Speaker 1: Welcome to All the Smoke, a production of The Black
Speaker 1: Effect and our Heart Radio and partnership with Showtime. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to another edition All the Smoke. Jack, what's up?
Speaker 1: What are you doing? Brother ahead? I look nice? Have
Speaker 1: it to be back. Appreciate you, bro. You're explaining we
Speaker 1: need to get them shoes though, to me, l b J,
Speaker 1: shout out Jack, these lebron's right your boy to Twitter.
Speaker 1: I couldn't figure out what sweatsuit to go with because
Speaker 1: this goes with this one and the other one goes
Speaker 1: on the other one. But yeah, these motherfucker's clean right here.
Speaker 1: Hey man, we got a special guest in the building,
Speaker 1: man legend in the space. We're gonna start it off,
Speaker 1: but obviously we got Wis Kalif from the building today.
Speaker 1: Appreciate you coming so, y'all. Appreciate you all for having
Speaker 1: me super fresh. I was like caught up in the freshness.
Speaker 1: Shit real way was a world wind. What did you
Speaker 1: take from this last year? For me? It was all
Speaker 1: about like family time, like balancing, kind of like reconnecting
Speaker 1: and ship like I haven't been off of the road
Speaker 1: and at least like ten or twelve years I've been
Speaker 1: touring consistently, recording consistently, Um, just just moving and shaking,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. There hasn't been a time
Speaker 1: period where I wasn't doing anything. So for me to
Speaker 1: not be traveling and not going anywhere, it was like
Speaker 1: a crazy reset, you know what I mean. It hasn't
Speaker 1: been like that since I was a kid. Hell, you know,
Speaker 1: especially having to stay in the house, to like not
Speaker 1: being able to physically go anywhere, be in contact with anybody.
Speaker 1: It was it was like it's pretty extreme, but um,
Speaker 1: you know, having my eight year old is really cool.
Speaker 1: Like shoutout to Sebastian and my son, and you know,
Speaker 1: just making sure his life and his routine was kind
Speaker 1: of going how it should. School kept him entertained, so
Speaker 1: he had to stay on the zoom school, but also
Speaker 1: giving him breaks in between that and trying to keep
Speaker 1: him physical and moving around and just entertained throughout the
Speaker 1: whole thing. So it was it was a cool little reset.
Speaker 1: And you know, as far as business, I did a lot,
Speaker 1: you know, business wise that didn't have to do with music. Um.
Speaker 1: I started a online restaurant called hot Box with wiz
Speaker 1: Yes delivery only, so we were able to utilize the
Speaker 1: fact that people weren't, you know, going and sitting down
Speaker 1: in restaurants. So I was able to do that. My
Speaker 1: liquor company went up because everybody was at home. The
Speaker 1: pressure drinking uh khalifa kush went up because we was
Speaker 1: an essential business and you know we've been doing that
Speaker 1: for years. So it was a lot of cool little things.
Speaker 1: Acting in television, Um, I'm on the show called Duncanville
Speaker 1: where I do a voiceover. I played. His character's name
Speaker 1: is Mr Mitch. He's like the counselor. He's like the
Speaker 1: cool ass nigga that that all the kids funk with.
Speaker 1: But I was able to record two seasons at home,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, just sitting right in my
Speaker 1: backyard in my studio. So um, business wise, I got
Speaker 1: a lot of ship done. I just wasn't able to
Speaker 1: like physically traveling this ship. But what they say, I mean,
Speaker 1: you should, you know, bearing health, come out of this
Speaker 1: better than you went in. Yeah we we didn't. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we came out a lot better than we went in,
Speaker 1: you know, with blessings and like you said, just being
Speaker 1: on that ground. So it was definitely for for me
Speaker 1: to first time you got you think we start pooping
Speaker 1: and traveling at sixteen seventeen eighteen, traveling in the world
Speaker 1: for basketball. It was the first time. And then once
Speaker 1: we retired to we're both working for news stations, so
Speaker 1: we're traveling across the country and doing this show. That
Speaker 1: was the first time I got to sit out and
Speaker 1: kind of just reflect and kind of appreciate life and
Speaker 1: what was going on and be more of a dad.
Speaker 1: So I definitely appreciated the reset to Man, yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: glad it's over because the home school was stressing me.
Speaker 1: Was a movie bro. I found appreciation for teachers. Man,
Speaker 1: shout out to you teachers out there. Man, it's hard
Speaker 1: to keep two in and ten. I couldn't imagine keeping
Speaker 1: the whole gut them class entertain Yeah, school is needed,
Speaker 1: like you realize, Like yo, they need to be social
Speaker 1: and they need to so much more than just to work.
Speaker 1: It's interaction and it's I love my son to death,
Speaker 1: but I appreciate his time at school and what they
Speaker 1: can do for him. And he need to teach him
Speaker 1: for a reason. It ain't cheat. So Born in North Dakota,
Speaker 1: you were an army bratt, moved all around, lived in Germany, UK,
Speaker 1: Japan before settling in Pittsburgh. Talk to us what your
Speaker 1: childhood and upbringing was like. Bouncing around so much, just
Speaker 1: being a new kid all the time. My parents always
Speaker 1: made sure like I played sports and I did this
Speaker 1: and that. So I was always like reintroducing myself and like, yo,
Speaker 1: I'm calming this that blah blah blah. So uh, you know,
Speaker 1: growing up, I had moved to Pittsburgh because that's where
Speaker 1: my family's at. But then I moved away and then
Speaker 1: when other places and I came back. So there's a
Speaker 1: lot of mother Funcker's I knew from my childhood that
Speaker 1: were reintroduced to me when I got older and ship.
Speaker 1: So it was cool, man, it was fun. I definitely
Speaker 1: got to experience a lot. And like you said, you
Speaker 1: went to a high school with like a mixed crowd
Speaker 1: and ship like that. I went to high school all
Speaker 1: white kids. Well you went to high school white kids,
Speaker 1: and I got to mix it up a lot. Like
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh is super hood, but like moving around, well there's
Speaker 1: inner city and then there's a suburbs, and then moving
Speaker 1: around in the military families, you get to just mix
Speaker 1: and mingle with everybody. So it was cool. It was
Speaker 1: fun to be around a lot of different crowds and
Speaker 1: and and really just expand you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And it helped me out, like getting older too, to
Speaker 1: figure out what type of crowd I wanted to associate
Speaker 1: myself with, and being able to move in different crowds
Speaker 1: like my my younger like my junior high was mixed,
Speaker 1: and then my parents didn't want me to go to
Speaker 1: school with that crowd, so they put me in the
Speaker 1: all white high school. So that's really when I've learned
Speaker 1: how to And people say, because I'm half Italian and
Speaker 1: half black, like I didn't really start being around white
Speaker 1: kids until I was like nine years old, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, Like that was new to me. I
Speaker 1: was around black Mexican Asians. So to be able to
Speaker 1: have both sides and kind of understand how to maneuver,
Speaker 1: that's how you really you feel that now, that's how
Speaker 1: you can move in business and move in different crowds.
Speaker 1: And that's just important, man, it helps out a lot,
Speaker 1: definitely important. When did you start writing? When when did
Speaker 1: that become a passion of yours? Um? I started writing,
Speaker 1: and like third grade, maybe I got like a lot
Speaker 1: of older cousins and ship, so I would just be
Speaker 1: with them. And this was maybe like nineties six nine seven,
Speaker 1: so like Pocket Biggie had just died, fucking you know,
Speaker 1: Puffy was kind of like that nigga. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: everything was kind of changing. Music was changing. You had, yeah,
Speaker 1: you had your really really mainstream hip hop, and then
Speaker 1: you had like your hardcore ship like d m X
Speaker 1: and ship like that too. Rest in Peace. But like
Speaker 1: I remember going and getting his first album like as
Speaker 1: a kid, you know what I mean. So that's the
Speaker 1: type of ship that I grew up listening to. And
Speaker 1: my cousins they were banging like master p and all
Speaker 1: of that ship. So I had like a mixture of everything,
Speaker 1: and they were right and they would battle, and man,
Speaker 1: we listened to so much music. Bro. Like we would
Speaker 1: go online and like fucking get the lyrics and learn
Speaker 1: the words, and we're all being in the room wrapping
Speaker 1: that ship together. And that's kind of how we you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. We first started doing our little thing,
Speaker 1: and then as time went on, like my musical tastes
Speaker 1: changed a little bit. I got more into like lyrical ship.
Speaker 1: I had to go back and do my homework because
Speaker 1: I'm young, I'm only thirty three, so a lot of
Speaker 1: like the early nineties ship like n w A and
Speaker 1: NAWS and Wu Tang and all of that. I had
Speaker 1: to just re educate myself on that. So that's what
Speaker 1: I spent my teams doing, like really just listening to
Speaker 1: like hardcore, like really really hip hop ship. Then I got,
Speaker 1: you know, like sixteen seventeen. That's why I started hustling
Speaker 1: making money. So I'm listening to camera on uh state property,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Like that's my type of ship.
Speaker 1: So it was just a process of just my own
Speaker 1: musical taste and then just developing, you know, my own
Speaker 1: style throughout that. Yeah, but I started writing and in
Speaker 1: third grade? Who were some of your inspirations? You mentioned
Speaker 1: some people you were listening to? You know, you said
Speaker 1: Jay was, you know, instrumental in parts of your game?
Speaker 1: Who did you do try to patting your game to
Speaker 1: anybody else's? Do you take bits and pieces from people? Yeah? Absolutely,
Speaker 1: man Um. I feel like my whole just existence is
Speaker 1: just a combination of everything that I've seen and love.
Speaker 1: I love groups, so Bone Doesn't Harmony is one of
Speaker 1: my favorite groups. Wu Tang Dip Set, like just the
Speaker 1: whole you know, having the whole your own slang and
Speaker 1: your own logo and your own way of dress. That
Speaker 1: always influenced them. Bust A Rounds is one of my
Speaker 1: huge influences. I love his videos and how animated he
Speaker 1: is and just being yourself. Yeah, energy performance on stage,
Speaker 1: crazy jay z uh, swag on stage, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. So these are all little things that I
Speaker 1: pick and choose from that I love. Cameron is my
Speaker 1: favorite artist out of everybody, just as far as like swag, attitude, lyricism, um.
Speaker 1: You know, people try to like say that he don't
Speaker 1: really rap rap, but he dumps it down like you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like, Cam's that nigga. Yeah, Cam's hard,
Speaker 1: so he's wanted not to cut you off. I just
Speaker 1: heard him kind of just listen to J cole Ship
Speaker 1: the other day shout out J cole uh, and I
Speaker 1: thought Cam was gonna wrap. I thought He's going at
Speaker 1: least give us eight bars. He didn't give us no bars.
Speaker 1: He was just kind of the hype man for the
Speaker 1: first song. I'm like, yeah, they got cold and Cam,
Speaker 1: you got you got Cam out of retirement and Cam
Speaker 1: just kind of hyped it, didn't he got he Cam
Speaker 1: to spite what I was hoping. So where did your
Speaker 1: Where did the name Wiz come from? Wiz comes from
Speaker 1: me always being into technology and ship and just being
Speaker 1: like a smart dude in general. Like I always was
Speaker 1: into school, like my dad made me do like fucking
Speaker 1: homework projects during like the summertime, and ship. So I
Speaker 1: was always kind of like nerdy, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So that was my first name. It was fully Wisdom. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but my dad used to just call me Wis, and
Speaker 1: everybody on the block you just be like, yo, that's
Speaker 1: young Wis, blah blah blah. So it kind of just stuck.
Speaker 1: And then the khalifa my dad, I mean, my my
Speaker 1: granddad is Muslim. So I got that name when I
Speaker 1: was real, real young. I just put them both together
Speaker 1: and then came up with it, just converted. Congrats, Brom,
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Yeah, you said you stopped drinking and
Speaker 1: all that. That's gangster. I'm happy, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I'm in a good place. It's a good place to be. Tattoos,
Speaker 1: When did you realize that that was something that's going
Speaker 1: to be a part of who you are. I think
Speaker 1: I got my first tattoo when I was sixteen, and
Speaker 1: it was crazy because my mom actually was like, yo,
Speaker 1: you don't want to get on tattoo your mom? Yeah
Speaker 1: hell yeah, but yes, So I got my first one
Speaker 1: and then just like you know, my influences. I was
Speaker 1: influenced by Little Wayne and Travis Barker like at the
Speaker 1: same time. So it was like, how the fund can
Speaker 1: I be like Little Wayne and Travis Barker. I was like, yeo,
Speaker 1: I gotta tap my whole body, Like I didn't just
Speaker 1: have one or two. It was like, what was your
Speaker 1: first tip too? That's right here on my on my
Speaker 1: on my bicep. It's the rap group that me and
Speaker 1: my my cousin's has. It was called Mammals. Like it's
Speaker 1: like being the animals, like being the beast. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: so you completely covered any more space. I still got space,
Speaker 1: Like I'm still doing my legs and ship that let
Speaker 1: them legs here different. Yeah, here's any kind of tattoo,
Speaker 1: nummy cream or dude, Like, what's your routine because you've
Speaker 1: got so many everyone's routines. What's your routine when you
Speaker 1: get tattoed? I just smoke. I don't like to get
Speaker 1: too high, honestly, Like people be like yo, yet that
Speaker 1: ship makes you freak out when tattoos, Yeah, you feel
Speaker 1: like a yeah yeah, and then the time doesn't pass
Speaker 1: because you're counting the moments in your hand. Yeah. Being
Speaker 1: stunned and getting tattoos, it's like it's not the best. Um. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I like to just have music playing, like a couple
Speaker 1: of shots. It's like a party, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I get tattoos in the studio and ship, Like, the
Speaker 1: more going on, I feel like the better. If it's
Speaker 1: just me and that person sitting there, it's pretty bad.
Speaker 1: But I don't use no numb and cream or anything
Speaker 1: like that. Yeah, And I usually funk up and like
Speaker 1: try to get like a small tat and it ends
Speaker 1: up taking like eight to ten hours and ship. So
Speaker 1: a lot of my tattoos weren't even supposed to be
Speaker 1: as much as they are. But most painful, the most painful,
Speaker 1: I would have to say, if there's a tie between
Speaker 1: the back, like anywhere on my back and my motherfucking feet. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she's a bit hands. I didn't like my hands. My
Speaker 1: hands s foll up like boxing, yeah, like boxing elbows, yeah,
Speaker 1: anywhere where it's like that that bone popping out where
Speaker 1: they're just hitting the needle of the bone. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm not a fan. Explain the mixtape days,
Speaker 1: the process of getting your music out there, you know,
Speaker 1: like on Dead Pail and stuff like that. Explain what
Speaker 1: was your thought process during that time. That was a
Speaker 1: fun time for me. I was really just finding my
Speaker 1: way kind of putting people onto what I thought was cool. Uh,
Speaker 1: still am, but at that time it was like there
Speaker 1: was like a real opening in the game because I
Speaker 1: had signed to Warner Brothers first, and I really see
Speaker 1: like what the industry was like, what mainstream and what
Speaker 1: you know, kind of just we got ten records, we
Speaker 1: only like this one, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 1: that's difficult to go through as an artist because you
Speaker 1: you love all your shoes, but they'll tell you in
Speaker 1: the heartbeat like nah, like we don't even want to
Speaker 1: hear that ship. They'll skip through it and they only
Speaker 1: want to hear that one or that too. So that
Speaker 1: let me know what that was like. But that also
Speaker 1: let me know that I didn't want to be that
Speaker 1: type of artists where it was just that song, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Like I was more concerned with
Speaker 1: the substance and the content and I can make that
Speaker 1: song as well. So it's like, how do I entertain
Speaker 1: the building, like make them happy to where they'll be
Speaker 1: like yo, which is this ship? But still keep my
Speaker 1: fans be like this nigga is killing it, this nigga freestyle, this,
Speaker 1: that and the other thing. And that's more where the
Speaker 1: mixtape mentality comes in, where it's like I get ideas
Speaker 1: every day and it's just me being creative, and social
Speaker 1: media gave me an outlet to literally just act on
Speaker 1: all of those ideas as soon as I feel them.
Speaker 1: So if I wake up in the morning and I
Speaker 1: hear al Green sample, you know, I can listen to it,
Speaker 1: show people on the internet, go to the studio recorded
Speaker 1: that night, put it out on the internet, and shoot
Speaker 1: a video for it showing me recording it. And it
Speaker 1: just like involved everybody in the process and made it
Speaker 1: more real to the point where a lot of artists
Speaker 1: weren't doing that at the time. So um yeah, it
Speaker 1: became an experience and it's fun for me. I love
Speaker 1: this ship, so you know it's something that I'll always
Speaker 1: be into. Um. I love making albums, but mixed tapes
Speaker 1: and and just fun ship, you know. Content for the fans.
Speaker 1: That's that's always where my heart is gonna be at.
Speaker 1: You see, that's what it's gonna ask. I mean you
Speaker 1: have some legendary mix tapes. I mean legendary, like we're
Speaker 1: just bumping your ship before you came, not just because
Speaker 1: you were coming, because like your mixed taste have always
Speaker 1: gone so hard. So what is the difference between preparing
Speaker 1: for a mix tape and then, like you said, a
Speaker 1: studio albu right, Um, for a mixtape, it's more of
Speaker 1: my own ideas in the production. Um, if I'm listening
Speaker 1: to if I'm working with this producer or these types
Speaker 1: of beats. So this sound is what I'm going for.
Speaker 1: I'm able to just lock in and just do that,
Speaker 1: no interruptions, no distractions, and when I put it out
Speaker 1: is what I wanted to be, especially before streaming went crazy,
Speaker 1: because that made it harder to like sample songs and
Speaker 1: things like that. They'll come back and get at you later.
Speaker 1: But the album is more like a collaboration. You have
Speaker 1: to work with people who are great at what they do.
Speaker 1: So you know, me coming in the game wanting to
Speaker 1: make hits, I'm not going to do it with an
Speaker 1: unknown producer. I have to do it with somebody who's
Speaker 1: made hits. I have to get in the room with
Speaker 1: somebody who's actually, you know, had a few number one
Speaker 1: records before. And um, it's just a process of figuring
Speaker 1: out who works and who doesn't, and who likes this
Speaker 1: song and who doesn't. It's more of a team effort.
Speaker 1: And yeah, that's all the difference is to me talk
Speaker 1: to us about the U taken from us too soon.
Speaker 1: Mac Miller yeast in peace. Um, that's my little homie man.
Speaker 1: I love school. Yeah, he went to the same high school,
Speaker 1: but he was younger than me, so when I was
Speaker 1: out of school, he was doing his thing. But I
Speaker 1: always appreciated him and still do because I got to
Speaker 1: watch him come up. I got to see him be
Speaker 1: uh like an excited, you know kid in the studio
Speaker 1: sucking a couple of dollars for some studio time to
Speaker 1: being a global fucking superstar, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And you don't get to witness that a lot of times,
Speaker 1: like sometimes you're just meeting nigga, like when they're on
Speaker 1: their way up or blah blah blah. But I actually
Speaker 1: seen his whole process and he's really really talented, Like
Speaker 1: he played all of those instruments, and he wrote and
Speaker 1: he was really passionate about his music. And that's the
Speaker 1: thing that I love from him the most. It's just
Speaker 1: like his raw talent. Many So you drop your first
Speaker 1: CD showing improven oh six, how does life change after that?
Speaker 1: Or well, what's because you got into kind of had
Speaker 1: a falling out with Warner Brothers m But explain that
Speaker 1: process and where you were in your life at that time. Ship.
Speaker 1: I was still in high school, so it was like
Speaker 1: my dad was like, nig what then you're doing rapping?
Speaker 1: Like that's cool, but you need to go to college
Speaker 1: or some shing like that, And I'm like, no, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do this rap. Ship like going back and forth
Speaker 1: to New York. They had this thing called the Breeding
Speaker 1: Ground back then for all hip hop. That was one
Speaker 1: of the major sites, just kind of like just running
Speaker 1: up in buildings and taking you know, meetings and kind
Speaker 1: of just meeting artists at that time who are who
Speaker 1: are on the come up. I remember b O. B
Speaker 1: Was one of the artists who was on to come
Speaker 1: up at the time. Kids in the Holiday from Chicago, Uh,
Speaker 1: the New Boys, like they from out here just random motherfucker's.
Speaker 1: Like it was cool being in that scene and kind of,
Speaker 1: you know, just trying to figure it all out. But
Speaker 1: I don't think any of us knew exactly what the
Speaker 1: funk we were doing. We were just figuring it out.
Speaker 1: So say, yeah, I was a hit. What was it?
Speaker 1: What was that? Like? What was that experience? Like? I
Speaker 1: was signed to Warners, so I had I had met
Speaker 1: with everybody. I met Tom Wally who signed TUPACS, so
Speaker 1: it was like all hyping that ship up and he
Speaker 1: kind of just like walked in the room and looked
Speaker 1: at me and then walked out of the room, and
Speaker 1: I was like, fuck, But it was cool, Like it
Speaker 1: was a process for me. I feel like that was
Speaker 1: more work than anything. Um. I got to see how
Speaker 1: to like you know, do the radio thing, and any artists,
Speaker 1: I don't think nowadays they get the opportunity to really
Speaker 1: learn like how to talk to DJ's or do meet
Speaker 1: and greeds and program directors and the importance of that
Speaker 1: ship like building those relationships. That's what say, yeah, it
Speaker 1: was for me, it was like a relationship builder where
Speaker 1: I met a ton of DJs, uh, a ton of
Speaker 1: motherfucker's who like you know, that might have been their
Speaker 1: first interview at the time, and then they went on
Speaker 1: to become bloggers or this or that or presidents, and like,
Speaker 1: it was just a good time to just put down
Speaker 1: that groundwork in that foundation. So you went to indie route.
Speaker 1: After the Warner Brothers situation didn't work, I started doing
Speaker 1: my thing independent. But um, it really wasn't like a
Speaker 1: bidding war because I was already making so much money
Speaker 1: on my own. I didn't want to sign like I
Speaker 1: was just like, I wasn't taking no meetings. I wasn't
Speaker 1: really talking to anybody. And uh V, who was the
Speaker 1: n r AT at Atlantic, he had got with my
Speaker 1: manager at the time, Benji, and they had a conversation
Speaker 1: and Benji was like, I'm just gonna bring him to
Speaker 1: the show. I'm like, bring him to the show, but
Speaker 1: do not introduce him to me or none of that.
Speaker 1: Like I don't want to meet him. And he's seen
Speaker 1: the performance, he's seen like everything, and he kept flying
Speaker 1: back to Pittsburgh. Was just like bagging me, begging me,
Speaker 1: begging me, like, yo, please, I know you hate labels,
Speaker 1: but we're gonna do it right this time. We're gonna
Speaker 1: give you a ship ton of money. We're gonna leave
Speaker 1: you the funk alone and let you have your own direction.
Speaker 1: Blah blah blah. So I was like, all right, cool,
Speaker 1: you know what fun it. I'll go I'll go meet
Speaker 1: with Atlantic and see what they're talking about. And then
Speaker 1: when I met with them, I met Julie, Craig Kaiser
Speaker 1: and all of them, and I was like, oh, they
Speaker 1: are actually kind of really fucking cool. And that's when
Speaker 1: my team came along, like Marcia and like Manual, and
Speaker 1: there was a lot of people who if it wasn't
Speaker 1: those individual motherfucker's, I wouldn't have done what I did,
Speaker 1: like you know what I mean. So it definitely had
Speaker 1: to do with the people as opposed to just uh,
Speaker 1: you know, signing them, signing them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, what
Speaker 1: was the first thing you bought? I know, you know
Speaker 1: when I first got uh, well, I was drafted almost
Speaker 1: the second to last pick in the draft and I
Speaker 1: got to advanced for twenty five racks and you know,
Speaker 1: I come from the block sos was a million of me,
Speaker 1: especially cash, and then it's coming from a check. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, it's pre Monday to me. I
Speaker 1: don't have to work for the run from the police
Speaker 1: for it. So I went to picked to my homeboard
Speaker 1: might be his sister, my brother. We went to the mall.
Speaker 1: Every Amax polo I left out of that was probably
Speaker 1: by two thousand. What you did when you got your
Speaker 1: first big check, first big check? Huh? Yeah, ran out
Speaker 1: to my first my first big check. I bought the
Speaker 1: I bought the Yellow and the Black Zixact Change, and
Speaker 1: I bought the Black and Yellow Challenger. That's what I did. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then and then I wrote black and Yellow right
Speaker 1: after I had to get the money back. Yeah, definitely
Speaker 1: did so talk to us about that process. Black and Yellow,
Speaker 1: it was. It was inspired the Pittsburgh Steelers end up
Speaker 1: going to the super Bowl. Yeah, right after that, it's
Speaker 1: it's been you did a purple and yellow. But talk
Speaker 1: to us about where that came from, and that the
Speaker 1: the vibe and the wave that was on it and
Speaker 1: it was your hometown team. Yeah, that was crazy because
Speaker 1: I always wanted um like, I look at people's moments
Speaker 1: in their careers and ship like that, and they say,
Speaker 1: you gotta like moment the grades to becoming great. But
Speaker 1: just me, I know what a standout sucking moment is
Speaker 1: to look at what people's moments are, Like Snoop Uh,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, when he came out and
Speaker 1: his first video and he's running from the dog. Actual
Speaker 1: he turned to the dog and he's like on top
Speaker 1: of the the record store and everything. It's like that's
Speaker 1: the monumental Snoop Dog moment. And the songs like from Snoops,
Speaker 1: like Gin and Juice like that will never ever, ever, ever,
Speaker 1: ever ever ever go away. So when I'm creating my
Speaker 1: first single, now mind you, I'm coming off a cushion
Speaker 1: orange juice, and I hate record labels, but I'm like, okay, cool,
Speaker 1: I'm back in the building. I gotta make a single,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. Like, I'm not gonna walk
Speaker 1: in here with a mixtape record. I gotta make a single.
Speaker 1: So my idea of a great single and something that's
Speaker 1: a standout moment is something that represents my city because
Speaker 1: I love Picksburgh so much. Everybody from Pittsburgh, we love
Speaker 1: our city. We reaped four, one, two, black and yellow
Speaker 1: all day. So that was my initial thing was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna going here. I'm gonna write a hit about
Speaker 1: my city. The actual words and the beat and all
Speaker 1: that ship that just came from up above, Like you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, that's just that's magic how that
Speaker 1: stuff happens. But the intention was there was like make
Speaker 1: a hit, make it be your standout record. Um I
Speaker 1: recorded that song and maybe June and uh. Black and
Speaker 1: Yellow didn't come out until August, I think, and that
Speaker 1: whole time, the Atlantic was trying to give me to
Speaker 1: record more and more songs that we need another blah blah.
Speaker 1: I'm like, no, that's the one, that's the one, that's
Speaker 1: the one. So eventually they went to radio with it,
Speaker 1: and it had a really really slow start, like this
Speaker 1: started off super super slow, but it picked up a
Speaker 1: little bit more. I went on tour, I went to jail,
Speaker 1: still have started winning a couple of things just made
Speaker 1: you know my name. I think at the time I
Speaker 1: was one of the most google names like in the world,
Speaker 1: just uh, off of the uniqueness and you know, just
Speaker 1: me smoking weed and doing what the funk I wanted
Speaker 1: to do. So all of that combined boom Black and
Speaker 1: Yellow Steelers. I think they went to Super Bowl like
Speaker 1: the same week that the ship went number one, So
Speaker 1: it was crazy. It was like, like I said, it
Speaker 1: all came from above. It was a blessing, but it
Speaker 1: was definitely like intended to be. You know, my my
Speaker 1: moment from the beginning. Rolling Papers debuts two thousand eleven
Speaker 1: is the tenure anniversary. What's what stand out from that
Speaker 1: and what are some of your favorite songs on that album? Um,
Speaker 1: my favorite songs on there, like the race on my
Speaker 1: level started show ship. We had had, we had, we had,
Speaker 1: uh the deluxe come out, and there's a Nipsey verse
Speaker 1: on there that I remember getting from him. He was
Speaker 1: at my house and he recorded that. That was just
Speaker 1: a special album. It was a fun time. Black and
Speaker 1: Yellow was on that album. Like I was saying, I
Speaker 1: was coming off of the mixtape stage, So everything that
Speaker 1: I was doing I had intentions on. You know, it's
Speaker 1: sticking and it lasting for a minute. And the fact that, uh,
Speaker 1: the album came out ten years ago and people are
Speaker 1: you know, still talking about how classic it is and
Speaker 1: what it means to them and how it changed them.
Speaker 1: Um that that that makes me happy for for what
Speaker 1: I did with that project. You spoke on nip Um.
Speaker 1: I know you guys had a unique friendship. He was
Speaker 1: an instrument in your life. Very welcoming you guys. Really
Speaker 1: Vibe talked to us about your relationship with him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Nip was my partner. Um, that's my homie, man, Like,
Speaker 1: you don't get too many friends like in the industry,
Speaker 1: and know when when you say it like that, that's home.
Speaker 1: When you say like, that's exactly, exactly, exactly currency, that's
Speaker 1: one of my partners. So you got a couple of
Speaker 1: people who you feel that type of way about. And
Speaker 1: we came up together. We were on the same double
Speaker 1: x cell because the legendary cover. Yeah, that Tampa TA
Speaker 1: or something like that. Yeah, yeah, funk I forget. There
Speaker 1: was a lot of niggas on there though. Juice Man
Speaker 1: was on that cover. Yeah yeah, Juice Man was on there.
Speaker 1: Jay Rock was on there. It was a lot of
Speaker 1: niggas on that cover. But yeah, it was cool. That
Speaker 1: was the time we was all coming up. We were hustling,
Speaker 1: we were couch surfing, we were sleeping on couches. Some
Speaker 1: of us had Louis, some of us had not so Louis.
Speaker 1: So it was cool, man, It was fun, man, it
Speaker 1: was It was a good time to be a young rapper.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, And even just coming up and seeing
Speaker 1: his transition. You know, Uh, it's funked up. He was
Speaker 1: taking away from us, but he was he was definitely
Speaker 1: about everything that he's that he was about. I got
Speaker 1: a chance and you know, meet him in like oh nine,
Speaker 1: and like you said, if you've seen him and really
Speaker 1: seen him, you see his involvement in talking about every
Speaker 1: level of that, but always getting to that next level quickly.
Speaker 1: Because it was a smart dude. Yeah yeah, second album
Speaker 1: and f C December twelve with a top single work
Speaker 1: Hard Play Hard. Was then the pressure to file up
Speaker 1: a debut. What's up with something bad after that? I
Speaker 1: don't I didn't feel like there was any pressure for me. Uh.
Speaker 1: I think the label Private fails some pressure and something
Speaker 1: like that. But I just I just like to create.
Speaker 1: And when I made that album, I was in a
Speaker 1: really good creative space. I was listening to a lot
Speaker 1: of like old school like Marvin Gaye ship, and I
Speaker 1: just wanted to make something that uh musically just stood
Speaker 1: out to me and of course, like I wanted my
Speaker 1: fans to get it too, but I was just trying
Speaker 1: to impress myself. So it was really based off of
Speaker 1: my life and where I was that and my experiences
Speaker 1: and the thing I was going through, and yeah, I
Speaker 1: felt like I got it across. And then like later
Speaker 1: on in life, it was as crazy to hear people
Speaker 1: like go through some of those same experiences and be like, oh,
Speaker 1: I feel I just now figured out what you were
Speaker 1: talking about. Just that, Oh and I f c ship
Speaker 1: right here. I'll be like, yeah, yeah, for sure. You yeah,
Speaker 1: tell us where Taylor Gang came from, the origin of that.
Speaker 1: You really made that kind of your thing. So Taylor
Speaker 1: Gang was just the It just started off as the homies.
Speaker 1: I'm the youngest side of everybody, so I couldn't even
Speaker 1: get in the club at certain points, and they were
Speaker 1: the ones really in the club, popping bottles and you know,
Speaker 1: paying the DJs to pay the reck, play the records,
Speaker 1: grabbing the mic and going crazy and so that's what
Speaker 1: I seen coming up, and that's just what I wanted
Speaker 1: to do. So as soon as I was old enough nineteen,
Speaker 1: I had a chain and I was in the club
Speaker 1: with my niggas and he was going crazy. So it
Speaker 1: was just really about the party life and in the
Speaker 1: in the in the in the excitement and making that music.
Speaker 1: And we were all from the same neighborhood, so it
Speaker 1: was like everything we did was the same. We all
Speaker 1: talked the same, we've dressed the same, and when we
Speaker 1: walked into the room, it was just like, you know,
Speaker 1: you knew what it was. So we just took that
Speaker 1: attitude on the road and as it spread, it just
Speaker 1: became more of a lifestyle of just doing whatever you
Speaker 1: want to do. And we met more and more tailors nationwide,
Speaker 1: whether it be Chicago, Detroit, uh Louisiana, Atlanta, uh l A, Toronto,
Speaker 1: Like you know what I mean, there's tailors everywhere, So
Speaker 1: it just even out of the country, Brazil, in the UK, everywhere. Um,
Speaker 1: it just became a lifestyle in the in the in
Speaker 1: the in a, in a, in a brand. I thought.
Speaker 1: I thought it meant the way y'all rode y'all joined
Speaker 1: because I heard you in a couple of what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: smoking tailor the old school time to Bay Area. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and mcmas just say that smoking on the Taylor. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when did you When did you fall in love with
Speaker 1: the plant? I started smoking weed early. I usually don't
Speaker 1: say say what age because I don't want to inspire
Speaker 1: anybody to you know when I started. Yeah, I started
Speaker 1: smoking really young. But on an everyday basis though consistently
Speaker 1: for real. Damn, that's every day. Yeah, that's crazy. I
Speaker 1: don't see I don't see my mom my smoking age.
Speaker 1: But it was young, and I think you know it
Speaker 1: was crazy because I was in the studio, Like I
Speaker 1: used to sell weed. I used selling like white kids
Speaker 1: and ship like that. So that's how I learned about it.
Speaker 1: But I was in the studio and Nigger told me,
Speaker 1: was like, bro, like you're hard, like you could wrap
Speaker 1: your ass off. But as soon as you started smoking
Speaker 1: weed and wrapping, he was like, you're gonna go to
Speaker 1: the top. I was like, man, I don't need that ship, bro,
Speaker 1: I'm a sooner. I started smoking weed and rapid. That's
Speaker 1: when it happened, like my association with the weed and
Speaker 1: the music. I heard ship that I never heard before,
Speaker 1: and I started like years old. Yeah, it was like
Speaker 1: the under under the real music, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Like it wasn't just a surface level thing anymore. And
Speaker 1: that's what made me really falling and fall in love
Speaker 1: with weed is the relationship with music that that that
Speaker 1: it goes together. You talked about kind of evolution. You
Speaker 1: were someone I remember and we were talking about this before,
Speaker 1: but you convinced. Remember me, you were snooper doing something somewhere,
Speaker 1: but you were like, you guys gotta smoke paper. You
Speaker 1: guys paper. We're both smoking swishes. At that time. I
Speaker 1: was twenty years in on swishes because I just joints
Speaker 1: never really worked, but you kept pushing on it. So
Speaker 1: I tried it, and bro haven't went back since I
Speaker 1: was probably like six years ago, proud because I didn't
Speaker 1: really proud of you know, I mean, but you talk
Speaker 1: about your evolution of kind of with the plant, how
Speaker 1: it's kind of started as you selling it and then
Speaker 1: the homie telling you and it took you to other place,
Speaker 1: but it's really come a real, real part of your
Speaker 1: life now. Yeah. Yeah, I think we all started smoking
Speaker 1: weed like relatively the same. It's just with the homies.
Speaker 1: Like you probably got a parent or something like that
Speaker 1: who smokes weeds. So you smelt it in the house before,
Speaker 1: and it was really fucking bad back in the day,
Speaker 1: Like that ship you start to hide, like for real,
Speaker 1: you couldn't just smoke weed out in the open. And
Speaker 1: that's where I come from. Where it where it's like
Speaker 1: buy a little sack and split it with the homies.
Speaker 1: And as time went on, um, we smoke a lot
Speaker 1: of weed in Pittsburgh, so just having like a little
Speaker 1: a for a quarter wasn't enough. You have to have
Speaker 1: a zip, like, so we're burning ounces like you gotta zip,
Speaker 1: you gotta zip, I gotta zip. That's the session right there.
Speaker 1: We're all going and we're smoking at all, like nobody's
Speaker 1: saving anything exactly. So as time goes on, we started,
Speaker 1: you know, branching out, going different places and finding better
Speaker 1: fucking weed. Me. I didn't like blunts like. I didn't
Speaker 1: like the taste of them, I didn't like how they
Speaker 1: made my clothes smell. I didn't like how they made
Speaker 1: me feel in the morning. And I was like, if
Speaker 1: I could just smoke weed and not blunts, like that
Speaker 1: would be awesome. And then that's when I bumped in
Speaker 1: the spin and he was on his papers, like and
Speaker 1: and my mom had papers. But I didn't associate it
Speaker 1: with you know niggas, like we will never see the
Speaker 1: homie smoking papers. But when I got with him, he
Speaker 1: was like, yo, bro, I hate months as well. Let's
Speaker 1: just smoke papers. Let's come up with our own rules,
Speaker 1: not be like anybody else, and you know, just smoke healthy,
Speaker 1: like just smoke clean. And that was the thing. Like
Speaker 1: we documented it, We put it out there. We went
Speaker 1: around and spread the good word to everybody else and eventually, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, possible cleaned up. Yeah, in the last ten years,
Speaker 1: weed is cleaned up. The idea of weed is cleaned up.
Speaker 1: A lot of different people who weren't into it before
Speaker 1: into it. Now. It's it's an essential business. Uh, people
Speaker 1: aren't as scared of it. It's recreational in a lot
Speaker 1: of different places. And yeah, I think that's what the
Speaker 1: main thing is. People's thoughts about we just have to change. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and when you're just thinking about like niggas rolling around
Speaker 1: smoking blunts, you know what I mean, it's not that inviting.
Speaker 1: But you know, you're having little fucking tea parties and
Speaker 1: sucking edibles and fucking gummies and shit, It's it's all good. Now.
Speaker 1: Everybody get high. Everybody want to get high. There's medical
Speaker 1: research backing it up. Now, that's why I think it's
Speaker 1: more acceptable. Um, but Tucky, you've turned your passion into
Speaker 1: a business. Talk to us about Khalifa cushion and all
Speaker 1: the stuff you're doing in the cannabis space. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: basically what it is is, uh, just cleaning, cleaning up
Speaker 1: the look of it, um, the packaging. Uh. People love
Speaker 1: pre roles, people love edibles, people love lotions and and tinctures.
Speaker 1: And it's just there's there's way more uses for herb
Speaker 1: as a plant than just the way we like to
Speaker 1: just put fire to fath bombs all that time, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So it's using it as an
Speaker 1: ingredient and you know, spreading it all across the board
Speaker 1: as opposed to just you know, bagging it up and
Speaker 1: selling it. Right. Yeah, now, talk to me about something
Speaker 1: because we've all been consumed for all fathers as well.
Speaker 1: Have you had that conversation with your son yet about
Speaker 1: cannabis and when he should or can or anything like that.
Speaker 1: I try not to talk to him about when he can,
Speaker 1: because that's a I don't know, that's it's hard to
Speaker 1: call it, you know what I mean. But we definitely
Speaker 1: talk about that ship just so he knows and he's
Speaker 1: fully aware. And I think it's important that you educate
Speaker 1: the kids early on it, because our education on it
Speaker 1: early was, YO, it's bad. It's gonna make you a
Speaker 1: fucking idiot. You're gonna not be successful. Like, let's switch
Speaker 1: that around, like it's medicinal. You don't even have to
Speaker 1: smoke it. You can grow it. Uh you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. There's all different types of alternatives where you
Speaker 1: can benefit off of it, where you don't just have
Speaker 1: to just block it out of their life like it
Speaker 1: don't exist. So that's my main goal with him, is
Speaker 1: to just you know, be realistic about it. Yes see,
Speaker 1: because he's what eight, Yeah, he's eight. So I remember
Speaker 1: when the twins were nine. They remember I put them
Speaker 1: to bed one time and then they looked out the
Speaker 1: window and saw me smoking. So the next day that
Speaker 1: came down. They're like, Daddy smoked cigarettes. And I'm like, damn,
Speaker 1: do I tell him the truth and not? And I'm
Speaker 1: just like no, So I went for I'm like no,
Speaker 1: it's a joint, and they're like withstand. I'm just like,
Speaker 1: you know, Daddy doesn't really drink and I can't take
Speaker 1: pain killers, but my knees and my back are always
Speaker 1: sore from basketball. So when I smoked the joint, it
Speaker 1: takes all the pain away and I can sleep. Like
Speaker 1: then Carter, one of the twins, is like, well, Dad,
Speaker 1: you know I sprained my ankle. When can I speak?
Speaker 1: It was an instant like fireback, where can I I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: you gotta be older than thirties, Like, oh yeah, thirties,
Speaker 1: I can wait till thirty. But like I said to me,
Speaker 1: and I read it rich, you said to me, I
Speaker 1: would rather educate them because you never know what their
Speaker 1: friends are telling them, what they're seeing on the internet,
Speaker 1: or any of the stigmas they made me listening to.
Speaker 1: So I like to have a real even if it's
Speaker 1: maybe too early, but just at least if you visit
Speaker 1: the conversation, you know next time you come back around,
Speaker 1: it's going to be something he's ready to talk about. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: that's important. I think that's important as parents. You collaborated
Speaker 1: with Tyler, Yawe and Gonna on the song All of Smoke.
Speaker 1: A lot of people thought that wanted it to be
Speaker 1: our theme song and thought it was our thing. So
Speaker 1: on how that came together, I should do that. You're
Speaker 1: gonna do a sign off on the way I got you? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was Tyler's idea. Tyler's like, uh, he's up and
Speaker 1: coming artist. I always funk with, like the young homies
Speaker 1: on their way up. That's been a main goal and
Speaker 1: like point of mind is just always you know, reach
Speaker 1: out and I do versus for free. I don't even
Speaker 1: charge my fucker's Yeah. So it's like when you get
Speaker 1: your number one record running back, but now it's it's
Speaker 1: the little homies. And not to call him a little
Speaker 1: homie like that, but that's good. Yeah, that's the young
Speaker 1: homie and we got to use our platform to help
Speaker 1: each other out. So the same way he's being a
Speaker 1: new artist and using his platform and keep me relevant.
Speaker 1: It's like me as an established artist or a goat
Speaker 1: or what people you know consider it. It's like that.
Speaker 1: It's like an even transaction in my opinion. You know
Speaker 1: who does that well is up Yes, Snoop for sure.
Speaker 1: Good And that's why part of his longevity is if
Speaker 1: being able to stay relevant with the young people. It's
Speaker 1: important to keep your ear to the ground. Um, we
Speaker 1: talked about this when you were outside. Just the excitement
Speaker 1: of kind of getting back to life on the road
Speaker 1: and performing again, and you're acting and doing also to
Speaker 1: talk to us, particularly about getting back on the road
Speaker 1: and doing music. Yo, I'm actually like fucking scared as fuck.
Speaker 1: It's crazy, Like I'm anxious. I'm nervous. It's weird, um,
Speaker 1: because I feel like that hustle is it's like muscle
Speaker 1: memory and you gotta be in it to to feel
Speaker 1: it and know what it's like. But just on the
Speaker 1: outside looking in, you know exactly what you're getting yourself into.
Speaker 1: You know you're about to like have fucked up flights,
Speaker 1: like shitty food, be sleeping crazy. I mean, it's not
Speaker 1: that bad for me, but I've got used to being comfortable,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, So anything outside of that
Speaker 1: comfort zone, it's like it's like a red flag a
Speaker 1: little bit, you know what I mean. But I know
Speaker 1: when I get into it, this is what I made for,
Speaker 1: this is what I do. So I'm definitely, you know,
Speaker 1: ready to do it. But am I excited about it?
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's a lot of work. And congratulations
Speaker 1: for your residency and Vegas talked to us about that.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Um, I appreciate that. Yo. Dre's they always
Speaker 1: look out. I do Dre's in Vegas and I do
Speaker 1: the White Club in Dubai, and um they let me DJ.
Speaker 1: I got a DJ. Name is DJ Daddy Cat. I've
Speaker 1: been doing that for like three Yeah, I've been doing
Speaker 1: that for five five years now, five years in the
Speaker 1: game like that. Yeah, yeah, so I performed the night
Speaker 1: before and then I DJ the next night. Yeah, double
Speaker 1: double up. Yeah Yeah. What's one thing you missed about
Speaker 1: performing in front of the crowds on the road, sold
Speaker 1: out venues, Just the real interaction You get to feel it,
Speaker 1: You get to see people, uh just scream and their
Speaker 1: eyes light up. And performing new music. I love to
Speaker 1: do that as well. I haven't gotten the opportunity to
Speaker 1: perform anything unreleased or anything new and just get that
Speaker 1: that that party, you know what I mean, Like that's
Speaker 1: how I feel my uh my stage performance is it's
Speaker 1: not only like songs that you already know, but it's
Speaker 1: an experience. So you might hear some ship. I might
Speaker 1: throw some ship on and just start freestyling. I might
Speaker 1: make up a chance based off of this side of
Speaker 1: the crowd, like yeah, it's just going off of everybody's
Speaker 1: just dude, might punch somebody in the fucking head over
Speaker 1: that ship hypes you up when you're on stage, like
Speaker 1: you just love that ship. I involved in you and
Speaker 1: selecting the acts that travel with you on tour. Shit,
Speaker 1: we do everything and will we like Yeah, we like
Speaker 1: Pinky and Brain. We we do it based off of
Speaker 1: ticket sales of course, as we're on Live Nation. So
Speaker 1: being a company man, you know, I try to do
Speaker 1: what's best for everybody, for everybody, and they know that
Speaker 1: they can come to me. Like I said, it's it's
Speaker 1: an experience. It's not all about just with Khalifa getting
Speaker 1: out there and doing his thing. Is experiencing a party.
Speaker 1: It's hearing some new music. It's seeing somebody that you
Speaker 1: might have fucking not have seen in a long ass
Speaker 1: time in this type of you know what I mean. Uh,
Speaker 1: there's different ways to mix and mingle, and a lot
Speaker 1: of superstars have come off of our tours. I mean
Speaker 1: I could name countless motherfucker's who started out performing in
Speaker 1: the daytime when the fucking mom wasn't even and now
Speaker 1: they have their own, you know, sold out arena tours.
Speaker 1: You did what I'm saying, And to me, that's a
Speaker 1: big point of it as well, is to just put
Speaker 1: everybody on and extend everybody's career and just make this
Speaker 1: whole thing, you know what I mean, a huge lifetime
Speaker 1: motherfucking party. Talking about tour lives, because there one then
Speaker 1: you event Arena. You remember that, you just felt like
Speaker 1: it was incredible, Like life can't be this good. It
Speaker 1: was the the Championship like right before the super Bowl,
Speaker 1: uh in Picksburgh, and I got to perform at that
Speaker 1: ship and they flew me private, like from one of
Speaker 1: my shows. So I had a show that night and
Speaker 1: they were like, we have to have you come performed
Speaker 1: Black and Yellow to night because it's Stiller is winning.
Speaker 1: Were going to the super Bowl in the games in Picksburg.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, all right, let's get it. So I
Speaker 1: flew there, Chevy with me, everybody with me. It was
Speaker 1: it was yeah, it was. It was. It was like
Speaker 1: it was like a movie. Bro. It's like some ship
Speaker 1: that you know you really wish would ever have. And yeah,
Speaker 1: that was probably like one of my favorite moments out
Speaker 1: of a lot. Yeah yeah, you know, like I said,
Speaker 1: Cam's my favorite rapper like as far as like lyricism
Speaker 1: and swag and ship like that, but Snoop is probably
Speaker 1: the person who I modeled myself after the most. Um.
Speaker 1: I will watch him just walk in the room and
Speaker 1: just be like wow, like that's really that nigga, Like
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, And to see that respect
Speaker 1: that I do a lot of research. I watched like
Speaker 1: a lot of documentaries and backstage stuff like that. So
Speaker 1: I would watch him on the road and be like, man,
Speaker 1: I just want to hype man for that nigga, or
Speaker 1: I just want to like just beat the young homie
Speaker 1: like back back then. It's like, Yo, I would just
Speaker 1: like roll weed for that nigga. If I could just
Speaker 1: be yeah, I would do anything. And there's I feel
Speaker 1: like there's a lot of people who feel like that,
Speaker 1: but you know, to really put those intentions out there
Speaker 1: and then to see it happen. And Snoop took me in,
Speaker 1: you know, under his wing immediately when I moved out
Speaker 1: here to l A. One of the first things he
Speaker 1: did was like, you know, get a crib around the
Speaker 1: corner from my spot. We're gonna record at this studio.
Speaker 1: We're gonna shoot this movie. We're gonna make this album. Yeah. Man,
Speaker 1: it was like damn, Like instantly, it wasn't like, Yo,
Speaker 1: We're gonna get high and eat junk food all day.
Speaker 1: It was like, Yo, this it's time to It's time
Speaker 1: to make a moment out of this. So that's why
Speaker 1: I mean by I modeled myself after him. Because I see,
Speaker 1: you know, his position in the game and still how
Speaker 1: hard he works and what he does and um yeah,
Speaker 1: just moving forward. It was like, yo, I'm on tour
Speaker 1: with this nick. I get to share the stage with
Speaker 1: him every night, like he goes and then yeah, I
Speaker 1: was about to say, he goes, I go, I go,
Speaker 1: he go, and like the crowd's partying and of course
Speaker 1: I know his motherfucking words because I'm a fan like
Speaker 1: everybody anything, and like we'll get up there and sing
Speaker 1: that ship with all of their hearts. So that was
Speaker 1: like the most like gratifying, like you ever do another
Speaker 1: macndevon being that, Yeah, sure we're gonna do we we've
Speaker 1: been writing it for years. We just going on. I
Speaker 1: got ship going on, so you know, we just gotta
Speaker 1: get in the room and really make that ship happen.
Speaker 1: But I executive produced a whole album for him that
Speaker 1: we're gonna put out. Of course we're gonna do the
Speaker 1: soundtrack for mcndevon too, and uh yeah, y'all in the movie,
Speaker 1: tell me how instrumental in your life he was though,
Speaker 1: So it sounds like he talked to your grind, you model,
Speaker 1: you know, someone you monitor your game after but how
Speaker 1: instrumental was it? Um you're saying that? Why? Like how
Speaker 1: just explained to to to everyone how important he was
Speaker 1: in your journey uh through the space. Oh so, Snoop
Speaker 1: is fucking rare, especially in the rap game for the
Speaker 1: simple fact that there's nobody currently who can say that
Speaker 1: they have their second coming of them who's like successful
Speaker 1: killing it went on tour with everybody kind of competes
Speaker 1: or hides the keys to the game and doesn't really
Speaker 1: show the homies like what was really good. But Snoop
Speaker 1: put me onto plays like he'll be meeting with the
Speaker 1: dude from Raising Kanes and be like, you know who
Speaker 1: y'all need to get in business with Wins And he'll
Speaker 1: call me FaceTime me yo, Wins, I'm sitting here with
Speaker 1: the nigga from Raising Canes right now. That's how we are, Bro.
Speaker 1: That's crazy, Bro, Like, that's that's real. As a lot
Speaker 1: of people in this business won't do that. And to
Speaker 1: have a big homie who's not only a legend but
Speaker 1: isn't scared to put you up on game and bring
Speaker 1: you up, you know, none of that all positive reinforcement
Speaker 1: and we chop it up, bro, Like we just you've
Speaker 1: been to the compound. We just showed up the compound.
Speaker 1: We smoke. If you need to get away from the
Speaker 1: house or whatever it is, just go kick it. It's
Speaker 1: a vibe. So yeah, he's been very instrumental in in
Speaker 1: in uh just my sanity in life not gonna. He
Speaker 1: had been through everything. I mean, he's been a bit,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean for me to be such a
Speaker 1: big fan, that mean to me U C l A
Speaker 1: and us become friends. You know, when you really look
Speaker 1: up to someone and getting this space, it's just like
Speaker 1: you have such a long journey, but just like damn,
Speaker 1: that's Snoop and like we're doing charity football games together
Speaker 1: and that knows my kids and do what. It's just
Speaker 1: like you kind of have to pinch yourself sometimes because
Speaker 1: it is just so cool and welcome and and the
Speaker 1: real how real O G should be? So I do
Speaker 1: this thing. We perform at amphitheaters, and in any amphitheater,
Speaker 1: there's like there's the v I P. That's the seats,
Speaker 1: there's the like the pit like that's the most, and
Speaker 1: then there's the lawn in the back that's like the
Speaker 1: cheaper's eas um the most people are actually in the
Speaker 1: lawn though, right, But if you're ever in the lawn
Speaker 1: and you watch the show, you either got to look
Speaker 1: up at the screen the whole time. But yeah, you
Speaker 1: just gotta look at the screen all time because the
Speaker 1: actual person the performers, like this fucking big you can't
Speaker 1: fucking see him. And I was always in the lawn
Speaker 1: when I was, you know, attending a concert, So this
Speaker 1: was I did that. I came up and being on stages, Like,
Speaker 1: what if we put another stage back there by the
Speaker 1: lawn and I could run from up here back there
Speaker 1: and go perform like a few songs for them and ship.
Speaker 1: So that's what I usually do during my tour. So
Speaker 1: I'm up on stage. Halfway through, we'll black it out,
Speaker 1: put some ship on the screen and I'll run over
Speaker 1: and then they'll hit the lights and the boom. I'm right,
Speaker 1: I'm in the lawn, Yeah, and they're going crazy. I'm
Speaker 1: doing this ship with Snoop and he's like, Yo, what
Speaker 1: the fuck? He's like, first of all, I've never done
Speaker 1: no ship like this, and my motherfucking life. Second of all,
Speaker 1: we got about a minute, less than a minute to
Speaker 1: get all the way up there. I'm trying to run
Speaker 1: up here and he's like, bro, Like, he's like, I'm
Speaker 1: a little bit older than you. Fail, but he sucked
Speaker 1: it up and we did it and we killed it.
Speaker 1: What's the one piece of the best piece of advice
Speaker 1: he ever gave you. The best piece of advice he
Speaker 1: ever gave me was probably just to be myself. Keep
Speaker 1: doing me. And he's like, you know you're gonna be
Speaker 1: around and he refers to himself as Snoop dog He's like,
Speaker 1: you're gonna chill around Snoop Dogg. But don't be like
Speaker 1: Snoop Dogg. They could be ways and they gotta love
Speaker 1: because you ways your motherfucking rock star. You work hard,
Speaker 1: you do this, you do that. You funk with this aldience,
Speaker 1: you funk with that on it And he's like, always
Speaker 1: keep that, never change and never give it up. We
Speaker 1: missed this when we were talking earlier because we transition.
Speaker 1: But where were you at and how did you find
Speaker 1: out about the Nipsey passing. I was at home when
Speaker 1: Nipsey passed, and I found out because I lived with
Speaker 1: people from the neighborhood. O g s from the neighborhood.
Speaker 1: So as soon as it happened, phones was ringing and um, yeah,
Speaker 1: man sucked up. We spoke on DMX earlier. He's someone
Speaker 1: you patterned uh your music after. How important was the
Speaker 1: way he came and spit uh to you? Yeah? DMX
Speaker 1: to me was like he was just so passionate about
Speaker 1: his music. He was raw, his flow was infectious, his
Speaker 1: b selection was crazy. Yeah. In person, he's such a
Speaker 1: good dude. I have family from New York, and he
Speaker 1: reminds me of my my real family, like just outgoing,
Speaker 1: just a you know what I mean. It's a great
Speaker 1: spirit of great dude. And when I was younger, you remember,
Speaker 1: I told you I started listening to rap, like you know,
Speaker 1: in like second third grade, well like hardcore rap second
Speaker 1: third grade with my uncles and ship. So I had
Speaker 1: d m x's first album. But then I live with
Speaker 1: my mom when I was in Pittsburgh. But then I
Speaker 1: went to live with my dad in Japan and he
Speaker 1: actually like found my whole CD collection and was like,
Speaker 1: what the funk is this? Like why are you a
Speaker 1: kid sitting into this? He just took all my ship
Speaker 1: and like I thought he threw it away, but he
Speaker 1: took all my ship and he was listening to it
Speaker 1: and some of it he funked with, and some of
Speaker 1: it he didn't, But he really fused with d m X.
Speaker 1: And he sat down and told me, like as a kid,
Speaker 1: I remember vividly, he was like, Yo, all that other
Speaker 1: ship you was listening to his trash, but I'll allow
Speaker 1: you to listen to this one because he's saying this.
Speaker 1: He's talking about this and it actually means something, so like,
Speaker 1: not only did you know he connected with my pop
Speaker 1: and like I was able to, you know, enjoy his
Speaker 1: music as a kid because of his realness and his rawness. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I had a crazy story about DMX. Um. I'm a
Speaker 1: sick DMX fan. I got a tattoo when he say
Speaker 1: my life ain't long. I thank god my last breath
Speaker 1: of my life ain't wrong. And I ain't never met
Speaker 1: him two weeks before he died. I bumped into him
Speaker 1: in the ice box Jewelry two weeks before he died,
Speaker 1: and it was just crazy that I got a chance
Speaker 1: to meet him before. It was crazy before he passed
Speaker 1: because I felt like he had touched a lot of
Speaker 1: people right before he left. There's a lot of people
Speaker 1: who got to see him in his last couple of
Speaker 1: moments and he was happy. Like when I seen him,
Speaker 1: he was in great spirits. We listened to music. We
Speaker 1: was with Swiss and we was that we was at
Speaker 1: Snoops compound and we just chopped it up. It was
Speaker 1: just genuine, fucking just real game, you know what I mean. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I remember giving them a lot of weed in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: In Atlanta one time too, just rolling joints m back
Speaker 1: to back and sending them to the dressing room. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if he were smoking Hella back then. So your versatility, uh,
Speaker 1: doesn't limit you from doing other things outside of music.
Speaker 1: You're in the acting space now, how did you initially
Speaker 1: get into acting and and and how much are you
Speaker 1: enjoying it? I first started acting with Snoop and um,
Speaker 1: I would say, like my my introduction to the game
Speaker 1: was kind of theatrical with my day to days and
Speaker 1: just everybody seeing behind the scenes and me being more
Speaker 1: of a personality as well as a musician. So the
Speaker 1: transition to you know, make a actual movies, um, it
Speaker 1: was kind of natural and just fun and it's it's
Speaker 1: all an experiment to me, is to just see how
Speaker 1: far I could take this ship and what I can
Speaker 1: actually do growth. Yeah yeah, yeah, for real, Like, I'm
Speaker 1: inspired by a lot of different movies and just people's
Speaker 1: moments that do ship. So it's like, you can't be scared,
Speaker 1: like you said, just put yourself in your in that box.
Speaker 1: You have to just go with the freaking flow and
Speaker 1: use the tools that you have. And you know, one
Speaker 1: of those tools is my personality, my fucking ability to
Speaker 1: remember ship and just being cool on screen, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. So I want to utilize that. I
Speaker 1: want to have fun and I want to make other
Speaker 1: people happy, and I know that them seeing me on
Speaker 1: screen doing different roles and just you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: just just fucking doing whatever I think. I know that's
Speaker 1: gonna be good for everybody. I also have the voiceover
Speaker 1: things that I do as well. I love voice acting
Speaker 1: too because it just gives me the opportunity to be
Speaker 1: like whatever the funk I want to be. Right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so that's we're trying to do some animated cartoon stuff
Speaker 1: between me and him. Yeah, you gotta do it, man,
Speaker 1: and we would do our own voices. Yeah, you spoken
Speaker 1: Duncingville earlier, talk to us about Dickinson and what parts
Speaker 1: you playing on that show. Yeah, well, let's go back
Speaker 1: to Duncanville because Duncanville is on Fox, So yeah, Dickinson
Speaker 1: is on Apple Plus or Apple TV, which is cool.
Speaker 1: I like Apple but Foxes, but Dickinson is. Um, we're
Speaker 1: in the I think the second season just dropped and
Speaker 1: we're about to start shooting the third season, and we
Speaker 1: had touched on it earlier. They came up with a character,
Speaker 1: so it's about Emily Dickinson. She's a poet and she
Speaker 1: was obsessed with death at the time, and a lot
Speaker 1: of her poetry was really dark and just fucking cynical. So, um,
Speaker 1: this particular show, it's not really a comedy, but it's
Speaker 1: crazy how to flip it because it's set back in
Speaker 1: that time, but they use a lot of current ship
Speaker 1: like music and just jokes and just ship that people
Speaker 1: would resonate with right now, but they do it with
Speaker 1: the story for back then. So in the story, she's
Speaker 1: infatuated with death, and they made death and actual person
Speaker 1: and that's me. It's like a smooth I get to
Speaker 1: smoke weed, I ride around in the cherry and I
Speaker 1: got ghost horses and you know, I'm playing fucking you
Speaker 1: know Marvin Gaye or some some some low rider music
Speaker 1: or whatever at the time, and it's really just a
Speaker 1: playoff of who I am just back in that time.
Speaker 1: It's like a smooth you know, uh, fucking male interest
Speaker 1: to her. And it's cool, it's fun. I get paid
Speaker 1: for it. I get to you know, fucking excite people
Speaker 1: as death. It's really interesting to see how see that's
Speaker 1: my nerd mind working. Like I go there and they
Speaker 1: think I'm just acting, but I'm looking at the cameras
Speaker 1: and how they set up scenes and how you fucking
Speaker 1: actually shoot a show. I'm like, all right, so this
Speaker 1: is the show for Apple. I'm gonna take all the
Speaker 1: notes from here and I'm gonna bring that back in
Speaker 1: this I'm gonna start shooting my show. Hell yeah, so
Speaker 1: I'll be I'm happy to be in the room as
Speaker 1: far as that goes. To talk to us about Duncanville. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Donald Fox, that's that real TV right there. Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's it. It's um it's it's kind of a kid show,
Speaker 1: but it's more mature. That's like a family guy type
Speaker 1: of situation. And that's another one where I'm just bringing
Speaker 1: the coolness to the show. Good to be you exactly,
Speaker 1: it's important Yea. The fighting Lee Yeah, PFL. Talk to
Speaker 1: us about that and how you kind of got in
Speaker 1: because I kind of followed your journey, like I've been
Speaker 1: a fan and we got to meet a while ago.
Speaker 1: But you came in Frere and then you started getting
Speaker 1: in training yourself and eat running in your mind right,
Speaker 1: look like you gained some muscles. Like, talk to us
Speaker 1: how your fascination in your own kind of health and
Speaker 1: wellness led you to the Yeah. So I was never
Speaker 1: a real like a professional athlete, Like I never worked
Speaker 1: out or anything like that. I play ball in the
Speaker 1: hood like anybody else, But I never you know, had
Speaker 1: a regiment eating right, working out, sleeping, doing recovery, this,
Speaker 1: that and the other thing. Yeah, exactly, that's real athletes
Speaker 1: ship and I respect professional athletes because it takes so
Speaker 1: much to discipline yourself and live your life, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. Exactly, it's a it's a really really
Speaker 1: crazy balance and to not get injured or to you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, just to be in the right
Speaker 1: mind state. Um, it's a lot. And it's different than
Speaker 1: music because when you're being creative, you get to just
Speaker 1: wake up and smoke weed and take a shot and
Speaker 1: you know, smack a chick. On the ass and make
Speaker 1: a song about it. Bro Like nobody cares like it's
Speaker 1: like that's acceptable behavior when you're a rapper, but yeah,
Speaker 1: when you're a professional athlete, you have to like really,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, walk walk that line exactly.
Speaker 1: So I have a lot of respect for it. And
Speaker 1: in the past few years of my life, UM, training
Speaker 1: martial arts and mixed martial arts and um, you know,
Speaker 1: just learning about the science of the body and things
Speaker 1: like that. It's definitely taking a high priority and it's
Speaker 1: opened up a lot of business opportunities as well. Um,
Speaker 1: they just started. We just started to fight. Well not we,
Speaker 1: but there's a league called the PFL, the Professional Fighting League,
Speaker 1: and it's basically an alternative to the UFC where it
Speaker 1: gives UM each fighter a chance to earn points throughout
Speaker 1: the season, and then you have the playoffs and then
Speaker 1: you have the championship and that's who gets the belt,
Speaker 1: and you also get to fight for a million dollars.
Speaker 1: So it's not really based off of a popularity contest.
Speaker 1: It's really actual stats. And we have fighters who are
Speaker 1: on the come up, who are gonna become superstars, and
Speaker 1: then we have fighters who have actually been in the
Speaker 1: game for a little bit and maybe didn't reach that point.
Speaker 1: But it's like, yo, I'm trying to you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, I want to compete, I want to make
Speaker 1: some money, and I want to have a shot at
Speaker 1: still you know, being that nigger so or that that
Speaker 1: that chick. So you know, it's good for Everybody's good
Speaker 1: for the fans and for me, um, you know, my
Speaker 1: dedication to health and fitness and kind of just let
Speaker 1: me down that journey. Um. I linked up with Jay
Speaker 1: Glazer Unbreakable and started training with Ernie Uh, Ernie Rays,
Speaker 1: who's like a legend in the game, and a lot
Speaker 1: of other you know, freaking champions who kind of just
Speaker 1: got me sharp and to the point where I'm able
Speaker 1: to even just look good on camera. But you know,
Speaker 1: other than actually looking good on camera, I could actually
Speaker 1: bang too. But that's not really for you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's just for sport, and that's just too you know,
Speaker 1: you practice the technique enough you need to actually be
Speaker 1: able to use it. But you know, I've worked a
Speaker 1: long time to be able to, you know, be confident
Speaker 1: in both of those things. So Kevin Hard is a
Speaker 1: part of that as well. Right, So how how is it,
Speaker 1: uh what kind of situate? But how is he a
Speaker 1: part of it? How are you guys? It's essentially the
Speaker 1: same thing. Um. I'm more like a creative director where
Speaker 1: you're just gonna see me just like hyping it up,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Musical aspect, music, Yeah, entertainment.
Speaker 1: Everyone's kind of in there and do what you're good
Speaker 1: at exactly exactly, like just hyping it up and whatever
Speaker 1: they whatever they really need. I'm that guy. And Kevin
Speaker 1: is more uh financial and and also his platform is
Speaker 1: different than mine, so it's just gonna take it to
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. If he's in a movie
Speaker 1: and they have a mixed martial arts scene instead of
Speaker 1: having whatever company on the floor, it's gonna be pfl
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Ship like that just easy,
Speaker 1: not not real, nothing too crazy, but we all do
Speaker 1: our part to lift the company up. What's thoughts on
Speaker 1: Mayweather Paul? I like it. I like the Mayweather Paul ship.
Speaker 1: I like the I like the whole celebrity celebrity boxing thing. Um.
Speaker 1: I think they're getting it together. They're making it events
Speaker 1: better for the fans. I think the fights are going
Speaker 1: to get better and better of course Mayweather is not
Speaker 1: gonna get in there and try to beat the ship
Speaker 1: out of Logan Paul and like, of course, I think
Speaker 1: all that. I think you guys are brainwashed and the
Speaker 1: hype has been working on you. But good job, bro,
Speaker 1: that's all hype. It's a hat. Yeah, but foy, you've
Speaker 1: never seen Floyd with hair. Yeah, Floyd's been working on
Speaker 1: his hair. Was kind of hiss had like some kicked
Speaker 1: up carpet. Jay Paul is a genius. He could say,
Speaker 1: you could purposefully say, bro, grow your hair out. Look
Speaker 1: crazy like we're about to go viral fail. Let's do this.
Speaker 1: Let me show you how to do this. You've done
Speaker 1: you've done this before. I'm gonna show you how to
Speaker 1: do this now this new game. And nobody's gonna get up.
Speaker 1: That's the cold park, because ain't nobody Finn get hurt.
Speaker 1: He caught it, he caught it left. He caught a
Speaker 1: black eye though it was just it was all did
Speaker 1: you see actual footage of the black ir did you
Speaker 1: just see a scruffy eye. Well, well, we got a
Speaker 1: homeboard here who works here, who real cool with both
Speaker 1: of them, and he said, he said, he got sucked up.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, that's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 1: You don't want to hear it. He ain't get in
Speaker 1: your pockets, man, you know your motherfucking pockets because that's
Speaker 1: what they want. Yeah, exactly, that's exactly. That's exactly what
Speaker 1: that's the game. Buy into it. Yeah, I dig it.
Speaker 1: But we're gonna be out there, right, we're there of course. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's in Miami fighting. Yeah, come with us? When is it?
Speaker 1: What's the date we're bringing WIRs with us? Yeah? I
Speaker 1: could leave Vegas and I could go down there. You
Speaker 1: gotta go. Wow, not even to the year here. It's
Speaker 1: been a while. I've been a good time ago. Yeah,
Speaker 1: why not? UM see you again? Eleven times platinum. Uh
Speaker 1: A song that went unfortunately right along with with with
Speaker 1: it with the tragic loss of Kobe Bryant. Um, talk
Speaker 1: to us about that song, how it came about. Obviously
Speaker 1: it had a meaning too with um my fregeringness name
Speaker 1: Paul Paul Walker rested peace Paul Walker. But talk to
Speaker 1: us about how important that song is in just the
Speaker 1: process of coming up with it. That song, UM, for sure,
Speaker 1: biggest song of my career. UM, one of your moments
Speaker 1: you're talking about Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, And it just
Speaker 1: uh like being in the airport in Korea and here
Speaker 1: motherfucker's singing, you know, the hook and the verse and
Speaker 1: ship like that. They don't even speak English, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, Like that that type of ship is crazy.
Speaker 1: You you can think that your song is gonna do that,
Speaker 1: but for it to actually happen, it's just like all right, wow.
Speaker 1: And the process for making it was was cold, because, um,
Speaker 1: they came to me, the people from Fast and Furious
Speaker 1: and the Mourner in Atlantic. Uh, they came to me
Speaker 1: and they were like, you know, we're trying to put
Speaker 1: this song together, and your verses is going to be
Speaker 1: one of probably like eight you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: They're like, we want to make this like a compilation song.
Speaker 1: And Charlie's hook was just supposed to be just like this,
Speaker 1: like the reference. They were like, we're gonna get this
Speaker 1: artist on the hook, We're gonna get this verse from
Speaker 1: this person and that. And I was like, all right, cool.
Speaker 1: So I just wrote my verse and just sent it in,
Speaker 1: you know, with no thought about it or whatever. I'm like,
Speaker 1: it's a soundtrack. It's a little bit of money, Like cool,
Speaker 1: And then they were like, no, we want you to
Speaker 1: do the whole song and I'm like, all right, cool,
Speaker 1: So I another verse and they're like, well, we like
Speaker 1: this part of this verse and we like that part
Speaker 1: of that verse, so can you flip this? And can
Speaker 1: you I'm like, oh, I know what's going on here,
Speaker 1: y'all turn y'all turn this to a motherfucking production. So
Speaker 1: in my head, I'm like, just be available, be ready
Speaker 1: for every little step. If these motherfucker's tell you that
Speaker 1: they don't like one bar, just be available, be ready
Speaker 1: to change it. And it was kind of a process
Speaker 1: of like tweaking the song for a few months and
Speaker 1: then you know, we shot the video before we even
Speaker 1: released it, and along with the release and just the
Speaker 1: song coming out, it just took off. It did with it.
Speaker 1: It went crazy and the message behind it and of
Speaker 1: course the Paul Walker thing, and it just really really like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I had no idea that they was
Speaker 1: about to go that crazy with it, but yeah, it
Speaker 1: did everything that all the energy that we put into it,
Speaker 1: it did everything that it was supposed to do. Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and the fans made it go crazy. It was freaking
Speaker 1: number one for I think fourteen weeks as I don't
Speaker 1: know how many times platinum and it's the only rap
Speaker 1: video at however many billion views that it has. But
Speaker 1: I was the first rapper to ever get a billion
Speaker 1: views on YouTube as well, So it helped me make history,
Speaker 1: you know, in a lot of different ways. And it
Speaker 1: touched so many people. Talk about your tribute, UM that
Speaker 1: you and UM Charlie did. Yeah, man, that was big.
Speaker 1: I was actually in Miami the night before UM because
Speaker 1: it was Super Bowl weekend and the Super Bowl was
Speaker 1: in Miami, so it was just a fucking craze fest.
Speaker 1: I had a whole week book down there to just
Speaker 1: to be in Miami to work and you know work.
Speaker 1: And I was like they hit me last minute, was like, yo,
Speaker 1: we're doing because of course nobody can expected that ship
Speaker 1: to happen. And then there was the home game. It
Speaker 1: was like the first home game and they were like, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, we want you to do it, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm in Miami, of course I'm gonnaucking do it. I
Speaker 1: don't give a funk what I gotta do, Like I'll
Speaker 1: jump on a jet blah blah blah. Charlie just so
Speaker 1: happened to be in Miami too, so we both got
Speaker 1: on the same jet the next day and just flew
Speaker 1: out and knocked it out and like that was just
Speaker 1: such a such an honor and such like a I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been at the crib, Like, yo, I wish
Speaker 1: I could do the fucking tribute for you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Like that was just a beautiful ass thing.
Speaker 1: It was a great opportunity and you know, he could
Speaker 1: couldn't ask for for better stuff like that, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, Just to hold it down and the
Speaker 1: kind of put people at ease about the situation. It
Speaker 1: was the energy Like in the arena that night, it
Speaker 1: was like quiet, like you know what I mean, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was like it was like a hoop game, but
Speaker 1: nobody was really there though, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: That's what it felt there. Yeah, it felt full, but
Speaker 1: it didn't feel like nobody was there. And yeah, man,
Speaker 1: you ever met Cobe? You ever seen him play? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I never seen him play, but I got to meet
Speaker 1: him a couple of times. Always a cool ass dude, bro,
Speaker 1: Like just great energy, smiling, very welcoming. I do a
Speaker 1: lot of charities and things like that, and I will
Speaker 1: always see him at those events, things for single fathers
Speaker 1: and things for families and things to help out, um,
Speaker 1: like real ass situations like Kobe would be there and
Speaker 1: even like the Sucking party and like seeing I've seen
Speaker 1: him at like puff Daddy's house. What I'm saying, just
Speaker 1: kicking it. Yeah he's a cool dude. Yeah, alright. For Shure,
Speaker 1: you talked about fatherhood, current state of hip hop and
Speaker 1: and and how do you kind of touched on it,
Speaker 1: but with what kind of your your way of staying
Speaker 1: relevant in this space as you also cross over into
Speaker 1: music and music and film television, film excuse um, I
Speaker 1: look at music like, uh, like music is always young.
Speaker 1: It's like a baby that never grows up. And if
Speaker 1: you try to mature it too much, then you'll you'll
Speaker 1: be like, you'll be lost in the sauce. So I
Speaker 1: just I enjoy everything, and enjoying and digesting are two
Speaker 1: totally different things, completely different. So you know everything that
Speaker 1: you know, it's not all being processed. But I enjoy it.
Speaker 1: I love it. It's fun, it's good, it's good for
Speaker 1: for for kids, it's good for people's families. Um, it's
Speaker 1: making a lot of people a lot of money. Um,
Speaker 1: I do want to see the young rappers be a
Speaker 1: lot safer. I see a lot of violence and too
Speaker 1: much that it's not even really about. And it's like
Speaker 1: we do music to get away from that ship and
Speaker 1: get out of that. And I'm a fond believer of
Speaker 1: as soon as you become an entertainer, and you're an entertainer,
Speaker 1: like that's all. Yeah, you ain't no gangster. No, I
Speaker 1: mean gangster is taking care of your family, making it
Speaker 1: home safe. That's gangster like to me and everybody else
Speaker 1: who've been through it but really been through it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but like all that tough stuff, if you want to
Speaker 1: be tough, there's a place for it. Join the fight league.
Speaker 1: Join your league. You know what I'm saying. You think, yeah,
Speaker 1: you think. So. That's how I've been a very very
Speaker 1: very big advocate and trying to keep these youngsters safe.
Speaker 1: Try tell them the right thing, Try tell them to
Speaker 1: make the right moves, watch their surroundings, watch you there around,
Speaker 1: and you know, I want to see him live long
Speaker 1: and being the game forever man. That's what's about. So yeah,
Speaker 1: coming down the stretch, quick hitters, first thing to come
Speaker 1: into your mind. All right, give me your top five
Speaker 1: rappers from the East Coast and your top five rappers
Speaker 1: from the West Coast. Cam Cam one jay Z. We're
Speaker 1: talking about East Coast and let me go old school
Speaker 1: big Daddy came. Now let me go sleeper. Cannabis right o,
Speaker 1: all right, cannabis was ill and uh damn already say
Speaker 1: cannabis for the lyricism. Oh nas, I gotta say nas. Yeah,
Speaker 1: congrats on that grammy. Yeah, well that's a lot of things, man, man,
Speaker 1: it's just hustling. Yeah. He's behind the scenes, behind the
Speaker 1: scenes ring and we just watched something he just produced
Speaker 1: the other day, that monster, yeah, with sap in it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's behind the scenes killing it. We got we gotta
Speaker 1: get see, he's a virgo. That's what we do. I'm
Speaker 1: a very too. We're behind the scenes, kill it, Swiss beats,
Speaker 1: you know, very good businessman, very artistic, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. Just silent killer, you know I love that?
Speaker 1: All right? So quick here the top five? Who else?
Speaker 1: West Coast? Cute? Sugar Free Yeah, yeah, snoop uh mac
Speaker 1: dre um, that's four. Burner yeah yeah. Burner is a
Speaker 1: bazillionaire do yeah. Burner is my man. Yeah, we definitely
Speaker 1: got to. But I gotta say too short too. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: There's well yeah, the West Coast deserves yeah, yeah, we
Speaker 1: give them keep going. If you can have one artist
Speaker 1: a group dead alive to collaborate with, who would it be?
Speaker 1: Jay Z? Yeah, I haven't. I haven't done a song
Speaker 1: with Hove yet, and that that needs to happen. Hopefully,
Speaker 1: hope it's gonna happens. Even if it happens in ten years.
Speaker 1: What happened happen? You know? Five dinner guests dead or alive,
Speaker 1: five dinner guests O d b uh ship all of
Speaker 1: my own probably be they wouldn't even be here. No,
Speaker 1: I have dinner with odib Bob Marley. Uh oh up there,
Speaker 1: up there, um uh uh. I would either say Biggie
Speaker 1: or big Pun, but I'm gonna say big Pun because
Speaker 1: I know we're gonna eat good. We're gonna eat good.
Speaker 1: Um uh. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see somebody who
Speaker 1: who's gonna put me up on some game who like
Speaker 1: a chop game with? Oh, Prince, Yeah, Prince would be
Speaker 1: dope to invite to the party. And then Rick James
Speaker 1: because you're gonna bring some bitches Yeah, that's the party
Speaker 1: right there, Yes, sir, five songs in rotation to smoke too,
Speaker 1: do be Ashtray Devon to Dude. A lot of people
Speaker 1: don't know that Devon is one of the man the coldest.
Speaker 1: That's why, that's why I grew up in the area
Speaker 1: south by Southwest. We got super loaded, maybe some perfect
Speaker 1: place to run into super blow and they didn't really
Speaker 1: like you smoking out there either. No, hell no, that
Speaker 1: ship you fucking throwing, yank you out of the car.
Speaker 1: I've seen somebody pad. That was first time I ever
Speaker 1: seen somebody pass out on weed. Was at his concert, Mike.
Speaker 1: It was hot as hell in there, and their eyes
Speaker 1: just rolled in the back of their head. I was like,
Speaker 1: what the fuck. I've never seen it before, but it's
Speaker 1: a real thing. Like I've seen it in the coffee
Speaker 1: shop right before you came down the waterway and man
Speaker 1: had to take this girl outside, flip her upside down,
Speaker 1: pour water all over, and it looks crazy, right, It's
Speaker 1: not for everybody, it's not. It's not. It's not. I'm
Speaker 1: never seen that. I can't come to one of my shows.
Speaker 1: You'll see it looks wold, yo, so uh so, do
Speaker 1: be ash Tray Um, Footsteps in the Dark, Asley Brothers, Um,
Speaker 1: Purple Hags, I Can and Friday by Busy And you know,
Speaker 1: I think, what's at three or four? That's four, that's four?
Speaker 1: One more uh uh uh it was. It's a Nate
Speaker 1: Dog song. Fuck. See Now I'm thinking about all of
Speaker 1: the one More Day, I'm thinking about all of the
Speaker 1: Nate verses, but I can't think about the song. Oh,
Speaker 1: I'll just do one of my songs, the cut. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a Whish song. There you go. Can't go wrong with that.
Speaker 1: One More Day by Nate Dog is a class that
Speaker 1: One More Day is. Yeah. A lot of niggas don't
Speaker 1: even know Nate's album. Bro, it's fucking crazy. See. I
Speaker 1: got little riders, so we ride around we Sunday alright,
Speaker 1: shout out r M y M writer gang Cruise Life
Speaker 1: already heard you've been on the Cruise Show on the
Speaker 1: way when you're gonna Bill George, I got my eyes,
Speaker 1: finally got my bronco. So I got me Oh Jay,
Speaker 1: I just gotta get a lot of money that nobody
Speaker 1: wants to take up. We just got so is it
Speaker 1: already ready? I've been driving it around low key. I
Speaker 1: just don't want to cruise, but you got some you
Speaker 1: got got beat in there, all right, everything. I take
Speaker 1: the top off that one, bro. But that's the thing.
Speaker 1: That's when you bring it to the cruise to test
Speaker 1: it out. Yeah, you don't just test it out, you
Speaker 1: gotta bring into the crew back, Oh ship, I gotta
Speaker 1: fix this. Oh damn fucking thing came off the door,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? It's just all right, No,
Speaker 1: it was a random mass day they pulled. Remember the
Speaker 1: day you guys pulled it. It It was it was him said, yeah,
Speaker 1: who else Percy, right, Pete and a couple of ranly
Speaker 1: chilling in My was one day in the backs, but
Speaker 1: I just happened to be barbecue and smoking watching TV.
Speaker 1: These motherfucker's just, you know, pull up open the gate,
Speaker 1: like who's out there? These motherfucker's driving a little hot
Speaker 1: rods in And that's when I started, Yeah, and then
Speaker 1: found out this motherfucker right around the corner from we're
Speaker 1: about to start it back up rider gang shout out
Speaker 1: r M M. One bar lyric of yours that you'd
Speaker 1: want to be remembered by. How fuck it might have been?
Speaker 1: Too deep? I can't even I can't even narrow it down, dog,
Speaker 1: That's that's cold, because like I got motivational bars that
Speaker 1: I would funk with this and I got game too.
Speaker 1: It's like, yo, little nigues need to hear that maybe
Speaker 1: your favorite song and then see that's the thing. I'd
Speaker 1: be like going to let other people do that, but
Speaker 1: me personally, my favorite song. I got a song it's
Speaker 1: called I Still Remember. It was way back. It's on
Speaker 1: this uh mixtape I did called star Power. I was
Speaker 1: probably like nineteen twenty years old when I did this song.
Speaker 1: But that's that's my favorite jam that I did. It's
Speaker 1: Rolling Papers on the card Beat. I got a song
Speaker 1: called Rolling Papers too, but I don't know if I okay, okay,
Speaker 1: it's a song on Rolling Papers. It's no, it's a
Speaker 1: song on It's the Christian Orange Juice with Cardo and
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think of it. Are you talking about Mesmerize? Mesmerize?
Speaker 1: That's my favorite that's my favorite song. Yeah, Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: my favorite song. Yeah. See I was going to think
Speaker 1: about a bar from that song. But that song is
Speaker 1: like so much pimping, Like, yeah, that's so hard. It's
Speaker 1: a lot of pimping in this That's how that if
Speaker 1: he was a fan and you can have one personal
Speaker 1: all the smoke. Who would you want to see on
Speaker 1: the show courtesy? So that's my partner, and that's my
Speaker 1: partner too, yet life together. Yeah that's my boy too. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we need you. Where are you at? Man? We're good.
Speaker 1: That's a rap man. Appreciate it. Thank our guests, Whiz.
Speaker 1: You can catch us on Showtime Basketball, YouTube and the
Speaker 1: I Heart platform Black Effects. See you all next week.
Speaker 1: This is All a Smoke, a production of The Black
Speaker 1: Effect and Our Heart Radio in partnership with Showtime