I have truly been blessed for what my caliber, you know, of just a high-school diploma
that my gift really
has made room for me.
You know, with all the ups
and downs and, yes,
there was times
when I was away that I cried
because I couldn't be home with
the kids and missed some things,
but it's really been -- It
really has been worth it all.
And it's -- What I would tell
someone is don't give up.
Hope and faith work together,
and you have to believe
that it can happen for you,
but you have to work for it.
It's not going to just happen.
So you got to work hard.
You got to just put your time in
to sharpen your tool,
sharpen your gift, because
you can do it.
And don't let people
crush your dreams or whatever
your gift or talent may be.
You just work at it.
You work to make it better.
You can do it.
Tell you about me? Little old me? Okay. Tamela Mann.
I'm a 1966 model.
[ Laughs ]
I was born in Texas.
I'm the youngest of 14.
But to just talk about my life,
when I say a lot of people
graduated from college,
but I was the only one
that graduated from high school
out of the 14 kids.
You know, not to say that
I'm better than anyone,
but I just decided that
I wanted better for my own life.
That's the decision
I made for myself that that's
something that I had to do.
I worked hard at it.
It was a big struggle,
especially with how my life
was going at home.
I had a stepfather
at the time of graduation,
and it was really,
really rough in our house,
because he was not
a friendly man.
He was argumentative,
if I can say.
I heard that a lot.
So, those are some things
that happened to me
in the beginning of my life,
but it really made me
push me to become
who I am today, Tamela Mann.
And I think it came to make me
better just fighting
through those obstacles
of just life, I would say,
because I'm sure other people
had some hard times
in life, as well.
My father wasn't in my life growing up, and my mom had married this man.
His name was Dal Cooper.
I'll never forget him.
I didn't really even understand
what -- the stamp
that he put on my life.
And I mean with organization,
even with going
to school, education.
And I didn't know my father,
so me wondering how it would be
to have a father in your life.
My stepfather would actually
take me
to go see my real father.
And it was not like,
you know, you run up and say,
"Hey, baby, you know, hug me."
It would be like
a little pat on the back.
"Hey, how you doing?"
And he really never did for me.
He never went out of his way
to come see about me.
Out of the youngest of 14,
I had a different father
from the rest of the 13.
So when my stepfather
would take me to see him,
it would be just like me
just running around
and just playing, but him not
really communicating with me.
I would say, probably over
my life, from the time frame
of going and seeing him,
he may have gave me maybe $100
my whole life.
And going on,
Mama remarried after Mr. Dal.
He passed away.
I was like 16 at the time.
I didn't really like the guy.
None of us liked the guy.
He was a minister, but he was
what I would call not a minister
because he didn't show love like
I was being taught
growing up in church.
He would fuss so much, y'all.
He would fuss so much and kept
going on and kept going on
where, you know,
I went and talked to my uncle,
which was actually our pastor,
my mom's youngest brother,
and I was like,
"He don't need to be up
before your people,
because he's not living a life
of what y'all teaching us
about love and compassion."
The people at my church really
helped me see what a family unit
supposed to look like,
because I wasn't feeling
that in my house,
even though my mother
was very loving, very peaceful,
but that wasn't
what she was receiving.
I thought we were doing
pretty good, because Mama
was getting my brother's
SSI check from their dad,
and I was getting,
you know, a welfare check
and we was on food stamps and
I thought we were doing good.
But when she married this dude
that I was just talking
about, y'all, before I knew it,
we were dumpster-diving.
And when I say dumpster-diving,
if people --
if you don't understand
what that means, we would
go behind the grocery store
to where the dumpsters were and
we would be digging out food
from the dumpsters.
And me -- you know,
at the time, I was like 16.
So I'm like, in my mind,
"What is going on?
What is happening?"
I mean,
like, we was doing all right.
You know, we was getting
our food stamps.
You know, we had something to
eat.
And it's like this dude --
this man was working.
So why isn't things
getting better?
To me, instead of us
progressing, we digressed.
And we would get food.
If it had stuff over,
we would rinse it out.
The things that were in
packages -- in packages.
We rinse those out.
But I just loved her so much
that it didn't make me look down
on my mom at all.
I mean, it didn't make me
lose love or respect
for her in no kind of way.
But I guess she was just
looking at we were surviving.
So that made me really,
really dislike this guy a lot.
I really felt like, being
a step-kid, that I was really
being stepped upon.
So that's why I'm really against
people saying
that we have step-kids.
And I don't like that word
because of that,
because my first stepfather,
which was Mr. Dal,
he really respected me
as a kid and my mom,
and he showed us love.
It was really, really rough.
But I think he came to make me
strong.
Where I found my refuge
is, it was singing.
And, really, it came early on
in my life,
not knowing that I could sing.
But what happened is,
I would go to rehearsals
with my older siblings,
and they were
singing in the youth choir, and
I would just be in rehearsal.
But I started just
kind of getting into it
and I was, at the time,
about 8 years old.
So, I was singing with them
and I was learning the parts,
I was learning the songs,
and I started singing
in the Sunshine Band at 8
and I got my first solo.
My first solo
was by James Cleveland --
"I Don't Feel Noways Tired."
It was like...
¶ I don't feel noways tired ¶
¶ Come too far from where
I started from ¶
¶ Nobody told me that the road
would be easy ¶
¶ I don't believe
He brought me this far ¶
And as 8 years old,
y'all, I will be singing
"I don't believe He brought me
this far to leave me."
And I'm like, "You don't work.
You don't pay no bills.
What are you doing?
He done brought you this far."
But I would cry singing this
song, because I say, He kept my
mama, you know, He kept my
family.
And these are the things I was
saying as an ad lib as a kid,
not knowing that to me,
saying that "He's brought me
this far," that I was
speaking into my own life.
It's just singing was my life.
It is my true passion.
Even to this day, I love it
and I'm not tired.
I'm not tired of doing it.
So singing was my refuge.
My first big break was with Mattie Moss Clark and Twinkie Clark would
actually come to town.
Sister Robinson
would actually take me with her
to the workshops.
I would scrap up enough money
to pay my fee.
My first song that I led --
I was 12 again -- was
"Endow Me," which Karen Clark
was singing.
I mean, I just loved it
because me and her daughter,
we would be singing with our
brushes in the house.
And I love The Clark Sisters,
so it's like I learned
a lot of their songs.
So when it came to the workshop
and I sung for Mattie, y'all,
I got so nervous on "Endow Me"
that I forgot a couple of words.
And she hollered at me.
She was like,
"Sing the right words, girl.
Sing the right words."
And I was like --
That didn't make it no better.
But that was, to me,
my largest audience
as a teenager in Dallas, Texas,
at Saintsville Church of God
in Christ.
Starting out with Kirk Franklin,
he actually started handpicking
people from Dallas-Fort Worth to
make a group,
and he formed The Family.
I tell you, when we did that
first recording of
"Why We Sing,"
I don't know, it was like
something inside of me
was, like, so excited.
I felt like
I had won a million bucks.
We really wasn't getting paid
then.
We was traveling and then
we was probably getting $25,
$50, you know, because there
were so many of us in the group.
But I was so honored
and so happy just to be doing
what I loved, was singing.
And it just kept going.
We did the first album,
then we did the second album,
"Whatcha Lookin' 4."
We couldn't believe how fast
that it was going.
Kirk Franklin was a lot.
It's like to hear him lead
then, because then, y'all,
he was leading songs
and he was -- It was some things
like Kirk -- I honestly,
y'all --
I've always been a church girl.
Not so much, you know,
secular music,
because I wasn't allowed
to listen to it in our home.
So we was, like, learning
some stuff in rehearsal,
and he was like, "I love it
when I call him Your Savior."
And then I found out later
that this was from
somebody else's song.
And I'm like,
when I found out that it was
from, like, a secular guy,
I was so disappointed,
because I'm just like,
"Ooh, the Lord is just really
blessing him.
He being so creative.
And he just -- Ooh, that's
cool."
And I'm just rocking, you know,
we just rocking.
I mean,
he was learning from hip-hop,
and I'm like, "No, the Lord
is just inspiring him.
This is coming from heaven."
I thought to me onstage,
that was one
of the craziest things.
But touring with him, you know,
The Nu Nation tour, when we --
It was happening big for us.
You know, we was in stadiums.
You know,
they was making a few dimes.
You know, they had bought
our wardrobe.
I thought we was doing it,
you know.
So I really -- Honestly, I
really, really enjoyed and loved
being in the background
with Kirk Franklin
and The Family.
Okay, so, we thought, you know,
we were doing tour,
and he was bringing --
incorporating
some younger with the old.
I'm thinking, "Okay, we're doing
young and old.
We're going for it together."
You know, so he had us
auditioning some young people,
and come to find out,
we got let go after --
It was like, "Man,
we went through all this.
We picked out our replacements."
And I was so hurt.
I was so hurt, y'all.
The day we were being let go,
we had got --
I had took a shower, got ready,
because we was meeting --
You know, he was meeting
with everyone at lunch.
So I got ready.
We went to this lunch meeting.
And we went there,
and he was like,
"Y'all, we taking a sabbatical."
And I just kind of looked.
He was like, "Yeah, I'm doing
something different."
And I looked at David,
and in my mind, it's like,
I knew what my call was.
I knew what my purpose was
in Kirk Franklin
and The Family was to not
just to be there to be a leader,
but to be praying for him,
to push him forward, you know,
stand behind him just totally.
I just knew what my call was.
Y'all, when he told me
that, I didn't want to eat.
And at the time,
I was at my heaviest.
It was like, you know,
you live for a meal.
I went back home,
got back in the shower,
and I was crying.
I mean, I boo-hoo
cried that he had let us go
because I didn't understand.
I was looking at, "This
is the end."
Me and David was looking like,
"What are we going to do?"
I'm like -- We had just bought
our first house,
and I'm like, "How? What?
How are we going to make it?
What are we going to do?"
I didn't understand,
but I thought it was the end.
Things got really, really crazy
with The Family,
with God's Property,
and they sued him.
But me and David was like, "No,
we're not going to sue him."
I prayed and asked God
to give me peace
and to let me love him
as if nothing has happened.
We chose not to be in the
lawsuit.
So, I think that was the best
choice we could have ever made.
>> "Take Me to the King" came about after all the lawsuit and us kind of splitting up, you
know.
So we reached out to him,
and I was like, "Bro, I want you
to give me something good.
Write something for me
on this project."
He called me and me, and me and
David went over to his house.
And he sung,
"Take Me to the King."
Y'all, I looked at him like...
I said, "I don't know.
Let me sit with it."
So I sat with it.
We finally -- We went in the
studio to start laying it
and we laid a flat --
just a little track.
And then I came back,
and he said,
"Look, when you come back
to the studio,
don't come in here happy.
Don't come in here happy.
Take yourself to some period in
your life where it wasn't
happy."
And that's how we came up with
"Take Me to the King."
We never dreamed that the song
would take off like it did
and that it would reach people
like it has done.
And even to this day,
I mean, I just...
>> Okay, how it happened with us meeting Tyler Perry. When I say "us,"
it's me and David,
because y'all know we do it
all together.
Y'all know we do it
all together.
And, you know, he had talked to
one of the promoters that had
been working with us for years
on our tours.
He was like,
"You have any plays or anything
going out, up and coming?"
He was like, "I got this
up-and-coming writer I'm working
with.
I think you should go meet him."
David took our
frequent-flier miles,
flew to Chicago, and he went.
He talked to Tyler
and he was like, "Me and my wife
would love to be a part of,
you know, your play
or what you're about to,
you know, venture in.
And, you know, we kind of
do things as a couple,
you know, as a team.
So, you know, she would love
to be a part.
She's not so much the actress,
but she said
she would sing for you."
He was like, "Okay, we cool."
So when I went and I met him,
I said, "Tyler,
I don't know how to act,
but I will sing.
I'll sing two or three songs,
you know, during the show,
if that need be."
And he was like, "Okay, cool."
He said,
But before it's over with,
I'll have you acting."
That's how that happened,
us meeting the Tyler Perry.
Our first show was
"I Can Do Bad All By Myself."
And it was in Chicago.
And, y'all, to think about it,
it's the character Madea.
That was the first
appearance for Madea,
the first appearance
for Mr. Brown.
And at that time, I was
just coming onstage as Cora,
but I was Cora,
Mr. Brown's wife.
Somebody decided not to be
a part of the "I Can Do Bad"
tour and decided to do something
else.
So Tyler looked at David
after we did that week run.
He said, "Hey, we're about to be
off before we go to the next
city.
Tam -- I want her
to do this role as Cora."
And I looked at him like,
No, no, you don't."
And he was like, "Take her home,
David, get her ready."
I was very annoyed because
David is a drill sergeant,
and I didn't know anything
about no acting.
But David took me home,
drilled these lines with me,
but he kept talking,
and I'm like,
"Why are you talking over me?
And I'm trying
to give you these lines."
He was like, "People are going
to be doing this.
People are going to be --
Because our audience talk back
to you."
And I was like, "No."
>> Now I'm breaking the wall
here.
Y'all, we had a full-out
argument.
>> We did.
>> We in the living room arguing
about, "I'm trying to help you.
You asked me. I didn't ask you."
>> Well, you -- I didn't ask
you.
He asked you.
>> Well, you -- I'm helping you,
and we're having an argument.
>> That's true.
But, I mean, it was --
>> Continue. This is your show.
>> Okay. But it was hard.
My first week hitting
the stage was in Detroit, y'all.
Detroit Music Hall.
Detroit was
definitely not the first city
that anybody I would say
that's new to the block
or new to the stage
to be coming out.
Y'all these people was talking
back out there.
They broke out in a fight.
So it's like, while
all this commotion was going on,
I got to stay in the scene,
meaning just talking to
the person that I'm talking to.
But in my heart and in my mind,
like,
"What is going on out here?"
And these people just talking,
and I'm trying
to get my lines out.
But it was so good that David
took the time to direct --
to direct me
and to help me get ready,
because, y'all, I wouldn't have
been ready if he hadn't did it.
So, that's how my acting career
began.
We couldn't have dreamed
that these characters
would have taken off
like they did with Madea,
Mr. Brown, and Cora.
It's like the characters
resonated or someone in their
family had these characters.
So I feel like that's why
it just was --
It's like a reality.
It's like the people -- It was
just real to people.
Y'all, one of the craziest
things on the "Class Reunion" --
uncensored.
No one's heard this.
Y'all this is the tea.
We were onstage,
and I don't know, this day,
Tyler was just trippin'.
He was just trippin' with me,
Cora, a character.
So he just went to messing
with me, and I fell and my
leg -- He -- My legs went up on
the bed, and I was like --
And I pushed him, like,
with my legs.
They're like, "Quit!
People is up here in America,
and they can see me."
So we spatting basically.
We spatting.
But it wasn't -- It --
I don't know where it came from.
But, anyway,
I went back downstage,
and he was kind of going off
on me, right?
And he told the sound guy
to cut my mic off.
And I was like -- It so
happened --
You know, for those out there,
his name was Mike Charbonneau.
He was my -- I called him my
white boyfriend on tour.
So, Mike didn't cut off my mic.
He was letting me -- You know,
we're going back and forth, high
side, talking about each other
onstage.
So, after that scene stopped,
y'all, we go to the next thing,
and I come back and I had seen
his mother earlier that day.
Said "hi."
And she had on these goggles,
right?
We had some backstage
on the prop table.
Terrell Carter dared me.
He wasn't even in this scene.
He led me back outside like he
was my Seeing Eye person.
I had on the shades.
He took me, walked me out there,
and sit me right
in the middle of the stage.
Tyler was being the bellboy
and the bartender.
>> And at the time now,
after he sees this,
Tyler is pissed.
>> Furious. He is furious.
>> And I'm looking at Tam,
saying, "Why would y'all do
this?
>> He was like, "Cora,
what you doing?
Why, you got them glasses on,
Cora?
And I was like, "What?
I just had surgery on my eyes."
Lie! Lie!
I did not.
I was being funny because he was
like, "Yo, she is mocking my
mom, and my mama just
had cataract surgery."
I said, "Y'all, he was talking
about my mama, and my mama
has Alzheimer's."
So it's like
we was going back and forth.
>> They doing all of this
in the middle of a show.
>> And the people
are just laughing.
>> But they don't know that they
really mad at each other.
>> Yes. I mean, but he -- I
really wasn't mad.
I just was clowning.
You know, I was doing -- I think
I was being a comedian that day.
>> I came offstage,
and I tell you, I let Tam
and Terrell have it.
>> We did.
>> I said, "Why would y'all do
that?
So, that next day, tell us
what happened.
>> So that next day,
we got sent home.
>> [ Laughs ]
>> Not just me. Everybody.
He was like, "We ain't
going back out next week.
So we all went home for like a
week.
But that was good,
because it gave us --
everybody time to cool off.
>> I looked at her, I said,
"I hope
you're happy with yourself.
You done got us all sent home."
>> I did. I did.
Tyler. I love you,
Terrell, I love you, too.
Working with Tyler Perry,
the growth to see him from 1999
to now is incredible.
He is a mogul.
And I just -- I'm really
grateful to God for him,
that how he kind of paved
the way for a lot of directors
and studio owners,
especially for us as people
of color, to just push,
to press through, that
it can be done if you work hard.
And to see his patience
has grown even as a leader
and a director where he was --
I say y'all -- I say,
y'all don't understand.
If y'all would have made him mad
back then, y'all wouldn't
have even had this job.
>> Becoming a solo artist, I didn't want it. I was happy with being
in the background,
like with Kirk Franklin,
and just background-singing
even from the plays.
So, being out there on the road,
David was like, "Tam,
you need to do your own thing."
And Tyler was like,
"You need to do it, Tam.
And when you're singing,
you got to open yourself up
and look out there at
the audience and talk to them.
Let them feel you."
And I'm like --
Because I've always sang
with my eyes closed.
But, David,
I'm so grateful to God for you
as a husband and as a friend.
Thank you for just seeing in me
what I didn't see in myself.
I'm so grateful for it.
And you were like,
"Let's do this project."
I was 38 years old.
He was like,
"You're going to do a project?"
And I'm like,
"We don't have no money to do
no project.
We don't have --
How are we going to do this?"
And you was like,
"You don't worry about it."
I had no idea
how to be an artist.
I mean, I knew I had a gift
to sing,
but it's a lot more that comes
along with it.
I fought it. I fought it.
Like, "No, I don't want to do
it.
I'm not doing it."
And you were like, "Yes, you
are.
You deserve to be heard.
You don't deserve to be
in the background.
People need to hear you
all over the world."
Again, you believed in me.
I mean,
it's like you had vision.
I really could have crushed
the vision
with just being afraid.
Because a lot of times,
we have gifts and talents,
but we're so afraid
there of failure.
And I just was afraid
and not knowing --
and not knowing of how...
to make it happen.
And if I could just encourage
somebody today, don't be afraid.
There's good in you.
There's -- You know,
there's so much that you can
achieve by trying.
But when you don't try it,
then it's like you're not
even giving yourself a chance.
And I thank you for pushing me
to become this artist
that I have become.
There's so many things
people don't know about you,
that David has pushed me in
so many areas to make me better.
It's just amazing
that I'm just so grateful
that things that's inside of me
that I didn't think was
good enough.
And I know I'm not alone.
This why I'm doing this
"Uncensored" is to let people
know that you're not alone
and you can achieve.
You can do it. You can do it.
And it's never too late
until we're dead.
I was 38 when I became
an artist.
I'm living my best life.
And I never, never,
never would have dreamed of
winning the awards
that I have won.
I never would have dreamed me
being poor and not having,
that I could -- that I, too,
could be worthy of something.
This is my first nomination.
I'm really excited about it.
When Kirk came to me with
"God Provides," because he was
like, "I want to do it again."
And he was like, "I really
want to write you a song."
And I was like -- But he was
wary because
"Take Me to the King"
had done so well.
I said, "Kirk,
to be an encouragement to you,
we're not chasing.
Just let's ask God
and let's just pray.
What do we need to give
to the people?"
And he came back with
"God Provides."
I felt the same way.
Like, "I don't know."
When I first heard it.
And, man,
that night of the Grammys, I --
They called
my name as the winner.
I didn't know what to do.
I could not believe it.
But when I got up
to go get the award,
I told -- Because
I call David "Bey."
I said, "Bey, come on,
come on, come on with me."
And he was like,
"No, this is your moment, no."
And I was like,
"Yes, this is our moment."
>> We're standing in the middle
of the aisle arguing about
whether I'm gonna go or not.
>> And all the people were,
like, looking back, and I was
like, "No, come with me.
Come with me."
And then I was like --
I looked at Kirk.
I was like,
"Come on, bro, come on."
So he wound up coming
onstage with me.
But I'm just -- That's just
the person I am.
When things are done,
it's just not you as the artist.
You know,
they may be calling my name,
but so many people
are in the background.
I'm thankful for the award,
but what blessed me
even more, y'all,
is to be able to touch people.
>> I worked on "Sparkle" with Whitney Houston. Y'all it was incredible,
first of all.
And she was so much fun.
She was so friendly and so
inviting to, like, the cast.
It was incredible.
So, we would be -- Like, one day
I remember
we were in the trailer,
but she was telling me
that she liked my voice
and she knew my music.
And one of the other ladies
had came in, and we was
talking about singing.
It was like, "Yeah, she sings."
So the lead young lady,
which her name is Jordin Sparks,
for Sparkle on "Sparkle."
And she was like,
"Oh, she sing?"
Whitney -- See how I told you?
The Lord will
send people to fight for you.
She was like, "You don't know
who you're working with?
You need to go do your
homework."
And she was singing one of
The Family's songs, and I was
like, "Yeah, that's my voice on
that song that you're singing."
And she was like, "Really?"
So, to hear about her death
was like -- I was in shock.
[ Cheers and applause ]
My mom told me growing up --
she said, "Tammy --" Because she
didn't call me Tamela.
She said, "Tammy, love the Lord
with all your heart,
and the Lord will take you far."
Then, I didn't understand
what she was saying to me,
but she is one of the persons
that I wish --
And if I could wish or hoped,
she could have been a part
of all of this,
because soon as we took off
with Kirk Franklin and
The Family, mom had -- was
diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
It got worse.
And so she never really
got to see none of the things
that she prayed for for me.
So for me to even just -- Just
making mention of my mom,
it just brings tears to my eyes,
because you always want
the person that mean
the most to you to be a part
of what you're doing.
But if I had one day
with my mom,
I would really try to run down
like, "Mama, you said love
the Lord with all my heart,
it would take me far."
I would tell her that I did get
to perform at The White House.
I did meet the president.
You know, these big, big moments
that I got to experience,
and just to hold her
and just to hear her,
to be able to just
hear her voice.
Because we take things for granted sometimes. We take things for granted that
people are going to be here,
you know?
Things can change in
a blink of an eye.
So I'm so grateful
for the people that's around me
and the opportunity that I did
have with my mom,
but I feel like I didn't have
enough time.
This April will be 35 years
of us being married,
being friends.
Man...
¶ Never could have made it
without you ¶
I just...
I think
I would have lost it all
without you being my spouse,
being my Superman.
And Jesus, of course, is first,
but my family means
everything to me.
And we have five beautiful kids.
Just the union of family
and the strength of family.
The unity of family
is everything.
This is what we're teaching
our kids, our grandkids.
Yes, there are going to be days
of ups and downs,
but I couldn't have
done it without y'all.
I just want them to know
that we've tried to be the
best parents that we could be.
We didn't do everything right.
There's not a manual.
You know, I said it earlier
that we --
I was raised as a stepchild,
and you never want your kids
to feel like they're not a part.
And what happened is, Porcia
was 8 years old,
our next-to-the-oldest
daughter.
And I had introduced her
at this church thing.
We were leaving,
and she was like,
"Mom --" She got in the car.
She was like, "Mama,
will you introduce me --
Don't introduce me
as your stepdaughter.
Just introduce me
as your daughter."
My mouth dropped
and my heart fell because you
never think that kids
is really paying attention.
And for her to say that
as a kid really pricked
my heart to the degree I said,
"I'll never do that again."
So now when I meet people
and they say that
they have step-kids, I tell
them, "No, you just have how
many ever kids there is,"
because you want to feel --
You want everybody to feel like,
as family, that it's seamless,
that you're one unit as a whole.
And family means everything,
and you just want everybody
to feel a part.
So that's what family
means to me.
And having my five kids
and my eight grandkids
and nieces and nephews,
to be the best aunt
that I could be.
>> How did we meet? I know how we met, but they may not know how we met.
>> Yes. Let me
tell my part of the story.
>> And as you tell your part,
I'm going to tell the truth.
>> I'm going to tell the truth.
>> I don't know if it's going
to be nothing but the truth,
so help you God.
>> It's going to be the truth.
Okay, so, how we met
is, my best friend
went to school and had a class,
a chorus class, with David.
You know, they was in class,
and David, Kirk, and
Darrell Blair
were singing, and she was like,
"Y'all sound good and
everything,
but I know somebody
who can sing better than y'all."
>> Now, mind you, we were
local-famous because we were bad
with the harmonies?
Hey, we sung all over the town
that we were in.
>> The town.
>> We were local-famous.
>> So, she came -- Now, neither
one of us had a car, so she had
her granny to pick me up,
bring me to their high school,
which was O.D. Wyatt High School
here in Fort Worth.
And they was kind of, like,
hanging out and they was playing
and they was rehearsing
in the chorus room.
And I sang
for them and I invited them --
It happened to be on a Friday.
I had to sing that night
at a choir -- at a musical.
So I invited them
to come hear me.
So David and Darrell
came to hear me that night,
and they was like, "Man!"
So, it so happened this weekend,
I sang that Friday night.
That Saturday night, it was
another musical that I went to.
They were singing there
as the group.
The Humble Hearts
is what they were called.
>> And we were humble.
Boy, were we humble.
>> Y'all was not humble.
Y'all was cocky. They was bad.
They was some bad young men.
>> We were pimps.
We wasn't players.
There is a difference.
>> That is terrible!
That is awful!
They was players. They were.
So, I heard them sing.
Then that next day,
which was that Sunday,
I ran into them again
at another musical.
>> Which was crazy,
because we had
went from never meeting
running each other to running
into each other every day.
>> Yeah. So, it was like --
>> The Lord knew you wanted me.
>> A couple weeks passed.
I seen him again
at another musical.
And they asked me to come
to one of their rehearsals.
>> We were plotting.
>> You was -- Yeah, y'all was,
'cause I had no idea.
>> We were plotting on our side
to invite her to the rehearsal,
ask her to sing
ad libs on a solo.
>> Right.
>> And then she would hear
how good she sound with us,
and then she would wind up
singing with us.
>> Yeah, so, I did
wind up singing with them.
We started this other choir,
and we were, like -- Me
and David was, like, the oldest
in the group.
So, this other choir that we
were forming to kind of involve
other young people,
we was all riding
in, like, this car, and it was
a bunch of us in this car.
We were in there,
and David was like,
Yeah, we're the oldest,
so we're just going to show
you --" I don't know
how we got on this conversation
of "We're going to show
y'all youngsters how to kiss."
What?!
>> And she volunteered.
>> I didn't volun...
>> Did we kiss?
>> I didn't volunteer.
So, we telling the truth.
This is "Uncensored."
>> But you didn't say
you didn't want to kiss either.
>> I didn't say
I didn't want to kiss.
>> Did you want to kiss?
>> No. I participated.
I participated.
>> Did you want to kiss?
>> So, we kissed.
And then we was kissing.
He was like, "Yeah, first,
you just smack on the lips."
So we smack.
And then we did another smack.
>> And then --
>> Now, that was
my intention to smack, right?
>> So, he came back in
for another smack,
so I put my tongue in his mouth.
>> Thank you.
This is the first time ever,
on "Uncensored," that she's
telling the truth, because
you have never told the truth
that you stuck your tongue
in my mouth.
And I was saved, sanctified,
and filled with the Holy Ghost
and didn't want no tongue.
>> No. And we just talked
about -- You just talking
about you was a pimp.
>> This is --
>> So, I did put my --
I did the kiss.
They got ready
to drop me off home,
and I walked in my apartment.
This dude over here talking
about I skipped to my apartment.
>> Dear...
>> I did not.
Now, that's not true.
We on "Uncensored."
>> Did you walk
to your apartment happy?
>> I walked.
>> Were you happy?
>> Yeah, I was happy.
You said I skipped.
>> But why were you happy?
>> Because, I mean, you know, I
liked you and I didn't want you
to know that.
>> Because you got that tongue
pull.
That's why you were happy.
>> Man! Cut! Cut!
>> That's why I'm glad we did
this "Uncensored," so some of
these lies can come out.
>> Next question. Next.
But that's how it happened.
God bless y'all. Next question.
>> And another thing that people
didn't know -- before Tam and
I --
>> Man, come on!
This is my interview.
>> Before Tam and I got married,
you got to tell them
that you were actually engaged.
>> I was talking to this guy.
He was in the Navy.
And we were singing together.
So, me and David was spending
a whole lot of time together.
So while us -- by us spending
this time together, I started
falling in love with him, David.
And the guy.
>> But you was already in love.
>> I was -- I liked him a lot.
I don't think I was in love.
I think -- You know,
it was like one of those
moments, like I said,
you know, not knowing
my worth and just giving in
to something, and it wasn't
what I thought it was.
>> You broke his heart.
Look in the camera and apologize
to him.
>> I'm sorry.
>> For breaking his heart.
>> For breaking your heart,
if I broke your heart.
If I broke your heart,
I'm sorry.
I apologize,
but that was the best thing
that I could have did for me.
>> Is getting with David.
Say that.
>> Is getting with David.
Okay, so, the next question.
>> Well, if I could explain what a shadow chick is, because growing up,
I didn't have a boyfriend
like most of my friends.
And I would have guys --
once I did get out on my own,
they would only come
when it was dark.
So that's why I got the name
from that I was a shadow chick.
I was good enough for you
to hang out with me in the dark,
but not to be seen with you
in the daylight.
I want to explain to you ladies
that are thick out there
that you are worth.
You bring favor
to your relationship.
We are the favor
in the relationship.
So know your worth, that you
are worth $1 million and more.
And it's not just about money,
but you're worth
to be treated fairly.
You're worth to be treated
right.
I mean, you deserve that.
And don't just sell yourself
cheap just to be with somebody.
I want people to know and women
to know that you're worth
everything that you deserve.
You're worth everything
that you deserve.
Not flossing well?
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For a cleaner, healthier mouth.
Ahhhhh.
Listerine. Feel the Whoa!
But I feel like I'm forgetting something else.
Oh! Shoe's untied!
¶
Nope.
¶
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Have a good one. >> WOMAN: You too.
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>> SINGERS: ¶ Safelite repair, Safelite replace. ¶
(Man) Excuse me, would you mind taking a picture of us?
(Tony) Oh, no problem. (Man) Thanks.
(Tony) Yes, problem.
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¶
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@NotHowie says
"Taco Bell only really hits after midnight".
Which is why I'm gonna use the Cantina Chicken Menu
to help him see the Taco Bell light.
It's hits.
Hi!
Are you @NotHowie?
The food hits right?
The Cantina Chicken
Crispy Taco isn't just
for late night.
SFX: BONG!
>> I started a clothing line because of the issues that I was having as a plus-size
or thick girl, because I would
always go shopping,
and it's like I found a lot of
things with a bunch of flowers,
nothing that fit right.
And I just felt like
a big tablecloth.
So I would get so frustrated
for years,
especially at my heaviest.
So I started the clothing line
because I wanted something
that was well put together
for us, by us, that I felt
like would look good on me,
so it would look good on you, up
and to, you know, a 30, 32.
That was at my heaviest.
So I'm pushing for us
to look good, just as good
as the little ladies, you know?
No offense.
I'm not throwing no shade, but I
wanted us to look good, too.
So I wanted something
for the everyday woman
that you could look good
and feel fresh and check us out.
Sizes 12 to 32, y'all, there's
some really cute stuff in there.
You can dress it up,
dress it down, work out in it,
run errands.
But it's for us.
So check it out.
I just want y'all to know the sky is not just the limit. It's beyond the sky.
Let's go into the hemisphere,
I mean, where
it's black up there.
I mean, we can reach for it.
It's never too late.
Y'all, it can be done.
Don't quit on yourselves.
Love yourself. Love Jesus.
And I'm telling you,
the Lord will take you far,
if you love the Lord
with all your heart.
And there's nothing
that can be done.
And that's because
that's my faith.
That's my faith base.
But I love y'all.
I couldn't
have done it with out y'all
and just even y'all supporting
me.
Thank y'all so much.
And just having this opportunity
to sit and talk to you.
I hope this is a blessing
to you to not quit,
not give up on yourself.
You can do it, whatever it is.
-- Captions by VITAC -- www.vitac.com