Mali Wilson Interview: Your Favorite Artist’s Secret Weapon

When money conversations come in the room, all the art leaves. If you're in it for instant gratification and instant money, get the f out and go do something different, bro. All of the things you guys look up to me for and say, I can't believe you're a part of that, were because I really wanted to just see everybody win. So I was driving with my children earlier, and I think my Spotify wrapped is gonna have nursery rhymes. Like Old MacDonald How to Farm is definitely gonna make my top 10 this year for sure. Yeah. But I was thinking, I was like, these are borderline hit records. Like I'm just saying. No, listen, I do you ever heard VeggieTales? Yeah. Yes. The show. Okay, so years ago, my mentor, I was down in Nashville hanging out with Garth Brooks' folks. Um, I started writing with some of the writers from VeggieTales because I thought, you know, I had I was with my nieces when they were young a lot, nieces and nephews, and I'm like, this s*** I can't. The music was awful.

I'm in the car with the music these kids were listening to, and then you couldn't listen to what was on the radio because it was all like sexual stuff. So I'm like, I'm gonna create a whole kids' thing. So I actually went in my old journals the other day, and I have like tons from the time I was like 12 years old of my all my writings, my music, and found all these things about hey, if you want to know about Mexico. Here's where tacos come from. You know what I mean? I mean, unreleased VeggieTales tracks. That's what you heard. But yeah, it's not VeggieTales, it's MollyTales. So I called it what did I call it? Molly and Friends. Molly and Friends. At the time it was Melissa and Friends because there wasn't Molly and Molly, that whole name Molly came about. From those times? No, from coming out here. Okay. Well, I guess she needs no further introduction, folks. We got Molly Wilson on the podcast. Let's go. Let's Go Molly. What up? For those that aren't familiar, you're like the most known, unknown, like legendary executive entrepreneur, produ- Grammy-nominated producer, Emmy nominee, like responsible for some of your favorite artists.

Go on, go on. Not enough. Former partner is, you know, at one of the most legendary studios here in Atlanta. I mean, I don't even a celebrity chef. Like this. It's all very Forrest gump. It's very it is. Not kidding. Yeah, so my wife is not in the music scene at all, but she clearly is like, hey, who are you interviewing tonight? Like as I'm walking out the door. And I'm like, I don't know really how to Yeah, yeah. Put, you know, put this into words. Maybe let Molly do it. Exactly. So, you know, you just dropped your own song. So I do want us to talk about like, you know, the record, but I do think it's good for our audience to understand like the storyline of how we even arrived at like Molly Wilson releasing her own music as an artist. No place like home. It's out on all platforms, and as you guys know. My girl Ashley Ashley produced it. We dropped during Eric was like and Eric is my business partner, my writing partner, if you've ever heard of Ashford and Simpson. My just I mean, we did business before we were in this amazing marriage, but um, he's like, you gotta drop something right away. You got all these tunes, and I'm like, all right.

So what do you want? He's like, you got two weeks. What do you want to do? And you know, Ashley sent this track over. We got about 70 songs that we've been working on for the last 30 years. Not Ashley and I, but Eric and I with I was like, wait, Ashley was like five years old then at that point. She's two. She's a prodigy. She is a prodigy. She plays 15 instruments actually. She's pretty special. So during National Women's Month, uh, you know, we decided it's National Women's Month. And I sent her Little Walter, because I'm like, yo, I need to be on this blues, you know, bring it back to, you know, where I grew up and what I listened to as a kid with my ancestors and my family members. So she came with this heat, and Eric puts it on. We had a glass of wine or some tequila, I don't remember, and we wrote it most of it on the couch, just chilling, listening to as soon as it came out, it came out with the melody. So, you know, kudos to Ashley. She's been working really hard, and she's one of my favorite Earth Girls.

If you don't know Earth Girl, hashtag EarthGirlATL. It's a movement that was created in 2008. And Ashley came around 2017, 2018. Right after we did the Return of the Dreamers camp, we did an Earth Girl Camp for about 4,000 girls. And that was my exit from the old building into this new awesome life that we have now. So yeah, Absolutely. I it's been a trip, man. I came down to Atlanta actually to do a record with Clive Davis. Okay. And um that's what brought you here? Yeah, well, you know what who brought me originally? This is a crazy story, and I wonder if Ludacris remembers this, but my old mentor, Clarence Avant, called me and he said, you know, you got all this stuff happening. I know you're considering this deal from Clive Davis. Why don't you come have dinner and get out to Crustacean's in LA, and there's Quincy Jones, Clarence Avant, Ludacris, Shaka, Jeff, and Ethiopia, who at the time was running publishing for um Universal. And she and I were talking some business, and she really was the plug who connected me with all the studios out here.

And so to wrap that around, at that time nobody was making money as an artist. And I've always been a business person since a kid. And I was like, so how's my money collected on television, film? You know, what's up with the internet? Uh, you know, I'm really not into the attention. I'd rather do well in business and make a difference. And so if it was really more about fame and money, and then your the deal was more like a credit card, you know what I mean? Spending money on the people that the label thought, you know, should be producing it, and the studios that they wanted me to use. And you know, I made a very intelligent decision to call my attorney Allison Finley. Shout out to Ethan, legal eagle for Kanye and John Legend. And she's like, I get it. She goes, take the paperwork home after sitting with Clive. She goes, tell him that I go, Man, I don't got a great feeling business wise. Yeah, so you kind of alluded to you know your partnership and kind of stepping into an executive role at Tree Sound Studios, you know, when you came down here to Atlanta.

But you also, I feel like you're just someone who across your career, from what I've been able to see, is like you've been able to really focus on fostering creative spaces. Eric created that safe space where there was food all the time. And here's Maxwell and Rosie Perez, and we created a family out in New York. And so when I got out to Chicago, it wasn't new or Atlanta here, it wasn't new for me to want that space for myself and for others, because the energy was awful in that building when I first got there. And that throws off everything in a creative space. I mean, the energy was awful. I'll never forget T-Bot. I was like, man, the devil's in that building. That place is haunted. Probably left. I pissed off, like, yo, what y'all doing in here? Get out of here. Yeah, but you know, the energy was really off. I think when it comes to creativity, there's so much weirdness attached to the money that comes with it. That you get people coming in with weird spirits and just, you know, they really want the money. And I just remember Quincy Jones was like, when when money conversations come in the room, all the art leaves.

You know what I mean? God leaves the room. That's what he said. He's like, God leaves, art leaves, right? And so one of my old partners, Groove, who brought me into the situation, he was actually in the group, Rebel Music Crew with me. He was like, yo, I know you want to do this record deal, but there's not a lot of money for artists. Look at the artists that are on labels. They were all complaining. And I got the luxury of meeting Whitney Houston in the late 90s, um, through Clarence Avant, and then again, reuniting with her in that building, and she was like, bro, you do not want to do this. And then Andre was like, we had a conversation. He was like, yo, if you can do business and learn before you jump into being an artist. And I just had way too many signs from artists that were on labels that they were miserable. And you know, I came from a bit of a gangster lifestyle, and I had anger issues when I first got to Atlanta, so I just didn't want to have to use my anger management classes on anybody. So that blows my mind.

Just now. It blows everybody's mind. Seeing your like aura online, and then obviously now having gotten to meet you in person, like that shocked me. Just you I didn't know that about it. When you look at Facebook, people were like, damn, she knocked this person's teeth out. She did this. I was always the I didn't go to Facebook. You didn't go to Facebook's Facebook. Well, these are the older people, you know, that know me from my days of survival. And you know, I never put my hands on anybody who wasn't hurting anyone. And you know, I think when you talk about creativity in the space that I helped create, it was a collective, you know, and you know that was a time in my life that was really important. We we happened upon something very special in timing where everybody said hip hop, they don't have any budgets, why are you helping these guys? You're literally leaving you're not doing your music and you're gonna help others. You're gonna do what? Facilitate a safe creative space that everybody gets along and you're the you know sister that's like I know you don't you got beef with him but you can't come in here if you're beefing with anybody so you know I was happy to create that space and then you know I grew where I was planted. I I had to become peaceful because you know music industry it's it's wild you gotta find some peace somewhere everybody's just running and searching.

They're not enjoying the journey and it becomes really like what are we doing here? So I what did you actually do in practice to turn to help turn tree sound around I just think you just don't let people in there who have funky energy and are in it for the wrong reasons and then also the decor obviously I'm cooking you know just got some incense burning I got my Bob Marley I had Bob Marley playing in the old space for 15 years and everyone's like you play music in the lobby I'm like who the fuck is gonna be mad at Bob Marley. Yeah it's true. It's a very safe choice. but as an artist you really don't want to walk in the studio when you're about to create as a producer artist you don't want to be influenced. And hear anything you don't want to subconsciously be influenced but you know it kept a lot of bad vibes out. I mean you could as soon as you walked in the building, and it's the same in our space. My new space is not like the hotel it was, Hotel California, where everybody, big Sean Wiz Khalifa, everybody's sleeping on couches, you know, 2 Chainz back in 11 with KY this space is and that. But that at that time, I really was just doing what I wanted to do for my family back in Chicago.

And so it made it super palatable. So when I was making the decision to leave, I was I had already purchased a space. Shout out to Yolanda at Citizens Trust Bank, who was introduced to me by my guy, but she helped me buy some properties. And one of them I had some guys in, and during COVID, I'm like, okay, this is gonna be my dream, my creative space. And so I'm sitting there and it's on a great piece of land, but I'm like, you need land. So I Google commercial property near me, and this space pops up right off the highway in Duluth. And I called my man, and he was like, he was going through some stuff. I was going through some stuff, and he came to look at a couple weeks later, he decided to come and check out the property. We actually fell in love doing the deal, and he's like, dude, God's on this land, and you can do a lot here. And so since then we've had camps for everybody. It's not just Earth Girl, it's Earth Angel now, the nonprofit. And so we do partner, we talked about um marketing and some of the brand stuff. We partner with brands to be a part of our community, and it's been a really special time.

I mean, I started producing music as a kid for all the ad agencies in Chicago. Shout out to my mentor who just passed last year, Alan Moore. He was like the one of the biggest jingle producers in the world, and he introduced me to the world of making real money in music before the smoke and mirrors. I'm famous shit came in, you know. So I I looked at it like pink coat hanger, blue coat hanger. I'm reading charts, I'm writing charts. I'm, you know, I'm I'm doing what I was taught as a youth, like real music, in my opinion. And so yeah, how different is like you know, producing for ads or producing for sync opportunities versus producing for an artist in like the more traditional sense that everyone else thinks about. Like, you know, how different are those creative processes? I guess of how I got in the game, I have tenure over everybody, you know what I mean? So if you ask me, how different is it for me? For other people, their experience has to be so hard and so difficult because so many people want to do this.

I got in early in the game when nobody there was obviously no women doing it, barely any hip-hop in it. And um, you know, my boss told me rap crap, it'll never happen. And I said, Well, can I use your name? Because he was working with Cheryl Berman and Ira Antalis. And if you know those names, they owned advertising for Leah Burnett and some of the biggest brands from Disney to Kellogg's to whoever. And so he had Cleo's like Grammys all around his whole studio. And I was just like, bro, trying to get a nut. I'm like, oh, what do you need me to do? I'm cleaning toilets, I'm doing everything outside of music, just to learn and sit and be a fly on the wall on the business side. And you know, thankfully, he lost his account, and then I had to get over there and try to help him with that. And then one day a singer didn't come in and he's like freaking out, like throwing stuff. I'm like, I don't know what to do. I'm gonna lose this Gerber client. And I'm like, he goes, Do you know any singers? And this is like after me being there for a year, and I go, I sing. And he's like, What?

This whole time this whole time, Molly. Yes, so I my first spot was a Gerber. yeah. At that time it was Melissa, and so um my first spot was love me tender, love me true, Never let me go. That's you. Oh my darling, I love you It was a Gerber commercial. Yeah, Gerber. I think I know that one, pretty sure. Wait, but when I got the check, bro, I was like, yo. How much was it? How much was it? I think the first check that I got was $1,500. And back then it was like what? That's huge. Yeah. Now you're not even getting that. Yeah. Then I started getting little checks in the mail, and the actually the first big check that I ever got from Sync was like five grand. And back then that was like a million dollars to me. It sat on the table. My sister walked in and she was like, Well, you got this cup with the juice stain on it. I don't know. I think I was scared to cash it. It sat there almost till 90 days. What? It was expired almost. The banker was like, good thing you came in today.

Today. Because If you would have come in tomorrow, no, let me just tell you, working with the real banker now. I'm looking at the money that I made and and how stupid I was with it. And what were you doing? I mean Just partying? No, it was like buying flat screens when they were 10 grand. I'm like MTV Cribs was a thing. So my nieces were like, You're MTV Cribs. I'm like, yeah. Oh my gosh. But you know, you're you're dumb when you especially if you don't come from anything, you don't know that it's not always gonna be there. So, you know, God's always put me through make a lot, and then damn, you disrespectful, you should have done better with that. So now I'm teaching you lessons. Yeah, and so um I'm weird about weed and music. I feel like it shouldn't be sold. I feel like it's a gift from God, and it's weird that we put a number on it and who figured it all out and how does it work? I'm grateful because I always said, like when I was touring, damn, at the end of the night when they give me my money, my cash, I have to pay out the door and the bartenders and everybody. I can't believe I get to do this.

I get to make music, which you don't know if you're not a synthetic producer, and I could be because I am trained classically on voice and opera and all these different things. But if you're not, uh it gets tricky. Uh for me when you talk about sync, I try to just go in when I'm creating music, whether it's for sync or not, and think of it like this is a song I want to be proud of doing, especially if my voice is on it. Yeah, I you know, just from the outside looking in, I I feel like most people look at sync and people that you know work in the sync world and like are making stuff specifically for sync opportunities, they they look like down on it, or they think it's like more transactional than making something for your own album or whatever it is. I mean, did you have that? I'm weird. I I don't let anybody put any of their shit on me. And then like, and and I did when I first started making music. My boss was going literally like he was going crazy because he was like London Symphony Orchestra, like he'd done that, and he'd done big songs in Nashville. And so when he had to be told what to do in sync, and someone who really isn't musically trained or don't, they may be musically trained, but they don't have the spirit of music in them.

Yeah, they're advertising. Telling you what the fuck is hot, And you're like, yo, bro, if you're a real musician, it it drove a lot of people crazy. I watched that, and so that's why I jumped out of it and got into the real music industry, which oh wow, that's a whole nother story. So um, I don't know. My friend Craig, he's he and I were having a really good time because his whole life was built off of sync and movie scoring, and now I'm jumping back into sync and movie scoring. And what brought you back into it? Somebody said to me, Yo, you helped J. Cole and Dreamville, you help T.I. and Hustle Gang, you help all these people, and you're not helping any women. And I'm like, Well, I put my music aside to help Ali and the team with Little Mama. And you know, when Groove and I did lip gloss with our production company, he produced it and we did our thing. You know, it was all about her. And so I do love to help women, and she had a whole team and a family behind her. But for me, when I started getting heat from it, I'm like, look, these guys have a whole posse.

One does merch, one does this, one does that. The girls usually have themselves and the woman who works at the hair salon, who's their manager. So they didn't have a whole squad, right? Yeah. So, you know, I started the Earth Girl movement, not just to teach girls about the earth and about clean eating and living and being a great human being by reducing your fuckery of carbon imprint and really caring about the earth and yourself and being a good human with good character, but also you can do it too. And so Michelle Kaplinger and Aaron at the Grammys were like, this is before I was Grammy nominated. Hey, you're the first person on the Grammy panels who hasn't been nominated. I'm like, well, I'll get there. But I knew that they wanted me to come because the girls would show up. And so one of the women were like, yo, at the time, only 6% of the music that you heard was made by women. And I'm like, they're like Molly, you're an anomaly. I'm like, what? And they're like, nah, 6% of the music that we hear that's out commercially, whether on sync or wherever, is made by women, that's it. And so I went out on a journey and I, you know, got with Ashley and a bunch of other girls, and shout out to Anita Chinkas Ratner and Rochelle and Sabrina and all the amazing people at Paramount, who was Viacom, because they believed in what I wanted to do, and they helped place two catalogs.

I mean, I think Ashley's probably placed 60 songs with me, you know, watching the girls be like Ashley be on tour with Nicki Minaj. Insane. Every time I see a clip. No, but it does not surprise me. Like I saw her, and I'm like, okay. And the crazy thing is, she's loyal. You know, the one thing about Sync is like after I placed all these songs, I got there. How these girls are saying that, you know, you got money and nobody's making money. I'm like, yo, learn how this shit works. Ashley was like, duh. You put it in a catalog, they figure it out, they're gonna use it, then it's pulled, and then BMI, whoever's collecting your royalties, song trust, whoever it is. It's a long process. Yeah. So if you're in it for instant gratification and instant money, get the fuck out and go do something different, bro. Cause it's not it's not for you. It's interesting when you said uh about how music, you know, and and money coming together feels unnatural. I just had the thought of hit, bro. I have the thought of how many of your favorite artists would be left in the industry if there was zero dollars in it? Who would be actually just making music because they love it?

Anyone? Kendrick. Kendrick would, yeah, Jermaine, J. Cole would. I don't know. Maybe Andre would have done 25 records if that was the case. You know what I mean? I just think most creatives are uncomfortable when it comes to the money, though. They're uncomfortable talking about it, they're uncomfortable, you know, getting the money before they give this. Well, because here's the thing I just never forget when everybody was doing these 360 deals, and and just being in this business now with my husband and having somebody that I trust who's a businessman who I mean, he did major deals in corporate America with huge buildings, and it's about the facts. What are the numbers? So just watching how he gets past the BS and it's like, what's the real nitty-gritty is so important because for me, having to use that left side of the brain and be creative, it's impossible for me to do it. It's funny because when he said to me three years ago, I cannot see you singing around the house.

And you helped all these people and you have this voice and nobody knows it, and what are you doing? I laughed. I said, God gives me the desire. And then as we fell in love more, I started singing more. And and then Craig Snyder hit me, and we had a four-hour Eric was with the kids. We had a four-hour conversation. He and I about what he'd been doing in sync and how it was ripping his soul out, just doing music for sync and not doing it from the soul. And we got together, and it's been almost two years now. And we've creeped Craig and I probably have created 45, 50 songs, and a lot of them are for sync. And a lot of them were performing ourselves. So, you know, when I look at that business side, I think that's my fear of getting fucked over, was why I didn't put out music all this year, these years. I a hundred percent believe all my success comes from my giving heart that comes from my great grandma who helped raise me. And people are like, How are you doing all this? Grammy nomination, Emmy win, all the plaques, all the accolades, Lenny Kravitz, like, hanging out with Lenny and freaking Woody Harrelson while they're shooting hunger games and being on production as hand claps, all these things are happening.

Why? Because I just wanted people to be peaceful when they made music. And I wanted people to get along. And so the kitchen at my spaces, every space that I've ever been has become a space of business, a space of community and fellowship. And really, that's my gift. Just caring. And so if you really just want to care about yourself and you want to make all this money in sync and whatever, maybe find a heart in you to help other people because all of the things that you guys look up to me for and say, I can't believe you're a part of that, or because I really wanted to just see everybody win. Yeah, we've we've like very recently tried to take like an extremely empathetic approach to even like our business with the podcast, right? It's like everything that we do, like even if we got someone on here who maybe has more followers, more this, more that, like if it's not super serving the people that we know that give a fuck about our community, if we're not helping them in some way. So what can tell them give me something that can help your community like answer?

You've given so many. I'm like, what do you mean? For sure. No, like our our audience is trying to figure out a how to make better music. So like they're just trying, I mean, clearly, right? They're trying to make better music. Don't go to music school and don't be mad at me, all you music schools. Because every, you know, go on YouTube and learn. Yes, yeah. And so then once their music continues to improve, right? And once again, that's subjective, but just like once they feel more confident in their, you know, music making skills, it's okay, cool. To your point, how do we turn this into a business? Like, we're not for the hobbyists, we're not for people that just want to make their art and like see what happens. Like, no, no, no, fuck that. That's not, you're in the wrong place. And I think any guys are great, and we salute you. Yeah. So when you guys are like, because your fans are like so successful and you guys are huge and you're bigger than Jimmy Kimmel, you're gonna have me on your show. Of course. When I win your giving hearts. When I win my uh Emmys and all the other stuff. Of course. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, that's that's really it. Is that like once I like that?

Yeah, yeah. Once you do have like just that service mentality, right? Of like how can and that's what artists need to have, I think. I think the most successful artists have that very like serving their fans and being like obsessed with giving their fans like the best show, the best record, the best energy and interviews. The there's giving them the giving them their best. And it's just being true. I'm just thinking about like when Jason Jeter had Travis Scott upstairs. And just look at like I always knew the artists that were gonna be like up and down, you ain't gonna, you gonna hit and then you're gonna be out because you're so thirsty for fame or whatever. It was the guys like Travis and Kendrick and those guys that were literally like, dude, I am not in a hurry. I'm doing my art. I'm doing this to you know, really create something special versus I need to hurry up and get my Molly, I gotta hurry up and get this music out here, man. I'm on a deadline. I'm so stressed. I'm like, damn, music should not be stressful. And I think you know, my advice to everybody is don't worry about how long it takes. When you start worrying about how long things take, you've taken out all the the mojo and the good stuff, you know what I mean?

That's another thing. Like, you gotta know how your money's collected, bro. Like, why would you start it? Like when people are like, Molly, I got some songs, I'm dropping music. Really, how many songs do you have? Oh, so you just open up a hot dog stand with 10 hot dogs. So now you got people interested in these hot dogs, and there's no more hot dogs. Go and do the legwork first. And that's what I've been doing. It's a good one. This is the thing. And like I know that sometimes you're so anxious to show your art. Like, bro, get good. Yeah, I feel like sometimes it's like trying to, you know, fix the plane while it's flying, I think it's like the analogy, right? It's like you've already taken off and you're like, oh fuck. But I feel like fuck that. Land that bitch for a second. Stack up. Show up. Stack up on the, and that's going back to what I was saying. Don't be so thirsty Thursday about showing your art. I I just remember one person came to me. He actually hit me in the DM the other day. I guess I dissed him. I was pretty hardcore. Forgive me every intern when I first. So I came into the building like, nah, I used to own a studio that used to be the Wu Tang Studio with my old partner.

I'm coming. I don't want to be studio management. I don't want to do any of this. So my title first in partnership in the old space was artist relations. Because I'll bring artists here. I'll go, oh, who used to work here? Oh, Ludacris used to be here. We need to get Chris back. You know what I mean? So that was kind of my play. And then the business side came in where I'm like, wait, I'm bringing this business. Y'all don't know what to do with it. So I just said to this kid, he goes, Man, uh Molly, will you listen to my beats? And I said, How many beats you got? He said, I got about 20. I go, Hell no, bro. I'm not listening to your beats. You just started cooking. I'm not tasting your foods. No. And so he says to me, he was he sent me a message and said I was so mad at you, I hated you. He left and went to, I think he went to Patchworks. Um, shout out to Patchworks, the first studio ever recorded in in Atlanta. Okay. Um, I realized that everything you do, you do one thing. It's going to be either something that blesses you in your future or that puts you back.

And that karma's real. So getting back in with the knowledge that I have, watching people become famous and not be able to mentally handle. I just want to get in my own fucking car and not have anybody follow me. Or I don't even know what's going on with my money. That they're spending all this money on treatments and this and that. I know I'm gonna have to pay it back. And then I they wake up and the records don't do well, and now they owe the label half a million dollars or whatever. And so watching all that, I had fear. I had a lot of, I mean, like, imagine seeing what comes with it. And that's why when Eric said, I go, if God gives me the desire after everything I know that comes with this. And then I prayed about purpose. I'm like, what's my purpose? The Ashleys are my purpose. The Carly Glenns are my purpose. Um, Carly's an amazing artist that I just finished a bunch of songs with, and she'd gone through rehab and she's telling her story, her mental health issues. And so for me to be able to use everything that I'd gone through and put it in my music and in my songs, I felt like I deserve to give the gift to the world. And I said this at one of my shows.

Like somebody goes, What took you so long? I was in New York for my first show. I used to sell out venues, and somebody who used to come to my first show is like, what took you so long? And I think, you know, if you're a real artist, that's true to who you are, you're gonna have some fear. Like, you know, and maybe it's not, you know, I'm not good enough, but for me, because I'm like an athlete in everything I do, oh, I'm taking on your project and we're doing marketing, or oh, I'm creating a safe place for you to create. I take it seriously, like a heart attack serious, and I want to do my best. And and I think that was my fear. Like, damn, at this age, I'm jumping back in and I know me. I'm going to put the pressure on myself. Because if Molly sings, what? Oh, that's cute. She's trying to sing now. No, I sang from the time I was three. You know, I wasn't going to do this project to show off to convince anybody to be like, look at me. Now I'm, you know, it was literally like, what can I do and be of service while I'm making this music?

Yeah. So of all the people that you've helped over the years, and like, you know, the people's lives that you've touched and that you know that that you've been a part of, like, I'm thinking about it, and I'm like, you know, you might call them for, hey, I I'm doing my thing now. Like, what's good? Like, I are you are you pulling in favor? Are you are you calling in the favors? No, it's funny because I'm kind of too cool for that. You know what I mean? Like, it's weird because I'd be doing it like crazy. No, no. no. Not everybody. Well, Mark Batson was like, I could see so-and-so on this, I could see so-and-so. I was like, okay, cool. If it naturally happens, like I saw Rob Markman, was that naturally naturally? Yeah, that happened naturally. That was cool. I appreciate you. Shout out to Rob. Love Rob. I think it's gonna happen naturally, but I have called people like I called Trey the Truth, because that's my brother. And I'm like, yo, I'm doing this. Cause I just we did a song, and I was just like, I could hear his voice on it. And then TI FaceTimed me was like, whatever you need, whatever you need. But you know, it can't be made up shit for me, or I'm not gonna dig it.

You know what I mean? Like I'm a real artist. Read this. No, I think here's first, like, for me, I've spent the last two years making this music and creating my sound so I know who I am now. So the features are happening. It's just when or if they'll come out because I'm not pressed to be like, oh yeah, like of course, like I had an executive hit me the other day. Why don't you just get everybody you've ever helped, every rapper you've ever helped, you'd be so famous right now if you didn't like, okay, duh, duh-da-duh. Yeah, why not? It's not why not? It's not why not? It's just on its own time. It's actually happening. I mean, like, I pulled up on Mike Will just to play him my music, and he was like, Yo, you need to drop right now. It's lame for you right. This is a crazy, oh my god. But he'd been, he heard me sing in the hallways like seven years ago. I was like, Let's do something right now. And I wasn't ready. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like mentally, I wasn't ready. And so we need that Mike Will Molly shit, bro. Well, we just finished four songs.

Oh, already done. Let's go. Well, no. Well, We I won't say we finished it. He played me four tracks, and while he was playing them, he set up the mic and the, you know, and so I came up with melodies, and then I went back to my studio and Eric and I finished writing them together. But we so we got four really dope songs, and then also um Drumma boy. You know, I just I felt like okay, now that I'm at a place where I got my ingredients, what I add to the mix, I want to get with people that I love. The hard part is now everyone's calling, and I know a thousand producers that are Grammy winning, and they're like, When are we getting in? When are we getting in? That's the tough part because I'm really not in a space to just jump in with anyone. I think we're in Eric and I are in a natural place of we know where we want to be when it comes to the blues, tapping into with Drumma boy here and going to Memphis. I'm in Chicago. Um it sounds like a, I was gonna say your sound kind of seems like live instruments, but then modernized drums, kind of like you might put an 808 in there. It's funny because it's you know what?

It's mixed like me. There may be no live instruments in some, and then the others might be let's put a live over it. And you know, I made I think I'm gonna go down to Memphis and do an all live record, and then maybe Drumma boy will put some drums on it. You know what I mean? So I I kind of just like, it's like people ask me for years, when are you gonna do a cooking book, and like, and did not get into the game to be Rachel Ray. You know what I mean? Like, I just was cooking, and that's where I put my art and my producer skills into the food while everyone else was cooking. And it's I always say it's all in the mix. and I was like, what don't you do? Well, cooking and producing is kind of the same thing. You just get the ingredients. So I never write down a recipe, and for music, I'm the same way. If it feels good, nah, we not putting live drums on it. We'll play it live and have a live band with it, and it'll be lit. Or you know what? This all feels like a whole live record. So I'm just in a really fun place of creating where it's like, I'm gonna be your muse. Like with Mike, he's been so crazy busy, and so have I, just running all around the world, and so is Drumma Boy. Shout out to him.

He just had a had a son, and that's just incredible at his age to be able to have a new baby, and he named it after his brother who's no longer here. So when we talk about some of the things that I've done, I look back and I just I can't believe it. Like, shout out to Kimberly Page and and James Cuthbert, who allowed me to be a part of the obey your verse campaign, and where we had Drake, Missy Elliott, J. Cole, and I'm able to behind the scenes bring in 2 Chainz for a LeBron commercial with his dab and Santa hoodies. So like the things that I've done. I have one of those, by the way. I own one. So I I I actually helped put that in a sprite um Christmas holiday um cartoon with LeBron and and the dab and Santa stuff. The whole family had it dabbing, so it was cute. But no, um, I think they're naturally happening, and you know, everyone's like asking me who do I who would I want to be on it? And you know, one of the greatest gifts that I've had in business is I'm not doing anything for anybody that I don't believe in and care about. I never did anything for money.

So we wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't at least get like some more color around the Dreamville Revenge of the Dreamers sessions uh at Tree Sound, right? So like I guess A, how did that actually come about? Like was Cole already working there a lot, and then it was like a natural place for him to do that camp. Or like, how did that happen? So Jermaine and Groove became really cool over the years, and Groove's like, we gotta help this guy. And so people were like, why does he need your help? Isn't he signed to Roc Nation, Jay-Z? And I'm like, whatever, he needs our help. So he'd pull up with his um truck, and you know, one of my team's like, yo, Cole just did you such a solid. And I'm like, what did he do? He put coexecutive produced by Groove and Molly and our team for his Friday Night Light song. So I'm like, oh, that's cool. He's gonna go super far because everybody who like shows love and gives back and is grateful. I see have always made it. So I don't know. We just he was just a brother.

Like, yeah, every time he came in, he did his own thing. Matt and um, I mean, I there's too many names. Eve, Matt, and all those guys did all the heavy lifting. It was not me who did the heavy lifting. I mean, to be able to facilitate the whole Milwaukee's Bucks team. I'm making 50 organic pizzas a night. Were you? Oh, yeah, like I'm making sure like people were like, hey, we want to sponsor the Dreamville food. Like, I'm getting calls from you know, label folks and whoever, and I'm I'm like, all right, I need a thousand dollars. They're like for pizza, and I'm like, yes, just ain't Domino's, honey. We gotta go to Whole Foods and get like non-GMO shit, bro. Like, we gotta be up all night. We can't have the itis. Um secretly that secretly, that was um we said yes to that. It took me a minute because it was a 14-day thing, and and you know, we said yes to it was kind of my exit. That was my exit plan. And so let's go out with a fucking bang, bro. And so it was actually almost 10 years from when we did Friday Night Lights.

And uh when I say we did it, when he did, Jermaine did Friday Night Lights, and we facilitated a creative space. And you know, I cooked it. I mean, that that project still goes down in history, it's one of my favorite projects of all time. Yeah, mine too. And so every song is a fucking smash, bro. Back to back to back. Yeah, I mean, I I really that I'd actually weirdly just had my family reunion, and I had about 300 people out to the building. Literally, all the energy I put into that old space, I was like, I'm taking all this energy with me. I'm bringing, you know, I'm bringing the love. And so, you know, I just remember calling T.I. and calling, you know, certain people, and then Khaled pulling up and seeing Swiss beats and Swiss, like, yo, you made this place so incredible. And I just remember wanting to tell everybody at that time, yo, I'm leaving to do my own thing. And it wasn't me singing, it was me leaving to be to produce doing what I actually just scored a film. Shout out to Cass, my girlfriend.

We just scored her film 30 Qs, which if you know 30 Qs, shout out to Craig for all that. Like, that was a lot. But I thought I was just gonna go off and do music and do advertising and continue what I was doing, bringing artists, brands and all that stuff, and didn't say a word, but just having Ross and Tip and Jermaine and having Wale and all these different people in the building. And people I hadn't seen in 10 years in New York that knew me as a singer were calling, like, hey, how can I get my artist on the ROTD3? I'm like, it's not me. This is their team. I didn't want the responsibility of feeling like Oh god. You know, I did obviously like Bangladesh and people that I unlike David Banner, some of those people I called and was like, I gotta look out. I can't be like, Yeah, but that's the worst job. We literally put on a concert, and the amount of people that asked to be on the fucking guest list was like, so I can't even imagine times 10. No, I woke up to 150 text messages every day.

150. Hey, can I get a ticket? Can I get a golden ticket? Yeah, can I get in? And and and they created this um kind of golden ticket online. I don't know if you remember that. Of course. you were invited, and if you got one, it was like you were the one. And so I just kind of really Wonka chocolate factory shit. I wanted one so bad. Of course. We all did. I wanted one so bad. Sorry, I didn't know you at the time. But Matt, Next time. shout out to Matt, who was um Who Matt McNeil or Money making Matt. Money making Matt Man. He you were you were clapping back at him in our comment section, and he's a friendly of the podcast. Uh well, then it was, I'm sure it was it deserved. Yeah, well, I'll tell you one thing about him. I watched Maddie and I watched their MK, the woman behind it all, and Ebe. I watched them all just work so hard, and it was really nice to be a part of it, but not having the heavy load. Obviously, my team. I mean, we had our staff was on 24-7, slept there, showered there. It was it was insane, but no, it was a blessing, and then COVID hit, so I didn't have to make the big announcement.

So that was awesome that I didn't. It seems like perfect timing. I'm just gonna head. on. Well, I'd already left. I'd already left. I just hadn't told anyone. Uh oh. I was in LA. The Irish goodbye. It was the ultimate. It was a hundred percent. Like, so uh where's Molly? I thought she no, it was. She's supposed to be here today. She's been here like a year. You're laughing. That's exactly what people were doing. Oh shit. I was actually in LA, about to get a place in LA. My girlfriend took on Kim Page. Shout out to Kim Page. She took upon the um CMO position at BET. So I was like, okay, let's meet with um Punch and Kendrick's team. Let's meet with, you know, let me be the connector for B.E.T. to meet all the people that I know and love. And then COVID happened. And so that allowed me to be in my own space. And not move to LA, thank God. Not move to LA. Thank God. Not move to LA. Dodged a bullet there, Molly. Well, it wasn't just gonna, I mean, I've weirdly, from the time I was 18, been between two cities. Yeah, but not LA.

Yeah. I don't you know what's funny? Like, why are you so anti-LA all of a sudden. I don't know, man. It's weird. I just like talking shit about LA. I don't know. I I kind of love stay over there and be LA and Well, it's funny because they're all coming here and they're being here now with this 30% tax break. But yeah, I love LA. You're welcome. Eric and I actually just spent a year there and a whole month. After 30 days, I was like, everything looks like Buford Highway. I gotta get out of here. I couldn't. It was like it. I was trying to go on crazy a little bit. That's amazing. Nah, life is crazy. Stories for days from Hollywood. So I feel like we could do a Joe Rogan right now. Yeah. Just four hours. Yeah, but Henry, we've entered a final segment of the podcast. Let's do it. Bring this bad boy home. Let's Bring it home, baby. Yeah. I was like, damn. I don't even know. I was trying to like see how long we've been. I don't even know how long we've been. Has it been five hours? Like it's been four hours, yet. Just kidding. This is the final segment. This is the rapid fire rampage. There's gonna be three parts. I'll explain them as we go. First off, is just some short answer questions.

Some questions. Just give me a couple sentences. Okay. See what we can get out of you. I'm hoping you have a few that I wanted to like get to. I think no. You don't think so. I have my own. I know, but Dang. sometimes you look at me. I'll hit I'll I'll hit you afterwards. Just text them to me after you. Okay, yeah. Our genius is the two has. We have the two brains. You know, that's where we're our greatness comes from. The yin and the yang. Starting off uh very complex here. Let's just get straight down to business. How are you? I'm at peace, and I am so in love with life and the fact that God's given me a beautiful family. It's pretty crazy. Love that. I just found peace. Just now? Just now. Hearing her answer. Feel it. It's in the room. Love that. Love that. Um, Molly, what's the number one tip you would give someone who wants ownership in a commercial recording studio? First thing you would tell them.

When they want to own a studio, don't do it. Unless you're rich. I mean, it's like an internet cafe. Nobody really needs it. I mean, unless you're a celebrity that doesn't want someone in your personal home, because we all normally we all have our own spaces anyway. Right. Um, I would say if you do it, make sure there's a plan for you to make money outside of the studio business. I mean, I probably spent 150 grand a year fixing mics and shit that people use it like a hotel. It's stupid, and they don't give a fuck about your stuff. So, no, don't do it. So, real. All right. Well, we're not doing it anymore. We kind of batted that around for a second, but I think that's dead now. Yeah. Okay, You're Frodo Baggins. That's it. Me? If you've ever watched Lord of the Rings. I look like him. in what way? In what way? Is if you own a studio, you have to be able to handle the ring. Um no. I was like, stop being so selfish. No, she just looked at me.

No, I was like, you're a Frodo Baggins. Have you ever watched Lord of the Rings? Of course. Okay, so you know how he was the only one who could handle the fame of having the ring? Yes. Everybody else went crazy because of the fame and the grossness. Um, when you own a studio and have successful artists, it becomes a porthole to a whole spiritual world, which I won't get into right now because it's a quick question, but most people can't handle it. Interesting. It's weird. Sounds interesting. It's weird. Molly, on a scale of one to 10, rate Ben as an interviewer and be harsh. Oh, I love I loved hanging with you guys. Don't lie though. All right, I won't lie. I haven't done this much, so you have to ask me after I do 20 more interviews. But right now it's he's at the top of my list. Sorry, he's number one. Let's go. He's number one. Woo. Right. God. It's feeling good. Ask again after she does more interviews, though. We'll come back to it. No, we're not gonna ask. Um Molly. On the record. All right, I will cut your mic off. I have the power. Just be careful. Molly, how can singers get better? What can they do?

Train your ear. All of my when Mark and Eric are blown away by vocals, it's because I learn how to listen. When you're a singer, a real singer, you're like a bird. So you hear a bird, you're like, okay, you hear the birds going back and forth, right? That's kind of how we are. And I think a lot of singers just want to get in and share their voice, and they don't take the time. And so for me, I'm just getting back in, so I'm three years in, but before three years in, I was three years old when I started. And I did a lot of listening and a lot of practicing. I mean, you gotta learn how to use your voice, right too. Yeah, because it's like you can hit any note in the world, but if you don't hear what the song is calling for, it doesn't really matter what you can do if you're not listening to. No, I feel like Whitney was one of the greatest. At that, yeah. Well, she she taught me a lot just in conversation because she would put something amazing down and then she'd take it home and listen to it for a couple weeks and figure out what she wanted to do differently. She would listen to herself and listen to what it stood for.

But I think when you sing from the heart and they're your own words, which I'm just grateful that my one of my mentors took me to Nashville to write with some of the biggest writers in the world. You know, my art as a singer comes from my background and the fact that I worked with so many legends. I mean, like it helps. So I'd say work hard on your voice and listening. You've been elected supreme ruler of the world for one day. What are you doing as supreme ruler of the world in one day? What moves are you making? I guess it would probably be politically correct to say make all peace in the world, but if that's one day, realistically, it's not gonna last. So if I'm supreme ruler for one day, I am sharing what God has done for me, and that all of my gifts have come from my belief, and that if you put God first and stop being about yourself, everything would naturally fall into place. Very good, very good.

Last one is a new segment called How Many Times Have You Said It Today? And your word is damn. I don't know. Did I say it a lot in this interview? No, I don't know. I don't think you said it once. I probably say the F word more than anything, forgive me. But I I don't know. I don't look at it, I look at it like the N-word. I have my own definition of what it means to me. Damn, I don't know if I've even said maybe damn damn three times since you just asked me. Someone down in the comments uh who's been listening, keep track. Yeah. Yeah, maybe I did more damn damn sorry. I don't I don't think so. I'm gonna say that. I heard a couple. I heard a couple. Anyway, moving on to the this or that portion. I'm gonna give you two choices. All you gotta do is pick one. Here we go. Prince or MJ. That's like saying black or white. I'm both. I can't answer that. Um in what regards? No further context. No information. Michael Jackson was one of my biggest musical influences. But from what, and I've I had the honor of meeting him and Prince.

So this is a very tough question. One of the things that I loved about Prince was every single person that he touched, he gave some unbelievable advice to, and he had such a great spirit. He wanted to see everyone win. And he was philanthropical. He would see an artist just starting and give money, and he would do so many things like that. So I'm gonna be one of your people who can't choose. I'm not doing it. You're just asking me to choose. That's like asking me to choose my mom or my dad. Yeah. I'm not doing it. All right. I think the rest will be easier. Yeah, okay, good, please. Such as ranch or blue cheese. Damn. Oh no. Okay. I thought she was like, I have a special place in my heart for both. It's like choosing mom or dad. I met ranch one time. and I met blue cheese. Ranch because blue cheese can get too chunky, and if you don't do it right, it's chunky monkeys. So I'll go with the ranch. I like the chunks. Um movies or podcasts? Movies. Well, that's a shame. I know, sorry. Yeah.

It's got real awkward. We're not in a movie set. No, can I tell you why? Because no, don't rub it in. No, I'm gonna tell you why. Uh the reason why. Because I just started watching movies again, which I'm not scoring. You just did a podcast. I know, but here's the thing I've been watching podcasts, and I mean I've been over podcast, honestly. So she's sick of us. You're starting your new era. She's sick of us. No, I'm not. We're the last one. No, I'm not. We're old news. No, I'm not sick of you. I'm just my listen. I told you the reason why. I have intuition. I'm like Miss Cleo, and you don't know who that is. She was an old You know, palm reader. I know Miss Cleo. Yeah. I don't know her personally. Alright. Well, yeah. We know Miss Cleo. I I just feel like movies, I'm just now getting into them. Okay. Okay. That's why I'm loving movies right now. Ask me in a month. I'll probably hate movies again. Yeah. It's fine. We will. In the studio or at the show? In the studio. Coffee or energy drink? Mushroom coffee.

Ooh. Oh, I knew I liked her. Microdose it. Do it. Um take a walk or take a nap. Take a walk. And finally, become a full-time trap rapper or leave the music industry. I think I have to um just become a full-time trap rapper because I can parlay that shit into other stuff. Look at how thug went from, you know, not where he is now, but I was like, look where he went. No, no, shout out to my bro. Like free Jeff. free Jeff. That's my boy. Yeah. I'm not gonna go there, but that was kinda ironically funny. I felt like if you you if I started in trap, I could just do an evolution and you see T-Pain, he's singing now. Well, it's almost like going back to your roots. You know, your gangster roots. Like it wasn't. I think you wrote that question not knowing she was a fucking G.

At first. Not knowing that I used to do rap battles in high school. I believe it didn't know that either. Yeah, that was my thing. That was quick with the biggest. And if you lost, you beat their ass. Throw a drink on. Kind of. Only if they were violent against anyone. I was kind of the Dorothy of abuse. Like I drop a house on you if you're abusing the others. Okay. Nice. I believe you. All right. Well, the last section is the word association. Molly, I'm gonna say one word. You just say the first word off the top of your head. You're not judged on correct answers, just on speed. Okay. Here we go. Starting with blues. Singer. Chocolate. Cake. Government. Reform. Falsetto. Easy. Beach. This week with my man. Social media. Endoses. The letter V.

Victorious. Auto-tune. Never. Ooh. Ghost. What I get when I'm after I've done a show. I go. I go ghost. Well, what she did to tree sound in 2019. I was just saying. Got him. Call back. We're calling it back here, folks. Boom. Yeah. You're dropping bombs Sorry. That's like once in a lifetime for me. Moving on. Um TikTok. Illegal. It might be. Very possibly. It might be. London. Show coming soon. Coyote. Ugly. Lil. Wayne, my favorite. Stone. Wood. Let's go. Stonewood music. Molly Wilson. Shout out Stonewood.

No place like home on all streaming platforms. Shout out to Ashley Ashley. Yes. One more time, alumni. Go watch that interview, fire interview back on the pool table days, I'm pretty sure. Um, but no, as always, please like, comment, and subscribe if you fuck with this interview. We are here. Wait, do you want to know where to find me? Yeah, at I am underscore Molly. Yeah. Boom. What is it? Is that L I? Yeah, and if you are on TikTok, Mrs. M-A-L-I Wilson. Unless it's banned by the time this comes out. Yeah. And then you're not gonna find her there. Just go back to Instagram. Unless you have a VPN, unless you have a VPN to China. Um, as always, please follow us on Spotify Podcast, follow us on Apple Podcasts. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you for real. Enjoy. Like so many stories. Oh my god. Game. Loved it. Yeah. Until next year, guys. What are we doing? Getting out of here. Peace.