Quincy

Wow.

Can you even fathom what's happening, like…?

You know what I'm saying? This is so…

fucking crazy.

Quincy Jones' house, man.

Believe it?

So much history in here.

Hey, baby. What a pleasure, man.

Thank you so much for doing this.

It's The Pharmacy with Dr. Dre, special edition.

- Yes, it is. - 'Cause we have the legend of all legends.

Quincy Jones. The legendary Quincy Jones.

Man, y'all making me sound old.

- My ultimate mentor and inspiration. - Don't even know how to drive.

That's all right.

You're the reason why I decided to get into production.

- So proud of him, my man. - Yeah, thank you.

- Thank you so much. - No, I mean that, man.

So, I really wanted to know

what type of struggles you had and what did you have to go through?

I wasn't born in Bel Air, man. I'm from the South Side of Chicago, man.

In the '30s, man, during the Depression, damn, you kidding?

We lost my mother when I was seven,

and my brother and I, we were, like, we were street rats, you know?

I wanted to be a gangster till I was 11.

Wow.

- You want to be what you see. - Right.

And that's all we ever saw.

You see that right there?

I went on the wrong street and they took a switchblade

- and nailed my hand to a fence, man. - What?

Seven years old.

- See this one here? - Yeah.

That's an ice pick, man.

Wow.

To know where you came from makes it easier for you to get where you're going.

And I learned a long time ago that

your music can never be more or less than you are as a human being.

And that's very true.

Wow, I… You know what? I'm sitting here, just,

really tripping the fuck out, man. You are so…

- - You are so inspiring, man.

It's like… like, do you know who you are, man?

It's Quincy Jones!

Mr. Quincy Jones.

The first thing is to be humble with your creativity

and graceful with your success.

You can't live without water or music. You can't live without it.

Between Ray Charles and Sinatra, I learned how to live.

Sinatra wore it for 40 years himself and then he left it to me

and I never take it off.

Quincy Jones!

What sign are you?

What sign are you?

What's your birth sign?

Pisces. It's the same, we're both crazy.

Gemini.

Oh, God. Miles Davis and Prince.

I've been in this business 70 years.

It's unbelievable.

Hey, baby.

I got six daughters and one son. That's why I don't have any hair.

- What a great treat to see you here. - You too, man.

- How you been, man? - I've been good, man, yeah.

Great. We've been doing concerts this year.

You're kickin' ass.

- Life's a motherfucker, isn't it, man? - Oh, yeah.

Pressure's on. Quincy's here.

Help!

How are you, guys?

I can party all the time. Never had a problem with that.

- What? - I can't be like you, I cannot…

hang out all night and then… No, I can't do that.

Don't try to do what he's done.

- Yeah. - No, 'cause you'll get your ass killed.

We worked the balls off a pool table.

- Right, honey? - Yeah, Dad.

You must be so tired.

- Honey, I'm past tired. - Oh, Dad.

I couldn't even stand up for the second number.

They gave us some serious wine, honey.

I know, but six bottles?! How you gonna get it back?

We're gonna drink it here.

- Are you shooting, honey? - I am.

I'm just learning. I'm not great with a camera, I'm just learning how.

- Cute shoes, Dad. - Thank you, honey.

- Really cute. - Pimp shoes.

Do you think it's easier to be up late in LA, to work by yourself?

- Yeah, absolutely. - 'Cause nobody's up, right?

Absolutely.

Well, nobody's up that late anyway, so I always wrote at night.

- Right. - The muses come out then, you know?

- Right. - Everybody used to say,

"Keep your score paper and pen right near you,

'cause if you're not up, God will take it down the street to Mancini."

- - It's very true, honey.

Haven't been sleeping a lot.

- Been sleeping a lot, or haven't? - I haven't been sleeping a lot, no.

Too much on my mind, you know. It's hard to turn it off.

But let me ask you a question. Do you think you could drink in moderation?

- Do you think you could… - Yeah, I do.

Or do you think it's a slippery slope, honestly?

No, no, no, it's not a slippery slope at all. No.

But I want one badder than ever now.

- You want what? - A drink.

Dino, get me a bourbon.

Where's Q? Where's my… Where are ya?

Oh, yeah!

Come on!

Oh, yeah!

The seven of us all together.

We're all family.

- Thank you very much. - Thank you.

- You know the palindromes? - Mm-hmm.

Just found a good one.

"Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog."

Go… hang… a salami.

I love those.

- These are amazing, did you try these? - No.

I wonder what's wrong with my appetite though. Something's wrong.

Really, Dad?

- 'Cause you know me, I can eat, honey. - I know, I don't like that.

Yeah, but it's okay.

It's all right. It'll be all right, honey.

No… If you don't feel good, you gotta take care of it.

I will, I will.

My mother had gone away sick one day.

She kicked and screamed as they threw a straitjacket on her and carried her out.

And just like that, she was gone.

Daddy was a carpenter for the Jones Boys,

the black gangsters that ran the ghetto back in Chicago.

We fought, we stole, we ran with gangs and from gangs.

By that time, I was carrying a knife

and doing whatever I thought I had to do to survive.

Why not?

My world seemed to be senseless.

If my mother could go crazy, who couldn't?

Daddy was in over his head

and took us to stay with his mother.

Grandma was a former slave.

She cooked whatever she could get her hands on.

Mustard greens, okra, possums, and rats.

We ate them because that's all there was to eat.

My mother broke out a couple of times, and I remember, downstairs,

we heard the glass breaking,

and Daddy said, "Sit down to the table and don't get up."

He said, "It's your mama."

Kids kept telling me, "'Cause your mother's really messed up,

and if she gets out, she's gonna kill you guys," you know?

And so I started to picture her and associate her with a death threat.

When she got out one time, she came and we saw her running to us.

We screamed and we ran about seven blocks,

we were so afraid, you know?

I said, "I can't depend on a mother 'cause I don't have one,

so I don't need one," you know?

I was happy that Daddy said,

"We're leaving town, we're leaving now.

We're getting on a Trailway bus and getting out of here."

Do you know the year?

Do you know what year it is?

- What year? - Yeah. Mm-hmm.

No.

Okay, it will come back. It will.

Okay.

Well, we had the new year, so it's 2015.

I get it, yeah.

And the seventh was when you got unconscious,

because it's now the eleventh.

So you lost four days out of your life.

Who is the president?

- What? - Who's the president of the US?

What's his name?

Do you remember?

Sarah Palin.

I'm glad… I'm glad some things haven't changed.

Oh.

You have any idea what happened to you?

No.

You were drinking too much.

And when you came in that night, you were having trouble breathing,