Robert Glasper talks with Rolling Stone’s Delisa Shannon at the 2024 GRAMMYs.
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00:00 So tonight, Robert, you are nominated for Back to Love with Sir and Alex Eiseley.
00:05 I just talked to Sir a little bit earlier, but I want to know about your process of working on this film.
00:10 Yeah, so the process was, we got a call because Run the World, I scored Run the World, the show, with my boy Derek Hodge.
00:19 And they called me like, "Hey, we need a song, and we need it in three days."
00:23 And I was like, "Oh, okay." And I was hanging with my son Riley, so I was like, "Yo, let's go to the studio."
00:28 So Riley co-produced the song with me.
00:30 Okay, so you nominated--
00:31 So he co-produced the song with me, yeah.
00:32 Beautiful.
00:33 Co-produced the role, so we went to the studio, did the music, I said it to Sir immediately, and him and Alex iced it, sent it back, and that was it.
00:40 It was like a quick boom, boom, boom, so we got the call, like, "Oh, you got nominated for two days."
00:45 I was like, "What? Oh, snap." You know, because most of the songs I've gotten nominated for, they took longer than three days to make.
00:51 Right, right.
00:52 You know what I mean? So this was awesome.
00:54 And I know that the song really just captured something in its purest form, and I think that's absolutely why it resonated.
01:00 Absolutely.
01:01 And that reminds me of your work that you did on the photograph, which is honestly one of the highest lights of 2020 for me, when there weren't many.
01:08 I want to talk about your process when it is coming time to compose and to immerse yourself into this world.
01:14 What does that process look like for you?
01:16 Well, for particular—in particular, because I kind of work all kinds of different ways, but the photograph in particular, shout out to Stella McGee, the director.
01:25 She was a fan of my music. She told me three years prior, I met her outside of a jam session here in L.A., and she told me, "You're going to score one of my movies."
01:34 So then three years later, she called me for it, so I did the score in front of her.
01:39 I said, "Come to the studio," and I literally scored it in front of her face.
01:42 So she would tell me, "I went scene by scene. What are you trying to portray to the audience? What kind of feeling do you want?"
01:48 And I just composed on the spot while she was there, and that's how we did the photograph.
01:52 It took like three, four days, and that's literally how I did the photograph.
01:56 My favorite scene is when they're in New Orleans, and they're walking through that—
02:01 Oh, the rain?
02:02 Yeah, the rain. As the rain is coming down, I'm just hearing it in my head, and it's just like, "Ugh!"
02:07 You recently met one of your heroes, Nat Adderley Jr., and you talked about these tasty choices.
02:14 You're like, "He made the tastiest choices." What does that mean?
02:17 That means like—
02:18 I feel it, but what does that mean?
02:20 It's like there's certain spaces in music where somebody could do something or not do something that lifts the whole situation up.
02:27 And he just complemented Luther Vandross' voice so well on that acoustic piano.
02:31 He would just do a little something, and it's just like the perfect thing to do.
02:35 Or he would do something and leave space in a certain way, and it was just perfect.
02:40 So it's just the choices you make.
02:42 A lot of times that's what makes artists different a lot of times.
02:49 It's not who's more talented than each other. It's what choices does this person make?
02:54 Does this person choose to not do something or do something?
02:57 And sometimes that's what makes everybody different.
03:01 What are those tasty choices that you feel like defined for you that, "Hey, I can actually make—
03:06 I can expand to make choices that I didn't even know possible"?
03:09 Do you have any tasty moments like that in mind that are defining for you in your career?
03:13 I'll tell you what's defining for me.
03:14 The main thing for me, I think, is what puts me in my own bracket is that I don't really necessarily pay attention to what's cracking in the moment with things.
03:26 Because those things always go, come and go.
03:29 And when you connect yourself to something that's going to come and go, you go with it.
03:33 You go with the thing, and then you're no longer around.
03:35 But I always deal with being honest and what I honestly feel, how I honestly process things, and what I honestly think.
03:44 I don't go with fads.
03:47 And I think that's the main choice that makes my whole career work.
03:51 I'm aware of what's happening.
03:53 But it's not my goal to stick myself to that.
03:58 Right.
03:59 And I would define that as being timeless.
04:01 So I want to know, what is a timeless album for you?
04:03 And then, Riley, I'm coming to you.
04:05 So start to think about what's a timeless album for you, okay?
04:08 Because I'm coming to you next.
04:09 Mine is "Off the Wall."
04:11 That was easy.
04:12 "Off the Wall."
04:13 Hands down.
04:14 Love it.
04:15 My favorite album.
04:16 Top to bottom.
04:17 Top to bottom.
04:18 Every track.
04:19 That's the first album also that I listened to as a child.
04:23 I'm nine years old, on the floor, with the record unfolded.
04:30 And put the album on, and I'm listening to it from top to bottom for hours and hours and hours.
04:36 First time I heard a Rhodes piano, too.
04:39 And now I know Greg Fillingate, who's the pianist on that album.
04:42 That's my Uncle Greg.
04:43 I'm meeting all my heroes from those albums.
04:45 Nat Adley, Greg Fillingate.
04:47 It's just amazing.
04:48 But I love that record.
04:49 I love the way it's recorded.
04:50 I love the songs.
04:51 I love how it feels like it was in one recording session.
04:54 You know what I mean?
04:55 Right, right.
04:56 It wasn't overly produced.
04:57 You know what I mean?
04:58 So I just love that record.
04:59 Perfect.
05:00 Now, Riley, do you have an answer?
05:02 I'm going to have to say "Illmatic" by Nas.
05:05 Damn.
05:06 What are you doing with this kid?
05:08 What?
05:09 Okay.
05:10 And what about it?
05:12 I feel like it was the first album to have--think about it.
05:18 You have Pete Rock, DJ Premier, Q-Tip, all in the same crib making beats.
05:25 The competitiveness that must have been there while making that album.
05:30 I feel like everybody got pushed to their limits.
05:34 Right.
05:35 I feel like that album is--of course, Nas' best album.
05:39 And this is the best album of rappers.
05:42 That or "Fantastic Volume 2" by Slum Village.
05:46 All right, well, you're doing an incredible job with him.
05:48 You must be so proud.
05:49 I am very proud.
05:50 Absolutely.
05:51 Thank you so much.
05:52 Good luck.
05:53 (whooshing)