JOHN LEGEND - MILLION DOLLAZ WORTH OF GAME EPISODE 399

Gillie Da King (0:00)

Hey, Million Dollaz Worth Of Game listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.

Wallace Peeples (0:11)

Right?

SPEAKER_3 (0:12)

See, John, let me tell you something. When we was recording this song, right?

John Legend (0:14)

Yes, when we recorded it.

SPEAKER_3 (0:16)

I remember when I did the track first, when you was in there recording, I was like, damn, man.

John Legend (0:19)

I remember.

SPEAKER_3 (0:20)

He really brought this song to life.

Listen, ladies and gentlemen, you see who we got, the legend. See, see, see, when you're a legend, and legend is in your name, how can you make that up?

Gillie Da King (0:30)

That's like he pre-predicted that shit.

SPEAKER_3 (0:33)

When he was born, John Legend, they knew he was going to be a legend.

John Legend (0:36)

We made it up, though.

SPEAKER_3 (0:38)

Like they knew, like how do you feel?

Gillie Da King (0:40)

But you predicted it.

John Legend (0:41)

That's not my real name.

Wallace Peeples (0:42)

But you predicted it, you know why?

Gillie Da King (0:44)

Because now you see somebody, you know, we see Mike, we see LeBron, we see, we like, what's up, Legend? You really already just said, no, I'm John Legend. I already know I'm a beatle.

John Legend (0:55)

Legendary, when it's all said and done. And I assumed that stage name before I even had a record deal, which is a very presumptuous thing to do.

I didn't know what was going to happen with my career. JIV., he's a spoken word artist from Chicago. He's the first person to ever call me John Legend. And it caught on with our crew. We were making Kanye's album, College Dropout. We were making my album Get Lifted. This is before I had a record deal. And JIV started calling me that name. And I wasn't even sure that I was like, I was like, you know what?

I don't know if I can assume this name. I don't know if I'm ready for it. But I think the better part of me said, you know what, I'm going to take this name. It's going to announce my presence.

And I just got to try to go and live up to it. And that's what I've been doing.

SPEAKER_3 (1:45)

That's what I've been trying to do. Now, what's so great about it is that you've got so much history in Philly.

Going to college here, how was it for you?

John Legend (1:53)

I went to UPenn, right here in Philadelphia. I've spent many, many days in this city, in this area.

A lot of my early songs I wrote here. A lot of my early gigs I had at places like the Five Spot and North by Northwest. And I would not be here in my career where it is at this point without Philadelphia.

SPEAKER_3 (2:18)

Man, that's major. Now, I look at, you're coming back out, right? You and Pharrell, you and P got together, did some extraordinary thing. He challenged you in different ways to come in different directions with the music.

But how do one have some of the greatest, you know, records in the history of life? So many people got married. It's just so many love stories to your music. Whereas though, you literally could perform for the rest of, to life expire. You could perform the classics. What made you and P get together and say, let's do something different, P?

John Legend (2:47)

I love to create and I love to push myself and challenge myself. And I don't want to just rest on what I've already done. I feel like there's so much more creativity in me. I still have so much more to write.

And I get joy from creating something new. It's a beautiful experience to wake up, something not exist, and then a few hours later, you put something new into the world that didn't exist before. And I get joy every time I get to do that. And I just want to keep doing it.

SPEAKER_3 (3:17)

Like, when we see you, right, we see you.

You know, when you look at the fathers, you look at, you think about all the stuff that people is going to tell them about their father. Like, oh, your father was great. What is something personally that you want your kids to learn directly from you?

John Legend (3:35)

Oh, I want them to see my work ethic. I want them to see how much energy and passion I put into doing what I love to do.

And I want them to find that for themselves. Doesn't need to be what I do. It doesn't need to be what Chrissy does. But I want them to find something that they care about so much that they'll put that kind of passion and effort into the work and get fulfillment from it, get joy from it, and then achieve at the highest level that they can.