[Music] i wish i could do that yeah but you don't need to man because when you hear it you get in that zone right [Music] so you hear chords like this someone brings them to you and then you get into a place like for tonight where the words come and the emotion and the feeling starts
to present itself to you can you try to describe that my process is i really think the story is the most important part simply because i think that's what's going to make someone go back to it that's definitely what's gonna make me play it over and over again so i like to have the story first you have this inbuilt
maturity in terms of how you want to manage your journey a lot of us when we get a taste of something to your point or more of that straight away and we're very quick to tell people i've been doing this whereas you're out here going that can wait and i'm brand new right like just
just be patient i mean i think a huge part of that is music education and music history which you were given by your mother exactly she put me in this program with the um the grammys the grammy academy in la they take inner city kids they teach you music history they teach you songwriting
they teach you all of this so while all of my peers were studying the current rotation of an artist the i'm i have assignments to study 60 swing jazz with nat king cove frank sinatra you're being introduced to croft exactly so and i'm learning how it takes a it takes time to get to that point and also
artist development which is like almost those words are almost like extinct it's a forgot not it's a forgotten art and that's the main part so here's a really inspiring lesson i think people can take from your process if you can't take your time you took your time you know if you won't let me take my time i'm
going to take my time yeah literally that's what i did because while this is happening i'm still new and almost every week where's the new music where's the new music so being bombarded with that as a new artist anxiety and juicing inducing and it's it's it takes a certain amount of
bravery and confidence to know that whenever i release this body of work it's gonna it's gonna be fine it's so fascinating already dude because you are somebody who has um established principles for yourself and a framework within which you are disciplined enough to remain i think a huge part of that is
i did all the steps i did the shows in long beach california with 15 20 people [Music] i released the song or two on soundcloud they got 30 streams and i've slept on couches so i don't really have the fear of losing it all or like rushing because you've tested your resolve i tested it
already and i'm not once i've seen people connect with the music that i'm making knowing that i didn't conform at all i had this voice that you know and i'm singing about whatever it is i'm singing about and people are still receiving it so i'm like oh i could i could just do my thing you know
for your mother to be able to recognize your talent and to be able to nurture you into a place where you got grounding from which you can remain grounded is a rare quality do you think she recognized your talent before you did or did she follow your lead she recognized it first so she would
just play music around the house while she cleaned and she she was one of those people who once she likes something or a song she's going to play it over and over she's a music fan music fan so if you're in the vicinity you're going to learn that song against your will so then i would i would just start to sing along because
it's just in my head what's what song right now and please continue your thought but just as a quick circuit breaker what song immediately springs to mind right now uh denise williams silly of me wow i could i could just hear it i could smell the pine saw the bleach while she's cleaning and just
in uh denise williams free but i would start to like sing along and then the next family birthday she'll have me singing happy birthday to like a uncle auntie cousin did it feel natural to you in those moments or were you trying to make your mom happy first couple i was just like i was just trying to make her happy
because i didn't hear it and then seeing people's reception uh reception i mean it was like it's like looking glass self i was a class clown just for i think that was really for attention so once i realized i had this voice i started cracking less jokes when we were gonna
have this conversation i was i was excited man like i was like bored or bordering on nervous you know like i had anticipation because you haven't done this and yet the music that i heard on your album when i listened to it and what i've heard you do thus far i feel like i've known you for 20 years so it's
like it was a strange combination i never thought about this you know i didn't feel you don't feel like a new artist to me so i'm so glad that you think of yourself as one because it doesn't feel like one to me at all like i was there in the crowd coachella bro you you watched it yeah man it was
epic oh wait which weekend first weekend okay that was my i like that one you came out man and your understanding of pace was everything you know how hard it is to go out on stage that big in front of that many people on a weekend like that having not done that before and not just do it 3x in pace 3x in energy and just
man i don't even know how you did it that's actual question giving on how did you do that your hands were steady dude you know what it is and people probably won't believe me i watch a lot of stand-up comedy dave chappelle uh kevin hart and and just public speaking like if obama's speech
dave chappelle's pace ignore that he's he's telling jokes his pace and his delivery and confidence is second to none obviously besides like i watch a lot of i just watch a lot of live things luther vandross teddy pendergrass people who understand the importance of space because what space allows an audience to
do is to invest yeah the space is so important but even just like watching teddy and frank sinatra there when you when you don't have the dancers or when you don't have the 20-piece orchestra going on behind you it's all up to you and i realized the importance of just trying to connect with each person
because also a thing i was con not concerned but curious about was what if no one knows like i i kind of try to approach every festival like not a single person knows who i am i think when you get to a place where the foundation of self-belief that meets the foundation of believing
in others which is where real relationships exist i have enough self-awareness and belief to be able to be at my best and share my worst and i trust you to do the same when that gets broken you lose a little bit of that innocence that your parents try to instill in you you know that your
mother tried to tell you hey and you've turned that into a record like that's what the album is to me is it's like i know who i am but i don't know if we're matching anymore 100 and i love that you keep um really just bringing it back to me and my mom's conversation because that's that's the reason i told
i chose no features because that this story is so personal that there can't be another voice besides me and my mom because that's the that's the conversation that was had yeah look it's the first time we've heard from you telling a story and so the person who helped you write it needs to be your collaborator on this
i get it yeah where and when and how and what was it like to play this album to your mom and i can imagine you didn't play works in progress to the degree i'd imagine you sort of made a moment out of it yeah definitely made a moment out of it and that was also too personal you don't have to share no no
she made sure that i i made it a moment because she'll be like you know just mom stuff oh yeah i made this today she like i want to hear it all once it's done man fantastic because she understands that i'm a project artist she understands that every every song is connected every interlude is connected
every all the sonics are connected so then once i played it for us obviously she started crying where about sweet what was the environment i was at home and um i like to just like have my family over like i try to do it like once a week but if busy probably like once every two weeks
and all my family was there and i was just like i played it for him and i was just like wow you'll never forget that no ever never i can't so are you prepared for criticism if and when it comes oh yeah always but i think i'm in a space where it's like as far as criticism i don't know the the
world is interesting now because me personally it's like if i'm shopping for clothing if i don't like this shirt i don't like the tailor and the cut i'm not going to hold it up and be like hey everyone in the store i don't like this shirt if you were wondering i'm just not gonna
pick the shirt up i'm gonna go to a shirt that i like buy it and wear it but now people are picking up the pants they don't like telling everyone in the store they don't like these pants and i'm just like i don't understand this so as far as like criticism i'm just like i'm it's art as well it's
like if i'm telling you a story about my heartbreak it's at my discretion you can't say ah tell me how you got your heart broken in another way it's like no like just go listen to something else so it's not i don't even think anything would be bad necessarily it's just either it's for you or it's not