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Duckwrth

Duckwrth

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Duckwrth On 'SuperGood,' "Insecure" & More close-personal-duckwrth-talks-celebration-supergood-respecting-black-artistry-insecure

Up Close & Personal: Duckwrth Talks Celebration Of 'SuperGood,' Respecting Black Artistry, "Insecure" & More

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We caught up with the South Los Angeles artist ahead of the August release of his debut studio album, 'SuperGood,' to talk new music, dream collaborations, celebrating Black music and artists, and more
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Aug 4, 2020 - 1:09 pm

Los Angeles-born left-field rapper/singer Duckwrth (born Jared Lee) has been making waves since he released his debut solo mixtape, I'M UUGLY, in 2016. Showcasing his expansive musical taste, playful lyrics and his mailable vocals and flow, the successful project led to a record deal with Republic Records, an opening spot for Anderson .Paak and a loyal, ever-growing fan base. An XTRA UGGLY Mixtape followed in 2017, with several tracks getting TV and film placement, including the ecstatic "MICHUUL.," which was featured on "Insecure" and "All American."

In May 2019, the "Bernal Heights" artist dropped THE FALLING MAN EP and now, this month, he'll be releasing his highly anticipated debut studio album, SuperGood. As he recently told us, the album has been a long time coming and now the timing is just right.

"I actually had the name for this album since 2013 and just the feeling of it, I've had it since 2013 but I never was in a right space with myself mentally and energy-wise to be able to present an album that felt like a celebration."

Duckwrth On Celebrating Black Rhythms On SuperGood

Related: GRAMMY Museum Launches Spotlight Saturdays Featuring Up-And-Coming Artists

GRAMMY.com continues their Up Close & Personal interview series (from home, via Zoom) with Duckwrth. Watch the full conversation above to hear him share more about SuperGood and its lead singles "Coming Closer" and "Find A Way," as well as his love of Issa Rae and "Insecure" and some of his dream collaborators (Rosalía is on the list!).

The "Crush" artist also talks about his vision for creating more Black animations (watch the music video for "Find A Way" below) and how the entertainment industry can better support Black artists.

Read: Yvonne Orji On Her First-Ever HBO Comedy Special, Faith & Celebrating Black Joy

"I think musically, [what's needed] is just respect for Black artistry and being able to be placed in different places, like more Black artists in pop. That would be major. For me, I'm not heavy on pop, listening to pop all the time, but I do understand the importance of seeing a Lizzo in pop.

"That's important, and [so is] seeing more Black faces in pop music because that opens up the door for other artists to come after them and it becomes a norm. It doesn't have to be this conversation of, 'Oh, you can't put them there because they're Black.' It's that plus just circulating dollars in the Black community and helping them grow," Duckwrth added.

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Sacred Spaces: Rufus Wainwright, YUNGBLUD, Keb' Mo' And Others Reflect On The Independent Venues And Clubs That Changed Their Lives

SHAED

 SHAED

Photo: Andrew Lee

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SHAED On New Music, Allyship & Sting close-personal-shaed-talk-new-music-allyship-collabs-zayn-sting-steve-aoki

Up Close & Personal: SHAED Talk New Music, Allyship & Collabs With ZAYN, Sting & Steve Aoki

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The "Melt" band reveal how fun it was working with Sting and Steve Aoki on the dance producer's 2019's track "2 In A Million"
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Sep 22, 2020 - 12:27 pm

Alt-pop trio SHAED consisting of twin brothers Max and Spencer Ernst and Chelsea Lee (who is married to Spencer), had their big break in summer 2018 with their infectious hit "Trampoline." It was followed by a whirlwind 2019, where they played major festivals and shows around the world and dropped some big collabs, including a ZAYN remix of "Trampoline," whose vocals brought new life—and his massive fan base—to it.

Like so many other artists, COVID-19 put a sudden halt on their packed, globe-trotting schedule. The pause and new perspective have proven productive for them, and resulted in a lot of new, yet-to-be-released music.

"We had a group of songs before this whole quarantine situation and we kind of took a deep listen and realized that we wanted to change it up a bit," Chelsea told us. "Most of the songs we've written for this album, we wrote during these crazy months, so it definitely reflects, emotionally and mentally, what we were feeling. These songs really hit home for us and we're super excited to release them."

SHAED On New Music, Allyship & Collabs

Read: Aminé Talks New Album 'Limbo,' Portland Protests And Black Lives Matter

We catch up with the Washington D.C.-based group for the latest episode of GRAMMY.com Up Close & Personal interview video series to learn what they've been up to during quarantine—in addition to creating a new album, they've also protesting with local Black Lives Matter marches and been relaxing in their backyard.

Sharing what he learned about being an ally to the Black community, Max said, "I think it's important to listen. There's all these kind of sub-movements within the Black Lives Matter movement that are really important. Black Trans lives Matter, is super important… I think it's important that all these communities within Black Lives Matter, their voices are being elevated."

The "Melt" band also reveal how fun it was like working with Sting and Steve Aoki on the dance producer's 2019's track "2 In A Million." Watch the full conversation above!

"Chelsea loves Sting," Spencer said, smiling. "Steve Aoki is a fan of ours, and he reached out and said he'd love for us to feature on a song. So we were listening to some demos and trying to figure out which one made sense. And then he said, 'Hey, actually hold on, I got a song with Sting.' And that's when Chelsea was like 'We're doing this right away!'"

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Remembered By Barack Obama, Janet Mock, Jennifer Lopez, Elton John & More

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Issa Rae

Issa Rae

Photo: Amanda Edwards/Getty Images

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What TV Show Has Your Favorite Soundtrack? poll-insecure-euphoria-what-air-tv-show-has-your-favorite-soundtrack

Poll: From "Insecure" To "Euphoria," What On-Air TV Show Has Your Favorite Soundtrack?

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There's also "Atlanta," "Empire," "GLOW," "POSE," "High Fidelity," "Stranger Things," and "Westworld"—let us know which show has your favorite tunes!
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Apr 16, 2020 - 3:38 pm

With quarantine meaning more time to catch up on shows and movies for many of us, we want to know: What current TV show do you think has been serving up the best tunes? Vote in our poll below and read on for more info on the music behind some of the biggest series.

Polls

What on-air TV show has your favorite soundtrack?

The Emmy-winning dramedy "Atlanta," whose third and fourth seasons are slated for a 2021 release, sees its creator Donald Glover, a.k.a. Childish Gambino, co-starring as the manager and cousin of a rising ATL rapper. Glover also serves as an executive producer, writer, director and the executive music producer of the acclaimed series, which has featured an eclectic soundtrack including Flying Lotus, 2 Chainz, Yo Gotti, Curtis Mayfield, King Krule and Nas.

Rapper Lil Dicky Talks New TV Show 'Dave' And His Creative Ambitions On- And Off-Screen

Season one of "Dave" just launched last month. A comedy starring goofy rapper Lil Dicky a.k.a. Dave Burd, the show is based on his own rise to fame. The new show features hip-hop tracks from A$AP Rocky, Tyler, The Creator, O.T. Genasis and more. Burd and Jeff Schaffer are the show's co-creators and also serve as executive producers along with Saladin Patterson, Kevin Hart, Greg Mottola, Scooter Braun and a few others.

"Empire," the musical drama depicting the fictional Empire Entertainment hip-hop dynasty has not been without its own off-camera drama, but its sixth season will wrap up the critically acclaimed series this year. The talented cast, including Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Howard and Bryshere Y. Gray add great original music to an already fire playlist. GRAMMY-winning producer/songwriter Rodney Jerkins, a.k.a. Darkchild, has served as Supervising Music Producer since season three, taking over for fellow GRAMMY-winning production powerhouse Timbaland. This season has included music from Chaka Khan, Khalid, Gladys Knight & The Pips and Ciara.

"Euphoria" is a visually stunning, jarring teen melodrama that unflinchingly looks at addiction, sex, identity, toxic masculinity, social media and more, with a powerful soundtrack and score crafted by musical mastermind Labrinth, executive produced by Drake. With original music from series star Zendaya ("All Of Us"), along with perfectly timed bops from Lizzo, Doja Cat, Billie Eilish, Jamie XX, the emotions are high in this new HBO show, whose second season is set to resume filming following the coronavirus shutdown.

‘One World: Together At Home’: Lizzo, Billie Eilish, Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga + More

Set in Los Angeles in the '80s, the Emmy-winning Netflix series "GLOW," or "Gorgeous Women Of Wrestling," features a synth-heavy, period-appropriate soundtrack featuring hits from Roxette, Billy Joel, The Bangles, Daryl Hall & John Oates and more. The fourth and final season of the show starring Alison Brie, Betty Gilpin and Marc Maron is set to resume production after COVID-19 restrictions lift.

Starring Zoë Kravitz as an obsessive yet effortlessly cool Brooklyn record shop owner Rob, "High Fidelity" has an appropriately edgy, eclectic soundtrack. The new Hulu series is a modern take on the 2000 film of the same name starring John Cusack and Lisa Bonet, Kravitz's mom, both of which are adapted from Nick Hornby's 1995 novel. GRAMMY-winning multi-hyphenate Questlove helps curate the vibes as Executive Music Supervisor, with season one featuring music from David Bowie, Frank Zappa, Fleetwood Mac, OutKast and many more. Episode three even features a perfect cameo from Blondie's Debbie Harry as they listen to "Heart of Glass."

Created by and starring everyone's favorite "Awkward Black Girl" Issa Rae, the flyness of "Insecure"'s soundtrack rivals that of its stars, which also include Yvonne Orji, Jay Ellis and Natasha Rothwell. Led by Music Supervisor Kier Lehman, along with an original score from GRAMMY winner Raphael Saadiq, the series features a dope mix of hip-hop and R&B that soundtracks the wave of moods in their L.A. lives, with a strong emphasis on female artists, including Saweetie, Khia, Amber Mark, Kali Uchis and H.E.R. Season four is currently running on HBO.

Vote Now: Which 2000 Album Will You Have On Repeat This Year?

If the music, costumes and fierce dance moves on "POSE" don't make you want to strike a—well, you know—maybe you don't have the volume turned up loud enough. Starring iconic GRAMMY winner Billy Porter, alongside powerhouse rising trans actors Indya Moore, Dominique Jackson and Mj Rodriquez, the Emmy-winning FX show explores the glamour and inequality of late-'80s/early-'90s New York City through the lens of the LGBTQ+ ball scene. Shimmering with disco realness, the series features funky jams from KC & The Sunshine Band, The Gap Band, Chaka Khan, En Vogue and more with Amanda Krieg Thomas serving up the tunes as Music Supervisor. The show was renewed for a third season last year, set to launch after the COVID-19 shutdowns.

Netflix favorite "Stranger Things" is a fantastical, surreal journey set in a small town in the early '80s, in a nod to the golden age of sci-fi/fantasy films like "E.T." and "Labyrinth." Starring Winona Ryder and actors Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard and Noah Schnapp, longtime film and TV music supervisor Nora Felder ("Romy and Michele's High School Reunion," "Californication") bringing the dark, neon-lit '80s mood front and center. The stellar soundtrack includes '70s and '80s hits and deep cuts from Corey Hart, Don McLean, TOTO, The Clash and more.

Music Is Coming: Composer Ramin Djawadi Looks Back On Eight Epic Seasons Of 'Game Of Thrones'

Bootsy Collins

Bootsy Collins

Photo: Michael Weintrob

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Bootsy Collins On 'The Power Of The One' bootsy-collins-im-hoping-world-comes-together-we-did-album

Bootsy Collins: "I'm Hoping The World Comes Together Like We Did On This Album"

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On his new album, 'The Power of the One,' released Oct. 23 on his own Bootzilla Records, we witness the almost-69-year-old (his birthday is Oct. 26) thriving in his musical playground
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Oct 23, 2020 - 5:09 pm

GRAMMY winner and 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Bootsy Collins has been embodying the funk and sharing his grooviness for decades, ever since he joined James Brown's band in 1969. It was then, from the Godfather of Soul himself, he first learned the Power of the One, or the importance of synching on the one-beat.

With George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, Bootsy's Rubber Band, his solo records and endless collaborations, he's harnessed that funky power and grown it into a philosophy, a way of life. Through it all he's always bringing the funk into new spaces and to new ears, whether directly—Fatboy Slim's GRAMMY-winning 2000 dance anthem "Weapon Of Choice" wouldn't soar without Collin's voice—or through those he's influenced like Childish Gambino on his infectiously groovy GRAMMY-winner "Redbone." He is the true definition of a living legend, yet he's incredibly humble and always interested in learning more and working with other artists.

On his new album, The Power of the One, released today (Oct. 23) on his own Bootzilla Records, we witness the almost-69-year-old (his birthday is Oct. 26) thriving in his musical playground. It's playful, funky, joyous and filled with talented collaborators from across the musical spectrum, including Snoop Dogg, Dr. Cornel West, Branford Marsalis, Ellis Hall and up-and-comers Brandon "Taz" Niederauer and Emmaline. While he had to adapt to virtual collaboration when they pandemic hit—the album was about half done at this point—he is undeniably thrilled with the result and rightly so.

"To be around these people, they made the record become what it is because to have the older people with the younger people and everyone in-between, all this going on on the record. And just making music together. It's like making love, it's like making friends. In a time like we're in now, to do that, what else could you ask for? It's just a great feeling. I can tell you, I know they had the same kind of feeling," Collins told us recently over the phone.

We caught up with the master himself to learn more about finishing the album during quarantine, bringing together the talented collaborators, mentoring younger artists over the years and, of course, the Power of the One.

Thanks for taking the time to chat with me. I hope your day is good so far.

Yeah. Just gearing up, getting myself together to go out there and do it one more time, you know? We got the record off. That was the good part for me, was to at least get through it because it is a very deep time that kind of hit us out of the blue. Getting through it was a beautiful thing. It actually helped keep me sane.

Read: "Use Your Mentality, Wake Up To Reality": How 'Red Hot + Blue' Reimagined Classic Pop Songs To Enact Social Change

I bet, having something to work on. And my first question is about your new album, The Power Of The One, which is coming out pretty soon. What do you hope this album offers to the world and to its listeners?

I'm hoping the world comes together like we did on this album. All the musicians, everybody that really put their time and energy in it—and they really, really wanted to do it. It wasn't like somebody forced them to do it or paid them on such a big scale that they just had to do it. Everybody joined me and did it because it was fun.

It reminded everybody that, even in a difficult time, each and every one of us can get some kind of joy out of it and at the same time, help somebody else share some good vibes. If we didn't get nothing else but some good vibes, that was really good enough because everybody needs some of that right now.

I think on this record, that's what it's really all about. Good vibes, being in the kitchen cooking up something a little different here and there, using a different recipe. Even a recipe that's not traditional. On this album, that's what I wanted to show—it doesn't have to be a certain traditional record. It could be everybody together just having a good time because, to me, that was the main thing. Stop stressing yourself. Have a good time doing it and doing it with somebody you want to do it with. That's key. I think everybody felt that and it comes off of the record like that, from what people are telling me.

You're right, I think we all need some good vibes right now.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That to me is what the Power of the One is, the power of all of the people coming together and just doing what we have to do to get through it, to get over the hump. Putting all of our differences all by the wayside because we all realize we're just human and we need each other. We're coming up in a time where people don't really feel like they need each other because the technology we have is saying you don't need nobody. You can take your office with you. You got it right there in your hand, your iPhone, and you really don't need people.

Once you get used to that, it turns on you. It's like a Frankenstein monster. The monster is cool and everything, but one day he wakes up and realizes he's a monster and turns on you. I think that's what happened in the world. We got to take the power within all of us where we're standing. I think this music will help in our healing, help in our focus, and help us to have a little joy and a little fun along with all the deepness that is going on. That's what I wanted to do with this record, really just to put some joy and fun in everybody's lives.

More Inspiration: Brandon Lucas Talks Staying Hopeful, Working With Dr. Cornel West & Empowering Dance Producers Of Color

Can you explain the Power of the One a little more, both like musical technique and the philosophy?

Well, actually The Power of the One grew out of when I worked with James Brown, he was always saying to the band, "You got to put it on the one. Give me that one and you can play everything else, but just hit it on the one." On every measure you count, the emphasis is on that down beat. To this day, even on a computer, when you have a four by four [beat], you got that one. You'll hear that click louder on the emphasis on that one beat. That brings everybody's focus to it.

This is where we all meet up, right here on the one. I, out of that training with James Brown, I took that over to Parliament-Funkadelic and George Clinton made a whole concept out of everything's on the one. He even made a record called "Everything Is On The One." I guess with all of that growing and experiencing the one, it grew to me as even bigger than just being a musical term. Now for me, it's more everybody is part of the Power of the One.

It's like everybody's around that one wall and everybody gets that certain frequency all at the same time and that wall will come down. That's the Power of the One. We just have to realize that that's what we got to do, everybody's got to be in sync with each other. Once we began to be in sync with each other, all of this mess that we're going through falls down. I want to get people to realize that we do have that power within ourselves.

We got to get focused and quit running from each other. We've got to all come together on the one and that's when you get the Power of the One. I'm just trying to redirect people to come together. It doesn't matter who your father is—I just have to respect your father and you have to respect mine. That's the Power of the One, when you realize that none of that stuff really matters.

We're all on this spaceship mother earth and we're traveling through time and space on earth. This is our mothership. Nobody's throwing us out. We're on it together and the sooner we realize that, the better. Because you can't be here and be better than somebody else. I'm not better than nobody else. Out here, I'm just like you.

It's really about us getting along and getting together while we're here. This is the opportunity for us. It's just like this album. This album was the opportunity to put all these beautiful people together that are not necessarily supposed to be together on a record. I'm just crazy enough to believe that if we can do it on an album, we can certainly can do this in a world like we have today.

That's mainly the reason I wanted to do something like this, to show that it's bigger than all of us. It's much bigger than what I think it should be or what you think it should be. It's much bigger than that and that's the Power of the One that's within all of us. No one's got it more, no one's got it less. Everybody has their power, you just have to develop it.

"It's really about us getting along and getting together while we're here. This is the opportunity for us. It's just like this album. This album was the opportunity to put all these beautiful people together that are not necessarily supposed to be together on a record. I'm just crazy enough to believe that if we can do it on an album, we can certainly can do this in a world like we have today."

That's some philosophy right there.

[Laughs.] I hope you got it down. I'd like to read that book myself. [Laughs.] Oh, man. That's the top layer at least. I'll have to keep digging and we'll get more of it coming up. For now, that's where I'm at. I just want people to respect and believe in each other, and dig in on each other. We got to get back to having some kind of fun. I think that's got a lot to do with why this has happened. These kinds of tragedies, it's like man, if you can't wake up after this, you're already dead. I know we're not dead now.

We're being hard headed. We are thinking we're something that we're not. We're all human. We haven't transformed yet into that other frequency. Until then, we got to deal with each other. We got to start learning how to because we've been learning the complete opposite. Now, the One has introduced us, now you have to know and love and trust each other. There's no other alternative now. We are past that point. It's either that or the other craziness.

Read: I Met Her in Philly: D'Angelo's 'Brown Sugar' Turns 25

I feel that. There are a lot of really great collabs on the album, but I wanted to talk specifically about the creative process behind "Jam On" with Snoop Dogg and Brandon Taz. How did that one happen?

Oh, man. That was a track that Snoop and I had done and hadn't really finished. We did it for another album. It was like, man, that track would show a lot of fun and that you can mix different things and come up with something that is not new in a sense, but I guess fresh for today. It brings the old with the new, the guitar playing from Taz, his new energy that he's got, with Snoop's raps and my own peace vibe going on. I thought that would be a beautiful, what you would call, a sandwich or a dinner. Sure enough, it was so easy to put together. I talked to Taz, then I went to see him at a concert. This was all before the pandemic hit.

We got to vibing and I was like, "Man, we should go in the studio." And sure enough, we went to Sweetwater and recorded all of his stuff. And Snoop and myself, we did our parts here at the Bootcave [his home studio]. We got lucky on that song, because got about 60 percent done with the album [before the pandemic] and the rest of it we had to start sending out on WeTransfer, that kind of stuff.

We send them to artists and they send you back what they did and then you get on the phone and talk about what needs to change, what key to go to and this, that and the other. That was a much harder way of recording than being in the studio with the actual person. That's when it's really fun. I got a 50/50 deal on recording this album—recording half live and then the other 50 percent we had to record basically on the internet.

That was something I had to get used to, but at the same time, I don't think I'll ever get used to that. But I learned how to do it, enough to get it done. We started adding horns, all kinds of different stuff, but I had to send the actual file to the person. That particular song, "Jam On," we got that pretty much done in the studio, so that was a blessing because we had fun doing it.



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No Hope if we Don't Vote! Never thought I would be Saying That as the Co-Captain of the Mothership & Long Head Sucka of this Universe! I have Time Traveled for many year's & I can tell u we will Git Ova the Hump! Bootsy baby!!!

A post shared by William "Bootsy" Collins (@bootsy_collins) on Oct 18, 2020 at 1:50pm PDT

I'm sure so much of creating funk music is being in the studio together riffing off each other and going with the flow. That must have been different to not have that tangible element of it for part of the album.

Yeah, yeah. It's totally different. It's just like you and the guy you're talking to, it's different when you're together than when you talk on the phone. The phone is the next best thing, but being together, there is nothing like that. That's the start of the difference right there. It's like when you can actually touch the guitar, when you actually see what the bass player is playing, you can actually hear what the singer or rapper is singing or rapping. You can actually see them. It's like, wow. This is so cool.

You lose all of that part, so I think it's cool for people that are growing up doing it that way. But if you're not used to doing it like that, it's a different ball game. It is something you have to learn on the job. Like I say, it's good to know the new way of recording and stuff. I think I'll continue to learn, but nothing is going to take the place of actually being in the bed together. It's like, "How are you doing?" "Oh, I'm okay. I'm laying in the bed by myself." I'm like, "Yeah, I wish I was there." [Laughs.]

Bootsy Collins Shares Gratitude For Loyal Fans

Related: George Benson Talks Tribute Album To Chuck Berry & Fats Domino: "The Songs are Still Ripe"

What is your favorite part of collaborating and how was it adapting that, like you were saying, during quarantine?

Well, it was really cool for me with the collaborating part because I got a chance to collaborate with people that I hadn't before. Like Branford Marsalis, who's just the greatest. His genre is jazz and he's just an incredible saxophonist and I never got a chance to record with him [before]. We talked about it, we've been to each other's shows and stuff, but we never actually did anything together.

That was a highlight for me to play with him and to play with Christian McBride, who plays the upright bass. He is just incredible and to have him in the studio and watch him play it. That was my first instrument that I was supposed to learn how to play on, but I found out I just couldn't play that big, old upright bass. It was too much work, man. I had to carry it home from school. The girls would look and laugh at me. It was like, "Ah man. I got to get me a new instrument." So, for him to bring that big, old bass to the Bootcave and hook it up and start playing it, it was just a great experience.

And then to have George Benson? Come on, you can't get no bigger than that. He's played with all the jazz greats. To have him want to get on the album—I had no idea that he really wanted to play on the record until I talked to him. We always have done festivals together in passing, but we never got a chance to work together.

I got a chance to work with some of the best, the people that I looked up to, and I got a chance to work with the young ones, like Kingfish, that are the new musicians. Speaking of Taz, he's 17 years old. And Kingfish is 19 now. These guys are just blowing the roof off with the guitar playing. To have this kind of energy around, for me, is the cream of the crop. It don't come no better. Then on "Lips Turn Blue" there's Emmaline. She's like a young, fresh Ella Fitzgerald. The way she sings, her voice takes you back to that time. But she's just out of college. She's just so sharp and professional.

To be around these people, they made the record become what it is because to have the older people with the younger people and everyone in-between, all this going on on the record and just making music together. It's like making love, it's like making friends. In a time like we're in now to do that, what else could you ask for? It's just a great feeling. I can tell you, I know they had the same kind of feeling.

It was just a great way to express yourself in a time where you're supposed to be locked up and locked down. Everybody's got a chance to release that feeling and we got a chance to put it on a record to share it with the world. I wasn't looking at the big picture, I was just looking at whatever song we were doing, putting our whole heart and soul into it. I didn't have to tell nobody to do that because everybody was ready. You didn't have to tell anyone, "Man, I want you to love this song." They just loved it. You could tell they loved it.

I think it's more amazing because of the time that we're living in right now. It affects us much more now because I think before we have taken music and people for granted. We've taken everything for granted. We thought it was always going to be great, we were going to be working all the time. All of a sudden, they pull the gigs away from us. No more festivals, no more club dates, no more Colosseum dates.

All of that stuff, it didn't just happen to the music world. Everybody had to push the reset button, like "Wait a minute, what the heck is going on?" We are still going through that and we have to figure out ways to do things differently. I'm hoping this album, The Power of the One, helps reset people to know that, "Hey, we got to deal with each other. Ain't nobody going nowhere. We're all in this together."

Listen: Unearthing A Lost Ella Fitzgerald Recording, 60 Years Later

You've also worked with a lot of younger musicians over the years on their projects, like Snoop and many others. What does mentorship mean to you and why is it important?

Oh, man. I would say because it gives you what you really need. It's like the energy that you've shared all your life, it comes back to you through the young musicians and artists. When I got with James Brown, I didn't understand about the energy and how it excited him. He was excited by the energy that we brought. I didn't really understand that until I got older and I started realizing, "Okay, this is what he was talking about and this is what he was feeling." Once you get older, you start feeling it, especially when you start having grandkids. Oh my God, those guys have got energy up the wazoo. I never knew that I was like that at one time.

At some point, I was as crazy as they were. That crazy energy can be turned into something and when it is, it can be magical. Some of these kids are able to turn it into something and you'd really be surprised. You just have to be in the mix and that's why I make sure I'm always in the mix, that I'm always learning from the younger people. And hopefully they're learning something from me, but I'm not in it for me.

I'm in it to learn something that I didn't know how to do. Coming from them, that's a beautiful thing. I look forward to that. A lot of older people look at kids like, "Oh, they can't teach me nothing." But I don't agree with that. I would like to continue to learn from them and be around them because they make me younger, they make me feel young. It's a great energy and hopefully I'm as good to them as they are to me.

How Buddy Guy Finally Broke Into The US Top 50 More Than 50 Years Into His Career

Brandy & Monica at 2011 Pre-GRAMMY Gala

Brandy & Monica at 2011 Pre-GRAMMY Gala

Photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage/Getty Images

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Poll: What's Your Favorite Verzuz Battle Matchup? brandy-vs-monica-timbaland-vs-swizz-beatz-whats-your-favorite-verzuz-battle-matchup

From Brandy Vs. Monica To Timbaland Vs. Swizz Beatz, What's Your Favorite Verzuz Battle Matchup?

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On Aug. 31, the latest Verzuz battle will pair up the '90s R&B/pop superstars 22 years after their unforgettable GRAMMY-winning "The Boy Is Mine" duet/duel. We want to know which epic pairing is your favorite
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Aug 28, 2020 - 9:10 am

One of the more beautiful and creative things to come out of quarantine has been the Verzuz rap-and-beyond livestream battles, an ongoing, star-studded series hosted by GRAMMY-winning hip-hop icons Timbaland and Swizz Beatz.

The star-studded musical series began with the hosts themselves battling it out during a five-hour Instagram Live back in March, and has since featured such epic pairings as rap kings Rick Ross and 2 Chainz, New York OGs Fabolous and Jadakiss, big dogs DMX and Snoop Dogg, R&B/pop pianists Alicia Keys and John Legend, Jamaican dancehall heavyweights Beenie Man and Bounty Killer and many more.

Learn More: The Verzuz Effect: How Swizz Beatz & Timbaland's Beat Battles Showcase Music's Past, Present And Future

Polls

What's Your Favorite Verzuz Battle Matchup?

The musical faceoffs have also featured OG hit-making R&B producers Teddy Riley and Babyface, rap producer wunderkids Boi-1da and Hit-Boy, neo-soul queens Erykah Badu and Jill Scott, Southern rap champs Nelly and Ludacris, rapper/producer/hype men T-Pain and Lil Jon, as well as gospel legends Fred Hammond and Kirk Franklin.

Our Last Poll: From "WAP" To "Big Booty," What's Your Favorite Megan Thee Stallion Feature?

The latest, highly anticipated Verzuz (airing on Aug. 31 on Verzuz's Instagram, Apple Music and Apple TV) will pair up the '90s R&B/pop superstars Brandy and Monica 22 years after their iconic, GRAMMY-winning "The Boy Is Mine" duet/duel.

In honor of all the magic and realness Verzuz has been sharing worldwide this year, we want to know which epic pairing is your favorite in our poll above. Vote now and scroll down to watch some of the past battles.

Read: Afro Nation Co-Founders Smade & Obi Asika Talk Festival Origins, Uniting The African Diaspora & Celebrating Diversity

Can You Fill Me In: 20 Years Of Craig David's 'Born To Do It'

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