Teddy Riley

Jeff Mao

All right, good evening everybody. Welcome to our conversation this evening as a part of the Red Bull Music Academy NYC Festival. My name is Jeff Mao and our guest this evening is one of the great musical innovators of our times, you are undoubtedly familiar with his work as a recording artist, songwriter/composer, arranger, producer, and a mentor to others. And he’s, of course, the architect of the New Jack Swing sound.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Mr. Teddy Riley. [applause] Thank you so much for being here tonight.

Teddy Riley

Thanks for having me.

Jeff Mao

You’re back here in New York, this is where it started for you.

Teddy Riley

This is home.

Jeff Mao

Is it always home, is it always feel like home.

Teddy Riley

Of course, all the time. Living in the projects will make you remember, and never forget, where you come from. And I never forget St. Nick’s Projects was the light of my life, and the start of my career.

Jeff Mao

Yeah.

Teddy Riley

Always remember my home.

Jeff Mao

Where would St. Nicholas Projects be, what part of the city would that be?

Teddy Riley

Harlem. The spot, you know, but I lived in every borough except Staten Island. So, [laughter] I just don’t want to take the boat everywhere.

Jeff Mao

There’s still time, you could move to Staten Island, like right now.

Teddy Riley

I can’t do it. I can’t do it. It’s too close to Governor’s Island. Anybody caught that? [laughter]

Jeff Mao

Well, Harlem is a great place to start actually, because I remember reading you describing New Jack Swing as a sound, and how Harlem was so intrinsic to that sound. I don’t know if the definition of New Jack Swing has changed for you, but how would you define the New Jack Swing sound? What is New Jack Swing?

Teddy Riley

New Jack Swing, first of all was a name that was given to me, and I always have to give credit to Barry Michael Cooper who actually gave me the name because I didn’t actually have a name for it. And it was just this music that was just transcending, and people were just catching on to it. Then you had record companies that didn’t really give you a deal if you didn’t have that sound.

So, we had to call it something right away because New Jack City was coming out. And I can remember sitting with Barry Michael Cooper, and he was interviewing me. He said, “What are you gonna call this?” And I said, “I don’t know.” I never knew what my music was called, or what I would call it until he gave me that name. And he said, “New Jack Swing. I’m doin New Jack City, and you are the New Jack Swing. You’re the new kid on the block that’s swingin it.” So, I always thought if as the new kid on the block that’s swinging it until I took it into another direction of making it... It’s a technology of music, which is putting rap and singing together, and taking fusions of different music, and fusing them all together. Because I had this dream of seeing James Brown and Michael Jackson do a song together. I had this dream of seeing the Temptations and the Chi-Lites, or mixing groups together that I wanted to hear make music.

And when that didn’t happen... It wasn’t like a dream that didn’t come true, because I made the dream come true anyway by taking their music and taking the essence. Not actually, literally taking their music, but the essence and what I was inspired by. I took it and just fused it together.

And I was always in church. So, I always had to have that church feel in my music. And that’s what kept everyone on the dancefloor. I didn’t really get it until I started seeing it. I wasn’t old enough to go to the clubs to see it.

So, when I did Keith Sweat and that’s when I got back into R&B, because I left it alone because the first R&B record that I did failed. And what I call a failure, cause it wasn’t a failure to everybody, but what I call a failure is when I don’t hear my record a lot on BLS, or WKTU, KISS, or the radio station that was happening back then, which was those three. I was like, “It’s not a hit.” So, I said I’m leaving rap alone. I’m just gonna work with rap artist. I’m gonna leave R&B alone, I’m sorry. I’m gonna work with rap artist, and that’s it. I’m just gonna make beats for everybody and their mothers. That’s what I did.

I can remember in St. Nick Projects, all of my friends were just... ’Cause I lived on the first floor, and all of my friends would come to the window, and that how I’d know I had a hit. So, the record that you just heard, “Rap’s New Generation,” which was sampled by Mary J. Blige. That record I did in the actual Rooftop roller skating rink.

I don’t know if anybody here are familiar. A lot of you are young in here. But, my uncle, Uncle Willie, I know you guys know about Willie Burgers on 145th Street, where you can get your turkey burgers, and your hamburgers, and the best... Well, that’s my uncle. He owns Willie Burgers on 145th Street. He owned Celebrity Club, S&S, and 404 after-hours spot, and Rooftop roller skating rink, along with my partners. My partner Gusto. So, Gusto actually built me a studio, and when he built me a studio, I was in heaven. It was like, I’m gonna be here. I’m not going outside, and they see me there so much, they built a bedroom for me. Somewhere I can just lay my head, ’cause I never want to leave the studio. Especially, I was in the projects and I didn’t have a studio, it was like setting my stuff on my mom and my pop’s old jukebox. We had a jukebox. One of the only families in the projects that had a jukebox where you could play records.

So, I use to set up my whole setup on the jukebox, and just make music, and Doug E. Fresh would come to my house and then Bobby would come to my house, and Keith Sweat came to my house. So, we made music, and Anna Hall slept on my couch. Every day we were making the Guy album, and all of these people came to my projects, and my A&Rs were all the kids, and all of my friends from the playground. If they came up to the window, I knew I had something. If they didn’t come to the window, it’s like, “Ah this ain’t working.” And that's what told me... Especially my brother, my brother Markell from Wreckx-n-Effect. He was my number one A&R over all my music. And he would just tell me, “That’s not gonna work. I don’t think that’s gonna work, because you gotta swing it more. You know how you did with Doug E.” He would give me references, and be really technical about it. I was just like, it’s a challenge for me ’cause my own little brother is telling me he don’t like something, and I would go and change it and it wind up working. Most of my hits came from my brother, or my friends from around the block. They’d come to the window and was like, “Yo, that’s hot. That’s hot,” then they’d go back doing things, you know.

Jeff Mao

And so, it’s pretty good immediate feedback though. I wanted to ask you this, maybe a little bit more broadly and philosophically, is there a uptown Harlem, Bronx - whatever you want to call it - musical sensibility and style that helped inform what you created? You have this, swing, obviously with New Jack Swing, but there was a bounce to, I feel, a lot of music. Something about it, maybe not something you can put your finger on, or maybe it’d be hard for some people to describe technically or musically, but is there something that puts that sort of bounce into certain types of music from Harlem.

Teddy Riley

Yeah. It was, for me, church. And why I say church, because... The first church that I went to, which was Universal Temple, it was more like a mellow church. You’d come in with your tambourine, and you just play your tambourine. I was the piano player for, I didn’t have a drummer. So, I was like, man I wish I had a drummer. And the next thing you know, a family member of ours said, “You should come to our church.” It was Universal Temple, actually across the street from the hospital I was born in, which is Harlem Hospital. Right around the corner, that was the church that I went to and the actual drummer of the church was Jazzy Jay from Afrika Bambaataa. And you have Jazzy Jay on the drums, you know you’re going to get that bounce. We used to try to play secular music in the church and we rocked secular music and we would play James Brown. [hums James Brown rhythm] That’s the bounce. I applied that to the music. Now, I used to go in the projects and they used to have the block parties or bring out the DJ equipment and everything. And I used to have a little Casio keyboard that had the beatbox and you play a key and it’s playing the beatbox and the chords and all of that. That bossa nova and that Casio type of sound. I used to take it in the park all the time, this is another reference of how I got the bounce. It had already beats in it and you hit this one key and the DJ was like [sings]... And what does that sound like? A bunch of records that are out later on after like that “I Want to Sex You Up.”

So that was the bounce. That’s how I started getting my flow and then hanging out with my friends who were DJs and I wasn’t a DJ, I was the guy with a keyboard until I finally said you know what? I’m going to learn how to DJ so I can do it all. That’s what got me into doing everything. My influences are Kid Creole, anybody familiar with Kid Creole? Kid Creole and then you had for my harmony and my vocal arrangements, I listened to Manhattan Transfer, I listened to Take Six, I listened to all of the groups and the singing groups that had that harmony, Temptations, which gave me a lot of influence to bounce my music with the singing. So I would get a bunch of records and start learning them all and learning how their sound really cultivated the people. That’s how I learned, just doing it myself and I didn’t have a drum machine, I couldn’t afford a drum machine so I used to take my microphone that my Mom had with her gospel singing group. I used to take her microphone, which was a Shure SM-57 and take a roll of toilet tissue and take the microphone and stick it in the hole of the toilet tissue and I would do something like this [beatboxes]. When I hit it, it was like my 808 but it didn’t go long. [beatboxes] I was making all my beats that way, putting it on a Teac recorder, reel-to-reel. I would do all of my harmonies and then I had this little keyboard called the DX-100. This little keyboard called the DX-100, I would play everything with that until I could afford what I needed to make more music.

Jeff Mao

OK, let’s actually play something that you were an intrinsic part of. It wasn’t any of those records you mentioned but you did mention the person behind this record as well.

(music: Doug E. Fresh & the Get Fresh Crew – “The Show”)

How about a little applause for that? [applause] Very famous record.

Teddy Riley

It is.

Jeff Mao

Very important record. How did this happen?

Teddy Riley

Well, I was introduced by a mutual friend, Lavaba Mallison, who introduced me to Doug E. because I didn’t know that... I knew it was Doug E. because I used to go see Doug E. at the real Harlem World Club and he would perform...

Jeff Mao

Which was?

Teddy Riley

Which is on 116th street in Harlem, 116th street and Lenox Avenue. I would see Doug E. perform, I would see Larry Love, I would see Busy Bee, Lovebug Starski, Hollywood and Doug E. would always just rip it up because he was the first guy doing the human beatbox. I used to always be there, if Doug E.’s going to be there, I’m going to be there but I never knew Doug E. I was just a fan and a hustler in the audience trying to figure out how I’m going to get on that stage. I never got up there but front and center I’d see him in high school and I’m this fan in high school, that’s Doug E.! I’m not going to be all up on him like him, I’m going to keep doing what I do and someday I’m going to get to meet him. Then finally, three months in high school, I had gotten transferred to the high school and he’s been going there so he’s the guy that’s the well-known guy in the school. I say you know what? I’m going to get to meet him but I was very, very, shy to meet anybody. I had never met anybody in my school unless they came up to me.

But with Doug E., I actually got to meet him, and Lavaba brought him to my house. It’s the best way to meet somebody because in high school they can son you or do something, yeah, it’s nice to meet you. I got to meet him, he came to my house, and we got right down to it and talked about the song and when he brought the actual song to me, it didn’t have all of the things that you heard in the record until I told him, he said “What you would do with this?” He let me listen to it and put it on the cassette and he said, “What would you do to this?” I said, “First thing I would do is take out all of the commercials. There’s too many commercials, there’s too many stops and drops.”

Jeff Mao

There were little skits embedded into the song?

Teddy Riley

Yes, more than this.

Jeff Mao

Yeah.

Teddy Riley

He had commercial after commercial maybe every eight bars or 16 bars and it was a stop. I said, “Man, if you’re going to keep that, you got to keep the people dancing. You need that element that is going to keep the people dancing. So I said all right, check this out.” I had a Oberheim DX drum machine and I opened it up and tuned down the drums, I tuned down the shaker and when I turned down they shaker, they’re looking at me like this dude’s about to break this drum machine or what’s about to happen? So I open it up and I tuned down the shaker and I tuned down the tom tom so that I can get that low 808 sound. I said “What do you think of this? Play the cassette.” He played the cassette and I just said, “OK” [beatboxes]. He said, “All right, I like that. OK, what you going to do next?” I said, “All right, we going to do this.” [beatboxes] That made the song, that made the whole song. He forgot about the drum sounds and all that stuff, he was like, “That’s it, that’s what’s going to keep people going on the dancefloor so we can have a couple of these commercials and the drops and all of that stuff. That shaker’s going to keep going while we dropping it.” That’s how I was added to the song.

Jeff Mao

Was Inspector Gadget, was that part of it already or was that...

Teddy Riley

That too, I added that but that wasn’t, no, no, no. The shaker was still it, the shaker was mainly it. The Inspector Gadget was something that we was intrigued about because it’s Inspector Gadget. After three o’clock, being in school, we wanted to see Inspector Gadget, didn’t we? That’s how that came about and I knew it because that was a song that I learned teaching myself how to play. I said, “I’m going to learn this.” [sings Inspector Gadget theme]. That’s it too, but the shaker was the main thing. I always say, if you’re familiar with hooks and what really hooks you in a song, it’s really not the chorus. It’s actually the pre-, the pre-chorus, that gets you wounded up and then you sing the hook, because you’ve already been hooked. So, the [sings Inspector Gadget theme], that was the hook to get you into “Alright now, let’s go wild!” Yo, you just gonna do everything once that thing go [sings]. You just... You broke your neck to get on the dancefloor. And that’s what Doug E. Fresh did to everyone. He’s still doing it today. We do a lot of performances and that song still stands the test of time.

Jeff Mao

It does. Absolutely stands the test of time. I mean... And it’s just an unconventional song just in terms of what was coming out in hip-hop to that point. Just with the personality and the playfulness of it, and everything as well. I mean it’s funny because you mention the hook, the pre-hook, and I feel like a consistent theme with your music is these rhythmic hooks, I guess, whether it is the shakers or it’s, later, the string hits.

Teddy Riley

I tell you. The one thing that I put in my songs a lot is something that is going to give people either the beat instead of the lyrics, because you know a lot of people dance to the lyrics. Well, I always like to put... If you hear the song, “New Jack Swing,” anyone familiar with that? All right, so in that song, there’s a high sound that goes [squeaks]. So it’s like [deep breaths]. You know? That’s what keeps people going. Something that is going to keep you going. I just recently did the soundtrack for the [Harlem] Globetrotters, and “Sweet Georgia Brown.” I remixed it and did something that kept people going... because if you look at the old Globetrotter round circle thing, and you got some people [whistles].

So, what I put in it was [squeaks] and a clap while swinging it and doing other stuff that other people won’t get unless they have the clap. So, when I did that, I had to do so many versions, and when I came back with the one that gives them the indication of, “This is what everyone’s gonna do when they hear the record,” is clap the same way as on the record. And everybody would be in sync. So that’s my formula. I gotta have something in the end.

There’s another thing I’ll tell y’all that I put in my songs to make people emotional about it, whether they’re happy, sad, or they’re just in a different mode. But the music is gonna make you come into it. Everybody here have had a massage and when you go to the massage parlor, what do they play? They play music to make you calm. If you go online, there are tones online that will help you stop smoking or be hypnotized or get up and be happy, and that tone is in a lot of my songs. I’m sorry, y’all. But it’s real. You can look online and look for tones to make you smile or make you sad.

And those tones you put in a song, and it gets to the person. It makes them feel emotional. You know, even if it’s an up-tempo, I can actually make you feel really... And I used to feel emotional about songs like... old songs like “Let’s Make a Baby” and songs like Smokey Robinson songs will make me emotional. I get sad all of a sudden, even though it’s a happy song. And I don’t know what it was but I had said to myself, I said, “I want to be able to do that for people.” And I can remember a woman telling me that “Your song, ‘The Lord is Real,’ made my family member change their minds about living. They wanted to live. It’s like they wanted to die and they said when they heard that song, it changed their life and changed their minds. Now they’re in church and they’re doing great and well.”

They would come and say, “What do you do in your songs that make people do that?” First of all, it’s the subject. It’s really the subjects. It’s really about what we’re going through every day. And I like to talk about it. I like to write about it whether it’s lyrics. It doesn’t have to be lyrics because my music is gonna tell you the story. Most of my writers who write to my songs automatically get the actual hook if I don’t get it. They actually get the actual hook because it talks to them and that’s what I want my music to do, is speak to people whether it has vocals or not.

Jeff Mao

What is that process like? We’ll go through some of the classics here. But you come in when you’re collaborating with a songwriter or an artist. Do you start with your rhythm? Does the process start before you get into the room together or does it only start when you’re in the room together and you’re starting to just work out a piece of music?

Teddy Riley

Most times I would start a song with my mouth. I’m a big, big SoundCloud user, but you would never know because everything is private because I put all my ideas and I’ll hum it in my head and put the phone like this to my face and it gets, actually, a vibration of what I’m doing because you’ll hear the bottom and the vibration of what I’m doing. And that’s how I come up with my songs and I’ll take that because the software that I use which is called Studio One. I can actually take all my SoundCloud, because it’s integrated with SoundCloud, and put it in sequencer and then I’ll take the actual thing and do a beat detection on it so that I can have it in time. And once it’s in time, that’s when I start creating.

And that’s how my weird ideas happen, you know, because I’ll put it on a dictaphone, even before SoundCloud, even before computers and technology. I would have a little dictaphone and a few that Michael have given me. He’s like, “Man, I know you do your ideas through dictaphone so I want to give you a real one.” I’m like, “OK.” He gave me a DAT player from Japan and it was this small, as small as the DAT. And I would record anything. He would send us out to go record the lions and the tigers in his zoo and I would come back with just a bunch of stuff and make beats. And that’s how I create my songs. It doesn’t matter what comes first. It still starts from here. Everybody, it starts from here, with everyone.

So that’s how I pretty much make my sounds... Now working with Michael. You can’t go to the drum machine. You can’t go to any of those things until we get past the piano. So when I first went to Michael and I started...

Jeff Mao

Hold on. We’re gonna get there.

Teddy Riley

OK. You got it.

Jeff Mao

Don’t wanna get there just yet. You got a couple more things to talk about before we get to Michael.

Teddy Riley

You got it. You got it. I would go on, y’all. I got stories for years.

Jeff Mao

No, just hold that thought. But before we get to that, we have to talk about a couple other things, including this.

(music: Keith Sweat – “I Want Her”)

Teddy Riley

So while that’s playing. These sounds were done on a Korg DDD-1. And my little DX-100. That bass sound, it’s called a Lately bass, and that’s been used multi times with everyone. But I use that bass a whole lot. And the hits came from the drum machine because we didn’t have a sampler. So I would sample and play all the hits with pads. And when I played that record for Keith, we had just finished playing, shooting a game of dice with everybody from around the block and we took their money and then we went inside. And he said, “Man, I want you to, if possible, make me some R&B music.” I said, “Man, I’m done.” This was the time I was done with R&B. I just didn’t want to do R&B because I was like, “Man, it’s gonna fail again. I’m just gonna do these rap records.” He said, “Man, just take the chords.” A lot of people don’t know how Keith Sweat and I, we met... Actually, we were rivals. He was in a band called Jamilah. I was in a band called Total Climax. And Johnny Kemp was in a band called Kinky Fox. And we used to travel the circuit, just in New York, never been on tour. Our tour was we’d go from the Cellar, to Jock’s Place, to the Rainy’s Lounge, to Tribeca’s and then we would switch. Kinky Fox, Johnny Kemp’s band, would have the Cellar and they’d be there for about four or five weeks. We would have Jock’s Place, we’d be there for four or five months until the Cellar would let us in for two weeks and then they’ll put Kinky Fox back in there because they were the house band. Keith Sweat, they would play the Rainy’s Lounge. They would play Blue Note. They would play a lot of different places. Atlantic City. We had a Big Apple contest at Grant’s Tomb. Keith Sweat’s band was against my band and I think Johnny Kemp’s band was in it. Long story short, we won. And that’s how Keith Sweat really looked at me as this kid from the block prodigy kid.

Jeff Mao

Very young at this point.

Teddy Riley

Yeah, I was actually 15. And he’s like, “Man, if you could take them church chords that you do and just put it with them rap beats that you do, you know, this could be great.” I said, “Give me a day.” He gave me just a day and, luckily, I’m eager about music. I can’t stop doing it. It’s my life, it’s in my bloodstream. So I went in that house and I said... I wasn’t really... I don’t know how to take a challenge so it’s like I’mma do it anyway, doesn’t matter. I came up with this beat, and when I came up with this beat, I didn’t know what I was doing. I just knew that it will be very interesting to people when I see them dance to it. And it would be very, to me, exciting seeing them really be like gettin’ down, just doing what you want.

That’s what New Jack Swing did to people. You didn’t have a certain dance you wanted to do. You just did what came to your mind because of the rhythm of the music. You was just doin’ anything. The freak, or whatever it was. And that’s what it did when we made it. I had to get somebody and I can remember my sister coming out of the room and she’s like, “Ahhhh that’s…!!!” And she’s like doing the foot, you know, keep the foot up there. I’m like, “What are you doing?” She’s like, “That’s how they gonna dance on the record. You wanted me to show you that.” And my brother was just too young to know. He just wanted to go outside and blow up M80s and all that stuff. And blew his finger in half. And I’m still making these beats and he come inside, no response at all. That was a time when he was just... I dunno what my brother was doing...

Jeff Mao

He lost his inner child that day.

Teddy Riley

He was like whatever my brother’s doin, I’m going out, blowing some firecrackers and whatever. And my sister, my Uncle Butchie. Everybody have a uncle that is just always in your business. My uncle was the guy that always came in and just try and sing or just get in the middle of your song. And you’re like, “Uncle Butch, come on man. Lemme just... I gotta do this man. I gotta finish. Keith Sweat’ll be here tomorrow.” He’s like, “Who’s Keith? Who’s Keith? I know that music sound good. You just keep playin’. I want to sing something to it.”

So those are the things that I got but that was the beauty of making music, ’cause you always had somebody to let you know with some sort of sign. And that’s the sign that I got. When I finally played it for him, “Yo, baby, that’s hot. Yo, we can bring that down to the studio whatchu got for it?” I said, “Alright, I’mma click on the vocals. Don’t laugh at my vocals, all right?” “Go ahead, baby.” [beatboxes] I said, “Whatchu think?” He said, “All right, play the vocals.” “I wanna... I wanna...” And he said, “What’s it sayin?” Because it sounds like I’m saying “High wanna.” ’Cause that’s the way that I did the vocals and I said high wanna but it’s I wanna. And he’s like, “Yo. What should I sing?” I said, “I don’t know but you shouldn’t sing it high.” Because Keith Sweat was a falsetto singer in his songs. He did “Reasons” and “Always and Forever.” He would do all of those high parts.

Jeff Mao

Keith Sweat was a falsetto singer? Really?

Teddy Riley

Yeah, he sung a lot of falsetto with his band. He would sing his low notes but when he’d do his riffs... [sings falsetto] And y’all see him do that on stage too, a lot. I said, “We’re not doing this with a high voice. We’re gonna do it this way. Seeing ya last night, saw you,” And we didn’t have no words so he’s like [sings] ”We in the room, just him and I, just going back and forth. And I’m like, “All I wanted to know was you really there?” I was like, “Yo, this is coming together. I’m back in R&B again.” It was like my first R&B record, I was so excited. But with this record being finished and going to the radio stations, that was the part that had me like, “Oh God, it failed again...” because we had it on “Jam It and Slam It.”

Anybody familiar with “Jam It and Slam It?” Radio station where the people call in and they’ll jam it or they slam it. My shit got slammed. It got slammed, but Frankie Crocker, anybody familiar with Frankie Crocker? Frankie Crocker saved this record, I’mma tell y’all right now ’cause when he did the Jam It or Slam It, he said, “Y’all may slam this record, but I’m gonna jam this record ‘cause y’all don’t understand this is the new sound.” And that took my sound, everything, and Frankie Crocker is responsible for this record, out the box, being a smash hit. And that’s the story of “I Wanna.”

(music: Keith Sweat – “I Want Her” / applause)

That was the making of “I Wanna,” and I didn’t want him to keep any of those vocals, because back then we didn’t have the Auto-Tune, or the pitch corrector and all of that stuff, so he just kept it in. A lot of those vocals were kept from my 12-track. I had an Akai 12-track, and we couldn’t get that sound to transfer to the 2" tape. So, we brought the 12-track to the studio just like we did with the Guy album. And I find all the engineers asking me to bring the 12-track to the studio, so that we can keep the same sound, and that’s how we kept the continuity of it. How we kept that sound going. I made a lot of songs on this Akai 12-track. All of the Guy album. I did the Raps New Generation, I did “Go See the Doctor,” all on a 12-track.

Jeff Mao

Now what drum machine are you using?

Teddy Riley

Now?

Jeff Mao

No, in this era. On that one.

Teddy Riley

That’s the Korg DDD-1.

Jeff Mao

OK, so the question, always, since this era, of anybody who’s ever been in a studio and fancies themselves as some kind of producer is, what’s the setting? What’s the swing setting to get this? That’s their question.

Teddy Riley

I wish there was a template that I could make for everyone, of what I feel inside as far as the tempo and the template. The quantization, for me is off. I like to make… and especially with the MPC. The Korg DDD-1 did it perfect. No quantization and some of that stuff is off. But when I got to the MP, you couldn’t tell me nothing. I mean, MPC the regular one, the 60, the 3000, I was just all over that machine, creating my own templates and that we couldn’t actually make as a template for the drum machines because certain things were off and certain things were on. 16 triplets and then one 16.

Jeff Mao

So, there’s no magic setting. It’s just...

Teddy Riley

I can’t even, I wish I could. I wish it was, but I never did... Like when I did “It’s Time to Make that Change,” you guys familiar? It was go-go and go-go you cannot... 16 triplets is not swing compared to go-go. Go-go is just off. It’s like, you had stuff going one way and another and it’s just... That’s what it was for me. I wish I could and I wish I did have a template for... Now there’s technology that can find my template.

Jeff Mao

So, you’re basically playing these live to tape.

Teddy Riley

I never program. “I Wanna,” I played it straight down. I played everything straight down. Guy album straight down, a whole five minutes. And that’s why it took long for a lot of these records to come out. Because I played... I didn’t have a sequencer. And when I finally got a sequencer, it didn’t work right for me. I had the Alesis and I did “My Prerogative” on the Alesis but I wind up playing a lot of the stuff over, because it didn’t have the off-and-on swing that I wanted. And I wanted it to be, you know, sometimes straight and same thing with “The Show.” That was played all live into the tape machine.

Jeff Mao

All right.

Teddy Riley

I guess that’s my cue.

Jeff Mao

All right, so you mentioned Guy. What led to the formation of Guy. Obviously you’re doing... you mentioned Bobby Brown, Keith Sweat, Johnny Kemp, these are huge, huge records. What led you back to becoming and artist as well as a producer?

Teddy Riley

Because I wanted something different for us as producers. Before me you never knew who the producer was, you know what I’m saying? But I did, because I did the research and my producer favorite, my idol, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Prince. Artists like Rod Stewart and Phil Collins and their music... Toto and who else? There are so many groups out there, but those are my idols, but, a lot of people didn’t know.

But I knew because if I watch Welcome Back, Kotter, I watch the credits, Quincy Jones. And then I’ll watch Barney Miller, [hums theme] and... Quincy Jones. Oh wow! Sanford and Son [sings theme] Quincy Jones made that record. That was something I wanted to... If I could and I was, you know, working with Quincy, I would’ve been like, “Quincy, you need to be in a group.” Because that’s what my manager at the time told me, in order to be visually seen and people to know who did that music, you gotta be in a group.

So I was in a group before and I shut it down, I didn’t want to be in a group, ever again. So, that’s why I went to producing with everyone and their mothers and working with Keith and then Timmy Gatling convinced me to be... No he didn’t convince me. Aaron Hall convinced me to be in a group because Timmy wanted me to be just a producer for the Guy album, for those two and Timmy and Aaron used to work at a shoe store and I was mixing the Keith Sweat album and I was in the mix and they came to the studio. When I heard Aaron sing I was just blown away. I was like, “Yo, any way I could be involved, you know, I’ll just produce it.”

And Aaron’s like, “Nah, that ain’t happening. If you’re not in the group I’m just gonna go solo.” And I said, “I’ll join the group.” And it was only because Timmy, my best friend and Aaron, incredible singer, had a sound of his own that he was inspired by Charlie Wilson and Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway and all these great... So it’s like up my alley. I’m inspired by Quincy Jones, Michael Narada Walden and a... Who else, Nile Rodgers and all the people that I was inspired by, we had the same story to tell.

So, Aaron actually didn’t have a place. He was working at the shoe store and he would just kinda launch with different people and it kinda became something that he didn’t want to do anymore. He’s like, “Yo, man, I don’t have a place to stay.” I said, “You can stay right here, I’m going to ask my mom.” You know, and I asked my mom and said “Mom, can he stay?” she said “Yeah, he’s fine. If he don’t have a problem with sleeping on the couch, he’s fine.” So, Aaron stayed with me for about three, four months and we did the whole Guy album on the 12-track. And he’s doing the vocals, I’m doing the vocals that I like and whatever voice he didn’t have to do it and Timmy would get in there and sing as well.

We just had this thing going and came up with the Guy album. Guy titled album and we didn’t know what to do with it and we just had all this music, it’s like, “Where we’re gonna go to?” And then we wind up going to Gene Griffin. And Gene Griffin basically said, “So, what do y’all wanna do?” And we were like, “Yo, we just wanna get a record deal.” Not knowing I could’ve got the record deal by myself because I was already working with Heavy D and working with Finesse & Synquis and the Uptown, Andre Harrell.

Jeff Mao

Uptown Records, yeah.

Teddy Riley

So I could’ve went to Andre Harrell by myself and got the deal but I felt like I needed protection. And so I need Gene Griffin who’s gonna make sure nobody’s taking from me and at that same time I was dealing with a lot of stuff that I didn’t get credit from and when that was happening I said you know, “I need protection, I need somebody to manage me.” And I brought Gene in and Timmy was cool with it and Aaron was cool with it. Then, we went in the studio. He had got the deal with Uptown Records and we finished the album, went in the studio and cut everything over with the 12-track recording to the 2". And that was the Guy album.

Jeff Mao

Recording vocals in the shower, in the bathroom...

Teddy Riley

In the shower, yeah. We could take a blanket and pin it up just like it was the shower curtain and we would put a blanket across the door because the wall had an acoustic, you know, sound and you know in the bathroom it’s an acoustic sound. You sound like you’re in a chamber. So, we had did that and put a blanket over the toilet ’cause music travels through water, through air, through cracks and we just... tried to get the room so dead, so we didn’t have the ambience, and it worked. We did “I Like,” everything… All of those vocals are from the 12-track.

Jeff Mao

Let’s listen to a little bit of something from Guy’s first album.

(music: Guy – “Groove Me”)

Teddy Riley

You knew how to dance for these records, so if you hear all those rhythms...

Jeff Mao

How about some applause? [applause]

Teddy Riley

All the rhythms in these records will show you... You can pick one, and follow that rhythm and you got it with the girl on the dancefloor, I’m telling you. [laughter] It works every time, I’m telling you. It’s so funny, because when I used to go to house parties with my mom and we’d go to the family house, and you know our family members, I was always asked to go and get on the dancefloor but I would never know what to do, because those records back then didn’t have all the rhythms, unless you put on a George Clinton, or you put on a Roger Troutman, or Johnny “Guitar” Watson, you know Fatback Band, and “Bad Mama Jama,” you put those records on, you know what to do. Because something is in the air that makes you go. And that’s what got us all... It gives you that rhythm and you pick one, and just follow it.

Jeff Mao

I remember when this record came out, and just as a hip-hop fan, being so impressed that there were these little accents of samples, that are just so seamlessly integrated. Basically, evoked the vibe of samples. [mimics samples] A lot of people in this era were starting to move towards sampling, did you sample your drum sounds, or were you creating your own?

Teddy Riley

Actually, I was using the stock sounds but I modified them. ’Cause I didn’t want the actual stock sounds, so I just added to it and I had this little board where I could put the bass on it, and just kind of turn the bass up. A lot, if I needed it, and you know, with all the different accents. I kind of EQ’d all of those things myself because I wanted it to come out a certain way, sometimes I’ll filter it, sometimes I’ll leave it where it’s just like a rumble. So how you felt about them, it wasn’t from the drums. It was from a low bass that I would put under my kickdrum. So it’s like [mimics sound]. So through the walls you’re going to hear the bottom. That was my thing, as long as my bottom was hidden and my snares was making you... Like when you’re at a dancefloor it’s just like [mimics sound]. You’re gonna do that when you hear my snares. And it’s on purpose, I like for my snares to hit people in the head like, “Yo what is that?” And even with my claps, my claps are loud.

Getting with Michael, I’m sorry for going back, but getting with him, he kind of just showed me how to turn music up and really hurt... He always said “I want to hurt ’em.” [laughter] And he always would go... And me and Bruce Swedien would sit in the room and he was like, “OK, Teddy, I just want you to... If you could turn up the snare, when you turn up the snare I just want you to really turn it up and the most important thing is the backgrounds. It’s gotta be loud. Because that’s what I want people to remember.” So I’m turning... I’m playing the music and he would just go, “Hurt me! Hurt me!” [laughter] Oh my God!

It’s like, I don’t know what that means but I’m... I’m gonna turn this shit up! [laughter] But that’s what happens when you get with certain artists like Bobby, same thing. He just wants to hear the music like how you gonna hear it in the club, and that’s Michael all day. He’s like, “I just want to hear it like it’s gonna sound in the club. Like, wherever, like if I’m playing in a concert, it’s gonna be your music. So it’s gotta be knockin’... It’s gotta hurt them, we gotta hurt the people, shock the world.” And I’m just so for that, after him it was just like, stuff had to be bam! Or you got to hear the essence of the sound, so I’mma let you keep asking, I’ll tell you about as we go on what I mean by the essence of the sounds.

Jeff Mao

I mean, getting the call from Michael, I’m sure, had to be crazy. But what was going on in your life immediately prior to that? Because you mention Gene, you mention feeling like you had to have some sense of security, what were you dealing with that... What was going on in your life and your career at that moment before you got that call?

Teddy Riley

Well, what was going on in my life was... I lost everything. I lost everything but the gift that God gave me, and that was my music. My hands, and I just departed with Gene and I was left at the airport with no money, $20 in my pocket, and I had just came to New York, because I was living in Atlanta, and I had just came to New York to release everybody from their contracts. It was just me taking the front line and really taking a stand for the people I brought to the company, it was GR Productions, Griffin Riley. But on a finance side, it was just Griffin. And it didn’t matter to me because my music was getting out there, remember my goal and my mission was to get my music so the world can hear it.

It didn’t matter about the money, so when he did all of this, and I was stuck in the airport with $20 and couldn’t get a seat on a plane, one person I called, and it was my best friend, Marsha McClurkin. She was in a group called Abstrac, if you guys are familiar with GR Productions, Abstrac was a group that we signed, and Marsha and I were very very close. And she worked for a bank, I think it was CitiBank, and with CitiBank she was able to get a credit card, she got American Express Platinum, I didn’t know what it was, I was joking like, “What is this silver card?” And she was like, “You’re gonna need it.” I said, “What do you mean?” And she’s like, “Keep this card. You’re gonna need it.”

And I didn’t get it until I was at that airport, and I had to call her and I said, “I think I’m going to have to come and stay with you until I’m able to make some money to get back to my family.” And she said, “Do you still have that silver card that you’ve been joking in your bag?” And I’m a hoarder of cards, I’m a real hoarder, I keep cards, and I go back to them it’s like, “Bam, I remembered I needed a guitar player or I remember I needed a stylist,” and I get all these cards and I keep them, if I have my bag here I will show you all my cards, just people and meeting them and seeing, this person I can help this person, or this person, we can do some things together, or it could be useful to what I’m doing. So that was one card I kept and I kept that card and she said, “Pull it out and give it to the clerk.” And when I gave it to the clerk, I can only remember the clerk saying, “You may now board the plane.” I said, “What’s... How much can I spend on this card?” And she said, “Whatever you want.” She said, “You have $50,000, $100,000 limit.” I said, “You are a lifesaver and I owe you.” And I’m gonna always tell this story because this is the story of you know the record “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life,” well, Marsha, Keith Sweat, Harvey Austin, God bless him, Barry Hankerson, Benny Medina... Everybody know who Benny Medina is? He’s the guy that saved me and gave me my first check after being broke. Having nothing. Do I have time? OK.

Well, Benny Medina called me up. Now, this is crazy. I know everybody’s... Some people are spiritual here. I’m very spiritual because when this happened it just made me even more believe that yo, God is real. Like good God, how did this happen? So, I’m in the hotel room waiting to meet with Al Taylor who’s the CEO then of MCA Records. And I’m waiting to meet with him thinking that, you know, we either gonna get dropped because I broke up the group. Guy, what is he going to talk to me about? So, I’m thinking I’m going to talk to the Wiz and he sat me down. He said, “You’re a very talented kid.” And this is the first time I’d met him. ’Cause I never knew any of the record companies... The label owners and CEOs and presidents. I never knew anyone, ’cause it wasn’t my interest to meet anyone so he thought I was this kid with some bifocals. A scientist looking kid. I came in dressed nice, New York, and went in his office and he said, “You’re very talented. I want to offer you a deal.”

So, meanwhile, I’m here just playing whatever type of cards I can and I know, broke. All I had was a buck and dream. I went in his office and kept the face, you know, poker face. He said, “I want to give you $20,000 deal. This deal is going to be for your label. We think you deserve a label here. This is what we want to do for you, and this is how we’re going to do it.”

Now, I’m still broke and it’s going to be a little while before I get some money. So, I go back to my hotel room after the meeting. I’m happy. I’m just crying. I’m so emotional in this hotel room. Ring. Now, when God blesses you, he pours it on you. Hard. Like you want a blessing. Whew. And I get another blessing after another blessing. So, I get a call from Benny Medina. He said prior to the call, I’m listening to this record that he want me to remix. I’m listening to it on MTV and it was “Don’t Wanna Fall in Love.” Jane Child. That record saved my life as well, because that was my first record after leaving Gene. Leaving Guy. All of this happened. Benny was like, “I need you to do this record right away, man. We trying to save this record. We got to milk it. Dun nanananana.”

I was like, “Whatever you need. As soon as I get back to New York.” He said, “Well, I want to send it to you.” I said, “OK. Send it.” He had a guy bring it over within 15 minutes. Warner Brothers was down the street from Universal Studios. So, brought it in 15 minutes and it so happened to be that record. I said, “Oh my God. I’m going to remix that record that I love.“ I was listening. I was like [mimics sounds] Don’t want to fall in... I said, “I don’t know what I’m gonna do to this, but I’m getting ready to rip this record up.” Just like a hungry man. I’m hungry. Everyday just, I’m gonna rip this record a piece. It’s just gonna be like... Then he said, “OK, I’m gonna send you a check.” I’m thinking and y’all gonna get this. I’m thinking all I’m getting for a remix is $10,000. That’s all I thought I was getting. So, I was like, “Yeah, this $10,000 is gonna help me get a truck, get my family and everybody and we going back to New York. And we gonna live in the projects until... We gonna start all over.” Because I still had my apartment. My mom still kept it. And my father up-kept it. Nobody lived in it. And what happened was I got back to New York and he called me, he said, “Did you get your check?” I said, “Yeah, it’s just a deposit. $5,000.” He said, “No, but that’s not what you’re getting.” He said, “I’m giving you $75,000.” I said... And that’s my emotions. When stuff happens like this and you get a blessing, you’re there by yourself. You got to cry to somebody. I cried to God. I was like, what else you gonna do? This is blessing beyond blessing.” I got a $20 million deal that’s about to happen. I only got $75,000 that’s coming to me so what am I going to do now?

I get this call. “Hello? Is this Teddy? This is Quincy.” I said, “Hello Quincy.” He’s like, “Yeah. I’m just calling. You had called me.” “Yeah, I did. You was my first call.” He’s like, “I heard about you and Gene and you gonna be all right. You gonna be all right. I have somebody I need you to meet. I need you to go to Clarence Avant’s house.” Anybody familiar with Clarence Avant? The godfather of the business. He’s the true godfather of the business. He’s the one who actually equalizes the business so that everyone, not just the blacks, the whites every... He’s the equalizer when it comes to fair shake, you go to Clarence and he will make it right. He made it right for Clinton on a lot of things. The Whitewater and all of that stuff ya’ll. I don’t know if y’all familiar with it, but just to tell you want Clarence Avant and what he means to the business. I went to his house. I can only remember the one thing and I always joke him about it. Is after my whole thing and I’m explaining to him what’s going on he falls asleep on me. And when he fell asleep on me we laughed about it actually four months ago when I met with him. I said, “You remember the meeting we had?” He says, “Yeah, yeah I remember that. Yeah.” I said, “You remember falling asleep on me?” He said, “Ha! I remember that, yeah. I fall asleep on every damn body.”

So, Clarence Avant is part... He’s partly responsible for me working with Michael along with Quincy along with who I call my uncle in the business, Mike Concepcion and I don’t know if anybody’s familiar with him, but he’s the guy that actually was a part of getting me the Interscope deal. All of these things came at the same time. It’s just like really, he poured it on me and it was like, “Wow, one door closed. Another opened with a whole bunch of money just falling out.” That was really not my goal. My goal was, I needed to get my family back to New York. Back to start all over. But he said, “You asked for it and you got it.”

That all is the cause. And the answer to your question of why and what happened and what struck, all these things. I had nothing but even when I had something I was always hungry. And that’s why I’m 700-and-something songs deep. And that was... And I do thank Gene. I thank Gene. I thank Harvey. I thank Barry. I thank all the people, Dick Scott, everyone that’s been in my life and helped me steered it the best way that they know how, and the lawyers, and... I thank them all, because, if it wasn’t for them, I probably wouldn’t have never met Michael, and I probably would never be here with you all.

So, they all are responsible for a part of my dash. And, if it wasn’t for Gene, I wouldn’t be deep with all the songs that I’ve been doing because, literally, he was like a Joe Jackson without the belt. And, he’d say, “Man, you can’t go to the club. You gotta stay outta clubs. There’s too much trouble there, you see these guys get shot.” And, you know me, I wanted just peace. And I stayed in the studio, and I did everybody from Billy Ocean, to Jonathan Butler and Kool Moe Dee, and all of the people that I never thought I would be working with, like Boy George, and Tom Jones. I worked on Tom Jones on his umpteenth album, and it was just so amazing going to school. ’Cause all of that was school for me. Working with Billy Ocean was school, you know? The people who came before me were the teachers. Mick Jagger... These guys were my teachers.

So, those were the things that kind of sparked me, you know, to make more music and never stop, because the one thing that my attorney told me, he said... no, Clive Calder, who is the head of Jive, and Zomba, responsible for a lot of the boy bands, like NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, New Kids on the Block... He’s the guy, really, that discovered me. This is the guy that saw me working and making a beat, literally. He stood behind a tinted window and looked at me make “How Ya Like Me Now.” He was watching me, and then he came in. And he actually called me another name, because he thought I was actually Lavaba. Because he thought, you know, Lavaba is the guy that makes the beats, but Lavaba is the guy pushed the buttons and make things happen. He is the connector. And he called me Lavaba and I said, “No, Teddy.” He said, “Teddy, who?” And I said, “Teddy Riley.” And he said, “So what are you doing here? Where are the guys?” I said, “They went to go eat.” He said, “So you’re just here, and you’re making this beat, I seen you make this whole... I need to... excuse me a second.” He went back to his office, called the whole staff, and said “I want this guy signed.” And that was my first publishing deal. My first publishing deal was $20,000. Not a lot of money today, but it was a whole hell of a lot back then. And I had got this back in 1984, around then... And, it was so crazy, $20,000 was so much money to me, I told my mother, quit her job. She said “Oh, hell no.” She said, “Boy, you crazy? What’s going to be after that $20,000?” “Oh, we are going to make some more, Mom.” She said, “When you got at least $100,000 in your bank account, then I’ll quit.” I said, “OK, I’mma come back to you.”

Jeff Mao

What did you learn from Michael Jackson?

Teddy Riley

From Michael, what?

Jeff Mao

From Michael Jackson.

Teddy Riley

Oh, I thought you said Michael’s dancing. Shoot, y’all seen me on stage? I’m trying to do that moonwalk still today. What I learned from Michael was a lot of the things that I know now that I can share with other singers that, you know, I work with. You know, there are things that he taught me as far as doing backgrounds even better than how I was doing it, because I was doing it, you know, the mom-and-pop way, you know? We live in the hood, so we gonna do it the best way we know how.

Well, he actually showed me the format. And how he does all of his vocals, even without having a computer, and we didn’t have that. He did his vocals, and, one thing about Michael... His pitch is amazing. Like, he... This is what he is singing? OK. He will go to the side, get his notes, and he would come in, and sing, straight, “Do you remember...?” And his, everything is the same, each stack... And what he would do was move around the mic, and he would go this way for a different angle of the mic, it’s almost like a photographer. I wanna get different angles of you. And Michael would go to this side, he would go behind the mic, and sing the same stack. And it would be stacked about five, six, seven, ten times. And then the next note. So I am sitting here, like, wow. And his vibrato, everything just, the same. It is almost like a sampler.

So, learning this from him had taught me how to get with other singers and show them how they can actually do their own backgrounds and not sound the same. And it sounds like people, instead of, “That’s just you.” And that is how I learned how to do that, you know? It’s about your angles, it’s about your dynamics. And it was like going to college, you know? Because I finished high school, you know, working with my brothers and my sisters, and my friends and their mothers, and got with Michael, and I worked with the King. And, it was just like, it took a while for me to tell Michael he is off-key. Until he really put me on Front Street in front of Bruce Swedien and the assistants, and he is like, “I just want... Can you come in?” And, did not know that the microphone was still on.

So, he is like, “I need you to tell me when I am off-key. I need you to tell me if I suck, whatever I am doing, I need you to tell me, and don’t be afraid.” And, the same thing happened. I didn’t do no interviews for the album for a long time, for about six months. And I didn’t do not one interview talking about the album and he pulled me in the room again. I’m thinking, either I’m going to get fired, or something’s happening that I did wrong. He’s like, “Are you a part of this album?” I said, “Yes, I am 100% a part of this album.” He said, “So, why you don’t talk about it?” I said, “Michael, you gave me… I don’t know how many pages, 40 pages… of a nondisclosure, and I am not violating that. You are not taking me to court... sue me for something I said, you know, about this project.” He started laughing. He’s like, “Don’t worry about that, that is just something I give to everyone when we are doing our sessions. I want you to take these interviews. I have interviews. And I need you to take them all, and talk about this.” And I said, “Well, first of all, I don’t even know what’s going to be on the album, so what is there to talk about?” He is like, “OK. I am going to take it even further, let’s go to the room.” And, he had his progress board, and another board here, and the collage... Y’all remember the collage? The Michael Jackson collage of the Dangerous album. I’ll tell y’all that story. Is that okay?

Jeff Mao

Yeah, yeah.

Teddy Riley

OK. So on the collage, he said, “We don’t even have lyrics for ‘Remember the Time.’” So, I’m thinking, “How the hell did ‘Remember the Time’ get on the board?” He had visions before visions, and he can tell you what’s going to make it and what’s not, what he feel good about and what he don’t feel good about. It would be at the bottom of the list, and all the records that he feel good about… which he had about 50, 55 records… and I’m looking at this list, and I’m like, how did... “Keep it in the Closet” be on this list, and we don’t even have the track finished? And then he put this “Jam” record that I never heard, “Jam,” and I never heard the record, I was like, “So, what is this “Jam” record, and why is my name next to it?” He said, “Because you’re gonna work on it.” And he said, “Joy.” “Joy” had a question mark behind it. I was like, “So, what is “Joy” and why it have a question mark?” He said, “’Cause, I don’t know if it is going to make the album because, as you can see, we have so many songs, and... But, I know that these are gonna make the album.” So I said, I gotta go work harder, ’cause I see only three of my songs. He said, “So now you can talk about these songs. And just spread the word. I want people to know that you’re working with me.” I said, “Cool. I’mma spread the word.” He said, “Great.”

So, I went back in and did those interviews, came back in and made more records. I started working on “Drive me Wild” and “I Can’t Let Her Get Away,” and all of these tracks, I just started making some tracks, and he was like, peeping in, until I made this record that really blew him away, which was “She Drives Me Wild,” because he started hearing car sounds and he’s [makes horn noises], fire trucks, and I made this song out of car sounds, vehicle sounds, no real drums, and all he heard was [beatboxes]. And he couldn’t help to come in that room and say, “What is this?” And that’s how I got more songs on the album, because I kept working, I just kept working, I did “Ghosts,” I did “Blood on the Dance Floor,” I worked on all those records and he was like, “That’s a keeper, that’s a keeper, that’s a keeper too. What are we gonna do?”

Then finally when I did all of those records he made it a point for me to go and listen to how he had “Jam,” before I get to it. He said, “I really really need you to hear this record, I don’t know what to do with it.” But do you know that Michael created “Jam” on the drum machine, himself, and had an MPC in the back and he said, “You gotta hear this record.” So he played this record, but it had nothing else, but just the beat, and he’s like, “What you think?” I said, “This is crazy,” I don’t know what I’m gonna do, but I know I want to be a part. He said, “You are, you gonna take the drum machine and you gonna work on this.” ’Cause I was working on all these beats and he’s lovin’ all these beats and he’s like, ”So this may kick ‘Jam’ out.”

So, that’s why he gave me “Jam,” and when I took “Jam,” I was just sitting there analyzing how and what I’m going to do, and what could I add to really take this where it needs to go, and I started adding the horns and all the crazy stuff, and all the rhythm stuff, and he’s like, “This is brilliant. Now I gotta go back in and rewrite.” And that’s how we were making the records. We were passing them back and forth and he would start the lyrics for “Remember the Time” but only certain words would come out, and you know why Michael don’t pronounce his words sometimes, it’s because it’s the feel of the actual melody, and if you can put a word in there you mumble it. And that’s what Michael did, and that’s how we came up with most of these songs, and then he said, call some of your friend writers, and I called my best friend, Bernard Belle.

Bernard Belle came down and I said, “I’m gonna let you know right now, you gotta stay along this melody, you got to stay with this melody or you may not make the cut.” He’s like, “I got you, I got you.” So, he said, do he want all these words pronounced because I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to curve the words with the melody. I said, don’t worry about it, just get as many words as you can in the song. And he did, he got everything exactly how Michael curved it. Which taught me, you asked me what did I learn, it taught me with “Before I Let You Go,” I did all of the melodies myself for “Before I Let You Go,” and it was only because I was going through some stuff and I said, “Lately I’ve been thinking, [sings] you got an attitude? It’s a conversation. You not in the mood, like you used to.” Those were the words that I put in, but everything else was a melody because I didn’t have time to write.

So, I said, Leon Silvers, anybody familiar with Leon Silvers, from the Silvers? Leon Silvers is probably the best guy that can curve his lyrics to a melody. He’s probably the number one best. You hear all these songs from the Whisperers and Shalamar and all of these records, hits that he made. Well, he took “Before I Let You Go” and followed every word that I put in there and made it make sense, and wrote that song. The same way we did with Bernard Belle, so that was the lesson of the main thing is, melody is king, that is Michael’s slogan. Melody is king. If you all are producers or writers or any of you who are inspired by music, melody is king. Do not write your lyrics first, write your melody, and get everything out of that melody to make it do what you want it to do. Your falsettos and all of that stuff, then write your lyrics on top of it.

That was Michael Jackson’s secret. I don’t take credit for it, that’s what he did every song. You guys seen the number ones, did you all see the making of the number ones? Where he was like [sings]. And that was him and Randy, who was the genius when he made those. That was the thing about how you make a melody, you’re doing it, you’re jamming, everybody, we’re in the room, and you’re coming up with a line, you come up with a line, and the song is finished. That’s what I learned from Michael, was really how to write a song without lyrics. You write the melody.

Jeff Mao

I know we’ve heard this many times, we have to listen to just a couple seconds of this, just a little bit of this...

(music: Michael Jackson – “Remember the Time” / applause)

Teddy Riley

There was a creative battle with this song and why it took so long, it actually took us four months to finish this song and I’ll tell you why. It’s a funny story ’cause when Michael was singing the verses to this song and I’m actually coaching and letting him go and do his thing and just lay his vocals, ’cause he doesn’t like to stop and go unless he say, “I like this part so much I want to punch on to it.” Well, Michael would sing vocals straight through, it would be like 20 tracks with vocals of just a verse. Well, we got the final verse done and he said, “I’m gonna lay a one-take now.” I said OK. After 22 tracks of vocals I want to see this, and he laid a one-take because he knew... What Michael does when he’s doing his vocals like that he’s taking what’s good and really implementing it to the last track, he’s really taking those phrases and taking it and really signaturing it and then he makes the vocal. When he made that vocal we were so happy, and he disappeared.

Michael went to Switzerland right after the first verse. He went to Switzerland to check on this mall that was being built and he had stores in the mall, I think it was his mall, and he called me while he was on the plane from his satellite phone, and said, “I’m gonna be back in a couple of weeks,” and I said, “Michael, I thought you was in the room, I’m thinking we’re gonna get this record finished and you’re gone.” He said, “Oh we’re gonna get it finished, it’s a smash, it’s gonna be on the album.” I’m thinking he’s gone, I’m not gonna be here, in maybe two or three weeks I’ve gotta go back home and I said “Michael, well can I go home?” He said, “No.” [laughter] I said, “Why?” He said... And I remember, everybody who left like Dallas Austin left ’cause nobody really had the patience for Michael. He’ll keep you in the studio. You’ll be in there, and he’s not there. And there’s no indication or no guidance. You got Bruce Swedien, “Yeah that’s great Teddy. Just keep going.” [laughter]

All of his workers, everybody’s just there for you. “You need food?” It’s like, just to keep me in the room. So I said, “Michael, I miss my family.” He’s like, “Bring them.” I said, “Michael, I can’t bring my fa...” He said “Call Norma, bring them. They can come.” I said “I miss my friends too.” He said “Bring them! [laughter] Don’t worry.” I said, “Well how are we all going to get around?” “Rent them all cars.” [laughter] “OK.” I said, “Michael I can just go home for...” “No! No, no, no, no, no. Please, stay. Everybody left me. I need you to stay. This is you and I. This is our album. It’s not just Michael. Your name is all over this.” And when he came back, there wasn’t a marketing meeting or anything without me being there. I can remember Michael’s... I chose the album cover. Which was... you know, that’s amazing to be... For someone to put you in the position. It’s like they had a bunch of pictures on the table and it’s like, “Teddy what do you think?” I’m nervous as hell [laughter]. I was like I don’t want to pick the wrong thing and the whole record company everybody hates my idea. Well, I said to him, “None of those are the album covers.” He said, “What! Should I do a new photo shoot?” I said, “No, they all are great. But that’s not the album cover. The album cover is what you’ve been doing in that room. It’s that collage with your face in the middle. And you’re looking through all of your art, and you’re seeing the vision in the colors of your music.” He said, “Oh! Go get it!” [laughter] And the workers go get it and they bring it in the middle of the table and everybody was like, “Wow.” ’Cause I’m the only one that’s seen it, and maybe his workers who walked in the room, but they’d never thought twice because Michael’s always making art. He’s an artist. I’m talking about a real craftsman artist. He’ll take these apples and make it into art. And put water and he’ll just make this whole thing into... And start piecing things together and take the plants and the monkeys and that’s what you’ve seen [laughter]. And it was so brilliant that they made it into 3D. If you guys can go onto eBay you can actually pick one up. When you open it, it’s like the collage and it’s life-sized, it stands up. And I said to myself, “Wow, this is how God works.” For you to be from here all the way to here, and the marketing meetings, and from that to Michael being on American Music and Grammy’s, saying things about me that are so, wow.

Jeff Mao

I have a specific question about “Remember the Time.” I feel like the song always stood out to me just because of the register in which it’s sung.

Teddy Riley

I know what you mean about that.

Jeff Mao

He’s lower than he is on all the other songs to this point, from the previous album more or less. And even the other material on this album. That had to be a conscious decision?

Teddy Riley

It’s always my decision because that’s how... You know Bobby Brown walked out of the studio on me because he didn’t want to sing “My Prerogative” the way we envisioned it and the way we hear it. Same thing with Keith Sweat, he didn’t want to sing “I want to” that way. And I said, Keith you got to do it this way, this is your signature and you don’t understand it right now, but you’ll understand later. You gotta sing it this way. He was like, “All right, I’m going to try it this way but if it don’t work out, baby, I’m going to do it my way.” [laughter]

Same thing with... But Bobby was harsh. He was like, “I’m telling you I don’t sing how I sing... I make hits! I did ‘Girl Next Door!’” [laughter] Walked out of the studio. I was like, “Well we ain’t got to do this Bobby.” He was like, “All right, I’m the fuck out of here then.” Walked out of the room and the record company literally had to tell him ”We’re going to can your album if you don’t get back in that studio with this guy.” You know, “Do you know who he is?” That’s Louil Silas, God bless him, who was responsible for me being on this album. I only had, well, two songs. And he came back in and said to me “If this shit don’t work, we’re going to do it my way.” I said all right. I’m always the calm one. See that’s the job of the producer. You got to be the opposite of your artists. If your artists are shy you got to get their ass up. “Come on now! You got to get in that room and get that shit going!” And you scream at them and, “What!” You make them scared. Get them nervous, they start sweating and their voice get moist and then they going to get the vocals done. So, when Michael broke out on me and the purpose of him singing that low, was I said, “You can’t give everything away in the beginning. You’ve got to gradually get them there.” So as you hear the song, this is the perfect song for escalation. It’s like you’re climbing the steps and you get to the stairs and you get, “Do you remember, girl! On the phone! Till dawn! Two or three! What about us? Girl!” And it was... He didn’t do that around us.

Certain things when you go into the studio. It’s like certain things I do in the studio I don’t want y’all in here. Like when I play the vocoder, it’s very... Only person I let in the studio and then I kicked him out was one of my producers ’cause he was in the back just laughing like crazy because I’m up here trying to get all the feelings. It’s like y’all hear this music the way it is because the vocoder really. ’Cause I’m screaming in that microphone. [sings]. That’s how it sounds before putting it in the vocoder. And you’ve got to, to literally get the feelings out of a vocoder, you’ve got to... You just gotta be uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable singing, screaming, losing my voice. So I wait two days or a day of taking tea and all that stuff and then finish it out.

Same thing with Michael. Michael would sing that one part, and he’s in that room just going hard. Screaming, getting mad, throwing stuff, and that’s how he gets the aggressiveness of that vocal. He’ll go in and bam! And I can remember one time the anvil cases on Michael and all you heard was, “Help! Help! Help! Help me! Bruce, Teddy!” I was like, “What happened?” “Oh,” this is Bruce, “The anvil case fell on him again.” And I didn’t know that Michael goes through a lot to get himself in that mode of screaming. And all of the records that you hear him scream, you have to know that Michael is doing something to get himself in that mode. Mad, aggressive, you know like, “I hate you so much right now.” That type of thing.

I’ve actually seen it once, and it really gave me a whole lesson of why I do what I do. Sometimes I’ll just take off my shirt and be in nothing and do vocals. Because that’s how I feel. It’s how you feel. You’re a creative person. You’re art. So this is how you’re going to be today. That’s what I don’t allow cameras in the studio because, you know, we actually go through a lot to get the vocals how we want to get them, and exact. And that’s what Mike would do.

But let me tell you something about Michael. A lot of people don’t know that Michael have a real deep voice. And a lot of people don’t know why he talks light. Well, the voice is a muscle. The voice is like how you work out in the studio, and the only way you’re going to get the muscles is you got to keep working them out. Well, him talking high is working his voice every day to stay that high. But one day Michael called me and say, “Hello, may I speak to Theodore Riley? Theodore, how are you?” Then he would go and laugh and go into that voice, “He he he. I don’t know. Too much funny.” That was why Michael sings high and why his voice is so clear when he sings high, and his falsetto is so silky and pure, and you feel it, don’t you? It’s because he’s working out every day. And Seth Riggs, whose one of the best vocal coaches in the world, this is the guy that made Michael talk high, “No matter what you do, when you talk to people, you talk high.” And that’s what he did, “Hi, how are you?” And if I wanted to be a high singer, all I would have to do is just keep talking high, and I can talk and sing high. I can talk to you like this every day, “Hi, ladies. How are you doing? I’ll answer the phone this way, and talk like a woman and you wouldn’t even notice the difference.” That’s what Michael did. That’s the secret to Michael’s madness of being such a great singer and the greatest entertainer of all times. We go through the motions, and we go through what we do and what we have to go through to keep that sound. To keep the voice and keep what you guys want to hear on stage. If we didn’t, you wouldn’t like us.

Jeff Mao

Now, obviously, you’ve done tons of work since working with Michael. But after you work with somebody, the biggest star in the world, is there some part of you where anything after that is, “Wow, this isn’t working with Michael Jackson.” How do you follow that?

Teddy Riley

After working with Michael, Bobby and Whitney’s waiting in Virginia for me to work on the Get Away album. That’s a challenge. That was the biggest challenge, but I did what I could for Bobby’s album. We made a good record. Of course, it wasn’t the Dangerous album, so after making Bobby, how I created Blackstreet was, Chauncey had came to me and said... Because I was a little upset that Bobby wasn’t singing all the songs that we had. We got 13 done, Bobby’s like, “We finished.” I was like, “We need to do 13 more.” He’s like, “Man, we finished. I’m out of here. I’m getting married.” I was like, “Bobby, we got to do some more songs.” We got to the point we was like, “All right, he’s not going to do no more music. We got to make the best out of this.” That’s what we did, but it created Blackstreet because Chauncey was singing all the demos. And when Chauncey did all the demos was me training him because prior to Chauncey even singing for me, I said he couldn’t sing because he auditioned for God. All in my mind I was just looking for somebody who could sing close to Aaron or have that Charlie Wilson voice so that I can get two at the top with the Aaron voice and me and Damion will take the bottom, and we’ll have that great Guy sound like, “Where’s Your Love” and all of those Aaron Hall backgrounds.

So the songs that was left, was the songs that we used for the Blackstreet album, and we created Blackstreet, and Chauncey, I said to Chauncey, I said, “I can help you create a group, but I’m not going to be in it,” because I still had feelings for Guy. I still had that in my heart and my soul. We’re going to get back together and it took a toll on me to think about being in Blackstreet. I was like, “No, I’m not going to be in this group. I still got my group over here.” I wound up being in Blackstreet and I wound up being in Wreckx-n-Effect after Aaron had did an interview and it was not good. It was like, “Forget Teddy. We don’t need him. I’m doing my solo album.” I was like, “Solo album. I could join this group now.” I joined it, and we made a big successful career album and it was amazing. And I felt like... Well, I knew, I was making dreams come true for Chauncey and Levi and all the guys. My goal was, “If they fail, I made a dream come true”, because of what I said about Chauncey. I had to correct that, because that’s not what kings and teachers do. You don’t shut a person down, you pick them up. That’s what God blessed you to do, He blessed you to bless others. I said, “Wow, I could be a blessing to this guy.” He had no job. He didn’t have any place to stay, and I was leaving. This was before I started working with Michael. I had moved to Virginia, had the studio and he was like, “Man, I need a job. I don’t want to move back to Jersey.” I said, “Yo, you can come to the studio.” He said, “Man, I’ll sleep on the floor. It doesn’t matter.” So I said, “All right. You can stay here at the studio. You can monitor it with my godbrother and my staff, and just do whatever you can, fill in. Get in where you fit in.” And he did that. He stayed the whole year and three months, maintaining and helping around, doing the studio, and that right there told me that this kid is going to make it. And I wind up just started putting him in the studio. He did all of the... How do you say, dues. He paid all his dues doing stuff around the studio. I just said, “You know what? It’s time to really bless this brother. Let me do some stuff with him. Let him do these demo’s, kind of get used to me. Then maybe I’ll bring him on as a solo artist.” When he brought up the group, that’s what happened, we put together Blackstreet.

Jeff Mao

And you also developed a sound that was the next evolution of your sound.

Teddy Riley

Yes. Well, it started with Michael. Michael was the start of the new New Jack Swing. He just took it to another level. That made me just wear the innovative sign. That was like, “OK, I got to be innovative after working with Michael. I got to come up with something that is just going to shock the world”, and “No Diggity.”

(music: Blackstreet – “No Diggity” / applause)

Teddy Riley

Story behind that record is amazing because, first of all, I have to give credit to my good friend, he passed away in 2005, who wrote the lyrics. Will Stewart. Will Stewart and I, we’d known each other since I was, I think, 12, 13. He’d known me because I was this little kid making music and they used to come in my projects to go see some girls. I think it was my friend, which is his partner, Teddy Blend, who was seeing someone in my building. And they all came up and they sung. I heard their voices. They were called Pure Blend. Will was the writer along with Teddy. They were like the two corpus of the group. It was I think four members, three or four members.

Will was in my studio and he had this sample... Will is also a producer... and he had this sample, Bill Withers “Grandma’s Hands,” and he played it for me. He kept playing it. I kept walking by the studio, I was like, “What is this sample, and why is this making me walk out of the studio, keep passing the room for him to just give it to me?” And I said, “OK, this is it. I need that sample. You can give me that.” And he gave me the sample and said, “I got something for it.” And I took it in my room and I cut it up in pieces where it was by each hit. So it’s [hums] just to keep it in tempo. So I could remember the tempo being 88. And I said I’m going to keep it 88. Because if I speed it up, it’s going to change the tempo, it’s going to change the pitch. So I don’t want to speed it up. I’m just going to cut it in many pieces and make the loop, and then I’m just going to build from there.

And Will kept walking in the room and was like, “Yo. That’s hot. That’s crazy.” And then I said, “I’ll call you when I’m ready for you so we can start writing the lyrics. I’m going to do the melody, and then I’m going to give it to you.” So, I got this record to where when you hear that piano line... it was almost like I was thinking of... You remember how “dun dun dundundun dun dun,” or “dun dun pshht” after a joke is said. Well I thought of that hooked hit being that for the record. It’s like [sings “No Diggity” hook]. So that’s what the piano line was for me, it was my “dun dun pshht,” my tag. You know. And I had to have it in there. It was like, I need something at the end because I can’t let this beat go down. It can’t stop. It’s got to keep going. And the only time it’ll drop is when I have to say something. “Baby you’re a perfect ten,” drop it [beatboxes], “I like the way you work it.” And that was my feeling with that song... Giving it a new blues, a new R&B, a new bounce. And of course no one understood it, but Heavy D... Who wanted to steal it from me, who steals all of my songs. Heavy D will come in and, he just reminds me of the bully, you know, “Give me your lunch.” And Heavy D will come in and... He took... “We Got Our Own Thing” for Wreckx-n-Effect he took, what’s the other one? “Now That We Found Love” and “Is It Good to You.” “Is It Good to You” was Wreckx-n-Effect’s record. And I could only remember, “I’m not giving you this record, Heavy.” I could remember we’re sitting in the room and he’s sitting at the board. I got the picture. I wish I would’ve brought it. But he’s sitting at the board, I’m sitting at the board, and he’s like, “You know you should give me that record.” And I’m like, “Not this time.” He said, “You know you breakin’ the rules with this record.” I said, “What do you mean?” He said “There’s nothing like it. That’s the reason why it’s for me.” I said, “No, this is not for you, Heavy. If you want to rap on it I would love for you to. But I know we’re here for your record. We’re here to make you a record. Not this record. You can’t get this record right here. You took every record of my brother’s and I’m not letting it happen.”

So, we wind up doing “Now That We Found Love.” I said, “Take this record.” It was a Wreckx-n-Effect record, but it was like, “Ahhhh, God.” So he gave me the thumbs up. And then it was Dr. Dre who gave me the thumbs up by telling Jimmy, he said, “When Teddy does this record and he does the video to this record, I want to be in it.” And I said to Jimmy, “Unless he give me 16 bars, he’s got to give me 16 bars and then we can be in this thing together, and let’s make history.” And that’s what he did. The next day he cut his vocals. He didn’t even wait. He cut it, they sent it right to me, and we put it in the song, and I said, “We can’t just go with it like this. We need a rapper in the middle. He just gave me a beginning. It’s going to be boring, there’s no escalation.”

So there’s this girl who’s my little sister, Miss Queen Pen. Who actually, we met way prior to that and when we met we were in an IHOP. My favorite IHOP, down the street from my studio. It’s right across Princess Anne High School which is where Pharrell went, then IHOP. And that’s all that was on Virginia Beach Boulevard, was the school, the studio, and the IHOP. And she came up to me and she said, “I don’t want to make it look like I’m coming on to you, but I rap.” I said, “Cool. So you... You want to do something for me right here?” She said, “I’ll do something.” I said, “No, wait a minute, ’cause you probably going to be loud. So meet me at the studio and when you come to the studio I’ll be prepared to listen to everything you got.” She came to the studio, she spit and everything, and I was impressed. But I said, “Shorty, I ain’t got nothing for you right now. But as soon as I get something, I’m going to give you a call.” And the call was “No Diggity.” She was home waiting for my call and I said, “Find that girl, the girl, the rap girl. The one that came on to me in the IHOP.”

I love her so much. And y’all pray for her. She’s going through it right now, and it’s not anything financial, because she’s great, but she’s not able. And I want everybody to just keep her in prayer. But when I got her on that song, it sealed the whole thing. Icing on the cake. Song done. We took it to Jimmy Iovine, and all I could remember was my manager at the time, Madeline. Madeline was like, “OK, we’re going to play the record.” I was like, I’m nervous ’cause I don’t know if it’s going to make it. By the way, the guys stuck me out there just kind of like, “You’re singing first verse,” and put me on the front line. And that’s the reason why I’m singing the first verse is because it wasn’t my plan. It was my plan for them to sing it, because like I said I wasn’t trying to be in Blackstreet like that. But, just so happened, I’m singing the first verse. The guys were like, “If this fails, it’s going to be on him.”

I believe so much in this record because I knew it was something new. And the one thing Michael told me is when you have something different, know that you had the first. And if it doesn’t become the first big hit for you, somebody else is going to sample it, or somebody is going to be inspired. So either way, people got inspired from the record, the sound, the new sound. And we took it to Interscope, and we all went out there and sat down in front of Jimmy Iovine, and being at Jimmy’s, he’s the type of guy to have the demo face, and he’s on the thing sitting up with his Blackberry while the record is playing and not bobbing his head to it. It’s just like... “So what do you think, Jimmy?” He says “I like it, I like it. I just don’t think it’s the first single.”

Audience Member

He said “Buy Me Love” was the first single.

Teddy Riley

You are right. He said “Buy Me Love” is the first single. And the reason why, is because of his relationship with Paul McCartney and how much I love Paul McCartney and the Beatles. So, I was kind of cool with it. But I wasn’t cool and I said Jimmy, I think we are making a mistake here. He was like “ Well, I mean, let me just think on it. Let me just sit on it.” And then Madeline is like “You know what we are going to do? The same thing we did with “Rumpshaker.” We are going to press up 1,000 copies. And we are going to put it out there anyway. We are going to give it to the radio stations because of our relationships. And we are going to let them play it and they are going to decide for Jimmy”.

Well, all of this happened at the same time. We was about to push a button. Get ready to play the record. And then Jimmy calls back. Dre, Dre said he wants to be in the video. “OK, so is it a first single?” And then I said no, I need him on the record to be in the video. And he gave us 16 bars and when he gave us the 16 bars, we went into getting Queen and everything and it became our way. You know how you get favor? Is you keep pushing it. Pray until something happen. And that’s what we did. We prayed on this record. And we were like this is going to be it. This is going to be the single. This is it. Done. Changed Jimmy mind. Changed the group mind because they didn’t believe in the song. And it changed the world for me. Because for me to be on a song that went #1 13 weeks or something like that and went platinum in no time. And all these great things that Michael said was going to happen for me. He said You are going to get a big hit. And watch this. You are going to really do it. And you are going to be real. You’re gone, you’re gone and I hope to get you guys on my tour. I said “Oh hell yeah. Make this record.” And we made that record and we really... But I have to go back a little and I will let you know. Before Blackstreet was Wreckx-N-Effect.

Jeff Mao

Right.

Teddy Riley

So I hope we go into that. Because I really have to give you why and how that record came about. And how Pharrell was a part of it and all of the things that happened for that song. And actually what, maybe four, five, or six months that song was made. So, “No Diggity” was the actual record that was the go by to finish the album.

Now at the same time, I was going through something really, really hard. And that was my relationship. I thought it was going sour. I was sick for two weeks after coming from Trinidad. We made the whole No Diggity album another level in Trinidad. We did this out there while they were having carnival. So that’s how you heard some of the rhythms from that. Just the rhythms in the song, in the album period was from my excitement from being at carnival.

So when I came back, I just found stuff going on with my relationship. My ex was seeing somebody and it just made me write more songs. But I wasn’t able because I was just gone. I was just out of it. And the guys came to the house praying. They came to the house and they played “Don’t Leave” finished. Because I had finished the music and I had did the hook. And they came to the house and said “You, just listen to this.” “No baby, no baby...” They had did all the vocals and I said “Wow.” I am sitting up in the bed emotional. And about to break up. But this record is in my head. “Don’t leave me girl. Please stay.” I didn’t cheat. So y’all know who cheated? But I deserved it. Because I got a great album. And y’all hear it now. It is over, what, how many million? Over what, six, seven million sold? That’s big for me without Michael Jackson. You know what I am saying? I did a record without Michael Jackson. It went big. And it really shocked the world. Because now still today “No Diggity” is a Mercedes-Benz commercial. It was on Pitch Perfect. And it was the Beck commercial. And Ed Sheeran did it. So that’s what classics do for you. These records are classics and I didn’t know it would be.

Jeff Mao

I do want to give these guys a chance to ask some questions. But I will ask you one more before we hand the mic out to anybody that might have a question for you. And maybe you can incorporate what you want to say about Wreckx-n-Effect and Pharrell. But you are a... You have been a mentor to people who have had a huge impact on music. What is that feeling like from having this long arc of a career? Starting as a very young person. What does that mean now, over these many years, to be able to pass along something? Whether it’s the Neptunes or Rodney Jerkins or Timbaland, Che Pope or whoever it might be. What does that mean for you?

Teddy Riley

What it means is, I’m doing my calling. And my calling is to bless others. My calling is not to just do music. It’s to do music and pass it on. And that’s how your legacy continues. Just like the Michaels and the Prince. We were given a gift and that gift is not to be taken for granted. It’s actually to use it. But not just for you. It’s for everyone. God gave it to you to share. And that’s what it means to me. Is to share it. And I am able to share. I have been able to share it in my whole entire 50 years. And I am proud. I feel like I am a proud, big brother. Proud mentor, proud father.

Because my kids. You know, I didn’t push them to do music. I didn’t push them to do anything. I did push them in school. And I pushed them to dance. And look at them now. They are dancing for the top. And they are teaching and that’s all I wanted to see. Was them make something out of themselves. And do something for... Where they can share.

My oldest daughter, Deja, she still today... I still treat her like she is my baby. If she comes and say “Dad I need something” or “I need this,” And she wanted to go back to school. And she didn’t have the means to because she had got her own place and got so much to do. And I said hey, I got to make this happen. I have to figure it out. And now, she’s teaching boxing. And she’s teaching dancing and she’s doing everything and she’s on Growing Up Hip-Hop. They were trying to figure out how she made it to Growing Up Hip-Hop but a lot of people never understood. “Your dad does R&B.” No, he started doing rap.

So these are all blessings. They are not blessing just for me. They are blessings for others that I am attached to. So I am attached to everyone in here. And I really see a blessing happening for everybody. And I am not trying to be a preacher or anything. Or prophesize. But it’s a connection. And our energies flow through each other. And something from this will make you go back home and be a creator. Whether it is art or anything that you are doing. That’s what this is doing. It’s like that’s what God circulates through an arena like this. And everybody get it. And they flowing in it. And they leave this saying I am about to make a smash. Or I am about to make the best art that is going to sell in the art gallery or whatever. Or I am about to write this book. You know what I’m saying Mr. Chris? So I haven’t yet to write a book... my book is finished, but I haven’t yet to put it out. And when it comes out, it’s more than what we have here. I mean I have over 35 years of things that you need to know and watch out for. So...

Jeff Mao

Do we have anybody who has a question for Mr. Teddy Riley? Please wait for the microphone.

Audience Member

How’s it going? My question is, you talked about tone, you talked about melody. My favorite thing about a Teddy Riley record are the solos. And it’s something that we don’t see a lot of in music today. So I just want for you to give a couple takes about who inspired that or who influenced that for you.

Teddy Riley

There’s a few people that inspire me to do solos and whether it’s a saxophone, harmonica, whatever it is, I’ll do a solo because it’s only right. And it feels good to do it wherever I did it. My inspiration, who inspired me to do it was Larry Dunn. I forgot the keyboard player and I don’t want to say the wrong name, but the keyboard player from Prince who did “When Doves Cry,” that’s when music... When you got a solo on the record it’s like you really... It’s like the essence of music. You going deep into the art of that song and people need to feel that. So when I did “Teddy’s Jam,” it wasn’t my idea. It was Aaron’s idea to call it “Teddy’s Jam” and make my own signature song. And truth be told I am not the greatest keyboard player in the world. I’m not even halfway there but I’m still in school with some of the greatest. And still learning theory. My godfather is Benjamin Wright who is a great Afro-American composer and I live at his house. He’s still my mentor today and that’s how I learned theory. I learned how to get more into solo music because all I’d been doing was winging it. Seriously. I’d been winging it because it was a blessing and that blessing pushed me to do everything without even learning how to read music. Everything came from here and here. So, my solos was from here and here. And not being able to really, fluently go [makes instrument noises] and do the Prince solo. But, I said I’m gonna get close. And as a creator, we deal with... We work with what we got. And that’s what I did. When those solos came it was just, [makes instrument noises]. And it reminded me of when my favorite song was, well track, was “Beverly Hills Cop Theme.” That was my favorite solo because I knew how to do it [imitates song] And that’s what sparked me to do “Teddy’s Jam,” because I wasn’t with doing a “Teddy’s Jam.” I didn’t even want to be in a group. But being in a group I had to bring something to the table. So, that’s why we did “Teddy’s Jam” and I did whatever solo I knew at that time. And as I progressed I started doing better solos. And really knowing what I’m doing because if it becomes big, it’s my signature, so I’m glad you pointed that out because a lot of people don’t say, “We like your solos.” So, thank you so much.

Audience Member

You know, for someone who doesn’t want to be in a group, you’ve been in a lot of groups and they’re all amazing and they’re all wonderful. So, when... Do you have another collaboration or group project on the horizon considering that you have...

Teddy Riley

No more groups.

Audience Member

...Clearly, way more decades more of music to give us.

When you put stuff in the universe, nine times out of ten it’s gonna happen. Unless you mess up the dream, or the dash. We take detours in our dash, and sometimes those detours stop you from the dream. So my dream was to live in Virginia. Not knowing what I was gonna do there, but I started a music scene and vibe and movement that was unheard of. Now, Virginia Beach is way on the map, and still. So Virginia is my second home, I lived there 17 years, half of my life. And it became the place to be for a lot of people. I remember Heavy D coming to Virginia saying, “When you come to Virginia, you gotta pay the Teddy Toll.” And I said, “what’s the Teddy Toll?” He said, “Man, everybody know you’re here. So I’m calling it the Teddy Toll.”

And Puff came down, everybody came down, even Russell Simmons came down with Lyor. And they came down for me to do “Gotta Get You Home” with Foxy. And I remember doing that song and they came down, they was like, “Man, we gotta go down and see him. He’s gonna charge a lot of money, but we still need to see him ‘cause we need this record fixed.” And Trackmasters, who I look up to and I love their sound, everything. I was like, “Man, this record is done.” He’s like, “No it ain’t! You gonna touch this record.” And I was like, “Alright.” So I took the record and put Blackstreet on it, and put the talkbox and the Vocoder and all the things that I did, and then they was like, “Okay. How much you want to get paid?” I said, “Give me what you want to give me.” He said, “Get the F outta here man!” And Russell looking at Lyor and Lyor looking at Russell, like, “Is he kidding? Come on man, just tell us what you want, we ain’t leaving this room until you give us what you want for this record. It’s a smash, and you’re well worth it. We ain’t got a crazy budget...”

I wrote down this and I said, “Take a dollar out of your pocket.” And they looking at each other again, like, “This n---- is bullcrapping us!” I said, “Take a dollar out of your pocket.” He took a dollar out of his pocket. “Give me the paper.” Thank you. Do the paperwork, gave me the points, they didn’t believe I did the record for a dollar. I did “Gotta Get You Home” for $1. And they started giving us gifts, and Louis Vuitton bags, and I said, “I don’t want that. Give it to the band. Give it to Chauncey and all those guys, I don’t want that.”

And I remember, was a guy by the name of Red Allen, who’s the best friend of my Uncle Willie, who was the President of Atlantic Records. He was the President of the R&B department, and he said to me... Sat me down while we were uptown, and he said, “This business is made up of favors. Give a lot, and some will come back to you.” And that’s what I thought about when I did the record for a dollar, and Madeline was there, you know?

Audience Member

We framed that dollar.

Teddy Riley

I’m sorry?

Audience Member

We framed that dollar.

Teddy Riley

Yeah we framed the dollar and that’s all I took for the record, ’cause I knew I had... These is two powerful people, Russell Simmons and Lyor Cohen. Most powerful, a few of the most powerful men in the business. I need my favor! Well by the way, I didn’t look to them. It was just a good record. I wanted to be a part, and I wanted to do something with Russell Simmons, and I wanted to do something with Lyor. And I didn’t think back on the favor, I just knew that I did something that God pushed me to do, was bless people. Bless others, ’cause that’s what you are blessed for. That’s my story.

Jeff Mao

We have one more question I think?

Audience Member

First, I just have to say, thank you for everything that you’ve done for music. Honestly, thank you. As a person that’s from New York that loves to dance, I don’t think there’s genre of music that makes me happier to dance to than New Jack Swing, honestly.

Teddy Riley

Thank you, thank you.

Audience Member

But my question is, earlier you mentioned the song “Is It Good to You,” and I remember there were two versions of that song. Heavy D had his version, then it was Tammy Lucas, I believe, was the vocalist on there. And the song was really, really big during that time, and I kinda didn’t hear anything from her until years later I remember hearing her on “Superthug” with Noreaga. And I just wondered by there was never a Tammy Lucas album or project, or if there was, what really happened with her as an artist?

Teddy Riley

Well, it was an up and down moment with Tammy, who’s an incredible singer songwriter and visionary. And why I say “visionary,” because Tammy was the one that actually pushed me into making music just to her lyrics. She would give me a cappellas or she would sing something and I would get it right away, and that’s how we came up with “Goodbye Love,” and we came up with certain records, you know, and “Is It Good to You.” Tammy, before, I’m sure you know, was a club singer. She sung club music, and she had a big hit out there, and I was pushing for her to make another record. But we wound up making so many records for everyone, and Tammy, to me, is real estate. She’s in the real estate music business, she’d been writing for Kelis and all these people and she’s still doing well.

You know sometime people find their place in this business or in life, and they just stick with it. And that’s what she did, she just said, “I’m not going to be an artist. I’m just going to be a writer.” And I would love to have Tammy on my new album that I’m doing for my book. I’m actually doing a soundtrack to my book, so that you guys can hear music and hear new talented people. And we’re gonna have some fun with it, we’re gonna have some interesting music pieces, and I’m also doing some symphony pieces, because my dream is to be in Carnegie Hall, you know, the symphony halls, with people with tuxedos on, dancing in their seats like [crowd cheers] And it just made me, that’s my dream y’all.

And I’m putting it in the universe, it’s happening for me right now. But you know, I’m trying to pick up all the... put all the pieces together, and the people that I want to be, to help me with it. Because, as you know, the reason why I never did a solo album is because I’m a team player. I don’t believe in... You know, there’s no “I” in “we.” And I’m just a team player, you know, I’ll join your group, I’ll join your group, but I won’t be solo. But now, it’s time for a Teddy Riley album, because I feel like everybody’s made an album. Pharrell, Timbaland, and all of my brothers, they made albums. And I feel like I should make an album, but I want it to be meaningful. I’m not gonna try and be like something that I’m not. But I know y’all gonna hear that talkbox, and y’all gonna hear that vocoder, and y’all gonna hear what I have, somewhat of a voice. That, you know a lot of people say, “Yo, you’ve got a... I like your singing!” I’m like, “Yeah.” I wish I could do Luther, you know? I could do Aaron Hall or somebody.

But I do what I can do on stage, and that’s what you will see in my live shows. We’re touring now and people are so enjoying... You know sometimes I get emotional on that stage with Guy. ’Cause Guy on the stage is like pandemonium. It’s like people are like, you got pimps in the audience crying ’cause they were in relationships, and they out of relationships, and the pimping game and all of that stuff. And I literally see people in the audience crying, like where they been, you can look at their expressions like, [sings] “My sunny days...” And that’s the feeling I want people to have with my music, with the art of it. That’s it, that’s all...

I just want y’all to look forward to more things, ’cause we have the film coming. We have a bunch of films coming. One of the films that’s coming that I know y’all gonna be really intrigued with, is Rooftop. I can’t wait for y’all to see Rooftop. My partner, Gusto and I, we’re putting our heads together, ’cause you deserve it. You deserve to see what’s been going on in Harlem. ’Cause back then, certain people couldn’t come unless they had the limo driving through, and seeing the sights. But now it’s beautiful, it’s art.

Harlem, the whole New York, is art. And I miss it. I miss it, so I’mma show y’all, and y’all probably look for me to come back here. But I’m definitely gonna do it. I’m coming back, I’m coming back for a concert, we’re working on it now. I’ve just been honored, but I said, “I don’t want it right now, ’cause I want it to be big.” I want it to be like Cotton Comes to Harlem. Or Harlem Nights, you know? And we’re gonna do it. Keith, we all came up with... Let’s do something for New York and our home, and let’s bring everybody. And it’s called Harlem Nights at either the Apollo or the Beacon Theater or something like that. So look forward to it, because we gonna do it, it needs to be done. Also look forward to Kings of R&B, it’s a show, and it’s Keith Sweat, Bobby Brown, and all the kings of R&B, and we’re just striving to be the Rat Pack, or we’re striving to have our residency all over the world.

So look forward to all these things, we ain’t stopping, I mean we love it. That’s the reason why somebody’s talking me into doing Unsung, and I said, “I’m not Unsung.” Shit, I’m still on the stage and I’m still able, I ain’t Unsung! And I’m on the Mary J. Blige album, you can’t take that from me! And I’m on Maroon 5, y’all! I’m doing what I’m still doing, you know? It’s like if you’re still doing what you’re doing, give me a documentary, but don’t give me no Unsung. I’m sorry.

And I just want people to feel my story on the screen, and we’re working hard to do it. So if we had a bunch of films coming, and Rooftop is one of them, New Jack Swing: Remember the Time, which is the name of my book, which is coming first. So look forward y’all. I really enjoyed myself here, it took a long time, Red Bull…

Jeff Mao

It took us a minute to get you here.

Teddy Riley

It took some time, it took some years.

Jeff Mao

Some years.

Teddy Riley

But I’m just so happy and blessed to still be able to tell my story and get my flowers while I’m still here.

Jeff Mao

Let’s say “thank you” once again to Mr. Teddy Riley. [applause]