Latest / Earn Your Leisure / How Lecrae Built His Music Empire: Secrets to Independent Success & Balancing Faith with Music

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How Lecrae Built His Music Empire: Secrets to Independent Success & Balancing Faith with Music · Earn Your Leisure

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  Speaker 1: All right, guys, welcome back, Eyl.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, are in the studio, back off the invest
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  Speaker 4: Fest with one of the highlights of invest Fest. In fact,
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  Speaker 4: if you didn't catch his interview with Big Facts, then
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  Speaker 4: you definitely missed a great one. Hopefully they might put
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  Speaker 4: that out. I don't know, but Lookray, I mean, you know,
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  Speaker 4: we look at the music industry, somebody that's changed the game.
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  Speaker 4: As far as the content is important. We'll talk about
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  Speaker 4: the categoration of the content. But in a time where
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  Speaker 4: you know, people have complained about a lot of negative
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  Speaker 4: influences and music and how it influences people, especially young people.
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  Speaker 4: I think that it's positive to have a balance. So
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  Speaker 4: he's been able to do it and also an entrepreneur
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  Speaker 4: running the record label twenty We just talked about twenty
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  Speaker 4: seven awards from Grammys.
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  Speaker 2: To people say.
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  Speaker 1: To everything and just.
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  Speaker 4: Been you know, a very interesting story. So thank you
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  Speaker 4: for joining us.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, I'm excited to be here.
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  Speaker 2: Boy, appreciate We saw each other in passing. Yeah, I
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  Speaker 2: was like my brother. I appreciate you so much.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, man, I was. I had a blast. It was
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  Speaker 1: a phenomenal time. Man, you phenomenal.
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  Speaker 4: So for the people that may have heard about you
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  Speaker 4: but not totally familiar with your story, yep.
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  Speaker 1: So all right you. I want to make sure I
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  Speaker 1: say this correctly.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, you are a hip hop artists first and foremost,
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  Speaker 4: but just content usually leaned towards Christian raph Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's so many ways to spend that. This is
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  Speaker 1: what I always try to tell people. I am authentically Christian,
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  Speaker 1: but I am authentically hip hop. I'm kind of like
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  Speaker 1: if outcasts in the books of Moses had came together,
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  Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So it's kind of like
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  Speaker 1: sometimes it's a category for people, but that's the essence
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  Speaker 1: of hip hop for a lot of folks. It's always
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  Speaker 1: been this outlier that people didn't quite understand. And then
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  Speaker 1: it was like, okay, hip hop is now mainstream. But
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  Speaker 1: then it was like Southern rappers, what is that? And
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  Speaker 1: then it's like now you got outcasts and it's mainstream.
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  Speaker 1: Now the South is like on the forefront of it.
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  Speaker 1: And I look at it the same way, you know
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  Speaker 1: what I'm saying. It's like Wu Tang was spitting five
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  Speaker 1: percent gyms and it's like, Okay, that's the perspective they're
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  Speaker 1: coming from. This is the perspective I'm coming from. But
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  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, it's hip hop, you
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  Speaker 1: know what I mean. So, yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, honestly,
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  Speaker 1: I never really thought about it like that.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I never heard like rock Kim be classified as
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  Speaker 4: a five percent.
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  Speaker 1: Rapper exactly, exactly.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's hip hop music. It just has faith based
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  Speaker 2: that's right.
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  Speaker 4: But that's any anything that you do is going to
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  Speaker 4: influence your life that you're living exactly, Like you know
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  Speaker 4: what I'm saying, Like, that's just that's just common sense.
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  Speaker 4: That's rap about the things that you do on a
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  Speaker 4: daily basis. So all right, so how did how did
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  Speaker 4: this come about for you? As far as you're from
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  Speaker 4: Houston originally, then you moved to the West coast, so
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  Speaker 4: I'm assuming you grew up in a church.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't. That's crazy, that's the part. So my mom,
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  Speaker 1: my mom grew up in church and she had a
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  Speaker 1: really negative experience. So it's like every leagual church the church. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: so she had this real kind of rigorous like she
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  Speaker 1: couldn't wear pants, makeup, and she this is in Houston,
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  Speaker 1: Third War Houston, so it was really tough for her.
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  Speaker 1: And at the same time, she's also the Black Panthers
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  Speaker 1: is feeding her free breakfast and teaching her these lessons.
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  Speaker 1: So she getting both of these worlds and she like,
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  Speaker 1: wait a minute. So she's like, I don't want my
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  Speaker 1: kid to have religion forced on them. So she raised
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  Speaker 1: me to be a free thinker. So as a kid,
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  Speaker 1: I'm reading Eldris Cleaver, I'm reading Autobio, Fory Malcolm XX,
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  Speaker 1: I'm reading WB the Boy. She's like, Nah, we're not
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  Speaker 1: doing this religious stuff. You know, she's a hippie, you know,
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  Speaker 1: she got a little weed room and all of that,
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  Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So that was kind of
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  Speaker 1: the world and she let me explore, and so I
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  Speaker 1: just hip hop raised me, you know what I'm saying.
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  Speaker 1: So that's just you know, And it wasn't until I
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  Speaker 1: was a young adult going to a college Bible study
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  Speaker 1: that you know. I had a four Rodgers University of
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  Speaker 1: North Texas. Girl invited me to a Bible study. I went.
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  Speaker 1: Never heard or any of this stuff before, and that's
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  Speaker 1: when the transition started to happen. And I always rapped,
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  Speaker 1: but now I had a different lens, so I didn't
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  Speaker 1: know gospel music nothing. The first gospel album I ever
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  Speaker 1: listened to, as far as I'm concerned, was The Miseducation
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  Speaker 1: Laura Hill. So that's what I thought you do when
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  Speaker 1: you meet God. I thought you rapped like that, So
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  Speaker 1: that's what I started trying to do.
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  Speaker 2: So this is late nineties, yep, right, because I feel
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  Speaker 2: like we're from the same generation thousand, So you didn't
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  Speaker 2: obviously you didn't grow up listening to gospel music, but
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  Speaker 2: the hip hop era of that time, so mis educational law.
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  Speaker 2: That's interesting. I've never thought of it in that sense.
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  Speaker 2: Who else at this time is influencing you? Because I
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  Speaker 2: know you're big on Jay for a a few reasons outcasts,
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  Speaker 2: but who like What was it about the lyrics that said,
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  Speaker 2: you know what, I love what they're doing Because at
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  Speaker 2: this time people are talking about the negative impact that
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  Speaker 2: hip hot has had. Kangs to music has just been
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  Speaker 2: introduced in the early nineties. Now we're getting the bling
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  Speaker 2: error going. How do you say, all right, I like this,
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  Speaker 2: I'm listening to it. It's influencing me.
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  Speaker 1: Let the script. So Tupac was probably my He was
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  Speaker 1: like my dad, you know what I'm saying. So he
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  Speaker 1: was so transparent and vulnerable. That vulnerability I wanted to
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  Speaker 1: communicate in my music, you know what I'm saying, like
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  Speaker 1: just the pain. He had a song called Papa Song
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  Speaker 1: where he talked about his relationship with his dad. My
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  Speaker 1: dad ran out on the family, you know, he was
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  Speaker 1: doing his dirt, had his run ins with the law.
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  Speaker 1: He was, you know, running with the crips and Compton
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  Speaker 1: and I never saw him after I was four years old.
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  Speaker 1: He was gone.
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  Speaker 2: Nah.
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  Speaker 1: I just saw him again for the first time in
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty and we sat down and had a discussion
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  Speaker 1: for the first time I filmed it in Everything So
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  Speaker 1: Out in Cali, so hip hop was like my dad.
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  Speaker 1: I was these were the men who were raising me.
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  Speaker 1: I'm listening to these stories, and I was like, I
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  Speaker 1: want to impact people the way pak Is impacted me.
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  Speaker 1: After I met God and had my spiritual transformation, it
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  Speaker 1: was like, I'm still like this to this day. But
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  Speaker 1: it was like Righteous and Ratchet. So it's like I
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  Speaker 1: still listened to the hood the rat stuff, but I
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  Speaker 1: was trying to like, Yo, I'm changing. I need to
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  Speaker 1: listen to Common now, I need to listen to to live,
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  Speaker 1: I need to listen to Most. I need to listen
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  Speaker 1: to some village, like I need some positive, like different
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  Speaker 1: type of focus in my music. And so that's kind
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  Speaker 1: of you know how I develop some of my craftsman shit.
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  Speaker 1: But even just talking about things that matter to me
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  Speaker 1: without feeling like I'm just trying to punch people in
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  Speaker 1: the face with it, but just like it's just who
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  Speaker 1: I am.
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  Speaker 2: It's crazy that you reference those albums, but at the
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  Speaker 2: same time I'm listening to those albums. So like Common
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  Speaker 2: puts out b but you being obviously Houston having some roots.
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  Speaker 2: I wonder how much Scarface played it because at this
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  Speaker 2: time the Fix is coming out in that whole album,
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  Speaker 2: classic album. Yeah, he's talking about faith, He's talking about God.
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  Speaker 1: Man. My drummer to this day says Scarface is his
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  Speaker 1: gospel music. He from Houston as well, So Houston. So
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  Speaker 1: the funny thing is Houston the rap scene. When you
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  Speaker 1: from something and you around something, it doesn't have the
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  Speaker 1: same kind of influence on you as people would think.
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  Speaker 1: So it was like the rap scene was everywhere, but
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  Speaker 1: hip hop to me was so global. I wanted to
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  Speaker 1: know what was happening with the West coast, the East coast.
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  Speaker 1: You know. I wanted to know all about that because Houston,
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  Speaker 1: I could walk out the house and that's right there. Well,
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  Speaker 1: Houston taught me more than anything, and to this day,
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  Speaker 1: Chamelionaire are still one of my dudes. What it taught
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  Speaker 1: me more than anything is the hustle is the entrepreneurship
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  Speaker 1: because everybody was selling their music out the trump. That's
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  Speaker 1: why I have an independent label to this day is
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  Speaker 1: because that's what I saw. You know, I went to
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  Speaker 1: school in Texas. My partners was from Houston, and you
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  Speaker 1: just saw how it worked. You saw entrepreneurship. So even
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  Speaker 1: with my first CD. I went to the major label.
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  Speaker 1: They said it's too it's too Christian. Take it to
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  Speaker 1: the gospel label. I went to the gospel label. They
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  Speaker 1: said it's too edgy. Take it to the mainstream label.
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  Speaker 1: So I said, oh, neither one of them want me.
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  Speaker 1: Let me create my own lane because that's what Houston
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  Speaker 1: had to do. So it was like, all right, we're
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: coming out the trunk with it, you know what I mean.
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  Speaker 1: And it's a crazy story. How it popped off from
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  Speaker 1: me was I made the CD. I'm on my campus.
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  Speaker 1: I got a group of folks who rocking with me.
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  Speaker 1: I take it to the store or trying to sell
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  Speaker 1: a box of CDs on consignment. They say we'll take one.
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  Speaker 1: I give them one, and then I said, they say, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: if somebody buys it, then we'll, you know, maybe we'll
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  Speaker 1: buy some more. If they give them one, I send
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  Speaker 1: four people up there. They go buy that one. They
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  Speaker 1: say it will take five. I give them five. Within
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  Speaker 1: two hours, all five are gone. They don't realize I
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  Speaker 1: got four hundred people. You're sending people. I got four
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  Speaker 1: hundred people ready to come. Where the four hundred people
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: from from my cop from my campus? Yeah, from my
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: campus who rocking with me and supporting me because I
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: was putting in the work on the yard, on the campus,
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  Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. And just school. I'm at
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: North Texas University of North Texas. I tried to walk
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: on the basketball team, but it was too much, it
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: was too too much of a grind, you know what,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Scott say. I got full scholarship and performing arts, performing arts.
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  Speaker 4: So yeah, okay, So as far as the independent side
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  Speaker 4: of it, right, what what.
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  Speaker 1: What's the steps that you took to actually have a label.
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  Speaker 4: Because it's one thing to press up CDs and sell
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  Speaker 4: them right right that.
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  Speaker 1: That's a hustle.
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: Yeah, But if you have a label, that's a business, right,
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  Speaker 4: So how do you just start a label?
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  Speaker 1: So obviously you need to see capital to really begin
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  Speaker 1: to do the work. My partner Ben, you know, he
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: had another friend of ours, a friend of his, who
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: was like, I got like five grand from my pops
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  Speaker 1: that we can invest into this. So with that five thousand,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: it was like, that's the lawyer drawing up getting a trademark, LLLLC,
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  Speaker 1: all of those particular things, the logo, all of that
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: building it out. What we already had was a market base.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: So we already had a fan base, We had a market.
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  Speaker 1: We had good music because no one had ever heard
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  Speaker 1: anything like this before, because I was blending the traditional
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: sounds of hip hop with my faith, and it was like,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: what is this? You know what I mean? So we
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: knew we had something. We had a focused group with
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: the campus, you know what I'm saying. So the test
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: market the issue. Now, I was creating a business, and
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: so after the business was created, you know, we still
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: didn't really understand. No one went to business school, so
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: we still didn't understand how it works. So I'm reading books,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: you know, the information is free. I'm reading Russell Simmons books.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: I'm reading everybody's books trying to understand what this looks like.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: And from there it was like, oh, we got to
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: put the UPC. We first we were selling CDs without
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: the UPC code. It is just like on the back
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: of the CD, just you know the bar code. People, Yeah, people, exactly.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: You just learning that and you just learned pieces of
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: the game. I highly recommend, like if you got to
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: do it yourself, you'll learn the whole game. A lot
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: of times artists will give their artistry to someone else
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: and say, you figure it out, but you don't learn
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: the game that way. So for us, it was doing
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: it everything. I mean literally, I'm mailing every CD, I'm
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: mailing CDs to Australia and paying the fees on it
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: and learning like, oh I got figured out a different
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: way to do this, and so you know, it was
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: just a step by stay process. It was a slow burn,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: but it was you know for slow grind, butter for
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: show grind. And that was that was two thousand and three,
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: two thousand and four.
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that was that's before iTunes. Yes, what's the transit
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: from the physical CDs to actually iTunes?
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: Espeah. So that was the dope part is we were young,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: so our audience is young, you know because generally your
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: audience is like five to ten years younger than you, right,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: So our audience is young. So transitioning to digital wasn't
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: a hard thing because we had a young audience. Older
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: audiences tend to struggle with like change. So for us,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: it was like what what social media is today? Back
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: then was YouTube? So we just was on YouTube. We're
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: making content content. Here go a ePK, here go the
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: story of how this song was made, and our audience
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: is eating it up, and then we're saying, go to
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: iTunes and go get this, you know what I mean.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: And that's how mainstream started to pay attention because we
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: didn't categorize ourselves in a Christian category. We put ourselves
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: in a hip hop category. So our fan base was
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: it was a ground swell and then it just jumped
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: up and all of a sudden, people are like, yo,
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: who what is the lak craze? Why is Lucreze beating
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Nicki Minaj? I had the barbs coming at me crazy,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: like would you be on the charts on the iTunes charts?
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I heard your name before I even knew who
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: you were. Yeah, because I just kept saying I was,
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: I was. I mean, I go to church. I was
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: going to church every Sunday and I kept hearing it.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: I got a few questions though, because it's interesting you
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: said mainstream, and I'm thinking to myself, people that go
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: to church, uh huh. The population is getting older and older.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: I don't see as many young people going, so that's interesting.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: So who's the how are you being received by church going?
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: The traditional gospel art that fred hamm is the Hezekia
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: Walkers who they're looking at like that's the music we
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: listened to when we go to church, whereas your approach
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: is like you might that's what I'm gonna listen to.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: This almost feels like this is secular music exactly. It was.
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  Speaker 1: How was that reception early on? But see it was
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: like n w A. It was like it's like the
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: more you say we are wrong, the more the young
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: folks wanted, you know, so we was getting. They hated us.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: They was like, this is the devil rap in God.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Don't go together and look at their clothes and the
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: tattoos and you know, but the older pastors and churches,
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So even one dude went
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: on and made a series about us and how we
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: was people should not be listening to our music and
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: steamrolling it. And but that was fuel because it just
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: made younger folks say, oh, I gotta check this out.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: What is this? You know what I'm saying exactly what happened?
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: And that's what that's what what what what ended up
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: happening for us, But we faced a lot of backlash. Oftentimes,
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: what would happen it would be like a youth pastor
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: or somebody like that who was like, Yo, my kids
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: rock with it. We're gonna bring you out to do something.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Or it would be like some hood outreach, you know,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: where it wasn't connected to a church. It would just
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: be like somebody who is like just trying to impact
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: the neighborhood and they would bring us out and then
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: that's how it was spreading. But also there was a
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: sports camp in branch And Missouri and Missouri called Kids
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: Across America. And this camp was for like inner city
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: youth and they was kids off the block. But they
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: come into this camp to get this new experience, and
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: our music is pumping through the speakers. So these kids
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: are like, Yo, what is this. This is crazy and
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: they're loving it. So of course they're leaders and you know,
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: guidance counselors are like, I gotta get this music back
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: to them because it's connecting with them. And it just
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: was like a tumbleweed effect. Man, it just kept building.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: So that that's exactly how I got introduced my pastor.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: He came from music, say, the music background. He's a
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: little bit younger, he comes from he's from Queens, so
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: he'sent the hip hop and I was like, that's the
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: first time I heard it when I was in church.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: The other part of that question is a lot of
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: times in hip hop, you know, people are rapping about
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: the environments that they're in.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: And so as you being faith based, I wonder what
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: the environment around you was like, because like I grew
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: up and like as an adult, I was going to church,
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: but none of my friends were going yeah, and it
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: was like I can't do nothing on Sunday. Sunday I
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: go church. So how much did that was that pressure
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: or was it like do people start performing around you
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: to saying, look, he's doing something, we should probably join him,
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: or were people kind of like reluctant to be a
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: part of this.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: So this was the crazy part the because the black
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: community oftentimes, you know, we the white community has been
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: around the monopoly board more times than we have, right, So,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: because we don't get as many chances around the monopoly board,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: we're not as apt to change. We're a little tighter
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: on things. We're like, wait a minute, I don't know
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: because I'm first generation money, I can't be giving it away,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: or you know, things along those lines. So the white
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Christian community was like the first to really give me
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: a chance to let me rock. You know. The black
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: community was like, I don't know, this don't feel right.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: White Christian community was like, dude, yes, do something different. Bro,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: like yeah, get a rapper. They had already done the
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Christian rock thing, so they bringing me out to these
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: rock festivals and they got it's I mean, it's sixty
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: thousand people out there, you know what I'm saying Billy
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Graham speaking in all this type of stuff. So I'm like,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: I'm out there and I'm like, the first encounter they've
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: ever had was something like this, and they're just they've
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: been around them, and I'll be brought a few more times.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: They got the extra money to invest in it. They'll
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: take a risk a chance, so they was giving me
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: a chance to rock. And I did the same thing
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: that Jay did with Lincoln Park or the same thing
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: that run DMC did with Aerosmith, and I started blending
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: in some of the sounds with my song and I
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: would make a remix just for that event. And then
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: it was like Gangbusters. So now I had this community
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: rocking with me tough, and little by little, the black
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: community was like oh okay, yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah. We we okay, if it works,
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: then we'll take it, you know what I mean. And
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: it's understandable because you know, we're a little more like
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: wait a minute, reserved with what we got. So okay.
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: As far as like being an independent artist, we've seen
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: a lot of independent artists like Russ, even the Russell
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: shot him, where they've been able to make money, especially
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: like Russ, Like, you've been able to make a lot
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: of money, but I've never heard a Russ song played
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: like on a radio or something like that in life, right,
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: But he's he's been able to cultivate a cult following.
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: Do shows so merch whatever? Right, So a lot of
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: people don't. They don't understand that. They're like, how can
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: you how can you be a successful artist? If I
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: don't I've never seen this person.
• 19:54
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: So you as an independent artist, right that has had
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: a lot of success, what's your blueprint as far as
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: you know, maintaining your your following? Yeah, you know, making
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: revenue while facing the challenges of not being like a
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: quote unquote mainstream mars.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I think you know they say niches get riches,
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: So you know, are you taking care of your niche?
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: You're taking care of your your space. I never believed
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: that I was in any other business other than the
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: people business. You're always in the people business. If you
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: take care of people, they'll take care of you. So
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: if you just look at this as a transactional situation,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: if you don't look at it as how can I
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: benefit the person on the other side, the consumer from
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: this B two C. How do I take care of them?
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Because then they gonna take care of me. So, man,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: we super serve our fans, you know what I'm saying,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: Like every T shirt, we just look something small, throw
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: some jolly Ranchers in the package. When you send it
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: to them, they're like, yo, they sent me some candy.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: It's just it's small, but it's like they feel considered,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: you know, doing Q and A's. I was meeting greets
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: with everybody when I first got started, you know, just
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: to like super serve the people that was coming to
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: support me. And you got to realize, if your experience
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: is something, there's other people who are having a similar experience.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: So there's all you're not alone. So how do you
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: connect with the people who are dealing with or wrestling with,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: or experiencing stuff you're experiencing and that was how you
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: know we did it? And that was the craziest, like
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: just like what you're saying, Like with Russ and everything.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: I had the number one album in the country beat
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: Maroon five, and everyone's like, how who is this? Who's
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: this person? I don't know a single song. I didn't
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: have no record on the radio. So everyone's scratching their
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: head like why. It's because, man, I'm super serving my niche.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. I'm like, I'm at everywhere
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: they are.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: I'm there.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: I'm doing the shows, I'm doing the meeting greets, I'm
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: connecting with them, I'm sending out the packages, I'm having conversations.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: And I think a lot of times artists don't want
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: to put in that work and do that hand to
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: hand transaction to understand the market. That's another thing I
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: come from. So when I first got out of school,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: I couldn't find a job. So I went to the
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: cable guy. I was a cable guy. You know, I'm
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: an addicts fighting off rats, you know what I'm saying,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: installing cable and I hated it so much that one
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: day the Vice president came to, like, give us this
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: little motivational speech like, hey, you know, vice president of
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: the cable company. You guys are are superstars. And I
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: went up to her and I was like, yo, you know,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: I got a background in marketing, you know, I went
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: to school. Is it anyway, you know, because my day's
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: off for Thursdays and Tuesdays and Thursdays, is it anyway
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: I can come and intern for free, you know, whatever
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: y'all need me to do. And she was like, oh okay.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: So I went up into that building and I just
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: was soaking up game, just soaking up game, soaking up
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: to the point where they was like, oh you we
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: got to hire you. You're not a cable with it
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: no more. So now I'm working in a marketing department
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: at the cable company, you know, and soaking up more games,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: soaking up more games, so everything. I'm soaking up focused groups,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: test markets, how to talk to people, you know, running
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: a board meeting. This is our game. I'm soaking up.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: So by the time I start my own company, I
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: have a prototype from a very successful cable company on
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: certain little things. And I think it's just access to
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: that information helps you to understand how to connect to
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: a marketplace. I would reae some of those things that
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: you learned. So one of the things which we do
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: now is, you know, do you have proof of concept? Right?
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: So a lot of times, especially artists will say, yo,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: my music's listen to music?
• 23:44
  Speaker 6: How do you know it?
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Though? You got proof of concept, like you made it,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: your product, whatever you created, you do you have proof
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: of concept that is that people want this, that it works.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: So you know, proof of concept is we tested it
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: and we got a good result. So what what they
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: tasked me with They couldn't figure out why Hispanic people
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: weren't watching this this network. And they was like, and
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: they're not buying our package for you know, the Latin
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: community is not buying it. So I'm in Texas and
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: I said, and so I said, well, let me do
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: a focus group, you know, because I've seen him do
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: focus groups for other things. So I just said, you know,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: let me get it, you know, get a bunch of
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: the Latin community out here, let me ask them some questions.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: And they and I'm like, why don't y'all watch this?
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: And they was like, it's Cuban, it's Puerto Rican, it's
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: we're Mexican. And he was like, oh, y'all speaking to
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: the wrong people, you know what I'm saying. So it
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: was like, all right, no proof of concept, that's why
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: this package ain't working. Redo it. They redid it and
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: made more networking for the Mexican American community. Foun took
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: off like Gangbusters. So same concept for me now is
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: I'll take my artist Limo Blaze. He's an afrobeat artist,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: a producer. Made this remix of a of a very
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: popular song. It went viral on his ig. I said,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: they like this remix of this song. That's the sound.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: That's proof of concept that this sound base works. You
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: need to rap over this. He wraps over it, jumps
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: up to top forty afrobeat charts. You know what I'm saying.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: And it was just like we already saw it worked.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: The market already said it worked, so so do that.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: And that's one of the things I learned. Work the
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: focus group. Yeah for music, Yeah, we do focus groups
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: all the time. Yeah, so this is treating people. Yeah,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: So we'll do a test market. We'll have like fans. See,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: that's another way to super serve them as well, because
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: now they getting exclusive let them here first exactly. So
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: we'll get a group of fans We'll say, heo, here's
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: six songs, rank them, you know what I mean, and
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: they'll be like, this one is this, that, this was this,
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: And you got two thousand fans and they like, these
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: are my top fives and this is why and this
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: is why. So now you got feedback, you got prooper concept. Yeah,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: you and an office thought this was the joint that
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: ain't it.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: Look, I'm want to say that for a sec. Right,
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: this sounds like you're big on analytics.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: Oh for sure.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: I can just hear it the way you're talking. So
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: what happens when you do the focus group right? Because
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: sometimes it works, but sometimes you'll hear and like you said,
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: this ain't working. What are the lessons that you're learning
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: from that? When it's like all right, yeah, we this
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: one didn't chart. What are we learning from this? Yeah?
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: So one of the things you gotta learn. One of
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: the things I've learned is that the market is always
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: changing and what and even like the audiences are always changing,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: so you can't always bank on it. A case in
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: point was, you know, I had a record with metro
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Booming called hammer Time, and at that point in time,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: everything on rap Caviar that was doing well had metros
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: tag at the beginning, you know what I'm saying. So
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: it's like the top ten songs got if your metro
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: don't trust you or something like you know, you know
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: you're a Metro on a check. So it's like, all right,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: we're gonna, we're gonna, We're gonna run this song because
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: everything with Metro in it is taken off. We make
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: the record put it on. Rap Caviar didn't work because
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: what's starting to happen was ear fatigue. It wasn't the
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: same thing. It didn't didn't work in the same way.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: It didn't move the needle like it did. The audience
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: had kind of already moved on, but we didn't realize that,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So it's like you got
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: to understand, like where are people? And that's why I
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: keep younger people around me who are who are tapped
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: in and attuned to what's going on, because you are
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: looking at things from your vanished point and where you
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: are in life. But meanwhile, the cultures move in a
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: completely different way. So it's always just like, you know,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: who has their ear to what's going on and where's
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: culture going? And how can I be tapped into the
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: culture and if and that's that's sociology. That's just understanding
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: where people are. You know, all the all good marketers
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: are sociologists and understand where the culture is.
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: So you you got the metro booming feature. Yeah, but
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: I wonder, as you're doing Reach Records and you're obviously
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: creating music, who's the first person your background of influencing music,
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: that is receptive to it, that's accepted, accepting to it
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: and saying like this is a guy we need to
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: rock on. Who's the first feature just like this is
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: now about my life about to change for me?
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the person that that that tapped in early Don
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: Cannon uh, Don Cannon DJ, you know, the Gangster Grills
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: mixtapes and all that type of stuff was popping. So
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: I would say this kind of too. It's my Gods
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: Street Symphony. So Street and I went to school together.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: Street went to work for a Luda disturbing the piece. He's,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: you know, doing all this type of work. Street starts,
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: you know, He's like, man, God is showing up my life.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: I want to transition and do some do some different things.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: Craig Let's work together. He already was plugged with Don Cannon.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: He links me with Don Cannon and we get the idea, like, Yo,
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: we need to do a mixtape. You know what I'm saying.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: What we're gonna call it church close. While we call
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: it church close because everyone expects us to wear a
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: suit and tie, but we out here in jeans and
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: tattoos and fitteds, and we these are church clothes, you
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So no one was putting it
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: was the first time anybody put like a Christian rap
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: mixtape on like that Pith and all them type of sites. Right,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: So Don Cannon is like, I'm with it. We we
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: you know, I get beats from Ninth Wonder I get.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: You know, I had met Kendrick a couple of years
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: prior me and Kendrick built a dope relationship. Kendrick does
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: a little intro on my video for the song and
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: it crashes the mixtape website. You know what I'm saying.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: It was they the downloads were so crazy. One was
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: our fans. Two was the intrigue, cause it's like, is
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: this gonna be dope? What is this gonna be? So
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: it's like people just intrigued wanting to listen to it.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: And you know that for us was like confirmation. It
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: was like, Yo, Don Cannon did the mixtape you get
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: you hear him in the background. It's the mixtape era too,
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: so it's like you hear him in the background, and
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: people like, what is this ninth Wonder Beats And it's like, Yo,
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: this is crazy. We never heard nothing like this before.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: And I think that's when people was really like tapped in.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: And then the second thing I would say was the
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: catalyzer that pushed me over again. I'm doing the work
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: on the front end. So you a lot of artists
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: don't have what Malcolm glad Well says, they ten thousand hours.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, ten thousand hours is gonna
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: make you an expert or something. I had my ten
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: thousand hours in so by the time I got to
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: this moment, this watershed moment, I was ready for it.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: And that watershed moment was my my publicist at the time,
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: Tasha Stout, got me on the BT cipher.
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: For the Hip Hop Awards.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: They didn't know what category to put me in, so
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: they put me in a foreigners category. So I'm in
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: there with French dudes. Estelle you know from London. But
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: I'm ready, you know, I've been groomed for this moment.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: That's my watershed moment and they never heard nothing like it.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: I'm getting hit up Royster five and all these rappers
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: like what is this? And that was when it was
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: like we own you know what I mean.
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: So as far as like you mentioned Rara Cavear, Yeah,
• 31:05
  Speaker 4: how important is that for artist's career to kind of
• 31:08
  Speaker 4: get on those type of playlists and how do you
• 31:11
  Speaker 4: even get on that?
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: Playlisting is that's another thing, is like there's errors. I'm
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: not gonna say it's not important, but what I will
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: say is it's not as important as it once was.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: So it's like radio radio was once it like if
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: it's not radio, it's nothing. It's not moving the needle.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: After radio, it was playlisting. Playlisting was it. If it
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: wasn't playlisted, then it wasn't moving the needle. Now it's
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: social media, it's TikTok, it's reels, you know what I mean?
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: If that's moving the needle. And so if you are
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: not connected, like I wouldn't even sign an artist who
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: doesn't have a social media following a platform, you know,
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: because if they're not engaged on social media. What they're
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: telling me is they're not willing to do the work.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: So it's like, nah, you want somebody to do to
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: work for you. I'm not gonna do the work for you.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: You're gonna have to work yourself. So now I would
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: say social media and you got the beautiful thing. And
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: where we are now, as in industry, is the floodgates
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: are wide open. Everyone has equal opportunity access make your music.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: Your test market is social media. They gonna let you
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: know if it's dope. The only downside is that do
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: you have the ten thousand hours to recreate what you did?
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: And a lot of artists don't have that, you know
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: what I'm saying. It's like Fifth just said it on
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: a recent interview that he was gonna sign Designer, but
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: Designer only had that one song, and he was like,
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: you don't have another one. I don't have any confidence
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: you can even make another one. And so I tend
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: to look for artists who have they made it once,
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: they made it twice. There's a consistency, there's a pattern
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: of consistency. So if if one of them pops off,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: I know they can do it again. They didn't put
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: in the man power in the hours.
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: The artists that you're looking for, are they all faith based?
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: Faith based?
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: Absolutely?
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: So they have to be faith based. The other part
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: is that it's a challenge, right. Social media is a
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: challenge because, like you said, it's ever evolving algorithm change.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: How do you keep it authentic without making it corny?
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: When people hear church, they're like, yeah, I ain't come
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: here for this. How do y'all manage to make it
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: something that people wanted to into?
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: It's category? It's categories, So you know, I would say,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: you know, you got different iterations and different types of artists.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: So I got some artists who lean into it heavy,
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: like this song is like a worship rap record, you
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, And they lean into it and
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: there's an audience for that, and and we want them
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: to do exactly that. I got other artists who they
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: have more of a mainstream presence, you know what I'm saying,
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: and they are more creative. You know, they blend it
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: up and if you listen, you might not know that's
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: a Christian record. So like my buddy that we signed
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: years ago, Andy Mino, the song that we had that
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: took off as number one record, was one of the
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: most streamed, and it was viral on social media. Was
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: coming in Hot, coming in hot, you know what I mean?
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: Everybody here's a song, right, But Andy's the type of artist.
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: It's like, you're not gonna know he's this faith based
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: artist just on first. You gotta like get into his
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: ecosystem to really kind of know where he's at with it. Right,
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: So it's still it is clean, it's not negative, and
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: it may not have a message right away, but it's
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: something that still resonates with the with the broader culture.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: Then I got artists in the middle where they can
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: go over here or they can go over here. Like
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: my artist one k Few he's he got he's from Atlanta.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: He got records with Zetoven, with Hancho, But then he
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: also got records with like a gospel artist, and so
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: he can go in both spaces. And so you just
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: I let them be the authentic seales because otherwise it
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: will come off corny to the artists.
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: It's like a Hancho for example, Yeah, when y'all do
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: the record, is it like with you know, it's just
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: faith based or he's like yo be yourself and what
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: the censor? How do you how do you approach that?
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: So the crazy part is I think people kind of
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: cater to where they think you are. Sometimes they overdo it,
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like they in they mind,
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: they got to come in there saying like hallelujah, you
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: know what I mean.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: It's like yo, yeah, chill, chill at.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: It's like chi chi chill chill you yo yo yo,
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: fall back, you're going too crazy, just like you know,
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: like chill. A lot of times we'll have a conversation
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: and we'll just talk about it, talk it through, but
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: it's rarely an issue. It's mostly we try to create
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: the songs that's neutral territory. So it's like, yo, let's
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: talk about you got kids, I got kid. Let's talk
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: about being a father, being a present father, how we
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: didn't have that. Let's let's do a song about that. Like,
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: let's not put you in a lane that's weird for
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: you and it's gonna make it awkward. And I learned
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: that the hard way because I did a record with
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: Big crit years ago called may Day Fire Record. But
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: in the record, you know, he's talking about his struggle
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: with faith and wrestling with God and so on and
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: so forth, and it kind of put him. He's talking
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: to this audience that is not expecting to hear this
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: coming from him, right, So they this hyper religious people
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: got Adam and was mad at him and like, don't
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: talk about this and why would you do this? And
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: you know, kind of was off putting to him. So
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: it's like, I'm not trying to put you in an
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: awkward space either. I want you to talk about what
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: you feel comfortable talking about. And then you got artists
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: like Ti dollar Sign. I did a record with Ty
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: and Ty was like, bruh, I love gospel music. I
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: was raised on it. I want to do this song
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: I got. I'm gonna write a verse for it. I said,
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: we just wanted you to a hook. Noah, I got
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: a verse and for him, he wanted to do that.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: So it was like, all right, bet.
• 36:53
  Speaker 4: So what about like booking shows and touring, because I
• 36:56
  Speaker 4: know that's the major part as far as you do
• 36:58
  Speaker 4: that independent or you work with like a lot nations.
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: That work done both. I prefer independent just because when
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: you have a niche audience, nobody knows them like you do.
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: And if you can understand your audience, and your market
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: you can serve them better. So I've done both, but
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: I like it better doing it myself. That's another thing
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: is like I'm big on touring because that's what I
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: was fortunate to see, like some of these big crossover
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: rock groups. You know, Like you know a lot of
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: people don't realize a lot of these big rock groups
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: like Evanescence or pair Erners. What's up?
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• 40:30
  Speaker 1: They started off on the Christian side, you know what
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: I mean. Create, Yeah, they started on Christian side, and
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: so I was fortunate to see how they move and
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: how they do it because I was over there with them.
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: So it was like, oh, you got a tour, and
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: a lot of our artists don't understand touring. So for
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: mainstream hip hop, well we take that soft money. We
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: go to the club, right, Yeah, they're gonna give you
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: forty bands, but they're not already coming for you. They
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: trying to go to the club because it's lit and
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: you happen to be there. So it's like great, as
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: long as your song is popping, you can get a
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: club date. But you're not building a fan base. Our
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: club is the church. So if you're doing these church
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: events all the time, you not building an audience. Right,
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: They they come in to church anyway, you know what
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: I'm saying, They coming to the club anyway. So you
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: not building an audience. You just capitalizing off of what
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: is already there, that built in audience, And it looks
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: good until you don't have a hit and nobody wants
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: to book you for that event. So what we learned
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: was to build our own audience and our own touring.
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: So we started doing our own tours. And you know,
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: Tech nine another good friend. You know, I sat with
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: Tech nine and saw how he built his empire, been
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: to his studio, been in his warehouse and saw what
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: they did and how they did touring, and just kind
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: of soaked up some game and made sure my artists
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: were touring artists. You gotta be a hard ticket artist.
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: That's how you're gonna have longevity. I've been doing this
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: twenty years because I built a fan. A lot of
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: people don't build hard ticket artists hard ticket fans. So
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: because of that, you know, they don't know how to
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: do it. And that's what happens to hip hop a lot.
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: So I've had big, major, major artists come to me SAYO,
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: how you do tour? What do we need to do? Like,
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: can we We'll get you on the radio if you
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: can get us touring, teach us the game, let's trade secrets,
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: and you know, it's just something that rock band's been doing.
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: That's why they toured forever. So what is the secret
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: to that? The secret is you. You can't be afraid.
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: You can't be afraid to start small. And that's what
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: we be afraid of. We don't want to look lame.
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: We're like, nah bro, one.
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: Hundred people, Nah Bro, I ain't going out there.
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: I ain't doing that. Travis Scott, That's what he did.
• 42:43
  Speaker 4: You know, what is it financially beneficial to Because when
• 42:48
  Speaker 4: you go on tour, you're gonna have to bring a DJ.
• 42:49
  Speaker 4: At the very least, you have to bring a DJ,
• 42:51
  Speaker 4: you're gonna have to bring. It's at least five people
• 42:54
  Speaker 4: that probably kind of have to come with you, right. Yeah,
• 42:56
  Speaker 4: So if you're doing shows for a hundred for one
• 42:58
  Speaker 4: hundred people, let's say you charge you twenty forty. Yeah,
• 43:01
  Speaker 4: from the artists standpoint, they look at it probably like
• 43:02
  Speaker 4: I'm losing money.
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: What's the point of doing it? Yes, it's two things.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: One is you're telling the story, so it's branding, right,
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: So part of that is is your story building. You're
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: telling the story, so sometimes you're gonna have to do that.
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: You're gonna have to tell a story that makes people
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: want to come and pay for the next one. So
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: you you know, it's the cost benefit analysis. It's like
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: this is gonna cost me this, but what's the benefit?
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: And it's the benefit gonna outweigh the initial cost. And
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: then two, if you can do enough shows, you can
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: break even or make a little bit of money, right,
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: if you do enough of them. Yeah, if you do
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: two shows, five shows, you probably you're gonna lose money.
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: But if you can, let's say you do twenty, it's like, oh,
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: you might break even doing one hundred people, But if
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: you do one hundred and you know you put on
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: a good show. You got to invest in your show.
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: A lot of rappers get up there with the DJ
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: walking back and forth on the stage, like investing your show,
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: make it something people want to and then you just
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: keep building it and building it and building. It's like
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: flipping houses. It's like you gotta buy a cheap house first,
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: put a little bread into it. After you put some
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: bread into it, then you flip it and you sell
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: it for more. Then you take that bread, you reinvest
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: in another one a little bit more, a little bit more,
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: a little bit more, a little bit more. And that's
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: it's the same concept with touring. You know what I mean?
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: As you're doing this from an entrepreneurial journey, you're learning
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: and growing, but I want it from the spiritual side,
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: right Like that also is an evolving process for how
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: do y'all and as a leader and the founder of
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: a company and having artists under you, how do y'all
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: tap into that? Are y'all doing retreats or is it
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: like because I watched my brother go through seminary school, wow,
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: and I was like, bro, he's a passer. Now study theology.
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: What is that like for you? As a leader of
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: your company.
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, I take it back to we
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: were talking fifty earlier. The reason why we bought into
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: fifth is because of the authenticity. You really got shot.
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: It was really in the streets, what you rap about,
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: you really live. I think that is a paramount importance
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: for what I'm doing and what I'm building. Is this
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: your real life, right? And how do we make sure
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: this is your real life? Like, how are we investing
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: in the youth so that you are spiritually grounded so
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: when you do get up there and you talk in it,
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: this is not just talk. This is your life. So
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: you know, part of that includes mentor shit. You know,
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: I'm big on that. I'm big on just like yo,
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: I'll get into trenches with my artists and like, let's
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: wrestle through things. Here's some book. I give them book recommendations.
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: You know. We read through books together, we do studies together.
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: We've done retreats, you know, all of those particular things.
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: And I've just been very privileged man living in Atlanta
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: and seeing the inner workings of organizations. I see the
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: inn you know, me and Andrew cathy who the son
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: of Dan Cathiye who owns Chick fil A. You know,
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: we've sat numerous times. I get to see the inner
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: workings of Chick fil A. You know, my homegirl is
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: at Delta. I get to see the inner workings of Delta.
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: And one of the books that I highly recommend that
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: that has helped us and I tell other people is
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: for d X. You know what I'm saying. And for
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: d X is a book that teaches you how to
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: structure your business, how to create, you know, an infrastructure,
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: and teaches you, like sometimes you're so busy working in
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: the business, you don't work on the business. And so
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: if I'm constantly working in it, I'm not working on it.
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: What does my staff need? You know, what do my
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: artists need? What's the needs right now? Because if I'm
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: constantly just cracking a whip and I'm not taking the
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: inventory of what they need, you know, we'll do reviews
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: and we'll do stop start continues, say well, what do
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: you need to stop doing. Here's what you need to
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: start doing, here's you need to continue doing. This is
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: what you're doing well. And so always constant evaluations, always
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: constantly working on ourselves, like you said, the spiritual retreats,
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: the prayer times, the groups. We do devotionals, you know,
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: I see Chick fil A, they do the devotionals, they
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: do all kinds of stuff like that. So we're just
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: incorporating them things.
• 47:18
  Speaker 4: So like Low Russell and a couple of other artists
• 47:22
  Speaker 4: that we interviewed, somebody had a platform where a lot
• 47:24
  Speaker 4: of artists now independent there. They're like having a pay
• 47:28
  Speaker 4: what you want strategy. Yeah that Nah, we don't do that.
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: I'm not I understand it. I do think, I do
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: think I get that. I think at the stage that
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: like the Russell's at, he's in a disruptor stage, which
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: that's dope, and I salute him for that. You know,
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: I want to work with him. You know, we've talked
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: about doing some stuff. I'm not in the disruptor stage
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: in the state of my career. So at this stage
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: of my career, you know, I got out, you know,
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: an office full of employees and multiple artists, like I
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: have to think about maximization. You know, I'm not like
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: the lean startup you know, I'm not at that stage.
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: If you're in the lean startup stage, obviously do some
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: disruptive things, you know what I mean, because you lean
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: and you can move lean. I got four to one kse.
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: We can't play no games. So for us, it's like
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: we think we have to think a little bit bigger. Now,
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: maybe there's one artist that we can do that experiment on,
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: but as a whole, we can't be that disruptive. We
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: have to move in the flow of business in some senses,
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like where is the business
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: culture going? And you go with the flow. If you're
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: a disruptor, you're going against the flow of where business
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: is to create something different. And I've been there and
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: it's effective. But this would always tell people. It's like
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: when you start off your business company, you play golf, right,
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: and when you're playing golf, everybody uses the same tool.
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: Everybody gets to hit the ball, everybody puts it in
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: the hole. It's all hands on deck. You can be
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: a disruptor playing golf. It's fine. You get a little
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: bigger as basketball. Right, Everybody touches the ball, everybody shoots,
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: some shoot more than others, some pass more than others.
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: But we got different roles. But when you get big enough,
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: which is like you know, it gets very intense. You
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: got multiple employees. You playing football, and when you're playing football.
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: Everybody can't be the kicker. Everybody can't be the quarterback. Yeah,
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: your homeboys, that's your man. You grew up with him.
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: Y'all's playing golf. It was all good. He can't catch
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: You gotta have a specialized person who knows how to
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: do that role. And that's when you know it can
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: get sticky and tricky. But you have to kind of
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: put that hat on and go in the flow of
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: business and say, man, if we're gonna do this right,
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: we need the right person for this particular thing. Like Yo,
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: Shorty was dope grinding underground, but we need somebody who's
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: skilled in marketing because the budget is higher, what's on
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: the line is more crucial.
• 50:19
  Speaker 2: So let's talk about that. The business culture of hip
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: hop really Yeah, when you started early two thousands, you
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: said there was balance.
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, right.
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: What people talk about now is that the absence or
• 50:28
  Speaker 2: the lack of balance.
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: So for every I don't know, little dirt, who is
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: the next person right there? There is no common right now,
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: right right there is for every Ice Spice who is
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: the Lauryn Hill?
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: How difficult is it to now crack through in a space?
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: But there's no balance it's a good thing and a
• 50:47
  Speaker 2: bad thing.
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: To me. I think it's a good thing in a
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: sense that it doesn't exist as much as it did,
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: so people are thirsty for it. So when they get
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: a taste of it, they're like, what is this? This
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: is amazing, So there's room for it. But at the
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: same time, I think as a culture, you know, hip
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: hop as a culture is getting like so frivolous and
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: careless that it could put itself in a very bad situation.
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: So similar to rock and roll, right, rock and roll
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: just got so crazy, like so off the hinges, it
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: became nonexistent. It's like you used, you drugged yourself to death,
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: you prostituted yourself out to death, and now no one
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: is interested. Right, It's like there's nothing, there's no texture
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: to it. It's gone. And I feel like hip hop
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: is runs the risk of following the same pattern as
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: rock and roll. Like once upon a time, rock and
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: roll was everything. Now it's like, who's that? What's rock
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: and roll? So hip hop runs the risk of being
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: like yo, you prostituting yourself to death. You drugging yourself
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: to death. Eventually there's gonna be no substance to hold
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: on to to like even it's just gonna be a
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: bunch of chaos and you turn into what my man
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: Tehran calls like y'all remember the little hands that you
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: that were sticky and you see, you know what I'm saying,
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: You just pick up stuff with it. You turn into
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: that to where it's like you just like the blob,
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: knowing you don't have no distinction anymore. It's like you
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: part of country, you part of pop, you part of
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: every You not your own thing anymore. Like what is
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: hip hop culture in twenty twenty four? You know what
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: I'm saying, Like, once upon a time it was distinct.
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: Now it's like it's.
• 52:43
  Speaker 4: What do you think about artists that you know a
• 52:49
  Speaker 4: lot of artists when they become more spiritual? Yeah, it's backlash.
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 52:55
  Speaker 4: Even talking about little Dirk right, like he's in an
• 52:57
  Speaker 4: interesting space right now. Everybody knows how he started as
• 52:59
  Speaker 4: a drie rapper. Yeah, and he's taking a very spiritual
• 53:02
  Speaker 4: turn in his life, not necessarily his music, but in
• 53:04
  Speaker 4: his life life. And I'm watching him and he sees
• 53:07
  Speaker 4: he's trying to walk both sides. He's trying to say,
• 53:10
  Speaker 4: I'm a different person, but I'm still gonna make the
• 53:12
  Speaker 4: same music, which is kind of difficult.
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: And now people are criticizing.
• 53:16
  Speaker 4: Him like, well, how you're going to be a devout
• 53:18
  Speaker 4: Muslim and you're talking about killing people.
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: Right, and it's it's a weird space.
• 53:25
  Speaker 4: And like some rappers like me, they just left like
• 53:28
  Speaker 4: he's like as opposed to try to walk that line.
• 53:30
  Speaker 4: It's like, I'm out right, So what's your thoughts on that?
• 53:35
  Speaker 4: Because it's like it's one thing if you start how
• 53:37
  Speaker 4: you started. Yeah, there's another thing if you if you
• 53:39
  Speaker 4: start very secular and then you make a one to
• 53:42
  Speaker 4: eighty turn and now people is like disappointed, they say,
• 53:45
  Speaker 4: and it's not real. They overly judging you for everything
• 53:49
  Speaker 4: now because the expectations are so that's a very difficult
• 53:53
  Speaker 4: space to be in.
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: I totally agree. I'm a big fan of taking people
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: with you, right, Like, don't do a hard left on folks,
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: take them on a journey with you, because if you
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: bust that hard left, it's like a bait and switch.
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: It's like, I'm different now. And I tell this to
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: a lot of my younger Christian artists. It's a young
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: lady out here. I was just talking with her. Her
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: producer last night. She's like a New York drill artist,
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: right she meets God, she wants to change. I started
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: listening to her songs and it's like I'm killing the
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: devil with my Bible, you know what I mean. And
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: I'm like, slow down, because all you're really doing is
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: trading in your old ops for the devil. And it's
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: weird to somebody, like what is happening right now? This
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: is strange. So I was like, yo, take your people
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: with you. Talk about the story of when you left
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: the club and you was feeling empty and you was
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: like I need something different, Like take us on that
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: journey so we can understand this process that's happening and
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: we can walk with you down that pathway and say
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: that's what's up. Like the song Dirk and Cold, it
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: is like that's that's a piece, that's like, that's we.
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: On the journey exactly. We had that conversation great song.
• 55:11
  Speaker 2: Will they go with him?
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying.
• 55:14
  Speaker 2: That was like the conversation will they go with them?
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying. You can't just you can't do it,
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: just abruptly. You can't. So let's talk.
• 55:20
  Speaker 2: About somebody who did do with another guy from Chicago.
• 55:24
  Speaker 2: All right, yeah, Jesus walks, Yeah, Jesus is king, yeah,
• 55:29
  Speaker 2: everything in between. And after I went to that show
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: by myself, Thank.
• 55:35
  Speaker 4: You, because I don't think I was abruptly you know
• 55:39
  Speaker 4: what I'm saying.
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: So you're taking taking them with.
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: You saying he's disappointed you didn't go with him, that's well,
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: you want to know what really happened.
• 55:47
  Speaker 2: I bought four tickets. I was like, yo, we were
• 55:50
  Speaker 2: at a complex con. Yeah, and it was kind of
• 55:52
  Speaker 2: like there was a panel that was going to happen
• 55:55
  Speaker 2: and like the concert was going to happen, and I
• 55:57
  Speaker 2: was like, I'm called, I gotta I have to see this.
• 56:00
  Speaker 2: I don't really want to see this. And the uber
• 56:02
  Speaker 2: came and I was like in it and I looked
• 56:05
  Speaker 2: at them and they're like, I'm not coming. I'm like,
• 56:07
  Speaker 2: I closed the door. I went by myself, and I
• 56:09
  Speaker 2: almost appreciated that I went by myself because did you
• 56:13
  Speaker 2: see the show?
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: Did Jesus King?
• 56:16
  Speaker 2: No?
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: I didn't see that one.
• 56:17
  Speaker 2: It was emotional like because it infused hip hop. It
• 56:21
  Speaker 2: was like the soul, the soul, but it was like
• 56:24
  Speaker 2: sold out has like all that together, and I was
• 56:27
  Speaker 2: like this is what it should feel like when you
• 56:29
  Speaker 2: come and then obviously we didn't see anything follow up.
• 56:33
  Speaker 2: I'm talking about that that taking them with you, but
• 56:37
  Speaker 2: you what happens after.
• 56:39
  Speaker 4: But I'll say this about this because Kanye probably I'm
• 56:41
  Speaker 4: by the biggest Kanye fan.
• 56:42
  Speaker 2: In the world. Well you didn't come to that Kanye fan,
• 56:45
  Speaker 2: the biggest Kanye fan.
• 56:47
  Speaker 4: Look, okay, so hey, I think Kanye was always on
• 56:51
  Speaker 4: that type of time. He did Jesus Jesus walked to
• 56:57
  Speaker 4: But so I don't think that that's not really he
• 57:00
  Speaker 4: wasn't really shocked.
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: Okay, this this is my thing.
• 57:04
  Speaker 2: Tim only because that comes right after Life After Pablom No.
• 57:08
  Speaker 4: No, but I'm saying it's not a completely shocked. You're
• 57:10
  Speaker 4: not shocked at Kanye. Like Kanye is not a gangster rapper.
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: No, no, not a trail rapper like you know what
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: I'm saying.
• 57:15
  Speaker 4: He always was talking about something. Yeah, so it's not
• 57:18
  Speaker 4: a complete part of it.
• 57:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 57:20
  Speaker 4: My thing with the Kanye thing is that I felt
• 57:23
  Speaker 4: like the like when he was doing the Sunday Services,
• 57:28
  Speaker 4: like that was dope, you know what I mean. Yeah,
• 57:30
  Speaker 4: And I listened to the album just because I'm a
• 57:33
  Speaker 4: Kanye fan.
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: And the album.
• 57:38
  Speaker 2: You listen to Jesus.
• 57:39
  Speaker 4: Of course, the album did not meet expectation. Did you
• 57:43
  Speaker 4: I'm just being honest with you. Did you like Coloring
• 57:45
  Speaker 4: I did not like Chance the Rapper Coloring Book. You
• 57:48
  Speaker 4: could say that's like a Christian rap album. To me,
• 57:51
  Speaker 4: in my opinion, that's a dope classic. I think that's
• 57:53
  Speaker 4: a classic album. Right, there's good records on it. Colors
• 57:57
  Speaker 4: Jesus Jesus.
• 57:58
  Speaker 2: Jesus King production one of my favorites.
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: I love the production. I didn't feel like Kanye was
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: at his best.
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: He's not. Yeah, but that's because are we going to
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: go with him?
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: I just it was tough. Was it authentic? Was that's
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: the problem.
• 58:11
  Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying. I don't think it was, That's
• 58:13
  Speaker 2: what I'm saying. So like Jesus Walks felt super authentic.
• 58:16
  Speaker 2: It was like, this is different life at the problem.
• 58:18
  Speaker 2: I'm like, a, right, this is yan Yeah. And then
• 58:21
  Speaker 2: Sunday Service started happening. He had taken us a battle.
• 58:24
  Speaker 2: It was like, oh, Sunday Service's okay.
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: I get it.
• 58:26
  Speaker 2: And then Jesus King is like, oh, this is what
• 58:29
  Speaker 2: he's on now. But it really wasn't what he was
• 58:31
  Speaker 2: in the moment he was on that right.
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: That's what I I think that's for anybody who first
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: learned something, it's like they want to just they busting
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: everybody over the head with whether they just you know
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: what I'm saying, It's like, it's like, you gotta take
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: time to let that sit in and let it soak
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: and let it process. How does that mat manifest in
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: your day to day life? You know what I'm saying. Like,
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: when I first had my spiritual transition, I was coming
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: home with my mom like, yo, Ma, Ma, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: She was like, Yo, do you talk about anything else?
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. And then my pastor at
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: the time was like, stop talking to her about that
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: and live it. I said what you mean? He said,
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: cut the grass, wash the dishes, like just live out
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: the new joy you have for and love for her.
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, so then I just started
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: serving her, loving her, being a good son. She's like, Yo,
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: what happened to you? Yea, what's going on with you?
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: And it was that transition that she got to see
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: versus me just and I feel like that's what I
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: heard on Jesus King. It was just like, like, you
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: know this dogmatic, which we love Kanye for being dogmatic, right,
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: but it was like, just don't feel like you done. Really,
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: you ain't steeped in this yet. It's like you just
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: learning it and throwing it at us. And I will
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: to hear you talk about how your life looks in
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: that time period, you know what I'm saying. Like Eminem,
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: a lot of people don't know is a Christian, you
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. But when he did the God
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: the Joint on Calli's album, you heard it, but he
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: his content just kind of shifts a little bit, you know.
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: He doesn't talk about the same like I'm not killing
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: people and stabbing eyeballs and drinking my mom's urine and
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: all kinds of crazy stuff.
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: You could just hear like you maturing, you know what
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: I'm saying. So that's I'm a fan of that.
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 2: What are your thoughts about Hove when you talk about
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 2: growth and journeys?
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: Four four four is a grown man's album.
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 2: Bro written testimony as well. No, yeah, yes, you know what.
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: I'm saying, Like we need that as That's the other
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: thing about hip hop, hip hop, don't be letting us
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: grow up, you know what I'm saying. It's like it
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: just like for everyone's to keep us as kids. And
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: and I'm like, I think we need a new categor
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: glory or something we need. Like I think Nas has
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: done a great job.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 4: He has a phenomenal job. I think Jay has done
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 4: a great job killing Mike. Yeah, you know what I'm Yeah,
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 4: so I think even like a little Wayne, like you
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 4: know you I don't know if the content of his
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 4: music has changed, but you see he's changed, Like he's
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 4: doing sports shows now and he's with his kids.
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: It's like he's still little.
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 4: Wayne, but he's not the same little Wayne in two
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 4: thousand and two than he is in the.
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 2: Double Cups have been put down, I think, yeah, hopefully,
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 2: hopefully that's what I'm saying.
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: We'll drink ourselves to death out here if we don't.
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 2: Which is true. Yeah, but it was just when you
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 2: were saying that, I'm thinking about what may have killed
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 2: rock and roll, right, and like if you think if
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 2: you're from that era, so like when Kurt Cobaine takes
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 2: his life, yeah, that's a pivotal moment. Yeah, they lost.
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 2: This was the group, this was the star. But the
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 2: hip hop we're losing those stars, like daily, every day
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 2: we're losing them. The difference in rock and roll is
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 2: that you're right, they and as they age, they're appreciated,
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 2: they get the tour. We're starting to see that now
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 2: in hip hop a little bit with like I know
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 2: what El El's doing. I know he just put out music,
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 2: but he's rocked the bells and the but where's that
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 2: next generation of people who are gonna be able to
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 2: do that?
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: To do that, it's doing it now.
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 2: No, No, the next generation.
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 4: That's doing it now. Ja Cole gonna be here for
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 4: a long time. Drake's gonna be here fall on.
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 2: So those guys are thirty nine to forty, I'm saying,
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 2: that's the next generation after after.
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: J Cole, Kendrick and them.
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be.
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: That's the hard part is that's the little dirt conseid
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: the world. And that's the hard part is I don't
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: I don't know when it pertains to them because labels
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: keep signing these jokers right off the block and the
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: gun is still hot, you know what I'm saying. So
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: they it's like there's no development there's no isolation, there's
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: no time to get away from the chaos. It's like
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: your song is it hit like Bobby Smurder. It's like, Yo,
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: you hot and now you're in prison. You know what
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: I'm saying, Chef g you hot? Now you locked up?
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean? It's just bang bang bang
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: bang bang pop smoke you hot? Now now you're gone.
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: And it's like, man, we just we need to insulate
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: them a little bit, give him some game, like it's
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: something different gotta happen, because they don't even get a
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: chance to They frontal Low ain't even closed. You know
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: what I'm saying. They're not even getting a chance to
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: mature and to grow in the process.
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 4: Well, speaking about that, because you know a lot of
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 4: that has to do.
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: With the home structure.
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 4: Sure, and you said earlier in the show, like you
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 4: didn't see it there for thirty years.
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so how is that? What was that like, you.
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 4: Know, reconnecting with him after a thirty year turnframe.
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: I was fortunate to have been through therapy. So Jay
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: actually got me Jay jay Z jay Z you know
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: Jay I met him once. He didn't get me to
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: go by him telling oh you listened to the listeners
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: and yeah, you know what I'm saying. But David Banner
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: also told me to go to therapy, and so so
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: there he put me in a place where I was
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: able to meet my dad and say, it's not about
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: what you did, It's about what happened to you. What
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: happened to him, Yes, what happened to you to make
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: you this way, because this ain't just you just being
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: a terrible human being. Something made you like this. Did
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: you find him or he found you? I found him.
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: I found him, and me and my sister went to
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: go meet him. My sisters. You know, I sit there
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: and I ask him, I say, yo, how you feeling,
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: what's going on? And you know, you tell me some
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: crazy stories. And then my sister's like, are you proud
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: of him? Are you proud of your son? Like he's
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: done all these things, Like do you feel sorry that
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: you wasn't in part of his life? Even following your journey?
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: He hears about it, you know what I'm saying. So
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: he taps in and when she asks him, are you
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: sorry about it? He says, I never say sorry. That's
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: the sorriest word in the dictionary. My sister's pissed. I'm like,
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: something made him this way, you know what I'm saying.
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: So I just pry a little more. He starts telling
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: me stories about his pops and you know, his pops
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: passed aways, like when my pops went to Vietnam he
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: came back. I didn't ask him how you feel the
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: emotionally and I got out the way and I was like, Okay,
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: this is what's shaping you as a human and why
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: you engaging us in this way? And he was like,
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: you know, God got y'all. I knew God was gonna
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: take care of y'all. And it's like got you. I
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: could be mad at you for this, but something made
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: you this way. And I don't. You don't have the
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: mental categories of the mental health to even process this information,
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: right I do. So for me, it's like, oh, I
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: don't need you to be my mentor in this season
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: of my life. I just need to put my eyes
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: on you know a little bit more about myself and
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: maybe we can connect from time to time, but it's
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: not gonna be healthy until you get some growth and
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: maturity for you to be a part of all.
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 4: So it wasn't like a kumbaya, no no, no, no,
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 4: he stood firm on why he left.
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, He's like, yeah, man, y'all was gonna be straight,
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Yeah? God got you. Yeah,
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: God got Have you stayed in touch? Yeah, we stay
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: in touch. You know, I'll hit them from time to tom.
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: You know, he's a very intelligent dude, reads a lot
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: of books. But at the same time, it's like he
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: hasn't done the work on himself. But how did that
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: affect you growing up? It's terrible. It was horrible. I
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: didn't even realize how bad it messed me up, you
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. Like it it made me insecure,
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: It made me, you know, always run to the affections
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: of a different woman to try to feel something, you
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: know what I mean. And then worst of all, I'm
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: looking for a male figure to be like that leader
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: for me. And the only men who were invested in
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: me were my uncles who were gang members, you know
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: what I mean. So it's like I'm just out here,
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: like I'm not a man unless I join the gang.
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: And you never wanted to join the game, so yes,
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: I did, But probably I wonder what y'all. I don't know, y'all.
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: Personal stories but probably similar to y'all. Y'all probably are
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: growing up around things, but you know, internally like I'm
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: a little different, that's not you. Yeah, I call myself
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 1: a hangbanger, you know, not a ganganger. Like I'm hanging
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: around the bangers, but I'm like far from hood and
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: understand the streets man, you know what I mean. I'm like,
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: I'm like the same really, so when they start recruiting,
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: that's when it got real for me. When when when
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: I'm standing on the street corner and some of the
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: ogs are like, hey, the rivals keep coming through here
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: shooting up. This is y'all's gun, y'all share it, some
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: pop off, y'all start shooting back. Now, what we didn't
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: know was we're thirteen, Like this is them trying to
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: you know, let the people who not gonna do prison
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: time do the shooting. You know what I'm saying, Like
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: this is a little manipulative. But we feeling like, oh,
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: they like this is you know, like right a past.
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: And that moment for me was like, y'all don't see
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: what's happening. Like I could see it, I could peep it,
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: and I was like, I ain't even mad at these
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: other dudes that much to take their life. And that's
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: when I was like, I just know I got a future.
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: I feel like I got more of a future than this.
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: So honestly, for the second half of my life, I
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: felt embarrassed and less of a man because I didn't
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: do the prison time. I didn't, you know, join the
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: set and I go back to the hood and they're like,
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: what's up, og, And I'm like talking to me and
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: they're like, yeah, you put the Hood on the map, bro,
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: you did it da da dah. And I'm like, that's
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: crazy because I thought I had to do it that
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: way and I did it a different way. And man,
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: it's just a you know, that's some of the trauma
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: that we deal with is as black men too.
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 2: But in that story, as a young man, the story
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 2: you meet your Dad, I hear faith being tested, for
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 2: sure over and over again. Sure, talk about the response
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 2: to that, because a lot of times we don't know
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 2: how to handle it when we're being tested. We're not
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 2: even aware of it till after Yeah, for sure, talk
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 2: about that.
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I think the beauty of my relationship with God
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: and my faith, man, is that I know to whom
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: much is given much is required, and to whom much
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: is forgiven, much is required. So I know the dirt
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: that I have done, I know the chaos that I've caused,
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: and I know I've been forgiven. So for me to
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: meet my dad, it was like, Man, I done been
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: forgiven for so much. You know what I'm saying, And
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: and God, if God can forgive me, how can I
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: not forgive this man? Forgiveness doesn't necessarily mean we connected,
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. What it means is I'm
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: not harboring ill will towards you. I don't want nothing
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: negative for you. I'm not holding no bitterness. It doesn't
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: mean we're about to hang out in kumba ya. It
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: just means, you know what, I could be mad and
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 1: carry this bitterness pill, but I want to get better,
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: not bitter. You know what I'm saying. I want to
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: not that's not gonna help me. So let me love
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: you from afar, you know what I'm saying, and forgive
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: you and move on with my life. And that's, you know,
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 1: just a part of the journey.
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 2: It's another man trying to get to heaven.
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: You feel me like yeah, man, facts, It's like yeah,
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: he he doing what he can or what he got,
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: and you know what I'm saying, hopefully you know what
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: I'm saying that that that helps him to see like, Yo,
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 1: my son didn't even come at me crazy like he
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 1: didn't he came at me carrying. I'm not trying to
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: be an enabler either, though. I'm not trying to be like,
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: hey man, you know, let's just get to get like
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: cause I got cousins who've been in and out of
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: the prison system and on and off drugs, and it's
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: like I'd have been through that where I'm like, I'm
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: not putting on more money in your books, bro, because
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: now I'm enabling you. You know what I'm saying. You're
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 1: not trying to get better, you know what I'm saying.
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: But if you're trying to do right get better, I'm
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: with it. So what's next? What's next?
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 4: As far as the label, Yeah, any big initiatives that
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 4: you're working on, Like what's what's what's the plans?
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 1: Man? Just for me? You know, it's legacy. You know,
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: legacy is more than inheritance, what you leave two people.
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: Legacy is what you leave in people. So it's like, man,
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 1: just trying to leave legacy and folks, but also inheritance.
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: I love creating opportunities for other people. Man, I want
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: to be the my ceiling be someone else's floor. So
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: obviously the label, you know, signing, We got a few
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: new artists we signing. I'm putting out new music. Of course,
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: for me, I still put on music. I still enjoy it.
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: Funny that the next single that I'm dropping is a
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 1: song that was written the hook and the production was
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: for Kanye because they thought he was on that page,
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: but he switched. So there's like, we ain't got none
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: of you know, you want these records. I was like, absolutely,
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: So the records are crazy. The next one, you know,
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: is on the way, and then man, just you know,
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: the reason why I was excited to connect with you
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: was because I'm big into investing. I'm big into, you know,
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: diversifying stocks. You know VC. I'm part of Collab Capital,
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 1: which is a fund in Atlanta. You know, we raised
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: fifty miil for black entrepreneurs in the city, Black founders,
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: and for me. I want artists to know, you're like
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 1: an athlete, you only have a certain window of earning opportunity,
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: so you've got to diversify. When you're at the peak
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: of your earning, you know capacity. And so there was
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: one point in time. I'm still doing great as an artist,
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: but there was one point in time I had a
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 1: number one album in the country. If I was if
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: I would have just lived like that for the remainder
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: of my career, I wouldn't, you know. So I just
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: learning how to invest educating folks. That's a big piece
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: of what I'm what I'm about now. So I'm always
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: even you know Flex, I'm always telling him like, you
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 1: don't work for me. I'm your client. You know what
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: I'm saying. I want all my artists, I want all
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: my employees to see me as a client. You're an entrepreneur,
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: this is your your thing. I'm your client. You're building something,
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 1: you know, use what I have to build whatever it
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: is that that you feel like you need to do.
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: And so, yeah, more of those types of things. Man,
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: that's really what my where my head space is.
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 4: Well, how can the people stay in touch as far
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 4: as you know, website, Instagram, make sure.
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 1: You tap in with me, you know what I'm saying.
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: At LA CRAE l E c r a E social
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 1: media follow me. I'll take you somewhere. You know what
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 1: I'm saying, catch me probably at every investments in the future.
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 2: Too, you know what I'm saying.
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, man, So just stay taped in.
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 4: Have you done anything with like you talked about like church.
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 4: Have you done anything like a little to collapse, like
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 4: any like the mega churches?
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 1: Not not necessarily, you know what I'm saying. Like I've
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: done like interactions and certain things like that where we'll
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: partner on on a few things. Our partner would experience
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: to do some financial literacy programs and you know, obviously
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: we we targeted some churches for that. My pastor he
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: was actually a financial advisor, so he's on Instagram as
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: a stewardship coach, and you know, we we got some
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: talks about doing some stuff. Is pretty big church in
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: Atlanta as well, and that's why I knew about that
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: series seven and the Who. But but yeah, man, just
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: you know, I just want people to be educated, especially
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: our people, and if if if a portion of our
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: people are in the churches, how do we just disseminate
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: that information to them.
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 2: You are the probably the I mean easily the most
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 2: well known faith based hip hop artists. Who do you
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 2: see out there right now. That's like, I like what
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 2: they're doing that signed to you and not signed to
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 2: you like you're the next one coming up.
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think everybody has different iterations and different
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: like aspects of what I do or what I see
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: that I love, you know what I'm saying. So I think,
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: you know, like I said, I got one k few
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: the streets love him, you know what I mean. He's
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: able to connect with the streets and the culture and
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: the church in a way that I feel like I
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: was able to do. You know, my guy hovies. The
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 1: artistic capabilities and blending out all that together is incredible.
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: But the person that I see, like is like, oh,
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: this dude gets it, is my guy KB and you
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: know he was signed to me, but you know he
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: gets it so much. He's like, nah, I'm gonna do
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 1: my own thing now, you know, started his own clothing
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: supply company, so he like does fulfillment for us the artists,
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: you know, because he learned that game and he just
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: he gets it, and I'm like, you get it. Yeah,
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: thank you for joining us, brother, absolutely man appreciated. Man,
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 1: I appreciate you. Rock onners. We'll see you next week.
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 7: Peace an illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 7: child in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang member from Al
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  Speaker 7: Salvador accused of murdering a Texas man of Venezuelan charged
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 7: with filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 7: just some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 7: President Donald J. Trump's leadership. I'm Christy nom the United
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 7: States Secretary of Homeland Security. Under President Trump, attempted illegal
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 7: border crossings are at the lowest levels ever recorded, and
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 7: over one hundred thousand illegal aliens have been arrested. If
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 7: you are here illegally, your next you will be fine
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 7: nearly one thousand dollars a day, imprisoned and deported, you
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 7: will never return. But if you register using our CBP
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 7: home app and leave now, you could be allowed to
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 7: return legally. Do what's right.
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: Leave now.
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 7: Under President Trump, America's laws, border and families.
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 4: Will be protected.
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 6: Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security,