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Speaker 1: What up you guys. It's way up at Angela Yee.

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Speaker 1: I'm Angela Yee and Billy McFarlane is here with us today.

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Speaker 1: Now if you don't know who Billy is, he is

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Speaker 1: the founder of the Fire Festival, which is coming back. Yes,

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Speaker 1: and we've seen a couple of different documentaries about it.

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Speaker 1: But you know, you've been through a lot since we

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Speaker 1: first met. Like you said about seven years ago.

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Speaker 2: Yes, you were in the Fire office seven years ago,

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Speaker 2: down and Tribeca. Yeah, you said your office used to

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Speaker 2: be next door, so.

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Speaker 1: I was actually all right, So let's break it down

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Speaker 1: from the beginning. Because Fire, when you guys first started,

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Speaker 1: it was really an app, right.

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Speaker 2: We tried to build an app to allow anybody to

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Speaker 2: book music artists for appearances, so kind of like picture

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Speaker 2: like an Airbnb or an Uber for talent.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, which was, by the way, a great idea initially, right,

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Speaker 1: because that's what it was supposed to be first.

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Speaker 2: And it was distracted with the festival.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, But I think people don't realize that they just

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Speaker 1: know the Fire Festival. They don't know that there was

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Speaker 1: bookings that were already going on, right, So you guys

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Speaker 1: had our already prior to the.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, before the festival. Yeah, as you know, it's so

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Speaker 2: hard to book talent, and seven years later it still is. Right, Like,

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Speaker 2: especially in the music industry, there are so many managers

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Speaker 2: and agents in various middlemen. So we tried to create

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Speaker 2: a tech platform that would cut through that and allow

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Speaker 2: people like me, who was a young entrepreneur to actually

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Speaker 2: get in touch with and book talent for good business opportunities.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's actually why initially was having a meeting at

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Speaker 1: the office because it was initially just about the app

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Speaker 1: about booking talent and things like that, and then the

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Speaker 1: Fire festival idea came up. Now whose idea was that It.

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Speaker 2: Was actually a high school friend of mine. We literally

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Speaker 2: took this small four seater airplane to the Bahamas. We

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Speaker 2: ran a fuel landed on a remote island and we

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Speaker 2: were there and he said, you should totally do a

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Speaker 2: music festival here for all of your customers. So it's

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Speaker 2: his fault, No.

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Speaker 1: Okay, well, high school friends, we'll have these grand ideas

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Speaker 1: exactly and prior to that, because we do know you

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Speaker 1: as an entrepreneur before actually starting Fire, you've had other

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Speaker 1: bench before that. Right, where's by the way, after this

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Speaker 1: all happened. People went back to those ventures and they

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Speaker 1: were like, oh, he has been a frauds there all

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Speaker 1: this time. He did X, Y, and Z. But talk

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Speaker 1: about the ventures that you had as an entrepreneur before

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Speaker 1: launching fire Sure.

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Speaker 2: Started my first company in seventh grade. I had three

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Speaker 2: full time employees at thirteen, and I got in trouble

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Speaker 2: when one of my employees sent me an invitation to

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Speaker 2: his wedding. My parents opened up the mail and it's like,

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Speaker 2: why is this grown man and you're thirteen years old?

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Speaker 1: Was that business?

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Speaker 2: I was a web posting company, so I helped local

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Speaker 2: businesses put their website online. This is back in like

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Speaker 2: two thousand damn five, so way back in the early

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Speaker 2: internet days, okay, and fast forward. I really got my

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Speaker 2: start in New York was building a company called Magnesis,

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Speaker 2: which was trying to make it black card for young

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Speaker 2: kids in New York City. Okay, And we created this

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Speaker 2: like thick hunk of black metal and we would take

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Speaker 2: your blue Chase card or your Red Bank of America

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Speaker 2: card and reissue it as this like really cool black

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Speaker 2: Magneesis card and then had all these benefits and experiences

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Speaker 2: based around the card. One of them were these private concerts,

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Speaker 2: and that's kind of how I started meeting all these

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Speaker 2: music artists, by trying to book talent to perform as

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Speaker 2: a way to kind of give back to all my customers.

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Speaker 1: Okay, And I think one of the main things to

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Speaker 1: understand is that this whole situation didn't start off because

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Speaker 1: people are like, oh, you know, he was scamming people.

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Speaker 1: But it started with good intentions. It wasn't like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: I'm planning to do something not the right way. You

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Speaker 1: were planning to do something that you thought would be

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Speaker 1: something innovative and creative. You guys did things even like

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Speaker 1: with wristbands where you wouldn't have to have cash at

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Speaker 1: the festival. It would be these wristbands that you could

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Speaker 1: use to pay for everything while you were there. It

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Speaker 1: was planes that were bringing people in. But things ended

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Speaker 1: up going left. Now as you guys were planning this festival,

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Speaker 1: it felt like one of the one things that I

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Speaker 1: saw on the documentary was that it was happening too fast,

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Speaker 1: right And you even were told like, I think you

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Speaker 1: need to postpone this and do it at a later date.

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Speaker 1: Why did you not say maybe I should?

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Speaker 2: I think that was the worst honest mistake I made

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Speaker 2: was trying to build a city in four months on

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Speaker 2: a remote island, and I was twenty four years old.

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Speaker 2: I was like yeah, and wanted it all like now,

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Speaker 2: and if someone said it takes two weeks, it's not

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Speaker 2: like ten years from me at that time, right, I

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Speaker 2: didn't know how to slow down. I didn't know how

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Speaker 2: to be patient, and I didn't know how to help

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Speaker 2: listen to help. Ultimately, the crime was actually lying to investors.

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Speaker 2: It wasn't the festival itself. So even if the festival

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Speaker 2: was awesome, which clearly it wasn't, I still would have

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Speaker 2: gone to jail because I lied to investors.

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Speaker 1: So you valued the company I think at ninety million

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Speaker 1: or something.

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Speaker 2: It wasn't worth that so and it.

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Speaker 1: Wasn't worth that. The fact though, that investors really believed

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Speaker 1: in you at twenty four years old, what do you

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Speaker 1: think that comes from? Because I know how hard it

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Speaker 1: is to try to get investors, you know, and just

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Speaker 1: to be honest. And with everything going on with the

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Speaker 1: Fearless Fund, shout out to Ariansmment. We were talking about

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Speaker 1: this today. They have a VC fund that really specifically

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Speaker 1: targets black women and it's really hard Black women get

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Speaker 1: the least lowest amount of VC funding, and it's really

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Speaker 1: hard when we're trying to get money and you know,

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Speaker 1: get people to invest in us. But you were able

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Speaker 1: to get people to invest in millions of dollars. What

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Speaker 1: do you think it is about you that people were

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Speaker 1: really willing to buy into what it is that you

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Speaker 1: were doing.

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Speaker 2: I think the biggest misconception is that I woke up

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Speaker 2: one day said our company is worth all this money

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Speaker 2: and people gave me money. That's not how it worked.

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Speaker 2: I think the crime was actually probably worse than that.

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Speaker 2: I had businesses since I was a teenager, So I

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Speaker 2: had built up trust with let's say a dozen or

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Speaker 2: so investors over literally ten years, and they saw small wins,

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Speaker 2: they saw small failures along the way, and after ten years,

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Speaker 2: what it came to them and said, hey, guys, like

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Speaker 2: this is going to be the biggest business. Yet they

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Speaker 2: weren't in a position to question me because they had

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Speaker 2: seen all the work for literally a decade. So I

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Speaker 2: think what I really did was I abused the trust

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Speaker 2: that these people had in me. And that's probably worse

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Speaker 2: than meeting someone like hey, like, here's a fake spreadsheet.

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Speaker 2: So I think it was more about building a relationship

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Speaker 2: for ten years, which is fucking hard, and then violating

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Speaker 2: it all by lying.

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Speaker 1: Okay, And then you did end up getting sentenced to

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Speaker 1: go to jail.

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Speaker 2: Yes, and you.

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Speaker 1: Served four years, is that correct?

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Speaker 2: Serve four years?

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Speaker 1: And I saw that you actually spend time in solitary

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Speaker 1: confinement as well, so even in jail, you still were

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Speaker 1: violator getting in trouble the rule. So talk about slitary

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Speaker 1: confinement and what that experience was, Like.

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Speaker 2: I did a podcast from the prison paid phone.

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Speaker 1: Did you know you couldn't do that?

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Speaker 2: It wasn't really against the rules, which actually made it

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Speaker 2: worse because they didn't know what to do. So okay,

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Speaker 2: so did the podcast. The trailer came out online, and

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Speaker 2: an hour after the trailer came out, they came and

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Speaker 2: grabbed me, like, yeah, this is not happened.

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Speaker 1: Well damn yeah.

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Speaker 2: So I did seven months in solitary for the podcast.

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Speaker 1: Seven months.

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Speaker 2: I think the worst part was like, you didn't break

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Speaker 2: any rules, but you can't really do this either, so

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Speaker 2: we're not really sure what to do. So you're just

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Speaker 2: gonna sit here for a while until you fixed.

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Speaker 1: Its a long time, seven months. I think they're trying

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Speaker 1: to make it illegal to make people be in solitary

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Speaker 1: confinement for periods of time.

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Speaker 2: I hope, so, I hope so that long.

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Speaker 1: Now I want to talk to you about your experience there,

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Speaker 1: your first day going in, when you had to turn

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Speaker 1: yourself in. What was that like for you? Mentally? Everything

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Speaker 1: that was going on really hard?

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Speaker 2: And I think like my biggest shock of prison was

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Speaker 2: how behind it is culturally. I think it felt like

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Speaker 2: you know, the movies from the nineteen forties, where like,

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Speaker 2: you know, even like the lines for food, it's like

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Speaker 2: Hispanic people here, white people here, black people here, and

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Speaker 2: you can't violate that. And like, as someone who grew

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Speaker 2: up in like as a young kid in New York,

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Speaker 2: which is probably you know, more liberal than the rest

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Speaker 2: of the country, like, experiencing that was that was like

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Speaker 2: the biggest cultural shock for me. I felt like I

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Speaker 2: was in a movie from eighty years ago.

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Speaker 1: And for you going on it like when you know

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Speaker 1: that day I'm going in, what was going on in

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Speaker 1: your head.

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Speaker 2: I didn't know how long it was going to be

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Speaker 2: when I was arrested, So I think it was more

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Speaker 2: of the fear of the unknown was probably like the biggest,

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Speaker 2: the biggest factor, And at that time, I was trying

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Speaker 2: to survive by the day, like literally with the fire

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Speaker 2: fest food, wake up in the morning, and if someone

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Speaker 2: tell me how much money we had to pay our

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Speaker 2: various employees or vendors that day or else the FESTIVALI

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Speaker 2: be failed. So I was living in this like do

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Speaker 2: or die by the day mentality. So I couldn't fathom

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Speaker 2: like what one year, two years would be. And then

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Speaker 2: when I was ultimately sentenced to six years, I just

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Speaker 2: couldn't picture like how long that really was.

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Speaker 1: You know what I was thinking too at the time

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Speaker 1: of the festival, because I remember initially talking to one

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Speaker 1: of the people who actually worked in the office, right,

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Speaker 1: like I said, I had the meeting, and he was like,

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Speaker 1: I think, maybe don't come the first weekend, come the

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Speaker 1: second week Really I know that no, because they did

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Speaker 1: want me to. Like initially, the conversations were about influencing marketing,

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Speaker 1: and I want to talk about influencing marketing with you

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Speaker 1: in a second two because I feel like fire kind

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Speaker 1: of changed the game when it comes to influencing marketing

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Speaker 1: and the rules around it. So we'll talk about that

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Speaker 1: in a second. But you know, he was like, listen,

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Speaker 1: I want you to come, but I think you should

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Speaker 1: come to second weekend because it's feeling like a little

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Speaker 1: I'm not sure what's going to happen. When did you

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Speaker 1: realize this is kind of snowballing and it's not going

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Speaker 1: to work.

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Speaker 2: I think, great question, and like people don't believe me.

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Speaker 2: But it was the night before the festival was when

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Speaker 2: I first realized this probably wasn't going to work. A

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Speaker 2: big storm came in the night before.

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Speaker 1: Oh that's why I know. The FEMA tents got wet.

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Speaker 2: All the times got wet, the mattresses got wet, and

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Speaker 2: we had our core, like you know, ten people there

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Speaker 2: who were all more senior, kind of like manager types,

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Speaker 2: and then I look around and it seems like they

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Speaker 2: all drank this magic potion and all fell asleep at

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Speaker 2: exactly the same time, like passed down the couches and

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Speaker 2: the carpets and the tables. I'm like wow, Like you

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Speaker 2: could just like literally feel the energy getting dragged out

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Speaker 2: of the room. And that was the first moment where

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Speaker 2: I knew this is not going to go as planned.

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Speaker 1: And then I think you had a lot of artists

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Speaker 1: that were booked to come and perform. I think blink

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Speaker 1: one two. Were they the first ones to pull out?

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Speaker 2: They were the first ones to cantle.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so when they canceled, what were your thoughts when

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Speaker 1: that happened? Where you and were you like? Okay, maybe

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Speaker 1: we should tell these other artists you know, it's not happening.

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Speaker 1: And did this is a bunch of questions and did

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Speaker 1: people get paid?

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Speaker 2: So I think there were thirty two total artists, good lord.

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Speaker 2: Thirty of them were paid in full and the last

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Speaker 2: two were paid for the first weekend, So every artist

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Speaker 2: is paid. I think we paid like five and a

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Speaker 2: half ish million to artists to perform, so they were

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Speaker 2: all they were all paid.

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Speaker 1: And I kind of remember Kanye was supposed to be there.

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Speaker 2: So good music was technically born of the headliners. Okay,

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Speaker 2: we do not advertise Kanye specifically, but.

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Speaker 1: No, listen, I remember I remember some things about cash

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Speaker 1: being paid, and you know, so.

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Speaker 2: Back in the back of my bad, my bad days, yeah.

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Speaker 1: I mean, and that would have been a huge, you know,

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Speaker 1: get for you obviously if that could have potentially happened.

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Speaker 1: All right, So influence and marketing, So another big story

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Speaker 1: that came out of this whole festival was that these

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Speaker 1: influencers ended up. I don't know if they got sued,

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Speaker 1: but there was a lot of conversations about people getting paid.

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Speaker 1: I remember they said Kylie Jenner got like two hundred

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Speaker 1: and fifty thousand dollars for one post. All right, and

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Speaker 1: so I want to know what your thoughts are now,

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Speaker 1: because it really did change the game as far as

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Speaker 1: we've seen it happen with cryptocurrency, where there were certain

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Speaker 1: celebrities who were endorsing things and they're held accountable for

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Speaker 1: these products that they're endorsing. So when this happened, a

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Speaker 1: lot of people were holding these influencers accountable. You guys

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Speaker 1: had this whole campaign and you had some of the

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Speaker 1: top people you know, posting on social media with the

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Speaker 1: most followers. Now, tell me now, in retrospect, when you

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Speaker 1: think back to how everything happened, you know you're out

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Speaker 1: on the other side of it. What are your thoughts

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Speaker 1: about influence and marketing and how that needs to be regulated.

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Speaker 2: I think it's very hard for talent to judge an opportunity,

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Speaker 2: right if all these large name investors are on board,

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Speaker 2: all these large brands are sponsoring it, I don't know

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Speaker 2: how the talent who sees one hundred opportunities a day

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Speaker 2: is supposed to do better due diligence than these other

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Speaker 2: financial partners. Okay, so I think one of the hardest

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Speaker 2: things for me sitting in jail and like the local sheriff,

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Speaker 2: I have to come to the federal person to give

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Speaker 2: me myles. I don't know my court papers once a week,

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Speaker 2: updating me in the case. I think the biggest surprise

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Speaker 2: for me was I, at least emotionally, felt like they

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Speaker 2: were going after the wrong people to you know, sue

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Speaker 2: an influencer who was paid to do something, and they

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Speaker 2: saw all these other names who were approving it, like

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Speaker 2: it's really tough for that person to know better. I

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Speaker 2: felt bad for the talent when I think the onus

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Speaker 2: is not on them to do the due diligence to

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Speaker 2: that level.

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Speaker 1: But I guess the hashtag add and regulations like that,

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Speaker 1: that's all changed now. That is yeah, that was that.

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Speaker 1: You think that was directly because of I.

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Speaker 2: Think officially the FDC officially passed a law after but

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Speaker 2: in reality, this is back in twenty sixteen when we

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Speaker 2: did the Orange Heild campaign. That was a wild wild

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Speaker 2: West days of Instagram marketing. Right there weren't all these

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Speaker 2: micro influencers. There wasn't like TikTok at this scale. There

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Speaker 2: was a couple of thousand celebrities everybody followed. That was

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Speaker 2: pretty much like how it worked. Now there's what a

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Speaker 2: million smaller influencers, so the game is totally changed. I

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Speaker 2: think the the rules have caught up a little bit.

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Speaker 1: Now we all know. Of course, jah Wu Wiship partner.

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Speaker 1: A lot of people in the hip hop community had

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Speaker 1: jokes about that with the fire festival and when it

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Speaker 1: is the last time you guys have even had a conversation.

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Speaker 2: I think when I was on shortly after I was arrested,

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Speaker 2: when I was on bail, and yeah, my lawyer is like, you.

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Speaker 1: Have to stop talking to Okay. So it wasn't anything like.

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Speaker 1: The conversation wasn't anything where it was he angry. You know, like,

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Speaker 1: do you hold yourself accountable or do you feel like

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Speaker 1: because you guys were partners, do you feel like he

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Speaker 1: is equally responsible or do you feel like, well, the

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Speaker 1: onus is kind of on you as the person who

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Speaker 1: conceived this and then brought him on.

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Speaker 2: I think responsibility definitely on me. I was certainly in

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Speaker 2: charge of the fundraising, so okay, it wasn't like other

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Speaker 2: people were like, hey, let's like make up numbers to

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Speaker 2: raise money like that was that was all on me, right, Yeah,

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Speaker 2: at the end of the day, it's been tough. Though.

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Speaker 2: I did call Matt to a like a charity boxing

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Speaker 2: match to pay back people who are in combat.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 2: I had my first fight ever but five bays Aico

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Speaker 2: last Thursday. So my head still hurts. And you did win,

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Speaker 2: by the way, somehow.

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Speaker 1: You did get a win. So there's a win right there.

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Speaker 2: And Joe Rogan was front row and the audience.

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Speaker 1: To me about that, So you did this karate com

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Speaker 1: but how much did you win from that?

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Speaker 2: It wasn't crazy, It wasn't crazy, wasn't crazy. But I'm

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Speaker 2: giving a large portion of it back to people who

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Speaker 2: are owed. I'm giving my full knockout bonus back to

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Speaker 2: people whore owed. I knew I was going to jail,

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Speaker 2: and I wanted to get ready for jail. So I

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Speaker 2: was introduced through a friend to this incredible Muay Thai coach,

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Speaker 2: which is basically a form of kickboxing.

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Speaker 1: So you're trying to get ready for jail.

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Speaker 2: Trying to be ready for jail, you had to do

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Speaker 2: some on somebody this great coach took me in and

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Speaker 2: taught me for like six months before jail, and then

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Speaker 2: as soon as I get out, I call him up

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Speaker 2: and he's like, if you're gonna do this for a

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Speaker 2: good cause, I'll help you.

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Speaker 1: Well, thank god you won. I know you kind of

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Speaker 1: fight like me, I'm not gonna Now how did they

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Speaker 1: treat you when you got to jail, because clearly, like

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Speaker 1: you were, their story was a very celebrity story. So

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Speaker 1: when you got to jail, people knew who you were.

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Speaker 1: So how was it as far as interacting with people?

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Speaker 2: And actually took me like six months to learn the rules.

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Speaker 2: It's like, all right, you're supposed to sit here, you're

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Speaker 2: supposed to walk there. It took me a little bit

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Speaker 2: to understand that. You know, when in Rome, right after

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Speaker 2: kind of abide by the cultures that are there. I

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Speaker 2: think it was fine. I think I met a surprisingly

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Speaker 2: number of really good people who I didn't expect to meet,

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Speaker 2: and I think overall, like, if you take away the

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Speaker 2: people who I hurt, it was definitely the best experience

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Speaker 2: of my life. But you can't like, yeah, you can't

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Speaker 2: weigh that with the harm that was caused.

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Speaker 1: You know, I think people felt the worst for the

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Speaker 1: people on the island who lost money, you know, the caterer,

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Speaker 1: and I know they did a fundraiser and did manage

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Speaker 1: to raise some money, and they did give some of

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Speaker 1: those funds back to some of the other people, because

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Speaker 1: there were definitely a lot of people who put their

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Speaker 1: all into you know, and also people who thought they

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Speaker 1: were going to make money. So sometimes like when you

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Speaker 1: know money's about to come in, it's a great thing

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Speaker 1: for you. But one person also who I feel like

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Speaker 1: and I don't know if he still works with you

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Speaker 1: to this day, Andy King.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're still in touch. I think Andy did fundraiser

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Speaker 2: for the Bahamas and raised a ton of money, which

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Speaker 2: is awesome. But going back to your first point there,

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Speaker 2: like that was my biggest learning is that fraud is

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Speaker 2: the victims aren't always clear, right. It's like you might

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Speaker 2: have invested in you were hurt, but there were ten

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Speaker 2: people who were relying on you who were hurt because

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Speaker 2: of that that like I don't know, And initially it

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Speaker 2: was like, oh, I never met that person or I

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Speaker 2: didn't know that person, how can they be mad at me?

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Speaker 2: But like now that I've seen, like it's just not

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Speaker 2: just the immediate victims, like the sphere of people who

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Speaker 2: are hurt as much larger. I think that's what makes

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Speaker 2: the crime so bad.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it was devastating to see that. It

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Speaker 1: was sad like when I you know, I definitely watched

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Speaker 1: both documentaries because it was it was really interesting to

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Speaker 1: me to see how this whole thing unfolded. I actually

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Speaker 1: knew people who went there.

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Speaker 2: Oh really, hey, yeah.

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Speaker 1: One of my good friends, Jason, he was sending me

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Speaker 1: like video footage of everything that was happening. He was

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Speaker 1: actually at the party where there was no water but

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Speaker 1: lots of champagne. Okay, good, So I know Andy King

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Speaker 1: got some of the water through, but he was there

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Speaker 1: and he was showing me. He was sending me footage

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Speaker 1: of them like partying, dancing. It looked like it was

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Speaker 1: about to be a good time. And then and he

396
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Speaker 1: was like, we're asking for water, but they don't have water. Oh,

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Speaker 1: they have a champagne And people were like literally dancing

398
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Speaker 1: on the tables. But that was before all the festivities

399
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Speaker 1: were set to begin. But let's go back to Andy

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Speaker 1: for a second. When you saw his interview that he

401
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Speaker 1: did on that, I think it was was it the

402
00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:22,400
Speaker 1: Netflix documentary that he was on. Is that a true story?

403
00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:23,160
Speaker 1: You asked him?

404
00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:26,760
Speaker 2: So I learned about this story in jail. When a

405
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Speaker 2: prison guard comes up to me, he goes, hey, Billy,

406
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Speaker 2: never cost me Billy, So I knew something was wrong

407
00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:32,960
Speaker 2: right away. He's like, did you did you pay goutt

408
00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:34,800
Speaker 2: it to suck some officials dick for water? And I

409
00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:37,760
Speaker 2: look at him like you had ten heads. So he's like,

410
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Speaker 2: you could tell me it's okay. So I'm looking at

411
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Speaker 2: this guy. I'm all nervous, like what's going on? So

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Speaker 2: I think it was more of a game with telephone

413
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Speaker 2: that got taken the case content an.

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Speaker 1: You think, somebody said, and maybe you. I don't know,

415
00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:51,560
Speaker 1: but that's a crazy story for people who didn't see it.

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Speaker 1: Andy King was like, we had to get this Avion

417
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Speaker 1: water through. It was going to cost one hundred and

418
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Speaker 1: seventy five thousand dollars and Billy was like, I needed

419
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Speaker 1: to go down and suck some dick to get this

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00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:03,040
Speaker 1: water through. And he said he went and got some

421
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Speaker 1: mouth washed crazy and was ready to do it.

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Speaker 2: Gladly did not happen. Supposedly.

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Speaker 1: The one thing I will say, you need that man

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Speaker 1: to work for you no matter what. He is definitely

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Speaker 1: a person that is and the way that he told

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Speaker 1: the story, I was like, this is I think absolutely insane.

427
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Speaker 1: Now you're trying to do a fire festival too.

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Speaker 2: If there were ten Andy King's fire never would have failed.

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Speaker 2: So we have to do it, make the work.

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Speaker 1: So Fire Festival Part two. You've already sold tickets.

431
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Speaker 2: Yes, we did it. We did a pre sale for

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Speaker 2: Fire Festival too. It's going to be in the Caribbean

433
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Speaker 2: next year. We're announcing the date and location this summer.

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Speaker 1: Okay.

435
00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:40,320
Speaker 2: The biggest difference this time is that I'm not in charge,

436
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Speaker 2: which kind of sucks.

437
00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:43,200
Speaker 1: Right, You're not having your hands on the money. It's

438
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Speaker 1: not going through.

439
00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:46,360
Speaker 2: You can't touch the money. I can't touch the logistics.

440
00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:50,159
Speaker 1: Is that regulation or is that you deciding let me

441
00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:50,960
Speaker 1: remove myself.

442
00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:53,399
Speaker 2: Probably I think it was our concept, but we had

443
00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:55,919
Speaker 2: to get it approved. So got it approved. There is

444
00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:58,080
Speaker 2: like a third party festival company who all they do

445
00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:00,359
Speaker 2: is festivals who's actually in charge. They base like, you know,

446
00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:02,800
Speaker 2: half fifty one percent, you know, we have forty nine percent,

447
00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:04,679
Speaker 2: and they call the shots. But I still get to

448
00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:07,040
Speaker 2: do like the marketing and hopefully some like the wild

449
00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:08,280
Speaker 2: adventures on the on site.

450
00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:11,040
Speaker 1: Now, some people would have been ashamed after something like

451
00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:13,639
Speaker 1: this happened, right, but you have faced it head on

452
00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:17,560
Speaker 1: and you've actually you actually did interviews for the Hulu

453
00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:21,440
Speaker 1: documentary you know as well, now, Durant, And you got

454
00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:22,960
Speaker 1: paid for that because I remember reading.

455
00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:24,320
Speaker 2: I got paid for the Hulu doc Yet you got

456
00:18:24,359 --> 00:18:24,760
Speaker 2: paid for that.

457
00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:27,600
Speaker 1: So you did you do that because you were like,

458
00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:29,320
Speaker 1: I'm getting a check and I need this money to

459
00:18:29,359 --> 00:18:29,960
Speaker 1: be able to.

460
00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:32,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, at the time, I was on bail. I was

461
00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:33,520
Speaker 2: going to jail soon and I.

462
00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:35,640
Speaker 1: Needed cash, okay, So you needed the cash.

463
00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:37,320
Speaker 2: Game like one hundred fifty two undre k whatever it was,

464
00:18:37,359 --> 00:18:38,080
Speaker 2: and I needed the money.

465
00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:41,119
Speaker 1: So I did an interview, okay. And you know, at

466
00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:42,520
Speaker 1: any point did you feel like I need to do

467
00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:44,360
Speaker 1: my own documentary from my own point of view?

468
00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:46,280
Speaker 2: Absolutely, So we are filming one right now.

469
00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:47,240
Speaker 1: Oh Okay.

470
00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:49,280
Speaker 2: I did not learn my lesson because I'm not in

471
00:18:49,359 --> 00:18:51,000
Speaker 2: charge of it. So it's like a third party company

472
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:52,760
Speaker 2: doing it. But I think they are more fair. Hopefully

473
00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:53,320
Speaker 2: they're more fair.

474
00:18:53,359 --> 00:18:55,159
Speaker 1: So which one did you like better? Because there was

475
00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:55,520
Speaker 1: a debate.

476
00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:57,960
Speaker 2: I didn't watch them, you didn't watch it, and watch them.

477
00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:00,240
Speaker 1: Would you ever, you can get just too trauma.

478
00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:02,359
Speaker 2: For you to I think I would still focus on

479
00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:04,840
Speaker 2: the wrong things, like if someone said something and agree

480
00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:05,960
Speaker 2: with it, but oh I didn't say that, or I

481
00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:07,919
Speaker 2: didn't do that. I think I'd lose sight of like

482
00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:10,880
Speaker 2: what the actual issues were, just get mad about little things.

483
00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:13,680
Speaker 1: So, and you did have the marketing company, fuck Jerry,

484
00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:16,119
Speaker 1: Yeah that was working with you. What's your relationship with

485
00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:18,679
Speaker 1: them now? Because they did actually one of the document

486
00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:19,560
Speaker 1: the Netflix documentary.

487
00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:23,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, they produced a documentary. I don't like them. I

488
00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:25,199
Speaker 2: think they did not They did not do it fairly.

489
00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:27,320
Speaker 1: So okay, but you didn't see it, so.

490
00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:29,000
Speaker 2: I didn't see it. But you know, we had certain

491
00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:30,720
Speaker 2: agreements in place that they didn't live up to in

492
00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:31,159
Speaker 2: my opinion.

493
00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:34,320
Speaker 1: Okay, well, fair enough. I mean that can't be easy.

494
00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:36,600
Speaker 1: But when you think about doing your own documentary, what

495
00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:38,000
Speaker 1: angle are you going to take from that?

496
00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:40,760
Speaker 2: So the new documentary we've been doing is basically it

497
00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:42,560
Speaker 2: started the day got out of jail and trying to

498
00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:44,840
Speaker 2: get back to work. And I think it started with

499
00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:47,399
Speaker 2: this dream that I would leave get a phone and

500
00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:49,159
Speaker 2: have one hundred people who were going to take my

501
00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:50,960
Speaker 2: phone call, and the reality was. It wasn't like that.

502
00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:53,359
Speaker 2: There was maybe two or three supporters on the first day.

503
00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:55,680
Speaker 2: And it's been two years now, so it's kind of

504
00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:57,720
Speaker 2: been this grind to get back to life. I think

505
00:19:58,119 --> 00:20:00,320
Speaker 2: we're finally there. We have a good foundation, we have

506
00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:03,920
Speaker 2: a real company doing the festival. Our Broadway musical is

507
00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:06,480
Speaker 2: getting made, which can be pretty cool. And yeah, we're

508
00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:06,960
Speaker 2: getting back to.

509
00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:08,960
Speaker 1: I saw that you have a Broadway musical, and that's

510
00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:09,800
Speaker 1: another third party.

511
00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:10,520
Speaker 2: That's a third party.

512
00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:13,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, plays all the time. I just went to

513
00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:15,520
Speaker 1: one a couple of days ago. Nice, I went to

514
00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:17,800
Speaker 1: go see Home, and I'm about to go see the

515
00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:19,960
Speaker 1: Whiz and of course the Notebook and all of those.

516
00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:22,840
Speaker 2: You'll come with me for the first for the first premier.

517
00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:25,240
Speaker 1: Book Say What and Why a musical.

518
00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:28,000
Speaker 2: I think it's pretty cool festival. It's like a mini

519
00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:29,400
Speaker 2: festival every day, right.

520
00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:31,760
Speaker 1: And it's going to be rain intense for us.

521
00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:33,640
Speaker 2: They actually have some funny ideas how I can mess

522
00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:35,440
Speaker 2: things up like here and there, so it's going to

523
00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:37,480
Speaker 2: be cool. But they're like a real Broadway team and

524
00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:39,679
Speaker 2: I have very little involvement in that. But it'll be

525
00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:40,119
Speaker 2: fun to go to.

526
00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:42,200
Speaker 1: How hard was it for you to find a team

527
00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:44,520
Speaker 1: to work with you on the new festival hard.

528
00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:46,760
Speaker 2: It took a year and a half to get there.

529
00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:49,840
Speaker 2: I think we had a lot of people interested, and

530
00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:51,639
Speaker 2: they were interested for one reason, not because it made

531
00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:54,200
Speaker 2: because of the brand name of Fire, And since twenty

532
00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:56,480
Speaker 2: sixteen it's been the most talked about music festival in

533
00:20:56,480 --> 00:20:59,560
Speaker 2: the world. Obviously mostly negative, but I think people realized

534
00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:02,240
Speaker 2: if you could write that, it's really hard to recreate

535
00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:05,239
Speaker 2: all of that brand awareness. But ultimately, like you know,

536
00:21:05,359 --> 00:21:07,520
Speaker 2: I scared them away, or you know, you know, the

537
00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:09,679
Speaker 2: history scared them away, or they weren't only to take

538
00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,040
Speaker 2: their risk, So it took some time. I think people

539
00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:14,600
Speaker 2: want to see me not behave like an asshole when

540
00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:16,439
Speaker 2: I got out of jail, and it just took, you know,

541
00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:18,399
Speaker 2: building that trust for a year and a half to

542
00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:18,800
Speaker 2: get there.

543
00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:20,120
Speaker 1: How are you different now?

544
00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:24,879
Speaker 2: I think really focusing on relationships. I loved in like

545
00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:27,800
Speaker 2: the pre life before jail. I just like loved having

546
00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:30,200
Speaker 2: a lot of people, whether it was employees or friends

547
00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:33,680
Speaker 2: or associates, and everything almost felt very like surface level

548
00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:36,879
Speaker 2: and transactional, and like going back to the biggest surprise

549
00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:39,600
Speaker 2: in prison where I met you three or four lifelong friends.

550
00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:42,399
Speaker 2: I think I'm finding more happiness out of like having

551
00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:45,520
Speaker 2: a smaller group of people who I really trust rather

552
00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:47,280
Speaker 2: than you know, one hundred people who are there for

553
00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:49,600
Speaker 2: a good time, as was I right, like, and yeah,

554
00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:51,720
Speaker 2: so I think I'm trying to like remove that transactional

555
00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:55,080
Speaker 2: like large group of people mentality and just like go

556
00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:56,560
Speaker 2: deep with a smaller number.

557
00:21:56,680 --> 00:21:58,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, because if I think about it, I remember seeing

558
00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:01,440
Speaker 1: posts of you taking a lot of to the Bahamas

559
00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:03,000
Speaker 1: to get ready for this festival, and there was definitely

560
00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:06,200
Speaker 1: a lot of people, yeah, enjoying themselves and coming with you,

561
00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:08,240
Speaker 1: And so it does make you look at things differently.

562
00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:10,800
Speaker 2: When found I found self worth by trying to be

563
00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:12,879
Speaker 2: cool to a large umber of people, whereas now I'm

564
00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:15,200
Speaker 2: trying to find it by being like trusted by ten people,

565
00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:16,920
Speaker 2: which I think is like way way cooler.

566
00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:19,080
Speaker 1: So there were definitely people who stood by your side

567
00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:20,360
Speaker 1: when you went to prison, for sure.

568
00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:21,800
Speaker 2: I think the weirdest thing was there was the people

569
00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:24,359
Speaker 2: who didn't expect, Like if I had a guess before

570
00:22:24,359 --> 00:22:26,160
Speaker 2: this happen, like, hey, if you're going to jail, who

571
00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:27,640
Speaker 2: would still be there? I probably would have gotten every

572
00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:31,360
Speaker 2: single person wrong who was still there a few childhood friends.

573
00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:33,600
Speaker 1: You know, the one who suggested the festival, and.

574
00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:38,639
Speaker 2: I'm not him actually he's ironically God, So that's funny.

575
00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,080
Speaker 2: Me like a few childhood friends, like a few work friends.

576
00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:43,639
Speaker 2: Like it was like a weird definitely a surprising mix.

577
00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:45,399
Speaker 2: But you know, you have to respect those who did that.

578
00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:48,639
Speaker 1: Now, as far as you're a personal financial situation, what

579
00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:49,600
Speaker 1: is that like for you?

580
00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:52,199
Speaker 2: Now? Yeah, it's definitely tough. So every month I have

581
00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:54,640
Speaker 2: to pay back to restitution, which were the investors who

582
00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:57,560
Speaker 2: are lost, and then there are probably twenty people who

583
00:22:57,600 --> 00:23:00,200
Speaker 2: aren't counted in that restitution too that it make miss

584
00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:01,920
Speaker 2: you every month. So it's like there's a lot of

585
00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:04,720
Speaker 2: people out there. Do half my time as marketing work,

586
00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:07,719
Speaker 2: so I help like brands, some young artists with their marketing.

587
00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:10,120
Speaker 2: The other half the times all working in the fire projects.

588
00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:12,639
Speaker 1: Speaking of Witch, let's talk about this Sleepy Hallow and

589
00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:15,840
Speaker 1: Chef G. You are the one that brought them out

590
00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:19,120
Speaker 1: for this Trump rally in the Bronx. Is that true? Yeah?

591
00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:21,960
Speaker 2: I think, like I just love bringing different people together,

592
00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:25,080
Speaker 2: and all my best moments in life, like outside of

593
00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:27,399
Speaker 2: the mistakes were made when people from different backgrounds and

594
00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:30,200
Speaker 2: different experiences came together. Those are the best ideas, those

595
00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:31,240
Speaker 2: are the best relationships.

596
00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:33,520
Speaker 1: Please explain to me how that happened, though, Like, what

597
00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:37,800
Speaker 1: was that conversation like, because as we know, Donald Trump

598
00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:40,679
Speaker 1: himself has a lot going on when it comes to court,

599
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:44,280
Speaker 1: and you know, for me personally, that's a scary thing

600
00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:46,080
Speaker 1: to me. So I want to know what that conversation

601
00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:47,639
Speaker 1: was like for you to get them to come out

602
00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:50,000
Speaker 1: where they are already supportive of Trump and you were like, look,

603
00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:52,680
Speaker 1: let's go do this rally, you know, And I want

604
00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:52,840
Speaker 1: to know.

605
00:23:53,359 --> 00:23:55,639
Speaker 2: The Trump rally was the first time a president's has

606
00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:58,119
Speaker 2: done a rally in the Bronx since Ronald Reagan. So

607
00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:00,159
Speaker 2: I thought it was kind of like this historic call.

608
00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:04,040
Speaker 2: Whatever your politics are, it's probably this historical New York moment,

609
00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:08,560
Speaker 2: and I think a great way to capitalize and kind

610
00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:10,640
Speaker 2: of make history was to bring you know, New York

611
00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:15,560
Speaker 2: rap to the Bronx. There were probably thirty five artists

612
00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:17,080
Speaker 2: who asked me to come to that rally.

613
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:20,479
Speaker 1: Really, so well, I think people are so enamored with

614
00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:25,760
Speaker 1: Donald Trump still, especially given everything that's been happening, and

615
00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:27,920
Speaker 1: you know, we just saw this whole hush money trial

616
00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:31,159
Speaker 1: and he was just convicted and found guilty and a

617
00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:34,159
Speaker 1: lot of things that he said and done in the past.

618
00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:37,320
Speaker 1: But what is it that you think leads people to

619
00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:39,960
Speaker 1: believe that, you know, he is the person they would

620
00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:40,920
Speaker 1: win to rally behind.

621
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,280
Speaker 2: I think I'm not educated enough on the politics side,

622
00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:46,440
Speaker 2: but on the cultural side, like people like being part

623
00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:49,919
Speaker 2: of history is exciting, and like there is a movement.

624
00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:53,760
Speaker 2: I think people aren't happy with, you know, how things

625
00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:56,120
Speaker 2: have gone over the past couple of years, and they

626
00:24:56,119 --> 00:24:58,240
Speaker 2: want to be heard. So if you can go and

627
00:24:58,320 --> 00:24:59,840
Speaker 2: go to a rally, or if you can go get

628
00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:01,439
Speaker 2: to online and you can be heard, I think it's

629
00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:03,439
Speaker 2: a great opportunity for a lot of artists and like

630
00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:06,159
Speaker 2: it helps him amplify their message. But I was shocked.

631
00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:07,639
Speaker 2: I think I made a couple of phone calls then

632
00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:10,080
Speaker 2: my literally my phone blew up, and there was dozens

633
00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:11,800
Speaker 2: of artists who really wanted to share their.

634
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:14,040
Speaker 1: Support, Like who else wanted to show that I'm not going.

635
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:15,639
Speaker 2: To drop people don't want to, but I think like

636
00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:18,399
Speaker 2: every single drill artist in New York was wanted to

637
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:18,760
Speaker 2: be there.

638
00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:21,600
Speaker 1: Oh wow, that is very interesting to me. So you

639
00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:22,600
Speaker 1: still live in New York now?

640
00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:23,320
Speaker 2: I still live in New York.

641
00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:25,760
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, So what are the restrictions and the rules

642
00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:27,640
Speaker 1: for you when it comes to traveling, when it comes

643
00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:29,119
Speaker 1: to what you can and can't do?

644
00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:32,560
Speaker 2: You still have probation of probation. I can't leave New

645
00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:35,680
Speaker 2: York without permission. So like, for example, the fight last

646
00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:37,400
Speaker 2: week was in Austin, so I did to get permission

647
00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:39,040
Speaker 2: to go and fight. Okay, and then I think another

648
00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:40,399
Speaker 2: year or so left the probation.

649
00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:42,119
Speaker 1: Okay, are you going to fight again?

650
00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:44,359
Speaker 2: I'm definitely gonna fight again. I'd love to fight. Job

651
00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:46,720
Speaker 2: rule like that fight would pay so many people back,

652
00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:48,960
Speaker 2: Like you have no idea the kind of money that

653
00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:51,360
Speaker 2: would raise for the Bahamas or restitution. I would give

654
00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:52,280
Speaker 2: every penny of it back.

655
00:25:52,359 --> 00:25:54,399
Speaker 1: Did you ask him to reach it?

656
00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:56,240
Speaker 2: I called him out of academics his podcast like a

657
00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:57,960
Speaker 2: year ago. I'm like hating response and.

658
00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:00,000
Speaker 1: The other thing that you did though. I saw you

659
00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:02,720
Speaker 1: saying that you would love for fifty cents to perform.

660
00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:05,160
Speaker 2: Fifty has to reform at fire for sure.

661
00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:07,000
Speaker 1: Now you don't think that's something that's gonna make Ja

662
00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:09,600
Speaker 1: rul be like that's you know, because that's obviously poking

663
00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:12,680
Speaker 1: a bear, you know how much they don't like each other.

664
00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:14,800
Speaker 1: That leads me to believe that you don't like ja Rule.

665
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:16,439
Speaker 2: I'm not going to say that, but I think you know,

666
00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:18,480
Speaker 2: fifty cent, you have an open invitation to come and

667
00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:19,520
Speaker 2: perform a fire too.

668
00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:23,080
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, fifty Sorry, no, we never fight fifty

669
00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:25,640
Speaker 1: so you think it could be rule?

670
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:27,880
Speaker 2: I think fifty centold train me for the job, roll fight.

671
00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:30,639
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, Well, listen, what else do you have

672
00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:33,160
Speaker 1: going on? Because I saw you also post something marketing

673
00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:34,720
Speaker 1: deal that you closed that was something big.

674
00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:36,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just doing a lot of marketing work to

675
00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:38,879
Speaker 2: pay the bills. Uh yeah. Fire Festival is more like

676
00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:41,800
Speaker 2: the long term game for better or worse. It's helping

677
00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:44,680
Speaker 2: a lot of like venture capital backed companies and a

678
00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:47,840
Speaker 2: lot of startups with their marketing stuff. But really excited

679
00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:49,679
Speaker 2: for fire too. I'm excited to get back into the

680
00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:50,720
Speaker 2: pit and fight again.

681
00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:51,480
Speaker 1: Oh my god.

682
00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:53,120
Speaker 2: I'm excited to take you to the Broadway musical when

683
00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:54,520
Speaker 2: that when that air? Gosh?

684
00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:56,439
Speaker 1: All right, so let's talk about so everything that we

685
00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:58,560
Speaker 1: talked about, So you have a Broadway musical coming doesn't

686
00:26:58,560 --> 00:26:59,240
Speaker 1: have a title.

687
00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:01,439
Speaker 2: Yet, I don't think so, at least didn't tell me so.

688
00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:04,480
Speaker 1: Okay, fire Festival the musical, I guess it makes sense.

689
00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:06,280
Speaker 2: The documentary is called After the Fire.

690
00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:09,240
Speaker 1: Okay? Oh, after the Fire is the documentary? How far

691
00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:09,840
Speaker 1: along is that?

692
00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:12,240
Speaker 2: Wrapping it up now? I think the fight was probably

693
00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:15,160
Speaker 2: the closing scene for that first season of The Duck Okay.

694
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:17,600
Speaker 1: So then you have the marketing obviously, you have the

695
00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:21,040
Speaker 1: Fire Festival too happening. You're going to announce that this summer.

696
00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:23,560
Speaker 2: When is it taking place next year in the Caribbean?

697
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:27,080
Speaker 1: Okay? Next year in the Caribbean? Okay? And then what else?

698
00:27:27,119 --> 00:27:28,080
Speaker 1: Did we miss? Anything else?

699
00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:28,560
Speaker 2: Pretty much?

700
00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:31,159
Speaker 1: It all right, Well, that's a lot going on for

701
00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:33,480
Speaker 1: you right now. So it's going to be interesting to

702
00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:36,320
Speaker 1: see the whole bounce back. But I was really interested

703
00:27:36,359 --> 00:27:38,160
Speaker 1: to see I saw on a podcast you were also

704
00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:41,640
Speaker 1: talking about how you view people in prison too now

705
00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:45,760
Speaker 1: after having been there and personally met people, yes, who

706
00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:47,520
Speaker 1: you just feel like a lot of times, like you said,

707
00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:49,760
Speaker 1: people get backed into a corner and they do things,

708
00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:52,840
Speaker 1: you know, and that definitely has changed your perception.

709
00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:55,320
Speaker 2: No matter who you are, if you are desperate, like

710
00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:57,320
Speaker 2: you are going to make a mistake and I don't

711
00:27:57,359 --> 00:28:01,200
Speaker 2: care educated, not educated, rich, poor like a despert person

712
00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:05,120
Speaker 2: those stupid things, And unfortunately, most people in prison were

713
00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:07,280
Speaker 2: desperate and they made a mistake, whether it was selling

714
00:28:07,359 --> 00:28:09,760
Speaker 2: drugs or you know, committing fraud, and like it's like

715
00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:11,480
Speaker 2: hard to say which is worse at that point. And

716
00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:14,040
Speaker 2: I think like society probably has that wrong. I think

717
00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:15,840
Speaker 2: most of the critics, if they were in the same

718
00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:17,760
Speaker 2: shoes as the people who I met in prison, but

719
00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:18,680
Speaker 2: are probably done the same thing.

720
00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:21,920
Speaker 1: You can't even say what you would do sitution worse. Right, Yeah,

721
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:25,560
Speaker 1: people's circumstances do matter a lot. What does your family

722
00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:27,680
Speaker 1: think about all of this? You know, when you're a

723
00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:30,040
Speaker 1: family gatherings, you know, when they see you, what do

724
00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:30,640
Speaker 1: they say.

725
00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:33,720
Speaker 2: Super tough. I'm from like a suburban New Jersey town,

726
00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:37,960
Speaker 2: not inside the city, so they don't, like, they don't

727
00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:40,520
Speaker 2: have exposure to the prison world. They don't have exposure to,

728
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:42,920
Speaker 2: you know, the music world. They don't have exposure to

729
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:44,080
Speaker 2: the fighting world. So a lot of it just.

730
00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:45,200
Speaker 1: Seems to everybody.

731
00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:47,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, it's like a little little out of the

732
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:49,720
Speaker 2: ordinary from no matter what we do. So I've already

733
00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:50,960
Speaker 2: confused them enough.

734
00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:52,680
Speaker 1: All right, Well, good, well, thank you so much for

735
00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:56,000
Speaker 1: joining us. This was an interesting conversation for me, just

736
00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:58,640
Speaker 1: because it does feel like you do have remorse for

737
00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:01,520
Speaker 1: the people who did suffer. I will say, when everything

738
00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:04,240
Speaker 1: was happening, I think that people didn't feel bad for

739
00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:06,240
Speaker 1: people who bought the tickets because they're like, oh, these rich,

740
00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:09,600
Speaker 1: you know, mostly white people got on a plane, paid

741
00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:11,600
Speaker 1: all this money to go someplace and it didn't work out.

742
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:14,440
Speaker 1: And so I think people did but we did feel

743
00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:17,320
Speaker 1: remorse for the people who suffered from the island, who

744
00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:18,840
Speaker 1: had kind of put their all into it, because it

745
00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:22,120
Speaker 1: kind of was like they were calling it the Hunger Games. Yeah,

746
00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:24,240
Speaker 1: you know, for people that were out there and it

747
00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:26,320
Speaker 1: was hard for people to get off the island, you know,

748
00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:28,080
Speaker 1: when they were second. But I did see you say

749
00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:29,880
Speaker 1: that some people got married and hooked up.

750
00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:32,600
Speaker 2: It's just crazy. I met three people, like randomly in

751
00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:34,400
Speaker 2: the streets who said they met at fire Festival and

752
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:36,000
Speaker 2: got married because of it, like one of the invityment

753
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:36,480
Speaker 2: of their wedding.

754
00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:40,440
Speaker 1: Oh my god. Well, you know, people can make.

755
00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:44,120
Speaker 2: Good but the most important I hate to pick favorites,

756
00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:46,520
Speaker 2: but I think the Behavians who who are owed and

757
00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:49,400
Speaker 2: worked like that is my priority. My god, I probably

758
00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:51,960
Speaker 2: spend most of my week discussing and dealing with that.

759
00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:52,840
Speaker 1: Can you go there?

760
00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:57,040
Speaker 2: I don't know. I definitely would need permission from the

761
00:29:57,120 --> 00:30:00,880
Speaker 2: US side to travel internationally. I'm not sure about the

762
00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:01,520
Speaker 2: Bahama side.

763
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:02,920
Speaker 1: Would you want to go?

764
00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:05,440
Speaker 2: As soon as my probation is up, we'll go, okay,

765
00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:06,080
Speaker 2: all right?

766
00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:08,200
Speaker 1: A year, yeah, all right, Well, thank you so much

767
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:10,360
Speaker 1: for joining us today. I'm going to be paying attention

768
00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:12,600
Speaker 1: to everything that you're doing. All right, don't let us down. Billy.

769
00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:14,680
Speaker 2: At the next fire office, he'll be there to open

770
00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:15,080
Speaker 2: it back up.

771
00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:17,800
Speaker 1: The oh god, I might be bad luck right, Thank

772
00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:18,640
Speaker 1: you so much.

773
00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:19,040
Speaker 2: Thank you.

774
00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:22,760
Speaker 1: It's way up up