Death, Sex & Money - Raphael Saadiq: Music Was My Therapy. It Had To Be.
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3.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 8 November 2023
⏱️ 28 minutes
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Summary
This fall, Tony! Toni! Toné! is on tour for the first time in twenty years. Raphael Saadiq's career took off as a member of the R&B trio —a group whose music taught Anna, a pre-teen at the time, a thing or two about romance and sexiness. Raphael left the group in the mid-'90s, launching a successful solo career and co-writing and producing music with everyone from Solange and Mary J. Blige to John Legend and D'Angelo.
This week, we revisit Anna’s 2019 conversation with Raphael about how he's dealt with family deaths over the years, paying off his studio, and what his love life looks like today, in his 50s.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, it's Anna. This week we're sharing our episode with you with musician Rafael Sadiq. I recorded this in 2019 with him in person in New York City. I was just back from my second maternity leave. And believe me, when I tell you, I was stoked. I have been a fan of his music since I was 12, going back to his days with the group |
| 0:22.3 | Tony, Tony, Tony. And now, right now in 2023, Tony, Tony is back on tour for the first time in 25 |
| 0:30.1 | years. So we thought it would be a good time to revisit this conversation and this episode that |
| 0:35.7 | is filled with so many good grooves. Enjoy. |
| 0:40.4 | I want people to walk into a place when I'm working at or where I live and just feel |
| 0:44.3 | really warm. And I think that's a therapy for me, maybe because of the stuff I went through |
| 0:49.7 | with my, you know, my family and I don't need anything just dark. |
| 0:54.3 | I really love the light. |
| 0:58.7 | This is death, sex, and money. |
| 1:03.4 | The show from WNYC about the things we think about a lot |
| 1:06.7 | and me to talk about more. |
| 1:12.0 | I'm Anna Sale. |
| 1:19.3 | Raphael Sadiq grew up in Oakland, California. |
| 1:22.5 | He was just out of high school and hanging around a studio with friends when they got a call. |
| 1:26.8 | It was a guy who was lining up musicians for Sheila E's band for her world tour with Prince. He said, is there anyone |
| 1:33.5 | up there that can sing a dance and play bass? And that was a quote from Purple Rain. Can anybody |
| 1:39.3 | sing a dance? I went next day. I went to the audition. It was maybe 20 to 30 people outside, like bass players, |
| 1:47.9 | sort of dressed like Prince. |
| 1:50.3 | I had like 501s on like a derby jacket. |
| 1:53.7 | And I'll just remember somebody else had already got the gig. |
| 1:57.6 | And when I started playing, they gave me the gig. |
| 1:59.4 | Wow. |
... |
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