So we didn’t go in ‘cause we had already been there trying to shop songs a few days earlier. We were in New York shopping music around different labels, playing songs for A&Rs and whatnot, you know? So it was the end of the day, and we’re headed back to the hotel and it was on the way to the Def Jam building. He was a part of Somethin’ For the People. But my vocal producer and head engineer, everybody calls him Sauce. You said that I was part of your high school career, so you may not know a group called Somethin’ For the People.

So what made you decide to pursue becoming an artist? What switched?Ī happy accident, to be honest with you. There was no artistry at this point, it was just writing. I’m gonna just write for other people.” So there was no balance. Dre thing happened, I’m like, “All right, clearly I’m not supposed to be an artist. So I wasn’t trying to be an artist at this point. At the time we knew it was something special, but we had no idea that it was going to do what it did. And “Let Me Love You” was the second song that we did. just happens to be working for Mario that week. But I didn’t know the slew of hits that he had already had. And if you ever find yourself in Miami, look me up…” At the time I didn’t, I didn’t know who Scott Storch was. was like, “You’re dope, but I’m going to go in a different direction.” So I run into Scott as I’m leaving, and he’s like, “Yo, I don’t know what the hell Dre talking about, but you’re dope.

I remember I was feeling a little down, because declined. But in the process of these meetings, I met Scott Storch. So I do the records - and ultimately he ended up going with the other guy, cause he was a little bit more “hood” than I was. I’m like, “Yeah!” And then he would play the song that was attached to the track. So he would play the track and say, “You think you can write something to this?”

He was trying to decide between me and this other artist, whose name I cannot remember right now. So every track that he gave me already had a song on it.

I go in, and of course it’s the iconic Dr. Dre, and it was potentially to sign me as an artist. Okay, so short story: I got a meeting with Dr. So when I did the Mario record, I wasn’t trying to be an artist at that time. That Mario record was kind of the marble that you put at the top of the snow hill and when you push it, it just gets bigger and bigger, bigger, bigger.īut how was that hustle back then? You know, trying to secure a record deal, but also writing on the side.

Neyo do you ever