Tim Wilson : The Art of Curation

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Favorite Prince interaction?
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I I know you’ve had him. Say hi, Kev. I have Prince interactions I can’t talk about in public. Um, but I I will tell you this. So, Prince used to hang out
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with me, South Beach nightclub, uh, every Wednesday night for about a year, maybe two. He would sit in the DJ booth with me. They his people would come up,
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clear everybody out the booth, and then he would sit in the booth with me and watch me DJ u from 9 to midnight. And
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then he’d be like, “All right, I’m out.” And then, you know, throughout the evening, it was very funny to have Prince leaning over your shoulder and go, “Yo, yo, what you gonna play next?
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What you gonna play next?” And I’m like, “You want me to play one of yours?” He said, “No, no, no. Just do your thing. Do your thing.” Tim, look at her, man. No, she shouldn’t had it on. Huh? Huh?
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And I’m thinking in my mind like, “Yo, that’s Prince talking to me about the club. That’s crazy.” He funny as [ __ ] too. He’s hilarious. Uh, yeah. I’ll tell
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you some stories off camera. It’s very funny. I got you. I got you. Okay. All right.
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Last night to live, local show, local meal. What a day.
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Local show. Wow. Um, well, local meal.
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The the place I really like the most ain’t even open. It was Tucci Bonj. I used to love that spot. Oh, yeah. That was and that that would have been my my
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last meal for sure. Um, and as far as a local show, I honestly I would go see any local hip-hop show that I don’t know the artist just to watch the vibe.
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That’s dope. Yeah. Yeah, that’s dope.
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I’m here to simple and plain. I’m all about my
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paper, the bacon, chitter, and pain. I got these lanes running for the border.
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The talented Mr. Keep it flowing like it’s creeping low speed. Is it him and his friend sitting in the nose? Play it
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cool. He ain’t special just cuz he’s on TV. Everybody’s hands up acting like they know.
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Welcome to Taste Music here Food podcast show. the destination for food, music,
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and culture and how they connect. I’m your host, Ed Porter, and today we have an amazing guest, somebody I’ve been
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looking to talk to for quite some time in a platform like this. And I would be remiss not to give this man his flowers.
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And so, I’m going to attempt to do such with this intro right here. So, you know. All right.
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Omitting a Bruce Leroyesque neon glow is an iconic record shop on University Avenue. One man has been cooking up a
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revolution in rhythm. The mastermind behind Urban Life’s Music, Minnesota’s only blackowned record store. He’s a
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living archive of hip-hop history, a visionary DJ and artist in his own right, helping to shape the Twin Cities musical past as well as his future. For
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over 30 years, he’s been serving up musical feasts to his community, blending beats like spices, stirring a soulful stew of sound, and satisfying
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hungry ears with every groove. A true pillar of the Minneapolis hiphop community, he’s mentored countless aspiring DJs and artists, turning raw
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talent into season pros, marinating them in wisdom until they are sizzling on stage. Through his weekly Faders Up sessions, he throws open the doors for
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local turntabists to learn, jam, and shine. Transforming turntables into classrooms and raising up the next generation, one vinyl at a time. He’s a
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taste maker infusing the scene with flavor. A cultural leader take keeping the vibe alive and a musical force mixing history with innovation. Ladies
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and gentlemen, the one and only Mr. Tim Wilson. I’m tearing up, bro. I don’t know whether to hug you or Yeah. Man,
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listen. All the above, man. All the above. What’s going on, man? Yeah. No, I appreciate you. That’s That’s awesome, man. I appreciate that. No, so really quick,
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Urban Lights for Urban Lights was the first one of the first stops I made when I got to Minnesota. Okay. So, my
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neighborhood record store, Moody’s, which is Yeah. Yeah. Which is in the coalition. So, is is So, I tapped in with with them. Okay.
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to where where do I go when I go to to this place? I don’t know where to go, you know? I’m like, so you Oh, Urban Lights. Cool. Urban Lights. Yes, sir.
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St. Paul. And then I realized that cats in Minneapolis don’t don’t go to St.
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Paul, which is weird. Which is which is weird. But yes, it was it was my first stop. My one of my first stops. I bought 50s album from from Okay.
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This is my first stop, man. So, this is is a long time coming to to sit down and have this conversation. And um I just want to get into the evolution of Urban
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Lights, like how did it come about? Um I I know the story, but it’s it’s how did it all come about and the evolution of
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over the years. Okay. Well, literally it came about because um I be honest with you, I probably was in the music business before I knew I was in the
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music business. Um, so I can go all the way back to high school and uh I wasn’t the athlete, but I was uh I wasn’t the best student, but I was very creative.
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Um, and so I wanted to find a way to fit in. Music became that way to fit in. Um, and I was already collecting records. I
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would go with my grandmother. She’d take me down to the record store and I’d buy the top 20 records. Give me all those 45s. And then I’d go home and I’d make
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mixes. What was the first record you bought?
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First record I bought was Maze um the Maze Maze album. Yeah, that was the first record I ever owned. And so I
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go and I make these mixes and my locker goes from having books and everything in it to I’d open it up, bam, it’s a store.
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And so people come to my locker. Hey, I got a party this weekend. I need some slow jams. Boom. $15. Go out the door. G
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Groovers Incorporated, the name of the was the name of the cassette. So, um, so literally I was doing it before I knew I was doing it. Um, and then I was always
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hanging out at record stores throughout the city. Um, that’s how I built my vinyl collection to be able to DJ. Um, I would trade information for records.
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There you go. And then, uh, so I was music land and then I would go across the street to the other record store.
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And then I would get on a bus and go to another record store and you know end of the week I have a lot of all the new joints. Yeah. And uh became DJing,
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started DJing around the city. Um we in First AB had no business being in First A at 15 DJing. Um but we we were in the
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booth. Um the the the cat who used to DJ on Thursday nights more funk night back in the day named Roy Freedom. He he he would smoke a cigarette like every 15
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minutes. So he’d be like, “Who wants to DJ?” So, you know, we’re all like Yeah, let’s go. I’ll do it. Every week we’re there to take turns and and kind of
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learn the game a little bit. And um so all that information u I’m um um and then I started running a record pool for
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another record store. So I’m getting inclinated on how to order, how to how a store should go, you know, how Oh, you was in the business before you was Yeah,
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I was I was in the business before I ever got into business. So, you know, it was like the mafia problem, right? You know, born into it. And so, um, yeah,
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I’m I’m learning just the communication game. I’m I’m talking to people like Jay Prince. I’m talking to Luther Campbell.
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I’m talking to Tom Silverman. All these labels are just getting started. Tommy Boy, Luke Skywalker Records, Rapal Lot,
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Profile, Sugar Hill, Joey Robinson. I’m I’m speaking to all these people because I’m trying to get records into the city for the DJs, right? And so built cool
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relationships with people. um had to get a job, graduated from school, end up in
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sales, but I’m also at the same time still in the music business. I’m one foot in, one foot out, rapping,
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producing, running a label. Don’t glaze over the rapping part. So, they get up, don’t tell people, you got to go on online and find it. We’re not having a
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discussion, you know. So, we I did for a minute.
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Yes, I there are records out there. You have to find them. Yeah. Um I I got a couple Yeah. Yeah. I
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It’s all good. Couple slip through the cracks every once in a while. I I ain’t mad at you. Um so I I I was doing all these things at the same time and being
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in sales and um used to hang out at a store called Northern Lights. Um it was on my sale in
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my sales territory. So I’m supposed to be selling products, but I’m at the record store hanging out. And uh the owner, they own like probably 12 to 15
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stores at that time. And and they used to joke with me like, “Hey, uh you should buy this. You’re here all the time. You know, I might as well just give you a key. You can come in and go as you please.” And we’d laugh and joke
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about it. But all the way back to high school, me and my buddies used to say, “Man, what if we could own our own record store? That would be so cool.” Like, you know, we do all this music
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stuff and we could just put it all under one roof. That’d be great. So I called each of these people, said, “Hey, we can buy a record store.”
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1993 we bought a record store, opened it up, Urban Lights music was born. Dope, dope, dope.
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And you know, so we talking 30 plus years now. Yeah. Yeah. 31. 31. Yeah. So, how have you adapted to what’s going on
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as far as, you know, how people are consuming music today? Well, it honestly is a hard process because, and I tell
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people this uh all the time, is like I used to just put a key in the door and order music and sell music. That was it.
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Now, it’s a little bit more calculated as far as what you order, one, but two, the moves that you make cuz I got to keep bodies coming in. So, you know, we turned it more into a cultural spot now.
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It’s a space. It’s a creative space now.
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So people come in um people just come in and sit and write, you know, and they’ll come in and paint. They’ll come in and draw. They’ll come in and DJ, they’ll
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come in and man, I’m putting this record together, man. You mind if I just sit in the corner and just absorb for the rest of the day? Cool. So that’s the
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evolution of everything. Now, how I got there was obviously selling CDs and
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cassettes and then vinyl got real important. I took my record pool from the store I was at, moved it over here now. So now I’m running a record pool in
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this house. So I got all these different ways to get people music, DJs, the community, you know, doesn’t matter.
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Everybody’s getting music. Then uh CDs, cassettes went away, CDs became very important. And then one day vinyl went
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away. Yeah. And I I was just talking to somebody about this the other day. It seemed like it was about a 10-year period where vinyl was like, where is it at? like, you know, all all all the
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record pool records dried up. All the promos dried up. All the uh I want to order this on vinyl. Oh, we don’t even
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make it on vinyl. It’s cuz CD only. And then when that changed and went digital, then it’s like, okay, what’s the
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business going to be at this point? So, what we we did is is uh I continued to do a record pool, but it was a digital record pool. I continued to serve people
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music, but it was via uh putting in an iPod, putting in an MP3 player. Um CDs came back a little bit, made a
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resurgge, mixtapz came in. So now with the mixtape game, so mixtapz are out selling everything. And um that that
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probably ran us another five and a half years, maybe six. Um and they were very expensive at one time. Now, now cheap,
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but back in the day, I mean, you know, you can go on 125th in Harlem and get them for you. Yeah. Yeah. 10 for $10.
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You know, people come in, man, you don’t sell it like you do in New York, man. You got to move to New York, bro.
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We can’t do that price. I I don’t I don’t know that pricing structure.
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Doesn’t work for me, right? Um but yeah, so the mixtapz carried us and then, you know, like I said, we we we adjusted to the digital game. The mixtapz came and now um the resurgence. Vinyl is back.
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Mh. So I’ve seen it go. It’s cyclical.
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I’ve seen it go from one thing back to what it was and now CDs are about to come back. So absolutely. Yeah. Now it’s
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crazy. What do you think was or is the the golden era, if you will, for
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Minneapolis hip hop? That’s a good question. Sorry about the cough. No, no, good. Um,
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the golden era. Well, so people forget a lot about how hip-hop
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started and I like to say that we were really on the forefront of what was going on because we were DJing in the parks, but again, we were trying to emulate everything going on in New York.
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So, you know, we’re listening to the radio show. We’re trying to emulate the DJ because of that. We’re trying to emulate
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the music now. So now now we’re finding ways to record at home and find a studio in somebody’s basement with a fourtrack
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task cam hooked up to a rolling 707 and try to you know so you know we’re wearing the break dancing clothes. We
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got the graffiti crew with us and the whole thing. So we’re doing it everything. Um so that was the beginning of hip-hop before we were even really making records.
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I think the first record um TC Ellis, the Twin Cities rapper,
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probably is the first official record, okay, that was ever pressed.
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Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis also produced a record for Ice Tea, believe it or not. This is might be pre-breaking. Wow.
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Called Coin Madness.
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[Music]14:04
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and it was like 11 minutes long. So, you know, ter song was rap. Um, so that happened and
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then um KTEL Records popped up. The IRM crew, they were the first group to have a record deal.
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E I N K A L.
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So at that time I was running a record pool place called Wide Angle Records. So Wide Angle was also a record label too.
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They actually were one of the first um I guess distribution deals. They made a deal with Tommy Boy who eventually made a deal with Warner Brothers group called
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Information Society. But it was a record called Running that came out of Minnesota. A lot of people don’t remember that. Um, and because of that, gentleman by the name of Jerry Silvers
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had Wide Angle Records. I’m running a record pool. He says, “I’ll give you your own label.”
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Okay. So, now I’m running a record label. So, what’s the first thing that me and my partners did? We was like, “Well, we need to find some groups.” So, we need to find a group like Salt and
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Pepper, group like Public Enemy, group like my DMC, we need a kid and play group. And so, we go through the city and we find all this talent and we start
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putting records out. So literally um that’s kind of the beginning of the hip-hop scene in the Twin Cities.
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Everybody has their own story of it, but like date and times, that’s probably the beginning. Jenny, that’s that’s that’s super dope.
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Can you can you discuss your involvement as far as artist management and how you’ve supported artists over the years?
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I mean I myself being one of them like you know you you are the go-to cat in the city for
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and that’s not just just not just hip-hop but R&B whatever anybody’s doing
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um as a local artist you give people the artist a platform to be able to have
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their product up in the store with the likes of everybody else you know and so the fact that you do that is you know you
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It was always a big thing for me with the store. Um, you know, I always remember people asking me, “Oh, do you have a local section?” And I would tell
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artists like, “Why do you want to be in a local section?” Like, you should want your CD to be right next to Run DMC. You want your CD to be right next to NWA.
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Let’s shoot for that. There’s no local sections. Everybody’s equal here. So from the beginning, we used to give people opportunities for window space um
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right along with the national acts that would pay for it, but I give the local acts you get the window for 30 days. You can have your stuff up. Um we would do
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in stores just like we do in stores for the big artists for local records. Um so I always felt like that was important just to give people a shot and and you
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know growing that situation. Um and and I like to talk a lot. Um, so I would have a lot of conversations with people
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about, “Yeah, I like what you’re doing, but if you did this, this, and that, I think you might be a little bit more successful.” So then it became like,
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“Don’t play Tim Records.” He’s going to pick it apart. He’s going to pick it apart and and it’s going to
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be a thing. So don’t don’t listen to it, you know. But but I’ve actually had people come up to me and go, “Yo, remember when I brought my album into you and you told me it sucked? I
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appreciate that because I got a job and I’m and I have a family now. Kids, everything’s good. Yeah, I pivoted.
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Other people still see me and go, “Yeah, you know, man, you messed up my career.
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Show me that.” I was like, “No, I was just trying to keep it real. Everybody can’t go. Everybody can’t go.” you know.
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Um but to that point, the city has so much talent and um I I have set the
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store up in a position now with the open mics and the different events that we do to showcase the talent and give people a
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chance to feel like it’s big because it should be. If it’s your art and you feel like people should hear it, see it,
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let’s make it big. And so that’s what we aim to do now. It’s dope. though. And it’s a great segue to talk about Faders
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Up. So, let’s let’s talk about Faders Up. So, Faders Up came up. Um, basically, we used to get together
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anyway and hang out and DJ and just, you know, play old records, talk about the old days, talk about techniques and new
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equipment and all that. And we said, look, we’re here anyway on Saturdays.
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Let’s turn this into a thing. So, we just turned it into a opportunity for local DJs to get with us to come hang
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out. We order food, do the thing, um, and talk music and then talk DJing and how to continue to move that medium or
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that way of presenting music to the public. Let’s let’s find a way to keep this moving on. Let’s keep the art form going because um the invent of the
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controller showed up and everybody just just like making music, everybody feels like they can do it, right? So, so the
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underlying part of faders, which honestly scares off a lot of people, is that they see the scratching and the mixing and all that, they go, I don’t want none of that, you know? I just
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[Music]19:26
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It’s a party, y’all. Yeah, it’s not.
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That’s not DJ. That’s not DJ. That’s not DJ at all. It’s playing music for people, which is cool. Do your thing.
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Um, but DJing is an art and it’s it’s a way to manipulate music and change it and do different things with it. And to be honest with you, a lot of music
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survived and got to another level because a DJ mixed it, cut, scratched it on a mix show, changed the beat, did
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this, this, and that. same clicks were happening as far as um audience approval and all that kind of you know uh um
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Neielson rating type stuff but people were hearing it in a different way.
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Absolutely. And so, um, it’s very important, DJ, super important. So, it was very important to us to kind of keep that alive. And so, now, man, people
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come by, we teach DJing, we, uh, people have record release party. We had somebody shoot a video last week during Faders Up, you know. So, yeah. Yeah, we
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just try to, you know, just keep the culture alive. So, Saturdays, what’s the time? Saturdays from 12:00 to 4:00. 12 to 4 in store. In store. Yeah. And
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people can come. People can come hang out. The DJs, if you, if you’ve never been by, come hang out. Uh, bring your needles. Bring your records. Bring Bring
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your needles. Bring your needles. Bring your own needles. You got to use your own needles. We don’t share needles. We don’t share DJ needles no more. That doesn’t work. Absolutely. Absolutely.
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So, you know, what do you think? Did you think first off that the culture would be the way it is right now? And how have you seen it evolved, good or bad? Right.
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Um I didn’t see the culture um becoming this cuz you know in the beginning everybody thought it was a fad you know rapping rhyming over music that can’t
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last long. Um but then you look at genres like jazz and rock and and they go through their different iterations and changes and and rap began to evolve.
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You know it just wasn’t rhyming over music. Now it was rhyming with a purpose. Now it was rhyming with news and Public Enemy and NWA showing you
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what it looks like in South Central Los Angeles. And then it turned into uh more afroentricity conversations with groups
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like Arrested Development, Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul. And now it and and that was the golden era of hip-hop,
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right? When there was a bunch of different flavors such as food, right? Absolutely.
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It’s great that people are able to monetize. I always tell cats, rap is a conduit to get you something else. Get you the the clothing deal, the soda
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deal, the whatever else you can sell because of your music. That’s the important thing because the music itself now doesn’t make any money. The
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streaming doesn’t make money. But what can make money obviously is touring, but uh doing like you do, tie food to it, uh shows, things. Uh uh how you can be
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creative and expand your network is probably the more important thing now.
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So that’s the good part of it. The bad part about it is I think everyone feels like they’re invited to the party, right? And the barrier to entry is very
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low. Yeah. Yeah. There’s, you know what, there’s um there’s no gatekeepers, right? Gatekeepers are bad and good, but
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at one point in time um and I and I I believe I heard LA Reed talk about this the other day and he was saying that
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there’s no boutique labels anymore. And we sat we had a big argument about that at FA was up a couple weeks ago. Um
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because and I and I agree because they were the gatekeepers whether uh it was
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it was divine mill so death row you know all these you you had to go through them to get to the mainstream. Now the
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mainstream just goes, “Oh, you have 30 million views on YouTube. You must be hot. You’re invited to the party. You
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know, here’s your ticket.” And and and we go. Um and so that’s the bad side of it. It’s we having a there’s a lot of
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music that shouldn’t be there. And then what it begins to do is water down the overall, you know, it’s like having a bunch of fast food restaurants that all
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23 minutes, 20 seconds
sell the same thing. Eventually we’re all going to get tired and you know so and there’s no more artist development. There’s no don’t no ANR is gone. Yeah. ANR is gone. Yeah. Yeah.
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23 minutes, 30 seconds
Yeah. And but so coming back because now the machine figured out that they’re
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23 minutes, 37 seconds
losing money. So you can’t have the machine losing money. So now the machine says, “Okay, well uh you know what? I might need the streets back again. I might need you radio people back again.
23:48
23 minutes, 48 seconds
and I might need you to go find me some artists that are qualified to be here because we have a bunch on the roster that should. So, that’s the good and the
23:57
23 minutes, 57 seconds
bad, the ying and the yang. Um, I’ve seen the whole thing change. Um, it’s almost I feel like it’s the housing market right now. It’s got to bottom
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24 minutes, 5 seconds
out. It has to. And and once it bottoms out and it’s just the worst thing ever, which we’re real close, um, that it can
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24 minutes, 13 seconds
only get better, right? Yeah. And that’s the hope. Um, every region ha is is, you know, has a
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24 minutes, 20 seconds
food, you know, has, uh, you know, the South has barbecue. Uh, New Orleans has Creole. Uh, New York is known for a lot
24:28
24 minutes, 28 seconds
of things, but we’re going to go with pizza. Yeah, for sure. Um, same thing in music, you know. Uh, West Coast has has
24:36
24 minutes, 36 seconds
that funky Dre has Yep. Yep. You know, the the South has trap. Yeah, it’s going to be trap. It’s going to be trap. And of course, New
24:44
24 minutes, 44 seconds
York is known for boom bat. Y how would you say that those regions played a role into what that initial sound
24:54
24 minutes, 54 seconds
wound up being? Well, and and that’s an interesting question because I don’t know if Minnesota ever found itself.
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25 minutes, 3 seconds
That was my next that my next question was if that’s the case. I don’t I don’t think we found a sound. Honestly, it
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25 minutes, 10 seconds
doesn’t really matter what you do. It ties to Prince and it ties to that original Minneapolis
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25 minutes, 17 seconds
sound that he birthed. Jimmy and Terry, Morris, Jesse Johnson, Monty, the whole Jelly Bean, the whole
25:25
25 minutes, 25 seconds
that they all the branches of the tree go from them. So, rapwwise, no. We never
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25 minutes, 33 seconds
now you could you could argue that the rhyme singers um maybe came up with the
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25 minutes, 40 seconds
style um which was very boom bap very backpack rhyming you know that was their
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25 minutes, 47 seconds
thing. I grew up with a lot of those guys. So um they they were young enough to watch us and say hey I want to do
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25 minutes, 56 seconds
that and then they took it to a whole another level. So, so I I I would argue that they they have a stake in it, but
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26 minutes, 3 seconds
soundwise, North Side, we kind of always looked at it like that was more the Midwest South flavor. So, that was where your
26:12
26 minutes, 12 seconds
Twisters, your Nelly, that type of music was at. You know, you might slide it down south, mess with TI, that type of thing. Southside was hip-hop, and that’s
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26 minutes, 21 seconds
where I was from. So, it was boom bap, it was Caris one, it was, you know, that music run DMC.
26:28
26 minutes, 28 seconds
St. Paul was West Coast, so they were into, you know, Sibo, Looney Colon, all
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26 minutes, 35 seconds
the underground bay music. Um, and so neither she’ll meet ever, cuz that’s
26:44
26 minutes, 44 seconds
what happens, right? You know, nobody crosses the boundaries, the lines, and you can tell from the music. And so, you
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26 minutes, 52 seconds
know, one of the things that me and my business partner are trying to do is really usher in this new era of the Minneapolis sound, right? And it’s
27:00
27 minutes
really honing in on this lyrical talent along with this very soulful music because we come from that background
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27 minutes, 7 seconds
with Prince and we come from that background. Even even some of the rock stuff, even you want to dig into Bob Dylan and some of these records, there’s
27:16
27 minutes, 16 seconds
really soulful records out there. Um, but it’s us trying to find this new sound and take these very, very talented
27:24
27 minutes, 24 seconds
artists here and put them on a platform that that may step above what they’re currently doing and show them a different way to market themselves. Uh,
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27 minutes, 33 seconds
and and more importantly, a different way to monetize themselves. So, um, we can get there, right? But I I don’t think anybody put a stamp on it yet.
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27 minutes, 43 seconds
Yeah. And and as we know, you know, the city has to get behind something to push it. And that’s that everything that’s you gotta find one. You gotta it’s gotta
27:50
27 minutes, 50 seconds
be one. Find one and you gotta ride. You gotta you gotta help push them to the top. Yeah. And that’s that’s the way it’s happened. It happened for Prince, happened for Bob Dylan, happened for
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27 minutes, 58 seconds
Next. Yeah. Same way, you know. So, uh it has to be that. I want to talk about
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28 minutes, 6 seconds
the DJ as a chef as far as creating and you know, experiences and vibes. For sure.
28:14
28 minutes, 14 seconds
So, you know, a a chef would curate a meal by courses. Okay. Just as a DJ does
28:23
28 minutes, 23 seconds
the same thing. Got to do the same thing with with, you know, and in a unique way. Yeah. The the remix is a DJ iteration that started from DJ.
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28 minutes, 32 seconds
Definitely DJ. Yeah. And without that, like you said, there’s DJs used to break records for sure. They don’t do that anymore.
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28 minutes, 42 seconds
That’s another problem with the music business. There’s no DJs breaking records anymore, but then they have no outlet. The outlet used to be the radio,
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28 minutes, 49 seconds
but now the radio’s all conglomer conglomer, but you have to go through so many
28:57
28 minutes, 57 seconds
channels to get your record played. Now, it it forces all the independent people out. They have no chance to get their record played on the big major stations like they might have in the past. Yeah.
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29 minutes, 6 seconds
So, there’s no show there’s no more any any there’s no DJ show. There’s no, you know, at after after 10 mix show on Friday and Saturday night where you’re
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29 minutes, 14 seconds
hearing all the new joints. It’s it doesn’t exist anymore. Yeah. Which is travesty because that’s where, you know, we would discover that’s where you hear
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29 minutes, 23 seconds
these new groups that you never heard about or you’d hear a certain DJ or a certain style or, you know, whatever it
29:29
29 minutes, 29 seconds
was it between 10 and 12, you knew that you were about to get flavor. Yeah. You’re about to get some new flavor.
29:36
29 minutes, 36 seconds
Absolutely. And and so, you know, at from a DJ standpoint, Yep. we we serve it up just like a chef because if you if
29:43
29 minutes, 43 seconds
you picture DJing in a club, right? So that the the the first part of the evening is all just me playing you a bunch of music you’ve never heard before. So, I’m going to give you some
29:50
29 minutes, 50 seconds
appetizers and have you go, “Hey, who was that record you just played, right?
29:55
29 minutes, 55 seconds
That’s the that’s the job. That’s what I’m supposed to do. That’s why the record label gave me the records.” Teasing that PE. So, I’m going give you these little, you know, Okay. And so now
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30 minutes, 3 seconds
as the clock hits 10:00 now I’ve got to serve I got to get into the main course here. So because from 10 to 12 that’s
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30 minutes, 10 seconds
the prime time. So now I’m giving you all the hot records. I’m giving you all the records you know. But I might give you, you know, throw some spices in. I
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30 minutes, 19 seconds
might mix it different. I might go from this record to that record. I might change the beat on that. I might flip the acappella. Whatever. And then as we
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30 minutes, 26 seconds
get into the the midnight one o’clock, two o’clock getting ready to close now.
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30 minutes, 31 seconds
We’ll bring it down. We’ll have some dessert and then y’all out. Mhm. And so literally it’s the same game. It is the same game. When you do your events, any event, I don’t care what it is, right?
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30 minutes, 40 seconds
From faders up to um just a impromptu uh uh gathering, okay, where something music is being played to to to have
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30 minutes, 48 seconds
people commune that the vibe of the atmosphere is is very homes to me. I don’t it’s hard
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30 minutes, 58 seconds
to explain like so from even from like you know the posters on the wall everything it feels like New York to me I’m’ll be honest for me because that’s
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31 minutes, 5 seconds
what I I grew up going to again Moody’s and Harlem Music Hut and you know um and that’s that’s the vibe and that was my
31:13
31 minutes, 13 seconds
bedroom that’s my bedroom like so and that’s that’s yeah turntables in the corner posters all over the wall you
31:20
31 minutes, 20 seconds
know records everywhere yeah and and that but that that inviting atmosphere I think it and that’s why I think people
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31 minutes, 29 seconds
gather there, you know, for a creative outlet as well because it feels it feels like this is the place to to be
31:38
31 minutes, 38 seconds
creative. It’s it’s it’s definitely and a lot of people say that it’s definitely a safe haven and that’s that’s that’s that’s probably the best payoff for me
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31 minutes, 46 seconds
period, you know. Um just being at it this long um is having people say I feel comfortable here.
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31 minutes, 56 seconds
That has to be that isn’t that because that’s that’s you know and what’s so dope about it to me too is that the guy that owns it is is always behind the
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32 minutes, 4 seconds
counter you know so so like like you and and and there to give insight I remember the
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32 minutes, 11 seconds
first time I walked into um Moody’s so if you think about it in this manner
32:19
32 minutes, 19 seconds
it makes total sense so it’s it’s it’s actually a little intimidating because you have you know a plethora of like you don’t know where to start. So like like
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32 minutes, 27 seconds
if you like if you’re a cigar enthusiast, you walk into a cigar shop.
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32 minutes, 30 seconds
I mean this this stuff like like what do I one as as men we don’t like asking
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32 minutes, 38 seconds
directions for anything, right? We just want to you want to look we want to walk in like you know come from place. Yeah.
32:43
32 minutes, 43 seconds
Like but there’s a sense of as like as in Moody’s y the same thing you have is
32:51
32 minutes, 51 seconds
there’s never that that that feeling of potention. uh uh is very like dude we we I’m here to help you. Yeah. What are you looking for? Oh, okay. Cool, cool, cool.
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33 minutes
I point you to this. I point you to that. And it’s that that’s the that feeling is is something that one you can’t manufacture. It has to be, you
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33 minutes, 9 seconds
know, true and honest from the heart because it’s something that exudes.
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33 minutes, 13 seconds
That to me is the magic of what you’ve created. I appreciate that. I I I had a conversation with a grandmother and her
33:20
33 minutes, 20 seconds
son the other day. I let people come in Pleasant trees. Hey, how you doing? Let them move around without being bothered.
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33 minutes, 30 seconds
And then when it looks like they have a question, then that’s when I slide in and say, “Uh,
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33 minutes, 39 seconds
what are you looking for today?” And and the lady said to me, “I don’t know. What do you recommend?” And I said, ‘Well,
33:48
33 minutes, 48 seconds
I could recommend a lot of stuff, but you don’t look like you like a lot of stuff. So, I said, “What do you listen to?” And then I can direct traffic from there.
34:00
34 minutes
She said, “Well, you know, I I like jazz and I like uh jazz that that that speaks to me. It’s very soulful.” I said,
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34 minutes, 8 seconds
“Okay.” Um, we went to the jazz section. I said, “Are you hip to Shirley Horn? Are you hip to uh Nancy Wilson, Nina Simone?
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34 minutes, 20 seconds
I know the people, but I don’t know the music. Can you point me the right ones?
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34 minutes, 24 seconds
I said, ‘Well, I would listen to this if you’re going to start with Shirley Horn.
34:28
34 minutes, 28 seconds
If you want Nina Simone, we could go a bunch of different ways, but this is the greatest hits. I’d start here because it tells the story. And I said, uh, you
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34 minutes, 35 seconds
know, she said, “Well, can I listen to them?” I said, “Of course.” She said, “You’re going to play them for me?
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34 minutes, 40 seconds
That’s what I’m here for.” So, I started going through the albums and uh and and and matter of fact, Donald Fagan was one of them. Okay. Um because I’m a big Asia
34:49
34 minutes, 49 seconds
Steelely Dan fan, which I Steely Dan Asia, I think, is one of the greatest albums ever made. And um and so I start going through the CD Shirley Horn and
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34 minutes, 58 seconds
she’s like she’s like, “Yeah, this is incredible. I’ve never heard this before.” I said, I said, you know, and and so her son her her grandson and I
35:06
35 minutes, 6 seconds
guess they trade music back and forth, which is really cool. That’s super super dope. And I said, “You guys have a great relationship.” I said, “Well, I’m going to help enhance it here.” I said,
35:14
35 minutes, 14 seconds
“Because I said, he he’s he’s for his age is really old school. You can tell by his conversation.” And I said, “So somebody like Shirley Horn, right, who I
35:23
35 minutes, 23 seconds
said, if you can close your eyes and picture uh her in front of the piano and the guy’s doing his thing with the cigarette hanging out of his mouth and
35:30
35 minutes, 30 seconds
the and the drink right here and she’s got the old school microphone in front of her and it’s, you know, you can barely see over the smoke in the club, but she’s doing her thing and she’s
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35 minutes, 38 seconds
telling stories. Nina Simone would be the same way. And the lady was like, “You know what? I can visualize everything you’re saying. I’ll take all of these.” And so
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35 minutes, 46 seconds
that’s it. That’s why I do it. Yeah. And and when I say I love to talk, I love to talk about receiving. Absolutely. So
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35 minutes, 54 seconds
what what you just described is what we was just talking about previously is about difference between taking someone’s order. Yeah. And curating
36:01
36 minutes, 1 second
experience. Curating experience. It’s it’s I always knew from the beginning, man. It was like I I was when we opened
36:08
36 minutes, 8 seconds
I was combating Target. I was combating Music Land, Best Buy, Sam Goodie, Coconuts. It was a all kinds of record
36:16
36 minutes, 16 seconds
stores everywhere, right? And people were like, and we were always higher priced. But why should I come here?
36:23
36 minutes, 23 seconds
Because we’re going to have a conversation about this music that you’re not going to have a conversation at these other stores about because they don’t know what they’re selling. They just The music’s in the back of the store for a reason. It’s a loss leader.
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36 minutes, 33 seconds
Mhm. They need to get you there past the towels and the the spaghetti mix and the Doritos and everything else. And then,
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36 minutes, 40 seconds
oh, by the way, Jakus has a new CD. Let me get that, too. Right. That that’s it.
36:44
36 minutes, 44 seconds
And so, but now me and you can have a conversation about it and I’ll tell you don’t buy that. Right. And this is why in my opinion, right? So, based off your
36:54
36 minutes, 54 seconds
preferences, too. Based off my preferences. And that’s and that’s, you know, and know what I’m saying. And and in and theirs as well. And and people and but and people still tell me to this day like, “Tim, man, you you just don’t
37:02
37 minutes, 2 seconds
like West Coast music like you do East Coast.” No, I don’t. I don’t. But I understand it and I get who it’s for,
37:09
37 minutes, 9 seconds
but you know, Ice Cube, America’s Most Wanted, probably one of the greatest rap albums ever made. Top five for me. Um that spoke to me different than some
37:18
37 minutes, 18 seconds
other stuff, say Out of the Bay and things like that. So I have my certain ones that people still remind me, yeah, man, you’re a fan. You you like all that. You run DMC, all that. That’s you.
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37 minutes, 28 seconds
You know, you don’t like you don’t like soft music. No, no. I I I respect everything and I understand what it’s for and I understand everybody has a different pallet. Absolutely.
37:36
37 minutes, 36 seconds
Absolutely. Okay. This is a good time to go into questions from the audience.
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37 minutes, 45 seconds
All right. Minneapolis music greatness.
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37 minutes, 48 seconds
We probably missed. Who would you say that is? Oh, wow.
37:54
37 minutes, 54 seconds
Um I don’t think enough people paid attention to Jesse Johnson.
38:00
38 minutes
um when he left the time um to&m records first album um he had a song called Free
38:09
38 minutes, 9 seconds
World that that was again I said I look for records that are game changers and that was one that just oh man when that we throw that on in the club they would
38:17
38 minutes, 17 seconds
go crazy but the beat and he was doing everything they I think he might have produced everything every
38:26
38 minutes, 26 seconds
instrument every beat everything um I I think we missed. Yeah, we missed on Jesse. Yeah, he was a The problem with
38:35
38 minutes, 35 seconds
Jesse is that he had that vibe, right? He did.
38:45
38 minutes, 45 seconds
And so it automatically grew to men.
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38 minutes, 47 seconds
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But Prince always said though, he pushed him so hard because he
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38 minutes, 55 seconds
was the one that was supposed to be next, right? Yeah, it makes sense. Makes sense. What’s a local group or national? Okay.
39:04
39 minutes, 4 seconds
That we’re sleeping on right now.
39:08
39 minutes, 8 seconds
Oh, we um locally I’m going to say nah, I I start a whole
39:17
39 minutes, 17 seconds
conversation with a bunch. There’s a bunch of local artists that people are missing on, but there’s a kid named Louis Blaze that people need to pay attention to.
39:32
39 minutes, 32 seconds
He’s super dope. Um, you know, you you when you talk artists and next level and opportunities. Um,
39:41
39 minutes, 41 seconds
it’s it’s it’s looking for that it factor. And so, you know, again, every you know, there’s artists that do their thing or whatever. You know, people have
39:48
39 minutes, 48 seconds
great music, great creativity, but then there’s something about the extras and and and that’s what shows like American Idol were looking for. They weren’t
39:57
39 minutes, 57 seconds
looking for the best at that. They were looking for the allaround person that could check every box. Um and and I
40:04
40 minutes, 4 seconds
believe he’s he’s one. Yeah, that’s dope. Dope. Okay.
40:09
40 minutes, 9 seconds
Who is next from Minneapolis? You think it’s next?
40:15
40 minutes, 15 seconds
I I honestly I think who do you think is next step that the city’s going to get behind? Because that’s really um
40:23
40 minutes, 23 seconds
that’s a good question. Um honestly, you know what? I honestly I I really think gospel-wise people should get behind Javvant.
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40 minutes, 34 seconds
[Music]40:36
40 minutes, 36 seconds
Father, I trust you.
40:40
40 minutes, 40 seconds
Father, I trust you. um he he checks the boxes and he makes really good music. Um
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40 minutes, 48 seconds
and it does resonate on a national level. Um and so I think there needs to be more attention paid to that. Okay.
40:57
40 minutes, 57 seconds
Okay. Okay. This is a good time to go into a little segment that I call one gotta go.
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41 minutes, 6 seconds
Do one gotta go. All right. So films.
41:10
41 minutes, 10 seconds
Okay. Belly paid in full or juice one gotta go.
41:20
41 minutes, 20 seconds
Belly shout out to Dame.
41:26
41 minutes, 26 seconds
Shout out to Dame. Hey, Painful is one of my is is is a classic to me. So, so
41:33
41 minutes, 33 seconds
Belly got to go. Belly got to go. Only got Belly got to go because for the opening scene alone, they got to stay.
41:42
41 minutes, 42 seconds
Yeah. Yeah. No, the opening scene was crazy, right? But I I wasn’t You know what? I don’t like that one bit. The
41:49
41 minutes, 49 seconds
whole reggae tones. I get you. I get you. You know, it just Yeah. I wasn’t there. I wasn’t there at that time. I got you. I got you. Okay. Finally,
41:58
41 minutes, 58 seconds
debut classics. Okay. Nasumatic.
42:04
42 minutes, 4 seconds
Snoop Dog’s doggy style. And you’re not even going to say notorious B.I. You ready to die?
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42 minutes, 12 seconds
Yeah. Uh, it’s one got to go. Yeah.
42:15
42 minutes, 15 seconds
Nas’s got to go. N gota go. N’s got to go.
42:19
42 minutes, 19 seconds
If you know, you know. Catch. Cat. You know me though. They they got to go. I knew better wasn’t going anywhere. I know that’s I know that’s your favorite album of all time. It’s the best album ever made. It Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
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42 minutes, 30 seconds
Nas’s got to go. I I Ilmatic the the the album that’s in that’s that Ilmatic was
42:38
42 minutes, 38 seconds
incredible for a first album. It wasn’t ready to die but it was incredible. Um production was incredible but it wasn’t ready to die.
42:49
42 minutes, 49 seconds
I I may hold a grudge against him because he he wrote Urban Life on something one time instead of Urban Light. Oh, this is personal.
42:58
42 minutes, 58 seconds
It could be just personal with me.
43:01
43 minutes, 1 second
But you can’t replace Ready to Die. And I do I look at records like
43:08
43 minutes, 8 seconds
they they made changes, right? Ready to Die to me ushered in a new East Coast sound. Um
43:18
43 minutes, 18 seconds
Just as Snoop issued in him and Dr. Dre just changed the whole landscape of West Coast music
43:26
43 minutes, 26 seconds
with the Chronic and then what they did with Doggy Style. I feel like Ilmatic was a great album, but it didn’t change anything for me.
43:38
43 minutes, 38 seconds
I get that. I look at I look at Plus he spelled Urban Light and then I see this
43:45
43 minutes, 45 seconds
purple slight. I look at these three albums and I look at any any debut album
43:51
43 minutes, 51 seconds
as far as the artist’s impact on culture at that time. Okay. And
43:59
43 minutes, 59 seconds
To me, there’s the only greater impact I feel
44:06
44 minutes, 6 seconds
of a debut album, okay, coming out than than Snoop. Okay. And in and Biggy Hader
44:13
44 minutes, 13 seconds
2, right? The greatest I’ve ever seen to date, okay, is 50. Yes. As far as as far as impact as far as Impact and like like
44:21
44 minutes, 21 seconds
everywhere like I’ve never seen to this day I still have not seen that. That’s crazy. That was insane. I remember so I
44:28
44 minutes, 28 seconds
did the 10th anniversary um event at a club called South Beach and I had Woo Kid come in and DJ, right? And he kept
44:35
44 minutes, 35 seconds
telling me like, “Yo, Tail, man, my homeboy, man, Fifth 50 Cent, man. He’s dope, man. I want to bring him with me.”
44:43
44 minutes, 43 seconds
And I was like, “Nah, nobody here really knows.” I mean, I was familiar with the mixtapz, you know, stuff like that. I was like, “Nah, no, they’re not ready for me yet.” Damn, man. He He just kept
44:52
44 minutes, 52 seconds
calling me about it. I remember I asked the dude to own the club and he was like, “Nah, we’re good. we’ll just take the DJ. And uh and he called me the day
45:00
45 minutes
before he was about to fly. He said, “Tim, man, he’ll buy his own ticket just to come hang out.” I’m like, “Nah, we’re good, bro. It’s cool. It’s cool.” So
45:08
45 minutes, 8 seconds
Wukit comes, he DJs the party and um I end up calling him back a week later and
45:15
45 minutes, 15 seconds
say, “We want to book 50 Cent.” And and we were going to take him to uh uh uh Prince’s Old Club, which was Glam Slam, which is called The Quest. now.
45:25
45 minutes, 25 seconds
Yeah. So, uh, we bought 50 Cent to the Quest and it immediately sold out. This
45:32
45 minutes, 32 seconds
is pre, this is two weeks before Ready to Die, maybe a week before Ready to Die came out, he came to Minneapolis. Okay. 2,000 people
45:42
45 minutes, 42 seconds
in the club lying around a block that couldn’t get in. And I remember my um
45:48
45 minutes, 48 seconds
the guy I did the show with, he paid 50 cent that night to come back and do the Target Center. And so
45:58
45 minutes, 58 seconds
that’s how it went from zero to 100 like that album. Listen, when it dropped, it changed that get rich guy trying. So I
46:08
46 minutes, 8 seconds
lived the whole the whole movie. So like from from the mixtapz How to Rob set it off. Yes. And of course, the
46:16
46 minutes, 16 seconds
orchestration of all of that was JSJ that that that put him on to Exactly.
46:22
46 minutes, 22 seconds
that that put him in play to to to to, you know, to go to where he was going.
46:27
46 minutes, 27 seconds
Then and then once once Dre got a hold of it, Dre to this day, it was like it it literally was like a rocket took off.
46:36
46 minutes, 36 seconds
Yeah. That was that was I that was insane. And you don’t see that any I don’t I can’t even think of the last
46:43
46 minutes, 43 seconds
time we may have experienced that with an artist where you were like, “Yo, that’s him.
46:51
46 minutes, 51 seconds
It hasn’t happened since.” It it hasn’t happened since. He that that album went crazy. Every song was ridiculous. Um you know, he was able to tour off that. He
46:59
46 minutes, 59 seconds
was able to I mean, look at the empire he’s built based on that first album.
47:03
47 minutes, 3 seconds
But it went zero to 100. And and keep in mind we I I paid him we paid him $2,000 to do the show.
47:10
47 minutes, 10 seconds
A week later he was $25. Oh yeah. Yesterday’s price is not today’s price.
47:15
47 minutes, 15 seconds
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. And and remember so he has the same, you know, he has that same chip on his shoulder as you did with Nas with the with the Urban Life team. Like you didn’t even want me
47:23
47 minutes, 23 seconds
to pay for my own ticket to come out. I I didn’t want to pay for my own ticket.
47:26
47 minutes, 26 seconds
I blew him off, man. Yeah, man. Listen, that was that was a meteor
47:33
47 minutes, 33 seconds
a meteor happening. That whole that movement that 50 movement was something different, man. And then we had and then and then if you think about also the
47:41
47 minutes, 41 seconds
marketing behind the whole thing, it’s like we don’t even market music like that. No, we don’t market anything like that. Movies, TV, cars, nothing that what they put behind that. Yeah.
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47 minutes, 52 seconds
Everything about it was was And then and then of course the music was was was quality. So, it stood the test of time and to this day, yeah, it’s still one of
48:01
48 minutes, 1 second
the best albums ever made, period. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. It’s it’s it’s it’s definitely top 10, maybe five in a lot
48:09
48 minutes, 9 seconds
of people’s conversations, but it’s definitely one of them. For sure. For sure. Well, man, listen. Um I could talk to you forever, bro. Yeah. Yeah. We be
48:17
48 minutes, 17 seconds
here. We uh man Cory Booker in the filibuster. We just go 24 hours talk music. You know what? That’s I’m going hold you to that. We going We I’m with
48:25
48 minutes, 25 seconds
it. Yeah. That’ll be that’ll be dope. I think Gabe would have a problem. Um but um yeah, man. Listen, I I I got to
48:34
48 minutes, 34 seconds
thank you again. I appreciate you for for everything that you do. I appreciate that. For for the culture, for the community, um for artist uh you know,
48:43
48 minutes, 43 seconds
enough cannot be said about, you know, the role that you play um for, you know,
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48 minutes, 50 seconds
for for the history as well as the future. I appreciate and um and I appreciate you, bro. And um where please
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48 minutes, 58 seconds
tell all the people where they can follow you, okay? Where they can catch you at, give them all your things. Uh Urban Lights Music is where I’m at every
49:06
49 minutes, 6 seconds
day. 1449 University Avenue, St. Paul, uh right in the Midway. It’s uh hopefully the Midway’s about to grow again, get back to it again, uh become a
49:15
49 minutes, 15 seconds
destination as instead of a pass through, but you people pass through to see us, but we’d like you to come and hang out and spend some time there. Um
49:23
49 minutes, 23 seconds
at the Urban Light on Instagram, Facebook, uh X I think it’s called these days, maybe. I don’t know what he’s
49:31
49 minutes, 31 seconds
doing over there. Yeah, he’s got a lot of problems right now for sure. And uh also on TikTok. So yeah, that’s where I’m at. Absolutely, man. This has been
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49 minutes, 39 seconds
the Taste Music Here Food Podcast Show with my guest, Mr. Tim Wilson. Until next time, peace. Appreciate y’all.