Speaker 1: My name is thing for the money f I e
Speaker 1: in d shott it. You know what I'm saying, Barnard,
Speaker 1: Louisiana uptown like a motherfucker how to grow the big exact?
Speaker 1: Now you say Holly Grove, isn't Wayne from Holly Grove?
Speaker 1: Weezys from how they Grow? Yes, Sir one seven. Wayne
Speaker 1: said that I'm one of the ones that inspired him
Speaker 1: to do it. Used to write my lyrics down after school,
Speaker 1: write them on paper like that's something crazy to know
Speaker 1: that you don't know who's watching. You definitely don't know,
Speaker 1: but you know you were inspiration for a whole bunch
Speaker 1: of people. One of my favorite mcs for sure. Thank you.
Speaker 1: What was your life like growing up over Holly Growth?
Speaker 1: My life grown up for Holly Grove was it was
Speaker 1: kind of unique. Man. Um My dad was like um,
Speaker 1: like the prince of my neighborhood. Um, not watching no
Speaker 1: one's pockets. But my grandfather was dick called like a
Speaker 1: black jew. I mean no disrespect to no one, but
Speaker 1: just that he owned the block and he owned all
Speaker 1: the house the homes on the block. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, including the barroom. That my daddy was a
Speaker 1: mixed salege is there for forty years. For the plus
Speaker 1: years my daddy ran the barroom. Um, but my life
Speaker 1: was pretty good. Poverty eventually happened because you know through
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know who. I don't know who
Speaker 1: specifically at the code coming to the neighborhood. But when
Speaker 1: that happened, thing has changed up a little bit, I'm
Speaker 1: quite sure for a lot of neighborhoods and a lot
Speaker 1: of households. But we still survived through my mom and
Speaker 1: my father made an excellent opportunity for me and my
Speaker 1: brother Kevin and how to grow. They have a good life.
Speaker 1: You know, that's very dope. So I remember those times, man,
Speaker 1: when the correct epidemic hit every neighborhood from coast to coast.
Speaker 1: You know, nobody was exempt from that about you know
Speaker 1: something about from Detroit to Los Angeles. Fact. You know,
Speaker 1: how did that How did that era impact you? And? Um,
Speaker 1: how did the code crack era? And part of me
Speaker 1: it uh In some instances I can recall me a
Speaker 1: young man, it probably for food on the table and
Speaker 1: in some instances it didn't allow foot table. I feel
Speaker 1: you man, you know, it was definitely turbulent times. It
Speaker 1: was definitely young. You saw a lot of people come up,
Speaker 1: you know. I remember being in school seeing cats go
Speaker 1: from wearing the same pair of pants every day, the
Speaker 1: pulling up to the school and Mercedes bands is BMW's
Speaker 1: kidded up Jettis and just different stuff. So it's definitely
Speaker 1: a different time. Life had changed for you when you
Speaker 1: got something that everybody wants. You know, now, you're so
Speaker 1: much more than just a rapper. You're a songwriter. You
Speaker 1: could sing. I hear a lot of blues inflections in
Speaker 1: your music. I don't even want to almost ask you,
Speaker 1: how did you discover hip? I want to discover your
Speaker 1: passion for music. I discovered my passion for music, I
Speaker 1: recalled vividly my dad letting me stay up a little
Speaker 1: bit late to go in the live room and watch
Speaker 1: a performance by Earth Winning Fire. Now, I don't know
Speaker 1: why I was so compelled to go sit down and
Speaker 1: stay up and watch this. I don't know what the
Speaker 1: channel was on, what was going on, but I remember
Speaker 1: saying every when the fight had come out of the
Speaker 1: play as sequence outfits, feel a billy hitting all these
Speaker 1: crazy high notes, and was just amazed, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, And um, I knew I love music. My
Speaker 1: ice walking in the live room after my dad be
Speaker 1: having to get together, you know, a player party. I
Speaker 1: still got it. I'll show it to you. I got
Speaker 1: this big ass hand crank weed grinder, I said, this
Speaker 1: huge dog, big as iron crank going and my daddy
Speaker 1: be grinding. It's canna just rolling on some Jay's what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. And letting them need a baker Para Melton
Speaker 1: and blue notes, you know, George Pauliament, excuse me, George
Speaker 1: Plainton and put the phone with Doug Parliament. How you
Speaker 1: name it, bro Barry White Quincy, you name it? Shot Day.
Speaker 1: I remember these things vivily in that big old uglass
Speaker 1: brown stereo box that was in everybody's house that eventually
Speaker 1: had one. Yeah, the turntable, the eight track, and then
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, And might used to just
Speaker 1: thoroughly enjoy that man. And after his company, you know,
Speaker 1: he might come up in there. We can go ahead,
Speaker 1: do them the dance, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 1: then you get your hands out of here, you know, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Sip want his little pointy a little middle of like
Speaker 1: point here, and you know, when the friends leave it,
Speaker 1: let me come and let me chill and while he
Speaker 1: just rolled a few jays and listen to some music.
Speaker 1: And music is just always been granted me. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Um I love all kinds of music,
Speaker 1: but something about soul, rock, um R and B then
Speaker 1: eventually hip hop, it just it just struck a match
Speaker 1: under me. Man, and I just, man, I've just never
Speaker 1: been the same since. That's very dope, man. Now, music
Speaker 1: is one of those things. And this is what I
Speaker 1: always tell artists. If you're coming into it just looking
Speaker 1: to get paid to hit the lick, it's probably not
Speaker 1: gonna happen to you. But if you become great at
Speaker 1: what you do, money will follow. It will allow you,
Speaker 1: the universe will allow you to do what you're passionate
Speaker 1: about and make a living at it. Now, when did
Speaker 1: you realize that that was the path that you want
Speaker 1: to go on? Like, I want to be a musician.
Speaker 1: I can't see myself being a manager at the foot locker.
Speaker 1: I don't want to do that. I don't want to
Speaker 1: be a principal of the high school. I don't want
Speaker 1: to be a football player. I want to be issue
Speaker 1: That moment makes you wow, when in that moment hit
Speaker 1: me that. I think, man, when I realized I just
Speaker 1: wanted to do music, is that I felt more obligated
Speaker 1: as a young man. My brother had passed and I
Speaker 1: was that's all I knew, Me and my brother, my
Speaker 1: father and my mother, and then it was just me
Speaker 1: and my mother and my brother, and then it was
Speaker 1: just me and my mother. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So I think by trying to fulfill uh a life
Speaker 1: patting oath I made with my brother, you know that
Speaker 1: I wanted to rather do music. He introduced me to
Speaker 1: these guys, but I didn't really get these guys that
Speaker 1: have to he passed today. Hall was like, you know,
Speaker 1: I have a real unique story still like in my neighborhood.
Speaker 1: I recalled it. I don't know if it's like two
Speaker 1: years ago, but it really hit me, bro Like it
Speaker 1: clear as did hit me that my neighbor hood did
Speaker 1: everything they could to make sure I stayed on the
Speaker 1: right track. That's very dope. He had a lot of
Speaker 1: respect and the um he had a lot of respect
Speaker 1: and our neighbor and my dad did of course as well,
Speaker 1: and my mom. Beautiful, man, do you know when I
Speaker 1: was born, my neighborhood couldn't wait to see what I
Speaker 1: look like because my daddy was such a handsome man
Speaker 1: and so loved and revealed, and my mom was so beautiful.
Speaker 1: They felt they couldn't wait to see, like the print
Speaker 1: on some symbolship. You know. Um, you know, And I
Speaker 1: don't mean it from an egotistical way. I made it
Speaker 1: from a standpoint of just I'm hearing these stories from
Speaker 1: my aunt that's in California, and she's telling me about
Speaker 1: these things that I will oblieve this to, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, But it had to be on my brother.
Speaker 1: I swell all my life that I'm an take care
Speaker 1: of my mother, gonna take care of us. Off this music.
Speaker 1: You're introducing me to Dvus Moosa never fellow country, and
Speaker 1: these people won't be for nothing, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: He used to coming from hustling at night and pay
Speaker 1: me twenty hours and make him some scrambled eggs every
Speaker 1: twenty hours to make him a bowl of cereal. And
Speaker 1: that once I had him at that table, I pull
Speaker 1: out my notebook and I run these raps. So your brother,
Speaker 1: you know, you're mixing your brother, you know, during the
Speaker 1: courts of us just you know, building with each other.
Speaker 1: I heard you here. You're mixing your brother a lot. Man.
Speaker 1: He was obviously a big impact in your life. Man,
Speaker 1: oh man, Bro say still, Bro, you know you're watching
Speaker 1: on TV and the kid, um, the big brother comes
Speaker 1: and saved, the brother stands up for him, like fresh
Speaker 1: out of a movie or something. Before my brother passed,
Speaker 1: I witness that in real life, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Like a couple of times you feel me and like, um,
Speaker 1: he was my hero, Bro, he was my hero. Bro.
Speaker 1: You know I'm I'm not sadden right now, but I'm
Speaker 1: definitely tear eyed right They're just thinking about him and
Speaker 1: uh and enjoy this way. I miss him. He just
Speaker 1: had a birthday February twelve, and he just was He
Speaker 1: had love for me, Bro, Like you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: and what he sacrifice for me and what he he
Speaker 1: chose to do to make sure I didn't leave the
Speaker 1: life of things. You know, he was selfless on a
Speaker 1: lot of parts, and he let me know what it's
Speaker 1: like to have a brotherhood and how you reshiprocate that
Speaker 1: type of brotherhood. You know, I'm saying, I never forget
Speaker 1: this man. This dude stolen on me. Run the neighborhood,
Speaker 1: which just moved into the neighborhood. Just old as dude, Bro,
Speaker 1: you're grown as man. Bro. I'm I'm fifteen. I'm fourteen
Speaker 1: years old. He's give him fourteen thirteen. The old matter
Speaker 1: dude stolen on me. I'm new talking to some new
Speaker 1: guys and this older guy come over and he's just
Speaker 1: still me right. He put me down, he just hit
Speaker 1: me out of there. To put your hands on him, sir,
Speaker 1: Like you know what I'm saying. I remember going home
Speaker 1: and walking into the house and my brother like what's up?
Speaker 1: And I'm like, uh nothing, like what's up? You look
Speaker 1: down and what's up? He like, what's up? He's like, man,
Speaker 1: what happened? So I said, this guy may older dude, Bro,
Speaker 1: the maybe older than you, may stole on me. Dog,
Speaker 1: Like you know what I'm saying, Like you feel me?
Speaker 1: He was like, come shore me who you're talking about.
Speaker 1: I'll never forget this sun. My brother had on cakie
Speaker 1: shows no shirt of white Boston Red Sox hat and
Speaker 1: put on his knives and we went outshote. We walked
Speaker 1: down two blocks and he said, show me which one
Speaker 1: of these men put his hands on. I said it
Speaker 1: was him right there. He said, look on, were doing
Speaker 1: his neighborhood, and I get y'all been around here, herman,
Speaker 1: you wanta fight somebody. We catched the street right now too,
Speaker 1: grown man, and we can get to that. Bro, don't
Speaker 1: you have me your life? Put your hands and my brother,
Speaker 1: son of a dog? You heard men? That was that?
Speaker 1: He like, do you want to catch the street? Nah? Dog,
Speaker 1: We're okay. Then you feel me? That's that you feel me?
Speaker 1: And we went inside. I would like spike walking back
Speaker 1: my brother to the house. I got the witness that
Speaker 1: bro like, and I think that just gave me an
Speaker 1: undeniable commitment. This was gonna be my life, though, was
Speaker 1: to make something out myself. It's not take care of
Speaker 1: my mother, but to let my brother know that his
Speaker 1: time invested in me. The love he had for me
Speaker 1: was not a name. That's dope. That's very dope, Big Bro.
Speaker 1: Shout up to big Bro man. Yeah we have a
Speaker 1: birthday care now. Your original label was a Big Boy Records,
Speaker 1: iconic label in New Orleans. Me being a Christian UM,
Speaker 1: I came out to California, UM, and I've always been
Speaker 1: very much a person that was heavily investing in hip
Speaker 1: hop any new record that came out. So me, being
Speaker 1: originally from the Midwest, we vibed with everybody. We listened
Speaker 1: to the Southern music, We listened to East Coast rap,
Speaker 1: we listened to West Coast wrap. We didn't have no preference.
Speaker 1: We liked everybody. So, you know, Big Boy Records was
Speaker 1: an iconic label. How did you link up with those
Speaker 1: guys Big Boy Records? Before I was a Big Boy
Speaker 1: of the records, I was earning and working with Hollygorld Records,
Speaker 1: which is three cats that started to label to put
Speaker 1: our Black menute that allowed me to record myself on
Speaker 1: wax for the first time. Were the verse dedicated to
Speaker 1: my brother? What these labels started from some friends? It
Speaker 1: is that he hustle with so Um. Then I was
Speaker 1: with Worth the Weight the Records. This was Jeous and Mussa,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So worked with Bony DJ
Speaker 1: jazz Um, which was Bony was the brother of the
Speaker 1: girl from my brother's first love. All these people took
Speaker 1: a big time to take me into to work. So
Speaker 1: these are people that I was working with before a
Speaker 1: Big Butt Records. Um. I did an intro for Wild
Speaker 1: Wayne uh Q ninety three and he uh still to
Speaker 1: this day is a big radio personality. But he had
Speaker 1: the evening show like between three to seven is the
Speaker 1: prime time for US kids at the time on radio.
Speaker 1: You feel me like we're gonna learn new music coming out,
Speaker 1: We're gonna see what's going on, what's moving around, shaking
Speaker 1: in the city, and you get to hear uh possibly
Speaker 1: upcoming next artists. If you was rapping on while to
Speaker 1: do his intro for his show, that's basically like if
Speaker 1: we had a radio station called Still left him and
Speaker 1: you would have ready personality. And I was like, yo,
Speaker 1: this theme was still centence sentences us you know between
Speaker 1: three and seven, like this is what you played every
Speaker 1: day to announce before you went on live on the end.
Speaker 1: So while Wayne allowed me to do an intro from him,
Speaker 1: Devas produced it. I remember he produced it like on
Speaker 1: a Monday Tuesday we cut it. I think, uh the
Speaker 1: radio station while Wayne got it on a Wednesday Thursday
Speaker 1: played it again. Fried that I was having a meeting
Speaker 1: in the studio with Big Boy Records and DJ Leroy
Speaker 1: was precise that was the producer here producer. He was
Speaker 1: making a track for Sporty Tea Blesses. So he's passed away. Basically, Friday,
Speaker 1: I was signed. I wasn't even signed to the label,
Speaker 1: but I was. I was. I was in there. I
Speaker 1: was in the studio as a fly on the wall
Speaker 1: because my intro got me to this part. So when
Speaker 1: I got a meeting in the studio right this dude
Speaker 1: was producing the track of somebody else had the bass
Speaker 1: guitars playing I'm on the wall, like that was a
Speaker 1: little it. Bro, what you said? What you said? He said?
Speaker 1: I said again, I say, I'm the baddest mothers hold on,
Speaker 1: bro a sporter, Bro, this is decisive. Hey bro, I'm
Speaker 1: in a session. We're going on some tracks for you.
Speaker 1: But I did something and I want to get it
Speaker 1: to somebody else. I want to do what you mind
Speaker 1: because I'm in hell for your time. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. You're like, yeah, it's size man. You go
Speaker 1: ahead and do that. Man, it's all good. I'll be
Speaker 1: that later. You know what I'm saying. He got the phone,
Speaker 1: told me getting the booth, I woul't record it. The
Speaker 1: baddest motherfucker live sad. As I was shooting the TV
Speaker 1: commercial for the box that's dope, man, that's real dope.
Speaker 1: You know, you've mentioned just some legendary names from the
Speaker 1: New Orleans area, from New Orleans area, right, A lot
Speaker 1: of people don't know Sporty T was that dude down there. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: Sporty T was what we called what he called himself,
Speaker 1: the King of Bounce. Sported was already a rapper what
Speaker 1: we call real rappers, meaning that real rappers did music
Speaker 1: outside of bounds music. Sported was that guy, and you
Speaker 1: know he was, he was, you know, knowing in these
Speaker 1: streets to you know what I'm saying. But sport it
Speaker 1: was that guy. Sported. Let me get that one leg
Speaker 1: up here shouting Sported to and his family. Anybody tune
Speaker 1: with that. Spoil allowed me to get that track. Man.
Speaker 1: That's dope, man, That's that's really dope. So from there,
Speaker 1: y'all pushing out projects, man, and y'all doing your thing man,
Speaker 1: and yeah, you know the world got to hear you.
Speaker 1: You already established artists, man, and you wind up on
Speaker 1: No Limit Records? Man, how did that come about? I
Speaker 1: know that the records was that the big boy thing,
Speaker 1: Big Boy records. It didn't turn out and worked for me.
Speaker 1: For the long haul like I had wanted it too,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. Uh, God blessed Chuck Soul,
Speaker 1: Charles Temple, Uh, real solid guy. We just didn't see
Speaker 1: out the eye on some stuff, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And I stood up for myself and he wasn't gonna
Speaker 1: have no coup his labor. Yeah, we bumped heads, and
Speaker 1: I used to feel, like you heard me. At one time,
Speaker 1: I was in the office and had all the artists,
Speaker 1: and I felt like on one side of the room
Speaker 1: it was artist that was doing show to get money,
Speaker 1: and the other side of the room was artists that's
Speaker 1: still trying to get the thing together and hope they
Speaker 1: get an opportunity to make them some weekend money and
Speaker 1: make some sales, offer some record sales and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: So I had, you know, I was still making too
Speaker 1: money decisions emotions then, So I ended up having a
Speaker 1: hiatus and uh we you know, we kind of bumped
Speaker 1: heads later, end up, you know, get with each other.
Speaker 1: He told me before he passed, when he had so
Speaker 1: much respect for me for standing up for myself. You
Speaker 1: know what I mean, He said, I want to tell
Speaker 1: you this to your face, Bro, at least you gotta
Speaker 1: release from my record company. And we had whatever I
Speaker 1: misunderstanding was, and we moved past that. He said, that's
Speaker 1: how maye but spend money with you today because I
Speaker 1: got respect for you. Bro, just eighteen, I couldn't figure
Speaker 1: out why he ain't having this ship. He is not
Speaker 1: having it, you know. I mean, I'm gonna tell you
Speaker 1: it was funny too, but it's the first time I
Speaker 1: ever encountered something like this. We didn't we didn't see
Speaker 1: how the eyes. So I took my hiatus from the label.
Speaker 1: But do you know that this label was recording I
Speaker 1: had recorded like two songs, right, do you know what
Speaker 1: they're about to finish my album with the rest of
Speaker 1: the songs on my album being this song is about
Speaker 1: me on my album? Is that right? That's crazy? Bro?
Speaker 1: Let gon put album with a bunch of people this
Speaker 1: and you yeah, me on two of my own songs
Speaker 1: and the rest of the songs just yea, I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And I end up hearing the story and we end
Speaker 1: up laughing about it, and we kept it moving, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. My whole thing was for my
Speaker 1: brother bear in the streets, like you know, you see
Speaker 1: all types of men, you know what I'm saying, And
Speaker 1: sometimes it's better to let someone thing they want, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, opposed to happen to beat on
Speaker 1: your chest in the middle of the street about you know,
Speaker 1: about your victory. So I knew just to be young.
Speaker 1: I'm young, you know, I'm not built like these gentlemen.
Speaker 1: I really prefer to do music that on some street ship,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So I had to respect that,
Speaker 1: you know. So I had to respect that, and we
Speaker 1: end up working out something. I came back and finished
Speaker 1: my album. Uh DJ Precise produced it. David Folk played
Speaker 1: a lot of instruments. I'll produced that, and we just
Speaker 1: moved forward. What I'm saying what happened was I still
Speaker 1: had a name ringing in the in the city and
Speaker 1: Big Boy Records that right, it's course. So I got
Speaker 1: a release from a good friend of mine helped me
Speaker 1: with a release, and he got Chuck to come bring
Speaker 1: me a release. Um you know, um any my duties
Speaker 1: and Bigpley Records. So my mom got me a job
Speaker 1: at Times pick of you know, the newspaper, right, the
Speaker 1: customer service, right, I'm falling asleep in the LUNs room.
Speaker 1: So I'm doing the most bro. So Kennan they Will
Speaker 1: had had got a third party situation to work with
Speaker 1: No Limit Records. Me and Kenny was like like this,
Speaker 1: so I'm taking the trips from help writing doing all
Speaker 1: kinds of things with each other. So that was one
Speaker 1: look of visiting Nolan the records. A second love was
Speaker 1: me and X invited me to get on a song
Speaker 1: or Mac and her on her project. I went up
Speaker 1: that to the studio again you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: no studios and I recorded that. So that was that.
Speaker 1: So I go again with cal Me and Carels in
Speaker 1: the studio. Bet let small room, bro, what you're just
Speaker 1: doing preproduction at and I'll never forget. We like this
Speaker 1: head while he was on a drum machine and I
Speaker 1: had dove and I turned like this here and he
Speaker 1: had come per Samiller walking like that's over. Tell let
Speaker 1: me how that what I'm saying. Leave me in the
Speaker 1: room by myself. They go in the room. Their voice
Speaker 1: is get a little loud, you know, like oh ship,
Speaker 1: oh ship, Like damn, I hope I don't get called
Speaker 1: in trouble, you know, just being this you know your kid,
Speaker 1: Actually my friend taking me to a job pretty much,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. He's like, nah. So RKL
Speaker 1: came back in and I heard him tell him, Man,
Speaker 1: we need this, dude, I think we need this. Do
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. He came back in like,
Speaker 1: now we're good, man, We're good. We're good. That was
Speaker 1: another look a bit out there. The last and final
Speaker 1: straw was I had a buddy of mine. I believed
Speaker 1: in me, and he knew my brother, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, my brother for some other things. And he
Speaker 1: was like, I believe in you. I'm gonna find out
Speaker 1: what did it take to do a deal with you? No,
Speaker 1: let me records? So he said, I remember him that
Speaker 1: Pete didn't care for a third party deal. Sometimes he
Speaker 1: ended up bad, you know what I'm saying. But many
Speaker 1: got on the phone call, got on the phone call,
Speaker 1: the phone call, and finally he was like, you know
Speaker 1: what it's gonna take. They have fene you know, getting
Speaker 1: in the shuffle with that. We get to a third
Speaker 1: party situation, you put out a fene out with your
Speaker 1: production whatever I want to take. He gave him a
Speaker 1: number and then my people drove out that with a
Speaker 1: bag you know what I'm saying two hundred fifty thousand,
Speaker 1: and you know what I did. Don't look around and
Speaker 1: about the soundtrack and the rest of that ship history.
Speaker 1: That's really dope, man, that's real dope. Now you mentioned
Speaker 1: KOC that's a part they called the medicine Men. Now
Speaker 1: but beats By Palm Beach, Botta pump Boy, those boys
Speaker 1: are some bad men. Ain't to this day, this day,
Speaker 1: to this day. And um, I saw the sinction man
Speaker 1: of No Limit Records. Man, to the point to where
Speaker 1: you had people around the country wearing these chains. You
Speaker 1: know you made it when you go to the ghetto stores,
Speaker 1: you know, the swap meets and whatnot, and you see
Speaker 1: piece of security, what's your name and everything, and people
Speaker 1: was walking around with No Limit change. You know, was
Speaker 1: people going around saying they were signed to No Limits.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about people that didn't know nobody at the
Speaker 1: label talking about you. I'm signing you know. That was
Speaker 1: that was a big thing. What's your most memorable moment
Speaker 1: man from that? Because that was a monster. Um it
Speaker 1: was huge being a part of such a label that magnitude.
Speaker 1: My most memorable moment of that seeing people tattooed no
Speaker 1: limit on their body when the fake chains just because
Speaker 1: they if you're alligted to support something that speaks about
Speaker 1: it speaks to the other, so their life. You know,
Speaker 1: it was big man. It was motivational seeing people with
Speaker 1: your your seen tattered on them, people with your lyrics
Speaker 1: tattered on the You know, I remember the brother of
Speaker 1: l A. I don't told me one day street life
Speaker 1: my helper. Street life is like the Bible in the DMV.
Speaker 1: I was like, damn found you know, I mean just think, man,
Speaker 1: I could have not turned that album and you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, So just the whole thank period man
Speaker 1: um one vivid memory I have its Puffy walking with
Speaker 1: us P Diddy, Sean Combs walking with us through the airport.
Speaker 1: It's sixty three of us right walking to the air
Speaker 1: party but catch a plane at one time, right Busly
Speaker 1: come up to me and said, say, bro, hi, and
Speaker 1: the fuck is y'all not getting in trouble? You know
Speaker 1: how to fund is y'all even keeping this ship to gather?
Speaker 1: Dog Like? How the fund is y'all getting alone? What? Then?
Speaker 1: And I remember telling them that, you know, we got
Speaker 1: number loving respect for someone we deem to be the
Speaker 1: leader of this company, and that type of love and
Speaker 1: respect is going to drive the driver for us to
Speaker 1: continue to get us from point eight to point B.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. And that's just what that is.
Speaker 1: Then I said, look at all guards children walking together. Man,
Speaker 1: I can just lose puff Derman, I can just lose.
Speaker 1: But he like he's crazy. Man. He says, all right, Dad,
Speaker 1: I gotta play in the car. And that was that,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So I do one of
Speaker 1: those moments that made me say, um, it's bigger than life.
Speaker 1: You know, yeah, did it every did it at any
Speaker 1: point ever seemed surreal to you, Like, like, man, this
Speaker 1: is really happening. This is really going down. Um they
Speaker 1: had to be one time being in Cleveland, or one
Speaker 1: time being in Ohio or somewhere, and um, I just
Speaker 1: dropped there in that family and we had a show
Speaker 1: and this arena had the whole twenty thousand people easy
Speaker 1: monsip was huge, and I'll never forget. The promoter was
Speaker 1: He's like, man, he's getting U an advanced stuff, MANU. Man,
Speaker 1: were so happy to have y'all here, He said, well shame,
Speaker 1: Oh my god. Oh they're waiting on you. He said, Oh,
Speaker 1: they're waiting on you. And you know we all equal
Speaker 1: in our camp. We you know, we're not children. We
Speaker 1: know who these are. We know the Millers. You know,
Speaker 1: well we got our we have our protocol and we
Speaker 1: have you know, we equal as playing it. But when
Speaker 1: he said that, I was like word. I got on
Speaker 1: stage to perform and I saw this as huge as
Speaker 1: posted with like ten people holding that bitch. I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't know what they got it from me. It
Speaker 1: was like they must have made it was still it
Speaker 1: was huge, bro, And that many people are more holding
Speaker 1: it in the crowd together of theirs on their family.
Speaker 1: And I just will never forget but that the crowd.
Speaker 1: I have never heard that many people screaming or you
Speaker 1: at one time, you know what I'm saying at that moment,
Speaker 1: that time and that place, that kind of let me
Speaker 1: know like like wow, like you got that ship off, bro,
Speaker 1: like and you vent it, you know, because my album
Speaker 1: was a lot of event you know, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? C J said, You know what he from
Speaker 1: County said, You know what polic be It all boils
Speaker 1: down to nything, you know, you know, boils onto the
Speaker 1: editor when you see this, man, let's gonna look way
Speaker 1: different than what you think it is. Man, it's gonna
Speaker 1: look like a movie. You know what I mean? That's
Speaker 1: it supposed to be baby a movie every time with
Speaker 1: link up the show man. So you don't know limit records. Man,
Speaker 1: Everything is going good man. Then it starts to beat
Speaker 1: rumors of the sinction. Man. You know it's rumors that
Speaker 1: beats by the pound, maybe leaving no limit very very
Speaker 1: pivotal part of important part of the label. It was
Speaker 1: a producer driven label and y'all had very incredible lyricist.
Speaker 1: I don't think no limit it's the credit sometimes for
Speaker 1: the lyricists they had. You know you of course you
Speaker 1: were a monster off Youah mcnick a rep and me
Speaker 1: and x Is probably I would have to put her
Speaker 1: in my top five mcs man me x is hard man.
Speaker 1: Max is the beast bro. She regards of agenda, She
Speaker 1: get the job done. She had one on want to
Speaker 1: burn me? And ex is very very man, very um.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't want to say underrated, mankas y'all
Speaker 1: was pushing out golden platinum records. Man, so people you
Speaker 1: know people's vibe, Man, But I don't hear her mention
Speaker 1: as much as she possibly should be. I'm happy brought
Speaker 1: that up. I think it's a Southern thing, man, or
Speaker 1: maybe the relationships was it was a Southern thing. I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people didn't look at lyricist as
Speaker 1: from the South, like a lot of people from the
Speaker 1: South when they think of lyrics, they think of scar
Speaker 1: face and sometimes as far as the other beholder, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. But that's how that went for
Speaker 1: a long time, and until people realize the ex is
Speaker 1: the fens, the max the mysticals, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: um and so forth. You know, there's a gang of people.
Speaker 1: We'd be here all day. But um, when they mentioned
Speaker 1: these um hip hop legend tours and stuff, I said
Speaker 1: that they leave a lot of people love. But once again,
Speaker 1: it just must be of another person's perspective of balls
Speaker 1: down to the promoter. You know, Yeah, I think that's
Speaker 1: what it is. Man. So we have this thing, man,
Speaker 1: What was your thoughts in your mind when you start
Speaker 1: hearing this stuff, man? Like, because the situation was pretty
Speaker 1: much going perfect. What was going through your mind when
Speaker 1: you heard the feats by the planet may lead the
Speaker 1: label well, I was right there, so if I heard it,
Speaker 1: I heard it from directly from where saying like, remember
Speaker 1: it was a Rookling award I saw on someone through
Speaker 1: a stone. Yeah, I mean so. Um. When I saw
Speaker 1: that the label was having in differences, I didn't know
Speaker 1: how to set people down. I didn't know how to
Speaker 1: set people down. I wish I had known how to
Speaker 1: set people down and just kind of move forward about
Speaker 1: this because it was all about a conversation, and I
Speaker 1: just think that sometimes people was just steering things up
Speaker 1: instead of you know what I'm saying, like making sure
Speaker 1: that they had clarity there. And when you don't have clarity,
Speaker 1: you have pollution. You know. Hm, I was right there, exactly, man, exactly.
Speaker 1: Do you, in your heart of hearts man, really feel
Speaker 1: like if that situation could have been talked out, something
Speaker 1: could have been king, you know, some kind of resolution
Speaker 1: could have been made. I really feel I think it's
Speaker 1: two outlooks of it, you know, two perspectives. I think
Speaker 1: that if the powers of the label would have excuse me,
Speaker 1: if the powers of the label could have possibly got
Speaker 1: out of the way of wearing the hat of who
Speaker 1: they were and possibly of the production would have had
Speaker 1: opportunity to have transparency on where they are today and
Speaker 1: what's going tomorrow. I think things could have easily been
Speaker 1: ironed out, but it takes, you know, getting out those egos.
Speaker 1: I'm not disrespecting or belittle in anybody, but I'm quite
Speaker 1: sure at the height of your career it's kind of
Speaker 1: hard to humble yourself to sit down and see what,
Speaker 1: you know, what are people immediate needs, desires or where
Speaker 1: I could make things right for them, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. And the no limit thing. I really do
Speaker 1: believe things could have possibly been worked out and it
Speaker 1: would have been a greater good. But I think we
Speaker 1: didn't have a closer connection we used to have. We
Speaker 1: didn't have as we didn't have as closer for connection
Speaker 1: we thought we had. At one time we could talk
Speaker 1: direct you know, to pee on some things. And then
Speaker 1: it started he kind of delegating power. We got to
Speaker 1: go through this just this, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: That they ain't really high it was at first, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So I think the certain things
Speaker 1: men growing as a business, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: it just got a little different and a little weird.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not pointing the fingers that nobody is
Speaker 1: just that. Um. I think Cats was just too young
Speaker 1: to know any better. Bro. Yeah, And what it sounds
Speaker 1: like to me is that the label was growing, man,
Speaker 1: and Pete probably started delegating more duties to people because
Speaker 1: he can only wear so many heads. You know, at
Speaker 1: that time, he was you know, playing basketball, doing different things,
Speaker 1: you know, shout out the peat, um, you know, brilliant
Speaker 1: business man he did, right, you know, he brought something
Speaker 1: new to the game. It was an inspiration to probably
Speaker 1: several new ceo is coming in the game. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: know what, But I gotta be Yeah, this is just
Speaker 1: me personally. Everyone runs their business how they choose to
Speaker 1: run their business, M and I and and I know
Speaker 1: no one likes to reflect on the past on that
Speaker 1: type ordeal, but me personally, personally, I really think that
Speaker 1: the personal touch of the things that what he had,
Speaker 1: it's what made the people work and give the best
Speaker 1: vibrations of theirselves. Yeah. Through that, And I think when
Speaker 1: that personal attention left, I said to just meet. I
Speaker 1: think that when you don't have clarity, you can only
Speaker 1: have pollution. Man. That's deep, that's deep. So what that
Speaker 1: point did you decide to say, you know what, I've
Speaker 1: ran my course over at No Limit. It's time for
Speaker 1: me to make some other moves because I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: that you were in demand at the time. Um, what
Speaker 1: I had got to a point was as far as
Speaker 1: having any type of musical life outside of No Limit,
Speaker 1: it was I had a baby on the way, and
Speaker 1: I just couldn't predict how I was gonna eat. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, I don't know what No Limit
Speaker 1: had going on to when I couldn't, um predict making
Speaker 1: some type of income our livelihood. But I didn't wait
Speaker 1: a point the finger neither. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: I won't had a meeting. Yeah, I won't have to
Speaker 1: meeting with Percy. And he gave me the room. He
Speaker 1: cleared everybody I would ask because they leave. I was
Speaker 1: grateful for that. You know, he asked me. You know,
Speaker 1: we went to talking and we had our conversation, and
Speaker 1: I just wasn't getting the clarity I needed as a man,
Speaker 1: you know, twenty one years of age, about to have
Speaker 1: his first child. You know, girlfriend eight months pregnant, and
Speaker 1: you know she asking how we're gonna eat. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, and I couldn't burden him with my
Speaker 1: life outside of business. So you know, I had asked him,
Speaker 1: you know, to be a kid. I put out an
Speaker 1: independent project and titled Can I Burn? I figured, I
Speaker 1: put me on the independent project. Maybe maybe I get
Speaker 1: me some money from somewhere. You know, I wasn't super
Speaker 1: smart on what to do with money. Then it was
Speaker 1: either you did music or you know, because you know
Speaker 1: all the wrong people with the right prices, you're gonna
Speaker 1: get out of the street. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: M hm. So I ended up realizing the safest place
Speaker 1: for me to be, for me to be the best
Speaker 1: version of myself or not calls home to others and
Speaker 1: people that I love and not cause people to be
Speaker 1: stressing about me, was to stay in my ass in studio.
Speaker 1: I stay in my yeah, stay in my essent studio. Man.
Speaker 1: And I end up putting on independent projects and I
Speaker 1: became a meeting after the limit, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: You know, I just looked at it like I got
Speaker 1: my Noloman University diploma and I did something my diploma,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like, who's to say how
Speaker 1: that ship was supposed to go who's it? Everybody look
Speaker 1: at things differently, man. I look at it like if
Speaker 1: I would have been compensated X, Y and Z, who's
Speaker 1: to say I wouldn't have had a crazy drug happening
Speaker 1: some ship. Yeah that's real, man, that's real. So you know,
Speaker 1: after you left No Limits Records, you know you want
Speaker 1: to started your own label when you put out can
Speaker 1: I burn the record for the record? I didn't like
Speaker 1: leave like you know, like, okay, this is over. I
Speaker 1: literally started a label to put out an independent project,
Speaker 1: to hold myself over as you should have. That's that's
Speaker 1: all it was, was, you know what I'm saying. And
Speaker 1: then it eventually got taken as that because I didn't
Speaker 1: resign the new contracts. Oh so you were we offered
Speaker 1: a chance opportunity to sign again with no one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was offered. I just my lawyer didn't care for
Speaker 1: the contract, and I expressed myself that, you know, and
Speaker 1: it gets to be in certain remarks and things. I
Speaker 1: guess it's all business. It wasn't. It wasn't coming out
Speaker 1: of PEM, out of person millits, but it was just reps.
Speaker 1: You know, they're doing they're supposed to do. Get this
Speaker 1: sign keep it moving and saying I just like this,
Speaker 1: I'm not signed in this. My lawyer told him another signs.
Speaker 1: You know, like I said, we didn't have it's personal,
Speaker 1: you know, see about the type of situation that we
Speaker 1: had at one time. So I had to deal with middleman.
Speaker 1: And I'm quite sure when my message got relaid back
Speaker 1: it probably came all sassy, you know kind of way exactly,
Speaker 1: and you know that's called corrupt communication. Man. Yes, the pollution,
Speaker 1: you know exactly. And so you know there was something
Speaker 1: I saw. Man. Eventually you want to do the situation
Speaker 1: with rough riders? Oh yeah, shout out the Windy Day,
Speaker 1: j KA training, rest in Peace, um, shout out the
Speaker 1: Moosa um from Shout the y and d Dean Chavanne, Keisha,
Speaker 1: Elima Deen, Papa, Dian, Mama Den They're my favorite deans Jervy. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So so they approach you. How did that come about?
Speaker 1: It came about by signed a rough rider? Is that
Speaker 1: when they did ask me that I want to be famous,
Speaker 1: that I want to be rich, and I told her,
Speaker 1: I honestly prefer to be rich, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So I end up mortgage in my house and put
Speaker 1: out a project can I burn? And it caught the
Speaker 1: likes of why from rough Rider and we end up
Speaker 1: was talking a little bit and not expressed to him
Speaker 1: that things just wasn't going the way I would hope
Speaker 1: it would win at no limit. I just couldn't get
Speaker 1: the clarity I needed to know what was promised tomorrow.
Speaker 1: And what happened was rough Rider say, DMX was doing
Speaker 1: more movies. So if you know, if you're interested in
Speaker 1: working with us, like we interested in working with you,
Speaker 1: it might be perfect because this powerhouse voices going districtly
Speaker 1: films and you've been a powerhouse. Who's to say what
Speaker 1: this might be? You know what I'm saying. So that
Speaker 1: was my That was a j of me signing the
Speaker 1: rough Rider was because X is about to go through
Speaker 1: movies for a time, so you know what we're gonna do.
Speaker 1: And like ship, who could run this ship? I mean,
Speaker 1: like the world eat this up? B Yeah, exactly, man, exactly, man.
Speaker 1: And I always thought that that was really dope. Man,
Speaker 1: how you went over there, But I'm gonna tell you
Speaker 1: where you really killed them at Man, when you got
Speaker 1: with the boys from Memphis, Tennessee, Bro and you start
Speaker 1: putting out those here buses at Bro, that's when I
Speaker 1: made money for It's what I made money for real,
Speaker 1: like liquid money for real, Like you're getting rappid money,
Speaker 1: Like you know what I'm saying. I went My brother
Speaker 1: Musa told me three six months he had a concert
Speaker 1: at the House of Blues and we should go. And
Speaker 1: that's your boys, you know what I'm saying that and
Speaker 1: your people, you know what I mean, Let's go see
Speaker 1: And we weren't see him after the concert. Who was
Speaker 1: talking it would be geeked over to see each other,
Speaker 1: like you've got real hip hop kids. Brover me and
Speaker 1: Paul to this day and were like, Bro, you and
Speaker 1: Ludicrous the only dudes I know that he used a
Speaker 1: song as a reference for every guy there that you're
Speaker 1: talking about. You know, it's just hip hop babies. We
Speaker 1: love these people, bro. Him and Juicy loved these people.
Speaker 1: So he was like, man, what if y'all did an
Speaker 1: album with each other? Do that? What have you did?
Speaker 1: Help them with each other? And uh, Paul was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that'd be dope, just like ship. That's that's cool. Right.
Speaker 1: So this is this Saturday, right, So we're gonna start
Speaker 1: on the album Monday, all right, okay. Monday, they didn't respond.
Speaker 1: They was, you know who just say what? Right? They
Speaker 1: means Bright? Still Tuesday, I showed up to their studio, Dope,
Speaker 1: I remember the code to get in the fence, still,
Speaker 1: to get in the in the in the in the
Speaker 1: parking lot. Still. So you just popped up up that said,
Speaker 1: I'm here, I'm here. What's up that boy? Paul told
Speaker 1: me thing. I love you Bright, I love you Bro,
Speaker 1: I love you Dog. I'm about to give you all
Speaker 1: these beats in this briefcase right now to record of
Speaker 1: this project we're about to do. He said, this is
Speaker 1: beats for like one project that was getting ready to
Speaker 1: put out. It was huge something things, getting ready to
Speaker 1: put out your He said, about to give you all
Speaker 1: these beats for this Still I knocked out eight songs,
Speaker 1: excuse me, eight songs, and one day I had none
Speaker 1: of his pre written, none of this premeditated eight songs.
Speaker 1: One day right there was like they called my brother.
Speaker 1: Moose said, Moosa, what the fund is y'all feeding this nigga?
Speaker 1: This nigga knocked out the half of fun album or
Speaker 1: better and it's we're still in this bit. He're like, man,
Speaker 1: he bro, you know what I'm saying. Still, it was
Speaker 1: so bad. Me and my dad had played the PlayStation
Speaker 1: mad whoever one got the hotel bear because we shared
Speaker 1: one room, m D. My daddy was traveling everywhere. That's
Speaker 1: my dad, Bro, my dad trap. Yeah, Bro, Look and
Speaker 1: when I got there, my truck broke down once I
Speaker 1: got the Memphis, so you were stuck there? Uh yeah, no,
Speaker 1: Look at God work. The truck got me into the studio,
Speaker 1: but my truck broke down at the hotel, so I
Speaker 1: wouldn't even be embarrassed in front of these gentlemen. That's
Speaker 1: that's how guy worked. Man, that's God. That's the most
Speaker 1: haze favor. He got you where you needed to be
Speaker 1: at and see the situation. Bro. The second day knocked
Speaker 1: out five six most songs, right is it? Hold on? Bro?
Speaker 1: When laying versus A None of these ships, it's just
Speaker 1: you with all these you with all the songs. I said, well, um,
Speaker 1: it's all good man. We need to wrap this ship
Speaker 1: in and turn into select though. Yes, Bron, he said,
Speaker 1: we got a concert in Knoxville or some ship and
Speaker 1: we'll come back and we'll finish it with the mixing, right, Son,
Speaker 1: Never done before I get on their tour bus to
Speaker 1: go with them to Nashville, nice Ville Son. I got
Speaker 1: on stage with these men doing backups and everything though
Speaker 1: like I was one of the artists. That's just I've
Speaker 1: been like, you know what I'm saying, Like we don't
Speaker 1: really see ourselves how the world made see us? You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. But I enjoyed myself. Bro. Paul
Speaker 1: was like, I cannot believe you did the ship. Huh.
Speaker 1: Can I ask you a question? Three six Mafia they're
Speaker 1: known for being um. They had that independent game figured
Speaker 1: out early. You know, they figured it out early because
Speaker 1: they were making you know, those dudes with millionaires, I think,
Speaker 1: come to the high school. Yes, that's let's let's let's
Speaker 1: put it out there. Yes, let's be clear they were millionaires.
Speaker 1: I'm not asking before any deal arrives anything. Nate, you
Speaker 1: know the genius businessman, underrated businessman select though he's also
Speaker 1: genius business that assisted them to distribute those projects to
Speaker 1: get it. Yes, and he's still doing and I think,
Speaker 1: and I believe to this day, Paul is still doing
Speaker 1: work with Selected hits. I am too, is that right?
Speaker 1: A good distributor? And and they weathered the storm a
Speaker 1: lot of money was made. Um, I don't think people
Speaker 1: realized the amount of money that was made. And I
Speaker 1: could tell you from my own personal experience. I brought
Speaker 1: my house and purchased my first piece of property. Everything
Speaker 1: goes everything good that came to be from the music
Speaker 1: industry with stuff I was doing on my own. The
Speaker 1: minute it went left was when I started messing with
Speaker 1: them companies, messing with the major labels. You know why.
Speaker 1: Sometimes they got so many hidding agendas and fees and
Speaker 1: things that we are of yours too. So the whole
Speaker 1: thing is the high ship here and get wealthy while
Speaker 1: we are oblivious. They start off meaning, well you're me,
Speaker 1: and they figured that. You know, you're just a team
Speaker 1: and do what you're gonna do. Select though its you know,
Speaker 1: it was just different. You know, we got eight dollars
Speaker 1: off of unit, you know, seven hours off, some seven
Speaker 1: out figure sent off for unit. You know, when you sell,
Speaker 1: you know, two hundred thousand units independently, somebody gonna know
Speaker 1: you there's something two hundred fifty dollar units independent, somebody
Speaker 1: gonna hear about it. You feel me, And I think
Speaker 1: that's just what happened. You know, these other companies that
Speaker 1: get it. They just got their own agenda. But independently,
Speaker 1: you're able to touch a little bit more, and so
Speaker 1: a dollar means that much more to you, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. You know, most deals when we get
Speaker 1: the companies are glorifying loans. So but according to the
Speaker 1: way you are, I think would be a real booster
Speaker 1: for you. I mean, yeah, it depends on where you at.
Speaker 1: Like you said, it depends on where you had in life.
Speaker 1: I know, someone, why don't you really start establishing that
Speaker 1: this is your career. You want more consistency than anything else,
Speaker 1: you know, especially when you start getting married. When you
Speaker 1: have a wife, you have children, you have responsibilities, you
Speaker 1: have a mortgage. You're not a little kid. I have
Speaker 1: certain responsibilities I know with my household. If my wife
Speaker 1: asked me, hey, when is this coming in? Or when
Speaker 1: is that coming? And I need to be able to
Speaker 1: explain that detail, you know, and I need to be
Speaker 1: able to produce it because the thing else, the bills
Speaker 1: don't stop. It's not like we get a reprieve because
Speaker 1: oh man, they're messing with the money over here. So
Speaker 1: I'll pay you when I get this. It don't work.
Speaker 1: The fifth nobody cares about that stuff. You know, they
Speaker 1: don't care, bro. Like I learned that hard from They
Speaker 1: don't care. Bro, they don't care, and they don't care.
Speaker 1: I got some real hard, real hard life lessons, bro.
Speaker 1: Like oh like accountants that stole money that weren't even
Speaker 1: suitable for the job, all kind of stuff, bro Like
Speaker 1: you just you know what I'm saying. Um, And a
Speaker 1: lot of times I actually won't fix that ship myself.
Speaker 1: How you think you fix things in the street? You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. I used to have it, you know,
Speaker 1: in some of the words, I used to have it
Speaker 1: sucked up, you know what I'm saying. And then I
Speaker 1: started realizing, what did you really miss? You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, that's what you really miss. You don't know
Speaker 1: if you got, uh the opportunity not to waste your
Speaker 1: time somewhere from that not happening, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And this is another note which has nothing to do
Speaker 1: we're talking about now. I tell my guys in the streets,
Speaker 1: you know, they tell me, you know some money that
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. I said, So, so I'm
Speaker 1: let me get this right. You want your money or
Speaker 1: do you want to be a murderer, which which one
Speaker 1: you're doing? Because if you still want your money, how
Speaker 1: you how you gonna get it? You know? From the corpse? Yes,
Speaker 1: I was like, so to hear it out loud, I
Speaker 1: can see my brothers are really like processing what it
Speaker 1: is to make decisions off emotion. Well, you know, most
Speaker 1: of our brothers lead from emotion, and that's why we're
Speaker 1: in a position that we're in. And a lot of times, um,
Speaker 1: everything is about communication too, because I've seen people expect
Speaker 1: money when they don't really have money coming in, and
Speaker 1: you know, they think that just like you know what,
Speaker 1: I think some people have this, especially with the stuff
Speaker 1: I do. I have to tell some of my guys like, dude,
Speaker 1: you haven't did anything in two months, but check you
Speaker 1: expecting something? But I'm the only one kicking me and
Speaker 1: I'm doing all the work and everything, So you really
Speaker 1: pretty much expect me just to give you something, just
Speaker 1: to be giving it to you. You're not. You're not
Speaker 1: putting in what you're expecting out of it, and that's
Speaker 1: not and it's not fair. And um, the biggest thing
Speaker 1: I've learned is just to be fair to everyone. Treat
Speaker 1: everyone like you would yourself. If me and you do
Speaker 1: something together and it's the expectation that we're splitting this
Speaker 1: in half, that means equal work has to go into it.
Speaker 1: It's not that we're splitting something and I'll do all
Speaker 1: the work I and cure all the costs. No, we're
Speaker 1: a full partnership. If something's go cost a thousand dollars
Speaker 1: to that means I need five hundred from you. Since
Speaker 1: we're getting the half for this. You understand what I mean.
Speaker 1: We both need to be equally yoked in the situation.
Speaker 1: UM And I think that's the bad. The worst part
Speaker 1: about our people nowadays, man, is that we don't communicate,
Speaker 1: and most of us expect something from nothing. I think
Speaker 1: that is the biggest problem with most people because being
Speaker 1: a young man UM not knowing how to communicate. That
Speaker 1: was the only thing that happened from not wanting communicating
Speaker 1: being embarrassed. Now you want to fight, I don't want
Speaker 1: to put out the sticks because you don't have the
Speaker 1: Sometimes the communication skills are the education to have some
Speaker 1: decent dialogue with somebody behind the business. So you know,
Speaker 1: you feel uh, you feel disrespected because you may not
Speaker 1: be to make out the words you feel belittle because
Speaker 1: you're not going to communicating. You know, most people don't
Speaker 1: know that it's okay to agree to disagree, and most
Speaker 1: people don't know one of the most powerful things is
Speaker 1: to be able to coexist, you know what I'm saying, Like,
Speaker 1: And I think that's what most about people being messed
Speaker 1: up on, like you know what I'm saying, Like you know,
Speaker 1: like you know I don't I don't sit around and
Speaker 1: play god. So you know, I can't tell another person
Speaker 1: what to do, but I don't sit around and play guy.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. I'm just gonna do my part.
Speaker 1: Throughout all these companies that I've worked with, communication is
Speaker 1: one thing that I've always brought to the table. And
Speaker 1: I can't even pride myself of spirit and that there's
Speaker 1: nobody of a guard making me sit down and want
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit, making me sit down and listen,
Speaker 1: making me sit down and um assess things and give
Speaker 1: myself options. And in business, a man with options is
Speaker 1: a man that wins. You know what I mean exactly? Well,
Speaker 1: you know I want to talk to you about that
Speaker 1: because you have steps. You do a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: outside the rim of just being a rapper. You're a
Speaker 1: producer A and R. I want to delve into that
Speaker 1: a little bit. Tell me about that, because you went
Speaker 1: over to do a lot of work with Atlantic Records,
Speaker 1: with a guy in particular, Mike Karen. How did that
Speaker 1: situation come about? The situation working as an n R
Speaker 1: producer writer for Mike Kring came about by brother DJ
Speaker 1: spin down in New Orleans. Had Mike Mike came in
Speaker 1: town to do something. Maybe he was getting some DJs.
Speaker 1: Maybe he was personally just putting his ears, just trying
Speaker 1: to test the waters out and spend cooking entertaining. Mike Karen.
Speaker 1: He has something to do, so he got it with
Speaker 1: my brother Moosa, who is part owner of Jet Life Records.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, so proud of him of
Speaker 1: what he has become. Like you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: like so so so proud when I pride myself up
Speaker 1: seeing potential and somebody and telling them, no, dog, you
Speaker 1: need to be doing this, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So Moosa been a good brother and also my manager,
Speaker 1: drove Mike Karen to Baton Rouge. I was already working
Speaker 1: with Kelc at his house. Um Enters Moosa and Mike
Speaker 1: Karen and they walk in and he meets since Kelsey.
Speaker 1: He's like, kell see, I'll let me get some beats
Speaker 1: for some things I got going on. I'm sitting in
Speaker 1: a little half bathroom at cal Studio, rolling weed up
Speaker 1: and just writing. So he peeps in there. You're like, oh,
Speaker 1: what's up, man? I said, what's up? Are you doing?
Speaker 1: Somebody caring? I said, what's uthing? Thing? And most just like,
Speaker 1: this is a writer's guy's been ghostwriting for you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of ship that you know that's made millions,
Speaker 1: so Blad and the Gold repetitiously. So he was like, yeah.
Speaker 1: He's like, uh um, I'm looking for a single for
Speaker 1: Trainer for this uh a little movie we couldn't together
Speaker 1: call Knocked Up. It's a comedy, you know. I said, okay, cool.
Speaker 1: He's like, then you could do something for that. I said, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I work on something. I wrote this song
Speaker 1: called shake It. You know what I'm saying. I want
Speaker 1: me to do a little chance. But you know wrote
Speaker 1: this dream of training right she knocked it out the park. Bro.
Speaker 1: Mike then says, wait a minute, Ship this this possibly
Speaker 1: might be a single for the soundtrack was like, are
Speaker 1: you signed anybody you know? And I was like, I
Speaker 1: think I would want to work with you. Man, Um,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be the first signing as a writer to
Speaker 1: APG if you'd be willing to work with me. And
Speaker 1: I was the first writer he signed, along with Bruno Mars.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, flew me out there to CALLI.
Speaker 1: I worked at as he had a house. Uh, I
Speaker 1: want to an apartment, but kind of a house, apartment
Speaker 1: that he shared with a roommate, right, And I remember
Speaker 1: cutting vocals at his house. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I remember him his dad's a doctor, right. I remember
Speaker 1: him drinking these green juices, saying he was doing soup
Speaker 1: so just juice, and he wasn't feeling well. When when
Speaker 1: when this occurs for him, this is what his dad
Speaker 1: tells him to do. I thought that was so cool. Man.
Speaker 1: Your dad is a physician. He's telling you how to
Speaker 1: heal yourself. I'm like, so, me and Mike just we bounded.
Speaker 1: We were cool. Man. It might be throwing a football
Speaker 1: outside the studios, dude, figure who then is Mike playing
Speaker 1: football with? You know what I'm saying. They see him
Speaker 1: differently and know him or whatever he did. Um, we
Speaker 1: did a gang of hit records with each other. Bro,
Speaker 1: gang of hit records I brought to I brought him
Speaker 1: drummer Boy. He paying my shorties single? Was he paying flies?
Speaker 1: M M I was able to get Pimcy his first
Speaker 1: feature when he arrived on the streets from jail with
Speaker 1: t I with many fresh reproducer from back side to side.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean. I introduced Mike carrying the
Speaker 1: Gucci man. You know what I'm saying, I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: to your man. Still want foot in the trap? You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, Like, I gotta I gotta opportunity
Speaker 1: to do a lot of cool things. Also kind of
Speaker 1: like being like a mascot Atlantic Records with my brand
Speaker 1: and who I am. You know what I'm saying, Because
Speaker 1: once we walked in some of these rooms, they'd be like,
Speaker 1: oh ship you hear man, shoot me a contract? I know,
Speaker 1: he hear. You know what I'm saying, that type, you know?
Speaker 1: So I was grateful. I did a lot of right
Speaker 1: a lot of righting, bro, a lot of righting um,
Speaker 1: and we did well. And look at Mike Karen today,
Speaker 1: he uh, he's a go getter and a hustler. He
Speaker 1: just did some type of crazy two D fifty three
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty million dollar deal with Atlantic Records. You know, UM,
Speaker 1: kudos to Mike once again, UM getting himself that much
Speaker 1: more solidified and another realm of business, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So yeah, that's how became a writer, UM artists.
Speaker 1: Actually as an artist with Atlantic, it was gonna sign
Speaker 1: as International Jones UM. But once I signed, there was like, Um,
Speaker 1: were by the stuff doing these three sixty deals And
Speaker 1: I don't think that you're going to be fond of that.
Speaker 1: So how would you like becoming an A and R?
Speaker 1: So you chose the A in our position of course?
Speaker 1: Of course, yeah, because three sixty deals, you know, expounding
Speaker 1: that a little bit for the people out there that
Speaker 1: may not be privy to what that deals. A three
Speaker 1: sixty deal in the music industry means that you are
Speaker 1: totally in business with the record company, dealing with every
Speaker 1: aspect of your life, your likeness, on your merchandise and
Speaker 1: your touring, publishing, everything that comes as far as making
Speaker 1: an income off of being an artist. Now the label
Speaker 1: is a partner with your fifty fifty if not more
Speaker 1: of a three sixty deal. Oh wow. So a lot
Speaker 1: of people don't understand. See how managed artists. And I
Speaker 1: tell artists all the time, I say, what you may
Speaker 1: be happy with signing today, that may get you out
Speaker 1: your little situation, that may put it. It's like putting
Speaker 1: a bandit in the bullet wound, because eventually, once you
Speaker 1: start understanding things, once you take care of those little
Speaker 1: bills and stuff, and you come to the reality that
Speaker 1: I'm literally being robbed right now. It's not too cool.
Speaker 1: It's not the bills. Don't stop. The bills, don't stop.
Speaker 1: What advice would you give to any person trying to
Speaker 1: pursue this industry? My advice to anybody that's looking to
Speaker 1: pursue this industry three um. Since this is the information knowledge,
Speaker 1: I believe that there could be some little boys and girls,
Speaker 1: or young adults um or seasoned veterans that may just
Speaker 1: not know. So I'm gonna give you this because I
Speaker 1: feel like this was the spirit is telling me to
Speaker 1: tell you you no longer have to go to the
Speaker 1: street to raise money for your career. You no longer
Speaker 1: have to ask some one in the streets to raise
Speaker 1: money for your career. You can work on your credit,
Speaker 1: you can finance your own career. And once you build
Speaker 1: something that has value, companies will come to want to
Speaker 1: do business with you because they see the numbers. Without
Speaker 1: the numbers has knows value to them at all. You mean,
Speaker 1: and anybody else, it's just another phase. Really, we all
Speaker 1: look like you know what I'm saying, and it's just
Speaker 1: another body. Um, So build your brand. You have to
Speaker 1: be a person that's so confident in what you're doing
Speaker 1: that you know that to determine sugar from soult and
Speaker 1: have patience, you know what I'm saying. Um, Sometimes to
Speaker 1: take a minute. You have to be adult enough. You
Speaker 1: have to be adult enough to know that if you
Speaker 1: didn't have patience and you did take the short router,
Speaker 1: took the quick check that these are the repercussions that
Speaker 1: come from you did that you did and be an
Speaker 1: adult and growing up about it. Um, that would be
Speaker 1: the advice I would give. And if you, if you
Speaker 1: have that type of patients, you'll be okay being in
Speaker 1: these realms knowing that they just can't entice you with
Speaker 1: things and that it's their job to entice you. You know,
Speaker 1: they're they're are the dealer, they are the house in
Speaker 1: the casino. Their job is to take that money from you.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, that's their job. Don't confuse
Speaker 1: the two. Very seldom you're gonna run across people that's
Speaker 1: gonna care about your craft and want to help you, uh,
Speaker 1: help you. Nurture is the word I use it because
Speaker 1: every time I think about it, I think about little
Speaker 1: wayne artists that was nurtured, you know, and it surrounding
Speaker 1: to let them just be great. But even in the
Speaker 1: likes of that, things can go um a little different
Speaker 1: or difficulty until we have communications, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: For sure, Man, Now before we go, I want to
Speaker 1: talk to you about this new thing that you've got
Speaker 1: going on. Man, you have a podcast. I got a podcast, Man,
Speaker 1: I got a podcast called who Got That Fire? Maybe
Speaker 1: g d F? Who got that? Has been d A T?
Speaker 1: Who Got Their Fighting? Podcast? Who Got? How long you've
Speaker 1: been doing that? So far? Um, I've been doing it.
Speaker 1: I guess you could say somewhe professionally now maybe maybe
Speaker 1: a couple of months. Only because a young lady, she's
Speaker 1: like a sister to me. She always tell me that, Man,
Speaker 1: you need to be talking to some of these men
Speaker 1: out here of our relationship advice, or you need to
Speaker 1: talking to my old man, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And I explained to them that it may sound good
Speaker 1: to you until it's in your pot, until it's on
Speaker 1: your plate. You know what I'm saying. The brads always
Speaker 1: look green acause the three I said, But you don't
Speaker 1: know what I did to get here, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. Like, you know, a man gotta humble himself.
Speaker 1: He definitely leads, but the woman hunts. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. We could learn from the lions. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, We could really really learn from the line.
Speaker 1: Respect go a long way, a real or a long way.
Speaker 1: Like when I travel, I'd like to travel with women
Speaker 1: assistance and stuff like that, because I'm not about to
Speaker 1: be nowhere. There's a whole bunch of test outs, are
Speaker 1: nonsense going on. I'm saying, got a female DJ. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, Like it breaks the ice in
Speaker 1: the room and eliminates a whole bunch of bs. Do
Speaker 1: because sometimes our our brothers, man, sometimes they full of it. Man,
Speaker 1: they can't help it. Bro It's it's uh they're fighting
Speaker 1: whatever they're fighting everybody is not gonna be a stand
Speaker 1: up person and say, Yo, I'm not in my best
Speaker 1: mood right now. I'm just not in the right space.
Speaker 1: Can we reached this for tomorrow of the mentally? I'm
Speaker 1: just not in that space right now. To alleviate what
Speaker 1: was up with that person? Why was this person the asshole?
Speaker 1: Why would you know what was going on with this
Speaker 1: he rubbed me the wrong way? You mad at yourself?
Speaker 1: Now you want everybody be mad? I think um a
Speaker 1: lot of people in the entertain an industry to do
Speaker 1: with uh therapy from one. I think a lot of
Speaker 1: brothers can do with therapy because these deals and promises,
Speaker 1: broken promises, this type of stuff, man, really scoring kids,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. It breaks their trust, It
Speaker 1: breaks their motivation. It uh you know, it takes it.
Speaker 1: It just burns them to the ground. Bro. And also
Speaker 1: it takes from them the ability to discern when somebody
Speaker 1: is really trying to look out for them too, because
Speaker 1: they have this mistrust build in them to where you
Speaker 1: may start doing business with somebody that's broken and you
Speaker 1: may be building over backwards for him, but they think,
Speaker 1: in their mind, will it has to be something else
Speaker 1: to it. I've been done everywhere everybody, and it's hard
Speaker 1: for anybody. I've seen guys that I work with on
Speaker 1: a regular basis, but because of what uh their own
Speaker 1: perceptions of lowland and records, we can't get nothing done
Speaker 1: because they need their business straight, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And I'm not I can't even be mad. I've seen
Speaker 1: brothers that work with companies and they just feel like
Speaker 1: this didn't go well. So we gotta get this history.
Speaker 1: But some great advice from my dad, Um God bless
Speaker 1: my dad, man Richard Jones, seeing Pops Pops and say, son,
Speaker 1: even a dime and block out the sun. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, getting into your life, you know something
Speaker 1: that small burn. So keep that in mind when you're
Speaker 1: looking to do business with people. You know, is the
Speaker 1: business of the fabric of the individual? Is that? And
Speaker 1: to have moments to when the fabricy got individual always
Speaker 1: the business, you know, and then they're gonna have moments
Speaker 1: when the business and our wag our perspective of the
Speaker 1: fabric of the individual. So but still the fabrican individual
Speaker 1: is important. Y'all need just come on one page. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So It's just man. People make
Speaker 1: things complicated. You know, people literally make things complicated. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, Like, if we explained a lot
Speaker 1: of these things two people first, they can have the
Speaker 1: option of whatever they wanted to business with you. That's
Speaker 1: real talk, man. So I always finished every interview with
Speaker 1: a profound question, how do you want to be remembered?
Speaker 1: How do I want to be remembered? I want to
Speaker 1: be remembered as I meant, more good and bad.