WEBVTT - The Dope Heads NFT feat. Tow Down and Mike Frost 0:00:01.080 --> 0:00:04.520 Yeah, get get no boys, it's back and reloaded all 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:07.440 in your mind. Yeah, not deep throating. This is for 0:00:07.600 --> 0:00:11.400 the streets, the reel, the railroaded, the distant franchise, the truth, 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:14.440 the scapegoating, and they ain't knowing we speak the truth, 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:16.960 so they ain't quoted because we wrote it. The North 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:20.880 South East Coat g b my keeping your head bobbing, 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:24.280 it ain't no stopping and wants to be trips head 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:27.000 by then. The system is so corrupt they throw the 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:29.280 rock out their heads and then blame it on us. 0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:33.640 Don't get it twisted on code and we danceing for 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:40.000 no buttament biscuits. It's Willie d y'all scar faces in 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:43.720 the building Collective Louis are the ghetto boys. Reloaded, reloaded 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:46.320 with another episode of inflammation. That and instructions to help 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:50.360 you navigate through this wild, crazy, beautiful world in the 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:55.720 studio tow down and Mike frost Man, y'all been in 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:58.280 the game like your frost y'all been in the game 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:01.280 for a long time. In twenty years twenty no, no 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:05.320 more than twenty years. How many years? Seven years total? 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:10.400 Twenty seven years for you and the same. Yeah, I was, 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:13.000 I was doing punk rock and like rave ship now 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:19.280 we're doing rave parties back in and then I started yeah, okay, 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:22.560 all right, so so tow down when Ecstacy was begging 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:25.680 back then, you know what I'm saying. You know, come on, man, 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:29.720 you came in on the rest, Mrs lant I what 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:32.720 you're talking about. You came in on the rep side 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:36.959 in entertainment industry, and Mike, you came in on the 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:42.560 photographer designer side. And wow, man, it's been a it's 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:46.040 a lot has changed since you know, history. We've lost 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:49.560 a lot of a lot of people since then. Good people, Yeah, 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:52.640 good people. Right. You know, I think I met you 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:56.680 through black Cat, right, met you through black Cats. Black 0:01:56.720 --> 0:02:00.840 Cat man, rest in peace, black Cat, you know, not 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:04.840 the same thing. Um. For years, I can never use 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:08.440 Mike because I was with black Cat, so I never 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:12.399 got an opportunity to really um work on projects with Mike. 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:14.839 Even though we work on the same projects, we never 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:18.560 were in the same building. We're never communicating, right, And 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:21.880 I recognized this talent. Even back then. You could put 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:25.640 album covers up on a display rack and you knew 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:27.760 which one was pinning pixel, You knew which one was 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:30.720 Mike Frost you knew which one was Black Cat and Pixel. 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:33.799 I haven't heard that name in years. Bro. Whatever happened 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:37.200 to Pixel, Well, you see the only person standing right, 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:41.160 So I mean, but you know, rest in peace. Black 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:43.440 Cat he had some throat stuff. But I mean, really, 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:46.000 I've you know, there's times where I wanted to use 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:49.320 Mike Frost front album cover and because we office with 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:51.200 Black Cat and we did things with black Oh lord, 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:55.360 she was with Black Cat. Mike Frost, you actually designed 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:59.799 the first Ghetto Boys reloaded idea, right, Yeah, it was 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:02.519 who designed it. It was the pint that y'all couldn't 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:05.280 use it because it has a gun on it. Yeah, yeah, 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:09.280 I did that one. Just keeping a gangster. I went 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:13.040 to Mikey Frost. I call him Mikey Frost man my 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:18.360 dog a yeah, man, we are. The funny thing about 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:20.040 that stories. I actually went to Pennepic soel we get 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:22.840 a job and got turned down and then uh you 0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:25.280 started Bush years. I just wanted to be in the 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:28.639 music business and I always drew pictures to like music, 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:30.680 so I didn't care what type of music it was. 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:37.080 The and uh, you know, they didn't get that job. 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:38.920 I went out in the world, did a couple of 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:42.440 album covers for like Orbit Um and the Kama Kazis, 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:47.080 and you know, back then, I just you know, I 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:49.120 was charged with fifty bucks Hunter bucks. I'd raised it 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:52.600 every time, but I just paid attention to, like, who 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:56.560 are the cats that were working hard? Do? Man? And 0:03:56.600 --> 0:04:01.000 that ship blew up? And you know it's kind of crazy. 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:05.440 I like to call it the Frost effect. The Frost effect. Yeah, 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:10.920 you've you've done work for legendary labels, Rap a lot, 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:17.880 swish the house, dope House. Who else have you worked with? Man? 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:20.680 I'm useding through and through so everybody in used to 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:25.880 just about dope house, wish your house, trade zero, you know, chamillionaires, click, 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:28.760 slim thugs clicks. I was like I did. I was 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:31.919 doing everybody stuff at the same time. Now, when did 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:35.039 you get your starts for us? Like that cover that 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:38.679 you did, And everybody started saying, like, we need Mike Frost, 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:42.560 I want some of that. Man. It really started from 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:47.640 the first one because it was it was the Koma 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:50.640 Kazis for Orbit on the North Side, they had a 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:53.800 band called Kamakazis. Pooney wasn't that band Orbit? Did it? 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:57.279 The video director like Homie that came up designing with 0:04:58.200 --> 0:04:59.760 they were all on this group. I did a cover 0:04:59.839 --> 0:05:03.440 for them, and then Russ at Big Time saw it 0:05:03.720 --> 0:05:06.280 and he had me do some stuff for his his label, 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:10.280 and then some some kickdoor bandits It's from the North 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:14.440 Side came to me, just some span bandits, and then 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:17.080 Jesus I saw that poster and he was just looking 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:21.279 for something different. But you know I just had I 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:24.159 had the right price and the right look, I guess 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:28.080 because I wasn't, you know, with you men didn't have 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:31.640 like nine skulls on fire with big old chains of 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:38.240 dogs coming out of and then actually got THEMN front. 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:42.600 Do you know? My only option was to go just 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:44.040 go with what I knew. I had to go raw 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:48.120 as funk and I had to outwork everybody else, and 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:50.720 that was the only thing on my mind. Like even now, 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:53.640 like I'm finally back in that mental state that I 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:56.279 was in back then, I always wanted to shoot my pictures. 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.039 I always wanted to shoot my pictures to be realistic 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:02.200 what I'm saying. I wanted to bush it to be realistic. 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:05.080 I didn't want to have a fucking house withood car 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:08.640 sitting on top of it. You know how one amus 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:11.800 it to look like it really looks in real life. Man, Yeah, 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:14.080 I got a question. I got good question for you. 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:17.800 So what made you want to get off into the 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:20.560 rap part of it? I know it was a stepping stone, 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:23.080 but what made you want to get into wrapping it? 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:26.760 And did you take the ship serious or was it 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:30.200 a joke? Were you making you were you making fun 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:33.320 of motherfucker's who thought they could flow? I'm serious about it. 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:38.080 You know. It all came from I had a really 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:43.840 good supplier of some hydro this and listen, I'm I'm 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.600 speaking facts like I already fucking no, we ain't got 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:49.800 to the good point. We're just talking right now, coming up. 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:55.440 And so back then there wasn't a hydro around. Either 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:58.160 you had Northern Lights number five or super Skunk. I'm 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:03.279 bringing back names super Skunk, right, So when you have 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:06.960 that as your business card, doors tend to open fairly quickly. 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:12.160 And so at the time I had saw my friends 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:16.680 get these record deals like pokey, gotta offer like wait 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:21.720 a minute, gotta offer like screw, gotta offer like these 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:24.520 my dudes, and hold on, what ship? Let me do 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:28.280 something right? And so at first I knew I wasn't 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:31.040 the best rapper. I knew my skills were ship, you know, 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:35.800 but I was determined to figure it out, and so 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:42.320 I got me a mentor. The first one was gris 0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:48.560 Um producer. The next mentor that The next mentor that 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:51.320 really impacted my life and my production was Pimp C. 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:57.000 Shout out to the you know, the country rap tune 0:07:57.040 --> 0:07:59.520 was originally supposed to have Pimp C and bun By, 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:01.480 but they just came off big Pimp And then we're 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:05.600 asking twenty five stacks apiece yea, And we just paid 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:08.440 twenty grand for our entire studio, by the way, which 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:11.320 we gotta sell to get the promotional budget to promote 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:15.680 our album. So did you sell the studio? Fuck? Yeah, 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:21.040 we did. We did not that studio the one before that, 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:23.760 to get the budget for the by Prescription only album, 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:27.920 the very first, that's right. So by prescription only, we 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:30.440 did the pill bottles. We stuck the one sheets inside 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:33.280 the pill bottles, and then we did everything die cut 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:38.080 pill bottles and h Bernard, my brother, and then Black Hat. 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:39.959 You know, Black Hat and Bernard would get together and 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:42.560 they have these sessions and their minds would go wild 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:45.520 about marketing. Like my next record was chicken fried steak. 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:48.199 So we did chicken fried steak boxes, stuck the TV 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:50.680 you know, stuck the T shirt inside the TV dinner box, 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:53.240 send it out. A and RS didn't enough. They needed 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:55.640 to put it in the refrigerator. Program directors didn't know 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:57.439 if they need to open it and cook it. I mean, 0:08:57.440 --> 0:08:59.959 it was just mass. It was just mass crazy pandom 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:01.839 on him when we did a record because people wanted 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:04.600 to see the marketing. They didn't give a about They 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:06.600 didn't give a shit about the music. Oh the music 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:08.800 has every Houston legend on it. We'll funk, I might 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:10.440 as well pick it up too. Who's this white dude 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:12.800 todown by the way, And that's kind of what it was. 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:15.760 I was always that that guy in the background where 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:18.000 you see on the video for two point five seconds 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:20.840 where I'm draped up for like two point five seconds. 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:23.400 Wait wait there you know there you go? Yeah, toe down? Yeah, 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:27.079 all right. That's always how it kind of a fan base, 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:31.560 don't I do? I do well? It comes from that 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:34.000 grind Are you hid right now? Sucking a rud? I 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:39.280 am with the name to doown. You're not gonna walk around, 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:43.360 come on, like walking around? And I expecting you a 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:49.040 gangster motherfucker. I'm not. I'm cool man. So so talk 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:54.080 so talk to us about how uh you got the 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:58.480 deal with Silvia wrong? And and then and and tell 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:03.079 me how you get his homework. He does. So my 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:05.560 brother at the time was not only my babysitter, but 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:09.320 my manager. He was, you know, the the executive producer, 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:12.280 you know, applying for all credit cards to get us 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:14.960 a budget, you know type ship. So he would go 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:17.960 to the bookstore back when the word bookstores, and he 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:21.280 would read about the music business, and he saw contracts 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:23.840 and what music contracts were. And then he talked to 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:25.959 everybody who had a fucked up deal. He talked to 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:28.200 d m D, not saying DMD had a fun up deal, 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:30.120 but he talked to everybody who had a fund up deal. 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:33.000 And he talked to people who had deals at that time. 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:36.520 And he figured out that hey, listen, if I ride 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:39.440 into the contract that every nine months you have to 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:43.800 pay me in advance. Plus I won't be shelved. We 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:46.160 have nine months to move on this record. Let's get 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:48.480 it out as fast as possible. Drop two singles if 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:50.560 you're not confident in us, and drop us from the label. 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:52.840 And let us move on. So my brother had written 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:55.679 that into the contract before we even signed with Sylvia Rown. 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:57.720 But to back up to tell how we got to 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:01.160 deal with Sylvia Rooms a whole another story. Back when 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:04.199 we first started doing music, we didn't understand the whole 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:09.280 thing with the program directors and the consultants. So when 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:11.800 we finally understood what the deal was with the programmers 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:16.600 and the consultants, we would make sure that everybody was consulted. 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:19.079 And so if you were a DJ at the box 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:20.920 and you needed a brand new pair of shoes, you 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:24.840 got consulted. If you needed the new PlayStation, you got consulted. 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:29.000 And so we were out there hustling taking that weed money. 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:35.360 Hey hi over here constantly, right, So we were able 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:39.880 to promote endlessly independent like that. And then what happened 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:42.880 is somebody heard the country rap tune over at Digital 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:46.600 Services and then from them here in the country rap 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:49.559 Tune it immediately went to Walter D. Walter D got 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:52.360 it on one of the rotations. The rotation starts, you know, 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:55.720 the mix, uh, the DJ mixed meeting and ship like that. 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:59.360 So we got picked up putting rotation. We got Houston 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:02.520 on lock. Then we got Dallas Online to top ten 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:05.120 markets equal a record deal. And that's how we got 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:07.959 to do with Sylvia room ore In Lump who was 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:11.719 a promoter at the time. He was the one that 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:13.880 came in and said, Yo, toe down, I can take 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:16.000 you here all the deals that you need to possibly 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:18.719 be looking into. You make the decision where you want 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:20.920 to go. And we talked to everybody. We would talk 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:25.800 to Atlantic, we talked to UH Capital, we talked to everybody. 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:27.520 It was like you were on the draft and you 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:30.679 could pick the team. But they don't want brings. They 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:34.360 want platinum plaques. And so you know, me knowing that, 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:36.160 I took full advantage. You know you're gonna take me 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:38.439 the strip club. You're gonna you're gonna, you know, bust 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:40.400 me out of state. I need some scrimps, I need 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:43.840 all that, right, So they would fly us in and 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:46.080 out of New York and but are already knew who 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:48.480 we were going with. He already picked the most amount 0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:50.880 of money. They give us five hundred thousand dollars as 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:53.760 an advance and a five hundred thousand dollar video budget, 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:55.640 and every nine months they had to give us our 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:59.960 advance plus nine month comes. We finished shooting the Country 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:03.480 Rap Tune video. Spent five hundred grand on the Country 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:07.280 Rap Tune video, the most expensive video before Beyonce. They 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:10.000 had h town look it up and it is what 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.680 it is. So we had cars flipping on the original 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:16.000 dukes of Hazard said, Poke out there chilling, he want 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:18.439 to take all the girls home. Hawks out there in 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:22.240 the barn rapping. We're doing car chase scenes. I come home, 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:24.480 I have a tour bus in my driveway that's wrapped 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:28.000 up to this towdown Country Rap Tune. Electra didn't press 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:30.720 up one CD, then press up one poster, then press 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:34.559 up anything. They said, your contract, it's an envoid. Now 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:37.520 don't worry about it. We're good. They were dropping us. 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:43.880 So y'all gave all the money, saying, I'm saying you 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:46.840 gave it back in the sense of spending it on 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:50.600 the video. Well, no, no, no no, the video of No, 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:53.040 we got five thousand in our pocket. You know, we 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:56.599 got five from them though they had to spend the 0:13:56.640 --> 0:14:00.440 money on the video. So Sylvia Rohm said, wait, we're 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:03.000 in a month number nine. We owe this white boy 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:05.320 another one point two million, and we gave him a million. 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:07.559 We're gonna be two point two in the in the dirt. 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:09.880 Let me just cut ties and get out of here quick. 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:14.280 Bernard and her would have these conversations. We would be 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:19.680 in Louisiana, Alexandra doing our own store displays. She's trying 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:22.760 to get the record replayed at the same fucking stations 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:25.520 that we've already had it playing for the last six months. 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:29.400 She's trying to get an old record new life, like 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:31.760 drop the next single with a little flip. Everybody wants 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:33.680 to hear flip right now, drop the next single, a 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:37.040 little flip. She didn't listen to Bernard, not one fucking time, 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:39.160 and then she would call him back the next day 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:41.360 and oh, baby, how you doing today? What can I 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:44.440 get for you? Do you need something? So so you 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:47.920 guys never made the cartonalmost mistake that many people make 0:14:47.920 --> 0:14:51.120 when they signed with majors. They think, once they signed 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:53.120 with the major, they don't have to work anymore. They're 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:55.200 gonna let the major do. The major's gonna do everything. 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:57.760 We thought the first thing. We thought the exact same 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:00.720 thing until we had our first meeting up there with them, 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:03.400 and then they said, okay, what do you have for marketing? 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:06.840 And we Bernart said, wait, wait, y'all are the machine. 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:09.920 We're here because y'all are bigger than us, she said, 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:12.440 But y'all got the records played in Houston and Dallas. 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:16.280 Just go do that in the other cities. Now, I 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:19.000 thought y'all were the machine. And then they'll do this. 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:22.400 Let's take that offline. Well yeah, let's take that offline. Yeah, 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:25.000 let's take that offline. Well ship. Pretty soon everything gets 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:27.800 taken offline. Who in the fund is communicating anymore? So 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:32.120 what you advise new artists today? To be independent? Uh, 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:38.400 Chris toward the major's you can do everything yourself easier, faster, 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:44.120 better than we could back then. Being independent should be 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:46.640 the only way you should think. You know, if you 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:48.600 want to get with a major, think about what you're 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:51.960 willing to give up for that major deal, right, because 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:54.240 at the end of the day, it's just a bad 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:57.720 loan shark agreement. It's the worst loan shark agreement you getting. 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:00.760 They're gonna get all their money back first, and and 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:02.880 then some and then if you don't send somebody in 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:05.520 there to audit, they're gonna get you right and left 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:09.240 on bullshit. On packaging we sent out and we had 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:12.120 to pay this graphic designer this and La Da da this. 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:15.320 Before you know it, you're all your checks gone away 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:20.000 on bullshit. I remember they would want us to print 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:21.960 the shirts in Houston because we could get them cheaper. 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:24.640 Then they'd want us to fed x him to New York. 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:27.360 Then we would go to Miami to a conference. They 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:30.480 had FedEx them to Miami. We would leave from Miami, 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:32.080 go to l A. Then they had fed backs and 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:35.080 FedEx them from Miami. By the time you got done 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:37.680 these T shirts for you know, sixty seventy five dollars. 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:42.240 Damn you can't. You can't win like that. So that 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:44.960 was our first experience with a major. So we had 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:47.560 all this money. I wanted the ball out, go get 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:49.280 the car in the chain, but I was like, no, stupid, 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:51.520 We're gonna buy a house in the studio. Black Hat 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:54.040 comes into play. Don go buy a house in the studio. 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:55.640 We're gonna have everything set up and you can just 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:59.760 crank out records like and so we brought the house 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:02.920 in this studio and then I started working on Country. 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:05.440 I started working on Chicken Fried Steak, bringing in other people. 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:08.040 Bud came in, he wanted to stay in record Flip 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:10.399 came in, he wanted to stay in record. Everybody want 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:13.800 to stay in record. And then I that good back 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:16.639 there little little waynes in town that you have age, 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:19.840 where's your recording? Hey, you come use our studio. How 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:22.000 are we got some weed? If you want something killing, Mike, 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:25.560 come into town. This is what it was. If you 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:27.800 needed a spot to go get high and record, there's 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:31.000 only one spot and that's where. That's where we're at 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:33.879 for a long time. You like to avantage of digital 0:17:33.920 --> 0:17:36.280 equipment to its studio, right that. Yeah, so we're the 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:40.080 We were the first all pro tools digital studio in Houston. 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:42.480 I remember going to the Guitar Center dropping twenty five. 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:49.560 You're trying to see that you had digital sound before 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:53.560 digital sound, I had no, no, no, I had pro 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:58.679 Tools first in the city. That's not true, correct me 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:00.720 if I'm wrong. Mike Dean was the first of my 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:03.000 oh much respect, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:06.840 Without my humble's apologies to Mr Mike damn. Yeah, we 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:08.800 know how to wait. Wait if you got it before 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:12.560 ninety she was on pro Tools. I mean yeah, because 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:15.159 every time something new came out, we had it like 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:19.720 the next day. So so the same thing happened, right, 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:25.000 But we're in with the with the pro tools and 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:30.320 the sixteen IO two's so the first rack system where 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:34.120 they expanded it to the Control twenty four. Y'all seen 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:37.000 the Control twenty four right, it's to control right. So 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:40.560 we're the first to have that. We're the first um 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:43.760 in that sense, you know, no disrespect to any producer 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:46.359 out there that was on a beta tester. They probably 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:48.440 had Mike. I know, Mike had a way before I did. 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.399 Mike always had fire stuff. So but in that sense 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:57.160 of instead of using a full analog tape system, we're 0:18:57.240 --> 0:19:02.760 using a full digital system. And we basically had all 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:05.040 this digital stuff. And a guy by the name of 0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:10.760 Skip Homing Skip Shout, Skip Home, Skip Home and said, well, 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:13.280 Mr Todown, if you want to come over and learn, 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:15.679 you're more than welcome to. And I said, all right, 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:18.040 let's go, and I took my pining in my pad 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:20.760 and we mixed chicken fried steak from beginning to end. 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:22.800 You know, he came to my house and taught me 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:26.200 how to work pro tools. Now I went, yeah, Skip 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:29.720 Homing Pro Tools school is what it was called. Yeah, 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:32.320 in in the middle of the Ghetto Boys session. But 0:19:32.520 --> 0:19:34.280 you know we're gonna get into there. I just beat 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:39.760 it up. Well you forget man? Dog? How you why 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:42.120 do you do that? Dog? Bring it out? I don't 0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:43.720 want to talk about that ship man. I came in 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:46.320 here to talk to toe down man every time? Bro? 0:19:51.240 --> 0:19:55.159 Whatever going out? Where? Well, I'm done? I love you, man, 0:19:55.240 --> 0:19:59.919 go ahead, will you? No? Man? You can treat me 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:02.840 like a redhead step child? Bro, And that's cold black man. 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:05.000 And I resent that because he don't have hair. I 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:13.359 resent that. This that's code blat Little Boys remoted podcast 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:23.040 will be break back after the poet so so to down. 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:26.200 At some point the money had to get mess step 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:28.439 in order for you to get caught up. Did the 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:30.840 money getting mess step? Is that what made you switch 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:33.600 it up? Or you just this opportunity? No, this is 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:36.719 what happened. In two thousand and eight, Steve Jobs decided 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:39.960 to start sucking the industry by selling songs for a dollar. 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:42.680 I didn't even ask anybody this. I'm gonna go sell them, 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:47.000 fuck y'all. So what happens? We make seven dollars a 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:50.520 record whole selling them through Southwest Wholesale, getting it hundred 0:20:50.520 --> 0:20:53.160 thousand records at a time, getting it we're getting it right. 0:20:53.480 --> 0:20:56.080 Seven dollars of records seven hundred grand all day long. 0:20:56.200 --> 0:20:58.760 Money is good. Well, now that songs are nine nine 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:00.880 cents to download, nobody buy and that ship no more. 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:03.840 So we went from making seven dollars a record of 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:06.879 seventy cents to download as a record label. As an artist, 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:10.760 you're making a percentage of that. Said, but one might say, well, 0:21:10.760 --> 0:21:13.119 why didn't you take the money that you have, that 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:16.199 good money and make some better choices. You have five 0:21:16.280 --> 0:21:18.640 hundred thousand, you go buy a three hundred thousand dollar house. 0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:21.200 You have a hundred thousand all You have a hundred 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:23.720 thousand all worth of a hold on, hold on, wait wait, 0:21:23.720 --> 0:21:27.440 I'm gonna back up. Okay, hundred thousand alls worth of equipment, 0:21:27.560 --> 0:21:31.040 living expenses for a year, etcetera, etcetera. Okay, now that 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:32.840 the cash, Now that the house is paid for, it's 0:21:32.840 --> 0:21:36.160 an acid you can pull money out of. Right. So 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:38.080 now there's a mortgage on that house. So if the 0:21:38.119 --> 0:21:40.000 fetes come in and try to take it, they can't 0:21:40.000 --> 0:21:42.800 because there's a mortgage on the house. So you prepared. 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:44.840 You knew these motherfucker was called all day I was 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:51.880 going to prison from they called they actually gave you 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:57.240 or your I don't want to see an organization, but 0:21:59.640 --> 0:22:05.800 drawing trafficking organization. Was the first time you heard that 0:22:06.040 --> 0:22:12.640 name to Terrio drug trafficking organization, first time I heard 0:22:12.680 --> 0:22:17.920 that ship. No, lie, I'm withdrawing from like a hundred 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:26.000 hundred pills a day, like habit, Right, I'm withdrawing, sweat tangling, withdrawing. Right, 0:22:26.480 --> 0:22:30.680 I'm in handcuffs. And I hear them start talking, man, 0:22:30.680 --> 0:22:34.960