THEE PK POD

Warryn Campbell on Producing, Pastoring & 25 Years with Erica Campbell

Jasmine Edwards Season 2 Episode 12

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0:00 | 54:51

Season finale. Five Grammys. Multiple platinum records. A church that started as a Bible study in a hotel ballroom. And a marriage that just hit 25 years. Pastor Warryn "Baby Dub" Campbell joins Jazz for the final episode of the season, and he brought the tea.

Warryn walks through his path from PK and self described "preacher's mascot" to producer, to founder and pastor of California Worship Center, including the true story of how a 50 Cent shoutout accidentally filled his sanctuary on Easter Sunday. He talks candidly about the cancer diagnosis that pushed him toward the pulpit, working with Tupac while staying true to who he was in the room, his marriage to Erica Campbell, and why he thinks gospel music has drifted from authenticity.

Plus, Jazz puts him through a This or That round covering Commission vs the Winans, Tupac vs Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre vs Babyface, Mighty Clouds of Joy vs the Canton Spirituals, and more.

This is a season finale you do not want to skip.

Follow Thee PK Pod on Instagram and TikTok: @theepkpod 

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Welcome Back And Meet Warrens

SPEAKER_02

Friends, we are back with another episode of the PK Pod, where we all have platforms, but they may not be the pulpit. Hello, somebody. However, today's guest, huh? Five Grammys, huh? Multiple honors, accolades, producer, musician, singer, songwriter, group namer. But he is also a pastor and overseer. I mean, it's just too many titles. Y'all make some noise for my family. That is Pastor Baby Dub Warren Cam.

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Yay, yay, hey. Jazz is so classic.

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What's up, dub?

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You know? Uh uh, I ain't that map, but the whole ego. This is about to be very churchy.

SPEAKER_02

This is going to be so churchy. I am excited about the churchiness. I'm about to just literally can I just say this to your viewers.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Is it the camera tool? Yep. You know when I met her, she was in her mama's stomach.

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Hello.

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That's when I met Jazz.

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Literally.

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I have my stomach out here.

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Uh-huh. And now look at me.

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Look at you out here now.

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I don't have no stomach out there. Hallelujah!

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Thank God. Not yet.

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Not yet. Oh, we thank God. But you got three kids.

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I do.

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That are fantastic, amazing.

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21, 16, 14.

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Jesus.

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Yeah.

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The Bible said be fruitful and multiply, but He did.

SPEAKER_01

I just, I just I just wanted to be obedient.

SPEAKER_02

That was in the book. I'm so happy that you're here on the pod.

SPEAKER_01

No, this is dope. Congratulations. This is really dope. Thank you. Really dope. We're so proud of you.

SPEAKER_02

Oh.

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So proud.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you. I have talked to pretty much almost everybody in your family.

SPEAKER_01

You have.

SPEAKER_02

And I said, I have got to talk to duh because duh, that's my original family.

SPEAKER_01

OG.

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OG Triple OG.

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OG.

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And I'm super grateful that you actually had time to come stop by the pot and to talk to the viewers.

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You know, for family, you don't have time to make time.

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Come on somebody.

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That's what you're supposed to do. That's what we're supposed to do. So listen this to some things got to stop. Hello. That's something important to do.

SPEAKER_02

Hello, the ring, ring, ring. It's Jesse So Classy.

SPEAKER_01

That's it. Let's go.

SPEAKER_02

Dub. I'm super proud of all of the things that you have accomplished and have that you're continuing to do. And I just want everybody to know that this is gonna be a family interview. So, you know, if you want the typical go somewhere else, but this is gonna be the behind the scenes because we need to talk tea.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_02

It's tea time in the sanctuary, literally. And I think we should educate the

Growing Up A True PK

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people because little baby dub, right? Growing up in church.

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My whole life.

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Whole freaking life.

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Pew baby.

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Pew baby. You are a PK because Uncle Warren been preaching.

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My daddy, my grandfather.

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Like, it's literally daddy.

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Yeah.

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Everybody's a pastor.

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Yep.

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Now you're pastoring.

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Yeah.

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Like, did you know as baby dub literally that you would pastor your own church?

SPEAKER_01

No, no, no, no. I I um as a kid, I was like the preacher's mascot. I loved preachers. Okay. Oh man, I just loved them when they would come to my church. Yeah, you know, all the different evangelists could do revivals. I just I would beg my mom, can we go see Elder, uh Elder Albert Harditch, uh uh Elder John Black, uh uh back then as uh Elder Michael Rogers, now Bishop Michael Rogers, all these elder Clifton Edwards, Bishop Minister Clifton Edwards. Right, at that time, minister. Uh, they would come by churches and preach. I'd be like, man, those guys. The the common thread that all these guys that I was to hear preach had, where they were all musicians. They were all get on the Oregon and sing a song or something before they preached. Wow. And that just caught me because I was a musician and I just I thought that was really cool. But as for me, yeah, when I didn't think I would be, you know, I'll play my own preaching. You know, there are all kids, our PKs do that. Yeah. But um one day, I might have been, I don't know, 18, 19, my mother. She was like, You don't preach, you're gonna be a pastor. Well, that's it, mom. I'm gonna do a lot of things in my life. Preaching is not one of them. I don't I'm so far from any of that. Um, I didn't after 18 years old, I didn't left church. I didn't, I just was gone. I didn't, I didn't return to church till I was 26 years old. Um after I got married, yeah, 25 hours 26. And I joined West Angeles, Church of Glad in Christ. But I only went like three times.

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Yeah.

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And I was just like, uh my god. But these people are crazy. These people here are nuts. I don't I'm cool. Yeah. And one day, uh, I dad a call from my my good friend,

Hearing Bishop Homers Preaching

SPEAKER_01

we call him the Godfather, Andrew Goucher. Yes. Andrew said, hey man, come to the creed that we do so later hanging out. But he says the keyboard player at the church that he was playing at left or moved or something, man needed a keyboard player. I was like, I hadn't played in church since I've called. Since your battle church. I literally hadn't played in a church since Ben. Wow. So I said, you know what? I do it. He was like, man, you ain't going to. I said, I ain't playing a church in years. I just want to get back in. And so he said, I, and you know, we grew up apostolic. Yep. And, you know, especially back then, apostolic churches and Pentecostal churches did not even mix with Baptist churches at all. So this church was traditionally a missionary Baptist church where he was playing. It was called Faithful Central Bible Church. Okay. Bishop came in to see Omer. I God dear. To play. I didn't know nobody. Because we didn't mix. Yeah. You know, we didn't fellowship with those churches. I didn't know anybody. I didn't know Bishop Homer. I didn't know nobody. Wow. So I just sat there and played, but then this dude started preaching. And I was meserized. I'd never heard anybody in my entire black career preach like that. And that probably began the journey of me even thinking about preaching, just listening to him.

SPEAKER_02

Wow. Yeah. Bishop Omer. Bishop Omer. One of the goats, like one of the Mount Rushmores of our time.

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And it would I would have it that he would end up being my spiritual father. He would end up licensing me. Uh started playing at Taper Central 2002. He licensed me to preach 201.

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Wow.

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Uh ordained me to pastor in 2015. Yeah. So that that was the long journey. But just watching what he did, and I had a very interesting vantage point because in my training, drawing up apostolic, when the preacher is up, you don't move on out that aurea. Hello. You sit there.

SPEAKER_02

Oh so you weren't going out like how the musicians do now?

SPEAKER_01

All the musicians would leave. Bishops started preaching. They would all, I'm like, where are y'all going? Right. My dad would go a shoe up here. So if I got up and if I was playing at Av Core or at Gospel of Christ, I used to play my service of Gospel of Christ when I was 13. Your grandfather's church. So if I was 13, you was probably one or something, about two, I don't know. But um I played there on Sunday nights, and if I got up while my thunder was preaching, or while your dad was preaching, they'd be like, what where'd you go? So I stayed on the organ while Bishop was preaching, and all the other guys minded you during that time our church purchased the Great Western Forum where the Lakers would play. So the band had one of the Lakers locker rooms. They had TVs in there, they had food. It was up back there, though it was like a picnic they was doing. And when I heard Bishop kind of not hooping, but you know, getting ready to clothes, they would come back out, but I was there the whole time. And I would watch him, watch how he dealt with his notes, how he dealt with the crowd. But I don't know. I could see the crowd, I could see him. I could just had this really neat vantage point where I could just watch him. Didn't know I was studying, you know, until out all over there 13 years. Just and I'll just watch it. And one day he was preaching, and I ate up my Bible on Ford. And I was literally finishing his sentences. He was saying, I'm like, oh that uh I'm saying, wait a minute, where's that coming from?

SPEAKER_03

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

At that point, I would be driving, and I see a billboard, uh, and I'll read the billboard, and a whole message sermon just dropped in my spirit. Just like I but I'd be having a conversation and a whole I'm like, where's that coming from? So I went to breakfast one time with Bishop and Total, right? He told me um he wanted me to get into the ministerial program. I was like, Yeah, but I ain't about to stand up and talk in front of nobody. He said, No, it's a two-year program, you know. I said, Oh, two years. Yeah, I do that. Two years. I'm ready. Okay. Three months into it, I was out hanging me and Bishop's son came to him was out. I'm dropping him off that home. I said, You know, I'm gonna go in the house. I come out the bathroom, get ready to leave. Bishop was coming down the stairs. One, wait a minute. I said, Hey Bishop, hey, um get yourself ready on January. He was January Favorite one of them. Uh we're licensing you. I'm like, Bishop, I I I just only been in the thing three months. He said, Yeah, but um Dr. Steve, he he says, he says you're right. He said, We had all these women, we need a mail. And that I was like, I don't, uh, I'm not gonna have to preach in that man. Nothing like that. I was like, Oh, okay, and so he licensed me, and about a month later, he said, Well, everybody was licensed, you gotta preach a trial sermon. I was like, here, and I had to do it. Oh, so Americans.

SPEAKER_02

The freaking form?

SPEAKER_01

It wasn't at the farm, it was at the small church. We had we had the form, we had the tabernacle, which is the 2,000 city church, and we had the living room, it was probably set up another thousand. So in the living room on uh think of Wednesday night, I had to preach. Now, mind you, I had preached before, but it was so it went so terrible. I said I'm never doing this again. Uh I just said forget that must not be for me. But turns out it was, it was funny, it was for me. Turns out it was obviously because here we are, California Worship Center.

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It has to be for you because let me give you let me give you a compliment. You are the only Los Angeles pastor that my brother will willingly go into that church and attend.

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Have free of a lot.

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And if you know my God, Mars, yeah, that is the most you ain't gonna get no better than that.

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That's a huge compliment.

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That's a huge compliment. And he has verbally said that, not just to me, but to our parents. We do a weekly prayer claw. And so I think one of the one of the Mondays, it was after Sunday, he was, oh yeah, because church yesterday, a warm was talking about, and we was like, is he giving us the no talk? We was like having a side talk. I'm like, that's that's a that's a huge compromise.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, you know, I was watching, I was telling you, I was watching one of the messages and then the camera passed, didn't the audience start saying, Oh Mars, he was talking to his neighbor.

SPEAKER_02

Turning to the neighbor is just crazy work. So you are definitely doing the Lord's work, but did you, when you started California Worship Center, did any part of you say, like, okay, I really gotta do this Sunday to Sunday? Like, did you have any second thoughts, or did you, were you so sure because you hadn't went through, like you said, the season of going through ministerial training and licensing? So where you was like, ain't no doubt in my mind?

SPEAKER_01

No. Uh uh, first of all, um I said yes to God

Running From Preaching Until The Scare

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uh to preaching. I wasn't thinking about pastoring at all.

SPEAKER_05

That's good.

SPEAKER_01

Just the preaching part because it's a that took years. And what happened was I I was running. I was like, I'm uh I don't want to do that. I don't want to do that. That's crazy. Like I'm a producer, I'm a musician, I do that. That's my bread and butter, that's what I love, it's my passion. I don't know if I'm passionate about it. I don't want to stand up and talk in front of nobody. I don't want to do that. And so uh 2008 had this crazy event in my life, cancer scare. Where I was diagnosed with cancer on Friday, cancer-free the next Friday. They just took the tumor out, no chemo, no, you know, radiation, none of that. On the hospital bed, I said, okay, all right, those you gotta get my attention like this. I'll do I'll do it. I knew it. Because here's the thing, I'm not an expert in anything. What I do know is that I've always known the voice of the Lord, the voice of the voice of the oldest real when he's talking to them, I know it. Like I hear it, it's super clear and loud, clear as a bell. I know what I'm supposed to do. So even the music, you know, like when you listen to certain albums, like people talk about how some of those Merrimary albums are so well sequenced. Man, you know how to feel. I'm like, no, I don't. I you live in a whole space that put this on by and that song. Put that song by now. I just I just did that. And it came out like that. I didn't even know. I didn't even, because I made all the songs, but I didn't know that song was let me go with that song.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I'm not out this litter, not in my thought process. So I'm just literally following the voice of the Lord. That's it. And so in this whole start the church and all that, there was a lady at Faithful Central who would bug me every Sunday. You should start a Bible study for like industry. I'm like, and it was Jackie. Says Jackie, I never do on there. What doing that? And every Saturday she would bug me. And then one day I was really saying, You know he's this is what you want,

The First Industry Bible Studies

SPEAKER_01

supposed to be doing.

SPEAKER_03

Wow.

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So I said, okay. I don't even know how to do that. Teach a Bible class. Uh, I was in seminary, um, and uh the King's College and Seminary, and I was able to go abroad and study Oxford and England and stuff like that, uh, with Bishop Armer and and a fellow then uh Dr. Vincent Studwright, um, Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie, all these amazing, amazing, amazing professors and teachers and biblical communicators and just minds, and just really understanding where I was and how I figured it met.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And so I said, okay, I'll try it. And so we started doing every first Friday a Bible study at this hotel called the Beverly Garland in North Hollywood. First time we did one, about a hundred people showed up.

SPEAKER_03

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

We didn't have no music, no worship, nothing. I would just pray for people, teach, pray again, leave. That was it. That was it. We had we started off a prayer by the many years praying, the Napatis. And we did that for about a year. And then I said, now, here's the other thing. If I have a business idea, um, not even a business idea, just a name for a business. Okay, I'll go buy the domain. I got hundreds of domains. That is really one of the domains that I bought was California Worship Center because I just bought of the domain. Not because I was it was way before I ever preached or anything. I had it for years. What? And so um doing the Bible studies, and I decided this one day, this bring a band and worship chalk out some of my friends from Faithful Sutra, and they came. Kirk likes and my boy KC and all the people that came and they did wash up and it was like a church service. I was like, this is cool. And we kept doing it, and that's when it when when God was really like, I mean, she says So what happened was Bishop Omber came in my house

Launching California Worship Center

SPEAKER_01

to christen my two youngest. Okay to do her whole christening thing in the backyard, and I have a picture, there's a picture of me sitting down, Bishop has his robe on and everything, sitting up talking to me, and my father standing up next to us, and we're all having this conversation. But what the picture doesn't tell you is in that conversation, he's asking me how the Bible study was going. How's it going? I said, What's going through? How many people showing up? Something about 80 people would have become. He said, you know. 80 people is about the average church size in America. I was like, Yeah, sure, okay. He says, We we we really should be big at about the next steps. And I was like, uh-uh. There should ain't no next step. I'm just going to do this Bible study. He says, No, we should talk about this, you know. And then he said, But don't do anything until I ordained you. And that was like a year process, and so I told my wife, and she went and had banner made in a low roll with the California Worship Center. So the next time we did the Friday thing, I walked in to the little ballroom that set maybe 120 people, and it had a band that's at the California worship center. I was like, oh my god, that's official. So we decided to start the church 2015. And I said, I want I'll start it on Easter. Now, what I didn't know, so again, just listening to the voice of the Lord. Friend of mine says, you know, uh that day that you start with the church, historically, most churches that start on that day are successful. Wow. I said, what day? He said Easter. I don't even realize it was Easter. I just picked around and baited. I had no idea it was Easter. So I was like, oh, it's Easter. Then I then when he said that, I really got scared. I'm like, oh my God, is Easter? Now I gotta preach it. Because I'm just thinking, I'm gonna just preach something by trying to know. Yeah. Now I'd gotta preach an Easter speech. I gotta pre-Isra speech. Yeah. Get there. And what we did was before we opened the church, we did two services back to back, closed to the public. So the staff that I had their ushers, band, praise team, could could learn our flow.

SPEAKER_05

Right.

SPEAKER_01

And both services wasn't more than 40 minutes.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And then so here comes Easter. I'm like, everybody knows what to do. Me and my dad should open our robes and everything. And this people, this alignment all the way down. I'm going, they know what they do. Why are the doors closed? I said, guys, open these doors. Don't you people in there? Y'all know what to do? They look past it. It's already packed in there. There's people standing on the walls. I said, what the heck? Where do you leave? Walking, and we had brought Jonathan McGrind in to be the guest. Um and so I walked in, I'm walking, going, where are all these people? There were people packed in there. And so we ended up having to have two services.

SPEAKER_03

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

Uh I had Johnny Mack, John McGrinolds, I call him Johnny Mack. Um, I said, man, can't you stay and just do two all year? And the money that we were giving him, he gave it back. I said, man, I just want to be a blessing, man. This was amazing. It was just an amazing time. And I get home and I go to Twitter. That's when I was still on Twitter heady. And I said all these tweets that said Um Jonathan McWimmels in 56, the Raptor, is going to be at Warren and Eric Campbell's church. That's where all them people showed up. I found out later, I don't even know 50 Cent. I don't know if it's at all. He was staying in a hotel. Wow. He was outside of the hotel. He lived either waiting for a ride or getting ready to leave. I don't know. But he was sending out looking for the church. Go this way, make a right instead of building back there. He like a few times, I guess he'd kind of just lew people were looking for it. So he'd point a deal tour at the church.

SPEAKER_02

Let me find out. We got Deacon 50. Deacon Bippy.

SPEAKER_01

And so when that happened, I think people started just wow. 50 Cent is great. So people just like, oh man, thank you, 50. I've never met you, but thank you.

SPEAKER_02

We appreciate you.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Man of God for being safe to serve and usher the people where they're supposed to be. That is incredible.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and I couldn't have drawn that up. I couldn't have wrote that. I couldn't have scripted that. That was the I didn't know. All those things just lined up.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And it was God literally hugging me with my man. I got you. Just do what I say. Just listen to me, do what I say, and I'll take everything else. I'll take care of everything else. And that's what we've done. That's been 11 years now.

SPEAKER_03

Jesus.

SPEAKER_01

And I'm still just going, what you want me to say?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Oh my God, I'll just say that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And nothing else. I'll lie how to get out of his way.

SPEAKER_06

That's good.

SPEAKER_01

Just get out of his way, let him. Because the moment we start trying to bottle it up, then okay, yeah, we got something going. Let's try to manufacture this and manipulate that. It's a wrap. So my thing is get out the way, let him do what he don't do. Invall homie some chicken.

SPEAKER_02

Hello. And make sure the chicken is good.

SPEAKER_01

Make sure the ticket is good.

SPEAKER_02

Think that your whole life is a reflection of surrendering to God because you have accomplished so many things, and a lot of people who don't have who are not selfless don't understand the comp the God component in it. You know what I mean? Can you take us back to when the music portion became

Souls Of Zion And Early Gigs

SPEAKER_02

pivotal for you? Because for me, I know about Triple OG way back, Souls of Zion. Before there was a soul seekers, there was the Souls of Zion. Souls. Which y'all, you joy, DeMam, Davis, Gamiko.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Like Yeah, we we were so talking about being a pew baby.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um I was born out in a little little small church on the east side of LA called King's Chapel Apostolic Church. Wow. And um my godmother, who was the bishop's daughter, she was a singer. RB singer, RB star. Her sister, her older sister, was another RB star. And so, because of that, all these people would come to our church all the time. And so in our church, the music was crazy. I'm talking about a little tiny church, Abyssal Church, and they would get made fun of for they wore doiles on their heads and hear covers. Yes, but when you walked up in that church, they was seeing crazy that my Uncle Kitty Gates was on the organ, my cousin Elton was on the drums, my dad was on the bass, and I was on the piano. Now you should know. Uh I played drums too, but I got on piano at like nine years old. You should know in a little church like that, can't nobody hear the piano. Because it wasn't no mic in it. That's the time of the church like that. You see how these microphones in? Uh-huh. Them churches only had one microphone.

SPEAKER_02

Got you.

SPEAKER_01

And it was store fronty. It was on the on the podium from the pulpit. And there's somebody who wanted to sing. They take that microphone on and hand it to the choir. So it was like that. So I've been playing that piano. Can't nobody hear me at all. And so, but it what it did was it helped me just cut my chops. Like I got really good just playing to myself because good by body hear me. And and what happened was I was somewhere. I was I was a little kid. I might have been nine or ten. And I was playing at this church. Uh church when someone played there. It was it was the Libra Chappelle's church, church called Church of Jesus Christ, PW Church, uh in the West LA on Adams. And I would go over there and play Sunday nights. Uh his niece, Michelle, she played, but when I came, she took it out, just let me play. And that's how I got really like good, because they let me play out the top. And I realized like I had this thing where I can do things musically and it would affect the crowd on the audio pat, right? They go, oh. I'm like, do it again. Oh, you know, or or I play a hymn and they just, you know, it would have it would move the crowd, especially when I was like, I just fell in love with that. And then a couple with like the music that I like to listen to, and I was I started going like my dad would buy me equipment at home, so I was I started just kind of like messing around. Yeah. Before I knew it, I was actually making music. I was making tracks and stuff like that. I didn't know it was called producing, writing, or anything. I'm just making music up, you know. And that's kind of where it started. And then into in my mother, uh, I remember her singing uh talking to somebody, and I heard her say, you know, we should do something for the youth thing. She said, Don't Gaffeen's kids see that's what she said. I'll she's talking about everything. And so we go to this house, and apparently my mom knows this lady named Daphne. I'm I'm Ken, 11, not about. And she has two sons, David and Duane, and then me and my sister Joy. Apparently, we're about to be a group, so we had my fiend together, and then Daphne's husband was named Data Cowan, who now their auntie death and Uncle Daddy, if you know.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And we all hit it off instantly. We became his group called The Souls of Dion. And man, we just we we started singing. Lil' kids singing all over LA. We would open up for, you know, Lion Ados and Daryl Coley. Yeah, it was, I mean, big stages.

SPEAKER_02

Like huge.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, like huge arrangements, you know, huge like events. Uh, we'll should eBel. We got there, we got moves and touched outs. It's incredible. We'd be in a grocery store at kids be asking for our autographs and stuff like that. Um but that's where the bud bit me, like I love doing this. And then Uncle Dave, um, I wanted to surprise him one time because he taught us all the songs, yeah, the moves, he did everything. And I fell in love with this group called Commission. We had a song called I'm Going On. I took it upon myself to surprise Uncle Dave and teach it to the group. Hey, and um we had to sing at this church called Bethany of Long Beach, uh, Bishop Bruce Riley, uh-huh, who was my cousin. That was my mother's perch cousin. So we sang the song and he was floored. He because he thought was getting her to get it and sing one of the songs he taught us. We sung about he was looking like, what? What is going on? He got it was so crazy. He got he took the mite, he started talking, maybe one of the surprise, he was crying and everything. That mommy says, It's yours now. You usually you teach, you teach the group. I wasn't the leader. David was the leader of the group in terms of on stage because he was fearless. Yeah, David get on that now, rest of peace, brother David. He he would get on that stage and wasn't scared. He had talked, saying, Damn, we was like, I was never the method of that. We here and my sister was the ones that was like, me and the while was at the back, like, I got it. I'll play, you know, but but I taught the song.

SPEAKER_05

You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01

That it was over the music, and that's that's where it hit me. Then uh then I brought in Dramiko, uh, Adi Codin's son. He's his dad was a uh popular radio personality here. And then I brought in Nissan or Raptor Stewart, and they was our band, and that we just had a thing going. And um, that's where it really started coming together. By that time, I was 15.

SPEAKER_03

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

Uh, when that was with started coming together, and then somewhere between 15 and 17, we did our last concert at Afco.

SPEAKER_06

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

And I we didn't have a band. I literally programmed the whole entire show on my little keyboard, my sequels or all that stuff. When we was, and I'm like, man, this is great. I loved it. And then I got a call. Um, I ended up what happened? Oh, I ended up playing for a group called New Vision. New Vision was a popular group here in LA, all Hispanic, and at the least thing it was black, and made me do the keyboard player. So they called me a car, and I ended up doing that group. And then so was I just kind of we just got grown and started doing stuff, and and they moved all the way to uh Animal Ballet, and it was like, man, just kind of hard to keep it going. Yeah, they were right doing their own thing, and then Joy was getting older. She was just one thing that they're interested in saying, Yeah. Well, it's not singing, but not singing with us. She was like, yo. And so we just we all stayed close, but it just didn't sing no more, you know. Just kind of just, it wasn't my like, we bringing up. Yeah, no. It was never that, it was just like, you know, uh It was what it was. You know, I just grew out of them jeans. I can't fit them jeans no more. I'm just doing something else. But but that was my training. That was my training. And then your dad was huge, uh, a huge influence because I wanted to dress like him. I wanted to walk like him, play right up me like he, you know, when I he brought me over at 13 to come play at the church on Sunday nights. You know, he taught me how to play testimony service songs, you know. I was just, you know, I had so many different influences. Wow. From that from your grandfather's church. I mean, I I wasn't a member of the church, but you thought you would have thought I was because I was dead every week.

SPEAKER_03

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

Um, and so yeah, like between your church and Nissan's church, Greater Maine Tibble, you know, above PW churches and I would go to the caucuses and the PW conventions. I mean, it just really was a huge influence on me. And it shaped everything I'm doing right now.

SPEAKER_02

Training ground.

SPEAKER_01

Training ground.

SPEAKER_02

That's so imper like imperative because a lot of people just assume, like, oh, just wake up one day and you just do. And it's like, no, like church has been a part of so many people's like foundation. Um, and that's one of the reasons why I started this podcast is because I wanted people to really understand and appreciate like the point of view of the church in a better light. Like the church is our foundation. We're not afraid of it, we're not ashamed of it. Like it is a part of who we are. And more of us need to embrace it while we're still in it and serve and be happy to sing in the choir, be happy to, you know, do what you can because you never know what skills you can cultivate by just serving your little children.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, I learned so much, just being a preacher's kid, being a church boy, just being, you know, and I didn't I I I call it the cheeks because I was in the church

Being Light Inside Studio Rooms

SPEAKER_01

lame the streets at the same time. I was like, you know, because I just I I grew up in a crazy, kind of crazy neighborhood. And you know, I was into all of that stuff, but I was on the church on something and I loved it.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I must say I love it. I I I mean, my friends were there, I want to play here, but you know, Monday through Saturday, we I'm out here, you know, I want to do that too. You know what I'm saying? So, but eventually, uh, you know, church and my my my purpose uh became uh became much louder in my like and everything else.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And so I realized, once I started getting into it, that I was different than everybody. You know, I started realizing I'm in these rooms, not to conform and be like them. So I started going, okay, okay, I see what it is. I don't need what they have. They need what I have. That's good. So when I'm in a room and I would loop doll them up, none of them do that was what when I was with death row and all that. Nobody can say they seemed to smoke weed. They ain't seemed to what nobody seemed to do none of that. Because I was just like, I knew why I was there. And when something would happen, they became like, man, call baby war. He can he'll pray. Uh they let me pray for him and stuff like that here and there. Which I was very, you know, shy to do that, but I would do it because who else was gonna do it in that moment, right? And so I understood my assignment early, early. And I think that's why God kept opening up those doors and opening up those rooms, because I knew who I was in the room.

SPEAKER_03

That's so good.

SPEAKER_01

Um, and still to this day, you know, uh uh I frequent these rooms and these these places and studios while walking in and up. I'm the only one there. I'm the only like they'll hear, see, and experience. And and and these guys, a lot of them, you know, and and females, when in this business, they experience a lot of dark things trying to navigate the music business. And my thing is, I ain't in the music business. I'm in the Warren Campbell making music business, but I got my own set of rules, my own just things that I, you know, I am in this room, but y'all gotta conform with that stuff. I'm like, I don't care about none of that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I'm here to make this music, you know, suddenly, where's he at? He's gone. I'm not in there. Listen, we just worked on this project. It's a rapper named Skiller Baby. Me and Mars was working on it.

SPEAKER_02

Come on, Skiller Baby.

SPEAKER_01

And uh, and if the running joke was like, one is here, but then he just disappeared. Cause I I did what I can't do. Yeah. What I need to, yeah. Yeah, I don't want him to sit in here smoke with y'all that it's yeah. I don't know. I've I've shh got a jack. Oh yeah, I get let me let me guess you leave. I'm like, you guessed it. You won't see it.

SPEAKER_02

Because what am I what am I doing?

SPEAKER_01

My growing. I got kids. We won't be to see him look at you.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, so how's that eye going? Yeah, like I'm not doing it.

SPEAKER_01

So that's who I am. Yeah, yeah. But then also, I'm also able to assess situations when when there's tension, when there was people getting ready to go up beat. I mean, I'm talking about, but for blows, I'm I'm in the middle. Wow. Or there's there's some questions, or there's some, I'm there to speak into some people's lives. I know that's why I'm there. Even more so now that I'm a pastor, I I embrace it. So I look for the opportunity now. That's when before I was shy away from them at all man, that would never say something about say something about here. Now I'm like, oh, I know what this moment needs.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And so I'm able to bring clarity to certain things that maybe they didn't, they were unclear on before I'm able to, you know, just bring some peace into the room. Yeah. Sometimes, you know, that's all it really is. Sometimes that's what it you what they need. Yeah. I remember I was actually Skiller tweeted about this. He was um wearing the roan, and he kept kept talking about his anxiety. My anxiety, my anxiety. I said, your anxiety. I said, why you call why you saying that? Because it's my anxiety. So you I said, Do you want to get rid of it? Yeah. I said, well, stop calling it yours. Your anxiety, you claim it. You're saying this is yours, it's mine. But you don't all met. If you want to get rid of it, you gotta demo it. Like that's not that don't belong to me. So little things like that, it wasn't much but two minutes.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But when I see him, he always bring it up because it just, you know, he remembers it. And so I think as PKs, as preacher kids and church kids, when we are stepping into the marketplace outside the church, this is who we're supposed to be. Because that's who Jesus was in the marketplace. He he brought that wherever he would have.

SPEAKER_02

So no, that's good. Like, and I love that because it's those moments that are when we're outside of the church that makes the most lasting impact. And I love that he brings that up all the time. Okay, so I have to ask you, I know you're not in the music industry, like you just said, you're in the Warren Campbell business, but can we just talk about

Gospel Music And The Authenticity Gap

SPEAKER_02

what's going on with gospel music? Like, because it's it's not dead. I don't like when people say gospel music is dead. It's not dead, but there is a shift happening um due to technology, AI, all of the things. And I just want your POV on it. Like, what do you think? We where do you think we are with gospel music?

SPEAKER_01

You know, gospel. I think we've sort of gotten away at this point from the idea of what it's supposed to be. Uh when we go out and teach, we teach the gospel. What is the gospel? The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. You know, you know, coming down in the form of the man, living 33 years, sinless, dying, buried, resurrected, and now he reigned. That's the gospel, right? And so the gospel message is supposed to be in everything we do. And it's now what we're doing is we're in we're we're we're living and singing and uh ideating against Roman 12, which is the gospel message, be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And so what's happened is we had a lot of conforming. Because just being who we are in the building, in the church, and the choir and the sound ain't good enough no more. I gotta sound like Vim. I gotta sound like now it's different if that's who you are. I was born and raised in church, but as a producer, I started producing RB hip-hop first. Mary Mary is the first gospel thing I ever produced. Okay, first gospel I'm ever produced. So I did it how I knew how to do it. So it sounds how it sounds, because that's that came from within me. I wasn't trying, I wasn't listening to Dr. Dre and Ket Uhdy going, I'm gonna do it like that. Yeah, no, I was just doing what I felt.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

They were writing what they felt, so it's authentic. Uh, but then you got people who are now listening to Cardi B, listening to Stacy Ray. They say, I'm gonna I'm gonna incorporate some of that. And it's not authentic. It's just and what what happens is it's what I hate, it just ends up being corny. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? No, I agree. And so I think we just gotta get back to authenticity, God inspired, Hope Spirit inspired. Even if when this would, when you're inspired by that and it sounds familiar, it sounds like street, because that's where street music, because that's where you came from. That's cool too. But you know, I'm not gonna go listen to but go real and go like, yeah, let me let me do something like that. Right. Top was uh let it cook. Holy Ghost cook. Yeah, like what now it's cornets like I and I have secondhand embarrassment for a lot of people. Uh oh man, don't do that. That's weird, that's weird. So I I think the the skill of the gospel musician, the singer, uh, the producer, we are some of the most skilled people. If you look at the roots picnic that's just happening, all the guys up there is church boys. Absolutely killing it. Adam Blackstone, that is shooting. Everybody up there is church kids. Yep. You know what I'm saying? And so we most sought after. We run this, right? Uh, and so my thing is now for the artists, the singers, the rappers, man, y'all, y'all gotta get back to being authentic and being original. Ain't nothing more original than the word, ain't that more original than the gospel. The gospel has informed every genre of music from jazz to RB to blues, all of it. You won't have Aretha Franklin without the gospel.

SPEAKER_02

That's so good.

SPEAKER_01

You won't have our green without the gospel. All these greats came from church, you know what I'm saying? So um, I think we should be getting back to that. Just it ain't bed.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Like, if you're preaching and singing the word, how can you call it bed? The word is living and breathing. It's a lie. Literally. Sharpen them in two-edged sword. Come on. So, and it cuts. Your word ain't cutting, your song ain't cutting.

SPEAKER_02

Something ain't right.

SPEAKER_01

And you're like a door knife. Yeah. Talking loud, saying buffing. Hmm, that's good. So I just rhymed it.

SPEAKER_02

I literally just rhymed. I just attended the most royal,

A 25 Year Vow Renewal Reset

SPEAKER_02

momentous vow renewal of the century.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Which was your 25th.

SPEAKER_01

My 25th wedding anniversary.

SPEAKER_02

Wedding anniversary at the California Worship Center, which looked like a freaking art museum.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, my Lady Gaga. It was beautiful. Oh, my Lady Gaga. Duh. How did it feel to like have that moment?

SPEAKER_01

It was surreal. Like, I, you know, I knew it was gonna happen. I knew we'd we've been playing and talking about it and you know putting together, but being in the moment, it was it was just awesome to have family, friends celebrate you that way. My bishop is there, my mother and father, and my mother-in-law speaking over us, my kids and my nieces and nephews. I love dearly singing, um, you know, PJ Martin, oh man, uh uh Susan Carroll. Susan Carroll, um, Lena Burry Miles singing. Oh, it was beautiful, beautiful. The orchestra, the band. I couldn't have I couldn't have dreamt a better dream.

SPEAKER_03

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

It was really static, it was like a dream. Yeah, and we we were looking at each other going, wow, this is this is crazy. And what happened that day was really special for us because we're renewing our vows, which is sort of a restart. Yeah, and we both feel it, even right now, we're just still just in it, like we're basking in it because we was we're starting over, it seems like, yeah, but from a much better vantage point, uh, a better place of wisdom. We're starting over knowing, knowing what we're getting.

SPEAKER_06

That's good.

SPEAKER_01

When I was 25 standing up here at that altar, I knew she was pretty, but I didn't know what I was getting.

SPEAKER_06

That's good.

SPEAKER_01

You know, she knew who I was. We we didn't know what this was going to be. We don't we never live together, we don't, you know. I never lived by myself before at that point.

SPEAKER_03

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

I went from living with my parents in their house to at 25 years old to being married and living with a woman. Let me clarify. I wasn't just living at home, I own the house. Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Come on, somebody.

SPEAKER_01

Me and my father bought this house together, and we've gotten this household. I can kind of have my own space.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So uh we just thought it was probably safer than me going out on my own and getting 25 when they're pregnant. Yeah. So that was that was that. And so yeah, but um man we're never gonna forget that. Because my first wedding was beautiful too. It was beautiful. But it's a blur because it was so it was just like it's a blur. But this I was able to take my time and breathe it in, take it in. It just goes, wow, 25 years. And now I'm looking at my parents who married 51 years, you know. And they still love each other, they still look amazing. I'm like, you know what? We're looking at each other, going, we can do this.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So it was it was beautiful. Yeah, I'm um, I got hands down, cold as wife.

SPEAKER_02

And do?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, cold as wife. One-on-one. On earth, on E-E-R-F.

SPEAKER_02

On Earth. We love Erica

This Or That With Legends

SPEAKER_02

Campbell.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so I like to play a game with all my guests. And I have to I I put together this list intentionally based off of your catalog.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

And all the things. Okay, so the game is called This or That. Um, basically, who do you got? Like who you got? Like, if I were to say, I don't want to tell you the names, but I'm gonna tell you anyway. If I were to say Commission or the Wininess, exactly, you gotta tell me who you got, and you gotta tell me quick. Okay, you ready?

SPEAKER_00

You know, don't do that though. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02

But that's the first one I got is Commission versus the Wininess.

SPEAKER_01

Then I gotta have this a long answer. Okay, okay, tell us. So you know. Yes. Well, both of them guys, yeah, those groups mean to me because when we were kids singing in the Soul Design, that's all we sang was Commission and Wine songs.

SPEAKER_02

I know.

SPEAKER_01

Oh. And so drawing up now, and now Martin Wine is not just Martin Wine, it's them, he's the Uncle Penny. He's Uncle, yeah. Fred Hammond is F guy. That's my man. That's like you don't sing it. I know these guys. Carbon Wine is Uncle Butch. It's like these are my people, right? Yep. The and and the wine is grammar, it's family to me. So I I love both of them for completely different reasons.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, you can have one draw. One draw.

SPEAKER_01

They're a draw.

SPEAKER_02

They're the draw. Okay, we could start off with the draw. Okay.

SPEAKER_01

They're a draw. I can't.

SPEAKER_02

You can't choose.

SPEAKER_01

No, I can't choose why. This yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. All right. That was fair because that was hard. Okay, let me try to go a little easier. Thank you. Uh Tupac or Kendrick Lamar? Um I said a little easier. I didn't say easy.

SPEAKER_00

Because you worked with Pac. I worked with Pac. I did. I did. And he was influential. He was he was a giant. But he wasn't Kendrick Lamar.

SPEAKER_02

Kendrick is one of the things.

SPEAKER_00

Kendrick is a whole Kendrick is Miles Davis. Um Tupac was more um.

SPEAKER_01

What's the actor, uh famous actor like Dean, Jenny Dean, James Bade. James Dean, uh-huh. He was that guy. He was a character. As a rapper, he has some cool things to say. You can hear it now, you know, it's good, but like Kendrick's instrument and his voice and his pen is what it is. Insane. Yeah, you don't know. Like, like, if if if Pot was alive today and he had to battle Kendrick. Yeah, we know who winning. So sorry for Park. For Pac. It's going to Kendrick. Pac was my man. Trust me. I mean, you know, but K Dodgers, he's different. K Dodgers do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, we'll get that to him. Um, okay, this is an I'm really playing with fire all of these. I laughed when I wrote them out. Just give me a hands up. But we'll go producers. Uh Dr. Dre or Babyface?

SPEAKER_01

Ooh. Ooh. I am going to have to go with Babyface. Ooh. I'm out of the Lord. Babyface. Love Dr. Dre. He's, you know, come on.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

DLC lady. Dr. Dre, the doc, the day you bit he died. Um but you just can't put them two against each other, especially the discography.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And the influence on different era. Mm-hmm. Like, he ran, face ran the whole, like, he had a 10-year run with all the music. It's all hits. Top five all year long was him. Crazy. Epic. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

It don't get no better. Then that era.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Um, okay, let's go. Quartet. Mighty clouds of joy or the canton spirituals.

SPEAKER_01

I love your hearty, but I'm gonna have to go with Joe. I'm gonna have to go with the clouds. Okay. Mighty Clouds. Mighty Clouds. Joe Laghan from LA. Yes. You know, quartet is known as a sudden thing, but the biggest quartet goop to ever do it is Mighty Clouds of Joy. Facts. From Los Angeles, Calder Pony.

SPEAKER_02

Put some respect on our city.

SPEAKER_01

Put some respect on it.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. Kelly Price or Lena Bird Mouse?

SPEAKER_01

Who?

SPEAKER_02

I knew that one was gonna be tough.

SPEAKER_01

And it's tough because you know I love Kelly's. We did a lot of great music together. I did. But Lena is my back. That's the back. C C. You know, Kelly is uh Icon, you know. Alina's starting, but I'm gonna have to go with Lena on it because one, she's signed in my block.

SPEAKER_03

Hello.

SPEAKER_01

Huh? And we are in the middle of having a run and making this amazing music with her. Shout out to Lena Bird Miles.

SPEAKER_02

Shout out Lena!

SPEAKER_01

Shout out to Mother Tooth Kelly. I call her Mother Tata Kelly.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, my last one. You ready?

SPEAKER_01

I think I am.

SPEAKER_02

Kalante or Daryl Walls?

SPEAKER_01

Oh. I knew. I knew that one was. Well, I might have to go with Daryl Walls. Because Kalante is a baby Daryl Walls.

SPEAKER_02

He is! That's the perfect way to describe him. That is perfect. That was perfect.

SPEAKER_00

Daryl Walls begotten Kalante. His only begotten. Right, right.

SPEAKER_01

Nah, Daryl. Daryl is uh freak of makers. I don't, I've never seen nobody do the stuff he be doing. Like either with no voice, sometimes he's horse. If I seen him horse do more with a horse horse than people with full voice. Just his the way he he knows how to command an audience and command a crowd. He like a rapper to me. The way he just like wages is his aggression on stage, but he's singing stuff that you just insane. He did, I just posted this the other day on the last Walls group out on um The Human Nature.

SPEAKER_02

I saw that. That was insane. And I hit him.

SPEAKER_01

I said, Daryl, you was way ahead of the game. Because you know, I talked to all the guys in the Walls group. I said, listen, we don't do everybody's gonna do a solo song. Because we want to make this album four walls. So because this is not like Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5, where he's the star.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And the rest of the guys was just the guys. I have four Michaels in this group. Exactly. Every last one of y'all are called on your own in your own right. So let's call this four walls. And we have four different album covers in one, right? So they all did their songs. And Daryl was last. He hadn't done his yet. I said, What song do you want to do? He was like, On do human nature by Michael Jackson. Now, Larraya did, um, Agma's Day, Aja did the song, um, Delby Rose Gospel song, Claudia, I will. Um, and then Paco found his right, he did this gospel, you know, faith-based songs. He came with human nature. I'm like, then human nature ain't for Jesus. What are we doing? But the way he explained it, he was like, It is. I was like, Only Daryl. Only Daryl. So I went in. So we were in Houston working on it, working on the album, and Eric Dawkins with me, and they were doing vocals on another song. I said, he went to human nature. I said, all right. While they were working on this other song, I put my headphones on, opened up my laptop, and just started making the human nature joint. It took me about a couple hours to get it done. And then I pressed play. He was like, yo, this sounds like I was like, I know how and our mellow just came out perfect. He sang it that night. Yo, this I said, Brooke, what is wrong with you? What is wrong with you? Like, and so I told him earlier, I said, listen, let's like it, this little venue. That would be cool. He was like, Yeah, let's go. So look out for that. We're gonna do we don't show the video till that's long.

SPEAKER_02

You heard it here first. Boom.

SPEAKER_01

Actually, me first. Second, because uh after Daryl text.

SPEAKER_02

First. First to the public.

SPEAKER_01

First to the public, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

You passed. Good job.

SPEAKER_01

I passed.

Where To Follow And Final Blessing

SPEAKER_02

Yep. Duh. Thank you for stopping by, VPK Pop.

SPEAKER_01

Uh, thank you for having me. I feel like at them dear something had everybody been on here. I'm like, when okay, when is my turn to stand on the pie? You are on the pie.

SPEAKER_02

And you have done great and marvelous things, man of God. My tell the people where to follow you and stay connected with you.

SPEAKER_01

My name is Warren Campbell. So W-A-R-R-Y-N. I'm the only person that goes that way. Well, me, my father, my son. So Warren Campbell everywhere. Uh Instagram, TikTok. But yeah, that's you can always find me, or you can go to Cali Worship, C-A-L-I Worship, one word, and um come check us out.

SPEAKER_02

Pull up on him on a Sunday. Pull up on me. He's gonna be up there walking the chairs. He don't got pews, he got chairs.

SPEAKER_01

He walks the chairs in the San Fernando Map. You don't walk the chairs again? I was like, that was a moment.

SPEAKER_02

That was fresh off the baron. So we understood why you was walking them chairs, huh?

SPEAKER_00

I was giving them glory.

SPEAKER_02

Dub, I love you so much. Thank you so much for just sharing your story a little bit more with our community. And I'm excited about the future or all things cambels.

SPEAKER_01

Me too. Me too. We excited for all things jazz. Huh? Listen, you go on places. You got she always been just like this, too.

SPEAKER_02

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01

Just a bright, like a little bright light.

unknown

Bright light.

SPEAKER_02

Y'all be sure to like, share, and subscribe. Until next time. Peace. Be sure to subscribe right now. Click that button. Stay connected so you can be the first to know when our new episodes are dropping. I'll see you there.