INTERVIEW: Tank & J. Valentine Talk R&B Money Podcast, Hell's Kitchen, How R&B Has Evolved, AI Music + More

Summary

The Breakfast Club

Episode: INTERVIEW: Tank & J. Valentine Talk R&B Money Podcast, Hell's Kitchen, How R&B Has Evolved, AI Music + More
Date: November 21, 2025
Guests: Tank & J. Valentine
Hosts: DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne Tha God, Ashley Nicole Moss

Overview

This lively and insightful episode of The Breakfast Club welcomes R&B singer/songwriter/producer Tank and his R&B Money podcast co-host J. Valentine. The episode dives deep into the evolution of R&B—exploring the genre's business realities, technical shifts (from auto-tune to AI), the enduring influence of strong relationships and community, and the legacy (and future) of Black artists and executives. Filled with personal anecdotes, industry analysis, and a signature playful back-and-forth, the interview also discusses Tank’s role on Broadway in Hell’s Kitchen, reminiscences about R&B’s glory days, and the duo’s podcasting journey.

---

Key Discussion Points

Tank on Broadway, “Hell’s Kitchen” (02:49)

• Tank discusses his return to Broadway, starring in the show Hell’s Kitchen, and the excitement of playing a 20-something at this stage in his career.
  • “I play a 20...20-something, almost 30-year-old.” — Tank (02:53)
• The cast and hosts hype the show as a perfect holiday experience, noting Tank’s family-friendly performance and extended Broadway run.

Haircare, Getting “Fired,” and Industry Jokes (03:39)

• Playful banter about Tank’s hair care product endorsement, ending in a comedic story of being “fired” over a “crackhead filter” on the packaging (04:06).
  • “The picture on the box looks like they put a crackhead filter on me.” — Tank (04:06)
• Jokes about Ray J’s hustle, Tank’s hair, and industry relationship politics set a lively tone for the episode.

The Virtues of Ray J (05:31–07:23)

• Extended discussion about Ray J as a modern entrepreneur, tech innovator, and “anchor being” who’s remained relevant through versatility.
  • “He has a diversified portfolio...you’re not going to beat him in terms of lasting and being in a relevant conversation as long as he’s been in it, period.” — Tank (06:31)
• They touch on how Ray J’s entertaining qualities sometimes outweigh technical singing abilities and how the public responds to his antics versus pure vocal talent.

R&B Etiquette, Technical Skill vs. Entertainment (08:40–10:33)

• Are R&B artists supposed to critique each other’s abilities?
  • “Music is subjective...it's about how music make you feel. If we gonna go back into who’s the greatest singers, then we just gotta go to church.” — J. Valentine (08:55)
• Emphasis is placed on feeling, presence, and the unique style that elevates pop music—raw vocal skill sometimes isn’t the only factor in success.

AI in Music and “Evolving” Technology (11:30–14:19)

• Discuss the impact of AI-generated voices and music, and the earlier challenges posed by Auto-Tune.
  • “We’ve been fighting against AI for a long time.” — Tank (12:15)
  • “I say give Milli Vanilli back that Grammy.” — J. Valentine (12:56)
• Tank and J. Valentine are pragmatic about tech advancements; they see “space for everybody,” but acknowledge nothing replaces the connection with a real artist.
  • “The human aspect still kicks in...you’re just like, okay, that’s a video game...but are you in love with it?” — J. Valentine (15:52)

The Business Side: Budgets, Marketing, and Independence (23:19–27:49)

• Tank and J. Valentine describe how they made R&B production more cost-effective by investing in home studios and rethinking label deals for long-term gain.
  • “That upfront that y’all been selling people on, which...everybody knows, that’s debate...we’re trying to make money that’s gonna last for our kids.” — Jay Valentine (24:00)
• The biggest business challenge is the lack of marketing budgets and promo support for R&B artists; calls for a return to street teams, school tours, and in-person promo.
  • “I would just add more money to the marketing promotion of it.” — Tank (25:55)

Authenticity vs. Crossover—R&B’s Growth (30:23–34:45)

• Discussion around whether R&B artists must “cross over” into pop for financial success, or if staying authentic is now finally enough.
• Analysis of artists like Kehlani, SZA, Chris Brown, and Ne-Yo, who found success through both R&B and pop but maintained authenticity.
  • “When artists were chasing that, it just didn’t seem authentic...I feel like it hurt some artists, too, when they did that.” — Jay Valentine (31:36)

Usher vs. R. Kelly: The Better Vocalist? (34:33–36:38)

• Tank stands by his (controversial among fans) comment that Usher is a superior technical vocalist to R. Kelly.
  • “Usher’s technically a better vocalist than R. Kelly. Way more tools.” — Tank (33:35)
  • “When you just break it down to one thing...vocally, Usher’s an elite vocalist.” — Tank (36:38)

Mistakes New R&B Artists Make (36:38–39:30)

• Biggest technical mistake: not rehearsing, leading to unpolished live performances.
  • “They don’t rehearse. And you can tell.” — Jay Valentine (36:44)
• Producers often don’t write with the artist’s vocal range in mind, forcing singers to strain or sound weaker live.

Evolution of Record Making and Black Executive Leadership (39:30–47:29)

• Importance of Black executives who are embedded in the music, referencing legends like L.A. Reid, Babyface, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Dallas Austin, and Jermaine Dupri.
• “Start hiring black executives again, okay? Hire people who actually grew up in the music, know the music, and can tell you how to make the music.” — Jay Valentine (41:41)
• R&B’s legacy and future depend on putting music people back in decision-making positions.

Aging in the Industry & Respect for Legacy (44:59–47:29)

• Why Black artists, producers, and writers are often “aged out” prematurely despite timeless skills and experience.
• Call for labels to tap seasoned creators for younger acts (e.g., Dre Harris producing for Kehlani).

Community Uplift and Giving Flowers (54:56–59:03)

• The importance of peer support: Tank credits paying it forward to John B., Chris Brown, and others as a way to maintain the culture and build confidence.
  • “Everybody’s important to me. Everybody means something to me. If I can help, I’ma try.” — Tank (59:37)

R&B Money Podcast: More Than a Side Quest (62:01–63:02)

• Reflections on the podcast’s growing cultural impact; it started as a passion project but now serves as a vital platform for the genre.
  • “What we realized by taking the hiatus was how important we are to our culture.” — Jay Valentine (62:01)
• Talk of launching the R&B Money Awards to further celebrate and unify the genre.

State of R&B: Renaissance or Takeover? (69:57–73:43)

• The episode concludes with optimism about the state and impact of R&B, highlighting new artists, legendary tours, and a reclaiming of space for the genre:
  • “Where is R&B right now? Are we in a renaissance, a rebuild, or some type of red—? ... We taking over.” — Jay Valentine (70:05)
• Discussion of upcoming tours and the next wave of R&B stars.

---

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Music is subjective...it's about how music make you feel.” — J. Valentine (08:55)
• “We’ve been fighting against AI for a long time.” — Tank (12:15)
• “Give Milli Vanilli back that Grammy.” — J. Valentine (12:56)
• “I don’t care what nobody else do. I’m with the people. I judge my success off of people.” — Tank (29:00)
• “Start hiring black executives again, okay?” — Jay Valentine (41:41)
• “Artists are going to do or get away with what you let them get away with.” — Jay Valentine (44:19)
• “When you just break it down to one thing—vocally, Usher’s an elite vocalist.” — Tank (36:38)
• “We need to be put on bigger stages...I would love to see artists campaigning again—really getting out there.” — Jay Valentine (26:37)
• “Everybody’s important to me. Everybody means something to me. If I can help, I’ma try.” — Tank (59:37)
• “[The R&B Money podcast] started off for us as a side quest. Just love...and then it turned into what it’s turned into...” — Jay Valentine (62:41)
• “We’re taking over—and we are fully behind it.” — Jay Valentine (70:07)

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Timestamps for Noteworthy Segments

• 02:49: Tank’s Broadway return in Hell’s Kitchen
• 04:06: Tank’s story about getting dropped from the haircare brand
• 06:31: Analysis of Ray J’s cultural staying power
• 08:55: R&B etiquette: can artists “call out” each other?
• 11:52: Discussion of AI/technological changes
• 12:56: “Give Milli Vanilli back that Grammy” moment
• 23:19: Making R&B cost-effective and the future of production deals
• 25:55: The need to invest more in R&B marketing, not just budgets
• 30:23: Can R&B artists be financially free without crossing over?
• 33:35: Usher vs. R. Kelly, vocal technique
• 36:44: Mistakes new R&B artists are making (lack of rehearsal)
• 41:41: Urging industry to hire more Black executives
• 54:56: Tank building up John B.’s confidence and the importance of support
• 62:01: Realizing the R&B Money podcast’s cultural significance
• 70:07: Tank & J. Valentine declare “R&B is taking over”

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Final Thoughts

This episode is a must-listen for R&B fans, artists, music execs, and anyone fascinated by the inner workings of the industry. Tank and J. Valentine offer an honest, often hilarious, and always illuminating window into the past, present, and future of R&B—balancing nostalgia for the genre’s golden years with a resolute optimism about what’s next.

R&B, as they say, is here, heavy, and here to stay.

Transcript

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[Jay Valentine]

Hold up every Day I.

[DJ Envy]

Wake up.

[Tank]

Wake your ass up. The Breakfast Club.

[DJ Envy]

Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Just hilarious. Charlemagne, the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. Lauren Larose is here with us as well. We got some special guests in the building.

[J Valentine]

Yes, indeed.

[DJ Envy]

We have Jay Valentine and Alicia Keys.

[Jay Valentine]

Pops.

[DJ Envy]

Ladies and gentlemen.

[J Valentine]

Ladies and gentlemen.

[Tank]

I'm not that old. Hell's Kitchen, back on Broadway.

[Jay Valentine]

You are Davis.

[Tank]

But I'm. You know what I'm saying? Back in time on Broadway. Yeah. I play a 20. 20 something, almost 30 year old.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

That's amazing.

[J Valentine]

Phenomenal job, by the way.

[DJ Envy]

If you haven't seen it, you gotta go see it. Now you're back on Broadway for how long? I actually took the whole family to go see it. But how long are you back on Broadway for?

[Tank]

It was originally two weeks, but then I added a weekend, so it was what, like 22 shows? So I'm here to the 30th chance.

[DJ Envy]

It's a perfect Christmas gift if you want to take something for Christmas, especially your parents or whatever. He does a phenomenal job. He does a phenomenal job.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Love the show.

[Tank]

That's dope. That's dope. That's fine.

[J Valentine]

When Tank walked in, Tank said, charlamagne. You getting old. You should use my product.

[DJ Envy]

My kit.

[J Valentine]

My kit. Yes. I'm like, rewind the time, rewind the time. Then you say you got fired.

[Tank]

Yeah, let me go.

[DJ Envy]

You ain't got no hair, though, Paul.

[Tank]

I do have hair. Oh, you wanna, you wanna, you wanna see my hair?

[J Valentine]

Damn.

[Tank]

Yeah. That hat of crazy, right? That a crazy.

[J Valentine]

I mean, you ain't got no hair on your face. I don't know what hair you talking about.

[Tank]

I got hair. I just keep it. Oh, got you, got you. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. That's a stocking cap for all those who don't know. I'm used to cutting off the foot of the stock. And I'm old school. Old school paper.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

How did you get fired?

[Tank]

Was it, I don't know, one day I was asking to change my picture because the picture on the box looks like they put a crackhead filter on me. And I said, I said, joe, that's not how I look. I never look like that. Somebody hated on me. Can you please change the picture? I'mma change the picture for you fams, I promise, I'mma change the picture. We went through months and months and months of please change the picture. Finally I'm like, joe, this is getting disrespectful. I said, joe, it's getting disrespectful. And next thing I know I'm getting a letter in the mail. You will not be renewed for me. And never change the picture. Look at how they did me.

[Jay Valentine]

But I still see you on boxes.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Cuz they got to sell the rest of inventory. Inventory.

[Tank]

So I think they kicked me out and brought Nori in.

[J Valentine]

I a see Nori?

[Tank]

Really?

[DJ Envy]

You and Nori got the same. I guess, color.

[Tank]

We don't have the same nothing. I'm sorry.

[J Valentine]

On the next episode of Joe and Jada we find out why Tank actually got fired.

[State Farm Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Tank]

Of all people.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You ain't called him back and say what happened?

[Tank]

No, no. Joe ain't hitting me back.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Yeah. Damn.

[J Valentine]

Damn, Tank.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Well, you New York.

[Tank]

I'm in New York.

[Jay Valentine]

Right.

[DJ Envy]

Pop up. What's up?

[Tank]

I'm gonna pull up on him. Huh?

[J Valentine]

You know who else in New York? Ray J. And Ray J said he won't smoke.

[DJ Envy]

Did he say that?

[J Valentine]

Right. J said he can't mess with me if I train.

[DJ Envy]

Wow.

[J Valentine]

But it's gonna take me nine months. What do you think?

[Jay Valentine]

Valentine begins and ends. We're ready for raging.

[J Valentine]

That's a fact.

[DJ Envy]

Did you say that for real? I didn't hear that.

[State Farm Ad Voice]

Yes.

[Jay Valentine]

He could beat him. In what?

[Tank]

Everything. Everything. Indoor pool, outdoor pool. Oh my God.

[J Valentine]

He said you can't mess with him if he trained. But it's gonna take him nine months.

[Tank]

Only nine months.

[J Valentine]

He did specify.

[Tank]

But guess what? He said I love you, Tank. He love. That's, that's.

[Jay Valentine]

He don't love nobody else.

[Tank]

He don't love nobody else. Ray J's my guy. Up for everybody. Up for everybody. El.

[Jay Valentine]

He said, I'm going big.

[Tank]

Ray J can do no wrong.

[J Valentine]

That's what made the ranch so funny. Because he said it. But then he thought about it like. But it's gonna take me nine months to train.

[Tank]

I love you. Here's the thing about Ray J. Is that nobody's really paying attention to. He's smart.

[Jay Valentine]

Yes, of course. Absolutely.

[Tank]

He's smart. And he has a diversified portfolio. I get it. Some people may be able to sing better than him. Some people may be able to outperform him, whatever. But you're not going to beat him in terms of lasting and being in a relevant conversation as long as he's been in it, period.

[Jay Valentine]

He's connected to everything.

[Tank]

Everything from music, everything in making socialites social.

[J Valentine]

Yeah, I said that this morning. He's. He's what I call an anchor being. In comic books they call it an anchor being. He's an anchor being to Tech.

[Tank]

Yeah, he's in tech.

[Jay Valentine]

Right? Tronics.

[Tank]

Right? Tronics.

[Jay Valentine]

Glasses that didn't break.

[DJ Envy]

They didn't break.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

They broke.

[Jay Valentine]

They broke. But soon as Speed Storm say after they broke, I don't care. It's Ray J.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

He said if he. If Ray J stopped, like, doing all the things he's doing and really focus on his voice, we would hear a better singer of a Ray J sister. Yeah. Brady.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Yeah, I love that. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm trying to play her in something that was a conversation when it was him versus Mario and people were like, he can't see.

[Tank]

In the beginning, Ray J was going there. And then I just think that he just. I think he was just happier doing more, like, to be a singer singer. Like, you really got a hyper focus on singing and other things suffer as a result of that.

[Jay Valentine]

I can relate. Ray J.

[Tank]

A lot of those guys are good, listen, good singers. Got it. But they're not. They can't out entertain Ray J. That's true. It can.

[Jay Valentine]

Ray J's in the crowd. He gonna, you know, take his shirt off.

[Tank]

He gonna run around. I don't know what he gonna have at that.

[Jay Valentine]

What's.

[Tank]

What's the.

[J Valentine]

What's the one music.

[Tank]

I don't know what was going on.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Yeah.

[Tank]

But it felt like there was a pamper on the inside of it. Like, I don't know what he got from Timo.

[J Valentine]

He said it.

[Tank]

And guess what we were talking about. I don't care who performed well at that one music festival. Guess who we was talking about?

[DJ Envy]

Ray J. Ray J. I wanted to.

[J Valentine]

Ask both of y' all a question. Right? Y' all are the host of the R B Money podcast, and I was thinking about this with the conversation that Mario and Cam Newton was having. Is there a proper R B etiquette? Should other R B singers talk about who can and can't sing?

[Jay Valentine]

I believe you can. You. You can say what you feel. That's. You know, I don't tell nobody what they can say or how they can feel about anyone else. And music is subjective. You know what I'm saying? Like, and Tanka tell you, I'm the guy who calls him. I'm like, have you heard this song? And it might be. The whole song might be off key. I'm like, that shit jamming. All right? Like, nigga, that shit jamming. It's about how music make you feel. If we gonna go back into who's the greatest singers, then we just gotta go to church. And we all know outside of Kirk Franklin and The Yolanda Adams. It ain't a whole bunch of money on that side of it. So if we talking about making money and making popular music, the voice is subjective and can people really get what they're trying to get out of the song we were talking about? What's the song we were just listening to in the back?

[Tank]

Don't let it go.

[Jay Valentine]

Don't hold it back. If that would have been like a gospel style singer, if that had been a gospel style singer, wouldn't work. It wouldn't have worked.

[Tank]

Mark Morrison return to Mac no good singer could have. No elevated singer could have sang that. It had to be that.

[Jay Valentine]

You know what I mean? It's like, it's a style when we talking about in popular music, it's stylized. So when you have the okay, who's gonna come out here and flat foot sing for each other? We don't really have it. So I mean, you can say it and, oh, this person is better singer and that person better singer. But then it's like, who sells the most records?

[DJ Envy]

But now when you say that.

[J Valentine]

So if I put a list right now and I said, tank, who can really sing? You would play that game.

[Jay Valentine]

I already see where this is going.

[Tank]

Yeah, yeah. I don't. I can't. You know what I'm saying? Because my voice means so much more when these guys hear me say something like, if I didn't matter, if we weren't the authority on all things R and B, if I wasn't a guy who's written and produced and sat down and had conversations with all these guys about music and life and how this is what you need to do to do this and do that. I'm in a place where I can't even. I can't even do that. I gotta, I gotta, I gotta encourage all of them because I inspire all of them.

[DJ Envy]

Right?

[Tank]

You know what I mean? So I gotta say, I gotta tell either, well, whatever you have, this is how, this is how you frame that, do that, put that there and then put that sonic by this and then do. That's the guy I can be. So, you know when you say, is Mario allowed to do that? Mario can. He can't.

[BET Promo Announcer]

He has every right.

[Tank]

I can't.

[DJ Envy]

So now let me ask you, when you have a computer that can make that voice perfect, right? I'm talking about the AI young lady. How does that make you feel when somebody could type in lyrics into a program, push enter and it comes out with this amazing song with this amazing voice, and this person gets paid a Lot of money.

[Jay Valentine]

I'm not mad at it. Why? I'm not mad at it because I just believe that we are constantly evolving into something. Right. If it's. And it's just another form of business. And I'm happy for a young girl out of Memphis, Mississippi, wherever, somewhere out there where she's from that was able to make a living off of it. To me, I'm never knocking anybody who figures out a way to make a living.

[DJ Envy]

Does that hurt the craft, though?

[Tank]

Cause she's going on a charge. But let's take it back, though. But let's take it back, though. Cause we gotta go back to the beginning. Because me, I have albums, many albums, many songs with no Auto Tune. Now all of a sudden, I'm competing against singers who aren't singers who can't necessarily hold that note, that can't necessarily do that, run that. They can. They're not as technical as I am, but the Auto Tune is holding them up and helping them almost sound as good as I sound. Technically, we've been fighting against AI for a long time.

[Jay Valentine]

I say give Milli Vanilli back that Grammy.

[Tank]

Absolutely.

[Jay Valentine]

Give them brothers back they Grammy.

[Tank]

Absolutely. And guess what? I said, I don't care what the playing field is. Let's play flat out.

[J Valentine]

I don't want Tank with Auto Tune, though. And I think it's a time and place for Auto Tune. I don't think Auto Tune works in the bedroom.

[Tank]

You. I just. I disagree with you because the autotune is just. You have heard Tank with Auto Tune.

[Jay Valentine]

You just don't. Yeah. It's not just.

[Tank]

I don't. I don't t. Pain my Auto Tune. Right. But I understand how to use the tool.

[J Valentine]

Okay.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And I also think. Have you seen Tank perform live? Yes. So I think once we've seen you.

[Tank]

I'm a lot. I'm a live performer.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah. So since we wouldn't even think there.

[Tank]

Would be anything much because I don't need it. Right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes.

[Tank]

But I understand the sonic behind it. I understand why it cuts through and why what it does on radio and what it does when it comes to your headphones. I understand sonically what that is. That's just me being an engineer. Rewind. Come on, get me back in there, Joe. Damn.

[Jay Valentine]

Get your job back, bro.

[J Valentine]

But I think it's something too. Being able to grab a microphone anytime, anywhere and sound just like you do.

[Tank]

And that's why. And that's why it doesn't matter. It's just another player in the game that we Are competing against. I don't care who it is. Let's fight. Let's compete.

[Jay Valentine]

And it's enough space for everybody.

[Tank]

It's enough space.

[Jay Valentine]

When you had Whitney Houston, you had. What's American Idol?

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Jennifer Hudson.

[Jay Valentine]

No, no, no, no, no. The one that we speed. The Laker dancer. Paul Abdul.

[Tank]

Paul Abdul.

[Jay Valentine]

Like, people are acting like people are acting like. This is new. Where you don't have one end to the other end. Yeah, you're always going to have.

[DJ Envy]

But it's still a person. This ain't a person.

[Tank]

Just.

[Jay Valentine]

But it was still assisted.

[J Valentine]

All I do is in a video with a cat. A cartoon cat.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

It's different.

[J Valentine]

And he was singing his ass.

[Tank]

We keep saying it's different, but it's just today's version of it. Yeah. It's evolution. And you got to understand, we're not going back. We're not going back.

[J Valentine]

Does that hurt?

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Your prompts.

[Jay Valentine]

So figure out your prompts.

[DJ Envy]

You are executive, right?

[Jay Valentine]

Yes.

[DJ Envy]

Would you rather sign an artist that you gotta deal with, Makeup, hair, managers, security, all that, or a AI person that you ain't gotta deal with nothing. You cut a check and just let the money come in.

[Jay Valentine]

Well, if you tell me that person you just said is Kehlani, I'm taking Kehlani. It's worth it. Tell me that person is Sza Summer Walker. I'm taking it.

[DJ Envy]

Most people won't invest that money to get to where scissor is. Won't take that.

[Jay Valentine]

Well, a real executive is going to see that.

[Tank]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jay Valentine]

They're going to see Victoria Monet. They're going to see her drive. They're going to see how hard she goes and go, oh, this is going to connect.

[Tank]

Yep.

[Jay Valentine]

Because that's the other thing. Now you also have to talk about how an artist feels to people.

[Tank]

Yep.

[Jay Valentine]

An AR artist, you know, you're just like, okay, that's a video game. You like to play it a little bit. But are you in love with it like that? You know what I'm saying? So the. The. The human aspect still kicks in when it comes to that. Oh, I love this artist. These people love the artist that I just named.

[Tank]

Yeah.

[Jay Valentine]

They love Chris Brown. They love Mario. They love Ray J. Bro. I go to. I go to my phone and I'm. I'm trying to see what Ray J said today.

[J Valentine]

I'm not.

[Jay Valentine]

I ain't gonna hold you.

[Tank]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jay Valentine]

So you can't replace that. But I ain't mad at somebody getting they bread in another way. You know what I mean? I'm not. You know, that don't bother me.

[Tank]

The labels are going to, they're going to sign AI. Yes, they are. And then they're going to use some of that AI money to take a chance on humans.

[DJ Envy]

How do you patent that? Because you're putting it into a system so yours could sound exactly like hers.

[Tank]

Well, no, they're not going to be able to do that. So that's where it gets.

[Jay Valentine]

Because everybody's voice.

[Tank]

Because the little Barney thing, that almost kind of sound like me and, and Sam Smith and, and somebody else had a baby. The little Bernie. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm. I'm thinking about it. I'm thinking about going to see them niggas, you know what I'm saying? Like, you ain't seen the Barney guy singing R B in the rain?

[Jay Valentine]

No.

[Tank]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh yeah. It's going around. Everybody keep tagging me on, I'll show it to you. But I mean, once you start trying to sound like people that already exist, then that's when we start having an issue. And I don't think they're gonna allow it.

[Jay Valentine]

Yeah, and I think that's probably in the works as well. I mean, I got some homies that's trying to figure out how to copyright all of that and, oh, you know what cultural IP and those type of things. So as in anything, they gotta figure it out, you know what I'm saying? We all old enough to realize Napster and know what we went through during that time and seeing the music business change.

[Tank]

Absolutely.

[Jay Valentine]

And they figured it out. I mean, they figured out another way to rob us again. But then you, you also figured out a way to give opportunities to people who would have never had them.

[J Valentine]

Yeah, well, let's stay here for a second. Y' all too have seen damn near every evolution of the industry for the most part. What's the biggest lie the industry ever sold R and B artists?

[Tank]

I don't, I don't think that there's, I don't think that there's a lie that they sold. I think the truth about what happened to us was never told. And I think we've had that conversation in terms of what we ended up having to compete against as male artists, against, you know, rappers singing Melody and kind of replacing us in the chart space. Like, we weren't honest about that conversation. It was like R and B died. No, R and B didn't die. We're still here. But you're just, you're not giving us our Spots. You're giving our spots. You're not. You're. You're letting bad singers sing songs, but you're penalizing good singers. We're doing too much.

[Jay Valentine]

Well, you singing Jenny Juice on the podcast was pretty gin and juice.

[Tank]

Lay back. Ah, that's how I would've sang it.

[Jay Valentine]

Nobody. Nobody's paying for that, bro.

[DJ Envy]

So you blaming it on the rappers? The rappers?

[Tank]

No, no, no, no, no. I blame it on economics. It was just math, right? You know how much it took to make, you know what I'm saying? A Boyz II Men album? Woo. You know how much it took to make a Michael Jackson album? But then when you had that first hit come out of the basement of the Bronx or in Harlem, you know what I'm saying? For $200 and some chicken and you sold 2 million of them.

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[Tank]

Right, there's a whoa, how do we get more of that?

[Jay Valentine]

But I think what him and I figured out early on too was we could make R and B cost effective and that. Like we had a conversation with Atlantic records I don't know, 15 years ago and you know, we were trying to figure out how to make it make sense and him and I were like, yo, we got home studios. We can write and produce it ourselves. If we want to bring in our friends, we can and we'll set a certain number that we go up to so that when we turn in this album, he makes money. Week one.

[Tank]

Yep.

[Jay Valentine]

And we went in Atlantic Records and we restructured our deal and we was like, nah, we don't, we don't want that up front. We trying to make back end money now. We're Trying to make, you know, money that's gonna last for our kids, for us later on in our lives. So that upfront that y' all been selling people on, which, you know, everybody knows, that's debate, you know what I mean? If I give you a dollar, I gave you a dollar, so you owe me. We're saying, you know, we're saying, okay, well, this is. What's this, what it's going to take for us to make it. And then we proved that the business model worked. And we saw a lot of other people in R and B start doing the same thing. Because before it was very expensive to make R B music. You need a studio for a month, two months that, you know, the artist is showing up to. Two, three days out of that time, we was like, no, no, we're going to do this right. You know, we're going to cut the fat and we going to really do real business. And I think R and B had to figure out how to do real business for a minute. R and B was. It was wild. Like, was charging 150, 200 a track. I know, I. I know that was getting jewelry on the. On the budget.

[Tank]

Absolutely.

[Jay Valentine]

Like, wait, producers, y' all got. Y' all got Jury off of his song. But you know what?

[Tank]

All right, that's crazy. It was that. So. And we were in a privileged position. It got ran through because we're A to Z, so we can write it, produce it, all of that.

[Jay Valentine]

Yeah.

[Tank]

You know what I mean? At a level. You know what I mean? So at a point where some artists, they need to run to that high level producer, they need to run to that high level writer, and it is gonna cost them to get in the game. We kind of were blessed to where. I mean, charging ourselves. And so we just. We just bet on the back end. We just created a different type of business so that we could do. We could do rapper business.

[J Valentine]

So let's simplify it. If you had the power to change one thing about the business side of R B, what gets fixed first that. Like, what y' all talking about now?

[Tank]

Budgets.

[Jay Valentine]

Budgets.

[Tank]

No, I think the budget part is easy because I think at this point now everybody understands that, you know, the days of, you know, 50, $100,000 tracks are over. Everybody's trying to figure now everybody's trying to get placements because everybody can produce now. Everybody can right now. You see, AI don't. Don't think it's not. Don't think those submissions. Half of those submissions aren't. AI. Yeah. So now everybody's now trying to figure out how to get those placements. The only thing that I would change in terms of R and B business is just the marketing promotion of it. I would just add more money to that part of it.

[Jay Valentine]

We need to be put on bigger stages.

[Tank]

Yeah.

[Jay Valentine]

You know what I mean? I think asking artists to try to figure out how to go viral all the time is tough. That's really. That's a tough space to put an artist in. And it's really. It's the same thing. Like when you talk about promoters and they're like, oh, we need tank to post 100 times. Well, nigga, aren't you a promoter?

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Right?

[Jay Valentine]

You're a promoter.

[Tank]

That's your title.

[Jay Valentine]

This is your title. This is what you do, right? We need to be able to see, you know, that street team again. We need to see those type of things we need. And I think for me, I would love to see artists campaigning again. Meaning, like really going. Going to those, you know, doing those school tours, doing those HBCU tours, getting out there. Cause everybody can't come up here. We know that. Right? You guys are, you know, this is a premium. But there are so many people walking around with cameras and with phones that are trying to interview artists and artists. Oh, yeah, I'm good. No, when you're trying to get popping, I don't care who walk up to you, you better hop on they little phone and oh, let me help you. I didn't watch this, man. Hey, man, your camera dirty. Let me wipe that down for you.

[Tank]

Yeah, that's good.

[Jay Valentine]

So we got a good picture. To me, that's what I wanna see, change. I wanna see the artist not just live behind a computer no more. And I kind of answered the question around. But that's what I would like to see, a change. As far as from an R and B standpoint too.

[DJ Envy]

There's no street teams anymore. There's no labels that do that.

[Jay Valentine]

You gotta be your own street team.

[Tank]

You gotta get out in the streets.

[DJ Envy]

The majority of the artists I've ever seen, a lot of them before doing radio, was at Hampton.

[Jay Valentine]

Cause that was a stop.

[DJ Envy]

It was the Morgan Howard Hampton Carolina stop.

[Jay Valentine]

And you would see everybody, right?

[DJ Envy]

And it would always come for free. And they would perform on the yard, on top of a car, on top of a bus, or in the auditorium. But they don't have that anymore.

[Tank]

And that was the promo tour.

[DJ Envy]

That was the promo tour.

[Tank]

Now the promo tour is just on your phone. TikTok, that's their version of promo tour.

[J Valentine]

We just had Donnie Simpson up here. He said, man, go outside and feel the day, man. Feel the day.

[Jay Valentine]

A word is what they call that.

[Tank]

I'm going outside to feel the day.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

That's why I like how Cardi B did her rollout for her.

[Jay Valentine]

Amazing.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

She was amazing in the train station.

[Tank]

But that's her. But that's her anyway. That's her aesthetic anyway. She's tapped in with the people. That's my thing. I don't care what nobody else do. I'm with the people. I judge my success off of people and the money and all these other things. Those are the byproduct of taking care of people, being there for people. That's real. And that's what artists, again, seconding what JJ is saying. You gotta get back to the people, man. Like, I'm an advocate. Atlantic Records will tell you I just got to bmg, shout out to BMG with our new deal here. But I'm just saying from. In terms of the past, I was an advocate. Hey, guys, I want to go on a promo tour. But, Tank, you don't have to do that. I want to go on a promo tour. So as a Tank who didn't have to do a promo tour, I'm laying in the back of an suv, a Suburban, going from state to state to state to state, city to city. That's what I'm doing because the people are important. You can't lose sight of that.

[J Valentine]

I'm old enough to remember J Records. Recording artist Tank will be at the Gilliard Auditorium.

[DJ Envy]

Is the same recently, we've seen clips, do it the same.

[J Valentine]

Yeah.

[Tank]

Meet and greets, luncheons, you know what I'm saying? You know how many program directors. I done called they kids, I done called they wives, baby mamas, all of it. That's what we gotta do. That's what AI can't do. Right? Right. Yeah. It's a separator. Yeah.

[J Valentine]

Is R and B finally at the point where artists can be financially free without having the crossover?

[Jay Valentine]

Crossover to what?

[J Valentine]

Like when everybody was doing, like, the pop records.

[Tank]

The big. Yeah, the one. The one big record.

[Jay Valentine]

Well, I think you. You got to make music for the masses, right? You have to, you know, because that. We're entertainers, but sometimes the best you crosses over, you know what I'm saying? And I feel like. And I feel like rap showed us that. You know what I'm saying? 50 Cent can perform anywhere. Anywhere with the same records that he made for Queens. They were, you know, if you have a strong enough hook that can Take you anywhere.

[Tank]

I mean, shoot, Kehlani. Kehlani's had.

[Jay Valentine]

That's a very R and B record.

[Tank]

Folded. It's very different kinds of records. Very R and B, all different kinds. Chris Brown has had all different kinds of records.

[Jay Valentine]

Residuals are very R and B records.

[Tank]

Residuals and folded are as R and B as they come. And they are. They are Math World Records. Like you said, the best version of you. Yeah, yeah.

[Jay Valentine]

That to me, you know, I felt like when artists were chasing that, it just didn't seem authentic, you know what I mean? It didn't seem like who they were. And, you know, they were chasing the whole four on the floor thing. And it came and went and I feel like it. I feel like it hurt. I feel like it hurt some people. I feel like it hurt some artists, too, when they did that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Trying to chase that big, like. Well, you probably don't want to say.

[DJ Envy]

Even when rappers did it too, it hurt. It hurt.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But for some, I can name one.

[J Valentine]

I think it hurt.

[Tank]

It just depends on how you do it too, though.

[J Valentine]

Yeah.

[Tank]

How you. You know, how you add that aesthetic into. Into your brand. You know what I'm saying?

[J Valentine]

Like, I like when Neil did it. I didn't like when Neo did it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I don't think it hurt him.

[Tank]

I don't think it hurt Neo. I think that was Neo. Yeah.

[Jay Valentine]

Yeah.

[Tank]

I think. I think Neo is. I think Neo is a world artist. I think he's a. He's a great R B artist, songwriter, all of these things. But I think Neo is. Is. Is great at appealing to the world. Yeah, he's a world artist. I agree.

[J Valentine]

But then Jay's point, appealing to the world with sexy loves and stuff like that. Not when you.

[Tank]

But even sexy. But even sexy love, if you listen to it, it's like, it's still a bigger record. It's not traditional arm. Sexy Love is not a traditional R B record.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

It pop a little bit.

[Tank]

It's got a little. You know what I'm saying? Now when you go, just can't take myself. Now when you go there and you say, okay, maybe that was far, but when you watch him actually perform it, you say, oh, no, that's it. No, that's him.

[DJ Envy]

But when I play those crossover parties, I don't play Sexy Love. I play that record from and him.

[Tank]

In the Flow Rider, and it goes crazy, you know, you go, yeah, you. You try to close after Neo somewhere overseas, somewhere in London. Good luck, my friend.

[J Valentine]

That one you talking about just now, that. That is fire.

[DJ Envy]

Now. You said online that you believe that Usher is a better singer than R. Kelly. And people got on your ass for it.

[Tank]

They did, a little bit.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Usher is a better vocalist than R. Kelly.

[Tank]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Why does it feel that way?

[Tank]

Usher's technically a better vocalist than R. Kelly. Way more tools.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

I thought you said you can't say that type of stuff, though.

[Tank]

What do you mean?

[DJ Envy]

What made you say that.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Type of stuff?

[Tank]

I seen you growing up over there, too.

[Jay Valentine]

You was like.

[Tank]

These guys are. These are my actual peers.

[BET Promo Announcer]

Got you.

[Tank]

These guys are. You know what I'm saying? R. Kelly is og.

[Jay Valentine]

I got you.

[Tank]

This is a different conversation.

[J Valentine]

It's like Jordan LeBron. You ain't really. It's like, Jordan LeBron, Jordan.

[Tank]

We're talking about guys, okay? At the top of the stratosphere. Like, we're having a different conversation.

[Jay Valentine]

Kel's gonna leave this voicemail. I know you didn't say he was bad. I know you didn't say he was bad.

[Tank]

Technically. Technically, okay. Technically, we don't hear.

[J Valentine]

I don't even know what that means.

[Tank]

Technically, okay? Like, say, for instance, I always bring this record up, but Climax. R. Kelly couldn't have sang Climax. Not many people could have sang Climax, but where Usher went from false to natural without hearing the transfer, like, that type of thing. Special. Incredible.

[Jay Valentine]

It's like watching gymnastics.

[Tank]

Yeah. Yep.

[Jay Valentine]

You know what I mean? Like, everybody lands, but some people stick. You know what I'm saying?

[Tank]

Come on, son. Come bring it home.

[Jay Valentine]

So when you singing, everybody don't always stick. Like, if you listen to Climax, every note that he sings on that record, he sticks. Like, it's like, period. No movement, ain't no step back, ain't no. You know what I mean? So that shit is. That shit is flawless.

[Tank]

So, I mean.

[Jay Valentine]

But, you know, Leilani's folded stick sticks. Everything she's singing on there, it just sticks.

[Tank]

I mean, which is why you have so many singers trying to emulate it, right? They're trying to. Because now certain singers or certain songs are study material. It becomes that, like, R. Kelly is a product of so many things when it comes to study material. It was swag. It was content. It was actually him. Excuse me. Him turning R and B into this rap thing that was like, whoa, what is this? The first R and B thug? Like, what are we looking at? And not that R and B cats ain't been tough. But he framed it in a way to where it's like R and B singer was like, I gotta get a chain and some cornrow and some Cornrow. R. Kelly made it so you had to get a chance. And some Timbs like, you gotta. It can't be too soft no more. Now. Then he gave you balance with, you know, half on the baby with the silk pajamas on, you know, walking barefoot, like, wait a minute. So I can do both. So when you talk about R. Kelly, you talk about. It's so much that goes into that. But when you just break it down to one thing. Vocally, Usher's an elite. He's an elite vocalist.

[J Valentine]

So what's the one vocal mistake you see new artists making the day?

[Tank]

That's a great question.

[Jay Valentine]

They don't rehearse.

[Tank]

There's one.

[Jay Valentine]

They don't rehearse. And you can tell.

[Tank]

There's one.

[Jay Valentine]

You can tell. You can. You can. You can see it. You know, my father used to call it polished.

[DJ Envy]

Like.

[Jay Valentine]

Yeah, they're not polished. And you don't see a lot of new artists that are polished, unfortunately. You know what I mean? You just like, damn, man. Like, you should have left that in the oven a little longer. You know what I mean? Like, you should have just. Cause there's something. Like when people call you and they have you perform at things or they have you show up for something, you can always tell that somebody spent hours and hours rehearsing going over that. Like when, you know, let's B2K. Those guys are polished. And when they came out, they were polished. You could tell they were in the lab for years waiting for that opportunity. You'll see a group now, and you're like, they caught a wave or artist or whatever, and you're like, damn. I just wish when you catch that wave, I hope you look in that mirror and go, okay, I gotta get ready now. I gotta really start because these people want me to perform.

[Tank]

Yeah.

[Jay Valentine]

So I'm not gonna take this show in August. I'll take it in October or November.

[Tank]

Yeah.

[Jay Valentine]

You know what I'm saying? I'm a wait.

[Tank]

Because when they see me.

[Jay Valentine]

Cause when they see me, they gotta see me like.

[Tank]

Yeah.

[Jay Valentine]

As this polished artist.

[Tank]

The other mistake they make, too is. And I actually was able to do this with Omarion. As you bring up B2K, a lot of producers just write songs and produce songs, and they aren't considering the vocal range of an R and B artist. And so a lot of times when you're in the studio, you can get something off in the studio because it's takes. You're fresh. Every take. Yeah. But when you have to sing a song from top to bottom live In a show, that's where it gets different. And so a producer, a songwriter, or even that artist, for that matter has to understand what key they can actually sing in.

[DJ Envy]

There's no punching in.

[Jay Valentine]

Yeah.

[Tank]

Like, so what can you. What key can you sing in where you can deliver this song from top to bottom every night? And that's what I did for Omarion in O. And I was listening to him singing, and I was like. I was like, they're writing everything outside of your key. I get it. We want the hype. Because the hype, when it comes on the radio and the people sing it live, is it. I said, but that's not your key. I said, you sing down here. Even when you hear his talking voice, he's like. I was like, no, no, we're going to bring you down here.

[Jay Valentine]

Yeah.

[Tank]

The highest note that you're going to sing is. That's the highest note. That's the highest. You're going. And we're going to stay right there. And so that's. I think that's not even just on the singer. That's on the people who are actually crafting the music and don't take time to actually get to know the artists and what they're bringing to the table.

[DJ Envy]

And I think that's why people compare Chris to Michael Jackson all the time. Not that there can be a comparison, but if you ever see his show and see him flying around the air and flipping and stancing and it's still.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Sounding good and the mic is still on from top to bottom of the show, that's ridiculous. And then he go do a meet and greet and then probably go in the studio again.

[Tank]

No, no, no.

[DJ Envy]

I'm sorry, but that's.

[Tank]

That is different. He's different.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

And the show is long. His show is like four hours.

[Tank]

Four hours. No, no, no.

[Jay Valentine]

We're not all aliens.

[Tank]

We're not all aliens.

[Jay Valentine]

The two people you named are aliens.

[Tank]

Yeah, completely.

[DJ Envy]

Whitney.

[Tank]

Not from this planet.

[DJ Envy]

Whitney Houston. He was.

[J Valentine]

Who's the other one? You said? That's Alien.

[Tank]

Oh, Chris and Michael Jackson.

[DJ Envy]

But Whitney, too. Whitney. When you.

[J Valentine]

When you listen to Whitney Alien, no.

[DJ Envy]

Matter what she sings, you be like, how the hell you get that note out every time?

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

And they be singing, smiling.

[Tank]

Give them.

[Jay Valentine]

My God.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Sitting down, smiling, just like, damn, she ain't got stand up, hold her stomach enough.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What happens when the artist. Right? So, like in. Omaran was lucky that you were able to hear that and do that. But like, today, these artists aren't getting those producers, right? Sometimes. And then they don't know their own identity enough to be like, no, I shouldn't be singing there. How do you navigate that if you have that wave? And it's because I think sometimes I see artists and I'm like, dang, they have the moment. But you can tell they're still trying to figure out who they show up as.

[Tank]

Like, well, they got it. Well, it's two part, right? Because as an artist, a lot of times you don't even know what to ask for, right? You're just looking for success, and however it comes, you don't know what to do on the other side of it. You don't even know what to do going into it. You just look up and have this thing. And so a lot of the onus or the responsibility is on the artist to desire or seek more in terms of understanding, from the gift to the marketing to all of these things. But then it falls on the people around them, right? So if there's a manager and all of these cool things that are coming into play, and then let's go even further than that. When people who do know when the label comes in and the people who are trying to make money off of all of these things, who know better.

[Jay Valentine]

They should know better.

[Tank]

Should know better, and they should do.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Better, but they always should. Not every person in the label, though, right?

[Tank]

Because back to the labels.

[Jay Valentine]

Hey, where's my camera? Where's my camera? Start hiring black executives again, okay? Hire people who actually grew up in the music, know the music, and can tell you how to make the music. All right, Go ahead, Tank.

[Tank]

Yep. Well, because. Because again, if we go back to where, you know, there was a plethora of black executives, you see the difference in how the artists.

[Jay Valentine]

L. A Reid wrote songs.

[Tank]

Absolutely, 100%.

[Jay Valentine]

Babyface wrote.

[Tank]

Babyface wrote and produced songs.

[Jay Valentine]

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, like, hitmaker.

[Tank]

Andre Harrell was music. He was music.

[Jay Valentine]

You know, I mean, like. And we can go down the list is music like.

[Tank]

Like Jermaine Dupree is music.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And they were talking about how the boutique labels and, like, that clip goes so viral. And I think that's exactly what y' all talking about.

[Tank]

People are just searching for that now we know it. And so if when we see somebody that's doing something, like, you gotta understand, we sit and talk with everybody, all of them, and we say, hey, man, you should try this and think about doing this. And when your people go, that's what.

[Jay Valentine]

We do so much unpaid consulting.

[Tank]

We do that just as.

[Jay Valentine]

So much, so much. But it's not even about. It's not even about labels hitting us up to me, it's more so about.

[Tank]

It's personal.

[Jay Valentine]

Yes. It's about labels really putting us back in power. And it's not. When I say us, I don't just even mean me and him. Dallas Austin should run a label.

[Tank]

Absolutely.

[Jay Valentine]

Jermaine Dupree should run a label.

[Tank]

Absolutely.

[Jay Valentine]

You get what I'm saying? Why not?

[Tank]

They know this shit. They know it. They live back of their hand. They. They live.

[Jay Valentine]

You know what I mean?

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Like, I think the work ethic is the same coming from the artist. Like, y' all were hungry. Like, people.

[Tank]

You know what. You know where the work ethic. You know, a lot of times. You know where a lot of times the work ethic comes from? It comes from. It comes from respect. Right? Because certain. That's if we check it to sports, certain players know when a certain coach walk in, it ain't no shit to be played today.

[Jay Valentine]

Right. Are they playing with a certain player?

[Tank]

Yep.

[Jay Valentine]

Luka back in shape?

[Tank]

Yeah.

[J Valentine]

Yeah.

[Jay Valentine]

They was taking beers and shit from him in Dallas. He played the Lakers with Bron. Nigga look like he ready to model.

[Tank]

And everybody around you falls in line. So artists are going to. Artists are going to do or get away with what you let them get away with.

[Jay Valentine]

Right.

[DJ Envy]

Okay.

[Jay Valentine]

And what they respect. Like, if you, when you go in the studio with Jermaine Dupri, you like. And you look at that wall, or you look at the wall at Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis or Babyface Wall, and you're like, this is everything I want. I'm going to give my best. You know what I'm saying? And then they, you know, they walk us out to pasture too early. Right. They, ah, you know, you used to do this or that person used to do that. Jermaine Dupree just had hit records.

[Tank]

Yep. Big ones.

[Jay Valentine]

You know what I'm saying?

[J Valentine]

Like, but even bigger than hits, if you create something that's timeless, if somebody's created something that's timeless, they can do it again.

[Jay Valentine]

Give em a chance. Give them a chance to do it again. You know what I'm saying?

[Tank]

Like, we have this thing, just what you said, we gotta dive into that more. Why is it that. Why is it that we allow our black artists to age out?

[Jay Valentine]

And writers and producers.

[Tank]

And writers and producers. Why do we.

[Jay Valentine]

Y' all know who's a producer on Folded?

[J Valentine]

No.

[Jay Valentine]

Dre Harris from Dre and Vidal, who was part of creating Neo Soul in Philly. Jill Scott, Music Soul Child. Absolutely He's a producer. He's a producer. Unfolded.

[Tank]

Absolutely.

[J Valentine]

That says a lot.

[Jay Valentine]

You know what I'm saying? Like, all these. These young artists, why aren't these labels sending them to, like, a. A Brian Alexander, Morgan, who did swv, period? You get what I'm saying?

[Tank]

You see how that's turned out?

[J Valentine]

Yeah.

[Jay Valentine]

So it has to happen more. And salute to the artists that are saying. Because it's not even. I don't believe it's their teams in the labels. It's the artists now saying this. I need to go see such and.

[Tank]

Such as an example of that. You know, as you see the texture that Kehlani is playing with now in this very R and B, very early 2000s kind of thing that she's doing. Guess who she called? She called me. She called Antonio Dixon. Like, she's like, I need that. I need some of that. Yep.

[State Farm Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Tank]

And so that's where I go back to some of the onuses on the artists to do your work, do your homework.

[J Valentine]

That makes a lot. Cause Kehlani, y' all did that with her with Folded. Folded gonna be around for a long time. SZA and Babyface did snooze a few times.

[Jay Valentine]

And Leon Thomas.

[Tank]

And Leon Thomas. Leon Thomas.

[J Valentine]

That's right.

[Tank]

Yeah.

[Jay Valentine]

Chris Riddick. Thomas. Like, it's some. Some really talented people out here, man. And you know, him and I both do this, man. I'll call him. I'll be like, bro, I just came from. I just. I was at the studio. Victoria Monet. He'll call me. Oh, Kehlani just hit me. Kehlani hit me. I gotta play you some records, you know what I mean? Leon Thomas. Oh, Ty Dolla Sign. I think what's happening. And we're trying to be the people who stand in front of it is the real tap in. Like, we really are tapping in. We really are sitting with artists. Jacob Lattimore. You know what I mean? We all love Jake. We like, listen, you're a superstar on TV now. It's time for you to be a superstar in music. So here are the steps.

[Tank]

Yep.

[Jay Valentine]

You know what I mean? Luke James.

[Tank]

Yep.

[Jay Valentine]

Trevor Jackson.

[Tank]

100%.

[Jay Valentine]

You know what I mean? Like Jadon.

[Tank]

Yeah.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Yes.

[Jay Valentine]

Like, that's like my little brother at this point.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Very talented.

[Jay Valentine]

You know what I mean? I'm like, listen, I'm seeing. Okay, you know, maybe one or two extra spin moves that you're doing. You might need to.

[Tank]

It's turning into a pirouette. Bring it back. I got dizzy.

[Jay Valentine]

Stand still. Sing a little more Love that guy. You know what I mean?

[Tank]

But love him.

[Jay Valentine]

What Tank said, the respect of that, though, because they know that we're coming from a pure place. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely. It would be smart for a label to say, hey, you guys run our black division, if y' all want to call it that. You know what I mean? And that could be in the works. But I'm saying it shouldn't just be us. It has to be more of us. And it don't. And I get the boutique label. That's cool, too. But I'm talking about literally in the building too, though, right? Because this one thing would be to be a partner with them and be a little bit on the outside. But you gotta. You gotta be at that Wednesday marketing meeting.

[J Valentine]

Part of the system.

[State Farm Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Because I felt like at first, Def Jam was trying to do something like that island, okay?

[Tank]

Def Jam island was where all the R B was.

[Jay Valentine]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They had Def Soul.

[Tank]

Yeah. Def Soul back in the day.

[DJ Envy]

That was Def Jam.

[Jay Valentine]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Like, producers would be in studios, and then they add that. That label the next day.

[Jay Valentine]

I mean, and then you had. You had. You had real label heads like Jimmy Iovine, who believed in empowering the producers.

[Tank]

Yep.

[Jay Valentine]

And my thing is that if you seen what he did with all those producers, from Polo to Timbaland to Dr. Dre, you know, why wouldn't y' all continue to follow suit? You know what I mean?

[J Valentine]

Like, too much. Niggas made too much money. They had to cut this shit off.

[Jay Valentine]

I mean, listen, the business wasn't made for us.

[J Valentine]

Word. What you mean? Dre just made a billion dollars.

[Jay Valentine]

You know what I mean?

[J Valentine]

Stop this.

[Jay Valentine]

And I think that's the. That's. That's the mistake that. That. That sometimes we make is in thinking that the business was made for us. It's making entertainment. Yeah. The entertainment part is for us, but the business never was.

[J Valentine]

Polo behind somebody that just blew my mind recently.

[Jay Valentine]

Kane Brown, come on, man. I give it. I tell you. I tell you. Shout out to Polo the Don's own folks.

[Tank]

Yeah. My guy.

[Jay Valentine]

Come on, man.

[Tank]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jay Valentine]

You talk about. You talk about bringing black people back into country music. Polo the Don, he kicked that off. He kicked that off. Kane Brown is black for people that don't know. And I remember. I remember he played him for me. I'm like, you got a young brother doing country? This shit gonna work, bro. This shit gonna be incredible. Nah, shit gonna be incredible, nigga. I'm about to take over the world again.

[Tank]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jay Valentine]

You know what I mean? But they found a way to, you know, to not mention Polo about that no more. Well, we're on Breakfast Club today and we're gonna mention it and we're gonna talk about it.

[J Valentine]

I heard that somewhere. I was like, Polo behind Kane Brown.

[Jay Valentine]

Yes, Yep, absolutely. Wow. You got a new young girl. Juicy two times. That I fuck with too. Like, he got.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Listen, listen, listen. She used to cover through his covers all the time.

[Tank]

She's super dope.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Girl's voice is immaculate.

[Jay Valentine]

Yeah.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

And she was doing this. I remember, like she a hustler years ago.

[Tank]

Yeah, she a hustler though.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Yeah, yeah, that's my girl.

[Jay Valentine]

We here to give people they credit, man. And they flowers and to put light back on them if, you know, if they try to take it off of them.

[J Valentine]

John B. Was up here last week.

[Jay Valentine]

We love John B.

[Tank]

Love John B.

[J Valentine]

He said tank.

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[Tank]

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[BET Promo Announcer]

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[DJ Envy]

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[J Valentine]

Gave him the comp. Gave him his confidence back as an artist. That's what he said. He said because he played a song for you in the studio and you said to him man, I got to get on that record. And he said that gave him his confidence back as an artist. Did you even know?

[Tank]

I didn't even know that.

[J Valentine]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Did he put him on the record?

[Tank]

Yeah, he was trying to find it. He was Trying to find it. He was trying to find it. But did you do the record, though?

[Jay Valentine]

He was trying to act like he was capping.

[J Valentine]

He said he couldn't believe it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That was his point.

[J Valentine]

Yeah, he was like, people always say. People say that to you?

[Tank]

No, he played a record for me. He came and did the pod. Cause I've been asking him to come and do the pod. I was like. He said, yeah, when I get something going, I said, man, come just. We got you.

[Jay Valentine]

Put out that disclaimer. Put out that disclaimer. You don't have to like the Army Money show. We call it a podcast, but it's a show is not about an album rollout.

[DJ Envy]

Most people want something to talk about.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

They always come up.

[Jay Valentine]

But if you are tenured in this business, you have a lot to talk about. And let's talk about it.

[Tank]

And you're not limited.

[Jay Valentine]

You're not limited.

[Tank]

You're not limited to that time that you came to. Okay, now you have something to promote. Can you come back? Yeah, yeah. See you tomorrow. Cool.

[Jay Valentine]

Well, he might be on Broadway, so we might not see you tomorrow.

[Tank]

Well, there are other things that I'm pursuing that have sometimes take precedence. No, but with Jon, I've always been a fan of John B. I worked with John B. Way back in the day, like we got lately, and some other songs, like, you know what I'm saying? From the start.

[Jay Valentine]

It's got a Tupac feature, man.

[Tank]

You know what I'm saying? John B. Is like, to me, Excuse me. He's one of those guys. And so after the pod, he was like, man, you mind if I play you guys some records? I was like, man, playing some shit. What do you mean?

[Jay Valentine]

Put him on the bigs, man. Put him on the big speakers.

[Tank]

He played that record. I said, oh, no, you can't do that without me. You're not gonna get that off without me, Jay. He said, what do you mean? I said, yeah, I need to be on that. He said, are you serious? I said, yeah, I'm serious. I made him put me on the record.

[DJ Envy]

Made him put me on records.

[Tank]

Crazy. And then I said, when are we shooting the video? He's like, well, we trying to. I said, john, we're shooting a video. When are we shooting the video? Tell me where the video is. I'm on my way. I got clothes.

[Jay Valentine]

That comes along with. When you have a featured artist, they be asking for clothes is crazy.

[Tank]

Asking for. Listen, they had glam clothes. Listen, let me tell you something. When I did my Trub camera Ready? I did my Chris Brown Shots Fired back in the day. And Chris does everything on the house. Like, mind you, this is 100, $200,000 venture. Easily, easy, easily. He said, big bro, can you just cover my style? I said, absolutely.

[DJ Envy]

How much was that?

[Tank]

20. But listen, it's Chris. To be on a record with Chris Brown, and for him to put me on that stage, was that power. What stage was that? When we went to Orange county, put me on stage for Power 106 Power Jam. Priceless. Priceless. You need a $20, 20, 000 rack. Absolutely. Here we go. And so for me, showing up for Jon is the same way a lot of, you know, a Chris Brown would show up for me and paying that forward and whatever you need. And I'm talking to him about radio. I'm talking to him. You need me to do interviews, like, what's going on? And you need to hire this guy as an indie to do, you know, I'm all in. Because again, John is one of our guys, and it shouldn't be over for him. No, he's too good. Yeah, of course.

[Jay Valentine]

And we just. We. Once again, you just. You have to continue to tap in. Charlie Wilson used our studio for two months. We wasn't there. Uncle Charlie needed a studio.

[Tank]

Get him in.

[Jay Valentine]

It's available to you.

[Tank]

Get him in.

[Jay Valentine]

Like, that's. We have to start doing that, and it has to start being that across the board.

[DJ Envy]

What makes you the way that you are, Tank? Cause you have great relationships with everybody. Not just R and B singers that are new.

[Tank]

Except Fat Joe.

[DJ Envy]

Besides Fat Joe. Fat Joe fired you. I don't know why Fat Joe fired you.

[Tank]

I'm a rundown on Fat Joe. Does he have a lot of people with him a lot of times?

[DJ Envy]

Nah, it'd be 2B2.

[Jay Valentine]

He rolled light now. He rolled light now.

[Tank]

Okay. Gotta be calculated when I roll up on him.

[DJ Envy]

What makes you that way?

[Tank]

Jay has this phrase for me. Tank has never met a stranger ever.

[Jay Valentine]

Ever.

[Tank]

That's. And that's just kind of how I live my life, man. Everybody's important to me. Everybody means something to me. If I can help, I'm a try.

[Jay Valentine]

And tell you when he can't.

[Tank]

If I can, I can't. But that's what makes me me. You know, I've often had people try to say, hey, man, you need to be a little bit more mysterious, man. You need to not be so accessible. You. You know, you gotta be a star. And I'm like, but that's not me. Like, I like Touching the people, you know what I'm saying? I like walking through general population, you know what I'm saying? We at the bar tonight, everybody but shots on me. That's just me, man.

[Jay Valentine]

To me, that is your star. You know what I mean? The fact that you are like that, that's your star. That's what makes you shine. You know what I mean? And I've watched him for years, just, you know, and it don't matter what city we're in. Somebody is his homie all the time. Somebody is connected.

[DJ Envy]

He stops and talks to everybody.

[Jay Valentine]

Absolutely. He is the guy that's gonna. I don't care if you're in the.

[DJ Envy]

Club, in the elevator, in the. I didn't see him taking so many places.

[Jay Valentine]

He stopped.

[DJ Envy]

He just starts talking to people.

[J Valentine]

That's the least you can do. These people pay our bills, man.

[DJ Envy]

No, you're right, buddy.

[J Valentine]

He be in a club.

[Tank]

No, no, it'd be expensive. My wife be like, bruh, can we go?

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Even in Baltimore, it's a restaurant. Black Swan. This was on the counter. Standing up on the counter.

[Jay Valentine]

And we watched a fight in Baltimore. Yeah, we watched it.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

The owner's my friends, so they're like, you know, we just had to take.

[Tank]

A up on it.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

And they just say it so regular.

[DJ Envy]

And I'm like, what?

[Tank]

He was on.

[DJ Envy]

I told him on the counter, singing.

[Tank]

And Black Swan acting up.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

They don't let people do that. But, I mean, it's Tank.

[DJ Envy]

And one time I told him to leave. I'm like, yo, you gotta leave.

[Tank]

Go.

[Jay Valentine]

Like. You make it easy, uncomfortable.

[Tank]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jay Valentine]

He there when they cleaning up.

[Tank]

That's my. And I'll help clean up.

[Jay Valentine]

I help clean up.

[Tank]

I will.

[J Valentine]

Are we getting Kalani on season four of the R and B Money podcast?

[Tank]

Absolutely. Not playing with that for sure.

[Jay Valentine]

We.

[BET Promo Announcer]

We.

[Tank]

We're up now. Tell them we up.

[Jay Valentine]

Yeah, we are. We. We back. We back.

[Tank]

We. We lost with Alicia Keys off top now.

[Jay Valentine]

Who gonna tell us?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She said.

[Jay Valentine]

And I wish somebody said we wouldn't.

[DJ Envy]

Cause she said that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We already been saying it, but she also said it, and I thought that was a great moment for her.

[Tank]

Come on, Keys.

[Jay Valentine]

I think now it's just time for us. What we realized by taking the hiatus was how important we are to our culture. Cause I don't think we even really knew, honestly. We did.

[Tank]

Y' all did.

[J Valentine]

Oh, but it's the only R and B platform.

[Jay Valentine]

But it's tough when you're doing it. When you got your head down and you're Doing it. And then you're like, okay, you take that little break, and you're literally being threatened every day.

[Tank]

Threatened. I was putting out a record. They was like, yeah, that's all cool and well, but where's the podcast? Damn, I can't do no music.

[Jay Valentine]

Cause I think it started off for us as a side quest. You know what I mean? Just.

[Tank]

Just love. Yeah. Just love.

[Jay Valentine]

Two homies. It's like we doing it from a pure place of, you know, we want to put some good energy out into the world. And then it turned into what it's turned into. Where? You know, I always say it. I'm like, if they. If they stopping you at tsa, you popping.

[Tank]

You popping.

[Jay Valentine]

Because they see everybody. So if they lay like, you know, that episode was such and such.

[Tank]

I'm like, oh, that's exactly what it is.

[Jay Valentine]

This is a. This is a thing.

[Tank]

Yeah.

[Jay Valentine]

Like, people spending real time.

[J Valentine]

That's why the R B Money awards gotta happen, man.

[Tank]

Yeah. What are we doing, man? To break down in the deck, man.

[J Valentine]

It's gonna happen.

[Tank]

Golly, man.

[Jay Valentine]

Driving slow.

[Tank]

It don't take that long, man. Jesus. Driving Charlamagne.

[Jay Valentine]

Maybe you are getting older.

[Tank]

Jesus Christ.

[J Valentine]

I think next year we gonna make it happen.

[Tank]

Yeah. No, nothing let's.

[J Valentine]

Happen.

[Jay Valentine]

We got to do it in my backyard.

[Tank]

Not in his backyard. Yeah. Cut it up. Out. Cut it out.

[J Valentine]

Tyrese will do it. Tyrese will definitely do it.

[Tank]

Absolutely. Do it in his backyard. Cut it out.

[J Valentine]

By the way, speaking of pure singers, that's another one I saw Ty Tyrese saying at my boy Bakari Seller's wedding a couple of months ago. No backup track. Just a microphone and did, like, four songs. I'm like, I forgot this. Really can sing. Sing.

[Tank]

Listen. Can I say something? Can I say something?

[Jay Valentine]

Of course.

[Tank]

And that's what I try to tell this nigga.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Why we get him started.

[Jay Valentine]

He started all this.

[Tank]

No, no, no. That's why I try to tell this nigga, cut it out. Cut it out. You need to talk to somebody, call me or call G or call Jay. Don't call them. Cause they don't care about you. They don't love you. They are just looking for a reason to tear you down. I said, nigga, you are too good and too important and too important for that not to matter. When he was making this album and he let me hear this album, I said, nigga, this is the greatest album you've ever made. This album is a Grammy award winning album. Don't. Don't say nothing else.

[DJ Envy]

And then what he do and what.

[Tank]

He do and what he do. What he do. No, no, here's the part. Here's the part. This is the part to get on my nerves about Tyrese. He be like this. I understand you, King. I respect you coming to me this way and giving me the good information. And I'm taking note. And I'm definitely going to be better as soon as I get in the car and pull off. See, and this is the thing. Tyrese is live.

[DJ Envy]

I'm like, he's a thousand percent like that. Not like I told Charlamagne. He's saying when I was going through my problems with my wife and. And he came. He's saying, in the basement of Chows, no mic, no acoustics, and destroyed it.

[Tank]

He's a crooner.

[Jay Valentine]

Unless you finally admit that he was there for you because you didn't.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

You didn't admit that he.

[Tank]

The books. He's selling books now. I put it in the book.

[DJ Envy]

But that was my problem with Tyrese. He comes. His pause, and sometimes that was crazy. And then sometimes I think he chased this, and that pisses me off, because this kills him.

[Tank]

A good. Listen, listen. If you. If. If you eliminate that from Tyrese, he's. He's one of. One of our greatest talents. He's one of our greatest talents. He's singing, acting, all on an. All on an elite level.

[Jay Valentine]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Tank]

And. And. And that's what I want for my brother. Yeah, absolutely. I want that for him. I want. That's what I want people to remember him for. Not that.

[Jay Valentine]

Yep.

[Tank]

Not the phone.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Y' all got a show coming up together? TGT.

[Tank]

Yeah, we're in LA. November 22nd. November 22nd. This.

[J Valentine]

This weekend.

[Tank]

This Sunday. YouTube Theater. Yeah, this Saturday. Sorry, this Saturday. YouTube Theater. Who's leading?

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

The Coro? Genuine. He doing the Coro.

[Jay Valentine]

The what?

[Tank]

The what?

[Jay Valentine]

The choreo. Yo, you got.

[Tank]

You didn't see J falling up the speakers talking about some who sleep the Coro?

[Jay Valentine]

That's what she going.

[J Valentine]

Speaking of not rehearsing, does he rehearse when he Stop playing with him?

[Tank]

And this is the problem I have with these.

[J Valentine]

Rehearsed, clearly.

[DJ Envy]

We know, we know.

[Tank]

I'm just. I'm just trying to be Excellent. I scheduled two days of rehearsals and 2N looked at me, said, what are we doing?

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Rehearsal?

[Tank]

I said, we rehearsing for eight hours. Yes, yes. You ain't got to be there for an hour. I'll let you know.

[DJ Envy]

I hit Fat Joe for a comment. He ain't responding to me, though.

[Jay Valentine]

I Hit him.

[Tank]

That's what I'm saying.

[DJ Envy]

I did hit him.

[Jay Valentine]

I. I said, hey.

[DJ Envy]

I said, bro, take us here. He says, you fired him. Any comment? He responds. Then I had to tell him what.

[Jay Valentine]

Tank it was, because I was like.

[DJ Envy]

He might think it's the boxing tank.

[Tank]

He know which tank it is.

[Jay Valentine]

He didn't respond yet, though.

[Tank]

He ain't hit me back since the firing. I hit him a couple times.

[J Valentine]

Damn.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I was gonna say with y', all, like, you know, the reunion happened a while ago. Y' all are running back around now. What's different with you guys with TGT being back together now and running around like that? Y' all have learned from everything that happened prior to.

[Tank]

Yeah.

[Jay Valentine]

What have y' all learned?

[Tank]

This. This. This will probably be my last TGT show. What? That's what I've learned.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Did they find that out?

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

We don't dance that bad, yo. Like.

[Tank]

We don't gotta do that.

[J Valentine]

That's what I'm saying. It ain't that bad. Shut the whole group down because of how genuine. That's crazy.

[Tank]

I love. I love those brothers on a personal level and just in artistry, I'm just chasing something different. And I love, love, love those brothers.

[Jay Valentine]

Jay, my new album's coming out. It's lonely.

[Tank]

My new single Control, is out right now. Right now.

[Jay Valentine]

Jay Valentine selling candles.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Did y' all talk about that? This is the first time they're hearing this, too. Y' all talk about this because the people think that it's, like, about to be a whole run.

[Tank]

Is that what the people think? I promise you, the people don't think that. Hey, hey. I promise you. Ain't no people. Ain't no people.

[State Farm Ad Voice]

No.

[J Valentine]

People don't want off when they see it.

[Tank]

We trying to get it off real quick. The people believe.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'll be having my sources.

[Jay Valentine]

You're good at this. You're really good at this.

[Tank]

No run.

[J Valentine]

Can we end on this from. From your vantage point? Where is R B right now? Are we in a renaissance, a rebuild, or some type of red?

[Jay Valentine]

We taking over.

[Tank]

Taking over.

[Jay Valentine]

We taking over.

[J Valentine]

Okay.

[Jay Valentine]

Ain't no read nothing. Yes, we are taking over, and we are fully behind it. We are fully behind it. And part of it. I mean, he's still putting out music. You know what I mean? He got a great record, Control. It's available now everywhere. R and B money.

[Tank]

R and B money.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Slash bmg.

[Tank]

Yep.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So y' all are behind the business of the record, too?

[DJ Envy]

Yes.

[Jay Valentine]

Yeah, they're the distributor. Yeah, we're not playing you know what I mean? And we got the R and B awards coming. If this man ever drives, Charlemagne's gonna do it.

[Tank]

I believe in him.

[J Valentine]

Believe it.

[Jay Valentine]

We. We. You know, we're doing the first awards at his backyard in one of his estates that's overlooking the.

[Tank]

The water.

[DJ Envy]

Now, I love this, but R B is taking over. We start with Ray J.

[Jay Valentine]

He is there.

[Tank]

Come on now. Come on now.

[Jay Valentine]

Ray J has to be.

[Tank]

Why y' all acting like Ray J? It can't last in the verses. I don't understand what's going on.

[Jay Valentine]

Wait a minute.

[DJ Envy]

I didn't say he could not last. I don't think it could beat.

[Tank]

I didn't say over anybody. I said, let's not act like he can't last any verses. He's a problem in a verses. Did you notice Ray J walked across the stage like 82 times? Yes. For no reason.

[Jay Valentine]

Cause he can't.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Everything begins and ends with Ray J.

[Tank]

You said it.

[DJ Envy]

That.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

You said it.

[Jay Valentine]

It's the truth.

[Tank]

R and B is. R and B is here. Heavy and to stay.

[Jay Valentine]

We are killing so many dope R and B artists.

[Tank]

Yes. Think about the tours that are getting.

[Jay Valentine]

Ready to go out, man. Boys to men in new editions with Tony Braxton. Shout out to the bpc. Listen, we got black promoters.

[Tank]

Brandy and Monica.

[Jay Valentine]

Money along.

[Tank]

Kelly rolling like Kelly Rowling. Kelly. Hey, hey. You gotta say Kelly Rollins. Kelly rollins.

[DJ Envy]

You got 112.

[Jay Valentine]

What's the young boy that just won American Idol?

[Tank]

Jamal.

[Jay Valentine]

Jamal Roberts.

[Tank]

Oh, that can sing his face off.

[Jay Valentine]

He on the Boys Mind Tour, too.

[Tank]

The B2K Tour is getting ready to go out, boys. Jagged H is out right now.

[Jay Valentine]

Eric Bellinger and Lloyd.

[Tank]

Come on now.

[Jay Valentine]

We cooking.

[Tank]

They can't mess with us.

[Jay Valentine]

We cooking.

[Tank]

Can't mess with us.

[Jay Valentine]

Then we gonna figure out a way to get these young boys on the road together. The two Bygs, the J Dons, the Papa J's.

[Tank]

Yeah. Papa J.

[Jay Valentine]

It's time.

[Tank]

People want to have a sexy good time.

[J Valentine]

That's right.

[Jay Valentine]

Without feeling like it's gonna get violent.

[DJ Envy]

That's right.

[Jay Valentine]

You seen what Leon Thomas said. I don't have a song that would make y' all want to do this.

[J Valentine]

Over the years, R been the ones putting beats on people way more than rappers.

[Tank]

But I'm just saying, when you come to my event, there's no reason nobody knew.

[Jay Valentine]

But Charlemagne.

[J Valentine]

That's true.

[Jay Valentine]

Nobody was talking about it, cuz.

[Sprite Ad Voice]

We.

[Jay Valentine]

We handled ourselves in a certain way. Hey, man, come back here real quick. Let's get this Done. And then we gonna walk out there and sing our song.

[DJ Envy]

That's it.

[Jay Valentine]

We gonna sing our songs. You know what I'm saying? You know, now it's a little different.

[Tank]

They.

[Jay Valentine]

You know, they be pulling out here and all.

[Tank]

I don't have a song that requires a fighting audience.

[Jay Valentine]

Yeah.

[Tank]

I don't have a song.

[Jay Valentine]

Yeah, yeah. Like, but it's. It's time for this. This good feeling.

[Tank]

Yeah.

[Jay Valentine]

You know what I mean? And everybody wants that especially. It's just. It happens with. With society. When shit is wild in the world. You gotta have something that keep you calm.

[Tank]

They're looking for refuge.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Shout out to Rotami, too. Rotami is.

[Tank]

Come on. That's the family. I'm on his record, and I got him on my album.

[J Valentine]

Yes.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Y' all got a song. You featured him on R B Money. That song. Oh, my God. Lose your mind. What is it? No, it's.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Lose your.

[Tank]

Lose your mind in your body. Yeah.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Yo, why can't I upload a video to that song?

[Tank]

I don't know.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

It deletes you. Y' all did it on the country or something. Like, I. I put. I tried to put that song. That's one of my favorite songs on.

[Tank]

I'm gonna fix that for you.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Put on it.

[Tank]

Yeah.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Yo, and it sounds.

[Tank]

I know you want to do something to it. What you gonna do to it?

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Romania.

[DJ Envy]

What service you have?

[Tank]

She tried to throw. She global. They blocked me in Romania because it's one of my biggest markets.

[Jay Valentine]

Yeah.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Shout out to Rotimi, man. He's another.

[Tank]

We back. RB money podcast. We back effect. I heart.

[DJ Envy]

We appreciate you brothers for joining us. And if you haven't seen Tank on Broadway, go see Hell's Kitchen on Broadway. Amazing show. If you're looking for something to get your. Your mama, your daddy, or any Alicia Keys fan for Christmas. The holidays.

[Jay Valentine]

Oh, no. For Christmas. Yes. Too. Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Tell them about the candles.

[Jay Valentine]

R B money, shop.

[Tank]

Talk about it.

[Jay Valentine]

You know what I mean? And we about to start putting more merch on there and everything. You know, I mean, we got it cracking. It's full marble. It's. You know what they be saying is soy and organic and all that other stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. All that stuff.

[Tank]

Whatever they say.

[Jay Valentine]

Does it smell good.

[DJ Envy]

Period?

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Smell like it need to be in my house. Thank you.

[Jay Valentine]

But listen, I'm sending them to the. To the show. Y' all will all have them. Thank you.

[DJ Envy]

Thank you, thank you.

[Jay Valentine]

You know, I mean, keep that.

[DJ Envy]

We can't burn it up here like. We burn candles every day.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Y' all got a lot of other candles up here. He gonna send it up.

[Jay Valentine]

Where's the envy water? Man, we were poor.

[Tank]

We were thirsty in the back.

[DJ Envy]

You know what dei.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

Oh, you got fired too?

[DJ Envy]

I got fired? No, no, no, we didn't get fired. But when Walmart stopped doing the DEI business, okay, and they started doing the business, they took the black A lot of the owners of black businesses out of their stores, which makes it more difficult. So.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

So how did you get fired then? If they took fire?

[DJ Envy]

I didn't get fired. They took my water out. So all the water we have now goes to the other mom and pop stores to make sure we can save.

[Tank]

Trying to say he's not.

[J Valentine]

I was.

[Ashley Nicole Moss]

He didn't catch you though.

[Tank]

And that's good, cuz that means he's really black.

[Jay Valentine]

We supporting all things black.

[DJ Envy]

All right, say no more.

[Jay Valentine]

You know what I'm saying?

[DJ Envy]

Well, there you have it. Tank J Valentine is the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Every day I wake up.

[Tank]

Wake your ass up. The Breakfast Club.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The holidays are the most wonderful time of the year. A season filled with family dinners, laughter and holiday shopping. But even in the middle of all of that joy, everyone needs a moment to slow down. The little pause between the music, the memories and the madness. And nothing makes that break better than an ice cold Coca Cola. It's that quick refresh that turns the holiday rush into calm, making the moment feel just right. It's the breath between the laughter and the late night rapping sessions. Because the best part of the holidays isn't having it all together, it's enjoying it while it's happening. Enjoy your Coca Cola. Refresh your holidays.

[State Farm Ad Voice]

This weekend, one of the homies mentioned he closed on a new crib. While everyone's asking about a housewarming, you're asking the real questions. Like who is his State Farm agent? See, homeownership is one thing, but the right coverage is the real game changer. It's how you protect your legacy. A State Farm agent can help you with finding the right coverage for your new place. And even help you file a claim over the phone, in person, online, or on the app. They're ready to help you and they don't drop the ball. You know what I mean? Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

[J Valentine]

Ah, greetings from my bath, festive friends.

[Tank]

The holidays are overwhelming, but I'm tackling this season with PayPal and making the most of my money. Getting 5% cash back when I pay in 4.

[J Valentine]

No fees, no interest.

[Tank]

I used it to get this portable spa with jets.

[J Valentine]

Now the bubbles can cling to my sculpted but pruny body.

[Tank]

Make the most of your money this holiday with PayPal. Save the offer in the app ends 12:31 see paypal.com promoter points can be redeemed for cash and more. Paying for subject to terms and approval.

[DJ Envy]

PayPal Inc. And MLS 910457 Today's episode is brought to you by a scent that's made a legendary comeback. The Gris Original Cool Rush. The OG is back and better than ever. Cool Rush isn't just a scent, it's a movement. The kind of fragrance that millions of guys ask for by name. It's bold, fresh and delivers all day sweat protection with that cool, crisp vibe that made it a legend. Whether you're heading to the gym, the office, or just staying fresh, Cool Rush has your back. So if you haven't tried it yet, head to your local Walmart and grab Degree Cool Rush, the fan favorite scent from the world's number one antiperspirant brand. You know what a girl's best friend is?

[Tank]

Not diamonds her lawyers. From executive producer Ryan Murphy comes a fiery new legal drama.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It's our own boutique women representing women.

[Tank]

You can't afford to miss.

[Washable Sofas Ad Voice]

Make it rig showtime, ladies.

[Tank]

Stand up straight and breeze into that.

[DJ Envy]

Room like a storm no one saw coming.

[Tank]

Hulu original series All's Fair now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney plus for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

This is an iHeart podcast.