Podcast Of The Week: Raphael Saadiq, Renaissance Music Man

Hey! On Saturday’s I highlight a podcast about being a creative professional. Sometimes it’s direct, sometimes it’s indirect, but it’s always entertaining and educational. This week’s Podcast of the Week is…

Musician/producer extraordinaire – Raphael Saadiq on the Questlove Supreme Podcast.

Raphael Saadiq started off as a kid trying to break into the local Oakland music scene. He was a young bass player telling his mom he had “real plans” for a “real job,” like working at the local UPS facility. She was proud of that. The problem was, that job only lasted a few weeks because he was busy… playing music.

Saadiq said she thought he still worked there until the night she turned on Arsenio Hall and saw him performing with Tony! Toni! Tone!

“Raphael?!”

The truth is, he hustled as a local musician before taking a big but destined-to-fail gig with Prince and Sheila E., and then turned those skills into a string of successful work in multiple domains – from production, to helping coin neo-soul, to now, video games (seriously, video games!).

Raphael Saadiq is a renaissance man. And, if you’re a 90s person, his music is part of the soundtrack to your life. Do check this 2-parter out and note how he rolled and honed his skills from one job to the next.

Send me a message and let me know what your favorite takeaways were!

ps. Part 1 is here, and Part 2 is here.

pss. I’ll never see you if I have no loot…