Speaker 1: What's going on? Guys? This is your boy Yeasy bust.
Speaker 1: So welcome back to another episode of Legit Check, the
Speaker 1: best sneaker podcast in the world. Of course it's self proclaimed,
Speaker 1: not dissing anybody else, but anyway, I am here today
Speaker 1: with my boy Blake a KA my manager a k A.
Speaker 1: My brother, my boy Homie, and sadly we didn't have
Speaker 1: a guest today because we have no friends. But anyway,
Speaker 1: I wanted to have Blake come on the show and
Speaker 1: kind of speak his mind about a few things that
Speaker 1: obviously that I am in the business of on the
Speaker 1: counterfeit side of everything, and he did like a full
Speaker 1: deep dive on the whole counterfeit hype and how actually,
Speaker 1: like legally it's a huge thing. I didn't know that
Speaker 1: it was on such a large scale. I didn't know
Speaker 1: that sneakers were like such a huge part of the
Speaker 1: counterfeit industry. But anyway, before we jump into that, go ahead, Blake,
Speaker 1: introduce yourself was going on? Guys, my name is Blake
Speaker 1: Rasco and I am filling in for an FBI agent today.
Speaker 1: That's what's up. Yeah, yeah, because we can't have them
Speaker 1: on because we get in trouble right. But yeah, so,
Speaker 1: so Blake, tell us a little bit first of all,
Speaker 1: you know, tell us a little bit about yourself. You know,
Speaker 1: even maybe a few things that I might not know
Speaker 1: before we like really take a deep dive, because you know,
Speaker 1: maybe people would want to know, like the type of
Speaker 1: people I work with. For sure. Thanks for having me today.
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you, thank you for always being here.
Speaker 1: You're always sitting right there. I am. I've always listening
Speaker 1: to come on the show. Yes, thank you. So a
Speaker 1: little bit about me. I'm from Virginia Beach, Virginia, the
Speaker 1: home of the clips, Farrell, Timmerlyn, Missy. You know a
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of musicians from there. Actually, Allen
Speaker 1: Iverson's from there too, and then there's me. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: I grew up there. You know, I was always inspired
Speaker 1: by like the fashion industry by way of Farrell. You know,
Speaker 1: he was kind of an icon, always has been, right.
Speaker 1: I think other people have referenced him on the show before. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there was this there was this shop that opened up
Speaker 1: in in my hometown called Commonwealth back when I was
Speaker 1: growing up. And I think you probably know about that shop. No, okay,
Speaker 1: they have one, and they have one to night time.
Speaker 1: They won Philippines, one in d C and one of
Speaker 1: Virginia Beach. Yeah, and froll Fro helped to start it.
Speaker 1: And it was like the first like hype store I'd
Speaker 1: ever been to. And it was back when like Crooks
Speaker 1: and Castle and all that stuff was like really popping.
Speaker 1: And they always had like all the all the newest
Speaker 1: dunks and all kinds of crazy ship. So I was
Speaker 1: kind of like my intro into the whole world. You know.
Speaker 1: They carried ice cream, they carried BBC before you can
Speaker 1: find it anywhere, you know. But yeah, I grew up there,
Speaker 1: and then when I left Virginia, I went to Atlanta
Speaker 1: and went to school at a little place called Moore House.
Speaker 1: And while I was in school, you know, my my
Speaker 1: parents were like obviously pushing me to become a lawyer
Speaker 1: or a doctor, all the all the things that that
Speaker 1: parents push you to do. Right, we're supposed to this.
Speaker 1: This this is the theme, guys, if you haven't noticed. Yes,
Speaker 1: I love you, guys. And you know I was doing
Speaker 1: that whole thing. I was studying to go to law school.
Speaker 1: I was taking the LS at I even got an
Speaker 1: offer to work at Barclay's Capital, which is an investment bank,
Speaker 1: pretty big investment out of London. Out of London, and
Speaker 1: I interviewed, they flew me to New York. And between
Speaker 1: that and like studying for the l side and possibly
Speaker 1: going to law school, it all just felt super fucking empty.
Speaker 1: And I walked into that office in New York and
Speaker 1: it was like, Man, this sucks, and they're gonna offer
Speaker 1: me like probably like a hundred fifty thousand out of college,
Speaker 1: which is a lot out of college, right, and for
Speaker 1: that summer, I think I would have gotten like dirty
Speaker 1: k or something like that. And I decided to take
Speaker 1: an unpaid internship at ASCAP, which is a performing rights organization.
Speaker 1: That's where they like collect all the all the royalties
Speaker 1: and the money and all the times music has been played.
Speaker 1: Because I wanted to be in the music industry. I
Speaker 1: wanted to get into entertainment. That was my goal, you know,
Speaker 1: in school. But I was kind of in the back
Speaker 1: of my head. I thought it was a dream, thought
Speaker 1: it was something that could never happen, you know. I
Speaker 1: didn't really know anyone that could help me do that.
Speaker 1: But randomly met this lady who worked there. She helped
Speaker 1: me to get an internship and the rest is kind
Speaker 1: of history. After that, like did that internship, came back
Speaker 1: to school, told my parents I was going to law school.
Speaker 1: And then by the time I was a senior in
Speaker 1: college and I didn't have a job, and I was like, Mom, Dad,
Speaker 1: I moving in to l A. So I packed up
Speaker 1: my car, moved to l A. And then you know,
Speaker 1: my journey began on like surfing couches, trying to figure
Speaker 1: it out finding jobs. I worked at this like small
Speaker 1: little marketing agency, and then from there I grew to
Speaker 1: work for like this agency called William Morris Endeavor, which
Speaker 1: like basically is the hub or the home for all
Speaker 1: of like the stars, but William Morris is the one
Speaker 1: I worked at, And I worked in television and television department,
Speaker 1: and I transitioned from working there to working in production,
Speaker 1: worked on like the Kardashians, probably growing away the real world.
Speaker 1: The challenge helped to pitch a couple of shows to MTV.
Speaker 1: Then I worked for this guy named Mark Burnett who
Speaker 1: started the Voice the Apprentice Shark Tank Survivor. Work for
Speaker 1: him for a couple of years, learned that game, and
Speaker 1: then while I was there, I always like still thinking
Speaker 1: about the music industry and then through my connections that
Speaker 1: I made, Like when I first got to l a uh,
Speaker 1: a friend of mine was working for this company that
Speaker 1: was managing John Legend and she was like, what do
Speaker 1: you want to do? And I was like, I really
Speaker 1: want to be a music management or being in management.
Speaker 1: And then that was when I kind of started getting
Speaker 1: into like the management thing, and she uh helped me
Speaker 1: to get a job there and that became John Legends
Speaker 1: day to day manager. Did that for a while and
Speaker 1: then I started working with you. That's what's up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm much happier now. I appreciate that. Man, All that
Speaker 1: was definitely you know, everything that you like I been
Speaker 1: through and everything that you've accomplished is definitely well deserved obviously,
Speaker 1: Like you know, I appreciate everything you've done for me.
Speaker 1: Like you know that, you know that I say that
Speaker 1: sometimes I'm not sure. Now you know that, you know
Speaker 1: that I'm make it very apparent. But yeah, So make
Speaker 1: sure you guys check out my boy Blake. Come on,
Speaker 1: bro shout out your Instagram. You have to. Oh, you
Speaker 1: gotta drop the Instagram. Check me out at Bogan boy,
Speaker 1: at b O U g A I n b O
Speaker 1: y boy. I always wondered, what what does that mean?
Speaker 1: What does bogan mean? Okay, I'm glad you ys that.
Speaker 1: So the bogan via is this flower that you see
Speaker 1: all over California. It grows in Greece. It grows in
Speaker 1: Brazil flower exactly. It's few shuts, purple, sometimes white, sometimes yellow,
Speaker 1: different colors, right, But like, I've never seen it before
Speaker 1: until I moved to l A. And I kept seeing
Speaker 1: it everywhere. Like you're driving driving down the highway, there's
Speaker 1: actually on the one on one there's like a there's
Speaker 1: like a heart shaped like like wall. It creates like
Speaker 1: a heart on some wall and the one one. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you ever seen that anyway, So, like
Speaker 1: I keep seeing this flower, I'm like, what the hell
Speaker 1: is this? It's like, this is cool, like I've never
Speaker 1: seen before. And I looked it up and I started
Speaker 1: researching it. And it turns out that this flower is
Speaker 1: like basically like a very resilient plant. It can grow
Speaker 1: in many different conditions and so depending on the environment
Speaker 1: it grows in, it will become a vine, a tree
Speaker 1: or bush or whatever like whatever the environment is, it'll
Speaker 1: it'll mold to that. And if you and if you've
Speaker 1: ever noticed this plant. You'll see, like it could be
Speaker 1: like a big bush in front of someone's house, or
Speaker 1: just a vine growing upside house or whatever, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. So I don't know. I just started
Speaker 1: thinking about that and like I'm into nature and all that,
Speaker 1: and I was like a versatile being a versatile plant,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm a versatile human. That's what's up, dude,
Speaker 1: that that's sick. I had no idea. I always wonder
Speaker 1: how to pronounce that, like I would say, Boogan, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the Brazilian Yeah, I think, but we say
Speaker 1: I think that's dope. That's that's actually really sick. I
Speaker 1: I had no idea. Okay, we'll make sure you guys
Speaker 1: go follow him. So let's take a second here and
Speaker 1: like talk about kind of like the stuff that you
Speaker 1: were telling me about, like in all these articles about
Speaker 1: the whole counterfeit industry. So yeah, something that kind of
Speaker 1: came to your attention that you told me about was
Speaker 1: the fact that a lot of people think that people
Speaker 1: buy fake stuff on accident, but in reality, according to
Speaker 1: the statue you showed me that they did a survey
Speaker 1: and it's six people buy fake stuff purse purpose. Yes,
Speaker 1: I think that it's probably a little bit more. I
Speaker 1: would say it's closer to because, like we were saying,
Speaker 1: I feel like it's totally something that's almost a taboo
Speaker 1: to say that you have something fake or or intentionally
Speaker 1: bought something that was fake, or maybe they just didn't
Speaker 1: want to get in trouble. So it's illegal. Yeah, at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, right, I guess, I guess.
Speaker 1: I mean I got grilled for this. I guess it's
Speaker 1: not illegal to own fake stuff. I guess it's just
Speaker 1: illegal to buy it. Wait, no, is it illegal to
Speaker 1: buy it? Is illegal to sell it. I think it's
Speaker 1: illegal to buy and sell it, but if you have it,
Speaker 1: it's not illegal, which I didn't know. And I got
Speaker 1: grilled one time for it, and I'm like, okay, well,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. But it's interesting because way back when the
Speaker 1: whole incident with like the first Turtle dove that I
Speaker 1: got those fake eBay said we will give you a
Speaker 1: refund and you must destroy the product. They didn't say
Speaker 1: throw it away, destroy, they said destroy, And I was like,
Speaker 1: I was like, what the funk? How do they verify
Speaker 1: that the destroy? Well, I mean they don't. But the
Speaker 1: thing is, I just found that crazy because it's like
Speaker 1: do I burn it? Do I like feed it to
Speaker 1: a dog or something and have them destroy it? Like this,
Speaker 1: destroy is such a strong word, but I guess it's
Speaker 1: not illegal to own fake products. Recently, I read online
Speaker 1: about like this whole like bust that just happened. It
Speaker 1: was like four millions something close to half a billion
Speaker 1: dollars or something like that. It was like four and
Speaker 1: fifty seven million dollars at l a X insane, and
Speaker 1: that was mostly sneakers. That's crazy that that actually blows
Speaker 1: my mind because I thought it would be fake Louis
Speaker 1: Vuitton mostly or like fake bags and watches, because I
Speaker 1: thought that that's what people bought it fake. Is this
Speaker 1: the same instance? About how like the cops caught it
Speaker 1: because they thought that the Virgil off White Jordan ones,
Speaker 1: Like we're like flamesy because of like this swoosh. Is
Speaker 1: this the same instance or is this a different one?
Speaker 1: This is the same one because that that was the
Speaker 1: picture on the on the article right was like the
Speaker 1: Virgin Yeah, this is this is the one. Because this
Speaker 1: happened like like a couple of weeks ago. Oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: this was Okay, there's another one. We're talking that we're
Speaker 1: gonna talk about. It happened in New York, but this
Speaker 1: one first. Yes. Yeah, So in the police report, they
Speaker 1: were saying that since the Nike sign, because you know,
Speaker 1: on the off foay Jordian ones, how the Nike signs
Speaker 1: like barely stitched on, it's supposed to look like deconstructed.
Speaker 1: They said that that was the reason why they thought
Speaker 1: it was faced. So someone so someone there that was
Speaker 1: examining was like, wait, these aren't real. But even even
Speaker 1: though the funny thing is the real ones have that
Speaker 1: same design, Oh, so it was it was deconstructed, and
Speaker 1: because it was, they were like, oh, these must be
Speaker 1: fake exactly. Okay, So that's actually really ironic because they
Speaker 1: actually didn't know what they were talking. They did not
Speaker 1: know because because I mean, like, dude, if there was
Speaker 1: a shipment of alfoay jordan ones from like Japan to
Speaker 1: a reseller in New York that was like real, they
Speaker 1: probably or l A X I guess they would have
Speaker 1: thought that they were fake too. But they could have
Speaker 1: been real because of the swoosh, because you know what
Speaker 1: I'm talking about, like it's like a little blue stitch. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it can like come off like you can look
Speaker 1: like you can pull it off basically if you just
Speaker 1: take a scissors like the thread, they come off exactly.
Speaker 1: So I had no idea. I knew fake sneakers were
Speaker 1: like a big market, but I didn't know that it
Speaker 1: was such a big part of the fake market, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean? Well, right here I'm seeing the
Speaker 1: U S. Customs and Border Protection reported the seizure of
Speaker 1: five thousand, three hundred counterfeit goods at L a X yesterday,
Speaker 1: So I guess whenever this was, which would have totaled
Speaker 1: up to three point four million U S dollars at
Speaker 1: their genuine retail value combined. Wow, that's crazy, that's so much. Well,
Speaker 1: I I guess that's how much it would have cost
Speaker 1: it if they sold them as authentic. Right, that's insane
Speaker 1: because you know a lot of these people buy this
Speaker 1: fake ship and then like they sell it to people unknowing,
Speaker 1: which is really bad. And that what was it was
Speaker 1: twelve hundred and forty two pairs of Gucci belts and
Speaker 1: then they had six hundred and seventy eight pairs of
Speaker 1: shoes what do we say, sneakers? Right? Yeah, whatever, the
Speaker 1: Nike shoes. So sneakers. Yeah, and counterfeit Louisvuitton handbags. See,
Speaker 1: I thought that that would have been the bulk of it,
Speaker 1: the lous Bitton handbags. That's funny how it's twelve hundred
Speaker 1: counterfeit Gucci belts, counterfeits, Samsung adapters like what, two hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty air Mays handbags, g Shock watches, Farragama belts,
Speaker 1: Bendy shorts. What that's so random? Random? And then in
Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen, the CBPS sees hundred and ten ships
Speaker 1: of counterfeits as submitted to be worth about one point
Speaker 1: four billion US dollars. That was in two thousand eighteen. Dog,
Speaker 1: that's wild, that's what they found. Man, can you imagine
Speaker 1: another like freight, like a boat, it's just full of
Speaker 1: fake Louis. Yeah, it happens. The soldier boys probably like
Speaker 1: the captain of that about honestly, he was. They caught
Speaker 1: him in that's why he's in jail now. I haven't
Speaker 1: seen him posting in six months. You know what's going on.
Speaker 1: Soldier boys down for the count right now. That's insane. Actually,
Speaker 1: So this other one was when you're talking about New
Speaker 1: York City. So there's four hundred fifty million dollar counterfeit
Speaker 1: ring bust, one of the larger in New York City's history.
Speaker 1: So the other one at one point four billion, wasn't
Speaker 1: two l a x so four or fifty million or
Speaker 1: in New York City. So can you imagine, like you
Speaker 1: were saying, like this is what they caught, but can
Speaker 1: you imagine how many times they've done this and not
Speaker 1: gotten caught? Right, So this is what I was telling
Speaker 1: you about earlier. So this one, the one in New York,
Speaker 1: they they caught a whiff of this whole like ring
Speaker 1: back in two thousand twelve. Right, there was like a
Speaker 1: shipment that came in on the crate. So like you
Speaker 1: live near the water, so like you've probably seen like
Speaker 1: those cranes that take those big boxes off the ship
Speaker 1: or if you've seen the wire or anything like that.
Speaker 1: Like those crates are holding all kinds of goods. Sometimes
Speaker 1: it's fish, sometimes it's cars, sometimes it's TVs, sometimes it's
Speaker 1: actually Nike. And then if it's coming from a place
Speaker 1: like China where a lot of this stuff is made
Speaker 1: and also counterfeit, because they're counterfeiting a lot of this
Speaker 1: stuff in the same places. And so this is like
Speaker 1: a communication ring that's going on between the manufacturer or
Speaker 1: one who's like in control of the manufacturing and then
Speaker 1: someone on the ground here in the US. And they
Speaker 1: have a whole system, like they have burner phones, they
Speaker 1: have like fake email addresses, they have fact like aliases.
Speaker 1: It's almost like by work that they're doing in order
Speaker 1: to get this stuff over it right. And back in
Speaker 1: two thousand twelve, they found a crate full of this stuff,
Speaker 1: fake stuff, but there was no trace as to where
Speaker 1: it came from. But they knew that there was like
Speaker 1: something coming into this one port in New York. So
Speaker 1: they kept watching for it, and they kept until they
Speaker 1: found an actual like create that they could follow. And
Speaker 1: once they did, they started watching these folks and over
Speaker 1: time they found a whole ring of people. It was
Speaker 1: like there was like twenty two people living here in
Speaker 1: the US, all from China that were a part of
Speaker 1: this whole ring that was smuggling hundreds of millions of
Speaker 1: dollars worth the you know, the Gucci, Defindi, the the Versagi,
Speaker 1: whatever you name it. Like they were just they were
Speaker 1: just bringing that stuff in hundreds of millions of dollars
Speaker 1: that they were making insanity that's crazy. Yes, So when
Speaker 1: did this bus happened? I think it happened in two thousand,
Speaker 1: so it took them six years. Mm hmm. That's crazy.
Speaker 1: Six years, six years to crack it. But you know what,
Speaker 1: the way they do it is, they they try to
Speaker 1: stack up the odds against you. So they probably were
Speaker 1: like watching them and seeing them do this for some times,
Speaker 1: and they can build the case, you know, and then
Speaker 1: they they pulled the plug on it. That's insane. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's insane. That's so much money. It's a lot of money.
Speaker 1: I mean obviously, you know, Nike and Adidas and like
Speaker 1: the big brands like they make they make billions. But
Speaker 1: I mean this is just like one bus that they caught, right,
Speaker 1: So like maybe maybe this one bus would have cost
Speaker 1: Nike a hundred million dollars, right, But you gotta think
Speaker 1: this is like this is one piece of you know,
Speaker 1: probably like a hundreds or maybe thousands of different entry
Speaker 1: ways into the US that are happening. You know, totally no.
Speaker 1: But what I was about to say was the fact
Speaker 1: that if Nike and Adidas are making you know, billions
Speaker 1: and billions of dollars a year, these counterfeiters might be
Speaker 1: getting close to those numbers. I mean they're making a
Speaker 1: lot of money, yeah, especially if they're selling just in
Speaker 1: China alone, that's a huge market. Right. And then here
Speaker 1: they're saying that that was worth almost half a billion.
Speaker 1: I mean the one in l A was one point
Speaker 1: four that's crazy, right, one point four billion with a B.
Speaker 1: That's crazy. That actually like blows my mind. That blows
Speaker 1: my mind out. You didn't know that big, right, No,
Speaker 1: I had no idea. I didn't even know sneakers were
Speaker 1: such a big part of it because mostly you think
Speaker 1: it would be like like you said, like handbags. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought was a handbags and watches. There was no
Speaker 1: watches even on the list. Watches are that that's kind
Speaker 1: of harder to fake? I think, yeah, totally. But like
Speaker 1: the amount of people have seen wearing fake fake Crowley's
Speaker 1: in l A is absurd. I honestly see people wearing
Speaker 1: a fake watch over fake pair of shoes. Well, you
Speaker 1: know what if you can't feel the weight of it
Speaker 1: in your hand and you don't know because they're on
Speaker 1: the face, is going to look real? Yeah when you
Speaker 1: hold it, you know it's fake. Yeah, absolutely, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's there's better fakes than others, for sure, But I mean, dude,
Speaker 1: I definitely been to the club a few times that
Speaker 1: I saw some people weren't some like Michael Core's looking
Speaker 1: looking role X. You know, you know where they make
Speaker 1: the best fake watches, Turkey? Really Yeah? Why is that?
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I was there so random. I
Speaker 1: was living there for summer, and every shop, every like
Speaker 1: jewelry store had watches in there. They had some real stuff,
Speaker 1: but then when you go in there assuming that you
Speaker 1: want to buy the fake stuff. So literally every jewelry store,
Speaker 1: a shop that I walked past, they'd be like, we
Speaker 1: got the fake Rolex, because we got the fake paddock.
Speaker 1: We have they had, they had, They had like hundreds
Speaker 1: of them, and they weren't on display. They were like
Speaker 1: kind of in the back and they bring them out.
Speaker 1: That's crazy. Yes, did you ever get one? I did? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I did, I did. I did buy one. Do you
Speaker 1: still have it? No? Someone stole it, And I was like,
Speaker 1: that's what you get for stealing. That's crazy because it
Speaker 1: looked like it looked real, that's crazy. It was. It
Speaker 1: was like it was weighted everything. Wow. Yeah, so what
Speaker 1: was it? Just like a Rolex you're just like, I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna buy this kind of as a joke. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just like it was like it was like Hunterbucks. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's crazy. Yeah, and it felt pretty good, pretty good.
Speaker 1: I mean I I just yes, but no, I tricked
Speaker 1: a friend who had the same watch. Really, I forget
Speaker 1: the name of it. It's like it has like a
Speaker 1: blue face and the and the dial is like orange
Speaker 1: and it looks like a kind of like a lightning bowl.
Speaker 1: I don't know the name of this one, the mill Gouse,
Speaker 1: that one. Yeah, it's a green face, green face orange, yes,
Speaker 1: with the orange with the orange dial. Yeah, that's a
Speaker 1: dope watch. Yeah. I liked it solid. That's crazy. And
Speaker 1: then it goes into like the whole argument. A lot
Speaker 1: of people make this argument. They say, why why buy
Speaker 1: the real thing when I can get the fake one. Well,
Speaker 1: I also know a lot of people who have the
Speaker 1: real one and then they wear the fake one out.
Speaker 1: That makes sense, so just in case it gets stolen
Speaker 1: or they lose it or Yeah. I never really agreed
Speaker 1: with that, because I mean, to each their own, you know,
Speaker 1: I never judge anyone, but but you kind of do
Speaker 1: low key no, no, no for me, for me, it's
Speaker 1: it's different if like, let's I mean you went to
Speaker 1: the club when you were wearing the fake watch and
Speaker 1: you were telling some girl, yeah, you know, I spent
Speaker 1: like ten on this, I wouldn't say a word. I'd
Speaker 1: be all right, bro, you do you? But if like
Speaker 1: you went out of your way to start bragging to
Speaker 1: like everyone, I'd be like, bro, like why are you
Speaker 1: doing that? You know what I mean? Because exactly because
Speaker 1: the way the way I like kind of like see
Speaker 1: things is like if you're telling other people that the
Speaker 1: ship is real even though you know that it's fake,
Speaker 1: then what other kinds of ship are you saying? You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. And I guess it's it's a
Speaker 1: funny thing because it's like if you are living that
Speaker 1: lifestyle of like faking the funk, right, like fake really
Speaker 1: fake clothes all that, but you're telling everybody's real knowing
Speaker 1: it's fake, Like are you a liar? Are you? Though?
Speaker 1: Are you? Yeah? And a lot of people would say yes,
Speaker 1: a lot of people. Some people might say no because
Speaker 1: I mean that's interesting because like somebody could wear a
Speaker 1: fake role like their whole life but never tell a lie.
Speaker 1: But if they say it's real, and that's that's a lie,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Dude, Like honestly, I've had
Speaker 1: a homie who literally wear fake watches and I don't
Speaker 1: give a flying fuck. I really don't, and like they're like, yeah, dude,
Speaker 1: you know I couldn't. I couldn't really afford the real ones.
Speaker 1: I just got this fake one. I like the way
Speaker 1: it looks and whatever. Okay. Cool. One time I had
Speaker 1: a friend. I'm not gonna say who it is. I'm
Speaker 1: not really friends with them anymore, but like they're like, yeah, dude,
Speaker 1: I just got this. Uh. I forgot what it was
Speaker 1: and when it was like this rose gold like Paddock,
Speaker 1: but dude, like that's how much is that? Bro? Like
Speaker 1: that's like that's like fifty k? Yeah, try a hundred
Speaker 1: fifty k or a rose gold like Nautilus and like
Speaker 1: depending on the condition and stuff. But like anyway, he's like, yeah, dude,
Speaker 1: I just spent like seventy on this, and I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: like did you And I knew that he didn't have
Speaker 1: the bread for it. I knew that he didn't, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. I was like, there's no way
Speaker 1: this guy has bread for this. There's no way, I
Speaker 1: don't judge anyone. Like ever, this was how long ago,
Speaker 1: like probably like a year and a half ago. Okay,
Speaker 1: so you were deep into the easy Buster, yes, And
Speaker 1: like I know a fake watch when I see when
Speaker 1: they're there, I'm sure that there's a few that could
Speaker 1: fool me unless I like really held onto it. But
Speaker 1: like this one, I knew off the rip it was.
Speaker 1: It didn't even look rose gold. It was like pink. Basically,
Speaker 1: what the Rolling says, for example, is like they take
Speaker 1: like a gold watch and they infuse it with a
Speaker 1: little bit of copper and platinum. Also like the metal
Speaker 1: that they use, they create that metal themselves. I have
Speaker 1: a I have a day date forty. It's it's real
Speaker 1: when I when I when I bought it, it's a
Speaker 1: rose gold. When I bought it, they told me that
Speaker 1: I know, I'm gonna sound like I'm flexing right now,
Speaker 1: but I wear a Cardier ring. It's like really special
Speaker 1: to me, and I won't get into it right now.
Speaker 1: But in the Rolling store they were like, yeah, that
Speaker 1: ring is gonna fade over time, which it totally has.
Speaker 1: It looks like it's gold now and it was rose
Speaker 1: and they said the reason why the rollings will never
Speaker 1: fade away is because it's infused with platinum and that's
Speaker 1: why it's more expensive. And I was like, okay, that
Speaker 1: makes sense, but it's also a little bit of copper
Speaker 1: to give it that rose. This foe's watch is literally pink, dude.
Speaker 1: It looked like a hubba bubba rapper Like it was
Speaker 1: like pink pink, you know what I mean, like literally
Speaker 1: like the bubble gum that pain. And then he was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I spent seven and the thing was ticking, and you
Speaker 1: know expensive watchers, they are really smooth, like the second
Speaker 1: hand just goes in a circle without interruption, and it
Speaker 1: was like this, it's a sweeping but this fool was
Speaker 1: going tick tick tick, you know, like jay Z has
Speaker 1: a line of my rolly don't TikTok, like that's a
Speaker 1: roast saying that, like my role is real because fake
Speaker 1: wants TikTok. There's obviously a couple of exceptions. I'm totally
Speaker 1: watched nerding out right now, but my point is I
Speaker 1: knew it was obviously fake, and he was totally flexing
Speaker 1: it in my face like yeah, I do, I just
Speaker 1: spent seventy. I'm like, dude, First of all, you don't
Speaker 1: have the bread for it, like, don't pretend like you do.
Speaker 1: Second of all, that's it's fake as fuck. Third, if
Speaker 1: you ever try to tell anybody in like public who
Speaker 1: knows their ship, you're gonna get embarrassed, you know. So,
Speaker 1: Like one day I pulled him aside, I'm like, dude,
Speaker 1: like stop, like, you shouldn't do that. I'm easy us
Speaker 1: to do. Like I told him, I was like, bro,
Speaker 1: come on man, Like it's like it's like if you
Speaker 1: pull up on me, weren't fake easies and trying to
Speaker 1: convince me is really like come on, bro, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. But I told him like as a friend,
Speaker 1: I'm like, bro, you shouldn't do that, man, you know,
Speaker 1: And he's like, what do you mean, dude? This is real?
Speaker 1: This is real. I'm like, okay, bro, show me the
Speaker 1: receipt for it, show me, show me the box for
Speaker 1: show me the serial number, let me look it up.
Speaker 1: And he got all defensive, Oh I can't believe it
Speaker 1: is blah blah blah. Eventually, like he called me a
Speaker 1: month later, he's like, hey, man, like, I appreciate you
Speaker 1: for for giving me some advice. It was fake. I
Speaker 1: got it. Stolen and I just wanted to say I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: and I was like, it's fine, it's cool. Like I
Speaker 1: was like I knew, dude, just don't front you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. Like I mean, if you if he
Speaker 1: was showing it off to some girl or whatever, like
Speaker 1: it's not right. But at the same time, I would
Speaker 1: have been like, okay, whatever, But it was like his
Speaker 1: business card. Yeah. It's really hard to explain because it's
Speaker 1: one thing. If if you were wearing a fake watch
Speaker 1: right now and you didn't talk about it at all
Speaker 1: and I noticed it, I would not get I wouldn't
Speaker 1: even make a comment. I wouldn't even care, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, if you were just wearing it and
Speaker 1: he wore it every day and whatever. But the fact
Speaker 1: that he went to my face, oh, I just like
Speaker 1: waving in my face and was like, yo, I just
Speaker 1: spent seventy on this, And I was like, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not a hater. Like bro, if if he was
Speaker 1: wearing a real Protect filipe and he flashed in my ace,
Speaker 1: as much as that's like a dick move, I would
Speaker 1: still be like, dude, that's that's sick, man, that's sick.
Speaker 1: I'm proud of you for buying that. Yeah, facts like
Speaker 1: I'm proud of you type ship. One thing that I
Speaker 1: always encouraged all you guys listening and any of my
Speaker 1: supporters is buying the real thing sentimentally and like mentally
Speaker 1: is worth so much more. You know you're putting in
Speaker 1: exactly so, like you know that you worked your ass
Speaker 1: off to get a watch, and it's thirty thousand dollars whatever.
Speaker 1: You worked your ass off to get that watch, and
Speaker 1: nobody can tell you anything. But when somebody takes the
Speaker 1: easy way out and gets a fake one for a
Speaker 1: hundred bucks and they're trying to like really FLEXI the
Speaker 1: same way that you technically have the right to, I
Speaker 1: think that that's whack. But then again, like I wear
Speaker 1: my watch and I love it, and I bought it
Speaker 1: for myself. I didn't buy it to show off, because
Speaker 1: if if I wanted to show off, I'd get a
Speaker 1: bus down and look like a total idiot. But no,
Speaker 1: I got it because that's a watch I've always wanted
Speaker 1: since I was a kid. I worked my ass off
Speaker 1: and I felt like that was right, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. But like, dude, like when I was younger,
Speaker 1: I used to wear my grandma got me this like
Speaker 1: fake Louis Vuitton belt. It's probably like ten bucks, and
Speaker 1: I wore it to school and then like I didn't
Speaker 1: even know that it was fake, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So I just wore I just thought the belt was cool,
Speaker 1: and I wore it, you know. And like, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna sit here and pretend like I have every single
Speaker 1: piece of jewelry or clothing that's ever touched my body
Speaker 1: has been an authentic and it's normal and it's cool,
Speaker 1: and I don't. And that's the that's the thing. I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to sound like a dick. I'm not trying
Speaker 1: to sound like conceded. Because, Bro, before you met me,
Speaker 1: like five years ago, dude, I had like a hundred
Speaker 1: fifty dollars in my bank account, you know, Like I
Speaker 1: I was, I couldn't afford anything. And one two pairs
Speaker 1: of shoes, that's it, and one for sports and one
Speaker 1: for like school, and that was it. And like didn't
Speaker 1: have many clothes nothing. Trust me, Bro, I was really
Speaker 1: tempted to buy the fake stuff. I really was. I
Speaker 1: really like I wanted to, like flex and because you know,
Speaker 1: I went up private high school, So like all those
Speaker 1: kids actually had money, right, so they probably had all
Speaker 1: the stuff. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna pretend. Like
Speaker 1: growing up until I was eleven, like my family had nothing,
Speaker 1: one bedroom apartment type ship, Like I was like sleeping
Speaker 1: next to my parents. And then you know, eventually, like
Speaker 1: you know, full American dream, you know whatever, like my
Speaker 1: dad started making his living, and but my parents never
Speaker 1: really gave me anything, you know, so it was all
Speaker 1: on me. I kind of always had that mentality since
Speaker 1: I was a kid to always like work really hard
Speaker 1: for what I want. You know, if I wanted like
Speaker 1: a Lego or like Ugo cars or something, my parents
Speaker 1: would be like, Okay, cool, you need to like get
Speaker 1: an a the semester one of this big test and
Speaker 1: then you know what I'm saying. At least that's the
Speaker 1: way I grew up. I don't know, do I do
Speaker 1: I sound like a dick? Like when I said like
Speaker 1: I am, I am, I like a douche bag for
Speaker 1: thinking like that, you know, they should work hard and that. No,
Speaker 1: but like the whole like fake thing. Do I sound
Speaker 1: like two crude or something? Because I don't know. That's
Speaker 1: just my take on because a lot of people hate
Speaker 1: me for it. I get a lot of like what
Speaker 1: do you what do you? What? Do you feel like?
Speaker 1: It's like the biggest critique on that. And maybe you've
Speaker 1: probably touched on this before, but I know why you
Speaker 1: did it. You know why you became easybust and where
Speaker 1: it all came from. But how do you truly feel
Speaker 1: about the fake versus real thing in terms of like
Speaker 1: how it affects things Like do you feel like it's
Speaker 1: like messing the game up? Like do you feel like
Speaker 1: it's like ruining culture in a way? Is it's it's
Speaker 1: taking money out of people's pockets? Absolutely all the above.
Speaker 1: I think that it's whacked because people work really hard
Speaker 1: for their money and to reap the benefits of working hard. Right,
Speaker 1: So people work really hard to get a pair of
Speaker 1: shoes or to get a supreme hoodie or a watch, Like,
Speaker 1: they work really really hard and they get what they want.
Speaker 1: You know, I just think it's whack when somebody wants
Speaker 1: to take the easy way out. You understand what I'm saying, dude,
Speaker 1: ship Man, Like, I didn't even start making money off
Speaker 1: easy busts until I hit like K, which was like
Speaker 1: mid two thousand and sixteen maybe, and like, dude, I
Speaker 1: worked at Starbucks. I had a little bit of mone
Speaker 1: you say that, but I was paying my rent, you know,
Speaker 1: and like I had nothing, but I was tempted. Man.
Speaker 1: I was like, dude, I really want those shoes or
Speaker 1: I really want this Gucci bag or whatever. But I
Speaker 1: just felt that, like when I came up, the man
Speaker 1: upstairs helped me out, and you know, obviously amazing people
Speaker 1: like you in my life who like help me get
Speaker 1: to where I am today. It made me so much
Speaker 1: more grateful that I was like, damn, like I bought
Speaker 1: that ship. I went to Rolex and I bought that
Speaker 1: ship when I was like windows shopping for years. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's beautiful. I'm never going to have one of those,
Speaker 1: you know, But when I did that, it symbolism in that,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Like that that that's that's
Speaker 1: the thing that's most important to me. It's bigger. It's big.
Speaker 1: It's bigger than fake versus real exactly, bro. For me,
Speaker 1: it's all about hard work versus lazy almost because that
Speaker 1: makes sense. I feel that, because I feel that is
Speaker 1: buying a watch stupid probably unless an investment if you
Speaker 1: can buy it twice. That's what j D says. I'm
Speaker 1: buying unless you can buy it twice. Yeah, that's facts.
Speaker 1: If you can buy it twice, why not? Yeah? Big facts, right,
Speaker 1: big facts? I mean in that sense, like like it's
Speaker 1: not the smartest thing to do. You could definitely invest
Speaker 1: your money into something else, but if you can afford it,
Speaker 1: that's what you want. Bro, life is short, man, Go
Speaker 1: fucking do it right, you know, you never know? Yeah,
Speaker 1: So my biggest thing that I get hate for the
Speaker 1: most is they're like, who are you to say what
Speaker 1: I can wear and what I can't wear? I'm no one.
Speaker 1: I can't tell you what to wear. You you wake
Speaker 1: up and me and you put our pants on the
Speaker 1: same way every single day, take the same ship, breathe
Speaker 1: the same air. I can't tell you what to wear.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, I can encourage
Speaker 1: people to work hard, you know. I like that, And
Speaker 1: that's how I feel, and like, I just I just
Speaker 1: hate how people think I'm like such a dick. Like
Speaker 1: you remember when like your boy Bam Margilla or Bam Margella,
Speaker 1: right when he came, He's like, dude, I thought you
Speaker 1: were gonna be such a dick and like maybe that's
Speaker 1: maybe that's the perception. Maybe yeah, isn't is that weird?
Speaker 1: It is weird. But you know what, sometimes people don't
Speaker 1: like the truth. Bro, that's trust me. I mean you
Speaker 1: have this conversation a couple of days ago. The truth.
Speaker 1: Yeah it does. You know you you don't call people
Speaker 1: all out for wearing fake stuff they say it's fake?
Speaker 1: Yeah right, hell no, Like there's I forgot the guy's name.
Speaker 1: There's there's a YouTuber that you're friends with. Mr Beast. Yes,
Speaker 1: he were a fake Supreme but he was like it's fake.
Speaker 1: I know it's faked. Literally at the beginning of the videos,
Speaker 1: like hey guys, fake Supreme HOODI here, Like I said,
Speaker 1: I'm saying, hey guys, Mr Beast here. Yeah yeah, And
Speaker 1: I thought that was hilarious and like obviously he didn't
Speaker 1: give a ship. So the post I made it was
Speaker 1: like kind of a joke like base around that statement
Speaker 1: and like I didn't care. I don't get you know,
Speaker 1: I don't care, you know what I mean? And you
Speaker 1: never see me like putting people down. You know, sometimes
Speaker 1: I troll a little bit. I'm like, oh so and
Speaker 1: so wearing a fake whatever. It was a part of it,
Speaker 1: but it's fun. But you'll never hear me name calling
Speaker 1: like oh this person is a blah blah blah, like
Speaker 1: oh look at look at his lazy sack of ship. Yeah,
Speaker 1: never right, you know. So I don't know, man, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I mean I feel like maybe you're a
Speaker 1: little bit biased about like kind of like what I'm saying. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: I'm not because I know what the bigger meaning is
Speaker 1: of it. Yeah, it takes little bit of explanation. It does.
Speaker 1: But the people who understand can get behind in. The
Speaker 1: ones who don't probably aren't on on the same way,
Speaker 1: the same hustle. Yeah, I know, man, But I don't know.
Speaker 1: I just sometimes I don't really get the hate. I
Speaker 1: don't really let the hate get to me. But like
Speaker 1: something you shouldn't. Sometimes I'm just like, damn, Like, am
Speaker 1: I really a dick? Am I really an asshole? Am? I? No?
Speaker 1: I don't. I mean if I was, I just tell me.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean, I'll tell you when you're own. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: you do. I appreciate, but yeah, I mean it's so subjective.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean, but at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: like seeing these seeing these numbers, like blows my mind
Speaker 1: in these articles. It's insane. This is there is another
Speaker 1: statistic I was looking at this. Worldwide sales of knockoff
Speaker 1: goods exceeded five hundred and twenty billion last year, representing
Speaker 1: three point of all global trade. Wow, So globally there's
Speaker 1: five hundred and twenty billion dollars being made off of
Speaker 1: counterfeit goods. That's insane. And in Italy they're saying that.
Speaker 1: I think it's whatever the number is. I don't know
Speaker 1: the number of how much millions or billions it is.
Speaker 1: The people there, you know, you know for Sachi product
Speaker 1: of all those places, jobs are lost because of the
Speaker 1: counterfeit industry. Yeah, it's bigger. It's bigger than just people's
Speaker 1: egos here, and it's only gonna keep growing because demand
Speaker 1: keeps growing. And especially now the sneakers are kind of
Speaker 1: been like before sneakers were so niche. Now I feel
Speaker 1: like everybody wants the new off Whites or the new
Speaker 1: Travis is right. I can't really speak on this too much,
Speaker 1: like somebody like like a Dre would be a good
Speaker 1: person to talk about this, But I feel like fifteen
Speaker 1: years ago people were lining up, but it maybe it
Speaker 1: was like ten fifteen people and they had thirty pairs.
Speaker 1: Now they have there's like two people people on the
Speaker 1: line and then eight pairs, you know, so it's a
Speaker 1: way different. And then like with the bots and everything,
Speaker 1: and it's just a different ball game now, and especially
Speaker 1: since it's growing so much, it's only going to make
Speaker 1: the fake factories produced more and more. I remember when
Speaker 1: I started with all these easy busts and stuff. Dude.
Speaker 1: When I first started, their fakes were so bad, the
Speaker 1: easy v ones were horrible. But now they're getting good.
Speaker 1: And that's why a lot of people are like, oh,
Speaker 1: you never call people out anymore, dude, because I can't
Speaker 1: tell from a photo, you know what I mean. Because
Speaker 1: they're so good these days. And like all my verification posts,
Speaker 1: people like, oh, you can't even talent these are real
Speaker 1: or not. I'm like, dude, all those people that I posted,
Speaker 1: I've either one see in person or two they DM
Speaker 1: me and showed me photos. So it's like, okay, cool,
Speaker 1: Like I know it's real, but like it sucks man
Speaker 1: that these days it's they're so close. Man. Three years ago,
Speaker 1: four years ago, from a mile away, easy easy turtle
Speaker 1: dove spotted from away, say less. Yeah, So that's the
Speaker 1: whole thing, man, And I mean, what what what are
Speaker 1: your thoughts in the whole industry. It's it's a huge
Speaker 1: part of like trade, like three people put that into
Speaker 1: like perspective, that's that's of all global trade, and that
Speaker 1: means everything, right, that means like everything anything you can,
Speaker 1: anything that you have or you see around the world.
Speaker 1: Fake stuff is making three up three of all that.
Speaker 1: I think about it from a perspective of somebody, like
Speaker 1: if I owned a business, right and I was selling
Speaker 1: a product, whatever the product is. Let's say in this
Speaker 1: case it's uh, pens. I'm selling pins and it's the
Speaker 1: dopest pin on the market, but my pen costs ten
Speaker 1: bucks and you only can find it in certain places.
Speaker 1: Everyone loves the pens, the best pin in the world.
Speaker 1: And then someone starts making a knockoff of my pen
Speaker 1: and they take of my business. That's just wrong. No, absolutely,
Speaker 1: it shouldn't be allowed. All those people should be arrested.
Speaker 1: But people like all of the people who are buying
Speaker 1: the stuff and the stuff, they're a part of it,
Speaker 1: and everyone likes that little edge that they can get
Speaker 1: by getting the fake stuff. So no one's really diving
Speaker 1: in on what's what's really happening. It's like, oh, I
Speaker 1: gotta fake air maze bag for two d or an
Speaker 1: air maze bags. What's that twenty grand? Right depends on
Speaker 1: which one whatever, it is, right, so you you get
Speaker 1: to indulge in like feel like you have that thing.
Speaker 1: So like the person on that's that's getting that feeling
Speaker 1: doesn't care. But when you think about it as as
Speaker 1: a whole, it's like it's it's way bigger than that,
Speaker 1: Like it's it's probably contributing to a lot of different
Speaker 1: things we don't even realize, like crime, all kinds of stuff. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: there's so many stories about that. How like terrorists have
Speaker 1: used like fake sneakers and fake persons to finance They're like,
Speaker 1: it's actually an easier way to finance stuff because like
Speaker 1: it's like you're not you're not selling drugs, You're it's
Speaker 1: just clothes. It's not as it's not as penalties, not
Speaker 1: aside exactly. And it also doesn't it's not as it's
Speaker 1: people are looking for it as much. Yeah, I'm sure
Speaker 1: that that is contribute to a lot of stuff that
Speaker 1: we're not even aware of. It's crazy. Man, I did
Speaker 1: a piece with it, what's what the ABC piece? So
Speaker 1: I think it was the complex piece complex first one
Speaker 1: where they were talking about how like literally like a
Speaker 1: terrorist organization was was behind like a big counterfeit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and they were using that money to ter. Yeah it's crazy, man.
Speaker 1: And obviously you know a lot of people like, oh,
Speaker 1: it's not that serious. It's like, well, it's kind of
Speaker 1: like the same argument, like it's not that serious if
Speaker 1: you throw a piece of trash on this on the floor,
Speaker 1: but if everyone does it, it gets serious and then
Speaker 1: you have a trash island yeah in the sea, right,
Speaker 1: which we do the size of Texas or something crazy
Speaker 1: like that. Right. So, like, if you can take away
Speaker 1: from all this, if you're listening the way the way
Speaker 1: I see it is work hard and get what you deserve.
Speaker 1: If you have two d right now and you want
Speaker 1: to get that Arris the person you're talking about, Hey
Speaker 1: there's a real nice Michael Cores. Person's probably two hundred bucks.
Speaker 1: Hey where are that for now? It'll do his job
Speaker 1: and then work your way up and get that arms person.
Speaker 1: It's it's gonna feel damn good when you get it.
Speaker 1: Set goals for yourself exactly exactly I mean, that's that's
Speaker 1: what it's all about. It like you are where you're at. Yeah,
Speaker 1: nothing's going to change that. A fake belt, fake pair
Speaker 1: of shoes, fake watch, it's not going to change where
Speaker 1: you're at. It may make you feel a little better,
Speaker 1: but you still or where you're at. I don't even
Speaker 1: know if it wouldn't make you feel better. Even if
Speaker 1: everybody around you knows it, thinks it's real, and you
Speaker 1: know it's fake, it's always in the back of your head. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because I because even when I had that watch, like
Speaker 1: it's only the second fake thing I've ever bought. The
Speaker 1: first fake, fake thing I ever bought was a baby
Speaker 1: Milo hoodie off eBay, and I thought that was real,
Speaker 1: And you didn't know it's fake. I didn't know it's
Speaker 1: fake because years ago and I found out it was fake.
Speaker 1: It's not wearing it anyway. When I was wearing that watch,
Speaker 1: it's always in the back of my head. I was
Speaker 1: always saying, like, I'm wearing a fake Rolex. It's subconscious almost.
Speaker 1: I didn't know it was on this like larger a scale.
Speaker 1: It's insane counterfeit hype. That's definitely going to be the
Speaker 1: title of this episode. Where we can say, like the
Speaker 1: largest counterfeit sting in world history. We should love that.
Speaker 1: People will love that absolutely. Yeah, that's crazy. Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: is there anything else do you want to add or nothing?
Speaker 1: You've covered it, bro at the end of the day.
Speaker 1: We've said it a couple of times. It's like, work
Speaker 1: hard for what you want. Facts. You should set goals
Speaker 1: for yourself, figure out what you want and go out
Speaker 1: and get it, you fat. That is the moral of
Speaker 1: easyBus to work hard, guys. Yeah, I appreciate you guys.
Speaker 1: Thank you guys for tuning in. Make sure you guys
Speaker 1: go check out my boy Blake and to thank you
Speaker 1: for everything that you do for me. But I appreciate
Speaker 1: you for coming on the show. Hopefully you know we
Speaker 1: can have you on again. We will. Well, I'll fill
Speaker 1: in from time to time. That's what's up. And um,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna kid you guys next time. I appreciate you
Speaker 1: guys for tuning in and kid you guys next Wednesday
Speaker 1: on Legit Check Peace