Breaking Records, Building Legends, and Tour Stories | No Standing Zone Ep.9

Adam Fabers, how are you?

Wendy Day, I'm well and yourself? It's good seeing you on this side of the— this side of, I guess, this continent, right?

I know, right? This side of the ocean. So I gotta thank you. You did the most amazing shit. When I was in Paris, you came to visit and you said to me, hey, leave the evening open because I have a surprise. And you were able to get tickets for us to the hottest show in Paris, which was Kanye.

Yeah, yeah.

And you did it like easily, and you were like, yeah, whatever, it's nothing, dude.

Oh man, you know, it just, it just, you know, dude, it just, it just comes from a lot of times just always treating people cool and never just, you know, sometimes you make a phone call and the person says, yo, you've always been cool to me, so I got you. Yeah, and that's what it was. And then, and you was there and I was there, so I was like, let's go do this thing, let's go see what the hype is about.

Yeah, let's go remind ourselves why we do what we do. And that's what it was for me, like it was 20,000 people, like our section was bouncing. I thought we were gonna die.

I was, I was, I was blown away. Like, I really— if you didn't understand what it, what it was to be a superstar, you really saw that dude is a real superstar. Like, I mean, these people that at this point when we saw it, the album had only been out for a week, they knew every song. Like, even when the, the minute the first note hit, they were like on it. And, and I think what makes it even more impressive is the fact because it wasn't somewhere here in the States, but it was in a country that English isn't their first language, and they were like on every, every, every, every song, every word, every— it was just bananas.

It was just like, man, like, I loved when he stopped the sound and the crowd was just singing, and he did the like long stretches. It wasn't just like a bar or two, it was like You know, when we first got there, he— we first got there right as he took the stage, which was— our timing was amazing.

It was so funny because remember as we were walking to go to the seats, we were like, man, it's kind of desolate in here. I wonder how many people really like show up. Because remember, it was like nobody in the halls. We were just like walking through the halls like security, like security after school or whatever like that. As soon as the music hit, you heard that roar. And then when we went and found the seats, we were like, yo, this is crazy.

Yes.

Crazy, you know.

Yeah, it was, it was incredible. It reminded me why I do what I do, but it also taught me something that I have shared with every single client that I have. Anthem songs are it. The crowd went to everything, but the anthem songs were the ones where they were bouncing and had the energy. And I'm sure that even when they're alone they're the ones they react to?

Like that one song that's like— oh, you know which one— that, that one. And then I was thinking, I'm like, 'Where have I heard this song?' Wherever I heard the song, wherever I heard this song. And um, like my kids are huge WWE fans, so it's a wrestler by the name of Seth Rollins that comes out, and that's his intro. Oh okay, that's his intro. Like he comes— that's why I'm like, okay, what up! And that was it. So you know But overall, it was a, it was a great performance. But another thing I found out though too is that some people were upset because they said, well, he didn't perform. Because I don't think that they understand the concept, maybe in Europe or other parts of the world, of a listening session versus a real concert. But they went bananas over like even the classics that he, that he, you know, you could tell he was in his moment because he started playing like a bunch of the classics.

And I didn't expect that. I thought it was just gonna be the album, bye, go home.

Yeah, that's what I thought too. And then he just— because remember, because remember it was a long pause after the last track.

I thought he left.

Yeah, I thought he left as well. And then the house lights never came on, and then you heard, you know, he went into the classics at that point. Yeah, just like, oh man.

Yeah, it was incredible.

Thank you, it was incredible. No, you're welcome. Come on, you're one of my people. We go back like 20-plus years now. Yeah, we do, we do.

So will you talk about that? Not, not about us going back, but will you talk about like how you got into the music industry and what attracted you?

And yeah, like what, what, how I got into the music industry, um, I've always loved 4 things in life, even as a little kid. As a little kid, I've always loved cars, I love dogs, I love girls, and I love music. As a young kid, right? And maybe not in that order. Sometimes it was you know, highs and lows. But those were like the 4 things. And as a kid, I was really shy. So a lot of times, really, really shy. I'm still really shy, but I'm not shy when it comes to work. Okay, like if it comes to work, I— but like if it comes like if I see a girl or somebody, I'm like, you know, I got that little voice, you know, like that inner, you know. But yeah, but when it comes to work, because I guess it's a different mindset So what happened was music was my voice. So if somebody asked me, well, how do you feel? Then I would say, listen to this, because it's explaining how I feel. And, uh, and I've always felt like we, we've been married, like music and I've been married for a long time because it was always my form of expression. So I love— it was something I love to talk about, so it was easy for me. So when I ended up getting into the business by a guy that you and I both know Kevin Black, and that's when he resurfaced after he did his Death Row things. And then we went to EMI, and then I remember— he's a— tell you a funny story, right? So I— we see each other out, and then he's like, yeah, I'm going to EMI, you know, I got— I may have a position for you to come over there. And I said, so what I got to do? He says, well, you got to work college radio. I said— and that's when college radio was really big, so that's when you had Hits and you had CMJ and you had all that. So then I said Okay, I said, so what I got to do? He says, basically you got to call the DJs around the country and talk about music. I said, that's it?

I just got to call and talk about music and I get paid to do that?

No, no, no, here's the caveat where it got funny at, right? So at that time too, I was producing a show on the beat in LA at night on the weekends called The Love Affair with Kevin Slow Jam and James. So I was always just surrounded by music. Right? And that was, you know, like what you don't see anymore, kind of almost in the vein of A Quiet Storm. And then what happened was, so I say to him, I said, so how much does it pay? And then, you know, I'm Black the way that I know Black. He was like, motherfucker, what? He was like, pay you? He goes, you pay to go to college, right? And I was like, yeah. He goes, well, motherfucker, you should be paying me because I could teach you something. That maybe one day, he goes, I could teach you something that if you really learn it, that one day you could feed your family forever. And I said, well, that sounds like a plan to me, you know what I mean? So that, that's, you know, so we went through there and who knew that this was going to be the future, that, um, Kevin Black is like going to Harvard, like he is the consummate promo guy. Exactly. And but then the craziest thing about it was, who knew that this would be what we see now that just happened in the last 2 weeks? That EMI was the first major label to fold. Because remember, prior to that, you would have never thought that it would have fold. Oh, funny story, I gotta tell you real quick. So the first project I ended up working was the Hey AZ. I had the Hey AZ, D'Angelo's Brown Sugar album. And it was a, uh, and it was a group called the Boogie Monsters.

I remember the Boogie Monsters.

Underground, and that underground group. So, you know, worked that through the college scene. And when I was coming back from the Grammys this year, I was flying back into New York and AZ was on my flight, and I was just like, dude, you don't even understand, when I first got in the music business, you were the first artist I really had to work with. The hey AZ. And he was like, word. And then, you know, we just like chopped it up for a minute. He was like, man, you know, some of them stickers are still around. And this, like, so it was like a, you know, full circle moment for me. Like, I'm just like, yeah. I was like, dude. And he was in the— and the thing that made it even better is because he was so cool. Like, he was cool when we took like a picture. Because you and I both know that sometimes running into these guys, they could be like, uh, why did I even stop you? I don't even— you know what I mean? But he was like super cool. So that was a— that was definitely a moment. So then when, um, when EMI folded, we ended up, uh, getting picked up by Virgin. So we, we end up going to Virgin. There, each label I learned a lot, you know, that I ever worked for. I learned, um, at Virgin we went— yeah, and we had— and, and at that point We had the Gang Starr Mass Appeal, so definitely worked that. Did the, uh, Loonies. That was during the time when the Loonies had the I Got 5 On It and that whole New Tribe era was popping. Janet Jackson's Velvet Rope, Scarface's The Diary. So yeah, so I, you know, worked through all that. But by that time, Black was working out a situation with, uh, Shaq— this Shaq, Shaq O'Neal— right, when he did the Quizzum project. And then we ended up going to A&M. So it was like a Twizym A&M thing. And then over there, the way that the deal was structured, because they didn't actually have a promo department, and then we came in and we worked like everything that they had versus, you know, Shaq's thing. So we had to— that's when Corrupt had just left Death Row, and I think maybe because of Black, he really felt more comfortable coming to A&M. So that's when we did the— he did the double, the double CD of the Corruption album where one album, one side was East Coast based, the other side was West Coast based. Yeah, classic album, classic, classic, classic. Then we had, uh, Ice Cube's The Players Club. That's when they— yay, yay, you know what I mean? We'd be clubbing, you know. We made history with that one because that was the first song to ever come out and debut number one on, uh, I think Gavin at the time. It might have been Gavin, but it did well and hit the charts. So we had that. We had Barry White's, uh, Show You Right, you know what I mean? We— so it's so funny because I remember meeting, um, when he would come to the office, and this was back in the days when people would leave voicemail messages on their phones. So then you had everybody in the office like, hey, can you— you know, he was real— he was super cool, super nice guy. That, you know, people were like, yo, can you leave a voicemail, man? Can you do my voice? Hey, this is Barry White right now. Adam is unable to come to the phone right now, so just leave him a message. I guarantee he'll call you back. Show you right, you know what I mean? So, you know, it's just like, it's crazy. Like, you know, I've been blessed, and I think like you would say the same thing, like I've been blessed to to work with people that was incredible. And then next thing that happened after that was— here it comes again— and that's when the merger happened between A&M, Interscope, and Geffen, right? So that's when, when the label started merging again. And after that, I ended up going over to Warner Brothers, and I was working with a guy by the name of Dwight Bibbs at that time, you know. So it was Dwight Bibbs, senior VP, and then At that point, the thing I learned about Warner— out of all the labels I ever worked for, Warner was the one I probably say I learned the most at. Now, the reason being is because I realized if you understand Warner Brothers, you'll understand they're not an urban label at all.

At all. They're a pop label.

They're a rock label. They're, they're a real, real rock label. They've done well in urban, but they— but that's not their forte. So when we went over there we really had no records. We had like, you know, the group Something for the People. We had some guy, maybe Eric Benet, maybe you've heard of him once or twice or something like that. Yeah, he didn't put out a couple of records, you know.

Yeah.

And then they discovered this new artist by the name of Jahim, which was, uh, which was real— he was real cool. And he was coming up because KG of Naughty by Nature had a production deal over there at the time. So he brought him in, and then— so he brought him in. But the reason why I say I learned the most at Warner is because Warner had a hell of an incredible, only second to Blue Note, jazz department. Warner's jazz department was crazy. Yeah, they had Norman Brown, they had Norman Brown, they had, uh, Boney James, they had Earl Clue, they had Peter White, they had like like their, their jazz department was, was, uh, uh, was second to none. Second to none. So a lot of the times when you don't have— when they got to pay you and you don't have a lot of these records to per se work, you know, R&B, hip-hop, or whatever like that, rap, then you got to learn to work some of these jazz records and whatever. And the thing I learned about jazz and gospel is that with jazz and gospel, they can have an album— you can have one song that can be on the charts for literally like 2 years. 2 and a half, depending on how long it is, because it's a very slow-moving— but they— but their fan base, you know, so imagine you're an artist and you put an album, you in 2022, you could still be touring off of it in 2024 because, you know, your fan base is going to definitely follow you. But it was, it was cool, and a lot of these jazz guys were like super cool. Like, I remember just having conversations with Norman Brown and, you know, um, Boney James and all these guys like that, and it was like dope.

You know.

So, and then from there, you know, I was there I think maybe 2 years, got the Jahiem Ghetto Love project off the ground. And then from there I went to, uh, I was indie for a minute, for probably about 6 months. And then I ended up going to Interscope with Black. Black ended up bringing me into Interscope. And then from there, it was so funny because me and 50— 50 and I pretty much signed the same week. Like, the week I started working there is pretty much, I think, when his deal had pretty much done.

So you were with him since the beginning?

Yeah. So then what happened was, which was funny, is because when he was there, um, I remember people in the promo department— and that's when, you know, that beef was really, really heavy, and that's when the people thought, you know, is he really wearing a bulletproof vest because he's, you know, as a prop? And it was like, nah, that thing kind of real.

That was real.

That was real. And so then, uh, vehicle.

Yeah.

And so exactly. And so then what happened was, so, and so I remember that, uh, people were like, um, promo departments were like, no, I'm gonna give me a bulletproof vest. No, I don't want to go out with him. It was like other reps in there, you know how that was the good old days when you literally took an artist on the road to break them.

Yeah.

It was like, I don't want to go out with him, I don't want to go out with them. Whatever. And they're like, who wants to go out with him? I was like, I'll go. And they was like, you'll go? It's like, yeah, I grew up in the hood. Like, I'm— what am I, you know what I mean? I'm good, I'm good. I kind of know a few people around this country a little bit, you know what I mean? So, and you ain't no beef with anybody. So, you know what I mean? So then we went out, and I literally went out with him for 2 years, like like everywhere he went stateside for 2 years.

2 years.

Because he, he's the kind of person, an incredible person, super smart, but he's the kind of person that during that time that if you weren't there, like, he, he didn't want new faces per se, you know what I mean? I want comfort. I want to know that this is my person, this is my person, and this is my person, and this is my person. So You know, whenever he would go out here, you know what I mean? And then, um, that's, you know, what that was. So that was cool. And then, you know, of course, the Interscope, that's when I, I was blessed to be there during the time when they went on the great run. You know, they had everything. They had him, Gang, Keyshia Cole, Mary J. Blige. Like, uh, the group just slipped my mind for a second. First, I remember the first song that I worked, um that I first worked, uh, when I went to Interscope was, uh, Where's the Love by Justin Timberlake and Will.i.am's group, uh, Black Eyed Peas. Black Eyed Peas, Where's the Love. That was the very first record that I worked over there.

Wow.

And then, you know, at that point, like, right down that, that pop.

Yeah.

Yeah. And I think this one, Justin wasn't the Justin that he is now. You know, this mega superstar he was. So he was just like, well, you could like walk up and talk to him and you'd be like, hey, maybe he had one bodyguard during that time, maybe one. So, you know, it was definitely, uh, I've had a hell of a career.

You have. So what has been your favorite part? Being on the road, being in the office, interacting with people? Like, is there something that you've done that, that you're very passionate about?

Yeah, I think the, the passion for me is one, you got to know your passions and you got to know your strengths and weaknesses. My weakness is I'm not a, I'm not a studio dude. I'm not that guy that could go sit in the studio.

Same.

Like, I've been in the studio. Look, I've been in the studio with Dre where he's been like, hey, You know, tell Adam, what do you think? What do you hear about this song? What do you— it sounds the same to me the last 50 times you've played it, you know what I mean? I've been blessed to be in the studio with Pharrell, you know, when, when the Slim Thug project came out, you know, already platinum. That, like, that was incredible because I was with Slim a lot during that point, so I was always in the studio with them dudes, and I was like, oh wow, this is how you work, okay, this is cool, all right, cool, I'm ready to go home. You know what I mean?

Like, exact same way. I was in the studio when Black Rob made Whoa, and then you know how big that song was. So everywhere I heard it, I would just roll my eyes like, oh my God, that was like the worst night of my life.

You know what I mean? Like, I'm gonna tell you a funny story, right? And if he sees this interview, it's nothing personal, but I was there when Pharrell was doing, uh, Snoop's Drop It Like It's Hot. Oh shit, never one of my favorite Snoop records. Never, never was in the studio in there like this, like the way that you said, the face that you made about Black Rob.

Was in there like, yeah, because you hear it over and over and over and over.

And then, and then I remember, it was a, it was a bad memory. So I remember Dre told me one time, he says He goes, you know what's crazy, Adam? He goes, I can't do what you do. And I said, you know what? I can't do what you do. Yeah, I don't find it interesting for me what you do. So I think that the whole process of going out, meeting people, breaking artists, seeing, you know, establishing relationships is what is the thing that, that drives me the most. That's what I'm into. So now, you know, I'm, um, pretty much spread my wings worldwide now.

Yeah, and you're a record breaker, and I am too. We talked about this a little bit in, in France, that I love working with artists when they're brand new. It's not fun for me anymore once— for me, I like making the phone calls and I like making the plan. It's not fun anymore when it becomes like just answering the phone, like the level that Drake's at. That's not fun for me.

Yeah, because I mean, and the funny, the funny part about it is I think that at that point when they're, when they're coming into it, like you were just saying, is the time when you, when you have to establish your relationship with them, that it may be, you know, and then you hear, like I've heard several times, I had like, you know, a couple of bosses was like, I feel like you're too close to these artists or whatever like that. And, you know, they'll always turn on you and this, that, and the other. But I'm like, at the end of the day, human nature is human nature. If you're riding around doing promo and you guys are in the same car or the same van and you're riding for like 4 or 5 hours, it becomes personal. Because guess what happens is if they're getting that phone call of a family situation, they can't be like, uh, can you step out of the car for a minute while we— you know, so you kind of like build this trust thing, you know what I mean? That you just be like, you know, and that's it. What you hear, you don't— like, I tell people, at the end of the day, I, I don't hear— if you ain't talking to me, I don't pay attention to like the shit.

Same.

Talk about— because I never—

because I don't care.

I don't care. It's not my business. But for them to have that level of comfort, to realize like, look, I can talk around this person and it's not something that I'm ever worried about coming back or getting the TMZ or somebody's gonna talk— like, it doesn't matter to me, you know what I mean? And that's what it is. So you become personal. The relationship becomes personal, you know what I mean?

I think also being, um, being out on the road is very traumatic. Like, we become trauma bonded when we go out on like promo tours or even tours as a whole, because there's so much going on. You've got life stuff coming at you, you've got business stuff coming at you, you've got relationship coming at you, because, you know, no spouse in the world wants you to be out on the road for any length of time. They get very uncomfortable.

And you become— especially if they got kids and you got kids with situations coming. So you know what happens because all your bills have to be paid.

You got to make sure the rent or the mortgage is paid if you're out on the road for 45 days or 60 days.

Yep.

You know, it's just—

it's a different—

it's a different beast.

It's, it's definitely a different beast. And I tell a lot of people that is not built for everybody. Not everybody can go out on the road. A lot of people will tell you, yeah, I want to go out on the road, and then you give them 2 weeks out there and they're like, oh God, you know, I want to go home. Like, like dudes that do tours, like really do tours, like Fifth just did this tour where he did hit over like, uh, I forget how many countries. I think it was like 28 countries. And you went with him, right? Yeah, so I was on, I was on part of the dates with them, like overseas dates. And when I came back from Europe this summer I jumped on a couple of the West Coast— I did the West Coast run with them or whatever like that. But it's crazy because this is a tour that started, I think, July 18th and didn't end till December 22nd or something like that. That's a long run.

That is a long run.

And he was able to do it, and then he's doing 3, 4 shows a week. So, you know what I mean? And then there's a guy by the name of Big Bob. Do you know Big Bob? Like security? He's— Bob has been with everybody. Bob's been with from Whitney Houston to Beyoncé to Ariana Grande. But I knew Bob from back in the days from the Up in Smoke tours and the Anger Management tours. But you know, when I look at guys like him and I'm like, man, like this dude is— like you were just saying, like he's out on the road like 6 months out of the year sometime, you know what I mean?

He's a special person.

And a lot of people I see, they'd be like, I'm ready to go home. And you got to be like, well, home was 3 days.

You can't go home yet.

You can't go home yet. You know what I mean? It's different because you got to remember too, at the time, think about it, Wendy, at the time we're on call times too. What's lobby time? You know what I mean? What time is call time to be here? What time is there? Because the artist should be the last person getting in the car at the time. So you gotta automatically be like, yeah, you know, and some people have oversleep too hard. They oversleep. So you gotta be like, you gotta adjust your system or you, or hopefully get a roomie, a roommate that's opposite of you that, you know, gets up early in the morning to make sure that you're up to get to the bus or whatever like that. Cause I've seen a lot of people get sent home. They're like, hey, you know, your train ticket or your plane ticket is waiting for you. Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean? That's crazy. But I love what I do. I love what I do. I don't complain about it. It's, you know, it's, it's like a fireman. Somebody that, you know, you're going, you're going to inhale some smoke and you're gonna get wet, you know. It comes with the territory.

It does. But at the end of the day, you get to save some folks.

And at the end of the day, you get to save some folks, you know. And that's it.

So are there some things that a new artist can do today? And I have to preface this by saying to you, I'm a huge fan of promo tours. We still put all of my clients out on the road. I think digital is where it's at. I think content is king. I think all of that matters, but I also feel like getting up close and personal with the fans, like seeing, feeling, touching.

That's, that's where you To me, I think that's where you— that's still the grassroots, as they say, rubber meets the road. That's where it really, really, really, really, really matters more than anything. Because if promo tours— if promo— if promo— think about something for a second, right? If promo tours didn't work, why do you have like people that are running for political office having campaign rallies? Exactly. They're out. That's a promo tour.

Yes, it is. They're out.

That is a promo tour. They're out saying, look, vote for me, uh, this or that, out of this and, and that. That's a promo. You can't get away from it. Like, at the end of the day, that you take a picture with somebody, that picture is, you know, goes a thousand places, especially they have a great interaction with you. Guess what you've hired now? You've hired another spokesperson, unpaid spokesperson. Yes, for you. That says, oh, oh, I met, I met Adam Favors. Oh my God, they were so nice. They were so cool.

They were so cool.

I asked them, I told them that my little brother or somebody in my family loved them more than me, and I asked them what they say hello to them over the phone, and I called them and they said hello, and they FaceTimed with them. People don't understand, these 2 or 3 minutes are priceless. Everything, it's everything to people.

Yes.

But the fact that you're able to say it and you're able to do this for them, and then like, like the thing that gets me right now, like I tell a lot of artists, a lot of artists say Oh, here's the one. This is, this is the one. Oh, when I get on, I'm gonna do whatever you tell me to do. I, I'm gonna be so busy in the gym and so busy in the, in the studio that you're gonna have to pull me out. You ain't gonna never— whatever you tell me to do, I'ma do. You know how many times I heard this shit? Like, all right, we gonna see, we gonna see. Yeah, they're a month in. You start setting them up interviews. Oh, I was a little late. Well, you know, I understand because, uh, uh, uh, uh, well, you know, the excuses start to come. Then it's like, well, you go to— I always wanted to be on radio. So now you're a radio and you're doing interviews. Hey Wendy, how long do I gotta be here? How long do we got to do this shit? Who made this shit so early? Why are we doing it this time of the day? Yeah, maybe because it's called The Morning Show, you know, maybe it's the highest rated show, maybe they're syndicated, maybe there's something that you— oh, but maybe you need to be doing this, maybe you need to be doing— maybe that— maybe—

and, and, you know, I already have a career, I don't need to be here.

And, and, and, and the thing— and my biggest argument with some of these artists are— is like exactly what you just said. I just said, well I said, so I look at him and I go, I hit him with the Scooby-Doo look. I said, yeah, so let me ask you a question. Did this industry choose you or did you choose it? I said, because I don't ever remember this industry going out recruiting anybody. Usually the talent comes to them, or the person who comes to them. I've never seen the industry say, you know what I mean, make me famous. Yeah, can you please make me feel— can you, can you please change my life? You know what I mean? But I've never seen this. I said, so you chose this, this is what comes with it. At the end of the day, I could understand you arguing, being upset if I'm not here with you.

Guess what?

If you got an 8 o'clock morning show, guess what time I got to be up? I got to be up by 6:30 to make sure that you're up in enough time so we can leave to not be late. You know what I mean? And I think a lot of artists don't understand or appreciate sometimes the things that we do in this situation, because you'd be like, you know what it is? It's not because of you and your song. They've seen a bunch of— it's my relationship. Like, Wendy, like, it's your relationship that opens those doors, that get that interview. Oh, Wendy, oh, you my people. Oh yeah, yeah, I got you, I got you, I got you. I'll look out for them. They don't even know— 9 times out of 10 know nothing about the artist. They know about you and I and getting it in, and they're going off of our clout of saying, hey, you know, if it's important to you, yeah, you know what I mean? And I think a lot of— sometimes, yeah. But the biggest thing I would tell an artist— two things, three things I always tell artists, and this may sound crazy— I tell artists, one, always make sure that you have somebody around you that will always be honest with you. Always great. Even if the fact— even if the fact that if you were selling shoes or water on the corner, they would still be your people. They're not in it just because of what you got going on now. But also realize that this person is so down with you that they won't lie to you. Because you know as well as I do, fame is a hell of a drug that sometimes artists drink. This and this. And you know, you got people telling you that you're the greatest thing a person— you need somebody to be your kryptonite, somebody to grab you by your cape sometime and be like 'You know, that last little move you did was kind of like asshole-ish.' And you know that they're saying it because when the rest of the world is telling you how great you are and that you can fly— yeah, you can fly to the moon, yeah, you could— and then you got this person that's standing there next to you that's going to tell you, 'You know, if you jump off that building, you're gonna die, right?' I don't care what the hell they're telling you. That's, that's not a cape you got on. That's, that's really a child tied around your neck from the hotel. That's not a cape. Exactly, that's funny. You're gonna die. So look, they're telling you to hype. So you need somebody with you that's gonna always be honest with you, that you know you loyalty, love, trust, that you may not like what they're saying but you respect what they're saying because you know they're not telling you nothing wrong, right? Two other thing I tell artists is prepare for the moment when you're not hot. Start preparing for it now when you're hot, so that when you're not hot, if you want to live, if you, if you get used to living a certain lifestyle, then what you need to do is you need to start preparing for that lifestyle, lifestyle for when you're not hot. So artists don't understand that when they're hot. And I tell people like this, I said, let me ask you a question. I said, prior to Michael Jackson dying, he wasn't hot. When Mike died, then everybody discovered how great he was again. Think about that. And I said, you mean to tell me that you feel like you're going to be bigger than Michael Jackson? You're going to be bigger than Prince? These are iconic people. And if you feel like you're going to be bigger than them, and they weren't hot when they passed away, they weren't hot. So you have to prepare yourself now. For when you're not hot, that if you want to live a certain kind of way, you know what I mean? If you used to investment, do, you know, certain little things, you know what I mean? And then the other thing I always tell people is always be kind to people. Yeah, being kind is free. That's the 3 biggest things I'm talking about. Like, be kind, you know what I mean? If you don't feel— I get it. If you— I get it. Everybody's human. You have days that you don't want to do this, that you don't want to do that, this and the other. But remember At the end of the day, when you're talking to your fans, remember what your fans are doing for you that you're not— you're entertaining them, but they're paying you for your house, they're paying your bills, they've bought— they're paying your car. Like, if you got kids, they're covered, they're taking care of your kids, everything. Be kind. That's free. Just a simple smile and a handshake. When we, you know, we touched upon it a little earlier, but that's free.

Yes, be kind.

Have somebody around you that you know is gonna always be in your corner no matter what. And the, uh, other thing, prepare for when you're not hot, because everybody— that's the 3 things. Because like I said, again, you and I have been around to see it all.

Yes, yes, yes. So you, you mentioned, um, Prince and Michael Jackson, and it It spurred a thought. Do you think in today's music industry we can still have superstars that large?

I think the closest that we have right now that large— so yes and no. But I think that in that era, they, they spawned that. They, they were creating those type of superstars, the Luthers, the Madonnas, the Whitneys, the— you know what I mean? Like there was an investment that you're gonna be big. This is what we're looking at right now. I feel like you have to have some of that old school. Like, when I look at like a Taylor Swift, she's that. Bruno Mars, he's that. When you look at a Beyoncé, she's that. Uh, Beyoncé, Bruno, maybe Ariana Grande, but— oh, Billie Eilish.

Uh, can we do that in 2024? Because everything's so fractured, it's so hard to market somebody so that everybody knows who they are.

I feel like what— I feel like the way that we can do it now, I feel like what, what happened is, and, and I'm not sure if you and I spoke, I think we spoke about a little bit when we were in France. Is that before the, the music business has become corporate, right? So it's about number crunchers and deadlines and books. So, but if you're a creative person, I can't tell a creative person that, well, I need this album in, you know. I'll tell you in October, can we start your album? You say, yeah, I need your album in by Valentine's Day, February 14th. Well, usually back in the days it wasn't no— it was like, well, can you possibly have it in the first quarter, maybe early second quarter? So they didn't give you a deadline date, they actually gave you like maybe a time frame. Like, because a lot of artists— yeah, because then what happens is, you know as well as I do, a lot of artists sometimes they're usually recording all the time, or, you know, a creative person is always maybe recording a little something, that half-finished songs, got songs happening. So the deadline that you give them, but then also like if you're a writer or whatever like that, and those that really— there is a thing called writer's block where it happens, where they just feel like nothing creative is coming up. And nobody says that writer's block is for a day. It could be a day, it could be a week, it could be a month, it could be longer than that, a year, you know. Yeah, it could be a year. So you can't tell a creative person, I'm putting you on the clock to have this project out. And I think that that's what's happened now in the business. Like, when you turn around, you look at like what happened— I think you were out of the country when it happened, because was I out? Yeah, I was out of the country too. I was still gone. That, uh, that 40% cut that Universal made, that's crazy. But yet and still, they'll tell you these streaming— oh my God, we're streaming this, that, and the other, and that, that, that, the other. And you'd be like, that's why you look at an artist like a Taylor— oh, I'm sorry, and I forgot the name— Adele. Adele was one of the other artists. So, um, when you look at these artists like this, when they realize and they understand the science of the game, where they're like, nah, you know, when my project drops, there's no streaming. You have to go out and get the physical copies, you know. And let me tell you a, a funny little story about Taylor, right, that I heard, I got insight on. That every artist that signed Universal needs to thank her. They need to send her fruit baskets, Christmas gifts, whatever like that. And this is why I look at the person that she is, because when she re-signed her deal with Universal, right, she was free to go. She re-signed her deal with Universal, and her clause of her contract, after going through everything with Scooter Braun and all the whole Giant situation and all that situation, what she did was after a certain amount of time she gets her masters back. But she made it, and she wrote in her contract that every artist signed to Universal within that Universal UMG family also gets their masters back after a certain amount of time.

Hmm.

So at the end of the day, she could have just been about self, but she was about the whole artistry of an artist. Those artists that are going to probably end up getting their masters back that didn't even know that she's the reason why you're getting them back. And then the crazy part is, it's not like Universal is going to tell you, you know what I mean? They're not going to tell you that you could come get them. You're gonna just want— hey, have I been here long enough? Oh, oh yeah, we didn't think you wanted them back.

You didn't ask.

You didn't ask for it, but yeah, you have the right for them. And she did that. And so, you know what I mean? And a lot of people really didn't understand. You know. So that's what I love, man. But going back to what you said, like, I feel like now it's a game where they're chasing numbers versus talent. So they figured, well, chasing numbers far enough and hopefully there'll be some talent that'll wash out through it. But what they not understanding is, and being that these people aren't musical people such as ourselves or whatever like that, and they're business people and they're, they're looking at it. They're not going to understand what they're— what they're not understanding is that in this business there's more one-hit wonders than there are actually successful, more successful established career artists.

Because they're looking at the number.

Yeah, just look, because they're looking at—

because career trajectory, they tell you what's hot right now.

Yeah. So imagine you're an artist and you're like Bobby McFerrin, you know, Don't Worry, Be Happy.

Be happy.

Nobody, nobody knows him. Nobody knows him for any other song that he's done beyond that one. Not that he was ever a one-hit wonder, because it was weird because I got a great body of work. I heard that he has a great body of work, but that's his standout. That's his standout, his standout song that he's done. You know what I mean? So you turn around, you look at like— and then when you go into the rap world, look how many— look how many rappers that we know of have had big, big records. Big records, not albums. Big records. There's a difference. There's a difference. You want to hear something crazy? As big as he is, and he's been running— and he's been running the game for about the last 12 years, Drake, I don't think he's put out a classic album yet. He's put out classic singles, he hasn't put out a classic album, right? He hasn't put out a classic album where you like, oh, that's— he hasn't put out— he hasn't put out a Kanye— he hasn't put out that Kanye Late Registration or College Dropout, right? But he's streaming, huh?

He's a streaming baby. So ever since Drake was out, it's always been streaming, which is the singles marketplace, right? In fairness, yeah, it's got to be hard for him to think album when he knows his music's going to end up on playlists, right?

But imagine if he, if he took the mindset and said— and go back, let's just say he took the mindset to go back 20 years ago, he's like, I'm gonna think, I'm gonna, I'm gonna imagine that my— now my competition is the Jay-Z's, the 50 Cent's, the, uh, Eminems, the— all these guys, the, the Kanyes. Like, you know, like one of the, one of the best, um, one— think about something— one of the best rivalries and that ever happened in the music business was Kanye versus 50 Cent when they were dropping the albums.

When that album dropped, yes, everywhere.

That was on Billboard magazines, that was on TV, that was, you know, like the fans and the fans cared.

Yes.

Yeah, so it was Team Kanye, Team 50, you know what I mean? It was like— and they— I mean, I still remember the magazine where it would look like a face-off between the two of them when they were just standing, you know what I mean? So, but that was, you know, the people were involved in it, you know, you know what I mean? It was like the fans were involved in— like you, like you said, you know, there was like the big thing that sold a lot, that moved a lot of units. When you, when you look at and you do stuff like that, you know.

Yes.

And you hit the campaign trail.

Yeah.

One of the things that being with 50, like, it's, it's so crazy, Wendy, because this man has been in it and he's in a position now where he doesn't have to do a lot of the stuff that he does.

No, he doesn't.

And the craziest part is he still has this, he still has that same hunger from 2002, 2003 that he does now. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, it's like crazy. Like, I see him after the show, after— while we're on tour, after the tour, he's doing meet and greets in the venue. Like, he had a meet and greet, I think we were in Paris, it might have been, or it might have been the UK. He had 200 people. Wow. He sat there and met with every— every person, took pictures with 200 people. Yeah. That's like, this is a dude that could just be like, good night, thank you for coming out, you know what I mean? Thank you for coming out.

Building.

Yep, Elvis has left the building. No, this dude is like, yeah, so he's— so I think he gets it. And I, you know, well, I know he gets it. And then, you know, and that's why, like, when you look at fans and sometimes people will be like, oh, well, he's not as relevant, you'd be like, no, remember something. And I tell people when they'd be like, well, he's not the relevant as such and such as the Lil Baby and this and that, And I tell people all the time, remember something. Last year, your most successful tours were LL's Rock the Bell, Old School, right? Beyoncé, okay, that's B. Taylor Swift, that's her. 50 Cent. Tours that didn't come out: Lil Baby didn't come out. All the so-called deemed hot— oh, and Drake's tour was the hot one. Yeah, Drake and, uh, Drake and 21. So those 5 So everybody else, people were like, we're not— they're not selling tickets, we can't buy it, we can't— so you'd be like, this is a man that's out there with a show that's 20, 20 years old with another technically old school artist, Busta Rhymes, opening up for him and an R&B singer, Jeremiah, but they're selling, they're doing— they're selling out everywhere they go.

Yeah.

People like talent. People want a good show. People want to feel like they got their money's worth. They're not sitting up here trying to look at like different artists walking across the stage like they're panthers in the cage.

Exactly. Exactly.

Oh my God, that's exactly what it is. Yeah, you know, but yeah, but, and then if artists don't pay attention, you— the reason why I stay in, the reason why I stay on the move all as much, Wendy Like, like I use— he's like, man, Adam, you stay on the move all the time. Every time I see you, you're somewhere. The reason why is because what do we say in this conversation? Entertainment business didn't come get you, you went to it. So for me, I gotta go out and discover what's new. Yes, I have to figure out what's happening, what's going on, what's new. And when I tell you, when I tell you, when I tell you, Wendy that this wave of this Afrobeats thing that is coming, you're loving it, is going to wash over like anything. Like, it's, it's— and the craziest part is this is one of the rare times where America didn't dictate to the rest of the world, right? This is an art form that's coming from Africa through Europe into, into the U.S. So what's going to happen I tell people, I said, it's like the South, how long the South has had its run and, you know, dominating the rap business. I said, it's because what they— the South always said they knew how to— they knew how to— they knew how to pivot, like almost like in back. So they'd be like, oh, this is the Atlanta sound, this is the Houston sound, this is the Memphis sound, this is the New Orleans sound, this is the this sound, this is the that sound. But guess what? We're all still the South. They're all screaming the South. But they're giving you different forms of it where the East Coast was the East Coast, the West Coast was the West Coast, the Bay Area was the Bay Area. But the South, you, you know, Texas don't sound like Georgia, Georgia don't sound like Memphis, Memphis don't sound like the Carolinas, you know what I mean? So it's, it's all— so that allows them to— so what's happening now is you're finding Afrobeats, and then you're looking at a guy like Burna Boy, and you're looking at a guy But you know who's a huge Afrobeats artist that I'm gonna blow your mind and tell you? And I had a chance to tell him, and I said, dude, I didn't realize that you were huge in the Afrobeats world. Ed Sheeran.

Really?

Ed Sheeran is on some of the biggest Afrobeats records ever.

I didn't know that.

That's awesome. He's got records with him and Burner Boy. He's got one record that's out now, him, Burner Boy, and, uh, Central Cee. He's got another record that he did, uh, called Peru with this, with this kid Puma. Huge. He's got like— I told Ed Sheeran, dude, you're so dope, because I said, so how did you do it? He said, I went to Ghana for a month and I started meeting with— he goes, I— and this is what I said, having foresight. If anybody that watches this, you got to have foresight. A lot of times you got to invest in yourself. If you want to have a career in this thing, invest in yourself. The man said, I went to Ghana for a month. I went down there, met all these Afrobeats artists, humbled myself, humbled myself. They couldn't really pay me what I would normally have gotten as a feature, but I went down there, humbled myself, and got on records and built relationships with these guys so that by the time these records start coming out, he's huge. Like he has big records.

That's so awesome. And what that's going to do is it's going to use his star power to bring Afrobeats into the mainstream. Like it's a win-win for everybody.

Exactly. And then guess what happens is that now artists that were— people that listen to Afrobeats that may have not been on the edge, that may have not been Ed Sheeran fans, and be like, oh dude, this dude is dope. Let me go check out some of his other stuff, and vice versa, you know what I mean?

Yeah, so that's awesome.

Yeah, but it was— yeah, so, so what I'm looking at right now, I know, uh, some several really big Afrobeats artists, but they're French Afrobeats artists. And these guys, like, when I tell you that they're big, Wendy Day, that these dudes do stadiums. They don't do arenas. They don't do like Barclays or Staples. Like, they're doing arenas, like 80,000 seaters, right? 90,000 seaters. Yeah, these dudes, that's all they do is stadiums, you know what I mean? And these guys are like huge, but a lot of them are French or whatever like that. But the thing is about them is they're humble enough where they say that, yes, we're big over here, but we want to get into the American market because the American market is still the dream that a lot of these artists want to get into. So what they will do, they'll humble themselves and they'll be like, like the one song that I was telling you about, like, um, that DJ Ferris has on the song. It's, it's, uh, Tory Lanez, Afrobeat. It's a huge artist out of France right now by the name of Daju and this girl named Anne-Marie. And only thing Daju asked to get on the record for, he just said, I just want to be in the video. He didn't ask for any money. He didn't ask for any, any— because he said, my publishing is going to come to me, my royalties will come to me, I just want to be in the video. Because what I want is, I know that this record is going to be promoted in the States, which is going to build my platform.

And it gives him content because he can chop it up.

That point, that point there, that's what it is. And that's why, like, sometimes when I look at artists, and I was explaining to people when we were overseas, and they were saying, well, how come American artists cost so much sometimes? And I said, because let me, let me break this down to you. I said, you're a new artist, you got a buzz record that's coming. I said, maybe you're charging $10,000 to $25,000 for a show, right? These are weekend gigs that they're running around. Am I kind of correct with the numbers? You could do $10,000 to $25,000, right? I said, so you're doing 4 shows a week, so you figure Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, you're making $100,000 in the weekend. So now, as the song moves up the charts, now you're maybe getting $50,000. So now you're making in the neighborhood of $200,000, uh, yeah, $200,000 in the weekend. So maybe you're making somewhere in the neighborhood, we'll just easily say, let's just say you're making $800,000 in a month. In a month. In a month. Because you're performing every, every weekend, you're doing a circuit, you're running, right? I told him, I said, so the song goes up, your bank account is going up, everything's going up. They're like, yeah. I said, so now as you're just starting to break in other parts of the world— and for you, for those that are listening, London is not Europe. London is not Europe. It is, but it's not. They don't consider London a part of, uh, they consider London America's cousins, so they feel like a song should break in London. It's not. You don't get the recognition until you start breaking in countries like France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, anywhere else besides London. Then that's when they'll look at you a little bit different. But so when you turn around, you look at it, and I told them, I said, well, they'll be like, well, we're only going to pay them like $10,000. I said, well, you know, because nobody really knows them here like that, so we got to do the promotion to build. So you go back to an artist, you say, look, I can get you a 10-day run. 10-day run is gonna— you're gonna probably walk away at about $100 grand. They're like, what?

But I'm making 800 over here.

But, but I'm making 800.

Exactly.

Why I need to go over there?

Long-term vision. You gotta have long-term vision.

You gotta understand that. Remember when we talked about when you're not hot?

Yes.

So remember, a lot of times when you're not hot here in the States, because they don't see you overseas or around the rest of the world on the regular, you tend to still have a little fire still left over there. Yes, that you can still get over there and make a little bit more money. Yes, you can make some money doing shows and features. Features and shows. So you may start it off with $100 grand, maybe you may come home with about $200, maybe $300, but at the end of the day, guess what you're doing?

It's like you said, laying the foundation.

You're laying the foundation.

Yes.

That, you know, like, smart kid, right? I was talking to somebody in, uh, Belgium when I was there, and he was telling me about this artist in, in, uh, Spain. Dude is big in Spain, rap artist, big, big, big, big. Shows me a video. Guess who's on the video? Eleni Chopper.

Really smart.

He's on one of the biggest, one of the biggest Smart. Yeah, right. So I look at it, I said, oh wow, this is crazy. So then I say to him, I said, I said, what happened? So I called my man Ron Stew over here at Warner. I said, yo, you know your man Chopper is doing this thing. He said, yeah. He said, what happened was, you know, he wanted to do this push and he wanted to go out and he just started reaching out to these guys. He said he's got songs with artists from the UK, he's got songs with that— what the guy told you about in Spain, he's got songs with artists from Germany. So what he's doing, the kid is smart enough to start branding himself worldwide. Yes, it's a worldwide thing. Because remember something, if you got Spotify and you got Apple Music, it doesn't say just US. No, it has a worldwide.

Yeah.

So these people that are around the world are listening to your music. Why not go get that?

Why not go get it?

Yeah, go get it. They're waiting for you.

Yep. And you're not leaving money on the table.

You're not leaving money on the table. So that's my thing right now. I'm just out here, I'm finding, you know, I, I've found a production team that's, that's in Belgrade. Right after I saw you, I met this production team. Nice.

Awesome.

Hungry.

Awesome.

I'm like, yeah, I was like, uh, I will sign you guys, I will represent you guys, uh, you know, let's make this happen. They're happy with it. Like, I'll let you know. Because at the end of the day, as, as producers— thank you— as producers, sometimes you're even bigger than the artist in a sense. Because if you're sending a track, your track can be used for so many things— commercials, movies. Yeah, so many different things that don't necessarily have to be stuff that you're looking for on radio or streaming, you know. But yeah, and they're coming with a different sound, and they're coming with a different sound, and they're coming with the, with the, with the definitely— because for them like even with that whole Afrobeats sound, for them they're like, we, we do this like this. Because a lot of them, a lot of the— and you know this, Wendy Day— a lot of Black people that are in Europe have direct correlation to Africa. So they're like, yes, yeah, you know, my parents are— they're either first or second generation or whatever that they're to the continent. So that they're like, yeah, you know, and they're getting that music or whatever like that.

But yeah, exactly. So how important are relationships? And, you know, I'd like to point out that this interview is happening because of relationship.

Yeah, relationships are, are the, are the most important. Relationships are invaluable and priceless. Yes, they're priceless. Like relationships in general, life relationships, business relationships. You know what I mean? Just relationships in general. Kanye tickets got us related because of relationships. It was a phone call.

I couldn't have done that. I could never have landed Kanye tickets.

So, you know, but it was like— I think you could have. I think that you made a phone call or two. You got, you got some things in the bags that you could have did.

Um, yeah, but I wouldn't have. One of my, one of my, um, regrets, and probably my only regret because I'm not somebody that has regrets, is that I never really cultivated relationships the way that I should have in the music industry because I was always a disruptor. I was always sort of like anti-major label and pro-independent, so I never really cultivated the relationships that I should have because I never thought I would last this long. I thought that I would a bunch of rappers and then go do something else.

You, you know what I always— what I, what I look at and my outlook is like, it's, it's so funny, like in this business I've met so many people where I felt like didn't have an identity unless for the company that they work for. Like they'll be like, hi, I'm I'm, I'm, I'm Jake, Def Jam. Oh, hi, I'm Earl, uh, Warner Brothers. And, and I, and I always was like, and I always wanted to know the person. I didn't care about what you did.

Same.

So I always want to know the person. So I was like, hey, Wendy Day, how you doing? They'd be like, you know, that's Wendy Day for Wendy Day. She's done X, Y, Z. I was like, for real? Wow, that's, that's great.

No, that's Wendy Day, your friend.

How do you know? How do you know Wendy? That's the homie. Like, I'm, I know her as the homie. Like, I'm not I didn't ask for a background check. We became cool. If I like you, I like you. If I don't, I don't. That's what it is. That's the simplicity of things with me. So then when people say, well, did you know— did you— did you know that such and such— who, him or her?

Yeah, that's such a—

that's just been the homie. I just knew him as the homie. Like, I knew what they kind of did, but I didn't— it didn't matter to me why I needed to know them. Yeah, and that's why I think that if you have those type of relationships where you just be like, hey, what's up, you know, what's going on? Like, it's so funny that I remember it's program directors now that are people that are in positions now that are program directors said, you know, I always remember you. I said, why you remember me? He said, because you were always nice to me whenever you came by the station. I remember when you would take people to go eat. They said you would take people to go eat And I would be only on the air at 1 o'clock in the mornings on Saturday— well, Saturday night, Sunday mornings. And I remember you would take like— because, you know, of course everybody caters to the 5 o'clock every day drop, you know, the, the Funk Flexes of the world, the DJ Emmys of the world, and all the rest of these other people, the stars. And they said, yeah, and they said that. So then when you would come in and then Whenever you would come in and you'd be— and you would take people to go eat, and I'll be like, all right, cool, I'm getting ready to leave. And you'll be like, no, you're not coming. And I'll be like— and they'll be like, is it cool? And I'll be like, yeah, I don't care. Yeah, come on. And they will come. They said you, you didn't treat me any different than you treated anybody else. Exactly. Like, if I— like, if I, if I, if I called you, you answer my calls. If I— if you, you know, have promo stuff, you sent me promo stuff. Like you treated me. You called to see how I was. You called and asked me to play your records. You, you treated me like, like you treated everybody else. I said, well, I don't know how any other place to treat you, right? I, I don't. I just know how to treat you one kind of way. Like, like me, you know, in the 20 years, 20-plus years that you and I have been knowing each other, we've always had the same energy no matter what. Yes. Like, I don't know how to— I don't know how to be different. I can only be me and that's it. Yeah, you know what I mean? And I think that a lot of times people look at you like, you know, not, not you and I per se, but they look at you and be like, well, what can you do for me? Well, what position are you in? You'd be like, positions change all the time. People get fired every day, you know, as we saw last week. As we saw last week, there's a lot of people out here that gonna be calling some people and people are gonna be like Tell them I'll call them back. Exactly.

I'm not taking their call.

I'm not taking that call.

Exactly. You know, so Adam, what, what builds you? Like what? And I don't, I'm not talking about work stuff now. I'm sort of, I'm coming into Adam Favors, the human being. Are there books or philosophies that you follow that have made you the person you are today?

You know, I think it's life. I think this road of life and the people that you run across in this, in this, in this road, in this thing called life, that, that impact you, you know what I mean? Like, I remember my grandmother. I was probably about like 5 or 6. I was born in '68, so I'm right at the end of like the whole civil rights movement or whatever like that, right? So something that happened on the news, and I was probably about 5 or 6, and then my grandmother told me— now me being a biracial dude, half Puerto Rican, half Black, so you know, I'm looking— and then my grandmother, she tells me, she says something had happened. I forget what it was per se, and then, and I might have said like, well, why are white people so mean or whatever like that? And I remember she stopped me. And she said, don't ever, don't ever think that. She goes, never judge a person by the color of their skin because God made that choice. She said, judge them by their character. She goes, because this whole time that you may be sitting up here disliking somebody that doesn't look like you or have your background, and this could be the person that could really want to help you, where somebody that looks like you and from your background mean you no good. So always judge them by that character. So that's how I've always lived my life since she's told me that, is, you know, I judge person by character. Like, I, I had some friends— getting a little personal story right now— like, I had a really, really, really, really good friend of mine that had an addiction problem that was on heroin, right? And if you've ever been around a heroin addict, like, there's some time they they can go left. I would leave the dude at my pad, you know what I mean? Crash— he'd be crashed out. I come check on him, whatever, everything was good. But we were friends, so I'm like, as a friend, I saw beyond whatever, you know, a friend is somebody. So then what happened was Uncle got— Uncle, he came up during— it was during the crack epidemic. He didn't have nowhere to stay, so I let him Dude stole, stole out of my house, whatever, like this. Now my friend, the one that was— never touched anything, never touched anything, never stole, never did anything, you know what I mean? Always respected the pad, never shot up, never did that. It was just like, ever, character. Yes, you know what I mean? So I was just like, great examples. Yeah, and I'm just like, you know, so I always judge people just on the person, and that's what it is. So that's what— these are the things in life that, that, that, that I'm big on. Respect. I'm big on loyalty, you know what I mean? Those are my caveats. Definitely respect, respect, loyalty, and honesty. That's it. Don't lie to me. I can take it no matter what, good, bad, or— and I will respect you more for the honesty. Yes, honestly, because I feel like you respect me.

Exactly. To be honest, it means somebody loves you enough to tell you the truth, or just even like you enough to tell you the truth.

Because I tell people, I tell people this, I'm honest with you because of the simple fact of these reasons here. If you're my person, like Wendy Day, you're my people, I'm gonna always be honest with you. Because if you're my people good news, bad news, or indifferent, I'm gonna always tell you because I want you to always be like, well, at least he— I may not like the situation, but at least he was honest. But if I don't like you and you're not my people, the fuck am I lying to you for? I don't care about how you feel anyway.

Right, right.

You know what I mean? So if you go through life, you start looking at it from that aspect of it, then you start realizing that Do you know how— do you know how hard it is to remember a lie that you've told that you done built this whole wall up on, and you got to go back?

And that's actually why I don't lie, because my memory sucks.

Here's the crazy part, right? Because we're in the business that we're in, you learn to be a good listener. Because you know who's some of the— you know who's some of the— who's some of the best artists? Because artists will be like when there's something that they don't want to do, they'll be like, well, you never told me about this, why this X, Y, and Z. Or for something that they want to do, they'll be like, remember you said that I could— so you learn to listen. You have to— there's a difference between hearing and listening. You have to listen. You have to listen to what they're saying and comprehend and understand and comprehend what they're saying. And then that way it's funny. So you go through life and you listen, not just hear, but listen to when a person's talking to you. You'll find out a lot because guess what happens is I find out that people, a lot of times, if you listen to what they say, will tell you their intentions or what they have going on because it'll slip out. And it may be that one little word that you may hear that you'd be like, wait, hold on, what'd you say? What did you say? Oh, Nothing. I just— you like, okay, if you gonna act like you— if you act like you didn't say it, I'm act like I didn't hear it. But no, I heard it, because you know you said it, you know.

Exactly. Yeah, people will always tell you. We just have to not only have to hear it but accept it. Like, sometimes people will tell me who they are, and because I want them to be different, I'll be like, oh, he didn't really mean that. Like, I'll make an excuse, and then I'll get burned because I made an excuse. Instead of hearing.

So who— so, so at that point, who are you mad at exactly? For this— for this person being who he said he was, or for you wanting something different? Wanting something different.

Exactly. I have one more question for you, and you've been really generous with your time. Thank you. No worries.

Of course.

But I— but I would love to talk about artist teams, and you've seen good teams and you've seen bad teams. You've been on good teams, you've been on bad teams. What should an artist look for? And I'm talking more about newer artists. What should they look for? Who should they bring around them? Can you talk a little bit about that?

Yeah, what you should look for, you should look for somebody that has that team effort, team. Not I, not, not, not me. It should always be we and team. You should understand that everybody— like, like, like, like, put it like baseball, right? Everybody should know to play their position. The pitcher pitches. The pitcher isn't the catcher. The catcher isn't the pitcher. Third base, second base, first base don't play the outfield, right? Outfield plays the outfield. Left field, center field right field, you know what I mean? Shortstop. Everybody plays their position. So if you play your position, then whoever that this thing is behind— if, if we're Team Wendy Day, then everybody should be moving almost like an ant colony to move the queen, to move Wendy. Everything's about protecting and certain— it's protecting the golden goose. That's what it is. You have to understand that, yeah, you know, and if you had— and if you— but you also got to understand too, and don't fall into this, that sometimes you can have a bad leader. Yes. And that if you realize that the person that you're championship— that you're championing isn't worthy of it, then it's something— it's cool to, to break away. That's cool.

Yes.

Because if you, if you realize that you'd be like, oh, this person is just foul, per se. Yeah, you know what I mean? Yeah, let me just— let me just, as in the infamous words of LeBron, you know, me being born and raised in Cleveland, I'm taking my talents elsewhere, you know, and that's it. But by that time, hopefully you've built some really great relationships that your talents will be appreciated and respected somewhere else. Right, that's what you want. And that— and but you have to focus, and you'll see the team, because if you're around the team every day— I'll always say, like, it's like dating. The first month and a half, 2 months of dating, you're meeting the representative. Yes, you're meeting your representative, you're meeting her representative. Everybody's like, hi, how are you? What's going on? Oh my God, you look nice today. Oh my God, you smell beautiful. By that third month, the doors may not get opened as much as they used to during the first two, you know what I mean? It may not be like, well, where we going to eat? It'd be like, I'm going over here to grab something to eat, do you want something? You know, certain things happen. So if you watch a team and you see how you move, but you also gotta, like I said again, don't be loyal to default, to somebody that's not loyal to you. That loyalty thing.

That was the hardest lesson for me to learn.

Yeah.

Because I am a very loyal person. It was very hard for me to learn that it's okay to move on when somebody doesn't have the same respect. I, I, I especially realized it during COVID When COVID hit, I was working with an artist that had 5 kids, and my immediate concern was, oh my God, how's he gonna feed his kids? Yeah. And I immediately worried about him. I forgot to worry about me. And as we were going through COVID, I realized that he also only worried about him and really could give a rat's ass about me. And that was kind of a wake-up call for me, like, oh shit, it's not reciprocal. Like, I've been doing all this for 2 years and it's kind of fuck me.

People will take, people will take, take, take, take, and take. Yeah, you have to, you have to watch signs. Yeah, then make— then look, then we'll try to make you feel bad that they couldn't take from you no more. What do you mean?

That's exactly what happened.

Wendy, what? Yeah, what do you mean? Yeah, have I not— have, have you not been entertained? Have I not been there for you?

Exactly. No, you haven't.

What do you mean I haven't been there for you? Didn't— when we went to go eat, did I tell you it was okay to get yourself something too?

Actually, no.

You know what I mean? So, but yeah, you just gotta watch people, and people will give you signs. That's— and they will, you know, and the cool thing about it What I've come to realize is it's cool to ball out gracefully, you know what I mean? I don't have to. But here's the funny thing about human nature though, right? When a person realized that they've wronged you and realize that they've wronged you, have you ever noticed that when you go around them, you don't see anything, you say, hey, how you doing, they become very uncomfortable?

Yes, I've also that um, and not necessarily with this person, but I noticed they go on the attack. It's like, yeah, many people where I've built them to like multi-millionaire status and then I move on with my life, and when they see me, it's not all love. It's almost like, how dare you have left me? You only made me $2 million when you could have made me $4, or you could have made me $6.

Yeah, abusive. Yeah, like, oh, fuck that, fuck this, fuck him, fuck her. Yes. You'd be like, you'd be like, but she, he, or they, they walked in the room and they didn't have none of that energy towards you. What? Why, why do you have to— why, why, what is that energy going on?

Yep. 48 Laws of Power taught me that, where people, when they, when they look at you, they have a negative feeling because you remind them that they needed you at one point. You remind them that they couldn't do this without you. So they have a certain amount of disdain towards you because then it's not about their loveliness or their talent or their charisma. They actually needed a team of people to help them get there. And there's a little bit of resentment sometimes. With that. Yeah, certainly if you left, if you left the situation.

But you know, at the end of the day, you gotta always protect you.

Correct. It took me a long time to learn that.

You have to protect you.

Yeah, it took me a long time to learn that. So what do you do for fun?

Travel the world.

Like me, you travel the world?

Travel the world. Travel the world, hang out with my kids.

That's beautiful. That's beautiful.

Travel the world and then meet new people. I like— see, the thing about me, the thing I like, the thing about me, I like people.

I genuinely like people. You love people.

Yeah.

And you're good at it. You're good at people. You're an extrovert.

And then, and then, and what happens is—

I get it more.

Yeah, still, still, still in a certain kind of way, but it depends on the situation. It depends on the relationship. Relationship-wise.

Okay.

Because it depends on the relationship-wise, like how we're going to start. If it's something that is getting ready to be romantically, like, yes, I'm gonna be like, ah. But if it's just any other kind of— but the thing is, is because I feel like I like to— I love to learn. I always want to learn something. I always want to feel like I want to learn something new every day. And I feel like meeting different people. And you know, if you take an interest in people, people will show you a lot of times. Like, like, think about it, right? As much as you and I like to travel the world, then you meet people and you'll be like, hey, how you doing with that? And they'll be like, what would you like to do? And then, you know, we both like food, so you know what I mean, in a sense. And people be like, oh, you want this spot right here? No, I'll show you a really good spot over here. Come over here, they have really good— have you ever tried this kind of food? Have you ever tried that? And then, you know, once you get into meeting people and you start understanding them, you And, and that's what I like. I just like to meet people. I just like to, you know, it's funny, a really good friend of mine, she told me, she goes, you're a people collector. She goes, you collect—

oh, I like that, people collector.

I like that. I said, yeah, so I just like to just meet just different people. Like, I just like to— I find people interesting.

They are.

Like, I said, I said, everybody has a— has their own story. It's an individual story. Everybody has their own individual story. You're, you're the, you're the star of your show, of this thing called life. And sometimes I like to sit back and I like to observe and be like, oh, let me get the popcorn. I love it. Let me get the popcorn, you know.

And it's better from over here.

And it's better from over here, you know, because some of you guys, some of you guys live, you'd be like, I thought you said that this was a comedy. This is a tragic— this is a horror story over here.

Tragedy, you know.

This is a tragedy. Like, that's funny, you know. This isn't even dark— this isn't even dark humor.

This is—

oh, you know, that's funny. Yeah, Machiavellian.

That's it.

But yeah, I figured there's 100 and— there's 100 and— I think they said there's 192, 195 nations in the world. So I feel like it's my job to at least visit about 193 of them.

I love that. What's your favorite place?

Portugal.

Really? Oh, I need to go to Portugal.

Lisbon is incredible. But you know what, you know what's my, my two favorite— my two is three. Let me give you my three.

Okay, give me your three.

Portugal is one.

Okay.

Havana, Cuba is two.

Wow. Okay.

Mexico City is three.

Wow. Okay. Do you speak Spanish?

Yeah, I speak Spanish. But here's why though, it's not because of the speaking Spanish. When I went to Mexico City, we had decided it was only two things we wanted to do. One was go to the Basilica de Guadalupe, right? And then two was to go to the pyramids that are in Mexico City, right? Wendy Day, I found out so much. Remember I told you I love to learn? I found out that Mexico City is the most populated city in the Western Hemisphere, 50 million people. 50 million. It's two miles— it's two miles higher in altitude than Denver. Yeah, yeah, it's basically built up on a lake and a volcano, so it's crazy. And then when we went to the pyramids, come to find out that even though a lot of people give the Aztecs credits for a lot of the pyramids and stuff, when the Aztecs came to Mexico City, the pyramids had already been there 1,500 years prior to them getting there.

Oh, I didn't know that.

See the things you learn when you hit the streets, you know, when you get out and start talking to people. Yeah, that's cool. What I loved about Cuba— I went to Cuba— you're in a time warp because it's still 1959 when you look at— when you overall, when you look at the buildings and stuff.

Yes.

But some of the most prideful not pride in a bad way, but like pride in we're Cuban, like, you know what I mean?

Yeah.

Know their history, know everything that's going on in the world outside around them. And yet and still, people don't realize this. Like, if I were to ask you, what do you think is probably the most literate— what do you think is probably the most literate place or country in the world? When it comes to literacy?

I don't know. Is it Cuba?

Cuba. Cuba boasts a 99% literacy rate.

That's beautiful.

That means some people that may look at this not really understand, that means that damn near every person can read and write. Yeah. That Havana's— that, that Fidel's dream said that we may be a small island nation, but we're going to have the best athletes, we'll have the best— we'll be, we'll be great in arts, we'll be great in science, and will be great in, um, education. And that was his goal, that he went and he— so they have— if you ever talk to people and people tell you that Cuba has some of the best doctors in the world, they'll have some of the best athletes in the world, they have one of the best educational systems in the world. It was crazy, like, when I went over there and just— and they, and they know their history. Yeah, you know. And then, uh, Lisbon, Lisbon Watch, put it to you this way. When you go— see, we're speaking it into fruition— when you go, you're gonna tell me how— you're, you're gonna tell me why I like it so much, right?

It's on my list.

It's incredible.

Incredible.

People are nice. People are super nice. You don't feel like— you don't feel threatened if you're out 2, 3 o'clock in the morning. You don't feel like, oh shit, I'm about to be robbed. You don't feel like You know what I mean? You— it's just an incredible place. It's a beautiful city. People are beautiful. It's, it's, it's dope. It's dope.

That's so cool. My favorite is Ghana. I love Ghana.

I didn't go to Ghana yet. I want to go to Ghana.

I'd like to retire there. When, when you mentioned Ed Sheeran and Ghana, like, I, I, I smiled inside. That's how much I like Ghana. Yeah, I, I really enjoy Accra. I've been to Kumasi. I've been to a, a small, uh, city called Tafo, which is, um, like a tribe. It was kind of cool being there, um, because they had never seen— well, the older folks did, but the, the younger folks had never seen a white person before. So people were coming up and touching my skin.

Wait, what? I like this?

Yeah, yeah, it was really cool, you know, it was really cool. They just want to see, like, does it feel the same?

So like this? Were they touching your hair?

Surprisingly, yeah, surprisingly they didn't.

Oh wow.

Yeah, and of course, you know, Paris— I, I go to Paris once a year.

I've been to Paris twice. But you know what's so crazy? As many times we've been there on that side of the world at the same time, it's usually— yeah, well, where are you at? I'm leaving to go to Paris. I'm leaving to go to London on, on, on Thursday.

Yeah, that happened on Thursday, November last year. Yeah, I was in Paris, you were in London, and then we passed each other, I think, on the train.

Yeah, we passed each other on the train. So it's like crazy. Yeah, but anybody that watches this, and I will tell you, especially if you're a person of color get a passport, travel the world. You'll see it's a whole— it'll change your perspective on life. Yeah, it will really change your perspective on life. And it's not as expensive as you think.

It's really good.

A lot of, a lot of times if you catch a flight and if you book it in enough, enough time in advance, that same flight you would take to maybe almost fly to Vegas or LA or somewhere else it literally will cost you maybe $50 more, maybe $50 more. And the only— and the most expensive part to me, that I find the most expensive part about Europe and traveling abroad, is usually the airline ticket.

Agreed.

Because the food is cheap and you come back— and Wendy and I were talking about this— you come back feeling like so much healthier. The food is so much better, the water tastes so much Wouldn't you agree? Like, the food, you just—

hands down.

Chicken wings, chicken wings look like this, not like this, right? You know what I mean, right?

There's no growth hormones, there's no antibiotics, it's, it's natural.

Yeah, it's all natural. Like, you'll feel like you, you're, you're gonna feel it. Your system, your body will feel better, you'll feel better, you'll feel like you're sleeping better, you'll, you'll— it's just different, it's just different. Yes. And you may go and meet a new friend. You know what I mean?

Somebody— exactly, exactly.

And I meet people in the most random places, man. I gotta— I got, uh, a dude I met when I was in Sicily. I met him, uh, at a, at a restaurant. He was the waiter at the restaurant. We just exchanged information because we just got into a great conversation. Hey, you're just like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, here, you got WhatsApp? Yeah, I got WhatsApp. All right, here, go, my number. Let's stay in touch.

I love that.

That's how it normally happens. That's how it normally happens, to be honest. That's the secret about— you got WhatsApp? Yeah, y'all got WhatsApp. All right, cool, let's do this, you know. That's awesome. Yep. So, my dear, anything else?

No, I love you. Thank you so much for doing this.

I love you back. No doubt, no doubt, no doubt. It's always a pleasure.

Thank you, Adam, you're awesome.

You're very welcome, Wendy Day. Thank you for having me, you're great.

Okay, I'll see you soon.

Okay, peace.

I love