WEBVTT - Mike Posner 0:00:01.360 --> 0:00:04.720 Hello, everyone, Welcome to Inside the Studio on iHeart Radio. 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:15.080 My name is Jordan runt Dog. But enough about me now. 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:17.040 This is gonna be one of the most unique introductions 0:00:17.079 --> 0:00:18.560 to this show because this is one of the most 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:21.360 unique guests we've had on this show. He's got brains 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:24.520 and musical brilliance. He started making waves as an undergrad 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:27.560 at Duke University before breaking out with hits like Cooler 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:29.680 than Me, Please Don't Go, and I Took a Pill 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:32.120 in Ibiza. He also made a name for himself as 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:34.960 a songwriter for Hire Co, writing smashes for the likes 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:37.680 of Justin Bieber and Maroon five. The back to back 0:00:37.720 --> 0:00:40.159 deaths of his father and his friend of Vici led 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:43.800 him to take stock and reevaluate his life. He put 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:46.559 his career on hold to walk across the country. The 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:49.400 three thousand mile journey took a hundred and eighty six days, 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:52.040 and that doesn't include the few weeks spent recovering from 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:55.120 a rattlesnake bite that almost killed him. The literal journey 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:57.920 had a marked effect on his musical one. In December, 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:01.640 he dropped Operation Wake Up rap Up, or concept album 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:04.839 about a superstar songwriter. In the midst of a nervous breakdown. 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:07.400 But now he's back and he's all about the positive. 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:09.960 His new single, Mama always told me as a joyful 0:01:10.000 --> 0:01:12.720 burst of energy in an uncertain time. I'm so happy 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:17.520 to welcome Mike Posner. Whatever, Mike, thank you so much 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:19.800 for taking the time today. Your new song, Mama always 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:22.559 told me. It's a blast of positivity and a really 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:25.160 scary and uncertain time. And you said you wrote this 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:27.240 track of ways back. What made you decide that the 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:30.200 time was right right now for it? Oh? Man? I 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:34.840 love albums, Jordan. You know I make albums like I don't. 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:37.039 No one listens to him, and so I make a 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:40.479 I'm a make an archaic art form. I'm in love 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:43.600 with it. But you know, a part of making albums 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:48.640 is real albums. For example, when I finished the songs, 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:52.000 I have at least three months more work to figure 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:55.600 out the order of the songs and the transitions between 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:58.680 them all, etcetera. So a part of making real albums 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:00.800 is sometimes you gotta make a real tough decision and go, 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:04.560 this is a great song, but it doesn't belong on 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:07.480 this album. It doesn't fit. And so I made a 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:10.880 lot of those decisions over the last five ten years, 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:14.960 and sometimes you've got some great songs that they'll fit 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:17.000 on your album, and this this is one of those 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:19.720 songs and just didn't fit on A real good Kid, 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:23.040 didn't fit on Keep Going Our Operation Wake Up. But 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:25.840 I always loved this song. It's made me want to dance, 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:29.520 so here it is. I totally agree. It's so uplifting 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:31.119 and fun. And when I first heard it, I thought 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:33.480 I heard tinges of Maroon five and the lo and 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:37.000 Behold Room five guitarist James Valentine's track, How did he 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:39.320 get involved? You guys go way back to to you 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:42.440 co writing Sugar? How did he get involved with the track? 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:47.320 James has been a friend who introduced me to James. 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:50.120 I don't know how I met James. I thank god 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:52.960 I did. I really like him. He came over my 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:57.680 house and he worked on my album at Night Alone, 0:02:57.720 --> 0:02:59.920 which the album that had I took a pill bees 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:02.200 in on it, and James and I wrote a song 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:04.840 together called one hell of a Song. That was the 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:08.720 first thing we did together and just love each other. 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:12.520 Man just became friends, and um, you know this song. 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:15.600 Mom always told me that that's out Now it's really 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:18.160 a product of this house. This house that I used 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:21.200 to rent in Venice is a kind of cookie house, 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:24.440 is like a hundred years old, and it's in Venice, 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:27.440 a bike ride away from the beach from the Pacific Ocean, 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:31.240 and it became kind of a hangout house. One summer, 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:34.840 James would come over. Adam Freeman lived down the street, 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:37.800 come over all the times, one of my favorite producers, 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:42.480 and Pete Kuzma, Jacob Sasny. We all just come over, 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:46.400 hang out, We meditate, we we make music, we go 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:49.200 we see the sunset. You know, it's a lot of 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:53.200 times we take a dip in the ocean. And one 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:55.360 day James was over and he just picked up the 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:59.200 guitar started playing this riff. I just start hearing the melodies, 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:02.119 and the naj came over and saying on it, did 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:05.400 some lyrics on it. James went outside, took a break. 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:08.960 He saw her, his friend Kate, who's apparently was my neighbor, 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:12.200 and he said come over. Her and her friend came 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:14.200 over to end up singing on the hook. You know, 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:18.520 it's a group vocal take care of yo. So that's 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:21.720 just how it happens, just a product of product of 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:25.120 our friendships. You know, all these people that love each other. 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:27.640 You know, we just made this one day and I 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:30.200 love it. Man. I love this song. I love the chorus. 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:33.240 I mean the positive message is just laid right out there. 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:35.360 I mean, live your life, Shine your life. All those 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:37.360 things that your mother would actually say to you tell 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:41.080 me about her. Maybe not exactly in those words. She 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:45.560 might not rhyme when she said, but yeah, basically, I 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:48.799 think my mom is My mom is a Detroit hard 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:52.560 rock you know, she's she's somebody like got it out 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:55.279 of the mud, you know, to have a lot of opportunity, 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:59.080 basically work at two three jobs during college, put herself 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:03.320 through pharmacy, owned Turtle of Pharmacy in Detroit. I mean, 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:07.680 my mom, she's amazing. Man, mom is amazing. I thought 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:11.040 it was really cool because it highlights the struggles of 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:14.000 people who are sort of dealing with with anxiety and 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:16.640 depression and mental illness. And I think that's so important 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:18.800 to talk about after the year that we've had. I mean, 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:21.800 the pandemic has been deadly, not just because of the virus, 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:24.839 but also with those struggling with with anxiety and depression 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.159 and substance abuse issues. And I thought that was a 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:30.080 really cool comment on that. How did that project come 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:34.200 together for you? Operation Wake Up actually another old project. 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:36.719 I made it right after I made at Night Alone. 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:38.960 I made it my dad was six, so I was 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:42.800 living back in Detroit. I made it in their basement, 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:46.160 the basement I grew up in. Just in two weeks, 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:50.400 I had this wild idea of making an album that 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:53.640 was a fictional story through day of my life. All 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:56.000 the songs connect. And it was a real challenge as 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:58.840 a writer. You know, I'm a writer. I think that's 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:01.599 the thing most people don't realized. Like I spent most 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:06.040 of my time alone in rooms writing, you know, And 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:08.039 so it was a real challenge for me as a writer. 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:11.400 Can can I put off an album that's musical as 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:16.280 choruses and and pre choruses all of these things and 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:19.760 still it sounds good, but have it have a narrative 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:23.920 arc from beginning middle end and in about forty minutes 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:28.640 and it's just a wildly dark, ridiculous, weird, twisted project. 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.440 It's all fiction, and which is made more disturbing that 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:33.960 I was able to make make that stuff up. But 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:36.680 jam I was really proud of the writing. But you know, 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:39.200 it's just so dark. You know, we won't give away 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:42.360 the ending, but it's just really dark project. And I 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:44.400 wasn't sure I wanted to put it out, and I 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:48.720 just realized, you know, my job is not to curate myself. 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:51.480 I am who I am, and it's certainly a hell 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:54.400 of a lot of darkness in me. In my life 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:56.479 is also a lot of light too, you know, that's 0:06:56.560 --> 0:06:59.640 part of me. So I'm not supposed to write all 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:01.280 these so long and then just only put out the 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:03.599 happy one. I was supposed to put out both. When 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:06.279 a Hertzog said the poet must not avert his eyes, 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:09.440 what's that mean? That means that if you're a real poet, 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:12.360 you look at what's beautiful, and you share what's beautiful. 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:15.560 You help others to see what's beautiful about life and reality, 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:20.600 but you also very honest about was ghastly and disgusting 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:23.840 and horrible about life, because both those things are are real. 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:27.600 How How has the last year changed you? It's been 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:30.720 so transformative for all of us for so many different reasons. 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:35.400 How is it? How is one touched you? Probably in 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:39.040 in really subtle ways. I can't maybe even I don't 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:43.560 really recognize, you know, all the normal things, like you know, 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:46.840 you don't hug or touch as much. I think that 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:48.920 affects all of us. How it was a big hugger 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:52.600 all these things, you know, like I hug my friends 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:56.200 and my my family and whatnot. But so it's just 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:59.280 in those obvious ways. But you know, I think I've 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:03.320 been really bled. That's that I kind of stopped touring 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:06.040 a few years ago. You know, I walked across America 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:09.080 in twenty nineteen. I live in the mountains now, I'm 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.600 climbing a lot of mountains. So and in many ways, 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:15.480 you know, the pandemic hasn't affected my lifestyle that much. 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.280 In addition, as I touched on before, I spent a 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:20.520 lot of time alone in my life, so it's not 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:23.960 that sort of been in training for this in some respects. 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:27.920 So I'm pretty lucky, pretty blessed. I get to spend 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:30.720 a lot of time outside doing stuff. I'm definitely not 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:33.640 locked up inside the room. Um like some of my 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:35.960 friends are in l a and men I got, I 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:38.880 got no complaints. I'm just trying to, you know, keep 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:41.840 moving my life forward, become somebody I'm proud of. That's it, 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:44.280 you know. So what is the pandemic going on or not, 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:48.000 that doesn't change. I'm still every day working towards my goals. 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:50.320 And well a lot of people are making sour dough 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:54.760 bread and uh and banana bread. You you climbed No no, no, no, no, 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:56.760 no no no no, no no no. I just went 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:58.840 to base went to base camp. Excuse me with the 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:02.359 base camp a K too, which is still incredibly impressive 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:04.839 and cool. Though, what tell me, tell me more about 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:08.080 that experience, for it is very cool experience. For me, 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:13.040 I probably will never climb K two is much too dangerous. 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:16.400 I think, you know where my personal risk assessment is 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:21.400 for myself, too risky for me, especially where my skill 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:24.400 set is now. But it was cool. I was around, 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:26.960 you know, nobody had climbed K two in the winter before. 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:29.760 I was around some of the best climbers in the 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:33.160 world and the most beautiful mountains in the world. I 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:37.120 was there three days. It was also like really really horrible, 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:40.040 really tragical. You know, five of the people that I 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:44.520 met was there with they die. So it's just really 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:48.120 messed up. You know, obviously you're doing something really dangerous, 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:52.000 but it's still like really sad. No matter what. Wait, wait, 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:54.480 you couldn't, so my love, my heart just go up 0:09:54.480 --> 0:10:05.400 to the US and stuff. Something that you do that's 0:10:05.440 --> 0:10:07.079 just I think it's just so inspiring is that you 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:10.480 are always challenging yourself and pushing yourself. And I mean 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:15.160 your walk across the country is just so incredibly inspiring. 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:17.080 I'm sure you're sick of talking about it, but it's 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:19.680 so touching us, so many, myself included. And I think 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:21.880 it's it's so important to say that. You know, it's 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:24.040 easy for a lot of people to think, oh, well, 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:27.560 you know, he he's in shape. It must he makes 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:29.480 it look so easy. It must be easy for him. 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:31.520 He must wake up at four in the morning and 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:33.600 feel rare and ready to go. And I think it's 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:36.480 important to say, I imagine it wasn't easy for you. 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:38.599 It must have been hard every single day. And I 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:41.079 think that's important for people to know that that, you know, 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:42.800 if you can do it, they can do it too. 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:46.480 It's horror. It was horrible, you know. And people love 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:49.560 to give themselves excuse the way out, so they put 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:52.520 labels on other people, say he's different. You know. The 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:56.240 biggest one out here is oh, you you're rich. It 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:58.319 must be nice for you to walk across America. I 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:00.679 want to do something, but you're rich. I never do that. 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:02.959 I was just like, it made me laugh so hard, 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:06.120 because you know, it's a real small community people that 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:09.400 walk or run across America. They estimated about ten or 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:12.440 fifteen people do it every year, and it's a small amount. 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:14.920 It's a small group, so you you find out about 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:17.240 each other, you know. So I was in contact with 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:20.560 seven eight people that were running or walking the same 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:22.600 time as me. We all try to kind of support 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:26.480 each other, send each other positive messages, etcetera. None of 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:29.520 those people were rich. Man, those people have no money. 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:33.320 They're taking money to walk across America. It's very easy 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:36.319 for us to make excuses for ourselves and not saying 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:38.520 your goal should be to walk across America, because it 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:41.959 shouldn't be unless that's your goal. But the thought pattern 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:45.440 of it must be easy for him or must be 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:48.960 easy for him or her, that's poison. You should never 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:51.800 think that. You should never think that, because what you 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:55.240 should think is exactly what you said. Oh they did that, 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:58.160 that's possible. I could do it too. They're a man 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:02.040 or a woman or whatever the pronoun is, just like me, 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:04.600 you know, they got blood just like me as human, 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:06.840 and so if they could do what I can't do, 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:09.760 that's a healthier way of thinking. You take a take 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:12.640 a hard look at your reasons, man, take a hard 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:15.360 look at your reasons, because because nine times out of 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:19.640 ten our reasons are are excuses wearing pretty clothes. Yeah, 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:22.640 I mean, it's it's your mantra keep going that applies 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:27.560 to anyone no matter what you're doing, keep going, keep going. 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:31.320 I mean, I imagine you can't be the same having 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:36.600 done something so just so transformative of walking across the 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:40.080 entire continent. How how has that changed your perspective on 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:42.280 everyday life now that you've that, now that you've had 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:44.880 what about a year and a half to get reacclimated, Like, 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:47.280 how did that experience change your your outlook to it 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:50.640 just sort of your normal everyday life. I never reacclimated. 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:53.920 I had no interest in going back like it wasn't 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.120 I didn't go on vacation and I'm going back like 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:00.000 I didn't have a house. You know, I wasn't going 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:04.160 back to anything. I was moving forward and I'm still 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:05.960 moving forward in a lot of ways. I'm still on 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:07.960 the walk. I never went I never went to a 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:11.679 house and unpacked my stuff. I started climbing mountains two 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:15.160 weeks later. When I'm working on now and I just go, 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:18.360 I just keep going forward. In fact, you know, the 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:21.600 most the most important day, I think, after you, the 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:25.080 most important day during the goal of the project. I 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:27.880 think it's the day after the day after we're gonna 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.840 do the day after you're gonna you're gonna go party 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:34.280 with your friends. You're gonna get messed up. I wanted 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:38.600 my body, in my mind, my spirit to know when 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:41.680 I was walking across America that I was not done. 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:44.600 So I jumped in the Atlantic Ocean. My my walk 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:47.520 was over, but I was not over. I was not done. 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:51.480 So you know, as you imagine, my body was pretty 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:54.400 messed up at the time. My feet really really hurt. 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:57.840 I stand up like I'm eight years old, like it. 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:01.679 It hurt, and you us two thousand, eight hundred fifty 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:06.000 one miles the same motion. It hurt. But what I 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:09.480 did was I have is a little boxing gym, a 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:13.680 little hardcore boxing gym called CMC Boxing in Venice. It's 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:16.319 not like soccer, mom, Jim. It's like a gym. They 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:20.480 played Black Sabath. You walking you're gonna get work. And 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:23.560 I called Mark coach Marcello. I said, look, I know 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:25.960 this might sound crazy. Can you meet me there at 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:28.960 four thirty am tomorrow? He said, yes, Boxer, I can. 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:31.920 So the next day I was at that gym for 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:35.840 thirty I just needed needed to let myself know you're 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:39.400 not done. You're not done like Rocket, and so I 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:42.960 just moving forward. But to answer your question and like, 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:45.080 what what did it change for me? Because that's really 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:47.320 the essence to your question. I kind of made a 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:51.000 separate point. I apologize for that. But the thing I 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:53.800 take with me is is I did something hard. I 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:56.160 did something hard. You get you get good at doing 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:58.760 hard things, and you have a courage to do more 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:02.280 hard things by doing hard period. So I did other 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:06.440 hard things before that. Incrementally they'll tell you harder. So 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:09.520 if I have a big goal now or something crazy 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:12.000 not crazy with some I want to do that. Maybe 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:14.840 other people think it's crazy. I know I could do it. 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:17.760 I know it's not gonna be easy, but but I 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:19.440 know it's gonna be hard. But that's what I do. 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:22.520 I do hard things. So that's that's that's the gift 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:25.000 I get from it. No one understand that it's not 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:28.960 an outside trophy, that's an inside trophy, internal trophy. Well, 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:32.000 you're you're pushing yourself physically walking across the country and 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:35.600 climbing mountains. You're pushing yourself musically with writing big, longer 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:39.040 narrative pieces like Operation Wake Up. How are you pushing yourself? Now? 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:41.920 What's what's next for you? I haven't announced my next 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:44.960 for like big it's big to me. I'm also big 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:49.520 to you. Big athletic project I'm working on and I 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:51.960 started working on training for it about a year ago, 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:53.920 like I said, two weeks after my walk, So I'll 0:15:53.920 --> 0:15:56.600 be announcing that soon. I'm really excited to kind of 0:15:56.640 --> 0:16:00.320 like tell everyone what I've been working on. And then 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:04.240 as far as music, that's constant, that's constant, just digging 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:09.200 deeper and deeper as a human, increasing your my skills, 0:16:09.640 --> 0:16:11.240 you know, because I'm somebody I have a have a 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:14.640 hip hop background. I started rapping when I was writing 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:17.400 my own songs and start making beats when I was 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:20.160 I think twelve or thirteen. I didn't start singing till 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:22.680 I was twenty. I didn't start playing guitar until twenty 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:25.800 four and start playing piano really tells twenty four. I'm 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:29.600 just increasing my skills, learning about music, theories, just just 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:33.640 all these kind of things you practice and they add 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:36.160 more colors to your palette. So when I sit down 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:38.960 to paint metaphorically speaking, and I sit down to paint, 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:41.840 I can do more things now, so many more things 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:45.000 than I could when I was, you know, fifteen. This 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:48.360 is how deep can you go? How how how beautiful 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:50.760 a piece of art can you make? You know, just 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:54.840 trying to make make beautiful things really musically. But it's 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:58.000 all tied. It's all. It's all one thing. You know, 0:16:58.200 --> 0:16:59.720 whether I go to the top of the mountain, I 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:02.760 walk across America and I'm listening to the birds in 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:07.200 Illinois and recording MyPhone or you know, all these things. 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:09.600 It changed who you are, changed the place where you 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:12.240 that you right from, and change the artists you are. 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:15.480 So they all mixed together. Yeah, you know, the sort 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:18.960 of projects outside the studio and inside. Was there a 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:21.760 moment when you knew that that music would be such 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:23.760 a huge part of your life and would be such 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:26.800 a huge part of your gift to to the world. Yeah, 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:29.399 there was a moment. I think we were in seventh 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:33.080 or eighth grade and I was with my my homies 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:39.639 Aaron Webster and Ronnie Posey recipes, and we used to start, 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:43.119 we say, we're gonna freestyle tonight, you know, because we 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:47.120 heard about wrapping, free styling and stuff like I don't 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:50.240 know where for a TV whatnot, and so we what 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:53.200 we all we all found like little albums and stuff 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.480 that had instrumental sections to them that we could wrap 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:59.920 to put them on and start rap, trying to make 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:03.280 up the things as we go freestyling. And I remember 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:05.520 they started we did it, and they sort of felt 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:08.120 like that was fun, that was cool. And I remember 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:10.720 this feeling like I'm going to get great at that. 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:13.120 I'm never gonna I'm not gonna stop doing I'm gonna 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:15.919 get really good at that. And that's I never stopped. 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:20.160 Still doing it. That was probably eighteen years ago, still 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:23.400 doing it. I'm always curious with people who are are 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:25.760 able and sort of blessed with the ability to to 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:28.360 write music. What do you do when you're sitting down 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:31.399 to write and it's just not happening, like you're you know, 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:34.760 you're you're on your metaphorical walk and you're you take 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:37.520 a stumble and you just how do you do you 0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:40.600 just try to press forward through pure force of creative 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:42.960 will do you take a step back and go meditate 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:44.920 or go do something else and hope that that kind 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:47.639 of primes your imagination, your creative pump. Like, what do 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:50.800 you do when you're having trouble finishing something? Well, that's 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:54.680 two different things, finishing or starting. So but but if 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:58.160 it's starting, I can always come up with something. But 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:02.480 most days it's not something I actually like. That's another 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:06.880 people realize it's like I've made eleven albums, but that's 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:09.000 only ten percent of the music I may. That's like 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:11.960 the timbers of music I made actually like the rest 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:15.000 of it, I don't like that much. And so there's 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:18.960 so much failure involved, man, so much failure, Like when 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:22.119 you're trying to do something great by your own standards great, 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:25.640 Like I'm not interested in anything good. I don't care 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:28.040 about anything good. But most of the time, when I 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:30.240 sit down to ray, it's just good. You know, it's 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:34.280 just good. I don't care, and I fail. So anyway, 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:36.280 that's that's not your question. Question is what I do 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:38.720 when I when you kind of feel blocked or you're 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:41.480 just only coming up with good stuff and you don't 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:44.560 really care. Or maybe in the fields is like derivative 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:46.800 of stuff you've already done that happens a lot to you, 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:49.480 Like I already wrote this song like this is that 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:52.440 this is part of version. This is like a worst 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:55.560 version of something I've already done. So one thing I 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:58.320 do is I change while I'm working with If I'm 0:19:58.359 --> 0:20:00.879 working alone, which I do you a lot, I might 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:02.960 go right with my friend Adam, or I might go 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:05.800 right with James Valentine. You know I switched that up. 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:09.040 That's one that's like, that's easy. I think way bring 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:12.639 someone another humans energy into it. Or if it's the opposite, 0:20:12.760 --> 0:20:15.359 I'm working with somebody else and you feel stuck, I 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:18.600 might go work alone, might go work alone. The thing 0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:21.199 is me, I don't. I don't really, I don't you 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:23.400 ask me when I sit down to write. I don't 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:26.159 really sit down to write that much anymore. Maybe I 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:29.200 should a little bit more, but I mostly wait till 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:32.399 the thing just pop starts talking to me and I 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:36.080 just repeat, repeat what it says. You know. That being said, 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:38.840 there are many years where I wrote some right rose 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:41.520 song every single day, you know, so you couldn't get 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:44.720 those ten thousand hours but um, I don't know that 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:58.280 it's funny. I mean you were saying, how you know 0:20:58.320 --> 0:21:00.800 you sometimes you sit down and you think only writing 0:21:00.920 --> 0:21:03.640 something that's good, and I feel like that's what separates 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:05.720 you for most people. Most people will be thrilled to 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:08.200