WEBVTT - LECRAE - A Journey From 'Beenie Weenies' to Grammys 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:16.480 This is definitely a laxative. 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:21.440 Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke. 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:23.840 I'm your host, Colleen Witt, and today we have a 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:29.040 very special guest. Grammy Award winning Lecree is in the building. 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:31.440 I'm in the building, man, I'm in the building. 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:33.760 This is extremely cool for me. 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:36.560 I'm excited. This is cool for me too. Yeah. 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:39.000 Yeah, I saw you you start getting into it. 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:42.239 Yeah, I'm excited. This is cool. Man. I had to, like, 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:44.760 you know, get to. 0:00:43.960 --> 0:00:46.320 Come back to my roots a little bit. Yeah, and 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:48.280 see how this tastes after all. 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:50.680 This time, after all, so how many years before you 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:52.760 tell us what the dishes? How many years has it been. 0:00:54.560 --> 0:01:00.000 Man? Solid? Thirty years probably, geez. Yeah. 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:03.080 Yeah, Like for real, we're gonna see if your stomach 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:04.039 can handle this today. 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:09.400 Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, it's all good. You know what 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:11.800 I'm saying, I'm not gonna go crazy. I'm gonna just 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:12.640 have a little bit of it. 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:15.640 I'm like, this ain't really a cheat meal, so you 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:17.800 know what I'm saying, This is not cheating at all. 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:21.080 Fact, So why don't you go ahead and tell us 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:22.679 what you're gonna have us eating today? 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:26.440 Okay, what we're gonna have today is we're gonna have, 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:31.160 you know, some pork and beans with the hot dogs. 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:34.240 When you put them together, you get what's called beanie weans. 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:38.480 So we're gonna have the beanie weenies, you know what 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:38.960 I'm saying. 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:42.600 And then we got spinach, but not just any spinach, 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:45.080 the can spinish because my mama wanted to make sure 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:47.360 that I have my vegetables as a kid. 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:50.440 So I ate vegetables out of a. 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:55.680 Can can spinish and canned corn whole hole hole green giant. 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:56.760 You know what I'm saying. 0:01:57.000 --> 0:02:01.800 So can corn, can spin and it was a whole 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:02.480 healthy meal. 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:03.440 You know what I'm saying. 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:05.920 You get a little you know, carbs with your beans, 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:08.360 You get your protein, you get your vegetables, a little 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:09.200 carbs with the coin. 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:11.280 Hey we in there. And then just to be fancy 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:12.160 for y'all. 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:14.880 I got a little brown sugar, just a little, but 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:16.760 it's that's something we wouldn't have did that. 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:18.919 We didn't have no brown sugar to waste on them. 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:20.880 Okay, well we're not gonna use a brown sugar. We 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:24.080 want to take it all all. We want to we 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:25.880 want to feel it. We want to feel it. With 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:28.480 your stories, go ahead, start whipping it up. 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:31.760 Okay, oh easy, So we're gonna start right off the bat. 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:32.760 You know what I'm saying. 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:34.840 By the way, I switch those out for turkey dogs. 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:38.080 Okay, well, you know that's your fancy you're doing fancy things. 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:39.799 So we're gonna just right off the bat. 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:41.359 You know what I'm saying, You're gonna you're gonna cut 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:43.840 these down sides, So we gonna chop these down the 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:47.720 sides because you gotta, you gotta. It's gotta stretch so 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:49.040 you can't get a whole hot. 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:49.440 Dog in there. 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:51.120 You're gonna feel like you got a lot of food. 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:54.360 But you just you know what I'm saying, We gotta 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:57.280 stretch it and they'll cook. They'll cook a little bit 0:02:57.320 --> 0:02:58.600 faster when they. 0:02:58.520 --> 0:02:59.240 Cut up like this. 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:02.519 How often would you say you were eating this back then? 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:05.400 This is normal? 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:09.160 So this was I mean, just childhood, because you gotta 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:12.280 think one, I'm a latch key kid. So my mom 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:15.079 worked while I was at home by myself a lot. 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:18.799 So either a I had to be able to make 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:22.040 it myself or be she had to be able to 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:24.359 whip it up quick. She was tired. She came home 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:28.280 from work. So you know she's sometimes she worked two jobs, 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:30.280 so she just tired come home from work. She had 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:32.360 to just be able to whip something up real quick. 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:34.160 This is quick, and it's cheap. 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:38.160 Really cheap, so it's like super cheap. 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:40.520 So we're not gonna do it them all because you know, 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:42.480 eat those turkey dollars later, you know what I mean. 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:44.280 You men want to eat that a little bit later. 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:46.600 But then let's see here, this is the stove is 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:48.520 much faster than the one that I had growing up, 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:50.440 you know what I mean. But we're gonna we're gonna 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:52.320 just go low because I don't know how it goes. 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:53.280 You know what I'm saying. 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:55.400 And then we just gonna skill it these boys up 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:59.280 a little bit and and get them cooking, and let 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:01.920 those you know, cook while os is in there cooking. 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:05.840 Then we'll we'll move on to the vegetable. 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:09.160 Bles, okay, And do you mix your vegetables your spinach 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:09.800 in your corner? 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:13.000 No, separate, you know what I'm saying. Separate. 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:15.320 I don't want like, I don't want them touching. So 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:18.120 you got two pots, you know what I'm saying. Now, 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:21.520 generally there's gonna be a little liquid in those cans. 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:22.880 Yeah, to drain them for you. 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:24.279 Yeah, so you know you want. 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:26.120 A little bit, though you don't eat all of it, 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:28.520 just a little bit so you don't burn the bottom 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:30.440 of the food. You know what I'm saying. You don't 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:32.080 want it to burn. So I just took a little 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:34.839 water and just put it in there. Not too much 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:37.039 water because then obviously it takes the flavor out. But 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:39.360 you know you're gonna burn the bottom of the food. 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:41.760 And then with your spinach. So the way that my 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:46.000 mama got me was to watch Popeye the Sailor Man 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:48.120 cartoons yep, and then it. 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:49.200 Was Popeye spinach. 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:52.599 So I didn't like vegetables, but she got me to 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:56.200 like them because of the Popeye was on the can 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:56.599 of spinach. 0:04:56.760 --> 0:04:57.440 So then I ate it. 0:04:57.520 --> 0:04:59.400 And by the way, I did not know till today 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:02.240 that I always thought it was a cartoon and that 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:05.120 was just how they convinced us to eat spinach. But 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:08.600 I did not know till today that Popeye's is an 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:11.840 actual spinach brand. You're spinach. I did not know. Oh yeah, 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:13.560 learn something every every day. 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:19.800 Now see, unless you buy like certain brands, it's generally unseasoned. 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:23.680 So even though I don't know, still sodium in there 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:26.240 some some reason, I don't know why, but unless you 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:27.640 buy certain brands on seasoned. 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:29.640 So I got some season in the day. 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:33.040 You know what I'm saying, But this is not this 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:35.400 is this is a little fancier, but it's still good. 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:37.919 It's to slap your mama. It's a little fancier. So 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:40.920 it's definitely gonna be tasty. So we were season that up, 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:42.640 but let's let it. Let's let it heat up a 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:45.599 little bit. We do some seasoning on that, and then 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:48.440 you got your can corn. Who ho, hold green giant. 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:51.800 You know what I'm saying, Put that caned corn in there, 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:53.400 or we're gonna have us some meal. 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:56.719 We gonna we're gonna be good today. So take me 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:59.520 back to what was going on during this time of 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:03.520 pork and beans, spinach and corn. 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:05.000 What was happening? 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:09.240 So I would come home from school, just like elementary school. 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:12.240 I come home from school. You know, my mom and 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:13.240 my pops separated. 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:17.080 Really my pops, he he was he went down a 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:17.560 dark path. 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:19.240 He lost his job, so then he went. 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:22.640 Down a dark path, had some addiction issues. It didn't work, 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:24.680 and he wasn't able to be there for us. 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:29.320 So you know, when it's just me and mom. 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:32.000 She's young, she's in her twenties, so she's gotta kind 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:33.960 of figure it out. So she had it's like a 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:36.320 form of assistance, but not like welfare. But it was 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:39.279 like a form of of government aid c I. You know, 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:41.559 where they would allow you to get like a certain 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:43.040 certain things from the grocery store. 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:44.960 You take it in there or whatever, kind of like 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:45.640 what wick is. 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:48.279 So they don't know if they still have that, but 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:50.800 but up like food stamps kind of but not the 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:55.000 same because it's like for women with children type of vibes. Okay, 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:58.680 So she would get that and and then you know, 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:01.719 go to the grocery store. The unfortunate part about that. Fortunate, 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:03.880 but unfortunately some of the stuff was free from the government, 0:07:04.000 --> 0:07:07.960 like powdered milk. Disgusting, you know what I'm saying, Like 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:12.760 powdered eggs. Discussed eggs, Yeah, disgusting. But then they also 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:15.400 had like this block of cheese that was amazing, So 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:15.880 I'm not mad. 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:17.400 A the cheese cheese was great. 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:20.600 You can hear a little sizzle, so I can smell 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:22.880 some stuff cooking too. So we in there, we're moving, 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:25.360 you know what I'm saying we're moving. Now, what I'm 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:27.320 gonna do to speak this process up just a little bit. 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:29.280 I'm gonna go ahead and add the porking beans, because 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:30.800 see I was trying to get them a little sizzle. 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:33.040 But we just gonna let it simmer. That's what we're 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:35.840 gonna do. Let it simmer. So we're gonna put the porking. 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:38.080 Beans in there. Oh yeah, this is gonna be right. 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:41.000 Oh this is gonna be right. 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:43.160 We need a little bring back real memories for you. 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:48.560 Absolutely. I mean I haven't eaten like this and forever, 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:49.560 but I'm. 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:53.640 Sure, well you you have children now, you don't ever say, hey, 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:55.160 I'm gonna show you what it was like. 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:57.040 So let me tell you what's funny. 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:02.480 During COVID, every thing was like on short supply, So 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:06.760 the luxuries are just going out and grabbing whatever and 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:08.560 expecting it to last. 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:11.800 Forever was not always there. You didn't know. We didn't know. 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:14.360 So what I told my kids and my wife too, 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:16.040 I was like, Yo, I'm finna run and get all 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:18.960 the struggle foods that I got grown up, so we'll 0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:21.160 have them in the worst case scenari Because we didn't 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:22.680 know what was gonna thought the world was gonna end. 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:25.760 So I got the can spinach, I got the can vegetables, 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:27.960 all of that type of stuff. But what I did 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:30.360 was I got the ramen noodles too. A lot of 0:08:30.400 --> 0:08:32.839 people don't know how to do this, but I chopped 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:35.680 the ramen noodles up to what they like rice, and. 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:39.040 Then you put that in some oil, you let it 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:39.600 simmer up. 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:43.600 It gets a little soft, and then you chop up 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:46.199 like some chicken or something like that, and. 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:47.160 Add some cheese. 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:50.080 It's like you got like it's kind of like sturfries. 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:52.760 It's like riceeroni or something like that. It's amazing. I'm 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:54.040 telling a lot of people don't know about it, but 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:56.320 it's a little you get created. 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:59.400 They loved it, really, they loved it. 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:01.199 But I was like, it's it's it's it's too much 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:03.240 sodium in this, y'all can't y'all should not be eating 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:03.520 all of this. 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:04.839 It's too much sodium in here. 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:07.200 But now, isn't the sodium This is just a random 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:10.559 sidebar question, but isn't the sodium in the packet of seasoning. 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:12.160 It's not considered not in the. 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:14.559 You know, you use the seasoning though. 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:17.560 Yeah, yeah, but that's the key to the secret stirf. 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:19.079 I is it the seasoning I use. 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:20.679 I would use some of it, not all of it. 0:09:20.760 --> 0:09:22.280 I try to use half of the seat. I mean, 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:24.760 my son still would eat ram noodles to this day. 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:26.560 Okay, who doesn't love ram? 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:28.520 You know what I'm saying. I still eat them to this day. 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:30.440 Like I don't want my kids to feel spoiled and 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:34.920 entitled just because we have arrived outside of having to 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:38.080 eat the struggle meals. I still want them to, you know, 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:40.920 have an appreciation. Yeah, you know what I'm saying, Never 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:43.200 be too you, never too good for packingt Ramen noodles. 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:45.520 You know what I'm saying, never too good, So. 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:46.360 Never too good. 0:09:46.520 --> 0:09:46.800 Yeah. 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:51.040 Now I know your testimony. I know I'm familiar with 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:53.760 some of your testimony. Okay, but I want the real, 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:58.120 real passenger seat of this testimony. So you and you 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:00.600 grow up in a single parent household with your mother. 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:05.320 Your father separates from you. Guys, how often are you 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:05.920 seeing him? 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:06.720 Never? 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:09.120 Never? For how many years? 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:11.120 For all my life? 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:13.920 So? I saw him once when I was about ten 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:18.920 or eleven. He had gotten a made some money with 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:24.000 some pharmaceutical sales. He came to see me gave me 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:27.160 what took me shopping, and then I never saw him again. 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:30.079 And I was like, and I don't say that like. 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:32.360 I never sew him again, but I mean just the 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:36.680 reality is, you know, he comes from a different era, 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:41.440 different generation. I think they have different struggles and just 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:45.160 kind of like dealing with the reality what he was 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:45.720 dealing with. 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:46.600 I think he was. 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:48.560 You know, his dad wouldn't have come to him and 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:52.000 been like son, I apologized. 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:53.800 That his dad would have been like, well, that's what 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:55.040 life does. Keep it pushing. 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:58.959 So how did you feel as a growing up with 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:00.720 him and then him disappear? Did that crazy? 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:02.440 Some kid? I didn't really get to know him. So 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:03.400 he left when I. 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:06.000 Was like three, oh with three later. 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:07.760 Nah, I didn't really get to know him. He left 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:08.240 when I was three. 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:10.280 I saw him again at ten, and then I didn't 0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:13.480 see him again until I have never sat down and 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:15.440 had a conversation with my I had my first sit 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:20.280 down conversation meal with him in twenty twenty, so like 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:23.440 five years ago. Wow, first time we ever interacted for real. 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:25.920 So that was it was eye opening, you know. 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:27.439 But you know, I'm at a stage in my life 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:30.319 where I'm not I'm not a boy who's missed out 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:31.160 on having a father. 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:34.320 I'm a man who had to become something that he 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:38.160 never had, you know what I'm saying. So you just learn. 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:39.600 It's a lot of wounds. 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:41.959 You learn to deal with those wombs and then you 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:45.640 know you you grow from it. And so I wouldn't 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:47.719 be able to sit here and cook Beanie Whenie's. 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:50.439 If I hadn't gone through some of the Yeah, the struggles. 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:52.559 But did you face that? INTI your battle of like 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:57.040 wondering what happened? Did your mom have those conversations with you? 0:11:57.160 --> 0:11:58.120 What did that look like? 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:00.440 She didn't have a conversation. She didn't have But now 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:03.640 she's a brilliant woman. Back then she was young. She 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:06.160 just didn't have the tools and the skill set to know. 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:08.560 Put a little bit of this slappy my mom here 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:11.360 in the meantime you talk about MAMAE me think put 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:13.079 some slappy my mown and it's real quick. Put a 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:14.720 little bit on the corner too, just hit it with 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:17.440 you know what I'm saying. But she didn't have the 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:22.800 skills to know how to talk to me about those 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:26.400 types of things. She was young, So I didn't deal 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:28.400 with the struggle that I had from not having my 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:30.640 dad in my life until I got much older. Like 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:34.280 it did cause a lot of trauma for sure, you 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:36.800 know what I'm saying, because I don't think I would 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:39.400 be successful if my dad was in my life, being 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:42.920 honest with you, because my success is really because of 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:46.200 the trauma. Like I wanted to be approved of, I 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:49.800 wanted to be desired, I wanted to be wanted, and 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:52.080 so I just kept achieving so people would see me, 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:53.520 people would accept me, people. 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:53.880 Would want me. 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:57.880 And I don't do that now, Like that's not why 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:02.400 I'm successful, but that's what was driving my success as 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:04.600 a younger person, you. 0:13:04.600 --> 0:13:05.199 Know what I'm saying. 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:07.960 So it was that fuel in that well, I got 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:11.200 to become somebody, and who am I unless I'm approved of? 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:14.600 And so now you know, for me, I know God 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:16.120 approves of me, God loves me. 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:17.520 So I'm I'm good. 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:21.560 But as a kid, oh man, it messed me up, 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:23.320 and I didn't realize how bad it messed me up, 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:24.040 you know what I'm saying. 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:29.559 Yeah, yeah, So now let's go to the next pivotal 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:32.600 milestone as we inch towards where you're at today. Okay, 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:34.960 what was that next pivotal thing that happened in your 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:36.720 life that either led you towards music. 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:40.320 Yeah, you know, so I started rapping as a kid. 0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:42.720 So the other thing about it was my mom because 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:46.000 she was a single parent and she had a lot 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:49.080 on her shoulders. I mean she had she you know, 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:51.160 she had boyfriends. She ended up getting married again that 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:52.560 didn't work out, but. 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:53.760 It was it was kind of chaotic. 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:56.199 So I would stay with my grandmother for months at 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:59.640 a time and stay with my grandmother. My grandmother's house 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:02.120 was like a hotel, you know, like all the family 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:04.640 members would come stay there. So every time I would 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:06.400 go stay with my grandmother, I would stay for like 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:08.280 three months at a time, four months at a time. 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:11.080 And when I was stay with my grandmother, people would 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:14.360 come and my cousins came who were older than me, 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:18.320 and they it was late one night, I was probably 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:22.440 about six or seven, and they were up watching TV 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:25.440 and I was like, what are they watching? I should 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:28.000 have been in the bed, but it was rap videos 0:14:29.440 --> 0:14:31.320 and so I was like what is this? 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:34.080 And I was like blown away. 0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:36.080 Watching it over their shoulder and they said, Hey, what 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:39.040 you doing in here? But then they said come on 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:40.200 in here, and I. 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:41.400 Just fell in love. 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:45.480 I stayed up after that every night watching rap videos. 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:46.920 So I fell in love with. 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:51.120 Rap music probably like seven eight years old, and about ten, 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:52.280 I was writing my own. 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:54.320 I was trying to impress the girls in the neighborhood. 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:55.480 You know what I'm saying. 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:58.560 I remember writing a song to this girl, Trina. It 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:03.120 was like training Trina. I won't dishha, I won't treat 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:05.040 you like aisha like it was. 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:05.800 You know what I'm saying. 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:09.920 It was just me trying to But that's really what 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:13.360 birth something in me to like pursue the music, you 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:14.040 know what I mean. 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:17.800 So what do you think about about the rap music 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:22.360 in particular that really pulled at you at the time. 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:26.360 I think it was like I could see, I could relate. 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:29.560 I saw pictures of myself. I saw like Tupac was 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:32.000 my favorite rapper as a kid. And the reason why 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:34.600 is because he told these honest stories about his life 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:36.920 and his life It felt real and authentic, and he 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:40.280 told stories about not having his dad, he told stories 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:43.640 about his pain, He talked about just the drama and 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:46.560 the trauma that he experienced. And I was like, man, 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:50.560 he's telling my story like somebody's telling my story and 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:53.040 I just connected, you know, in a deep way because 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:56.200 of that, and so I just feel like, I don't know, 0:15:56.480 --> 0:16:01.080 you know, because of that, Tupac was like a hero 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:03.200 to me, like almost like the dad I didn't have 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:05.560 in a lot of ways. Yeah, I just wanted to 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:08.240 try to take after that and write music that was 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:11.040 from the heart I And that's Anotherother thing is Tupac 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:14.280 as a kid in er Kabadu as a kid. Strangely enough, 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:17.960 I remember both of them like spoke to like they 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:20.040 were speaking from like a deep place, even though I 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:22.400 didn't understand what it was, but it just made me 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:24.960 feel like, oh, they wanna change people. 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:25.840 Laurence Hill too. 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:28.280 It was like, y'all wanna help people with your music, 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:29.360 And I was like, I wanna do that. 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:32.800 But I did. I didn't know how, and I didn't know. 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:35.320 I didn't have a relationship with God really at the 0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:38.120 time either, So I didn't even understand any of what 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:39.360 was gonna be my future. 0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:40.480 You know what I'm saying. 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:43.080 Did you grow up in any type of religious type 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:45.520 household whatsoever? Mom, Grandma? 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:48.440 So the funny thing about it is my mom grew 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:51.800 up in church. She hated it because it was so religious. 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:56.200 She couldn't wear makeup, she couldn't wear pants, she couldn't 0:16:56.240 --> 0:16:58.600 go to like sporting events like all of this. 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:00.640 I know it was crazy. 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:03.680 It's like religious cult like type of but you know, 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:07.119 she was raised like they were from the country. They 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:09.560 didn't know, like they're not really educated, so they just 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:14.600 like mixing like superstition and religion together. So my mom 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:17.000 just was like, I don't want you around all that stuff. 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:19.720 Be a free thinker, think freely. So I didn't really. 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:22.240 I wasn't raised in church. We didn't go that much. 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:24.159 I would go when I was with my grandmother. My 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:27.199 grandmother was big into the church, but I didn't understand 0:17:27.240 --> 0:17:28.800