Speaker 1: The craziest part of my life.
Speaker 2: I can go from performing in front of forty thousand
Speaker 2: people to either being in a dressing room, being.
Speaker 1: In a plane, or being back in the bed all
Speaker 1: by myself. He is a multiplatum selling recording artist, minima
Speaker 1: and an actress. What's a mother one? The only.
Speaker 3: Did you feel like a big break was coming?
Speaker 2: I didn't know what that big break looked or felt like,
Speaker 2: but I knew that what I was doing was working.
Speaker 1: The gang banging and the drug selling. That's not really
Speaker 1: for me.
Speaker 2: But they looking cool to having girls and making music.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I like that part of it.
Speaker 3: What's it like to get a record deal and then
Speaker 3: music record deal?
Speaker 1: Oh, there's no bouncing back from that?
Speaker 3: How unsafe was it where you were in Pittsburgh?
Speaker 1: The streets is crazy out there.
Speaker 2: I remember like one of my first friends getting shot
Speaker 2: and killed in seventh grade.
Speaker 3: Wow, when was your sibling who posted away?
Speaker 1: She passed away? I think maybe seven years ago.
Speaker 3: I was that experience for you, losing someone's so close
Speaker 3: to you that you love.
Speaker 2: I am grateful that I was able to have like
Speaker 2: the last moments that I had to be able to
Speaker 2: prepare for it and It's something that I'm still dealing with.
Speaker 3: What's a misconception you think people have about you?
Speaker 1: The number one health and wellness podcast.
Speaker 3: Jay Sheety Jay, Sheddy Sez Jay Sheet. Hey everyone, welcome
Speaker 3: back to On Purpose, the number one health and wellness
Speaker 3: podcast in the world. Thanks to each and every one
Speaker 3: of you that come back every week to listen, learn
Speaker 3: and grow. Today's guest is the one and only Wiz Khalifa,
Speaker 3: multi platinum artist and Grammy nominee who rose to fame
Speaker 3: with his twenty eleven debut album Rolling Papers, featuring the
Speaker 3: hit Black and Yellow. Wiz one Best New Artist at
Speaker 3: the twenty eleven BET Awards and Top New Artist at
Speaker 3: the twenty twelve Billboard Music Awards. His song see You
Speaker 3: Again from the Furious seven top charts in ninety five
Speaker 3: countries and earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song.
Speaker 3: Today we're talking about Wi his newest album, Cush plus
Speaker 3: Orange Juice to Please. Welcome to the show. Wiz Khalifa, what, Wiz,
Speaker 3: I'm good. I'm good. It's great to have you here,
Speaker 3: good to be here. You walked in with this real
Speaker 3: chill energy today. I was like it was it was
Speaker 3: very calmy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm a super chill dude.
Speaker 3: I love that man.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3: What's the first thing you do in the morning? Smoke
Speaker 3: wheed every day?
Speaker 1: Yeah? First thing, Well, I take my dog out outside.
Speaker 1: I have a dover man. He's a puppy, but he's
Speaker 1: a big puppy.
Speaker 2: He's like he's ten months now, and he wakes up
Speaker 2: pretty early, so I take him out and then.
Speaker 1: I smoke wheed.
Speaker 3: Do you ever remember a day before that was the case?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, yeah, I remember the days before that was
Speaker 1: the case.
Speaker 3: What were those days?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: I was in school, get up and earing my clothes
Speaker 2: and you know, go after school.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Was there ever a time in your life where
Speaker 3: you tried to stop smoking or has that ever been
Speaker 3: a goal?
Speaker 1: Nah?
Speaker 2: I never. I never really never really fell back off
Speaker 2: of it. I never had a reason to.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, what does it do for you that you
Speaker 3: feel it needs to be your first habit of the day.
Speaker 1: For me, it just kind of gets me in a
Speaker 1: relaxing mood.
Speaker 2: I have a lot of things on my mind, like
Speaker 2: as soon as I wake up, so it's like here,
Speaker 2: I'm there, I'm everywhere. But if I smoke, I kind
Speaker 2: of chill, relax, put everything into his place. I write
Speaker 2: my goals down, I start to you know, make some
Speaker 2: text messages or phone calls or whatever, depending on what
Speaker 2: the situation is. So everything just starts to come into place.
Speaker 3: You write your goal goes down regularly. Is that like
Speaker 3: a regular habit or consistent habit?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely through what that looks like?
Speaker 2: It's really like me kind of like just spitball and
Speaker 2: stuff whatever it is, like short term goals of mine,
Speaker 2: whether it be about clothing, music, family, visuals, content, just
Speaker 2: kind of like just writing the first ideas, like really short,
Speaker 2: really just.
Speaker 1: To the point, nothing really crazy.
Speaker 2: I have a blackboard, so I sit in front of
Speaker 2: the blackboard and physically write it, or if I'm in
Speaker 2: my car or something like that, I'll write it down
Speaker 2: in my notes, you know what I'm saying, just to
Speaker 2: like little reminders and things like that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love that. Man, How long have you had
Speaker 3: that habit for?
Speaker 2: It goes on and off just due to necessity, Like
Speaker 2: how crazy my life is. So I just I feel
Speaker 2: like I don't know how long it's been because I
Speaker 2: do it like so regularly, and then I look back
Speaker 2: and I see how much I've done it. And I'm like, Wow,
Speaker 2: I've been doing this for a long ass freaking time,
Speaker 2: So I think it's kind of like a like a
Speaker 2: second nature type of thing for me.
Speaker 3: What do you find is the craziest part of your life.
Speaker 1: The craziest part of my life? I think the entertainment
Speaker 1: part is there easiest part.
Speaker 2: And I think it's because I can go from performing
Speaker 2: in front of thirty thousand and forty thousand people to
Speaker 2: either being in a dressing room, being in a plane,
Speaker 2: or being back in a bed all by myself. And
Speaker 2: it's like to go from that much energy to just
Speaker 2: be it all by like, back by yourself.
Speaker 1: I think that's pretty crazy.
Speaker 3: Walk us through what that feels like mentally, Like you
Speaker 3: just described two polar opposites, and the majority of people
Speaker 3: on the planet will never really experience those extremes. They
Speaker 3: might experience the loneliness in a room, but they won't
Speaker 3: experience the thirty thousand people screaming your name right, wearing
Speaker 3: your merch right, you know whatever, it may be, singing
Speaker 3: along to your music. What are you feeling in the
Speaker 3: in betweens in the transition of that to that.
Speaker 2: You have to have this thing where you kind of
Speaker 2: wind down and you know what is forwear, Like you
Speaker 2: can't bring the stage home because eventually you have to
Speaker 2: you know, wind down and go to sleep and wake
Speaker 2: up and do it again. And you can't be you know,
Speaker 2: too turned off when you're on the stage, because you
Speaker 2: have to bring enough energy to where somebody is way
Speaker 2: in the back and they can feel you. So it's
Speaker 2: really just like a projection of like, you know your
Speaker 2: energy and how you feel, and the majority of the
Speaker 2: times I'm in a great mood, I have great interactions
Speaker 2: with my fans and the people around stage and things
Speaker 2: like that, so it goes good.
Speaker 1: I'm in a great mood.
Speaker 2: But it's just a lot of this goes from really
Speaker 2: really intense and then it could just all just be
Speaker 2: shut off at one second. And I think that that's
Speaker 2: like the craziest part to me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I can relate, you know, I'd heard that before,
Speaker 3: and I can relate in a small, very small way comparatively.
Speaker 3: But I remember doing my first have a live show
Speaker 3: in twenty nineteen. It was at the Ace Theater or
Speaker 3: maybe twenty eighteen something like that, in the Ace Hotel,
Speaker 3: and what it's like, I don't know. Fifteen hundred people,
Speaker 3: two thousand people. Maybe it was my first of a show,
Speaker 3: and I remember walking off stage, jumping into the car
Speaker 3: to get driven back home, and it was just the
Speaker 3: strangest feeling, like it's so hard to explain it, and
Speaker 3: I wasn't you know, It wasn't like I don't do music,
Speaker 3: I haven't got even with that experience, but I'm feeling
Speaker 3: connected with my audience. Then you get into the back
Speaker 3: of a black you know, a black car, you barely
Speaker 3: know it. I didn't know anyone in the car with me.
Speaker 3: I was alone, and I'm driving home and I just
Speaker 3: felt I was like, wow, I don't even know how
Speaker 3: to describe the juxtaposition. And then I went on my
Speaker 3: world tour last year. We did roughly forty cities around
Speaker 3: the world, and that was like you're in a new
Speaker 3: place every day and now you're feeling that same thing
Speaker 3: every day, and so I know it's much smaller compared
Speaker 3: to what you've done, but to me, just getting that experience,
Speaker 3: and I remember that night, I was lucky. I came
Speaker 3: home and my wife had planned a surprise party, so
Speaker 3: my closest friends were back in my house and that
Speaker 3: kind of like it was a relief, but it is
Speaker 3: a weird feeling.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I don't think the feeling is smaller due to the
Speaker 2: crowd or whatever. I think the feeling is the feeling.
Speaker 2: It's like when you're on a roller coaster and like
Speaker 2: you get back and like you're in your bed and
Speaker 2: you still feel like you're on a roller coaster.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So I feel like we still have that in common,
Speaker 2: even though it might be at different levels, and it's
Speaker 2: it's not even always thirty thousand people. Sometimes it could
Speaker 2: be a private event or sometimes they could be an
Speaker 2: event with some kids or something like that, to where
Speaker 2: it's like you just get really two totally different, you know,
Speaker 2: parts of life, and they're both great. I love my
Speaker 2: normal life and I love my work life too. It's
Speaker 2: just the difference between them is crazy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what's helped you continue to love them and deal
Speaker 3: with that paradox with that ease and comfort. What's really
Speaker 3: sued your relationship with those you know, challenging or crazy
Speaker 3: experiences that you mentioned.
Speaker 2: I think it has a lot to do with my
Speaker 2: relationship with my fans, because I love the people that
Speaker 2: I do music for and they give me a really
Speaker 2: really great response and reaction not only to my performance
Speaker 2: but to my music and just the appreciation that they
Speaker 2: have for it. So I appreciate them as well, and
Speaker 2: it makes it easier because I enjoy it and I
Speaker 2: love to create.
Speaker 1: I love to be on stage. I love to be
Speaker 1: in front of people.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So it doesn't feel like I'm like doing anything
Speaker 2: out of oh I just want the money, or this
Speaker 2: is just for this certain reason.
Speaker 1: It's really really enjoyable for me.
Speaker 3: So it's beautiful.
Speaker 1: It's a great experience.
Speaker 3: That's such a beautiful place to be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah for sure.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. That gratitude to your community for being there
Speaker 3: for you, Yeah, for being present with you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3: Yeah. What's what's been What's been like your craziest fin
Speaker 3: experience or fan interaction a memory that you have with
Speaker 3: one of the audience members That I.
Speaker 2: Think stuff is when people like come up and get
Speaker 2: me to like sign my name on them so they
Speaker 2: can get it tatted. Wow, or they showed me like
Speaker 2: tattoos in my face on them. I think those are
Speaker 2: the craziest interactions because I have tattoos, I'm covered in them,
Speaker 2: so I know how important that is and to be
Speaker 2: you know, just me as an artist and doing what
Speaker 2: I'm doing, and to want to have people to want
Speaker 2: to like tattoo me on them.
Speaker 1: It's pretty Uh, it's pretty tight.
Speaker 3: Have people ever done a lyric as well? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, they do lyrics, they do song titles, they do pictures,
Speaker 2: they do autographs, they do all types of stuff.
Speaker 3: Well, what's your most meaningful tattoo or one that really
Speaker 3: speaks to you?
Speaker 1: Probably I got a couple.
Speaker 2: I got, you know, my mom's name, I got my
Speaker 2: brother's name, my siblings who passed away. I got my
Speaker 2: little sister. Yeah, probably like my family tattoos mean the
Speaker 2: most to me. The rest of them are just like
Speaker 2: stuff about life that I've learned throughout the way, or
Speaker 2: things that I've called myself throughout life.
Speaker 3: Yeah, when was your sibling who passed away?
Speaker 2: She passed away. I think maybe seven years ago. I
Speaker 2: remember exactly how many years it could be, like, could be.
Speaker 1: More or less.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and how old was she then?
Speaker 2: She would have been forty now, so she was probably
Speaker 2: thirty three when.
Speaker 3: You had some life together?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, oh yeah, we grew up together. Yeah, same mom,
Speaker 1: same dad.
Speaker 3: Yeah, how was that experience for you? Losing someone so
Speaker 3: close to you that you love.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't say like rough, because you know, you get
Speaker 2: through that type of stuff you learn how to deal
Speaker 2: with it. But it's definitely a situation that I never
Speaker 2: would have expected. Like like we weren't sick growing up
Speaker 2: or anything like that. We were always the same. So
Speaker 2: it's like when you get to a certain age, you
Speaker 2: don't plan on losing a sibling. And it was just
Speaker 2: something that we had to deal with. And you know,
Speaker 2: I asked her health decline. It was something that we
Speaker 2: knew was going to happen. So it was like, all right, cool,
Speaker 2: let's get ready for it, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: And I am grateful that I was able to have
Speaker 2: like the last moments that I had and to be
Speaker 2: able to prepare for it. And you know, my son
Speaker 2: has memories of my sibling and things like that, and
Speaker 2: her birthday was actually on Halloween, so we.
Speaker 1: Celebrate every year annually. We throw a party.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it was definitely an experience, but you know,
Speaker 2: it's something that I'm still dealing with.
Speaker 1: Like, you know, like a lot of the times I'm.
Speaker 2: Doing like really really well, and then sometimes it might,
Speaker 2: you know, it might hit me to a point where
Speaker 2: it's like, all right, you know, let me just slow
Speaker 2: down and kind of deal with this or just think
Speaker 2: about it or talk about it, or just whatever it
Speaker 2: is that gets me through it. But yeah, it's just
Speaker 2: like a continuous thing, for sure.
Speaker 3: How did you prepare for it the time you said
Speaker 3: you kind of knew it was, you know, her health
Speaker 3: was diminishing over time. How did you prepare at the time,
Speaker 3: Like whether the specific rituals or things you did, or
Speaker 3: memories you made together that stayed with you.
Speaker 2: No, I wasn't really too many rituals or memories or
Speaker 2: anything like that. I was traveling a lot at the time,
Speaker 2: so I did make sure that I went home and
Speaker 2: spent some time with her before she passed away.
Speaker 1: And then my mom was really the one who.
Speaker 2: Was like right by her side the whole time, So
Speaker 2: she was giving me kind of like blow by blow
Speaker 2: of everything and just how the situation was going to go.
Speaker 2: And I just did my best to try to make
Speaker 2: her as comfortable as possible, you know, for those last
Speaker 2: couple of moments.
Speaker 3: And yeah, yeah, that I mean, it sounds like you said,
Speaker 3: you're still dealing with it, even though it sounds like
Speaker 3: you made the most of that time. Yeah, and now
Speaker 3: you're saying you reach out to people and talk about it.
Speaker 3: Who would you reach out to when you want to
Speaker 3: talk about something like that.
Speaker 1: I would talk to like my aunt Rachel.
Speaker 2: We had like you know, we all just laughed and
Speaker 2: joked and just had a real good time together. Talked
Speaker 2: to my mom, talk to my dad, talk to my
Speaker 2: baby sister about it. I most recently talked to like
Speaker 2: just one of my other aunties about it, just randomly,
Speaker 2: because I feel like we all feel the same and
Speaker 2: we all have losses and you know, can relate in
Speaker 2: certain ways, even though it's not the best thing to
Speaker 2: be relatable about, but you know, we feel similar about it.
Speaker 2: So it's cool to have those conversations and you know,
Speaker 2: feel good about it afterwards.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I love that you still celebrate her bethab Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 3: for sure. That's that's a beautiful way to think about it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3: Yeah. It's such a hard balance I find in terms
Speaker 3: of morning or grieving someone's death and then celebrating the
Speaker 3: life you had with them. Yeah, And it's such a
Speaker 3: fine line and often you're pulled in either direction. But
Speaker 3: I think it's so important that we do celebrate life,
Speaker 3: the memories we had with someone and celebrate their life
Speaker 3: as well.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I just look I look at it as like,
Speaker 2: if she still here, we'd be partying, So let's not
Speaker 2: start the party.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's beautiful. I was diving into your career with
Speaker 3: and I feel like when someone like you becomes as
Speaker 3: successful as you've become, and you know it is dropping
Speaker 3: successful hits here and there, you almost forget the journey
Speaker 3: that they've been on and the graph that they've been on.
Speaker 3: And I was really fascinated by that because it hasn't
Speaker 3: just been like a smooth, easy, linear journey. I think
Speaker 3: people think of success as like you tried something out,
Speaker 3: it worked, and now you're this, you know, this big phenomenon,
Speaker 3: and yours had lots of twists and turns. When like,
Speaker 3: what was your life like before Black and Yellow compared
Speaker 3: to what it is now? What was it like before that?
Speaker 2: I would say it was pretty normal, Like it was
Speaker 2: pretty regular. I was just, you know, like any other
Speaker 2: twenty something year old. I think just the way that
Speaker 2: we were working and traveling and like going on the road,
Speaker 2: and kind of the money that we were dealing with,
Speaker 2: a lot of it was getting reinvested back into the business.
Speaker 2: So I was making money, but I was spending money
Speaker 2: on myself, and like not even in a big way,
Speaker 2: but it would just be you know, hotels, travel things
Speaker 2: like that. So I was putting myself through like courses
Speaker 2: in business and how to like you know, make money,
Speaker 2: spend money, reinvest, blah blah blah. It was doing all
Speaker 2: this stuff naturally, but it wasn't on that level yet
Speaker 2: because we hadn't met, you know, anybody who was in
Speaker 2: the game. We hadn't had business managers or anything like that.
Speaker 1: So it was just you know, me and my friends.
Speaker 1: We were kind of just really really.
Speaker 2: Hustling and making the best out out of what we
Speaker 2: knew how to do.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, did you feel like a big break
Speaker 3: was coming or did it feel like, God, we don't
Speaker 3: know how this is gonna go.
Speaker 2: Well, being that I already had a record deal and
Speaker 2: then essentially lost that record deal, I didn't feel like
Speaker 2: a big break was coming.
Speaker 1: I didn't know what that big break looked or felt like.
Speaker 2: But I knew that what I was doing was working,
Speaker 2: and I knew that the people who were into me
Speaker 2: and the movement that I had created, I knew that
Speaker 2: that was more popular than you know, the mainstream and
Speaker 2: like what was really really popular at the time. So
Speaker 2: I was really confident in that. Yeah, but I didn't
Speaker 2: know like a big moment was coming.
Speaker 3: What's it like to get a record deal and then
Speaker 3: lose a record deal?
Speaker 2: It sucked for me, like just because in those days,
Speaker 2: like if you had a record deal, like that was it.
Speaker 1: And then if you didn't have a record deal, like
Speaker 1: you were done.
Speaker 2: So to have one and then lose it, it's like, oh,
Speaker 2: there's no bouncing back from that. Like I never knew
Speaker 2: anybody but who bounced back from that? But in my mind,
Speaker 2: it was never over. I never counted myself out. I
Speaker 2: just never knew what the next situation was going to
Speaker 2: look like, or how long or what that timeframe was
Speaker 2: going to be.
Speaker 3: Like where did that confidence come from? I love how
Speaker 3: self assured you were that like what you were doing
Speaker 3: in the community, you were building was resonating with what
Speaker 3: you were doing. Yeah, where does that come from? Because
Speaker 3: I think, like you said, so many people today who
Speaker 3: might be listening and they maybe they just you know,
Speaker 3: got kicked out of a job, maybe they got rejected
Speaker 3: from their record deal. I remember when I when I
Speaker 3: was first coming up with the idea for this podcast
Speaker 3: six years ago. I had a production company and a
Speaker 3: partner that was going to launch the show with me.
Speaker 3: I went away for the holidays, Christmas, holidays, came back,
Speaker 3: and then I was told that it wasn't on anymore.
Speaker 3: So I remember that feeling and having to launch the
Speaker 3: show on my own. If someone's going through that right now,
Speaker 3: how did you maintain that composure and that confidence, like, no,
Speaker 3: we're doing something here. Yeah, we may not know when
Speaker 3: that break's coming, but we're going to keep moving.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think it was just by like standing on the
Speaker 2: things that I believed in and the stuff that made
Speaker 2: me most comfortable, And if I wanted to show it,
Speaker 2: I was going to show it. If I wanted to
Speaker 2: talk about I was going to talk about it. It
Speaker 2: might not have been where everybody else would would have
Speaker 2: considered what's going to take somebody to the top, But
Speaker 2: it made me feel free and I enjoyed myself by
Speaker 2: doing it, and I think just in turn, a lot
Speaker 2: of people have fun enjoying watching me do it.
Speaker 3: If you could give your younger self any advice before
Speaker 3: Black and Yellow came out, what would it be?
Speaker 1: I was good. Keep doing what you're doing. You got
Speaker 1: you gotta figure it out.
Speaker 3: Is there anything you would have liked to have known
Speaker 3: for how to deal with it afterwards?
Speaker 1: Nah? Nah.
Speaker 2: Everything that I that I learned and that I figured
Speaker 2: out along my way, I think happened in its time
Speaker 2: and how it was supposed to and it's position in
Speaker 2: me for even greater points in my life as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, where where does that come from? Because that's such
Speaker 3: a peaceful thing. And like I said, from the moment
Speaker 3: you walked in this, there's such a piece and ease
Speaker 3: about you in an industry where people can get jaded. Yeah,
Speaker 3: people can get ruffled, they get flustered. Yeah, how have
Speaker 3: you kept that piece and composure for yourself?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 3: Where where's that coming from?
Speaker 1: Really?
Speaker 2: Like just my goals and this shit. I have my
Speaker 2: own personal goals and I've reached a lot of my
Speaker 2: old goals that I was trying to do, and I
Speaker 2: reached them by being myself and doing exactly what I
Speaker 2: wanted to do and how I wanted to do it. So,
Speaker 2: you know, knowing that that's possible and seeing that it
Speaker 2: doesn't make me want to rush to the next point
Speaker 2: or the next situation I'm comfortable waiting for what's mine
Speaker 2: and you know, just seeing how everything plays out as
Speaker 2: opposed to, you know, trying to make it be somebody
Speaker 2: else's story. Like I feel like my whole story and
Speaker 2: everything as far as my life, if I see it,
Speaker 2: I wanted it, It's just a matter of time until
Speaker 2: I get it. So you know, I'll just wait that
Speaker 2: on a time and you know, just keep just stay
Speaker 2: down and just you know, just be very very like
Speaker 2: have a lot of gratitude for where I'm at and
Speaker 2: what I've done so far. And even when I was
Speaker 2: coming up, I was really really happy with what I had.
Speaker 2: So the more and more that I started to get,
Speaker 2: it wasn't because I wasn't happy where I was at
Speaker 2: and I had to get more. It was just because
Speaker 2: I was so happy. It just, you know, just kept
Speaker 2: turning into more and more. So I just keep it
Speaker 2: like that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a beautiful quote that says when you're grateful
Speaker 3: for what you have, you'll receive more to be grateful for.
Speaker 3: And I think it's true that gratitude expands. But it's
Speaker 3: beautiful hearing you said that. Did you learn that from anyone?
Speaker 3: Did anyone teach you mental you guide you or is
Speaker 3: this an internal thing that's kind of evolved over time.
Speaker 2: This is definitely some internal that's evolved over time, and
Speaker 2: it's like gotten me really really far dealing with people
Speaker 2: in business, or dealing with the law, or dealing with
Speaker 2: just different personalities in general, as far as like just
Speaker 2: getting what I want creatively and not you know, freaking
Speaker 2: losing my mind, and you know, just being able to
Speaker 2: talk to people and have clear conversations with an understanding
Speaker 2: of you know, what works, what's real and what's not
Speaker 2: and what we can make real.
Speaker 3: Hey, I'm Jay Chetty and I wanted to invite you
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Speaker 3: require massive overhauls. It's about making small, intentional shifts that
Speaker 3: can lead to big results. This workshop is more than
Speaker 3: just learning, it's about doing. I'll be guiding you through
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Speaker 3: to www dot renew you workshop dot com to access
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Speaker 3: not just lived, but truly loved. See you there. What's
Speaker 3: been the hardest conversation you've ever had to have with someone?
Speaker 2: The hardest conversation I've ever had to have with someone.
Speaker 2: I think the toughest conversations that I have to have
Speaker 2: are when I.
Speaker 1: Have to explain my ideas.
Speaker 2: Because because I'm so hyped up about it, like before
Speaker 2: it starts before I verbalize it, and then as soon
Speaker 2: as I start to say it, I just feel like
Speaker 2: the level of intensity of it just comes down. I'd
Speaker 2: rather just do shit sometimes and like just show you
Speaker 2: and like what I learned, you know, by working with
Speaker 2: so many other people, how valuable it is to like
Speaker 2: have a team. So I learned how to be able
Speaker 2: to express, you know, what I'm thinking and have that
Speaker 2: go through a whole process and then we make it real.
Speaker 3: That's so true, man. I feel like that sometimes that
Speaker 3: you can see it in your head. Yeah, but then
Speaker 3: you're like, you can't press play on the projector and
Speaker 3: then it comes out, and so when you explain it,
Speaker 3: everyone's looking at you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're crazy, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3: And you are right. Sometimes I do feel we live
Speaker 3: in a time in an industry where people have heard
Speaker 3: so many ideas that until you see something, you don't
Speaker 3: even understand it, right. And I feel like when you
Speaker 3: look at music or you look at movies or film,
Speaker 3: more TV or whatever it is when you watch something like,
Speaker 3: oh that was amazing, but like someone when they talked
Speaker 3: about it, no one wanted to buy it. Right, did
Speaker 3: you find that record labels and people that you've worked
Speaker 3: to the music always understood you immediately or no, you
Speaker 3: kind of had to go prove and shows.
Speaker 2: Oh man, they didn't know what to do with me.
Speaker 2: There was no clue what to do with me early on.
Speaker 2: That's why I lost my first record deal because when
Speaker 2: I came in, the song was really good and it
Speaker 2: was a sample from a popular song that people, you know,
Speaker 2: was really recognizable. But after that it was like, well,
Speaker 2: what do you do? Do you make like five more
Speaker 2: of these songs or like what are we going to do?
Speaker 2: And they really didn't understand like me being from Pittsburgh,
Speaker 2: me smoking, me being lyrical, me, you know, being a
Speaker 2: cross between like you know, really really hard hip hop
Speaker 2: culture but then like really cool, trippy hippie skating you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying, earth them up too, Like there
Speaker 2: was no cross between that at the time, Like you
Speaker 2: really have to be like big white tea like chain,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying, So like a lot of
Speaker 2: labels didn't understand what to do with me. And it
Speaker 2: wasn't until you know, I built my fan base of
Speaker 2: people who believe the same thing that I believe in,
Speaker 2: and I was able to you know, travel and do
Speaker 2: shows and then they would come and see the show
Speaker 2: and they'd be like, these mothers are going.
Speaker 1: Crazy over this dude.
Speaker 2: Like it doesn't matter what we say or what we
Speaker 2: think is dope, it's obviously you know there. And I
Speaker 2: feel like that whole format, you know, has been done
Speaker 2: a lot, like especially in rock and roll and pop music,
Speaker 2: where the act will be bigger in real life than
Speaker 2: they are, you know what I mean to other people,
Speaker 2: Like they're bigger in real life than they are like
Speaker 2: to hype, like as far as the hype goes. Once
Speaker 2: they started to see that, that was my situation and
Speaker 2: that's when people started to pick up on me.
Speaker 3: Was that the way you built this audience that understood you?
Speaker 3: Was it performing live? Do you feel like that was
Speaker 3: the significant part for you in creating this amazing connection
Speaker 3: you have with your audience.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, performing live, going to a lot of different
Speaker 2: colleges and festivals before they were as big as they
Speaker 2: are now, Like stuff like south By Southwest and the
Speaker 2: really like grassroots underground stuff is like what built you know, us?
Speaker 2: And we packed into a van and just went on
Speaker 2: our own tours, just up and down and just drove ourselves.
Speaker 2: And then on top of that, YouTube had just came around,
Speaker 2: so you know, I was recording myself and putting my
Speaker 2: vlogs on YouTube. I call it a day to day
Speaker 2: and I still do these to this day. They're like
Speaker 2: a compilation vlog of like a week in my life.
Speaker 2: I just started doing it because I was like, my
Speaker 2: life is so crazy, nobody sees it, and it's so
Speaker 2: much fun, and there's so much like stuff that goes on.
Speaker 2: I was like, so I might as well turn it
Speaker 2: into like you know what I mean, a little ten
Speaker 2: minutes short.
Speaker 1: And it worked. It worked a lot.
Speaker 2: It helped sell a lot of merch, it helped sell
Speaker 2: a lot of tickets, and helped build a really consistent
Speaker 2: fan base of people who are still here to this day.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Do you remember any of those trips some places you
Speaker 3: went to where something crazy happened that you call on camera.
Speaker 1: Man, it's all on camera, so you can see that
Speaker 1: stands out to you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think like there's really classic episodes.
Speaker 2: There's like an Australian tour with me and Asap Rocky.
Speaker 2: You see like me and j Cole in his early days.
Speaker 2: You see me in Currency in our early days. You
Speaker 2: see a lot of artists. You see me and Kendrick
Speaker 2: in his early days. You see me with Nipsey Hustle. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you see like the whole community of people who we
Speaker 2: really came up with, who were like OG's in the
Speaker 2: game now. But this really classic footage of us when
Speaker 2: we all just started out.
Speaker 1: Mac Miller, a lot of people.
Speaker 2: Everybody, man, everybody who you listen to now was was
Speaker 2: in those day to days.
Speaker 3: Like originally, how did you guys will meet each other
Speaker 3: back then? Like how did you connect? Yeah, guess there
Speaker 3: was no Instagram m maybe there was, maybe there was.
Speaker 2: No We would connect through Twitter. Yeah, Twitter was the
Speaker 2: vibe back then. There was no IG. We weren't like
Speaker 2: DM and each other on there, but we would connect
Speaker 2: through Twitter and clothing if anybody needed clothes or weed,
Speaker 2: Like we would all hit up the same people's for clothes,
Speaker 2: weed and you know, just vibes and stuff like that,
Speaker 2: and we just all clicked and as we started to
Speaker 2: like take off on different levels. We would just bring
Speaker 2: each other with us based off of who we you know,
Speaker 2: not really like the most, but were who we were
Speaker 2: closest knit with at the time or who had made
Speaker 2: the most sense with.
Speaker 3: Like watching Kendrick then and Kendrick now.
Speaker 2: It's really dope watching Kendrick then and then now because
Speaker 2: we all came up together, so we were all doing
Speaker 2: the same things, we were all speaking to the same crowd,
Speaker 2: and we were at different levels in our career. And
Speaker 2: I just remember performance wise, Kendrick will kind of like
Speaker 2: scream on stage, like he didn't sound like he did
Speaker 2: on the record, But now he's like one of the
Speaker 2: best performers and he's like one of the you know
Speaker 2: what I'm saying, the guys really carrying it for our generation.
Speaker 2: So to see him like just jump up levels and
Speaker 2: levels and levels through like.
Speaker 1: Hard work and branding and you know.
Speaker 2: Just being around the right people at the right times,
Speaker 2: bringing people along with him like Baby.
Speaker 1: King and all of them.
Speaker 2: Like you know what I'm saying, He's just really doing
Speaker 2: every move to the t of how you're supposed to
Speaker 2: do it.
Speaker 3: And how's j Cole evolved as well.
Speaker 1: Cole is the same thing.
Speaker 2: It's like, you know, we all started out just the homies,
Speaker 2: like trying to get a verse on each other's tapes,
Speaker 2: and now dudes are like elite rappers up there, you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. And it's like, it's cool to
Speaker 2: see him have his own festival. It's cool to see
Speaker 2: like he doesn't have to do as much work throughout
Speaker 2: the year, but when he does drop, people pay attention
Speaker 2: how they're supposed to. He does great tours and like
Speaker 2: as a as a performance artist and as a substance artist,
Speaker 2: I feel like he has a type of career like
Speaker 2: that's all you can ask for.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's powerful. What does it feel like you were
Speaker 3: saying there? Like in some ways things have changed, Like
Speaker 3: what's changed for up and coming artists today? And what
Speaker 3: are they doing right? What they're doing wrong? How would
Speaker 3: you advise someone if you were starting out from scratch?
Speaker 3: Yeah today again, how would you approach your career differently
Speaker 3: or in the same way.
Speaker 1: I think that there's levels to it.
Speaker 2: I think that a lot of people aim for, like
Speaker 2: the surface level where it's like you get one or
Speaker 2: two things and you're good, and that's what takes you
Speaker 2: to the top, but usually that works against you because
Speaker 2: you'll have that spike, but then you'll go back down
Speaker 2: and you'll have to go back up again. It's really
Speaker 2: difficult to have that spike and to have that feeling
Speaker 2: of validation and like oh yeah, everybody's doing me and
Speaker 2: blah blah blah and then boom y'or not with you,
Speaker 2: and then you got to try to do something to
Speaker 2: get them back on your team. So, you know, a
Speaker 2: lot of people are gonna want to go that route,
Speaker 2: but it has a lot of negatives that come with
Speaker 2: it on the back end. And it's a really good
Speaker 2: time for artists to, you know, cultivate a real fan base,
Speaker 2: whether it be in front of people's eyes or whether
Speaker 2: it be behind the scenes. It's a really great time
Speaker 2: to cultivate a fan base of people that understand you,
Speaker 2: understand your slanging and how you dress and what your
Speaker 2: lifestyle is about, and really push that to the forefront.
Speaker 2: Let that slowly build and eventually, whether it's a year,
Speaker 2: two years, three years, or five years, you know, you're
Speaker 2: always making a little bit of progress here here or there,
Speaker 2: and wherever you land at, you're gonna permanently be there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, there's a lot of people today who get
Speaker 3: told you've only got twelve months. You had your hit,
Speaker 3: You've got twelve months to make as much money off
Speaker 3: of you as possible. Like a lot of people hear that, like, hey, look,
Speaker 3: your career is not going to be that long. Let's
Speaker 3: make the most we can. What would you say to
Speaker 3: someone who feels that fear themselves or gets told that, like, hey, look,
Speaker 3: you had one hit. Let's just you know, crush this peak.
Speaker 1: If somebody tells you that.
Speaker 2: You better get some drugs and start selling them, use
Speaker 2: that money, flip it, nah, get some real estate, because
Speaker 2: I mean, like somebody who only has a year planning
Speaker 2: in you and they're like, yo, you're only gonna be
Speaker 2: here for this amount of time.
Speaker 1: They're gonna move on.
Speaker 2: They're gonna to find other artists or you know, different
Speaker 2: people to represent, and you're going to be asked out.
Speaker 2: Like so, any artist or any personality who somebody is
Speaker 2: already talking about like the limit of the lifespan of
Speaker 2: their career, they should definitely be worried and not try
Speaker 2: to race to you know, do the most in that
Speaker 2: amount of time, but to try to figure out how
Speaker 2: to extend that lifespan. So let's take what that person
Speaker 2: just told you and let's try to figure out, you know,
Speaker 2: what the next five years looks like instead of the
Speaker 2: you know, next twelve months.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's good advice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3: How far into the future do you look when you're
Speaker 3: planning music, work, life.
Speaker 1: I always try to look at least five or ten
Speaker 1: years in event.
Speaker 3: Yeah, how different is where you are today from where
Speaker 3: you looked at where you'd be five to ten years ago.
Speaker 2: I'm doing way better business wise than I've ever done,
Speaker 2: not just making money but managing money, and I feel
Speaker 2: like I'm getting better and better at that, and you know,
Speaker 2: that's what's gonna take me, you know, into the future
Speaker 2: as well. It's not only just you know, the making
Speaker 2: of the money, but the money management.
Speaker 3: What have been your best moves in money management or
Speaker 3: business that you think people could learn from.
Speaker 2: My best moves in business is just being accountable for everything.
Speaker 2: I think in rap music we get so caught up
Speaker 2: on the lifestyle and we're like I have to have this,
Speaker 2: or if it's a new truck, I'm buying that, or
Speaker 2: but me, I'm more like.
Speaker 1: I'm only going to spend this much on clothes this month.
Speaker 2: You know, if I want a new car, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: wait a year and a half until I get it,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. Or I'm going to move
Speaker 2: money from this account to spend on this, so this
Speaker 2: is here and that there, and you know, we could
Speaker 2: still pay for tour, and you know, how much are
Speaker 2: we spinning on tour, how much are we making off
Speaker 2: of tour? How much comes in off of merch on
Speaker 2: top of the other businesses and things like that. But
Speaker 2: really the money management, like the everyday type of spending
Speaker 2: where it's like, you know, you could get carried away
Speaker 2: buying too many clothes or you know, getting too many
Speaker 2: nice rooms or you know what I mean. And I
Speaker 2: have a lot of luxuries that come in my life,
Speaker 2: but I could also do without a lot of that
Speaker 2: stuff too, So the unnecessary stuff and knowing what the
Speaker 2: stuff that is not really needed, paying attention to that,
Speaker 2: not letting just those things just slim through the cracks
Speaker 2: because they all add up and shit. So I think
Speaker 2: just being way more conscious of that type of stuff.
Speaker 3: Yeah, did you learn that the hard way because you
Speaker 3: were overspending or did you learn that because you saw
Speaker 3: other people before you were overspending.
Speaker 2: Luckily, I didn't get to a point where I overspun
Speaker 2: or overspent. I just receive large ass amounts of money
Speaker 2: and with that comes advice, and you know, so it's
Speaker 2: like yearly or quarterly. You know, we need to have
Speaker 2: these conversations where it's like, this is what the money
Speaker 2: looks like. We had to spend for this because of that,
Speaker 2: or you know, you had a little bit of fun
Speaker 2: spending this, so let's just bring it back on this, this,
Speaker 2: that and the other thing. And just throughout time of
Speaker 2: having those conversations, you start to figure out where the
Speaker 2: unnecessary spending and the problems come from. Or even if
Speaker 2: you start to create little different issues, you'd be like, Okay,
Speaker 2: this isn't really working in our favor, so we need
Speaker 2: to wiggle out of this. And you know, even if
Speaker 2: it's spending this big chunk over here, that's going to
Speaker 2: take away from the continuous spending, that's kind of like
Speaker 2: bleeding and taking away. So just to learn that and
Speaker 2: have that visual in my head, you know, while I'm
Speaker 2: making decisions.
Speaker 1: A lot of people don't.
Speaker 2: They feel like they're being controlled if somebody's telling them that.
Speaker 2: But for me, it's a choice it's like, do you
Speaker 2: want to be broke twenty years from now or do
Speaker 2: you want to be having more money.
Speaker 1: Twenty years from now? All right, well this is how
Speaker 1: you do it.
Speaker 3: So yeah, good advice, man, it makes sense, and it's
Speaker 3: hard to do in the moment because you just you
Speaker 3: want to get that thing or you want to buy
Speaker 3: that thing, and it applies across the board. What's the
Speaker 3: dumbest thing you ever bought? Now you look back, I
Speaker 3: thought that.
Speaker 1: Was dumb, man. I don't think it was ever like
Speaker 1: one dumb thing.
Speaker 2: I just used to be dumb how I bought stuff
Speaker 2: Like I would see anything and just like it and
Speaker 2: buy it. It didn't matter how much it cause if
Speaker 2: it was a car I wanted it, I would buy.
Speaker 1: It like right then and there.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it be a watch or something like that. And
Speaker 2: like a lot of these watches I don't even have
Speaker 2: no more.
Speaker 3: So it's like gave them away or sold.
Speaker 1: Them, sold, gave away lost.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and what was the best investment you've ever made?
Speaker 2: It'd probably be like some stocks or it's like some
Speaker 2: you know, like a percentage of a business that I've
Speaker 2: invested in. Yeah, I've had multiple, but there's some really
Speaker 2: good ones that you know, I put some money into that,
Speaker 2: it's going to come back and in some really good ways.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I hope people get inspired by hearing you talk
Speaker 3: about how sometimes you got to put off those big purchases,
Speaker 3: wait a year for that car, because I think when
Speaker 3: when we're young, especially and you come into even a
Speaker 3: little bit of money, which feels like a lot of money,
Speaker 3: it's so easy to spend and just get carried away.
Speaker 3: And especially now, I feel like with all of us
Speaker 3: just ordering things off of Amazon and everything else all day,
Speaker 3: it's like you have no idea how much money you spent.
Speaker 3: Oh for sure, it's so easy.
Speaker 2: It's just super easy to look up and you know,
Speaker 2: however much just be gone. And when it's gone, is gone.
Speaker 2: And to me, like I feel like you have to
Speaker 2: go through that. You have to really feel that and
Speaker 2: understand it. And whatever you know you believe in, I
Speaker 2: believe in God. So it's like that's God telling me like, Okay,
Speaker 2: you spent this much, it's gone. You're gonna get more,
Speaker 2: but you need to deal with the feeling of you
Speaker 2: having it and it being gone, and then now we'll
Speaker 2: see what getting more feels like. But some people when
Speaker 2: they have it and it's over with, they don't even
Speaker 2: know what that bounce back feels like or it looks like.
Speaker 2: So you know, unfortunately the best way to learn is
Speaker 2: to go through it. Yeah, but yeah, yeah, but afterwards,
Speaker 2: like you know, it's on you after that, like you're
Speaker 2: gonna keep doing the same thing over and over or
Speaker 2: you're gonna learn from you know what happened?
Speaker 3: Is what does your relationship with God look like?
Speaker 2: My relationship with God is the shit I pray all
Speaker 2: the time. I thank God all the time. Yeah, a
Speaker 2: lot of people, there's certain people who don't feel like
Speaker 2: God is like a higher power or anything like that.
Speaker 2: But I like to just imagine that my God is
Speaker 2: just like chilling up in the sky, like with a big,
Speaker 2: deep voice. The sun could be going down and I
Speaker 2: could be driving and the Hotel California could be on
Speaker 2: I'd be like, thank you God, like you know what
Speaker 2: I mean, because like the situation just feels right.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, And what does God say to you in
Speaker 3: God's deep voice.
Speaker 1: You're welcome, You're supposed to have this?
Speaker 3: Has that always been there since you were young? Or
Speaker 3: that it's come with time as well?
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely since I was a teenager, definitely, since I
Speaker 2: was like I can remember, you know, being in like ninth.
Speaker 1: Tenth, no, probably even like eighth grade.
Speaker 2: Just praying every night, thanking God for a wonderful day,
Speaker 2: asking him to bless everybody that I care for. Yeah,
Speaker 2: just like really cool stuff, like just normal, normal ass
Speaker 2: shit that I want the world to feel.
Speaker 3: What would you pray for? What else apart from other people.
Speaker 1: To be safe? I was.
Speaker 2: I was in a crazy ass place when I lived
Speaker 2: in Pittsburgh. So I definitely asked for like that that safety.
Speaker 2: The older I get, you know, I asked for like
Speaker 2: patience and understanding and things like that.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: So just really shit, that's not regular, that's that's pretty Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 3: how unsafe was it where you were in Pittsburgh?
Speaker 2: It's super unsafe in Pittsburgh, man, Like the streets is
Speaker 2: crazy out there. Friends of mine started getting murdered when
Speaker 2: I was in like seventh grade, Like I remember like
Speaker 2: one of my first friends getting shot and killed in
Speaker 2: seventh grade.
Speaker 3: Wow, And then when did you leave Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2: I came to Pittsburgh permanently when I was in middle school,
Speaker 2: and I stayed throughout high school. I probably didn't dip
Speaker 2: until I was like twenty three years old.
Speaker 3: Right, because you moved around a lot growing up, right,
Speaker 3: at least as far as I swab.
Speaker 2: Yeah, every two years, as I would bounce around, and
Speaker 2: my mom was always in Pittsburgh. So I would go
Speaker 2: live with my dad for two years, and then I
Speaker 2: will come back to Pittsburgh. Then I will go live
Speaker 2: with my dad, and then I will come back to Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2: So I was in Pittsburgh in third grade, and I
Speaker 2: was also there for middle school, and then I came
Speaker 2: back from high school. And then other than that, I
Speaker 2: live like in Oklahoma, South Carolina, Japan. Yeah, those were
Speaker 2: a couple of what was your favorite place? I think
Speaker 2: Japan was my favorite place.
Speaker 3: How old were you when you're in Japan?
Speaker 1: I was in like fifth and sixth grade, Okay, yeah.
Speaker 3: What was that like? I mean Japan at that time,
Speaker 3: but now I feel like everyone's like, Japan's the place
Speaker 3: to go.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's cool when you're like exploring Japanese culture.
Speaker 2: But I just realized, like as an adult that that
Speaker 2: shit was kind of fucked up because it was like
Speaker 2: I'm living on an American base in Japan, right, And
Speaker 2: like just the concept of like Americans occupying Japan. It
Speaker 2: was like, you never find a Japanese base in America,
Speaker 2: but like we have the audacity to like go over
Speaker 2: there and just be like here here our base. We're
Speaker 2: going to operate as Americans. We're gonna send our kids
Speaker 2: to school here, don't teach them your language. Nothing is
Speaker 2: just going to act like America in Japan.
Speaker 1: So that's that's you.
Speaker 3: Never learned Japanese.
Speaker 2: I learned a little bit of Japanese, but it was
Speaker 2: like basic. It wasn't like really any like diving into
Speaker 2: the culture or anything like that. Like it's just you
Speaker 2: live on post and you travel from one base to
Speaker 2: another base, and that's pretty much what it was.
Speaker 3: How do you think that experience impacted you now? Like
Speaker 3: how is that childhood experience of moving around, darting around
Speaker 3: every two years to find who you are today?
Speaker 2: It was cool because I was able to just be
Speaker 2: a regular kid, and I was able to like meet
Speaker 2: friends and different groups of friends and run around and
Speaker 2: play and knock on doors and ride bikes and climb
Speaker 2: hills and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: So it was super chill. Man.
Speaker 2: It was fun just being normal and not really worrying
Speaker 2: about too much. I think the older that I got
Speaker 2: and the more settled that I got in Pittsburgh, that's
Speaker 2: when I started to like figure out, you know, who
Speaker 2: I wanted to be later in life. But in those
Speaker 2: early years, it was just all about like being a
Speaker 2: kid and just playing with my friends.
Speaker 3: When you saw all of that around you, how did
Speaker 3: you have? What gave you that feeling to dream and
Speaker 3: to want something more? When you're seeing like the violence
Speaker 3: around you, you're saying, it's a rough neighborhood. What's given
Speaker 3: you the ability to go there's more to life than this.
Speaker 2: I think it was just like knowing that I had
Speaker 2: talent with music. I always did music since I was younger.
Speaker 2: My uncles and my cousins were older than me. They
Speaker 2: were like, you know, fifteen, sixteen all the way up
Speaker 2: to almost like twenty years old, and I was like
Speaker 2: the baby.
Speaker 1: I'm thirteen years old.
Speaker 2: So I'm really kind of trying to do what they're doing,
Speaker 2: but I'm picking the parts that make the most sense
Speaker 2: for me. So it's like the gang banging and the
Speaker 2: drug selling and the guns and all that.
Speaker 1: Shit, like that's not really for me.
Speaker 2: But the looking cool they having girls, the getting money,
Speaker 2: the making music.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I like that part of it.
Speaker 2: So that's what I always really stuck to, like just
Speaker 2: even as a kid, like I was just like I'm
Speaker 2: gonna just do what I know is cool for me,
Speaker 2: which is just making music.
Speaker 1: And you know that's kind of like what led me
Speaker 1: on my path.
Speaker 3: Yeah, how could you? How did you stay away from
Speaker 3: all of the other things, because sometimes those can look
Speaker 3: cool when you're young, they can they can be attractive
Speaker 3: when you're.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I didn't really stay away from it.
Speaker 2: I definitely like, you know, the older that I got
Speaker 2: and the you know, the more fun I started to have,
Speaker 2: I kind of was in and out of that stuff.
Speaker 1: But it wasn't for me.
Speaker 2: You know, like just there's it's a lifestyle for some
Speaker 2: people and for a lot of those people, like they're
Speaker 2: still doing it now, and for me, it was just
Speaker 2: kind of like you know, being a kid or like
Speaker 2: a right right a passage type thing, or it's like
Speaker 2: product of my environment type stuff, you know, like the
Speaker 2: little stuff that I would get into. It's like I'm here,
Speaker 2: so you know, I'm getting down, Like I'm not gonna
Speaker 2: be the only one who's not down, you know, you
Speaker 2: grow out of that stuff too, and you learn from
Speaker 2: that stuff as well. So I learned from the things
Speaker 2: that I did do and I learned from the things
Speaker 2: I didn't do as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean now you're a father yourself. Yeah, how
Speaker 3: do you feel looking now from the perspective of being
Speaker 3: a dad. You've been a father to Sebastian for a
Speaker 3: while now, right, and then you just had a do
Speaker 3: a cadence I believed. Congratulations, thank you, and like what's
Speaker 3: it been like to be a father to Sebastian And
Speaker 3: then how is your views of fatherhood changing now that
Speaker 3: you've had a door.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been really good having Sebastian and having a boy,
Speaker 2: especially at his age.
Speaker 1: He's eleven now, and.
Speaker 2: There's just certain instincts that are starting to kick in,
Speaker 2: you know, where it's like he was a young boy.
Speaker 2: Now he's like, you know, a young man, and he's
Speaker 2: growing into a more of a young man. And every
Speaker 2: day really and just that programming of you know, life
Speaker 2: and discipline and being polite and you know, on top
Speaker 2: of you know, just every day stuff of like handling
Speaker 2: his emotions with his friends and things like that. It's
Speaker 2: a really like fun experience. Going through all of that
Speaker 2: with him because I'm able to remember what it was
Speaker 2: like for me as a kid. So instead of just
Speaker 2: like telling him the rules and what you should and
Speaker 2: shouldn't do, it's more like guiding him of you know,
Speaker 2: how to you know, navigate through these situations, which is
Speaker 2: really really fun.
Speaker 1: And I had that with my dad as well.
Speaker 2: He was always you know, there for me and talk
Speaker 2: to me about a lot and he was way more
Speaker 2: disciplinary than lenient. And I'm a super lenient parent with
Speaker 2: my son, but I'm also like really real with him,
Speaker 2: and he's able to be real with me and he's
Speaker 2: able to talk to me about, you know, real life things.
Speaker 2: And when I think about the stuff that I did
Speaker 2: when I was you know, coming up, no, by the
Speaker 2: time I was his age, I was doing a lot
Speaker 2: more stuff because, like I said, my uncles and my
Speaker 2: cousins were older. And I'm just thankful that I was
Speaker 2: able to have those experiences and know what's appropriate and
Speaker 2: what's right and what's not so I'm able to monitor
Speaker 2: what goes on with him and what will affect his
Speaker 2: behavior later. And then just having a baby girl, I
Speaker 2: think it just adds to it now because I'm able
Speaker 2: to just give all types of love, Like I got
Speaker 2: the tough love with my boy, and then I got
Speaker 2: like just the sweetness of having a daughter, which you
Speaker 2: know helps helps out a lot.
Speaker 3: Yeah, how do you think you're gonna shift your strategy
Speaker 3: as she grows up?
Speaker 2: I think I'm gonna do it pretty much the same,
Speaker 2: just like cater to her needs, like whatever she needs.
Speaker 2: If she's like super girly girl, then we're doing you know, ballet,
Speaker 2: and we're doing dance, and we're doing drama and we're
Speaker 2: doing all the girly stuff. And if she's a tough girl,
Speaker 2: then we're doing boxing and we're doing whatever else to
Speaker 2: rough her up.
Speaker 1: We do horseback riding, we do whatever we want to do.
Speaker 2: Like you know what I'm saying, there's no the sky's
Speaker 2: the limit, but you know, keep her active, keep her entertained,
Speaker 2: and just cater to her needs.
Speaker 3: What's Sebastian into right now? Like eleven year old, what's
Speaker 3: what's like his obsession?
Speaker 1: He loves basketball? Okay, yeah, he loves to play basketball.
Speaker 2: He's really just now learning like the fundamentals of it,
Speaker 2: but he's good at it. He's an athletic kid, and
Speaker 2: he's like it's good to see him like roughing around
Speaker 2: with the boys, like being one of the boys. They
Speaker 2: talk shit to each other, they get in each other's faces,
Speaker 2: and like they really get after it. So he's he's
Speaker 2: like gravitating towards basketball more than anything, just that and
Speaker 2: just being with the friend, being with his friends, like
Speaker 2: just being a kid.
Speaker 3: Were you any good at basketballs?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Hell yeah.
Speaker 2: I never had like like official training like what he's
Speaker 2: going through.
Speaker 1: But if I did, bro, I'd be so.
Speaker 2: Much better than I actually am, and I'm really really good,
Speaker 2: so I would be like, I'll be deadly if I.
Speaker 1: Knew how to do it. Well, he's learning right now, so.
Speaker 3: You could give him some points along the way, just.
Speaker 1: Like naturally you know what I'm saying. Hell yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 3: And you never did ballet or anything or anything?
Speaker 1: Nah noa, I never did that. I did like acting
Speaker 1: classes and shit like that.
Speaker 2: I was in like speech and drama and all of
Speaker 2: that shit, but never know dance though.
Speaker 3: Did that help speech and drama classes? How did that?
Speaker 1: I think that helped?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it helped a lot because it was like,
Speaker 2: you know, you learn how to project your voice and
Speaker 2: all of that stuff and you learn how to like.
Speaker 1: Hit qes on stage and you know, just kind.
Speaker 2: Of like get outside of yourself in front of people
Speaker 2: where you're still yourself, but then you're like outside of yourself.
Speaker 1: I definitely think that helped for my performance.
Speaker 3: If Sebastian came up to him, was like, I want
Speaker 3: to be a rapper. Two Yeah, what would you say
Speaker 3: to him, Let's go studios downstairs? What advice would you
Speaker 3: have for him to find his voice.
Speaker 2: Studios downstairs, just get it then get in there and
Speaker 2: start wrapping.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, would.
Speaker 3: You want that or you're kind of open to whatever.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wouldn't mind, especially the way that I'm implemented
Speaker 2: in the game, Like I do what I want to do.
Speaker 2: I'm not like nobody controls me, nobody tells nobody is
Speaker 2: like working me harder than I need to be worked
Speaker 2: or anything. So I see the same vision for him,
Speaker 2: especially in the age that we're in. So it's like,
Speaker 2: if you're going to be an artist, you're gonna be
Speaker 2: in complete control of everything.
Speaker 1: So it starts now. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3: The team was saying that you plan a lot of
Speaker 3: your life around him. Yeah, And they were saying that
Speaker 3: like sports games, and things like that, Like you've really
Speaker 3: taken that idea of an art should be in control
Speaker 3: of their own life. Yeah, like walk us through that mentality,
Speaker 3: that mindset.
Speaker 2: A lot of people focus so much on their work
Speaker 2: and they think like that the work is going to
Speaker 2: come to an end at some point or they have
Speaker 2: to sacrifice things that are important for work, and I
Speaker 2: believe the opposite. I think I should sacrifice work for
Speaker 2: my family and it should just be the other way
Speaker 2: around because of how much that work and how fortunate
Speaker 2: I am to be in a situation where I put
Speaker 2: in a lot of work. I've done a lot of things,
Speaker 2: so I don't have to, you know, feel this sense
Speaker 2: of urgency that things aren't going to go my way
Speaker 2: if I miss out on something, or if I you know,
Speaker 2: speak up and just try to make sure that everything
Speaker 2: works out hard.
Speaker 1: I would rather at work.
Speaker 2: And you know, I had the point in my life
Speaker 2: where I would be in a studio every day, or
Speaker 2: I would be you know, a different country every day,
Speaker 2: or I would be you know, a show fitting assigning
Speaker 2: TV appearance, blah blah blah. I would do all of
Speaker 2: these things back to back to back to back to back,
Speaker 2: so I've done that already, but now it's more important
Speaker 2: for me to just wake up, work out, spend time
Speaker 2: with my family, make sure that he is at his
Speaker 2: best because he needs to go to practice. He needs
Speaker 2: to train every day for him to be successful later
Speaker 2: on in life. And if I'm not there to like
Speaker 2: motivate that, either he's going to get it from somebody
Speaker 2: else I don't know who, or it's just not going
Speaker 2: to happen at all. And that's my job right now
Speaker 2: is to make sure that he's successful. So, you know,
Speaker 2: if I miss this or if that doesn't, you know,
Speaker 2: go the way that it's supposed to. I'm cool with
Speaker 2: that because in the end, he's going to get to
Speaker 2: be as successful as he needs to be.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's beautiful, man, because I feel like there's such
Speaker 3: a it's wonderful to hear, because I feel like we're
Speaker 3: living at a time where there's such a pressure to
Speaker 3: constantly be relevant, to constantly keep up with, you know,
Speaker 3: what everyone's doing. And now you've got a million platforms
Speaker 3: to stay relevant on and everyone's doing this and that,
Speaker 3: and so it sounds like you've created like a healthy
Speaker 3: detachment between who you are at your work and who
Speaker 3: you are at home. Yeah, and that's that's quite a
Speaker 3: beautiful thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I see that better working out long term.
Speaker 2: Like I said, I look like five ten years into
Speaker 2: the future and me chilling and me and my family
Speaker 2: seems way more realistic than me like ripping and running
Speaker 2: around still, so I might as well get used to it.
Speaker 3: Did you feel your dad was super involved in that
Speaker 3: way as well, you were saying earlier.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, absolutely, my dad was super involved with me,
Speaker 2: especially like through my teenage years. A lot of my
Speaker 2: time that I spent like early in the studios with
Speaker 2: my dad because he built a studio and was running it.
Speaker 2: He didn't know about music and he didn't know about
Speaker 2: any of that stuff, but I told him I was
Speaker 2: into it, and he built a studio and was like,
Speaker 2: all right, learn how to use the equipment, start writing songs,
Speaker 2: put an album out, do this, do that, And I
Speaker 2: did it all and he was like damn, I know.
Speaker 1: He was really going to do it. I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is what I want to do.
Speaker 2: So like just through you know, seeing how important him
Speaker 2: being involved with what I was passionate about took me
Speaker 2: to the level that I'm at. It lets me know,
Speaker 2: like whatever my son and my daughter are passionate about.
Speaker 2: I have to experience those things with him. I can't
Speaker 2: just give them money and provide it for them. I
Speaker 2: have to actually do it with them. And that's gonna
Speaker 2: make a hell of a difference.
Speaker 3: Yeah, how does your dad feel about seeing you out?
Speaker 2: My dad loves it, man, He's like in awe like
Speaker 2: all the time, and I think out of everything. He
Speaker 2: understands like how hard I work too, and he's really
Speaker 2: proud of it. Sometimes he gets a little bit worried,
Speaker 2: like he's like, is this too much? Like you know
Speaker 2: what I mean, Like, I know you do a lot.
Speaker 2: I'm like, no, it's cool on Bill for this, Like
Speaker 2: this is what I do. So he sees how much
Speaker 2: I work, and he sees how much effort I put in,
Speaker 2: like constantly.
Speaker 1: But he's really proud of me.
Speaker 3: And what's someone you learned from your mom?
Speaker 1: The value of family? Yeah?
Speaker 2: My mom taught me the value of family. She always
Speaker 2: kept me around my family members. She came me around
Speaker 2: my cousins, my aunts, my granddad. She even keeps me
Speaker 2: around my dad's side of the family. And they got
Speaker 2: divorced when I was two years old, but she still
Speaker 2: hangs out with my dad's sisters, my aunts, my cousins
Speaker 2: and all that on their side. So she keeps me
Speaker 2: in touch with them, she keeps my kids in touch
Speaker 2: with them. She does the whole genealogy of.
Speaker 1: The whole family.
Speaker 2: Like my mother is so family oriented, and that like
Speaker 2: rubbed off on me as well.
Speaker 3: That's beautiful. Well, what's a misconception you think people have
Speaker 3: about you? If they have one or two?
Speaker 2: I don't think at this point there is any misconceptions.
Speaker 2: I think there's just like learning more about me. I
Speaker 2: think that the more people learn about me, the more
Speaker 2: they see like how chill, how educated, how well spoken,
Speaker 2: and like thought out a lot of things that I
Speaker 2: do are and they start to really understand why the
Speaker 2: people who love me, you know, whether it's my music
Speaker 2: or I change your life in whatever way, they start
Speaker 2: to understand like where that comes from.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what's something about you that people may not know
Speaker 3: that you'd like them to understand?
Speaker 2: Along those lines, I think right now, I just want
Speaker 2: people to know, like how you said, like how detached
Speaker 2: I am from the whole success world. Like I'm cool
Speaker 2: with it, but like that's not the goal and it's
Speaker 2: not a lot of people say like, oh, well, you
Speaker 2: have money, so it's easy for you to say that.
Speaker 2: But I think you just reach certain points in your
Speaker 2: life where different things are important no matter how much
Speaker 2: money you have. And you know, some people, I'm thirty
Speaker 2: seven years old. Some people reach my age and this
Speaker 2: is the time that they start their business and they're like,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go hard and I'm gonna build my empire. Now,
Speaker 2: I was just lucky to have got a head started
Speaker 2: my twenties build my empire. And now I really understand, like,
Speaker 2: you know, how to sustain it and maintain it and
Speaker 2: keep it going for the next ten twenty years. And
Speaker 2: those are the things is that I'm really really working on,
Speaker 2: along with the music, you know, which is super duper important.
Speaker 2: But it's really just about like making this thing last.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think you're right. I don't think it's
Speaker 3: about how much money you do or during have. I
Speaker 3: think anything can become a drug and you can get
Speaker 3: addicted to me.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And I remember, you know, Kevin Hart was sitting in
Speaker 3: that chair and he was talking about how success became
Speaker 3: a drug for him. He was just addicted to more
Speaker 3: and more of it. And so it's easy for you
Speaker 3: to get addicted and obsessed just and you're actually saying, well, actually,
Speaker 3: I don't want to get addicted.
Speaker 1: No, yeah, No, it's my work. It's my job.
Speaker 2: It's what I'm really really good at, and I don't
Speaker 2: never want to give that up for you know, the
Speaker 2: normal life or anything like that. But I do value
Speaker 2: my normal life as much as I value you know,
Speaker 2: the I value the thirty thousand people on stage, But
Speaker 2: I also value being in my bed alone at night
Speaker 2: when the lights are off.
Speaker 1: But I love it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I I appreciate that, And I think we need
Speaker 3: more of that healthy thinking because I think if you
Speaker 3: only like one or the other, yeah, or if you
Speaker 3: start to detest one or the other, that's when it
Speaker 3: starts to get scary. Like a lot of people love
Speaker 3: being in the audience, they don't like being alone. For
Speaker 3: a lot of people like, oh god, I hate being
Speaker 3: with the fans now and I love being alone. And
Speaker 3: I think both of those can lead to a lot
Speaker 3: of like pain into it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you have to work on both, and when you
Speaker 2: know what you're here for, you know which time is
Speaker 2: to do which one. I spend a lot of time
Speaker 2: working on the other side of it. To where I
Speaker 2: love my job and I love what I do, and
Speaker 2: I'm very grateful to be able to make the amounts
Speaker 2: of money doing what I do. But that's not everything
Speaker 2: to me. I work as hard on my personal life
Speaker 2: as I do on that side of it. I'm in
Speaker 2: the you know, if I'm in the studio twelve hours,
Speaker 2: or if I'm on a plane, you know, sixteen hours,
Speaker 2: and I barely get any sleep, and I don't eat,
Speaker 2: and I do promo and I do a great show,
Speaker 2: and I do a meet and greet and I smile
Speaker 2: and I take everybody's picture.
Speaker 1: That's all part of the game.
Speaker 2: That's me going hard to make sure that that part
Speaker 2: of it lasts. When I'm by myself, I'm waking up,
Speaker 2: you know, at a good at a decent time. I'm
Speaker 2: going to sleep at a decent time. I'm working out,
Speaker 2: I'm spending these certain hours. I do yoga, you know,
Speaker 2: there's just certain things that go with the process. And then,
Speaker 2: like you said, planning things around my kids. So it's
Speaker 2: like I'm making sure that I'm spending this family time
Speaker 2: where it's not they're getting the short end of the
Speaker 2: stick off of anything. So I'm working passionately and hard
Speaker 2: on my normal life the same way that I do
Speaker 2: and you know, my professional life, and sometimes it takes
Speaker 2: more energy in the normal life than it does in
Speaker 2: a professional life.
Speaker 3: I agree with you. Yeah, sometimes it's easy to be
Speaker 3: disciplined at what right it's actually shot up for your family,
Speaker 3: and being disciplined at our right right wwise a whole
Speaker 3: other thing.
Speaker 2: And a lot of people they run from that because
Speaker 2: it's easier to you know, just put all the put
Speaker 2: all the guilt and responsibility.
Speaker 1: Oh, I gotta work, it's my job. It's this.
Speaker 2: It's easy for you to do that. It takes some time,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. You know, be a little
Speaker 2: bit nervous, be a little bit uncomfortable, be a little
Speaker 2: bit bored, but you're not going to be bored if
Speaker 2: you're around people you love, Like I'm never bored around
Speaker 2: my kids. But you know, take be passionate about your
Speaker 2: normal life as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it sounds like you have so much older and
Speaker 3: discipline in your life. And when I'm hearing that, I'm like,
Speaker 3: sounds like everything's very structured and organized and intentional. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's not like this random light.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not random at all.
Speaker 3: Every day is very regiment Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's definitely regimented. You know.
Speaker 2: I look at my schedule regularly. I'm updating the schedule regularly,
Speaker 2: and it just really built to make me happy. Like
Speaker 2: I'm cool with everything that I have to do as
Speaker 2: long as I'm happy, Like you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 2: And if we talk about it and we arrange it
Speaker 2: and we put it in all the times that it's
Speaker 2: supposed to be, I'll be really really happy and I
Speaker 2: would love to do it. But when things start coming
Speaker 2: out of left field and you have your idea of
Speaker 2: what an appropriate time is, he didn't run that by
Speaker 2: each other. Like, that's not going to make me happy
Speaker 2: to do this. And I'm doing this because I love it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I saw your Men's health video with the MMA. Ye,
Speaker 3: it has become your fascination and I guess you workout
Speaker 3: routine for a couple of years now. I feel where
Speaker 3: did that start and how did that come about?
Speaker 2: A lot of my my big homies were getting and
Speaker 2: when I say big homies, I mean security. They were
Speaker 2: getting into MMA and doing jiu jitsu and just martial
Speaker 2: arts and just meeting all types of people. And this
Speaker 2: was like almost ten years ago, and they were just
Speaker 2: telling me like, bro, this is the next wave, like
Speaker 2: everybody's about to be doing this, blah blah blah, this's
Speaker 2: that and the other thing.
Speaker 1: You got to get into it. You got to get
Speaker 1: into it.
Speaker 2: I'm like, yeah, it's cool, but you know, I'd rather, like,
Speaker 2: you know, smoke weed and be in the studio, like
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. But as soon as I
Speaker 2: started working out, I just developed like a passion for it,
Speaker 2: like out of nowhere. And it didn't make me slow
Speaker 2: down smoking any like I was able to like still
Speaker 2: get stoned. But I love training and I love working out,
Speaker 2: and I love like learning new things. So it just
Speaker 2: just kept building on top of each other, just building
Speaker 2: and building, and then I just you know, started to
Speaker 2: develop some skills that you know, we're still sharpening to
Speaker 2: this day.
Speaker 3: Do you go to watch as well or you just
Speaker 3: like training?
Speaker 1: Oh? Yeah, I watched the shows as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I got a company called PFL that I'm involved with.
Speaker 2: I go to their shows all the I mean I
Speaker 2: go to their fights all the time. I go to
Speaker 2: boxing matches, just wrestling matches, there's jiu jitsu matches, there's
Speaker 2: all types of stuff. Combat sports is like, as you've seen,
Speaker 2: it's grown so much and so many influencers want to
Speaker 2: do it, and it's just a really good lifelong thing too,
Speaker 2: Like it's gotten popular for how much money it makes
Speaker 2: people and things like that, but as a lifelong practice,
Speaker 2: like I would suggest that for any and everybody.
Speaker 3: Yeah, if there are men who are watching who want
Speaker 3: to get into helping fitness, what would be your best
Speaker 3: advice to them to motivate them, inspire and let them
Speaker 3: know how important it's been for you and it could
Speaker 3: be for them.
Speaker 2: I would just try to paint the scenario of you
Speaker 2: being about late thirties out with your kid. Somebody like
Speaker 2: is just in your face and your kid is standing
Speaker 2: right there, and you only got thirty seconds to prove
Speaker 2: to your child that you're their protector or somebody who's
Speaker 2: finna get what start working out now.
Speaker 3: Hilarious. It's funny because my next question is going to
Speaker 3: be about, like, you know, I feel like masculinity is
Speaker 3: such a big talking point right now, and you know
Speaker 3: a lot of men feeling like they've inherited the mistakes
Speaker 3: made by men in the past, and so men carrying
Speaker 3: around a lot of judgment men, feeling left behind in
Speaker 3: the conversation, the different things you've talked about today and
Speaker 3: the way you're organizing your life. Like, masculinity is a
Speaker 3: very broad spectrum. It's not just one way, right, And
Speaker 3: so have you ever thought about that raising a sun
Speaker 3: for yourself the message you prout. I feel like rapping
Speaker 3: hip hop has a version of masculinity before that's right,
Speaker 3: What are your thoughts on that.
Speaker 2: I think I've always like approached masculinity just off of
Speaker 2: my vision of it and the most masculine in people
Speaker 2: that I respect, and just the situations that I look
Speaker 2: at as what you know a man should model themselves
Speaker 2: as are usually the most like moderate and mild tempered
Speaker 2: and just chill and kind of you know, observant and
Speaker 2: just guiding the situation in any way that you can
Speaker 2: position yourself to be that type of person. I've always
Speaker 2: felt like that was the more, you know, respectable thing.
Speaker 2: And we all have feelings and we all have emotions,
Speaker 2: and that's where like training in combat sports, it helps
Speaker 2: you like to put all of that stuff in the
Speaker 2: right place, because when you get a chance to get
Speaker 2: that stuff out, you realize where it has a place
Speaker 2: at where it doesn't, and a lot of people they
Speaker 2: don't have a place to get that stuff out, so
Speaker 2: they think that they're being masculine by like shouting or
Speaker 2: yelling or being rude to somebody, But really that should
Speaker 2: be like the last case scenario, you know what I'm saying, Like,
Speaker 2: that's why I say protecting your child, because I would
Speaker 2: never use what I know to hurt anybody unless it
Speaker 2: was to protect my family or myself. It wouldn't be
Speaker 2: in any other situation because to me, like, that's not cool,
Speaker 2: that's not tough, that's not even what it's for. So
Speaker 2: I think the idea of masculinity, it just comes from
Speaker 2: whoever is putting it out at the moment, what they've
Speaker 2: learned from it. And you know, the world judges the
Speaker 2: way that it does based off of their experiences because
Speaker 2: they think, you know, the most mean or the most scarier,
Speaker 2: or this, that and the other thing, but they haven't
Speaker 2: they show that. But there's not a lot of real
Speaker 2: situations that people are in that prove that that that
Speaker 2: that's the right thing. And from my experience, what's proven
Speaker 2: the most is the most mild, chilled, moderate people are
Speaker 2: the ones that you should probably be like the most
Speaker 2: worried about. So the more that you can position yourself
Speaker 2: in life to have an understanding of your own emotions
Speaker 2: and be in control of your reactions to things, I
Speaker 2: think that just makes you more looked at as what
Speaker 2: people would consider masculine or a leader or a provider
Speaker 2: or something like that, rather than like an emotional, you
Speaker 2: know person.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a really powerful one. Man. I feel like
Speaker 3: you kind of feel the world going through two extremes
Speaker 3: where it's like masculinity. He used to be this bravado, chauvinistic, arrogant, yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, alpha male type, and then it swung to
Speaker 3: like being vulnerable and soft and this, and now I
Speaker 3: can't feel like it's kind of swinging back the other way. Yeah,
Speaker 3: And it's almost like I like how you described it,
Speaker 3: because it's not really hard or soft. It's kind of
Speaker 3: like the person who can like calm it down, move
Speaker 3: it along, knows what to do.
Speaker 1: With everything exactly exactly.
Speaker 2: Because I've seen both, you know, and I've been around,
Speaker 2: like growing up in Pittsburgh, you see a lot of
Speaker 2: dudes where it's like the street nigga type is like
Speaker 2: the hyper masculine, but a lot of those dudes end
Speaker 2: up like going to jail getting shot, or when they
Speaker 2: come home from their jail, they're not who they used
Speaker 2: to be, and all of that masculinity kind of goes
Speaker 2: away when you see like the perception of this person
Speaker 2: go away. You see who they really are. So it's like,
Speaker 2: deep down, who really are you? Inside out this whole
Speaker 2: thing that you're like putting off on people.
Speaker 1: And men have a lot.
Speaker 2: Of pressure, especially like growing up because we're more we're
Speaker 2: like really competitive. So it's like I could see it
Speaker 2: with my son, like being in sports with him and
Speaker 2: his friends, you know what I mean, they just off rip,
Speaker 2: just go to this certain type of personality, and I'm like, bro,
Speaker 2: you know, you're like a better teammate if you tell
Speaker 2: dudes like yo, good shot, Like you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 2: good job, I see you, blah blah blah.
Speaker 1: But they don't understand that.
Speaker 2: Now as kids, they're so competitive and they're so at
Speaker 2: each other's throats and sometimes that carries on in life.
Speaker 2: But I think you just have to have an example
Speaker 2: of somebody to like let you know, like yo, it's
Speaker 2: cool to just be like chill and you know what
Speaker 2: I mean, Like the homie. It's cool to talk shit
Speaker 2: sometimes too, because that shit is fun. But like, at
Speaker 2: the root of it, y'all still gotta be friends and
Speaker 2: care about each other and take care of each other.
Speaker 2: And that's the more you know what I mean, brotherly
Speaker 2: dope part about it, other than going at each other's next.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and we need to see that modeled more. It's hard.
Speaker 3: You don't see it that much. Yeah, So it's hard
Speaker 3: to know as a man how to write how to
Speaker 3: do that. But you're right. If you look at the
Speaker 3: best athletes in the world, they're the ones who kept
Speaker 3: the calm when things were tough, right, they weren't the
Speaker 3: ones viewing anger. And it's interesting because MMA. I think
Speaker 3: people who haven't been trained in martial arts or don't
Speaker 3: know people who have often can think of it as
Speaker 3: like combat sports are like angry. But have you learned
Speaker 3: any practices from MMA that you feel applied really well
Speaker 3: to what we're talking about right now.
Speaker 1: I think just getting punched in the face.
Speaker 2: You learn how to be calm and like not get
Speaker 2: emotional when somebody hits you in the face and you
Speaker 2: still got three rounds to do work, or you still
Speaker 2: got three minutes in around or five minutes in around
Speaker 2: and do work like you can't let your emotion.
Speaker 1: You have to be calm, you have to think.
Speaker 2: You have to remember your footwork, you have to remember
Speaker 2: your breathing, you have to remember defense so you don't
Speaker 2: get hit again. There's way more of the story then
Speaker 2: just I got punched in the face, and a lot
Speaker 2: of people will never really get that lesson or get
Speaker 2: that feeling of I got hit and I gotta keep
Speaker 2: it moving. You know, most people want something to happen
Speaker 2: as soon as they get hit. But you know, I
Speaker 2: think just through martial arts, and it sounds extreme and
Speaker 2: it sounds crazy, but I think everybody should get punched
Speaker 2: in the face.
Speaker 3: I know what you're saying that, I get what you're saying.
Speaker 3: It's only at that point do you know how tolerant
Speaker 3: and still you are, Because up until then you can
Speaker 3: be like, I'm super cheer. Yeah, I'm calm, but it's
Speaker 3: responding to that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And there's a lot of duce, just like if
Speaker 2: somebody punches me in the face, I'll kill them, But like, no,
Speaker 2: you won't.
Speaker 1: You gotta fight back.
Speaker 2: You got three minutes or you're gonna keep getting punched
Speaker 2: in the face. So it's like it's fun when you
Speaker 2: just remove everything and hit somebody in the face.
Speaker 3: How often do you get punched in the face when you're.
Speaker 2: We do sparring off and on, especially because I got
Speaker 2: to do like appearances and like that, because anything can happen,
Speaker 2: like my nose rings could come out, I get black eye,
Speaker 2: Like my forehead could get split.
Speaker 3: You're gonna protect the face.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2: So when I know I'm not having to do too much,
Speaker 2: that's when we usually do do some sparring. Yeah, or
Speaker 2: we'll do light sparring where it's not like, you know,
Speaker 2: nobody's in too much danger.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that makes that makes sense. Yeah, it's
Speaker 3: trying to figure out how you Yeah, how you doing that? Yeah. No,
Speaker 3: I'm really glad we dove into the masculine anything because
Speaker 3: I just feel like it's it's such a need right now,
Speaker 3: and I want, you know, men and women to both
Speaker 3: feel like, you know, that we're kind of having these
Speaker 3: conversations that I think sometimes on the on the biggest screens,
Speaker 3: you don't see them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think it's like the word masculinity has
Speaker 2: gotten so abused in to where people think it's a
Speaker 2: bad thing. And it's like, there are good examples of masculinity,
Speaker 2: Like I have a daughter, so she has to see
Speaker 2: what a masculine man is like. She has to see
Speaker 2: what a provider is like. She has to see with
Speaker 2: somebody who is going to make her feel protected as
Speaker 2: well as cared for, and you know, all of the
Speaker 2: things that describe what real masculinity is beyond you know,
Speaker 2: what you can do physically to somebody or even financially,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying, emotionally being there for her.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of things that me having the right
Speaker 2: types of masculinity are gonna be you know, positive for
Speaker 2: her to see.
Speaker 3: And with this new album, what was the energy that
Speaker 3: you put into it? Like it's a sequel, so there's
Speaker 3: was there something you're trying to revisit bring back?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I'm just revisiting. Like when I did
Speaker 2: Cushion Orange Juice, the style of it was like, you know,
Speaker 2: stoner kid, everybody just smoke weed, be chill, and this
Speaker 2: is the soundtrack to the lifestyle. And I've done a
Speaker 2: lot with my music to where I've you know, had
Speaker 2: my take on what I think music's sound like at
Speaker 2: certain points I've had, you know, my take on what
Speaker 2: I think are like really big, huge records and what
Speaker 2: those should sound like. And then I've also just experimented with,
Speaker 2: you know, what street culture is at the time and
Speaker 2: just what's popular to the kids. And I think with
Speaker 2: Cushion Orange Juice, it really resonated with people because of
Speaker 2: the lifestyle that it created and the things that I
Speaker 2: talked about in that lifestyle and the way that the
Speaker 2: music sounded and grooved with that lifestyle. So just being
Speaker 2: aware of that and knowing what type of chaotic state
Speaker 2: that we're in right now, I just felt like it
Speaker 2: was the perfect time to just reintroduce people to more
Speaker 2: laid back, chill just smoke some weed and vibe out,
Speaker 2: you know, and create a whole crowd of people.
Speaker 1: Who want to do the same thing. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's interesting, right like you it's like you're
Speaker 3: chilled out, but then you're super productive.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: How how do you hope that your audience kind of
Speaker 3: feels both for those as well?
Speaker 2: Because it's it's been good because I think just through experience,
Speaker 2: I've learned that the majority of people who listen to
Speaker 2: my music end up bossing up.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Like there's a lot of artists now, you know, who
Speaker 2: were in like middle school, high school when Kushion Norris
Speaker 2: Ju just came out, or they watched My Day to
Speaker 2: Days and they're like, man, this is what really you know,
Speaker 2: let me know, this is what I needed to do
Speaker 2: to be an artist. Or I studied you every day
Speaker 2: blah blah blah. Or I dropped out of college and
Speaker 2: I got my friends and you know, we started our
Speaker 2: label and now we're Big, Sean and Low.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: So like, I've seen a lot of people who have
Speaker 2: taken my blueprint and turned it into you know, exactly
Speaker 2: what I've done with it. So I think the message
Speaker 2: gets across really really well, that you know, you'd be
Speaker 2: a pothead, but you be productive and you boss up
Speaker 2: and put all the homies on.
Speaker 1: I think they get that message really well.
Speaker 3: I love that.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 3: Does How does it feel that see you again as
Speaker 3: the second most viewed video on YouTube via a video
Speaker 3: of all time? Yes, insane, Yeah, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: It feels good.
Speaker 2: I think it feels better that I'm able to like
Speaker 2: walk around because most people they would think that if
Speaker 2: your video is that popular or if you have that
Speaker 2: much success that you're just like not even real. But like,
Speaker 2: to me, I can still go to my son's games.
Speaker 2: I could still you know, go pick records out. I
Speaker 2: could still go to the gym without a fleet of
Speaker 2: security with me. So like, I didn't sacrifice my sanity
Speaker 2: to be the second most viewed person in the world.
Speaker 1: So I'm happy about that.
Speaker 3: And such a great song too, to be known for.
Speaker 1: I feel it's a really good song.
Speaker 2: And shout out to Charlie too, man, Like Charlie did
Speaker 2: his thing, and the whole process of like making that
Speaker 2: song was like a dream come true because it was
Speaker 2: for a soundtrack, so you never know how that's gonna go.
Speaker 2: There was like ten other people who were supposed to
Speaker 2: be on the song, so you know, me writing a verse,
Speaker 2: I was just like writing a verse. I wasn't like,
Speaker 2: this is this song's gonna change my life? I need
Speaker 2: to sit down. I was just like, yoah, yeah, you go,
Speaker 2: like it's dope verse, Like I love the verse and shit.
Speaker 2: But they were like, you know, they it really connected
Speaker 2: with the people who were doing the movie at the time,
Speaker 2: and you know, shout out the weave and constance and
Speaker 2: Will and everybody, but we just kind of like just
Speaker 2: shaved it down and it just ended up making sense
Speaker 2: with it just being me and Charlie on there, and
Speaker 2: that song has taken us like super duper far.
Speaker 3: Do amazing. What was your motivation to go sober from alcohol.
Speaker 2: My motivation to be sober from alcohol was just I
Speaker 2: had dams for so long since I was able to drink,
Speaker 2: I've been drinking and I've never seen a reason to
Speaker 2: really stop because like, I just love partying, I love
Speaker 2: being around people.
Speaker 1: I love, you know, just being a vibe.
Speaker 2: After one, I think it was one show, I just
Speaker 2: got like completely wasted, which was normal.
Speaker 1: I was like, man, I don't really have too many
Speaker 1: like memories.
Speaker 2: Of places, Like I was like, I mean I love
Speaker 2: doing these shows, and shit was like I don't be
Speaker 2: remembering like you know what I mean anything. I was like,
Speaker 2: I want to kind of like experience this stuff, remember
Speaker 2: where I'm at, remember the people who I'm dealing with,
Speaker 2: actually enjoy it and not just be like turned up,
Speaker 2: you know. So, Yeah, it was just a time of
Speaker 2: like just gathering information and I'm real happy for that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, was it hard to break away?
Speaker 1: It wasn't difficult at all.
Speaker 2: I think when I want to do something, I'm good
Speaker 2: at it, Like if it means something to me, I
Speaker 2: have my own reasons for doing it. Nobody's making me
Speaker 2: do it, or even I feel like even if somebody
Speaker 2: made me do it, if it was like a challenge
Speaker 2: or something like that, or if like I had to
Speaker 2: for legal reasons or something like that, I wouldn't have
Speaker 2: a problem doing a lot of things. But you know,
Speaker 2: for me, it's just my lifestyle is so free and
Speaker 2: it's so fun. So half of the time it's like,
Speaker 2: why would I stop? But if I make up a
Speaker 2: reason for myself, I usually end up sticking to it.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, Yeah, where's at the start of the interview
Speaker 3: as to you, what's the first thing you do when
Speaker 3: you wake up?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: What's what's the last thing you do before you go
Speaker 3: to bed?
Speaker 1: Last thing I do before I go to bed kiss
Speaker 1: my son and my daughter.
Speaker 3: Yeah I love that. Yeah, beautiful whiz I end every episode.
Speaker 3: You've been amazing, so generous with your time, great just
Speaker 3: great energy. I've really enjoyed spending this time with you. Man. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I appreciate you. I feel like I've learned so much
Speaker 3: about you. Today that I didn't know for sure.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 3: We end every episode with a final five. These have
Speaker 3: to be honested in one word to one sentence maximum, okay,
Speaker 3: and so these are your fast five Final five. The
Speaker 3: first question is what's the best advice you've ever heard
Speaker 3: or received?
Speaker 1: Just beu. That's from Snoop Dogg.
Speaker 3: Nice. Question number two, what's the worst advice you've ever
Speaker 3: heard or received?
Speaker 1: Change your name from Wis Khalifa two. I don't know.
Speaker 1: They just told me that that name wasn't gonna work.
Speaker 3: Why didn't they like the name because it's just too.
Speaker 2: Different, you know what I'm saying. Like, it didn't sound
Speaker 2: like nothing, It didn't give off. You didn't get any
Speaker 2: visual from that back in the day when I told
Speaker 2: you that that was my name. So a lot of
Speaker 2: people close people to me was like, I like you
Speaker 2: can wrap, You're really cool, but you need to change
Speaker 2: your name.
Speaker 1: And it ended up working.
Speaker 2: Out for me because in the years that I was
Speaker 2: being discovered, it's a brand new name. So when you
Speaker 2: google that name, I'm the only thing that comes up.
Speaker 2: So it's like one of the most google names, like
Speaker 2: you know, for that year. So the thing that people
Speaker 2: told me, wasn't gonna work, ended up working.
Speaker 3: I loved it. Where did it come from?
Speaker 1: Wisdoms short for wisdom and Leifa as leader or successor?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, How did you come across the word khalifa?
Speaker 2: Because that's my parents are, well, my grandparents, my granddad
Speaker 2: is a Muslim, right right?
Speaker 3: Very cool man, Thank you man, it's cool. It's cool.
Speaker 3: I love this hot too.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Good look, I saw this on your March.
Speaker 1: Merch walking billboard.
Speaker 3: Baby.
Speaker 1: Where is me?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Question number three, what's something that you used to
Speaker 3: value that you no longer value.
Speaker 2: I used to really enjoy going to night clubs. I
Speaker 2: don't enjoy it anymore because I feel like the music
Speaker 2: isn't the same. I feel like people don't really dance anymore,
Speaker 2: Like they're just in like sections, just kind of chilling,
Speaker 2: and it just kind of defeats the purpose of going out.
Speaker 2: Like I never went out just to look cool. I
Speaker 2: will go out to get girls. And I really don't
Speaker 2: like chase women all like that no more. And I
Speaker 2: think it's just a polite thing to do like normally,
Speaker 2: Like like I said, anymore, because like normally, even being
Speaker 2: in a relationship, I would just be like yo, it's
Speaker 2: a part of my life. Like you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 2: I'm going to be around hell of chicks. Get used
Speaker 2: to it.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: That's what I would do before, but now I don't
Speaker 2: really like I don't really care for that shit.
Speaker 3: No more question before how would you define your current purpose?
Speaker 2: I would define my current purpose as a leader and
Speaker 2: as a provider and as somebody who a lot of
Speaker 2: people look up to. So it doesn't matter what I
Speaker 2: get personally, It's more about what I do for others.
Speaker 3: And fifth and final question, we asked this to every
Speaker 3: guest who's ever been on the show. If you could
Speaker 3: create one law that everyone in the world had to follow,
Speaker 3: what would it be?
Speaker 1: Smoke weed every day?
Speaker 3: I love it Christian Orgies too. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: This is so much fun.
Speaker 1: I like a jeans too. Thank you.
Speaker 3: If this is the year that you're trying to get creative,
Speaker 3: you're trying to build more, I need you to listen
Speaker 3: to this episode with Rick Rubin on how to break
Speaker 3: into your most creative self, how to use unconventional methods
Speaker 3: that lead to success, and the secret to genuinely loving
Speaker 3: what you do. If you're trying to find your passion
Speaker 3: and your lane. Rick Rubin's episode is the one for you.
Speaker 1: Just because I like it, that doesn't give it any value,
Speaker 1: Like as an artist, if you like it, that's all
Speaker 1: of the value.
Speaker 3: That's the success comes when you say I like this
Speaker 3: enough for other people to see it.