Producer Nicolay addresses feelings from fans that Foreign Exchange distracted Phonte

Starts at the 16:15 mark below:


"Was ever any animosity between you and Big Pooh and 9th Wonder at the time because there was an overlap between The Minstrel Show and Connected getting made?"

Nicolay: Not on my part. I mean, I know there were fans who thought I was this 'Yoko Ono' type, this homewrecker, the irony of it was it was never gonna be the same thing. When Connected came out, it was clearly a hip-hop record, probably was more overlap during those days but we sort of got away from that sound. [Big] Pooh was very clear about it, [that] it wasn't his thing. He's more into more hard hitting boom bap, straight up. The Foreign Exchange thing for him, wasn't for him, and I could appreciate it! Early on, it was Phonte and me cultivating something, on the side. And at the time Little Brother was the bigger fish by far. Foreign Exchange was a side project and Little Brother was at the peak of their career, they were about to sign to Atlantic [Records]. The thing about it is we always had a very good rapport, [Big] Pooh has done records with us over the years and I think if anything, it always was a big family deal, everybody has their own unique thing so there aren't people stepping on each others toes. The vision of labor is clear and when we moved into more of the r&b territory, it was two very different flagships. It was a risk but one we were very eager to take. We knew it could literally be a red pill/blue pill, either you dismiss us out the gate and we're DOA or its a lane opening up for us in the future. Thankfully it was the latter.

On new music @ 49:35:

"You can rest assured there will always be something Foriegn Exchange on the horizon."

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