weekend. And I remember going back to Kenny and Kenny was like what did he say? I said they're getting us a GMC Blazer and he gave me three Gs. Kenny was like what? He was like you have to give me 500 because this experience I'm about to show you. I mean you got to give me some of this paper. So I broke Kenny off but Kenny was like first we got to get your outfit right. We went to Paragon and I got the Phillies baseball jersey with the hat pants, the whole thing. He was like we got to make sure our outfits is right and we drove out to Howard Homecoming.
Speaker 2:That's when I met Sabe and Esau and all those guys that was part of, you know, kenny's crew of people, leo, all those guys I'm still friends with to this day and I'm like 30 years ago. You know what I mean. But that was that experience that you know. Andre threw me into this hub of culture and was like hold on a second, let's figure out where you want to. You know where you want to be and where you need to be, figure out where you want to be and where you need to be and ultimately, kenny and I are still best friends to this day. But I became Maddox's intern and Maddox was director and he ran the video department and he's an Aries, I'm an Aries. We had a lot of similar interests. We kind of like kind of to the left abstract a little bit, and we became really really, really good friends while I was over at motown so tell me about how.
Speaker 1:Well, now what the movie honey was that part of that experience?
Speaker 2:honey was in in in well.
Speaker 2:alonzo brown, who's the other half of Dr Jekyll, and Malady wrote the movie Honey and Andre always dibbled and dabbled with film, you know, with who's the man Sick of Business. Had the TV show yeah, new York Undercover. Yeah, with Dick Wolf and Alonzo and Kim Watson had wrote this really cool script and they were toying around with the idea of taking it out to market and selling. Well, they sold it rather quick. Then they were trying to figure out who was going to be the lead. There was talks about Aaliyah, there was talks about Singamaya and Universal landed on Jessica Alba because Jessica Alba had a hit show that had been canceled called Dark Angel.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Dark Angel Yep.
Speaker 2:And they said that she was the next big thing and Jessica Alba came and read for it and she got the part and to this day we're still friends. She made my daughter the honest baby on the honest packages of diapers and stuff, and so we still have a great friendship. When I had my first kid, she was like, okay, I'm about to put your baby on diapers and stuff all over the world and I was like what are you talking?
Speaker 2:about trust fund. You get that money right. Yeah, my baby was making money before she could even count. Wow, that was in 2000. My mom died in 2000 and we did honey in 2001 okay.
Speaker 1:Well, now you were you still at. Was andre still at motown by this point?
Speaker 2:andre uh role at motown was very short-lived. I think Andre was at Motown maybe two years. Okay, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, because Danny Goldberg came. It was this whole conflict of interest, danny Goldberg who had Hanson.
Speaker 2:They had a hit song, um Bop and he was saying that there was enough hits coming out of Motown. There was a lot of spending but no hits. They wanted somebody to oversee Andre. Part of Andre's contract was nobody was going to oversee him. He was president and CEO of Motown. Of course not. Andre was like I'm not getting ready to answer nobody. Hanson, you know what I mean. Mary J Blige.
Speaker 2:Albie Shaw heavy, yeah, yeah so so, um, so then he, he resigned, he resigned. You know, contrary to a lot of people say he was fired. No, he resigned and, and, and they cut him a check for, like you know, 30 million.
Speaker 1:So with Honey, what was your role on that film?
Speaker 2:I was a costume consultant. I worked with Susan Matheson who was costume design. I was costume consultant and Andre was like I got to make sure you are part of this because I need the authenticity and the style to be right, and not that Susan wasn't able to do it, but it was like you know. I took Susan to Harlem.
Speaker 1:The street shit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I took Jessica Alvins to 125th Street, I took Susan to Harlem to get the bamboo earring that says Jessica and the name plates and the earring that said honey and all that. We went to Harlem for real and we got that done and we just wanted to. I just wanted to make sure, like, because we shot it in Toronto and visually on camera Toronto can pass as a baby New York, but if the styling is not right, you know it's not New York, and so that was one of the main things that I wanted to do when I was working on Honey was making sure like the continuity of the look for New York City style was on point.
Speaker 1:So was that your first kind of foray into styling?
Speaker 2:No, no, my first foray into styling. I think I said foraying into styling. I've never used that word in my life. It happened by accident, man, I was after interning and moving around the city. Smokey Fontaine had a magazine called Trace Magazine. Yep, yes, called Trace Magazine.
Speaker 1:Yup.
Speaker 2:And I told Andre, I said yo, I was seeing Andre and Russell and all these guys in different magazines. I want to be in a magazine. Andre said you got to do something to be in a magazine. He was like they don't just put you in a magazine unless you're a model. He was way too short to be a model. He was like unless you're modeling kid clothes. But he was like you know, keep doing what you're doing.
Speaker 2:And so I was like well, I'm interning, I'm hustling, I'm becoming more and more a bit of a socialite, and people know me in New York. I'm going to write a story about myself and I'm going to submit it. So this is the era where you look in the back of the front of the magazine, you see the editor and chief and so, and so I sent my story to every magazine. I could think of Vibe, source, xxl, you name it. And I saw Trace Magazine one day on the stand and I was like this is a cool kind of artsy downtown vibe magazine. I'm just going to send it. And lo and behold, I don't even know how. I think I just I think I mailed them, to be honest with you, because it wasn't like you was. You know I must have mailed it. I didn't text it. I must have mailed it to him physically, but anyway, smokey Fontaine got it and loved it and I wrote the story about myself and Jason Delgado, who used to be Puff's personal assistant, and we both were grinding at the same time and I was like I want to make it a two-part story. I went to Harlem in front of Southern Fried Chicken and did the photo shoot. My girlfriend at the time took the pictures with a disposable Kodak camera and I changed in the bathroom and they ran the story as is with all the photos that we took ourselves. Wow.
Speaker 2:And that became a domino effect because people started talking about me and started noticing me in that space and I kind of stumbled into being a stylist by accident. I wasn't trying to be a stylist and one of my biggest things was a meal. Who was running by a Magazine at the time approached me and said yo, everybody be talking about your style and you're always swaggy and this and blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't even know swaggy was the word then, but whatever the word was then, he was like I was that. He was like I got this column called Up. Next he was like it's going to be featured on new artists. He was like I would love for you to be the person who styled that. And that first person I styled for Up Next was like 11-year-old, 12-year-old, bow Wow, wow. And I went in there not knowing what to expect and I was like he's a kid, how can I make him kid? Cool, but cool enough to hang out with the big boys? Because I was always kind of like that kid growing up.
Speaker 2:So, I just made Bow Wow, early Bow Wow, with just how I was as a kid from a visual standpoint and I remember that's the first time I met Jermaine Dupri and Jermaine Dupri was like yo, I like this guy, I'm going to see you on the photo shoot. And I was like what photo shoot are you talking about? He was like the album cover. I said the magazine hired me. He said, well, I want you for that. But they had already hired a stylist and I said I don't want you still there.
Speaker 1:I'm here.
Speaker 2:I was like I don't want to take somebody else's job. So if you hired a stylist to already do the album cover, let he or she do that and give me everything else. And JD was like OK, cool, and Puppy Love, bow, wow, wow, all that stuff like Mike video, all that stuff I did, wow, wow. So that became a domino effect. And Jermaine Dupri who I always acknowledge when I see, but I don't ever really shout out, I feel now enough in forums like this Jermaine Dupri was a huge part in me becoming a stylist, because Jermaine then said there's this artist named Chris Bridges. I'm going to connect you with him. He's a real personality. He got a song that's heating up. It's called I wanna.
Speaker 2:I connected with them, did that video. Then he connected me with a jagged edge. Then he was like usher shot a video. Uh, the label don't like it. They didn't spend a bunch of money on a photo shoot. We got to figure, figure it out how we going to make this. Uh, right, and then he put me on the phone with la reed and la reed was like listen, jd said you could fix this. And that became the 87 on one project and the 87 album cover.
Speaker 1:And I remember la, you know you did that cover.
Speaker 2:I had no idea that yeah, yeah, I did that album cover and and I was off to the races after that.
Speaker 2:I was on fire, I was, you know, and then then became my my job records you know relationship, but you know I met you and was working with Grace and when this was a danger too short, you know, and working on those videos and it became, I remember one time watching 106 in part and 106 in part was, you know, top 10 video countdown. I will watch it and sometimes, on any given week, eight of the videos in the countdown would be mine. Wow, Like eight. You have 112 Pieces of Cream. You have Shake your Ass Danger Bow Wow. Whoever Bow Wow was, Mr 106 and Park.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:My videos with Bow Wow lived on number one all the time. Then it was a trickle down and I remember one day I got a call from Puff and Puff was like I did a few things with Puff but never really had styled him. And you know, he he made it feel like, ok, you ready to address Godzilla? You know he was like you ready, you ready now, you ready to get me right, you ready to get me right? And so I had did his girl group, dream. That was shot by Marcus Rayboy, and also Dream was signed to Kenny Burns 2620 production and that was like a little, you know, a label situation that he had over there and I did that. And then I think the first big video I did for Puff was the D, the I, the D, the D, the Y, the.
Speaker 2:D and Brett Ratner shot that and we was off to the races you were flying. Oh, I mean, I was like I said I was styling everybody I had worked with, from Carl Thomas to Mystical, to Jagged Edge, to 112, to.
Speaker 1:So before we move forward, give me I always say spicy because I'm like, I don't even like the word crazy Give me one spicy story. You don't have to name the artist. Give me one spicy story about a styling thing that was kind of wild or went left or it was fun, it doesn't matter. But give me one spicy story.
Speaker 2:It was with God. Bless the Dead, is it? Prodigy from Mobb Deep right Prodigy. He had a song with BG and I styled the video and I had. You know, you borrow jewelry, you borrow stuff.
Speaker 2:And I remember borrowing some jewelry from a jewelry company Obviously it's insured and you sign this letter of agreement and intent and all that stuff, because I wanted to always make my videos fly and accessorize and whatever. And I just remember there was something that was wrong with craft service, that he didn't want to eat off a craft service table. We shot the video in Queens. He wanted to go off-site to get something to eat. Came back, bandana was wop-sided, shirt was ripped and guiding jewels was ripped and guiding jewels was gone.
Speaker 2:And I just remember and it's made me realize like, wow, shit can happen for me to be on my P's and Q's and make sure like, hey, take that necklace off, take that Rolex off, take that ring off, take that bracelet off If you're going to leave the site. I was trying to appease him and when he was in his hood I didn't want him to feel like he can't be in his hood and do his thing. But I remember when that happened I was just like, oh my God. And then having to call my friend who parents owned the jewelry company. That was a relationship that kind of like fell to pieces based off that one moment. Relationship that kind of like fell to pieces based off that one moment, wow, wow.
Speaker 1:So wait. So now you're styling, you're killing them out there, you're doing your thing. Now is this about the time you met DJ Cassidy or had you known Cassidy? Previous to this.
Speaker 2:I met DJ. I saw DJ Cassidy around. I thought he was Puerto Rican. Yeah, I thought he was a Puerto Rican dude, like one of the Puerto Rican niggas. I really didn't meet Cassidy until I was down in Miami. I was dating a girl from Miami and I had flew down to Miami and DJ Cassidy, farnsworth Bentley a bunch of us was down at the same time and they were by the pool chilling and I walked up and I was like where the girl's at what's popping? You know, let's get it going on, going on. And I was like yo, what's poppin'? Y'all doing, Y'all niggas worried about suntans, y'all killing it.
Speaker 2:Y'all killing it. I gotta be out of here. And later that night Puff had a dinner with Pharrell and a bunch of people and we went over there and we hung out.
Speaker 1:We had dinner and I was like I'm out Immediately.
Speaker 2:I didn't like Cassidy, didn't like him at all. He just rubbed me the wrong way, just didn't like his energy Cut to. I moved to the Upper East Side on 74 between First and York. I get a call from him saying that I heard you moved to the Upper East Side. I was like yeah. He was like I live up here, I'm on 72nd and 2nd or something like that, and I was like okay, cool. He was like yo, man, we should hang out sometime, we should. You know, da, da, da. And I was like nigga, I don't really want to hang out with you. You know what I mean to unpack and I'm getting ready to go to Europe. I got a lot of stuff to do. Ba, ba, ba, ba ba. Long story longer.
Speaker 2:I hung out with him and he played me some beats and some stuff that he had been working on with his producing partner. And he played a track. It was the first time in my life that I heard words to the track in my brain. I started freestyling it and he was like you just made that up. And I was like yeah, he just came to me. I said weird. He's like that's crazy. You write songs. I said nah. He said yo, hold on for a second. He grabbed a little recorder. He was like you think you can do it again. I was like I'll try. I sang like the first verse damn it to the, to the course. And that became check your coat, wow. And I got a record deal based off that.
Speaker 2:Because Cassie and I were relentless with going to every club, every hotspot, whether it was butter, whether it was one, oh, whether it was you name it. We went to every club in New York to the point where enough heard it, started playing it and started breaking in that radio. Ebro started playing it, miss Jones, angie Martinez, everybody started playing the record. It was like a huge thing. And then one day we were talking about like where is this going, what are we doing with this? And we get a knock on the door and it's Ebro and Monty Littman. Wow, and Ebro and Monty.
Speaker 1:Littman Wow.
Speaker 2:And Ebro, and Monty Littman was there, because Ebro was a program director of Hot 97 at the time and he was like yo, you know. Monty was like I know what this is, I want this record, I want to give you a singles deal. Blah, blah, blah, blah, and I was like let's do it. Cassie was, yeah, okay, let's think about it. I'm not trying to be no artist, no singer, I'm not debauched, I'm like, let's just run with this and see where it goes.
Speaker 2:Let's run to see where it goes. Wind up landing with my dear friend and my big brother to this day, Steve Griffin at SRC. Sylvia Rome had wanted this single. I had met with Sylvia. It was a great experience, man, man. So Cass and I became best friends and he produced my first single that got me a record deal.
Speaker 1:Wow that's a long way from South Carolina.
Speaker 2:A long way from South Carolina, especially, you know, going on the road and doing these tours. We did this college tour Me Tiana Taylor, ryan Leslie. Oh my god, jojo Lloyd Doing these tours. We did this college tour Me Tiana Taylor, ryan Leslie oh my God, jojo Lloyd. Gym Class Heroes. It was crazy. I went from being a stylist to being a recording artist, to being an artist and loving every minute of it.
Speaker 1:Wow, now, at this point, are you still living in New York or have you moved to LA At?
Speaker 2:this point, I'm still in New York. Or you moved to LA, I'm still in New York City. I tell you I was loving it because it was crazy, because I was opening up shows. I opened up for 50 Cent in Atlantic City and was doing shows. Don C flew me out to do a show in Chicago. Dj AM flew me out to LA to do shows. My song DJ AM flew me out to LA to do shows. My song was DJ Felly Fell. It was Pup Dog in Boston. You know everybody. I was doing all these shows and I was loving it. That was an amazing, amazing run.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow. So, tell me how did you get to LA?
Speaker 2:I got to LA because the song had stopped playing. Okay, in a nutshell, I was literally got burnt out. On New York, I saw the culture and there was a cultural shift. Yeah, yeah, what I was used to New York was like this very sacred thing, right, everybody didn't have access to it. And then I started to realize, because everybody wanted to make more and more money, they started to get more and more people access to it. It lost a lot of that specialness and that magic. And I'm not an elitist by any means, but I do like to feel like my shit ain't like everybody else's.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying and when you have been moving like that for a long time and then it started to shift, you're like, hold on a sec, what's going on. And so I was like you know what, la, is the next step for me? I want to get more into film and tv and content and things like that. And I mean I packed my shit up and and moved, moved to california.
Speaker 1:Okay, you moved to la. So before we get into, pastor Mike, tell me about Kosher Roll, your reality show, which you're now with your now wife Kosher Roll, kosher Soul. Kosher Soul. I'm tripping Kosher Soul.
Speaker 2:Listen, that's a good spin on it, because the guy can be Jewish and she can be Asian and it can be Kosher Roll. There you go, there you go, there you go.
Speaker 1:So kosher soul.
Speaker 2:My then girlfriend, now wife, was. She would come back and forth from LA to New York because she had moved out here, because she was a stylist, and that's how we met ultimately. And we were just watching TV one night and I was watching the Kardashians, all this reality TV stuff. Right, it was that era.
Speaker 1:It was that era of reality.
Speaker 2:Everything was we should do a show.
Speaker 2:And she was like what I said, we should do a reality show. She's about, well, it's about us. She said what would be about? I was like I'm black, you're Jewish, interracial, interfaith, a relationship. She was like what would it be? I was like Kosher Soul and she looked at me like that's a good name actually, and I was like let's do Kosher Soul. And I took this.
Speaker 2:Cassie's dad one Christmas Christmas bought us all these little flip cams, okay, and I didn't try to record anything with a storyline, I just recorded us being us hanging out, going out, thriving, doing stuff. And I had a friend of mine named Ebiz, lived downtown, he was great at editing, he chopped it up and had graphics kosher soul and us and dah, dah, dah. And I had told Cassidy about it. Cassidy was like yo, um, that's a dope idea, cut to. I moved to LA, put it on the back burner a little bit. I was trying to figure out my, my, my, to figure out my base here and what I was going to be doing, and met a young lady, told her about the idea. She loved it, she wanted to shop it. She loved it but didn't know how to shop it. So we met with BET, we met all these people and sometimes you know, it's always good to have somebody to believe in what you're doing, but if they're not the right person it still don't work. You know what I mean. And God bless her. She was an amazing person, but it wasn't the right person. And so Cassidy had told us about Ish Entertainment, michael Herschon, those guys, you guys should meet with them. We met with them. They liked it, didn't seem like they was that into it. Okay, we guys let you know, didn't hear anything from them, so signed with this chick. She shopping us for like six months the day her contract was up with us.
Speaker 2:Two days after the two days after her contract was up, I get a call from Melissa Cooper who worked worked at Ish and say hey, this is Melissa Cooper. Where are you guys with that show idea? Kosher Soul? I said our contract just ran out with the person that was shopping it for us. She was like we want to fly to LA, shoot a pilot, take it out and shop it. I was like what? And I was like what? And I was like, okay, and they came out, shot the pilot, they took the real screen. Tlc wanted it at the time, oxygen wanted it at the time, lifetime wanted it at the time, lifetime was a better deal for us. I don't think it was a better network, but it was a better deal. I got you, lifetime bought it and we got paid. Wow, coach's soul, coach's soul. Our first night it aired over 700,000 people tuned in. That's crazy. Even to this day, which is 10 years later, I can go to the Grove and I can go anywhere, and people still ask me when are y'all coming back?
Speaker 2:When are y'all coming back? When that show was running, we had a publicist from Lifetime that was supposed to book us stuff. But I had already had so many relationships in the entertainment business I don't care Every magazine outlet, because I was a stylist, she was a stylist. They was calling us People Magazine, ok Magazine, us Magazine. They did our wedding spread the whole thing. Everybody was TD Jakes his talk show. We did everything. Wedding spread the whole thing. Everybody was, uh, td Jake's his talk show, everybody, we did everything. Um, if we were, I think that we were a little too early ahead of the curve, ahead of the curve ahead of the curve.
Speaker 2:If we were to come now with the right team team, it would be a smash monster yeah. Yeah, so real quick I yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So real quick, I want to talk about um, uh, pass the mic and where that. So um, pass the mic, cause this I classic R&B artists and rap artists, because that's what Cassidy plays at his parties. He plays classic stuff more than the new stuff and it always rocked. Cassidy's like retarded I don't want to say retarded, that's the wrong word but he's an amazing DJ. He's amazing. So tell me about that and where that's taken you.
Speaker 2:Well, you know what? It's funny because Cassidy had this brilliant idea during the pandemic, when everybody was trying to figure out what their next chapter in life yeah, in the house, everybody's in the house, and Cassidy's Rolodex of celebrity friends, of who's who is insane met anybody who is so well liked and so well received from his peers and people who came before us and our legendary people that love working with him. And you know he's a great guy. You know sometimes he get on my nerves, but it's just so right. You know what I mean. And when Andre, andre and Cassie had did a mixed CD called Champagne and Bubbles, I remember that, I remember that, I remember that.
Speaker 2:Everybody was playing in on their yachts and their boats and their vacation. It was very summertime vibe and when Andre passed May 7, 2020, bet, jesse Collins and those guys they reached out to us and Wendy Credo, for us to work on Andre's BET special, which was like recapping his life, with interviews and different people, and it really gave the template of what Pastor Mike would then become, because you have Cassidy and it was me sitting beside him, but you have Cassidy essentially sitting in his living room dressed like DJ Cassidy and it was me sitting beside him, but you have Cassidy essentially sitting in his living room dressed like DJ Cassidy, and we're talking about Andre Cut to Cassidy then creates Pastor Mike, where he's in his living room and he's passing the mic to some of the most legendary acts and talents that we've ever seen in our lifetime, and this thing blew up and Jesse Collins and those guys at BET they loved it and they turned it into a series and we continuously tried to figure out how to make this thing grow. It turned into a concert, then it turned into a residency in Vegas, then it turned into, I mean, the legs of Pastor Mike. The brilliant thing about Pastor Mike is it makes you feel good?
Speaker 2:Yes, because a lot of those acts sometimes get forgotten. Because, especially in our culture, we're so quick for the new thing. We don't allow our acts to turn into the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith. We really don't. We don't. As soon as they get old, we don't mess our acts to turn into the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith. We really don't, we don't. As soon as they get old, we'll say oh, we don't mess with that, no more.
Speaker 1:We don't do that, no more.
Speaker 2:Nobody's going to buy those tickets. Nobody's going to say it. Cassidy has proven that not only is there an audience for these talents from that generation, people still want to see them perform. And, man, we've been around the world with Pastor Mike and we got a lot of special things coming up this year and next year with Pastor Mike and we're just really excited just to continuously build and watch this IP grow.
Speaker 1:It's interesting because there's a Queens of R&B tour out now with Chaka Khan, stephanie Mills, gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle. I'm watching online. It seems to be doing extremely well. All four are great performers. All four of them have we only talk about the catalog. I really attribute that and I'm seeing other things come out on the pike to Pastor Mike. I attribute that to these kind of tours that are going on now Charlie Wilson and Babyface and a couple of other guys. They're going on as well. I attribute all that that the kernel of these things started with, in my opinion, with Pastor Mike.
Speaker 2:No, absolutely Got to shout out Steve Rifkin, because Steve Rifkin was the one who took it to BET Wow, okay, and got the deal done. So shout out, steve Rifkin. Steve Rifkin was the one who took it to BET Wow, and got the deal done. So shout out to Steve Rifkin. Shout out to Shelby at the Black Promotive Collective. Shelby was the one who came and said this is big, it could go on the road. Here's the money. Let's make this happen. And I'm talking from jazz in the garden, I'm talking to we got a big show that I can't say, you know we're in the way If it's not a big show coming up, you know, god willing, this summer and we're super excited about that.
Speaker 2:But no, it just is. It just reminds me that we are as old as we allow ourselves to be true, me that we are as old as we allow ourselves to be true, and if we allow ourselves to still celebrate our music, our culture and continuously to hold it up, it'll stand up exactly. Yeah, I mean like so. So you know, when I, when I do these shows and I, and I see, you know, these acts come out on stage and and and they rock and, and I mean we've been selling out. You know 12 these acts come out on stage and they rock, and I mean we've been selling out. You know 12, 15,000 seaters, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like that ain't nothing to you know, sneeze at no, not at all. Not at all. That's legit, that's real business.
Speaker 2:That's real business and we've been taking it around the world and I think for us that really showed us how big we sold out Planet Hollywood residency every weekend.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Sold out, seeing people like I'm from Tupelo, mississippi, and I had to come here and see da-da-da-da-da and da-da-da-da-da and I'm from Arkansas and da-da-da-da-da, and it's just every walk of life, shape, color and creed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a beautiful thing, man, Walk past the mic. That's a beautiful thing. So we're going to wrap up with tell me about what you're doing now. I know you're working with Alan Hughes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, oh man.
Speaker 1:Tell me a little bit about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, right now I'm the business director of a company called Gus Cloud, and Gus Cloud is an influencer content creator company. We and Gus Cloud is an influencer content creator company. We are like the CA ICM of the digital space. We have 13 offices around the globe. Our main office is in Singapore. We just opened up our most recent office in Abu Dhabi. So our goal is to not only sign talent but also create financial literacy for talent. They show them how to manage their money. You got these kids making 50, 60 grand a month, even more than that. That doesn't come with a 401k plan. That doesn't come with financial literacy. That does come with. I got a lot of paper and I want to spend it.
Speaker 2:I'm going to buy McLarens and APs and all that, we're trying to educate them in that way and sign really great talent. This is where it is. Whether we want to believe it or not, there's kids who, when they graduate, they want to be influencers, they want to be content creators.
Speaker 1:It's a real business and it's a real occupation. It's a real thing. That's not just like somebody talking, it's really a real business.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's really a real business, really a real business. Yes, it's really a real business. On the Alan Hughes front, we got a bunch of projects that we're working on Defiant Media. Alan is a really good friend and a mentor and a brother Working with Nelson George, currently on Great Day in Hip Hop. We're producing that with Nelson and Alan and it's just basic. Nelson has all this amazing footage from that day that photo shoot in 1998 up in Harlem, you were there that day both.
Speaker 1:of us.
Speaker 2:I was there that day.
Speaker 1:I snuck in the car.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know what I mean. So, and you know, definitely got to get you to talk about it as well. You know, being a piece in the music industry.
Speaker 1:Love to.
Speaker 2:But we just got a lot of cool projects. But we you know I'm in the business of doing things that's going to continuously uplift the culture and the people and educate the people and inspire the people Because, at the end of the day, I think that we are so cavalier but our voice is so important to the global span of how music style culture affects the world. And I think it because it's us. We don't really see how magical it is Sometimes. You know it's like we know it is, but do we really know? You know, and I think the key is owning that and having ownership of that and being able to continuously push that. Who would have thought, when you look at these videos, these little Asian kids breakdancing and rapping and freestyling and shit that hip-hop from the Bronx would have taken it that far? You know what I mean Jay-Z's a billionaire. You know what I mean Jay-Z's a billionaire. You know what I mean. Look at all that came from hip-hop.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:All that came from hip-hop. You know what I mean. Hip-hop has single-handedly affected America's economy. We affect the economy, so we got to have a little more ownership of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree. Well, I you know we ain't got to discuss it. I agree a thousand percent, you know yo. Thank you for your time, my brother man.
Speaker 2:Thank you, man. Listen this was. This was fun. Listen, you know, I've known you now at 30 years. Yeah, it's been a long time. Yeah, I was thinking when I was driving to the office. I was like I met you when I was around 21, 22. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm 50 now, so that's almost 30 years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, we've known each other a long time, man, I've seen a lot of stuff. A lot of stuff, a lot of New York stuff and a lot. We could do this for five hours if we wanted to easily, easily, easily. I feel like we skipped over so many things just so we don't have the time.
Speaker 2:Oh, there's always a part two, there's always a part two.
Speaker 1:We'll keep it going, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:But we appreciate it, man. Thanks for all this mix and master, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:We appreciate you coming on and telling your story, man, and I think it's going to be another story that's going to be very inspirational for the listeners, because I think you know my my goal in doing this show is to and we've talked about this is to show people, All the people that I know behind the scenes, yeah, to have you know that I have done and I'm still doing things to, like you said, push the culture forward. You know we're behind the scenes. You know you've done some stuff in front of the camera as well, but for the most part we're behind the scenes. So people don't always know our names or our journeys but, like today, you told, you know, you told your journey from, like, this little town in south carolina. You know living in la and working with alan hughes, and you know living in LA and working with Alan Hughes, and you know, and Pastor Mike, all the things we talked about. I think it's important for people to know this the culture, this is a culture.
Speaker 2:You know, we got to continuously push the culture and we got to continue to believe in ourself and believe in our people.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, Thank you man, I appreciate it, my man Appreciate you. You can catch Mixed and Mastered 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.
