Female Artists that COMPLETELY Changed the Game ft. Winter Rae

I don't know about everybody, but like my purpose for doing music is so that I can use the money that I generate from this in order to make the world a better place before I leave. I don't want that much money. I'm gonna get that much money so that I can give that much money. You see what I'm saying? The One More Time Music Podcast. Genuine conversations with genuine people about music, hosted by Henry with a three and playback Ben. We're from being more coop to piss off, some more distant is a part there one more time. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Thursday. Welcome back to the One More Time Podcast. Man. Welcome back. I am excited. This is a really special episode. It is. I'm your host, Playback Ben here with my co-host. Henry with a three and Espanol. Amigos. Yeah. For the Spanish speaking. Bienvenidos a La Podcast de One More Time. That was pretty good, Ben.

Thank you. Muchacho. Henry, who do we have in the hot seat today? Welcoming in on the 25th episode. quarter century. Quarter century episode of the One More Time podcast. God, it's crazy to believe that, man. Welcoming in. You know her from Dr. Phil. It's Bad Baby. Catch me outside. How about that? How about that? Bad baby. I think um, I think y'all got me confused. Oh, is yeah. Who in all seriousness, folks? This is not bad baby, although bad baby. We'd love to have you on. Maybe. I don't know. I don't even think we'd love to have you on. But I mean, we we have legendary recording artist originally from Birmingham, Alabama, now here in Atlanta, Georgia, Miss Winter Ray. Winter. What's up, y'all? Winter the pop star goddess. That's right. That's right. Winter, we're gonna get right into it if you're ready. I'm ready. So I saw a piece of content when I was, you know, doing a little little research, scrolling through, getting my bearings. You had this post that was like, watch how Atlanta made me glow up.

Yeah. I love that post. Tell the people where you're from, and what do you think some of the biggest changes are for real that that have happened since you've moved to Atlanta? Um, I'm originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Gadsden, Alabama area. Um, shout out to the North Alabama. area. Shout out. Shout out to the North side. All of that, 205, 256. shit, you know. There you go. Atlanta is a lot different from where I'm from, just because where I'm from, like, we have this thing called Southern Hospitality. So, like, everyone cares about everyone. You know what I'm saying? Like, we're just raised to care about the people around us, if that makes sense. So when I came here, it was different because people are kind of a little more selfish. It's not so much a bad thing, it's just that life is faster here. So people are more worried about getting their tasks done and getting what they gotta do to get their money. So I'm not mad at that. But it was a it was a big shift for me. Um, and then here people are a little more materialistic. Like all women have to wear makeup, all women have to have their nails done, their toes done. You have to always look good at all times, or people gonna think you broke.

I could say we don't want that. And you don't you don't want people to think that's true? I can see how Atlanta is more like a just a big city than it is like a southern city. When you think of southern hospitality, you think of probably more rural, you know, kind of country folk. There's all types of people in Atlanta. You go 30 minutes out of Atlanta, any any direction and you're going into the country like Atlanta is just its own place, you know, but everything else, all the South is really the same. We really all act the same. So it's not much different. It's just this is a big city, and shit is faster. So if you can catch up to that and adapt to that, you'll be fine here. Do you miss the slow pace at all? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. She is full city girl now. I love Alabama and I'm so glad, like for the humility it gave me and like the ability to you know just see life from different perspectives. Um it helped me a lot, but I don't know. If you if you dream bigger than the place you're in, you might need to leave, baby. The speed of the speed of that answer.

It might have been the fastest answer. Has she done this before? So you have a lyric from one of your most recent songs, New Americans, off of Black Sheep, which I think you're rocking the merch. That's dope. Let's go. Yeah, hell yeah. Black sheep shit. What's the website? Go ahead and go ahead and plug the website. Yeah, plug it. I am Winterray.com. Boom. It's that easy. It's very simple. Winter R-A-E-Ray. R-A-E-Ray. Not why, not right. We will link it in the show notes somewhere. I don't know, up top, down low. I don't know. Maybe right here. I'm I'm only 24. Put it right here in front of Winter. I'm not that good at editing. man. IG reel. Yeah, she could do this. Okay, okay. Appreciate it, man. But but so the the lyric, back to the lyric. Back to the lyric. It was too white for my black side, too black for my white. If I quoted you correctly. That's correct. Um so assuming that hints at your interracial. You were interracial, correct? I am.

Okay. I am, yeah. Biracial. Biracial, sorry. Same thing. Same shit. Cancel, cancel playback Ben for that one. No, no, definitely not. We love him. There we go. What was it like uh growing up biracial in somewhere like Gaston, Alabama? Oh was that it was um it was kind of rare. There was only a few of us where I'm from. Like most people were one or the other. So it was kind of like but there were both, but not a lot of mixed. There's both. There's no. Yeah, no, there was not a lot of that. So it was like we were known for being pretty, but it made people not like us, and so like some people you just had to pick a side. You had to either hang with them or hang with them. Like, so who who did you hang? I mean, just curious. I hung out with everybody. You did, yeah. Okay, just because like even growing up in the city, I mean white kids tended to hang out with the white kids. It's sad to say, but like, and the so I I figured if it was even like that somewhat in Atlanta that I was like, sure as hell it's gonna be that that way in Alabama, right? Definitely, but so you you did find yourself kind of you know, I was like a social butterfly.

Okay, I just had friends who whoever was cool to me. I really didn't care about what you look like. I just I was an outcast and shit. I hung out with the outcast. There's nothing wrong with that. Yeah, no, there's definitely not. So you were you were basically born a singer-songwriter, I feel like. I mean, you you got on live the other night and you were basically telling this story how like you were in second grade, and you would come home and you'd write the lyrics to your favorite songs, like as like a writing exercise, I guess. Like you wanted to like listen to a song and you write down all the lyrics. I thought that was fun. What songs were you like listening to at that age that you were coming home and like writing the lyrics to? You're gonna fucking die when I tell you. Okay, so I can't wait. You didn't do me neither. I'm excited. Um, what's the song? Sugar sugar, you get so fly. Oh man, I'm imagining her writing sugar sugar. Did you drop the R? I I did drop the R Okay. S-U-G-A. Good. Good. So um that was that was one of them, and then it was Where's the Love by Black Eyed Peas. Oh what a good record.

Um, it was shit. That'll get you in your feels. It was um Grills by Nelly. Oh sure. I was right in the back. These are classics, yeah. Yeah, like that's when I was really getting into music and shit. So I was fucking with those records, and I was like, Man, if if they can do it, I can too. Do you feel like looking at it like written down kind of helped you understand it on a different level from just hearing it in the song? You can kind of see the structure of it. Yeah, I think that was kind of my point of doing it because I was just trying to figure out like how the fuck do they do this? I want to like physically see it. I'm like a visual person. So like photographic memory, I can see, okay, they got this first part, then this is the part that repeats, and there's a second part, then there's a kind of middle part, and I was like, maybe I can like take this and make one myself. Using that structure, yeah. Using this, yeah. And from there it just got deeper and deeper. That's when I was like found Taylor Swift and um Christina Aguilera and Pink and Amy Weinhouse. I fell in love.

Like, I just their song structure. I know they weren't always the people writing the songs, but everything about that was just I don't know, but it became a life apparently. Yeah. So do you remember the first like what you would consider a real song that you wrote? Do you remember it? Yeah, it was called Wild Horses. Wild Horses. Why is horses a theme today? Uh is it? Was it? Yeah, yeah. Okay. there's gotta be something Like I said, man, like in the air. After one, I'm I'm brain dead at this point. So it's been a theme. We'll see how this episode goes. Yeah. Um, but no, that's that's interesting. Tell us about your songwriting process today, though. Oh man, okay, it's very simple. I find a beat that I like, I'm feeling it. When I hear it, I instantly can sing to it. I'm cool. Like, I'm on beat, I'm on key. I got a melody. I'll go in the booth, lay down a melody to the whole song, maybe do that two or three times. Come back out, listen to all three of them, find the pieces of it that sound great. These are just hum tracks. Cut all the hum tracks up and put them and place them into exactly how I want my song. Go back through and re-record it exactly how I recategorized it and sing it with words.

Yeah. And then the song's done. And all we need is background harmonies and fillings. This is exactly what like I tell artists. It's beautiful because it takes advantage of that what you get from like freestyling over a beat when you kind of are first hearing it, but it also takes advantage of being able to spend some time with it and write the lyrics out and make it make sense and make and be clever. It's a combination of the two. You get both of the freestyle kind of feel, but then the like written kind of took some time and thought about it kind of feel. You really get both. But it's fast. It's important at the same time. Yeah, but I heard that you were like pretty intense when it comes to like your writing the actual like lyrics. Like you're like headphones on, like pads sometimes, like get the fuck out of here. Don't bother me. I don't like when people try to offer words to me. Cause it's like if I ever get stuck and I need songwriting help, because the day might come, but If I ever feel like that, I will ask. You, whoever you are, I will ask you for your help.

But when I don't ask for it, you don't have to offer it. Yeah. Okay. I love it. Listen up, engineers, producers. You don't have to. It's okay though. That's interesting. where do you draw like inspiration from typically? Is it actually just the music always? Or do you have things in your life that you're pulling from and you like write little notes down as like a week happens or something? Um all my music comes from my life. Everything I go through, I write about it. So do you write about it like right after it happened? I'm kind of curious. It depends. Or is it it depends on what happened? I mean, shit. Sometimes it takes a second. you can put yourself back in a situation and write. I do that a lot. Yeah. I do that a lot. When I'm when I'm really thinking about something, or I'm thinking about something that has the same emotion as something else. I can draw energy from that situation, even though it was two years ago. That's interesting. And put that into it. That's interesting. Did you always, even from like Wild Horses, did you was that a pop song? Like were you always writing pop songs for the most part?

Or I just didn't I didn't label it because I like so much different music. And it was like because I like different music, I can hang out with different people. Yeah, because I mean I saw you teasing like a rap song recently. So did do you write raps frequently? I've been freestyling since I was like 15. Really? Yeah. Are there a lot of rap songs out though that you put out? I've never dropped a rap song? Yeah, I didn't think so. I tried to find one. My friends are the only people that's heard me rap. Yeah. Or are you thinking about doing it? Or is it just kind of a fun thing? People my fans love it. That's all I know. Is it worth it to give it to the fans even if it's not in your heart? Is it is that worth it? I don't know. It might I feel like if it came out on a song, it's probably in my heart too. There you go. Okay. So you mentioned a few earlier. I mean, you've been influenced, I would say, by some very strong female artists. I mean, you mentioned Pink, Christina Aguilera, I mean Taylor Swift. I don't know if she's as like strong as maybe those other two. Strong songwriters. yeah, exactly. But so

these pretty strong, you know, female vocals. Like, what did you see in kind of a few of them, right? Like, was it the songwriting? Was it their image? Like, kind of what what inspired you about them so much? Was it the fact that they were strong females, or like what? I feel like I was drawn to each one of them for a different reason. Like Amy Winehouse, I loved her so much because she was so unique. Yeah. And she was just a hundred percent herself. And I when I meet people like that, which is few and far between, I like to be around them. Yeah. Because you're like me. We figured out who we are. Yeah. That's not a question in my mind. So I like being surrounded by people like that. Therefore, I like listen to her music because she was always saying, I am who I am, motherfucker, whether you like it or not. And that unapologetic attitude, you know, that's what drew me to hers necessarily, which she is my favorite of the three. Amy? Yeah, definitely. Okay. Definitely. Love.

Love Amy Winehouse. Yeah. So what about like Christina? Love her. what was it about her? Something different. It was just she had a very strong voice and she just sung with her soul. Yeah. And it was like you could really feel what she was saying, even if she didn't necessarily write the records. She sung them like she meant it. And there was a lot of um the range that she had, I admired. I wanted to stretch my voice to that level. So that's why I constantly sung her songs over and over, like every day. Because I was like, I know I can't hit this note today, but in a year, I will be able to. So so when you were writing the you know, songs early on, like we were you always the kid that was kind of like singing and you know, wanted to be up on stage, whether like a class performance or something or whatever. Yeah, was that you? Yeah, that was me. I I could I could tell. There's no way this just like came out of nowhere. Because I I was doing some, you know, we have a a future guest that's coming on, and some of the research I did about him, he like didn't start singing in front of people or anything until he was like 15 or like way later on. So he wasn't the kid that was like up in the front of the room singing, you know, top of his lungs with his friends, or like shower singing, even like he wasn't that guy, like he wasn't in freestyle.

He was like a closet singer, like it was literally like he was described as like a closet singer where like no one knew he sang, and then he just busted out. And he had these like, yeah, he's a really great singer. Foreshadowing. Some people just comes to him, you know. Yeah, and it's different for everyone. Yeah, everybody's got a different journey. Oh, it's interesting. So speaking of like talent shows and whatnot, I don't know if I got this right, but were you on American Idol? Or did you try out for American Idol? I was a finalist. You were a finalist. When was this? This was 2017. 2017. 2017, yeah. So like you did the whole like try out in the big giant crowd, and then yeah, I tried out here in Atlanta. I waited in line for six hours. Oh my gosh. They only picked 200 people out of like 5,000. So I was one of those people. There you go. And you got like, did you get like the golden ticket to go to LA and everything? I got the golden ticket. Um, but it's different. She got the golden ticket. Yeah, cue the Willy Wonka music. You get a golden ticket and then you go to another place, which is either.

Hollywood or no, New Orleans or Chicago or Miami or semifinal. So they lie to us when they uh say that you're going straight to Hollywood. You go through so many different fucking shit. I knew it was like a sham. There's so many people that want this shit. Like, you have to realize, like, it takes a lot to narrow it down. Yeah. So what was that like? Um, it was it was a really trying moment for me. Um, because you know, that was right when I first moved to Atlanta. Like, I had just started doing this shit. I just turned down my first record deal, and I was just doing my own thing. I go to New Orleans for my semifinal trial tryouts, and I was the only person out of the whole VIP that didn't get a golden ticket. Wow. And I just was so confused, I was so heartbroken. Cause everybody there like was saying, Oh, winter definitely got it. Because we're all singing to each other, you know, we had to go through several different rounds of judging. You know each other. There were so many people like that, even that they show on the because I used to like watch when I was younger with my family, and like there were some people like that where you're like, How the fuck did they not get? But but it was crazy because like this guy walks up right before I was about to walk into the second panel of judges, and he was like, Hey, what's up?

Some white dude in a suit. And I was like, What's up? I'm like, I don't know you, bro. He's like, What's up? I'm like, hi. He's like, So what are you? Um, Eastern European or something, and I was like, uh, I said, nah, I'm black and white. He was like, Oh, okay. Well, where you from? I was like, I'm from Alabama. He was like, Oh, hmm. All right. Um, he told security, he was like, Let me talk to the judges for just one second, it'll only take a few minutes. Um, and then you can send her on in. You think that you were sabotaged in that moment? I don't fucking know what the fuck he said, man. All I know is he went in there, he was in there for like five minutes. He came out, he said to security, he was like, give him like five minutes and send her on in. Walks off. I'm like, God, that was a good thing, right? No, he was he was a racist in a suit. I was like, um, that was good, right? He's gonna tell him to like fuck with me, right? So I go in and I'm like, Oh, I got this.

You feel me? Like, I sung one song and she was like, could you sing another? And I was like, sure, sung another song. And they they didn't consult with each other like they did in the first room. The girl in the middle was just like, Well, we're gonna say maybe, and then we're gonna um call you if we change our mind. I said, Okay, great. I gotta walk out and empty-handed. But shit. How do you deal with stuff like that? You just brush it off, man. It's not gonna happen overnight. Does that shit get you down or does it inspire you? Absolutely. It does get you down. You have to get back up. Nobody's gonna get you back up. You have to. Yeah. So I grind my way five hours back to Atlanta. And um kept doing this shit. That's right. Yeah. Kept doing this shit. Because who knows? I could have got on that show and my career could have been fucked up. They could have said something crazy about me. Who knows? So this was the route God destined for me.

There you go. Right there. That's interesting. That's it. So back to the glow-up post. Your image, I would say, is like constantly changing or like evolving. I don't even know what to call it. You got a lot going on. You got different hair every day, nails different. Who knows what you're gonna be wearing potentially, right? Like what like do you have a stylist, or is this all you and your like weird head that makes this happen? I'm just a weirdo, just a weirdo. This can't be like a one day. No, it's like one day, it's like a three day. really I'm tapped in with Winter, and like unless she's posting like on her story old videos a lot, like she's pretty consistently changing. Like wow, I'm impressed. Shout out. Shout out to you and your stylist. Oh my god, I don't have a stylist. Yeah. Herself. Yeah, so so what does inspire your style? Like, you know, if you woke up and you wanted your blue hair, like, is that just because you're feeling blue that day?

Like, I don't How do you decide. I mean, because this is like what I wear every day. So, like, I look like I look like this all the time. He really does. Yeah. And Henry usually wearing a black t-shirt. I don't know what he did. Uh he must've gotten inspired. It's getting cold outside. Oh my god. It's getting cold. I don't know. Um, I just I just go with whatever, bro, because I don't care what people think. And when you get to that level where you just don't give a fuck, you live your life however you want to. You do whatever the fuck makes you feel good. You know what makes me feel good, looking like a different bitch every day. So I do that shit proudly, and I fucking slay that shit. So it don't matter. This might be our most self-aware like guest. This is awesome. She just definitely is confident. Let's let's put it that way. Yeah, for sure. So moving to Atlanta, I mean, was that to chase the music dream? Absolutely.

I dropped out of school for this. Really? I was at a private college with a GED. Don't nobody do that. Nah, yeah. But I did it because my GED scores were very high. I was gonna say GED, people usually go to public schools, you know, not private. I got kicked out of all them schools. That's that's interesting. What like what was the feeling of you know, kind of leaving school to chase the dream of music? Was that scary for you at all? Or were you like, you know, wholeheartedly knew this shit was gonna work? Like, you know, how'd you kind of feel during that? I don't know. I was told God told me to go to Atlanta. Like, so are you pretty religious? I would not call myself religious, but I have a spiritual relationship with God, yeah. Definitely. I'm not religious. I don't go by no religion. I just do what I believe is right. And that's it. You don't do organized religion.

No. But you're spiritual. I'm spiritual. I have a connection to God. Yeah. Through Jesus Christ. That's a pretty big, you know, move to make to feel just, you know, like it's your calling, right? Like, have there been some other like things that you felt kind of called to do, whether it's like, you know, not music related even, or you know, like what are some of those things? Lots of things. I have lots of plans. So, like, I don't know about everybody, but like my purpose for doing music is so that I can use the money that I generate from this in order to make the world a better place before I leave. We never know how long we've got on this earth, how much time we have is a question mark for all of us. Therefore, you should use every day to be productive towards moving towards helping someone else. What big how big of an impact can I have before I leave? That's the question you should be asking yourself. Therefore, my impact, I'm going to leave before I die. You know, however that happens.

Um, I want to create a national chain of homeless shelters that actually rehabilitates them and um gives them a second chance, hence the name second chance homes. It's gonna be like um So you've already thought about this. I have 13 notebooks full of plans for this. For second chance homes for second chance homes. Damn. Wow. Do you have any like connection to homelessness? Meaning like someone that you knew or you Yeah, I was homeless as a kid, so oh wow. I told my mama when I was little, I was like, I'm gonna make a homeless shelter way better than this. Damn. And she was like, I know you are, baby. She just always believed in whatever I said I was gonna do. She just always believed in me. So she was like, I know you will. I was like, okay, so shit. That's always been the goal. That's the goal behind the music. That's why I do this. I wanna, of course, change my generation and you know, bring my family up to speed and stuff like that. But you gotta think bigger than that.

You can't just take care of your family with millions of dollars. Like nobody fucking needs that, bro. Yeah. Like being realistic. Nobody fucking needs that much money. I don't want that much money. I'm gonna get that much money so that I can give that much money. You see what I'm saying? Ooh. It's not about saving it for me. I like getting money to spend it. Ain't that the purpose? Mm-hmm. Damn. I can definitely feel that because I I didn't have religion in the house growing up. But when I would ask my my parents, you know, like what do we believe? They would say, like, we believe that you should try and leave the world a better place than when you came in it. Period. That was always my favorite. very simple and short. Easy. To the point. Yeah. Beautiful. Mm-hmm. Beautiful. It can get deeper than that, but it doesn't have to. That's up to you, it's your fucking choice. And when you look at life like that, you can't argue with nobody about what they believe. Yeah, you believe what you believe, and I will do my thing. I feel like you can, but it's like a fool's errand. What's the point? To argue with someone about what they believe. Are you trying to put- It's like, have you ever successfully turned someone's belief?

No. Like, not really, right? I mean, people do change their minds. maybe they like give in. Yeah, but like, I'm not gonna be the one for that. I'm not the one for that. You can watch me if you ever ask me what I believe, why do I believe this or something? I'll I'll explain my views on things. But I'm not gonna tell you you have to believe what I think. Yeah. Because what I think is probably crazy. So shit. Yeah. And like not to get too much on the religious tip, but like imposing beliefs, like that was what I always did struggle with, like organized religion. Cause like I did a few, like my mom's Jewish, my dad's Protestant, and I went to a fucking Catholic school. Wow. You ran the gambit. that's crazy. Don't even come at me with like, you know, you know. I'm sure there's people that are more like religiously exposed, even than that, but like that was a pretty nice little you know, trio of of big religions that I was that I was exposed to. And like that was my struggle always.

It was that like it felt always like an all or nothing thing. I didn't like that, you know? Where it was like if you don't believe every single thing that this thing believes, then like you're not welcome in the club kind of thing, you know. I can't I can't agree with that. Yeah, I don't like clicky vibes. Yeah, for sure. But so I know that it hasn't been like sunshine and rainbows, you know, since you moved here doing music. That would be, you know, completely false. But you've definitely learned some lessons I would say, probably on the way, right? We're always trying to give, because there's a lot of artists I think that tune into the podcast, right? So, what are some of the like biggest lessons you'd say that you've learned? So, people for people that are like two or three years behind where you're at, yeah. Yeah. Help them. Any just like words of wisdom you'd give. A lot of advice for you guys. Um I would start with saying you cannot trust anyone. You can't, so don't do it.

Because that's the first fucking screw up that you'll make. Trust needs to be out the window when you're doing business, and you should consider yourself a business if you want to be a big or even medium level artist. If you want to be taken seriously, you need to look at yourself as a corporation. Wow. Bro, one more time. Okay. One more time. So on the one more time podcast. Because this shit is for real. When we feel like An artist has dropped a gem. Just ask if you could just one more time. You stare them in that bottom one right there. Tell him right here. It's gonna be a clip. If you want to be taken seriously, if you want to be taken seriously, look at yourself as a corporation. You're the fucking CEO of that shit. And run it that way. You heard it here first. No one does that. It's like at the end of the day, I mean, even if you have the best manager, the best label, those people could fucking get hit by buses, win the lottery, go decide to, you know, join a monastery, become I don't fucking know what they're gonna do, right? But they might leave you.

And so like if you're not in charge of your own shit, like I'm not saying don't build a great team, right? And like, you know, Henry and I, Gabe and I have a great... but own your fucking masters, own your masters, and keep your fucking sessions on a hard drive. Shit. You leave your fucking session in the studio, then you wonder why Drake got a song sound just like yours. Come on. Let's talk about it. Because I know a couple artists got songs sound just like me. So let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. What what's one song that that that that you left on the hard drive at the studio? We don't have to call anyone out. No, it'd be like I'd love to call someone out. That would be good too, I guess. That's not that's not good. My lawyer would say, Don't say anything, well, well, your podcast host is saying to say something. So I should say it. TMZ said I should say it. Yeah, yeah. Hell no, y'all ain't gonna fuck me up. Oh man, I was so close to getting her.

But yeah, there's a lot of fucking stealing going on. So I need for you guys. Like, fucking shield your shit. It's your kid. Take care of it. That's actually like a pretty pretty good lesson. This is gems right now. We're in a gem marathon, Trying to tell y'all, man. But I was hoping you were gonna fit into this, you know, description I'm about to say. You're very outspoken. Definitely. You do not hold back. Why should I? Well, I was hoping you were not gonna hold back with the you know artist that stole your song. I'm not going on the blocks. Okay, well, there we go. For dissing something. but yeah, so I like that. Has has being, you know, this outspoken has clearly you're trying to avoid trouble with not saying the artist has a lesson. Has it ever gotten recently learned? Yeah, has it gotten in you? Has it gotten you into trouble before? Absolutely. Yeah, like what are some examples? Oh man, it's too many. What you gotta do most times is listen more than you speak. That's a good one.

That's why you got two ears and one mouth. I always heard that saying, and I talk a lot, and I hated that, but it's so true. It's so true. Me too. It's so true. It's a problem. It's a problem. Yeah, especially I when I feel like somebody's like trying to play me or trying to play somebody else. I feel like I have to say something. Like I've always been the person that stood up for kids that was getting bullied and stuff like that. So when I see you're trying to take advantage of me or anyone around me, especially if it's my people, like I just get really passionate about that, and people take it as aggression. It's not aggression. I'm passionate and I'm assertive, and those two can look like aggression, but it's not me trying to come for you. I'm not trying to come for you. I just want to get the fucking message across that we're not one of them. You're not finna, we're not stupid. Like, can you stop talking like that? Can you stop being disrespectful? Like, you know. But I just like to keep the peace. I'm not a type of person that likes confrontation and stuff. I'd rather just be around people I fuck with and chill.

Is that hard to find? It is. Cause like have you been through like a lot of people since like you moved here? It's like specifically. Trying to be winner's friend is like trying to win American Idol. It's not gonna happen. Especially if you're biracial. Okay. And they're looking for an Eastern European. Okay. I think they needed to hit their Eastern European quota or something. No, for real. Literally, the producer was like, shit, we got black. person. We already got another mixed girl. She looks just like her. We can't have two. Can't have two. That's what I'm saying. Whoever you are, Ernie, I'm gonna call you Ernie. Ernie, Ernie. Fuck you, Ernie. So full circle to black sheep right there on your shirt. Love it. That's the latest release, right? Absolutely. Okay. So where did the name come from? What, you know, we've all heard the term black sheep, but like, is that the same? I mean, pretty much.

It's it's just like being the only mixed person in my family. Um, neither side really gives a fuck about me. Did you approach the album like making records? I always wondered this, right? Because now I've been in the process of like, you know, helping artists maybe put together projects, and some approach it very much like, I'm gonna make songs for this project. And like, and like here's the project. I'm in this mindset, like sonically, here's how I want it to sound thematically, this, that, whatever. Did you handpick records and then black sheep came together, or did you start the process at this point in time that I'm making this album called Black Sheep or whatever you wanted to call it, and then like it finished? Um, some of the records are from before, like when I made the song Black Sheep, that's when I decided I wanted to make an album named Black Sheep because I loved the song so much, and I feel like that's a great one. Back in the day, every album used to have a song with the same name as the album. So I love how they did that, and you know, Chris Brown still does that, a couple of different artists still do that.

I just I when I made that song, I was like, Okay, I want to make an album kind of like this. But none of the songs sound the same. Like they're all every song is different, but it's like I'm different. So you're just naturally different. I I wanted my my album Black Sheep, which is a different person, right? Someone that's not part of the crew. Everyone, these are white sheep, they're normal, and then there's this fucking black one. What's wrong with that nigga? You know what I'm saying? Like, that's poor choice of words. That's basically um what's going on with me. So, you know, I always felt like outcast, and I was like, let me just put all the records that are super hard and super different in one group. And some of those were already made. Yes, at the time. Uh, two of the records were smashes, um, as far as like doing shows, presenting them to industry people. Um, people in my label listening to them, they were the ones that everyone was like, Yeah, these are the ones. So I wasn't able to drop them last year, like I wanted to.

Why is that? Because I was tied up in contracts that were fucking me. And I couldn't release my music. So as soon as I was able to release my music, I put that shit out. Because we already knew it was a hit. And guess what? They're still the top selling songs on my motherfucking iTunes. To this day. And when I dropped that two months ago. There you go. You do the math. So we're about to play a snippet from New Americans. That was the lyric I was referencing in the beginning of the episode. So glad that we came full circle off of uh Black Sheep the album. Too white for my black side, too black for the white. They don't know nothing about family tight. Say I'm too gangster that I should tone it down. I'm just being me. I can't be nothing else. I'ma stand on honesty. I was raised on loyalty. Really grew up in the street.

They took my heart from me. I believe some tragedies made it out eventually. This is what they don't understand. We're the New Americans. So that was that was a snippet of New Americans off of uh Black Sheep. Tell us about that record in particular. You know, obviously, I I alluded to you know a little bit of it earlier, um, kind of highlighting your you know biracial. Um, but was there anything you know else about that song that you that you loved and that that made you want to play it? That song is not only about me, it's about us because I feel like now more than ever, we need unity between us, black and white, and that song is just opening people's eyes to the fact that we're having to suffer because you guys won't let it go. And I'm not saying let it go as in certain things, I'm saying let go of the hatred. Let go, let go of that feeling that makes you feel like you can't talk to them because they look like that.

That's we need to let we need to let that go. Don't ever let go of what happened. We're never gonna forget what happened. Okay, that's not gonna happen. We're not gonna forget shit. But what we are gonna do is we're gonna move forward and we're gonna forgive. And we're gonna stop thinking about that. We're gonna move forward. That's that's that's the main thing. And everybody that's mixed can agree with that. Everybody that's mixed can agree with that. Everybody that doesn't have those feelings within them, they can agree with that. We're all the same, bro. So the new Americans are the people that have finally kind of understood that and come to a new place. in society. You can say that. But they also say in 2100, everybody in America will be mixed. Yeah. That's what they said. That's what scientists said. Yeah. Everyone's gonna look, speak one language, there's olive skin tone, green eyes, brown hair. That's gonna be majority of people by 2100.

Was that song written like that's the new American during the the Black Lives Matter protests at all, or like was that at all? It was kind of post at the same time. Just kind of post that. It was like a couple months after that started for real. But that that's definitely an influence to it, but I I've always been the person that's preaching about this. That's feeling that way. since I was a kid, I always was telling people like, why are y'all like this? Like why do we have to argue about this? Like, I never understood why people is like that. So damn. She's popular. What the fuck is going on? I don't like that shit. You hit the podcast mode, buddy. I had to mute that shit. Right. Anyways. Yeah. People that person really wants to get a hold of you. He needs to fucking chill. So look. Yo, whoever you are, chill the fuck out. Stop interrupting our ass. Chill, bro. Not even like that, but still. Chill, bro. Whoa. All right. No, people need to people need to stop being racist, bro. Period.

That's that's that's played out, bro. It's old. That's old. let that shit ride, man. Like, if you think that person is cool or fine or whatever, do what you want to do. You want to be their friend, you want to have sex with them, you want to marry them. Do it. Just fucking do it, bro. How often do you not get recognized as half black? All the time. People, people. I'm not gonna lie, it kind of surprised me. Yeah, they assume I'm white, Puerto Rican, Cuban. I get all that shit all the time, and I just be like, no. But it's kind of like when people don't know that Gabe's all white, that's always funny to me. It's the same thing. They think Gabe's not white. Everyone thinks he's mixed. Like my wife still to this day is like, no, Gabe's half black or something, right? Or like I don't know what half something. He gets the half Rasta, half rock. star. And he's fucking white. Half rock star. Yeah. And they think I'm white. His his 23andMe test, though, I think came back uh only like one percent white. I don't know.

Oh shit. No, he's 99% Native American. Yeah. Oh my god. You know what my shit said? What is it? Did you do one? I did one. So you did like this swab? All the way up in your wherever? I wanted to know, but I bet yours was interesting. It was very interesting. I was like, I have to find out. So it said, I am 42% black. Okay. So, and I'm 8% Middle Eastern. And whatever the other some shit. Yeah, 50% white. I didn't know Middle Eastern, though. I guess that's why my white side has black hair. Oh, interesting. Okay. Pretty cool. All right. Yeah, I I've never done it because I'm so sure that I'm just white. Just That's what you're gonna say. That's what you're gonna say. Brazilian. Irish just a white motherfucker. But you can see which white. Like they just reject it. They're like, you're white. We don't want to waste our lab. No, for real. A lot of white people found out they was black. You're white.

Really? Yeah. Actually, now I want to do it just to like see. What if you are black? I don't know. I'm hoping he's a quarter Japanese. He's like, no melanin in this fucking thing. Me either. That's it. Yeah. I'm so white. Yeah, that's what surprised. I'm like, can't you be a little tanner winner? I'm like barely darker than Ben. Seriously. That's fucked up. That's why your name's winner. Oh man. Do you like the winner? I don't. Oh. Interesting. So So. Let's get the inspiration for the name? Where'd the name come from? I was born in the winter. What is that? Okay. What are you, Aquarius? Fuck no. Well, fuck you then. Capricorn. Definitely not a fucking Capricorn. Damn. Why is she shitting on our Zodiac signs? I love Capricorns. How about Aquarius? I can't speak for y'all. I don't know about it. I knew she would be like really into the Zodiac, though. I could just tell she was like all fucking day. So what is that? Is your birthday next month?

Fire sign. November. December. Oh, December. No, but like before you not my December. Yeah. I'm the late December. Yeah. The Christmas. Oh man. After the 23rd On the 23rd. Yikes. Yikes. So you're like right in between. That's it. Yeah. So what's next for you? Like, what are you working on right now? I just signed a deal. You just signed a deal? Did they come with the bag? I'm living. Okay. It's better than. And it's turnt. The alternative. And shout out to Butta Murphy. Shout out. Butta. Butter Murphy. Butta. Because he just signed a kid and we working. We working. We about to drop. Um I got three videos about to drop before the end of the year. They're just gonna be surprise pop-up videos. They're just gonna drop. Oh. And you got the hint here on the One More Time podcast. Yeah, we got the exclusive one. They're just gonna drop. I'm not gonna say nothing. I'm just gonna drop. Yeah. And then I'm going to put money in Google ads, of course.

Of course. Of course. I'm going to do a great way to do it. Yeah, I'm gonna just drop them. And And drop them. Google Ads. January, my rock album, Power, comes out with Relentless Records. I see the tattoo. So yeah, that's yeah. I got the tattoo before the idea for the album. But it worked out. It just worked out like that. So what's that? I mean, obviously I know the word power, but like what what does it mean to you? I put it over my vocal cords because I got a powerful voice for real. Damn, that's hard. It just seems like a neck tattoo. It just looks like a neck tattoo to me. It's like, no. Actually, it's over my vocal cords, bitch. Yeah, bitch. I don't have a powerful neck, I have powerful vocal cords. Next question. Playback Ben. Oh man. Henry, I I think Is it time? I I don't know. Time for what? What the fuck? Is she hot in here?

I'm sorry, I was laughing too hard. My face got hurt. But before we before we get into whatever you're you're doing, actually. I was gonna ask, like, people, you know, don't really know how to get a deal or what they should be looking for in a deal. Sometimes they get in shitty deals, most times they get in shitty deals. Most of the what, you know, you had mentioned turning down a deal or a deal falling out like earlier. on. I've turned down lots of deals. Okay, so what was right about this one? The percentages. The numbers and the numbers, the maps. The maps. The maps. The math. We're Correct. Okay. Um I'm getting 80%. There you go. Wow. So that's usually the opposite. That's an exclusive job. Unseen or heard of. I also own my masters. And will continue to. Gems. Um, marketing, distribution, and promotion at the same fucking time. I I'm happy as fuck. Had you known this, like, had you known about this label for a while, or not really?

Was it kind of? new? Everyone knows about this label. Okay. Yeah, Ben. Except for Ben. Empire. Oh. You know, yeah, we know Empire. Oh, yeah. It's a subsidiary of Empire. Okay, well, yeah, because I didn't know Butta Murphy. What's his name. He's uh the A&R. Okay. he's the vice president of AR at Empire. That's dope. And he owns his own label, which he does distribution through Empire. Yeah, sure, sure. Which makes sense. Take advantage of the connection. Butta. We'd love to have you on the podcast, Butta, my friend. You sound like a schmoozy dude? Bruh. He really is, though. That's what's crazy. I think that's why they call him that. Well, I would expect nothing less. And he yellows, oh shit. But guys, this is a serious matter. This is a serious matter. Serious. That's okay. We've come to a final segment of the One More Time podcast. There we go. I'm scared. It's gonna be your favorite winter. It's everybody's favorite. everybody's favorite. It's gonna make Gabe wake up off the couch over there. It might.

Henry, where are we at, my guy? We are at the Rapid Fire Rampage Winter Ray Buckle up. Rampage! So this is a little segment we like to do at the end of the episodes. Okay. Rapid fire. So, you know, we're doing like some quick, you know, kind of back and forth. No dilly-dallying. Get the fucking show on the road. And she's perfect for this because she already doesn't think about it. Her answers were the quickest out of any guests. She's so aware And quick with it. She just says exactly what she thinks. Thank you. So this is this might be our best rampage. They were almost too quick, Henry. Too quick. Are you asking me questions? Yeah, so there's three parts. So first part, short answer. I'm gonna ask you some questions. Second part is a this or that. I'm gonna give you two choices. Fuck. And you pick one. Yeah. Super easy. Black or white. Okay. It's coming. Fuck. No, but I should add that in. No. And then the third part is gonna be a word association. I'm gonna give you one word you just give me a word back. Oh god, please don't fuck me. Oh Lord Jesus.

I've been drinking fucking whiskey. You told us to say that was iced tea. That happens here on the One More Time Podcast. We blew your cover. Sponsored by Evan Williams and ice. Oh my fucking God, bro. Rapid Fire Rampage, Winter Ray, episode 25. For sure. Episode 25. 25. Just hearing that again is like, God damn. We've been killing it. I'm about to be 25. The last guest that was 24. He was like, I'm 24. This is so cool. Happy birthday to me. And that guy. Let's find a uh 26-year-old for next week. Yo, by episode 100, we have like find the oldest guy we can. Still doing music, bro. Jokes aside. Starting with the short answer. This is Serious rampaging. Serious rampage? Okay. Oh my god. Need you to zone. No laughter. Yes. Okay. There we go. Have no fun trying this. No, this is all, this is like a final exam. I'm ready.

If you could steal one artist's voice, who would it be? None. My own. Powerful vocal cords. Sorry. You've been given an elephant as a gift. You can't give it away or sell it. What do you do with it? He's gonna be my best friend. Fuck you, What would you name him? Uh depending on his personality. It'd probably be like a cool ass 80s name or something like that. Like Chuck Hole. Some good crack baby shit. Just name him Chuck. Yeah, that's perfect. Chuck the elephant. Moving on. All right, Chuck. How many grapes could fit in your bathroom? In my bathroom? Jeez. Fucking lot, bro. That's an acceptable answer. Woo! People were totally gonna judge you on how big your bathroom was based on your answers. Hey man.

Leaves it very vague. It's just a fucking lot. General fucking lot. Okay. Winter. Yeah. If you were an app, what would you be? Oh man. The first answer that came to my head was terrible. I think that's what we're going for. That's what we want. Um Pornhub. Toxic R S. Is that fucked up? That's an app? At least you just made it up. You just made up an app. Never shopped on that. Don't steal my shit, bro. This episode was. I thought she was gonna say like OnlyFans. Oh, fuck no. When she said it was terrible, though, I was like, how could how could it be bad? I thought Tinder. Pornhub doesn't have an app, do they? I don't know. Winter, in 20 seconds or less, could you teach me something that I don't know? Uh yes. Do you know how to say tomorrow in Spanish? Mañana. Do you know how to say these nuts in Spanish? No. Me neither. Some of you didn't know.

People are not good at teaching you things. I didn't know that she didn't know how to say these nuts in Spanish. So that works. Like it's better than our last guest couldn't say shit. So she's actually killing me. I think you should bag that question, bro. No, it's that's that's very interesting. I'm gonna keep at least a couple more episodes for sure. Yeah, it's very um awkward and cringy. Yeah. And that's why I like it. If you thought that was bad. It gets better. Winter, if you had a thousand dollars and you had to double it in 24 hours, what would you do? Uh um. I'll drop that shit. In somebody's account. Is there a part two to that? That's all you gotta do. That's how you would double it? Yeah. How does that double? You just drop it. It's somebody's account. Oh, she's saying someone already has double the money. So then if she deposits it in their account. I'm going to take all the money. Then she robs them.

Oh, okay. She left out. I was trying to understand. I was trying to walk through that one. Okay. So there's some robbery involved. Yep. That's more than a double up. That's the perfect. Depends on who you dropped the money into. If they were broke, you might not double up. If this is terrible, guys. On a scale of one to ten, how weird do you think you are? I'm like a good seven. Good seven. Everyone always puts good in front of it. Yeah. Or a solid. six and a half. I'm a solid. I'm a good seven. I'm a good six and a half. We haven't had a week eight. Yeah. Or like anything like that. I'm a bad nine. Oh shit. No, everything's good, solid. Like. I think that's gonna do it for the first part of the rip. Oh man. Moving on to the this or that winter. This rapid is not so. You're making it less rapid, by the way. So here, this is what's gonna happen. It's been a long day, Henry. I'm gonna give you two choices.

And whichever one sticks out more to you. Let me know which one that is. Here we go. Yes, Henry. Birmingham or Atlanta? Birmingham. Oh shit. She has some people back home that would have beat her ass if she chose Atlanta. Definitely not. Okay. Lyrics or melody? Melody. New York or LA? LA. Piano or guitar? Piano. Do you play either? Piano. Oh, really? Okay. A little bit. Nice. Tickle the ivories. A little something. A little something on there. Coke or Pepsi? Neither. Reality TV or cartoons? Cartoons. Dining in or Uber Eats. Dining In. What's your favorite restaurant now?

Favorite restaurant. Yeah. Fuck. Or or go to. You know what I mean? Like the go-to spot. Man, anything with crab legs? I'm hitting it. Yo, have you been to uh Steamhouse Lounge? No. In Midtown. It's off 11th Street in uh Spring Street. Steamhouse Lounge. Steamhouse Lounge. Y'all heard it here first. Yo. If you're interested in sponsoring a music. podcast. Or if you guys want to cater a podcast. Hey, they do Oysterfest, so they might like be involved in like I think that has like some live music, so maybe they'd want to, you know. throw us some free crab legs every once in a while It's a reach. Fuck with us. No, my wife and I go there like once. We used to like go there like once every two weeks, but that's dope. Yeah. This is a rapid fire rampage, people. So here we go. Moving on. Sorry, Henry. It won't happen again. Recording during the day or at night? Night. How late do you go usually though? Shit. Whenever. Five, six in the morning, sometimes ten in the morning. It don't fucking. matter. Until the song is done, Ben. I heard a story that you locked in like a rapper for like a month straight or like two months straight one time. Like, did you not leave?

It was it wasn't that long. Um, but I was definitely doing like back to back 12 hours, 16 hour sessions. Oh, okay, for sure. See sleep studio. See, this person made it sound like you had like slept in the studio for like a month straight. I do sleep in the studio. Sometimes? Yeah. Wow. Whenever I can, you know what I'm saying, afford that shit. True. Yeah. It's like a hotel room. More expensive though. Yeah, true. Moving on. Board games or video games? Board games. Tattoos or piercings. Tattoos. Purple or green. Green. She's killing it. I love green. Me too. All the green. It's the color of everything. Great. Wait, why purple or green though? They're both like are they, you know, they're related. Some people like purple, some like green. Okay. Didn't know why he chose those two colors. Yeah. Like, like don't. This is my segment.

This is my segment. Okay, we're done. Last part of the Rapid Fire Rampage. Wait, One more thing about that. It's the word association. Ooh. I'm gonna give you one word. You give me one word back right off the top of your head. Be careful. This is where publicists and PR people get on our ass because we've Yeah, we're learning about that, apparently. Yeah, so you catch some guests off guard and they say some dumb shit. I'm not gonna say any dumb shit. I promise. Ooh. I already prayed. She's Classically media trained. Yeah, a little bit. Here we go. Starting with Pluto. Mercury. Kitten. Cat. Harmony. Melody. Cake. S Monday. Friday. Marriage. No. Heaven. I'm on the way. Jelly.

Damn. Anger. Yo. Netflix. Two. Rainbow. Pride. Superman. Lois Lane. Government. Fuck them. Black. Lives matter. I thought we were getting sheep, but that's great too. That's even better. You did it, Winter. You did it. You survived. Possibly our best rampage. ever. And we don't just say that to every guest. No. It really was. We've said it to like two people. Maybe that was the best, but this one I think is the best. Yo, real talk. Like, I don't think I'm going to even have to edit this episode like altogether much. I mean, great conversation. Thank you. You are such an amazing personality. Obviously, I love your music as well. We were playing it while we were fucking preparing for last hour before. Um, but no, this has been a great episode.

Really appreciate you coming on. Like I said, it was a long time coming. You've worked with, you know, Henry before, and you know, Gabe. We gotta get you guys locked in, though. Definitely. Be on the lookout for some Henry Winter Ray magic coming coming to you soon. Coming soon. ASAP. To a theater near you. And surprise videos from winter. Surprise videos. If you don't follow her already, please follow her on Instagram and all social medias. Are you I am winter ray everywhere? I am Winter W I N T E R R A E. R A E. You already know. Well, Winter, once again, it's been a pleasure. And until next week, folks, we're out of here. Bye bye. Love y'all. Peace. Yeah.