-What's up, y'all? My name is Robert Glasper.
I'm 1/3 of August Greene. -What up?
My name is Karriem Riggins,
part of the group -- classic -- August Greene.
-What's up, y'all?
My name is common, one other third of August Greene.
-[ Laughs ]
-And we're gonna let y'all know
how the song "Optimistic" got created.
Well, first of all, "Optimistic" --
the version we did was inspired by an original version,
which was done by Sounds of Blackness,
written by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, right?
-Yeah. -They both wrote that.
It was a powerful song that came out in the '90s, early '90s,
and, one day, we were just in the studio,
cooking up some August Greene stuff.
And we were sitting in the live room,
and I remember Rob saying something about
how much he loved that song, "Optimistic."
And then, kind of, I started talking about how I loved it.
And Karriem was like, "Man, that's one of
my favorite songs."
And we just was like, "Man, we should do a remake of it."
And, for me, it was really a new thought,
because being a hip-hop artist, you never attempt remakes.
But with August Greene, like, you know,
because we're a band and just can do whatever we choose,
it just was -- Yeah, it was like the heavens opened.
Like, "Damn, we can do a remake."
So, then Rob suggested somebody.
-And I suggested Brandy to sing it,
'cause the thing about that song -- it transcends --
kind of transcends genre, in a way, because when it came out,
everybody loved the song.
You know what I mean?
It's kind of this -- kind of a gospel song, but not really.
It's just inspirational. You know what I mean?
So everybody from hip-hop to R&B to gospel --
you know, they all loved the song.
So, I had thought of getting Brandy to sing it --
you know what I mean? -- 'cause she's one of
those voices that everybody loves.
She has a timeless voice.
And, you know, I thought people would appreciate her.
So, you know, we hit her up, and she --
Did she fly down the next day?
-Yeah. -Yeah.
To be honest, at one point, we was thinking, like,
having Brandy be one of the singers.
-Right. -That's right.
-But then once she sang it -- She just came in the studio.
We was at Electric Lady, and she started doing her thing.
Like, she was just king of vibing before we got to it.
And then once she started recording, it was like, "No.
She can do the whole --" -Yeah, it was a wrap.
'Cause we were gonna try to have different vocalists --
person do a verse here, chorus, you know, kind of mix it up.
"We Are the World" fashion, something like that.
But, yeah, once she started, it was a wrap.
-Yeah. -For sure.
-So, and then, the next process of
making a remix of the remake.
[ Laughter ]
We started -- We did a remix of the song
and we added Kierra Sheard, from Detroit, incredible singer,
BJ The Chicago Kid.
We wanted to add something to --
You know, it's, like, our ode to the song,
so this is like a tribute to the brothers that made the song.
And we did that.
We talked about recording Kierra in Detroit?
-Yeah. Well, so, when we talked about it --
'Cause it's funny when we talk about things
and watching them come true.
'Cause we're in Electric Lady, we were talking about,
"We should do a remix of this."
And then I was like, "We should get Kierra Sheard."
And everyone was like, "Let's get BJ the Chicago Kid."
I think he was even like, "Well, I can call Kirk Franklin."
And you called him. -Yeah, yeah. We called him.
-In that moment, it was like, "Yo, can you get on this?"
And, so, everybody ended up getting on the joint,
you know, getting on the song.
So it features all of them.
And, so, what happened was -- I happened to be in Chicago.
Kierra happened to be in Detroit.
So I flew from Chicago to Detroit to record her vocal.
And that was, like, the only day she could do it.
-She smashed it.
-The timing worked out perfectly.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, so, I flew to Detroit so she could do her vocal there.
And then I came back, and BJ came to New York
for a few hours and got back on the plane.
-Yeah.
-And then Kirk Franklin was like, "Yeah."
He was just down to do it.
He laid it down in his studio and gave his vibe.
And that's the story of "Optimistic,"
August Greene's "Optimistic,"
and then the remix of "Optimistic."