Features

Almost immediately after recording "The Listening," Phonte of Little Brother hooked up with a producer out of the Netherlands named Nicolay and they teamed up to form "The Foreign Exchange." A solo effort in the vein of Dr Dre's "The Chronic" that includes appearances from their close recording families.

But here's where it gets real interesting...Phonte and Nic have never met, not even spoken to each other on the phone. Recorded continents apart, via Instant Messenger over the web, post office, fax, carrier pigeon, by any means necessary they completed the album and found a home for it at the esteemed BBE Records, home of the Beat Generation series.

On Friday April 2nd, 8:00am California time, 11:00am North Carolina time, and 6:00pm Netherlands time, we connected 'Tay and Nic for their first conversation ever (you wouldn't ever guess from their obvious familiarity with each other) and let them put a voice to the screen names they have been communicating and recording through for over 2 years.

ThaFormula.Com - 'Tay…Nic…everybody here?

Nicolay - Yeah, 'Tay It's Nic!

Phonte - What's happenin' playa?

Nicolay - Not much man you just woke up huh?

Phonte - Aww man, been in the fuckin' studio all night, I didn't get in until 6:00 this morning. Yo, did you get the bank wire man?

Nicolay - Yeah I did man, thanks for that. So how was the studio, you doin' the stuff for the Little Brother album?

Phonte - Nah, man what it was was uhh….fuck it I might as well tell y'all niggaz. What it was man, was we did a remix for the [CENSORED] single. Apparently they want a whole other version of that shit. So 9th did a version and I wrote a song to it and I was doin' the references last night.

ThaFormula.Com - Wow, that's huge…

Nicolay - Wow yeah, any chance of it actually making it out there?

Phonte - I hope so, we're sendin' it to our man at [CENSORED] probably later on today, so we'll see. I've just got my fingers crossed, it came out really dope.

[10 Minutes later…]

ThaFormula.Com - So let me get this right…this is the first time you have ever actually spoken to each other…

Phonte - Ever in our lives.

ThaFormula.Com - And you've been recording for what, 2 years now?

Phonte - Goin' on two years yeah.

Nicolay - Yeah.

ThaFormula.Com - Did you want to keep that vibe and chemistry throughout the making of the album? Was it intentional?

Phonte - You know, I was kind like "aw fuck I don't want to go and spoil it, I don't want to go and ruin the magic" you know what I'm sayin'? Then we'd start makin' some bullshit (laughs). I always knew it was gonna happen but you know I just didn't know when. Just the fact that it's happening now, after we're done with the music, after we handled the paperwork is just a big testament to Nic and I, maybe even more so to the power of music. I mean you've just got two cats who don't know each other from Adam. I mean Nic don't know me…I could be the biggest fucking con-artist, and it could be somebody else ghost producing his beats.

Nicolay - No, No we're not gonna get into that. (laughs) It was supposed to be a secret.

Phonte - Haha, I know right?

ThaFormula.Com - You let it out the bag Nic…

Nicolay - In fact J, it's all a team doing the shit…just makin' beats all day. (laughs)

ThaFormula.Com - So Dr Dre is your inspiration right? (laughs)

Phonte - Yeah, Dre's his inspiration…he's got a bunch of Taiwanese factory workers…a got dayum beat sweatshop in that motherfucker! (laughs)

Nicolay - I'm getting ready to hire some new cats because it's getting way too busy!

Phonte - (laughs) But really like I said I think it's just a testament to the power of music; two people who just really didn't know each other and had no real reason to trust each other and go out on a limb for each other like we did. Hopefully it will reaffirm some people's faith in just makin' dope shit man. I know people that have been recording together for years and they're still putting out wack shit and can't get along. Then we went and did a record and I never have even looked this guy in his face, shaken his hand or nothin'. It just reaffirms my faith in music that there are still people out there share that same passion for music that I do.

ThaFormula.Com - How did you originally meet or cross paths, and what made you decide that you wanted to do an album with 'Tay or that you wanted Nic to do your beats?

Nicolay - I never wanted to an album with him.

EVERYONE - (laughs!)

Phonte - Yeah, I was wack (laughs)

Nicolay - Actually it started with me hearing Little Brother I guess. When you guys posted the two or three tracks on that little site you had, and posted the stuff on Okayplayer.Com I guess that was the jump off. I think there was a post or something like "what do you want to do with your shit?" or something like that. I think 'Tay posted to me "you've got some nice instrumentals…."

Phonte - Yeah I remember that…The one I mainly remember, he (Nicolay) had put up a post that just said "New Beat by Me."

Nicolay - Yeah, I've still got that post somewhere. (laughs)

Phonte - The track that he put up actually ended up becoming "Be Alright" on the new album. I just downloaded it when I was over at my man Eccentric's crib. It came on and the track just opened up with all this pretty shit like…whoa! Eccentric and I were just like…were just lookin' at each other like "what the fuck is this shit?" Then the keys came in, then like the first drums come in and I remember lookin at him like "got dayum, this shit's pretty, but them drums are kinda light in the ass and then they opened up "boom-boom-pshhh" and I was like "awwwww shit it's over!" I ran out his fuckin' garage, I was like "awww shit." I said "give me a copy of that fuckin' beat." So I burned a copy of the MP3 and then I think he came back on later on said "I got another track," and that was the track that became "Light It Up."

Nicolay - Yeah, that was "Light It Up."

Phonte - So then I just hit him up like "Your shit is dope, I'd love to work with you just to do some shit." He was like "cool man it would be an honor." I said "what's up with this 'Light It Up' track," and he was like "yeah, it's yours if you want it." Then I said "what's up with that 'New track by me' joint" and he said "yeah, that's yours too," I said "word up!" That was the two joints that started it all…

Nicolay - Actually "Be Alright" came later because I think I sent you a couple more and one of them ended up being "Nic's Groove" right?

Phonte - "Nic's Groove," yeah, you sent me "Nic's Groove" too 'cause that's what we started out with, first we just did "Light It Up," I remember me and Pooh just did it and that's when it ended up becoming the B-Side to the "Whatever You Say" single. I think maybe the "Let's Move" track came after that?

Nicolay - First we had the "Happiness" shit, "Happiness" was with "Be Alright," I remember every bit of that because I was getting "Nic's Groove" back and I think that was the first thing I ever heard (with vocals) and I almost had a heart attack. (laughs) I knew by that time that 'Tay was a more than comfortable singer but I didn't know you were gonna do it like that. That just fit so…like a glove. That really made me flip, and it just never stopped.

Phonte - Yeah, we just kept it runnin'. Originally I was thinkin' "what if we just did a whole Little Brother joint?" But I thought about it and I was like "nah we can't just do that…"

ThaFormula.Com - You were just gonna leave 9th out like he was the sixth Heartbeat or somethin'…

Phonte - (laughs) But I was like yeah I was like the whole Little Brother/Nic thing ain't workin'.

Nicolay - Besides, Pooh didn't feel my shit either man.

ThaFormula.Com - (laughs) It was too pretty for him…

Phonte - Yeah, yeah, it was too pretty for him. Pooh, I mean he likes all kind of music but at the time he was startin' to work on his solo shit and he was like "if y'all wanna go and do that, I wanna do some harder shit man." Once I heard from him he was gonna do that I was like "well, let me just keep goin' and see where I can go with it." That's where I kind got the idea that this is a project where I could use it for more than rapping, kind of like a songwriting vehicle as a way to write songs for other people. Where I got the idea from was the DJ Shadow album that came out in like '98, it was called "u.n.k.l.e." and the name of the album was "Psyence Fiction." The whole idea of the project was that he did all the beats and his label guy James Lavelle is the guy that like picked the talent and shit. The album is dope as fuck to me. What it is is, he had a lot of people on there who weren't names but became names. He had like Radiohead before the blew the fuck up, he had Thom Yorke do a song, a guy from Stone Roses, Kool G Rap was on there, I mean just a bunch of different people from a bunch of different genres. That was kind of the idea I had once I figured out it wouldn't be a Little Brother/Nicolay collabo. Once we got started Yahzarah came into the picture, Darien Brockington a young singer that I went to school with he came in and really just fucking cleaned up, he saved the day on the like the last batch of songs. He was on "All That You Are" and "Come Around," and then he is on….aww fuck it I ain't sayin nothin'…(laughs)

ThaFormula.Com - awwww…. Nicolay - awwww….

Phonte - (laughs) I can't say man, but yeah he's on those, he may or may not be on something else, but I ain't gonna say nothing. But yeah that was the idea and how it came about.

ThaFormula.Com - Explain what the recording process on this album was like, being that you guys had never met and are in two different countries…

Nicolay - Basically what I would do is…when we started I lined up all the beats I had and sent to them to 'Tay as web links or to his Okayplayer inbox and said "check 'em out." You know, half of them were great and the other half were wack.

Phonte - (laughs) A lot of em…I mean I can't even front, I judge beat makers on a level where it's like, cats like Pete Rock, 9th (and I'm not just saying this 'cause he's my band member), Nic…their consistent, and Nic is just one of the most consistent producers I have ever heard. I've had the chance to hear a lot of beat CD's from a lot of different cats and I don't hear the ability to just hit, hit, hit on a consistent basis from too many people. I hear it in Pete Rock, in 9th and in Nic. When he was sendin' me tracks for the album it wasn't that the stuff he was sendin' me was wack, I just didn't feel that some of the tracks fit into the certain scheme of the album. Some shit, it just hurt like "fuck, I wanna use it!" But everything we actually recorded we used…

Nicolay - Except one! I'm still pissed about it.

Phonte - Except one! It didn't make the cut. We did a cover of a song that is like so fuckin' beautiful and is so dear to my heart, and Nic he replayed the shit to a fuckin' T, and when he played it back for me I was like "damn nigga, did you just copy the sheet music from somewhere?" I mean, he replayed it to the bone, but the lead vocalist I had on there…it just didn't come around, it didn't stand up to everything else on the album

Nicolay - Especially because it was a classic, people were gonna give him a hard time.

Phonte - A HARD time! I was like "nah man, we can't roll with that."

ThaFormula.Com - How did the LP title "Connected" come about? It seems to carry kind of a dual meaning…for one you guys have a lot of distance between you and then just the lyrical content, I mean 'Tay is writin' about some save the world global shit on a couple…

Phonte - (laughs) It just came about one day. We were like half way through recording and it just hit me. I was just so amazed by the fact that he was a dude who just didn't know me and was just sendin' me beats on blind faith that one, I'd do a dope song over his beat (because he could send some shit to somebody and it could come out wack), and two he trusted me with his music because he believes in it so much. It was just ill how the power of music enabled two people to make that connection, that we just had that chemistry without ever hittin' the science lab together. We'd be discussin' on IM (Instant Messenger) what we wanted do with the track and we would just finish each other's sentences.

Nicolay - Yeah, we had that a lot man.

Phonte - I have the same thing with 9th in the studio. I'll be like "yo man I hear…." And he's says "I'm already there, I got it," and it's just that same kind of thing. But being able to express that in words without being able to verbalize it is really an amazing thing. That's kind of where the "Connected" theme came from.

ThaFormula.Com - That's a lot of trust to put into someone you don't know, because you can't be there to hear the mix, or hear your vocals…

Nicolay - From the minute that I heard 'Tay and the fellas do "Light It Up," "Nic's Groove," and "Be Alright," I had got like 5 or 6 tracks back that really blew my mind and from then on I could just send anything, it was gonna come out dope there was no question about it. I don't recall any moment that I was ever disappointed or lukewarm. I was never disappointed, it was never really a matter of trust, it was there from the beginning actually. We kind of like the same music, have some of the same influences, and are from a totally different background but still it didn't matter.

Phonte - We were just devoted to the music to where we just decided "let's just do this record man and we'll figure all the bullshit out later." I really just wish man, now that I'm dealin' with this record industry shit more and more in more detail everyday, I just really wish man that cats would just go back to just workin' with people on the strength. I mean everybody gotta get they money, believe me! I understand the financial part of it, like…I was talking to Just Blaze probably like 2 weeks ago, it was me, him, 9th, Pete Rock was there and we was just all sittin' around at Bassline (Studios in New York) talking about music (that's a whole 'nother conversation) but basically Just was like "people are scared to ask me for tracks because they think I'm a charge them an arm and a leg and their first born child for it, but the bottom line is let's just make some dope music and if I fuck with you, I fuck with you regardless of you're budget, if you're dope and you think we can make some dope shit then let's just work and we'll worry about all the paperwork shit later." Now that we're (Little Brother) kind of makin' more moves, cats are like "do I need to talk to your manager? Do you need to do this and that?" just putting up a bunch of unnecessary red tape and I'm just like "dog, let's just fuckin' work!" If this album can serve as a lesson for motherfuckers to make some dope shit and worry about the paperwork later…then mission accomplished.

ThaFormula.Com - The big question is, having gone through it once, would you record an album this way again?

Nicolay - Uhhh…..

Phonte - (laughs) I wanna say "well yo Nic come over here man, or I'll fly to the Netherlands and we'll fuckin kick it and record," but I don't know, we don't want to lose the magic. (laughs) Because if I meet this nigga in the studio, his shit could be terrible, you know? I mean, I definitely want to do another record, that's without question.

Nicolay - Yeah, we're definitely gonna do a reunion album. "Reconnected!"

Phonte - (laughs) "Reconnected" right…

Nicolay - It had a lot of good sides to it and it had a lot of bad sides to it, but there was more good sides. If you look at it technically or musically, as happy as I am with it, stuff could have been better if you had like an Electric Ladyland setup or whatever. At the same time the whole doing it at home sending it over the internet kind of vibe is part of the concept.

ThaFormula.Com - It sounds like things went pretty smooth, but what was the biggest hurdle you had to overcome recording it this way?

Phonte - Bootlegging! (laughs)

Nicolay - I don't even want to go there! (laughs) Really though, that was a major blow, for me at least it was a major, major blow. It still is really, I still get mad. Especially now when I hear stuff about Talib Kweli…it seems to happen all the time, it's basically like a rule now.

Phonte - The best thing about it is that… some of the demos got bootlegged and people were talkin' about it like "yo!" but I would be more upset if they got bootlegged and people weren't talking about them. It's like "aw fuck, our shit is wack, niggas ain't even bootleggin' it." In a sense people bootleggin' it was kind of like a badge of honor like "yo people care about my shit enough to rip it!" and they're talkin' about it and they like it. You gotta kind of take the good with the bad, the last thing we wanted to do was pull a Kweli and put a fuckin' message on Okayplayer like "I'ma seek out you motherfuckers…" (laughs) You know what I'm sayin'? That ain't the way to go…

Nicolay - But yo J, I want to stress that what was out there is not what people are gonna get, that really is important, it's nowhere near what people are gonna get on the official shit. It was some crappy sounding Mp3's, no nothing…

Phonte - Yeah, no punch and there's a whole lot of other goodies that we got on there. Nic, you know I've had like so many DJ's hit me up, my man from around the way was like "yo man I heard these joints on-line…it was you and some cat, Ni, Nic, Nicolay or somethin?" I said "yeah, that's the Foreign Exchange…" "Yeah! Yeah that shit, I just wanted to call you 'cause yo, you my man and I ain't gonna go and disrespect your shit, let me get permission to snatch like 3 or 4 of them joints," I said "man go ahead." He was like "yo, I'ma look out for your shit in the end, but I had to have them shits!" Just the fact that people are talking is good, I'm not mad about it.

Nicolay - I guess the hardcore fans by now, they've heard some of the stuff I guess, but they're gonna be surprised.

ThaFormula.Com - So how did the deal with BBE come about?

Phonte - (laughs) Aww man. Before I went on the Hiero tour, me and Nic were in the process of finishin' the album, it was basically done at least the first 14 tracks and then it was like "well, let's start lookin'." I was thinking either BBE or Hiero. I was on tour with Hiero and they were all cool cats but in the end we just decided that Hiero wouldn't be the right place for this record, not because they have any problems or anything like that but Hiero is almost like a brand name. People see that Hiero logo and they expect a certain thing…

Nicolay - And they weren't going to get it…

Phonte - Yeah, they wasn't gonna get it in the Foreign Exchange project. It's like if Little Brother would have put out "The Listening" on Cash Money, same album, same songs on it, but with that Cash Money logo on it and all the bling on it, it's like "Okay, is this shit for real?" It's kind of a hard thing to swallow, so in the end we just decided the Hiero wasn't the right way to go for this particular project. So I hollered at my man Eddie over at BBE and he was like "yeah, we'd like to do the project," and that's kind of when we started the talks with them. We sent the rough stuff over to BBE, they loved it and were like "let's do it." Me and Nic both felt that BBE was the right place for it. They are part of this kind of progressive movement.

Nicolay - Yeah, plus they have a really strong European side, it's kind of a reflection of the two of us.

ThaFormula.Com - Right, and when you pick up a BBE album, you don't really know what you're getting, it could be something from King Britt to Jay Dee…

Nicolay - Yeah, we're right in the middle I guess. Something I really want to stress is that they've really been great as far as creativity goes because they never even said once "yo, you need Ludacris on your beat," they just took it as it was, even the artwork and really let us do our thing.

ThaFormula.Com - Was this LP always gonna be a compilation, or was it going to be a Phonte and Nicolay record from the jump?

Phonte - It still is (a Nicolay and Phonte record), the thing about it is we started recording and once I had it in my mind that I wanted to do the whole "u.n.k.l.e.," DJ Shadow thing, I wanted to get a lot of different guests, but with my touring schedule and trying to coordinate other cats schedules it just wasn't happening. I'm just the kind of person that isn't gonna sit around and wait for a motherfucker to do what I know I can do, so I was just like "these cats are fallin' through, I gotta do what I gotta do." I mean, I ended up doing about 80% of the MC'ing on the album but it was just a thing where I knew whatever label I went to, I knew they were going to try and market it as a Phonte solo album which was not the case at all. I didn't want it to be like Dr Dre's "The Aftermath" album where people go and pick it up and there's like 2 Dr Dre songs on it (laughs) and the rest was his people. Originally I intended to have a lot more guests on it, but as things kept goin' I just kind of kept it to myself and kept in house, and wrote or co-wrote songs for other people to sing on you know?

Nicolay - It did get kind of like a family vibe because most of the guests are from your (Phonte's) inner circle….

Phonte - Hey yo J, call me back on my cell phone, my house phone's fittin' to die…

ThaFormula.Com - Alright man, peace…

Nicolay - Hey J, ask 'Tay why he always end his Acapella tracks with "BITCHES!" Each track, each Acapella, ask him!

ThaFormula.Com - Haha, alright man...hold on….alright, everyone there?

Yeah we're here.

ThaFormula.Com - Ok, so we were talking about how the album became kind of a compilation of sorts…is that why you chose an MC (Von Pea) other than yourself to set off the album?

Phonte - Yeah, I kind of wanted to set up like a two part introduction to like let people know what to expect from the album. With Yahzarah and her singin' the intro to the album, that represents the more musical side with the singing and the vocals and then the part with Von rhymin', that represents the whole Hip-Hop side. Those two tracks kind of set up the whole album, like the Cliff Note version of "Connected."

ThaFormula.Com - You mentioned Yahzarah, 'Tay you wrote some stuff on her first album right?

Phonte - Yeah, I was just glad to get her on this album because she's probably the greatest singer I personally know. She's the kind of person that like, once I know you and I know you can do the job, I really don't like change so once we do the next Foreign Exchange album, and we're workin' on the new Little Brother album now, expect to hear Yahzarah and Darrien on there.

ThaFormula.Com - Who's the Foreign Exchange Brass Band listed in the "Connected" liner notes?

Phonte - (Laughs)

Nicolay - (Laughs) They are some cats that I met like two years back. They are like six dudes playin' saxophones, they got it done and we're actually gonna do more shit with them later on. I'm thinking about doin' a whole project with just them.

ThaFormula.Com - I've got a question for 'Tay…why do you end every acapella verse you send Nic with "BITCH!"?

Nicolay - (laughs)

Phonte - (laughs) It's just a runnin' joke that started with the "Nic's Groove" shit. I remember we did that and it was like 2:00, or 3:00 in the morning and me and Pooh were doing ad-libs. When we finished it I was just like, "BITCH!" This was like way before Dave Chapelle and all that before he popularized it. Then when me and Von did the "Von Sees" joint, he did his verse and then I was in the booth doin' the hook for "Hustle" and then he came in and joined in with me and Khrysis and then the beat ran out and he was like "BITCHES!" He was like imitating' me and shit and we just keep runnin it around. Then when we did the "Come Around" joint, the beat ran out again the "bitch" just came out again and it became like a running joke throughout the whole album.

Nicolay - Actually I had to cut them all, I kept every other cussword, but "bitch" didn't make it. Well, only one survived on "Hustle."

Phonte - Yeah, that one stayed because it like fit the song, all the other ones didn't. There was stuff worse than that, like Khrysis in the background laughing, the end of the song is where we just cut loose. If we ever do a Foreign Exchange directors cut, we'll add a blooper reel, because there was some funny shit on there.

ThaFormula.Com - Did having all those different MC's on the album kind of make you step up on your verses 'Tay, or make you challenge yourself more?

Phonte - I always just want to be at my best, because any verse I write could be somebody's first time hearin' me so you always gotta come strong out the gate. I didn't feel like "ok, I've got to kill em' with these 16 bars and get my Canibus on," it was just more like us trying to outdo each other, it was more like "how am I gonna work with these cats so we can make the best tracks possible?" Like with Oddisee and Ken Starr, they came to my crib and they already had their verses done, like Oddisee just spit his shit and I was like, "wait's spit that shit again," and Ken Starr too, so they ran it back and I was like "alright, I see where you're goin' with this" so I had to write somethin' that would fit in with that. I knew my verse didn't need to be as tactical and punch line heavy as Ken Starr, and Oddisee's verse just sounded like a first verse. I knew Ken was gonna end it so I had to write something that complimented those two verses and just fit in the middle, like the glue for those two verses. It was more like, "let's just make the best song possible rather than try to out rhyme each other."

Nicolay- It was more like forming a team than a competition.

ThaFormula.Com - Nic, we mentioned the band earlier, but do you include a lot of other live instruments in your production?

Nicolay - Actually, it's all like one big orchestra…

Phonte - (laughs)

Nicolay - (laughs) Actually it's like a combination, half of it is like sampling, because I use sampling as a basis but there is a lot of playing on there, keyboard, synth, whatever you want to call it. It's a mixture.

ThaFormula.Com - What instruments do you play yourself?

Nicolay - I play just about everything but the horns, but I've got the Foreign Exchange Brass for that (laughs). I'm good on the bass and guitar, I'm decent on drums and I'm pretty good on the keys, that's my main thing.

Phonte - That's Nic playin' drums on the little break down on "Raw Life," that's him.

Nicolay - Yeah, I had to seriously cut that too, I made a lot of mistakes on that part, but it came out good. Some of it is sampling, but when I do a track it's never just sampling, and when I do it's buried under as many layers of keyboards I can come up with. It's basically a combination of everything that works for me.

ThaFormula.Com - What other projects besides this one are you working on right now Nic?

Nicolay - I've got some that I can talk about and some that I can't, but the one's I can't talk about are more exciting of course. (laughs) But one thing I have is a joint with Supastition that is dropping real soon. I did a lot of work with a singer that's under Wajeed of Jay Dee's crew named Havana and I think they are doing a solo album for her. I did 3 or 4 cuts for that. I want to find a home for my "City Lights" project…

ThaFormula.Com - That's the mixtape you did with Lunchboxx the Narcoleptic right?

Nicolay - Yeah, I want to see if I can get that on the market the way it's supposed to be, but it's not really concrete at the moment.

ThaFormula.Com - What's it like when you think to yourselves that you're label mates with guys like Pete Rock, Jay Dee…

Nicolay - That can be intimidating but I'm really proud of that. I don't know many labels that I would really want to be on, but this one just has such a long history of putting out classics. There's Dilla's "Welcome to Detroit," and the Jazzy Jeff album that I really like and DJ Spinna of course. It's just a label with a great stable of talent.

ThaFormula.Com - Now that you and 'Tay have been formally introduced and actually have spoken to each other do you have plans to meet in person in the near future?

Nicolay - Actually, yeah they are comin' over here real soon.

Phonte - Yeah, we're going on a two week tour all through Europe and Amsterdam is one of the spots, so we're gonna hook up there. It'll be our official face to face meeting.

ThaFormula.Com - Speaking of touring, I know it's gonna be tough because of all the guests but do you plan on touring with the Foreign Exchange project?

Phonte - We're talking about it now, it will be kind of hard, but I'd like to do a couple spot dates.

Nicolay - Yeah, it would be a real challenge, because I don't see a DJ there cutting it up, it would probably be played live, that sounds easier.

ThaFormula.Com - What's the single going to be and when does it drop?

Phonte - The single is actually gonna be an EP and is comin' out the first of June. It'll be a couple joints off the album and then two remixes. The full length will be out July 13th.

ThaFormula.Com - Alright, either of you have any last words, shout outs…

Phonte - For everybody that buys the record, just know that it was made by two cats that never met each other, give it a listen and enjoy. I had a great time making it and was real fortunate to hook up with Nicolay. He's a cat that I want to make music with for the rest of my life.

Nicolay - I'll co-sign all of that. We're both really proud of it. It's not gonna be what cats are expecting, some people are saying there's a lot of singing on it, but it's a really diverse album and has something for everyone and has real strong "life" vibe.

Phonte - Good to finally talk you Nic!

Nicolay - It's great to finally meet you to and look forward to meeting you in Amsterdam!

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