Since Mike Piacentini’s switch from computer science to audio engineering in college, his family has been his biggest champions. So, when he received his nomination for Best Immersive Album for Madison Beer's pop album Silence Between Songs, at the 2024 GRAMMYs, it was a no-brainer to invite his parents and wife.

“He’s always been into music. He had his own band, so [the shift] wasn’t surprising at all,” Piacentini’s mother says in the newest episode of Family Matters. “He’s very talented. I knew one day he would be here. It’s great to see it actually happen.”

In homage to his parents’ support, Piacentini offered to let his father write a short but simple acceptance in case he won: “Thank you, Mom and Dad,” he jokes.

Alongside his blood relatives, Piacentini also had support from his colleague Sean Brennan. "It's a tremendous honor, especially to be here with [Piacentini]. We work day in and day out in the studio," Brennan explains. "He's someone who's always there."

Press play on the video above to learn more about Mike Piacentini's support system, and remember to check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of Family Matters.

How Madison Beer Broke Free From Pressures Of Internet Fame & Created Her New Album 'Silence Between Songs'

"I'm sticking with DJing, because that's about love!" Kavain Wayne Space, aka RP Boo, says from his Chicago home on the zoom call. He wears a sleeveless white t-shirt and his smile lights up the bare room.  As you'd maybe expect from a DJ, he talks with his hands, gesturing so emphatically it sometimes looks like he's going to reach back and knock the White Sox cap off the perch behind him.

RP Boo may not talk like an elder statesman, but he's got some grey in his pointed beard, and he's been around for a while. He's one of the pioneers of Chicago footwork or juke, a superfast dance music invented in the mid- and late-90s that is built around rapid fire beats and incessantly repeated tape loops. When RP Boo says, "that's about…that's about love!" he sounds a lot like his own music.

Footwork has had moments where it almost seemed about to break into the mainstream; Kanye West's remix of Kid Sister's 2007 "Pro Nails" was a brief sensation, and DJ Rashad's 2014 album Double Cup received wide praise. But RP Boo has never quite become a household name, though he's gotten more recognition since the release of his first album Legacy in 2013.

His fourth and most recent release, Established! (Planet MU) shows that sort-of success hasn't dimmed his weirdness or slowed down that 160 bpm. He recently spoke to GRAMMY.com about the roots of Chicago footwork, leaving his day job, and being a legend.

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The first track on Established! ("All My Life") is based around this loop that repeats "All my life I've loved to dance." When did you start dancing and did that lead you to making music?

For me, I watched my uncle dance, and he just enjoyed it. And whatever dance he was doing, we didn't know, we just made fun of it.  And I got a cousin that I'd say about in '81—he would make these dances up, him and his friends. And it was catchy to me.

I used to try to break dance but couldn't figure it out. And about '85 or '86, that's when the house music in Chicago [started]. It was like, I like these dances. So I picked up this dancing, and got kind of good at it.

And once I learned how to DJ, I still loved dancing. Whatever your body wants to do when you're at a party, whether you know how to dance or not—it's not about you doing it correctly. To be jumping up the dance moves is to be a part of dancing with God.

Read: Record Store Recs: Chicago House Hero Marshall Jefferson On Representation In Dance Music

So when did you start DJing? Was it in the mid-90s or was it earlier than that?

I graduated from high school in 1991. And that's when I started buying my equipment. So as soon as I got out of high school, I just started to—I forget what type of turntables they were, but they had belt drives and they had a pitch on them. And I learned how to work those real fast. How to work the pitch, how to blend the tracks and how to fade the tracks out. How to know the note of records, where you want to come in at and where you want to cut out at. And it was less than a year and a half to mastery.

When you started, Chicago ghetto house was popular. And juke is basically Chicago ghetto house sped up. How did you all start playing this music faster?

It was a group I think, on the West Side. I guess they brain was somewhere else. So they had the DJ, whoever made this tape, instead of playing the vinyl on 33 they put it on 45. And they bashed the dance floor with it. So I guess they won the competition.

But word started getting around and people started imitating the trend, and DJs started  producing those 160 bpm [records].

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The title of your album is Established! with an exclamation point. And I know that it's taken you a long time to get recognition. Do you still have a day job?

No! No.

I was working at a Lowe's Home Improvement store until 2013. That's when I ended up getting let go. And at that point, I think of December of 2012, I had just finished Legacy.

I never thought that I would ever be without a job. The store manager at Lowe's was a real good guy. And he says, "Well, corporate states that you could come back here but you can't be hired for six months."

As I was walking out, I said, "What am I going to do with the next six months?" And I said this out loud, "I think I'm going to start touring."

I was depressed. I stayed depressed—that was in late February. And in late April, I get a phone call from New York. And he says, "I heard you have an album coming out. If we'd known you had an album, we would have booked you to do a release party here in New York."

On the day of the release, I texted back and said I don't have the job [keeping me from touring anymore]. He says, "Can you be here in two weeks?" I was like, "Yeah!" I end up getting at least seven opportunities to play overseas within the first week.

"You just have to be prepared to let the world blossom and blossom with it. But you can't predict it." RP Boo

So you never had to go back to Lowe's.

No.

You just have to be prepared to let the world blossom and blossom with it. But you can't predict it.

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Do you hear your music as an influence in a lot of what's out there now?

Oh yes. DJ Rashad [who died in 2014]—I was a great influence on him. And him on me.  And so Rashad was saying, "Hey, wait till you hear RP, this is the only guy that would change his style, multiple times. And as he changes it, that influences how other people listen. It's something about how his music just keeps changing."

I was listening to the track "All Over," which has the Phil Collins sample. How did that song come about? Did you have the sample first?

Yeah. Those are the songs I grew up to. In the '80s, we watched the videos, nobody paid attention. But that was the new wave of the future. And these are all the songs; I listened to Genesis, to the Phil Collins solo projects. And I found myself over time collecting them, I have them in my phone. So then I could drive and hear these songs.

I've had it in my archives for years. And I tried to play with it at least about nine years ago, and nothing worked. So I said, in due time I'll come back to it.

And one day I was going through my files just listening to music and I listened to [Phil Collins'] "I Don't Care Anymore."  And I looked at the BPM and said, [claps!] "Oh, this is right where I need to begin. And I played with it and let it run. And that's where I stopped it. [Makes a record scratch noise.] [Sings] "All over..ah..ah…all over."  And it worked. It worked out.

You have a song called, "Haters Increase the Heat" about overcoming detractors. But when I was listening to it, I thought, who can hate you?! [RP Boo gives a look.] They're out there?

Def. It's more about people that have no clue about what you do or what you're going through. Rashad dealt with that.

And I was like, oh, you know what? Let me make some music. That's why I say, [rhythmically quoting his track] "Haters increase the heat. It's getting hot, it's getting hotter. Haters gonna keep making my tracks get hot."

In other words, I will take the negative and do something productive, and show you what you can do with the negative and make a spark.

Have you been able to continue working during COVID?

I was able to do a lot of direct streams and recorded streaming projects, direct from our festivals overseas, and two remix projects. So I was able to stay busy. [Sighs.] But I've missed the touring.

Meet Mother Nature, The Chicago Rap Duo That Teach & Live Self-Expression Through Their Miseducation Of HipHop Youth Workshops

Casey Harris is one third of the alt-rock trio X Ambassadors, a band he formed with his brother and lead vocalist, Sam Harris. He's also been legally blind since birth.

In the band, Harris plays keyboards, but the lifelong musician also plays a fundamental role in their songwriting, producing and engineering. At times, he even provides the primary motivation for the direction XA takes with their projects.

That's no exception when it comes to their third full-length album, The Beautiful Liar, which will be released September 24th. In tribute to the sci-fi and fantasy audio dramas the brothers listened to growing up, The Beautiful Liar tells the story of Clementine, a blind teenager who struggles with anxiety, discovers her long-dormant superpowers and, eventually, attains self-acceptance.

Read More: X Ambassadors Want To Redefine What It Means To Be A Band

The band also took songwriting inspiration from the state of the world during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the political unrest that unfolded in the U.S. under Trump's presidency, having to face an unpredictable future for their own careers as musicians and the entertainment industry overall.

We connected with Harris to learn more about X Ambassadors' creative process during the pandemic, pushing for inclusivity in the music industry and the satellite projects of The Beautiful Liar.

Casey Harris. Photo: Tyler Jay Hanson

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

How have you been managing throughout the last year and change during one of the most difficult times in our history?

Yeah, I'm doing pretty good. I'm just sort of adjusting to not knowing things yet again. I mean it's crazy, you know, obviously everyone's dealing with this whole Delta variant and the lack of information on anything and everything, but [I'm] just trying to handle being safe with that.

Obviously, we're trying to get back to business, trying to get back to playing music, and that sort of thing, so it's a juggling act. It's been a while, too, because it's pretty much just been within this last month that we've suddenly kicked it back into gear. So, it's kind of zero to 100, but it's really, really been nice to rehearse and play music together again. I've forgotten how much I love doing that. It's really been great.

Despite that XA created and released several projects. What was it like going through the creative process during a global pandemic and political turmoil? Sam has said that was the inspiration for some of the songs on the new album.

Yeah very much so. Both [our multi-part, collaborative series] (Eg) and the EP were largely material that we were lucky enough to have recorded right before the pandemic hit—like, months to weeks beforehand. 

And then, we all three know how to produce music, at least fairly well on our computers. Probably not me quite as well as, say, Adam, but we're all at least good enough that we can record ideas and cool-sounding parts and send them back and forth to each other and build a song out of it.

So we did a lot of that, taking the foundations of what we started before the pandemic and just doing that remotely. There have been technological ways to work around it, and to listen to what each other is doing. But it's still not that real time. It's not in the same room, seeing each other, so it's been a lot of adjusting there.

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Honestly, that was so very much our writing style to have everyone in the room together. But yeah, we adapted it. I think for all of us, if anything it improved our skills as producers and as audio engineers and that kind of thing, which is probably something I needed to brush up on anyways, but yeah, we've been fairly productive I'd say over the last year, surprisingly so considering everything.

I think it's just because it's an outlet. When you're feeling trapped, claustrophobic, like the world is a dangerous, threatening place, at least you can go write music, go play music, and it makes you feel at least somewhat better. It helps you escape that for a minute.

I think that's one of the reasons why no matter what we're all three always making music. [Those technologies] made it at least possible to keep putting out material and keep putting material together.

This new album was phone calls and ironing out the details, and again, sending tracks back and forth for final production notes. Just a lot of back and forth. A lot of it was very much shaped by how kind of crazy and unpredictable and unknown everything was and that's very much how this album goes.

And the fact that everything just felt so bleak. This album, there's some hopeful moments on it, but a lot of it is kind of not bleak, but it very much does not shy away from the darkness of everything, of life, of love, of everything we've all been going through.

I think it's very representative of where we've all been over the past year-plus.

It seems like the inspiration behind this most recent body of work comes from some of your experiences growing up as a blind person. How do you translate your personal experiences into music and visual art? There's a companion podcast with this latest release. Tell me how that came about.

It varies so much. The songwriting always comes before any of the stuff surrounding it. But I think a lot of the time, the songwriting draws on some themes that me and my brother in particular have experienced throughout our lives.

[The Beautiful Liar companion] podcast and the whole theme of this girl with superpowers—me and my brother, ever since we were little, have been obsessed with superheroes and Marvel and all that. It's been kind of a lifelong thing. 

We've always wanted to make our own comic series or something like that. I obviously have been more of an audio books and podcast kind of person, so it wasn't one of those "ah-ha" moments. It was a no-brainer moment when we thought, "Oh why don't we make a podcast that's like a comic book?"

The story just organically came together. I mean we knew we wanted it to be about someone who was blind, a blind character, mainly because no one has really done that since Daredevil. We wanted it to be sort of a coming of age story, something very personal and very relatable, but also have this superhero element to it.

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A lot of the story just came from the songs. We didn't necessarily have the story in mind while we were writing the songs. But when you listen to them in a certain order, they string together and they tell a natural story.

It's really a story of, I guess when you come right down to it, trust, betrayal, and finding out who you can and cannot trust, and who really does care about you. Also, finding out what harm, unfortunately, people who do care about you but make the wrong choices can do.

A lot of it is a story about self-discovery and discovery about where you fit in the world. I'm really proud of it. It's been a long, arduous process getting it together, but we finally started recording. We're actually getting actors' voices on audio files now, so it's really exciting.

It's a separate piece from the album but it's a companion piece, it uses the songs from the album throughout as a soundtrack and as part of the storyline as well. We're still working on plans of how we want to release it, but it will be available on all major streaming platforms. It'll be a way to deepen people's understanding of the album and the stories behind it between the songs. It's really coming together and I'm excited for the world to hear it.

It seems like you guys really got your creative juices flowing during the pandemic and that you were able to find ways to pursue projects that you'd maybe dreamt of doing but previously didn't have the time to do.  

If anything, the pandemic has forced us all to spend more time focused on our personal and private lives. In a weird way, especially when it comes to music, I think spending some time with your nose not to the grindstone somehow results in more creative, more inspired material.

We're just around the corner from National Disability Awareness Month. How do you think being an artist with accessibility needs has shaped and impacted your experience in the music industry?

It sounds funny to say, but oddly, it wasn't quite as much of an issue in the olden days. Back when we were just a band slugging it out on the road, I would schlep my keyboards around. Obviously there were challenges like finding my way around venues and that sort of thing, but we all made do.

One thing I really started to discover during the pandemic is how inaccessible a lot of audio recording and production tools are for blind and visually impaired people in particular. Because, ironically enough, it's all incredibly visual. Even though you're ostensibly doing something with an auditory medium, the way the programs and most audio tools are laid out is extremely visualized.

A few months back, I did an interview with Vision Australia Radio. Afterward, one of the hosts asked me what my tips and tricks and techniques were for editing audio and audio processing on the computer when you can't really see very well. We had a whole back-and-forth discussion.

That's unfortunately become one of my biggest gripes with, I suppose, the music industry, but the music tech industry in particular. I've actually been throwing around the idea of trying to team up with a software company to try to address this.

It really is crazy how difficult it is to do professional audio production and editing when you're visually impaired.

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Do you have any suggestions for companies who are trying to lead the charge in making the industry more inclusive? It sounds like a good place to start would be organizing and leading conversations with music tech industry executives about the current limitations on their tools and how that's impacting creators with disabilities.

Absolutely. I know that with current technology, it's very possible and very doable. It just takes the motivation and having those conversations and getting those people to actually pay some attention and focus coding on these issues. So, yeah, I think that's a good place to start.

The Beautiful Liar tour this fall is said to feature a "multi-sensory live show." What can fans expect to experience at one of these shows?

Unfortunately, right now, I can't give any specifics. First, because I don't want to give anything away, but also with the Delta variant, tour planning is very much in flux right now.

We have started to do rehearsals to prepare for it. We've always toyed with this idea as a band to have dramatic sets, in the sense of where it's almost kind of like a Broadway show with different sections and themes and vibes to it. I think that's even more the case this time.

For instance, we're going to have two separate sections to the set. The first section will be the brighter—not necessarily more optimistic—but the brighter more upbeat section, and lighting and music will all reflect that.

And as the story progresses, we'll get to the second half of the set where the lighting and the vibe and the music will all change. That half is focused more on the shadow and the slightly more sinister side of the album and the story.

It's going to be a whole journey. I can't wait to play this tour. You'll walk out of there feeling like you've taken a trip.

Any last thoughts you'd like to share with readers?

Stay tuned for upcoming releases. We've got songs coming out. We've got so many songs we've been sitting on, just waiting for proper music videos and other material like that to go with them and we're finishing all that up right now. So, be prepared!  

Meet Question, A Rapper/Producer Who Doesn't Want To Be Boxed In By Blindness

Carl E. "Chucky" Thompson originally wanted to manage artists, but his passion for rugged beats, soul samples, and maintaining loyalty to his collaborators led to his ear changing the face of '90s R&B and hip-hop. A self-taught musician, the Washington, D.C. native cut his teeth playing percussion for go-go music legend Chuck Brown's band, The Soul Searchers, before joining Sean "Diddy" Combs' in-house production team at Bad Boy Entertainment, The Hitmen, following the success of Mary J. Blige's My Life album in 1994.

"Certain things are just life and God," Thompson said during a recent GRAMMY.com interview, "that situation came from me being in the right place at the right time."

News of his untimely passing shook up the music industry, but the GRAMMY nominee left us timeless music as an architect of hip-hop soul. Here are 10 hits and album cuts that the beloved Chucky Thompson produced for several immensely talented artists--spanning genres--that meant the world to him.

"Be With You," Mary J. Blige

Mary J. Blige had been crowned the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul following the triple platinum success of her 1992 debut LP, What's the 411? but was in search of material for her 1994 sophomore effort, My Life.

Frustrated by the demos not immediately grabbing her attention, along with her collaborators from the first album raising their prices, Thompson took some siren-sounding keys reminiscent of West Coast G-funk for the intro and slowed down the tempo with some hollow go-go music drumming to make the hairs on Blige's neck stand up. It set the tone for Blige to make her classic, most personal album to-date and for Thompson to take on a lion's share of My Life's production.

"Big Poppa," The Notorious B.I.G.

The Notorious B.I.G. unabashedly made a quintessential playa's anthem for the ages courtesy of Thompson's ear and console control in the winter of 1994. "Big Poppa," with its recognizable Isley Brothers "Between the Sheets" sample coupled with a looped bar that Biggie let out on Super Cat's "Dolly My Baby" remix, convinced listeners and pop radio that the rotund, Brooklyn-born emcee could charm the panties off the ladies and turn that charisma into platinum plaques.

"Think of You," Usher

Usher might be making a splash on the Vegas strip right now, but in 1994, he was just a teenage newcomer still trying to find his musical identity. Thompson was brought into the fold by Diddy to help give the future megastar some edge, so he flipped "Tidal Wave" by Ronnie Laws, a sample he recognized on Black Moon's classic banger "Who Got Da Props," to rub some of that new jack flavor off onto Usher.

That "Think of You" session is also when Thompson first met its songwriters, Faith Evans and Donell Jones: leading to him executive producing Faith's debut LP the following year. Featuring choreography by TLC member T-Boz and an appearance by singer/actress Taral Hicks in the music video, "Think of You" stalled at #58 on the Billboard Hot 100 but remains a favorite for Usher fans.

"CrazySexyCool - Interlude" & "Can I Get a Witness - Interlude," TLC

There wasn't a more successful (or doper) female group than Atlanta trio TLC in 1994. Their sophomore album, CrazySexyCool, was a chart-topping smash that spawned hits like "Creep," "Waterfalls" and "Red Light Special," but Thompson knew the power of making music short but sweet, too.

Playing guitar, keys and drums, Thompson split the playalicious funk groove into two snippets: one featuring T-Boz vamping, the other with Busta Rhymes breaking down the album title and lamenting on the essential qualities of fly chicks while Left Eye ad-libs under his scruffy vocals. 

"Can't You See," Total ft. The Notorious B.I.G.

A few scales pulsate before it lays into its groove, thanks to the driving drums and bass riff on James Brown's well-sampled "The Payback." Bad Boy Entertainment's breakout female trio Total was joined by The Notorious B.I.G.'s suave, hot 16 bars to make their debut single first included on 1995's New Jersey Drive soundtrack before it landed onto the trio's debut self-titled project.

Thompson joined his fellow Hitmen producers Diddy, Herb Middleton and Rashad "Tumblin' Dice" Smith to give Total a sonic shoulder to cry on for a lover they can't seem to shake; arguably becoming one of Bad Boy's signature singles.

"You Don't Have to Worry," New Edition

New Edition reunited in full (all six members) for 1996's Home Again. Thompson, along with Hitmen cohorts Stevie J. and Diddy, dug in the crates, found James Brown's "Your Love," and gave the elder R&B boy band some street heat: so much that Michael Bivins and Ronnie DeVoe turn their charm into spittin' a few bars. The album version totally satisfies the palette until the song's Trackmasters remix ups the ante, featuring a pre-superstar Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliot.

"Soon As I Get Home," Faith Evans

Thompson really wasn't up to doing this song because he was heading to catch a flight back to D.C. A loyal person who always put the music first, he was convinced by Diddy per a plea from Faith to dust off a piano melody he wrote when he was just 16 years old. He expertly nestled it under the GRAMMY-winning singer/songwriter's breathy, seductive vocals that she had recorded on her answering machine. Backed by some snapping snares, Faith's plea to an isolated significant other became the second single from her platinum 1995 self-titled debut project and one of her most recognizable ballads.

"One Mic," Nas

Nas is largely considered to be one of the greatest emcees in hip-hop, but in 2001, Thompson knew Escobar needed an anthem for an encore at his performances. The height of the JAY-Z/Nas beef was brewing between "Takeover" and "Ether," but the producer knew to take Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" to give Nas the space to show just how iconic he is. DMX was set to appear as a feature, but Nas wanted that moment all to himself.

"Woman," Raheem DeVaughn

Thompson loved and respected plus-size Black women, so for Raheem DeVaughn's 2008 LP Love Behind the Melody, he convinced his fellow D.C. native to make a song that strictly celebrates the curvy sistas. Inspired by keyboards that he heard on JAY-Z and Chrisette Michele's duet produced by Dr. Dre, "Lost Ones," Thompson helped DeVaughn walk his way towards a GRAMMY nomination for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for "Woman."

"Hit the Floor," Rare Essence ft. Snoop Dogg

In 2020, Snoop Dogg wanted to show love to the go-go scene. The rapper/entertainer teamed up with go-go music legends Rare Essence, Thompson's favorite band, to make a joint that could uplift those sheltering-in-place. The rhythms meshed together the West Coast synths over the D.C. metro's signature tattering percussion to celebrate the insular grooves popularized by bands like E.U., Trouble Funk, Junkyard Band, and Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers.

Isaiah Rashad On His New Album 'The House Is Burning,' Sobriety & Returning to His Southern Roots

The massive success of Mary J. Blige's triple platinum 1992 debut What's the 411? brought along matching egos. When the GRAMMY-winning "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" started to plan her follow-up album, 1994's My Life, she kept turning down producers who raised their fee; Chucky Thompson got one placement and was willing to do it for free.

Thompson's initiative would go on to change the sound of '90s hip-hop and R&B. His ear for slickly layering recognizable classic soul/R&B samples under hard beats prompted then Uptown Records executive Sean "Diddy" Combs—then Puffy—and Blige to let the then 24-year-old multi-instrumentalist to produce over half of her GRAMMY-nominated masterpiece, now the subject of an Amazon Prime documentary.

A native of Washington, D.C., Thompson got his start on congas in go-go music legend Chuck Brown band, The Soul Searchers. The once aspiring artist manager became a founding member of Diddy's in-house production team at Bad Boy Entertainment, The Hitmen. Thompson was responsible for singles like The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Big Poppa," Craig Mack's "Flava in Ya Ear," Total's "Can't You See," and Faith Evans' "Soon As I Get Home." The skilled musician would also work with Nas, Raheem DeVaughn, Jennifer Lopez, Snoop Dogg, Frankie, Emily King, and TLC.

These days, Thompson has evolved from producing and writing music into developing film projects and mentoring aspiring talent. He took some time from a session recently to chat with GRAMMY.com about commemorating the 25th anniversary of My Life, his secretive work on Diddy's newly developed Love Records, and how he's paying respect to his D.C. go-go roots.

How did you end up landing so many credits on the My Life album?

Mary is the reason that I signed with Bad Boy. I had two situations: Hiram Hicks and Puff. Hiram could get me TLC, but Puff could get me Mary. We had a mutual friend, and I was sending tracks. One track was supposed to get sent to a group in D.C. that I'd done a remix for. It was "Be With You." I was only contracted to do one song, but that one song pulled us into a different room outside of the What's the 411? album. She loved it and did something amazing on that record.

She was coming from a triple platinum success, and a lot of the producers and people that were part of the debut album were submitting astronomical budgets [for the second one]. I could understand, but Mary wasn't with it. I give lots of thanks to Puff and Mary for even trusting me because it was a brand new situation. I didn't know Puff or Mary like that, but that one session for "Be With You" allowed us to feel the energy. She came to me and Puff to ask if I'd like to do the full My Life album. Man, I wanted to do backflips when I heard her say that. It just lined up. Certain things are just life and God; that situation came from me being in the right place at the right time.

GRAMMY Rewind: Watch A Golden Mary J. Blige Win Best R&B Album In 2007

Who's responsible for Mary J. Blige becoming a songwriter?

Mary and Puff's relationship is where a lot of the lyric writing came from. I was pretty much just an instrumentalist. I'm just happy that they trusted me enough to give them a blank canvas, but the lyrics had nothing to do with me. I didn't know exactly what was going on with her; the documentary actually showed me a lot about what was going on.

Just like the My Life album is medicine for a lot of people, as we were pulling in Curtis Mayfield and Barry White samples, that was medicine for Mary to expose herself the way that she did. She's a soldier. Imagine writing a letter talking about the most personal stuff, then it ends up on MTV. She was in the studio crying a couple of times, but she'd wipe the tears and go back to work. I'm just happy that things turned out the way they did.

How did you feel earning a GRAMMY nomination for Best R&B Album in 1996?

I'd just signed my deal at 24 years old. At that particular time for everybody, it was crazy energy around. We were working on B.I.G.'s next project, Mary's project, and not quite Faith Evans just yet, but she was in the room. Getting that GRAMMY nomination almost made me feel like anything was possible. It just solidified all of the things that were happening to me.

"My Life" was never a single, so that lets you know what type of turmoil and twist that was happening. Mary's fans and the people that loved her gave it so much love, it became this underground classic. It wasn't even marketed and promoted like that. I was buggin' that the album was certified triple platinum like What's the 411? When I got the nomination, I was over the top in the quasars, man. Getting a GRAMMY anything is the biggest deal in music.

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What was a typical session like whenever The Hitmen made records?

My first real session with Bad Boy was with [producer] Easy Mo Bee. Puff asked if I wanted to go to the studio and hang out with him. I'd never met him or anything. I showed up at the session; he had a guitar there, and I just started playing along with what Easy Mo Bee was doing. He heard it and immediately wanted to record it. That became the guitar parts on "Ready to Die." That was always the energy.

Puff would give us money to go buy records; we went and found the record that became "Who Shot Ya?" People don't know that "Who Shot Ya?" was an interlude for the My Life album. The reason why B.I.G. didn't get on the record is because we snatched him up off the block in Brooklyn on a Friday. He comes in and raps; it was so gangsta and dope, but the problem was because of what he was saying on that particular verse, they would've had to place a parental advisory label on Mary's LP. So we switched up and put Keith Murray on it.

A typical session was brotherhood, and that's how we kick it with each other to this day. I keep in contact with everybody: Nashiem Myrick, Stevie J., Mario Winans, Harve Pierre, Rashad "Tumblin' Dice" Smith. We talk damn near every month at least and stay connected.

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What was special about working on Usher's debut project?

When I was in the position to sign this deal with Puff, I just started working on a bunch of stuff. I didn't really have an artist in mind when I did "Think of You." Black Moon had used Ronnie Laws' "Tidal Wave" sample, so I took the idea and freaked it into a song. I sent it up to Puff, and I didn't know what his plans were for it.

Usher was around; we were all living in that house up in Scarsdale, N.Y., and that's how I met Faith Evans. I met Faith when she wrote that record with Donell Jones. I kept hearing all of these background vocals and craziness going on. Faith, this chick who was straight New Jersey, heard the beat and some other things. Puff pulled her in on the My Life album. That's how I wound up doing her whole debut album. She told me I was gonna do it. She didn't ask. Situations like that happened because we were always around each other.

Faith is straight gospel. I didn't grow up playing in church, but I grew up in the church enough to snatch up certain melodies. A friend of mine, Kervin Cotton, and I wrote "Soon As I Get Home" when I was 16. I'm on piano between sessions playing this one part. I didn't know she was listening to it, but she told Puff to tell me to make the record before I left New York. I had my bags packed and on the way out the door. Puff had a session already ready for me.

I go upstairs, pissed and ready to leave. I'm talking to the engineers about when I have to leave to catch my flight. I whipped through that song so fast just because I was trying to get out of there. She called me later that night and told me to call her answering machine because she put the hook on there. Puff mixed it, and that's the version that you hear. Now, "Soon As I Get Home" is a classic.

What did playing in Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers teach you about music?

Everybody's looking for the fountain of youth. For Chuck, it was the youth. He used to tell me a lot of his friends weren't older than him, but they looked older than him because they don't interact with kids. Chuck was 75-years-old with 18-year-olds coming to see him. Age ain't nothing but a number; it's about the energy you bring and how you're moving.

Chuck taught me about music, money and people early on with his band. You're dealing with all of these personalities, and you have to address them differently. It's all to get one goal accomplished. Chuck fired everybody, but everyone still loved him. It was a mission of mine as soon as I got back from the successes and accomplishments from New York, my first mission was to come and work on a record with Chuck. We worked on three albums together. It felt like life robbed him because he had so much more in store. He passed away working with dates still booked. He was super inspirational to me.

Could you share details about the music you're working on with Shania Twain?

Love Records is the new thing that's about to happen. I've been working behind-the-scenes. Stacy Barthe, who is so dope, is signed to Love Records. She was in the Bahamas with songwriter Denise Rich, who has a yacht out there. They were in the studio working on stuff. It just so happens that Shania Twain walks in on the boat.

Shania was so gangsta with it, she greets Denise and asks, "Does the microphone work?" Denise, Stacey, a guitar player, a bass player, and Shania wrote a song. Denise sent it to me to add some additional production on it. The song is called "Naked," and it's talking about the same stuff as Mary: opening yourself up and having somebody care about what's inside of a person. It's a work-in-progress. Things are moving fast.

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Is there anything that you're exploring outside of music?

There are so many different facets to production, I've always wanted to cover all of the bases. I've teamed up with one of my CHUCKLIFE365 interns, Kirk Fraser, who's worked on BET's "American Gangster" and ESPN's 30 for 30 on Len Bias. We've been working together the last three years.

We did a documentary on the Tuskegee Airmen with Robin Roberts for The History Channel. We're working on my documentary, Chucky Thompson Presents D.C. Go-Go. It's not the go-go music story; it's my story with go-go music. A lot of people don't understand the music. They don't even know what it takes to make a go-go record. I got a segment based on the music: another based on the movement where it's been deemed the official music of the city, that process, and how it got there.

That's very important for our city. Last part is the mainstay: what happens in the city versus mainstream. A lot of people feel like go-go been on: others feel it never got on. That conversation is very important for the movement of it. I got a lot of celebrity looks like Anthony Hamilton and Lalah Hathaway. The people that matter to me most are in this project, and they don't do interviews for just anybody. There's a trust factor there. This is to show people that may not know what it is, how it's made and how it can be used. I wanna see a go-go band in Kansas City. We have a few other projects, but I just want to put the flag down for my city and let them know we're about to expose some things. By September of 2022, I should be done.

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