WEBVTT - Moe Shalizi 0:00:04.160 --> 0:00:08.000 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to the Bob Left Sets podcast. My 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:11.840 guest today is most Easy manager of Marshmallow and so 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:14.400 much more. Good to have you here, Mo, thank you 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:16.799 for having me excited to be here. Okay, Now, we 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:19.880 live in a world where many people don't know what's 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:23.240 going on outside their vertical, So give us a snapshot 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:26.840 of who Marshmallow is and what is what he's doing 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:29.520 right now? Yeah, definitely. So, I mean I think, uh, 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:33.880 you know, Marshmallow was conceptualizing in the last three years. 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:35.920 You know, we came up with this concept of creating 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:39.120 something that was a faceless brand, something that you know, 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:42.400 everybody could connect to in a way um and essentially 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:45.560 essentially like in a movement. Um. And within the last 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:48.159 you know, three years, we've you know, he's got he's 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:51.159 in the number eight most streamed artists on Spotify in 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:53.840 the world right now, number at the most streamed. Okay, 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:56.600 that's that's what for twenty that's right this very second, 0:00:56.640 --> 0:01:00.120 or for right this second. Okay, So let's just to 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:02.080 get the ark. Have you been doing it for three years? 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:04.759 What was he last year? The last two years, we 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:07.399 we were feeding our core more so, Okay, I've interrupted 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:09.399 you Okay, so you do you had this movement? Yeah, 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:12.319 so we started this movement. UM fed the core dance 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:14.280 fans for the last two years and then it wasn't 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:17.200 until August so last year that we released our first 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:19.800 kind of commercial single. UM was a record called Silence 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:22.360 with Khalid came out through our c a UM we're 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:25.240 unsigned UM, so we did a single deal with them, 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:28.039 and then we released the next single with Selina Gomez 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:31.160 called Wolves on an interscope, and then we just released 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:35.800 another single with Warner called Friends with Anne Marie. She's 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:39.240 really well known person the UK. She's dope and that's 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:41.520 how we've been kind of running it. So as we 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:45.240 sit here, how old are you? Seven? This is the 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:48.680 younger generation and you're from southern California, right correct. I 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:51.360 went to UC Riverside, grew up in a thinyland Empire 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:53.920 and Corona UM and then moved to l about four 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:55.760 and a half years ago when I joined Red Light. Okay, 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:58.280 but before we get there, you grow up in East 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:00.520 l A. And your parents do what for a living? 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:04.120 So my mom worked in department store, she worked at 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:06.480 Robinson's May growing up, and then my dad, my dad 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:09.320 passed away when I was seventeen. But my dad was 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:11.760 like a general contractor. My family was like a low 0:02:11.800 --> 0:02:15.280 class We weren't rich at all. Of his poor Okay, 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:18.120 your father dies when you're seventeen, that much really fuck 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:20.280 you up? Yeah? Yeah, it was, to be honest, I 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:23.120 mean at the time, like I look at it like 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:24.600 it's a blessing in disguise in a way though, Like 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:26.840 my dad was my best friend. But I wouldn't be 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:28.640 sitting where I am today if if you know, he 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:30.440 would have never let me go into music, like you know, 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:32.560 being middle Easter. And I think that the stereotype is 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:35.880 you're either a doctor, lawyer, engineer, nothing, you know, so 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:38.160 none of the none of the things that you know, 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:41.120 lad to the path here would have happened if you 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:44.360 know that didn't happen in a sense. But um it 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:46.440 also you know, it was my biggest motivation. And I 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:48.160 mean I didn't ever want to go to school. I 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:49.519 was like, you know, I don't need to go to college. 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:52.120 But you know, before my dad passed away, I promised him, 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:54.240 you know, I would go to college, you get a degree. 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:56.480 Did that for him, and it's always been kind of 0:02:56.520 --> 0:02:58.360 like that motivation for me. And as you get older, 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:00.919 you see the sacrifices your parents make for you as 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:02.880 a kid, and none of it ever makes sense until 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:04.520 you're older, and until you get to the age where 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:06.680 like wow, like now it all makes sense. I used 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:08.360 to think my parents were stupid, and now I'm like, wow, 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:11.440 they've you know, really done so much to get us 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:13.120 to where we're at and really make sure that you know, 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:14.400 we never had to deal with the things we have 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:16.920 to deal with now. Now. Were your parents born in America? No, 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:19.440 So my parents are from Afghanistan. They came here like 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:22.040 forty years ago when the Russians invaded Afghanistan. They left 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:26.360 Um and came here as well. Afghanistan that's a crazy country. 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:29.400 The Russians couldn't win, The Americans coodn't win. Did your 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:31.840 family have a big identity of the Afghanistan aards soon 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:34.639 as they moved to America, the yeah, they left that behind. 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:37.960 And so you've never been to actually went uh? I 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:41.160 was thirteen. I went Um for a month. My dad 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:43.119 was back out there, and then my mom started working 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:44.920 with the military as a translator for a little bit, 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:46.760 and then I went there to see my dad for 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:48.560 like a month, when I was thirteen, Uh, and it 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:50.480 was I mean it's a culture shock, you know, growing 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:53.000 up in the Inlanta Empire, going to a country like 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:56.520 that where it's a third world country. It's it's definitely different. 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:59.280 But it was, you know, quite an eye opening experience. Well. 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:04.160 Tom Freshen used to run MTV after leaving Viacom, he 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:06.920 invested in television stations and then we were at lunch 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:09.280 about a year ago and he was saying, they killed 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:13.000 everybody involved. I mean, it's really got more dangerous within 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:16.000 the last year. Definitely, definitely. Yeah. I think they just 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:17.880 don't They don't showed on the news as much anymore 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:20.479 because they've moved on to different topics. But but yeah, 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:23.120 I mean it hasn't settled down right exactly. Like I 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:26.440 watched five Vice News, which Tom has also involved in, 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:29.040 and you see pictures of what's really going on in 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:32.880 Syria and it's like you're horrified. It's crazy. It's crazy. Okay. 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:35.760 So anyway, you're in the Inland Empire growing up, are 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:38.880 you a music fan? Um? I was always intrigued by 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:40.760 but my dad wouldn't let me listen to rap music 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:42.560 growing up. He wouldn't let me listen to it. No. No. 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:44.719 I remember when I was like, I was like seven 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:47.720 or eight and Coolio had this song where it was 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:50.080 like one, two, three, four, get your women up off 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:51.440 the floor, and I remember playing it in the car 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:53.440 with my dad and from that moment he was like, 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:55.400 you can never listen to this to this again, like 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:57.520 because do you know what this means? And I'm like no, 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:00.400 so then uh. And then I remember I took my 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:03.680 cousin had like dmx is album. I think it was 0:05:03.720 --> 0:05:05.960 like when I felt what it was called, but it 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:07.960 was you know, I took it from my cousin. I 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:10.400 used to hide it under all my clothes, and anytime 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:11.800 my dad was at home, I would listen to d 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:13.520 MX and be like, oh my god, like I love 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:16.360 I love wrap, I love this. Uh. And then it 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:18.280 wasn't until I was like fourteen or fifteen. I think 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:22.039 I was sixteen I got my first car. UM. I 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:24.000 just kind of gradually started listening to it again and 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:26.160 like not hiding it, and then he was cool with it. 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:28.719 Um so he turned around, he turned around out. But 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:30.160 I think at that point I was seven years old 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:31.839 listening to a song talking about put your girl on 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:35.200 the right right right, So there are how many kids 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:37.000 in your family? I have one little sister, and what 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:40.200 does she do now? She's in nursing school. Okay, So 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:43.160 you go through high school, there's you're just listening. You're 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:46.040 a music fan. You're not in the business or dreaming 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:49.520 about being in the business. Yeah, not not at all. Um. 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:52.440 You know. So when I was in high school, um, 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:54.720 you know, I my senior year, I was graduating and 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:56.880 that's when my dad passed away. So you know, it 0:05:56.960 --> 0:05:59.240 took its toll on me where you know, my mom 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:02.160 wasn't really working, so I was having to do everything 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:04.039 I could to kind of provide for the family. And 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:06.680 then um, through that though, I fell in love with 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:09.160 electronic music. Just it was one kind of vertical where 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:11.520 I could escape through and listen to and it was 0:06:11.560 --> 0:06:14.360 something that like I loved, um And then I was like, 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:17.240 you know this is this is cool? Okay, So this 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:20.840 is like two thousand seven or so. How do you 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:23.400 find electronic music? At that point? I think that's when 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:25.520 I had just a friend of mine was like, yo, 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:29.480 you know there's this festival um called Nocturnal Wonderland in 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:32.880 Santa Berardino, Like, let's let's go to this festival. Um, 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:34.920 and I was just like okay, whatever, like I've never 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:37.440 been to a festival, and I went and then just 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:42.119 kind of saw the culture of of you know, this 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:44.080 this dance music. In a sense, it was just like 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:46.320 this is kind of cool. Um. And then just really 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:48.480 like the music. And then I connected with the music, 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:51.719 and then you know, it was like okay, maybe uh, 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:53.920 maybe I want to learn how to be more involved 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:57.640 in a sense, and maybe I want to start deejaying. Um. 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:01.599 So then I bought some turntables um, and then started 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:03.840 with that, and then it was just like, you know, 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:05.720 I need to I need to make my money back 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:07.160 for these turntable. I spent a lot of money on 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:10.720 these at the time, and I found a local dive bar. 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:13.280 In the dive bar, you're still in high school, I 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:17.080 just I graduated now, so I was in college. Um, 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:18.800 so I was I turned I think at this point 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:21.000 I was twenty one, and I found like there was 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:22.720 a dive bar down the street from my house. One 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:24.480 side was a strip club and then once I was 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:26.800 a sports bar and you could walk through each side. 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:29.920 So I convinced the owner to allow me to start 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:32.040 like a E d m night every Thursday night there 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:36.840 and in Corona. Um and uh you know this, this 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:38.800 dive bar was on the show Bar Rescue Like that's 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:40.240 how much a piece of shade it was. It was 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:43.120 the worst thing ever, but it worked. At that time, 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:45.520 electronic music was just like, you know, starting to build, 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:48.280 and um, every Thursday night I was bringing you know, 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:50.080 a couple of hundred kids from all over the Inland 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:52.800 emp party to this bar to listen to like you know, 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:56.120 dubstep and all this other stuff. Um. And then from 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:59.840 there just kind of started building. And then uh you 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:02.280 I was like, okay, I need to scale this up along. Okay, 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:05.120 before you get there, you're in college, you see riverside. 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:07.600 Are you doing anything with music? Then? Before you hit 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:10.640 twenty one, I was a finance major, okay, and that's 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:14.520 what you graduated in. So you buy the turntables because 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:18.200 you want to get further into the scene and a 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:20.520 little bit slower. How do you decide, Okay, I'm gonna 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:22.640 go approach this guy in the bar. Most people are 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:25.360 not that motivated. Yeah, I mean for me, I was, 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:27.040 you know, I was a kid that was you know, 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:29.400 as a kids selling candy to all the neighborhood kids 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:31.720 from Costco. And then I was as I got older, 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:34.280 I was, you know, selling everything I could. You know. 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:36.480 I was coming to l A and getting like, you know, 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:38.400 fake jeans from the alley and taking it to all 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:39.880 the kids, telling you know, and selling it to the 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:41.800 kids at school like you know, I've got true religions 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.360 about these geans. Like I was always like you know, looking, 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:48.240 always like hustling in that. And so you're a self starter. 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:50.560 If it wasn't music, could be successful doing something else. 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:53.079 I mean I don't know, but yeah, I would think 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:55.520 I would think, so okay, So the concept of I 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:57.800 have these turntables, how to get my money back and 0:08:57.840 --> 0:08:59.600 I got to find a place to dj? It's not 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:02.640 a you step for you, not really, no, I mean 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:05.679 it was just something of like, you know, I was 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:08.040 how can I make money off this? Off this? You know, 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:09.960 And at that time, DJs were starting to become cool 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:12.480 and it was a new trend, and was like, okay, 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:15.400 maybe I can learn this and and kind of go 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:17.640 with it. Were you any good in retrospect? No? I 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:20.280 was terrible. I was, you know, I looked back at 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:22.160 myself like like, dude, I suck. I don't know what 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:24.679 I was doing so, um, but it worked. I mean 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:28.440 it worked in a sense of like I was bringing 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:30.800 you know, two hundred three hundred kids every Thursday night 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:32.840 and created Okay, so how did you get the two 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:36.000 three hundred kids there? Facebook? So Facebook had just kind 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:38.400 of Facebook was like you know and its things. So 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:40.840 I was, you know, I was getting you know, these 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:43.360 all these girls from school and stuff like that, getting 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:46.520 their personal facebooks from them, inviting all of their friends 0:09:46.520 --> 0:09:48.800 and sending them messages acting like I was a girl 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:50.360 being like, you know, hey, come meet me at this 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:53.959 show on Thursday. You know. So I was just guerrilla 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:56.319 marketing and then hiring you know, other kids to go 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:59.520 and put flyers all over you know, UC, Riverside and 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.120 r CC and all these different colleges and just kind 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:04.800 of just doing doing what a promoter would do in 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:09.000 a sense. Um and uh, you know, spread the word 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:10.439 and then the rest of the word of mouth because 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:13.040 you know, um, we had a bunch of girls there 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:14.800 all the time. So when girls are there, guys want 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:17.480 to come. That's for sure. Okay, So you start doing 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:19.800 it and are you making any money? Yeah? So you 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:21.160 know the first couple of nights, I was getting like 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:23.320 three hundred dollars every Thursday, and I was like okay, 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:25.040 and then finally I was like, you know what, like, 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:26.800 I know I have something here at the bar never 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:28.240 has this many people here. So I went to the 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:31.640 owner and was like, you need to give me dollars 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:37.280 every night cash when your bar exceeds in sales. And 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:38.920 she's like, you're crazy. And I was like, fine, I'll 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:41.240 go to another bar. And then she's like okay, fine, 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:43.240 like I'll give it to you. And then literally every 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:46.480 Thursday for like six months, like her bar was doing like, 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:48.800 you know, five grand a night, which for her was 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:50.640 a lot. So you know, I was walking in with 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:54.400 like hundred plus a bonus sometimes when I was like cool. 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:57.720 You know. One you know on my side job was 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:00.840 working at I was I was a sales for Hewlett Packard, 0:11:01.480 --> 0:11:03.959 so I was I was on the weekends working as 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:07.120 a rep at Best By Selling. Okay, okay, wait wait 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:09.640 wait when did you start being a sales rep? So 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:12.920 I started that when I was eighteen. Okay, so your 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:15.600 father is now deceased, and are you doing it for 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:17.680 the family or for your own money or for college? 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:20.240 It was for more so just a family and kind 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:22.000 of my own like spending money. Okay, so how do 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:24.280 you become a sales rep for HP? One of my 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:26.760 cousins was doing that and then it was like, hey, 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:28.800 like you know and the So I started at sixteen, 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:30.880 I started working in the movie theaters. So I was 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:33.880 cleaning theaters at okay, So your father is still alive, 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:36.600 so money isn't you know, you're not up for class, 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:38.680 but money you you want to you want to work 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:41.000 or your family says you gotta work. They were like, 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:43.280 you have to work, you have to start a start. 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:45.920 So at sixteen, I started working at the movie theaters. 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:48.240 And you said your job was cleaning up. Yes, I 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:50.080 was an husher. So I was cleaning movie theater, cleaning 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:52.640 the popcorn and all that stuff, and occasionally would find 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:55.840 something cool in the theater. Um like what it's like 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:59.240 someone dropped something and it was but you wouldn't turn 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:00.760 it into lost if I would turn if it was 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:02.040 like a wall and or something like that would turn 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:05.080 it in. But sometimes you find cool stuff. Now I'm like, 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:09.200 what if watch I don't even know. I can't even 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:12.960 say okay, you know, but you can't okay, and are 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:16.240 you enjoying doing that job? No, no, I mean it was. 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:17.920 It wasn't cool at all because I would see all 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:19.679 the kids you know from school at that time, my 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:22.120 high school coming in watching and I'm the one cleaning 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:24.120 the theater. But it was a job. I don't really 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:26.040 care whatever, How wowing do you do that for? I 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:28.199 did that for about a year and a half or 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:31.360 two years, and then when I turned eighteen, um my 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:34.200 cousin linked me up with Hewlett Packard and the job 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:37.199 was what So, it's basically just as sales repference. I 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:40.000 would go to different Best Buy stores as a rep 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:42.720 for Hewlett Packard and then uh just sit in the 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:45.320 computer aisle and convinced people why they should buy Hewlett 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:48.200 Packard over Okay, so your job was to be like 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:51.040 the in house guy had Best Buy and say Elett 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:53.880 Packard as opposed to the ass or any of a competitor. 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:56.200 And did you get paid a flat salary or commission? 0:12:56.360 --> 0:12:59.400 I think I made like eighteen. That's bad, wasn't No, 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:01.240 That's how it wasn't bad? So I was like, all right, cool? 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:02.840 And then how did you become such a big expert 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:05.760 that you could do that job? Uh? I wasn't they 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:09.000 just give you tons of training and you know, you 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:12.120 take all these courses online like they have these uh 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:15.040 like their online universities that you that they give you 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:18.520 for HP through their platforms that you learn about new product, 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:21.200 product launches and stuff like that. And then, to be honest, 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:24.199 it's not it's not hard to convince someone when it's 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:25.920 like when you go to a storm like what should 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:27.360 I buy or what should I eat here? And the 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:29.160 person tells you something and you're like, okay, like I 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:31.120 believe I'm gonna buy that. It's the same thing with 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:32.880 the computer. Everyone's like I don't know what to get 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:35.360 and you know, like, well you should get this because this, 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:38.000 and then but you you got a three year customer. 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:39.800 But how hard was it to get that job? Was 0:13:39.800 --> 0:13:41.960 it too hard? I mean, okay, so you did that 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:45.160 for how long? I did that for two years? Um? 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:46.880 And then that's when I when I turned twenty one, 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:49.160 and and on the side, I was doing like the 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:52.079 DJing stuff. Okay, so you were working two days a 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:54.160 week doing that on the weekend. Okay, so now the 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:56.640 DJ thing is happening, you're still doing the HP thing. 0:13:57.240 --> 0:13:59.200 And then what happens and then I quit it once 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:00.959 the bar started a kind of picking up. I quit 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:03.679 the HP thing and your mother says what. Um. She 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:05.520 was just like what are you doing? Like why are 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:08.320 you djaying? Like it was? But I was like, you know, 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:11.440 I'm in college, Like let me just I'll figure it out. Um. 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:13.280 So then I was doing the HP thing and then 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:18.800 uh deejaying, and then from there, um, the DJ thing 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:20.640 was going so well that I was like, okay, I 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:23.480 need to scale this up. And there was a venue 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:26.720 down the street from my house that was like a 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:29.240 House of Blues type venue. So I struck a deal 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:30.560 with them of like, hey, I'm going to bring in 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:34.560 real talent and create uh you know, in a night 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:36.360 here every month. We'll do a show every month with 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:40.240 real dj is, like well known DJs and stuff like that. Um. 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:42.520 So they were cool with it. I did that, okay, 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:45.120 but before you get there, you're in the bar. That's 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:50.000 a cash business. Ever have any dangerous situations. Yeah, So 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:53.720 that ended because my my my six months at the 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:57.560 bar ended because somebody, uh somebody pulled out a gun 0:14:57.600 --> 0:14:59.240 inside the bar at one of my nights and then 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:01.640 somebody got stabbed. Then the parking lot there's a big 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:03.480 brawl and someone pulled out a gun inside and then 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:06.480 people got stabbed outside, and then yeah, it ruined my 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:09.200 business on that end, so then I had to Okay, 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:12.200 but before you how did it end the cops actually 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:15.560 interview you or no, No, it was people were just 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.120 scared to come now because that that dive bar. Like 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:19.800 I said, it was on bar, it's in the hood 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:23.160 almost So then once that happened, everyone was like, well, 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:25.400 I don't know if I'm gonna go there anymore. Okay, 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:27.960 So it wasn't It wasn't the bar owner, it was 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:31.080 the customers and we're done. So how many dead nights 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:32.960 did you have before you realize this is done? Well, 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:35.680 I never lost money because I owned the equipment, you know, 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:37.720 I just bring my equipment and play and that was it. 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:39.880 So you know, if if the bar didn't do what 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:41.680 it did, I still walked out with money, which at 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:44.400 that time was cash and was good and helped help 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:45.840 pay the bill. Okay, So now you go to this 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:49.720 new club. Do you have relationships with name talent at 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:52.880 that point? So I was you're completely yeah, So I 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:55.360 was just reaching out to agents and getting raped by 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:57.800 like getting the note you know. I remember there was 0:15:57.840 --> 0:15:59.640 just one booking I did and it was a group 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:04.160 of four DJ's and um, they ended up charging me 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:06.640 the regular price of the group for the full group, 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:08.600 but they sent me the one guy that was the 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:11.320 ghost producer. So nobody even knew who the guy was. 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:14.440 And he it was his first show ever djaying and 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:16.560 I had paid like five grand for this guy. And 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:18.120 I get him and he's just like, yeah, I've never 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:20.200 really DJ. And I'm like, well, what do you do? 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:21.960 And he's like why produce all the music for the group? 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:24.080 And I'm like damn, Like what am I gonna do 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:26.400 with this guy? So I'm like sitting there nervous, like dude, 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:28.320 this guy doesn't even know how to DJ, like you 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:31.680 know whatever. Um, But yeah, you know, I I learned 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:33.480 the hard way of this. Like, okay, so you have 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:36.040 that situation, did you call the agent and say I 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:37.640 want my money back? I called the agent, was just 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:39.200 like you know, and he's like no, I assure you 0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:41.560 he knows what he's doing, like he it's fine, like 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:44.680 this this will be all good. Um, And you know, 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:46.160 I still made money on the show and was just 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:49.200 like whatever. So it wasn't like the worst, but you 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:51.960 know scary, Okay, So you convince this guy to do 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:54.440 it once a month the bar, the guy who owns 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:56.440 the club, and you start, how long do you do 0:16:56.480 --> 0:16:59.160 that for? Um only like it was it was like 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:01.600 six months, six another six months or so, and it 0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:04.879 was always successful. Yeah, it was good until until I 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:08.399 partnered with the guy saw what I was doing. The 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:10.359 owner of the club, so he's like, hey, let's partner 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:13.480 on the next event. Let's up the up the budget 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:19.600 and get a bigger name. What was the capacity, like, yeah, 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:21.960 so it wasn't small. And he's like, you know, I 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:24.879