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Speaker 1: stronger with a dp HR, talent, time and payroll. Welcome
Speaker 1: to Money Making Conversation. I'm your host with Sean McDonald.
Speaker 1: I recognized that we all have different definitions of success.
Speaker 1: For some exercizable paycheck. Mine is helping people wake up
Speaker 1: and inspiring them to accomplish their goals and live their
Speaker 1: very best life. These are my passions and that's what
Speaker 1: I'm going to do for you. I want you to
Speaker 1: stop tripping over small challenges and prepare to rise above
Speaker 1: the bigger obstacles that life will present to you. The
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversation interviews provide relatable information to the listener
Speaker 1: by career and financial planning, entrepreneurship, motivation, leadership, overcoming the
Speaker 1: arts and how to live it balance life. My next
Speaker 1: guest landed at number seven on the top ten most
Speaker 1: played Urban A c artists between the eight team, ranking
Speaker 1: as the number one man independent Urban A c artists
Speaker 1: of the year according to Media Base. While today's social
Speaker 1: climate has now begun to influence some to get involved
Speaker 1: for promoting change, his chairit of work has been serving
Speaker 1: as an instrument of hope and empowerment since he founded
Speaker 1: the Love Life Foundation, a foundation that focuses on improving
Speaker 1: live through social, educational and wellness development within as well
Speaker 1: as outside of Love Life. Rahein believes in fight for causes,
Speaker 1: dealing with issues related to women's rights, domestic violence, HIV
Speaker 1: age awareness, among others. He's both a talented artist as
Speaker 1: well as an inspiration to people across the globe. Please
Speaker 1: working the money making conversation my man, Raheem devon that
Speaker 1: I get it right, RhE I get it right. Well,
Speaker 1: you know the beautiful part about you? And what right
Speaker 1: right now? What's citing you in right now during the pandemic?
Speaker 1: What's there? I mean, I'm in the d M area,
Speaker 1: you know, Merlin area, absolutely absolutely well you know, I'm
Speaker 1: a fan of what you are, what you represent. Always
Speaker 1: been a believer of what you do on that stage.
Speaker 1: Just starting that stage first, man, because your live performances, Man,
Speaker 1: keep you keep your in the chair watching going he
Speaker 1: hitting every note and then put your understory groove into
Speaker 1: the beat. How the significance of the live performer and
Speaker 1: talked to us about that, man, because that is always
Speaker 1: to me been a signature of orahin. Yeah. I think
Speaker 1: that that's one of the things that regardless of you know,
Speaker 1: who the manager is at the time, what label you on,
Speaker 1: you know, how successful or on the rise you are,
Speaker 1: that that connection that you make um as a live
Speaker 1: performer with the audience is just something that it's especially experience.
Speaker 1: You know, it's a spiritual thing. It's a it's a
Speaker 1: it's a connection. Um. You know that that if you
Speaker 1: if you successfully make it and you connect with that
Speaker 1: with that individual or those groups of individuals, um, they
Speaker 1: become fans, they become you know, uh, supporters of your
Speaker 1: movement hopefully you know uh exactly you know, and come
Speaker 1: and coming from an independent background and grass rooms background,
Speaker 1: that was something earlier that I just connected with and understood.
Speaker 1: They're like, hey, like if you're gonna be if you know,
Speaker 1: if you're pursuing this, then this is something that this
Speaker 1: is this is the area where you need to really
Speaker 1: like horn in or making records. That's cool. You go
Speaker 1: find records, you can go create the wreckage, you can
Speaker 1: go create um, the marketing, you can go create these things.
Speaker 1: But that that connection again that you make with the
Speaker 1: audience is a direct thing, you know, um doing them.
Speaker 1: I've always been that guy who was doing like the
Speaker 1: meeting greets and stuff, you know. So um, in terms
Speaker 1: of my background and starting out how I started out
Speaker 1: in the Youth Street area you know, no WESTBC and
Speaker 1: doing the open mics, I learned earlier. I realized that
Speaker 1: I needed to have a tangible item that you know,
Speaker 1: that the ladies and andy fellers can take home with them,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, and something they could play. Hey,
Speaker 1: I like that tune? Where can I get it? You know,
Speaker 1: this is before the digital age be able to just
Speaker 1: kind of pull it up on your phone or you know,
Speaker 1: uploading to a digital platform where they can get you know, absorbed.
Speaker 1: So that's just became part of my quote unquote hustle.
Speaker 1: Like just it just became. It just became law that, hey,
Speaker 1: was there's one person in the room or you got
Speaker 1: fifty thou people in the you know in the arena,
Speaker 1: that everybody deserves the same show, everybody deserves the same energy,
Speaker 1: you know. And um, it's just that it's just the connection, man.
Speaker 1: It's it's kind of for me. It's it's really becomes
Speaker 1: second nature, the second nature thing. Um. But I never
Speaker 1: really I tried that to never take it for granted
Speaker 1: or at the same time it makes that makes sense. Well,
Speaker 1: I never I never felt that. And knowing you, you
Speaker 1: know I should run you whenever, Steve Harvey, I was
Speaker 1: ever in d C. I I couldn't get you on
Speaker 1: air enough. You know, come on, come on, man se
Speaker 1: in with us, sitting in with us, man, because I
Speaker 1: was just a firm belief of you. But you know you.
Speaker 1: I made a note of your incredible live performing skills.
Speaker 1: I'm speaking aroun how you on you know to the
Speaker 1: DC area, but global talent, singer, performer, poet. I'd like
Speaker 1: to believe um the pandemic hit. You know, comedic friends
Speaker 1: of mine couldn't tour, Musical friends of minds couldn't tour
Speaker 1: because you make your money performing live. And how did that?
Speaker 1: How did that handle? How did it affect you? And
Speaker 1: then your bandmates? How did that? How did you how
Speaker 1: did that? How does that situation played out when it
Speaker 1: first shut down the country and playing out now, I'll
Speaker 1: be honest with you, like I kind of you know,
Speaker 1: you always heard the whispers of these times, you know
Speaker 1: the times that we live in you know other it's
Speaker 1: from the biblical standpoint or just a common sense standpoint.
Speaker 1: So for me personally, I hit the ground running. I
Speaker 1: kind of I've always been, Um, I've been an independent
Speaker 1: artist for the ten years. Man, make it look easy,
Speaker 1: you know, if it's if it's if it's a situation
Speaker 1: where I've had to spend my last to kind of
Speaker 1: flip or to make to make it work. You know, Uh,
Speaker 1: it's pretty much like my it's from conception, like the
Speaker 1: music too, what happens on stage. Um, and having a
Speaker 1: very small team and individuals that I trust they can
Speaker 1: you know, that can help me bring my vision and
Speaker 1: life of course, but you know when this happened, I
Speaker 1: just really I started to kind of educating myself. Okay,
Speaker 1: well what are the digital platforms? What how The first
Speaker 1: thing I had to ask myself is how I'm prepared
Speaker 1: to how I'm prepared? Am I for this moment right now?
Speaker 1: Meaning like you know, if I if I could, if
Speaker 1: I couldn't leave this house. You know, I got my
Speaker 1: studio set up, I got my DSL lines who I had.
Speaker 1: You know, that's technology that you know, uh the internet
Speaker 1: uh provider can service provider can for vibe you know? Um,
Speaker 1: so so I kind of like jumped into that, uh
Speaker 1: into that arena, and you know, and I quickly realized,
Speaker 1: like you need to upraise some things. You know, you've
Speaker 1: been too dependent on certain things. And yeah, so I
Speaker 1: so I really dug into with that. I mean, of course,
Speaker 1: like definitely taking a huge uh financial hit on shows
Speaker 1: and the concerts, um and the touring and stuff for
Speaker 1: that nature. But I just I just really remain organic
Speaker 1: and and and and and creating activities for myself. Um
Speaker 1: the love the Love King Quarantine, I'll call it um.
Speaker 1: And definitely for that for that first eight weeks, like
Speaker 1: I mean, I put myself on the schedule and the
Speaker 1: regiment and just you know and really connected with the
Speaker 1: sayings and you know, around taking care of the day
Speaker 1: to day things that you know, dealing with the fan
Speaker 1: and the adjustment of it all. And and it kind
Speaker 1: of gave me something that even now gives me something
Speaker 1: to uh to look forward to, you know and to
Speaker 1: because you gotta keep that audience going. You gotta keep
Speaker 1: you you gotta keep the connection going. It is a job,
Speaker 1: you know, as much as I love what I do,
Speaker 1: and you have to maintain you create this brand and
Speaker 1: then out the blue they tell you you can't step
Speaker 1: on stages anymore. Just the list of things that we
Speaker 1: that we kind of restricted and constricted zoom. So I
Speaker 1: had to I had to do, you know, creatives. I
Speaker 1: think that that's where you know, the hustler comes in.
Speaker 1: Um that the ambition of h and curiosity. You know,
Speaker 1: it's it's a it's a it's a it's a trying time.
Speaker 1: But I try to find a good and everything. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: and yeah, all these programs are you know that program
Speaker 1: protection pro payroll protection program did that? Was any of
Speaker 1: that stuff an asset are available to an independent artist
Speaker 1: like you who had a traveling band and made you
Speaker 1: you know, you're living the v alive and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden the American said shut down was any of those? Definitely? Definitely,
Speaker 1: I mean being transparent. You know, I got some issues
Speaker 1: and I'm sorting out with you know, of course I
Speaker 1: RS but it's it's it's definitely it's been beneficial. Um
Speaker 1: but but but I also try to make sure that
Speaker 1: it's not something that I make myself like live. You know,
Speaker 1: my friend, look look the country shot. Okay, you know
Speaker 1: I told all my comedicy friends, so they got a
Speaker 1: six hundred dollar a week check. Go get it. Okay,
Speaker 1: you gotta go get it. You gotta go get you,
Speaker 1: gotta go get it. They make it available to you.
Speaker 1: But you know, I applied for the payroll protection program. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: because because the second quarter were no income coming, they
Speaker 1: cut down advertising, media, sales and everything. You couldn't do
Speaker 1: live events, you couldn't even advertise because we're no advertised advertising. Okay,
Speaker 1: so you know, as to shut down a lot of
Speaker 1: major events and second and early third and so now
Speaker 1: we're looking at the at the at the one as
Speaker 1: a possibility. And then you hear about the Football's Pack
Speaker 1: five and the Power five talking about they may shift
Speaker 1: all their games to the spring. So it's so much uncertainty.
Speaker 1: And then but Jen, you still have to be right,
Speaker 1: You still have to be the poet. You still have
Speaker 1: to you know, stand forward and stand straight and be
Speaker 1: a leader during these pandemic times. And when I say that,
Speaker 1: you you you know, this has been an amazing years
Speaker 1: for as incredible deaths. I consider the death of the
Speaker 1: sudden death of Kobe Bryant to be, you know, world shattering,
Speaker 1: and then the the the basic murder of George Floyd
Speaker 1: in front of the nation's eyes and eight minutes, ever
Speaker 1: lower eight minutes. How has that? How has that affected
Speaker 1: you as a musical artist, as a family man, you know,
Speaker 1: a leader in this country and being a man of color.
Speaker 1: It's just specially from mends. I mean, the good, the
Speaker 1: good in it is that my my way, my mind
Speaker 1: works in the way I'm wired like it. You know,
Speaker 1: every day I wake up trying to thinking, you know,
Speaker 1: thuls being thankful, and I say, what are trying to
Speaker 1: be alive with the time to being you know when
Speaker 1: I say that, um, it's kind of like, you know
Speaker 1: what a trying to be in love with the things
Speaker 1: that you love, you know, whether that's my spiritual aspect um,
Speaker 1: still being in tune with what your art. You know.
Speaker 1: I heard some artists like the interviews or like saying
Speaker 1: like like slat out, like they can't even create right now.
Speaker 1: It's been a total you know what I mean. Like
Speaker 1: I got retorts coming out my new single, which Marvin
Speaker 1: used to say it's old, and Marvin Gaye is speaking
Speaker 1: about everything that I've seen, you know, my my journey
Speaker 1: you know, uh, after things that we see now, you know,
Speaker 1: it's a lot going on, just just in my city.
Speaker 1: You know, in d c um this past Saturday, they
Speaker 1: had a drive block where almost thirty people were shot
Speaker 1: as people dying like damnly, like you know what I mean, Um,
Speaker 1: just just on top of everything else going on in
Speaker 1: the middle of a pandemic. Um, you know, understanding where
Speaker 1: the economy is. It's kind of like it's like, wow,
Speaker 1: these are the things that Marvin talked about, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's amazing, amazing. Yeah, there's far too many of
Speaker 1: of you dying, you know. Yeah, yeah, and it's it's
Speaker 1: but yeah, and it's deep because you know, I'm one
Speaker 1: of those people that feel like history repeats it so
Speaker 1: I just really repeat itself right before our eyes and
Speaker 1: so so so you said you're single. Is it out now? Um?
Speaker 1: Actually it actually drops on for this moment. Okay, okay, okay,
Speaker 1: now let's go down that. Yeah, you gotta come to
Speaker 1: me now. Okay. Now, social media goes out. You know
Speaker 1: I got a million social media followers. I'll drop it
Speaker 1: on Friday, you know that Friday PM, and then I
Speaker 1: put it in my newsletter that goes out on win
Speaker 1: to the name three thousand followers. That sounds good. That
Speaker 1: sounds so that's what the Independent's gotta do. Independence gotta
Speaker 1: gotta stay with the relationships they believe in them. Okay,
Speaker 1: this is a reconnect you and I. Okay because you
Speaker 1: know I love Missa Rahe Okaye, appreciate that. So let's
Speaker 1: talk about that single. Let's talk about this single. You
Speaker 1: know you mentioned Marvin Gay, you meant you know, you
Speaker 1: know that Mercy, Mercy? What's going on? Those those those
Speaker 1: songs resonate today. There was about the Vietnam War that
Speaker 1: he they're talking about. You still talking about the injustice
Speaker 1: in the streets all that period you had John Carlos
Speaker 1: and Tommy Smith. You know, just seeing now these marches
Speaker 1: and then like you're talking about then then these out
Speaker 1: of control levels of violence and just not just in
Speaker 1: Chicago but happening all over this country. And guess who've
Speaker 1: becoming the victim? African Americans? Yeah, you sit down, Rahin
Speaker 1: what comes out of you? What what is the direction
Speaker 1: of your What message are you trying to say in
Speaker 1: your music? Now? Man? So you know, of course, like
Speaker 1: with the Marvel used to say, record is coming, it's
Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's more old to you know, speaking
Speaker 1: on you know, whether you're talking about COVID nineteen, talk
Speaker 1: about um, the climate of you know, where it is
Speaker 1: to be a black man in this country after you know,
Speaker 1: all out of all and women, the things that we've accomplished,
Speaker 1: you know, on this planet in a very short amount
Speaker 1: of time. You know that I've been here, that we've
Speaker 1: been here, you know, and it's still see um how
Speaker 1: prevalent um and detrimental um white supremacy is and also
Speaker 1: a social classic supremacy. You know what I mean, um,
Speaker 1: Because you know, like the Minister says fara times that
Speaker 1: you know in previous um times that he's spoken is
Speaker 1: that like you know, all black folks ain't good, all
Speaker 1: white folks ain't bad. That's what I mean, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. So it's like when you really when
Speaker 1: you really, when you really pinpointed, you know, and I
Speaker 1: just kind for like the world is in a place
Speaker 1: where it boils down. You just have two sets of people.
Speaker 1: You've got people that are loving. You've got people that
Speaker 1: are uh carry that um that want to see change
Speaker 1: and you know across the gamut you know, and and
Speaker 1: and and do their part um. And then you have
Speaker 1: people that are absolutely give zero you know, as you
Speaker 1: I don't want to use fans union show, but they
Speaker 1: really give zero percent concerned on to the things that
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Speaker 1: app for free auto dot ai. That's O T T
Speaker 1: E R dot ai. When you say that, so you
Speaker 1: know we're talking about the Love Life Foundation. That's when
Speaker 1: they started, correct, Yeah, yeah, exactly. I had been called
Speaker 1: on it do a number of different things, primarily in
Speaker 1: the domestic violence chector in the past, feeding the homeless, UM,
Speaker 1: any number of things that affect us as people of
Speaker 1: black and brown colors, you know, first and foremost in
Speaker 1: the in the cities. And I decided around fourteen and
Speaker 1: to start my start my foundation and love life down
Speaker 1: station UM some of the most recent work. I mean,
Speaker 1: when COVID broke out, UM, I had an opportunity to
Speaker 1: to to un serve being a service to the to
Speaker 1: first responders, UM, the nurses and the doctors, you know,
Speaker 1: providing home cooked meals for them, you know, as they
Speaker 1: worked around the clock to fight COVID. So that was
Speaker 1: one of one of the campaigns that we did UM
Speaker 1: over the you know, the first UM nine weeks. Uh.
Speaker 1: Then of course when you know, after the after the
Speaker 1: murder uh um a brother, and and and and the
Speaker 1: and the uprises that were taking place, we had to
Speaker 1: kind of slow down on that because in certain places
Speaker 1: just wasn't safe UM and and what was dope. I
Speaker 1: mean we had women like on the front line and
Speaker 1: we're cooking the food, delivering it, you know, risking their
Speaker 1: lights to deliver it. UM to the hospitals. Want to
Speaker 1: give a big shout out to uh to Alma's Catering
Speaker 1: and some of our other you know, partners with the
Speaker 1: Love Life Foundation here in the city. But if it's Baltimore, DC, Virginia.
Speaker 1: We over the last man ten weeks, we serviced um
Speaker 1: any number of like first responders, nurses, doctors, people at
Speaker 1: the testing sites you know, as well as as well
Speaker 1: as those are this place right now because it's you know,
Speaker 1: we're doing food banks most recently, um as well, you know,
Speaker 1: trying to just provide fresh fruits and vegetables for local
Speaker 1: families and stuff here with some of the farmers and
Speaker 1: partner with them. So just local yeah, just local farmers
Speaker 1: they want to lend a hand. Um. You know. Prior
Speaker 1: to COVID, Uh, there was a school I adopted in
Speaker 1: southeast where we have a program along with Marketer's Table,
Speaker 1: my Foundation and a few other organizations on the ground
Speaker 1: where we provide fresh fruits and vegetables as well as
Speaker 1: uh uh you know, we have chefs come in and
Speaker 1: show them how to how to make the smoothies and
Speaker 1: just healthy options alternatives or the youth and for the families. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, I go to the school once a month,
Speaker 1: you know, when I'm in town and you know, you
Speaker 1: get on the first name basis with the kids then
Speaker 1: you know in Southeast and it's really cool experience. I
Speaker 1: things like that I missed, you know what I mean
Speaker 1: because of course you know, schools and shut down, um,
Speaker 1: you know, even going back into the fall. And that's
Speaker 1: that's the sad part about it because we know when
Speaker 1: I when I hear ab our online education and you
Speaker 1: know who that's gonna affect. That's gonna be people of
Speaker 1: color because hard man, we don't have the WiFi, we
Speaker 1: don't have the laptops of the tablets to be able
Speaker 1: to if we do have it. You know, we don't
Speaker 1: have the parental structure because our parents are probably going
Speaker 1: to be work or their parents are probably gonna be
Speaker 1: working during the day, so they don't have them away
Speaker 1: come home fatigue. It's just it's just it's just a
Speaker 1: not a winning situation that we have to stay on
Speaker 1: top of and like that. So when I hear you
Speaker 1: talk about your love life foundation, I have to go, man,
Speaker 1: this is this is this is this is awesome. What
Speaker 1: could I do to help you know you guys taking
Speaker 1: donations or what's going on there? Right? Oh? Definitely, yeah,
Speaker 1: we constantly taking donations. UM. And like I said, with
Speaker 1: the donations, we do a number things. UM the Text
Speaker 1: School Scholarship Fund, which we assist on students and have
Speaker 1: been assistant students for the last six years with paying
Speaker 1: for their books and supplies for the first year of college. UM,
Speaker 1: I have a heavy I'm heavily involved in fighting domestic violence.
Speaker 1: I'm heavily involved and uh, you know, to fight against
Speaker 1: sex trafficking, you know, and because that's that's kind of
Speaker 1: gets sex tracker, you know, domestic violence makes the headline.
Speaker 1: The sex trafficking kind of kind of gets brushed aside
Speaker 1: because it's kind of like that bad word. You know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we know what's happening, but you know, we don't want
Speaker 1: to talk about it because you know, these are young
Speaker 1: girls who disappear. Yeah, young girls and young men, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, right, And and it's it's it's uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's it's it's quietly a billion dollars business,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Just just know, no difference
Speaker 1: than slavery or anything else, you know, And and it
Speaker 1: just kind of continues to happen and go under the radar,
Speaker 1: you know. And um, so we have to definitely, as
Speaker 1: you know, as individuals, as men, as black men, you know,
Speaker 1: we have to you know, you have to do a
Speaker 1: better job of but checking out women, I children, you know, um,
Speaker 1: not only in this country but on the planet. Me personally,
Speaker 1: I feel like black women is the most disrespecting on
Speaker 1: the planet, like period. Uh, you know, and and and
Speaker 1: you know, so I've always um telling my best to
Speaker 1: do my part, you know lyrically on the record. You know,
Speaker 1: that's a conscious decision to make a record like Woman,
Speaker 1: you know, when everybody else is going against the grain
Speaker 1: and calling the women are different kind of other things.
Speaker 1: And the records you know, you know, which is really
Speaker 1: really really incredible. Now I'm shifting gears because I'm going
Speaker 1: back to this song that's you're dropping on August eight,
Speaker 1: just to date, now, are you because I'm here all
Speaker 1: this community involvement, I'm here all this time. I'm sure
Speaker 1: you got pictures. I'm sure you got video. Is that
Speaker 1: gonna be part of the video that's gonna drop within it?
Speaker 1: Or you got something else playing with that? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: right now, I see that. You know, I'm like, if
Speaker 1: you can't do it, just send me some photos. Brothers.
Speaker 1: I can put something together for you. Oh no, I got,
Speaker 1: I got, I got. I definitely had some stuff on
Speaker 1: the way on the planet that's begun for that ironically,
Speaker 1: you know, Uh, the March on Washington is on the right. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I've been on the fence about getting footage and
Speaker 1: then putting out the video you know, in the in
Speaker 1: the weeks to follow, which I may go that route. Um. Ironically,
Speaker 1: I had a photo shooting some content stuff, um last
Speaker 1: night that I was doing because I'm also a part
Speaker 1: of the initiative for stop and frisk and some laws
Speaker 1: that are being um you know, presented to Congress uh
Speaker 1: in a few weeks and so I'm excited about that.
Speaker 1: So we kind of killed two birds in one stone
Speaker 1: and got the content and the p S A s
Speaker 1: for that and then to turn into a photo shoot
Speaker 1: for the album, which is tight or what the time
Speaker 1: to be in love and um, you know, wrapping up
Speaker 1: mixes and stuff like that. Just recorded a record, um,
Speaker 1: Lord help Me, which is what is inspired by old
Speaker 1: Donny Hathaway record. Um that was titled the same and
Speaker 1: it's kind of like you know, just I mean, like
Speaker 1: some of the lyrics help me like that, Lord Help me.
Speaker 1: Come on, I say, I say, I say, I've seen babies.
Speaker 1: I've seen baby's gun down by draft by another hashtag,
Speaker 1: seen another mama crop. It seems like everything the birth
Speaker 1: of a nation. You've been treated lesson day and denied reparations.
Speaker 1: It makes me want to flip it trapping with my voter.
Speaker 1: Call it pol tricks disrespect up. I write with the
Speaker 1: stop the friss and killed the black Man and their
Speaker 1: story six a sign of the times, the market of peace.
Speaker 1: Until let's justice, There'll be no peace. Oh Lord Most
Speaker 1: High help me, Oh love, Lord Lord. Oh it's that
Speaker 1: in the water and pull out the clouds. I know,
Speaker 1: prosession and depression, undepluyets on the ride, but out for
Speaker 1: your presence. So I'm staying safeful. Yeah. So that's like
Speaker 1: the vibe whoa, come on, come on, It's like it's
Speaker 1: like a conversation with It's like a conversation with God.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean, like, because you got to
Speaker 1: have those right now, you know, you know that there's
Speaker 1: more importantly the beauty, the genius of you. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: throw that into the conversation because I've always been a
Speaker 1: big fan. I sit back and I know I'm talented,
Speaker 1: and I look at other people that, well, I can
Speaker 1: never do you. I can never be raheem you know,
Speaker 1: I can never be a skilled guy who just just
Speaker 1: just lyrically just threw it out there. Just open your
Speaker 1: soul on this show and expose those raw nerves that
Speaker 1: drive you, that that they emote from your spirit to say,
Speaker 1: you know, you can bring us to t years because
Speaker 1: you're telling the truth. But then it's the business side.
Speaker 1: Now you got a new position as an a R director.
Speaker 1: Correct at the labor talk about that, let's let's let's
Speaker 1: do let's close out on the business side, because it
Speaker 1: just a nice journey man. You know, I'll yourself right,
Speaker 1: we're back in the saddle, man, don't you don't you
Speaker 1: don't you let this be no another ten years. Brother, man,
Speaker 1: you're gonna fight, You're gonna fight. No fight, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I won't. I promise, I won't. I promise. I want.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to reconnect with you. You know, yeah, so
Speaker 1: so so Uh. It's just crazy, man, because it's come
Speaker 1: full circle. And I think that that's something that people
Speaker 1: gotta understand in business, that things do come from full circle.
Speaker 1: And it's like you gotta remain humble, You gotta you
Speaker 1: gotta take every experience as a learning experience so that
Speaker 1: it's because it's preparing you for something. Now. Ironically, in
Speaker 1: two thousand and five, the first tour that I ever
Speaker 1: did was with new edition thirty Cities broh Mic Knight,
Speaker 1: Um God Bless your Soul. Geraldvert was on a few
Speaker 1: days as well. And and now and now I'm I'm
Speaker 1: ahead of A and R the label which is as
Speaker 1: g I ls UM how to Connect based out of
Speaker 1: Connecticut and back they you know, we're backed by Universal
Speaker 1: and they took an interest in me just as an
Speaker 1: artist and started out um on that on that vibe,
Speaker 1: and it quickly kind of morph organically into other things,
Speaker 1: you know, um be being ambitious and when to have
Speaker 1: artists and careers and you know, artists that I was
Speaker 1: involved in, whether it was from a man managing standpoint
Speaker 1: or mentorship standpoint, I've always had had interest in and
Speaker 1: and being like behind the scenes on the music scenes
Speaker 1: for the for with with the intention of like preserving
Speaker 1: the culture for the type of music that I'm making.
Speaker 1: And they're like that I enjoyed or that we enjoyed.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean, so I've always fought for that,
Speaker 1: and I figured, like what a better way to do that?
Speaker 1: You know, sometimes you can't just point to yourself if
Speaker 1: the blessing just comes from actually like pointing to other
Speaker 1: people and being part of other projects and you know,
Speaker 1: given it having the opinion, you know. Um and uh,
Speaker 1: so you know they brought me on board. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: shout out to my labelmates, Brian McKnight. Uh, Route trash
Speaker 1: Van uh is that we got. We just signded route
Speaker 1: for over there. It's got a new single out just
Speaker 1: doing extremely well. Um. We got Johnny Gill over there,
Speaker 1: who's on Rolph's new new new single. Uh. And it's
Speaker 1: crazy again because when I talk about new audition, like
Speaker 1: I said, these guys, you know, being on tour with
Speaker 1: somebody for thirty cities, you become like family, that become
Speaker 1: like mentors. You learn, you learn a lot. You know, Um,
Speaker 1: Havan is over there as well, Vivian Green koame. We
Speaker 1: got a lot of great music. Um, you know coming
Speaker 1: come coming out, Gene over Nelly is over there as well.
Speaker 1: So you know, somebody like him, somebody like him to
Speaker 1: have like to be able to talk on you know,
Speaker 1: jump on the horn, or it's on any given day
Speaker 1: we're on we're in a chex to chain text of
Speaker 1: messages where it's like over Nelly, you know, got the
Speaker 1: owner of the label. You don't see I dr Brian Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: so dope, yeah, don't don't you know, don't produces Tim
Speaker 1: Kelly like you know. So it's it's it's, um, it's
Speaker 1: very surreal for me. You know, it's a very new situation.
Speaker 1: I'm learning. Um, you know, it's it's and it's about
Speaker 1: building this company up and knowing that you know, I
Speaker 1: have some long term equity in it, you know, and
Speaker 1: that you know, prayerfully we looked back ten fitching years
Speaker 1: from now and say, wow, I was part of something
Speaker 1: that was like it was dope. I learned. You know,
Speaker 1: it's retirement, think about retirement, you know what I mean. So,
Speaker 1: and I never stopped making music, but it's just, you know,
Speaker 1: just just a different mindset. I appreciate you. I'm talking
Speaker 1: to the number one male independent Urban A c artists
Speaker 1: of the year in according to Media Base, Raheim von
Speaker 1: my Friend August eight. That's when the single drops. You
Speaker 1: gotta get that stuff to me before then and guess what. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this relationship man just got reunited. Man. We're about to
Speaker 1: make some history in the third fourth quarter. All right.
Speaker 1: If you want to hear more of money Making Conversation interviews,
Speaker 1: please go to Money Making Conversation dot com. I'm ra
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