Instead of Getting Into a Beef with Chris Brown, Robert Glasper Got Charitable

On this episode of “The Goodness Factor with Shelley Wade,” Grammy Award-winning musician Robert Glasper describes the moments he learned he was going viral after Chris Brown’s “Who the f*#k is Robert Glasper?” social media post, and shares why he turned what could’ve been a beef with Chris Brown into a charitable moment instead. Subscribe to the podcast and listen to the episode below…

[Transcript]

Hi, this is Shelley’s niece Erin and this is The Goodness Factor with Shelley Wade.

And welcome to “The Goodness Factor,” an Audacy podcast. I’m Shelley Wade, your host, also radio personality, entertainment journalist, voice over artist. And I appreciate you so much for joining me. As an antidote to the daily drumbeat of bad, negative and sad news in our 24 hour news cycle, with “The Goodness Factor with Shelley Wade,” I want to constantly remind you that there are actually good people in this world doing good things. We don’t hear about them as much as we hear about the bad people…But “The Goodness Factor” is here to change that. And each episode, I’ll introduce you to the people who are out there doing good things. I’ll be interviewing both celebs and regular people alike, shining the spotlight on the good deeds they’re doing. We’ll be releasing new episodes of “The Goodness Factor” every Tuesday. So be sure to subscribe on the Audacy app or your favorite podcast platform so that you’ll be immediately notified when a new episode drops. Each episode begins with The Goodness Report,” where I’ll share inspiring stories the world over about goodness, kindness and compassion. Then I’ll interview and shine the spotlight on a person–celeb or regular–who’s actively doing good deeds to benefit others. I call it The Do-gooder Interview. This episode’s do-gooder is Grammy award winning musician, Robert Glasper, who is my fellow Houstonian and tells me he used to listen to me on the radio in Houston. Yeah, shout out to Houston, Htown! You may remember that Robert Glasper went viral in 2023 because Chris Brown was unhappy that he lost the Grammy to Glasper and took to social media saying, ‘Who the F is Robert Glasper.” But we’re shining the spotlight on Glasper not because he went viral after Chris Brown’s one-way beef with him, but because of the classy and charitable way he handled that moment and turned that negative into a positive. More on that later. But yeah, each episode of “The Goodness Factor” ends with The Good Word…words of inspiration, positivity, and encouragement from yours truly. So let’s get into it! Time for The Goodness Report.

So I have an update to something we mentioned in Episode 2 when etiquette expert Elaine Swann stopped by “The Goodness Factor” podcast. And we had a whole segment of the conversation about chivalry on the train here in New York City. And I mentioned how, you know, listen, I’m a proper Southern Belle and when I get on the train, it often startles me and it feels unsettling when I see men, instead of offering me their seat, they’re racing me to the seat to sit down themselves. And so we had a whole conversation about that and chivalry. And please, if you have not heard that episode, please go back and listen to it and catch up on all of the episodes of “The Goodness Factor.” But I have a good update on that episode. Recently, I was on the train here in New York City And as soon as I got on, this man got up and said, ‘Hi. Would you like to sit down?’ and it just warmed my heart so much! And
I said, “Yes, thank you.” And then when I got off the train, I looked at him once again, it said, “Thank you.” So chivalry is not dead on the trains here in New York City. I have another story. I guess you can call this chivalrous as well. And it’s courtesy of Newsweek. The headline is, “Homeowner Spots Two Women Using His Outside Chairs, Decides to Take Action.” And I’m going to read the article for you. It says…

After noticing two elderly women taking a rest outside his home, a Toronto resident has melted hearts with a sweet gesture that caught them completely by surprise. Carlo Parentela, 54, saw the two women admiring his flowers. But after they noticed the two deck chairs outside at his home, they opted to take a well-earned rest in instead.

Now I’m not quoting newsweek.com when I say this, these are my own words. You know, listen, Carlo could have been, you know, he could have been all crotchety and angry that these two women took liberty and sat in his chairs. Yeah, he could have been like, get off my lawn. He literally could have been like get off my lawn. But instead of doing that, he was happy to let them relax in his front yard. But he also showed off his excellent hosting skills as he went outside to offer them some tea. Newsweek.com goes on to say…

He had seen the women go past before, but this was the first time they actually sat outside his home. Parentela told Newsweek that he wanted to quote, brighten their day with a surprise and what better way to unwind than with some tea and honey. And I’m quoting Parentela...He says, “I liked that they were enjoying the flowers. That’s what they were there for. When I saw them slowly sit down to get a little rest and enjoy the scenery, I thought, ‘This is their time to just walk around and take in the day.’ I thought some tea would hit the spot. So I went with fruit tea since it was a summer day and I took out some honey if they wanted to sweeten it up. They were totally surprised almost with their mouths open, not sure if I was sincere or not. The elderly women stayed in the deck chairs for just under an hour while Parentela headed back inside to continue working. He felt it was important to let them have some time to themselves and enjoy each other’s company. And Newsweek says there’s no doubt the two women were incredibly grateful for Parentela, his hospitality and kindness. Once they were finished and he took their cups away, he noticed that they were full of smiles and seemed so happy to have had that moment. Quote, “What a great feeling. I was the one that received the gift of giving, not them.” Parentela shared the heartwarming experience in a TikTok video @CarloPA, much to the delight of social media users. And Newsweek says plenty of TikTokers were touched by his kind gesture and Parentela hopes it could inspire others to follow suit, “I think the video will somehow break down walls of being kind to strangers and remind people that what you do for others, you’re also doing for yourself. I’m so glad it’s given hope and a smile to thousands around the world, seeing an act of kindness, and I hope they will do the same. I want this attitude to permeate and have a ripple effect, breaking down those hate reactions and the feeling of being scared of your neighbor. Just go with the flow. That’s the theory I aspire to and do what feels right.”

Yeah. Way to go, Carlo Parentela, way to go. That’s not only chivalrous, but it’s also kind. And that’s today’s Goodness Report.

Now, let’s shine the spotlight on this week’s Do-Gooder, Robert Glasper. And his stats are impressive as of this episode…He’s a five-time Grammy-winner and has been nominated 14 times. He’s got an annual month-long residency at New York City’s legendary Blue Note Jazz Club known as ROBtoberfest.
And not for nothing, he’s only the fourth artist ever to have a month-long residency at the iconic jazz club. Others include the legendary Dizzy Gillespie and the legendary Chick Corea. Not a bad exclusive club to belong to. As a philanthropist, Glasper has supported numerous charities including the AVK Arts Antonia & Vladimer Kulaev Heritage Fund, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, New England Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. And aside from his own Grammy-winning albums, Glasper played piano on several tracks off Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 album, “To Pimp A Butterfly.” And since he moved to LA a few years ago, he’s composed the scores to a number of Hollywood movies and shows, which is what he was going to do when he finished his chat with me. Hang tight, “The Goodness Factor” continues in seconds.

Heads up, Robert and I had our chat via Zoom. So you know how zoom audio can be a bit wonky at times, but the important part is the message. So check it out…

Hey, Miss Shelley Wade.

Robert, hi! Thanks for calling. Good to meet you.

First of all, I’m hearing your voice on the radio for years, you know.

Thank you. Are you recording right now?

Oh, no, no, no, I came, I came earlier to the studio. I’m gonna record after we finish.

Oh, you came in early for me. Thank you.

Yes.

Can you give me the scoop on what you’re recording?

Yeah, I’m doing this. Um I’m doing, I’m doing a score. So I’m doing the music for this series. I’ve been doing a lot of scoring in the last few years. It’s a new series called “The Big Cigar.”

“The Big Cigar?”

Yeah.

I was trying to think of who I wanted to be um on this episode and I thought of you immediately because I thought it was so wonderful what you did to turn the situation around when you won your Grammy for Best R&B album for “Black Radio III” and uh…to fill you guys in…So you won your Grammy for Best R&B Album. You were up against a lot of artists–most notably, Chris Brown–and Chris Brown’s reaction to you winning over him was not so sexy. You won. Chris took to social media and he…

He said what, Robert, he went on there and he said uh you know, “Who the fuck is Robert Glasper?! Y’all gotta be kidding me.” He’s like (these are different posts), he, he posted like four or five posts and he was like, um you know, “I guess I gotta get my harmonica skills up.” And then he said, uh know, “I’m gonna have to go harder in the paint on y’all respectfully,” or something like that. You know, he had a picture of me. It was like, is this a joke or you know, it was like, cause I, you know, he, he literally didn’t know who I was. This is how I took it because the funny thing is I didn’t know what was happening. It happened literally on the Grammy night. Yeah. And I had just won but I didn’t have my phone on me. I think my assistant had my phone or something. It’s a long story but my, my pants weren’t fitting. They’re too big.

No.

I found out they were too big the morning of. I lost a lot of weight. So my phone is now too heavy to put in my pocket because my pants are gonna fall. So…

We don’t want that on the, we don’t want that on the Grammy stage. We don’t want to…

But if you watch my acceptance speech, you, that’s the first thing I say. I say when I go up there, I was like, “oh my pants are falling down.” So, so I have my phone but when I’m walking after we, after we won and we’re walking the halls kind of about to go to the TV portion of the Grammys. Everybody’s like, yo, Rob you’re trending, you’re trending, you’re trending. And I was like, really, I was just from winning who, you know, but I was trending. I was number five trending on Grammy night. Then my friend was like, you, you saw what Chris Brown said? And I was like, no, so I check your phone, bro. And then when I went to my phone, I saw just all the texts, you know, and the crazy thing is, it’s, you know, when I saw that happen, I was like, well, that’s a win for me because what’s gonna happen is people are gonna google me, people are gonna follow me. They’re gonna try to figure who I am out. He just let a lot of people know who I was at that point. He didn’t know, but now he’s allowing all these other people to find out who I am.

You know what? You’re so right, Robert. Um But what I love most about this situation is that you could have been salty about this situation. You could have been like, oh no, he didn’t. But you, your, your first response was positivity. That’s why I wanted to spotlight you. And so tell everybody what you did instead of at-ing him and, and, and saying something, you know, instead of adding on to the vitriol, you turned it into a positive and you did what?

Yeah. So a really good friend of mine, Jesse McBride. Uh I went to high school with Jesse he lives in New Orleans. He’s been living there since 1997 and he’s uh a jazz educator, music educator, a staple in New Orleans now working with kids for a very long time out there. And so he started a foundation, the music community Center of New Orleans, not-for-profit to help kids get instruments, to give them lessons and, you know, just kind of to help grow their potential in music, you know, for underprivileged kids, you know. So I decided to make a t-shirt out of what Chris Brown posted. So this is the funny part…This is what a lot of people don’t know…”Who the fuck is Robert Glasper?” is my invention. Ok. So here’s the thing. I did it as a marketing ploy at my ROBtoberfest in, in, in New York. I do this thing at the Blue Note jazz club and I made a t-shirt that says “Who the Fuck is Robert Glasper?” and it sold out so fast, right? So then in January a week before the Grammys, I said I’m gonna do an online thing called “Who the Fuck is Robert
Glasper?” and ask my fans questions, you know, and kind of go back and forth and it went really well and we’re going back and forth my fans. So he took that Robert Glasper and put a laughing emoji on it, ok? Ok. Ok. So I decided to take that as of now, I, I didn’t go back and forth with him. I didn’t tweet anything or IG anything. I just took that picture and I made a t-shirt and I put it on sale and all the proceeds went to the Community Music Center Of New Orleans. You know what I mean?

Yeah.

It went to the kids and what was crazy about it, it was perfect timing because two weeks after was the gala for that. So I flew out to New Orleans and I talked to some of the kids and then I did the gala the next day so I could raise more money, you know what I mean? So it was just kind of like perfect timing that happened. I was like, oh here’s a way to make some money for you all. Boom, you know? But he hit me on the DMs, you know, he, everybody saw the apology, you know what I mean? And so we talked on the DMs a little bit and he was like, you know, “I know now…now I”…because a lot of mutual people that we both know, hit him up like, yo, bro, you know, check him out, you know, because I understand people in his stratosphere where he is. Even where I am–and I’m not where Chris is–where I am, there’s so many new artists that are dope that I just don’t know about. And a lot of my friends, I have specific friends that always give me the new things…”Hey, check this person out.” I want those people around me because I live in my own bubble a lot of times working and doing my thing and I don’t know what’s happening and Chris is, you know, in the stratosphere. So I, I don’t doubt he didn’t know who I was. It’s fine, you know, but I, I did tell him I’ve won this award before 10 years ago, you know what I mean? So my first “Black Radio” won R&B Album of the Year and then I went on to win another two R&B song Grammys. And then now just this one, you know what I mean? So, but now he knows that. Hopefully we’ll do something together, you know, cause I think he’s dope. You know what I mean? I think it was the moment, the moment and the phone was right there, the thumbs went, you know what I mean? And sometimes I gotta, you gotta get that person that like, OK, you know, I love how you turn that around.

“The Goodness Factor” resumes after this.

Robert, you know what I would like to do? I would like for you to uh pay it forward. We’re shining the spotlight on you right now because of the positivity you’re putting out into the Universe. Would you shine the spotlight on someone else you think we should feature on the podcast? Let me know who that is and we’ll feature them.

Absolutely. I think you should feature, you know, Bryan?

Bryan-Michael Cox, another fellow Houstonian. Bryan out there, Bryan’s out there doing good things. Uh, he’s doing great things.

Yeah, he was the last time I talked to him, I literally just talked to him and he was at Morehouse about to give a talk.

I love it. It’s almost like tag, you’re it, right? Tag. You just tagged, uh Bryan-Michael Cox, so I’m gonna feature him on the podcast as well. You know, so much with um celebrities and what you guys do…so much is gossip. So much is, uh you know–and I know there’s a place for that–but I think that good people are out here doing good things and I wanna put the spotlight on it and, and I just commend you for what you did for those kids in New Orleans. Thank you.

Absolutely.

So, uh thank you for coming on um “The Goodness Factor” and sharing your story. You guys, Grammy Award-winner, Robert Glasper. Now, if you didn’t know who he was now, you know the f-ing know!
Thank you so much for stopping by “The Goodness Factor,” Robert.

Thanks so much for having me, Shelley.

Thanks again to Robert Glasper for taking time out to share the why of his turning what could have been a beef with Chris Brown into a charitable moment instead. Now it’s time for The Good Word.

And today’s Good Word is encouragement to believe in yourself. You may have had a goal or dream for years, but maybe you haven’t tried to achieve it because you’re afraid of failure or you don’t think you have anything unique or different to offer. Meanwhile, while you’re sitting around doubting yourself, others with half your talent are out there succeeding at it. Why? Because they dare to believe in themselves. Life is so short and fleeting. If you have a dream or a goal, go after it. But first, you have to believe that you deserve to succeed. I read somewhere that the level of success you see in your life is a direct result of your belief system. So if you’re having a crisis of confidence in yourself and your abilities, here are some steps experts suggest you take to start believing in yourself.

-Instead of focusing on your perceived weaknesses, focus on your strengths.

-Also, focus on the positive and know that you don’t have to have all the skills it’ll take to be successful. Do what you can and partner with others who have the skills you lack.

-And don’t try to fit in with what everyone else is doing. Your uniqueness is your secret sauce. That thing that makes you different is what sets you apart. So embrace it and yourself wholeheartedly.

And finally…

-Be open to the opportunities to step out of your comfort zone. If we only do the things that make us feel comfortable, we may be preventing ourselves from getting to that next level. Vincent van Gogh once said, quote, “If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced. Believe in yourself because you deserve to live out your dreams.

And that’s The Good Word.

And that wraps up this episode of “The Goodness Factor,” created, produced and hosted by yours truly, Shelley Wade. And Zach Clark is our development producer. Thanks so much for joining me. Be sure to subscribe to “The Goodness Factor” on the Audacy app or wherever you get your podcasts. We will be releasing episodes every Tuesday, so be sure to subscribe and follow so you’ll be immediately
notified when a new episode drops. And listen, spread the word to all your family members and friends that like their dose of positivity as well. Tell them to also subscribe to “The Goodness Factor.” Also, follow us on Instagram at TheGoodnessFactor and on our Facebook page, The Goodness Factor with Shelley Wade. Be sure to like and follow so you don’t miss any of our posts on socials and um
interact with us…like our posts, comment on our posts and share our posts. And if you know of any people or organizations doing good things for their communities and you want us to shine the spotlight on them, DM us on social media. Also, if you have good news to share, I don’t know, maybe you got engaged or you got married or you got a new job or graduated or went through a successful surgery, had a milestone birthday, or if someone did something incredibly kind for you and you want to publicly recognize their kindness, record a voice message into your phone. DM it to me on social media. Yeah. DM me the voice message and I’ll be able to include your voice message in the next episode. This has been “The Goodness Factor” with yours truly, Shelley Wade, an Audacy podcast.