Latest / Eating While Broke / LARREN WONG - High Stakes & Mashed Ambitions
Transcript
- 0:12Speaker 1: Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
- 0:15Speaker 1: I'm your host, Coleen Wait and today we have very
- 0:17Speaker 1: special guests Laren Wong in the building, recording artists. Laren
- 0:23Speaker 1: Wong is in the building promoting his fourth EP or
- 0:28Speaker 1: long and fourth, Long and fourth, fourth and long, fourth
- 0:31Speaker 1: and long. We gotta throw it back to fourth and long.
- 0:35Speaker 1: We have to throw it back to the NFL, of course.
- 0:38Speaker 1: So what are you gonna have me eating today?
- 0:41Speaker 2: I'm going to have you eat the Laryn Wong Classic,
- 0:44Speaker 2: the Laryn Wong Struggle.
- 0:45Speaker 1: Special, the Struggle Special.
- 0:47Speaker 2: Yes, ma'am, aka steaks.
- 0:51Speaker 1: Steak and taters. That's what that is. You're gonna cut
- 0:54Speaker 1: those things.
- 0:54Speaker 2: Up, oh for sure. Steak and mashed potatoes.
- 0:59Speaker 1: Oh okay, okay? And then what are the ingredients for
- 1:05Speaker 1: your dish?
- 1:06Speaker 2: So here we have a cut of steak, baby spinach, butter, salt, pepper, garlic, thyme,
- 1:12Speaker 2: olive oil.
- 1:13Speaker 1: And then what is the heavy cream?
- 1:16Speaker 2: Heavy? I'm sorry, heavy cream as well?
- 1:18Speaker 1: And what's that for?
- 1:19Speaker 2: Put the massed potatoes?
- 1:21Speaker 1: You put heavy cream in there? Okay, we learn it,
- 1:24Speaker 1: we learn it. He's a real cook, guys. He came
- 1:26Speaker 1: also with his handy dandy device. What is that right here?
- 1:30Speaker 2: Is a weight? I call it a meat pressure. But
- 1:32Speaker 2: this makes sure you get an even sea or on
- 1:34Speaker 2: your steak.
- 1:35Speaker 1: Okay, now, do you eat your steaks medium rare? Or
- 1:41Speaker 1: is it gonna be bloody on the inside?
- 1:43Speaker 2: It depends how you like it? You got to mal
- 1:44Speaker 2: you like it?
- 1:46Speaker 1: How do you eat it?
- 1:47Speaker 2: How do I eat it? It varies. But sometimes the blood.
- 1:51Speaker 2: I know you're not supposed to be eating blood, but
- 1:54Speaker 2: sometimes it makes it taste better. So medium, medium, well
- 1:57Speaker 2: sometimes sometimes medium rare. Just depends on the cut.
- 2:00Speaker 1: I was scared you're gonna say medium rare. You look
- 2:02Speaker 1: like a medium rare. Okay, go ahead, get in the kitchen.
- 2:06Speaker 2: Okay, get you. But in the kitchen, let's see. Let's
- 2:09Speaker 2: see what we got here. So we got the pre
- 2:13Speaker 2: boiled potatoes. Let me check on the consistency of them.
- 2:17Speaker 2: Let's see this.
- 2:18Speaker 1: Go for it like that. We already started to boil, guys.
- 2:24Speaker 1: I know there's not a chance on earth that they already.
- 2:28Speaker 2: It's okay, just watch this. It's another thing too, when
- 2:36Speaker 2: you throw it in there like that. I didn't throw
- 2:39Speaker 2: these potatoes in here.
- 2:40Speaker 1: Like this, y'all, No I did.
- 2:41Speaker 2: I feel, and I appreciate you for that, But it's
- 2:44Speaker 2: a good teaching moment right here. When you throw it
- 2:47Speaker 2: in like that, it's not going to cook that fast
- 2:50Speaker 2: because there's not as much surface area for the heat
- 2:52Speaker 2: to even you know what I mean? So boom.
- 2:55Speaker 1: Well they actually didn't do so bad either. You may know,
- 3:00Speaker 1: how do you know all this cooking stuff?
- 3:02Speaker 2: Because every adult should know how to cook, period. Okay,
- 3:10Speaker 2: come on now, that's.
- 3:11Speaker 1: Like you don't see a lot of men knowing their
- 3:16Speaker 1: way around the kitchen like this, No disrespect.
- 3:20Speaker 2: That's like a dependency thing, you know, mm hmm. Don't
- 3:22Speaker 2: you want to be able to sustain yourself? Yeah, so
- 3:27Speaker 2: why wouldn't you know how to cook?
- 3:28Speaker 1: So who taught you how to cook?
- 3:30Speaker 2: My mom? But also just myself. I taught myself how
- 3:32Speaker 2: to cook a lot of dishes. Okay, YouTube, that's what
- 3:36Speaker 2: I'm saying. People be acting like you so hard you
- 3:37Speaker 2: be looking it up on YouTube? Yeah, before like all
- 3:40Speaker 2: these other options, I was on YouTube. I learned how
- 3:43Speaker 2: to do everything on YouTube. Okay everything.
- 3:47Speaker 1: Do you ever see a recipe on like Instagram where
- 3:50Speaker 1: someone cooks it and then you go and you save
- 3:52Speaker 1: it and you actually try to make.
- 3:53Speaker 2: It absolutely TikTok. Yeah, like the foody TikTok foody Instagram
- 3:58Speaker 2: has has definitely up my culinary career.
- 4:03Speaker 1: Is that something you're really into though? Like, are you
- 4:05Speaker 1: into like cooking and all that?
- 4:06Speaker 2: For sure? Sure? Maybe not something I would do, like
- 4:10Speaker 2: actually pursue it right now, but just I enjoy doing
- 4:13Speaker 2: it at home, like trying new I like a challenge,
- 4:16Speaker 2: a creative challenge, just like art. Cooking is art.
- 4:20Speaker 1: I one hundred percent agree. I absolutely love cooking, but
- 4:24Speaker 1: I love watching other people come up with creative recipes
- 4:28Speaker 1: and stuff like that. But I have a bad habit
- 4:31Speaker 1: of cooking something really cool, plating it well, and then
- 4:33Speaker 1: not taking a picture.
- 4:35Speaker 2: Need that you don't got to take a picture of everything.
- 4:37Speaker 1: I want to though I want to show people I
- 4:39Speaker 1: can I can do it.
- 4:41Speaker 2: You should only take a picture of it when you
- 4:42Speaker 2: master it. I mean, I mean, if you want to
- 4:43Speaker 2: feel good about me personally.
- 4:45Speaker 1: Hey, every plate, it looks good.
- 4:48Speaker 2: Okay, Okay, I believe you.
- 4:50Speaker 1: I'm a plater, you know. I like the whole presentation.
- 4:54Speaker 2: Right so right here we got this steak. Thank you
- 4:56Speaker 2: for paring this. I remember I used to cook steaks
- 4:58Speaker 2: all the time. And be like, damn, I can't never
- 5:00Speaker 2: get it right. Why can't I get it right? The
- 5:02Speaker 2: reason was it wasn't dry. Really, you got to pack
- 5:05Speaker 2: the steak dry.
- 5:05Speaker 1: That's how you get That's why you're so anal about it.
- 5:07Speaker 2: Yeah, that's how you get the proper see like proper crust.
- 5:12Speaker 2: That's how you get the proper seer in the crust
- 5:15Speaker 2: on the steak.
- 5:17Speaker 1: Laren, Just so you know, I've been with you for
- 5:19Speaker 1: less than like thirty minutes. You have to be one
- 5:21Speaker 1: of the most polite people I've ever met. Really, Yeah,
- 5:29Speaker 1: does do other people say that to you?
- 5:31Speaker 2: No? Okay, all right, all right, you're from New York though,
- 5:35Speaker 2: so that's not really saying much.
- 5:38Speaker 1: Okay, So you got to make it extremely dry? What greed?
- 5:41Speaker 1: What are you doing next?
- 5:42Speaker 2: So right here, I'm going to classic classic steak. That's
- 5:48Speaker 2: how I prepared. You know, a lot of people got
- 5:50Speaker 2: their ways. It's my way right here. So boom, patted
- 5:54Speaker 2: it dry. I hit the steak with the salt, not
- 6:00Speaker 2: too much there.
- 6:04Speaker 1: Just make sure it's a healthy coating.
- 6:05Speaker 2: A healthy coating. Mix it around a little bit, ingratiate
- 6:09Speaker 2: the salt into the fibers of the muscle, you know
- 6:13Speaker 2: what I mean. Boom. Then I throw some pepper on there,
- 6:20Speaker 2: and that's up. Yeah, I'll be busting. I'd be busting
- 6:27Speaker 2: down a little bit.
- 6:31Speaker 1: I always see people seasoning with your salt and pepper,
- 6:33Speaker 1: and I'm always fascinated by it because I use so
- 6:36Speaker 1: many seasonings.
- 6:38Speaker 2: It's like, okay, you know what, I will compare that
- 6:40Speaker 2: to what that's like somebody in music who isn't really
- 6:46Speaker 2: confident in what they actually do, so they feel like
- 6:49Speaker 2: they gotta put hella stacks and harmonies and just everything everywhere.
- 6:54Speaker 2: It's like, not just let it be. If it's a
- 6:56Speaker 2: good cut, let it just compliment it and it will
- 6:59Speaker 2: shine on its own.
- 7:00Speaker 1: We've had chefs on the show that say similar. They're like,
- 7:03Speaker 1: just simple so you could taste the flavors of the meat,
- 7:06Speaker 1: right for sure? And then why is time such an
- 7:09Speaker 1: important ingredient in this?
- 7:11Speaker 2: I use time. I typically don't use time, but you know,
- 7:18Speaker 2: I'm on eating while broke, so specially cadence, So I
- 7:20Speaker 2: gotta just garden it up a.
- 7:22Speaker 1: Little bit, okay, And then are you going to do
- 7:24Speaker 1: both sides?
- 7:24Speaker 2: It's okay, So I do both sides. Put it on there,
- 7:30Speaker 2: flip it, repeat the process. My layer is salt order operations.
- 7:35Speaker 2: I go salt, pepper, and then anytime or rosemary that
- 7:39Speaker 2: I might add.
- 7:45Speaker 1: Now, do you have to make sure that the oil
- 7:47Speaker 1: is hop before you place it?
- 7:49Speaker 2: Yes?
- 7:49Speaker 1: By the way, these are all genuine questions because I
- 7:51Speaker 1: rarely ever, ever, ever, ever ever cook steak, never ever
- 7:58Speaker 1: to learn today? Are you using?
- 8:00Speaker 2: But I mean something I was gonna use better? Typically,
- 8:03Speaker 2: I like using avocado oil.
- 8:05Speaker 1: There's avocado oil right there.
- 8:06Speaker 2: I know, but I'm gonna try it better. I'm gona
- 8:09Speaker 2: try to better because I'm gonn want to baste it
- 8:10Speaker 2: and all that.
- 8:12Speaker 1: I love butter. I use butter and everything.
- 8:14Speaker 2: But the reason why I like avocado oil is because
- 8:17Speaker 2: it has a higher burning point. You could put a
- 8:20Speaker 2: higher temperature on it and it's not gonna burn and
- 8:23Speaker 2: get smoked.
- 8:25Speaker 1: Oh really, Oh we need to do that because we
- 8:27Speaker 1: have sprinklers.
- 8:27Speaker 2: In the building exactly, So we're butter. That's what I'm saying.
- 8:31Speaker 2: I'm gonna just keep it at a low temperature. Okay,
- 8:34Speaker 2: but actually you know it, I'm gonna just use the
- 8:36Speaker 2: butter for the spinach. I'm gonna do that. Yeah, right here,
- 8:41Speaker 2: let me test this see where we at.
- 8:46Speaker 1: I feel like it's gonna be ready just based on
- 8:48Speaker 1: everything you just did.
- 8:49Speaker 2: Is it almost so? I could do that? Time? Put
- 8:55Speaker 2: that right there? Yeah?
- 9:01Speaker 1: So is olive oil have the same process over avocado.
- 9:06Speaker 1: It's just avocado's better.
- 9:07Speaker 2: Avocado specifically has a higher burning point. You see what
- 9:12Speaker 2: I'm saying.
- 9:14Speaker 1: I'm learning, chef, how do I You got it? Don't
- 9:19Speaker 1: get ill turn red? You'll see it. We have a producer.
- 9:23Speaker 1: She's gonna hate it every time. Every time someone does
- 9:26Speaker 1: something remotely like this, I have to tell the story.
- 9:28Speaker 1: But we asked if we had told her to be
- 9:30Speaker 1: careful because the stove was hot, and I swear to god,
- 9:32Speaker 1: she put her hand like directly on it.
- 9:34Speaker 2: And we see how I just went. I love it.
- 9:35Speaker 2: I wouldn't do that. She did it, she put it.
- 9:39Speaker 2: I was like, that's why I signed. That's why I
- 9:40Speaker 2: signed that waiver. Exactly got you.
- 9:43Speaker 1: I'd be like, yo, guys, insurance, it's fake here, Okay, LARRYN.
- 9:47Speaker 1: Wong was able to cook the entire meal for us.
- 9:50Speaker 1: We did shoot it all. But now we're going to
- 9:52Speaker 1: start the interview a little reverse backwards, so let's get
- 9:56Speaker 1: into it. So go ahead, and play our beautiful meal.
- 10:00Speaker 1: Do you want me to help do some of the plating?
- 10:02Speaker 2: Sure be? Could you just put the potatoes on each plate?
- 10:05Speaker 1: Okay, I want to do that. This is and these
- 10:08Speaker 1: are from scratch mashed potatoes by the way, guys screach
- 10:12Speaker 1: and I already sample them. They're really good. I feel
- 10:15Speaker 1: like I'm on a date, like a real nice date,
- 10:19Speaker 1: and then I think it's only because of the meal
- 10:21Speaker 1: you cooked. Do you want more mashed potato?
- 10:23Speaker 2: Yes? Please? Actually gotta say something for the team.
- 10:26Speaker 1: No, we're not going to save any for you because
- 10:28Speaker 1: they they only had your back and you know what
- 10:33Speaker 1: was it?
- 10:33Speaker 2: Crew?
- 10:33Speaker 1: Crew? Stick together? Shout outs to your crew. Okay, so
- 10:39Speaker 1: we're gonna do. Do you want me to play the spinach?
- 10:41Speaker 2: Yes? Please?
- 10:43Speaker 1: Do you mind if we use my fork?
- 10:45Speaker 2: No? I don't care.
- 10:46Speaker 1: I don't care.
- 10:47Speaker 2: I am not of course or not.
- 10:50Speaker 1: Okay, So take me back to what was going on
- 10:54Speaker 1: during the steak and mashed potatoes and spinach era.
- 10:59Speaker 2: That was the time in my life where I was
- 11:04Speaker 2: just trying to get my money right, moving around La,
- 11:07Speaker 2: trying to see where the studios are, trying to meet people,
- 11:10Speaker 2: and I was very patriotic at the time, because e
- 11:14Speaker 2: b T because eb T. Yeah, the government was giving
- 11:18Speaker 2: me four hundred dollars every month for groceries.
- 11:21Speaker 1: Okay, So growing up were you middle class? Poor?
- 11:24Speaker 2: Rich?
- 11:25Speaker 1: What was going on in your home life growing up?
- 11:28Speaker 2: I was?
- 11:29Speaker 1: I feel like that's enough cut steak.
- 11:31Speaker 2: Okay, but I'm I'm not sure. Yeah, you're right, you're right.
- 11:34Speaker 1: That's you're not worried about your crew. Right now, I'll
- 11:38Speaker 1: take some.
- 11:39Speaker 2: Okay, I'll give you this to back end.
- 11:43Speaker 1: It's done so well. Okay, my goodness, guys.
- 11:48Speaker 2: That look like something.
- 11:49Speaker 1: It looks so official. I hope this look at.
- 11:51Speaker 2: This like a referee whistle.
- 11:54Speaker 1: And you don't need a gravy, gravy or anything on this,
- 11:57Speaker 1: use this knife. It's it looks tender, has the seer. Okay,
- 12:05Speaker 1: here we go. Looks official. You're gonna you're gonna sit
- 12:09Speaker 1: down with me. Let's try this. It's gonna be the
- 12:13Speaker 1: best meal I've ever had on this show. I know it.
- 12:18Speaker 3: Cheers t B E in the E T B or
- 12:24Speaker 3: e B T e B e B T t b
- 12:27Speaker 3: E the best ever.
- 12:35Speaker 1: Going crazy, right, I'm gonna eat the whole thing, and
- 12:38Speaker 1: I hope, please God, please please please protect my stomach.
- 12:43Speaker 2: Be a right.
- 12:44Speaker 1: Oh my god, the searing on this, it makes a
- 12:51Speaker 1: big difference on it. Laren Wong, you can really cook.
- 12:59Speaker 1: How do we not eat this whole thing?
- 13:02Speaker 2: I'm about to do it? Then?
- 13:04Speaker 1: All right, take me back. Do you want to break
- 13:08Speaker 1: to eat?
- 13:11Speaker 2: Okay?
- 13:11Speaker 1: Take me back to your parents, your home life, growing
- 13:14Speaker 1: up rich?
- 13:15Speaker 2: For So I grew up, oh say, middle class, middle class.
- 13:24Speaker 2: M My father was you do it for himself? My
- 13:32Speaker 2: mother was an accountant at NASA and NASA.
- 13:37Speaker 1: And what did your father do?
- 13:38Speaker 2: My father worked in law enforcement?
- 13:41Speaker 1: In law enforcement. Okay, I wrapped the po pose, but
- 13:46Speaker 1: you know I had to go there. Okay, So you
- 13:50Speaker 1: started doing musical interestments at a young age. Where did
- 13:53Speaker 1: that come from?
- 13:54Speaker 2: So? My grandpa was a jazz musician and he gave
- 14:01Speaker 2: the music bug to my dad as well. My father
- 14:05Speaker 2: was a producer DJ. Never got a chance to spend
- 14:09Speaker 2: too much time with the instruments, but they gave it
- 14:12Speaker 2: to me. And that's where the music comes from.
- 14:15Speaker 1: Wow. And then how many instruments did you end up
- 14:17Speaker 1: picking up before you were graduated high school?
- 14:22Speaker 2: For high school, I pick up the guitar, piano, bass, guitar,
- 14:26Speaker 2: electric guitar acoustic like computer software production, and you.
- 14:35Speaker 1: All started doing that in school while you were at
- 14:38Speaker 1: home with your parents while you were young.
- 14:40Speaker 2: Yes, so from like sixth grade to high school is
- 14:45Speaker 2: when I learned how to do all of it.
- 14:47Speaker 1: And then while you were doing all of that, where
- 14:49Speaker 1: does football creep in?
- 14:51Speaker 2: It was there the whole time? Yeah. I started playing
- 14:54Speaker 2: football when I was eight in the second grade, and yeah,
- 14:58Speaker 2: never it was kind.
- 14:58Speaker 1: Of just now was it a love for it or
- 15:02Speaker 1: was it like you were just god gifted in football too?
- 15:06Speaker 2: No, early on, I was forced to play football. Why
- 15:08Speaker 2: you say four, I was forced. I didn't want to
- 15:09Speaker 2: do it and forced my dad. My dad forced me
- 15:13Speaker 2: to play football, and I'm glad he did because there
- 15:16Speaker 2: are certain qualities that football kind of drills into you,
- 15:20Speaker 2: like what like overcoming adversity, like especially for me. When
- 15:26Speaker 2: I started playing football, I was a big kid, so
- 15:29Speaker 2: it goes by weight limits. So I was playing with kids,
- 15:32Speaker 2: I'm eight years old playing with kids that are like
- 15:34Speaker 2: eleven and twelve.
- 15:35Speaker 1: So was that because you were bigger?
- 15:38Speaker 2: Because I was bigger. So I'm just the youngest one,
- 15:41Speaker 2: but I'm just as big as them. So like my mind,
- 15:44Speaker 2: just my body development and everything wasn't even there. So
- 15:46Speaker 2: football teachers you to stick with it and overcome challenges
- 15:50Speaker 2: even though it might be hard. Just understand the just process.
- 15:53Speaker 2: It taught me like.
- 15:54Speaker 1: Process, okay, and discipline.
- 15:57Speaker 2: And discipline, commitment, team working within the team, leadership, all
- 16:04Speaker 2: the intangibles.
- 16:05Speaker 1: So then you were about to graduate high school, and
- 16:09Speaker 1: where do you start to I guess envision you going
- 16:12Speaker 1: into the NFL. How does that whole play come about?
- 16:15Speaker 2: The NFL wasn't even initially my goal. My goal in
- 16:19Speaker 2: high school was to go to college. Okay, yeah, I
- 16:23Speaker 2: wasn't even thinking that far.
- 16:24Speaker 1: Honestly, Where did you go to college?
- 16:26Speaker 2: Northwestern in Chicago?
- 16:28Speaker 1: And then what did you major?
- 16:29Speaker 2: In? Communication studies?
- 16:33Speaker 1: Okay? So you're doing communication studies and you're playing football? Yes, okay,
- 16:39Speaker 1: So then what happens from there?
- 16:41Speaker 2: So then I'm playing, I get to Chicago sign up
- 16:46Speaker 2: for I wanted to do pre med actually, but it
- 16:48Speaker 2: was class was hard hard. I ain't gonna lie hard
- 16:53Speaker 2: like that organic they make you do a prerequisite for
- 16:56Speaker 2: pre med is like organic chemistry. I don't know if
- 16:59Speaker 2: it's because I have a good foundation in high school chemistry,
- 17:01Speaker 2: but that wasn't it. That was so I said, I'm
- 17:04Speaker 2: gonna do communications because eventually one day I could become
- 17:07Speaker 2: a master of the art of communication, you.
- 17:10Speaker 1: Know, and of the art of communication. Really you thought.
- 17:15Speaker 2: About that, you know what that is, right, master art
- 17:20Speaker 2: of communication. I'm mac that's a that's a cent went
- 17:28Speaker 2: over her over my head. Not supposed to get it.
- 17:32Speaker 2: We're not supposed to get it. It's okay, But yeah,
- 17:34Speaker 2: I was just communications, being able to transfer ideas and everything.
- 17:41Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I thought. You meant. The joke obviously
- 17:44Speaker 1: went over my head. Okay, So you're going to school,
- 17:50Speaker 1: you're doing that, and then where does the NFL opportunity
- 17:53Speaker 1: come along?
- 17:55Speaker 2: It comes along. I start thinking NFL, probably towards like
- 17:58Speaker 2: my second year there, third year, just because every year
- 18:02Speaker 2: we have guys trying their hand at the NFL, like
- 18:05Speaker 2: the seniors of every year. So I just seen it,
- 18:08Speaker 2: obviously desired it. It's a lot of money. So yeah,
- 18:15Speaker 2: it came into the picture towards the end of my
- 18:18Speaker 2: time there. So I'm in my fifth year there. I
- 18:20Speaker 2: spent five years in college, I spent four years undergrad
- 18:23Speaker 2: and then the last year I did a master's in
- 18:25Speaker 2: communication in the school calm as well. But right after
- 18:29Speaker 2: that is when I started. Towards the end of that
- 18:31Speaker 2: is when I started getting calls from my agent saying
- 18:34Speaker 2: other teams are calling them looking for me and just
- 18:37Speaker 2: meet a phil fulfill a role. So yeah, that's when
- 18:40Speaker 2: I Right after I graduated from there, I flew to
- 18:42Speaker 2: Seattle and started playing football in the league.
- 18:45Speaker 1: Okay, and then how long were you there?
- 18:47Speaker 2: I was in Seattle a couple of months. I was
- 18:49Speaker 2: in Seattle a couple of months. I played a couple
- 18:51Speaker 2: couple of games there. Then after that I went to
- 18:54Speaker 2: New York. I lived in East Rutherford shout out East Rutherford.
- 18:58Speaker 2: My girlfriend at the time went to Columbia Med School.
- 19:01Speaker 2: So it's right across the GW Bridge. So I was
- 19:03Speaker 2: in like Washington Heights like every day. So that was
- 19:07Speaker 2: a good time. Got cut from New.
- 19:09Speaker 1: York And what was that roller coaster ride?
- 19:13Speaker 2: Like?
- 19:13Speaker 1: Can you tell me the highs and then the lows?
- 19:16Speaker 2: For sure? The highs are what you could expect being
- 19:21Speaker 2: an NFL player. I'm young, I'm attractive, I got money
- 19:25Speaker 2: in my pocket like girls, girls, status like all that.
- 19:30Speaker 2: So it's what you could expect from that.
- 19:31Speaker 1: You know, did you get a lot of instant gratification
- 19:34Speaker 1: during that year.
- 19:35Speaker 2: For sure. It's a mix. Though, it's a mix because
- 19:38Speaker 2: you're only there because you've put in a long time
- 19:41Speaker 2: working on what you do or getting good or building
- 19:44Speaker 2: your body up or whatever, you know, So it's like
- 19:46Speaker 2: a mix. It's a mix. It's an interplay between like
- 19:49Speaker 2: the long term and the short term.
- 19:53Speaker 1: What was the downside?
- 19:54Speaker 2: Downside of what football? Football? Oh man, it's a lot
- 19:58Speaker 2: of It's a brutal game, you know. I feel like
- 20:01Speaker 2: it's normalized football. We see, you know, family football day, Like, well,
- 20:05Speaker 2: if you were to see what's actually going on in
- 20:07Speaker 2: the trenches and like in the game, it's so vicious.
- 20:11Speaker 2: People are really trying to hurt you and take your
- 20:13Speaker 2: head off, and it's like, actually, the I like hurt.
- 20:16Speaker 2: Like I've seen I'm too as I'm in the world
- 20:20Speaker 2: now and I'm talking to people and talking about like
- 20:22Speaker 2: injuries and surgeries I'm too familiar with, like, oh, yeah,
- 20:26Speaker 2: she just got her labor and replaced whatever. Like I've
- 20:28Speaker 2: seen a lot of Yeah, I've had I've had hip surgery.
- 20:33Speaker 1: Really, who is a dangerous game? It is so you
- 20:38Speaker 1: you're riding this roller coaster. But while you're riding it.
- 20:40Speaker 1: Music is still prevalent. Yes, okay, so now you leave
- 20:46Speaker 1: the league now carrying me through this area and this
- 20:49Speaker 1: is where steak and mashed potatoes kind of start to
- 20:51Speaker 1: come in, right, yes, okay, take me through that transition.
- 20:56Speaker 2: Okay. So after I stopped playing, I was a kind
- 20:59Speaker 2: of decision by me. I could have kept training and
- 21:02Speaker 2: waited for a call, possibly got called. I just decided
- 21:06Speaker 2: I didn't want to live my life like that anymore. Yeah,
- 21:09Speaker 2: you know, bouncing Like you said, it's like an emotional
- 21:11Speaker 2: roller coaster bouncer from team to team, thinking like making
- 21:14Speaker 2: a home here, making friends, being lit as a whatever
- 21:18Speaker 2: player you are, and then you get cut and then
- 21:21Speaker 2: have to if you don't have a team immediately already
- 21:25Speaker 2: somewhere to go, you back home, working out at twenty
- 21:29Speaker 2: for our fitness, just waiting for your agent to call
- 21:31Speaker 2: you like, oh the Chargers.
- 21:32Speaker 1: That's got to be hell, it's.
- 21:33Speaker 2: Crazy, it's crazy, but shut up. But I know a
- 21:36Speaker 2: lot of people who have done that. So the commitment
- 21:39Speaker 2: and dedication is something like I respect for sure.
- 21:42Speaker 1: So you're waiting and while you're well, I guess in
- 21:46Speaker 1: the waiting, you decide, Hey, I'm not doing this anymore.
- 21:49Speaker 2: I'm right that I mm hmm.
- 21:53Speaker 1: That food is good.
- 21:57Speaker 2: It was after Canada, I'm like, I got cut from
- 21:59Speaker 2: camp from Canadian football. No disrespect to Canadian football, but
- 22:06Speaker 2: I'm like, maybe this ain't maybe this ain't really my
- 22:09Speaker 2: my my path.
- 22:11Speaker 1: So when you come to that epiphany, what's your next play?
- 22:15Speaker 1: No pun intended, but all.
- 22:17Speaker 2: To find out how to get this scheddar coming in immediately.
- 22:20Speaker 1: Because at this point your money's run now, or.
- 22:24Speaker 2: We can say that.
- 22:25Speaker 1: Okay, So so you leave Canada, you go where I
- 22:31Speaker 1: go back home to the Bay Area. Okay, yes, ma'am.
- 22:34Speaker 2: And luckily for me, my aunt has a she's doing
- 22:39Speaker 2: well for her stuff, but she has an import export business.
- 22:41Speaker 2: She brings in a bunch of food and beauty products.
- 22:46Speaker 2: She's a bunch of stuff from Asia and she wholesales
- 22:49Speaker 2: them to a lot of your seafood cities, just Asian
- 22:52Speaker 2: markets throughout America.
- 22:54Speaker 1: So you start working for her. What are your parents
- 22:56Speaker 1: saying during this whole all these transitions.
- 23:01Speaker 2: They just always believed in me.
- 23:03Speaker 1: They just did they welcome you back with open arms
- 23:06Speaker 1: or were their restrictions open arms?
- 23:09Speaker 2: Yeah? My parents, me and my parents have never were always.
- 23:12Speaker 1: Really good and they're still married.
- 23:14Speaker 2: No, oh okay, yeah, my parents split when I was
- 23:16Speaker 2: a kid. But the relationship, even their relationship is like, dang,
- 23:21Speaker 2: it's kind of cool. Like if I were to God forbid,
- 23:23Speaker 2: I ever, I don't want to be divorced, but I
- 23:26Speaker 2: would like to carry it like how they do.
- 23:29Speaker 1: Are they like good friends divorced or they like just
- 23:32Speaker 1: never talk bad about each other?
- 23:33Speaker 2: Divorce this cordial? I don't know. Yeah, I can't speak
- 23:37Speaker 2: to how much they communicate, but just every time I
- 23:40Speaker 2: see them interact, it's like I've just seen some other Yeah,
- 23:44Speaker 2: I've seen some other other.
- 23:45Speaker 1: So I've heard horror stories from people or like trauma
- 23:49Speaker 1: stories from shop where you're like, you know.
- 23:51Speaker 2: But it's a lot of growth because I remember when
- 23:53Speaker 2: they were like thirty thirty early thirties, that's around the
- 23:59Speaker 2: time they split, and yeah, they were tripping. It was many,
- 24:04Speaker 2: It was many. How I was I could I don't know.
- 24:13Speaker 2: It was a baby, not a two. I was walking
- 24:14Speaker 2: around but not I don't can't.
- 24:16Speaker 1: You were like probably around five is tighter, yeah, type,
- 24:19Speaker 1: but you remember like there was there was a.
- 24:22Speaker 2: Bunch of clothes everywhere, and yeah, I remember I remember,
- 24:24Speaker 2: I remember, I remember.
- 24:26Speaker 1: Okay, all right, so you come back home, you start
- 24:30Speaker 1: working for your auntie and are you and then that's
- 24:34Speaker 1: when your next place starts to transition to crypto.
- 24:40Speaker 2: Yeah. So the whole time, even in the NFL, I'm
- 24:43Speaker 2: just researching crypto, just understanding the four year market cycle,
- 24:47Speaker 2: and we invested at the bottom. I have a group
- 24:50Speaker 2: of buddies from college. I talked to these guys every
- 24:53Speaker 2: other day, but we just got together and put our resort,
- 24:56Speaker 2: put our minds to it, and just figure out how
- 24:58Speaker 2: we're going to make some money off this this crypto.
- 24:59Speaker 2: Because I've seen other people do it that were in
- 25:01Speaker 2: very close proximity do it, so no reason we couldn't.
- 25:04Speaker 2: So when the time opportunity present itself at the bottom
- 25:07Speaker 2: of the market, took a leap of faith. Put whatever
- 25:10Speaker 2: a little money we had while I was working at
- 25:11Speaker 2: the warehouse, put whatever little money I had in there.
- 25:14Speaker 2: And yeah, and.
- 25:15Speaker 1: Then that's when you finance your move to transfer to
- 25:18Speaker 1: Los Angeles. Yes, okay, okay, Now you go to Los
- 25:24Speaker 1: Angeles with the intent.
- 25:25Speaker 2: Of making a career out of this music, making great music, yeah,
- 25:34Speaker 2: or making great music. I feel like I was already
- 25:36Speaker 2: doing that. I just wanted to make it a living off.
- 25:39Speaker 1: Of it, like get a return on it for sure. Okay,
- 25:42Speaker 1: So how are you? How are you doing so far?
- 25:45Speaker 1: Really good with what getting a return on your music?
- 25:48Speaker 2: Absolutely? Absolutely, I'm getting a return. It's not even and
- 25:51Speaker 2: what I'm realizing is the return the biggest returns don't
- 25:54Speaker 2: even be financial with this. Yeah, So it's just learning
- 25:58Speaker 2: more about what even there is to offer. Has brought
- 26:01Speaker 2: a lot of good things into my life have nothing
- 26:03Speaker 2: to do with money.
- 26:05Speaker 1: I like that, is it therapeutic? And the fact that
- 26:09Speaker 1: you get to do what you love every day? Is
- 26:12Speaker 1: that some of the things?
- 26:13Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, but it's just people people like very thankful
- 26:21Speaker 2: for the people that I've met through music and how
- 26:24Speaker 2: music has strengthened the bonds with those people. Yeah, just
- 26:27Speaker 2: come and come and come and love for music gave
- 26:33Speaker 2: me a lot, and it's we've got money off it too,
- 26:35Speaker 2: sure Okay?
- 26:37Speaker 1: Okay? And then can you talk about Fourth and Long?
- 26:41Speaker 2: Sure?
- 26:44Speaker 1: Tell me about the project.
- 26:45Speaker 2: Fourth and Long is my latest EP. I tottled it
- 26:50Speaker 2: Fourth and Long because I made it at a point
- 26:53Speaker 2: in my life. Where are you familiar with football?
- 26:56Speaker 1: A little bit?
- 26:57Speaker 2: Okay?
- 26:57Speaker 1: So I got a lot of the positions.
- 26:59Speaker 2: Got you do you know any type of like first down, Yeah,
- 27:04Speaker 2: first and ten and not that much. Okay, so the
- 27:10Speaker 2: last so fourth, fourth down, fourth and long. That means
- 27:14Speaker 2: you have a long way to go on your last
- 27:16Speaker 2: opportunity to convert before you transfer the ball. That's a
- 27:21Speaker 2: that's like the most critical situation in football, the most
- 27:23Speaker 2: back against the wall position. So I made this project
- 27:27Speaker 2: at a time where that's how I viewed my life
- 27:31Speaker 2: and my career. So I just started fourth and long.
- 27:34Speaker 2: It's very fitting.
- 27:36Speaker 1: That's perfect fitting. Yeah. Wow, How does the Danny Lay
- 27:40Speaker 1: Tour come about?
- 27:42Speaker 2: The Danny Lay Tour came about through my friend Chelsea
- 27:47Speaker 2: Chelsea Blath at the time, she was working at Death
- 27:50Speaker 2: Jam and her and my management at the time had
- 27:54Speaker 2: a relationship before. She's from the Bay Area too. She
- 27:58Speaker 2: put that out there to the area. But then you
- 28:03Speaker 2: needed an opener relationships. We were just happening to be
- 28:06Speaker 2: top of mind. We qualified or just had the we
- 28:10Speaker 2: were able to even go on tour. So yeah, even
- 28:15Speaker 2: we went on fifteen cities. Woeah, fifteen cities. But that
- 28:18Speaker 2: was when to do crypto too. That was the crypto
- 28:21Speaker 2: they just said, you guys could come with us, but
- 28:23Speaker 2: you guys gonna have to figure out everything else, like flights,
- 28:26Speaker 2: where you guys going to stay, everything, So shout out them.
- 28:30Speaker 1: You got another question, So is there still a passion
- 28:34Speaker 1: in you for crypto? You seem like a good business
- 28:36Speaker 1: mind when it.
- 28:37Speaker 2: Comes to that, sure, but that's my issue. Like that
- 28:39Speaker 2: was the first investment I had made. I had invested
- 28:42Speaker 2: in crypto before stocks or anything. So now my goal
- 28:46Speaker 2: with investing and stuff like that is to just be diversified.
- 28:50Speaker 2: I was putting all my eggs in one basket and
- 28:52Speaker 2: just happened to a hit, got lucky. But if it didn't, is.
- 28:55Speaker 1: It really lucky though, because you were studying it for
- 28:57Speaker 1: quite some time.
- 28:59Speaker 2: Yeah, it's kind of lucky.
- 29:01Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, it's.
- 29:02Speaker 2: Kind of lucky.
- 29:04Speaker 1: What are some of the business business lessons you've learned
- 29:09Speaker 1: in being in the music business compared to the football business.
- 29:13Speaker 2: It's cliche, but you need it's really a team. It's
- 29:17Speaker 2: really a team. It's a business. You can't forget the
- 29:20Speaker 2: second part of it, music business. So you look around
- 29:24Speaker 2: and people like, how do I start in the music business.
- 29:26Speaker 2: It's like, what does every other business do? They have
- 29:29Speaker 2: a team of you know, they delegate responsibilities, clearly defined roles,
- 29:35Speaker 2: stuff like that. They have a create ethos, mission statement
- 29:38Speaker 2: like treat like a real business.
- 29:40Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 29:40Speaker 2: So that's what I've learned so far.
- 29:43Speaker 1: Has there been any painful lessons in the journey so far?
- 29:46Speaker 2: Absolutely? Absolutely?
- 29:47Speaker 1: Can you share some with me?
- 29:49Speaker 2: One of the most painful lessons from doing music, here's
- 29:53Speaker 2: a painful lesson. It was painful, but I don't even
- 29:58Speaker 2: look at its painful anymore. But at the time, it
- 30:00Speaker 2: was painful. When I give this situation. Look, it was
- 30:03Speaker 2: one time. I ain't gonna say no names, but I
- 30:06Speaker 2: had a show back in the Bay. This is when
- 30:07Speaker 2: I'm just back in the Bay, trying to do like
- 30:09Speaker 2: shows and play in public stuff like that. So I
- 30:12Speaker 2: get booked in Oakland. Me and my homie had been rehearsing.
- 30:17Speaker 2: He was playing the bass, I was playing the guitar.
- 30:18Speaker 2: I was gonna sing all week. The day of the show.
- 30:21Speaker 1: Comes, Oh my god, I'm scared.
- 30:24Speaker 2: Though. The day of the show comes, we just hell
- 30:25Speaker 2: the people there, so I'm ready to go on. I
- 30:27Speaker 2: get my feet on, like it's like twenty minutes fifteen
- 30:30Speaker 2: minutes before the set, I'm like where's Bread, Where's Bro?
- 30:33Speaker 2: Where's Bro? Like I finally see him. He looked like
- 30:37Speaker 2: he's seen a ghost.
- 30:39Speaker 1: What do you mean?
- 30:42Speaker 2: Oh?
- 30:42Speaker 1: He got like yeah, what do you call it? Stage
- 30:45Speaker 1: fright or something?
- 30:46Speaker 2: He looked like he's seen a ghost? Is I was like,
- 30:49Speaker 2: what would you look like when you've seen a ghost?
- 30:50Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying, stage fright.
- 30:52Speaker 2: Something about the situation made him look like that. I
- 30:55Speaker 2: don't know. Yeah, So that was kind of that was
- 30:57Speaker 2: that was a painful realization, like, dang, everybody not cut
- 31:01Speaker 2: cut like that? Everybody not really cut like that?
- 31:04Speaker 1: How did you guys make it through that show?
- 31:06Speaker 2: I did it?
- 31:07Speaker 1: You really did it by yourself like that?
- 31:11Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm like, you ain't say yeah yeah, one monkey,
- 31:14Speaker 2: don't one monkey, Yeah they don't, don't don't stop the show?
- 31:17Speaker 2: Yeah exactly.
- 31:18Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, I like that. I like that you powered
- 31:21Speaker 1: through it. You didn't beg or pleading nothing.
- 31:23Speaker 2: Damn ridiculed him like forever. You know what I mean,
- 31:29Speaker 2: We're gonna do with you later, bro, I'm gonna just
- 31:31Speaker 2: walk this show real quick.
- 31:33Speaker 1: How was it?
- 31:34Speaker 2: It was dope? I got footage too.
- 31:35Speaker 1: Do you think that that ended up playing a pivotal
- 31:39Speaker 1: role in where you're at today. Obviously passed the.
- 31:41Speaker 2: Pain part absolutely, just because they let me know that, Like,
- 31:45Speaker 2: I can't. Really, it's really all on you. I mean, yeah,
- 31:49Speaker 2: you can. It's being selective of who you put your
- 31:52Speaker 2: trust in. Yeah.
- 31:54Speaker 1: What are some of the collapse that you would like
- 31:57Speaker 1: to do in the future.
- 32:00Speaker 2: There's so many. There's so many. Off the top of
- 32:02Speaker 2: my head because I was thinking about it. I would
- 32:04Speaker 2: love to collab with Isaiah Falls. I've been listening to
- 32:08Speaker 2: him a lot lately. I would love to collab with Kaylanie.
- 32:12Speaker 1: Oh, I love I've known her since she was fifteen.
- 32:15Speaker 2: I love Kaitlyn k Lennie taught me how to surf
- 32:17Speaker 2: what Calenie taught me how to surf?
- 32:21Speaker 1: Okay, but she's from the Bay, that's right, Okay.
- 32:25Speaker 2: Who else? Leon Thomas, I'm gonna work with Beyonce, Yeah, Beyonce, Kendrick. Yeah,
- 32:35Speaker 2: we could talk. We can talk about it. Let me thinking,
- 32:37Speaker 2: matter of fact, Summer Walker. I want to work with
- 32:40Speaker 2: some Walker really.
- 32:43Speaker 1: Okay, So what are some of the milestones that you
- 32:46Speaker 1: want to do within the next I guess the next
- 32:51Speaker 1: couple of years.
- 32:52Speaker 2: I want to hit every festival. I want to hit
- 32:55Speaker 2: every festival. I want to just really build out this
- 32:59Speaker 2: community that we have growing right now to a point
- 33:02Speaker 2: where it's it's self sustaining. It's fully flush the world
- 33:06Speaker 2: out ecosystem, all the parts and the pieces and the
- 33:08Speaker 2: people that play into that. So that's that's where I
- 33:11Speaker 2: see it, because I feel like that's going to be
- 33:13Speaker 2: the vehicle to take us wherever you want to go.
- 33:16Speaker 1: How do you deal with the social media pressures?
- 33:18Speaker 2: What's the pressure?
- 33:20Speaker 1: So like in the industry now, in all media in forms,
- 33:23Speaker 1: it seems like everyone has to everyone's constantly asking what
- 33:27Speaker 1: are the numbers? What are the numbers? What are the numbers?
- 33:29Speaker 1: What are the numbers? Do you not feel that pressure?
- 33:33Speaker 2: I just like making music.
- 33:34Speaker 1: Honestly, you haven't heard any of that. I don't really
- 33:39Speaker 1: I mean, or you just don't care.
- 33:43Speaker 2: You look at it, you look at it. But I
- 33:45Speaker 2: let my team worry about that stuff. I just try
- 33:47Speaker 2: and give them the most dope shit possible.
- 33:49Speaker 1: Yeah, So you mainly play on the creative side unless
- 33:53Speaker 1: on the business side. Does that mean? Is that what
- 33:55Speaker 1: it means?
- 33:57Speaker 2: I mean kind of kind of you could say that.
- 34:00Speaker 2: It's just I just know you got to delegate to elevate.
- 34:06Speaker 1: I'm gonna steal that from you. I'm stealing that's a fact.
- 34:10Speaker 2: Yeah, you gotta look, I'm gonna let everybody be be
- 34:13Speaker 2: I'm gonna put everybody in the best positions to win.
- 34:16Speaker 1: So okay, okay, well, I think that's about it. On
- 34:22Speaker 1: my side, I am dying to eat this meal. Are
- 34:29Speaker 1: you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Why do you
- 34:32Speaker 1: think not? It's absolutely desten you're talking. Yeah, but you
- 34:38Speaker 1: know what, I think I think it's worth being sick.
- 34:42Speaker 1: But I'm gonna be taking your publicists later talking about
- 34:45Speaker 1: I should have never did it.
- 34:47Speaker 2: I think you'd be right. I think it's just because
- 34:49Speaker 2: you just because I think that was cooked the right way.
- 34:55Speaker 1: No, you know what, though, I'm very thankful for this
- 34:58Speaker 1: meal on your time, and I love how you're eating it.
- 35:01Speaker 1: You're like a true man right here. You're like, forget
- 35:04Speaker 1: the cameras. Oh, thank you guys for tuning in. But
- 35:08Speaker 1: where can they keep up with? Well, Laryn Wong is
- 35:11Speaker 1: gonna have to finish his mouthful of food before he
- 35:14Speaker 1: can tell us how we could keep up with everything.
- 35:15Speaker 2: Laryn Wong's good, All right, y'all, Big Laren if y'all
- 35:22Speaker 2: want to follow up with me, y'all can catch me
- 35:24Speaker 2: everywhere your favorite dsp Apple Music, Spotify, social media, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, SoundCloud, YouTube,
- 35:34Speaker 2: same handle Laryn Wong l A r r E n
- 35:38Speaker 2: w o ng say one time, LARRYN. Wong l A
- 35:43Speaker 2: r r E n.
- 35:44Speaker 1: W Ong and check out fourth and long.
- 35:47Speaker 2: Fourth and long out. Now four's up? Come on fours
- 35:51Speaker 2: fours up, fourth and long. Okay, I'm forty four years old.
- 35:54Speaker 1: He's not forty four. Definitely not forty four. You can
- 35:57Speaker 1: google that anyways. Thanks for tuning in.
- 36:00Speaker 3: Peace out
- 36:05Speaker 1: For more eating while Broke from iHeartRadio and The Black Effect,
- 36:08Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen
- 36:12Speaker 1: to your favorite shows,