WEBVTT - #24 - Symba 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:02.560 That's the right, ladies and gentlemen, time for that Bootleg 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:06.120 cap podcast on this what is this Monday? Man? My 0:00:06.200 --> 0:00:09.760 Arizona Cardinals one last night. I appreciate everybody who's locked 0:00:09.800 --> 0:00:14.920 in this week we got a First of all, we've 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:16.960 had a crazy couple weeks on the podcast. Want to 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:18.799 shout out to everybody who's been supporting us man. The 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:20.920 YouTube has been going crazy, all the number has been 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:23.880 going crazy. Thank you to everybody who's been checking out 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:26.640 our new freestyle series. Trying to figure out whether or 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:28.520 not we're gonna like put those straight on Spotify or not. 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:31.960 But we launched a freestyle series with Benny the Butcher 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:33.960 and Hem from BSF. You could check that out on 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:37.720 the YouTube page. If you haven't already go peep that out. 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:42.800 Just google Bootleg cav on YouTube. It'll pop up. This 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:47.520 week's episode featuring a young MC out of the Bay Area. 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:53.920 His name Simba. He signed to Atlantic Super Talented, Dude, 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:57.280 Crazy Bars and really just a dope dude to have 0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:01.560 conversation with. I have a everyone's gonna be really like 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:04.839 on this dude's dick in about six months. So shout 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:08.320 out to the homie Simba. Man big ups to our sponsors. 0:01:08.360 --> 0:01:11.720 Obviously odd Socks always holding it down. Man, solue to 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:14.560 odd Socks. Make sure you go to odd socksoficial dot com. 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:17.679 Use the keyword bootleg keV and make sure you just 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:20.600 scoop up some stuff. Man, scoop up some socks, some masks. 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:23.720 You know they got all the crazy licenses. Look breaking 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:28.319 bad socks, Nickelodeon socks, Damn Ghostbusters. You know what I'm saying. 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:31.960 Whatever you need et chucky for the Halloween joints, use 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:35.039 the keyword bootleg keV at checkout and you will receive 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:37.120 twenty percent off the most comfortable socks in the world. 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:39.280 Also shout out to our other sponsor, man shout out 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:42.160 to vapin. Hit up that vapincbd dot com. Get you 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:43.959 some of that good good some of that good smoke, 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:48.040 some of that good v CBD goodness. Man the lotion. 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:49.680 If youve got aches and pains and all that, you 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:52.920 rub that joint in, it's all good. Vapincbd dot com 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:57.120 keyword bootleg keV receive twenty percent off. Let's just get 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:02.360 to the podcast. Had a rough, rough night, so we're 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:07.120 just gonna get straight into the episode. Simba episode twenty 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:12.040 twenty something. All right, the homie Simba, I promise you. 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:13.800 I know a lot of people haven't heard of Symba yet, 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:16.040 but Yo, just press play on this conversation and enjoy it. 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:19.880 We had a really dope talk. Lots of crazy hip 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:22.720 hop debates in this one, lots of back and forth 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:28.359 Simba on the Bootleg Cap podcast right now, Yo, man, 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:31.640 bootlet Cap podcast. We got the homie from the Bay Area, 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:36.359 sir who has very polarizing hip hop opinions. Homie Simba 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:39.119 is here. What's adding it with you? Brother? What's up? Man? 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:41.400 Feeling great? Thank you for having me man. I'm a 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:43.960 big fan of the show. I love that Freddy Gibbs 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:48.640 Greg Gibbs episode. Yeah, that episode got sloppy. We drank 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:50.720 a whole bottle in nineteen forty two and it was 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:54.120 entertaining his shit. Yeah, shout out to Freddy Man because 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:56.360 he don't got no filter anyway, and then when he's drunk, 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:58.960 it's There was a lot taken out of that interview. 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:01.600 We had to take some shit out. I think started 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:05.520 with that interview. Freddy might have it going back and 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:07.760 forth with three of them, but he might have album 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:10.519 of the year, dude, me and you see things in 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:15.560 the same way. Okay, Alfredo to me, what's your what's 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:18.400 your three that you're going back and forth with? See, 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:21.520 Benny just kind of fucked ship up because I had 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:32.360 I had Alfredo, I had, uh, Who's what was the 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:34.400 fucking album I was listening. I can't even think off 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:37.160 the top right now, but I had Alfredo, I had 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:44.440 Nas in there, I had I had Big Sean in there. 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:48.400 It was one more that I can't think right now 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:49.760 at the top of my head. But I had those 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:54.000 three for sure. But Bennie album is like, yeah, dope. 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:57.720 I did as I did a list earlier in the 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:01.120 year before a lot of like Big Sean and Nos dropped, 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:06.640 and I had Alfredo's one, and then somewhere in there 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:10.200 there was like Pray for Paris from Westside Gun. Yeah. 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:12.720 I think Run the Jewels four is dope. Run the 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:15.640 Jewels was definitely dope. But since then, I mean, Little 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:18.760 Baby My Turn is not an album that I necessarily 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:22.000 but you got to give him his respect. That was mine's. 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:25.640 You gotta put that up. It was Baby because for me, 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:28.520 I've been listening to a Little Baby since he first 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:31.880 came out. So to hear the growth, hear the growth, 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:34.360 and just not only his tone and voice, but just 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:37.159 his lyrics and beat selection and the way he jumping 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:40.400 in and out of cadences any subject matter. For sure, 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:43.599 I think, Yeah, I think Big Sean Detroit too is 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:45.279 up there. For me. I just felt like it was 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:48.800 a super vulnerable album. Definitely conways. Shit, it was that 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:51.720 time too for some movies. It's been a great year 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:54.320 for hip hop, but I think that Alfredo is still 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:58.599 number one. I'm with you, I'm with you. It's not 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:02.880 too far from Withie. You're You're from the Bay from 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:06.240 the but you don't make the music. You're you're a 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:08.120 Jedi on the mic man I like to call it 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:13.120 certain rappers jedis lenthally You're special. Why why is it 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:15.600 that when I hear your music, I don't necessarily hear 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:22.600 the Bay Area influence off the rep Great question. I 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:27.080 grew up like just Bay Area to the core, you 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:30.160 know what I mean, white T shirt, blue jeans, and Nikes, 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:33.800 just three times crazy, just listening to all the base 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:39.280 shit mac mall right, and I think around the high 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:41.479 the era, right when the high Fi era came in, 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:44.680 I started traveling a lot like with my parents. My 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:47.520 parents was like heavy in the real estate game. And 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:50.279 I tell people all the time, I grew up kind 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:52.560 of opposite of how most of my friends did. So 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:56.720 a lot of my friends they had like struggling upbringings 0:05:56.760 --> 0:05:59.960 when they was very young. I didn't, right my parents, 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:02.280 it's kind of that's your parents on. Yeah, me and 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:05.560 Mom's in Vegas, so they had shit going on. Cardinals 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:07.120 won that game, by the way. I told us that, 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:12.520 but they already had things going on. So we was 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:14.880 able to travel a lot. So my parents had homes 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:17.919 in like Atlantic City, Las Vegas, and we would just 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:20.159 move around and I would notice, like a lot of 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:23.960 the songs that I loved back home wasn't being played 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:27.359 in these other areas. So I would make friends in Vegas, 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:30.200 and make friends in Atlantic City, and make friends in Philly, 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:32.680 and I would play these songs and they would be like, 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:35.080 what is this, bro? What's this right? You know what 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:39.440 I'm saying? And for a minute, I used to feel like, Oh, 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:41.360 they don't like to beat or they don't get it, 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:44.120 or they don't they think it's it's like a gimmick 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:45.840 or something like that. But what it is is we 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:49.640 live on like an island, right, So our culture is 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:53.440 very just like independent and it's us to the core. 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:58.320 So a lot of people don't really know about PEMP culture, right, 0:06:58.400 --> 0:06:59.840 you know what I mean a lot of people don't 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:02.480 really know about bipping and you know what I mean, 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:04.800 certain things we do in the bay. So when we 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:07.880 talk about these things in the songs and the lyrics, 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:09.720 the rest of the world is like, what's that? Like, 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:11.560 what is he talking about? Like I don't get what 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:14.280 he's saying because it's something they not used to seeing 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:18.640 every day. So when I started making music, I started 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:22.320 like writing from not like an eye perspective. I feel 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:24.360 like a lot of artists where I'm from write from 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:27.600 an eye perspective, Like I take the bitch, I do this, 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:29.280 I got the whip, I do this. I try to 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:32.120 wrap from like a wee perspective to where anybody could 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:35.520 see it. So it's like I say, lines to where 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:38.000 the bay get it. It's like you think you gonna 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:39.880 get the panties if you make a paddic freeze. I 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:41.640 could take a bitch to apple Bee. She won't be 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:43.520 mad at me, you know what I'm saying. But it's 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:47.040 an Applebee's everywhere. Everybody wearing paddics, you know what I mean, 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:50.080 Everybody spending money on girls that two for twenty apple 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:51.800 Bee is man, you know what I'm saying. So it's 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:54.480 just like always try to speak from a perspective of 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:57.800 being from the Bay, but where the world could identify 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:00.760 with things I'm saying within the music, Yeah, I think 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:02.720 that the Bay is Like we were just talking a 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:04.520 little bit about this, but I think the Bay is 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:09.120 its own. It's it's very There's the only place that 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:12.800 I can kind of like on a very much smaller 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:16.560 scale is I moved to Tampa, and I when I 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:18.560 did radio on Tampa for a few years, and when 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:21.640 I went to the club there, I heard some shit 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:27.320 called junk music, and it's only in Tampa will that 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:31.040 shit get played nowhere else. It's like one hundred like 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:33.080 a go go thing. It's like one hundred and five 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:36.120 bpms with bells in it. It's like it's like it's 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:39.280 some shit. It's called Tampa juk music. And I was like, 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:42.319 what what the fuck is this? And I feel like 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:46.040 in the Bay it's the biggest example of that as 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:50.079 far as like except for you know, the Bay has 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:53.520 influenced everybody. I mean no, Like I feel like the 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:55.079 Bay does not get there just do. And I say 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:56.960 this all the time. I think the Bay has so 0:08:57.080 --> 0:08:59.839 much influence on hip hop and they don't get their 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:04.440 just hip hop shit fashion technology chech. Now of course, 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:07.400 of course you know what I mean. Like it's a 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:10.240 lot more weed, But I feel like it's just an 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:14.040 island and it's like okay, Like you could go to 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:17.120 the Bay and they'll be like they'll be like records 0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:20.960 that go up that aren't even necessarily Bay records that 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:23.559 are just so big in that you'll be like, yo, 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:27.600 this song was like this was a big record, like 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:31.080 what you won't even really know like that. Yeah, you 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:33.000 won't even really know this song like that unless you 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:35.679 come to the Bay and you see the effect of it. 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:37.680 So you're driving through the Bay, you hearing it on 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:40.520 the radio, You're seeing people in the car plt you big. 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:42.240 You have a big DJ. So I'm sure you've had 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:44.920 a lot of DJ gigs up there where you're spinning 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:47.360 in the clubs and you hearing the people coming to 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:49.200 you telling you to play records that you might not 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:51.320 even have, Like what the hell is this? You know? 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:53.400 That that happened to me one time, and then I 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:55.679 just I had to be like okay, I had to 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:57.600 hit a home man and be like, yo, I just 0:09:57.640 --> 0:09:59.960 need the I just need the folder of like the 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:03.240 odd records that I should just have on deck for 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:06.439 if I'm ever done. And it was like just crazy 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:11.560 shit like Trunk Boys, Cupcake, no feeling shit that you 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:15.400 just would never expect, Like I want to say, like 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:18.320 baby Boy, that just some like random ship that like 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:20.040 you're like, yo, I didn't know this song was a thing, 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:21.640 Like I knew about the song, but I don't know 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:24.760 anywhere else gave. But nah, I do think that it's like, 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:26.960 you know, obviously with the rich history of the Bay 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:31.520 is dope that there is, you know, for what you do, 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:34.960 there is a dope side of the Bay. There's you know, 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:37.840 back in the nineties there was high Row and Souls 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:39.679 a mischief and all that. But I think that like 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:42.760 you're bringing a lot of people associate Mazi with the 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:46.280 bass from Sacramento shut Out to the Feller Feller to 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:49.960 shut out Mai shut Out to Sacramento too. But I 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:52.200 feel like you're in an a dope position where you're 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:58.720 you can make music that that everybody in hip hop respects, 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:02.079 and you also happen to be from the Bay. That's 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:03.720 a life could go because I think a lot of 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:06.040 times a Bay Area artists, we associate them with being 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:09.480 from the Bay first, and unfortunately there's some sort of 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:13.360 preconceived stigma that comes with that that you might have 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:15.480 already made up your mind about that artist, even though 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:18.280 you know that's not fair, that's not okay, But I mean, 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:21.320 it's is. It is what it is. It's life, you 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:23.040 know what I mean. Like we look at things and 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:25.360 we judge it. Sometimes like twenty four Ker Golden's got 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:26.880 the number one song in the country and I had 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:30.120 no idea recently, you wouldn't know he was from the Bay. 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:32.520 But it's like he's doing a different type of thing, 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:35.120 you know what I mean. Most people, like you said, 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:36.840 you know they're from the Bay because you could hear 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:38.760 it in the music. You can hear it in the sound, 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:41.560 you could hear it, and how they represent themselves certain 0:11:41.600 --> 0:11:44.200 things they may post on Instagram or where they may be. 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:48.560 But there's another level we could take things to. That's 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:52.720 a Gez level, Ki Lane level, or now twenty four 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:55.559 K level, So where we could take things to another level, 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:58.240 to where the world could identify with us and rock 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:00.360 with us, and we could speak for the and be 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:02.840 a platform for other artists in the Bay. They want 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:06.520 to take it to that same level. Yeah, talk about 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:10.080 your situation. So I met you probably like two years ago. 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:12.199 Came up to the studio with your boy. I forget 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:15.320 your boys name. Yeah, oh Lou no lou Me and 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:19.160 Lou set up my brother Lewis built and your freestyle. 0:12:19.280 --> 0:12:23.160 I think Nico, Nico, Nico Blitz. Nico Blitz is who 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:27.160 put me on. Yes, he had Nico Blitz And guess 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:31.640 what he's actually the most cringe cringiest part of the Bay. 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:34.120 Just go on Nico's page and you know whether it's 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:37.079 this fool is thiszzing and doing all kinds of ship 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:43.679 like he'll throw yee on anything he can. It's unnecessary. Yeah, 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:46.760 like yo, faan, like what that is? Why do you there? 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:49.440 Nico Blitz? But that's that's how he is in the Bay, 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:51.959 Like we're passionate about it's really a coach. We got. 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:55.040 I feel like we got everything a culture has except 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:58.000 the flag, right, Like we got our own type of food, 0:12:58.040 --> 0:13:00.200 we got our own language. You know, I'm I mean, 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:02.680 the way we moved, the way we dressed, just everything. 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:05.760 It's that's our language. We stand on the ye's and 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:08.400 the yadata means and you know what I mean. So 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:10.800 help me understand, because like you came up in freestyle 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:14.800 and that was about two years ago. Yeah, I didn't know. 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:16.240 You had just told me that you would, like you 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:20.600 were like around during the beginning of the Young California. Yeah. Yeah, 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:22.800 so we can get into it. So kind of give me, 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:25.080 give me, give me all that your background, like your journey. 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:28.960 So basically Brouh, I always been like doing music. I 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:33.400 was playing ball and doing music. After high school, I 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:36.240 realized I didn't want to go to college, right, it 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:38.280 was just like something I didn't want to do. I'm 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:41.360 not someone fit for a school setting. So I was like, 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:45.040 I'm gonna do music for a time. And I gained 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:48.120 like popularity in my community very fast, in like the 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:52.120 Pittsburgh Antioch area. So you ever heard of Young Kirt. Yeah, 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:57.160 I was like the label that pushed the young Kirt. 0:13:57.679 --> 0:13:59.760 So it was me, it was Kurt, it was Young 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:01.880 d It was a bunch of us, and I was 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:05.320 kind of more so playing the executive role and Kurt 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:08.360 was the artist, so I had to stopped rapping. I'm 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:11.480 being his hype man a certain shows, doing certain meetings 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:12.920 and everything like that, to where I was just in 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:16.520 executive mode. So we kind of had a falling out 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:18.360 and I went back to doing music. That's when I 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:21.720 met Amen Nick Knack and everything, and we had came together. 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:23.960 I never forget this day. It was at PF Chains 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:27.720 in em Reville. It was me a men Charisma starting 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:31.680 six Young Murf, Bobby Brackens, and I am suit right 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:35.400 p LO two, and we were starting this thing called 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:37.880 Young California and it was gonna be like a label 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:41.520 where we all collabed and did music and everything. And 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:44.600 what happened was about a few weeks to maybe a 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:49.440 month later, Beat the Pussy Up just shot the fuck 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:52.920 out the fucking world. It just just went out the 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:55.920 fucking world. And that brought a lot of exposure to 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:58.280 the Bay. It brought a lot of publicity, a lot 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:00.440 of publicists started coming out, a lot of these big 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:04.200 brands started coming out, and HBK was at the forefront 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:07.760 of that because they had the they had that was 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:09.680 really a sue record too, by the way, it was 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:13.480 a Sue record that Due didn't want to be. He 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:16.120 didn't want the record. Sue was like a real lyrical 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:18.040 rapper at the time. He was tripping, by the way, 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:21.320 like he was a Sue was rapping on Ship like 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:25.680 Jay Electronica Exhibit C and shit like that, right, So 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:27.640 he didn't want it to be looked at like he 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:30.360 was trying to make like a yeah, like a sellout record, 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:32.960 So he let Rance take the record. And Rance was 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:35.880 a party promoter. So Rance is going to all the 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:38.760 parties every fucking night, grabbing the mic, playing this ship 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:41.200 over and over and over and over, and it just 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:43.840 shoots the fuck up, right, So it brings a lot 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:46.120 of attention to the back. Now you got fifty cent 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:48.440 getting on the record, t I and g Z and 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:51.240 Pleasure P and Chris Brown. Shout out to Jay Valentine 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:54.000 who put that together, that that Jay Valentine remix, the 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:56.560 one I play, Yeah Yeah, that's my dog shout out 0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:58.920 Big Broke. So a lot of that had happened, and 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:01.360 a lot of the artists under that kind of got 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:03.680 lost in the sauce because we just didn't have what 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:06.560 HBK had going on, and it was their Tom DeShawn, 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:12.280 so HBK took off and I kind of started noticing 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:15.000 like they was getting bigger than the Bay, right, And 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:18.080 then you started seeing like G come out, Geezy comes 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:21.080 and then he's taking everybody on tour, you know what 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:24.320 I mean. He's bringing Sue, He's bringing j in, He's 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:27.240 bringing Nef to Farrell. So now we're starting to get recognition. 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:31.280 But it was certain artists who was getting those looks. 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:33.680 That wasn't the people I just named, But they were 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:36.920 hitting the ceiling. And I always noticed they would hit 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:40.600 this ceiling there, get a record, They go to Petalumadu shows, 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:44.280 get a couple of Thiszler posts, do a couple summer gems, 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:46.760 and it was over. It was never nothing after that. 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:50.160 But Sue and G and everybody they shit was still going. 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:52.560 And I noticed it was going because they wasn't just 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:55.120 staying in the bay, you know what I mean. They 0:16:55.160 --> 0:17:00.760 started moving around and doing different things. So at the time, 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:04.040 I was like, you know, doing little bass shit, you know, 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:06.480 we all do scams and little things that he was 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:09.040 doing to get money. Saved up enough money and I 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:12.199 moved to LA and the minute I moved here, I 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:14.880 realized for the type of music I wanted to make. 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:19.480 I wasn't good enough. So I met Phonics who had 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:22.320 me around like while he's making no role models for 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:26.080 j Cole, I'm going to sessions with hit Maker while 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:30.000 he's writing Ray Shrimmer hits and just like all these 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:32.480 big ass songs, and I'm like, oh shit, all I 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:35.560 can do is rap. I can't write a hook. I 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:37.840 don't know how to structure a song. But if you 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:41.160 put on the instrumental, I'm a flame thisss motherfucker right. 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:45.680 And it wasn't until I met somebody around almost around 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:48.840 the time when I met you, the homie d Brooks, 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:51.879 who is from Chicago does a lot of work with 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:55.280 like Dirk and Herbo and everybody, and he kind of 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:59.280 was the first person to put it in perspective for me, Like, bro, 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:02.920 a lot of your raps its hooks. You could take 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:04.520 this part and make it the hook, you know what 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:06.400 I mean. You can move this over here, you could 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:09.200 do this. And I started learning how to structure ship. 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:12.040 But then the problem I start having was I would 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:15.439 hear something and try to duplicate it. So one day 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:17.760 I'll be a rapper and the next day I'll hear 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:19.639 some future ship going up, and I'm like, this is 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:23.480 they won't. I think that's what a lot of people 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:28.159 get sucked into. Many are they? I mean that s 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:30.280 dope that you admit that, because a lot of artists 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:33.399 get wrapped up in that. It's easy to super easy, 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:35.760 especially if you consume music as a fan. You're like 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:41.399 you waking up every fucking Thursday night at nine p m. 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:43.960 Or in the morning, and you're looking at the new 0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:47.560 fucking music that drops, right, it's very hard not to 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:50.240 be influenced by it. And you see this ship. You 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:53.160 see it like, Okay, this is what the fuck works? Well, ship, 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:54.800 let me try. Let me do this, you know what 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:56.760 I mean. And you try it and it don't work. 0:18:57.200 --> 0:19:00.080 It's not organic. It's not organic, right. So what I 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:04.400 realized by doing that I wasn't developing an identity for myself. 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:07.359 So I had to sit back, bro, and I really 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:09.200 had to think, like, what is it I want to do. 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:11.320 It's around the time I had met you in head, 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:13.080 when y'all had brought me up there, And that goes 0:19:13.080 --> 0:19:17.560 to show how real y'all is. As DJ's right, and 0:19:17.600 --> 0:19:21.080 not even just DJ's just culture curators to bring somebody 0:19:21.119 --> 0:19:24.200 who's trying to figure it out up there with no record, 0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:26.800 no nothing. It's just like, shit, the kid can rap. 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:28.320 Let him come up here, you know what I mean. 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:31.880 So I appreciate that. But around that time I start 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:35.120 figuring out, like, what I really do great is rap? Right? 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:38.200 And I met my homie cast that you met, my producer. 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:42.360 He went out to eat and he had two videos 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:44.360 up and me, I had this song out one time 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:47.280 where I was singing and another song where I was rapping. 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:49.359 And he put them on two phones and he asked 0:19:49.400 --> 0:19:52.080 me which one are you right? And I said I'm 0:19:52.080 --> 0:19:54.920 the rapper and he was like, then why are you singing? 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:57.320 I'm like, well, this what people told me. This what 0:19:57.400 --> 0:19:59.679 they like to hear. And he looked at me and 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:03.240 he said it, man, don't ever run from rap. Don't 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:05.160 ever run from rap. You too good of a rapper 0:20:05.200 --> 0:20:09.879 to run from rap. And ever since that day, running 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:12.320 from rap to me started meaning this's the first time 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:16.160 I ever said this publicly, is don't run from responsibilities 0:20:16.200 --> 0:20:19.959 and principles. Right. I had a responsibility as a rapper, 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:22.800 you know what I mean, to be dope and to 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:25.600 be great at that. That's the gift I was given, 0:20:25.920 --> 0:20:29.560 but I'm running away from it to try to chase 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:33.080 what other people's things is. So I'm basing my values 0:20:33.119 --> 0:20:36.080 and my expectations based off of other people. It's getting 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:38.399 rather than just living in my own truth of what 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:41.040 I am. And a minute I start doing that, bro, 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:44.640