Episode Summary
This episode was originally released January 2021. It was our first episode, back when we had little knowledge of what we were doing in terms of audio production. Like Teedra, we think that this episode needs a little more love, so we've cleaned up the audio (as best as we could, it was a mess, lol) and we're putting it back out on the streets today, remixed. We're discussing 2004's Complex Simplicity by Teedra Moses.
Transcript
Christina: Welcome back to They Reminisce Over You. I'm Christina.
Miguel: And I'm Miguel. This week, we're giving you a remix of our first episode about Teedra Moses titled "Daddy, I'm Too Cute To Fight..." named after a line in her song, "You Better Tell Her." And just like Teedra herself, we felt that this episode isn't getting the look that we think it should. So we're re-releasing it. With it being our first episode, the audio quality isn't the best, so we've decided to clean up the audio as best we can. Because you hear a lot of echo, mic bleed and some interesting editorial choices.
Christina: Fun fact, we had to record this episode three times...
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: Because we...didn't know what we're doing.
Miguel: We didn't.
Christina: And I mean, still are figuring things out, but we're a little bit better now.
Miguel: Yes. And I listen to it and cringe, but I'm not going to lie to you. It's still better than a lot of, quote-unquote "popular" podcasts that we listen to.
Christina: Shade!
Miguel: Yeah. So what? Like I said, we're just two people who have very little audio production experience at the time, and we've picked up some skills since then. So hopefully this version will sound just a little bit better than it did originally because you can't really polish a turd.
Christina: We're going to try.
Miguel: We're going to try.
Christina: And the turd is the editing, not the subject matter.
Miguel: Yes. Not the content. It's definitely not the content. It's the audio quality. So here's episode one, "Teedra Moses: Daddy, I'm Too Cute To Fight..."
Christina: [Singing] "You better get that bitch told tonight."
Miguel: [Singing] "You better get that bitch told tonight."
[replay]
Christina: Hey, this is They Reminisce Over You. I'm Christina.
Miguel: And I'm Miguel. On today's episode, we're going to be discussing Teedra Moses, specifically her debut album. 2004s Complex Simplicity. This album was produced mostly by Poli Paul with additional tracks by Raphael Saadiq and Lil' Jon. Vocal arrangements were done by Teedra and a gentleman named Shaffer Smith, who we now know as Ne-Yo.
Christina: "Looking like he been eating a pork chop sandwich with no hands," according to Pimp C.[1]
Miguel: Ne-Yo didn't deserve that disrespect, but he got it.
Christina: Collateral damage.
Miguel: Yes. For something he had nothing to do with. All right. We're going to start with the climate of R&B music in 2003, going into 2004. It was a very competitive time even with established artists. So people like Beyonce who'd had a full career up to this point, released her first album. Mya, she was still hanging on in 2003, 2004. Usher, selling billions of records with Confessions. Prince had Musicology. The nigga who shall not be named, had two albums out. Chocolate Factory and Happy People. Ciara. She also had Goodies out, who was in my opinion, pretty much on the same level as Aaliyah but people don't seem to like that comparison.
Christina: You better be careful with these hot takes. Need I remind you about why you got kicked off of BlackPlanet back in the day.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: The people have spoken.
Miguel: The people were wrong, though. Yes, I think that Ciara and Aaliyah are comparable. I'm telling anybody who's listening—
Christina: But, I believe didn't you insinuate that she was...overrated?
Miguel: I didn't say overrated. I just said that Ciara wasn't much different than Aaliyah and—
Christina: Let's get, let's get back to Teedra.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: You know what? Let's—back to the task at hand.
Miguel: Yes. Let's focus on what we're here to talk about. So this is what Teedra had to compete with in 2003, in 2004, when it comes to releasing her music.
Christina: Right.
Miguel: Just listening to that list. What were you listening to in that time?
Christina: Oh, well you left out a big debut album, Alicia Keys.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: The Diary of Alicia Keys, which was definitely on heavy rotation for me. And of course, Beyonce, Usher, pretty much everyone you mentioned, except for he who will not be named.
Miguel: Yes. Just going back a couple of years, there was a song called "Still in Love" by a new artist named Nivea. That was the first song on her album. And it was actually written by a Teedra Moses. Did you like that song?
Christina: Oh yeah I still listen to that song. And you know, if you compare that song to Teedra's album or songs on her album, they sound like Teedra. It could have been on her album.
Miguel: Following that up, early in 2004, Christina Milian, I'm released a song that everyone knows and some of us love. "Dip It Low," which was also written by Teedra Moses.
Christina: It sounds like something written by Teedra Moses.
Miguel: It does. The song was huge. It was everywhere. It was all over MTV, BET. It reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. Top five in the UK, top 10 in Denmark, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway. It is Christina Milian's biggest song to this day. And it was written by Teedra Moses.
Christina: Well, I was looking at the Billboard Top 100 charts the week that "Be Your Girl" was released and "Dip It Low" was on the Top 100, but "Be Your Girl" was nowhere to be found that week. And I think I checked a couple of weeks after that, too.
Miguel: Which kind of brings us to why we're here. Her debut album and by her, I mean Teedra Moses. Complex Simplicity was released in 2004. She had been writing songs, as we mentioned for other people. Some were bigger hits than others and finally it seems that she was getting her shot.
Miguel: First song off the album is "Be Your Girl."
Christina: Yes.
Miguel: What did you think about "Be Your Girl" first time you heard it?
Christina: I cannot say I remember the first time I heard it because I've listened to it so many times since then.
Miguel: I can confirm.
Christina: But I know that I loved it.
Miguel: Okay.
Christina: Because I still love it. And it's just one of those songs that you just like right away. Sometimes with songs or albums, you got to listen to it a couple of times to get into it. But this one, as soon as that little, "do do do," at the beginning starts, you know, something good's about to happen.
Miguel: Ok. Did you know that song was actually written about Nas?
Christina: Really?
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: So Nas is just out here with womens writing songs about him?
Miguel: All over the place.
Christina: Like "Me & Mr. Jones," the late great Amy Winehouse.
Miguel: And all while he has women at home, other women all across the globe, writing songs about him. But yeah, in researching Teedra Moses, I found out that she wrote this song for Nas.
Christina: Okay.
Miguel: Because she had a really big crush on him and figured, hey, maybe he'll hear this song and, you know, see the video and might want to give me a call.
Christina: Did he know It was written about him?
Miguel: As far as I can tell he didn't know. I read this in an interview she did a couple of years ago.
Christina: Okay.
Miguel: And last year, Issa Rae was putting on this concert series where Teedra performed[2] and then she said it again front of the crowd. So I'm sure he knows now. At the time he didn't know, I'm assuming.
Christina: All right.
Miguel: The song actually samples a Nas song, this really obscure song called "One on One" from the Street Fighter soundtrack of all things.
Christina: Yeah, I don't know that one.
Miguel: So there's some real Nas inception going on here where she's sampling a song of his that no one really knows.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: And singing about how she wants to be his girl.
Christina: Oh, maybe she was kind of hoping, oh, if he hears the sample, he hears this song with this sample, then maybe—
Miguel: Right. It would catch his attention. It's like I know this all from somewhere.
Christina: Okay, okay.
Miguel: Going into that, next song on the album is "You'll Never Find."
Christina: Yes.
Miguel: Which is very entertaining for me, at least. For one reason and one reason only, Jadakiss is on it.
Christina: [mimics Jadakiss] Nope I can't do it.
Miguel: Four seconds into the song, Jada is just [mimics Jadakiss] all over the song.
Christina: There you could do it a little bit better than me. I need more rasp. [mimics Jadakiss] Nope that's wrong.
Miguel: Not quite, but we can work on that for the next episode.
Christina: And then she follows up—no, wait. Is that the one where she calls him cat daddy? No. No, that's not that song.
Miguel: No, it is.
Christina: Is it?
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: Okay, I'm getting it mixed up. Yeah, so we got Jadakiss, I won't make the sound again.
Miguel: [mimics Jadakiss]
Christina: And then Teedra coming in and talking about, "cat daddy."
Miguel: Yes. Do you like that song as much as you like others or is it just one you let ride out?
Christina: No, I like that one. I still think that "Be Your Girl" is probably just my favorite off the album, but I definitely like this one too. But I do like other songs a little bit more than this one.
Miguel: Okay.
Christina: Well, I like "Caution" because this is one of the many quotables in her album. She has this perfect mix of sass and like, yeah, she may sing about fussing and fighting with her man or this and that. But ultimately she don't really care. And, you know, as a young woman listening to this album, you kind of liked that vibe, you know? So in "Caution" she says, "I lick my lips and then I think how sweet it is to be me." Like, come on man.
Miguel: Bars!
Christina: Exactly. And then she just sings it. She's got the sweet voice and you can't help, but feel, you know, you feel confident listening to it.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: You just walk by, flip your hair over your shoulders and..
Miguel: Yeah, and this—
Christina: Keep it moving.
Miguel: This album is full of quotable lines like that. Just all of her lyrics are very petty. If that it makes sense.
Christina: Petty how?
Miguel: And not in a bad way though.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: It's like, she says what she feels. It doesn't matter if it hurts your feelings or not. She's not here to coddle anybody. It's like, I just want to be happy.
Christina: Mmhmm.
Miguel: I'm going to go out and party, hang out with my girls, have a couple of drinks, smoke a little something. And if you come along for the ride, cool. If not, cool. She really reminds me of people that I went to school with. Where they're nice and sweet until you cross them. And they want to put those paws on you. I get that vibe listening to her that you don't want to get in her way.
Christina: Yes.
Miguel: Because you might regret it. And just based on that, I really never listened to Teedra Moses at the time. When this album came out, the only thing I really knew about her—
Christina: Boo.
Miguel: Was the ads in The Source and Vibe magazine and stuff like that. And that she was Ras Kass' baby mama. Like, that was all I knew about her. Cause I really didn't hear the music much. Just because it wasn't really promoted very well.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: So I didn't know much about her. So I don't know this to be true, this is another Miguel hot take. But to me, I feel that she's singing these about him.
Christina: Probably.
Miguel: Because there's a lot of, you did me wrong.
Christina: "No More Tears."
Miguel: "No more tears."
Christina: "You better tell her."
Miguel: Yeah so I, again, don't know if this is true, but I like to listen to it and think that she's singing these songs to Ras Kass.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: And I find that entertaining. And this is basically her telling him, hey you need to get your shit together. But, first of all, it has an OutKast sample and I love OutKast. It's my favorite group.
Christina: I knew for sure—
Miguel: Greatest group of all time.
Christina: You would at least like this song.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: Just for the sample alone.
Miguel: It samples "SpottieOttieDopaliscious." So you can't go wrong with that.
Christina: Yes, the infectious horn sample.
Miguel: So so that's what lured me in. And then her expert level shit talking on this song was just amazing. I love petty lyrics and yeah, it just tugs of my heartstrings every time I hear it.
Christina: Unless I say that to you.
Miguel: Yeah. Then, you know, I don't like it.
Christina: Which one's your favorite line?
Miguel: On this song?
Christina: Yeah, that song.
Miguel: Uh...
Christina: What's a petty Teedra take that you love?
Miguel: Uh, there's one line specifically I will let you listen to it.
[plays song excerpt]
Miguel: So there's another song on this album that I like as well, because I'm a big Tony! Toni! Toné! fan.
Christina: Right.
Miguel: Called "Take Me." It's a duet with Raphael Saadiq. Is that one of your favorites? You like it? You don't like it?
Christina: Yeah, I like it. Cause I'm a Tony! Toni! Toné!, Raphael Saadiq, Lucy Pearl fan. So it was, it was a good duet. It's a nice smooth R&B song. How can you not like it?
Miguel: I'm sure someone doesn't, but
Christina: Yeah well we don't—
Miguel: I don't like those people.
Christina: Yes. They're, they're not our people.
Miguel: Yes. Not at all.
Christina: Well, you know I like "You Better Tell Her."
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: Because I too like these saucy lyrics.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: And as you mentioned before, she seems nice and sweet, but you don't want to mess around with her man or piss her off. Because she says in the song, which is my favorite line, "Listen daddy, I'm too cute to fight. You better get that bitch told tonight."
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: You think she told Ras Kass that?
Miguel: I'm sure. I'm sure he's heard lots of these lyrics.
Christina: But later in the song or somewhere else in the song she also says "I damn near slapped her face." So even though she's too cute to fight, she might, if she has to.
Miguel: Yeah. Just listening to this again, I imagine this happening in Hollywood. She's on one side of the room with Ras Kass. She sees some girl eyeing him...
Christina: Yep.
Miguel: And like, hey.
Christina: "You better get that bitch told tonight."
Miguel: You better go tell her.
Christina: Yes.
Miguel: To stop looking over here at me before she get these paws and claws on her.
Christina: Yeah. Well I was really happy to hear this song being featured on Insecure because that means that a new generation of folks who may have not heard of her, will now hear of her. And the song, despite this album being what like 15, 16 years old now?
Miguel: Yep.
Christina: Well, probably 15 at the time when the song was feature episode, but the fact that it's still sounded good next to the rest of the soundtrack for the show, which normally plays pretty current music. And so that kinda shows how this album is timeless. That 15 years later, we could still listen to it and still enjoy it. And people who are young enough to be our kids can also enjoy it as well. Also makes you feel a little old, but—
Miguel: I'm not old, I'm classic.
Christina: Classic.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: Classic, classic, as you like to say.
Miguel: Classic.
Christina: We mentioned a lot of these other albums that came out at the same time. Or around the same time as this. Like, I used to listen to The Diary of Alicia Keys all the time. I barely listen to it now, but as you know, I listen to Teedra at least once a month, sometimes more.
Miguel: You say it's once a month. I say it's more like every other week.
Christina: I think it's because I have playlists that you may hear one song here and there. Cause when I say once a month I mean like the whole album.
Miguel: Okay. Because I can pretty much guarantee I hear more songs. Like every other week.
Christina: Uh huh.
Miguel: So I just assume that you're listening to the album.
Christina: And I still love some of those other albums that came out at the time, but I just don't listen to them as often anymore.
Miguel: Well, it makes sense. Because like I said, I really didn't listen to the music at the time that it came out. But just listening to it over the past couple of weeks, it's something that I've added to my rotation. So I might not listen to it every week, but it's not going away.
Christina: This is a no skip album.
Miguel: It is. As somebody who was late to the party, and finally breaking down and listening to the entire album from front to back in 2020.
Christina: Yep.
Miguel: I agree that it's something you can just put on and listen to.
Christina: There of course songs that I like more than other songs.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: And there are a couple of songs that maybe I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to, but I like them.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: And this is meant to be a compliment, but it's also the perfect album to put on in the background. The reason why you heard me listen to it so often over these years too, is one, obviously I like it. And two it's the perfect album to listen to when I just want some music on to just have in the background. Where it's enough to make you feel good.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: But it's not so much that you you're dancing instead of doing your work.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: Or uh, you know trying to start a fight or something. If you're listening to, you know, "Knuck If You Buck," that's not exactly a work song.
Miguel: Depends on where you work.
Christina: That's true. I have nothing bad to say. No feedback. No, nothing. It's perfect.
Miguel: I'm not going to say it's perfect. But it's a damn good album. For someone who didn't listen to it for 15 years, I appreciate it for what it is. And I think it's a good R&B album. It should be more widely known than it is.
Christina: This album was not available for streaming for a while.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: Not really sure why, but you know, these things happen all the time, but she was able to re-release it last year, I believe?
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: Now I can stream it because Apple Music deleted all my local files. And my CDs are in storage, so...
Miguel: And I'm not going to dig them out.
Christina: So it's nice that we can just stream it now. And plus again, it's nice that the kids can find her that way. But with the rerelease, she also added her two twin sons—
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: To the last song, which is very cute.
Miguel: I really liked their music. It's not typical of what a lot of young rappers are doing these days. I assume that has a lot to do with who their father is. Ras Kass. So they've kind of fallen off that tree and taken the branches and run with it. So having them on the album on a song that's dedicated to her mother's memory is, is really interesting to me and I like it. And speaking of featuring the sons on the album, she's also done songs with Ras Kass over the years, which actually goes against my theory of them having this hateful, spiteful relationship. The fact that they can still get together and make music probably goes against everything that I have running through my head.
Christina: This album was 15 years ago, so they've had some time to repair the relationship plus, I mean, remember No Doubt where "Don't Speak" was her song...
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: About the drummer dude.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: So sometimes people find ways to working together.
Miguel: That's true, but I'd like to think that they had it in a good space now.
Christina: Yeah. I hope so.
Miguel: And here we are again with Miguel's third hot take.
Christina: Okay, hot take, hot take.
Miguel: Teedra Moses being this songwriter, singer. Ras Kass, being a rapper who was placed in very successful positions to win. But he just couldn't get out of his own way. I think that they could have been Beyoncé—
Christina: Bey and Jay.
Miguel: Yes, they could have been Beyoncé and Jay-Z before Beyoncé and Jay-Z became a thing, publicly.
Christina: Is that really hot take though?
Miguel: Some people would consider it to be a hot take, but—
Christina: I think it would be a hot take if you said they would be better than them. Not the precursor to them.
Miguel: I'm going to keep it to myself.
Christina: All right, all right. Let's keep it to the task at hand again.
Miguel: I already got the people riled up with the Aaliyah and Ciara.
Christina: Yeah you're bringing up Aaliyah, you don't want to bring up Beyoncé.
Miguel: Yeah, so I will—
Christina: Let's stick to Teedra.
Miguel: Stay away from the wrath of the Beyhive and keep that comment to myself.
All right. So why do you think this album in particular. and in sort of the same way her career, hasn't really taken off the way that you think it should have?
Christina: It has to be just promotion and marketing and stuff. Because even though she had a lot of competition at that time, we know that her sound works because again, "Dip It Low," Nivea, all stuff like, we know the sound works. And even just looking at the Billboard "chaort," Bill Bart... Why can't I say this? Billboard charts, at the time. I think there could have been room for her. Yes, we had Christina Milian, Alicia Keys, Usher, whatever. But I think there could have been room for one more R&B artists. Just think about how R&B sounds today. You know, you got all these girls, these new girls out here that, probably me just being old, but they sound a lot alike to me. And I know I'm not the old person. ‘Cause as Phonte called them, racially ambiguous, whispering bitches.[3]
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: There's a lot of them out there. And again, to the untrained ear, maybe because I'm not such a huge fan—I mean, I like some of these new R&B singers, but there's a lot of them. And they have a pretty good fan base each of them. But they do have a similar sound. So why at that time couldn't there be room for one more? I mean, maybe it's the way we consume music now, that's a little bit different that everything is just so readily available, 24/7. Of course marketing and promotion, you always need that. But back then you had to buy albums.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: Yeah. You would hear them on the radio or we were starting to have, you know, being able to download stuff, but—
Miguel: You had to go to the stores and make effort to buy it.
Christina: Yeah, you still had to, for the—most of us still had to buy it somewhere. You might get the odd download or something here and there, but it just didn't work that way. So it had to be just the lack of promotion and marketing, because it's a solid album. It's a no skip album and we know the sound works.
Miguel: Yeah. And in my opinion, it is due to her just being signed to TVT because just based on her sound and other people who were successful around that time, who have a similar sound and vibe like Amerie, Ashanti, Christina Milian. They were all signed to major labels. So their promotion was a lot bigger than what TVT was giving.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: I think that's basically what the reasoning was that nobody really knew, or at least—
Christina: A larger audience didn't.
Miguel: A larger audience didn't really know who she was.
Christina: Because we know her fan base loves her.
Miguel: She has a strong, solid fan base to this day and they are down for anything that she does. I have been converted to one of those people.
Christina: 15 years late.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: But better, late than never.
Christina: Welcome.
Miguel: I'm not late—
Christina: We've been expecting you.
Miguel: I'm not late. I'm just a little delayed.
Christina: All right, all right.
Miguel: That's all.
Christina: Okay.
Miguel: So moving forward, let's talk about some of the songs that she's written for other people after Complex Simplicity. Two of them that stand out for me because I actually had this album, so it was on my radar was uh, "Chic" and "I Want You Back" on Raphael Saadiq's album. Again, they work well together. They sound good together. In my opinion, they might want to get together with Ali Shaheed Muhammad and bring Lucy Pearl back in 2021. I'm just putting that out into the atmosphere.
Christina: You and that'll work out better? Well, we know they've already cycled through two.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: Dawn was grand opening, grand closing.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: And then Joi joined, but then nothing really became of that.
Miguel: Third time's the charm.
Christina: Maybe. Maybe she don't want to be part of a group.
Miguel: Maybe she doesn't. But I'm going to put that in air. So Saadiq, Ali, Teedra, Lucy Pearl 2021.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: You heard it here first.
Christina: Okay.
Miguel: If it happens come back to this episode and see that I called it in December of 2020.
Christina: Okay, okay.
Miguel: So those two songs on that album, I like those as well. It fits in with the vibe of the first song they did on her album, so I really think that they should continue to work together and do more stuff. There's also a song that he produced on Mary J. Blige's album that she wrote, called "So Lady." Not really sold on that one, but that's only because I jumped off the Mary train after My Life.
Christina: I stuck with Mary a little bit longer but I didn't make it to some of the later years.
Miguel: And there's also a song by Trina called "Here We Go" that has Kelly Rowland on the hook and Teedra wrote the hook of that song. You have any thoughts on that one?
Christina: I wonder why she didn't just sing the hook?
Miguel: From what I read, she actually did sing the hook.
Christina: Oh.
Miguel: But because—
Christina: They wanted a bigger name?
Miguel: Kelly has a bigger name.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: They went with Kelly instead. Makes sense. But with it being a bigger name, that means bigger coin into Teedra's pockets, so...
Christina: She gets paid either way, I guess.
Miguel: I'm sure she was cool with it.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: Me not being a huge fan could you kind of tell me and other people who may not be fans of Teedra Moses about her other works?
Christina: She does have two other albums, Cognac and Conversation. Which fits her vibe. You always said that she seems like a person who likes to just have a little drinky drink, a little smoky smoke and she seems like she just has that low key turn up vibe.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: A little drink, a little smoke. Little backyard party with a couple of friends.
Miguel: Yeah. Like every song I've heard sounds like you just hanging out at her house. Like, you rent a fight. And when the fight is over, everybody turns the music on. There's snacks being passed around.
Christina: Yes.
Miguel: There's literally cognac on the table that people are sipping on.
Christina: Yes.
Miguel: Somebody—
Christina: Cognac and Conversation
Miguel: Somebody is out in the backyard lighting up. So that's the vibe I get from listening to Teedra Moses.
Christina: So you should check out that album too.
Miguel: The title Cognac and Conversation is perfect.
Christina: Yeah. So she has that one and she has Clairvoyant and I like them both. I like them both a lot. I do listen to them pretty regularly too. I think I still just love Complex Simplicity just because I think there's this nostalgia tied to that from just literally listening to it for 15 years. But those two are pretty good albums too. And her sons make an appearance on, I think it's Clairvoyant. But they're good. If you like the first album, you should check out these two as well.
Miguel: Also just some things that may have passed your radar as listeners. A couple of years ago, Kaytranada decided to remix "Be Your Girl" and that kind of blew up. So it opened her up to a whole new audience who had no idea who she was. Also she had the Insecure placement, like you said earlier. So she's still out here making new music currently. So she hasn't disappeared. What do you think about the song "Black Love?"
Christina: Oh, I love it. Her music to me basically sounds like sunshine. Like everything to go with that, what you were saying about you know, the, her vibes of just hanging out, chilling and stuff. She also, it sounds like summer. Like I could tell she lives somewhere sunny.
Miguel: You know what? Just based on the "Black Love" video.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: And her video that she just released last week.
Christina: Yes.
Miguel: I've deduced that she lives in Miami.
Christina: Oh, I assumed it was California.
Miguel: Just because, well, she used to live in California.
Christina: Right.
Miguel: But just looking at the background and certain landmarks it's like, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood type area.
Christina: She definitely lives where, somewhere sunny.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: Like this music was made in the sunshine. Like you listen to Mobb Deep, you know they live somewhere cold.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: Like I mean there's a New York sound, but that music sounds cold. We're going through a Toronto winter right now and listening to this sunshine music, it's not quite the same. But as soon as that summer hits. Yeah. But yeah, I love "Black Love." A lot of times with artists that have been around for awhile, they have a hard time, even if they were, you know, a huge artist, they have a hard time maintaining that over the years.
Miguel: [coughs] Jodeci.
Christina: I was just gonna say Jodeci as well. I love Jodeci but, you know, when they tried to come out with that comeback album it just wasn't the same. Whereas "Black Love," it sounds like her, but it still sounds current. It doesn't sound like "why is she making that old ass music?"
Miguel: Right.
Christina: It just, it works that she's one of the few artists that's been able to have longevity.
Miguel: Yeah. And, uh for those who are interested in it, since I didn't mention it, "Black Love" is on Salaam Remi's album, featuring Teedra and DJ D-Nice. Also she just released another song called "Cashmere Compliments." Another one that has some great lines that makes me chuckle. "Get the fuck on. Leave me alone." So I really liked that one too.
She also has a new album coming out. Didn't have a date, it just said 2021. Called "The Bullshit," which kind of goes along with what we've been saying about her. That she's very blunt and will tell you what she feels and I expect to hear more of that forthcoming album.
Christina: Well, I feel like we have an understanding of what she's like. Listening to her music and even just these lines that she throws out and what she chooses to name her albums and stuff. I wouldn't say that I know her, but I did meet her once.
Miguel: Tell us about it.
Christina: Story time.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: It was... I don't remember exactly when, 2006 or something. I dunno, but it was a New Year's Eve party and she was in Toronto doing a show. I just remember being mesmerized, just watching her. And she had on this like, white dress and it was really short. And I was just looking at her legs like, wow, I need to get into the gym. And then, my friends got us into, like the VIP room and she was in there and I wanted to take a picture so bad. And she's just stunning in person. And I was so scared that I was going to look like some ugly troll next to her, but I took that picture with her anyways, this was before the age of camera phones[4]. So I had to just hope that the picture turned out okay. We might've even taken two—no, actually we took one photo cause they didn't want to, you know, bother her too much. And she was very gracious about it. She's very sweet. And I'm so happy that the picture actually turned out just fine. We look like two gal pals just kicking it.
Miguel: Two friends out on the town.
Christina: Yep
Miguel: Hanging out in VIP.
Christina: Ringing in 2006 or whatever it was, together.
Miguel: Well that's the story you can tell.
Christina: Yep.
Miguel: Me and my best friend Teedra.
Christina: Back in the day.
Miguel: On New Year's Eve.
Christina: Painting the town red.
Miguel: Yes. I've seen the picture. I confirm, it's a very good photo. We might post it on the uh, the Instagrams[5] or the Twitters.
Christina: Yes I'm sure I have it saved somewhere very safe.
Miguel: We can pull it up and post that. In researching the album.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: I do notice that there are a lot of people who absolutely love it. Like, if you do a Twitter search for Teedra Moses, all you're going to find a good things
Christina: Yes.
Miguel: And people who are willing to stab over Teedra Moses.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: Like, you never see anything like "Damn, Teedra Moses is wack."
Christina: Maybe that's why I've never thought of you know, what it would have been like if maybe she had a little less competition because you never actually hear anything bad about her.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: No one ever says oh she's overrated. Or why did we like that?
Miguel: Right.
Christina: Like when you do see people talk about her, it's always like, "I love this song."
Miguel: Yeah. All right. So can you give us, three suggestions for people who are new to Teedra Moses to—
Christina: 3 suggestions?
Miguel: To look into listening to.
Christina: My three suggestions is listen to it, listen to it and listen to it. I mean my suggestion really is, if you haven't listened to any Teedra Moses at all, just start with Complex Simplicity.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: Start from the beginning.
Miguel: You have to start there.
Christina: Yes. And if you haven't listened to her in a while, start there too. And then from there, check out Cognac and Conversation and Clairvoyant, and you're good.
Miguel: All right, sounds good.
Christina: Oh and "Black Love," if you just want a nice little single, especially if you live somewhere sunny.
Miguel: Yeah, just get out and roller skate listening to "Black Love."
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: Do it for me because I don't live in the sunshine anymore. Oh well, what can you do? I'll be back one day.
Christina: One day.
Miguel: One day.
Christina: And I'm coming too.
Miguel: We'll see.
Christina: Hey!
Miguel: You can come. All right. You got anything else...
Christina: That's it.
Miguel: To add?
Christina: That's all I got. I'm just excited to hear this new album and—
Miguel: I can't wait to hear it because if it's called The Bullshit, it's right up my alley.
All right, so that wraps up this episode of Teedra Moses and Complex Simplicity. I am Miguel.
Christina: And I'm Christina.
Miguel: So we'll see you next time here on the They Reminisce Over You podcast. Make sure to follow us on Instagram, on Twitter. Wherever you get your podcasts, you can rate and subscribe so you can get notifications when new episodes are coming out. And one place you won't find us is on Facebook, because that's where your mamas hang out.
Christina: And we don't want to be there.
Miguel: We don't want to be there. With that said, until next time you can just, like I said, check us out in those locations and until then bye-bye.
Christina: Bye.