something like you hit you up a little
bit get you excited buddy sit back there
Matt bring it down and we gotta make
this like a hip-hop party but it’s gonna
be a little educational so we’re gonna
put the music back on but when it comes
back on when it stops I’m gonna say hey
oh and what you gotta do is say all
right you got it
it’s really simple that’s what we do
every party’s come on you’re killing me
you’re killing hey all right so that
what topic is music it’s new-age music I
figured I’d talk about music is the
first I you know I got a call about
doing a TED talk and I’m like so you
know I asked everything that’s new I
have to ask my daughter she looks at me
she’s like dad a TED talk it’s technical
stuff it’s like alright so if I suck
it’s our fault if you don’t like it I
won’t tell you who my family is here hi
but 1990 and I first had a song we’re
gonna party like it’s 1999 because
everybody assumed that when the clock
rolled over to the year 2000 that
everything would go haywire things may
change but twelve o’clock midnight came
I think the world kept spin it usually
kept going bank account still had money
in it music didn’t stop but the delivery
system changed so just to give you a
little background of what gives me or
makes me an authority on music I could
tell you I’ve been doing some form of
entertainment since I was
about maybe five years old we came for
Wichita Falls Texas to New York I used
to do musicals imagine how tough I was
the kid growing up in Harlem with a
bunch everybody doing drugs and
everything else and I knew who Robert
Preston was and I used to like Sound of
Music West Side Story things like that
so but I was fortunate that I had you
know you had to two groups of friends
yeah the ones that was in the street and
you had the ones that was in music I was
fortunate enough that some of my
childhood friends was Douglas Davis
who’s dougie fresh we grew up together
another one was Teddy Riley and like
everybody else in that time everybody
wrapped everybody had a crew I think our
group was the crew of 122 Dougie fresh
was uh what was Doug’s name Dan Oh Doug
Edie I’m gonna figure this out there we
go so I started doing music and you know
I was progressing as you can see now it
looks kind of good there but anyway you
start moving you doing music and you
know I’m working with my guys and we’re
moving along I’m gonna show you some
pictures they have absolutely nothing to
do the story but everything to do with
the story the kinda out of water so I
wanted to get to something and show you
yeah see that was us a long time ago and
I used to dress like this walking around
Street Soho this is me right here you
know how embarrassing that was yeah
that’s me that’s the original get fresh
crew so anyway like everybody else every
neighborhood had a crew we would rap
saying you know do everything whatever
we could Keith Sweat was a lot older
than us you know he really couldn’t sing
but he you know he was good-looking I
guess and he had money so he had decent
clothes but I started rapping and I made
a record I think when I was a 14 wasn’t
very good at it
five myself you know you get sometimes
you have to just have that real
conversation in the mirror it’s like if
I walked in my office and said I want to
make a record
I probably throw my ass out so you know
what they say if you can’t do
you teach and that’s where this comes in
this guy here is handsome guy here not
me the other one that’s Terry Terry had
the distinction of making records like
he was an Asian kid singing Marvin Gaye
and dead serious about it so you know
but working on his project was a major
accomplishment for me because I meant
you know what was become my family so
know it fast forwarding let me go back a
little bit more I used to work at Sugar
Hill Records I was signing straight girl
records I made a bike three songs on
there I’m not gonna tell you the titles
of the songs because if you find them I
will have to find you and kill you but
you know we made records I started
working at Sugar Hill there was an old
man there by the name of Joe medley Joe
Medellin was one of the original
promotion men in the record business he
was at the start of Motown him and
another guy by the name of Dave Clark
mr. Robeson owned the record label which
was Chicago records but Joe took a
liking to me and he would teach me
promotions and things like that during
my lunch hour and you know it’s funny
because you know the Robinsons are gone
the kids had the company now but I joke
with them I have the record of being
fired from Sugar Hill Records 15 times
because every time Sylvia Robinson who
is the lady that sang pillow-talk fired
me her husband was like you’re not fired
go back in the office but our thing was
that they were teaching me too much to
control me so when the final my final
firing I figured I’d learned enough I
went to you know some old friends of
mine
Gus told Robert Wells and we started a
label called rooftop records on that
label we were looking for an artist and
I remember kool Moe Dee was in a group
called treacherous 3 they weren’t
recording anything so I ran into Moe
it’s like you should come over we make a
record on you put it out had no idea how
we’re gonna sell the record because we
didn’t have a distributor or anything
but the plan came to me that is like
once we recorded the record I had a
friend that would play music on the
radio stations on Friday Saturday night
three hour blocks that’s how you heard a
good rap music so made directed took it
over there next day that Monday we had
orders at 10,000 orders for
but I have one problem they didn’t have
money to get the record depressed and
back then when they had like physical
things that you put in a player and dis
and you put it down and you play it you
had to actually ship those things you
can download them off the internet so I
came up with an idea to ship those
records Co D from the pressing plant to
the one stock therefore making my
pressing plant my distributor and they
also was my bank so they collected the
money my pressing plant bill got paid
and we moved on so moving out as hip-hop
evolves and that music in our clique
came which was all of the New Jack Swing
stuff Michael Jackson stuff that’s all
came from the camp that I was in kids
that I was fortunate enough to grow up
with that had a passion for music and
the beauty about music for me is it’s
something that I do for free and a real
blessing is that if you can do something
for a living that you would do for free
that’s the greatest gift you could ever
have and it’s a passion so now we fast
for it it’s important when it comes
because as technology advances the
delivery system changes they are working
on intelligence and intelligence is so
intelligent that the intelligent
computer or the intelligent thinking
algorithm will make a more intelligent
computer or algorithm which would be
smarter than humans but the revolution
that’s coming is not a revolution that
we had with the Indust Industrial
Revolution that backs our economy this
revolution will put so many people on
the unemployment line in such large
scale that the economy is going to have
to be based off of something else that
leads us into entertainment the arts the
one thing that they’ve been trying to
eliminate out of schools you can imagine
I want you to listen to something for a
minute quick second hear that that’s a
world without music the one thing that a
computer although it’s science and
there’s a definite order to make it
music it won’t be able to duplicate art
to the point that we follow our artists
not only for the music that they make
but for the
sadly the creativity the way that they
can stare into the abyss and see Nirvana
so our system probably will have to be
backed by something more creative as
these people come out of work because
even to I think it is surface if you go
to the I to the M store they have this
virtual machine that you sit in you can
ride a roller coaster the application
for that machine is that you will have
to you’ll be able to buy a ticket for a
sporting event or a concert and never
leave your house and enjoy it now people
say that because downloading has taken
on such a huge chunk out of bracket
sales and difference is I think for one
stream you get paid point zero zero four
or five percent of a penny that you
can’t make a living of it but you can
make a living because the record
business is dead but the music business
is alive and well revenues are through
the roof and if you think about every
aspect of your life there’s music you go
to a film you want to really feel that
moment there’s music in the background
you’re walking down the street you see
your boyfriend and he’s just wrapped up
around his arms around another girl she
go home you’ve played that sad song you
got company
but there’s music music is the medium
and they’re still trying to figure out
the science behind it that reacts to the
human body to the human soul a cat makes
over a thousand sounds and these
different sounds are helped heal his
internals there’s a new study now that
they’re using frequency therapy that
he’ll certain illnesses I don’t know how
much you know about frequencies but four
six eight Hertz is actually good for
healing your DNA there’s a 783 helps to
relax and relax your muscles so if you
think you know people have to Google
everything nowadays so when you go home
I want you to do google killing
frequency or God’s healing tones and
there are several tones and there’s a
couple of them are on say YouTube that
did I get headaches a lot and I found
these tones in 763 I put it on that’s
the frequency it’s a cycle per second
and it actually helps deal with my
headache
so there’s something order about the
sounds and the vibration and God and her
infinite wisdom created something in
music that moves the soul and the beauty
about music it’s everywhere it crosses
all lines crosses all ages it crosses
all languages and the reason that it
does that because we all have one thing
in common as a human species and that’s
human soul no matter what you say so the
next time Donald Trump does something
stupid go home and put on a fight the
power because there’s an empower you can
make a change and for you young music
makers out there don’t let anybody
discourage you because if that is your
passion truly is your passion you’re
gonna do that and you’re gonna do it
with more power and more enthusiasm than
anything that you can ever do and the
wonderful thing about music none of us
are alive when Bach was alive but we all
know who he is the sounds that we make
will last and reverberate forever there
will be somebody in some foreign land
probably in another planet in another
solar system that’s gonna pick up the
vibrations of say a Beatles record or a
record that you make so you live forever
through the bars that you write but the
most important thing that I want young
music people to understand because you
guys were born inside the matrix you got
to make the difference is your world but
there’s also responsibility when you
make music and when you sit down and you
listen to those songs and you say to
yourself when I’m a parent you know
30-some years from now and you’re old
and you’re wearing your pants up to here
the other say to yourself did that piece
of music that I created that’s gonna
live forever will I be embarrassed when
my child pulled that pulls that up or
will they be proud of me and will it be
happy but remember don’t let anybody
take your drink because your dreams what
you’re gonna do and the reason that you
have that vision is because you have
that ability and you can make a living
in music that’s what the internet is for
that’s your own radio station that
you’re broadcasting that’s your world
and just like it has no floor the beauty
of having no
or means you have no ceiling so the
sky’s the limit so don’t let anybody
take your passion thank you for
listening [Applause]