WEBVTT - Akon 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.240 The only person, in my opinion that could have achieved 0:00:04.840 --> 0:00:07.520 just as great as a legacy as Mike to me, 0:00:07.600 --> 0:00:10.440 would have been Chris Brown. I just believed that Chris 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:14.520 Brown wasn't surrounded by the circle of creative people that 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:18.520 Mike was surrounded by Wow, because Chris got the talent. Wow. 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:22.079 He just needed the direction all my life then grinding 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:26.800 all my life, sacrifice hustle back Price, Want a slice? 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:29.600 Got the Browner dice to swad all my life. I've 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:32.760 been grinding all my life, all my life, been grinding 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:36.920 all my life and up sacrifice, hustle back Price, Want 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:40.000 a slice? Got the brona dice to swath all my life? 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:45.480 I've been grinding all my life. Hello, Welcome to another 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:48.280 additional Club Shashay. I am your host, also the proprietor 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:50.440 of Club Shasha and the guy that's stopping by for 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:53.840 a drinking conversation today. If a Diamond and platinum selling 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:59.240 UH singer, songwriter, producer, Grammy nominated recording label, owner, entrepreneur 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:02.639 and philanthropy acn R. Baby, how are you doing from 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:04.679 the creole all the way from the eight How you 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:08.720 doing amazing? Man? Cook? Let me get this pronounce your 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:11.400 full name for me Ellen dum a good time, put 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:17.960 the nuck a little, but I need to slow that. 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:20.360 The only thing, the only thing I heard was a 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:26.759 can that y'all read together? Okay, everything else running together 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:29.760 for sure? Okay, So how you say the first part 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:44.280 a loom duha time boodoo naka lu lulu. Also also 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:46.560 what they wrote on my card all that's not you 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:48.880 got more names than that, You got like seven eight names. 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:53.080 So let met your question. Who actually called you your 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:55.120 government name? What? They just call you a car? Yeah, 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:58.440 my family's called me Ali. Then you just called you Ali. 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:01.000 So if if somebody were like, if you're walking down 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:03.360 the street and they would have say Ali, you wouldn't 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:06.120 assume they face I would. I would have see the 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:10.840 family or somebody that knew me since I was a kid. Okay, 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:14.360 you got new music coming out. What made you just 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:17.080 what made you decide to get back into the music 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:20.280 game at this point? Well, actually, you know it's like 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:23.680 after you don't achieved everything, Yeah, you kind of go 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:25.800 back to what you love, to go back to the 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:28.600 root of what makes you happy, right, and music was 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:30.480 just that thing. Because I realized that my first go 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:33.040 around in the music business. Everything was so based around 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:35.520 the business, right. Everything was like, okay, cool, I need 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:37.000 to make money, I need to get rich, I need 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:38.799 to invest. I need to make sure that my family, 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:41.640 my kids and their kids are straight. Right. So once 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:43.880 you got your investments all in the order, then my 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:47.040 legacy was built out. Philanthropy was really you know, was 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:50.400 based in balanced in Africa. I was like, man, I 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:53.240 want to I didn't. I wasn't enjoying myself after a while. 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:55.280 I wanted to just go back to having fun again. 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:57.080 So you wanted to go back and make music that 0:02:57.160 --> 0:03:00.160 you like, not so much that it might not have 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:03.560 the commercial appeal because you've already satisfied that side. Now 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:06.400 let me do what I like. Right, But but you 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:08.959 want to commercial appeal steal but no, but this is thing. 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:10.600 Even when I was doing music, I only did what 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:12.600 I liked anyway, That's the only part of it that 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:16.000 I enjoyed. But it's the everything that's attached to music, 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:19.240 all the opportunities that you can actually run into that 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:22.600 you know that the business side came from what music attracted, right, 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:25.240 So the music opened the doors and know that normal 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:27.480 doors wouldn't open for me. What is it that you 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:29.840 don't like about the music business. I don't like the 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:32.640 politics about it. When you say politics, I think the 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:35.240 politics about it is what really drove me away from it. 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:39.320 And then it's also the uh, the aspect of just 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:42.360 the originality of it. Like I felt like if one 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:45.000 thing worked, the whole industry would ride towards that one 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:47.040 thing that work, and everybody would try to duplicate that. 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:50.000 It became more of a copy and paste industry. Right, 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:53.000 originality didn't matter anymore. And then if you was in it, 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:56.080 if you will try to be original, you got shunned 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:59.200 or blocked because it wasn't nothing close to what everybody 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:02.080 else was doing. Yeah. I couldn't get with that. Yeah, 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:07.200 so you you I mean when you talked about Locked Up, 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:11.200 But I'm looking at your career before Locked Up took off, 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:14.800 you were going around to prisons and actually performing, right, 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:17.799 that's how we broke the record. Yeah, it was interesting 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:23.640 Why I heard a small gymnasium YMCAs and really hairy 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:28.160 people kicking it off at the prison system. So, so 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:30.680 what made you decide to go that route? Well, it 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:32.840 was it was about being creative. Like, they got a 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:34.359 whole lot of money to pay for top price for 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:38.560 tickets at all. It was free actually exactly actually pay 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:41.040 to get it done exactly. Na. But when it was 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:44.200 when we first did Locked Up, it was it was 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:46.479 it was tough to get it played on the video, 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:49.440 tough to get it marketed, to promote it, and my 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:51.240 whole concept about it. I was like, wait, this is 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:54.440 a street record, right, obviously street to the core. The 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:56.520 best place for this record to actually get any kind 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:58.880 of marketing promotion is the place and where the concept 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:01.280 came from, which was in jail. Right. So I ran 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:04.359 into this warden over at Rocket's Island at the time, Okay, 0:05:04.839 --> 0:05:07.240 that had his new program that they was exercising, and 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:08.839 he reached out to Steve Rifkin when up you know, 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:11.000 at the time it was as the CEO of SRC Records, 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:13.120 who I was assigned to, and he said, Yo, listen, man, 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:14.920 we got this concept where we want to be able 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:17.279 to bring artists to come perform for inmates, you know, 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:19.400 and just kind of get these kids, you know, thinking 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:21.520 more about along. Yeah. Positive. So I was like, man, 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:23.680 I listen, I do it. Let's go Locked Up. It's 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:25.560 the perfect record, right. So we went in and did it. 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:27.960 The program was so successful he invited us to all 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:30.520 his other areas that he controlled, and we end up 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:32.760 doing a penitentiary tour and then how the record popped 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:35.320 off was that the inmates would call their parents and 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:37.839 have their parents called the radio station on three Way 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:40.200 to request the record, and that's how the record broke 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.240 on the radio. Wow. Yeah, did you think at the 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:45.120 time that you was making this record that it was 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:47.440 gonna do what it did? No? I had no idea 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:49.120 at the time. It was just it was a passion 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:51.960 product project. I was just going through the process and 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:53.480 wrote about it because I had a habit of writing 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:55.200 things that I went through, so when I got locked up, 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:58.159 that haven't followed me in jail and ultimately just became 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:00.400 what it was, so that would be so locked up 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:03.839 is real life for you? Yeah? Yeah, real experiences. Speaking 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:06.400 of that, we see now in Atlanta. What's going on 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:08.520 to Atlanta. We see Gunner, we see I think young 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:12.960 Thug the YSL and they're using their actual lyrics right 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:17.600 in the statue right you wrote this is real life 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.000 to me? How much should they be allowed? Because the 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:22.240 California governor users are now we're not going to use 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:25.360 lyrics against people right. And you know what, I agree 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:27.719 with not using lyrics against people because a lot of 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:29.640 times most of the stuff that a lot of rappers 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:33.679 are talking about ain't true. Right, It's this fantasy world 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:36.120 of being a gangster, the fancy world of being the 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:39.360 studio gangster, studio gangs. Right. So, which is cool because 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:41.640 movies do the same thing exact real life. Right, you 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:43.560 kill somebody in the movie, don't mean they can go 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:46.960 and say, oh, you kill somebody, I'm trying you for murder. Right. 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:50.080 But the difference in a lot of these cases that 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:54.560 this a lot of information that's being released on these songs, 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:57.160 our information that's never been put to the public in 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:01.480 the investigation. Right, So how do you justify lyrics an 0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:04.240 investigation that match a case almost to the tea that 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:06.760 it's information that's never been released to the public. It's 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:09.159 kind of hard to fight that. So to kind of 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:15.440 confess your own crimes or the records at a little ridiculous. 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:19.000 It's ridiculous. I mean, look, I love your stuff. I 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:21.000 mean you from the crib. So I got a special 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:24.600 liking to artist that's in Atlanta, like Tip and Louder Yourself, 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:30.320 Goodie Mob outcast, those guys. So I'm I'm biased. I 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:32.440 love Locked Up, but my favorite song You're on the 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:35.200 hook with the soul Survivor. Yeah, so how did how 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:37.400 did that project come about? Yeah? That's actually one of 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:41.160 my favorite records as well too. At the time, BMF 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:43.360 was a group out of Atlanta that was just like 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:51.360 they was. They would be they killing in every aspect. 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:54.000 And Mitch was a really really good friend of mine. Okay, 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:56.560 and he said, listen, con I got this artist, man, 0:07:56.920 --> 0:07:58.760 I need your help on it. I promise you, man, 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:00.560 I'm gonna look out for you. Hobby me, I got you, 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:02.760 I said, man, just bring him to He brought him 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:07.000 by the studio and Jeez at the time was so raw. 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:10.000 I was like, Bro, this kid, I don't know where 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:11.680 you found him, but he's out of here right, Like 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:13.760 he's out of here right. So Jez played me his 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:17.280 mixtape at that time and I said, okay, cool. So 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:18.760 when I left the studio, I reached back to meach 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:21.160 I said, I got him, trust me. So I did 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:24.440 the record, which was so survival, send it to Jeez. 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:26.200 As soon as he heard it, He's like, oh, bro, 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:29.040 this is it. This is it? Yeah, this is it. 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:33.520 He did he knew like he knew. I mean literally 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:36.280 hour didn't pass. He sent me back the song always 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:38.640 with his lyrics already owned it. I was like, oh yeah, 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:40.280 this is a monster record. But it was. It was 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:44.840 as simple as meat connected us, right? Yeah? Is that? 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:48.720 How is as simple as that somebody brings your art? 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:51.160 I mean because it happens all the time, people passing 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:54.640 you mixtapes on the street. He come from, Hey, I 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:56.240 got that heat on me, Bro, I need you to 0:08:56.240 --> 0:08:58.880 take a listen. What what made you so sure that 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:01.960 Jez was it? I just knew, Like I think that's 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:04.480 always been a gift of mine, that God just gave 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:06.200 me that puss to know a star when I see it, 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:08.439 like I just knew it, like I just automatic knew it. 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:10.280 But me, a lot of my collaborations come from me 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:12.720 just passionately liking it personally, right, Like if I like 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:15.160 it personally, I'm a due regardless of what, because I 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:16.959 just I just like it right, and I see it's 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:19.880 gonna go somewhere. But oftentimes it was never politics involved 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:22.080 in my decisions when it came to music. You got 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:24.199 to get us were a record number one selling artists 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:29.439 at Ring Tone, right, how did that happen? Well, at 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:32.400 the time, like music was always like a vehicle to 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:35.400 me to get to the money. Okay, Like imagine a 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:37.600 hustler seeing an opportunity to where you can be famous 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:39.760 and use that to open up doors for other opportunities 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:41.959 to money, right, Right, So when I was doing records, 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:44.280 I looked at the concept and the stats of how 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:47.080 people were rushing and beating themselves up to sell singles, 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:49.760 which was like four minutes long, right, and for a 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:52.559 dollar ninety nine. Right. And then you had ring tones, 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:54.760 which was just knew in the market, you know, a 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:58.520 digital you know concept where the ring tone was like 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:02.280 fifteen seconds long. It was four ninety nine. I said, well, 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:04.120 hell up, I think I'm on the wrong side of it. 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:08.280 We need to be selling ring tones, right if all 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:10.599 I need is fifteen seconds eleven for five dollars. It 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:13.640 was that simple, and that's when I started creating my 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:16.960 whole revenue model around selling ring tone. So every single 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:20.680 was based on the ring tone. Obviously, the Atlanta scene, 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:23.400 I mean, everybody knows everybody. You know Killer Mike, you 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:25.640 know Gunna, you know Young Thug, you know Tip, you 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:32.360 know Loota. So what makes the Atlanta scene so special. Ooh. 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:34.959 I think that what made Atlanta so special was the 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:37.400 fact that it was something brand new to hip hop 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:40.360 at the time. You know, they had a different perspective 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:43.199 when it came to rap music because we used to 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:44.840 be R and B. We had we had baby Face. 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:49.400 Oh yeah, we had Laid, we had TLC. I think 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:52.680 the Face, Yeah, don't get enough credit for they started. 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:55.760 They started it all man, Yeah, La Reid and baby Face. 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:57.520 If it wasn't for them, that wouldn't be no Atlanta. 0:10:57.559 --> 0:10:59.840 See right, Like they took it to to the South 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.080 where they saw the the I mean it was just 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:05.000 brewing talent that nobody was actually cooking, right, Like how 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:06.520 do you like? Oh Day's like, man, we need to 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:08.400 set up shop right here, right And sure enough, when 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:11.760 the when the Olympics came and the world came to Atlanta, 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:14.640 it also created this international vibe as well too, So 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:16.560 you got a lot of like myself, I came because 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:20.880 of their Olympics. So but when you created that and 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:23.120 then people asked me was able to hear the sounds 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:25.400 of the South and feel the energy of it, I 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:28.360 think it really transformed the business because everybody was so 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:30.839 inspired that even people from New York was trying to 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:32.800 sell that dude from South right and they just changed 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:36.800 the game. You mentioned we were talking about the wire 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:40.800 selling their situation and and and and bml Black Moufia Family. 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:46.240 How how did that? Because it seems like the BMMLF 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:48.439 and what they had, they glamorized it. They had a 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:50.320 doc had a thing on I think it was Netflix, 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:52.320 and they showed the rise and the fall of the 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:55.000 BMF and they showed the big lavish cars, and they 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:57.400 showed the strip loves and all that stuff. Is that 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:01.480 Captain Atlanta is more than that? No, Atlanta's definitely more 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:03.880 than that. I mean, you gotta think New York had 0:12:03.880 --> 0:12:05.800 it too in Brooklyn, like yeah, right, you can go 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:08.160 in pretty much any city, right, you know, La had 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:10.720 it with Rick Ross, Like anywhere you go, they're gonna 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:15.760 have that. Rap music was based around the lifestyle of 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:20.120 the struggle, like the rags to richest story. It's rap music, right, 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:24.280 So when you in any major you know, challenge neighborhood 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:26.880 or hood, you can kind of say, okay, there's always 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:29.760 been that one person that everybody looked up to, which 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:32.520 was the neighborhood drug dealer, right, he made the money fast, 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:35.600 he looked amazing. All the girls wanted them. He's right, 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:38.000 he's the guy that all the kids want to be. Like, yeah, 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:40.800 but see coming up, the ogs would tell you, nah, 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:44.680 bro ain't touching that go to school right today it 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:47.319 ain't the same. They ain't no oldgs. Oh jeez that 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:50.040 they gotta give you that game. All ogs that gave 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:52.360 us the game all jet a locked up. Yeah. So 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:55.800 and so now it is social media. It's called social media. 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:58.839 Every everything on social media. Everybody doing well because the 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:02.880 social media got met. I'm poor, but they got rolled. 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:10.959 What what am I doing wrong? What are you start? 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:14.480 I mean? But the social media is just like a 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:16.760 rap song. Now, okay, you can become whoever you want 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:20.160 to become. Right, So the rap song we idolize those 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:23.000 that group. And that's the we're telling their stories. Right 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:25.079 Like when you look at rappers, they tell them to 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:27.360 be and map stories. They telling no story like that. 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:29.679 It wasn't them living it, but they living through them. 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:32.480 But through the music, you can become that, right, So 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:34.960 social media is no different. The only differences. Now, now 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:38.440 you can curate your background, you know, produce your whole environment. 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:41.040 And make it look like you're this billionaire you know. 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:43.400 And then right when you jump off that private jet 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:45.480 that you just took a picture next to that you 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:47.800 didn't even rent, you go back to the front of 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:49.680 the you know, the signature places and ask for and 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:55.040 call you uber. Right, so it's like, you know, but 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:56.440 at the end of the day, when you look at 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:59.040 the the I mean, your man, your feet look like 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:03.520 oh man, this boy, yes, yes, you know, do you 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:12.120 has social media skewed reality because social media took reality 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:14.880 but well, well artificial reality to the next level, right, 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:18.640 so before everyone believable what you saw on television, like 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:21.760 TV was the truth because you can visit visially like 0:14:21.880 --> 0:14:25.840 vis Now social media has become and took the place 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:29.640 of television because now television, everyone can curate their own programs, right, 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:32.280 like they can create what they want the world to 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:34.400 see or envision when it comes to them, Like you 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:38.680 can create your own personality through just you just gotta 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:41.640 be good at tech, you know, be very creative. At 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:44.720 the end of the day, do you I mean these 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:48.440 charges that Atlanta on Young Thug and the wire self, 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:51.440 they seem very serious. No, they're very serious, and they 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:54.000 won't get bonded. They've been They've tried to get bonding. 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:55.720 They've been to Night I think three or four times, 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:59.080 Thug and Gunnam. You think they go, you think they're 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:01.680 going away for a while. Man. I pray that they 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:04.480 never have to deal with that kind of experience. But 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:08.280 the worst part of me is saying that they're probably 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:11.200 gonna utilize them and use them as an example. That's 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:14.000 what scares me, because I'm sure they probably did. I mean, 0:15:14.000 --> 0:15:17.360 ain't nobody angels. Everybody's gonna go through what they go through. 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:19.120 But I think a lot of the issues that they're 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:21.800 dealing with are more issues that might have stemmed from 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:26.200 their past. Right, that's being presentized. Right. And of course, 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:29.040 when you come from a past environment of that kind 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:32.320 of life, as you get more successful, if you're smart, 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:35.280 you will kind of drive yourself from from it. But unfortunately, 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:37.720 these kids kind of try to keep that environment close 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:41.840 to them to justify and make real what they're saying 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:45.440 on records, Like everything is about okay, is he real? Okay? 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:47.400 What's the question and what's the like, what is the 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:50.840 definition of real? Right? Is it that okay? What you're 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:52.560 saying you're on your record is something that you're actually 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:55.640 doing in a real life or who you co signed 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:58.360 or co signed by on record, it's actually around you 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:00.760 when you've seen in public right now, when you got 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:03.920 these credible street guys that's out there standing next to 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:06.880 somebody like a young thug or a gunner, and these 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:09.480 guys are still active. And you know, obviously if you're 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:10.960 active in the streets, that mean you're still out there 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:14.280 committing crimes. But yet you're you know, you're with someone 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:16.800 who might have been attached or involved in a life 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:19.680 in the past, but they're still currently with you. You 0:16:19.720 --> 0:16:21.720 can easily be caught up in any kind of conspiracy 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:23.880 because you know that person. If it's a case on 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:26.360 that person and they pull up a rico, just you 0:16:26.520 --> 0:16:29.280 knowing the person you you tied in because conspiracy. So 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:31.800 you gotta be a lot smarter than you know the 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:34.240 average person and understand how much you have to lose 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:36.560 by being attached to that environment. You gotta be able 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:38.960 to let that go. What happened to you? Like man 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:41.800 laying in bed at night in the situation, not because 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:44.240 I come from a very improper situation, but when I 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:45.880 laid in my bed at night, I was like God, 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:49.560 just give me an opportunity to get away from this. Yes, yes, 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:51.840 I can tell you about my story, but I didn't 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:53.480 want to. I didn't want to relive it. Okay, if 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:55.320 you're trying to get out of these streets, why do 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:57.040 you care to go back once you made it, to 0:16:57.040 --> 0:16:59.400 try to relive that and try to impress people. Man, 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:01.760 I'm still good. Well, the problem is most of them 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:05.399 never was. Okay, but when you got money, you can 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:07.520 become what you never was. You can become what you 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:09.720 always wanted to be. Yeah, because it ain't no real 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:12.800 believe me, you know, because our generation was different. We 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:14.119 did it to get the hell up out of that, 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:16.399 for sure. I ain't looked back since, no plan to it. 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:18.760 Non't get right, He followed, Yeah, I mean, Peter tell 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:20.239 me all the time, Oh you had this, you had 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:22.440 money all your life. No, I don't. I ain't finished. 0:17:22.480 --> 0:17:25.520 Limit that. You proved that you I I'm not finished, 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:28.320 limmit again, proved to you that I tore him up, 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:34.400 came back help you. I mean people trying. You're right, 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:37.720 People try to relive, try to relive a situation, to 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:40.320 try to prove to someone else. No, I really came 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:43.280 from the streets. I really sold drugs. I really did this, 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:45.760 Like why, like, why would you even want to put 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:48.320 that on your back? And yeah, you actually proud, ain't 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:50.760 something to be You didn't know any better. You're trying 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:52.560 to make ends and you're trying to get out of 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:55.200 a situation and things happen. But once you know better 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:57.320 and you made it, it shouldn't be a situation where 0:17:57.359 --> 0:17:59.080 you try to impress somebody to go back to that 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:02.120 thank you, thank you when you were when you got 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:03.879 locked up? What was going when you were when you 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:07.120 were in there, the actual inside the facility. They said, 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:10.320 there's one thing between your physical body being in prison 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:12.840 and your mind being in prison. He said, that's when 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:15.720 you're lost, is when your mind is there. Your body 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:17.600 was there, clearly your mind wasn't there because you were 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:20.160 thinking about something else. Yeah, how did you pass the time? 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:22.080 How did you get past that moment in your life? 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:24.040 I was thinking about how I was gonna over, like 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:26.240 what I'm planning on doing when I get out. And 0:18:26.240 --> 0:18:28.040 it was in jail that I made my ten year plan. 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:29.880 I literally had a ten year planner where I want 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:31.600 to be in the next ten years. Okay, and at 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:32.800 the top of my plan was I want to be 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:35.400 at the work with Michael Jackson. That was the top 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:38.200 of my plan, and that wasn't the plan that you 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:43.440 were positting to. I would work with my right listen, 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:45.000 I said. If I weren't Mike, I didn't made it. 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:48.399 I'm good God and blessing. And for sure enough, within 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:50.600 five years of that plan, I had already reached it. 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:53.119 And I think that's what drove me to philanthropy quicker 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:56.080 because once I reached that goal in five years, I 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:58.120 was like, Man, God gave me everything I ever wanted 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:00.600 to do right, Like what do I do now? I 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:02.280 don't want to just be known for singing a dance 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:04.159 and I want to be able to be an impact. 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:05.920 I want to be able to you know when when 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.679 when I when I rub or attached to anybody, their 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:12.200 name or their their situation is upgraded better. Like I 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:14.520 want to be able to make lives better. Just God 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:16.159 give me the position to be in a position to 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:19.040