WEBVTT - Introducing Started From The Bottom: Charlamagne Tha God 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:23.116 Pushkin. Hey, everyone's justin Richmond. I'm dropping in today to 0:00:23.236 --> 0:00:27.036 play you an episode from my brand new podcast. Started 0:00:27.116 --> 0:00:30.676 from the bottom. The idea for the show predates my 0:00:30.836 --> 0:00:33.556 work with Rick and Malcolm here on Broken Record and 0:00:33.716 --> 0:00:35.996 goes all the way back to a meeting I had 0:00:35.996 --> 0:00:39.436 in twenty seventeen with Quincy Jones, probably one of the 0:00:39.476 --> 0:00:42.476 most successful people I've ever and maybe we'll ever meet 0:00:42.836 --> 0:00:45.676 in my entire life. I think it'll make sense to 0:00:45.716 --> 0:00:48.436 you why this idea sprung from that meeting when you 0:00:48.596 --> 0:00:51.676 hear the episode. So, without further ado, I want to 0:00:51.716 --> 0:00:53.956 play for you my conversation with one of the most 0:00:53.956 --> 0:00:58.876 successful radio personalities of all time, The Breakfast clubs Charlemagne 0:00:58.956 --> 0:01:03.196 the God. For me growing up, it was oh, oh, oh, 0:01:03.276 --> 0:01:06.436 it's the time join our morning show because you know, 0:01:06.476 --> 0:01:09.316 my mom was a school teacher, so we was up early, 0:01:09.636 --> 0:01:11.676 so I would listening to the time join up. And 0:01:11.716 --> 0:01:13.916 then you know, Z ninety three played such a big 0:01:13.996 --> 0:01:16.916 role in my life because you know, their original morning 0:01:16.956 --> 0:01:20.796 show that I remember was The Breakfast Club Baby Jay 0:01:20.876 --> 0:01:24.756 and Tessa. Tessa Spencer, my guest today is someone I've 0:01:24.796 --> 0:01:27.996 wanted to interview for a long time because of what 0:01:28.036 --> 0:01:31.836 he's meant over the last decade to the culture, black culture, 0:01:32.116 --> 0:01:36.196 hip hop culture, internet culture, youth culture, all the cultures 0:01:36.236 --> 0:01:39.236 you name it. But if I'm being completely honest, the 0:01:39.276 --> 0:01:40.956 real reason I wanted to sit down and talk to 0:01:41.036 --> 0:01:43.156 Charlemagne the God is to see if some of his 0:01:43.276 --> 0:01:46.596 confidence can run off on me. Most of my career, 0:01:46.796 --> 0:01:49.436 I've been terrified to bring my full self to work 0:01:50.036 --> 0:01:52.196 out of fear of rejection or fear that I wouldn't 0:01:52.236 --> 0:01:54.156 be enough. I don't know. I'm working through it with 0:01:54.196 --> 0:01:57.956 my therapist. But what I admire about Charlemagne is that 0:01:57.996 --> 0:02:01.276 he seems to not care at all about being rejected 0:02:01.476 --> 0:02:06.396 by his peers, his co workers, his audience, anyone. And 0:02:06.516 --> 0:02:09.716 that confidence has led to some of the most pactful 0:02:09.836 --> 0:02:14.036 and sometimes controversial interviews over the last decade. As co 0:02:14.156 --> 0:02:16.236 host of one of the most popular radio shows of 0:02:16.236 --> 0:02:20.196 all time, The Breakfast Club, Charlonte made made time to 0:02:20.236 --> 0:02:22.116 sit down with me in New York City to discuss 0:02:22.156 --> 0:02:26.676 all of this, plus his upbringing, parenting, and the criticisms 0:02:26.676 --> 0:02:30.076 that have come with his success and more. This has 0:02:30.116 --> 0:02:33.316 started from the bottom, hard earned success stories from people 0:02:33.916 --> 0:02:41.396 like us. First time I ever saw you was it 0:02:41.436 --> 0:02:44.276 was you on the Wendy Williams radio show going Toe 0:02:44.316 --> 0:02:46.676 to Toe with Andrew Dice Club. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that 0:02:46.756 --> 0:02:49.476 was like two thousand and seven. Yeah. It was one 0:02:49.476 --> 0:02:53.556 of the most amazing things ever. And even though you 0:02:53.716 --> 0:02:56.276 kind of got I don't know, I feel like Andrew 0:02:56.356 --> 0:02:58.116 kind of put it on you that day. It was 0:02:58.556 --> 0:03:01.116 the way they edited it, too, but it was like, yeah, 0:03:01.236 --> 0:03:03.476 I had some I had some good ones, but they 0:03:03.516 --> 0:03:05.196 didn't put all of them in. They put the one 0:03:05.196 --> 0:03:07.676 about me calling them a fat fans. That's all right, 0:03:07.676 --> 0:03:09.516 looking back, you actually did a lot better than I remember. 0:03:09.516 --> 0:03:11.956 At the time. I was a gang like still got it. 0:03:11.956 --> 0:03:13.796 I've been like, oh man, But then I kind of 0:03:13.796 --> 0:03:15.436 put you on my radar. And then I remember when 0:03:15.476 --> 0:03:17.076 the Breakfast Club came, I was like, oh, it makes sense, 0:03:17.076 --> 0:03:19.836 like this guy clearly clearly had it. But yeah, I 0:03:19.836 --> 0:03:22.196 want to run through your radio trajectory. But first I 0:03:22.516 --> 0:03:24.676 thought it'd be good to start with growing up in 0:03:24.996 --> 0:03:29.836 Monk's Corner, South Carolina. Um. It's interesting, right, because you know, 0:03:29.876 --> 0:03:32.356 I've been thinking about that a lot more lately, only 0:03:32.396 --> 0:03:34.756 because like you know, when I'm in therapy, I'm doing 0:03:34.836 --> 0:03:38.516 like a lot of um in a child work, you know, 0:03:38.676 --> 0:03:41.916 because I feel like a lot of the issues that 0:03:41.996 --> 0:03:44.716 you deal with as an adult, most of them directly 0:03:44.716 --> 0:03:47.556 connected something that happened in your childhood. And so I've 0:03:47.596 --> 0:03:52.236 been thinking about, like, what was that upbringing like growing 0:03:52.316 --> 0:03:55.356 up in Monst Corner, South Carolina, and the word I've 0:03:55.356 --> 0:04:00.116 come to realize that it is associated with that that upbringing. 0:04:00.756 --> 0:04:04.876 It's simple, you know, Monst Corner when I was young 0:04:04.956 --> 0:04:07.676 created a sense of ease in my life that I 0:04:07.676 --> 0:04:10.956 feel like really helped me growing up because I didn't 0:04:11.436 --> 0:04:13.956 move too fast and I didn't move too slow. That 0:04:14.156 --> 0:04:18.236 still is a big, big part of me. So when 0:04:18.316 --> 0:04:21.156 like you know, that anxiety that I've been feeling my 0:04:21.196 --> 0:04:24.236 whole life sets in, I feel like, Okay, I might 0:04:24.276 --> 0:04:26.236 be moving too fast, but then I don't want to 0:04:26.276 --> 0:04:28.636 move too slow. But then it's just a certain ease, 0:04:28.756 --> 0:04:31.596 like like baby Bears part just just it's a just 0:04:31.796 --> 0:04:35.156 right level of ease that growing up in Monk's Corner 0:04:35.276 --> 0:04:37.916 gave me that I tend to tap into whenever, like 0:04:38.196 --> 0:04:40.636 things get really hectic. You mentioned thinks some of the 0:04:40.676 --> 0:04:44.876 anxiety that you have. When did that start? Really Yeah, 0:04:44.876 --> 0:04:47.196 as long as I know, I mean the first panic 0:04:47.196 --> 0:04:50.876 attack I remember having was first grade, my mom dropping 0:04:50.916 --> 0:04:52.636 me off, Like I can feel it right now, my 0:04:52.716 --> 0:04:56.636 mom dropping me off first grade, first day of first grade, 0:04:56.636 --> 0:05:00.116 and like I just cried uncontrollably, like like I just 0:05:00.156 --> 0:05:08.156 felt like abandoned, lost and just scared like that that 0:05:08.156 --> 0:05:14.156 that same, you know, unexplainable feeling of fear and panic 0:05:14.316 --> 0:05:17.436 and worry. And I think my mom even says that 0:05:17.476 --> 0:05:19.876 I might have cried for like the first week. I 0:05:19.876 --> 0:05:23.036 don't remember the first week. I remember that one particular day, 0:05:23.076 --> 0:05:25.636 but it's like, yeah, that's the first time I remember 0:05:25.636 --> 0:05:28.116 ever having like a panic attack. And I had him 0:05:28.716 --> 0:05:31.356 throughout my life, like I've been going to the emergency 0:05:31.396 --> 0:05:34.076 room thinking that I'm having a heart attack, you know, 0:05:34.196 --> 0:05:36.156 thinking that I'm dying, you know, And then you get 0:05:36.196 --> 0:05:37.716 there and the doctor's like, oh, did you have an 0:05:37.756 --> 0:05:39.836 energy drink today? And you're like, I did drink a 0:05:39.836 --> 0:05:41.436 red Bull earlier. And I was like, oh, that's probably 0:05:41.436 --> 0:05:43.956 why your heart is doing that. That's the worst feeling, 0:05:43.996 --> 0:05:46.716 you know. It wasn't un till twenty ten that a 0:05:46.796 --> 0:05:51.396 doctor actually said to me, it sounds like you have anxiety. 0:05:51.596 --> 0:05:53.716 He was literally was like, it sounds like you had 0:05:54.356 --> 0:05:56.956 a panic attack, the things that you're describing, And he 0:05:57.036 --> 0:05:58.436 was like, has this happened to you before? And I'm 0:05:58.436 --> 0:06:01.556 like all the time. And you know, he asked me 0:06:01.596 --> 0:06:03.996 what I stretched out about anything, and I'm like, hell yeah, 0:06:04.036 --> 0:06:05.716 because at the time, I had just been fired for 0:06:05.716 --> 0:06:08.076 the fourth time from radio, and I'm back living at 0:06:08.076 --> 0:06:10.476 home with my mom at thirty one, thirty two years old. 0:06:10.556 --> 0:06:13.396 My daughter's like one or two. My wife is back 0:06:13.436 --> 0:06:15.156 living at home with her parents, you know what I 0:06:15.196 --> 0:06:17.396 mean in mom's corner. So it's like I was super 0:06:17.436 --> 0:06:20.556 stressed out collecting unemployment checks every week. So in my mind, 0:06:20.556 --> 0:06:22.076 all I had to do was get back in position 0:06:22.076 --> 0:06:24.316 and get me another job and all of that would 0:06:24.356 --> 0:06:27.636 go away. And that wasn't the case. You know. I 0:06:27.756 --> 0:06:30.396 ended up getting the breakfast Club gig and having the 0:06:30.436 --> 0:06:32.876 most success I've ever had in my life, and it 0:06:32.916 --> 0:06:35.876 felt like all of those issues I had historically dealt 0:06:35.916 --> 0:06:40.316 with were magnified times a hundred now. Yeah, you know, 0:06:40.516 --> 0:06:42.436 And so that's what I decided to, like finally go 0:06:42.476 --> 0:06:44.796 get some help and like go to therapy. What do 0:06:44.796 --> 0:06:46.396 you think do you see that? Do you see that 0:06:46.396 --> 0:06:53.436 same anxiety in your kids? Yeah? I haven't seen it 0:06:53.476 --> 0:06:56.596 show up as bad as mine was when I was 0:06:56.676 --> 0:07:00.636 at age. And I think the beauty of life now 0:07:01.316 --> 0:07:03.196 is not only do I have the language, I have 0:07:03.276 --> 0:07:06.196 the experience. So it's just like that. And I wish that, 0:07:06.636 --> 0:07:08.396 you know, somebody had put me in therapy when I 0:07:08.436 --> 0:07:10.476 was thirteen four, you know me, I definitely needed it 0:07:10.516 --> 0:07:13.916 because I was getting sexually abused at eight years old. 0:07:13.956 --> 0:07:16.796 I didn't realize that at the time. I didn't realize 0:07:16.836 --> 0:07:19.076 that was molestaia till I was twenty something years old. 0:07:19.156 --> 0:07:20.436 You know. At the time, I just thought I was 0:07:20.836 --> 0:07:23.956 eight year old kids the neighborhood, Yeah, right, we would. 0:07:24.116 --> 0:07:25.676 We would all a bunch of young men. We all 0:07:25.756 --> 0:07:28.716 be around having conversations about older women that we were 0:07:28.796 --> 0:07:31.196 messing with, you know, in the neighborhood. Like we all 0:07:31.236 --> 0:07:33.956 thought we were lying, but clearly we allay like telling 0:07:33.996 --> 0:07:37.996 the truth in different ways. Right. So, um, when I 0:07:38.156 --> 0:07:41.436 was fourteen, I definitely needed to unpack some of that. 0:07:41.556 --> 0:07:42.836 Do you think you would have had it at that age? 0:07:42.836 --> 0:07:44.436 Do you think the trajectory would have been the same, 0:07:44.476 --> 0:07:46.156 Like you think you would have been ended up in 0:07:46.236 --> 0:07:49.796 the streets? Did probably not? And the reason probably not, 0:07:49.876 --> 0:07:51.796 just because you know, even with the screetch, Right, It's 0:07:51.836 --> 0:07:55.996 like a lot of that is um you trauma bond 0:07:56.076 --> 0:07:59.236 with people, yeah, because it's all a bunch of individuals 0:07:59.396 --> 0:08:04.076 that are missing something, and like we all want camaraderie, 0:08:04.196 --> 0:08:07.916 we all want family, we all want a crew. And 0:08:08.076 --> 0:08:12.476 it's just sometimes men, we trauma bond over bullshit, you know, 0:08:12.596 --> 0:08:15.676 So we trauma bond sometimes over crime, you know. We 0:08:15.796 --> 0:08:19.876 trauma bond over drugs, We trauma bond over alcohol, you know. 0:08:20.196 --> 0:08:21.996 But most of the time it's like, yoh, we're all 0:08:22.076 --> 0:08:24.876 trauma bonding to do the wrong thing, Like you know 0:08:24.916 --> 0:08:28.996 what I mean, Like let's go rob this you know, individual, 0:08:29.076 --> 0:08:31.236 or go rob this store, or break into this house 0:08:31.276 --> 0:08:33.236 and let's go, you know, figure out a way to 0:08:33.276 --> 0:08:35.876 get some a pack to hustle. But it's like what 0:08:36.036 --> 0:08:42.196 we're all lacking is like togetherness. Like everybody, we're all tribal, 0:08:42.316 --> 0:08:44.916 and we all long for family, right, And I think 0:08:44.996 --> 0:08:47.596 that's what that's what a lot of guys do when 0:08:47.636 --> 0:08:50.396 they when they click up in that way. So I 0:08:50.476 --> 0:08:53.836 think for me, I definitely was longing for like some 0:08:53.996 --> 0:08:56.796 type of family structure, even though I grew up in 0:08:56.836 --> 0:08:59.516 a house with the oldest sister two younger brothers and 0:08:59.636 --> 0:09:02.596 a younger sister. I was the second oldest. My oldest 0:09:02.596 --> 0:09:04.596 sisters like ten twelve years older than me, and my 0:09:05.156 --> 0:09:07.236 younger siblings are like ten twelve years younger than me. 0:09:07.276 --> 0:09:08.796 So I was kind of I didn't have on an island, 0:09:08.916 --> 0:09:12.156 yeah exactly. So I ended up kicking it with brothers 0:09:12.236 --> 0:09:14.916 and who are around my age. Man, we all ended 0:09:14.996 --> 0:09:16.796 up doing a bunch of dirt. And I don't even 0:09:16.836 --> 0:09:18.756 like to call it peer pressure because I don't believe 0:09:18.836 --> 0:09:22.276 there's anything. I don't believe peer pressure exists. I believe 0:09:22.276 --> 0:09:24.756 we all just want to be accepted, you know what 0:09:24.836 --> 0:09:27.356 I'm saying. And I think that when somebody pushes you 0:09:28.316 --> 0:09:31.796 to do something, you do it because you don't want 0:09:31.836 --> 0:09:34.996 to let them down. So it's a lot of people 0:09:35.116 --> 0:09:39.156 pleasing that goals and age, especially at that age man. 0:09:39.316 --> 0:09:41.716 And it stays with you though, That people pleasing stays 0:09:41.756 --> 0:09:43.756 with you. Like that's something that I had to unpacking therapy, 0:09:43.876 --> 0:09:46.156 like stop being a people pleaser, like, you know, because 0:09:46.156 --> 0:09:48.436 sometimes you'll be a people pleased to your own detriment. Yeah, 0:09:48.636 --> 0:09:50.756 you know, I can't believe anyone's ever accused you being 0:09:50.796 --> 0:09:53.316 the people pleaser. Man, no, I think that a lot 0:09:53.396 --> 0:09:56.756 of that. Man. That's because you seem you have strong opinions, 0:09:57.036 --> 0:10:00.076 not scared of voice even if it alienates you. Yeah. Well, no, 0:10:00.156 --> 0:10:02.996 you're right, I've always been that way. But no, there's 0:10:03.396 --> 0:10:05.196 there's been plenty of times in my life where I 0:10:05.196 --> 0:10:07.956 just wanted to be down. Literally, I just wanted to 0:10:07.996 --> 0:10:09.916 be down. I wanted to be in accepted. I wanted 0:10:09.916 --> 0:10:11.916 to be embraced, and you know, I can think about 0:10:12.396 --> 0:10:14.436 you know that time, at that moment, like I just 0:10:14.516 --> 0:10:17.956 wanted to be embraced by you know, my peers, you know. 0:10:18.116 --> 0:10:19.796 So that's why I started doing what a lot of 0:10:19.876 --> 0:10:21.796 my PIDs was doing, which was a lot of bullshit, 0:10:21.796 --> 0:10:23.316 you know, I mean, because I wanted to be accepted. 0:10:24.316 --> 0:10:26.996 Some of that early stuff. A couple couple of drug cases. 0:10:28.716 --> 0:10:32.316 The last one was you were around the shooting. The 0:10:32.396 --> 0:10:35.276 first one. The first one, yea. The first one, I 0:10:35.356 --> 0:10:37.916 was in the backseat of a car and my homeboy 0:10:37.996 --> 0:10:40.996 was in the front seat. Somebody was driving, and we 0:10:41.156 --> 0:10:44.436 was in this neighborhood like like like a two neighborhoods 0:10:44.476 --> 0:10:46.356 over from where we are in Monst Corner, two towns 0:10:46.436 --> 0:10:48.916 over rather from where we are in Monst Corner and 0:10:49.076 --> 0:10:51.596 we were just having you know, some conversations with some 0:10:51.756 --> 0:10:54.476 young ladies. Then some guys in the neighborhood didn't like 0:10:54.556 --> 0:10:56.636 that we would air and you know, I'm on my 0:10:56.756 --> 0:10:59.156 fake tough guys ship, my fake hardcore shit, so I'm 0:10:59.516 --> 0:11:01.556 acting like dough boy, and boys in the hood like 0:11:01.636 --> 0:11:04.396 got my hand under my shirt was up up yo, sup, 0:11:04.436 --> 0:11:07.476 because like the fuck that means, like, what's up a problem? 0:11:07.556 --> 0:11:09.956 You know what I mean? And they, you know, drove off. 0:11:10.036 --> 0:11:11.276 Then we went to like I think it was Burger 0:11:11.356 --> 0:11:13.436 King McDonald's. I don't remember. I think it was Burger King. 0:11:13.556 --> 0:11:16.356 So he went to Burger King. As we're leaving, I 0:11:16.476 --> 0:11:19.316 see the truck that those guys were in pulling up 0:11:19.316 --> 0:11:21.956 behind us, and I say, I say tell him, I dude, like, 0:11:21.996 --> 0:11:24.996 oh that some guys from the neighborhood. And so they 0:11:25.076 --> 0:11:26.836 pulled up on the side of us. So I'm in 0:11:26.916 --> 0:11:29.676 the back seat of the car, dudes talking shit out 0:11:29.716 --> 0:11:32.876 the window. One of my guys pulled out and shot 0:11:32.916 --> 0:11:35.636 from the passenger seat, and you know, luckily nobody was 0:11:35.796 --> 0:11:38.356 in the fourth seat, so it was a driver passenger 0:11:38.396 --> 0:11:40.996 and somebody was sitting behind the driver with the bullet 0:11:41.076 --> 0:11:44.476 hit the headrest in the fourth seat behind the passenger seat. 0:11:45.476 --> 0:11:48.196 You know what I mean, all praises do the God 0:11:48.276 --> 0:11:52.276 because you know, that could have been a situation where 0:11:52.276 --> 0:11:55.676 somebody got killed. Now were all in jail for twenty 0:11:56.036 --> 0:11:58.836 thirty years, you know what I mean. So so even now, 0:11:58.876 --> 0:12:01.116 when I think about stuff like that, I'm like, oh, yeah, 0:12:01.396 --> 0:12:03.516 you know, because I'm a big back to the future guy. 0:12:03.836 --> 0:12:06.716 You know, you watch those those time heist movies. People 0:12:06.796 --> 0:12:08.676 go back and little things change here and there and 0:12:08.756 --> 0:12:11.516 change the whole trajectory of everything. And so yeah, that 0:12:11.596 --> 0:12:14.076 was the first time I ever got arrested. Didn't change 0:12:14.116 --> 0:12:17.396 your relationship with your parents, It didn't change my relationship 0:12:17.396 --> 0:12:19.876 with my parents. That actually made me realize my dad 0:12:20.036 --> 0:12:22.156 was right, because my dad was always telling me if 0:12:22.156 --> 0:12:25.316 I don't change my lifestyle, I'm gonna end up in jail, dad, 0:12:25.436 --> 0:12:28.116 or broke sitting under the tree. You know. So when 0:12:28.116 --> 0:12:31.636 I came home, I really was just looking for positive 0:12:31.716 --> 0:12:34.476 things to do. Like, you know, I started working at 0:12:34.636 --> 0:12:38.476 a warehouse called Industrial Acoustics Company, and you know, from 0:12:38.516 --> 0:12:40.476 that point on, I wanted to keep a job. But 0:12:40.596 --> 0:12:43.076 I worked there for like two to three weeks, got 0:12:43.156 --> 0:12:45.636 fired from there, you know, to supervisor, and I never 0:12:45.636 --> 0:12:48.636 forget her name. Her name was Gail cop supervisor was like, 0:12:49.276 --> 0:12:52.116 you don't fit in here. You're not what we're looking for, 0:12:52.276 --> 0:12:54.276 and now mind you up. My job was literally like 0:12:55.116 --> 0:12:57.676 I was clearing out an area, like a wooded area. 0:12:57.876 --> 0:12:59.916 So I'm like, oh god, damn, I'm not fit to 0:12:59.956 --> 0:13:02.876 clean out a wooded area, you know. But she was like, 0:13:02.956 --> 0:13:04.996 you don't fit in here. So then I started working 0:13:05.036 --> 0:13:06.956 out a flower garden just because I was looking to do, 0:13:07.516 --> 0:13:10.876 you know, something positive. And the flower garden literally and 0:13:10.956 --> 0:13:12.796 now that I think back on it, it was literally 0:13:12.876 --> 0:13:15.236 a bunch of like migrants working there, Like you know 0:13:15.236 --> 0:13:16.996 what I mean, It was clearly a bunch of people 0:13:17.116 --> 0:13:21.036 who you know, weren't from this country, who were just 0:13:21.196 --> 0:13:25.596 looking for work. Now now looking back on it, that's 0:13:25.636 --> 0:13:27.156 what it was. It was literally just a bunch of 0:13:27.636 --> 0:13:30.076 like Mexicans and you know, who knows what else like 0:13:30.676 --> 0:13:33.916 just working there, right, And so I was there for 0:13:34.036 --> 0:13:37.436 like two weeks. Never his name was Dominique, the same thing, 0:13:37.516 --> 0:13:39.196 and him got into a shouting match because I was 0:13:39.196 --> 0:13:41.956 just like it, shit, feels like it was a plantation. 0:13:42.116 --> 0:13:44.956 It literally was a flower garden. It was actually called 0:13:45.036 --> 0:13:49.716 the Yeah, it was called it something plantation flower garden, 0:13:49.796 --> 0:13:52.316 but it literally was just we were out there in 0:13:52.396 --> 0:13:55.876 the hot sun picking flowers and you know, other types 0:13:55.916 --> 0:13:58.356 of shit. So I quit that, and then that's when 0:13:58.396 --> 0:14:01.396 I started like flirting with the street, you know what 0:14:01.436 --> 0:14:04.116 I mean. That's when it was like, man, I forgot 0:14:04.236 --> 0:14:05.836 some ways to make money, because you know, I still 0:14:05.876 --> 0:14:08.356 got to pay my probation officer and shit like that. 0:14:08.436 --> 0:14:11.316 And it was just a stupid mentality, right, because when 0:14:11.316 --> 0:14:13.316 you're on probation, you got to keep a job. That's 0:14:13.476 --> 0:14:16.396 number one, and you gotta pay your a probation fees. 0:14:17.116 --> 0:14:19.516 So I started just saying that I was working with 0:14:19.676 --> 0:14:22.236 my dad and I was doing tempt services, but also 0:14:22.636 --> 0:14:25.876 had got a fifty dollars slab. Fifty dollars slabs when 0:14:25.876 --> 0:14:27.996 you get fifty dollars worth of rock, and you know, 0:14:28.036 --> 0:14:30.076 I think you posted be like I think it supposed 0:14:30.076 --> 0:14:32.476 to be one hundred dollars off each gram. So I 0:14:32.556 --> 0:14:35.516 think a slab was one gram that you paid fifty 0:14:35.556 --> 0:14:37.916 dollars for and you cut it up and you posted 0:14:37.916 --> 0:14:40.156 it cuts up into like one hundred dollars worth a rock. 0:14:40.396 --> 0:14:44.916 So that was the first time I like dabbled in, like, yeah, hustling. 0:14:45.556 --> 0:14:48.276 So yeah, did did I let my did I feel like, well, 0:14:48.316 --> 0:14:51.316 how did my relationship my parents change? Yeah? I thought 0:14:51.356 --> 0:14:54.156 they were right, but I still was young and had 0:14:54.196 --> 0:14:56.476 to figure things out for myself, which led me, which 0:14:56.556 --> 0:14:59.316 led me back, which led me into actually hustling. You know. 0:15:00.196 --> 0:15:02.436 After the break, Charlotta Magne's gonna take us on a 0:15:02.636 --> 0:15:06.036 ride through his earliest experiences with radio and how that 0:15:06.156 --> 0:15:15.956 helped build his foundation in the business. When did radio 0:15:16.076 --> 0:15:18.276 enter your life? Like, not only not as a career, 0:15:18.556 --> 0:15:21.236 as a listener, like what's your earliest experiences with radio? 0:15:21.316 --> 0:15:26.436 Like forever forever? And the reason I say forever because 0:15:26.476 --> 0:15:29.236 like when I said small town monst Gorn to South Carolina. 0:15:29.676 --> 0:15:32.436 So the radio station was Z ninety three Jams. We 0:15:32.556 --> 0:15:34.916 were always around the radio. If it wasn't ZE ninety 0:15:34.916 --> 0:15:37.916 three Jams, it was another station called wpa L one 0:15:37.996 --> 0:15:40.276 hundred point nine, and one hundred point nine was like 0:15:40.436 --> 0:15:43.756 more underground with it, so they were playing like underground stuff, 0:15:43.836 --> 0:15:46.116 not the mainscreen stuff. And like you know, there was 0:15:46.196 --> 0:15:49.276 always like bone boxes around like my cousin, you know, 0:15:49.516 --> 0:15:52.316 my cousin Ty Sluke to my cousin ty he was 0:15:52.396 --> 0:15:56.236 the first person let me hear like a real hip 0:15:56.276 --> 0:15:58.516 hop record. Like prior to that, my sister had her 0:15:58.596 --> 0:16:00.476 radio in her room. So my sister was listening to 0:16:00.676 --> 0:16:04.956 like Kiddn't Play and Salt and Pepper, you know what 0:16:05.076 --> 0:16:09.036 I mean, stuff like that Hammer all the pop stuff, 0:16:09.356 --> 0:16:11.356 you know what I mean. But my cousin let me 0:16:11.476 --> 0:16:14.596 hear Eric B and Rock Kemp paid in full. Wow, 0:16:15.076 --> 0:16:18.516 and that changed everything. Wow. That was like, I don't 0:16:18.516 --> 0:16:22.676 know what this thing is called hip hop, but I 0:16:22.836 --> 0:16:25.716 love it. Wow. It felt like Rock Kim was saying stuff, 0:16:25.836 --> 0:16:29.636 like he was telling stories like you know what I mean. Yeah, 0:16:30.036 --> 0:16:33.916 just that is what introduced me to radio and always 0:16:33.956 --> 0:16:36.996 wanting to be around a radio. It felt like we 0:16:37.116 --> 0:16:40.076 might even have been around radio more than TV. You know, 0:16:40.236 --> 0:16:42.476 back in the day TV. It was certain shows we 0:16:42.596 --> 0:16:45.116 were watching, but we weren't just turning the TV on 0:16:45.196 --> 0:16:47.196 and keeping it on all day. If it wasn't like 0:16:47.676 --> 0:16:53.796 Nintendo or you know the radio man, we were outside yeah, 0:16:53.876 --> 0:16:55.956 like you know what I mean, running around, playing around. 0:16:56.036 --> 0:16:58.996 So it's like, for me, radio has always been in 0:16:59.076 --> 0:17:02.076 my life as a listener, Like for the personalities are 0:17:02.076 --> 0:17:03.636 because like I know, like in LA and later I 0:17:04.076 --> 0:17:05.796 came to us, it was like syndicated, but you know, 0:17:05.876 --> 0:17:07.556 in LA always felt like it was like big Boy 0:17:07.796 --> 0:17:09.596 was like was huge, you know, and I felt like 0:17:09.636 --> 0:17:13.836 our guy. For me growing up, it was oh, oh oh, 0:17:14.276 --> 0:17:17.396 it's the time Join Them morning show because you know, 0:17:17.516 --> 0:17:19.876 my mom was a school teacher, so we was up 0:17:19.956 --> 0:17:22.236 early early, so I was listening to the time Join Them. 0:17:22.556 --> 0:17:24.716 And then you know, ZE ninety three played such a 0:17:24.796 --> 0:17:27.476 big role in my life because you know, their original 0:17:27.636 --> 0:17:31.596 morning show that I remember was the Breakfast Club Baby 0:17:31.676 --> 0:17:35.476 Jay and Tessa, Tessa Spencer, and then you know, in 0:17:35.556 --> 0:17:38.836 the afternoons it was like um a man, y'all need 0:17:38.916 --> 0:17:41.276 a rude boy. But then it was like you know 0:17:41.476 --> 0:17:43.716 the night shows, the Top nine at nine, you know 0:17:43.836 --> 0:17:46.716 you want to call in and request the song and 0:17:46.836 --> 0:17:48.916 hear your voice on the radio, shout out your school 0:17:49.396 --> 0:17:52.556 whatever whatever. But yeah, those were the people like growing up, 0:17:52.596 --> 0:17:55.476 like Sean, people like Sean Dobe, Like, those are the 0:17:55.516 --> 0:17:59.276 personalities that I would hear. Reggie c You'd hear these 0:17:59.356 --> 0:18:03.356 people and they were just like regular voices that you 0:18:03.436 --> 0:18:07.356 would hear all the time. Ken Moore, like I don't 0:18:07.356 --> 0:18:09.316 even know if Kim was ki on Ze. I don't 0:18:09.316 --> 0:18:10.396 know if Kni was on Deep. I just Deep to 0:18:10.476 --> 0:18:13.556 the voices I remember, yeah, you know, growing up like 0:18:13.716 --> 0:18:16.636 those voices, those local radio voices, you're growing up about 0:18:16.636 --> 0:18:20.516 famous as anyone in the country. Absolutely. Do you remember 0:18:20.556 --> 0:18:22.876 your first time on the radio. I don't remember the 0:18:23.196 --> 0:18:25.556 very first time, but it definitely one of the first 0:18:25.596 --> 0:18:28.596 times was my man Willie Will. There was a guy 0:18:28.636 --> 0:18:32.116 named Willie Will He was the night jock there at 0:18:32.156 --> 0:18:35.516 the ninety three jams in Charleston, South Carolina. Me and 0:18:35.636 --> 0:18:38.156 him used to wrap together. I met him at you know, 0:18:38.236 --> 0:18:40.876 a couple of recording studios that were in Charleston when 0:18:40.916 --> 0:18:43.396 I got my internship up there. I would always just 0:18:43.516 --> 0:18:45.636 be up there and I'd be sitting in on his show, 0:18:46.116 --> 0:18:48.636 and you know, he would definitely, you know, call me 0:18:48.716 --> 0:18:50.556 to the microphone, you know, and I'd be on the 0:18:50.676 --> 0:18:53.716 mic talking. So definitely, my first time on air, I'm 0:18:53.796 --> 0:18:57.516 sure was with Willie Will and in some way, shape 0:18:57.596 --> 0:18:59.276 or form, because I remember one of the remember the 0:18:59.316 --> 0:19:02.236 program director telling him, like, you know, you need to 0:19:02.276 --> 0:19:04.516 get a cardboard cut out of Charlemagne and put it 0:19:04.596 --> 0:19:07.876 in the studio because your energy goes up, you know, 0:19:08.036 --> 0:19:11.116 when he's in here, you know, with you. I remember 0:19:11.276 --> 0:19:14.596 I remember him saying that to him, and yeah, which 0:19:14.636 --> 0:19:16.956 which probably ultimately led to me being on air because 0:19:16.996 --> 0:19:19.116 my man Ron White, you know, suoth Iron White. Me 0:19:19.156 --> 0:19:21.236 and Ron still talked to this day. Round was like 0:19:21.756 --> 0:19:23.236 he just asked me one day, like, Yo, do you 0:19:23.316 --> 0:19:25.916 want to be on the radio? And I'm like, sure, 0:19:26.516 --> 0:19:28.916 why not? And so they started putting me on Sundays 0:19:29.316 --> 0:19:31.876 eleven am to three pm. When you say sure, like, 0:19:32.516 --> 0:19:33.956 was there a part of you that had Was that 0:19:34.076 --> 0:19:36.156 just you playing the cool or were you really not 0:19:36.276 --> 0:19:39.476 even sure you wanted to be on the radio like that? Yeah? 0:19:39.516 --> 0:19:41.156 I never had thought about it, you know what I mean. 0:19:41.276 --> 0:19:44.596 I just was really happy to be working at Z 0:19:44.796 --> 0:19:47.476 ninety three jams because it was like the most corporate 0:19:47.556 --> 0:19:49.956 thing I had ever done. Yeah, you know it was. 0:19:50.236 --> 0:19:51.996 It was the place. It was a place where like 0:19:53.196 --> 0:19:55.676 in South Carolina, people saw you at ninety three, They're like, oh, 0:19:55.676 --> 0:19:57.036 he must be he must be doing something, you know 0:19:57.076 --> 0:19:58.476 what I mean, Like he must be doing something with 0:19:58.596 --> 0:20:00.836 his with his life, you know what I mean. And 0:20:01.036 --> 0:20:03.356 for me being like a guy who was in and 0:20:03.436 --> 0:20:05.636 out of jail at the time and was getting in 0:20:05.676 --> 0:20:08.516 a lot of trouble and graduated from high school in 0:20:08.596 --> 0:20:10.876 night school. We had gotten kicked out of two high schools. 0:20:11.156 --> 0:20:13.316 Like for me, that was a big deal for me 0:20:13.436 --> 0:20:15.836 to be like pulling up in a most corner driving 0:20:15.876 --> 0:20:19.396 this station vehicle like the big white band with the 0:20:19.516 --> 0:20:21.236 Z ninety three jams on the logo, you know what 0:20:21.236 --> 0:20:23.436 I mean, pulling it down my dim rold, you know 0:20:23.476 --> 0:20:25.796 what I mean, hoping that some of the girls that 0:20:25.916 --> 0:20:27.996 lived on my road saw me, you know what I mean. 0:20:28.156 --> 0:20:32.916 Like that was a big deal for me back then. 0:20:33.076 --> 0:20:37.236 So yeah, just to be there felt like you did. Yeah, 0:20:37.356 --> 0:20:38.876 I just was just happy to be there. Like so 0:20:38.996 --> 0:20:42.556 when he asked me to be on air, like hell yeah, yeah, 0:20:42.716 --> 0:20:46.236 whatever's gonna keep me here, yea. And of course when 0:20:46.276 --> 0:20:49.676 you think radio, you think on air personalities. You're not 0:20:49.756 --> 0:20:53.436 thinking promotions or programming or anything like that. So hell yeah, 0:20:53.436 --> 0:20:55.276 I'd love to be on air. Now I can really 0:20:55.396 --> 0:20:59.956 say I work here now I'm a personality. And yeah, 0:21:00.636 --> 0:21:02.836 I really loved it and appreciate it. How was that 0:21:02.956 --> 0:21:05.276 first show that you had. I was scaring all the 0:21:05.356 --> 0:21:07.396 church folks because it was what they had me do. 0:21:07.516 --> 0:21:09.596 They had me to do something called voice track. And 0:21:09.676 --> 0:21:11.796 when your voice track is when you record your voice, 0:21:12.476 --> 0:21:14.436 and you got to record your voice, and you know, 0:21:14.556 --> 0:21:16.876 it's like it's a time slot from like eleven to three, 0:21:16.996 --> 0:21:20.516 so you're talking like three four times an hour, introducing songs, 0:21:20.556 --> 0:21:23.156 time temperature and stuff like that. So I didn't know 0:21:23.236 --> 0:21:26.036 how to do radio, you know, I really didn't. So 0:21:26.116 --> 0:21:28.876 I was just going in there talking like, yeah, I was. 0:21:29.076 --> 0:21:30.716 I was actually screaming. When I go back and listening 0:21:30.716 --> 0:21:32.396 to my old voice tapes, I was screaming. And it's 0:21:32.396 --> 0:21:34.116 funny because they all were telling me I was screaming, 0:21:34.116 --> 0:21:36.316 like I'm not screaming. I was just old you I 0:21:36.356 --> 0:21:38.516 don't understand how we talk about. I was really yelling 0:21:38.596 --> 0:21:41.836 like ninety three jams are being hip hop, my go 0:21:41.916 --> 0:21:44.156 by the name is Charlemagne and gods. I was yelling, 0:21:44.276 --> 0:21:47.236 like screaming at people, and so like, you know, when 0:21:47.276 --> 0:21:50.516 I finally started listening to the people who actually do 0:21:50.716 --> 0:21:53.956 this for a living, I started to acquire a more 0:21:54.036 --> 0:21:56.996 conversational tone. You know, when in the beginning, I was 0:21:57.076 --> 0:21:59.956 just yelling, like yelling, like literally yelling at people on 0:22:00.076 --> 0:22:01.956 the radio, and that's what I was doing. And I 0:22:02.036 --> 0:22:03.836 did that I think I might have voice tracked a 0:22:03.916 --> 0:22:06.796 few Sundays, and then Ron was like, all right, enough 0:22:06.876 --> 0:22:09.076 of that. You're gonna have your voice track on Saturday 0:22:09.236 --> 0:22:11.516 nights now seven to ten, and then you're gonna go 0:22:11.636 --> 0:22:15.636 live from ten to midnight. And I was everything because 0:22:15.636 --> 0:22:19.076 it's Saturday nights so I can have this high energy. 0:22:19.436 --> 0:22:21.276 But then when we go live, or I could take 0:22:21.396 --> 0:22:24.436 phone calls. Now it's like I'm taking phone calls and 0:22:24.516 --> 0:22:27.276 I'm working with people when they're calling then making jokes 0:22:27.316 --> 0:22:30.356 blah blah. So it's just like for me, the best 0:22:30.396 --> 0:22:31.836 thing that ever happened to me was I didn't know 0:22:31.916 --> 0:22:35.436 how to do radio. Nobody taught me how to do radio. 0:22:35.516 --> 0:22:39.236 I wasn't a person who came from, you know, doing 0:22:39.316 --> 0:22:42.396 college radio or nowadays you can have a podcast or 0:22:42.436 --> 0:22:44.636 a YouTube page. I was just fresh off the dirt 0:22:44.716 --> 0:22:47.916 road in Monks Corner, South Carolina, getting on the air 0:22:48.316 --> 0:22:50.756 in Charleston, South Carolina, on the biggest radio station at 0:22:50.796 --> 0:22:55.356 the time, ninety three, and that rawdness showed. I sounded 0:22:55.436 --> 0:22:59.116 different than everybody else because I didn't have that announcer, 0:22:59.756 --> 0:23:02.476 you know, background, So it worked for me. Yeah, you 0:23:02.516 --> 0:23:06.756 didn't have the announcer broadcast, yeah or whatever, just coming 0:23:06.796 --> 0:23:09.916 at it with your own angles. What was your journey 0:23:09.956 --> 0:23:14.036 after that? After z SO, I worked as an intern 0:23:14.116 --> 0:23:18.116 in ninety eight, started there in ninety nine from the 0:23:18.156 --> 0:23:22.076 promotions department to um being on there. And then a 0:23:22.156 --> 0:23:24.476 news station came in the market, Hot ninety eight nine, 0:23:25.036 --> 0:23:29.436 much smaller station ran by a guy named my Man. 0:23:29.556 --> 0:23:32.636 George Cook was the program director. I was doing part 0:23:32.676 --> 0:23:34.796 time at z SO. I had some conversations with Hot 0:23:34.876 --> 0:23:36.956 ninety eight nine. They wanted me to come over there 0:23:36.996 --> 0:23:39.436 and do nights. They wanted me to do Monday through Saturday, 0:23:39.516 --> 0:23:42.876 seven to midnight full time, and I was I think 0:23:42.916 --> 0:23:45.676 the pay was like nineteen grand a year, and at 0:23:45.716 --> 0:23:48.196 the time that was a lot of money, and it 0:23:48.276 --> 0:23:50.396 was a salary. So just to be able to say 0:23:50.556 --> 0:23:54.236 first time on salary, I didn't go to college, you 0:23:54.316 --> 0:23:57.396 know what I mean. I graduated from night school and like, so, 0:23:57.516 --> 0:24:00.596 I didn't just oh, I got a salary, now about 0:24:01.116 --> 0:24:03.276 how much I'm making an hour? Like yeah, I'm just 0:24:03.356 --> 0:24:05.236 happy to be making nineteen grand a year like that 0:24:05.316 --> 0:24:09.396 sounded like some shit. And so yeah, I started working 0:24:09.436 --> 0:24:11.316 there every night and it wasn't even about to check 0:24:11.356 --> 0:24:13.476 it was about the opportunity to be on every night 0:24:13.836 --> 0:24:17.036 and my man, George Cookman, who's still a great mentor 0:24:17.156 --> 0:24:19.756 to me to this day. He actually, George is not 0:24:19.876 --> 0:24:22.156 only the first person to give me a full time 0:24:22.276 --> 0:24:26.436 position on radio, he told me some information that just 0:24:26.596 --> 0:24:30.236 changed my whole life. And the information was, I want 0:24:30.276 --> 0:24:33.636 you to have a morning show at night. I want 0:24:33.676 --> 0:24:36.876 you to treat this night show that you have like 0:24:36.996 --> 0:24:40.556 a morning show at night. Parody songs and a lot 0:24:40.636 --> 0:24:42.876 of sketches, and a lot of topics and a lot 0:24:42.956 --> 0:24:45.796 of interaction with listeners via the phone, and you know, 0:24:45.916 --> 0:24:49.956 playing new music, and all of that benefited me so 0:24:50.156 --> 0:24:54.036 well in the future because that's what I ultimately treated 0:24:54.156 --> 0:24:56.556 every single show like. I treated every single show like 0:24:56.636 --> 0:24:58.156 it was a morning show. So no matter where I 0:24:58.236 --> 0:25:01.716 went from High ninety eighty nine to the Big DM 0:25:01.796 --> 0:25:03.956 in Columbia, then it was Hot one of three nine 0:25:03.996 --> 0:25:06.676 in Columbia, then it was Wendy Williams Show, then it 0:25:06.796 --> 0:25:08.756 was my own morning show in Philly. By the time 0:25:08.756 --> 0:25:11.276 I got to my own morning show in Philly, I 0:25:11.396 --> 0:25:14.436 had approached every single one of those situations like it 0:25:14.556 --> 0:25:16.356 was a morning show. So by the time I was 0:25:16.436 --> 0:25:19.196 ready to do my own morning show. I was overprepared. Yeah, 0:25:19.596 --> 0:25:22.436 you know, so it was he planned to seed early 0:25:22.596 --> 0:25:26.436 on that basically stuck with me throughout my whole career 0:25:26.556 --> 0:25:29.596 and ultimately led to me being the morning guy I am. 0:25:29.716 --> 0:25:33.076 Now let me come back. You'll get a chance to 0:25:33.196 --> 0:25:36.836 hear what Charlemagne learned from the legendary radio host Wendy 0:25:36.956 --> 0:25:40.996 Williams and lessons he had to teach himself to achieve success. 0:25:49.636 --> 0:25:52.956 Tell me about meeting Wendy Williams, man Man, I met 0:25:53.036 --> 0:25:57.276 Wendy because I was doing radio in Columbia, South Carolina. 0:25:57.916 --> 0:26:00.316 Columbia had a really dope station called Hot one with 0:26:00.396 --> 0:26:03.236 three nine. So Hot one with three nine started syndicating 0:26:03.436 --> 0:26:07.756 Wendy Williams in the afternoons, and so Wendy and her 0:26:07.836 --> 0:26:11.596 husband would come down for station visits, Like they would 0:26:11.636 --> 0:26:13.756 come down and like see the market and stuff like that, 0:26:14.276 --> 0:26:17.036 and so I just would break bread, you know. And 0:26:17.076 --> 0:26:18.756 I remember the first time I even tried to break 0:26:18.796 --> 0:26:21.316 bread with Wendy. Wendy was in the studio trying to 0:26:21.396 --> 0:26:23.476 do her show, which I totally understand, now, you know 0:26:23.476 --> 0:26:25.316 what I mean. But I came in there with mixtapes 0:26:25.396 --> 0:26:28.156 and parody songs, all of this stuff I wanted her 0:26:28.196 --> 0:26:31.396 to hear and while she was doing her show. Yeah, 0:26:31.436 --> 0:26:32.996 I mean, but she was in between breaks, you know 0:26:33.036 --> 0:26:35.516 what I mean. But now when I under now understanding 0:26:35.556 --> 0:26:39.076 the hecticness of a syndicated show, it wasn't like breaks 0:26:39.116 --> 0:26:41.516 like us. But we break for twenty minutes, thirty minutes 0:26:41.556 --> 0:26:44.996 and got time the bullshit she's on like on on 0:26:45.196 --> 0:26:46.836 on on, Like it might have only been like three 0:26:46.916 --> 0:26:50.276 minutes in between songs. Wendy goes, look, yo, yo, take 0:26:50.356 --> 0:26:54.076 that mixtape shit out of here. I'm trying to do 0:26:54.196 --> 0:26:57.276 my fucking show. Take that mixtape ship through my husband. 0:26:58.276 --> 0:27:01.636 I didn't feel offended by that. Yeah, I was just like, 0:27:01.676 --> 0:27:03.196 where's your husband? She's like, I think if he's in 0:27:03.316 --> 0:27:05.636 that fucking room somewhere, like in the conference room across 0:27:05.676 --> 0:27:09.996 the hall. Cool. I went across the room, gave him 0:27:10.036 --> 0:27:12.996 the mixtape, started pitching shit to him, you know, pitching 0:27:13.036 --> 0:27:15.436 shit to him, and then we started talking and we 0:27:15.796 --> 0:27:18.156 you know, kept in contact from there, you know, and 0:27:18.316 --> 0:27:20.076 I used to like give them the heads up on 0:27:20.196 --> 0:27:23.356 things that were going on at the station. So he 0:27:23.476 --> 0:27:25.516 invited me to come up to New York for a party. 0:27:25.556 --> 0:27:26.956 He was like, yeah, wan't you come up to New York. 0:27:26.996 --> 0:27:28.996 We're having a party, blah blah. And I'm like, all right, 0:27:29.956 --> 0:27:31.956 went to the party just to kick it. And in 0:27:32.116 --> 0:27:35.956 the party, Wendy was like, oh shit, Charlemagne, Yo, won't 0:27:35.956 --> 0:27:38.396 you come to my show? How long are you in town? Like, oh, 0:27:38.476 --> 0:27:40.516 just for a couple of days. Come to my show tomorrow, 0:27:41.796 --> 0:27:44.716 Like come to your show tomorrow. Can't tell me shit 0:27:44.876 --> 0:27:48.556 like that. I'm going I'm going to be like, yo, 0:27:48.836 --> 0:27:51.436 all right, the who do I call? What do I do? 0:27:51.876 --> 0:27:54.036 And so I'm hitting cav like yo, keV. Wendy said, 0:27:54.076 --> 0:27:55.156 come to her show. He was like, all right, I 0:27:55.356 --> 0:27:57.036 bet so. He just told me that. He told me 0:27:57.156 --> 0:27:59.276 to go up there, went up there, sat in the 0:27:59.356 --> 0:28:01.796 pink room to pint the office for a while. Then 0:28:01.876 --> 0:28:04.116 she invited me on the show and I was there 0:28:04.196 --> 0:28:08.356 for like twenty five minutes, and literally that evening they 0:28:08.396 --> 0:28:12.156 were offering me the position is her co host sidekick. 0:28:12.236 --> 0:28:14.796 And they was like, look, we can't pay you, but 0:28:14.916 --> 0:28:17.676 we can give you a place to stay. And I'm 0:28:17.756 --> 0:28:19.196 just like all right, just let me go back down 0:28:19.236 --> 0:28:22.316 South and like, you know, figure some things out, like 0:28:22.436 --> 0:28:24.076 just you know, let my girl know what I'm about 0:28:24.076 --> 0:28:26.596 to do and everything else, And that's what I did. 0:28:26.756 --> 0:28:29.516 You knew the opportunity, yo, man, you gotta recognize the 0:28:29.516 --> 0:28:31.556 opportunity even when it's not a paycheck attached to it. 0:28:32.036 --> 0:28:34.356 So my mindset was never I never I never wanted 0:28:34.436 --> 0:28:35.756 like how much I'm gonna get paid. It was like, 0:28:35.916 --> 0:28:38.436 we cannot pay you, but we can give you a 0:28:38.516 --> 0:28:42.596 place to stay. I'm out the opportunity to be on 0:28:42.676 --> 0:28:48.036 Wendy Williams Show Monday through Friday in the afternoon, nationally 0:28:48.076 --> 0:28:50.956 syndicated show. What are some lessons you learned on the 0:28:50.996 --> 0:28:54.636 Wonder william Show. That Wendy's a legend, no matter how 0:28:54.676 --> 0:28:56.516 you feel about her, no matter how you feel about her, 0:28:56.556 --> 0:28:59.156 Bona farre legend, one of the most talented people, one 0:28:59.196 --> 0:29:01.556 of the most talented media personalities of all time. You know, 0:29:01.636 --> 0:29:04.516 one of the people few people who can like literally 0:29:04.636 --> 0:29:09.476 sit down in front of a TV camera and just go. Yeah, 0:29:09.556 --> 0:29:10.916 person who could just sit down in front of a 0:29:10.996 --> 0:29:14.476 microphone and just go. And you realize the reason she's 0:29:14.476 --> 0:29:16.196 able to do that is number one, she had does 0:29:16.236 --> 0:29:18.276 have just a natural gift to gab. But one of 0:29:18.356 --> 0:29:21.636 the lessons I learned that everything is showprep. Like a 0:29:21.676 --> 0:29:23.116 lot of times, you know, back in the day, we 0:29:23.156 --> 0:29:24.916 would think that show prep is like just picking up 0:29:24.916 --> 0:29:27.796 the latest magazine, picking up the latest tabloid and just 0:29:27.916 --> 0:29:30.596 downloading what's in there. Wendy taught me that your whole 0:29:30.676 --> 0:29:34.196 life is show prep. Every single experience that you go 0:29:34.356 --> 0:29:37.076 through can be brought to the radio. You know, every 0:29:37.116 --> 0:29:39.916 single experience that you go through can be bought, you know, 0:29:40.276 --> 0:29:42.396 the television. I would watch her, I'd be out with 0:29:42.476 --> 0:29:47.156 her during the day, watch these things happen to her 0:29:47.396 --> 0:29:49.156 and then watch her get on the radio and talk 0:29:49.156 --> 0:29:51.636 about these things like, oh, I was there, and of 0:29:51.676 --> 0:29:53.276 course he's making me part of the story because and 0:29:53.396 --> 0:29:56.316 Charlemagne said this. Charlemagne was right there, and Charlotmagne acted 0:29:56.356 --> 0:29:57.596 like he didn't see it, and it isn't that. Like 0:29:57.796 --> 0:30:00.596 I'm like, god, damn, she's incredible, you know what I mean. Like, 0:30:00.676 --> 0:30:05.596 he's just an incredible storyteller. So, you know, she taught 0:30:05.636 --> 0:30:09.676 me how to tell stories via radio, even though I 0:30:09.756 --> 0:30:11.236 was already doing it, but I was doing it more 0:30:11.316 --> 0:30:14.636 so through sketches. But now just to make your life 0:30:15.276 --> 0:30:17.836 a story, to make the things that happened to you 0:30:17.996 --> 0:30:20.956 throughout the day a story that was like one of 0:30:20.996 --> 0:30:23.196 the biggest things, like everything is show prep. And the 0:30:23.276 --> 0:30:24.996 other thing was like you're either going to be of 0:30:25.156 --> 0:30:28.196 the people or of the industry, because when you're of 0:30:28.356 --> 0:30:32.716 the people, you're always going to speak like for the people, 0:30:32.756 --> 0:30:35.916 and you're gonna speak how the people speak. When you're 0:30:35.996 --> 0:30:38.516 of the industry, like you're gonna try to protect relationships 0:30:38.596 --> 0:30:42.676 and you're gonna try to, you know, protect people, you know, 0:30:42.796 --> 0:30:45.676 so you're not gonna have those opinions that you that 0:30:45.836 --> 0:30:50.036 you probably once had that was good advice at the time. 0:30:50.796 --> 0:30:53.156 I think that there's an adjustment to be made in 0:30:53.236 --> 0:30:55.916 that rhetoric because it's gonna come a time where like 0:30:56.756 --> 0:30:59.516 you're going to be industry yeah you get too big, 0:30:59.676 --> 0:31:02.396 yeah yeah, and everybody around you was gonna be industry 0:31:02.436 --> 0:31:04.636 through I've been in the game for twenty five years, 0:31:05.156 --> 0:31:07.676 so not only have I grown as a personality and 0:31:07.756 --> 0:31:15.116 a businessman and a media just everything right, people around 0:31:15.196 --> 0:31:18.436 me have to Now. I got people who run record label, 0:31:18.516 --> 0:31:20.516 I got people who are in rs. I got people 0:31:20.556 --> 0:31:24.156 who work at these social media platforms, you know what 0:31:24.196 --> 0:31:27.956 I mean. I got friends that are artists in big celebrities, 0:31:27.956 --> 0:31:30.756 we all. I've been doing it for twenty five years. 0:31:30.956 --> 0:31:33.356 We all came up together, and not only just the 0:31:33.436 --> 0:31:37.196 people I came up with, those next generations of people 0:31:37.316 --> 0:31:39.396 that now I'm in position. But oh, I see this 0:31:39.516 --> 0:31:41.796 person coming. Let me embrace this in the VILDI and 0:31:41.836 --> 0:31:45.236 brace that in the Viddle school. We're all industry, you 0:31:45.276 --> 0:31:47.796 know what I mean. So your authentic self has to change. 0:31:47.836 --> 0:31:52.236 It's like reasonable doubt was authentic for jay z or 0:31:52.316 --> 0:31:55.876 four authentic for jay Zay. What you just said hit 0:31:55.916 --> 0:31:59.196 it on the head because people don't pay attention to that. 0:31:59.436 --> 0:32:03.916 Like you saw me when I was one version of myself. 0:32:04.556 --> 0:32:08.316 If I had stayed that version and never grown into 0:32:08.396 --> 0:32:11.796 anything else, it's no way I'm being authentic, Yeah, Muhammad, 0:32:11.796 --> 0:32:13.636 at least said the person who's doing the same thing 0:32:13.676 --> 0:32:15.956 at fifty that he was at twenty wasted thirty years 0:32:15.996 --> 0:32:19.196 of his fucking Ain't I believe that, you know what 0:32:19.276 --> 0:32:21.676 I mean. It's just like you're I'm never going to 0:32:21.836 --> 0:32:23.596 be that version again. But the only thing I could 0:32:23.596 --> 0:32:27.276 do is be the best version of my authentic self, 0:32:27.556 --> 0:32:31.236 whatever that may be, whatever I grow into, you know, 0:32:31.436 --> 0:32:33.276 And like that's why me at forty four, you got 0:32:33.356 --> 0:32:34.716 damn right, I'm not the same way I was at 0:32:34.756 --> 0:32:37.836 thirty one. I better not be. I mean, I'm my true, 0:32:37.916 --> 0:32:40.956 authentic self right now. And you know, you realize like 0:32:41.036 --> 0:32:43.956 the power of the platform, and what I mean by 0:32:43.996 --> 0:32:46.636 that is like, man, this's just certain things that we 0:32:46.756 --> 0:32:50.836 got to protect people from because we have these platforms, 0:32:50.876 --> 0:32:54.316 and sometimes the wrong information is viewed over the platform, 0:32:54.476 --> 0:32:58.316 you know, and people get hurt because of that, you know. 0:32:58.516 --> 0:33:00.356 And I'm not in the business of hurting nobody. I 0:33:00.396 --> 0:33:02.996 don't want to hurt nobody, and I don't want the 0:33:03.116 --> 0:33:07.916 person putting out the information to be hurt. Yeah, you know. So, yeah, 0:33:08.036 --> 0:33:10.156 well that's interesting because and I don't know if this 0:33:10.316 --> 0:33:13.516 was necessarily this person being hurt by you. But after 0:33:13.636 --> 0:33:17.196 Wendy Williams, you get your own show in Philly and 0:33:17.556 --> 0:33:20.676 you get fired because you bring Beanie siegal on, who's 0:33:20.716 --> 0:33:23.036 a who's a Philly rapper. Yeah, if I tell me 0:33:23.076 --> 0:33:24.356 if I'm not getting a story right, if you bring 0:33:24.396 --> 0:33:26.916 on Beanie Segul, who's a Philly rapper at one point 0:33:26.956 --> 0:33:30.076 was signed to Rockefeller Records, came up under Jay jay 0:33:30.196 --> 0:33:34.156 Z and you do an interview with beans on the show, 0:33:34.676 --> 0:33:37.556 and he said something about Jayla makes Jay madd and 0:33:37.876 --> 0:33:40.316 you get get fired. That, Yeah, that's the story. The 0:33:40.396 --> 0:33:44.516 story is that I got fired because Beanie Segul got 0:33:44.596 --> 0:33:47.996 on the air and aired out jay Z and I'm 0:33:48.036 --> 0:33:49.876 the one who recorded it and I put it on air. 0:33:49.996 --> 0:33:51.916 That's the story. I don't know if that's true or not. 0:33:53.236 --> 0:33:56.796 Jay never has confirmed what Jay. Jay never confirmed or 0:33:56.836 --> 0:33:59.996 denied on air. Behind the scenes, he has said to 0:34:00.076 --> 0:34:02.276 me like that that really gets you fired, Like, you 0:34:02.316 --> 0:34:05.796 know what I mean? And that's the story, right, I don't. 0:34:05.836 --> 0:34:07.796 I doubt that's highly the case, you know what I mean? 0:34:07.836 --> 0:34:10.236 What I think back then, I think, um I had 0:34:10.396 --> 0:34:12.956 a new program director was hired, and I think that 0:34:13.036 --> 0:34:15.156 new program director just wanted to bring in his people, 0:34:15.476 --> 0:34:18.196 and that new program director like he don't know, he 0:34:18.236 --> 0:34:19.596 had his chest out a little bit. I remember the 0:34:19.636 --> 0:34:20.836 first time I met him, he was like, oh, me, 0:34:20.876 --> 0:34:22.796 and you're gonna be able to get along. So he 0:34:22.876 --> 0:34:25.196 came in there on some like snapping the whip ship, 0:34:25.316 --> 0:34:27.996 let me get this guy in line type thing. And 0:34:28.076 --> 0:34:31.476 I think that um, it was a combination of just 0:34:31.676 --> 0:34:33.796 him being new and wanting to bring in his own people, 0:34:34.116 --> 0:34:36.996 but also a combination of people thinking they're doing the 0:34:37.196 --> 0:34:40.676 right thing for jay Z. But jay Z's not even 0:34:40.756 --> 0:34:43.436 thinking about this, He's you know what I mean. It's 0:34:43.476 --> 0:34:45.596 one of those things like I know, I know Charlotmagne 0:34:45.636 --> 0:34:47.076 did it, but we got rid of Charlomagne and you 0:34:47.156 --> 0:34:48.956 let Jay know I did it whatever whatever you know. 0:34:49.276 --> 0:34:50.636 So I don't I don't know. I do feel like 0:34:50.716 --> 0:34:54.956 maybe a higher up might have might have just pulled 0:34:54.996 --> 0:34:57.636 the trigger on that firing just to get in Jay's 0:34:57.676 --> 0:35:00.516 good graces. But I don't think that was a hey, 0:35:00.636 --> 0:35:02.556 I'm jay Z, I'm offended, body, just get this guy 0:35:02.596 --> 0:35:05.476 off the air thing. No, I don't believe that at all. Okay, okay, 0:35:06.076 --> 0:35:07.956 but that does get you fired. And that was your 0:35:07.996 --> 0:35:09.676 own I mean, that's like your own show in Philly. 0:35:09.716 --> 0:35:11.276 That's like and if your first time having like your 0:35:11.316 --> 0:35:14.756 own show, that's like, yeah, that's that big that I 0:35:14.876 --> 0:35:17.596 was killing. I was number I think two in the market. 0:35:17.636 --> 0:35:19.236 I was number two in the market at the time, 0:35:19.436 --> 0:35:22.436 and that was in a PPM world, so I was 0:35:22.676 --> 0:35:24.756 I was doing great and it was literally just me 0:35:24.836 --> 0:35:27.676 and my homegirl s I should shoot to Sasha Katie, 0:35:27.676 --> 0:35:29.116 that's the homie, you know what I mean? She we 0:35:29.196 --> 0:35:30.916 used to work together when I used to work at 0:35:30.956 --> 0:35:33.436 Wendy at WBLS, and so when I got my own 0:35:33.476 --> 0:35:35.676 show in Philly, just asked, Yo, you want to be 0:35:35.756 --> 0:35:38.396 my producer and she was like, hell yeah. So we 0:35:38.556 --> 0:35:42.836 literally would drive from New Jersey every morning back and 0:35:42.996 --> 0:35:46.436 forth the Pennsylvania like like an hour and a half away. 0:35:46.636 --> 0:35:50.556 We would drive back and forth every day. Three I 0:35:50.636 --> 0:35:52.516 have to get up at three in the morning, pick 0:35:52.556 --> 0:35:54.636 her up by like four three thirty four o'clock to 0:35:54.716 --> 0:35:58.956 be there on time. And we did that every single day, wow, 0:35:59.276 --> 0:36:02.476 for like six seven months the Funny Parties. I got 0:36:02.556 --> 0:36:04.796 fired to day I was supposed to move into the 0:36:04.996 --> 0:36:07.596 townhouse because I was still living in New Jersey. So 0:36:08.196 --> 0:36:11.516 me and my wife had got a townhouse, and I'm like, yeah, 0:36:11.516 --> 0:36:13.116 this is gonna be great. Now. I gotta wake up 0:36:13.156 --> 0:36:14.876 sore early, like I don't have to drive. Like I'm 0:36:14.916 --> 0:36:17.196 in my basket. I'm processing all this in my mind. 0:36:17.476 --> 0:36:19.436 We were living in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, on the 0:36:19.476 --> 0:36:22.876 outskirts of Philadelphia. Go and roll my daughter in school here, 0:36:22.956 --> 0:36:26.236 all of that type of ship. And the day I 0:36:26.316 --> 0:36:29.316 got fired, I literally had all my stuff in the 0:36:29.436 --> 0:36:31.676 fucking I had a two thousand and two escalated with 0:36:31.796 --> 0:36:34.036 like one hundred and fifty thousand miles on it, and 0:36:34.076 --> 0:36:37.116 I had all that in the in the car ready 0:36:37.196 --> 0:36:39.716 to move into the townhouse. And I got fired on 0:36:39.916 --> 0:36:44.156 that day, literally that day, and went back to South Carolina, 0:36:44.876 --> 0:36:46.636 back in Most Corner for a year. And what was 0:36:46.676 --> 0:36:50.556 going through your hat at that point, failure, I failed. 0:36:51.836 --> 0:36:53.756 I gotta go back to the Monsts corner. After being 0:36:54.476 --> 0:36:57.716 you know, on Windy Show, after having my own show 0:36:57.756 --> 0:37:01.116 in Philly, after having these viral moments, after being on 0:37:01.316 --> 0:37:03.996 VH one TV with Windy. Now I got to go 0:37:04.036 --> 0:37:07.156 back to the Mons Corner and collect unemployment for real, 0:37:07.156 --> 0:37:11.036 because I don't know when I'm gonna get another gig. 0:37:11.156 --> 0:37:14.276 And now I got a daughter. So I literally was 0:37:14.316 --> 0:37:18.996 in South Carolina from November two thousand and nine to 0:37:19.156 --> 0:37:22.116 November two and ten, so I was able to collect 0:37:22.116 --> 0:37:24.956 a year of unemployment. You know what I mean. I'm 0:37:24.996 --> 0:37:28.116 living at home with my mom, depressed, this shit, you know, 0:37:28.516 --> 0:37:32.036 anxiety through the roof, just trying to figure out what's 0:37:32.076 --> 0:37:34.356 gonna happen. But you know, I used that opportunity to 0:37:36.156 --> 0:37:39.116 There was a new station launching in Charleston, South Carolina. 0:37:39.156 --> 0:37:40.516 It was called The Box. I think it was like 0:37:40.676 --> 0:37:43.156 ninety two five The Box or something like that. So 0:37:43.276 --> 0:37:45.236 I was there with them, helping them launch the station, 0:37:45.596 --> 0:37:49.236 helping them write promos and creating imaging for the station. 0:37:49.356 --> 0:37:52.316 I did the voiceovers for the station. Like in my mind, 0:37:52.356 --> 0:37:54.396 I was like, Okay, I'm gonna end up getting a 0:37:54.476 --> 0:37:57.436 shift on ninety two five. I'm gonna make my twenty 0:37:57.516 --> 0:38:00.476 grand a year here in South Carolina, and we're gonna 0:38:00.476 --> 0:38:03.196 live a great life. Yeah, that was my mindseting. But 0:38:03.396 --> 0:38:06.476 you know, clearly God had other plans because the Breakfast 0:38:06.516 --> 0:38:11.876 Club came shortly after that. How did I come? Um, 0:38:11.996 --> 0:38:14.196 When I was in Philly, there was a there was 0:38:14.236 --> 0:38:16.596 a time where I had met with my man g 0:38:16.836 --> 0:38:19.556 Spen Um before me and g Spen met in a 0:38:19.636 --> 0:38:22.636 restaurant or something. It was me and at the time 0:38:22.756 --> 0:38:25.996 my then uh my then manager named it was Kevin 0:38:26.036 --> 0:38:29.556 Wendy's husband, and you know, you don't have the best 0:38:29.596 --> 0:38:32.636 reputation in the business man, and so even though we met, 0:38:33.396 --> 0:38:37.396 g Spen wasn't really feeling it. And then later on 0:38:37.556 --> 0:38:39.836 that turned into a meeting with my man Cadillac Jack 0:38:40.236 --> 0:38:42.156 and keV was with me then and it was the 0:38:42.236 --> 0:38:44.356 same thing. Like literally, I found out that after we 0:38:44.516 --> 0:38:48.316 left the meeting, mad people came from like the sales 0:38:48.756 --> 0:38:52.356 department and was like, you cannot Charlotta Magne's great, but 0:38:52.476 --> 0:38:54.956 if as long as you know Kevin is his manager, 0:38:55.076 --> 0:38:57.396 you know, we can't hire him, and YadA, YadA YadA, 0:38:57.836 --> 0:38:59.556 the energy will be bad and terrible all of this 0:38:59.676 --> 0:39:02.316 type of stuff. I didn't know that, you know. And 0:39:02.396 --> 0:39:04.596 then you know, me and Kevin ended up having a 0:39:04.636 --> 0:39:08.636 fallen out parting ways. And so I was in New 0:39:08.716 --> 0:39:10.436 York because I had moved back to South Carolina, but 0:39:10.476 --> 0:39:12.836 I was in New York for a couple of days, 0:39:12.956 --> 0:39:17.156 and I remember just texting g Spinning like Yo, you 0:39:17.236 --> 0:39:20.036 know where you at? And he was like, I'm in 0:39:20.076 --> 0:39:22.236 New York where you at? Like, I'm in Jersey right now. 0:39:22.236 --> 0:39:23.756 I was standing in Fort Lee. I was at the 0:39:23.796 --> 0:39:26.156 Double Tree in four League and he was like, yo, man, 0:39:27.876 --> 0:39:30.596 he was like, Yo, come to the station. I'm like 0:39:30.676 --> 0:39:32.356 where He's like, yeah, yeah, come to the station, Come 0:39:32.356 --> 0:39:35.156 to the station right now. And so I got in 0:39:35.516 --> 0:39:38.276 the rental car drove seeing It took me like three 0:39:38.316 --> 0:39:40.156 hours to get there because it was like four o'clock 0:39:40.236 --> 0:39:42.676 in the aftern Yeah, So we was at the GW 0:39:42.916 --> 0:39:44.676 Bridge for what seemed like an hour and trying to 0:39:44.716 --> 0:39:47.156 get down the West side, creeping down to Tribeca. But 0:39:47.316 --> 0:39:50.276 I finally get there and g spinn is like, Yo, 0:39:51.676 --> 0:39:55.756 my boss, Cadillac, Jack has been watching your stuff all 0:39:55.916 --> 0:39:58.956 day long, watching you and Duval with the Hood, State 0:39:59.036 --> 0:40:01.436 of the Union and listening under like some old interviews 0:40:01.556 --> 0:40:03.716 when he was on the radio in Philly. So I 0:40:03.756 --> 0:40:05.636 sit down with Cadillac, and me and Cadillac just have 0:40:05.716 --> 0:40:07.556 a great conversation. And one of the first things he 0:40:07.596 --> 0:40:10.596 says to me is like, you know, is keV still 0:40:10.636 --> 0:40:16.236 you're managing? I'm like, nah, you know. And that's how 0:40:16.276 --> 0:40:20.636 the relationship started. So like a few months later, I 0:40:20.716 --> 0:40:22.556 got high on probably one or five one. I mean, 0:40:22.596 --> 0:40:24.436 I remember Catillac saying like, how long can you wait 0:40:24.476 --> 0:40:26.836 for this job? And I'm like, for this job as 0:40:26.916 --> 0:40:29.876 long as it takes. And so like five six months later, 0:40:30.636 --> 0:40:32.796 you know, the wheels really started to move where you 0:40:32.836 --> 0:40:34.636 want them. That whole five six months, Like yo, like, 0:40:34.756 --> 0:40:38.796 oh yes, yeah, you couldn't just sit back and no, no, no, 0:40:38.876 --> 0:40:42.156 definitely stayed in touch, would send him new episodes of 0:40:42.236 --> 0:40:45.036 Me and the Wall Show, you know, just just anything, 0:40:45.116 --> 0:40:47.516 anything that I was doing in that space, I would 0:40:47.516 --> 0:40:49.796 because we was early on social media. We was all 0:40:49.836 --> 0:40:52.716 over my Space and Twitter and everything else. So yeah, 0:40:52.836 --> 0:40:56.276 like I was definitely keeping in real touch with him 0:40:56.316 --> 0:40:58.156 and g Span, you know what I mean, and sometimes 0:40:58.596 --> 0:41:01.996 popping up, popping up, you know, and be like because 0:41:01.996 --> 0:41:04.036 I knew kind of like the gig might be mine. 0:41:04.116 --> 0:41:05.836 So I was kind of like popping up. And it 0:41:05.916 --> 0:41:08.516 felt bad because there was like people who I was 0:41:08.596 --> 0:41:11.436 like really cool with that work there, and I couldn't 0:41:11.476 --> 0:41:16.876 say anything, you know about the conversations me and Cadillac 0:41:16.956 --> 0:41:19.436 we're having, you know what I mean, And I had 0:41:19.476 --> 0:41:22.076 to like lie to some of these people, and it 0:41:22.196 --> 0:41:24.876 felt bad, you know what I mean, because I just 0:41:24.916 --> 0:41:29.116 couldn't tell the truth because it's business still to be handled, 0:41:29.156 --> 0:41:32.436 you know. So but yeah, that's how I got there. 0:41:32.996 --> 0:41:35.156 It's amazing, man. And then and then basically from that, 0:41:35.396 --> 0:41:37.716 I mean, from that point, are you still there obviously 0:41:38.396 --> 0:41:41.596 Breakfast Club? Yeah, thirteen years later, man. And what's so 0:41:41.756 --> 0:41:44.356 interesting is that any of them would tell you. Angelie 0:41:44.436 --> 0:41:47.196 will tell you, NBA will tell you, our radio consultant, 0:41:47.196 --> 0:41:50.316 Dennis Clark, g Spen, Cadillac, I was the guy saying 0:41:50.756 --> 0:41:53.956 We're gonna be one of the biggest nationally syndicated shows 0:41:53.956 --> 0:41:56.756 in the country. Like like I just I knew it. 0:41:56.876 --> 0:42:00.796 I saw what this show had the potential of being. 0:42:00.836 --> 0:42:04.316 And like from day one, me Vy Angela, we always 0:42:04.356 --> 0:42:07.516 recorded our interviews and put them online. That's how I 0:42:07.676 --> 0:42:09.796 was aware of what Angelie was doing. I was aware 0:42:09.796 --> 0:42:12.276 of what you know, Envy was doing. You know, people 0:42:12.356 --> 0:42:14.756 like my homegirl, Kendrew g deVie Brown, we were all 0:42:14.956 --> 0:42:17.876 utilizing the internet. And so when we got with the 0:42:17.916 --> 0:42:20.316 Breklast Club, that's all. We didn't have no money from marketing. 0:42:20.356 --> 0:42:22.396 They don't have no money for marketing, no money for promotions. 0:42:22.756 --> 0:42:25.036 This was kind of like a last ditch thing to 0:42:25.156 --> 0:42:27.756 see if something will work, to even keep the lights 0:42:27.836 --> 0:42:30.156 on that power one oh five one, and so all 0:42:30.196 --> 0:42:32.276 we asked for was a cameraman every day to come 0:42:32.316 --> 0:42:35.396 in here and record, you know, these interviews. And that's 0:42:35.436 --> 0:42:37.876 what we did. We started recording these interviews, putting them 0:42:37.956 --> 0:42:40.916 up online, recording these interviews, putting them on websites. And 0:42:40.956 --> 0:42:43.516 then at the time all these blogs and the World 0:42:43.636 --> 0:42:46.716 Stars and all of these different platforms, these these websites 0:42:46.796 --> 0:42:51.196 existed sending our interviews out, they started posting them. Yeah, 0:42:51.596 --> 0:42:56.436 next thing you know, it took off in a real way, 0:42:56.876 --> 0:42:59.116 and here we are. How do you how do you 0:42:59.396 --> 0:43:01.356 manage that? Like, how do you manage the expectation of 0:43:01.396 --> 0:43:03.756 how do you manage the success? How do you manage 0:43:04.476 --> 0:43:06.996 what is just out of reach at the moment that's 0:43:07.036 --> 0:43:08.996 that's gonna be coming up for you? I manage it 0:43:09.156 --> 0:43:12.756 just about like realizing what my daddy always said, You're 0:43:12.756 --> 0:43:14.036 never as good as it say you are, and you're 0:43:14.036 --> 0:43:15.396 never as bad as it say you are. Like I've 0:43:15.396 --> 0:43:18.876 already had my moments of like ego. I've had my 0:43:19.076 --> 0:43:25.356 moments of like being that narcissistic, arrogant person that you know, 0:43:25.556 --> 0:43:29.556 you can't tell anything too. Whether people realize that or not, 0:43:29.716 --> 0:43:31.796 I'm sure that they did, because I'm sure I projected it, 0:43:31.876 --> 0:43:34.316 you know what I mean. But I went through that, 0:43:34.916 --> 0:43:38.316 and I went through that at a time where, like God, 0:43:38.436 --> 0:43:40.476 knew I had to get over that in order to 0:43:40.556 --> 0:43:45.716 be where I am now. So I knew that I 0:43:45.836 --> 0:43:49.116 had to start doing some work on myself. I was 0:43:49.196 --> 0:43:52.876 really becoming everything that I said I didn't like, you know, 0:43:53.116 --> 0:43:55.676 I was looking in the mirror and really becoming my father. 0:43:55.876 --> 0:43:58.676 I loved my father, but I hated how my father's 0:43:58.996 --> 0:44:05.036 infidelity ruined his marriage with my mom, you know, and 0:44:05.196 --> 0:44:09.476 ruined our family. Right. So for me, I didn't want 0:44:09.476 --> 0:44:12.796 to do that, and I felt myself going down that 0:44:12.996 --> 0:44:15.636 path in a real way. So it was just like, 0:44:15.916 --> 0:44:19.316 let me check myself before I wreck myself. You know, yeah, 0:44:20.756 --> 0:44:23.196 why let you go? Man? Last question, if you can 0:44:23.236 --> 0:44:25.556 pick out one thing that's helped you be successful, that's 0:44:25.556 --> 0:44:28.596 sort of been with you through every period of your career, 0:44:28.916 --> 0:44:34.476 what do you think that thing would be? Man? For me, 0:44:34.596 --> 0:44:37.356 it would like to really be authentic. And what I 0:44:37.436 --> 0:44:40.356 mean by that is you're not authentic when you're being 0:44:40.396 --> 0:44:44.996 a character to yourself. You're not authentic when you see 0:44:45.076 --> 0:44:47.556 something working for you and you're getting rewarded for it, 0:44:47.716 --> 0:44:51.676 so you start doubling and trippling down on that thing. 0:44:52.916 --> 0:44:57.076 You're not authentic when you're being a second rate version 0:44:57.156 --> 0:44:59.836 of somebody else instead of a first rate version of yourself. 0:44:59.876 --> 0:45:01.716 And one of the things that hurt me to most 0:45:01.796 --> 0:45:03.796 is when they started calling me to hip hop Howard Stern. 0:45:04.356 --> 0:45:07.596 I love Howard Stern, right, but I didn't even stop 0:45:07.636 --> 0:45:09.996 to think why they were calling me that. I just 0:45:10.556 --> 0:45:13.556 took it and ran with it, you know, and started 0:45:13.716 --> 0:45:18.196 giving them like all of the examples of Howard that 0:45:18.276 --> 0:45:20.796 Howard might not even be proud of now, you know. 0:45:20.956 --> 0:45:22.996 For me, it was like a lot of the the 0:45:23.436 --> 0:45:30.716 frat boy, creepy ass, overly sexual humor, you know, like 0:45:30.996 --> 0:45:35.516 the low vibrational energy is what I was really doing, 0:45:35.596 --> 0:45:37.316 the limbo with how low can you go? You know 0:45:37.356 --> 0:45:40.036 what I mean? Like literally, like how low can you go? 0:45:40.436 --> 0:45:43.276 Like literally, And that's the type of shit I was doing. 0:45:43.356 --> 0:45:45.036 So like when you go online and you see like 0:45:45.156 --> 0:45:48.636 videos of me like sniffing chairs or like tying porn 0:45:48.836 --> 0:45:52.036 stars up and all of that, it was literally for 0:45:52.276 --> 0:45:55.516 the shock. Yeah, And so like that stuck with me 0:45:55.596 --> 0:45:58.756 for like, man, maybe maybe a year or two I 0:45:58.956 --> 0:46:02.716 was on that and then just started to eat me up, Like, Yo, 0:46:02.796 --> 0:46:05.236 this ain't making me happy. This shit is whacked. And 0:46:05.356 --> 0:46:07.476 you got your you know, your wife. You know I 0:46:07.556 --> 0:46:10.316 got married in twenty fourteen, so you got your wife 0:46:10.396 --> 0:46:11.956 on your head at the time. She's my girl, Like 0:46:11.996 --> 0:46:14.476 what the fuck are you doing? Like you know, you 0:46:14.596 --> 0:46:17.836 out here wilding, you cheating on like me and you 0:46:17.956 --> 0:46:20.796 you're on the radio and you're damn it bragging about 0:46:20.876 --> 0:46:24.036 word of the ball like it was that type of conversation. 0:46:24.116 --> 0:46:25.636 I'm like, man, are you tripping? Like you know you 0:46:26.036 --> 0:46:28.236 it's just entertainment. That was my life. It's just entertainment. 0:46:28.276 --> 0:46:30.916 But it's not. Yeah, it's really not, you know, because 0:46:30.956 --> 0:46:33.556 you know, but when you're influencing mad people, and in 0:46:33.636 --> 0:46:35.756 this case, I'm hurting somebody and hurting the person that's 0:46:36.556 --> 0:46:38.996 the closest to me, and you can start to believe 0:46:39.076 --> 0:46:41.556 your own bullshit. That's the worst. When you get in 0:46:41.596 --> 0:46:44.596 the character and you start believing that you really are 0:46:44.796 --> 0:46:47.436 this dude. So it's like for me, man, that's what 0:46:47.556 --> 0:46:51.476 made me like really start like going to therapy and 0:46:51.556 --> 0:46:53.396 like doing the work because I did not like the 0:46:53.596 --> 0:46:57.716 version of myself that I was becoming. So my advice 0:46:57.796 --> 0:47:02.676 to anybody would just to just be authentic. Always leave 0:47:02.756 --> 0:47:06.076 yourself open to growth, and don't be afraid of where 0:47:06.156 --> 0:47:08.436 that growth takes you. I don't give a fuck what 0:47:08.636 --> 0:47:12.596 people about you today. If you're growing into something else tomorrow, 0:47:12.916 --> 0:47:15.916 follow that shit, you know what I mean, Because if 0:47:15.956 --> 0:47:19.476 you don't, you know, you're you're really just stunting your 0:47:19.516 --> 0:47:22.996 growth and you really don't know how big you could 0:47:23.036 --> 0:47:26.796 possibly be you're putting a cap on you, like you're 0:47:26.876 --> 0:47:31.436 literally putting a limit on how far you could possibly grow, 0:47:31.516 --> 0:47:34.476 how big you could get, because you're like, Nope, that's 0:47:34.476 --> 0:47:36.156 what they like about me, So I'm gonna keep it 0:47:36.236 --> 0:47:39.036 here as opposed to just leaving yourself open to see 0:47:39.556 --> 0:47:42.036 what else is out there and how much more you 0:47:42.116 --> 0:47:44.236 could continue to grow. So that's what I tell people. 0:47:44.316 --> 0:47:48.676 Be authentic, man, and just don't be afraid to grow. Yeah, yeah, man, 0:47:48.796 --> 0:47:50.876 thanks for bringing your authentic self to everything, man. I 0:47:51.076 --> 0:47:58.036 appreciate you. Thanks, man, appreciate Charlemagne, through the ups and 0:47:58.116 --> 0:48:00.276 downs of building a media career and one of the 0:48:00.396 --> 0:48:04.076 most cut throat of mediums radio, has shown up ready 0:48:04.116 --> 0:48:06.796 to bring his full self to whatever it is he does. 0:48:07.356 --> 0:48:11.196 And the brilliant of that is he's been impossible to ignore. 0:48:11.836 --> 0:48:13.676 I want to thank him for that confidence and for 0:48:13.756 --> 0:48:16.196 taking the time to talk with me. I plan on 0:48:16.276 --> 0:48:18.676 spending more time working on my fear of being rejected 0:48:18.956 --> 0:48:21.476 just for being me. Thanks for listening to start it 0:48:21.516 --> 0:48:25.636 from the bottom, I'm out. Started from the Bottom is 0:48:25.676 --> 0:48:29.916 produced by David Jah, edited by Keishaw Williams, Engineered by 0:48:29.996 --> 0:48:33.836 Ben Holliday, Booked by Lord Morgan with production help from 0:48:33.956 --> 0:48:38.196 Lea Rose. The show's executive produced by Jacob Boldstein, who's 0:48:38.236 --> 0:48:41.916 not all up in the videos for Pushkin Industries. Our 0:48:41.956 --> 0:48:44.676 theme music is by Ben Holliday and David jaf featuring 0:48:44.716 --> 0:48:48.116 Anthony Yaggas and Saint Banna Joe Lack. Listen to start 0:48:48.156 --> 0:48:50.836 It from the bottom. Wherever you get your podcasts and 0:48:50.996 --> 0:48:53.676 if you want ad free episodes available one week early 0:48:53.916 --> 0:48:57.636 sign up for Pushkin Plus. Check out Pushkin dot fm 0:48:57.876 --> 0:49:01.116 or the Apple Show page for more information. 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