Dripping in Sound: From the Mic to the Mix featuring Montez Roberts

Transcripts are not accurate.

 

Mr. Al Pete (00:01.24)
What's up, folks? Good day, good afternoon, good evening. It's your man, Mr. LP from the Mighty MPN Network. Hopefully, everybody is good and well. And we are bike, bike in Duval County style, back for the world with another episode, another dripping in black episode. So thank you so much. Please make sure you subscribe to the YouTube page, to the website, drippin'andblack.com, all the great things so you can catch this interview that we are about to do now, as well as the things that are happening before that. All right. So

Couple of announcements. Please make sure you subscribe to the channel again. go to the YouTube page if you're not if you're watching it on drippin'tblack.com. Go to the YouTube page and subscribe to that. Or vice versa. Go to drippin'tblack.com, put it in your favorites, and make sure you catch some of this good stuff. All right. And also go to the drippin' and black drip shop to pick up some merch. You can get you a shirt, you can get you some mugs, all that great stuff. So go to D I B K Dripshop.com. Again, that's

D I B K Dripshop.com. So get that. Pass it on to you folks and stay brilliantly black. All right. So with that being said, let's get into the person that we're about to interview, which is a very interesting person. I feel like we're we're we understand this language that we about to talk. So I'm very, very interested to have this conversation. So today we have Montez Robert, aka Spawn. that's that's the name that he gave us.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (01:25.828)
Yes, sir.

Mr. Al Pete (01:28.694)
He is an established American studio engineer and music producer based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. So his early career, born in Philadelphia, originally stayed at started his music career as an MC. And during his early days, he traveled and went on tour with the legendary hip-hop band, The Roots. then becoming a studio engineer, he later transitioned to behind the scenes production works, settling it down in Philadelphia.

So since the early 2000s, he has worked as an engineer and producer at the studio. he has a long history of work with like RB and hip-hop artists. locally, he's been engineering recording tracks for Jill Scott, Marsha Ambrosa, and Eve. And then his wider studio credits include assistance, digital editing, and engineering for all major names, including like Kanye West, Neo, J Gerald as well. So

And he also has a podcast. So he's in the podcast streets with us. one of the co hosts of Unscripted RX Podcast, which is on YouTube. So make sure you go check that thing out. And you can check out his credits on allmusic.com. All right. So round of applause for my guy Spawn, Matez Roberts. What's up, my guy? How you feeling?

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (02:42.735)
What's good, brother? How you

Mr. Al Pete (02:44.91)
I'm good man. I'm good, man. First off

did a little bit of research. I would I would assume or get gather that you are a Philadelphia Eagles fan, right?

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (02:59.115)
Mm, that's a that's an interesting question to start with. Mm. Interesting question. All right, let's di we're gonna dial in, let's dial in. I am I'm a sports fan and the purest nature at this point in my life.

Mr. Al Pete (03:01.551)
wow. Okay. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Okay.

Mr. Al Pete (03:09.165)
Yes do.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (03:17.325)
I want all f my Philadelphia teams to do very well. You know what I'm saying? I support Eagles, I support the Sixers, I support, you know, those things. I am not like a fan fan, no. You know what I'm saying? I'm not I'm not a guy who

is like unrealistic about sports in any ma manner. You know what I'm saying? I I understand these guys get paid whether they win or lose and whether I think they should or not, kinda. So I live in a space of kind of a very realistic kind of a sports guy. I know why the good teams are good and the bad teams are bad. Let me put it that way. Sh I think that's more important for me.

Mr. Al Pete (03:52.31)
Mm.

Nah, that that makes perfect sense. I was gonna send I was gonna send some blessings at the same time too, kinda talk a little talk a little trash, but we we'll we'll let those both of those go the way.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (04:04.399)
We c we can I mean you can I mean we can we can we could di we can dial in. You know, I'm very a s you know, kind of a astute sports guy and shit. So, you know, I'm I'm you I'm a sports b I'm a basketball junkie and you know I I I was about to say I I you I think you were about to send condolences for Jalen Hurts. Was that what was gonna happen or or some shit?

Mr. Al Pete (04:21.366)
Yeah, yeah, I just heard the news well f well first off, we so I'm I'm in Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Florida, so you I'm a I'm proud Jag I'm a proud Jaguars fan. So if you know that game last week, that that game Yeah, that was very, very crazy.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (04:28.451)
Mm.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (04:33.039)
Yeah, that was that was that was kind of crazy. That was But let me tell you something. I was actually it's crazy. I was actually getting off a plane. I was getting off a plane, g LA. You know what I'm saying? I'm getting off the plane, I'm looking at the my phone. It's at the end of the game, basically. You know what I'm saying? Because of, you I'm you know switching time zones. It's at the end of the game, I'm like, all right.

It says that the the Eagles just scored. You know what I'm saying? They literally just scored. And it was like, I don't know, like nine seconds left. I don't know. So I didn't even check back into it. Like I just kind of, you know, kept it moving. You know I'm saying? By the time I got to where I got to, I found out that the Eagles lost. Like, what the fuck happened? Like, how?

Mr. Al Pete (04:56.824)
Yeah.

Mr. Al Pete (05:07.266)
Right, right.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (05:16.291)
Do you lose a game in nine seconds? Then when I saw how it went down, I was like, this is just like, you know, you know. In the city of Philadelphia, something like that goes down, you know what I mean? Like, I mean, I I don't know how how

Mr. Al Pete (05:24.92)
Yeah, man.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (05:30.907)
I'm not very PC, but domestic violence the domestic violence rates in Philadelphia go up when the Eagles lose. There's a lot of things that happen. Crime rate goes up. It's just like, you know, it's one of those types. The Eagles win, man. Like, you know, you got you got friends for life on the streets. Everybody's you know. Yeah, but you know, it's when it goes down, it goes down.

Mr. Al Pete (05:42.776)
Yeah.

Mr. Al Pete (05:48.173)
Yeah, we going up y'all going up. Yep, yep, yep, yeah. Yeah, but I wanted to send my condolences to for Jalen Hurts, man, 'cause finding out what he did in the game and then seeing the situation that happened now, I was just like, now this is this is terrible. Like this is you know, we won't have to go deep in deep into that, but I know Jalen Hurts is is a prominent person for for the Eagles as well as just Philadelphia. So just wanted to pay re pay some good respects on that.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (06:06.437)
Yeah.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (06:12.822)
Yeah.

Well let me let me well it's funny, on the sports vibe, that's why it's like when I watch in sports and I listen to people criticize sports and stuff like that and I know I know these guys get paid millions of dollars, but you know, it's like sometimes we can't fathom the amount of thing that these things that these professional athletes go through. It's like, you know, some of these some of these people will complain like, you know, about Jalen Hurst performance or this, that and other thing or any athlete, you know, I Joel B, let's I'm just staying in Philadelphia for that matter. You know what I'm saying? And you got people complaining about, you know, their lifestyle or what they gotta go through

Mr. Al Pete (06:30.527)
Mm.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (06:43.887)
And they, you know, they get a they they get a cold and shit and they won't show up to work the next day. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, you know, it's like, you know, like you gotta kinda understand what these players are dealing with. You know what I mean? They kinda, you know It cuts the the the fan shit, the fan shit is one thing, the reality of the shit is a whole different thing and shit.

Mr. Al Pete (06:55.694)
Yeah.

Mr. Al Pete (07:00.404)
Absolutely. Fair enough. Yeah, fair enough. All right, let's get into it. so speaking of sports, you know, I like I said I was doing my, you know, my due diligence on my research and it was one particular video, well, it was it was a couple of videos of you playing basketball. I said, All right, well, you know, you you know, you in into that, which is cool. But it was one particular video that I saw. you bounced it off the wall and it went into the goal. It was a state it was a

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (07:06.595)
Vai.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (07:27.873)
Ha ha ha.

Mr. Al Pete (07:29.174)
It was a second go around or whatever. So I was like, yo, I s well first of all I was like, this is dope. But then at the same time too, me being a qu a quirky type of guy, I was trying to think of it like, you know, from your angle of like engineering and and and audio engineering and all that stuff. Like Yeah, so it's like like I wanna know like how can you sh can you share a little bit of your mindset when it comes to you approaching

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (07:31.771)
Montez (Spon V) Roberts (07:47.503)
Mm, that's a good question.

Mr. Al Pete (07:59.619)
You know, the engineering part and and the recordings, all the things. Like how do you approach that? Because the way that you compare the way that I think that you went b about the wind I mean, about the wall behind you and bouncing it back, it had to be some type of thought process. So I wanna know how you got into I mean, what what's your thought process when it comes to engineering?

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (08:11.897)
Ha ha ha.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (08:18.779)
I'll call I'll correlate them for you really quick. well as quick as I can this shit. You know what I'm saying? Here you go. The basketball shot. it's a math thing. Really is a math thing. I've I've played enough basketball in enough gyms, in enough spaces to kind of know that you can do that, for for lack of a better way to put it.

Mr. Al Pete (08:21.41)
Okay.

Mr. Al Pete (08:29.454)
Mm-hmm.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (08:41.391)
You know what I'm saying? And it really is kind of a thing where you're spinning the ball. It has has the arc and you know what I mean? It's not a s exact thing, but you know, it's it's it's doable. Once you see it's doable and you have the space to do it, you can do it. I guess I and it's an art. Yeah, give that's an art thing. You know what I'm saying? Like you would never do that in a basketball game, obviously. I'm saying, but you know, that's the basketball is a art. You know what I'm saying? It's like certain things you see on a basketball court that are you basketball court that are really poetic. I think I approach

Mr. Al Pete (08:57.804)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, for sure.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (09:10.145)
Engineering with the same kind of art thing, using the math. I think it's a art and science thing that happens in in studio engineering. my education was I came in the door as a rapper. So I pr approached it as an artist. I was trying to figure out, long story short, how to make my music sound better. in that process, it started actually in the studio that I, you know, ended up managing.

Mr. Al Pete (09:22.925)
Mm-hmm.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (09:35.44)
The owner, Larry Gold, he's a cellist, he's a string arranger, he he string arranged for a bunch of of hit records, Kanye West, anything from the boys mine to, I don't know, you know, the roots you got me up until nowadays, let's Bruno Mars.

He owned the studio at the time and I was actually on the road with the roots. I was coming off as a rapper. I was trying like I said, I'm trying to figure out how to make my music sound better. And he gave me a opportunity to build the studio. it got me to understand what the difference was between having recording equipment in a room.

Mr. Al Pete (10:05.31)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (10:14.169)
in like in your bedroom per se, you know what I'm saying, and what a studio was and shit. And it was really about shape and texture and things like that. Because you know, studios are are kinda like they're like professional studios are hotels for listening for the at the end of the at the end of the day. But a studio at the end of the day is a science lab for kind of listening at the end of the day. It's not a bedroom. So there's certain shapes, certain things that happen in a studio that make it very different.

Mr. Al Pete (10:16.264)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Mr. Al Pete (10:30.87)
Mm-hmm.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (10:44.085)
And it's in it, like I said, which leads me to be it's to say it's beyond equipment. from there, like, you know, learning in a professional environment, I got to put my hands on records, and lot of my friends who knew me from the other side of rap and then being in a studio kind of I began working with at the end of the day. but my approach kind of was like in the learning of it, I you know, I was kind of at like I instead of being in a school, I ultimately had an apprenticeship.

because I was instead of learning in a classroom, I was learning in real time in a in a real professional studio. So I'm in a studio with like the Gerald Leverts and kind of like the old guard of Philadelphia because the the studio of a Ranger, he actually worked in MFSB. So he was working with like the Bunny Sigglers and the Whiteheads and stuff like that. And I would kind of cut my teeth with them along with my my friends who were rappers, kind of, you know, like Black Thoughts, one of my best friends. We went to high school and college together. we ended up being in the same rap crew. That's how I kind of got

Mr. Al Pete (11:17.997)
Mm-hmm.

Mr. Al Pete (11:26.691)
Mm.

Mr. Al Pete (11:39.299)
Mm-hmm.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (11:42.19)
into the that aspect of it. but my art like I said, going into it, my approach was kinda artsy from my aspect. And while I was learning in the studio, I would get these like I would be in the studio with the like the Bruce Wadeans and

I don't know, Russel Vados of you know of the world in the mixing world. And I would kind of ask questions. One of the questions I would ask, do you think of this as more of a science or more of a s or or you do would you consider yourself more of a science or an artist when you're doing this? And it was kind of interesting because depending on the answer I got was kind of their approach to it, because no one had the same approach.

Mr. Al Pete (12:01.27)
Mm.

Mr. Al Pete (12:19.534)
Mm-hmm.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (12:20.047)
Which was a thing that I had to kind of get over. It was like, all right, with all these tools here, nobody did this the same way. You'd have a guy come in and mix a record. He might come in with three g racks of gear, let patch everything up in the room. He might be in there mixing a record, it might take him three days to mix one record. I have another engineer, let's say to say like Sir McGunea.

Mr. Al Pete (12:39.246)
Mm-hmm.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (12:45.337)
He came in the studio, he'll come in the studio with just his Pro Tools rig, another guy on the Pro Tools rig. He would not touch the console at all. He would go directly to the speakers. And like I said, in this time that I'm learning, this is kind of the like, I guess the bridge between the like digital and analog world, where people were moving less from recording to tape and recording straight to digital. Well, Serbin was the first person to really be a person who mixed records in the box, as opposed to using a bunch of outboard kids.

Mr. Al Pete (13:05.614)
Mm-hmm.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (13:11.939)
So going back to what I was saying, he would have a guy in the studio who set up his sessions, he would be in the room, he wouldn't use the console, he'd just use the speakers, and he might mix like, you know, I don't know, six, seven records in fucking two days type shit. So it was one of those type of situations. And like I said, I when I asked that question, it kind of would like mold.

Mr. Al Pete (13:26.712)
Mm, mm.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (13:34.496)
what they were doing to their answer. So if somebody said they were a scientist, they would kind of be more, they would use more gear. They would be more precise with their you know, calculations on how gear would be used. And then there would be other people who were, like I said, were more artsy and it would be less about the math of it all and more about how it sounded or felt. So it that process I kind of had to learn and develop my way through that.

Mr. Al Pete (14:01.144)
Hmm. So with that you mentioned I wanna say you mentioned the real the real, right? Like the real tapes and whatnot, which goes which it brings up a question that I had and I was for formulating in my head when it comes to the digital engineering part, what would be the difference between the digital engineering versus I guess the regular engineering aspect?

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (14:08.427)
Mm. Yeah.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (14:24.405)
well huh. I mean it I mean it's not even like here you go. I I mean the thing one of the things that I've really learned is that, you know, the in the history of engineering of, you know, recording records, let's say, you know what saying? At one point in time in history, the studio engineer was a guy in a lab coat, right? And say for instance you were recorded, you needed let's say a tape delay that did s whatever, whatever. They lit would literally go somewhere, put together parts, make this thing and come back to your space.

You know what I'm saying? Technology has made it so that these things that used to be like that, they got mass manufactured, they got made by companies, then they got to a point where they became digital and put in a box. So it made it for let's say, let's just say like the medium that I learned was Pro Tools. That was the standard for every studio you know that was going digital kind of in in a professional environment.

A lot of it not only did it make it easier for the professional to work, it also allowed for the other side for the person who didn't may not be able to afford $100,000 in studio gear to have those same tools available to them and try it out maybe. You know what I'm saying? So it kind of mushed these two worlds together in terms of technology to the point where you see you I mean you very rarely see tape recording in you know 2026. You know what I'm saying?

Mr. Al Pete (15:52.142)
Mm.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (15:53.432)
And yeah, you know, you have basically the world of you know every kind of tape, EQ, compressor, delay, any of that stuff that you would see that would cost you thousands of dollars to have a piece of that gear, you can have it in a digital form. So I mean, and at this point, if you you, you know, if you ask a purist, they're gonna say, the sound. But at this point, I mean, who can tell who really can tell the difference at a certain point between digital and analog?

Mr. Al Pete (16:23.928)
Right.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (16:24.827)
That that's for you know, s I guess a circle jerk you know, thing that, you know, engineers and and that and you know that elk will deal with it shit.

Mr. Al Pete (16:33.356)
Yeah. But I know you probably you probably can spot it out with no problem. I mean the the added the yeah.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (16:37.295)
I mean, yeah, I mean, I mean some parts of it, yeah. Some parts of it, yeah. But I mean, I'm very realistic in I mean, my approach and what's going on in the real world. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, me and me and Jazzy Jeff always talk about, you because I kinda I'm helping with the student, I manage, I do tech at the studio. and we always have the conversation, you know, like, you know, when a 16-year-old girl is hearing this record, they don't know if it was recorded with the fucking U eighty-seven or a fucking they don't care. They just know if they like the record or not.

Mr. Al Pete (16:46.934)
Mm-hmm.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (17:05.979)
They don't care. They don't know how it was mixed. And most people, you gotta remember psychologically, most people r hear records in the time that they hear it. So they think all this thing happened at one time. The background vocals, the instruments, this, that, and the other thing, it all happened at one time. They they don't have the ability or I mean the ability meaning that you they don't sit in the they don't have the the te the the well, I'll say ability to sit in a room and listen to a record in minutiae, or listen to a bass line by itself, or listen to a

Or go through the process. You know what I'm saying? It's like I I get a chance to see behind the wall of eyes, basically, if that makes any sense.

Mr. Al Pete (17:43.362)
No, it makes perfect sense. sometimes I'd be thinking like sh is it is it is it okay to for people not to know these things or if if it you know, but I I f I feel what you're saying, the realist action, like

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (17:56.986)
It's not I mean I mean I'll I'll say something for the average music listener, I guess it's not necessary. What do they I what do they care about? They just you're talking about music and emotion. If they like the record, they just like the record. Now, if you're interested in that, there's some aspects of that that are missing from, you know, previous eras of music where, you know, you could open up a record cover or a C cover and see who

made a record, who mixed a record, who performed on a record, wrote a record, all those things were there. But in the d I was just having this conversation, in the digital era, some kind of way the catalogue of that of that got lost. I mean even in my discography, I you know, if you know, you were to go online, you have to look up like about four or five different sources and to find a some kind of accurate, you know Yeah, you know what I'm saying, of of anything that I've done. So it's like, hmm.

Mr. Al Pete (18:39.426)
The the liner notes, yeah.

Mr. Al Pete (18:46.338)
Yeah. As long as the music is jamming. I mean brit yeah.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (18:49.099)
Yeah, I mean that's the and that's the end game that's kinda the end game for it all. You know what I'm saying? 'Cause I you know, we have at this point, you know, we have people like, you know, I I don't know, I I can't think of a name, but the the girl who who made the won a Grammy from the from an album in a bedroom, the pop star, Billy Irish.

Mr. Al Pete (19:04.852)
the Billy Eyes, yeah. Yeah.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (19:06.159)
Billy Alish, yeah, Billy Alish, you know what mean? Like you have people making, you know, hit records in their bedroom. Then when you hear him he said he used no compression on fucking the records. So it's like it's i i i i what what you know, what are we doing here? Like, you know, I mean what are we arguing with here?

Mr. Al Pete (19:21.814)
Yeah, one of the stories I be thinking about is it was a documentary I was watching that was on Vice and Migos was talking about it and Migos had like a makeshift home studio and they would they would record the songs right then and there and then soon as they finished recording the songs go to the strip club and try, you know, like and pass it out like like immediately. And I'm thinking myself like, Wow, it's it's yeah.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (19:39.406)
And playing. Yeah, and touch travel. Techno Technology, technology has closed the distance, immediately closed the dist. What I don't think what people necessarily actually get or understand is the fact that music is a technology-based business that we have. At one point in human history, you couldn't listen to music in your house. You had to go to a theater.

somebody be playing music and you hear music. It wasn't until the invention of the phonograph and the record that you could actually listen to the record personally in your own space. And that technology is and the the the things that that you use to make music and the things that you use to listen to music have always driven the business of the music. The music in the in-between is kind of more opinion and you know errant opinion for lack of a better way to put it.

You know what I'm saying? Like, I used to the the roots manager used to say kind of like, you know, music is it the music itself isn't necessarily a tangible good because like you know, it's like a tangible good, meaning like if I sold cups, right? No matter what the cup look like, you know it's a good cup if I pour water into it or pour something into it, nothing falls out of it, right? Like there is no kind of Google definition, like you look up good record, what's a good record? It's shit. It's all emotion. he would call it sonic panhandling.

Because the music business what you're not buying the actual music, you're buying the transportation device. You're buying a C D, you're buying a cassette, you're buying a vinyl. And the music business kinda fell off because it lost its ability to sell a thing. It became a service. You subscribe to music nowadays. You don't literally buy music. You subscribe to a service and you listen to music that way. And they monetize that, which is a whole, you know, other conversation. But

Mr. Al Pete (21:22.274)
For sure.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (21:23.193)
Yeah, but like I said, music is a technology based business, whether we kinda think of it that way or not.

Mr. Al Pete (21:28.332)
Gotcha. All right. So we we to my people that's listening, we've been in this science aspect of the music thus far. But let's get into the art action of it. So the art action, I had two questions I'm gonna say before I forget it. One, what made you get what made you go into the art outside of you saying you wanted to make your music sound better, what what are the some of the things that got you from being an MC?

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (21:36.804)
Right.

Mr. Al Pete (21:58.467)
to being like, you know, this audio engineer. And then two, I would like to know while recording these, you know, these multiple people and artists, what were some ty what was some kind of like those artistic things that that popped out to you that made you kind of add to their flavor? So like I'll give an example. So let let's just hypothetically say Jill Scott walks in with like with incense, incense and lights them up.

Does that trigger you to be like, Okay, this is how she moves or this is how she approaches how she sings or all that from a from an audio engineer standpoint?

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (22:33.817)
You know All right, all right, let's start with the first thing. me and Black Thought went to high school and college together. we went to Millersville University together. we developed a friendship. me him a a actually the original other MC in the in the group Malik B, we all went to college together. Rest in peace.

Mr. Al Pete (22:57.228)
Rest in peace. Yeah.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (23:01.625)
I ended up moving a w I had a little short story, I had a I I had a radio show up there and they used to answer the phones for my radio show. So, you know, I kinda bonded together and we used to freestyle in my room 'cause my roommate was a producer. And Malik was the first person to tell me I to take rap serious. Like, yo, you can actually like kinda really rap and shit, like, you know, you should take it seriously. So I kinda moved away to South Carolina, kinda developed my shit, and by the time I came back, they had signed a deal with Geffen. And

It was like, you know, just a kind of a friendship thing, like a a bunch of of my friends that we all knew each other from the a a rap crew called the Fifth Dynasty in Philadelphia. And that led to me going on the road with the roots and kind of being Tariq's hype man for a couple of years. also performing, you know, rapping, you know, on stage. And it got me the opportunity to have record deals.

Mr. Al Pete (23:45.773)
Okay.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (23:52.152)
I would have, you know, Sylvia Ron was calling my house Dominique Trainer, who had managed Nicky Costa and D'Angelo, they like, you calling my house, you know, you know, kind of it with interest in me. But at the time, I didn't have like I was making basement music. So this goes back to this technology thing. the back in let's say in ninety three, four,

They it was it was very h hard for you to make music in your house or have the technology in your house to make music that sounded like the radio or sounded like professional music. You know what I'm saying? There was a set of steps in between that. You had to go to a probably a professional studio, record da-da-da, XYZ, go and you had to do all these other steps and now with technology, with this computer alone, I can probably right now within 30 minutes make something, record myself.

put it on YouTube or put it on D SPs and touch the world and I haven't left where we sat at right here. So that has how far technology has moved the needle. But going back to it, at the time I didn't have access to that those type of things. I didn't have necessarily access to someone recording me the music that I wanted. So it kinda out of frustration, it became a thing where it's like, yo look, I'm in well in the studio, especially it's funny it's that it happened in the studio that the roots were recording in in Philadelphia. And I was in this room and I was like, you know, one day I'll be able to fucking make my own

music, record myself, mix myself, and I'm not going to be anybody. And I never realized or would imagine that it would happen in the same building on the same floor. But yeah, it was kind of one of those missions. That's how I kind of got to the it what ended up happening was when I got the opportunity to kind of build the studio, it got me to learn recording and engineering, like I said, in an apprentice mood. You know what I'm saying? And I began like using those same skills to record my friends. So I began recording, you know, black

Mr. Al Pete (25:24.31)
Mm-hmm.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (25:42.968)
Black thought, you know what I'm saying? I record began recording a bunch of the Roots members, the Truck Norris and the and the Dice Raws and the and and the and the and the the Greg Porns and those type of dudes. I began recording those dudes and kinda getting my finding my own way out as I was doing it.

Mr. Al Pete (25:43.19)
Hmm.

Mr. Al Pete (25:59.577)
Mm-hmm.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (26:01.325)
Then it became like that became the thing that paid the bills more than actually being the artist. You know what I'm saying? So it became one of those things. And within a certain amount of years, I began managing that studio and a bunch of things. Like even to this day, even though I'm not there, the studio was sold. It's called Milk Boy now. And it's fine one of the places I shoot my podcast out of sometimes. And I still have a relationship with them. I still do work out of there. And yeah, it's like, you know, it just became one of those type type of things where my transition, I wasn't necessarily scared to pivot as an artist.

Mr. Al Pete (26:06.893)
Mm-hmm.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (26:31.279)
into doing something like that because they kind of informed each other anyway. Even to this day, I mean I still make music to kind of help me inform my mixing and recording when I'm not doing it for someone else.

Mr. Al Pete (26:43.758)
Okay. And when you say making meaning producing.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (26:46.457)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Mr. Al Pete (26:48.416)
So you're so yeah, them them beats action, all right. Cool, cool, cool. so I'm not trying to fan out, but I'm I'm allowing myself to fan out. First off, Jazzy Jeff is my favorite DJ of all times. Like when they kinda when it com my god, when it comes to me, like I'm a I'm I'm a DJ hip hop artist as well, but like that DJing, Jazzy Jeff is number one forever. Number one forever. Black Thought is definitely on my on my top five MC list.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (26:51.542)
Mm, yeah. Mm-hmm.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (27:02.989)
A lot a lot of people's favorite DJ of all time.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (27:11.599)
Hey, hey, hey.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (27:17.423)
That's my brother. And I and and I and I kinda agree and I you know ha you know, even though it's my brother, you know, some would say it's nepotism, I agree with that statement.

Mr. Al Pete (27:18.551)
Yeah, man. So

Mr. Al Pete (27:26.248)
I ain't no nepotism. There's that I mean, that's just the raw. You know what I'm saying? I'm I'm sure I'm sure you've paid attention to both of these people, as well as them both of them pay attention to you and respected your work outside of them be outside of them being a friend or whatever to you. They probably just was like, you did great on this. I'm sure this is and I know that's part of brotherhood and I guess nepotism, but I'm sure I'm sure you look at both of them in some element and some aspect and be like,

Yo, he's like a very, very, very skillful MC or he's like a like

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (27:59.108)
no, I mean no outside of any though, yeah, like I like I said, like growing up with him as a as a rapper, you know what I'm saying, and you know, kinda you know, since high school, you know what I'm saying, I've witnessed him be this guy.

You know what I'm saying? Like I've watched him be molded into the rapper that he is through like, you know, through his manager, the guy Russell, you know, Rich Nichols. Like, you know, he's kind of been led to be that kind of guy. So it's like, you know, it's un it's I but here you go. Let me say this also. I know he's also speaking to a certain level of understanding of people. So

I guess, you know, he w may never get the accolades of a Jay Z or, you know, someone else kinda just because he's speaking in terms that, you know, I I don't wanna say over people's heads, but it's just not in a language that, you know, that's common to them for w for under you know, for lack of

Mr. Al Pete (28:57.28)
I I get that. I get that and I respect that, but Black Todd is is is a beast. So so yeah.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (29:02.157)
Vicious animal animal. It's just a tribal and it's a tribal thing too. Knew that it's a tribal thing too. Millsville, Millsville University has turned out some animals. Malik, rest in peace, Malik. Shout out chill moody. And I'm gonna shout out myself.

Mr. Al Pete (29:10.006)
I can b I can believe it. I can definitely believe it.

Mm-hmm. I can b I can't believe it.

Mr. Al Pete (29:22.004)
Indeed, indeed. So speaking of yourself, adding excellence to others when you're doing your your engineering and you know assisting with et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So talk about let's let's brag let you brag. Like how proud are you when it comes to the work that you've done with these people? Like you know, I was re I was looking through the credits and you know, you've like you've done some work all the way from like Jasmine Wright.

to you know Gerald or Jill Scott, you know, all you know, Ferrell Munch. Like you've touched all these like you've added a element of excellence to these people's work.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (30:00.226)
I I realize that I I'll tell you this. I'll say this, I I'm I I I'm humbled by like just being able to exist making music and and being in the pac capacity I do. I really feel like at some point I j I joke with my friends and I say, you know, I have this you know kind of Forrest Gump existence.

to the point where, you know, my my my talent has kind of put me in places that, you know, that I guess people necessarily wouldn't think I would be in, or, you know, I can sit on a bus stop and tell a story and like, no, you wouldn't, but you know, it's it's that type of thing. So but at the other side of the thing, I'm kinda happy to just be, you know, a working artist, man. Like, you know, not nothing's given.

and being an artist. That's what we kinda people people like the glamour of it all, but you know, there is no safety net with being an artist and there's no rule that said you should be paid as to to be an artist and stuff like that, you know. It's kinda like a muscle thing. So yeah, like, you know, I'm I'm very appreciative of, you know, my my road and my friends and, you know, it's it's it's like it's funny. Like like I said, when I say Forrest Gump, like, no, me and Joe Scott, you know, we met each other in high school. I've known Joe Scott since I was in ninth grade.

We went to high schools a block apart from each other. She calls me her son. I think I'm slightly older than her though. But like by mu by months, by months. But you know, but our it just so happened that we've known each other since high school and then we meet each other as Jill Scott and I'm a studio engineer and she's working in the studio that I I manage. So it became a thing with you know, and and and and and me not like I said, I'm not naive about what I do.

I realized that even in terms of engineering, it's like, you know, a lot of this is taste, what it what it boils down to. We had the conversation about, you know, science and art. A lot of this becomes taste. So some of this became the fact that, you know, a lot of people could have probably done the job of working with Jill Scott. She chose me because she can relate to me and I can relate to her. a lot of this is energy that you that you that you're dealing with, that you kind of gotta be aware of. a lot of it is

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (32:08.259)
Like, you know, even when I'm mixing records, I when I'm mixing records, I'm kinda mixing from the perspective of like, I got a feeling of how this should sound or how this should go. But I'm always looking over my shoulder and saying, Hey, do you do you like this? You like where this is going? You know what I'm saying? And kinda that kinda works out best for me in in these situations. Kinda like it's it's collaborative. It's not about me, it's kinda making the best for the situation. Which also leads me back to the basketball thing, 'cause a lot of my basketball life informs how I

operate in my real life. I'm very much a a a team guy. I'm very team oriented. I'm point guard by nature. So it's like, you know, it's like I'm I'm down to help out the cause. We're I'm here for the win, not for anything else.

Mr. Al Pete (32:49.282)
I gotcha. I gotcha. Science and art. There's that the a the answer gave me the science and art mixed in. I loved it. Loved it. And speaking of teams, speaking of teams, speaking of teams, the playlist. The playl the playlist retreat. Is this I'm assuming this is not your first year that you went, right?

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (32:55.939)
Yeah.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (33:01.327)
Okay.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (33:06.959)
no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no. My my like I said, my intro my intro was actually my intro to the playlist retreat was shout out my man, my man Keila Saunders. he's a front of the house engineer for like, you know, he's Roots producer, but it's front of the house for Raphael Sadiq and Erica Badu. he actually brought me into the retreat. he brought me out down there to kind of, like I said, help out one year for the retreat. You know what I'm saying? I was like, okay, all right, well, what am I coming to? And

It kinda led me to where now I kinda manage and run the studio for the retreat. yeah, it's you know, it's just kinda like it like I said, it goes back to the forest gun thing. I you I can't I can't protect the p the path out, you know, and whatever kind of entities you believe in, like, you know, you can put that on it for for whatever that is. But yeah, it was kinda like one of those things. I kinda started off early that way and kinda moved into it. But it it's a very

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (34:04.965)
Precious and amazing event that Jeff has. That's the b I mean f for you know, lack of try to simplify it and not be long with it with with a description of it.

Mr. Al Pete (34:17.998)
listen, I okay, so I understand the s the simplifications, but let me let me let me let you let me let you know how I and other people in this world that love this type of organization thing, how we see it. We see it as it's like Willie Walking the Chocolate Factory. Whoever is in that building gets the go go the golden ticket. So which make which means you get the golden you got a golden ticket. So in my mind it makes me automatically be like, he needs to be there.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (34:30.467)
Okay, okay, yeah, yeah. Okay, good, go, go, go.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (34:38.651)
Mr. Al Pete (34:47.778)
Which I mean, which the conversation that we've had on top of my research, it makes sense for you to be in that element. So you you get you

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (34:58.031)
Whoa, ooh, that's kinda that's kinda heavy. That's kinda heavy question. Well, all right, well, because if I were to expand on my feelings about how I feel about playlists, then it would sound like I'm bragging about myself, but it's but it's not, it's very much not about me.

Mr. Al Pete (35:02.252)
What you mean it's kinda heavy. Well, I would like to know that. Let's

Mr. Al Pete (35:20.95)
Which you can't do, but go ahead.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (35:27.617)
And it is about the event and who's there. and it's not like a who's there of terms of popularity, it's just the the energy of the people that's there. I mean, it starts from the top. Jeff, Jeff is probably one of the most gracious individuals I've ever met in the music business business.

Mr. Al Pete (35:37.934)
Yeah.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (35:49.946)
You hear all the horror stories about people in the music business and yada yada yes and this, that, another thing. Well, here's a story of something I can say that, you know, is not any of those stories and shit. he's fucking every accolade that and and and praise that he's given, he absolutely deserves. and the event that he throws is a giving event.

It's not, you know, I I hope I'm not disclosing anything too crazy, but it's not necessarily it's not a money-making event. It really is a collection, and I'll use your language, is a golden ticket to a s a selection of artists to come in and kind of the way it's

mostly explained is like as a creative, especially as a music maker, DJ, songwriter, rapper, singer, a lot of times you're out kind of your job it your job entails you to please a deadline, please people, please things and that's that other thing. A lot of times the original re necessarily reason that you

kinda went into making music is lost. And to get back to that, you kinda gotta make something for yourself. And a lot of times you don't get that opportunity to do that. So one aspect of it is that ability to kind of get back to that root thing. It's kind of more of like a escape from the industry of making music and the enjoyment of making music. And it's still a lot of aspects. one help one aspect, let's let's just let's start it from a a very personal aspect. It starts off at a mental

health aspect. There is a, you know, they have an on-site therapist there doing the what's your name? A lot of things that he's kind of learned in kind of to make the retreat, like going on like a red bull run.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (37:46.512)
Where they might spend days with a bunch of DJs that he might not spend a bunch of time with. He might, you know, see these DJs and see them in a green room for a half hour or something like that. But over the course of three or four days, he said the language and the conversation would change. So it would be kind of less surface conversations and more conversations about everyday things like, well, yeah, well, damn, like I'm having this issue with my wife, or you know, I'm having this issue with this, and like somebody like, yeah, I'm having the same thing. So the conversations changed and they became more kind of

So that's one aspect of the retreat that there's a lot of this kind of like

You have a bunch of first of all, let's go back to the thing. You have a bunch of golden ticket people, a bunch of s very special individuals allowed to come here to kind of like who might have the same issues. A lot of these people, when you're special doing something, you live in isolation. So a lot of people you can't relate to or communicate with in certain ways, but when you get around people who have the same issues, you like, shit, I'm not alone.

So it really is like the playlist is really about a community and about a set of resources that you can use and lean on. You know, it's a lot of things also other than that. Like there's also like a tech aspect of it where like a lot of the a companies, like I don't know if you know what NAM is, but NAM is like a the music conference where you go out to LA and they a bunch of companies there showing off their music wears and da da da da. But there's an aspect of that to it where a bunch of companies like Roland and let's say Serato,

trying think of a bunch of of Studio One Fender Studio One, warm audio,

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (39:26.327)
AKG, a bunch of companies come in and they kind of support in an aspect where they're giving new tech to these artists. And it kind of benefits them in the aspect that, you know, in the Grand Sister thing, they have a focused set of of kind of influencers and people, because that's kind of who the group is made of. Influencer people who actually use the product and actually vouch for the product in a real real way, as opposed to a bunch of random people who kind of venture upon your product and stuff like that.

Mr. Al Pete (39:45.006)
Mm-hmm.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (39:56.284)
and then then there's the f kind of fun aspect of it where it's like, you know, music making and there's constant music making going on. So there's like jam sessions happening, kind of the studios kind of open. There's so yeah, it's kind of a circus for music at that point. And then that and I didn't even mention this like over the course of like maybe three or f it's like over the course of four days with campers. So it's like music camp for lack of you know, better way to put it.

Mr. Al Pete (40:24.566)
Yeah. Nah, I and I get that, all respects. And I definitely would don't want to come off as like, okay, well, it's the popularity race or whatever. I'm just saying from my standpoint and just from what my peop from my standpoint and what people see and the people who I'm a who I'm around or who listen to this music and understand like the ideologies of soul and you know, like that freedom and you know, all that stuff, that's what we're getting from it.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (40:36.93)
Right.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (40:51.173)
Mm-hmm.

Mr. Al Pete (40:53.452)
Like we we're getting like, okay, these people around here, cause cause it all spills that's the yeah, but it all it that music and what y'all create, including yourself, sir, it spills the the the tools and the essence that you're getting you're giving within that retreat, or if you're by yourself, it spills into us, which makes us, you know, grow and and be appreciative of people like you to be in these rooms. Cause we like

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (40:55.585)
That that's the energy.

Mr. Al Pete (41:20.566)
I mean, selfishly we gonna be like, when the album coming out? Or w who who releasing this song? 'Cause you got tall black guy and you got Zoe in the room, which y we already know what they do. But then you got other people that's in there, you like, they finna come out with some fire. But like we l I we love the energy of it and we just respect that atmosphere. That's what I was saying with that.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (41:32.556)
Well I w well here you go. What well let me say this, like w here you go. Like one aspect of the retreat is that the

The the people that are there are kind of tasked with a challenge, a music challenge. They broke it up into groups of five or such, kinda curated f five or six, whatever, you know what I'm saying? And then they're challenged with about t about fifteen hours to make a record. And the thing is they have to make it wherever they make it. So it's like and and they don't have access Jeff has a a a you know a a a

Mr. Al Pete (41:51.5)
Which that's dope. Yeah.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (42:05.251)
kind of two full on studios for you know to explain it and but you can't use the studios. You have to kind of make them wherever you make them. So it kinda pushes them out of their comfort zone and how they make music. So they these you see a bunch of artists running to these companies trailers who got studio setups trying to record and people recording in trailers and outside and in in closets and all types of stuff trying to get this record done. You know what I'm saying? And at the end of the day, the music is kind of played at dinner the next night and then it's like yay and that's it.

Mr. Al Pete (42:12.598)
Mm.

Mr. Al Pete (42:27.31)
Yeah.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (42:35.365)
There is no there is no like I think this year and I think last year they tried to release some of the music for it. I think this year they may release this project that came from it. But most years it's not even about releasing the music. It's just really about the freedom of creativity and not kind of being judged by how you or what you make or having the restrictions or the confines of how you would normally make music.

Mr. Al Pete (42:58.443)
And and we and we love all of it.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (43:01.561)
I I he appreciates. I think I think really appreciates him. I appreciate it. I very appreciate it.

Mr. Al Pete (43:06.616)
No, I just I I appreciate it, man. And for you to be in that room, man, it just I think I think it's very dope for you to be in in the room with these people and you're adding to the you know, adding to what we receive. And I think that's just I think that's a very prominent spot to be in, you know what I'm saying? Even just in the music part, being an engineer and being that alone is a very important thing. So

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (43:27.419)
This year and it's funny, this year the retreat was ev was a little different because like, you know, the engineers that were there, like like young guru, Ben Thomas, w girl named Sam. I can't think of what's Sam's last name. I can't think of last Sam's last name. But she actually works with a rapper named Chemist and she works with

think Gunner and she goes on the ro she's on the road with Gunner, stuff like that. other guy Lap Lapo, and myself, we all got to mix the records for the challenges. So, you know, that was a kind of a cooler aspect that was added this year. But yeah, like I said, it's very kind of th everyone who leaves there says it's very much therapeutic and it was needed.

Mr. Al Pete (43:52.076)
Well, okay.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (44:07.737)
Yeah, I it's like I said, it's a group of kind of like a mix of like new artists and then kind of older artists and people who have been there around. So yeah, it's it's it's it's pretty cool. But I I I couldn't answer the question how to get selected or how to get invited, 'cause at above my pay grade I'll say that.

Mr. Al Pete (44:07.939)
Yeah.

Mr. Al Pete (44:24.782)
Listen, I I'm listening however that process half of that process is is the process, but I just think it's dope that you're in that room and you're around those people and you know you adding you know adding your your brilliantly blackness to the situation. I love it.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (44:27.138)
I joke I window the

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (44:40.569)
Yeah man. Like yeah, it definitely is a room full of X Men.

Mr. Al Pete (44:44.096)
Yeah, for sure, for sure. All right. Well, I'm not gonna hold you too much longer. I got maybe like one or two questions. I got two more things. so the so the podcasting aspect, like talk to me about the podcasting. So you you know, the audio engineer or the engineering person usually is kind of in the background and they might pop up here and there and do an interview when need be. But you know, you're a co-host of a podcast. So how did that translate into that? What made you get into that world?

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (44:50.491)
Okay, yeah, take it, whatever you need, bro.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (45:12.139)
well it's funny. like I said, I had a I had a college radio show that was pretty popular when we were in in Millsville, right? w as an engineer, I had a friend who had a very popular radio show in Philadelphia called called Batcave Radio. His name's P Fong. And at one point in time he started a he started a internet radio station with a

Mr. Al Pete (45:17.464)
Fair enough, yeah. Yep, yeah.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (45:39.308)
a performance space in in Philadelphia called Dobbs. And I was jerking with him. I was kind of jerking him like, yeah, yeah, you know, I want to bring back my I want to bring you know get a radio show again. Like that was fun. I wanna, you know, kind of do that. And he kind of laughed at me, whatever. And he gave me an opportunity to do a radio show and it kind of was successful at the time.

for the for the for the station. So with that, he kinda transitioned into doing a podcast and then he asked me to be a co host on this podcast. So that kinda happened and it became unscripted RX, which is I don't know how to explain unscripted RX.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (46:23.075)
I guess we'll be we're both fifty. We both like smoking weed. we both talk about a bunch of crazy shit. and we invite people to come and talk crazy shit with us. I mean, that's the the the best kind of way to describe it. Yeah, it it it really is like the unscripted aspect of it is kinda like we kinda like

dial into the fact like, you know, my my my my my radio station my my vicious hours radio show had a saying is like we've played what we want and say what we want. So that was kind of the model we went into this with and we kinda say kind of what we want to about different things. And you know, hopefully in a jesting way a lot of times I'm saying like kinda you know being high and just laughing at shit. But yeah we kinda don't be afraid to t talk about different things, I'll just say. And we invite people on to talk about

It these certain things with us I guess.

Mr. Al Pete (47:19.95)
I watched w the I I wanna say it was like the last episode. Yeah, I was talking about the the Forty Niners guy. The guy, yeah.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (47:28.539)
man, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like we get into a lot of pop culture stuff. it's funny, like we me and pe me pip w we're like a both days our day our day apart. P Funk is more

I'll say I I guess he's more social media and socially savvy than I am because I'm me, I'm a fucking reclusive nerd to a certain extent. I'm in the studio all the time and you know.

I'm I'm not paying attention to the world to a certain extent. So a lot of my reaction to stuff becomes like, this is really fucking happening? Or sh shit like that. And his reaction is kind of normally, this shit is happening. So it's kinda like the bounce between those things that make our and then we have Dinah D and Nardu kinda kinda interfere and make sure we don't cross too well, they can't stop us from crossing any lines, but we

Mr. Al Pete (48:21.282)
Yeah.

Yeah, they there. They there. They they're the supporting actors. Actr actresses.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (48:26.913)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. They s they s they support the foolishness ultimately and shit.

Mr. Al Pete (48:31.712)
Indeed, indeed. last question, then I gotta then we got something else. what what what inspires you, man? What what inspires you? What what who what what inspires you?

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (48:36.324)
Okay.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (48:43.503)
But it inspires me. information. I like information. I'm I'm I wouldn't say I'm a I'm I I'm I guess I'm a s nerd is not the right way to put it. I got nerd tendencies, I guess.

I think I'm a person who realize, you know, that no matter how smart I get, I'm always gonna be some part of an idiot. So I'm gonna be a consummate student of of of life and things. Yeah, so I'm I guess I'm inspired by information. I'm inspired by learning. I'm inspired by

Yeah, I'm inspired by learning. That's probably my biggest inspiration. I mean, there's things I like. There's things I like, but I Yeah, I'm inspi I'm inspired by good basketball. Cause I like I said that tr it you know, you know, it a lot of basketball stuff informs my how I move through life. Yeah, it's very, very, you know, very kind of information in that vibe for me.

Mr. Al Pete (49:48.076)
Gotcha. Gotcha. Well, cheers to the to the new basketball sit. Say it again.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (49:50.971)
If I was up on masana. If I was up on masana, I don't know.

Mr. Al Pete (49:56.173)
Am I still frozen? I'm still I'm still moving, so I feel like we're good. So Yeah. well yeah, I was about to say cheer cheers to the new basketball season that's about to start in a couple of days, so

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (49:57.507)
Yeah, you frozen. You like

Now we good, that's what's up.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (50:09.313)
Absolutely. This is gonna be a fun one. This is gonna be a fun one. I think like this season's gonna be fucking, you know, one of the best seasons to watch, you know, regardless you know, reg I know the six what the Sixers got going on, but I'm just saying regardless of whom or what, there's a lot of returns and you know Yeah, it's gonna be a very interesting season.

Mr. Al Pete (50:13.954)
Yeah.

Mr. Al Pete (50:24.002)
Yeah, definitely, definitely, definitely. All right. Well, the last action. so I know that, you know, you do a lot of engineering work. the credit speaks for itself for sure. You are you are in a lot of liner notes. so in a form of media, your your information is in those spots. But have you have anybody ever written up did a write up on you, or have you ever been in a newspaper magazine or anything?

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (50:49.913)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been I've I've I've been in yeah, I mean I couldn't probably quote them all to you right now, but yeah, I've I've I I've been in some publications, I've been some stuff abroad and I've I've done some interviews Yeah, I'm people like me.

Mr. Al Pete (51:07.03)
Girl. Have you have you ever been in front of on front of a cover?

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (51:11.119)
Have I ever been on the front cover? I've you know, there was a publication in Philadelphia called Two One Five Magazine I was on the on the cover of, but you know, I nothing national.

Mr. Al Pete (51:19.372)
Nothing national? Okay, okay, okay. All right. Well fair enough, fair enough, fair enough. Well

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (51:20.645)
Yeah, yeah. I'm just a I'm just a striking strikingly handsome guy who yeah.

Mr. Al Pete (51:26.382)
Well, we we we have a presentation for ya. I was asking those questions for this reason right here. So here's a presentation right here.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (51:40.23)
wow.

Mr. Al Pete (51:41.225)
huh.

We can add it we can we can add it to your two one five magazine cover, okay?

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (51:45.359)
I like

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (51:49.52)
Yeah, do that. Do that. That looks good. That looks good. I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it. Hey, shout out. Hey, I've a hey, shout out. Hey, let's shout out the people that make believe audio too. Cause they they gave me a a preset for a plug-in of theirs that's a a a remake of a Philadelphia Sigma DI. You know what I'm saying? So they gave me my own preset inside that plugin. Shout out, shout out to the shout out Ryan Harvey and those dudes and shit. Yeah, this looks good, I like it.

Mr. Al Pete (51:53.868)
Yeah man. So from from the family

Mr. Al Pete (52:15.662)
Indeed, indeed. Well, from the family, from the drippin' the black family, we wanna honor you with your your cover. and brilliantly black action. So we wanna thank you for taking this time to be with us and we wanna really reward your excellence in this music space and music tech space. And just wanna reward you with everything that you've done. this is definitely a great interview, in inspiring interview and we just wanna make sure that we honor people honor you.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (52:22.661)
Thank you.

Mr. Al Pete (52:43.852)
Honor you and all the great work that you're doing. So we'll never forget all the great stuff that you're doing, good sir.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (52:49.165)
I appreciate you, brothers. Thank you, man.

Mr. Al Pete (52:50.688)
And we will and this and we will get this to you. It'll be a f a physical copy. So we will get it to you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we're gonna get that to you. So indeed, indeed, indeed. All right, man. Well listen, we thank you, thank you so much. Please don't go anywhere. We closing out, but before we get out of here, please let the people know where they can find you at, where they can list you know, get the listing of the the the songs that you helped out, as well as the the podcast, etcetera.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (52:55.225)
Word, yeah, I'm gonna frame that up. Put him up. Yeah, I like that. Put put that up with the plaques. Boom, boom. Yeah, I like that.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (53:18.633)
well here you go. let's get let's just stay with my my vicious hours Instagram. It's Vicious Hours V-I-C-I-O-U-S hours at on Instagram. Montez Roberts on Facebook. I have a media page called the Vicious Hours. That's kind of what's connected to the podcast. the podcast is unscripted RX. You can find it

On YouTube, we haven't released the episode lately, but we are. We're just going through a tech thing that we're trying to figure out. Yeah. Yeah, sh look me up on matter of fact, look me up on Muse. I think Muse is a good Muse is probably the best source for like credits right now for me. or a bunch of people and shit. Muse Muse.

Mr. Al Pete (54:04.75)
Okay.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (54:07.839)
is a is a good credit source for me. Or you just type my name in Montez Roberts in the Google and you probably you should find Montez Roberts, Philadelphia engineer and you should probably come up with some good stuff.

Mr. Al Pete (54:18.742)
Indeed, indeed, indeed. All right, hold tight. We let me get this close out action. Always, man. We appreciate you. All right, my guys, my peoples, my ladies, drippin' the black episode with Montez Roberts, aka Spawn, Vicious Hours. Please make sure that you go check him out, do your Googles, and and and just check all the work that he got going out. Do the Googles, yeah. So make sure you follow him.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (54:22.085)
Thank you guys, man. I super appreciate y'all, man.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (54:39.451)
Do your Google, son.

Mr. Al Pete (54:45.482)
passes on to everybody else, but we appreciate him being on here. last a couple announcements. Make sure you go to drippin'tblack.com, subscribe to it. If you're on YouTube, make sure you hit the subscribe button so you get your updates on when we release an episode. please go to Dibkdripshop.com so you get you a t-shirt. all that. The t-shirts, the mugs, etc. etc. etc. Go there.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (55:04.875)
Right.

Mr. Al Pete (55:09.602)
D-I-B-K dripshop.com and check it out. The holidays are coming up, y'all. So it'll be make a good stocking stuffer. So make sure you go grab those things. All right. All right, Mr. Al Pete, the Mighty MPN Network, we greatly, greatly appreciate y'all. And listen, keep it black, brilliantly black. All right. We out of here. To the top.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (55:28.389)
Peace.

Mr. Al Pete (55:34.51)
Right, square's gonna stop recording in a circuit.

Mr. Al Pete (55:45.374)
yeah, yeah, I forgot that parts I gotta do. Yep.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (56:08.61)
wow.

Hmm.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (56:30.415)
Just as okay.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (56:44.987)
If I can I keep it short?

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (56:50.779)
Alright, I'm gonna keep it short. My life is brilliantly black.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (56:58.063)
That's what I wanna say.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (57:02.724)
Okay.

Okay.

Yeah.

Montez (Spon V) Roberts (57:15.695)
My name is Montez Roberts. My life is brilliantly black.