Mixed and Mastered
Mixed and Mastered is the podcast where the untold stories of the music industry come to life. Hosted by Jeffrey Sledge, a veteran music executive and former VP of A&R at Atlantic Records and Jive Records, each episode dives deep into the journeys, challenges, and triumphs of the people shaping the sound of today. From label executives and producers to artists, songwriters, and managers, Jeffrey brings you behind the scenes to meet the minds driving the industry forward. There’s a gap in the marketplace for these voices, and Mixed and Mastered is here to fill it—one conversation at a time. Because the best stories are told by those who lived them.
Mixed and Mastered
Datwon Thomas: Part 2
In Part 2 of our conversation with Datwon Thomas, we trace his path from creating King Magazine to producing some of the biggest shows on television. He shares how his vision for a lifestyle publication—once rejected—became a cultural force that gave us iconic covers with stars like Tyra Banks, expanded into Rides Magazine, and helped launch XXL’s legendary Freshman List.
Datwon opens up about his leap from print to digital at Global Grind, to live television with Dick Clark Productions, where he produced the American Music Awards and New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. He also reflects on surviving open-heart surgery in 2022, reminding us that no career milestone matters without your health. From Brooklyn’s hip-hop roots to Hollywood’s biggest stages, Datwon’s story is one of resilience, reinvention, and cultural impact.
Mixed and Mastered is produced and distributed by Merrick Studio, and hosted by music industry veteran, Jeffrey Sledge. Tune in to the discussion on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you catch your podcasts. Follow us on Instagram @MixedandMasteredPod to join the conversation and support the show at https://mixedandmasteredpod.buzzsprout.com/
Now for part two of Dayton Thomas on Mixed and Mastered. Welcome to Mixed and Mastered, a podcast where the stories of the music industry come to life. I'm Jeffrey Sledge, bringing you real conversations with the people who have shaped the sound of music. We're pulling back the curtain on what it takes to make it in the music business. These are the stories you won't hear anywhere else, told by the people who live them. This is Mixed and Mastered. So wait, I know you worked at Hooked, but I'm going to skip that for a second. Yeah, I want to go to King. Okay, no problem.
Speaker 2:King Magazine let's do it, let's do it, let's do it. Yes, indeed, that's.
Speaker 1:Shooky.
Speaker 3:Trees. It's a legendary.
Speaker 1:Oh man, I mean, it's your story. You tell it, I was a fan.
Speaker 2:So basically me and Black, that's what I had one of my duties was to curate the okay up front section, which is like the front part of the magazine, and the front the front part of the magazine usually consisted of like the masthead where everybody names get in. You know, some of those first ideas you see on the creative side. But it also had the letters section, when people would write letters about the previous issue we have no email and all that for them to be sending stuff or social media. They would hand write letters from jail, from everywhere all over the world, and I did this out of like just pure fandom because I was a fan. They would have hundreds of mail envelopes and boxes, dozens of boxes of mail. I would go through each one, read each one and hand write them back and I didn't give them.
Speaker 2:Like this was, this is after work, like we could get off at six. I would be staying until about eight writing people, eight or nine writing people. Yeah, I would do that as like extracurricular shit. I would go in the box, I would get a box and start opening up the letters and I would read these people's life stories and their problems and their ideas.
Speaker 2:And the ideas was what was really lucrative for me, because when I would get these joints they would be like yo who was on page 37? What rims were those on page 55? What pants are those on page 98? They weren't necessarily asking about the music, they were asking about the girls we would feature or the lifestyle section. Asking about the music. They was asking about the girls we would feature, or, yeah, cars, the lifestyle section. And even though we had a robust lifestyle section, it seemed like it wasn't enough. So you know, over the course of like a year I had all these ideas from the people and I was like Maxim and stuff the men's magazines was really coming in vogue at that time. They were killing Huge.
Speaker 2:They were selling 50% and 60% sell-through rates. It was crazy. It was making mad money. I went to the publishers and told them that we should do this magazine based on girls. Then they was like nah. So what we ended up doing was we put it as a section in XXL called I Can't.
Speaker 1:I remember that I remember that Me and Don Morris.
Speaker 2:Don Morris was the creator director and you know the music videos always had a lead chick Video Vixen. So we started incorporating that. But I was also on the whole thing of like it shouldn't just be video girls. So we started instituting like women that were on TV and stuff like that. That's where the King stuff started coming. So then when I was able to, you know, kind of get the idea down by working it through the eye candy section in the fashion stuff and then we added like a car thing, I was like this could be its own magazine this has nothing to do with the
Speaker 2:hip-hop people that we're putting on at all. This is all lifestyle and they didn't see it at first. So we ended up leaving double xl going to hookcom. And that's when elliot came in, okay, and he took over double xl, but we went over to hookcom with the internet thing and then that internet bubble burst like a year and a half later, and as it was bursting, everybody that was working at hook went to different spots. And our boy, jermaine hall, he ended up going to the source. My man, shaheen reed, he was with us. He ended up going to mtv mirth. My man, keith murphy, he ended up going to like daily news or people or whatever. Everybody was getting these fly jobs, jeff, and I wasn't. I wasn't like, I was still at corporate cars and everything.
Speaker 1:What's going on?
Speaker 2:they get real invites to spots. I'm like I'm still, I'm still getting like the hood spot joints. I was like hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.
Speaker 2:But I love the fact that my people was winning because it was more opportunity and it was like it was opening up the doors and, um, I remember, I remember, man, they started firing everybody. So at one point Hook had like maybe like 60 something, 70 something people. They got down to like 12 and I was one of the 12. Yeah, I was one of the 12. It was empty in that warehouse downtown and it was sad too it was like going to work was like sad, everybody was gone.
Speaker 2:It was like no, going to work was like sad, everybody was gone it was like no more fun with your crew.
Speaker 2:It was like work, work and the numbers are dropping. It was horrible. So I remember one day I got a call at my desk and it was like you know, a page from Harris and he was the publisher for XXL and for Slam and he had me when I was over there and he was like yo, I got an idea. I think we should bring that idea you was talking about out. You know what I mean. I think we should do that. I was like what. He was like yo, let's meet, let's just meet. I met him for lunch and he started talking this King stuff and at the time we didn't have a name for it. We're just talking about the idea of what it could be like. You know, fly motorcycles and cars and girls and fly gear, just like taking GQ and just making it like for us, us you know what I mean, but the focus being on the women and man, oh man, they gave me the keys. I drove, I drove.
Speaker 1:Who was the first cover of King Layla.
Speaker 2:Arcieri from Son of the Beach. She was the main girl in Q-Tip's Vibrant thing with the light on.
Speaker 2:She was the first one, yeah, first one. But we had a preview issue that was just like for advertisers. It didn't go on the newsstands, we had a preview issue like a couple of months before. So this is 2001. And around like June of 2001, we dropped a preview issue explaining what king would be on that cover. We had nicole robinson, who was like a supermodel dark skin, beauty, long legs, incredible and she the coolest. But I think now she got married, it's like galanari or something like that, and then she ended up being in like different movies and things, but she was the first one on the preview. But then the actual first issue was Lila Arcieri, which was supposed to be Gabrielle Union because she was coming out in the Bad Boys movie, but scheduling made it all messed up and I had to get a cover out and I couldn't wait any longer.
Speaker 2:So I made Lila the cover because she was on Howard Stern's show called Son of the Beach. It was like a scoop on Baywatch. And she was on Howard Stern's show called Son of the Beach. It was like a school porn Baywatch and she was the star of that. So I put her on the cover and then Gabrielle was ready for the second cover. I just remember.
Speaker 1:King exploding and it just became a thing like who's going to be on the next cover? It was like people were guessing I don't know. I remember I would walk down to the office and y'all would tell me. Sometimes I would tell anybody else, but I would keep it secret All the time?
Speaker 2:No doubt, yeah, yeah, yeah, I tell jokes.
Speaker 1:Where did you get the white girl from? From Moesha. You know what I'm saying? It's like it just Yup, it just yup. Yeah, how did?
Speaker 2:it.
Speaker 1:It exploded like that Like what, what, what did that still sound kind of weird. But I guess, what did that feel like being in that, that, that hurricane of just you know it became a thing. It became like a thing that, almost like women who did, if you didn't do it you wasn't really popping.
Speaker 2:Word. That was the thing where it was cool for it, cause even the women that was hesitant would be like, well, damn Tyra did it. Well, damn Khalees did it, but damn Kim did it. And it was like, yeah, they did jump on Like we make it hot. And and the only reason why I think a lot of those women did it was because we approached them naturally. We didn't approach them on some super lusty, we approached them on like you are a major talent in what you do. Whatever it is you do, you are that major talent and we want to recognize that and let the people know about that. And um, we were very and when I say we, I'm talking about myself, my man, adele Henderson, jermaine Hall, bonsu, sean Malcolm, keith Murphy. I have all my friends help me build it.
Speaker 2:That was another thing being able to come together with my brothers and really take over to the point where we got Spike Lee and different people hitting us about. All the sports dudes was hitting. They would find my number. They would find I know all them sports dudes like that. They would find my number and be like find I know all them sports dudes like that. They would find my number and be like yo, I need such and such. On page 38. I'm like look man, all I got is some publicist info bro.
Speaker 2:That's it, I'm not a pimp, bro. I'm not a pimp, I'm not a pimp.
Speaker 1:I hate to say crazy. One Wild King magazine story.
Speaker 3:I know there's a million of them but just tell me one, it could be anything, yeah that's like we don't want a criminal in the body.
Speaker 1:Those women are wives now. We don't want to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh yeah yeah, a lot of those, a lot of those different. Well, I'll say this overall it was the most incredible time of my life because I was always on the go and it's almost like being the hottest rapper at the moment. Everybody wants you to feature them or be featured with them, or they asking you to jump on a track, and that's how it was for me for a while. Man, it was like the most incredible experiences being able to fly private to Paris and stay at Chateaus and be gifted all types of incredible gifts that I still have Some of them in storage, though. A crazy story. I guess it's not crazy crazy, but it just showed you like how determined I was.
Speaker 2:So the same gentleman, dennis Page, when we were putting the magazine together, we had to come up with the logo and as a asq cover of tyra banks, as like the placeholder to show how all the king logos would look, and I remember he put them on his floor and this we're looking at, like 12 different pages of the same tyra shot, but with the king logo. And he hits my arm like yo don't worry about the picture because you'll never get Tyra, just concentrate on it. Concentrate on the logo. Yo, you told me I would never get Tyra. He was like I don't want you to be that ambitious, I wouldn't put that kind of pressure on you, like I couldn't get her. Now, mind you, tyra is. This is the height of America's Next Top Model. It's on fire. It's on fire, it's a ratings killer and she's probably one of the hardest people to get. So this is 2001. When he says that, I remember in my mind I was like I'm going to make him eat them words. I remember sitting in his office like I'm going to make him eat them words. I'm going to get tyra, I'm gonna get tyra, I'm gonna get tyra, and it was like I was obsessive about it.
Speaker 2:So what I would do her birthday is the same day as jay-z's, december 4th. Every december 4th and every valentine's day for three years, I would send her flowers. Excuse me, I found out where her office was. I want to say it was in burbank, I can't remember, but it was definitely in Cali and I don't know if she got them. But I would send them and nobody was sending something back saying she ain't get them. They ain't said nothing saying she got them, but I would send them every year like clockwork. So I ended up running into like someone that she was cool with and they were like yo, to get her man, you gonna have to talk to Benny Medina or somebody. I ended up having lunch with Benny Medina. I think he was managing her at the time. Everybody knows Benny Medina from Fresh Prince Days and everything the ultimate big dog I felt like.
Speaker 2:I was hot, I'm popping, I'm popping, I got it. We met yeah, I'm popping, I'm popping, I got it. I got a little bit of market share out here we could walk down the block and you can see my workout on the street back then you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:And we went to lunch and we had a really dope conversation. He was like all right, you know what I'm gonna do, I'm put a word in for you. I was like I bet he put the word, I got the word back. People hit or she really wanted. And at the time she had like a couple of months prior, she did stuff magazine with some of the girls from America's Next Top Model and I remember her telling me when she, when we got her to the shoot because I locked it in and all she really wanted was, um, first class tickets from la she was like I got everything else. I'm gonna bring my mom. Yep, she brought a mom. Mom was mad cool and her mom was a photographer, so she had the odd too.
Speaker 2:But this was the craziest part about getting tyra to the shoot. We get her there and we don't know how many looks we're gonna do, but she's like on some, like she's on model time. Model time is like this. Super model time is like this vixen. Model time is whenever. Whenever we get the shot, we get the shot. She was like this, she was like all y'all. So this must be around like 11. She's like all right y'all. Boom, boom, boom. Did the first one boom change, got into the second one. Boom, boom, boom, boom. It's like 11, 30, like damn, we got two looks already. Now I got the whole spot until like five or six. I'm thinking it's going to be a long ass day. It's like eleven thirty. We already breezed through to two looks. Third look she's walking off the set of the second one, took off the bikini thing of the second one, took off the bikini thing. She's naked, grabs the velvet curtain, wraps it around her breasts and her private and wrapped it around her and was like take the shot, just grabbed the velvet.
Speaker 1:It was like a velvet.
Speaker 2:Like this thing right here, but velvet, she just wrapped it around her. That was like the third shot. It's not even noon yet. Third shot, boom. Not even noon yet. Third shot, boom. We done for that. We eat. We're done eating by like 1220. She does like two more looks by one o'clock. We over with. We started at 11. We done with five looks. We're done in two hours. I couldn't believe it. I'm like I'm thinking, man, we don't have Tyra all day.
Speaker 2:She don't got time, she she making money, she got shit to do this is part of her day this ain't her day. This is one piece. And what you know what that taught me, man? That taught me getting out, let's go, and she wasn't even like hurry up, it was just professional. And it made me look at every shoot after in a different way. We became so much more efficient, bro. It's me witnessing how she operated with her team.
Speaker 2:You know the trust she operated with her team, you know the trust she had in her mom the trust she had in us, cause she said this was the illest thing that she said to me. She was like yo, you know why I did it. She was like y'all cater to young black men and everything. If I could do the white boys over there stuff, I could do my brother's hair king. That's dope.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2:Much love. Tyra could get anything from me, bro Anything but the thing that I got from her was how to become more efficient as a professional.
Speaker 1:Tell me a little.
Speaker 2:Yeah, more thorough.
Speaker 1:Tell me a little bit about Rides magazine, then let's go to Grind.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah, no doubt. So Rides was crazy, because that was still an idea from XXL days. The lifestyle part, because we would put Scarface with a car or whoever was hot at the moment with a car in XXL. So when I knew going into King which this is like a little asterisk, this is the asterisk if we didn't do king, we were going to do rides first, because the advertising market was there that's where the trims was popping every car company and all that urban kids, every video.
Speaker 2:Yes, customizing everything, all, even down to the paint. Everything was was, like you know, car industry driven days before the ubers and all that stuff. So we were going to do that at first if I'm being all the way chronological but then we was like, you know, if we pull back, we could come, we could jump back to that idea and we put rides inside King as a section and we did like Busta Rhymes first, a couple of football players back, then those are the only dudes. That was like really getting car money like that, the rapper dudes wasn't really getting all that big dog car money outside of like a big artist. Yeah, somebody had to be huge to have a big artist. You had to, you had to really be doing it.
Speaker 2:So, anyway, king started November of 2021. We started Rod's like May of 2003,. And we put Tyrese on the cover because he was starring in the second installment of Fast and the Furious and that made sense to us, but it didn't make sense to the publishers. They didn't. They was like who the hell is the? Because they always went on celebrity power and he wasn't as big yet.
Speaker 1:Franchise yeah.
Speaker 2:I was like the franchise is huge. I was like don't worry about him. I was like worry about us putting Fast and the Furious on there. It's going to suck man. That shit took off. I said I got another hit. You know what it felt like? It felt like I was an artist with King, yeah. And then I got my artist name, you got my John Legend.
Speaker 2:You got what you said. I got my Eminem. Yeah, exactly that's how I felt, man. I was like yo, I got yeah, because I know I'm gonna keep popping with king. And then I got, I got rise. Now it was crazy and we really took the car industry by storm. The only real competition we had back then excuse me, the only real competition we had back then was um, dub, my man miles, and I'm over at dub out of cali because it's a car culture his cars.
Speaker 2:It's a car culture. It's a whole different thing than what we were doing. We were like celebrity-driven car stuff.
Speaker 1:We got the low-riders out there and all that stuff. They are real car fans. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:They grew up in those kind of cars. We grew up on a two and three-train.
Speaker 1:Getting a ride was a big deal, I got a car, word Word.
Speaker 2:You had your favorite cab driver you know, the gypsy cab, the gypsy cab that's what it was back then, you know, or the gypsy cab joys you had your favorite one. So it was a little different for us when we, when we came on the scene, but we killed it.
Speaker 2:Man, like every major car company wanted to mess with us, we got everybody. I'm talking pharrell, 50, snoop shack, ice cube, cadillac, you know. I'm saying everybody wanted to show their joints off, man, and we were getting pitched that that brand alone, man, oh my goodness, it was starting to catch up the king. It was crazy. It was crazy like so I couldn't lose in that building, man. And um, I remember, elliot, there was a rolling stone article, or or I think it was rolling stone, where def jam had this thing, where Irv was like who's the hottest nigga in the building? Because you had Def.
Speaker 2:Jam overall, and then you had all the labels and he was like we the hottest, meaning Murder Inc. But then you have Rough Riders you have Rockefeller, and then you have regular yeah, disturbing the Peace. And then you have regular Def Jam and it was like all the people who ran those wanted to be the hottest nigga in the building and elliot looked at harris as def jam excel rockefeller you know yeah king could have been like rough riders. Rods was like murder inc and I got two of them. It was great.
Speaker 2:He was like yo, I'm still the hottest nigga in the building. Yo, we used to laugh. So we used to laugh on that so much that one day we was like yo, we're gonna have to collab on something. And um, we ended up making a magazine that made money together. It was called hip-hop, hip-hop soul. We did hip-hop soul magazine, which combined hip hop and R&B. And who we put on the first cover? R Kelly, I think it was. R Kelly was on the first. Then we put Ne-Yo and Keisha Cole, then we put Usher, then we put I can't even remember. We just kept coming out with these issues, man, and it was so dope because that was our first time working together, so it was like you got pharrell and kanye to do an album together.
Speaker 2:You know, I'm saying like, and we became tighter by doing that project together.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was short lived, like maybe three years. So after did it, after this run, it was crazy you became the XXL editor.
Speaker 2:It was crazy. So, jermaine, we bumped Jermaine up to editor-in-chief. I moved for King, I moved up to editorial director where I oversaw all the magazine titles, and then I was also helping out with some of the other magazines that was at Harris, like Fuego and stuff like that. And then Elliot left XXL and it was tumultuous and all types of crazy. It was all in the media and everything.
Speaker 2:And then I, um, I was, I was, uh, I was in my office like yo, that's crazy. I was like yo, yo, jeff, this is wild. I was like yo, that's. I was like yo, that's crazy. Elliot is out cause I ain't even get a chance to talk to him before he left. And I was like damn man. I was like yo, I don't know who gonna be crazy enough to step in his shoes. I was like that's fire, like whoever gotta go do do the shit after him. They crazy, they must be nuts and I'm talking shit. And then, next thing, you know, I got a car, exactly, and I was like at first I was like, nah, I'm good, I'm good. They was like look you in the building already. You started at that brand. You know the brand. Y'all cool, you still on it. We're going to give you this amount.
Speaker 2:I was like if y'all up that, I'll do it. But they more than upped it, man, they roofed it.
Speaker 1:I'll be there Monday. How long were you the editor of Double XL? Like a? Year, a year and a few months and we'll be right back welcome to Merrick Studios, where stories take the mic and culture comes alive. We're not just a network, we're family. And we'll be right back where the conversation starts and keeps going.
Speaker 3:Check out our full lineup, including Unglossy with Bun B, jeffrey Sledge and myself, tom Frank Now streaming at wearemerickstudioscom. Master the art of lyricism with Pendulum Inc, the first school for rap. Learn elite techniques through immersive lessons, real-world exercises and guidance from hip-hop icons. This is where MCs sharpen their skills and glow boldly on the mic. Ready to level up? Visit penduluminccom and start your journey today. And now back to the show but while I was there, I created the freshman.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I created the freshman. So what happened with that was elliot, like months prior to him leaving, had put together this cover of the new school of hip hop and he had like 10 dudes on the cover in all white and called it the new school and it was like Saigon, papoose, boozy, crooked Eye cats like that. I think Joe Button, it was like cats like that. I think joe button it was like cats like that and I saw that. But at king we had something called the coming kings that we would do every year where we would select the top people we thought was going to take over in different genres, all the way down to aerospace. We would get astronaut dudes and we said we, we called Hart early, we call so many people early.
Speaker 2:We would have themes like that. We had an all white theme and that year we had Kanye, common, paul Wall, mike Jones, terrence Howard, trey Songz. It was crazy. It was crazy. So I was already used to doing that type of stuff like forecasting, but when I got to XXL I felt like yo, this idea with the new school we could. We could improve on it by marketing it better, giving it a sexier title than new school, and we should bring in the dudes.
Speaker 2:That's killing it on the Internet, because at this point all the mixtape it was SoundCloud, blog era, soundcloud was on fire, blog era. So I started picking those kind of guys that I thought would go to that next level, like Kid Cudi, Ace Hood, mickey Facts, blue Peter Gunn's son, corey Guns, mickey Fax, blue Peter Gunson, corey Guns. And then on the cover was like BOB, charles Hamilton, asher Roth and Wale, so called it the freshman. And, mind you, the publishers and some of the staff did not want me to do this because they felt like I didn't work for Elliot, it's not going to work for us. I was like I'm not Elliot, trust me. Oh, it didn't work for Elliot, it's not going to work for us. I was like I'm not Elliot. Trust me, I know how to get my things over the line that I'm doing, not that he didn't, because he lifted it up.
Speaker 2:He lifted the brand up from where we left it Because when I left that's when he came in I just felt like I knew what I was doing because I got my king credentials, trust me. I knew what I was doing because I got my king credentials, trust me. I know what I'm doing. And next thing, you know, I came up with the whole cypher thing of unveiling them but not unveiling them. I had everybody hide their face in a creative way and they had to do like a 16 at the shoot and then we would put the clips out on YouTube to promote it and you had to guess which rapper it was. Pardon me, that created anticipation and I'm a marketing dude at the same time.
Speaker 1:If I'm going to put something together I'm going to have to plan on how we're going to get people to see it.
Speaker 2:That did it. Then, I believe, we had like an unofficial dj who did mixtape. That went along with, I think he did it. So it was crazy, yeah so. So my time at double excel me coming back was was like proving that my hip-hop chops was still there and I was still on point. And like I'm no joke in this, like I really do this, like don't think that just because I'm shooting girls over here and cars and shit I'm a real editor.
Speaker 2:I know that's how I got in. Yeah, I'm a real one with this. And I not only did I feel like I proved that to others, I proved it to myself, because I wanted to be able to say to me yeah, boy, you did that.
Speaker 1:You did that Global Grind. Now, who ran Global Grind? That was Russell's thing.
Speaker 2:Russell Simmons. That was Russell's joint, and what was crazy about it was while I was at XXL even while I was at King he came at me one time and was like yo, we need to talk about doing some stuff and I was like alright, bet, let's do it.
Speaker 3:And I think it was because I had all the sexy girls on there.
Speaker 1:I was like Russell.
Speaker 2:Russell just wanted to be the girls man.
Speaker 3:He just wanted access to the King joints.
Speaker 1:He don't want to talk to me, exactly.
Speaker 2:You know the hip-hop guy don't want to talk to me about it. But so then when I bounced over to XXL and I started making strides, I think they saw like all right, we need to really lock in on hip hop. And this guy got got a hold on it right now and it came at me like twice, I ain't like the numbers. And I was like what kind of staff is it? I think at the time Kim Azario, from the source, was running it and they were doing like things that were a little bit more in the female lane. So I didn't see it as like, okay, I could jump in and take those things over and do them. Well, because that was for women. I was like, if I do it, I'm gonna have to like reconfigure this.
Speaker 2:And I remember talking to her as she was leaving. She was like yo, I've been hearing your name around here a lot. I was like, oh, they serious like that. She was like, yeah, I think you should sit down with them for real, for real. So off her. I was like I bet I sat down with them, told them the numbers, and the numbers was super great. And I was like the only thing was that meant I had to leave double xl and I just got yeah.
Speaker 1:And I just got that freshman shit.
Speaker 2:We on fire, we talking about taking it. I got to go into the next level. I got to, but around that time I just had my third daughter.
Speaker 1:I got diapers to buy. You know what I'm saying. I got formula to buy. I can't move around.
Speaker 2:I needed that paper man, I was like, yes, and I, I'm going to be real man. My third daughter was the reason, I think, I made that move so boldly. She had just turned like a year, she was just over a year and everything. And I was thinking about the times of now where this past Saturday, I dropped her off to start at Howard.
Speaker 1:Way back then. Yeah, and I was thinking like that.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying, this was 18 years ago, way back then. Yeah, and I was thinking like that, you know what I'm saying, this was 18 years ago back then. So I think I did the right thing, but I do feel like I wish I had my hand in freshman longer. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:I can't front. Vanessa did her. Thing.
Speaker 2:Vanessa did her thing. She definitely took it and elevated it. My man Rob. I can't front Vanessa. Vanessa did her thing. Yeah, she definitely took it and elevated it. My man Rob Markman everybody that stayed behind. They made sure the shit was dope. It still continues today, regardless of what people want to think of the quality of artists.
Speaker 1:They can't make the artists, they're just going to promote them. They can't build the artists from scratch or whatever. So wait, after this, you went. You went back to vibe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, then I went back. Well, after go global grind, I went into Silicon Valley and I started yeah, I started dealing with Steve jobs wife or widow, lorraine. She was a partner in a company called Ozzy with Carlos Watson, who was just pardoned by Trump, which sounds crazy. It's crazy, Yo, that Silicon. Valley world man. Everybody think the streets is crazy. They think the streets is grimy. They think having beef on the streets is crazy. Have some digital beef. That's what I'm saying. They think having beef on the streets is saying have some digital beef.
Speaker 1:That's what I'm saying. They got some bread out there. Look at that like 20, 30 million on your head.
Speaker 2:It's crazy, it's crazy. So I was with them for a while and then, while I was with them, vi called how was that? And I went back to Vi. Yeah, that was crazy. No, I'm getting it mixed up, my bad, my bad. That was the second time I went back.
Speaker 2:The first time I went back to Vibe was right after Global Grind. I was selling for a while. I was freelancing for a little bit for like maybe six, seven months. Then I went back to Vibe because Jermaine and Lynn Burnett and Brett Wright that's right I forgot they were Vibe. They had Vibe out of bankruptcy. Totally forgot about that and yeah, that's why I skipped over it too, my bad. And then I went back with them and that was like 2009, going into 10. And I was there until 2013. 2013 is when I went over to Ozzy and that's when I was doing the Silicon Valley thing. I was flying out to San Fran every three weeks. I would fly out to San Jose or San Francisco and I would be in Mountain View and I was working on their website, which was kind of like a blend of Huffington Post and Washington Post.
Speaker 1:It's not that long ago, but all these things are gone now. Even Huffington Post is gone and obviously OZ is gone and they're around, but it's not the same and Vibe is gone and it's a trip yeah.
Speaker 2:Social media, man, social media, same and vibe is gone and it's a trip. Yeah, yeah, social media, everything, social media, social, and nobody I don't think anybody has done the jump. Yeah, right, yeah, outside, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right, you know what I mean? No one has done it to the, to the. It's like, it's almost like a seamless run even big places like Rolling. Stone, they just haven't figured it out.
Speaker 1:They can't figure it out nah, they didn't.
Speaker 2:They can't figure it out, because it was because I feel like a lot of those brands were birthed during, you know, the print era and they stayed true to that ethos, whereas complex kind of came out just before the blog era. You know what I'm saying. So, yeah, they kind of like lived in that space a little bit more so, where people could do online shopping. It went with their aesthetic as they were coming out as being buy, collect obsess. That was their mantra. Online, where were you buying stuff? You were buying it online. They were heavily more online and they would tell you go to this website, go to that website. Whereas print was like go to this store, go to that store, you know like it's.
Speaker 1:It's a mentality and the convenience across the board of you know like it's a mentality and the convenience across the board of down to now ordering food, the convenience of being able to do something without leaving your crib, you know, and getting food or with grails or getting clothes, crazy. And I think that what's? I'm sure there's studies on this, I haven't seen them. But I'm sure there are studies on this, I haven't seen them. I'm sure they're archived. I know I didn't figure this out, but it's. It's. It's like the um excitement of getting a gift, even if you bought it. It's the excitement of amazon dropping those boxes every day, or ebay every day, those boxes, those boxes at your doorstep.
Speaker 3:It's like I got a gift. What did I?
Speaker 1:get. Oh, I didn't know what this is. Let me open it up. There's a dopamine thing to that that I think people slept on.
Speaker 2:It's definitely dopamine, and what's crazy is like it's to the point, like you just said, you could order something and totally forgot that you ordered it. Until you see it on your step and be like oh yeah.
Speaker 1:For a minute? How many you open up?
Speaker 2:a little bit. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:Yeah, let me see how it fits or whatever you know, or even a food thing like that with instacart.
Speaker 1:Like you know, you don't even have to go to the grocery store. No more, bro. You could just like you're just watching the netflix's thing. Ding dong and your whole grocery is there for the week. You know what I'm saying? Ding-ding-dong and your whole grocery is there for the week. You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 3:Uber Eats is my friend. It's crazy man.
Speaker 1:It's crazy. You go back to Vibe. I feel like I have all my notes here and then the OZ, then Respect.
Speaker 2:Yeah, then Ozzy and then man.
Speaker 2:That was crazy too, because while I was doing Ozzy, I was doing Respect magazine with my man, jonathan Ringo, who was one of the publishers at XXL. He had started his own thing. And once again, here I go. Elliot was the editor in chief and then he leaves and I get a call and I'm like yo, what's up? He was like yo L bounced. You know what I'm saying'm saying I got, I got, I gotta get this issue. I was like listen man, I can't be following this dude man. He gonna think I'm following him, right, but this is the wild shit about it. This is the wild shit about me and l's relationship.
Speaker 2:I was at double xl before him and left and he came in and then I took over Right. I was at respect before he came in. I did like the first issue when Tony Dravino was the editor in chief. He was like the editor in chief maybe for one or two issues and I was and I was writing with them and talking about getting more of a, a position, but then that's when I was doing my thing and they needed somebody every day. And then Elliot came in and that's when I was doing my thing and they needed somebody every day. Then Elliot came in and that's when I was like all right got it.
Speaker 1:I wasn't pursuing it Then when he left, they came back and they looked like I'm following this dude everywhere.
Speaker 2:I didn't want to. I was like yo, I'm not following this dude again, I'm not doing it, I don't want to go. Yeah, just call day. And I was like yo, I'm not following this dude again, I'm not doing it, I don't want people to feel like I'm following this dude and I'm doing that. So then, uh, jr was like nah, you was here first, started out like nobody give a fuck about that, they're not gonna see that. And he was like nah, nah, nah, come on, man, I need the help. I was like all right for you, I'm gonna do this. And I had a amazing time doing respect, man, like I think I did some of my favorite work there. I really yo, it was wow because I just got to focus on the music. I didn't have to focus on lifestyle or girls or cars or anything, I just so I doubled down on the music. I added a battle rapper section and was given battle rappers, full features, not little columns, and oh, they doing a battle. I treated them like they were platinum stars. So it was dope. That's what people first really learned about daylight, when they first really learned about Smack and Beasley, and in there you know their plight because a lot of the hip hop magazines was using them as footnotes because it was such an offshoot of hip hop culture and
Speaker 2:yeah, it's like a subculture and I was like, nah, we gotta elevate it. So I did that with respect. That's one of the things I loved about doing with that magazine. And then one of my favorite photos ever is the cover I did with young thug and baby from cash money. That cover is so crazy and I think I forgot what I call it dirty money or something like that. I forgot it was so crazy. Black and white shot from this angle. Looking up them. Dudes was from this angle. Looking up them. Dudes was 15 hours late to the shoot and when they came they were so late. How late were they? They were so late I had to switch out photographers. They were so late that one of the photographers, after waiting for seven hours, had to leave to go get their kid and couldn't come back. So there was a point while I'm waiting for them to come to the shoot.
Speaker 2:I didn't have a photographer. If they showed up Like they would have came in because they so late, they would have came in and not have a photographer.
Speaker 1:They were so late that I gave me three hours to find one.
Speaker 2:I found it and they were still. It was after that they were still like two hours late after I found one. And I found one. I found the dopest one. My man Dwayne he's ill man he did all the dope Atlanta shoots out there, all the guys that have like epic and legendary shots. He did it and he did that one man and he had to go on. He had to leave straight from the shoot and catch an international flight. He did that before his flight.
Speaker 1:Tell me about Dick Clark. I love that guy man to this day.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, so boom after Respect bounced back to Vibe and I know we're skipping a big portion of it, but y'all heard my Vibe story. I go back to Vibe because the staff asked for me after and this is funny jermaine was editor-in-chief, jermaine hall, who worked with me at king. He left and the staff asked for me to come back, which was like the blessing of all blessings, because then I it took me out of the freelance world. I didn't have to kill what I eat all the time, you what I mean. I was able to chill for a minute because I was going hard for like a year and a half and I went back to Vibe. This is 2015, now, early 2015. And I didn't leave until 2023. I was there for a minute.
Speaker 2:And what's so crazy is while I was at Vibe, around 2018, is when I got introduced to the Dick Clark family. They were their owners and our owners of Vibe, billboard and Hollywood Reporter. Ok, they ended up doing business together as MRC Media Rights Capital, media rights capital and they put out like a bunch of movies and stuff. And they have other brands, like a 24 and deals with like full well 73, which is James Corden. So when they had Dick Clark. We all had to do a business leader retreat and I was the leader of vibe. So when I got there, they sat me next to one of the executives at Dick Clark and I was writing ideas about what they should be doing, based off some of the things that the company was telling us they wanted to do. And I was like yo, dick Clark to do excellent. And I got notes and he's looking. He's like yo, you should come to one of our meetings. I was like, oh yeah, you damn right, cause I'm thinking like yo, I want to get into TV and film. And that was like my end and my ideas were dope and they were thinking, like, alright, cool, well, one way you can help us is try to book some of these people for us that you, these ideas that you want to do, see if you could make those happen. And I started making it happen. And next thing, you know, I got a job consulting Dick Clark while I'm editor-in-chief of VOD and that started to cultivate seriously. I got a job consulting Dick Clark while I'm editor in chief of VOD and that started to cultivate seriously in 2019.
Speaker 2:Then the pandemic hit. But this is the craziest thing about the pandemic. It opened up my opportunity because now a lot of the people couldn't move around and some were scared to go to things and stuff like that and it was like, can you go to the shoot? You know COVID compliance and all that man, I did the COVID compliance so I could be on the set. And I was on the set and I did uh, I did like a, a remote taping for big for killer Mike, for idea that me and another employee came together with my homegirl Sarah. We came up with this conscious kind of like conscious community driven award for the Billboard Awards. We had it's called Game Changers and we had a killer might receive the first one and then we ended up having, like trade the truth do the second one and all that.
Speaker 2:But during that time I'm becoming a producer for real and I ended up getting hired full time. When the new owner came over, who was also the owner of Vibe, he asked me to move from Vibe to Dick Clark. Wow, I started doing all the shows. I even did the country show Yep Out in Nashville, and at that point Stephen Hill from BET, he comes in and he becomes like an exec. So I'm working on his team and I'm learning from him. And then, who does he bring in? He brings in Jesse Collins. So I'm working with, I'm working directly with, Jesse.
Speaker 2:Collins, dion Harmon, who's amazing. And Stephen Hill. How did this happen? Yeah, like what, stephen Hill. How did this happen? Like what? How did this happen? Yo and I'm working on American Music Awards with them. I'm ushering in. I'm making sure New Edition is right, cardi is straight. I'm making sure Tyler's good. I'm making sure Nelly gets some love. I'm booking Jha and Ashanti for New Year's Rockin' Eve I'm booking, yeah, like every, not this year, but the past three to four years I did the 1145 slot.
Speaker 2:That was my slot going into New Year's and that was the top rated part of the show. So I could walk away knowing that I booked and made happen like that pivotal point where people are shedding their last year going into their new year, and me and my grandmother used to watch that show together and I'm like damn.
Speaker 1:I'm working on this show. Yeah, full circle.
Speaker 2:Full circle no it was crazy man Full circle. She would have lost her mind knowing I worked on that show. You know what I'm saying. And um, it's been amazing, but all good things. Just the last couple of weeks I transitioned out of Dick Clark. I'm still consulting for them. It's a good transition because now I'm working for myself. I have my own production company, daylight Media. I've got a couple of clients working on some award shows right now. You're still popping.
Speaker 1:You're still popping.
Speaker 2:You can't stop. You can't stop, I'm still going man, I'm still going.
Speaker 2:I'm still going. I can't, man, I can't. But I will tell you it tried to stop me because last October I had the heart attack thing and that just sat me down in the weirdest way and technically it's not a heart attack, but that's the best way to categorize it. It was like my aortic valve that fuels all the blood through your body to all your extremities and organs. It ruptured at the top of my heart and I had already had high blood pressure. So that tookured at the top of my heart and I had already had high blood pressure.
Speaker 1:So yeah, that took me over the top. I wasn't taking my medicine yeah I was traveling and I was like I'm gonna get it.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna get it. It's only been a day. I'm good. I'm good not knowing because, like I remember, when it happened and after I was able to talk to everybody, a friend of mine was like yeah, you look bloated Like on your stories, like I was like they got fat and I was retaining so much fluid properly because I wasn't taking my medicine.
Speaker 2:And I look back at those photos. I was like damn right and they saw that in the stories that I was posting. But my heart attack story is like you know, I don't even know how I was posting, but my heart attack story is like a fucking movie. I don't even know how I'm here. God's grace and love.
Speaker 1:I haven't said this on the show before, but the initial kernel of me doing this podcast started from I actually had a stroke in 22. Yeah, same thing Not taking my medication, same shit, what. Yeah, so I had a stroke and then, you know, I was in the whole vein. I passed away.
Speaker 1:And this one passed away and I heard Clark was sick and I was like you know what? And the kernel of me doing this podcast was, like you know, I want to get with people as much as I can to talk about health. This really was supposed to be about health. I was like let's talk about health because so many of us in the entertainment business we don't take care of ourselves. I'm taking my medication, we're running, we're not sleeping, we're traveling all over the place Drinking. Didn't run into the airport.
Speaker 2:Staying up late.
Speaker 1:You talk about your health issue, which I'm obviously very glad you were able to overcome. It brought me back to that. I said this is more about health than about people's careers. But then it morphed because I was like you know what, let me give people their flowers. That's what's up. Let me give people their flowers. I don't know. I wanted to get on the show and talk about their careers because I was like first of all, I know some amazing people that have done amazing things behind the scenes. People might not know the stuff that people do so and and how they they've really pushed the culture forward. You don't really know the artists, but seeing, but you know hearing these stories. I think it's very helpful. I'm glad you're thinking. I think it's very helpful. I'm glad you're taking care of yourself.
Speaker 2:Appreciate you, bro man. Yeah, it's been a rough road. Like all of November of last year was my recovery. I was in the hospital for like 10 days. They gave me like a six-hour open heart surgery thing, had my heart out my chest, had all my blood out my body Crazy. And then all of November I was just working so I could get back on set because I knew I had new year's rock and eve and I had already booked like dj cassidy and ja rule and fat joe and slick rick and and and dougie fresh and I was like nah, I can't miss that, you gotta chill.
Speaker 2:So I was working to get back to there but the doctors was like you got to get back, I bet.
Speaker 1:Cause, like yo, we barely let me go. The last one Barely let me go Ever.
Speaker 2:Exactly Wow, this is what got you here. This is what got you here so. But now I'll tell you this, man, life has been even before. Life was always so beautiful to me Always. It's even more so now was always so beautiful to me Always. It's even more so now Because now that I've dropped my daughter off to college my other daughter, my middle one, graduated college this year my oldest has got her first her own kindergarten class. Now she's a full-fledged teacher in Atlanta. I wouldn't have been able to see those things you know what I mean and to make 50 like in May. It's been beautiful, bro.
Speaker 1:A couple of quick questions, fun questions. Yes sir, yes sir, tell me who you wanted to get on a cover of King magazine but weren't able to get.
Speaker 2:Oh, man, the ones that got away.
Speaker 1:Let me go down.
Speaker 2:Let me go down the list. Beyonce and I pitched for her, with her publicist and her team. I pitched for her like five times. Why did they say no?
Speaker 1:Probably Jay. Yeah, keeping it real.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's exactly that's what I want to say. What that's what I want to say, that's what I want. But I think, I think at the time they were really trying to get her over the mainstream hump. Okay, and we might have been a little too, as much as we weren't hood. I think we might have been a little too hood, but we weren't hood, you know, in their eyes, that would have been a nice one damn. Yeah, Beyonce, was it. Man. I tried five different times over the course of six, seven years.
Speaker 1:You even hit a hole with the Brooklyn shit and all that. None of that.
Speaker 2:One time I've seen them at 40-40. I was going to be like yo man, I'll even let you shoot it. Word, let me get it. I got too scared. I got too scared. I ain't saying nothing, no, but we did get Kelly. We got Kelly a bunch of times. I remember that I gave Latoya Lucky the cover when she was doing her solo thing, and then Serena Williams was another one, and what made Serena hurt so bad that we didn't get her is that I seen her in paris and she was with brett ratner okay and I was looking at brett, like you, lucky dog man you know, you know you, that was so far out of his league bro you out your league right now.
Speaker 2:And they was, they was together or whatever, and I wanted to run up on her. But I was with my wife. My wife was like she chilling, we'll get her another time. And I was like all right, because my wife used to real shit. She she would be like why don't you get such and such? You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 2:like she would let me know people yeah, all the time, and they would always be a hit. And she, she saw, she knew how bad I wanted serena, but she was like, nah, this ain't the time, just leave her alone. And and then the last one, it's the top three Beyonce, serena and Halle Berry.
Speaker 1:You never got Halle.
Speaker 2:Never got Halle. Nope, never got Halle man and she did stuff for FHM for one of the movies. I was so mad I was like yelling in the office, I used to get emotional over King. Because I used to get emotional over king, you know, I used to get emotional like I was heated that she did them and we didn't get a shot. I was like oh no, no, no, but she still looked good, she still looked good yeah, those are the three, though Tell me your favorite King cover.
Speaker 2:Yikes, damn, they all got like their own special thing, but the first one that comes to mind is Free. Free was 106 and Park, because I had pursued her for so many years and she kept telling me no, kept telling me no, and then she finally said yes, I felt like I won the damn championship. Man, I tell you, I wanted to get the goggles and the champagne and just like yeah, I remember that cover yeah, and she ended up becoming the number one seller yeah, I remember that cover, that cover was volume wise, volume wise.
Speaker 2:I bet the woman that we shot the most ironically which is so crazy, and I didn't realize it until like after everything was trina. Trina got them like five covers. Wow, yeah, I would never think I would be like oh shit, trina. But I'll tell you this about trina real quick, and this is no disrespect, trina, I love you. If you see this, understand, this is in all love. This is just how I remember it.
Speaker 2:We had to for her first cover with us. We had to go to Miami and we had to start at like three in the morning because we did body paint. We had a body paint artist come and body paint her and it took them like three hours, so that puts you around like 6 37 in the morning. Then we had we didn't do it on South Beach. We ain't want a bunch of people to crowd, so we took it to another I think I forgot Bay Beach or Cocoa Beach or whatever beach is over there and it's going to hit me and we took over there. So it's early in the morning, we are chilling, it's nice, the water is cold as heck and I'm like yo, she a trooper, she out here, body painted, and then it was like these figures was walking down the beach and I'm like, damn, they thick, they thick as crazy. What? I was like yo, who's all these people coming? And it was like three women and they was like hey. She was like hey, mom. I said who is?
Speaker 1:your mom.
Speaker 2:And her mom passed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, her mom passed away. God bless, god bless.
Speaker 2:God bless, mom was crazy Smoking. I was like yo, we going to shoot mom. Mom was like boy, you better get out of here. Get out of here, and we got cool like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I was just hugging her up. I was like yo, you're gonna get any shots, like, come on, now, you're gonna have to come on, give me the whole family. Smashing whole whole family was gangster. I was like, damn trina, you hiding all them, left them in the video. But nah, trina's my girl, she knows all love. Um, god, god bless her mom. And uh, I'm trying to think of another one. Oh, remember Ashley from fresh Prince? Yeah, yeah, I think it's Tatiana. She was super, duper cool. Her and her mom came to the shoot and they were just so amazingly cool. I didn't know what to expect because she's so reserved and everything but super cool. I got too many. I got too many.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, my bad, this is the last question. All right, give me we'll say two, but you know you always like to do triples, so I'll say three. Give me three of your favorite Brooklyn artists.
Speaker 2:Three of my favorite Brooklyn artists. Three of my favorite Brooklyn artists. Damn, that's tough, because three ain't enough. Three of my favorite Brooklyn artists One is Fab. Okay, I'm putting Jay and Big in number two. I'm putting them together. That don't make no sense, don't do that. Fab, jay, big. Three Little Kim, nice one. And three, three fab. J big, three little kim, nice one. And three. Three a b is kim and foxy. I'm a man, listen. I was listening to foxy the other day and I was like yo, she was spitting on this man, she, yo and the weight. You know what it is?
Speaker 2:foxy spit like a dude like like rough and direct and very clear. There's no Kim does it with like a little like she's still like feminine. Yeah, foxy, you would not think she look like how she sound. Yeah, like she's incredibly direct and the lyrics are potent. So Fab J, big, foxy Kim.
Speaker 1:I like that. I like that. I always tell people that people J and Big in my opinion actually did have a battle. It was J writing for Foxy and Kim writing for Big.
Speaker 2:Those girls battled.
Speaker 1:They were battling through them. Yes, they were yes they were. Yeah, people, yes, they were, and.
Speaker 2:I and I think and I think Jay showed his hand when he did that joint with Kim and he was like how big going to trust you in the studio with me making sure I stay right with little C's and all that Like like big C's in them to make sure they hear them. How big going to trust you in the studio with me, like I love that dude man.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because he's saying what everybody's thinking, absolutely Like. I know y'all thinking this Like oh, I'm on the top of it.
Speaker 1:He going to trust me with the high yeah, you know what I'm saying, you know. You know it's to be expected, of course, you know that's real. That's real, that's real.
Speaker 2:That was it, man, Thank you man, I really appreciate this man. Of course no. Thank you, bro. Thank you and much love to you. Thank you, man, and I need to get you back in New York, man, we need that energy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:We're going to get you back. That's the plan, Tom. You got to get back. You got to get back home. Atlanta's nice, you know, but it ain't home bro.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's different.
Speaker 1:It's not home.
Speaker 2:It's different. It ain't home.
Speaker 1:I never realized how much of a New Yorker I was until I left. Of course. That's when we know I'm a New Yorker, dude.
Speaker 2:Trust me, I know, you know, I know I'm definitely going to be out there. I'm going to come see you.
Speaker 1:Please do man Again thank you for everything. Dave, you can catch Mixed and Mastered on Apple Podcasts, spotify, iheart or wherever you get your podcasts. Hit that follow button, leave a review and tell a friend. I'm your host, jeffrey Sledge. Mixed and Mastered is produced and distributed by Merrick Studios.
