WEBVTT - Kevin Liles On Protecting Black Art, Using Lyrics In Court, Takeoff And More 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:06.000 Wait that ass up in the morning. Breakfast Club Morning. 0:00:06.040 --> 0:00:10.200 Everybody is DJ mvy angela ye Charlemagne the guy. We 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:11.959 are the Breakfast Club. We have a special guests in 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:15.160 the building. The legend Kevin Low's welcome brother was good. 0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:17.480 What's good? How my guys? Girls doing? You really got 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:22.160 the big cigar early in the morning. It's breakfast. It's 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:24.920 my it's my my coffee. Man y y'all drink coffee. 0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:28.360 You know I smoke cigards. The whole case, you know, 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:30.840 the case is down stairs. I got fifty in the car. 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:34.200 You know how much one of those cars? But this 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:37.839 one is forty nine dollars. And what is that? It's 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:39.600 an adda back. It's an ADDI back. Okay, this is 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:42.040 like my new thing that I do and I love. 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:45.040 Everybody got their vices and this is just one of 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:48.520 the things that I've taken up and become a connoisseur. True, true. 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:50.560 Now you know, on a sad day, we want to 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:52.640 start with one of the groups that you first signed 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:58.640 to me. Man, one of the members Takeoff was killed. Uh, 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:00.560 people that don't know. I just want to go back 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:02.600 to what made you first signed Megos? What in the 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:04.600 Meagles that made you sign them. Talk about his personality 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:06.240 because a lot of people just won't know, you know, 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:09.600 but listen, I and you know how I feel when 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:13.319 you have a great partners And UM, first of all, 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:18.440 my candolences to his family, UM to the Megos and 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:23.440 um QC coach and PUM. I know what it is 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:25.400 since you know I've been in the bin for forty 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:31.200 years to lose an artists and employee, m a family member, 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:35.640 and he was all those things. UM to them H 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:38.600 And as I came up here to talk about protecting 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:41.000 black art, I still got to talk about protecting us. 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:45.800 And I think, UM, we're putting ourselves in a situation 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:53.800 where we're not humanizing everyday lives. You know where we Yes, 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:58.640 we we are superheroes, but we're still human. And stage 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:02.440 names are one thing. But you're somebody's son, give somebody brother, 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:07.920 you somebody's aunt, and a life taken too short. You understand. 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:11.960 I literally just went through this with Rock. You know 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:14.400 what I mean. And these are not people that I 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:18.280 just know or listen to their music. I know them personally, 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:22.519 and so UM, I didn't sign me goos. I work 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:26.280 with coaching p and to develop a group that became 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:29.000 one of the number one groups in the country and 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:33.680 now we're sitting here today saddened by another unnecessary loss 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:39.160 that's happening far too too much, in my opinion, and 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:43.640 I think it's based on a lot of things. Um, COVID, 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:47.680 people coming outside of COVID, lack of education, constant oppression, 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:52.000 constant um of the gun law, is not getting passing 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:54.799 the right where it's like, there's a whole host of things. 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:57.120 But more point, that's somebody's son. It's not hitting them 0:02:57.120 --> 0:02:58.840 more man. And you know, I got I got a 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:02.359 twenty four year old you're in Uh, it's sad, sad, 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:05.520 you know, to your point, there's so many socioeconomic conditions 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:07.640 that you know, just lead to crime or lead to 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:09.680 putting people in that state of mind with something like 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:11.560 that can happen. But you know a lot of people 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:15.239 feel like the hip hop, the music you know is 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:19.400 has become has either become always been a deaf lifestyle. 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:22.360 What do you say to that? Um, I live it, 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:25.880 and UM, I haven't killed anybody, and I consume more 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:29.120 hip hop and part of hip hop than most people. 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:33.760 But I will tell you that, UM, there's an issue. 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:41.000 Um that UM it's it's black on black crime. Because 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:45.520 we were taught to be um against each other. I 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:46.920 had to be better than you, I had to do 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:49.600 more than you. That's not that's hip hop. That's what 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:53.360 we've been taught in an oppressive country. That you know, 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:57.240 the things that that we shouldn't value. Life um like 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:01.800 it's meant to be valued. And for those of us 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:05.400 we're black, white, green, purple, or whatever, club that believe 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:10.840 that music kills no gun kills, lack of education, education kills, 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:14.200 racism kills, white supremacy kills. Those are the things. And 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:17.599 I don't believe hip hop kills people. I believe people 0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:20.000 kill people. And hip hop provides a lot of opportunities 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:21.760 for people too, for the artists, for the people that 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:24.320 work with the artists, for people that have anything to do. 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:26.400 I think that it has done a lot for us. 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:27.800 Some people will tell you that the hip hop saved 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:30.080 their life. Well, hip hop saved my life. I think 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:32.039 I'm sitting in a room with people that if it 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:34.159 weren't for hip hop, you guys wouldn't be here. You 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:37.640 can act like breakfast club would exist without it. But 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:42.640 that's good. It's good and bad and everything and that's good. 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:45.760 And if you think about it, I think as we 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:49.240 talk about the protecting black art, I think we don't 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:52.359 have enough conversations. I commend you Charlemagne and all the 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:55.280 conversations we're having around mental health. You know, but think 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:58.920 about these massacures that happened. I'm not talking about one 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:01.920 person killing another. So I'm thinking somebody thinking it's okay 0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:03.960 to take a gun and go to a school, it's 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:05.600 okay to take a gun and go to a church. 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:07.840 That's not hip hop. That's not right. That's that's that's 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:12.000 it's racism. It's it's it's it's things that people have 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:15.640 been It's okay now you know, it's okay now to 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:19.080 let your racism out to everybody, and it's okay now 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:21.200 to go do it because oh, I'm just gonna get 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:22.839 locked up. But we've been locked up for four hundred 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:24.960 years and we're still still mask in conceration. And you 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:27.920 can't put that around a genre of music, you know 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:29.640 what I mean. So I guess your differences, Oh, I 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:32.080 guess the difference isn't. Uh, this is what we're here 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:33.800 to talk about. Right. Some people would be like, well, 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:37.080 other people don't put it in their music. They don't 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:39.440 celebrate it, you know, they don't glorify it through the 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:43.680 art that they create. Well, what about Johnny Cash? What 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:46.680 about the guy who said I shot the sheriff? You 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:49.839 know what, you tell your story. So there was a 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:53.000 country song and it was lyrics, and they gave it 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:54.880 to one group of people and say, he's a country artist, 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:57.480 his lyrics. And they took the same lyrics and gave 0:05:57.520 --> 0:05:59.240 it to another group of people and said, you know what, 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:03.200 it's a rap song. Which one did people say offended 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:08.599 people the most, the country song. You know what I'm saying. 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:12.280 You gave me the country lyrics, and technically it was 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:13.839 the country song, right, And so I'll take it a 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:17.360 step further. There's been a study five hundred cases where 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:20.760 lyrics were used against black and brown people, and since 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:24.359 nineteen fifty only four cases have been of lyrics have 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:25.960 been used. Three of them got thrown out and one 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:28.160 of them was overturned. Right. And then, even if you 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:30.000 listen to heavy metal music, some of the things that 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:32.320 they say are rock music. I remember Guns and Roses 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:33.800 had that song. I used to love her, but I 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:36.839 had to kill her right to come listen. It makes 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:39.320 but did the person really kill somebody though? Okay, and 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:42.160 ninety percent of the people didn't didn't kill people. Ship 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:45.039 they're talking about is entertainment. Listen if you want to 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:48.279 go there. And I'm a person that says, as long 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:52.560 as this for everybody, as long as it's justice for everyone, right, 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:55.239 I'm cool with it. But I can't I have guys 0:06:55.279 --> 0:06:58.560 sitting behind prison, I mean in prison right now. Not 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:03.320 even they're using this racial biased thing to scare jurors, 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:07.320 to scare the judges, to scare the community, to say, hey, 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:10.160 they're a rap artists. Hey you know what, they call 0:07:10.280 --> 0:07:12.640 them king slime. So therefore he's the head of a game. 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:16.280 Well how about this Atlanta. They've been Fulton County, they've 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:18.760 been locked up for fomus. Crime is still up, Rapist 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:21.360 still up, burglars still up. So what are we talking about? 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:24.200 We're talking about lyrics here. Let's talk about because a 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:26.240 lot of people would say, yeah, they agree to a 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:28.920 certain extent, but then somebody would say, like, you know, 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:32.240 if you're a rapper and you commit a crime and 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:35.119 then you wrap that crime in your lyrics, you should 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:38.080 be prosecuted for it. Okay, if you're a rapper and 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:41.679 you're snitching on yourself. You do. I do believe you should. 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:43.880 Actually the lyrics should be able to be talked to 0:07:43.880 --> 0:07:46.200 the judge and see if they could be used, but 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:48.920 not if you can't just do it just to hold somebody. See, 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:52.560 that's that's why I agree with that. So that's that's 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:54.120 the laws that have been that's the laws that that's 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:57.520 the legislation that Newsom signed off on. The legislation that 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:01.000 a bowman and um a man Hank Johnson Atlanta is 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:03.280 going federally. So these are things, but we got a 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:06.560 lot of work to do right now. Young thug is 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:09.640 sitting in prison and he can't be a father to 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:13.520 his six kids. He couldn't bury his man. Little kid 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:16.160 gonna is sitting can't take kids mother. These are these 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:18.520 are pillars in the community. And if you got this 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:21.720 thisten to what they're doing, they're taking positive things out 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:25.080 of the community. So then you have chaos again. And 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:28.480 so this is what If you've never been to Cleveland, n. 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:31.680 And you never talked to somebody on Cleveland, N. Then 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:34.000 you you don't know what I'm saying. But I know 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:39.040 that in Baltimore because the streets there because people know it. 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:42.240 I know people think differently. I know when you did 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:44.120 the back to school festival, I know when you do 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:47.360 the Christmas thing and Thanksgiving it. I know people think differently, 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:49.080 and this is what these kids were doing. Now, I 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:51.160 did see something which I didn't understand it, and I 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:53.040 don't know how they're getting away with it. I've seen 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:55.559 in the Thud case when the prosecutor said he was 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:58.880 reading the lyrics right, and the prosecutors were like yeah, 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:04.080 and even says the judge, and I couldn't understand how 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:06.600 they were basically saying him fucking. The judge was basically saying, 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:09.520 fucking you're that judge. That your time, And of course 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:11.360 the judge held them for longer. But how are they 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:14.959 getting away with just using just random lyrics to make 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:17.199 it fit for a case They've been They've been getting 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:20.160 away with it since inwa They've been getting away with 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:22.960 since Iced Tea. I mean, it's this, this is I'm 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:25.000 I'm forty years in the business right now, I've been 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:28.600 fighting the same fight. But understand, if we let this go, 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:31.880 I don't know if we'll have another Spike Lee. If 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:33.080 we let this go, I don't know if we have 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:34.920 another Steven Spielberg. I don't know if we have another 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:39.240 creative or artists if we let this go. I think 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:42.760 the difference with film and music is we know film 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:46.240 is entertainment. Film is says this is fiction. We notice 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:49.600 is not a real story. But rappers always based their 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:53.680 lyrics on being real. Okay, And I have to tell you, um, 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:58.720 because uh, maybe America doesn't want to see what's happening 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:01.440 in a press place. Is that they maybe they don't 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:04.600 want the news every single day. But I believe that 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:07.880 stories are a lot of stories, and movies and games 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:11.200 are created from really the call of duty. For those 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:13.640 of us who play what there's no wars that ever happened, 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:20.079 a simulation of wars that have happened before. Let's talk 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:24.319 about um, Tony soprano. Let's talk about scar face. That's 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:27.079 what you are all still fictional things. We know, it's 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:29.400 not it's not it's not it's what's it's not fictional. 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:31.640 With what I'm saying is there was a scar face. 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:34.400 It might not have been named scarface, but there was 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:37.280 a big drug dealer that came from somewhere that did it. 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:39.360 There was a Tony soprano it might not have been 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.000 in that pere. There was a wire. I lived it. 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:44.439 So these things have happened. It's just that we've been 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:48.240 programmed to say that is that, and this is this, 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:50.679 and Freddie Merker, you could say you shot a man, 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:52.839 that's to watch him down. You can say that, but 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:55.600 you can't say that in your music. That's the issue 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:57.400 here is I think we've been programmed in a way 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:01.000 to think it's not all creativity. And again I preface 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:04.600 this by saying, if you said my name is Kevin 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:07.600 and I kicked down your door and robbed you, and 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:10.520 I actually went and did that, I think you are 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:16.480 snitching on yourself. And here's a point in time when yes, 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:19.600 if you committed this crime and then you wrapped about it, 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:24.240 then it should be permissible. But it shouldn't be something 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:27.240 that's used. If it's something that's vague and ambiguous, that 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:30.240 maybe doesn't apply. But it's just a story that somebody's 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:32.360 telling it Like T Grizzly put out his album and 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:34.800 he's telling stories, and they could be fiction ol it 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:37.079 could be something based on things you know that he 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:39.000 saw our experience or I could not you know T 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:41.120 said to me because I think it's one of the 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:43.360 most creative albums I've heard in a very long time. 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:45.720 To actually tell stories, he said, Man, I had to 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:50.560 watch of me saying it was me that I had 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:52.520 to tell. It was a story that because if you 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:54.600 can slip up in any kind of way, and it's 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:58.720 a saying to you, m Charlemagne, that if guess what, 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:02.000 if you say some thing out your mouth, it could 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:04.840 be used against you because you said it just because 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:08.360 you're a black man or a brown person in America, 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:09.880 and we can do that to you, but we won't 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:12.120 do it to other people. That's the problem I have. 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:14.640 Think about the insurrection. What if that we with the 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:16.920 black people decided to go take over the Capitol. What 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:18.679 do you think why we wouldn't be having a conversation 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:22.640 about bond, jail, jewelry. No, we dead, be dead sold. 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:25.720 To me, I just think it's it's injustice for all. 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:27.840 And this is the first time in the history of 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:31.240 our business where we put the best signal up and 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:40.080 we got cold played. To Megan, to Drake, to Spotify, YouTube, ACLU, 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:44.320 to Color, Color of Change. You got so many groups 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:47.800 that said every listen. If you think about it, do 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:51.600 you think that uh, you know, you know I gonna say, 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:53.280 but I'm gonna say anyway, when you think the companies 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:56.480 would support the rhetoric I talk about white supremacy and 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:59.840 all these things that is this No, but every universe 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:04.320 wanna Sony. Everybody's backing it because enough is enough because 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:07.080 as soon it's gonna happen, it's going to affect every industry. 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:08.679 And so I approad them. Kevin, what do you think 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:11.440 it's happening in Atlanta in particular, because it feels like 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:14.400 Atlanta has really taken this to the next like extreme level. 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:17.440 What's happening in Atlanta with their justice? But they attacking 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:19.720 rappers in Atlanta? Um, I think it was in New 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:24.000 York before then it was La whatever, it's the hottest 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:27.559 music band. It's going to happen because it's a way 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:31.920 to intimidate and and get racial bias to jurors and 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:34.280 people at the community. I guarantee you right now, if 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:36.960 you put one hundred people from Cleveland, ab and said, 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:39.959 should young thug is he good for the community or 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:43.320 bad for the community, because says he's good for the community. 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:46.679 The same thing with Gunna. These guys are doing things 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:49.040 that nobody else is doing in that community and ip 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:50.720 plad them. Now, what are your thoughts on them? You know, 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:52.520 at one time when they were trying to quote unquote 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:54.920 banned drill music and ban the negative type of music, 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:57.120 what are your thoughts on things like that? It's it's 0:13:57.200 --> 0:14:01.480 how I feel about banning any body from having freedom 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:05.880 of speech, banning anybody from having an opportunity to say 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:10.559 what's going on. Unfortunately, and unfortunately, drill music is driman. 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:13.360 It is happening. It's out there. And you could say, well, 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:15.200 and those are the ones that are snitching on themselves, 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:18.679 you know, like detailing and I'm not all of them, 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:22.000 but a lot of them are detailing exactly what happened, 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:24.720 who had happened to in the videos with pictures of 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:29.920 their opts and everything else, like listen. I can only say, uh, 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:35.160 we should be smarter as a people, um um. I 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:40.040 believe that. You know, how can you sit and actually 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:43.720 do something and say you did it and really didn't 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:46.680 do it? You know, I just don't believe like that's 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:50.200 a smart way to live your life. That's not drill 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:53.280 or rap or anything said. A smart way to be 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:55.480 a life. Everything ain't for everybody. Now. They were saying that, 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:59.000 you know, record labels are are bad for because they're 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:01.000 making these records singles. Those are the records that they're 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:03.080 going for. They're going for mixed show. And I know 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:04.600 I've seen a clip that was running around. It was 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:06.560 Leo Cohen when he was up there, and he was 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:08.920 talking about how you know how you should play for 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:11.560 I don't even know if we have the clip, but 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:13.560 I think in the clip that Leo was talking about 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:16.800 how he knows that sometimes rappers talk about things like 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:20.040 promoting drugs and promoting violence, but you know, he knows 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:22.800 it's wrong, but he still promotes it because it's almost 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:24.000 like they're free you. I don't want to take word 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:26.800 for where you're paraphrasing, but it's something along the line. 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:28.320 I think. I think that's a little bit of unfair 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:31.760 criticism to the executives, but only because artists make the 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:34.760 music and you're letting artists be artists, and then you're 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:38.760 distributing the art they give y'all, Yeah, I listen again. 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:41.680 I remember when we had on ex throw your guns 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:47.000 in there, um. But also remember when a publican he 0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:50.240 said fight the power, that's right. I also remember also 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:54.040 think about, um, what are the artists that I love 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:57.360 a little baby? If he did not come from where 0:15:57.360 --> 0:15:59.840 it came from, it thug didn't say his money, don't 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.000 do this, that's true, he wouldn't have created the bigger picture. 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:07.280 I do believe that Jay in his journey, wouldn't be 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:11.040 the contributing citizen and father that he is without going 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:13.640 through that journey. I don't believe Malcolm would have been Malcolm. 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:15.360 But I don't believe. You go down the list of 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:18.240 people so you can't. You can't say they used to 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:21.760 say the same thing about jazz or Nigro spirits or 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:24.040 race music. They used to say the same thing. This 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:26.320 the ship. We're still fighting today. But how do we 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:28.120 continue to fight? Right when I look at it, I 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:30.320 look at the judge right in the Gunner case, right, 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:33.440 and he was a brother black man, and you know, 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:35.720 you hear all the details where you know they say 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:38.760 basically they really have no violent information on Gunna, nothing 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.160 violent on Gunna. And that the fact that the guy 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:42.800 that looks like us that we fight for because we 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:44.560 always say we want more people like us. In the course, 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:46.960 the more people like us to be police officers, more 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:48.960 people like us to be in the judicial system, and 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:50.920 the guy that looks like us says, now we're gonna 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:53.960 keep him in here. Yeah, you have to understand why 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:56.960 it was a rico charge. A Rico charges to get 0:16:56.960 --> 0:17:00.440 affiliation anybody standing next to be next to the whole thing. 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:02.600 And the only reason you would use a recal charge 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:06.200 in this particular situation is to shake the tree. Yeah, 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:10.359 because they don't have Noh, listen, it's to shake the tree. 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:13.040 And I have to be honest with you. If you 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:18.080 African American, uh in America, if you ain't been around it, 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:21.159 seeing it, you ain't black. And that's that's that's the 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:24.640 reality of it because we grew up not in places 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:27.879 that um people would say are safe places. So I 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:30.400 can't say I haven't. I think you're from a certain era. 0:17:30.560 --> 0:17:32.840 If you're from a certain era, you definitely was around it. 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:35.280 Because you know, our kids aren't around it because we've 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:37.320 created a different life for them. Yeah, we've created a 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:39.480 different life. But when you say our kids, you're talking 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:43.320 about the one percent. I only speak on the fattest 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:47.440 part of you, and that is I joke with my kids. 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:50.040 I said, I'm doing it protecting black ard thing I said, 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:52.560 we're gonna go to the club later, and my son 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:55.080 and my daughter twenty four, twenty two, they all say, well, 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:57.600 who's DJ, But my eleven year or eight year old 0:17:57.600 --> 0:18:05.520 say the country Club. So the reality, yes, we are involvement, 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:08.080 but we're still in the percentage of ourself. And UM, 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:11.879 I just feel like, um, this this, this is not 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:13.600 a moment in time. This is a movement. This is 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:16.320 one of the biggest movements that we had. And I 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:21.719 think we gotta be better fathers, better rappers, better human beings, 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:25.240 better executives. And I think this is the first sign 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:29.480 of you seeing adults um in the room and they 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:31.720 come from our culture. I want to go back to 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:33.760 something else you said, Kevin, just not just real quick. 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:36.320 Why are you twenty year olds don't know the County Club? 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:37.800 You've been a millionaire for a long time. What are 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:41.520 you talking about? Why do you don't know the country Club? Charlemagne? 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:43.680 I think they know the country Club, but they also 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:58.159 know me, and so they Kevin, I want to ask you, 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:01.040 since you said better executives, right, what a let's talk 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:03.120 about you as an executive with your artist because we've 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:05.320 seen you in the courtroom, we've seen you going there 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:07.600 taking up of your artists. We see you, you know, 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:10.359 with Megan the Stallion, supporting everything that she's doing. We 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:12.920 see you with Tea Grizzly at you know, the screenings. 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:16.720 What is the boundary between being an executive and working 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:20.439 with these artists, because sometimes people feel like business and 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:24.080 what it feels like kind of a friendship sometimes gets 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:26.040 mixed up. So what are your rules when it comes 0:19:26.080 --> 0:19:31.240 to that. I'm them, I'm I'm an artist. I'm somebody 0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:33.840 who I was an artist, and I know how I 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:36.720 want to be treated. But more importantly, every person you 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:40.400 talked about just now, I've met their mother and their 0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:44.680 father and they said, take care of my baby. And 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:50.160 so you know, Megan's my daughter, you know Doug, Gunna, Tea, 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:56.320 they're my sons. Uh and you know Jay's my brother. 0:19:56.720 --> 0:19:59.879 You know what I mean. Plus like you, this is 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:01.560 you know a lot of I heard something to come 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:03.760 up with what they don't treat this like family. No, 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:06.480 I treat my artists like family. That stomach hurt, My 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:09.520 stomach hurt. My stomach hurt. That stomach hurt. That's why 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:11.960 you see me on the front lines. And I think 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:15.040 we have a responsibility. See that that's the problem where 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:21.000 our industry um uh. And they want them to get 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:22.680 to reap the rewards, but they don't want to go 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:25.000 through the bullshit. So I want to. I want I 0:20:25.000 --> 0:20:26.800 want to smoke. I want it because I know if 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:28.879 I stand next to them, it's going to make them 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:30.800 a better person if I helped them get through it. 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:33.359 And that's why it's a different thing than me, and 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:37.919 I applaud the executives that of a noun of coming 0:20:38.000 --> 0:20:40.840 up and understanding that it's not about sitting on the sideline. 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:43.600 You got to be a player coach. Can't this be 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:45.560 a coaching owner. I've always had a respect for you. 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:47.320