Remembering Pepe Willie: The Man Behind Young Prince, 94 East & The Minneapolis Sound | Nick Egan Times

This is a special tribute re-release of an in depth interview with the legendary late Pepe Willie, a foundational figure in the Minneapolis music scene and an early mentor, producer and cousin-in-law to Prince. Originally published on February 25, 2023, this interview captures Pepe’s passion, stories and the brilliant musical mind that helped influence an entire musical movement. Pepe was a genius and Godfather of the Minneapolis Sound.

In this episode, we talk about:

• His early life and musical journey
• Working with 94 East and developing young talent
• His amazing relationship with a young Prince, how he helped shaped his career and unbelievable insights into a young Prince and the early Minneapolis sound
• His thoughts on creativity, legacy and the future of music
• Iconic stories from behind the scenes

This interview is being re-released in Pepe’s honor as we reflect on his extraordinary contributions to music. His influence continues to live on through the artists he inspired and the history he helped create.

Thank you for listening and for helping celebrate the legacy of Pepe Willie.

From the streets of Bed-Stuy to the studios of Minneapolis, Pepé was a multi-talented powerhouse: producer, songwriter, musician, mentor, and consultant. Widely known as the Godfather of the Minneapolis Sound, he played a pivotal role in shaping the early artistic identity of one of music’s greatest icons.

He not only produced Prince’s earliest sessions with 94 East, but personally guided the young prodigy—opening doors, sharpening his studio instincts, and teaching him the business side of music.

In this interview, Pepé shares:

• What it was like discovering Prince as a teen and instantly recognizing a once-in-a-generation talent
• Behind-the-scenes stories from the early Minneapolis scene, the rehearsal rooms, and those legendary demo sessions
• Rare insights into Prince’s work ethic, creative evolution, and the moments that foreshadowed his superstardom
• Powerful personal stories from Pepé’s own journey - From Brooklyn’s music culture to becoming a foundational figure in Prince’s artistic development

If you’re fascinated by music history, creative genius, or the origins of an icon, this interview is unmissable. Get ready for deep insights, untold stories, and an up-close look at a true pioneer who helped shape modern music.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hi everyone, thanks to this episode of Nick Egan Times. On this episode, we have an incredible and legendary guest. We have the multi-talented Pepe Willie. Pepe is a producer, songwriter, musician, mentor, and consultant. Fun fact, Pepe was Prince's first producer. Welcome, Pepe, and thanks for coming on the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 0:18

Thanks for the invite, Nick. I really appreciate you, especially coming from all the way from Sydney, Australia.

SPEAKER_02 0:27

Thanks, my friend. How's it all been going over there?

SPEAKER_03 0:30

Well, everything's going pretty good. The weather's kind of changing. I'm in uh uh Nevada right now, and I try to spend my winters here in Nevada because it's warmer than in Minnesota. And uh Monday and Tuesday it was 70, 74 degrees, Wednesday, Thursday, and today's like in the 50s. Wow, so a little chilly, you know.

SPEAKER_02 0:57

Yeah, uh summer's coming though. You're nearly it's nearly March.

SPEAKER_03 1:01

Oh, yeah, but I I leave in May because Nevada gets too hot, and I I uh suspect that uh in Australia the weather gets really hot there as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

No, it gets cold. We're heading um uh in a couple like in one week it'll be um uh autumn here, so it'll start to get cold. So we're the opposite to you. So when it starts to get hot, we get cold. It's hot now and it'll start to get cold.

SPEAKER_03 1:29

All right, all right. Well, enjoy it while you can.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

But but that also depends on geographically where you are in Australia. Some parts are always throughout the year really warm because the further you get up north, the closer you are to the tropics and stuff, and that's always hot. But when you come down to Sydney, it's like I guess cooler.

SPEAKER_03 1:46

Okay, all right, yeah. Well, awesome.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

Uh um, how how is life, I guess, uh for you personally and professionally, um, and how did you deal with COVID when it came through and the pandemic?

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Well, I was in Nevada when um COVID hit, and I had a friend of mine from France come in and visit me, and she couldn't leave, you know, she just couldn't leave until the summer. And it was very difficult, but uh uh we got through it. Uh I didn't catch COVID um during that time, but um last year in August, I had caught COVID. Wow, you know, but it was it was very mild and it wasn't that bad. I went rushed myself to the hospital, and they said, You got COVID, and they gave me all of these medicines and stuff, you know. So I stayed in the house for like 10 days taking all these medicines and and I felt very well. My immune system is very strong, you know.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

That's wonderful. That is wonderful. All right, um, let's jump straight into it. Tell me about growing up. Um, I believe you grew up in New York, um, your background, your family, um, and what that was like.

SPEAKER_03 3:12

Well, growing up in Brooklyn, New York was uh very difficult. You know, I lived with my father. I never seen my mother and father together as a couple because they were separated or divorced or what have you. And there were like gangs and you know, things like that in uh uh Brooklyn. I grew up in Bed Bedford Stuyvesant, they call it call it bed sty, do or die. You know, that's what it was. So, in order to survive, you either had you had to be in the game. You had to, you know, and it it was I thank God that I made it out because there's a lot of people that I knew who I grew up with who just didn't make it, you know, they got shot or stabbed, uh, you know, it was just unbelievable. But what pulled me out was uh my mother's brother, uh Clarence Collins, he was a member of Little Anthony and the Imperials, and um they had a number one record in 1958 called Tears on My Pillow, and he was 17 years old at the time, and I was 10. And when I he knew me as a little baby and growing up, but when I first recognized him, I was 10 years old, you know, and I was saying, Wow, you you sing with little Anthony and the Imperials because you hear their songs on the radio and everything, and he was 17, so he was a smart ass. Yeah, I sing with little Anthony and the Imperials, you know, yeah, and uh and I thought that that was awesome. And when I was in school, you know, I attended public school, and I would hear his uh music on the radio at the candy store when we got out of school, and I hear his song on the radio as the store is playing it, and I went like, Oh wow, I said, That's my uncle, you know, and people did not believe it. You know, they did not believe it, and they chased me all the way home because they thought I was lying, and uh, so I knew not to say that anymore, and I didn't say that anymore. But five years later, after that, when I was 15 years old, uh, I got very close to my uncle and uh his group, Little Anthony and Imperials, and um he had a rock and roll show that Murray Decay had given at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater, and all these acts was on the show, and I wanted to hang out with my uncle. My mother said it was okay because it was family, and uh so I went with him and I'm backstage with all of these stars and everything, and and I'm in the um uh the Imperials dressing room, and my uncle looked at me and he says, Pepe, he says, Why don't you go and knock on some of these other stars' doors and see if they want anything from the store? You can you know make some money, and I didn't even think of it, he thought of it, and I went like, Oh wow, this is amazing. So, one of the first artists that I knocked on the door to get, you know, to find out if he wanted something was the great Chubby Checker. Oh wow, Mr. Twist, and I was in shock. I knocked on his dressing room door, he says, Yeah, he says, Come on in. So I go in and I'm looking at this guy. I'm going, like, this is Chubby Checker. I said, This is the guy that did the twist, man. And he goes, uh, yeah, I want something from the store. Because I asked him, Do you want anything from the store? He goes, like, yeah. He says, Go get me a pack of cigarettes, you know. So this is in the 60s, the early 60s, you know, and I could go and get him cigarettes. So he gave me money. He wanted a pack of Salem cigarettes. I go, so I go out the stage door, you know, open the door, the guard let me out, and they had a police line there. And this is the first time I found out about fans and groupies. I had no idea what they were all about. And every time that door opened, all of these people would scream, ah, because they thought that, you know, a star was coming out. And it was just me that had come out and I go to the store and I get Chubby Checker these cigarettes. So I come back, I knock on the door, and the guard opens the door, you know, to let me in. And somebody from the group who was behind the police barrier said, Hey, how come this guy can go in and out whenever he wants to? And me, like an idiot, said, Oh, I just went to the store for Chubby Checker and I'm holding up these cigarettes to get him a pack of Salem cigarettes. That was the last thing. They knocked down the barrier. They know came charging after me. They're trying to get these cigarettes. I mean, I the guard had to pull me in the door. I my shirt was all ripped off and everything. And that was the first time that I found out about groupies, fans, and everything. And so I learned my lesson then.

SPEAKER_02 8:55

Wow, wow. That's a that's a very great story.

unknown 8:58

All right.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

Um tell me about uh actually tell me about Prince and then um the journey with Prince and then Ace94. Tell me about all that that that year.

SPEAKER_03 9:09

Okay, uh, well, my uncle's uh group, Little Anthean Imperials, um that following year after the Brooklyn Fox, they played at um uh at the Brooklyn Paramount, they played at the Brooklyn Fox Theater in Brooklyn. So they had all the Motown review there, you know, from Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, Mary Wells, uh the Four Tops, you know, Marvin Gay, and then other acts like Patty Labelle, Deion Warwick, uh, Mary Wells. I mean, they had everybody there, uh Jay and the Americans, the Righteous Brothers, everybody on the same show. And I'm there, wow, this is amazing. So the next time the Imperials got a show was at the world famous Copa Cabana in New York City. They're world famous. And I, of course, I was there, I was a little older then, and I knew what to do as a valet, you know, giving them towels and when they came off a stage so they can wipe the sweat off their face and hung up their clothes and everything. And uh, so one of the group members, Sammy Strain, who later uh went to the OJs and sang with the OJs for I think it was like 17 years. And Sammy came in, he was one of the Imperials, and after they finished his show at the Copa, he comes upstairs, I'm in the dressing room, and he says, Hey Pepe, and I go, Yeah. He says, Who's that girl out in the waiting room with the green eyes? And you know, I'm going in my brain, I'm going, like, hey, you know, these guys are getting all the girls. Now, maybe I can get me a girl. So out of the blue, I just said, Oh, that's my that's my girlfriend. I didn't know her, I didn't see her, I never met her in my entire life. And then he goes, Oh, okay. So I knew that he would leave her alone if he thought that that was my girlfriend. So now I had to go out in the waiting room and find this girl with the green eyes. So I'm out there, I go out in the waiting room, I'm looking around, the place is packed, and I find her, I see her, and I met her. I sat down and I says, Oh, how are you doing? What's your name? She says, Chantel. And I said, Hey, my name is Pepe. You know, I says, uh, so who are you here to see? She says, Well, I'm visiting my aunt Kahlua from uh I'm from Minnesota, Minneapolis. And I says, Oh, really? I said, Well, your aunt is dating my uncle right now from the Imperials, and maybe you can hang out with us. You know, do you have any curfew? She goes, No, I don't have no curfew. I said, Well, let's just hang out. She says, Okay, and that was Prince's first cousin. Wow, you know, it's it was just amazing, you know. Now imagine, Nicholas, if Sammy came in the room and said, Who's that girl out there with the green eyes? And I says, I don't know, would have changed a whole lot, it would have changed everything, it would have changed everything. So Chantel and I, we got together, we fell in love, we got married, you know, and all this. And I knew a lot about the music industry then by hanging out with all of these stars, and so when she went back to Minnesota, she was uh she knew that I knew about the business. So I got drafted into the military and the army, and I got out in 1970. So instead of me going back home to New York and Brooklyn, I says, I'm going to Minneapolis. So I go to Minneapolis to see her, and she takes me over to her relative's house, and Prince is there. He was 12 years old. Wow, he was 12 years old. I thought he was eight because he was so short, you know. I thought he was eight years old, and there was nothing that we talked about or anything like that, and and I had 90 days to go back to New York to uh uh fin, you know, to get my job with New York Telephone Company. So I left, I was there in Minnesota in December. So in March, I went back to New York, got my job at the New York Telephone Company, and I stayed there for you know a few years. Um Chantel would come over from Minneapolis and visit me over her aunt's house, and I used to hang out there. And uh so now in this 1973, 1973, I get this phone call and it's prints because his cousin had told him that, yeah, you got to talk to Pepe. Pepe knows everything about the business and all this. So he asked me these questions. He says, Yeah, Pep, he says, uh, I want to know about publishing. And I said, Well, you know, it's kind of difficult for me to explain to you what publishing is with, you know, in detail without being face to face. So I told him, I said, I'll be in Minnesota real soon, and I'll come and I'll talk to you about it. He says, Okay, so in 1974, I go to Minneapolis, and this is how it all started. Nicholas, this is this is crazy. And um my wife, we were married then, Chantel and I. So my wife's father, my father-in-law, Eddie Manderville, had a ski club. So he had a ski club, and he had a party after this, after the event. So I go to this the ski party and everything, and this band was playing, which was Grand Central, which was Prince's band. So I'm sitting down, I'm enjoying myself, I'm having a good time. And this woman kept looking at me, and I'm going, like, why is this lady keep looking at me? I, you know, I couldn't get it through my brain. So I finally went over to her and I says, Hi, how are you? She goes, I'm fine. I said, you know, so uh who are you? You know, she goes, I am Lavon, I'm a manager of the of the band. And I said, Oh, wow. And she says, Well, how do you like them? And I go, Well, yeah, I think they're great, they're good, you know. And then she said, Would you want to work with them? And it just dawned on me, what you know, why did she pick me to work with them? Now I didn't know, but somebody had told the band that this big-time producer was coming in from New York to check them out. I didn't know it was me. You know, so I said, sure, I'd I'd love to work with them. And uh then that's when I really started working with Grand Central and having uh rehearsals with them.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

Wow, that's incredible. How how did you know um Prince was did you know that Prince was going to be who he was, like become a star? Did you know how talented he really was at that time?

SPEAKER_03 16:48

Well, yeah, on one of the rehearsals, uh, because I know he was playing guitar, and he went over to Linda Anderson, which is Andre's sister. Andre was playing bass, and uh, and Morris Day was the drummer. He was the drummer. Then we have William Hollywood, you know, was playing um percussion, kungas. So he goes over to Linda and he goes, Linda, he says, This is what I want you to play. And he starts playing these chords on the keyboard. And I'm going like, well, wait a minute. This guy plays guitar and he plays keyboards. I said, Okay, that's cool. So then he gets back, they play a little bit, then he stops and he goes, like, Andre, let me hold your bass. Now, Andre disputes this, but this is the only way that I knew that Prince played multiple instruments, so I know it's the truth. Um, he said, Let me hold your bass. So he takes Andre's bass and he starts. I mean, this guy is stumping, he's playing the bass, and I'm I'm going, like, oh my god. I said, This guy plays guitar, he plays keyboards, and he plays bass. I said, Wow, I said, that is awesome. And he was just 16 then, he was just 16 years old. So I had asked him, but it was in the summer, it was like maybe May, you know, it wasn't quite his birthday yet. And uh I asked him, I said, Have you ever been in a recording studio before? And he goes, Like, no, I I never been in the studio. And I says, Well, I want you to come with me to the studio and play some of my music for my group 94 East. And he says, Oh, okay, you know, now I not only rehearsed the band, but I also taught them the business of music of what I knew during the time, and I knew the business backwards and forwards. I mean, I knew the business very well, and um so I took them down to the musicians union, I got them signed up with the union. Um, and of course, I had to pay everybody, I had to pay all my band members, you know. There was Marcy and Volkstadt, Christy Lazenberry, Wendell Thomas, Dale Alexander, and Pierre Lewis. And I had to pay all of these people, you know. So I gave him a cassette with five songs that I wrote that was on a guitar, my acoustic guitar. And I said, you know, learn these songs, find out what you want to play on it, you know, and we'll be in the studio in a couple of weeks. He says, Okay. So two weeks later, we go into Cookhouse Recording Studios, and we started playing. We counted it off. One, two, three, four, boom, started kicking the first song, uh, and then the second song, and then the third song, and then the fourth song, and then the fifth song that's known as the cookhouse five, because those are the first time that Prince was ever in a recording studio.

SPEAKER_02 20:16

Wow, wow, amazing.

SPEAKER_03 20:21

It's amazing, it was just amazing.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

Well, um, all right. Thank you for showing that. That's really great. Um, a great story and insights. Um, what has been um the best memories off the top of your um memory that really stand out for you in your career? So something that just is like one of those moments that you look back and just go, wow, that happened.

SPEAKER_03 20:46

Uh well, I think it's probably the best is just coming to Minnesota and working with Grand Central, and there was a lot of other talent going on, you know, in Minnesota. And I would call up New York, you know, my friends in Brooklyn, and they were going like, hey man, you ever coming back to to Brooklyn? And I was going like, dude, I said, this is a new Motown here. That's what I told them. I said, this, I said, they got talented musicians here. And then my friend said, Hey, are there any black people in Minnesota, Minneapolis? I was going like, Yeah, I said, I'm here. And they have, yeah, they have, you know, it's people, uh, they got music going on, but they don't know the business. They don't know what's going on. They don't, you know, they just don't know. And I'm here, and I've started teaching these guys, and not only Prince, but um, we had Rocky Robbins, we had uh Ricky Peterson, who uh later on, I think a couple of years ago, he played with Fleetwood Mac, uh Pierre Lewis, who's now with the Commodores, Dale. Who was my keyboard player and Dale Alexander, our drummer, he was 16 years old, uh and playing phenomenal. And he uh worked on Madhouse with Prince. You know, he did the Madhouse thing. So I stay there, and and I remember you asked me before did I know that Prince was going to be as huge as he has gotten. And no, I didn't, you know, and anybody who says that they knew they, you know, come on, what are they, psychic or something? You know, they don't know. You know, all I wanted for Prince is for him to have a career in the music business, and I set it up for him to have a career, and all he had to do was work. I remember him asking me one time, there was a um uh song playing on the radio, and I can't remember the name of the song, but he was going like, Man, I he said, I'm so tired of that song, I hear it all the time. And I looked at him, I said, Prince, I said, You wish that that was your song. I said, Because every single time it's played, the writer, the publisher is getting paid, you know. So if they play it a thousand times, you're making money. 500,000 times you're making money, you know. So when he got signed with Warner Brothers, I started his publishing company for him. I said, the first thing they're gonna ask you is, do you have a publisher? I said, when they ask you that, you tell them, Yes, I do. You know, you can write the music, but not necessarily own it. Right. If you are a publisher and you wrote it and you're the publisher, you own that music. So a first slice of the pie of that money you get, and they can't take it from you, you know, they can't recoup for money that they spent on you on promotions and marketing, you know. They can't take that from you to pay for that. That's your money, you know. And I started all that stuff for them and stuff. So though that was my memorable moment of staying in Minneapolis. I made that decision to stay in Minneapolis. I wasn't leaving, despite how cool it was.

SPEAKER_02 24:37

That's incredible. I've actually been to Minneapolis too, so I know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_03 24:42

Oh, yeah. You've been there in the winter, huh?

SPEAKER_02 24:44

Uh no, I came in the summer. Um I've got a little bit of a little bit of a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 24:46

Oh, the summer's okay.

SPEAKER_02 24:48

Yeah, I went to Duluth as well on the outskirts.

SPEAKER_03 24:51

Okay, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

Yeah, it's nice out there in the um country.

SPEAKER_03 24:56

It is, you know, it's so beautiful out there, Nicholas. It's like the summer, the spring, the fall. It's beautiful, but you you can't put your head around how cold it gets. And it always cats you off guard, you know. You you you know, you do the spring, the summer, the fall, then all of a sudden, boom, winter hits, and you're like, oh my god, you know, it's just unbelievable, unbelievable cold. You know, but yeah, I'll tell you, I uh I'll tell you the story. Uh um, unless you have a question, I'll answer it.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

No, no, go tell me the story, I'd love to hear it.

SPEAKER_03 25:40

Um when Prince got I used to be signed to my group 94 East. Um, we took those songs that Prince recorded with us, and um, I went to New York and pound the pavement and finally got signed with Polydor, a major record label, under the tutelage of Hank Cosby. Now, Hank Cosby produced and co-wrote my Sharia More for Stevie Wonder and For Once in My Life. So now I'm co-producing with this big time producer, you know. And uh, so later on, we got dropped from Polydor. And Bobby Z, who was Prince's drummer, he was my drummer before he even knew who Prince was. He didn't even know who Prince was, and so he was my drummer. So we got dropped, and Prince got signed to Warner Brothers. So when Prince got signed to Warner Brothers, I was saying in my brain, I was going like, well, what happened to us, I didn't want to happen to him, and that's why I stayed really close to him and made sure that his business and all things was together. So uh they were rehearsing at Dale's Tyre Mart in Minneapolis. And I don't know if Prince left the door open or somebody actually broke in, but they stole all of his equipment, you know. I mean, everything except for two speakers that I lent him, which were huge, and you would have to have uh two big trucks to put those speakers in because they were huge. And so he got robbed of that. And when I found out about that, I was so upset. And I said, Okay, Prince, I said, You're coming to my house, you're gonna come to my house. Ain't nobody coming in there, you know, and um, so the whole band, um, the revolution rehearsed and practiced at my house for six months, and he auditioned Gail, Gail Chapman, who was his girl keyboard player, Matt Fink, Bobby Z, Andre Simone, and Dez Dickerson. So they all, you know, practiced at my house for six months, 12 hours a day. From 10 o'clock in the morning to 10 o'clock at night, they rehearsed. So one evening after they finished, I had to go to Prince's house to tell him something, and I didn't have uh uh um, I can't remember what I wanted to tell him, but I had to tell him something. So I go over his house, I see his car outside, I'm knocking on the door, I'm ringing the bell, and he wouldn't answer. And I know he's in there, so I knocked a little harder, rang the bell some more, he wouldn't answer. I went, Dang, man, where is this guy? Is he asleep after 12 hours of practice? So I heard this this tapping, you know, just a little tapping, and I was going, where's that coming from? So I go around to the side of the house and I look down in the basement window. Prince was down in the basement playing drums.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

Wow, wow.

SPEAKER_03 29:16

After 12 hours of practice, I mean it just blew my mind, you know. So I had to bang on the window in between the beats. But then he looked up and I said, Man, open the door. Then he comes to the door, and I told him whatever I had to tell him and stuff, and then I left. But that amazed me. And what happened then? I had said to myself, I said, Pepe, you know, I says, um, you could practice 12 hours a day and you can be real. I said, This is what it takes to be really good. And I says, I'm gonna do it. So I grabbed my guitar one day and I started playing. I says, okay, and I started studying and doing the scales and all this stuff. I got to like four hours, Nicholas, and I said, I can't do it. I said, This is as far as I could go. I can't go any further, you know. So, you know, how could you know the drive that he had was just I, you know, it was just amazing. You know, I've never seen any artist from the time that you know I started meeting artists at 15 work so hard. Now they said that James Brown was the hardest working man in show business. No, no, no. Prince and Prince was the hardest working artist in the business. And he never stopped. He called people up four or five o'clock in the morning, you know. I mean, he called me up at like four o'clock in the morning and goes, Pepe, I gotta go back in the studio. This is the first time he's in the studio, the very first time he calls me up because we're listening to the tapes. He goes, I gotta go back. I said, I said, Prince, do you know what time it is? He says, Yeah, man, but I had to call you. I gotta go back in. I said, For what? I said, What you were playing was phenomenal. I said, you know, me and Wendell Thomas, the bass player, I said, we were talking for hours on the phone about what you contributed to those songs. He says, No, I gotta go back in. So the next day I was playing golf, already made you know, tea time for golf and everything. So I had to call the studio and said, Prince wants to come in there to do something. I don't know what he wants, but let him in. Now, by what he had played on this first time in this in the studio, I was totally confident that he could go in by himself and do what he wanted to do. So this is the second time he goes in the studio and he changes something on if you see me, the song, and um and he did it, you know. So I didn't even hear it, but he, you know, I didn't hear it, you know. But uh, by the way, my book. I don't know. Did you hear my book? Did you see my book? Yes, this isn't yeah, if you see me, because it's named after the song that Prince was first in the recording studio, written by myself and Tony Keaney. Now, Prince recorded that song, but he called it Do Yourself a Favor. And it's on his 1999 Deluxe album, it was in his vault, and one of these finally released it in 2019. It's the same song, but it just has two different titles, you know, which was amazing. And I remember because me and Morris Day used to hang out a lot because we all had the same friends in Minneapolis, and we were going to Minneapolis, uh, Morris and I, and we ran into Prince. And Prince was, you know, he was good at what he did, but he was kind of a square, you know. He didn't drink, he didn't smoke, he didn't, you know, he didn't do anything. And we were smoking marijuana. I mean, you know, we doing all kinds of stuff. So me and Morris, we go to Minneapolis to get some more marijuana, and we run into Prince. And Morris drive, I was in Morris's car. Morris sees Prince and he goes, There's Prince, man. I go, like, where, where? He goes, he's over there, and we look over there and we go, like, oh man, because we we don't want to run into him. So Prince comes running over to the car and he goes, Hey man, he said, What are you guys doing? And we go, Oh, nothing, you know, you know, like that. You know, then he goes here and he hands his cassette to me, and I give it to Morris. He says, Check this out. We put it in the cassette player in the car, and it was if you see me, it was my song. Wow, you know, and I was going like, Wow, I said, Man, I said, This is awesome. I he says, I'm gonna put it out on one of my albums, man. I said, Oh man, Prince, that's awesome! Thanks, man. But he never put it out, right? So now this is in the 80s and stuff, and now I want to do my own album because Prince was stable, he was stable, and uh um uh so I met a friend of mine, Jeffrey Pink, and he started this label, and he paid me to do my own album, and that was Minneapolis Genius, and I worked with Tony Sylvester. Uh Tony Sylvester was a member of the main ingredient with Cuba Gooden Sr., who was the lead singer, and the main ingredient had all kinds of hits, and for me to work with Tony was just unbelievable, and I learned a lot from him as well. And uh, so I'm in New York, I'm talking to Teddy Randazzo. Teddy Randazzo wrote, I'm on the outside looking in, gone out of my head, hurt so bad, take me back for little Anthony and the Imperials, which were big hits for them. And Teddy was a good friend, he helped me with my writing, and he went with me to Polydor when I got signed because he said, You want I said, Teddy, I'm going to uh I got a meeting with Polydor. He said, You want me to go with you? And I go, like, oh wow, I mean, that was amazing to me, you know, and so he went with me, and that's how we got signed uh to Polydor at the time. So it it was just it was just amazing how all of these things just came into play just by me saying, Oh man, that's my girlfriend.

SPEAKER_02 36:09

That's that's that's you know, that's they're incredible stories that you've told them. You know, it's it's it's truly amazing your career. Um, Pepe, thanks for coming on the podcast. I do appreciate it. I appreciate it. Sorry, you know, it's it's amazing, and I wish you all the best in the future and everything you've doing.

SPEAKER_03 36:25

Hey, Nicholas, I appreciate the invite. Thank you so much. You know, it was amazing, and I love telling these stories because it's part of history. It is, it is, you know, and and it has to be out there, it has to get out, you know. So thank you so much. God bless you, brother.

SPEAKER_02 36:46

God bless you too, brother. Welcome and welcome to and um, yeah, thanks for coming on. I'm just sincerely appreciative. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 36:54

All right, all right, peace, baby.

SPEAKER_02 36:57

See you, my friend.

SPEAKER_03 36:58

So yeah, all right, bye bye.