Ne-Yo’s Rat Pack Rebrand: Year of the Gentleman | 50 For 50

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[SPEAKER_00]: All right, Mike, we are in the year 2008, and if we actually thought about it, we should be wearing suits right now.

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[SPEAKER_00]: We should, should we be?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I have a little bit of trivia for this album that we're going to talk about.

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[SPEAKER_00]: The year, the gentleman, Neo, supposedly wore a suit to every recording of the songs on this album to get in the mood.

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[SPEAKER_01]: zero.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I got I got one or two as well, but just the idea that this man was like, I'm going to take this back to the rat pack area here with this album.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And he busted out a suit for every single recording.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Good for you, Neo.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I, you know, I would want to record and comfort.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, so if I was Neo, I'd be, you know, would be here of like the lazy dude walking around and sweats.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Year of the leisure.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Mmm.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I like that a lot.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, this is a time where he's kind of doing the method acting thing, right?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like you hear vectors like Jim Carrey when he was playing Andy Kaufman.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It's like he's just Andy Kaufman the whole time and is annoying the shit out of all of his co-stars because he won't be just a regular guy.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So for for Neo.

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[SPEAKER_00]: This album, it's like the theme is the year of the gentleman, he's taken it back, he's classy, he's old school, he's opening doors for the ladies and everything.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And then the following album, which is Libra scale, he kind of treats it like a movie.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how you can treat an album like a movie, but there's like a narrative of what he's trying to portray in Libra scale.

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[SPEAKER_00]: narrative for you're the gentleman, but he's kind of in this mode, right?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like he's then this idea of like, how do I be creative with albums and themes and releases?

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[SPEAKER_00]: So I mean, respect to him.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't have, you necessarily has to work, but I just thought that was an interesting thing.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, like the idea of it and the taking an album and making it like a home moment.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's kind of a cool thing.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't always work.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, Libra scale, I know there's like a narrative you're supposed to follow.

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[SPEAKER_00]: The garbage man is the narrative.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It's the narrative of a garbage man.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Isn't like Jamal, the garbage man or something like that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: That's something like some crazy stuff, man.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I don't even know.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't written down down the line so we'll we'll circle back what we'll get into it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

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[SPEAKER_00]: How how do we pronounce my man's name?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, his real name.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I believe it is Shafer Smith.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Shafer.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I have his middle name as Shamir.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Shafer.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Shamir Smith.

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[SPEAKER_00]: That is a name.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That is a name and it may love my black people.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But Shafer Shamir Smith is almost a better

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[SPEAKER_00]: like creative name than hanging in name from a movie, The Matrix, right, right, exact.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I agree with you, she just used his own damn name.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, use your own name, man.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so 2008, the idea of the year the gentleman, Neil was obsessed with the aesthetic of the 1950s Rat Pack.

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[SPEAKER_00]: He's quoted as saying, in the 50s, to be an entertainer, meant to be sleek and put together all times, I think we're missing that nowadays.

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[SPEAKER_00]: He wanted to bring integrity back to the leading man persona.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Now we're back to the acting thing, leading man, the idea of an actor as the leading man.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And he's also quoted as saying,

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[SPEAKER_00]: To me, year of the gentleman is of all about persona, a swag, a charm.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I made an assessment of the music business.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And in my personal opinion, the essence of the gentleman is absent right now.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone kind of looks the same, everyone's kind of doing the same thing.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody's kind of rude and fool themselves.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Whereas a gentleman is calm, courteous, kind charming.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So that title basically represents me trying to lead by example and show in these cats what it is to be a gentleman in this business still.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So basically he swided a jack-in, Ralph Tresman, just like in 1990.

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[SPEAKER_00]: He should have re-did sensitivity.

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[SPEAKER_00]: He should have re-did sensitivity.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I would have checked that out.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I would have been dope.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so we'll circle back to the album and everything that went into making this album.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But we're going to try and be present in the timeframe of 2008.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I think we didn't album, I think Amy Whitehouse was 2006, so we're not too far from that time.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we're in the ballpark.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So where are you at in 2008?

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[SPEAKER_01]: 2008, I am 31 slash 32 years old.

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[SPEAKER_01]: 2008 was the year I moved to Boston.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So it was uprooting myself from New York City, living in a new place as an adult, a new state, as an adult for really the first time.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it was an interesting year, just a lot of personal upheaval, but you know, working in music obviously, I've worked through the same company since 2005.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So I was I was three years in at that point and I believe opinions was still popping.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm pretty sure I reviewed your of the gentleman on on on opinions.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, I think that's where I was at.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So I am in an interesting place in my life at this point, so I am about a year removed from divorce and trying to balance like

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[SPEAKER_00]: the kids and how that thing is going to work being divorced kind of being back out there as a single human and realizing that it's kind of fun, but at the same time, it's also a little distracting because I really need to focus on the home life and making sure my kids are good and and so going through all those things.

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[SPEAKER_00]: which is perfect for this album because Neo, well, I don't imagine he's a married dude while he's recording this album because he's he's a few years younger than us, three years younger than us.

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[SPEAKER_00]: A couple years younger year.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So he'd been his late 20s.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But he's going through a lot of heartbreak, or at least he's writing about a lot of heartbreak.

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[SPEAKER_00]: and reminiscing and stuff in this album.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So this album connects very well with where I was in my life.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And I remember you, I don't know what we would have been using back then Google chat or you know, whatever, whatever vehicle we were using to communicate.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Aim, you pinged me and you were like, hey, you should check this out.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I think it would probably relate to you with some of these songs.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And so I checked it out.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I think I went to the, um,

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[SPEAKER_00]: And for a place in time, you know, this timeframe and maybe a couple years after this, this is one of my most listen to albums and one that we're also going to talk about at a different time.

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[SPEAKER_00]: This album and a continuum, like I was just like going back and forth with both of those albums during this timeframe.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I want to say maybe it was like, was it two years before that when we did 06 because we did 06 for our 30 right, but we did like three different at least different registrips.

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[SPEAKER_00]: That I yeah, I could we could probably look through back through some I photos and figure it out, but, but yeah, like, you know, back then before we had this

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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, these cameras and these iPhones as stuff like that's kind of how we would see each other is just traveling to events and both of us showing up.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

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[SPEAKER_00]: The year in 2008 here in music.

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[SPEAKER_00]: February the 8th of 2008, Michael Jackson's thriller is reissued us thriller 25 25 to celebrate it's 25th anniversary with MJ himself as the executive producer.

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[SPEAKER_00]: What was on thriller 25?

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[SPEAKER_00]: I remember there was like some.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, you remember?

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[SPEAKER_00]: I remember there's some like Kanye remixes of songs and stuff.

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[SPEAKER_00]: There was all there.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It was all Kanye and Black eyed peas.

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[SPEAKER_01]: There was a duet of

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[SPEAKER_01]: There was, I want to be starting something with A-Con, I think will I am, did P-Y-T, and then Kanye did Billie Jean.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So it was, I mean, if you wanted to know anything about what music was hidden in 2008, A-Con, Black IPs in Kanye West, because they all signed up to work with Michael Jackson and Remix the songs from thriller.

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[SPEAKER_00]: None of them are good.

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[SPEAKER_00]: What was he like what was his?

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[SPEAKER_00]: I like like why like for him What would the reason be to redo these classics?

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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I think he was just he was trying to Stay relevant obviously and I think he was actually working with will I am and a con on new material?

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[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I remember how what year would that song have come out where it was like, A-Con and MJ.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That actually came out the, after he passed.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But it had been leaked maybe like the year before something like that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So it was pretty recent at the time.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, he was just trying to, you know, click into what was popping at the time.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't necessarily know that it worked very well.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I don't even remember what project this was.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But somebody had puffed atty, remix.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I want you back, I think.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And all he did was lay it on top of, Biggie doing, I'm going back to Cali.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Go on back to Cali.

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[SPEAKER_00]: The same exact beat.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And he just layered the, I want you back vocals on top of that beat as the remix.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That was for Motown 50, okay, or maybe it was Motown 40.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it was Motown 40 because it was like 1998 or 1999 or whatever it was.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And yes, you know, bad boy was kind of all over everything at that point.

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[SPEAKER_00]: That was the laziest thing I ever saw.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that's bad boy production.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But going back to Cali was literally like two years before that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm saying, man, that's that's that's the bad boy way.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, man.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I there's a reason why I didn't remember those songs because I just never I was like, I'll listen to the thriller as I remember it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: As you remember it, no need to have Fergie Ferg do it on beat it with Michael Jackson.

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[SPEAKER_00]: No way.

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[SPEAKER_00]: No way.

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[SPEAKER_00]: February 10th, the 50th annual Grammy Awards in Staples.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Amy Winehouse wins five.

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[SPEAKER_00]: We talked about this during the Amy episode that we did, including record of the year, song of the year for rehab and best new artist.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And her behind Cox River, the Joni Letters wins album of the year.

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[SPEAKER_00]: February 11th after pleading no contest to a felony weapons charge, the game was sentenced to 60 days in jail, 150 hours of community service in three years of probation in connection with an incident where he was alleged to have brandish a gun at a basketball game in South Los Angeles.

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[SPEAKER_00]: What happened to the game?

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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm seeing man, the game was popping for like a

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[SPEAKER_00]: The first album.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, hated or love it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: The underdogs on.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

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[SPEAKER_00]: That was that song.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, man.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, man.

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[SPEAKER_01]: He, he came and he went, you know, he, he was down with G unit and then, you know, he wasn't down with G unit and then him in 50 was beefing and, you know, yeah, and then he just kind of fell off.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It's 50 the pettiest beaver of all time.

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[SPEAKER_01]: in all that is right and woke with the world.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Forgive me for saying this, 50 cent is such a bitch.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Like, he really is.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Like, it's all about like gossip and drama and picking fights and like, I don't know, man.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe that's cool when you're like 22, 23 years old, but 50 cent is damn near our age.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Actually, it would be older than we are.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Like, it's, and people gobble that stuff up and it just makes me angry

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[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the two that I've heard that are actually very petty, but kind of entertaining and really mean is supposedly he like bought like the first two rows of all the tickets to a job rule concert.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so perform like the nobody was there.

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[SPEAKER_00]: That's me.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean at some point, if you go to concerts like the concerts that I go to,

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[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know how much that is real versus how much that is fictionalized, but it's funny to think about.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And there was another rumor, I don't know if this one is true because, you know, you click on Twitter and anyone composed anything.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But supposedly that documentary on Puff Daddy that he was behind.

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[SPEAKER_00]: like he got he didn't interview with a television station that he knew was the one station that would be shown in the jail so that puffed at a watch.

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[SPEAKER_01]: That is colossally petty petty.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, and I'm like, what happens to 51 puppy gets out?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Baby checking his car.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I'm saying if he did it to Cuddy you can do it to 50

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[SPEAKER_00]: April 5th, and another, remember who this person is, Leona Lewis.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, wow.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Bleeding love reached number one and 35 countries, and she became, and it became the first song to top the Billboard Hot 100 by a female British solo artist in 20 years, and her singles later proclaimed as the best selling single of 2008, and she won the best top new

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[SPEAKER_00]: What happened to her?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Hmm.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Well, she had another Simon Cowell find.

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[SPEAKER_01]: She was a Simon Cowell find find.

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[SPEAKER_01]: She was supposed to be like the next Mariah.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, that didn't work out very well for me.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Do you think Mariah may be like, did something?

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[SPEAKER_01]: Ha ha ha.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I was in Mariah had to do anything.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Ha ha.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Because Mariah did have an album in this time firm as well, which we'll get to.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, did you get it?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Actually, we'll just get to it right now April 12th touch my body becomes Mariah Carey's 18th number one single the billboard hot 100 putting her in a second place among artists with the most number one singles in the rock era and the first place and first place as a solo artist surpassing Elvis Presley

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[SPEAKER_01]: Right until Taylor Swift catches up with her.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, which I'm sure she will at some point You know, or Mariah releases like another Christmas song or what if

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[SPEAKER_00]: Mariah just rerecords all of her albums all over again and again all of her crew.

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[SPEAKER_00]: What is her crew called again, her fan base, the land's all the land to just hit that Spotify stream and even just have it repeat overnight while they're sleeping.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So that all of these albums going number one that they were doing.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Mariah's fans are crazy crazy.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So they would do it possibly.

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[SPEAKER_00]: April 15th, Mayor Antonio Villagarosa officially proclaims Mariah Carey Day in LA on the same day that E equals MC squared her 11th studio album comes out.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It debuts number one on the Billboard 200 with the highest first week sales of her career.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I don't remember this album being very good.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't very good.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it was, it was a lot of songs that sounded a lot like we belong together.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Like she was definitely trying to, she's trying to keep that thing going, you know, it was a lot of domain to pre songs.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I barely remember it and it was also right around the time she got married to Nick.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Um, so yeah, I mean, it's not one of her better records.

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[SPEAKER_00]: How many kids did Nick have by then?

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[SPEAKER_00]: And none, I don't think really so it started with Mariah, I mean, I think Mariah might have been number one.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, man.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Then he just was like, oh, this is fun.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It's fun.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I want to do more.

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[SPEAKER_00]: May 21st.

18:09.329 --> 18:10.431
[SPEAKER_00]: talk about 2008.

18:10.531 --> 18:22.614
[SPEAKER_00]: David Cook defeats David Archoleta in season seven of American Idol in a contest decided by 97.5 million votes.

18:24.478 --> 18:25.821
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow, from fans.

18:25.861 --> 18:27.945
[SPEAKER_01]: We've already asked what happened to the game.

18:27.985 --> 18:29.488
[SPEAKER_01]: We've asked what happened to Leona Lewis.

18:29.528 --> 18:30.730
[SPEAKER_01]: What happened to David Cook?

18:32.144 --> 18:32.945
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't remember.

18:32.965 --> 18:33.566
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't remember.

18:33.586 --> 18:42.639
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I think he would come back like every time there was an American idol season finale, like he would, you know, they would bring their winners back and stuff, but And who's that random white guy?

18:42.699 --> 18:43.641
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I don't remember.

18:43.721 --> 18:47.146
[SPEAKER_00]: Like he wasn't even really that distinct when he won.

18:47.186 --> 18:54.777
[SPEAKER_00]: David Archillette was actually a little bit more distinct because he was like more of a pop singer.

18:55.195 --> 19:02.327
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think he actually, when they did release their music, his music actually did better the day cooks.

19:03.048 --> 19:03.308
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

19:03.609 --> 19:08.637
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, David Cook really just seemed kind of like a crystal tree part too.

19:08.657 --> 19:08.798
[SPEAKER_01]: Mm-hmm.

19:08.818 --> 19:13.986
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, you know, that first David Archer let us song Crush, whatever it was, that song was kind of a banger.

19:14.046 --> 19:14.487
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

19:15.968 --> 19:25.327
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, June 10th, Lil Wayne's sixth album, The Carter part three sells one million copies and it's first week of release.

19:27.290 --> 19:30.096
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't, I don't think I've listened to that all the way through yet.

19:30.599 --> 19:37.286
[SPEAKER_01]: I had, um, it's, it's not bad, uh, but this was around the time.

19:37.306 --> 19:39.509
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody was like, oh, little Wayne is the greatest rapper alive.

19:39.549 --> 19:50.120
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, as long as Rockham and Oz and Jason and Big Daddy Kane and Karris won and Lauren Hill and all these people still alive, little Wayne is the best rapper alive.

19:50.140 --> 19:50.321
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

19:52.683 --> 19:57.889
[SPEAKER_00]: August 16th speaking of 50 for 50 Madonna celebrates her 50th birthday.

19:58.561 --> 20:00.023
[SPEAKER_00]: So how old did that make her right now?

20:00.804 --> 20:06.012
[SPEAKER_01]: Madonna is 67 years old.

20:06.032 --> 20:06.112
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow.

20:06.132 --> 20:06.333
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

20:07.555 --> 20:11.621
[SPEAKER_00]: I just recently watched a league of their own.

20:11.681 --> 20:13.824
[SPEAKER_00]: Not too long ago.

20:13.884 --> 20:16.468
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a, it was a, you know, I've seen it a bunch of times.

20:16.955 --> 20:20.499
[SPEAKER_00]: Madonna is prominent in Arsenio Hall's book.

20:20.659 --> 20:21.179
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah.

20:21.840 --> 20:23.421
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I can't wait to get there.

20:23.441 --> 20:25.043
[SPEAKER_00]: Mike, Mike has finished it already.

20:25.203 --> 20:28.647
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're recording this a few weeks behind when you'll listen to this.

20:28.687 --> 20:31.750
[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm still, I got the audiobooks.

20:31.790 --> 20:34.973
[SPEAKER_00]: I get to hear him, like tell his own jokes and... Nice.

20:34.993 --> 20:37.335
[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm sure you could hear it in Arsenio's voice.

20:37.355 --> 20:38.356
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he heard it, his voice.

20:38.396 --> 20:38.857
[SPEAKER_01]: For sure.

20:39.177 --> 20:39.438
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

20:39.638 --> 20:43.181
[SPEAKER_00]: So when I get finished, we'll do a review of that book.

20:43.902 --> 20:46.545
[SPEAKER_00]: Nice.

20:46.585 --> 20:46.945
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

20:48.072 --> 20:54.401
[SPEAKER_00]: Then October 7th, Spotify launches and Sweden.

20:56.084 --> 20:56.965
[SPEAKER_00]: That was a long time ago.

20:58.047 --> 20:58.788
[SPEAKER_00]: 17 years.

20:58.948 --> 20:59.208
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow.

20:59.509 --> 21:00.150
[SPEAKER_00]: Good for spot.

21:00.170 --> 21:00.310
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

21:00.590 --> 21:01.131
[SPEAKER_00]: 18 years.

21:02.914 --> 21:10.205
[SPEAKER_00]: Justin Bieber signed with LA reads Island Records.

21:10.225 --> 21:13.129
[SPEAKER_00]: What is the, it's crazy to think Justin Bieber's been around for 18 years.

21:13.449 --> 21:16.594
[SPEAKER_00]: So I remember the origin story of Justin Bieber.

21:17.485 --> 21:22.653
[SPEAKER_00]: being that like usher like push really hard after watching him on YouTube or something.

21:22.713 --> 21:42.565
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he was he was doing covers on YouTube and somehow those covers made their way to usher and you know usher and I think Scooter Braun who might have been managing usher at the time and they took it, you know, they took him to universal or deaf jam or wherever L.A. Reed was in

21:43.507 --> 21:56.384
[SPEAKER_00]: December 13th, Beyonce Noel scores her fifth number one song with single ladies, which followed crazy and love, baby boy, check on it and irreplaceable, which we will get to irreplaceable a little bit.

21:57.145 --> 22:02.832
[SPEAKER_00]: Tying with Rihanna is leading solo female artists with the most number ones to have charted in the decade.

22:04.246 --> 22:21.610
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so now let's talk a little bit about Neo because before Neo became a successful solo artist, he kind of got his name out there as a writer, a songwriter, Mario's let me love you.

22:21.630 --> 22:30.162
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, I don't necessarily enjoy that song and really I love that song.

22:30.182 --> 22:31.924
[SPEAKER_00]: 2026, but

22:32.461 --> 22:36.687
[SPEAKER_00]: That thing was an earworm when it came out.

22:36.707 --> 22:37.248
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.

22:37.268 --> 22:37.649
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, man.

22:38.350 --> 22:40.593
[SPEAKER_01]: I asked to this day, I messed with that song.

22:40.633 --> 22:45.140
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a good, I think it's just a, it's a well, very well-written record.

22:46.161 --> 22:47.483
[SPEAKER_01]: What's up with Mario in 2026?

22:47.924 --> 22:56.296
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I saw Mario last year on tour, opening for Neo and Mary J. Blides.

22:56.357 --> 22:57.338
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, there you go.

22:57.537 --> 23:00.302
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, good for good for Mario to still be around.

23:00.342 --> 23:04.429
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't remember when the last thing I heard of his, he still puts records out.

23:04.509 --> 23:06.633
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

23:06.653 --> 23:14.466
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and of course, Beyonce's irreplaceable was kind of the big one and I think it was kind of funny because.

23:15.087 --> 23:24.298
[SPEAKER_00]: the idea of him writing from a woman's perspective and writing very believably from that perspective.

23:24.680 --> 23:27.730
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I remember him saying something to the effect of

23:27.912 --> 23:30.415
[SPEAKER_00]: when he was growing up, it was all aunties and grandma.

23:31.437 --> 23:35.483
[SPEAKER_00]: And so he very much understood the female perspective on things.

23:35.583 --> 23:46.919
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that helped him in writing because he'd write for Rihanna and Mary J. Blige in Jennifer Hudson, a lot of women, and irreplaceable is the best song or the biggest song.

23:47.199 --> 23:50.123
[SPEAKER_00]: But what do you actually think of that song?

23:50.221 --> 23:51.483
[SPEAKER_00]: I never want to hear that song again.

23:51.683 --> 23:55.608
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what I, because I remember having this conversation with you when it came out.

23:55.709 --> 23:57.411
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't think you liked it when it came out.

23:58.352 --> 24:00.976
[SPEAKER_00]: It just, it got overplayed super quickly.

24:01.917 --> 24:07.024
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's one of those songs where it's just like, all right, like, too much.

24:08.626 --> 24:12.752
[SPEAKER_00]: The genius of, though, to the left of the left.

24:13.070 --> 24:19.840
[SPEAKER_00]: Like such a simple lyric, and it's repeated, and it becomes like the thing that everyone remembers from this song.

24:19.980 --> 24:20.220
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.

24:20.300 --> 24:21.562
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, Neo is very good at that.

24:21.642 --> 24:26.669
[SPEAKER_01]: Like he knows, he definitely knows how to write a song in like the classic songwriter sense.

24:27.190 --> 24:32.417
[SPEAKER_01]: Like he knows how to write songs that don't feel tied to any particular time period.

24:32.718 --> 24:36.924
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you replace the book that had been a hit 20 years before, could be a hit 20 years from now.

24:37.745 --> 24:42.672
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'm sure AI will remake it

24:44.137 --> 24:50.678
[SPEAKER_00]: Other songs, Rihanna's take a bow, Jennifer Hudson's Spotlight, which I actually liked.

24:50.698 --> 24:51.420
[SPEAKER_00]: I liked that song.

24:52.343 --> 24:54.670
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, hate that I love you.

24:55.443 --> 24:58.587
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, Carrie Hillsson, he does that pretty girl, rock.

24:59.648 --> 25:03.573
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, he does Janet's rock with you from the discipline album.

25:04.894 --> 25:05.035
[SPEAKER_00]: Mm-hmm.

25:05.055 --> 25:07.037
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, and, uh, yeah, and some others.

25:07.638 --> 25:24.538
[SPEAKER_00]: And so when he actually steps into his own album, I'm sure industry-wide, they're like, okay, like this guy now, you know, he's got writing a shop, let's hear what he's got to say on his own.

25:24.704 --> 25:33.533
[SPEAKER_00]: uh... in my own words drops in what is it two thousand six two thousand six what do you remember about

25:33.648 --> 25:35.170
[SPEAKER_00]: that album from 2006.

25:35.430 --> 25:38.093
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I remember, I mean, there it is right there.

25:38.153 --> 25:46.241
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I remember buying it the day it came out and just again, like it was, it's still a very good album.

25:48.043 --> 25:51.727
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's not as best I think here the gentleman is actually his best album.

25:52.949 --> 25:57.033
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's just like it, it's not extra.

25:57.053 --> 26:02.659
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just a very like straightforward, aren't the album with a little bit of pop in it.

26:02.858 --> 26:10.429
[SPEAKER_01]: is you know, definitely kind of like a horny dude, but you know, it's a good record, just a good solid record.

26:11.450 --> 26:23.547
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and it comes from the perspective of like vulnerable dude, vulnerable young man, not afraid to write out his emotions about things.

26:24.208 --> 26:27.853
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and in some

26:27.918 --> 26:37.028
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, think of historically, like, oh, you know, aren't be a soft, like, you know, that's what we kind of grew up Oh, you know, if you write all these love songs, you're soft.

26:37.048 --> 26:44.396
[SPEAKER_00]: And so Neo actually in 2006, it's like, nah, being vulnerable as a dude, this is where it's at.

26:44.857 --> 26:49.922
[SPEAKER_00]: And I remember because of that, people questioning his sexuality.

26:49.962 --> 26:54.347
[SPEAKER_00]: Now I'm very happy that we are in a time frame where

26:55.103 --> 27:12.066
[SPEAKER_00]: We give less of a shit than that, at least I don't give a shit at all, but the I say society a certain subset of society probably gives less of a shit maybe in rather aspect of society cares just as much as ever, but I remember there was a thing about, you know, it.

27:12.046 --> 27:27.050
[SPEAKER_00]: What is his, is he this sensitive, is he overly sensitive and, you know, lots of stereotypes about that back then and, you know, I was just like, Disdude understands himself as a young man very clearly.

27:27.070 --> 27:31.357
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you know, there are rumors about everybody.

27:31.617 --> 27:39.690
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I mean, you got to take that with the greatest salt, but it's funny as you were saying that, like, you think about songwriters,

27:40.767 --> 27:47.720
[SPEAKER_01]: who make primarily R&B music that, you know, where the lyrics are really vulnerable.

27:47.880 --> 27:49.463
[SPEAKER_01]: And the first person I think about his Luther.

27:49.523 --> 27:49.683
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep.

27:50.445 --> 28:00.463
[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, Nio was maybe sort of like a more hip hop informed, more sexually aggressive version of Luther Vandrocks.

28:01.827 --> 28:09.261
[SPEAKER_00]: So in my own words is successful, I think it goes to X Platinum.

28:10.443 --> 28:14.491
[SPEAKER_00]: So sick becomes a pretty big hit.

28:15.573 --> 28:16.315
[SPEAKER_00]: It was everywhere.

28:16.735 --> 28:18.539
[SPEAKER_00]: I really, really like sexy love.

28:18.559 --> 28:22.907
[SPEAKER_00]: And when we get to our top five, we can talk a little bit more about that song.

28:22.887 --> 28:36.261
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's a remix of sexy love as well that I don't think I don't think it was released, but you know, back in the day of where we could kind of find some songs that maybe have been leaked out and not published.

28:37.061 --> 28:41.966
[SPEAKER_00]: There was a version of sexy love that I remember that I found and effort.

28:42.006 --> 28:43.388
[SPEAKER_00]: There's somebody was on it.

28:43.428 --> 28:46.631
[SPEAKER_00]: There was a female artist who was also on it.

28:47.532 --> 28:47.892
[SPEAKER_00]: Really?

28:47.913 --> 28:52.337
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

28:53.380 --> 28:55.002
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't recall this at all.

28:55.984 --> 29:02.072
[SPEAKER_00]: So then he drops, because of you, now the sophomore album, right?

29:02.112 --> 29:12.306
[SPEAKER_00]: The sophomore album we've discussed historically is your first album, dropped everything that you've ever wanted to make.

29:12.686 --> 29:17.052
[SPEAKER_00]: However, he probably did that with some of those songs that he was writing for others as well.

29:17.833 --> 29:21.278
[SPEAKER_00]: So the follow up album, because of you,

29:21.443 --> 29:22.604
[SPEAKER_00]: little bit of a shift.

29:23.205 --> 29:34.538
[SPEAKER_00]: And this, this would kind of become a staple over his next few albums, which is you can tell he's very influenced by off the wall just in this sound of a lot of his songs.

29:34.558 --> 29:44.750
[SPEAKER_00]: Like he would kind of remake different versions of Michael Jackson songs like champagne, life, like closer, like they're kind of like MJish kind of style songs.

29:44.931 --> 29:45.471
[SPEAKER_00]: Very much.

29:45.792 --> 29:46.152
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

29:46.132 --> 30:13.523
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, that album drops, it does not do quite as well, but I wouldn't say it was a failure in any way, and I don't, I don't like all of the songs on this album, like we do this no skips rating, I probably skip more songs on this album than I do on the other, then on the first and the third, same, but, you know, there are also some really good songs on this album at the same time.

30:14.026 --> 30:20.076
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it definitely was kind of a drop off this song because if you was great, like I love that song.

30:20.136 --> 30:30.955
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, um, but yeah, there was a couple of songs an hour more I was like, yeah, we're hitting a skip button and you kind of talked about the sexual energy that he had like

30:31.677 --> 30:54.799
[SPEAKER_00]: I because of you makes sense in the themes because I imagine he was a little bit more famous at this point right getting getting a few more phone numbers and callbacks then he would have before the first album came out and you can kind of tell in the energy of the songs yeah I mean before you get famous like you just some do with a big head uh you know

30:55.471 --> 31:15.870
[SPEAKER_01]: you got to use your charm to, you know, to get some, whereas, you know, once you're popular and you've got a number one album and you've got a platinum record, like, you don't need charm, you just need to be who you are and, you know, the line forms to the left.

31:16.791 --> 31:19.173
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, Martin Lawrence explained it very well.

31:19.513 --> 31:23.757
[SPEAKER_00]: He said, before he became famous,

31:24.749 --> 31:29.839
[SPEAKER_00]: Then he got in a house party or do the right thing, I forgot what he said.

31:30.740 --> 31:32.043
[SPEAKER_00]: Then he became cute Martin.

31:32.924 --> 31:34.127
[SPEAKER_00]: He got his own TV show.

31:34.868 --> 31:36.131
[SPEAKER_00]: He was fine.

31:37.673 --> 31:39.196
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, same dude.

31:40.339 --> 31:41.661
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, same exact same dude.

31:42.670 --> 32:03.008
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, we'll skip some of the themes of your the gentlemen because we'll cover it, but I wanted to go through one more album, which was Libra scale, because after Libra scale, there's the album with let's go and I think that album's actually pretty decent, but then I realize he has all these other albums that I know like one song for each.

32:02.988 --> 32:07.913
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, he put it, he put out leverage scale and then he put out RED, which I think is a really really good album.

32:07.933 --> 32:09.114
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the album that I was talking about.

32:09.174 --> 32:10.395
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that album's really good.

32:10.956 --> 32:13.238
[SPEAKER_01]: And then yeah, then he kind of like sells down a well.

32:14.119 --> 32:23.128
[SPEAKER_00]: I actually have a song from the RED album that was like, it was on the cusp of my top five, but I didn't put it in.

32:23.468 --> 32:23.788
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll talk.

32:23.808 --> 32:25.250
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think I have two songs from that album.

32:25.310 --> 32:26.391
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, my top five.

32:26.411 --> 32:27.552
[SPEAKER_00]: There you go.

32:27.572 --> 32:27.993
[SPEAKER_00]: I like it.

32:28.994 --> 32:29.434
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

32:30.663 --> 32:34.788
[SPEAKER_00]: So, Libra scale, and this is what we were talking about earlier.

32:36.029 --> 32:42.257
[SPEAKER_00]: NEO's most ambitious and polarizing move was to create a superhero mythology to accompany the music.

32:43.758 --> 32:52.789
[SPEAKER_00]: The album follows Jerome, a garbage man, who is grant, who is granted superpowers, but forbidden from falling in love.

32:53.680 --> 32:57.225
[SPEAKER_00]: And champagne life represents the allure of the high life.

32:57.285 --> 32:59.248
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, one in a million represents the ground.

32:59.269 --> 33:00.691
[SPEAKER_00]: It's love that threatens his power.

33:01.372 --> 33:08.503
[SPEAKER_00]: The Libra scale represents the literal balance between being a hero superstar and being a normal human being.

33:09.364 --> 33:15.814
[SPEAKER_00]: Without that explanation, I would have no idea that there was anything different from Libra scale.

33:15.834 --> 33:18.017
[SPEAKER_01]: This goes for any other neo album.

33:19.145 --> 33:24.814
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's all that backstory, like cool cool.

33:24.834 --> 33:27.839
[SPEAKER_01]: It makes no impression on your listening whatsoever.

33:27.959 --> 33:28.480
[SPEAKER_01]: Exactly.

33:29.342 --> 33:32.266
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, now let's talk a little bit about the year of the gentleman here.

33:32.286 --> 33:35.331
[SPEAKER_00]: I will say it is my favorite Neil album.

33:36.553 --> 33:45.608
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, same, you know, the my no skip trading is going to be really high, but again, because I listened to it so often,

33:47.326 --> 33:56.061
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know that I skipped a song, you know, when I listened to this album back in the day, and I, you know, I've re-listened to it a couple times, uh, this these last couple of weeks.

33:56.141 --> 33:58.806
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it holds up pretty darn well.

33:59.367 --> 34:00.048
[SPEAKER_00]: It would, it would agree.

34:00.168 --> 34:01.410
[SPEAKER_00]: It held up really well.

34:02.212 --> 34:05.217
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was actually surprised because sometimes,

34:05.635 --> 34:18.449
[SPEAKER_00]: When you have albums that are your go-to's in a certain time of your life, and then you're like in a completely different space, listening to those songs again can kind of be traumatic sometimes.

34:19.210 --> 34:22.593
[SPEAKER_00]: You're thrown back into a time maybe where you were a little bit uncomfortable.

34:23.054 --> 34:23.875
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I was sure.

34:24.075 --> 34:26.457
[SPEAKER_00]: I was a little weary of going back to this album.

34:27.058 --> 34:28.960
[SPEAKER_00]: And then when I listened to it, I was like,

34:29.227 --> 34:30.268
[SPEAKER_00]: It's, it's just really good.

34:30.308 --> 34:45.484
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, like, yeah, I did have some memories of when I was like really listening to it and stuff, but you know, I think it holds up so well, which is a testament to the album and to him, like what he was dealing with or what he was doing or his idea in making the album.

34:47.766 --> 34:48.286
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

34:51.169 --> 34:54.613
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

34:55.394 --> 34:56.635
[SPEAKER_00]: So

34:57.695 --> 35:00.220
[SPEAKER_00]: y'all are here, and I'm here.

35:00.240 --> 35:16.395
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like separating himself in a way from what he believes to be as maybe formulaic, tried and true, and he's trying to create, like he's trying to separate himself from where R&B is at a time.

35:16.763 --> 35:18.067
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, there's nothing wrong with that.

35:18.167 --> 35:25.409
[SPEAKER_01]: You have to, if you're in everybody else's lane, there's gotten not going to be any reason for people's listening because you sound just like everybody else.

35:25.830 --> 35:29.220
[SPEAKER_01]: So he created his own window and you know, look,

35:30.230 --> 35:33.775
[SPEAKER_01]: I couldn't even begin to tell you what R&B was popping in 2008.

35:33.835 --> 35:51.242
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I feel like we were already sort of in the Chris Brown Tray songs zone, which, you know, I think Neo just by virtue of being like mature, kind of separate himself a little bit from there, but, you know, I mean,

35:52.015 --> 35:58.470
[SPEAKER_01]: part of being in the individual right and having your own individual identity is separating yourself from everybody else.

35:58.811 --> 36:01.858
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, he saw his lane and he drove into it.

36:03.021 --> 36:07.512
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I think there were five actual singles from the album.

36:08.514 --> 36:08.614
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

36:08.634 --> 36:10.699
[SPEAKER_00]: The lead off was closer.

36:10.865 --> 36:14.050
[SPEAKER_00]: and it peaked at seven on the hot 100.

36:14.251 --> 36:19.560
[SPEAKER_00]: It actually was lower on the R&B and hip hop ranking.

36:20.501 --> 36:22.785
[SPEAKER_01]: Because closer, this is like an EDM song almost.

36:22.805 --> 36:23.046
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

36:24.388 --> 36:24.528
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

36:24.849 --> 36:31.540
[SPEAKER_00]: And mis-independent comes out and it hits one on the R&B and hip hop charts.

36:31.520 --> 36:54.102
[SPEAKER_00]: Matt is the, it is like the first real like heartbreak song and that does well, a number five on the hip-up in R&B list in number 11 in the hot 100 and then it kind of falls off but what he does is he, Jamie Foxx and Fabulous,

36:54.605 --> 37:09.745
[SPEAKER_00]: Remix miss independent and they call it she got her own it's a bonus track and then that gets released and actually does really well on the R&B and hip-hop charts not as well in the peak 100, but do you remember she got her own

37:09.860 --> 37:10.381
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't.

37:10.641 --> 37:11.121
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's funny.

37:11.161 --> 37:14.064
[SPEAKER_01]: The first time I actually heard she got her own was last year.

37:14.104 --> 37:21.913
[SPEAKER_01]: When I saw Nio in concert and they brought, you know, fabulous came out and they did their part.

37:23.554 --> 37:30.302
[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, my went through my entire life knowing that the remix existed, but never having actually heard.

37:30.602 --> 37:33.505
[SPEAKER_01]: So it wasn't on the copy of the album that you had.

37:33.738 --> 37:40.667
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, try to remember if it would have been, I mean, I have to buy this on iTunes as my question.

37:40.687 --> 37:43.791
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it might have been on Fox's album that came out around the same time.

37:43.811 --> 37:44.451
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, okay.

37:44.972 --> 37:51.700
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, because Jamie Fox was in a little bit of a resurgence of his career as well from a music perspective.

37:51.720 --> 37:53.563
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think it was on his album.

37:54.324 --> 37:59.991
[SPEAKER_00]: I know it's currently a bonus song on the Apple music stream of this album.

38:00.031 --> 38:02.614
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's that's how I have it now.

38:03.978 --> 38:09.667
[SPEAKER_00]: And then part of the list was the last one as far as I can tell.

38:09.687 --> 38:12.432
[SPEAKER_00]: I did not really chart very well.

38:13.113 --> 38:20.244
[SPEAKER_00]: But also kind of a really interesting song when it comes to explaining love and love loss.

38:20.365 --> 38:26.795
[SPEAKER_00]: Part of the list is kind of an interesting metaphor for what he is trying to sing about.

38:26.815 --> 38:28.618
[SPEAKER_00]: So I always give him props for that.

38:28.868 --> 38:30.670
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so go ahead.

38:31.692 --> 38:36.277
[SPEAKER_01]: She got her own is on Jamie Foxx's not unpredictable.

38:36.498 --> 38:38.360
[SPEAKER_01]: She's not the same album with blaming on alcohol.

38:39.822 --> 38:41.864
[SPEAKER_01]: For some reason, Apple Music has it great out.

38:42.385 --> 38:42.766
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, wow.

38:43.707 --> 38:45.209
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's right.

38:45.229 --> 38:45.589
[SPEAKER_00]: That's right.

38:45.669 --> 38:51.096
[SPEAKER_00]: When I went to listen to it on Apple Music, it's there, but it's also great out for on Neo's album.

38:51.650 --> 38:54.995
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I'll just stay a luck version or whatever was I was up there in it.

38:55.897 --> 38:59.642
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so the the Stargate connection.

39:00.604 --> 39:01.545
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you remember these yes.

39:02.427 --> 39:19.733
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, Stargate was like some Swedish dudes that wrote a lot of Rihanna's early hits and as well as, you know, they were collaborators with Neo and I'm assuming for a bunch of other artists too.

39:20.405 --> 39:28.801
[SPEAKER_00]: and the album was largely recorded at West Lake Studios in L.A. and then carriage house in Stanford, Connecticut.

39:28.821 --> 39:31.526
[SPEAKER_00]: I wonder what had him going from coast to coast there?

39:32.327 --> 39:34.351
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe he lived in Stanford, Connecticut.

39:34.632 --> 39:36.215
[SPEAKER_00]: Stanford's pretty expensive, man.

39:36.235 --> 39:37.998
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he can afford it.

39:38.018 --> 39:39.381
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess he can.

39:39.401 --> 39:39.982
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want it.

39:40.022 --> 39:41.805
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what?

39:42.612 --> 39:44.835
[SPEAKER_00]: lighter-skinned people live there too for me.

39:44.935 --> 39:49.402
[SPEAKER_01]: Instead of getting a more morey pulpit, she used to film in Stanford Connecticut.

39:49.442 --> 39:52.847
[SPEAKER_01]: So maybe he was just kind of hanging out with morey and finding out who to baby daddy was.

39:53.207 --> 39:55.571
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we're else, you know, what else is in Stanford Connecticut.

39:56.292 --> 39:57.694
[SPEAKER_00]: W wasn't he headquarters.

39:58.034 --> 39:59.116
[SPEAKER_01]: There were of course it is.

39:59.156 --> 39:59.997
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

40:00.179 --> 40:01.380
[SPEAKER_01]: That makes sense.

40:01.400 --> 40:05.384
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, now here's here's where do you believe this or not?

40:06.325 --> 40:15.114
[SPEAKER_00]: Supposedly, Neo is known for writing lyrics in his head without writing them down first.

40:15.355 --> 40:16.276
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I'm bullshit.

40:16.396 --> 40:18.438
[SPEAKER_01]: Ha ha ha ha.

40:18.858 --> 40:22.882
[SPEAKER_01]: As soon as Jay Z came out and was like, yo, I don't write my lyrics down.

40:23.263 --> 40:24.784
[SPEAKER_01]: And I actually think Biggie did that first.

40:24.904 --> 40:26.406
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.

40:26.572 --> 40:28.975
[SPEAKER_01]: And everybody was like, oh, I don't write my lyrics down either.

40:29.015 --> 40:30.978
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, you know, damn well.

40:32.079 --> 40:34.763
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, you, that you write your lyrics down.

40:35.303 --> 40:36.325
[SPEAKER_01]: Now it's so silly.

40:36.885 --> 40:37.907
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

40:38.127 --> 40:38.908
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm with you.

40:39.128 --> 40:42.032
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's, it's, it's very impressive to say that.

40:43.534 --> 40:50.723
[SPEAKER_00]: However, there were times when I was first podcasting.

40:51.580 --> 40:53.942
[SPEAKER_00]: where I would think of as I was driving.

40:54.002 --> 40:59.067
[SPEAKER_00]: And this was only when I was driving because when you're driving, you're just at the mercy of whatever traffic is.

41:00.027 --> 41:01.869
[SPEAKER_00]: And so you have a lot of time to contemplate stuff.

41:02.510 --> 41:08.975
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I would kind of go through topics in my head of things that I wanted to talk about on shows.

41:09.996 --> 41:15.061
[SPEAKER_00]: And then all of a sudden I'd be formulating my intro, I'd be formulating my outro.

41:15.461 --> 41:19.765
[SPEAKER_00]: Now because I didn't write it down from that moment,

41:19.745 --> 41:23.630
[SPEAKER_00]: who knows if I if I got close to kind of how it sounded in my head.

41:24.731 --> 41:47.220
[SPEAKER_00]: So I get the idea piece, but I and less jazzy has this like really or biggie, unless these guys have this like tremendous ability to listen to a beat on part of their brain and then speak and rhyme on the beat

41:47.842 --> 41:49.304
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they could probably do it.

41:49.324 --> 41:57.793
[SPEAKER_00]: That's part of what Freestyle is, but how do you then remember it and then get to someone to record it like in that long period of time?

41:57.813 --> 42:01.778
[SPEAKER_00]: So you'd have to keep going through it and memorizing it until you get to your recording.

42:02.539 --> 42:03.360
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you can't do it.

42:03.520 --> 42:13.712
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, think about, think about the second person 99 problems where he has a confrontation with the cop or you think about a Jay-Z song like Meet the Parents which is like a really detailed narrative.

42:14.333 --> 42:17.376
[SPEAKER_01]: There's no way that could be a Freestyle.

42:18.622 --> 42:27.135
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I was, you know, I was thinking about this freestead and we're kind of veering off, but I think this will be an interesting thing for people to think about.

42:27.676 --> 42:33.705
[SPEAKER_00]: So I can't remember what show, I don't, I wanna say maybe it was the wake-up show.

42:35.528 --> 42:36.670
[SPEAKER_00]: There's playing King Tech?

42:36.750 --> 42:37.070
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.

42:37.751 --> 42:37.952
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

42:39.214 --> 42:47.346
[SPEAKER_00]: It's either them or Bob and the New York show.

42:48.727 --> 42:52.311
[SPEAKER_00]: Bhabito and, oh, stretch and Bhabito.

42:52.552 --> 42:58.479
[SPEAKER_00]: It was either one of these two shows, but Biggie comes on and they want him to freestyle.

43:00.181 --> 43:09.792
[SPEAKER_00]: And so he starts freestyling and because I'm listening to this portion of the show, many years later, right?

43:09.812 --> 43:13.937
[SPEAKER_00]: Cause, you know, it's like way later, Biggie's already died.

43:15.218 --> 43:16.540
[SPEAKER_00]: His freestyle,

43:17.549 --> 43:21.495
[SPEAKER_00]: is a verse from, you're nobody till somebody kills you.

43:22.616 --> 43:27.263
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, he wrote that shit down, man, like he's not thrown off the top of his head.

43:27.323 --> 43:38.600
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, that's a record that was sitting in the chamber and it was the first thing he'd think of to Ron, the thing that he remembered.

43:38.760 --> 43:39.882
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, yes.

43:40.182 --> 43:46.932
[SPEAKER_00]: So that also made me kind of call BS like you just called BS.

43:47.755 --> 43:53.062
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think this is most critically acclaimed album, as far as I can tell.

43:53.242 --> 44:02.593
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I think people really liked the first album, but he was new and there was the third album came out and they were like, okay, this is his, this is him coming into his own.

44:03.535 --> 44:09.322
[SPEAKER_00]: I think Libra scales a little bit of a fall off but then like you said, red was good.

44:09.442 --> 44:15.990
[SPEAKER_00]: I just don't remember red being all that super duper successful like the other albums were.

44:16.915 --> 44:19.740
[SPEAKER_01]: I think after that is when things kind of like went sideways.

44:19.860 --> 44:25.369
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, nonfiction, good man, and self-explanatory or the other albums.

44:25.409 --> 44:34.384
[SPEAKER_00]: And just recently, he's come out with a slow jams album, which are all of his slow jams songs on one album.

44:35.005 --> 44:43.236
[SPEAKER_00]: So it went number two on billboard was blocked from the number one spot by Metallica's Death Magnetic.

44:44.077 --> 44:46.160
[SPEAKER_00]: Is that, does that sound right to you?

44:46.901 --> 44:49.103
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, sounds right.

44:49.284 --> 44:49.764
[SPEAKER_00]: U.K.

44:49.965 --> 44:50.806
[SPEAKER_00]: It did really well.

44:52.127 --> 44:59.037
[SPEAKER_00]: It actually sold more in the U.K. Maybe based on the sound that we were talking about with closer than it did in the US.

45:00.619 --> 45:02.481
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, yeah, this was when

45:03.524 --> 45:12.533
[SPEAKER_01]: Like R&B artists were starting to have this like flirtation with dance music and like, you know, usher did whatever DJ got us falling in love again and like all this stuff.

45:12.874 --> 45:14.555
[SPEAKER_01]: It was it was a really interesting time.

45:16.737 --> 45:18.379
[SPEAKER_01]: Some of those records worked, some of them didn't.

45:20.762 --> 45:32.974
[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, closer, I mean, times are different now, but back then a radio station that played that typically played just hip hop and R&B was not going to play it record like closer.

45:34.102 --> 45:36.967
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, let's do our Grammys Redux segment here.

45:37.628 --> 45:39.551
[SPEAKER_00]: The 51st Grammys in 2009.

45:40.934 --> 45:43.659
[SPEAKER_00]: This album was nominated for album of the year.

45:44.440 --> 45:44.801
[SPEAKER_00]: It was.

45:46.103 --> 45:46.864
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, it was.

45:47.285 --> 45:49.589
[SPEAKER_00]: What is kind of weird about that?

45:50.691 --> 45:53.255
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, based on how I introduced this, you can tell.

45:53.295 --> 45:53.997
[SPEAKER_00]: It didn't win.

45:54.738 --> 45:57.122
[SPEAKER_00]: But what's interesting about that?

45:57.254 --> 46:00.079
[SPEAKER_00]: is it gets nominated for album of the year.

46:00.980 --> 46:08.533
[SPEAKER_00]: It is the only album that is nominated for album of the year that is also nominated for contemporary R&B album.

46:08.553 --> 46:10.836
[SPEAKER_00]: It does not win contemporary R&B album.

46:12.659 --> 46:12.880
[SPEAKER_00]: Why?

46:12.900 --> 46:17.948
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, people, I don't understand how that works.

46:18.068 --> 46:24.038
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so how do you get anybody to

46:25.030 --> 46:54.244
[SPEAKER_00]: Viva La Vida or death and all is friends by Coldplay, the Carter III, the aforementioned the Carter III by Lil Wayne, the number of people with writing credits on the Carter III is incredible, including, well, I mean, of course there'll be

46:55.422 --> 47:00.088
[SPEAKER_00]: Robin thick time my hands is on Carter 3.

47:00.288 --> 47:01.830
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

47:01.870 --> 47:11.821
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, just tons of, you know tons of folks in hip-hop, you know, Jay-Z Buster Rimes, Jewel, Santana, Bobby Valentino, T-Pane, static major.

47:11.982 --> 47:13.904
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll just tons of people on this album.

47:13.924 --> 47:19.611
[SPEAKER_00]: Then you're the gentleman, Nio, and in rainbows by radio head.

47:21.453 --> 47:23.816
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I know that Robert Plant Nelson Kraus won the award.

47:23.836 --> 47:24.957
[SPEAKER_01]: They definitely won.

47:25.240 --> 47:39.038
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I mean, you're the gentleman is my favorite album out of those five, uh, you know, the radio ahead of him is okay, Lou Wayne album is, I mean, it's as tolerable as a little Wayne album can be for me.

47:39.058 --> 47:46.287
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, but, you know, you're the gentleman is the one out of those five that I still come back to on a regular basis.

47:46.587 --> 47:52.595
[SPEAKER_01]: it's the one album out of those five maybe in rainbows to that I have completely in my apple music library.

47:53.016 --> 48:08.157
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I don't I don't know any of those albums well except for the new album so I can't even yeah I mean the coal play album isn't particularly good um and I'm a coal play fan um so yeah I don't know it's Neo it's Neo for me

48:08.407 --> 48:11.731
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so here are the contemporary R&B album nominations.

48:12.532 --> 48:15.856
[SPEAKER_00]: Fearless by Jasmine Sullivan, of course, Neo.

48:16.637 --> 48:25.348
[SPEAKER_00]: First love by Karina, back of my lack, Jay Holiday, and growing pains by Mary J. Blasch.

48:26.309 --> 48:27.390
[SPEAKER_00]: Who the fuck is Karina?

48:27.430 --> 48:36.962
[SPEAKER_00]: Karina is a youngster.

48:37.786 --> 48:45.615
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, deaf jam artist, Dominican arm of art of Dominican and Armenian descent in born in New York City.

48:47.057 --> 48:48.719
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not remember this person at all.

48:48.799 --> 48:48.999
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

48:49.059 --> 48:50.801
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know any of her music, actually.

48:51.863 --> 48:53.945
[SPEAKER_01]: Huh, so the RINA.

48:54.025 --> 48:55.167
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, the album.

48:56.348 --> 49:02.255
[SPEAKER_00]: First love is on the deaf jam label and it did not sell at all.

49:02.315 --> 49:06.460
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what we just know it.

49:07.908 --> 49:09.811
[SPEAKER_01]: somebody paid for that granny nomination.

49:10.071 --> 49:10.332
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

49:11.433 --> 49:14.738
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think, yeah, I think that is the album, right?

49:14.898 --> 49:16.321
[SPEAKER_00]: It's first love yesterday.

49:16.341 --> 49:17.142
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I just looked it up.

49:17.282 --> 49:17.562
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

49:18.043 --> 49:22.730
[SPEAKER_00]: So on this album are artists like Lil Mama.

49:24.613 --> 49:27.738
[SPEAKER_00]: Actually, Lil Mama is the only guest on the album.

49:29.100 --> 49:31.924
[SPEAKER_01]: Somebody paid for that Grammy nomination.

49:32.933 --> 49:33.675
[SPEAKER_01]: there's no way.

49:34.536 --> 49:35.839
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, very interesting here.

49:36.761 --> 49:40.329
[SPEAKER_01]: And it looks like the dream produced a couple of songs on it.

49:41.111 --> 49:42.433
[SPEAKER_01]: Neo wrote a song on it.

49:43.456 --> 49:47.164
[SPEAKER_00]: By December 2008, the album had sold 28,000 copies.

49:47.925 --> 49:48.186
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow.

49:48.968 --> 49:49.348
[SPEAKER_00]: Amazing.

49:50.210 --> 49:50.571
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

49:52.070 --> 49:55.717
[SPEAKER_00]: As you can probably guess, Mary Jay did win.

49:55.837 --> 49:59.123
[SPEAKER_01]: Mary Jay won, that Mary Jay album is very good.

49:59.824 --> 50:04.513
[SPEAKER_01]: That Jasmine Sullivan album, I think is her first album, is also really good.

50:05.535 --> 50:08.560
[SPEAKER_01]: But I would give that a word to Neo2.

50:09.502 --> 50:13.648
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, last one we'll look at Neo did win two awards for Ms.

50:13.668 --> 50:17.855
[SPEAKER_00]: Independent I believe best male pop vocal performance.

50:18.957 --> 50:20.699
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm yours Jason Maraz.

50:21.380 --> 50:22.242
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, boy remember him.

50:22.783 --> 50:25.046
[SPEAKER_00]: It's all lineman James Taylor.

50:25.106 --> 50:27.550
[SPEAKER_00]: All summer long.

50:29.072 --> 50:30.535
[SPEAKER_00]: Kid rock.

50:30.555 --> 50:34.581
[SPEAKER_00]: That was me Paul McCartney closer Neo say John mayor.

50:38.307 --> 50:40.109
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to say anything good about Kid Rock.

50:40.910 --> 50:43.833
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know there was a point in time when I liked that song.

50:44.634 --> 50:48.658
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I mean, Kid Rocks is seriously, seriously.

50:50.560 --> 50:54.605
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I, I might give that a word to my man, John.

50:54.905 --> 50:55.105
[SPEAKER_00]: John.

50:55.466 --> 50:59.330
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it would be John and then like Neil one A. Yeah.

51:00.731 --> 51:01.412
[SPEAKER_00]: No, there you go.

51:02.472 --> 51:09.401
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I mean, it's such a, I will talk about John May or on a separate episode, that song is so simple, but it's so pretty.

51:09.642 --> 51:09.862
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.

51:12.485 --> 51:12.726
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

51:12.746 --> 51:12.986
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.

51:13.927 --> 51:18.093
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you think about the line from so you can cry were neo sings?

51:18.954 --> 51:19.375
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd read.

51:19.395 --> 51:20.296
[SPEAKER_00]: Columari.

51:20.416 --> 51:21.537
[SPEAKER_00]: Columari.

51:21.998 --> 51:27.265
[SPEAKER_01]: I knew when you were going as soon as you brought it up.

51:28.510 --> 51:30.333
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, it's silly.

51:30.353 --> 51:31.775
[SPEAKER_01]: It fits.

51:32.035 --> 51:32.856
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it fits.

51:32.876 --> 51:40.787
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you know, I appreciate like no one I think is ever mentioned Kalamari in a stalling before.

51:41.468 --> 51:58.112
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the song is essentially like, I'm ready to like treat you like you've never been treated and yet you still go back to this other thing that is like not great for you.

51:58.447 --> 52:10.745
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd rather go have Calamari like that's supposed to show a little bit more of a little upscaleness to you know to your Mickey D's that you're having with your man over here, but it is so it is such a memorable line.

52:10.825 --> 52:14.951
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't remember the word Calamari in the song before, so that's right.

52:15.111 --> 52:16.473
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm pretty sure I have not.

52:16.794 --> 52:17.495
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

52:17.515 --> 52:17.755
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.

52:18.036 --> 52:25.146
[SPEAKER_00]: No, but as soon as you said that, I was like,

52:25.615 --> 52:35.928
[SPEAKER_00]: After Neo spent time in London clubs, he realized R&B was becoming stagnant and needed the four on the floor energy of house music.

52:38.031 --> 52:39.593
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I closer is a great song.

52:40.273 --> 52:42.837
[SPEAKER_01]: And I love house music.

52:42.857 --> 52:45.200
[SPEAKER_01]: So I was definitely feeling that when it came out.

52:47.943 --> 52:52.669
[SPEAKER_00]: Kit, okay, here's this is an age old question that I always ask you about when it comes to artists.

52:54.083 --> 53:23.466
[SPEAKER_00]: the longevity piece of this you can go from here the gentleman where this dude is like he's not usher as far as fame and as far as record sales but you know if he sees an avenue of where you know usher may have been like four years before like maybe I can kind of be

53:23.885 --> 53:37.943
[SPEAKER_00]: This just the idea that he can go from this album and then make two albums, you know, whether that you like Libra's scale, I think, there's songs I like on Libra's scale, I don't like the overall album, but then Red is good.

53:38.384 --> 53:53.503
[SPEAKER_00]: And then just to go completely off the map, like it's just crazy how how the trends change and how people can just go from

53:54.547 --> 53:57.435
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, people always say, like, Archely stole Aaron Hall's career.

53:57.455 --> 54:01.486
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like Bruno Mars stole Neo's career.

54:02.769 --> 54:04.434
[SPEAKER_01]: That's an interesting thing.

54:04.454 --> 54:06.640
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's just, you know, everything comes and goes.

54:06.820 --> 54:07.763
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like,

54:09.008 --> 54:10.609
[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody is on top forever.

54:11.270 --> 54:16.955
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it was a combination of there being like a newer, younger person out making similar music.

54:17.495 --> 54:20.218
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the quality in your albums just kind of started to drop.

54:20.398 --> 54:30.527
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I'm looking through and I have all of those albums in my, in my Apple Music Library and I bought all of them when they came out with those last three albums.

54:30.547 --> 54:31.808
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm looking through the track listings.

54:32.228 --> 54:33.789
[SPEAKER_01]: And I've listened to them multiple times.

54:33.829 --> 54:35.531
[SPEAKER_01]: And I cannot remember one single song.

54:35.551 --> 54:36.812
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's tough.

54:36.832 --> 54:38.053
[SPEAKER_00]: It is really tough.

54:38.827 --> 54:54.085
[SPEAKER_00]: uh... 2008 man it was uh... it was a pivotal time in my life like you know just go to just going back to the memories um... and i want to say that if you were to

54:55.330 --> 55:14.012
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, if there's a my own top 10 list of like most influential albums or something like this might be on it if I really thought about it, you know, you go from, you know, some of those classic Stevie albums in an MJ and some of their hip-hop albums that really changed my fandom, like we'll talk about tribe called Quest and stuff like that.

55:15.854 --> 55:21.861
[SPEAKER_00]: This is sneakily in that list, I mean, it is

55:22.162 --> 55:27.128
[SPEAKER_01]: One of those albums, I think that nobody really talks about, but is so good.

55:27.148 --> 55:46.370
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think similar to York's experience, I wasn't going through a divorce or anything like that, but I was definitely sort of having relationship issues and living in a new city and trying to date and really going on dates, honestly, for like the first time in my life, the age of like 31, 32.

55:46.991 --> 55:48.793
[SPEAKER_01]: And,

55:48.773 --> 55:52.358
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, there are a lot of songs on that album that spoke to me.

55:54.300 --> 56:01.530
[SPEAKER_01]: So I, you know, the same way it has like a special place with you like it has a very simple I mean for different reasons it has a special place for me as well.

56:02.110 --> 56:11.102
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, we're going to do more of a discussion of his discography and what we love about his discography in the top five segment, but I wanted to bring up one more thing.

56:12.010 --> 56:18.616
[SPEAKER_00]: which is, and this was kind of interesting to me when it happened because the new kids on the block.

56:18.636 --> 56:19.237
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

56:19.257 --> 56:19.457
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

56:19.597 --> 56:21.619
[SPEAKER_00]: They drop an album.

56:21.879 --> 56:28.846
[SPEAKER_00]: This, this, they came back and that their first, I think the first single was a summer time.

56:29.187 --> 56:30.588
[SPEAKER_00]: Summer time was the first thing summer time.

56:30.608 --> 56:33.691
[SPEAKER_00]: Not the, it wasn't a Will Smith remake.

56:33.711 --> 56:38.035
[SPEAKER_00]: But it was a very, you know, Bonnie would have loved to do that, too.

56:38.572 --> 56:42.758
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a very breezy, nice summary song.

56:43.358 --> 56:47.604
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but then they followed up that song with a song called Single.

56:49.186 --> 56:53.072
[SPEAKER_00]: And then so that goes out as their second single to that album.

56:54.253 --> 56:59.360
[SPEAKER_00]: And they tried to call themselves at this point the block.

56:59.380 --> 57:03.506
[SPEAKER_00]: They tried to go away from the new kids thing, but that wasn't gonna be able to happen.

57:03.526 --> 57:05.408
[SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna be new kids on the block forever.

57:05.428 --> 57:05.929
[SPEAKER_00]: Forever.

57:06.432 --> 57:15.828
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, uh, that drops and then when Neil's album comes on, because that Neil writes that song, and he, uh, he's on it.

57:15.908 --> 57:17.250
[SPEAKER_00]: He, he, he seems on it as well.

57:17.370 --> 57:19.293
[SPEAKER_00]: And I really, really like that song.

57:19.313 --> 57:22.078
[SPEAKER_00]: Those are my favorite song on that new kid's album.

57:22.058 --> 57:31.876
[SPEAKER_00]: So then the Neo album comes out and there is another song called single on it and I was like oh He got the new kids song on his album too.

57:31.896 --> 57:43.999
[SPEAKER_00]: That's kind of cool and then I was like wait no This is the new kid saying honest Neo only yeah, Neo only version of single I like the new kid's version better

57:45.262 --> 57:57.293
[SPEAKER_01]: So in my imagination, Neo had written a record of the song, was gonna put it on his album, an executive heard it, and it was like, I will give you a ton of fun.

57:57.313 --> 58:02.218
[SPEAKER_01]: If you give this album to the new case, if you give this track to the new case and have them sing on it and have it be their next single.

58:02.238 --> 58:03.839
[SPEAKER_01]: And Neo was like, bet, let's do it.

58:05.561 --> 58:07.383
[SPEAKER_01]: I like to do it, version a lot better too.

58:07.643 --> 58:15.150
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the lyrics make sense more with multiple people singing than it does, we just Neo sing.

58:15.535 --> 58:25.749
[SPEAKER_01]: And even though like the new kids are auto tune the hell on that song and you can hear it it's still I think a better song with them on it.

58:25.829 --> 58:26.190
[SPEAKER_01]: It's funny.

58:26.291 --> 58:28.498
[SPEAKER_01]: I was I was at my aunt's house.

58:29.677 --> 58:31.138
[SPEAKER_01]: in the last year for something.

58:31.158 --> 58:32.740
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe I was just chilling or something like that.

58:33.401 --> 58:39.086
[SPEAKER_01]: And I got a lot of my music taste from my aunt.

58:39.106 --> 58:42.009
[SPEAKER_01]: And they still say this day, play music in the house all the time.

58:42.349 --> 58:44.992
[SPEAKER_01]: So they just had like, you know, they're iPhone on shuffle or whatever.

58:45.072 --> 58:45.933
[SPEAKER_01]: And single comes on.

58:45.993 --> 58:48.975
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, oh, yo, no, no, no, no, no, no.

58:48.996 --> 58:50.577
[SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, they were jamming to it too.

58:51.378 --> 58:53.059
[SPEAKER_01]: That's such a good song.

58:53.079 --> 58:55.802
[SPEAKER_01]: And then, Polo to Dawn.

58:56.474 --> 58:57.716
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah.

58:58.417 --> 59:00.200
[SPEAKER_01]: I forgot about him.

59:00.580 --> 59:00.780
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

59:01.061 --> 59:03.524
[SPEAKER_00]: So for our top five, we're going to go through the Neil stuff.

59:03.544 --> 59:13.239
[SPEAKER_00]: But I wanted to give you the opportunity to quickly go of your favorite songs that Neil wrote for other people that he didn't necessarily perform on himself.

59:14.300 --> 59:14.501
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.

59:14.561 --> 59:23.494
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you mentioned, let me love you by Mario, which is 100% my favorite song written by

59:23.947 --> 59:28.414
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a song on that Janet album called Can't Be Good, which I think is a really good song.

59:29.336 --> 59:36.327
[SPEAKER_01]: And actually as I was looking through as Wikipedia, a song came to mind that I had heard for everyone.

59:36.347 --> 59:37.810
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, this is a really good song.

59:37.870 --> 59:38.451
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember it now.

59:38.571 --> 59:41.075
[SPEAKER_01]: It's called That Girl is by Marcus Houston.

59:42.497 --> 59:44.200
[SPEAKER_01]: So, hey, B2K.

59:44.365 --> 59:45.607
[SPEAKER_01]: immature, immature.

59:45.667 --> 59:46.228
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what it is.

59:46.348 --> 59:48.991
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, immature or Roger on sister sister.

59:49.011 --> 59:49.332
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.

59:49.352 --> 59:49.632
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.

59:49.852 --> 59:50.033
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.

59:50.053 --> 59:50.774
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.

59:50.794 --> 59:51.094
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.

59:51.114 --> 59:51.354
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.

59:52.035 --> 59:52.236
[SPEAKER_01]: Um.

59:52.856 --> 59:52.957
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

59:52.977 --> 59:53.037
[SPEAKER_01]: Um.

59:53.057 --> 59:55.440
[SPEAKER_01]: That girl and let me love you sound very, very similar.

59:56.141 --> 01:00:01.468
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, but that that's really like good like understated like very cool.

01:00:02.069 --> 01:00:02.770
[SPEAKER_01]: Aren't these song.

01:00:03.471 --> 01:00:07.777
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, and everything else I had on my list was a song that Neo was actually on.

01:00:07.797 --> 01:00:14.085
[SPEAKER_01]: It's either a duet or like, you know, collaboration or something like that.

01:00:14.268 --> 01:00:14.629
[SPEAKER_01]: right.

01:00:14.849 --> 01:00:17.053
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, should I put that on like my actual list?

01:00:18.015 --> 01:00:20.459
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, hate that I love you isn't really really good song.

01:00:20.479 --> 01:00:20.719
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

01:00:20.800 --> 01:00:25.969
[SPEAKER_00]: It's it's it's really good and the the back and forth and the video to the video is good.

01:00:26.209 --> 01:00:31.298
[SPEAKER_00]: And one of the things, you know, what we'll we'll get out of here in a second, but the one thing about the year, the gentleman,

01:00:31.278 --> 01:00:41.171
[SPEAKER_00]: videos and maybe this is kind of give gives him the idea for libri scale is all the videos kind of sync up together to tell Like a narrative a specific narrative.

01:00:41.191 --> 01:00:43.694
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, I appreciate Nio's mind, right?

01:00:43.734 --> 01:00:54.848
[SPEAKER_01]: Like he's definitely thinking a steppe ahead of folks It sometimes seems like overambitious and maybe a little silly, but um, you know, it's still good and I will also say the man knows how to put on a show.

01:00:55.529 --> 01:00:56.931
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, he was good

01:00:56.911 --> 01:01:15.661
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he was great like he and he he actually does I think he's saying a little bit of off the wall like it's very Michael Reminis and he came up like the black glitter jacket You know in the bow tie did his little dance moves and you know, he's got like all the ladies dancing on stage and you know He knows how to carry a tune.

01:01:15.681 --> 01:01:20.589
[SPEAKER_01]: He he has show him he should do a Vegas Residency I would love to see him.

01:01:20.890 --> 01:01:22.412
[SPEAKER_01]: I would absolutely have to see him

01:01:22.544 --> 01:01:33.196
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, if, if, and forgive me, if he actually has already done a Vegas residency, which is entirely possible, but if he hasn't, he should and he's from Vegas, is he from Vegas?

01:01:33.776 --> 01:01:34.697
[SPEAKER_00]: He's from Vegas.

01:01:35.038 --> 01:01:35.398
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, wow.

01:01:36.099 --> 01:01:36.359
[SPEAKER_00]: There you go.

01:01:36.680 --> 01:01:37.060
[SPEAKER_00]: Perfect.

01:01:38.922 --> 01:01:39.242
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.

01:01:40.624 --> 01:01:48.973
[SPEAKER_00]: Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-meer Smith, aka Neo, Neo, Jay-Z once said,

01:01:49.831 --> 01:01:54.180
[SPEAKER_00]: Nio was like Michael and Jay-Z was Quincy Hove.

01:01:56.165 --> 01:02:03.420
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, that's going to be it for our episode on year the gentleman, one of my favorite albums.

01:02:03.560 --> 01:02:06.887
[SPEAKER_00]: So for Mike, I'm WG 50 for 50.net.

01:02:06.908 --> 01:02:09.493
[SPEAKER_00]: See you when we see you piece.