WEBVTT - Plant or Pivot 0:00:04.813 --> 0:00:08.733 Comeback Stories is a production of Inflection Network and iHeartRadio. 0:00:13.773 --> 0:00:16.973 Welcome back everyone for another episode of Comeback Stories. I'm 0:00:17.013 --> 0:00:19.653 one of your co hosts, Darren Waller. I'm joined by 0:00:20.013 --> 0:00:23.413 my guy, my friend, Donnie Starkins. Donny, how you doing man. 0:00:23.333 --> 0:00:24.053 I'm doing well. 0:00:24.093 --> 0:00:24.253 Man. 0:00:24.253 --> 0:00:26.053 It's good to be here again. Good to see your 0:00:26.093 --> 0:00:28.373 face as always always brother. 0:00:28.453 --> 0:00:31.373 I'm super excited for the guests we have on today. 0:00:31.653 --> 0:00:34.773 You know me, I love to create music, just listening 0:00:34.773 --> 0:00:37.573 to music, just the overall energy, anything that has to 0:00:37.573 --> 0:00:40.133 do with music. And we have an artist on today 0:00:40.173 --> 0:00:42.733 who is really seeing the fruits of his labor. 0:00:42.733 --> 0:00:43.933 It really started to come to fruition. 0:00:44.213 --> 0:00:46.613 A lot of the listeners may know him as putting 0:00:46.613 --> 0:00:49.453 out an infectious single called Billie Eilish, but a man 0:00:49.493 --> 0:00:52.013 who has so much good work in his catalog and 0:00:52.093 --> 0:00:56.493 is really still just warming up. Love to welcome our 0:00:56.573 --> 0:00:58.213 Money White to the show. Our Money Welcome Bro. 0:00:58.453 --> 0:01:00.013 Thank you, thank you, Bro, thank you for having me. 0:01:00.053 --> 0:01:03.013 I appreciate you, yes, sir, Man, appreciate you creating time 0:01:03.053 --> 0:01:04.293 for us. What you went up to lately? 0:01:04.333 --> 0:01:04.453 Man? 0:01:04.573 --> 0:01:05.853 What's going on in your life these days? 0:01:06.013 --> 0:01:06.213 Man? 0:01:06.573 --> 0:01:07.493 Ducking from the sun. 0:01:08.813 --> 0:01:11.333 We've been uh, you know, like I take as much 0:01:11.333 --> 0:01:13.293 as you know, the time that I can when I'm 0:01:13.333 --> 0:01:14.933 home to just like sit down, work on. 0:01:14.973 --> 0:01:17.373 Some music, like be a human, play a video game 0:01:17.453 --> 0:01:17.893 or something like that. 0:01:17.973 --> 0:01:19.933 It's like, you know, like it's I only get like 0:01:19.933 --> 0:01:21.813 two days after the week to be home Tomorrow We've 0:01:21.853 --> 0:01:23.933 headed out for another festival, and then I think after 0:01:23.933 --> 0:01:26.533 that we running New York, Montreal back to LA So. 0:01:26.773 --> 0:01:28.133 It's just it's not stop running. 0:01:29.133 --> 0:01:29.733 I feel you, bro. 0:01:29.933 --> 0:01:31.453 I'm definitely on to dive in with you on how 0:01:31.493 --> 0:01:34.773 you stay human because I think some of the same 0:01:34.813 --> 0:01:37.053 problems myself. But I'd love to just dive right into 0:01:37.133 --> 0:01:39.893 your story and start about growing up for you and 0:01:40.173 --> 0:01:41.813 what was growing up for you, like where was it 0:01:41.853 --> 0:01:43.573 at and just painting a picture for the people. 0:01:43.733 --> 0:01:43.933 Yeah. 0:01:44.013 --> 0:01:47.093 No, I think I think we were the last kids 0:01:47.413 --> 0:01:49.893 like that were outside. You know what I'm saying that 0:01:49.973 --> 0:01:52.413 we was like the we're like our generation was like 0:01:52.453 --> 0:01:54.813 the turning point of the internet kind of taking over 0:01:54.813 --> 0:01:55.573 people's lives. 0:01:55.693 --> 0:01:58.373 So like my like, you know, we we spent our last. 0:01:58.253 --> 0:02:00.493 Couple of days just like being outside, like you know, 0:02:00.533 --> 0:02:02.333 getting the only time I wasn't outside, I was on 0:02:02.413 --> 0:02:05.253 punishment and like those moments when I on punishment was 0:02:05.293 --> 0:02:07.373 where I kind of learned how to work then, and 0:02:07.413 --> 0:02:10.133 that work my space, work Facebook and Tumblr or whatever 0:02:10.173 --> 0:02:12.573 it was at the time. So but yeah, I mean 0:02:12.573 --> 0:02:14.613 for the most part, we was just I was just, 0:02:14.653 --> 0:02:17.373 you know, just just the little the little bad kid 0:02:17.413 --> 0:02:19.093 in the neighborhood that just couldn't stay out of trouble. 0:02:19.093 --> 0:02:21.533 And like everybody knew my parents, so anytime I did something, 0:02:21.533 --> 0:02:25.173 they told my parents and I just get back right rightment. 0:02:24.933 --> 0:02:27.773 I feel you, man, So you grew up in Philly, right, 0:02:27.893 --> 0:02:29.693 there's a lot of Uh. I think there's a lot 0:02:29.693 --> 0:02:31.653 of different images of phil You got like fresh Prince 0:02:31.693 --> 0:02:34.413 of bel Air, Will Smith getting out of West Philly 0:02:34.453 --> 0:02:36.693 and still representing. You got meek Mill, you got a 0:02:36.693 --> 0:02:41.453 little uzy and people painting a side of Philly that's tough, 0:02:41.853 --> 0:02:43.533 but they all love and have a sense of pride 0:02:43.533 --> 0:02:45.013 about it, and I believe you do as well. 0:02:45.093 --> 0:02:46.773 What it makes it so tough? But what do you 0:02:46.773 --> 0:02:47.333 love about it? 0:02:47.733 --> 0:02:48.973 Yeah, I mean that's what it is. 0:02:49.013 --> 0:02:50.733 It's like the fact that it's so tough and the 0:02:50.773 --> 0:02:52.893 fact that we came up in this city it kind 0:02:52.893 --> 0:02:54.693 of gives us that that sense of pride to say, like, 0:02:54.693 --> 0:02:55.773 you know, if you can make it out of here, 0:02:55.813 --> 0:02:57.693 you can make it anywhere. Even if you can make 0:02:57.733 --> 0:02:59.493 it and stay in here, you can make it anywhere. 0:02:59.533 --> 0:03:04.013 Like just because it's a very uninviting city, Like if 0:03:04.053 --> 0:03:05.733 I could, if I could describe it in any way, 0:03:05.733 --> 0:03:07.613 like if you're not from here, it's like, well, what 0:03:07.693 --> 0:03:10.933 you're doing here? You know, And that's that's kind of 0:03:09.573 --> 0:03:13.933 the mentality, the personality that just like the city has 0:03:13.933 --> 0:03:15.973 for you. But but once you you know, once you're 0:03:16.013 --> 0:03:18.373 kind of getting graceated into the culture, like it's a 0:03:18.373 --> 0:03:20.933 dope city, it's always something some way to be a 0:03:20.973 --> 0:03:23.373 part of something, you know, just something going on in Philly. 0:03:23.373 --> 0:03:24.093 There's always something. 0:03:24.413 --> 0:03:28.253 Is there any distinct memories of pain that you look 0:03:28.333 --> 0:03:31.653 back on early growing up as a kid that may 0:03:31.693 --> 0:03:33.333 have affected you in a way or affected the way 0:03:33.373 --> 0:03:35.653 that you just looked at the world or approached life. 0:03:35.733 --> 0:03:37.773 Well, to be all, to be honest, is as much 0:03:37.933 --> 0:03:41.373 as much pride as I have for Philly being from Philly, 0:03:41.373 --> 0:03:43.933 there was a big piece of my life that I 0:03:43.933 --> 0:03:46.453 had to just step away from Philadelphia, like because of 0:03:46.933 --> 0:03:48.933 all the trauma that I experienced in Philly, Like you know, 0:03:49.093 --> 0:03:51.853 just just growing up being outside, like all the trouble 0:03:51.853 --> 0:03:54.853 that we got into. But also in two thousand and six, 0:03:54.973 --> 0:03:56.813 there was a house fire when I was staying with 0:03:56.853 --> 0:03:59.093 my aunt. I was like back and forth between my 0:03:59.133 --> 0:04:00.453 aunt's house and my mom's house, and there was a 0:04:00.453 --> 0:04:03.093 house fire that my aunt had where she lost her 0:04:03.133 --> 0:04:06.733 life and my three cousins lost their lives. And from 0:04:06.813 --> 0:04:10.013 that experience on, it was like really hard for me 0:04:10.093 --> 0:04:12.973 to just be in Philly. One top of just a 0:04:13.013 --> 0:04:15.013 few other things like I like, like a few a 0:04:15.053 --> 0:04:17.893 few years following that, my uncle, her brother he was 0:04:17.933 --> 0:04:21.853 shot and killed, and the road rage incident. It was 0:04:21.893 --> 0:04:24.133 a lot of just trauma, like just a lot of 0:04:24.133 --> 0:04:26.213 trauma that I think that I experienced in the city 0:04:26.733 --> 0:04:28.533 growing up, and some things that like it's kind of 0:04:28.573 --> 0:04:30.693 like a hungry dogs keep running kind of thing, where 0:04:30.733 --> 0:04:32.773 like you you don't even really get the process some 0:04:32.853 --> 0:04:35.053 of this when it's going on, you just kind of like, 0:04:35.133 --> 0:04:36.893 especially for me as a kid, I didn't I didn't 0:04:36.933 --> 0:04:39.453 understand the concept of like, you know, my cousin who 0:04:39.493 --> 0:04:40.973 was my best friend at the time, like I'll never 0:04:41.013 --> 0:04:42.893 see her again. My aunt, who was my second mother 0:04:42.973 --> 0:04:44.813 at the time, I never see her again, like you 0:04:44.893 --> 0:04:47.613 kind of just have to keep growing, keep learning, keep running, 0:04:47.893 --> 0:04:50.213 keep like experiencing things, and you don't really get a 0:04:50.253 --> 0:04:52.533 second to kind of step back and just look around 0:04:52.573 --> 0:04:54.093 and say like, oh, this is what happened, and this 0:04:54.173 --> 0:04:55.373 is how I'm affected by this. 0:04:55.493 --> 0:04:56.933 You know, Like a lot of that, a lot of 0:04:56.933 --> 0:04:57.893 those things I took with me. 0:04:57.933 --> 0:05:01.173 I didn't realize how much of a shift it created 0:05:01.173 --> 0:05:03.573 in my life until I was, you know, maybe like 0:05:03.573 --> 0:05:05.733 like reaching like twenty twenty one years old, and like 0:05:05.773 --> 0:05:08.093 I'm starting to just like peel back the layers and say, oh, 0:05:08.173 --> 0:05:09.493 this was actually the happening. 0:05:09.813 --> 0:05:10.013 You know. 0:05:10.413 --> 0:05:13.293 I read a quote from you that said, a lot 0:05:13.293 --> 0:05:15.893 of us in Philadelphia, when you just talk to someone, 0:05:16.013 --> 0:05:17.853 you feel like there's a lot of trauma, a lot 0:05:17.853 --> 0:05:18.293 of pain. 0:05:19.093 --> 0:05:21.293 There's just a lot of layers to that. 0:05:21.293 --> 0:05:23.373 City that we've all gone through, and if we haven't 0:05:23.413 --> 0:05:27.413 gone through it, it's it's the trauma's been passed down, right, 0:05:27.453 --> 0:05:31.333 and we find ways to make our trauma sound and 0:05:31.373 --> 0:05:33.373 feel and look beautiful, but at the end of the day, 0:05:33.373 --> 0:05:36.093 it's still trauma. When I read that, I was like, wow, 0:05:36.173 --> 0:05:40.413 because I'm watching someone like you that's transmuting that trauma 0:05:40.453 --> 0:05:43.933 and transmuting that pain into a greater purpose. And in fact, 0:05:43.973 --> 0:05:46.413 that's why all three of us are sitting here today 0:05:46.773 --> 0:05:50.293 with our own past and our own pains. But yeah, 0:05:50.573 --> 0:05:52.853 I always say like people were all the same. We 0:05:52.933 --> 0:05:55.333 all have pain and we're all just trying to find 0:05:55.373 --> 0:05:58.453 freedom from that pain. And a lot of people like 0:05:58.533 --> 0:06:01.133 myself and Darren back in the day, would numb that 0:06:01.173 --> 0:06:04.853 pain through drugs and alcohol. Other people will hide in 0:06:04.893 --> 0:06:07.333 their work and get busy, some will close their hearts, 0:06:07.333 --> 0:06:10.373 and then there's other people that find that greater purpose. 0:06:10.453 --> 0:06:12.973 So yeah, yeah, I just found that fascinating in that 0:06:13.053 --> 0:06:17.053 awareness that trauma is passed down and sometimes we don't 0:06:17.053 --> 0:06:19.133 even realize it even if we haven't had it. It's 0:06:19.173 --> 0:06:23.933 that ancestral, that deep stuff that's just generational dysfunction more 0:06:23.973 --> 0:06:24.533 than anything. 0:06:24.813 --> 0:06:29.853 Yeah, no, absolutely, I think I tried at the very earliest, 0:06:29.893 --> 0:06:33.533 I tried to just kind of understand the through lines 0:06:33.533 --> 0:06:36.653 of I guess, like how trauma and how like pain 0:06:36.693 --> 0:06:38.973 affected people and when they resorted to things, like you said, 0:06:39.013 --> 0:06:41.773 like drugs and alcohol. In my head, if I wasn't 0:06:41.813 --> 0:06:44.573 doing drugs and alcohol, then I was not like I 0:06:44.693 --> 0:06:47.733 wasn't taking my trauma out and in a toxic way. 0:06:47.773 --> 0:06:49.773 I was handling it in a healthy way because I 0:06:49.773 --> 0:06:52.493 didn't go resort to drugs and alcohol. But I think 0:06:52.533 --> 0:06:56.293 my downfall was I used to take that trauma out 0:06:56.293 --> 0:07:00.053 on other people and my relationships, and like you know, 0:07:00.133 --> 0:07:01.613 like when I said, like you know, we used to 0:07:01.653 --> 0:07:03.733 go outside and just try and like, I don't know, 0:07:03.773 --> 0:07:06.013 I wanted to be the bad kid. I wanted to 0:07:06.013 --> 0:07:07.373 be the tough guy in the neighborhood. But it was 0:07:07.373 --> 0:07:10.613 all because I had this feeling of misunderstanding that like 0:07:10.653 --> 0:07:12.893 I felt like nobody could understand who I was, what 0:07:12.973 --> 0:07:14.933 I was going through with pain I felt, and so 0:07:15.013 --> 0:07:16.253 I had to inflict that. 0:07:16.213 --> 0:07:19.693 Pain on other people. But it didn't even process to 0:07:19.733 --> 0:07:22.533 me how toxic that was because I wasn't doing drugs 0:07:22.613 --> 0:07:23.173 or alcohol. 0:07:23.293 --> 0:07:25.413 I was, you know, even in the moments when I 0:07:25.453 --> 0:07:29.093 was involved in the distribution of these things that it 0:07:29.133 --> 0:07:31.973 was like I didn't even think into the process of like, Okay, 0:07:32.013 --> 0:07:34.653 if this is not me doing it per se, then 0:07:34.653 --> 0:07:37.093 I can't be affected by this, I can't be actually 0:07:37.133 --> 0:07:38.013 dealing with anything. 0:07:38.093 --> 0:07:39.413 It was just, you know, it. 0:07:39.333 --> 0:07:41.133 Was almost like you said, it's just kind of like 0:07:41.413 --> 0:07:44.213 we all are just living in a world of trauma, 0:07:44.253 --> 0:07:47.373 and we're so like deeply tied and connected to the 0:07:47.413 --> 0:07:49.453 trauma that it just seems natural to us. 0:07:49.853 --> 0:07:53.613 That's that saying hurt people hurt people exactly. And if 0:07:53.653 --> 0:07:55.653 we don't, if we don't heal our own wounds, then 0:07:55.773 --> 0:07:58.813 you know we're we're we're sure to inflict it and 0:07:59.573 --> 0:08:02.533 and bleed on other people. If you will, if coming 0:08:02.533 --> 0:08:05.253 from somebody, maybe Darren, you can maybe speaking for both 0:08:05.293 --> 0:08:08.853 of us, but I can't. I would never understand how 0:08:08.933 --> 0:08:13.733 you didn't tap into to drug and alcohol abuse just 0:08:13.773 --> 0:08:16.293 based on the trauma and the pain, because I don't. 0:08:16.653 --> 0:08:18.493 I mean, we all have pain, even though my pain 0:08:18.573 --> 0:08:20.813 might look different than yours, but just hearing your story 0:08:20.853 --> 0:08:23.533 and everything that you went through, I don't feel like 0:08:23.653 --> 0:08:26.293 mine was on a level of yours. Yet I still 0:08:26.333 --> 0:08:28.413 went down that road. So how did you steer clear 0:08:29.093 --> 0:08:30.453 of drugs and alcohol? 0:08:30.613 --> 0:08:30.933 I did? 0:08:31.213 --> 0:08:34.333 I will say I drank alcohol until I was fifteen, 0:08:34.933 --> 0:08:36.933 and it wasn't it wasn't never. 0:08:36.893 --> 0:08:39.333 Anything related to pain. 0:08:39.413 --> 0:08:41.373 It was like I just thought it was cool because 0:08:41.373 --> 0:08:43.733 everybody else is doing it, and it was like, you know, 0:08:43.773 --> 0:08:45.853 you see all everybody would come back to school like yo, 0:08:45.933 --> 0:08:48.453 I was we got drunk and we did such and such, 0:08:48.493 --> 0:08:50.413 so I, you know, I used to try and do 0:08:50.493 --> 0:08:52.013 it and it just tasted awful to me. 0:08:52.293 --> 0:08:54.333 And I remember one time. 0:08:54.493 --> 0:08:57.053 I did it in California one of my cousin's house 0:08:57.093 --> 0:09:00.013 and I blacked out, woke up like didn't remember anything, 0:09:00.053 --> 0:09:01.733 and I was like, yeah, I don't. I don't like 0:09:01.813 --> 0:09:04.813 that feeling like I'm not really not really And that 0:09:04.853 --> 0:09:08.533 one and as far as like just drug related drugs 0:09:08.973 --> 0:09:12.333 and itself was so it was so embedded into my 0:09:12.413 --> 0:09:15.533 culture growing up, you know, like my my father, my 0:09:15.533 --> 0:09:19.413 father played a hand and distribution to drugs, my lot, 0:09:19.493 --> 0:09:21.493 a lot of other family members, a lot of friends, 0:09:21.573 --> 0:09:23.653 a lot of people in the neighborhood. Like I seen 0:09:24.173 --> 0:09:27.013 how drugs had kind of just derailed the course of 0:09:27.013 --> 0:09:29.893 people's lives so much that I've always just kind of 0:09:29.933 --> 0:09:33.613 just been you know, what's the word, looking like tunnel 0:09:33.653 --> 0:09:35.373 vision do on this idea that I want to be 0:09:35.573 --> 0:09:38.253 a success story, I want to be a musician, I 0:09:38.253 --> 0:09:40.013 want to be someone great. And I was like, I 0:09:40.053 --> 0:09:42.613 feel like, if I you know, if I ever let 0:09:42.653 --> 0:09:46.093 my trauma, let my pain put me in this pocket 0:09:46.093 --> 0:09:48.573 where I start to kind of abuse drugs, then I 0:09:48.693 --> 0:09:52.093 may be taking away from the larger picture, the bigger 0:09:52.133 --> 0:09:54.253 goul and that was you know, that was just always 0:09:54.253 --> 0:09:55.293 the thing that was hanging over me. 0:09:55.333 --> 0:09:57.053 That was like kind of keeping me in the right direction. 0:09:57.693 --> 0:10:01.773 That level of focus from a young man is impressive 0:10:01.813 --> 0:10:04.373 to me, especially with all the things that are swirling 0:10:04.493 --> 0:10:07.053 around on the outside of you and on the inside 0:10:07.093 --> 0:10:11.613 of you, with the violence and you know, navigating the 0:10:11.773 --> 0:10:14.253 also drugs and alcohol and everything else is going on 0:10:14.293 --> 0:10:17.293 in Philly. Where does your music passion come into the picture? 0:10:17.333 --> 0:10:20.453 When did that begin? How did that begin to sprout? 0:10:20.573 --> 0:10:25.613 Honestly, music was always music was before me. It was 0:10:25.973 --> 0:10:30.253 my aunts and uncles, my grandfather, like everyone everyone in 0:10:30.293 --> 0:10:32.933 my family played music, like played some sort of an instrument. 0:10:32.973 --> 0:10:35.373 So it just kind of became a thing that, you know, 0:10:35.573 --> 0:10:37.293 it just became a thing that was passed down for me. 0:10:38.053 --> 0:10:39.973 By the time I got to it, I was in 0:10:40.053 --> 0:10:42.893 a choir. My mom had me an choir early on, so, uh, 0:10:43.373 --> 0:10:46.013 you know, after I realized I was like, maybe I 0:10:46.053 --> 0:10:48.533 don't got the best singing voice, I started, you know, 0:10:48.653 --> 0:10:50.613 just started messing around with the ideas of like just 0:10:50.853 --> 0:10:53.293 I will watch all all the rat videos like you know, 0:10:54.333 --> 0:10:56.053 run back from school so I could turn on BT 0:10:56.333 --> 0:10:58.573 one of six and parking watch all the rat videos 0:10:58.573 --> 0:11:00.893 and like that just became a thing where I was like, yeah, 0:11:00.893 --> 0:11:01.853 I feel like I. 0:11:01.813 --> 0:11:02.333 Could do this. 0:11:02.413 --> 0:11:04.093 I feel like this is something that I you know, 0:11:04.133 --> 0:11:06.733 I could excel and I could be like really good 0:11:06.733 --> 0:11:08.573 at telling my story whatever the story was. 0:11:08.613 --> 0:11:10.293 At the time. You know, I was like second or 0:11:10.293 --> 0:11:11.853 third grade. My story wasn't that impressive. 0:11:11.893 --> 0:11:15.733 But like you know, over time, it just developed into 0:11:15.813 --> 0:11:18.253 like from a hobby to a I was trying to 0:11:18.253 --> 0:11:19.453 get all of my friends around me. 0:11:19.493 --> 0:11:21.293 I was like, y'all write your reps. I'll write your reps. 0:11:21.293 --> 0:11:21.853 I write your. 0:11:21.773 --> 0:11:23.693 Reps, like, you know, just trying to get everybody to 0:11:23.733 --> 0:11:25.173 be a rapper with me, so it wasn't just me, 0:11:25.573 --> 0:11:28.533 and and then it just developed more and more into, 0:11:29.093 --> 0:11:31.453 you know, just into a real life thing. It was 0:11:31.493 --> 0:11:35.293 like for a while, honestly, like as as the as 0:11:35.773 --> 0:11:39.453 the street culture, like the neighborhood culture and music blended. 0:11:39.693 --> 0:11:42.413 You know, you're talking about like the Lil Wayne era, 0:11:42.693 --> 0:11:45.613 like the mixtape era, like like everybody at that point 0:11:45.773 --> 0:11:48.653 was rapping, you know, like like my mom, remember my 0:11:48.693 --> 0:11:51.893 homie Keen, His mom bought us a microphone and we 0:11:51.893 --> 0:11:53.653 were just sitting in his room and just like you know, 0:11:53.693 --> 0:11:55.573 we take turns, one person in press record and the 0:11:55.573 --> 0:11:58.693 other person in press record. And that was my earliest 0:11:58.853 --> 0:12:01.133 memories of like, oh no, we could actually do this, 0:12:01.133 --> 0:12:03.293 We could actually make songs. We could actually you know, 0:12:03.573 --> 0:12:06.093 turn these in the MP three and download them onto 0:12:06.093 --> 0:12:07.573 our phones and show people. 0:12:08.253 --> 0:12:09.973 But it was always the thing that was embedded in 0:12:10.053 --> 0:12:11.213 my life span. 0:12:11.293 --> 0:12:11.493 You know. 0:12:11.973 --> 0:12:14.053 Can you take us through any moments that may have 0:12:15.893 --> 0:12:18.213 almost detourred you from wanting to pursue your passion? Was 0:12:18.213 --> 0:12:22.533 there any disappointments along the way from before from when 0:12:22.573 --> 0:12:24.653 you started to when you started to get on, like 0:12:24.893 --> 0:12:26.653 where you may have wanted to give up, or people 0:12:26.693 --> 0:12:29.333 were telling you that this wasn't the route, Like, are 0:12:29.373 --> 0:12:30.053 there any moments like. 0:12:30.053 --> 0:12:30.693 That your story? 0:12:31.333 --> 0:12:31.933 Absolutely? 0:12:32.613 --> 0:12:34.973 I mean you got understand like I've been rapping since 0:12:36.093 --> 0:12:37.693 I've been rapping since I want to say. 0:12:38.613 --> 0:12:40.693 In second grade. I've been trying to put words together. 0:12:40.813 --> 0:12:42.853 So by the time I hit fifth grade, sixth grade, 0:12:42.893 --> 0:12:44.253 that was when I was like, yo, I can actually 0:12:44.293 --> 0:12:46.573 take this serious. At that point, I remember it was 0:12:46.693 --> 0:12:48.453 a moment where we thought we was gonna get signed 0:12:48.453 --> 0:12:50.053 to State Property and Rockefeller. 0:12:50.333 --> 0:12:51.293 You know, we were. 0:12:51.173 --> 0:12:53.373 Kids and we're like, yo, we're gonna be the next ones. Like, 0:12:53.613 --> 0:12:55.693 you know, there was there was so many of these versions. 0:12:56.373 --> 0:12:57.453 I had to you know, I had to. 0:12:57.493 --> 0:13:00.013 Go through the experience because I wasn't like the cool 0:13:00.133 --> 0:13:03.013 rapper that was just rapping about drugs and guns and like, 0:13:03.053 --> 0:13:04.253 you know, a bunch of guns and the videos, a 0:13:04.253 --> 0:13:05.813 bunch of money, a bunch of girls in the videos. 0:13:05.853 --> 0:13:07.773 I had to go through the experience of like just 0:13:07.813 --> 0:13:08.653 being the. 0:13:08.733 --> 0:13:11.653 Quote unquote rapper and trying to explain to everybody that 0:13:11.653 --> 0:13:13.893 I'm a rapper. Nobody actually cares. And you know, by 0:13:13.893 --> 0:13:16.093 this point, you graduate high school, you graduate, you know, 0:13:16.213 --> 0:13:18.933 and everybody else got it is in college, got a job, 0:13:19.373 --> 0:13:21.213 and you're just like, nah, naw, I'm a rap, trust me, 0:13:21.253 --> 0:13:23.573 it's gonna work out, like you know. And and that 0:13:23.693 --> 0:13:25.373 was a you know, that was that was a real 0:13:25.573 --> 0:13:28.093 like awakening moment. For a while, I was just sleeping 0:13:28.133 --> 0:13:30.333 in my car in a garage, you know what I mean, 0:13:30.413 --> 0:13:31.813 Like I was sleeping in my car in the garage 0:13:31.853 --> 0:13:33.453 behind the movie theater, and that happened. 0:13:33.453 --> 0:13:35.053 I want to say, that went on for about like 0:13:35.093 --> 0:13:35.853 two months. 0:13:36.093 --> 0:13:38.213 Yeah, I think there was a lot of There was 0:13:38.213 --> 0:13:40.093 a lot of these moments that just played and played 0:13:40.173 --> 0:13:42.933 out for a long period of time until until that 0:13:43.053 --> 0:13:44.613 that you finally get that breakthrough. 0:13:44.653 --> 0:13:48.533 And for now now it's like a conversation on the internet. 0:13:48.213 --> 0:13:50.053 Where it's like, yo, it's an overnighte success and I'm like, 0:13:50.133 --> 0:13:52.293 overnight success took ten years. 0:13:52.893 --> 0:13:57.213 You know what I'm saying sounds like you've you've always 0:13:57.773 --> 0:14:01.613 no matter what, we're gonna fight for this stream and 0:14:01.653 --> 0:14:05.133 this vision of rap stardom, Like where does that Where 0:14:05.173 --> 0:14:07.573 does that juice and where does that fire come from? 0:14:07.653 --> 0:14:09.373 When I was a kid, my dad didn't let me 0:14:09.413 --> 0:14:12.053 quit anything, And I think that's a big root of 0:14:12.093 --> 0:14:14.133 like where a lot of it started from. It was like, yo, 0:14:14.373 --> 0:14:16.253 like it don't matter if he put me in some 0:14:16.253 --> 0:14:17.853 sports that I never wanted to be. And I remember 0:14:17.893 --> 0:14:19.453 I did karate for like a year and a half 0:14:19.613 --> 0:14:20.693 just because I could not quit. 0:14:21.213 --> 0:14:22.533 My dad wouldn't let me quit anything. 0:14:22.573 --> 0:14:24.573 I couldn't get up front the front of dinner table 0:14:24.733 --> 0:14:26.973 until I ate like eighty five percent of the plate. 0:14:27.013 --> 0:14:29.373 Like it was just like there was no quitting in 0:14:29.373 --> 0:14:29.933 the household. 0:14:30.093 --> 0:14:32.653 So at that point, even when it got like really 0:14:32.693 --> 0:14:35.333 really tough. It was like like you know, when I decided, Okay, 0:14:35.333 --> 0:14:37.453 I'm not going to do anything sports related, I'm not 0:14:37.453 --> 0:14:39.853 going to do anything, you know, like anything I don't know, 0:14:40.213 --> 0:14:42.053 college related and so forth, it was like I was 0:14:42.093 --> 0:14:43.173 so far down this path. 0:14:43.213 --> 0:14:44.733 It's like if I quit. 0:14:44.573 --> 0:14:48.133 At this point, like I didn't shot myself in the 0:14:48.133 --> 0:14:50.293 foot for literally anything else in life that I want 0:14:50.333 --> 0:14:52.093 to do, It's like I can't, you know, I can't. 0:14:52.133 --> 0:14:54.213 I can't turn back to the clock and you know, 0:14:54.253 --> 0:14:56.173 go back to high school and you know, like I didn't. 0:14:56.293 --> 0:14:56.653 I didn't. 0:14:56.773 --> 0:14:59.853 I skipped so many big milestones in my life too 0:14:59.933 --> 0:15:02.733 dedicated towards this thing that it was almost like, yeah, 0:15:02.733 --> 0:15:04.773 it has to happen. I don't know how, I don't 0:15:04.773 --> 0:15:06.813 know in what way, but it has to happen. And 0:15:06.853 --> 0:15:08.733 that was you know, like it was just something I 0:15:08.853 --> 0:15:10.933 fought for for too long for me to give up 0:15:10.933 --> 0:15:11.213 on it. 0:15:11.773 --> 0:15:15.573 That lesson that your dad shared is like people not 0:15:15.693 --> 0:15:18.573 really understanding that fully in twenty twenty three, Like when 0:15:18.613 --> 0:15:22.293 things get uncomfortable, people want to go to something that 0:15:22.653 --> 0:15:25.733 is easier or like that's not going to have them 0:15:26.013 --> 0:15:29.253 in fear or in doubt, when really like that character 0:15:29.373 --> 0:15:30.493 quality of you. Nah. 0:15:30.533 --> 0:15:33.773 I read this quote that was like my friend's Asiana 0:15:33.853 --> 0:15:36.093 voice did it, and it was, what's the point of 0:15:36.133 --> 0:15:37.933 having faith if you're going to lose it when you 0:15:37.973 --> 0:15:38.573 need it most? 0:15:38.773 --> 0:15:41.533 And that's like my favorite quote right now. That's my 0:15:41.693 --> 0:15:43.893 favorite quote right now, is like, what's. 0:15:43.653 --> 0:15:46.973 The point if by the time when you actually need 0:15:46.973 --> 0:15:49.213 faith to kicking, anybody can have faith when it's easy, 0:15:49.253 --> 0:15:51.253 when you actually need faith to kick and you just 0:15:51.253 --> 0:15:52.733 get rid of it, what's the point of having it 0:15:52.773 --> 0:15:53.053 at all? 0:15:53.493 --> 0:15:53.693 You know? 0:15:54.293 --> 0:15:58.373 Well, I just posted a story on Instagram yesterday about 0:15:58.413 --> 0:16:01.373 that where I believe faith relieves us from the burden 0:16:01.413 --> 0:16:05.133 of excessive responsibility. Like whatever your faith is, faith in God, 0:16:05.213 --> 0:16:08.973 higher power, universe, like in my and my beliefs. Are 0:16:09.013 --> 0:16:11.693 you better believe in something bigger and badder than you 0:16:11.773 --> 0:16:15.053 because like when things do get tough and when things 0:16:15.133 --> 0:16:17.053