Raphael Saadiq: The Pulse with Bill Anderson Ep. 75

foreign guys welcome to another episode of the pulse and I feel like I've just been lucky lately because we've had a whole bunch of people who were like my time in the club and listening to music and I'm Still rocking in the car and today is no different except they're coming back together after 25 years Tony Tony Tony's coming back together but Raphael sadiq's been doing his thing and he joins us how are you sir I'm good man how are you I'm doing real well I appreciate taking the time out because you're actually at rehearsal like doing your thing right now you guys are on tour just getting started yeah today is the first day of like production we're in um Charlotte North Carolina right now but we have I'm not at the venue right now I'm just actually in the hotel room getting ready to go there's a lot of talk about it's 25 years since Tony Tony but you never really stopped kind of producing and writing and Performing so does it have that same symbolic nature to you is it as big a case to you as it is for all of us it's like going back home right so it's nothing like home um even with all the things I've done nothing can really top where you started if you can go back and do it at a on a different level I feel like we're doing it a different level than we did in the beginning so it's a big deal for me too 25 years coming back together you got a chance with all of this different success to kind of sit back and look at it then versus now did you realize what a big impact the guys were having what a big deal it was or is it easier to sit back and enjoy it now I think it's easier to sit back and enjoy it now I think when we were doing it you know so many you know overnight Sensations or one-hit wonders and you have all those you know all of those concerns if that's if that's your concern at all it was a huge concern for me I didn't really want to be that and so many people came that were you know so gifted and talented before us you know I knew we had a lot to um endure we was climbing on a lot of people's shoulders who came before us so I knew we had a job to do we had a responsibility as Sydney portier would say you know you know he would say all the time to me like to everybody he met him and said you have a responsibility and I always felt that we had a responsibility to um a lot of people before us and after us so that was one of my concerns all the time so um it's it's it's it's it's a it's a better look now even then I mean you got into this very young but even when you were were touring back then you're young you owned the responsibility that you had even at that point oh yeah before before I got into the industry I was always I was always pretty much felt some responsibility from um my my teachers at school um up from my uh music teachers people that was giving us guidance and you know telling us what the real world was like you know after high school and how things were going to change and if we do get into the music industry you know what sort of things to look out for so I've always have you know an eye on that part of it even from this first deal we signed that was pretty much looking at everybody kind of sideways and at the label if you're the bad people and you know and then you have friends like Q-tip who wrote the song like I said the director industry was shady and so all these things that I thought about when they weren't they going all shady if they were nice people but it's just to say I I did have one eye open all the time that was just about the responsibility of making music and treating like a nine-to-five job you know this is you know I didn't go to college I didn't I didn't go get any degrees um and I didn't have a 401k and I knew that I knew this is something that I could do and next year could be all over and I just be you know walking around talking to people about when I made that one record I just never wanted to be that person wow it's when you talk to people and you hear those stories it's always interesting because I felt like you're making the music that I'm out in the club with the overalls with just like one strap on the shoulder and The Paisley shirt and trying to dance in my head you guys were having at least as much fun as I was um was I mean so it was I mean it had to be fun too you just had the one eye open oh I had the fun I mean I'm still I'm I'm still I think I just bought some overall I was like about six months ago and I still flipped off the one the one thing trying to look like uh like all dirty after I watched the Wu-Tang I said oh I remember I was rocking that that's kind of cool and I'm always gonna have fun like that but I know how to you know mix it you gotta you gotta you gotta have you gotta have to you have to know how to go to the party and shake hands he says no you have to know when to leave you know that was my whole thing you could have some fun but you just got to know when to leave [Music] next we all thought they were just having fun but even a young Rafael Saadiq was driven by more we did it we beat everybody that was an executive we're here they don't have jobs we still got jobs I made you coming back together I talked about the historic nature and you've had a lot of success in music and movies and producing working with you know biggest names but you said that coming back together you know that's family it's like coming back home so why now why was it the time to do it now you know it's a lot of people sampling our music right now I just I just said let's get together and take some pictures and say return and I actually put the pitch the first picture out myself I shot it in mine in my arms in my studio my warehouse I just posted it and it just caught fire I said see there it is you know we could put it together and um make it look like it should look sound like it should sound that's it's the time it's it's all time and it's the perfect storm I just knew how the energy was and I once outlasted people who signed this you know Executives that signed you they really sign you thinking that you know you pretty much got one or two years in the business right I'm not seeing any wishing that on you or nothing like that but that's really how how it goes these kids are signing deals these Executives don't really care about them they just you know they're just making money off of them for a couple years and good luck kid and I just not I felt like we did it we beat everybody that was an executive we're here they don't have jobs we still got jobs but it sounded like even as a young person to this day you kind of were in it with this message that I need to to leave something lasting I need to change the industry and now you've been in the industry long enough have you seen it change oh yeah I've definitely seen the change um I mean the way the way they you sign groups now is different I mean you signed Stevie Wonder because he was talented now you sign people because they have a ton of followers it's not what it used to be nothing is I mean in every aspect of of living everything changed but but then you still have people like lucky day and um her and just to name a couple um you know you still have these very upper echelons musicians that's really making a huge dent I just think the way we get music now is is kind of crowded you know what it's it's really crowded back in the day when you make a record you put the record out now you put a record out they call it a mixtape then you know it's not they don't take the chance on putting your record out so they put out like three mixtapes and they're really tests in the waters and the industry I was in when they signed you nine out of ten you're pretty much gonna come out with a record in looking at the industry then versus the industry now somebody like you has always done again the producing the writing the different shows so the one thing about the industry now is it it can be very independent you got several million followers on social if you want so you can do your own thing you don't have to wait for the industry for someone like you it sounds like that would be a really positive thing oh that's very positive I mean I love that for for industry that you can be someone who just put your music up and and you let people decide um but I just think it's uh it just has to be a bigger wave when when they do find you they should have to pay a lot more just because they because they didn't believe in you in the beginning [Music] coming up at the height of their success he told his Tony Toni Toni family that he was done I left because it was going to destroy us as a family so I said you know what I'm gonna leave I don't know exactly what I'm gonna do so I was like I guess I'll do another group Tony Toni Toni is is your family and I read one of the quotes that you were like actually went solo because you wanted to keep your family together like the industry was was messing around did I read that right yeah 100 yeah I left because it was going to destroy us as a family so I said you know well I'm gonna leave I don't know exactly what I'm gonna do so I was like I guess I'll do another group which is Lucy Pearl so yes I didn't go solo if I was going to be a solo assemer I wouldn't have left the group and did another group right so um yeah I did I left because yeah it was it was it was getting sloppy and um but once we weren't you I weren't I wasn't in the group um I told my brother I said well you know what I think we probably lost a lot of money but I still got you as a brother which is more important to me hmm it is always again when you hear these stories those are the types of stories that people want to hear and that people can keep it in this proper perspective but the music and the behind the scenes and the money that that tears people up oh yeah 100 one of my friends I always say the money is the root of all evil and that's when she get it she just spend it all all right so we're getting ready to tour you're going to be in Philly actually September 28th at the Met what are we going to expect because there's a whole library of music from you to Tony Tony and to Lucy Pearl what are we going to see we're gonna we're gonna touch a lot on some of the Lucy pearls some of you know my stuff and a lot of the Tony's you know some of the things that we've done like a house of Music we never performed I think I left in 96 after that album um so we get we get a chance to play a lot of the songs we never toured so I think what people can expect is the unexpected it's the energy is going to be fire it's going to be some some epic things happening musically Arrangements um emotions are going to be flying everywhere I don't even know man it's gonna be hard to hold up sometimes because the feeling the demotion is going it's gonna run so deep I don't think we've been not talking about that part of it because I think nobody want to be crying at this age you know I don't think we ever cried on the stage before but you can tell my brother's talking everybody's like yeah yeah looking the other way you know but I think you know I think it's gonna be emotional time for us uh with the fans and I think it'll be a lot of beautiful energy between Philly and and um the Tony's and I'm just so fortunate that the fans actually enjoyed it and liked it and gave us a career enough to buy those records and come to see us and and just keep walking with us through everything we've been through so I think I think the energy between both is going to be something we are going to share at the same time together [Music] next on the pulse when it takes 25 years to be ready for a reunion best believe it's got special meaning in here like you you really missed this yeah it's gonna be emotional it's just this is real it's just not like I didn't have to come back for no money or nothing I feel like everybody needs to go and see this tour because more than a lot of the things that that we've seen or people that I've spoken to it sounds like we're seeing an authentic emotional reunion like y'all y'all are sharing that with us oh yes this is yeah it's gonna be emotional it's just this is real it's just not like um you know we were all doing pretty good I didn't I didn't have to come back for no money or nothing I'm good um this is uh emotional it's peace I mean we picked I hand picked every musician to play with us I didn't just awesome friends I call people that I knew that was better than me everybody that I have around me is better than me and what they do answer for people once and for all nobody in the group's name Tony where did this come from it came from this movie The Untouchables Andy Andy Garcia his name was Tony and his hair was really slick back then my brother Duane would always put this kind of confidence here makes his hair was already curly but he made it really slick and he said when he go to school on the first day when the teacher took roll call she would never call him Dwayne she would call him Tony but she would say it three times because his hair was so processed that's the name he's gonna tell you some other BS that's how it came up and then we planted a wedding reception just three of us in a friend's wedding reception and they said what's the name of the group and my brother said Tony Toni Tone he was just joking and then when a guy said it back he was like ladies and gentlemen Tony Tony he's like I had a ring to it and once we got a deal maybe two years later we kept the name so it was a joke that just became a thing it was a joke that turned into like a lifelong serious library of like history and music became a serious thing there's been a lot as I was doing research for this I saw when you talked to sway and a couple other groups and you have talked more than you have in the past at the whole time you're out there making everybody smile and playing it feels good and and all of this music you were dealing with a lot you know in your family things behind the scene we don't need to go through all the specifics of it but you talk about it more now like why why are you sharing that there was a lot going on when you were trying to make other people happy I guess the reason why I talked about it because I hear people going through a lot of different things in and it becomes all of their music you know I'm saying you don't really have to do that because you know you don't you can wear your heart on your sleeves but you can still you can still come you can use the music in a positive way to to try to come from under all of those things so that's why I talk about it now and because I always look at people going like man I've been through so much and um I just wanted to share with people like you know I'm just don't because you hear me singing it feels good or let's get down you know I think I was writing music when I was losing my sister you know on a life support machine you know I was in the studio writing it never rains in southern California um I just have to look back at myself go wow that's a very resilient you know of me to be in such a industry and to be making music and music is so beautiful and so powerful and so strong if you use it in the most uh positive way you can yeah I mean people don't know four siblings lost does that make performing with your brother and coming back together that much more special it makes it special because um he's my big bro um he has kids I'm really close to one of his kids to two of his sons um Dylan and Jayden Jayden is producing he wants to you know he's been around me for the last I really he wasn't around my nephew until he was like 14 or 15. but he moved to LA and um I've been with him since he was 15 sort of like you know just talking to him he wanted to meet me and hang out with me he had never really hung out with me but he's he's amazing he's working with you know Frank Ocean um Daniel Caesar the weekend um his brother is doing some amazing production work too and um they never seen their dad play with me you know so this is more for the grandkids and the great grandkids they don't know they don't even know why people come up to us and go oh are you this they like of course who is he well if they don't know they're about to know in just a second yeah we end every episode of the pulse the concept of use your voice for good is the theme of the show we ask everybody the phrase use your voice for good in their life what does that mean to them you know growing up in church and you see people being preachers and stuff and I will always say I was I could never be a preacher or Pastor any anything like that too much responsibility but I always said I would always use my voice to if someone came up to me and asked me how did I make it happen I would always until God like it came through my my Godly energies my spirit it had nothing to do with with me I'm just I'm just sort of like this um bridge to get to me it just comes through me and I said I will always and it and it's funny that always happens I mean I'll be walking and some lady will walk up to me with a kid and like can you talk to my kid about your life and how you got here and I go bow this is like sort of my prayer so I would say using using my voice in the most positive way for parents if uh if they if they have a hard time talking to a kid just having a rough time I'm probably the person you want to talk to I could talk to them [Music] guys thank you again for watching the pulse I enjoyed the conversation with Rafael Sadiq we touched on it on the end but for some of you who may not know he tragically lost four of his siblings throughout his life in a lot of circumstances right before he performed or was writing music and continued on with his life and has chosen not to talk about it until relatively recently so I'm happy to share his story his excitement his enthusiasm and the reunion of Tony Toni Toni I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do I always say that if you would like to hear more there is more so head over and check out the podcast and I leave you today as I always reminding you whenever you can use your voice for good and have a good one

Channel: FOX 29 Philadelphia

Views: 3,625

Keywords: The Pulse, third party, Bill Anderson, Podcast, wtxf, Raphael Saadiq, Tony! Toni! Tone!, Celebrity

Id: P1zsme0pcsQ

Length: 20min 9sec (1209 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 25 2023