Bravo Reds Indie Sootlight

Big Thanks to Bravo Reds for a DOPE Interview! 🎤🔥
We had an incredible conversation—real talk, real music, and real vibes. Appreciate you pulling up and blessing the platform! 💯

🎧 Bravo Reds Interview NOW STREAMING!
Catch it anytime on your favorite podcast platforms:
• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• Player FM
• Podcast Addict
• Indie Heart
• Podcast Index
• iHeartRADIO

Hosted by AD Nova 🎙️

Tap in, tune in, and support independent voices making noise!!!

#BravoReds #ADNova #IndieHeartShow #PushaRadio #NowStreaming #PodcastLife #IndependentArtists #CrankMusic #SupportIndieArtists

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 1:31

Hey y'all, what's up? You already know how we do it.

SPEAKER_04 1:33

This is your boy A D. I'm locked in. Hope you locked in with Eddie Hart's show and push your independent radio show where independent artists get heard, seen, and respected. Powered by the culture, representing the DMV, and bringing you real music, real stories, and real talent. Tonight, I got a special guest with me, you know, in the in the room. Rammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and true representative of the Go Go culture. So I want y'all to show some love for your boy, Bravo Red. Thank you for having me, sir. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. So, uh, how's your day going so far today?

SPEAKER_01 2:15

I was going well. Um got some things accomplished. Uh, one big thing I actually just got my name trademarked.

unknown 2:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

That's something I always wanted to get around to was trademarking my stage name, protecting my brand. Something I should have done a long time ago. So I'm glad that I have that out there.

SPEAKER_04 2:37

So let's let's talk about that though. How do you, how did, how did you start the process of trying to get your name trademarked and everything?

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Oh, well, it's a pretty simple process. I just go on the uh the uh patent uh trademark office website, and you just run a database search to the brand or the trademark that you want to create, and if it doesn't pop up, you have uh first rights to claim it. There's a fee attached to it, of course.

SPEAKER_04 3:08

Well, since you said all that, I want you to start off with helping these indie artists who are here, you know, got their name and all this stuff. How can you give them advice to trademark their name and like logos?

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Yes, I would. If you have a logo, definitely. It's gonna ask you the specifics when you're actually going through. It's pretty menu-driven, pretty straightforward, and it's just something you want to do to protect yourself. You don't want to have to rebrand your music, you don't want to have to rebrand or change your stage name or have to pay for licensing for that, you know, that actual trademark or patent, or you have to pay someone to buy it back from them.

SPEAKER_04 3:54

Right.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

So I just didn't want to have any of those problems.

SPEAKER_04 3:58

Uh understand that.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Yeah. And even though I've been putting the music out for some years now commercially.

SPEAKER_04 4:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

So, yeah. So it's actually a tab on it that you click. It asks you, is this already in commerce?

unknown 4:11

Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Just click yes.

SPEAKER_04 4:12

Okay. Yeah, so you out here, you're doing big things. You you in groups, you're doing you're doing the solo thing. You you killed it a couple weeks ago at Tempo. You did something like this? So we're gonna talk about your go-go journey, you know. We're gonna talk about how did that culture affect you, affect your DMV sound.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Just heavy, heavy influence growing up, I guess locally. I I like Gene Pratt growing up from Junkyard Band. That was somebody that I really admired as a young teen. Watching Gene Pratt, Junkyard Band. Just the essence of performing in Go-Go and the opportunities that it gives us. And that was my journey. It was a lot of people that, like Chuck Brown was like a superstar. Right. You know, I remember the first time I saw Chuck Brown getting out of a limo, you know, it was the equivalent to seeing any other celebrity that I've seen in DC. He just had that kind of aura about him. So I've just been, you know, trying to fit in and get in there my way ever since and doing my thing.

SPEAKER_04 5:20

Yeah, I see you. I see you doing that. Like, what pretty much makes you different from any of these artists out here in the DV?

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Oh, well, DV artists, we have some great ones here. I think I'm a great writer. I love to perform. I think my stage presence, the energy that I have on stage, I believe that's maybe second to none in the Go Go game. We have conversations with people about who's better at this, who's better at that. But I like to think when I'm up there, I have that energy and I haven't seen that yet, in my opinion. So I think that's something that sets me apart is my stage presence and my energy. And just the fact that I'm into creating original music.

SPEAKER_04 6:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

And a lot of artists here in the DMV or the ones that I typically have associated with over the years, have been heavy in the Go-Go game, and we just really haven't had that consistent originality that we're looking for.

SPEAKER_04 6:15

Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Right. So, one thing about me, another thing I should say is I'm all about that originality and trying to put forth new product and new inspiration for people.

SPEAKER_04 6:26

Yeah, I like that. When I when I see you perform, I see you give a lot of yourself into it. And I'd be like, man, he got a lot of energy. How old are you, man? I'm 45. Jeez, I'm 40, I'm 44, man. You got 46.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Yeah, I'll be 46 in November.

SPEAKER_04 6:40

Nice. I was looking at you on stage. I said, if I if I could have that young guy energy like this, I'd be like, I'd be nice. I'm a drummer, so I'd be like, man, look, be nice when I see you again. But I know that you have the love and the drive. And I like what you what you put together even that night because, you know, I I wanted to come out and hear you see it, you know, be like, you know, see what my man sounds like. And I was just like, I was really impressed. So I was like, you know, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Thank you, brother, for saying that. And thank you for for coming on out. That that really meant a lot to the the a lot of things with a lot of the DMV artists. We go through, you know, the support thing. We have a lot of people that don't really support us and come out. So I just, I really wanted to say thank you to Silly for coming and taking the time, especially on a Sunday evening.

SPEAKER_04 7:29

Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

I don't know where you live, but you know, you drove from somewhere. So thank you. Ain't no problem.

SPEAKER_04 7:36

Like I'm I'm one of those ones, like I do what I do, it's because it's I want the indie artists to get the spotlight. Sometimes they work, they're working hard. Some of them are full-time musicians, you know, so they like, you know, they are here every day. So it's like, when I see artists that's really trying to do it, this is why I pretty much had a platform to just give the indie artists a chance to let people know who they are. Because sometimes there's a lot of stereotype, typical stuff in the game where people think, oh, well. But then when I had these interviews, I'm like, yo, the the music is like, okay, but like the person I'm getting that they just chill, chill vibe person. So that's pretty much so what what I pretty much do. And that's like I said, I support you and any artists that's out here trying to do because a lot of people ain't doing it the right way. Thank you. Thank you. We'll continue on, man. We're gonna continue. Looking forward to what you got coming up. So we're gonna talk about, you know, how did you get introduced to the go-go singing?

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Uh guess just being around and just hearing it in DC, just being from DC, my first band that I played in was a youthful band. We were, I probably was 12 years old. I played drums. And I was getting into it from then it just band after band after band. Got into college, started really writing raps, getting serious about rapping. And I came home and realized that, you know, singing was a blade that I needed to sharpen as well.

SPEAKER_02 9:09

Right.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

So I started doing that, and then I realized once I was like, you know, early 20s, I started getting opportunities in go-go bands because the singer was more sought after than rapper. So that was, that was probably the first way I got into the go-go game. And just getting from band to band and meeting people as as I, you know, as I went around town, the Jogo project I was in three years ago, that was, so I could say probably two bands of note that I could say were they changed me as an artist. Right. Prop Utensils, a featuring jazz funk, and the Jogo Project. Prop Utensils was classic Go-Go. It made me a little more disciplined than I was. Right. I learned in that band there were more intricacies to the stage than meets the eye for preparation and just how you carry yourself as a professional musician. That band was a lot of great examples that I could learn from in proper utensils. A lot of big bets that had many years on stages before I joined the band. The Jogo project introduced me to a different realm of musicians that I didn't know here in the DMV, being as though most of the guys in that group made their bones outside of Go-Go. So that gave me an opportunity to perform and it challenged me in other ways as well to step my game up. Once I got over there, and I really felt like I grew a lot when I was with Jogo, for sure. And I was two years there, and that was three years ago. So, you know, now we end up, you know, winning that award for the song that we recorded. We had no idea that it would win an award. So it's just another testament to Jogo Project.

SPEAKER_04 11:09

So shout out to the Jogo Project, shout out to so since having you on here, I want to know how did you feel? Because I know it's a lot of artists that that was on whammies that was trying to, you know, get it. And how did you feel like just coming down to down the process and then being at the point that, hey, y'all won?

SPEAKER_01 11:28

I'm sorry, could you like just clarify a little bit more just so I can.

SPEAKER_04 11:32

How did you feel when you doing the process of announcing the whammy award winner selections? How did you feel to the point when you found out that you was a winner?

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Oh, I was delighted. And and I would and I actually, I didn't even know about the whammy awards until I joined the Jogo Project. Right. Because the Jogo Project, they've won multiple whammy awards. So this is just something else on the shelf for that band, right? Right. But I I definitely I was surprised, but we had Greg Boyer on the record, who's a great vet. And, you know, Greg Boyer's resume is unbelievable with Prince and Chuck Brown band, Macy O, currently in uh Parliament Funkadelic with George Clinton. So, I mean, he's like the Trumbone captain around here, as far as I'm concerned. Right. And that solo he put on the song was Dynamite. And it was a great process just to win with someone as respected as Greg Boyer and Elijah, Jamal Balbeck, and the rest of the Jogo project as well. We all put hard work into the song, maybe 10 of us, you know, to put that record together. Right. And I know they're, I know they're they're all great. And we're gonna play a show on August 26th at Ronald Reagan Plaza.

SPEAKER_04 12:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

We're gonna be down there, we're gonna perform the song. But it's just it's a great process, even with the Go-Go categories that I was nominated for. Now, Adrian, I'm gonna tell you the truth, we were a little disappointed, or that's a strong word, surprised that with what we have going on right now with Go-Go, and we're fighting to get Go-Go recognized as its own individual genre. And the cover song won at the whammy's for the Go-Go category, and some of us were kind of disappointed because, you know, we felt like, I hate to say disappointed, but I guess that's what it was, right? Yeah. And and and we just we wanted, we wanted the originality to be rewarded.

SPEAKER_04 13:34

Right. I agree.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Regardless if it was our song or someone else's song, we wanted the originality to be rewarded, being as though we're in the middle of the fight for having our own identity, you know, amongst the music industry.

SPEAKER_03 13:48

Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

So those are still like the little small battles we're fighting, and I'm glad to get the award. I've never really, be honest with you, Adrian, someone who's I'm not into the popularity thing and the names and all that kind of stuff. And I I guess that's maybe why the blessing may have come my way because maybe I'm not seeking out for these things.

SPEAKER_04 14:08

Racks.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

They just kind of fall in your lap. So I just try to do everything, every day, bro. I do something for my musical career, right? Something. If it's writing, if it's recording, if it's like I said, something administrative, right? Like I said at the beginning of the interview. You know, this is this is what it's gonna take for indie artists. You just gotta chop, chop, chop, chop. And that's what I do, you know?

SPEAKER_04 14:33

So, yeah, because you said a lot, and that indie artists need to definitely hear. I have a question for the ones who see you out there performing, and they're like, yo, they go and they check and they say, well, we got the same music, how he's getting shows, how he's getting gigs and all this stuff. Like, what advice would you give them to like get on their own alignment and path?

SPEAKER_01 14:56

I just think it's about professional presentation. Gentleman named Brian Lanier, great saxophone is here from DMV. I used to sing in his band. And one day he was telling me, throughout this journey, you're gonna see a lot of people who get opportunities who you're gonna see that aren't as talented as you. Their show doesn't have as much flair. And he said it's just the way it goes. But he said a lot of times those people present themselves in a professional manner. They have their business set up, and sometimes that's all it takes. Like, I just give, for the people that maybe listen, I'll give a quick example, right? Let's say you have places that already have budgets to book artists. Right. Okay. So a lot of times these curators or people in charge of these music festivals or or, you know, whatever events, they may not care who's performing except for maybe the headliners.

unknown 15:53

Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

So they have a budget that they have to fill the stage with someone, and they're gonna look for people that have their business set up. They're gonna look for people that has a tax ID number. Like, I don't know if you heard about the opportunity that a plug-in band got at the Redskin Stadium. Yeah. Okay, so that's just from having your business set up, from being ready to go and just being professional, having a nice band photo, having a nice EPK package. And these are the these are the things that'll get you in places. And in talent, a lot of times, talent's assumed.

SPEAKER_04 16:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

You know, when they see the pictures, they see this and they read the bio, they talent's assumed and stuff. And if you if you know good, they they're not gonna find out till the show. They still gotta cut the check at that point. So just the artists out there, while you're while you're getting better, right? Just work on getting your business set up and present yourself properly to get some gigs. You know, and that's that's the way I would position myself for uh up and coming, like, you know, like a new indie artist that I have a manager now. I have Renee McNeil that manages me, manages me now.

SPEAKER_04 17:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 17:06

So I'm in a little different situation now when you have someone representing for you and you actually have them soliciting gigs for you. So, you know, I still do it on my own a little bit now, but I can just focus now on the music, focus on the product, the best product that I can be for her to go push it for me.

SPEAKER_04 17:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

Yeah. I know a lot of indie people may not have a manager, but I would suggest it just to have your business set up the proper way. For instance, you want to at least, you wanna look as professional as possible. Like, for instance, you're not gonna call and book Drake and he's gonna pick the phone up, yo, it's Drake, yo. Nah, you know what I'm saying? You call Chris Brown, well, it's Chris, what's up? Yeah, I'll do this, you know what I'm saying? So you're gonna call somebody, and when you book Bravo Reds, I want you to call somebody too.

unknown 17:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

Is that so bad?

SPEAKER_04 18:01

Now, now, so I, you know, because I like to ask ex the artist this, when you when you say that, and how do you feel like maybe somebody you fool with that was like, hey, you know, Bravo, he he liked that. Now he wanna whammy. You know, he got some songs out. And they like, man, what you think of uh of him now? Like, oh, I don't like the song. But he liked the song, but they like the song at first. Like, how do you feel when you get like stuff like that from people that might be the Debbie Donners or the haters?

SPEAKER_01 18:29

I don't feel like I've been particularly liked throughout the process anyway. I really, so I I, you know, I've always been a bit of a renegade, of a rebel in Go-Go, if you will. I think a lot of people kind of chose to kind of keep distance from me. And they they they know they what they've heard is probably true. So, so yeah, and and uh yeah, I don't I don't worry about that, but I will say, people like you, my brother, and that's why I really wanted to have that whammy. Let's get to it. That's really why I wanted to have that party a couple weeks ago, because I was giving people an opportunity to come say, hey man, good job. I see what you're doing, free, you know what I mean? I'm performing two sets, you know. Um I have a band here, you know, I and I, and trust me, Adrian, trust me, my brother. I took role in that room. Do you remember that one point in the show I said, everybody who matters is in this room right now?

SPEAKER_04 19:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

I meant that.

SPEAKER_04 19:36

Well, you said that, I said laughing to myself.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Yeah, I meant that because I see I see all these likes and things and shares and all of this and comments, oh dude, this. And and none of y'all at the game. But everyone wants to feel like they're part of it on Facebook, on the scroll. Everyone wants to like it. And and I and I tell you like this when when we won the whammy, so many people was liking it. I think some folks had to like it because they knew they was they was on the outside and it was showing that they were the only ones that wasn't like participating. So some people probably liked it and didn't even want to, brother. You got people like that too. Here's my rule: 50% watching, 40% hating, 10% supporting.

SPEAKER_04 20:25

I like that. I'm gonna have to use that one. I'm definitely.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

That's what's going on. Well, that's what's going on with me.

SPEAKER_04 20:33

Hey, yeah, hey man, look, like you, you know, I'm I talk to a lot of them in the area and kind of hear the same thing. And I'm like, you know, it's a lot of people that got talent that's that can that you can build a whole. I look at the DMV, we got a lot of artists that we can build something like real serious and do something crazy. But I'm I don't like you because you did something, so I didn't get I didn't get 10K's on Spotify, so I'm mad at you because I don't really think your song was that good, no way. You you might have AI that joint.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

And even if you even let's be honest, right? Even if you don't think it's good. Let's just say for the go-go world, real quick. Because this year RB, I'm going in with some songs with Ali the Great. He wrote some nice pieces for me, I'm getting ready to drop. He was nominated for RB Album of the Year, the Wambies. He was the finalist there, okay? So we're going to RB range, but if we go to go-go, right now, we need to all just be supporting, just the support, because we need to get to the table. So if it's if it's Go-Go Bill, our song, right? If it's uh a Scooby song, like this, like this, this, that song, right? It's go-go. It's original, right? We need that, we need that to cook. You know, we need to pass that around and we need to support it. Even though it may not be your cup of tea, of course it's not gonna be everyone's cup of tea.

SPEAKER_04 21:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

That's why different genres. Of music and different artists. But we need to get to the table first. And until we get to the table, we have to support each other. We can't do this pulling down thing and we're singing. Adrian, the songs are 30 years old, bro.

SPEAKER_04 22:18

We haven't talked about it.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

The songs are 30 and 40 years old, bro. You see what I'm saying? And in the cover songs, we gotta get out of that.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

All the hits are covers. Most of the hits are covers.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

So I'm gonna ask you a question.

SPEAKER_04 22:38

When these guys are, when these when these artists are doing these covers, why don't they pull a couple of these young, like young dudes up there to start smacking for them? And then I don't know if that'll work, but you know, you get these young dudes up there, they start smacking with you, and then I'm gonna show you this thing I have for you.

SPEAKER_01 22:56

It's called the No Cover Song Coalition.

SPEAKER_04 22:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

We're starting a real coalition. Me and Ali the Great. All right. I'm gonna show you here's the here's the we have a coat of arms.

SPEAKER_03 23:06

I'm gonna show you the junk. No song. All right.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

We're not playing. We're against these covers, we're against this genre being oversaturated with, like, for instance, in respect to the bands, I don't want you to watch this and say something that I'm trying to say anything about these units. I'm not so I'll just say the songs. Pieces of me. Right? That's not a DC band song.

SPEAKER_03 23:38

Hello. That's a Deo song.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

These are the things that I'm talking about. Okay? The cover song that just won the whammy. Okay. I'm starting to feel like maybe people don't want to see us doing original stuff. Maybe I'm wishing upon a start. You know what I'm saying? Like, I got you. I don't know. I don't know. But I know that the fight that I'm in, right? And I know the respect it's gonna take in like the Recording Academy and all the different entities around the country. We're gonna have to show them the first thing you say to a person who's not from DC, and you talk to Go Go, the first thing they're gonna say, the second, they're gonna say two things. I don't like the beat or whatever. And the second thing they're gonna say, well, they play all cover songs.

SPEAKER_04 24:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

You know, and I hate when I go out of town and people say that.

SPEAKER_04 24:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:31

You know, the butt. The junk came out in school days.

SPEAKER_03 24:35

Right.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

We should have another butt by now. We should have another, you know, and and even the ones that that hit hard, they still didn't. I don't think much came of it, man. You know, we need to keep climbing with the music, man. As we we make accomplishments, we need to keep stepping it up, stepping it up, stepping it up. And I'm I'll say it till I'm blue in the face, bro. I just love original music. I feel like that's why we're all blessed to have our own brains and and bodies, and I don't see how these people can just go on stage week after week with the same group of people and play other folks' music.

SPEAKER_04 25:13

Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

And it's the genre that I love.

SPEAKER_03 25:17

R B, huh?

SPEAKER_01 25:20

So, you know, Go-Go is is the genre that I love, but I just it's just so many things I'm unhappy with right now in Go Go. Yeah. It's just so many things I'm not happy with.

SPEAKER_04 25:30

So if you could change one thing, what would you change?

SPEAKER_01 25:33

In go-go?

SPEAKER_04 25:35

Just in general. Just to get to go.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

I was gonna say two colours. Oh, you're gonna say.

SPEAKER_04 25:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

Kind of like what you see from certain groups. They play a little more music and not as much hanging and sockets riding and things like that. And that's the go-go beat. I mean, Terry, like I say, everyone has their opinion. Everyone has what they like, how they like to party, what they like to get down to. I'm just speaking on the terms of trying to progress the music, on the terms of trying to take the music outside past past Richmond and to other cities that we can perform in. And we not, we're just not there because the Redskins are, I'm sorry, the commanders are playing in town. You know, we go to we go to Miami, it's the takeover. We go to Atlanta, the commanders are playing the Falcons. We go to Vegas, the commanders are playing the Red, we go to Dallas, they're playing the Cowboys. You know, it's like I want to see bands go to Chicago and just play a show in Chicago. You know, like when I went to Indianapolis for New Year's Eve. They didn't even know the butt was a go-go song. No, for real. I don't know the history of go-go bands that's been to Indianapolis, but I felt like almost like Matthew Henson or something. Like I feel like I was planting the flag, you know what I'm saying, for Gogo. And I'm telling about Chuck Brown at the show. We did two shows at the jazz kitchen. You know, I'm I'm playing the butt, and after the song, and then I said this is a go-go song. And people came together show saying, wow, all these years, I didn't know that that's what that's that's what go-go's considered. These are what these are what I'm talking about. I mean, these are the things I'm talking about. This is how you can like branch the music out and start to create fan bases outside of DC to help the music spread. You know, you have like one band. And I would probably say it's black alley. They do a great job of traveling, spreading the culture. So I shout out to Black Alley. I think they just they just were in LA.

SPEAKER_04 27:52

I believe so.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

This is what I'm talking about. See, this that's this type of that's what I'm talking about. How many shows can I play at Fast Eddies? Shout out to Fast Eddies, but I just I'm sorry, Adrian, I just want more.

SPEAKER_04 28:08

I I got you. I got you. I feel you. Yeah. I'm a I'm a I'm a drummer. Sometimes I walk into churches and stuff, and I was like, ah, equipment, equipment don't look right. You go somewhere they got the bells and whistles, you like, all right, yeah, I'm about to, you know, about make some noise on this drink.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

I want more, bro. I performed at Anthem and Hamilton, like all the best venues in the area. You know what I mean? So it's I just want more. I want, I want more of that. You know, I want more of that. I want more of the national exposure, you know, like the way that Wale was taking UCB with him.

SPEAKER_04 28:45

Right.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

On the road a lot to do his to play as his backband. He was helping expose the culture. He, you know, he he did his part.

SPEAKER_04 28:55

Right.

SPEAKER_01 28:56

I just want to do my part, but I want to be an ambassador for Go Go. You know, I don't want to be a local hero. I don't want, I'm not satisfied with everybody knowing who I am in Iris and Mo. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? So uh I got you. Yeah, my dude. I'm sorry about sound, you know what I'm saying? I'm kind of.

SPEAKER_04 29:18

Hey man, look, this we I don't I don't have no restrictions, you know. So we we we just we just chopping it up. You know, you you know pretty much we just talking. Uh I just keep a script to keep to keep it uh on on time, but sometimes we I I deviate from this and we just have like a grown-up convo. So I I got what you what you're talking about. I'm a I'm a musician, I I've I've seen it, I manage people, and like I always tell them, even with their music, stop putting music out and you don't copyright. Because some artist hears it, hashtag it might be a band hears it, and then they like, oh, then you like, man, that's my song. And I was like, you can't do nothing there.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, all my stuff is covered. I cover everything.

SPEAKER_04 30:00

Oh, I know you do, huh?

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Yeah, definitely. I mean, I'd you'd be surprised how many people don't know the law and don't know the rules. I used to think this process called a poor man's copyright was valid. It was called a poor man's, you would mail yourself the CD and keep it sealed with the postmark. And the theory was if you ever had to open it in court, it would prove that you had this intellectual property before party B or whoever, right? Right. And that does, that's not valid. But just learning the game, so yeah, I cover my stuff. And like I said, with the stage name, that's big too.

SPEAKER_03 30:41

Yeah. So I see also.

SPEAKER_01 30:45

Just being in business for yourself, you have to teach yourself.

SPEAKER_03 30:51

Right.

SPEAKER_04 30:53

So you you're doing a you're doing a lot out there, and I'm I'm glad that you came to to give these indie artists some some help out here, cuz there's a lot of good ones. I even run into some that's like people that hear my music, I'm like, you you gotta you gotta post, post, post. Also needs you to send me your your music so I can push on my show as well, too.

SPEAKER_03 31:12

So yeah. All right. All right. Good to go. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:25

So you keep you keep doing doing your thing. We're gonna talk about I'm actually like uh one more question, and we'll give you a rapid fire, and then we're gonna we're gonna let you do your shout-outs and where they can find your music and your next projects. All right, so tell us about your growing up, like your growing up in the DMV and being in the church playing to get to the point that where you're at now.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

Well, I was in, I grew up in PG County, and I got back from college, played sports, really heavily involved in sports. I played ball, football, ran track in college, got back, started really getting into the music more than as far as serious. My buddy Quick, Kenny, Kenny Gross, Quickfoot drummer. He's somebody that's helped me tremendously throughout my musical career with just introductions to people, references. He's been someone that's really helped me. And once I expressed, you know, that I was really trying to get into the game, it, you know, he helped me out and I kind of just took it from there and used my opportunities for myself. And just kept working, man. Just kept working, kept working, calling people, getting rejected, auditioning, you know, getting gigs, getting booked for things, just staying active and being there for everything.

SPEAKER_04 32:51

But so I like to like to actually like from you coming from the bottom, coming up, what keeps you humble in the game that, like, not to make it like you you overcame, but you still got some growing and some moves to make.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

I think you just said it right there, brother, but just knowing that I have a ways to go. There's hurdles that I've crossed, but there's a lot more that I want to cross. Right. There's, you know, I want to go a lot further than where I am. So that right there keeps me humble. Where I really, you know, even with this award, and I don't know, a lot of my friends and family and people are excited for me. And that's what you want. But honestly, I don't feel any different. I know the artist that I was, I know the work that I put in, I know what I still want, and I haven't gotten that yet. So that's what keeps me, is that I'm still hungry, bro.

SPEAKER_04 33:50

Yeah, I like, I like that, and I can I can see that in your performance. Like, like, people miss out on good opportunities. Cause a lot of people would have loved pretty much what they saw you do. I saw you. I saw you rap, I saw you do, I saw you do your moves, your signature moves, I saw you jump off the off the keyboard, on the conground to the drum, get couple flips. I was like, okay, this man, this man, all right, okay. He he he got my money, I come back to a to a to a show. Um, no problem, man. What would be your dream collab if you could collab with anybody?

SPEAKER_01 34:29

Well, MJ's deceased. I would like, I would like, I would probably say that Bruno Maas Anderson Pack thing they have going.

SPEAKER_04 34:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

I like that vibe over there right now.

SPEAKER_04 34:42

Yeah, I I feel I can see that. Studio or stage?

SPEAKER_01 34:48

Stage.

SPEAKER_04 34:49

Why?

SPEAKER_01 34:51

I do it for the energy release to get the stress from me out of my body to help the people in the crowd that need to feel something, to see something. The studio is different kind of animal, different type of stamina, endurance you need for studio sessions for good recordings. Right. Um, I've heard, like The Love King, we all know what The Love King is, right? Without me saying his name, right? Local singer, big time singer, the Love King, right? He may go and do a single, they may be in there 19 hours. You see what I mean? Right. 19 hours doing that record. Ad-libs, vocals, everything. Come out, they eating, they showering, everything in the studio. They come out. So that's a lot different from going to a gig doing two 45-minute sets. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 35:44

Right.

SPEAKER_01 35:44

Different type of animals. And takes a lot more mental focus in the studio. And it takes more polish as an artist. I see a lot of stay singers kind of hide behind the music. They kind of hide behind the ambience of the big band thing.

SPEAKER_02 36:02

Right.

SPEAKER_01 36:02

That's the studio, baby. It's just you and that mic, and there, you know. So that's the place that separate the men from the boys. That's where you really and I think everyone needs to start recording and learning your studio etiquette and just getting your chops up.

SPEAKER_04 36:21

I I definitely agree because sometimes people, I don't know, you've been at shows and you and sometimes you're sitting there, you're listening, you're like, ah, missed that lick. And then you keep missing that lick. And you're like, man, like, and I'm like, you know, like my whole thing is rehearse the music, know the music, don't embarrass yourself or nobody else.

SPEAKER_01 36:40

Do we have to say that part? Do we have to say that rehearsal? Well, let's say it from the beginning. Practices for what you don't know, rehearsals for what you do know. Be surprised if he doesn't know that basic concept.

SPEAKER_04 36:52

Uh yeah, hey, true.

SPEAKER_01 36:53

Pull up the YouTube real quick. I've been in so many practices. Pull up the YouTube real quick. Let me hear that joke. Oh, I hate, I hate stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 37:00

Then like this.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

Oh, I got it. And then they halfway playing it. And then they don't go home. And then they don't go home the whole rest of the week and listen to it at all and then jump on stage and try to play the joint.

SPEAKER_04 37:11

Yeah, because I I'm I listen sometimes to stuff I go to and I'm like, ah, miss that lit.

SPEAKER_03 37:17

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 37:17

Or you must have that, whatever. I'll be like, ah, this, like, but I I I know like you, you a humble dude, and there's a lot of people out here that think they bub and and they think they are here on top more than other people is, and you know, people are like, hey, I got receipts too, that nah they ain't where they at. So it's like, I see how you you just like you move and and looking at you for real, more people should move like that and just be like, hey, you you post something every once in a while. Hey, I want to win, but it's like, oh, he wanna wear me? And you know, I I could feel it by looking at the post, like, yo, they like, hold on, he wanna wear me. How we ain't know about that. You weren't supposed to know. Like, I've met people that people were like, oh, I didn't know I didn't know you knew him. I said, I wasn't supposed to tell you because it's not about me, it's just about, you know, the process. Because even like with these interviews that I tell everybody, even you, like, I thank you for the accolades and and uh appreciating what I've done. But I but I'm like, I'm one of those guys, if you came to if I come to your show, okay, I'm and I'm you know, I'm good, you know what I'm saying? I'm just doing what what I was I was chosen to do. Because it's a lot, because a lot I realize is a lot of indie artists in in the area and other places don't get what they need. And so to see people out here that, you know, because you didn't you don't even have to even give good advice, but you you are trying to help other others out there, so I commend that. But you know, it's just it's just a different different era out here now. So I just keep doing it the right way.

SPEAKER_01 38:49

It was me too, now it's me first.

SPEAKER_03 38:54

Right? Yeah. It's the me, it's the me first movement.

SPEAKER_04 38:59

Yeah, but when we get past that part, I guess, you know, we'll we'll we'll we'll make you know hits and do things. Because I look at overseas, they, you know, we big over there.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

They love us.

SPEAKER_04 39:14

So uh shout out to Felice Tillman that's over in Panama with a show-out show. And pretty much we've talked on a prior interview, and you know, I asked her the question of, hey, you know, is the music received here differently than it is over overseas? Wanna see if you can shed some light on that as well, too.

SPEAKER_01 39:36

Well, I've never played the go-go overseas, but I have seen videos of my music being played overseas. So, go-go Seiko, shout out to that, that good sister. She's over in Tokyo. She just got Go-Go dance of the other of the year at the Go-Go Awards. Now, she came to the house back in the summer and we hung out. She's a good friend now. And she sent me videos of her DJ show. She DJs once a week and plays all go-go in Tokyo. And she actually puts the list on the chalkboard of all the songs that she's playing for everyone to go and check them out, or they'll they'll know what they're listening to as she spins each song. She puts the song on the chalkboard, puts it in front of the DJ booth. So that was a great feeling. Just when she sent me that inbox and seeing all people dance to the song that my cousin Slow Mo created, that was a big one, man. Like, I'll be honest. That is it's like certain things through the indie journey where, like, as soon as you maybe you feel like a little down or you feel a little uncertain of yourself, something happens to kind of make you get back up to speed, to kind of get back on your grind. Like you get a little sign to say, man, keep up, keep it up, keep it up, keep it up. You know? And that was that was one of those times for me when I saw that video in Japan. That was one of the times I said, man, you need to keep going, bro. You need to just keep going, and things will happen in due time.

SPEAKER_04 41:08

All right, man. Like, I really appreciate your time. We're gonna have to do this again. So we're gonna let you let people know. We'll let you, I'm not gonna say fans, supporters, know where they can find you at, uh your social media handles, and where can they find your music at?

SPEAKER_01 41:23

Okay, well, my music is available everywhere, digitally, worldwide, all platforms. Getting ready to start a new single. Like I said earlier with Ali the Great, new RB song. Like this year, I'm pivoting into more the RB, wanting to bulk that side of my catalog up a little bit. I always can put a pocket or a sobby beat behind those and play them to GoGo. But, you know, I have to start building this catalog outside of Go-Go. And that's the plan for this year, brother. That's the plan. All right.

SPEAKER_04 41:59

We're looking forward to music, any projects that you're working on. Again, where you say you're gonna be the where in August?

SPEAKER_01 42:06

August is gonna be at Ronald Reagan Plaza with the Jogo project.

SPEAKER_04 42:12

Okay. So I want y'all to show up out there as well. Give my man some love. And this was a this honestly was a good, good interview with a real artist. And this is what, you know, real artist looks like from the church roots to the go-go stage to the theaters and beyond. So big shout out to my homeboy Bravo Res for pulling up and blessing the platform. I want you to make sure y'all stream his music and all platforms right now. Don't play. He just got some good music out here. This is your boy AD from Andy Hart Push an Independent Radio Show, the dope host, the dope music, and the dope interviews. We are we out. Peace. I appreciate you, man.

SPEAKER_03 42:53

Thank you, brother. Thank you. Be in tech. Thank you. All right.