Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Dontay Banks & Kevin Freeman Talk Lil Durk's Indictment, Swizz Mentorship, Wallo + More

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INTERVIEW: Dontay Banks & Kevin Freeman Talk Lil Durk's Indictment, Swizz Mentorship, Wallo + More · The Breakfast Club

0:00
Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning.
0:02
Speaker 2: Breakfast Club Morning.
0:04
Speaker 3: Everybody is DJ Envy, just Hilarius, Charlamagne the guy. We
0:08
Speaker 3: are the Breakfast Club. Lola Rosa is here and we
0:11
Speaker 3: got some special guests joining us this morning. We have
0:13
Speaker 3: Dante Banks and we have Kevin Freeman. Welcome, fellas. How
0:17
Speaker 3: you guys doing this morning?
0:20
Speaker 4: Tell the people who, well, who y'all are, first of all,
0:22
Speaker 4: so they get some context.
0:23
Speaker 5: I'm Banks, little Dirk's father, and I'm Kevin Freeman. I'm
0:29
Speaker 5: the executive director for Little Dirk's non profit Neighborhood Heroes.
0:33
Speaker 2: Okay, well, how was Dirk doing?
0:34
Speaker 1: First? And foremo are you doing great and wonderful? I
0:37
Speaker 1: just seen him this Sunday, this past Sunday, the spirits off.
0:40
Speaker 1: You're looking forward, you know, this day in court freedom
0:44
Speaker 1: as you know, that's just going to turn out to be,
0:47
Speaker 1: you know, releasing him. But he's doing great. Wrong there.
0:52
Speaker 3: Now you have a story as well. For people that
0:54
Speaker 3: don't know your story, you want to put them onto
0:55
Speaker 3: a little of your story. And who quote unquote Big
0:58
Speaker 3: Dirk is.
0:59
Speaker 1: Or Big Dirk is known in Chicago, in the streets
1:02
Speaker 1: of Chicago, not for good, you know, but back in
1:07
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety three, I got caught in the fares, myself
1:10
Speaker 1: caught up in the fairs, and I received a life sentence,
1:14
Speaker 1: and it took me almost twenty four years of twenty
1:17
Speaker 1: six years to get up out of there. So I
1:19
Speaker 1: spent most of my life, more life in jail than
1:23
Speaker 1: I did on the street.
1:24
Speaker 3: And you got out at a twenty nineteen and at
1:26
Speaker 3: the time your son.
1:27
Speaker 2: Was this huge musician.
1:29
Speaker 1: Yes, So how did.
1:31
Speaker 3: Coming back into society work with you and your because
1:34
Speaker 3: I mean you evolved. You've been in there for twenty
1:36
Speaker 3: four years, twenty six years, and you came home.
1:39
Speaker 1: So talk about that a little bit. I'm studying right
1:43
Speaker 1: now today, you study learning. Even with the cars and
1:46
Speaker 1: the technology of the cars, the telephone, you know, I
1:49
Speaker 1: hit seeing pick up. You're still I figure all the
1:53
Speaker 1: rest of whatever. It's just a bit much. I mean,
1:55
Speaker 1: even with the cars, you know, I put it in
1:57
Speaker 1: drive and go, you know, make sure that the heat
1:59
Speaker 1: is working. But everything else is takes some time, you know.
2:02
Speaker 1: And this is for everybody who's coming out of prison
2:05
Speaker 1: for that long time. You know, all this's gonna be
2:07
Speaker 1: new to us. It's gonna take us time to know
2:09
Speaker 1: adjust to this new society. One of the things I
2:13
Speaker 1: tell everybody, I spent almost almost about two weeks in
2:18
Speaker 1: walmarts doing what just each hour you're going from in prison,
2:24
Speaker 1: you're going from two suits. Now you're going there it's
2:29
Speaker 1: twenty suits. So you're sitting there trying to figure out
2:32
Speaker 1: all man so many choices. You go in from one
2:35
Speaker 1: cereal to a whole sheef of cereal, and you're trying
2:38
Speaker 1: to figure out, Oh, I never know these cereals existed,
2:41
Speaker 1: So you're going from hour to hour. It's all adventure.
2:43
Speaker 1: It's all like going to the musement park. So many
2:47
Speaker 1: choices where you didn't have choices before, so it takes
2:50
Speaker 1: time to go through there and really just get some choices.
2:53
Speaker 1: You're just buying stuff to be buying it because you
2:54
Speaker 1: can get it now. These type of things here.
2:57
Speaker 6: So what was it like? You know, when you were
2:59
Speaker 6: locked up and Dirky's here? What was out?
3:02
Speaker 7: And he's climbing and he's rising as a star and
3:04
Speaker 7: you're like you're you're seeing it, but you're not seeing it,
3:06
Speaker 7: but like you're kind of you're calling home, you're feeling it,
3:08
Speaker 7: Like what was that?
3:09
Speaker 1: Like? Oh, that was amazing at first I'm on the
3:12
Speaker 1: phone as any father, would, you know, go to school,
3:16
Speaker 1: get a trade, go to college, you know, get a trade.
3:21
Speaker 1: I don't want to hear about this. Everybody said it's
3:23
Speaker 1: gonna be a rapp but you know, everybody said he's
3:25
Speaker 1: gonna play ball and different things like this. You know,
3:27
Speaker 1: that's every kid's dream. So I didn't really take it seriously.
3:31
Speaker 1: I'm focused on what I know. To be a true career,
3:34
Speaker 1: you get something up under your belt, and every time
3:37
Speaker 1: I want to rap, I want to rap. And then
3:39
Speaker 1: I asked his brother, his older brother, which was d
3:42
Speaker 1: Thing at the time, Dante Banks Junior. I said, is
3:45
Speaker 1: he good? You know, is he good? Is he gonna
3:48
Speaker 1: go anywhere with this? He said, yeah, he's good. And
3:51
Speaker 1: then it was on one old What was that one
3:55
Speaker 1: O six in part? I'm in prison and I look
3:58
Speaker 1: up there I'm being one O six in part and
4:01
Speaker 1: I said, okay, everybody in prison, he gonna be on
4:03
Speaker 1: one of those signal parts. So every TV is on
4:04
Speaker 1: one O six in part. We waiting on them. And
4:07
Speaker 1: then that's when we found out, Yeah, he got a
4:09
Speaker 1: little bus, he got busy, got a big.
4:12
Speaker 7: Bus, and I see you like even just in talking
4:14
Speaker 7: about it, You're smiling, and it's just I can't imagine, Like,
4:16
Speaker 7: you know, just as a parent, it's like I want
4:19
Speaker 7: my child to be successful and it's happening, and then
4:21
Speaker 7: you're in a predicament that you're in and seeing it.
4:23
Speaker 6: It feels good to know that, like.
4:24
Speaker 7: He's carrying the family and things are working out and
4:27
Speaker 7: then everything that we are, you know, seeing now happens.
4:30
Speaker 7: How did that feel when you heard when the indictment
4:32
Speaker 7: come down and things of that nature.
4:34
Speaker 1: Uh, you know, from being in there and knowing what
4:37
Speaker 1: he up against. Now you run right there so I
4:41
Speaker 1: can be with him to help him through this, because
4:43
Speaker 1: being in affairs ain't no small tasks. You know, this
4:46
Speaker 1: is a big thing. They don't They don't give no room.
4:50
Speaker 1: They just snatch you up with it almost and put
4:52
Speaker 1: you in a hopeless situation. You know, everybody goes in
4:55
Speaker 1: kind of got to fight their way out to show
4:58
Speaker 1: and prove that this is what it is. You know,
5:01
Speaker 1: it hurts to know that he have to go through
5:04
Speaker 1: what I just went through. I have to deal with
5:06
Speaker 1: this system now. It hurts real bad. You know, first
5:08
Speaker 1: losing the oldest son and to the streets, and now
5:12
Speaker 1: losing him to the government, you know. So that's why
5:15
Speaker 1: I'm their hands on, lawyer's hands on with him, telling
5:18
Speaker 1: him every step of what to do now and how
5:21
Speaker 1: to fight this.
5:22
Speaker 4: Being a person of faith, you know, you know all
5:25
Speaker 4: is the best knower and planning. But when you lose
5:27
Speaker 4: your son, you know, to to murder, and you lose
5:30
Speaker 4: a son to the to the jail system, how.
5:32
Speaker 2: Does that make you feel?
5:33
Speaker 1: Like?
5:33
Speaker 2: Just your faith? How did that test your faith?
5:35
Speaker 1: Oh? It does test your faith, and test your faith
5:38
Speaker 1: in a way that you have to be a parent
5:40
Speaker 1: to understand what I'm saying here. It really tests you,
5:43
Speaker 1: you know. But just like you said that faith, you know,
5:46
Speaker 1: everything belongs to a law. The don't actually belongs to me.
5:49
Speaker 1: He just used me as a vessel, but it belongs
5:51
Speaker 1: to him. So I just about to be patient for
5:53
Speaker 1: what's going on here and trusting him and continue to
5:56
Speaker 1: make do out with your supplication that he brings about
5:59
Speaker 1: the victory that we are looking for in a situation,
6:01
Speaker 1: a relief that we're looking for.
6:03
Speaker 3: When you came out, you know, you made it your
6:05
Speaker 3: business to change right, to make sure you were out
6:08
Speaker 3: there telling the kids the right way to go about things.
6:11
Speaker 3: And to try to be a positive in the community.
6:13
Speaker 3: Do you ever look back and be like, do you
6:15
Speaker 3: wonder if it was ever Calma, what happened to your
6:18
Speaker 3: kids because of some of the things that you did,
6:19
Speaker 3: even though that you changed you a different person? Do
6:21
Speaker 3: you ever think about that or look at life like that?
6:24
Speaker 1: Now you try to not as in Karmo, not as
6:28
Speaker 1: in Karma, but you look at us though, like I'm
6:31
Speaker 1: on the phone with them, don't visit telling them, don't
6:33
Speaker 1: go this way, don't go this route. I'm frowning up
6:36
Speaker 1: on this. I'm talking against this gang bang and selling drugs,
6:40
Speaker 1: what we're doing to the community. You know, you go
6:42
Speaker 1: to prison, you become a man. You see things that
6:44
Speaker 1: you ain't see before. You know, you're enlightened now, you know,
6:47
Speaker 1: you see your rown. So I'll never want to have
6:49
Speaker 1: my sons to go down that role. But at the
6:52
Speaker 1: same time, he don't go down that road. He just
6:55
Speaker 1: go down the road which rap and different things like
6:57
Speaker 1: this put him in the same category or just a
7:00
Speaker 1: little different. You know, they look he's still saying, Hey,
7:04
Speaker 1: you might not be selling drugs, he might not be
7:07
Speaker 1: doing these things right here, but they look at a
7:09
Speaker 1: rapper the same way.
7:10
Speaker 3: You know. Also, you know I wanted to ask about
7:15
Speaker 3: his case so much because the Dirk that we knew,
7:20
Speaker 3: that I knew personally, he was such into giving back, right.
7:23
Speaker 3: He would call all the time about the things that
7:25
Speaker 3: he wanted to do for Chicago in the area that
7:27
Speaker 3: he grew up and the things that he wanted to change,
7:31
Speaker 3: and how he wanted to give kids an opportunity that
7:33
Speaker 3: they would think more than the street and have things
7:36
Speaker 3: to do.
7:37
Speaker 2: So with his organization.
7:38
Speaker 3: Is his organization still out there being able to help
7:40
Speaker 3: or as a lot of those funds and things been
7:43
Speaker 3: pulled from that?
7:43
Speaker 1: Absolutely?
7:44
Speaker 5: Absolutely, And so this goes back to twenty twenty. You know,
7:50
Speaker 5: just this didn't just happened yesterday, you know, sitting down
7:54
Speaker 5: with Dirk Banks, you know, I remember the day when
7:56
Speaker 5: he was like, cav you know, this is my my vision,
8:00
Speaker 5: this is what I want to do.
8:02
Speaker 1: Because he was already doing.
8:03
Speaker 5: The work, He's like, Okay, but let's let's do it
8:05
Speaker 5: for real, for real, And we say for real, Foreral,
8:06
Speaker 5: let's get a registered five oh one C three and
8:10
Speaker 5: let's really truly you know, look at the impact that
8:13
Speaker 5: we can make. And one thing that we landed on
8:16
Speaker 5: and still to this day, it is like dirt, this
8:18
Speaker 5: is your vision. This is your vision, and it's going
8:21
Speaker 5: to be our jobs. When I say our jobs, my job,
8:24
Speaker 5: the board of directors and those that support we're going
8:27
Speaker 5: to help bring it to life and to be able
8:30
Speaker 5: to look back and see from twenty twenty and all
8:33
Speaker 5: the amazing work that he's done. And as you know,
8:36
Speaker 5: in media, you know a lot of folks don't want
8:38
Speaker 5: to talk about the great things and the positive things
8:41
Speaker 5: that individuals are out here doing it.
8:44
Speaker 1: He didn't do it for that. He did it for
8:46
Speaker 1: the fact that he know that.
8:48
Speaker 5: He said, keV, these are things that I wasn't able
8:50
Speaker 5: to experience when I was a kid. So now that
8:53
Speaker 5: I'm in position to do it, I'm all in, let's go.
8:56
Speaker 5: I'm the voice. So I'm like, all right, So sitting
9:00
Speaker 5: with him, I mean all around the clock. When I
9:04
Speaker 5: say around the clock, I mean, as you know, he's
9:05
Speaker 5: coming from the studio at three fold in the morning
9:07
Speaker 5: and he's.
9:08
Speaker 1: Kind of like, listen, this is what I want to do.
9:10
Speaker 5: And I'm digesting and I'm saying, okay, from all the
9:13
Speaker 5: things that I'm hearing, all the things that I feel
9:17
Speaker 5: your passion. We created four foundation pillars based off the
9:22
Speaker 5: things that Dirk Banks was truly invested in wanted to do,
9:25
Speaker 5: and it started off with neighborhoods, Prosperity, emerging leaders, health
9:31
Speaker 5: and wellness. So with all those four different pillars, there's
9:34
Speaker 5: a bucket of work that lives within area. And so
9:37
Speaker 5: when we talked about real high level, you know, the neighborhoods,
9:41
Speaker 5: you know, think about all the national disasters that's happened.
9:44
Speaker 5: You know, takes me back to Houston several times. With
9:47
Speaker 5: the hurricanes, there's a lot of seniors that had to
9:50
Speaker 5: go through the destructions of their properties. Where Dirk was like, look,
9:54
Speaker 5: let's get some boots on the ground down there. Let's
9:56
Speaker 5: get folks that can help restore their community and store
9:59
Speaker 5: their homes because you know, it costs money to get
10:01
Speaker 5: folks out there to cut down trees or stay on
10:05
Speaker 5: the power company to ensure that these lines are fixed
10:08
Speaker 5: and safe. You know, when we look at prosperity, you know,
10:12
Speaker 5: and I could laugh and we laugh about this to
10:14
Speaker 5: this day. When celebrities or athletes whatever think about doing nonprofits,
10:20
Speaker 5: you know, you always hear back to school, let's do
10:23
Speaker 5: backpacks and Thanksgiving, let's do turkeys. And we would say,
10:27
Speaker 5: you know what, good for those that do that because
10:29
Speaker 5: it's need helps. But for Dirk, he's a thought leader.
10:34
Speaker 5: He's like, you know, prosperity to me for back to
10:37
Speaker 5: school is let's get some financial literacy programs together. So
10:42
Speaker 5: we took a group of kids that are in our
10:43
Speaker 5: cohort to learn about financial management. Money management. Shout out
10:47
Speaker 5: to Bank of America in the City of Chicago Treasurer's
10:50
Speaker 5: office for spending those hours in weeks with these young
10:53
Speaker 5: boys and girls to be able to educate them on things.
10:56
Speaker 5: Like Dirk said, he didn't have, you know, the information
10:59
Speaker 5: that now that these kids were able to walk away with.
11:02
Speaker 5: And you talk about those turkey drives, Derk would always say,
11:05
Speaker 5: you know what care what do people do with these
11:06
Speaker 5: turkeys that don't got homes of cook them in? You
11:09
Speaker 5: know what are they doing with them? So we're like, okay,
11:11
Speaker 5: let's get some hot meals that's ready to be served.
11:15
Speaker 5: So shout out to the Boston market of the world
11:17
Speaker 5: where tens of thousands of families got hot meals that
11:21
Speaker 5: didn't have to wonder and you know how am I
11:23
Speaker 5: going to cook this turkey? Now that I got it
11:25
Speaker 5: where I'm I gonna cook it at. So you know
11:28
Speaker 5: those last two pillars health and wellness, you know, cancer survivor.
11:31
Speaker 5: Shout out to his wife, India, my sister where they
11:35
Speaker 5: got together, said we're gonna do a Mother's Day honors
11:38
Speaker 5: where we're gonna recognize these black women that are going
11:41
Speaker 5: through cancer. And as you know, unfortunately sometimes that they
11:44
Speaker 5: go through the route of chemotherapy, they got to shave
11:48
Speaker 5: their head off. Now you know, we're going into a
11:52
Speaker 5: beauty supply store to put a unit on your head.
11:54
Speaker 5: Ain't probably what you want to do right right, but
12:11
Speaker 5: you know what that would do to one self esteem
12:14
Speaker 5: going through that. So what we were able to do
12:15
Speaker 5: is shout out to India and in Kelvin as well,
12:19
Speaker 5: who's on the management side with Dirk's Foundation, is that
12:24
Speaker 5: they were able to get celebrity stylists to create custom
12:27
Speaker 5: units and get hair in advance of Mother's Day. So
12:31
Speaker 5: now in their day that we recognize them, they can
12:32
Speaker 5: feel good and we know when you feel good, Deonza,
12:36
Speaker 5: you look good, you feel good, And that's what we
12:38
Speaker 5: were able to do. But last, but not least, and
12:40
Speaker 5: it ties into one of the things that really I
12:42
Speaker 5: know that lives with Dirk the most is that emerging leaders.
12:46
Speaker 5: And we talked about those students that Dirk has taken
12:50
Speaker 5: the time and exposed to his college and career readiness Corehort. So,
12:55
Speaker 5: going all the way back to twenty twenty two, we said,
12:57
Speaker 5: you know what, all these young black boys and girls
12:59
Speaker 5: that got passion, what are you passionate about? Because we're
13:03
Speaker 5: not going to just say go to college just to
13:04
Speaker 5: go to college. We want to make sure that there's
13:06
Speaker 5: programs and opportunities that align to what you're interested in.
13:10
Speaker 5: And now that we know, now when we go take
13:12
Speaker 5: these college trips to more House back in twenty twenty two,
13:15
Speaker 5: we flew them from Chicago to Atlanta and they got
13:18
Speaker 5: to learn about the programs, they got a chance to
13:20
Speaker 5: learn about career day where the Atlanta Hawks, their executive office,
13:24
Speaker 5: had a round table with these young men and educated
13:28
Speaker 5: them about careers in the NBA and it's not just
13:30
Speaker 5: about being the basketball player, it's about being marketing, it's
13:34
Speaker 5: about being hr or even real estate what we didn't
13:38
Speaker 5: know about, you know. So with that, you know, being said,
13:42
Speaker 5: you know, and shout out to NASCAR as well, because
13:44
Speaker 5: after we left the Atlanta, we went over to Talladega
13:47
Speaker 5: College and NASCAR hosted them for the career Day. But
13:50
Speaker 5: the list goes on. Year after year. Went to DC,
13:53
Speaker 5: Dirk gave over three hundred fifty thousand dollars in scholarship funds.
13:57
Speaker 5: Three hundred and fifty thousand scholarship funds. So students who
14:01
Speaker 5: are looking to go to Howard and students who are
14:03
Speaker 5: already at Howard that caught a jam to say, you
14:05
Speaker 5: know what, I don't know how I'm going to be
14:07
Speaker 5: able to finish this semester. You know, the Great Scrant
14:10
Speaker 5: was able to provide those students with an opportunity. Last year,
14:14
Speaker 5: we came to New York, came to Queens with Saint
14:16
Speaker 5: John's University. Students had an opportunity to learn about those
14:20
Speaker 5: programs and then their career day was spent at Sony,
14:23
Speaker 5: spent at Alamo Records. So everyone can't be the next
14:26
Speaker 5: little dirt, but everyone can't be that guy behind the production.
14:31
Speaker 5: And this is exposing these young black boys and girls
14:34
Speaker 5: that Dirk has been doing for a long time. And
14:37
Speaker 5: the lights haven't gone off.
14:38
Speaker 2: Now you can see it, I mean you could see it,
14:40
Speaker 2: you know, and his faith walk.
14:42
Speaker 4: You know, you can see it, you know, and even
14:43
Speaker 4: when his name his last album or the album before
14:45
Speaker 4: last almost healed, like you could see that he was
14:47
Speaker 4: absolutely positively trying to make you know the right moves
14:51
Speaker 4: and take the right steps to just be a better person.
14:53
Speaker 7: I was gonna ask y'all the last thing that he
14:56
Speaker 7: did before he was taking into custody, it was the
14:58
Speaker 7: big prayer event that he had and you've received the
15:00
Speaker 7: keys to the city.
15:01
Speaker 6: But the mayor, I believe it was the mayor.
15:04
Speaker 7: Got a lot of backlash after he was arrested in
15:06
Speaker 7: and I think, you know, there were certain people and
15:07
Speaker 7: things that like step back. So how hard has it
15:09
Speaker 7: been because the organization is tied to Derek, Like, are
15:13
Speaker 7: y'all facing opposition or people still like, no, we know
15:16
Speaker 7: he's a good person.
15:17
Speaker 5: You're going to face the opposition just being a young
15:20
Speaker 5: black artist, a young black man and young black woman.
15:25
Speaker 5: There's always going to be trials and tribulations. And if
15:28
Speaker 5: we allow one situation like that to stop us what
15:31
Speaker 5: we're doing, and we're losing the focus of what his
15:34
Speaker 5: true mission was.
15:35
Speaker 2: Yes, I want to ask.
15:36
Speaker 4: You something to uh Dante Man, because looking at your
15:39
Speaker 4: bio and I love this. You said when you got
15:41
Speaker 4: released from prison, your bio said, you had to first
15:44
Speaker 4: forgive yourself for adding to the demise of your community.
15:48
Speaker 2: What did that realization?
15:50
Speaker 4: When did you get that realization that you had actually
15:53
Speaker 4: caused a lot of problems in your community? And how
15:54
Speaker 4: did you know that you know you had to forgive
15:56
Speaker 4: yourself for adding to it?
15:58
Speaker 1: It was actually when I became because you got to
16:01
Speaker 1: reflect on your path, you got to change a lot
16:04
Speaker 1: about yourself. So when you're change a lot about yourself,
16:07
Speaker 1: you start looking within life. Oh, I had these principles,
16:11
Speaker 1: I had these mores, I had these values. This is
16:12
Speaker 1: the way I used to think. And you challenge with
16:15
Speaker 1: these things now because now you see it's not going
16:18
Speaker 1: to change who I am, my character and my outlook
16:21
Speaker 1: on life. So these are the things I did. Plus,
16:24
Speaker 1: one of the biggest things of seeing these young guys
16:26
Speaker 1: come in to prison coming in, I mean day by day,
16:30
Speaker 1: every week, they bringing a bus load in, and my
16:33
Speaker 1: heart just keep going out to them because they don't
16:35
Speaker 1: know what's going on. They have no idea what they're
16:38
Speaker 1: up against right here. So you got to start programs,
16:40
Speaker 1: try to educate them on the legal aspect, start getting
16:43
Speaker 1: in this court and fighting for your life back. Because
16:45
Speaker 1: you just sit there affairs, you sit there, that's it.
16:49
Speaker 1: You got to get up and fight, you know. And
16:50
Speaker 1: if you don't, and like say, you'll be there for
16:53
Speaker 1: the rest of your life. Man.
16:54
Speaker 4: What is needed to break the generational cycle of just
16:58
Speaker 4: violence in Chicago?
17:00
Speaker 1: We're working on that daily. I mean, Boose is on
17:03
Speaker 1: the ground daily. I work with an organization called Chicago Cred.
17:07
Speaker 1: Well we go around in. One of the main things
17:10
Speaker 1: we're doing right now with the Chicago Cred gun violence,
17:13
Speaker 1: gun reduce, reducing gun violence in the transforming a way.
17:17
Speaker 1: But at the same time, we starting now the program
17:20
Speaker 1: a non aggression teaching them non aggression. You know, it's
17:24
Speaker 1: hard to tell them young guys to put the gun down,
17:26
Speaker 1: but know what we're gonna teach them is no aggression.
17:29
Speaker 1: Don't be aggressive with that gun. You know, only use
17:32
Speaker 1: that gun to defend yourself. Only use that gun to
17:34
Speaker 1: defend people who trying to come in your house. But
17:36
Speaker 1: don't go out looking for nobody. So guys who coming
17:40
Speaker 1: out of prison, guys who know what it's about, we
17:44
Speaker 1: got to stay on the ground. We got to give
17:46
Speaker 1: back We got to be the ones about that change talk,
17:50
Speaker 1: in that change behavior. We can't be OG's and then
17:53
Speaker 1: hanging out with a young guys doing just as versus
17:55
Speaker 1: they doing. You know, we got to get out there
17:58
Speaker 1: and tell them, and we got to sacrifice. I have
18:00
Speaker 1: to do this, you know, because a lot of them
18:02
Speaker 1: gonna be hardheaded, a lot of them gonna push us away,
18:04
Speaker 1: a lot of I'm gonna tell you out dating, you know,
18:06
Speaker 1: gonna sit down somewhere. We got to stay on the
18:08
Speaker 1: front line out there because we got to get them
18:10
Speaker 1: neighborhoods back to the place where they can be or
18:13
Speaker 1: kids can come back out and play grandmamas and mamas
18:16
Speaker 1: can sit on the porch and walk. Stores can be
18:19
Speaker 1: utilized for not just hanging around there, you know, used
18:23
Speaker 1: for you know what they use for and be a
18:25
Speaker 1: pillar of the community.
18:26
Speaker 4: So, you know, we just a lack of resources like education,
18:30
Speaker 4: like lack of opportunity, all of.
18:32
Speaker 1: That, all of them, all of them, all of them,
18:34
Speaker 1: you know. And what we got now with what's going
18:37
Speaker 1: on in politics is gonna be even harder fight for us.
18:39
Speaker 1: You know, trying to shut down the board education, you
18:44
Speaker 1: know education, Yeah, you know, trying to do these trying
18:47
Speaker 1: to attack the healthcare, trying to attack the veterans. You
18:51
Speaker 1: know now that the whole American is waking up, So
18:54
Speaker 1: it puts more of a burden on us to try
18:57
Speaker 1: to help because people that's already down for the stay down.
19:00
Speaker 1: We ain't got no opportunities to for him to come
19:02
Speaker 1: up because the administration ain't giving us the opportunity for
19:05
Speaker 1: them to come up.
19:06
Speaker 3: Can you give us an update on on on what
19:08
Speaker 3: you can on Dirk's case and how it's going on.
19:10
Speaker 3: I know he go not bond, but can you give
19:12
Speaker 3: us an update of what's happening and how his fans
19:14
Speaker 3: can support because it's been really quiet, you know.
19:17
Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, one thing, like I said, well y'all had
19:19
Speaker 1: the question, y'all ask Kevin how people looking at him? Now?
19:23
Speaker 1: It ain't a place I go. It's not a place
19:25
Speaker 1: that I go a phone called I don't get what
19:27
Speaker 1: he gets one support. Ain't nobody like turning a back
19:31
Speaker 1: on him? What saying it nothing negative about other than
19:34
Speaker 1: you know a love if you love blob here and
19:37
Speaker 1: now or podcast who's trying to get some type of
19:40
Speaker 1: recognition about saying something negative about him? But overall ninety.
19:44
Speaker 1: Everybody's there in a priory support. You get many, many letters,
19:49
Speaker 1: you know, keep your head, keep going on, You're going
19:51
Speaker 1: to get up out of this, you know, things of
19:53
Speaker 1: that nature. Health. So the support is one hundred percent.
19:57
Speaker 1: And I love that about him because that tells you
19:59
Speaker 1: what the person he is when no one is trying
20:03
Speaker 1: to you know, look at his downfall to something that
20:06
Speaker 1: we can now say, Hey, look at him. We told
20:09
Speaker 1: you about not this type of thing here. Oh, that's
20:11
Speaker 1: a beautiful thing now. And one more thing I'd like
20:14
Speaker 1: to speak. I'm sorry, no, you go ahead. And it's
20:17
Speaker 1: every time I do bensidim what he called just like
20:19
Speaker 1: Kevin said, he always got a new idea. I said, man,
20:23
Speaker 1: get in there and look at this case. Let's get
20:24
Speaker 1: focused on this. But he got a new idea. Hey,
20:27
Speaker 1: what do you think about a hospital? What do you
20:29
Speaker 1: think about a school? What do you think? You know,
20:31
Speaker 1: it's always something new what he's trying to do up
20:34
Speaker 1: in there, as far as trying to do out here.
20:36
Speaker 7: The help you mentioned like just how he has so
20:39
Speaker 7: much positive support from fans and people and like people
20:42
Speaker 7: not backing away from what he's doing in the community.
20:44
Speaker 7: But I remember in December when they tried to get
20:46
Speaker 7: the bond that and he was mentioning the prosecutors tried
20:48
Speaker 7: to paint him out to be like this, like super
20:50
Speaker 7: dangerous person and you know all those things. How do
20:53
Speaker 7: you have conversations with him? Because you said he's focused
20:56
Speaker 7: on new ideas, but are there ever times where he's like, yo,
20:58
Speaker 7: this is like like I can't believe this is happening
21:01
Speaker 7: to me right now. And then things like that happen
21:03
Speaker 7: and he might lose faith or might lose sight, like
21:05
Speaker 7: does that happen at all?
21:06
Speaker 1: Well as as a human you you sitting in there
21:09
Speaker 1: looking at four walls. You know, you've been told to
21:12
Speaker 1: stand out for count You've been told these things something
21:14
Speaker 1: that you ain't normally used to. It's gonna have this
21:18
Speaker 1: effect on you. Yeah, but you know you always bounce back.
21:21
Speaker 1: You always look at the greater picture. Cause as a Muslim,
21:24
Speaker 1: we look it said to ourselves, what a liar is
21:27
Speaker 1: doing for us greater than what they doing to us.
21:29
Speaker 1: What a li is doing for us right now, building
21:32
Speaker 1: us to be a better man, is greater than what
21:35
Speaker 1: they trying to do to us and trying to tell
21:37
Speaker 1: us now, So he definitely he definitely a building. He
21:42
Speaker 1: was telling me that. You know, when he came in,
21:44
Speaker 1: there was like four Muslims on the block. He said,
21:48
Speaker 1: Now it's seventeen Muslims on the block. So he in there,
21:52
Speaker 1: he o, people are converting, converting, you know. Yeah, so
21:56
Speaker 1: that's a good thing. So he and there, you know,
21:58
Speaker 1: keeping it going, keeping the work going.
22:00
Speaker 4: You know, what do y'all when y'all call out here
22:02
Speaker 4: and y'all do these press hits, what are y'all hopes?
22:04
Speaker 1: What are y'all trying to do? We're trying to bring
22:06
Speaker 1: a real look, what's really? What is junior? I called him? Junior?
22:14
Speaker 1: What is him? What are he supposed to be looking?
22:17
Speaker 1: You know how you pose to view him? Don't take
22:19
Speaker 1: allegations and make him a fact. Don't take allegations and
22:23
Speaker 1: making a conviction. You know, allegations are just that, These
22:26
Speaker 1: are allegations. Give us a chance in court to prove ourselves.
22:30
Speaker 1: Give us a chance, you know. And this one thing again,
22:33
Speaker 1: we shout out the mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson. When
22:36
Speaker 1: they try to attack him, he said, don't give it.
22:39
Speaker 1: The brothers, you guys said, give him his chance in court.
22:43
Speaker 1: And it's what we actually about give our chance in
22:45
Speaker 1: court and we approved that all of this there's nothing
22:49
Speaker 1: but falsehood and lives.
22:50
Speaker 7: You know, when you talk about going places and wanting
22:53
Speaker 7: the conversation to be just fair for him, even if
22:56
Speaker 7: people are going to have their opinions, how hard is
22:58
Speaker 7: it for you?
23:00
Speaker 6: And you can answer this if you want to. I know,
23:02
Speaker 6: it's a legal situation.
23:03
Speaker 7: So for instance, like I know I've seen reports of
23:06
Speaker 7: like there were like text messages that allegedly were like
23:09
Speaker 7: between Dirk and the guys who are who they threw
23:14
Speaker 7: the murder charges at for the d thing, And then
23:17
Speaker 7: they have the verse from his song Aha, and they're
23:20
Speaker 7: trying to pin that like, Yo, this is you saying
23:22
Speaker 7: what you did? How hard is it to grow up
23:24
Speaker 7: against stuff like that? Just because legally they're talking about
23:26
Speaker 7: that every single time he goes in the court.
23:29
Speaker 1: It's not hard if you get all the information. But
23:32
Speaker 1: I will refer I have to refer all of these
23:36
Speaker 1: things than I have to refer all these things to
23:40
Speaker 1: the legal team, because you know, this is some of
23:42
Speaker 1: the things that they would have to answer and give
23:45
Speaker 1: them deep understanding. He got three great lawyers on the case.
23:49
Speaker 1: You know, Drew Finley. Yes, he's good. Jonathan out in Chicago,
23:57
Speaker 1: Brandma and he got the lady, what's Christie O'Connor. So
24:03
Speaker 1: he got three good lawyers. He out of California, drew
24:06
Speaker 1: us out of Atlanta, and Jonathan Raymond is out of Chicago.
24:10
Speaker 1: So they working around the clock. They constantly keep us updated.
24:14
Speaker 1: You know, I talked to them regularly about the case,
24:17
Speaker 1: and so it's going good. You know, all these text messages,
24:21
Speaker 1: these things here there on top of all this, and
24:24
Speaker 1: like I said, give them us day in court and
24:26
Speaker 1: they approved. You know, what's the what what's the real
24:29
Speaker 1: truth about these text messages? Right?
24:32
Speaker 2: How confident are you?
24:34
Speaker 1: Uh as a Muslim? I'm confidence in the law as
24:39
Speaker 1: a musclim and I just continue to make do uh
24:42
Speaker 1: that this that we're victorious in this case, and you
24:45
Speaker 1: know that a lot of grant us the relief that
24:47
Speaker 1: we are seeking out of this. So looking at everything,
24:51
Speaker 1: you know it's weak, hm, but we make sure continue
24:56
Speaker 1: to trust.
24:57
Speaker 3: What about with the government, because you know, the government,
25:00
Speaker 3: as we've seen many cases before, they play a nasty
25:03
Speaker 3: game where they try to make somebody look crazy so
25:07
Speaker 3: that the jury looks at them as crazy. From the start,
25:09
Speaker 3: you know. I mean we see that a lot, a.
25:11
Speaker 1: Whole lot, and who don't know that the person that's
25:14
Speaker 1: been in the belly of the beast, you know, I know,
25:17
Speaker 1: the fixing the game. Like That's why, like I said,
25:20
Speaker 1: I stay on this case looking at from every angle
25:25
Speaker 1: because I know they games. I know what they play,
25:26
Speaker 1: I know their lives, their deception. I know they'll create something,
25:30
Speaker 1: you know, and create some witness, you know, out of somewhere,
25:33
Speaker 1: out of the blue, and it's been somebody come along.
25:36
Speaker 1: Don't nobody know, Like who is this dude? And they'll
25:39
Speaker 1: put them up there to say some things, you know,
25:41
Speaker 1: and everybody be like you know, so yeah, I definitely
25:46
Speaker 1: know about.
25:46
Speaker 6: Them and you and your in your bio.
25:49
Speaker 7: One of the things that you mentioned in here is
25:51
Speaker 7: how much time you didn't get to spend with your
25:53
Speaker 7: kids because of your sentence that you had. Now, like
25:57
Speaker 7: you know, in present time, hopefully you know perfectly when
26:00
Speaker 7: Dirk is able to come home, what are you looking
26:02
Speaker 7: forward to being able to do with him? I know
26:03
Speaker 7: you lost the thing, but what are you looking forward
26:05
Speaker 7: to do with Dirk? And like you know, just your
26:07
Speaker 7: family Now, once y'all get through all the muddy orders,
26:10
Speaker 7: the same.
26:11
Speaker 1: Thing we was doing when I got out. You know,
26:14
Speaker 1: I'm constantly with them now. I don't want to get
26:17
Speaker 1: my daughters. Man, but I got five children, Yeah, three
26:21
Speaker 1: daughters and two sons. Then when we get off the
26:23
Speaker 1: should they be like, you ain't saying nothing about us?
26:26
Speaker 1: I think. So I got three beautiful daughters and two sons,
26:30
Speaker 1: one passed away. And one word. What we're looking to
26:32
Speaker 1: do now is we're on another whole level now, you know,
26:36
Speaker 1: going to see him talking to him, you know, minds,
26:39
Speaker 1: I'm now combined now and we're just looking forward to
26:43
Speaker 1: doing things now with the grandkids, raising them in the
26:47
Speaker 1: right way, you know, in bedding and putting in them
26:50
Speaker 1: the things that his experience, my experience, the dudes and
26:54
Speaker 1: adults in life. So we're just looking to be of
26:57
Speaker 1: stronger family bond.
26:59
Speaker 7: And I know y'all brought up India earlier and we
27:01
Speaker 7: found out that they were married through like the new
27:03
Speaker 7: music and the photo on the album. What conversation do
27:06
Speaker 7: you and Dirk had before he decided to get married,
27:08
Speaker 7: and like what are you talking to him as dad?
27:10
Speaker 7: You know what I mean, Like what advice are you
27:12
Speaker 7: giving him? Or you know how what's that like?
27:15
Speaker 1: Okay, now as a.
27:16
Speaker 7: Muslim, as a mule, because it's different for you, right right,
27:19
Speaker 7: you got to get married.
27:21
Speaker 1: You cannot like you sleep with a woman that you're
27:24
Speaker 1: not married to. So these are my conversations to him.
27:27
Speaker 1: You have to be married. It's a great sin in
27:30
Speaker 1: Islam if you're not married. We don't believe in for nicasion.
27:34
Speaker 1: We don't believe in adultery, you know, sleeping outside the
27:37
Speaker 1: marriage and different things like that. If you're interest in
27:39
Speaker 1: his sister, then let her know through marriage that you're
27:42
Speaker 1: ready to take on the responsibility of a husband.
27:46
Speaker 4: So yeah, all right, as a Muslim, are you on
27:48
Speaker 4: him about the content of his music? Like, if you
27:51
Speaker 4: know he beats his situation and comes home, are you
27:53
Speaker 4: going to tell him that musically he should go in
27:54
Speaker 4: another direction?
27:55
Speaker 1: He told me, Oh, he told me so, I've I'm
28:00
Speaker 1: just keep saying I'm to do the life. Every time
28:01
Speaker 1: I talk to him, he's learning more about his line
28:04
Speaker 1: and what he's supposed to be doing as a Muslim, say,
28:07
Speaker 1: and he's saying that, hey, I can't talk about these
28:10
Speaker 1: things no more. I can't walk this way of life
28:13
Speaker 1: no more, you know. So he already on point with
28:16
Speaker 1: all this, you know, and that's one of the things
28:18
Speaker 1: about you know, prison give you time to really reflect, think,
28:21
Speaker 1: you time isolation to read, study, So now you're able
28:25
Speaker 1: to you know, you ain't distracted about these brother things.
28:27
Speaker 1: You know. This is a this is a star, this
28:29
Speaker 1: is an artist. He on the planes all the time,
28:33
Speaker 1: He moving all the time, from the moment he wake
28:34
Speaker 1: up to the moment he go to steep. He always
28:36
Speaker 1: doing something. So saying, you know, he took his ship
28:39
Speaker 1: how they became a Muslim in prison, I mean at
28:42
Speaker 1: the prison when he came to see me, but then
28:45
Speaker 1: his life took off from there. So now he got
28:48
Speaker 1: a chance now to study. So everything that he needs
28:50
Speaker 1: to know, he learning it right now. So he knowing.
28:53
Speaker 1: He telling me like said, I can't talk about that
28:56
Speaker 1: no more. I can't do this no more. I'm glad
28:58
Speaker 1: that I got married. I'm glad I went this the
29:00
Speaker 1: ration right here, because he's trying to see now.
29:04
Speaker 3: Wow, we'll definitely send him and send him our love man,
29:07
Speaker 3: and tell him that you know, we'll continue to pray
29:10
Speaker 3: for him, man and support.
29:11
Speaker 1: Him no doubt, because when I told him about this,
29:15
Speaker 1: he said, that's beautiful them. They right there, they're gonna
29:20
Speaker 1: keep it real.
29:20
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, we've been watching Dirk since the beginning. Literally
29:24
Speaker 4: literally he dirt been up with vond and everybody. So
29:26
Speaker 4: it's like we literally watched him grow up.
29:29
Speaker 1: And also we can't forget about our main guy, Swiss.
29:33
Speaker 2: Oh Swiss.
29:35
Speaker 1: Definitely shout out to that brother man and that is
29:38
Speaker 1: Swiss is one of his biggest mentors. That's the one
29:42
Speaker 1: who talks to him, keep him on point, different things,
29:45
Speaker 1: like he always calls Swiss. They're always talking what direction?
29:48
Speaker 1: What should I do? You know? And it's good to
29:50
Speaker 1: have somebody like Swiss in this corner.
29:52
Speaker 3: You know, absolutely appreciate you guys.
29:55
Speaker 6: I have one more thing.
29:56
Speaker 7: I just thought of that video of Willow when he's
29:58
Speaker 7: talking to Dirk and it went super super viral. He's
30:01
Speaker 7: telling him, like, you know, not to retaliate for the thing.
30:04
Speaker 7: And then when ReViral, when all this stuff happened with
30:06
Speaker 7: the with the case, when you first saw that video
30:10
Speaker 7: and saw that moment of you like were there in
30:11
Speaker 7: person or what, but like as a dad, like what
30:14
Speaker 7: was that feeling like just to see somebody pour into
30:15
Speaker 7: your son like that?
30:16
Speaker 1: Beautiful? And I thank you appreciate its exactly. Report you
30:20
Speaker 1: for that, because this is what we talked about. This
30:23
Speaker 1: is why we practice no retaliation, because it's only going
30:26
Speaker 1: to keep it going, you know. So I love that.
30:29
Speaker 1: I love that you open up like that. So thank
30:32
Speaker 1: you for that, you know, And I agree.
30:36
Speaker 7: I'm sorry he could never he could never follow. It's
30:42
Speaker 7: so positive and just done so many And when they
30:46
Speaker 7: were in the studio and him and Gilly were sitting
30:48
Speaker 7: there because that went so super viral because of everything
30:52
Speaker 7: with the case, and I was just like Dan as
30:53
Speaker 7: a dad, I wonder, like you know you watching that,
30:55
Speaker 7: like that's what's up.
31:00
Speaker 1: Those the things I said, because we actually, you know,
31:03
Speaker 1: we lost son. And I don't know if y'all know,
31:07
Speaker 1: but when you lose a son and Islam, you have
31:09
Speaker 1: to wash his body. Yes, so we have to wash
31:12
Speaker 1: his body and washing the body and it's hurting, you know,
31:16
Speaker 1: and watch my son body to get out out of
31:18
Speaker 1: twenty six years and then have to bury your son.
31:21
Speaker 1: You know, That's that's that pain there. It was like
31:26
Speaker 1: you never get used to it, you never accepted, but
31:28
Speaker 1: yet you accept it as a Muslim. But it's something
31:31
Speaker 1: that's always going to be deep in you. So I
31:32
Speaker 1: don't want them to see another parent hurt like that.
31:35
Speaker 1: I don't won't see nobody have to go through that.
31:37
Speaker 1: So it got to stop.
31:38
Speaker 2: Do you put any blame on yourself?
31:39
Speaker 6: Ever?
31:40
Speaker 4: Like he was, like, man, because of your choices I
31:42
Speaker 4: made twenty six years ago, I wasn't here the way
31:45
Speaker 4: I probably needed to.
31:45
Speaker 1: Be as a parent. You're gonna always say that, You're
31:48
Speaker 1: gonna say what could I have did? What can have
31:50
Speaker 1: did it better? Could I have said anything? Could I
31:52
Speaker 1: do anything different to stop this? You know? But then
31:57
Speaker 1: it'slam kicking. You were like everything you were supposed to do.
32:01
Speaker 1: You try to the best of your ability, but that
32:03
Speaker 1: struggle goes with thank you all the time.
32:07
Speaker 3: Well, thank you all for joining us. Dante Banks, Kevin Freeman,
32:10
Speaker 3: thank you so much, and please keep us updated when
32:12
Speaker 3: you can.
32:13
Speaker 1: Yes, sir, we'll do. And I appreciate you all from having.
32:15
Speaker 2: Us, Absolutely appreciate you.
32:16
Speaker 1: Some morning it's the Breakfast Club.
32:18
Speaker 2: Good morning, wait till ass up in the morning.
32:21
Speaker 1: The Breakfast Club