 Big shit, big shit, big shit, it's a unique hustle nigga. Big shit, big shit, big shit, name another podcast like this. Check it, check it, check it, it's a unique hustle. It's your boy, E-C-E-O, and I'm here with the lovely official, Miss Jamaica. What's going on? None of my dad walk on. Man, hey man, look out, man. How you doing though? You good? I am Irish. Oh, okay, I'm learning every day. And I've been over there, so I'll pick up real quick. But man, hey, we got special guests here today, man. This guy don't need no introduction, man. You guys, if you ever, man, the guy played a guitar so well. I went down that rabbit hole trying to understand, like, who is this guy, man? Stone Mecca is in the building, man. Hey, man, I know who he is now. How you doing? I'm good, brother, how are you? Man, I'm doing great, man. So Stone Mecca, man, that's a strong name. It is a very, I like the name. That's a strong name. How old were you when you discovered that name? Oh, see, you come in with these questions, I have to think about it. I've been taking me down. Let's see... I was probably around 27. 25? No, earlier, about 25, actually. Okay. 25, yeah. And what was going on in your life at that time that inspired that name? I've always been real, real strong in like the belief of the power of music and making sure that it, and you know, giving it to the people properly as far as like, you know, inspiring them and different. And so I wanted a name that represented something that was strong like that, you know, and that people can depend on. So Stone for me was just something solid. Right. You know. And you were always a solid person. Were you? Well, you know, that's another discussion, you know. So Stone for me was always better in myself though. Oh, okay. And in Mecca? Mecca has always been something to me like, you know, everybody has their own private Mecca, whatever that is. The place you go for solitude, for your own building of yourself, you know, time with yourself. So I wanted something that was like a solid home in music for people. So I dedicated to saying that anything I do musically, I'll make sure I put that much into it to make it where it was that, you know. So the name, what name did you have before Stone Mecca? I mean, there was so many names given, you know. Oh, so you've changed multiple times. Well, no, I mean, it was kind of like, you know, I was discovering what... Path you wanted to be on? Not path, really. It was really like the name. I mean, I came up with a couple different names of myself, but then people gave me names from the stuff I did. And then someone was talking to me and that's how Stone Mecca came about. It was kind of like somebody was telling me about the kind of music I do and how it's consistent in that way. So that's when I decided to do something like, what was the name that would be strong like that that means that I can stick with? Oh, okay. But let's go back further back, because I love to go into background. All right. I know you were born in L.A., Englewood. Englewood. Okay. What was it like living in Englewood and at a young age, did you always want to be in music? You know, yeah. I've always loved music, you know. It was really, really cool because where I grew up, it was like everyone over there with geniuses to me. Oh, really? They were so special. You don't know it when you're young. You know, you just doing whatever you do, but we did so much, created so much. It wasn't just music. It was dancing, it was building things and making things and, I mean, DJ Poo. Yeah. Because when you hear about Englewood, the first thing you think about is the gang and violence and all that sort of stuff. I mean, we had all of that, but it wasn't, if you lived there, you'll get to know the reality of that. Okay. You know, the gangsters respected you if you was on your own thing. If you was doing your own hustle, if you had your own way about yourself, they didn't, you know, they respected you, you know? And, but like I said, the people that grew up there, it's put it like this. We always felt like we could survive there, we could survive anywhere, just because of the things we learned in the streets. You know, like I was saying, DJ Poo grew up around the corner from me. Yeah, DJ Poo. D.C. grew up around the other block over here. You know, Thrant was my best friend growing up when we were little. Wow. You know, Cube lived over, you know, it was like all these people came out of there. You know, and everybody were kind of innovators in that sense, you know? So I was always along that. I played drums when I started drums when I was like nine years old. Wow. My father had a band, he used to play sax, they used to practice at the house, you know, I'm going to bed. So it's in the blood. It's in the bloodline. I mean, you know, it's a love for music in a sense that was always there, you know? Yeah, I was a, so Englewood, California, Dallas, Texas, or Fort Worth, Texas or what, the transformation, what brought that about to come to Texas? I was interested in that. You know, I've been, before I decided to come here, I'd already been a lot of different places, you know? And I lived in Atlanta for a while. Yeah, man, I love Atlanta. I love Atlanta too, you know? But I had to go back to L.A. to do some things. And then I met my wife. Okay. She had been there for 15 years. In L.A. or in Atlanta? In L.A. In L.A. Okay. I met her and she's from here originally. So when we had our kid, we have a son together. It was like, you know, thinking about him growing up, where I wanted him to grow up to kind of influence the family, I wanted him to be around and things like that, you know? I decided to come on out here, you know, because he would be closer to his grandparents. The schooling would be a lot better, just since that, when I grew up, you know, you did get sweated, you know what I mean? You're on a bus, they say, what set you from? And this and that, they ready to, we fought a lot. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. You know what I mean? And that influence is still there. I saw, I could see it every day when I was- And it changed somewhat because who we were interviewing. We were interviewing some, I think it was Payback. Oh, yeah, Clint. Yeah, it was Clint. And he said he was somewhere and a young person pulled up to him and called and say, like, was it milkshake or something like that? And he was like, what's your milkshake? And he's like, what? He talking about the youngsters the way they doing it now. That's the way it was. That's the way it was. Right, that's a whole other thing. And he was like, what you're talking about? But it's just a different way of how they do things and you have to like represent your click that you're from, you have to say it when they approach you a certain way. I think the difference is now is they're like, you know, they're into it because it's a cool thing to do, not a necessity. You know, back gangs back then, some of them did it because they just wanted to be down but a lot of it was a necessity because you're living a certain way. And you need things that you're not getting, you know, and so they go after it in the streets, you know, but now it's kind of like, you know, just because it's cool, they think it makes them cool, you know, whatever, whatever. So how is the music here compared to when you were in LA or Atlanta? Because I totally understand moving here because of family but you're also a musician. So how is that transition career-wise being here compared to any of the other places you've been? Well, I had already established myself in LA with the people and all this. So I was already still working, you know what I mean? And this is only two and a half hour flight. So I always knew when I needed to do something, I can go back there and do it or we can do it over the internet or whatever. So I continued to work. I didn't leave anything behind with that. But as far as the musicians and the music, Dallas is killing. I mean, I came out here and met some of the Ross people I've ever met playing music, you know, Atlanta has some raw folks too. That was such a long time ago though. But LA, it has raw folks, but they get away with not having to do... As much. Not digging in as hard because it can be more of a hype thing with them rather than an actual music thing. I took some people from here to LA to work on some stuff. And we went to a spot one night to hear some live music. It was supposed to be somebody that's raw and all this, you know. They got in there and was shaking their heads and walked out like, what the, you know. Wow. And it's really because it's, they're in competition for what's happening now. Like it was on the radio and this and that. So they're playing that kind of stuff. And a lot of that's not a lot of musicianship. But out here, they can really give a damn about all of that. So they dig in on some, whatever they feel and loving how music, you know. The true meaning of music really, the way it's supposed to be. Yeah, so I felt more at home here just in that sense. That's good. Do you have any siblings that do music as well? Might as well say Kenyatta. He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, he got one. Yeah, that's true. That's like my brother from another mother, you know. Me and him grew up doing music together. I know who. But yeah, no immediate family. Not really. I mean, people have talent, but they didn't follow that. Oh, okay. You said your father was in the music industry. So that's the reason why I was like. He wasn't in the industry. He just played his saxophone. That's right. That's what I meant. Or a piano or whatever was around. He jumped on whatever just because he loved it. He still does. He's 77 years old. Now he'll pull out his sax, set him on the bed and play him and play the keyboard. And he'll send me a video of him playing or something. Is he still in LA? Oh yeah, he's still out there. So growing up, when you first started in music, who was your biggest influence, like influenced you in the music, whether it be the guitar or playing the drums? I mean, I was influenced by music in general when I was little. Cause you know how black households were. We played all that great music, the greatest music ever. So music growing up, we had it in our bones. So all that stuff spoke to me anyway. And then when I became a teenager, two things happened. I found a slide, cause I used to play all my fathers. But I found a slide stone, there's a riot going on out. And that one was so deep as far as the depth of funk and like soul that I always imagined if I did music, it'd be this way. He was the closest to what I saw. And I was like, well, thank you for talking to me, Africa, the other version of thank you for letting me be myself. I don't know if you heard that, but if you haven't, you see that, that was one of the joints. And you hear that, you'll get it. But I saw that, I was into other kinds of music. I love the guitar, just the way it. Rock and roll? Some. I got that song. When I listened to your music, I was like, he like that rock and roll. Oh yeah, no, no, no. I definitely love some that I like. I like things that just roll. Yeah. And people that dug into rock and roll and like classic rock, all that stuff came from, I mean, you gotta think, Jimmy Hendrix, the blues and all that. If you look at this and listen to the blues, you hear a lot of where to rock. Man, what you talking about? The biggest rock songs came from. They were welling on the guitar and it was, so it was kinda like, when I think about rock and roll, I think about that rock and roll. When you first started, well, being in the music as long as you had, did you ever get to hear BB King play blues or any of that? Man, man, that's like the greatest, man, he's such a sweet guy. I finally got to meet him, actually. I always loved this stuff. And I met a guy that was his role manager. Okay. And he was coming to LA at BB King's. And he said, man, I'll get you some tickets, you know. And this is later on in his life too, you know. And I invited him, I mean, I'm not inviting, I'm sorry. I invited, me and my wife went, I invited Rizzo, Rizzo went with his wife. And we all four went and watched BB King. Rock and roll. And it was just, it was amazing, man. And then afterwards, You got to talk to him. Yeah, the guy was like, you know, I got you set up. You guys come back to the back and he had his own trailer. So he called us back in there and we go on the trailer. He got a guitar that he assigned to Lionel Richie sitting on the thing right there on the couch. Wow. You know, I'm looking at that first. I ain't even got to be with him yet. I'm like, man. So we walk in and he's sitting back there and he wiping his face and stuff, you know, cause he just got off the stage. And we sat down and talked to him for about an hour and a half. Wow. Just digging in. He was just the sweetest. Felt like you, you know, you know him all your life. And me and Rizzo was looking at each other just. Amazing. Like, wow. It's one of them times, man. You know what I mean? You better know it, man. One of them times. So, it's Rizzo though. How did he, you going to ask about Rizzo? No, I wanted to know one thing. Cause starting out, cause I know we going back and forth a lot, but starting out in your journey with the music industry, did you ever know that you would have been such a master of all these different genre of music because you don't just stick to one genre of music. Did you know that that's who you were, was, were you striving to do that or it just happened? As long as I had the root of what I am always present, which is that soul, you know what I mean? I'm a soulful, funky dude, period. It shows in your style. Thank you. I mean, you know, that's, that's, as long as I had that root, then whatever else I did around it to express it, I allowed it to be, you know what I mean? I just didn't, I didn't want to be in a box. I didn't want to be put in a place cause it's like an artist. An artist, you know, when you, when you paint a picture, an artist paints a picture, he's recognized by the different, the difference in his pictures compared to others. That's how people know who he is. But the music industry is totally different than that. They put you in the box, even though you're an artist. You see what I'm saying? They want you to sound like this person, this person, or that person. You know, we're all individuals. I won't sound like that person if you let me express myself freely and truly. So when you, but when you express yourself freely and truly and then you have your fans like a certain sound that you give and that's what they want to hear, that sound. But you want to venture off into other sounds because that's who you are. You're not just this one sound. Right. How do you choose to do that when your fans are asking for this sound? Well, I think that, you know, that's a good question because the thing is, is if you have true fans that are digging into you as a person and your music, not just I like that song, you know what I mean? They will go with you on your journey, you know? And you always, it's like I said, there's still going to be that thing always there that soul and whatever, that root of you is always going to be in whatever. Wow. You know, take friends as Prince. You know, he done went in all kinds of places with his music. But the one thing to remain was the root of who he is. So his fans stuck with him and went with him on that ride. I was going to ask you, did you get to meet Prince? Yes, I did. And it's not. Really? That's like, man, I need to hear that. I had already seen him a couple of times in places. Okay. And like we'd be in the same place I see him in this and this and that, you know? And Sheila E. is one of my friends. Oh man, shout out to Sheila E., man, dope. Yeah, she's wonderful. She's very dope. She's a good person, a good hearted person. Okay, people like me, who is that? Sheila E. Glamorous life. Oh, I know the song. I know that song. I was giving it to her. I know songs a lot of times. Yeah. And I don't always know the names of who's singing. Oh, no, that's a lot of people. You know what I mean? I love them, I love what she did, man. One of the rawest drummers percussionist ever. Still to this day. And so knowing her and knowing some of her family and all that kind of stuff, you know, when Prince came and did the, no, actually before that, actually, it was her birthday party. She was having a birthday party at the Congo Room in LA. So I got invited and went down and it was a little private part and all of this. So we were all in there and Prince showed up. So I'm here and he's in here and he's over here sitting way up here. And I said, man, I got to meet him one day, man, just to tell him, thank you. You know what I mean? Thank you. Because that was the other part of my story when I said to people when I was young. Right. But I wanted to tell him thank you. And so I talked to Sheila and I was like, man, look, I just want to tell the dude thank you for I wouldn't be who I am musically if he hadn't done what he done. So if I can just get a chance one day just to say what's up and, you know, she was like, all right, hold on a second. Wow. This man had right then. She went away, man. And then all of a sudden she came back over to say, come on, come on. So I walked over and he's standing there, got his cane and all this, you know. Yeah, yeah, that's he. He's down. Oh, man. And I walked up and said, man, first I shook his hand. When I was holding on, I said, man, I just want to thank you for your years of inspiration where I said, I wouldn't be who I am if I hadn't found you when I was young, you know. You know, and we talked for a minute. He was just like one of the dudes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He was one of the dudes. Did he have his bodyguards around and stuff? No. No? No, I was just chilling, just chilling. You know, because it was Sheila's thing. So he was, you know, roped in and I said, he kind of knew he'd be all right or whatever. Or if they were, you know, they were secret service type. Right. He wouldn't even have known it. So, yeah, so I talked to him in this and that. You know, it was just that thing. And then I saw him again when he did the 21 day, 21, I think it's 21 day stay at the forum in LA when he stayed there for 21 nights. And I got to go downstairs and the after thing and Sheila and her whole family were playing on the stage. And the stage was only this high. You know what I mean? So you right there with him, you know, Boris and his wife was right there and these different people. And Prince came in, he just checking stuff out. And then he goes sitting the back on this little couch thing with some little girl, you know, he chilling. Then he come walking straight through the middle of everybody. It's like the C parted. Wow. He walked through the middle, got up on the stage right there. I walked, I watched him just walk right past and got up on the stage and just, the dude that was on the keyboard just moved over. Wow. He got on the keyboard and just started playing with him. Jump right in on the song, whatever he was playing. Love it. Yeah, I mean, you know. That's a dope story, man. Just wish I could have got to meet him, man. I'm jealous, but it's all good, you know. One day maybe I'll get my, I get to meet you. So that makes me connected, right? Do we tell you that some of your music sort of reminds them of Prince? Mm-mm. No? Your voice. No, not him. I'm talking, do any of your fans, do people tell you that? Because hearing you talk and then hearing you sing is like two totally different people. Vocally. You know, I mean, people know it, I think, because of how the inspiration, I guess the influence of the different sounds of music I put in my music. You can only, you don't have too many people you can go to and say, oh, it's like that, or it's like that. So I've heard it before, and then I've heard a bunch of other things. Yeah, because your music. You know what I mean? It travels, like once it may be sounding this way, then we go over here, it's a different way. And I was listening at it. I'm listening at the different tones, man. I love it, though. Because I think it's just art when you look at it. You know what I mean? That's what it is. It's a painting, man. Exactly. You know. I love it. Like I said, you, yeah, even when I seen you performing on stage, you and Riza, that's what I was bringing up a while ago, Riza. Yeah, how did you meet Riza and how did that relationship start? Riza came to a show of mine in 2004, I think. And it was when I was doing more of the group thing. And I had some other people singing and other stuff like that. And it was more of a soul R&B thing. I was doing that stuff a long time ago. And he met me after the show, said what was happening and all this. And he said that his label was gonna be up the next year. And he wanted to talk to me and this and this and that. So that's kind of where it all began. Wow. And then we just became, we started working together. The label thing never really got up. Never got to that place. But we started working together. And he started including me on the tour stuff. I became his role manager and for the band and all this kind of stuff. And we just became real tight. And we started working on movie stuff together and a bunch of different things. That's cool. So when you mentioned the group, because I looked you up and I saw an interview, because you haven't done many interviews that I could find. And one of the interviews I saw 12 years ago, because I know your name is Stone Mecca, but in an interview when you were introducing the group that was with you, you said, we are Stone Mecca. So I'm like, okay, is it a group? Or is it an individual? That's what I thought too. I've seen the same thing. So I'm trying to figure out when did it. Well, it was originally supposed, it was gonna be my thing. And then when I first started putting the group together, it was so strong. I was like, well, let's make it a group thing and call the name Stone Mecca for the group. That's what got me, because I knew it was something. But that was because I was really trying to make a movement out of it. And even though the people were changing the group and all this stuff, and I was still trying to make a movement out of it to keep the brand okay. But then after the years of dealing with that, with different people and people moving and leaving and doing these different things, I decided to just say, go back to it being just me. And that's who I am. I know being an entrepreneur, I know how hard it is to find people who, I've met one person on this platform that has had his group of people with him for a long time. And I told him, I said, you are blessed. You know how hard it is to find a group of people who will support you and interact with your brand. And be there by your side for years and not have to interchange. It's very, very hard to have that. Especially now that it is a rare thing. Back in the day, it was the thing to have a band and all this earth went in fire. You know what I mean? And that was my dream to make it that big because of them, earth went in fire and those kind of people. And people will come on and usually, I was still the one that did all the music, the production and everything. And then work with a couple of singers and we'll put the stuff together like that. And then the band and the group that comes together usually came after that. And we went on to perform that stuff. So it was never gonna be where it messed up the sound or anything like that if I switched people because they weren't in charge of that part. But when they would get to a place where we'll go out and things would start happening for us. And they'll start doing things they had never done. They're going on the road, RZA had us doing some things overseas and all this kind of stuff. Sometimes people can be their worst enemy. Especially if they're in the front. I took the back a lot of time. I played the guitar, the bass or something and they got to be in the front singing and they started believing the whole time. The whole thing was going crazy and all this and they started, you know, that's me, you know. And then they'll go out and try their own solo thing or whatever and they wouldn't get the same attention. And then they'll call me back, you know, like let's do it. They get like in pain. You don't give a second chance, it's okay, come on. Well, you know, it's more so, they stopped the momentum of everything that we're building. For selfish gain. When things like that happen, you know what I mean? I don't hate them all, because people got to go through their own thing and we're still friends, all the people that I'm speaking about. But, you know, I've already moved on to the next thing, trying to keep the momentum going and things like that. So, you know, because I'm all so much into it, you know what I mean? The thing, I definitely, like I said, so RZA, Wu-Tang, did you rock out with all of them at points? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And how was it dealing with the whole group? It was cool, man. All of them are really good dudes, man. They're really, really wonderful people, you know? You knew Old Dirty Basterd. Oh, yeah. Okay, how was he? I'm just cool. I mean, just real cool, you know what I mean? When they did the Rock the Bells, they were there to headlining with Rage Against the Machine. Okay. We went out with them with that. So, we played as the band for them. So, I put the band together, you know? And so, I was with them through that whole thing. We were on the buses, we did the whole thing. And I had met them before that, just dealing with RZA. Yeah. But they're all just like home, you know? They welcoming, they come in, man, what you need, this and this and that, you know? So, they've always been real good. When you think about Old Dirty Basterd, you think about that energy, you know what I mean? But I know a person not like that at all times. No, no, no, no, no, not at all. But when he hit that stage, the character comes to play. You see what I'm saying? You know who he was? You remember, you know those people you meet. You might have them in your family or something like that. That you envy in a way because they are exactly who they are at all times. Yeah. And they're gonna be that. Okay. You know what I mean? That's who he was. It's like my auntie. She's that way. We look at her like, she going, that's auntie Carol. Yeah. You know what I mean? ODB was like that. He gonna be that way. You see what you get. Yeah, exactly. And you know, that teaches us. Cause a lot of times we hide behind things with not exactly who we are. We're scared to show the public our real faces and things like that. Correct. Not Old Dirty Basterd. He ain't never been that dude. His name and everything fit, you know? No, seriously. But when you're rounding away from that, he just chill. What's up, man? You know, he cool. We sit there watching some Kung Fu stuff together. When he got out and he was interviewed by VH1, they were following him around. I was out there at the time at 36 chambers in New York. And he came through and, you know, we hanging out and all this stuff. So I'm saying, and then a little while after that, when I got back home, Rizzo was still out there. That's when he passed away. You know what I mean? And that was a hard thing. You know, they're cousins. Yeah. So it had to affect you as well. You knew him. I mean, it definitely affected me because like I said, I got to know these dudes, you know? And they're people, man. You know what I mean? You get to know the real part of them beyond all the other stuff. So anybody that goes through any kind of suffering or anything like that, you know, close to you or not, you know, and then I'm feeling for Rizzo because I know how close he was as well. And I knew his son, ODB's son, the one that's out there that looks just like him. Yeah. Yeah, young, young, young dirty bastard. Bar sign is his real name, but he's, I used to do music with him up at the studio and stuff and me and him, you know, got real tight, you know, and he looks just like him too. Does he just like it? And now he does this thing just like, but he's a very mature, you know, dude. Definitely, you know. Out of all of the different celebrities you've had dealings with, is there anyone that come to your mind that gave you a life lesson, something that stuck with you forever? That you, who is it and what did they give you? Maurice White, Earth, Wind and Fire. Okay. Yes. That's like my Jupiter brother, we both said the Teres. And I got to go on a roll with him when I was very young. And before that, I had seen parts of the industry growing up. People had wanted me to get this group, singing group, doing this, whatever, you know. But those people that would come to me for that, they were in the part of the business that was a little dirty, you know what I mean? Using cocaine to pay for studio times. I was a young kid. So this is my introduction, you know, the dudes from Rolls Royce coming in, playing on stuff and, but they coming off the streets because they been out there strung out and shit. You know, I got to see a lot of stuff when I was young growing up out there, you know. And to see the good side of the industry, I was introduced to that by them. Okay. Because they are really who they are on those albums. That spiritual, mystical, you know, we couldn't eat wrong. Wow. You know what I mean, it was just, but they were very deep spiritual. And every night to hear that beautiful music they made in person like that was just filling me up. You know, still five of the original members were there. They still had the stage show where they had the big, you know, disappear at the end. They grew up in here and disappeared and all of this, you know. So to see all that at a young age, you know, and then sit with Maurice, like in the back of the bus and stuff. And he telling me stuff about the things they seen and studied. And you know, it was just, man, you know, it was very, I guess you can say it made me say, okay, you know, this is what I'm a dude. Yeah. And this is how I'm gonna do it. And it's okay for me to do it my way, you know. Because they were very unique in their talents. Everything, man. He wanted to go out and be like a circus that came to town. Right. And he did. Yeah, definitely. He did exactly what he said he wanted to do because it was timing too. At that time it was wide open for something like that. And he did it. How hard is it for an artist to stay out of the bad side of the industry? Cause even like growing up where you grew up, Inglewood, and not being a part of the gangs, not being a part of, and then coming into the music industry and not, you know, taking cocaine, doing all of that other stuff. How could an artist, young artists coming up, stay away from all of that. You gotta have your own mind, man. You can't let nobody, you can't be influenced. You can't be a follower because they will get you. If you look at all of our raw talent, the black entertainers that have been around, if you look at their stories, you know, most of them come down to, they got messed off by some kind of drugs, or money, something. It's the same thing for each one of them. We lost a lot of good talent because of that. Right. You know what I mean? And good people. So you gotta look at Kendrick Lamar. He said, I ain't gonna do what these dudes are doing. I'm gonna let everybody know that. I don't get high. You know what I'm saying? Because too many times you've seen that, you've seen the Whitney Houston who passed away from it, her daughter. I mean, it's very tragic. It's all in there. Over the years. And I'm like, how can we put an end to that? Well, it's a money machine, you know. Once people realize they can make money from stuff, they'll do whatever it takes to make the money. So the people behind the scenes will influence you to keep going. That's what they used to do with the rock bands and the other bands back in the day, Ohio Players and all that, to keep them on the road and keep them going to get this money and all this kind of stuff, that they gave them the cover. I think it still happens today. Oh, it does. I've talked to a lot of guys in the hip hop industry and I can look in their eyes because I was a hustler back in the days. So I'm like, yeah. I can see that right now. Look at it. Game recognized game. Yeah, I was like, yeah. I grew up in Englewood. I'm looking at him like, yeah. Yeah, he's still up for two days right now, you know. Oh yeah, they're scared. That's why you wonder why they're crackheads. Crackheads be running around like they can't catch nothing. Riding bikes and. Okay, yeah. So when you seen the era of music changing, right? Because I say changing because a lot of times it came into the beat machines and all the different things that happened that changed the music over, you know, from the live band era, because it was a strong live band era when you were younger. But then it hit a phase where the beat machines and all that stuff became a very impactful time. How did you adjust to that? I've always liked that music anyway, in a sense. You know, from back in the day from when we were little growing up in Englewood, Egyptian lover and them came around. I remember that. You see what I'm talking about? So that electronic drum beat and all that stuff, I already like. But for me, I did like the live stuff, but I did want sometimes the live stuff to hit a little harder or to have that kind of control. So I would use it sometimes myself. But it's a way to do it without it sounding so, you know, digital, I guess you could say. Okay. You know, Prince, he used the Lindrum a lot on his songs and people don't know that. That was a drum machine, you know? Yeah. I was just driving over here and between the sheets came on, I was the brother. That's a drum machine. But it's the way you do it. So it can be tasteful. It can be tasteful. It can be done properly. Yeah. And then they might even sound better than the drummer if you do it right, you know? Okay. That's another, that brings me up to when you went there. So when I think about T-Pain and Roger Zapp. So when you heard T-Pain for the first time, did you think about Roger Zapp? Cause you got a ear for music, so I know you're listening. No, yeah, yeah. I knew what he was doing. But it was such a difference from Roger Zapp that it was like, it became overwhelming for me because it made it where now this is the industry standard and people that don't even have like Roger had talent. Okay. Roger had to play the keyboard notes to match what the melodies he was trying to do in his vocals. Okay. You see what I'm saying? So that took talent in itself. You know, and he played the guitar and all these other things. Well, you know, T-Pain just being, you know, being the devil advocate or something or being on this other side. T-Pain had a good voice, but it got over saturated with, I guess, the auto tune. You're asking the wrong person. But he could sing. I'm just saying, like they had him on the contest. I heard him like, dang, I never thought, I never knew he could sing because I couldn't hear. I mean, he found his niche and he made his way, you know what I'm saying? And that's not his fault that the industry does what they do. Like I said, if you get a sound, everybody that follows has to have that sound because it's a capitalistic game. They know they can make money off this. They know this is going to happen. So let's keep it up. So they make everybody else do the same thing. You see what I'm saying? So, but yeah, no, you're asking the wrong person. No, I get it. I don't, it's not something that I listen to. You're even tone into. Yeah, cause you two are organic, to be honest with you with the instruments. And I love the, like I think about Rick James and Cold-Blooded, the way that sound when it come in, you can't beat that, man. No, no, you gotta think about the innovation back then. That's what a lot of people don't think about. These dudes was making this from scratch. It hadn't been done before. So just that in itself, the innovation and being the first to do this, the thought pattern behind it, our people are really good at that. But when we can't use it or not allowed, or allowed to show it, then you see what's happening now. You can hear one person and it'll sound just like the other person. You don't know who's who. They all sound the same. When we were young growing up, when you heard Al Green, you knew that was Al Green. Definitely. When you heard Rick James, you knew that was Rick James. You knew it. They didn't sound like each other. Because that was their own individual artistic expression. That's the difference. And it wasn't a capitalistic industry as much. They wanted money, but the people that were running it could have been musicians themselves and singers themselves. And DJ Sly used to be a DJ before he was an artist. So they respected music. And that's why those songs are still classic songs. You can play it today for the first time for a little kid and their soul will be moved by it. They'll be taken because that's what they made music to do back then. Okay. I got a question. So I know you were inspired by Prince. So since you were inspired by him, and he plays 27 instruments. I want to know how many instruments do you play? Not 20 self. Man, nah, nah, that dude right there, I listen to him sometimes and just get mad. Like man, really you doing that too. Nah, he's amazing, man. No, I mean, I play different instruments. I pick up whatever I can. I like to learn odd instruments sometimes. What's the oddest instrument? Well, one that I do that people know when they come to my show, it's called the funky monkey, that's what I call it. And it's, I pull it out and they're looking at me like, what the hell is that? And then all of a sudden, it's making moaning sounds and it sounds like a baby crying sometimes. Not like a monkey being funky, you know. So they really love that. But it's just, you know, I like to do things like that. But the core instruments, I felt like I needed to learn them because I needed to express myself completely. And so I learned them. And you can branch off to almost any instrument after you learn the core. Yeah, I mean, you got an understanding of music. They all have their own techniques and things you gotta learn, but you have an understanding. And I was kind of, it wasn't my initial thing to do that. I was kind of pushed into it because my band, when I was younger, when I came back with Earth 25, I was gonna record something. So I'm from Marista here. You know, I really knew about my band. And we had never recorded before. So I took them in there and I tried to record them, but they couldn't play on time. And it was just weird and this and that. I was like, oh man. So I had to learn their parts and their instruments just to record it right. So that's where it all came from there, actually, you know. Top three artists of all time that are like any genre. Yes. Just don't take my segment like that, man. Top three artists of all times. I sound better when I see you. Top three artists of all time dead or alive, any genre. This is our top three segment. Number one, man. Man. That's a hard question, man. I got so many, but. Man, give me number three. I mean, I'ma go with Sly as one for sure. Okay, number one, Sly. And I got to meet him. I'll tell you that story. Oh, I gotta hear it? No, we got to hear it. That's coming up next. Number two. Prince, of course. I thought so. I knew he was gonna be there. Number three. Like who made that cut? Number three. I'll say Al Green, actually. Hey, that's my boy right there, man. I was playing another night. You didn't know the song. Yeah, I put it on when you were. You didn't know it. Yeah, I didn't know Al Green got them secrets in there, man. I got another story about that, too. Oh, you got a lot of story. I was talking about Sly, man. I'll let you guys ask that. So, let me just give me a little bit on Sly, man. How did you guys link? Man, he influenced my sound so much from an album, the Fresh album. Okay. I told you guys about the There's a Ride going on, but when I got older and I heard that Fresh album, man, and Andres Simone used to play with Prince. He told me that him and Prince, when they heard that, they were like, but anyway, working with Riza, we were redoing Family Affair. Okay. And he got in touch with Sly's people. This is when Sly was living in the mobile home, you know? And he said he's coming through. Me and Riza had a studio in the back house. And so he came by, I had to call my old keyboard player a day, right? Cause me and him, we thought of Sly the same way. We were influenced by the album same way. So I got him to come over. So I told him, you're going to engineer a little bit. We're going to sit here. Sly came up, man. And he had, first of all, he's complaining because of the stairs you got to take to get up there. It was crazy. Okay. So he was coming in, man, why y'all? He had on a sugar daddy suit. Oh really? You don't understand what I'm saying. Not like a sugar daddy, like the woman's sugar daddy. I mean the candy. You remember them candy sugar daddy? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. All over his suit. He had on the pants and the jacket with the sugar daddy's all over them. Wow. And some white tennis shoes. So he comes sit down. Well, I come through on them. Man, he came sit down and he had, we had a road. So he sat down at the roads and had the mic. I think it was this mic actually. Sure mic. And he just started playing and singing just off the cuff. And it was the most raw, soulful, dripping out is a person thing I've ever heard. Wow. That's how natural these guys were back in the day. I was taken because it was just dripping out of him. Whatever he played and sung, just was beautiful. Wow. You know? And when we started recording the song, I had already played most of the parts of the song and then he was sitting in a chair that was kind of like a stew. But instead of sitting properly on it, he's sitting and has it rocking on two legs. Right? So it's rocking on two legs. He's playing the boards and we're recording and the chair falls. Really? And he falls and we go over to help him, get him up and we do everything we need to do and all that stuff and he gets on there. And we're like, man, you all right? You know, because I definitely didn't want to see, you know, nothing happened to him. Make a long story short. Later on when he left, we sitting there listening back to the recording. And to this day, you can listen to that recording and hear that chair fall. Every time you hear it, you think about that. I just shake my head every time I hear it. I'm like, man, that's crazy, man. But it was wonderful to meet him. Like I said, I told him how much he influenced me and just, you know, he's a really sweet guy, man. Man, it's something that you came up with, like to meet Prince and to meet all these different people. Al Green, all that? Yeah, the Al Green story. You need to tell me how you met Al Green. Well, actually, no, I did not meet him. So you didn't get to meet Al Green. But you mentioned him. But you said you had a story to tell from Al Green. Well, where he recorded all of his stuff. Royal Studio in Memphis. It was, what, I'm trying to think, I'm sorry. And what was his producer? Willie Mitchell. Willie Mitchell, I think Sir Charles was talking about him. Owned that studio, that was his spot. That's the one that Sir Charles was talking about. That when you walk in, you feel the music. You don't even understand. Sir Charles Jones came on and told me that. The same as it was. That's what he said, really. He said through a hat right there, the hat was right there. You remember he said that? That's what Sir Charles said. The sound proofing is peeling off the wall. Y'all gotta understand, the drums, the bonga, Al Green's mic, the organ, everything is exactly the same. Wow. Right? Boo Mitchell is a good friend of mine. That's Willie's son, and he runs everything now there. They actually did, what's the big Bruno Marson? I know what you're talking about. They recorded that there and all of that. Really? That's why it sounds like it sounds. They use the horn players from Al Green's horn players and all. When I went in there, I got to use, we used his piano player, his organ player, the horns, all of that came through and recorded. Wow. How did you feel? Charles is the organ player. He's like a big brother to me. How did you feel when you were there doing that? I can't tell you, because it was so, okay, I got it right here. This is the one. Two things, because I don't like to, I know I get the stretching things out. My wife always tell me, stop talking. No, listen. Two things, so you know at the beginning of love and happiness? Yeah. When you hear the... Doop. Right? Yeah. Before it's done. So everybody think that might be the guitar, or you're snapping, you know, something like that. That thing's a guitar, that's it. Right? So I'm thinking it's a guitar. I go in there with Boo and them, and the people that originally was there, and I'm playing it, I'm about to play the song on the guitar. And he was like, no, let me show you what it actually was. So he actually goes and get, you guys remember the old wooden Coca-Cola crates? Yeah. The wooden ones? He turned that upside down, said, stomp your foot on that. Wow. The original one they used, that's what it was. Wow. I stomp my foot on there, it sounds just like this. It sounds like this. Man. When you can make music from anything, people think that they have to go spend all this money to, you know, do this. You can make sounds. Oh yeah. Unique sounds that can help, you know, a song from anything. I wanna ask you, like when the music also, signing a deal, being independent, what were your challenges, you know, for dealing with your career over the time period, being that you've been in it so long? I know you've had those situations, or either been through them, or turned them down, what's your take on that? I've always been, I've accepted it now, but it's always been where I was a little head of my time. Okay. Timing is like, you know, one of the main things. When I was doing soul music and that deep R&B type stuff, it was before Neo Soul came out. Bam, yeah. So people were interested, they were grabbing one, Barry Hank is sending them, Joe Mo and them from Black Round that had R. Kelly and all of them, heard some of the stuff, was like, yo, at the time I was doing stuff with Cuban M. Okay. And oh, Joe Ruffalo, that Ruffalo and Fark Noly, that's all over the time in Prince and did Purple Rain, the movie and all that kind of stuff, and Earth Wind and Fire. Okay. He heard some stuff, called me in there, you know, but the thing is, is we were so ahead that he just didn't know what to do. Okay. That was been my story pretty much throughout it. They didn't know what to do with it. They didn't know what to do with it, but then a couple, a few years later, this big thing come up and then, you know, Neo Soul is out now, you know, Eric Abadu and D'Angelo are near my out now. Yeah. But we've been doing that stuff back here, you know. Yeah. And then, you know, a couple of people that approached me for a deal, stuff and all, you know, it's gotta be a situation that makes sense to you. Okay. Okay. Did you ever get to meet Eric Abadu being that you've been in Dallas now for? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You guys ever talked to each other? Yeah, I got introduced to her. Oh, you got introduced to her? Yeah. And, you know, I've seen her a few times. We say, what's up when we see each other? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, we are, you know, never worked with her. Okay. You know, I worked with her band and the people that she worked with. Okay. As far as out here, they know who I am. We've worked together on stuff. But I never worked with her. In my place now, I'm more on a, you heard what I'm doing now. Yeah, yeah. Well, you was just in Africa for what, four months, three months? Yeah. Well, one month. One month, how was it? Oh man, it was, it was life-changing, you know. I've been a lot of places. I hear a lot of people say that, you know, I ain't ever been, you know, it's dark at night. Just being real. You know, it sound good. You know, I think about these Tarzan movies. I'm being from East Texas. I'm gonna be real. I don't look at it like- That's when you watch the Mississippi. Well, yeah, well, that's where I gotta go by. You know what I'm saying? That's what I'm, you understand, right? Yeah, I get you. And then I heard Jamie Foxx say he went over there and he was talking about it like it was no lines as soon as you get off the airplane. So you go by what you hear. I heard there's different parts of it. There's parts that are so nice that you wouldn't believe it's Africa still. I wanna hear your take. Well, it's a thing of, yeah, you can't believe the media. There's enough information out there right now for you to get the truth. So come on Elvis, you can go in and dig in a little bit. This is YouTube searching. I will have to check it out, man. But no, I've been listening. Like people like you, I'm about to get my front end story, see? Well, I had been a lot of play. I've been over, you know, Europe and all these places, you know, and stuff, but I had never been to Africa. So that was my main thing. Even if it wasn't music that was gonna take me, I'm going to Africa. Okay. You know? And Ghana opened up, you know, to the people over here saying that, you know, they offer you do citizenship or whatever to come back home and all this kind of stuff, you know. So a lot of people are going there to check it out, visit it and all of this. Mm-hmm. Decided to go, we went, and it's beautiful. Okay. Like you're saying, man, it's... Would you move there? Actually, we're still thinking about it, you know? Really? Because it feels at home. You don't have the same worries there that you have here. You're not thinking about the same things at all. You know, as Black folks, we go out the house, we're thinking about how we're gonna carry ourselves. If something happened, what this is gonna do, if the police pull up, you know, we think about a lot of different things, you know. They're not thinking about none of this stuff. What's the cost of living there? It's 17 cents on the dollars. So you can have a nice spot and, you know, everything taken care of and, you know, it's... You can find your way, you know what I mean? Violence, militia, all of that? None of that ain't gonna. I mean, there's different things happening, Africa's huge, you know. So you're gonna have different things happening in different places. And a lot of it stems off of colonialism, the stuff that has already been there for years. Okay. But you meet the people and they're so beautiful. You get to know who we are truly and why we've been able to maintain and hold on to our ways for so long because it's engraved in us. You know how we have the very soulful, deep ways about ourselves that we're passionate people. We're loving, giving, you know, caring. You know, we hug each other. We hug our kids and really, you know. I mean, it's bad everywhere, but the majority of our culture is that. It stems from that. And the fact that we've been here so long and we continue to have that and have carried it with us shows who we truly are. When you go there, you get to see why. Those people give you the shirts off their back. They're really genuine and nice. And, you know, they check up on you and things that you just kind of like, hmm, you know. And they don't want anything. Here is like, I'm not gonna say everybody, but a lot of times there's always a motive behind something. Oh yeah, yeah. You talk about your atmosphere, man. So there you're saying that there's no motive. There's just being genuine. Yeah. There's some scammers over there, too. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that. I'm not gonna let you go away with that. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that. I'm not gonna let you go away with that. I'm just saying the majority. One of my cousins over there right now got a card and he's trying to pull a scam. I'm telling you. I'm talking about the majority of the culture and how people are. I don't wanna get, I'll let you go before I ask you about Kenyatta again. Just positive word. He came on what, a few weeks about a month ago. A month ago. And he was talking about positive word. And I know you guys linked together. So how, I mean, cause we didn't get to hear your side of that story, but me and you talked a little bit of it. And I know you love the brand just as much as he did helping him along with it. Give us a little spiel on that part of you and his relationship. Oh, here's the shirt right here. Oh, that's what I'm talking about, baby. He got the shirt on right now. Oh, I like that shirt. That's nice. Shout out to Kenyatta, man. Oh yeah, man. He's talking about positive word. He's still talking about positive word. He does. He's rocking it. When I go in there, I'm doing tours doing anything. I bring everybody by his spot and he makes sure everybody take care of me. Over in LA where he's at. And me and him became men together. Me, him, and Nolan, and a couple other people. We became men together cause we were so young when we met and we were like this, you know what I mean? And we just grew through those times, you know them growing times. Yeah, yeah, definitely. So we're gonna always be brothers, you know. And when he graduated from Morehouse in 92, he asked me because he said, man, you always had fashion. You always did your own thing. I did this thing with this t-shirt and this and that. And I think we can do this line, man. It could be really cool. So he talked me into it. I flew out to Atlanta. And that's when we got on the positive where it really, really got on it. We started making the shirts. We were living off of it, you know? Wow. Made the shirts, the sweatshirts. Then we got in the jeans. We made leather jackets. You know, we did a few things. So, but it was always his baby. Yeah, yeah. And I added to the look. We were partners at the time. I added to the look. He still uses some of the stuff that I drew up and stuff. But we're, you know, that's his thing. Music is mine, you know? Well, you with him when, I guess, when Tupac Liam was at that Andre Ryzen. Oh yeah, we were both there. You was there. Oh yeah. Man, I look at that video and I see Tupac wearing it or I see Will Smith wearing it. And now I see it in the store today here. And it's just something to see the history of it. No matter what, the history of it is so dope, you know, to be able to look back on those things. And I know those guys know those brands because they've seen the, you know. Oh yeah, man. They keep seeing it come back, man. I saw Jada, because through the Jada thing I was there and all that. Yeah, he talked about the Jada. You know what I mean? And I saw Jada at Eric Abadou's birthday stage. Okay. So I went up and talked to her. She was like, what? I told her, I had to remind her about positive. Yeah, yeah. She was like, oh wow. We ain't seen each other in years, man. In years, man. Because you told that story on here. I remember, like we met her before she was known. Yeah, yeah. We went over to her apartment on. I know, he told that story. Yeah, there are facts in Venice or whatever. She's living in an apartment right there. And I was seeing her roommate. She was a Clipper cheerleader. Oh, so you were the one, he was seeing our roommate. He mentioned that. Yeah, you mentioned that. Yeah. Man, that's dope, man. We thank you, man, for coming on the show, man. How can people book you or are you doing shows now with everything the way it is? Well, right now I just put out my latest song off the new album just a week ago. Which one? Stay Away, Shay. Okay, I ain't see that one. The one I seen was posted on there right now. Stay Away, Shay. Stay Away, Shay. Yeah, I seen it. And it's available on all platforms. And so that's being promoted right now. Then we're gonna put out a few more songs before we actually put out the album. When is the album supposed to come out? I don't know yet, because we're still spacing out the song. The album's been done, so it's gonna come. It's just spacing out the song. I'm trying out some new things, marketing, because I am independent. Yeah. And so that in itself, I try to remain that as much as I can. It's a thing of fighting the right people, the right team to work with to make things happen. But yeah, Stone Mecca is on all the social media. Just put in Stone Mecca on Google and everything. Oh, you popping up. Yeah, and then you can go back and look at that. But yeah, check out that Stay Away, Shay. You know, it's about, you know, you got that person. It can be a person, the thing with my, in my instance, it was a person. It was a person. You know, telling them to stay away because they're influenced, they have or whatever, you know. Right. But yeah, it's... And if there's a young artist coming up who would like to have you as a mentor, do you take on people like that? Man, I've always been wide open for people because I want them to know the truth about what I know. And you know a lot. You know, and I want to also inspire them to be who they are completely, not fall into the trap of trying to be what's out or what everybody's doing. If that's not your passion, you know what I mean? If truly you are artist inside, then express it, you know, and don't be afraid to. And the people will respond. They will come. So Doug told me to tell you, you're the dopest guy to come through there, man. And that is an artist in the music studio. Yeah, he love you, man. You know the way, you know, you play that guitar and the sounds, man. So, man, he was just bragging about it. We talked a little bit earlier today. I was like, have you been down? He was like, yeah, he come through, man, and rocked out with me. I supposed to be going to see him. I don't know if I'm gonna go tonight, but yeah, that's my guy right there. No, yeah, no, he's a good guy. He made that if experience was money thing, I told you, bro. He came out like, wow. We were supposed to just use that for booking. But let's put it out, let people see it. Wow. I'm going out and get something from him and yours so I can promote this interview. He got some stuff down there, man. Say, man, thank you so much, man. We love you, brother. Love you too, brother. Stone Mech has been on Boss Talk 101, man. Hey, man, it's been another great segment of Boss Talk 101. And we out.