Bringing The Heat to Cafe Mocha

We’re bringing the heat this weekend on Café Mocha! @lavellsthacomic hits Netflix with Adam Sandler. @sirelijahblake is on the hottest tour of the summer with Keyshia Cole. And @comiclonilove is headed to City Winery NYC. Summer’s not slowing down—and neither are we

This is Cafe Mocha. It’s Cafe Mocha celebrating 15 years of entertaining, educating, and uplifting. Keisha Cole is on her 20th anniversary tour. Singer-songwriter Elijah Blake is on the road with her. He’s given us plenty of backstage info. Plus, comedian Lavelle Crawford just wrapped his movie with Adam Sandler. We’ve got them both with Lonnie Love. Yo, yo, I’m the producer, Angelique. It’s Cafe Mocha. Lonnie, what’s up? Okay, it’s a lot of stuff happening. It’s still summer, and we have things happening, and we want to talk about it.
I am so excited because I am developing a special show in New York just for New Yorkers. It’s called Comedy and Song. It will be at the City Winery August the 6th. And when I say yo-yo, this is like it’s because, you know, City Winery is this beautiful venue. They have a lot of different types of wine, food. The entertainment there is great. So I wanted to produce a show today. And not only show comedy, but also show the love of song. So I have my friend, St. Aubyn, who is a Broadway star. He’s going to be performing. I’ll be performing. And we’re also going to be performing together. And that will be August the 6th. It’s a beautiful Wednesday night. So if you’re there in New York, please stop by, get a ticket, get your tickets now.
Because it’s going to be something that’s just phenomenal and it’s something very special for New Yorkers. So comedy and song, Lonnie Love featuring St. Aubyn, August the 6th at the City Winery in New York. It is summer. You just had a birthday. My girl over there, Yo-Yo, is about to have a birthday. Yes! All right. Happy birthday, Lonnie. Go on and shake it. It’s your birthday. Get a little to the flow with your birthday. I had a good birthday. I did everything. I went to Vegas and I did a lot of stuff. I just, you know, I celebrate the whole month, but now it’s Leo season. So, you know, yo, yo, what are you planning on doing for your birthday? Listen, honey. Listen, listen, Linda. Yo, easy. Okay. You know, we moved them cancers right on out of here, baby. March in there like the
Queen Lioness we are. And I am taking over Santa Barbara. We are doing the business class train ride to Santa Barbara. My partner is two days after me, the eldest, Tiffany. She and her girlfriends, I got six tickets to Catalina Island. They are taking a ferry over there. My grandson, Kai, you guys saw him on Love & Hip Hop being born. He’s now six years old. Wow. in the Leo gang. And yeah, we are just, I am just excited to celebrate Leo Nation because you know, nobody does it better than a Leo. You guys are ridiculous. My mom’s a Leo. She just had a birthday. And we did Broadway. We did Broadway twice. We went to go see the Alicia Keys musical, Hell’s Kitchen, which is phenomenal. And then, I don’t know if you guys know this, but Moulin Rouge is back
And for a while, Wayne Brady and Taye Diggs are starring in it. Man. What was it? Oh, my gosh. I have no words. It was so good. It was so sexy. It was, I mean, I don’t even know what to say. All the music. If you saw the movie, then you kind of know the flow of it. But they added all these new songs from Beyonce. I mean, just tons of new music adopted. Adele, hip hop, you know, lots of outcasts in there. Just really fun and really good. Did that talk about you, Angelique? You really, I mean, because we always are thinking of something to do. Like everyone say, what do you like to do? And I’m like, let’s go bowling. What about a Broadway play? I think that’s so sexy. I mean, I grew up on Broadway. Back in the day when The Wiz came out,
I couldn’t go see The Wiz, but they brought the album back home. And I just remember playing that album over and over and over again, Stephanie Mills doing her thing. So this is one of the things that has been in our family for a while. It’s expensive, but there’s so many things in New York that we used to do as kids that were free. The Shakespeare in the park, the Harlem ballet. I mean, just tons of, tons of really good stuff. But, um, But yeah, I splurged. I got some tickets from mommy who was just really, really happy. Then took her to a nasty Indian restaurant. But I mean, anyway. I think that’s so good that you take time with your mom. You know, I really do love that because mothers right now, Lonnie, we’re going through so much, huh? Right. Aren’t we going through so much? I think that when the daughters get to take, cause my, my older sisters,
They don’t want to take mommy nowhere. They’re like, that’s your job, Yolanda. Oh, no. Well, my mom’s a Leo just like you. And so they require attention. And if they don’t get it, they just going to make you pay attention. So I don’t want any of that. You’re going to be guilty. We’re going to give you the guilt check. I’m an only child, so I got to take care of it. I can’t pass off on nobody. Oh, my God. To all of my cancers. Happy birthday to all of my Leos kicking in the door, waving the faux faux. All you’ve got to remember is also your girl Yo-Yo is a Leo and we are going to be celebrating. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Join Lonnie for an intimate night at the City Winery. Just go to citywinery.com. Click on New York. The show is August 6th. Coming up, comedian Lavelle Crawford.
Standing in solidarity from a woman’s perspective, it’s Cafe Mocha. It’s Cafe Mocha with Yo-Yo, Lonnie Love, and Angelique on the line. One of my comedy brothers. We’ve been doing this for a long time. And this is his first time on Cafe Mocha, ladies. Please welcome the hilarious actor, comedian, and my comedy brother, Lavelle Crawford. Hey, Lavelle. Hey, how y’all doing? How you doing, Miss Lonnie? How y’all doing? Yo-Yo and everybody. Hey. You know what? This is the thing, Lavelle. You have been a comedy dynamo for years. I mean, how did you get your start? That’s what I always wanted to ask. How did you get your start in stand-up? Oh, man. Shoot. At home in St. Louis, I ain’t getting nothing. About to flunk out of college and
my mom about to throw me out and i was going to community college and I, I kept making friends lab and i thought i could do it went to the funny bone of st louis and i said god if i get one lab i’m making a career. And you know, here we are today. That’s all i can tell you. Well, let me tell you something. You I’ve seen you on the road. Um, you’ve been doing so much and, your career has just, it keeps growing and growing and growing. So I wanted to say congratulations. But there’s a lot of stuff we want to get into. Number one, you’re in the new movie Happy Gilmore 2 on Netflix with a cameo as Slim Peterson. Tell me what it’s like, you know, working with like Adam Sandler and those people and being in something that’s like a legacy type of movie like Happy Gilmore. Man, Happy Gilmore, you know, being with
Adam Sandler, I mean, he found me on YouTube, and him and his people put me right in there. My first movie went on Ridiculous 6, man, and it was so much fun, because Adam’s movie would be so big. It’s like being in a whole other city when he do stuff, man, because he have celebrities all in it. It’d just be so much gag jokes and stuff, and it’s a lot of fun. And then, you know, this is the fourth… I think it’s the fifth one I’ve done because I was in it four months before that. And he showed so much love. He always just called me out the blue. Hey, man. Boom, boom, boom. I’m like, yeah, yeah, you know. And Happy Gilmore, too. Me and my agent was just talking about it, man. And I was like, man, I would love to be in it. And here I got to be an iconic character in the movie, man. It was an honor, man. It was a lot of fun. And, I mean, we just had the premiere in New York this past Monday.
And it got received greatly. People loved it, man. All the celebrities came out. It was a lot of fun, man. I mean, what I love about Adam Sandler, and you know this, is that he really works with all types of comedians. He gives comedians all types of opportunities and stuff. And, you know, you and Adam Sandler in the same movie, it’s got to be hilarious. How much of your stuff was scripted versus you going off the cuff? Because you’re great off the cuff. Man, he left like about five of my jokes in that I just came with off the top of my head. So when you watch it, I step for the stuff that, you know, the serious script and stuff, man. Everything I did was mine, you know. And I was honored by that because a lot of times, you know, right, you’d be like, no, man, I wrote it this way because of this. But Adam, he…
he just, he, he, he let me go on and go, man. And I, he went back and, you know, had just seen, it was funny and he left it in. And I love that, man. And plus he, he just takes care of his people. I always said, I want to be a black Adam Sandler to help all my fellow comedians, at least get one movie credit, if not, you know, a couple, you know, cause he always helped with family, all his family was in it, you know? So it, you know, yeah, it’s, it’s a, It was a lot of fun. Everybody acting stupid in there. I mean, all the celebrities, everybody just having fun, man. So you laughed all day. You know what, LaVell, what we love so much about you is from your stand-up comedy, you’ve always been someone who has been raw, real. And you gave comedy a real sense of yourself. Were you able to do that? Is there a difference between stage and being an actor?
do you still, are you still able to bring a little bit of Lavelle with you? Well, I got to, cause I am not a Theismann. I can’t, I can’t get up there like Denzel and do some, do some, uh, some, uh, Ivanhoe or Hamlet. I gotta, I gotta bring the good old country gravy and biscuit kind of comedy that Lavelle come with, man. I gotta come my way. Cause I mean, there’s no way I can, I can fake to look proud, but you know, it’s gotta be real. It’s gotta be a reason. why I do something. And I took it. God bless you. I’m laughing over here. That’s her laughing, LaVell. I thought it was a bark. I know, me too. I was like, what is she doing over there? She raising pit bulls. What’s going on? I’m trying to hold back my laughter. I mean, because it’s like this all the time. Lonnie says something. I have to mute my mic because I’ll just crack up
What you guys don’t understand, laughter, I mean, just to say one word, and we’re cracking up, and here I am. My mic is on myself. Oh, man. Hey, laugh, shoot. I like people to laugh. I hate people to analyze. I want you to have a good time. I had a fan at the show the other night. I was in Milwaukee. I just got in off the plane today from Milwaukee, and it was one lady. She was laughing so hard in the back. people was looking at her crazy, like, what’s your problem? I said, you in a comedy club, dumbass. That’s right. You know, what you think, what you want, you won’t be doing. You won’t be crying about, uh, missing a mama. She up there having a good time. I’m funny. I’m funny, bro. But, but, but, you know, uh, I, I, the thing about that is like I said, you know, you, you have to bring your own self to it. Some people try to read the script and,
I read the script, but I just say, what would I do? You know? And I, I just ride off of that, man. And then they’ll correct you if they like, Oh, we want you to do it this way. Okay. You do it that way. But you know, and I don’t argue, but if they see, Oh man, we look back at yours, man, we’re going to keep doing it. I say, cool. I mean like breaking bad, you know, when I was on there, you know, you know, it was more facial expressions. And then I, When I did something serious, like I was beating up somebody or something, man, you know, that was, you know, you had to come another character. But, you know, in comedies, I let it all hang out. It’s Cafe Mocha. We’re talking to Lavelle Crawford, currently in Happy Gilmore 2, and on tour at the Funny Bone right now. I know you said you’re not a thespian, that you bring Lavelle to everything, but…
Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. You were a thespian. Yes. You won an Emmy, right? A SAG. A SAG Award. I think that’s a little better than an Emmy, man, because Emmy is nothing but a SAG. It’s the Screen Actors Guild Award, so it’s straight up all actors involved. It’s the Actors Union. When I won, Oprah was there. And what’s his name? Forrest Whitaker was there. I got up when I won. I was like, yeah. And I pointed to Oprah. Oprah rolled her eyes. And I pointed at Forrest Whitaker, but I was on his bad-ass side, so he didn’t see me. That’s hilarious. And so then I walked up, man, and I was doing it, man. That’s when I first met LaPita Williams.
I’m going to mess her name up real bad. Lapita. Go on the correct line again. If they had me on the head of the peace treaty of pronouncing the queen’s name over there, Queen La Petita Petita Abayango, they’re going to be like, we don’t want no truce with these. We’re going to war. You just say the girl that was in Black Panther. I have to ask you, have you always been this funny? Like, I mean, because it just seems like you’re like you, people knew you were going to be a comedian. Like you just, you just, you’re naturally funny. I mean, did, was this, did you fall into acting? How’d you start in acting? Like what made you go to a comedy club? Tell us the story. I just want to know. I’m curious.
Man, for real, speaking to a bad rapper like yourself, I wanted to be a rapper myself back in the day. I was going to call myself Fat Free back in them days, man. I’d say, you got to pay for the rap, but the fat comes free, you know, and I’d be on some talent shows, and then I wanted to be an R&B singer, but I wasn’t built right. I couldn’t open my shirt up until I seen LaVert, and I said, maybe I can, you know, but I met Sinbad and I had just won a contest cause I was up on stage and I was making fun of people that rapping and making fun of their outfits. Cause my whole crew, they all, they all got stage fright and ran off and I’m standing up there by myself looking stupid cause I love the stage. So I just started rapping about everybody outfit, talking about the food at the school and you know, and everybody started laughing. And so I was making them laugh as I was rapping. And, uh,
And I said, man, I think I can do this. And I told Sinbad, he said, man, if you want to do it, you know, it’s fun. But trust me, he told the scary story like when he did a show in Kansas City and the crowd was already there. It started to show late. And they said, y’all ready for Earth, Wind, and Fire? And the crowd went, we can’t hear you. Are you ready for Earth, Wind, and Fire? The crowd went. And then he said, but first we got this young comedian. And the crowd started booing. They had set him up bad. But he said he went out there and he pulled him together and handled his business. And I said, well, I ain’t really afraid of a hostile crowd. I dealt with my family. My family, when the ribs ain’t done. So, I mean, I’ve been around hostile crowds. So, you know, like I said, I got that one big laugh, man. And I said, ooh, I’m addicted.
I’m addicted. I mean, I wasn’t always funny because I did some talent shows and some nightclubs, and I would get gonged and booed and, you know, got my life threatened. But I pulled through, you know, and I loved it, man. I just got a fever for it, and now it comes so naturally. Like my brother said, man, it’s like a muscle memory now. You just get up there and just talk about anything. I said… But that’s the good thing about comedy, man. My freedom is like once you learn how to fly, you can fly at any weather. You can fly at any altitude. You can move around. It’s one of the greatest feelings in the world. When I’m up there, it feels like I’m invisible. When I get off stage, all the bills and all the problems come right back. Okay. It’s almost like being on crack, you know? Mm-hmm.
Once you come down, you realize that you’re the peed on yourself, you smell like crap, and you’ve been having on the same clothes for 30 days, but when you’re high, you think you’re Denzel Washington. It’s Cafe Mocha. On the line, my comedy brother, LaVell Crawford. He’s always on tour, but he’s currently in the movie Happy Gilmore 2. He also has this comedy special, I Could Eat Part 2 on Amazon. Can we talk about your comedy special? And how do you come up with the material for your special, LaVell? Man, well, I mean, you know, I mean, you know, you as a comic yourself, you know, if you don’t talk about your life, you know, you really ain’t no comedian. See, I think that’s what gives me the edge in comedy is because I ain’t afraid to talk about me and my experiences. You know, it’s easy to talk about, you know,
Donald Trump, boo, boo, boo, boo, boo. But, you know, but if you can get up there and tell somebody about, you know, you know, how you used to eat at Wobble House and you had four pork chops and they missed one of your pork chops and you had to go back and your heart almost stopped after eating them that night and you almost died and you could make a joke about it, you know, and you still finished them pork chops off with that waffle, you know, that, that, That’s when you know you can bring it real. And the thing about it is all my specials, if you watch them, I always put them in a category. Like the first one I said, it was called Can a Brother Get Some Love? And that one was because I was on Last Common Standing, man, and I took second runner-up. I thought I was going to win. But after that, I still didn’t think I was famous.
And then the next one I did was, I believe, was Home for the Holidays. And that was like, you know, going home, seeing my mom and doing jokes about all holidays. I write for seasons. I write for anything. And then before that, you know, I had weight loss surgery, you know, and I lost like 150 pounds. So I did the joke about the new looks ain’t funny because the new looks ain’t funny was, People are like, man, you’re going to lose that weight. You ain’t going to be that funny no more. I said, man, the fat never carried the jokes. I just joked about the fat, you know what I’m saying? That’s right. When you do that, you know, people think that’s all you got is fat jokes. I said, man, I talk about everything, you know. If you watch some of my shows, you’d be amazed. Like, man, this dude don’t even really talk about his weight. He talks about everything involved, and he might add a little accent to that. And, you know, I couldn’t live off fat jokes the rest of my life.
did that. And then I did the comedy vaccine. Cause we was in COVID. I shot one in COVID. That’s the one that got, it got, uh, it got nominated for a Grammy. And I was like, dang, I had to wait till, uh, a world, world stopping disaster to get nominated for a Grammy. So I said, man, did all the comedians, I’m joking, but I was joking. I was like, did all the comedians die? And my name was on the list. Is he still around? Okay. Uh, Thank you, lovely ladies, for letting me be on the show. I appreciate the great Yo-Yo, the great Lonnie Love, and Miss Annalee. I’m sure you’re great, too. I love it. We appreciate you. Congratulations on everything, Lavelle. You work so hard. You’re so talented. You’re so funny. You deserve all the blessings. And please tell your wife I said hello. And thank you so much again.
I will. Thank you, Lonnie. Congratulations on all your blessings. And keep on pushing. All y’all guys got you covered. And stay on this path and everything will shine. That’s right. Make sure you check out Lavelle Crawford in Happy Gilmore 2 on Netflix. He also has two comedy specials on Amazon Prime. Or you can catch him live coming to a comedy club near you. On the way, Elijah Blake on Cafe Mocha. We’re at Cafe Mocha Radio. Socially Savvy on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Serving up more Cafe Mocha on the way. Standing in solidarity from a woman’s perspective, it’s Cafe Mocha. It’s Cafe Mocha with Loni Love. Yo, yo, I’m the producer Angelique. Back on Cafe Mocha, he is currently on tour with Keisha Cole. Got a new single out called White Rum. Elijah Blake, welcome back to Cafe Mocha. How you doing? How’s it going, ladies? When I tell you they told me I was going to be on with y’all, my flight was delayed, and I said, tell them to wait for me, please, in Jesus’ name. Oh!
Oh, look at us. It’s so special. How you been, Elijah? How’s everything been going? I’ve been good. The tour’s been amazing. To see all those people from different walks of life come to celebrate Keisha, who’s literally, she couldn’t be, blood couldn’t make her closer to me. That’s been the most beautiful part. You know, sometimes I think she forgets the mark she’s left and she’s still leaving on the music side of things. Right. You know, I know Keisha from… her being a guest on The Real. We also did a lip sync battle together. When I say she is not only a talented person, but she’s a very real and sweet woman. It’s really good. How is the tour actually going? It’s going good. She’s putting people in them seats every night. It’s a stadium tour. That’s pretty surreal for me. I’ve been
I’ve had a lot of firsts in the music industry early on, but this is a big deal for me. I’ve been on tour and I’ve sold out on my own before, but like theaters and big club venues, nothing to this magnitude. So for her to extend their platform, you know, it’s one thing when family members and friends say, rock with you and they support your business, then to really put you in a position to elevate yourself. So she’s done that for me time and time again in ways that no one else in the music industry has. Talk about that relationship because didn’t she do, didn’t you guys do a duet together on a new album? Yeah. So my first time working with her was to do Enough and No Love on the Woman to Woman album. Her label brought me in because she had too many, it was a lot of ballads and they needed an uptempo. And I was like, this is a lot of pressure. Like every time we went to studio, like we needed uptempo, we needed uptempo. So thank God Enough and No Love came. I wish, she says every night it’s her favorite song of her catalog. And I’m like, you can’t be serious. But a catalog like Heaven Sent and,
love and sense from, you know what I mean? Like there’s no way, but she feels that way. And we’ve been friends ever since. It was literally like the first day I met her, we were inseparable. And, um, she’s, we’ve collaborated on my project with, um, bad liar, but she put me on that album, actually the woman to rule it out. Um, and featured me as an artist, one of the first people to feature me as before I even had a record deal, right when I got the record deal. So it just, it just made complete and total sense to go on this tour with her. Nice. I mean, you’ve done so much writing for people. I mean, you said you’ve been like, you know, selling out theaters. I mean, that’s a big difference. Arenas are so different. What did you have to do to get yourself ready for an arena? It’s very expensive. I will say that. Like, I needed, I couldn’t have predicted, you know, with the level of travel, what it does on your voice. Luckily, God carried me.
I’m a church boy, so, you know, we sing with every bit, every fiber of our being. So usually I would have gone four days in with the level. All my songs are super challenging. But he carried me, and I’m just now starting to, like, feel it on my voice. But, you know, with two days left on the tour, so I’m not even mad. I’m not even like, God, why? I’m like, yeah, you really held it down, like, way further than I expected. So I’m just now starting to feel the strain on my voice with back-to-back shows for 20 dates, I think it is. And there’s a lot of people on this tour, like A. Marie. Are they Jeremiah, Carrie Hilson? I mean, are they on every night, or are they like special guests, or is that the tour? No, honestly, I’m the only one other than Keisha that’s on every date. So when we first started, it was Pink, Lil’ Kim, which they were like joys to work with. So nobody on the actual tour…
has given any issues. Like everyone’s been happy to be there. Everyone’s been happy to celebrate Keisha. But I think now we’re just now on the part where Carrie joins in. So that’s been fun because my first writing session, Carrie is actually who flew me to Los Angeles. Well, one of them, I think, yeah, I think it was my first writing session. She flew me to LA. So to see her and for her to see me on this thing, we kind of had like a brief moment in passing. That was kind of cool. And I think Friday jumps on the tour. in Oakland and LA. So those other parts have been changing. No, you know, I get it. I understand you so much because when you’re on a tour like that, your energy is on, I mean, you know, you want to turn your energy all the way off and then when you’re ready to perform all the way up. And sometimes when people are immature and you’re working with different energies, you have to learn how to just peace with you. I get what you’re saying because you know, yeah,
Yes, the different energies. I get it. But like you said, patience is something you learn. And thank God that you are a church person who could, you know what I mean? You have some understanding with that energy. Yeah, definitely a lot of prayer. God has definitely carried me through because you have to also understand that you’re a corporation as well. So even when you don’t, if you don’t want to be in charge, you kind of have to be because everyone’s looking at you. So sometimes you don’t feel like it. Some days, like, your voice is gone, but people’s like, hey, it’s payday. Like, turn these in. They’re just waiting for you to say yes and no on so many things. And I kind of just like to fall back and let my team do certain things. And I always say, I just want to sing. I literally, since I was a kid, I just want to sing. But there’s so many things that I have to be in charge of. And then I have a release happening, right? So, like, White Rum is coming out. So then they want to rehearse. And then we got to do sound check. And then there’s a fitting. But then there’s also, like, the label and the team are like, do you approve these images?
Because the song comes out tonight. Why are you not posting? Why are you not posting stories? I’m like, y’all don’t even understand it. We’re like running and darting to soundcheck. And the soundcheck got moved because we added Lil’ Kim today. And we’re in Barclays. And Lil’ Kim wants to bring out, you know, her special guest, which is cool. But then now everybody’s soundcheck gets moved. And no, I might have missed my post by like 20 minutes. But then, you know, there’s so many things happening. I’m not complaining. It’s just very interesting from what I’m used to. Now, with this being your big single, with this being your biggest concert in these arenas, were you trying to kind of like introduce your new single in the midst of all of this greatness? Has that been a challenge? I did. I did, yeah. And I’m singing our song White Rum for the first time the night it came out in Houston. And that was insane seeing people react. Because you never know how it’s going to go, right? Because you’re also opening for an artist who has a
outstanding catalog and they’re really coming there to see her. You can only hope as a new artist that you can walk away with half of those people, or 10% of those people say, hey, I like him, let me go look up who Elijah is, as opposed to in the past, I’ve headlined my own tour, so the people are there to see Elijah, but that’s not necessarily always the case when they’re there to see Keisha, and you know, they might like me, they might, so it’s hard to try to introduce new songs, but so far it’s been going amazing, and Luckily, she has a very musical fan base, and they’re super receptive to it. There was an issue, and I love what Keisha did about it, where she had a special guest that she didn’t know about, and she was very vocal about it. Were you able to help her through that? Honestly, outside of music and outside of the tour, Keisha has been my therapist and vice versa, so we haven’t had enough time to
Because it’s moving so fast, Lonnie. Like, it’s moving so fast. Like, I do remember watching it because I watch her show on the side of the world, on the side of the stage every night. And I kind of, like, study and just learn what I can and how she communicates with her fans. And I remember seeing her a little bit. I’m just like, what’s wrong? Like, I couldn’t figure out, like, what was wrong. So when I saw the post, it was in real time when you guys saw it. But I just know that that’s, like, this tour is very personal to her. And I think that night was the anniversary of her mother’s birthday and her mother’s passing. So this tour is very personal to her. And I do think that her knowing, you know, who’s coming out, when they’re coming out, was not as much a deal as whoever played a part in, like, not letting her know. Like, this tour is very personal to her. The deadline for the HBCU First Look Film Festival is August 28th. If you have a film…
and you’re at a HBCU or recently graduated from one, go ahead and submit it at HBCUfirstlook.com. This year, Marseille Martin from Black-ish and legendary actress Lynn Whitfield from The Chi will be joining us. Again, go to HBCUfirstlook.com. Here’s your dose of espresso. Strong, hot news now. This is The Espresso. We’re sending prayers to Deion Sanders, whose doctors discovered he had bladder cancer. and quickly took care of it. He offered this word of advice to black men and everybody else. Get checked out. Because if it wasn’t for me getting tested for something else, they wouldn’t have stumbled up on this. Get checked out. Did Keisha Cole just say she wants to have another baby? And you set so many goals for yourself, and imagine accomplishing those goals, all the goals that you set for yourself. I mean, I think setting new goals and just wanting…
New things in my life, I think a girl would be one of them. Yeah, and a husband. And happy birthday to Mother Henderson of Atlanta, who just turned 105. Her granddaughter said faith and acts of service is probably why her grandma’s still kicking. She’s met a couple of presidents, first wives, a lot of dignitaries, advocating all for her people and did all of this work as a volunteer. That is even more impressive. That’s the espresso. This is Cafe Mocha. Radio from a woman’s perspective. We’ve got Elijah on the line. Go ahead, Lonnie. Yeah, I get it. I mean, because, you know, she’s putting up the funds. It’s her name. And she should know. And, you know, the way she said, she said, there’s no beef against that person. She said, I just did not know that he was coming out. Yeah. Yeah.
and every night, every night she announces that purse, whoever, so, yeah, like, every night she announces who it is, except for that night. And he’s like, when Silk, she brought out Silk, she said what Silk meant to her, and when she brought out, um, you know, just whoever was brought out Big Sean, she said why that record resonated with her, so that was the one night that she didn’t, so I can understand why she felt the way, because I would feel a way as well, too, because she has a responsibility to her fans, and the people that have paid to come and see her. This is really her scope. It’s Cafe Mocha on the line, singer-songwriter, currently on tour with Keisha Cole, Elijah Blake. Now, you have this new single, White Rum. I love you some White Rum. Right? Are you Caribbean? No, I’m not Caribbean, but I’ve been with a few.
So let’s talk about White Drum. Let’s talk about this, you know, single. So, yeah, I just want to, you know, I love metaphors when I write songs because I just think those are the easiest way to use. Even when I speak, if I’m trying to explain my point to somebody, all my friends are like, oh, my God, here you go with the real metaphors. I’m just like, I want you to. just put yourself in my position. And sometimes love is an addiction. And it just talks about how nothing really hits like the first time. And when you reach that point of the relationship, you somewhat feel like you might’ve failed each other because you’re just realizing that every argument, betrayal, the weight gets even heavier. But the passion and the love that once existed, it’s not quite hitting the same. So I likened it to that. I mean, and I understand exactly what you’re talking about because when I was listening to it, I thought,
That’s exactly what I thought about. I just thought about the wide range of where you were going and the freedom of the song. Thank you. And then the deliverance, the confidence behind the notes that you were singing. I mean, it was so, the passion. I mean, you know, how do you take a song, how did you, did you want to give this song away? Are you, when you wrote it, did you just know this one’s mine? I haven’t said this to anybody, but I wrote the song with Beyonce in mind, right? Um, cause I knew she was doing a rock project. Cause I, again, I didn’t think that the label would understand me coming off of a super R&B project and me being a church boy that they would necessarily understand it. But I was going through that in a relationship where it was just coming apart. We weren’t mad at each other. It just was coming apart. And I was like, damn, like did we fail each other? And, um, so that, I think that’s how that note came out because it was, it was really an emotion that I was bottling in. And when it came out, like, damn, I’ve never really ever hit this note before. Um,
But when I got done, there was this little white engineer, and he didn’t speak the whole time. But when I went to leave, and I was like, okay, bounce these ideas so I can send them to Beyonce and her team. And he was like, hey, can I say something? And I was like, yeah. You didn’t say nothing the whole day. I was like, what’s up? He was like, I don’t think you should give that record to anybody. He was like, that record, I’ve never had a song make you feel this way before. He was like, and I listened to Radiohead. And the engineer, and I invited him to my show. He’s like, thank you for listening. We’re talking to Elijah Blake, currently on the road with Keisha Cole. We’ve got his new single with 7 Streeter coming up on Cafe Mocha. Want a little more of our flavor? Stay right there. It’s Cafe Mocha.
Came a heavy load You disappeared Stylist in my loneliness, loneliness Swinging loud and clear Elijah Blake featuring seven streeters stuck in my ways. It’s cafe Mocha. We’ve got Elijah on the line. Let’s get back to it. Tell us a little bit about that collaboration. Seven streeters. Um, we’re both from Florida and we’ve always, again, she’s another, another incredible songwriter and storyteller, but we’ve just always seen each other in passings, her writing for other people, her working on her own stuff through Chris, um, and some other mutual friends. But, um, Eric Hudson, who’s an amazing producer and actually produced, um, Uh, residuals for Chris. Um, when I, I was telling him, Hey, I want to just do something that, that taps into like the older soul music things that made my mom, my mother used to cling to that made me feel something. Everything just sounds so depressing and, or just so mundane or minimalistic. And he was like, I got something for you like you know your you know your voice reminds me of like, um, Otis Redding or sam cook or marvin Gaye. So he’s like, I got this for you. And then he called seven. I didn’t even tell him to.
But he calls Seven. He’s like, do you like Seven? I was like, she’s amazing. And next thing I know, he’s like, Seven’s outside. So she comes in. He kind of orchestrates the whole thing because he’s always wanted to do a Marvin Gaye, Tammy Terrell-inspired song. And once we recorded the record, and then her and I was like, what do we do with this? Should we go to the movie? Because she was in between projects and in between deals, and so was I. And then when it came back around, my manager Hoodie that just passed, when I sent him the song, he was like, this is a life-changing record. And he wouldn’t let the record go away. And then, you know, he kind of spearheaded the whole process. And this is my favorite record right now that I have. And it’s on the charts right now, moving its way up. So congrats, congrats. Thank you. I feel like that’s Hoodie up there doing his thing. Can you sing a little something for Auntie Yo-Yo? Of course, of course. All right, you ready? Of course. Here you go.
There’s nothing like a car that don’t want to drive when you’re on the move. There’s nothing like an appetite when a meal just won’t do. There’s nothing like a train that won’t come when you need it to. My baby’s got 20-20 vision, but can’t see it from a point of view. Yes! Very good. Yes, yes, yes. And as an artist, Lonnie, and I know, but an artist loves to hear the lyrics. And sometimes, even when you’re playing your music for someone in the car, I just want the artist to mouth the words, because I want to hear them. I want to see, you know? I understand. From one artist to the next artist, Elijah, I cannot wait to download White Rum. We are so proud of you. Congratulations.
We want to thank you for making Cafe Mocha one of your stops. We love you. You have some true fans over here. Listen to his new single, White Rum. We’re going to play it. And also on the chart, Stuck In My Ways. Thank you so much, Elijah, for stopping by. Thank you so much, ladies. And congrats. I love that y’all are killing it. Again, before I go, I have to say, whoever’s listening, this platform is so important. Because when I was growing up, there was Cedar’s World. There was 106th and Park. There was The Basement. There was all these things that is Whatever form of it or evolution of it that we have as black people and as our community, it is an obligation to support it because if we ain’t got each other, we ain’t got nothing. That’s right. Well said. Take care, Elijah. Bye, ladies. Thank y’all so much. Y’all be blessed. Thank you. Make sure you go to HBCUfirstlook.com if you’re at an HBCU or recently graduated from one.
Submit your film by August 28th and then join us for the film festival at Howard University in November. Marseille Martin from Blackish will be there. Actress Lynn Whitfield is doing a master class and so is filmmaker David E. Talbert. Even if you don’t have a film, it’s a great way to learn from Hollywood’s top talent. Just go to HBCUfirstlook.com. Until next time, you can find us on all platforms at… Cafe Mocha Radio. Cafe Mocha is a production of Miles Ahead Broadcasting in partnership with Super Radio. Executive Producer Sheila Eldridge. For comments, booking, or more information, visit cafemocharadio.com.