Shawn Stockman's On That Note

Bryan-Michael Cox joins Shawn Stockman for a conversation about making R&B classics for Mary J. Blige, Usher, Mariah Carey, and Jagged Edge. From the real-life conversation that led to Usher’s “U Got It Bad” to the hit that helped save Jagged Edge’s career, this episode is packed with legendary music stories.

In this episode of On That Note, Shawn sits down with 10-time Grammy-winning producer Bryan-Michael Cox to break down the records, relationships, and real moments behind some of R&B’s biggest hits. Bryan shares how Jermaine Dupri and Usher talked their way into “U Got It Bad,” why Jagged Edge’s “Gotta Be” became the record that helped keep the group alive, and how frustration with the music business helped shape Mary J. Blige’s “Be Without You.” They also get into Mariah Carey, Robert Glasper, church as a training ground for real musicians, the rise and return of R&B, and why the best songs still come from truth, craft, and conversation.
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Shanice joins Shawn Stockman to tell the real story behind her global hit “I Love Your Smile,” what it was like singing background vocals with Michael Jackson, and the difficult moment when she lost her record deal while five months pregnant—an honest look at how the music industry treated women at the time.

She also shares incredible behind-the-scenes moments from her career, including appearing in a commercial with Ella Fitzgerald at nine years old, winning Star Search, and navigating major industry decisions that shaped her catalog. The conversation expands into stories involving Justin Timberlake, Babyface, and Barbra Streisand, along with reflections on the golden era of ’90s R&B and the unpredictable journey of building a lasting career in music.
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The demo for “Straight Up” was literally pulled out of the trash — and it changed Paula Abdul’s life. In this episode, she takes us inside the creation of Forever Your Girl, her early days at Virgin Records, and the era that connected her to Prince and Janet Jackson’s Control movement.

Paula Abdul breaks down how “Straight Up” nearly disappeared before becoming a breakout hit, the creative risks she took while building her debut album Forever Your Girl, and what it was like being one of the first artists signed during the launch of Virgin Records America. She reflects on navigating label politics, cutting creative deals in the Prince ecosystem, witnessing Janet Jackson’s Control era up close, and working alongside rising producers like L.A. Reid and Babyface. This is the behind-the-scenes story of how a discarded demo became a defining moment in late-’80s pop music.
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Paula Abdul’s journey from rejection to leading the Laker Girls and choreographing The Jacksons is one of the great underdog stories in pop culture history.

In this Part 1 episode, Paula walks through her earliest timeline chronologically — being born premature with lung complications and hip dysplasia, growing up idolizing Gene Kelly and Bob Fosse, and fighting against the idea that she wasn’t built to dance. She explains how relentless preparation, resilience, and rejection shaped her work ethic, leading to her breakthrough moment with the Laker Girls during the Showtime Lakers era, performing in front of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and catching the attention of executives that opened the door to her first professional job choreographing The Jacksons and contributing to their Victory Tour. This is the origin story of the dancer and choreographer who built the foundation of her legendary career long before global fame.
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L.A. Reid tells the origin story of how meeting Babyface led to the creation of LaFace Records — and why that partnership changed music forever. He connects the label’s impact to the artists and eras that followed, from Usher to OutKast to the broader R&B legacy.

In this conversation, L.A. Reid walks through what it took to build LaFace from the ground up, what made that Babyface collaboration work, and how real artist development created a run that still shapes how people think about timeless records today.
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