 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, amazing, official, Miss Jamaica Wait. Well, go on, my dad. Hey, man, hey, man, we back on set. We got a very, very special, special guest here today. This guy don't really need no introduction. He been getting down for a long time, man. I'm talking about real good at it too, man. My guy Link is in the building, man. What up, what up, what up? Save, man. And they be calling me, calling, I can't get it like y'all. I be trying. Hey, ain't nothing wrong with trying, bro. You have me in the mirror a lot of times, call myself doing my thing. That's what's up. Say, before I get ready to go out, and back then, you could slow dance. See, he never got lost, not in the sauce. They don't slow dance. They young niggas crazy. I know. I miss the days of R&B. I promise you. We have so many artists that come on and they say they do slow songs, but their slow songs nowadays is different compared to what it used to be. And I'll be like, okay, well, sing for me. And they sing, but their singing is totally different. I'm looking for that R&B soul singing. Right on, right on. And it's just totally different, but that's the generation that we're in right now. I know, which is why I'm still out here grinding so I can try to continue to rep real R&B, man. We ain't going nowhere. Man. Yeah. Link, man. It's going down, man. Thank you for coming on Boss Talk 101. What a boss is talking. Man, appreciate your invite, man. Brother, I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Man, so, man, we like to go back down that rabbit hole, man, just trying to understand like who is Link before Link? You know, who is, how did you come up? Where was your hat as a child growing up, man? Right. So could you give us a little spill on that? Yeah, man. I'm from right here in Dallas, Texas. Okay. I grew up in Old Cliff, Texas, man. Yeah, that's my hood. There's a lot of people coming out of Old Cliff. Old Cliff, man. In the building. Old Cliff. While we're on that, man, congratulations. Got to send a shout out to my alma mater, South Oak Cliff High School. Jason Todd. He was just on here. Man, our reigning state champions. Exactly. You know what I mean? Representing. So I got to represent my alma mater. Did you go to any of the games? Of course I did. Okay, got to make sure. Jason Todd. Jason Todd come on here and gave us a hell of an interview, man. Did you see it? I did not. But I did. You got to check it out, man. I noticed that he was on. I was like, wait, wait, wait, wait. That looked like Coach. Yeah, sir. We working, man. I love his story. He's talking about all them young boys growing up and how he made an impact on their lives. I love it. Yeah, so I'm from right here in Old Cliff, man. You know what I mean? Grew up with the church right there in Old Cliff, which is where, you know... That's where you singing started? Yeah, that's where it started, man, you know, because we had to go to church. You know... Who made you go to church? Mom or dad? Oh, mom's. Mom's, yeah. Mom's. She was there with us every Sunday, so it wasn't no missing because she was going. Yeah. So we had to go. Now, when you said us or we... I'm talking about my siblings, my brothers and my sisters. How many? It was four of us. Four. Okay, and where did you fall? One brother, two, I'm the second. Okay. From the top. The oldest boy. Okay. Wow. Yeah, man. So was dad in the picture? He was not in the picture at that time. Dad did not show up until later on. Until later on? Mm-hmm. How did you feel about that? Growing up as a kid. Oh. Did it affect you in the house? In the beginning, it did not because I didn't really understand until I started noticing, you know, my partners, Pops was around, you know, so I was... You know, I started saying, you know, you know what I'm saying? And I started asking questions and, you know, mom, she just going to tell you only so much that you can handle, you know, at your age, but as I got older, 15, 16, then I got a little angry. Mm-hmm. Like, you know, I was like, because I'm, you know, I'm almost grown up now at this point, so I was a little like, okay, bad, you know. Give me an instance of how you acted out because of him being absent. I didn't act out. You didn't act out. No. Can you say you got a little bit angry? Yeah, internally. Oh, internally? I didn't say, I didn't go around saying... It didn't come out. No. No, it was just for me. Okay. And then one day, my mom said, you want to meet your father? And you were how old? I was 15. 15. And I said, yeah, I do. She said, bet, we're going to go see him tomorrow. When he saw him the next day, we chatted, he explained what he felt like he needed to explain at the time, and I said, bet, and I let it go, and we had a relationship. Oh, so you built a relationship after that? Yes, we did. How far did he live from where you were? I'm not sure about that. That's back then, I came really, you know what I mean? Yeah, that's way back. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? You ain't that old. I am old enough for that to be way back in the day, you know what I mean? So that's how me and my pop started getting in. That's cool. At least you didn't have that animosity build up where you can't come back in my life at this time. You know what I mean? Some kids are like that. Well, it just kind of depends on when they reappear, you know what I mean? So I was still vulnerable at the time. I was 15, so I don't know everything. So at that point, I was still able to be molded. Did your brothers and sisters have the same dad? No. Okay, so you were the only child for him? I was. Okay. And growing up, 15, did you really know that you had the vocals back then? You know what, man? I used to, I didn't know like what it really meant. You know what I'm saying? I knew I had something because me and my mom, we used to sit up in the kitchen with her and she would pull out her old records and then, you know, I would hear her playing some time and then I started going in there with her on the days that she would do that and, you know, eventually I started trying to, you know, join in with her because there was this song she used to play. Which one was it? It was called Close Your Eyes. I believe it was, may have been Peaches and Herb. This was way back, this is insane because I was a little dude. I don't know that song. Nobody would know it. It was my mom playing it. You know what I mean? So it was from her era. I was just, you know, I heard it. So I used to hear it over and over and over and then I used to on low key start trying to sing the dude's part and then when I built up enough nerve, I went in there and, you know, got in with my mom, you know what I'm saying? And then that's what we started doing on Sundays. Was she shocked like the first time you went in and got down with her? Was she shocked at your vocals or she knew? I don't know if she was shocked. She was smiling though. She seemed to be, you know what I'm saying? Like cool with it. Because I can just imagine because I remember my son driving down the street and a song coming on. I can hear him in the back. He was probably about five at a time and I hear him back there singing and I'm like, man that boy got a voice. But as he got older, it's like, you know, kids that won't sing in front of you. And I'll be begging him. He's in a choir at school, but he's like, mom, don't come. Don't come. You stay over there. Don't come see me. I don't want to hear it. So it was just so funny and I want to hear him. He made it to regionals recently and I'm like, and you still won't sing for me? Cause you mama. That's the ultimate one right there. The other ones really don't really matter. You know what I'm saying? That's what I say when I built up enough nerve. So that's what that is. And then you started, did you join the choir after that? I did. I did. I have, I was in the choir and elementary all the way up all the way through high school. Did you get any lead? Oh, without that. Cause with a voice, like, like what you have, I can imagine. Well, thank you. But you know, back then I ain't really know that singing was something that was kind of, you know what I mean? I really thought everybody could sing. You know what I mean? I ain't know I was doing nothing special. I thought everybody could sing. I just thought that was something we all could do. You know what I mean? It wasn't till I got like to high school when I was like, wait a minute, that person don't sound like me. I don't sound like that. You know what I mean? And then I started seeing kind of the differences in the people who really could sing versus the other people who could not. What was a group that stood out to you when you got in high school? Cause you know me, I was probably, I can't wait to get to school each day. I was on that. You know, I thought I was doing my thing, you know, Playboy Elroy was in the building. So what was the group that kind of, our baby face, yeah, baby face, that was another one that kind of stood out to me because it was a whip appeal and all that probably. But it was before that. It was a sweet November, all that, you know, stuff like that. So what group, what group stuck out to you? Probably back then it would, it would be like new addition. Cause they was, you know, they was coming. That was like they first little, you know what I'm saying? They was just coming out with the candy girl joint. Yeah, yeah. The Jackson's of course from way back, you know, not necessarily that they had an out then, but it's just cause I had seen the Jackson's, you know what I mean? Um, it's, it's kind of hard for me to remember back then. I think maybe, um, what's the dudes used to sing? Uh, no, that was Gerald, by the fact, Laverne has written all over your face. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But when you say a new addition, you say a candy girl. I think about Bobby Brown when he said, I need a girl friend. And in that song, I, for some reason, I remember I was standing in Las Vegas at the time and I probably was like maybe 13, 12 or something. And that stood out to me during that time, cause that was back then during that album. Uh, that song for some reason, I was like, man, I mean, even though I heard Ralph, you know what I mean? I heard Ralph. Ralph was the one that everybody, you know, Ralph was Mr. Sensitive. Yeah. Man. But that thing by Brian, it was somebody. You know what I'm saying? I knew he was wild here before even he became a wild here. Right? Right on, man. Bobby always had that, that, that energy, man, that whole, that different energy, man. He was, he had to be up front. He was, you know, some people just ain't, ain't made to follow, man. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? To no farther than on, they just got that extra little bug in them, man. Well, they got to be up top. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So how did you guys form a protege? How did Y'all even come together to even do that? See, what happened was, man, a mutual friend used to always talk to me about this one cat. Okay. This dude, Darrell Delight. Delight? Yeah, I've seen you. Delight. He used to always tell me, he said, man, I know this one dude, man. He's so cold with the music, blah, blah, blah, right? Unbeknownst to me, the mutual friend used to always tell Delight, say, man, I know this one dude, man. He's nice, man. He's with the focus. He's, you know what I'm saying? So he was introducing the other cat to each one of us without us knowing. Already was just bigging us up. And one day we finally met, man, we finally hooked up, right? And within probably five, 10 minutes, we had written a song, recorded it, all that. Like real talk. Like I ain't, he came in, whatever, whatever, man, what's up? He was playing some music. I heard it. He was, boom, boom. I was like, hey. You know what I'm saying? I got something to go to that. He be like, bet. Then I start, man. Boom. The next thing we know, we recorded the joint just off the rip. You know what I'm saying? And after that, man, of course, we formed a relationship, you know what I'm saying? From a musical standpoint that we was like, yo, we need to do something, right? And him, Delight, he, I guess he had already made his mind up he was going to do this group or whatever. And how old were you this time? Oh my goodness. This was out of high school? Yeah. This is out of high school. I might have been like 22, 23, 24, something like that. Because you already had created a group also in high school, right? No. Okay. No, because I was reading somewhere online and it said that you had created a group in high school. Well, I was a part of a gospel group. I did have a little, you know what I mean? But we was just in high school doing what we, you know what I mean? We weren't really trying to, you know what I'm saying? Okay. So yes and no. Okay. But Delight was like, yo, man, I want you to be in this group, man, this group. And I was like, yo, dawg, I don't really. Do the group thing. Yeah, I don't really, you know, I had already done it and kind of got, you know what I'm saying, messed up a little bit. You know what I mean? Because I was way more into it obviously than this other person was. So I kind of told myself from then I'm not doing the groups no more. But he stayed on me, man. He talked me into it, man. And I was like, I bet, man. So we did our little thing, man. We was just okay in the beginning. We needed work, but we kept working. And then we went to New York and we did our thing. You know what I'm saying? And we were signed. We got signed early on. Yeah. Yeah. We signed to ADF. Okay. And they are untouchables. And we're supposed to come out on Motown and all this kind of stuff. But, you know, something happened. We got shelved. It didn't happen. And then I was like, yo. Who was the? I got the goat. Who was the other? It was had to be some other groups. No, no, no. Yeah. Give me the members of Proto J. Oh, it was myself. It was Delight. It was Scooby, which is Bobby Perkins. And it was Josie. They all from Dallas. Out to Landry. All from Dallas. Wow. Dope. And so back then when you guys did, when you did that, who would have been like label mates to the, because they didn't, they didn't just pick y'all up. It was other people that they were dealing with too. Oh, it was a lot of people. Eddie had a lot of people. He had Intro. Eddie had who? Intro? Intro had just kind of, boom, they were still on their first single. You know what I mean? Uh-huh. But he, Eddie had so many groups, man. Yeah. He had so many acts. I can't even remember. It was incredible because after we signed, he had like a, um. Like a get-together? Yes. Like a little something, somebody's house. Y'all come out to the house, man. Bet. And we went and he had all of his groups that he had signed out there. Yeah. That was in New York. That was in New York. How was New York back then? That's a good question. Like how, because today's New York is not that New York. It isn't. See, I haven't been in years. You haven't been in years. Because we just was out there and it's, to me, it still looks similar, but the times have changed so much from, you know, the hustle changed a little bit, the group, the music changed a little bit, you know, the stuff shifted now to South and the West Coast and everybody else with this internet is able to, we can do it all anywhere. Right. It was live, man. When we was there, man. It was, man, we actually moved and lived up for a couple of years. Really? Yeah. We was on the grind, man. We was. Well, y'all was that up there? Flatbush? No, no, no, no. We was in Manhattan. Manhattan. 86th and Amsterdam. Oh, yeah. You got to know the street. Right there on the corner. And at the time it was a, it was a little club right across the street called Moe Better. Okay. Man, off the chain, man. So when I was in New York back then, you know, R&B was still the top. So, you know what I'm saying? It was extremely exciting and fun and, you know what I mean? And hard at the same time. And, man, I wouldn't trade it for nothing in the world, man. So you tell me, hold on. He telling me that you and protege stayed out there for two years and was shift pretty much you didn't bring nothing out. Well, we weren't shift the whole two years in the beginning. We was on the hunt. We didn't, we didn't have a record deal and then moved to New York. We went to New York to get. And got that record deal. And got it. So you see what I'm saying? So we weren't shift the whole two. It probably took us one, a year and a half or whatever to get it. You feel me? And then it was like, boom, once we got it and saw what was going on. Saw the writing on the wall. I was like, nah, man. No. You know what I'm saying? And it took us a little minute to get out of that because Eddie didn't really want to let us out of the beginning. But you know, it's like, come on, man. I ain't trying to be, you know, sitting up waiting two, three years to you know what I'm saying? Like, no, no. So when you did that, though, did that, how did that affect the group during that time? Did it bring y'all closer together? Did it make y'all get at odds? Well, we weren't at odds, but you know, the realization kicked in that I was out. You know what I'm saying? Because it was, it was, it was like I said, it was difficult for me to do that. You know what I'm saying? And now I'm put three, four years, five years or whatever into it. And here we are again, like this for me, because I was a little older than the rest of the guys. You know what I'm saying? I was out of college. You know what I mean? I had went to, I was hooping. I was on scholarship. I thought I'm going to the league. You know what I mean? And I just shifted my focus when I came home from college. So I was a little old. I said, I don't have six, seven, eight, nine, 10 years to sit. I can't do it. I'm going to put this into it. I'm going to put my all into it. If, if it don't happen for whatever reason. Hey man, I love you cats, but I got to go get it. And then that's eventually what happened. You know what I'm saying? The dudes would, they, of course it was difficult, but they was cool with it. They had to respect it. You know what I mean? I came back home. The light went stayed in New York and got on his grind and start coming up, making good connections with labels and stuff like that. And when he got on, we had always communicated. He said, Link, listen, when it's time, I'm bringing you back. And that's what happened. And I went back to New York. So knowing, knowing all the things that you know now, if you had to go back to, um, right before you went to New York, what would you have changed to make the outcome probably a little bit better? Because we have a lot of younger people who are watching this and could end up in that same situation without doing their research. What would you have done differently? Actually, I wouldn't have changed not one thing. You know what I'm saying? Because first of all, nothing was guaranteed. You know, when you, when you out and you chasing your dream, then, um, you have to use all the experiences that come along with that chase to grow and get better and learn because again, you could go do that and not even achieve anything, you know, and it's go back home. And that still wouldn't be considered a failure because you tried. That was your dream. You know what I'm saying? So all the things that I went through and, and the learning experience, it made me, the artist that I am and, and, and made me think about certain things and not be as careless and waste time and stuff like that. Cause you got to understand that. Listen, that door opens for one second and when it opens, you got to be already ready to walk through the door. You can't be like, Oh, hold on. Let me give me a second. I'll be right back. You got to be ready when the door opens, man. You know what I'm saying? So I wouldn't change nothing. So, cause learning about industry back then compared to learning about it now is two different things. Right now you can just jump on the internet and find out almost anything you want to know. How did you learn about anything you needed to do in the game back then? Did you have someone above you who's been in it that was trying to educate you on what to do, want not to do, or is just a trial and error trial and error trial and error. When we, when we, when we as the group went to New York, we were fortunate enough to have made an acquaintance with a guy named Dave DeBerry who had produced a single on the B side of vanilla ice, ice, ice, baby. I think it was called go ill or something like that, but it was on the B side. Even back in the day, it was A side and the B side. So he had done the joint on the B side and he was kind of looking for, you know, I'm saying to do whatever and we hooked up with him and he lived on 87 in Amsterdam. So we lived with him. You know what I mean? So he was kind of already in the, you know, I mean, in the business in a production kind of way. So he still had some connections. His brother was actually, I want to say Tony Rome. I don't know if you guys remember this guy. He was a huge manager back in the day with like the Houdini cats and all of them. So he had some connections. So we weren't, we weren't just, you know what I mean? Thugging it out in hotels and on street like that. We did have some connections, you know what I mean? To have brought us all the way from Dallas to New York. You know what I mean? We was chasing, but we weren't talking. We did have a little bit of comfort. So that him and the experiences I had with delight just just coming through the ring of the first time after he had done a few production songs and but other than that just that whole experiences of recording on real level. You know what I'm saying? In the big studios and all of that, watching that whole process, I just kind of learned on the fly with everything. That's man. So yeah, you, you, so you go back up there after you then left New York and delight call you and say, man, it's up. Right. It's up, man. You get ready. Well, how does that conversation go and encounter what happened? Man, look, I still, you know, I'm saying I'm getting hype. That's why you bringing it up because I remember how, you know, so how excited I was. You know what I'm saying? I was like finally, you know what I mean? And one day he was like link. He said dog and really what it was. I was working at a bank at the time, right? And we had been conversing back and forth over the time, blah, blah, blah, saying we're going to do whatever and I was at work and I just, I don't know. I just called him or whatever and we was talking, blah, blah, blah. I said, man, dog, you know what? I really need to just go ahead and quit like on the cool man. It's really time me to quit this job. And he said, dog, you can quit. I said, what? He said, dog, you can quit your job. Did you have any kids or a family at this time? I think I had a daughter. I had my oldest daughter at the time. I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute, bro. Hold up. Cause I wasn't really, you know what I'm saying? I was just, yeah, I'm capping and he doesn't respond. When somebody says something that you have, cause that's why I asked you that question because when you have people who are depending on responsibilities, that's what I'm thinking about. Exactly. So I'm like, yo, he said, he said, dog, straight up. I said, so, whoa, whoa, whoa. So we need to really talk and where he said bet cool. Call him when I get up, when you get home. I got to the house. Of course I'm, you know, I'm bugging and then I called him and say, explain, hey, listen, this is the deal. This is what's happening. He said, look, this is what we're going to do. I'm bringing up here, man. We're going to do a demo on you and I'm a shop. We're going to get a deal. And if we get a record deal, I'm going to give you a publishing deal. This is a bet. I gave my job a little, you know, I wasn't done. I didn't quit. No, I didn't quit. I wasn't done. Took a leave of absence. Buy out. Be back. I got to take this leave of absence. Personal business, personal life. And that is exactly what I did. And it was just for 30 days. It was for a sale. Okay. We'll give you 30 days. A bet dipped in about two weeks. I had my demo done, was finished with it. I came back home. Delighted his thing on the shopping. He said, Link, bro, we good. Bring your behind right back on us. So I was like, I'm out and I never look back. And you quit. Did you ever want you went back? Yeah, I went back and everybody was looking to me. I was shocked like that. I can't believe you came back. Personal. Yeah. Personal life hit me. It was like, damn, I said, I said, it was a leave of absence. But soon after that, I was out. And so when you get, what was the song that you did on that demo? If you don't mind me asking, what was it? Cause that had to be a bad boy. It was an extremely bad boy. The first song on that joint was my body. Oh, that thing. How did, how did Joe, my body go the same way? Yeah, man, that's my joint, man. That was my song. My body all over your body. Yes, sir. How long did it take you to write that song? I can't really say, man. Me and Delight, we just sat down one day and knocked it out. It was probably like a couple of hours, something like that. So your song had the same cadence. The same is the same song, bruh. The song, the vote matter of fact, my body on your body, babe. Your body on my body, babe. That's me on the song. Yeah, I didn't even know that. Yeah, right on. I know you didn't know that. That's why I'm on the podcast. But you know, that's me. You wrote the in the middle of the night and when my body screamed in for you, baby. Gotta call you up and let you know is what I'm feeling, baby. So you wrote. Mine, mine, mine. Yeah, bro. Thank you for that, man. No problem, man. Cause, cause see at the end of the day, I don't really know how the writing part go, but some kind of way you know. Huh? Yeah, he's still right. No bad with the pen. Yes, sir. So what, but that writing part though, how did they get you to commit to that? Well, let's go back. Let's stay on the fact that you, that demo shopped out like that and they seen how many songs was on it. I had three songs on three songs. My body. I had another joint called. So fine. So fine. And then I had another slow joint on there with a duet with Antoinette Rosen. I can't really remember. I'm trying to figure out who else back in there in your era who call itself coming up out of Dallas with them vocals back there. Yeah. It was somebody else. He wasn't by himself. We had somebody here back then. He's looking like, he's looking like, it had to be somebody. What year was that when you went back 97 boy. That was that was a good time. Then it was going in. How was it though? Like with R&B and rap was still rap was here. Rap was prevalent, but it was like this. You could both of them was kind of neck and neck during that time. They was coming up because you had silk. You had all these different groups that was you had a jagged edge all this different stuff that was going on. So it was a we had a tip for that. I wish it would have stayed like that too. It was coming. They were they were coming then they still weren't. It was still all about R&B, but they were you know what I'm saying? They was they had weather the storm because I remember being in school and in a little music class and you know, they listed genres of music. They ain't even list rap and you know, we was like, uh, where the rap category at on on the deal? He was like, well, if rap music lasts two more years or three more years, I'll put it on her. That's what he actually said. Wow. So, you know, rap came up. They was just coming up back then, but we were still the number one selling music. I know with this generation nowadays, they they're not into R&B. Like my daughter, she's all about pop. She don't really listen to right to rap. She might don't listen to know R&B already. I'm gonna tell you about pop. I put money on it this morning. Uh, she was singing. Uh, she was singing, uh, Rick James. She's a very freaky girl this morning walking to a car. What the whole song? I promise 16 year old. I put money on it right now. You know, the only reason I would say maybe I know she will. Let me tell you the only reason I say maybe if it wasn't a tiktok. I don't know. I just know a lot of these kids nowadays. That's the only reason they know some of these songs is because they bring the songs back and put it in a tiktok. That's true. That's it. She was singing that song this morning, walking to the car to crank her car up. And I'm like, what the hell does she know about that? In my mind, I'm telling you what I was thinking, but I kept on working on my computer. I'm like, what the hell does she know about that? She knew something. But she was just singing it and she knew the words. She knew the word, but she was singing, uh, like the, the, the verse, you know what I mean? Not just the chorus and that's what messed me up. I'm like, how the hell does she know this song? Hey, she done heard it from someone. I was thinking they might have been playing in at her band. You know what I mean? Her band, you know, cause she played a flute. She played a, uh, she played a oboe. She played different instruments. Could be. So that probably, I'm thinking she was trying to learn that. Cause a lot of times them schools, a lot of times we'll bring them old songs back, right? True that. So you, it was, okay, let's get back to you. So once you go back up there, you get the deal. You sign and everything he told you happened pretty much. And were you good with your deal back then? Cause back then they were shafting people on deals and you and I both know that. Right on. Well, I was signed actually to delights publishing company. Okay. So, so what happened was in the shopping, you know, he, I was not only offered a deal recording deal. He was offered a production deal too to have his company over at the spot. You see what I'm saying? So it wasn't just me over there by myself. It was delight. They signed him and the delight side and me. You see what I'm saying? So I was good. It was the deal was good. I was good. It wasn't no, you know what I mean? Cause it's my partner. It's still a business. You know what I'm saying? But that was my boy. It wasn't like I was straight signed to them and they don't care. You know what I mean? This is my guy. So yeah, the deal was, the deal was all right. Okay. So now once you do that, now you got to after that, you got to come up with a album. Is that the sex, sex you down sex down sex down. Is that was that the first, the first one? That was the first album. That was the first and only album that we did on, on that label, which was back then was Sony relative. It was sex down. And did you, did you? Okay. I watched the video while you went hard on that thing too. But I, I did kind of get a, a, a, I know he was competing maybe with Montale. Hmm. That's how we felt when we watched it. We're like, this, this video look very similar. Cats would play basketball and all this good stuff. I said, yeah, it's something going on here. So what, what was that like, that whole process? Man, you was on top of the world. Hey, I feel like I was, you know, for that little moment, that little brief moment in time, we did feel like we was in the world, you know, after you, when you came from where I came from and you put in your mind, I'm going to do it. I'm going to make it ain't nothing going to stop me. And then you actually do it and you get to live out your dream for a little bit. Man, it ain't nothing like it, brother. How did, how did that song, how did song start? I'll start that very song. Which one? The, the, the one that you and Lisa Ray on that thing. I was in two of them with Lisa Ray. No, which one? It was the one, the main one, man. I knew from the moment that we met. That's the bad song, gun boy. Yeah. I really want to sex you back. How did, how did, he said, I knew from, man, that whole go hard to it. I really want to sex you back. How did you write that, man? Hold on, I feel like this is something like that. That's it, son. What's up, man? I appreciate it, man. Keep bumping it, man. Turn your, turn your squad on to it, man. So how did, tell me how did, how did that process of writing that going? What, just give me the speed along. It was, it was, you know, delight and my other guy, Kenny Flav, they had this, that track and the track was boom, boom, boom. Face time was everything, baby. It was bumping. So I was like, wow. How did you know from time? You know what I mean? And then life was just like, hey, we got to flip this link. We can't do this like no regular, you know, song. We got to flip it, man. He said, we need to be on that bone, thugs and harmony vibe. And then that's what he, got to me, got to me, got to me, got to me. And when he started doing that, I was like, okay, bet, bet, bet, bet. And then I just took that little vibe and then put lyrics to it. Oh, cause yeah, you talk about what bone did. He don't want to say, everybody. He don't want to say, everybody. You know what I mean? I get it now. That's dope. So you always write all of these songs in studio? No. No? No, he out there by the old studio. Okay, I'm just trying to see, cause some people got to be in studio hearing the beat and then just write it out and be like, I'm done. No, it's just inspiration comes in different places. You know what I'm saying? It don't matter where I can be in church, I can be sleep, believe it or not, and still hear the song. You know what I'm saying? It just depends on where you are. Sometimes you get contracted to do something for people and you got to be there in the studio or whatever and you still have to be able to create in that atmosphere. But for the most part, the inspiration and creativity comes when you are away from the studio. You know what I mean? And do, I'm sorry, but I do most of the things you write always come from your experiences? No, not mine alone. They are real experiences though. I wouldn't make that, but like friends of mine or people that I know that have, you know, mentioned certain things or something that I witnessed somebody going through and mostly my own experiences. Well, six, I really want to sex your body. Where did that come from? Yeah. I just told you. No, I want to hear where it comes from. Like I said. No, I want to, I'm talking about that had something to do with him. You know, I'm talking about the lyrics. Yeah, stop playing me. I'm trying to get out of it. Who are you talking about? That's what I want to try to get to. Y'all trying to be messed up. Well, the title of the CD was Sex Down. Yeah, Sex Down. It was about a relationship from a male's point of view where he is in the beginning sex, sex, sex. I'm trying to get, I'm trying to hit that solid one. But it grows into an emotional thing where feelings are involved. So that's what the album was. So I was trying to just stick to the script of, okay, we need another song with this type of content. So that's really where the inspiration for that song came from along with the fact that, you know, Light told me to switch it up a little bit. So that wasn't like a personal, you know what I mean? No experience that I already had. I just, yeah, let me write about it. No, I'm not even telling that. Got all the songs that you've done. Which one is your favorite? That is an impossible question. That's like me saying out of all your children, you got which one of them you love the most? Yeah. That's very difficult. See, you know what I'm saying? Because you love them all for different reasons. Different reasons. You know what I'm saying? I have my favorites. You know what I mean? Some songs of mine or my favorites that haven't even been out that nobody has even heard. You know what I'm saying? So it's kind of difficult for me to... See, that's the one thing we've always said. Every time we ask that question, everybody always answers always the last one that they did is always their favorite. It's never usually like one they did like five years ago is their favorite. It's always the last one because as you move along, you're making it better and better and better. So to you, this is my best work. Let me ask you something on that. Let's get back to that song. And you know, I really know what to do. That one. You see. Yeah, let's get back to that one. What? I want to know about like, did you know it was going to be that big? Yes. You knew it. Knew it. How? Well, because of how we felt and what we heard when we recorded it in the way that once we presented the entire album because basically the label said, here, take this money. Go bring me an album. Right? They didn't bother us. They didn't send nobody. Well, we think you need this producer and we're going to cook you up with these guys. It was none of that. They trusted us out the gate like Delight Link. We had never really done anything. We had a fabulous demo with my body on it. You understand? Which was an incredible record. So for them, they was like, damn, you know what I mean? Here. So we just, we went and did our thing. So when we came back and had this big gathering of me, they presented me to the everybody boom and we sat in the room and listened to the record. Man, when they, when they were, you know, feeling all of it. But when really one of the six your body came on, the entire room was like, oh my God, that's it, right? That's the one. That's it. They hadn't even heard, you know what I'm saying? Really one of the six your body is fourth on the record. They hadn't even, they was like, that's it. That's not all. That's the one right there. So, so we knew because we knew then that they were going to get behind the project because they had something that they believed in. And so that song, that song right there, y'all knew that was the one too before y'all even came to them. Y'all know when they got to that one, you say, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Bad boys. You know what I'm talking about? That's why they put it fourth because I want him to, you know, hear these first, but watching one thing. He's building, he's building. I want to, and so who ain't got Lisa Ray? That she is on the wall. We didn't, we didn't have her. Oh, that's my girl right down there. Who ain't got her? Man, I'm going to tell you something that's going to be crazy. You probably ain't going to believe it. So when we were discussing the video, so now this is the second, you know, this is our second go round. This is the second single. Really want to set your body wasn't the first single. What you're going to do is the first thing. Yeah. All right. The one when y'all tried to be funny. You talking about, you know, my tail. That's what I'm saying. So they were asking me, there was a, the A&R for my project was a woman named a Wonder Booth. Okay. All right. She the one that signed us. She the one was feeling us or whatever. So she's, we were talking and she said, so who are you going to get to be the lead lady in the video? And without hesitation, I said Lisa Ray because at the time that's when players clubs out. Yeah. She was the it girl. Yeah. She was top, but nobody better than red at the time. So I said, I want Lisa Ray. You know, it was like, okay, well, I don't know what you mean. I don't know. You know what I'm saying? I'll let, I'll let be a bit. So faith would have it. I was performing on the K-104 Summer Jam in Dallas at home. There's a lot of people, me, LL, Maya, whole bunch of people, Tamiya, Montale. You know, we all came out during that time. We was doing, I think after the concert Park Avenue. Yeah. Park Avenue. Why don't you come down the stairs? Yes. Stop playing. On Park Lane. Yeah. Park Avenue, because there have been a couple of other Park Avenue, but the original one, right? We got a, the after party is there. I got a VIP section, right? Boom. We follow up in that. I'm chilling. Yeah. What up there? I'm on, I just performed at the crib. So I'm, oh, you know what I mean? I'm on the day and all. Bartender, you know what I'm talking about? It's going down. Man, I sat back, and I just so happened to look to the left and I said, damn. I said either I'm tripping or that's Lisa Ray. You know what I'm saying? So I said, wait a minute. Now I looked again. I said, well, I'll be down. And she's by herself in my VIP. I said, oh, hell no. No, no, no, no. You know what I'm saying? This ain't fitting to happen without me saying something. So I got up and walked over there and introduced myself. What's up? They swear. How you doing? I'm Link. Say Link, how you doing? Nice to meet you. And we, from that point on, we struck up a friendship that is off the chain. I asked her that night. I said, man, you're not going to bleed it. But I told my people, I wanted you to be in my video. And she was like, really? What's wrong with my bad man? We talked. She said, I do it. And ever since then, man, we've been cool. Ain't that crazy? That's crazy, yo, shout out to Lisa Ray. Shout out to Stacey J, your cousin. All y'all, we love all y'all. Let's get it. What's she at now? Yeah. She, I talked to Stacey J about, remember I talked to her, we, we, I talked to her cousin, but I ain't talked to Lisa in a couple of years. Years now. Yeah, yeah. But that deal, that's dope, man. She actually did another video. That's what you were saying? Yeah, I had three singles on that record and she did two of them with me. What was her name? Another one. I don't want to see. I don't want to see. Okay, gotta go, gotta go check that one back out. Cause I was still focused on that one, man. I know that. Most link fans, that's what they focus on, that one Joker man. And get mad about anything else. You better not mess with that one. Right on. So like, when you, I know you, you, you're a man of many, you know about music, top three artists of all times, dead or alive. Any genre. Any genre. We do this every, every episode. Boy, y'all cold blood. Number one. Top three of all time. We just talking about in my period. Yeah, yeah. This is your opinion. My opinion. After my time. Your time three. Okay. Number one. It, of all time. Donnie Hathaway. Okay. That's my boy right there. Boy, that nigga bad too, boy. God, this is so. He is the reason that I do what I do. Donnie Hathaway. That dude has the most incredible vocals I've ever heard in my life. What's your favorite, most favorite song? Oh, here. From him? Sack for the Dreams. Man. Why is that one so? Uh, the vibe and the content, what I understood exactly what he meant. He just basically was asked. He just want peace in the world. Like, why the world got to be like it is? You know what I'm saying? You get a chance. You just listen to that song and you'll understand. Sack for the Dreams, y'all. Number two. For real. Uh, number two. This is the most difficult one. Number three is always the hardest. God, like, oh my, this is Prince. Prince. 27th instrument playing Prince. Prince. And that is one of the reasons why because I was able to go see him in concert in Dallas one time on New Year's Day in the snow and he was still to this day the most incredible artist I have ever seen in my life. Wow. I've never seen anybody do what he did. Like, he went from instrument to instrument to instrument to instrument. That is ridiculous. Like, how do you, you know what I'm saying? Like, it's hard enough to learn one. How you, how you, you know what I'm saying? That was just, that blew me away, man. Yes, y'all. You know what I'm saying? I've never forgotten it and have always been a huge Prince fan. People always say, you like Prince more than me? No, it ain't that I like Prince more than Mike. You know, Mike is, I grew up watching Mike. Mike is, you know what I'm saying? He is on, he's Mike. Exactly. You know what I'm saying? But for me, what struck an accord with me was the, the talent that Prince had. You know what I'm saying? Definitely. Number three. Michael Jackson. All right. That was easy. Yeah. Mike, Mike, Mike, and Prince is the only reason for me that he's not number two because you know, that's close. That's neck to neck. People are always trying to figure out who is, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. That's something that can go either way. Yeah. That's just the same thing. It's the same thing like big in two pockets. To me, that's the same thing. Yeah. My opinion, man, it's Mike for me because I grew up with Mike. See, I fell in love with the, Mike with the Afro. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Watching that little dude and having my eyes. Yeah. Having my, when I saw him in the little western little jacket with the shingles on it, he was on one of them shows. I can't remember what that show was back then. Yeah. Him with his brothers. When I saw that, I was, now I was real little, but it impacted me. I was like, wow. You know what I'm saying? And then I just followed him and fought, and he was just incredible. I mean, like he, he just Mike. You know what I'm saying? You didn't see that very often. It was mainly him. Yeah. That dude was man. You know what I'm saying? With the throw it. Could nobody outdance him? You know what I'm saying? It's just when I grew up and started listening to Prince music, I was more on Prince vibe, musically. You know what I'm saying? Like from the stuff he used to sing, you know what I'm saying? To that that was, I was more, you know what I'm saying? Attracted to that. That's what's up. So if you had to think about what was the lowest point in your career and how did you overcome it? The lowest point in my career because you know everybody have their ups and downs. So that just let y'all know there have been several low points. That's just the way it is in the music business. You can't just be out there playing. If you don't love this, you cannot do this because it's a lot of stuff that come with it. You know what I'm saying? That's why it's so hard and that's why the payoff is what it is because if anybody can endure the things that come along with trying to make it into music. See most people think just because you're talented and you can sing and that you are not. It's so much more tour than that. You know what I mean? So I would probably say like after I gave up my body because I fought for that record for a long time. You know, I did not want to give that record up because I knew that that was a hit record. See it's hard to give up a record that you know you know it's a hit. You know what I'm saying? But because of who they were Gerald May Rest in Peace, Keith and Johnny. They were forming that supergroup that nobody had really done before. Nobody had done that before and it was going to be the first single and they paid me and I'm going to have publishing on this joint for years and years to come. It took a while but I had the personal stuff and the personal attachment to the record. I finally got over because my team they was like, I'm going to tell you what to do. But if you do this, this is what's going to happen which was the doors for other writing opportunities were going to open. But as an artist you're romantic with it. You're going to struggle a little bit. Yeah, you're romantic with what you're doing. You have an attachment to it. But it's like link. So let's just imagine if you will, if link released my body what you're going to do which was the first single and really want to sex your body. So I mean, I'm out of here. You know what I'm saying? But what happened was since this is the first single on LSG which is only electric. Guess what electric you're going to do? Hey, you can get our whole roster brother which led to silk meaning my bedroom. If you wrote me in my bedroom. Yes, sir. Get the hell out of here. Boy, that's my song there. Are you serious? I'm dead serious, brother. I ain't going to tell you. They say you're peeing dope. That's what the LS told me. Say that boy peeing serious. Yeah, I co-wrote that along with my guy. I like we co-wrote it. We did a lot of things together. Well, we were, we were signed with sign. We were a squad. We was a squad. You know what I'm saying? And What was the other one? Keep going. If you, let's make love excellent. Don't go. You're right. We're calling you. I mean, how many, you want me to name from silk? No, boy, you got them, don't you man? You were going, so you were, you, hell, you might have to pay silk, man. Yeah. Well, they say I'm the, you know, the other member of the group. Or what they call me. But it led to a whole bunch of people, man. What's the biggest song you've ever written for someone else? Crazy. Casey and Jojo. Man. I know that song. I'm going crazy, crazy, crazy, just thinking about you, baby. Right now. Y'all remember that song? Come on, man. Man, come on, man. You were, you were writing everything, man. But see, this is what I'm saying. That is what happened by allowing LSG to perform on body. See what I'm saying? All the doors for the writing opened up, but as an artist, it's still hard. Hard. See what I'm saying? And when you write for all these people, you always keep them in mind when you're writing for these people? It just kind of depends on the situation. Sometimes I don't even know who is going to do the song. It's just a matter of, you know, delight, like, like crazy. I remember delight really originally wanting that song to be for Braxton, Tony Braxton. Like as he was composing and did it, and we was working on it in store writing. So I'm going to try to get this to Tony. You know what I'm saying? But it ended up going to Casey and Jojo. So a lot of times, you don't know where it's going. You know what I'm saying? But there are times when you are contracted, like when Silk heard my body and boom, boom, boom, say, hey, who is that? We need to boom. So we knew we were continually working with him. So do you always get publishing for all of the songs you write? Yes. Easy. What? Easy. Publishing is the most important thing that an artist can own. Period. Okay. It's doper than being on the stage. It's doper than, you know what I mean, singing at wherever. You know what I'm saying? When you own publishing, that means you going to get a check for the rest of your life. I think that's what Ray, when Jamie Foxx was playing Ray, he was talking about all that good stuff. Yeah, man. It's all about the publishing, brother. So that's how I do all my publishing. I was going to ask you about just that, because I remember in that video, I seen Jero, R.I.P. to Jero Leverd, just his time dealing with him and, you know, being on the set with him. How was that? You know, Jero was, man. Me and Jero were so cool. It's a shame, man. That was my big brother, man. I miss him, man, because he would be on me, man. He would be on me. You know, I'm thinking I just, you know what I'm saying? Blew the damn wheels off. He would say, little bro, I like that you did good. He'd say, but I think he can do it better. Dang. You know what I'm saying? And I'm saying, shit. This is Jero Leverd. You know what I mean? So I got to come on with it. You know what I mean? Because he was in my really wanna sexual body video. He's, you know, him alone with a lot of people. That's right. He's had a bear. Yeah, but he was on my ass, man. So Jero pushed me. You know what I'm saying? Like, we was cool. It wasn't, it wasn't no competition type of, it was never that. It was always the ultimate respect between both of us. He was just the coolest. Bro, I mean, just so damn cool, man. You know, he was his, his drink of choice was, and I don't, you know, hope I ain't, but he used to drink Patron. And boy, he, it was his birthday. Probably this might have been the last birthday I was with him before he passed. And he was, he was like, come on, man. Come on, bro. Take the shot with me. Wow. I was like, nah, I don't drink Patron. He was like, what? If you were my friend, you would drink some. You know what I'm saying? Next thing I know, man, I'm taking two or three off, man. You know what I'm saying? Cause I was, I was my guy, man. I, I enjoy working with G, man. Well, tell me where, where were you when you found out that he had passed on? I was at home. I used to live in Duncanville. Okay. Had a little condo over there, man. And I was at home and Delight called me and broke the news. And I was sick. I couldn't believe it. Yeah. And, and it crushed you then. What? Like, come on, man. Come on, man. Cause it was so unexpected. What? Like, no, you know what I'm saying? I, I could not believe it. I couldn't believe it, man. Did you ever get a chance to hang out with his father? Yes. I've hung out with his father a couple of times, man. He real cool, quiet, laid back too. I see where G got it from. Yeah. Yeah. You see probably why he was pushing you too. Mm-hmm. I do. Growing up with that old man and I, J, man, he got a OJ as a pop. That's right. You know what I'm saying? Come on, man. Talk about pressure. That's a lot of pressure. Damn. In the, in the video section probably, we saw, was that Faizon loving that video? That was Faizon. That was Faizon. He was just on the show. He was. Yeah. He was on our show. Okay, cause we saw him like. We stopped the camera. We paused that thing. I was like, is that Faizon? Yeah. It was a lot of people. Sick was in it. Lisa Rae, my girl, Tara J. Vaughn was in the joint. My guy from Guy was in the joint. But what's my boy name? I'm tripping right now. He gonna, he gonna cuss me out. Damien. Okay. Damien was in the video. So I had a lot of people. I had a Duke was there on set. It was, man, it was a lot of people, man. Man, it was a big old party. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But most of you have something you want to ask my guy, man. You just enjoying it. Man, so yeah, because this was, this was when it had slow jam. You slow dancing was on. What I do want to ask. I'm talking about our slow dance. Do you hear me? You didn't, you didn't, you didn't drug around the house a little bit. I heard you. Say, man, hold on. We do it all the time. We all, we still get our slow dance. No matter what nobody else say, they can do what they go do. The kids, the kids be like, take it to the room. Take it to the room. I don't want to see that. Right, right, but ain't y'all go to the room. Okay, with R&B not being so hot right now, so to say. And the music industry has changed drastically. How have you tried to change with it? So to say, to try to keep R&B relevant? You know, that's been, I gotta admit, I gotta keep it real. That's been very difficult for me because one thing I would never, ever do is compromise my music. Like I ain't never finna try to make music sound like this to fit in here. That's what I was on there. You see what I'm saying? I'm not doing that. You know what I mean? I can't, I can't do that old fattish stuff that's going to be gone. I can't. You know what I mean? I have to continue doing music like I've always been doing and that is by using the things that inspire me to create. You know, try to put it around a good sounding base of music and talk about some real stuff that later on in life, 10, 15, 20 years after the song came out, you can still relate to the song because it was so real in the beginning. You know what I mean? So I don't, I just, I just try to, you know, the thing that I have difficulty with is social media. I'm not, I'm just not one of them dudes. You know what I mean? I just pull out the, all the time. You see jokers walking there. They can't walk down the damn street. They just, you know what I'm saying? I can't do that. I felt the same way when social media begun. And I felt like if you post too often, people get tired of you, but it's to a point where if you're not posting enough, you become irrelevant. So I remember when it first came out and it was like, oh, I can't do this. So now you're like, I have to do this. I have to learn how to do this. I'm opposite. I just jump right in like a nutcase and just try everything. You know what I mean? I just, I just can't, I can't, I can't not try because I feel, I felt like in order to stay. A lot of times mine is more geared toward injecting something into what others are, the children and people are seeing. When you see the kids start going there all the time and we don't have no presence. I think it's an imbalance. You understand what I'm saying? I get it. Because if you don't, then you don't help to cause your legacy, your foundational build, the things that Silk done, the things that Key Sweat done, all that stuff is so needed for the foundation of what hip hop is doing right today. It is the literal foundation of it, to be honest with you. A lot of these jokers man be sampling songs and they don't even know who the original song is. Don't know who it came from or anything at all. Like what you know that ain't, that ain't, it's like a fan. Yes it is. No, no, it ain't my man. Alright bro. How do you in court? I got a question. So I see you in court. Really? That's how it is. Let me ask you this. With Erica Badoo being from Dallas, you being from Dallas, have you ever ran into her? You know that's crazy as hell because I have not. Really? Out of all this time I never have met Erica. Never ran into none of that. Wow. Never been in the same, just nothing. And what's also crazy is delight in her or partners. Like they were partners before either of us blew up. Okay. So your song, did it go platinum or? Which one? CD or the CD. Back then we used tactics, we used to use tactics. Okay. So what you're going to do was my first single and it was the joint that went, that they actually released as a single. Okay. So they had to go by just a single. Okay. But because they were so, you know, in love and felt so strongly about really wanting to sex you by, they're like, no, we're not releasing it as a single. The only way you can get this song? It's a front album. By the album. See what I'm saying? So they didn't release that back then because back then. It was there. You had to actually buy the CD. That's correct. Wasn't no Pandora, wasn't no YouTube. Wasn't none of that. Wasn't no streaming, none of that. You know what I'm saying? You had to go buy it. How do you like to change? You have to deal with it because it's evolution. Compared to the CD. From a financial standpoint, streaming is a little bit better on the mechanical side. It's a little better. That is, but as far as sales, no, it's awful. You know what I mean? Because you got to, first of all, you got to stream X amount of like 5,000, 10,000, 7,000, just to get 100, 200, 300. See what I'm saying? Whereas back in the day, hey, this CD cost $17.99. You know what I'm saying? Now, the difference is the $17.99, the lion's share of that went back to the label back then. That is the difference in the streaming now. See that stuff is yours. It comes back to that. If you own your masters, which most of the young people do now because ain't no more labels like that, people putting their own stuff out. So that comes back to you. It's just that you just got to generate more streams. You know what I'm saying? And you have the opportunity to do that via social media because there is no limit to how many people you can reach because it's worldwide. That's the positive thing about social media. If you use it right and if you can reach the masses, oh my God, you can win. You know what I'm saying? So how do you feel about most R&B, not all but some R&B going towards Southern Blues now? I can't be mad at them because the thing is with R&B, it seems like right now it has such a stigma with the radio stations. It's like if you mention that, it's like they automatically categorize it as old people music. You know what I'm saying? So all this is doing is providing more opportunities for some of the same cats that was in the same genre as me. You know what I'm saying? They're not being hated on as much because to them it's new and it's really not because all it is, it is a blues vibe with up-to-date, more current lyrics. The story is as sad. Like with blues, you know, I woke up this morning and all I had was a dollar. You know, that's terrible. Who wants to wake up and all you got is a damn dollar. That's horrible. Like I don't want to hear the whole story. But a lot of people been in that situation. I know, but I'm saying for me, that is, you know, blues is the blues. It's the reason why you got the blues. Let me help scare you one time. So we got a new King R&B Jacquees. So, would you ever work with like... I call one person King R&B. I'm trying to get this question out here. Could you ever work with like the younger guys if they... You see what I'm saying? Yeah, of course I could. Because I think that wave is out there. Those guys, you do have some guys out there like the Chris Browns that are R&B-ish. They just can't say it. Chris Brown, Usher. Usher? Yeah, I would. I would. See, I'm not, you know, stupid. Do you know what I'm talking about? I ain't going to block the check under no circumstances. Because in this business, with me being in here 20 plus years, if you can still go on a check and you don't get the check, there's something wrong with you. That's real. They're saying, we're not the younger generation. What them dudes is generating, generating, generating. I'm a 90s artist. For sure. You know what I'm saying? So if I have, you know, now it's still got to be dope. And if I got, if I have anything to do with it, you know, if I can touch it at all, the music's still going to represent me. You know what I'm saying? But I wouldn't be opposed to working with nobody unless they are trash to me. And then at that point, nah. I'm not fooling with you. Check or not. I'll write something for you. You know what I'm saying? But you're not going to hear my vocals on. I'm not going to be up there. You're not going to pull your brand down. No. I'm not going to do that. Have you ever written for anyone outside of the R&B genre? I have. I've written for Spanish artist Tilia. I don't know if anybody. I've heard that name before. Tilia? Yeah, I was well. Got a chance to work with my guy, Steve Morales, who was the dude that did the I Don't Want to See record. When I said I got another video with Lisa Ray with, he did that record. So he's like a big pop producer. He was also a part of the original squad when we did the My Body and all those things and said he was part of the team. And he broke off and did his own thing and created incredible pop relationships. So because of that, I was able to write on record for Tilia. Wow. Could an R&B writer write for a rap artist? Mm-hmm. Easily. Okay. That's wondering. Because if you're listening, all some of the rappers are doing now is singing. They're singing their lyrics. They street lyrics, but they have a tone to it. You know what I'm saying? So it's the same thing. All we gotta do is just speed up the lyrics. Which one of those stick out to, you know, the one that you kind of like and then a new artist that kind of sings rap? Sing rap. You got your T-Rails. You got your Moray. I'm not tapped all the way in, bro. Moray. Derez. Derez. Some of them sing. They sing, but it's painful. Baby C. Yeah, he knew though. He wouldn't know him. But they sing, but it's painful. It's like millionaires. Carl Crawford said these guys are the saddest. You know, like the millionaires are sad the way they sing. Rod Wave. I don't know any of the names, man. I gotta be honest with you. You stay focused on your lane and what you do. I mean, I listen to them. You know, when you turn the radio on, you don't have a choice because that's what they're playing. They're not playing us. You know what I'm saying? So with the radios on, that's what you hear. There's some stuff out that I do like, I don't know who they are. You don't know. Yeah. You know the songs. I listen to the song when it comes on. I'm like, oh, okay. I like that a little bit. Yeah. But I don't follow them like that. No, I get it. I get it. I get you guys. You from the 90s. So you ain't trying to. I'm a 90s artist, man. Real R&B. R&B. I definitely, man. Do you think it's going to come back? I know it's going to come back. It's just how it's been. I know everything. It's just a matter of how long. I'm ready. I don't know. It's just a matter. See, that's the whole purpose of the migration to the southern soul. Because now that has a market. So now somebody, so the Calvin Richardson. Yeah. That's the southern soul. See what I'm saying? And they will play that on the radio. So that's why you got jokers going over there. So you're going to see it come back. They just trying to be slick with it. And come in the side though. And then they're going to hit you with it again. But it's going to come back. Amen. Thank you so much, man. Hey, man. We love you and appreciate you for coming on Boss Talk 101, man. Appreciate it. Can I shout out? I was about to say, how can people get a hold of you? Yeah, yeah. If they trying to get a hold of you. And if you got anything up and coming that we need to talk about. No doubt, no doubt. I'm definitely getting ready to release my EP called Sex Down 2. Got seven joints on it. We'll be releasing a single very soon in the spring, April, May or whatever it was joined called Garage. Got a feature on it. It's going to be dope. Y'all make sure y'all check it out in order for y'all to check it out. Y'all got to keep up with me. So follow me on Instagram at Link the Artist. I'm also on Twitter. The Artist. Same thing. And I'm on Facebook. Lincoln, Link, Browder. On Facebook. All right. So those three places y'all can get up with me. Make sure y'all come check me out, man. Still doing it. If you still looking for good music. Got Sex Down. It's still out there creeping. It's still out there. I got a couple of singles. Weather that I dropped. E. You know what I mean? So I still been working. It's just people don't know where I am. So that's why I'm glad right here. On Boss Talk 101. E. C. O. Browder. Let's get it. Mr. Maker Browder. And I did my thing. So shout out to him. Appreciate it. Thank you so much, man. No problem. You a man. Excitement is all I get when I get around my. Hey, man, this is my era. So I understand, man. People don't know. My era too. She younger than us, man. 90s was my era. What you talking about? Anyway. I was a teenager. Monty Moser said it was his era a while ago. He still listen to that music. Yeah. Man, but thank you so much, man. We love you, bro. And if it's any time you getting ready to do something, push something out, anything you doing, we with it, man. Just say, hey, E, man. I'm gonna come back on. I gotta blast something out, man. Or just, hey, E, can you holler this out? And it's coming just like that. Man, I appreciate y'all having me on Boss Talk 101. What a Boss talk, man. Yeah. How about your boy? It's a unique hustle. And we have. Pow.