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morning good evening good night good afternoon don't give me copyright flag though no no no you
can cut this out i sounded like a zombie just yeah in order to grow you gotta have like some
kind of goals what's up what's up what's up good morning good evening good night good afternoon
whatever time you're listening in wherever you're listening from shout out to our youtube listeners
spotify google podcasts thanks for tuning in could have been anywhere in the world but you're here
with us we're going to provide a nice easy listening conversation so whether you're running
driving walking riding a bike washing dishes just cleaning your house having your own personal space
we're coming from our mic to your earphones live i'd like to introduce our guest who's going to be
joining us the lovely mona lisa the lovely mona lisa yeah with a beautiful hat so those who are
watching it on youtube can see her beautiful hat accessorized with uh earrings and then we also
have mr andre x of jada x entertainment so miss lisa is known professionally as mona lisa
powerhouse vocalist commanding the presence and vocal mastery i mean you've worked with
laverde johnny cam royers jeffrey osborne um very impressive resume and it looks like you
kind of found your roots doing weddings, so really connecting to memories and souls. That's
what really stood out when the paperwork came across my desk. Yeah, a lot of wedding bands,
a lot of corporate bands, and a lot of work, hard work and efforts through my two sisters
that sang before me. So I had a lot of music lessons. That's awesome. When did you start?
i started at ada lewis middle school when they had a talent competition and i told my sisters
that i was going to enter it and they said oh you know because i ran track and i did not like music
at that time yeah they thought i was joking but it was on the b side of natalie cole's song stand
by me and it was our love and i want and after that and listening to my sisters i said i won
$50. I knew I was on to my new career. That's funny. That's funny. I have a son in music and
he set up at a farmer's market and made about that much with a hat. He plays guitars and sings.
So that was awesome. I think if not, I will introduce him to Andre. So I'll kind of roll
out the red carpet for our other guests joining us. Over 20 years in promotion, works with
all sorts of artists all sorts of bands about nightlife um promoting and working with miss
mona lisa uh resume extends from i we're not going to skip over the illusionist i saw that
on your like that was super interesting in the 80s but all around great person we've met each
other at multiple events i think most recently i believe you were at the poster hanging over my
left the red mcfly's hip-hop off the wall i was yes yes yep and i took your picture there we spoke
about hey maybe we can put together something with a podcast but when you see me i'm always
working this is this is work but this is a conversation this is a chance for us to continue
those quick hallway this is what i do this is what you do and really build something from there so
yes um thank you for having me this evening um like you said i'm gonna tap it on the 80 and
move back up to where we were just at um when i was about 10 years old i was fascinated with
harry houdini he was the escape artist so um my birthday was coming up and i told my mom listen
i want to go i want to get into magic so we went to see um doug hennon on broadway
awesome magic show tomorrow bought me a little magic kit i had a little ring and all that kind
of stuff so before you know it i would have the kids in my classroom tie me up in a little bag
and they would throw me in the closet and i'll pop on the other side so
that kind of like started my little career like in being an illusionist and you know magic and
all that kind of stuff i've been on studio 54 different places on broadway you know and fast
for it here it is um 2000 2026 you know i have been on the radio um as my as a broadcaster on
show tv everything else i just um like the idea of being able just to merge um with other talented
people as yourself um and other artists so the platform has been open to me where i've been able
to go from the gospel um route of doing shows and everything i was i was actually in the gospel
circuit doing gospel shows and plays everything on um came up here and did some um and do juries
and did some uh gospel plays actually and then i slowly crossed over to um you know um the r&b
and hip-hop and everything else but when i did meet you over there at um at that other event
our house right about to say that our house was um live that was a great evening you know a lot of
people that we know in the industry from different places were there it was a beautiful you know
evening that day and we got opportunities to talk a little bit so i once again i thank you
for opening up this platform absolutely absolutely this is a platform to show the successes that come
from our failures and it brings that's really just the connecting factor between the guests
what stood out to me with the introductions you both shared i love how at an early age you were
able to get over that some people deal with the imposter syndrome or somebody at the same age that
could have had a music career somebody told them don't do the talent show and they put down every
chance of pursuing or going that route i think the idea of performing the idea of being in front
of people it's a very human thing you know we've done it in different forms and fashions i'd say
absolutely absolutely absolutely well track and field was my first love so the trick was on me
because I never thought that I would be in music
because it was given to them with such an anointing
that they, my sister was two years old
singing Aretha Franklin.
My baby sister was two years old playing the drums
and I was trying to run track.
I put on sneakers and started running.
So I was the athlete of the family.
So track, I was thinking Olympics.
I was running a hundred yard dash.
I was all public, been relayed.
So I did not know that they said the biggest mouth out of all of us.
And you can't realize that you can sing.
And I just did not think anything of it.
And then when I realized it's always the ones that don't think they're good are better than the ones that are supposed to be good.
Yeah, it's almost a false confidence.
And, you know, you know, this is tapping, you know, I think about what you said, Lisa, about running.
I threw track, too, when I was younger, you know, but I think for me, you know, coming from just myself and my brother, you know, my father got remarried, you know, and so I was more like an abusive situation where, you know, back in those days, you know, sometimes, you know, you couldn't be, you could be seen, but you couldn't be heard, but my mother had a bad choice of a significant other that used to really abuse me.
So my outfit was, it was, it was rough being the oldest too, you know, having to deal with the fear and difficulties.
But meanwhile, you know, my mother, she will always be working, you know, bringing us in parochial school, one of the best parts of everything else.
But she had a man though, that never had that type of love or lifestyle.
So it was like, you know, it was rough coming up in New York during those times, being homeless at a young age, being a runaway at 14.
you know but still but still still trying to keep your head up i said that was the most important
thing was keeping my head up and not giving up i had to put myself through school you know
through college i dropped out but meanwhile while my family was sleeping in a comfortable condo i
was out there on the train and who's sleeping you know at a young age you know i mean so
when i look back at that you know i could have been dead and gone but see there was something
on the inside of us that won't allow us just to give up.
And I really believe that me believing in myself,
no matter what the circumstances were,
no matter what people say,
helped me to overcome that particular time in my life,
not even mentioning the drugs and everything else
I had to go through.
So to be here today,
I'm going to turn 65 years old this year.
oh i'm finally finding out how old you are i had to wait until we get on a radio show
well you know
see now i know how old you are boo yeah but you know you know and i i give all the credit though
you know to god to allah to all those that right you know because when is that what you're telling
entertainers that don't give up and to follow their dreams well you you can't well you can't
give up you have to believe in yourself and no one else believes in you but at the same time
you know it's life lessons you go through things and you have to learn that um who you can trust
because sometimes i'm a giver so like for example you might be a giver i'm a giver so most people
who give usually get hurt sometimes until you learn how to give so there there's there's a
difference in giving you know i think there's a saying you know a scripture says something like
don't cast your pearls to swine because they will stamp you on the on the pearls and then kill you
in other words people don't appreciate everything you can give them some people have mostly in this
industry oh yeah oh yeah yeah we need to get into that no i think to to tap in like when you said
not to interrupt you but when you said it's not a like it's not a matter of giving up sometimes you
just have to like hand the wheel over to god and that's where the faith comes where it's
i can't handle this on my own i need strength from somewhere else too well when you're dealing with
promoters booking agents a lot of yeses before a lot of no's before they become yeses you have
haters i have a lot of haters people jealous of me because i'm climbing in the industry trying to
make it and they want to climb and hang on me like little crabs in a barrel i'm trying to give
even though i'm a vocalist i still try to add other artists and entertainers to my show
but they don't reciprocate that back to me and that's right then i have other managers
and when they say well they don't know you well how do they get to know you if they
book you and they see the potential but they want to keep you down because then they don't have to
pay you the amount of money that they that you're deserving of and we fight with this all the time
especially me being a female artist not only do i have to fight as a female artist but i have to
deal with the sexual into when you in the windows of having to make deals and they perceive it as
okay can we go to dinner to book you or no so now i'm under representation and i have a lot of
gentlemen callers that are not calling for the right reasons so now absolutely i can say you go
to jet x entertainment and you can reach me and do it on a professional level because it's about
business for what and you want to be respected that way but unfortunately i hate to say it but
we go through a lot of sexual abuse in the industry because i don't want to go to dinner
with you i just want you to book me right so i am blessed now that i have good teams and management
but as a young singer i went through a lot of abuse dealing with sexual predators
yeah in the in the industry and i'm 18 and 19 i did not know you know yeah and i'm going to dinner
nothing happened thank god almost did but i've dodged the bullet but it is important and i tell
these young beautiful female singers do not meet with these guys find out if they have a company
find out it's reputable you know call investigate you know find out do not go with them anywhere
if you're not represent if you if you're not good enough to get representation and something's wrong
but do not go by yourself always find out who they are if they're booking agents management
talent scouts anr record labels god knows even on the highest level they've been dogged out so
on the lowest level we're in more we're in serious trouble then absolutely you really have to be
careful in this industry and you know lisa you know that that's so um that's so real you know
because like even in the earlier days like i said i was in new york going to studio 54 these
different like major club leviticus i was there when the disco three turned their name into the
fat boys you know or all the legends and stuff and going to apollo theater and you know and one
of the things i learned in this business you know a lot of times not just in business but in life
in general you have to be able to read the room you need to know so that's why it's so important
that we study and understand
things. I can say study to show
that it's self-approved, rightly divided in the word of truth,
but also that applies for
business. For example,
I never knew about contracts.
I'm doing a show, I'm expecting
to get paid, I'm going to excite them
young, and they say, oh,
we didn't make enough money at the door, so I go home broke.
Oh, that's, yeah.
That part, you know what I mean?
That's the word that they say.
We have to learn the business.
I've been blessed not to do that.
i've been stooped out of some money everybody has but usually we want to do contractual agreements
that's what i was young i was like i was like listen i was like maybe 17 maybe 16 you know
my i've been very fortunate to have family that uh were like part owners of the longstar cafe in
new york so i would sneak out there i had uncle that would sneak me into the clubs and i would
see donald summers all that kind of stuff but i think but i think you know you know i think it is
though honestly um because we're talking about how we went from like rag to riches or from
or we're going from rags to come or get to riches you know depending on where we are in our life you
know it's just the thing that um it all boils back down like you said earlier tony about having faith
because there's been times let me tell you if i didn't have faith i don't know where i would be
at today you know and you know i my mom she transitioned about maybe three and a half years
ago right but i i recall her sending me my brother i go back into the industry but she literally
sent us to summer camp you know so we can go away in the summer so the first summer camp she ever
sent us to was like a place called camp joy it was kind of like a christian co-edit camp and
everything and i think that's when i first learned something about christianity at the time you know
but long story short though um it was one summer she sends away for a whole month and now in this
camp here it wasn't no camp joy it was camp hell because everybody from new york from every borough
was there it was like when you got there it was like the the counselors will try to get you at
nighttime and they're breaking your bumps and they beat you up it was it was like like the
warriors the movie the warriors you had to fight for your own you know i mean so these different
things that that we go through it kind of like so does that does that help you with the music
industry does it help you from your past to know how to run a business and how to survive after
well i'm about to say that right so i'm about to say that kind of like shape and shape me put it
that way it has shaped me to be able to deal with like situations and stuff you know i mean right
because you know i was being informed that i didn't know what life was all about i had no i
had no role model so i i kind of like had to go through life you know finding out but one thing
about i can tell you this is that i never gave up and i wanted to learn so i learned the more
i would get around certain people i will learn more uh that didn't work so what will work now
i've been an entrepreneur so i always had this um spirit of wanting to not work for nobody else
so getting fast forward into the show business it helps out so much because now i know what to
look for i sing the gang let's sing the tricks i know when someone comes to like say mona lisa
one of our artists right um and they're like hey you know i want to book you i want to be on my
show this and that and we already know we have a standard we have a car we have a contract a
structure that people need to go through in order for her to be represented on a show or go on a
tour whatever and when some people might say you know you know something yo we did a show back in
the day you know we we good like that put me put me on but so we can't do it like that no we can't
take those shortcuts.
Especially even though
they say that in the industry
if you know somebody,
they can open up doors because you have gatekeepers.
However, just because
there's gatekeepers and you might know
someone, not everyone you open the door
for should be invited.
Does that make sense?
Absolutely.
You still got to represent.
You don't want to let them in.
Unless he's invited. Don't go over, don't cross
the door. You're not invited.
That's right. I think you have to carry a certain I even do the same thing with with business referrals. If I'm going to refer you for business, I know that it needs to, you know, run a certain way and do things and have accountability.
you know i apologize with the uh with the link coming a little bit late i had a few technical
difficulties but okay it comes uh it comes with the sort of thing where when i start having
management represent guests that come on the show uh you guys are coming on not right after there's
going to be an episode or two between you but with red mcfly who's got his production credits
going crazy right now on itunes and so it's like we've had emmy winners and this wasn't on purpose
these are people in my network where we said just like andre this would be cool to create something
so that when we do it now because of the youtube and the way that it spreads everywhere it's really
cool because i'll see a guest and you'll google their name and the thumbnail for the interview
comes up so as the internet moves towards quick tick tock make a song one minute long so that
people can make you know it's refreshing to have long form content to be able to open up a question
you know to see what what came after track you know what came after dodging sharks and if you
have any industry um we had platinum award mixing engineer ali amac mcguire uh two episodes ago at
the time of recording this and she does mentoring for young women in the industry and it's funny
we're on we're on podcasts on the record laughing it's like you know i'm glad you do that because
it would be really really weird if i was doing it like i can empathize with my assistant and
with female podcast hosts and understand it's like, no, we're not flying to Atlanta to do a
meeting for what, you know, where you're all the way in California. If we need to conduct business,
there's ways to do it and paper trails through email. But it's a shame that it has to run like
that. It's I know the industry is probably worse than a lot of other industries, but it's everywhere.
And these are things that I hope to pass on with my son.
You know, he had a recent performance successfully, but it's I don't I told him, I don't want you taking money and selling tickets.
And then, you know what I mean?
Like, you will tell people they'll go through the proper channels to buy stuff.
And it worked out great.
He had friends and family.
He's performed before, but this was the first time he had, I don't know, maybe 30 or 40 people.
he was in and uh you know was there recording him and so i wouldn't represent him in terms of
management but obviously he's 15 so as his father it is what it is he would be looking to kind of
pass him off to somebody experienced in that and we have people calling where you know won't call
anyone out but guy says listen you know we get performances everywhere said okay you know email
over some information yeah i don't really use email okay i mean so what i'm going to look at
your instagram i mean if you're already saying there's no paper trail sign up send money it's
just right right you already know not to do it it's a red flag you already know when they start
saying oh if you want to get him here you have to pay that's not the right thing
a little bit about those shows just to let everyone know yeah we have time come out we
have time to show uh uh i'm not just doing tina turner tribute act i'll be doing a little bit of
beyonce mary j blige evelyn champagne king you know i'm going to be doing a little bit of shaka
khan a little bit of reetha franklin you know i mix up my show because i want to keep it exciting
i'm not just a singer i'm an actress a vocalist and an entertainer so i like to mix my show up
and you know with various artists and also you know give a little jazz funk r&b rock and roll
you know i'll do from etta james to melissa etheridge then i'll go get down funky go back
to shocker you know you know go back into some patty or some fantasia or you know how does the
crowd work look like for that is it like uh like um like everything's preset for the show i'm sorry
i said the crowd is they're like they just come in to the casinos from everywhere from anywhere
they're diverse white black europe you know puerto rican i get everybody because i can sing
the phone book i can sing gospel i can sing blues so my audience is diverse it's wide open
so i'm really blessed because i'm not put in a little bubble so doing tina turner doing rock
and roll doing uh that allows me to be able to go to europe and go other places so wherever i sing i
know how to capitalize off of that oh man and that's that's beautiful that you know that she's
very multi um talented and every you know far as like other um you're a muse yeah you know you're
muse it's amazing and i i just wanted to tap in because it was something you were saying tony
we're gonna get back to you lisa as well there's something he has said that caught by i was
listening um you said your son i just want to get back to your son real quick you say that your son
um he how people are coming for him you know as far as like you know want to represent him and
everything you know and one of the things i that kind of like stuck in my head when you said that
was some years ago um a friend of mine's i lived in houston texas there was a guy that was promoting
what they call the i-95 interstate tour it's supposed to be like a three-state tour going from
you know atl the cali to new york and folks had to pay in so much money these artists
and then they will meet up supposedly at different locations and it came out it turned out to be a
scam you know and absolutely and that's the part people lost so much money you know and and that's
one that's like in this business though i've been a victim of that as well as far as um having maybe
someone i knew um that i had done work with that introduced me to someone else that happened that
i guess they wasn't aware that the individual was also a major scam artist you know so the
eighty five hundred dollars down the drain uh some other folks 15 20 25 000 fake recording
producers saying they would you know produce my make something yeah so good oh like no people
that'll say they make something send the files and oh yeah i actually went to their studios and
they were horrible the music was wrong they really weren't promoters that's when i was you know stupid
and young oh they just like yeah yeah no i mean so i'm gonna say i'm sitting on this to say this
that it's good because you know your son's young at this time that's what i'm getting at and you
have mentioned you being the father and that's that's perfect i have a daughter she does movies
and everything right so all that goes circles right back though to what we're talking about
right now as far as the industry you know from rags to riches you know the ups and downs of the
industry life in general you know now here it is this beautiful woman named lisa well
mona lisa likes to be called mona lisa you know i'll be right i'll be on first i'll be on first
turn when when it comes to like speaking to her you know be personally however but the artist
mona lisa you know um she is um definitely a person that opens doors for other artists
that's what i wanted to say earlier you know it's when you go through like situations you can be
hurt you have been hurt you have been lied to right but what i noticed about miss mona lisa
is that in spite of all that she has a a great heart a genuine heart she likes to give people
opportunities you know i mean and and i was just thinking you know like say we had a show we was
doing where it was age appropriate and any person go there you know whatever you know i can see us
open the door like for example to your son just give you a prime example what i mean by that right
you know but you can't open the door to everyone you know because sometimes what people do
and this is the god honest truth they would try to use you in order to advance their career
so you know everyone you know everyone comes with different motives you know i mean so i learned a
long time ago the best way you can tell a person's heart sometimes is be quiet and let them talk
yeah eventually they're gonna you're gonna see what they really want from you if you give them
enough time to hang themselves like for you like you for example you're talking to people all day
all the time doing all kinds of interviews so you know you get folks like when you met me like okay
we hit it off
what is he
one for me you know or what can I
do for you so yeah you felt that you
felt that for me in general oh yeah you know
because I understand I've been there I've been on
radio you know I mean so and it's like
well I think something
good in what you were doing though
right there's a difference you
know it's not what I can do that's not so much what
you can do for me but what you do for each other
so you know even though
you know and I'm more
interested in what can i do for you the podcast started and and before i get actually i don't
want to switch the podcast i want to go back to something you said about sometimes not everybody's
ready to be let into the door and let me know what you guys feel about this we could discuss this
i've been public about this with my son first told him he has to record five songs on his own
before i put him in touch with a producer he did about 11 and then it's okay well we'll put you in
touch with some production yes he has more guitars at 15 it's all he he does odd jobs he does some of
what i do i heard he sold a logo for 200 at 15 so shout out to jayden he's all right like he wants
to forge his own path but it's interesting that i played the example and now that i can open doors
i can tell you he's done what five performances besides you know with his friends over here he's
been in front of large rooms he does what he needs to do he's ready to he goes to school for music
so now it's if we open that door and do it okay it's not just yo why are we letting this kid in
because tony's cool with like it's right other people can feel that so i mean do you guys feel
that was the right approach with him or oh absolutely because you made him accountable
you wanted to see if he really was into it you gave him a challenge and said five he said okay
dad i'm gonna do six more so he is showing you that he really wants to be in this
it's better to start him now because if he wants it now and he if you'll know in the next five
years if he continuously is growing in and he doesn't just say oh i decided i don't like it
anymore i'm going to something else but if he sticks to it then you will know yeah yeah and
you know also i like what you said too you know about him being a business-minded entrepreneur
at a young age you know i was always taught that i want to duplicate myself so i can duplicate
myself you know i mean so i have i have 12 kids i have eight daughters and four sons 10 grandkids
god bless you yeah he sure did i'll tell you lord have mercy but yeah but um at the end of the day
though not only the fact that he was able to watch you as a pattern or watch example from you
your mannerism how you dealt with situations it says a lot for a young man to see another man
doing something you know because a woman can raise a can raise a boy can't really raise a man
because she can't be a man
where a man can be to her son, right?
I agree.
However, you know,
like, you know,
I know you and I,
we in the same circle
like with the inner star
and everything like that,
trailblazers, wars,
all that kind of stuff.
So, you know,
even having the opportunity
to be part of that atmosphere,
it does something.
It gives that person
the opportunity to be groomed,
to see other people
maybe in the business
that's a little further down the road
and just watching how the folks
interview people
the different celebrities that come there at our shows you know um the different artists that
perform like you know last year when we had the lion king that was awesome and all that you know
at the arch of the year and so forth you know so it gives him a perspective say is this really
what i want to do well i want to go a different direction yeah you know yeah that part yep and
he's tried different things but he's gone far enough it's like okay we'll we'll get him trained
we put him in school and did the right things but even this podcast he's been on the podcast it
started as something to promote now although it's not a music show i think it's interesting to bring
people of diverse backgrounds and give them a chance to say oh wow i i heard that because me
personally i've listened to musicians after podcasts people think it goes the other way around
And sometimes in 2026, it works with, wow, this is a really interesting person.
Just look at her energy through the zoom.
You know, look how well she's dressed.
That's interesting.
Some people are just listening and say, wow, I can tell by the way she sounds on the mic
that, you know, she can she can really sing and not just that, but not just the thing
that that's nice to listen to with the kind that tingles in your soul and your place and
you're like wow you know that that does stuff i do want to kind of well go ahead if you had
anything else on that but i do have a question for you i want to kind of shift gears not bad
we're good how do you feel with well i mean i have an idea how you feel but let's talk a bit about
ai and just the the push in terms of the tools and oh man it's horrible you can you can now
we we are uh i'm not shifting to ai because we're sponsored by uh by ai they don't make music it's
not suno or anything but shout out to the nexus network you guys have free reign to speak about
it however you want i'm gonna tell you you know when ai first came out you know i wasn't one of
people like oh it's gonna take my job i'm like okay it's there i knew about artificial intelligence
way before it became like, you know,
a name out here.
They're hiring AI
to be recording artists now.
Oh yeah, making home marketing
campaigns.
I can't do this.
Hey, I made songs.
I made a whole song with AI.
I don't even sing.
They're hiring
not a person to be on a record
label and sing?
That's getting out of hand.
Well, me personally, when it comes to
ai i'm not gonna lie to you i'm enjoying them i got a team of ai robots that work with me
and i say robots but you know this is my little team you know and i must say they stay on the job
now just imagine because i thought about so i can i can hire some interns i can hire some um
individuals and pay them a commission to do the work now as you know in any kind of business
you're going to have folks that are
dedicated. You're going to have folks that
that's what they love doing. That's their passion.
You're going to have some folks, you know,
take a hundred flies, go
pass them out. They get down the block, they're going to
look around, put them in a trash can.
With my AI people
or my little team I got.
I love that.
I just don't want them to take my job as
a recording artist and a singer.
My thing is this though.
They don't sleep. They're on it.
you know so if i have one doing a blog for me one doing social media one you know sales and all like
and they're doing their job around the around the block that's great you know because it it
alleviates all the work i've been doing all by myself you know i agree with that i just don't
want them as taking my job yeah to be clear we're talking about and not we're talking about tools
like suno not attacking directly them but right there was uh and i'm not gonna promote her because
i'm not a super fan and like this isn't a news headline grabbing thing but there's a ai artist
who signed to a label now the poet or team or songwriters that work together with this tool
there are actual humans getting paid right it's you know songwriting when you go in the studio
you're a piece of the puzzle so if people look at ai as okay everything that it takes to to make
the music that mona lisa sings now they shift gears or something's different it's not going
to be that ghost writers are no longer writing because ai is doing it and it's cheaper there's
still something human about a group of people and you know i was having this discussion earlier
do people like it that's what it comes down to if people are buying it the machine that goes for
stuff is going to put towards it but i'm not going to go and see like what am i going to see a
hologram of my favorite artists i'm not going to connect with them i'm not going to say this is
somebody who they started that already with whitney houston and michael jackson they're
going to see holograms but that's a human that people love they're not pushing michael jackson
to to see his music or like the tupac hologram i'm about to say tupac yeah that was that was dope
yeah yeah like it's it's so that's taking a technology and adapting it to a creative thing
and that's kind of what keeps them alive i'm not gonna lie to you uh i i wanted to go but
i got too emotional and my family told me not to go see whitney because it would make me cry
but they went and i didn't go but my sister went and then she went to see isn't it funny they told
me not to go but they went and she said it was extraordinary the Michael Jackson hologram she
said it was extraordinary wow wow wow in Vegas I'm gonna see I doubt there's any sort of clips
and I doubt it'd be the sort of thing that video would make the experience like like seeing it so
that's I think it's great that we still have some protected spaces music comedy you know I
i don't know that i'd want an ai telling jokes like your ai robot laughing because i'm laughing
because i have my my i have a worker working for me as well too but i also have a human intern as
well and i ask this question to everybody how do you feel about it because i'm a designer and
videographer it was coming for me before it was coming for you you know right right we we you
know it but there's still teams to be made when i fly out to south by southwest there's going to
be real music real people there may be a little exhibit of push our thing but i don't see the
the masses of people saying i like holograms and suno music better than seeing people perform
that's me i don't know for the next generation i don't know if this becomes a thing and i don't
blame it's changing and it's moving fast but you know something though yeah it's funny you said
that because you know i've done like i said multi-gifted video you know i've done video
stuff like that right however you know when they came up with the um what you call them the um the
goggles to put over your face you can see everything 3d oh yeah right so virtual reality
virtual reality so here's the thing though right they already have the virtual reality i tried that
one of my friends kids had that i put that on my head and i was trying to play this game so hell
i can't do this here but they're about to snatch my soul you know but the thing about it is that
that's really that that's that's really where listen that's really where we're at though you
know and what like you said the artificial intelligence i'm not gonna lie to you it has
some advantages it does but it also has some disadvantages and one of the things is it can
make you lazy you know it was funny i was gonna say that if you didn't yeah i was gonna say that
if you didn't yeah you gotta train against it you really do right because you because we don't
you know i'll sit there and have a whole conversation when you think about this i got
a legal situation going on i have a legal team i'd rather i have a human lawyer right but i also
have an ai lawyer and when i compare notes it blows me away you know and the thing is you know
at the end of the day we ship it to like say music um plays um even the artist performing you said
people i made a whole i i wrote a whole movie i wrote my book that i wrote a movie for my book
called the industry so i said i need i need a soundtrack so i tried one of these af apps
it came with five different songs i mean it was amazing huh you know so here's the thing so
yeah if i can make money i'm not looking at it this way i'm an entrepreneur so if i can sell
that and then i get the license why not but here's the problem now see because back in the day when
i came up you know you had to go through the a-tracks we had cassette players we had in new
york you know buy my cassette tape it's something about the trucks you know and then for me it was
cds and exactly i remember back then we had the beepers we didn't have stuff we had beepers you
know i'm old enough to remember beepers and i had a beeper yeah so it's funny because all that's
coming back in style you're a millennial child i'm right on the tail end of it so i was i was
old enough to take tech apart
like computers when it was big
enough to take apart, not like
nanotechnology.
These kids are not
soldering things and putting things
together, building radios.
They are so lazy.
To your point about the laziness,
when you know the solution is right
there and can be there,
it's almost like you want everything to be that easy.
That's because we live
now in a microwavable society.
you know for sure it's right there boom i go on google i need an answer i just type it in but
you know so it it's it saves time yeah you know because like you said because back in the day we
didn't have all this here you know i went to a library i don't know when the last time i've been
to a library besides maybe out here in allentown one time because you can get free passes to go
like different museums and stuff that was a while back but other than that though i don't know last
time i went to a library when i went to library back in my day you had to go and look for different
numbers go to this section here and look down here we don't gotta do that no more you know so
we got you know kindle whatever there's so many places you can find stuff today so i think the
real thing is okay we're dealing with technology we're dealing with the ai how can we use that
to or modify that to be uh effective in what we do as a in our life you know um i thought about
an uber and lyft driver right i said i see little robots running around saying hi to kids and stuff
so i need to purchase me a robot put on my car let me drive and make some money you know i mean
so you can do that with the with the teslas to drive themselves and it's it's something that
you touched on that you didn't say directly that i kind of want to say for our listeners to pick up
on you had a system that ai is improving upon people are out here thinking that the ai is just
going to prompt them into being a millionaire they think i could just jump on make a song i'm sorry
if you never studied song structure if you don't understand vibrato you can't tell like it's not
just going to do that for you right and that's good that makes it that makes us be able to still
keep our job right well it's like like so so how did you switch a little bit from ai and we can
bounce around when like autotune came i mean did it kind of fade out in the 80s i hated it and i
could not believe the person that created it actually has a great voice yeah so did you ever
have to use it what is his name i don't know who made it to be honest i got out of music production
right around when autotune was like something oh t-pain did he right he invented the sound
my my nerd i'm sitting here thinking like who invented the the software and i don't know why
well before before yeah he can't sing before you're asking me a question and i would like to
answer it you asked me did i ever use autotune no because i have a very good voice and i sing
on i know tone tonality i know singing off and in the studio if you sing off they you know they
tell you to do it again now they tell you to do it again yeah now they you know they now they just
fix it you can sing black but here's the thing you can't do manelli vanilli stuff because they're
going to want to hear that song in concert for sure you gotta be practiced right you can't fake
i love it you're right lisa you're right though and i'm glad you said that i am so glad y'all
brought that up because i was at the show about maybe a month and a half ago and all it was like
a little showcase for the different hip-hop independent artists and everything it's like
every artist that came out there to perform they had the eye i saw man it drove me crazy
because i'm like well and the dj said oh well you know that's what i do for the artists i give them
that little sound i said no i need to hear their voice don't tell me i'm like i was like listen
don't tell people i'm in the audience and i'm all i hear is robotic sounds you know
people don't get up and walk out because they really come they pay their money to hear
them sound what like the record but see here's the thing though that that's not they don't sound
like the record right but here's the thing though right because it's like this is like the younger
generation so that's it that's their vibe right now you know they figure hey listen i may not be
able to hold a tune but but i can rap or i can like you know sing a little i can hold a little
melody you throw that on there i'm gonna sound fly i'm gonna sound dope right what happens we
know we in the adult concerts we walk out we leave yeah but i'm talking about different right
but i'm talking about different generation right now because that's that's the way for the young
people right now right so but i told those young folks when i was there when i say young i mean
they were like anywhere from like 21 and up however no i'll let them know listen i need to
know who you are see what i'm saying because it's about the beat now as long as there's a beat
they're like oh they don't sing good but i like the beat i like the beat of the song so they
they like to sing along and dance you know like they don't care like you know but i told them
some nice beat to it i mean it's almost it's almost a different type of performance like when
you're when you're at a wedding or a casino it's you're part of the atmosphere it's like oh cool
someone's singing and then all of a sudden it's like oh wow and then it might be well we can stand
in front of it and stuff you know when when i've done sound it's like especially if you're covering
something that people already can say oh i know this and now you're adding your own human flair
on how it sounds right it's almost like uh you know when i listen to music or you know i look
it's funny i was listening to a cover earlier and it's interesting when a with a female i'm not sure
i'm not sure to be honest i'd have to look at the link somebody sent it to me and i thought it was
an ai singing over the cover and i called it out that's the only reason like i wasn't out looking
for covers it came across um and i just said this is ai a thousand percent they said now it was
good it looked like a person singing but that's what i don't like and it's messing it up well
here's and we'll we'll talk on this for a second it caught my eye because i'm in one of the chats
and somebody said 90 of the people in the comments are saying they're like crying and
they're doing this and stuff like that and that's because they believe it's an ai my or a person my
question is if you and the difference is is let's say they fall in love with a random youtube song
how can you go see that person in concert now like that's the elevated experience that has always
been we go to see our artists we go to see the people that we love that we made the music we
want to see them we want the emotion we want to look at them see everything you cannot get that
from an ai now i would say dj like i'm not totally against electronic music if you're a dj that
mixes live and people love the way you mix or you sample and do things and you can draw a crowd and
you're still performing and now you say okay I have to have a press kit or something same
I think it's great that there's different areas of the music I think that when somebody works
your sound they're important to make sure that room sounds just as good you bring all the talent
and training but it's all a team and I just I think it's great that you were able to be a part
of that still doing that and for listeners who would look at where you're at and say you made it
what do you think in terms of like is there a new devil at every level does it get harder easier yes
yes it's the devil you said it's the devil honey high and low low and high yes yeah yeah
the higher you go
the bigger the fight is
yes it is
and I'm experiencing that right now
we are, we're fighting
is it
what about like with
not to sidetrack totally but like
with acting, do you run into
similar things, do you
typically like go for roles
cast with like musical
like I know you have Broadway credits
I do a lot of that
but i'm going to get back into it i've had a lot of illness in my families and death so i had to
put my sorry on uh the back burner but um i would like to get back into the theater get back on
television and do some serious roles because i'm very good it's just that timing is everything
but timing has to be now because you can't wait on things you have to just do it
and I'm an emotional preacher but I have to learn when it comes to business just like acting I have
to switch off and get the job done so I'm ready to start that next year I want I want to like to
go back into getting roles for television and doing excellent things that's excellent and I'm
funny too I'm real funny with my comedy what's the what's the what's the comedy version of like
like spit a 16 tell a joke i like to talk about down low dirty men all kinds of men men that i
don't like men that's cheap don't want to take me out men that don't have the money but want the
honey but then i want to talk about them sexually and i'm tired of these men coming after these
younger women and they want to use these doggone viagra pills if they can't get it up then don't
jack it up and then don't work it up
on the girl.
Ladies,
I'm telling you,
Mona Lisa said it.
If they can't get
it up, leave them alone. And then they
broke, don't have no money,
then they want to have sex with you.
Just leave them alone. Get rid
of them. We don't want no
scrubs. Good, I want them to have a little money
then they can get the honey.
Finance without the romance
is a damn nuisance.
so i'm just keeping it real i'm gonna tell you about yourself i'm gonna tell you the truth now
i've been through four husbands i couldn't help it i did my thing i might go through four more
it's okay that's all right i ain't mad at you because i'm gonna keep going as long as i'm
flowing i'm gonna keep going i think it's important for listeners to understand the
the emotion the ability to do what you do you have to be an emotional person you can't
you know i'm sure there's type a actors but they're thinking about the strategy of what
they're doing what you're doing i can tell just by talking to you comes from more of a heart
and they'll they'll see like it's not because i'm myself on my show that's what i love that i was
able to make it when you see me on social media i'm sarcastic i think that it takes like a like
almost a dark mind for comedy you know like in order to be a happy person you almost need to go
through being a sad person so you understand what happiness and why joy is so happy and why you know
when comedy started it was like you didn't want to be the jester you wanted to be the guy on the
corner like king with his taxes like important comedy to make people laugh about my shit is
funny my whole marriage my life my sex i did check my email andre being out here in this world
right yeah i send you two links to youtube links just now um yeah but you know i think i look back
you know like richard pryor i look back at you know eddie murphy i look at i look at the ones
that bernie mack recipe during those times during those times though yeah during those times though
when they were talking
when they were doing that comedy
they were talking about things that were
actually happening
and most of the comedy was like
political, some was racial, whatever the case may be
but it was how we
viewed life during those times
so H
Decade
You like him?
He really gets in depth and so does David Chappelle
They really get down
David Chappelle
see i think i think storytelling is such a huge part of like like being able to be an orator just
being able to speak in front of people even when i started podcasting i said i like monique too
and simone they real monique tell the truth who uh do you have do you have anyone that you listen
to underground where like uh you know their main thing is through youtube they're not really put
on netflix or anything i do i feel like they probably would put me there because i'm so damn
dirty and then they would think i was you know being too nasty so i'm like where do i go now
you'd blow up crazy especially if it's funny if it's just raunchy i mean i'll tell you no i'm
talking about i got funny jokes i'm not it's not just about sex it's about oh yeah funny things
that have has happened through my life and it's your experience hilarious right well just to ask
to answer your question you know um i know a lot of comedians you know everyone from like the
mics down to regular comedians local comedians you know so there's a lot you know um right here
in our back door you know it ran from chocolate chocolate chai um let's toss your face you got
you have you have sean hart right here you know we have valley you know so there are a lot of
different comedians that bring it you know and what i enjoy about the comedians that we do have
or i do know is that each one brings a little something different to the table you know van
quill twist you know i i seen some of them that do comedy you know but at the end of the day you
know what it is it's about you becoming that particular person or that particular uh i you
know back when i came up we always had a gimmick so if i was up there cutting you up or put you
on the table and you floated and i'm cutting you whatever it was a gimmick to that it was you know
it's the it's the misdirection to get people to see what you want them to see well we need
somebody to make us laugh when we having a bad day we need we need absolutely all you gotta do
is turn on the tv what you mean look at the news that that's that's depressing and funny at the
same time it's funny that's why this that's why this podcast exists is almost like i mean it's
it's a it's to remind people and keep resilience and at the end of the day it's like if you if you
know somebody and you can have a good conversation and you meet with their friends it's almost like
You know, we're meeting together.
We got together to go out for dinner, minus the food.
Yeah, because a lot of shows, I just put it to you in the chat.
A lot of things, like even like some of the shows that we have, right?
We have a comedian that might host the show.
You know, we have Malcolm Hill.
He could be hosting some of the shows that we're going to have in Philadelphia.
We're going to have him in Philadelphia.
You know, and then we have some other comedians that we can also utilize.
So we'd like to be able to share, but also bring, you know, all the talent that we can into an atmosphere where people can have a great time.
You know, even with our DJs, you know, I've brought DJs to the NBA, a lot of different people that we have dealt with in the past.
So what it does, it really creates that atmosphere.
You want to, you know, I always say, you know, excitement fills the air, you know.
Excitement, yeah, oh yeah.
yeah so yeah absolutely i can't do one more real quick i'm multitasking i'm also
got a little congested today you know i've been trying to beat this little uh
head cold it's been rough man oh man thank you for thank you for showing up we are indeed we've
talked about your son we talked about the world we talked about showbiz ai sex jay we talked about
Jada X and how what the adversities he went through that made him the man the legend that he
is we're talking about Mona Lisa want to do comedy which I can't do but we really need to focus on
the acting and the singing I promise he'll have enough comedians on this show you know what's
funny back when I would and I never took it to your level but when I was a performer I did rap
and I said man this takes a lot to speak and breathe like this I said I'm gonna have to start
running yeah and i had a son and then i ran for seven years and never wrapped so it was like the
cardio that i did to prepare for that big performance that never came what happened you
didn't you didn't think you were good enough or you didn't believe me no no i was i was i was good
but it's so here i'll tell you something that's funny most of the industry started sounding like
the style i was going for afterwards so would there have been like they would they wouldn't
take you because it was so much of you well it's different right it's you have to be different at
the right time it's all about timing you could be too early with that luther thing you see he made
it off of luther and cheryl land they did that luther song you know if this world were mine and
i absolutely scissor i absolutely loved it but a young generation doesn't understand that all
these old songs they thinking are new they're not they're sampling everything and they're making
millions and millions and billions off of it but the estate still gets paid for most of that or
rights expire they get royalties though they do yeah so i mean it's interesting because at least
i know when i was in my teens i went back to the at least for us it was the 90s late 80s but i've
even since going back to 50s 40s you know um to understand that people it was always a group thing
the one myth for me was i thought music was you just make it all yourself and that's what i'm
trying to kind of ease into my son to understand like that's great you can play guitar and you
could sing you still may end up being a songwriter like that may just be what comes out and shines
and the place where you choose to kind of fit into this whole thing but he doesn't have to stay in a
box he can he can be a producer he can sing he can write he can you know he can do all kinds of
things in the music industry it's not it's so much to do you know he can work at the record company
you know a lot a lot of it is networking you know getting to meet people right you know when i when
in New York and my younger days I was doing real estate down there in Manhattan and a couple friends
I actually showed a part remember CNC factory so they had a nice big CNC music factory yeah they
had a big loft out there everything was huge so me young in the real estate business renting that out
for like about like ten thousand a month so I met this group of brothers that actually were
writers for phyllis hyman that's how i got to meet phyllis hyman and uh so we became great friends
you know what i mean so and and i'm not a a songwriter nothing like that but i've always
been in the right place at the right time you know it's just yeah i think it's god's plan for me
because i live in i live in fort lauderdale i lived in miami you know and mandela changing the
um the lane for a moment when he got released out of prison all that they had a big celebration for
him and his wife came out there he had the secret service i literally ate with them had dinner with
them i was never invited but i was go even go through doors that folks who couldn't go through
so i said that to say that sometimes you can be an invited guest or you can just doors open up
where you were just invited you know what i mean so getting back to your son you know um there's
as many doors, like Lisa was saying,
he can walk through. It's just a matter
of what doors you walk through
and who you meet that can
be either going to
guide you to the right
location.
Shout out to Norman Connors.
He's a good friend of mine, and he
wrote most of those Simon songs, and
I'll be doing some collabs with
him as well. Hopefully
this summer, Norman wants me to come in.
I flew out and met him at the Beverly
Hills Casino, and we set
down last year uh with another recording artist because i was telling him you know i've done the
ghost of marvin gaye theater did you know on on new york playing phyllis hyman and he said lisa
i don't want you to portray phyllis hyman you have a great voice i said no i want to sound like
phyllis hyman he's like no when i record you in the studio next year i'm going to give you some
ballads that represent you love phyllis hyman thank you norman connors i love you baby yeah
that's amazing thank you for having me where can we find you socials yeah i'm all over youtube
you can go to tina turner tribute act act.org you can also google me and i'll come up and you'll see
my whole world entertainment profile do they have to put anything with mona lisa like mona lisa
a performer or you can tina turner tribute at act.org they can youtube me because excellent
you know and uh we have a lot of shows and events coming up and uh my entertainment company is
working on putting that all together and also me being on different platforms with my music that's
coming up really soon excellent so we will get together and put the drop date together thank you
so much for having us andre thank you for the introduction this was absolutely amazing this
is andre ed from jet x sofa entertainment listen you can contact me at my company at
J-A-T-A-X-E-N-T dot com
or you can email us at
info at J-A-T-A-T-A-E-N-T dot com.
And our business number is
619-775-1814.
That's area code 619-775-1814.
I want to thank you for having me
on your show this evening.
Thank you so much.
yeah for sure you know thank you for listening to another episode of i will not lose podcast
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