Eric Benét • R&B Money Podcast • Episode 002

[Music] we are the authorities on all things [Music] what's going on people you have just tuned in to the r b money podcast i'm tank this is jay valentine and we are the authorities on r b music and in the building [Laughter] my [Applause] we want to kick this thing off the right way okay we want to kick this off the right in honor yes sir okay in honor of eric benay okay let me tell you something i mean i'll tell you something i'm not worried first of all all you all of a sudden organic people yeah all of a sudden oh you in touch with the earth people right oh hopefully all of a sudden you're right that [ __ ] did not exist listen let me tell you started this [ __ ] okay there was a man yeah walking barefoot barefoot huh he had already had seashells attached to strings and [ __ ] yeah and we was trying to figure out how is he doing this cocker shells in the headline is he listen i'm trying to tell you every girl i knew everything was like oh my god eric renee i'm like drink with no shoes out i love eric renee i'm looking at my timberland boots like still representing sandals right now yeah yeah we are not wearing shoes [ __ ] huh no shoes i'm gonna get rid of my air jesus is right here man look at that man put these shits right over here all right jesus listen here's the thing it was eric bennett lenny kravitz maxwell a very small group of elite organic men we all smell like patchouli [Laughter] some of the ladies like but truly that's see this he been doing this so frankincense eventually eventually now y'all coming to terms now you got your feet out yes now you now you now you're natural now you hold he been doing it and the women have been going so let me ask you a question yes let me answer your question please do what's that because i want to talk about the bare feet thing was that on was that on purpose like did you know going into this like i'm gonna give them something something different i'm gonna give them something vulnerable something you know what i'm saying a different kind of i feel very vulnerable with my feet out yes i'm gonna tell you about that i'm gonna i'm gonna i'm gonna go a little surface with it and then i'm gonna go deep okay okay so when i was first signed back in 1900 it was me and my sister we were called binet we were first my first record deal was with emi records and so you know we came up in milwaukee we did like the clubs we would do like the obscure uh cities in michigan and illinois and then we got our record deal and i was always used to looking to my left and seeing my sister right there okay first record deal didn't work out so good my sister was like baby brother you go ahead it's music business [ __ ] crazy i'm gonna go get me a job oh wow so my dumb ass hung in there a little bit longer and i got my solo deal once i got my solo deal i started to have to perform by myself i was not used to that the stage fright when you are used to looking over and see your family member and all of a sudden it's me out there it was it was like i'd be backstage a little debilitated just like stage fright would will come on me like that so i discovered one day that if i just took my shoes off and went out on the stage i relaxed i felt almost like you felt at home i felt at home and a byproduct was of that was women apparently i must have had a good foot day or something and they'd be like oh look at his feet i was like oh y'all like this [ __ ] okay i'll keep doing it because it makes me feel great wow so let me flash forward that's great i'ma flash forward to something that i've rece i told you i was going to go deep something that i've just discovered which you're probably hit too you're so health conscious in youtube but um there's such a thing as called grounding and earthing have you heard of this yes yeah so basically grounding is the science based upon the fact that the earth is just one big battery full of negative electrons we as human beings are basically electric beings we're full of positive electrons but when we walk around with shoes on all the time especially rubber sole shoes we are insulating ourselves from those negative negative electrons which balances our body and reduces inflammation makes us healthy makes us sleep better makes sex more so so basically i've since discovered which i didn't know back then that [ __ ] just keeps me healthy it keeps me young it makes me feel makes me feel like i'm 20 years younger than i am at least an hour a day i will walk around outside barefoot in the dirt in the sand in the grass wow yeah it's real [ __ ] you know what and and and thinking about that i used to always wonder why my country cousins healthy as [ __ ] was so far ahead they were part of the elements they were faster than [Music] you and me both because where's your family from my mobile alabama i got alabama i got i got all all over alabama birmingham specifically i got arkansas little rock all through there and then they all migrated they migrated that's how they got to milwaukee into detroit but you you are speaking the truth like we would go down to alabama and my other i'd be 10 years old and my other 10 year old cousins be like driving got girlfriends and [ __ ] everything they got everything you're going to see these goods around the corner you want to go like i ain't had my first kiss yet with the whole barefoot thing is that we shouldn't make jokes about the little drunk white girls after the club you know what elections we can still make fun of the trump right girls let's let's keep that funny i'm just wondering man how that all works all right let's tap into the music man yeah man um let's go let's go to the beginning right we like we like to go to like the introduction of of you to music and music to you you know what i'm saying like the complete where your whole story no i mean you can break it down into pieces but the part where it's where you said you know where it claims you because normally it claims you first right you don't know what the gift is you don't even know that you have a gift true um you know the truth even though you were in a group yeah you're able to do things that you just think you're able to do and then there's a moment where you recognize oh yeah you really hit you really hit on something right there because i remember as far back as i can remember um you know milwaukee and grade school 65th street school and capitol drive um you know something as simple as music class i just remember having an ability to sing and understand music on a level that was way above like the rest of the kids and what i would do i don't know if you did this but because i didn't want to stick out and be weird i acted like i was on their level you know what i mean it's like i don't i don't want too much attention on me right now it's like you know the music teacher would tell us okay class it's like here's the scale or here's a song and it's like i'd already be like five steps ahead of them and little timmy over here and dondrell over here is like completely clueless and i'm just like okay i'm act like i'm struggling too isn't that weird no that was me in sixth in seventh grade yeah and so i was just kind of like staying here and then i'd be like right right right right it was almost like this yeah well you had that going like you've seen you were you singing i'm like right right right right if i want to you know what i'm saying because my cousin was the lead singer my cousin keisha was the one who was doing all the solos and then when i finally tried to solo i tricked it off really bad right i okay so so you're starting there and you're in wait what what time is it so this is i mean this is grade school and then when i go home like i'm i'm the youngest of a group of five siblings we're all musical we are saying so that was the place the whole house from from my mom playing the piano my dad didn't really sing but he had this extensive classical music collection so i would be in my dad's music collection listen to tchaikovsky and brahms and mozart and then with my sisters and my brother we would sing we would listen to like the silvers or the carpenters and we would deconstruct the harmonies and like you know seeing them and i you know before my voice changed not had the soprano so excuse michael jackson yeah i was michael jackson i was a little michael jackson so that's where music that's really people ask me who's my biggest influence my biggest influence on my older siblings because i've always equated music to love because that's how we that's how we would have fun together that's how we would show each other our love like like making music so but outside the house it was almost like okay i'm gonna i'm gonna keep that talent close to my vest because it comes off a little too um overpowering for people outside the family circle now then puberty happened so i've always been like the nerdy and i you know i kind of still am i've always been like the nerdy science fiction book reading um you know into writing my own little weird stories and making up my own songs and so i've always been that little kid even in like 13 and 14 where i i would stick to myself and like i said i still wasn't singing publicly in school but i remember when puberty hit there was a singing competition and nobody really knew a song there was a singing competition in junior high school and my sisters told me go ahead eric enter the contest and keep in mind i'm 13 now and my all my siblings are beasts and that's when i come home yeah seventh grade middle school so i just grew up with older siblings who literally could deconstruct the song or we would put it back together so i was at 13 i was dope so i entered the contest nobody really knew i could sing bruh i sing lionel richie's killed that [ __ ] bro i killed that [ __ ] you know that's still a problem i mean no no offense lionel but at 13 i probably sang that [ __ ] better than you man but you you you respect it brah can i tell you the next day at school there were two girls i had crushes on that did not know i existed they were waiting at my locker the next morning i was like there's something to this [ __ ] both of them [Applause] oldenburg yeah there's equal opportunities back you were early there too you were early there too i just learned about equal opportunity until way later in my fifth i don't even know if i know no other words right now [Applause] but yeah and from there you know from there it was just like my cousin george who was always like the musician the musician of the family my george cousin george played you know he was like he was like played piano and he played the guitar and he was just dope and my cousin george and my sister lisa and i we started writing songs then i dropped out of college uw milwaukee joined this band and uh then we got our first record deal the one i told you about binet me and my sister that's a donation too yeah so between time-wise when you guys get your first deal so when you get your deal and get your first hit record a lot of [ __ ] happened between that and me having a solo deal so what's the what's the time frame so we're talking about i we signed uh the binet deal with emi capital in 92. okay pluck from milwaukee in los angeles and that was just culture shock man that was just cultural yeah yeah that wasn't it but yeah yeah bro i mean i love milwaukee but it's like you come out to la in the early 90s it was a whole another expansive universe of from musical like the community of badass music dudes to like the most beautiful women you've ever seen in your life to like people who the hell have a lot of bullshitters but but a lot of people who are on a higher level of consciousness like talking about eating right and you know you go back home to milwaukee and you just eat a vat of pork it's just you know it's like salt pork you eat it but but come out here and it's like no you know it's like a higher level of taking care of your mind and your body so it was just like culture shock all the way around and that's 92. that's 92. that record did not work out um as everybody in the industry has these stories where your first management deal your first record deal is like well it kind of sort of put a single out but didn't really put any money behind it so we got dropped right it was this was one of the hardest times in my life because a few years prior my my father died my father was a detective for the city of milwaukee so dad died um my uh my girlfriend um tammy stouth we became parents we became parents india short my daughter india shortly after i got dropped tammy died in a car accident so now i lost my record deal dad's gone i'm all of a sudden single dad and i'm just trying to figure out wow how am i going to do this thank god i have the family i have because between my mom and my sisters and my brother they would let me like i could take india india was only 15 months old when my mother died so i have the most amazing family in the world because i could you know if i had to fly out to la to talk to some people who were thinking about signing me you know as a parent especially as a single parent you need to know that your children or your child is is safe and taken care of and loved and i never had to worry about that when i was out there trying to make the dream happen um i basically got a gig in milwaukee as an assistant engineer at a recording studio on cap on fond du lac okay and i between george and this crazy ass dude who is one of the baddest keyboards ever demonte you know de monte do you know demonte posey nigga's bad anyway he's from milwaukee also met demonte and my cousin george during the off hours at the at the recording studio that i was working they would let me use the studio to record demos so between me george and demonte we just started writing all these songs writing all these demos that demo all those demos turned out to be my first album the first solo eric bernay true to myself album no way which is amazing thank you sir crazy thank you sir yes it's it's a it's an incredible story i'm riding with a girl through dc was it solid it might have been that's another beast you know what's upside it might have been psy she's a beast yeah might have been sighed she did oh you gotta hear this new everybody i mean really and she played that uh she played that femininity oh [ __ ] and at that time i know how to pronounce it for a long time [Music] when you tell me to listen to something like right at this point i have every run in the book downloading that's how i live my life i run okay yeah no no wait thing for five minutes so so if you ain't doing that right i don't wanna use it right now if you're not running through the whole song and she start playing this song and i'm listening to the thing [Music] you start making the faces and [ __ ] right interesting right that's interesting and the vocal was so clean oh man and straight ahead thank you bro and i was like who's this again after she didn't already told you yeah and then and then and then you did something that we do in church what did i do it was about the three and a half close to four minute mark you did a vamp okay you let the band play for a minute and then you went into a van yeah that's just 1970 [ __ ] right there oh yeah right right i said your problem coming from your ass and then even i know we'll get to we'll get to the the later in the 2000s but then you started going digging into your false settle with the uh uh i cry sometimes sometimes yeah yeah yeah that bothered me i took issue with that i took i took it i felt personally no he's older than me i know he is it's the earth he's been connecting with his feet his face with the toes and i hear you sing that on stage and you didn't miss a wow a note and i'm a false settle that's what i do you know for that no no no no no literally not just a falsetto right you're known for not missing thank you which is as as guys we all sing right we've we've been around a thousand but you know where that comes but not missing is a different type of gift yeah right yeah that's just that's that's that's just special like you talk to somebody especially me being from the bay my brother was talking about it and he like man because he's the first person to put me on tv that's what's up and he went to go see you at yoshi's oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yoshi's just fun guys and he was like [ __ ] he didn't miss and you know as singers we all know what that means but i had to ask again i'm like what you mean he didn't miss that's a huge copyright he didn't miss and you know about this that comes from that comes from going through the ranks like like okay so i dropped out of college but my college was being in those shitty clubs all over the midwest right having to it's a drunk crowd this [ __ ] over here is about to start a fight with this [ __ ] there's some something going over here i'm gonna have to like take command of this whole room and i'm gonna have to do it consistently and maybe i wasn't able to do it for the first six months i was in the band but it was a honing process where a lot of artists today they don't have that honing process they might they might be in their lab in their base in their mom's business earlier yeah doing some beats put a couple loops on it you know and they got all kind of technology that's your record and catch it and catch it catch a record and then you put them on stage and it's like nah you didn't go through the process bro i can tell well i mean they're not invested they're not investing in the process right i don't even know if the pro does the process is there any reverence for it anymore no yes there should be there should be but i don't really think they're right we're we're like probably the last i think your friends who are who are looking for people who are actually just just seized and seasoned in some type of growth absolutely type of development absolutely it's taken us years to find an artist right because we're like ah but they hot in the whole time they got this record above them but that's so fleeting that's so fleeting i remember i remember like one of one of the things that i so appreciate y'all telling me that that means a lot to me um i remember a couple times in my career and as artists i guess there's always some love at least for me there's always some level of insecurity um but i remember when i first got i first started doing my solo deal and you doing the rounds at the radio stations and luther vandross was just leaving an interview and and luther was like i'm the type of dude where it's like if i know luther is there i at least want to just say thank you i don't i don't want to crowd you i just want to say thank you but luther found out i was there he said oh no no no no you tell him to come here when somebody like luther looks at you and say you know what you're doing it right you know and that's all i needed if luther looks at me right that's it so it's like if you thought i was dope before that's probably when you heard me go in the studio and do that falsetto let me show these [ __ ] you know so it's like when you get when somebody like that like a maurice white or luther vandross or david foster that just makes me want to oh [ __ ] if i thought i was honing my craft before right i'm gonna have to like i'm really happy i i'm really going in deep now so it's those kinds of things that make me continue to to to strive to be better to the day yeah yeah the hunger doesn't go away you know the grind the hustle yeah never never goes away so when you get that first hit record right because thanks spoke about it a little bit right right you know you pulled up on them with the shoes off right you know i mean showing them something different going out right showing them something and they're definitely showing out showing up what is the influx like yeah man let me yeah what are you getting you fresh from milwaukee yes you fresh from milwaukee you get a major hit record and but you don't but you also don't get the run of the meal hit record you get a record that nobody's heard before you don't get the some producer was did that record and then your producer heard it and y'all recreated and now you get that little cheat code hit yeah you had a record that set you apart from the game yeah right so they it's a different it's a different level that's coming your way it's it's a different kind of vibe because back then um there were like you said i mean when you think about what i was doing back then and what cats like d'angelo were doing back then and like maxwell were doing back then that was outside of the norm yeah sure it was like maxwell was brushing his teeth right this video like it's like right this nigga's brushing his teeth he don't care at all and they love it right right so so we um it was just kind of like this feeling of i don't know being that kind of a creative person the people who i work with when i'm in the lab and i've been i've i like to go check in on like how see how lots of people work a lot of people like to work like they like to check out what's hot right now like what dr what what kick sounds are hot right now you know what's happening in the top ten and i'm gonna try to put my own spin on that but i've never really worked i've never really worked that way even back then i always dig from a more um intimate place like even musically like out i've never wanted to try to emulate the other things that are happening out there and when you work like that you're working in a bubble at least i am you're working on this no i want to be cut off from everything that's like top 10 top 20 on the radio right now i just want to be in like this little fortress of musical solitude with myself and whoever i invite to come in there and create with me all that to say as we're doing that we don't i don't really know how this is working like a [ __ ] here right but i don't know how that's going to play out there because it's like so intimate to us and we're like nerdy music heads so that's kind of it was like i was surprised in a way i was surprised because um we were signed to i was assigned to warner brothers as a solo artist and they really did just leave me alone they let me just do my thing and then when i turned the record in there was a reaction like somebody just reinvented the wheel and i was like really it was it was just incredibly surprising because like i said um i was grateful um and it it was at least it was affirming that i felt like okay you had seen the bottom i had already had huge loss personal loss in my life my the mother of my daughter dying all of a sudden i'm a solo a single father trying to figure out the next move i was working at ups when i told you i was working at the studio i was also working at ups uh and working at the studio to make you know to make a little bread so it's like i saw the bottom and once i knew that oh you mean i can win by just being completely authentic and in my appreciation for music not the music industry but like music yeah i was like okay i'm not i'm not going to switch it up this is what it is yeah and that's a and that's a very unique situation that's very good as all of us have been in this music business for so long to actually it's like getting drafted to the right team because warner worked for you but universal may have not right you know i mean our emi didn't yeah so it's like and in that space man that that in itself and you know we try to give that type of information when we when we do these interviews for people that are trying to get in the music business in the business to understand like this [ __ ] just don't happen right the way you want it at that time right and you got to keep pushing you got to keep pushing and until you find that situation that makes the most sense for you exactly what we got off of the influx that came with this you talking you talking you see how i did that did you know did you see how i tried to do that yeah i'm from that bay area a lot of people don't believe this but actually now that you now that you know me you can believe it like i've always been the nerdy dude like i've always been the if it wasn't for music if it wasn't for me being on a stage and singing like my game like my just step up to a girl game was was garbage like i had no idea how to eat it but i didn't know i didn't need it because you know what i'm saying so okay so then you got this guy who's basically uh looking at women feeling like i don't really have that much of a shot to being on stage having a hit song and having them literally come to me it was overwhelming and i'm going to say this that's one of the most like if you're not ready for that kind of attention speak on it speak on it you will die you things or things around you yes or things around you will because it is an awesome um and i don't use the word awesome like well it can be great but it is it is an overwhelming uh uh power and if you are an insecure person who always idolized women but didn't know how to talk to them and all of a sudden you're the guy that they're coming at to talk to you that could be a very dangerous thing yeah and there is a process where you know for some of us it takes a year or two or ten or ten years where you feel me where it's like i'm in that 10 15 yeah he just jumped another thing i was gonna say that's it you know i i needed a little bit more time to reel this thing in right because it's like all of a sudden i can have all of it are you [ __ ] kidding me it was like like speak on it man come on you're stuttering no more speak on it milwaukee maryland yeah right um now now i gotta i got a taste when i went on tour with genuine oh [ __ ] it was it was like diabetic it was a heavy taste yeah that was [Laughter] oh man i know i know and genuine would say to me this is cool i know you having the time of your life but it ain't nothing like when it's you and i didn't believe i kept saying i'm never leaving you i'm he finds a way to sing backgrounds like listen when i watched when i watched maybe i deserve um start charting and me going from clubs woo speak on batman you know what was that like a hundred people two a thousand people to 700 people to a thousand people ten thousand to t and then to co-headlining radio shows and right arenas and then london chris and and and nelly you know and and ja rule jesus christ you have to be in a tank because my name is tank and so sometimes they wouldn't even listen to my music they just saw it that's hilarious you got a hit record yeah it's good so so so like you take you i just i was dropped in a church kid still i'm still trying you know i'm still praying it's still biblical for me it's still spiritual lord if you just guide me the night out let me just lord if you just let me get this tonight i'm not going to do it no more like lord please grab me tonight didn't you be a lord why did why did her ass have to look like that lord you did not have to lord you made this you did that you did and i honestly was not no you were not i was not there is no man and and people people don't understand this bro like you get it there is no man on this planet who works at home depot or who's working at wells fargo right now who if you throw him in this situation if you just throw him in the whatever you want situation it will kill him it will suck the life out of him and so it's like you have to be in a certain mental emotional preparedness which i was not but like i said it it will take some years and you have to live with some consequences there's some consequences some lawsuits some losses some consequences and it's like wow i need to reevaluate a lot of [ __ ] bro so but there's you can't be ready for that and and i think on the other side of that the the upbringing and all of these things and having the family structure that we have family is everything prepared us in a different way true to where we would be able to survive right because people wouldn't know because a lot of people know a lot of people just don't no and and for you you did it on a very public stage right because right right you know right what you were involved in so anytime it's on a public stage it's a million it's not only magnified a million times but there is a certain uh there's a narrative that they want to tell right to you know now it's click bait but it's like to sell magazines to do this um so things are spawned a certain way and then on the very tiny nucleus of what's happening on the inside there are details that no one else knows and maybe i'll never share but it's like it ain't what y'all think you know mistakes were made i've taken accountability absolutely what i've done i've grown from from amanda but from the celebrity this any celebrity out there who's dealing with that relationship and the press [ __ ] that's that's that's that's a hard thing this is what it is it's even harder now yeah with social media oh my god it's even harder now right oh my god back then thank god they just have to try to see you and take a picture of you and then write whatever they want exactly you get tired of it or if they get tired of it and now you're making unavoidable right typing [ __ ] and now you're like [ __ ] maybe i should've yeah maybe i should have just i'm gonna delete that right too late they've already stopped it's out right he's out there he used to call me in the morning he'll call me about seven in the morning what the [ __ ] tank why did you wish what's her name kiki nine seven five saying some [ __ ] can you stop this [Laughter] but i get that i said tank what you got to realize too a lot of times you're talking to ghosts true true you're literally talking to ghosts like yes are there some people that are real people that are going at you but sometimes it's just accounts right that are made right to literally absolutely get a rise out of you well they'd be getting around what what come on dog come on now dog sometimes it should be worth it can you just stop arguing on instagram right can you do it for me for two right right please [Laughter] i have this outlook on life mistakes that might be a little different because granted in the moment they feel like the exact wrong thing that you've allowed to happen or you participated in happening or that has happened to you um but in my 54 years on this earth 54. i am 54. man you know man let's drink to that [ __ ] i did not know that [ __ ] i don't think i'm buying no more grounding yeah man what i've learned is mistakes all of them and this is going to sound like some cliche you see on the instagram with a lion in the background or some [ __ ] but or from some [ __ ] that's just a terrible human right that writes the grinch all right he's probably horrible [Laughter] other girls cause i'm talking about some certain people whatever it is it's a terrible human right or the instagram models with the ass and it'd be like inner growth it's spiritual you know it's like it's like you you know i got some broken it'll be like it'd be like only god can you know anyway so so what the f what was i saying oh mistakes mistake the only god i know it's great i gotta use that mistakes for me have all been an opportunity to grow so yes i have made mistakes in my life um and i feel like and i think it goes back i think it goes back to something something you hit on the parenting thing uh my mom and dad instilled in me a long time ago like you are going to make a lot of mistakes in your life what do you do with those mistakes what do you do with those traumatic events in your life so when i have um stumbled when i've fallen or when i've made mistakes in business or in my personal life you know i take a moment to fall back and see okay god what was the lesson you were trying to teach me with this one sometimes those lessons are obvious as hell and sometimes they're not so obvious but every time it happens it's it's an opportunity to be a better version of yourself my first record deal um to answer a question that deals with more professional situations my first record deal that i did with my sister binet it was an incredible opportunity it was two kids being plucked out of milwaukee coming to la seeing things and experiencing things that i only saw on magnum pi and stuff like that you know but uh the record label didn't really give us autonomy didn't really give us control to make all of the music we wanted to make to pick the producers that we necessarily uh wanted to work with or or at least we felt like i shouldn't say that because there was a lot of energy on my part where i felt like i doubted myself enough as that 20 something year old kid who well i certainly can't know so if they tell if they're telling me i should work with this artist and that artist then i i guess i should that was a mistake that was a mistake and that's a mistake that every young artist like needs to know right now the reason why they own your [ __ ] right now young artists out there the reason why you're getting the attention you're getting is because you're dope because the creative decisions you make are are don't lead you here don't doubt that you know like lead with that don't let somebody else who who's been on their own journey and have seen their own ascent to fame and fortune um tell you this is how i did it so you need to do it you need to do it like this look some of those lessons that they bestow on you are appropriate and you can use that but their path is not your path so i think that's probably one of the biggest um uh lessons that i learned i think i learned early from that mistake that's why when i had an opportunity to do the solo album in 96 the eric bennett record i was like look okay we can do this record deal thing but i have to be in charge of everything from the way i dress to the way i look to the songs on the album i told you like the whole album my first album was like the demo between my cousin george and damonte and me just met so um i need to be in control to the point where i named my first album true to myself yeah because i had been through the whole uh the alternative yeah i could only imagine eric bernay coming out as like the fifth member of jodeci with like awesome lessons tried to get me in like a three boy band group where it was me i was the singing [ __ ] and it was like this dark [ __ ] from from like nigeria or something and it was a white [ __ ] who would sing who who was there and it was like i almost did it and this was before my first record deal i was like and i was in the meeting with the two guys and they were like come on bro this is our chance you know if you don't like it you know we could blow up and then you can do your own thing i was like yeah but i don't know that's the same for me so you're absolutely right man it's like you gotta you gotta you gotta be true to yourself you gotta be true to yourself you have to be honest enough with yourself to know your gut to know your soul so that when something doesn't vibrate right with you you are the first to know and and act upon that no matter how old i get i'm still that hungry young creative dude from milwaukee no matter what happens so when shout out to milwaukee shout out to milwaukee thanks hey wisconsin came through didn't they with that orange uh hold up you know what and that's that's okay movie star uh writer all of that um let's pivot to that because you know i don't really do a whole lot of politics you know sometimes i've been going on and listen you in between you and d.l.u oh my god d.l right right you all are out there i think that's the old man cool that's the old man in me you are out there the old man [ __ ] is real because once you get to a certain age it's like i don't give a [ __ ] i'm just like you are yeah dang it i remember when i first started doing it my management was like yeah eric you know that's what i started saying you know we really respect that you want to voice your opinion but we got to remember there's there are people out there who like your music who aren't exactly on the same political like [ __ ] that man we talking about a damn you know [ __ ] damn hitler starter kit that [ __ ] here's what i say it's like it is a double-edged sword right in terms of the political part of it right right right right right once you start dabbling into that place right um you can you can feel the shift of people who were there for the music and then knowing discovering too much about you right that makes them either go way left or way right with you but you're in terms of you know in terms of the political um in terms of your political stance i think once you hit 50 like what it is like any any whatever like filter i had left that [ __ ] that [ __ ] just goes cause you were you were attacking who was you probably ever you know you said something ever you said something running ain't singing and if it's in this [Laughter] [Applause] when i was growing up when i was in the studio with the ajax hey i said eric come on man stop it [ __ ] the people this new [ __ ] ain't [ __ ] i didn't say all that [Laughter] oh yeah i put a dime on it but it was like it was like you were just i mean you were being honest about how you felt about it right you know what i mean like i think i was having one of those moments where hey i love like i am i'm one of the biggest fan of like dope runs and people who can run it's just like i don't know i think it's like one of those things where before the run there needs to be the melody like can we at least know what the melody is before you start like and i don't know what i say and i agree with you yeah but they could have to say it but no there's a [ __ ] because because because i grew up yeah you said yeah kimberle let's see that's it's almost like so guess what i need it like she she didn't she didn't make a song that was like a straight ahead or a commercial thing until way later i know this sounds like [ __ ] but it's almost like that's different it's because because ken burrell ken burrell is a whole nother beast no no it's not different because i needed what she was doing i needed it i agree with that i'm not disagreeing with you like what these young [ __ ] like ken burrell probably that's more it's like it's like these young [ __ ] would hear a kimberelle and be like oh that's what i need to do and it's like no before ken burrell was i don't know i don't i mean i've met ken burrell he's a wonderful person but i don't know like her whole story but i would imagine before she could do all that at some point she had the basics like she could do a melody for sure so and she had to evolve to that but i think one of the frustrating things for me is like young singers would see the kim burrell and be like oh then that's what a song is that's all it is right as i was able to grab the pieces well you clearly you can do that and use it in spaces right and that's what the beauty of running like you you well you're a songwriter you're a producer so you know construction of of uh melody yes yes to learn to to stop singing versus myself you know what i'm saying like oh they'll never be able to do this like that was my mentality when i went to the studio they're not going to be like when they can't sing along like maybe i deserve was like in my mind my worst song vocally one of my biggest wow and i didn't understand why until 15 years later wow that kind of stuff is is incredible to me because i kind of feel the same way like with some of my biggest songs with some of those songs where and it's interesting how this works it's like you can be in the studio and you can have some song that you feel like is a masterpiece and you just have to put no every every bar of that song no no no no no that wasn't right i want to can we can i bring the can the guitar player come back to the studio because he i wanted him to glisten on this you know so it's like you can create this masterpiece and people will hear it and be like wow that's dope okay um let me hear another one and then you play a song where you was in the studio for like four minutes throw away yeah you you could be in a song where it's like okay we we were just vibing on this and then i put some words on this [ __ ] and it's like oh [ __ ] that that's the one so it's like a story of my the story of my career right a song please don't go have been played for numerous artists who've album whose albums i've worked on i was like i got this one thing right here play it's cool i'm in glenwood studios mm-hmm working on uh working on sex love and pain and i got one day extra i finished all the songs i wanted to be like since i'm here it was like they was like well you got one more day if you want to do something you do something like okay they got good cookies and [ __ ] hang out at the studio chill and i'm gonna record this one track this one i was like i got this one track i'm gonna just record it lonnie my guy lonnie he's through he's like right he's like was she working on tv i was like i'm just working on this song right here like he's like let me get some of that bridge absolutely he was 100 into the bridge [Laughter] so he puts a bridge down i sing the bridge i'm like i'm going to turn it in with the rest of them turn the song in what was it and it was please don't go wow and they called me two days later [ __ ] you did it it's all straight guys [ __ ] you did that [ __ ] [ __ ] and i started naming every other song oh oh you like that [ __ ] right there and they like nah i said oh i know what you want you talk about you talk about that one because i put the sock nah not that one [ __ ] [ __ ] please don't go i said what right [ __ ] it's a smash that's it are you sure right you know what's up i'm so defeated are you i i haven't been out in five years i've been on the bench yeah i've been at war yeah i'm a recovery for five years [ __ ] and they're like this is a song and i'm like i don't i don't think i don't think that after five years of being absent that this is our this this is where we go we don't start with this right and they're like this yes we do right yes we do i got the same records i i got the same story so it had been a minute since i went through this whole thing with warner brothers where um i um you know we did a day in the life and that was a big record for me and then um i did this other record another album um called better and better thank you brother but they rejected my album so the whole the whole album so i'm going to the record label and i'm like okay y'all don't really get this album okay will you let me leave the label will you let me out at my deal nope okay will you give me like a budget to go in and do some more [ __ ] like if he didn't like nope so basically i'm just sitting i'm just sitting for a couple years they wouldn't let me out they wouldn't give me a budget to do anything else and so i'm back home just vibing some songs with my dudes ultimately i got another um i got a green light to do another record and we were in the in our uh my promotion man's room ken wilson you know cam oh no what's up kid look ken my god from the bay area yeah so we're listening to all these songs trying to figure out like what's the single and we were listening we had a couple dope joints he said yeah yeah man you gotta have them later man there's some dope [ __ ] on there is that but that's all it's like i got this other thing but you know i'm it's not saying i already shot that down no no no they no nobody this was something this is something new that i got this other thing it's probably not a single but i mean i'll play it for you but maybe we put it on the album for the japanese release like it's the japanese bonus track or some [ __ ] like [ __ ] i played the song ken wilson [ __ ] that that [ __ ] right there [ __ ] that's your first single it was you're the only one wow right that you play as your throwaway yeah i thought it was just like bonus yeah i thought it was i thought because when we wrote you're the only one i thought it was one of those like throwback to you know the whole vibe we were doing like a 70s throwback thing and i was like i don't know people ready for that right now this is probably just going to be like a cool vibe on the album ken was like [ __ ] that was the vibe that [ __ ] right there [ __ ] i don't know what you smoking [ __ ] and so yeah that and that was that was number one for like a couple more questions number one come on man you got it toast the number got it toasted number one boys [Music] does it involve calisthenics or doing push-ups or anything like that no no okay it involves talking that talk talking [ __ ] talk butt so it's called i sandal names [ __ ] listen listen listen listen it can be funny or [ __ ] up or both funny and [ __ ] up your story but you do not say the names of the other participants in the story but you give enough for a [ __ ] be like oh he's talking about that could have been iceland okay but you know hey guys take your time i know i didn't prep you for this neither honey you did not practice we [Laughter] that [ __ ] either nope it's yeah we swiping i'm swiping right now in my brain oh hell no let's see no names no face no case what is that i'm trying to think it don't fit ain't saying no names do y'all edit this [ __ ] no we're wrong man [Music] whatever you need whatever you need um um jamie told us don't edit [ __ ] he cussed us out for one to edit some [ __ ] okay okay okay i ain't saying no names okay i mean this i mean just in the spirit of the conversation and being from milwaukee and you know milwaukee gets cold as [ __ ] as a [ __ ] take a sip somebody was uh this was um i used to before i've actually moved to la i kept my i kept a place in milwaukee for a while and uh there was an artist oh my god i can't believe i'm telling this stuff birdman don't worry [Laughter] [Music] if i didn't have like three glasses of wine i probably wouldn't say this so there was somebody there was this female artist who i was kind of vibing by the way full disclosure was not married this was like eric and milwaukee just like being that uh there was this artist in milwaukee and um we uh we had state i forgot how we got each other's information but we stayed in touch and she was like yeah i'm in milwaukee we should have some drinks we went out oh my god this sounds horrible this sounds horrible but it's really not that bad so we went out you know east side of milwaukee it's all kind of dope little bars and dope pizza joints and with one drink after another and it's cold as [ __ ] i think it was probably like it was like it was it was it was either december or january in milwaukee so you know that's no way no joke so we are um we're drinking we're eating and as we're drinking and eating we're getting a lot more touchy-feely with the laughs the laughs the lingering hands are lingering longer and then we're both drunk which this is everything about the story is horrible because because i'm drunk in the bar with this person and now i'm going to dr i'm like where are you staying what hotel are you saying okay i can drive you there i'm not drunk just incredibly irresponsible so we're in the car and she says we're driving past uh esther brook park she says let's go streaking i'm like streaking yeah let's do it so it's like one o'clock in the morning it's probably like eight degrees outside drunk as hell that's a great idea so pull over oh my god pull over at esther brook park in the parking lot is anybody looking oh [ __ ] we taking off our clothes we run through esther brook park one o'clock in the morning butt ass naked ended up in the bushes and that's where i'll leave the situation [Applause] did you ever hear about the nude run in milwaukee no this this is bc i got a lot of crazy white boyfriends in milwaukee so they got this are they used to i don't know if they do it anymore but on new year's eve you got the polar bears and they jump into the [ __ ] i know about that the polar bears we already don't know what the polar bears is there's a bunch of crazy ass white people in milwaukee on new year's eve they will strip down to their swimsuits and jump into sub-zero water freezing ice water for whatever reason i don't know but anyway some other homies of mine some of them i went to college with but some of them were just like crazy ass white dudes like i would go have drinks with the every year they would do the nude run you would run from like uh river west all the way to the lakefront but as what yes so you would do the nude run and you would ultimately end up at this public swimming pool that of course was closed and then it would turn into it would break into the swim but yeah yeah so i i did the nude run in in milwaukee uh once but i feel like you did probably probably the nude run milwaukee [Music] this [ __ ] will hey are you kidding me you're kidding me that's frank the tank right there ladies and gentlemen this has been the rv money podcast yeah with our brother eric benedict [Applause]

Channel: R&B Money Podcast

Views: 248,587

Keywords: rnb r&b money

Id: bPy8HH3PbnY

Length: 62min 15sec (3735 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 10 2022