Latest / Eating While Broke / THE PROFESSOR - Stay Out The Kitchen
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: What's up? This is the professor. We're here on eating
- 0:03Speaker 1: while broke, and today I'm gonna break down my meal
- 0:06Speaker 1: that got me through a time when I was broken broke.
- 0:09Speaker 1: All right, So when I went broke late two thousand eight,
- 0:14Speaker 1: early two thousand nine, somewhere in there, I have a
- 0:17Speaker 1: lot of money, and I never really learned how to
- 0:18Speaker 1: cook either, So we had to make it work a
- 0:21Speaker 1: bare minimum, and we got the Tyson's Looney Tunes TV dinners. Okay,
- 0:27Speaker 1: now these earlier talking there's no nutritional value or anything
- 0:32Speaker 1: in these, but they got it done. You know, I
- 0:34Speaker 1: feel like the reason why you chose this was because
- 0:36Speaker 1: of the whole dessert. That was a big part. I mean,
- 0:39Speaker 1: I like est dinner on it was it was the cheapest.
- 0:43Speaker 1: You know, you got the Marie calendars, like the luxury
- 0:46Speaker 1: TV dinner you got. I don't know, hungry is a
- 0:49Speaker 1: hungry man? Yeah, the tyson the Looney Tune ones, you
- 0:55Speaker 1: know what I mean. Super cheap. So so I haven't
- 0:58Speaker 1: had a TV dinner in ages. So what do you
- 1:00Speaker 1: want to try and eat? First? So we everyone, we're
- 1:03Speaker 1: eating the chicken nuggets, mac and cheese corn and this
- 1:07Speaker 1: is supposed to be a brownie even everyone. Yeah, when
- 1:09Speaker 1: I got it back in the day, that was always
- 1:11Speaker 1: a big part of it was it was like, actually
- 1:12Speaker 1: a fudge brownie. This is kind of like a brownie
- 1:14Speaker 1: slopping stop. Probably still pretty good. Let let's try it.
- 1:18Speaker 1: Start with the nuggets. Let's start with the nuggets. Do
- 1:20Speaker 1: you do catch up? I'm going to try. And always
- 1:22Speaker 1: was your soggy on one side back in the day
- 1:25Speaker 1: too easily could have been let's do it. That was
- 1:29Speaker 1: my whole thing. Always like I didn't like to spending
- 1:30Speaker 1: time in a kitchen, you know what I mean, So
- 1:32Speaker 1: I'm always just trying to get it done. You didn't
- 1:34Speaker 1: try to get like a girlfriend and just feed you
- 1:38Speaker 1: in spurts. You get a girlfriend, you'll be like, what's
- 1:41Speaker 1: your cooking skills? Like spurts. It is why I got
- 1:44Speaker 1: kicked at the curb. You know. So you said back
- 1:47Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine, what
- 1:49Speaker 1: was the last time you actually ate this dish or
- 1:51Speaker 1: even stop for a TV dinner? Two thousand tens Probably
- 1:57Speaker 1: the last time at least this TV dinner. I might
- 2:00Speaker 1: have got a Marie coulendar, like if I was in
- 2:01Speaker 1: a road or something, like here and there, but yeah,
- 2:05Speaker 1: for the most part, like like being broke just to
- 2:07Speaker 1: make it work. Yeah yeah, yeah, definitely. Now what were
- 2:13Speaker 1: you going through at that time? Two and that's that's later. Yeah, So, um,
- 2:18Speaker 1: I started playing professionally for the and one mix stape
- 2:20Speaker 1: Tour two thousand three. The company the same day we
- 2:24Speaker 1: were on the cover of The Sports Illustrated two thousand
- 2:26Speaker 1: and six is the same day that the company actually
- 2:28Speaker 1: got bought out, and that was by Sequential or something. Right, Uh,
- 2:32Speaker 1: it's American Sporting Goods. But since then it's been bought
- 2:34Speaker 1: out three or four times, so the one you're saying
- 2:36Speaker 1: is probably somewhere along the line. But uh yeah, two
- 2:39Speaker 1: done six got bought out by American Sporting Goods. And
- 2:42Speaker 1: at the time, you know, I was only years old.
- 2:44Speaker 1: I don't even know what a company by. I didn't
- 2:46Speaker 1: even know what that is, first off, you know what
- 2:47Speaker 1: I mean. And then I didn't know how that would
- 2:49Speaker 1: affect business moving forward, you know. So I remember asking
- 2:53Speaker 1: one of my O G teammates. I was just like,
- 2:54Speaker 1: so we still we still got a job, we still
- 2:57Speaker 1: gonna play ball, and they're like yeah, So I was
- 2:58Speaker 1: like all right, cool and that's all I thought out
- 3:00Speaker 1: of it. But they I think they had two years
- 3:03Speaker 1: left on the production ESPN deal and they fulfilled that
- 3:07Speaker 1: and then after that the tour was over. They didn't
- 3:08Speaker 1: put any money into street Ball as their advertisement. But
- 3:12Speaker 1: I think what those owners didn't know and I think
- 3:14Speaker 1: rest in peace and they passed away since but they
- 3:16Speaker 1: didn't know that the company was based on street Ball,
- 3:19Speaker 1: you know. I mean that's what fuel of the whole thing.
- 3:21Speaker 1: So they tried to go like this traditional route where
- 3:23Speaker 1: it's like, uh, lower tier NBA players, which is who
- 3:27Speaker 1: they could afford at the time, right be you don't
- 3:29Speaker 1: have the Nike money lower tier NBA players uh to
- 3:32Speaker 1: to brigade the way. But it's just not the same
- 3:34Speaker 1: if you don't have superstars or like a niche like
- 3:37Speaker 1: how we had with the and One mixtape tour. It's
- 3:39Speaker 1: tough to survive in basketball, you know. Yeah, So when
- 3:42Speaker 1: you were doing the whole and One thing where they
- 3:45Speaker 1: breaking guys off, like was it like salaried or was
- 3:48Speaker 1: it like here's a sign on bonus manager money. Well,
- 3:52Speaker 1: so I think my first deal I ever signed, I
- 3:55Speaker 1: think with sixty I thought it was rich. You know,
- 3:59Speaker 1: I was eight team or no, I was actually seventeen
- 4:02Speaker 1: when I signed that deal, graduated young se that turned
- 4:07Speaker 1: eighteen like a couple months later or whatever. But yeah,
- 4:09Speaker 1: I thought my money wouldn't run out to move out
- 4:12Speaker 1: and get our own apartment. But what did your parents
- 4:14Speaker 1: say when you got that check? So my parents actually
- 4:17Speaker 1: fully supported everything. Um, I actually played one year junior
- 4:20Speaker 1: college and uh kind of had to decide whether I'm
- 4:24Speaker 1: gonna go back to school or play professionally. But they
- 4:27Speaker 1: knew that, like they had invested everything into my hoop dream,
- 4:31Speaker 1: you know, like like sneakers, trainers, clinics, camps and you Oh,
- 4:36Speaker 1: they supported me so heavy. That's the reason I am
- 4:38Speaker 1: doing what I do today. So I think they looked
- 4:41Speaker 1: at it like, hey, you know, this is an opportunity
- 4:43Speaker 1: to play pro. The funny thing is I actually barely
- 4:46Speaker 1: played college basketball. I got cut from three community colleges
- 4:49Speaker 1: and then I walked on to my local community college,
- 4:52Speaker 1: like the one I didn't want to go to because
- 4:53Speaker 1: I wanted to go out of town. Um. I always
- 4:56Speaker 1: had offensive skills, but I looked like I was like
- 4:57Speaker 1: twelve years old, and so I think a lot of
- 4:59Speaker 1: coaches it really trust me, like like from a defensive standpoint,
- 5:03Speaker 1: but it's kind of hard to imagine you're getting cut
- 5:06Speaker 1: at a community level though. That's the crazy part. Like
- 5:09Speaker 1: I had skills. I remember one of the community college
- 5:12Speaker 1: trials I went to. I remember I played like five
- 5:14Speaker 1: games and like I literally scored. We're playing games and
- 5:17Speaker 1: seven I was scored at least four or five buckets,
- 5:19Speaker 1: if not all each game. But they still wouldn't let
- 5:23Speaker 1: me get a shot. But literally, if you look at
- 5:25Speaker 1: somebody's twelve years old, it's hard for you as a
- 5:27Speaker 1: coach to say, this is my guy, but you're competing
- 5:30Speaker 1: at a community level at twelve, Like I just looked
- 5:34Speaker 1: like but but yeah, I was, you know, seventeen, trying
- 5:38Speaker 1: to trying to watch your your games you look yeah, yeah,
- 5:42Speaker 1: so just trying to get on And I think that
- 5:44Speaker 1: that's what made it tough. It's like what separates the
- 5:46Speaker 1: street baller from the NBA player. There's two different goals.
- 5:50Speaker 1: So so with street ball, obviously very competitive, you want
- 5:53Speaker 1: to win every game, but you know people are paying
- 5:56Speaker 1: to see an exhibition. You know, it's more about that
- 5:58Speaker 1: game there, So we want to like strip entertained the most.
- 6:00Speaker 1: So we're like kind of like shooting for the craziest highlight,
- 6:04Speaker 1: but we also want to win, whereas like the NBA,
- 6:07Speaker 1: it's really about efficiency. If somebody gets a highlight, that
- 6:10Speaker 1: happens by default. Yeah, do you think NBA is more
- 6:14Speaker 1: team player friendly in uh, street balls more like you said,
- 6:19Speaker 1: like more flashy, because I feel like street balls almost
- 6:21Speaker 1: like a form of art. But street ball in its
- 6:24Speaker 1: purest form is really just summertime basketball. It's really like
- 6:26Speaker 1: a summer pro am league. You know, guys that played overseas,
- 6:29Speaker 1: some college players, the best high school players in the
- 6:32Speaker 1: summers um would come play and it's just like a
- 6:34Speaker 1: way to get a run. It's just basketball in the summer.
- 6:36Speaker 1: There's less structured because coaches aren't really like putting their
- 6:39Speaker 1: all into summertime basketball. But then when when companies like
- 6:43Speaker 1: and One got involved, it really became about selling tickets
- 6:47Speaker 1: and making it about the exhibition. So we so we
- 6:50Speaker 1: amped up the highlights, you know what I mean. It
- 6:52Speaker 1: became more about the entertainment um. But I think it
- 6:56Speaker 1: was always a looser style game with showtime, even even
- 6:59Speaker 1: in pierst form before companies got involved. But I think
- 7:02Speaker 1: the stakes got hired. So it's like you strive to
- 7:05Speaker 1: put on more of a show. Yeah, you know, as
- 7:07Speaker 1: as like the ANI one Mix Safe Tour and things progressed. Yeah.
- 7:10Speaker 1: So you when do you when you start to run
- 7:14Speaker 1: out of the money, which is you know, now you're
- 7:18Speaker 1: getting consistent money. How many years were you getting the
- 7:20Speaker 1: consistent money? Yeah. My whole run from AND one from
- 7:24Speaker 1: two thousand three to two thousand eight probably made a
- 7:26Speaker 1: few million dollars and I spend it all, blew it off.
- 7:29Speaker 1: You didn't invest any of it. Um. When the recession
- 7:33Speaker 1: came two thousand nine, I'd take out my savings and
- 7:36Speaker 1: I was like living off the savings for a while,
- 7:37Speaker 1: and that ran lowd next to you know, that was
- 7:39Speaker 1: gone to Yeah, but but I didn't say yeah. I
- 7:43Speaker 1: didn't say well, I didn't have like a six figure
- 7:45Speaker 1: at the time, so it was like a little bit.
- 7:47Speaker 1: But yeah, then it was TV dinners and a lot
- 7:49Speaker 1: of people might not know this. For me to make
- 7:53Speaker 1: ends meet during two thousand nine, I actually kept a
- 7:56Speaker 1: box of like seventy five of my AND one jerseys,
- 7:59Speaker 1: like game jersey. I don't even know, like I gave
- 8:01Speaker 1: a good share away, but for some reason I would
- 8:03Speaker 1: always keep them often and do them a box, and
- 8:06Speaker 1: then I actually ended up selling them on eBay anonymously,
- 8:10Speaker 1: and I made ends me like that for about six months,
- 8:12Speaker 1: for more than six months because some of them were
- 8:14Speaker 1: they were going from like three to seven hundred dollars
- 8:17Speaker 1: a couple of thousand. So yeah, and you were personally
- 8:21Speaker 1: doing this personally. Yeah, I love to hear that. That's
- 8:24Speaker 1: how you know the struggle was real. It was really, Yeah,
- 8:27Speaker 1: it was real. I only kept like I think I
- 8:28Speaker 1: only kept two and one jersey, like my first one.
- 8:31Speaker 1: I had a game, win a shot in medicine square guard.
- 8:32Speaker 1: I kept that jersey and I kept my very first one.
- 8:35Speaker 1: Did you ever offer to like sign it for more?
- 8:37Speaker 1: Did you ever spill the tea that hate? This is
- 8:39Speaker 1: the Yeah. So what happened with the very first one
- 8:42Speaker 1: I uploaded? I didn't do it anonymously. It was like
- 8:44Speaker 1: asked me. You know, I was holding it, but then
- 8:46Speaker 1: I just like I was like I was like branding
- 8:47Speaker 1: wise and just don't look right, you know. I was
- 8:49Speaker 1: like in my room holding it up. Remember I told
- 8:52Speaker 1: some girls take the photo like this one. You know.
- 8:54Speaker 1: It's like when digital cameras first came out, photos like
- 8:58Speaker 1: Dusty Doll I was like, now you're gonna do this
- 8:59Speaker 1: no more? Or so because I saw other people were
- 9:01Speaker 1: selling the same jerseys. You know, they sounded like seven
- 9:04Speaker 1: hundred bucks, and I was like, oh, you don't need
- 9:05Speaker 1: a face to that. You know, maybe I could have
- 9:07Speaker 1: put a face when sold it for more, but I
- 9:09Speaker 1: wasn't about any risk at that time, like my hands smart,
- 9:12Speaker 1: make our money. You thought a short term and long
- 9:15Speaker 1: term and that you were like, so, then how did
- 9:18Speaker 1: you pivot out of the whole TV dinner state? Because
- 9:22Speaker 1: obviously it was the last time you ate this meal
- 9:25Speaker 1: l okay for sure, so you've you've pivoted out. What
- 9:30Speaker 1: was the pivot to get you out of the hole. Well,
- 9:32Speaker 1: two thousand nine was a pivotal a year for me
- 9:34Speaker 1: because I actually started my YouTube channel. So today I'm
- 9:37Speaker 1: most known for my YouTube channel social media. Yeah, praise guy.
- 9:42Speaker 1: I was looked out, but now at the time, yeah,
- 9:45Speaker 1: I started my YouTube channel. My whole YouTube channel became
- 9:48Speaker 1: business like overnight, I had a video did forty two
- 9:50Speaker 1: million views. You said overnight, but this was when YouTube
- 9:53Speaker 1: had first peaked. You jumped on right, Well, YouTube actually started,
- 9:57Speaker 1: so a lot of people know YouTube started two thousand four. Yeah,
- 10:00Speaker 1: YouTube started, oh four, I wish it would start. Reverend started.
- 10:03Speaker 1: But then by about two thousand nine, I actually knew
- 10:07Speaker 1: five people who were making ten grand a month on YouTube,
- 10:09Speaker 1: and so I remember I asked, when you know you
- 10:11Speaker 1: can you show me how to do it or whatever?
- 10:12Speaker 1: I end up signed with this agency. He showed me
- 10:15Speaker 1: a few things, and then uh about had some viral
- 10:19Speaker 1: content like this. This one video did six million views
- 10:21Speaker 1: in a week. And then my channel with remember I
- 10:23Speaker 1: had seventeen thousand views and it went from seventeen thousand
- 10:27Speaker 1: to six hundred fifty thousand subscribers in one week. Yeah,
- 10:32Speaker 1: it was like a business overnight. Literally, So you were like,
- 10:36Speaker 1: and then what was it like in at first check? Now?
- 10:38Speaker 1: It it it was YouTube that sents you to check right Google? Google?
- 10:42Speaker 1: Were you? Were you shocked? Did they call you and
- 10:44Speaker 1: tell you it wasn't just a check arrives in your mailbox?
- 10:46Speaker 1: You're like, what is this? Oh? Just check arrives? You know,
- 10:49Speaker 1: I mean their payroll If you look at Google's payrolls
- 10:52Speaker 1: and nuts like, I have five point five million subs
- 10:54Speaker 1: and I'm like the biggest channel on YouTube. Ye up,
- 11:00Speaker 1: So but what was it like in that check. Getting
- 11:02Speaker 1: the check as thrilled, you know. I mean I was
- 11:04Speaker 1: learning some hood department in a Canoga park and you know,
- 11:08Speaker 1: still kind of trying to make ends meet. We had
- 11:09Speaker 1: we had a we had a salary deal with ball up,
- 11:12Speaker 1: so it was like stinny, you know. I mean I
- 11:14Speaker 1: was actually comfortable at the time, but check was nice. Yeah,
- 11:17Speaker 1: And I'm so you handled your money and looked at
- 11:19Speaker 1: everything so much more differently. Oh man, Yeah, I learned.
- 11:22Speaker 1: You learned a lot losing a few million dollars you should,
- 11:25Speaker 1: you know, So I learned a lot with that, and
- 11:28Speaker 1: uh yeah, I just saved. I don't even know that
- 11:31Speaker 1: I really explurged on any that. I probably aoust clothes
- 11:33Speaker 1: in there, but that was about it. Yeah. So there
- 11:37Speaker 1: was no like real dark moment where you were like
- 11:40Speaker 1: almost like I've had moments where I've like literally called
- 11:43Speaker 1: on her desk and called a mentor like, oh, this
- 11:45Speaker 1: company's it's done, it's going it's going down, and I'm
- 11:49Speaker 1: going down with it. Like yeah, it was dark. I
- 11:52Speaker 1: mean he got really dark. My best friend actually passed away.
- 11:55Speaker 1: He was he was my teammate. He was he was
- 11:57Speaker 1: like this big dude actually had a heart attack, rescue,
- 12:00Speaker 1: peace of my homie escalates. So um, yeah, for me,
- 12:04Speaker 1: like with that whole his death, me gonna broke. That's
- 12:07Speaker 1: definitely like a pivotal time in my life for sure.
- 12:10Speaker 1: Did you go into the feel sorry for yourself mode?
- 12:14Speaker 1: And I hate to say that but for lack of
- 12:15Speaker 1: better word, And then like what was the thing that
- 12:18Speaker 1: carried you out of the storm? Um? I mean for me,
- 12:22Speaker 1: it's like a faith thing, you know what I mean.
- 12:23Speaker 1: I actually actually became Christian at his funeral. At his funeral,
- 12:28Speaker 1: so that was that was big for me. Um. And
- 12:31Speaker 1: then yeah, I think there's probably like feeling sorry for
- 12:33Speaker 1: myself and they kind of like wondered how opportunity, how
- 12:37Speaker 1: I learned, like how fleeting fame could be, you know
- 12:39Speaker 1: what I mean. It's like I used to have hired
- 12:41Speaker 1: security with that one if I would go to like
- 12:43Speaker 1: a basketball event or like something like that, and then
- 12:46Speaker 1: what I would go to basketball events after and one
- 12:48Speaker 1: ended like one person might recognize me maybe, And that
- 12:52Speaker 1: taught me a lot of it was just like what
- 12:53Speaker 1: And then I was just shocked because I always get
- 12:56Speaker 1: calls for you know, bookings and games, and the companies
- 12:59Speaker 1: call me. I'm like, well, there's too many things to do.
- 13:02Speaker 1: I can't find hardly anything from work other than like
- 13:05Speaker 1: maybe like training somebody for an hour and showing some
- 13:07Speaker 1: ball him and stuff, which I you know, going from
- 13:09Speaker 1: like TV show fame, you don't really want to be
- 13:11Speaker 1: a trainer. Yes, So I have to ask and I
- 13:16Speaker 1: have to go there. So you know, when you think
- 13:20Speaker 1: of balling and street balling, you think black people. You know.
- 13:25Speaker 1: I have to ask though, Like you know, I'm sure
- 13:27Speaker 1: you've heard people compare you to like the Eminem of
- 13:29Speaker 1: basketball maybe my whole life. How did that make you feel? Oh? Um?
- 13:37Speaker 1: I just had like a sense of gratitude because I
- 13:40Speaker 1: worked so hard at basketball for so long, and you know,
- 13:45Speaker 1: come eighteen years old, didn't look like it was gonna
- 13:47Speaker 1: pay off, you know, but all all of a sudden
- 13:49Speaker 1: that you know, preparation meets opportunity moment happened for me,
- 13:54Speaker 1: you know, to be able to plan and make same
- 13:55Speaker 1: tour and then so whatever came after that, I don't
- 13:57Speaker 1: even care. I was just I was just grateful to
- 13:59Speaker 1: have have a gig then have like an audience. You know,
- 14:01Speaker 1: so they say eminem street ball or I mean technically
- 14:05Speaker 1: eminem is one of the greatest rappers of all time. Like,
- 14:08Speaker 1: you can't say you're top ten in hip hop without
- 14:11Speaker 1: saying eminem. You forget eminem. You quickly go back and
- 14:15Speaker 1: you say, wait, wait, let me swap out somebody else.
- 14:18Speaker 1: So to be compared to someone that can handle that industry,
- 14:22Speaker 1: it's it's it is a huge compliment. Oh yeah, I
- 14:26Speaker 1: consider a compliment blessing growing up beyond repeat repeat, Yeah, yeah,
- 14:33Speaker 1: I mean for me, yeah, I was always trying to
- 14:34Speaker 1: just resting gratitude for the opportunity to So what is
- 14:44Speaker 1: the one lesson that you've learned from like when you started,
- 14:48Speaker 1: So like a lesson that you carried to date, or
- 14:51Speaker 1: even just one pivotal lesson that you carry with you
- 14:54Speaker 1: that you always tell yourself you always have to reprove yourself.
- 14:59Speaker 1: So like a lot of times people will talk to me, now, man,
- 15:02Speaker 1: you're a legend, you know what I mean, Like you've
- 15:04Speaker 1: done it, you know. But the funny thing is, every
- 15:07Speaker 1: time you're in a game or a situation, you always
- 15:10Speaker 1: have to like reprove yourself for that to keep going.
- 15:13Speaker 1: So I've had a career like eighteen years long, but
- 15:15Speaker 1: it was always a series of like ups and downs
- 15:17Speaker 1: like a big roller coaster, but always have to like
- 15:20Speaker 1: reprove yourself that you belong in that slot, you know,
- 15:23Speaker 1: similar to like eminem right, he had like crappy album
- 15:25Speaker 1: to three albums ago slander and hate, but then he
- 15:29Speaker 1: like bounced back with the okay, solid one and then
- 15:31Speaker 1: he had like a banger and now back to the legend.
- 15:34Speaker 1: You know what I mean, it's always a roller coaster.
- 15:36Speaker 1: So I think always knowing that you have to re
- 15:40Speaker 1: reprove yourself again and again it's good for like longevity.
- 15:43Speaker 1: But when you think about m or you or you know,
- 15:46Speaker 1: like people hear the professor are like, oh, oh, we
- 15:49Speaker 1: know who that is. You know, so it's like to
- 15:52Speaker 1: see to see reinvent yourself or what did you say
- 15:55Speaker 1: was read always had to reprove yourself yourself. Yeah, I
- 15:58Speaker 1: think always staying dedicated craft and having that preparation is
- 16:01Speaker 1: the way you can bring out like you said that
- 16:03Speaker 1: diamonds there. It takes. It takes hardwork and dedication all
- 16:07Speaker 1: the way through. You can never feel like I made
- 16:08Speaker 1: it and kick your feet up. Yeah, you know, that's
- 16:10Speaker 1: that's kind of the truth. But what do you say
- 16:12Speaker 1: to the kid that you know Aspires loves basketball. Either
- 16:17Speaker 1: he's too short or he's too you know, he's just
- 16:20Speaker 1: he doesn't have the skills quite yet. And you know,
- 16:24Speaker 1: right now it's like he's getting past on every team.
- 16:27Speaker 1: Do you know what can you say to that kid
- 16:29Speaker 1: that's like, don't you know? What I would say is
- 16:33Speaker 1: there is no such thing it's too short. It's just
- 16:35Speaker 1: that the smaller and height and the and the less
- 16:37Speaker 1: strength you have, the more skilled you'll have to be.
- 16:40Speaker 1: That's a general rule. So there's no sense. So when
- 16:43Speaker 1: parents will often say, oh, little Mike, he's trying to
- 16:47Speaker 1: make it, but he's too short, I'll be like I would,
- 16:52Speaker 1: but I was watching, but it was like, how tall, Lizzy.
- 16:54Speaker 1: You know it's nice? Right, So so yeah, you you
- 16:57Speaker 1: can be short, but a lot of skills the will
- 17:00Speaker 1: have to come into that. But I would say, you know,
- 17:02Speaker 1: persistence of sticking with some something is huge. I think
- 17:05Speaker 1: Jay Z had a good quote. They asked him, they
- 17:07Speaker 1: were like, what's the most genius thing you ever did?
- 17:09Speaker 1: And he just said like he never gave up. And
- 17:12Speaker 1: I think that's big because office people who stick with
- 17:15Speaker 1: something the longest end up winning because everybody's always kind
- 17:18Speaker 1: of like trying to find where they fit in or
- 17:19Speaker 1: what they want to do. But people try things out
- 17:21Speaker 1: and they go do something else. They try things out
- 17:24Speaker 1: something else, whether it's like you know, whether in viteography, music, sports,
- 17:28Speaker 1: or anything like. If you can actually just stick with
- 17:29Speaker 1: it consistently home the craft, then you might find a
- 17:32Speaker 1: lot of success. But it might be way down the road.
- 17:35Speaker 1: So for that kid who's getting cut from his team
- 17:37Speaker 1: or not not sitting right now, I would just encourage
- 17:41Speaker 1: if it's your passion and you have fun and you
- 17:42Speaker 1: love doing it, I would say, oh, definitely stick with it,
- 17:44Speaker 1: you know, because there's opportunities even now with YouTube. The
- 17:48Speaker 1: YouTube basketball communities like a building thing. So technically if
- 17:51Speaker 1: you couldn't play college, you couldn't play pro, there might
- 17:53Speaker 1: actually be a slot for you. Just depends, like if
- 17:56Speaker 1: you can get an audience, you know what I mean.
- 17:58Speaker 1: So to get your ball handling skills at the level
- 18:00Speaker 1: that you have yours, because I would never even dream sure,
- 18:04Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna go. I would never even dream
- 18:06Speaker 1: of trying to go up against anybody with your ball
- 18:10Speaker 1: handling skills. But um, to get them at that level,
- 18:14Speaker 1: what do you take on? Like the hardest player and
- 18:17Speaker 1: say mentor me, or like, how do you get those skills?
- 18:22Speaker 1: While you answer that, I'll eat a nugget. I think
- 18:24Speaker 1: elite training is actually very important. So I had a
- 18:27Speaker 1: great trainer round in fifth grade. Shout out to Rodney Howard.
- 18:32Speaker 1: He taught me some really foundational ball handling skills, what
- 18:37Speaker 1: literally what I wasn't like. Actually the fourth grade first
- 18:40Speaker 1: taught me like in and out, in and out crossing,
- 18:42Speaker 1: you tell me, like the Allen Iverson Crossover. And I
- 18:44Speaker 1: mastered to Allen Iverson Crossover when I was in fifth grade,
- 18:48Speaker 1: and I could like cross grown Man, Like I was
- 18:49Speaker 1: literally as tall as this table right here, but I
- 18:51Speaker 1: could like cross grown Man and like crowds would go crazy.
- 18:54Speaker 1: So having that elite training at a young age was big.
- 18:58Speaker 1: You think the younger the better. I think, no, no, no.
- 19:01Speaker 1: I think if you're like super little, you should just
- 19:03Speaker 1: learned to like the game, because if you're gonna make
- 19:05Speaker 1: it, it it needs to be your passion. You need to
- 19:06Speaker 1: really enjoy just just the whole culture of it, you know,
- 19:09Speaker 1: playing the game everything. So I learned to just enjoy.
- 19:12Speaker 1: I think by about middle school you should try to
- 19:14Speaker 1: get some elite training the cool thing is if your
- 19:16Speaker 1: parents can't afford it. What's what's different now than when
- 19:20Speaker 1: I was growing up. It's like everything is that your fingertips.
- 19:22Speaker 1: Like all the tools for greatness in anything is really
- 19:24Speaker 1: like on YouTube itself. You know, like if you want
- 19:27Speaker 1: to be a great basketball player, there's no instructions you
- 19:30Speaker 1: go get this, not on YouTube, Like, but if you
- 19:32Speaker 1: pay a trainer, you know, you get in one one
- 19:34Speaker 1: spots like proven school. But I'd say for the kids
- 19:38Speaker 1: who can't afford trainers longer on YouTube and just like
- 19:40Speaker 1: emulate great players. There's players in the NBA now who
- 19:43Speaker 1: didn't have great training when they were younger. They just
- 19:45Speaker 1: the craft, but they can play amongst themselves. You still
- 19:49Speaker 1: have to go up against someone that's like a really
- 19:50Speaker 1: good defense, right, Oh totally. I mean you gotta play
- 19:53Speaker 1: a lot, you know, I was encouraged people get a
- 19:55Speaker 1: lot of one on ones, a lot of two on two,
- 19:58Speaker 1: a lot of five five, play whenever you can. And
- 20:00Speaker 1: then you know, if you have the opportunity to play
- 20:02Speaker 1: with great players who are way better new than you
- 20:04Speaker 1: know it. Yeah, I'd say you always need a good balance.
- 20:08Speaker 1: Some people will say always play with better players, but
- 20:10Speaker 1: if you keep getting your butt kicked all the time,
- 20:12Speaker 1: it's not always good. You need a balance. You need
- 20:14Speaker 1: like guys who you feel like you can you're at
- 20:16Speaker 1: the same level. You can put in working and then
- 20:18Speaker 1: also play with the elite players who kind of like
- 20:20Speaker 1: bust you up because you learned a lot from that.
- 20:22Speaker 1: That's what I always did. It was like a good balance.
- 20:24Speaker 1: And I've seen you do other interviews where you talk
- 20:26Speaker 1: about heart and all that stuff. To have heart in
- 20:28Speaker 1: those moments, I think it's really about preparation. You know,
- 20:31Speaker 1: how can you trust yourself taking the game when he
- 20:32Speaker 1: shot in the fourth quarter if you didn't put the
- 20:35Speaker 1: work in. But if you feel so prepared and it's
- 20:37Speaker 1: like you feel like you know you put in all
- 20:39Speaker 1: this time, then I think you're more likely to trust
- 20:42Speaker 1: yourself in those big moments. And then that will come
- 20:44Speaker 1: out and people like, oh he had heart, But I
- 20:46Speaker 1: think a lot of it was just like preparation. He
- 20:48Speaker 1: was ready for the moment. Did you ever end up
- 20:49Speaker 1: getting to meet Alan Iverson? I actually got to play
- 20:53Speaker 1: with Alan Iverson twelve um. There was like an exhibition
- 20:56Speaker 1: tour in China and he played three games with us. Yeah,
- 21:00Speaker 1: it was a great time. Yeah, like what, oh it
- 21:04Speaker 1: was awesome. I mean I remember seeing the flyer. They
- 21:07Speaker 1: sent us a flyer just be an email before the event.
- 21:09Speaker 1: It was like me and my homie Bone Collector and
- 21:11Speaker 1: then Ai, you know, pick picture Ai on there and
- 21:13Speaker 1: I was just like, man, that's a trip, because you know, hey,
- 21:15Speaker 1: I was my first well Michael Jordan was my first inspiration,
- 21:18Speaker 1: but hey, I was right there. He was the player.
- 21:20Speaker 1: I felt like I could relate to the books. Being
- 21:22Speaker 1: a small guy, you know, I could play like he played.
- 21:24Speaker 1: So for that to come full circle and get to
- 21:27Speaker 1: play with them as it's pretty cool. Yeah. He was
- 21:29Speaker 1: super cool. You know when we sat around, like in
- 21:31Speaker 1: our off time, he hung out with us. You know,
- 21:33Speaker 1: you didn't have to, you know, but like now he
- 21:35Speaker 1: hung out with just talk hoops and shared some like
- 21:37Speaker 1: you know, he shared some legendary stories behind the scenes.
- 21:41Speaker 1: But now it was cool. He shows his love. Like
- 21:42Speaker 1: every time I see Allen, he'll go out of his
- 21:44Speaker 1: way to be like, oh, what's up, my bro? You know, yeah,
- 21:47Speaker 1: so who has better ball handling hot sauce or Allen Iverson? Who?
- 21:55Speaker 1: You know? This is tough because they're both these are
- 21:56Speaker 1: both some of my idols. You know, a lot of
- 21:59Speaker 1: people actually think that like Hot Sauce and I are
- 22:01Speaker 1: like the same era, like rivals. The truth is House
- 22:04Speaker 1: ten years older than me. So like when I when
- 22:06Speaker 1: I was in high school, Hot Sauce like emulating, you
- 22:10Speaker 1: know what I mean. By the time I got on
- 22:11Speaker 1: a mixtape tour, uh, you know, then he's like my teammate. Book,
- 22:16Speaker 1: But to get on we had to kind of like
- 22:17Speaker 1: go back and forth. Um, so yeah, that's tell that's
- 22:22Speaker 1: my two idols right there. And and to be honest,
- 22:24Speaker 1: I can't even really say one no, no, you don't
- 22:27Speaker 1: get to the interview does not end. That's why we
- 22:31Speaker 1: made sure that these questions were extremely tough, and we
- 22:35Speaker 1: know that everyone's gonna have something to say about the
- 22:37Speaker 1: answer to this question. If I had to say, who's
- 22:39Speaker 1: better in the Hall of Fame, yeah, I think so
- 22:46Speaker 1: you're you're you're in the On the basketball court, you
- 22:48Speaker 1: have to line up your team, you have to choose
- 22:50Speaker 1: between the two. Well, it's different levels, you know what
- 22:52Speaker 1: I mean. So yeah, I would go with Allen Iverson.
- 22:54Speaker 1: But but I do believe that like some my teammates
- 22:56Speaker 1: like House, Sauce and them below in the Hall of
- 22:58Speaker 1: Fame too, and my personal pain. Yeah, so and maybe
- 23:00Speaker 1: they will I don't know, but they're both idle, so
- 23:03Speaker 1: not taking anything away from So for the for the records,
- 23:06Speaker 1: you're gonna nervous. Okay, who from the NBA would be
- 23:10Speaker 1: a great street baller? Oh, Kyrie Irving. Everybody thought you
- 23:16Speaker 1: were going to say that. Behind the scenes, they were
- 23:17Speaker 1: all gonna say, Steph Curry, Yeah, I feel like it's
- 23:21Speaker 1: such a great shooter. But ball Hanley Wise, you think, oh,
- 23:25Speaker 1: you're a great ball handley skills too, Yeah, for sure,
- 23:28Speaker 1: I think um Trey Young Jamal Crawford's not in me
- 23:33Speaker 1: this year, but he would be a great There's a
- 23:36Speaker 1: lot of guys, but yeah, I mean Kyrie Irving, you know,
- 23:41Speaker 1: one of the most skilled players of all time. Yeah,
- 23:45Speaker 1: who would you like to play one on one in
- 23:47Speaker 1: the NBA? Who? Um? You know what? People always say that,
- 23:52Speaker 1: but like I would A lot of some guys who
- 23:56Speaker 1: don't make the NBA can't wait to play somebody one
- 23:58Speaker 1: on one because they want to like prove how good
- 24:00Speaker 1: they are. But like it's not really about that for me.
- 24:03Speaker 1: I mean, like I know how I met up with
- 24:04Speaker 1: the NBA. You know I fly, I worked out with
- 24:06Speaker 1: NBA players, play nexhibition game. How do you feel you
- 24:09Speaker 1: match up? Oh? Good? I like, here's the thing as
- 24:13Speaker 1: a competitor, if you're lacing them up and you're an
- 24:15Speaker 1: elite hooper, like you should never not think you're going
- 24:18Speaker 1: to perform well and now but like I'm going back
- 24:20Speaker 1: and forth, like I'm saying I was dominating, but but yeah,
- 24:24Speaker 1: we're gonna get moves off. I would say, I would say,
- 24:27Speaker 1: like Lebron, it would be cool to play one, like
- 24:30Speaker 1: I'll just like see how he holds me defensively fun
- 24:34Speaker 1: N six nine, you would go up against Lebron, well,
- 24:38Speaker 1: not not in efference to say, like, I'd like to
- 24:42Speaker 1: feel the defense. Though I think I get moves off off.
- 24:46Speaker 1: You think, well, I'm not saying to win, but yeah,
- 24:48Speaker 1: shake somebody and score. I don't think anybody could stop
- 24:52Speaker 1: me a whole game and not get any moves off
- 24:54Speaker 1: the score. I think we need to make a personal
- 24:59Speaker 1: we want to see the and maybe Lebron could do
- 25:02Speaker 1: it right. I ain't never played that good of a finger,
- 25:04Speaker 1: you know. I think if you were to like do
- 25:07Speaker 1: a video of you versus Lebron, it would probably go
- 25:12Speaker 1: to like one of the most viral video the Internet. Yeah, yeah,
- 25:16Speaker 1: I love they need a great you know Lebron steph Kyree.
- 25:19Speaker 1: Just be fun just to see how that goes down.
- 25:21Speaker 1: But like, I don't think I could beat any of
- 25:23Speaker 1: those three, but I think it gets moves off to see. Yeah, yeah, definitely.
- 25:28Speaker 1: If I had to choose the sport, it would only
- 25:30Speaker 1: be basketball. I like that. Yeah, Um, I would hope
- 25:37Speaker 1: so and then uh, but if I had to choose
- 25:40Speaker 1: a team, no loyalty to the market or anything, I
- 25:43Speaker 1: always will say Golden State because they have the clay,
- 25:46Speaker 1: they have, they have stuff, they have everybody that would
- 25:50Speaker 1: be entertaining and they're all just on one squad. So yeah,
- 25:56Speaker 1: especially man so good change the game of basketball. And
- 25:59Speaker 1: when you watch some they kind of do fall off,
- 26:01Speaker 1: And I'm all about the hero's journey hence eating while broke,
- 26:05Speaker 1: and I feel like when you watch Golden State, they
- 26:07Speaker 1: always have like they fall off in the middle of
- 26:10Speaker 1: the game and they always come back right the true
- 26:14Speaker 1: story and even now with the injuries, you'll be a
- 26:16Speaker 1: ridder with the injuries, they've kind of like fallen off,
- 26:18Speaker 1: like they're only like one superstar away from being right
- 26:21Speaker 1: back to title contenders you know, exactly know the next
- 26:24Speaker 1: couple of years, get healthy, acquired another Star championship exactly.
- 26:29Speaker 1: Thank you so much for taking time out of your
- 26:32Speaker 1: busy schedule to bless us with a TV dinner dinner dinner. Yeah,
- 26:41Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I couldn't pick out a more high end
- 26:44Speaker 1: uh we had, you know what, So thank you, Professor
- 26:52Speaker 1: for another episode of Eating While Broke. For more Eating
- 26:55Speaker 1: while Broke from I Heart Radio and The Black Effect,
- 26:58Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, app, a podcast, or
- 27:00Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Eating while Broken, Broke, Broke,