A Toast. . .

A diamond-certified R&B era gave us more than hits; it gave us hidden stories. I start with a deep cut from Usher’s Confessions and pull back the curtain on secret songwriting credits, bedroom demos, and the quiet truth that legendary albums are built by teams, not lone wolves. If you love R&B history, music industry facts, and behind-the-scenes songwriting stories, this one is a reminder to check the liner notes before you crown the myth.

Then I get real about content creation and the danger of measuring your worth by one platform. I talk podcast growth, Buzzsprout, RSS feeds, and what happens when you stop staring at YouTube views and actually look at downloads, countries, and cities. The takeaway is practical: distribution matters, audience behavior is bigger than one algorithm, and your “numbers” might be telling the wrong story if you’re only looking in one place.

From there, we go deep into culture and connection. I break down West African toasting, coded language, the dozens, and how Black oral traditions shape everything from hip-hop to modern slang. A Nikki Giovanni and James Baldwin clip sets up my main gripe: we perform all day for the outside world, then bring emotional leftovers home. I tie that to modern dating culture and the toxicity in today’s R&B, and I explain why I’m pushing for music that honors women again.

If this hits home, subscribe, share it with a friend who loves R&B, and leave a review so more listeners can find Heavy On The R&B. What’s one “hidden gem” song you swear deserved more love?

Transcript

Cold Open With A Confessions Cut

SPEAKER_02 0:21

I'm so glad I got you.

unknown 0:27

I'm so in love with you. And I don't even want to lose you. I want to take this to the next level. I hope you're ready.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

Now that you're here, I got something to say, baby. I think that you should know. You do it almost. So don't worry about the situation. I never let you go. Can you handle it if I go there, baby, with you? I can handle it, I can go there, baby, with you. Oh, I hear you talking baby talking light. Can you handle it? Can I go there, baby, with you? We gon' say it up, we gon' tear it up, baby. Can you hand up? You say all the time, you only want the custom I love Now I can see that if there's only one way to tear it out. Yeah I'm willing to tell you everything I let stand between But what if I tell you too much What about you, hey? Will you tell me all the freaky things you are? Before I do need you to know We make it through our love would grow Imagine how amazing things would be Can you handle it? Can I go there, baby, with you? Um We gon' set it up, we gon' set it up, baby can you handle? I can handle it, I can go there, baby with you. I can cook it, baby. We gon' set it out, we gon' work it out, baby. Can you handle?

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Okay, before we get too freaky in here, let's start the show. Let's start the damn show. Welcome back to another edition of Heavy on the RB. I'm your host, your creator, your proprietor of everything. Rhythm and Blues, Heavy

Welcome And The Hidden Song Credits

SPEAKER_00 3:27

on the RB with K Way, man. Welcome back. Another week, another opportunity to turn a dream into reality, man. Hope everybody's doing fine. That was Robin Thick and Paula Patton featuring Usher. If you didn't know, man, I had to take it back to uh to show some hidden gems, which is kind of the theme of this week's episode. If you don't know, track number 11, can you handle it from the iconic confessions album by Usher, the Diamond Certified album was co-written by Paula Patton and Robin Thick, and they use Secret Personas um as like the writing credits. So um I think uh Robin Thick, uh, he went by a different name at that time, and he was he was a Paula, he was a solo pop act. Uh his father was a big deal too in the industry, did a lot of work with TV shows. Look that shit up. Wake up, goddammit. Um, and then uh Paula, she uh she you know, she was his mate and and all that. I really don't know what happened between them. It's it's it's one of the mysteries. I don't know what he did. Did he cheat? Did he I don't that that ain't my business, but back then he went by Mitchell. Um, Robin Thick did as his hitting, you know, persona name, and that's what shows up on the writing credits, and it was a bedroom demo. And Paula, you know, whatever she she put on him, you know what I'm saying? She put that snappy nappy dugout, and perfect, they came up with that. So, shout out to them. Can you handle it? Is an all-time classic, and it also goes into uh the thought that you know people do everything on their own because that's a diamond album. Uh, it moved 1.1 million copies in this first week, but you look at who was on that album, you know, JD's all up and through there. You got Lil' John, you got Luda, now we figure out Paula Patton and Robin Thick, Brian Michael Cog. It's a group effort to be great, and that's kind of what I want to get into today, man. I want to uh I want to talk about the concept of hidden identities and um the transparent look at the real world. So as I'm perusing, is it perusing? Peruving? I don't know.

Secret Identities And Group Greatness

SPEAKER_00 5:40

The English language has been kicking my ass this week. I've been super busy with work and uh my new position. Uh same company, just you know, more responsibilities,

Work, Wedding, And Creator Doubt

SPEAKER_00 5:48

higher pay. I think they I think they call that a raise. Shout out to me and um you know, uh wedding planning and things of that nature, and it got me to thinking about uh where am I at with content creation, what are my numbers looking like, and is it worth for me, uh is it worth worth it for me to still go keep doing this? And I got on YouTube, I'm like, damn, I I got terrible views, you know. Uh average watch time is a few seconds, and you know, I don't have a lot of views. I got comments, you know, and people that uh support me, shout out to the people that comment and the people that support me. I'm not sure if they watch the whole thing or if they grasp what I'm saying. A lot of time people pull out, you know, like the funny parts and they kind of miss the message. And um, maybe that's on me. My approach is to try to put the medicine in the candy to make digestible content where you know people can enjoy it, but sometimes, you know, I guess you gotta come straight forward and hit niggas in the head with it. But um, anyway, it's neither here nor there. So I'm looking and I'm looking and I'm like, damn, YouTube is trash. Like, you know, three months ago I had five followers. Now I got 356 with no visual, uh, because I'm audio only. Um, visual is coming soon though. But you know, it got me questioning a little bit. So then being the inquisitive K-Way that I am, I went on Buzz. Um, uh that that is the platform that hosts my podcast and they push it out to everybody. So if you're thinking about starting a podcast, um, that's something you got to look look up. So I use Buzz Sprout,

The RSS Feed Curtain Gets Pulled

SPEAKER_00 7:22

and you create an RSS feed and they push it out to um all of the podcast platforms, and me, I'm pretty much everywhere. I'm uh uh Audible, series satellite radio, Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple, YouTube, um man, uh even some overseas apps like iVox, uh, your good old-fashioned web browser. So there are so many different avenues to get your content out there, and don't let YouTube be the end all be all, because lo and behold, what did I discover? Pulled back that RSS feed curtain, and I have been in over 25 distinct countries and uh territories, uh 65 global cities. My benchmarks are those of the standard, meaning I'm averaging between um 75 and 100 downloads per per episode, and um it's incredible, it's it's incredible the reach that I have um in the countries that they are coming from. I mean, I'm looking at this shit now. You've got Australia, South Africa, Guyana, Japan, Algeria, Brazil, Russian. I don't want no smoke with nobody in Russia, Congo, South Korea don't want no smoke with anybody in South Korea. Um uh oh, I'm sorry, South Korea cool. That's yeah, y'all cool, my bad. Uh that's North Korea we got an issue with. Um, but Hong Kong, I mean, and then you know, the cities from Bordman, Oregon to uh Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Johannesburg, uh, Brisbane, Queensland, that's Australia, Columbus, Ohio, Dallas, like Brooklyn, everywhere, man. So I appreciate y'all, and I appreciate everybody that is rocking with me week in and week out. And you guys come here for my authentic content about the rhythms and blues of my life centered around RB. So, shout out to y'all. Round of applause, round of applause for y'all. Thank you so much. Really appreciate, really appreciate you guys, and everybody that is on YouTube or Instagram, and you know, you kind of just go through the story and you don't ever click a link, or um you see it on uh YouTube, and you know, you you might like it, like it, but you're not digesting it and listening to it, eat a dick. That's the way I'm feeling, man. So uh shout out to y'all, man. But anyways, moving right along. So I told you we're gonna get into some some uh some underrated facts and historical context today. And uh excuse me, I had to cough. Um, so I want to talk about some deep history real quick. I want to talk about the the toast, you know, like when you pour a glass, whatever you drink in, and um, you know, you toast for me. My toast is uh I raise my glass and I say I'm never above you,

Toasting And Black Oral Traditions

SPEAKER_00 10:14

and I put I put my hand above and I say I'm never below you, I put my hand underneath that person's glass, uh, right on the side of you, and then we toast, we cheers, whatever. But me being the um inquisitive person that I am, um, you good for y'all, for those of you that don't know, I trace my lineage back. So I did African ancestry. I encourage anybody of uh the diaspora to do that. This is it, it breaks down, goes back over 2,000 years, you know what I'm saying? I like my people was over there with Jesus. So my mother, uh, on my mother's side, God rest her so shout out to my mom. Um, looking forward to speaking to you later on. She's been kind of visiting me a little bit um as of late as it as we get closer to the wedding. It could be the way the wind blows or uh a dream or a thought or a song. So uh yeah, I look forward to our next encounter, mama. Um, but no, she is 100% Sierra Leonean on her side from the Mindy tribe, and my father is 100% Nigerian um from the Yoruba tribe. So, you know, if I ever want to scam, I guess I'll ask my dad. Um, you know, um, I guess that's another way of hustling, but no shot, no, no shots to them. No shots to them. Uh see, yeah, so so going back to the toast, and and I'm I'm looking at this stuff and I dig a little further. And the the ancient West African village historians and praise singers and and the walking libraries that they were who preserved our tribal history through spoke. They I found out they preserved our history through spoken word and rhythm, um, like most people uh from the diaspora. And um, you know, they even have what you call the post-slavery street corner, and and we we grew up seeing that. If you around my age, we know what doo-wop groups are on the side of the corner, you know, over the trash can singing, trying to get a record deal, um, you know, tall tease and and you know, and snap dancing. That that all derives from you know the toast. Black men gathered on their porches, shooting the shit on their street corners, inside the neighborhood barbershop, uh, black men and women, and engaging in highly competitive conversations that sometimes was theatrical or they rhyming, you know, a cipher, uh, or or going back and forth, you know. That's that that poetic thing was called toasting. Um, toasting has another aspect, it's the mythological anti-heroes, it's the uh stackole's and the signifying monkey, where um these characters are folkloric folklore characters, they're passed down across generations.

Folklore Characters And Rap’s Blueprint

SPEAKER_00 12:48

If you haven't heard of them, look them up. That's stackle uh stackoli. I hope I'm saying that right. Stack O L E E in the signifying monkey. Uh Stackoli was uh basically a clever um uh bad man, he was like the ultimate fearless dude, you know. Uh he's gonna beat up Debo. He he would be Craig and Friday, you know, uh beating up Debo. And the signifying monkey was the underdog, uh, quick witted, you know, saying double meanings, a lot of wordplay. Uh wasn't the biggest, but you know, he physically, he was physically superior to a lion because he was mentally uh adequate. That would be somebody like your Kendrick Lamar, um, where he went up against the whole rap industry in the machine, and everybody counted him out before you know the fight even started, and he went in there and and KO'd and washed old boy. Um, and and you know, the rest is history, you know how that goes. You could tie all that. This is all toasting. I'm still on toasting. Follow me, and you tie that in, that's the blueprint of rap. That's how you connect the hood, like we're connecting historical, uh modern day lines right here. You know, when a Jamaican sound system was brought to the Bronx in New York, and and the DJ um he made his version of toasting in the 70s. That's hip-hop, you know, if you seamlessly with the foundations of black American oral traditions, you know, rhyming, dancing, uh, wordsmith. It's the exact genetic blueprint of the hip-hop universe. Toasting, ladies and gentlemen. Think about it. So I'm I'm doing more research, I'm going through it. You know, I'm I'm really trying to just learn things, man. In my spare time, uh, side note, I put up a post on YouTube. Uh, I have gone through 23 audio books so far. Um uh Nephew by MK Asante.

Books, Codes, And Compressed Language

SPEAKER_00 14:47

Um, that that's I'm I'm like hooked on that book, man. But I'm gonna I'm gonna give y'all a few books that uh that I recommend. So if you ain't doing nothing and you want to feed your mind, man, get grab nephew by mk asante. Mk Asante is a um professor at Morgan State University, and he um man, he's from Philly. His stories, his first book, book, is amazing. It is it's like a memoir of what he's been through, man. That brother has been through a lot. So shout out to him, shout out to Morgan State. That's where the brothers of Iodified Theta Fraternity Incorporated were founded on the fifth steps of Hearst Gymnasium, man. So 1963. Do go do your Googles. Uh, another book is Skyfiller Elephants by SIBO Campbell. Another book is Living Wis Living in Wisdom by Debbie Brown, right? Out of you know, Southern California, Debbie Brown is is legendary in the industry and just in general population. So start off with them books, but anyways, I say all that to say. So um I'm doing more research and I'm trying to connect this whole toasting thing. Um, and uh I learned that the structural language, like our mechanics, they were built by the communities that enslaved us to navigate dangerous environments. You like take this for instance, you got a positive code right now, like we got positive slang language slang language. So enslaved individuals relied heavily on double meanings to safely pass through those underground passages. Um, you know, back in the day, and it was a lot of survival tactics that they had to use today. These same things manifest as modern cultural shorthand and rhythm efficiency. Like, I'm fixing to go to or I'm finna go to the store, like um, you know, like uh that's tight, that's hard, that's bad, you know. Like, we got our own uh linguing linguistics. Damn, why can't I talk today? I've probably been talking too much. Linguistics, there we go. So uh, you know, those things manifest in our culture today, and um, it's just like structurally compressing what we've had to endure, and it's it goes back to them serving us slop, and we turn it into um chitlins, caught collard greens, and candy yams, you know. I mean, um, it goes deep, but uh along with the positive, there's also negative code. There's a street underground, you know. Um, there's a there's a generational of muscle memory, you know, using that language to to navigate hostile environments that it translated into um uh I would say highly advanced but constantly evolving coded terminologies utilized in the street culture, you know, trying to play it safe, basically selling drugs. You talking in code, you talking in Morris code on the next tail chirp, you know what I'm saying? So that's that's the flip side of how uh we've had to navigate our language, but you know, it all goes back to that toast and and and where it derived from. Um, you also got a defensive code. So we we covered the positive code, the negative code, then you got a defensive code, like playing the dozens. A lot of people don't know. There's two stories of how the dozen started. One was there

The Dozens And Battle Rap Discipline

SPEAKER_00 18:03

was a there was a psychological conditioning. Um uh it was a tool it was a psychological conditioning tool, and it was it was born on the slave plantations, so to survive the severe psychological abuse, sometimes even physical abuse from the overseers, the slave master, the white folk. I was trying to hit the the five button, but it didn't work. The white folk, they basically had to um they they had to keep them laughing, almost kind of like jokers and jesters. Um and and and a lot of um a lot of slave masters would get would make just crazy gamma gamified insults, and this became the foundation of modern roasting, as you know it today, your mama jokes, and they would practice these things back in the slave days. Other slaves would joke on each other and talk about their mama because it was a measure of how much you can can keep your emotions in check because this is what your overseer, your slave master, the white folk, are going to do. Um, so that's one aspect of it, you know. Now I'll get into the other one um um a little bit later, but you could tie all that into the battle rap connection. I'm a fan of URL. Well, I used to be, um, it ain't what it used to be to me, and they've made it kind of like very hard to uh to access and digest. Um, but shout out to I think the last time I was on battle rap was when Briz Briz Ross team was going. Um, he was he was he was climbing the ranks, you know. He was he was I thought he was gonna be the next one. I'm not sure what happened. Um, but basically, you gotta um and battle rap, it expands the legacy of the dozens, like it's connecting to modern day your mama jokes, and how much can you keep your emotions in check when you got Arsenal in front of you saying the most disrespectful things in the world about your mother and your wife, and can you keep your emotions in check, or are you gonna be like a math hoff and punch somebody on stage and you know turn into whatever he's turned into? So, yeah, man. Um, the dozens, uh, it's you know, it goes back to a lot, man. All goes back to that toasting and how we celebrate each other, but also the dozens was basically open-air slave markets. And if you was disabled, if you was elderly, if you was injured, like the slave masters was joking on you, and they tried to keep you in check. The other your other slave counterparts tried to keep you in check by you know playing the dozens, and that's just how it was. And that's how we we are, you know, we well, not we are, but we have a lot of the things that we have today, you know. We took shit and made it to sugar, unfortunately, man. So shout out to toasting, man. That is the history lesson that I wanted to uh deliver today, you know. Um I ain't gonna be before y'all long, man. You know, I I try to make the content ingestible, um, but also short because I noticed when I first started out, I had a lot to say because I was pretty much going through um how I got here and and the divorce and my mother passing, and my grandparents, and auntie overdosing, and me almost having a um um, well, not having, but I did have a failed suicide attempt. So if you're interested in those stories, go back to episodes one, two, three, and you can hear all about that. But today, before we get out of here, I got some gripes. And uh, we're gonna get them off my chest.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

All I can all I know that works in the world is a relationship. Yes. All right. Okay, that that's all that's gonna work. It takes two people to have a relationship.

Nikki Giovanni, Baldwin, And My Gripe

SPEAKER_01 21:49

Yeah, but but it but the relationship. If you don't have a dream, fake it. But the relationship, you can't fake a dream. You got to fake it because we don't have dreams these days. How the hell can you have a dream? For what? Well, this is so everybody's everybody's jiving, but let's jive on that level.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

If I love you, I can't lie to you.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

Of course you can lie to me. And you will. If you love me and you're going off with Maddie someplace, you're lying to me. Because what the hell do I care about the truth? I care if you're there. But Billy Holidays say, hush now, don't explain. All right, I accept that. Of course. Of course you'll lie to me. Because I don't even want to care. What does the truth matter? And why are you gonna be truthful with me when you lie to everybody else? You lied when you smiled at that cracker down the job, right? Lie to me, smile. Treat me the same way you would treat him. I can't treat you. You must treat you. You must. Because I've caught the frowns and the anger. He's happy with you. Of course he doesn't know you weren't happy. You grin at him all day long. You come home and I catch up because I love you. I get least of you. I get the I get the very minimum. And I'm saying, you know, fake it with me. Is that too much of the black woman to ask of the black man? For 10 years, so that we can get a child on his feet that says, yeah, father smiled at mother. He talked to me about school today. Who cares that you can read or can't read? Most Americans can't read. Most people can't read.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

That was Nikki Giovanni and James Ballway, man. That is uh that's such an important conversation. And that's that's my gripe today. Um, like I said, we've turned connection into a spectator sport. So it's like the the heavy thing that she said was as I was re-roaching, that's a legendary clip, man. Once again, Nikki Giovanni and James Baldwin. And Nikki said something that hit me in the chest. He said, You lied, you lied when you smile at them crackers down at the job. And you come home and I get the least of you. Um, at the very minimum, fake it with me. And I think that's just where we are in society right now. When you think about the weight of that, we spend all day performing for the outside world, man, giving our best smiles to these corporate spaces and these digital feeds, and then we bring the emotional leftovers home to the people who actually love us. But today, the modern data scene has flipped into something even crazier. Like, it feels like men have become completely obsessed with other men, and I've said this many a times, and

Modern R&B Toxicity And Relationship Damage

SPEAKER_00 24:21

I'm gonna stand on it because I truly believe this. It's I think I've done enough research to back this up. And it's weird because it's like instead of focusing on the women that are supposed to be loving, we are supposed to be loving, and like we are worried about what the guy is gonna say or sharing a hookah stick with this nigga and you know, and going to the club together. And if you want any further proof, just look at today's modern RB. Look at the songs that's popular. Think about what RB sounds like right now. We have completely lost the sight of male artists making pure non-toxic music for women. And I'm not saying toxicity didn't exist with RB acts back in the day, but you know what I'm saying. For for every let's see, for for every uh for every boyfriend number two by Pleasure P, or for every Mokin Steph, um, he's mine, or for every escape secret, you know, uh you had Usher and Alicia Key's Maboo. Um you had Tamia so into you, you had SWV anything, the original version. You had Mary J. Blige be without you. The lack of parity is killing it, and I think it's all a reflex reflection in how bad our human connections are today. But speaking purely to the men, nearly every every track on the radio from a male RB artist is rooted rooted in pure toxicity. It's all about hitting and quitting it. Um, it's all about manipulating women, trying to get her to cheat, or trying to take her away from her husband, which is adultery, dumb nigga. Like it killed me when these these same RB artists want to have uh want to have um scriptures in their bio on Instagram or you know, whatever social media platform, but make music that is breaking like one of the most important commandments. And we laugh at it, we vibe to the beat, we ignore the fallout, but that kind of toxicity does it don't it don't just stay in the headphones, man. Like you, it's a it's it's a generation of of individuals right now that don't respect the union of marriage, don't respect the loyalty of a relationship or serious dating. And when you manipulate a woman into making destructive choices, you not only alter her entire life, but if she has children, you alter that children's lives. Like the family too, the in-laws. The music used to be a sanctuary that honored women, you know. I'm not saying all, but most of it. And now it's just a masterclass into how dismant how to how to uh dismantle a woman's peace. That's why I wanted to drop what I dropped, the hinge video. You know, it's it's it's me and my fiance. We met on the on a dating app called Hinge. And if you want to know the story, go back and listen to the to the prior uh

Hinge Love And Making Non-Toxic Music

SPEAKER_00 27:21

podcast. I talked about it, and I broke all the way dating apps work from hinge to bumble, all of that. So, yeah, it's go look at it. But I dropped, I dropped that not for me per se, because you know, I chose her, she chose me, but it's motivation, and you know, the song is is something I wrote and I arranged. Yeah, it's AI voice, but AI voice aside, the song is a fucking banger. And I know this because I before I released music, I asked women, the women that I know, the women in my life, like the women that I'm cool with, like, how does this sound? Like, what what aspect of RB is missing? And overwhelmingly, it's it's a lot of toxicity. So go check out the video on my YouTube page, it's called Hin Just a Song. And um, shout out to uh Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson for inspiring me to mash up those beats. But, anyways, amid all the digital noise, the performative lurking, and the toxic music, real love still matters. Real love isn't about scrolling through an algorithm or giving someone your emotional leftovers, it's about ensuring that that person is

Time, Change, And Choosing Real Love

SPEAKER_00 28:22

building um a life with you and y'all choose each other, and y'all are the absolute best versions of yourselves together. The realest part about the pure is love is having a pure heart. So, to the spectators out there, you can keep watching the stories, you could keep not clicking the links, you could keep missing out on all the goodness, you could keep attracting yourselves to the toxicity, you could be in every live chat hearing the same shit, the same stories, time and time again. But I know one thing for certain, two things for sure. The only thing that's constant it constant in this life is change, and either you're gonna change with it, or you're gonna get left. You know what? I'll I'll I'll revise that statement. The two things that are constant in this life are time and change, and you can't get time back. So the more you are attracted to the mess, and the more fellas keep making music that is in rooted in mess, we just gonna have a messy ass society. Not me though, man. I know how to unplug, I know how to ignore all of that. Um, and you know, I'm gonna just keep on doing what I'm doing because I know there are about 65 countries that support me globally, and I appreciate you guys for doing that. That's today's games. Well, that was today's episode, man. Y'all told you I wasn't gonna be before y'all long. You know what I say week in and week out. Please put value in yourself, put value in each other, and we'll have a value society. Peace.