So, that was February of 1990, by May is when I made the decision to move up to L.A. [Los Angeles, California]. And so, the weekend of our move we're unpacking and I'm in sweats and a ponytail and we decide to take a food break from moving and we go to KFC [Kentucky Fried Chicken] to go get some food and stuff and we're coming back to our new office and stuff and, you know, there's a lot of traffic on Santa Monica Boulevard, my mom [Jacqueline Moten McQuarn] detours and goes on a side street and there's a, some kind of studio on this side street and so out, you know, comes Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds [Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds] walking out of this studio and we're driving, you know, and she's like, "Isn't that that guy Babyface you were supposed to do the video with?" And I said, "Yeah," I said, "I think that's him." She goes, "Well, you should go say hi to him." I go, "Mom, I don't look good, you know, like I'm dirty, no." And so, she was like, "Well, I don't care what you say, I'm driving." So, she pulls into the parking lot or whatever and rolls down the window and, you know, Kenny is dressed in a nice suit and, and everything and so my mom is like, "Hey, are you Babyface?" And he's like, "Yeah." And she's like, "You know, my daughter, Tracey [HistoryMaker Tracey Edmonds], was supposed to be in this video with you but she got chickenpox. There's Tracey," and he's like, "Oh, yeah," you know, and I'm just like (laughter). And so, he's like, "Yeah, you know, we were wondering what happened to you." And I was like, "Yeah, I got sick," you know. And she's like, "Well, she just moved up here and she doesn't know anyone, so, here's her card," you know. And he's like, "Oh, okay." She's like, "You guys should get together," you know. And so, he's like, "Okay." And I was like, you know, we drove off. And I was like, "Mom," I was like, "that is so embarrassing." I'm like, "Why did you do that?" And so, but sure enough like, you know, he got the card and I think I got a phone call (laughter) in the next hour or so, where he called me and invited me to, to dinner. And so, so, we had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory in Marina del Rey [California] and, you know, the rest is history. And so, we just, you know, we dated for, I think a year and a half and then got engaged and, you know, got married a couple of years later.$$Okay. Okay (simultaneous).$$(Simultaneous) And then my, my life changed.$$Yeah, and apparently his did--$$(Laughter).$$--too because, you know, he wrote that you really pushed him, I mean, you know, in terms of what, what his ambitions were and what he was trying to do you, you were, you give him a, a push.$$Oh, I never knew he said that. That--$$Yeah, that's, we got a quote in here.$$(Laughter).$$I don't wanna read it but, but there, yeah, he actually said, he said this to--anyway.$$Is that from a interview he did for something or--$$Yeah, yeah.$$Oh.$$Yeah.$$Okay.$$Yeah.$$Yeah.$$So, yeah, he said, "She, she pushed me in ways I needed to be pushed. She encouraged me to try new things, things I had never done before."$$Oh, wow. That's, I mean, that's really sweet. We, Kenny and I are still to this day, we're very close friends. And so, I have a lot of beautiful, beautiful memories with him. And, you know, when we talk about how my mom, I always told my mom how she was blessed to be young and to have had that real young love and, you know, and, and, getting your first house together and having kids together and all that kind of stuff, I had that with Kenny which was beautiful. You know, and so, he was like my first young love and we, I mean, we had an amazing time, we grew together. And so, we did the house, buying our house and fixing up, and finding furniture, and fixing rooms, and having, you know, our babies together. And, and then I always, you know, I had this travel bug and he--in me and he knows that's just my character so I'm always, you know, I was the person to take him to Europe for the first time and so I was like, you know, always the one kind of planning these experiences and these memories that I wanted us to have together. And so, so we did our first Europe trip together, we saw China together, we saw Japan together, we climbed through pyramids of Egypt together, Thailand, Australia, we went all over the world together, you know, as we got older and experienced life and, and stuff together. And so, you know, and he was, you know, both of us, I think, you know, he really supported me in my ambitions and I did whatever I could to, to support him too behind the scenes too. And--yeah.$$Now, he grew up in Indianapolis [Indiana] right?$$Um-hm.$$That's, yeah, 'cause (unclear) (simultaneous)--$$(Simultaneous) Yeah. Yeah, he--yeah, he grew up in Indianapolis. But we did, you know, we did a lot of things together. Like when I decided that I wanted to go into film, you know, and become a producer and stuff and created Edmonds Entertainment [Edmonds Entertainment Group, Inc., Los Angeles, California], he supported me and I found the 'Soul Food' movie and I said, "Hey, well, let's do this together," you know. So, I produced the movie and then he did all the music. So, it was, it was fun 'cause, you know, we flew out to Chicago [Illinois], I had just had Brandon [Brandon Edmonds]. And we're staying in this, you know, hotel, I think it was like the Four Seasons Hotel [Four Seasons Hotel Chicago] or something, I'm on the set every day producing the movie, he's got a little studio set up inside the hotel room and he's writing all the songs as we're shooting the scenes and stuff. And so, so, we did that a few times on movies together and stuff and then we created a management company [Edmonds Management Group] and stuff. And so, I really, you know, I was inspired by--like I read this Donald Trump [President Donald John Trump] book when I was in, in college [Stanford University, Stanford, California] and it was kind of, you know, about the art of branding yourself, you know. And then we saw how Trump branded himself and put Trump all over the hotels and all that kind of stuff. And so, when Kenny and I got married I was like, "Okay, let's be like, you know, one of those big families and let's brand ourselves and stuff," and, you know, and I said, "And let's do Edmonds Entertainment," and, you know, and then we bought a, a, a building together and so I put a big E at the top (laughter), at the top of the building for Edmonds and--$$Well it--$$--you know (simultaneous).$$(Simultaneous) I, I think that all that worked.$So, Stephen Hill and BET [Black Entertainment Television] they said, "Okay, the, this 'College Hill' thing that you just pitched sounds really interesting. We only have this amount of money." And I was like, "Are you serious?" And they're like, "Yeah, and we need thirteen episodes. Can you do it?" And so, for me, you know, I've done a lot of things, as I'm sure you see, that's not always about making money. It's just about like taking things to another level for African American entertainment or opening a door or proving a point. And so, so, I said, "Okay, all right. I have this amount of money, you need thirteen episodes. Okay, I'll do it." And so, so, again, me being really hands on with everything, so I went out, I found a university that let us do it, Southern University [Southern University and Agricultural and Mechanical College], Baton Rouge, Louisiana. And, and I grabbed Chris Cherot [Christopher Scott Cherot] who I had done 'Hav Plenty' with because I knew Chris knew how to make stuff for no money (laughter). So, I'm like, "Chris, I have X number of dollars, we need to do thirteen episodes, okay. Can we get our guerilla reality making going and lets me and you go out to Southern University and shoot this reality show, and can you direct it and help me put it together?" So, he was like, "Okay, let's do it." So, so, we went out and shot our first season of 'College Hill.' Now, so sad compared to how all these shows are properly done. I mean, the only location we had were the kids' college dorms themselves. And so, nowadays, and in our subsequent seasons we got to put them in more, you know, better locations, a real house, and all this kind of stuff. First season we were actually just inside the dormitories having to shoot in these little tiny rooms and, you know, we had no story producers, nothing, so it was just me and Chris and it was all about casting. So, it was all about finding eight kids with really strong personalities that--$$Really different personalities.$$Yeah, really different personalities.$$I, I know one, Jabari Roberts from Chicago [Illinois].$$Oh, yes, yeah, yeah.$$He is exactly the way he is in (simultaneous)--$$(Simultaneous) Yeah, yeah.$$--on TV and--$$Yeah.$$--and people probably think that he's acting or doing something.$$No.$$He, he's exactly like that.$$No.$$He was the nerdiest kid in the--$$Absolutely.$$That's him.$$And we were really the realest reality show out there. We never scripted anything, we never pushed the kids to do anything, you know, it was all about strong personalities and, and the right casting and stuff. So, so, we did the show at Southern, they put it on the air and it broke all their ratings, you know, history. You know, like we, you know, we were the, had the highest ratings in the history of, of BET. And so, everybody went crazy, you know, over this little show, you know, or whatever and so I was like okay, cool, cool, yay, okay, well, we showed that there's an audience out there. So then, so then, we got picked up, you know, for another season. And then slowly, the second season they gave us, they increased our budget a little more, and then finally BET got bought out by Viacom [Viacom Inc.]. So, once that Viacom money came in they were really able to give us a proper budget, so that we were able to look like, you know, the competing shows, we were able to look like a, you know, a MTV show [Music Television; MTV], you know, or whatever. And so, so, we had six seasons always, you know, the number one top, top, top show. And it was really interesting because, you know, early on that first season like nobody knew what our budget was and everybody was like, "Well, how come your show, I love it, but how come it don't look like, you know, the other shows on, you know, why it gotta look like that?" I'm like, if you only knew (laughter) how much money, you know, we had to, you know, to shoot with, you know, it was, you know, pennies. So, so, yeah, so, we did six seasons and, you know, we were their number one rated show and then unfortunately we were put on pause because the regime changed and so to this day I've been trying to get them to unpause us and let us continue on, you know, with the show. And I get a million tweets 'cause it's on Netflix and, you know, everybody is like, "Oh, my god, Tracey [HistoryMaker Tracey Edmonds], when are you bringing back 'College Hill'?" You know, "What's going on with that?" And so, still talking to the network about it.
