So my question is always, I've noticed a lot of people, and I mean someone with your credentials.

It makes sense because you obviously have probably maybe the most out of anyone I've personally gotten a chance to speak to.

But how important was it for you to go to Berkeley?

And would you recommend that kids or anyone that's practicing music, you know, continue to develop in the post secondary level of music?

Or is it something that after high school, as long as you keep practicing, you should be okay?

Good question.

Well, it's a little bit of both of those.

Right.

Because you know, when I, I sound so old now, when I went to.

School.

Like, yo, we didn't have YouTube, we didn't have all that stuff.

So all the stuff that kids can learn at the drop of a dime, we had to pay money to do.

Right?

Right.

Yeah.

But the one thing you pay your money for when you go to college is the network of people that you.

That's invaluable.

Right.

So that's what you're really paying for.

Because people to this day that I've interacted with in the industry, some people are CEOs running big corporations, doing all types of things.

Yeah.

And I still have that leverage to be like, yo, what's up X, Y and Z, we went to school together.

Oh, word, I remember.

Blah, blah, blah, come by my office.

You know what I'm saying?

So it's that camaraderie that, it's that network that becomes invaluable once you progress in your career.

Nice.

That makes sense.

I think networking is, is a big, big part of any music, any instrument, musician, anybody.

Networking is definitely a key.

So it does make sense that school can give you kind of a bit of an edge, especially that kind of school, because you're connected with some wonderful people there and some high level people for sure.

I can imagine.

And you know, not to knock anyone who don't take that route because it's a lot of people who have become very successful not going to school.

But it also just depends on end gold as well.

So, you know, for myself, I ended up not only playing drums and keys, I ended up producing.

Right.

I'm an engineer.

Yeah.

I can arrange string sections, I can do horns.

So it gives me a little bit more leverage to be put in different situations and more stressful situations and then also being able to communicate different musical thoughts and ideas to people that know music and people that don't.

That's key.

So I'm kind of like that guy in the middle, you know?

Do you Typically, because you have all this knowledge, do you still work with an engineer separately or do you do everything yourself?

Well, it just depends on what I'm working on.

Right.

You know, when I'm, like, writing and producing, I'm mostly by myself because I like to take my time and do certain things.

I also am an md, so while musical directing, I'm kind of worried about the music arrangements, so I'm not really keen on the sound.

Right, right.

That's when I have.

My engineer comes, because we have a strategy and a procedure that we go through.

Makes sense when we're doing live recordings and things of that sort.

Yeah, we'll definitely want to dive into that and talk about those different hats you wear and even that process you mentioned with yourself as an MD and the engineer.

So I'll make a mental note of that.

But.

So picking up at where you left off at Berkeley, you had mentioned at some point you picked up producing.

So I'm wondering what you did coming out of college.

Was it more like production work and kind of.

What was it that led to your.

I guess you could say your break or you're kind of getting your foot in the door transition?

Yeah, yeah.

Honestly, man, it was a.

So in college, I was.

It's funny, it depends on where you saw me.

That's what you knew me to do.

Right, Right.

So if you saw me at a.

At a club, Keith was a drummer.

Right.

If you saw me at church, Keith was the organist.

Right, Right.

But then if you saw me in.

In school, working Chief is a producer.

Right.

And if they saw you in the streets.

No, I'm just.

You didn't see me.

You saw me in the streets.

That wasn't me.

But, yeah, man, it was honestly one.

One clinic that happened at Berkeley back in the day for the Black Student Union.

Okay.

Okay.

This not engineer, a producer named Richard Young, Lord Frierson.

He was like, one of the youngest hitmen, Puffy's Hitman, back in the day.

I got you.

Okay.

So he came to Berkeley, did a clinic, and he asked, like, does anybody have any music that you want to play?

I was like, me?

Yeah.

So I went through my cd, Jewel case, you know?

Yeah, of course.

Flip it through, Flip it through.

Flip through that joint.

Found my gold cd, put that joint in.

And he loved what he heard.

So from that was.

That was probably like about 90, like, 97, 98 somewhere around there.

Okay.

And I used to intern for him.

So I was still in Boston in school.

Like, on the weekends, I would go to New York you know, and back then, there was no computers and stuff like that, so I would have to be the patch guy and.

And writing down all the programs because he used the MPC 3000.

Right, right, right.

Okay.

So if he.

If he had to go to the studio and place a song and track it, I had to recreate what he had at his studio at another studio.

So put the keyboards back together, doing all that stuff, writing it all down in a book.

Yeah.

So it was very tedious.

So that's kind of how I got my start into doing real production.

Okay.

And my first engineering gig was this song he did called Rap Money by Tash and Raekwon.

That was my first engineering credit.

Wow, that's a big credit.

Yeah.

That was scary.

I was like, oh, my God, this is an ssl.

What do I do?

But yeah.

So from that point, that's how I got my foot in the door working with him.

And then everything started to gradually slow ball until I had a friend that introduced me to the musical director of the Black Eyed Peas.

Nice.

Yeah.

He was in New York doing a show for another group, so I kind of subbed in on drums.

And the rest is history, man.

We kept in contact.

The original drummer and basses of the Black Eyed Peas, they left the band.

They called me and you know, in what, 2003 was my first show with them.

Coachella Music Festival.

Damn.

And I've been there ever since.

That's amazing.

What was that experience like, just playing with the Black Eyed Peas?

And at the time, they were probably one of the biggest pop art pop acts in the world.

So when I first got on the gig, Black Eyed Peas was the.

The black.

Like, they were kind of like joints and jams still.

Exactly.

That was their biggest song.

Joints and jam.

It was like the roots in the Black Eyed Peace live band hip hop groups.

Yeah, that's true.

Right.

So, you know, it was.

It was a. I was in the trenches with them.

You know, this was like the college gigs.

This was like showing up to a college show in the.

In the gymnasium.

There's like 15 people there, but we're playing like it's a thousand.

You.

We going in.

And I had a chance to build with the band and also build with, you know, the guys.

Will I Am Appetite.

Yeah.

And become a part of the.

The writing and production as they start to hear what I can do.

Yeah.

And like I said, will I am.

Gave me that shot.

And the rest has been history.

There's a funny story with the.

With one of the songs I Don't know how many you produced, but I listened to the video of you telling the story of Amma B.

And how you sent it to him.

And it was.

The session was just called Hit.

You KN from the jump that it was already good.

And when he heard it, he asked you for some information to start recording right away.

And have you always had that confidence in your production that you knew 99.9% of your stuff is fire?

Absolutely not.

Okay.

Absolutely not.

Because 99.9% of it ain't that little small few that's, like, really catch on, you know?

All producers got a hard drive full of beasts that will never see the light.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Even.

Even the best of the best, man.

So don't think that everybody just spitting hot fire.

It's trial and error.

It's a process, you know?

Yeah.

And, you know, some songs just feel right.

And when I did that one, it just felt right, you know, it felt.

And, you know, sometimes when I do a beat, I get like a tingly thinner.

Like, this feels special.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

The spidey senses start going on.

And that was one of.

That was one.

I would say that was one.

And then the second song I felt like that with was Meet Me Halfway because I got that song in a dream.

Oh, really?

And I remembered the music.

Yeah.

So sometimes I get songs in dreams and I'll be like, oh, my God, I gotta remember these chords.

So I tell myself self consciously, like, look at your hands.

Remember the chords.

You know what I'm saying?

So wake up and be like, oh, okay, I remember what it was.

Wow.

Yeah.

So I got that song because I've had those moments where you hear something in your head and you gotta try and spit it out, but you're too busy and you don't.

Then you go back and like, oh.

What was that beat?

And you.

Oh, God, I forgot it.

So to do that in a dream and come out of the dream and remember, that's impressive.

Wow.

Yeah, man.

So, you know, it's a couple of those.

That was just like having more than one, but.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Did you just get up and run straight to the keys?

That's when you tuned in, man.

Yeah.

No, for real.

Yeah.

Literally.

So you run straight to the keys or.

I kept humming and singing it, so I remembered it, you know what I'm saying?

So then when I got a chance to get to it, I knew what it was.

Anthony, can you hear in your dreams?

I don't know if I've ever heard Audio in my dreams.

Oh.

Like, do I get inspiration?

Yeah.

Or hear even voices sound Here.

Yeah.

Here.

Yeah.

Of course.

You don't hear in your dreams.

I don't hear in my dreams.

It's tripping me out.

This is another podcast.

We'll do it.

We could deal with this real quick.

Listen, in my dreams, I'll be rapping and doing all types of stuff.

I gotta remember this rap.

The rapping stuff.

Don't, don't.

Don't translate for me, bro.

Just the beats.

Just.

Yeah.

I was like, yo, these lyrics are fired.

I wake up.

I was like, what was this?

Write it out.

It doesn't make no sense.

That's crazy.

I'm gonna take a. I'm gonna take a side note here just to.

Actually, I'll just take a mental note.

We'll get back to that.

Because that's.

That's interesting.

I don't know if this is something that others experience or not.

Do you hear your own voice in your dream?

I guess that's my only question.

Then we'll have to move on.

You know what?

I would say yes.

Especially those times when I'm rapping.

When I'm rapping for sure.

Fascinating to me.

I gotta get back to you for one quick.

So you don't hear any sound in your dreams?

Not even the wind?

Never.

Nothing.

Your whole life?

No.

But I understand what's happening.

You know what I mean?

Like, I know what's happening.

I'm not.

I see images and people talking, and for some reason, I just know what they're saying, but I don't hear what they're saying.

It's weird.

I've never heard of anyone being able to hear in their dream and not only hear, but remember.

That's.

That's pretty impressive, huh?

I've blown Anthony away.

He's so confused.

Can I press pause real quick?

You know, some people are like, man, I remember I talked to my father.

And he told me X, Y, and.

Z, and we're like, yeah.

Huh, that's interesting.

My brain's broken.

Or maybe you got some other visual, creative beast things happening in there.

That's interesting.

Maybe.

Who knows?

Or maybe you just really needed to distract me from what I was about to ask because now I forgot.

That's crazy.

Wow.

So I'm gonna jump around a little bit here because you've worked with, like, a huge list of artists, and actually, since I've mentioned that, what are some of the things, some of the ways that you've used to just balance, not only learning music but learning other people's music and then the different roles you play, like sometimes having to arrange shows versus be there as drummer or whatever it is.

How do you balance the different roles and the different artists and different projects you have going on at one time?

Yeah.

I think the best way to balance it is having a team of people that you trust.

Right.

Because you can't do it all by yourself.

Right?

Exactly.

And most people in the music industry want to be known for doing everything.

Okay.

I don't want to be that guy.

If I.

If I would have my choice, why would I want to work hard to show everybody I can do everything rather than work smarter.

Right.

And get people that are good at what they do to complement what I do.

Makes sense, you know, so that's kind of how I've always been to a fault, unfortunately, because sometimes that has burned me by being so nice and being so.

Yeah, let's do it as a team.

Right.

Got you.

Okay.

You know, and sometimes, too, you know, being completely transparent, you know, sometimes you feel like because you're doing that, you're sacrificing in some ways.

Because I'm looking at the collective instead of myself.

Right, right.

Yeah.

And it's like, I can put myself out there, like, yeah, I could do this.

I do that.

Yeah.

You know, some people do that, and their career path goes in a different direction, maybe a little bit faster, but, you know, mine might be a little bit slower.

But just being real, it takes you to really just understand what your path is and being comfortable with that, you know, because we can all get caught up in like, man, the next man is doing this, the next man is doing that.

Why am I here?

For sure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

So, you know, just being comfortable, and at the end of the day, just being comfortable just knowing that I actually helped other people make money.

That's what make me feel good.

That's huge.

Right?

You know?

Yeah.

For sure.

Valuable service.

Yeah, I like that.

So let me just break down a couple of those hats, because I keep mentioning them.

So when you're approaching, let's say, a live show right now, what are some of the biggest difference in differences in your process going in as a musical director versus a musician or assassin?

Musician.

Musical director is kind of like being the project manager for a corporation.

Right, Right.

Could.

It's like you have to be.

You have to delegate duties, and you got to be a great communicator.

Right.

And that's even before you start doing music.

Right.

That's before you get in the studio because you have to balance what the artists want.

Right.

And then you have to balance what the musicians need to give the artist what they want.

Right?

Yep.

And I like to be that guy in the middle to advocate for the musicians.

Right.

But also understand the business side of it when it comes to budgets and, you know, what the artist is trying to do as well.

So trying to make everybody happy all around.

Got you.

So it starts there, you know, and then once I have a meeting with the management and the artist, they tell me their vision of what they're trying to do.

Sometimes a lot of these artists have creative directors.

Okay.

And if they do that, I consult with them most of the time the creative director, because they have a show script of like.

Like colors.

All right.

For this song, it's going to be this type of color which create this type of mood.

Right.

So we need the music to reflect that, and then we need this song to go into this song.

So it's a lot of mapping out the show.

Right.

Skeleton, Bare bones.

And then I take all that information, go to the studio, and then I turn into producer mode.

Gotcha.

And then I relay these things to the musicians.

Yep.

Like I said, I have a team of guys that I work with, so I'm always open to their suggestions of like, okay, what do you guys think about this transition going from here to here?

What would you guys do?

And then we all figure it out together to make it cohesive so it's like, more collaborative.

And I like that process of not telling people what to play, but being open to what feels right to everybody, you know, because it makes it more natural.

Got you.

And a lot of times for stuff that I md, they don't even have a live band on stage.

Right.

Right.

So it's all pre recorded band.

Got you.

So we got to make it feel like it's live even though we aren't in the.

In the.

In the venue.

So, you know, I had to take all those things in consideration.

So.

And even once we do those arrangements, record all those parts with instruments, you have to engineer it properly so it translates.

True.

So that's where the producer hat comes in.

Right.

You know, you got to make sure things are in time.

You got to make sure things aren't clicking and popping and distorted.

Right.

So that's where the engineering hat from myself and producer hat comes in to make sure that what I'm presenting to the client sounds great.

So when their engineer, their live engineer get my file.

Yeah.

If they just put everything at Zero Unity on their console.

They have a great starting point, you know.

Yeah.

It's like stuff is all over the place.

Files don't start at the same place.

So you're trying to figure out where this go.

Yeah.

Stuff isn't labeled properly.

The wrong format, the wrong bit rate.

It's a lot of stuff that goes into it that people really don't think about.

But, you know, we only hear the end result.

But it's a lot of technical things.

Yeah.

Behind the scenes and result.

Yeah, for sure.

For sure.

And I mean, the many hats that you wear, you know better than everyone else how many layers there are.

That is goes from making a song to putting out a song.

Yeah.

Sorry.

I hear music in the back.

Someone's background.

That's probably me.

Sorry.

Let me see if this tv.

Hold on.

That's okay.

No problem.

It's just going to come through on the recording.

I know, Matt.

I'm sorry about that.

That's okay.

I know Matt's gonna ask me questions.

Yeah, much better.

Thank you.

Sorry about that.

That's easy.

I was listening to an episode of Eyl and they had Bounty Killer on and it sounded like they're in the middle of the street with little kids in the background, cars honking.

So don't worry.

It actually threw me off because I was driving when I was listening and I thought someone kept honking their horn at me.

It took me like, you like, looking around.

Where's this little dinky horn coming from?

Anyway, so we're good.

Shout out to Bounty.

Has there ever been a moment in the studio where I.

You had been starstruck or working with somebody where you're like, oh, damn.

Like, this is Mariah or Mary.

Jesus.

Absolutely still.

Which one?

Which one?

Hold on, I'm just gonna pan over here so you can see.

I already saw mj.

I saw mj.

I saw that.

Okay.

Wow.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's crazy.

That's crazy.

So that.

That.

That did it for me right there.

Working with MJ and James Brown.

Yeah.

Oh, my gosh.

Yikes.

Yeah, you know, as a drummer, musician, playing for James Brown, Legend being, as I like to call it, funk certified.

What more can you ask for?

Absolutely.

Wow.

I didn't get a chance to work with Mike and, you know, be in the room with him and talk with him and, you know, we worked on music.

Unfortunately, it never came out because he passed away.

Right.

And Will I.

And Will I am.

Didn't want to release anything out of respect to him and his family.

But, yeah, that was a Amazing opportunity to, you know, to go and work with him.

So I would say those two for sure.

What would you.

What are your.

Kind of like your biggest takeaways?

You mentioned those two.

MJ and James Brown.

What were your takeaways from your experience working with each of them?

Man, I would say James, it was very interesting.

He did a song on the Black Eyed Peas, I think it was Monkey Business album called they don't want Music.

So getting a chance to see his recording process.

Yeah.

And.

And just the way he commanded the room.

Yeah, it was.

It was absolutely great.

And, you know, he.

He said something in a session to where he wanted a saxophone player to play a sax solo.

And then, you know, we get to the part.

Yeah, play that funky horn.

Give me that funky horn.

And so he goes into doing it solo, and he starts playing like a, you know, ripping, like.

And he was like, cut it.

You know, he's like, that's too.

That's too.

That's too complicated.

We need something simple so the kids can understand.

He's like, play Mary Had a Little Lamb.

All right, here we go.

Give me that funky horn.

Give me that.

He goes.

And he started going crazy.

So the takeaway from that is like, don't be too complicated to where the normal masses can't understand or feel what you're doing.

Right.

And, you know, with his music, it's simplistic, but yet it's complicated.

It's.

It's simple enough to grasp.

The normal person can grasp, but only the musician types understand the intricacies and the complexity of what he did.

Got you.

So, yeah, just.

Just learning.

That was amazing.

And then Mike.

I mean, Jesus Christ.

I mean, man.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

We understand everybody listening just like.

Yeah, yeah.

They're not in their heads.

Yeah, yeah.

It's Big Mike.

What are you asking that question for?

Yeah, no, we get it.

Yeah, man.

That's huge, though, man.

No kidding.

Given.

Given who you've worked with, is there anyone that you still kind of like, fingers crossed.

Hope.

To work with before, you know, you call it a day?

I don't know why I said call it a day before, you know, before you stop doing music.

You know what I mean?

Like, I hear that.

Yeah, that day will come.

Exactly.

Like, one day.

I just want to be on a beach, just chilling.

There you go.

That's what it is.

The sunset.

Yeah.

Let's see.

I would have to say I haven't worked with Beyonce yet.

That would be kind of dope, I don't think.

Yeah, I think that's the last big star.

Her and dreads.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Literally.

And I want to work with them when they're trying to do, like, real music and not to say what they're doing isn't okay, but like, when they trying to do, like, okay, we about to get a band.

Yeah.

We're about to do something that y' all would even expect to hear me doing.

Right.

That would be interesting.

Kind of like how Lady Gaga has transitioned from, you know, being the pop God goddess.

Yeah.

To she can do Vegas doing jazz.

Right, right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, he's like a whole different thing.

So I would like to work with her at that point where she's just like, you know what?

I wanna.

I want to sing freaking opera or something.

Just something that you like.

Damn.

Beyonce did a bossa nova album.

That'.

Ah, that would be dope.

To go crazy in Brazil like that.

Exactly.

So, yeah, I would say her, definitely.

Drake.

I think Drake is fire.

Of course.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm confused by people that don't think he is.

Yeah, me too.

I. I don't understand the, the, the numbers.

The track record speaks for itself.

Yeah.

You know, you gotta respect that.

Exactly.

Yeah.

No kidding.

Yeah.

It's nuts, man.

Yeah.

I would say those two for me.

Yeah, yeah.

As of now, I would say those two.

Okay.

What, what would you say are some of your pet peeves working with artists?

Like, you've worked with the creme de la creme, and I'm sure some of them have been wonderful to work with and some of them are tougher, but then there's, you know, people that aren't so established in their career that feel or have the attitude of the creme de la creme?

What are some of, what are some of your pet peeves or your advice to, you know, artists that are kind of just getting into working with other people in their music?

Well, what you just said, it's like you ain't even put in no work yet.

Right.

I'm supposed to try to treat you like you got plaques on the wall?

Stop.

Relax.

Yeah.

You know, if I'm a Grammy Award winning producer and I can walk into the studio and be humble right enough to learn from even an unsigned artist.

You should be doing this.

Yeah, Much, much, much more like relax.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know what, what bothers me about a lot of people nowadays is that they want the spoils without the fame, without the work and the hustle.

Yeah, man.

And that's like my, my first thing whenever I work with an artist or a new artist, and they want, like, please, please, let's work together.

Yeah.

I like, what's your track record?

Like, what have you done without anybody?

Because I could tell you what I did before I got into Black Eyed Peas.

I did a lot of stuff.

I produced a gospel album.

I used to travel all around New England playing gigs and all that stuff.

So I put in work, you know.

Yeah.