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Kelly Price On Celebrating Life, Family Losses and New Album ‘Grace’ | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
Apr 14, 2021
Kelly Price just celebrated her 48th birthday on Easter and while celebrating more life she is also celebrating the release of her new EP ‘Grace’.
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Kelly Price On Celebrating Life, Family Losses and New Album ‘Grace’ | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
https://youtu.be/TAwUWbXPfoc
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0:00
[Music]
0:01
i'm hanging out with my kid my 48th
0:03
birthday um
0:04
my birthday's on easter sunday this year
0:06
it is
0:07
my birthday is on easter sunday this
0:09
year which is a little weird
0:10
we lost my grandpa on easter sunday last
0:12
year but i am
0:14
going to celebrate that weekend we're
0:16
not crying
0:17
we're not doing we're not crying
0:18
absolutely not nope we're going to
0:19
praise god and we're going to it's been
0:21
a long it's been a long year it's been a
0:23
long year right you know
0:25
yeah but it's easter sunday also happens
0:26
to be my birthday and i will be 48 and i
0:28
plan on praising god
0:30
and laughing and smiling and having a
0:31
wonderful time
0:33
after i saw that clip i didn't even feel
0:35
the pain in my knees anymore
0:37
[Applause]
0:41
it was an elixir hey man any problem i
0:44
had my hunger it left me
0:47
i didn't care that my t-shirts were
0:49
wrinkled none of that mattered anymore
0:51
because what i saw
0:52
kelly kelly none of that matters no more
0:56
ladies and gentlemen
1:00
first world problems i don't have no
1:01
issues
1:03
i have no issues i feel i gained
1:05
strength
1:06
after looking at that instagram post you
1:08
posted kelly price
1:11
gained strength you know knowing your
1:13
story and
1:14
and what what do you how do you get to
1:18
that point
1:18
when you when you lose your your parents
1:21
you lose your grandfather you
1:23
you suffer all of these losses how did
1:24
you get to the point where you're still
1:26
able to celebrate you
1:30
make an intentional decision um
1:33
and sometimes making that decision and
1:35
it's every day
1:36
and sometimes it's several times
1:38
throughout the day to not get dragged
1:40
into a dark place or dragged into
1:42
a place of depression um knowing first
1:45
of all
1:45
that um their lives were well lived
1:48
um everything that i know about loving
1:51
and giving back
1:52
um everything about my faith i learned
1:54
from them
1:55
um so that's what i draw from
1:59
when i feel like i'm too weak within
2:00
myself to find
2:03
the strength to get to that place in the
2:04
day so that i'm not sucked
2:06
into a dark place i think about how i
2:09
know
2:10
they would want my life to play out and
2:12
it wouldn't be
2:13
sitting at home crying um and and not
2:15
being able
2:16
to form my words and get my mind right
2:19
um i had a lot of challenging days last
2:22
year but
2:23
one thing i do know is that um starting
2:26
with my grandfather
2:27
um he was my first pastor um he
2:30
on everything i know about faith i know
2:33
because of him
2:34
um and to think about the life that he
2:36
lived
2:37
he was the neighborhood pastor on the
2:39
south side of jamaica everybody knew
2:41
bishop jerome norman he fed hungry
2:44
people
2:44
he clothed naked people he would walk
2:47
the blocks
2:47
and just check on people pray for people
2:50
he was a chaplain
2:51
at queen's general hospital before they
2:53
shut down for many many years
2:55
i used to ride out with him after
2:56
service on sunday and go visit sick
2:58
people
2:59
when he would pray for them so having
3:01
those memories
3:02
knowing that he was that person gave so
3:05
selflessly
3:06
always um i miss him
3:09
i really really do but god gave him to
3:11
the world
3:12
for so many years he was here 94 years
3:15
94 plus years um and and just an amazing
3:19
human being with a huge heart that had a
3:21
burden for the community
3:23
um and always wanted to see people um be
3:25
healed
3:26
and be whole and doing well um and so
3:29
yeah he is um he he is yeah i don't know
3:33
what else to say
3:34
but but for those times when i felt like
3:36
i couldn't get out of that stinky place
3:38
i would think about that and know that
3:40
he would absolutely not approve of me
3:43
sitting down walking because he's doing
3:44
better than all of us right now
3:46
how about that how about that kelly
3:48
price ladies and gentlemen new ep is
3:50
called grace
3:51
i listened to it in his entirety twice
3:54
um it's out now you know i know you want
3:57
to
3:58
you know you wouldn't let me sing with
3:59
her but
4:00
[Music]
4:01
but cause listen that's different kelly
4:03
i love you sis i cannot wait to just see
4:06
you and give you a big
4:07
hug that i feel like i've owed you
4:09
forever and ever and ever so thank you
4:12
and i don't i don't i listen to you in
4:14
my car
4:15
and my home and my kitchen everything
4:18
your voice is just so
4:19
so so amazing so thank you what i what i
4:22
get excited about is that
4:24
you know sway mentioned that we do good
4:26
news thursdays here we do we have
4:28
our citizens call up and share their
4:29
stories and testimonies
4:31
and i've been watching you like so many
4:33
other people on sunday best
4:34
and i feel like every time i get up when
4:37
somebody starts singing
4:39
you get up and you start jumping what is
4:42
it like to sit there and hear those
4:44
voices
4:45
it look like you can't help it like the
4:47
same way i can't help it
4:48
what is it like to sit there and watch
4:50
these watch these
4:51
amazing vocalists uh do their thing
4:55
it's it's it's multi-fold for me first
4:58
of all it's from singing people on that
5:00
stage that's just the honest to god
5:01
truth
5:02
um and they make it hard for us every
5:04
year to narrow them down
5:05
but i see the hunger in their eyes um
5:09
their desire to be
5:10
heard and to be seen nobody i feel like
5:12
god doesn't give anybody a gift
5:14
for us to hide it from the world it
5:16
doesn't mean that the whole world will
5:17
know you
5:18
but you're supposed to use it like for
5:20
all of the people in the world
5:22
he put what he put in your hands and you
5:23
know what i mean or he he gave you that
5:25
voice and he did whatever
5:26
he didn't do it for it to be hidden and
5:28
for nobody to ever hear it before not to
5:30
be used
5:31
so i love being a part of the process
5:33
where people feel like they are
5:35
walking into their purpose in that
5:37
moment there's nothing more than feeling
5:39
like you are actually
5:40
living out the reason why you were sent
5:43
to earth
5:44
and um i can just remember the first
5:46
time
5:47
i heard my voice on a record or the
5:48
first time i wrote a song for somebody
5:51
else and then heard
5:52
them sing it on the radio it it it did
5:54
something to me
5:55
so i i very much so still go to that
5:58
place when i hear my own music on the
6:00
video
6:01
um it never gets old and i'm right there
6:04
with them that's what you see when you
6:05
see me
6:06
jumping up yeah piercing too it's a
6:08
piercing it's not it's not so much about
6:10
a riff or a run
6:12
but you feel i can feel those artists
6:14
stories
6:15
um in the angst in their voice like more
6:18
more than the words the tone um you know
6:22
the way we say we all feel
6:23
feel mary j blige i feel each one of
6:27
them
6:27
and it's like their soul is telling a
6:29
story even though they're singing
6:31
somebody else's words
6:32
i can feel the story that their soul is
6:34
telling and it pierces me and it makes
6:36
me
6:36
a lot of times i have to stop myself
6:38
they like kelly you got to sit down
6:41
i want to just i want to go grab them
6:43
and hug them i'm like i'm going to get
6:44
yeah
6:45
because you can't hug people like that
6:47
no more but
6:48
um i'm a hugger i feel like clubs are
6:50
healing
6:51
and um i just yeah i love it i love it
6:55
hey man kelly you when you brought up
6:58
mary j blige
6:59
it made me think of so many times
7:02
throughout the years
7:03
i've heard references to mary j blige
7:06
to keisha cole even to yourself where
7:09
people
7:10
will want heartbreak to enter your life
7:14
because they always say oh we know a hit
7:16
is coming even with taylor swift you
7:18
know what i mean that's true
7:20
she goes through a challenge that album
7:23
is about to be poppin
7:26
i haven't heard that right tracy you are
7:29
absolutely
7:30
you're absolutely telling the truth i'm
7:32
like you ain't got a wish heartbreak on
7:33
me to get a good record i promise you
7:35
i'm gonna give you something
7:37
hello because that i could imagine as an
7:41
artist like that's such a conundrum
7:43
because it's like i
7:44
cool i understand your intention and
7:47
also possibly
7:48
you currently may be going you know the
7:50
audience member the ears that want to
7:52
spin your record may be going through
7:53
something where
7:54
they know that you will be able to speak
7:56
the words that they can't come up with
7:59
but it's like damn like why you gotta
8:02
push these thunderstorms on my life
8:04
what the hell is going on so i didn't
8:06
know if that made you
8:08
doubt the spirit like turning that stuff
8:10
back
8:11
right and so i wondered if it made you
8:14
ever like doubt the magic in your happy
8:17
no
8:17
moments if that can truly translate into
8:20
great music since everyone
8:22
seems to love r b art i don't know when
8:24
this shifted but
8:26
love r b artist when it comes to or soul
8:29
music
8:30
when it comes to pain when it comes to
8:32
heartache
8:34
yeah well i won't i won't um deny it
8:37
there is a place for melancholy and r b
8:39
music it's never going anywhere
8:41
it's never going anywhere and somebody's
8:43
gonna always be in them there's always
8:45
gonna be somebody who's having that
8:47
moment
8:47
but i think we can celebrate the happy
8:49
moment so i i
8:50
am happy to say that on the cover of i
8:52
want to thank you in this new grace
8:54
project
8:55
it's literally why i i feel like dance
8:58
party was necessary
8:59
i feel like putting i want to thank you
9:01
on this project was necessary
9:03
um because people had many melaka
9:06
moments last year
9:07
um we're tired of being melancholy we're
9:09
tired of crying we try to feel it you
9:11
know
9:11
like like we got to stay locked in the
9:13
house like we've been put on universal
9:14
time
9:15
out and um but there is also a place for
9:18
happiness and r d
9:19
i just happen to know that the
9:20
melancholy is never going anywhere
9:22
um so i won't fight it um i'm not trying
9:25
to be the
9:26
you know telling that story my whole
9:28
life um but
9:30
it's when i need to tell it i will and i
9:32
pray that it touches somebody
9:33
um and for me it's always about what the
9:36
music
9:37
which is even how i decide when and
9:38
where to drop what kind of music it's
9:40
been
9:41
um an amazing experience to be able to
9:43
do both gospel and r b because everybody
9:45
is not always accepted
9:46
in both genres at the same time but i
9:49
never felt like
9:50
i had to choose one over the other
9:52
because they
9:53
they reside in me equally they divided
9:55
me equally with my foundation of faith
9:58
being at literally the stabilizing force
10:01
in it
10:01
i have i put just as much heart soul
10:04
um kelly um experience into
10:08
the r b music as i do into the gospel
10:10
music and the gift comes from god so
10:12
there's no separating
10:13
so how did so kelly how did you get into
10:17
because you mentioned r b and gospel but
10:19
then how did you jump into hip-hop was
10:21
it through
10:22
your friendship with faith evans that
10:24
you ended up on biggie song was it
10:26
through puff like
10:27
how did you jump into this world then
10:30
for real for real and i'm not gonna drag
10:32
this story out but i i i
10:34
literally took a faith move this is so
10:36
funny um i have been saving money
10:39
um and i threw myself
10:42
a birthday party and just invited music
10:45
executives and all of to come
10:47
and the plan was to only play songs that
10:50
i'd written while everybody was in the
10:52
building
10:53
so i could have to get the attention of
10:54
somebody i was just trying to sell
10:56
phones at that point
10:57
i wasn't trying to be an artist um and
11:00
the crazy thing
11:01
is is that nobody showed up that i
11:04
expected to be there
11:05
um that night um it was on a monday but
11:08
i couldn't afford a saturday night in
11:10
the club so i got a club
11:12
for a monday um and and but the crazy
11:15
thing about it
11:15
is um i got a call the next day cdj who
11:19
actually had been recently signed to
11:20
puff
11:21
as a producer hit me up and he was like
11:23
yo i couldn't come to the party last
11:25
night
11:26
i ended up being in a session all night
11:27
long but can you come through the studio
11:29
so i came through daddy's house i came
11:32
to daddy's house the next day
11:33
and then we're in the conversation or
11:35
whatever he's sitting there playing the
11:37
keys
11:37
we're having a conversation about church
11:39
and you know his father was a pastor
11:41
and he started playing something on the
11:42
piano i think it was faith that conquers
11:44
anything
11:45
it was faith that conquers anything
11:47
that's on this project and i started to
11:49
sing it and puff walked in the room
11:52
and that's literally how that
11:56
it turned into a conversation he took me
11:58
into a session that day
12:00
um took my telephone number asked me if
12:02
i would be interested in coming
12:04
um in and singing on some stuff and
12:06
writing some stuff
12:07
and i was like yeah and in my mind i was
12:09
saying he's never going to call but he
12:11
literally called the very next day
12:13
um and i was in a session for horace
12:16
brown
12:17
the day after yes yes horace brown man
12:20
wait i know i got more questions way but
12:21
we got
12:22
we got to get to the music we got kelly
12:24
price here 888-742-3345 we're gonna play
12:28
i wanna thank you
12:29
call us up this way in the morning four
12:31
five
12:32
[Music]
12:35
straight sway
12:40
yeah that's crazy four or five listen
12:43
um kelly you're trying to get
12:45
reconnected really quickly
12:46
but i want to try to give
12:49
because you mentioned something you said
12:51
i'm trying to give a short story but if
12:52
i'm wondering
12:54
if you could just kind of give a word of
12:56
advice to folks because
12:58
i know that the shorter version is a lot
13:00
of people
13:01
um may have recognized you and
13:03
discovering you from being a background
13:05
singer
13:06
and so many people that's in the
13:07
background could either be afraid to
13:09
come to the front
13:10
or you know um don't have the confidence
13:14
or the
13:15
the willpower whatever the case may be
13:16
about stepping forward
13:18
and feel like their place is in the back
13:19
but when we hear so many stories luther
13:22
vandross yourself so many people who
13:23
started off in the back and came to the
13:25
front
13:26
what would you say to folks like that
13:27
who may be playing the back right now
13:29
and and knowing their heart and in their
13:31
soul it is their purpose their god-given
13:33
anointing
13:34
to be to the front what would you say to
13:36
those folks right now that's being
13:37
hesitant
13:39
you know i would say to them that if you
13:41
know it's what you're supposed to do
13:43
don't keep not taking note like
13:46
no is not an answer for you keep
13:48
plugging keep pushing
13:49
um and i would say also like whether you
13:52
pray
13:53
or whatever what you want to do is
13:55
really
13:56
you want to will the right person into
13:58
your life for me um
14:00
the nose kept coming because i didn't
14:03
look like
14:03
you know other r b singers looked i was
14:05
told if you want to make a gospel record
14:07
it'll work but if you want to do house
14:08
music it'll work but
14:09
yeah i'm we can't we can't package you
14:11
and sell you like
14:12
they and they were bold about it like
14:14
they didn't care they told i heard that
14:16
over and over and over and over and over
14:18
again but the crazy thing is
14:20
is that for every like you can get a
14:22
million no's it only takes one yes
14:25
one yes some of the same labels that
14:28
looked me in my face and told me
14:30
we could never sell a record on you i
14:32
ended up in the middle of a bidding war
14:34
with some of those same people
14:36
once it got out that offers were hitting
14:39
my desk
14:40
for an au to be an artist um some of the
14:42
very same people that said that they
14:44
could never sell a record on me this
14:45
industry is very much so
14:47
um and that this is a part of it that
14:49
hasn't changed so i would encourage
14:51
people to know
14:52
that it only takes one yes it only takes
14:54
one person
14:56
um to hear you to use their power their
14:58
ability and their influence and their
15:00
resources
15:01
to bless you and change your situation
15:03
so um
15:04
i i look back on that time now and all
15:06
of those no's were necessary
15:09
so walk them out and stride that's
15:10
another thing that i would say don't
15:12
allow this period of no
15:14
to make you bitter every lesson
15:16
everything that happens
15:17
no wasted experiences no wasted lessons
15:21
if you learn it in the moment and
15:22
understand
15:23
i can honestly say that going back on
15:25
that time i was
15:26
in the studio while i was being told we
15:28
can't make a record on you i was in
15:29
there singing everybody else's record
15:30
writing everybody else's record
15:32
becoming really proficient in the studio
15:33
learning how to engineer my session
15:35
get my production weight up like i
15:38
learned all of that while people were
15:39
telling
15:40
me no i was sharpening my tools hello
15:43
and so when the mom came you know it
15:46
wasn't
15:46
often that you heard of an artist that
15:48
when they got signed
15:50
an anr never showed up to a session of
15:52
mine for soul of a woman i put that
15:53
whole project together myself
15:55
and it was because i had learned that
15:57
while people were telling me no
15:59
i was learning how to put a whole record
16:00
together while i was working on
16:01
everybody else's stuff
16:03
i love it man i love it can you all hear
16:05
me can you all hear me
16:13
[Laughter]
16:16
uh i find that interesting because when
16:18
i was
16:19
right away that was a beautiful uh
16:21
testimony and when i'm listening to this
16:23
ep it made me wonder too how much input
16:27
did you have on this did you put grace
16:28
together yourself did you did you write
16:30
um a lot of the original i
16:33
wrote all about originals you wrote all
16:36
the originals
16:37
and so with that you got a song called
16:39
what i need
16:40
featuring one of the illest rappers in
16:42
the game who's worked with everybody
16:44
from
16:44
jay-z to eminem to dr dre john connor is
16:48
on there shout out to john connor
16:50
all right john connor is dope and then a
16:54
new artist literally that i happened
16:55
across 901 south um
16:57
from memphis and compton like memphis
17:01
tennessee and compton california um and
17:04
he's really really new but i heard him
17:06
spit and i was like yo people need to
17:08
hear you
17:09
um so i had i released another version
17:11
of this song that was all musical last
17:13
year
17:14
right and it was slated to come out um
17:16
and it ended up being that my
17:17
grandfather died two days before the
17:19
song came out so
17:20
i literally did i couldn't get behind it
17:22
and then coveted shut the country down
17:24
um i shot months later a video with
17:28
the new skill that i acquired to produce
17:29
videos while shooting from at home
17:32
on my balcony and uh put it out but i
17:35
wanted this song to have a larger
17:37
platform because it's important
17:39
the message behind the song the original
17:42
what i need
17:42
was learning how to understand what you
17:46
need over what you want and if you can
17:48
be disciplined enough
17:49
to change your palette to pull in what
17:52
you need
17:53
you'll actually end up getting what you
17:55
want
17:58
it's about changing your palate changing
18:00
your taste buds changing
18:01
changing your mindset and understanding
18:04
that you know a lot of times people will
18:05
go after what they want and leave what
18:06
they need
18:07
until they get to a desperate place and
18:09
start calling people trying to help
18:10
get help but we've got to change our
18:12
discipline we've got to change our
18:13
mindset
18:14
and so when i wanted to remix this i did
18:16
this specifically to take me back to the
18:18
90s where people
18:19
heard me on all of those records singing
18:21
behind hip-hop artists
18:23
and give them that flavor that's if
18:24
that's the era of kelly that you love
18:26
i think i hit every era of my career on
18:29
this ep
18:30
uh whether it was gospel or r b or
18:32
hip-hop um
18:33
but i love the messages that are in um
18:36
south side and uh connor's verses it's
18:40
addressing very much so the ills of the
18:41
nation
18:42
um what's going on in our with our
18:44
people our culture
18:46
um and then kind of bringing it back to
18:48
we can't do it without god anyway
18:50
so give me what i need let me stop
18:52
tripping about what i want
18:54
and get what i need because if i have
18:55
what i need i'm free to pursue what i
18:58
want
18:59
there it is i love it kelly price ladies
19:02
and gentlemen um kelly you got to come
19:04
back
19:05
yes we got to do this in person because
19:08
absolutely you know it didn't surprise
19:09
me
19:10
the first thing i thought when i saw
19:11
john connor to know john connor is to
19:13
know hip-hop right
19:14
you got to really know your dlc's
19:19
yeah and the first thing i thought was
19:20
you singing mo money mo problems with
19:22
biggie singing with mace
19:24
you know all these iconic mcs
19:28
did you meet biggie in that time what
19:29
was your first experience like with
19:31
biggie if you had it
19:33
um at the factory
19:36
in new york city i was in one room
19:38
working on something
19:40
he was in another because he was not in
19:41
the building before i recorded
19:43
the vocals for this song mace was in the
19:46
session with me
19:47
um funniest story ever because he was
19:49
trying to tell me how to sing and not
19:50
understand what god made he was talking
19:52
about
19:55
i met big at the hit factory for the
19:57
first time literally i was in one room
19:58
he was in another
20:00
um so i went over just to show him some
20:02
love and he was just a laid-back
20:04
cool brother from brooklyn like
20:06
literally
20:07
um so respectful like he was he was very
20:11
charming
20:12
very suave i get why the ladies flock to
20:14
him all of that like literally
20:16
um but he was really cool he was he was
20:18
i i
20:19
all only saw like a mellow side of him
20:21
and we didn't have a whole lot of
20:23
interaction
20:24
but it was kind it was respectful it was
20:26
mellow it was cool it was laid back
20:28
um and and he appreciated my voice which
20:30
i thought was really cool
20:32
oh that's incredible he didn't shoot his
20:33
shot though huh
20:35
no
20:40
you need to go get a hug somewhere kelly
20:42
said hugs be healing people go get a hug
20:44
sway
20:45
you need a hug
20:53
he was a very charming man listen kelly
20:56
price
20:56
we love you okay yes we do thank you
21:02
thank you we're going to open that
21:03
building soon and we would love to have
21:05
you come by
21:06
and be an in person i would love to
21:09
anytime anytime anytime absolutely
21:12
thank you guys so much absolutely and
21:15
you guys get the ep it's called grace
21:18
i'ma play this song what i need with uh
21:20
john connor in 901 south oh
21:22
don't and uh come on we about to play
21:24
that now and we got my man head crack
21:26
coming
21:26
up next it's 20 in the morning save four
21:29
or five
21:30
thank you kelly yes thank you kelly
21:33
thank you guys so much you too
21:52
you
#Arts & Entertainment