Ernest Ford Interview: Signing an E-Girl | "Fast & Furious" A&R | TiaCorine Tour Manager

Because it's like if everybody's not trying to eat, then everybody's gonna starve. There was one dude I almost had to fight because he was standing next to our tour bus waiting on her to get out. Well, it was an OnlyFans star that became an artist. And she was just like rapping. She was like, let's eat. Yeah, yeah, let's eat. I was like, who the f is this girl? Come on, stop. Fuck LA. I ain't gonna say fuck LA, but it's just like, you know, it's just like not a vibe for me, you know. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, what was your experience living out there? It was a lot of work. It was a lot of like hustle. That's what I liked about it, though. It was just like a lot of like everyone's moving. Everybody's moving, everybody's trying to do sessions, everybody's trying to, you know, do something. You know what I'm saying? Nobody's trying to be idle. So that's why I really like being out there. There's so much idle shit happening in Atlanta sometimes. I'm not gonna lie. There's people just there's a lot of people not doing shit, bro. Yeah.

Like sometimes I'm like, damn, we are on our grind compared to the average Joe out here, bro. Yeah, For sure. And that's why it's like that's what I like about like being in Atlanta though, because the people that I know that's on their hustle, like, I'm close with. Oh, yeah. All the big dogs, like I know that's out here getting it, like, I'm close with. Like the hustlers find each other. Exactly. Bro, and and the music industry will beat you up. So if you don't have those hustlers around you that are keeping you motivated and inspired, man, it would be so easy to just fall over and quit. I don't know. I mean, at least from my perspective, like this shit is not for the faint of heart. Cause it's like if everybody's not trying to eat, then everybody's gonna starve. That's a bar. Early bars. Early bars. Welcome to the One More Time Podcast. We got Ernest Ford in the building. E4, y'all. That was, that was such a fire way to start the episode. E4 stands for early four. Oh my god. But yeah, so you're you know, you're fresh off tour um with with with with Tia Corinne. Shout out to Tia one time real quick though.

Shout out to my sister. Yeah, yeah. I mean, what is y'all's relationship like? Yeah, it's my sister, like literally not, like dead ass. Like, I ain't never like had an artist that like we've been through so much that like I can call her family. Like, I will do anything for that girl. She knows it too. That's why I like love about it, because it's like she knows that like if she could push me to do something, then I'll do it for her. And then she'll be like, see, see, I told you. And I love that. And I love that because it like makes me a better, you know, manager, it makes me a better person, it makes me better in my career. So do you think that that like family type relationship like has to be the you know, the relationship between artist and manager, or can it work when it's like strictly professional, like we're business colleagues, right? I mean, yeah, but it's like really if it if you wanted to work in a business sense, like it could be all business, like trust me, but I just feel like there has to be some type of like I don't know, relationship there. It has to be some type of like camaraderie. If if not, then it's like it's just gonna be dead. Yeah, because for me, I mean, you know, the stories we've heard from a lot of managers on here is like you get dragged into all things personal.

Yeah. Yeah. All things. And that's why it's like you're not just like um a manager, like what a lot of people say you're gonna hear it over and over. You're a therapist, you're you know, you can you might be at a sister, you might be a hairstylist, you might be a stylist, you know what I'm saying? You might do anything, so you could do anything at any moment. But the fact that I, you know, generally have a passion to work with Tia, that's what make motivates me to do anything for her, you know what I'm saying? What's like the most random role you've played hairstylists was a good one? I was wondering if that was like a real one that you- like, no, like no, I mean, I can't really say for Tia because Tia's always on point showers, make sure that she's good. But it's like in the past, um, I have done like yeah, like a hairstylist way back, going back to like when I was in Chattanooga, it was like being like a babysitter. Oh like because she's a mom. No, it wasn't with Tia, it was with somebody else. I can't say who it was, but it was like what would you say was from Chattanooga? Isaiah Rashad. Yeah, well, it wasn't Isaiah Rashad, was it? Oh no, it wasn't Isaiah. It wasn't Zay, bro.

Zay would trust me with his kid. Zay would be like, nah, but what would you do to Zay's kids? It wouldn't even be like that. Zay would just like Zay's really like, you know, to himself and very just like you know, protective of him and his own, you know what I'm saying? So it's like if I'm smoking weed by his kids, he gonna be like, yo, like, you know what I'm saying? You're fired. Yeah, like what are you doing, bro? All right. Well, I know who not to let babysit my kids. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, because Ernest is not he's not getting the call. His other talents. Yeah, I will smoke. Ernest, the pizza was supposed to be for the kids. You know what I'm saying? Not for you after you're blunt, bro. Hey. You ate all of their lunchables? Hey, you didn't have no pro diem, so I'm gonna get that shit. You know what I'm saying? Like, oh my god. So, what was your favorite part of this this last tour with Tia? My favorite part was really just like seeing Tia like feel like the energy of the uh like the audience. So it's really just like there was like a few songs, like she would perform, Shabone, she would perform, Paris Hilton, she would perform, like some of the songs off her project and like bonnet, and like she would hear the crowd screaming to her back, and I would see her face just like light up, it'd be like Yeah, like I don't know, it's just a feeling that and when I saw her do that, I'd be like, you know, like go on with it, like, oh, I see. You know, and those were like the best, that's like the best moments I've had on tours.

It's just like see her, see Manny, you know, shout out to Manny, um, Manny Ill, he was her DJ for the tour. Just seeing them interact with each other on that tour was just like crazy. I'm just realizing she has a thing with naming songs after people. Young Jack, yeah, Paris Hilton, Avril Lavigne, yeah. What else? Shit. There's a few. I think that's a lot. Damn, that was a throwback. Um, but yeah, I mean, sometimes most of the time it's just like what pops in her head. When when it happened with Paris Hilton, and she's like a fan. Like she used to love Paris Hilton back in the day. Oh. Like her fashion, her brand, like she loved all of that. So she, you know, pay homage to the song, you know what I'm saying? And just, you know. Yeah, what's up with the 34? Oh, that's uh, that's, uh, Winston-Salem. It's like a hood, Winston-Salem. Oh, yeah. She don't even let me throw up 34. Like, if I threw it up right now and she saw this interview, she'd be like, yeah. Oh my God. Okay, now I know. I went to UNC Chapel Hill, and so a lot of kids were from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and you know, that went there, and they call it the Trefo. Yep, Trefo. It's just cooking

for you. Shit, bro, my mind is firing. How many years later did it take? dude. I'm old. All right. College was like, college was a long time ago, uh, a long time ago, guys. Um, so you know, you were doing tour management, you know, and kind of day-to-day management, obviously, then. Um, so what what's like the most important job of a tour manager? It's kind of that's like a complex question because it's like either it's like the person who's like the tour, like I could say my position, I could say the DJ position because you know, controlling the crowd, making sure they're basically the music director, and they're making sure like you know, the running schedule happens with the openers, you, you know, your artists, whatever you're doing, you know what I'm saying? So it's like that could be a hard job. Being a merch person, you know, it's also been really hard as well. Shout out to Ye, She'll be happy I shouted her out on this because Bro, I love how he's like justifying that he's about to say that tour manager is the most important job. He's like, I mean, like the DJ is extremely important. Like the merch person is extremely important.

But listen, but like the tour manager, bro. No, I mean, everything is like really important. Like, like because I've seen what everybody did. Like, even the hairstylist, like, even I'm gonna keep shouting out people because Ashley, no, I'm sorry. Like, Ashley, do it. People did like a great job. Like, Ashley, she actually deserves the shout out. Yeah, Ashley, like Tia's hair looks phenomenal. Yeah, it's like at least whatever, you know. But uh, yeah, she like made sure that she her hair was on point. She did hair on a bumpy tour bus. She was also like an assistant. She helped me out when I needed her. Like, all these people did that. Like Jada, like, you know, Farron, like her creative director, like everybody had a crucial position. Only reason I say like mine was probably the hardest because like I was trying to make sure everybody was okay. Then also talking to the venue, then also talking to VIP people, then also talking to the label to see if they can get in, and also talking to media people. It was just like I was trying to coordinate everything at once, but also making sure Tia was okay. So that's why I was just like, I have to say that my position be like if I wasn't there, I feel like it would have been a lot, but stressful. Okay, well, it would have crashed and burned without Ernest. No,

Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, I've I've done Tia probably would have took it, man. Tia is such a boss that she probably would have took it and ran with it, like I can do it. You know what I'm saying? She does seem like a bulldog. No, she's a boss. That's really what it is. She's the nicest person in the world, trust me. But it's like she understands her business, and she understands her like her career. And everybody that's in music that's an artist needs to understand that to move forward. Well, and all the stars do. Exactly. All the people that operate at the actual highest level from what I've seen, they they're bosses. Exactly. Like, y'all need to start treating yourself more like CEOs. And I feel like I've I've seen so many tweets recently, and I can't remember who's been saying it, but it's like the the you know, the sooner you can treat yourself like the business that you are, and that you're the like chief, you know, executive officer of that business, the farther you're gonna go. I mean, I I really do believe in that, and I think that it's a consistent theme that I keep hearing, and it's something I kind of assumed like just from the outside looking in, but now hearing from tons of people, like even hearing like a boogie's manager talk about how like much a boogie's in control of everything, and like really to your point, could do a lot on his own. Like, yes, he has a team, and obviously we spoke with his management team, and there are people that are like important and instrumental to his success, but like he'd be very successful, like with different people, you know.

What I mean, those people could borderline come and go, like, because they have the vision. Your career is a business, you know, you're not just like a silly little song maker. When you hit that level, like, yeah, this is an actual business, right? It is, it is, and that's why I'm glad that like she understands that. And like with the help of like, you know, my boss Aaron Larson, she really just shout out Aaron Larson. Yeah, we'd love to have you on the podcast, Aaron. No. I'll ask her. She didn't sound very hopeful, but it's really just like, like, actually, like, experiencing somebody at that high level, like work the way they do, like they're busy. They are busy. Oh, sure. they are. Trust me. Of course. I mean, it was I I took a year to get you on the fucking podcast. Well, you know, we'll see you in two years, Aaron. Yeah, but for those that aren't familiar, Aaron manages what's her roster. Aaron, um, Aaron Larson, she manages, uh, Playboi Carti, she manages, uh, Destroy Lonely, uh, manages Homixide Gang, Tia Corinne, Bloody Clip, Sid Sean, Bad Neighbors. So like she doesn't really have much going on.

She's chilling. She should have plenty of time. That's all the artists, like I could go through the producers, too. No, no, no, no, no, no. And songwriters. The producers get no love. Like, come on. Yeah, he's like, no, you don't need to name them. Um, but but no, so as a tour manager, I I you know, I do want to get back to like, you know, you're having to cater to multiple people, like you said, right? What are the conversations that you're having with like the venue? Let's just kind of start there. I mean, really, it's just like you gotta contact the venue. Like, if you could do it between like two to three months in advance, like that'll be best. Like just advancing it. That's what it's literally called is just advancing to a um a venue. And that's where you get in contact with like the production manager, the hospitality people, the general manager of the venue, like everybody, head of security, everybody you need. Yeah. And there you go back and forth on what you need to do with credentials, who's on your team, like what y'all need, da-da-da-da, what the artist needs, everything beforehand. And when you arrive at the venue, it's literally like, hey, I'm here, hey, I'm here. Hey, you remember when we talked about let's walk through the venue, and then it's literally you go through the venue, see what the stage is, see how the audio is, see, you know, if there's any tweaks of what you need to do.

Because the worst thing would be like surprises. Yeah, like one of the like the greatest thing is like the biggest surprises I've had was like some of the venues not having showers. Like, that's probably like the probably the worst. Most of them is just like small audio problems where it's like they can't accommodate, you know, like auto-tune on the mic or some shit like that. Yeah, but great thing is, like I said, shout out to Manny and uh Tia, you know, they thought of the idea of bringing their own um auto-tune equipment to every show. Ooh, yeah. And so, yeah, she had auto-tune on, like mostly every show. And um, it performed great. You know, but sometimes you have those venues where it's like, you know, you're gonna hear ee, ee, ee. that feedback. Yeah, dude. and that's just like yeah, killer. Uh that shit is deadly. But and that's one key thing too. Like, if you really want a great show, you don't want to have any audio problems, have your own audio guy. But like, like literally an audio engineer that you like bring on tour. Yeah. So do all the big dogs have like the I mean Yeah, they have they have like a team of people. It'll be like five, like five to ten people, like for some teams.

Oh, what kind of system you got? Okay, bet I'm gonna plug this in. Because if somebody handling audio, somebody handling auto-tune, somebody handling like the mixing of the drums, somebody, you know, there's literally like it'd be like a full team, somebody making sure that the in-ears are working, like the monitor system's working. Huge. Right, that's a big one. Oh, maybe the fans, you know, a little bit of feedback here, a little bit of this there, like whatever, right? But but the but the artist, it's the artist. They want to get the best show possible. And it's gonna just give them like anxiety and stress. I don't know. You want to keep them confident. You want to keep them comfortable and confident and had you could not, yeah, you cannot have a fucking fucked up audio. Bro, I'm so serious. Like, I've seen it, and it's people like I don't work with, and I'll just like they'll probably be mad I talked about this, but we performed at like the Fillmore, it was like a venue there, like the foundry, and offset was what like uh sound checking, and like I could hear him like, hey man, my mic not up. Hey, turn my mic, like he was going off, like making sure his mic was straight, and I've seen other artists like we work with, so it's like they want to make sure they give the best show possible. Yeah, don't play with the fucking audio.

Don't so you know, I do want our audience if if they get the chance to go on tour, which I hope every every one of you guys out there do, right? Like, what can they do to maximize the the like success of the tour, right? Like, how can they make sure that they're two million, three million plusing their streams after they walk away from it? Or you know what I mean, like what you know, what are all the different things that they can do to make sure they're getting the most out of it? I mean, really just making sure you push it. Like, I saw a few of you guys' interviews, and um shout out I forgot who it was. Uh like I think it was Willie Jones or something like that. I was talking about like if you don't push your own music, then how the artist supposed to do it, or something like that. Yeah, like that's what I think you need to do. You need to push the you need to push the shows, you need to push yourself, you need to push the moments in the crowd that people feel like they can relate to. Like one thing that Tia did that I thought was amazing was there was like this one girl, I'll never forget there was, like short little girl with glasses. I think it was in LA or New York. And she knew every word, but she started screaming at Tia's face, like ah, and Tia recorded it.

Uh we got it on camera and Tia recorded. She's just like, hey, touching her hand, the girl like cries. And I was like, those are the type of moments like people want to see because they're like, oh, I want to see how Tia Korean show is. So it's like pushing those type of bad narrative that like you come to a Tia Korean show, you will feel like loved from her. And that's like what you can really do to like, you know, drive, you know, audience, a cult audience base, a cult fan base. Because that's the thing that most of these shows, most of our clients have is a cult fan base that come to a show regardless of anything. Capturing those moments, capturing those moments and make sure that you push them. Yeah, and creating those moments. No, true, you can't capture them if you don't even create them. How do you know what the moments do? You know what I'm saying? Like, how do you know like how that girl was gonna come to the show and just like cry in her face? Yeah, I didn't even think that was gonna happen on tour. I was like, man, this tour, you know, we get what we get. But this tour was amazing seeing her fans, like there was one dude I almost had to fight because he was standing next to our tour bus waiting on her to get out so she could talk to. I was like, yo, oh, shit. I was like, This is crazy.

That was me. Yeah, bro. If that was you, I would have been like, bitch, get your ass. no, doesn't he have a podcast? No, so you know, so obviously, you know, you've spent a good amount of time in your career in the AR world. So I just, you know, we've had a lot of ARs on here, and it's a very there's like 50 types of them, first of all. There's all these different types, and everyone has oh, yeah, you want me to break that down for you, too? Everyone has their different yes, okay. So, like just the data and rs, the in-studio A&Rs. Let's just level set with what your definition of AR is. I mean, it just depends because that like you said, it's different levels of AR. Um, there's ARs that are scouts, there's ARs that are research and Rs, there's ARs that are like, I consider the people that run sessions all the time pub ARs because those are people that's actually trying to get hit records. Um pub ARs. Yeah, no, no, that's a new one. Have we heard that one? They're just trying to get five points at a time. You know what I'm saying? Like they put together the record, they get it. So you know what? for real though, they're just trying to make it. You know what I'm saying?

That could be us. But it's like the people that's actually trying to get the records together and trying to make the hits and actually down to make edits and stuff, they'll consider them pub and rs, but they're regular ARs too, like regular AR managers, but it's like different levels. I consider those like AR managers too. But then there's people that just like are dot connectors. You know what I'm saying? They're like, oh yeah, you should meet this person, you should meet this person. And at the beginning of my AR career, I was that, and I felt like I was that person. I still kind of feel like I am, but after being an APG and learning from my career, I um developed a sense of what an AR actually was. And yeah, like people was talking shit like three years ago, like, oh, ARs don't do this. No, I've seen the work. Like it's actual work. Like, you don't just sit on your ass and trying to research who's pub. No, you research during the day and then you're doing a session at night, or you're running two, three sessions a day. They're not really credited for a lot of the shit that they do. That's that's one thing, you know. And the people that are like, I fuck with the people that like to get credited and stuff like that. But the people who don't get credit are the like the silent heroes.

Those are the people that are really getting together the records that y'all listen to every day. Meezy just shouted out uh Jen, who's the epic AR, I guess, for Savage. Yeah. And he was he was on Ray's podcast. And shout out Meezy, who yeah, exactly. Shout out Meezy who said he would come on our podcast at the Cheetah Strip Club to you. But he did tell me that. Hey fam, you need to come on a podcast. Let's go, Meezy. You shout out Stone Mountain all the time. You love the mound. We are shooting this in the mound right now. We're sitting on the mountain. Where are you? No, but there's so much granite. But no, so he, you know, he literally said that like Jen is so low-key. I mean, of course, Savage gets a lot of credit, but he was giving a ton of credit for Savage's evolution from like what everyone thought was gonna be this just like another street rapper in Atlanta to like this dude's making class classic project. Classic a lot, like you know, I am greater, I am greater than I was or whatever. Exactly. Yeah, like you know, he said that was like the breaking point, and that was like all Jen putting that, putting those plays together. Yeah, but that's like an AR that's like also like I said, it's more like the pub A&Rs, but AR manager that has that little bit of pub and R, that little bit of scout, that little bit of those are the ARs that come to uh like seeing director and Rs or VP of ARs because they know every section of AR when it comes to somebody like you said, the 21 Savage, like that was artist development.

Like, you know that like if you tell like hey, yo, like you should do this pop song with like Dua Lipa or something like that. Oh hood nigga be like, who the fuck is that I don't want to do? But you know, But if you trust that. yeah, like told him, like, hey, you do this, it's gonna pop off. And look, he did most of the stuff that they gave to him and look at him. Yeah, it was crazy. He was open to it. Exactly. I think that's huge. A lot of up and coming artists, are, I'm gonna say that. Not thinking you have all the answers. There's people that do this. it goes at that. Yeah, I keep going back to this dude because I liked his podcast, Willie Jones. Uh he said the same thing. Shout out to Willie Jones. Yeah, Willie Jones, Willie Jones, because he said this. He said, artists act like they they have a fan base that they don't have yet. Yes. God, that one hurts, but it's so true. but it's true. Like, I have to like credit that because it's like I've seen it so much. Like, you can't move like you got a fan base already. If you if you do that, it's gonna be like the the self-destruction, you know. But you know the paradox.

I'm just gonna play devil's advocate. You know what the paradox is is that if you're too humble, especially in hip hop, we we we we are in a very braggadocious, yeah, you know, I'm the shit, pop my shit uh genre. I'm just gonna be honest. Like fans like the that like arrogance or that confidence, I guess that's what I'm saying. But can you have can you have that publicly on camera and on songs. And behind camera? I think you have to. You be you be able to trust your team. I think it's what makes the winners. Lil Wayne can say, I'm the best rapper alive. But like hey, then he can come back here and be like, so what are we doing? Yeah, but that's the thing, though. A lot of like your favorite artists do that. And um, I was talking about them all because uh with uh T Zo touchdown. Oh yes, yeah, because um me and Mal. Love what she and him are doing, we're close friends, and like I've seen it from the beginning. Like when Marcus, I like I keep going back to him too, because he was there. We did uh they were doing sessions at Doppler, and I seen T-Zo and I seen the nails in his head before anybody with a tank top on him in the back, everybody smoking, he just sitting there just talking to us about his vision. I'm like, this dude seemed crazy.

And then I like listened to his music and I actually talked to him. I was like, bro, he not crazy. He's smart than the moon. Yeah, and then I'm talking to them all, and I'm like, she was like, Yeah, trust me, I know. And that's why I was on it. So like, and the way that you know he respects her and trusts her vision because she knows what she's talking about. Like, I love that camaraderie, and I love this. It's the same thing with um Cardi and Aaron. Like, I just love that, like, you know, they go back and forth with each other and they just, you know, get it done. Like, that's the type of like, you know, relationship you're supposed to have with an artist. That trust component, whether it's A&R and artist or manager and artist, I feel like it's really important in this creative field that we're all, you know, trying to learn about. It's that that trust that needs to be there because it's such a uh, I guess like vulnerable um industry, right? Like the, you know, the artists and producers are just, you know, generally speaking, the creatives have to be so vulnerable with their art to make the things that we that we love so much that the teams that support them have to be trusted, like confidants because of what they're selling. We're not selling fucking widgets, you know what I mean?

It's like it's so much deeper than that. That I feel like that trust aspect has to be there in other uh you know industries, it doesn't have to be there as much, right? You gotta, you gotta have that trust. Like, that's the one reason why like me and Tia have worked together for so long because um she trusts me, you know, she trusts that I get things done. Like, how'd you build the trust? Is there anything you can point to? I built it because like I I was doing stuff for her and I didn't like I just wanted to see her shine, you know what I'm saying? Like I went, I broke my back to make sure that she was like taking care of some stuff and I didn't want anything in return. And still to this day, like I just want to see her win. That's huge and that's why I keep saying, like, I only work with people that I want to see win. That's why I work with Aaron. That's why I work with status, that's why I work with the people we work with now because I trust all them. I mean, this is shit that just in general, everyone thinks that the music industry comes with like certain riches and you know, fame and money, etc. And like maybe it can, whatever, probably it doesn't for the majority. But like, I feel like if you don't do this shit out of the the love and the the you know, wanting the people that you're working with to succeed, I feel like you're in like the wrong space. Yeah, you're fighting

a losing battle. Yeah, yeah. Like, and that goes on the creative side and the the business side, I would say you know what I mean. We were all music, you know, lovers first, we were fans first. If you're not passionate about like you know, the people you work with, what you're doing, and it's like you don't need to be doing it. Literally, like the passion of doing this shit is the only reason, you know. Absolutely. Yeah, so I know your last stint was at you know, APG, yeah, and that's when you were in LA. Who was the first artist that you like officially signed as your direct like AR? Oh, yeah. The first artist I signed was Blood Nymph. Shout out to my girl, Kaya. Let's go. man, bro, Everyone, everyone pause the episode right now and go look up Blood Nymph just so you have some. context. B-L-U-D-N-Y-M-P-H. Yeah, she's an actual nymph according to her Spotify profile. That's the entire bio. It's all her bio says. She'd be mad as hell. She has a whole like bio, like a whole rundown. She'd be like, I'm a mystical da-da-da-da-da from another planet. Um, she's from Planet Andromeda. That should be the Spotify bio first.

It should be. How did you discover her? I was really like doing like AR research, and I found her off this uh big on the internet playlist. She only had like one song I was playlisting, and it was on that one playlist. I heard it, and it's and she was just like rapping. She was like, Let's eat, yeah, yeah, let's eat. I was like, Who the fuck is this, girl? Hey, let's see if you can keep up with the beat. And I was like, Oh, who is this? So then I looked her up, and then I seen that she had a little following on Instagram, a big following on TikTok, and I seen she was like in the e-girl space. And I was like, that's a little risque, and it's cool. But then what got me is when she had this song called Moon Water. and it was like a low-key song, nobody really streamed it. It was like 50,000 streams, but she's singing, and she just had the most angelic voice. And I was like, Ooh, but this girl, she looks like an alien. She looks like something different. She does, bro. She looks like like she can rap her, you know, little ass off. She can sing her little ass off. And when I got on a call with her and we first met, she was the nicest person in the world.

Wow. Hey Ernest, it's so nice to meet you. Oh my god, I can't believe you like my music. And I was like, Yeah, like, of course I do. She's just the nicest person. So, like, ever since she was like, I trust you. Like, she told me everything, and me and her became like best friends. Like, that was one of the first artists I signed. I like we clicked like right away. So when I had started, you know, talking to folks at APG because I was about to work over it, I was like, hey, you know, you should, you know, look up this girl But now If I had like five artists, but like out of them, that was the main one that they saw. They was like, Who is this? And Mike Karen, like, literally, like, stops a meeting, and for like 10 minutes, they all like uh Andre Heard and Mike Karen just start researching her and like just go in, and I'm like, Oh, they like her. By the way, you got 10 minutes of Mike Karen's time. I was gonna say you know, once again, maybe pause the episode, Google Mike Karen and Andre Heard real quick, just to founder and founder and CEO. Just just to make sure we know like the legends that we're talking about. So, like, if they're yeah, Mike being like who the fuck, if they're like turning their heads, who the fuck is this, Ernest?

Like, thank you for bringing this to our APG attention. Who's uh they're they're independent now, right? Yeah, they are separated from Atlantic like five to seven years ago. He's gonna be mad I don't know this, but um five to seven years ago, yes, they were with Atlantic, yeah. they were with Atlantic. Joint venture, or yeah, it was a joint venture, and then um he had um separated and started APG, just like 2.0 for them right now, which they're doing great. The ceiling is higher now, baby. We're on their own. Let's go. Yeah, so I mean, what were those conversations like though about like, you know, just playing in that risque space, right? Because I'm assuming that was maybe like a new world. It was new because it was new because like we never really saw artists that like that was the only fan star that became an artist, especially in like the pop space. So we were like scared that people wasn't gonna be on it. But then Mike had the idea, like, dude, people aren't gonna be scared, they're gonna love it. Yeah, yeah. Like, people are gonna love it. Like, you need to feed into it. I was like, okay, let's do it. Like the branding and like the you know, she's got the pointy, she's got the elf ears. Yeah, she's so she like is that how she is off?

Is she always that? I mean, yeah, but you ever seen her? She has like different like personas, like there's Kaya, then there's Blood Nymph, then there's like uh we came up with like young Grim, which is like her gremlin voice, like let's eat. yeah, yeah. She like she has that little voice that we call her like, but she has like different, yeah. But Kaya is like the girl where she have the like curly, like I always used to tell her, I was like, girl, you got like a little bit of black and your hair look curly as hell, but she looked like a little mixed girl that's just like hard as hell. And I told her that, and she was like, I'm definitely white, but I appreciate it. But yeah, like she's just she's just like this cool girl. She's just she does loves doing her spells, she loves her cats. Uh she's just really just trying to, you know, get her creative out. Like it's just always screaming to get out. That had to be so fun to like get super creative and like just you know, how how can we pull these different levers that are so non traditional, right? It's like a street rapper, is like it's a thing, whatever, but like e-girl OF It was literally like pop star.

And the meetings will usually be like, hey, just shoot for the board, like literally just like create records and see if they stick. And we try like so much different shit, but I'm glad that what she's doing now is like working for her because um she got some like trap shit, like really, yeah. She got some, like, really, like, she got some shit that like if like any of the opium guys like ever decided to get on, like, she would like it would be some like hard shit. Are you are you trying to make that play? I wish, you know, but you know well, come on, bro. You know, what's up, bro? Um, but no, like I really just think that she has like a lot of like different sides to her, a lot of like variety, and it's like what people see now is just like this one like side of her, but it's just like she has a lot, yeah. That's what I love about her. Yeah, so I know you know another project that I was you know super interested to talk to you about that you were a part of at APG was the Fast and the Furious project, right? I guess what APG was selected to No, this is the thing, yeah.

Like, how did that whole thing work? Because Mike is a G. Okay. Okay, Mike is a G. But it's like you know, APG is always partnered with uh Universal to do the soundtracks. He's done like the past like four or five soundtracks for Fast and the Furious, yeah. He like Mike Aaron worked on Mike Heron and uh Ollie Shepard, they um worked on the song See You Again and like all that stuff in the past. So they came back to us again, they came back to Mike, and then and Ollie was like, Hey, we want you guys to work on a project, and for like a year straight, it was just like you need to pitch tracks for this, you need to pitch tracks for this. So everybody in the company was just going heavy. So that was a huge focus. Yeah, that was a big focus. It was a big focus. Yeah, I was like determined. I was like, bro, I'm gonna get something out here. You know, how do you as an AR go about like trying to pitch track? You know what I mean? Like, like, how did your mind shit, you know, mindset shift from just normal like album world for an artist, right? Like a blood nymph, you know, project to then I'm focused on fast and furious how does that how does that change it was just trying to piece together my relationships and trying to make them work for this because like I was in spaces I never like stepped foot in like the Latin space I was trying to get big like Latin records together and then back in my head it's really like one of the tasks was like oh yeah you gotta figure out how to get in um blood nymph on this too so it's right it was all this type of stuff you know coming together and thank god that like I was working on this pre-project for Fast and Furious and she uh was on there like we did like a drift tape because at the time um funk music was big yeah um or it still is big and we had partnered with this the one of the biggest like funk labels Black 17 and uh we got some of their producers on there some of the artists that I got to AR on there and we made this project which actually did pretty well we had like Schnod on there Blood Nymph was on there Scar Lord was on there and like a few others but it was like you know something that you know people in the Fast and Furious community really respected about Blood Nymph so that was cool.

So who's deciding what tracks make it music supervisor us, Mike like it's really just a collaborative effort and that's what I really liked about APG. It was just like we all had a say of what was going to be on there. But like you know let us be a fly on the wall in like some of those conversations like what what makes a good you know what I mean what makes a fast and the furious song like it's really how are you talking about it? It's really just like the music that I listen to now cinematic type music music that has like you know real instrumentation real structure um something that hits you something with like you know majestic melodies something that you know like if it doesn't hit you when you listen to it or it doesn't sound impactful, then it's not gonna be in the movie. Oh, so that matters so much more for movies than maybe just an average song that we as you know normal music consumers are listening. Oh yeah, so that's what it really is. Did you get to get live instruments in uh sessions? No, or was it still programmed? Most of it, like the artists did it themselves, like the producers did.

Yeah, um, because Mike, like, uh I wish I could go through half the producers on this, but it's just so much. Like, but it's like a lot of like the APG producers and a lot of other producers as well. Spent hours and hours remaking and remaking and remaking. And it started off being something very generic, but at the end of it, it was very cinematic. Especially with uh Angel. Because did they have to maybe change their style? Because like, are they if the producers aren't necessarily used to some of them, but then we would collab with other producers, like like I said, that angel song, like Angel. Mike Heron. worked on that song for over a year, and there's a there's probably like 27 to like 40 versions. That's what it takes, y'all. I know that well, to get into the fucking fast and furious soundtrack. You gotta be able to just like keep going into it. And even like when I was like, you know, the track that I really like had a big impact on was the Suicide Boys track, uh the Torah. Shout out the boys, one time Data Kyle.

Two times. Kyle didn't text me back, shout out Kyle, I wrote it loud, but uh that's okay. Screaming Ruby, we love you. Yeah, no, shout out to the boys though. Shout out Billy over there too. Like, they really made sure that that shit got done. Why them? You know, for you. I feel like at this point, like everybody kind of sites considers me like the underground guy. So they're the kings of the underground. No, I'm not the kings of the underground, I'm like one of like the princes. I met the boys but yeah. The boys. Yeah. Yeah. I'll probably like if I was in a royal family, I'm a cousin, you know what I'm saying? But it's like a seat at the table. Yeah, I got a seat at the table. At least somebody say, hey, he's at the very long, like, you know, royal family table, but he's like a little bit. I'm in the back, like, that's cool. Yeah, he's over there. The boys are in the center. But you know what I'm saying? But it's like, I, like everybody kind of considered me as like the underground guy at APG. So they was like, yeah, can you get like some of the you know, some of like the underground people to be on this project, I think it'll be great. Mike told me that, and I was like, Oh yeah, I got you. Let me see what I can do.

So I went through my whole roster, and we like I said, it was a few other people that was supposed to be on there. Um, but it just narrowed it down to like the Suicide Boys because it just made sense. Their music is drift music, you know what I'm saying? And like most of like their playlists that they're in, like they're literally called like drift. So when me and funk, they're funk inspired. Exactly. So when we um like the car community really loved it, you know what I'm saying? And they love that suicide. Like, even when we dropped it, there was like a few tweets that was going on that was going viral. Like, did you see Costanauts like live? It says like Suicide Boys is on the project. That's crazy. How suicide boys be that's and everybody like really respected it. So all right, so I you know, I don't want to be that guy that like asks a bunch of you know when's Cardi's next album questions or anything. I already had that question on my list. Yeah, but but I I do just want to When Carti? when Cardi. No, Henry, shut the fuck up. When Carti? When is he dropping? He'll walk off the set. Cardi or GTA 6. Oh my god. But no, I I do think just like you know, briefly, I want to touch on because obviously you've been you know in this, you know, status management world that's a lot of the opium, you know, folks, right? Um, so you're kind of just you know, you know, riding shotgun to a lot of this, uh, you know, all a lot of the moves that they're making.

For our audience who's trying to like build those cult fan bases, because like you said, that's what they have, bro. Like their fans are coming to every fucking show, they're ta tapping into every new music video that drops, every piece of merch, whatever the fuck they can get their hands on, opium-wise, like they want it. Cardi can drop a song on Instagram and it does millions and millions and millions of views, right? True. So is there anything that you can just kind of point to, like just like a case study, even just like a high level, like why the fuck is this work? Like, what is working so well about everything Cardi Lonely Carson? I mean homicide gang. Like, I mean, just generally just because it's cool, and it's just like they just the first ones to do it. Do what? Them literally their brand, their look, their fashion, their music. Like, I could give you a case study, but it's literally what he does. Literally, Cardi does a low voice. Now you got three, four, five different artists coming out with low voices.

Like everybody, like Cardi's first person to do the whole rock thing with the Die Lit project, then it was Whole Lotta Red, and now everybody else is starting to, you know, wah, wah on tracks and shit. Like, nah, that's him. Trendsetter. You know what I'm saying? Like, he started it, you know what I'm saying? So it's like, that's literally what it is. It's just they're cool. It's it's hard to explain, but these guys are fucking cool. God, it matters so much. It's complex, man. No, you know, but it matters so much as like basic as it sounds like to be cool. It's hard to how do we help people? Like, you can't. You can't just be cool. but I do think like finding out what's cool about you, right? That's something we talk about a lot that I'm a fan of. Is like maybe someone's not gonna be able to, you know, set some new fashion trend or whatever, right? But you can maybe try something new vocally. Like to your point, the you know, the way he was recording on on certain records. That was a that was a a creative decision to try something. Yeah, so sometimes I I like to, or I'm a little too much of like a look at what other people are doing or whatever, but like setting trends, bro, like not being afraid to try something new that like you know they're either gonna love it or hate it.

And in Cardi's case, and like the whole opium like movement, they fucking love it. So like, visually though, like I feel like the only person who really like did that like recently in the past like year or two that like I could see you know doing something different was Teezo, like he did something different, and nobody like nobody believed in it at first, but then when it took off and everybody was like, he's different, even with his music, he's different. Like you look at him, you thought you're gonna get some rage shit. He might sing on your ass. He's doing rock RD. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's what that's different. Like somebody else that like his like his brand, like you know, might not be as different, but his when I hear his music is different to me, it's hard rock. Like people probably say it's sound the same as this, this and that, like saying, nah, like I actually heard his vocals, like he like switched a lot of his shit up. Like he'll switch up a flow, switch up how he talked. Like, yeah, that's different for me. I ain't really like heard that from a lot of new people. And if I have, like, you know, I keep that shit to myself, and they super low level. Like, you know what I'm saying?

Like, that's how it has to be nowadays, because these like everybody wants to be like everybody, and that's the downfall of everything. Something that like I never thought was as important, maybe as I am now, just literally on this episode, real time, realizing is important. I mean, bro, the the brand and the and the per and the the image. Yeah. Oh, it's so important. Of course. I mean, you're just not realizing that? but I I want it to be about the music. And to your point, the music is the is the like in intersect, you know, like it's the like interweaving, it's all linked together. Like, it's literally all art. And literally, like, if you hit, if you see some of the interviews that Cardi talks about, it's like he mentions this art, like, because fashion art, music art, like art to its full potential. Because you can't make like trash music. You can't have a trash brand. Like, you could be cool as fucking your music trash, nobody's gonna care. You can have great music, but if your brand's trash, nobody's gonna care. Like, you know how many times I've heard like great music, but the person's trash?

Somebody right now that I love your his music, but he's a trash person. That's just what we deal with. You know what I'm saying? So it's like if you have all of those and like really generally having respect for your art, you straight. Ernest said it, not me. But like the music being good has to, it's equally as important as the brand being good. The brand has to be strong. Yeah, you have to have both. It has to be strong. Ernest, we've entered in the final segment of the podcast. You've made it this far. That's what's up. Let's see if you can get through this last leg. This is the rapid fire rampage. Let's go. Ernest, it's gonna be three sections. I'll explain to them as we go. We're just gonna start with some short answer questions. Let's get it. Let's make it happen. Starting with, when is Cardi dropping? Site, you ain't getting that one. I tried. Hey, bro. I tried. Thank you, bro. I would get a call from Aaron, like, hey, like, what the fuck are you doing? I'm gonna be like, hey, I ain't say shit.

Okay, moving on for real. Do you think we get AI like an answer? like deep deep faking Y'all can try whatever, but you know, you gotta deal with big E. We ain't dealing with it. I don't want any part of Big E or Big A, Big Aaron. I don't want any of the big smoke. Is it Aaron with an A or Aaron with an E? It's Aaron with an E. Oh, so you're Big E and you're both Big E. No, she's Big E. She's Big E. You're Lil E. I'm basically little E. My daddy used to call me Lil' E too, but she calls me like Ernie. Oh, God. Yeah, I shouldn't even be saying that. Do you like that? I mean, like I said, she's like she's my mentor. Hey, it's It's different because she's my mentor. She's my mentor. So it's like she's like my like mom for real. So it's like she called like my mom calls me by my middle name. Let's call her big sister. Yeah. I don't know if she wants it. Does she want mom, does she want mom. I'll be with Aaron. I'll see. I I'll let her see this and see what's up. Okay. But like all right, say both so we can edit one out. Say she's like my big sister. Yeah, she's like my big sister. Okay, now say she's like, no, she's like my baba for real.

Like just in case so Aaron can choose. No, for real. We'll edit that down real quick. Yeah, she's watched out for me. So Ernie. What are your top three boxes that an artist needs to check for you to want to work with them? Uh oh, coolness. Yep. Yeah. Obviously, the music has to be good. It's not obvious. It's number two on this list. We're not just excluding. them. I'm not gonna say like the numbers are high or they have high streams. I'm gonna say I see growth. Like I'm seeing your growth. At any level, it could be as long as they're like if you if I see you one week and you got like 5,000 and next week you got 10, you're doing something right. You know what I'm saying? I love that. Yes. super good. Mm-hmm. Speaking of AI. Oh god. What is your quick take on AI in regards to the music industry? Have any thoughts? I don't give a fuck. That shit hard. Some of it is cool. I can't even say the songs I like because you know it's some politics shit, but it's like some of the songs I say I'll fuck with. Yeah.

I really don't care. I just think it's gonna be like it's fishy with the business part, because I've like seen some of it. Yeah. But other than that, like, hell yeah. Yeah, make good music. The fuck? I want it. It's so true. Why would we not? Like, for real. I love it. Ernie, do you have one? Don't do it. You could call me Ernie, bro. That's it's cool. It's cool. I like it. I don't know, fam. You a big ass nigga calling me Ernie. Yeah. So you have to be a small person to use it. That's kind of weird. That make more sense, nigga. I mean, not even you a nigga, bro. You make me sound like Cam Patterson. So it's a so it's a female thing? Cam Patterson? You make me sound like Cam Patterson up here. Hey, nigga. I was like Alright. You know Cam Patterson? Oh, I love K. Cam is funny as hell. You watch Kill Tony? Yeah, yeah, I watch Kill Tony. That's one of my favorite shit. I was watching the newest one earlier. Yeah. That's one of my favorite shit. Me too. All right.

E. Lil E. What is in your opinion the number one thing that small smaller artists could be doing different to further their careers quicker? What's the the leak in the boat? Like if they would just do this. Oh, the the one mistake is you trying to bit like save all your money. You have this huge, like you probably got like 10,000, and the first thing you do is hey, I want to make a music video. Oh don't do it. Go ahead. Get me started. And it's like you want to like, you want to like pour all that in a music video. Like, I ain't gonna hold you. Like, and even my artist's gonna hate me say this, but I hate music videos. I hate music videos. I hate music videos. Back in the day, they made sense because we didn't have an outlet to go look them up like YouTube. You had to watch them on MTV. Yeah, you had to like that's the one way you had to get a visual, so I got that. But nowadays people are spending 50 to 100,000 dollars on a music video that you're only getting 500 a million plays on in a like six months. That don't make no sense. Oh my God.

You don't see no return from that. If you get $10,000, you could like even, you know, Amber said it. You could spend like $100, get somebody to make a music video for you. You know what I'm saying? With a camera, you know what I'm saying? And you could get some fucking short form content. And then you could put $9,900 into ads and other influencer marketing and shit. Man. You could reach 10 million people as opposed to $500,000. I could pay, I could pay $5,000 for a fucking uh marketing dude to boost the numbers more than you can fucking pay $5,000 for a music video. It just won't make sense. You're gonna see a return. Yeah. That's game that y'all don't want to hear. Like I get I get it. And a lot a lot of people like say like a lot of people like, yeah, you have to have visuals. Like, I get it. Have visuals. It's not, I'm not saying don't have visuals, but it's just it's just a waste of money. It's not a KPI. Make cool content. Like it's not a KPI. Like, I feel like a lot of people consider it, but it's like, no, it's not a KPI. No. Wow. Moving on. The zombie apocalypse has just started. What are your first three moves?

Oh, damn. You know I'm a sci-fi nigga too. You sound like Narwhal saying some shit like that. I take it. So uh first thing I would do is it depends like what time period is this because I got a plan. It's today. Low key, um, get all my family and come to your spot because you got like a farm and you're on the top of a house, so you can like look at niggas down here. Because that's what I that's what really that's what I'm trying to do for real. I want to have a farm with a bunker. Straight, bro. The fact that he's saying we live like we live, you live on a farm here is it's like you got a lot of land, like no, you got a lot of land, so it's like, and you're on like a little hill for real. So if anybody come up, you sniping niggas down. It is like king of the hill up here, bro. Yeah, not a lot of people around. You're The steepest driveway I've ever been up. I swear to God. I don't make this whole place into like an armory and just have like straps up here. Okay, okay so then it's okay get the straps yeah come up here come up here and have my family chill up here hopefully you're not a zombie you can stay up here with your family but if not damn can I come yeah oh you gonna be here I I wouldn't normally be here unless there's a podcast happening so if you if you can I go yeah if you're not a zombie then he has two small children that's high maintenance I don't know if we can feed them okay well now you're going dark like exactly like like what's gonna happen like we going to eat them? yeah I don't know just went dark I don't know what the fuck that was y'all don't watch though. y'all don't watch those fucking zombie movies what's that one that uh that show that was like this is this is uh what was it this is us is that what it is yeah that last of us the last of us last of us oh God, that was good yeah I like that one see I'm I'm into that fucking sci-fi shit, dude. Yeah, me too. Ernest is tapped in, bro, I'm trying to tell you. Last one of the short answer section. This is a segment called how many times have you said it today, your word is bet. probably like 15 to 20 15 to 20? Oh my god, average of 17 and a half hours. So many bets and I'm like, and I'm like doing this off of like text message, I don't know how, like I said it in person. yeah that counts in person I'd be like yeah you know bet you know but it's like I've been saying more with something else I've been saying more because uh it's like a proxy because uh he do it but like type shit yeah type shit's a big one type shit we just had that uh we just had that discussion with Duke Deuce we don't want to go there type shit he thinks it's from Memphis, but I think it's probably from New York. Shout out to my nigga Duke Deuce, man.

He represents Tennessee. Oh, I thought you said it was from here. Yeah, we were both wrong. Oh, wow. Okay. I don't know where that shit came from. I just I'm pretty sure it's New York. Anyway, the next session is the this or that. I'm gonna give you two choices. You just pick one. All right, but starting with. That's 21 times now. I bet. I bet. Okay, Ernest. Rock or RB. Can we specify? No. No, no, no, no. Absolutely not. Zero percent chance. I mean, honestly, rock, because I start off with the rock before anything else. Okay. Peanut butter or jelly. Peanut butter. Tour managing or A&R'ing? Tour managing. Coffee or energy drink? Coffee. Coffee. This is a crazy one for what we just talked about, but I didn't. I just realized. This is crazy. Okay. Skip the music video or skip the mixing engineer. Skip the music video. That was the easiest thing.

I had that already, and now we have the whole thing. Sometimes our episodes work like that. Yeah. It's like we speak the Yeah. Or you ask the question. Have you ever had somebody say some shit? Like, oh yeah, keep the music video. Like that's stupid. We haven't even brought it up. That's my first time asking that. I could have a mix engineer to make it sound like um we could have a choir and some shit, and it's and it could make somebody cry in a room. And that's gonna be a big impact than a music video. I have a plug in called choir. That's why. a mixing engineer. There you go. So there you go. Okay, catch COVID or shave your head. Shave my head because I already did that a few times. Drake or Kendrick? Kendrick. And finally become a full time rapper or leave the music industry. Full time rapper. Let's get that shit. Let's go. So you got features with millennials. Not real shit. Lil Ernie? Let me talk about this. Lil Ernie? Because I got, you know what? You know who's the top five like best rappers? Ernest, Ernest, Ernest, Ernest, and Ernest, because I spit hot fire. Okay, Dylan. Ernest and Dylan. Ernest and Dylan. We need an Ernest Dylan collab tape. Dude.

Holy shit. I mean, Ernie would be a fire rap name. Lil Ernie? No, just Ernie. Just straight up Ernie. Y'all gonna get a nigga shot. Oh my god. Because I can't now. Niggas call me Ernie as a rapper, bro. The last section is the word association. I'm gonna say one word. You give me the first word you think of off the top of your head. Let's go. Quick. Fast. Snappy. Starting with hip hop. First thing that comes to mind is rap. November. Um, my dad. Toothbrush. Toothpaste. Tour. Um, tour bus. Ocean. Um, water. Social media. Uh melts the brain. G. Damn, no, you set me up. Hold on. Um, DP. GDP.

Oh, okay. Gross domestic product. Yeah. Interesting. Opium. Uh, gang. Podcast. Um, one more time. One more time. I knew I liked Ernie. He didn't have to turn around and look at the sign. No, bro. It blows my mind. You don't have to say ours if you really don't even remember which one you just showed up to. Thank you. And for remembering it also. Yeah. Fuck with y'all, you know, I guess. Fuck with you. Thank you, man. Tesla. Trash. Okay. Baboon. Monkey. Studio. Uh, hit. Lil. Yachty. Status. Management. Let's go. This has been Ernest Ford. Manager. AR Extraordinaire. One more time podcast. We are here each and every week.

Please like, subscribe, comment on this video if you found this helpful or entertaining or both. Follow us on Spotify Podcast. Follow us on Apple Podcasts. Leave us a five-star review. We're getting our five star reviews up, baby. Yeah, yeah. Good shit. We are getting a couple of those. Let's go. Let's go, baby. Yeah, yeah. This is going to get some more right here. Until next week, what are we doing? Getting out of here. Getting the fuck out of here. Peace. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Thank you.