WEBVTT - REPLAY - CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD - Cheese Toast & Tea 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.280 Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke. 0:00:03.320 --> 0:00:05.640 I'm your host, Colleen Witt, and today we have very 0:00:05.680 --> 0:00:08.479 special guests Charlemagne the God in the building. 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:18.680 Y'ao, Queen wit, what's happening? 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:35.720 What's going on? How do you feel? 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:39.560 Charlemagne the God also known as hip Hop's Howard Starn really, 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:42.800 best selling author of books Black Privilege, Shook One, and 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:46.840 most recently, Get Honest or Die Lion Why Small Talk Sucks. 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:50.440 In addition to all these accolades, you have invested close 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:53.360 to thirty years in the radio broadcasting industry. You're the 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:55.560 founder of the Black Effect podcast network. 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:57.040 Where you can listen to Eating While Broke, where you. 0:00:57.040 --> 0:01:00.520 Can which you yourself is literally the only reason why 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:02.760 we were able to do this interview. In addition to 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:05.520 all that, you are the creative of Black Privilege Publishing. 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:07.920 I read this quote. I was hanging out in my 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:10.120 dad's apartment. He had this quote on the wall and 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:12.640 I took it. And the whole irony in this quote 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:14.800 is that he actually took it from me. But I 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:17.520 read this quote and I thought of you. Excellence is 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:21.000 never an accident. It is always a result of high intention, 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:26.200 sincere effort, intelligent direction, skillful execution, and the vision to 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:30.679 see obstacles as opportunities. Now I thought of you because 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:34.319 just reading all your books, I was like, personally and professionally, 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:37.959 it seems like that has been your journey. Absolutely, absolutely, 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:41.760 So I gotta ask, what is the broke dish that 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:44.200 you would have had us eating in my studio? 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:50.120 If I really don't know. I was racking my brain 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:52.720 when they kept telling me, and I watched the show 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:54.560 and I'm like, they kept you know, you got to 0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:56.640 have a broke dish, and I'm like, I didn't really 0:01:56.720 --> 0:01:58.680 have a broke dish coming up. And the reason I 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:02.200 say that is because even though we were poor, I 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:05.680 didn't realize we were poor until I got older, because 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:07.560 you know, I grew up in Monks Corner, South Carolina, 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:09.120 and you know, when you grow up in a ruined 0:02:09.240 --> 0:02:13.040 area like that, like everybody is pretty much doing the same, Like, 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:15.520 you know, you might have a couple of individuals who 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:17.800 got a house that's better than yours, but for the 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:20.440 most part, people were growing up in double wide trailers 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:22.960 and we're growing up in you know, like small subvern 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:24.960 homes like my grandma used to have. But the one 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:31.320 thing that we always had was food in funny food, 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:32.160 funny and family. 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:33.280 Literally you know. 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:36.080 So it's like the things that people would call broke 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:37.880 meals or the things that I still love now. 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:39.760 Like I love grits and eggs. 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:42.919 You give me some scrambled eggs with some grits and butter, 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:45.840 I'm good. Like my grandma used to make this. She 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:48.959 used to make cheese toasts. So she would just take 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:51.120 the toast. My mouth started water and thinking about it. 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:53.040 She would just take the toast and like you know, 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:54.840 put the butter on the center and then put a 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:57.600 slice of cheese and literally warm that up. 0:02:57.840 --> 0:02:59.600 And I would drink that with a cup of tea. 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:01.960 And now that I think about it, I'm like, oh, 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:04.560 that was like the meals that they were giving us 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:06.840 because that's what they could afford to give us, like 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:09.640 even you know, but it was amazing that it still 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:11.959 tasted good. Like it don't make me feel like something. 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:16.600 It's something that I still enjoy now. Yeah, you know, 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:19.120 so to me, that's not It might be a broke dish, 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:19.920 but I still love it. 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:22.720 I love hearing guests say that they were broke but 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:25.080 they didn't realize they were broke. But in those types 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:28.120 of cities, what I did notice is that, yeah, everyone 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:31.320 looked the same. But what differentiated kids from knowing whether 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:33.799 they were broke was at least I don't know, we're 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:36.200 close in age, but it was the like kicks, like 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:39.160 were you going to school with the cool kicks or something? 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:40.440 So or nah? 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:43.000 I had none of those. My dad. I remember, I 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:46.160 wanted they used to be these boots called high tech boots, 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:50.200 and my dad they saw the bootleg version that paid us, 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:52.119 and I wanted them so bad that I'm like, y'all 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:53.960 get the bootleg version that pay less. 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:55.480 And they didn't. The kids didn't noticing me. 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:57.760 Well, no, I woke up one morning and my dad 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:01.240 had the high tech sitting by my bed. I was like, oh, shoot, 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:02.800 you know what I mean? So I actually had the 0:04:02.880 --> 0:04:06.400 real you know, all black high texts, you know, So 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:08.400 I didn't have like the Jordans and all of that 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:08.920 stuff like that. 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:10.680 I don't I don't even what kind of sneakers did 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:11.320 I have back then. 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:14.560 But I'm saying in that environment, that wasn't the thing 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:17.320 that differentiated a poor kid from it because in those environments, 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:21.240 everyone's technically in the same economic structure. But I remember 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:24.000 growing up in upstate New York where even though we 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:28.160 were all kind of in the same category, there were 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:30.520 some kids that would go to school wearing Jordan's or Nikes, 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:32.159 and then they would look at the kids and say, 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:34.120 we're payless and be like, okay, you're poor. And that's 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:35.719 how as a child you knew you were poor. 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:37.400 But the people who had the Jordans and stuff when 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:39.039 I was growing up with the drug dealers for the 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:41.480 most part, you know, I mean, either the drug dealers 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:46.719 are like the football players because you know, people in 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:48.560 their minds like all these people are going places, so 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:50.640 you know, let me throw them some shoes or something 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:52.920 like that. But for the most part, the drug dealers 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:56.240 had to fly kicks that I remember, you know, growing up. 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:58.400 I don't even remember what I didn't. I'm trying to 0:04:58.440 --> 0:04:59.880 sit in and try, like what did that wear back then? 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:02.799 Sneak awise, I had some converse because you know, Snoop 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:04.680 Dogg came out in like ninety two ninety three, so 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:09.000 we had the converse all stars. You know, That's all 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:09.880 I can really think of. 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:12.040 So take me back to the cheese toast, which, by 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:13.760 the way, I did have On the show, someone had 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:18.040 did it with sugar and that was impressed. 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:20.440 Mine was straight cheese toast to butter with a slice 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:23.200 of cheese, cup of tea. That's what my grandmother would 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:25.320 give us. And I can even still right now think 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:30.320 about that, that feeling of having that, like it was 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:34.279 just an amazing meal. I can't remember that. That wasn't 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:35.720 even breakfast. That might have just been like, yo, you 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:37.599 just got home from school. You might get some cheese 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:40.880 toast with a cup of tea, you know, definitely, like 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:42.440 I said, gritch and eggs for breakfast. 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:45.760 And you keep referencing your grandma's house. Is there a 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:48.160 reason because did you stay with her? 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:52.800 No? Well, when I was young, my mother, my mother 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:54.800 was a school teacher, you know, and my grandmother was 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:57.960 a lunch lady. Right, so you know, I grew up 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:00.359 in the air when you was in fifth grade, you know, 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:02.360 you get, I get I could get dropped off a 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:05.240 my grandma house and wait there till the adults come. 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:07.000 And you know, I would never dare do that with 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:09.919 my kids now, but you know, just back then, life 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:12.159 was different. So I would literally wait till my mom 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:14.479 came home from school. So I spent so much time, 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:17.360 you know, at my grandmother's house, Like, so, yeah, I 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:18.080 spent a lot. 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:21.160 Of time over there, okay, And then take me through 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:25.200 to at least fast forward to like your first walk 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:30.560 of I want to get into entertainment or in that direction. 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:34.719 My grandmother's house, sitting outside while they were waiting waiting 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:37.840 for my mom and my grandma to get home. And like, 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:40.520 when I was young, it used to seem like it 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:43.280 was this huge field between my grandmother's house and my 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:46.120 cousin Gloria's house. But the field really isn't that big now, 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:47.720 But when I was younger, I used to feel like 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:49.880 it was really big, and I would just be out 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:52.280 there acting like I was performing, Like I literally would 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:54.800 be facing the field, acting like that field was full 0:06:54.839 --> 0:06:57.800 of full of people, and I would be either be 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:00.000 acting like I was, you know, at a certain point 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:02.760 doing rock and roll. At certain points, I was just 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:05.919 giving like speeches, and then like you know, as I 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:07.640 started to getting hip hop, I started to act like I 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:10.640 was rapping to a crowd. So that was my first Uh, 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:13.640 I guess that's when the bug kind of hit me, 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:16.640 Like y'all want to entertain in some way shape or form. 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:18.760 Did you see or hear it somewhere and then it 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:22.560 like touched you? Was it like maybe per Like I 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:24.000 remember when I was a kid, I would see Michael 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:26.000 Jackson performing. People pass out and I'll be like, oh 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:28.760 my god, like that's incredible. Was there something like that 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:30.760 that touched you to get you out into that field? 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:33.680 Nah? I just think that. You know, my dad used 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:36.080 to play music a lot, and you know, there was 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:38.800 always albums lying around, so you would just see those 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:41.200 people and they used to look they used to look cool, 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:44.920 you know. I used to I'm a big cartoon guy 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:46.200 to this day. So I used to like watch a 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:48.120 lot of ThunderCats and. 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:50.520 Oh my god, the Thundercat. 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:51.800 Thundercast, and it was there was a spin off of 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:54.960 the ThunderCats. I think it was the silver Fish or 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:57.000 something like that. Maybe I'm bugging, but I remember, or 0:07:57.000 --> 0:07:58.679 maybe it was or maybe it was something with birds, 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:00.240 you know, the cats. The ThunderCats were cats, but then 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:01.800 it was there was a spin off show that was 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:03.640 either Birds of Fish. I don't remember which one it was, 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:07.000 but I remember like I would have this imagination that 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:11.120 I was you know, it's gonna sound crazy, but I 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:13.960 was an animal like figure, and I had a band 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:18.480 behind me that was all those animal humanoids and we 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:20.280 were like this group. And I don't know why I 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:22.360 would go out in the yard and perform as this 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:23.880 group all the time. 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:26.040 So imagination at its best, that's. 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:29.120 That's all it was. So it's like, yeah, so then what. 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:32.680 Was that big next big milestone? After you know you're performing, 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:36.280 you kind of have this like love affair with performing. 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:40.080 What was that next big milestone or pivotal moment where 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:42.840 you said maybe I should actually push a button and 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:43.920 take it a step further. 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:48.720 Well, for radio, it started with me getting an internship. 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:50.920 That's why I think internships are so important. And I 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:53.920 got an internship when I was eighteen years old in Charleston, 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:55.760 South Carolina. And the reason I was able to get 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:59.120 that internship is because I always tell people, man, stop acting. 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:01.160 Like you know and just ask questions. 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:04.040 So I've always been a question ask her, right, Like, 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:06.840 if there's something that I'm interested in, something I don't 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:09.400 know nothing about, I just asked questions about it, a 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:11.520 lot of questions, because you know, when you ask a 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:14.240 lot of questions, you know you'll get you'll get answers. 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:17.000 So I just simply asked my man his name was 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:18.840 Willy Will because he used to work as Z ninety 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:21.560 three Jams in Charleston, South Carolina, and we used to 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.319 rap together. Well, let me, I need to take a 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:27.199 step back, right. Rap is what we all thought was 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:29.240 gonna get us out of the hood right when you 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:31.400 was young, because when you looked on television or you 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:33.760 looked in magazines, the people who looked like you, who 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:37.240 were successful Black people were usually in rap are some 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:39.760 form of entertainment, are in athletics. So I always thought 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:41.120 rap was gonna take me out of the hood. I 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:43.480 love to write, always been a writer, so I just 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:46.560 started turning those stories I was writing into into raps. 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:49.000 But I was never good in the booth, so I 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:50.840 would like, go in the booth. I couldn't like catch 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:52.240 the bead stuff like that, you know what I mean? 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:54.200 Like that, I just could never do it. But I 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:56.600 was always good at writing, good at helping people pick songs, 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:58.760 stuff like that. And Willie Will was a guy who 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:02.040 could rap. He could actually he sounded really good, you know, 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:05.040 in the booth. And I just asked him how did 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:07.000 he get in the radio, and he was like, yeah, 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:09.040 I got an internship, and I was like, Yo, it'sdadd easy. 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:10.480 I could just go down there and get an internship. 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:12.079 And he was like, yeah, like I gotta be in 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:13.439 school or nothing, because in my mind, you got to 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:15.800 be in He was like, no, this is nineteen ninety 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:17.600 eight Charles in South Carolina. So that's what I did. 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:20.920 I drove down there and I got an internship and 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:23.160 literally they gave me then internship and that's how I 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:24.640 got into the radio game. 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:27.240 So rap is what made. 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:30.120 Me feel like, Okay, this is gonna get me out 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:34.320 the hood. And then that ultimately led me to radio, 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:36.920 which was what changed my life. And you know, I 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:39.160 had a great mentor named doctor Robert Evans. You know, 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:41.040 I talk about him all the time. You know, in 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:43.320 my first book, I got a chapter called fuck your dreams, 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:46.000 you know, if they're not your dream right, because a 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:47.920 lot of times we see things working for other people 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:49.280 and we say, oh, we want to do that too, 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:51.880 but that's not what God has meant for you. So 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:53.680 doctor Evans told me, he was like, Yo, you suck 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:56.800 as a rapper, but you are an amazing radio personality 0:10:57.000 --> 0:10:59.280 and if you focus on radio, you could be one 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:01.480 of the best that ever did it, And he literally 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:03.560 said that to me, and I took his advice. 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:08.360 So I don't like to jump around, but it's the irony. 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:10.680 And you're saying that that was the advice you got. 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:14.720 But then in Get Honest or Die Lying, you actually 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:18.160 talk about doing the opposite in regards to. 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:19.920 Your daughters astronaut kids. 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:25.360 You still though cherished that that moment of honesty. 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:28.160 Well, astronaut kids. You know, in the new book is 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:30.440 a chapter I did with my man, Elliott Connie, who's 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:33.840 a psychotherapist, and you know, it's about the astronaut kid theory, 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:36.520 Like if your child comes to you and your child says, hey, 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:38.760 I want to be an astronaut. You know, you don't 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:41.360 say all that's impossible, you'll never be an astronaut, blah 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:43.400 blah blah. You tell them, okay, so how we're going 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:45.760 to get it done? You know, you pour into them, 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:48.839 you encourage them. And I also talk about, you know, 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:52.400 in Black Privilege, about how I had a family member 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:55.800 when I was just sitting around talking about all my dreams, 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:58.760 talking about everything I want to accomplish, they told me 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:01.000 not to set my goal. So how because if I 0:12:01.040 --> 0:12:04.080 don't accomplish him, I'm gonna be hurt. And I literally 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:05.920 said to that person, that is the stupidest shit I 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:08.680 ever heard in my life, because I really felt that way, 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:13.040 and with asternat kids, when a child comes to you 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:14.640 and they say they want to be something, you should 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:17.240 pour into them. I still do believe in the fucking 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:22.760 dreams mentality, but I believe that more so with adults 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:26.640 who I know are chasing things that they see working 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:30.559 for other people as opposed to tapping into what it 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:34.400 is that they truly should be doing, you know themselves. 0:12:34.480 --> 0:12:37.040 I agree. So what you're saying is like over eighteen, 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:39.480 you definitely be honest. I remember I had an interview 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:41.400 with DC young Fly and he wanted to be like 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:45.040 a basketball player, and he said, you know, he transferred schools. 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:46.720 He was like the best basketball player in this like 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:49.120 little school. He was going to move to a different school. 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:50.960 He was like the worst basketball player, and the coach 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:53.240 like catapultar his dreams, was like, you'll never be a 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:56.080 basketball player. And he was like, well, thank god for 0:12:56.240 --> 0:12:58.840 him saying that because it forced him to like check 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:01.320 out other lanes. And I do agree with that, but 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:04.560 I also heard the astronaut thing. I'm a new mom, 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:08.040 like I'm daughters too, so I'm like soaking up any 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:10.360 advice any parent will give me, you know. And I 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:12.760 was like, well, you know all these some people say 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:14.920 let your kid fall or whatever, but I did like 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:18.960 the beauty in the astronaut theory. Going back to your internship, 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:21.400 sorry to Derail. I like to see I like to 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:23.839 see the growth in you, and you see it. You 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:27.200 see it very You're very transparent about the growth of 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:29.360 who you were we were trying to be, and then 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:33.079 who you've become and who you're actively becoming. But go ahead, 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:37.160 take back to so you get into radio yep, and 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:40.800 what's what's the environment, like what what do you find 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:42.480 that you love the most about it? And what was 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:44.120 your internship duties at the time? 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:47.000 Oh, internship duties. I did everything. I had to drive 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:49.520 the station vehicle. I had to put the posters up, 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:51.319 you know, I had to set up you know, the 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:55.040 DJ equipment if need be, set up the tables for 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:58.200 people to you know, put their stuff on, like literally 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:01.040 whatever I needed to do, Like you know, people like 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:03.920 to call that do boys stuff. But it's like, I mean, 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:07.360 I guess you know. So I used to actually take 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:10.720 the station vehicle home. So even when it was other 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:14.400 intern shifts, they would come and be like, well, where's 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:14.800 the truck? 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:16.560 Why are you taking it? 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:19.040 Because when they would come and be like where's the truck, 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:20.800 then they would have you know what, I think Charlotmage 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:21.240 had it last. 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:23.480 So they would call like, I mean you got the truck? 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:28.280 Yeah? Actually I do. What's up? Oh we got somebody 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:30.000 got a remote in the hour, I'm on the way, 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:31.920 and I would take the truck and I would just 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:33.080 go to the remote with the intern. 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:35.960 So I was there. I was crashing everybody's set. 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:38.080 And then not just coming to the you know, all 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:40.720 the remotes, I would be sitting in the studio being 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:42.600 a fly on the wall. You know. Willie will used 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:44.120 to let me sit in with him a lot, and 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:46.320 I would just sit there and just like you know. 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:49.600 Soak it all up, you know, taking uh, taking what. 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:53.480 Was going on. And this is another reason the astronaut 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:56.520 kid theory is so powerful because I always talk about 0:14:56.880 --> 0:14:59.800 my homegirl Testing Spencer, you know who's from Charleton South 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:02.800 cam and her and Baby Jay had a show on 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:06.280 Z ninety three called The Breakfast Club when I was 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:08.800 growing up, and that was the huge morning show in Charleston, 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:11.480 Z ninety three still is the big heritage station down there, 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:15.240 and Tesla calls. She called one day when I was 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:18.480 on a Sunday morning doing what we call voice tracking. 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:21.360 So voice tracking is basically you would record your your 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:24.000 breaks upload them, but you still had to sit in 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:26.440 the studio while the show was on because I was new, 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:29.440 you know, And she called and she goes, yo, you 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:31.160 know what. She was telling me about a traffic accident 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:32.600 that was somewhere on but she was like, yo, you 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:35.480 sound really good. And I said thank you. She's like, no, no, no, no, 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:38.640 I'm not just saying that, like you sound really good, 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:44.320 like a natural. And the confidence that gave me, like 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:46.960 the boost, the energy that gave me, like oh shit, 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:50.200 Tessauspencer from the Breakfast Club just told me I sound good. 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:55.360 Like So it solidified to me that I was doing 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:57.480 what I was supposed to be doing because it already 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:00.480 felt good. It felt amazing, like I'm talking, it felt 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:03.400 like on that microphone. It felt like the first time 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:06.520 you had orgasm, Like literally like that first time you 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:09.920 got high, you know, and you're like, oh man, this 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:13.280 is amazing, Like it just felt incredible. And so when 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:15.560 she told me that it just like set something off 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:19.320 of me, that it lit a spark that hasn't hasn't gone. 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:21.160 Out, like this is definitely my purpose. 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:24.160 I knew that because you got this tattoo I got 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:25.440 on my arm or hire Is. 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:28.200 Oh my gosh, is that a Thundercat? 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:32.200 No, it's Wolverine. It's horrible though. My man, it's a 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:34.640 guy named t Willis. This when tattoos were illegal in 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:37.560 South Carolina. My man, t Willis did this. But it's 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:41.120 Wolverine from the X Men holding a microphone in his hand. 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:42.760 You need to get this. 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:44.560 Oh yeah, I see see it. 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:48.120 And the reason I got Wolverine because Wolverine is still 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:50.760 my favorite X Men character. But the thing I loved 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:54.600 about Wolverine was his healing powers. Literally, he had the 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:59.840 ability to heal from any situation. And so I always 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:01.840 knew in my mind even back then. I think I 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:04.119 got this when I was seventeen, I knew that. Yo. 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:05.760 Maybe I think I might have been a little older, 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:07.840 like eighteen nineteen, but I knew in my mind that 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:11.320 I wanted to have that ability. I wanted to have 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:14.320 the ability to heal from anything. This is befo I didn't. 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:16.679 I didn't know nothing but no therapy. I wasn't on 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:18.399 no healing journey back then. I was out of my 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:20.240 mind back then. But I just knew in my mind 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:23.080 I wanted to be able to heal from any situation. 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:25.720 And I knew physically, and I used to say this 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:28.720 to myself. I knew that wasn't possible physically, so I 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:32.200 used to always say emotionally mentally, you know, I wanted 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:34.520 to be able to heal from anything. And he's holding 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:36.080 a mic because I thought rap was gonna be what 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:38.680 changed my life, but actually it was these type. 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:40.359 Of microphones that changed my life. 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:43.080 And then now you see, I'm I'm a huge mental advocate, 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:47.080 huge mental health advocate, helping people on their healing journey. 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:49.919 So it's just like, man, God, don't waste nothing. 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:52.760 He don't. But now, back at eighteen to nineteen, you 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:55.720 also had the name Charlotamagne or you had the nickname. 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:57.239 Then, yes, because I was. 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:01.119 I graduated from night school and let me see, I 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:03.080 graduate from night school in nineteen ninety eight, so I 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:07.159 was either I was either about to be twenty or 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:10.960 still nineteen. But yeah, because I used to sell crack 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:13.320