I opened for Mobb Deep and Notorious B.I.G. Now Jaborn Jamal, and he produced “On & On.” That “On & On,” that was with Jamal Cantero in Dallas. I was a writer more than a vocalist, a lyricist, but that developedĪlong with it because I had kind of a unique voice. I never really considered myself a vocalist. I would usually rap over them, but one time I decided to write a songĪnd it was “Apple Tree.” That was ’93, ’94 and we decided we might have something because people liked it and thought it was unique and different. Went to Grambling State University and he would mail me cassette tapes ofīeats. He went to the Art Institute of Chicago, I When did you realize that you were going to do music professionally?ġ994, ’95. Understood the breathing and the control.ĭrums. But he knew what he was doing, he already It was so strong and so hard that they thought He used to play so hard in junior high, and the teachers He’s standing in front of a DeLorean with the trumpet. Record from Oliver Wendell Holmes middle school. Roy was obviously already a trumpet player, ‘cause I saw his middle school Edie Brickell graduated from there before me, then later Norah Jones, and some other people along the way.

Where the genres were music, dance, visual art and. We went to a school called Arts Magnet high school, Yeah, we were in high school, we were in a rap group together. Were you aware of any other Dallas talent of your Why?Īctually, it was “Apache” by Soulsonic Force, “Apache (Jump On I find that interesting because most people wouldn’t consider that a hip-hop song, but you do. Said the first hip hop song you heard wasīand.

Prior to your arrival here you gave an interview to Fact Magazine in which you Prince was even considered funk at the time in the ‘70s. Just so much funk music played in the house. My uncles listened to funk music most of the time,īootsy Collins, Parliament-Funkadelic, Zapp and Roger. I grew up listening to everything, from Pink Floyd, Joni Mitchell,ĭeniece Williams, Earth Wind & Fire, so many different genres of things. Whoever came through Dallas, that was a central spot for them. The JB’s, Aretha Franklin, John Coltrane. A lot of artists would come through and there was a venue called the Centralįorest Theater where a lot of artists would come and perform. Johnnie Taylor and a lot of blues people came out of Dallas in the early ‘70s, ‘60s. There’s a very heavy blues influence in Dallas where I’m from. I didn’t really start my musical career until the ‘90s. Did you grow up surrounded by this musical A musical hotbed in the late ‘60s through the mid-’70s, tremendous amount of But I’d like to ask you a bit about South Dallas, where you wereīorn. We have a limited amount of time and you have a We have a tremendous amount of ground to cover.

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