00:00And then on the reason, I mean, it's an amazing lineup, you know, for this year.
00:03And I'm curious for you with some of the individuals, you know, how they may have impacted you personally, you know, with your music career.
00:10Absolutely. Well, so we got Gamblin' Huff, which is definitely a little closer to my mom's generation.
00:17And, you know, the music that they were producing definitely played an integral part in my initial love for music and melody.
00:24You know, same thing with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Anything Prince, anything Janet, anything Michael, you know what I'm saying?
00:31That whole era, it was me becoming more comfortable with my own voice and, like, learning how to be the singer that I wanted to be.
00:39I learned it all by listening to music produced by these people.
00:44Gamblin', you know, got a chance to work with Gamblin' once I finally become Neo, so to speak.
00:49But even before then, just thinking back to what he was doing with Aaliyah and Missy and back, like, he changed the sound of hip-hop.
00:56Hip-hop sounded completely different before Gamblin' started the hip-hop and R&B, before he started doing what he was doing.
01:02You know what I mean?
01:03So for me to be able to stand on a stage with these people, knowing that each one of these people has actually impacted my life in some way, shape, form, or fashion as an artist or just as a man, you know?
01:13I remember the first time I worked with Jennifer Hudson. I remember the last time I worked with Jennifer Hudson and her being the exact same person in here and in here.
01:21And you just have to respect and appreciate people like that, people that don't let success change them or money or whatever the case may be.
01:29Like, she's always been who she is and the beautiful person that she is.
01:33And so, yeah, man, it was kind of like a full-circle moment for me, you know what I mean?
01:38Like, everything coming back around, you know, I've said thank you, you know, in essence a few different times, but now I get to actually say thank you to that person, you know what I mean?
01:48And that means something that's special.
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