>> I've been asked that question a lot, and I have, over the years, never answered it.

I think God created a moment today for me to be able to answer it and release it in front of my Mambo Sauce family.

[ Dramatic theme music ] >> Welcome to DMV, The Beat.

Their sound has everybody saying "Welcome to D.C." This is the story of Mambo Sauce.

>> ♪ Going nowhere ♪ >> ♪ Nowhere ♪ >> ♪ We gone be right here ♪ >> ♪ Right here ♪ >> ♪ We ain't going nowhere ♪ >> ♪ Nowhere ♪ ♪ I'm right here ♪ >> ♪ We ain't going nowhere ♪ >> ♪ Nowhere ♪ >> ♪ We gone be right here ♪ ♪ We ain't going nowhere ♪ >> ♪ Yo, welcome to D.C. ♪ >> My name is Malachai Johns, and I'm the creator of the band Mambo Sauce.

The reason I created Mambo Sauce was because I had played in multiple go-go bands throughout my teenage years and early 20s, and I felt like there was something missing from go-go as a whole, mainly original music and bands that were striving to be on a higher plateau than what go-go was at the time.

So the story of the name is kind of a funny one.

There-- I had the band I would say maybe six months to a year.

I switched out a lot of the members.

You know, we were writing music, rehearsing a lot, and maybe six months to a year, we still didn't have a name.

So finally, one day I said, "Listen, we're having a meeting," and at the time, Sam Dews, "Smoke," the former Congo player for Northeast Groovers, he currently plays with Raw Essence, we had a meeting in the basement of his house, and I said, "We are not leaving this room until we have a name for this band," and people, including myself, everybody threw out a bunch of ridiculous names, and somebody jokingly, I believe it was the keyboard player, keyboard player, Chris Wright, yelled out "chicken and mambo sauce," and if you're from the DMV area, you know that chicken and mambo sauce is one of our favorite foods here, but it's something that we take pride in being from D.C., in the DMV, and just as we do with go-go, so it seemed to be something that made sense, you know, and after everybody finished laughing at that, we just said, "Well, you know, you can only get mambo sauce and go-go in D.C., so maybe that is a good name."

So that's what we went with.

>> Malachai is the brainchild behind Mambo Sauce.

He's the guy who came up with the idea of this all original go-go band.

He recorded, you know, different people to try to get them to be a part of the band.

Malachai came to me with this idea maybe a year or two prior to Mambo Sauce actually happening and he was like, "Look, I need you to be in this band."

I was telling him, "No, no, no."

I just didn't-- >> I think everybody was telling him that.

>> [laughs] Yeah, yeah.

I just didn't think it would work.

I wasn't-- like, yeah, I just wasn't too-- too into what he was talking about.

And then-- you know, but I was an artist, so I was making music, and in 2004, my mother passed away, and once she passed, it was just-- I just knew that, you know, me making music was important, and he was consistent, and so he kept coming to me, kept coming to me, so I was like, man, you know, I just want to-- I want to, you know, make something.

I want to make something beautiful, so let's-- let's give it a shot.

And then I started by writing "Damn Joe."

Before it was even a band, I wrote the song "Damn Joe."

We went and recorded it.

The band wasn't even like a band yet.

And then we made another song and recorded it, and then the band started coming together from that point on.

>> Malachai reached out, and I was just like, "Ah," and then I thought about it, and I was like, you know what, what do I have to lose?

So I went to-- I don't even know if it was an audition.

I don't know what to call it, because I think the very first thing that I did with them, we were, like, playing "Miracles".

So, yeah, that was the very first-- my very first situation with Mambo Sauce.

>> They were looking for a vocalist.

They already had a vocalist.

Mambo Sauce existed before I came about, and I'm not sure of the complete story about the young lady that was with them, why she couldn't do the band anymore, but I was referred to them.

I came through and did a little audition, and I think-- I could kind of see the faces.

I think Black Boo's face probably showed the most like, "Yup, I like her," and everybody kind of looked around and, "Yeah, I like her."

So once we started practicing and really just giving our expertises, where we were strong, our writing skills, all of those things, and putting it together, we were just a monster, and we began to record and things just started happening really, really fast.

I had no idea that "Miracles" would take off the way that it took off.

>> First of all, how "Miracles" happened was a miracle.

What people don't understand is that we didn't like "Miracles" at all.

>> Yeah, I agree.

>> We-- we-- I remember we recorded it.

So we came to rehearsal.

We made up the song at rehearsal, and so Malachai gave us a paper and was like, "Ay, look, these are the songs that we have.

What songs do you want to record?"

He hadn't heard "Miracles" yet because we just made it up.

So everybody put a box at the bottom and wrote "Miracles" in, and we checked "Miracles," and so he came back and was like, "What is Miracles?"

We was like, "That's what we want to record."

We went and recorded it.

We went to a show.

We had a show by like the wharf or something, I remember, and we got the first mix back and all of us sat there and listened to it and all of us was disgusted.

We was like, "Ah, this is terrible."

And so we was like, "We going to scratch that," but then he took it back to the studio, got it remixed by the engineer, and then gave us a newer version, and then we was like, "Okay."

So, but even then I didn't think "Miracles" was going to do what it did.

>> Yeah.

>> But like the first time I heard it, I was excited, but then it was one time where it was played like, I don't know, like eight or nine times in one day and that's when I think I got emotional because it really-- it really hit, you know, and-- and-- and it was number one on both stations here, and it was just like "wow," you know, it was-- it was a beautiful feeling.

It was definitely a beautiful feeling.

[ Piano and drums ] >> Do you believe?

Yeah.

>> ♪ Do you believe in miracles?

♪ >> ♪ Do you believe?

♪ >> ♪ Maybe we can change the world ♪ >> ♪ Change the world ♪ >> ♪ Maybe we can make a better life ♪ ♪ Can you see the light?

♪ >> ♪ Hey, you gotta go forward, go forward ♪ ♪ Man, in life you gotta go forward, go through it ♪ ♪ No matter what you go through to get through it ♪ ♪ you gotta get to it ♪ ♪ Hey, they say that we can't do ♪ ♪ The impossible, and I'm like, damn, why can't I try?

♪ ♪ The only thing capable ♪ ♪ Of stoppin' you is your pride, is your pride ♪ >> ♪ It's your rhythm, it's your effort ♪ ♪ It's your drive to make it work ♪ ♪ It's persistence, it's resilience ♪ ♪ It's desire to be first ♪ >> ♪ What else?

♪ >> ♪ It's your hunger, it's your thirst ♪ >> ♪ What else?

♪ >> ♪ Unless we milk it for what it's worth, I see the light ♪ ♪ I see the light, I see the light, yeah ♪ ♪ Do you believe in miracles?

♪ >> ♪ Do you believe?

♪ >> ♪ Maybe we can change the world ♪ >> ♪ Change the world ♪ >> ♪ Maybe we can make a better life ♪ ♪ Can you see the light?

♪ >> ♪ Oh, oh, oh, I see the light now ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, I see the light now ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, I see the light now ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, I see the light now ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, I see the light now ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, I see the light now ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, I see the light now ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ >> ♪ The reason why I sing ♪ ♪ It's the wind beneath my wings ♪ ♪ It's the sunshine on my face ♪ ♪ 'Cause I know it's a brand-new day ♪ >> ♪ What else?

♪ >> ♪ The courage in my heart which always seems too far ♪ ♪ I guess I believe in miracles ♪ ♪ I see the light, yeah ♪ >> ♪ Truth is, proof is in the pudding ♪ ♪ But truth is, you get back what you put in ♪ ♪ So I put in all of me ♪ ♪ The difference between win and defeat is an apostrophe T ♪ ♪ Either you can or you can't, you do or you don't ♪ ♪ Either you are or you ain't, or you will or you won't ♪ ♪ Well, me, if I can see it, I can achieve it ♪ ♪ if I dream it, believe it, then I can be it ♪ >> ♪ Do you believe in miracles?

♪ >> ♪ Do you believe?

♪ >> ♪ Maybe we can change the world ♪ ♪ Maybe we can make a better life ♪ ♪ Can you see-- ♪ >> They're fools, like, they're all-- everybody is a fool.

Like, we are always on joke time.

The energy is so great that it doesn't feel like work, like, oh, my gosh, I used to love coming to rehearsals, loved the shows, like a lot of the things that we, you know, we-- the energy and the bond was so, like, real that a lot of things we just made up on the go.

>> Yeah.

>> Like, you know, a lot of things that was added to the songs, it was just like we were on stage feeling it.

Chris would add something, and then, you know, Black or Yendy would just go in and do whatever and it just stuck.

So no, the energy was great.

>> It was-- it was always a family atmosphere.

It really was, and there were things that people have went through throughout that, you know, it was just-- you could just tell it was family.

Like, one of our members, I'll never forget, one of our member's house burned down.

>> Oh, man.

>> And to see how everyone, you know, came to his aid, and, I mean, everyone has went through something within the band, and the band came through, you know, so it was just always a family atmosphere.

It was-- it was-- it was just a lot of fun.

I mean, just thinking about it is really, like, touching because it was just that much fun.

It was that much fun.

It was that much love.

>> "Welcome to D.C.," unexpected success.

Truly just a blessing to be a part of something that is just so iconic and to know that we collectively created a song that is so relevant to where we are, where we live, and it just put us on the map as far as, I think, go-go.

You know, I mean,of course, we have our legends that are out there in the go-go world that have done and they've touched the stages and they've maybe gone a little bit further, but I feel like we were the new sound, the new thing that everybody was waiting for, because those-- that's what I heard so much of, like, "This is what we were waiting for.

This is what we needed."

And to know that we gave the people where we're from what they wanted and what they needed and we didn't even know.

We just gave them what we loved.

[ Drums and keyboards ] >> ♪ Hey, welcome to D.C. ♪ ♪ You know where you're at, the USA cap ♪ ♪ You're taking us lightly ♪ ♪ Stop taking us lightly ♪ ♪ Now how you gone act ♪ ♪ Oh, you gone be right back ♪ ♪ Well, we gone be right here ♪ ♪ We gone be right here ♪ ♪ We ain't going nowhere ♪ ♪ Welcome to D.C. ♪ >> ♪ Yo, hey, D.C., the home of Chuck Brown ♪ ♪ Oh, you don't know the sound?

♪ ♪ Well, let me break it down ♪ ♪ The G-O, the G-O, the M-A-M-B-O ♪ ♪ See, though, we been pumping crank since an embryo ♪ ♪ Really, though, it's the city ♪ ♪ ♪ Where the people hold the power ♪ ♪ You can see nine dimes every half an hour ♪ ♪ Where lunchin' and Jo is the lingo ♪ ♪ And brothas rob, so ain't nobody rockin' mink coats ♪ ♪ Take ya back to the madness hats ♪ ♪ Or how the city renamed cigarettes jacks ♪ ♪ Or how even the mayor had a run-in with crack ♪ ♪ But we all kept it real and we voted him back ♪ ♪ But we got no stars that spit on bars ♪ ♪ Like BET wasn't birthed in our backyard, so our N-E-G ♪ ♪ Our essence in our backyard, y'all, y'all, y'all, y'all ♪ >> ♪ Hey, you know where you're at, the USA cap ♪ ♪ You're taking us lightly ♪ ♪ Stop taking us lightly ♪ ♪ Now how you gone act ♪ ♪ Oh, you gone be right back ♪ ♪ Well, we gone be right here ♪ ♪ We gone be right here ♪ ♪ We ain't going nowhere ♪ >> The way that I set Mambo Sauce up was to operate like a rock band, which is, okay, we're going to take all the money that we make from playing or for whatever and put it back into the band, and, you know, so that we can pay to record and pay to promote ourselves and pay for whatever, and certain musicians, they don't want to do that.

They just want to get their envelope at the end of the night, you know, "I've played my songs, give me my money and I'm out of here."

So even though it was made very-- Even though it was made very clear from the beginning, I guess I should say, there were still some people who came through and I guess they just thought that that process was going to happen a lot quicker than it did.

>> We were committed to Mambo Sauce.

The people who was in the band was committed to the idea once everyone bought into it.

Am I right?

Would you say that?

>> No, that's right.

>> So for a significant amount of time, what people don't know is, for a significant amount of time, Mambo Sauce would practice.

We practiced for a year straight before we even touched anybody's stage, and then when we started touching people's stage, we did not take money.

We took all of the money that we made and we put it in the pot so that we can record a album.

>> Yeah, that's pretty much how it went.

We didn't get any money in the beginning of Mambo Sauce and it was okay.

I think that everybody had the same goal.

They were vested in, you know, this project.

So it wasn't like, "Oh, you know, we're not getting paid."

It was like, no, we were having fun.

We were creating music.

>> Yeah.

>> The camaraderie was great.

Like, it just felt like home, you know what I mean, when everybody got together.

So, yeah, money wasn't on the forefront.

>> But, you know, once you start seeing the significance of your work, you know, once you start seeing it grow and you know that money is starting to come in bigger, then, you know, you start-- >> Then it's questions.

>> Yeah [laughs].

>> Because where's the money going, huh?

>> Yeah, yes, like, "Yo, why can't we get paid now?"

You know what I'm saying?

>> [laughs] Yeah.

>> We got songs on the radio.

We making, you know, thousands of dollars per show, like, yeah, we need some breakdown now.

>> Yeah, so I'll say [laughs] the questions about the money and, you know, well, after a while, like he said, the bigger shows and all of that, the question about like where the money was going and the breakdown, it kind of caused, let's say, like a snowball effect in some ways, yeah.

>> But I do want to say that I don't think that, in all fairness, you know, the way that we were doing business was expensive, so the money, we're not accusing someone of taking the money.

I just want to say that part.

>> Yeah, no, not accusing.

We just wanted to see a breakdown of how the money was being spent because, you know, it's-- we're a band.

It's our money.

So felt like we had a right to see, you know, where everything was going, and I think, yeah, that kind of posed a problem.

>> Yeah.

>> So after we released "Welcome to D.C."-- >> How deep-- how deep are you going with this?

>> How deep I want to go with this.

>> Um...

This is the question.

>> There was a point in time where I was not only getting calls to book the band, but I was getting calls for band members to do walkthroughs of different venues, like as if they were Jay-Z or something.

>> How can I say that, you know what I'm saying, my ego was definitely affected.

>> Yeah.

>> And, you know, earlier I spoke about the business model of that we weren't going to-- nobody was going to take any money, including myself, until we put out the album.

The album at this point still had not been out, but I was like, well, if we're just doing walkthroughs, it's not an actual show, like, I want to make sure that the band is getting something, so we were-- I was just paying them.

>> You got to understand, you got all of these people who never seen this level of success, like, you know, and then it's instant.

It's not-- it was-- well, I mean, we worked for it, but the turnaround of Mambo Sauce being a no-name band to Mambo Sauce being, you know what I'm saying, one of the top bands, if not the top band in the city, the turnaround was like this [snaps fingers].

We came with "Miracles," and "Welcome to D.C." just blew it out the water.

>> So again, remember, from my perspective, we're just the-- on the first rung of the ladder, like we, you know, we're about to drive across country, and in my mind, we just pulled out of the parking lot, but local fame in the DMV is a dangerous thing, and it is-- it has stifled the careers of more people than I can count.

There came a time when it sort of became band versus management, you know, and I had a partner who, at this time, I had sort of confronted him about the fact that we were partners, but I was the one doing all of the work, and he admitted that, you know, he agreed with that, to his credit.

So we were working on getting him something more to do, but in the course of that happening, I found out that he was in a relationship with the female vocalist, so there was tension between the band and management.

>> The ending of Mambo Sauce for me wasn't necessarily one of the-- just a decision, decision-making thing.

There just were some things I think that happened within us, and that kind of changed the energy.

There was a shift for me, and with that, I think that on my end, the shift was felt.

On their end, the shift was felt.

And so that's kind of how the ending was.

>> I found out that the tension was exacerbated by the fact that the band felt like the singer was passing information to him, and, of course, the story sort of morphed a little bit down the road, after tempers had cooled, and, you know, things-- and that really he was the problem that everybody was upset about.

It didn't really feel like that's what was going on to me [laughs] at that time.

But at one point, I had been asked to... ...to step aside as the record label.

>> You know, he was wanting to be the record label and the manager, okay?

Conflict of interest, right?

>> Continue as the manager and just take an equal cut from what everybody else in the band was getting.

Now, had this been the beginning of the band, that would have been perfectly logical and a perfectly, you know, like a perfectly reasonable thing to say, but keep in mind, at this point, I'm 15, $20,000 into this thing.

I created the band and you want me to take the same cut as the guy that can't make it to rehearsal on time because he had to stop at the liquor store to get a six-pack, and I was not okay with that at all, in any way, shape, or form.

And, you know, honestly, I was like, "Okay, well, you guys think you could do it yourself.

Well, go ahead and do it yourself," and I guess we see how that ended up.

>> And that's what ultimately, you know, caused us to part ways with Malachai.

>> Malachai actually left, so it's not like, you know what I'm saying, we fired Malachai or anything.

He decided to walk away.

>> It was a bittersweet type of situation for me because I had really grown to love each person that was there in our band.

They had really been there for me through something that was-- Whoo.

[cries] They had been there for me through something that was very tragic in my life.

And they set everything aside to be there for me, and I will never forget them for that.

This was my family, and they'll always be my family.

We kind of, like a relationship, some things that happen in your life makes you grow apart.

I think at that moment we just began to grow apart a little bit.

>> Those situations was detrimental.

Those situations was detrimental to Mambo Sauce.

I honestly think that if we didn't go through that period, Mambo Sauce and us individually would be a lot-- would be somewhere else right now.

The crazy thing about Mambo Sauce is that we never sat down and said, "Okay, y'all, you know, we're dissolving, you know, this is over."

We're just on a long pause.

>> But the one thing is that when there's something that's meant to be, it will be.

[ Piano music ] >> Please make some noise for Miss Yendy.

Yeah.

>> ♪ Do you believe in miracles?

♪ ♪ Maybe we can change the world ♪ >> And the beat goes on.

Thank you for watching.

>> ♪ Better life ♪ ♪ Can you see the light?

♪ >> This program was produced by WHUT and made possible by contributions from viewers like you.

For more information on this program or any other program, please visit our website at whut.org.

Thank you.