An Interview with Greg Mayo

Apr 30, 2026

This week’s episode, recorded at The Bell House, featured my brothers’ and my life-long best friend Greg Mayo onstage with us. He’s many things — a father of two perfect twin five-year olds, a hired gun for Bon Jovi and Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates — but perhaps most importantly: he’s responsible for all of the music we do on 2J3BD. Here he is, running through just some of his work:

There’s been a ton of well-deserved interest in and around Greg and I figured, let’s use this space to shine some light on an essential member of the team!

(If you want to know more about his story, listen to what ended up being the final episode of A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal, our 5-year-long podcast that featured deep dives into the lives of our guests, everyone from Cardi B to Rick Ross, Drake’s dad to our mom.)

I have to mention Mayo was best friends with my twin brother Dan first, so Dan gets the credit for that. The only thing I get credit for is that absolutely devious denim shirt.

In a lifetime of collaborations, what’s the craziest pitch Eric has thrown your way?

That’s an excellent question. I think — off the top of my head — it would be when we took Jay-Z’s “Roc Boys” and you had me play it klezmer-style. One of the early ones, yea. You guys had just started on YouTube in 2007 and, because Jay-Z says “It’s a celebration, bitches — l’chaim,” you wanted to do a video, pretending to show a bunch of Jews’ reactions. And you guys were going to dress up as rabbis and dance around. You and Eric called me up with the idea, not knowing (I don’t think) that I had once been in a klezmer-style band. I had played horas before, done weddings and bar mitzvahs, so I knew what musical instruments I needed for those arrangements, so I went off and did it. That’s the first one that came to mind because it came way out of left field.

ERIC: I think all the pitches are equally challenging. Roc Boys is pretty good. Any of them would be good answers, honestly.

Another one of my favorites was Soulja Boyz II Men — when we took “End of the Road” and mashed it up with “Crank Dat.” That was bizarre. Now, 20 years later, we have a formula: we know how to pick it apart and put it together. But early on in the process, like with Roc Boys, we didn’t really know how to do that. “I think I got it. I can find an accordion and a clarinet and a marching bass drum.” And wouldn’t you know it, we found it.

What was your first time meeting The LOX like?

It was really wonderful because it’s not a show that they put on: they’re very family-oriented and welcoming to the crew. The fact that knew of me through you guys and through the work I do for the showcast, I felt very welcomed and on the same level in their (proverbial) house. Which was really like, a warm feeling, getting the “Yo! Mayo! We appreciate you so much!” So, it wasn’t intimidating, awkward or strange. It was like, “This is our house, but this is your house too. Anything you need, we got you.” Which is really special.

You’re, of all my friends, probably the most-devoted film fan. What movie would you want to review on 2J3BD?

Oh, wow. This is a toughie. Part of me wants to pick a movie-movie but I know that’s not always what the show is about. One that comes to mind: it’s a super-white movie and it’s a very me movie because it combines a few of my favorite things about movies, which is That Thing You Do! It’s super-white and Styles and Jada and…well, all three of them would hate it because it’s about a band that’s all white people except the valet at the hotel at the end.
But it’s also a very music movie, and for me — a musician who watches movies about music with a very keen eye for legitimacy and accuracy — it checks every box. 1) It’s a great movie: Tom Hanks, writing/directing/everything else. But 2) these guys are REALLY PLAYING THEIR INSTRUMENTS and the way the song evolves through the movie, the way the characters evolve…all the cliches get hit but not in an over-the-head way. It’s a well-put-together film about a band, you know?
I’m convincing myself that it’s an episode I’d like to hear because I’d like to hear The LOX’s take on the band dynamic in that movie. Because these guys have been together really long and they have a very tight bond, while The Oneders — as we learn — they don’t. I would just like to hear their thoughts on that, that would be nice.

ERIC: From the perspective of working together, how would you categorize that or explain it — no matter if it’s work we did 20 years ago or 10 years ago or now — what is essentially the process or enjoyment you get out of collaborating, the three of us?

You guys are the showrunners, the executive producers, the writers of the show. I imagine if it’s like SNL, where the writer/producer of the sketch goes to the music department and says, “Hey, we need something that does this and this and has a little bit of this.”
And it’s my job to just do it, however I can get it done.
And thankfully you guys — especially now because you’re doing this show every week — you give me an opportunity to go off and do it. We have such a good shorthand that I can get it done in a couple of hours, send it back. And nothing’s really gotten the note of “This is shit, do it again.”
I think…right?

Right.

So you guys are executive producers and advisors on the musical aspect of it and Eric generally comes with a pretty specific idea, which is awesome. It helps me a lot. “We need the tarantala style.” “We need the Blaxploitation style.” “We need the jazzy Letterman style.”
And then it’s my job to find the chords and put a groove to the chords, give it all some style and send it back to ya. That’s pretty much it. My favorite thing about it is it’s like nothing else I do professionally. I’m a musician every day but I don’t do anything like this in any other part of my work. Which is a shame because I kinda enjoy this the most of everything I do.

Make sure to follow Mayo on Instagram and TikTok!

2J3BD

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