WEBVTT - Episode 355 "Label Executives & Managers" 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:08.959 They get called broadcast line from Atlanta, Georgia. Wan't to 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:10.560 the ball show. I go by the name of fer. 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:11.520 I go by to that. 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:12.640 You know, bat too, man. 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:14.760 We got some special guests in the building, Keenan in 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:15.280 the building? 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:19.840 Maybe in the building? What's up? Fellas' real good? 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:20.759 Yeah? 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:24.440 What do you talk about? The rook like that? 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:27.840 Now? I know people are like, who the hell? How 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:30.960 the hell do we get these guys on here? Again? 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:33.160 I just wanted to talk to two people that I 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:36.879 very much respect. In the industry full of weirdos and 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:38.720 a whole bunch of bullshit going on. 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:40.280 That's how you feel. 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:41.720 We all know this. 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:45.519 I like to talk to people who stand on business. 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:48.760 I've never heard anything bad about either one. 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:50.840 Of you guys. You know what I'm saying. 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:53.000 In the industry full of. 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:01.720 You know, we gotta gotta, we gotta give who these 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:02.120 guys are? 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:03.840 Okay, please introduce yourselves please. 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:07.040 Keenan Johnson originally from New York but been to Atlanta 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:10.640 since nineteen ninety two. Went to clark Land University. Music 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:15.200 industry well well well respected, I would say professional, been 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:19.080 the game twenty five plus years and basically from what 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:22.399 you're saying, I prod myself on being consistent. I think 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:25.160 that's why I've been able to be around so long, 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:27.160 and people should respect for me for so long because 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:28.200 I respect you. 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:32.240 Trying to be too humble man s VP. Interscope records 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:36.560 that year EVP EVP. Oh my bad, damn. 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:40.000 How many years I was at Intersco for almost fifteen years? Yes, 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:43.000 started as a regional and worked my way up to 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:46.399 a EVP. Yeah, ended up running at the department over there. 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:48.080 So I'm not trying to be humble. I just figure 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:49.040 I was just gonna get into that a little bit. 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:52.080 Okay, that's okay. Uh, Yeah, I'm easy. You know, anybody 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:54.360 from Atlanta, y'all know me. I'll just be chilling. Man. 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:58.320 No, no, no, no, no. See see I first met this 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:01.800 guy man, he was promoting Yeah, and then all of 0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:06.440 a sudden, I see this young guy with dreads fighting 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:08.480 in the club, and I've kept saying, who is this guy? 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:09.919 And then all of a sudden these were like, Hey, 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:12.040 the next one twenty one savage. 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:14.600 Yeah, I'm manager of twenty one President. 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:17.440 Are you also manager a producer? 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:21.639 Yeah? Kid, Hazel, And I'm recently I'm just now creating 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:22.680 my management company. 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:24.959 To kind of expand my roster as well. But yeah, 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:25.720 that's what I'm saying. 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:27.799 Can we wint my camera? He wasn't gonna say. Yeah. 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:30.280 He definitely was gonna say, but can we talk about 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:32.000 who you recently signed? 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:33.160 Not right now? 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:36.799 Okay, we keep that on Instagram, but yeah, he but I. 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:41.919 Got I just yeah, I just got somebody who who's 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:44.160 super lit. Yeah, super lit. 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:46.519 And I'm excited for the world to kind of see 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:48.720 what we do to grow what we got going on 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:49.360 for sure. 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:52.400 Okay, so my first question both of you guys are 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:55.440 when you first got into the industry, what are some 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:57.600 things that kind of made you say, damn, this is 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:01.520 some bullshit that I'm entering or did you have an 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:03.519 optimistic view of it? Nah? 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:05.560 Not really. Honestly, when I first got into business, it 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:06.920 was a lot harder to get in. It was so 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:10.240 much gatekeeping going on back then. It was a lot 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:10.840 harder to get in. 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:11.440 Uh. 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:14.200 You know, the business was really based in New York 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:15.800 and LA for the most part. Back then. In Atlanta 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:18.720 was really just starting to pop back in the mid 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:22.720 in late nineties, So there wasn't a lot of true 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:25.240 business out here. There was a lot of a lot of. 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:27.440 Art out here in Atlanta, in Atlanta, but. 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:29.919 Not business yet. So the people that were down here 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:31.680 were people that were getting put on by their people. 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:36.360 And those people were doing this holding it tight, holding 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:38.280 it tight, and only putting on people that you know, 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:40.600 that they that they messed with, you know, or was 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:43.400 they homies or their cousins or whatever. So I remember 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:45.520 a time where you know, the executives that that I 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:48.200 that I saw coming up, they was assholes. This would 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:50.520 be perfectly honest. And what I what I what I 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:53.280 took from that was I'm gonna get on, but I 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:55.560 never want to make people feel like some of these 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:57.440 people made me feel when I was trying to come up. 0:03:57.680 --> 0:03:59.240 So that's why I was, you know, rolled the way 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:01.560 I rolled, like I always wanted to just be me 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:03.720 at the end of the day, like be represented for 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:05.360 who I am as opposed to what I did. 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:08.800 You know, Yeah, that's the same way with me. But yeah, 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:11.960 I just seen it with some bullshit from the promoter standpoint. 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:13.800 I seen niggas fake kick it. I've seen a lot 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:15.640 of shit. So when I came in, I was real, 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:18.960 like staying office. I was one of them. Fuck them niggas. 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:20.080 We don't need them niggas. 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:22.640 If I fuck with you, I fuck with you. Fucked, 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:25.480 We'll fuck all that shit. And I've learned, you know, 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:26.840 through time, like you. 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:29.240 Gotta play politics and stuff and just to somebody else 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:30.680 in some type of way. You don't got to be 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:33.200 that way, you know, just staying on my character, you know, 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:35.760 So anybody who know me, No, I'm just I feel 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:38.200 like I hope that anybody runningto me just like, oh man, 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:39.040 he a cool. 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:41.239 Ass motherfucker first before. 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:42.880 Like oh yeah, man, I'm man at twenty one savage 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:45.560 manager's that or I fake, you ain't gonna see me. 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:47.840 But you never never even been like that, Like even 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:51.040 even when I first bet both of guys, y'all have 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:52.320 always been super cool. 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:53.880 Like I didn't even know. 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:55.560 Like even when I first met you, I didn't even 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:57.680 know what you did with I was just like, dangn 0:04:57.680 --> 0:04:59.960 it's a cool dude, Like yeah, he used to promote 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:01.240 and this and that, and now. 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:02.799 He you know, he managed this artist. 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:04.960 And I'm like, I'm like, oh that's fire, because you 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:08.040 don't you don't see people that gain that type of 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:10.560 success that you guys gained and that still keep a 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:13.000 level head because we used to people in the industry 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:16.040 being like assholes or like, oh, they. 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:17.360 Don't want to talk to you if you can't do 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:18.120 nothing for them. 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:20.400 And that's that's another thing the industry gotta stop doing, 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:23.560 like stop being friends with people fake as you say, 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:25.920 fake kicking it because they can do something that they 0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:26.480 can help you. 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:29.159 Well, I started from humble beginnings, like I started on 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:32.000 the street team BRO. So for me, like I couldn't 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:35.240 come in, you know, on a higher level acting like 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:38.000 something I never. I wasn't from the beginning. I came 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:41.560 literally from the bottom doing street promotions at Clarkland University, 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:44.799 like on days like this, putting out postal boards, putting 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:48.200 stickers on on goddamn walls, and all types of stupid 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:50.720 shit all through the winter, not getting paid. So for me, 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:53.919 it's like I literally grinded my way from not being 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:56.960 paid to an EVP bro. So never at any point 0:05:56.960 --> 0:05:58.520 that I that I wanted to feel like or could 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:00.919 I feel like I was better than anyone, because actually 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:03.039 put it into work, So I can respect anybody that 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:04.680 puts into work, you know what I mean. 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:07.719 And Mesic you came from promoting, you came from kind. 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:10.080 Of the same I was throwing parties, and I also 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:12.320 did street team work, like that's the first pack I 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:14.240 ever got was a two Chains album. That was my 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:17.480 first entry point into like the music business outside of 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:20.479 navigating how of throwing parties, because I remember one of 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:21.520 my parties got shot up. 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:22.240 I'll never forget. 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:24.320 I was making a whole bunch of money and one 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:26.159 of my parties got shot up, and I remember my 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:28.479 life flashed for my eyes. I'm like, damn, my shit over. 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:30.240 I don't know how I'm gonna eat. I don't know 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:31.960 what I'm gonna do. And I remember sitting in the 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:33.960 house like what do you I would like because this 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:36.080 party shit is not about to last. 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:38.160 I don't know what I'm about to do. I'm like music, 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:39.240 and I remember I just. 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:42.480 Called Charlie Tech and al over there at Street is 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:44.160 X and it was like, man, just come over here. 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:47.520 And I did the street team work for Boats two Chains, 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:49.880 and then shit, I did really good at that, and 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:51.680 that's what made me just really fall in love with 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:55.160 like the music business and just learning more about it. 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:57.000 That's kind of like it was my entry point. 0:06:56.960 --> 0:06:59.320 Stop right there. So you remember he's got you, said 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:02.039 Streeter Zax. I remember a time when there was a 0:07:02.080 --> 0:07:05.839 lot it was not a lot of music executives in Atlanta. Yeah, 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:09.640 but then it became to where music is x X 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:12.960 moved to Atlanta and a lot of people from Atlanta 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:16.200 became music at X for sure. Can you pinpoint when 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:17.520 did you guys see that change? 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:18.320 Uh? 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:20.320 Yeah, for me, it was the La Face era. La 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:24.160 Face era. That's when I was in college and baby 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:26.280 Facing La Reed. They came in set up shopping in 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:29.160 Atlanta and they created that that vehicle La Face, which 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:33.760 brought us outcast TLC and all these these icons of music. 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:37.240 Uh usher you know. So they brought the foundation of 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:40.160 what became the new music hub for the for the 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:42.560 industry of Atlanta in the nineties, and I think Atlanta 0:07:42.600 --> 0:07:44.400 grew from there. And don't get it wrong, you know, 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:46.520 Jermaine and Dallas they did their part as well, but 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:49.400 as far as bringing a full infrastructure of a big 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:52.320 label to the city, definitely that that office on P 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:56.600 Street was like oh shit, this is like this is 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:58.800 this can happen like this? Like I used to go 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:00.320 up there, My man Taya used to wear there. Who 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:02.840 I think you know that shit used to be like boomerang, 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:05.280 Like we were going there and people be dressed beautifully, 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:07.960 the women would look amazing. Everywhere you turned, everybody just 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:10.960 looked good, smelled good, felt good, and they was just 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:13.680 and they was popping out that shit. So, you know, 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:16.360 really set the foundation for what things could be and 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:18.520 what was fur the ground Atlanta to grow from from 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:19.440 there from that point on. 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:22.920 Yeah, I mean, like I said, I grew up. I 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:26.120 grew up in seeing it. So I wasn't a time 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:29.160 where I didn't know that it wasn't able to happen 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:32.120 in Atlanta, you know, just because I'm little facing all 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:34.080 that stuff. I'm young, I was young. I'm thirty five, 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:36.720 so shit around that time, I ain't know much about music, 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:39.600 but I know music was always here, so I always 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:41.120 seen it, you know what I'm saying. 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:43.360 So what made what made you? 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:46.480 I know you said that you you started working with 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:49.319 street executives, But what made you really start like getting 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:51.600 into like management, Like did you ever think you could 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:52.640 start manage? No? 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:55.120 It was Charlie from streets he not with you know, 0:08:55.240 --> 0:09:00.360 Charlie CEO was like man because I used to help artists, 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:02.080 but I would only help artists to get them for 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:04.520 free or for cheap, so I could make money at 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:07.040 the door. So I'm like helping work in their music, 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:09.240 doing whatever, making sure the DJ play the shit. I 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:10.679 don't give a fuck what I had to do because 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:13.240 I knew when two Chain changed his name from teddy 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:15.040 Boy to two Chains, I'm like, shit, I want to help. 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:17.040 Anything I need to do for two Chains, I'm gonna 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:20.160 do because when his mixtape release come, he gonna I 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:22.320 get it for free. So if I get it for 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:24.360 free and my door hit forty thousand and I make 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:27.040 twenty five percent of forty thousand, fine, you know. And 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:28.920 I got in the relationship. So I used to just 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:32.840 do stuff that marketers in different I used to do 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:34.840 stuff label people would do, and I didn't know what 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:37.040 I was doing. I'm just thinking whatever I can do 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:38.960 to build a relationship with the artists to make money. 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:42.400 So Charlie was like, look, bro, you can manage Do 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:44.360 you realize that you need to? And it was this 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:46.240 group called two nine that I was real close with, 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:49.360 nine Siege and Jason. He was like, man, you should 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:53.080 manage them. They are friends. You should try it. I'm like, damn, 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:54.679 I ain't ever think about it, but fuck it. That's 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:56.200 what made me move out my mama house. I moved 0:09:56.200 --> 0:09:58.160 out my mama house and got an apartment right behind 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:01.680 Siege's house, bought them studio, and then, shit, I ain't 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:03.640 look back. That's when that was my entry point manager. 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:06.160 If it wasn't for Charlie, I would never thought about managing. 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:07.839 I just would have been throwing parties and trying to 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:10.160 figure it out, which is nothing wrong with that. I 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:12.400 still miss throwing parties. I had to stop on because 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:15.720 he was doing too much, so I had to stop 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:17.760 throwing the parties like I was trying to, Like he 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:19.680 was going out of town. I still had my percent, 0:10:19.760 --> 0:10:21.079 but they got to the point where it's like I'm 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:23.960 not doing I'm not earning my money. So I just 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:25.599 gave my percent up and then that was it for 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:27.400 me with the parties. But I still wish I could 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:29.679 promote to this day. That's why when I get excited 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:32.280 when his birthday party come and shit like that, because 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:34.400 he give me that feeling of like, oh, y'all, come 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:36.440 fuck with us, we got this, we got that. I'm 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:38.600 really excited to promote anything, you. 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:41.240 Know, how exactly. 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:44.360 I'll get excited. How did you How did you and 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:45.400 Savage end up meeting. 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:46.720 I knew him back. 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:49.280 Shit if I'm three years older than him, so I 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:51.920 think I met him. This is just in Passing, just 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:54.040 because we grew up around the same people, like when 0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:56.840 he was like twelve and I was like fifteen, seeing 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:58.920 him in Passing and then from there me throwing parties. 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:01.439 They will always come to the parties, bisections and stuff 0:11:01.480 --> 0:11:02.920 like that. They was in the streets. They used to 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:06.080 fuck my parties up, like dough all these shit. He 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:09.240 was not a rapper whatsoever. So I just knew him 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:11.160 in Passing. I knew a lot of his older homeboys, 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:13.440 had a relationship with them, but they used to come 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:15.839 and from there. When he did start rapping, I was 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:17.640 just happy to see somebody who I knew for a 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:19.600 long time doing it and the music was good. So 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:21.800 I just was promoting him, pushing them just on some 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:24.280 like man, this nigga next, I know him like cool, 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:25.200 let's you know. 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:26.320 That's how it was organic. 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:30.240 Yeah, so I knew him before anything, like just just 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:32.160 in Passing, just growing up on the East Side. 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:36.679 I could tell because it seems very organic between you two. 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:38.640 I could tell he cares about you. I can tell 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:41.640 you care about him. You know it's not transactional. Yeah, 0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:44.280 as you can kind of tell from outside looking in 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:47.000 in certain situations, I could tell you guys have a 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:48.680 really good relationship. 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:51.160 I appreciate that. Yeah, are you doing a good job? Yeah? 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:53.760 Because it's funny because when we went to Ruggs No 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:56.040 was it? Who party was? I forgot? Was at somebody 0:11:56.120 --> 0:12:00.400 party and this uh savage saw you, like what you're 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:02.480 doing here, and it's like, damn, I'm trying to get 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:03.079 away from him. 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:06.880 Stuff like that just shows me like how organic you 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:09.880 know your relationship is, because you really don't see that 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:11.760 a lot like a lot of times in this industry, 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:14.640 we see like, uh, like an art like a manager 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:16.920 like yourself, give with an artist and then as soon 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:18.599 as the artists blow up and they get big, so 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:22.880 what do they do? Snip snip switching later and then 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:25.880 they got a whole man, they got a whole management company, 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:29.560 and you don't help bring these artists, you know, to 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:31.080 the point to where where they at. 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:33.800 And you know, you see, you see that so so 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:34.959 often in his industry. 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:37.920 I'm blessed, bro, Like I know I'm blessed. I don't 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:41.280 it ain't no, I don't got no advice for nobody 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:47.120 and none. You gotta just pay. You got a real motherfucker. 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:47.560 That's you. 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:49.920 You know what I'm saying, the way you fuck with them, 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:54.560 because it's the percent the people that are like savage 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:57.319 is like two percent in the industry. So it's like, 0:12:57.440 --> 0:12:59.880 don't think it's gonna it's it's it's rare for somebody 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:03.560 be loyal, you know, and locking the way you know 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:05.520 niggas is locked in. I was just talking to Shock 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:07.560 up about it before I got here. They going on 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:08.720 twenty five years together. 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:12.000 Yeah, wow, yeah, wow, shout out the shock. 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:15.240 That's rare though, you know what I'm saying. So I'm blessed, man, 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:15.840 I'm blessed. 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:19.000 Okay, Kenan, I got a question, man. I know you 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:21.200 you was on the promo side for a very long time, 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:26.240 so you saw some things going no, no, no, no, 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:27.480 ain't going too crazy. 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:28.520 Hold on that. 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:31.199 I wanted to ask you, like, what are some things 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:35.199 that you think an artist tends to blame the label 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:36.800 which is inaccurate? 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:39.040 I want to good question because I worked at. 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:41.360 The promo side year. I worked at war the records, 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:43.480 and you know, sometimes I saw when I had I 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:47.040 had a I had a corporate card, and I thought 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:47.480 that was cool. 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:48.120 I kept saying. 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:49.520 I was like, damn, I had to do my little 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:54.080 use expenses. I said, oh, this goes to the artist budget. Wow, 0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:59.880 I just mons how to eat. Everybody was saying it 0:13:59.920 --> 0:14:06.199 is we go to the bull artist. But what are 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:09.120 some things that you know are misconceptions that artists may say, Man, 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:09.960 it's y'all phone. 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:12.760 I mean, I've seen many of times where you know, 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:15.920 as a promo guy, we've delivered you know, success, you 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:18.160 know for artists on records, you know, whether it be 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:21.840 number ones, top tens, top fives, but the man, it 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:26.520 a record doesn't work, y'all shit, y'alling. I've had that 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:29.040 happen many a time actually, and I don't even take 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:31.280 it personal. I just I know what it is. Like 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:33.840 I learned early in this game, it's a delicate dance 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:36.280 that we have to do as record people, especially on 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:39.760 the promo side, as far as building bridges and relationships 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:43.360 with artists, like to one degree, we're literally most times 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:45.640 the first line of defense when it comes to showing 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:48.400 them how to be artists in front of people, because 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:50.800 when they do promo, they're getting in front of people 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:52.400 like yourself, and a lot of times they don't really 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:56.280 have the tools to communicate properly, to actually have conversations 0:14:56.280 --> 0:14:58.440 where they know how to give the right answers and 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:01.000 not put themselves in bad situations. So what happens with 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:03.400 that is you build the trust with these artists, you know, 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:07.000 in that process early on. So that's the great part. 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:09.400 Right on the way up, you're helping them build you 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:12.480 watching them grow, and they get all success. But then 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:14.840 to the point about the management part where people get 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:17.520 snip snipped. It's the same kind of dichotomy when they 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:19.240 get super big and all of a sudden they're not 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:21.520 as big as they were, and they may fucking deliver 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:24.120 a dud, and you may take that dud top ten 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:26.280 because that's the you know, you have an interest in 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:27.920 the staking of artists, you believe in them, you was 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:30.400 with them from the beginning. But this just ain't the record. 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:32.680 But they'll throw your ass under the bus, so god 0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:35.280 damn quick and make your head spin. But I, like 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:37.280 I said, I ain't take a person at this point. 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:39.880 It's it's the game, you know. At the end of 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:42.520 the day, I would hope that my overall track record 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:46.000 of success across a lineage of artists speaks to my 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:48.760 what I contributed as opposed to what I did with 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:49.920 one artist or one record. 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:52.480 Now, let me ask you this, is it true that 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:53.920 you can pay for a number one record? 0:15:53.920 --> 0:15:57.440 I don't know nothing about that, Okay. 0:15:57.560 --> 0:15:59.280 I just see this on the internet all the time. 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:03.240 Report you get, you get, you get industry experts, and 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:05.600 they were like, hey, it cost this to go to 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:07.840 number one. And you know when you see these artists 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:09.760 going number one is because the labels are doing let's 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:10.000 do it. 0:16:10.040 --> 0:16:11.040 I mean, let me let me start. 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:13.160 Let me, let me, let me, let me start. 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:15.000 I'm from a different eraror bro. You have to pay 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:17.320 so much so for me, So for me, let's just 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:19.960 let's just get get this out the way. For me, 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:23.600 even speaking on platforms is a big deal one, that's 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:28.080 a fact. Speaking on gang business is even more of 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:31.080 a big deal for me. So for me, like whatever 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:34.240 is known, it is what it is. But at the 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:35.720 end of the day, you have to have a great 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:37.760 record in order to put it in position to go 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:41.240