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- [00:01]
Torre
Now at Chipotle, our all new Chipotle Honey Chicken brings chipotle heat with a touch of sweet seared smoked peppers and savory Mexican spices blended with a hint of pure honey for a perfectly balanced sauce. All combined with fresh tender chicken hot off the grill. Served up in your favorite burrito or bowl, new Chipotle Honey Chicken takes heat and sweet to a whole new level. But it's only at Chipotle for a limited time order now in the app for pickup or delivery. Chipotle for real.
- [00:31]
Tedra Moses
Discover in Porio Armani Stronger with youh Parfum A captivating fragrance embodying the liberating energy found in togetherness. Featuring a warm vanilla and leather scent with a powerful head turning trail that lasts 24 hours. Compelling and aromatic with top notes of spicy pink pepper and sparkling fruity mandarin layered with the freshness of lavender and sage and a warmer ambery background. Emporio Armani Stronger with youh Parfum the tour race show okay though. The tour ratio. Okay though.
- [01:06]
Torre
That might be the best question I've ever been asked.
- [01:10]
Tedra Moses
You's a phenomenal person. I mean, you legendary. I am a fan of you, my brother.
- [01:20]
Torre
Can you ballpark how much you made writing?
- [01:22]
Tedra Moses
I know because I was sued one song. I made like $5 million on one song. That's not even the little ones. That was dip it low because I own 100%. You know, it's 200%. It's weird in publishing they call it 200%. It's like 100% this side, 100% that, 100% publisher, 100% writer. Not only do I own my writing, I own my publishing too, which, you know, would put me in bad situations where people sometimes wouldn't want to pay me because I'm not a big publishing company, you know, But I have a secret weapon by the name of Tamia Moses, who's my sister, and she gonna get that money, you know, so we just. My sister learned how to administer publishing, so. So we didn't have to pay somebody else to administer publishing, you know, so we just kind of like we made good money. My sister was making good money.
- [02:08]
Torre
Five on one song, one record.
- [02:11]
Tedra Moses
Yeah.
- [02:12]
Torre
Tedra Moses is an amazing singer. She got an incredible album called complex simplicity from 20 years ago that people are still listening to. Let's Get Into It. I want to talk to her about music and making it and why she loves being black so much. Let's Get Into It. It's Tedra Moses on Torre Show. Tedra, yes. How you Doing.
- [02:42]
Tedra Moses
I'm very blessed.
- [02:43]
Torre
Welcome.
- [02:43]
Tedra Moses
Happy to be here.
- [02:44]
Torre
How are you?
- [02:45]
Tedra Moses
I'm full of joy and gratitude.
- [02:48]
Torre
Yes. Yes. On an upswing.
- [02:51]
Tedra Moses
Yeah.
- [02:52]
Torre
Tell me about doing Tiny Desk. Cause the show asks you to change up, right? Like, you have. This is an acoustic set, right? As opposed to. So we have to do some rearranging. We have to do a little rethinking.
- [03:09]
Tedra Moses
And we only have so much time.
- [03:10]
Torre
And so much time and so much physical space. So just talk about as an artist, you get this invitation. Okay. Now we have some work to. It's not like if you were doing Colbert. You just show up and do your song, but Tiny Desk asks you to switch up.
- [03:25]
Tedra Moses
Well, basically, what they give you is just a certain amount of time. I was invited by DJ Cousin B. He says. He hits me a year ago, and he goes, do you want to celebrate 20 years of complex simplicity on Tiny Desk? Sure, let's do it. So we decide we're going to do it. And at that point, I said, well, let's do a whole tour to lead into the Tiny Desk. Okay? And so I go to my guy, Darion Javon. He puts together a great show for my tour. Duran Bernard comes, and once he finds out, because he's so excited I'm doing Tiny Desk, he had done it already, so he was like my guru, you know? So he gets me together, and he says, okay, you only have this much time. And so we take what we already have and we start to condense it down. So I kind of had an advantage because I was already out on tour. I was already doing it with these same people every night, with exception of Duran. And he had already been there, so he kind of understood. And so we just condensed it down. We took, like, the more media parts and left them in there and condensed certain songs and tried to fit as much as we could in without it being rushed and feeling like it wasn't just a flow and it wasn't that hard to get to that space.
- [04:36]
Torre
Sound like. You talk about reducing. Like Rick Rubin, when he produced the early Def Jam records, he was, like, reducing, like, just how much can we take out and it still be what it's supposed to be? That's what you're thinking about.
- [04:49]
Tedra Moses
Exactly, exactly. And that's what we did. We rehearsed for a couple of days, but like I said, we had already been on the road. And I think, to me, rehearsal, to me, is not about so much knowing the records, knowing the parts. It's about the chemistry of the people that are playing together. I Think that's, to me, what rehearsal is more about. Our chemistry was locked in by this time because we had been doing. Because you toured on the tour. Yeah.
- [05:10]
Torre
So it turned out to be interesting. So, I mean, for rehearsal, for preparation, the chemistry of the folks is more important. Cause everybody is a sharp musician. I got the part. I know where I'm supposed to come in. Da, da, da. But that we have a bond, that we actually like each other.
- [05:26]
Tedra Moses
Yeah, we're joking. During rehearsal breaks, we all smoking weed together. You know, it's like the camaraderie that makes the stage performance even better.
- [05:36]
Torre
You're not just rehearsing when you're playing. You are rehearsing when we're just hanging out and creating the bonds.
- [05:43]
Tedra Moses
Exactly. In my opinion.
- [05:45]
Torre
Yeah.
- [05:45]
Tedra Moses
Yeah.
- [05:46]
Torre
So that's super important to me.
- [05:48]
Tedra Moses
Yeah.
- [05:48]
Torre
Hell yeah. Yeah. So New Orleans is, you know, where you're from. Incredible music town in one of America's greatest music towns. Talk about the impact that New Orleans had on you in creating you as a musician.
- [06:07]
Tedra Moses
I left New Orleans when I was 14. I think that most of what you become in life is those early years. Right. And then you kind of like, that's your base. And you kind of build off of that or you shave off of that. Right. And I went to an all black school by the name of Saint Joan of Arc in the Carrollton area of New Orleans. And I went there from third grade to eighth grade. Shortly after I left to go to California. Every day of my life, home and school was full of music. So if I'm at home, we had a radio that went up and down, but never went off on wyld, which played R and B music, soulful music. Right.
- [06:48]
Torre
Like who, who, who are the people you remember from Wild?
- [06:51]
Tedra Moses
From Wild. Specifically, I remember Shirley Murdoch.
- [06:55]
Torre
Okay.
- [06:56]
Tedra Moses
Cause I remember thinking, why didn't she get a Grammy? Not understanding how that worked back then. Cause I thought she was such an amazing singer. And I remember, I remember. I don't even know what this guy's name, but he used to sing Starship. It was one of my favorite songs on the radio. Anita Baker, you know these. What's the name of. What's our white soul sister? Tina Marie.
- [07:17]
Torre
Tina Marie.
- [07:17]
Tedra Moses
You know these voices because I grew up early on before I left, like my five, six, when I'm starting to remember music. That's Tina Marie, you get Teddy Pendergrass. Well, Teddy Pendergrass was in there, but that didn't catch me. It's like the Princes and the Prince caught you. Yeah. These things caught me. The 80s R&B, female singers, you know, any type of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis production. Whitney, Toni Braxton was more. When I got to la.
- [07:45]
Torre
Okay.
- [07:46]
Tedra Moses
But definitely like Sherrell and you know, the early, early, late 80s.
- [07:52]
Torre
So you liked Alexander O'Neill.
- [07:54]
Tedra Moses
Alexander O'Neill. I was just trying to get him to my brain to come out. Yeah, anything. Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, you know, early Janet, all this stuff.
- [08:02]
Torre
Morris Day.
- [08:03]
Tedra Moses
Morris Day, that whole. First of all, Minneapol had something in the water, just like Virginia. But. Yeah. So, like, those. Those things were coming out. And then you have school where I went to this private school, Catholic school, which New Orleans is a very big Catholic city. And we had lots of predominantly black, not even predominantly all black Catholic schools. And I went to a school about St. Joan of Arc. And we had a teacher, music teacher, by the name of Ms. Shatters. And she would teach us. We would be a. She would make every class a choir and. And she would make you sing, give you your parts and all this thing. I really, really wanted to tell her the last time when she was alive, while she was there, that she helped me find my voice because she just. She was a pretty woman that could really sing. And that was interesting to me. Even though my mother can sing, that's my mom. This is a pretty young woman that can sing, and she does it so well. And so even though she's singing gospel is, like, sensual to me, and it was really beautiful. And this is my experience growing up in New Orleans. If you're walking down the street, you probably hear somebody playing a horn out of their house. You know, you hear.
- [09:08]
Torre
So wait, she was the one who. You said, oh, I could be a young woman as a. Cause I see myself as a girl, and I see my mom as impossibly old relative to me.
- [09:19]
Tedra Moses
And by this time, she doesn't have a voice anymore. She lost her voice.
- [09:21]
Torre
Okay. But then this woman is like. I can see her. I am, like, growing to be her. And I could be like that.
- [09:28]
Tedra Moses
I could be like that. Yeah. Her whole family was. And that's another thing. In New Orleans, you have family's known for music. Like, you know, the Marcelluses, the Chatters, you know. Yeah, yeah. The Baptistes, like John Batiste. He come from a musical family. You know what I mean?
- [09:41]
Torre
I went to college and was friends with Monique Morial, who became a judge, and her father was mayor and her brother was mayor, and I bet. I think her nephew became mayor. And, like, I just knew her. And then slowly, you're like, They're a family. The Morials, like, run New Orleans, but there's lots of family dynastic stuff in New Orleans.
- [10:04]
Tedra Moses
Kind of like the Caribbean islands. It's like a class thing. You know what I mean? It's like, who's your people? That's what people ask. Who's your people? Well, my people. You know what I mean? It's like you're a part. You're not just an individual. I have friends that say, you know, I didn't do certain things growing up because I knew I represented my family. You know what I mean? And you can't put smut on your family's name. You know, you have to. This is a big deal in New Orleans. Kind of like the Caribbean Islands, you know, I really do feel like we just didn't break off into the island.
- [10:31]
Torre
I feel like that, too, when I'm there, that this is the most Caribbean part of America. Right. Like, it's kind of at the islands, kind of. It's a really amazing. Just the vibe.
- [10:45]
Tedra Moses
Yeah. And like, the Caribbean. New Orleans has held on to African practices more than a lot of other cities.
- [10:52]
Torre
I watched tremendous. And I was really moved by. You watched Treme, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you didn't say anything. No, I didn't. I loved it. And the refrain was, how's your house? Right. So they would reconnect through the restaurant or on the street or whatever. How you doing? Da, da, da. And then, how's your house? And different people had different answers. But, like, everybody keeps asking that question. And it's kind of a deep sort of moment of how, like, you know, this entire world was affected in that way.
- [11:26]
Tedra Moses
And is every hurricane season, there's a trauma in New Orleans because I left. I wasn't there for Katrina. I was already in California, but now I'm back. I have a home there now. And it's a trauma every. It breaks my heart because it's a trauma every season. You can hear it. And, oh, this is going to be. This is going to be a bad hurricane season. Because we didn't. Because the weather was this. And blah, blah, blah. Or there's a storm coming. It's category two now, and we're gonna. You know, it's just so.
- [11:53]
Torre
They think it's gonna happen again.
- [11:55]
Tedra Moses
So much pressure, you know, so much. It's very sad to see. And I don't think they're even aware of it. But I. I believe in energy coming together. And I think if we all think it's gonna be bad, then it's probably gonna be bad if we all calm down and calm down. That's kind of how I see it. But they don't want to hear that. They don't want to hear that. They've been through it, you know, They've been through it. And it's. It's a trauma that comes up every hurricane season.
- [12:19]
Torre
I feel like your voice is changing a little now that we're talking about New Orleans so much.
- [12:23]
Tedra Moses
It does. When I go home, I talk like that. When I'm in la, I talk this way, you know, it's just. It does. And when I'm around people, it's like Jamaicans, you know, when they're around Jamaicans that you can hear the patois come. You don't understand what the hell they're saying, you know, so beautiful.
- [12:37]
Torre
And I don't understand it. So wait, talk about Mom's influence. Because Mom's a gospel singer.
- [12:41]
Tedra Moses
Yes.
- [12:41]
Torre
Is she your first teacher?
- [12:43]
Tedra Moses
By the time I was old enough to really pay attention. And she couldn't sing anymore. When I was really little, I remember her singing in a church. But I didn't get to hear as much of my mom singing because she stripped her vocal cords somewhere around when I was about eight, maybe somewhere around there. But she would constantly put us. We would have to go and wait for my dad. We would have to pick him up from my uncle's automotive shop that was like their hangout. And we would sit there waiting. My dad was not very considerate of the fact that we were sitting in the car waiting. And my mother was one of those women who just would sit and wait. Like, I would have drove off, but my mother would sit there and wait. And she would have all this in the car and we coming from school, and she would just start, to the best of her ability with vocal cords, giving us our parts to sing together. Cause she kind of wanted us to be like Jackson 5 or DeBarge or. What was that, the jets or somebody. You know what I mean? Staples singers. Yeah, yeah. She wanted those kind of things. And so she would give us our parts and teach us how to harmonize. She would explained to us which instruments were what on the. You know, she kind of infused these things into us without us really noticing, not noticing her intention. And before I became. Ever wanted to become a singer, she would say, tedra, don't get all those cavities in your mouth. Because when the girls are on TV and they're singing and opening their mouth, it's all that black, nasty stuff. Or silver and don't do that. Take care of your teeth. So when you open. Tori. I had no desire. I meant to be a doctor or a lawyer. I didn't know what this lady was talking about. But I think that goes to show you that parents see things in their children.
- [14:14]
Torre
Why'd you move to la?
- [14:15]
Tedra Moses
My mother left my father, and I said, mom, we can't just move to the east side.
- [14:19]
Torre
Was she escaping?
- [14:20]
Tedra Moses
I think she was.
- [14:21]
Torre
Did he know that you're leaving?
- [14:23]
Tedra Moses
No. He did.
- [14:24]
Torre
Oh. So it was like midnight, we're out.
- [14:25]
Tedra Moses
It was the daytime, you know. But she left my father. And we say, mom, why you can't just move to the East, New Orleans East. She's sick. Cause your dad will kill us. But I don't think he really would have killed us. But my mother was one of those ones she didn't, like, sugarcoat anything. And my aunt. My Auntie Mona, may she rest in peace, she died in 2022. Late 2022. And she used to tell me every time I would come home and I sit and talk to her because I love talking to my auntie. And she would say, girl, I will never forget when your daddy called me Mona. Mona. Have you seen Shirley? Have you seen Shirley? Cause I think the house got robbed. I don't. I haven't seen the kids. I don't. I think somebody robbed me. All they left was the microwave. Oh.
- [15:06]
Torre
So he really had no idea?
- [15:07]
Tedra Moses
He had no idea? He had no idea? No. Oh, the man was crazy.
- [15:11]
Torre
I'm sorry. Well, wait, what. What had happened that. That made that need to happen?
- [15:16]
Tedra Moses
My father was abusive. And I think from me understanding now that he probably cheated and stuff too. But she wasn't happy. She was very, very unhappy. Like breakdowns? Like breakdowns. My mother was. She would get so overwhelmed that she would, like, just kind of, like, drop on the floor and just, you know, like, really overwhelmed. Really, really overwhelmed. She was a. She had four children with a man that was abusive and dismissive, and it was time to go.
- [15:49]
Torre
What number are you?
- [15:50]
Tedra Moses
I'm sorry. Other kids, I'm in the middle. I'm the third child, and it's four of us.
- [15:55]
Torre
When did you start to say, oh, I could sing well enough that I could make a run at it.
- [16:02]
Tedra Moses
I could try to sing professionally when I was doing wardrobe styling. And my children's father is a rapper by the name of Raz Kaz, and he was around it all the time. And I just never really thought I could sing because I grew up in Southern Baptist Church, where People belt outside and they were very powerful. Like, people sing like Jasmine Sullivan in my church. You know what I mean?
- [16:25]
Torre
And that wasn't you.
- [16:26]
Tedra Moses
That wasn't me. You know, that wasn't me. I had this sweet little voice. And so at this point, I'm working with my best friend Nadia McKenzie, who's a wardrobe stylist, My children's father, he's a rapper and he has his thing. She has her thing. I'm just doing, working with her because she's my friend and I'm excited about her thing, but it's really her thing and I'm making money doing it. We're making pretty good money and we traveling all over the world, but it's not my thing. So then I had to get to a point like, what do I love? And I love music. And so I just took a shot at it. My children's father and I fell out for reasons that were, you know, we couldn't get back together. And he, I asked him could he introduce me to some, some producers and he introduced me to Paul Pauley and we went from there. But it wasn't like, I can do this. It was like, I'm gonna try.
- [17:11]
Torre
I'm gonna try.
- [17:12]
Tedra Moses
You know what I mean? Yeah, I'm gonna try. I'm gonna try.
- [17:17]
Torre
Hey, it's Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, and Chris Sullivan from that Was Us finally here.
- [17:25]
Tedra Moses
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- [17:31]
Torre
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- [17:55]
Tedra Moses
Brooklinen offers so many different tones and textures, which is great since new colors can make your bedroom feel fresh and inviting. Plus, their lightweight, airy fabrics are perfect for sun kissed mornings and cozy nights.
- [18:08]
Torre
And the best part, Brooklinen has everything you need, from soft sheets to the perfect throw blankets. To style and layer your bed effortlessly, it's no wonder they have over 100,000 five star reviews. People love them. So if you're ready to refresh your space, now is the time.
- [18:25]
Tedra Moses
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- [19:08]
Torre
You know, I feel like soul music is a culture, right? And it's who you are, and hip hop is a culture, and it's who you are. And to me, in a way, like a rapper and a singer being. And you're a singer before you're a professional singer, right? You are a soul music person before you. So to that combination, I'm like, how does that work of this person who's like, you know, he is hip hop and you are soul music? And so how does that connect?
- [19:41]
Tedra Moses
The beautiful thing about it is, I will say this. Of all the things that didn't work with Raz and I, we made beautiful children, number one, who are also really great artists on their own. They have in a group called Coast Contra. And he gave me outside of the ear I picked up from New Orleans and growing up with black music, like, black music, from gospel to jazz, I grew up with black music. When I first met Rez, he taught me about the Pesh mode. But at the same time, I would go with him to the jazz spot in Leimert park, and we would sit there all day listening to albums for him to find samples. Then he would go to this place and dig in the crates to find records. And then we'd go back to his house, and then we would just listen, listen, listen, listen. He really trained my ear. But then at the same time, he introduced me to Nas and Snoop Dogg's first album, which is stuff I probably wouldn't have listened to on my own, you know, and Big L and all this stuff that I probably wouldn't listen to. So he gave me ear, and I think that it helped me as an artist a lot. And at the time, I don't know if I was an influence to him in music because he was already doing his thing, you know what I mean? But he was pouring into me, and I think that was the benefit of having, like, the rapper boyfriend.
- [20:57]
Torre
Mm, interesting.
- [20:58]
Tedra Moses
I love that kind of rapper boyfriend.
- [21:00]
Torre
Right, right. No, I Love how your ear is being trained. Cause he's just sitting there all day looking for samples. Not just from.
- [21:06]
Tedra Moses
And I love him so much. I just want to be with him, of course.
- [21:08]
Torre
And not just from the soul music, you know, but from. We sample from everywhere. And so you are getting to learn and hear all these different things that you had not. So he opened your musical world up. That's amazing.
- [21:23]
Tedra Moses
Yeah, he did. Thanks, Raz.
- [21:26]
Torre
Complex Simplicity is such an amazing title. 20 years. 20 years. Congratulations.
- [21:33]
Tedra Moses
Thank you so much.
- [21:34]
Torre
How does the title relate to what we get musically?
- [21:42]
Tedra Moses
I think that the sound of my project, my first project, was far more sophisticated than I was at the time.
- [21:54]
Torre
Okay.
- [21:55]
Tedra Moses
And I think that was the complex simplicity in the sound. I mean, if it was up to me, I would have just jack beats and sang over hip hop records, you know what I mean? Because that's what I really enjoyed.
- [22:04]
Torre
You would have done a Mary J. Blige kind of thing.
- [22:06]
Tedra Moses
I was doing a Mary J. Blige type of thing in my mind. Even though the A song that really was the basis of the creation of the sound of Complex Simplicity was Aaliyah's Rock the Boat. Because it had that, like, I love 80s. I love the 80s sound, and it had that 80s sound, and I wanted that sound throughout. But I also loved hip hop so much. By this time, I'm, like, really, really in love with hip hop. And so in my mind, I was doing the Mary J. Blige thing, but it was a. Not that Mary is not sophisticated, extremely, always have been very sophisticated, but it was more directly from the hood. I think what I was doing was a little bit more polished than I actually was at the time. And to me, that was the complex simplicity of the sound. But if you listen to what I'm saying, clearly I was a young woman from an urban area, you know what I mean? And went through struggles, if you listen to what I was saying on it. And my life at that time is really where the name came from. It was less of the records I was making, but the struggle that I was in. And I kept telling myself that life is simple, but we complicated. And I'm trying to figure out, how do I simplify it in here, in here. Because I know it's black and white. I don't care what anybody says, that gray is bullshit. I knew this as a young person. It's black and white, but I'm complicating it somewhere in here. And it took me a long time to figure it out. But a good start was Getting out these emotions on this album. And I will never forget Paul Pauley, who executive produced it with me and produced most of the records on there. We were sitting on my balcony at my house, on my patio at my house one time and drinking some red wine, just talking. I was like, you know, it's like, it's simple, but it's complex. You know, it's like, it's complexities, but, you know, I keep saying these words. He was like, it's complex simplicity. And then we decided right then and there that's what the name of the album was, because I was really just talking about life. I wasn't really talking about the music, but when I look at the music, I can hear all those things within it.
- [24:08]
Torre
Sometimes when we look back at art that we made a while ago, we get critical of it because we have grown and changed and we're not. So do you look back on it and be like, you know, it's still the way that I would do it, Or I'm like, I would do it a little bit differently now?
- [24:25]
Tedra Moses
No, I think I didn't like it at first. I think I love it now.
- [24:29]
Torre
You didn't like your.
- [24:30]
Tedra Moses
I didn't like it, No. I thought it was okay when it was released.
- [24:32]
Torre
You didn't love it.
- [24:33]
Tedra Moses
By the time it was released, I had started to like it a little bit more. I was just heavily critical of myself. And it was probably my insecurities that stopped me from liking it because I just. Just didn't think I was good enough. I just didn't think I was good enough. This is my first time. You have to understand, Tori, I didn't do jam sessions and, you know, fight hard to get a deal and go out here and work with all different producers. I met a producer, we made records, and then we put out. The very first song I ever wrote in my life and recorded and arranged and sang was on that album, you know, so it was like no pre work before that. So I think it was a high level of insecurity was why I didn't like it, not because it wasn't good. And now in retrospect and as time has gone on, I look, listen back, and I'm very proud of myself because it was way better than I thought it was.
- [25:21]
Torre
Yeah. Yeah. Wow. That sounds.
- [25:23]
Tedra Moses
So I guess I'm reversed in what was.
- [25:24]
Torre
No, but it sounds hard. It sounds hard. I mean, what do they say, like, the first album is based on, like, everything you've ever thought and experienced up until that time?
- [25:34]
Tedra Moses
Yeah.
- [25:34]
Torre
And then the second album is the period between the first album and the second album. Which is why sometimes you get a sophomore slump or whatever. But you were still a developing musician at every level as a baby. As you're making this album, definitely you're building the plane as you fly it.
- [25:54]
Tedra Moses
Yes. And with not a lot of. Well, I guess I did have courage, but not a lot of security.
- [25:59]
Torre
Well, that's an interesting point because you're on tvt, which I remember small label, but it had a couple other people that popped off. But then the label goes bankrupt.
- [26:10]
Tedra Moses
Yes.
- [26:12]
Torre
I don't.
- [26:13]
Tedra Moses
In 2008.
- [26:15]
Torre
Why. How. How did.
- [26:17]
Tedra Moses
That's Steve Gottlieb's business. I don't really know. I just know that it did. And maybe it was. Cause I remember it was. Koch was the number one and TBT was like the number two indie label. And this is, you know, Torre. That wasn't a woo hoo indie time. It was like.
- [26:34]
Torre
It was rough.
- [26:34]
Tedra Moses
Yeah. It was like. And so I don't know if maybe they moved too fast, you know, because TVT started. It's called TV Tunes because the owner had published it on a lot of the different shows, the theme songs, which was lucrative because these shows are playing constantly over and over. And I don't know what happened. I can't tell you what happened.
- [26:57]
Torre
Tell me how it affected you. Like, how do you learn this information? And then how do you see, like, this is the impact it has on me.
- [27:04]
Tedra Moses
Well, I already had my hand raised. I was trying to get out of there. You see what I'm saying?
- [27:08]
Torre
Because you knew things were not going in the right direction.
- [27:10]
Tedra Moses
Well, I just realized that I don't think I was ever meant. I think TBT was the best place for me. Because if I was on a bigger label, they probably would have just dropped me before the album came out. Because I'm not. I don't know. I just. I like to do what I want to do. Not in a way like I'm defiant. It's just like I'm not easily controlled for reasons that don't make sense. I'm gonna listen when it makes sense, but when it doesn't make sense. Like I'm not gonna listen. And I know who I am. And as much as I may have had insecurities, I understood who I was. I tore all my hair out when I was. I first started. Cause I wasn't gonna wear a weave. Cause I already had hair. You know, it was these things that I just would stick to. And I think that TVT was the perfect place for me to start. And then when we got to the place of them going defunct, I did want to go to another label. And for a second, I thought about going to another label. But I wasn't gonna take the halt of going to another label and finding a new label. I was gonna just keep going, keep going. I have an album that's not highly publicized. You know, I've been on that label for four years. The album came out maybe two years or three years before it went defunct. And so what do I know how to do? I know how to perform, or if I don't, I'm about to learn. So I'm going on the road now. I performed that album for years and years, and then I started to make mixtape. And so it really put me back into artist development. Okay, Them, the label going defunct put me back into artist development. Now I'm on the road. I'm perfecting, learn, you know, how to rock these shows. I'm making mixtapes, but because I don't feel secure enough to say I'm making original songs, but I don't feel secure enough to say this is an album. Plus, I don't have the money to mix and master them because it wasn't that cheap back then, you know, so I'm just now making mixtapes. I'm an R and B artist.
- [28:59]
Torre
But you're giving away the mixtapes.
- [29:01]
Tedra Moses
I'm first giving away the mixtapes because that was how we did it back then.
- [29:05]
Torre
So you were a touring artist. That's how you were.
- [29:06]
Tedra Moses
I was touring.
- [29:07]
Torre
Cause you didn't have a record deal.
- [29:08]
Tedra Moses
I did not.
- [29:09]
Torre
Right. So we made our money touring.
- [29:11]
Tedra Moses
Yeah, made my money touring and selling the mixtapes when I had them, you know? Yeah. And writing for other people. Cause I started writing for others as well.
- [29:20]
Torre
I mean, how long is it between Complex Simplicity and your second album?
- [29:24]
Tedra Moses
Oh, the second album came out in 10 years. Yeah, 11 years.
- [29:29]
Torre
You know, folks don't realize, why did Tedra have this big album, this beloved album here, and then she doesn't do anything for 10. Well, it's not her fault the label fell apart. The label went bankrupt. And then she's trying to figure out her life, and then she's trying to figure out what next label to get to and that.
- [29:48]
Tedra Moses
And raise kids in between all that by myself.
- [29:51]
Torre
How old are your kids when the label goes bankrupt?
- [29:55]
Tedra Moses
8, 9, 10? Somewhere around 10, 11.
- [29:58]
Torre
Wow. So you're really going through it there.
- [30:01]
Tedra Moses
Yeah. And. But I was blessed because, like I said, I started writing for Other people. And I had a record that popped off that kind of gave me money to invest in myself. That was Dip It Load from Christina Milian. And so that kind of gave me. And I had other records, too, that you can put that smaller money with the bigger money. So it was holding me down. But then I got sued, right? And so I got sued for the Dip Below record, which I didn't have anything to do with the music part. But Paul. Pauly and I did that record and we were sued. And that took a lot of finances. And so, you know, now you're losing homes and all these different things. But I think ultimately through that whole process, I became a much better artist. I mean, I just started to really. When you don't have anything, you lean on what you do have. And I had talent, so I just started going into that, you know.
- [30:55]
Torre
You had a period when you went with Rick Ross.
- [30:57]
Tedra Moses
Yes.
- [30:58]
Torre
How did that come about? And how did. How did that feel? How. That wasn't that long.
- [31:02]
Tedra Moses
Yeah, well, it was. I moved to Miami because that wasn't a time when I was losing everything. So my house in la, it was too expensive, and so I had to just let that go. Y'all can have that. Do what you will with it. I can't. I can't take it. So I. I go to. I moved to Miami, where I had a place there as well. Now that's where I live and in New Orleans. And Rick Ross was like. He reached out to me on Twitter and he was like, yo, I heard you live here now. Come by the house.
- [31:29]
Torre
Is it DM or a straight up dm?
- [31:31]
Tedra Moses
Yeah.
- [31:32]
Torre
That's crazy.
- [31:32]
Tedra Moses
Yeah. He's like, come by the house. And I realized he was like 20 minutes away. Look. Okay, I'm gonna come over there now. Went over there. And this is when he was putting together Maybach Music. He had Meek Mill, Wiley. And then he says, just. I remember him saying this specifically. He goes, just change your. What is it that you do in the. Like, in your. In your social media, you know, your description. He says, just put MG MMG in your bio. Change your bio mmg. And I was like, okay, cool. But we never technically signed anything or. I was never technically signed to him. I was never on mmg. Oh, yeah. I just kind of just started singing on their records. And listen, Tory, at the time, it was helpful. This helpful?
- [32:13]
Torre
Yeah, yeah.
- [32:13]
Tedra Moses
It was the first. He was the first person ever even said my name on mtv. And I had been out for I don't know how long, you know, so it was like a thing that just brought attention to what I was doing.
- [32:21]
Torre
But then. But then that didn't become like. It seems like there's a string of, like, music industry things that have nothing to do with you. They keep getting in the way of you. Like, I just want to make a record and put it out to the people. And, like, did this, you know, the bankruptcy, the lawsuit, the MMG comes and goes. And there's another label situation.
- [32:44]
Tedra Moses
Yeah, we did. We did Shanake with the. Which is a very indie label that was distributing through. It's called Monarch now, but it was called EONE at the time, and we did that project. But honestly, Don't Cry for Me, Argentina, because. Because I have no qualms with any of that. You know how you have people and you see their name and then you see all their publishing and you see all these things behind it. Like, I think me getting the label was just as hard as me getting a boyfriend. I'm. I don't attach to people that easy. Like, we had conversations with mmg. It just. There was no negotiation. And I'm not gonna give up my publishing. You know, they. Certain conversations with certain people. Well, yeah, I don't do 360s, you know what I mean? Like, these were choices.
- [33:34]
Torre
Does that make it harder for you to get a deal when you're like, no three 60s, no publishing. And that alone is going to make.
- [33:40]
Tedra Moses
People not like, I've built this publishing before you came along. You're not helping me build my publishing. And I built my stage show and these people coming out to see me before you came along. So I made a choice to not do that.
- [33:51]
Torre
Yeah, but that limits your.
- [33:53]
Tedra Moses
Yeah.
- [33:54]
Torre
Possibilities. Yeah, that's crazy.
- [33:57]
Tedra Moses
I'd rather be here where I am than somewhere doing it in a space where I'm not getting what I deserve.
- [34:07]
Torre
Is it that I refuse to entertain any 360 or. You are not offering me enough money.
- [34:14]
Tedra Moses
I don't want to sell my. This is mine. It's for me. It's for my children. It's for my children's children. It's ours. It comes from here.
- [34:25]
Torre
Who told you? Like, don't ever.
- [34:28]
Tedra Moses
Raz. Kaz, he told you.
- [34:30]
Torre
Don't ever let go of your publishing.
- [34:32]
Tedra Moses
Listen, I wanna say this on your show too. Cause people have heard me say things about Raz where it makes it seem like we're not cool. We're really cool. But this is the main thing. He did piss me off. Not helping me take care of those kids. I was very mad about it, but he gave me tools. Do you understand what I'm saying? In retrospect, now that we're older, I look at it and I thank him so much for saying, don't sell your publishing. It saved me millions of times over. I remember being without a place to live and then $300,000 coming through and then coming through every three months. Do you know what I mean? I remember what my publishing did for me, because this man told me, I messed up. Don't sell your publishing. And he also told me, don't let them tell you this is how it goes. And I never let them tell me this is how it goes. I would leave before I would go along with how it goes. And I would suffer to just own myself, because I've seen what it does at any time. I mean, look at Be a girl. Be a Girl was just a regular. Be a girl who's doing fine. Kaytronetta comes on now. It's the end. You just don't know what can happen. But if you own it, whatever happens is on you. You know what I mean? So I thank him for that.
- [35:30]
Torre
If you made more from songs you.
- [35:32]
Tedra Moses
Wrote or songs you cut, Definitely songs I wrote originally. Yeah. But then that started getting annoying to me, too, because shopping songs is just like a headache.
- [35:45]
Torre
Is it? Yeah.
- [35:46]
Tedra Moses
Because I also was in the early 2000s. Now, you had the girls that were singing. You definitely had girls in the early 2000s singing. But then we had pretty girls that just were pretty.
- [35:55]
Torre
That's right.
- [35:55]
Tedra Moses
And they just wanted the pretty girls to sing.
- [35:57]
Torre
Mtv, right? Bet, Right.
- [35:59]
Tedra Moses
And so they. They would get these songs. Oh, teachers. This is amazing. This is amazing. Right? Because you like hearing me sing it because I can sing. But then you take it to your girl who is super cute. Cute girl. Super cute. But when it's time for her to sing this song, she's not singing it now. Oh, this song is bad. It's like, I'm not gonna do this. Because you know what, Torre? That tears away at your chops. Because now you're starting to simplify what you're doing to try to place these songs. So I quit. I stopped writing.
- [36:28]
Torre
Oh. You have to dumb yourself down to the level of the client, the potential client. But that's limiting you as an artist.
- [36:36]
Tedra Moses
Yeah. And I chose me as an artist, and I just never thought. And I, like, went through it because I was making money. Right. But it was just like, no, I just. I don't want to be whack. I'd rather be, like, really good. And Just keep believing in myself till I get there than to just like, conform to this mediocrity that y'all got going over here. And I become it. Picture the day I become that. You know, I much rather just struggle to be really great. Maybe one day some people will see that.
- [37:06]
Torre
I love that. I love that attitude.
- [37:09]
Tedra Moses
Thank you.
- [37:09]
Torre
I love that. Can you. Can you ballpark how much you made writing?
- [37:17]
Tedra Moses
I can just. I know, because I was sued. One song. I made like, $5 million on one song. That's not even the little ones record because I own 100%, you know, it's 200%. It's weird. In publishing, they call it 200%. It's like 100% this side and 100% that. So 100% publisher, 100% writer. Not only do I own my writing, I own my publishing, too, which, you know, would put me in bad situations where people sometimes wouldn't want to pay me because I'm not a big publishing company, you know, But I have a secret weapon by the name of Tamia Moses, who's my sister, and she gonna get that money, you know, so we just. My sister learned how to administer publishing, so we didn't have to pay somebody else to administer publishing, you know, so we just kind of like. We made good money. My sister was making good money.
- [38:03]
Torre
Five on one song.
- [38:05]
Tedra Moses
One record. Yeah.
- [38:06]
Torre
Is there another song that's close. That was Dippy Low. Is there another?
- [38:12]
Tedra Moses
And that was before the lawsuit, you know? That was before the lawsuit.
- [38:15]
Torre
Is there another song that's close to that for you?
- [38:19]
Tedra Moses
Be your girl does really well. The K Trotic mix. But it's in a different time, because if it was in the same time as when we were doing hardcore streaming era now. Yeah. But it does really well for streaming, so just imagine what it would do.
- [38:31]
Torre
But we're. But we're here. How many millions did that one make, you say?
- [38:36]
Tedra Moses
What?
- [38:36]
Torre
How many millions did that one make?
- [38:38]
Tedra Moses
A lot.
- [38:39]
Torre
A lot more than. It's your number two record.
- [38:42]
Tedra Moses
It's number two. Yeah.
- [38:43]
Torre
So it's like three, four, where it's.
- [38:45]
Tedra Moses
Somewhere like two, three. Wow. And still going.
- [38:49]
Torre
Wow.
- [38:50]
Tedra Moses
Yeah.
- [38:50]
Torre
That's crazy.
- [38:51]
Tedra Moses
Yeah.
- [38:54]
Torre
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- [39:23]
Tedra Moses
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- [39:49]
Torre
Limited time and subject to change max one offer per account every year. They always say people in music business are either richer than you would imagine or poorer than you would expect.
- [39:59]
Tedra Moses
Yeah, but see the thing is, is that then when you think about my overhead for making music, traveling with a band, I don't have any support. So I exhaust, I mean, God forgive me, but I would like not pay my bills to pay for music. Do you know what I mean? I would struggle to not have to suffer, to not make music like I would continue to. I mean, when we started out, it wasn't studio at your house, it was 1500 a day. Do you know what I mean? So I invested a lot in myself. So my overhead, until this day, my overhead is not my personal overhead. My business overhead is pretty high.
- [40:40]
Torre
How many shows a year do you try to do?
- [40:43]
Tedra Moses
I stopped in 2020 and just was chilling. That's when I realized I was making decent money on publishing because I wasn't making show money anymore. So that's when I realized, okay, publishing is doing pretty good, so I can handle my life. But before that, we didn't tour like that. We spot dated. Right. So probably doing like between three and six shows a month.
- [41:10]
Torre
Okay.
- [41:11]
Tedra Moses
You know, all year.
- [41:13]
Torre
Okay.
- [41:13]
Tedra Moses
Between three and six shows a month, maybe more. It's according to the month, it's according to the time, it's according to what I have out at the time. Because you have to understand this cult following I have, they get into these mixtapes. It may not be bigly, you know, widely publicized, but the cult fans there at these shows, they're, you know, in different places around the world. I have certain cities that I get it off in those cities.
- [41:36]
Torre
You know, I miss mixtapes.
- [41:38]
Tedra Moses
I do too.
- [41:39]
Torre
There was an era when it was a big part of the culture and artists, singers and rappers especially, would show you a different side of themselves. They would try a different pattern or they would try a different vocal tone, or they would come a different character, Persona, whatever, you know, more aggressive or more tender or vulnerable than you Do. I'm like, yo, that is so exciting. And I'm really excited about what you did there musically and then. But you can't have that world in the world of social media.
- [42:11]
Tedra Moses
I don't know why we did at first.
- [42:14]
Torre
I feel like social media was around.
- [42:16]
Tedra Moses
When we had our mixtapes. Just wasn't as big.
- [42:19]
Torre
It wasn't as big. It feel like the mixtapes felt like, this is underground. You gotta know where to get it. We don't promote it. So this is like the hardcore fan. And if you should make a mistake in some way, the hardcore fans are like, I still love you and I'm glad you tried. And now that record would go. Somebody would put it on Twitter, Instagram, whatever. A larger audience hears it. Like, you weren't supposed. That wasn't supposed to be for a million people. That's supposed to be for 100,000 hardcore people. Not like a.
- [42:47]
Tedra Moses
And that was the blog era. So the blogs would talk about it. That's what really pushed the mixtapes. That's how I would have a mixtape out, and that's how I would find out about other artists, because they would talk about somebody else that I didn't know about. I miss more than the mixtape era. I missed the blog era because the blog era gave you the information. Now you.
- [43:06]
Torre
What were your blogs that you loved?
- [43:09]
Tedra Moses
I don't even remember because I just used to be there. Like that Grape Juice from the uk, they were big on music. What's another one? You know, I Got Soul was a great R B one.
- [43:25]
Torre
I like the ones that would give you links.
- [43:28]
Tedra Moses
Yeah. To sell. They would give you links.
- [43:29]
Torre
And then I'm like, oh, I'm on.
- [43:31]
Tedra Moses
New shit that everyone else is now. You gotta really go figure it out.
- [43:34]
Torre
Yes.
- [43:34]
Tedra Moses
I follow, like, on Instagram and stuff like that. I follow the. They're now these pages that introduce you to music. I'm big on that.
- [43:42]
Torre
Yeah. I mean, okay. So being independent, part of what you are going uphill against is that labels are dropping 100, $200,000 for this new single to infiltrate radio and Spotify, and you can't do that. And that whole payola system is really hard for an independent artist to crack through.
- [44:08]
Tedra Moses
Mm. Which is why I decided to be in the industry of Teacher Moses and not in the music industry.
- [44:14]
Torre
What's the difference?
- [44:15]
Tedra Moses
The difference is I have a core fan base. So instead of me spending all my effort trying to gain the world, I'm going to concentrate on who loves me already. So I just kind of leaned into the love and then the love spreads, you know, they start to love it, and then it's one person at a time and it's like really slow. But this year, in this 20 year celebration, I'm coming to realize how well that worked.
- [44:44]
Torre
So, yeah, it's not about let's go out and try to get new fans. It's about let's super serve the current fans and they'll trickle new ones and new folks will come in with them.
- [44:57]
Tedra Moses
That's interesting strategy because the industry wasn't working for me. So then, like, me just make an industry of my industry of teacher Moses.
- [45:06]
Torre
So what does that look like different than if you were a regular label or like a label artist? Like, so that your teacher Moses business and music business.
- [45:17]
Tedra Moses
Like, because now I have people in Atlanta, I have a teen teacher in Atlanta. They come to every show. They gonna hold me down. They're gonna make sure everybody come to the show. If there's new music out, they're gonna send out all these links they. I mean, we have.
- [45:28]
Torre
But how did you let them know?
- [45:30]
Tedra Moses
Because I'm going directly to them. They getting the information. Because I'm going directly to my fan. Atlanta, London, New York, we have all these little pockets of people that are like, tedra, we love you. We just want to help you. They're not getting paid to do this. Just young people that want to share the music.
- [45:44]
Torre
So you're emailing them?
- [45:45]
Tedra Moses
I'm emailing them and I'm. Because they're already on the list. And then they're blasting out even more. This is early social media. Right. So it wasn't as.
- [45:54]
Torre
How many people are on your mailing list?
- [45:56]
Tedra Moses
I don't. I have no idea. Yeah, it's been accumulating over 20 years. Yeah.
- [46:02]
Torre
Okay.
- [46:02]
Tedra Moses
You know, so we, we just get information to the people. And I have always utilized social media. I'm not someone that has ever had anybody running my social media. My social media is not just about music. It's about me. So therefore, you're not just getting into the music, you're getting into the person. And if you become. It's one thing to love somebody's music, but when you can relate to that human being. Now that's your homegirl, right? You know, that's like the girl you want to date or your homegirl that you hang out with or your cousin in your head. You know what I mean?
- [46:32]
Torre
It's a whole different level when it's, I like that person's music, so I like that product that you created versus I like that person. And even if I don't like their fourth or fifth album, whatever it is, well, I'm still going to check for you the next time. Because I like you.
- [46:48]
Tedra Moses
You exactly. And I didn't try to do that, but I think that's what happened. Because I communicate with people directly. I'm not here. I'm here. So if you're here, I'm here.
- [46:57]
Torre
I'm with you.
- [46:58]
Tedra Moses
I'm not here. Yeah, I'm. Listen, I've had fans of my. My music in my hotel room in a cipher, smoking weed. Like, I appreciate you. So I treat you like my friend, because you are. Because clearly you can relate to what I'm talking about. I'm being very honest here. And so we relate, you know? And I think that that thing, that thing right there helped me keep going. And like I said, Here we are 20 years later on this tour, and I'm coming to realize how well it worked. And it wasn't contrived, Tori. It's just who I am. I'm appreciative and I'm generous to people that are generous to me.
- [47:30]
Torre
You know, you talk a lot about weed. Are you Indica or Sativa?
- [47:34]
Tedra Moses
I'm more Indica. Oh, yeah. I don't. I'm not as much. I think when I was younger, I was more sativa. Cause I had to move around as a wardrobe stylist. I moved around a lot, a lot, a lot. Indica. More for me, because it's more creative to me. It triggers me more.
- [47:48]
Torre
Like, it depresses you. It makes you sleep. Like it takes you down.
- [47:52]
Tedra Moses
No, not me.
- [47:53]
Torre
Okay.
- [47:54]
Tedra Moses
Different strands maybe affect people differently. Indica. For me, it just gets me into a mode of my mind. It's coming, it's coming. I can't even hold on to him. Like my engineer. Be like, okay, I got it. I'm coming. Because he's not moving fast enough for me to get this stuff out of my head. So that's what I like about Inda. It doesn't slump me, you know, it's just. I'm high enough. I'm not gonna smoke all this damn sativa trying to get high. I'm not gonna smoke 12 joints to get high. I can smoke a half of a Nzika joint and be high.
- [48:25]
Torre
You know, Isn't it crazy how it has changed in our lifetime from being illegal and possibly immoral and the beginning of the end of your life? And you're a horrible person. And now there's a weed shop everywhere you. Miami, weed shops, L.A. weed shops everywhere. Wait, is it legal in Miami?
- [48:43]
Tedra Moses
It is medicinally legal, not recreationally.
- [48:46]
Torre
Do you have to have a card?
- [48:47]
Tedra Moses
Yeah.
- [48:48]
Torre
So it's kind of restricted.
- [48:50]
Tedra Moses
I, I, I smoke weed all over the world freely. It's my God given right.
- [48:57]
Torre
But it's not legal in New Orleans, is it? No, the south is not ready.
- [49:01]
Tedra Moses
We might as well, because we're all doing it.
- [49:04]
Torre
You know, that's the thing. Everybody's doing it. But then they want to keep it illegal. I think the rest of the country is, the coasts have been much more open to like, okay, fine.
- [49:15]
Tedra Moses
I think they have a problem with letting go of the prisoners that are in prison for this crime. I think that's just my opinion, especially Louisiana because, you know, they have more prisons than anywhere in the United States of America, probably anywhere in the world. Oh yeah. What we do have is prisons, baby. There's a lot of prisons. And so I don't think these states, I don't think they want to let go of those prisoners. You know, I just wish somebody would get into the Oval Office and federally legalize it. Let these people out of prison.
- [49:49]
Torre
I would like to do, I'd like to see that. I mean, you know, it's, I don't know, it's painful to see non violent offenders sitting in prison. And yet now that it's leaking, everybody's making money.
- [50:07]
Tedra Moses
And then they're making it hard for people that were in the position, you know, this is what they were making money off of. And now they have legal background, like, you know, illegal background. And now you're making it hard for them to get into it legally, which is crazy. That just doesn't make sense. And more than anything, this is a beautiful plant.
- [50:29]
Torre
It's natural.
- [50:30]
Tedra Moses
You let farmers sell their pills and mess up people's toxins, put the toxins in the bile, mess up people's livers.
- [50:36]
Torre
And stuff, you know, it's not addictive. I don't want everybody to have access to cocaine. That's a very dangerous drug.
- [50:43]
Tedra Moses
That's different.
- [50:44]
Torre
But marijuana is like, it's different.
- [50:47]
Tedra Moses
It's not altered. You just put it. I've done it. I've thrown seeds. When I used to have weed with seeds, I would throw the seed in the pot. I live in Miami. Next thing I look up is the plant growing out. How is that illegal?
- [51:00]
Torre
It mellows you out.
- [51:01]
Tedra Moses
It's so good. It's good. We're all peaceful. This is what the Indians were smoking when they were passing the peace piping. You want peace? Let Everybody smoke marijuana.
- [51:10]
Torre
This is why they sold Manhattan for nothing.
- [51:13]
Tedra Moses
No, they were too happy.
- [51:16]
Torre
Sure you want the land shirt? What.
- [51:19]
Tedra Moses
What is the point of this?
- [51:21]
Torre
Oh, my God. You worked a lot with one of the giants, Rafael Siddiq. What was it like working with him as genius.
- [51:30]
Tedra Moses
Very genius. It was early on in my career, and I think that gave me some confidence. When I talk about not having confidence, the way he would just, like, do it, you know? And I'm expecting him to tell me what to do. No, not really. He would just encourage you, I guess. Encouraged me in a sense of do it. I would do it. He was like, I like it. And that wasn't encouraging enough. I remember when I first wrote the record Take Me on my debut album, Complex Simplicity, that we collaborated on. I was originally writing it for Truth Hurts, who was signed to him at the time on his label. And he had given it to me, and I'd gone home and I wrote it, and he said, come in and record it. And I remember the music's playing. The guy's recording me. He's just sitting there. He wasn't even paying attention. He was sitting in a high chair. And I just sing the first line. Winter's here. And he just fell out of his seat, you know, And I kept singing. I came out, he was like, that's amazing. You should keep that. I don't think anybody else should sing it. And that's how that ended up being on my album. And I think that, to me, is that's what it was like working with him. He. Because he was a genius, and I'm looking like, yo, this dude is a genius. And he interacted with me and collaborated with me like I was equal, which made me feel confident.
- [52:52]
Torre
Wow. Wow.
- [52:54]
Tedra Moses
Clearly not equal. Let's say that. No, he's a genius, you know, but especially at the time, clearly not equal.
- [53:00]
Torre
But to get the most out of you as an artist, with him as a producer, he's gotta make you feel comfortable. He can't lord over you. Then you go into a shell, and now you're not gonna be a great artist for his song. So he's gotta, like, coach you and make you feel comfortable.
- [53:17]
Tedra Moses
Yeah, But I think that that's just the way he is. Like, I think he's probably the type of. I don't know for sure, but I think he's just like. Either he really loves it or, like, what I will say. Being around him in my early part of my career, I realized that you could just do what you're really good at and be all right, you know what I mean? Like, Raphael has done music really, really well. Move into spaces of scoring films and all these different things, producing for other people. And the compromise of, like, having to do wax stuff never came. And I realized that with him, like, you don't have to conform to do. And he does well at it, you know what I mean? And I realized that with Raphael, I can do what I love to do and do it at the quality level I like and be okay.
- [54:03]
Torre
I talked to a lot of people on the show about what it means to be black and how that shows up in the work for them. And, like, so much of your history is about black culture and. But I'm curious how you feel about that, about what being black means to you and how it shows up in your work.
- [54:25]
Tedra Moses
That's my superpower, being black. Yeah, that's my superpower being a black woman at that. That's my superpower. Because soul is innately in me. And I'm from New Orleans, too. Soul is just innately in me. Like, just the way I talk, the way I walk. Don't nobody's hip sway like a black woman?
- [54:48]
Torre
Yeah, right.
- [54:49]
Tedra Moses
There is no one, and there's a. That motion is a rhythm, and that's just. That's running through my. My blood, you know? Like, I don't think I would be as good at anything. Being a mother, being a singer, being a friend without my blackness. I think the core of what makes me. And I don't know if this has come off arrogant. I don't mean it that way. The core of what makes me as fly as I am in anything is being black.
- [55:16]
Torre
Yes, yes, yes. Well, just all the things you learned in. Grew and took from the community.
- [55:22]
Tedra Moses
Yeah.
- [55:23]
Torre
I mean, like, black culture is the thing that makes America fly. Makes America, you know, cool and hip and so. Yeah, yeah. All the things that you have taken in from all the black culture you've.
- [55:35]
Tedra Moses
Been part of, like, and we witness, like, as children, we witness, especially as a woman, we witness older women and we watch how they are. We listen to their conversations. This is all infusing us. You know, it's like, innately in you to. Even if it's just in your mind to tell yourself you that bitch, because that's just what you have seen. Even if even women that are like Dawson, they got moments where they look in the mirror and they see that black woman and they feel that thing. I don't know if it's the ancestors moving through you or whatever. It's A thing. It's a thing. And it's not something I can even put words on that makes me know that I am special. This is my superpower because I am black. Because how other people look and say, oh, black people have gone through this. Gone through. That's the damn word there. Gone through. We have made it to other sides. I don't think we give ourselves enough credit for being as super as we are, despite all that we've gone through. Oh, black people don't do this. Black people don't unite. I hate to hear people that are not black talk about how black people hate on each other. You have no clue. You've never lived in my neighborhood. You've never been in my family. We champion each other. I can be walking down the street, say, I'm walking down the street in this outfit today. A black girl is gonna look at me and say, oh, girl, you look good. Oh, sister, you look. This is what we do for each other. We light each other up because we can see the superpower in each other. You understand what I'm saying? I think there's an envy of this superpower. I revel in that envy. I genuinely do.
- [57:21]
Torre
Thanks so much to Tedra for a great interview. And thanks to you for watching Torre. Show gives you fuel to power your dreams, because you can use your dreams like a rocket ship to blast you into a life you never imagined. You can make your dreams a reality, and maybe this show can help. You can find me on TikTok, @toraShow, on Instagram torayshow, and on Bluesky. Ore show is written by me, Torre, and produced by Ashley Hobbs. Our editor is Ryan Woodhull. Our booker is Ray Holiday, and we're distributed by DCP Entertainment. And we will be back next Wednesday with more amazing guests because the man can't shut us down.
- [58:03]
Tedra Moses
Sa.