Virgil Roberts on Becoming President of Solar Records, the "Motown of the '80s"

[@Griffdawg69]

Wow.. tears in my eyes. little pieces of our history I didn't know.. THANK YOU FOR THIS INTERVIEW..... I knew the general story, but Virgil is my father's voice now.

[@NewmskiRunnerCarerDJProducer]

You got it spot on. Agreed with you.

[@Griffdawg69]

Thank you. I agree.. Virgil Roberts HANDS DOWN was and is one of the most amazing men and lawyers and holds the BIGGEST Key to our Legacy.. Our Story Must and Shall be told. Thank you all for keeping it alive....

[@papichefitup]

Carolyn Griffey hey beautiful

[@coreybrooks8362]

Ur dad put some great music out into the world Carolyn. I have lots of Solar stuff in my collection. As a matter of fact, I had one of ur mom's CD's playing all day in my truck yesterday. Lol. It must be nice to come from such a great legacy.

[@antoinestuckey425]

Smart black man. RIP Dick Griffey

[@clubberlang93]

Great interview. Good to hear how he used education to propel himself into a career. This is inspirational

[@kamala80]

Thanks for this interview, Vlad. As a Black lawyer it warms my heart to see Mr. Roberts on your platform.

[@kamala80]

No. I work in Knowledge Management.

[@Tudaman]

I'm glad he shouted out Leon Sylvers

[@viralbuthow000]

Absolutely. He had to. Leon gave Solar its sound.

[@wingchundragon]

Tudaman VLAD, you must interview Leon Sylvers

[@cehayes74]

Tudaman Leon Sylvers to S.O.L.A.R Records is what Rod Temperton (R.I.P) was to Quincy Jones & Various artists in the 1980’s.

[@DaveSincere]

ALOT of history and knowledge in this interview.

[@Buildsolarhomes]

One correction. Howard Hewitt was NOT an original member of Shalamar. That would be Gary Mumford. Mumford's replacement as Lead Singer was Gerald Brown who sang lead on their 1st major hit "Take That To The Bank". Howard Hewitt replaced Brown as their 3rd lead singer.

[@NewmskiRunnerCarerDJProducer]

I grew up on the Solar sound, (mainly Shalamar, The Whispers and Midnight Star) in the UK. Solar was and still is one of the most under-rated labels. But, this year is the 40th Anniversary of the label :)

[@luckap79]

Deejay Newmski fuck the U.K.

[@jonathanrowe2995]

Newmski facts

[@justicestyles]

Why have I never heard of him ... we need to get more of him on camera ... this is true Black History

[@shawnjones5503]

Great, amazing story, touching. The powers of Philanthropy and caring people. Virgil should write a book.

[@obatron1]

Solar Records and The Total Experience Records was where it was at in the 80s.

[@nickfreshalive]

Total Experience also spun off a nightclub. The party scenes in Dolemite were recorded there (the band in the movie, Revelation Funk, featured powerhouse vocalist (and later on, Quincy Jones protege) James Ingram)

[@oholm09]

@@nickfreshalive his name is Lonnie Simmons

[@PharaohLawLess1]

I'm reading comments about Vlad and he's this and that BUT YET I don't see none of our on brothas and sistas who has a platform like Vlad interview Mr Roberts. Where is his Drink Champs interview??? Where is his This Is 50 interview? ?? Where is is Complex Every day Struggle interview???? They would rather interview Lil Yacht instead????

[@tanysozi]

PharaohLawLess1 u have a point good observation ✊🏾

[@DreamMaker_970]

But they will call Vlad a culture vulture

[@zealousjay1993]

Facts bro ... I did peep that fact .. But I also slept on it

[@apexgraphix8181]

@@DreamMaker_970 rite bruh

[@Tristin1974]

you need to interview LEON SYLVERS!!!!!!!

[@obatron1]

Thanks for this one Vlad, my late pops use to play with a lot of folks mentioned in this vid. Brought back a lot of childhood memories.

[@NewmskiRunnerCarerDJProducer]

Leon Sylvers, still one of the greatest producers around.

[@adangbe]

HANDS DOWN one of the greatest!

[@LoudSoul78]

PRODUCED MOST OF THE BLESSED INCREDIBLE MUSIC FOR SOLAR RECORDS FAMILY AS WELL AS SO MANY OTHER R&B ARTISTS OF THE 1980'S. SALUTE AND MUCH RESPECT TO LEON FOR HIS BEAUTIFUL SIGNATURE SOUND AND HIS AMAZINGLY CREATIVE VISION AND MIND. I STILL AND WILL ALWAYS CHERISH AND PLAY ALL MUSIC PRODUCED BY HIM. GOD BLESS LEON AND HIS FAMILY ALWAYS

[@kingsports1113]

Bite prince sound

[@antoniojohnson8443]

Fascinated with SOLAR Records. The SOLAR building ,Motown Building, and the A&M records are so close to each other in Hollywood.

[@cehayes74]

Antonio Johnson S.O.L.A.R Records had a office in the Motown Building before getting their own digs !!!

[@TheWholeWorld1]

"....blowing like Shalamar in 81" -Ghostface

[@Polostar79]

Victory

[@MrKAHutch]

Awesome interview. Likely one of the sharpest guys Vlad has interviewed.

[@PharaohLawLess1]

Vlad, I thank you for another great interview. Keep interviews like this coming

[@PharaohLawLess1]

Mr Roberts is a prime example of no matter how poor you are if you have an intelligent drive to succeed you WILL succeed. He made no excuses, just buckled down and grind it till you make black coffee

[@jonathanrowe2995]

PharaohLawLess1 facts we need more mr Roberts

[@cehayes74]

Jonathan Rowe Agreed !!!

[@kansascitychief4965]

This man don worked with some of the greatest black people in the 20th century. Salute to the OG

[@REDD_BLITZ]

13:54 Actually, the original Shalamar was Jody Watley, Jeffrey Daniel, and Gary Mumford. The latter member would leave the group. Gary Brown, who was in the previous The Soul Train Gang, would replace Mumford. Howard Hewitt would replace Brown. Miki Free and Lisa replaced both Jeffrey and Jody. Shwooo, quite a saga there lmao

[@cubedmack]

Dude looks like he could be Baby Face's uncle, lol.

[@louiemuhammad]

cubedmack 😂😂😂😂😂

[@MaseratiDuke]

Vlad although you're a culture vulture, FBI Informant and a 2pacacist. You somehow always able to pull an interview with the most influential people in music. Salute.

[@TheRebelsun7stars]

FACTZ....Vlad has moments of genius

[@artondekz]

true lol

[@gtg305h]

2pacacist 😂

[@TollFree999]

He must really be connected or lacing their pockets or something. I really don't get why no one Black is able to get these interviews.

[@lloydjohnson5817]

when you speak of solar great history mr. Roberts but you all failed to mention the group Lakeside

[@hiphoprbloverjon9180]

It's crazy how Blacks invented most of history's music but can't seem to get a hold of shit like owning the music. And then when a label prospers they eventually die down. Why is that?

[@denmark555]

Black folks are very giving people, and we've made the major mistake of accepting people based on how they present themselves. Other races show up on some liberal/free love/hippie/pro-humanity shit. They learn our sciences, then steal it away from us. Any black person like Suge Knight, or Dick Griffy, is blacklisted when they try to keep shit all black.

[@411PAP]

HipHopR&BLover Jon blacks don't do for self

[@PharaohLawLess1]

HipHopR&BLover Jon It's not so much they die out it's that they sell out. Meaning like Barry Gordy they sell the record labels to non blacks just like how you see Harlem being regentrified NOT by us getting forcibly put out of the buildings and brownstones that were owned by blacks but bcuz they make an offer to purchase your old beat up brownstone for quadruple what it's worth, we take that money and move to ATL and then they reside there and the ones that bought the buildings from us don't and won't rent to sand jack up the rent. We have business we start up and grow and when it reaches a certain level we sell out

[@310bound]

denmark555 Dick Griffey's case is true, but Suge ain't kept shit "all black" nor was he blacklisted. It was mainly suburban white folks buyin' his Death Row catalog. He was just the 2nd Black man to own his masters. You know who the 1st one was...the direct model he admits to emulatin'. He went over to Interscope & got one of those regular slave distribution deals. His lawyer, David Kenner was a white man wit Mafia ties. The Cosa Nostra don't like niggas. At all. Folks give dat nigga suge too much credit. Tryna consider him a Great Black Man is an insult to the likes of Griffey himself. I just can't get past the fact that folks buy into his pro-black sentiments despite how he treated his Black artist, co-workers & other Black folk. He did make tbings happen for Dre, but at what cost? He took Dre's ownership of Death Row from him & Dre left with the shirt on his back. All the property his artist had was in suge's name. he robbed them niggas blind. That don't sound pro-black to me.

[@cameron_fairchild]

i think that'a a great question and i think it's coming from a poor background the amount of money Jewish and white executives and lawyers are giving you is more than you ever seen or dreamed of seeing in your life at one time. so you sign the paperwork and go live out your dreams. never realizing you signed away, masters, half or more of your publishing, the trademark to the name of the group, and etc, etc, that's all in the fine print. how much money they will give you to sign the contracts is in LARGE PRINT to get your eyes big and that's how they get you to sign away every thing on all the pieces of paper that follows that first paper with all the 0's $$ on it that is how much you get TODAY!! More than you dreamed and you get to be in the fame business and get more money later. BUT THEY OWN EVERYTHING.

[@PharoahsKingdom]

R.I.P. Dick Griffey

[@jermeydumas6538]

Nashville Tennessee Native 💪🏿

[@fourdevils694]

They can hate all they want, but Vlad, you GOLDEN for interviewing this cat. Peace Yaself

[@JoyceIrby]

I love VR!!!!!!

[@trevorallen1006]

Blessings Fenderella! 🙏🏾🔥🎶🙌🏿

[@mac10watp31]

seen this dude on the death row n nwa dvds

[@MikeyBrown99]

Did he say "I think I'm glad to be here"?

[@julianjessevideo]

OMG Vlad, another GREAT interview.

[@zealousjay1993]

Wow .. I am glad I watched this ... Virgil is dope

[@2.T00T]

Bring on the Death Row stories

[@betekle4067]

Great educational video.... hard to hate Vladtv after this interview....

[@samheng8678]

leave him alone vlad.. he has nothing to do with tupacs murder

[@jonathanrowe2995]

sam heng lmao

[@CCTH2221-lp2zj]

Wow just seeing this for the first time. So fascinating because as someone who grew up in the NYC area, I heard SOLAR on WBLS but obviously in middle school didn’t really know what it stood for. Black Los Angeles is fascinating to me for so many reasons…

[@amazing50000]

I don't know how old you are, but on the vinyl records back in the days it will say "Sound Of Los Angeles Records" under or over the SOLAR name on the labels.

[@youthinkthatsgood]

i do remember Danny Sims always speaking about Dick who he had so much respect for and so did Kendall Minter and Virgil is one of the Great Music Guys when they where really talented and conscious

[@rapidfiremuzik_official]

RIL Dick Griffey, Founder of "Sound.Of.Los.Angeles.Records"

[@lloydjohnson5817]

This is good vlad can you somehow upload the whole interview

[@KevinBaxterAlpo1985]

9 to 10 second s.. I think I'm glad to be here lol..

[@idkAusername1000]

The only Virgil we acknowledge is Abloh

[@kingsports1113]

Norman whitfield had it lock with roses Royce

[@tonydeshae7901]

Vlad I need a interview lol Flint Michigan Music Needs To Be recognized

[@lennonmyers5171]

Thanks 👍 Vlad

[@lloydjohnson5817]

Vlad you don't know s*** about The Whispers I'm shocked

[@InglewoodsFinest71]

Did he speak on contract Dick Griffey had him draw up for Howard Hewitt and Jeffrey Daniels had to sign to reform Shalamar with Dick Griffey daughter Carolyn Griffey? He helped the nepo baby secure her bag

[@qsmooth7805]

Nice

[@DLCOrganization]

I'm still curious about why Vanity was mentioned. She never had a record on Solar...unless she went under another name???

[@REDD_BLITZ]

Roberts too was an entertainment lawyer. He at one time represented her.

[@tigerbombster]

Impressive resume....

[@jpoll5773]

MASTER P WAS WITH SOLAR TO BACK N DA DAY

[@Sneadsel]

Hey thats morgan freeman

[@acewalker.3915]

thats how you get your equality by overcoming your circumstances. Not by saying they racist so I cant do anything good.

[@MrJaccTrippa]

Ace Walker. how about calling out the racist, coming up, and killing all the racists??

[@acewalker.3915]

Jacc Trippa feel free to try but I doubt you will

[@l.thomas1762]

Shut the fuck up. Its RACISM as to why there aren't a huge amount of black guys like this walking around. Throughout everything against us, there are still some of us that make it. This shows how superior we really are. Black people would be rich as a race if it weren't for racism holding us down.

[@luizhenrriqueperiferia4510]

gangter

[@JustinJaiC.]

Luiz Henrrique #Periferia *gangster

[@Tudaman]

I'm glad he shouted out Leon Sylvers

[@cehayes74]

Perverted Alchemist Calloway Brothers, Teddy Pendergrass (R.I.P) “Joy”