Speaker 1: Yo, It's the Buelet Cap Podcast Buelet Cap Show Special
Speaker 1: guests d Smoke, Yes, sir, welcome, Hey, congrats on this album.
Speaker 1: Warren Wonders. First of all, the cover is incredible, The
Speaker 1: artwork is incredible. You're always so good when it comes
Speaker 1: to details. I always tell everybody like you got the
Speaker 1: best videos, the best coloring, the best concepts, Like you know,
Speaker 1: I know you put so much into just the details
Speaker 1: of what you do. Absolutely give me why the name,
Speaker 1: Warren Wonders, what's the what's the background behind that kind
Speaker 1: of dive into the story of the artwork. Warren wonders,
Speaker 1: is that project that's about showing the world the two
Speaker 1: sides of what it means to be a youngster from
Speaker 1: Inglewood who is pushing the line on both fronts. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. On one side, I got a
Speaker 1: heart for the streets. You know, my big brother grew
Speaker 1: up in the street element a little bit more than
Speaker 1: we did, and we were we were there. But by
Speaker 1: the time we were coming up as teenagers, you know,
Speaker 1: Pops was in the house a little kids. My Pops
Speaker 1: was locked up, so we was fighting, doing the whole nine.
Speaker 1: He come home, We're more so, like a little bit
Speaker 1: more straight and narrow, but still you know, parents can't
Speaker 1: afford to drive you everywhere, so he's still catching the bus.
Speaker 1: We in the actual streets of Inglewood. So warre on
Speaker 1: wonders is that we're familiar with this, but it's you know,
Speaker 1: for the sake of arriving at that place where you
Speaker 1: can look around and be proud of where you are,
Speaker 1: what you've gotten. So you can't experience the wonders in
Speaker 1: life if you're not willing to confront and experience the war,
Speaker 1: you know. So it's just that duality of being d
Speaker 1: smoke that I wanted to share. And then what about
Speaker 1: the cover because the cover seems like there's a big
Speaker 1: message behind the coverage as well. Yeah, absolutely so. Of course,
Speaker 1: one of my main values is other than family, is community,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So that picture represents the
Speaker 1: community that puts you all the different elements like you know,
Speaker 1: from the girl with her hair wrapped with the rollers
Speaker 1: in their hair blowing the bus to the girl with
Speaker 1: the booty short song too. You know howmies with the
Speaker 1: wave cap do rags, flip flops, the bottle, the speaker,
Speaker 1: the lo lo bike, is just like we get some
Speaker 1: of everything in the community that all contributes to who
Speaker 1: you are as a person, and that's lifting me up
Speaker 1: to you know, uh, to be able to you know,
Speaker 1: the symbolism of breaking that chain and it's an actual
Speaker 1: gold chain that's kind of shaped like a new So
Speaker 1: it's just all those symbolism that represent all the people
Speaker 1: that it really takes for any one person to be free.
Speaker 1: You feel me? Do you feel like because I feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, like when you listen to the album, like
Speaker 1: you talk about like you know, game, banging over turf
Speaker 1: that you don't own, or dirt you don't own, right,
Speaker 1: do you feel like that that was like those kind
Speaker 1: of messages weren't being presented to your generation, for the
Speaker 1: kids who were from where you were from, Like, and
Speaker 1: like maybe you're kind of setting a new because I
Speaker 1: feel like there's so much game and a lot of
Speaker 1: the shit you're saying. There's so many lines and I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: this is a real grown man, Like hell shit, but
Speaker 1: like that line, like how important is that for you
Speaker 1: to kind of you know when it comes to you
Speaker 1: You're from Inglewood, you know what I'm saying. And obviously
Speaker 1: when you're from La. Gang culture is on the present,
Speaker 1: even if you're not in it, when you're in Hollywood,
Speaker 1: when you're in downtown, everywhere, everywhere, one hundred percent right, So,
Speaker 1: like you know, there's it's it's it's hard to be
Speaker 1: the guy to be like, hey, you should a gang
Speaker 1: bang because you don't know the story behind Hey did
Speaker 1: someone lose a brother or a cousin or whatever. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, like there's there's got to be
Speaker 1: a middle ground where you know absolutely well, let me,
Speaker 1: I put it this way, gang banging isn't being a
Speaker 1: member of a gang. Let's say that isn't wrong, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. It's the it's the culture, not
Speaker 1: the overall culture. It's the activity, it's how it's done.
Speaker 1: It's the lack of connection between the big homies who
Speaker 1: know better and the young homies who got something to prove,
Speaker 1: you know. And and that's just not a gang. It's
Speaker 1: not just a gang banging thing, because outside of gang
Speaker 1: banging in other cities we still find the violence, we
Speaker 1: still find of course the same problems. It's just a
Speaker 1: community thing, a culture thing. First and then so I
Speaker 1: have I have a heart for people like I feel
Speaker 1: like it's human instinct to connect, to build, to form
Speaker 1: organizations to or you know, outside of gang banging. In Africa,
Speaker 1: we had tribes, you know what I'm saying, And one
Speaker 1: tribe over here might not get along with a tribe
Speaker 1: over here. So it's not me preaching against gang banging.
Speaker 1: It's more so preaching against the ignorance that makes us organizing,
Speaker 1: uh them versus us type thing. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like why I'm not I'm not a gang member, but
Speaker 1: why do I feel the need to keep a pistol
Speaker 1: on me? You know what I'm saying. Or you said
Speaker 1: that you have a five mile you go through five
Speaker 1: different neighborhoods on your commute commute. Yeah, and the kids
Speaker 1: and the kids who you're teaching don't realize that you
Speaker 1: you got you gotta you got a peace on you
Speaker 1: come on period period. True story, you know. And that's
Speaker 1: because like I taught, I taught on well, I taught
Speaker 1: several places. One I was teaching close to home when
Speaker 1: I taught at Inglewood High then I taw at Westchester
Speaker 1: and that of course you head in west You're not
Speaker 1: passing through too many hoods like that. Outside of Inglewood.
Speaker 1: And then but it was when I taught on Vermont
Speaker 1: and sixtieth coming from Century and Lebrea, that it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm out of this neighborhood in Inglewood through these other
Speaker 1: three neighborhoods in Inglewood, through you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: you know, the a trade through the you know, it's
Speaker 1: like all these different hoods, for forbid, you have to
Speaker 1: stop and get gas. Come on, now, you be getting
Speaker 1: gas on our side right before you get in there,
Speaker 1: you know. And and and then of course that's an
Speaker 1: exception to every world. I've stopped to get gas in
Speaker 1: another hood, you know. And you you kind of hope
Speaker 1: that somebody ain't having a bad enough day to where
Speaker 1: they not listening to reason, or they or to where
Speaker 1: they don't ask no questions at all, you know, because
Speaker 1: that happens. It had been times where it was like
Speaker 1: they just pulled up a start busting. That's tragic, you know.
Speaker 1: But then there's been times where I'd am impressed and
Speaker 1: I could tell he looking at me like waiting for
Speaker 1: me to say the wrong thing, and I could tell
Speaker 1: he got a gun on him, like hand all tucked
Speaker 1: and everything, and I'm like you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: And it's just a matter of you know, have you
Speaker 1: mastered yourself enough to be to look him in the
Speaker 1: eyes and be like, I'm solid, bro, I hope all
Speaker 1: is well, which you know, and just let him make
Speaker 1: that decision to be like I want to do do
Speaker 1: I want to do a good human being harm. And
Speaker 1: I think even behind all the gang stuff, there's there's
Speaker 1: this People have to be triggered and pushed over that
Speaker 1: little edge, and sometimes fear pushes Being scary will push
Speaker 1: people over the edge, you know, it'll trigger that up,
Speaker 1: that instinct, that predatory instinct if you look like, oh
Speaker 1: two shitah, I got it, got it. Whereas if it's
Speaker 1: like now all is well, bro, God bless you, you know,
Speaker 1: but it's direct. It's like I'm not scared of you,
Speaker 1: but I'm looking into you like I know what you got.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, And if you're gonna do it,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to live with the fact that you
Speaker 1: did it in the wrong situation. You know, because fear
Speaker 1: tales on a lot of people. Some people are afraid
Speaker 1: because they know they might be on the bad side
Speaker 1: of some well deserved krmer they might have done something
Speaker 1: similar out there. You know, that's not my story. So
Speaker 1: if you're gonna pull up, if you're gonna pull up
Speaker 1: and bust on d Smoke, you're gonna bust on somebody
Speaker 1: that's proud of what he did, then done right by
Speaker 1: his family and his business partners. And I'm gonna look
Speaker 1: you in your eyes like, damn, is this that? Because
Speaker 1: we all got our day? You feel me like, and
Speaker 1: I don't. It's not that I want to go, but
Speaker 1: it's like I've seen, I've been in those situations where
Speaker 1: it could have been that you know so, and and
Speaker 1: a lot of so much as outside your control. So
Speaker 1: like you're referring to, uh, find my way, you know,
Speaker 1: in so many ways, it's like we're all navigating. As
Speaker 1: a teacher, I'm still navigating. I'm navigating, like like the
Speaker 1: law one. You know what I'm saying, California is an
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, I'm navigating the law. I'm navigating. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, going in there wanting to be effective with
Speaker 1: the kids, but I'm in the middle of the hood
Speaker 1: and it's a lot working against me. Just they mindsets,
Speaker 1: you know. So, So yeah, this this album kind of
Speaker 1: shows shows both of that and and it shows love
Speaker 1: to the people. It's like people got to forgive theyself,
Speaker 1: like they be hard on theyself, like, man, I ain't
Speaker 1: got to figure it out. But and that's okay. So
Speaker 1: that's the thing, by my way, It's like we all
Speaker 1: out here trying to find find our way, and once
Speaker 1: we think we found it, we still navigate. That's real shit.
Speaker 1: You said some ill shit. You had a line where
Speaker 1: you said that your wife drove you to sanity. Uh huh.
Speaker 1: My wife came in my life drove me to sanity,
Speaker 1: which I think is dope because again I'm married. But
Speaker 1: I feel like we don't hear enough about you know,
Speaker 1: the benefits of having a solid woman behind you. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: it's how much honesty are people willing to give, you know,
Speaker 1: and not just honesty, vulnerability, you know, because what was
Speaker 1: that it was a Superman movie or was it a
Speaker 1: Superman movie or somebody referred to a Superman saying, you know,
Speaker 1: leave Clark kenn at home, don't bring Lois Lane into
Speaker 1: the workplace. You know what I'm saying, Because that's what
Speaker 1: people Predators will exploit, you know what I'm saying. They
Speaker 1: see the strong chest and they're like, oh, I can't
Speaker 1: penetrate that armor, but I could grab her and make
Speaker 1: you been the knee to you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: to save somebody that you care about. And in the
Speaker 1: same sense, I feel like rap has that tendency. We
Speaker 1: show up with our strongest self, you know what I'm saying, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then lo and behold, we got somebody that's loving
Speaker 1: us into strength, you know what I'm saying in all honesty.
Speaker 1: So but yeah, I said my life. My wife came
Speaker 1: in my life, drove me to sanity, distinguished between the
Speaker 1: sweetest in vanities, coffee, no cream of killing me softly.
Speaker 1: I need an energy. Call me your fashion. But in
Speaker 1: the canopy I'll be getting what these whole promises can't deliver.
Speaker 1: Ain't got no canvas, won't paint a picture, Ain't got
Speaker 1: no time for they faint attempts. My little house is straight,
Speaker 1: made the bricks, climbed the mountain, and then made the river.
Speaker 1: You know. So it's like it's just the truth of it,
Speaker 1: and not that I'm imposing that view on anybody. Like
Speaker 1: if you ain't found that person, don't try to make
Speaker 1: their own person. That for sure. That's a huge mistake.
Speaker 1: Don't do that, you know what I'm saying, like, don't
Speaker 1: do that ship, Yeah, you know. And and I think
Speaker 1: even prior to finding her, I think we're all a
Speaker 1: little bit guilty of like because we got our hopes
Speaker 1: up that we got somebody, you know. But but yeah,
Speaker 1: so that's that's a little bit of like straight honesty.
Speaker 1: We're like, like, you know, there's something to be said
Speaker 1: about like being in a relationship where it's not taxing
Speaker 1: on your mental And I can only imagine with where
Speaker 1: you are in your career right being on the road
Speaker 1: or I don't know, the pandemic kind of probably halted
Speaker 1: a lot of your travel. But you do go to Africa, right,
Speaker 1: I did? I did go to I mean, in your
Speaker 1: your profile is a lot more higher. And I'm just
Speaker 1: I mean, in any relationship, your specific set of circumstances
Speaker 1: might make you know, any relationship a little bit more
Speaker 1: difficult at times. So it takes it's a special kind
Speaker 1: of woman to not add any bullshit to your plate
Speaker 1: while you're trying to be de smoke. Absolutely, absolutely, some
Speaker 1: of that comes from just confidence, you know, like and
Speaker 1: and confidence doesn't negate that a woman's need to be reassured.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, any woman is gonna because
Speaker 1: the reassurance is not in It's not just in her
Speaker 1: being reassured in herself, it's reassured in your intent, how
Speaker 1: present you are, and your feelings. You know, the fact
Speaker 1: that your feelings haven't changed. You have to reassure them
Speaker 1: of that, you know what I'm saying. So, but when
Speaker 1: you have to, But when somebody needs reassurance of who
Speaker 1: they are, it's different. Then they've put you in a
Speaker 1: position that you nobody deserves to be in. Because you
Speaker 1: can say all the things in the world, but if
Speaker 1: you're not happy with you, it don't matter from you.
Speaker 1: It gotta come from you. So but but yeah, you
Speaker 1: you definitely need somebody that's confident, that is shutting himself
Speaker 1: and bold enough to be honest when it's not it's real,
Speaker 1: you know, and that's you got to be that too,
Speaker 1: you know, the responsibilities on both sides. There's additional work
Speaker 1: on my part and on my wife's part to maintain
Speaker 1: something that that is true and strong and can withstand
Speaker 1: little stuff. You know what I'm saying that It's it's
Speaker 1: no secret that women on the internet are gonna be like,
Speaker 1: that's my husband that never met me, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. And you got to just brush that off,
Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, No, I mean I feel like, yeah,
Speaker 1: because especially when you were when the show first came out,
Speaker 1: there was bitches was I mean, respectful young ladies, we're
Speaker 1: loving you. They're going crazy. No, it was going crazy.
Speaker 1: It went ut. I mean, bitch is in the most
Speaker 1: respectable way possible. We know what you mean. Beautiful, independent, yes, timely, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, creative. Yeah right, I'm just kidding, just kidd kidding,
Speaker 1: shouts all the bitches and dumb shouts, all of them.
Speaker 1: You know you you just announced the tour right before
Speaker 1: you got here, right, I did. How many dates is it?
Speaker 1: It's it's like twenty two man, that's big too, And
Speaker 1: I know that I wanted to be thirty three. But
Speaker 1: there had to have been a Black Habits tour that
Speaker 1: was supposed to happen. It was cooked. We actually we
Speaker 1: had those dates reserved for the Black Habits, not these
Speaker 1: exact days now, but we had those all of those
Speaker 1: venues already lined up, and then the pandemic just fucked
Speaker 1: everything up. We literally, you know, Cordat hit me up
Speaker 1: because even before we released Black Habits, all I had
Speaker 1: was Inglewood High, right, but we had that moment in
Speaker 1: a strong following and the songs from Rhythm and Flow,
Speaker 1: and he was like, bro, come on tour with me,
Speaker 1: the Lost tour, Yes, yeh. And he did some dates
Speaker 1: in January, so it was he hit me into December
Speaker 1: like top of the year, you hopping out? And I
Speaker 1: was like, bro, I'd love to, but we're closing out
Speaker 1: a project right now. He was like say, lets I understand,
Speaker 1: you know, and you know, we still put out Black Habits,
Speaker 1: and Black Habits did what it did, you know, so
Speaker 1: there's no regrets here. But it's like, damn, is there
Speaker 1: any world where we still put it out? And because
Speaker 1: the world exactly because the world's about to shut down,
Speaker 1: we go outside, like all right, we only got one
Speaker 1: money to hop out pot especially you know with cored
Speaker 1: eight incredible artists that I respect, like how he approaches
Speaker 1: you know, creativity, his music himself. He's one of the
Speaker 1: best man, one of the greatest way way early like
Speaker 1: to be his age and to be doing it like that,
Speaker 1: it's like it's dope to watch who like who else
Speaker 1: is another artist or two that are your peers that
Speaker 1: inspire you. Man. I'm not talking about the ogs because
Speaker 1: it's easy to say Snoop or Dre or who. I mean, like,
Speaker 1: you know your peers man, just a couple man, just
Speaker 1: because I I don't distinguish between like singing and rapping
Speaker 1: and stuff like right of course, like the Sminos, you know,
Speaker 1: the Saba is crazy. You know, uh Masago is crazy.
Speaker 1: Those are my guys. And then I'm from Cali, so
Speaker 1: I'm just I like hood Ship too, So you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, Gee, Perico to Homie, I always look
Speaker 1: out for way he's in the video. Yeah, go to Homie.
Speaker 1: You know. You know what I'm saying. R J he
Speaker 1: in the video too. Then my dogs, but when they
Speaker 1: put something out, I'm listening because they got the thumb
Speaker 1: on the on the pulse of the streets. You know.
Speaker 1: But but it's just you know, and then it's just
Speaker 1: music that I'm just you know, I love I love
Speaker 1: like soul for Ship like alex I, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So but yeah, do you feel like I
Speaker 1: feel like on this album, like as as as lyrical
Speaker 1: as a genius you are, I think you really pressed
Speaker 1: pressed the pedal down on on just wrapping your ass
Speaker 1: off on this project. Like, what was your approach this
Speaker 1: being your sophomore album, Like we talked a little bit earlier,
Speaker 1: I think definitively it's better than Black Habits. Black Habits.
Speaker 1: We'll get to the Grammy nomination, which was a big deal.
Speaker 1: But what was your approach your mind state going into
Speaker 1: recording this album that was different from Black Habits because
Speaker 1: Black Habits, like you said, the show Happens, you already
Speaker 1: had Englewood High was already out right, that's your first
Speaker 1: project coming out off the TV show, you know, and
Speaker 1: now you're established, you got through a pandemic. You know,
Speaker 1: what was your mind state recording this one? This one?
Speaker 1: It's just a lot of real life, frustrated energy in
Speaker 1: this one, and I think that makes for good art,
Speaker 1: you know, Like I was, really, I'm pushing myself because
Speaker 1: I want to translate the turmoil that's happening inside. Plus
Speaker 1: it's still the joy of where I'm fortunate enough to
Speaker 1: be in life, what I've been able to accomplish in
Speaker 1: a short amount of time after a long amount of time,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. I've been at it for
Speaker 1: a long time, but then these two years two and
Speaker 1: a half years are crazy, you know, so so, but
Speaker 1: it's like the inner turmoil is like, damn, why would
Speaker 1: I have this big, this big opportunity. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. I got faith. I come from a god
Speaker 1: fairing household, so it's like, God, why You're gonna give
Speaker 1: me all this and shut the world down, Like let
Speaker 1: me go outside, you know what I'm saying. So for
Speaker 1: that to happen, It's like some of them, some of
Speaker 1: those songs come from that energy, but it's like you frustrated,
Speaker 1: but you still know who you are, so you're gonna
Speaker 1: give them that energy back. It's like in Inglewood, like
Speaker 1: before I had a group of money, I still knew
Speaker 1: that inside it was something that distinguished me from what
Speaker 1: was outside. So I wasn't gonna let nothing run over me,
Speaker 1: you know. And in the same sense, that energy gotta
Speaker 1: be in the music otherwise people will applaud it a
Speaker 1: little bit, you know what I'm saying, like, oh, good stuff, cool,
Speaker 1: you know, but they're not gonna champion it because it's
Speaker 1: when you show them, when you show them both sides
Speaker 1: of yourself, the angry side, the upset side the vulnerable.
Speaker 1: When you show them all of that, then people feel
Speaker 1: like he doing it for us because they know that,
Speaker 1: don't You don't stumble on that. You got to push
Speaker 1: to that, you know. So the way the album came about,
Speaker 1: like right when they announced that the tour wasn't gonna
Speaker 1: happen and we no longer prepping for tourists, like I'm
Speaker 1: at home, bro, Like right, it's a weird moment for
Speaker 1: all of us. I'm at home. Yeah, Like hey man,
Speaker 1: Simmy beach, bro, yeah, Simmy Beach. And the first song
Speaker 1: I did off on one Wonders, is shame on you?
Speaker 1: Oh wow? You know what I'm saying. Summer in the
Speaker 1: winter time. So it's February, it's just after no, it's March,
Speaker 1: the month after Black Habits was done. Somemer in the
Speaker 1: winter time. Smoke back on this beat, act like it's
Speaker 1: dinner time, full packs, no receipting, no LoJack on my
Speaker 1: heat in case I have to throw that in the river.
Speaker 1: After Seneta, I'm good, I'm good, I swear I'm good.
Speaker 1: I ain't losing no sleep, I'm hood, I'm wood, I'm well.
Speaker 1: I want to be see no defeat. I pull that
Speaker 1: off the hip, to shoot the shit, to piss the
Speaker 1: voltures off the coaches in good hands. God damn, that
Speaker 1: man is so and sick. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: just like talking my shit here, like I'm here. Give
Speaker 1: a fuck if we can't go on tour, if you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, if we reached we hit what
Speaker 1: we think is like a goal, and then we find
Speaker 1: another like detour that we got attack. I'm still here.
Speaker 1: So some of this music is shit. I gotta tell myself, like, hey, man,
Speaker 1: talk yo shit, smoke, you know, because I remember listening
Speaker 1: to early jay Z, not early jay Z like midted
Speaker 1: away jay Z and uh. From the outside critics were saying,
Speaker 1: oh he braggedocious this and that and the other. But
Speaker 1: I was at the time when I'm seventeen listening to it.
Speaker 1: It's like, that's the shit I need to say about
Speaker 1: myself when I'm walking through the city to feel how
Speaker 1: I need to feel to get past all this. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, I can't humility, don't get you passed.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, your immediate circumstances. It's that
Speaker 1: sometimes irrational sense of heightened self that'll have you you know,
Speaker 1: confront challenges head on and overcome the motherfuckers. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So that's why, like I don't apologize.
Speaker 1: People know I'm a humble person based on my interaction
Speaker 1: with them and in the music too. They're very intentional
Speaker 1: moments where you give people just lessons. I'm a teacher,
Speaker 1: but in order for them to care about those at all,
Speaker 1: you gotta just take the gloves off. And sometimes, hey, man,
Speaker 1: I always say this is like the greats, Like, you know,
Speaker 1: if we think of Kendrick right, think about that control freestyle,
Speaker 1: I shouldn't. I don't even think that shit came out
Speaker 1: on the Control verse. Rather wasn't even a freestyle. But
Speaker 1: I don't think that song ever officially came out. It's
Speaker 1: just like leaked on the blogs. And he would never
Speaker 1: think about that moment how important that was where he
Speaker 1: was like, Yo, nobody's fucking with me. Sometimes you gotta, hey,
Speaker 1: smoking on your top five. This is the most low
Speaker 1: profile motherfucker in the game, period and out of nowhere
Speaker 1: smoking on your top five. Like sometimes you gotta hit
Speaker 1: motherfuckers in their mouth so they respect you, period period. Nah,
Speaker 1: for sure, man, that that's great. So you know, I
Speaker 1: feel like I saw the video, right, you shot a
Speaker 1: lot of that when you were in Africa? Absolutely Legos?
Speaker 1: Where where wash? Like? Time wise, when when did you
Speaker 1: go to Africa? I want to say Marchbruary this year,
Speaker 1: Fabruary of twenty twenty one, right, yes, So talk about
Speaker 1: that trip because that's kind of an interesting time or
Speaker 1: kind of like mentally feels like we're over the pandemic
Speaker 1: even though it shit's still hot, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: But how was that trip? Man? That trip was, by
Speaker 1: the way, first time there. No, that was my second time, okay, Jerry.
Speaker 1: I had been to Abuja, Okay, which is the capital.
Speaker 1: I hadn't been to Legos, which is like the old
Speaker 1: capitol where it's way more history and stuff, way more
Speaker 1: people in Legos. That trip was interesting, man, because one
Speaker 1: traveling during you know, pandemic time or whatever we want
Speaker 1: to call this era. It's just it's a heavy lift,
Speaker 1: you know that. Like literally the airport experience is a
Speaker 1: whole different experience when you enter in another country during
Speaker 1: that time. So it's damn near traumatic because it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, you're getting stopped a million times. I got threatened,
Speaker 1: like within the first but in the first fifteen minutes
Speaker 1: I got threatened to get arrested because my mask wasn't
Speaker 1: over my nose, you know what I'm saying, Oh my god,
Speaker 1: it was below my nose. And she's like, lift your
Speaker 1: mask above your nose. I was like, okay, for sure,
Speaker 1: haphass Lee and I'm talking though, so I'm talking and
Speaker 1: my mouth is opening up and down like a yeah, Shanks,
Speaker 1: we got this and that and the other, discussing where
Speaker 1: we're going, what the plan is it? Come back down.
Speaker 1: I got two bags in my hand, so I'm not
Speaker 1: thinking about it. She's like, if I have to tell
Speaker 1: you this again, I am going to have you arrested.
Speaker 1: And I was like, I was like, down, Smoky, down,
Speaker 1: like I want to You're not it. Yeah. I wanted
Speaker 1: to be like, man, I don't want to have to
Speaker 1: sock on those security guards if you don't have me
Speaker 1: arrest and make sure the real police come because it's
Speaker 1: too early. The plane ride was too long, like we
Speaker 1: had already gotten stopped so many times that I was
Speaker 1: it had to be connecting flight right, oh, absolutely what
Speaker 1: we might have flown through London or something and so,
Speaker 1: but of course that was all going on in my head.
Speaker 1: I pulled up my mask and was like, and it
Speaker 1: just what gets me is they always got like they
Speaker 1: always got the black people policing the black people. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. They got somebody looked like my
Speaker 1: auntie telling me pull up your mask, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. And I know she's just doing her job,
Speaker 1: but you know, it just ends up and me feeling violated.
Speaker 1: Like listen, the world is going, it's fucking crazy. The
Speaker 1: world is fucking crazy, dude. And I'm vaccinated, right, but
Speaker 1: like a lot of the shaming and like the I
Speaker 1: like to call it caring shit going on against people
Speaker 1: who aren't vaccinated, it's so fucking ridiculous. Absolutely, it like
Speaker 1: makes me sick. Like when I see people the way
Speaker 1: talking about Kyrie Irving and shit, I'm like, yo, like
Speaker 1: not like people have the freedom to do what they
Speaker 1: want with their body. They want to do whatever the fuck.
Speaker 1: And I'm vaccinated, and I get the run me the booster,
Speaker 1: run me all the shots. Fuck it. You know, I
Speaker 1: already got a fucking Michael trip in my pocket everywhere
Speaker 1: I go, you know where the fuck I'm at, I
Speaker 1: got I got two phones right, you got kids, yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. But this this, this, the world is going crazy, bro,
Speaker 1: like definitively like crazy, like motherfuckers are. So you know
Speaker 1: it's crazy because as much as Trump divided us, it's
Speaker 1: COVID shit. Oh it might be worse. Oh easy, it's easy.
Speaker 1: It's wild, bro. I feel like we're in a movie.
Speaker 1: Bro as wild. It's it's a whole different planet. It
Speaker 1: seems like it's it's just if you read there. They
Speaker 1: are books that were written long before this time that
Speaker 1: talk about the the dangers of of information, like information
Speaker 1: being controlled by one central entity, the way people view
Speaker 1: one or two right, the way people view the world,
Speaker 1: the way our opinions are so fed and you know,
Speaker 1: it's so built into our daily schedule, whether it's TV,
Speaker 1: whether it's Instagram, that we're not even aware that our
Speaker 1: opinions are being regurgitated. Is what we heard, and we're
Speaker 1: kind of told to believe, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And people feel so strongly about them, like they came
Speaker 1: up with it, you know what I'm saying. So I
Speaker 1: came up in a time where critical thinking was encouraged.
Speaker 1: Just something that's good, like ask questions because it's only
Speaker 1: gonna either get you closer to the truth or give
Speaker 1: you a better understanding of something that you didn't already know.
Speaker 1: But now now we're in a time where the people
Speaker 1: who ask questions are made to seem like dangerous, like
Speaker 1: the literal word dangerous. You're dangerous, I mean you, it's
Speaker 1: dangerous Nikki. And I saw what Nikki like all this stuff,
Speaker 1: Nikki to it and people acted like she killed a
Speaker 1: baby on the internet, and I was like, am I
Speaker 1: missing something here? Did she not say she'd get vaccinated
Speaker 1: if she had to to go on tour? Like? What
Speaker 1: the fuck is going on? Right? Right? No, the narrative
Speaker 1: is that they, whoever the fuck they are, would like
Speaker 1: for people to believe that that by having choosing to
Speaker 1: exercise your ownership of your own body in a way
Speaker 1: that says no, or let me ask some questions here
Speaker 1: or or at the at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: it's the no that bothers people like no, it's you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean the question. I mean, the questions
Speaker 1: are are deemed as problematic as well, because you know,
Speaker 1: ultimately you want people to to be able to be
Speaker 1: told to do But we're getting too far into that
Speaker 1: ship like the reaction. The world is fucking weird, so
Speaker 1: we should people should feel comfortable being honest. And we
Speaker 1: talk about shaming when it comes to women. We talk
Speaker 1: about shaming when it comes to you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: We don't want to talk about it when it comes
Speaker 1: to people who say I disagree. I feel like like
Speaker 1: we are in an era where everyone is shamed if
Speaker 1: they don't go for the status quo for anything socially right.
Speaker 1: And it's like, you know, you can't have any independent
Speaker 1: thoughts without being boxed into one one world. Like it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: if you you either think and agree with me on
Speaker 1: every issue, or you're this, or you're dangerous, or you're dangerous,
Speaker 1: or you're a piece of shit or you're whatever the
Speaker 1: fuck it is where it's like what happened? But the
Speaker 1: powerful part is I come from a school where as
Speaker 1: soon as people start trying to make you out to
Speaker 1: be something like I, I you know, what's that song
Speaker 1: I be? That be all that I'm dangerous? Let's you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. The time, you know ex, I
Speaker 1: was like she was mad at something I did, and
Speaker 1: and and it was just it was like a brief
Speaker 1: like a brief little relationship. We was trying something. It
Speaker 1: didn't work, you know, And in my book, I'm like, hey,
Speaker 1: it didn't work. We can be cool because we're grown
Speaker 1: and it's respect. But she started calling me on my
Speaker 1: name like you this, you this. I was like, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not sure what you used to, but
Speaker 1: once you think that about me, you're you're free to
Speaker 1: walk away. You don't have to call me names. Just
Speaker 1: don't call me, you know what I'm saying. And then
Speaker 1: she kept calling me names, but calling me to call
Speaker 1: me names. So I was like, how about this, I'm him,
Speaker 1: I'm that guy. You know what I'm saying. If you
Speaker 1: want to call me fuck nigga. You want to call
Speaker 1: me something, I'm him now exactly save me as that
Speaker 1: in your phone. So if you ever pick up the
Speaker 1: phone to call me, know that you're calling him. And
Speaker 1: you got to feel some kind of way about that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we talked about you, you know, having a gun illegally
Speaker 1: and and and like the gun thing or or semi.
Speaker 1: I don't know the complications of having a gun a
Speaker 1: legal owner of a firearm. I mean when you were
Speaker 1: talking about moving, I don't know. Yeah, well, we're talked
Speaker 1: about the complications of being a legal firearm owner here
Speaker 1: in California. In California, we gotta have the fucking clip
Speaker 1: in the trunk ship by the time you fucking go
Speaker 1: get through dangerous. Well, what's crazy is like my whole
Speaker 1: life I been I wouldn't say an anti gun person,
Speaker 1: but I never gravitated towards guns. But I never really understood,
Speaker 1: Like I kind of have evolved on the issue since
Speaker 1: I moved here because I'm like, yo, it's low key
Speaker 1: really hard to protect yourself out here. It's like and
Speaker 1: what we talked about earlier, like when I say that
Speaker 1: to certain people, they look at me like I'm a
Speaker 1: fucking maga person or something, because I'm like, yeah, I
Speaker 1: think we should be able to have guns like period, period.
Speaker 1: And its the assumption on one person's part that that
Speaker 1: makes you automatically more powerful than the next. It I
Speaker 1: think in a certain way, because I think in a
Speaker 1: certain way it gives people. It just levels the plan field, right,
Speaker 1: And I also believe in if you if you're a
Speaker 1: gun owner, you also need to be ready and willing
Speaker 1: to remove yourself from a situation. Still exit, of course,
Speaker 1: still of course, being very very well tempered and mannered.
Speaker 1: Just because you have a gun, that's that does not
Speaker 1: give you a reason to react any differently than you
Speaker 1: would react to any other situation. I also think you
Speaker 1: should go through a background check to make sure it's
Speaker 1: some crazy motherfucker. But the just don't make you bullying
Speaker 1: undred but I do. I'm like, you know what we
Speaker 1: think about, Like you know, on this side of LA
Speaker 1: right now, like you know, West Hollywood, Melrose, shit is
Speaker 1: hot out here. Like I don't know if you see
Speaker 1: the video of the guy in the LaMelo ball jersey
Speaker 1: or they try to run up and rob him and
Speaker 1: he had a gun. Three kids ran up on this
Speaker 1: dude and this girl and they didn't know this dude
Speaker 1: was strapped too, and so they ran up on him,
Speaker 1: guns out. He turned around and lit him up. They
Speaker 1: never found I'm the guy, the guy who actually shot that,
Speaker 1: but it's all on video and they're like, we're trying,
Speaker 1: and only in California will that guy probably go get
Speaker 1: in trouble for protecting that. It's just documented, documented that
Speaker 1: his life was yes and he was acting in self defense.
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Speaker 1: about getting nominated for Best Rap Album of the Year
Speaker 1: and Best New Artist of the Year, which I even
Speaker 1: think is a bigger deal because that's a much harder
Speaker 1: category to crack, right as a rapper. What was your like,
Speaker 1: tell me, like, just your you know, obviously that's a
Speaker 1: life changing moment to gives that when you wake up
Speaker 1: in the morning, you know, I know how those Grammy
Speaker 1: mornings are. When they announced the nominations super fucking early,
Speaker 1: it's East Coast time, Like, what was that? Like? Man,
Speaker 1: we were going to the gun range. Ironically enough, we
Speaker 1: were going to the outdoor gun range where you know,
Speaker 1: you can have multiple people in our section. We are
Speaker 1: shooting down, you know, down the lane, and my mama
Speaker 1: was gonna come all kind of people. It was. It
Speaker 1: was just a hot day and I'm actually in the
Speaker 1: car and we get the call it's like you nominated,
Speaker 1: And we we had grown accustomed to being up for consideration,
Speaker 1: so I'm like, I'm like, okay, nominated, Like we got
Speaker 1: the actual nomination or like we're in consideration for the
Speaker 1: next stage event considered it like no, you have a
Speaker 1: Grammy nomination. You're like, you're gonna be at the Grammys,
Speaker 1: Like what's you mean, right, you know? And then I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh shit, like that, like so it hit us. We
Speaker 1: got excited and and it kind of that's another time
Speaker 1: where our little plans had got derailed because we already
Speaker 1: had what we thought was gonna be a project. It
Speaker 1: wasn't called War and Wonders at the time. We're planning
Speaker 1: on dropping something late twenty twenty, you know, like we're
Speaker 1: gonna hit him in February. We're gonna hit him again,
Speaker 1: you know. And then that happened. So it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: well until the Grammys happened, this is it is still
Speaker 1: Black Habits season, you know. And but so getting getting
Speaker 1: nominated for Best Rap Album, I think it speaks a
Speaker 1: lot to two for Early for early project, for me
Speaker 1: to my storytelling ability, for it being a cohesive body
Speaker 1: of work, and for having a very clear identity among
Speaker 1: the rap albums that came out then. I think for
Speaker 1: Best New Artists, of course it spoke to the body
Speaker 1: of work, but that spoke to my my my new
Speaker 1: presence in this world. You know what I stand for.
Speaker 1: How I show up, the music that I put out,
Speaker 1: the visuals behind it. I think it's just like people
Speaker 1: saw saw me as somebody that came in and fell
Speaker 1: a void, not just on the musical front, but on
Speaker 1: the like you know I come from. You know, I
Speaker 1: grew up in the nineties, so we had Tupac out
Speaker 1: there being vocal across different boundaries. It was, you know,
Speaker 1: I was a Tupac fan more when I was a
Speaker 1: Tupac music fan, you know what I'm saying. Like when
Speaker 1: Tupac was in a movie, it was it was dope,
Speaker 1: more impactful movie. When Tupac spoke about it issue, you
Speaker 1: wanted to listen. And then when you put out something,
Speaker 1: you know you wanted to learn it too. You know,
Speaker 1: your body is banging, baby, y'all. Let the way you
Speaker 1: flownded time to give it to Daddy Sugar and to
Speaker 1: tell me how you you know what I'm saying, like
Speaker 1: you feel that like because you believe them, you know.
Speaker 1: And I think when we put our music, people believe
Speaker 1: like what I say and where I'm coming from, and
Speaker 1: they want to know more. So I think that worked
Speaker 1: to our advantage. If you ask me, I'm putting out
Speaker 1: better music right now, I agree, you know, better music.
Speaker 1: I love Black Habits, but you know, we were learning.
Speaker 1: We're learning in front of the world, and that's cool.
Speaker 1: I love when that happens, you know. I want the
Speaker 1: world to see me grow. So everything is going how
Speaker 1: supposed to. But I was a little surprised to keep
Speaker 1: it one hundred. I was giving myself to the third
Speaker 1: project because I made Black Habits to tell a very
Speaker 1: specific story. This is my family story in the project.
Speaker 1: When they go back to my first album, I want
Speaker 1: them to find Black Habits about Jackie Ron and their
Speaker 1: three sons, Ron getting locked up, big Bro being from
Speaker 1: families but looking out for his young younger bros. I
Speaker 1: want that story to be what they find, you know,
Speaker 1: and Pops coming home and being a great father. I
Speaker 1: want them to find that whole narrative. So with that
Speaker 1: being like the introduction to a long essay or to
Speaker 1: a novel, I didn't expect, you know what I'm saying
Speaker 1: to get recognized that way. If it was, I kind
Speaker 1: of expect to be et to be the ones you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, Like, Hey, lyrics of the years exactly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel like they had categories for that. But it
Speaker 1: kind of speaks to because the Grammys, it's not just
Speaker 1: the black community voting. It speaks to the crossover appeal
Speaker 1: of my story and what I represent when I stand
Speaker 1: up and and either rap speak or just show up,
Speaker 1: you know. And I was proud to have that moment.
Speaker 1: But as you can see, what's more important to me
Speaker 1: is we're here to stay. And they got to see
Speaker 1: that every time we put some out it's worth being respected,
Speaker 1: it's enjoyable, and were pushing boundaries so well were I mean, obviously,
Speaker 1: you know I always say this, I do think that
Speaker 1: the pandemic did help people enjoy lyricism again because there
Speaker 1: wasn't no clubs to be standing on couches. Was all
Speaker 1: that shit was out the door. Motherfuckers was listening at
Speaker 1: home in their headphones or in their car or running
Speaker 1: or whatever. People were listening to music a lot differently,
Speaker 1: and I think that the Best Rap Album nominations really
Speaker 1: reflected a scope of music that was like kind of
Speaker 1: like showed us where we were for the last year.
Speaker 1: People were listening differently Black, Like I can imagine doing
Speaker 1: an album that's like all talking my shit, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, and a time like that to kind
Speaker 1: of bite you in the ass, like people would get mad.
Speaker 1: It's like we're dealing with realer stuff. I think it's
Speaker 1: season even a casual listener to want just a little
Speaker 1: bit more, you know, Yeah, yeah, for sure, man. But
Speaker 1: of course I enjoy all kinds of music, so even
Speaker 1: even from like who people understand is like the somewhat
Speaker 1: conscious educator dude. It's like, man, music serves multiple purposes,
Speaker 1: so I don't know none of it. But twenty twenty
Speaker 1: was a time where they were like, Okay, who's actually
Speaker 1: able to speak to what's going on? And if not
Speaker 1: speak to what's going on, say something that that at
Speaker 1: least has some semblance of truth and honesty and real storytelling.
Speaker 1: If you think of the nominees, it was Alfredo Black Habits, Royce.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Royce for finally getting one King's disease,
Speaker 1: I'm missing one Chica, Oh yeah, j Electronic Chica was
Speaker 1: best Electronic. And it was like, Yo, these are all
Speaker 1: like this is all bars lyricism straight up, And it
Speaker 1: was just like, Yo, whoever wins, it's like a win
Speaker 1: for the culture. I knew it was going to be Nas.
Speaker 1: I told her. I was like, it better and I'm nominated,
Speaker 1: but I'm like, all right, if I take it home.
Speaker 1: I knew I was gonna feel some kind of way, like,
Speaker 1: oh shit, because I one. Because it's like you ever
Speaker 1: seen a boxing match where two fighters bang it out
Speaker 1: and one is famous or real famous, and he kind
Speaker 1: of gets whooped a little bit, but you know, he
Speaker 1: smiles and raises his hand after the fight too, like
Speaker 1: yeah I won, and we're like, no, the fuck you did?
Speaker 1: And then they announced, uh this dude, you know, the
Speaker 1: popular one wins. You know, they look on their face
Speaker 1: always tells the story like yeah, thanks, but it's like, damn.
Speaker 1: You know I loved King's Disease. I din't. I didn't
Speaker 1: think it was the best album in that category, but
Speaker 1: I knew he would win because Nas has never won
Speaker 1: a Grammy. It's his time. It's his time, man, he
Speaker 1: deserves I wish they should could retroactively give Nomadic and
Speaker 1: it was written and you know all that. So I
Speaker 1: was like, yo, like, now's the time for them to
Speaker 1: do right by Nas, Like it's kind of like all
Speaker 1: that time. Leonardo DiCaprio never had an Oscar and then
Speaker 1: he got one for the Revenant, and it was like,
Speaker 1: there's other roles he probably should have gotten, but he
Speaker 1: deserves Just give him a fucking He's Leo, he deserves
Speaker 1: a fucking Oscar. Nas Knee is a Grammy Absolutely who
Speaker 1: won Best New Artists? I don't uh make the Stallion
Speaker 1: shout out to Megan Meg had a fucking year for sure, man, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: If you had to pick a winner outside of Black
Speaker 1: Habits for in your opinion, what was the best album? Now?
Speaker 1: Who deserved to win? Like? You know, obviously we can
Speaker 1: say Nas. You know it was a good look for
Speaker 1: NOAs to get it. Who I like? I like? I
Speaker 1: did like King's Disease a lot. I also like, Uh,
Speaker 1: I also like, what is that not the algorithm? Uh?
Speaker 1: You're talking about the Royce shiit? The allegory is allegory. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm saying algorithm allegory. Yeah, he killed that as Furo
Speaker 1: was tight as hell, And I'm just talking about like
Speaker 1: Royce is a beast. It flowed, he wrapped his motherfucking
Speaker 1: ass off. You know what I'm saying. I can't I
Speaker 1: said algorithm, but allegory was hard. It was fire. I
Speaker 1: put it on and ran. When I was living downtown
Speaker 1: couldn't do much, but I can put it on and
Speaker 1: ran and was just gone. It was just good to
Speaker 1: see him get that nomination too, man, because he's one
Speaker 1: of the all time greats like lyrics, lyrically, he's your
Speaker 1: rapper's favorite rapp top tier. I feel like him Loope.
Speaker 1: There's like a few guys who are like absolute master
Speaker 1: level alien mcs who just don't get the respect and
Speaker 1: like and Royce is one of those guys. Absolutely shout
Speaker 1: out to Royce. So with this project, you have John
Speaker 1: Legends on the album, your Brother's on the album, Boogie's
Speaker 1: on the album, marsham Broch is on the album. Uh not?
Speaker 1: I mean really, I want to say, outside of Boogie,
Speaker 1: was that the sole hip hop feature? Uh? Toby Okay? Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's incredible, incredible, Yeah, genius, He's I fucking that dude,
Speaker 1: A true artist. Yeah, his visual just everything about his aesthetic,
Speaker 1: the should he be saying it is so ill and
Speaker 1: it's just and it's so direct and like, yeah, why
Speaker 1: has nobody ever said this like this before? Period? And
Speaker 1: unapologetics from Houston? Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Houston Niger boy,
Speaker 1: he said some ship, Like what was that recor? He said,
Speaker 1: because I throw hands? What the fuck is Yeah, try Jesus.
Speaker 1: Don't try me because I thrown hands, Like, come on, bro,
Speaker 1: the why is no one ever said that? Come on
Speaker 1: try Jesus, not me, Like, you know, Toby's on there,
Speaker 1: so we're very selective and it's like Toby's the one
Speaker 1: one rapper because that's just my bro. I feel like
Speaker 1: our position in life is so similar. Both college graduates,
Speaker 1: family men that are just like have this strong sense
Speaker 1: of responsibility to our family and a place where we're
Speaker 1: from too, you know, to be lyrical, to chatallenge what
Speaker 1: it means to be at the top, because you know,
Speaker 1: he rapped like he going for the top seed, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. And but he's still he does
Speaker 1: so without compromising himself. There's a lot of mutual respect there.
Speaker 1: And then and then west Side Bugie is just like
Speaker 1: he that's the man like on my underrated list of
Speaker 1: like and I didn't say him because he's on the album,
Speaker 1: but on my list of underrated rappers and artists. You know,
Speaker 1: I saw him perform before the world really knew about him.
Speaker 1: It was an event at the Adida Store in Hollywood,
Speaker 1: and this is Sir performed there too. So I'm back
Speaker 1: there supporting Sir on a song. And so the world
Speaker 1: don't even really know what songs I have where I'm
Speaker 1: featured on the Surf song because it's on the early
Speaker 1: evenings and stuff. But I'm performing that with him, and
Speaker 1: then Buggie get up and rip it, and you got
Speaker 1: the you know, the signs of like, oh there's some
Speaker 1: gang bang street ship. But I'm like, oh shit, he's
Speaker 1: a lyricist. Oh shit, he telling stories like like Bugie's dope.
Speaker 1: You know. So we're being selected. I got all kind
Speaker 1: of voices and singers and stuff like that. But when
Speaker 1: it comes to and musicians really like my boy Marcus
Speaker 1: Paul playing the horns on several songs. But when it
Speaker 1: came to rappers, it was like, we're gonna have a
Speaker 1: couple of moments. You know. I did reach out to
Speaker 1: YG you know what I'm saying. We connected on you know,
Speaker 1: on several things from a community van. We keep just
Speaker 1: running into each other, but for this project it didn't happen.
Speaker 1: So you know, we went ahead and move forward. Tell
Speaker 1: me if this is right or wrong? I don't know
Speaker 1: why I keep hearing focal or you having a record
Speaker 1: with Cardi b tucked no comment. Okay, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: that means yes, I'm gonna say no comment because if
Speaker 1: I say no. If I say no, I'm also saying
Speaker 1: it's not supposed to happen. That's fair. Okay. It could be.
Speaker 1: It could be a yes, it could be a no,
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna say no comment. I look forward to
Speaker 1: to reconnecting with Cardi, though, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: it's been a minute since we we got in you know. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean there, that's another thing. Rhythm and Flow season
Speaker 1: two was gonna happen, and then the pandemic happened, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure you would have made an appearance in some capacity. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I would have sure showed up and be like, hey,
Speaker 1: you would have been like a guest. I guess I
Speaker 1: guess Judge for an episode or something like the LA episode, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we got guess Judge, right, I remember when I was there,
Speaker 1: you know. But no, you know, if they need me,
Speaker 1: when they when they pulling up, I'll show up for them.
Speaker 1: But I don't know when and if that's going to happen,
Speaker 1: so in a different time. You know, how how hard
Speaker 1: is it to find people who can make your visuals
Speaker 1: come to life? You've done a good job of finding
Speaker 1: those people, I like to point out, but man, like
Speaker 1: your your videos are so amazing, Like, I think that
Speaker 1: the the bigger question is what is the real effort?
Speaker 1: What role does the artist play and making sure their
Speaker 1: videos come out how they want? You know, you look
Speaker 1: at people's work and you see it's like do they
Speaker 1: have a certain quality a caliber of it. Then you
Speaker 1: add your vision and your attention to detail to their
Speaker 1: experience and capabilities, and then you're gonna have your video.
Speaker 1: It's just I don't think a lot of artists know
Speaker 1: what it means to be be very active in that process,
Speaker 1: you know, from from looking at the small details of
Speaker 1: what the shot list is in the treatment, like like Noah,
Speaker 1: I don't want to do this, and I say no
Speaker 1: a lot, but I'm not gonna just be like hell no,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be like no, what about this, Let's try
Speaker 1: this and so, And working with like Sergia, who's incredible,
Speaker 1: who did all the nip stuff, it's like we have
Speaker 1: developed a chemistry where it's like he we communicate it
Speaker 1: like expecting both of us to have feedback, you know,
Speaker 1: because I'll shoot a video director a a an idea
Speaker 1: that's super underdeveloped, but it'll give them a sense of
Speaker 1: direction on the okay, where to go treatment, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. For example, when I work with Child
Speaker 1: on the Honeyjack video, great video. I love that video
Speaker 1: and so my favorite one. It's so good. It's a
Speaker 1: little movie, you know. I told her I want to
Speaker 1: do jazz club and it's in the twenties or you know,
Speaker 1: thirties or something, and uh, and then I told her
Speaker 1: I want to be like working in the club and
Speaker 1: drinking and by the end I step up drunk. Every
Speaker 1: detail in between, like from the bus to this, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: where do you find that bus? She did? She Child
Speaker 1: is a genius and their whole team is dope, you know,
Speaker 1: Child and nasty and and so it's always a pleasure
Speaker 1: to work with them. But but yeah, so it just
Speaker 1: depends on it. It's like the artist having an idea
Speaker 1: of what they want to do and how they want
Speaker 1: to be portrayed, you know, Like I know we would
Speaker 1: we had talked before how you were reinvesting a lot
Speaker 1: of the early money you were getting after the show,
Speaker 1: into the into your videos, like into your into the project,
Speaker 1: into your own ship. Right, absolutely, I'm assuming you know
Speaker 1: this is prior. You may be true. I don't know
Speaker 1: when I know you. You ended up getting with Empire
Speaker 1: relatively soon after the show. Yeah, we we shot that video.
Speaker 1: We shot that the first video, and another video on
Speaker 1: our own dollar. So we shot no Commas on our
Speaker 1: own dollar. We shot uh uh Honeyjack on our own dollar,
Speaker 1: you know, and put together other materials around the rollout
Speaker 1: prior to getting with Empire. So by the time Empire
Speaker 1: came along, we had a lot of it already ready
Speaker 1: to go. It was yeah, we had stuff ready to go,
Speaker 1: and that was that was key because we were we
Speaker 1: were negotiations. We didn't just talk to Empire. We talked
Speaker 1: to you know what I'm saying. We talked to Columbia,
Speaker 1: we talked to death Jam. I think we talked to Moldtown.
Speaker 1: I'm sure everybody, I mean everybody was trying to sign you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they were trying to sign us for sure, but you
Speaker 1: know it was it was too early for them to
Speaker 1: sign us to what we wanted to be signed to. Right,
Speaker 1: You're not going to give up. I always tell everybody,
Speaker 1: don't never signed too fucking early, man, because then you
Speaker 1: end up with the shitty terms. You might have an advance,
Speaker 1: but you better make that shit last because you ain't
Speaker 1: getting no money out of your music. E exactly hell
Speaker 1: of a business person, Well smart man. I mean I
Speaker 1: think that that's something too. Like what I was gonna say,
Speaker 1: it was like you investing in your own ship and
Speaker 1: making sure your visuals were topped here before you had
Speaker 1: you know, all of this. I wouldn't say you added
Speaker 1: some notoriety based off the show, but as far as
Speaker 1: having like respect, respect and all that, like, you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of artists wouldn't do that. You know a
Speaker 1: lot of artists might go get a rover or something
Speaker 1: or or or you know, put their money anywhere outside
Speaker 1: of themselves and their craft. Bentley, Yeah, cash, cash, afford.
Speaker 1: So you took the money from winning the show and
Speaker 1: pretty much just parlayed that into your own ship, right,
Speaker 1: absolutely absolutely, and you know said put something to this
Speaker 1: all right, you know, but the rest of it we invested,
Speaker 1: chipped off my team, chipped off my mom and pops.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. You know, like here kicked
Speaker 1: back a little bit and we just kept working. Would
Speaker 1: you and your brother ever do a joint project together? Yeah,
Speaker 1: hell yeah, we look forward to it. That's got to happen,
Speaker 1: look forward to has that? Has it been discussed? Absolutely,
Speaker 1: We've had some conversations. We've had some conversations. Just got
Speaker 1: to get Top Dog the sign off on it. I'm
Speaker 1: sure I'll do that, no problem. Oh yeah, Top I
Speaker 1: mean Top is he's he's not one to stifle creativity
Speaker 1: or ideas. He's like, how can we make app you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So yeah, that wouldn't even be
Speaker 1: I know, you had gone on the road with your
Speaker 1: brother before and obviously him being a part of one
Speaker 1: of the biggest operations in hip hop TD. Like, what
Speaker 1: are some things that you saw as a spectator kind
Speaker 1: of behind the curtain of what TD does that you've
Speaker 1: learned in kind of a play to d smoke. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: TDE employees don't give nobody no passes, Like if it's
Speaker 1: not right, they own it. And I'm talking about these
Speaker 1: are nice people, you know what I'm saying. TD got
Speaker 1: some gangsters and then they got some scholars. They got
Speaker 1: you know, people see top You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: but they got employees from different backgrounds. But the culture
Speaker 1: of it is if it's not right, you're not accepting it,
Speaker 1: you know. And so you know, coming from like the
Speaker 1: regular workplace, whether it be a school where you're a teacher,
Speaker 1: it's like, I want to be the agreeable person. So
Speaker 1: it's like, no will be flexible. I understand. There's none
Speaker 1: of that. There's none of that because when you show up,
Speaker 1: if you make it a habit, or if you have
Speaker 1: a tendency to give people passes, like whether it be
Speaker 1: the hotel stuff ain't right, or you're just not treating
Speaker 1: us right. You don't make a habit of giving people
Speaker 1: money that ain't doing you right. And but when they
Speaker 1: treat you right and they take good care of you,
Speaker 1: then you have a contact for a long period of
Speaker 1: time and you go back to that business and they
Speaker 1: take care of the people that take care of them
Speaker 1: if you're giving them, if you disrespecting them because you
Speaker 1: think we just some rappers showing up, like not that
Speaker 1: they're gonna go big, but they might go big in
Speaker 1: a very professional way, like Okay, we're not having the
Speaker 1: right conversation with the right person. Let's talk to somebody else.
Speaker 1: Oh you that person. Okay, well, since you're the top person,
Speaker 1: I want you to talk to my guy. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, who's the legal person, right, because I'm
Speaker 1: feeling real disrespected right now. You know however it is
Speaker 1: And when that starts happening, things start to get real
Speaker 1: tight around your organization. And then you show up with
Speaker 1: a different level of confidence because people your reputation is
Speaker 1: that your expectation, because your expectation of yourself is high,
Speaker 1: your expectation of how people deal with you is high,
Speaker 1: and if they meet that, then y'all all good. You know,
Speaker 1: there's no problems. It's not like we looking for problems.
Speaker 1: Were just looking for perfection, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So being on tour with them me that it taught
Speaker 1: me that it's all hands on deck. It taught me that.
Speaker 1: It taught me business structure, right, because there's top dog,
Speaker 1: but each artist has their own day to day one
Speaker 1: or two people. Then as a company, they have people
Speaker 1: who are on multiple teams. You got somebody who might
Speaker 1: be on tour with Isaiah one one group of months,
Speaker 1: and if Isaiah's out off cycle, they'll be helping out
Speaker 1: with the serf stuff. You know what I'm saying, Because
Speaker 1: I saw there was a part where Matt you know Max, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Isaiah's guy. Yes, yeah, Matt came on tour with us,
Speaker 1: and because for some reason Edgar you know, couldn't do
Speaker 1: a certain couple of days, and so then you just
Speaker 1: see these people picking up slacks. So now it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I want to structure myself like the winning teams. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. If if I'm in a race,
Speaker 1: I gotta have an engine that the same winning car had. Otherwise,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm already I'm already handycams. So it just
Speaker 1: taught me that ethic. It taught me to be gangster
Speaker 1: about your shit, you know, and not not not unnecessarily
Speaker 1: not that you know, projecting acting tough gangster shit. It's
Speaker 1: none of that, because it's that calm like respect. Treat
Speaker 1: people with respect. But any time people are like careless
Speaker 1: in how they deal with you, it's addressed, you know,
Speaker 1: and corrected if possible. And if they correct their self,
Speaker 1: then you right back home, right boy, Like oh cool,
Speaker 1: See I knew we handle that, you know. So what
Speaker 1: was a lot? I mean, obviously going with Empire where
Speaker 1: you're essentially still independent, You're still in your masters, You're
Speaker 1: you know, you're in a great situation. You know, Empire
Speaker 1: had two other five Rap Album of the Year nominations.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. It's a major indie, you know,
Speaker 1: working closely with Gazi and Nima. What's that like? Because
Speaker 1: I think Gazi and Nima are still somehow underappreciated in
Speaker 1: the music industry for what we're doing. Gazi and Nima
Speaker 1: are extremely supportive, but they're supportive in a sense that
Speaker 1: they as as very independent businessmen. They can see where
Speaker 1: their help is needed or not. So they kind of
Speaker 1: just give us the green light to go our go
Speaker 1: to guy at Empire to really rally people. Is Gentry
Speaker 1: to our gentry? Yes, so Gentry is like riverside Gentry,
Speaker 1: Yes the way, Gentry out the way, buddy. But no,
Speaker 1: Gentry is our go to guy. Gentry travels with us.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, Gentry is there. He's a strategist.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, Gentry. If the energy in
Speaker 1: the building ain't right, Gentry's like, hey, y'all liked smoke?
Speaker 1: Is still that motherfucker? Like the music? He's putting out
Speaker 1: and turning in stuff that he's not putting on. The
Speaker 1: project is still at this at this level, and they
Speaker 1: know I'm gonna do my footwork. You know what I'm saying. This,
Speaker 1: This rap shuit ain't easy, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So just to show up, just to keep showing up,
Speaker 1: is a decision. But to me, there's no there's no
Speaker 1: alternate decision. So when they put some on the table
Speaker 1: that's going and put us in the room, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: show up, you know. And it might be a hard night,
Speaker 1: it might be a long studio session prior to and
Speaker 1: I might collapse when I lead a room, But when
Speaker 1: I walk in there, they gonna think like, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be fully present. Yep, you know so, And that's the
Speaker 1: confidence that they have in me, that that that if
Speaker 1: if Gentry has to go back to the people and
Speaker 1: be like, look, let's let's put some energy into this.
Speaker 1: Let's we need the room around this, you know, because
Speaker 1: just because you're signed doesn't mean there's a certain level
Speaker 1: of investment on all the people's parts. It's a lot
Speaker 1: of moving pieces. There's a lot of resources at Empire,
Speaker 1: and it's real powerful when they feel invested in it
Speaker 1: and they rally around something. And they've done that for
Speaker 1: me last time and this time. So you know, our
Speaker 1: first our first agreement was for one project, and then
Speaker 1: based on how that was doing, it was like, hey,
Speaker 1: y'all want to do this again. We was like, let's
Speaker 1: go whilere we going first one did great. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. We got a Grammy nom We got
Speaker 1: two Grammy nominations. And it's a win win. It's a
Speaker 1: win win because they left me with an enough to uh,
Speaker 1: they left me with enough to be able to, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, to make money off of what I'm doing
Speaker 1: and have the freedom but still have that support to
Speaker 1: be like, bro, we're not gonna have you out here
Speaker 1: just spending your money as it comes in all the time.
Speaker 1: We're gonna back you and we're gonna put something together
Speaker 1: that's mutually beneficial. You can still look yourself in the
Speaker 1: mirror and be like, I'm a man. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: not all contracts. That's important, man, so important. How long
Speaker 1: are we gonna have to wait for the next album,
Speaker 1: because I know you said that there's gonna be one
Speaker 1: almost right after Black Habits. We're like, we're gonna drop
Speaker 1: this and then Hip upside the Head and then you know,
Speaker 1: so so shoot, shoot. It all depends on what the
Speaker 1: next album is. You know, we got a lot of music,
Speaker 1: and so it's crazy making music you love that don't
Speaker 1: make the playlist. You want to put it out just
Speaker 1: because it's like, I don't want to hold it from you.
Speaker 1: But then when you also make working on a body
Speaker 1: of work, if it don't fit in the track list,
Speaker 1: you're like, okay, well maybe we hold onto this or
Speaker 1: you know, or pitch it for a movie, you know what.
Speaker 1: I'm maybe in five years we get De Smoke's Lost
Speaker 1: Tapes his version of Lost Tapes just keep collecting, or
Speaker 1: Kendrick you know where Kendrick's untitled you know stuff. Yeahs
Speaker 1: oh my god, n titled had get top on the
Speaker 1: come on Lost Tapes was fucking the first Lost Tapes
Speaker 1: was crazy. Oh Blaze of fifty exactly. Well, listen, man,
Speaker 1: the album is out, go get it. I'm sure you
Speaker 1: can be rolling out some more visuals soon. Absolutely, we
Speaker 1: already own it and anything else that you got going
Speaker 1: on you want to plug man, any we're going on tour,
Speaker 1: of course, the tour coming to a city near you,
Speaker 1: coming to a city near you. Just announced it right
Speaker 1: before you pull up. On the go get your tickets, man,
Speaker 1: all right, go buy some merch. I like the I
Speaker 1: like the hoodie. Is this a purchasable hoodies? This is
Speaker 1: not purchase. It's one on one. Well there's that. I
Speaker 1: got to ride one on one. But we got some stuff.
Speaker 1: All right, man, We'll go support the Homi D smoke
Speaker 1: appreciate perfect