Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Rushion interviews Dyana Williams, a regular on TV One's UNSUNG and referred to as "The Mother of Black Music Month." Dyana helped establish June, Black Music Month. Rushion interviews Sgt Major Keith L. Craig, He co-founded a worldwide film and television sales company specializing in financing, producing, and distributing commercial feature films.

Transcript

Rushion interviews Dyana Williams, a regular on TV One's UNSUNG and referred to as "The Mother of Black Music Month." Dyana helped establish June, Black Music Month. Rushion interviews Sgt Major Keith L. Craig, He co-founded a worldwide film and television sales company specializing in financing, producing, and distributing commercial feature films. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:04
Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversations.
0:06
Speaker 2: It's to show that she is the secrets of success
0:08
Speaker 2: experience firsthand by marketing and Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I
0:12
Speaker 2: will know he's giving me advice on many occasions. And
0:14
Speaker 2: in case you didn't notice, I'm not broke. You know
0:17
Speaker 2: he'll be interviewing celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry.
0:20
Speaker 1: Decision make because it's what he likes to do. It's
0:22
Speaker 1: what he likes to share.
0:24
Speaker 2: Now it's time to hear from my man, Rashaan McDonald
0:27
Speaker 2: money Making Conversations.
0:28
Speaker 1: Here we go. This is Rashan McDonald had to grab
0:32
Speaker 1: the mic because I was in there dancing because you know,
0:36
Speaker 1: we're about to talk about some great music. I know,
0:38
Speaker 1: I know, I know, but I'm about to mention some
0:41
Speaker 1: song gonna bring back some memories today because next month
0:46
Speaker 1: is that's June is a Black music month, and we're
0:51
Speaker 1: gonna talk to music. But let me let me get
0:52
Speaker 1: the intro started and so I can just lay everything correctly.
0:56
Speaker 1: Welcome to money Making Conversation master Class. As you know,
0:59
Speaker 1: I'm your whole Rashaan McDonald. Our theme is that there
1:02
Speaker 1: is no perfect time to start following your dreams. I
1:05
Speaker 1: recognize that we all have different definitions of success. For you,
1:09
Speaker 1: it may be the size of your paycheck. Mine is
1:11
Speaker 1: inspiring you. That's right, you who are listening, You who
1:14
Speaker 1: are driving, you, who are streaming this show nationwide? To
1:18
Speaker 1: accomplish your goals and live your very best life, It's
1:21
Speaker 1: time to start reading other people's success stories and start
1:24
Speaker 1: living your own. The reality is is that when I
1:28
Speaker 1: do this show and I look at myself, cause I
1:29
Speaker 1: get up every morning at four thirty Monday through Friday.
1:32
Speaker 1: I get up and I tell people when I get up,
1:34
Speaker 1: I'm not a happy It's not about a happy get
1:36
Speaker 1: up at four thirty in the morning. But to achieve
1:38
Speaker 1: my dream, to achieve my goals, I have to get up.
1:41
Speaker 1: I can't hit this snooze button. I can't think about
1:45
Speaker 1: what if somebody else did what I needed them to
1:47
Speaker 1: do so I can be successful. In the end, your
1:50
Speaker 1: dream is your dream. To achieve your dream, to make
1:52
Speaker 1: your dream happen, you have to make it happen. And
1:54
Speaker 1: I always tell people this. Everybody has a gift, not gifts.
1:57
Speaker 1: Let's talk about that gift. Let's hone in and that
2:00
Speaker 1: one town, that one skill, that God has given you.
2:03
Speaker 1: Lead with that gift, and don't let your friend's family
2:05
Speaker 1: or coworker stop you from planning or living your dreams.
2:08
Speaker 1: I will tell people this, between the ages of eighteen
2:11
Speaker 1: and twenty four, you are invincible, You're immortal, You're a dreamer.
2:15
Speaker 1: Can't nobody tell you nothing. When you get forty, fifty, sixty, seventy,
2:20
Speaker 1: get that same attitude back that can't nobody stop you,
2:23
Speaker 1: that you're invincible, that you're gonna live forever. Because even
2:26
Speaker 1: at eighteen, there was no guarantee that you would live forever.
2:29
Speaker 1: So why should you not have the same mentality when
2:32
Speaker 1: you're forty, when you're fifty and sixty, that you're going
2:35
Speaker 1: to live forever. Because your dreams, your legacy you create,
2:41
Speaker 1: can make you a legend, can make you a memory,
2:45
Speaker 1: can make you a person that has changed other people's life.
2:48
Speaker 1: I remember when I was diagnosed for cancer, and when
2:52
Speaker 1: you get diagnosed for cancer, the thing about it is
2:54
Speaker 1: that your light flashes before your eyes, and all I
3:00
Speaker 1: could think about was my future. But I settled down,
3:05
Speaker 1: I realized what I had done in my life. At
3:08
Speaker 1: that point, I was really comfortable if cancer was going
3:14
Speaker 1: to bring an end to my life. Unfortunately for me,
3:17
Speaker 1: it has not. So you have to live each day
3:21
Speaker 1: with a goal, with a desire to understand that when
3:25
Speaker 1: you wake up, have a sense of purpose when you
3:27
Speaker 1: wake up, have a goal. When you have that goal,
3:30
Speaker 1: achieve the plan that you are trying to achieve out
3:33
Speaker 1: of that and don't let nobody stop you from achieving.
3:36
Speaker 1: I guess she's that person. One of my favorite people
3:39
Speaker 1: I interview on my shows. You know sometimes on NPR
3:42
Speaker 1: you can't like promote or say you like something, but
3:44
Speaker 1: I gotta say I like her. She's one of my
3:46
Speaker 1: favorite people. My guess it's Deana Williams. She's the broadcaster, celebrity, strategist, curator,
3:52
Speaker 1: live event producer, celebrating fifty years in the music, broadcasting
3:56
Speaker 1: and entertainment industry. Professional. That's what she is. She's the
3:59
Speaker 1: person that's been there. Because it's really interesting and we're
4:02
Speaker 1: going to talk about this. We talk about longevity because
4:05
Speaker 1: when you're successful, you really doesn't think about longevity. To
4:09
Speaker 1: you get to that longevity part and then somehow you
4:13
Speaker 1: get nervous because you look it back, look back on
4:15
Speaker 1: what you've achieved, and you wonder if you can continue
4:18
Speaker 1: to achieve that some of the archives are really now
4:20
Speaker 1: in the library of Congress co founder. Check this out,
4:23
Speaker 1: Black Music One. It's on the National Museum of African
4:26
Speaker 1: American Music and Nashville Board. A regular TV wants Unsung
4:30
Speaker 1: and is referred to as the mother of Black Music One.
4:35
Speaker 1: She's established and she's going to get a big proclamation
4:37
Speaker 1: in the city of Philadelphia. Please welcome the one and
4:41
Speaker 1: only the Money Making Conversation Masterclass, Deanna Williams.
4:44
Speaker 3: How are you doing, Diana, ooh blushing, I'm another collar.
4:50
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness for san Now you know I love,
4:54
Speaker 3: love any opportunity to interact with you for a myriad
4:57
Speaker 3: of reasons. One, you are so inspiring. You are when
5:02
Speaker 3: we talk about success, you are helping. You're giving the
5:05
Speaker 3: blueprint to listeners, to viewers of success because you are
5:10
Speaker 3: bringing on the air people who are grustlers, grinding and hustling,
5:16
Speaker 3: and you are a master grustler. So I'm honored to
5:20
Speaker 3: be with you today. I'm wc Okay, all right now,
5:24
Speaker 3: my daughter went to she went she attended school there,
5:28
Speaker 3: and shout out to David Lynton and.
5:30
Speaker 1: The oh David Lynton, he's sitting in here.
5:32
Speaker 4: Okay, he's sitting in the room.
5:34
Speaker 5: And I didn't know that that's my boy.
5:38
Speaker 1: You know, he got me on over here boy too,
5:40
Speaker 1: because you know, everybody has a dream, and I was
5:43
Speaker 1: talking about that earlier. But when you say, like, I
5:47
Speaker 1: remember when I when out, I left IBM, and I
5:49
Speaker 1: wanted to pursue a career as a standing comedian. I
5:51
Speaker 1: just wanted to do it. You know, I was just
5:53
Speaker 1: I was twenty six years old at the tem cauld't
5:55
Speaker 1: nobody tell me nothing, because I felt that I had
5:58
Speaker 1: to do it. And a lot of people said, don't
5:59
Speaker 1: do it. You're leaving a great job like IBM. And
6:02
Speaker 1: then thirty came, and then forty came. And I really
6:05
Speaker 1: tell you this to be honest, that it wasn't into
6:07
Speaker 1: my forties did I really realized that I had a gift,
6:11
Speaker 1: that I had the ability to do things that everybody
6:14
Speaker 1: else wanted to do. And people were starting to come
6:16
Speaker 1: to me for advice and starting to understand that I
6:19
Speaker 1: had a different way I looked at things when it
6:22
Speaker 1: came to marketing and branding. When I did this show,
6:25
Speaker 1: bringing people like you on the show. Let's talk about
6:27
Speaker 1: that journey in the early years when you were just
6:30
Speaker 1: a voice, but you were an incredible voice. And when
6:33
Speaker 1: did you realize that you were seeing things and giving
6:37
Speaker 1: advice to people that was a little bit different than
6:39
Speaker 1: they were getting anyplace else.
6:42
Speaker 3: Well, salute to you again for helping craft the careers
6:45
Speaker 3: of many super successful individuals. I wish i'd met you
6:49
Speaker 3: younger in life difference. But the person who inspired me
6:53
Speaker 3: there were two people other than my parents, my mother
6:56
Speaker 3: Nancy Newman and my father George Williams. And other than
6:59
Speaker 3: my parents and my grandparents, my family, my foundation, it
7:03
Speaker 3: was my ex Kenny Gamble and my best friend Kathy Hughes,
7:09
Speaker 3: who was the founder of everything with the one in It,
7:12
Speaker 3: Urban one TV, the Dollar one, everything. And so those
7:18
Speaker 3: are the individuals that helped shape me. But a good
7:21
Speaker 3: friend of mine, Hubert Law said to me when I
7:23
Speaker 3: was in college. He says, you have a great voice.
7:25
Speaker 3: You should do radio. So he was one of my
7:28
Speaker 3: you know, he was one of my early advocates. So
7:31
Speaker 3: I would give credit to those individuals. And a gentleman
7:34
Speaker 3: by the name of Van j And lastly, the person
7:38
Speaker 3: who gave me my first job with health benefits, his
7:42
Speaker 3: name Bob Nighthawk Terry, and he saw the movie Talk
7:46
Speaker 3: to Me.
7:46
Speaker 4: He was in the movie with P. D.
7:48
Speaker 6: Green.
7:49
Speaker 3: Nighthauw Terry was the gentleman who came in with the dogs.
7:52
Speaker 3: That was my former boss who gave me my first
7:55
Speaker 3: job in radio.
7:56
Speaker 1: Well know, not today. You know you got to have
7:58
Speaker 1: that boys back in the day. You have to talk
8:00
Speaker 1: certain way, got to have a voice. And as about personality,
8:03
Speaker 1: you really get really don't have to talk like you talk?
8:06
Speaker 1: Are the way everybody to have the articulate every word
8:10
Speaker 1: came I clear, But now everybody throw out the word authentic,
8:13
Speaker 1: you know, organic, relatable. How is that? How have you
8:17
Speaker 1: seen that? Has that changed the business?
8:20
Speaker 3: You know? Back I come from the era of radio personalities,
8:23
Speaker 3: where people who are very vibrant personalities like Frankie Crocker, Yes,
8:28
Speaker 3: By Higginson, who is the woman who inspired me, who
8:31
Speaker 3: was also on the air at WBLS in New York
8:34
Speaker 3: on one O seven point five. Uh. You know it
8:37
Speaker 3: kind of got wortered down at a certain point. But
8:40
Speaker 3: I think radio personalities we come for that tradition. You know,
8:44
Speaker 3: the great Jocko Henderson and Georgie Woods, the guy with
8:49
Speaker 3: the goods. These are legendary broadcasts.
8:51
Speaker 4: Mary Mason Louise Williams Bishop.
8:54
Speaker 3: That's that's what I come from. And while I am
8:56
Speaker 3: currently celebrating my fiftieth anniversary, I've seen all kind of
9:00
Speaker 3: changes in radio broadcasting. But at the end of the day,
9:05
Speaker 3: it's personalities. People want to hear a voice that they trust,
9:10
Speaker 3: they can rely upon, that they can set their watch.
9:13
Speaker 3: Oh wait, we don't set our watches anymore, but you
9:17
Speaker 3: know what I mean. They want they want that familiarity,
9:20
Speaker 3: they want somebody who feels like family. And that's the
9:23
Speaker 3: style of radio that I've always engaged. And even though
9:26
Speaker 3: now I'm doing talk radio, I've done music radio my
9:30
Speaker 3: entire career. But I'm a guest commentator on w u
9:33
Speaker 3: r D, which is progressive black talk radio in Philadelphia,
9:37
Speaker 3: So I get to do what you do.
9:40
Speaker 1: What you do, well, we know the beauty of you know,
9:42
Speaker 1: because you threw out a name. You know, you throw
9:44
Speaker 1: out a name just in my ex nite.
9:46
Speaker 3: Which one, oh my EXX you know, Piker Rock of
9:50
Speaker 3: my family and my very very dear friend Kenny Gamble,
9:54
Speaker 3: who is one of the architects of the found of
9:56
Speaker 3: Philadelphia with his partners.
10:00
Speaker 1: Don't go past that too fast, now, you know, South
10:02
Speaker 1: of Philadelphia. Come that music. We gotta talk about that
10:05
Speaker 1: music loop, Okay, because you see a lot of people
10:07
Speaker 1: don't know all they is the artists all if they
10:11
Speaker 1: hear the singer, they don't know who the master behind,
10:14
Speaker 1: mastermind behind, I miss you.
10:18
Speaker 3: You know Kenny Gamble, Leon Hoff, the great Drummer, Young Love,
10:24
Speaker 3: the Ojs, Kenny Gamble again.
10:26
Speaker 4: And Leon Hull ain't no stopping us now.
10:29
Speaker 3: Big Fadin and Whitehead, Gin and John great producers and songwriters.
10:33
Speaker 1: That's just a few, y'all. Because of the fact that
10:37
Speaker 1: you know, the soul trained thing.
10:40
Speaker 3: The soul Trained theme with Don Cornelius was done by
10:43
Speaker 3: Gambling Huff and it featured the three degrees and mss
10:48
Speaker 3: turn off the lights, my my borrow a cup of sugar,
10:52
Speaker 3: neighbor and my best friend until he made his transition.
10:56
Speaker 3: Theodore pender Grass, Teddy Pendergrass Girl.
11:00
Speaker 1: That was my song back in the day, boy, turn
11:02
Speaker 1: off get me excited because now going back to my
11:08
Speaker 1: younger days, when you know when when when a slow
11:12
Speaker 1: song meant something back in the club.
11:13
Speaker 4: Dates, Yeah, you know, you look across the you.
11:16
Speaker 1: Look across the floor and made eye contact. That's all
11:20
Speaker 1: you needed. If she looked your way, you looked that way,
11:23
Speaker 1: and you just did the head now, the head up
11:27
Speaker 1: or the head to the right of the head up,
11:29
Speaker 1: and she went cool. Then y'all made our way to
11:32
Speaker 1: the floor and.
11:34
Speaker 3: Exactly exactly, and you know what, Sad Jones, mel Lewis,
11:38
Speaker 3: Gambling Huff died two albums. I believe with them, the
11:42
Speaker 3: great Dexter Wanzelle, who was coming from a jazz tradition
11:46
Speaker 3: as well. So incredible musicians. They called from the Philadelphia
11:51
Speaker 3: Orchestra string layers and then they had the fiercest rhythm section.
11:55
Speaker 4: I love the music of the sound.
11:57
Speaker 3: Of Philadelphia, Philadelphia.
11:59
Speaker 1: International, you know the music, but it had a message
12:02
Speaker 1: in it too a lot of times, you know, like
12:04
Speaker 1: wake up everybody, they're sleeping in.
12:07
Speaker 3: Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes again with Teddy Pendergrass.
12:11
Speaker 1: Family Reunion for the Old James, the reunion.
12:16
Speaker 3: I got to have. And you know what, how about
12:19
Speaker 3: I always loved my mama. Dambling huffros that one as well, and.
12:23
Speaker 4: I always loved my mama come on, my favorite girl.
12:27
Speaker 1: Well, you know the thing the thing about it is
12:29
Speaker 1: that are we are now this generational Okay? You know
12:34
Speaker 1: you had pop but then you had rock and then
12:37
Speaker 1: you had the mothership landed. You know, it landed. You
12:41
Speaker 1: know it landed. When I was playing basketball in the
12:43
Speaker 1: early seventies, when the when the when the pea fonk came,
12:46
Speaker 1: make mother funk the phone come on now. But nobody
12:51
Speaker 1: was stopping them boys in Philadelphia.
12:54
Speaker 2: No, not at all.
12:55
Speaker 3: And they were inspired. I thought, I heard you say,
12:59
Speaker 3: Barry Gordy. Barry Gordy and Motowns and Detroit set the
13:03
Speaker 3: standard for Gamble and Huff. They actually flew out. Gamble's
13:07
Speaker 3: first airplane ride was to Detroit to visit Motown, where
13:11
Speaker 3: they were interested in speaking to them to be songwriters
13:15
Speaker 3: producers at Motown. And when Gamble and Huff saw what
13:19
Speaker 3: Barry Gordy had done. And if you've ever been to
13:21
Speaker 3: the studio, which I'm sure you have, absolutely in a house,
13:25
Speaker 3: it's small, no way, all that great, big music from
13:30
Speaker 3: all those artists Stevie Wonder, Martha Reeves and the Bandelas,
13:33
Speaker 3: Mary Wilson, Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Temptations, you're.
13:40
Speaker 1: Right there, you know, because sometimes we be in the mix,
13:42
Speaker 1: and so you know, it's like it's like you just
13:44
Speaker 1: be rolling through it and you don't realize you understand
13:48
Speaker 1: what's happening, but you don't really appreciate it because it's
13:52
Speaker 1: just happening. And you enjoyed a moment because greatness was
13:56
Speaker 1: all around you from those sounds and artists. And what
14:01
Speaker 1: was your head at at that moment?
14:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, very great question. I often reflect back to it.
14:07
Speaker 3: I knew that great things were happening. I was very
14:10
Speaker 3: cognizant of the fact that I was around tremendously talented people,
14:16
Speaker 3: not just my man, but the people that he signed
14:19
Speaker 3: to the roster. Junie carn is godmother to our children,
14:23
Speaker 3: Gamble and I had three children, So I was I
14:26
Speaker 3: was aware, and I was on the radio. So I
14:28
Speaker 3: was on the air.
14:30
Speaker 4: The first at WBLS.
14:32
Speaker 3: Then I went into television for a minute. Then I
14:34
Speaker 3: came back to Philly and I was on w d
14:37
Speaker 3: a S one oh five point three when it is
14:39
Speaker 3: a monster heritage station absolutely in Philadelphia, and that's the
14:43
Speaker 3: station where you know great like for instance, there's a
14:47
Speaker 3: woman named Patty Jackson. She has been on the air.
14:51
Speaker 1: Full lea because I gotta go to break you know
14:53
Speaker 1: the rules and radio.
14:55
Speaker 3: Yes, if I do, I got to go.
14:56
Speaker 1: I'm coming right back. Now, we're gonna talk about your
14:58
Speaker 1: proclamation in Philadelphia. Come back, We're going to talk about
15:01
Speaker 1: black music, money, We're going to talk about the museum
15:03
Speaker 1: in Nashville, all these things. My friend has had a
15:07
Speaker 1: major book. See that's where you bring friends on because
15:09
Speaker 1: you got to remind them of the blessings they've given us.
15:12
Speaker 1: Be right back with more money making conversations, Deanna Williams.
15:21
Speaker 7: We'll be right back with more money making conversations. Masterclass
15:25
Speaker 7: with Rushan McDonald.
15:28
Speaker 8: You are now tuned into the money making Conversations. Minute
15:31
Speaker 8: of Inspiration with Rashaan McDonald.
15:34
Speaker 1: Comedian Kim Coles is known for her famous role as
15:36
Speaker 1: a cast member on the hit TV series Living Single.
15:39
Speaker 1: Now Kim has been sharing her gifts of public speaking,
15:41
Speaker 1: motivation and training leaders in community groups, companies, and women conferences.
15:46
Speaker 9: And what it really is about is creating a community
15:49
Speaker 9: of like minded individuals in which my business partner and
15:53
Speaker 9: I coached them through building their business. We did a
15:56
Speaker 9: masterclass on self care. It really means rest setting boundaries.
16:01
Speaker 9: It means saying nowhere, saying yes, deplete you further. It
16:05
Speaker 9: means filling your cup so that you can serve fathers.
16:08
Speaker 9: My ladies are more busy now than they were before
16:10
Speaker 9: the pandemic hit because they realized, all I've got a vision,
16:13
Speaker 9: I've got to keep going, and I'm building an empire
16:17
Speaker 9: that will last longer than me. This is about building legacy.
16:20
Speaker 1: If you want to hear this full interview with Kim Cole,
16:23
Speaker 1: visit Moneymaking Conversations dot com. Keep winning.
16:28
Speaker 7: Now, let's return to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashaun McDonald.
16:33
Speaker 1: Well, I'm talking to Deanna Williams. She's been proclaimed oftentime
16:37
Speaker 1: as the mother of Black music monk. But before if
16:41
Speaker 1: you've watched TV ones on song, you've seen her. You
16:44
Speaker 1: have seen Dianna Williams. You already heard all this music.
16:48
Speaker 1: So when you try to go back and get one
16:49
Speaker 1: of those those greats, they gonna roll her in. Go queen,
16:53
Speaker 1: start talking. Give give us the truth, because you know
16:57
Speaker 1: the truth because you saw it all you saw. Not
16:59
Speaker 1: only you saw it, you played it, You participated. You
17:02
Speaker 1: at the concerts, used at the events where the music
17:05
Speaker 1: was revolutionizing the sound. But it was all coming off
17:09
Speaker 1: the East coast, and then you had Detroit, then you
17:12
Speaker 1: had the West coast. Those sounds and that music, and
17:15
Speaker 1: I be remiss because I want you to go back
17:16
Speaker 1: and talk about my girl, Patty Jackson, because I cannot.
17:20
Speaker 1: She's done so much for my career. She's done so
17:22
Speaker 1: much as you've done for my career being able to
17:25
Speaker 1: give me a voice and given the talents that I've
17:27
Speaker 1: worked with a voice. Because people don't understand black radio
17:31
Speaker 1: is a little bit different in our community because black
17:34
Speaker 1: radio tells us how to vote. Black radio tell us
17:37
Speaker 1: where to go, tell us about the weather, tell us
17:38
Speaker 1: how to get up in the morning, tell us when
17:40
Speaker 1: to go to bed, tell us makes us feel good
17:42
Speaker 1: about ourselves. It makes us party about our says, remind
17:45
Speaker 1: us of respect. Black radio is powerful and it should
17:50
Speaker 1: never go away because of the fact it's an emotional
17:52
Speaker 1: tool to our future.
17:54
Speaker 3: Do you agree exactly?
17:55
Speaker 4: I completely totally agree.
17:57
Speaker 3: Black radio is the clarion voices of our community and
18:00
Speaker 3: it has been and will continue to be as long
18:02
Speaker 3: as humanity exists. And prior to the break, what I
18:06
Speaker 3: was saying about Patti Jackson is that she has been
18:08
Speaker 3: on the air in the same time slot for thirty years.
18:13
Speaker 3: Unheard of white, purple, Polka Dot orange. She is a
18:18
Speaker 3: voice in the community and as you reference my career
18:21
Speaker 3: celebrating fifty years. Patti Jackson and I are part of
18:25
Speaker 3: a group called the Inaugural thirty thirty Black women broadcasters
18:30
Speaker 3: from all over the country. Our archives last Friday were
18:35
Speaker 3: installed into the Library of Congress. We started the morning
18:40
Speaker 3: out at the White House with Steve Benjamin and the
18:46
Speaker 3: new Press Secretary Well she's a year in her position,
18:49
Speaker 3: Carine Jean Pierre, and Erica who's in charge of African
18:54
Speaker 3: American media, Erica Lowe. It was incredible, but shout out
18:58
Speaker 3: to all those women for their illustrious careers and being
19:03
Speaker 3: voices on the regular in our community. As you said, Rashaan,
19:08
Speaker 3: where do you go vote?
19:09
Speaker 4: Who's coming to town?
19:11
Speaker 3: What place did you be? What you know? It's voting,
19:14
Speaker 3: it's time to register, Where to go, where to get help?
19:17
Speaker 3: Where to get social services? Where who's hiring? Job theres
19:21
Speaker 3: That's what we do. We do more than just play
19:24
Speaker 3: feel good music. We are the voices in our community
19:28
Speaker 3: to alert, to inspire, to inform.
19:31
Speaker 1: You know, it's really interesting. Like I'm from Houston, Texas,
19:34
Speaker 1: I can remember or stationed down there called Magic one
19:37
Speaker 1: oh two. I can tell you right now today the
19:40
Speaker 1: very first song that that station played in nineteen seventy
19:43
Speaker 1: seven when it came up with Johnny get talk on
19:45
Speaker 1: Johnny Guitar Watson song ah Wait one. Do you remember
19:49
Speaker 1: real Mother for you?
19:50
Speaker 3: Oh? Yes?
19:51
Speaker 1: And you know. And so that's how powerful music is
19:55
Speaker 1: because it can lock you into an emotion. It can
19:58
Speaker 1: also inspire you to be great. Now when you talk
20:01
Speaker 1: about black music, when I cannot get off this air
20:04
Speaker 1: is talk. Let people hear the story of how that
20:07
Speaker 1: came about, how you very instrumental alone with mister Gamble
20:11
Speaker 1: and coming about tell us about how black music mark
20:13
Speaker 1: came about. And now it is recognized every June.
20:17
Speaker 3: Well credit goes to Kenny Gamble. Again, we were a
20:20
Speaker 3: couple at the time, so obviously as a couple we
20:22
Speaker 3: worked together on everything, including the children. But Gamble went
20:27
Speaker 3: to Nashville and he saw what the Country Music Association
20:30
Speaker 3: was doing with their unity, carving out a region calling
20:35
Speaker 3: it Music City, being very smart about the economics of
20:39
Speaker 3: the creativity, and he said, we need to do that
20:42
Speaker 3: in the black music industry. And so he came back
20:46
Speaker 3: under the offices of another organization that he established called
20:50
Speaker 3: the Black Music Association. June Black Music Month was born
20:54
Speaker 3: and Clarence Avons, who's known too many in the industry
20:57
Speaker 3: and outside as the Godfather, called the White House as
21:01
Speaker 3: President Carter's administration to host an event at the White
21:06
Speaker 3: House for the Black music industry.
21:08
Speaker 4: And it was a little bit of everybody.
21:10
Speaker 3: Billy Eckstein was there, Chuck Barry, Evelyn Champagne, King, MFSB, Dexter, Wanzell,
21:17
Speaker 3: Andre Crouch, They all performed and in the audience was
21:20
Speaker 3: Barry White, Gloug Robert Gordie, just Frankie Crocker, myself, Dabele
21:28
Speaker 3: and I. You know, it was my first time going
21:30
Speaker 3: to the White House. So June seventh, nineteen seventy nine,
21:34
Speaker 3: Jimmy Carter declared June Black Music Month, and that was
21:38
Speaker 3: forty four years ago and we've been celebrating ever since.
21:41
Speaker 3: Myself as well as DJ ed Wright worked with Gamble
21:45
Speaker 3: for the further establishment of June Black Music Month. And
21:49
Speaker 3: in two thousand, I went to President Clinton, I went
21:52
Speaker 3: to Congress, I got legislation passed a bill called the
21:56
Speaker 3: Black Music Month Bill, acknowledging the multi billion dollar industry
22:02
Speaker 3: that black music is all genres. With Sean, you know, absolutely,
22:05
Speaker 3: it's not just it's all genres. But the number one
22:08
Speaker 3: genre in the world right now is hip hop music.
22:11
Speaker 3: As we celebrate fifty years of hip hop. So that
22:14
Speaker 3: was the origin gamble Ed Wright and myself carving out
22:19
Speaker 3: a month for us to highlight. That doesn't mean that
22:22
Speaker 3: July first, we don't celebrate black music. It's the three
22:25
Speaker 3: six five celebration. But June is a concentrated period of
22:30
Speaker 3: time for us to elevate and celebrate.
22:32
Speaker 1: Now, now this is amazing when I hear all this conversation,
22:35
Speaker 1: because you know, you can say, you know, hip hop
22:37
Speaker 1: is the number one stream music, but guess what. Guess
22:40
Speaker 1: what he's sampling from?
22:43
Speaker 3: Often from R and B and jazz, no question about that.
22:49
Speaker 3: And tribe call quest with a Q tip. They definitely
22:54
Speaker 3: borrowed liberally sampling from jazz and R and D.
22:58
Speaker 1: Absolutely Now the nash New Museum of African African American
23:02
Speaker 1: Music in Nashville, Now what is that museum in Nashville.
23:08
Speaker 3: The museum is in Nashville because it became a partnership
23:11
Speaker 3: between the public and private sector and they raised, we raised,
23:15
Speaker 3: I'm on the board, hundreds millions of dollars necessary to
23:21
Speaker 3: build the museum. So people overlook and I didn't know
23:25
Speaker 3: this either, Rashaan, that Nashville a rich tradition in gospel
23:31
Speaker 3: as well as jazz. Jimmy Hendricks was there in the
23:34
Speaker 3: late sixties. Jimmy Hendricks was living in Nashville, so and
23:40
Speaker 3: country music. I know some people want to dispute this,
23:43
Speaker 3: but the reality it came from black people. White people
23:46
Speaker 3: developed their own style of country music. The country music
23:49
Speaker 3: and black folks and the blues and gospels always in Nashville.
23:54
Speaker 3: And the biggest ambassadors around the world in the eighteen
23:58
Speaker 3: hundreds were the Jubilee singers, and people overlook that as well.
24:04
Speaker 1: Well, you know that a lot of people forget all that.
24:06
Speaker 1: You know, the Tennessee, Alabama, you know if you look
24:09
Speaker 1: at you know, the whole when you look at the
24:11
Speaker 1: Aretha Franklin, her story when she was going down to Alabama,
24:15
Speaker 1: you know, muscle shows, that's what she was going down
24:19
Speaker 1: that she was going all the way down there to
24:21
Speaker 1: get the best musicians.
24:22
Speaker 3: And absolutely a local musicians.
24:28
Speaker 4: And hey, all those early Aretha Franklin.
24:30
Speaker 3: Songs that we love, we're backed by a lot of
24:33
Speaker 3: white boys and black people too. Bernard Party was was
24:37
Speaker 3: a great.
24:40
Speaker 1: I wonder why she's on on the song all the time.
24:43
Speaker 1: It's like, I just actually like to just shut up
24:46
Speaker 1: and just let her talk because you're so elegant, first
24:48
Speaker 1: of elegant in your tone and also the information you
24:52
Speaker 1: just throw out. You know, it's like, you know, like
24:56
Speaker 1: I said, you know, it's never too late to manage somebody.
24:58
Speaker 1: So you know we'll talk later. Off there, you know, right,
25:01
Speaker 1: I met you earlier.
25:03
Speaker 3: Now, oh well, sure, sure we're connected forever. So Nashville
25:10
Speaker 3: is the home of the National Museum of African American Music,
25:12
Speaker 3: located on Fifth and Broadway in the heart of downtown Nashville.
25:17
Speaker 3: One side is the original grandelopri the other side is
25:21
Speaker 3: the Bridgestone Arena. So we are like in the heart
25:24
Speaker 3: of downtown and we cover all genres and sub genres
25:28
Speaker 3: of Black music from field Hollows straight through to hip
25:32
Speaker 3: hop right now. So you got to you gotta come
25:35
Speaker 3: see the museum. And I encourage everyone to go to
25:39
Speaker 3: n m a a m dot org. That's name a'am
25:44
Speaker 3: and that's the acronym of the museum, so.
25:46
Speaker 4: You can peruse it.
25:47
Speaker 3: You can see our galleries. We have seven galleries, fifty
25:51
Speaker 3: six thousand square foot facility, a Contemporary her Story and
25:56
Speaker 3: History Museum of Music.
25:58
Speaker 1: Now you've got a proclamation coming up in Black Music
26:02
Speaker 1: mont Wise in Black Music Month. I wonder why this
26:06
Speaker 1: happened in Philadelphia, but tell us about it, and uh,
26:09
Speaker 1: you know, I will tell you this. I was honored
26:12
Speaker 1: recently at the Black Media Awards and went over there,
26:15
Speaker 1: and you know, you don't get old when people recognize you.
26:19
Speaker 1: It doesn't get old in the fact that you have congratulations,
26:23
Speaker 1: thank you know, congratulations on you. Because of the fact.
26:26
Speaker 1: I'm just reminding everybody that you know, when people knock
26:30
Speaker 1: on your door, they call you or remind you of
26:33
Speaker 1: what you're doing now or what you've accomplished, it's truly
26:36
Speaker 1: a blessing. And and for you to be honored in
26:40
Speaker 1: Philadelphia in Black Music Month, tell us about it and
26:43
Speaker 1: tell us, Uh, your expectations are they gonna let you
26:46
Speaker 1: talk or you gonna take their wards? You're gonna walk around,
26:49
Speaker 1: take some photos? What's going on?
26:50
Speaker 4: Oh that's beautiful.
26:51
Speaker 3: We're gambling. I as two of the founders that live
26:54
Speaker 3: still in Philadelphia, are being recognized by Philadelphia City Council
26:58
Speaker 3: on June eighth, and we are receiving proclamation for our
27:02
Speaker 3: work as the co founders of June Black Music Month
27:05
Speaker 3: and still living. We're champions of music and Philly. I'm
27:08
Speaker 3: on the board of the Recording Academy, which is the
27:11
Speaker 3: Grammy organization. Gamble is still very active in perpetuating culture
27:16
Speaker 3: amongst black folks and others in the city of Philadelphia.
27:20
Speaker 3: So we are very excited, and our children very excited.
27:24
Speaker 3: Their parents recognized.
27:26
Speaker 1: You know, they just thought they just need to have
27:29
Speaker 1: a party out there. You know, missus Me and Missus
27:32
Speaker 1: Jones be jamming, love trained. The sound of Philadelphia. It
27:37
Speaker 1: just be you know, the ship, a harship of horseship
27:40
Speaker 1: of come on, n they can, just they can. It's
27:43
Speaker 1: really amazing. The genius you have put the word genius
27:47
Speaker 1: because there's something that that that I can't comprehend. My
27:52
Speaker 1: degree is in math, so I know understand logic, I
27:54
Speaker 1: understand numbers. I understand two plus two its four. But
27:57
Speaker 1: the creativity, the process of being able to manipulate sound
28:01
Speaker 1: and put together words and make those words just resonate
28:05
Speaker 1: not only years but decades later. And the fact that
28:09
Speaker 1: you were part of that is still a part of that.
28:12
Speaker 1: Being able to tell this story on my show today,
28:15
Speaker 1: I just want to thank you. I want to thank
28:16
Speaker 1: you for taking the time to come on masterclass.
28:19
Speaker 3: Oh, thank you Rashaan for everything. Like I said, what
28:22
Speaker 3: you do, you are a master.
28:24
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. But again, let me just tell you
28:26
Speaker 1: this now. You know, I'm just letting everybody know the
28:29
Speaker 1: world know. She said, I wish I'd have met you earlier,
28:31
Speaker 1: because you know, this about the This is about the
28:33
Speaker 1: fourth time I've interviewed you, Diana. Okay, And every time
28:37
Speaker 1: we always say we're gonna get together. Remember the first
28:39
Speaker 1: time we supposed to, we were working on some TV
28:41
Speaker 1: show where we're gonna go, Yeah, we're gonna be like
28:43
Speaker 1: the masters, sitting over here and you know, talk to
28:46
Speaker 1: young people trying to make careers out of that went
28:48
Speaker 1: no where because guess what, we didn't talk no more.
28:50
Speaker 3: Okay, it's not too late.
28:52
Speaker 4: It's never too late.
28:54
Speaker 3: That's an advocate of it. It's never too late to
28:56
Speaker 3: actualize your dreams.
28:57
Speaker 1: She threw out a word that I knew nothing. I've
29:00
Speaker 1: never heard, actual lives. Because you know why, I would
29:02
Speaker 1: never say that word, because I will fumble through it.
29:05
Speaker 4: Actual I know you wouldn't know, you wouldn't.
29:12
Speaker 1: I love you incredible congratulations and you know, uh, this
29:17
Speaker 1: is live this live radio. I wanted people hear radio.
29:21
Speaker 1: It's gonna get syndicated nationally through all my HBCU campuses
29:25
Speaker 1: that carry my show and podcasts. But more importantly, you
29:28
Speaker 1: are a You are an incredible person. Thank you for
29:31
Speaker 1: coming on, Money Making Conversation master class, the.
29:33
Speaker 3: One Queen, Thank you, the.
29:36
Speaker 1: Mother of Black music.
29:37
Speaker 3: Man.
29:38
Speaker 1: If we celebrate every June.
29:41
Speaker 3: And celebrate y'all read to your children, scream or by
29:44
Speaker 3: the music of your favorite artists, go see live shows.
29:47
Speaker 4: You know, there's so.
29:48
Speaker 3: Many different ways you can and guess what consumers are
29:51
Speaker 3: part of the celebration. It's not just for the artists
29:54
Speaker 3: or the songwriters or the producers. It's the executives. It's you,
29:58
Speaker 3: it's David Lynton, it's the listeners of double it's everybody
30:03
Speaker 3: who consumes black music. So happy Early Black Music Month
30:07
Speaker 3: to all, and.
30:08
Speaker 1: We talked soon. I appreciate you, Thank you, Bye bye.
30:13
Speaker 1: He is coming up next, Sergeant Major Keith L. Craig,
30:16
Speaker 1: the super connected Hollywood whisperer. I'm gonna tell you something.
30:20
Speaker 1: The word connected, the word relationship is why Hollywood works.
30:25
Speaker 1: If you don't have the relationship. You don't know anybody.
30:28
Speaker 1: Talent is there. Talent is important, but you gotta be
30:32
Speaker 1: connected where I'm talking to next in my next break
30:36
Speaker 1: a connector a connector, don't go nowhere. One Making Conversation
30:40
Speaker 1: Masterclass with Rashan McDonald. Be right back with Sergeant Made There,
30:44
Speaker 1: Major Keith L. Craig.
30:53
Speaker 7: We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass
30:57
Speaker 7: with Rushawn McDonald.
30:59
Speaker 5: HBCUs represent Black Excellence. If you attend or are an
31:03
Speaker 5: alumnus of an HBCU, we want to hear about your story.
31:07
Speaker 5: The MYHBCU Story Digital Library will allow current HBCU students
31:12
Speaker 5: and alumni to share their stories.
31:14
Speaker 1: Registration is open to everyone.
31:16
Speaker 5: More information is available at HBCU college day dot com.
31:20
Speaker 5: Click my HBCU Story. Next, you can upload a photo.
31:24
Speaker 5: The photo can be recent or from when you attended
31:27
Speaker 5: your HBCU. Then share your academic or social experience at
31:31
Speaker 5: your HBCU, which can be your favorite class, hangout, joint,
31:35
Speaker 5: homecoming game, student center, honor, off campus party, greek show,
31:39
Speaker 5: and how attending an HBCU changed your life. We also
31:43
Speaker 5: want to hear stories if you pleasure a fraternity or
31:46
Speaker 5: sorority The goal is to use your my HBCU story
31:50
Speaker 5: to promote and uplift the HBCU brand. Your HBCU prepared
31:54
Speaker 5: you for success, and now we want everyone to read
31:58
Speaker 5: about your black excellence. Our information is available at HBCU
32:02
Speaker 5: College day dot com. You can click my HBCU story
32:06
Speaker 5: to share your story.
32:09
Speaker 7: Now let's return to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashaan McDonald.
32:14
Speaker 1: Hi, this is Rashan McDonald. Welcome back to Money Making
32:16
Speaker 1: Conversation master Class. I'm a dreamer, y'all. All right, Maybe
32:20
Speaker 1: you don't know that about me, but I come from
32:23
Speaker 1: the neighborhood. I come from an inner city, six sisters,
32:26
Speaker 1: two brothers, And the interesting thing about me was that
32:31
Speaker 1: I watched television, and television showed me a world that
32:36
Speaker 1: I wasn't living in. It showed me the possibilities. And
32:40
Speaker 1: I used to always watch Jaques Cousteau was my man.
32:43
Speaker 1: When I was growing up. I was so Joques Gusteau.
32:45
Speaker 1: And when I went to college, guess what. I worked
32:47
Speaker 1: offshore because I wanted that. I wanted that experience. I
32:52
Speaker 1: wanted to be in the ocean. I were working eighty
32:54
Speaker 1: miles out in the golf on a on an all rig.
32:58
Speaker 1: They will fly me out there on the health helicopter
33:00
Speaker 1: and I stay out there for two weeks. And so
33:03
Speaker 1: I tell people, you know, if you don't dream it,
33:07
Speaker 1: you don't think about it, you don't make it a possibility,
33:10
Speaker 1: then it cannot happen. Well, my next guest is a
33:12
Speaker 1: person who that's what he does. He makes the impossible possible.
33:17
Speaker 1: Sergeant Major Keith L. Craig, the super connected Hollywood whisperers,
33:20
Speaker 1: a go to for independent filmmakers, producers, directors, development deals,
33:26
Speaker 1: finance options, distribution and budgets. I don't want to lose
33:29
Speaker 1: anybody on this because because of the fact that if
33:32
Speaker 1: he doesn't do what he do, then you don't watch
33:34
Speaker 1: what you see on television. You need him. This year,
33:38
Speaker 1: they have fifty new titles to be released across digital
33:41
Speaker 1: platforms including Amazon, Google Play, Apple, Roku and then select
33:45
Speaker 1: theaters in less than thirty days. Because he in partnership
33:48
Speaker 1: poor to Craig clients, film will go global. Please welcome
33:52
Speaker 1: to the money making Conversation mathterclass the one and only
33:55
Speaker 1: Sergeant Major Keith L. Craig. How are you doing, sirt?
33:58
Speaker 4: How are you doing? Thank you for the introduction, glad
34:01
Speaker 4: to be here.
34:02
Speaker 1: Well, guess what, Sergeant Major. Let's let's start right there.
34:05
Speaker 1: First of all, thank you for the service. Let's get
34:07
Speaker 1: a history there, because you let me know there's a
34:10
Speaker 1: military in you. How did it all get started?
34:15
Speaker 4: A long time ago, age seventeen, I went into the military.
34:18
Speaker 1: So it was a really long time ago, sir. Was
34:20
Speaker 1: lasted last week, can be last week? It was.
34:23
Speaker 4: It was a long time ago, you see in a
34:28
Speaker 4: storyteller already.
34:29
Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely do you think? Do you think, sir?
34:33
Speaker 4: But yes, a long long time ago, at age seventeen,
34:36
Speaker 4: my mom actually actually had to sign me into the military.
34:39
Speaker 4: I heard you earlier say that, you know, you're from
34:41
Speaker 4: a community that was it wasn't it wasn't supportive as
34:46
Speaker 4: far as launching you into you know, your tomorrow. So
34:49
Speaker 4: with me, you know, my mom and I was once homeless,
34:53
Speaker 4: you know. So you know it's from there that I
34:57
Speaker 4: actually you got my wheel to succeed, right, So my
35:03
Speaker 4: you know, I had some people in my past once
35:04
Speaker 4: told me that I wasn't going to amount too much
35:06
Speaker 4: because I didn't necessarily like to do what you know,
35:09
Speaker 4: we were doing down there. As far as shark sharecropper
35:11
Speaker 4: was concerned. But uh, fast forward, I went to the
35:14
Speaker 4: military and and just had some great assignments and and there,
35:19
Speaker 4: you know, I learned the I learned discipline. I know,
35:21
Speaker 4: you know, the power of you know, having morals and
35:24
Speaker 4: values and integrity and honors, being honest and selfless service
35:28
Speaker 4: to others, and and that pretty much led me to
35:32
Speaker 4: to have some great assignments. And actually was deployed six times,
35:37
Speaker 4: spent over two years in in Iraq. In one of
35:41
Speaker 4: those years, I was part of intelligence brigade that actually
35:43
Speaker 4: gathered the intelligence that led to the captives of dam
35:46
Speaker 4: Hussein was at the time arch Emmy number one. Fast
35:52
Speaker 4: forward twenty ten, I actually uh took three thousand men
35:55
Speaker 4: and women over to Haiti for poor the Prince to
35:58
Speaker 4: help to sustain the city that were you know, over
36:00
Speaker 4: there because of the earthquake. Twenty eleven, twenty twelve, I
36:04
Speaker 4: was part of the logistical unit in Afghanistan in between
36:08
Speaker 4: Kabul and Kandahar. Will actually supported see a team six
36:12
Speaker 4: as we crossed the burn into to take out a
36:15
Speaker 4: summer bin laden. So as you can see, I've been
36:17
Speaker 4: around and with the places I've been and the people
36:21
Speaker 4: I've met, throughout the years, I was able to excel
36:23
Speaker 4: in the military and make it all the way to
36:25
Speaker 4: the top one percent, which is a sergeant major. And
36:28
Speaker 4: for those those you listeners who don't know what the
36:30
Speaker 4: sergeant major is, because Hollywood has done an awesome job
36:33
Speaker 4: of teaching people what you know, a colonel is or
36:36
Speaker 4: a general is or at role is right, but they
36:38
Speaker 4: don't know this that every one of those rushan has
36:41
Speaker 4: a sergeant major as a senior advisor. They don't make
36:44
Speaker 4: a move unless they, you know, unless they you know,
36:46
Speaker 4: have dialogue with the sergeant major. You know what I'm saying.
36:49
Speaker 4: So yes, and that's kind of how that was my
36:51
Speaker 4: army career.
36:52
Speaker 1: So let's go down on that career because I think
36:55
Speaker 1: it's important as one of the things that you know,
36:58
Speaker 1: this big giant press releeve. People always saying how you
37:00
Speaker 1: guests on your show for show, But sometimes I get
37:02
Speaker 1: these press release that come out and I go, wow,
37:05
Speaker 1: I need to talk to him because of the fact that,
37:08
Speaker 1: you know, we talk about options in our community, we
37:10
Speaker 1: talk about the negativity of you know, sometimes I'm gonna
37:14
Speaker 1: tell you some sergeant made I look at television and
37:16
Speaker 1: I see, you know, violence and I'm just praying it
37:20
Speaker 1: they're not going to put a black person's face on
37:22
Speaker 1: the screen, because it appears far too often than I
37:26
Speaker 1: want to say it should. And so I remember once
37:31
Speaker 1: when I was really an advocating military service. You know,
37:35
Speaker 1: a lot of people in the black community, like you know,
37:37
Speaker 1: trying to were resisting the values that I was trying
37:41
Speaker 1: to say that a young person who doesn't may not
37:44
Speaker 1: have the options to go to college should at least
37:49
Speaker 1: look at it, don't just announce it. Tell us about
37:52
Speaker 1: the values, because I don't want to go past that,
37:54
Speaker 1: because because it still holds a lot of tremendous values
37:57
Speaker 1: right now, and quite frankly, the military community is struggling
38:02
Speaker 1: to enlist people, to get people to enlist.
38:05
Speaker 4: Okay, well, yes, obviously I actually a hold an MBA now,
38:11
Speaker 4: but you know I got that inside of the military,
38:13
Speaker 4: you know, And I also have no student loans because
38:16
Speaker 4: of that, because as as as a as a soldier
38:18
Speaker 4: that's in the military, you actually have the ability to
38:21
Speaker 4: go to school and get your education while you're serving.
38:24
Speaker 4: So it's kind of like, you know, you it's a
38:26
Speaker 4: win win for those who don't want a student loan.
38:28
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying. So, you know, oftentimes we
38:30
Speaker 4: talk about society, you know how it kind of steers
38:33
Speaker 4: us to it kind of presents a road map to us,
38:36
Speaker 4: like you you should go to college right as you
38:38
Speaker 4: go to college, that that will determine your job, but
38:40
Speaker 4: that also determines a certain amount of debt as you
38:43
Speaker 4: as you leave the university, you know. So, So I
38:47
Speaker 4: was actually this past weekend speaking at the Howard University
38:50
Speaker 4: and one of the things I spoke to people about
38:52
Speaker 4: was professional score. You know, believe it or not, society
38:56
Speaker 4: is keeping score of the things that you've done before
38:59
Speaker 4: you leave college. As you enter college, for instance, it's like,
39:03
Speaker 4: what was the GPA, what was the NCAP scoreps? You
39:06
Speaker 4: know what was Were you part of community out there?
39:09
Speaker 4: You know when you go to church, boy scout, girl scout?
39:12
Speaker 4: So you have to always build.
39:13
Speaker 1: On your brand.
39:14
Speaker 4: So the military forded me an opportunity to go get
39:16
Speaker 4: educated and be able to have a launch point to
39:20
Speaker 4: choose anything that I wanted to do from the military,
39:23
Speaker 4: because it's obviously it brands you to where it doesn't
39:26
Speaker 4: matter what color you're choosing, red or blue, whatever side
39:30
Speaker 4: you choose, and everybody accepts people have served their country
39:33
Speaker 4: because we believe red, white and blue, you know.
39:36
Speaker 1: You know, so, so what when did you start to
39:39
Speaker 1: transition into seeing Hollywood or entertainment as an option.
39:48
Speaker 4: When I was deployed over in iraq U, I saw
39:53
Speaker 4: organization that would bring over entertainment to try to take
39:56
Speaker 4: our of mind off of combat for two or three
39:58
Speaker 4: hours you know year because we spent three sixty five,
40:01
Speaker 4: three and sixty five days uh in deployments. So but
40:05
Speaker 4: I never saw any entertainment that looked like us, you know,
40:08
Speaker 4: saying for us the minorities. Right. So it was at
40:12
Speaker 4: that point as a senior, as a senior advisor, a
40:15
Speaker 4: senior soldier in an elements soldiers came to me, uh
40:19
Speaker 4: and asked me, you know, sergeant major, what can we
40:22
Speaker 4: do to have somebody that we like?
40:24
Speaker 1: Right?
40:25
Speaker 4: I started to reach out and and reach out to
40:28
Speaker 4: Hollywood and and meet a few people and then brought
40:31
Speaker 4: over the likes of BB King and the temptations and
40:34
Speaker 4: things that nature and it you know, it kind of
40:37
Speaker 4: felt good to make people happy. So that's what I
40:41
Speaker 4: you know, I started, I got the bug right then, Like, okay,
40:44
Speaker 4: so you so you.
40:44
Speaker 1: Started out basically a promoter you're producing shows, bringing in
40:49
Speaker 1: talent that was appealing to to an artist that felt
40:53
Speaker 1: that they were not getting to they were they were,
40:56
Speaker 1: they were happy to be entertained, but wasn't really feeling
40:59
Speaker 1: the entertainment.
41:01
Speaker 4: Right, right, It's absolutely right. The most of the entertainment
41:04
Speaker 4: was from Kentucky or Tennessee. If you understand that mean
41:07
Speaker 4: right absolutely.
41:08
Speaker 1: Like I said, until you participate that you put yourself
41:10
Speaker 1: in a position to be able to have power. And
41:14
Speaker 1: like I said, as a position you in sergeant major,
41:17
Speaker 1: you positioned yourself to be a promoter, to be a
41:21
Speaker 1: producer skill set that guess what people do every day,
41:25
Speaker 1: you know, Promoters are just advertisers. Promoters are just you know,
41:28
Speaker 1: companies that somebody promotes these grocery stores, somebody promotes these cars,
41:33
Speaker 1: somebody promotes these football games, these basketball games. That's all
41:37
Speaker 1: he was doing in the smallest stage. But you were
41:39
Speaker 1: learning to skill and that skill allowed you to start
41:44
Speaker 1: starting seeing beyond what you were doing in the military.
41:47
Speaker 4: Correct, absolutely absolutely. As a and I was a senior
41:50
Speaker 4: logistation in military. So when I got that call to
41:54
Speaker 4: go out to Hollywood's and meet some executives out there,
41:58
Speaker 4: and I was looking around. You know, what could I do?
42:01
Speaker 4: You know, there was producer, there was there was distribution,
42:04
Speaker 4: there was you know, theistic things that nature. The one
42:09
Speaker 4: thing that I saw that the science connected and the
42:11
Speaker 4: science made sense to me. Logistics and distribution is pretty
42:14
Speaker 4: much the same, right. You know, there's a there's a need.
42:17
Speaker 4: Uh you know, there's a component that needs to be
42:19
Speaker 4: carried somewhere and people need that thing, so you help
42:22
Speaker 4: delivered that. So that that made sense to me. So
42:25
Speaker 4: I just went to u c l A And got
42:29
Speaker 4: certified in the Business of Entertainment and from there it
42:31
Speaker 4: started on my plights.
42:33
Speaker 1: Now, now let's let's put it. Let's be honest about it.
42:36
Speaker 1: This is this whole relationship you in the military. Sergeant
42:40
Speaker 1: made you. Yes, you cared a certain amount of respect
42:45
Speaker 1: when you walked in the room. People. I know, I'm
42:47
Speaker 1: gonna give you my respects. Thank you for your service.
42:49
Speaker 1: Cause first wall, you protected me and you don't even
42:51
Speaker 1: know me. So that is that is a that's a
42:54
Speaker 1: mindset that people have to wrap their head around. There
42:56
Speaker 1: that somebody has chosen to protect this entire country in
43:00
Speaker 1: parts that person may never go or never see. And
43:03
Speaker 1: but that's a special person that does that. But when
43:06
Speaker 1: you walk in the room with these producers, these executives,
43:10
Speaker 1: these these individuals who are decision making, do you feel
43:13
Speaker 1: that because you were in the military allowed you a
43:16
Speaker 1: certain ability to make a better make stronger relationships, or
43:22
Speaker 1: create relationships you might not have had if you were
43:24
Speaker 1: not in the military.
43:27
Speaker 4: I would say being in the military, it taught me
43:30
Speaker 4: how to enter a room. Right, there's a certain way.
43:32
Speaker 4: There's a certain way as a man, you know, Oh woman,
43:35
Speaker 4: you have to carry yourself right, you know what I'm saying.
43:38
Speaker 4: There's a strict there's a certain dress code associated with that. Because,
43:41
Speaker 4: believe it or not, we we we are always judged
43:45
Speaker 4: and scores always kept on how we move. So it's
43:48
Speaker 4: very important that you know, they always want to put
43:50
Speaker 4: us in a box based on our pigmentation. So it's
43:54
Speaker 4: very important that you move as a you know, like
43:57
Speaker 4: a professional. Yes, you know, because you are being so
44:00
Speaker 4: it's it's.
44:02
Speaker 1: How you move, and it's really and it's important that
44:06
Speaker 1: you people hear that, you know, because of the fact
44:08
Speaker 1: that you know, we could, we could, you know as
44:11
Speaker 1: young people. We all were young. You know, I had
44:13
Speaker 1: to before I lost all my hair. I had a
44:15
Speaker 1: big afro. I remember, in fact, we're going to go
44:18
Speaker 1: to break when we come back and tell this a
44:19
Speaker 1: little short story about how I didn't want to conform
44:23
Speaker 1: to my company's dress code and guess what, there was
44:27
Speaker 1: no success for me. Frustration and that's all he's talking about.
44:30
Speaker 1: Be right back with more Sergeant Major talking about he's
44:33
Speaker 1: a whisper, y'all, but he talks loud on my show.
44:43
Speaker 7: We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass
44:47
Speaker 7: with Rashawn McDonald.
44:50
Speaker 8: You are now tuned into the Money Making Conversations Minute
44:54
Speaker 8: of Inspiration with Rashawn McDonald.
44:56
Speaker 1: This week, I sat down with award winning actor, best
44:59
Speaker 1: selling author, and entrepreneur Heal Harper. He stopped by and
45:02
Speaker 1: talked about how his thyrout cancer diagnosis led to his
45:06
Speaker 1: role as a health and wellness ambassador, teaching everyday people
45:09
Speaker 1: how to live healthier lives.
45:12
Speaker 6: We believe that a lot of the root cause of
45:14
Speaker 6: cancer has to do with what we put on our skin.
45:17
Speaker 6: Our skin is the largest organ on our body and
45:19
Speaker 6: endors everything. Just as if you ate it, your ender consistent,
45:23
Speaker 6: your liver, your kidneys have to deal with it. And
45:25
Speaker 6: they said the reason why it'll never be tested because
45:27
Speaker 6: the same companies that make the lotions that contain the aluminum,
45:30
Speaker 6: the petroleum, the paramis and the oils and all these things.
45:33
Speaker 6: The same companies who make that are all the same
45:36
Speaker 6: companies as a drug company, So they're never going to
45:38
Speaker 6: do a long term study of the effects of their product.
45:43
Speaker 1: If you want to listen to this full interview with
45:45
Speaker 1: hell Harper, it's available on money Making Conversations dot com.
45:50
Speaker 7: Now let's return to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashaan McDonald.
45:55
Speaker 1: I'm on the phone with He's here, Sergeant Major Black Panther.
46:01
Speaker 1: I want to bring up that movie. I'm pausing because
46:07
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about how important that movie was for me personally,
46:11
Speaker 1: how important that movie was for me in the in
46:14
Speaker 1: the in the industry, because we had never had a
46:17
Speaker 1: movie come out that that sold the tickets that it sold,
46:22
Speaker 1: that was directed by a black director, and you happen
46:25
Speaker 1: to be a distributor, probably the long African American distributor
46:28
Speaker 1: on that movie. Tell about your tell us about your
46:31
Speaker 1: role and some of the achievements that you were able to,
46:34
Speaker 1: groundbreaking achievements that you were able to do with the movie.
46:36
Speaker 1: Black Panther.
46:40
Speaker 4: Yes, I was part of the team, and you're right,
46:42
Speaker 4: You're correct, I was the only black guy that was
46:44
Speaker 4: part of the strategy for distributing Black Panther. And what
46:47
Speaker 4: I mean about distribution, Uh, you know, I was one
46:50
Speaker 4: of the people that designed the strategy as far as
46:54
Speaker 4: what what demographic market aread of Black Camp will be
46:57
Speaker 4: released in right, and that's based on know everything from
47:01
Speaker 4: Race Creed, you know. So yes, I was a part
47:04
Speaker 4: of that, uh, that strategy on how he was going
47:07
Speaker 4: to launch that and Black Panther went on to make
47:11
Speaker 4: one point three billion dollars. So yes, at the time
47:14
Speaker 4: when questions were asked of me, do you think that
47:15
Speaker 4: this would be a successful movie, because, like you said, uh,
47:19
Speaker 4: it was directed by black you know, Ryan Coogler, a
47:22
Speaker 4: black director, and it was the first film in history
47:25
Speaker 4: to have an all black cast, which was you know,
47:27
Speaker 4: angela basket far As with a good chat with Bozeman,
47:30
Speaker 4: Michael be Jordans on and so forth. You know, it
47:33
Speaker 4: was a risk for the studios from their vantage points,
47:35
Speaker 4: you know. So but yes, all those things were factors
47:39
Speaker 4: in it, and and even all the way down to
47:41
Speaker 4: when we were talking about you know, what months should
47:43
Speaker 4: we should we release it in and uh, obviously you
47:46
Speaker 4: know I see the month of February. Why because it's
47:49
Speaker 4: Black History Month. You know, that means something to us.
47:52
Speaker 4: So absolutely, I was very proud to do that, and
47:55
Speaker 4: also excited to get get phone calls from the likes
48:00
Speaker 4: of stars that were actually renting out the theater so
48:02
Speaker 4: that the underprivileged community could actually go and screen the movie.
48:07
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying, the ones that couldn't afford it.
48:09
Speaker 4: So very proud of my people, if you will, my
48:12
Speaker 4: brothers and sisters who who did things like that, who
48:15
Speaker 4: had the means to make that available to everybody.
48:19
Speaker 1: You know, Sergeant Major, I'm talking to Sergeant Major Keith L. Craig.
48:23
Speaker 1: You know, I've been in Hollywood since ninety three, went
48:29
Speaker 1: out there in nineteen ninety doing stand up comedy. I
48:31
Speaker 1: actually started writing on television shows in ninety four and
48:36
Speaker 1: been fortunate to write on anywhere from The Parkers, the
48:39
Speaker 1: Jamie Fox Show, The Sister Sisters, the Robert Townsend Show,
48:44
Speaker 1: The Parkers I mean Robert towns to Your Parenthood, as
48:47
Speaker 1: well as Arsenial Hall and that whole period of writing.
48:50
Speaker 1: And I hope put it is distributing the whole put relationship.
48:53
Speaker 1: Tell everybody what exactly is your role in Hollywood?
48:58
Speaker 4: Well, my role in Hollywood is, like say, I think
49:00
Speaker 4: the young people call the plug, right, because my clients
49:04
Speaker 4: are the networks. When you talk about hbos, the Stars
49:07
Speaker 4: to show Times, you know, the the netflixes and all
49:12
Speaker 4: those along with it, broadcasting the digital pieces of it.
49:16
Speaker 4: You know, I have the ability to when people have
49:18
Speaker 4: finished films, to get their content, to find they find
49:21
Speaker 4: a good home for their for their content.
49:23
Speaker 3: Right.
49:23
Speaker 4: I think that's very, very, very important. And I also
49:28
Speaker 4: you mentioned earlier why they called me to holl with whisper.
49:31
Speaker 4: I think it has something to do with us trying
49:32
Speaker 4: to protect the filmmakers because you know what we we
49:35
Speaker 4: We speak to five and six filmmakers every day, and
49:40
Speaker 4: what we're noticing is they go into the filmmaking piece
49:45
Speaker 4: of it with understanding that it's three it's three pieces
49:49
Speaker 4: to filmmaking, the pre production and production the post production.
49:52
Speaker 4: So the flaw in that though, is by the time
49:54
Speaker 4: you finish post production, your editing, so and so forth,
49:57
Speaker 4: you actually are out of money, you know. So it's
50:01
Speaker 4: what my partner and I, Jeff Porter, what we do
50:03
Speaker 4: is we teach people there are six phases. Maybe teaches
50:06
Speaker 4: the wrong word, but we we coach teach a mentor
50:09
Speaker 4: that there are six phases.
50:11
Speaker 7: You know.
50:11
Speaker 4: The additional three phases is branding, marketing, and then distribution.
50:16
Speaker 4: So it's very important that you say almost a third
50:19
Speaker 4: of your budgets that you're looking at as a production
50:21
Speaker 4: budget to make sure that you'll feelm actually it does
50:24
Speaker 4: the business that you wanted to do at the box office.
50:27
Speaker 1: Now, let me ask you this, because you know the
50:28
Speaker 1: streaming is out here. You got a big old writers
50:30
Speaker 1: strike going on, and you're in distribution, and then you
50:34
Speaker 1: got all these titles. You know, I look at a
50:37
Speaker 1: lot of streaming channels out there and that go and
50:38
Speaker 1: they say the word free, and then I see all
50:41
Speaker 1: these these movies, these blockbusters from back in the day,
50:45
Speaker 1: and they start and collect all these catalogs. As a distributor,
50:50
Speaker 1: how do you align yourself with certain channels or streaming
50:54
Speaker 1: channels to say this is where I want to take
50:56
Speaker 1: your product or do you wait for them to ask
50:58
Speaker 1: you for the opportune to distribute your products?
51:02
Speaker 4: Do you mean the filmmakers, Yes, sir, you you know,
51:06
Speaker 4: we we both right, we we we look for films
51:08
Speaker 4: that we you know that we're interested in right and
51:11
Speaker 4: also you know, filmmakers look for us people that are
51:14
Speaker 4: interested in getting results, because as we make a name
51:17
Speaker 4: for ourselves, obviously my my resume you know, makes people.
51:23
Speaker 4: You know, let's let's at least just check these guys
51:25
Speaker 4: out and from there we just do good business, you
51:27
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying. We, like I said earlier, we're
51:29
Speaker 4: all about transparency and integrity, things that nature. And we
51:33
Speaker 4: have direct relationships with these platforms. So if you bring
51:36
Speaker 4: a film to us, it's not a it's not if
51:39
Speaker 4: you can get it there. We have relationships. We know
51:42
Speaker 4: what these networks and these digital platforms are looking for,
51:44
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. Even when we shit on
51:46
Speaker 4: a monthly basis with these broadcasters, these network stations, right,
51:50
Speaker 4: the conversation is, you know, we're looking for a BOC.
51:53
Speaker 4: These are the components of what we're looking for right now.
51:56
Speaker 4: Whether it be all female lead driven cat with humor,
52:00
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying, Or is it are you
52:02
Speaker 4: looking for, you know, horror with some mystery in it.
52:06
Speaker 4: Well we know what those we know what those apps are.
52:09
Speaker 4: So when we come back once we find a filmmaker
52:12
Speaker 4: that we we think either they're going into making the film,
52:15
Speaker 4: you know, with with with those components you know of
52:18
Speaker 4: that production there, or we you know, we take what
52:22
Speaker 4: they have, we find what they already have, and we
52:25
Speaker 4: shot and we bring it to the networks and that
52:27
Speaker 4: you know, we sign a liscens to deal.
52:28
Speaker 1: Well know, it's interesting because I'm really trying to wrap
52:30
Speaker 1: my head around this because you know, it's like, you know,
52:32
Speaker 1: as a writer, I knew I got a check for
52:34
Speaker 1: writing there's a stand up. I got a check for
52:36
Speaker 1: telling my jokes. As a manager, I got commission check.
52:39
Speaker 1: How does it you know, I'm not trying to get
52:40
Speaker 1: in any detail, but how does a person like you
52:44
Speaker 1: make money? So people can understand how the process works.
52:49
Speaker 4: Sure, as as as a distributor, right, there's obviously there's
52:52
Speaker 4: services fees. Right, so when you bring a movie, a finish,
52:54
Speaker 4: a finished movie to us whatever, there's a there's a
52:56
Speaker 4: services fee attached to that based on we service you.
53:01
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying. We get your film on Netflix,
53:03
Speaker 4: then you know, become a partner. It's a partnership. Okay,
53:07
Speaker 4: So you say, you say, you know, you say, Sergeant
53:09
Speaker 4: Major Stargy, Major Craig, I have a film. Okayon simme
53:13
Speaker 4: over Screenlink's take a look at it. You know, once
53:16
Speaker 4: we look at that film, we say, okay, we think
53:18
Speaker 4: we got a home for that film. Let's let's send
53:20
Speaker 4: it over and talk to you know, this personal with
53:23
Speaker 4: this network. See what they say and from Once we
53:25
Speaker 4: get the the the ya from that network, we come
53:28
Speaker 4: back and reports to this is this is the offer.
53:32
Speaker 4: You know, we got a offer. We're gonna do a
53:34
Speaker 4: counter and ask for these type of you know, these changes,
53:39
Speaker 4: these stipulations.
53:40
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this. Now you got my mind flowing. Now, okay,
53:43
Speaker 1: so do you do? Do you do like specials like
53:47
Speaker 1: music specials if it's produced, could I bring that to you?
53:50
Speaker 1: Or you just do films a series? What what can
53:54
Speaker 1: one bring to you?
53:56
Speaker 4: Well, if you could bring everything for us to take
53:58
Speaker 4: a look at it, right, Obviously the full features are
54:01
Speaker 4: the most sought after things by the broadcasters. But when
54:05
Speaker 4: you're talking about the music productions, right, obviously you have
54:08
Speaker 4: to have their clearances associated with that, right, So you
54:11
Speaker 4: got to make sure all your homework are done. If
54:13
Speaker 4: you got song that somebody else own, well you got
54:16
Speaker 4: to go get clearance right, right, for all of that,
54:18
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. So, and we would require
54:20
Speaker 4: all of that. You got to make sure you got
54:22
Speaker 4: e ando insurance arison no missions insurance. This is the
54:24
Speaker 4: insurance is to cover you if somebody assues you because
54:27
Speaker 4: you didn't get total clearance. Are your work or your
54:29
Speaker 4: move too fast? You know what I'm saying. So it's
54:31
Speaker 4: very important, you know, to just check all your blocks
54:34
Speaker 4: out and we'll make sure if you're bringing something to us,
54:37
Speaker 4: first of all, it has to have the production value
54:39
Speaker 4: based on what you say in the budget was right,
54:42
Speaker 4: you know optically. These people are professionals, so they know
54:45
Speaker 4: what something costs or did not cost, you know what
54:47
Speaker 4: I'm saying. So we look at the production value to
54:49
Speaker 4: make sure you got the red cameras or the black
54:52
Speaker 4: magics and so on and so forth, and and the aalent,
54:55
Speaker 4: you know, the acting, the talent. Everything is you know
54:59
Speaker 4: a component of for successful you know, partnership.
55:03
Speaker 1: Wow, hey, sergeant major, please tell people how they how
55:05
Speaker 1: they can reach out to you. Is a website?
55:08
Speaker 7: Is it?
55:08
Speaker 3: Uh?
55:09
Speaker 1: What number? How they can reach you? Because I next
55:12
Speaker 1: time I bring you on, We're gonna start this different.
55:14
Speaker 1: We're gonna take some phone calls because you you pushing
55:16
Speaker 1: that information that people need to know because don't nobody
55:19
Speaker 1: know where to go.
55:21
Speaker 4: Understand, I'm saying you can find us at pcfimimedia dot com.
55:25
Speaker 4: That's pcfimimedia dot com. I'm on Instagram at official Keith
55:29
Speaker 4: al Craig Official Keith.
55:32
Speaker 3: Al Craig All one word.
55:34
Speaker 4: I also have a website Keith Craig dot org or
55:36
Speaker 4: r G or you can email me at Keith dot
55:40
Speaker 4: Craig at pcfmimedia dot com.
55:42
Speaker 1: Okay, now, slow that down. That gonna get busy. That
55:44
Speaker 1: that that gonna get busy right now. So because your role,
55:48
Speaker 1: if somebody has projects, don't just be emailing Sergeant may
55:51
Speaker 1: just be emailing them. If you got content that you
55:55
Speaker 1: don't know where to take it, content that you want
55:58
Speaker 1: to some advice on where to distribute it, then Sergeant
56:01
Speaker 1: Major can get you that. Can you give out that
56:03
Speaker 1: email address one more time, Sergeant Major?
56:05
Speaker 4: Sure, that's Keith dot Craig at Pcfilmanmedia dot com. That's
56:11
Speaker 4: one word, Pcfilmandmedia dot com. Spell it out one word
56:17
Speaker 4: admia dot com.
56:18
Speaker 1: Wow, you know you're whispering to me? Now, you're not
56:21
Speaker 1: only whispering you're talking to me right now because because
56:25
Speaker 1: I'm just telling you man, as a black person, we
56:27
Speaker 1: don't know where to go. We don't know where to go.
56:29
Speaker 4: We don't know.
56:29
Speaker 1: We're just being creative. We're making stuff. At least we're
56:32
Speaker 1: getting a professional person telling us this wont work, or
56:36
Speaker 1: this work, or you need to do your homework, do
56:38
Speaker 1: better production, invest more timing. You got the wrong cameras,
56:41
Speaker 1: You need to get your license, you need to get everything,
56:44
Speaker 1: your release on, all your talents. Stuff like that. We
56:46
Speaker 1: don't know. But if you contact him here, get you
56:49
Speaker 1: started in the right direction. Sergeant Major, thank you man
56:51
Speaker 1: for coming to my show. And I want to bring
56:53
Speaker 1: you back, man, if you don't mind, I want to
56:55
Speaker 1: take phone calls so people can ask you questions and
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Speaker 1: let's do it like a class on money making conversations.
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Speaker 1: Master class. Good with that.
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Speaker 4: I would I would love to come back. I would
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Speaker 4: love Rashwan. Please, it's been it's been an honor and
57:06
Speaker 4: and and you know, a gift to come on. Thank
57:09
Speaker 4: you so much for having me.
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Speaker 1: I appreciate you. He's the whisperer, y'all, but he talks
57:12
Speaker 1: me loud. Sajan Major, thanks for coming on. Money Making
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Speaker 1: Conversation Master Class. We talked soon my friend. I want
57:21
Speaker 1: to thank everybody for listening to my show mate. I
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Speaker 1: cannot do this show without you. Guys. I get up tired,
57:25
Speaker 1: but when I get to this show man, I am
57:27
Speaker 1: fired up. Talk to you next time on Money Making
57:29
Speaker 1: Conversation Matter Class. This is Rashan McDonald. We be out.
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Speaker 7: Thank you for joining us for this edition of Money
57:53
Speaker 7: Making Conversations Master Class. Money Making Conversations Masterclass with rough
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Speaker 7: Shan McDonald is used to buy thirty eight fifteen Media Inc.
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Speaker 7: More information about thirty eight fifteen Media Inc. Is available
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Speaker 7: at thirty eight fifteen media dot com. And always remember
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Speaker 7: to lead with your gifts