WEBVTT - Mario 0:00:01.960 --> 0:00:05.000 R and B Money. 0:00:05.559 --> 0:00:06.080 We are. 0:00:07.680 --> 0:00:14.800 Thanks take Valanchi. We are the authority on all things 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:19.520 R and B. Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Tank 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:22.919 Valentine and this is the Ry Money Podcast. 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:28.600 Tell her what come you go here? Okay, you started off. 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:35.400 All things R and B. Voco, I'm sitting this ship. 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:36.320 Are you being vocal? 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:40.159 Are you big? There's a difference between an R and 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:44.000 B artists When a R and B singer. 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:46.160 Off camera, I want to say, there's a difference between 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:47.559 a hit and a classic. 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:50.199 Come on, it's starting. 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:53.559 I'm just saying I'm not gonna say too much else here, 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:55.360 Ladies and gentlemen, Mario, that's it. 0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:01.440 That's it. Yeah, before we start, I noticed your thing. 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:05.360 Before we start, I just want to say congratulations man. 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:07.040 To R and B you understand. 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:11.200 And and to y'all, I don't have no drink drinkers. 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:12.760 I got it just in case I wanted to ship 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:16.560 on something. But you know what we've done coming from 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:18.480 the DMV, you got d m V, you got the 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:20.480 Bay Area in here, like what we've done, what we've 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:23.560 sustained you know for this, for for R and B 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:26.800 and the game is it's not an easy feat for sure. 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:28.000 You know what I'm saying. And I want to say 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:31.040 congratulations you, thank you for open doors that you've opened. 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:33.040 You know what I'm saying, my Bay Area brother, and 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:35.400 let's let's do this man, R R and B money, 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:36.680 RMB money. 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:39.160 Today for R and B money. 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:42.080 Yeah, yeah, I mean, thank you for having me. 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:45.400 He walked in looking like R and B money money. 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:46.520 I appreciate you, man. 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:51.200 I know we talked. We talked in we talked in Atlanta. Yeah, 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:54.040 and you know, and I said something to you that 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:56.760 you know, even you were able like you were able 0:01:56.800 --> 0:01:58.880 to really expound on and articulating and we're gonna go 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:01.680 back to the beginning and all that. But yeah, I said, bro, 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:05.600 you're having You're having a hell of a moment right now. 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:11.000 And it actually has nothing to do with music. It 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:13.600 has everything just to do with him with you. 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:15.200 Thank you, man, thank you. 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:17.680 You know what I'm saying, Like your your essence and 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:21.040 your movements and just nigga, you just standing there smiling 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:23.840 whatever it is, putting your trip on there. It's it's 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:27.200 a thing to be talked about and appreciate it. And 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:31.320 that goes to or goes back to all of those 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:34.639 things that we were taught early. Yes, aren't really necessarily 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:39.520 talk anymore. Like the presence of an artist should be 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:44.880 something that means walk in the room. Yeah, they have 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:47.560 to know you and that motherfucker before you say a word. 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:51.919 Absolutely, And that's I think that it's something that needs 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:55.000 to be protected and taught. And some of you you 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:59.600 can't teach, right, But just the awareness of it, of 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:02.840 what you're saying is so important because when you start 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:08.480 so young in the game, sometimes situations the process will 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:12.280 make you forget who you are, not as a talent, 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:16.200 but as a God given talent. You know what I'm saying, 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:18.959 what God gave you, the light that God gave you, right, 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:21.760 because I do believe that most of us that are 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:25.840 in this game are chosen, you know, and we have 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:29.560 a gift that connects, span and touch millions of people 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:32.360 just what our voice is, just with our presence, and 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:35.080 so we got to remember that always like that comes first, right, 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:39.000 and protect that because the game is ruthless. It's a 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:42.080 lot of sharks, and you kind of have to be 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:43.800 a shark and this ship to a certain degree. Right, 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:44.760 Can I curse on this show? 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:45.200 Please? 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:51.560 I'm not I tend to do that. Times, but it's 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:51.960 a passion. 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:54.600 I just feel like I think that I've just come 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:56.840 to a place now where I've accepted certain things and 0:03:56.880 --> 0:04:00.720 I don't let I don't let my past. I don't 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:04.360 carry it as heavy as I used to, both my 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:06.920 personal past and also my past that people know of 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:08.800 in the business, whether it be the ups and downs 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:12.160 of success and quote unquote failures. I don't carry it. 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:15.200 I just I just appreciate where Matt and just the 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:20.280 the gift that God gave me of understanding the awareness 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:23.479 of the energy that I am outside of just music 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:26.200 goes back to what you're saying, and I protect that 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:27.360 as much as I possibly can. 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:28.200 And that's what I think. 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:30.280 I think we see and I got you know, Adupe 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:32.799 team and people I work with that are like brothers 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:36.560 to me, and we just you know, we we was 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:38.479 in it. We like it's like we gotta get it. 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:40.720 You know what I'm saying, It's got to happen, and 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:43.039 I know this is a time, it's time. You know. 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:46.640 Wow, since you said you know so you started so 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:48.159 young for real? 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:52.000 Yeah, Yeah, let's. 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:54.880 Go back to when when Mario was on the playground 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:59.360 man and and one of them kids was like, man, 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:03.720 this is Mario be singing like a mother, y'all. 0:05:03.720 --> 0:05:04.719 Do you know it's crazy? 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:06.760 This nigga can wow? 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:10.840 You said the playground. It started with my mom. Man, 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:15.039 it started with my mother four years old. My mother 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:22.200 was an outstanding listener and collector of great music. Right, 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:24.640 that's where it R and B hip hop. So my 0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:29.880 grandmother was church. My great grandmother was church. So she 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:32.040 did listen to the Marvin Gays and then that King 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:33.000 Coles and all of the. 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:33.720 Great James Brown. 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:33.960 Right. 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:36.799 But my mother is the one that noticed my gift 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:39.520 first and was like, at four years old, she got 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:41.440 me a mic that tuned into the radio, right, remember 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:44.159 those they had, the little cordless mic they turned into. 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:47.719 So one day she was in the best sleep and 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:49.520 I'm in the living room with Mitch Max sos On 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:52.239 and some you know, some dirty diapers, pamp. 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:54.240 Whatever I had on at that time, and. 0:05:55.839 --> 0:06:10.320 Dirty draws, dirty draws. Because so I'm in the living 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:13.520 room and I was singing to a song on the radio, 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:15.640 and not that I was singing all the words, but 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:19.000 she noticed that I could hold a melody. That she 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:21.440 knows that I was hitting them on key, and I mean, 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:24.039 this is the story that she tells me, and I 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:27.720 can't quite remember that moment, but I do remember the mic. 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:30.880 I remember the mic for whatever reason. And she said 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:33.719 from that point on, she's like she was going to 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:36.559 keep music around me in whichever way that she could 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:39.359 rather be playing music. She played the piano as well, 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:42.560 And so I think that was the beginning of creating 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:47.279 the passion and the awareness of who I am today 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:50.200 for myself because she put that in me early. She 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:52.280 put it around me, and I didn't know it was 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:53.839 a gift. I just love to do it. I didn't 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:57.640 know it was a gift to lie. In elementary school, 0:06:57.640 --> 0:06:59.840 did a talent show, which I have another story for that, 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.280 seeing kids that hated me, like being a fan. 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:04.880 You know what I'm saying, Like as a kid, you 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:07.080 don't really know you have a gift. You just know it, 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:09.360 you love to do it. They could even help themselves. 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:10.760 They couldn't help themselves. 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:12.480 Right, And then my grandmother's in the audience. That was 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:15.440 my superhero. So like I don only sing in church 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:18.960 for her, so to be singing boys to Men song 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:21.880 in front of my grandmother was it was That was 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:23.480 the moment where I realized it. But Before that, it 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:23.960 was my mom. 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:24.160 Man. 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:26.720 She she really gave me the confidence. 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:26.960 You know. 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:28.720 We went to barbershops. She used to cut my hair 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:30.480 up until the age of like seven or eight. And 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:33.320 the first barber shop I went to, she made me 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:35.320 sing for everybody in the barbershop. I don't want to 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:37.200 sing because I was used to singing at home. I'm like, 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:41.200 I don't want to do it, sing sing, sing this 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:42.080 song right now. 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:51.160 From and so danceing right God, and so all of 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:53.239 the guys gave me ten dollars a piece. 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:55.120 I mean, my first hundred come. 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:00.280 We need, we need the barbershop. 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:02.360 I made my first one hundred dollars in the barbershop. 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:04.800 And I looked at my mom when we left. I said, Mom, 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:07.320 I can make money doing this. She's like, yeah, you can. 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:10.000 She's like, just don't be ever afraid to sing. Never 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:12.360 be afraid to sing. And so, you know, I took 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:15.040 that with me, and it's the reason why I got signed, 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:17.679 you know what I mean. But yeah, the first talent 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:22.880 show I ever did was in elementary school. Right. So, 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:25.600 when we moved out of Emison Village and we moved 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:30.120 to Pikesville in Baltimore from West Baltimore to the County. 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:42.920 Twenty houses down the street from me lived Monique Monique Medium, Yes, Monique, Monique, Monique, 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:50.319 my babies, her son, little Mark, me and two other 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:52.400 young men. I can't remember their names. I can't remember 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:55.560 who it was. She put us in a group. We 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:59.200 rehearsed in her backyard. It's my first time being broken. 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:02.840 I'm not lying to man. Wow, true story, true story. 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:06.480 We rehearsed in her backyard. She put a group together. 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:11.600 We went to the Taylor, we got suits. Yeah, all right, 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:14.880 our elementary school talent show. Elementary school was right across 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:17.600 the street, by the way, a block and a half 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:21.679 away from where we both lived, and we did this 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:24.719 talent show and it was it was incredible. It was 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:27.240 it was like we could have been a group, we 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:32.160 could have been young like you know. But yeah, man, 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:34.520 all of these things. You know, she was a big 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:36.240 part of that for me. And I never told her 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:37.960 that before. I never told you, Mo, Nique, thank you, 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:41.200 thank you for you know what I mean, making us 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:44.559 rehearse for hours, you know what I'm saying, and showing 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:47.520 us why it's going to take, what's going to take 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:49.360 to get to be great, you know, what I'm saying 0:09:49.440 --> 0:09:52.560 at a young age. So the group, no, I don't, 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:53.040 I don't. 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:55.800 Maybe she does. I gotta. I got to hear what 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:56.680 the name of these groups. 0:09:56.760 --> 0:09:58.520 It was so long ago I was I was an elementary. 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:02.960 Like the fact that, yeah, that they were putting on suits. 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:07.000 Yeah we had on we have, but not the suits, 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:16.280 not thee with the with the with the Bruce Lee Collo, yeah, Catholic, Yeah. 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:19.560 The four man group, four man the man. Yeah, yeah, 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:23.720 I know, y'all didn't lose. It wasn't. It was impossible. 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:26.120 Honestly, I don't even remember who was going against because 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:29.120 we killed. It's so crazy, like we had the aunties 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:30.040 and a grandma and the kid. 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:32.000 Everybody was going crazy. Now it's gonna be a nigg 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:34.320 in the comments like, yeah, he don't remember it. You know, 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:37.640 we was, we was on them. We almost. That was 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:38.000 the first. 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:40.320 Honestly, that was the That was the first talent show 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:43.440 I did in Baltimore. But it wasn't the least. The 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:45.240 next one that was like eleven years old, and it 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:47.560 was this guy by the name of Anthony Jeter, and 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:49.760 he would do these talent shows at copp And State 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:53.680 College in Baltimore. And everybody would come. So the one 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:57.040 that I did, DREI came and it was like. 0:10:57.920 --> 0:11:02.160 Tell me what you want that Drew Hill're the guy, right, 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:05.000 oh guy, what you need? 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:05.480 Yeah? 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:08.760 It was it was then, And you know I was nervous. 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:11.839 I was I Actually I wasn't. I wasn't trying to 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:13.640 do it. My mother made me do it. Remember, we 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:17.240 went to the rehearsal for it, and we inside of 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:19.840 this hall. It's a long hallway to lead to Anthony 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:24.359 Jitter's uh you know, audition room. But you can hear everything. 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:27.439 So I'm the youngest, like one of the youngest people in. 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:31.440 I'm hearing people singing. I'm hearing like older guys, older women's. 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:33.840 I'm like, my this is why are we here? Why 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:35.600 are you doing this to me? She knew what she 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:38.400 was doing, right. I had no idea why I needed 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:42.679 to do this talent show. So the line is getting 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:45.360 small and small, were like fifty people in. The line 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:47.240 is getting the smallest. We were there for like two hours. 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:49.080 The line is getting smaller. As we finally get to 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:52.200 the door and I sing famthter. Not only did he 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:55.480 exchange it for with my mom, but he was just like, yo, 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:58.960 this kid is special. He's got it. He's in like 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:02.880 one hundred. So we get to the talent show and 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:05.040 I remember that day she she cut my hair. I 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:06.560 didn't even go to a barber shop today. She cut 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:08.320 my hair. She got me this. 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:11.200 Before you keep going, how did your mom do? Cutting 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:11.560 your hair? 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:12.360 Amazing? 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:13.200 I can show you. 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:14.440 I'm gonna sow your picture before my. 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:19.319 Bars bars because I used to cut my kids hair. 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:23.240 Yeah, it's important. That's a that's a great. 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:26.800 I did alright during the pandemic. He didn't know. He 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:29.240 didn't know I was cutting something like this. 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:31.040 He was like, what about my hairline? Dad, don't worry 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:31.400 about that. 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:34.640 He didn't know, He had no idea. 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:37.120 My son was already a teenager. He like, yeah, yeah, Dad, 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:40.520 Next time, I got you. 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:41.680 I got you. I got you. 0:12:41.880 --> 0:12:42.680 Can't we just go to the. 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:44.840 God. 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:48.240 It wasn't even pandemic for me, right, it was pandemic 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:53.040 trying coming on. I got you, I see I cut hair, 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:53.400 I got you. 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:54.120 Got. 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:55.880 I feel like when you're I don't know, I don't 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:57.200 have kids, but I feel like when you're a parent, 0:12:57.360 --> 0:12:59.200 like you, you. 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:00.640 Your kids make you feel like superhero can do anything. 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:07.080 From what I see like, up is mine, it's mine anyway. 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:09.760 So she cut your hair? 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:12.080 Yeah, she cut my hair. She took me to we 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:12.520 went to this. 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:15.840 We went to a jeweler. She brought me like my 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:16.880 first silver. 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:18.480 Yeah. 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:22.040 And I remember I had a turtleneck with a gene 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:23.920 all denim jean outfit. 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:36.160 Shout and the jeans. 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:40.400 Nigga watched don't watch stone wash got all. 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:42.200 Right, so you got to fit, you got you got 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:43.760 your ice on on. 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:45.000 I felt like a start. 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:47.280 Yeah, you know, I think she knew what she was doing. 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:50.760 She knew what she was doing. And we get there, 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:53.160 you know, because I think she knew, she knew I was. 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:56.520 I was nervous about the whole experience, and I think 0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:58.240 she knew what I was going to face once I 0:13:58.280 --> 0:13:58.720 got there. 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:00.720 We get there, we go. 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:03.280 You know, in the waiting room or whatever. I was like, ma, 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:06.240 I want to go out in the audience. She's like 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:08.040 you sure. I'm like, yeah, I want to see what 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:09.880 everybody's doing. She's like you sure you want to do 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:12.400 I'm like yeah. So I got in the audience and 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:14.680 I just watch. I'm paying attention to what people aren't doing, 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:19.800 what they are doing at eleven Yeah, wow, And I'm like, okay, 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:21.240 all right, I see how I am ready to go 0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:21.680 back now. 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:24.680 So we go backstage. They introduced me. I go out 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:25.320 and what. 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:31.840 Did I sing? What did I sing? I sung? I 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:34.640 think I sung on Ben the niece by Boys to 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:37.840 Man killed it one thousand percent killed it. 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:41.280 Go back to get the you. 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:45.760 Know the like the when they announced the winner. So 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:49.080 his niece was in the show. So he his niece was. 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:50.600 She was like, she was a young girl and it 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:54.560 was amazing. Other artists like older people doing it was crazy, 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:55.560 but his niece were on the show. 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:57.920 I was mad. I was pissed. I was mad. I've 0:14:57.920 --> 0:14:58.440 got on the back. 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:01.440 I'm screaming, like crying. I'm mad mad I was you know, 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:04.480 I didn't even know I was that competitive, So I'm crying. 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:08.680 I turned around. Somebody tapped my should like, yo, it's 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:10.680 all good. I was all good at Little Homie It's 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:14.920 all good. And it's jazz from Drew Hill. Wow, Cisco 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:17.600 walk up. Then all the other guys walk up. I'm 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:20.280 just at this point, I'm like, yo, this is crazy. 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:23.400 So yeah, that whole experience they had. Turning to my 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:27.480 mother meeting Troy Patterson, who was Third Street and my 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:30.360 first production signed to That's my manager at the time. 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:32.640 He was there, and so he just kept in touch 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:35.240 with my mom for a few years. And then you know, 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:37.960 Brotom was start getting crazy. My grandmother passed away. I 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:39.840 started getting into things IIN's supposed to get into. She 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:42.320 called Troy, like, yo, I need to get Mario out 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:43.840 of the city. You know what I'm saying. It was 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:46.480 just it was just this dark cloud that was starting 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:48.960 to surround me at this time. And my mom was 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:51.040 going through her own issues at the time, and she 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:53.320 wasn't always around, didn't grow up with my dad. So 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:55.680 it was just like bouncing the family and family house, sometimes, 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:57.520 not going to school. Sometimes I don't even come home, 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:02.040 just being outside right, And you know, that transition changed 0:16:02.080 --> 0:16:05.120 my life forever. I moved. I was supposed to go 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:08.000 up for a weekend. She called him, she said, go 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:11.640 to Jersey Jersey. She's like, I need my son to 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:14.280 get out of Baltimore. You know, Can he just come 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:15.560 up there for a week and just to get away 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:17.480 for a minute while I get myself together. He's like, yeah, yes, 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:19.720 and what I go home? I go there and I 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:23.600 never came back to Bottomore until I shot my first video, 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:24.480 which was just a friend. 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:26.920 How old are you at this point when you go. 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:28.960 I'm just I'm thirteen. 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:30.120 I'm about to turn fourteen. 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:34.440 No, it is, yeah, I'm about to turn fourteen years old. 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:37.600 But before this, I'm like moving from house to house. 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:39.240 You know. 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:43.360 There were times where my mom was dating this guy 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:46.240 at the time and we didn't get along. There were 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:48.440 times where I just never came home, you know what 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:50.000 I'm saying, And I was just stay at a friend's 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:53.720 crib or like just just be outside. And at the time, 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:56.600 in my mind, I'm like, I just got to do 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:58.720 what I gotta do. You know, my grandmother was gone, 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:01.160 you know, she died when I was twelve and nineteen 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:05.399 ninety nine, December second, she passed away, and that was 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:07.639 like my safe haven. She was the person that if 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:10.800 something that made sense. Long long as I was with her, 0:17:10.840 --> 0:17:13.760 it made sense, life made sense. And when she was gone, 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:14.800 it was just me and God. 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:15.040 You know. 0:17:15.080 --> 0:17:16.840 On her deathbed, she told me, she slipped. 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:21.200 Look, what you have is a gift, and your gift 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:24.880 will take you wherever you you know, wherever God wants 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:25.240 you to be. 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:28.080 She like, just never stop believing in yourself and I'm 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:30.000 always with you. That's what she told me on her deathband. 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:31.280 And I got a tap with my back that says 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:34.399 sole truth that's dedicated to her because it's something that 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:37.359 I live and walk every day. So a lot of 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:39.320 who I am today is because of my grandmother and 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:42.040 of course my mother, but from a spiritual place, is 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:42.920 my grandmother for sure. 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:48.040 Yeah, so you moved to Jersey, Yeah, and do you 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:52.880 go straight into I don't know what will be considered 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:54.199 a boot campus now. 0:17:56.440 --> 0:17:59.199 It just like this kid, it was life. It was 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:02.720 more so life. So he took you in on some Yeah. 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:06.960 Yeah, it was very much so guardians than act. 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:09.159 I'm about to just make him a singer. It was like, no, 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:12.520 I gotta raise him fifty to fifty because. 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:15.359 Like a week or two, maybe a month after I 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:18.080 moved up, then he he brought up another kid actually 0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:19.719 from Baltimore. He was trying to make a group out 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:22.399 of us, and then that didn't work out and I 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:26.280 ended up staying. You know, I think in his mind, 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:28.479 obviously he saw talent because he's been around it all 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:30.720 these years, all the years, but he also saw someone 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:33.399 that he's like, yo, I'm not gonna let this young 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:35.640 kid fail in life, you know what I'm saying, So 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:38.560 I do. I learned a lot about discipline through through him. 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:41.639 He was a very disciplined person, you know. And so 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:45.359 that whole chap, that whole era of my life was 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:50.200 about discipline and about being very uncomfortable for a great cause, 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:51.320 you know what I'm saying. 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:54.640 And it taught me just every God is amazing. 0:18:57.280 --> 0:19:02.200 God is amazing because when your purpose is strong enough, 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:06.200 everything that you go through, even the things that don't 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:11.080 make sense, is preparing you for your future, is preparing 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:15.639 you to have the strength to push through in moments 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:19.280 where you know a regular person or someone else may 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:21.199 give up or you want to give up. Right, So 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:24.720