I got a question before y'all move on from this John I don't think the music that's being made today is timeless do you think the music that's being today could be sampled 30 and 40 years from now

um Well, I mean, who am I to say no? You know what I mean? And I don't think the music of today is that much different.

Yeah, I think when you hear, like, a song like Outta Time by The Weeknd and how dope that is, how throwback that is to something like old Michael Jackson, like, off-the-wall record that could have been on Mike's old records or something.

But he did it now.

Like, you got to look for the joints.

You know what I mean? There's classic joints out there, you know? You know, when I hear...

A song like Her and Daniel Caesar.

You know what I mean? When you can hear the hurt.

Right.

But he was there, and he was killing it.

And, um, but I think that probably meant something to him, you know, personally.

He was like, "Man, I don't have to be nothing.

I don't know.

I could be a shadow if you want me to be a shadow.

That's fine.

How, how was that experience?

wow

way so babyface was the greatest i feel the greatest person i could put in that position of influence for me he produced he wrote he sang you know and he collaborated with you know groups and stuff like that so there was a full package you know and so in that i kind of made him my focal point for a long time as far as a if if it was a even just the production style and the sound selection that he sort of chose.

In my own way, I wanted to emulate that.

And I used it as a tool to learn, you know, by imitating him, even vocally.

um learning his texture and things like that he wasn't the only person i studied i mean johnny gill is a huge uh you know he's a huge pillar in my you know my house of foundation as far as the foundation of of style i mean alexander o'neill luther vandross marvin gaye michael jackson you know all these guys but But getting to collaborate with Babyface and actually be in the room and have his, you know, sentiments for what he felt was strong and what he felt worked was a real, you know, sort of tell all for me how close I was already to my goal.

Did you always see it as a strength?

Well, I think that R&B music is really built off of that, really.

It's built off the tradition of R&B music is to say the love, the things in love that happen every day, whether it be happy or sad or sexy or whatever have you.

Yeah.

So it's, it's a horrible thing to see, um, the injustices and, and what, what, what we can do to offset that in any way is, is, is a no-brainer.

You know, it's a no- no-brainer.

Putting the community together though, in the sense of, um, the people, the artists, the, uh...

And hold- upholding the tradition of, of what the, you know, this city's been about.

I love that.

I love that.

That's a good idea.

Yeah.

Say, "Say that again to me.

Tell me that again." Like, what, what do I, what am I missing here? It's like, okay, sometimes it just needs to come back down to real authentic feelings instead of punchlines and metaphors and, you know.

I, I said I love metaphors, but I mean, being creative is, there's no limit.

So I don't, I'm not the guy over here saying, "You should do this, you should do that." No.

It's like, have fun and show your personality.

But I think that it's like, don't be, don't be surprised when your personality and how, you know, how you, you put it across doesn't resonate with people the same way that a guy who takes, you know, his time to really put his heart in every bar, in every word, to the point where there might not be no punchlines.

Mm-hmm

What does Jon B as the artist say to these new up-and-coming artists who are not trying to get into the business but are trying to create imprint and legacy in the business where they can do the same thing that we're seeing Eclipse do? You know what I mean? Like, bring the conversation back around because the talent is good.

Well, I would say, man, stay in your lab, stay in your bag.

Get your, you know, get [laughs] you gotta get in there and, and, and make something from nothing, baby.

You know, don't, don't wait for anybody to tell you it's okay, you know, and give you the permission or give you the inspiration.

Just you gotta find that s- that stuff in yourself and, um, and in this beautiful world that we've been, you know, blessed to be able to exist in, man.

So I would say make something from nothing and, uh, continue to, uh, love what it is to be able to create.

You know, just to even have a voice and have a chance to even do this.

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Collateralized means that basically whatever those artists spent, whatever they were given as advances, any money, I'm responsible for that under my budget to recoup that.

So basically, none of those artists ever really came out, but they all got recording budgets and they all got l- living stipends and whatever.

So at the end of the day, it's a lot of money, right? So basically what it was is that I'm in a situation where I'm not only recouping what I'm spending myself, I'm recouping what this entire label is spending.

You know what I'm saying? And that's...

I think that's a great responsibility to put on a 19-year-old kid who's writing, producing everything pretty much himself-

Mm-hmm

...

Where does that conversation stand now with you guys?

Well, it's interesting that he would say that, because I was signed to his production.

If you wanna not call it a label, I was signed to his production company, which was called Edmonds Record Group.

So that's the deal that you talk about me passing up the other deals so I could sign with Babyface, you know.

That's the company that I signed with.

Now, they were distributed, and they had their, their, they were a subsidiary label of Epic Records.

So I had basically half my deal with Epic and half my deal with Kenny and Tracy.

Mm-hmm