Latest / The Bootleg Kev Podcast / #114 - Dom Kennedy
Transcript
- 0:07Speaker 1: Bulet cav Show Special guests in here got the homie,
- 0:09Speaker 1: Don Kennedy Mane. That's right, that's right with it, Oh
- 0:12Speaker 1: bule Cave got to be here. Yeah, Hey, so talk
- 0:16Speaker 1: about man. First of all, you've been on a run,
- 0:19Speaker 1: a very underrated run the last few years between the
- 0:22Speaker 1: half a Meal Shit Out last year and From the
- 0:25Speaker 1: West Side with Love three. Yeah, this is like your baby,
- 0:28Speaker 1: this series. Yeah, it's kind of the I remember the
- 0:31Speaker 1: first time I heard nineteen ninety seven. Yeah, just this
- 0:34Speaker 1: is kind of like the original was what really put
- 0:37Speaker 1: you on the map? Exactly? Why now have dropped part three?
- 0:42Speaker 1: Because Part two was what twenty eleven, twenty eleven, First
- 0:45Speaker 1: one twenty ten, twenty eleven, twenty twenty one. Man, just
- 0:49Speaker 1: the ups and downs of the music game, you know
- 0:51Speaker 1: what I'm saying, loving it, being in love with it,
- 0:54Speaker 1: you know, having some successes, you know, being underrated, getting
- 0:58Speaker 1: too the label stage, taking meetings, you know, and just realizing,
- 1:01Speaker 1: like like you said, my passion is from the west
- 1:05Speaker 1: I would love you know, one of my staple you know,
- 1:09Speaker 1: I don't know. Somebody asked me one day, if you
- 1:11Speaker 1: had a book about your life, what would you call it?
- 1:13Speaker 1: And I was like, from the West, I would love
- 1:14Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, and so as I'm you know,
- 1:18Speaker 1: after working with here boy, let's say maybe twenty eighteen,
- 1:22Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, twenty nineteen. Last year, I put out Rap
- 1:25Speaker 1: and Roll. You know, I kind of kept the songs
- 1:28Speaker 1: that I do a hit separate from songs that I
- 1:30Speaker 1: create on my own with other producers. And then we
- 1:32Speaker 1: started working and I did a couple of solo songs
- 1:35Speaker 1: and I told him like, man, you know, he was
- 1:38Speaker 1: really inspiring me in like a different way with my music.
- 1:41Speaker 1: And I told him, like, you know what I think
- 1:42Speaker 1: I could make from the West? I would love three
- 1:45Speaker 1: you know, and I need your help, you know. And
- 1:47Speaker 1: that was kind of the beginning of it. And I
- 1:49Speaker 1: was like a year and a half ago. You know.
- 1:51Speaker 1: It's crazy the just the relationship that you guys musically
- 1:56Speaker 1: have put on paper the last few years. Yeah, whether
- 1:58Speaker 1: it's the half a meal shit or whether it's like
- 2:01Speaker 1: I feel like hearing you on records with like nas
- 2:05Speaker 1: like just's certain shit that like you never thought you
- 2:07Speaker 1: would ever hear. And I feel like like like one
- 2:10Speaker 1: day we'll look back at like the last few years
- 2:13Speaker 1: that hip boys had and just the magic that's coming
- 2:16Speaker 1: out of his studio, the relationships that are happening, and man,
- 2:21Speaker 1: you know the shit he's doing with Sean, she's doing
- 2:23Speaker 1: withs doing with you, and I just think it's real special,
- 2:26Speaker 1: Like what's that energy like over there? Because at any
- 2:28Speaker 1: time you go over to hit spot, like you never
- 2:31Speaker 1: know who's gonna be in the studio, never knows. And
- 2:32Speaker 1: he's brings so many worlds together that wouldn't be together, yeah,
- 2:35Speaker 1: never know, brings so many from you know, producers to engineers,
- 2:39Speaker 1: like the engineer work were now built, the relationship through
- 2:42Speaker 1: working with it, you know, and several artists even collapse
- 2:46Speaker 1: that's never come out or you know, we never done
- 2:48Speaker 1: any music. You know, people like Anderson Pat you know
- 2:51Speaker 1: what I mean, Like people like Sweetie, you know what
- 2:53Speaker 1: I mean. Like they'll literally be in a studio on
- 2:56Speaker 1: a random day, you know what I'm saying, and the
- 2:58Speaker 1: collaborations is open. So you hear me with like Quinn
- 3:01Speaker 1: Miller or like Nahs for instance, on the courtesy I
- 3:03Speaker 1: have for mil those is just coming from everybody just
- 3:06Speaker 1: building me on Big Sean album, you know that that's
- 3:09Speaker 1: coming from us eating together, sharing music sharing ideas somebody
- 3:14Speaker 1: playing Sean maybe playing a verse and an me being
- 3:16Speaker 1: like I could try so I could add something to that,
- 3:18Speaker 1: you know, and end up on his album, you know
- 3:21Speaker 1: what I'm saying. But that's all directly related around here, boy,
- 3:24Speaker 1: Like he's like the sun, you know what I mean,
- 3:26Speaker 1: the solar system, and we all are planets, but we
- 3:29Speaker 1: all moving around Bro's energy and his spirit, you were,
- 3:33Speaker 1: and Burden of Proof too, right, I was, exactly And
- 3:36Speaker 1: that's like something that nobody like I would never ever
- 3:37Speaker 1: think that Benny would be on a record. I never
- 3:40Speaker 1: had no relationship with nobody. Shout to Benny the butcher
- 3:43Speaker 1: Man obviously super talented, you know East Coast MC, but
- 3:47Speaker 1: it's no connection there outside of here. Boy, you know,
- 3:50Speaker 1: that's all what I'm doing an album with Bennie. He's
- 3:54Speaker 1: six seven songs in, that's what's up. I'm listening to
- 3:57Speaker 1: it like damn bro Hard. You know, he coming in
- 3:59Speaker 1: every day working, listening the beats, just sit His process
- 4:03Speaker 1: was different. So in the instance of that song that
- 4:06Speaker 1: I'm on, you know, just seeing how he took his
- 4:08Speaker 1: time just mentally writing. He didn't write nothing down, but
- 4:11Speaker 1: he would just walk around listen to the song and
- 4:13Speaker 1: then I'm like, again, like, y'all I could contribute. That's
- 4:17Speaker 1: a big factor for me. That's one thing that me
- 4:19Speaker 1: and he always talk about. It's like, whether it's a
- 4:21Speaker 1: Dom Kennedy song or not, I always got something I
- 4:24Speaker 1: could contribute, even if it's just insight, even if it's
- 4:27Speaker 1: four bars a bars whatever, I always have something to contribute.
- 4:30Speaker 1: And just being in that environment and people knowing who
- 4:33Speaker 1: I am I think as well obviously, you know, allows
- 4:36Speaker 1: me to them to be like, yeah, go ahead, you
- 4:39Speaker 1: know what I mean. And then like in the case
- 4:40Speaker 1: of that Benie song, just dropping that hook and then
- 4:43Speaker 1: being like, dang shit hard, you know what I mean,
- 4:45Speaker 1: And the next thing I know, it's out and people
- 4:47Speaker 1: like I heard you on being a Butcher album. Yeah,
- 4:49Speaker 1: that's what's up, you know what I mean. You talked
- 4:51Speaker 1: about being like underappreciated, underrated. Yeah, I feel like your
- 4:55Speaker 1: whole career that's kind of been the story right now.
- 4:57Speaker 1: You said that, I didn't feel that you just you
- 5:00Speaker 1: say that. I don't know you said that. You said,
- 5:04Speaker 1: but what is the like for you? Yeah, I feel
- 5:07Speaker 1: like you've kind of been the people's champ at LA
- 5:09Speaker 1: for your whole career, you know what I'm saying, And
- 5:13Speaker 1: you have like an extremely hardcore fan base that just
- 5:18Speaker 1: fucks with you, and they fuck with you over all
- 5:20Speaker 1: this time. Like we think it's been eleven years since
- 5:23Speaker 1: the first from the West Side would Love. Yeah, put
- 5:26Speaker 1: my first project out in twenty two thousand and eight. Man,
- 5:29Speaker 1: so I've been in it for a minute, Yeah for sure,
- 5:31Speaker 1: thirteen plus at least. You know, what do you think
- 5:34Speaker 1: is like, you know the reason why maybe you might
- 5:40Speaker 1: still be a little underrated or why you still kind
- 5:42Speaker 1: of fly under the commercial radar a bit. Well, I
- 5:45Speaker 1: never embraced fully commercial success. You know, never tastes like
- 5:49Speaker 1: fully commercial approval. I don't want to say records, because
- 5:54Speaker 1: to me, a song is just a song, right, you
- 5:56Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. It's certain things that you have
- 5:58Speaker 1: to do obviously if you want, you know, maximum spins
- 6:02Speaker 1: and exposure and to fit into you know what they
- 6:04Speaker 1: call now playlist, but just fully never embracing you know,
- 6:08Speaker 1: one of my homies that really know me, he taught
- 6:10Speaker 1: me a couple of years ago, like, man, he felt
- 6:12Speaker 1: like I kind of did everything, but like embrace the
- 6:15Speaker 1: rap game. I was gonna say, you feel like you're
- 6:18Speaker 1: in the rap game, but you're kind of like an outsider,
- 6:20Speaker 1: right exactly, and you're like peace with that. I'm sure, yeah,
- 6:22Speaker 1: for sure. But yeah, and that just him saying that
- 6:26Speaker 1: kind of made it more more like put it on
- 6:29Speaker 1: my conscious more to like, I don't want to be
- 6:32Speaker 1: a anti you know, the rap game. So it's not
- 6:36Speaker 1: like I'll go out my way to embrace it or
- 6:38Speaker 1: do things even like the features that we just was
- 6:40Speaker 1: talking about and things like that. But that's probably things
- 6:43Speaker 1: four or five years ago I probably wouldn't even I
- 6:45Speaker 1: was gonna say, old Dom like I felt like, like
- 6:47Speaker 1: seeing you on all these albums, I just wouldn't have
- 6:49Speaker 1: been available, right, you know, for stuff like that. But
- 6:52Speaker 1: just understanding my position in it and how important it
- 6:56Speaker 1: is to myself and others like and once my real
- 6:59Speaker 1: you know, I want somebody that really love you and
- 7:01Speaker 1: know you, you know, pre the rap game and all
- 7:03Speaker 1: that really tells you something like that you gotta listen,
- 7:06Speaker 1: you know, And so I did. I did take it
- 7:08Speaker 1: to heart, and I began, like, you know, just examining everything,
- 7:12Speaker 1: just helping more people and myself even you know, where
- 7:15Speaker 1: I could Yeah, No, I think like you obviously as
- 7:20Speaker 1: far as like you had other opportunities to write, because
- 7:23Speaker 1: I know there was a point in time where everyone
- 7:26Speaker 1: was trying to sign you ye at the peak of MMG.
- 7:29Speaker 1: I know you guys had conversations like what was like
- 7:33Speaker 1: were you always just like yo, I'm gonna do it
- 7:35Speaker 1: with the OPM way like I'm you know, like why
- 7:38Speaker 1: did you never really take that bigger step as far
- 7:39Speaker 1: as like never owner, shit was never on the table.
- 7:44Speaker 1: And I always more than anything more than being a celebrity,
- 7:48Speaker 1: more than being super rich off for you know, whatever
- 7:51Speaker 1: they could offer me in any way, I always wanted
- 7:54Speaker 1: to be a CEO, you know what I'm saying, Like,
- 7:57Speaker 1: I always wanted to be a CEO. I always thought
- 7:59Speaker 1: of myself as a CEO. And I always felt like
- 8:02Speaker 1: I was smarter than just what the microphone and the
- 8:04Speaker 1: instrumental had to offer, you know, and and and my
- 8:08Speaker 1: only thing was it wasn't a fear I had. But
- 8:11Speaker 1: I never wanted to just be the menuce Like as
- 8:13Speaker 1: good as I could be as a rapper, as an artist,
- 8:15Speaker 1: I never just wanted to just be that. You know,
- 8:18Speaker 1: that would have felt like a failure to me automatically,
- 8:21Speaker 1: Like if you try. If I had a room full
- 8:23Speaker 1: of plaques and like a power full of money like
- 8:26Speaker 1: looney like uh dug tails and I was just a rapper,
- 8:31Speaker 1: I would still feel bad because you're not fulfilled because
- 8:34Speaker 1: I was. Yeah, it would exactly. I would just be disposable,
- 8:37Speaker 1: you know, artists based off of whatever song I was.
- 8:40Speaker 1: People dem was tight high at the time, and that
- 8:43Speaker 1: would be it, you know, and I would be just
- 8:45Speaker 1: chasing that. How how serious were those talks because I
- 8:48Speaker 1: remember Roster talked to you and Nip at that time
- 8:50Speaker 1: and Wizard time. Yeah, how seriously those talks? Well, well mmg,
- 8:56Speaker 1: that was more like obviously I was a lot younger
- 9:00Speaker 1: than I was still in man, was a big fan
- 9:02Speaker 1: of Rick Ross, you know what I mean, And so
- 9:04Speaker 1: that was more predicated on, you know, somebody that was
- 9:08Speaker 1: heavy in the game and still is, and somebody like
- 9:11Speaker 1: myself who was up and coming, who hoped to be
- 9:13Speaker 1: you know, get good at this shit, get great at
- 9:15Speaker 1: this and just trying to learn, you know, like from them.
- 9:19Speaker 1: I had other situations with major labels that was a
- 9:22Speaker 1: lot closer to being a real you know situation. But again,
- 9:27Speaker 1: when it came down to ownership and to OPM being
- 9:31Speaker 1: represented the right way in the deal and never really
- 9:34Speaker 1: sat right with me. They never really saw the full
- 9:37Speaker 1: full potential of like what it was that I wanted
- 9:41Speaker 1: to do and what we was capable of doing. So again,
- 9:44Speaker 1: it was easy for me to say no because if
- 9:46Speaker 1: all I was gonna be diminished to it was like
- 9:48Speaker 1: an artist on trial. I had passed that all the
- 9:52Speaker 1: artists that they was trying to do that with, I
- 9:54Speaker 1: had did more shows than them already, you know what
- 9:57Speaker 1: I'm saying, Like I had soho more T shirts than
- 10:00Speaker 1: them already, you know, like we was doing venues. Like
- 10:03Speaker 1: I wasn't interested in none of that. You know, I
- 10:06Speaker 1: was not genuinely in my heart, I was never really
- 10:08Speaker 1: interested in any of that. What would be some advice
- 10:11Speaker 1: you would give to like a bubbling artist because obviously
- 10:14Speaker 1: you came up in a different era when I mean,
- 10:17Speaker 1: I really feel like it was kind of like peak
- 10:19Speaker 1: blog era too. Dope, it's not right, you know what
- 10:23Speaker 1: I'm saying. I was starting out and were first getting notice. Yep,
- 10:26Speaker 1: it's coming out of that. It was pretty music. Yeah,
- 10:29Speaker 1: it was a different time, and I also thought it
- 10:31Speaker 1: was dope because there were so many curators that really
- 10:33Speaker 1: had power because like maybe shake and mech fuck with
- 10:36Speaker 1: you over here. So if they post you like rap
- 10:39Speaker 1: rate on my you know what I mean. It was
- 10:41Speaker 1: Now it's like very few people in charge of these
- 10:45Speaker 1: playlists that can make or break people's careers. But at
- 10:47Speaker 1: the same time, like there's other ways to build an
- 10:51Speaker 1: organic following and to monetize being an artist if you
- 10:54Speaker 1: could figure out how to get those fans to you know,
- 10:57Speaker 1: spend money with you. But in twenty twenty one, what
- 11:00Speaker 1: be some advice you would give to some upcoming artists
- 11:01Speaker 1: that are kind of bubbling, like just to kind of
- 11:04Speaker 1: you know, whether or not it's to stay independent or
- 11:07Speaker 1: to sign or just some things. Man, Now it's a
- 11:09Speaker 1: different game. You know, it would depend on what you
- 11:12Speaker 1: what you are intent was coming in. You know, mine
- 11:15Speaker 1: tent was to build a label. I was inspired by
- 11:17Speaker 1: Jay Prince, Master, p sug Knight, Sean Combs, Russell Simmons,
- 11:22Speaker 1: people like that. That was the type of legacy regardless
- 11:25Speaker 1: of if anybody wanted to box me in as just
- 11:27Speaker 1: you know, in a blog air rapper. That's how I
- 11:29Speaker 1: honestly saw myself in my label, you know, and I'm
- 11:32Speaker 1: still working towards that right now. So if you're an
- 11:35Speaker 1: artist coming in right now, you might need a label
- 11:38Speaker 1: to push your record because, like you said, it's so
- 11:40Speaker 1: many gatekeepers now in the game, and so in the twist,
- 11:44Speaker 1: I can't like, I don't see too many people that
- 11:46Speaker 1: could do what I do. That's just being honest. That's
- 11:49Speaker 1: just being honest, you know what I mean. Like, I'm
- 11:51Speaker 1: not gonna sugarcoat it like I never did back then,
- 11:53Speaker 1: and I don't especially right now, because to do what
- 11:56Speaker 1: I do, you have to be really great, you have
- 11:58Speaker 1: to have a lot of you know. That's why I
- 12:00Speaker 1: only really fucked with Nip coming up right, because he
- 12:03Speaker 1: the only one that had the courage and you know
- 12:05Speaker 1: what I'm saying, the talent and to back it up,
- 12:08Speaker 1: you know, and to go out there, like how we
- 12:09Speaker 1: was talking before this, when you gotta go out in
- 12:12Speaker 1: your hometown and do your thing and around the country
- 12:15Speaker 1: as well, around the world as well, and represent you
- 12:17Speaker 1: know what I'm saying that let people see that. And
- 12:19Speaker 1: it's like, if you can't do that, if you're not
- 12:21Speaker 1: willing to do that without no machine behind you, you
- 12:24Speaker 1: can't play in my game. You can't playing. It's impossible.
- 12:28Speaker 1: It's impossible, you know what I mean. I did it
- 12:30Speaker 1: a couple of times, you know, multiple times, and it's
- 12:34Speaker 1: like I would not lie to somebody and tell them,
- 12:37Speaker 1: like follow my footsteps, because not everybody's path, not at all.
- 12:43Speaker 1: You know, a lot of them they need the system. Yeah,
- 12:46Speaker 1: because if you don't got the system behind you, then
- 12:47Speaker 1: you got to really depend on yourself. You gotta be
- 12:49Speaker 1: willing to take risks of the exact people. You gotta
- 12:51Speaker 1: have money, you gotta have insight, you gotta be able
- 12:54Speaker 1: to you know, whether through a whole couple of seasons,
- 12:57Speaker 1: maybe just grinding it out with great produce, you know,
- 13:00Speaker 1: me and Me and Nip in the studio with mic
- 13:03Speaker 1: and kids for eight months. Them days is over, you
- 13:06Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, Like we had great producers, we
- 13:09Speaker 1: had great ideas, but that led us to the victories
- 13:11Speaker 1: into the better days later. But it's like a lot
- 13:15Speaker 1: of people they can't they can't weather that. They want
- 13:17Speaker 1: instant results, you know what I mean. It took us
- 13:20Speaker 1: years of believing in ourselves and working on what we
- 13:23Speaker 1: thought was good to be able to present it to
- 13:26Speaker 1: the world. You know, I don't see that type of
- 13:28Speaker 1: patience right people. Yeah, the patients is kind of out
- 13:31Speaker 1: the window these days. Yeah, people want results. Yeah, they
- 13:34Speaker 1: want to put out a song and you know, just gratification. Yeah,
- 13:37Speaker 1: go viral and do their thing, and that's all good.
- 13:39Speaker 1: But that that type of response takes like a system
- 13:44Speaker 1: without it, ye know, that kind of response takes a
- 13:45Speaker 1: bag exactly. Take. Yeah, it takes like a machine. It does.
- 13:49Speaker 1: And I wouldn't lie to a kid and tell them like, oh,
- 13:52Speaker 1: you could do this or you could achieve these type
- 13:53Speaker 1: of numbers. Are these type of results without that, because
- 13:56Speaker 1: otherwise you're hitting the lottery if you Because it happens,
- 13:59Speaker 1: but it happens very seldomly, right, like somebody independently gets
- 14:03Speaker 1: a TikTok record to go. You know what I'm saying.
- 14:05Speaker 1: It's like hitting a lot of low key right. Yeah.
- 14:08Speaker 1: You mentioned like how you obviously you and Nip's relationship
- 14:11Speaker 1: was you know, a great one one that was very
- 14:13Speaker 1: important to hip hop. You guys put out incredible records together.
- 14:17Speaker 1: You guys were peers for I feel like you guys
- 14:20Speaker 1: kind of career wise were parallel to each other the
- 14:23Speaker 1: whole time. What was it about Nip from the Jump
- 14:27Speaker 1: that you guys just kind of saw each other as
- 14:31Speaker 1: you know, like he's one of me. You know what
- 14:32Speaker 1: I'm saying, Like you built the same way tape. Just
- 14:35Speaker 1: the neighborhood, you know what I'm saying, where Nip comes from.
- 14:38Speaker 1: I know that area well, you know La Meurt Park
- 14:40Speaker 1: is down the street. You know, this is all actual effectuals,
- 14:43Speaker 1: not just rap, you know. And we got a lot
- 14:45Speaker 1: of the same homies and know a lot of the
- 14:47Speaker 1: same people coming up. I didn't know nib growing up,
- 14:50Speaker 1: but immediately when I saw him, you know, doing what
- 14:54Speaker 1: he was going to do in the music business, I
- 14:57Speaker 1: understood it because I had that type of heart at
- 15:00Speaker 1: as well. You know, I had that type of heart
- 15:02Speaker 1: as well, and I knew that immediately upon discovering him,
- 15:06Speaker 1: that this was somebody that I was going to work
- 15:08Speaker 1: with and you know, our our our careers would be
- 15:14Speaker 1: intertwined in a way, you know, and I chose, and
- 15:17Speaker 1: I chose to make it a good story, you know,
- 15:21Speaker 1: immediately even before I met him, you know, and so
- 15:25Speaker 1: you know, just meeting him, I thought, like, you know,
- 15:28Speaker 1: he was brilliant. He was serious about what he was
- 15:31Speaker 1: going to do. I could tell that at a young age.
- 15:33Speaker 1: And the most important thing I loved was the structure
- 15:36Speaker 1: of the business. I love you know, Black Sam, you
- 15:40Speaker 1: know Panietzche, you know household names, Jay Rock, you know
- 15:44Speaker 1: Fats rest in peace. You know. These was like copy supreme.
- 15:47Speaker 1: These was like people that he really loved and worked
- 15:51Speaker 1: with and they all respected each other. And I thought
- 15:53Speaker 1: that I wanted my friends and my family to see that,
- 15:57Speaker 1: because that's why I wanted, you know, I wanted us
- 16:00Speaker 1: to be And eventually we had separate CRUs He had
- 16:03Speaker 1: all money in I have OHPM. But you know, when
- 16:06Speaker 1: we got together, it was always like a family thing.
- 16:09Speaker 1: You know. We had shows together where you know, his
- 16:13Speaker 1: family will be selling merch, My family will be selling merch,
- 16:16Speaker 1: simple as that, you know, trading secrets side by side
- 16:19Speaker 1: on you know, new technologies and things like that, things
- 16:22Speaker 1: that people never really saw right, you know, And that
- 16:25Speaker 1: was like those were the most important things to me,
- 16:28Speaker 1: you know what, I mean, to be there for him
- 16:30Speaker 1: when he was trying to make something of his career
- 16:33Speaker 1: when people maybe didn't believe in it. But I knew
- 16:36Speaker 1: how talented and how special that he was for sure.
- 16:39Speaker 1: It's just it's an art to this all, you know,
- 16:42Speaker 1: and trying to get people to fill that through music
- 16:44Speaker 1: is not easy, you know, No, it's definitely. I feel
- 16:47Speaker 1: like you guys are always going to be synonymous with
- 16:50Speaker 1: each other in terms of just the classic record y'all got,
- 16:54Speaker 1: yeah for sure. And I just feel like, you know,
- 16:57Speaker 1: out of la from like twenty ten on, like you
- 17:02Speaker 1: guys were built for the longevity. Like if you think
- 17:04Speaker 1: about all the artists that came up during that era,
- 17:06Speaker 1: obviously it's Kendrick j. Rock, but you guys kind of
- 17:09Speaker 1: feel like you guys kind of embody ownership, yeah, boss shit. Accountability, yeah,
- 17:15Speaker 1: for sure. Accountability. We used to talk about it a lot.
- 17:18Speaker 1: You know, it was worse that I was thrown around,
- 17:20Speaker 1: you know. And the great thing about it is now
- 17:22Speaker 1: we inspired a lot of artists that's out right now
- 17:26Speaker 1: doing the thing. And that's the most incredible part is
- 17:29Speaker 1: that all those times that we were sitting around trying
- 17:32Speaker 1: to make songs and inspire people and you know, find
- 17:36Speaker 1: our fans and our voices, and it's like, now people
- 17:38Speaker 1: really appreciate it, you know, And we probably didn't get
- 17:41Speaker 1: that then, and we wasn't any for the glory or
- 17:44Speaker 1: the credit immediately, so it didn't really matter. But I
- 17:46Speaker 1: think the beautiful thing is like all the artists that's
- 17:49Speaker 1: out right now that's having their career and having the
- 17:52Speaker 1: way with it was the ones that I was inspired
- 17:54Speaker 1: and listening to the things that we was putting out.
- 17:57Speaker 1: You know, when we was doing our thing was like this, Uh,
- 18:02Speaker 1: I know that there was supposed to be like some
- 18:04Speaker 1: sort of supergroup with you nip and was a YG
- 18:07Speaker 1: look but yeah, yeah, yeah, you know about that. Okay,
- 18:10Speaker 1: so like this like nipsy YG dumb. Yeah. I remember
- 18:15Speaker 1: like like hearing that this was like a real thing
- 18:17Speaker 1: that was supposed to happen. Yeah, it was talks about it.
- 18:21Speaker 1: What what ended up happening with that? And like how
- 18:23Speaker 1: far along did those talks get. I remember we had
- 18:27Speaker 1: a couple of phone conversations about it, like everybody had
- 18:30Speaker 1: to get on the phone, you know, a couple of people.
- 18:33Speaker 1: I think they just was surprised at that time and
- 18:35Speaker 1: wanted to hear everybody's voice together to agree with it,
- 18:40Speaker 1: because it was like speculation. I don't even know who
- 18:43Speaker 1: first presented or came up with it, but yeah, it was.
- 18:45Speaker 1: It was a little time where that was like on
- 18:47Speaker 1: the table and I remember we had maybe one or
- 18:50Speaker 1: two phone calls about it where we were all on
- 18:52Speaker 1: the conference call just in agreement with it and just
- 18:55Speaker 1: you know, they just working out. Nah. I mean, I
- 18:58Speaker 1: think that all those career was just going in different
- 19:01Speaker 1: trajectories at that time. And that was one of the
- 19:04Speaker 1: things because we never even really got in and made
- 19:06Speaker 1: no songs or like made no plans. It was just
- 19:09Speaker 1: all like talks, That's what I was gonna say. It
- 19:11Speaker 1: was like, so there was no music that was not
- 19:14Speaker 1: damn no, it was no like official sessions for that
- 19:18Speaker 1: at all. In any way. Do you do you still
- 19:21Speaker 1: have unreleased records with Nip that may or may not
- 19:24Speaker 1: see the light of day one day? Me personally, I
- 19:28Speaker 1: don't not that I could think of. No. Every single
- 19:31Speaker 1: thing that I'm saying, I'm sure that there are songs
- 19:34Speaker 1: that you know, either myself, Mike and Keys, they got
- 19:37Speaker 1: all the music, you know, they got some shit, they
- 19:39Speaker 1: got all the ship. Yeah, So I'm not saying that
- 19:41Speaker 1: people won't. But it's nothing that I have that I'm like, oh,
- 19:45Speaker 1: I'm saving this for this, you know, or like I
- 19:47Speaker 1: have it for this, or Nip did a verse or
- 19:49Speaker 1: drop like, Nah, I don't have anything like that. Double
- 19:52Speaker 1: Up is obviously one of the highlights of Victory Lap.
- 19:55Speaker 1: What can you tell us about your your rolling that
- 19:59Speaker 1: record and how that came out? Man, that was a
- 20:02Speaker 1: beautiful evening man Nip had. You know, he was working
- 20:06Speaker 1: on this album. We went from like you know, on
- 20:09Speaker 1: the come up and in the times where we was
- 20:10Speaker 1: really working together. We worked together heavy, like damn near
- 20:13Speaker 1: every day for like a couple of years, all the time,
- 20:16Speaker 1: you know. And then when they got the deal with
- 20:19Speaker 1: Atlantic and I was doing other stuff. I had traveled
- 20:22Speaker 1: and did a couple of tours, and I hadn't really
- 20:25Speaker 1: seen Nip as much for like a little window besides
- 20:28Speaker 1: like shows. He came to one of my festivals in Anaheim,
- 20:32Speaker 1: might have been dand Night, I don't know, at the
- 20:34Speaker 1: Angel Stadium. I think that that was a big one. Yeah,
- 20:37Speaker 1: he came out and showed up for me. And then
- 20:42Speaker 1: a little bit after that, you know, he was working
- 20:43Speaker 1: on an album the whole time though. That's one thing
- 20:45Speaker 1: I could say, like it was always focused, like about
- 20:49Speaker 1: that album and being adamant about it coming out one day.
- 20:53Speaker 1: How it was because I remember having conbos with him
- 20:56Speaker 1: years ago and him playing me songs that was still
- 20:59Speaker 1: on our idea. That was, you know, way before that
- 21:02Speaker 1: album came out, so you know, in the midst of
- 21:06Speaker 1: all of that, you know, I would see Bro and
- 21:09Speaker 1: he was like, man, come, I got I want to
- 21:11Speaker 1: play the album. He was he was camped out at
- 21:14Speaker 1: uh what's the spot off Vine, you know Paramount. He
- 21:19Speaker 1: used to have his whip right there and pair on
- 21:21Speaker 1: the curb. Everybody know that. Knowing, I went up there
- 21:24Speaker 1: one day and he was like, yeah, you know, the
- 21:26Speaker 1: music done. I'm just vibing, just listening, showing my support.
- 21:29Speaker 1: He was getting tatted. It was funny because I remember
- 21:31Speaker 1: he was getting blasted the big All Money in on
- 21:34Speaker 1: that was a part of the rollout. He took his
- 21:36Speaker 1: shirt off a lot on the campaign. So I was
- 21:38Speaker 1: there to night he was getting blasted and he was
- 21:40Speaker 1: playing me songs and he was like, man, really, I
- 21:44Speaker 1: just got one verse song that I really really love
- 21:48Speaker 1: that I haven't did two verses, but that could make
- 21:51Speaker 1: the album. Man. He played it and I just went
- 21:54Speaker 1: right in the booth and I remember he was getting tatted.
- 21:56Speaker 1: He was smiling, just looking at me, you know what
- 21:58Speaker 1: I mean, recording it. I never get that. And I
- 22:00Speaker 1: could just see him through the window and he was
- 22:02Speaker 1: like listening to what I was saying and he was
- 22:04Speaker 1: getting tatted and it was just a cool night. Man.
- 22:07Speaker 1: And the next time I really heard the song, I
- 22:10Speaker 1: really found out, you know, how it went down was
- 22:12Speaker 1: really when they released, being at the release party, yeah, exactly,
- 22:17Speaker 1: and then hearing you know, exactly what Belly had added
- 22:20Speaker 1: to it and just the final project, man, and I
- 22:22Speaker 1: just thought it was like the highest quality, you know,
- 22:25Speaker 1: not that that's nothing, that's what I expect from it,
- 22:27Speaker 1: but I was really floored by how well, you know,
- 22:31Speaker 1: he was able to weather the storm and really get
- 22:34Speaker 1: his vision all the way out on the highest level. Man.
- 22:36Speaker 1: I'll forever be proud of him for that. Yes, it
- 22:39Speaker 1: might be my favorite song, Victory Lap, It's one of them.
- 22:42Speaker 1: But it's crazy because like I just think, like, what
- 22:45Speaker 1: if Nip was still here and he was over there
- 22:47Speaker 1: at Chialdie with what's going on a hip boy spot
- 22:50Speaker 1: like him in the middle. That's what I'm saying, Like
- 22:53Speaker 1: they just forgetting, they were just getting there. They're they're like,
- 22:56Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like, just imagine, I know
- 23:02Speaker 1: I think about it every day. Man. I was the
- 23:03Speaker 1: last place I saw him and spoke to him at
- 23:07Speaker 1: and Hey Boy Studio finishing racks in the Middle. Yep,
- 23:11Speaker 1: you know it's crazy man, Yeah, rip the great Hey
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- 24:25Speaker 1: You got to help me understand, man, When or how
- 24:29Speaker 1: can we get the original on the DSPs and the
- 24:33Speaker 1: yellow album on THEES? Okay, those those are real expensive.
- 24:38Speaker 1: I say that a lot my fans know because of
- 24:40Speaker 1: all the features and example, clear no disrespect to that
- 24:44Speaker 1: Pith and right, and they're at off man. They have
- 24:46Speaker 1: nothing to do with it. But I'm just saying that
- 24:48Speaker 1: if I don't want to listen to or, I gotta
- 24:52Speaker 1: pull up the YouTube. Recently, I just almost been like,
- 24:54Speaker 1: you know, fuck it and let's just take our shot
- 24:57Speaker 1: and just run it. I know we'll gets sued, might
- 25:02Speaker 1: so listen. Static Selected always told me this because he
- 25:05Speaker 1: samples every all his ship. I don't even want to
- 25:07Speaker 1: air his ship out Like he's like, hey, bro, if
- 25:12Speaker 1: I get sued, that me as a record doing something. Yep.
- 25:14Speaker 1: Facts facts, man, But with the again, with the guest
- 25:18Speaker 1: features on there, with the pepperwork that they tied to,
- 25:21Speaker 1: you could imagine that they're not let's just throw it
- 25:26Speaker 1: without it, without it having any of the features on it.
- 25:29Speaker 1: Like the track list is just it doesn't say their
- 25:32Speaker 1: name on it. I would have to. I would have
- 25:34Speaker 1: to if I went that way. But I have been
- 25:36Speaker 1: in discussions. We're working on some maybe a little anniversary
- 25:40Speaker 1: or just some fly like a relaunch for that one.
- 25:42Speaker 1: That would be special. Man. I definitely want to do
- 25:45Speaker 1: that before sooner than later. I will say that. I
- 25:47Speaker 1: think about it a lot. I've been in discussions with,
- 25:52Speaker 1: you know, people that don't even have nothing to do
- 25:54Speaker 1: with me, honestly, but just that just want to help,
- 25:56Speaker 1: that's in tune with business and music, and they're like, yo,
- 26:00Speaker 1: you know, look into this, this and this. But it's
- 26:03Speaker 1: a process. You know. It's like Wiz finally got Cushion
- 26:06Speaker 1: Orange on the exactly exactly, you know, exactly, Big Crip
- 26:10Speaker 1: got all his old ship on the DP. It takes time.
- 26:13Speaker 1: Joey Badass and the like that. You guys came up
- 26:16Speaker 1: like they were mixtapes, but they weren't. They were albums.
- 26:19Speaker 1: That was great music. It was just music. It was
- 26:21Speaker 1: great music for me. I always made wanted to make
- 26:24Speaker 1: my music as albums. I always tried to keep that integrity.
- 26:29Speaker 1: But it was free music back then, you know. So
- 26:32Speaker 1: I don't feel cheated. I don't feel you know better
- 26:35Speaker 1: about none of that, because that's how I made that music.
- 26:38Speaker 1: You know, I knew what I was doing going into
- 26:40Speaker 1: I came off the era where they thought the music
- 26:43Speaker 1: business was done that real. You feel what I'm saying.
- 26:45Speaker 1: Like people forget that when they ask questions and they
- 26:48Speaker 1: think like, oh no, no, no spotted Like me, I
- 26:50Speaker 1: don't think about Spotify when I make songs. I'm sorry,
- 26:53Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like I'm pat I was
- 26:56Speaker 1: around before that, Like I think about the fans, I
- 26:58Speaker 1: think about what I want to say. I think about
- 27:00Speaker 1: great music because back then, you guys had to figure
- 27:02Speaker 1: out how to monetize everything else with the music. Because
- 27:05Speaker 1: pre ship died tomorrow, I would not give a fuck,
- 27:08Speaker 1: you feel me like, I would still do my thing.
- 27:10Speaker 1: I was still figure it out. I would still make
- 27:12Speaker 1: away just like I did before. That's all the result
- 27:15Speaker 1: of trying to be in the music business like that.
- 27:18Speaker 1: It doesn't really affect like my process, you know. But
- 27:21Speaker 1: at the end of the day, I want to get
- 27:23Speaker 1: the Flyers music possible to the fans. So that's where
- 27:27Speaker 1: we have where I have to deal with it, you know. Yeah,
- 27:29Speaker 1: it's it's definitely I feel like with a lot of
- 27:32Speaker 1: like my favorite artists from that error. It's like, fuck,
- 27:35Speaker 1: like j Cole, I just saw him at the form
- 27:36Speaker 1: and he performs with shit on Friday Night Lights. I'm like,
- 27:38Speaker 1: only if we could get Friday Night Lights. It's not
- 27:43Speaker 1: but yeah, I imagine it's a lot of artists and
- 27:45Speaker 1: a lot of great you know music like back in
- 27:47Speaker 1: the day all that ship Like, yeah, you want to
- 27:51Speaker 1: buy a certain movie on DVDs, but it might not
- 27:54Speaker 1: be at Best Buy. That's real, you feel what I'm saying, Like,
- 27:57Speaker 1: that's that's how the game goes. Sometimes I was looking
- 27:59Speaker 1: for the Mac you know what I mean on DVD
- 28:01Speaker 1: we be trying to find and I buy it on
- 28:03Speaker 1: Amazon Prime exactly, Like fine, you know, as far as
- 28:09Speaker 1: the CEO ship, man, like obviously you know you've been
- 28:12Speaker 1: building o PM for a minute. Andyeah, you know you
- 28:15Speaker 1: got some really dope talented artists that you've been working
- 28:17Speaker 1: with over the year Shooter to Nico four G G
- 28:19Speaker 1: four G four. I remember he came a freestyle killed
- 28:23Speaker 1: it with you. But what is like the roster looking
- 28:26Speaker 1: like now? Man, We're about to expand twenty twenty two
- 28:30Speaker 1: were expanding right now. We still got Dom Kennedy. Of course,
- 28:33Speaker 1: we got J throw five, who was one of my
- 28:36Speaker 1: motherfucker's alive. Yeah, exactly, man, that's my homie. You know
- 28:40Speaker 1: what I'm saying. It's a small roster, you know what
- 28:43Speaker 1: I'm saying right now, But I'm expanding. Man, I don't
- 28:45Speaker 1: want to say like what I got going in the
- 28:47Speaker 1: works right now, and you know, put it all the
- 28:49Speaker 1: way out there. But definitely in twenty twenty two, you're
- 28:52Speaker 1: gonna see some new artists come out on O PM,
- 28:55Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And the whole vision is
- 28:56Speaker 1: gonna come to Fruition for sure. So look forward to
- 28:59Speaker 1: that ship with like Interscope was kind of your partner
- 29:02Speaker 1: on on some ship. Right. No, they wasn't, or they
- 29:05Speaker 1: was trying to sign us, but yeah, they was trying
- 29:08Speaker 1: to do a deal with us, but mainly just with me,
- 29:11Speaker 1: you know. And J three or five end up at
- 29:13Speaker 1: a point he had a solo deal, That's what I
- 29:15Speaker 1: was thinking. Yeah, he had a solo deal for his
- 29:17Speaker 1: first album, came out officially through Interscope, but no Dom
- 29:21Speaker 1: Kennedy music, nothing else ever came up. What's going on
- 29:24Speaker 1: with Jay? He's about to put out some singles, hopefully
- 29:27Speaker 1: sooner than later, probably top of the year, you know
- 29:30Speaker 1: what I'm saying. But he's working on some singles right now,
- 29:32Speaker 1: playing me a couple you know songs. But is Jay
- 29:36Speaker 1: he gonna do what he do? You know what I'm saying.
- 29:37Speaker 1: He official LA, so it's hard for him to kind
- 29:40Speaker 1: of like he's an LA celebrity and then it's the
- 29:44Speaker 1: rap game. Say yeah, for sure, LA celebrity kind of
- 29:48Speaker 1: always text President over the rap game. You know. I mean,
- 29:52Speaker 1: we we all got friends here in the LA. Hip
- 29:55Speaker 1: hop Syne are the same way, exactly exactly. You talked
- 30:00Speaker 1: about being influential to a lot of the artists that
- 30:02Speaker 1: are kind of doing their thing. Now. Someone who I
- 30:06Speaker 1: always kind of when I listen to I always reminds
- 30:08Speaker 1: me of you is Larry June. Larry jon Like Larry
- 30:11Speaker 1: June is like the like bays Don Kennedy. Sure, Larry Jones. Man,
- 30:15Speaker 1: I look at him as the bais Larry Jones. Man,
- 30:18Speaker 1: he's been He's been killing it for years. I glad
- 30:20Speaker 1: to see someone is finally starting to get a lot
- 30:22Speaker 1: of like looks, but like well deserved. Who are some
- 30:26Speaker 1: people who you like that that you're fans of that
- 30:30Speaker 1: is a part of the new generation of the Rapture
- 30:32Speaker 1: that you're like class Blast, Don Tolliver, you know, I
- 30:38Speaker 1: really like his innovation, you know what I'm saying. Ship
- 30:43Speaker 1: people like Meg the Stallion, you know, and Jason Cash,
- 30:47Speaker 1: he another artist from Carson exactly chopping with him, you know,
- 30:52Speaker 1: and being a rideaut obviously. You know. I was just
- 30:55Speaker 1: at being on show last night, you know, and all
- 30:57Speaker 1: of those people's kind of like loosely inner and you know,
- 31:02Speaker 1: music that I had probably a decade ago that helped
- 31:05Speaker 1: them kind of see themselves in the space that they
- 31:07Speaker 1: in right now, you know what I'm saying. And it's
- 31:10Speaker 1: like that's important for me. But those people right there
- 31:13Speaker 1: kind of stick out the most, you know, meeting somebody
- 31:15Speaker 1: like Blast and them truly like knowing about my catalog
- 31:19Speaker 1: and like what years certain shit came out and where
- 31:22Speaker 1: they was at with it, and then seeing the success
- 31:24Speaker 1: they have. You know, it definitely makes me feel good
- 31:27Speaker 1: because it's like all that work didn't go and noticed
- 31:30Speaker 1: all that music. You know, I'm real sincere about this shit,
- 31:34Speaker 1: you know, making music, being an artist first and foremost,
- 31:37Speaker 1: and so when you see other artists flourishing and doing
- 31:41Speaker 1: they thing and they just randomly might shout you out
- 31:44Speaker 1: a lot of people. Was hit me like a year
- 31:45Speaker 1: ago when Don Toloro was doing his press run and
- 31:48Speaker 1: he was shouting me out a lot on like bigger
- 31:51Speaker 1: platforms and people was kind of like thrown off by it.
- 31:53Speaker 1: But you know, I understood it because I've done shows
- 31:56Speaker 1: for years in Houston, you know, for years in Houston
- 32:00Speaker 1: and no coverage, no big you know, hope, I but
- 32:03Speaker 1: selling out shows, and I'm like, these are the type
- 32:05Speaker 1: of people reason why I was out there selling tickets
- 32:08Speaker 1: and having fans. It was kids like that that was
- 32:10Speaker 1: probably in high school doing their thing whatever, and they
- 32:13Speaker 1: was for some reason, they gravitated towards my message in
- 32:16Speaker 1: my music. You know, No, that's crazy. Yeah, there's definitely
- 32:19Speaker 1: like I feel like, you know, Phoenix is where I'm from,
- 32:24Speaker 1: and that's a big market for you. But you have
- 32:27Speaker 1: like your certain pockets of the country where motherfuckers just
- 32:29Speaker 1: show out for you. Yeah. Yeah, Arizona, d C. What's
- 32:35Speaker 1: hell Yeah yeah, hell yeah. Shout out to DC, Maryland,
- 32:39Speaker 1: Virginia period. But like my show in DC at like
- 32:42Speaker 1: Howard Theater, Silver Springs, Maryland, cracking, crazy, cracking, Yeah, for
- 32:47Speaker 1: sure for years though years, Like this is not new,
- 32:51Speaker 1: you know, like years supporting me for years, you know, Atlanta, Detroit,
- 32:57Speaker 1: you know, for real, these are places that's like, were
- 33:00Speaker 1: real people that really, you know, on a random day
- 33:03Speaker 1: during the week, you know, in bad weather, you know,
- 33:05Speaker 1: would come out and pack a venue for me just
- 33:08Speaker 1: to see me, you know, do my thing. And I
- 33:11Speaker 1: definitely appreciate it. You also always have like a banger
- 33:16Speaker 1: on deck with T Fly. Yeah. T Fly, someone who
- 33:20Speaker 1: I think maybe doesn't get enough flowers, like, you know,
- 33:24Speaker 1: had this Dick record that was huge. Yeah, but like
- 33:30Speaker 1: you guys always have have a record together. Yeah. I
- 33:33Speaker 1: feel like it almost feels like every project he flyes
- 33:36Speaker 1: like my brother man. Like it was funny because Okay,
- 33:39Speaker 1: in that era where I was talking all about working
- 33:41Speaker 1: with Nip and doing all of that, I met T
- 33:44Speaker 1: Fly during those times. He had the studio on the
- 33:46Speaker 1: same building next to us. Okay, but I didn't know
- 33:49Speaker 1: T Fly. But every day he used to sleep at
- 33:52Speaker 1: the studio. We would leave like we kind of was
- 33:55Speaker 1: having money a little bit, you know, we had cars.
- 33:57Speaker 1: T Fly was on to come up about to get
- 33:59Speaker 1: a deal with I think Sony, Epic, whoever he had
- 34:02Speaker 1: this deal with. He was trying to get that deal.
- 34:05Speaker 1: But I was so I was hearing all the music
- 34:07Speaker 1: that he was recording that wasn't out, and that's how
- 34:09Speaker 1: I got familiar with him. So by the time I'm
- 34:13Speaker 1: working on Get Home Safely. And I remember I was
- 34:15Speaker 1: somewhere at a truck stop on the road one day
- 34:18Speaker 1: and somebody came up to me, and it's a true story,
- 34:20Speaker 1: Like randomly, I swear to guy, like two in the morning,
- 34:23Speaker 1: I'm at a little thing, looking through the little glass,
- 34:25Speaker 1: about to get a ginger rel or some shit of water,
- 34:28Speaker 1: and the dude's like he's staring at me. I'm obviously like, okay,
- 34:31Speaker 1: he gonna say something about music, And he asked me like,
- 34:34Speaker 1: how did you know to put a T Fly on
- 34:35Speaker 1: that song? And I was like, damn, I mean, I
- 34:39Speaker 1: guess that's how he looked at it, you know, like
- 34:41Speaker 1: it just came out of nowhere but now. When we
- 34:43Speaker 1: was recording, t Fly was in that same building recording,
- 34:46Speaker 1: so I was hearing his songs every day. He was
- 34:48Speaker 1: recording three or four songs, and I realized I knew
- 34:50Speaker 1: the songs before they came out because I was hearing
- 34:53Speaker 1: them play them all day while we was just sitting
- 34:55Speaker 1: there eating, chilling, I was hearing them. So by the
- 34:58Speaker 1: time I got to do and get home safely and
- 35:00Speaker 1: I had to be for Still Calling, I sat. I
- 35:02Speaker 1: went in his room and I said, could you do
- 35:05Speaker 1: a hook for me on this and then I'll do
- 35:07Speaker 1: the verse? You know what I'm saying. And I sat
- 35:09Speaker 1: there with him and he was like cool. And that's
- 35:11Speaker 1: really how our collaborations really started working, you know what
- 35:15Speaker 1: I'm saying. After that one day, it was like a Saturday,
- 35:18Speaker 1: I remember, and I was like, man, I got this
- 35:20Speaker 1: b Bro, I think that you would kill it. And
- 35:22Speaker 1: we did Still Calling that day and then I've been
- 35:24Speaker 1: working with Bro literally ever since till shit, I seen
- 35:27Speaker 1: him last week. You guys, I feel like, yeah, we
- 35:30Speaker 1: never really fell out, you know what I'm saying, because
- 35:32Speaker 1: you know, I understand what he does and he understands
- 35:36Speaker 1: what I do, and we always rocking. And you know,
- 35:39Speaker 1: I put out an EP on o PM, like a
- 35:41Speaker 1: five song EP, and I ended up being on four songs,
- 35:44Speaker 1: not intentionally but just being on songs. But yeah, me
- 35:47Speaker 1: and T Fly working on some a collaboration for the people. Man,
- 35:50Speaker 1: I'm glad you got yeah, OPM. We're gonna put out
- 35:54Speaker 1: an album. Oh Ship, Yeah that's together yeaheah. We already
- 35:57Speaker 1: working on it. I was working on it before. That's
- 35:59Speaker 1: a Bullleg keV exclusive, so a T flight down project
- 36:03Speaker 1: on the way. Yeah, you guys have such a crazy chemistry. Yeah,
- 36:05Speaker 1: we're gonna do a whole album. We already, we already
- 36:08Speaker 1: more than halfway in. I kind of put it on
- 36:10Speaker 1: pause to finish the West Side three. But that's how
- 36:12Speaker 1: I got that intermission, and it was kind of like
- 36:14Speaker 1: a warm up to introduce and to keep the vibes
- 36:17Speaker 1: going for the album. People will hear it. But we
- 36:19Speaker 1: got a great you know, we're gonna put out a
- 36:20Speaker 1: great body of work twenty twenty two. How many records
- 36:23Speaker 1: you guys have done right now? Ship? Maybe twelve, but
- 36:27Speaker 1: only like sounds like an album, Yeah, but yeah, probably
- 36:30Speaker 1: really like three or four that I really want to
- 36:32Speaker 1: keep We got a lot of work to do, but
- 36:34Speaker 1: we're gonna put it out though it's already on the
- 36:36Speaker 1: bucks for sure. Yeah, it's already on the books. It's
- 36:38Speaker 1: something we've been working on. One of my favorite records
- 36:41Speaker 1: of yours was CDC with you Carter and Uh and
- 36:44Speaker 1: case Veggies. Yeah, Casey Veggies. That record was incredible and
- 36:49Speaker 1: I always just we used to bump the fuck out
- 36:52Speaker 1: of that song. Did you guys ever talk about putting
- 36:54Speaker 1: the tape out as like CDC or it was just
- 36:58Speaker 1: being funny like abbreviating our names at that time. You
- 37:01Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. The title that song, that was
- 37:03Speaker 1: a beat that hit Boy had through us and we
- 37:05Speaker 1: just hit Boy beat. That's I don't even realize it
- 37:08Speaker 1: was h favorite like that crazy, that was hit Boy
- 37:13Speaker 1: and that was Casey Veggie's just going crazy on it
- 37:15Speaker 1: like how we do pulling up, staying in, you know,
- 37:18Speaker 1: staying in attendance. Bro got off on it at my
- 37:21Speaker 1: studio and then the rest is history, you know. But
- 37:24Speaker 1: that was a hit Boy beat that came out of
- 37:25Speaker 1: a fudder or some beats that hit Boy gave me
- 37:27Speaker 1: that case he had picked and just went, well, here
- 37:29Speaker 1: was that was that twenty twelve, eleven eleven, So that
- 37:33Speaker 1: was that was around the time Watch This Throne came out.
- 37:37Speaker 1: That was pre that, so that it was right before that.
- 37:40Speaker 1: You could even say a lot that the the thesis
- 37:42Speaker 1: for Washing the Throne was that song That's crazy. Yeah,
- 37:46Speaker 1: you could say that wholeheartedly. You could say that that
- 37:49Speaker 1: sound spun off of that right there. That's wild yo.
- 37:53Speaker 1: So the album is out. Is there gonna be another
- 37:56Speaker 1: o PM compilation? I hope so? Young Nation Man, thanks
- 37:59Speaker 1: for asking you. That's one thing I've been flirting with,
- 38:02Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Nico G four he just
- 38:03Speaker 1: put out a type called Winners Type. It's doing pretty well.
- 38:06Speaker 1: And then just in the midst of like recording West,
- 38:08Speaker 1: I would love three working with Jay. You know, those
- 38:11Speaker 1: Young Nation compilation albums are designed for everybody to shine
- 38:15Speaker 1: and then to spin off and get fans on their
- 38:17Speaker 1: own solo projects. So it's definitely one like it was
- 38:21Speaker 1: a big gap between the first one and the second one.
- 38:23Speaker 1: And the one thing I've been telling the crew is like,
- 38:26Speaker 1: we gotta do a better job. If that's a platform
- 38:29Speaker 1: that we have, we should do a better job of
- 38:31Speaker 1: introducing new music, new artists, stand current ourselves with no
- 38:36Speaker 1: ideas and no production through those platforms. So it's very
- 38:39Speaker 1: very likely that you'll see a Young Nation Volume three
- 38:43Speaker 1: and twenty twenty two as well. Do you feel like
- 38:45Speaker 1: you're still like learning rolling with the punges when it
- 38:48Speaker 1: comes to doing the CEO shit, because it's no like,
- 38:50Speaker 1: it's no real blueprint, it's anything, right, it's not And
- 38:53Speaker 1: it changes every day. You know, people in positions that
- 38:56Speaker 1: you might meet and have a contact and then next
- 38:59Speaker 1: you might call him two months later and they'll be like, oh,
- 39:01Speaker 1: I'm not even doing that no more, but I'm doing this,
- 39:03Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So I've learned that I've
- 39:05Speaker 1: learned how to deal with producers, artists. You know, I've
- 39:09Speaker 1: had artists now that I have deals and then god
- 39:12Speaker 1: don't have deals. And you know, I had a group
- 39:14Speaker 1: called Warren Brow. They was doing their thing. They don't
- 39:16Speaker 1: it was one brother? Are they the ones? Who did
- 39:18Speaker 1: you guys collaborate with the Red Bull? Wasn't exactly. They
- 39:22Speaker 1: had had a situation where red Bull. But they're not
- 39:24Speaker 1: a group anymore, you know. So I kind of have
- 39:26Speaker 1: learned that it's like being a CEO and being having
- 39:30Speaker 1: a true label is not like everything doesn't go as planned,
- 39:34Speaker 1: So hell yeah, it's us down broke up. Yeah yeah
- 39:39Speaker 1: officially you know that, and that that's not an OPM car,
- 39:42Speaker 1: that's a Warren broke, Like I collaborate with these people,
- 39:45Speaker 1: but you know, just going from Okay, this is something new,
- 39:49Speaker 1: this is exciting to like, damn, they don't even want it.
- 39:51Speaker 1: They're not doing it no more, you know, and you
- 39:53Speaker 1: kind of got to accept that, just like a label does.
- 39:55Speaker 1: Like every artist that a label signs, maybe one out
- 39:58Speaker 1: of what a hundred of them go platinum. That's real,
- 40:01Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. Yeah, so you can't sit
- 40:03Speaker 1: around and be like, oh they don't you know, so
- 40:07Speaker 1: this didn't work out, so it's done. Like nah, you
- 40:10Speaker 1: just keep going. You take it as a lesson learned.
- 40:12Speaker 1: You got great music that you made in the process
- 40:15Speaker 1: and things that you learn and you just apply that
- 40:17Speaker 1: shit going forward, you know. But yeah, I take a
- 40:19Speaker 1: lot of It's been more bruises on that side than anything. Man,
- 40:23Speaker 1: being on the CEO side, it's tough and for a
- 40:26Speaker 1: point in time, and weighed down on my artistry as well,
- 40:29Speaker 1: you know, because as I got older, as I'm you
- 40:32Speaker 1: know I'm older now, so I wanted to like be
- 40:34Speaker 1: more involved in business, you know, And I was cool
- 40:37Speaker 1: with being an artist obviously I made dope songs. I
- 40:39Speaker 1: was a rapper, but it kind of started bothering me,
- 40:42Speaker 1: I think in a way a couple of years where
- 40:44Speaker 1: it was like I wanted to be more in the
- 40:46Speaker 1: business and more you know, serious about that and help
- 40:49Speaker 1: more artists. But it just wasn't working out. So it
- 40:52Speaker 1: kind of like, you know, not soured how I looked
- 40:56Speaker 1: at the game, but just like it made it less fun.
- 40:59Speaker 1: I will say that. Yeah, I feel like when you
- 41:01Speaker 1: start dealing with other artists and you start dealing with
- 41:05Speaker 1: individuals in general, right with anything, like you feel like, yo,
- 41:10Speaker 1: I've done all this? Is it like hard? Like I
- 41:12Speaker 1: don't use the word babysitting, but is it hard to
- 41:14Speaker 1: like work with a bunch of different variables when it
- 41:17Speaker 1: comes to being like, hey, this is what you need
- 41:21Speaker 1: to do. It is, but you can't walk someone it
- 41:23Speaker 1: is because it's non transferable. Man. It's like I work
- 41:26Speaker 1: out at seven o'clock. Right, If I go work out,
- 41:32Speaker 1: you don't get stronger. You know what I'm saying, You
- 41:35Speaker 1: gotta go. I could tell you what I'm doing. I
- 41:37Speaker 1: could even let you come, you know, ride with me,
- 41:39Speaker 1: but there pull up right if you don't do the
- 41:43Speaker 1: same things at least, like how could you expect the
- 41:46Speaker 1: same results? You know? And it's non transferable, So no
- 41:50Speaker 1: matter nothing I tell you or try to pound into
- 41:52Speaker 1: your head could really work unless you embrace it and
- 41:56Speaker 1: do it yourself, and your results might be better than mine.
- 41:59Speaker 1: You know. That's one thing I try to get them
- 42:01Speaker 1: to understand, Like I didn't do it the best way
- 42:04Speaker 1: or the right way. I did it my way, you know,
- 42:06Speaker 1: and what I thought was best at the time for me,
- 42:09Speaker 1: my self esteem, my state of mind, you know, my heart,
- 42:13Speaker 1: Like I do what's best for that. But that doesn't
- 42:16Speaker 1: mean that you gotta do what I do. You know,
- 42:19Speaker 1: do it your way, you know, take the good part's
- 42:21Speaker 1: lead up parts you don't like. I think the best
- 42:23Speaker 1: artists that end up making it having the most longevity.
- 42:26Speaker 1: I mean, everyone has management and all that, but are
- 42:28Speaker 1: kind of like self managers, if that makes sense. You
- 42:30Speaker 1: got to like they almost like they're like if they
- 42:34Speaker 1: didn't have management, they would take the initiative their self starters. Yeah,
- 42:38Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. You got to you got
- 42:40Speaker 1: to because I see so many artists that are fucking incredible,
- 42:43Speaker 1: but the reason why they never made it is maybe
- 42:45Speaker 1: because they were lazy or they just didn't. Yeah, you
- 42:49Speaker 1: gotta be self motivated. Man, nobody's gonna at the end
- 42:51Speaker 1: of the day a manager. You know all of that.
- 42:54Speaker 1: They following your lead. You know, they can only get
- 42:56Speaker 1: you to believe and do and do so much. You know.
- 42:59Speaker 1: And another thing is, like people want to see us
- 43:03Speaker 1: as an artist enthusiastic. You know, we gotta love it
- 43:07Speaker 1: before we could sell it to anybody, even your manager,
- 43:10Speaker 1: even your you know whoever, Like people could tell if
- 43:13Speaker 1: you really in tune it, if you really are who
- 43:16Speaker 1: you say you are, if you really are what you're pushing,
- 43:18Speaker 1: you know, and what you want is to attract people
- 43:21Speaker 1: that believe in the same things as you. You know
- 43:24Speaker 1: what I'm saying. And don't mind you know, spreading, promoting
- 43:28Speaker 1: whatever it is, you know, your agenda, your product, you know. Yeah,
- 43:33Speaker 1: how you gonna ask someone to be enthusiastic about your ship? Right?
- 43:36Speaker 1: You're not and you just lay it up like, you know,
- 43:39Speaker 1: not really tripping and you want them to be you know,
- 43:41Speaker 1: come back like, oh I got you on Jay Leno
- 43:44Speaker 1: and it's like, what like that don't happen? You know
- 43:46Speaker 1: they look at it like that, but that that's not
- 43:49Speaker 1: how the game goes. You know. Some people be too
- 43:52Speaker 1: cool about their own ship, and it is your ship exactly.
- 43:56Speaker 1: If you don't love it, you cannot expect anybody else
- 43:59Speaker 1: to work harder than you are, to love your product
- 44:01Speaker 1: more than you. That's a foods game. And even even
- 44:04Speaker 1: like when you like, you know, there's we're in la right,
- 44:06Speaker 1: So there's always opportunities where people will get the ox
- 44:09Speaker 1: Court in the studio, like, Yo, don't just play that
- 44:10Speaker 1: ship and like sit back right. You gotta like feel
- 44:13Speaker 1: your ship in those moments, you know what I'm saying,
- 44:16Speaker 1: and work your way up to feeling that. If you
- 44:18Speaker 1: don't feel that way, be honest about it and keep
- 44:20Speaker 1: going to you do. Are you in hit Boy going
- 44:23Speaker 1: to do any more? Half a real Ship? Yeah, courtessy
- 44:25Speaker 1: half a mil I mean originally it was a trilogy anyway,
- 44:28Speaker 1: So we we've dropped two albums. We put out the
- 44:30Speaker 1: EPs just because we were just learning how to work
- 44:33Speaker 1: and what we was gonna be talking about. But we've
- 44:35Speaker 1: dropped two albums on courtesy half a mil which is
- 44:38Speaker 1: me and here boy. We're gonna have at least one
- 44:39Speaker 1: more for sure. I don't know when it's coming out,
- 44:42Speaker 1: but we already you know what I mean, it's locked
- 44:44Speaker 1: in for sure. Anything else you got that you're working on,
- 44:47Speaker 1: any any sort of anything that you want to man,
- 44:49Speaker 1: just with my new artists shooting visuals from the West Side.
- 44:52Speaker 1: We left three you just on the beach, which was Dobele,
- 44:55Speaker 1: Mike Kis Deep Thought, mars k Franklin. You know what
- 44:58Speaker 1: I mean. Check that out. Don't walk away with Quinn Miller.
- 45:01Speaker 1: I'm gonna shoot some of the solo videos now and
- 45:05Speaker 1: then twenty twenty two I'll be on the road for sure,
- 45:07Speaker 1: more new music. You know, I'm firting with the idea.
- 45:10Speaker 1: Obviously I dropped the t fly information, but just man,
- 45:13Speaker 1: I want to stay consistent with the music, you know,
- 45:16Speaker 1: as long until I'm done, just with that part of
- 45:18Speaker 1: my spirit, you know what I'm saying. And right now
- 45:21Speaker 1: I really feel like not that I rediscover something, but
- 45:24Speaker 1: it feels like you have though. Yeah, I mean, thank
- 45:27Speaker 1: you Kevi's I didn't want to say that. For a minute.
- 45:29Speaker 1: It felt like you weren't really like into this shit. Anymore. Yeah,
- 45:32Speaker 1: I mean it was a lot of factors, you know,
- 45:33Speaker 1: a little bit of what I touched on earlier about
- 45:35Speaker 1: the business side and just certain things when things, you know,
- 45:39Speaker 1: it gets like I don't want to say not being
- 45:43Speaker 1: into it, because I was always into writing songs and
- 45:46Speaker 1: making music and I do it about myself most of
- 45:48Speaker 1: the time. So what is it not to be into?
- 45:50Speaker 1: But just rediscovering that passion, you know what I'm saying,
- 45:55Speaker 1: and that initial mission statement, you know what I'm saying,
- 45:57Speaker 1: and having great friends and people that you know and
- 46:00Speaker 1: love like here boy, that to just remind you you
- 46:03Speaker 1: know what I'm saying and support you through it. And
- 46:05Speaker 1: that's initially, honestly why I thought it from the West
- 46:08Speaker 1: Side with Love three and why it's so important to me.
- 46:11Speaker 1: And just seeing a you know, the it's only been
- 46:14Speaker 1: out like not even two weeks, so just seeing the
- 46:16Speaker 1: initial you know, feedback just lets me know, like, Okay,
- 46:20Speaker 1: it is a lot on the table for us. And
- 46:23Speaker 1: it is a segment of just music in general, and
- 46:26Speaker 1: especially rap where it's like the conversations and the things
- 46:30Speaker 1: that I talk about in the music that I talk
- 46:32Speaker 1: about is necessary, you know what I'm saying. And it's avoiding.
- 46:35Speaker 1: I feel like it's my job to you know, shed
- 46:38Speaker 1: some light on that. No, you're definitely I feel like
- 46:40Speaker 1: you've been back in your bag the last couple of years. Man,
- 46:42Speaker 1: Thank you. So it's been great to see you. Can't
- 46:45Speaker 1: wait to hear the t FLA ship. Yeah. Now it's
- 46:48Speaker 1: gonna be do It's gonna be dope. Man, it's gonna
- 46:50Speaker 1: be on point, like we got we already got songs
- 46:52Speaker 1: I'm excited about, like sharing. That's why I feel, you know,
- 46:56Speaker 1: real good about the music that we making and even
- 46:59Speaker 1: saying that it and just honestly just us being It's
- 47:02Speaker 1: really about when as artists and friends that we all
- 47:06Speaker 1: see and eye to eye in in a great space
- 47:08Speaker 1: as human beings, you know what I'm saying. And that's
- 47:10Speaker 1: when I feel like in what I've seen, like you know,
- 47:13Speaker 1: not saying we all got to have a lot of
- 47:15Speaker 1: money or you know, so for it's just you know,
- 47:18Speaker 1: just real life. And I feel like that's happening right now.
- 47:21Speaker 1: And from the West Side, we love three. I feel
- 47:23Speaker 1: like it's definitely one of the reasons why, you know,
- 47:25Speaker 1: and I want to continue that. Well, look, go get
- 47:27Speaker 1: the album. That shit is Fire, Thank you man. I'm
- 47:30Speaker 1: sure more visuals are coming like yes, yes, so there'll
- 47:32Speaker 1: be some more visuals hopefully be hitting the road yeap
- 47:35Speaker 1: twenty twenty two. I'm looking forward to it, probably like springtime,
- 47:37Speaker 1: will be out there, a lot of special guests Fire,
- 47:40Speaker 1: you know what I mean. For sure, there it is, man,
- 47:42Speaker 1: Well look, thanks for pulling up man, Yes, sir