Ne-Yo on new COUNTRY album, Beyoncé collabs, Michael Jackson & Prince stories

27:03It's performed by Simu Liu and Philippa Su, and it is an absolute blast. When you actually hear the performance, you realize that other people are taking your words and what you thought was kind of a straightforward sentence like, the cat in the corner is black. In my head, it's the cat in the corner is black, not the dog, not the gerbil. But someone else might say it, the cat in the corner is black. That's always fascinating to me. how they just bring in all these different nuances and really make it fun and interesting and distinctive. Listen to Earsay, the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club on the iHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

28:00Trash talk, he clears on goal, he shoots. No! Unlimited data for$25 a month forever! Visit your local Boost Mobile store today to get unlimited data with a price that never changes. Boost Mobile. After 30 GB, customers may experience lower speeds. Customers will pay$25 a month as long as they remain active on the Boost$25 Unlimited plan. I say I cut people off, so I'll let you get the print story off, but how did the label act with you when it went double flats? You know how that thing go. I'm asking though. They there for all the celebration when things go well and when things go bad, it's your fault.

28:39Let me tell you something. You know how that go. I had an album when double platinum. Jealous one still went. They had a fucking picture of me six stories high in the Atlantic Records. The fucking picture was six stories high. I'm telling you, they swapped it out for T.I. I'm not going there. What I'm going is they gassed me to put out an album in Christmas time with Mariah Carey, Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, this, this. They threw you in the traffic with all Lamborghinis. Super gassed me. And I'm over here. I'm over here telling them, yo, this is a bad idea. This is a this. I don't think you think we're going to sell like Missy.

29:23We're going to sell like Jay-Z. You're the big guy, fourth quarter, this, that. I didn't know that back then they were getting paid on the shipping. So if your last album sold 2 million, they shipped 2 million, they get paid already. So whether you sell 10 records or 20, like that album that went double glass, they made their money. Yeah. They shipped out a million. They always make their money. They always make their money. So my point is when the shit flop, maybe like a month later, the guy who insisted and gassed me, I'll say it, Craig Calvin, and gasped me to drop that album. I said, I'm saying, gasped me to drop that album.

30:02I saw him at like the MTV Music Awards. And I was like, yo, hey, Craig. And the man in real life got up, looked at me, and ran away from me like I had AIDS or HIV. I was like, yo, Greg, he was like, motherfucker got up at it. And I realized at that point, I said, yo, these people don't give a fuck. It's the same guy I'm sitting on his couch telling him, yo, let's not drop. Let's not this. You know, as soon as that album flopped, T.I. poster went up. Shit crazy, man. So that's why I'm asking you. That's how I go. That's how I go. No. You know what, though? Shit crazy. I had a good situation. This is the biggest guy.

30:46I'm like, so Jay. He's crazy. This was right when Jay had became president over there. So it was Jay and Tata that's pretty much there through the whole recording of pretty much all my shit. And like, Tata is one of them niggas that just, he can't not keep it real. So like he, like Tata was a nigga that told me, he was like, yo, I need you to understand nobody in the building believes that you're going to do anything. I just need you to know that. I need you to understand that. With that album? No, with our first album. Before the first album came out, like they, they signed me and I, I want to believe they signed me as a tax write-off because they didn't, they didn't think it was going, because he came to me and he was like, listen, I'm going to let you know now.

31:20You know, sitting around with all the A &Rs, ain't nobody really, you ain't got too many people in your corner. I'm just going to let you know that. And I'm like, I couldn't do nothing but appreciate the fact that he kept it that real. Shout out to Tom. Well, who are the A &Rs? So my thing, I got a different type of like. Will you let him finish? He just finished. No, he didn't. He was just starting. No, you finished, though. No, he did. I did. I did. I'll get him finished that right there. I've been very patient. Yo, patiently. I've been very patient.

31:59No, what I was saying was I had one or two folks in the building that was actually riding for me, whether we won or lost. Like Ty and Jay, they was good to me. You know what I'm saying? If it was a win or a lose, even to the Deliver Scale situation, they was like, it's all right, we'll get them next time. They was like, they was. It was a hell of a two B to have it. Damn straight. Damn straight. Exactly. It was good. My thing is, who the fuck is the A &R guys? Right? You know them? I don't know them. So you come in there, you create, you tell your life story, you make hit records, and they get credit.

32:34I never liked that shit. Man, I mean, I fucking never liked that shit. Every time a fucking artist comes out, say a Lizzo, or Cardi B or whoever's a sensation, some guy comes stand next to them and takes the credit with them at the Grammys that they don't even fucking know. They never even talked to. They never even saw them. They never, nothing. No recommendation. Nothing. Standing up there like they did some shit. I never like that shit. Ever. Somebody else taking credit. Beat up A knowledge. No, I don't want to beat up nobody. I don't want to beat up nobody, but what I'm trying to tell you is I really want to know an A &R.

33:18Baby Rob Reef Tulo's up. He won Borky Beats. See, how you going to start finding? No, no, no, no. A lot of A &Rs did a lot of good for the game. A lot of them is fucked up, but there's some good ones. I never had the help. I don't know if you had the help. Tata was my A &R. You had the help. If somebody came and said she was a model for the year, they bought that beat? No. I mean, Pick did bring me to Virginia, the Pharrell Street. He didn't write the, that's my fucking words. But he took me to meet Pharrell. So that's the, he get the wrong. He introduced you to. I'll tell you like this, the Beyonce record might not have happened if not for Tata.

34:00It might not have happened because I didn't write that record originally for Beyonce. It's a bunch of records that went on Rihanna's album that I didn't write for Rihanna, but because Tata was always there, like every time I was in the studio, he was it. I mean, they set up like four days for Britney Spears with me, right? It was like, yeah, she's going to come in and whatever, whatever. She never showed. Four days, she never showed. But every song that I wrote for her, Tata was there. He's like, yo, let me get a copy of that. And then two weeks later, he's like, oh yeah, we gave that to Rihanna.

34:27Yeah, we gave it to Beyonce. Yeah, we gave it to this one. So like, he was like... I'm not talking about Tata specifically. I'm talking about the world of A &Rs. A lot of these guys don't do shit and they got too much to say about what the single is, how they know this. You know, how many times we've seen the artists come out pure talent, blow up and then all of a sudden the A &R try to start telling them what to do or what should they shoot or how they should look or this, throw away this shit. My first deal is when I had my experience with kind of crappy A &Rs. So I got signed to Columbia. That was my first record deal.

35:05A guy like you, right? Mm-hmm. you're so fucking talented. Imagine, now we know the story. Now, 20 years in, you're fucking super producer, super mega star, this, this, that. You starting the game. You got all this fucking talent. You know God gave you all this talent. And somebody trying to direct you and tell you what it is. And you sitting here looking at them like, is this shit crazy? But I was green, though. I ain't know no better. I was just happy to have a deal. So, like, whatever they was telling me to do, I did it. Like, nah, I don't write deep through these cats. right with these cans.

35:39No, don't wear that, wear this type shit. So like we finished the album for Columbia and I'm looking at the shit and I'm like, I don't recognize a nigga on the cover. I don't recognize the music. Like this ain't me. This is who they want to, like they try to turn me into like Baby Tyrese or somebody, right? So I went back into the label like, yo, is it cool if maybe I go in and, you know, cut one or two more records that kind of fit who I am? And it was like, well, I mean, we would let you, but your budget is depleted. And I'm like, at the moment, at that time, That was the most money I ever had in life.

36:10So I knew where the money was going. I'm like, nah, this much studio time costs this, this costs that. We should have at least this left, right? That's when I learned that every time them cats would fly us to New York and take us to Mr. Child's and throw that credit card down. Yeah. How about you flying them? Yeah. Yeah. How you flying them? Whenever they swipe that card, that was my budget. And I didn't know. And of course, they're not going to tell you. so yeah that was my first experience with A &R that just was on the take basically yo listen when you from listening to you he ain't listening from me listening to you it sounds like a lot of the songs you wrote for people you didn't write for people it happened to you know what I mean yeah yeah it happens like that a lot honestly like you know it's you give somebody first right of refusal and if they don't if they don't see it they don't see it alright but that don't mean the song is whack that don't mean you can't use it so it'll go somewhere else See, now, but they fucking J-Lo wrote that, well, at least half.

37:10That's what Faith said on the interview. I love you. It was J-Lo's song. She passed on it, and Faith kept it. And that shit turned into a fucking. That's one of my favorite things. Biggest hit in the world. That shit. I mean, that's how that shit goes, especially for songwriting. You know, you don't know what the good thing that Tata did. he had your best interest because you need somebody in there passing it off. This is good. This is smash. You know I did that. Yo yo yo yo. You already said it. I did that. The album that Usher, I'm gonna give you two. The album that Usher did with Rico Love and Rico super producer.

37:56A lot of them songs I was in the studio with and Usher wasn't sure. He was like, yo, I don't know this, this, and I'm like, yo, bro, this guy's the hottest guy in the game. I did the same thing with Kelly Rowland with the joint that Rico wrote for her. Cause at the time she had like an EDM song. She was about to go all the way over there. She was like, I'm going EDM. Like, and I'm like, yo, you know, you know, you, that's this child. Like, you know, the hit was right. It was so much of a hit that I was like, yo, this, you crazy. if you're not cutting this. This is a smash hit. You know, and sometimes people want to get a little outside voice to say, all right, man, maybe I should fuck with it.

38:40Yeah, yeah. And they fuck with it. You know, there's certain hits that I did that I ain't like because to me, they were like sellout hits. Like, I just knew it was going to be a hit. Like, you know, when you manufacture a hit, there's a way to manufacture a hit. Yeah, yeah. To be like, this is the sound. This is the formula. Get the homie on the hook. Get this. And it's a hit. And I never liked it because I felt like I was cheating the system. Label way. I never forget. They came to see me. They was like, yo, you need it. It's like the American standard instructions of it. I didn't do it pretty much.

39:18Step one, step two. But you feel like you cheated the game. I mean, me. I mean, thank God I still make money to this day off of it. But I felt like I cheated the game when I did. When I did something like shit, we're number one too. So you have an ear. You have an ear. You can hear when something is going to be like the one. Now let's go back to Craig Calvin. The only real shit he ever said to me was, he said, you're not Beyonce. He said, if you put out - The only real shit he said? The only real shit he ever said to me was, you're not Beyonce. If your song doesn't do good, there isn't the next song.

40:00It was crazy because you got that fucked in the hat on. I remember I walked in that lane. I told Atlantic I'm fucking up the whole office. I walked in there. All 5 ,000 employees was out the building. That shit was like.

40:14Tumbleweeds. I said, I'm going in there because they didn't want to shoot that video. And then I got up to that. Terror Squad Fat John. Beating everybody up in the office. Five o 'clock. I'm walking in. That shit was a ghost town. Only one guy stood there, man. Rest in peace. Rodney Johnson, man. And he's trying to explain it to me. He said, Joe, we told you that if the record don't do good, you can't do enough. So basically they were like, yo, look, you got one shot. If it hits, you get another one. So I had to almost train my ears like I was a program director. Yeah. To know what they would play on a Sunday in South Carolina.

40:50And I knew I would play these songs and be like, yo, they'll play this shit in South Carolina or Arizona. So I had to train myself and I knew if I didn't, if it wasn't a hit, I'm fucked. So that's a skill in itself. Like, I don't I don't have that. Like, I'll be so close to the music that I can't hear the one. Shouts to my man Tango. Tango is my manager, been my manager for 20 years. When I first met this nigga, he have a radio in his car talking about I'm a manager of music career. He don't even listen to music. He's like, no, no, no, no, no. I don't know music. I don't know products and I know people.

41:24and I'm like, all right. And to this day, every single that I've had that went, Tango was like, it's this one. And mind you, it'll be shit like, like, nigga, I spent five days on this record. This one I did in like 20 minutes. He was like, bro, it's that one. And sure, Closer. I did not believe in Closer. I didn't think that Closer was for me. I literally wrote it to sell it. It was Tango and Jay-Z that was like, yo, keep that shit. Trust me, keep it. We put the joint out for the first three months, nothing. nobody gave a fuck. They didn't get it. To the point where we went to the late, we went to the late where Ellie Reed called us in on some, yo, I think it's time to switch singles.

42:01Before I walked into LA office, Jay was like, yo, Ellie about to tell you to get off that record. Do not get off that record. But even I was like, bruh, this shit, it ain't working, man. Why would we? He's like, yo, trust me, stay on that record. All right. So we stayed on the record. We did the BET Awards that year. After that performance, that motherfucker took off. We never looked back. Those was the day. But I don't have, everybody, what's the recipe for a hit? I couldn't tell you. I'm going to get in the studio and do what feels good to me and then hand it off to the folks that had that ear like that because I don't got that.

42:33Like, don't let me pick the singer. That's crazy. You're going to pick a fucking hit for me. You can't, you got, I don't know. I can't pick the, it's what feels, I go off of what feels good to me. You know what I'm saying? That's as far as I can take it. I don't know this audience is going to do this and that. that's a whole other skill set that I just, I don't do that part. I don't do that part. I'm going to go in, I'm going to cut the record, and then I'm going to pass it off to the person that goes, ah, yeah, this is for this market, that's for that market. Like, realize it. My job ain't to sell records.

43:02My job is to make music. So I'm going to make the music and then give it to the person whose job it is to sell the record. That's how it works. 15 Grammy nominations. Yeah, man. Three Grammy wins. How does that feel? It feels good, but at the same time, Stevie Wonder got double-digit Grammys. You know what I mean? So it was like, I got more work. But it's also... You know, Stevie, bro. Come on, you brought up... Stevie Wonder. Stevie Wonder's the last American. He ain't got no Grammys, dude. Huh? There's a lot of people with no Grammys. I ain't got no Grammys. Why you trying to get... That's the shit.

43:38Yo, your man's... Your man be... Pow. Like, yeah, I ain't got shit. What? I didn't say you. What you trying to say? He said he's mad at three. I said he should keep him mad. I ain't mad at three. I got mixed feelings about the Grammys. I just know that I got more work to do. I got mixed feelings about the Grammys. Yeah, it would be great to have a Grammy. I don't like that when someone dies, they're immediately Grammy nominated or Grammy Award. What makes Grammy holier than thou? Like, what makes that word Grammy? like any artist dies from any genre to go Grammy winner, Grammy, what is it? What like, who are they?

44:22Cause they get it wrong all the time. Like you think what, what song you, you had, I can tell you mine. What song you had that, that you lost, that you lost a Grammy that you knew for a fact you should have won. Oh, come on. Me and Pitbull time of our lives. No, no, not, not time of our lives. Give me everything. Give me everything. was the song of Six Summers. And because we didn't turn it in on time, we didn't get, we wasn't eligible for Grammy. How crazy is that? Shit, isn't it? I just did a song, a show with Pitt two days ago, and he had people with boy heads in the fucking crowd. I thought it was attacking the aliens.

44:58That's like his merchandise. Oh, it's the... Yeah, yeah, you buy some shit, right? They look like fucking aliens. I said, yo, I'm too far from home for the aliens to attack. Fresno, California. I gotta be in the Bronx shooting shit up. I can't be. Out there, they're going to turn me into the Vato Loco. Shit, I was like, yo, I'm too far from home for all these alien motherfuckers in the crowd. Like, that shit bust. This merch is bald heads. Bald heads. That you put over your head. Yes. Like the skull. You look like the sleeve stacks and shit like that. Your shit all the way, like, it's weird. But they bought the shit.

45:36Yo, when you become a Halloween costume, that's when you know you made it. Man. I'm on Zepic. I'm old Zepic. What you selling them joints for? Every Halloween, I'm old Zepic. I don't know, but the crowd ain't Halloween. I'm old Zepic every Halloween. Oh, you put the box on. You got the soap, right? I'm old Zepic. Yeah. I'm old Zepic. Every year, I'm Joe Zepic. I'm battling fucking, you talking about country, I'm battling your jelly roll skinny like a motherfucker right now. Man, look. You seen Jelly Roll lately? Not lately, no. Fucking Seth Symbol, he up there. He taking my slot right now. pause pause

46:18oh shit you was just recently on Casa Knott's Mafia though? Yeah man what was that experience like I'm the young Jigs I mean I felt like the old nigga in the room I really did it was Casson that literally did not know who I was I had a t-shirt on with Neo on the t-shirt not me but Neo from the movie The Matrix and the nigga didn't know who that was. I'm like, yo, how old are you, bro? Who was in there with candy gardeners? He was like 15, 16. I'm like, God, all right. But no, it was cool. It was cool because Kai is like, you could tell he got, like, dude got a marketing and business mind for real.

46:58Like, he's serious with that. But it was a cool situation. Like, I've done, you know, the sit down on the couch and the studio audience and all of that. And, you know, it's all organized and shit. but in there it's like whatever he think he gonna say it whatever the little niggas behind him think they gonna just say it and that's just and gotta rock with it that's what people are not understanding people from my era are not understanding now these young kids don't give a fuck about you on IG with your filter with your dis they don't want the fake shit they want to fuck up in front of them on a stream they want to see if it's real or not if you dissing this and that all that fake shit that you could stage shit and shit like that that's no longer the motherfucker took homeboy the world's fastest man.

47:41That nigga had, he had movies with him chasing gorillas and fucking shit that your man was speed. Blew his fucking ankles off in front of every, they don't want the fake shit no more. They are not going for the fake shit. These young kids, they want to know, all right, you could do it, you could do it. Yeah, hey, if you didn't do it, nice try. But we know the real shit. That's what the stream shit is all about. But I'll tell you one thing about Kassanat. They all young, but they all know Tabuk, Leo, Kim Kardashian. Yeah. All the people of our age group is on there. Kevin Hart, Snoop. They're not fucking dumb.

48:23They know who got the real fans to tune in. So they could play all that young shit, but they all tapping into that culture, too. You know what I mean? So don't think we ain't the... Straight up.

48:40know what is your boy kids check it out we got a patreon you can get exclusive clips you can get early access to the episodes a lot of surprises more than subscribe big shit in the game things coming at you from joe and jada on patreon you know they're there right now cause it's free he giving you the first one for free. That night is going to be a little difficult. Go over there right now. Join Jay to Patreon. Let's get Wild Wild West and get it.

49:33Colin Coward podcast. Every goal starts with an assist. As official partners of U.S. soccer, this team is ready to deliver. Sensodyne, dentist recommended defense of your sensitive teeth. Centrum, fueling your day with science-backed nutrients. Advil, of course, powerful inflammation fighting pain relief. Voltaren arthritis gel, helps penetrate deep, keeps the joints moving, and Tums, ready to counterattack with fast heartburn relief. Learn how Halion can assist your game day goals at HaleyAndAssist.com slash con. Hey everyone, it's Cal Penn. I'm the host of Earsay, the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club.

50:14This week on the podcast, I am sitting down with Ray Porter, the narrator of Andy Weir's audiobook project Hail Mary, massive sci-fi adventure about survival and science and what happens when you wake up alone very far from earth. I really had to make a decision because I caught myself getting that frog in my throat and starting to get teary as I'm narrating some of these sections. And it's like, okay, yo, yo, yo, is this indulgent? And I really thought about it. I was like, no, at this point, it would kind of be betraying the trust the author and the listener have in telling this story if I don't go through it.

50:50But there's places in this book that deeply emotionally affected me and I left it on the mic. That's great. Because it served the story. People will say like, oh my God, I cried at the end. It's like, yeah, dude, me too. Listen to Earsay, the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. The official language of football is trash talk, late night group chats, memes, and unbelievable highlight clips. That's why Boost Mobile brings you our new global connection plan. The first plan ever made for WhatsApp. Get unlimited data, talk and text, international roaming, and calls to over 100 countries for just$40 a month.

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51:44Yo, Neil, I got to keep it real with you, right? Because lately, being that we're podcasters now, it's crazy because all the artists, not you, but all the artists seem to come in here and don't want to talk about what everybody want to hear them talk about out there. You got four wives. Yes, indeed. What kind of pressure? Do you buy? Is it like Muslim? Do you got to buy the same bag for the same? Like, you know what? Mine is mine. You definitely got to have a bag to have four wives. Oh, yeah. I mean, well, OK. it's there's a mindset that the woman has to have in order to be able to share men you know i'm saying like it's literally gotta she literally gotta think a different way if you got four women that want birkin bags you got the wrong four like straight so they got a different mentality it's a it's it's community it's family it's just like everybody doing something it's like it's like a village where everybody do something everybody got a job you know what i mean if you the only person taking care of everything you're doing.

52:51That's not how it's supposed to go. Everybody's supposed to kind of pitch in together. Like I have seven kids on my own. You know, one of them got a daughter. Other one got two kids. And it's like, okay, so I don't have seven kids. I got nine kids. And that's fine because we all come together like this one's washing dishes. This one's changing diapers if it need be. This one's doing that. Everybody does. You did it the traditional way. Yeah. I got to ask. Did you have to do, how'd you, it? How'd you, did you have to do an interview? How the hell did you know? How did you do this? Was you on tour just like, all right, she could be part of the family.

53:29She could be like, how did you do it? How did you do it four times? So, okay. So after my, after my divorce, you know, my very public, very ugly divorce, um, I, I realized that just through being dishonest, I hurt a lot of people. I hurt a lot of people. And I decided at that moment I don't ever want to be a reason nobody feel like me. So from that moment I was like I'm going to just keep it a buck with everybody about everything. Be it good, bad, ugly, whatever. I'm going to keep it a buck. Don't ask me if the dress make you look fat if you don't really want to hear the answer because I'm going to tell you straight up.

54:06So one of the ones that I'm with been around a little longer than the other ones. So I basically just sat her down like listen if you know I rock with you. We've been rocking for forever. Do this through that we've been rocking. I love you. I do. But it ain't just you. I'm also rocking with this one and this one. So a man can love more than one woman. Absolutely. Absolutely. I just want him to say, yo, J, I'm throwing you out, this motherfucker. Yo, J, let him answer the fucking question. I didn't say nothing. You ain't got four wives. You ain't got four wives that the man answered a question.

54:36You ever see somebody interrupt and then tell you to be quiet? You can love more than one woman. This is the shit men won't say. Married men will not say that. This is the shit men won't say. They can't. But you got four, so that's how it goes. What do we call that in America? It's polygamy. Real shit. It's polyamory if you're not married. It's polygamy if you're married. And polygamy is illegal in a lot of America. So it's poly. Yeah. Polyamorous. I woke up one day. I had a lot of bark and a lot of pink horsepower in the cabinet over there. Listen, first of all, me. Fucking rock a bull. I'm abused.

55:17I'm abused. Like, I'm lyrically abused. Some of my friends come to the house, they fucking, they going to light candles for me. Like, I'm sitting there like Al Bundy. Like, ah, ah, ah, ah. And I'm like, watch the TV. It's very hard to get me upset. But for them doing that shit at the same time? But see, it don't happen like that. It don't happen like that. Because I'm very, very, very adamant about drawing a line in the sand. It's like, listen, I'm going to hear you out. I'm going to let you say what it is you need to say but once we start going here you lost me anyway so you might as well when I was thinking about asking you this question I'm thinking so what you got like a giant bed like a big fucking jack in the big star Alaskan king Alaskan king I need that shit Alaskan king is like book me in Alaskan king book me together double king I only think I heard of California or something else.

56:14I never heard of Alaskan. I never heard of no shit like that. Alaskans only had crab. Fat Joe deserve an Alaskan king. No Fat Joe deserves an Alaskan king. I can shoot you a number. You can't buy an Alaskan king. You got to get it made. You got to get somebody to make it. They got to come in and build it. They got to build it. It's like a giant bed. Yes. Yo. What? It's about eight. Come to my. Yo.

56:47You're an inspiration, Neo. I like it. I like that. We're going to live vicariously through you. That's it. And I hope it works out. Everything is good, man. Everything is good. Again, we have problems just like monogamous relationships. All that shit is real. You're going to argue over stuff. But again, at the end of the day, as long as you are head of household and everybody understands that, then arguments don't last on. Again, I'm going to let you get it out. I'm going to let you say what you got to say. I'm going to hear you. But once it's done, it's done. We're not good. We're not good. You think a broke man can have four women in their lasting if you do it the right way?

57:21Because again, it's not so listen, all women ain't going it's not going to work. They're not rocking with that. It has to be a certain kind of woman. She got to have a certain mindset if she's going to do it. Because if she's the kind of woman again that she needs birthdays and all What's your question? I got two questions. Go on, go on. How far apart, because you know how you said you had one that was with you for a while, how? What was the... Like age difference? No, no, no. How quick did it take to get the other three on board? It wasn't, it didn't take a long time. It was, I kind of set up a dinner.

57:59I told her one that I want you to meet, I want you to meet the other ones. Initially, it was just three. So I told her one that I wanted her to meet the other two. I set up the dinner. Where'd the last one come from? She's one of my dancers. She's the newest. Yeah. Yeah, she's one of my dancers. So, country inspired. Yes, sir. It's still going to have some country, but it's still going to have some of that. Yeah, yeah. I can't not be me, but it's like everything that I love about country music mixed with what it is that I normally do. It's been a lot right there. Yeah. And you got this tour in the Vegas residency coming.

58:34Yeah, man. I'm proud of that. Sure, I'm flying out for that. Grew up in Vegas. Definitely flying in for that. At the high school in Vegas, oh, nah. So to be able to go back and do something like that, that's... I could live in Vegas. You know we got songs together. So after it gets, you know, oh, she gave me a call, I figured you could give me a call. Say less. I'm just hating over here. Nah, nah. I hate no man. I come with him. No, I come with him. You got me? Yo, I come with him. What do you want me to do? I come with... I'm attached. They think I bring Jadakiss with me. I walk into Wawa, 7-0-0, it's Jadakiss.

59:10Like, yo, bro. You got me like knocking rest. Like, I'm in the back of this fucking... Like, I'm in the back of this fucking... Like, I'm in the back of this fucking... Like, what the fuck y 'all think? He comes here. It's included. Package deal? Pull up. Yo, Neo, man. Five of your favorite artists of all time. And I'm going to make it even easier for you. I'm going to say... Songwriters. No, no, group. Groups? Groups. Five groups? That's hard. R &B groups. Let's go songwriting. Five, five songwriters. He's a hell of a writer. What you did? You want a songwriter? Let me get your best five songwriters.

59:42Or just at least. This is a hard question. So, Babyface. Smokey Robinson. Smokey was writing all that shit. Jontay Austin. Jontay's a monster. The Dream. Monster. And the fifth, gotta go with Lionel Richie. Yo, niggas don't understand. Well, niggas don't say he's a nigga nigga. Nah, nah, nah, nah. Like, before you go in with that, because I love Lionel Richie, but I've had this argument with some real street R &B singers that they don't rate him because they feel like he was lollipop or something. What do you think? Nah, nah. Okay, so Lionel started the Commodores and then went over into the...

1:00:31Like Lionel Richie took publisher of the year two years in a row. Not publishing company. Lionel Richie by himself. That's an award that goes to publishing companies. Publisher. Look it up. Publisher of the year. Lionel Richie. Twice. Twice. I love. I love. I mean, that man was putting numbers on the board. But I've had this argument with like some people you were. That's because he didn't keep it R &B. Like he went R &B. Then he went pop. Then he went country. He like, hello. if you got that you're supposed to do that you're looking for no no no no no I love Lionel Richie they just can't do that part right there hello let me see you know how this shit go hip hop R &B it's always a debate of course so I'm sitting down with some of the most respected R &B singers of all time and I'm surprised when Lionel come up they like yeah he ain't like you know I'm like huh they mad Lionel fucking Richie they mad cats feel like cause you do one thing well you're supposed to stay there.

1:01:31And it's like, nah, what if you do six things well? Like, how am I not? If I'm giving the gift, I'm going to use it. Like, Lionel Richie could write R &B, but he could also write pop. He could also write country. He could do all that. So why would he not do it? No, no, no. You can't front all that. Lionel Richie's phenomenal. Not at all. You name some serious ones. Smokey Robinson did all the Motel shit. He knew Motel town. Might be my favorite songwriter. You know, that's the weirdest one we cool with a lot of people but you know I'm actually cool with Babyface that's no don't throw the shit he come to my birthday party and sing at my birthday don't do that don't throw that don't throw that you gonna look crazy out here you look crazy with Joey Badass now you say Babyface I go to dinner with Babyface all the time he's my friend this is what I'm trying to tell you he's one of the weirdest relationships I have am I lying did he yet oh they ain't gonna fuck you I call Cap I call Cap on the cat you was there did he yet yo that's my guy he's the one that Joe Crack cannot believe I'm cool through this whole journey it's like I sit down and have dinner with Babyface and Babyface wanna hear the stories Cap But nah, baby face me like, yo, Joe, tell me some shit.

1:02:57Yo, this, this, that. They all do. You know what I'm saying? They want that shit. That sauce, man. You know what I mean? Nah, I'm telling you the truth. What you want me to do? You see Lil Boosie the other day on the interview? Nah. Oh, he said he a big fan of our show. He said, I know Joe about to say some shit. We need him on here, man. We need Boosie. Boosie badass. Call us up, man. Come on. Atlanta. Right? Atlanta. We looking from the outside in. Right? We need to go to Atlanta. Atlanta's what, I want to go to Atlanta. Can we go to Atlanta? Got some new ventures. I love Atlanta. You got some new ventures.

1:03:29You started a golf line? Yeah, man. Yeah, Olago Sport. So my manager, Tango, was talking about earlier. He's been playing golf forever. Been trying to get me out there, and I never, I just, like, I'm young. I don't play golf. Like, the pants is weird. I'm not doing it. But he actually got me out there one time. We went to, who was it, Reggie Jackson's tournament, right? And mind you, Reggie Jackson golf tournament is not a regular golf tournament. Like every hole, they're giving away Jordans. Fucking like every hole is something different. So I'm like, is this what? He's like, this ain't how golf normally is.

1:04:03But yeah. So I fell in love with the game. So I'm like, all right, listen, if I'm going to do this, I'm not wearing that shit, bruh. Like these things look nuts. Sorry, they look nuts. I'm not doing it. So you got to make your own. So we, he's like, all right, we'll start a line. So we got bags. We got, you know, clothes and shoes and whole nine. It's coming together next. I'm going to see on some stuff. See on some stuff. Ronaldo Martinez. Did you know that? What the hell is that? Reggie Jackson. Mr. October. Reggie Jackson written in Spanish. He changed his name to Reggie Jackson. Ronaldo Martinez.

1:04:40Google that shit. I ain't lying to you. At the time, it wasn't cool to be said. Well, as I was alive, his name was Reggie Jackson. Well, you better go ask Denzel Washington, who told me that's Reynaldo Martinez. Okay? And we got love. Reggie, I'm from the Bronx. That's me. Reggie Jackson did all that work in the Bronx. One day I see him and I go, oh my God, Reggie Jackson. I try to go. I get held back by Denzel Washington. You see, you're Joe. Denzel Washington is like, I don't think you should be running up to that guy. I said, what do you mean? He said, that's where Ronaldo Maldives. He denounced the Latinos when he was winning.

1:05:27He didn't want to save the Spanish. Wow. I don't fucking know. I don't know. So it's Reggie Jackson. I also think, I also think, to Reggie Jackson's credit, I also think I was in Houston at the 50 Cent weekend, that basketball shit I was coaching. He confronted me somehow. You heard this story. This ain't the first time I say it. Somebody came in front of me, yo, Joe, what's up? And I was like, yo, what's up, Reggie Jackson? I think he wanted to get into the conversation of Reynaldo Martinez. We might need Reggie Jackson on this bitch right here so he could explain to us. That the other nigga's dead.

1:06:08Yeah.

1:06:11That Martinez ain't in the Hall of Fame. Reggie Jackson. Reggie Jackson's in the Hall of Fame. That's a fact. Reynaldo ain't in the game right there. None of that. That shit crazy, man. It really is. Yo, Neo, my brother, man, we thank you, man, for coming, man. Licking in snack the album. Oh, we got a little snippet or something? I take that. Okay, cool. No country taste, son. It's always beautiful. Yeah, let's play the song. What's it called? It's called Simple Things. Oh, shit.

1:07:07I could do this country right here.

1:07:20A sandwich that you made You could search your whole life Never to find what's standing right in front of you It's always the simple things The way you laugh Is the way you cry to your favorite song Life is all in between The flowers you find On the uphill climb They keep you moving on And after you stop chasing When you find out all that really made sense It's a simple thing It's always a simple thing Crazy! You heard it here, folks! You heard it, folks! Holy shit! Thank you. You have made me a country music fan. Neo, you have made me a country music fan. Love, brother. That was fucking amazing.

1:08:20Any genre right there. That shit was crazy. Appreciate that. Appreciate that. Appreciate the love. It was crazy. We're coming soon. I think we're dropping this year. Are we dropping this year? Are we waiting to next year? Say who this year? I'm next year. No doubt. I'm going to wear the sombrero for the rest of the year. That's a fact. And when is the tour supposed to start? Next year? I think the tour is top of 2026. Yeah. I think me and Akon are moving. I'm fine. Oh, with Akon. Yeah, man. that's that shit right there you know I toured Africa with Acorn Africa with Acorn alright when we get Acorn we gonna get him here kiss nah nah I'm telling you I went on tour in Africa with Acorn that shit was the illest shit I ever seen in my life no flags oh congratulations on Dallas I had the whole stadium cursing them out in the fucking...

1:09:19No, we was in LA. Me, Pitbull, Lil Jon, and the Ying Yang twins and he had a Dallas shit. I had him shitting on him. I was like, this is a Dallas... Bro! He was a good sport about... I was surprised Rich wasn't cursing the whole fucking crowd out. Yo, Neo, man. You're always with Baby Tata over there. Yes, cool V, man. Yo, my brother, man. Yo, what's feel like being Tata's little brother, right? Yo, yo. Ladies and gentlemen, hold on, hold on, hold on. Hold on. Yo, come here, come here. Yo! Come here, come here, come here. Yo! Nah, yo. Leave my man alone. Yo, God, so many years I thought he was Tata.

1:10:05Yeah, you get that a lot. You know what I'm saying? I got, yo, listen, so many years I see, then they realize, nah, I'm not, I'm not Tata. Yo, all of them look exactly alike. They all look exactly alike. Well, you're not twins, right? No, he's younger. You just look the same. Well, anyway, brother. I'm a Knorr over there. You got the right one with you, brother. Yeah, man. Neo, thank you for blessing the couch. Like KISS says, there's always legends, but there's different legends, I'm noticing. And everybody's a legend, but you definitely, what you've brought to the world in terms of happiness, because I got to...

1:10:43I'm a movement by myself. Yes, sir. But I'm a false when we're together. Mommy, I'm good all by myself. Come on. But maybe you, you make me better. You make me better. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Love, brother. That's love. This ain't that. That ain't this. It's cracking kiss. Give it up for me. I'll take our guests for the day. Joe and Shayla. We love you. Yeah. Woo!

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