WEBVTT - IB 0:00:02.000 --> 0:00:13.640 And money. We all take valiche. We are the authority 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:19.360 on all things R and ladies and gentleman. My name 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:22.400 is Tank, I'm Valentine and this is the arm by 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:26.880 Money podcast, the authority on all things R and B, 0:00:27.480 --> 0:00:31.680 all things Jake, We get into the crevices, into the 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:36.000 n green, into the business. Sometimes you gotta get into 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:39.520 the business. Don't just want to sing, you wanna dance around, 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:42.080 Take shirt off, pull on yourself. You don't know about 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:50.520 the business. Talking to yourself, that's business. Now. We got 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:56.040 a man here and knows the business, executive manager, amongst 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:58.120 other things. We're gonna get into. Give it up for brother, 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:06.280 questionable basketball game. He's just he's just told me that's 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:11.600 better than me. Give it if even. Thank y'all man, 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:16.119 thank for having me on man. Thanks of course, man, 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:19.920 thank you for bringing us uh the business. Now I'm 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:23.640 here man. I've always rocked with y'all, like ever since 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:25.560 we came into this game, you've always showed love. So 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:27.720 I'm here, man, like you know, whatever y'all need for me. 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:33.839 J Him was like we got even talent, said, because 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:38.080 we got to talk about we gotta talk about, you know, 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:42.640 the driving force, the undercurrent behind the behind the scenes, 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:46.600 you know, because people are always you know, throwing out 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:51.120 um statements based on kind of emotion in a sense 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:53.600 within what they feel about where music is or how 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:56.520 music is, and they don't understand the inner workings of 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:59.080 how music he even gets there, goes into it, what 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:01.040 goes into it, you know what I mean? And those 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:04.360 starting points, and you've been um, you've been very crucial 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:09.800 in in in in starting and breaking you know what 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:15.320 I'm saying, which is which is hard to difficult to do. 0:02:16.040 --> 0:02:20.480 So we are your brothers. We are here too, ask 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:25.640 the questions and even shoot learn something. Yeah, yeah, for 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:27.640 all the hard work. Appreciate you for sure. I mean 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:30.239 yeah you I mean you've seen it. You've seen it, 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:34.080 like especially the amount of times the game has changed, 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:36.880 you know what I mean, like with technology, so it's 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:40.639 like having to learn new ways every time to try 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:45.160 to like really give the artist the best chance possible 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:47.280 to get in front of people, because at the end 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:48.600 of the day, a lot of times it's out of 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:51.520 our control. Rund. You could do everything. Sometimes it works, 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:54.240 sometimes it doesn't a lot of times too. It's like 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:57.800 you know, I always say, it starts and ends with 0:02:57.840 --> 0:02:59.880 the artists. We just kind of try to help and 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:02.200 like get it to the right place and just get 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:04.480 the most out of it. But yeah, the way music 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:06.920 has changed since we came in and said, y'all came in, 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:09.880 it's like you gotta adapt every time. So it's definitely 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:12.160 it gets tougher and tougher as you go. But you know, 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:14.200 when you love something, you're gonna figure it out, you 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:18.880 know what I mean. Let's do this. We we we 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:21.799 we like the origin. Let's start from beginning, you know 0:03:21.800 --> 0:03:25.440 what I'm saying, Like, what is your origin into this space? 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:28.520 Where did it start for you? Man? I never I 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:31.480 never thought I would like work in the music industry, 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:34.520 Like it wasn't a plan. Um I was. My parents 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:37.080 are from Sudan, so like I was, I was born 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:38.960 in friends, you know, like my dad he worked for 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:41.920 the un So we moved around a lot as kids. 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:48.960 So by the time he said, yeah me too. You 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:58.440 know you got a little past brom you would enjoy 0:03:56.040 --> 0:04:03.760 you down the time so French like out French bro. 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:11.119 I was like going into go to pro you would 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:15.240 you would enjoy just seeing like the life's down. But 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:18.839 so we moved around a lot as um as kids, 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:21.520 and I moved to Queens when I was like ten, 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:27.240 and for me, from France to first I went from 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:30.080 just to go back. We we lived in in France 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:34.120 in Paris, then we moved to Qatar for a few years. 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:37.400 My dad was stationed there like running the UNESCO office, 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:39.360 and then we came back to France for a couple 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:42.120 of years, then moved to Queens. So you can imagine 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:44.120 for me, like the good thing is all the years 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:46.440 I was taking English and I was going to like 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:51.880 English speaking schools. Yeah, well, Pops was kind of like 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:54.680 he was running UNESCO, so he was kind of moving 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:57.920 where where you know, it's like, you know, you gotta 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:00.599 go run that office over there and be the director whatever. 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:03.280 So when he came to when he came to New York, 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:05.680 I remember not wanting to go because you know, at 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:07.880 this point, like you're like nine, ten, you got your friends. 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:10.240 I'm like, yo, I want to go to New York 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:13.920 for like and then. But but I think coming through 0:05:13.960 --> 0:05:17.840 at that age was was ill because you get thrown 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:19.760 to the belly of the beasts. I had to just quit. 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:22.760 It's like, Okay, these nigs gonna give a funk who 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:33.560 I am? Sure queens like literally exactly and then but 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:38.800 you know, but yeah, but but the things that I 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:41.760 guess helped me a dab was because I played sports. 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:44.360 So I'll played ball and it's like, even though the 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:47.560 language barriers there, you get on that court, it's over 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:51.240 like you eithern nice and you're not. You know, I 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:55.400 got the boy from exactly whatever it was. I got 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:58.320 that guy whatever whatever they wanted to call me, um, 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:00.800 And then I quickly learned how to play like football 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:02.880 on the yard because I play soccer growing up. I 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:05.520 don't understand for I played basketball mainly. But but then 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:07.880 I watched the game quick online. That's how y'all do it, 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:11.359 Like it's pretty easy, you know, I was always into sports. 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:16.240 I think that helped like bridge that that uh you know, 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:20.080 kind of fix that language you make friends that. Yeah, 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:24.520 that's very important in entertainment. I me and Tank talk 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:28.040 about it all the time about how many guys in 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:32.640 this business haven't played a team sport. Yeah, super dope 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:36.600 in your uh breakfast club and if you I don't remember, 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:40.560 I hit you. And also you know what I mean 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:43.720 because also I'm I'm one of five kids, right, so 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:45.960 like but but finish your point but just being able 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:50.720 to share and being and being of service at times. Absolutely, 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:53.920 And I think we we have that in in industry 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:57.279 entertainment period where it's like, you know, guys are really talented, 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:00.159 but they're very much to themselves, so they don't know 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.000 how to build with each other, share with each other. 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:06.680 And like you said, you came from a whole another country, 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:08.800 but the sport in itself, I'm sure it brought your 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:13.800 friends for sure everything when I got you and and 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:16.280 um and I saw. I think to that point is 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:18.720 I think there's a lot of people in the music 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:23.480 industry that haven't necessarily like lived before they got in 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:33.400 the industry, like they first experienced of like didn't have 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:36.360 they weren't out, they weren't out and around with like 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:38.520 like you know what I mean, like the niggas and 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:41.080 and just doing whatever. So it's like that's another point. 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:43.320 But yeah, I think another big thing was I was 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:45.880 I was one of five. I had older sister to 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:49.000 older brothers and my younger brother was Boss was signed 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:52.600 to us. But um, my older sister and my to 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:55.040 older brothers. That's why I picked up the music from 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:57.600 you know what I mean, Like my brother DJ MoMA 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:01.120 who's a huge DJ. You know he does the everyday 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:03.960 people party that says ship like. He was a rapper 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:06.320 first and then turned into a DJ like and he 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:08.640 would literally ever since I was young, would go and 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:10.920 buy every album that came out on Tuesday. And I 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:12.800 was like rap or R and B. So now you 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:14.400 know what I mean, Like that taught me a lot, 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:16.960 I be. I was like a huge, huge jodicie fan. 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:19.680 That was like the first thing. I was like a fanatic. 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:24.880 Oh you know what I mean, And I feel like perfect, Yeah, 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:28.320 I feel like I felt I fell in love with 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:29.960 R and B like first, you know what I mean, 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:33.520 because as a kid, like I love those emotions. Those 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:35.400 are like the first things you probably relate to before 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:38.760 you understand. Uh, NAS was the first like rap out 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:40.959 my boy, which was it was rated so so at 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:43.559 that time, I think that was kind of building mind, 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:47.800 you know, between sports and music. That's how you make 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:50.160 your friends. I remember going to school having it was 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:53.400 rained and uh, one of my closest friends till this day, 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:56.960 my boy Antoine. Um, he he's like all every boy 0:08:57.000 --> 0:08:59.760 that and he's like, uh, who's anting? I don't know 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:01.520 if you know he's a writer, he's an actor, but 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:04.280 he works with j D a lot. But um, and 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:06.360 I remember him bringing it back to me scratched up, 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:09.000 me being all angry, like because that's how that CD 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:12.080 is so im boring. But you know what I realized 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:14.960 is like the ability to like put someone on the 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:17.200 music was so dope to me, like, yo, you don't 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:19.400 know about this, Oh, let me put you on. Like 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:21.360 so those are like the two things I fell in 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:24.840 love with young, which was music and and obviously basketball 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:28.040 and sports and um. But it was no idea that 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:29.959 I was gonna like work in music. It was just like, 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:34.240 obviously you were you were a lot younger, but were 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:37.880 how was the music for you before you came to 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:40.240 America or do you remember even that time it was 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:43.200 still it was still the same because my brother was 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:47.560 still same CD. No, he was just in love, I 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:50.200 mean even over there, in love with this culture, you 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:53.200 know what I mean? So so like I remember my 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:57.040 brother buying U, um, what do you call it? Um? 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:02.160 What was was was the the comedy off Minutes of Society, 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:05.880 uh said the comedy like they did like the flip 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:10.360 on minutes? What was it with the Yeah? But I 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:13.839 remember that soundtrack being a fire they had. They had 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:16.520 they had like a I Wotan record on it. They 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:18.079 had a Joe to See record on that. If I 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:21.000 remember correctly, I remember as a kid he would buy 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:23.080 those and I was just look in his like drawer, 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:25.480 he had all the CD stacked up, and I just like, 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:28.560 even then, that's what we were, you know, listening to that. 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:31.560 We was watching NBA games. You know, my brothers were 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:33.760 like at three in the morning at that time. So 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:36.199 it's like it wasn't too different, you know what I mean. 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:39.600 It wasn't like I remember growing up listening to French music, 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:41.360 you know what I mean, Like I don't remember that, 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:45.000 like so so it was still like a love of 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:48.400 of the culture even before I got here, Okay, okay, 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:51.240 So it wasn't like somebody just flat out being like, 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:55.400 yeah you never heard of you already knew the artists 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:58.160 and everybody said, yeah, I had a different idea, you 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:00.439 know what I mean different because when a kid. I 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:02.920 remember when I was a kid, I always tell my friends, 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:05.880 I used to think, like when I get to America, 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:07.280 like if I seen an ice cube in the street, 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:16.280 he was gonna beat my you know what, I thought? 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:24.000 Ice cube was was murdering people every weekend, justus for fun. 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:25.920 I'm like that, don't about to go to American run 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:31.679 into this. Think about the ice Cube had it. He 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:36.720 had the persona down to eight. Yeah, and he's one 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:40.560 of the greatest story tellers of all time. It was 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:42.840 so visual. That's how good it was that I believed it. 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:44.840 I couldn't listen to him, that's how good he was. 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:48.280 You can't listen to him. Some there's a thug, he's 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:50.679 a goon. Now I'll be sneaking on the box on 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:54.360 the video channel trying to For me, it was such 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:58.839 a trip because I realized that I'm thinking that these 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:02.760 guys are the coldest gangsters and criminals of all time. 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:08.080 And I'm literally living in the house. But you don't 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:11.520 realize that as a kid, just like, man, y'all, y'all crazy, 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:15.480 but y'all ain't ice cutetute. Then you get older and realize, oh, 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:19.560 yeall was so cute. Can't nobody my family do? Are 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:27.360 we there yet? Remember? I remember playing basketball against ice Cube. Yeah, 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:32.240 he was so nice, like he was like the nicest, 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:34.280 Like he was like, hey Tank, now, like you know, 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:36.160 like I like you stuff. That's it. I mean you 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:40.760 don't want to fight me. That's probably one of the 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:46.320 greatest story and like history to go from like that 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:50.800 to this, and it's an impossible story. Now, yeah, you 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:54.800 can't be ice Cube. You can't just be it though 0:12:56.640 --> 0:13:00.400 this stuff like someone who Now they all on your 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:03.000 background and you can you can attest to that because 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:07.440 you're in that space heavenly where it's like we all 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:09.960 know how it goes. Bro, Like, I've literally been introduced 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:14.360 to certain artists by somebody telling me their crimes. Yeah, 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:17.680 that's real how deep they are into this or that. 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:21.000 And the words you had to do with wrap had 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:24.280 to be great at it because nobody was actually going 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:27.160 to your actual block to do the research, to do 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:30.360 the research of how much work you've put in in 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:34.240 the streets in which you survived in the streets for sure. 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:38.760 Byby it'd be a little white dudes waiting outside of 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:42.800 the jail for the artist to come out. It's it's crazy, bro. 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:45.160 I see you looked away because you know exactly what 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:47.959 I'm talking about. You know what I mean, And listen, 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:50.280 this is it's actually a problem, you know what I mean. 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:52.800 It's a big problem. But you know what happened though, 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:58.200 is that reality took over? Right? And I say that, 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:00.440 whether it be reality TV or whatever it is, whether 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:04.719 it be social media, people wanted to know what they 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:08.200 were really buying into. They wanted to get past the 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:13.000 music and see the essence of an individual. That's what reality, 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:16.800 this reality thing turned into. So when you start rapping 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:20.360 about a thing, a murder or or whatever it is 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:24.920 that they want to know like, yeah, okay, the song 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:29.680 is cool, tell me about the murder though, and not 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:35.840 going to help you sell your records. Tricky, so tricky man, 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:38.800 How how do you deal with that in your space 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:41.760 of of you know what you what you signed because 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:45.480 you you guys have been able to carve out a 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:51.800 space and time like right now where hip hop is 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:55.080 very violent, yeah, and that's not what you are based 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:57.120 on and that's not what you are built on. And 0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:01.560 you've been able to bring forth really powerful acts in 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:05.320 this in a time where this does not really truly exist. Yeah, 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:11.760 I mean I think what it is is like I 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:14.800 never I noticed, as it sounds a little crazy, but 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:19.640 I never actually got into this for like monetary reasons, 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:21.880 Like of course I wanted to make money, but that 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:24.840 was never like my thing I'd even understand the business 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:29.880 of music at first, so like even like growing up, 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:31.880 even the way I made Cold, it was like it 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:34.200 was literally like I knew Cold, Like that's my dog 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:37.120 from school again. We're going out, we're going to home comings, 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:39.680 we're doing whatever. But then I find out he raps, 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:43.560 and then it becomes like, oh, you actually, like, are 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:47.200 really incredible. Let me just it became the same thing 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:49.680 given the c D away to my friend. It became 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:52.360 trying to put people on to ship I actually liked. 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:55.720 So when you get in a position of like having 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:59.320 a label, it's kind of the same thing. And you know, 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:01.880 with with me and Cole and and our partner Adam, 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:03.360 we just looked at it like, yo, we're only really 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:06.720 gonna sign things we're really fans of that connect with us. 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:09.680 Because I always always tell artists like I'm me artists 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:11.400 outside of the show, like yo, can I rap for you? 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:14.000 And I'll be like, look, you can have the best. 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:17.320 You can put words together better than anyone else. Like 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:21.520 if they don't connect with me, like, there's nothing I 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:23.520 can do about it, and I'm not gonna get that 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:26.640 connection necessarily from you spend sixteen like a lot of 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:29.360 times you never know when that connection is gonna come. 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:31.800 So so what it was is we had this platform 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:33.880 and it's like if something connected with us, it was like, yo, 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:36.200 let's try to give it his best chance to see 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:38.800 if it's gonna connect with everyone else, because we can 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.160 probably stand behind it, like you know, we can. We 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:43.280 can say like, yo, we're fans of this and we 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:45.080 feel like you should too if if you like what 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:47.160 we like, you know what I mean. So it wasn't 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:50.240 like that deeply thought of you know what I mean, 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:52.880 Like like Boss is my brother. Boss was the first 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:56.000 person we actually signed to uh to dream Heal. And 0:16:56.000 --> 0:16:59.240 even that I feel like made it tough on them 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:01.040 in the sense I was like, well, I'm not gonna 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:03.560 sign my brother first, like because because he wasn't rapping. 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:06.840 That's the whole thing. He wasn't really a rapper. Like 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:08.480 he had some ship go down in the streets. He 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:10.680 was like, all right, I gotta back out. He was 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:12.639 always a small kid, started pointing word together and I 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:14.879 remember him sending me and Colson. He was like, oh, 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:17.399 sneaking nice. If he keeps going at it, if he 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:19.480 is better, he might turn it too. And we watched 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:21.520 him get better and better than it was, like, all right, 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:24.479 this is a good representation of who we are, Like 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:27.400 he's coming from you know, he's like like minded people, 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:29.359 as would always say, like, we signed a lot of 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:31.679 like minded people, you know what I mean. So so 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:33.640 for me, it was like if I if I if 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:36.080 I'm a fan of it, and I feel like, damn it, 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:38.360 it hits me, it connects with me. Let me try 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:40.960 to give you a platform that hopefully is going to 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:43.000 connect with other people and that could lead you to 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:45.000 you know, start him, you know what I mean. And 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:47.359 really more important to start him to me was always 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:49.639 having a career. I want to make sure you can 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:51.520 make a living off of this, you know, for as 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:52.960 long as you want to. Like so you're not going 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:56.440 to sign a little death murder kill it. But guess what. 0:17:56.760 --> 0:17:59.760 Guess what, Like I can listen to Kodak Black and 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:02.479 be like I can listen to call that Black. No no, 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:09.520 no no, because not but Kodak Blank is one of 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:14.159 my favorite rapp and you know why, It's because it's honesty. 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:16.960 It's it's a real portrayal of his life. So my 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:20.080 thing is not that you can't be in street ship. 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:24.120 It's it's the rappers that like glorify it that don't 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:26.399 really live that life. I can't connect with that. I 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:29.200 could connect with Kodak because he's telling you the goods 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:31.480 in the band. He's telling you I don't want to 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:33.520 do this, like, but I have to do this because 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:35.520 this is a product. I could connect with the feeling 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:37.800 of that, even though I don't go through that, there's 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:40.760 an emotion there that's like, Okay, not saying I would 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:43.760 sign a Kodak, I don't. I'm just saying, like, to me, 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:47.159 anything that comes from a real place that's authentic, I 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:49.320 can respect it, whether whether it's my life or not. 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:51.240 And I feel like that's kind of what we want, 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:54.560 is just to be able to give authentic voices a platform. 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:56.400 And I know we jumped a little bit, but can 0:18:56.440 --> 0:19:01.920 you give us like that that the start? Yeah for St. 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:05.919 John's Yeah, you and cold basketball? You know what I 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:09.480 mean words you know and and and you're meeting your 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:12.240 main cold not j Cole know what I'm saying, Like 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:15.880 in y'all building what y'all built with dream Bill, Yeah, 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:18.239 I mean that again in basketball, like you said, like 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:21.760 I don't, I didn't. I've seen Cole around school, but 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:24.840 so you don't know each other. Be for St. John's, No, 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:28.639 because obviously he's from Carolina. I'm from Queen. St. John's 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:31.920 was like ten blocks from my career, so I wasn't 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:34.320 even gonna go to St. John's. I was like taking 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:37.200 visits to like D twos and and ship like thinking 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:39.879 about still hoping I wanted to go to like Georgia State, 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:42.840 and then it was like yeah, and then it was 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:51.720 like late. Just think if you choose to go to 0:19:51.800 --> 0:20:08.480 Georgia's State, I'm just mad. And when I got to St. 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:10.280 John's was like I wasn't here older than cold. So 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:12.919 he came to next year and even then it's like 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:15.199 I know him, I see him around, but that's not 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:17.880 like my man. And then we had this thing called 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:20.400 common Hour in my school, which is like I think 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:22.760 it was like around twelve thirty or twelve to like 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:25.560 one thirty when on Tuesdays and Thursdays when no one 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:28.560 had classes. So all the niggas that's like really hooping 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:32.680 that's not on the team or maybe like the walk 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:34.159 ons on the team. They meet in the gym and 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:37.159 we have open runs. So so me and Cole that 0:20:37.200 --> 0:20:39.000 was kind of like my rival because we both tall 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:41.560 guards like we was that that was our game. I'm like, 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:50.560 don't with this nigga. And then um, but but my 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:53.640 best friend growing up, my man Tad, he really who 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:55.719 too with me, Like we all grew up hooping like 0:20:55.760 --> 0:20:58.560 a ship and he, um, he will come to the 0:20:58.600 --> 0:21:02.600 gym and he got cool with Cole. And then eventually 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:05.119 by like Cole's maybe like junior or something, we started 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:08.640 getting cool. Like we would go to the city. Oh yeah, 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:11.159 I would seeing I would see him and I'd be 0:21:11.200 --> 0:21:15.120 like yo, you know what I mean. But but at 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:17.600 some point we started like Lincoln, we would go to 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:25.080 the city, you know, drink just being homiest there that 0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:27.040 I don't I know him, but I don't know him 0:21:27.080 --> 0:21:29.320 as much and he's I think Cole knew him more. 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:31.399 And then I got cool with Matt too, you know 0:21:31.400 --> 0:21:33.840 what I mean, because we called him Calie Matt because 0:21:33.880 --> 0:21:36.880 he was like he was like the only nigga from 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:40.320 l A and California. Yeah, and he was really probably 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:43.760 the first thing that got met that was like I'm 0:21:43.760 --> 0:21:45.280 gonna work in the music in this, you know what 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:48.000 I mean? Like I think so from what I remember, 0:21:48.000 --> 0:21:50.280 because he was like plugged in with like I think 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:52.760 it was like Diddy into like Daddy's house, the engineer Matt, 0:21:52.800 --> 0:21:54.719 I think, what's his name, like, so he would have 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:56.520 those relationships he was thinking about it earlier. I was 0:21:56.560 --> 0:22:00.359 just like, yeah, you know him and probably this dude Aristotle, remember, 0:22:00.720 --> 0:22:04.159 but yeah, with Cold it was like that was just 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:06.840 the homie. And then one day I got in his 0:22:06.880 --> 0:22:10.120 car and he had like one of his freestyles over 0:22:10.160 --> 0:22:12.600 like Grammy Family playing, and I'm like, yo, fun. I 0:22:12.680 --> 0:22:15.280 heard him rap once at like a school talent show, 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:18.639 and I was like like, just like once he was 0:22:18.680 --> 0:22:20.520 like a host, I think because he was like the 0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:23.159