Yo, no more show at late night.
You know what it is.
Nothing but illustrious guests.
That's right, and tonight we have
the one and only Alicia Keys.
- That's right. - Hey.
Alicia Keys is in the building.
Alicia, thanks for joining us.
How's it going?
It's going good.
How are you feeling?
Not too bad.
Feeling good.
How's the pandemic affected your day to day?
Like, what's your schedule like now?
I mean, I think it's close to how many
people are experiencing it.
I-- I think we're all trying to figure out, like,
what is exactly life right now?
What-- - Yeah.
What's exactly going on with it?
You know, I have kids, so it's all about
virtual schooling right now.
Yeah.
There's a lot of that happening.
Doing a lot of Zoom meetings and stuff?
ALICIA KEYS: So that's-- - Talk about it.
ALICIA KEYS: It's a lot of Zoom.
THE KID MERO: That's what I'm saying.
ALICIA KEYS: Zoom is happening in a major way.
THE KID MERO: I feel you.
Which is-- which is cool.
I mean, it's-- I'm grateful that, you know,
they have that opportunity.
I know a lot of schools don't have that option, so, you know,
we're super grateful.
But it's just-- it's just a little--
honestly, it's weird as fuck, man.
I don't know. - Right?
Right? - Yeah, it is.
ALICIA KEYS: You know what I mean?
That's a good way to describe it.
ALICIA KEYS: [LAUGHS]
It is-- weird as fuck is like the-- should be
the motto for this whole shit.
But like, with the homeschooling thing,
are you-- is it bringing it back to you?
Is it bringing back, like, old memories
of, like, school and, like--
man, damn-- ALICIA KEYS: Is--
I was like, I feel you, bro.
I know why you do--
I know why you don't want to do this shit.
You have to play this balance, you know?
It's like you have to definitely make sure they're doing what
they need to do, but at the same time, you know,
you want it to still be an enjoyable experience.
And you know, you don't want it to be, like,
a drag all the time.
DESUS NICE: Right.
It's a-- it's a little thing.
Like, the other day I had to ask my-- my older son.
You know, he emailed this particular teacher
and followed up on whatever he's supposed to follow up on.
And, you know, it really irritated him,
and I could just see him.
He was, like, just irritated about it.
- Yeah. - But you know what?
He gave me a smile, and he was like, nah, I did it.
And I was like, OK, you know what?
I appreciate it, your energy in that moment,
because I know you were a little bit irritated with the way I
had to ask you that.
So it definitely reminds me, like, when
my mother was asking me stuff like that as a kid, I was not--
I was so annoyed.
Yeah?
I was so irritated.
so it reminded me of all that for sure.
Got you.
And speaking of the high schools, a Bronx love story
began at Truman High School.
DESUS NICE: Drop the Co-op City.
THE KID MERO: Way back in the day, back in Co-op City.
You know what I'm saying?
Hey!
Talk about it.
Tell the people.
You know, well-- you know, let's be clear.
Swizz and I have known each other for a really long time.
DESUS NICE: Right.
And the first time that we met it
was through my home girl Nikki, and she's an MC, too.
And she-- and she was was like, Swizz is gonna blow.
And y'all need to connect.
And you're gonna blow.
And it was before either of us had anything,
any music, any-- anything.
It was just a bunch of dreams.
And-- and so she lived in the Bronx.
Right.
And she was like, I want to introduce you to him.
And so I guess we ended up going to Truman, and he was there.
And that's where we connected.
And we just said hello briefly.
It was-- it was-- it was light work.
It was-- it wasn't much.
I was extra playing the extra cool, you know, put off vibe.
Yeah, that New York girl, vibe.
ALICIA KEYS: But I didn't really know him.
Yeah, the New York girl vibe.
You-- you stupid.
Shut up.
You stupid.
[LAUGHS] It wasn't even like that.
It was like my home girl introducing--
introducing us just because we were both New
Yorkers doing our thing.
And-- and that was really it.
And it wasn't even until years later that we
actually really connected and kind of separately
do-- do our thing.
So it was-- it's so ill how you realize your-- you cross
paths with people, but you don't know how it's gonna to turn up.
DESUS NICE: Right.
Yeah.
So there's no secret demo, like secret,
like, recording of, like, y'all are back in the day.
Could you imagine?
Yo, I'm saying.
That would be--
that would be crazy.
Yeah, now we just wrapped up.
We were just at the school outside.
I had my-- my purple bubble on.
He had whatever he had on, and--
and after that, you know, he was probably
like, oh, let's keep in touch.
And I was like, hm, maybe not.
And that was it.
We never got your demo.
True New Yorker.
Yo, Alicia, you are a New Yorker.
What is your favorite pizzeria?
You know, my favorite pizzeria is the one that I shouldn't go
to, and so, of course, there's, you know,
every Ray's that was ever on every corner ever.
Right.
Which the-- my memory from my Ray's is-- is when I used to--
I used to date this kid that was-- lived on the concourse.
And we-- and we had to cross the whole concourse
to get to this pizza shop.
DESUS NICE: Right.
And the pizza in the Bronx was like no other pizza
I ever saw-- DESUS NICE: Yeah.
--anywhere else.
It was literally, like, I don't know what type of slice--
DESUS NICE: A huge--
ALICIA KEYS: --that was, but it was--
You could-- you could hang glide with the shit, like.
ALICIA KEYS: It was huge.
Exactly.
So you're dropping your new album,
"Alicia," later this year.
Yes.
Yes, it's coming.
You know, we-- who knew that we all had to juggle things
that we couldn't foresee.
Right.
But the beautiful thing is, you know, the music is amazing.
I love it.
It's definitely similar concept and-- and things that
I'm thinking about that the book,
"More Myself," which actually just came out last week--
OK, that my dance real quick.
The book and-- the book and the music just-- they think--
I've been thinking a lot about identity,
a lot about kind of what makes a person who they are,
and how much of ourselves are we not tapped into.
Like, how much do we not allow ourselves
to be in regards to all the complexities
that make us who we are.
So the music is sick.
It's-- it's fire.
Yeah.
I love it so much.
And when it's time to drop, it's gonna be here.
And were you able to-- to do all the recording
and everything that had to be done for the album
pre-quarantine, or did-- because a lot of creative people have,
like, creative spaces in their house where they can do--
you know what I mean? - Yes.
In a pinch, like, yo, I can lay some vocals
in the crib or whatever.
ALICIA KEYS: Yes, yes, definitely.
Like, are you that type of person?
Like, you got the-- you got the set up in the crib,
and you can be like, yo, I'm gonna email you those vocals
in like 10 minutes.
Hold-- hold tight.
I got you.
You know what's weird is, you know, since I was--
when I was first, first staring, a shorty, shorty,
shorty, I was so excited I had the basement
of this one little tiny house I got in Queens.
And it had, like, the basement I made it to be
the studio and the whole thing.
And I turned into a lunatic.
Like, I could only think about ever doing music.
And if I wasn't doing it, if I was just sitting on my couch
chilling, watching TV, I had, like,
incessant guilt about not being downstairs
working on something.
I don't know what happened to me,
but I turned crazy about it.
So I was like, next house I got, I was like, I'm not
gonna have a studio in it, because I need,
like, a little separation.
Right.
So I actually--
I actually prefer to have a place
to go to be able to, you know, kind of like,
get that space in.
And then, when I'm home, I'm able to be home and just be,
because something about my brain does weird with that--
with that kind of thing.
But I do-- I obviously have a piano.
DESUS NICE: Of course.
And I got my--
I got my things like that, you know?
DESUS NICE: Got you.
Yeah, but to-- to your point, like,
there's a lot of people that are running into that problem.
Like, you're used to being like, this is my workspace,
and this is my home.
And then when you got to combine the two, it's just like,
is this is gonna peanut butter and jelly,
or is this is gonna be like--
No, I am definitely--
This is not gonna work.
No, it's true.
I mean, like, most-- most people are used to, like, leaving
their home and going to work.
And, you know, obviously, that's why
so many-- to your point, so many people are having to figure out
how to work at home, and balance the kids,
and balance whatever they have, and their partners,
and the whole thing.
So it's definitely-- the whole thing about a new schedule is--
I'm-- I'm a little confused.
Yeah.
I'm not-- I'm not doing that well.
I haven't-- I haven't fully sorted it out well yet.
How about y'all?
Y'all seem like y'all got it together?
- Still-- - You got the sneaker room.
Still a little shaky.
You got the ethernet cable.
Still a little shaky.
ALICIA KEYS: What's happening?
I went to bed at 5:00 AM this morning, so I--
I don't know what's going on with my sleep cycle.
ALICIA KEYS: You don't know what's to-- word.
This camera cannot pan either this way or this way,
or you're gonna see some--
some wild shit going on on either side of this camera.
It's weird.
Like, how do-- yeah, how do y'all feel?
Do y'all feel, like, just out of your element,
or in your element?
I mean, not so--
I mean, like, not so much.
I feel like the comfort level is-- is--
is more, because it's like.
I'm in my sweatpants right now. I'm barefoot.
Like-- ALICIA KEYS: Right, right.
And we chomping it up.
You know what I mean?
And like, the kids know, like, daddy's working.
It took a while to get to that point,
but now they're like daddy's working.
We've got to chill.
We can't wrestle upstairs because we're
gonna hear the noise through the floor,
and it's gonna mess up the level.
But like-- - Yes.
You know, little by little, baby steps, you know?
But--
That's what I think.
The comfort level is definitely there.
This feels weird as hell.
ALICIA KEYS: How-- yeah.
Like, you can't hear it, but I'm in the Bronx,
and, like, it's ambulances all the time
and my bodega shut down.
So like, it feels like a war zone out here, you.
ALICIA KEYS: Yeah.
So just being in the--
being in the house is kind of nice.
It takes your mind off of it, but yo, this is a weird time.
ALICIA KEYS: It's just-- yeah, no,
it's definitely twilight zone.
Definitely.
Yeah, I've never seen New York like this,
and I think you discussed this in your book
about how, like, seeing New York and all the streets are empty
is one thing, but, like, as someone who's lived in New
York your whole life, you remember what New York used
to be like, how Times Square used to be super gritty, used
to be sex workers and stuff.
What was that like?
Yeah, I mean, you know, that was just--
that's just what I always knew.
I-- I grew up on 43rd between 9th and 10th.
And so right there on 42nd, 8th Avenue was the whole world,
you know?
Peep show game, everything. ALICIA KEYS: Everything.
Every-- every peep show you could ever--
you know, everybody who was-- didn't
have anywhere else to go.
I mean, it wasn't called Hell's Kitchen for nothing, for sure.
Right.
And so there was definitely just a--
it was just a--
it was unexplainable, really, but that-- that's
what I saw all the time.
In fact, that's what-- that's what really informed me
a lot about even how I dress.
Like, I'm such a tomboy because of growing up on 42nd Street,
for sure. - Right.
- Because there was a-- - Oh, yeah.
There was an element that if--
if you ever got too pretty, if it was ever to, like, much--
Yeah.
--people-- I never wanted to be in the category of mistaken
me or being approached by any number
of pimps that were everywhere.
DESUS NICE: Yeah.
So it was definitely, definitely a whole other world.
Now it's totally different.
When I go and I look at Times Square, I'm just--
I'm shocked.
DESUS NICE: Right.
I'm like, what is this place?
Yo, it's wild, because you watch a-- you watch, like,
an old movie like "Mean Streets" that's, like,
set in, like, the late '70s, '80s, whatever,
and then you look at it now.
And you're like, no, hold up.
This is like Disney World now.
What is this?
The funniest thing in Times Square--
It's crazy.
--got a big-ass M&M store now.
Like, who goes-- goes to Times Square and buy M&M's, like?
By the pound.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
I'll tell you what.
Them kids-- [INTERPOSING VOICES]
This other-- you know, there was other type of candy,
and now there's M&Ms.
Yeah, word.
This really sounds like a conversation
between three old New Yorkers.
Like, yeah, I'll tell you about--
I'll tell you how Times Square used to be, bro.
Let me tell you.
It wasn't all fun and games, you know?
Listen.
There was an ESPN restaurant.
The best H was on 43rd and 8th.
[LAUGHTER]
Oh, man.
They're like, yo, how do you know that?
Y'all are crazy.
Y'all are so crazy.
DESUS NICE: We're just having fun.
I mean, you-- you might be old, but I'm not, so whatever.
I'm not. Yeah, yeah.
We-- we-- we're New York old.
As New Yorkers, you stop telling your age after 25.
You're just like, mind your business.
Yeah.
Like, yo, after 25, you're just like, yo, I survived.
Don't worry about it.
Yeah, that's true.
That's true.
THE KID MERO: Like--
Although I am proud--
I am proud of being in my 30s, because there
is something about that mind state that just--
DESUS NICE: Yeah.
THE KID MERO: Talk about it.
You feel more evolved and more just--
you know, you're just more fresh.
Alicia, how did you learn to play
two pianos at the same time?
ALICIA KEYS: Oh shit, it was so hard, even for me.
Even for me.
DESUS NICE: I mean, learning to play one piano is hard,
and now you-- you-- two?
I-- you know, I've been playing for a long time.
I've been playing since I was seven years old.
And, you know, when I--
I've always admired that-- that clip of Hazel
Scott playing on two pianos.
By the way-- - Right.
--if Hazel--
Hazel Scott would smoke me, by the way.
She's so amazing.
Like, her skills is really unbelievable.
So every time I saw that clip as a kid growing up, I was like,
one day, one day, one day.
And so when we were talking about the Grammys
and all this stuff, and--
and-- and Swizz asked me one day.
He was like, you know, so what are you gonna do?
Like, how are you gonna make it crazy?
I was like, I'm gonna play two pianos.
And I just knew I was gonna play two pianos,
but I said it before I ever did it before.
Right.
So-- so then, I'm like, all right,
I'm gonna play two pianos.
This is what I'm gonna do.
This is what-- and-- and I would--
I had-- so first of all, where are two pianos ever?
Nowhere.
DESUS NICE: Right.
Like, there's nowhere on the planet
that you're gonna find two pianos.
THE KID MERO: Right.
So I had to start--
I had to start with two keyboards,
and I would basically have them everywhere.
I'd have them at my studio.
I had them at my house.
I had-- if I had-- at the time, I was writing the book, so I
would-- you know, I would--
I would have them wherever I was writing.
And I had to--
I had to--
I had to figure out, in my brain, how
to work the right hand and the left hand
and this-- in these verticals.
Right.
And it was not easy at all.
I was stressed.
In fact, four days before the Grammys, I was like, that's it.
If I can't get this by tonight, I'm canceling.
I'm canceling.
I'm not gonna embarrass myself.
It was literally that close--
DESUS NICE: Really?
ALICIA KEYS: --to the point where I had to really
kind of figure it all out.
It was-- it was a feat for me to pull that off, and I'm really--
I'm glad I did.
I'm glad I stuck with it.
What was the hardest part about it, though?
Was it like the ambidextrous aspect of it?
Was it the having--
ALICIA KEYS: I think it's--
it's because-- so on the right hand, the--
the bass keys are closer to, like, you.
Right.
And then my treble keys on the left hand
are gonna be back here.
So you were like--
And then when I have to play a treble,
I got to switch back to this way, and then--
Oh, wow.
--in order to look to make sure
that you're hitting the right things, you have to like--
there's a certain-- it's just a whole other--
DESUS NICE: That's a lot of work.
And then the pedals on the bottom and shit?
Like, you got those going, too?
And then-- oh yeah, the ped--
yeah, you're right, see?
And then-- and so then both my feet are on both pedals,
like this, spread.
And-- and then--
and so that was the hardest part there.
And then the second hardest part was,
once I finished that, I actually went
piano to piano to-- to kind of create
this, like, circular thing.
So at one moment, I was just playing one piano, anyway,
and Swizz was like, you can't have two pianos out there
and play one piano.
Like, that doesn't make any sense.
DESUS NICE: Right.
How are you gonna make this come together?
And that's when I figured out that I would--
I would go switch back and forth per song,
but that beginning song was both pianos like that.
But anyway, it was--
that thing was for sure, like--
So you could basically drive two cars at the same time?
You know what I'm saying? - I'm ready.
You could be the illest Uber driver ever.
I'm ready right now.
I'm ready.
[LAUGHS] Even though nobody would come to my car.
20 motherfuckers in the Uber pool.
OK, is that-- and I got all of them.
I'm ready.
I got you, and I'll play you some good music right now.
[LAUGHTER]
Unreleased.
Alicia, what was--
now, I used to take piano class back in the day,
and I had a Russian piano teacher who used a razor
and cut in between her fingers so she
could do the scales better.
Oh my gosh.
DESUS NICE: What's the-- what's the wildest piano
teach you ever had.
Well, the crazy thing is I really
only had one piano teacher.
DESUS NICE: Just one?
Yeah, so-- and she definitely didn't--
DESUS NICE: Didn't do that?
That's crazy.
Did she make you do that?
No.
You know what it is?
Because she came from-- she learned piano in Russia, the--
like, I guess the government made her.
Right.
And she came here, and she was like, we're
gonna send you to Juilliard.
And I was like, not if I have to cut my hand open, so.
But that's-- but I actually can see why.
Because my hands are very small, and I've always--
I've always wanted to play really--
I-- I used to like Fats Waller and, like, these really
big stride piano players.
And they were guys, and so their hands were really big.
Right.
And they'd be able to reach chords
that I could never reach, so I mean,
I'm not gonna cut my fingers.
That's not happening.
DESUS NICE: But are you thinking about it now?
You're-- you're looking.
But I can see.
No.
Yo, you could by finger extensions.
I'm just-- I could--
I could see.
Well, Alicia, we could talk to you all day,
but we know you're a busy person.
You've got things to do, and we don't want to hold you,
but thanks for talking to us.
I do have a lot to do right now-- like, a lot.
Yes.
So I'm gonna go do all those things, especially--
Before you start.
Get that homework done.
Let me get this homework done.
I did take a break for lunch.
DESUS NICE: Right.
I was like, all right, I think I can sneak out
right here and talk to y'all.
Let's go.
Alicia, you know how New York is.
Every New Yorker's been to a bodega, and bodega's-- they
have the neon sign.
What would you like your neon sign to say?
Empire State of mind.
Woo!
That's right.
A classic song.
A New York banger. - Yeah.
You know what I'm saying?
Oh, she performed at Yankee Stadium with Jay-Z in '09.
I remember. - That's right.
I was there.
- Damn! - Yes.
- You know the vibes. - There go my guys.
All right?
There go my guys.
You know the vibes.
(SINGING) In New York.
By the way, we-- we got the red memo.
We looking real good. - Yeah, see?
You know I'm saying? [INTERPOSING VOICES]
ALICIA KEYS: --a synchronized.
Yeah, that's what we're gonna do from on for every interview,
because you set that up.
Thank you guys.
Alicia Keys, thank you so much.
- Blessing. - Yo.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
Album out later this year.
Take care. - New York forever.
You heard?
Yo!
Alicia, stay safe.
Blessings.
You be safe, all right?