Babyface • R&B MONEY Podcast • Episode 021

[Music] money [Music] take Valentine we are the authorities on all things r b i just I'm just starting off with a class I'm starting off with the clown yeah let's clap yeah we never started the show up with a class no no we normally do a bunch of talking and then clap but my name is tank I'm Jay Valentine and this is R B Money the r b money podcast yes it is the authority hey and can't nobody say [ __ ] ain't nobody we are now yeah the official Authority for all things are in I wish they would I wish we would we have in the building um and I'm not going to labor long on the intro I'm just going to say the greatest singer songwriter producer of all times all times all times Mr Ken at the Babyface Edmonds in the building thank you I'm like who is y'all talking about you you know who we talking about yeah you're walking here with that kind of sweater you forgot label owner I mean yeah we are all up We are following in giant footsteps you understand what I'm saying and so this moment right here is like um surreal on in real life and we've we've we've we've had our moments and our relationship for a long time but um for you to come here and sit with us man we are I mean truly Beyond honored well I was honored to come and sit with you guys thank you bro thank you yeah why wouldn't I yes sir I'm a major fan so and have been for years but you know that yes sir so it's uh I think is wonderful what you guys are doing and what you do and what you bring to the culture and to r b and keeping it alive it's it never died in the first place so yes they're talking about yeah and uh so I'm honored to be here I want to start off with a story and then we'll come on we'll get into the the nuts and bolts and the Nicks and crannies um you called me one day and you said tank I'm doing a Christmas party pretty you know pretty huge deal for some cool people and I'm going to play and sing and I'd like you to play for me and sing as well and excuse me the way I translated that to my mom was Babyface just called me he said I'm the greatest he said I'm the most special artist singer-songwriter producer he's ever seen in his life and he can't do this without me that's how it translated don't oh man don't worry about that um and he's the baby I'm the face he's the baby I'm the face that's basically what he said yes and that's you know that's that's the story I told and so we get into rehearsal over at the amazing studio that we should have a room in and we should have a room there and um and I and I don't know why I'm a pocket I'm a pocket player when it comes to you know being a musician playing I'm a pocket guy I'm a guy that holds down the fort it's always been my role in in a band since I was a kid and for some reason I just felt the need to Dazzle you with my with my piano Antics and my dexterity and all of my information within the one key you have me playing it and I'm just I'm just tickling the ivory while you're you're singing and you're just kind of looking like you know I'm thinking it's like yeah he killing it I'm thinking that's the look you're giving me and then finally you're like God we said right I do the whole thing and then you look at me like yeah yeah I think I think less of you more of me and I said yeah yeah that's that's a it's about right that's what you heard I don't remember that those those were the real words but even in that moment man it was like you know it was school was in session pretty much and we got there and we did that event man and I I think I saw Dustin Hoffman I was like where are we and I appreciate you for just even thinking of me in that moment man and not firing me that you weren't fired there were that night there was Warren Beatty there was a Barbra Streisand uh everybody was in that audience and I have to tell you that um because I've done that a couple of times with them because of my friend of Carol bear Sager that's who we did the party for so but I have to tell you that to this day they still talk about that night that you performed and how beautiful your rendition of the Christmas song that we I don't remember which Christmas song we did but um they still Carol still talks about whoever that guy was he had the most amazing voice and I said that's why I brought him because the emotion that he sings with it's not just not just moving the notes but it's how you approach it and from from being able to say sing any word or or any lyric if the melody and the emotions out there then he can just write right you know go right back by you and you did not disappoint that night I still get brownie points from years ago from bringing you to that spot thank you brother so I appreciate it so a little more of you it's about you I don't remember saying those words that's not even in my vocabulary it's more me less you but that's how you heard it I probably just said maybe don't play as much and you took it as like oh more you no brother face you definitely said no that's how you remember those those words aren't in my vocabulary more me we were in a very comprised space I understand I understand but you never remembering wrong oh more me so it's again when I tell this story he's the baby on the face I'm the greatest ever um we we we love to we love to start at the beginning face like we love to say or love to ask when was the first time someone said to you or that you realized that you had something special something special the gift I don't know if I've ever thought of it as a gift it's just something that you do in terms of like even just picking up a guitar and then and then kind of singing and doing it kind of just what comes natural not necessarily being a piano star guitarist but just kind of like learning enough to play to accompany myself um singing in um in high school like when I was in sixth grade we had a singing group in sixth grade um nobody else could sing but she still had a group it was like me in the homies yeah Michael trust Teddy Gaines and um clue or something Larry McClure and uh and we sung um we sung Smokey Robinson's uh saw you there in front of our our um our class and um and I'm a girl watcher and those were two songs that we we sing right there of course yeah exactly yeah I'm a girl watching yeah we tried to get Kim Cunningham to walk by when you do the listen part she wouldn't do that I still remember these names see I know the names are there but so that was the first time we stood in front of the student from the crowd the the class and they thought we sucked so I won't say that I felt like I had a gift at that point um and then the second time that I remember standing in front of an actual audience was at my brother's High School Melvin he had a group at the time called The Soul Innovations and they were um they was a good band and they were going to do this homecoming thing and right the Jackson 5 had just come out so yeah I want you back and who's loving you and they wanted to do one of those songs but nobody had the voice so we had to so Melvin brought myself and Kevon in the living room to know go for who could sing Mike spark Michael's Park yeah and so we had to sing who's loving you and Kevin saying first and then he walked out room the night came and saying and unbeknownst to me I won and I would not win with Kevin today period because kevon's voice is crazy super hot he's a mom super high crazy yeah and um but um I won and so I got to go sing at the homecoming and I got to saying who's loving you and this was like I'm in sixth grade at this point let me singing my high school girls huh high school girls stared to death but um but I I know they used to play I Want You Back when I walked up to the stage they would play I want you back and I remember just being so nervous and so scared that when I hear when I would hear that and walking up there and I walked up there and sung the song and like you know people gave me love and and I can't believe that I actually did that because I was way too shy to ever think I could do anything like that and to this for the longest time every time I would hear I want you back I get nervous again get nervous about it yeah it's like you know just this thing they would tick you up like oh and then your heart starts yeah and every now and then if it hits me right you could do the same thing but that first time just getting on the stage so did I feel special I don't know that I felt special yet then neither um until a couple years later this kid uh named Emmanuel came up to my house knocked it on the door asked my mom does the kid that sound just like Michael Jackson but only better live here live here in this house because he was trying to start a band yeah and so the rumor was there was this kid that sung just like Michael Jackson but only a little better it was out and so he came to see if you know maybe I could join the group yeah at that point my voice had changed you know and I couldn't sing like Michael anymore and uh I went and auditioned for them and they laughed at me because I had I didn't have the voice anymore but I could write songs and I had a little song that I wrote and I started singing the song that I wrote and then the dad came down stairs and said who's that singing he goes up whoever that is y'all need to y'all need to get him because he better than all y'all no way so then I got in the group at that point shout out to the Father Tell him sometimes hey son you ain't got it he got it maybe you can manage him so but all throughout when you sit there and ask a question when you feel like you have a gift I don't know that when your basic personality is being humble and not not being about you you don't ever think of it as a gift to till much later to where you where everybody recognizes what you've done and you and you look back at it and you say okay you know I thank God that I had this gift but I wasn't walking around thinking that I had something I just was doing what I love to do um and it was and it came natural for me to do it and I always wanted to be better I never felt like I was the best at everything uh I always feel like I had to work harder to try to be you know to to compete with other people but I never felt like I was like the best one in the room wow so so you're going through high school yeah and are you are you making records at this time that you you know you can write you know you can sing you got the instrumentation see that's a different time that's like you know um back then when I was growing up you weren't really making records at that point you weren't even doing demos you had to get in the studio and that's that's got to get in the real yeah that was dude that was that was different yeah it was Unreal no one yeah that wasn't reality to get in the studio no no you could you could write songs and put them on a little tape recorder you know a little cassette and I had a lot of little ideas on cassettes you know that I would do right songs but yeah I was writing songs throughout high school and you know because I kept on falling in love and then write a song about a girl yeah y'all know about that yeah yeah I used to always fall in love in the strip club that was where I fell in love I wasn't falling in love though I was fun I mean like so T-Pain wrote your life pretty he wrote my life are you kidding me that's your name when does the professional call come the professional professional call where somebody just became your job somebody you know somewhere A and R or something because at this point you're still in Indianapolis yeah I'm ending I'm I'm there in Indy but here's the thing there were so many little things that happened that are kind of hard to believe that they happen even in that time period where you would meet somebody or like um so this story once before but when I was in eighth grade um I met Michael I met the Jackson Five but I made that happen because they come to town and I saw them when I was in sixth grade I saw them do that going back to Indiana concert and saw them I was at that at that concert and it blew my mind and that's when I knew that that's what I wanted to do because I could see these kids on stage doing music and it was crazy I had a terrible seat I was sitting in the back I could only see their face if they spin other than that I missed it all I saw afros the whole time but it would it blew me away that that they could do that and so in my head I thought one day I want to meet them and so a couple years later this thing popped up where they were coming to town again and I was talking to myself I gotta meet him and so I I saw it in the newspaper where they were coming to the State fairgrounds and the promoter's name was Charles Williams so I looked in the phone book of every Charles Williams that I could call and I called Charles and I put on this voice like I was a an adult I used to have this I don't know if you knew this actor named Jimmy Stewart yeah I used to have a Jimmy Stewart um impersonation I used to impersonate his voice and so I used his voice as my adult voice and called call Charles and told him that you know my name is Mr Clayton I'm a journalist teacher at uh Wesleyan junior high school and uh I heard that you have some Jackson kids some some kind of people like you didn't even know who oh you did the whole thing yeah they're coming to town and I and uh and I wanted to know if uh I thought it was I'm gonna have a journalist class and I want to have some kids so my kids interview your kids and he goes he said that's a great idea um so Mr Clayton so how do I how do I reach you and I said well no I don't want you to do it that way I said I one of my students Kenny Edmonds I want to give you his phone number I want you to call him and and he will do the interview I want him to do it like he's a real reporter and he said okay that sounds great so you know he took my number down he hung up and he called me about five minutes at my house I picked up the phone because if my mom had got that that would have been in trouble so just from lying she just would have got me and so um I picked up the phone he goes uh Kenny Evans police says this is he says this is Charles Williams I said yes I know who you are yes Charles Charles Charles Charles yeah she doesn't ring a bell please yeah yeah and he goes so I just talked to your teacher Mr Clayton I said Mr Clayton yes he goes yeah I just talked to him and he talked about you interviewing The Jackson 5 are you serious oh my God are you really he said yes this is good this could happen I'm gonna I'm gonna check with the security and check with everybody see if we can make it happen I'm gonna call you back in about a week and let you know whether it can happen and uh a week later he called me and said you got an interview with the Jackson 5. and so in eighth grade I went down to uh the Hilton Hotel on the 12th floor and walked in and interviewed Michael Jackson and the brothers were all there in the room I actually walked in there in eighth grade wow couldn't believe it so you're a scammer at 13. scammers the kids call it that one could look one could see it there we don't we don't have baby face if you don't do that yeah right yeah I mean I get it yeah so I figured out how to get in there and it was just to just to be in the in their space and um and I couldn't even believe I did it um but I did it and um it was it was just all part of the whole journey because the thing is what was special about Indianapolis there was so much music around and there's so many bands there were like a thousand bands and so there was always someone to play with or someone some band that you could join and even at a very young age in High School junior high school we had bands you know that doesn't exist today whatsoever at all um in any kind of even when they were doing you know like the boys and men where people were doing groups we had bands everybody was playing you know um somebody played the instruments yeah the whole thing so um and that was so even with that in ninth grade I had a band called the elements and we auditioned for this concert that was coming in town that they were letting all the local bands figure out who could open up for this big concert that was coming in town and that concert was Curtis Mayfield when he had Superfly out y'all kids and we're kids so I'm in ninth grade we opened up for Curtis Mayfield I played some Originals playing original songs not the original songs but playing X I think we played for once in my life Stevie Wonder um and so there were moments of things that would happen we think okay this is it we're gonna make it you know and everybody in the music business and we've all experienced that yeah so there were so many moments and so and we so bad wanted to make it I remember we used to um we'd be walking down the street and say there'd be like a stop sign so if everybody runs because if this car gets yeah if this if you go if you don't hit that stop sign before this guy hits you ain't gonna never make it an old school game so we'd run with our life you know to get there so we make it but what it making it mean yeah making it at that point meant that you that your record was on the radio and that people knew that you you know that you were on it it didn't mean buying a big house or getting a car or anything else like that because we didn't know that you really made money at it we just wanted to be on the radio and recognize for your organizing that was that was making it um didn't know anything else about it other than just wanting to be known have a record out and and be on the radio so it was a different time there you know um music didn't necessarily mean money and that was probably probably something that we should have known would have helped it always helps but but there was something kind of nice about the the innocence of it oh at that point that it wasn't about anything but the music um and and where that's become a different thing today I think completely different for sure I literally have had to have the conversation with my son about they're not that rich because you know it's it's this is it's part of that the promotion I'm like deuce they're showing you this so that they that you can help them eventually get that right yeah if you can get a whole bunch of your friends to believe that this guy has a watch on us worth 375 000 and it's only three of them made in the world but he has one right yeah yeah out in Macon Georgia this new rap kid right you know what I mean but you know I I get it and that's part of the promotion and obviously those things didn't exist at that point no and like you said that making it was turning that radio down and hearing your song yeah so does the elements does that lead to the deal no there's so many little groups I was in first group was Indy five second was um Gemini eight Gemini 8 We performed on um a local TV show called Clover power which David Letterman was the host oh wow he was the guest host that was like in eighth grade um from there uh Gemini 8 to LC so unlimited then it was the elements and then it was tarnish silver and then I joined um tarnish silver okay all right all right that was the high school band we played all the all the gigs in high school so we went to colleges as well um yeah I didn't want to be solid gold no no silver that's gonna kill him what about this one we walk in unbuffed skip we walk in I'm walking on Buff it's gonna be a problem thank you for that you're still to go though gotta come from somewhere yeah yeah um no but trying to say we we did well we you know from like my high school years from like 10 to 11th grade you know to 10 through my senior year we played all the gigs there yeah and the cool thing about when you're playing in those bands that's the whole thing is that it's um it's preparing you for later for sure preparing you for shows and you know um things that you things that you think you know like when we're when we were in turning silver we played our own original songs we played stuff on the radio but it was mostly we are at a school that was mostly white so it was probably 10 black people and mostly white so a lot of the shows that we what school did you go to in Indianapolis North Central High School because my brothers went to Arlington yeah we lived out there for a hot second really yeah yeah North Central was not Street at that time and uh so most of the gigs we were playing when we go to colleges we were playing like our original songs and and playing maybe the Bee Gees um the blackest thing we would play would be Earth Wind Fire and um I remember the first time we actually played for um it wasn't Arlington but I'm pretty something like Darlington uh Jack I keep I'm forgetting the name right now but we played for their homecoming all black School and we went out there and started playing our stuff because we always you know we would always be great people they'd be dancing right right right it's different the crowd was way different and so we got out there started playing and they were just looking at us like that I remember I had one friend from Pam Brewer she was from North Central she was up there looking like she was like oh I feel so bad for second-hand embarrassment oh yeah it was like and I could see that share looking like oh I'm so sorry you know I asked John to do this because we were just they just did not care because soon as we stopped playing in the then the uh they put on record skin types and then we go back up and and then so I remember me and Daryl had a conversation he's like we ain't black enough we just you know we don't know nothing this is terrible and and they and we knew the songs but we didn't play any of those songs uh so we were like we knew we had to start changing our game because we thought we was going to kill him with uh Earth Wind Fire we played devotion yeah Earth Wind Fire wasn't black enough yet so you didn't kill him with devotion no I wasn't they wasn't ready yeah Indianapolis is different yeah I mean you know that because you've been through there but I'm just saying you know just my time living there like it's like it's black it's black not yet not yet they hadn't until reasons came from fire it didn't really kick in you know till reasons okay happened but other than that it was like but not like it wasn't enough wasn't enough for us that night yeah and uh but you learned from we failed we learned from it and then um and when you said Daryl was this Daryl Simmons Daryl Simmons yeah yeah because that's why that's yeah we ABS absolutely know who that is yeah you just said the first name so I'm like wait right y'all in a high school band again yeah yeah okay okay all right so me and Daryl Simmons and then um interning silver we got this opportunity to go to this club called The In Crowd and we opened up for this group called Manchild and mancha was like the funkiest group ever and they will they look like Giants and they and they were also um very talented where they played Return to Forever and they and they they could play um they could play jazz they could play funk they could play everything they could play Teddy Pendergrass It was like let me what's up make love no that was um oh geez I think uh so it was like the 1500 or Nothing right yes yeah yeah so they was they was killing and we and so once again we went in there thinking that we was going like kill it because we learned a couple more Earth Wind and Fire songs um and they were very kind to us that audience was very kind to us and like I said okay we thought we won until Manchester came out there was smoke and they came out uh doing uh Chaka Khan song I'm a I'm a woman but they call I'm a man child oh yeah oh they was already doing the remixes oh yeah yeah with their name in it yeah and I'm a [ __ ] that's what they would and I was saying that's what y'all that's what followed up oh they came after us and just killed us exactly that's what it felt like and but it was a learning experience yeah and it was like okay I gotta I gotta start learning some other stuff I gotta you know because I I you know I would play my acoustic guitar and play pretty songs and and that's kind of like that was my whole thing and then from watching that I said I need to learn how to you know play some funk I need to learn how to do do those other things and not because I loved it when I heard it but I just had never heard it in that way and so um when I finished high school just before I graduated I got a call to Joy Manchild really so that funk group that I that blew me away I actually joined that band right out of high school and that was my learning ground for so many things in terms of musically um being able to learn so many different genres so I would preparing me for today and for the rest of you know rest of my life in music all of those things and then out of Manchild Manchild only lasted for a while then I end up leaving Manchild and I joined this group called The Crowd Pleasers and the crowd pleases was strictly a top 40 band playing out of Michigan most of the time and we played all these places in Michigan just playing top 40 which was like the best that was the best education I could get I was when they were when you're playing these top 40 songs nightly you're learning how songs are supposed to feel and you you're learning watching the crowd what they react to and when you hit a hit the right kind of hook with the verses everything that you is helping your songwriting and songwriting completely I'm able to learn so much more from that seeing how songs actually work you know you know where you're actually applying them in front of people to see it so that was like the best learning ground and from there that was right after that is when I ultimately joined the deal because I had written this song uh slow jam and slow jam um Midnight Star I kind of had met Midnight Star before midnight star wanted to record the song Slow Jam so when I went down to kind of help them demo the song that's when I ran into LA Reid for the second time and uh La uh we met at that point and that's when they decided that you know I should maybe help out with the help out make some demos for the deal play another slow jam is your first placement yes wow oh man that's a lot of champagne we can toast if we can toast to uh playing in the slow jams come on this time make it sweet that's out of control oh man out of control that's amazing that you kick all this off with a smash how does that work for you like at that time because obviously like you said earlier you didn't understand the business yet you weren't fully doing it for that yet when you write a record like that when you write a record like that you don't you still don't know whether it's a smash and and it wasn't necessarily single and it was it was something that was that Midnight Star did and and mind you so at this point I'm 20 something and I've been in the been in it for a while at this point yeah and you know was in another group man shot we had a regional record out and it did okay especially for you was the with the song and so where we thought we were going to make it and it was gonna happen but it didn't so you have all these points where you think it's going to happen and then bam and and it's a road it's a rocky road the whole way it's never just straight up um so when when they ultimately did the song he didn't know what was going to happen with it and I I was just a writer one of the writers on Suncoast by the time I handed in and the other people wrote out and you know how that story goes and so um the only thing I can remember about slow jam is hearing from solar records that um I was going to get a check and they called me and told me that I was going to like get a check for five grand I said what you actually get paid for this stuff you know and I was like so excited and I went out got me a shillito's card and got me an American Express card and you just start ordering credit cards I got some credit cards okay I've never heard that yeah what'd you do with your first chick I got 10 credit cards with the check yeah I got the I got the credit cards but the problem is I spent on the credit cards before that check ever came yeah because they said that check was coming they checked that check didn't come for about eight months it takes a minute eight months they told me it was coming in took eight months before I got it should have got to me sooner yeah yeah yeah sure but the sound of Los Angeles records I was already you know so my Creator was already messed up at early age um you know and but I saw that there was those that you could make you know some money yeah yeah and that was a great check at first you know thinking that was amazing and and all those things that happened before you know it's a long journey that that gets you there and all the all the songwriting and all the playing and the bands and all that stuff is what helps make the difference it makes a difference in terms of even to this day for when I do a show you know everything I can pull on to pull from all those things to you know figure out if I'm in front of a crowd that's kind of funny then I know how to work it yeah to win them over call that audible you got to work you got to call the Autumn I've been in front of a crowd where you know there was some nice looking young ladies in the front and I was doing what was supposed to be my hit record at the time to hit but I thought it was going to be hit and they looked at each other and said swag and it was that taped at the time you can't audible on the data and I still had a verse two hooks and a bridge and a hook you should have kicked over the speaker okay dog you should have kicked over the speaker Fort Valley State I'm coming back to redeem myself yes I gotta come back to you yes but you know a growing pain of learning how to figure out how to make those audibles depending on what kind of crowd you're I'm a church kid yeah so I'm coming from you know you know what yeah all Church yeah I'm saying I know what to do in that space yeah but now I'm thrusted into this r b space on a dirty south show yeah I didn't win that one he was [ __ ] yeah I didn't win yeah I know but you figured out how to win it oh you're damn right yeah yeah in that road them two girls I need y'all front row when I come leave somebody Mama alone man come on out auntie I want to see you I got all of us like a [ __ ] so you write slow jam and then it's the next batch of Records is that Sweet November and two occasions and yeah um Shoot Em Up movies like those came a little bit later between November was um it ended up being part of the deal second album but I actually had written that um I've read Network almost right out of high school and before I'd even got there so that song was sitting around for a while before I actually did that and yeah so that's definitely before I got to the deal sitting around on a cassette hey cassette and you know I just remembered something I didn't I never recorded other than just you know just playing the piano and just kind of doing it that way because I hadn't for some no I think I did ultimately record that on my Fortress because I got really good on The Four Track and that's kind of like what also got me the job with the deal because I figured out how to do really good backgrounds on The Four Track by yourself by myself yeah yeah and um from bouncing and everything and so uh Jeff Cooper from Midnight Star he asked me to come and um help the deal do the do the demos and I actually had talked to La before I got down there because there was a guy named Hollywood he was in the crowd pleases and how he was a good keyboard player and Hollywood was talking to LA on the phone one day and uh I had met La at the Zodiac Club a couple years ago maybe a year or so before that and this was before I was in the crowd Pleasers and when I met them they had already done the switch over where they were already getting like turning like the time and stuff and so they had and Prince they had like leggings and makeup and they it was like they was all the way in yeah yeah and I was like Wow Mickey free Mickey it was Nikki they were a little Freer than Mickey but but it was like and this was in the Zodiac and I was like dang they bowed you know but they had all the girls was there and they was like they was with them so I was like that's pretty cool and then I met La then and when La met me I was probably in a members only jacket so you know I had no vibe whatsoever that's what man you know I wasn't vibing anymore so met them and he said hey and uh but he had no not known me being in Manchild at least he had saw me playing with manchop so I knew I had some talent but when I saw them I said it's a great group and then when I was in Michigan much later with Hollywood Hollywood goes up he's on the phone with him and he says listen to this and because LA's playing him some music and it was some song called Turn It Up um and it was KO is KO playing a lick gonna dig him I still remember the lick it I was like oh my god there wasn't no singing on here but the track was just like just so hard and so like it was like in the time in French mixed together and I was like oh [ __ ] I'd love to be a part of that because I'm like in a group The Crowd pleases and they were cool but they were all older guys I mean even at that time they were 60 something years old and I was you know so it wasn't ever going to be anything else but a top 40 bands I mean and so I asked Hollywood said ask them if they need a guitar player if they need somebody else you know to play with them and Hollywood said he would ask so I wasn't sure how he would ask because I never heard anything then I finally asked Holly I said so did you ever ask la if I could join the band and he said yeah I talked to him about that and he said you can't join the band and said why he said because you're not breed enough and so being breed enough was you know having the look yeah having the whole Prince looking the whole time it was breed because Prince had a song called the New Breed so um it was it was all about being breed enough but they didn't know I had already gone breed I I breeded myself up while I was in the car and I was totally breed I might have been more breed than them but they hadn't seen you because I think I had code I had a you know coat and everything the hair was Dripping and oh yeah you know it was it wasn't Jerry curl because Jerry curls go bad um it's a California curls thank you is it California what's the difference the difference is with the Jerry curl they dry up really quickly and your hair goes bad California curl you don't have to put as much so it doesn't look greasy it was much smoother that's the whole idea about California thank you thank you yes the the uh California curl did not require as much liquids so that's the bottom line so it looked natural it looked like you was born there really like Jay yes at least you thoughtful we was it should be good for you to know that we was all trying to look like you anyway breathe baby [Laughter] that's you so did so did he ever did he really say that to him yeah he said yeah it was true I wasn't I wasn't pretty enough and I understood because the last time he saw me I was in a members only jacket so hey it was fair but while Hollywood was saying that but I'm breed now and uh but he didn't know that and so when I went down to Cincinnati I was inside the booth singing uh slow jam putting the demo down so la had come there because Midnight Star was producing their uh their demos to try to get them a record deal and so I was in the boosting and then La walked in and goes so who is that in the booth and he said that's Kenny Atmos I said can you get me oh really he sounds good and then I walked out and I was so brief he was Brave well he's breed now and so that's when Jeff Cooper asked if I would stay because the four tracks I would do and he said can you just come down and help put demos together and uh that's what sounds like just my luck and um crazy about you I had already written those songs before you even got in the group before I'd even got those songs were already written um um before I at least the tracks were in the no actually like crazy about just that was written and then uh I got down there then D helped me finish writing them and um that's how I play songs on the deal so initially I placed the songs I wasn't in the group when they went to get their deal um here in LA I wasn't in the group I had gone back to Michigan I was back in the crowd Pleasers and uh then I got in a call I was there for about a month or so and I got in the call from La you know I called to say hey just want you to know that you know we got a record deal we ended up getting a record there and I was like good for y'all yeah um I'm so happy for you as I hang out with you please God please it's over here that's amazing um and uh and you know at least I got a couple of songs placed in there you know I was kind of like you know happy and then he said also one other thing talk to the guys and they want to know if you want to we'd like you to join the group and that's it's saved my life at that point wow and that's what that's how I joined the deal were you singing on the demos the dip uh no I I was not um I might have did backgrounds but I wasn't there to be a singer right I was uh asked to join to be guitar and help write songs but I was there to be a musician because Carol was releasing not a singer uh um the lead singer was um was D and Carlos okay Dean Carlos and that's how it was supposed to be and I didn't sing to the second album and that almost didn't happen because we ultimately were supposed to um our second album was supposed to be produced by Reggie Callaway but some things went wrong with their management you know of course yeah so our management and uh which was Pablo Davis at the time he was managing Midnight Star and they had some problems and and we got caught up in the middle of it and so Reggie uh decided that he was not going to produce our second album and so we were like what are we gonna do then dick grippy called and said you and L.A should produce it you know so we were like I don't know but we're kind of scared because we've never done it before hadn't hadn't done it before and this time we we in like real Studios you know going there to do it but I always written these songs and that's when I had Sweet November that I demoed a while and so I had actually done Sweet November but I sent Sweet November in uh for the Whispers I was hoping that the Whispers would do that song and Dick Griffey heard the demo and he goes why in the deal doing this song why don't y'all do this song and uh it goes because we don't have anybody that can sing it and he goes well who's singing this right he said well Kenny's singing it he said well why why how come he's not singing he said because he's not one of the singers in the band I said well that doesn't make sense so why ain't he singing it because that's that's not it I'll have to talk to the guys and see whether that's okay so he said well you need to talk to the guy so um we were in Columbus Ohio and he had a meeting with the guys about it whether I should sing and they voted me not to sing and mind you I didn't have a problem with it because I wasn't trying to sing I didn't that was not my thing I was it was good with just being in the day guitar playing guitar and writing songs that was that was fine for me um but dick took a position well you know if he don't sing then y'all don't have a record deal so um so dick forced it enforced it so that I ultimately ended up being having a chance to sing on the album some people see the future is that crazy and he also pushed the fact for me to be an artist in the first place he's the one that suggested that I do a solo album it wasn't me I wasn't this was not something that I was ever trying to go out to be you know as a solo artist it just kind of all happened with the journey it wasn't something that I was like one day I want to be that guy you know everything was always for me always about the song If I could place a song If I had to sing it whatever then that's fine but I just wanted the songs to come out so did Robert Townsend write the duck character after you then in five heartbeats was it just about the music was it pumped up he's a crumpled up paper music so push him off the key yeah I know quack quack so it was that was always my thing and I might maybe it was a security blanket so I wouldn't have to be up in front of everybody and stuff you know it wouldn't be no pressure it was it was easy and so how I Justified doing the album myself I said well this is just I'm a songwriter first anyway if it don't work so what I'll sell this I'm doing everything else you know so I could always feel like I didn't fail you know so so is that the introduction to you as a solo artist or within that same time frame you and La figuring out how to be partners into what becomes one of the greatest labels ever the beginning of of that was it was a little bit of that but the whole label idea and I I can't say whether La always had it that dream of owning a label of being a Berry Gordy I don't know that for sure but I know that what gave him the confidence was that when we were doing this early stuff placing these songs on we start with everybody start with The Whispers And then we went to uh Karen White and then we had he had Pebbles and we had um the boys so you guys aren't the face yet no so there are these things that that's what gave us gave us the confidence and I know that's what put the idea and they always said if we can do all this here why can't we do this ourselves yeah yeah you know because we had had such success with Bobby Brown and with Johnny Gill and with pebbles and with all these artists that beforehand that were having success uh the mech band everything kind of happened before but with no true ownership in it no ownership just just you know as a producer or a songwriter you know so it was it was that and I think for LA not necessarily being the songwriter he was like let me figure this out you know we should have more ownership and and so la was definitely an entrepreneur in that way trying to figure out how do we make this so this is this is ours it's ours you know and uh that hence came the moved to Atlanta you know to try to search for that try to make why Atlanta we had looked at a couple places we looked at uh we looked at New York thought about New York we thought about Houston um we were in La at the time and the whole idea was that we didn't want to be little fish in a big you know in the sea we wanted to be a big fish in a little Pond and that's what uh that's what Atlanta represented and also um when we looked at what the affordability because we can get nice homes for far less and uh to um you know to start down there and try to figure it out down there um and we just we just kind of went for it so just to touch on that backtrack just a little bit did you realize that you guys were the go-to guys for big records life-changing records before or um just like was your name off as it was going on as it's happening like are you like which what record yeah was there any one song so here the landscape was this Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were in control okay you know cooking you know so we when we first started producing we were trying to be Jimmy and Terry we imagine we were Jimmy I remember the first time we got on the flight to come out to L.A um to for a producing thing it was for Carrie Lucas which was Dick griffy's wife it didn't matter that it was her it was the fact that we was on a plane going to go produce so we Jimmy and Terry now yeah yeah so flying coach it didn't matter yeah it was like you know we we rolling we Jet Set us um and it was the feeling of producing and doing something other than just yourself with doing someone else so our whole that whole movement at that point it was something that we didn't know that we could really do we were just kind of in it everything was a was um there's a learning curve to everything that you do um and you get you get you get better as it goes initially when we came out to la which was in 85. you know so think about 85 it wasn't until 87 88 that anything started happening so it was a couple years here trying to play songs trying to get stuff done and nothing was happening um I remember sitting um at Warner Brothers same for an hour waiting for Benny Medina so that he would just listen to wow one of the you know some of my tracks and and then the guy coming out he's not gonna be able to see you today after you waited after I waited an hour then I left and then I came back another day I think I did that three times and finally he came to listen and he listened and he said no I don't hear anything and uh so I walked away so there was so many more times of placing music that you you know that you the people weren't weren't taken and some of those things were things that ultimately got placed later um they might not have been all the way ready yet could have been tracks that were almost there songs that were almost there but not all the way there you tweak them when you get in the studio um and that's all stuff that you learn in the in the process but um that's why I never had an ego about somebody that if they turn the song down you know then then you'd be mad at them like all right you ain't gonna get none of my songs it wasn't that because I always felt like well probably they probably could have been better we probably could have you know for some reason they didn't hit you because we didn't do something right about it so um and you feel that when you're sitting inside a room and you're listening to people when you watch people listen to something you hear it a lot differently than when you're listening to about yourself absolutely so um and that's you got to watch their body language you got to watch everything so that's how you produce many times as you play for other people and see how they react and if they're not giving you the right reaction okay then he's then even if they're saying yeah I like that nah your body wasn't saying you like it yeah yeah yeah so now I gotta wait because you can't control yourself when it's when it's that record can you hear it yeah you can't control yourself so so you're still going through this after writing ultimately and performing a smash like two occasions you still happen to go through the same process even with two occasions even even once you headed out you still understand that it doesn't matter how big you are songs still have to make people have to move people because they can think that you're just giving them a crap song and that's the last thing I would ever want to do is give somebody something that they're not happy with I don't want to do it then I'd rather not I'd rather not work in this in that case when you're giving away giving somebody something that they don't like it's then that's not a fun process and sometimes you might give someone something that they might not like but well you should like this one you know this one this one is actually good especially every other people that are saying it and there's been a couple of times that were things like that not a lot but a couple of times of course um can I skip the tender lover is that is am I moving too fast if I skip the tenderlover tender lovers that's in the lower album can I come of all times for sure go straight to it um please I'm a church kid church and you know I'm in high school and and the women Folk are are taking a liking to me um because I can sing yeah um not sure if my outfits were really lining up um I wasn't breed yeah I wasn't breed it probably worked out for you though um and as a church kid girls would say sing something and I would sing church songs because that's all I knew tender love her album drops yeah and now it's Church kid has songs to sing so what do you think I'm singing sunshine I'm singing where would you go I'm singing all of it and at this time now my mom has bought me this synthesizer this PVD pm4 and so I'm trying to emulate all of the tracks and the feeling I only have eight tracks eight music tracks I'm trying to emulate the feeling of what I hear of the Tinder lover album that's my start in trying to figure out how to produce and write good songs so that was like my formula wow what do you feel about what did you feel about when the tender lover album dropped where were you the Tinder lover album was um I did an album before that I think it was just called lovers and it was all over the place trying to figure out who who I could be as an artist because I did because I didn't believe I was an artist so I did the song called I love you babe and then they would song called if we try and there was a bunch of things that that's even a song called take your time that probably should have been for like a new addition a very young New Edition it was everywhere and hadn't figured out who Babyface is or who Babyface should be and then on the tender lover album somewhere I started to get the sense of okay it was a it was a thing of after two occasions it was starting to figure out okay so this is who they think Babyface is um and so it kind of cools why I've in romantic and so these are the kind of things that I can do and and probably make a uh become an artist in that way but initially some of those songs like tenderlover initially when I wrote it dick Griffey tried to give it to uh um Lionel Richie hmm and Lionel Lionel turns it down um but I wrote it for Lionel Richie I got a lot of turn Downs like that so um fact that's a very fun fact and um so end up doing it anyway and then it's no crime I was thinking how could I do how could I do a uh Up Tempo and so that was like I was trying to figure out that thing because I couldn't do I couldn't do any Funk up temples not with my voice I had to figure out something and um and crime was the one that you know that it was different you know on a different program that drum track on the drum track it would have been La I would do I would write everything first uh out of the drum tracks down and stuff like that then La would come down and come and then add up the rest of the percussion stuff and make that happen and Joe Simmons was riding with you Daryl Simmons he what he was writing not on everything but some things that I would pull him into um most in most cases I was like I was the songwriter I I'd start it all and then I would pull somebody in you know um I don't know if it's a question that I need help but just it's just you know you want to write this with me yeah yeah okay um that's kind of how I get on all the songs of tank it's just like you can finish him I'll tell you what you hear Hey bless your ass buddy thank you for that um so but so for the most part I would just kind of the songs would kind of be there and then I I kind of finish it out and usually if it was co-writing it would be Daryl that would come and help with whether it's a melody or a lyrical idea and that would be there on and La was strictly really about the production of music style yeah production and with the drums and um and I'll give it like credit in terms of for the whole the production side because by the time him and John Gass finished mixing it and take it to another level so John gas was a bad bad boy and so that was as much as the sound no question um and so but I think that ultimately when when I think of Tinder lover and I think about that that whole album I mean certain songs that happen you know from Whip Appeal to to Sunshine to wherever you go um to give it a chance [Music] um that album is perfection to me if you don't mind me saying my God in my opinion that album is absolute there's a couple things no I I have a question I don't I'd have to not be we'd have to go through it but um but I I mean my kind of girl um yeah they were good there are things that felt good I was at I was at a space where I was it was I was trying to just make this whole feeling of love on a whole the whole whole album just feel like love you know from a happy experience to sad to whatever and um and those songs were it wasn't from personal experience or anything it was just me just kind of getting into that whole love Zone you know and um from whipperfield Whip Appeal being really just the idea coming because peps mentioned Whip Appeal one day I said oh that's a good title and then I went and wrote it yeah and because she said it I gave her a percentage about that dude I gotta start just throwing words out at you more catch me in the airport here's the question right just real quick yes Whip Appeal comes out um I'm not sure how sexy you were before then but when Whip Appeal comes out you're extremely sexy okay how do you handle that here's the thing I missed that whole section um what do you mean see I was I was around people that were blowing up like crazy Bobby Brown this is all the same time period so yeah watching Bobby who where Bobby we do this records on Bobby and I'm watching Bobby who was you know what what made me interested in Bobby in the first place because he was crazy and I heard Bobby on the uh we had met with little Silas you should do yes no question and we we said he said you can do uh you can do the um Bobby Brown and uh and then Cheryl Dickerson she said you should go meet Pebbles and you should meet um and look at through the boys and but check out Bobby too and we were unsure about Bob because he had that song called girlfriend yeah right now yeah he he started with a spot as a solo artist yeah and so what didn't love that song but I remember riding in the car and listening to the radio driving the car listen to the radio and the Bobby goes he's he's on there live and he's he's doing girlfriend and he goes for the note that he he wouldn't go and he didn't get it and then he goes I didn't want to sing the song anyway on the radio on the radio I said whoa I love him yes I love it I want to say that song in the first place and so it was amazing and I thought yeah we need to work with him because his energy I could felt that I felt that energy and so goodness and so from these songs from don't be cruel to every little step to rock with you and and um and Roni those songs you know they found a home with him and we watched him go from here unbelievable yeah it was like his performing hit him on stage nobody could touch him nobody to this day I don't know that anybody still had that energy they may be better dancers there may be all those things but Bobby Brown in his Prime when he's always he was Untouchable he was the king yeah yes and so so to be around that and also to be around other stars that were clearly bigger I I felt like I was okay you know I didn't feel like I would I didn't ever have that moment where I felt like that there were moments where it started I do remember doing Whip Appeal we did I did a couple dates with with peps because I did a duet with her and then I'd do Whip Appeal right after and I have this actually on video uh at the time doing some bud Fest and so sometime in 89 doing flip a pill with this crowd I'm I look at that like damn I messed up I should have kept going or something because it was it was huge yeah it was like and and I hadn't experienced it before except you know the only time I had seen that like was when the when we were out with DeBarge and DeBarge was killing us nightly you know with Luther we just died every night you know it was death we had at that time was body talking and that was good but you know we do bodytalk and then as soon as we finish then you know next up is DeBarge please be rumbling and and then we just had to put our heads down and walk back you know and and we had never experienced that and the first time we experienced that was when um I know we're running out of time but I'll just have to tell that the creation this is what I believe of the creation of Babyface where it happened okay um we were doing uh we were on tour uh this time I forget who we were with but um at this point we had two occasions out and we were doing bodytalk and we were we were doing the tour and everything was going okay and then um we played Indianapolis and my wisdom teeth started acting up and I went to they were like really hurting and so I went to the um dentist and then it says oh they look like impacted so we're gonna have to take them out so they they took out two and they said we might as well take them all take them off so I ended up getting four wisdom teeth taken out and I was like so the next night we had a show show two nights and they asked me a performance there's no way I can perform so I didn't perform and my brother Melvin took my place that night and they did a show and then so the next show that we had that I could do was in New Orleans and at the what's the big building Superdome the Superdome everybody's there and so and this is a big show and I'm still messed up I can't even when I walk it hurts you know and so but we decided you know we can't go to the Superdome you can't not you need to be up there to do two occasions so everybody they did the whole show and then when they got to the end before they did two occasions they said look guys you know um our brother Babyface he's been sick and he's not feeling well at all but he didn't want to disappoint you guys so he's gonna come out here and try his best to perform for you anyway and they give me a give me a little bit of love and I start I I put on this white suit and I walk across the stage and I'm actually in pain at this point walking across this [ __ ] was hurting bad I couldn't barely open my mouth so I go and I sit at the piano and I go boom please goes crazy I'm feeling like Elder barge for the first time in my life it's like I'm like what the [ __ ] and so and then cause every time I close my eyes yeah I think of you they go crazy and we the bed everybody in the bed is that boy like what and we do the song the place loses it and um so the rest of the tour I was sick um that was the I wasn't but I was sick the rest of the two absolutely yeah yeah and then everybody's like no he needs to do the whole show we gotta have this moment it was a moment and it kept on being a moment and but it was it was what finally um it's it's shed a light put a light on Babyface in a different way um that made it look like okay there's a career here yeah people actually people actually like you you know and they like what you do and they like what you bring to the table so it became um it became a moment that helped me figure out how to do Tinder lover helped me figure out how to um craft that for the artist Babyface that the person that didn't really want to be in ours but little by little was figuring out how to be yeah uh because of the kind of songs that I could do and songs that came natural for me to do the biggest thing is being an artist you got you want to do something that feels organic and when you're doing something that's not they figure it out and it's not going to last long so if you can do something that's really close to you and that comes from you then and they love it then you have a chance of having a career and people will follow you but the moment they when would you feel fake then that's the moment they'll they'll probably dismiss you bro thank you for being an artist man thank you for being an artist thank that Dennis for pulling out your wisdom too yeah so you would have your stars born a star is born uh moment Star is Born like this is because if that doesn't happen like you said you may never walk into that I mean I have the confidence to do it moments living yeah that you never know yeah I just love the fact that you also spoke about the journey yeah and about not being an overnight success because a lot of the the new artists don't understand what it takes where you are yeah songwriters producers artists like you've lived it all Executives I'm sure you you know I mean you have you have your bumps in the rotors and all of those things it's um it does happen fast for some and and it is some sometimes that's a blessing but most of the time not it's unhealthy because they don't they don't realize that this isn't forever you know um it can come and it can go and um my blessing has been is that I didn't have to pin depend on just myself as an artist but my Artistry is through um writing music for other people where they could have my artist live my art lived through them yeah so when people are singing when I hear can we talk and thank you for that by the way for the challenge that was a that was amazing and and um it you know it it Shine the Light On songs that can you know that I had no idea that it had touched people that way you know and that was a that was the best gift you could ever give me was showing showing me that people loved something that I did like that that much I had no idea and so when you when you're sitting and watching you know schools and everybody sing that sing that lyric and and that Melody you know when I wrote that I didn't think of it as being that incredible I thought it was good this is this is nice this feels good but not I don't think you know when you write one of those I don't either yeah I agree I haven't written one of those but I've written two written some songs but that for sure and a bunch of others which we could really and literally talk about for the next five days yeah um have just lasted and will last forever stand a real test of time real music real feeling real lyrics um real vocals real musicianship like the chords like yo y'all wasn't you weren't staying safe there's some real stuff happening yeah that we would use in church too we would still I didn't know that I mean I I went to church but I wasn't a church boy so to say and so you're probably like the first guy that sits on this side of the room with me because everybody else would bring on here a full Church would tank and I'd be like yeah so what y'all did in church we get in the Bible verses thank you kitty no no I'm right on your side appreciate you my brother I'd watch a little bit and I watch and listen to the choir and it did get sleepy well then I go through the car and listen to you know listen to the radio yeah well but go ahead no don't go ahead but I think just in general I I always played the chords I could figure out and like I'm not the kind of uh keyboard player where I could sit down and just start playing I have to remind myself and go through it again and because I'm it's pretty simple I can usually figure it out once I start playing in the then the muscle memory comes back but it's not like I'm not really a keyboard player I'm more of a guitar player than a keyboard player so everything that I that I figured out it was it was just kind of like a keyboard player no I'm not I just playing all of that stuff you produce no it was no because I because if I was a real keyboard player I could sit down there and play for you right now I'd have to sit there and figure it out again and go again wow because I wrote I was I was a writer so I was writing for for that moment to do it and and even even at the time I could learn it right there and then I'd forget it exactly of what I would do but at the same time what's interesting is that there are certain things like with Roni um the way that that is played real keyboard players could not didn't have the feel that that that was for this non-keyboard player because you would either do too much or not enough yeah exactly it's a little more me okay if you haven't learned anything because yeah this is I'm still learning that because you're you're in in we're gonna get these other things real fast your keyboard playing was about voicings yeah it wasn't about being the best keyboard player in terms of putting 10 fingers on the keyboard it was about the voicings that you would choose like your voicings were a highlight for me before the music even started like what yeah yeah that's that's monstrous for you to say you're not ready for player I'm already here yeah and we're gonna play it in church right before offer wow um your your history is vast bro um your success is I mean it's it's endless with all of that we have a couple questions and we we're not going to take up too much of your time Mr face Mr Babyface but we have questions for you yes first question being top five r b artists male or female anytime your top five very hard um because I'm it's at different periods when I was growing up here's the thing when you're when you're a songwriter you have people you choose People based off because they're songwriters and some people just from the voices if we're talking about voices alone it's so hard because I know because I know so much about music everywhere so like um what things that blew me people that blew me away James Brown blew me away because of because he could actually sing too yes and and um and then of course Stevie Wonder that goes without saying Donny Hathaway yeah um Aretha Franklin yeah clearly the best Aretha Franklin clearly the best of all time um I was able to be in a room with her and work with her and and see her genius and and hear her genius and to be there and um even when she was you know before she left us you know it was I was I'd for foreign with her I actually did a concert with her in Oakland I I opened up for Aretha Franklin and I was like whoa I never saw that coming in and I opened up for her and she knew me she like you know face come on back here I want to talk to you and I'm like Aretha Franklin's caught me in her dressing room to talk to her just and what you want to talk to me she said I saw you up on that face I saw you doing Whip Appeal you had you had that crowd going all right all right and I'm like she just said all right all right turn me in my head you know and then she's and and then she talks me face come on I'm gonna talk to you about something I said so what's up chica so I'm dating this guy come on now and uh I wanna I'm gonna tell you the story about him because I want to know if you think he's serious or not so she was she was giving me this whole story what he does and everything asked me you know so what do you think is this is he is he for real or not I said I don't think it's for real I'm gonna let you know I'm gonna let you know man I talk to her another time you know he was right he wasn't serious but she was already whatever 80 or you know she was she was still living yeah yeah and at the point she had cancer at that point but she was still living her life and and still singing and still um just not giving up she if anybody can inspire you you know in terms of people that don't give up and and keep going Aretha Franklin there's no better story than Aretha Franklin so when I say Aretha Franklin in the top five I put her at number one because of how she lived her life and how she and she lived to sing and that was it that she it was all about she was a queen because she was Queen worthy yeah you know um and and and everything that she did so there was a point if I'm if I'm being honest there was a point where I had Whitney above her because when I when I was with me and Whitney was because Whitney moved me so much that's like Whitney no question the best but I but I hadn't listened to the old stuff that Aretha did you know the older songs yeah and listened to young Aretha Untouchable special yes stuff like so then Whitney rounds out to five then yeah yeah Whitney was a great guy that's a great five okay all right okay this one's gonna be tough for you oh man it's gonna be tough for him not to name his arm not to get in his own bag your top five R B songs songs I'm not gonna figure your mind um you can you can I don't want to okay um I can only name them based off of how they hit me and they're the top five at this moment you asked me tomorrow it might be another step faster you know um when I first heard Luther Superstar hmm and it wasn't just without hearing it but when I heard him do it on stage how he um how how he did that I thought that was the one for me until I heard house is not home hmm and then I was confused about which one it was and ultimately it was which A House Is Not a Home is not necessarily an r b song but it is by the time Luther finished yeah absolutely um and it was the setup yeah and when he'd do that live gone oh they they're losing oh they're losing it's a wrap it's a wrap and that was a Jerry curl so for Luther House Is Not a Home um El DeBarge Time Will Reveal hmm I heard that in Cincinnati uh I heard at the same time I heard Chaka Khan ain't nobody um and then we were in a club and I never went to clubs where I was at a club and and ain't nobody almost got me on the Dance Floor I almost did but I never would get on the Dance Floor and so at the end of this girl grabs me come on and and so all of a sudden I'm out there dancing well ain't nobody look like why am I here and then and I was like oh [ __ ] and the first first time I'm dancing I'm slow down slow down yeah yeah yeah I didn't know what a hunching was but I was more like this um but you got a hundred no I didn't hunt I didn't know you know I needed I needed young Jerry curl back then he was a young one um but um but that song I I was just the chords and and the voice and everything I was just I was flabbergasted and the whole time we were doing the tour with l I kept on trying to go up to him and tell him what that song is wow yeah yeah how you do that and and um and I I never got the chance to go up to him while he was under because he would always I was like I was a hoodie on and walking really fast making sure people like me couldn't come up and talk to him but um I was I was just blown away by that and that sounds to this day every time I hear it still it still touches me that way um I can't really think of much more to be honest I'm just going to give you top two because like I can there there aren't songs but at the moment that I think they're just kind of like blew me away um like those at the at the moment unless we're going back even back further to where we go back to the um the Jackson 5. and uh one that hit me that isn't there isn't one of the popular songs but um but it meant something to me then at the time which was looking through the windows um Looking Through the Windows maybe tomorrow I think it's called maybe tomorrow you look it up and they're like what's that one yeah um but it it what hit me about that is how musical it was and um and you know there's always I'll be there and all the other ones but for me what what I love so much about the Jackson 5 are the producers of them that they were they were taking them everywhere musically and and that gave me ideas that I could do songs give you freedoms go beyond yeah you know yeah um they're um it's an easy one top rmvs it's r b but it's not r b but it's but it's you know put it we put it in Soul Food because it's the best wedding summer summer song um barbecue song uh it's just the best black celebrity celebratory song ever no not celebration from Kool & the Gang but um September September it's like a perfect song yeah yeah and I think I copied that song a million times I must have written that song so many times back in the day where I copied it and wrote me you know a few September songs just trying to get that feeling yeah yeah uh what is that three it's four because four four good um I think try to pick a funk so one of the funkiest songs that um not with people with cameo um and I can't even think of it I only know the lick okay I guess I like what you do to me [Music] I'm too cute somebody will let us know oh they're gonna eat us up on it but I can't think of a title of it right now either uh it feels like it starts with a K but um but funkiness you know just when I saw Cameo first time I saw Cameo and and for for Funk group they were just the funkiest group ever and they used to they they walked like they intimidated you you know they were very great yeah you know they walk into the yeah walk into the arena we're like wearing athletic cups over the past it's different and this was different these guys are different and and but they carried it you know and yeah and so like and you didn't want to play a show with them because because they they kill you know um and and that was so you know for me coming from that world and learning it it was uh it's something I I respected so ask me again tomorrow to be a different tougher yeah okay fair um we're gonna build your R B singer called it R B Voltron where do you get the vocals the performance style The Styling and the Heart the passion who do you get your vocals from for this artist I don't understand what you're saying so out of all the vocalists you know all the vocalists you've heard whose vocal would you use to build the perfect RB singer you pick one it's gonna be a combination you baby face me yeah you can do whatever you want we're not fighting you on nothing usually I'll be over here going crazy my God um it's still not necessarily somebody um foreign I don't know that's a very hard one to pick because there's a lot of people in terms of today even with kids today that point some voices that I love some voices that I think are are great not really blowing smoke but you have a great voice tank uh you you have a smoothness um to your voice I love this well love the smoothness of it um I think sometimes I think range is important but then not always because it depends on how you use it um I I love um I'm putting all these voices together but I love Daniel sees his voice um he's probably different huh he different yeah and and he's he's on he's his own different right in there too you know so and and I I wonder where he gets what he where that happened for him um I love the uniqueness of gibeon of his voice I think there's something that's not it's not traditional so I'm into this he's like a he's like a he's looking of the new Evolution of Keith Staton yes um almost a little Jazzy yeah you know yeah with his uh he can move very but but very identical and identifiable like these guys are extremely he's got an egg in the small oh yeah a little bit Kermit oh Miss Piggy but but it's me but but emotional for sure so I lean towards voices that are emotional got you um I'm not so I used to be really into the movement of how much you can do that but I don't know that that's as important anymore he used to impress me but it's not what I look for at this point I look for emotion I look for even if it's a holding a note and if it's crack at the right place it's something that where it delivers this the main thing that we want that I think that we need is just emotion um so that you can sing something that that connects and it's not about um it's not about so much about church anymore because I use to me hands down if you church if you could go like so that's for that's the thing I know I'm jumping around moving around like that but one voice I've always said I wanted if I had that voice if I had that voice I'd be a a hell of a r b dude if I had BBY in his voice you know pick yourself anything huh PBS yeah if I had his voice like yeah it's like I used to say that to Johnny if I had your voice boy things I know what to do you only knew what you could do you know um but it's a little hard for me to build the the R B singer that you want because because I'm everywhere you know I'm not because who got the style whose performance style to you performance performance style when you look on stage who who's that today a lot of the are in terms of r b is is more about the females they're the ones that that have this flavor yeah they're cooking us yeah um you know from from uh Jasmine to to Summer to to a lot of the girls that I've worked with on this album for um girls night out yeah it is like um people that I was surprised with because I didn't know so Rika had introduced me to a lot of these girls that I wasn't really aware of and like one of them being Tiana major nine oh we love her and we love her I had no idea that she had that is one of them I love it oh my God presents yes oh my God in her vocal and she I had no idea and when we got her in she started saying I said whoa yeah man you you real you know and then um another pleasant surprise I mean look we're at Ari Linux special what can I say yeah um and you know the queen I call her the queen kehlani has always the most recognizable just feel good [ __ ] period she's just she's she just laughs what what she lands and I love the career that she's built for herself she don't care about what she nobody else but what she does and how she grows and yeah yeah and she's selling out places everywhere and I love that I love that she don't care about radio she ain't got to care about radio because the fans love her and they that's very pure you know so very pure um another voice somebody that threw me that didn't throw me but I was just so impressed was Coco Jones tough I had no idea yeah she does this song Simple on the albums oh it ain't that simple about that um so so I I feel like for this record that I've worked on and these artists that have been working with I've been I've been inspired to see that these young girls they can sing and they're also very independent in the sense that they like to uh when we worked on this record we wrote This Together it wasn't like Excel where I wrote everything handed over we wrote it all together so we have one day uh to sing it to write it and sing it on this whole album and and so everybody came to the table and we and we only did it if we did it together and so it was um it was impressive to see their independence and see um Independence in the sense like they it had to be had to mean something to them um they weren't just going to sing anything that you gave to them um and they had a you know had an opinion and that wasn't always the case before in in all the years I've been doing it somebody they just whatever you got just give it to you yeah and that's cool but it's always nice when someone is invested in it and uh and they kind of know themselves and I think that's there there was the surprise is that most of these are all the artists they did know themselves it's different when you get with one that wants to be something but is not that but they actually knew themselves so it made the process easier in that sense you know so the name of the album is girls night out girls night out so you're gonna do a male version for the guys too you're gonna do a series come on man you gotta don't don't leave the young fellas though tap in with the young fellas right there we available it's something it's something that uh you know I could say we'll see we'll see with this Rose I I had had a good time doing this and it was fun to as I say work with these girls and I've always traditionally just worked better with for women women yeah no you have an amazing successful so but don't forget about Bobby Brown go ahead and do another challenge to make him do the album with the young friends too man I got you thank you tomorrow um you just messed up my whole Voltron yeah I'm sorry man yeah no you you've talked about all the things I want to talk about you putting so many artists in oh my God a segment of the show for brother face come it's called Einstein on there I ain't saying no name and we need a baby face version because we've had today we've had all versions of of of our questions and our you know what I mean in our list Babyface go we know you we you gonna give us your versions you gonna remix all of our stuff even though on the verses you said you didn't do remixes that wasn't your thing because you know you baby face you ain't gotta do remixes it's a great stunt I was at the house cracking up oh so we're doing remixes got it do y'all think I was like really going after him well I know you so yes yeah it wasn't okay you were touching him no no he was like it wasn't full left hooks okay what's the first jab y'all think I did to me the jacket like I said that's the jab for me is that like remix I'm Babyface I mean you didn't have to say the full thing but it's like we knew what it was I've have Originals honestly yeah because you kind of didn't do that bro it wasn't meant that way it was like because when he it felt like he the rules changed suddenly because when he played the one song that was a remix that wasn't something he produced I was like are we doing remixes because I was thinking all right but that's Jimmy and Terry so and then I said well that's I don't do remixes so I don't know if that but that came off like I was like I don't even do remixes yeah or no they came up like I don't need to do right and that was not what it was an honest answer I don't do remixes because I did do remixes it was it was the back to the last few more me comment that you did the same time listen man you got your way of pouring champagne foreign champagne I'm just gonna stop with you all right there was no harm in anyway all right so this is baby faces I ain't said no names I ain't saying No this guy the story can be funny or [ __ ] up or funny and [ __ ] up just can't say their names um somebody tore up [Laughter] do it cam Rica tell him he could do it [Laughter] um somebody I heard somebody tore up a hotel room because I left a message to say congrats and because they left them because I left that message to say congrats the person tore up the room because they thought something was going on with that someone oh you left a congratulations to somebody getting married no that's all I'm saying and you said no don't say no names them congratulations is different oh man oh man I wish Babyface would wish me a congratulations on my whatever because he don't want to tell us what whatever is hey girl how you know him with your woman hey uh you know sorry we didn't work out what's tenderloin I'm sorry we didn't work out looks like you really found love because it just wasn't just a congratulations it was a congrats that's all yeah it should have been us but I just want to let you know [Music] I'll always love you and if you ever need a home if you don't have plenty where would you go you would come to me cause I've always thought you were my sunshine you remember the whipperfield don't you yeah yeah signed the Tinder lover P.S don't forget about those two occasions now that we've come to the end of the road it's too much we could go all night too much ladies and gentlemen um man um uh one of the biggest inspirations for me and my career from singing songwriting to producing and now to us building a label um and taking those steps we are like I said we're following in some big footsteps yeah and we are we're doing our best to make you proud you've already made me Progressive not only we just and it you coming here and being on the podcast for both of us it's just like I said this is a full circle moment you might not even know it but you're the first person that I worked with when I came here yeah obviously you know I was working with Damon Thomas and you know I mean but like as far as like an artist producer writer just the whole thing and I never had a chance to tell you back then I'm young and I'm just you know boisterous in the whole thing but you've been my favorite artist since I was a little kid huh I think I had a natural crack in my voice so I'm like oh Babyface yeah but you coming here today it means the world to us man because we truly celebrate people who have inspired us and people who have continued to do it just like you said with the with your conversation with Aretha Franklin yeah us seeing you still have a putting out more projects you got to put out nothing you can do whatever you want you've earned that in this in this life and in this business your success have put you in a position to do whatever you want but the fact that you will still give back to the culture yeah and still make these albums and still I know you don't like to say this but give us your gift that means the world to us man yeah and thank you thank you thank you ladies and gentlemen I'm tank I'm Jay Valentine and this has been um in my opinion the the most special r b money podcast episode to date um I love everybody who's been on but the God is here so man this Baby's voice but yeah Kenneth Babyface [Applause] [Music]

Channel: R&B Money Podcast

Views: 300,780

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Id: YtEpGx7Qzrw

Length: 106min 49sec (6409 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 22 2022