Mike Phillips: The Recipe of Sound

0:00
You know we know it takes a special track to do this.
0:06
6 seconds
It’s just a fluid chef. I’m here to remind y’all I’m sick with it. My name is hot. It’s ubiquitous meaning it’s one
0:13
13 seconds
and the same. Simple and plain. I’m all about my paper. The bacon chitter and pain. I got these lanes running for the border. The talent to Mr. Porter. Keep
0:21
21 seconds
it flowing like it’s water. But here we go. There we go. Creeping to a low speed. Is it him and his friend sitting in the nose? Play it cool. He ain’t
0:30
30 seconds
special just cuz he’s on TV. Everybody’s hands up acting like they know.
0:39
39 seconds
[Music]0:41
41 seconds
Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of the Taste Music Here Food Podcast Show. I am your host Ed
0:48
48 seconds
Porter and this is the place where food, music, and culture collide and how it
0:54
54 seconds
does. Um, today’s guest is one of those generational talents that he’s he’s one
1:02
1 minute, 2 seconds
of those guys that’s that’s everywhere like like everywhere. Like you look up, he just happens to be the guy that’s
1:09
1 minute, 9 seconds
there that knows everybody. And um let’s just jump right in. I’m I’m going attempt to pay this gentleman the
1:17
1 minute, 17 seconds
flowers he so graciously deserves with this intro right here. Today’s guest is more than a saxoponist. He’s a cultural
1:25
1 minute, 25 seconds
bridge. From Prince to Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson to Jill Scott. His horn has echoed across the world’s biggest stages. He made history as the first
1:34
1 minute, 34 seconds
musician signed to Jordan Brand and now stands as a mentor and executive guiding the next generation through Keep It Mo,
1:41
1 minute, 41 seconds
Keep It Moving Music and SRG Jazz. But beyond the accolades, he represents something deeper. how
1:49
1 minute, 49 seconds
sound, culture, and identity can be woven into a story that moves people the way perfect dish moves soul. It’s my
1:57
1 minute, 57 seconds
honor and pleasure to welcome to the Taste Music Here Food podcast show, Mr. Mike Phillips.
2:05
2 minutes, 5 seconds
Yo yo, what up, man? Yo, that intro was crazy. Um, send that to me, man. I got you. I got you. We glisten.
2:11
2 minutes, 11 seconds
Whenever you walk on a on a field or stage or jumbo trying like you be on, that’s
2:19
2 minutes, 19 seconds
That’s one that you should have with you, man. Step out here cooking.
2:22
2 minutes, 22 seconds
Thank you. Thank you so much for being here, bro. So, okay, we’re not we we we’re going to address the elephant in the room. All the shine behind you, you
2:30
2 minutes, 30 seconds
know, as a as a fellow sneaker head, you know, you out here. You shining. I see you got all the all the frame.
2:38
2 minutes, 38 seconds
All the all the goods on the wall. And I I I typically don’t don’t ever get Oh, look at that’s me on super amateur mode.
2:46
2 minutes, 46 seconds
I got it on. Yeah. How about I just cut this off?
2:51
2 minutes, 51 seconds
And I usually typically am never in a position to speak at somebody and see in
2:57
2 minutes, 57 seconds
real time someone who has more heat than I do, but you you might be the guy. You might be the guy.
3:05
3 minutes, 5 seconds
I heard I heard you I heard you got some pieces though. Don’t get the guy out there. And if listen, if there’s one person that I’m not ashamed to take the
3:14
3 minutes, 14 seconds
L to, it would be you because it should be you. You know, being being assigned to Jordan. Listen, we we’re not even
3:22
3 minutes, 22 seconds
gonna get to that right now. So, let’s first and foremost, let’s let’s let’s take it back to first off, you and I have a lot in common. One of the things
3:30
3 minutes, 30 seconds
we have in common is that we’re both from Mount Vernon. I’m born in my Vernon as well. So, you know, born in Maron as well. So,
3:38
3 minutes, 38 seconds
let’s take it back to Marver to money earning. You described hearing jazz by day and hip-hop by night, right? And
3:46
3 minutes, 46 seconds
so, your your introduction into how you approach the things that you do musically kind of has that in the DNA of
3:54
3 minutes, 54 seconds
your sound. Would you say so? Would you say that’s the case?
3:57
3 minutes, 57 seconds
Um, yeah. Because yo, I had a radio and I’ll go down to 89U, left side of the dollar. I’m listening
4:05
4 minutes, 5 seconds
to Dexa Gordon, Charlie Parker, Ramsay Lewis, um, Sunny Stit, Sunny Rollins, and then and all I had to do is
4:13
4 minutes, 13 seconds
spin it three times and all of a sudden I’m on the other side of the dial listening to Mr. Magic, you know, um, and Red Alert on Kiss FM.
4:23
4 minutes, 23 seconds
FM. Yeah.
4:24
4 minutes, 24 seconds
Molly Mall. So, like literally this one radio that I had was feeding me so much
4:33
4 minutes, 33 seconds
culture. It was absolutely amazing to want to transcribe a Dexter Gordon solo and then go up and listen listen to um
4:42
4 minutes, 42 seconds
The Bridges Over for the first time ever. Yeah.
4:46
4 minutes, 46 seconds
What Mr. Magic used to say, it’s a world premiere. Like that’s what being in Mount Vernon in New York at that time
4:53
4 minutes, 53 seconds
and me absorbing as much jazz as I was absorbing hip-hop.
4:59
4 minutes, 59 seconds
Yeah. So starting out, you didn’t start out with the sex, right? You you did you you played a few things. You was you dibbled and dabbled.
5:07
5 minutes, 7 seconds
I was all over the place. You know, violin, then the flute, and then I did um played bass. I played bass for a long
5:15
5 minutes, 15 seconds
time. actually one of the first um kids in New York um state to play bass in the
5:23
5 minutes, 23 seconds
orchestra and saxophone in the band. So I stuck with bass for a minute and yeah, so I I loved music so much that I needed
5:32
5 minutes, 32 seconds
to find out the different perspectives that came from playing with different instruments. So yeah, like what got what got you into music in that
5:40
5 minutes, 40 seconds
in that that much of an astute student to like dig that deep? Like what was your did your is your parents are they
5:49
5 minutes, 49 seconds
musical or was it just something? Oh, my mother, one of the most musical things she would do, she would sing when she would cook.
5:58
5 minutes, 58 seconds
Mhm.
5:59
5 minutes, 59 seconds
And also she used to have parties and I see eight track tapes all over the place
6:06
6 minutes, 6 seconds
and then records. You know, at that time them house parties wasn’t no D nice. You like you throw the eight track.
6:12
6 minutes, 12 seconds
Yo, you throw in the eight track and then when the player spit out the tape, somebody the closest dude to the to the
6:20
6 minutes, 20 seconds
eight track. Hey Pooky. Yo, turn that tape around and put it back in and everybody will start dancing again.
6:25
6 minutes, 25 seconds
For the kids, for the kids out there, a little history lesson. So Atrack player and you was play. So my aunt had a hack player in a in a a Monte Carlo. So the A
6:34
6 minutes, 34 seconds
track player is is is programmed. So the size is A and B. So you had to flip the tape like this.
6:42
6 minutes, 42 seconds
Turn it over and flip a VCR tape for music basically. But this imagine if you had a VCR tape, a VHS
6:50
6 minutes, 50 seconds
tape, you’d have to flip it over to play the other side. Yeah.
6:54
6 minutes, 54 seconds
So if you was fancy, like I said, you had a auto auto flip, auto reverse, which is crazy. So that’s what uh that’s what we talking about. That’s Yeah. A track.
7:03
7 minutes, 3 seconds
And that’s what we talk when we talk about when um kids hear of the Bside. Yes. That’s where it comes from.
7:08
7 minutes, 8 seconds
That’s where it comes from. Like you flip it over. And back in those days, Mhm.
7:13
7 minutes, 13 seconds
the B sides were good as the A sides. So if we didn’t have this single approach where you’d have uh a album with 11
7:22
7 minutes, 22 seconds
songs and then we’re just going to concentrate on two. No. When you flip that Bside over, the cuts was going on.
7:29
7 minutes, 29 seconds
I mean, Parliament, Funkadelic, like the B sides were killing, too. So being
7:36
7 minutes, 36 seconds
loving music back then allowed me to love the totality of the product that someone would put out, not necessarily
7:45
7 minutes, 45 seconds
the song, but the whole album A and B side.
7:49
7 minutes, 49 seconds
Absolutely. And but that’s also we’re talking about a time where, you know, artists made albums with the intent for
7:56
7 minutes, 56 seconds
its complete totality. It wasn’t about, you know, the single.
8:01
8 minutes, 1 second
You’re right. Well, be and also it was an it was an expensive thing to put out a single. So your album you you either had that single had to be so powerful to
8:09
8 minutes, 9 seconds
make people want to go buy that whole entire album or um you know and that was the you know that was the lost leader. That’s the
8:18
8 minutes, 18 seconds
that was the lost leader for music back in the day.
8:20
8 minutes, 20 seconds
The no doubt um every origin story has has a little
8:26
8 minutes, 26 seconds
friction. So what was there a moment of an instance of something happening where
8:33
8 minutes, 33 seconds
you thought about like nah you dabble with the thought of of quitting and not
8:38
8 minutes, 38 seconds
fulfilling your you know desire to be deep into music like you are.
8:46
8 minutes, 46 seconds
Well well the origin story was flipped because I was big into sports. I was like baseball, football, basketball,
8:56
8 minutes, 56 seconds
played center field. Nothing would get past me. I was super super fast. So, I’ll never forget. And um Mount Vernon
9:03
9 minutes, 3 seconds
Little League. And um shout out to Garvin Austin. He’s a actually played with me on my team and he’s a one of the
9:10
9 minutes, 10 seconds
um coaches for the um San Francisco Giants now. Right. So, um, I did something and I didn’t slide
9:17
9 minutes, 17 seconds
properly or I hit an inside the park home run and I’m running and coach said always slide because he didn’t really want um, us acting like Pete Rose, you
9:26
9 minutes, 26 seconds
know, knocking people over because it wasn’t cool, right?
9:29
9 minutes, 29 seconds
So, I didn’t slide. I’m celebrating an inside the park home run and he still kicks me out the game. And listen, if
9:39
9 minutes, 39 seconds
you’re not gonna do things the right way, um, then you don’t need to play. He said, um, and then I said to him in Mike
9:46
9 minutes, 46 seconds
Phillips fashion, I don’t even want to play baseball. One day I’m going to grow up and I’m going to be a famous musician.
9:54
9 minutes, 54 seconds
So me and me and Garvey to this day, we crack up. He said, “Man, I never seen somebody just tell my pops off.” He
10:02
10 minutes, 2 seconds
said, he said, “I don’t even want to do this. I’m gonna be a famous musician.” I walked off. I walked home. I was like, “Forget all of y’all.” That’s crazy.
10:10
10 minutes, 10 seconds
Yeah. That that friction is important.
10:13
10 minutes, 13 seconds
And I tell you why it’s even more important because now being in a situation where um
10:21
10 minutes, 21 seconds
I leave sports because I’m passionate with music and then I get roped right back in.
10:27
10 minutes, 27 seconds
You’re right back. Yeah. It’s It’s full circle, right? You Yeah. You can’t make this up, man.
10:33
10 minutes, 33 seconds
Yeah. It’s so crazy. Divine intervention. Like Like you thought you was getting You thought you was getting away. Like no, you you probably uh you
10:40
10 minutes, 40 seconds
probably walk on more uh more baseball diamonds and uh uh on the grounds of the inside of the park than you ever thought
10:47
10 minutes, 47 seconds
you would be, you know, as not being a player.
10:50
10 minutes, 50 seconds
Oh, crazy. So, you know, I play at these teams and then I see a check. I’ll open it up. back in the day. It was like
10:57
10 minutes, 57 seconds
check from the Kansas City Royals. I’m like, I cannot believe that I cussed out Mr. Austin and told them I was going to
11:06
11 minutes, 6 seconds
be like a famous musician one day and still get a check from a baseball team.
11:12
11 minutes, 12 seconds
That That’s crazy. That’s crazy. Crazy.
11:15
11 minutes, 15 seconds
It’s It’s super super surreal. you played, you know, with
11:22
11 minutes, 22 seconds
Legends and we gonna get deeper into that some more, but let’s talk about what’s the first gig that you played or
11:30
11 minutes, 30 seconds
or or you know, first time on stage where you felt like, okay, this is going to be it after well, aside from your
11:38
11 minutes, 38 seconds
wanting the show that you was going to keep your word to be to make it as a famous musician, but what is that first gig that gave you like, okay, you know
11:46
11 minutes, 46 seconds
what, this is where I belong. Oh, I I think um Wilson’s in the city. Okay.
11:52
11 minutes, 52 seconds
Like I played Sunday night with Ron Grant and Wilson was a spot that everybody came in like seriously. Yeah.
12:00
12 minutes
Up in there. Terry Jam. Um like Jimmy Jam, Terry. I mean, if you were somebody,
12:07
12 minutes, 7 seconds
you were there on Sunday night. And I started honing in my craft. And then
12:13
12 minutes, 13 seconds
watching these people get into what I was doing as a musician.
12:20
12 minutes, 20 seconds
I started feeling the power of me being connected passionately. Yeah.
12:26
12 minutes, 26 seconds
Because listen, the instrument is just aim object. Right. Right.
12:31
12 minutes, 31 seconds
What you feel inside has to go through that horn or whatever instrument you play. And it’s sort of like Rosetta Stone. It’s the interpreter.
12:40
12 minutes, 40 seconds
So whatever passion you have inside, that is the the middle point between expressing what’s in you and how
12:49
12 minutes, 49 seconds
sonically it’s absorbed through what you hear and what you feel from an energy standpoint. I started understanding the
12:57
12 minutes, 57 seconds
power of that when when I was young, 17 years old. I used to um I was in high school which used to sneak down to Honeysuckles and
13:06
13 minutes, 6 seconds
Wilson’s and all these other places. So by time I got into the business I understood how to hurl the power because
13:14
13 minutes, 14 seconds
sometimes you know you go to school and they teach you a euroentric perspective
13:21
13 minutes, 21 seconds
of playing the notes but they don’t teach you what Theonius Monk did.
13:27
13 minutes, 27 seconds
Yeah. The soul teach you how to feel something and let those things that you feel and you
13:33
13 minutes, 33 seconds
experience have a symbiotic connection with the notes. BB King, anybody can play notes,
13:42
13 minutes, 42 seconds
but the most effective musicians are the people that have gone through something and know how to attach that something
13:49
13 minutes, 49 seconds
through their notes to tell a story. So I started understanding that at a young age and I think when people would hear
13:58
13 minutes, 58 seconds
me and listen and say I want him they wasn’t wanting something that was technically proficient. They wanted
14:06
14 minutes, 6 seconds
something that they felt that they needed around them as far as just what I was hurling through the horn as far as my um passion goes.
14:17
14 minutes, 17 seconds
Right. Yeah. I I liken that to um a lot like being a chef. Like you you know this everybody has access to the same
14:25
14 minutes, 25 seconds
ingredients. Like if I gave you you know the same five ingredients, I had the same things what what I could do to it and what you could do to it is
14:34
14 minutes, 34 seconds
different. And a lot of it even if we had the same basis of education, right?
14:39
14 minutes, 39 seconds
So we had the basics, you knew we knew how to all the basics of cooking, the brazing, the sautéing, the grilling, all those different things and the knife
14:46
14 minutes, 46 seconds
skills. But it’s the emotional connection with the items and then my
14:54
14 minutes, 54 seconds
expression and interpretation of manipulating them that makes all the difference. And so it’s this like again
15:02
15 minutes, 2 seconds
there’s there is and jazz is probably the best example of that too. So like I always
15:11
15 minutes, 11 seconds
use the the the terms for people that um cooking is like jazz. And when I when I say that is that you have after you have
15:20
15 minutes, 20 seconds
the basic knowledge to lean on now you have the freedom to express yourself within the confines
15:28
15 minutes, 28 seconds
of the knowledge. Right? And so uh and then there’s then you have baking which is like poker. It’s the same. It has to
15:35
15 minutes, 35 seconds
be exact. It’s there’s no the poker song every poker song you’ve ever heard is either a fast fast version or a slow version of the same song. So it’s
15:43
15 minutes, 43 seconds
exactly it’s exactly the same. There’s no difference. You know, get fancy and call it boss nova. But it’s the same it’s the same damn thing.
15:51
15 minutes, 51 seconds
Yeah.
15:52
15 minutes, 52 seconds
Um that’s dope. Okay. Right about now we’re going to play a little game I like to call this or that. This one is going
16:00
16 minutes
to be a little different as in it’s going to be the Jordan brand edition.
16:08
16 minutes, 8 seconds
[Music]16:11
16 minutes, 11 seconds
I come on this show and you just start.
16:13
16 minutes, 13 seconds
Oh, well, you know, we got to do it. We got to we got to do it. We got to do it.
16:16
16 minutes, 16 seconds
All right. So So how this is going to work is I’m going to show you two different sneakers. One’s going to be a
16:23
16 minutes, 23 seconds
classic OG and the other one is going to be a rare collab. And you’re going to pick between the two. One or the other.
16:31
16 minutes, 31 seconds
All right. Let’s go.
16:32
16 minutes, 32 seconds
All right. So, first we have Jordan one breads and then Jordan one off-white Chicago.
16:41
16 minutes, 41 seconds
Which one?
16:42
16 minutes, 42 seconds
Sheesh. I’m gonna have to go with the breads because it’s just the legacy of You have to do it. You have to. It’s the legacy. I’m sorry.
16:49
16 minutes, 49 seconds
Yeah. Without that, nothing else exists.
16:52
16 minutes, 52 seconds
Exactly. Okay. Next up, we gonna go to the threes now. So, Jordan 3 white cement or Jordan 3 Dorbecker.
17:04
17 minutes, 4 seconds
Oh man, them Dor Becker joints was crazy. Like, but again, you’ll go with OG.
17:10
17 minutes, 10 seconds
I’m I’m OG guy because guess what? Like, nobody was using that elephant print. Nobody.
17:18
17 minutes, 18 seconds
So, when that hit Yeah.
17:20
17 minutes, 20 seconds
we was like, “What is this?” the streets literally I don’t even think Nike and
17:27
17 minutes, 27 seconds
Jordan understood like okay well we’re going to do this elephant print and how it hit the streets crazy
17:35
17 minutes, 35 seconds
yeah the impact the cultural impact is insane cultural impact again you know and this is almost like LeBron and MJ and even
17:44
17 minutes, 44 seconds
though LeBron has a great legacy um LeBron is MJ is the chain
17:52
17 minutes, 52 seconds
LeBron is a link inside of the chain. So when you talk about the OG of of sneakers, there are some sneakers that
18:00
18 minutes
wouldn’t exist unless the foundation for sure. I got to go with the OG um cements.
18:07
18 minutes, 7 seconds
I I’ll just say this about the goat talk.
18:11
18 minutes, 11 seconds
You’ve never heard about anybody getting robbed for the LeBron.
18:15
18 minutes, 15 seconds
I heard somebody say that. Yo, I almost got a stab at LeBron. I love it.
18:21
18 minutes, 21 seconds
And listen, no, LeBron is my dude. Shout out to Rich Paul and all the homies. But yeah, it hasn’t happened. I know there
18:29
18 minutes, 29 seconds
were places in New York that you didn’t go wearing your fresh Jordans because you knew that you was going to have to come up out of them.
18:36
18 minutes, 36 seconds
Yeah. I’mma I’mma go even further. There are some places that if you had a pair of Jordans,
18:44
18 minutes, 44 seconds
um, some gazels and a triple fat goose, you just exponentially raised the percentages of you getting robbed.
18:52
18 minutes, 52 seconds
Yeah, for sure. Absolutely.
18:54
18 minutes, 54 seconds
Yeah. What what your man from I’m Nice and smooth said to stick up kids is out the tax. Greg Nice.
19:00
19 minutes
Greg Nice. N I E.
19:03
19 minutes, 3 seconds
All right. Jordan 4 Black Cat or Jordan 4 Eminem Encors. Now, I tell you what, if you got a pair of those Eminem encors
19:12
19 minutes, 12 seconds
right now, if you got those in your Lexicon, I’m Yeah, we have to talk about those.
19:17
19 minutes, 17 seconds
Those are That’s the one shoe that I haven’t I haven’t held in my hand. Like, I’ve I’ve touched almost everything.
19:24
19 minutes, 24 seconds
Yeah. Well, um I do have a pair of those.
19:29
19 minutes, 29 seconds
Um they were sample. I got a sample pair of them. Shout out to G Money for shooting them my way. And yeah, they’re
19:37
19 minutes, 37 seconds
under lock and key. So, we’re gonna have to go new school Eminem all day.
19:41
19 minutes, 41 seconds
Yeah. Yeah. Those Eminem is some something different. This was something different right there. Okay. Next.
19:48
19 minutes, 48 seconds
Jordan 5 grape or Jordan 5 Tokyo T23? We got to go with the grapes.
19:57
19 minutes, 57 seconds
Yeah.
19:57
19 minutes, 57 seconds
Like I I got a pair of grapes on I’m looking at them right now.
20:04
20 minutes, 4 seconds
Yeah, like come here. I mean, I name my stinkers. Come here. Great. Hold on. Hold on.
20:15
20 minutes, 15 seconds
So funny. So funny. You Yeah. Yeah.
20:19
20 minutes, 19 seconds
Listen, those those are one of my That’s one of my favorite favorite shoes all time. Yeah. So, I gotta go with the grapes.
20:27
20 minutes, 27 seconds
Okay. All right. Next. Jordan 11 Concord or the Jordan 11 Space Jam. Now, first and foremost, the 11 is my favorite
20:35
20 minutes, 35 seconds
silhouette. If I’mma pick it just like just sexy to look at, that 11 is something special. But anyway, the Concords or the Space Jams.
20:45
20 minutes, 45 seconds
Okay. And the before we even um tell you what I’m going to go with, the fact that they kept on doing stuff like, “Okay,
20:54
20 minutes, 54 seconds
we’re going to do the elephant print here.” They always just did something that was way out of the box that just culture just latched on to it.
21:04
21 minutes, 4 seconds
So now I’m thinking um Boys the Men when they all came out.
21:14
21 minutes, 14 seconds
I can’t shout out to Sean Stockman. I can’t get that out of my head.
21:18
21 minutes, 18 seconds
Yeah. No, that that was it’s a cultural cultural moment.
21:21
21 minutes, 21 seconds
Yeah. Yeah. It’s it was a moment because we’re supposed to be dressed up looking good and they were but when you looked
21:28
21 minutes, 28 seconds
down and you saw those 11s hitting against the tuxedo Oh, that that patent leather was crucial.
21:35
21 minutes, 35 seconds
I patent leather was crucial. I like I I have to have those. Like there’s no we I have to have those. And matter of fact,
21:44
21 minutes, 44 seconds
before then we we associated patent leather with church shoes. Oh yeah. Yeah. With some penny loafers.
21:51
21 minutes, 51 seconds
So it it totally changed everything.
21:54
21 minutes, 54 seconds
It changed the lexicon of that put patent leather somewhere else. It was okay. So you got to go with the Concords.
22:01
22 minutes, 1 second
Yes, I’m guessing. Okay, for sure. All right.
22:03
22 minutes, 3 seconds
And then finally, Jordan 12 flu games or Jordan 12 ovos?
22:11
22 minutes, 11 seconds
Sheesh. I need to go on this rack again because y’all playing y’all. Look, y’all are playing with me. Hold on. I got Hold on for a second. Hold on.
22:22
22 minutes, 22 seconds
Hold on. Oh, here they go.
22:29
22 minutes, 29 seconds
Yeah, I’m look I was looking at the flu games. I thought you was going to get No, no, no. But here here we are. This is a one of one because they’re not what
22:37
22 minutes, 37 seconds
you think they are. So, I’m gonna do this right here.
22:42
22 minutes, 42 seconds
We’re not going to do that. See, now you’re just stunting. See, they see now. Look at that. That’s that saxophone. I I see it. Yeah.
22:49
22 minutes, 49 seconds
Okay. No, no, no, no, no, no. These are these are golf shoes.
22:54
22 minutes, 54 seconds
Oh, yeah. Y’all see these are the only oneofone flu game golf shoes that were ever ever made.
23:01
23 minutes, 1 second
The the Mike Philly edition.
23:06
23 minutes, 6 seconds
Okay, listen. We’re not going to have you on on my show stunting like that. We can’t have it. I’m the guy. Okay. I’m the chill guy.
23:14
23 minutes, 14 seconds
Chef, I’m saying though, Chef, we you asked me to cook, right?
23:17
23 minutes, 17 seconds
I did. I did. Okay. All right. So, in your lexicon right there and and and what you got around you, what is your most coveted pair
23:24
23 minutes, 24 seconds
that right now? If I tell you, okay, I got to take everything on that wall and I’m sure there’s walls. Everything out there besides one pair. Which one pair?
23:34
23 minutes, 34 seconds
What what pair are you saving? I’m glad you asked.
23:41
23 minutes, 41 seconds
So, I’m just Let’s just start with the receipt.
23:45
23 minutes, 45 seconds
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s Yeah. So, if you look at the receipt, it says JC Penney.
23:51
23 minutes, 51 seconds
Mhm. Which tells you which tells you that this how long ago that was. Yeah. Yeah. Foot Locker.
23:59
23 minutes, 59 seconds
Okay. So, here we are.
24:04
24 minutes, 4 seconds
Oh, no. Hell no. You got No, no, no, no. It it gets it gets worse because um he signed him.
24:16
24 minutes, 16 seconds
That’s crazy. No, no, no, no. He signed both pairs.
24:25
24 minutes, 25 seconds
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I would I would uh those would be uh sleeping in the hyperbaric chamber. I’m about to put them back in.
24:32
24 minutes, 32 seconds
Yeah.
24:34
24 minutes, 34 seconds
Here you go. So, this is And I’ll give you a view from this side with the box. Yeah.
24:43
24 minutes, 43 seconds
So, here’s the They don’t even make cardboard like that anymore.
24:46
24 minutes, 46 seconds
No, it smells That’s crazy. That So, the funny thing
24:53
24 minutes, 53 seconds
about that is And I And my mother So, I had my I had my original panel. Now, it was worn. It was well
25:01
25 minutes, 1 second
worn. Don’t get it twisted. I was But I also I would take the you know, I would take the fantastic and the toothbrush to my joints and so they look they looked as good as possible as they could look.
25:10
25 minutes, 10 seconds
Uhhuh. But she threw them joints out. I had the And I I don’t I always keep the boxes. She threw the shoes out with the box, the whole nine.
25:20
25 minutes, 20 seconds
And uh Yeah. I could uh I’m like, “Ma, you know how much those shoes would be worth?” Even in the worst the worst shape. It’s Yo, when I gave him the MJ Yeah.
25:32
25 minutes, 32 seconds
MJ was like, “Those ain’t real.” And then he started talking talking that MJ [ __ ] was like where you and then it
25:40
25 minutes, 40 seconds
turned into it went from those ain’t real to where you get them from. And that’s what I knew. He knew that they
25:46
25 minutes, 46 seconds
was real. I said black cat I need you I need you to hit I need you got you got a John Han cact these back. Okay. So let me ask you a question. When’s the last time you put those on your feet?
25:56
25 minutes, 56 seconds
It was a really It was a major flex when
26:04
26 minutes, 4 seconds
um um Nike had their corporate sneaker ball.
26:08
26 minutes, 8 seconds
Oh, see every everybody like running around, you know, Tinker Hatfield was there, you know, and Tank is my dude. He lives
26:17
26 minutes, 17 seconds
probably like um 10 minutes from me. Um yeah, everybody was walking around with
26:24
26 minutes, 24 seconds
um their sneakers. Some some designers were there and when I walked in with signed But you walked in with the Okay. Yeah, that’s that’s a heavy flex.
26:33
26 minutes, 33 seconds
It shut everybody down. So every every time I I see, you know, I see the little sneaker heads out there. I see Fat Joe.
26:41
26 minutes, 41 seconds
I see I see God. You can show me a pair.
26:45
26 minutes, 45 seconds
Nobody of joints that from JC Penney where MJ signed it twice and I got a picture of him signing it. Like he’s of course you do. Yeah.
26:54
26 minutes, 54 seconds
So stop. Yo, stop. All I’m telling you is like I mind my business, but um don’t poke the bear if you really want to if you really want to get in the trenches with this.
27:03
27 minutes, 3 seconds
All right, MP, give me give me ballpark. Ballpark.
27:07
27 minutes, 7 seconds
What do you think those are worth? And it’s I’m not not to put you out there to put you on the list of people that got got or the people that looking for you
27:15
27 minutes, 15 seconds
because you got the holy grail. What do you think those are worth?
27:18
27 minutes, 18 seconds
Um so how much is u a glass of water to someone that ain’t got no money?
27:31
27 minutes, 31 seconds
The the market determines the value and then what you put your product the market that you put your product in
27:38
27 minutes, 38 seconds
front of. So, so quick story, I do this thing where I hold one note and I do it
27:45
27 minutes, 45 seconds
for charity. So, I call it auction in my lungs. So, people can donate anywhere from $5,000 a minute to $25 a minute and it all goes to charity.
27:55
27 minutes, 55 seconds
Right. Got you.
27:56
27 minutes, 56 seconds
So, so I’m holding the note and it’s like a five minute maximum. So, there are some rooms that it was each table
28:03
28 minutes, 3 seconds
donated um $3,000 and by the time I was finished with the room, we raised over $150,000
28:11
28 minutes, 11 seconds
in five minutes. Then you go to the charity that, you know, they ain’t really got nobody in the room and I’m
28:18
28 minutes, 18 seconds
busy holding the note, almost died and only raised um $22.50.
28:24
28 minutes, 24 seconds
[Laughter]28:26
28 minutes, 26 seconds
So, it’s about it’s about who you put them in front of.
28:30
28 minutes, 30 seconds
All right, I got you. What’s your number then? 125K, man. Listen, 125K.
28:36
28 minutes, 36 seconds
It depends who you know. Like, uh, no. No. What’s your If somebody came to you right now, look, and I know this is I know the answer is never.
28:45
28 minutes, 45 seconds
No. Absolutely not. I’m gonna tell you why. Because a legacy is more important to me than money. Absolutely. They ain’t leaving the family.
28:54
28 minutes, 54 seconds
Heard. Yeah. That’s that’s you know there’s only that I know of there’s only one p and first off the fact that you you you took
29:01
29 minutes, 1 second
them out the box they were still intact in there signed is is another feat. So which tells me that you you’re keeping
29:10
29 minutes, 10 seconds
them stashed properly. Uh that’s another thing because because we know the globe and everything come up off them shoes.
29:16
29 minutes, 16 seconds
Yeah. After this interview they move get moved to a offsite.
29:20
29 minutes, 20 seconds
Yeah. So outside of outside of the the the corporate Nike sneaker ball, have you worn them outside of that or was that the one flex?
29:29
29 minutes, 29 seconds
You get one tie.
29:31
29 minutes, 31 seconds
There you go. You get one and you stood in one stood in one corner. No. No. No steps. No steps. No.
29:38
29 minutes, 38 seconds
We ain’t even two stepping.
29:41
29 minutes, 41 seconds
Whatever song you got on, just know that I ain’t dancing. Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. Listen.
29:50
29 minutes, 50 seconds
If your saxophone tone was a flavor, what spice or ingredient would it be and why?
29:58
29 minutes, 58 seconds
Man, that is one of the best questions I’ve ever heard. That’s crazy. So, let me literally close my eyes and kind of
30:08
30 minutes, 8 seconds
like stitch what I think my sound is to something that tastes similar. And what’s so difficult about this question
30:16
30 minutes, 16 seconds
is that now I have to equate um something sonic to something that um has physical taste to it.
30:26
30 minutes, 26 seconds
Right.
30:27
30 minutes, 27 seconds
So um I got this new horn and you know chocolate cocoa.
30:35
30 minutes, 35 seconds
Yeah. think the horn is that because it has a richness to it that didn’t really exist in my other horns.
30:45
30 minutes, 45 seconds
Okay.
30:45
30 minutes, 45 seconds
It’s a it’s a richer it’s a deeper sound and even when I’m hitting higher notes it’s still still still richness and richness of it.
30:54
30 minutes, 54 seconds
So, like if I were to say, you know, definitely chocolate, cocoa, that type of
31:02
31 minutes, 2 seconds
And you know, it’s still, you know, just because it’s dark doesn’t mean that it isn’t sweet. Exactly.
31:09
31 minutes, 9 seconds
So, um, yeah, chocolate.
31:12
31 minutes, 12 seconds
That’s that’s that’s a great one. That’s a And the the beauty of the beauty of chocolate is, and most people don’t understand this, that chocolate has
31:21
31 minutes, 21 seconds
range, right? So, It says has range and there’s full body. It can be the star or
31:28
31 minutes, 28 seconds
it could be the perfect teammate. You know, like chocolate has the ability to be everything under some moon and stars
31:38
31 minutes, 38 seconds
to either be the the star of the dish or perfect accompaniment to uh to pull it all together fully in.
31:46
31 minutes, 46 seconds
And it’s so crazy you say that because when I played with Prince Mhm. Um, I was in learning mode where
31:54
31 minutes, 54 seconds
now he’s the star of the show and I’m background, but what I brought to the table was profound,
32:03
32 minutes, 3 seconds
but I still knew my place of being inside of the total recipe where there
32:10
32 minutes, 10 seconds
wasn’t an option for to be to have the recipe being named after my dominance because it wasn’t that type of party with Prince or
32:18
32 minutes, 18 seconds
anybody that I played with. And that was the beauty of it because I was learning about the other ingredients that they
32:25
32 minutes, 25 seconds
learned to be who they were while I was in the mix at the same time.
32:31
32 minutes, 31 seconds
Well, here’s the beauty. Here’s the beauty of that. So that’s and you’re right, but
32:39
32 minutes, 39 seconds
those great those those prints being one of them and I remember the first time that I heard you and those with Joe
32:45
32 minutes, 45 seconds
Scott. They allowed you to be the star on their stage because of your greatness. They were like, “You know
32:53
32 minutes, 53 seconds
what, Mr. Mike Phillips?” And anytime Prince holds a microphone to your to your horn when it’s already miked, like
33:01
33 minutes, 1 second
this needs let’s turn turn this up louder, that’s a that’s the greatest compliment as a musician that you can get from, you know, a a a virtuoso. Um,
33:11
33 minutes, 11 seconds
so you you had the ability to to you know rise to the occasion and and at you know when you listen when
33:21
33 minutes, 21 seconds
Jordan’s taking free throws it’s it’s become you go from being a participant in the game to just
33:29
33 minutes, 29 seconds
being a spectator. And so at some point in time, you gotta you gotta witness greatness and and you’ve had the ability
33:36
33 minutes, 36 seconds
to do that on many many stages with many many great being and being right there where remember my first Super Bowl with Stevie.
33:46
33 minutes, 46 seconds
I got to the point where I looked back at YouTube and I was looking at the video and I wasn’t even playing no parts. I was just staring at Stevie the whole time. Not couldn’t believe that I
33:55
33 minutes, 55 seconds
was there. Everybody in the hood in Mount Fer was like, “Yo, we see you on TV, but it looked like he was looking at the jumbotron and not playing.” I was
34:03
34 minutes, 3 seconds
like, “Absolutely.” I was there. I was there. So, okay, you just hit on a a great point. You are the only artist only
34:13
34 minutes, 13 seconds
to play with the big three and that is Prince, Michael Jackson, and Stevie Wonder.
34:22
34 minutes, 22 seconds
That in itself is crazy. So the fact that that’s the case and that you
34:31
34 minutes, 31 seconds
are so grounded in first off all stylistically those are three completely different three completely different
34:38
34 minutes, 38 seconds
sounds right and I just mentioned Jill Scott so we’re just talking about that’s those that’s you can’t get more genre
34:45
34 minutes, 45 seconds
bending than that so the fact that you one man could weave yourself into those situations and still
34:53
34 minutes, 53 seconds
have it still be Mike Mike Phillips is an amazing thing. I think I always talk about this as far as so music and food
35:00
35 minutes
has you know a lot of symbiotic relationships and I like to use this one as well. So, I think the hardest thing
35:08
35 minutes, 8 seconds
for, and you touched on this as well, for for musicians, the hardest thing for a chef to do is after, you know, you you
35:16
35 minutes, 16 seconds
you do your 10,000 hours, you get your the basics under your belt, and then is the hardest thing is to develop your
35:24
35 minutes, 24 seconds
sound and so that no matter where you go, you have you have a style. So no matter
35:32
35 minutes, 32 seconds
where I am, where whatever I cook, I can cook any any type of cuisine, I still have stylistically
35:40
35 minutes, 40 seconds
through ways that that get my point across. And you have that as well. That so that’s the hardest thing for any artist to do is to have their own voice
35:47
35 minutes, 47 seconds
and to have their voice going to any room and still be able to be recognized by people who know. That to me is is
35:55
35 minutes, 55 seconds
crazy. It’s crazy. Speak to me about that.
35:57
35 minutes, 57 seconds
Yeah. Yeah. Well, one thing I appreciate like is, you know, even coming on this um
36:05
36 minutes, 5 seconds
podcast, right? I’m like getting schooled in real time of the relationship between food, music, and
36:12
36 minutes, 12 seconds
artistry that I never really like put into, you know, consideration of understanding how connected they are.
36:21
36 minutes, 21 seconds
Yeah. So, so yeah, like um I can, you know, you know, the Sachs can be in the
36:28
36 minutes, 28 seconds
Waldorf Histori or um I can play in the subway. I’m very comfortable. Yep.
36:35
36 minutes, 35 seconds
In that. and um being able to shape shift, move
36:42
36 minutes, 42 seconds
when you do it musically or with your art, you find yourself now networking with different people where
36:51
36 minutes, 51 seconds
like I’m in a room with some, you know, investment bankers and they’re talking and I’m shifting because now I’m
36:58
36 minutes, 58 seconds
learning and understanding and moving into a room where it’s a whole bunch of creatives and then moving into another
37:06
37 minutes, 6 seconds
room where people are more have the um acumen to really go after fighting for
37:14
37 minutes, 14 seconds
their rights and certain things that are happening politically because some people, you know, unfortunately they can
37:22
37 minutes, 22 seconds
only be black when it’s beneficial to them.
37:25
37 minutes, 25 seconds
So being able to move in these circles and be different like the only reason why I move like that is because music taught me that.
37:34
37 minutes, 34 seconds
Yeah. like the music had like if I’m in the Waldolf Histori and then I’m in the subway and which did happen by the way
37:42
37 minutes, 42 seconds
like I I would play and then I was just jamming New York subway and then go on Showtime at the Apollo. I was hustling,
37:50
37 minutes, 50 seconds
but it was in so many different modes and in so many different crowds that now
37:57
37 minutes, 57 seconds
when you bring it back to food and how you can and you can cook for the president um being um Barack Obama
38:07
38 minutes, 7 seconds
and you can go and um you know chop it up at the homeless shelter and both people who are diametrically
38:16
38 minutes, 16 seconds
different in their experiences is can still be woven together by taste and
38:23
38 minutes, 23 seconds
sound. That’s like when you think about it.
38:26
38 minutes, 26 seconds
No, no, it’s Yeah, but it’s amazing, man.
38:29
38 minutes, 29 seconds
It’s why this exists. So, I I I liking that to So, our experience is pretty much the same. So, again, I’m from the hood, too, right? And so, I’ve I worked
38:37
38 minutes, 37 seconds
in some of the best restaurants, most high flutin if you will, where people would say restaurants and been all over the world with knives and knowledge,
38:46
38 minutes, 46 seconds
right? I I would say that, you know, I’m chicken because I’m I could be from
38:53
38 minutes, 53 seconds
the chicken hut on 125 or Yeah, I remember the chicken or I could be in a linear, you know, one of the best restaurants in the world.
39:04
39 minutes, 4 seconds
And the only difference is the hands that are preparing it, the skill level and then perceived value depending on
39:11
39 minutes, 11 seconds
the room I’m in. But being able to communicate with everyone and in between so that you know being good on any
39:19
39 minutes, 19 seconds
Martin Luther and then anywhere in between is is Martin Luther any Martin. And so, no, I
39:26
39 minutes, 26 seconds
I always say that, you know, I am um a linguistic
39:32
39 minutes, 32 seconds
champion. Like, to be able to to have the vernacular to be able to communicate with with everyone is is a skill set
39:41
39 minutes, 41 seconds
that unfortunately as a young black male, we have to master. You have to in in order to to get outside the confines
39:49
39 minutes, 49 seconds
of your environment. If you do not master this skill to be able to talk to anybody and everybody, you raise the percentages of being limited.
39:58
39 minutes, 58 seconds
Absolutely.
39:59
39 minutes, 59 seconds
Yeah. And and let me say something. It was so crazy, right? I remember going back to my um sister’s house. She live
40:06
40 minutes, 6 seconds
on um you know um 226 in um White Plains Road. Mhm.
40:12
40 minutes, 12 seconds
I walk in and my mother taught her how to cook. So, she didn’t
40:20
40 minutes, 20 seconds
My mother didn’t do um those things that made kids comfortable like, “Okay, well, since you don’t want to cook, then I
40:28
40 minutes, 28 seconds
guess you won’t blah blah blah.” No, my mother said, “Get your behind in that kitchen, right?” So, teaching my sisters how to cook.
40:36
40 minutes, 36 seconds
Okay. Okay, so my mother’s passed and literally when I walked into that room and smelled that food, it was like
40:45
40 minutes, 45 seconds
experiencing my mother all over again and never knew how much tradition
40:54
40 minutes, 54 seconds
comes with the m making sure that you hold the earlier generation or later
41:01
41 minutes, 1 second
generation accountable for making sure that those recipes live on because of food has now la lasted longer than my
41:10
41 minutes, 10 seconds
mother’s life but I can still be a part take part in the culinary legacy because
41:17
41 minutes, 17 seconds
of what was passed down and like let me tell you when I walked into my sister’s apartment and I smell that food like literally and
41:26
41 minutes, 26 seconds
we as black men we don’t want to we we we don’t want to be too associated with
41:33
41 minutes, 33 seconds
emotion but literally not I’mma be I’m going to keep for one keep a buck with you. I almost started crying
41:41
41 minutes, 41 seconds
because the way that I missed my mother and the fact that I was able to
41:47
41 minutes, 47 seconds
experience everything that she taught um my sister Rosie how to cook and it
41:54
41 minutes, 54 seconds
coming to fruition where it hits on those um markers emotionally.
42:04
42 minutes, 4 seconds
That’s why Music is the same way where we have to make sure that the baton
42:11
42 minutes, 11 seconds
is handed to that next generation. And sometimes we so we get caught up in how fast we run and what’s in the baton. But
42:20
42 minutes, 20 seconds
the most important thing about the baton, about the relay race isn’t how
42:26
42 minutes, 26 seconds
fast you run. It’s actually whether the baton is exchanged clean. Right.
42:33
42 minutes, 33 seconds
Cuz you know how I go. They hit that they hit that gun, you de you DQ. If you dropping the baton and you doing all
42:40
42 minutes, 40 seconds
that. So I think the exchange is so important to make sure that the music and the legacy that we listen
42:48
42 minutes, 48 seconds
to will always be intact and from a culinary standpoint. So, I just wanted to tell you that that how important I
42:55
42 minutes, 55 seconds
understand because I went through a whole thing where I literally stood in my sister’s house and was ready to cry
43:03
43 minutes, 3 seconds
because my mother was still alive through her um cooking.
43:08
43 minutes, 8 seconds
Absolutely. No, the the so all that we’re doing um we we are creative storytellers, right?
43:19
43 minutes, 19 seconds
So food, music, we we’re telling stories with the attachment of emotion if you do
43:25
43 minutes, 25 seconds
it properly. So it has the ability they are the ability
43:32
43 minutes, 32 seconds
to transform or transport you into places of years that have gone by and
43:41
43 minutes, 41 seconds
people who are associated with those times. And so there is no greater
43:48
43 minutes, 48 seconds
no greater reverence to be paid than to give somebody something for their nourishment that they ingest. Right? And
43:55
43 minutes, 55 seconds
then to have those memories that are associated in your head and heart with the hands that used to prepare those
44:03
44 minutes, 3 seconds
items and the same manner that is done in the same way that that has a profound profound
44:11
44 minutes, 11 seconds
effect on emotions and that you cannot it’s the same reason why when you go to open houses they bake
44:18
44 minutes, 18 seconds
chocolate chip cookies. Everybody has a favorable memory with smell of vanilla and chocolate. There’s very few people that can associate that with something
44:26
44 minutes, 26 seconds
negative. And you’re trying they’re trying to place you somewhere emotionally in this home to make you feel like, “Oh,
44:35
44 minutes, 35 seconds
I I feel at peace here.” And taste, sounds, and smell
44:42
44 minutes, 42 seconds
are the the some of the greatest uh factors to place you in a emotional state. Oh man, I was I walked in there.
44:53
44 minutes, 53 seconds
I was like, “Sha, man up.” I was like, “For like you over there crying.” I was like, “Hold up.” No, I ain’t crying. I ain’t crying.
45:02
45 minutes, 2 seconds
No.
45:04
45 minutes, 4 seconds
Let’s talk really quick about your track Deep Chocolate. You know, you dedicated that to your son um to celebrate, you know, skin and identity and heritage.
45:14
45 minutes, 14 seconds
Yeah. Um, what do you want people to feel from that when they hear it?
45:22
45 minutes, 22 seconds
Um, it it’s like it’s like Afro beats, right?
45:27
45 minutes, 27 seconds
It feels it it feels cultural, but it’s upbeat, so it’s celebratory. So when you
45:35
45 minutes, 35 seconds
talk about the deep chocolate um when he came home and his voice was changing a little but he was more inducing it than
45:44
45 minutes, 44 seconds
actually making it happen. He says dad my new nickname is the deep chocolate.
45:49
45 minutes, 49 seconds
I said what the deep chocolate.
45:52
45 minutes, 52 seconds
I was like well why are you sounding like that? Because that’s my name. I said what’s your name? The deep chocolate.
45:56
45 minutes, 56 seconds
I said okay I get it right. So now knowing that within Portland, Oregon,
46:05
46 minutes, 5 seconds
and he’s probably like one out of 25 kids with that skin color. Yeah.
46:12
46 minutes, 12 seconds
And the environment of this country to know that he walked back home and just
46:19
46 minutes, 19 seconds
was very proud of what he looked like and him telling me that story. I wrote a song right on the spot about that moment.
46:30
46 minutes, 30 seconds
It’s something that made me proud because okay, I live in Portland, Oregon. So when people say, “Well, why
46:38
46 minutes, 38 seconds
why do you have your son in white spaces?” You know, um you know, sometimes racism happens when you just continually put him in white spaces.
46:48
46 minutes, 48 seconds
Like for the person that says that, um have you checked the census? Yeah.
46:53
46 minutes, 53 seconds
Of Portland, Oregon? That’s also another that’s another reason also.
46:56
46 minutes, 56 seconds
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But but like and then also have you do you understand um public school system ain’t really popping like that?
47:07
47 minutes, 7 seconds
And then number three do you understand that I have a choice of putting him in the best case scenario educationally
47:17
47 minutes, 17 seconds
because this is what we’re dealing right now. DEI has been misconstrued as giving people that are unworthy. And this is
47:25
47 minutes, 25 seconds
what it is and people need to understand it. DEI exists to give people who are
47:33
47 minutes, 33 seconds
better or evenly qualified a opportunity.
47:39
47 minutes, 39 seconds
It was never built for someone that wasn’t qualified. Right?
47:44
47 minutes, 44 seconds
Never. So just the fact that that’s misconcred is troubling to me because again it’s meant for people who are
47:52
47 minutes, 52 seconds
better who are more educated or evenly kill even even kill with you to get the
48:01
48 minutes, 1 second
opportunity because people haven’t been getting opportunities. So, like being proud but still fighting but
48:09
48 minutes, 9 seconds
understanding your culture and knowing that he’s going to have to go in the workforce and be better so he can be discriminated against after he’s better.
48:19
48 minutes, 19 seconds
And for me to even say that and know that it’s coming is problematic, right? No, that’s that’s
48:26
48 minutes, 26 seconds
so so him him understanding that you still have to walk proud and and you
48:34
48 minutes, 34 seconds
know because my art will last longer than I will be on this planet and maybe his greatgrandsons can go back
48:43
48 minutes, 43 seconds
sonically and say, “Yo, this is a song that our great great greatgrandfather wrote for little Mike because of the
48:52
48 minutes, 52 seconds
proud of being proud about being who he is and see those stories and that legacy
48:58
48 minutes, 58 seconds
sonically has to live. So when I wrote the Deep Chocolate, it was watching me being so proud of
49:07
49 minutes, 7 seconds
watching him be proud of who he is and that was such a beautiful thing to write about.
49:12
49 minutes, 12 seconds
It’s amazing. It’s amazing. Since we both already determined that food and music both carry cultural memory,
49:22
49 minutes, 22 seconds
if you could revive one overlooked cultural tradition, either culinarily or musically, what would it be?
49:31
49 minutes, 31 seconds
Oh man. Um I think um in this new school of music,
49:41
49 minutes, 41 seconds
one of the most overlooked things I think that’s very necessary is
49:48
49 minutes, 48 seconds
people playing and rehearsing together without it being for a show.
49:57
49 minutes, 57 seconds
Gota just getting together and playing the jam session. the old overlooked jam session.
50:03
50 minutes, 3 seconds
Yeah. And Yeah. And it’s not too, you know, sometimes jam sessions exist because one person’s trying to [ __ ] on the other and then, you know, playing
50:11
50 minutes, 11 seconds
and you’re doing this and you’re doing that. But yo, just to get together because community is exciting. It’s educational.
50:22
50 minutes, 22 seconds
is getting everybody together where I think America can even learn so much
50:29
50 minutes, 29 seconds
from just a regular band playing because if we’re in a jam session and the trumpet player is playing,
50:36
50 minutes, 36 seconds
our job is to create a foundation for their story, not to talk when they’re talking. Right?
50:43
50 minutes, 43 seconds
I say everybody’s talking at the same time right now. So, uh, politically, ideology-wise, or whatever’s happening
50:51
50 minutes, 51 seconds
in this country, if we were to put it in a musical form, it’s a jam session where everybody’s playing a solo at the same time.
51:01
51 minutes, 1 second
So, like how those things really, they really have like a a foundation
51:10
51 minutes, 10 seconds
necessary to making sure that we grow as people. So, we’re on the internet right now. So the person plays something on
51:20
51 minutes, 20 seconds
the internet and then another person plays something and then but they don’t they haven’t felt the spirit of playing together because we’re looking in the
51:29
51 minutes, 29 seconds
camera and playing and then when we get together we don’t know how to play with each other. I hired one musician. I’m
51:35
51 minutes, 35 seconds
not going to say his name but when we got in the rehearsal studio I figured out what the problem was. You were killing on the internet.
51:47
51 minutes, 47 seconds
weren’t understanding that when you’re playing with somebody else, it’s not about you and the camera that you’re playing in for your followers anymore, right? Yeah.
51:57
51 minutes, 57 seconds
So, the bass player is just all over the place and then the drummer is playing and then bass and drums, y’all should be locked. It’s about the groove. But if I
52:06
52 minutes, 6 seconds
get y’all and y’all too busy out in these streets being internet stars, you don’t know how to play together. Mhm.
52:12
52 minutes, 12 seconds
So, the fact that we need to make sure that a part of the tradition is people
52:20
52 minutes, 20 seconds
growing up. I Yo, I went down I’m chilling with Ralph R down in the city, Arty Reynolds, and then um Fred McFarland who passed away, he had a jam
52:29
52 minutes, 29 seconds
session, and then Ray Chu after he finished playing for the Apollo, he’ll come over to Sylvia’s and we’ll be jamming. I got so much information from
52:38
52 minutes, 38 seconds
the triple OG’s of just learning how to play and connecting with them through the art of doing something that’s not
52:47
52 minutes, 47 seconds
that it’s more community-based than selfishly showing everybody how you can play by yourself on the internet.
52:55
52 minutes, 55 seconds
Right. There’s a lot of through lines with sports, food, and music. And what you’re
53:03
53 minutes, 3 seconds
just talking about right there is about being a great teammate, right? It’s about being um an ingredient
53:13
53 minutes, 13 seconds
in a great dish. It’s about being the first or second or even the third chair
53:20
53 minutes, 20 seconds
in the symphony. Um and it’s about the the totality is greater than the sum of
53:27
53 minutes, 27 seconds
its parts. And most people don’t do not understand how to play your position. Your time you win and lose as a team.
53:39
53 minutes, 39 seconds
Yeah.
53:40
53 minutes, 40 seconds
And I’m one of those guys. I’m I just I’m a glory hog. I want the glory, right? So I I just want to be on the winning team. So I don’t have to take
53:47
53 minutes, 47 seconds
the shot. I’ll get the rebound. Hell, I got six fouls. I’ll whatever I got to do for us to win is what I’m willing to do.
53:55
53 minutes, 55 seconds
Everybody gets a damn ring. And that’s at the end of the day, that’s all I care about. So, and when the when the band plays the
54:03
54 minutes, 3 seconds
song, right, that’s a win. I I never forget. And you know, I’m hardcore cuz I come from Prince. Prince, we’d have we’d have
54:12
54 minutes, 12 seconds
eight hour rehearsals and he’d be like, “Take a break.” And we’re coming back and rehearsing three more. So, I I know what it is to be hardcore. One time,
54:20
54 minutes, 20 seconds
funny story, um guy comes in and I wanted to play Can’t Hide Love, Earth, Wind, and Fire. So he comes in and he
54:28
54 minutes, 28 seconds
doesn’t know the song. I said, “Um, is there a problem?” He was like, “Ah, man.” Um, I said, “Hold up.” I said, “Ban, take a break.” I said, “What
54:36
54 minutes, 36 seconds
you’re going to do is that I said, since time is the only currency that we don’t know what our balance is, you just
54:44
54 minutes, 44 seconds
wasted it. And your balance is going to be paying for everybody’s lunch.” So, I told everybody, “Take a break and go out there at the Subway, get some
54:52
54 minutes, 52 seconds
sandwiches, and give this dude the receipt. meanwhile he works on what he need to. So he’s playing right and um
55:01
55 minutes, 1 second
um I told him something that just came to me. It wasn’t a quote that I heard anywhere else, but I said the problem with you is that you’re using your
55:09
55 minutes, 9 seconds
God-given gift as a crutch for being unprepared.
55:13
55 minutes, 13 seconds
The gift is supposed to be the addition to your preparation.
55:19
55 minutes, 19 seconds
And now you out here trying to listen and play it back and you don’t know the song and you’re stressing out your gift
55:26
55 minutes, 26 seconds
for a reason that comes by way of you not being prepared. Right.
55:32
55 minutes, 32 seconds
So that’s why you paying for lunch and that’s why we ain’t leaving here till you play it right.
55:38
55 minutes, 38 seconds
Yeah. Yeah, man. That’s that’s a deep one. That’s a deep That’s that next Yo, if if we don’t OG them Yeah. You don’t know. You don’t know.
55:47
55 minutes, 47 seconds
Then then you if I don’t OG you and you don’t pass the test, then don’t look at me for the baton.
55:54
55 minutes, 54 seconds
Absolutely. Yeah. Because it ain’t coming your way.
55:57
55 minutes, 57 seconds
Not at all. Because you going I’m we going to fumble the exchange and then that dude is going to hit the dag on gun and we all disqualified. Yes. Yes.
56:05
56 minutes, 5 seconds
I need to make sure that whoever who’s getting the baton that the exchange is going to be clean so we can still run for the win.
56:14
56 minutes, 14 seconds
Right. Right.
56:17
56 minutes, 17 seconds
All right. Food. Food has a toir, meaning it’s tied to soil in a place. Do
56:25
56 minutes, 25 seconds
you believe music has to as well? So, like, is your sound rooted in Mount Vernon? Is it rooted in jazz, in black
56:33
56 minutes, 33 seconds
culture, or something completely way more broader?
56:37
56 minutes, 37 seconds
Um, it’s rooted in the the pain of the negro spiritual.
56:45
56 minutes, 45 seconds
I mean, if you look at rock and roll and everybody that that that that’s that made money off of
56:53
56 minutes, 53 seconds
the music, it sounded what sounded good to them was pain that was turned into music that they found entertaining.
57:06
57 minutes, 6 seconds
So if you don’t ever connect with the reason why
57:13
57 minutes, 13 seconds
the music exists, then you’re not going to be able to display that same emotion.
57:18
57 minutes, 18 seconds
I’m telling you, musicians that haven’t gone through anything cannot express the things that people feel
57:27
57 minutes, 27 seconds
because either it’s going to be Sonic where it sounds beautiful or either it’s going to be BB King and James Brown.
57:34
57 minutes, 34 seconds
those if you would take their lives and understood the pain that they went through. We are being um
57:43
57 minutes, 43 seconds
we’re we’re sort of like being entertained in a strange way by pain. Yeah.
57:50
57 minutes, 50 seconds
That’s what rhythm and blues is. Blues is pain. You know, it in America it went two ways. Um it the same type of music
57:59
57 minutes, 59 seconds
was oh man God is going to God is going to see us through and be like the same sound of music has some different words like man I don’t even know what’s going
58:07
58 minutes, 7 seconds
on I’m about to get me this moonshine and call it a it’s a rap. So the music even though we go through
58:16
58 minutes, 16 seconds
these contemporary places can you create a the closest the the easiest way to get to one point to another is a straight
58:24
58 minutes, 24 seconds
line. Can you draw a straight line from the contemporary things that you do now
58:32
58 minutes, 32 seconds
back to the negro spiritual through your understanding your technique of how you play the blues of what you do and even
58:41
58 minutes, 41 seconds
even what you walk around in like do you know where Col train was born? Do you know where he lived in Philly?
58:49
58 minutes, 49 seconds
Like these things have to be embedded in you because that was embedded in the soil. So you can’t I can’t call myself a
58:58
58 minutes, 58 seconds
contemporary saxoponist or like if you want to call it contemporary jazz and I don’t know
59:05
59 minutes, 5 seconds
the legacy of Art Porter Grover Washington and um George Howard.
59:13
59 minutes, 13 seconds
Absolutely. Yeah. You gota Aie Kirk Wellm came out of that. See that straight line. So, you got to be able to draw it from here all the way
59:21
59 minutes, 21 seconds
back. So to your point and and to answer your question, yes, there has to be something that drives you um to
59:31
59 minutes, 31 seconds
understand that you have to be planted on the soil that understands the pain
59:38
59 minutes, 38 seconds
and the struggle of the same thing that Louis Armstrong, Cold Train, Sunny Stit, Sunny Rollins on that, Coleman Farrell
59:46
59 minutes, 46 seconds
Sanders, um Sarah Vaughn, if this was pain. It ain’t pretty. So to be effective, you got to get into that.
59:57
59 minutes, 57 seconds
Yeah. You got to lean in lean into adversity. Um first off, I I could talk to you forever. Like we can have we this could be uh we about to do a part two.
1:00:06
1 hour, 6 seconds
Yeah, we got to do a part two. We definitely got to do a part two because there’s so many different things that we haven’t touched on and really do dove into um and just glazed over. But, uh,
1:00:14
1 hour, 14 seconds
we definitely would do another one. Um, but we we got to talk about so many different things.
1:00:23
1 hour, 23 seconds
We going to go into this lightning round really quick because I want to get your your take on a few things. So, really quick, we’ll go into this lightning
1:00:30
1 hour, 30 seconds
round and it’s going to be rapid fire answers to questions that I give you. All right. All right.
1:00:39
1 hour, 39 seconds
All right. There’s no wrong answers, just quick ones. Uh oh. This is the setup.
1:00:47
1 hour, 47 seconds
Late night snack on tour.
1:00:52
1 hour, 52 seconds
Um Teddy Grahams. Okay.
1:00:58
1 hour, 58 seconds
One record you wish you had written. Naima.
1:01:06
1 hour, 1 minute, 6 seconds
Okay. I’ll try it. Favorite golf course or hole in story?
1:01:12
1 hour, 1 minute, 12 seconds
What’s your favorite golf course or your hole in one story?
1:01:19
1 hour, 1 minute, 19 seconds
Hole in one Raleigh, North Carolina. I don’t know the course, but I hit the ball and
1:01:26
1 hour, 1 minute, 26 seconds
you know, I didn’t see it and I was looking for it because I just damn hole.
1:01:32
1 hour, 1 minute, 32 seconds
Yeah, it took me three minutes. I’m trying to look for my ball and I was about to drop another one and I walked by the hole and saw it in there. It was like, yo, it’s crazy.
1:01:42
1 hour, 1 minute, 42 seconds
Okay. Song you play when you need to hype yourself up. Can’t hide love. Earth and fire.
1:01:52
1 hour, 1 minute, 52 seconds
It’s It’s a good one. Okay. And it’s not to put anybody else on blast. What’s your Who’s your favorite golf partner?
1:02:02
1 hour, 2 minutes, 2 seconds
Anyone I can beat and get some money from. Be messed up.
1:02:08
1 hour, 2 minutes, 8 seconds
That’s terrible. That’s okay. You’re not gonna hustle me. All right.
1:02:12
1 hour, 2 minutes, 12 seconds
All right. If you could lace up one pair of Jordans and play one song that defines your life, what kicks, what track, and why?
1:02:22
1 hour, 2 minutes, 22 seconds
Um, the kicks would be the ones that um Jordan signed.
1:02:33
1 hour, 2 minutes, 33 seconds
Um, and the song would be I um Frank Sinatra, I did it my way. M and and and
1:02:42
1 hour, 2 minutes, 42 seconds
why does it need to be explained? So yeah, because why brings you back to the song? Absolutely.
1:02:51
1 hour, 2 minutes, 51 seconds
Oh man. All right. So listen, really quick, tell everybody where they can find you, follow you, what you got coming up next, give them your socials, the whole nine.
1:03:00
1 hour, 3 minutes
Oh man. Well, only one social. I don’t I don’t check my MySpace no more.
1:03:06
1 hour, 3 minutes, 6 seconds
Black Planet been shut down for a better Hey, I was I as Hey, I was I was heavy on that Black Planet.
1:03:12
1 hour, 3 minutes, 12 seconds
Oh, no. I was a Dawn on that Black Planet, man. Stop playing with me. Like, it wasn’t even no DMs. I just put it out
1:03:18
1 hour, 3 minutes, 18 seconds
there. Like, you need to So, black um um IG mike Phillips. That’s That’s basically it. Hit me up.
1:03:29
1 hour, 3 minutes, 29 seconds
I got um a lot of things coming up.
1:03:32
1 hour, 3 minutes, 32 seconds
Arizona Jazz Festival. Um AZ Jazz coming up. Um um top of November, myself, Al
1:03:39
1 hour, 3 minutes, 39 seconds
Gran, Charlie Wilson. Like it’s a gang of us performing there. Also, I’m on my
1:03:46
1 hour, 3 minutes, 46 seconds
um sports run. So, the um I got the Rams game coming up and then the Dodger game.
1:03:56
1 hour, 3 minutes, 56 seconds
Um God willing, they win their series.
1:03:58
1 hour, 3 minutes, 58 seconds
And then um Mon Monday Night Football, Atlanta versus the Bills. So like we hardcore in the in the sports. December
1:04:06
1 hour, 4 minutes, 6 seconds
4th, the um Detroit verse Dallas in Detroit. So like I’m a sports head, so I love that. Got a lot of shows coming up.
1:04:15
1 hour, 4 minutes, 15 seconds
So I mean, if you just get on my social, you’ll definitely get a schedule.
1:04:20
1 hour, 4 minutes, 20 seconds
Give me Give me your website really quick so people This is Mike Phillips. www.thismikefillips.com.
1:04:27
1 hour, 4 minutes, 27 seconds
Awesome. Again, man, thank you for coming. We Listen, we gonna do this again. This We have to There’s so much that we haven’t even touched, man. Yo, it’s it’s a lot we haven’t touch especially them Prince stories.
1:04:39
1 hour, 4 minutes, 39 seconds
Yeah, we got we gonna get it. Listen, we gonna get it all in. I promise you that.
1:04:42
1 hour, 4 minutes, 42 seconds
But, uh, thank you again for coming, man. I appreciate you so much.
1:04:45
1 hour, 4 minutes, 45 seconds
Everybody, please lock in with my guy Mike Phillips. Mike Phillips on IG and
1:04:54
1 hour, 4 minutes, 54 seconds
uh, check him out. all the great things he that he got going on. You’ll see him whether you want to or not at any of those sporting events he just talked
1:05:01
1 hour, 5 minutes, 1 second
about. Again, this has been the Taste Music Here Food Podcast Show. I am your host Ed Porter. Till next time, peace.