WEBVTT - Erick the Architect 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:06.080 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Left Sets podcast. 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:10.239 My guest today is Eric the Architect. Eric, how'd you 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:13.440 end up having a spot at the last Apple presentation? 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:16.759 Wow? Jump right in? You bet? Yeah. 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:19.360 It was a random phone call that I got on 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:22.840 a Friday and I had to sign an NDA, so 0:00:22.880 --> 0:00:26.520 I knew it was something big. And this team reached 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:29.720 out to ask me to create an original song and 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:33.280 I worked on that song for four months and that 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:36.440 it came to be Okay, who called you? It was 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:40.080 a representative somebody that worked there is like a woman 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:42.400 that headed an apartment like the music department. 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:46.080 And yeah, I guess they were fans of my music 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:46.560 in Apple. 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:49.560 Okay, So you have no idea how they found you? 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:50.160 Not really. 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:53.400 I guess through the music obviously, but I never know. 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:55.240 I don't ask too many questions. I just do the asign. 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:58.960 Yeah. Yeah, when Apple calls, so you sign the NDA. 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:00.880 What is the brief? What did they tell you they 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:01.720 want you to do? 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:05.360 We want you to take these words and create original composition, 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:09.400 produce a song, write the song, record the song, and 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:12.960 use the words that were all apps as a way 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:15.960 to basically weave them into a story. That seemed like 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:18.720 it was relative of how you use apps in your life. 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:24.000 Okay, so you get the assignment. What's your first thing 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:24.280 you do? 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:28.800 The first thing I did was take all the words 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:32.080 and categorize them based on what kinds of word if 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:35.039 I recognize the apps, if I actually used them, And 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:37.400 then I broke them down into what type of app? 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:40.880 Was it a game? Was it navigation? Was it finance? 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:43.160 And then I thought of how to take the obvious 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:47.280 ones and make them puns, cash app. 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:49.840 You know, Airbnb, whatever, the ones that I actually use. 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:52.240 I was trying to use those first, and of course 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:53.360 a lot of those are the ones that had to 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:53.720 take out. 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:57.800 So give me an example of the pun you created, 0:01:57.840 --> 0:01:58.960 whether you took it out or not. 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:03.200 Man, it's funny to think of the words now after 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:11.800 hearing of a seventy so long I chased money, which 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:15.640 is Chase bank, I chased money, hit my cash app. 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:19.359 So the relative with two finance apps that were relative 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:20.440 to money. 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:24.440 Okay, let's start from the beginning. Are you an iPhone user? 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:27.000 Yeah? Okay, absolutely so you were? 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:29.880 Okay, kay, we had a big thing with people testifying 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:30.760 about BlackBerry. 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:32.440 This is really going back and the US an I 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:34.320 missed them right, and. 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:39.880 Then android, etc. Okay, so you categorized and started creating 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:43.760 puns immediately. What happened after that? For you? 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:45.000 Then it was the beat. 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:48.480 I had a skeleton for the beat, so I know 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:50.600 that they wanted the song originally to be something that 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:55.200 was like not slow, but just like a regular hip 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:58.600 hop tempo, maybe like ninety ninety five ppm. And then 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:00.480 it had to grow to become something that was one 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:04.359 hundred and you know, automated to that naturally the song progressed. 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:06.960 So I had to create one beat first. Once I 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:08.760 established that beat, then I had to make the second beat, 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:13.320 which is more like a trap, higher energy, faster. 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:15.920 Okay, you do this every day, but a lot of 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:18.840 people don't. Let's go down a little bit for how 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:20.360 do you create the beat? 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:24.840 I use able to, you know, so that's my production software, 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:28.519 and the beat is usually comprised of If it wasn't 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:32.920 something that had to be you know, I couldn't use 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:34.800 a sample or somebody else's music. Usually I listen to 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:37.640 other people's music to inspire me. I first learned to 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:41.000 produce by buying records and listening to them, especially like 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:44.640 soul sixties and seventies records, Barry Goldy era. That was 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:47.160 like my favorite to listen to. Then I got into 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:49.000 like a lot of jazz, you know. So I was 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:52.040 trying to think of like what this would sound like, 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:55.120 but not remove myself from it entirely, whereas it didn't 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:58.440 feel natural to me. So making the beat just starts 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:01.000 with drums and a bassline. 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:03.760 That's how I start every beat, and. 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:05.560 Then you figure out the melody and all the other 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:06.920 percussions and stuff like that. 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:12.600 Okay, starting with the beat, how do you not repeat yourself? 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:15.640 How do you not make the same beat again? Yeah, 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:18.400 I don't know. I don't know. I think every beat 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:19.440 requires something different. 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:22.479 I think this being a prompt, there was something specific 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:24.520 that I was thinking about, and I know that that 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:27.080 beat was like it was a song that it was 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:30.159 just drum bassed like a drum loop. And then as 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:33.840 the MC started to rap faster, the beat got faster too. 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:36.479 So I was thinking, well, if there's less elements to it, 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:38.680 then it might be something more interesting and I could 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:41.680 carry the song by my voice and using like the words. 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:44.560 So I think I recorded over like just the drumming 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:47.799 bass first, you know. Then I started to add instruments 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:48.280 later on. 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:52.480 Okay, tell me about the change in bpm. Go a 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:53.359 little deeper there. 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:57.640 So the original song was at like ninety bpm or 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:01.400 just I would say traditional hip hop or maybe say 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:03.839 Golden era hip hop is about ninety ninety five ppm, 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:06.000 and I would say more modern. There's a little bit 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:10.320 more energy and a little faster. So when you automate it, 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:15.320 it basically it was on like a timeline that over time, 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:19.080 as the song progressed, it would slowly get faster and 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:21.360 faster and faster to the hit the peak of the song. 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:25.920 So there was a moment when a flip was was 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:28.560 a switch was hit and the song. 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:30.640 Went really really fast, and then I started to rap fast. 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:32.400 Too, So both of them had to kind of be 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:34.640 in tandem and order for that feeling of like, oh, 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:37.200 something big happened, or is a big change, and that 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:40.000 to happen with my voice, and also production wise too. 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:46.880 Okay, so you started it ninety or ninety five? Did 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:50.960 you make a complete song at that level? Okay, So 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:54.479 let's say you get the beat, you then put in 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:56.840 the words, and then the instrument, other instruments or how 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:57.400 do you do it? 0:05:57.400 --> 0:05:59.000 It was both of them at the same time. It's weird. 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:01.720 It was like, because I was pretty knew what I 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:03.880 was going to say. I already wrote the song. It's 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:05.680 just now that you had to compliment what I was 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:11.240 what I was actually saying. So every revision required lyric 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:15.040 changes and also instrumental changes, so they both worked together 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:16.240 all the whole way through. 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:20.320 And what other instruments did you then decide to work with? 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:26.839 I did live base a bunch of synthesizers. I like 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:29.840 analog stuff for this, I didn't really use very much. 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:32.400 A lot of it was like pluggin based, a lot 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:37.200 of Artoria plugins, stuff that's emulations of real pieces of gear, 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:38.800 but I don't own all of it. So I tried 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:41.680 to like make it sound similar to how you know 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:43.839 it would sound if it was a piece of equipment 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:45.920 plug into a wall, as opposed to a computer plug 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:46.440 into a wall. 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:50.719 Yeah, and where were you doing this? My studio? And 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:52.640 how extensive is your studio? 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:57.560 So I've been the bedroom producer for my whole career 0:06:57.680 --> 0:07:00.880 until last year. So around this time, a little earlier 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:03.120 this year. Last year is when I got my first studio, 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:06.760 and I've always had more equipment than my house could hold. 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:10.040 You know, I lived in LA for seven years. That's 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:14.480 kind of when my production and equipment, all my stuff expanded. 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:17.160 I had a lot of stuff, but when I came here, 0:07:17.200 --> 0:07:18.160 I bought so much more. 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:19.400 It was more. 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:22.920 Accessible because I had a house. So I took everything 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:25.280 I had and shoved it in this room. My studios 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:28.240 would say it's pretty big, but that's coming from somebody 0:07:28.240 --> 0:07:29.920 who produced in their bedroom. 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:31.840 They were, Okay, when you're producing your bedroom, if you 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:34.440 had so much gear, how'd you make sure it didn't 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:35.040 get stolen? 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:39.320 That's a good question. I lived in the hood, too, 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:42.640 so that was quite dangerous thing I didn't. I had 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:45.560 insurance on this stuff, so maybe there was the assurance 0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:47.200 that nothing. 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:49.040 If something did happen, I'd be all right. 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:51.080 But I don't know. I lived in New York my 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:54.080 whole life. I paranoid by just by nature. 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:56.760 So, okay, so you live in a house in Los 0:07:56.800 --> 0:08:01.760 Angeles now, and your studio was in the house it was, Yeah, 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:04.760 it was, it's not anymore, no, and now it's it 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:09.360 actual location. Okay, So the actual location, I don't need 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:10.400 an address. 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:11.880 But where is that in Highland Park? 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:14.360 In the Highland Park, And how extensive is that. 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:19.080 Room it's enough for I don't have like a drum set. 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:20.840 I wish I had a big enough space. 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:22.600 But it's one big room, you know, I'll have like 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:24.880 a live room in a courting room or a production room. 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:28.600 It's just one kind of like box with enough to 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:31.880 have a couch and a desk and about eight or 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:34.200 nine synthesizers and pianos. 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:38.079 So it's substantially big room. And what about a console 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:39.520 and shit like that. 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:42.960 I don't I use a lot of audio interfaces I 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:46.959 don't have. I have a taskcam tape recorder. So that's 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:50.400 the biggest thing that I have that's like actually analog. 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:53.680 The rest of it is all inbox UAD, you know, 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:57.800 I think I have a I forgot the one that 0:08:57.800 --> 0:08:59.880 I use my Windows computer. I use Windows and Mac 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:02.880 kind of together, and I chain them by using like 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:06.000 UAD software and h plugins. 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:08.640 For those people don't know that ACRONAM. What does UAD 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:13.640 stand for Universal Audio? Okay, yeah, let's go back taskcam. 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:16.160 I haven't been in that world a long time. A 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:18.640 is task am still in business? And B where do 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:19.360 you get the tape? 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:23.600 Taskam is still in business? This is a tape machine 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:26.600 that's like it's a real to real So it's old 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:29.720 and I've always get them on eBay. That's the way 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:30.560 I find the tape. 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:34.480 But it's a specific sound that's retained in it that 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.160 it's hard to emulate it. Some people say there's no 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:40.880 difference when you do it in a computer. I like 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:44.679 Valualy believe you can get a big difference. And also 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:48.400 has an option called very speed, which takes the sound 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:51.080 and I don't really know how it manipulates it, but 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:53.400 it because it's a tape machine, it's able to like 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:56.960 change pitch and speed at the same time, and it 0:09:57.080 --> 0:09:59.480 just creates like a nuanced sound that you can't get 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:00.000 anywhere else. 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:04.600 So that's okay it This may be a little left field, 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:05.560 but that's analog. 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:06.400 Yeah. 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:09.679 So do you have a take on vinyl as supposed 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:10.679 to digital. 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:14.920 MM just in general? Like, I'm just a Vinyl guy. 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:15.319 I've been. 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:18.600 I guess maybe because I was introduced. I was born 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:20.880 in the eighties, so it's not like I remember when 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:26.920 vinyl came out. But I think the first like the 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:31.559 Yamaha d X seven is probably the first digital piano 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:33.640 that I bought that I was like, wow, this is 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:36.880 like Tears for Fears and Phil Collins and Rod Stewart. 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:40.079 You can actually press these sounds and feel like you're 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:41.240 transported to that time. 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:42.679 It's like some of my favorite music. 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:47.920 But that was the industry's answer to, well, we just 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:50.320 came out of analog, what's the digital sound sound like? 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:52.960 So I love digital stuff because that's my favorite. 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:56.800 Like, that's what I know. But when I think about nostalgia, 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:58.240 I have to go further back. 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:00.400 Because you know, I was introduced to music through my 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:03.880 parents and my brothers who always played vinyl and cassette tapes. 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:05.920 So that was my first like love. 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:10.080 Really it was hearing my favorite albums on vinyl, from 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:14.000 Prince Purple Rain to What's Happening Brother Marvin Gay to 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:16.320 you know, I don't know. 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:18.040 James Brown Christmas. 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:21.400 These are all on vinyl before I had CDs and cassettes, 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:23.920 CDs and MP three's and stuff like that. 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:27.600 Okay, let's go back to the Apple thing. So they 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:32.120 give you the list YEP, you write the lyrics first. Yeah, 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:34.400 how long does it take you to write the lyrics? 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:37.320 I wrote the lyrics, I would say in two days. 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:42.000 Two days, okay, just to be clear from the moment 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:45.280 they give you the list. Two days later you have 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:49.320 the song. Yeah, how long till you have the first 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:50.840 finished product? 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:53.920 The first draft that I had sent was days after. 0:11:54.040 --> 0:11:56.200 So if I got it on Friday that end of 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.880 that week, I already had the first draft of the song. 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:00.920 And you send you to them. How soon did you 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:02.440 hear back and what did they say? 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:05.559 It was probably the next day, Okay, So. 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:08.000 You hear back from them right after they you submitted, 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:08.800 what do they say? 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:12.920 They were like surprised that I made such something so 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:15.960 good so fast. There's a lot of notes about just 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:18.679 like where was going to go, because it wanted that 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:21.560 second half to be like dramatically different than the first. 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:23.839 But I was like, it's a skeleton, so naturally, it's 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:27.200 like I work best when I have some type of 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:31.679 discourse about what I already showed you and also what 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:35.080 I could work on. So you know, it was every 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:37.840 day until those two weeks happened. 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:39.360 Okay, So in. 0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:42.080 That initial two weeks before they say you have the gig, 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:44.920 how much interaction do you have with them? 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:47.560 It was every day. It was every day, you know, 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:49.920 you go to the studio. I'd wake up and I 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:52.839 just wait for the call Okay, so two weeks go. 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:56.120 By, You've got the gig. What happens for the next 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:56.760 three months? 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:03.800 Man, it was, it was. It was a lot of work. 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:07.800 I've never worked harder on anything, to be honest. 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:10.520 You know, you make a song, you know. 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:12.720 You write it rap or you record whatever it was. 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:16.000 You know, you still even if I'm producing for another person. 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:22.000 I think what made this, what what made it difficult, 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:23.840 was the fact that it was every day. So it 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:27.200 was hard to have a normalcy of real life because 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:29.040 eventually I had to. 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:29.840 Go back to my computer. 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:31.840 Not that you know, you're not you don't do that 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:35.240 same level of the you know, work when you're working 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:36.839 on an album, But I think when you're working for 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:39.840 someone that's not next to you, think about it. We're 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:41.839 waiting for a phone call or an email. I'm just 0:13:41.880 --> 0:13:43.960 kind of sitting on my hands. So I might watch 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:47.560 them wrestling or might watch basketball. I'm like, well, at 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:49.080 any moment, I got to go back to the studio. 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:50.920 Sometimes I just go to the studio and wait until 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:53.240 I got the call and those notes would happen. It'd 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:57.720 be like kind of saying pushing me to a direction 0:13:57.800 --> 0:13:59.280 of what they think I should be doing, but also 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:02.480 still allowing me to be myself. And I think part 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:05.200 of working with a really big company is like holding 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:09.760 onto your integrity and my fans and including myself. I 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:12.439 pride myself and being myself, so I never wanted to 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:16.240 sacrifice anything I felt was unnatural to do a prompt 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:18.800 or to work with a company. And I think maybe 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:24.640 that was another level of like self induced, self imposed stress. 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:29.080 But yeah, it was every day for Okay, was. 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:32.480 There ever anything they said and you said. 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:37.520 No, yeah, yeah, I mean a lot of it was. 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:41.120 It was just suggestions, but it was you know what, 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:42.440 somebody's like passive aggressive. 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:44.160 I don't think it was like that. It was more like, 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:49.280 do you think this? I'd be like, no, no, I 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:49.800 don't think that. 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:52.720 So were there issues at all in the production for 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:56.320 the three plus months of integrity or did it never 0:14:56.360 --> 0:14:57.280 get that far? No? 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:00.960 I never got that far, and especially because at the 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:02.960 end of this household to shoot a video with them. 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:06.280 But yeah, yeah, I've got getting there. Okay, But okay, okay, 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:10.680 So you're working on the song. Obviously this is a 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:15.440 huge opportunity for your career. They ever discuss money. 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:18.320 It's the first thing, is the first thing The first 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:20.200 thing is the money. You have to talk about the money. 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:24.520 When did you get the check? As soon as I 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:29.680 was done, okay, big check? Do you buy anything? Not yet? 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:31.680 I just moved too, so I'm probably gonna use a 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:34.920 lot of it too for my expenses in my house. 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:38.000 Okay, So at what point do you shoot the video? 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:41.880 So the video was ironically so we worked on this 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:45.640 for we say three months. M The video was shot 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:48.960 I think Friday and a Saturday. I turned in the 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:52.880 final song on Thursday, yeah, because there was more visions, 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:55.800 so Thursday, and then I had to memorize the words 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:57.320 and shoot the video for two days. 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:03.160 Okay. Traditionally, let's old school supposed to YouTube whatever the 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:05.960 act would be in control. They'd pick a director. The 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:08.840 director would come up with an idea how did this 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:09.360 go down? 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:11.560 It was It was still very much like that, Like, 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:14.520 you know, the director was really cool. 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:18.640 His name is Ryan, I believe, and he you know. 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:20.960 I spoke to him before I finished the song, which 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:23.080 was cool because it was like, well, let's work together. 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:26.120 Is the final we can't change it anymore. But it 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:27.960 was the same thing. They built. They built a set, 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:29.440 they rented out a. 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:33.600 Spot, and I was in LA and then they built 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:35.680 all the props and all the ship. It was just 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:38.600 like it was legit. It was you know, I didn't 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:40.560 know what to expect. I saw photos and stuff, but 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:42.360 it was like being there, It's like, Wow, this is 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:44.080 really a lot bigger than I thought it was going 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:45.960 to be, you know, especially because I was so stressed 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:48.000 thinking about how to make the song good that I 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:50.400 didn't really think about that part as much. 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:56.960 You know, Okay, you were upbeat in the app in 0:16:57.000 --> 0:16:59.560 the video shoose me. Did they direct you to be 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:02.320 that way or how much is that your natural personality. 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:06.320 I'm a I'm a firecracker, like you know, I'm ready. 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:08.359 I'm a very chill person. But I think when it 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:13.520 comes to advertising myself, I want I know that the 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:15.760 most interesting part of me is probably the part that's 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:20.040 the most animated. I think I'm a very observant person, 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:24.240 so I think I know what people want. I made 0:17:24.280 --> 0:17:28.560 the song particularly, you know, with that in mind, and 0:17:28.720 --> 0:17:31.600 also how it would translate on camera. But on camera, 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:33.959 I think I had to learn the words in person too, 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:38.920 in front of all these people. So yeah, I think 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:41.120 that that it just naturally kind of clicked. 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:44.680 Okay, how long after this shoot do you see an edit? 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:46.720 M That's a good question. 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:50.400 I would say relatively quick, because the turnaround was really 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:52.800 really fast, and I had to go to the to 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:55.240 the I had to go to San Francisco to actually 0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:58.600 see the the screening of it, but I saw a 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:03.200 cut maybe two weeks before that were you're happy? Yeah, 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:06.280 hell yeah, hell yeah, especially because like all the other 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:08.240 cuts I saw, it didn't have the effects, so I 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:11.600 didn't really like get right, you know, the feeling of 0:18:11.640 --> 0:18:11.920 it yet. 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:13.280 And when I thought the sow the final I was like, 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:14.120 oh wow, that's cool. 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:18.159 Okay, let me just put it this way. From the 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:21.600 moment you shot the video till they showed it at 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:24.440 the Worldwide Developers Conference, how long the time. 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:26.840 Was at maybe three weeks? 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:31.880 Okay, so they flew you to San Francisco. Yeah, okay, 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:35.320 I watched the video. We had no idea you were 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:39.400 going to be in it. Okay, So how did they 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:42.359 treat you there before it actually played? 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:45.719 They treated me like a king man. It was some 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:48.600 of the best treatment that I've ever gotten. And I 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:52.320 sat next to I sat in an area where all 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:55.760 though the celebrities were you know, and Tim cook was 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:59.520 like relatively close to me. So all of that was 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:02.919 treatment that I thought. I didn't know what to expect. 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:04.360 I guess, like if I was going to close out 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:05.840 this thing, they didn't want me to be too far 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:06.840 from the action, you know. 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:09.959 So, but they I have no complaints about how they 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:10.359 treated me. 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:13.200 Okay, So the video comes on at the end of 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:18.840 the presentation. Apple is famous for using music. They've never 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:21.879 done anything like this. This was unique from the moment 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:25.840 you immediately watched it. Ay, how did you feel sitting 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:27.240 in the room while I played. 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:33.199 Man, it's it was a crazy thing to work on 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:37.600 something for so many times and watching it watching other 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:39.480 people react to it for the first time as a 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:43.480 feeling that's kind of undescribable. Like I, I've been making 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:45.600 music my whole life, you know, and I never thought 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:48.359 that I you know, I thought I didn't have the 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:51.760 chops or the musical knowledge or whatever for a long 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:54.520 part of my life, because uh, I was always around 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:57.600 people who either didn't hold me up high enough, or 0:19:57.800 --> 0:20:01.320 people that didn't challenge me enough, or I felt intimidated 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:03.640 by other people's intelligence and how much they knew about music. 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:05.879 I would always be like I gotta work harder, or 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:08.000 I have to learn more theory, I have to be 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:10.720 a better piano player or a better writer. So it 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:13.360 was always an excuse. And those moments when you sit 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:16.200 in there watching like something that not only this whole 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:20.600 group of people were watching, and also billions of views 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:23.440 all over the world, it's validating in a different kind 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:25.920 of way. It made me feel like, you know, I'm 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:28.800 not this guid went to musical school, and I'm not 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:31.480 you know, the most popular person, but this thing could 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:35.160 happen for anybody that believes in themselves and are talented 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:38.639 enough and persistent enough. And it's not just about the talent. 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:43.359 I could have easily quit or given up. But yeah, 0:20:43.520 --> 0:20:45.520 it felt like I was the only person that could 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:47.240 do this job. I really felt like that there was 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:50.119 nobody else that they could have hired to do this 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:57.119 job better than what I did. 0:21:01.280 --> 0:21:04.640 How is your life changed since it became public? 0:21:08.200 --> 0:21:12.520 I mean, it's one of those things that like I'm 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:15.480 so focused on the next thing that I. 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:18.400 Don't really dwell too long on a thing. 0:21:18.640 --> 0:21:20.920 That's probably my problem too, Like, you know, I don't 0:21:20.920 --> 0:21:23.640 really like pat myself on the back a lot. I'm 0:21:23.720 --> 0:21:25.840 kind of just like focused on the next thing, because 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:29.960 I think my ego would be out of here if 0:21:29.960 --> 0:21:33.399 I was like, look at me, mister Apple, Da da 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:33.920 da da dah. 0:21:33.960 --> 0:21:34.160 Mister. 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:38.400 You know, my life feels the same to me. Maybe 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:41.919 how people view me is different. But you know, some 0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:43.959 people don't like that I work with big companies. Some 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:46.280 people do. Some people want. 0:21:46.119 --> 0:21:47.879 More from me. I want more for myself. 0:21:48.240 --> 0:21:50.840 That's always going to be existent in a career, especially 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:53.520 when you're independent and doing things in your own. People 0:21:53.560 --> 0:21:55.800 believe when you do anything with the company, you're losing 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:58.800 your credence or some type of like control. When this 0:21:58.960 --> 0:22:01.600 was clearly something that I wanted to do. It wasn't 0:22:01.880 --> 0:22:05.000 manipulation or it wasn't like I did something that didn't 0:22:05.000 --> 0:22:08.480 feel of myself. You know, most hateful comments are typed 0:22:08.480 --> 0:22:09.479 on an Apple product. 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:15.160 So yeah, okay, there's such a build up for months 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:19.920 and then it actually plays. You know, I would think 0:22:20.040 --> 0:22:22.160 emotionally it kind of crash after that. 0:22:24.640 --> 0:22:27.919 Nah man, I was I was excited to see it, 0:22:28.200 --> 0:22:30.040 and I was just like, damn, it is over, Like 0:22:30.080 --> 0:22:34.680 I can't believe it. It was more liberating than crashing. 0:22:34.760 --> 0:22:38.679 It was more like what's next. I've soon after released 0:22:38.720 --> 0:22:43.879 my single too so for my new album. So it 0:22:43.960 --> 0:22:46.560 was kind of like traction was you know, it was 0:22:46.680 --> 0:22:48.720 upward traction regardless. I knew that I was going to 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:51.520 continue to work, So yeah, I didn't. I didn't crash. 0:22:51.560 --> 0:22:55.440 I was more so taking the taking the reins, you know. 0:22:55.960 --> 0:23:00.240 Okay, any opportunities come as a result a. 0:23:00.160 --> 0:23:01.680 Bit mm hmm. 0:23:03.840 --> 0:23:06.520 It's so recent, I don't I don't know. I don't 0:23:06.560 --> 0:23:08.680 think so, at least nothing direct that I could say 0:23:08.680 --> 0:23:13.600 that it was because of that specific thing I did. 0:23:14.359 --> 0:23:17.280 Have you been recognized in the street as a result 0:23:17.359 --> 0:23:17.640 of that. 0:23:21.320 --> 0:23:25.000 I think anybody that I already knew definitely brought it 0:23:25.080 --> 0:23:25.480 up again. 0:23:27.200 --> 0:23:28.520 It was like, yo, I saw you do that thing. 0:23:28.560 --> 0:23:32.119 Well my family, you know, yeah, not really like a 0:23:32.119 --> 0:23:34.479 lot of I'm a pretty like chill person. 0:23:34.600 --> 0:23:35.200 I just chill. 0:23:35.359 --> 0:23:37.920 I don't really be I don't want to be spotted 0:23:37.960 --> 0:23:40.680 too much. You know, I have a Brunson jersey on 0:23:40.840 --> 0:23:45.800 right now in LA. You know that's loud enough. So yeah, okay. 0:23:46.160 --> 0:23:49.359 And you're talking about working with companies other than Apple, 0:23:49.400 --> 0:23:50.239 who have you worked with? 0:23:52.160 --> 0:23:56.080 I did a pretty big vitamin water campaign that was 0:23:56.119 --> 0:24:03.800 really cool. They they used my song from my dance project. 0:24:03.840 --> 0:24:05.200 It's called Arschamel's three. 0:24:05.200 --> 0:24:09.120 It was a song called Luncheon and I produced it 0:24:09.600 --> 0:24:12.080 and they wanted to use the song and the commercial, 0:24:12.080 --> 0:24:14.600 and not only that, they wanted to have me be 0:24:14.720 --> 0:24:16.320 the actor in the commercial too. So I was like, well, 0:24:16.440 --> 0:24:18.960 very cool. And they gave me kind of my own 0:24:19.119 --> 0:24:21.120 like drink, you know. So it was the one specific 0:24:21.160 --> 0:24:24.200 for the commercial. I think they have one for America 0:24:24.240 --> 0:24:25.720 and one for Canada. Two flavors. 0:24:26.080 --> 0:24:27.880 It was good. It was good. It tasted good too, 0:24:27.960 --> 0:24:29.520 so I wasn't even like kafin. It was good. 0:24:30.160 --> 0:24:35.640 So yeah, okay, not everybody's familiar with you. I'm sure 0:24:35.680 --> 0:24:37.680 you asked all the time, but I got to ask it. 0:24:37.760 --> 0:24:39.399 Why Eric the Architect? 0:24:40.359 --> 0:24:42.640 Man, My favorite movie is The Matrix? 0:24:45.240 --> 0:24:45.560 What is it? 0:24:45.640 --> 0:24:46.560 Nineteen ninety nine? 0:24:47.160 --> 0:24:50.239 I saw it my brother was graduating from college and 0:24:50.280 --> 0:24:52.679 we went down there to West Virginia and we went 0:24:52.720 --> 0:24:53.080 to school. 0:24:53.080 --> 0:24:54.680 We went to nursing school, and. 0:24:54.640 --> 0:24:59.080 I remember watching this movie and I was like, man, like, 0:25:00.119 --> 0:25:02.960 what is this movie? Like I'm a real young guy, 0:25:03.080 --> 0:25:06.800 but just the visual. I didn't get what the movie 0:25:06.840 --> 0:25:08.919 really meant to me till I got older, but just 0:25:09.440 --> 0:25:12.280 how impressionable it was on me. I made music, but like, 0:25:12.359 --> 0:25:14.280 come on, I'm a kid, Like I'm not really, I'm 0:25:14.280 --> 0:25:15.439 just banging on stuff, you know. 0:25:15.560 --> 0:25:17.080 But the name. 0:25:18.320 --> 0:25:21.399 I think when you think of the movie people like Trenity, Neo, Morpheus, 0:25:21.440 --> 0:25:23.439 and I'm like, yo, those are like the guys or 0:25:23.520 --> 0:25:26.040 as just Smith. Those are the ones you always like 0:25:26.880 --> 0:25:29.480 pay attention to. That's the people like to draw. And 0:25:29.720 --> 0:25:32.159 I'm like, you know, who's really the guy the architect 0:25:32.240 --> 0:25:33.879 because he was just first of all, he had the 0:25:33.920 --> 0:25:35.760 all white on it just was like a really like 0:25:36.800 --> 0:25:38.320 impressionable visual. 0:25:38.480 --> 0:25:40.240 And then he had all the screens. And I was 0:25:40.280 --> 0:25:42.040 always like, man, there's. 0:25:41.880 --> 0:25:45.760 Something about being the guy in the room that creates everything, 0:25:45.840 --> 0:25:49.399 watching all these different things happen, like I said, being observant, 0:25:49.720 --> 0:25:53.960 watching learning, not for evil, not for manipulation, but just 0:25:54.000 --> 0:25:56.440 being the person that can create. 0:25:56.480 --> 0:25:58.879 And I I. 0:25:58.040 --> 0:26:01.040 Resonate with that, and I thought, like, actual architect is 0:26:01.080 --> 0:26:04.160 someone that's similar to a producer. You know you're doing 0:26:04.200 --> 0:26:07.040 it right, you walk in with a stranger. It's not 0:26:07.080 --> 0:26:12.240 like architects are not capable. There's someone that you trust 0:26:12.280 --> 0:26:13.120 to build something. 0:26:12.920 --> 0:26:15.160 From a piece of paper. You know. It's like, hey, 0:26:15.200 --> 0:26:16.359 this is gonna make sense. 0:26:16.800 --> 0:26:18.719 In a couple in a year or two, when we 0:26:18.760 --> 0:26:21.359 build this thing that costs millions of dollars. But trust 0:26:21.359 --> 0:26:23.920 me that this drawing that I did is gonna make 0:26:23.960 --> 0:26:26.280 sense to you and it's gonna be worth your time 0:26:26.280 --> 0:26:26.919 and your money. 0:26:27.200 --> 0:26:28.120 Music is the same way. 0:26:28.320 --> 0:26:29.920 If you come into the studio and you want to 0:26:29.960 --> 0:26:33.560 trust me with your feelings and your opinions, we can 0:26:33.600 --> 0:26:35.240 put something down on a piece of paper, or maybe 0:26:35.240 --> 0:26:38.000 that paper is on the screen, and I'm building this 0:26:38.080 --> 0:26:39.639 dream for you or for myself. 0:26:39.640 --> 0:26:42.720 It's the same analogy. So I just always like it 0:26:42.760 --> 0:26:44.280 was me. 0:26:44.240 --> 0:26:47.000 Attributing to my favorite movie and also just like embodying 0:26:47.000 --> 0:26:52.080 a character. That's like being responsible for building, using sound 0:26:52.080 --> 0:26:52.440 to build. 0:26:54.200 --> 0:26:57.159 Okay, when did you start calling yourself Eric the Architect? 0:26:57.600 --> 0:26:58.720 My first and. 0:27:00.280 --> 0:27:04.800 Probably twenty two thousand and nine, I was Eric ark Elliott, 0:27:04.840 --> 0:27:08.680 which was the ark Oister for architect. But people thought 0:27:08.680 --> 0:27:10.159 that was my middle name and I didn't like that. 0:27:10.920 --> 0:27:12.360 So I was like, all right, well, I'm gonna start 0:27:12.440 --> 0:27:15.000 called myself the architect. And I would say that was 0:27:15.040 --> 0:27:18.160 around like twenty thirteen. 0:27:19.040 --> 0:27:21.440 And why did you add the K to Eric? 0:27:21.720 --> 0:27:23.920 That's why my name is spelled Oh really? Yeah? 0:27:24.800 --> 0:27:27.040 Is your name just E Erick or does it go 0:27:27.080 --> 0:27:27.600 on beyond that? 0:27:27.720 --> 0:27:29.280 That's Eric k Okay. 0:27:29.960 --> 0:27:32.440 So where exactly did you grow up? 0:27:32.720 --> 0:27:35.080 Brooklyn, New York and Flatbush East Flatbush? 0:27:35.480 --> 0:27:40.000 Okay, all those neighborhoods have changed a lot bigtime since 0:27:40.000 --> 0:27:41.600 you grew up. What was it like when you were 0:27:41.600 --> 0:27:42.160 growing up? 0:27:43.880 --> 0:27:44.120 Man? 0:27:44.240 --> 0:27:46.560 I think about this every day, bro, I really do 0:27:47.160 --> 0:27:52.199 I think about it. I'm I'm jaded, man, Like, I 0:27:52.240 --> 0:27:54.520 don't care if I grew up in the nineties and 0:27:54.560 --> 0:27:57.800 it was the crack era and I don't care, man, 0:27:58.000 --> 0:27:59.760 that was some special shit that. 0:27:59.720 --> 0:28:00.920 We have in New York City. 0:28:00.960 --> 0:28:05.280 Man, Like, you know, this is when one of my 0:28:05.359 --> 0:28:09.600 fondest memories literally is the fact that social media and 0:28:09.680 --> 0:28:11.440 the Internet weren't a thing. 0:28:11.880 --> 0:28:13.040 You know, we had AOL. 0:28:13.119 --> 0:28:16.720 You got five hundred free hours fucking hundred three minutes 0:28:16.800 --> 0:28:20.199 rather fucking hours three minutes, and you put this code in, 0:28:20.280 --> 0:28:22.400 you go online, you go on this think called AOL, 0:28:22.480 --> 0:28:25.359 and you know, you have an email and all this stuff. 0:28:25.400 --> 0:28:28.000 And it was like the Internet was so slow that 0:28:28.080 --> 0:28:31.280 people still relied on physical things because it was quicker 0:28:31.320 --> 0:28:35.600 than getting it online. So I came up during pre Napster, 0:28:35.880 --> 0:28:38.120 like all this stuff from the peer to peer sharing. 0:28:38.160 --> 0:28:42.000 It was like you go outside and get any movie, 0:28:42.280 --> 0:28:47.360 any DVD, any whatever. Any artists. They had these mixtapes. 0:28:47.360 --> 0:28:49.800 It will be like Reggae Gold two thousand mixtape and 0:28:49.800 --> 0:28:53.560 they have Beanie Man and Capleton and Bushman and all 0:28:53.560 --> 0:28:55.280 these different like artists on one. 0:28:55.720 --> 0:28:57.320 I'm like, who made this compilation? 0:28:57.560 --> 0:28:59.200 And it'd be some guy that like lived on the 0:28:59.200 --> 0:29:02.000 block and he put his like his address or his 0:29:02.000 --> 0:29:04.040 phone number on it. If you want another mix, send 0:29:04.080 --> 0:29:06.240 me ten dollars and I'll send you. It just was 0:29:06.280 --> 0:29:09.920 like a time when people were just I don't think 0:29:09.960 --> 0:29:11.640 we understand how good we had it. And I know 0:29:11.840 --> 0:29:12.640 it's about like. 0:29:14.080 --> 0:29:17.840 Artists losing money because of this big systematic thing that's happening. 0:29:17.840 --> 0:29:20.600 But the street was the way that you found information. 0:29:20.680 --> 0:29:24.040 It wasn't built on the Internet. And I just missed 0:29:24.040 --> 0:29:28.080 playing tag and ringing people's doorbells, like before Xbox and 0:29:28.120 --> 0:29:31.000 PlayStation was online. It was like this was our way 0:29:31.000 --> 0:29:33.280 of communicating with people. And if you wanted to hear 0:29:33.320 --> 0:29:35.800 how if a song was really good in New York, 0:29:35.840 --> 0:29:38.280 you open your window, you're gonna hear the song. You 0:29:38.280 --> 0:29:40.880 know the song the summer, you know it was summertime 0:29:40.880 --> 0:29:43.400 when you heard certain songs play like I don't get 0:29:43.400 --> 0:29:47.560 that same feeling. Brooklyn was distinctively different from other parts 0:29:47.560 --> 0:29:49.080 of New York, especially Manhattan. 0:29:49.800 --> 0:29:51.360 Now damn it the same thing. 0:29:51.640 --> 0:29:54.560 The cost of living, and also visually, Brooklyn had an 0:29:54.560 --> 0:29:58.440 identity that was special and it felt more mom and 0:29:58.480 --> 0:30:01.640 pop and less like the city. And as a pride 0:30:01.640 --> 0:30:04.120 that I've had since I was a kid that I 0:30:04.760 --> 0:30:07.600 just I still all hold. I'll have amnesty to Brooklyn 0:30:07.600 --> 0:30:09.600 and where I'm from the rest of my life because 0:30:09.600 --> 0:30:14.160 of particularly Flabbish where I'm from, whereas all Caribbean diaspora, 0:30:14.600 --> 0:30:18.080 I'm Jamaican. You got every piece of Caribbean all over 0:30:18.880 --> 0:30:23.600 from Church Avenue, from Foster to Farragut to all these 0:30:23.600 --> 0:30:27.440 different pockets of Flabish, and Brooklyn is a beautiful thing. 0:30:27.520 --> 0:30:32.000 You know, I'm hoping that that never leaves that area, 0:30:32.040 --> 0:30:35.360 particularly because you know a lot of those people are 0:30:35.480 --> 0:30:38.720 passed on or things have changed a lot. You know, financially, 0:30:38.760 --> 0:30:40.280 a lot of people have been pushed to other parts 0:30:40.360 --> 0:30:44.480 of Brooklyn that are not necessarily Caribbean. You know, you 0:30:44.520 --> 0:30:46.120 want to be around your people, you want to be 0:30:46.160 --> 0:30:47.840 on the music and the culture of where you're from, 0:30:47.960 --> 0:30:48.200 you know. 0:30:48.240 --> 0:30:51.440 So yeah, I could talk about being a kid in 0:30:51.480 --> 0:30:52.280 Brooklyn forever. O. 0:30:52.360 --> 0:30:57.840 Well, first, when did your family come from Jamaica to America. 0:30:58.320 --> 0:31:02.120 My mom is from the Style and my dad is 0:31:02.160 --> 0:31:04.640 from Jamaica, so he came. 0:31:04.680 --> 0:31:06.800 I think he was early twenty years old. He came 0:31:06.800 --> 0:31:07.080 with his. 0:31:07.080 --> 0:31:11.480 Sister was my aunt, and he met my mom. This 0:31:11.560 --> 0:31:14.600 is the way obviously, way before I was born, and 0:31:14.640 --> 0:31:16.600 they got married, had my two brothers. 0:31:17.720 --> 0:31:22.080 Do you have any idea how they met? Not really. 0:31:22.280 --> 0:31:27.440 I know my dad, my dad's sister, aunt, Pam was 0:31:27.480 --> 0:31:30.560 friends with my mom first, and I think my mom 0:31:30.680 --> 0:31:33.560 was like, Oh, your brother's cute or something like that. 0:31:33.560 --> 0:31:34.840 It's so weird to say this stuff. 0:31:36.040 --> 0:31:37.920 Yeah, and then she's like, oh, you like my brother, 0:31:38.440 --> 0:31:40.400 and I guess she was the catalyst of how they 0:31:40.440 --> 0:31:42.720 became a pair. 0:31:43.160 --> 0:31:43.440 Yeah. 0:31:44.240 --> 0:31:49.080 And you talk about Caribbean, Okay, there are many countries 0:31:49.160 --> 0:31:51.920 in there, and in that area, you know, you have 0:31:51.960 --> 0:31:56.640 the Dominicans and then you know, ultimately the Haitians. In 0:31:56.680 --> 0:31:59.560 that microcosm of the world. Is everybody equal or is 0:31:59.560 --> 0:32:00.560 there a high hierarchy? 0:32:01.440 --> 0:32:02.360 That's a great question. 0:32:02.680 --> 0:32:07.160 I think as Caribbeans, all Caribbeans You're just Caribbean. 0:32:07.360 --> 0:32:08.400 There's no hierarchy. 0:32:08.600 --> 0:32:12.280 The people like to say whatever the trendies do this, 0:32:12.440 --> 0:32:15.000 the Guyanese. You can have little spits and spats, but 0:32:15.200 --> 0:32:18.000 when Labor Day happens, you see every flag in New York, 0:32:18.240 --> 0:32:22.240 so it's not predominantly belonging to one person. And I 0:32:22.240 --> 0:32:24.360 think that's why I think it's so special, because there's 0:32:24.360 --> 0:32:28.160 no hierarchy. There's your Caribbean. It doesn't matter if you 0:32:28.480 --> 0:32:32.320 if you feel whatever about whoever else that especially when 0:32:32.360 --> 0:32:34.880 you see people celebrate together. It's not like there's floats 0:32:34.920 --> 0:32:38.080 that specifically that I can't get on because I'm not Trinidadian, 0:32:38.440 --> 0:32:41.000 or I can't dance with this girl because she's. 0:32:40.760 --> 0:32:43.640 From Haiti, or you know what I'm saying, Who cares 0:32:43.680 --> 0:32:44.680 this Caribbean? Who cares? 0:32:44.800 --> 0:32:51.400 Yeah, okay, Caribbeans other people of color. How do you 0:32:51.440 --> 0:32:52.200 get along with. 0:32:54.920 --> 0:32:57.200 I would say, because we're in New York, we have 0:32:57.320 --> 0:33:01.720 no choice to. You know, the Jewish community and also 0:33:01.720 --> 0:33:05.160 the Caribbean community are in the same community. My whole life. 0:33:05.320 --> 0:33:08.080 I've grew up with I've. 0:33:07.920 --> 0:33:10.560 Gone to get a beef patty and I go to 0:33:10.640 --> 0:33:13.080 get locks and bagels. 0:33:13.640 --> 0:33:14.280 It seems cool. 0:33:14.320 --> 0:33:14.480 To me. 0:33:14.920 --> 0:33:16.680 You know what I mean, I've eaten cultural food. I 0:33:16.680 --> 0:33:18.360 didn't even know what I was eating. It's just the bagel. 0:33:18.360 --> 0:33:20.080 Stop. And I got older, I'm like, oh shit. 0:33:20.000 --> 0:33:23.680 Like there was no distinction. It's just people. And I 0:33:23.680 --> 0:33:26.360 think that's what makes New York special. It's like there's 0:33:26.400 --> 0:33:29.920 no place in there, no real reason to be segregating 0:33:30.080 --> 0:33:33.400 or to hate or to be racist towards anyone because 0:33:33.440 --> 0:33:37.520 we're homogenized people. We're all stuck in this hot ass, 0:33:37.720 --> 0:33:40.280 cold ass place for twelve months of a year. You 0:33:40.320 --> 0:33:43.640 know what I'm saying, Like, there's no you know again, 0:33:43.720 --> 0:33:46.120 I don't. I don't think there's a reputation of it, 0:33:46.120 --> 0:33:49.520 at least where I'm from. I think globally, yes, obviously, 0:33:49.600 --> 0:33:53.520 but yeah. 0:33:52.920 --> 0:33:59.920 Okay, But other people who have different backgrounds, who are black, 0:34:01.200 --> 0:34:04.240 is it all people of color or is there a 0:34:04.280 --> 0:34:06.600 contempt one or is there judgment? 0:34:07.080 --> 0:34:09.400 That's interesting. I actually talk about this a lot with 0:34:10.719 --> 0:34:15.799 my friends who are Jamaican American especially Unfortunately, a lot 0:34:15.840 --> 0:34:20.840 of people who immigrate from Caribbean countries, they come to 0:34:20.920 --> 0:34:28.400 America and they adopt American culture, but a lot of 0:34:28.480 --> 0:34:32.040 times it's not necessarily it's not American culture in the 0:34:32.120 --> 0:34:32.840 sense of like. 0:34:34.480 --> 0:34:37.560 The whole of America. A lot of time it's white America. 0:34:38.440 --> 0:34:41.759 A lot of my friends' families who come saved from Trinidad, 0:34:42.160 --> 0:34:45.600 they have never really participated on any Black culture, which 0:34:45.640 --> 0:34:48.960 is like even like jazz, you got creole stuff going 0:34:49.000 --> 0:34:52.200 on in New Orleans, stuff going on to South South Carolina, 0:34:52.520 --> 0:34:56.359 stuff going on in Atlanta, like particularly black or predominantly 0:34:56.400 --> 0:35:01.759 black culture, whether it's music or movies, whatever it is. 0:35:02.080 --> 0:35:04.919 It's like they're less familiar with it. They come here 0:35:04.960 --> 0:35:07.600 for chance, an opportunity, and sometimes they chase something that 0:35:07.600 --> 0:35:10.200 feels a little bit more like a white person, you know, 0:35:10.680 --> 0:35:13.680 whatever white culture is. And that's mostly because they've been 0:35:14.040 --> 0:35:16.480 given information from their parents that that's the right way, 0:35:16.560 --> 0:35:20.200 quote unquote the right way, as opposed to learning America 0:35:20.200 --> 0:35:22.760 as a whole, as opposed to you know, you can't 0:35:22.800 --> 0:35:25.080 just look at one part of what America is. America 0:35:25.160 --> 0:35:27.960 was built on so many different factors, and especially black culture, 0:35:28.239 --> 0:35:31.279 black people. So that is that's a great question, the 0:35:31.320 --> 0:35:36.399 great it's it's a problem, and yeah, that's why it's 0:35:36.400 --> 0:35:40.600 hard for people who come from somewhere else to learn 0:35:41.040 --> 0:35:47.560 a full encompassing understanding of what America is, especially when 0:35:47.560 --> 0:35:52.920 you're only chasing just someone black or someone white. America 0:35:53.000 --> 0:35:57.239 is like the land of opportunity. But if you come 0:35:57.280 --> 0:36:00.120 from somewhere else, you should be able to learn and 0:36:00.920 --> 0:36:03.120 full circle about what America was built on and how 0:36:03.120 --> 0:36:05.759 it was founded, where it is now, why is this way? 0:36:06.080 --> 0:36:08.000 And it can't just be one part of it. It's 0:36:08.040 --> 0:36:11.000 just not a full story. It's not a full understanding 0:36:11.000 --> 0:36:14.759 of why you're coming here in the first place, and 0:36:14.800 --> 0:36:17.319 who was here before us, you know, So that is 0:36:17.640 --> 0:36:18.640 an issue. 0:36:19.280 --> 0:36:21.920 That's a big issue. Actually, so would your parents do 0:36:22.040 --> 0:36:24.200 for a living? My mom? 0:36:24.680 --> 0:36:28.600 My mom passed away, but she was a secretary at 0:36:28.600 --> 0:36:32.520 Connetison and my dad was an electrician. 0:36:33.400 --> 0:36:34.680 And how many kids in the family. 0:36:34.880 --> 0:36:35.840 It's three of us. 0:36:36.040 --> 0:36:38.360 And where are you in the hierarchy? I'm the youngest, 0:36:39.040 --> 0:36:43.160 So how many years separate you from your siblings? Ten 0:36:43.320 --> 0:36:44.880 and thirteen? Oh a lot? 0:36:46.160 --> 0:36:46.600 Yeah? 0:36:46.640 --> 0:36:48.400 So your siblings boys or girls? 0:36:48.480 --> 0:36:49.080 Boys? 0:36:49.480 --> 0:36:50.560 So what are they up to? 0:36:50.600 --> 0:36:54.239 What do their lives look like? I was mentioning when 0:36:54.239 --> 0:36:55.160 I saw the matrix. 0:36:55.280 --> 0:36:59.319 My middle brother, Chris, he's a nurse, registered nurse, and 0:36:59.360 --> 0:37:02.200 my oldest brother worked at Condescen as well. So he's 0:37:02.239 --> 0:37:06.960 like sewer line management, Electric you know, when something happens 0:37:07.120 --> 0:37:11.319 in New York, any type of disaster, he's the first person. 0:37:11.000 --> 0:37:13.640 To you have to like his team or his group 0:37:13.680 --> 0:37:14.920 of people, like, I gotta be on it. 0:37:14.920 --> 0:37:16.640 We got to find out to make sure that these 0:37:16.680 --> 0:37:19.200 things are not going to create problems in the future. 0:37:19.320 --> 0:37:22.319 So there, he's constantly working on that stuff. And he 0:37:22.440 --> 0:37:25.560 likes collecting cards too. My brother like trading cards. 0:37:26.120 --> 0:37:32.560 Okay, so ten and thirteen, that's a lot. Sometimes they 0:37:32.600 --> 0:37:34.680 say you're another generation. I'm doing my own thing. I'm 0:37:34.680 --> 0:37:36.200 gonna say, oh, this is my little brother. I take 0:37:36.239 --> 0:37:36.880 them everywhere. 0:37:36.960 --> 0:37:37.520 Yeah, what is it? 0:37:37.600 --> 0:37:37.680 Like? 0:37:38.880 --> 0:37:39.080 Nah? 0:37:39.120 --> 0:37:43.120 They they really I wouldn't be myself without them. They 0:37:43.600 --> 0:37:45.600 I never was a kid, you know, I didn't watch 0:37:45.680 --> 0:37:50.040 like Sesame Street for too long or Barney like I 0:37:50.160 --> 0:37:51.000 was listening to like. 0:37:52.960 --> 0:37:53.879 Eddie Murphy raw. 0:37:54.680 --> 0:37:58.560 You know, it just went straight from like you know, yeah, 0:37:58.600 --> 0:38:02.880 like Barney to like Wu Tang. You know, I didn't 0:38:02.880 --> 0:38:07.360 really have like you know, even if my parents wanted 0:38:07.400 --> 0:38:09.840 to raise me, but they didn't. They pretty just you know, 0:38:09.920 --> 0:38:12.160 you let your brothers raise you. They're the ones that's 0:38:12.160 --> 0:38:15.160 always around. They at work, whatever they were listening to 0:38:15.200 --> 0:38:18.120 whatever they're watching is what I was exposed to. And 0:38:18.160 --> 0:38:20.759 I was always adult, unmature enough to know and have 0:38:20.840 --> 0:38:23.440 distinction that son stuff I wasn't supposed to see, but 0:38:24.080 --> 0:38:26.920 it helped shape me, and it allowed me to grow 0:38:26.960 --> 0:38:28.759 a lot faster and be more mature than a lot 0:38:28.800 --> 0:38:31.600 of kids my age, you know, because I wasn't sneaking 0:38:31.640 --> 0:38:33.640 to watch it. I was doing these things with my family, 0:38:33.680 --> 0:38:35.520 you know what I'm saying. It was you know, I 0:38:35.560 --> 0:38:38.520 remember when my uncle took me to see Sprung the movie. 0:38:38.560 --> 0:38:40.879 It was like, I think Booty Call and that shit 0:38:40.960 --> 0:38:42.440 was at the same time. I think my mom was 0:38:42.480 --> 0:38:44.680 on vacation and something, and my uncle was like, can 0:38:44.719 --> 0:38:45.600 I take Eric. 0:38:45.440 --> 0:38:47.360 To see this movie? And she was like go ahead, 0:38:47.440 --> 0:38:49.040 like whatever. 0:38:49.120 --> 0:38:50.680 And I saw this crazy ass movie and I was 0:38:50.719 --> 0:38:53.279 like WHOA, Like I ain't know what sex was, I 0:38:53.280 --> 0:38:54.520 didn't know any of these things were. 0:38:54.560 --> 0:38:56.320 But you know, I turned out okay. 0:38:56.480 --> 0:39:00.359 You know, it's I'm actually grateful that I was able 0:39:00.400 --> 0:39:04.359 to feel adult because I wasn't scared if I saw 0:39:04.360 --> 0:39:06.280 any of these things returning to me as an adult. 0:39:06.280 --> 0:39:09.960 It wasn't like I was foreign to anything that I 0:39:10.040 --> 0:39:12.600 you know, maybe a kid probably would be like, hey, 0:39:12.600 --> 0:39:13.000 what's that. 0:39:13.040 --> 0:39:14.359 I already knew about all that shit. 0:39:14.400 --> 0:39:17.560 I knew about drugs and violence and guns and love 0:39:17.719 --> 0:39:21.600 and poverty and you know, good art. I would say 0:39:21.880 --> 0:39:24.279 the best movies came out during that time. The best 0:39:24.360 --> 0:39:26.239 music came out to me when I was a kid, 0:39:26.280 --> 0:39:28.759 So I was never not exposed to that stuff. I 0:39:28.800 --> 0:39:30.560 always was always around. 0:39:40.200 --> 0:39:42.120 So what kind of kid were you like in school? 0:39:43.920 --> 0:39:46.000 In school, I was the type of kid like I 0:39:46.040 --> 0:39:48.640 think at first, I was probably bullied because all the 0:39:48.680 --> 0:39:52.919 girls liked me and all the dudes was like, man, 0:39:53.000 --> 0:39:54.920 I hate this kid. Let me make fun of him. 0:39:55.400 --> 0:39:57.520 When I got older, I was like, nah, that's not working. 0:39:57.560 --> 0:39:59.640 I started getting taller too, so I was like, nah, bro, 0:40:00.040 --> 0:40:02.560 like that's it's not gonna hold when you By the 0:40:02.600 --> 0:40:04.280 time I got to high school, I was the person 0:40:04.320 --> 0:40:07.479 that was defending people that got bullied. So I would 0:40:07.480 --> 0:40:09.719 bully people who were bulliers. You know, if they were 0:40:09.719 --> 0:40:13.720 bullying somebody, I would now, you're my bully. Not physical stuff, 0:40:13.760 --> 0:40:16.799 but like being from New York, the way you talk, 0:40:17.239 --> 0:40:19.920 we just we have a nasty mouths sometimes. 0:40:20.000 --> 0:40:22.400 So that's what I was. I was. That was that 0:40:22.480 --> 0:40:24.200 was my style. And then I learned to make music. 0:40:24.280 --> 0:40:27.360 I was like fourteen or fifteen years old, so music 0:40:27.520 --> 0:40:30.600 was integral with you know, how I went to school, 0:40:30.600 --> 0:40:32.000 and how we dressed, and how we operated. 0:40:32.000 --> 0:40:34.480 Who he hung out with, you know, making beats and rapping. 0:40:34.560 --> 0:40:36.480 You had like friends that made music and you had 0:40:36.480 --> 0:40:38.879 a little clique alos click in high school we all 0:40:38.880 --> 0:40:39.680 made music together. 0:40:40.400 --> 0:40:42.959 And you know, I. 0:40:42.840 --> 0:40:46.600 Grew up in Flatbush, but my school my school. I 0:40:46.640 --> 0:40:48.920 always went to school outside my neighborhood. My mom wanted 0:40:49.000 --> 0:40:54.520 me to to be exposed to other people, but eventually 0:40:55.360 --> 0:40:57.560 we just thing zone schools, you know, so you go 0:40:57.600 --> 0:41:00.200 to the school close to your house in proximity. I 0:41:00.200 --> 0:41:02.400 was always like, man, I want to go hang out 0:41:02.440 --> 0:41:04.520 with kids that's not the kid that I know from 0:41:04.520 --> 0:41:05.920 down the block, you know. And I had to go 0:41:05.960 --> 0:41:12.440 to these astral schools which were like accelerated. So when 0:41:12.480 --> 0:41:14.680 I went to the schools of my neighborhood, I would 0:41:14.719 --> 0:41:16.920 cause a lot of problems because I was bored, you know. 0:41:17.000 --> 0:41:19.520 And at that time, it was like there's so much 0:41:19.560 --> 0:41:24.960 more education for people with attention to problems or you know, 0:41:25.160 --> 0:41:27.759 whatever the diagnosis is. I don't know what the hell 0:41:27.800 --> 0:41:30.239 was on me, but like I just couldn't. If I 0:41:30.280 --> 0:41:32.000 was bored, I was going to just cause trouble, like 0:41:32.040 --> 0:41:34.800 I would talk a lot, I would just be an asshole. 0:41:35.520 --> 0:41:37.360 And then my teacher made me take a test in 0:41:37.440 --> 0:41:41.799 second grade and they were like, yeah, this kid can't 0:41:41.800 --> 0:41:45.759 be in the school anymore. He's actually too smart to 0:41:45.840 --> 0:41:48.120 be here. They would say bright back then, that was 0:41:48.160 --> 0:41:50.719 the word that he used. Bright, He's bright, Eric is bright. 0:41:51.239 --> 0:41:54.200 And I take this test and I remember, I don't 0:41:54.200 --> 0:41:56.279 remember what was on the test, but I do remember 0:41:56.360 --> 0:41:59.719 they made me read this book that I don't I 0:41:59.760 --> 0:42:01.520 didn't I know a lot of the words, but I 0:42:01.560 --> 0:42:03.000 was just like, why are you embarrassing me? 0:42:03.080 --> 0:42:04.520 Like I don't know what this is? 0:42:04.840 --> 0:42:07.479 And the teacher said, the fact that this kid who's 0:42:07.480 --> 0:42:10.840 in second grade is attempting to read something this hard, 0:42:11.000 --> 0:42:13.759 most kids would just cry and give up. He's pronouncing 0:42:13.760 --> 0:42:16.920 the words mostly correct, he's just not certain of himself. 0:42:17.360 --> 0:42:19.520 That is a kid that you know, he should be skipped. 0:42:20.320 --> 0:42:21.280 He can't be in the school. 0:42:21.560 --> 0:42:26.400 So from third to eighth grade, I was in a 0:42:26.480 --> 0:42:29.920 school schools that put me a grade ahead of what 0:42:30.000 --> 0:42:32.760 I was, but I didn't get skipped. I was around 0:42:32.760 --> 0:42:37.200 other kids who had the same type of like learning specialty. 0:42:37.200 --> 0:42:38.400 I don't know how to describe it. 0:42:38.640 --> 0:42:39.960 So by the time I went to high school, I 0:42:39.960 --> 0:42:42.759 had high school credits from junior high school and I 0:42:42.760 --> 0:42:45.520 could have graduated early, but I just fucked off and 0:42:46.120 --> 0:42:50.239 I graduated right on time because I kind of just I. 0:42:50.280 --> 0:42:52.319 Just kind of like caught up with everybody else, you know. 0:42:52.360 --> 0:42:54.120 But I guess I was supposed to be like a 0:42:54.200 --> 0:42:56.560 kid that graduated when you're sixteen or seventeen, you know, 0:42:56.960 --> 0:42:57.879 probably then. 0:42:57.800 --> 0:42:59.720 What about going to school after high school? 0:43:00.200 --> 0:43:01.440 I went to City College. 0:43:02.840 --> 0:43:05.960 So that was at Harlem, which was on one thirty fifth, 0:43:05.960 --> 0:43:10.400 one thirty seventh in Convent. You know, that was a 0:43:10.440 --> 0:43:13.000 time too. It was putting me as a Brooklyn guy. 0:43:13.080 --> 0:43:16.000 Going to the Harlem at that time was way different. 0:43:16.280 --> 0:43:18.040 You know. They could smell it on me, like you 0:43:18.200 --> 0:43:19.759 not from over here. You know. 0:43:19.840 --> 0:43:21.759 I dated this girl that was from Harlem too, So 0:43:21.840 --> 0:43:23.320 I was always on one twenty fifth. I was in 0:43:23.360 --> 0:43:27.279 the projects a lot, you know, I was. I was 0:43:27.280 --> 0:43:29.560 an uptown guy for like the latter part of my 0:43:29.600 --> 0:43:30.640 adult life, you know. 0:43:31.480 --> 0:43:34.040 And yeah, that was that was basically it. 0:43:34.640 --> 0:43:36.240 And did you graduate from college? 0:43:36.520 --> 0:43:36.879 I did. 0:43:37.000 --> 0:43:40.279 I went to another school that was basically, my mom 0:43:40.360 --> 0:43:42.759 was really sick when I was in school and my 0:43:42.800 --> 0:43:48.000 attendance was so poor that I i they wouldn't allow 0:43:48.040 --> 0:43:51.960 me to basically continue, which was fucked up because it 0:43:52.040 --> 0:43:54.719 was like I wasn't necessarily having bad grades just to 0:43:54.719 --> 0:43:56.440 my attendance wasn't holding up. But I'm like, my mom 0:43:56.520 --> 0:43:58.680 is in not the hospital, man, So like, I don't 0:43:58.680 --> 0:44:01.200 really know. I wanted to be in music so bad. 0:44:01.239 --> 0:44:02.799 I wanted to be a music major. Oh, you need 0:44:02.840 --> 0:44:04.719 to have all these credentials. And I was like, well 0:44:04.760 --> 0:44:07.239 I could work really hard and get it. Oh, it's 0:44:07.280 --> 0:44:08.600 not going to happen. I was like, well, I still 0:44:08.640 --> 0:44:12.120 want to go to school for what I'm passionate about, 0:44:12.200 --> 0:44:15.440 and because I went because I knew design and animation 0:44:15.680 --> 0:44:16.680 before I. 0:44:16.680 --> 0:44:19.279 Was in school. Were like, you know, in college, I 0:44:19.360 --> 0:44:20.759 knew that would be an easy way for me to 0:44:20.800 --> 0:44:22.600 get some type of paper. 0:44:23.000 --> 0:44:25.960 You know, that's what it is to verify that I'm 0:44:26.000 --> 0:44:29.839 actually like I'm an adult, you know. I just was like, well, 0:44:29.840 --> 0:44:31.160 if you don't want me to accept me to school, 0:44:31.200 --> 0:44:33.800 I went to another school called Anthem and the Anthem 0:44:33.800 --> 0:44:37.160 Institute basically, and they gave me the certification to become 0:44:37.800 --> 0:44:41.240 a freelance designer and graphic designer. 0:44:41.680 --> 0:44:46.960 So okay, let's go back to when do you decide 0:44:47.000 --> 0:44:48.120 you want to start. 0:44:47.960 --> 0:44:53.000 Making music professionally? Like no, no, no, no. The first time, 0:44:53.239 --> 0:44:56.040 I was probably like fourteen thirteen. 0:44:56.080 --> 0:44:59.279 And so what steps do you take back then? 0:44:59.440 --> 0:44:59.600 Man? 0:44:59.680 --> 0:45:03.839 It was I shit, man, Like we had fruity loops, right, 0:45:03.840 --> 0:45:07.520 and you get these like little shitty programs on your 0:45:07.520 --> 0:45:10.360 computer that expire after thirty minutes after use it. 0:45:10.360 --> 0:45:12.040 They locked down. You couldn't save anything. 0:45:12.120 --> 0:45:14.360 So every time I would start it, I try to 0:45:14.400 --> 0:45:16.520 like make a beat and then record it on something 0:45:16.719 --> 0:45:18.839 because I couldn't save it. I didn't have any money 0:45:18.880 --> 0:45:21.960 to like buy the stuff. And I was also embarrassed, 0:45:21.960 --> 0:45:24.239 you know, you know I'm looking. I was this kid, 0:45:24.400 --> 0:45:25.680 like I said, go to school, and I had all 0:45:25.680 --> 0:45:27.880 these other shits. It's like, you want to be a rapper, 0:45:28.000 --> 0:45:30.160 you want to be like a musician. That didn't seem 0:45:30.200 --> 0:45:32.680 like a solid job. So I would hide and do 0:45:32.719 --> 0:45:36.120 these things. But yeah, I would. Me and my friend said, 0:45:36.440 --> 0:45:38.560 we had fruity loops. I remember that's when we it 0:45:38.600 --> 0:45:40.680 was like a trial version and it would let you export, 0:45:40.960 --> 0:45:42.840 so we would have like little things we'd turn it 0:45:42.840 --> 0:45:44.279 on and try to make a beat really quick and 0:45:44.280 --> 0:45:46.120 send it back and forth to see who had made 0:45:46.120 --> 0:45:48.000 a better beat, and shit, I think that's the time 0:45:48.040 --> 0:45:50.280 I was like, man, this is really fun. I'm eventually 0:45:50.280 --> 0:45:52.400 going to ask my mom to help me buy some 0:45:52.480 --> 0:45:54.400 of this stuff. By the time I went to high school, 0:45:54.640 --> 0:45:57.920 I bought a rolling MV eight thousand, and at the 0:45:57.920 --> 0:45:59.920 time I had been to studios that used the MPC, 0:46:00.640 --> 0:46:02.880 but the NPC was just I'm that kind of person. 0:46:02.920 --> 0:46:05.600 If everybody has that, I'm like, I want to try 0:46:05.640 --> 0:46:06.280 something different. 0:46:07.000 --> 0:46:09.800 And I know Riza endorsed the NVA thousand, which was 0:46:09.840 --> 0:46:12.040 a rolling product, not a KAI, and I was like, Yo, 0:46:12.800 --> 0:46:14.759 I'm gonna get this shit. And I think it was 0:46:14.800 --> 0:46:17.000 that summer I told my mom. I was like, Yo, whatever, 0:46:17.040 --> 0:46:20.080 i gotta do extra stuff in the house. You know, 0:46:20.120 --> 0:46:22.040 I'm gonna get a job, I'm gonna do all these things, 0:46:22.160 --> 0:46:24.280 but I really want this this drum machine. 0:46:25.239 --> 0:46:28.319 She was just like, where did this come from? And 0:46:28.360 --> 0:46:30.920 I was like, yeah, yo, like this is how people 0:46:31.040 --> 0:46:33.080 make music. And she's like, well, you can use this 0:46:33.160 --> 0:46:35.719 every day, and you know what moms do. I'm like, 0:46:35.719 --> 0:46:37.799 I'm gonna use it every day. I use that shit 0:46:38.040 --> 0:46:40.439 every fucking day. I stared at that thing. I don't 0:46:40.480 --> 0:46:42.040 know what I was doing. I read the book. 0:46:42.200 --> 0:46:46.239 This is before like YouTube was like the YouTube college thing, 0:46:46.719 --> 0:46:50.320 so I was just like trying to down information. I 0:46:50.360 --> 0:46:55.839 remember then I jay Z had the Black album, and 0:46:56.200 --> 0:46:58.799 I remember this is as pivotal. I still remember this 0:46:58.960 --> 0:47:01.719 like yesterday, man, when had the movie, the documentary that 0:47:01.800 --> 0:47:05.360 went with this album. It was when Pharrell had told 0:47:05.440 --> 0:47:09.480 jay Z, hey, man, I want you to come to 0:47:09.520 --> 0:47:11.959 the studio and hear this track. And jay Z must 0:47:11.960 --> 0:47:14.440 have said, like, just send it to me, and Fro 0:47:14.600 --> 0:47:17.760 was like, no, you gotta be here. You don't understand. 0:47:17.840 --> 0:47:19.600 I want to play it for you in person. And 0:47:19.640 --> 0:47:21.040 you could tell jay Z he didn't want to do it. 0:47:21.200 --> 0:47:22.839 When jay Z came, he had his due rat going. 0:47:22.880 --> 0:47:24.920 He take his chains off, like put it on the console, 0:47:24.960 --> 0:47:27.200 like turn it on. And Fro was like wait, wait 0:47:27.200 --> 0:47:29.680 wait wait wait, you know Colito's way. You know he 0:47:29.680 --> 0:47:30.680 talks about Colido's way. 0:47:30.680 --> 0:47:33.800 He's like, yo, this is like boom and he plays 0:47:33.800 --> 0:47:36.200 a song and it was Allure and I remember just 0:47:36.239 --> 0:47:38.719 the core progressions in the sense I was like, yo, 0:47:38.840 --> 0:47:40.600 that's a triton I could just hear it, like I 0:47:40.680 --> 0:47:44.520 knew music well enough at that time to identify where 0:47:44.560 --> 0:47:46.640 things came from, even though I didn't have the musical 0:47:46.680 --> 0:47:50.920 knowledge to implement, I couldn't my ear and my understanding 0:47:50.920 --> 0:47:53.040 of it. I was like, I know what keyboard that is. 0:47:53.120 --> 0:47:55.520 And there was a shot of it and you can 0:47:55.600 --> 0:47:57.200 see the back of it said cork Triton. 0:47:57.280 --> 0:47:59.239 I was like, I'm gonna buy that. Fucking I'm gonna 0:47:59.239 --> 0:48:00.640 buy it. I don't know how i'mnna get the money, 0:48:00.680 --> 0:48:03.279 but I'm gonna buy it. And I begged my mom again, like, yo, 0:48:03.560 --> 0:48:05.480 I need this. This is gonna make me a star. 0:48:05.760 --> 0:48:07.440 All these things she bought me. 0:48:07.480 --> 0:48:10.520 I bought a cork trit and eventually months after that 0:48:10.760 --> 0:48:13.359 off eBay and it worked for like a week, and 0:48:13.400 --> 0:48:17.680 then the one of the transformers blew and I felt 0:48:17.680 --> 0:48:19.239 so bad. I want to tell her. She was like, 0:48:19.239 --> 0:48:21.640 why you're not playing the thing? I was like, it's broken. 0:48:22.800 --> 0:48:25.000 She was so upset, and she was like, well, we 0:48:25.000 --> 0:48:27.120 gotta get you another one. And at that point I 0:48:27.200 --> 0:48:29.440 just was like, I don't want to use this one anymore. 0:48:30.000 --> 0:48:34.280 I want something else, and I bought a Phantom X six. 0:48:34.320 --> 0:48:36.239 I think X seven. I forget which one it was 0:48:36.280 --> 0:48:36.960 at the time. 0:48:37.239 --> 0:48:40.320 And I had my mvaight thousand and phantom and that 0:48:40.440 --> 0:48:42.840 was it. That was when I started selling beats to 0:48:42.880 --> 0:48:45.560 my friends and chopping samples, and I learned how to 0:48:45.680 --> 0:48:48.719 use real equipment. We used to use sound modules back 0:48:48.760 --> 0:48:51.640 then too, because I couldn't afford the actual keyboard. So 0:48:51.719 --> 0:48:54.279 we get a mini controller and you'd stack you know, 0:48:54.960 --> 0:48:57.840 rolling x WEE fifty eighty or like a mofat or 0:48:57.840 --> 0:49:00.880 some shit, and you stack them up and chain them 0:49:00.960 --> 0:49:03.400 to your MIDI control and I can send MIDI signals 0:49:03.400 --> 0:49:03.719 to it. 0:49:03.760 --> 0:49:05.319 I was like learning to do this shit. 0:49:05.360 --> 0:49:07.160 And then again, it's so funny to talk about it now, 0:49:07.160 --> 0:49:09.640 because at the time, I was like, everybody knows how 0:49:09.640 --> 0:49:11.680 to do this. All my friends are like, Bro, this 0:49:11.719 --> 0:49:14.520 is like difficult shit you're doing. Bro, This is somebody 0:49:14.600 --> 0:49:16.560 usually comes and sets this up for somebody, and then 0:49:16.600 --> 0:49:20.799 the producer plays the equipment. Just because somebody makes music 0:49:20.800 --> 0:49:22.680 doesn't know that, it doesn't necessarily mean they know how 0:49:22.719 --> 0:49:25.240 to set up the stuff too. But I was teaching myself, 0:49:25.520 --> 0:49:27.840 you know, plugging this cable and plugging it out and 0:49:27.840 --> 0:49:31.600 figuring out how to do sends and bypasses and all 0:49:31.600 --> 0:49:34.360 this shit. With just the stuff in my bedroom. I 0:49:34.360 --> 0:49:37.920 throw out my bed to have more space for my equipment. 0:49:38.719 --> 0:49:42.799 I bought a rolling, the Juno one O six. You know, 0:49:42.920 --> 0:49:45.120 my friend had loaned me six hundred dollars got off Craigslist. 0:49:45.120 --> 0:49:47.520 That's what it used to cost of that time. I 0:49:47.600 --> 0:49:50.960 was just like fully embracing, like I'm gonna be your producer. 0:49:51.080 --> 0:49:51.279 You know. 0:49:51.360 --> 0:49:53.520 I didn't really think I would be like a rapper 0:49:53.680 --> 0:49:59.160 or an artist. I was more fascinated with the actual 0:49:59.160 --> 0:50:02.480 production of it. But yeah, that's basically how it got introduced. 0:50:02.480 --> 0:50:05.320 It was a summer okay, Yeah, all. 0:50:05.160 --> 0:50:06.960 The story you just told me that all happened when 0:50:07.000 --> 0:50:11.040 you were in high school. Yeah, okay, you said you 0:50:11.080 --> 0:50:14.040 started selling beats. Go a little deeper on that. 0:50:14.560 --> 0:50:18.000 So there was like there was the program. There was 0:50:18.040 --> 0:50:24.000 like these websites. It was like this producer you would 0:50:24.000 --> 0:50:26.560 like be able to make beats and lease them online. 0:50:26.640 --> 0:50:29.560 So you would make an account and you had like 0:50:29.600 --> 0:50:32.000 a profile picture and shit, and you just make these 0:50:32.040 --> 0:50:34.200 beats and people would pay you money to be able 0:50:34.200 --> 0:50:36.840 to use your beats. I think one was called rock Battle. 0:50:37.400 --> 0:50:39.239 I think it was Rock Wilder used to make it 0:50:39.920 --> 0:50:41.879 ran that one. It was like sound click and other 0:50:42.000 --> 0:50:47.960 like online entities that you can basically give people the 0:50:47.960 --> 0:50:50.520 opportunity to record a song on your track and they 0:50:50.600 --> 0:50:52.839 just had to let you hear it and you'd get 0:50:52.880 --> 0:50:53.680 PayPal money. 0:50:53.719 --> 0:50:56.960 I get forty fifty bucks little money online and that's. 0:50:56.960 --> 0:50:59.280 Yeah, So how did you establish a price? 0:51:00.440 --> 0:51:02.480 I just took whatever I think. If this is my 0:51:02.480 --> 0:51:06.080 favorite beat, it was like one hundred dollars, it does 0:51:06.160 --> 0:51:08.600 my favorite beat? Other beach just five bucks, bro. I 0:51:08.680 --> 0:51:09.960 just I was just happy to hear. 0:51:10.040 --> 0:51:11.960 I just wanted to meet other artists, and I used 0:51:11.960 --> 0:51:14.200 that as a way to be like, you know, sometimes 0:51:14.239 --> 0:51:16.560 the beats that were one dollar really were really really bad, 0:51:16.719 --> 0:51:19.359 you know. So I thought if I charged a little 0:51:19.360 --> 0:51:22.080 bit of money, it would make other artists listen to 0:51:22.080 --> 0:51:22.919 it because it was cheap. 0:51:22.920 --> 0:51:24.360 But then be like what is it hundred? Is it 0:51:24.400 --> 0:51:26.560 only a dollar? Wow? And it hit me up, Hey 0:51:26.560 --> 0:51:27.239 you got any more? 0:51:27.360 --> 0:51:29.200 I'd be like, yeah, but this one is fifty bucks, 0:51:29.680 --> 0:51:32.160 Like oh shit, you know, I'll pay fifty bucks, you know. 0:51:32.239 --> 0:51:33.879 And then I started to at least beat some other 0:51:33.880 --> 0:51:37.960 people too, because I wanted to learn, and other people 0:51:37.960 --> 0:51:40.160 had the same equipment as me. So I had this 0:51:40.320 --> 0:51:44.120 online like click of people that were all producers and 0:51:44.200 --> 0:51:46.440 artists that were teaching each other, and that kind of 0:51:46.480 --> 0:51:49.239 helped me like figure out my identity and sound as 0:51:49.239 --> 0:51:49.960 a producer too. 0:51:51.280 --> 0:51:55.359 Okay, was this a business or a hobby? I mean, 0:51:55.440 --> 0:51:58.080 you know, you're making five hundred dollars a year or 0:51:58.120 --> 0:51:59.320 five thousand. 0:52:00.640 --> 0:52:03.200 Four hundred dollars a year. Yeah, I wasn't making money. 0:52:03.480 --> 0:52:05.600 I was just it was just fun. 0:52:05.760 --> 0:52:06.160 Okay. 0:52:06.680 --> 0:52:09.560 So you graduate from high school, you go to city college, 0:52:10.000 --> 0:52:13.080 you're making music the whole time. At any point, do 0:52:13.120 --> 0:52:14.120 you have a straight gig? 0:52:15.040 --> 0:52:15.440 Yeah. 0:52:15.600 --> 0:52:20.359 So by the time I was in City college, I 0:52:20.480 --> 0:52:25.400 worked at I became a college marketing rep. So I 0:52:25.440 --> 0:52:28.600 worked at Sony Music while I was in school, So 0:52:28.640 --> 0:52:31.400 I was on Madison. One of my friends was already 0:52:31.440 --> 0:52:35.279 a rep in the alternative department and they wanted one 0:52:35.320 --> 0:52:40.200 for Urban, so they hired me. And this is when 0:52:40.200 --> 0:52:45.160 I learned about major label businesses and how to navigate 0:52:45.480 --> 0:52:46.760 and I don't know. 0:52:48.880 --> 0:52:50.120 Market stuff, you know. 0:52:50.160 --> 0:52:52.560 At the time, they were real street teams and people 0:52:52.600 --> 0:52:55.319 created activations in person, and my job was basically to 0:52:55.400 --> 0:52:58.279 go to shows and do recaps of the people that 0:52:58.320 --> 0:53:02.560 were there. By demographic, by age, what they were wearing. 0:53:03.120 --> 0:53:06.319 All that shit was really important because the artists and 0:53:06.400 --> 0:53:09.000 the label wanted to know who was physically there and 0:53:09.040 --> 0:53:11.800 there was no way for all the execs and people 0:53:11.800 --> 0:53:13.680 to go to these shows, so they let this college 0:53:13.680 --> 0:53:15.000 student go to all the show. I was going to 0:53:15.040 --> 0:53:17.600 shows every way. Every week, I was going to a 0:53:17.640 --> 0:53:20.080 new artist. Sometimes it was artists that they were considering 0:53:20.120 --> 0:53:22.319 the sign to Sony. Some of them were artists on 0:53:22.360 --> 0:53:25.800 Sony and Yeah and Now. I would go to independent 0:53:25.800 --> 0:53:31.960 businesses and put up displays of Beyonce's new album, Ja 0:53:32.040 --> 0:53:35.040 Cole's new album, whoever their premier artist was at the time, 0:53:35.719 --> 0:53:38.240 and in exchange, if they left it in the store, 0:53:38.280 --> 0:53:40.719 I would give them CDs. So that was my job 0:53:40.840 --> 0:53:42.760 for while I was in college. 0:53:43.200 --> 0:53:48.200 And also I worked at Mexican Summer Records Commadol Records. 0:53:48.880 --> 0:53:51.320 Okay, in the old days, that was not a paying 0:53:51.480 --> 0:53:54.160 job to be a college rep. Yeah, did they pay 0:53:54.200 --> 0:53:55.600 you in your era? Yeah? 0:53:55.640 --> 0:53:57.440 It was nothing though that I got money, and we 0:53:57.480 --> 0:53:59.520 would if I was with my boss or anybody, they 0:53:59.520 --> 0:54:00.360 would pay for everything. 0:54:00.400 --> 0:54:02.839 So like if I eat food, I get food for free, 0:54:03.080 --> 0:54:04.320 drinking and drink for free. 0:54:04.520 --> 0:54:08.720 So you do that all during college? You graduate from college, 0:54:08.719 --> 0:54:11.320 what do you do for money? 0:54:11.440 --> 0:54:17.120 I worked, well. I worked at foot locker, that was fun. 0:54:17.200 --> 0:54:21.040 I worked at guitar center, that was fun. So I 0:54:21.040 --> 0:54:24.120 always had a job. I was a job guy, and 0:54:24.160 --> 0:54:27.080 I had maybe three jobs before I quit to make music. 0:54:27.440 --> 0:54:27.680 Yeah. 0:54:27.680 --> 0:54:29.520 How well were you when you quit to make music? 0:54:29.719 --> 0:54:33.680 I would probably twenty three? Maybe? 0:54:33.880 --> 0:54:38.399 Okay, you quit to make music? Did these things intersect? 0:54:38.560 --> 0:54:41.359 What I mean by that is when you quit, had 0:54:41.400 --> 0:54:43.440 you saved up money and today I'm going to start? 0:54:43.520 --> 0:54:45.760 Or were you already making money in music? 0:54:46.080 --> 0:54:46.200 No? 0:54:46.360 --> 0:54:50.920 I wasn't making money. I was just delusional and I 0:54:50.920 --> 0:54:51.640 had a dream. 0:54:51.800 --> 0:54:52.800 I remember. 0:54:54.760 --> 0:54:58.080 Particularly, there was one day I had my group, Flabber 0:54:58.160 --> 0:55:02.640 Zombies was starting twenty I released my project which was 0:55:02.680 --> 0:55:06.520 like my opus in twenty eleven. It was called Almost Remembered, 0:55:06.800 --> 0:55:09.200 and I thought, when I did this shit, it was over. 0:55:09.320 --> 0:55:12.040 Like I was going to be good like and emotionally. 0:55:12.160 --> 0:55:13.880 Hell yeah I was. I was so proud of myself. 0:55:13.880 --> 0:55:15.440 I didn't make any money, but I would do a 0:55:15.480 --> 0:55:19.680 show and it be thirty people. To me, that was 0:55:19.719 --> 0:55:20.279 fucking great. 0:55:20.440 --> 0:55:22.719 You know, I've done shows where nobody came that the 0:55:22.760 --> 0:55:24.960 shows were six people were there, just my friend and 0:55:25.040 --> 0:55:25.919 my cousin or some shit. 0:55:27.160 --> 0:55:33.520 So you know, at that time, I was looking for something, 0:55:33.600 --> 0:55:36.120 a foundation to lean on, because I had the knowledge 0:55:36.120 --> 0:55:38.239 and I had some relationships with people too, so I 0:55:38.280 --> 0:55:40.640 knew that I had the foundation to make a career, 0:55:41.120 --> 0:55:45.279 but I had no money, and out of delusion, I 0:55:45.280 --> 0:55:46.560 basically was like, well, I'm. 0:55:46.440 --> 0:55:49.680 At work right now. I remember I dating this girl and. 0:55:51.600 --> 0:55:54.040 It was snowing that day and I was in New 0:55:54.120 --> 0:55:56.040 Jersey where she lived, and I remember I had to 0:55:56.040 --> 0:55:57.799 clock into work at like one or some shit. It 0:55:57.840 --> 0:56:00.320 was like a late day and the bus was slow, 0:56:00.480 --> 0:56:02.080 and I'm like, damn, I gotta come in from a 0:56:02.080 --> 0:56:03.920 whole book and whatever, blah blah blah blah. 0:56:04.200 --> 0:56:06.560 And I was just like, I'm not going back to 0:56:06.560 --> 0:56:08.520 work like ever. 0:56:09.480 --> 0:56:12.239 It was like, I remember I had to get off 0:56:12.280 --> 0:56:14.759 on Atlantic Avenue to go to work, and I was 0:56:14.800 --> 0:56:16.200 just like when Atlantic Avenue came. 0:56:16.160 --> 0:56:18.399 Up, I stood up and I just sat back down. 0:56:18.480 --> 0:56:20.160 I was like, I'm not going back to work. And 0:56:20.239 --> 0:56:22.239 my boss was like, oh, is it snow day or 0:56:22.239 --> 0:56:23.719 you're not coming to work? Is it something. I was like, 0:56:23.760 --> 0:56:26.520 I'm just not coming back. I just never went back. 0:56:26.360 --> 0:56:29.640 To work, and I knew that if I had quit 0:56:29.760 --> 0:56:31.560 cold Turkey like that, I had to be on my 0:56:31.600 --> 0:56:35.600 shit every day. And yeah, we started Flat Zombies and 0:56:35.800 --> 0:56:39.240 it changed pretty much the whole. 0:56:40.040 --> 0:56:44.960 It changed everything. It became from the forty the forty 0:56:45.320 --> 0:56:48.680 shows with the forty people shows to like our fro show, 0:56:48.840 --> 0:56:51.359 having like all these local people pulling up. I forgot 0:56:51.400 --> 0:56:52.960 the name of the venue is on Granary Plaza. 0:56:53.000 --> 0:56:56.479 It's closed now, but maybe two hundred three hundred people 0:56:56.480 --> 0:56:59.200 at our first show. Like we didn't have any music out, 0:56:59.280 --> 0:57:02.239 but it just tumbler, and all the electricity on the 0:57:02.239 --> 0:57:05.320 internet about me and my friends was it was electric. 0:57:05.400 --> 0:57:07.279 People wanted to find out what the hell was this 0:57:07.360 --> 0:57:10.000 is about. So the intrigue in the curiosity, the support 0:57:10.040 --> 0:57:12.319 from our neighborhood, it being in Brooklyn, to all these 0:57:12.320 --> 0:57:16.040 people pulled up. So I came from like poetry people 0:57:16.120 --> 0:57:18.440 snapping and playing bongos with like ten people, to like 0:57:19.320 --> 0:57:22.720 people moshing to a song that like made people feel 0:57:22.720 --> 0:57:24.120 like this was like the new shit. 0:57:24.240 --> 0:57:30.000 You know, Okay, you say you're delusional, you quit your job, 0:57:30.240 --> 0:57:33.760 you're working really hard, two hundred people show up. At 0:57:33.760 --> 0:57:35.480 some point, you have to pay the Piper, where does 0:57:35.520 --> 0:57:36.360 the money come from? 0:57:37.040 --> 0:57:40.040 So a lot of the money came from merchandise, and 0:57:40.480 --> 0:57:44.400 the time once we started to become this entity in group, 0:57:44.520 --> 0:57:47.120 people wanted our T shirts really really badly. 0:57:47.160 --> 0:57:49.040 I mean, having. 0:57:51.320 --> 0:57:53.120 You know, a Duffel bag and selling them out of 0:57:53.160 --> 0:57:55.640 Duffle bag thirty forty fifty dollars shirts. That was that 0:57:55.720 --> 0:57:57.880 sustained us for a long time. The merchandise was a 0:57:57.920 --> 0:58:00.800 really important part of how we all made money. And 0:58:00.840 --> 0:58:03.280 I live with my parents until that started to pick up. 0:58:03.520 --> 0:58:05.439 But then I started picking up and I'm like, oh shit, 0:58:05.800 --> 0:58:06.920 I could move out. 0:58:07.040 --> 0:58:09.000 And once he moved out, I moved out. 0:58:08.960 --> 0:58:11.680 With with one of the guys from my group, and 0:58:11.720 --> 0:58:13.960 then the other guy from my group also moved out, 0:58:14.000 --> 0:58:16.560 and we all lived in this building in Bedstide, and 0:58:16.600 --> 0:58:18.600 that's when we were like, oh shit, we make enough 0:58:18.600 --> 0:58:21.000 money to pay rent together and if we all take 0:58:21.000 --> 0:58:23.200 a little bit off what we had, we can afford 0:58:23.240 --> 0:58:25.480 to live here. And we end up standing there like 0:58:26.400 --> 0:58:28.959 three years or something like that before I moved out 0:58:29.120 --> 0:58:30.080 by myself. 0:58:30.160 --> 0:58:34.200 So yeah, okay, how did you form the Flat Push Zombies? 0:58:34.720 --> 0:58:38.600 So these guys, man, I've known one of them since 0:58:38.640 --> 0:58:40.400 I was four years old. His mom. 0:58:40.520 --> 0:58:45.640 His name is meech Dmitri. I've known him my whole life, really, 0:58:46.880 --> 0:58:49.600 my longest friend. Him and my other friend Gregory are 0:58:49.680 --> 0:58:50.600 like my two oldest. 0:58:50.360 --> 0:58:52.080 Friends I've known my whole life. You know, I'm sure 0:58:52.080 --> 0:58:53.400 you have people like that in your life too. 0:58:53.440 --> 0:58:58.440 It's like every memory of my childhood he's there, you know. 0:58:58.800 --> 0:59:03.040 And I never thought that this dude would be an artist, 0:59:03.120 --> 0:59:06.040 not because he couldn't. It's just that we were all 0:59:06.080 --> 0:59:08.520 doing different things. But when I tell you, both of 0:59:08.520 --> 0:59:11.800 them have a natural as a producer and as your friend, 0:59:11.840 --> 0:59:14.520 I was like, the way that you do shit is 0:59:14.560 --> 0:59:18.080 a god given talent. I don't know how your voice, 0:59:18.120 --> 0:59:21.680 your delivery is stuff that I had to practice for years. 0:59:21.720 --> 0:59:24.360 They just knew and maybe we were watching each other 0:59:24.400 --> 0:59:26.640 and maybe you're watching me however you want to flip it. 0:59:26.680 --> 0:59:29.400 But you know, these were guys that like just had 0:59:29.440 --> 0:59:31.200 a natural talent. And I met him. You know, he 0:59:31.280 --> 0:59:33.600 lived on the under the block. We all lived up 0:59:33.600 --> 0:59:36.240 on thirty first, so he lived on one side. His 0:59:36.280 --> 0:59:39.040 parents was Jamaican. I had my Jamaican as dad on 0:59:39.080 --> 0:59:41.240 the other side. You know, so you know how people cross, 0:59:41.280 --> 0:59:44.320 you know, they talk shit. My dad and my mom 0:59:44.360 --> 0:59:47.160 are part of the block association, so everybody knew them, 0:59:47.160 --> 0:59:49.480 and my dad became the captain of the block association, 0:59:49.600 --> 0:59:50.600 so my whole block. 0:59:50.520 --> 0:59:52.240 Was like they knew my dad, you know. 0:59:53.000 --> 0:59:56.240 And as we got older, we all hung out, and 0:59:57.240 --> 1:00:01.280 he went to school with Antonio in junior high school, 1:00:01.320 --> 1:00:03.120 I think, so by the time they hung out, he 1:00:03.160 --> 1:00:05.560 would come to the block and we'd all hang out 1:00:05.640 --> 1:00:09.800 and eventually started smoking me together and started doing drugs 1:00:09.840 --> 1:00:13.040 together whatever whatever they were doing, whatever I was doing 1:00:13.800 --> 1:00:16.520 at the time, and we made the group. It was 1:00:16.560 --> 1:00:18.960 just I still worked at Guitar Center when when the 1:00:19.160 --> 1:00:21.760 group was formed, and that was one of the other 1:00:21.800 --> 1:00:25.080 reasons why I quit, because the group started to have traction, 1:00:25.160 --> 1:00:27.080 but nobody knew that I was in it because I 1:00:27.160 --> 1:00:29.919 was just the producer quote unquote, you know. So part 1:00:29.960 --> 1:00:31.560 of that was because I had a job, and when 1:00:31.560 --> 1:00:33.720 they would shoot videos or do anything, I had to wait. 1:00:33.720 --> 1:00:35.160 They had to wait for me to come back home, 1:00:35.440 --> 1:00:36.840 and it was a lot of shit happening that I 1:00:36.840 --> 1:00:39.880 missed out on because I was working, So, you know, 1:00:40.000 --> 1:00:42.720 I had to sacrifice that to kind of be the 1:00:42.760 --> 1:00:43.919 group full full time. 1:00:53.640 --> 1:00:58.320 The other two members, what did their lives look like 1:00:58.880 --> 1:01:01.240 you were going to college. Yeah, the unfortunate thing with 1:01:01.280 --> 1:01:04.479 your mother, you had straight jobs. What was their life 1:01:04.920 --> 1:01:06.600 like before the Flapwush Sambies. 1:01:08.600 --> 1:01:11.600 One of them they did, one of them they well, 1:01:11.680 --> 1:01:14.840 one of them I worked with at a foot locker. 1:01:15.080 --> 1:01:17.040 The other one did what people do in the hood. 1:01:17.240 --> 1:01:18.640 So I'm not going to say what it is, but 1:01:18.720 --> 1:01:23.200 you know what it is. So yeah, street shit did 1:01:23.200 --> 1:01:25.919 a lot of street shit for money and doing doing 1:01:25.960 --> 1:01:28.560 whatever we all did to make money. But that was 1:01:28.600 --> 1:01:32.120 before we any of us, thought that this would be 1:01:32.160 --> 1:01:35.320 something that would stick, you know, and you're a kid, 1:01:35.400 --> 1:01:36.360 you don't really. 1:01:37.880 --> 1:01:39.920 You do whatever you have to do to make money 1:01:39.960 --> 1:01:42.600 to make sure that you can get what you need. 1:01:43.280 --> 1:01:46.000 And at that time, it was really just looking like 1:01:46.680 --> 1:01:50.720 a rapper. It was weird back then. It wasn't right 1:01:50.720 --> 1:01:53.280 before like Supreme and all the street where shit was 1:01:53.320 --> 1:01:56.120 really really popping when I first started to make music, 1:01:56.480 --> 1:02:00.240 you know, but at that time I think that people 1:02:00.240 --> 1:02:02.600 didn't look like us, so it was hard to explain why. 1:02:03.520 --> 1:02:05.600 You know, we had Supreme, but we also talking about 1:02:05.680 --> 1:02:09.360 like esoteric knowledge and like you got you know, Louis 1:02:09.400 --> 1:02:14.600 Vuitton wallets and shit. But you're also talking about like existentialism. 1:02:14.960 --> 1:02:17.320 It just didn't come from the same body. And I 1:02:17.360 --> 1:02:20.640 think that was when I was like WHOA like and 1:02:20.680 --> 1:02:23.000 also did street shit. So it was like all these 1:02:23.080 --> 1:02:26.480 kinds of things didn't live within anybody else that I knew. 1:02:26.600 --> 1:02:30.760 And those people that maybe had the same mentality or desires, 1:02:30.840 --> 1:02:33.160 they became our friends in our community too, because they're like, dude, 1:02:33.240 --> 1:02:36.560 I watch cartoons too. Some of them gangbang, some of 1:02:36.600 --> 1:02:40.120 them sell drugs. Some of them didn't graduate from school, 1:02:40.160 --> 1:02:42.720 some did graduate from school. But we all loved music, 1:02:42.760 --> 1:02:44.600 and we all loved our neighborhood. That was kind of 1:02:44.600 --> 1:02:47.480 why the name Flatbush. If he was from Flatbush, you 1:02:47.560 --> 1:02:48.480 immediately like a fan. 1:02:48.720 --> 1:02:54.360 You know, Okay, you have outside projects. Are the other 1:02:54.440 --> 1:02:57.400 members of the group self sustaining from music? 1:02:57.920 --> 1:02:59.080 Yeah? 1:02:59.480 --> 1:03:04.880 Okay, So you put out the first album you were 1:03:04.880 --> 1:03:07.320 talking about being delusional, but you get people to come, 1:03:07.320 --> 1:03:09.840 you're selling merch Where does that leave you? Where do 1:03:09.840 --> 1:03:10.480 you go next? 1:03:12.320 --> 1:03:15.600 So in twenty so our first album was in twenty sixteen, 1:03:16.320 --> 1:03:22.560 which commercially sold that album, But in twenty thirteen and 1:03:22.600 --> 1:03:26.880 twenty fourteen we released mixtapes. That mixtape that we did 1:03:26.920 --> 1:03:31.120 in twenty thirteen was called Drugs Death Reincarnated under God's Supervision, 1:03:31.280 --> 1:03:33.240 you know, and these a lot of my friends were 1:03:33.280 --> 1:03:36.680 taking a lot of acid, bro and I didn't take acid. 1:03:36.280 --> 1:03:38.160 With them, you know. I just was like, WHOA, what 1:03:38.200 --> 1:03:38.919 the fuck is this? 1:03:39.320 --> 1:03:41.880 I never judged them, but I was always like whoa, 1:03:41.960 --> 1:03:45.680 Like how are we going to How am I going 1:03:45.760 --> 1:03:46.400 to fit into this? 1:03:46.600 --> 1:03:46.800 You know? 1:03:47.160 --> 1:03:48.560 But it was like I had to kind of be 1:03:49.840 --> 1:03:56.320 the real nerd and learn optically. Maybe not maybe people 1:03:56.440 --> 1:03:58.840 thought that I wasn't around, but I was. I was 1:03:58.960 --> 1:04:01.960 very integral to the actual production of music, and the 1:04:02.000 --> 1:04:04.400 mixtape did really well. I remember, I want to say 1:04:04.520 --> 1:04:08.800 that time Lana Doray openly said that she was a 1:04:08.800 --> 1:04:09.880 fan of our. 1:04:09.720 --> 1:04:12.840 Group, PEO were like, what the fuck? Like, how does this? 1:04:13.840 --> 1:04:14.640 You know? How that is? 1:04:14.680 --> 1:04:17.400 People some person of importance says something and it kind 1:04:17.400 --> 1:04:20.040 of catches fire, and all these other people would kind 1:04:20.040 --> 1:04:23.280 of like reach out and rest in peace to my 1:04:23.320 --> 1:04:27.680 brother Asap Yams. I knew Stevie Rodriguez when he was 1:04:27.680 --> 1:04:31.040 fifteen years old. It was like all these sneaker forms 1:04:31.080 --> 1:04:35.040 that were really cool, iss and Nike talk. People would 1:04:35.040 --> 1:04:37.280 post their fits and we just talked shit on Land 1:04:37.280 --> 1:04:40.440 and that it's this forum basis before social media, and 1:04:40.800 --> 1:04:44.960 Yams was the catalyst of bringing ASAP Rocky and a 1:04:45.000 --> 1:04:49.760 lot of the ASAP guys, cutthroat boys, like a lot 1:04:49.760 --> 1:04:54.040 of a lot of emerging artists together, which we were 1:04:54.080 --> 1:04:56.400 all from different parts of New York and he would 1:04:56.400 --> 1:04:58.600 bring us because we all knew Yams and respect to him. 1:04:59.160 --> 1:05:01.720 He was a you know, he was a person that 1:05:01.800 --> 1:05:04.200 made everybody friends and you didn't need to ask question 1:05:04.280 --> 1:05:07.760 if Vams was there. He was good, you know, and 1:05:07.920 --> 1:05:08.280 you know. 1:05:08.880 --> 1:05:12.440 So boom. So we put out these projects, you know. 1:05:12.840 --> 1:05:15.919 Twenty fourteen, we released Better Off Dead, which people will 1:05:15.960 --> 1:05:18.880 consider our best project. It wasn't an album, but it 1:05:18.880 --> 1:05:21.160 sounded like one. I really bust my ass on the shit. 1:05:21.240 --> 1:05:24.080 And we opened Coachella off of the mixtape. 1:05:24.160 --> 1:05:26.040 So whooa a. 1:05:25.960 --> 1:05:31.000 Little bit slower? Okay, the mixtape? How are people acquiring 1:05:31.040 --> 1:05:32.800 that online or on the street? 1:05:33.200 --> 1:05:35.120 Online? Online? Yeah? 1:05:35.160 --> 1:05:36.880 And is he are you charging for that? 1:05:37.360 --> 1:05:39.160 Nah? Okay? 1:05:39.280 --> 1:05:42.200 How do you get from there to Coachell? 1:05:44.400 --> 1:05:45.800 I don't know? Okay. 1:05:46.240 --> 1:05:48.880 Traditionally, if you're gonna play Coachelle, you have an agent. 1:05:48.960 --> 1:05:52.000 Yeah, yeah, yeah, we got Okay, Okay, I can say that. Yeah. 1:05:52.360 --> 1:05:54.920 When we did Better Off Dead, it was in twenty 1:05:54.920 --> 1:05:58.560 fourteen and we released it on nine to eleven as well, 1:05:59.640 --> 1:06:02.880 So people were just like what grap group would do 1:06:02.920 --> 1:06:04.520 something like this, what are you trying to say? 1:06:04.520 --> 1:06:05.360 And it was like, well play it. 1:06:06.120 --> 1:06:10.120 We had songs that, you know, varied from songs about 1:06:10.200 --> 1:06:14.160 religion to songs about racism, to songs about love, to 1:06:14.240 --> 1:06:17.040 songs about taking drugs, talk about fucking, to songs about 1:06:17.280 --> 1:06:21.120 violence and exposing things that we felt uncomfortable about based 1:06:21.160 --> 1:06:27.280 on society, and the people's perception of us was like, Yo, 1:06:27.360 --> 1:06:29.200 these guys take drugs. 1:06:29.200 --> 1:06:29.520 Cool. 1:06:29.720 --> 1:06:32.000 Maybe that's the reason why you clicked it, you know, 1:06:32.080 --> 1:06:34.120 if that's the reason why you pay attention to us, 1:06:34.440 --> 1:06:37.280 if you see some guys take some ascid to open 1:06:37.320 --> 1:06:39.240 your mind, because that's always what it was about. It 1:06:39.280 --> 1:06:41.840 was never to do it to be abusive to a 1:06:41.920 --> 1:06:45.320 recreational thing. It was more like expansion. It was never 1:06:45.400 --> 1:06:47.400 like promoting and telling people you need to do drugs. 1:06:47.400 --> 1:06:48.040 It was never that. 1:06:49.000 --> 1:06:51.320 But if that's what your perception was, which I'm sure 1:06:51.360 --> 1:06:54.360 a lot of it was, people clicked and were like, Yo, 1:06:54.400 --> 1:06:55.840 these some dope ass raps. 1:06:56.200 --> 1:06:58.640 Yo, these beats are crazy yo, who mixed this? Who 1:06:58.680 --> 1:07:00.800 produced this? Who's this guy? Was this? Crazy voices? 1:07:00.840 --> 1:07:03.320 Like none of it was just like bullshit went up 1:07:03.320 --> 1:07:05.439 there talk about no bullshit. We were talking about things 1:07:05.520 --> 1:07:07.680 that really mattered to us, a lot of stuff about 1:07:07.720 --> 1:07:10.440 America and corruption, which why I released to a nine 1:07:10.440 --> 1:07:14.920 to eleven. Right, we signed to an agency, Josh Dick. 1:07:14.960 --> 1:07:17.440 Shout out with Josh Dick. That's his name. I know 1:07:17.480 --> 1:07:20.160 it's a funny name. If he's hearing this, he's gonna 1:07:20.160 --> 1:07:24.200 love that. Josh Dick became our agent and he gave 1:07:24.280 --> 1:07:27.960 us a chance. He was doing like Asap Rocky's booking 1:07:28.040 --> 1:07:30.840 and Action Bronson, I think, and Danny Brown. You know, 1:07:31.440 --> 1:07:33.560 it was all the emerging New York artists at the time, 1:07:33.600 --> 1:07:35.920 and he was like the guy to go to. And 1:07:36.000 --> 1:07:38.680 I remember going to Josh's office and at the time 1:07:38.760 --> 1:07:40.960 he felt like a teacher, you know, like a shaman 1:07:41.080 --> 1:07:44.200 or some shit. Josh eventually became our manager years later, 1:07:44.240 --> 1:07:47.000 but he gave us the chance to start to tour. 1:07:47.120 --> 1:07:49.640 We started touring with Smoke Dizza, we started touring with 1:07:50.440 --> 1:07:52.080 Asap Rocky, Asap ferg. 1:07:53.680 --> 1:07:57.160 Shit like. Things started to pick up, and this offer 1:07:57.200 --> 1:07:58.959 came in to open Coachella. 1:07:59.160 --> 1:08:02.600 Okay, from the moment you do the first gig with 1:08:02.640 --> 1:08:06.840 two hundred people there, How long until you're playing Coachelle. 1:08:08.640 --> 1:08:12.880 Hmm, maybe five or six years? 1:08:13.040 --> 1:08:16.880 Okay, From the time that you first play Lives the Flop, 1:08:16.920 --> 1:08:19.360 Push Zombies till you get the agent. 1:08:19.640 --> 1:08:22.440 How long is that? Two years? 1:08:22.800 --> 1:08:25.120 And once you get the agent, how much you're working? 1:08:26.760 --> 1:08:29.080 All the time? We toured all the time. 1:08:29.240 --> 1:08:31.240 There's three hundred and sixty five days in a year. 1:08:31.760 --> 1:08:33.240 How many days did you play. 1:08:33.360 --> 1:08:39.759 So once we once we released our first album twenty sixteen, 1:08:41.360 --> 1:08:43.120 we were gone most of the year. 1:08:43.160 --> 1:08:45.120 It would be at least half of the year we 1:08:45.160 --> 1:08:48.040 were Okay, what were the situations? 1:08:48.080 --> 1:08:49.080 How were you traveling? 1:08:50.080 --> 1:08:53.040 If the first tours were in the dollar van, and 1:08:53.560 --> 1:08:56.200 after the dollar van broke down or whatever, we'd have 1:08:56.240 --> 1:08:58.599 to get like a little shitty van and we all 1:08:58.640 --> 1:09:02.640 got the same cold every every week, sleeping in the 1:09:03.040 --> 1:09:07.040 van and also getting one hotel room and all trying 1:09:07.040 --> 1:09:09.280 to take a shower really quick to pack up and 1:09:09.360 --> 1:09:11.360 drive to the next city. And then that went from 1:09:11.439 --> 1:09:14.160 that to maybe a little nicer vent the next time, 1:09:14.200 --> 1:09:16.479 and then that became a tour bus. So by the 1:09:16.479 --> 1:09:20.800 time we did Coachella the second time. I believe you 1:09:20.840 --> 1:09:22.000 got a tour bus. 1:09:22.240 --> 1:09:25.439 Okay, you're on the road in the van. How much 1:09:25.479 --> 1:09:26.240 money you making? 1:09:27.000 --> 1:09:32.519 Nothing? Enough to pay for gas and eating food? That's it. Okay. 1:09:32.560 --> 1:09:34.759 The first year you played Coachella is when. 1:09:35.880 --> 1:09:39.920 Twenty fourteen, I believe twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen. 1:09:40.240 --> 1:09:43.720 Okay, what stage and at what time we opened it? 1:09:43.880 --> 1:09:47.400 I don't remember what stage it was, but we opened 1:09:47.439 --> 1:09:49.320 the whole festival. So it was at twelve that we 1:09:49.360 --> 1:09:51.839 went on and it was it was packed. It wasn't 1:09:52.000 --> 1:09:53.200 it wasn't no one there. 1:09:53.320 --> 1:09:57.160 It was. It was huge. Yeah, and did it wasn't 1:09:57.200 --> 1:10:00.000 packed because they knew who you were? Yeah? 1:10:00.000 --> 1:10:04.719 Okay, so you played Coachella the first time around twenty fourteen, 1:10:05.360 --> 1:10:08.519 you had the experience. Did the fact that you played 1:10:08.560 --> 1:10:11.040 Coachella and you did well give you a bump? 1:10:11.680 --> 1:10:12.559 Oh? One hundred percent? 1:10:12.800 --> 1:10:15.559 Then we that's the validation that you could tell your 1:10:15.600 --> 1:10:18.000 parents like, I know, you thought we was in here 1:10:18.160 --> 1:10:20.439 doing drugs and doing bullshit, but look at this, and they're. 1:10:20.320 --> 1:10:21.400 Like, what the fuck this? 1:10:21.560 --> 1:10:25.920 Many people know who you are, and our friends became 1:10:25.960 --> 1:10:28.840 more fans. You know, we have friends that got starting 1:10:28.840 --> 1:10:30.760 to get our tattooed, you know, get getting the name 1:10:30.760 --> 1:10:31.760 of the group tattooed on them. 1:10:31.800 --> 1:10:33.120 We were like, oh shit, this shit is real. 1:10:33.520 --> 1:10:35.800 By the time we start showing up, you know, at 1:10:35.840 --> 1:10:37.640 first it was our friends that would getting tattooed, and 1:10:37.680 --> 1:10:39.360 other people was like, I don't even know this guy, 1:10:39.400 --> 1:10:42.000 but I went that tattoo too, And then you know, 1:10:42.360 --> 1:10:44.120 the placement of it started getting crazy. 1:10:44.160 --> 1:10:44.920 Of course, people had. 1:10:44.840 --> 1:10:46.720 Them in like concealed places, but then people put it 1:10:46.760 --> 1:10:49.639 in they fucking they're fucking shoulder, and like it started 1:10:49.640 --> 1:10:52.559 getting more like confident, see people put in their fucking neck. 1:10:52.600 --> 1:10:56.559 It was just nuts, like watching people fall in love 1:10:56.560 --> 1:10:58.760 with this thing that we made pretty organically. 1:10:58.800 --> 1:10:59.160 We didn't. 1:10:59.400 --> 1:11:01.280 It wasn't like we came together and we got take 1:11:01.320 --> 1:11:03.680 up with the world. It just was like, yo, we 1:11:03.760 --> 1:11:05.800 think a lot of people are whack and we're going 1:11:05.840 --> 1:11:06.599 to make music now. 1:11:06.800 --> 1:11:09.280 Okay, So, if you played Coachella the first time in 1:11:09.360 --> 1:11:12.959 twenty fourteen, when do you get into tour. 1:11:12.760 --> 1:11:16.240 Bus By the time we did our first album, we 1:11:16.240 --> 1:11:17.960 had a tour bus in twenty sixteen. 1:11:18.400 --> 1:11:21.040 Twenty sixteen, so you get the first album in twenty 1:11:21.120 --> 1:11:25.439 six Let me be more specific, you played Coachella. Does 1:11:25.479 --> 1:11:28.840 it raise your price and opportunities. 1:11:28.120 --> 1:11:29.679 One hundred percent? Yeah. 1:11:29.720 --> 1:11:33.280 After that, After that, we continued to tour, which was 1:11:33.320 --> 1:11:35.960 why it was smart. It wasn't like we went back. 1:11:36.360 --> 1:11:39.760 We were now doing shows but also preparing for our 1:11:39.800 --> 1:11:41.759 debut album now because it's like you guys are ready, 1:11:42.160 --> 1:11:44.719 you know, And it took another two years to finish 1:11:44.800 --> 1:11:47.160 it and to release it. But that whole time we 1:11:47.160 --> 1:11:50.280 were just doing other shows and spot dates in order 1:11:50.320 --> 1:11:52.200 to continue our name to grow so that we can 1:11:52.240 --> 1:11:53.880 do our debut album. And we also try to figure 1:11:53.880 --> 1:11:55.280 out if we were going to get signed to someone, 1:11:56.040 --> 1:11:58.000 and that took time too, but we didn't. 1:11:57.800 --> 1:11:59.040 Re released it independently. 1:11:59.160 --> 1:12:00.439 Why did you decide to do that? 1:12:01.080 --> 1:12:02.759 Because it just fuck. 1:12:02.600 --> 1:12:05.840 Them, Like we were just like fucked everybody, Like I 1:12:05.880 --> 1:12:08.720 think at that time people really, I mean maybe still, 1:12:08.800 --> 1:12:09.200 I don't know. 1:12:09.520 --> 1:12:11.960 It's like this is a gimmick. It's not a gimmick, bro. 1:12:12.080 --> 1:12:15.040 You could say the zombie aesthetic is a gimmick, but 1:12:15.160 --> 1:12:18.880 even then, we're talking about the ego dying and being 1:12:18.920 --> 1:12:22.040 reborn as another person. So if that's a gimmick to you, fine, 1:12:22.280 --> 1:12:26.400 but I'm not necessarily leaning on the zombie aesthetic to 1:12:26.479 --> 1:12:28.920 be accepted and this is like a. 1:12:29.880 --> 1:12:32.439 Like a ploy or some game. You know. We talked 1:12:32.439 --> 1:12:34.320 about it for this whole time. I love this shit, 1:12:34.479 --> 1:12:36.160 I nerd. I love music. 1:12:36.560 --> 1:12:38.679 To have me part of this ship, you can never, ever, 1:12:38.760 --> 1:12:40.599 ever not to take anything from the other guys. But 1:12:41.000 --> 1:12:45.960 you can never say flyber Zombies was a gimmick, because I'm. 1:12:45.920 --> 1:12:48.280 You could say there's a gimmick involved, But gimmick to 1:12:48.320 --> 1:12:52.360 me just felt like you're cheapening, or the sense of 1:12:52.600 --> 1:12:54.720 like you're making it so that it seems like we're not. 1:12:57.360 --> 1:13:00.479 We're some fly by night shit. But you know, selling 1:13:00.520 --> 1:13:03.519 shirts and all that stuff was the most organic way 1:13:03.560 --> 1:13:06.599 to create fandom, and that's what we did. So these 1:13:06.720 --> 1:13:09.320 labels didn't necessarily understand that. You could tell by the conversations. 1:13:09.320 --> 1:13:10.920 It just was like I. 1:13:10.840 --> 1:13:14.280 Remember one of them, they said, if you want to 1:13:14.320 --> 1:13:19.000 make money, stay independent, and I was like, okay. He's like, 1:13:19.040 --> 1:13:22.519 if you want to be famous, come to blank record label. 1:13:22.560 --> 1:13:25.000 I won't say the name, it was, come to blank 1:13:25.120 --> 1:13:27.200 and we were like, see A, what the fuck are 1:13:27.200 --> 1:13:29.720 you talking about? Like what we were like, we want 1:13:29.760 --> 1:13:31.559 the money. I don't give a fuck about being famous. 1:13:31.600 --> 1:13:33.680 That was never important to me, But these are the 1:13:33.680 --> 1:13:36.400 type of propositions we would get, and we didn't feel 1:13:36.439 --> 1:13:38.599 like anybody really thought we were really dope. 1:13:38.720 --> 1:13:40.320 They had no idea what we about to do. 1:13:40.360 --> 1:13:42.680 They they still thought at the time that this was 1:13:42.720 --> 1:13:45.640 just like some luck, which I do believe all success 1:13:46.200 --> 1:13:48.639 involve some luck. I'm sure you can attest to that 1:13:48.800 --> 1:13:51.240 some type of luck is involved. But persistence is how 1:13:51.280 --> 1:13:54.200 you maintain your luck. That's how you ready for it 1:13:54.240 --> 1:13:57.599 to return again. And yeah, nobody understood that, so we 1:13:57.640 --> 1:14:01.920 stayed independent. I've stayed independent whole time. Okay, the album 1:14:01.920 --> 1:14:05.400 comes out in twenty sixteen. There's still a small market 1:14:05.400 --> 1:14:09.439 in digital sales. There's stream there's YouTube, there's physical you're 1:14:09.439 --> 1:14:12.080 making any money when the album comes out? Yeah, we 1:14:12.160 --> 1:14:15.960 killed that shit. We did number one Billboard Independent in 1:14:16.000 --> 1:14:16.479 the country. 1:14:17.479 --> 1:14:22.680 And where did the action come from? Primarily streams, physicals. 1:14:23.280 --> 1:14:26.200 We sold so many physicals I can't even tell you 1:14:26.280 --> 1:14:31.160 the number. But you know, we have one gold record 1:14:31.160 --> 1:14:34.640 from that album because of how much you know E's 1:14:34.680 --> 1:14:36.880 stream well, but other people stream more than us, and 1:14:36.960 --> 1:14:40.679 we still have a gold record. Okay, there's a whole 1:14:40.720 --> 1:14:43.200 business thing involved in independent. I'm not going to go 1:14:43.240 --> 1:14:46.640 through every step there. You know, let's just assume you 1:14:46.720 --> 1:14:50.240 have the product. First step is getting in the store, 1:14:50.680 --> 1:14:54.559 second step is getting paid, and those are both very 1:14:54.560 --> 1:14:57.520 difficult hurdles. How did you jump those hurdles? 1:14:58.400 --> 1:15:03.400 A lot of independent records doors picked up our album. 1:15:04.000 --> 1:15:07.120 Who actually did you have a distributor? 1:15:09.600 --> 1:15:12.920 I forget who we had it distributed by, but we did. 1:15:13.120 --> 1:15:18.280 Okay, so the independent stores picked up and you got paid. Yeah, okay, 1:15:18.479 --> 1:15:21.200 so you're making money. Twenty sixteen. What happens after that? 1:15:21.920 --> 1:15:25.719 Now we go on tour and we do Cochella again 1:15:27.200 --> 1:15:29.640 and it's even bigger. Now we have a slot and 1:15:29.680 --> 1:15:32.160 it was fucking nuts. You know what time you're playing now? 1:15:32.280 --> 1:15:36.559 This time is probably like about five or six later 1:15:36.600 --> 1:15:39.000 in the day. I want to say we played before 1:15:39.120 --> 1:15:44.000 Brockhampton the second time we played, and then obviously we 1:15:44.040 --> 1:15:47.439 had guys like Todd the creator who were who was 1:15:47.479 --> 1:15:50.639 just establishing his festivals. We played Flognon I think twice, 1:15:50.800 --> 1:15:54.639 so we got a reallate slot there and like did 1:15:54.680 --> 1:15:58.120 a lot of festivals I mean all over the world, 1:15:58.200 --> 1:16:01.960 all over Europe, in Australia, Asia. 1:16:02.560 --> 1:16:05.840 I mean, it was we were those guys to book 1:16:06.040 --> 1:16:07.080 you know, okay. 1:16:07.160 --> 1:16:12.360 Traditionally there's a lot of opportunity playing in festivals, and 1:16:12.439 --> 1:16:14.599 sometimes it works on both ends. If you're a headliner, 1:16:14.760 --> 1:16:18.360 you make more. If you're opening, you make less. Your 1:16:18.439 --> 1:16:20.400 tour in the world on festivals, are you making it 1:16:20.400 --> 1:16:22.720 because you established already that did money is important to you. 1:16:23.120 --> 1:16:24.000 You're making money? 1:16:24.080 --> 1:16:25.519 Yeah? Hell yeah, he was making money. 1:16:25.560 --> 1:16:28.000 That was the reason why, Like we could sustain it, 1:16:28.080 --> 1:16:30.000 but we always put the money back into the business. 1:16:30.000 --> 1:16:33.240 We weren't. That's why we had our own bus, you know. 1:16:33.320 --> 1:16:36.560 That's why we had our own We understood from the 1:16:36.680 --> 1:16:38.920 very basis of what we do, like if we spent 1:16:39.000 --> 1:16:40.760 it all, we would getting paid like a salary. We 1:16:40.800 --> 1:16:44.640 never took the money out like we never took the 1:16:44.640 --> 1:16:46.840 money out in a frivolous way. It was given to 1:16:46.920 --> 1:16:48.680 us like a salary. We had a number that we 1:16:48.680 --> 1:16:50.960 were all projected to get to get and once we 1:16:51.040 --> 1:16:53.160 got it, we were capped and we paid it every 1:16:53.160 --> 1:16:54.360 month and paid taxes. 1:16:54.400 --> 1:16:55.840 So we approached it. 1:16:55.760 --> 1:16:57.519 Like a business, even though the money would come in 1:16:57.600 --> 1:16:59.000 and no matter how if we just did a show 1:16:59.000 --> 1:17:01.680 and we got ninety grand, you don't take the ninety grand. Now, 1:17:01.760 --> 1:17:03.559 we don't just split that you know, you put that 1:17:03.600 --> 1:17:05.760 back in we get in our salary. Right, So at 1:17:05.800 --> 1:17:07.880 the end of the year, that number you're looking at 1:17:08.000 --> 1:17:14.439 is a cumulative it's it's the entire year plus what 1:17:14.680 --> 1:17:18.280 you know, I say it, It wouldn't change just because. 1:17:18.000 --> 1:17:20.320 We made more money that we didn't anticipate. We would 1:17:20.360 --> 1:17:22.400 still get the same amount of money. You get a bonus. 1:17:22.520 --> 1:17:24.719 But we were like our own bosses at that time. 1:17:24.800 --> 1:17:28.920 So yeah, okay, that's twenty sixteen. What happens after that? 1:17:29.280 --> 1:17:32.240 So in twenty sixteen, twenty sixteen, to tour, tour, tour, 1:17:32.320 --> 1:17:37.600 tour a lot of shows, you know, and individually for me, 1:17:38.320 --> 1:17:40.679 I was now branching off to work with other people, 1:17:41.439 --> 1:17:44.879 and my interests started to change, basically because the success 1:17:44.880 --> 1:17:48.559 that I had from producing. Other artists would contact me 1:17:48.800 --> 1:17:51.680 for beats and I started to be like wow, Like 1:17:51.880 --> 1:17:53.920 I wanted to learn to play instruments better, and I 1:17:53.920 --> 1:17:56.920 wanted to collaborate, and I wanted the next offering that 1:17:56.920 --> 1:18:00.200 we did to represent the next level of what we're doing, 1:18:00.240 --> 1:18:03.160 but also how I can grow and show that I 1:18:03.200 --> 1:18:08.520 can incorporate live music, live singing, like choir, and also collaboration. 1:18:09.000 --> 1:18:11.519 Our first album, we had no collaborators and I produced 1:18:11.520 --> 1:18:14.400 every song, so. 1:18:14.080 --> 1:18:15.880 It was pretty much just g Raw. This is what 1:18:15.920 --> 1:18:17.840 it was. It was three guys smoking making an album. 1:18:17.880 --> 1:18:20.479 We did that so in twenty eighteen, so twenty seventeen, 1:18:20.520 --> 1:18:23.040 I think we probably started the next album, which came 1:18:23.080 --> 1:18:25.880 out in twenty eighteen called Vacation in Hell. And at 1:18:25.880 --> 1:18:29.280 this point I was fully like, this is going to 1:18:29.320 --> 1:18:32.639 be the album that's going to show the next step 1:18:32.680 --> 1:18:34.440 of our songwriting. 1:18:34.479 --> 1:18:35.559 But also to me. 1:18:35.840 --> 1:18:38.479 To bring in more collaborators, and we wanted we had 1:18:38.520 --> 1:18:40.479 to now the name to get people that were like 1:18:40.520 --> 1:18:41.840 we respected to get on an album. 1:18:41.880 --> 1:18:42.000 You know. 1:18:42.040 --> 1:18:46.560 We got Jadakiss, we got on Bee, we got Dave b. 1:18:47.120 --> 1:18:48.600 I don't want to forget anybody. I haven't listened to 1:18:48.600 --> 1:18:52.360 the album in a while, but my favorite overall was 1:18:52.400 --> 1:18:56.920 Portugal Demand, And interestingly enough, I became friends with John 1:18:56.960 --> 1:19:00.400 Gorley years before, and I was always I listened to 1:19:00.400 --> 1:19:03.160 Portugal Man when I was in college in him and 1:19:03.200 --> 1:19:05.200 I became Franzy came to our house when we lived 1:19:05.520 --> 1:19:08.200 in Bedstar and they had just won the Grammy for 1:19:08.800 --> 1:19:12.760 Feel It Still, so I respected him so much and 1:19:12.800 --> 1:19:15.639 he never changed because he's as Grammy a winning artist 1:19:15.800 --> 1:19:16.400 as band. 1:19:16.840 --> 1:19:19.000 I was like, Yo, he's still texting me still. I'm like, Yo, this. 1:19:18.960 --> 1:19:21.040 Dude, the fuck this is I expect when people to 1:19:21.040 --> 1:19:22.400 do shit like that at that time, they would just 1:19:22.479 --> 1:19:24.600 turn a leaf and like fuck you, you know, but 1:19:24.680 --> 1:19:25.760 this guy was like, yeah, we. 1:19:25.680 --> 1:19:26.519 Could still make that song. 1:19:26.520 --> 1:19:26.680 Bro. 1:19:26.720 --> 1:19:27.920 He was get the song PLoP And I was like, 1:19:28.640 --> 1:19:31.160 oh shit, like we about to have Grammy winning artists 1:19:31.200 --> 1:19:31.800 on our album. 1:19:31.920 --> 1:19:32.800 That's fucking cool. 1:19:32.880 --> 1:19:36.120 Like I never wanted to wear it like that, but 1:19:36.160 --> 1:19:38.519 it just happened to be that. This is who my friend. 1:19:38.600 --> 1:19:41.240 This is something that my friend accomplished. So I remember 1:19:41.320 --> 1:19:44.400 the particular song of a song called Crown. This was 1:19:44.400 --> 1:19:47.960 to me was the most difficult because as much as 1:19:48.000 --> 1:19:51.360 I was a producer, I was I was I was 1:19:51.400 --> 1:19:53.479 somebody that like I still had so much to prove, 1:19:53.520 --> 1:19:55.400 and I had a chip on my shoulder and I'm like, man, like, 1:19:56.640 --> 1:19:59.080 if you know I read again, Jada Kiss, all these 1:19:59.080 --> 1:20:01.240 people I loved, Like working with a rock band meant that, 1:20:01.320 --> 1:20:03.679 like I had to know what the fuck I was doing. 1:20:03.760 --> 1:20:05.360 And he sent me this session for a song that 1:20:05.520 --> 1:20:07.960 was working on. He's like, yeah, you know, Danger Mouse 1:20:08.000 --> 1:20:09.400 worked on this with us and I was like, bro, 1:20:10.400 --> 1:20:13.080 fucking kidding me. Like Dandre Mouse is like one of 1:20:13.160 --> 1:20:17.519 my favorites of all time. Bro from Narls Barkley, like 1:20:18.000 --> 1:20:22.120 Bro black Keys Adele, Like he's worked on some of 1:20:22.160 --> 1:20:25.200 the best pieces of music we've ever heard. And I 1:20:25.320 --> 1:20:27.960 was really, really nervous, and John was like, you got this, 1:20:28.680 --> 1:20:30.680 And I took the song and I reproduced it, and 1:20:30.680 --> 1:20:32.559 he told me Danger Mouse was gonna call me to 1:20:32.600 --> 1:20:35.360 talk about it, and I'm freaking the fuck out. Bro, 1:20:36.200 --> 1:20:37.880 and one of my friends had come to my house. 1:20:37.920 --> 1:20:40.479 He was our DJ at the time. He's like, Yo, 1:20:40.520 --> 1:20:42.200 I'm going to help you. He doesn't even make music, 1:20:42.240 --> 1:20:44.439 but he's really intelligent, you know. And he came by. 1:20:44.479 --> 1:20:47.240 He's like, we got work on the song. I see 1:20:47.240 --> 1:20:49.680 you freezing up. We can't let this fumble, Bro, this 1:20:49.720 --> 1:20:50.679 is gonna be a big song. 1:20:50.720 --> 1:20:54.840 It's going to help you. We came over, we sent it. 1:20:55.000 --> 1:20:57.280 John approved it. I think he signed to Atlantic. Atlantic 1:20:57.280 --> 1:20:59.000 approved it, and I was just like, holy shit, we're 1:20:59.000 --> 1:21:01.080 gonna have this big ass on our album. You know, 1:21:02.280 --> 1:21:04.240 looking back, we should have probably made it a single. 1:21:04.280 --> 1:21:07.920 We didn't. We had Joey Badass on our album too, 1:21:08.040 --> 1:21:08.679 was with. 1:21:08.560 --> 1:21:12.240 The other single we put out, Yeah, and it was 1:21:12.320 --> 1:21:15.040 kind of like this flash of like, yo, these guys 1:21:15.000 --> 1:21:17.200 are gonna make mainstream music. 1:21:17.240 --> 1:21:18.439 To me, it wasn't mainstream music. 1:21:18.479 --> 1:21:21.320 It just meant that we were opening up all of 1:21:21.360 --> 1:21:24.120 our options to now bring in people and use their 1:21:24.120 --> 1:21:25.600 fan bases to introduce. 1:21:25.280 --> 1:21:27.320 Them to us and bring them to our world. It 1:21:27.360 --> 1:21:29.679 wasn't like bun Bee or these. 1:21:29.560 --> 1:21:32.160 Artists would all of a sudden rapping like I'm from 1:21:32.280 --> 1:21:35.000 Houston or some shit. It just meant that, like, we're 1:21:35.040 --> 1:21:38.360 all collaborating now. The album did really well too, and 1:21:39.880 --> 1:21:41.800 you know it had to we. I think the cover 1:21:41.920 --> 1:21:45.040 was inspired by because Jimmy Hendrix's photo and we got 1:21:45.080 --> 1:21:47.960 these two naked girls on it to cover themselves in glitter. 1:21:48.840 --> 1:21:51.559 It was trippy and psychedelic, and it was one of 1:21:51.560 --> 1:21:54.120 the most iconic covers. I would say during that time. 1:21:54.240 --> 1:21:57.040 It's if you know vacational hell, you know this cover. 1:21:57.120 --> 1:21:58.360 We even had the vinyl. 1:21:58.080 --> 1:22:01.320 Had speckled because it was glitter. So we wanted the 1:22:01.320 --> 1:22:03.519 glitter to feel like abrasive. So when you touch it 1:22:03.560 --> 1:22:05.320 and you buy the violel, you feel like you're touching 1:22:05.320 --> 1:22:07.200 the girl. It's fucking wild shit. 1:22:07.400 --> 1:22:09.280 But these are the attentions to detail that we really 1:22:09.320 --> 1:22:12.360 cared about and the music had to match that. So yeah, 1:22:12.360 --> 1:22:16.360 that was what happened during that little not little, but okay. 1:22:16.080 --> 1:22:19.680 So that's twenty eighteen, bring us up to COVID. 1:22:20.240 --> 1:22:25.040 Jesus Christ twenty nineteen, is right. My mom dies this year, 1:22:25.120 --> 1:22:28.439 you know. So I had a hernia surgery and I 1:22:28.520 --> 1:22:30.400 was fucked up for a while. You know, I was 1:22:31.200 --> 1:22:33.640 about to turn thirty years old and I had the 1:22:33.680 --> 1:22:37.040 surgery and my mom was going through it and she 1:22:37.120 --> 1:22:39.880 was like, look if I go through all these medical things. 1:22:39.920 --> 1:22:42.639 You know, my mom was blind and she had renal 1:22:42.680 --> 1:22:48.479 failure through diabetes, so she was on She had to 1:22:48.479 --> 1:22:52.080 go to dialysis, so that was like three times a week. 1:22:53.000 --> 1:22:55.040 She's like, look, if I do that shit, you can 1:22:55.080 --> 1:22:57.640 get this fucking surgery. The thing was when we were 1:22:57.640 --> 1:23:01.840 on tour previously, I had the hernia had come out 1:23:01.880 --> 1:23:04.200 of my body so I couldn't walk. So I had 1:23:04.240 --> 1:23:06.360 to finish the rest of the tour in a wheelchair, 1:23:06.960 --> 1:23:09.400 which was terrible. And I said, as soon as I 1:23:09.439 --> 1:23:10.800 get home, I told my mom, like, I'm going to 1:23:10.840 --> 1:23:12.280 take care of its. Soon as I get home, I 1:23:12.400 --> 1:23:16.479 do it. So now I'm like in fucking in my house, 1:23:16.600 --> 1:23:19.360 in my bed, blah blah blah blah blah. My mom dies. 1:23:19.439 --> 1:23:19.639 Man. 1:23:19.800 --> 1:23:24.960 So I didn't want to do anything, you know, respectfully, 1:23:25.479 --> 1:23:28.360 the offer we were supposed to do another album, and. 1:23:28.320 --> 1:23:30.920 I just was like, I just not don't want to 1:23:30.920 --> 1:23:31.160 do this. 1:23:31.680 --> 1:23:34.640 I don't feel good and how this thing happened to 1:23:34.720 --> 1:23:37.679 me and my family and everybody my mom touched. 1:23:38.840 --> 1:23:40.160 And I also don't want to be in New. 1:23:40.080 --> 1:23:43.000 York anymore, That's what I said. You know, mind you 1:23:43.040 --> 1:23:45.479 I'm in a group or several groups. However, you look 1:23:45.520 --> 1:23:50.040 at my career and yeah, I just didn't want to 1:23:50.080 --> 1:23:52.439 do the shit. And then we got the biggest offer 1:23:52.479 --> 1:23:55.559 of our career to go on a amphitheater tour with 1:23:56.320 --> 1:23:59.640 our other really close friends as a supergroup, and I 1:23:59.680 --> 1:24:04.160 was like, I guess I'll go. 1:24:05.360 --> 1:24:06.800 Not only Dad had to guess I'll go. I had 1:24:06.800 --> 1:24:08.320 to executive produce. 1:24:08.000 --> 1:24:09.760 And produce the album that we did, so I had 1:24:09.760 --> 1:24:12.280 to go back in the studio again and we produced 1:24:12.320 --> 1:24:12.920 this album. 1:24:13.280 --> 1:24:15.680 I don't know what people thought it was gonna sound like. 1:24:15.720 --> 1:24:18.320 I think based on the supergroup other people part of it, 1:24:18.439 --> 1:24:21.000 it was gonna be like a big cipher every every 1:24:21.479 --> 1:24:23.519 song or some shit. But we ended up making an 1:24:23.520 --> 1:24:26.200 album that was really really fun, which was really really 1:24:27.200 --> 1:24:29.200 surprising to me. You know, I just thought it was 1:24:29.240 --> 1:24:32.040 going to be something else too, but everybody used this 1:24:32.040 --> 1:24:35.479 opportunity to experiment, which I love doing that, you know. 1:24:35.640 --> 1:24:38.679 So I produced this album with Tyler Dopps. 1:24:38.800 --> 1:24:40.840 Me and him did all the beats. I think Power 1:24:40.880 --> 1:24:43.760 is pleasant. Also from pro Era, who tours and works 1:24:43.800 --> 1:24:46.960 with Joey Badass. He produced too. We went on tours. 1:24:46.960 --> 1:24:50.479 The biggest tour that we've done as far as the stages, 1:24:50.840 --> 1:24:55.880 you know, I want to say the largest tour we 1:24:55.920 --> 1:25:00.080 did was over sixty thousand tickets as Flabber Zombies, So 1:25:00.200 --> 1:25:02.240 you know, this is a type of toy that's shorter, 1:25:02.360 --> 1:25:04.680 but you get five thousand people in one night and 1:25:04.720 --> 1:25:08.160 shit like that, you know. And after it was over, 1:25:08.240 --> 1:25:11.879 I was like, I'm out, and I moved to California. 1:25:11.960 --> 1:25:14.559 I bought a house, and COVID happened right after I 1:25:14.600 --> 1:25:17.240 moved to California. I didn't even know, you know, none 1:25:17.280 --> 1:25:18.920 of us knew COVID was gonna happen. But it wasn't 1:25:18.920 --> 1:25:21.960 even like eminent signs of like this lockdown or anything. 1:25:21.960 --> 1:25:24.960 I just bought it on a whim and I left 1:25:25.000 --> 1:25:28.080 and I lived in California throughout COVID. I still live here, 1:25:28.120 --> 1:25:32.440 but uh yeah, that was how I got to California 1:25:32.600 --> 1:25:36.440 was literally from twenty nineteen's last project. 1:25:36.680 --> 1:25:40.760 Okay, COVID locks everybody down. Of course, you can work 1:25:40.800 --> 1:25:44.200 in your house, in your studio. When you start up again, 1:25:44.400 --> 1:25:46.320 what's the motivation and what does it look like? 1:25:49.800 --> 1:25:53.880 I think a lot of artists were, which naturally, I 1:25:53.880 --> 1:26:00.360 think a lot of people were just scared and confuse, right, 1:26:00.479 --> 1:26:04.200 So I wouldn't say I thrive in that, but I 1:26:04.240 --> 1:26:07.960 mean I'm going to make shit regardless. You know, I'm 1:26:07.960 --> 1:26:09.680 not signed to a label, so I don't have to 1:26:09.680 --> 1:26:12.320 listen to anybody. Nobody could tell me I can't release music. 1:26:12.960 --> 1:26:17.200 These labels had the hands on these artists where they 1:26:17.280 --> 1:26:19.840 might have been. They didn't want to make sad music, 1:26:19.880 --> 1:26:22.120 I feel, or they wouldn't be perceived as this depressing 1:26:22.200 --> 1:26:23.880 artist or some shit. To me, I'm like, what do' 1:26:23.880 --> 1:26:25.599 I have to lose? Bro, I don't really give a fuck. 1:26:25.680 --> 1:26:28.439 I'm going to release my music the way I want to. 1:26:28.920 --> 1:26:32.120 I worked on a project I was streaming a lot too, 1:26:32.320 --> 1:26:35.479 and twitch gave me a deal, a really good deal. 1:26:35.520 --> 1:26:39.719 So I was streaming three times a week for a year, 1:26:40.280 --> 1:26:42.360 and I was working on this project called future Proof, 1:26:42.960 --> 1:26:47.280 And yeah, I knew that becoming out of all the 1:26:47.280 --> 1:26:49.320 stuff that we were talking about and releasing my first 1:26:49.320 --> 1:26:52.320 project technically, even though we talked about in twenty eleven, 1:26:52.360 --> 1:26:55.519 I released something that was important to me. I knew 1:26:55.520 --> 1:26:57.640 that people would be like, where's the guys, and like 1:26:57.960 --> 1:27:00.640 shit on me and judge me. I was also like, 1:27:01.320 --> 1:27:03.240 this is bigger than me. The stuff that I'm talking 1:27:03.240 --> 1:27:05.200 about is going to help people go through this depressive 1:27:05.240 --> 1:27:07.479 ass time. I was depressed, I was fucked up. We 1:27:07.479 --> 1:27:11.679 were all in a place where I needed the validation 1:27:11.840 --> 1:27:14.800 from myself more than anybody else. If this was a 1:27:15.720 --> 1:27:19.519 piece of music, a piece of art that can help me, 1:27:19.760 --> 1:27:22.400 I know it can help other people. And we put 1:27:22.640 --> 1:27:25.040 and I, you know, I put out the song let 1:27:25.040 --> 1:27:25.320 It Go. 1:27:25.479 --> 1:27:25.920 I think no. 1:27:26.000 --> 1:27:28.759 I put out the song WTF for my friend Coltrane 1:27:28.880 --> 1:27:32.000 during COVID, and you know, I don't know. I don't 1:27:32.000 --> 1:27:34.000 look at metrics of streaming or anything like that. I 1:27:34.000 --> 1:27:35.679 don't know if for stream well, I didn't give a fuck. 1:27:36.000 --> 1:27:38.880 The song was about racism, and it was about all 1:27:38.920 --> 1:27:40.880 the stuff that was going on with George Floyd doing 1:27:40.880 --> 1:27:44.320 the protests and people creating these narratives and like it 1:27:44.400 --> 1:27:45.200 was a weird time. 1:27:45.280 --> 1:27:45.439 Man. 1:27:45.520 --> 1:27:49.680 And he's a European, he's an English artist, you know, 1:27:49.920 --> 1:27:54.040 he's a Egyptian. I'm a black dude. I'm like, let's 1:27:54.040 --> 1:27:55.920 make a song that takes a stance on something that's 1:27:55.960 --> 1:27:59.439 gonna live beyond this year and this time and a 1:27:59.439 --> 1:28:01.320 lot of peoples with the record, and I was like, 1:28:01.360 --> 1:28:05.439 oh shit, let me make my whole project through the 1:28:05.520 --> 1:28:09.519 Internet and only work with English artists, because this one 1:28:09.640 --> 1:28:13.280 kind of told me that, you know, I don't know 1:28:13.320 --> 1:28:14.960 what the hell it was. It was like maybe it 1:28:15.000 --> 1:28:16.920 was like the fact that we can use the internet 1:28:17.000 --> 1:28:20.599 to speak and there was no chance of me going 1:28:20.600 --> 1:28:22.720 over there to physically do this. It felt like I 1:28:22.760 --> 1:28:24.679 was even more attached to the music in a way 1:28:24.960 --> 1:28:26.479 because I wanted to take advantage of the fact that 1:28:26.520 --> 1:28:28.600 this person on the other end of the computer or 1:28:28.640 --> 1:28:31.559 the phone was just as passionate about an American thing 1:28:31.640 --> 1:28:37.280 that happened in America at first. And yeah, then my 1:28:37.360 --> 1:28:41.400 friend whose name is Jean Julienne, he's a he's an 1:28:41.479 --> 1:28:44.280 artist from France. I've known him for such a long 1:28:44.320 --> 1:28:46.439 time too. He was willing to start to create some 1:28:46.520 --> 1:28:49.759 imagery and graphics for the project. He created a single 1:28:49.800 --> 1:28:52.920 cover and then we worked on future Proof, which you know, 1:28:53.080 --> 1:28:55.800 anytime during COVID, I was buying a bunch of shit, 1:28:56.240 --> 1:28:58.080 and I know every time you bought something, it would 1:28:58.080 --> 1:29:02.200 say future proof by buying a computer with more ram 1:29:02.280 --> 1:29:04.559 or some shit like that. And I was like, isn't 1:29:04.600 --> 1:29:07.439 interesting that, Like, we don't apply those things to ourselves, 1:29:07.520 --> 1:29:10.360 but we would put that into a technology. We spend 1:29:10.400 --> 1:29:16.360 more money to elongate. How long technology lasts by batteries 1:29:16.400 --> 1:29:19.519 in space? How can we do that internally as people? 1:29:20.240 --> 1:29:22.200 So I was like, I'm going to embody this phrase 1:29:22.840 --> 1:29:28.080 and create future Proof, which is a self advancement that 1:29:28.160 --> 1:29:31.200 teaches you skill, that teaches you how to honor yourself. 1:29:30.880 --> 1:29:32.160 And give yourself grace, you know. 1:29:32.920 --> 1:29:36.000 And we put out the project and then to me, 1:29:36.040 --> 1:29:39.280 it was extremely successful. I mean we never toret it 1:29:39.280 --> 1:29:43.280 because it came out during future during COVID, but one 1:29:43.280 --> 1:29:44.439 of the songs that there is still one of my 1:29:44.439 --> 1:29:47.800 biggest streaming songs, like over seventy million streams, you know, 1:29:47.880 --> 1:29:50.200 and a song that people thought probably was too depressing 1:29:50.240 --> 1:29:52.479 to listen to. Beyond COVID, it still gets tons of 1:29:52.479 --> 1:29:57.320 streams because people want to feel not alone and they 1:29:57.360 --> 1:29:59.680 want to feel validated by somebody else that's going through 1:29:59.680 --> 1:30:02.280 a sim the situation. And every time I play that song, 1:30:02.360 --> 1:30:04.679 I transported back to that time where I'm like, damn, 1:30:04.720 --> 1:30:06.520 like I never thought. 1:30:06.320 --> 1:30:08.400 We would get out of this situation. It's like a 1:30:08.439 --> 1:30:11.400 time capsule for me. But that was the first thing 1:30:11.439 --> 1:30:16.439 I did right out of COVID. I did Colors post 1:30:16.520 --> 1:30:19.080 COVID too, so I released a new song through Colors 1:30:19.120 --> 1:30:22.760 the platform. So many things happened during that time, but 1:30:22.800 --> 1:30:25.320 it was really just the advancement of my solo career 1:30:26.680 --> 1:30:31.480 after leaving New York City. 1:30:37.920 --> 1:30:41.640 Okay, so now you put out a solo and you 1:30:41.680 --> 1:30:44.360 have a single. Bring us up to the present. 1:30:45.880 --> 1:30:50.000 Bro, I can't even I can't even like. 1:30:52.000 --> 1:30:56.439 So many things, you know, working with James Blake, producing 1:30:56.520 --> 1:31:00.080 for James Blake, James Blake produced for me. O. 1:31:00.200 --> 1:31:01.879 Wait, how do you make the connection? 1:31:03.439 --> 1:31:09.120 I met him definitely before COVID. I think he did 1:31:09.120 --> 1:31:12.600 an interview and he might have said that I was 1:31:12.600 --> 1:31:15.519 one of his favorite producers. And my friend had sent 1:31:15.600 --> 1:31:18.200 to the interview, and I was like, what the fuck what? 1:31:19.280 --> 1:31:21.360 And I think we you know, I connected with him. 1:31:21.400 --> 1:31:23.400 I was like, you met that, huh. He's like yeah, 1:31:23.760 --> 1:31:25.599 Like what yeah, dro And he's like, yeah, I think 1:31:25.600 --> 1:31:28.920 it's interesting how you find sub and bottom in songs. 1:31:29.240 --> 1:31:31.799 How do you find so much low range in production 1:31:31.880 --> 1:31:34.920 without using ata weights? And at the time, I remember people, 1:31:35.680 --> 1:31:37.599 some of my friends too, like your beats don't hit 1:31:37.600 --> 1:31:39.160 because they don't have Ata weights, And I was like, 1:31:39.200 --> 1:31:43.000 I just feel like it's corny sometimes because everybody relies 1:31:43.040 --> 1:31:43.280 on it. 1:31:43.360 --> 1:31:46.679 Oh yeah, that's just my opinion. And then that impressed 1:31:46.720 --> 1:31:49.120 James Blake. I was like that, and it was a 1:31:49.200 --> 1:31:51.040 conscious decision. It wasn't I didn't know how to play 1:31:51.240 --> 1:31:55.519 Ada weights or whatever, but you know, I love sliding 1:31:55.520 --> 1:31:58.080 the family stone. He kicked his drummer out and learned 1:31:58.080 --> 1:32:01.959 to play with the drum machine to be at electric 1:32:02.000 --> 1:32:03.920 and add an electric drum to a song and made 1:32:03.960 --> 1:32:05.000 some of his biggest records. 1:32:05.120 --> 1:32:06.599 It was like to me, I'm not going to do. 1:32:06.560 --> 1:32:09.720 That, then why do I can find something similar that 1:32:09.760 --> 1:32:12.920 gives a similar feeling, but just find my own way. Anyway, 1:32:13.000 --> 1:32:16.000 that was how I met him, But we made music 1:32:16.320 --> 1:32:19.080 before I moved to LA because that's where he was 1:32:19.080 --> 1:32:20.880 living at the time, and I must have been on 1:32:20.920 --> 1:32:24.080 twenty seventeen or something like that, twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen. 1:32:24.720 --> 1:32:28.439 And yeah, by the time I moved to LA, I 1:32:28.479 --> 1:32:29.840 was going back and forth. I was going to his 1:32:29.920 --> 1:32:32.200 house a lot. We were cooking up and I worked 1:32:32.200 --> 1:32:34.760 on my first album. I've never been here before, so 1:32:34.800 --> 1:32:36.880 he was integral part of a lot of the songs 1:32:36.880 --> 1:32:40.880 that we had started not that year, but years before, 1:32:40.920 --> 1:32:43.960 because our friendship had lasted before COVID. So now we 1:32:44.000 --> 1:32:45.680 had these songs that we had worked on for like 1:32:45.760 --> 1:32:49.040 nearly five years, and I didn't put it out. 1:32:49.160 --> 1:32:51.719 You know, it's crazy. 1:32:51.960 --> 1:32:54.840 We released a project during COVID as flaber Zombie is 1:32:54.840 --> 1:32:59.639 called Not More Than Ever, and that was our last project. 1:33:00.080 --> 1:33:04.120 And yeah, then I basically started to make this music, 1:33:06.120 --> 1:33:09.200 my first album working with It's my first time I 1:33:09.240 --> 1:33:13.080 worked in a project I didn't produce too future Proof 1:33:13.120 --> 1:33:16.320 technically was, but I considered that an EP. It wasn't 1:33:16.360 --> 1:33:18.200 like a full length project. So it was my first 1:33:18.240 --> 1:33:21.040 time ever doing this shit. And you know, I got 1:33:21.080 --> 1:33:23.840 to work with some of my favorite artists of all time. 1:33:23.920 --> 1:33:29.559 You know, George Clinton, Come on, Leila Hathaway. We you 1:33:29.600 --> 1:33:36.880 know James I Westside Boogie also really dope, like Joey Badass. 1:33:36.920 --> 1:33:39.280 Far is this some of the people that I've been 1:33:39.320 --> 1:33:42.120 watching or friends with from Afar that I couldn't wait 1:33:42.120 --> 1:33:44.479 to work with them, And I wanted this story to 1:33:44.560 --> 1:33:47.280 be something that people could see that. 1:33:47.280 --> 1:33:51.040 I have my own identity now. It was really hard, though, 1:33:51.080 --> 1:33:51.880 you know, it's still hard. 1:33:51.920 --> 1:33:54.519 It's still hard because people have a how they discover 1:33:54.600 --> 1:33:56.519 you is how they want to keep you. Sometimes, even 1:33:56.560 --> 1:33:59.120 though I'm thirty seven years old, and when I made 1:33:59.200 --> 1:34:01.479 music like that, I was twenty three, people want to 1:34:01.479 --> 1:34:03.200 hold me to being twenty three forever. 1:34:03.400 --> 1:34:03.600 You know. 1:34:05.080 --> 1:34:07.840 I always say, people give you however long you are, 1:34:08.000 --> 1:34:09.920 however the age you are. 1:34:09.960 --> 1:34:12.360 They give you that many years to make your first album. 1:34:12.680 --> 1:34:14.479 They want you to make your next album better and 1:34:14.560 --> 1:34:18.000 half the time or half a year, and it's just like, 1:34:18.040 --> 1:34:21.479 how the fuck is that even possible? Like, I'm twenty seven, 1:34:22.160 --> 1:34:24.160 twenty three, it took twenty three years to make that, 1:34:24.200 --> 1:34:25.439 and you want me to make a better album when 1:34:25.439 --> 1:34:26.160 I'm twenty four. 1:34:26.400 --> 1:34:28.200 Give me one year to do it. 1:34:28.280 --> 1:34:31.760 And I think my first album was a great representation 1:34:31.800 --> 1:34:33.840 of what I was capable love of my own as 1:34:33.840 --> 1:34:37.480 an artist, not just as a producer, but my songwriting, 1:34:37.920 --> 1:34:40.640 you know. And now my next album is in the 1:34:40.640 --> 1:34:43.280 works right now, So I know I skipping a lot 1:34:43.320 --> 1:34:48.519 of stuff. But I will say this, a lot of 1:34:48.600 --> 1:34:51.280 times when I made music, I would have to create 1:34:51.280 --> 1:34:55.120 another Moniker because my music individually was so different than 1:34:55.120 --> 1:34:59.880 what people thought I was. So my insecurity would often 1:35:00.040 --> 1:35:04.719 make these like little names and bullshit to like try 1:35:04.760 --> 1:35:08.240 to carve another identity out of what people Even though 1:35:08.240 --> 1:35:10.880 I'd name myself the architect, I didn't fully embody that shit, 1:35:10.920 --> 1:35:13.439 you know, like not yet anyway, I would make these 1:35:13.439 --> 1:35:18.839 other names and pseudo characters and put out these dance records, 1:35:18.840 --> 1:35:19.080 you know. 1:35:19.439 --> 1:35:21.280 When I work with James a lot a lot of 1:35:21.360 --> 1:35:23.160 us A lot of it was dance music, and I 1:35:23.200 --> 1:35:25.639 love dance music. When I did Future Proof, I had 1:35:25.640 --> 1:35:28.800 met Lydia who's now the member of Jungle, and she 1:35:28.920 --> 1:35:32.439 sang background on one of my songs. She you know, 1:35:32.479 --> 1:35:34.320 and I was a fan of Jungle at that time too, 1:35:34.840 --> 1:35:36.040 and she contacted me. 1:35:36.720 --> 1:35:39.680 Twenty twenty three, I believe, I think. So that's when 1:35:39.720 --> 1:35:41.439 the song came out and I got on the song 1:35:41.520 --> 1:35:43.800 Candle Flame. I mean, and this is like one of 1:35:43.800 --> 1:35:45.599 the biggest songs of my career, you know. I'm sure 1:35:45.600 --> 1:35:48.240 it'll be a gold record soon. I hear it everywhere 1:35:48.479 --> 1:35:51.320 my family, my cousins, my friends, from junior high school, 1:35:51.320 --> 1:35:53.720 from elementary school. I'm in Starbucks, I heard your song 1:35:53.760 --> 1:35:54.280 Candle Flame. 1:35:54.320 --> 1:35:54.599 Today. 1:35:54.640 --> 1:35:57.080 I'm in Thailand. I just heard your song I'm in 1:35:57.360 --> 1:35:59.000 I heard it on Love Island. I heard it, and 1:35:59.040 --> 1:36:01.040 I'm like, Damn, I have one of these songs that 1:36:01.120 --> 1:36:03.479 like have been cemented. It's been three years in the 1:36:03.600 --> 1:36:08.960 song still has traction. That's kind of what I always 1:36:09.040 --> 1:36:10.640 knew that I was able to do, whether it was 1:36:10.720 --> 1:36:13.680 me assisting another person. But now I'm doing it as 1:36:13.720 --> 1:36:16.480 a feature on a song when I just came from 1:36:16.600 --> 1:36:18.680 just producing for so long in my life. You know, 1:36:18.720 --> 1:36:22.120 it just shows that I should prove to myself that 1:36:22.160 --> 1:36:24.000 I could do this shit, you know, and I could 1:36:24.000 --> 1:36:26.960 be a full embodied artist and not just somebody who 1:36:26.960 --> 1:36:27.920 makes beats for somebody. 1:36:27.960 --> 1:36:28.120 You know. 1:36:29.439 --> 1:36:31.760 Well, you recently put out a single What's story on that. 1:36:32.280 --> 1:36:39.960 It's called No Doubt I'm in Love. It's I just 1:36:40.000 --> 1:36:42.680 came back from Kingston, Jamaica, two days ago, two three 1:36:42.720 --> 1:36:46.720 days ago shooting a video for it. Jennifer Lara is 1:36:46.760 --> 1:36:51.120 the original record that I sampled to do it, and again, 1:36:51.200 --> 1:36:54.080 you know, the the I'm in Love one that I 1:36:54.160 --> 1:36:57.240 was more familiar one is doing Evelyn King one, you know. 1:36:57.560 --> 1:36:59.559 And as soon as you hit those synthesizers, just like 1:37:01.160 --> 1:37:03.160 so many sundays, my mom cleaned the whole house to 1:37:03.200 --> 1:37:06.360 that fucking song, you know, and I was like, man, 1:37:06.360 --> 1:37:07.240 it's the nostalgia. 1:37:07.280 --> 1:37:08.040 It's the part of it. 1:37:08.120 --> 1:37:10.960 The texture of it is the fact that people recognize 1:37:10.960 --> 1:37:13.920 the song. But I don't know of a hip hop song, 1:37:14.000 --> 1:37:16.360 especially when a hip hop crossover that has still dance 1:37:16.400 --> 1:37:19.479 elements and also reggae and Jennifer Larer's version of it 1:37:19.520 --> 1:37:25.200 is a slower, more like soultry version of it, less 1:37:25.280 --> 1:37:29.680 like a pop song. We sampled it Yetie Beats and 1:37:29.760 --> 1:37:33.679 also Fee are the two producers that produced my whole 1:37:33.680 --> 1:37:36.759 new album, and this was one of the songs that stuck. 1:37:36.880 --> 1:37:38.320 And as soon as we did it, I was like, 1:37:39.520 --> 1:37:41.040 it was one of those songs that I don't remember 1:37:41.080 --> 1:37:43.519 writing it. It was very effortless, and I usually that 1:37:43.600 --> 1:37:45.080 means to me that it's going to be a good song. 1:37:45.120 --> 1:37:46.320 Because it didn't feel like work. 1:37:46.360 --> 1:37:48.760 It just felt like it just came out of my 1:37:48.840 --> 1:37:52.880 brain and put itself onto the music. The song is 1:37:52.880 --> 1:37:57.040 really just about freedom and appreciation for a woman. Whoever 1:37:57.040 --> 1:37:58.519 it is that you care about in your life, you 1:37:58.560 --> 1:38:01.000 shouldn't be embarrassed or feel reluctancy to tell them how 1:38:01.000 --> 1:38:04.360 you feel. And appreciating all parts of the person that 1:38:04.400 --> 1:38:07.040 you love, not just the physical, but who they are, 1:38:07.200 --> 1:38:10.439 how they feel, what they smell like, how they make 1:38:10.520 --> 1:38:10.960 you feel. 1:38:11.240 --> 1:38:14.000 You know. And I'm really proud of the song. 1:38:14.040 --> 1:38:15.760 I think that the video is going to be a 1:38:15.760 --> 1:38:20.280 great component to it, considering it is a Jamaican founded record, 1:38:21.680 --> 1:38:25.880 my dad being an immigrant from Jamaica, he's from Manchester Parish, 1:38:25.960 --> 1:38:29.080 he's from Meadowville. Shot the video in Kingston, which is 1:38:29.120 --> 1:38:35.360 the capital and the more i would say densely populated area. 1:38:37.600 --> 1:38:39.920 Just in my trip there alone had allowed me to 1:38:39.960 --> 1:38:46.320 reconnect with people that you know, It's weird, like the 1:38:46.400 --> 1:38:49.800 song has so much more impact and importance in a 1:38:49.840 --> 1:38:52.600 place like Jamaica than it did when I made it 1:38:52.640 --> 1:38:55.360 in la And it just reminded me that you can 1:38:57.120 --> 1:38:59.439 you transport yourself when you make this you make these 1:38:59.479 --> 1:39:02.240 songs sometimes it feels like work and less like a 1:39:02.320 --> 1:39:06.120 transformative experience. But you can really teleport and you can 1:39:06.240 --> 1:39:10.760 find love, you can find promise beyond just being an 1:39:10.840 --> 1:39:13.759 artist in the moment. These are like antennas and ways 1:39:13.760 --> 1:39:16.720 to touch and reach other people. And the song really 1:39:16.720 --> 1:39:18.759 speaks to me in a way different way. Just coming 1:39:18.800 --> 1:39:21.960 back from it, I'm just like, Wow, you know, I 1:39:21.960 --> 1:39:25.639 don't know you've heard the record already. Yeah, so yeah, 1:39:25.720 --> 1:39:29.560 I'm yeah. I just feel I feel like it's a 1:39:29.560 --> 1:39:31.400 good introduction for where I'm about to go with my 1:39:31.479 --> 1:39:37.000 new album, especially it being the first introduction to what's 1:39:37.040 --> 1:39:37.760 going to sound like. 1:39:38.120 --> 1:39:39.120 I would say the rest of the. 1:39:39.080 --> 1:39:41.840 Album is not like this, which is the best, the 1:39:41.880 --> 1:39:45.160 best thing about it. I think diversity is what artists 1:39:45.200 --> 1:39:46.840 a lacking at the moment, and I think I'm going 1:39:46.920 --> 1:39:48.840 to give that now for sure. 1:39:49.000 --> 1:39:53.160 Okay, you talk about all these collaborators. Are you the 1:39:53.240 --> 1:39:56.000 type of person who's sitting on their phone all day 1:39:56.040 --> 1:40:00.400 long connecting with people, making relationships? How does all this happen? 1:40:01.240 --> 1:40:01.760 Oh? I'm not. 1:40:02.000 --> 1:40:04.920 I wish sometimes that I was, because I'd probably be 1:40:04.920 --> 1:40:07.880 better at it reaching out. I'm the kind of person 1:40:08.439 --> 1:40:10.479 I'm reading Invincible the comic right now. 1:40:10.520 --> 1:40:11.680 Bro, Like I'm. 1:40:12.320 --> 1:40:18.400 Collect cards, trading cards, I watch sports, hang with my girl, 1:40:19.439 --> 1:40:22.320 I talk to my family a lot. I've used to 1:40:22.360 --> 1:40:24.360 play video games a lot, a lot. I'm less on 1:40:24.439 --> 1:40:27.960 it now, but I'm reading and researching. I don't really 1:40:27.960 --> 1:40:30.360 go out a lot, not because I'm introvertive. I just 1:40:30.360 --> 1:40:33.160 always have something to do. But once I'm outside, I'm good. 1:40:33.479 --> 1:40:37.040 And I think that, like, connected with people organically has 1:40:37.040 --> 1:40:40.200 always been my favorite thing to be in person, not 1:40:40.320 --> 1:40:43.280 on the phone. So yeah, I know that there's a 1:40:43.320 --> 1:40:45.840 great tool in using the Internet and social media, but like, 1:40:46.320 --> 1:40:48.280 I really don't enjoy using it to reach out to 1:40:48.320 --> 1:40:51.440 people because I just feel like a cog and a machine. 1:40:51.680 --> 1:40:53.120 You know, I don't feel like I matter to you, 1:40:53.160 --> 1:40:55.080 because how can you really tell that I care or 1:40:55.080 --> 1:40:57.519 that I actually enjoy your music. We all type with 1:40:57.600 --> 1:41:00.160 the same font and got the same emoji choices. Know, 1:41:00.200 --> 1:41:02.240 how could you really know that I really love your 1:41:02.320 --> 1:41:04.000 music or I maybe love you? You know what I'm saying. 1:41:04.000 --> 1:41:07.360 You don't know. You can't really determine that you have 1:41:07.400 --> 1:41:09.920 to established something in real life. Then you can text 1:41:09.920 --> 1:41:12.519 as much as you want. But yeah, reaching out to 1:41:12.600 --> 1:41:16.360 artists has always been difficult to me through the internet 1:41:16.400 --> 1:41:18.960 because I just I don't want to play that game, 1:41:19.240 --> 1:41:19.479 you know. 1:41:19.800 --> 1:41:21.760 Okay, but if you want someone to work with you, 1:41:21.880 --> 1:41:23.280 how do you make the connection. 1:41:26.800 --> 1:41:29.120 I'm fortunate enough that usually if me or. 1:41:29.160 --> 1:41:32.919 My manager reaches out, they usually respond because they familiar 1:41:32.920 --> 1:41:33.160 with me. 1:41:33.400 --> 1:41:37.080 And if they're not, that's okay. Like I usually just 1:41:37.120 --> 1:41:41.040 wait till this opportunity that's best and I'm very much 1:41:42.320 --> 1:41:46.440 a feeling person. If it don't, if. 1:41:45.520 --> 1:41:48.280 You ignore me, then that's one thing. I'm busy too, 1:41:48.320 --> 1:41:51.639 so I don't ever take things personal. But there's very 1:41:51.640 --> 1:41:54.160 few times that I or my manager or my team 1:41:54.160 --> 1:41:55.720 have reached out and a person was just like no. 1:41:56.600 --> 1:41:59.160 It was always like I'm on tour, great song though, 1:41:59.439 --> 1:42:02.080 or yeah, I'm down to do it. I have time tomorrow. 1:42:02.240 --> 1:42:05.519 It's you know, I have no ego to ask anybody 1:42:05.520 --> 1:42:07.720 for anything to me, especially if I met you one time. 1:42:07.720 --> 1:42:09.320 I'm gonna text you as many times as I have 1:42:09.400 --> 1:42:11.799 to to get to get you back in the studio 1:42:12.120 --> 1:42:14.519 because you you gave me your number, So what the 1:42:14.520 --> 1:42:16.960 fuck I'm gonna ask you if you want to make music, 1:42:17.080 --> 1:42:20.640 you know. But yeah, that's probably just the persistence we 1:42:20.680 --> 1:42:21.479 were talking about earlier. 1:42:21.560 --> 1:42:24.800 It's like, I'm gonna keep going until I get a 1:42:24.840 --> 1:42:27.519 real no from you. You know, if you really want 1:42:27.520 --> 1:42:29.280 it that bad, I'm gonna I'm gonna keep trying. 1:42:30.080 --> 1:42:33.640 You mentioned your girl. Have you been married, do you 1:42:33.760 --> 1:42:36.240 have children? What's your relationship story? 1:42:36.479 --> 1:42:41.040 No, I'm not married, I have no children. But this 1:42:41.120 --> 1:42:45.840 is this is the most happy that I've ever been 1:42:45.960 --> 1:42:52.040 with anyone, and the most pure connection and feeling that 1:42:52.080 --> 1:42:55.240 you could have for somebody, and I never had that. 1:42:55.360 --> 1:42:58.720 And I was recently telling her, you know, there's times 1:42:58.800 --> 1:43:02.160 you tell somebody you love them, and it kind of 1:43:02.200 --> 1:43:06.880 reaffirmed what that every time I said it to someone 1:43:06.920 --> 1:43:08.920 that somebody else, did I really mean it? Or maybe 1:43:08.960 --> 1:43:12.600 my understanding of love or saying that what it meant? 1:43:12.760 --> 1:43:14.760 And it means something different now when I told my 1:43:14.840 --> 1:43:15.400 girl I love her? 1:43:15.560 --> 1:43:16.960 Okay, so where did you meet her? 1:43:17.600 --> 1:43:20.400 I'm her in La? Yeah, okay, let's. 1:43:20.240 --> 1:43:23.640 Go back York in La. It's the same country, but 1:43:23.760 --> 1:43:24.759 they're really different. 1:43:24.840 --> 1:43:25.479 Big difference. 1:43:26.080 --> 1:43:28.360 So tell me what you find. The difference is to 1:43:28.400 --> 1:43:29.719 be New. 1:43:29.640 --> 1:43:37.760 York biggest international place in the world, I believe, I 1:43:37.800 --> 1:43:41.800 think as a statistic was JFK is the largest, is 1:43:41.840 --> 1:43:46.519 the most inbound and outbound flights internationally in the world 1:43:46.560 --> 1:43:48.840 as far as airports, so they have the most people 1:43:48.840 --> 1:43:51.680 coming from every place more than anywhere else because it's 1:43:51.680 --> 1:43:54.519 a landing spot. And then you walk around New York, 1:43:54.560 --> 1:44:00.439 you see everybody. There's no I can bring anybody from anywhere, 1:44:00.479 --> 1:44:03.760 and I'll find the food that you like. That's fucking crazy, Like, 1:44:04.640 --> 1:44:06.840 it doesn't matter where the hell you're from. Bro, Oh, 1:44:07.200 --> 1:44:09.080 you're never gonna find I'll find it for you. Bro, 1:44:09.120 --> 1:44:10.960 you're from serving it, I'll find you some serving food. 1:44:10.960 --> 1:44:11.120 Bro. 1:44:11.280 --> 1:44:18.040 Like, wherever the fuck you're from, I'll find it. Busy, loud, competitive, 1:44:20.479 --> 1:44:25.000 prideful New York City. No, people say it's dirty, Well 1:44:25.120 --> 1:44:27.400 stop coming there so much and dropping your ship on 1:44:27.400 --> 1:44:31.080 the floor. The fuck is the it's tourists, it's sucking 1:44:31.080 --> 1:44:33.599 it up. It's not locals, it's you. It's all these 1:44:33.600 --> 1:44:36.040 people coming there dropping shit on the full time anyway. 1:44:36.479 --> 1:44:47.960 La nature, Hollywood, TV music, uh uh shit, beautiful weather. 1:44:49.160 --> 1:44:51.280 Everybody's a fucking dog, you know. 1:44:52.680 --> 1:44:56.840 I would say a lot more slow paced, and people 1:44:56.880 --> 1:44:59.280 can appreciate nuance and small details. 1:45:00.000 --> 1:45:02.880 You can actually work, You can really work really hard here. 1:45:02.920 --> 1:45:05.120 I think a lot of people here, they work more 1:45:05.200 --> 1:45:07.320 than they see their friends. In New York, you bump 1:45:07.320 --> 1:45:09.640 into your friends all the time because everyone's outside all 1:45:09.640 --> 1:45:14.360 the time. To me, La became a place that you 1:45:14.400 --> 1:45:17.360 can literally close yourself off and never see anybody because 1:45:17.360 --> 1:45:19.240 you're due work. You work all the time. Everything is 1:45:19.280 --> 1:45:22.439 so far apart that if you don't make a commitment 1:45:22.479 --> 1:45:25.000 to somebody, you might just like never see them. It 1:45:25.040 --> 1:45:27.160 could be nine months you don't see your best friends. 1:45:27.600 --> 1:45:29.760 At least to me, this is my experience. 1:45:30.120 --> 1:45:31.320 Very well articulated. 1:45:31.439 --> 1:45:31.920 Keep going. 1:45:32.080 --> 1:45:36.760 Yeah, La is a place that it breaks a lot 1:45:36.760 --> 1:45:41.479 of people because they get lost. There's different kind of 1:45:41.560 --> 1:45:44.800 nightlife than it is in New York, because I would 1:45:44.800 --> 1:45:47.280 say there almost is none. So everybody wants to go 1:45:47.400 --> 1:45:52.879 to a blest celebrities house to do cocaine. My opinion 1:45:52.880 --> 1:45:55.559 on that in New York they do cocaine too, but 1:45:55.680 --> 1:45:59.320 it's at three pm three am. Sorry, at an actual 1:45:59.320 --> 1:46:01.200 place where people still hanging out. They're not going to 1:46:01.240 --> 1:46:03.840 stop partying til like six am. Here that shit has 1:46:03.880 --> 1:46:06.680 done like twelve you know, so we're all kind of 1:46:06.680 --> 1:46:07.320 figuring out what. 1:46:07.240 --> 1:46:08.760 We're gonna do every night. In New York. 1:46:08.800 --> 1:46:11.080 I always had a destination. And not only because I'm 1:46:11.120 --> 1:46:12.720 from there. I know people who go to New York 1:46:12.720 --> 1:46:15.519 and say, bro, I'm so tired. Oh I do is 1:46:15.560 --> 1:46:17.080 hang out all the time. I'm like, that's why it's 1:46:17.120 --> 1:46:20.479 hard to work there. So that's that's I had to 1:46:20.520 --> 1:46:24.599 move to LA to change my life. And I didn't 1:46:24.600 --> 1:46:27.120 mention this. I said this in another interview, but you know, 1:46:27.160 --> 1:46:30.320 when my mom was really sick, I didn't. I would 1:46:30.360 --> 1:46:32.320 go to LA a lot, and I would sleep with 1:46:32.360 --> 1:46:34.439 my friends couches and stuff, and I'll spend out a 1:46:34.479 --> 1:46:36.200 bunch of money on playing tickets and stuff. And I 1:46:36.240 --> 1:46:39.680 was trying to learn how to operate over here. You 1:46:39.720 --> 1:46:44.439 know the music that I made. My mom she loved 1:46:44.479 --> 1:46:47.240 my music. You know, she loved the flabber Zombies. She 1:46:47.320 --> 1:46:48.320 loved especially. 1:46:47.960 --> 1:46:50.960 Because she knew Dimitri really well, you know his mother 1:46:51.000 --> 1:46:54.680 and his dad. She always would tell me, like, you 1:46:54.720 --> 1:46:57.720 got to do your shit because you just different. You're 1:46:57.800 --> 1:47:00.200 just like one of these guys that's like you do 1:47:00.240 --> 1:47:00.639 it all. 1:47:00.920 --> 1:47:02.800 But what people see from you and this is your 1:47:02.800 --> 1:47:05.040 mom telling you, so I believe it, but it's also 1:47:05.160 --> 1:47:07.479 like it's your mom. She's gonna say the nicest things 1:47:07.520 --> 1:47:10.120 about you. You know, and I would deny everything. 1:47:10.200 --> 1:47:11.680 Ah man nah like la da da. 1:47:11.800 --> 1:47:15.240 She's like, yeah, Like you know, you have so much intelligence, 1:47:15.280 --> 1:47:17.559 and I sometimes I wonder why you choose to make music, 1:47:17.640 --> 1:47:19.280 And I'm like, what do you mean. She's like, because 1:47:19.720 --> 1:47:22.479 you have so much other talent, what made you choose music? 1:47:22.520 --> 1:47:24.080 And I was like, well, a lot of that is 1:47:24.240 --> 1:47:27.240 because of you, because of her. She's like, what do 1:47:27.320 --> 1:47:28.880 you mean. I'm like, man, when you grew up with 1:47:28.880 --> 1:47:32.120 somebody blind, like she wasn't always blind. She became blind 1:47:32.160 --> 1:47:34.519 by the time I got to high school, so ad 1:47:34.560 --> 1:47:37.120 to every time somebody came to my house, I had 1:47:37.120 --> 1:47:39.679 to tell them my mom was blind, by the way, 1:47:40.600 --> 1:47:41.800 And sometimes they'd be. 1:47:41.720 --> 1:47:43.960 Like, well, why'd you tell me that. I'm like, well, 1:47:45.080 --> 1:47:46.639 I know what it's like for you to walk into 1:47:46.760 --> 1:47:48.960 somebody's house, and I've seen it without me prefacing it, 1:47:49.080 --> 1:47:51.839 like people have this reaction. She can't see the reaction, 1:47:51.960 --> 1:47:54.200 but she can feel it. And I was like, damn, 1:47:54.280 --> 1:47:59.519 you know, Like how perceptive people who are when they 1:47:59.720 --> 1:48:03.439 can't see anymore is fucking insane. Like she can tell 1:48:03.479 --> 1:48:04.200 you what you look like. 1:48:04.280 --> 1:48:06.800 She could look at you without looking at you, and 1:48:06.800 --> 1:48:08.280 she'd be like, I tell you that guy he has 1:48:08.320 --> 1:48:10.920 a navy shirt on right now. You know it was 1:48:11.040 --> 1:48:13.519 fucking weird. She can by the way you smell, by 1:48:13.560 --> 1:48:16.320 the way you you know, your hands felt. She could 1:48:16.360 --> 1:48:17.479 tell a few were like stressed out. 1:48:17.479 --> 1:48:19.680 It was fucking weird. Like some I'm like, what do 1:48:19.680 --> 1:48:23.720 you call it, like a like a psyche or some shit. 1:48:23.800 --> 1:48:26.720 I'm like, and she you know, women intuitively have a 1:48:26.800 --> 1:48:29.680 lot of this already. They carry things, bro, we can 1:48:29.760 --> 1:48:33.080 never have these feelings, the feeling of super high and 1:48:33.120 --> 1:48:33.639 super lows. 1:48:33.680 --> 1:48:35.479 A man could never feel. We don't know what it's 1:48:35.520 --> 1:48:37.559 like to conceive a child. You know, that is like 1:48:37.600 --> 1:48:41.040 a whole fucking evolution of a life. So women innately 1:48:41.120 --> 1:48:44.760 have that, then you have like the senses gone. So 1:48:45.760 --> 1:48:47.960 and I was like, yeah, well, when I started making music, 1:48:48.000 --> 1:48:49.280 it was to impress you. 1:48:49.280 --> 1:48:52.040 You know, you listen to good music when you can't 1:48:52.080 --> 1:48:56.280 see think about it. You When you reach. 1:48:56.160 --> 1:48:59.280 For something, every intention that you have to every intention 1:48:59.439 --> 1:49:01.880 you have to be spot on because you don't have 1:49:01.920 --> 1:49:02.519 time to waste. 1:49:02.560 --> 1:49:05.280 You might fall, you might fuck like, I really. 1:49:05.160 --> 1:49:07.160 Want to play the song right now, and I wanted 1:49:07.160 --> 1:49:09.439 to be a song that my mom wanted to hear 1:49:09.560 --> 1:49:13.600 and like I didn't know that she was like my 1:49:13.920 --> 1:49:15.599 she was my biggest fan, but I didn't know she 1:49:15.640 --> 1:49:17.920 was the audience of people I was initially making music for, 1:49:18.080 --> 1:49:19.800 you know. And that's why I love sampling and why 1:49:19.840 --> 1:49:23.280 I love making music that reminded her of. 1:49:23.160 --> 1:49:24.920 The sixties and when she was a kid, you know. 1:49:25.640 --> 1:49:28.800 So you know, I just said the story, but like, yeah, 1:49:28.880 --> 1:49:32.080 she my two brothers. You know, your mom gets old, 1:49:32.120 --> 1:49:34.320 she starts calling the other people's name. She called me Q, 1:49:35.200 --> 1:49:36.760 and I didn't know who the fuck Q was And 1:49:36.800 --> 1:49:39.360 she turns out that she tells me it's Quincy Jones, 1:49:39.439 --> 1:49:41.920 you know. And we talked about the difference between LA 1:49:42.000 --> 1:49:44.080 and New York at the time. When your mom says 1:49:44.080 --> 1:49:45.560 that you're a mind of a Quincy Jones, I just 1:49:45.600 --> 1:49:48.240 thought that she was like getting old or like you 1:49:48.360 --> 1:49:49.200 just gassing me up? 1:49:49.240 --> 1:49:50.680 Man, Why would you say something. 1:49:50.479 --> 1:49:54.880 Like that, like like I'm making songs about acid, you know, 1:49:55.200 --> 1:49:57.519 Like what the fuck are you talking about? 1:49:57.560 --> 1:50:00.280 Like I didn't get it. She's like, trust me, you'll 1:50:00.320 --> 1:50:00.960 see one day. 1:50:01.040 --> 1:50:04.519 Whatever you know, you don't it's your own creation, so 1:50:04.560 --> 1:50:05.760 you can't really look at it that way. 1:50:05.800 --> 1:50:07.800 And I was like, whatever, I moved to. 1:50:07.840 --> 1:50:09.840 La Man and I meet Quincy Jones, Bro, Like, what 1:50:09.880 --> 1:50:13.120 do you you could believe in in destiny? You can 1:50:13.160 --> 1:50:18.120 believe in, you can believe in in Disney and fiction 1:50:18.200 --> 1:50:20.160 and shit, but some of the shit is really real, man. 1:50:20.240 --> 1:50:23.080 Like she passed away and I met this man, and 1:50:23.120 --> 1:50:24.960 not only did I meet him, you know, I go 1:50:25.040 --> 1:50:29.400 to his house and you know he passes away, but 1:50:30.320 --> 1:50:33.720 so much so much there that it's like, you know, 1:50:35.400 --> 1:50:37.080 your mom and the person that puts you into this 1:50:37.120 --> 1:50:41.000 world has so much perception of you and life that 1:50:41.040 --> 1:50:45.080 we have to appreciate more of. And I never want 1:50:45.120 --> 1:50:48.720 someone to go away and not give them their flowers, 1:50:48.840 --> 1:50:51.559 you know. And I tell people with that still have 1:50:51.600 --> 1:50:53.439 their mother and their lives all the time, like, yo, 1:50:53.560 --> 1:50:56.080 I don't give a fuck what it is, whatever little 1:50:56.160 --> 1:50:57.439 issue you have with your mom, yo. 1:50:57.600 --> 1:50:59.040 And not that I have favorite to them, to my 1:50:59.080 --> 1:51:01.720 mom or my dad way, but your mom is. 1:51:01.720 --> 1:51:04.360 Just different, bro, Like fix that issue, bro, fix it, 1:51:04.439 --> 1:51:08.280 because their understanding of your life is way different, and 1:51:08.320 --> 1:51:10.960 they're telling you stuff that you really really will appreciate. 1:51:11.240 --> 1:51:14.000 If it's not today, it's tomorrow, it's five years from now. 1:51:14.320 --> 1:51:16.200 I still think about what she said to me because 1:51:16.280 --> 1:51:18.840 I'm still decoding what the hell that meant, Like, how 1:51:18.840 --> 1:51:21.639 the fuck did you know that? You know, we're talking 1:51:21.640 --> 1:51:24.400 about I have two gold songs. At that time, I 1:51:24.400 --> 1:51:28.160 had no gold records. You know, like to other people 1:51:28.200 --> 1:51:32.160 that may seem with fifty Grammys and fifty whatever, To me, 1:51:32.360 --> 1:51:33.040 that's the world. 1:51:33.160 --> 1:51:34.040 I came from nothing. 1:51:34.120 --> 1:51:34.320 Man. 1:51:34.479 --> 1:51:36.639 You know, we took talked to here for a couple 1:51:36.640 --> 1:51:39.040 of hours about all the struggle that I had and 1:51:39.080 --> 1:51:42.960 all the stuff. So anything just leaving my house, just 1:51:43.000 --> 1:51:45.960 having a tour bus, just having somebody tattoo your name, 1:51:46.160 --> 1:51:49.519 just having somebody care about you is not guaranteed. And 1:51:49.600 --> 1:51:52.880 for somebody to see that and still know that you 1:51:52.920 --> 1:51:57.479 have a higher capacity to grow is fucking nuts, because 1:51:57.479 --> 1:51:59.080 you would think that would be enough. And my mom 1:51:59.160 --> 1:52:01.720 is like, that's not an bro, you have more of 1:52:01.760 --> 1:52:04.479 a story. And we're talking about twenty twenty six, I'm 1:52:04.520 --> 1:52:07.160 releasing my second debut album. In my second album, you know, 1:52:07.240 --> 1:52:09.760 from my debut album, you know, you would think I'd 1:52:09.760 --> 1:52:11.640 be tired of making music, or I would have no 1:52:11.720 --> 1:52:14.600 fans by now, or I'd be jaded, or I'd be 1:52:14.600 --> 1:52:17.040 on drugs, or I have six baby mothers or some shit, right, 1:52:17.080 --> 1:52:20.599 now I'm very hungry and ready to conquer the music 1:52:20.640 --> 1:52:23.800 industry as an independent powerhouse, you know, and a lot 1:52:23.840 --> 1:52:26.160 of what she told me is still much in my 1:52:26.240 --> 1:52:28.680 life every day. So I just want to make sure 1:52:28.720 --> 1:52:31.160 I said that, you know, to your platform and everybody 1:52:31.160 --> 1:52:31.519 hearing this. 1:52:31.600 --> 1:52:34.679 It's like, you know, I. 1:52:34.640 --> 1:52:36.960 Wish I can get those moments back with my mom, 1:52:37.439 --> 1:52:40.320 and I think about her every day. But when people 1:52:40.360 --> 1:52:43.240 pass away, that's just a physical, a spiritual, and a 1:52:44.760 --> 1:52:47.760 It's deeper than that, and you become them. So you 1:52:47.800 --> 1:52:48.400 are your parents. 1:52:48.439 --> 1:52:50.240 As much as you may have a little issue with them, 1:52:50.600 --> 1:52:52.519 you are still mommy and Daddy, you know, end of 1:52:52.600 --> 1:52:55.439 the day. And when I become a parent, I want 1:52:55.479 --> 1:52:58.920 them to say the same things to me. And yeah, 1:52:59.000 --> 1:53:00.400 that's that's all I want to say about that. 1:53:01.360 --> 1:53:06.280 Okay, you've been fiercely independent, but you've gained more notoriety 1:53:06.320 --> 1:53:10.000 and leverage. Would you make a deal with a major 1:53:10.200 --> 1:53:12.320 or do you believe in the independent role? 1:53:12.760 --> 1:53:17.400 I think majors. I have no real reason to go 1:53:17.479 --> 1:53:21.680 to a major besides a lot of money and a 1:53:21.720 --> 1:53:24.639 lot of change. Otherwise than that, I think I can 1:53:24.680 --> 1:53:27.000 get most of those things on my own. I've gotten 1:53:27.000 --> 1:53:31.000 this far from not fucking with them at all. So 1:53:31.640 --> 1:53:33.400 if I ever did, it would have to be because 1:53:33.439 --> 1:53:39.360 it dramatically changed my life financially. Not really, I'm not. 1:53:40.040 --> 1:53:41.040 I don't think I need to. 1:53:42.000 --> 1:53:44.880 If I did, it would have to be like, oh, 1:53:44.920 --> 1:53:47.360 I have two houses in Dubai and Jamaica now or 1:53:47.360 --> 1:53:50.120 something like that. And it couldn't just be like, oh, yeah, 1:53:50.120 --> 1:53:52.040 I have more followers. I don't give a fuck about that, 1:53:52.240 --> 1:53:55.760 you know, Or I have ten more dollars in my 1:53:55.760 --> 1:53:56.280 bank account. 1:53:56.360 --> 1:53:57.120 That wouldn't be enough. 1:53:57.160 --> 1:53:59.680 It would have to be like, this is sustainable to 1:53:59.720 --> 1:54:01.360 change me and my whole family's life. 1:54:02.560 --> 1:54:06.559 Okay, as you reference, although this is audio only, you're 1:54:06.600 --> 1:54:11.360 wearing a Nick's shirt. Tell me about the Knicks. 1:54:12.040 --> 1:54:18.320 I gotta take some water from that one, bro. I am. 1:54:18.520 --> 1:54:20.439 I am one of the biggest Knicks fans in the 1:54:20.560 --> 1:54:24.840 entire planet on Pluto, Mars, Jupiter, plants that we didn't 1:54:24.840 --> 1:54:29.479 even discover, I am. But I've been watching the Knicks 1:54:30.439 --> 1:54:35.440 my entire life. I don't know. There's only I love 1:54:35.520 --> 1:54:39.280 music more than the Knicks and my family, you know, 1:54:39.320 --> 1:54:42.760 my lady. Otherwise than that, it's the Knicks, Like I 1:54:43.400 --> 1:54:46.920 bleed the Knicks I've been watching the Knicks lose my 1:54:47.000 --> 1:54:51.280 whole life. Like I don't like the Yankees. I've never 1:54:51.760 --> 1:54:53.960 I've seen the Yankees win many World Series. I don't care. 1:54:54.360 --> 1:54:56.600 I'm a Mets fan. They've never seen them win. I 1:54:56.640 --> 1:54:59.960 see them the Subway Series. All right, cool, I've seen. 1:55:00.120 --> 1:55:01.720 I'm a Giants fan. I've seen the Giants win two 1:55:01.720 --> 1:55:05.120 Super Bowls. We beat Tom Brady still doesn't touch what 1:55:05.240 --> 1:55:09.040 happened with Jalen Brunson this season. Watching the Knicks being 1:55:09.080 --> 1:55:14.760 friends with also other Knicks players in real life, cheering 1:55:14.800 --> 1:55:16.200 for a team that people know. 1:55:18.520 --> 1:55:20.360 Before now they're gonna lose. 1:55:20.440 --> 1:55:22.080 You know how that feels to be in New Yorker 1:55:22.080 --> 1:55:24.600 and be like, you're gonna lose tonight. That sucks, man, 1:55:24.760 --> 1:55:29.080 Like from Patrick Ewing to John Starks to Chris Childs 1:55:29.160 --> 1:55:32.400 to Charlie Ward, Like that's the era of basketball that 1:55:32.480 --> 1:55:36.720 I remember. What we did this year no one could predict. 1:55:36.840 --> 1:55:38.960 I don't even know if the Knicks players themselves knew 1:55:39.000 --> 1:55:42.320 that they were gonna do it. But it's the biggest 1:55:42.360 --> 1:55:45.760 underdog story in the history of basketball. It's fifty three 1:55:45.840 --> 1:55:48.600 years is a long time to be made fun of, 1:55:49.360 --> 1:55:51.800 and I think it was with nineteen or seventeen years 1:55:51.800 --> 1:55:54.760 since they were in the finals. So I'm gonna wear 1:55:54.960 --> 1:55:58.480 my girlfriend said today this morning, You've wore a Knick 1:55:58.520 --> 1:56:01.640 shirt every day since the said I know, I have 1:56:01.680 --> 1:56:05.080 another one, and I'm gonna word tomorrow too. So just 1:56:05.080 --> 1:56:09.080 because the season started is going to start in September October, 1:56:09.320 --> 1:56:12.360 I'm still gonna wear my next merchandise, like every day. 1:56:12.480 --> 1:56:15.080 I'm gonna have a Nicks brooch when I get married too. 1:56:15.120 --> 1:56:20.240 So yeah, very very very proud of my of my city. 1:56:20.360 --> 1:56:22.680 At what point did you think it was possible? 1:56:23.480 --> 1:56:25.000 Once you beat the shit out of Philly, I was 1:56:25.000 --> 1:56:28.920 like it's over because I was like, this was a team. 1:56:29.000 --> 1:56:31.360 They're really good team. It's funny how everybody's like, oh, 1:56:31.360 --> 1:56:33.440 they're not that good. What are you talking about. This 1:56:33.520 --> 1:56:36.840 is a good fucking team. They're young. We beat the shit 1:56:36.840 --> 1:56:38.960 out of them. That that's like to me, it was 1:56:39.000 --> 1:56:43.040 indication like hmm, maybe this isn't a fluke. And then 1:56:43.040 --> 1:56:45.360 we beat the shit out of Cleveland and I was like, 1:56:45.400 --> 1:56:47.240 this was a really good team. You guys thought they 1:56:47.240 --> 1:56:49.960 were gonna sweep us too. By that point, I was like, 1:56:50.240 --> 1:56:53.440 oh shit, we might win. Once you won Game one 1:56:53.800 --> 1:56:56.280 against the Spurs, I said, we are going to win 1:56:56.360 --> 1:56:57.200 the championship. 1:56:57.760 --> 1:56:59.360 I said that, and I was like, there's no I 1:56:59.400 --> 1:57:01.920 don't We got it. We got it. 1:57:02.000 --> 1:57:04.560 I something told me we got it, and we got it, 1:57:04.840 --> 1:57:08.240 and I was fucking right. It's very I've never been 1:57:08.240 --> 1:57:12.800 that certain of something in sports, you know, because why 1:57:12.840 --> 1:57:14.240 would they lose this year? 1:57:14.880 --> 1:57:15.480 You know what I mean? 1:57:15.560 --> 1:57:18.560 After all this shit, we're gonna lose. Hell no, that 1:57:18.560 --> 1:57:20.480 can't be the story. I'm mad we even lost the 1:57:20.480 --> 1:57:22.040 one game that we did. I wanted it to be 1:57:22.640 --> 1:57:26.000 clean sweep after Atlanta, but I'll still take it. 1:57:26.080 --> 1:57:27.200 Gentleal sweep is cool too. 1:57:27.640 --> 1:57:29.560 Have you been back to New York since they won? 1:57:29.720 --> 1:57:30.280 Absolutely? 1:57:30.320 --> 1:57:34.400 I was therefore game three in Game four of Cleveland, 1:57:34.680 --> 1:57:38.040 and then I was there for game four in game five, 1:57:38.240 --> 1:57:40.760 I think three, four, and five of Spurs. 1:57:41.480 --> 1:57:48.480 Okay, it's obviously a momentous occasion, but there are multiple leagues, 1:57:48.760 --> 1:57:52.000 most and there's a winner every year in different sports. 1:57:52.640 --> 1:57:56.520 Do you think this victory changed New York and New Yorkers? 1:57:56.800 --> 1:58:00.640 M h, Not only do I think that I changed 1:58:00.680 --> 1:58:03.400 the league. Everybody's scared of the Knicks right now. I 1:58:03.440 --> 1:58:05.440 don't care what fuck with nobody say this is the 1:58:05.480 --> 1:58:08.040 most trades and signings that I've ever seen. And I've 1:58:08.080 --> 1:58:11.320 been watching basketball my whole life. The entire teams upside 1:58:11.360 --> 1:58:13.120 down because they can't figure out not they want to 1:58:13.120 --> 1:58:15.640 emulate what the Knicks did. And it's not because I'm 1:58:15.640 --> 1:58:17.600 a Knicks fan if I hate them. I'm like, it's weird, 1:58:17.720 --> 1:58:21.000 Like we have a certain pride that we've always had. 1:58:21.040 --> 1:58:22.800 Now we can actually wear our Knicks hats and pull 1:58:22.840 --> 1:58:25.040 our hats down to the front, like we have a 1:58:25.080 --> 1:58:29.360 championship logo, jerseys and hats we've never I've never had that. 1:58:29.400 --> 1:58:31.000 You had to go back to Clyde, you know, to 1:58:31.000 --> 1:58:34.000 get any of that stuff. I think it's kind of 1:58:34.040 --> 1:58:36.440 corny that people bandwagon the Knicks, but we have enough 1:58:36.520 --> 1:58:37.120 room for you too. 1:58:37.520 --> 1:58:41.200 It's a little weird too that people the memorabilia is 1:58:41.200 --> 1:58:43.520 so expensive. You know. Some of the stuff that I 1:58:43.560 --> 1:58:45.440 have I bought for dirt cheap. 1:58:45.480 --> 1:58:47.160 I have a Knicks leather jacket I got like two 1:58:47.680 --> 1:58:49.360 I've seen this jacket that I bought for like one 1:58:49.400 --> 1:58:51.320 hundred dollars. I've seen another day for seven hundred dollars 1:58:51.320 --> 1:58:54.880 on the eBay, and I'm like, it's cool. But it's 1:58:54.880 --> 1:58:58.080 also like it's trendy to be a Knicks fan now, 1:58:58.120 --> 1:59:00.000 which to me is like the opposite of the Knicks, 1:59:00.080 --> 1:59:02.680 Like we don't give a fuck either way. Now it 1:59:02.760 --> 1:59:06.800 became like this commodity because we won the championship. But 1:59:07.000 --> 1:59:09.000 it's a pride that I've never seen in New York. 1:59:09.040 --> 1:59:12.040 I mean the parade during that, I mean I was 1:59:12.080 --> 1:59:14.640 on twenty second Street. I was on by sixth Avenue 1:59:14.720 --> 1:59:18.360 when they won, and people were just like going, this 1:59:18.480 --> 1:59:19.240 was we won. 1:59:19.320 --> 1:59:20.000 In San Antonio. 1:59:20.080 --> 1:59:23.400 We have people walking towards thirty fourth Street, probably just 1:59:23.400 --> 1:59:24.200 to stand outside. 1:59:24.240 --> 1:59:27.960 There's a pride that I've never seen in New York. 1:59:28.080 --> 1:59:31.960 You know, I don't no Yankees game, no Giants parade. 1:59:32.080 --> 1:59:35.480 It was more electric than the Knicks winning the championship. 1:59:36.240 --> 1:59:39.520 Okay, you and Angelina or can you see yourself moving 1:59:39.560 --> 1:59:40.280 back to New York. 1:59:41.480 --> 1:59:44.600 I can't be here for my whole life. I'm here now, 1:59:45.360 --> 1:59:47.520 but I know eventually I would have to go back. 1:59:47.880 --> 1:59:52.600 I don't know when. My dad's getting older too, my 1:59:52.640 --> 1:59:55.680 family's getting older. It's weird to say that I'm getting older. 1:59:55.720 --> 1:59:59.560 It's fucking weird to say that too. But La has 1:59:59.560 --> 2:00:01.440 been good to me, so I would never be one 2:00:01.480 --> 2:00:04.360 of those guys. Man fuck La like this man, fake 2:00:04.600 --> 2:00:05.640 people come to La. 2:00:06.400 --> 2:00:09.520 Don't shit on La. Bro La is a great place. 2:00:09.560 --> 2:00:11.760 It has great culture, and the people from l A 2:00:11.760 --> 2:00:14.440 are amazing. Transplants like me come here and fuck it 2:00:14.520 --> 2:00:18.400 up because they don't respect the community and they try 2:00:18.440 --> 2:00:20.320 to skip steps. But you got to show respect when 2:00:20.360 --> 2:00:22.480 you come to La. You gotta show respect to the 2:00:22.520 --> 2:00:26.120 people that have been here their whole lives. And yeah, 2:00:26.400 --> 2:00:30.960 I love I love the Brooklyn Dodgers. So I have 2:00:31.000 --> 2:00:35.240 a tawny jersey because you know, we know where it started. 2:00:35.240 --> 2:00:36.680 So I'll still reach for the Dodgers. 2:00:36.840 --> 2:00:39.160 And I root it for the Dodgers against the Yankees 2:00:39.200 --> 2:00:44.200 too last year, and I will be again this year. 2:00:44.240 --> 2:00:47.040 If you know, the Mets are not good, so it's 2:00:47.080 --> 2:00:49.880 probably we might see the Dodgers play the Yankees again. 2:00:49.880 --> 2:00:53.400 I don't know, we'll see. Well, Eric, it's been wonderful 2:00:53.440 --> 2:00:55.760 talking to you, not only getting your story or you're 2:00:55.800 --> 2:00:58.920 a very sharp, insightful guy. You know you talked about 2:00:58.960 --> 2:01:02.000 the visions you get from certain drugs. Not that I 2:01:02.000 --> 2:01:03.920 want to make it about drugs, but all of these 2:01:04.040 --> 2:01:06.920 questions really make me think and You've nailed a couple 2:01:06.920 --> 2:01:09.800 of things that I could never articulate. I want to 2:01:09.840 --> 2:01:12.480 thank you for taking this time with my audience for. 2:01:12.480 --> 2:01:13.480 Sure, thanks for having me. 2:01:13.560 --> 2:01:16.320 That was the most I ever talked about myself, So 2:01:17.200 --> 2:01:19.560 thank you for giving me the platform. And I'm probably 2:01:19.560 --> 2:01:22.160 gonna listen to this back and be like, there's so 2:01:22.240 --> 2:01:23.800 much more I could have said, you know. 2:01:24.000 --> 2:01:26.320 Well, no, I was realizing there are certain other things. 2:01:26.360 --> 2:01:27.640 I'm not going to bring them up so well, I'd 2:01:27.680 --> 2:01:29.760 like to know more about this, more about that, but 2:01:29.800 --> 2:01:33.400 we're going to leave it there today till next time. 2:01:33.840 --> 2:01:35.800 This is Bob Left sets