DJ iZ Interview with Lyndsey Parker | LPtv

Hey, this is Lindsay Parker here for LPTV at Licorice Pizza with DJ Royalty.

What up, girl? How you doing?

I'm doing good. I got I got my necklace on. Yeah.

Yeah.

There's lots to talk about. Um, thank you for coming here. I know you're super into vinyl here at the store. You do an event called The Art of Vinyl. We are surrounded by vinyl. So, we are in our element.

It's like a toy store for me.

Yeah. You like um I mean, we'll get into it, but you you're really you kind of got your start with crate digging and stuff like that.

Yeah, for sure. Sure, I mean it was it was something that my pops had throughout the house uh amongst instruments and I started off on drums first and that and that obviously involved and and uh you know crate digging became a part of my my creativity.

So for people watching this who maybe don't know your resume uh why don't you give I mean we could take it would probably take a long time for you to read off your whole Wikipedia page but you're part of the Aila brothers.

Yes. Shout out to my broski I think he's in Houston right now working with baby bash man. What's up broki? And the reason for the Yeah. necklace, the inside joke is that you've worked with Usher a lot. Sure. Including the Super Bowl show last year, which we'll talk about. But why don't we Yeah. Why don't you say

you do a lot of things.

Yeah. Yeah. I I think it all starts from my core loving love for music and and a

musician that later on later on led to songwriting and producing, but it really started in the house. My pops was a keyboard player, so they were always rehearsing at the crib and uh we couldn't get no sleep cuz the garage was next to the bedroom. So it's like, hey, if you're going to be up, come here and listen. And I just would just naturally go sit by the drummer. I was I was always fueled by groove and the sound of a drum and and beat and rhythm. And so that's kind of where the this infectious thing started.

And um this was all in Southern California. You're southern California just like me.

Yeah. From the Inland Empire. Shout out to Rialto, Fontana, Riverside, all of them. That's that's my home. Yeah. Grew up in Rialto.

So what was your first big break? You said you started as a drummer, but then you became a DJ, producer, mixer, like you know,

you know, I would say my first big break is uh I actually at the time was was,

you know, I did a deep dive into break dancing that spawned off into me, you know, going down the rhyming route. Yeah.

Wait, you did break dancing?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean,

oh my god, that's so cool.

You know, when it's like, you know, when you grow up in the hood, that's what's around. You got break dancers, you got everybody just outside, you know what I'm saying? And that was the thing. So started there and that eventually, you know, fell into um, you know, un like really understanding hip-hop, learning how to rhyme. And my first break was my brother produced my demo and I got signed with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and I was 13.

And I mean, my god, talk about royalty. That is so so cool. 13.

13.

You're kind of similar similar, I guess, to sort of Usher. He started that young as well.

Yeah, we started um we started young. my brother got his his deal with RCA at at 12 years old and that's really what catapulted and championed uh the direction that I was going and uh you know he he produced my demo and and you know he played my take for Jimmy Jam and they were like yo that's drive off the road music and and I got signed.

Was this after they'd had their success with Janet? Obviously that had

so this was like ' 9192 so this was right when they were you know working on Janet's album um you know they were doing new edition I mean it was it was royalty being over there you know it was like wow this this is how records are made

but you ended up sort of apprenticing you and your brother like working for them or it wasn't just that you signed to them you actually were kind of there right now

we were in-house I mean we were on the production side and you know that was like that was the start of what would become you know early 2000s what we were doing on on all the records we were producing.

Wow. So, what did you learn from I mean they're such legends. I mean they're such pioneers and and Jimmy Jam obviously he does all the stuff with the recording academy. He's like the coolest person in the world. Like

that you you talked about being like a kid in the candy shop here. You must have felt that way in their studio.

You know we did. You know that's the thing. It's like it's like when you when you think you understand how to make records and then you get to a place like Flight Time and it's like, "Oh, this is how records are made." You know, very high level. And you know, Terry was always about I talk about it all the time. He was always about the dynamics of a song, right? A song should never end the same way it started. That's called dynamics. And so, you know, one one rule of thumb in flight time was you didn't loop everything. You had to play it from top to bottom. So, if that was keys, you played from top to bottom.

There's no taking your eight bars loop loop. Like they believed in performance and what that meant to the song. And so that was new school for us. But we had practiced so much that you know I'm not going to say it was easy but that was already in our in our workings. You know

who did other artists you worked with during your flight time uh time?

I mean a lot of them I mean Mint Condition um Sounds of Blackness you know it was everybody that was in house at that time that was around. I mean, it was like it was like pick of the litter.

So, so cool. So, you started as a break dancer.

Mhm.

Did you do competitions?

No, I did. I mean, now we battled

best dance crew, which was my favorite.

So, we our version of that was like, who's the next crew in the city? We're either going to battle at a house party or at school, you know, that that's that was just the the arena at that time.

Did you So, you didn't do like the actual like America's Next Best Dance Crew. Remember that show? That was my favorite show.

I do. I do. We did it. you know, we we we just kind of kept it all within, you know, the Inland Empire and it was like whoever wanted it could get it. Let's go.

What was the name of your crew?

Uh we had a our crew was called Naughty Kid Naughty Kids and then you had another crew called uh Unity. And so, you know, that was and Perspective. So, that was like

those were the squads.

And then you were a rapper as well. So, you were a performer first and drummer.

Yes.

So, why or how did you sort of make a transition to being more a behind thes scenes guy? So, out of out of high school, I got a call uh to play on a couple of demos for artists uh at the time, which ended up being Macy Gray. And that happened through a good friend of ours, D Style, who was engineering my project. And D would hit me up like cuz D used to love I had this little three-piece hip-hop kit. It was old, raggedy. It was literally my first drum set. And I just I've kept it still to this day. And he was like, "Hey man, I need you to come play on some demos. Bring that hip-hop kit." And uh I would come in and and and play these songs down. And at the time it was nobody knew of her, but it was Macy Gray. And then that transpired into Macy saying is I want you to come on the road with me. And so I went on the road with her. And where it really started was with my boy Fizzed and every city

we'd hit, we'd go to a record store and I grabbed vinyl and bring it back to my hotel room and I had my MPC 3000 with me. And so night after night I'd be in my room after the show just cranking out beats.

Do people I mean we're sort of skipping ahead but you do these events called the art of vinyl here. It's like mixers for DJs and producers and stuff. Naive question because I'm not that like do people still use vinyl like the kind of stuff the sampling you do you talk about crate digging and stuff or has that kind of come back? So, here's what's interesting is that, you know, there's a lot of, you know, creatives in this newer generation where they're trying to, you know, emulate what the '9s was

and and and even hip-hop. And a lot of the ' 90s was fueled off of analog and crate digging. And so, in order to capture the essence of that, you got to go to the source. And the source is the vinyl. The source is trying to find that right break in a record. And yes, it it it has seen a resurgence. And I think that's why when you look at how folks are even discovering vinyl now at Walmart, you know, it's like there's something to be said about the experience of looking at photos and reading liner notes and the experience of grabbing a vinyl and putting it on a turntable.

Random aside, how do you feel about cassettes? Cuz I completely understand. See, I I understand the vinyl resurgence. The cassettes one I'm kind of puzzled by. But you got to think music needs a new experience cuz obviously the streaming has has taken away those elements, right? The the the personal aspect of it. And I think kids are now able to grab on these things that they're just they look cool. A Walkman in today looks cool. Like what is that? And it's you know what I'm saying? It's we're we're fueled by dope gadgets, right? So when they feel like they're discovering something new, you get a resurgence of vinyl. you get a resurgence of cassettes and I think CDs are on their way too.

I agree.

You know

what about Atrax?

No. No.

They do look cool though.

They do look cool. Um I get it.

But you know I think too like

we got to remember what music, the experience of music is about. It's about feeling away when you pick up a piece, when you listen to something, when you get excited about about something something that's music. And I think the only way to do that is to actually have a physical product that you can touch. And as creatives, it's the only way we can count our money now.

It's true,

right? So I love the idea of physical product. I should have never left.

First album you ever owned or bought?

Man, I never bought one album. I always bought a slew of albums. Um, one of my most favorite albums is probably that I've bought is in uh Indistinctive Travels by Tribe Called Quest. um you know because I remember having it on a cassette and so being able to have that album it was a memorable moment for me.

Very cool. So then as I've mentioned you obviously have worked a lot with Usher.

Yeah.

So how did that come about? Because you know that's a more than 20 year relationship at this point.

For sure. For sure. That's an interesting conversation. You know we were working at a place called The Village in Santa Monica. Uh Village Studios. Yep. Shout out to Jeff Greenberg, my bro. And we were just in there cooking and you know Usher came up on the schedule and T was like hey start preparing you know the the the playlist cuz he's coming up and if there's things you could play them and so I was like word okay let me let me go through my arsenal let me create on some stuff and see what I can can you know muster up and interesting story the first record we did for us on confessions uh confessions with a song called Truth Hurts Truth Hurts was a track that I had did for a group I went to high school with three years prior. And my my brother had always said from the day I created it was, "Yo, man, that's that's a joint I could hear Usher on." Three years prior to us meeting him. And so, you know, when we met him at the village, it was like, "Man, play that one." And so, I played that one. And then, you know, he we the way we have our setup is, you know, we always have a mic live in the studio. So, if anybody wants to shoot melodies out, we can capture it all. And put that joint on.

And it was like truth hurts truth and that and that and that was the first record that we worked on with him and then you know he ended up coming back to town and it's like you know we did four more. So

you said this was just three years out of high school maybe even less than that.

Yeah. So it was young.

Yeah. It was it was young, but it was more than anything was the fact that I had made that for a group that I went to high school with, right, which was 3 years prior and my brother spoke it into existence cuz that became the first track we worked on with us.

So cool. So you were mentioning uh actually before the cameras were rolling, you were talking about that record, it was all you worked with samples or crate digging that would be impossible to even track down like stuff. And that's the thing, like when I think about the majority of the records for Confessions, all of it was me crate digging, you know, like Seduction. I was crate digging, trying to find some sexy. That's what it's made for. It's like, okay, how can I create something that that moves a certain way that feels great but but feels like hip-hop, you know? And that was, you know, that's always been my creative pallet with my 3000 and crate digging. and also crate digging in a way where you're chopping things up so well, so crafty, d-tuning things that, you know, you may never find those records, you know,

not without getting too into legal ease or the weeds like, but how when it comes to legal stuff, how does that work?

Because we've heard, you know, stories about like

I think Biz Marquee had a lot of issues that was a big thing. I I think probably the Beasty Boy Voice with Paul Boutique kept, you know, which was so sampled. like how do you navigate that as that kind of legal landscape changes?

I think in all fairness when you when you do bars when you do loops of samples like a bar or two bars like you got to understand that you are now co-writing with the person that created that. Right? I've never been big on using like

bar measures of samples. Like I'll take a sound, chop it, splice it, d-tune it, resample it, freak it, so it becomes my own. Um, and I think you have to be aware of those parameters. Like, you know, when you're sampling hits that were big records in the 70s, like they're coming for you, you know? So, there's a way to do it. You got to be honorable to what you're doing with who's worked and and how you're initiating that conversation like, "Hey, man, I love I love for us to be co-writers on this cuz you brought something that that sparked my something and here was what we have together." You know what I mean? Have you been on the opposite side of that equation where someone has sampled or interpolated something you've done?

Yeah. Going through it now, you know. Um,

but you know, it's because I understand the art. It's all how you do it, you know. And one of the one of the issues I have like if you use like a whole song that we've done and you don't bother to reach out and say, "Hey, you know, we want to let you know we use this. Can we get clearance?" And build a relationship. then you just you disregard all the rules and then then you know you're up for the taking. You know, there's a respect to it. It's music, it's creativity, but it's also when you're using somebody's other idea and musical component. You got to do your due diligence and do the right thing.

I definitely want to ask you about the Super Bowl. Last year's Super Bowl was epic. There was roller skating involved. Um it's kind of, I guess you could call it, it was a bit of a comeback for Usher. He had like that kind of national international platform in a while. He had released music in a while. Tell me about your involvement in that. I can't even imagine all the moving parts to do something that scale and scope.

I'll tell you this, I don't want to ever do it again. Um, you know, that that all spawned from, you know, I joined Usher's band in 2009, became a part of the funk rock orchestra uh with a group of incredible gentlemen, my brothers that had been for with usher quite some time.

And you know, me joining the band, I think, was it was a great great opportunity for me. Um, I think being able to merge what I've done in the studio on the recording side for him and now I'm in this live setting. And, you know, there's something to be said about creating music and then seeing how the world embraces it. You know, when they're singing your songs, when you see that you've tapped something, you know, by all races and all walks of life, I mean, that that means something. and and being able to travel the world with him for almost 15 to 16 years. Um, it was amazing and it allowed me to continue, you know, to create for him. I mean, we had the next album, you know, Raymond Versus Raymond and, you know, at the time we were uh we were getting ready to do a tour which is which was his OMG tour and there's a track on there that me and my brother did which was and that track we always envisioned being the the opening song for the arena. And so to see that actually become the opening song for the arena was just like yo the power of creativity you know and so all of that led up to you know just the refinery of of mine and usher's relationship as brothers and and and and understanding each other's gears and always trying to push to get the best.

And so, you know, we we went into Vegas in 2020 out of the pandemic and produced his show um for the residency at Caesar's Palace uh along with Lil John, our bro, and and Chronic. And, you know, I think that really set the tone for what doors were going to open up for, you know, the next residency, which was Park MGM, and then what became Super Bowl. It's like

Super Bowl was in Vegas the year he

Super Bowl was in Vegas. And so doing all the groundwork and getting it to a point where you had to call us for the Super Bowl. You know, we had lit Vegas on fire and coming out of the pandemic, right? You're is this going to work? Are they going to shut it down? People are wearing masks and so having that all of that go on and still being a able to execute a show at a high level definitely set the stage for the Super Bowl call.

Were you there at the the Super Bowl? Were you there at the halftime physically there?

We performed.

Okay. Sorry.

Yeah. Yeah.

Sorry about that. dumb question. Uh, yeah. So, what was it like? Cuz also, you know, for the record, I don't think it's a problem if artists lip-sync at these things because for people, I'm not saying he did. I don't know if he did. Some people do and people give them crap for it. And I'm like, the moving parts for this, for it to be perfect

in what is it like 15, 17, 18 minutes, like there's no room for error sounds.

And it's great you say that cuz that's one of the things I I always touch on with Super Bowl. One thing I will tell you with us, he's nine times out of nine, he's never gonna lip sync. That is that is his respect for the craft, which is why he conditions himself the way he does.

And we all know he can sing.

And we all know he can sing, dance, and stay in key. So he's mastered that thing. That's I think that's one of the aspects of how much of a student he is for what he loves. So, you know, starting Super Bowl months prior just in preparation um from the music side and also his side like understanding the process he he put his body through to make sure he can execute at a high level. And I'll tell you there was no room for error. You know, we we had curated things so in so intensely that we thought about all the errors that could possibly happen. You know, a cable getting pulled, a wheel as they roll the stage out not working right. And so, you know, we thought about all the things, but I think most importantly, the mindset of how we were going to create a show that kicked ass. And that mindset was like, period, Prince, Michael Jackson, where do we want to fall?

We want to fall in between. And so that was the goal from day one all the way to the point where we set up images of Mike and Prince in the studio as we were crafting this experience just for the blessing and inspiration because we didn't want to go in there and it be a good show. We wanted to go in there be like hands down one of the greatest Super Bowl shows we've seen which is why you saw him pull out various aspects in this performance. You know the skating, you know, the wow factor but him being live on that mic and singing his heart out. So, he was live all the way live.

And again, I wouldn't blame him if he wasn't live or if he had tracks because, you know, there are some that sing live, but some that don't. And I understand like when the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who we all know are great players, did it with Bruno, they didn't have their instruments plugged in because they needed to get in and off the field in 30 seconds. But yeah, so he did it live.

He did it all the way live. That was a risk. And I it was a huge risk. And I think

in in all honesty, how our camp moves, we wouldn't we wouldn't have accepted anything less than that. And I know Ush wouldn't have either. And that's why again he put in the work to execute that at that level. Understanding that there could be a potential mic mishap. You know, he's dealing with wardrobe changes. But that's how committed he was to letting the world let like let it be known out here. I am still one of the best entertainers that we have left. And you were playing live too.

We were playing live, you know. Yeah.

That must have been nerve-wracking. It it was a in a sense because to your point one mishap in the Super Bowl that mishap lives on forever

especially since at that time I don't know if Kendrick beat the record but at that time it was the most watched Super Bowl the most might have beat it.

Yeah he he did in all fairness but you know I don't you know it it's it's hard to say um

like tens of millions of people watch this thing.

Yeah. Yeah. For sure. So yeah, that's got to be

that's got at the time the story was the the most viewed uh I forget what it was the most viewed show since Moonlanding.

Like that was that was the title that was running for our show. So you know that's something to wake up that Monday morning and be proud of. I'll never forget after Super Bowl I got a text I got a text from us and was like yo we're trending we shattered the record. So, you know, I think that's what you that's the result you get when you plug into the time, the effort, the sacrifice to bring this to life. And that's what he did.

I've heard a rumor that this very live recording might be released commercially in some way on vinyl or on record.

It's possible. I mean, I'd love to see that happen. um you know but I think as we start to understand in e even more right now in music is that it's all about the experience because just to take an album put it out promote a single that day is gone. So how do we create events around our product and I think that could definitely be an event

be very cool. So you've worked I mentioned Janet a minute ago because you worked with Jam and Lewis and also you worked with her on Dita Joe right

correct. Yeah. So, since we're talking the Super Bowl, I just got to ask you I wasn't that the album she put out that got completely overshadowed by the absolute BS that's a great question.

The absolute BS of how of that Super Bowl that record was just it came out like a month later, maybe less

and no one was paying attention to that record, which I think was a really great record. And I'm just curious about your feelings about that about that whole project.

Here's what's interesting. Confessions dropped a week prior to that. So we were working on both albums simultaneously and that album Deita Joe is an incredible album and when that happened it was like oh and at that time we had the number one and two record in the album. We had Confessions and Deita Joe.

So when that happened it it it did it took all the momentum away on on that record. And you know, it's it's it's disheartening when I think about it because we we had so much good energy

into the music on that record, you know, and I I mean, I still listen to that album still to this day, you know. I'll actually probably be spinning a couple records from that album tomorrow, you know. But yeah, it that Super Bowl performance definitely like took the took the air out of the balloon for sure.

Yeah, I'll get heated if I talk about too much. I mean, I think at this point, like there's been some justice for Janet at this point, but that was such BS. Did What was it like working with her?

You know, Janet is amazing. Obviously, you know, anything Jackson family related is always just you're you're always in awe and honor. And I will say this, that woman, I don't know what perfum it is. I probably the most amazing smell I've ever gotten from a human being, you know. and she's, you know, she's sweet. She's, you know, she's very um she's just very cool, you know, she just has a thing about her and and I think that's uh I think that's what we love just just from a from a personal aspect about her is is although she's Janet, she's just always always in the studio, she was always just cool and chill, you know.

You never spoke to her about what happened at the Super Bowl or how she

Yeah.

I mean, she's always had such class about it. She never really

Yeah. And you know, she really didn't take it serious. You know, she just kept it moving. And

you know, I think that's the beauty of undeniable talent. You know, you can do whatever you can, but you know, I mean, she's still packing.

She's still packing the house.

Yeah. She plays the Hollywood Bowl. So, I'm going to lightning round cuz, you know, your, like I said, your resume is very long.

Yeah.

But if you want to bring up any fun stories about working with any of these people, Shaka Khan,

speaking of royalty,

that was that was amazing. uh did a record that actually won a Grammy which was I I think best duo collaboration.

That was a record we did called Disrespectful with her and Mary J. Blah. And you know again that was a record that came from the MPC 2000 crate digging and trying to give her something explosive. And you know, and I think too, like what I love most about the music we've been able to create, a lot of it has been inspired by my love for vinyl

and and just doing this, like, oh, who's that, you know? Let me look at the let me look at the artwork and see who played what, you know? So, I think those are those are great things to look at, especially when it comes to just my my love and my and my appetite for vinyl.

Gwen Stefani, you worked with her on a first solo record.

Yeah. Yeah. Gwen Stefani Herajuk. We did a song called Herajuku Girls.

Yeah. Yeah.

And I remember her coming in the studio. We were all in the control room and she was really fueled by this fashion experience she had had in Japan and she was like, "How can we and you know, you got Herrojuku Girl, which ended up becoming a line for Target." And so, you know, those experiences are just you can't you can't really, you know, capsulate the feeling that something like that gives you cuz it's so just like, you know, when you create, you pull from the universe and you know, how it unfolds is how it unfolds.

You work with so many dynamite women. You mentioned Mary J. Bled. You work with Missy Elliott.

Missy Elliot,

absolute queen. How what did you work with her on?

You know, we did a record call for my man that featured Fantasia.

Oh, I love Fantasia.

Yeah. And she's so great. She's one of my favorite American Idol winners.

Yeah. So, you know, it's Missy, man. It's like one of the most creatives, you know, female Rhyr MC that we've had in our era of just music. And, you know, when you get that opportunity and you have a joint that she wants to rock on, it's like you're you're like a kid in the candy store, you know. And again, that was another record that was crate digging in NPC, you know. So, I'm glad that, you know, it resonated with her in a way where she wanted to jump on it and then brought in Fantasia. He turned out to be a great song.

And you've worked with Mariah Carey.

Yeah.

Uh oh, man. Like, I'm just going to rattle off names. You just tell me. I mean, she's also a queen. All these are queens.

And I think too, like I think one

you've worked with. I mean, come on.

Retha, Anthony Hamilton. We did a song for Anthony Hamilton called Point of It All, which just caught a new wave and they're doing dances to it on TikTok. It's, you know, it's, you never know how these things are going to unfold. You know, obviously you want a song to be successful in a way where, you know, not not so much it's a it's a number one record, but just enough to impact someone's life. That's why we make music. And so when you see those things become what they've become, it's like I'm glad that I'm glad that our frequency resonated with people.

And you've worked with Earth, Wind, and Fire, who I just saw at the Hollywood Bowl.

Yeah.

And they just were brought up with Sabrina Carpenter at La Palooa, so a whole new audience. And fun fact, my birthday is the 21st night of September. Yeah. So, I always have that I always have a soft spot for that.

Do you remember?

There you go.

You know, I'm glad you brought up Earthwind and Fire because out of everyone that we've worked with, and I can say this for my brother, too. Out of everyone we worked with, Earth, Wind, and Fire was our true like geekout moment where those are those are the records my dad played in the house, right? And so for fast forward later on in life, here we are writing a song for them and working with them. Verdine on bass, Maurice White at the time who was alive, writing with us in a room. And I think what makes that the most memorable out of all of that was being able to say, "Maurice, is there any way you can just say hi to my dad on the phone?" And Maurice got on the phone and he him and my dad talked for like an hour and a half.

That's so cool.

Yeah. So it's like, and man, listen, everything has been great, but when you get those moments and you're now sitting with your father's hero, musical heroes, yes, like to me that that that trumps everything, you know,

absolutely. Is there anyone that you geek hard for that is on your wish list of someone to work with that you haven't yet?

Prince was definitely one of those for both me and my brother, you know, somebody that we can maybe one day write a song with. I mean, he used to pop in and hang out with us in Minneapolis at the studio.

Even even when we're out here, he'd come through. You that was always somebody, you know, that I think would have been such an incredible experience. Um,

outside of that, I mean, you know, for me, I'm going to say I would have loved to work with Dilla. I would have loved to work with Tribe Called Quest. Um, cuz that's just that's that's my musical DNA. That's that's what I grew up on. And

let's put it out there, someone that, you know, you could realistically make

like even like if I could do a EP for Da Faright, like I'm I'm I'm ready to go, you know, like that would be a dream come true for me.

Well, I feel like that's pretty within reach. I mean, you've worked with so many, as I've mentioned, so many amazing people that seems like that's pretty realistic goal right there. So, before I let you go, we're here at Licorice Pizza. As I mentioned, you do these, you know, you're super into vinyl. You geek hard on vinyl. Tell me about these. They're monthly events you do here. What What do they entail to who wants to come by?

We do every second Thursday at Licorice Pizza and it's called The Art of Vinyl. And the whole goal with us bringing this together is just getting back to what feel good. What feels good about just music in general, right? The community of music lovers, people that love to look at incredible artwork, reliner notes, come chill, get a drink, have a good taco.

There's tacos, guys.

Yeah, tacos. Now you come.

That's the draw. Um,

it's one of many.

Yeah. And, you know, the environment is fueled by what you're hearing coming from two lackers, you know, vinyl. And so, I think it's one of those things that we want to cultivate into just being your go-to location at a time of month where you just want to come breathe, meet some new folks, network, you know, get a great discount on some of the vinyl during that during those times, which is 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. And it's really about community of music lovers and just a vibe. you know, we we don't a music doesn't have enough of that happening, right? And we we really need that. We need that back.

I fully agree. So, thank you for bringing that spirit uh here to Licorice Pizza and thank you for this wonderful conversation. I'm going to ask you one last question, put you on the spot. Yeah. What was the very last record you bought? Maybe you bought it five minutes ago before this interview start. What was the last vinyl record you bought?

What was the last record I bought?

My collection is so sick. So,

how many records do you own, by the way?

Oh, man. I have so many. you know, I I can't It might have been a 45 that I got. Um, but man, I I I I have

I have gotten so many of them, I can't even remember. And I I haven't really had a need to to buy anything. I think um I think there's one album I want to get that's a hard to find album. And that album is a special ed album. Uh the rapper of special ed. So, um yeah, I mean I'm I'm I'm pretty stocked. I'm pretty psyched. I will say this, the last actual crate I bought

was from Licorice Pizza.

There you go. There you go.

Shout out to Carrie, too. My man who's helped pull all this together, man. Love you, bro. Thank you.

We love you. We love you. We love you here. We love the art of vinyl. Thank you so much for this conversation. You know, if you feel like picking up something, uh, let me know. But I'll see you at the Art of Vinyl. It's going to be a good time.

Yeah. Make sure you come out 7 uh 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Yeah. 9:00 a.m. Music people don't Yeah, we don't we don't move that early, but come hang out with us. We got music, tacos, cool drink, good vibe, good energy, discounts on vinyl. It's It's what you should be on a Thursday night.

What more you need in life?

Yeah. Licorice Pizza, we out.