Latest / Millennial Mustard Seed / S7 284. Raymond Lott - TMR - Surviving Iraq, Trauma, Faith, CEO of Save America Music

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S7 284. Raymond Lott - TMR - Surviving Iraq, Trauma, Faith, CEO of Save America Music · Millennial Mustard Seed

• 0:19
  Welcome to the Millennial Mustard Seed podcast.
• 0:25
  Yo, what's up? It's the Marine rapper AKA
• 0:28
  Raymond Lot. And I just want to welcome you
• 0:30
  all to the Millennial Mustard Seed podcast.
• 0:33
  And we're just so thankful to have you today to talk about
• 0:36
  ministry, music and the military.
• 0:39
  Love it that there's the title ministry, music and the
• 0:43
  military. It's funny because we're M3 over
• 0:46
  here. Millennial mustard seed
• 0:47
  ministry. How could you not think?
• 0:50
  How could you not speak in the M's?
• 0:52
  How could you not believe in miracles?
• 0:53
  You know what I mean? It just happened.
• 0:55
  Great way to kick it off. Listen, man, it's an honor to
• 0:57
  have you here. You know you've done some
• 1:01
  amazing things for the Kingdom, for the bride, right?
• 1:05
  You're going to Share your story with us and I'm excited to hear
• 1:09
  everywhere that that you know, your testimony and the spirit is
• 1:12
  going to lead us in this conversation.
• 1:13
  Before we do that, let's do a proper introduction.
• 1:16
  Give us like a 30,000 foot view. I want to hear about your bio,
• 1:20
  things that that you've done where a lot of my listeners may
• 1:23
  actually be familiar with you. Start off there.
• 1:26
  So how long do I got? As long as you need.
• 1:30
  OK, so just bio starting from just from the beginning or
• 1:36
  military. I have so many, feel like I live
• 1:38
  so many lives. 10 kindergarten. No, Yeah, just in general.
• 1:42
  Tell us about, like, you know, obviously what you're doing
• 1:44
  right now with the music, right, OK.
• 1:46
  Let's start your. Service right and and profession
• 1:50
  just anything that you think is a good template for people to
• 1:54
  try to you know who might be hearing you for the first time.
• 1:56
  Amen. So, so basically I'll start at
• 1:58
  let me start with the the military, because the military
• 2:01
  influences the music and influences the like music
• 2:04
  fellowship that we have every Friday on, you know, the
• 2:06
  feedback Friday and stuff. So I'll start there.
• 2:07
  So I served for 10 years in the United States Marine Corps as a
• 2:10
  combat correspondent, a war journalist.
• 2:12
  So I was out there with infantry covering stories on combat
• 2:16
  operations, whether it was mounted, whether it was on foot,
• 2:21
  and I would be out there writing stories on these brave heroes
• 2:24
  and just sending them back home. So whether we were in a Humvee,
• 2:28
  whether we are on foot, whether we're in helos and stuff like
• 2:32
  that, that was my job. I was supposed to take pictures
• 2:34
  and document everything. So that's what that's what I
• 2:36
  did. That was my job.
• 2:37
  So I've always been a storyteller of sorts.
• 2:39
  I just been changing mediums over my whole life.
• 2:42
  So when I was in elementary school, I was an artist and I
• 2:45
  wanted to be a cartoonist. When I went into high school, I
• 2:48
  still wanted to be kind of like an illustrator.
• 2:50
  And then when I got in the Marines, I was a storyteller
• 2:53
  with the pen. So I always told stories there.
• 2:56
  And then I started to get into music and rap and when I did, I
• 2:59
  would write my art, my journalism articles and I would
• 3:02
  make them rhyme unbeknownst to a lot of individuals that were
• 3:05
  reading them because I just love hip hop so much.
• 3:08
  And then so I, I spent 10 years in the Marine Corps.
• 3:11
  I, I went over to Iraq, Afghanistan, Morocco.
• 3:15
  I've been to Latvia, I've been to Europe, I've been to Germany,
• 3:18
  I've been to Ireland. I've been to a whole bunch of
• 3:20
  different places all around the globe, Hawaii on like off time
• 3:23
  and things like that. And I was able to get a lot of
• 3:26
  different experiences, whether it may be just dealing with
• 3:29
  everyday people and learning to get different, different
• 3:32
  perspectives from different humans around the earth, as well
• 3:34
  as just having respect for their culture and their religion.
• 3:37
  Like when I was over in Iraq and Afghanistan, had to respect the
• 3:40
  religion that they had over there, their prayer over in the
• 3:42
  mosque and stuff like that. And then, you know, we were
• 3:44
  respected as well because we had a chaplain with us.
• 3:46
  So we got to have the opportunity to worship in that
• 3:50
  way. We had like these like little
• 3:51
  pocket Bibles that would fit inside of our camouflage
• 3:55
  uniform. So we'd have a pocket Bible.
• 3:58
  And so that was a, that was a great thing because we're able
• 4:01
  to continue our faith. And there's a saying out there,
• 4:04
  I don't know if you've ever heard the saying.
• 4:05
  Have you heard the saying there are no atheists in foxholes?
• 4:08
  Have you ever heard that? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 4:10
  Yeah, so it means like most people, most warriors, most
• 4:14
  people, when they're in danger, everybody's saying please dare
• 4:17
  God take me. If if you want to see believers.
• 4:21
  Go, Father. Amen.
• 4:23
  If you want to see our true believer, go look in a foxhole
• 4:26
  overseas while there's bombs going off.
• 4:28
  Everybody believes they're saying, dear God, it's like
• 4:31
  everybody. So you, you know, no matter
• 4:34
  what, like you know how they say every knee will bow Absolutely.
• 4:37
  You see it overseas all the time.
• 4:39
  We're praying every single time before a 14 hour patrol, before
• 4:44
  any type of engagement, all that type of stuff.
• 4:46
  You, you pray to whoever your God is.
• 4:48
  You know, there was a different denominations, different face
• 4:51
  overseas. You know, there's, there's
• 4:52
  Muslims and there's Christians and and and Jewish and all that,
• 4:55
  but everybody was praying. So I got to see that.
• 4:58
  I got to tell a whole bunch of good stories over some good
• 5:01
  about some good warriors. I'll get into that.
• 5:04
  But after I came back from overseas, I had a great
• 5:09
  appreciation for America and all the freedoms we have here.
• 5:12
  Then one of the biggest freedom was freedom of religion and
• 5:15
  freedom of speech. And because of those two
• 5:17
  freedoms, I was able to express myself verbally as well as in my
• 5:23
  faith as well. So it was a beautiful thing.
• 5:24
  A lot of people don't even get to do that.
• 5:26
  You know, we don't get to, we don't get to if we're overseas,
• 5:31
  we don't get to do that. But here we get to do that.
• 5:33
  So when people go, oh, you're so patriotic.
• 5:36
  You know, how how could you be patriotic?
• 5:38
  And where does that align with faith?
• 5:39
  It aligns perfectly. And and you know, so if you see
• 5:42
  why I'm so pro America, so patriotic, it's because we have
• 5:45
  these freedoms here that we don't have overseas.
• 5:48
  And you know, people might attach it to a certain
• 5:50
  politician or a president and stuff like that.
• 5:52
  I've served over two different presidents and I and I served
• 5:55
  under Democratic and Republican. So it had nothing to do with
• 5:58
  that. It was just the fact that we had
• 6:00
  those freedoms and we allowed these privileges that we have
• 6:04
  today. And so like when I came back,
• 6:06
  man, I was just like, I just wanted to express my patriotism
• 6:09
  and my love for faith in my music as well as use what I
• 6:13
  learned in storytelling, being a journalist overseas and put it
• 6:17
  all together. And then so after I got on the
• 6:19
  Marine Corps, I went to music school in LA and I learned how
• 6:22
  to do be a producer and I learned the music business side
• 6:25
  so I could do my music independently.
• 6:27
  And then so I just mixed all the stuff that I learned as well as
• 6:30
  my love for rock and hip hop music and I put it all together
• 6:33
  and then I was able to express myself in that way.
• 6:38
  It hasn't been like the cleanest, prettiest walk at all.
• 6:41
  Obviously we all have our testimonies.
• 6:43
  Like I don't drink anymore. Like I, I, I, I don't cuss
• 6:48
  anymore. I don't, I don't do a whole
• 6:49
  bunch of things because of God. He, he took all that away to
• 6:53
  make me a new person. But, you know, earlier in my
• 6:57
  career that was just the part of the culture because in military
• 6:59
  it's a whole bunch of drinking, a whole bunch of swearing.
• 7:02
  You know, it's a very intense lifestyle.
• 7:04
  But I was able to kind of get rid of those things so my mind
• 7:07
  would be more sober and I'd be able to focus and then also
• 7:10
  properly do the calling that I have now, which is helping up
• 7:15
  and coming Christian artists and clean artists.
• 7:18
  You know, we've had artists that aren't Christian and they're
• 7:20
  still, you know, early in their walk.
• 7:22
  Just kind of cultivate their career and kind of like critique
• 7:26
  them and give them feedback and, and, and build this music
• 7:30
  ministry that we have called Save America music feedback
• 7:34
  Friday. And we support them in any way.
• 7:36
  You know, if, if we're talking about Christian music, you know,
• 7:39
  we, we say, hey, is it scripturally correct?
• 7:41
  You know what I mean? Do you have scripture in there?
• 7:42
  You know, where is it coming from?
• 7:43
  Because there's a lot of people who just throw out scripture out
• 7:46
  there and it's their music really doesn't have the
• 7:48
  substance. And we're like, hey, we're not
• 7:49
  hard on them. We're just like, hey, you know,
• 7:51
  you might want to dig into this and look into the scripture and
• 7:53
  see what it really means. And let's not twist it and stuff
• 7:55
  like that because we're all human, you know?
• 7:57
  So hey, let's all dig in the book together.
• 7:59
  Let's all pray together and do that type of thing.
• 8:01
  And then if it's just a new artist who's just like, hey, I
• 8:04
  just do clean music and I found this platform and I want a
• 8:06
  critique. And we, you know, we were
• 8:09
  gracious to those individuals. And because of that, a lot of
• 8:12
  those individuals have, I've been curious about, you know,
• 8:15
  being more involved in the faith.
• 8:17
  So we don't discriminate when it comes to individuals who want
• 8:20
  feedback and stuff like that. Because just because we are like
• 8:24
  a Christian faith-based more like so America platform, we
• 8:30
  still invite everybody in. Just how you know, the church,
• 8:32
  we invite everybody in just so hey, look, this is how we do it
• 8:35
  over here because you never know who you may impact.
• 8:39
  Let me say something real quick. I want to highlight something of
• 8:41
  so much importance, right? I talk about intermittently on
• 8:44
  this show demonstrating, right, like it says.
• 8:47
  And I think first Peter is like, look, show yourself, right?
• 8:51
  When we're delegating, when we're doing business, when we're
• 8:54
  doing any form, when we're conducting in the public square,
• 8:58
  right, We're not Oh, holier than thou.
• 8:59
  No, just here's the whole of the law, fear God and do good,
• 9:04
  right. And it's like, so when you're
• 9:06
  demonstrating that through, you know, specifically save American
• 9:09
  Music, which is where, you know, I've interacted with you once
• 9:12
  before. You guys are very professional,
• 9:15
  very your gentleness is made known.
• 9:17
  But you guys are also like to the point, like you're going to
• 9:19
  tell somebody like, Hey, this is not it.
• 9:21
  Anyway, I don't want I don't want to, I want you to keep
• 9:23
  going because I love the thread that you're on.
• 9:25
  But I wanted to highlight the importance because right now we
• 9:27
  see an influx of, you know, Christian influencers.
• 9:32
  All of a sudden everybody wants to be a Christian.
• 9:34
  Now. Five years ago, it was not cool.
• 9:36
  And so when but how are you dealing with your brethren,
• 9:41
  right? Are you there?
• 9:43
  There's a sheep and goat decision that comes at the end
• 9:46
  of the age where the Lord's like, hey, you know, when you've
• 9:49
  done it on to the least of these, you did it on to me.
• 9:51
  And so when people are conducting from a pure
• 9:53
  standpoint in the public square, that's where the world is going
• 9:58
  to see Jesus for the first time, not because we're beating him
• 10:01
  with the Bible, but because of how maybe you respected him, how
• 10:05
  you gave him the time of day, how you gave him grace.
• 10:06
  So please continue from there. I just want to really.
• 10:09
  That's so important. Thank you, I appreciate that and
• 10:10
  then we we it. I mean, that's all God, man.
• 10:13
  Like a lot of times me and free stuff on the show, we say that
• 10:16
  we're like, hey, this is not even like not even does it's
• 10:18
  it's God for sure. This wasn't something that we're
• 10:21
  like, Oh yeah, let's do this. That's going to be Our Calling.
• 10:23
  Because a lot of people who started music, they start
• 10:27
  because they want to, you know, be famous and get their songs on
• 10:30
  the charts and sell records and things like that.
• 10:32
  That's if we're just being frank and honest.
• 10:34
  That's what we want to do. When you start music, you want
• 10:36
  to be you want to get it going, like most, most artists do that.
• 10:39
  If you don't start in the Christian space, you want to be
• 10:41
  on the charts, you want to get played on the radio.
• 10:43
  I mean, that's that. That only makes sense.
• 10:45
  You don't, you don't make a song because you don't want it heard.
• 10:47
  You know what I mean? You want the song heard.
• 10:49
  So that's our goal. But also there's a time for
• 10:53
  everything. That's why one of my favorite
• 10:56
  scriptures is Ecclesiastes 3. There's a time for everything.
• 10:59
  There's a time to be firm and there's a time to be gentle and
• 11:02
  like how you said, so we go, oh, wait a minute.
• 11:04
  This brother or this sister right here may not have no idea
• 11:07
  about the gospel or the scriptures and things like that,
• 11:10
  but they're curious or you could see, you know, a little bit of
• 11:13
  yourself in them. So this may be the time to kind
• 11:15
  of like be more, you know, of a of a gentle type leader, still
• 11:19
  firm. You know, we, we don't, we don't
• 11:21
  sugarcoat it. As you know, we'll be like, hey,
• 11:22
  you need to work on this or whatever like that, but we're
• 11:24
  not gonna be a jerk about it. Like, you know what I mean?
• 11:27
  Because that may be. The first you guys gave me a
• 11:29
  four out of five. I was like, my God, they're
• 11:31
  honest and true, Yeah. Yeah, we're not gonna, we're not
• 11:34
  gonna sugarcoat it. Cause the the reason why is
• 11:36
  because, yeah, when it's a five, I want you to feel that five
• 11:39
  like, wow. Yeah, yeah.
• 11:40
  You know it's. My wife, Listen, my wife isn't
• 11:42
  from America, right? And she says this all the time.
• 11:45
  She's like, you got to take the compliment with the rebuke,
• 11:48
  right? If you're just looking for
• 11:50
  people to tell you're doing a good job all the time, you're
• 11:52
  you're faking it. You know, you want to look for
• 11:54
  people that are actually going to give you a standard.
• 11:57
  And so save America music and like talk a little bit about
• 12:01
  that. How did that get founded?
• 12:03
  And what exactly is the vision there?
• 12:06
  I mean, I know you talked about musicians coming through,
• 12:08
  helping people get critiqued, helping them get connected and
• 12:11
  and to see them maybe fall into the space that they're called
• 12:15
  to. But but help me understand even
• 12:16
  what Save American Music? Where did it originate and what
• 12:19
  is the goal? So Save America Music started
• 12:22
  out very simply because Jessica, the, the, she's the one who
• 12:28
  started like an Instagram page called Save America Music.
• 12:31
  And she started that Instagram page because she wanted to just
• 12:33
  share artists who were very patriotic and who loved the
• 12:36
  Lord. So those were her two interests.
• 12:38
  So, so she was just sharing that and that was around, you know,
• 12:41
  election time, 2019-2020 and all that type of stuff.
• 12:44
  And she knew these artists that were independent that that she
• 12:47
  wanted to give some shine, you know, as a hobby.
• 12:50
  Then me being a leader, being Marine Corps, I was just like,
• 12:53
  yo, like, I know you can take this further.
• 12:56
  So let me be the CEO. I'll overhaul it.
• 12:59
  So now save America. It has an entendre because it's
• 13:02
  like saved America. So we're trying to save America
• 13:06
  at the same time as well as be, you know, you know, proud of our
• 13:11
  country at the same time. So there's a, it's a double
• 13:13
  entendre now. So that's why you see us.
• 13:15
  It's it's mainly face face, but it's also patriotic people who
• 13:18
  love their country and stuff like that.
• 13:20
  But it's not limited to either or you can be either or.
• 13:24
  We're not, we're not judging nobody.
• 13:26
  I mean, we've had artists that made like secular music, if it
• 13:28
  was like cleaner or whatever, and they just love their, the
• 13:31
  experience. And now they can go back to, you
• 13:33
  know, their counterparts and be like, oh, wow, I was treated
• 13:35
  well. So Save America Music was
• 13:38
  started by Jessica, but then I took it over to create a, a sort
• 13:43
  of music ministry to help these artists be better and get free
• 13:47
  advice. And it became a calling for me
• 13:49
  and Krusuf, who is a who's a music producer as well.
• 13:54
  So Krusuf is the is the cohost with you on Save America Music,
• 13:57
  right? Krusuf is the cohost, so we're
• 13:59
  both cohost. So it's it's me the Marine
• 14:01
  rapper and Krusuf Beats who does the say save America music
• 14:08
  feedback Friday. And what we do there is we give
• 14:10
  artists feedback, we rate them one to five.
• 14:13
  And we also do a song of the night and performance the night
• 14:15
  to show people that we do really listen and we do care and we
• 14:18
  give them advice based on creativity, ingenuity and all
• 14:22
  that. But we also do it on the
• 14:24
  technical standpoint. That's what we have.
• 14:25
  So me, I'm more on the creative side about like you know, cuz I
• 14:28
  have charted on Billboard and things like that with all types
• 14:31
  of music. I've even charted on the
• 14:33
  Christian charts, most recently on #15, which I was so glad
• 14:36
  about. What song was it?
• 14:38
  It was a song. It was a song memorializing
• 14:41
  Charlie Kirk, but it was in a term, in a way of like kind of
• 14:45
  the humanity, because I felt like it didn't matter if you you
• 14:48
  kind of knew Charlie Kirk or not.
• 14:49
  But it was just like, wow, our generation of kids are seeing
• 14:52
  something so brutal on the Internet and we need to stop,
• 14:57
  take a breath and say, hey, we're all humans here.
• 15:01
  Nobody deserves to die over a political position, whether
• 15:04
  left, right, center, whatever. So I made a song memorializing
• 15:07
  that called Turning Point just for just voicing my opinion and
• 15:12
  my frustrations with, you know, America and that we all need to
• 15:16
  come together because this is a great place.
• 15:19
  And then that ended up getting 15 on the Billboard charts for
• 15:22
  Christian. And I was just so glad because
• 15:25
  that is what he wanted to be known for is like a father and a
• 15:28
  Christian first before even all the politics.
• 15:31
  He would tell you, I don't really align with anybody
• 15:34
  politically, but if I was going to align with somebody's going
• 15:37
  to be conservative because I'm, you know, Christians are
• 15:41
  conservative like in, in, in the nature of being married, kids,
• 15:46
  all having a, you know, you know, following God, all that
• 15:48
  type of stuff and the. The some of the.
• 15:50
  You know, the IT kind of aligns right there.
• 15:52
  So it was a sad moment. So I wanted to voice my opinion
• 15:55
  on that. So I ended up charting there.
• 15:56
  But I I'm not saying it's a brag on myself and I'm saying it to
• 15:59
  where I know what it takes to to chart and, and get your song up
• 16:04
  there on the Christian charts. So I was like, Hey, let me not
• 16:06
  be selfish and let me share some of this free game with people.
• 16:09
  And so that's where feedback Friday comes in and me and
• 16:13
  Crusoe do that for the people and we use it as a calling and
• 16:15
  we do it for free. We don't charge people for
• 16:17
  reviews or anything like that because we want to give back.
• 16:21
  If you want to, you know, we, we, we make money on other
• 16:24
  stuff, beats and collabs and all that type of stuff.
• 16:26
  So we don't need the money there, but we just want to give
• 16:29
  back and do the Lord's work and, and that and let, let the Lord
• 16:33
  use us as vessels to kind of like steer people in, in proper
• 16:39
  directions. And like a lot of times we'll be
• 16:41
  like, Hey, we may not be the best person for that, but Rod
• 16:45
  might be. So go see Rod, you know what I
• 16:47
  mean? That's why you know, when we,
• 16:48
  when we grew critiques, we're like, wait a minute, you need to
• 16:50
  link up with such and such. Oh, you need this guy makes
• 16:53
  beats. You know, we, we're, we also
• 16:54
  play also. Getting people connected in the
• 16:56
  right yeah it's like being like the middle roads almost and and
• 16:59
  in the know almost, which is so pretty long because we.
• 17:02
  People are alone, you know, and, and they're hopeless sometimes
• 17:05
  and they don't know where to go. And you you could be like, Oh
• 17:07
  yeah, just, you know, look in the book and all that type of
• 17:10
  stuff. But at the same time, it's like,
• 17:11
  who am I going to look in the book with?
• 17:12
  Who's going to hold me accountable?
• 17:13
  You know what I mean, You know? Well, it's the opposite of the
• 17:16
  gatekeeping, exactly. You know, the ritualistic
• 17:18
  gatekeeping stuff that we see the world do.
• 17:21
  The spirit that's in the world, which is like, be quiet.
• 17:24
  On the secular side, yes, which is like, be quiet.
• 17:26
  Your gift doesn't matter. You're just a consumer.
• 17:28
  Just nod your head and agree. Don't ask any questions, right?
• 17:31
  Like this is the spirit that's in the world trying to attend
• 17:33
  people and and not get them resources.
• 17:36
  Kingdom mindset is like, I see you, what you're doing is
• 17:40
  important. Like you are a son of God.
• 17:43
  And so like when we start to see that being demonstrated, I'm
• 17:45
  excited to see this pop up in more places.
• 17:48
  Like I really believe in what you guys are doing, so I don't.
• 17:52
  Know if you saw there has been different types of individuals
• 17:55
  who came by, you know what I mean?
• 17:56
  Like the different types of music, there's people who do.
• 18:00
  So it was not exclusively hip hop or or Christian hip hop, for
• 18:03
  example, you guys are getting rock'n'roll, you're getting
• 18:06
  country. Yeah, we've even got a little
• 18:07
  bit of everything. We've got country Christian
• 18:09
  music, we've got metal Christian music.
• 18:13
  I'm telling you, one of the guys does kind of like prison
• 18:17
  ministry. I don't know if you land Landy
• 18:20
  was on when you were on, but he does.
• 18:22
  He does Christian hip hop, but they go into the prisons and
• 18:27
  they minister to these these men who are on death row or, or
• 18:31
  have, you know, football numbers.
• 18:33
  So it's you know what I mean? Like when he when he's like,
• 18:37
  thank you for debuting this song.
• 18:39
  I'm going to take this song into the prisons this weekend in the
• 18:41
  Florida prisons. And because somebody gave me a
• 18:45
  chance that he was able to get paroled and get out of jail and
• 18:47
  stuff like that. And it happened through music.
• 18:50
  And now he's sharing that music with somebody else.
• 18:53
  And he thought we were so important that he wanted to
• 18:56
  debut it on on a show. You get what I'm saying?
• 18:57
  Like things like that, The. Ripple effect, yeah, I call it
• 19:00
  the ripple effect. It just it so I I've watched a
• 19:03
  couple feedback. I want to say 3 in total
• 19:06
  feedback Fridays, right? Because BHB yeah, my listeners
• 19:10
  know last year we, we played not of this world as the anthem at
• 19:14
  the end of every episode for all last year.
• 19:16
  So we're switching up the music this year, but my my audience is
• 19:19
  very familiar. He's actually been on the
• 19:21
  podcast before so and, and he got me connected with the show
• 19:26
  and that's where I made the connection.
• 19:27
  Remember when I was telling you I seen you doing like political
• 19:30
  music like a year or two ago? And I'm like, yo, this guy is
• 19:32
  fire. Like this is this is great
• 19:36
  because I'm usually in a lane. Yeah, my lane, my creativity is
• 19:42
  typically discovering other people and then giving them air
• 19:45
  time so that more people find them, right?
• 19:49
  And then writing books and then doing ministry and doing, you
• 19:51
  know, we do all, all types of stuff and raising a family and
• 19:55
  running a business, right? And so I don't I'm not like
• 19:58
  super familiar with who's who in the spaces unless I'm reading
• 20:01
  their book or looking over their BIOS.
• 20:03
  So when BHB. Said yo, I'm getting reviewed on
• 20:07
  on the show. Come check it out.
• 20:08
  I think you're really going to like this guy.
• 20:10
  I sat and was like, yo, that's the cat that I see you doing the
• 20:14
  music. And I'm like, I like him.
• 20:16
  Like I want to talk with him. And so praise God that I
• 20:19
  actually get to, you know, have this conversation and for the
• 20:22
  audience. Sake him.
• 20:22
  I love to be HB. I know you talk to him all the
• 20:24
  time. So yeah, yeah, he's and it's a.
• 20:27
  Pleasure. Called me like 3 times today.
• 20:29
  I don't actually want to hear his name again today.
• 20:31
  That's enough in 24 hours. So I do want to talk about, you
• 20:37
  know, your time in the in the military, you know.
• 20:39
  Yeah, we talked about faith. Yeah.
• 20:42
  And, and, and how that carries us through and we.
• 20:46
  The uncertainties of life. And I know that you're a
• 20:49
  warrior, right? You're a poet.
• 20:51
  You're a warrior man. And.
• 20:52
  And I can relate to the poet part, but I really want to hear
• 20:56
  these stories about how God carried you through in some of
• 21:00
  these darker places and dangerous places.
• 21:02
  So I don't want to rush into it if there's any loose ends, time
• 21:05
  up with it with the previous part of the conversation.
• 21:06
  But let's kind of start then to walk into maybe you laying a
• 21:10
  foundation. How old were you?
• 21:11
  You said you were in the Marine Corps for 10 years.
• 21:13
  Let's just however you want to open that thing up.
• 21:16
  Yeah, no, so I was, when I joined the, I joined the Marine
• 21:19
  Corps late. I'll join it at 20.
• 21:21
  Like I because I went to, I went to college first for two years
• 21:24
  and I did drafting because I was like into art and stuff like
• 21:28
  that. So I was like, oh, let me go for
• 21:29
  drafting because it seems like the same.
• 21:30
  And maybe I could, you know, be like some type of engineer or
• 21:33
  something. And so, but like, I did that for
• 21:36
  two years, but I was still working at Taco Bell as a
• 21:41
  rapper, like wrapping up tacos. I worked at Taco Bell as a
• 21:44
  rapper. And so like, I couldn't get a
• 21:47
  job because they're like. A little disqualified.
• 21:49
  And, and it's, it's ironic that I was a rapper at Taco Bell and
• 21:53
  rapping, rapping with shells. And then I was now I'm literally
• 21:56
  rapping about shells, you know, So it was just, it was just like
• 21:59
  a crazy situation. And then a recruiter like, found
• 22:03
  me or whatever and was like, yo, have you ever thought about the
• 22:06
  military, the Marine Corps? And I'm like, not really, like,
• 22:11
  a little bit, but not not seriously or whatever.
• 22:14
  And it was a female recruiter. She's like, you need to think
• 22:16
  about it and all that. And it's important that it's a
• 22:20
  female recruiter because it's going to come around in a
• 22:22
  second. She's like, oh, well, I need to
• 22:25
  think about it. And she's like, yo, what's
• 22:27
  holding you up? And she couldn't, you know,
• 22:29
  crack me because she was just like, yo, like, I don't see
• 22:32
  what, what the issue is. Like, it's not money.
• 22:34
  It's not this, not that I was like, yo, I need some stability.
• 22:37
  I don't think my life is going anywhere.
• 22:38
  And then also I was, I was afraid to die.
• 22:42
  So I had to come to grips with that.
• 22:45
  And I didn't tell her that just yet, but that was my whole
• 22:48
  thing. Am am I willing to die for a
• 22:50
  'cause right after 911? You know, am I willing to die
• 22:54
  for America right after 911? And then after I got over that
• 22:58
  and I don't think I was that like, you know, I've always been
• 23:05
  in out, out around the church, but I don't think I was like the
• 23:08
  strongest in and had like a brotherhood around me or
• 23:12
  anything like that in the church.
• 23:13
  So I kind of was just like on my own in my college college years
• 23:17
  and stuff like that. So it was just like I had just,
• 23:21
  it was, I felt like a lone, I had to come to grips with
• 23:23
  myself. Am I willing to die for America?
• 23:24
  And then I said, OK, yes. I said, but do you have a job
• 23:29
  and entertainment? Because I just started to get
• 23:31
  into hip hop music because I got into hip hop music at age 18,
• 23:34
  very late. I grew up skateboarding and all
• 23:37
  that type of stuff. So I was always into like metal
• 23:39
  and grunge and Nirvana and all that type of stuff.
• 23:42
  But one of my mom's friends saw me skateboarding was like, yo,
• 23:45
  like, have you ever thought about like hip hop music?
• 23:48
  And then she put me on hip hop music.
• 23:49
  Ever since then I've been hooked on that.
• 23:52
  And then I went into just different iterations of it,
• 23:54
  whether it was like secular to, to the Christian hip hop music.
• 23:58
  And then so since I was into hip hop music, when the recruiter
• 24:00
  contacted me, I was like, Yo, do you, do you got anything in
• 24:04
  entertainment as a job in the Marine?
• 24:05
  She's like entertainment. She's like what she's like, go
• 24:09
  home and come back another day or whatever.
• 24:11
  She's like, well, there was a guy that was in the Marine
• 24:14
  Corps. His name is Shaggy.
• 24:14
  He did music afterwards. So like, but I do got a job.
• 24:19
  Did you know Shaggy was in the Marine Corps?
• 24:23
  Yeah, Shaggy. Is like Shaggy there wasn't me.
• 24:26
  Yeah, it wasn't me. He was in the.
• 24:27
  Marine. Yeah.
• 24:27
  I mean, we're millennial. You're a millennial too.
• 24:29
  I'm. Guessing I am.
• 24:30
  Yeah. We're the same age.
• 24:32
  Yeah. So he was like, she was like,
• 24:35
  yo, like Shaggy was in. So you can you can do this job
• 24:40
  called public affairs. Public affairs will get you, you
• 24:43
  know, you could be on the radio. You could be kind of like doing
• 24:46
  like a video broadcast, kind of like Robin Williams and like
• 24:49
  Good Morning Vietnam, like that movie.
• 24:51
  She's like, you could be like a broadcaster, right?
• 24:53
  So I swear I was going to do something like that.
• 24:55
  You know, she's like, oh, you know, be in the studio.
• 24:57
  And then later on you could work it out, you know, that type of
• 25:00
  stuff. I was like, all right.
• 25:01
  And then so I joined and when I joined, I joined out of
• 25:05
  Oceanside, CA Oceanside, CA is right by Camp Pendleton, the
• 25:09
  Marine Corps base. This is very important.
• 25:11
  And so I, I, I, I joined the Marine Corps.
• 25:13
  I went through boot camp. I ended up going to school in,
• 25:16
  in Baltimore, MD. It's called Forge your G meet.
• 25:19
  I went to school in Baltimore and I went to school there.
• 25:22
  I I flunked the radio test because I mispronounced the word
• 25:27
  ask. I'll never do it again.
• 25:30
  But you know, black folks, we say axe.
• 25:34
  So, so when she's when when they said say the script, I said, can
• 25:36
  I ask you a question? You know what I mean, book.
• 25:38
  Of acts. Exactly the book of Acts.
• 25:41
  You know how you know, you know, we say axe or people in the
• 25:45
  street, people in the hood. We say axe because it could.
• 25:48
  It's not not specifically black folks, but you know what I mean,
• 25:52
  People in the. Hood Yeah.
• 25:53
  It's like a general kind of cane dance almost between yeah, yeah.
• 25:57
  And then, but I'll never mispronounce that ever again,
• 26:00
  even in my music these days, I'll even say ask because just
• 26:04
  as like a little jab, you know, whatever.
• 26:06
  But anyways, I failed the radio test.
• 26:08
  After I failed the radio test, they're like, oh, you know what?
• 26:10
  It's all good. You're still a journalist.
• 26:12
  We're going to send you to 1st Marine Division.
• 26:15
  And they're like, first, I was like, first, that sounds good.
• 26:17
  But First Marine Division is in Camp Pendleton, where I grew up.
• 26:21
  I grew up just outside the Marine Corps base, and so they
• 26:25
  send me back to First Marine Division.
• 26:27
  First Marine Division was my mom's worst nightmare because
• 26:30
  First Marine Division is infantry.
• 26:32
  So they sent me back home to be a journalist with an infantry
• 26:36
  battalion and then I would be going to Iraq a little bit
• 26:39
  later. I went to Iraq.
• 26:43
  I was in the truck right behind another truck, the front.
• 26:45
  The front truck got hit by an ID that blew up.
• 26:48
  The guys inside there ended up being OK.
• 26:50
  They got pulled out in a medevac.
• 26:52
  A medevac is where a helicopter comes down, picks up those
• 26:55
  wounded people and fly away. That helicopter was called the
• 26:58
  Purple Foxes. The Purple Foxes had the husband
• 27:00
  of my recruiter in it. So they took and they saved my
• 27:04
  guys. On one mission, I got back from
• 27:07
  Iraq. I heard that the purple Fox's
• 27:09
  helicopter went down and her husband got killed.
• 27:14
  When her husband got killed, I was already home back in Camp
• 27:17
  Pendleton. And she was like, hey, can you
• 27:20
  write a story on my husband? So she made me a journalist and
• 27:23
  I ended up writing a memorial story on her husband like crazy.
• 27:29
  Wow. Yeah.
• 27:30
  And then so like I after you like be be overseas and then you
• 27:35
  come back to the United States of America and you see the
• 27:38
  difference in cultures and stuff like that, especially if you're
• 27:41
  in the military. There's something in you that
• 27:44
  doesn't want to stay home. So when they go, all right, you
• 27:47
  went to Iraq, do you want, who wants to go to Afghanistan?
• 27:49
  I went me because I felt like there was more purpose overseas.
• 27:53
  So I went over to Afghanistan and I was able to survive that
• 27:57
  too. But the only reason I survived
• 28:00
  it is because we had interpreters, the Afghan
• 28:03
  interpreters, you know, people who who spoke the language and
• 28:06
  said it, don't go there, don't go there.
• 28:07
  There's a bomb there. There's this, there's this.
• 28:10
  So when we pulled out of Afghanistan, it was
• 28:14
  heartbreaking to see. I don't know if you saw the
• 28:16
  footage of the people who are clinging onto the plane trying
• 28:20
  to get out of Afghanistan. Did you see that?
• 28:24
  Yeah. And those the we wouldn't, a lot
• 28:27
  of Americans wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for those
• 28:30
  Afghans who risked their life for us.
• 28:33
  And so and we so. These are these are Afghan
• 28:35
  natives that were working in tandem with you guys as the the
• 28:39
  US Marine Corps just willingly just like a fiduciary willing
• 28:42
  servant here I am my God and so there.
• 28:46
  And we, and we their. Lives are definitely a risk.
• 28:48
  And we, and we left some of them.
• 28:50
  So when we did the pull, when we did the pull out, it was
• 28:53
  heartbreaking because it was like it had nothing to do with,
• 28:57
  you know, you know, they're Muslim or, or, you know, or
• 29:00
  nationality or anything. It was just like the fact that
• 29:03
  they were will they were willing to put all that aside, white,
• 29:06
  black, Mexican, whoever was Asian, whoever was over there to
• 29:09
  protect us, risk their life because after our deployment,
• 29:14
  our year long deployment, we go home.
• 29:17
  They have to live over there being a target of terrorists of
• 29:20
  insurgents because they work with us.
• 29:23
  And then so to see some of them not make it back.
• 29:26
  That was heartbreaking to me. And I was like, wow.
• 29:31
  So I, I, I take that those experienced back home with a
• 29:36
  sense of gratitude to God forgive me all those situations
• 29:40
  and I'm grateful for the the interpreters that are worse and
• 29:43
  over here and stuff like that. But I that's, that's the type of
• 29:46
  environment I come from. There's been plenty of times
• 29:52
  miracles happened overseas. There was a time where and it's
• 29:58
  crazy because in America they tried to not everybody, but some
• 30:04
  Americans try to push this racism thing, which is crazy
• 30:07
  because, you know, look at me, I'm black your way and and oh,
• 30:12
  we hate each other and all that type of stuff.
• 30:13
  But when I go to a store, when I go out in the public, it don't
• 30:17
  matter. We like yo, what's up?
• 30:18
  How you doing? I'm good thank you bro, But they
• 30:21
  but you don't really. See it, it's like some imaginary
• 30:24
  mind manipulation or like new age generational warfare tactic
• 30:31
  to for segregation or something like or or who knows what I
• 30:35
  mean. I think that there's a much
• 30:36
  deeper, darker meaning to that kind of hate your neighbor thing
• 30:42
  because it's like, that's the gospel.
• 30:44
  Like even what you were just talking about with the Afghans,
• 30:46
  like that reminds me so much of the gospel, like looking out for
• 30:50
  your neighbor, love your neighbor.
• 30:51
  Like I wrote a poem. It's like talking about watching
• 30:53
  the back door of your neighbor, right?
• 30:55
  And it's this idea of this, this lost transfer of substance that
• 31:00
  that God wants us to have for each other as sons and daughters
• 31:04
  of God is like, actually like, do I care?
• 31:08
  Am I willing to, you know, and I wrote and I wrote, I wrote this,
• 31:11
  maybe this will resonate with you.
• 31:12
  It's like trust is built when you're in danger.
• 31:17
  And I get closer to you rather than running away, right?
• 31:21
  Because like my kids were asking me like, oh, like, like, how do
• 31:23
  you, how do you learn to trust somebody?
• 31:25
  And I'm like, oh, good question. Oh, let me write on that.
• 31:27
  Boom, boom, boom. Oh well.
• 31:30
  When somebody gets closer to you.
• 31:31
  When you're in danger. Wow.
• 31:35
  So they're moving in a way where it's like, I see you, I, I, I, I
• 31:39
  can be a covering for you, right?
• 31:42
  I can lean in, I can lock arms with you on this one.
• 31:45
  That's how trust is built. Not, not because of the words
• 31:48
  that are coming out of somebody's mouth because people
• 31:49
  say, oh man, you're doing great. Oh, I'm there for you.
• 31:52
  I got you. Do you need something?
• 31:53
  But but actions, my God, actions.
• 31:57
  Speak louder than words. It's crazy because what you just
• 32:00
  said, and that's why I believe in, you know, God's timing and
• 32:04
  everything, because what you just said, we have a saying in
• 32:06
  the military run to the sound of gunfire.
• 32:11
  So we have a saying saying that we go to we go to the danger
• 32:15
  because we have our brothers back.
• 32:18
  That's why. I don't know man.
• 32:19
  Left behind is that. No man left that.
• 32:21
  That's a saying. That's that's, that's a saying
• 32:23
  too. It's just like just the just the
• 32:25
  sentiment of like, like no one, no one can get between me and my
• 32:30
  brothers. Like if if somebody said if I
• 32:33
  see somebody with the Marine Corps hat, I go what's up?
• 32:36
  And I, we don't have to. I know that that guy.
• 32:39
  Yeah, I know that that guy. I know if something went down in
• 32:41
  this in the store or whatever, he's going to have my back.
• 32:45
  We don't have to say nothing. It's like a brotherhood too,
• 32:48
  another brotherhood with. And so wouldn't Christianity
• 32:52
  like so biblically, there's a lot of military terms that are
• 32:56
  used biblically. Yep, this is a big deal.
• 32:59
  And so maybe this is something we can walk into.
• 33:01
  Also, I want you to finish the stories, but you're you're
• 33:04
  stirring me up. OK, Marine rapper, you're
• 33:08
  getting me going, which is, you know, hopefully I don't take us
• 33:12
  down too many rabbit trails or rant too much myself.
• 33:14
  I love it. I want to bring it back to you.
• 33:16
  But the what the stuff that you're saying, there's so many
• 33:19
  people out there that that what you're going to and already have
• 33:23
  delivered tonight, I couldn't bring that to the table for
• 33:27
  them. Like, like those people that
• 33:28
  only you can reach and through the stories that you have and
• 33:31
  through the encouragement that you have.
• 33:34
  I just might be a bridge in this moment.
• 33:36
  And so, you know, biblically, I love that camaraderie.
• 33:41
  Like you're saying, if I see another Marine, a Marine guy,
• 33:44
  he's got a hat on. Which by the way, my son Riley,
• 33:47
  my twins just turned 18 in January.
• 33:50
  Oh wow, I had him. I had him young.
• 33:52
  I think I was 1818 when we had him, but he said, Dad, I'm going
• 33:57
  to be a Marine, I'm going to join the Marine Corps.
• 33:59
  I'm like, I love you, man. Like look, you don't need
• 34:03
  approval from me. You're a grown man now, but like
• 34:06
  I also wanted you know anyway, that's that's neither here nor
• 34:08
  there. I also want to talk with him
• 34:10
  like, yo, this is this could be serious, right?
• 34:13
  But that the love that you guys have, right?
• 34:17
  Not even just love, like, because when we use that word is
• 34:21
  Philadelphia's right is brotherly love.
• 34:24
  When we look at it, Philadelphia, which is I grew up
• 34:27
  right outside of Philadelphia, PA.
• 34:29
  That's where we're at Southeastern Pennsylvania.
• 34:32
  And I think about that term and I'm like, you just said
• 34:35
  something that hit me right in the solar plexus when you're set
• 34:39
  it, man, I'm like, I want that kind of love with the brethren
• 34:42
  in Christ where you're like, if I'm in a store and I see another
• 34:45
  guy with the Marine Corps had on, I'm like, yo, like if if
• 34:48
  somebody runs in here and it pops off, we good Like, yeah,
• 34:51
  you're. Going to look.
• 34:52
  Up as Christians, we should. Have that have the same like I
• 34:55
  see you know. Yes.
• 34:58
  That's why back. In the day they used to do that,
• 35:00
  the half of the fish thing in the sand.
• 35:01
  And it would be like the solitude, right?
• 35:04
  But they were under heavy persecution too.
• 35:06
  But I mean, now we're, we're living in America, buddy.
• 35:09
  Like, you know, my wife has been here 12 years.
• 35:12
  She loves this country. She just became an American
• 35:14
  citizen a year and a half ago. Like she she's head over heels
• 35:17
  for America because of growing up in poverty overseas and
• 35:22
  seeing the light that we are called to be as this country
• 35:26
  freedoms with liberty, with justice, boldness, right and,
• 35:30
  and, and the gospel more importantly than anything else,
• 35:32
  I'm. Glad you have that first hand
• 35:34
  experience because a lot of people don't have that first
• 35:36
  hand experience. You know, your wife has that
• 35:37
  first hand experience and you, you, you just can't really
• 35:42
  understand it unless you've been there.
• 35:44
  Like when people are poor overseas, they're poor.
• 35:47
  Like I've had people like when I was, you know, there's been
• 35:51
  homeless people to reject when I gave them food or water or
• 35:54
  stuff, they're like, no, I want money because I want to go get
• 35:56
  drunk or whatever. And I was just like, wow, how
• 35:59
  ungrateful. Because I've seen people
• 36:01
  overseas when they say I'm hungry, you give them a little
• 36:04
  bit of food, they scarf it down right there because they're
• 36:06
  literally hungry if they if they say money.
• 36:08
  Overseas, they they buy, they're buying eggs like they're buying
• 36:11
  groceries, like they're, they're feeding a whole entire John with
• 36:15
  $10. And they cook.
• 36:17
  And you know what's so crazy? I don't know if you know that
• 36:19
  the birth place of the Marine Corps is it is in.
• 36:23
  Pai didn't know that. Yeah, where?
• 36:25
  Tavern, yeah. Interesting.
• 36:28
  It was born, yeah, we were born in a bar.
• 36:30
  So that there's the whole tradition of drinking and all
• 36:33
  that type of stuff. But it wasn't just the whole bar
• 36:35
  thing. It was like a meeting place,
• 36:36
  'cause that was the only meeting place.
• 36:37
  It was an old bar. So we all went there.
• 36:40
  Tavern. We went Tavern.
• 36:41
  Hey, what's going on? Hey, man, somebody, somebody's,
• 36:44
  you know, they're getting bullied over here.
• 36:46
  So we need some people to get come together.
• 36:47
  And ever since the Marine Corps has been the nation's 911.
• 36:51
  So that's why when you see something pop off the Marine,
• 36:53
  they go first. That's what, you know, we have a
• 36:55
  saying called first fight. But like, yeah, I I don't
• 36:58
  understand the separation within the Christian community a lot of
• 37:04
  times. Like I just dropped a song
• 37:06
  called Holy War 4IN support of the Christians getting
• 37:08
  slaughtered in Nigeria. Oh my God, come on, come on.
• 37:12
  Yes. And so we should all, everybody
• 37:14
  should be locking arms on that one.
• 37:16
  You feel me? Like they're like what?
• 37:18
  But like, but like, because it's things have been politicized so
• 37:22
  much, they don't want to say nothing.
• 37:23
  I'm like, yo, they're killing Christians over there.
• 37:27
  And and that we've been systematically desensitized
• 37:30
  because they're pushing Ukraine, they're pushing Israel,
• 37:32
  Palestine. Listen, I got a love for those
• 37:34
  people. I just did an episode called and
• 37:37
  not being anti-Semitic, not having Jew hatred, but it
• 37:40
  listen, any country who's doing wrong needs to be held
• 37:43
  accountable to the standard of doing wrong.
• 37:46
  There's no favoritism here. Nobody gets a pass.
• 37:48
  I don't care if you're Israel. I don't care if you're you're
• 37:51
  America. It doesn't matter.
• 37:52
  Nobody should get a pass. But why?
• 37:55
  Why is it that when we have Christian persecution to a level
• 37:59
  that we cannot experience here in the flesh, in this country,
• 38:03
  it falls on silent ears? Nobody has nothing to say.
• 38:07
  So I'm a big guy. I say that, I say that.
• 38:10
  I say that in. My God, come on, come.
• 38:11
  On I say it in the song How can Don Lemon walk into a Christian
• 38:16
  Church? Exactly you.
• 38:17
  Can't do that in a mosque. You can't do that in a
• 38:21
  synagogue. I don't care who you are.
• 38:23
  I don't care what side. You cannot do that.
• 38:26
  You like you like literally you die like you can't disrespect
• 38:29
  that. So why are Christians not
• 38:32
  treated with the same amount of respect?
• 38:34
  Why aren't Christians willing to die for that?
• 38:37
  Because all the other denominations absolutely are.
• 38:40
  They will die about it. So why it why?
• 38:43
  So I don't understand. I, I, so my music talks about
• 38:46
  that too. And Holy War 4I talk about that.
• 38:48
  I'm like, I, I name all the denominator.
• 38:50
  It starts out with naming those denominations.
• 38:52
  I'll say you can do this, this, this, this, this and this and
• 38:55
  this, but you can never, you can never do it to these
• 38:59
  denominations. Why is that?
• 39:01
  Because the people are willing to die for that and you will not
• 39:04
  disrespect them. Like we had to respect, we
• 39:07
  couldn't patrol in certain areas, we couldn't maneuver
• 39:09
  around the mosque in certain times because we had to respect
• 39:13
  that. When they had the call for
• 39:14
  prayer, we had to respect that. That's why a lot of times we
• 39:17
  would end up getting in firefights and stuff because a
• 39:21
  lot of the insurgents, they would run into the mosque and we
• 39:23
  had to respect that that much. So why?
• 39:26
  So why is it that Christians aren't willing to die about it?
• 39:29
  You know what I'm saying? Do you think that we're we're
• 39:31
  kind of almost, it's like re seeing the rebirth of that, like
• 39:36
  masculinity or men, because I, I don't know how much you get down
• 39:40
  into the rabbit trail, but on this show, like we've had like
• 39:43
  prolific doctors on, you know, we've had Katie Tolinto,
• 39:47
  previous White House health advisor under Trump, coming on
• 39:50
  speaking. It was just funny because, you
• 39:53
  know, we're seven years out from COVID, right?
• 39:57
  And during COVID, I, I mean, I didn't me and my house, we
• 39:59
  didn't take the jab. I, I felt something was off
• 40:02
  about it, right. And, and now you're seeing a lot
• 40:06
  of the people that were called crazy or conspiracy.
• 40:09
  Theorist for being like yo don't be don't put nano particulates
• 40:12
  in your body. Now all the sudden the very
• 40:15
  people that were on the front row saying yo take it advocating
• 40:18
  for it are literally coming out saying I'm a naturopath now I'm
• 40:21
  a holistic practitioner. I don't believe in this anymore
• 40:24
  like it's literally happened on this podcast along with plenty
• 40:28
  of other people. So the the warfare against.
• 40:31
  I've lost. I lost family members.
• 40:33
  I lost my my grand aunt, my grandma, my aunt.
• 40:37
  I I never took it. A lot of the I've I actually
• 40:40
  have a song called shots. I I love the, the, the, the
• 40:43
  position that I'm in because I had Marines come to me off to
• 40:46
  the side who wanted to be anonymous.
• 40:48
  They're like, listen, can you do something?
• 40:49
  Can you say something? So I made a a voice, so-called
• 40:52
  shots and we're talking about be a voice I've.
• 40:54
  Never heard that. Oh my, now come.
• 40:56
  On those individuals who got kicked out of the military for
• 40:58
  not taking the the shot are invited back to the Marines
• 41:02
  because they're like, yo, we messed up.
• 41:05
  So I, I, I, I, I do not discriminate when it comes to
• 41:09
  making my music. Like I've called out the
• 41:10
  government. I've been, I've been, I love
• 41:13
  patriotic, but I've also called out the government.
• 41:15
  I've been both sides. But when I love it, but when I'm
• 41:17
  pro American, it seems like it's such a big deal.
• 41:20
  And I'm like, why? Why can't I love this country?
• 41:22
  I know what happened to black people in the past.
• 41:25
  I know I'm not oblivious to what happened.
• 41:27
  But at the same time, I know we have it really good and we have
• 41:30
  it way better than a lot of nations around the world because
• 41:32
  I've been around the world. Like how you said your wife
• 41:34
  knows this and you have family members that know this.
• 41:37
  So if you've been around the world, you know, we have it
• 41:39
  really good. If people are trying to fight
• 41:42
  natural disasters, jump over fences and barbed wire just to
• 41:45
  get here, What what do you think?
• 41:48
  It's super bad overseas. That's why people are trying to
• 41:51
  break in here. Are we trying to break into
• 41:53
  Afghanistan? No, why not?
• 41:56
  Because we have it better here. So it just, it just blows my
• 42:00
  mind. That people go there and just
• 42:02
  try to get. The only time we try to go there
• 42:05
  is to try to get something right.
• 42:07
  Exactly oil or resources and things like Gilgames.
• 42:10
  The remains of, you know, one of the giant Nephilim guys or
• 42:14
  something. Exactly.
• 42:15
  So like when there's when there's things that we have to
• 42:16
  get and stuff like that, but like I just, I just don't
• 42:19
  understand it. And so like, I just know I'm
• 42:21
  going to just be me because I know if I just follow what the
• 42:25
  Lord is telling me to say and I follow my gut and everything and
• 42:28
  I know and I know I'm doing the right thing, it's going to play
• 42:31
  out just how like the shot thing, the, the, the COVID shot
• 42:34
  turned out, it turned out perfectly and well.
• 42:37
  And now the Marines are invited back to join the military again
• 42:40
  because they were did wrong, because they said, hey, listen,
• 42:43
  because they had the religious exemption.
• 42:45
  A lot of my guys, they had a religious exemption.
• 42:47
  They were like, hey, my religion doesn't allow me to put all this
• 42:51
  stuff in my body. And but they, you know, but they
• 42:54
  didn't get it respected, you know, but now they're respecting
• 42:57
  it. It's just a weird, it's just a
• 42:58
  weird thing. And I just feel like there needs
• 43:00
  to be more Christians. This.
• 43:01
  Oh, yeah, it is. There has to be a lot more.
• 43:03
  It's a conversation in itself. But there needs to be a lot more
• 43:06
  Christians that are big, more bigger and bolder and stand on
• 43:09
  it and ready to die about it, you know, And then the ones that
• 43:12
  are ready to die about it, they, they, they, they, they shun us.
• 43:16
  So they say, oh, I'm a sellout. They call me a sellout.
• 43:19
  So they try to push me to the side and they don't want to
• 43:21
  listen to me. I've had so many elders and
• 43:23
  stuff and older, older men and stuff like that.
• 43:25
  They're like, you know what, They're going to push you to the
• 43:27
  side because especially America, they don't like a educated black
• 43:32
  man. They don't like somebody who's
• 43:35
  going to who, who goes against the grain.
• 43:37
  I mean, it could be anybody. It could be black, white,
• 43:38
  whoever. But if you're going against the
• 43:40
  grain and going against something, they do not like it.
• 43:43
  They're like, no, you're supposed to be you're.
• 43:45
  Supposed to be you're. Supposed to be dependent on the
• 43:47
  government. You're supposed to be dependent
• 43:48
  on us. You're supposed to be.
• 43:50
  You think you think it's an accident.
• 43:52
  You know you're in PA, right? It's not an accident.
• 43:54
  Planned Parenthood, chicken, liquor stores in the
• 43:57
  neighborhood. That's by design, bro.
• 44:00
  That's by design. You know, PA, they have the all
• 44:03
  the shops and stuff on purpose. They want us to kill ourselves
• 44:06
  or they want us to kill our babies.
• 44:07
  They want us to kill ourselves with liquor or they want us.
• 44:10
  They want us to be dependent on the government.
• 44:12
  That's what they want. Bro and if you.
• 44:15
  Don't if you go against the grain exactly.
• 44:18
  Exactly like so, so even the liners like this is this is my
• 44:21
  kombucha, right? And and these yeah, it's just
• 44:24
  OK. Yeah, yeah, this is this is a.
• 44:25
  Little bit better. It's it's Celsius.
• 44:27
  It's a little bit cleaner. Yeah, some people may.
• 44:31
  Yeah, I gotcha. OK.
• 44:32
  This is just your basic little, little refresher probiotic
• 44:35
  kombucha, right? They most of the time and, and
• 44:39
  it is so difficult even to be mindful because the, the, the
• 44:42
  warfare that we're up against everything that you just said,
• 44:45
  plus the provable like the BPA's that they're putting the plastic
• 44:50
  liners, it literally lowers testosterone in males.
• 44:55
  I was on the symposium with like 5 of the researchers like 3 or 4
• 44:58
  years ago. We did this like 4 1/2 hour
• 45:00
  symposium that was broadcast all around the country, bringing
• 45:03
  forward just reading documents and doing commentary on this
• 45:07
  systematic attack against the household, the individual.
• 45:12
  And this is non biased. I mean, they're attacking what,
• 45:17
  no matter what religion or color you are, you're being attacked.
• 45:21
  So so like who's they? That's like the question that
• 45:24
  we've asked. I've asked guys like Gary Wayne
• 45:26
  that bloodlines, right, Are we? So the Bible talks about them,
• 45:30
  obviously, from the perspective of these upper echelons, right,
• 45:33
  or these lowercase G gods, the lowercase Elohim that
• 45:39
  principalities, powers, rulers, dominions, as most people would
• 45:41
  know them Archons that we wrestle against, right, and they
• 45:44
  have walk in's. They have humans that are
• 45:47
  working in tandem with them for net, what I call the Nephilim
• 45:51
  agenda, right? I think everything that we're
• 45:52
  experiencing that is dark is a byproduct of the Nephilim
• 45:55
  agenda. All right?
• 45:56
  I'm talking too much so. Now you're good.
• 45:59
  They're, they're, they're literally trying to kill us from
• 46:01
  every perspective. Like it's, it's just be, it's
• 46:04
  just beyond even. We don't have the amount of time
• 46:07
  to even compartmentalize it here and right now.
• 46:09
  Talk about a little bit of these face stories about how God
• 46:13
  really opened up your eyes for a deeper relationship and to lean
• 46:17
  into who you started to learn he was right because you grew up
• 46:21
  going to church. That's cool experience.
• 46:25
  And and like you were saying in the beginning of this episode,
• 46:27
  when you're, you know, you're praying before every every time
• 46:30
  you guys go out and do a mission and everyone's praying.
• 46:33
  This is important for us to talk about because I know I got
• 46:37
  military listeners. I know people are going to
• 46:38
  relate to what you're about to drop on us right now.
• 46:41
  Talk about faith in the. There was a lot of there was a
• 46:44
  lot of struggle for me because I couldn't wrap my brain around
• 46:50
  how you're going to expect me to go out and kill somebody in case
• 46:54
  something happens. But I spoke to the chaplain.
• 46:56
  He's like, there's a difference between murder and killing and
• 46:59
  protecting, you know, So it says thou shall not murder if you
• 47:03
  translate it, you know, there's different versions and people
• 47:07
  can debate the different versions.
• 47:08
  I know if there's people going to be like, well, in this
• 47:10
  version it says kill and whatever, but like it's he, he,
• 47:14
  he, he broke it out. He said that thou shall not.
• 47:16
  And you know, in the commandments, Deuteronomy, it
• 47:19
  says like thou shall not murder. Like you're not supposed to
• 47:22
  murder somebody. Like defending your defending
• 47:25
  someone or, or killing somebody because you're in self-defense
• 47:28
  and stuff like that is a little bit different situation.
• 47:30
  So like, no, you don't lead. You don't lead with that.
• 47:32
  Yeah, you don't lead with it. But so like that was a
• 47:35
  situation. I got to speak to the chaplain
• 47:36
  about that. There's another situation to
• 47:38
  where I was going out patrol after patrol and then they were
• 47:41
  like, hey, you need to stay back this patrol because you know,
• 47:45
  rest, you know, get a get a hot shower because we're out there.
• 47:47
  There's no showers and stuff. So get, you know, rest, clean up
• 47:50
  and all that. The one patrol I didn't go on
• 47:55
  was with this one guy from Texas, somebody where you think
• 47:58
  a white guy from Texas, somebody where you think that the media
• 48:01
  would say he hates me. You know what I mean?
• 48:04
  He was he was cooler to me. This white guy was cooler to me
• 48:07
  than some black people have ever been cool to me.
• 48:09
  You know? I mean, he's like, oh, I'm, you
• 48:10
  know, we're brothers. Wait, what do you need?
• 48:12
  You need, you need this. You need that.
• 48:14
  You want to go out with us today?
• 48:15
  Because a lot of times when I went out, I was on my own as a
• 48:18
  journalist. And so I would have to bum a
• 48:19
  ride from people. So I'd be like, hey, so his name
• 48:22
  is Michael C Leadsom. And so Mike was like, hey, you
• 48:27
  want to go out with us today? I was like, yeah.
• 48:29
  And then I will go out and I cover stories, take pictures,
• 48:32
  write stories and stuff like that.
• 48:33
  And I come back and I send the stories back home.
• 48:35
  This one time I didn't go out with Mike and that time he got
• 48:40
  killed and he would sit where in the on the same side I would sit
• 48:45
  on. So I'll never forget his name.
• 48:49
  And so we spoke, spoke offline about miracles and things like
• 48:53
  that. Like for a long time, I had
• 48:56
  survivor's guilt on a different, lot of different situations, but
• 49:01
  I just was like, OK, I need to change the survivor's guilt from
• 49:04
  the military guys who are listening.
• 49:05
  I need to change survivor's guilt to survivor's purpose.
• 49:09
  Now I have a purpose. So the reason why I'm, I'm alive
• 49:12
  today because God was like, you need to tell these individual
• 49:17
  story. So I know I will never forget
• 49:19
  him ever. But he was from Tech, he was
• 49:22
  from Austin's. I know every I know where he's
• 49:24
  from Austin, TX father, solid guy man.
• 49:30
  And he would let me ride in his truck.
• 49:33
  And if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have been able to do a
• 49:36
  lot of cool stuff that I was able to do overseas and have the
• 49:39
  the gratitude and have the purpose today.
• 49:42
  But I know that I'm here today as long as I'm breathing, I'm
• 49:45
  here today to tell the story of brave men like Corporal Michael
• 49:48
  C Leadsom from Texas, father, warrior marine, so everybody can
• 49:57
  know that there's brave individuals who gave their life
• 50:00
  for a brother, regardless of what we look like.
• 50:03
  And so that's why I hate that narrative.
• 50:05
  Like, I don't care what you look like, what color you are, man.
• 50:07
  Like, like if I click with you, I click with you.
• 50:09
  You're like, hey, man, can you be on Princess?
• 50:11
  I was like, I got you, bro. I, I don't, I don't care.
• 50:14
  Like if, if we Bros, we Bros, you know, you're my brother in
• 50:17
  Christ, you know what I mean? And like how you said we, we're
• 50:19
  brothers, so we got to move, move accordingly.
• 50:23
  And, and if we look, and when, you know, when you look at
• 50:25
  something like that, you have more respect for that
• 50:28
  individual. You, you think of it different
• 50:34
  and you're able to, to kind of like project it out to the
• 50:38
  world. You know what I mean?
• 50:40
  It's, it's like this is if you go out somewhere in street
• 50:43
  clothes, they're going to treat you a certain way.
• 50:45
  But if you go out somewhere in a suit, wow, hey, what's up, Sir?
• 50:47
  You know, they're going to treat you in a certain way.
• 50:49
  So if you present yourself as a certain way, they're going to
• 50:53
  treat you that way. We're always told in the Marine
• 50:56
  Corps, that's why our uniform is a big thing in the Marine Corps.
• 50:58
  That's why you always see us sharpen our uniform.
• 51:00
  It's like, you know, you dress how you want to be treated, you
• 51:04
  know, So I, I feel like we need to stress how we want to be
• 51:10
  treated, whether it's wearing the armor of God, you know,
• 51:13
  Ephesians 611, you know what I mean?
• 51:16
  Or, or otherwise, you know, in the military wise, you know,
• 51:18
  conduct ourselves in the military way, whatever.
• 51:21
  I mean, we can go on and on and on.
• 51:22
  But like, if it wasn't for individuals like that who didn't
• 51:26
  show me that it doesn't matter what you look like or where you
• 51:29
  come from, I wouldn't have had that world worldly experience
• 51:33
  that I could bring back here today to say, Hey, you know, our
• 51:38
  skin color doesn't matter. We're still brothers in Christ,
• 51:40
  stuff like that. So like, that was one of the
• 51:42
  mess, the the memory. It sucks as a catch 22 because
• 51:46
  it's a horrible thing that happened to him of him getting
• 51:48
  killed on patrol. But also it's a great memory for
• 51:52
  me because it keeps me like rounded and like, yo, don't
• 51:55
  forget because I prayed night after night after night.
• 51:59
  Lord, if you bring me back, I swear, I promise I'm going to go
• 52:03
  crazy and telling the story of these individuals and I won't
• 52:07
  stop. And so that's why I can remember
• 52:09
  his name even in this middle initial because he's like, he
• 52:12
  was that important. And I cannot believe it because
• 52:15
  I'm like, bro, like, yeah, all of U.S.
• 52:18
  Marines, we're we're, we're warriors.
• 52:20
  We can shoot, we could run, we could jump, we're in shape and
• 52:23
  all that type of stuff. But I, I never thought I was
• 52:25
  like as tough as those guys. So it really messed with me,
• 52:29
  man. Like, you know, it really messed
• 52:31
  with me. I'm like, yo, why did you take
• 52:32
  him? Like, you know what I mean?
• 52:33
  That was the, that was the guy. But like I said, I guess that's
• 52:39
  my purpose. Man, there's so much like, I
• 52:43
  think a meekness as I'm listening to you.
• 52:45
  All right. You know, the word says the meek
• 52:49
  will inherit the earth and and meek means reserved power.
• 52:53
  It doesn't mean underpowered. It means power that only God can
• 52:58
  give in position, but in a reserve, which means God
• 53:02
  appoints where the power shows his face, how it moves, how it
• 53:07
  operates. And that's what I'm getting from
• 53:09
  from This is why I wanted you on.
• 53:11
  I knew something was going to click with me and you and I'm
• 53:14
  like, he's got something for me and something for my audience
• 53:18
  and and I'm finding out what it is.
• 53:20
  You're there's another one just like me out there, right?
• 53:24
  I've connected with another one and the listeners are going to
• 53:27
  get it. It's a heartthrob, man, because
• 53:31
  not only are you showing humility, you're showing this
• 53:34
  reserve power, but you're also the vulnerability that you're
• 53:37
  talking about wrestling through this.
• 53:39
  Like in your mind where I'm like, yo, that was the guy.
• 53:42
  Like, how come I made it? And and I'm over there talking
• 53:44
  with the Lord. Like if you let me come back,
• 53:46
  I'll tell the stories. Like, bro, I've wrote songs that
• 53:53
  that you probably have lived the emotion greater than I have,
• 53:59
  like secret prayers through the kinsman Redeemer all through the
• 54:02
  night. I mean, it sounds like you had
• 54:06
  many nights where you're praying to the Lord, you know, kinsman
• 54:08
  Redeemer coming from that Ruth and Boaz, right?
• 54:12
  Boaz is the, you know, it's, it's kind of an inside thing and
• 54:15
  Christianity. I know that you got it, but man,
• 54:18
  it's, it's humbling and it's powerful because God, clearly
• 54:22
  you got a platform. God's giving you a voice and
• 54:25
  above and beyond that, he's given you a verbalization in a
• 54:30
  world where they want to paint you and slant you a certain way.
• 54:33
  They want to compartmentalize you and, and act like you have
• 54:36
  to talk this way or walk this way or, or because of where
• 54:39
  you're from or because of what you look like or because of what
• 54:41
  you've been through. And you're going against that
• 54:43
  norm setting a standard for for thousands, millions of people.
• 54:50
  How much I mean, how much more can I say I support you and love
• 54:53
  what you're doing? You know, at this point, you
• 54:56
  know, let's talk a little bit about and I want to listen, I
• 54:59
  want to have you back again. I feel like this is just
• 55:02
  foundation. I feel like we're just getting
• 55:04
  getting into like any started. Who is the Marine rapper, right?
• 55:08
  Who are you really? What like share that part of
• 55:11
  yourself And and I think that you have stories and just other
• 55:15
  other things that the body's going to need to hear about.
• 55:19
  But I want you to, you know, share some incur incur when
• 55:23
  you're spending time with the Lord, when you're getting into
• 55:25
  the word. What kind of things has he
• 55:28
  comforted you and showed you with like hindsight?
• 55:32
  You've come out of all this trauma, all this warfare, all
• 55:35
  this where where's God talking to you now?
• 55:40
  Like we're here in 2026. What?
• 55:42
  Talk to us. You're like really getting into
• 55:45
  it, man. There's been lots of times where
• 55:51
  God was creative with me in terms of I couldn't get into the
• 55:56
  Word because I felt like it was daunting or tedious to read so
• 56:00
  many scriptures. But then He brought me in in a
• 56:08
  very creative way. He was like, we'll dig into the
• 56:10
  warriors. Since you relate to the
• 56:12
  Warriors, dig into the warriors, you know, and their stories.
• 56:17
  And so I started in Ephesians, you know, you know, 611 and
• 56:21
  armor God and then you know, kind of like went out and and
• 56:23
  learn more about like David and then like, oh, wow, he's a
• 56:26
  musician too. And like just the whole.
• 56:28
  But you know, it kind of like flourished into a bigger
• 56:31
  interest in the word. And then I was able to dig
• 56:34
  deeper in there, but I needed like a reference point of how to
• 56:38
  relate with the stories in the Bible and in the Scriptures
• 56:42
  because it just, for me, it was just hard.
• 56:44
  It was, it was just like such a hard juxtaposition to see where
• 56:47
  somebody who's a Marine who's been told to be masculine and
• 56:50
  meat eater, not to have no feelings and just be tough all
• 56:53
  the time to like how you said, be meek and be, you know, be
• 56:58
  receptive to the word and be patient and, and all of that and
• 57:02
  be loving like how you said. And I, this is something that
• 57:05
  I've learned over time. This is this is a, this version
• 57:08
  that you're getting of me is something that I had to really
• 57:10
  work on because there's been times where man, dude, like I
• 57:15
  was so stressed out, like I was contemplating suicide.
• 57:18
  And then I was looking in the scriptures to see what it said
• 57:23
  about that. Like, like, like, like, that's
• 57:27
  how bad it was. But I always was just like, yo,
• 57:30
  man, you can't, you can't give up, man.
• 57:33
  You like, you can't let the enemy win, man.
• 57:35
  You just got to keep going because then the enemy's still
• 57:37
  going to win. Like I may have not been killed
• 57:40
  over in Iraq or Afghanistan, but it's kind of like what we call
• 57:44
  it in the military is like a 3000 mile shot.
• 57:47
  Like he still won because of the trauma from overseas.
• 57:51
  You can't let him still win because you do have a purpose.
• 57:55
  And we were doing God's work over there.
• 57:58
  There's plenty of times where there was little girls who
• 58:00
  couldn't read and we would do patrols and we cordon off areas
• 58:04
  just so we can deliver school supplies to these like little
• 58:07
  girls. Because, you know, a lot of them
• 58:10
  are looked at as like second hand, third hand type of
• 58:13
  individuals overseas. They don't, they don't look at
• 58:15
  women favorably in a lot of different cultures overseas.
• 58:18
  So we are doing stuff like doing stuff to protect them and we're
• 58:21
  doing a lot of God's work over there.
• 58:23
  But yeah, it's a kind of like answer your question.
• 58:27
  It was just like he, he started working on me with kind of like
• 58:30
  finding like a rally point in a in, in a reference point within
• 58:33
  the word. And then it flourished out of
• 58:35
  there and I was able to kind of find my way in that type of way.
• 58:42
  And then I was like, wow, now I now I find it interesting, you
• 58:45
  know what I mean? No, looking into like Joshua and
• 58:50
  looking into the, you know, the 3300 soldiers and stuff and like
• 58:53
  how they lapped up the water, you know, and then that's how he
• 58:57
  knew who to pick, you know what I mean?
• 58:59
  And they didn't even use weapons.
• 59:00
  They just use lamps when they're surrounding the, the city and
• 59:04
  stuff like that. Like just learning all those
• 59:05
  like cool, like little stories of the Bible.
• 59:07
  I know you know what I'm talking about, just like.
• 59:09
  They were very creative. Gideon, bro, yeah.
• 59:11
  When there's Gideon, Gideon, Gideon.
• 59:13
  When you know the in, that's the story that.
• 59:15
  We have like 3 or 4000 and God strips them down, right?
• 59:19
  He brings them down to like 3 or 4. 100 guys, yeah, he said, who
• 59:22
  wants to leave? Who wants to quit right now?
• 59:24
  And then those, those people left, He said, all right, of the
• 59:28
  people who I have left, who, who who's thirsty go down to the
• 59:34
  water, they went down to the water.
• 59:35
  And he focused on the people who are like this, who is who, who
• 59:41
  had kept their head on a swivel. And he's like, if you didn't do
• 59:44
  that, get out of here. All right, I'm only taking this.
• 59:46
  They're like 303 hundred. And he's like, all right, I'm,
• 59:49
  I'm going to deliver this, this city to you.
• 59:51
  Just listen to what I got to say.
• 59:53
  With lamps. Yeah, with lamps.
• 59:55
  They're going to think it's God. And then, then they, they, you
• 59:57
  know, they got, you know, they, they, they took obviously, you
• 1:00:00
  know, the story, but get with getting in.
• 1:00:01
  But like looking at the stories like that.
• 1:00:05
  Help me strengthen my faith because I was like, that's
• 1:00:08
  somebody like me and I was able to see myself in them.
• 1:00:11
  And you know, especially when you look at David, you're like,
• 1:00:14
  wow, he struggled with a lot of different things, you know, and
• 1:00:17
  he was a musician and a warrior and smaller, you know what I
• 1:00:21
  mean? So it was just I was able to dig
• 1:00:23
  into that. So basically what I'm saying is
• 1:00:26
  if there's somebody struggling with their faith or struggling
• 1:00:29
  to get in the word, all you, one thing that helped me is find a
• 1:00:32
  reference point of somebody like you.
• 1:00:34
  That's in the the scriptures. There's lots of people that you
• 1:00:37
  can relate to in there. Find somebody that's like you
• 1:00:41
  and then you could dig into it like, and sometimes God has a
• 1:00:45
  different calling for you, like Miriam, Miriam want to do
• 1:00:47
  something different. So it's just kind of like, you
• 1:00:52
  know, God, God is going to use you how he wants to use you and
• 1:00:55
  just be glad in that and and it's going to it's all going to
• 1:00:59
  work out. But I mean, I know I kind of
• 1:01:01
  went around where places and stuff, but it was.
• 1:01:03
  But the main thing is just kind of like just find a reference
• 1:01:05
  point in the word and you're going to be OK.
• 1:01:08
  No, I there's a reason I asked you that versus like, because I
• 1:01:13
  know because the way that you answer it and your stance and
• 1:01:17
  your blunt and it and you're you just this is who I am.
• 1:01:23
  This is what you get is the vibe I get from you.
• 1:01:26
  So I'm asking you, how are you getting into the word?
• 1:01:29
  What is God doing with you, your transparency to be like
• 1:01:34
  vulnerability? I was suicidal.
• 1:01:35
  So I looked into that. I was looking into other crazy,
• 1:01:38
  you know, climactic war stories because I could relate to it.
• 1:01:41
  That is so much better of an answer then then you know, Oh, I
• 1:01:47
  was just doing a word study on, you know what?
• 1:01:50
  Listen, the reason our culture and young men are obsessed with
• 1:01:54
  karate movies, with war movies, with, you know, video games is
• 1:01:58
  because there's an innate part of us that that God designed
• 1:02:02
  within us to subdue the earth. Right?
• 1:02:05
  I, I wrote a poem called the wild 1 and it talks about, you
• 1:02:09
  know, how wild God is and how not safe he is, but how good he
• 1:02:13
  is. And so the way you answered that
• 1:02:15
  is what I was looking for because you're you're the Marine
• 1:02:20
  rapper. You're the guy who went out and
• 1:02:22
  did stuff that most people play video games and watch movies
• 1:02:25
  about. And now you're standing up
• 1:02:27
  saying I'm unashamed of my faith, right?
• 1:02:30
  This is what I relate to. Here's my transparency.
• 1:02:32
  And that's the reason I asked you because I wanted to get,
• 1:02:35
  because I've had theologians on, I've had, you know, head Jessup
• 1:02:38
  University guys, I've had armchair researchers.
• 1:02:40
  I've had everybody from the guy next door to, you know,
• 1:02:43
  whatever, right. And I love getting the the
• 1:02:46
  perspectives that rattle the cage a little bit because, you
• 1:02:50
  know, it's not always cute and it's not systematic all the
• 1:02:52
  time. Sometimes it really is.
• 1:02:55
  Hey, I was dealing with suicide. I was feeling, you know, like
• 1:02:58
  I'm this crazy guy who ripped his shirt and did all this stuff
• 1:03:01
  overseas. Now I'm trying to find my place.
• 1:03:03
  Oh, let me go read about Gideon. This guy's, you're right, you
• 1:03:06
  know, whatever like, or David, you know who, who's up and he's
• 1:03:09
  down. He's up and he's running for his
• 1:03:10
  life and he's conquering a Kingdom and then he's working
• 1:03:12
  with the enemy and then he's knockering the enemy.
• 1:03:15
  And it's like this is the heart of mankind.
• 1:03:19
  If we try to act like we have it all figured out or that we have
• 1:03:22
  no sin, we're deceiving ourselves.
• 1:03:24
  I love your answer. I absolutely love it.
• 1:03:27
  It's just real to me, man. I can't.
• 1:03:28
  I don't know any other way to be, man.
• 1:03:30
  I just, it's just real to me. And like when I was when I
• 1:03:33
  realized that I just need to be more real with myself and say,
• 1:03:36
  Hey, I don't have all the answers, you know, you know,
• 1:03:40
  there, there may be a theologian that may be able to quote
• 1:03:43
  Scripture better than me, but it's also important to have the
• 1:03:47
  experience as well and have that relationship with God and, and,
• 1:03:52
  and know yourself. Like we in the military, we have
• 1:03:55
  a saying called know yourself and seek self improvement
• 1:03:58
  because we all are sinners, you know, And so it's just important
• 1:04:02
  to, to dig in there and, and do that.
• 1:04:04
  And I feel like that that's the best part that, you know, how
• 1:04:07
  they say the journey is the best part.
• 1:04:08
  The best part is the journey, you know, and, and, and go in
• 1:04:12
  and, and experiencing and, and kind of like helping other
• 1:04:16
  people or getting help from other people or, you know,
• 1:04:19
  learning. That's just the best part.
• 1:04:20
  Like, who cares? Like if you, if you've read the
• 1:04:23
  Bible front and back a million times, you know, because like
• 1:04:27
  how they say, you know, the devil knows the Bible, you know
• 1:04:29
  what I mean? The devil knows the word, the
• 1:04:31
  scripture, but. The devil is a theologian too.
• 1:04:33
  Exactly can have have you like how you said action, have you
• 1:04:37
  had action? Have you applied it?
• 1:04:39
  You know, are you are you living it?
• 1:04:41
  And that is the part that a lot of people are missing, and that
• 1:04:45
  is the part that a lot of people need to work on, you know?
• 1:04:50
  And so creating a space like this, I believe it's the
• 1:04:53
  opportunity for all the time. You know, we overcome by the
• 1:04:57
  word of our testimony and the blood of the Lamb.
• 1:05:00
  It says in Revelation, right? That means we have a story to
• 1:05:04
  tell. We're working out our testimony.
• 1:05:05
  We're we're learning this with fear and trembling.
• 1:05:08
  You know what we're parsing through it.
• 1:05:11
  There has to be a landing space where the, the, the theologian
• 1:05:16
  can plant a seed for, for the, the young radical David as well
• 1:05:21
  as the theologian can hear about the young radical David and go,
• 1:05:24
  it still exists. It isn't dead right though.
• 1:05:28
  The world's have to, you know, kind of, you know, and I say it
• 1:05:32
  kind of being a little facetious there, but people are in sub
• 1:05:34
  pockets of experience. And so there's no better way to
• 1:05:38
  break down those walls than to get testimonial, to get raw and
• 1:05:41
  gritty stories. Man, I really just want to honor
• 1:05:44
  you for your time before we kind of start to land this thing.
• 1:05:49
  I want you to plug in where you can be found, right?
• 1:05:52
  And in the details of the show notes, I'll also have some links
• 1:05:55
  for you guys to find exactly what the Marine rapper is
• 1:05:58
  working on. Would you rather me call call
• 1:06:00
  you Raymond at this point? Or or or TMR.
• 1:06:03
  You can call me Ray bro. I might I might flip back and
• 1:06:06
  forth between the two. It's cool, you know, I mean
• 1:06:08
  people, people call me TMR, people say Marine rapper, some
• 1:06:10
  people say Raymond, you know Ray, like I actually don't like,
• 1:06:15
  I don't care. I actually the only like I like
• 1:06:17
  when people ask me, I'm like after people ask me, hey, what
• 1:06:20
  do you want to be called? Then I'm like, OK, cool, you can
• 1:06:21
  call me whatever. And this is how you guys know
• 1:06:24
  I'm not the most professional podcaster because I asked on air
• 1:06:26
  instead of doing that preliminary man, I, I love it.
• 1:06:30
  I love it, dude. So, so tell us where you can be
• 1:06:32
  found and then and then close this out with just a word of
• 1:06:35
  encouragement. Amen.
• 1:06:37
  So you can find me everywhere at the Marine Rapper.
• 1:06:39
  We were told in the military to keep it simple, stupid.
• 1:06:43
  So you can find me everywhere at the Marine Rapper.
• 1:06:45
  You can find the feedback Friday and everything surrounding that
• 1:06:49
  at Save America Music and Save americamusic.com.
• 1:06:53
  So if you have any type of music that you want to submit, that
• 1:06:56
  you want feedback on or you just want people to listen to, you
• 1:06:59
  can go to saveamericanmusic.com and submit your music there.
• 1:07:03
  We'd love to listen to different music from all walks of life
• 1:07:07
  because, you know, we all can learn something from somebody,
• 1:07:10
  you know what I mean? So like, you know, a rich man
• 1:07:13
  can learn some something from a homeless man on the street.
• 1:07:15
  It's just how it is. So, and that's that I, I just, I
• 1:07:20
  just, I'm just so grateful to the Lord for giving me the
• 1:07:23
  opportunity to travel the world and to see that because if it
• 1:07:26
  wasn't for my military experience, I wouldn't have been
• 1:07:29
  able to see that and come back here and bring that to the
• 1:07:32
  people. And so my words of encouragement
• 1:07:35
  is get outside your bubble, get outside your echo chamber, do
• 1:07:40
  something different with somebody who looks different
• 1:07:42
  than you or is from a different walk of life.
• 1:07:45
  You know, it don't even have to be that far.
• 1:07:46
  I mean, you could go to your local coffee shop, store, help
• 1:07:51
  help somebody in the old lady or something, or you know,
• 1:07:54
  volunteer Boys and Girls Club or whatever it is, but just do
• 1:07:58
  something different so you can get a different experience.
• 1:08:01
  And even if you don't like it, at least you'll come out of that
• 1:08:03
  experience knowing, OK, I don't like that experience, but at
• 1:08:05
  least I got to see how different different people operate.
• 1:08:08
  And it's not just me in my echo chamber and my little bubble and
• 1:08:12
  stuff like that. So like, yeah, just get outside
• 1:08:15
  your bubble and experience life and learn and it's OK to fail
• 1:08:19
  and to fall and the trip because you'll you'll be stronger from
• 1:08:23
  that. And there's no, no, nothing
• 1:08:25
  wrong with having emotions and then coming out of that.
• 1:08:29
  Like that's what I learned. I'm just like, hey, just because
• 1:08:33
  I'm a warrior, does it mean that I don't, I don't have emotions
• 1:08:35
  as well. And it's OK to explore those
• 1:08:37
  emotions. It's it's just important to be
• 1:08:39
  aware of those situations and know how to control them in
• 1:08:41
  situations and know when to use the sword, you know, or the soft
• 1:08:48
  velvet glove, you know what I mean?
• 1:08:50
  So like, it's just, it's just, it's being aware of those
• 1:08:52
  things. But that's what I would say.
• 1:08:54
  Just get outside your bubble, experience, learn, learn about
• 1:08:57
  new people, and you're going to be all right.
• 1:09:00
  It's an honor to have this Part 1 with you TMR the Marine
• 1:09:06
  rapper. You guys heard it.
• 1:09:07
  Awesome testimony, awesome Part 1 Matthew 1344.
• 1:09:13
  Again. The Kingdom of heaven is like
• 1:09:16
  treasure hidden in a field which a man found and hid and for joy
• 1:09:21
  over it he goes, and he sells all that he has to buy that
• 1:09:25
  field. Share this episode, you guys
• 1:09:31
  share it far and wide for all of my military people out there,
• 1:09:36
  you know the deal, you know, pray and courage and and let
• 1:09:39
  this 1E out and ripple out to bring some encouragement coming
• 1:09:43
  to you from Southeastern Pennsylvania.
• 1:09:46
  God bless and goodbye.