WEBVTT - #341 - Julia Beverly 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:04.440 Hey, this is Julia Beverley, photojournalists and rap historian. You 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:08.240 can catch me on the Bootleg keV podcasts. 0:00:10.240 --> 0:00:13.000 It's not the Plan Boutleg cav podcast. We got a 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:15.600 special guest in here, Julia Beverley. 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:16.560 I am here. 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:23.840 Welcome, Welcome, a hip hop historian, publisher, photographer, author, what else. 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:24.640 I like it? 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:24.919 Yeah? 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:28.240 Photographer. I really consider myself a photographer, but I have 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:30.120 I wear a lot of hats. I do what needs 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:30.520 to be done. 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:32.320 I was going to say it's a job done. So 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:36.199 you would consider like photography your main like passion would be. 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:40.200 Like yes, Ever since I was probably like ten or eleven, 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:43.440 I've just taken a million photos of everything going on 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:45.120 in my life, So I kind of carried that over 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:47.720 into my once I became a hip hop you know, 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:50.159 journalist or whatever, that's still what I love to do. 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:54.400 So you're from er Orlando, Florida, right, I am shout 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:55.320 out to the four fun. 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:57.520 Fact I grew up. I spent a couple of years 0:00:57.560 --> 0:01:02.440 in San Berardino, actually California. Yes for you, so nice? 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:03.400 Was there? 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:07.080 I was like nine years old, rolling the streets in 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:08.560 my little bike, you. 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:10.600 Know, dodging meth labs in San Bernardino. 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:13.319 Yeah, I don't think that was a part of my 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:15.000 experience back then, but they probably were there. 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:17.160 It's a wild place, man, San Bernardino's wild place. 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:20.160 I've heard that. It's like, you know, going a little downhills. 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:22.640 Yes, but it's hey, we shout out to San Bernardino. 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:24.600 Cyrus Is. That's where he represented I went. 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:26.479 I went to school and everything in Orlando, so that's 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:29.959 where I came up. Started Ozone Magazine, which is a 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:31.120 term for Orlando. 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:33.240 You know, we were trying to be correct or whatever 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:35.440 kind of so for people who don't know, because Ozone 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:38.039 was kind of I feel like ahead of its time 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:41.479 a little. But in a world in which there was 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:47.880 so much representation for media outlets on the East Coast, 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:50.240 I mean really it was the East Coast driven thing 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:53.920 hip hop media as an industry, even though you know, 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:55.920 the West Coast didn't really have a I mean, yeah, 0:01:55.960 --> 0:01:57.960 the West Coast don't really have anything to really represent 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:02.280 them without some sort of East close bias. But Ozone 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:06.520 Magazine pops up as a magazine that really championed like 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:08.760 a whole new wave that was going on in Southern 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:10.520 hip hop. So what was give me kind of the 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:13.440 rundown on how ozone was started. 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:17.120 And I'm gonna say it was almost like not an accident. 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:18.880 But I never set out to be like, Okay, let 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:22.200 me represent you know, Southern rap. I used to read, 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:25.960 of course, the Source, double XL all these magazines, and 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:27.880 I would see the photos and be like, how do 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:30.840 I become that photographer? I was. I was really young, 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:33.440 you know, eighteen nineteen, just started got a camera, just 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:36.040 started going to all these events. I remember the first, 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:38.080 like one of the very first events I went to 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:41.200 was like this radio show John Rules headlining or whatever, 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:44.679 and I shot, you know, I'm like broke, like eighteen 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:48.920 in Orlando, Yeah, and so shoot the show and go 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:51.640 backstage and they had like the whole catering tent and 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:53.600 it was like, oh, I can get like free food. 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:56.359 That was that was like a big incentive. So I 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:59.040 always joke about that, you know, the industry. Free food 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:01.400 in the industry and was like half of the attraction 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:04.520 at the time. But so I wanted to shoot for 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:06.800 these magazines, so I started like trying to get in 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:08.760 contact with them, and you know, being a kid in 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:10.760 Orlando and like how do I get in touch with 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:14.960 these you know, New York publications. So there was a 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:17.880 graphic designer in Orlando called Mert Design is what he 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:20.160 went by. And so he had started this magazine which 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:22.919 he actually called it Orlando Source, so he literally just 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:26.960 took a little Orlando on the top. And so I 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:29.320 had got referred to him for his second issue, and 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:31.239 that was he wanted me to come, you know, work 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:32.840 with him. The first thing I said was like, I 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:34.880 think you probably need a new logo. I don't think 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:38.000 take their logo. I think they did actually send a 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:41.320 CS and assist at one point, but he changed the logo. 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:45.560 We did that together for about a year, and for me, 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:48.240 it was just I had this envisioned in my head 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:50.800 that I was gonna, you know, get discovered like Sort 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:53.040 or whoever, was gonna be like, oh, this photographer is great, like, 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:56.320 let's hire her. And so ultimately what happened like me 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:58.360 and him kind of fell out at a certain point 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:00.600 or didn't. We weren't seeing eye eye where we wanted 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:03.160 to go with it. So I had finished that I 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:05.560 was doing the creative side. He was doing the business side, 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:08.200 which is where the conflict came in because he would 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:10.280 be like, yeah, they paid. They only paid four hundred 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:13.000 for an ad and I would find they paid seven hundred. 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:16.799 We were supposed to be splitting the money, you know. Anyway, 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:19.159 that's how that all kind of unraveled. But we we 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:21.080 had gotten to a point where he said, I'm not 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:23.160 going to do this anymore, and I had already finished 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:25.760 the next issue. And so Mercedes was one of our 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:28.279 street team people, and she was like, well, why would 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:29.840 you stop, Like, why don't you just change the name? 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:32.120 I mean, you got you know, everybody, You've got all 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:34.960 the advertisers. And so that's kind of where it started 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:36.880 from because we did already have a base of like, 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:39.200 we had a lot of local companies that would advertise, 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:43.200 and so originally, even the early issues of Ozone, it's 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:46.359 like Orlando music or Florida Music, which is very heavily 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:49.200 you know, Latino influence. You got a lot of Caribbean influence. 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:51.960 So we had a lot of reggae artists, reggae tone 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:53.720 like it was kind of everything happening. 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:56.359 Was the first issue. And two who was on the 0:04:56.400 --> 0:04:59.320 cover Red Dog, Yes. 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:02.880 He's from Orlando, Oh State. 0:05:03.720 --> 0:05:10.039 Orlando Hip Hop Encyclopedia goes to uh Caskie what's the 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:13.159 guy's name? I will ever with a street Yes, S 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:15.280 Miles and South Star. The dude was in jail with 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:17.039 the dreasy cut him off. Fuck, I played shit in 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:20.679 the club. The song is called pussy n Words. 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:24.159 Wow, that's a new one to me. I mean, like 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:26.159 there was there was a lot of groups that had 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:27.400 like a couple of records. 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:28.160 Yess in South Star. 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:30.960 Kaya came out of Kaya actually shot her first album 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:31.880 cover in our office. 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:34.359 Is Kay from Orlando? She's from Tampa, Okay, That's what 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:38.520 I thought. Yeah, yeah, she earned a lot of bridges. Yeah, 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:41.440 everybody in Tampa, I know, was just they just have 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:43.880 terrible things to say about Kaya, And I'm like Jesus, 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:45.560 like I guess. 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:48.960 Well, I put it whoop. I printed all her mugshots 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:50.560 in one of our early issues. So she had been 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:52.560 arrested like twenty something times, and I just thought it 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:54.200 was a great visual. So we printed all the mug 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:56.240 shots and I remember, I don't know if it was 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:58.520 officially her people, but like somebody ran up on me 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:01.400 in the club and was like you know, and then 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:02.880 she ended up. I think she put it out as 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:04.440 a mixtape cover or something like that. 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:07.400 So you did her favorite that's for sure. Yeah, it's 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:12.040 crazy because like, yeah, I mean, she had an iconic record, 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:15.120 still was getting sampled and getting Yeah, for sure, I 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.040 was gonna say, like Florida hip hop in O two 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:22.480 oh three, that's like there's really not like right now 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:25.080 we think of Florida hip hop and it's just I mean, 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:28.760 it's so massive the state has blown up between I mean, 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:31.280 we just had like three rappers from Tallahassee alone at 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:32.119 the BT Radio. 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:33.960 Well, it just happened to be in the right place 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:35.760 at the right time when you had I mean t 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:39.680 Pain from Tallahassee, I mean Pibble, Rick Ross floor rider. 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:41.680 Kalid was a. 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:44.200 Big influence when we ultimately ended. 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:46.159 Up doing because he has so much roots in Orlando. 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:48.920 Him and Nasty were in Orlando right early on to. 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:51.360 Do or maybe still does. Calid used to do the 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:54.680 Temple his birthday bash every year, so every artist you 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:56.320 could think of would come out and it would just 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:58.400 be like really organic, like you know, Diddy grabs a 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:01.120 mic and hands it's you know, kids or whatever, just 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:03.440 like this big party. So when we ultimately did the 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:06.080 Ozone Awards, I had Cali come do the opening set 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:08.680 because that was the like the inspiration was like his his. 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:10.240 I was like, just do what you do with your 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:13.120 you know, your birthday back. So we had like Trick 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:16.360 Daddy and Pitbull and Ross and uh this is when 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:19.880 Ross had the hustling. So I was just there when 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:22.760 a lot of them had been bubbling for a while 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:25.400 and we're kind of on the precipice of just breaking 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:27.600 you know, breaking through. And so when I started interviewing 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:29.880 a lot of people, like like a pit Bull would 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:32.200 talk about how it was a blessing that he had 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:33.840 never got signed earlier. He was like, well, the New 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:35.880 York labels, you know, they ignored me so for so long. 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:38.440 It forced me to like build up this fan base. 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:41.160 I traveled around, I did all these shows. So, you know, 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:44.040 artists today it's almost like it's too easy, Like they 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:46.560 could be very young. If they get the right record, 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:47.040 then they're. 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:49.560 Immediately they're in the game right away without without a 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:50.360 lot of them have. 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:53.640 The history of the struggle traveling, you. 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:56.120 Know, staying in shitty hotels, going to a radio station 0:07:56.200 --> 0:07:58.240 in the morning to just try to you know, for sure, 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:00.720 that's all part of the experience, one hundred percent. So 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:01.080 a lot of the. 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:03.880 Artists were experiencing the same thing I had experienced on 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:06.560 the journalism side, because I had tried to I mean, 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:08.040 I did some stuff here and there, like for The 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:10.480 Source and you know, some little freelance stuff, but they're 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:13.360 reached a certain point where I was kind of like, oh, like, 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:15.720 we're actually onto something here with this magazine. I don't 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.280 need to try to go work for a New York magazine. 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:22.200 So a lot of artists like pit Bull or PIPC 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:26.160 would talk about the same experience they had where they 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:28.280 were trying so long to get accepted by New York 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:30.000 and it just never happened. And finally they were like, 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:32.080 all right, I'll just I'll just do it my own way, 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:32.720 make my own. 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:38.800 Did the traditional magazines at the time were they peyton 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:41.520 or they did they embrace you? Because at the time, 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:46.040 there's like this weird like I don't know, man, there's 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:49.679 like The Source really turned into like a weirdo magazine 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:51.960 for a little bit. And then you know, obviously Elliott 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:54.280 Wilson was running it up, running circles around him at 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:57.040 XXL for a sec and you know, it felt like 0:08:57.080 --> 0:08:58.480 such a competitive space. 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:00.319 I have some funny stories about that. I mean, and 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:02.720 so we're moving a little forward, like by this time, 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:07.200 you know, two thousand and five ish, like I'm realizing, 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:10.079 like there's really some money in this. And I think 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:12.800 what showed me too, Like the early issues I might 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:16.240 send I'd send like a box to like Montgomery, Alabama 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:18.560 or something, and I'd send like four boxes to Miami, 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:22.240 thinking like, oh, Miami's a bigger market. And people in Miami, 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:23.760 I mean, they liked it, but they're kind of like 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:26.040 they have you know, three radio stations, and they. 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:27.920 Have Miamis, they have boom and city. 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:30.080 Places to go. Like the artists there don't really need 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:33.400 a platform, whereas I would get like one hundred calls 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:37.080 from Montgomery, all these DJs, artists, people that want to 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:39.320 get down. So I started to see there was a market. 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:42.720 And you know, the South is full of Tallahassee, Jacksonville, 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:45.600 you know, Birmingham. I mean, there's there's so many like 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:48.600 sort of mid level markets that just don't have At 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:51.280 that time, they didn't have social media. So if they're 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:53.320 there's an artist they're trying to get on, they don't 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:55.480 have YouTube to show people what they look like. So 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:58.440 you know, they would advertise in the magazine, so I 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:02.240 saw that there was a real market. So Elliott Wilson 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:05.600 saw him yesterday a couple days ago, so, I mean, 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:08.240 we're cool and stuff. But he's always been one to 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:11.160 kind of like take shots at different people. So funny 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:13.920 story about him. Well, I remember at one point I 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:15.640 would go to New York and I would like drop 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:18.280 off magazines places. So I stopped by Double XL one 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:20.240 time just to drop off some magazines and he was 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:21.760 like the only person in the office. I think it 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:24.080 was like eight o'clock in the evening or whatever, and 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:27.520 I just remember him he said, Oh, you're not from 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:29.679 around here, are you like it? To me, it was 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:31.079 like people in New York kind of I don't know 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:33.160 if he meant it to be like like I took 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:34.480 it a certain way. I don't know that he meant 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:37.840 it that way. But to me, somebody from if I 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:40.120 asked somebody where they're from and they say, like Houston 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:42.240 or the Bay or LA, like, I kind of have 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:44.920 a sense of like where they're from and what kind 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:47.679 of you know, environment they're dealing with. And I felt 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:49.960 like New Yorker's had this idea like you're either from 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:52.760 New York or you're not, and it's one or the other, 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:54.319 you know what I mean. That's that's kind of how 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:55.920 I perceived. It was like, Oh, you're not from here, 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:57.760 so you're just I don't really care where you're from. 0:10:57.800 --> 0:10:58.600 I don't know where you're from. 0:10:58.880 --> 0:10:59.640 You're just not from here. 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:02.080 So that's kind of how I took it. But later on, 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:04.720 like maybe a couple of years down the road, we 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:06.800 had never been able to get a distribution deal. Not 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:08.480 that I don't know that I put a whole lot 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:09.960 of effort into it, but it was always like a 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:11.079 street kind of thing. 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:13.680 You're getting printing done and you're. 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:17.199 Everything, load up the van, drive to you know, yeah, 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:18.679 because I would see your guys and stuff at like 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:22.679 record stores, like small like independent record stores like I think. 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:24.480 I might have saw it at like Tower Records. 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:28.520 We eventually did get a distribution deal, so I had 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:31.280 been trying. There's there's really at that time, there might 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:33.200 have been like two or three distributors, but there's really 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:35.520 only like one big distributor, which is Curtis, And they 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:37.559 did you know, double Excel and Source and all that, 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:38.240 and I had. 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:41.520 Thought they were the same distributor, so they were. They 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:42.440 were distributing both. 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:45.320 They were distributing like any news stand you go to, 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:48.120 you know, pretty much goes through Curtis at least from 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:50.560 what I recall. And I had, you know, send them 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:52.720 copies of the magazine. They sent us like this standard 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:56.679 like rejection letter or whatever, and I hired a consultant 0:11:56.760 --> 0:11:58.600 to try to harass them and try to get us 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:01.319 a distribution deal. But I had something about double Excel 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:04.920 in my editorial and Elliott responded like he put a 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:07.760 little line or something about ozone or whatever, and so 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:11.160 I copied it and sent it. It was always taking 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:13.360 shots at you know, the sauce and like all this stuff, 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:16.400 but he said something about like go down South with 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:18.800 the ozone or like it was something that could be 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:21.640 interpreted as like a dispack to us. So I copied it, 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:23.880 sent it to the distributor, and I don't know if 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:25.960 that was what did it, or the consultant or whatever, 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:27.640 but we got a distribution deal. And so it kind 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:31.080 of felt like, you know, if you're distributing this product 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:33.720 and they're like, you know, if you're battling with somebody, 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:37.160 they're an equal basically. So but the source, I mean, 0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:40.600 I started, I met bou Rosario pretty early on. He 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:42.520 was a music editor or one of the music editors 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:44.960 at the Source, and he did the photo galleries in 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:47.120 the back. So I started sending him stuff and I 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:49.080 would be super excited if I got, like, you know, 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:49.800 my little. 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:53.240 Nare getting sometimes in the back of the sourcetography. 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:55.400 I would send them like hundreds of pictures and they 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:58.400 might pick, you know, two or three might make it, 0:12:58.400 --> 0:13:00.640 but I'd be excited about that. And so I met 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:03.120 Kim and you know, shout out to Kim when she 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:04.640 was she was an editor at that point, she had 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:07.440 come down to Miami, I think to shoot Trina or something, 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:09.400 and you know, I would kind of throw it out there, like, 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:12.319 you guys should hire me to you know, work this out. 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:16.680 I didn't feel like anyone took that super seriously, but 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:18.720 they did start giving me like a little assignment here 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:22.679 and there. And that's when they were I think starting 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:25.280 to fall apart as far as the yeah, on the 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:27.559 on the business side, and then also the eminem thing 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:30.640 was going on. It was it was a lot happening. 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:31.760 It was a lot happening. 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:33.640 Ben Zino left me the voicemail. 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:35.440 I don't know if you remember that, but I don't 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:38.280 what you know, what there's Listen, my brain is so 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:41.600 hip hop Friday at this point. Please catch me up 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:42.400 because I'm sure. 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:45.959 Oh gosh, I mean, we're skipping a lot, but we're 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:49.839 going to go back, all right. The Benzino voicemail, Oh 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:52.599 my gosh. Yeah, So I had been I'd been freelancing 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:55.480 for the Source like here and there, and I think 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:57.800 they owed me it might have been like eighteen hundred 0:13:57.800 --> 0:14:01.120 dollars or something like that, which to again like I'm young. Yeah, 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:04.760 that's I mean, definitely rent in the cardinal like. 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:07.120 That's you know, sure, that's serious chunk of change back 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:07.959 especially back then. 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:09.800 Yeah, And so I think it had been it had 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:12.000 been maybe like a year, and you know, I had 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:15.880 like email the you know, corporate office. Nobody's responding, and 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:18.040 I think I didn't have the concept of what was 0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:19.600 going on there at the time, like they were kind 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:20.160 of falling. 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:21.840 Apart, right the house was burning. 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:24.440 My little eighteen hundred or whatever it was was not 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:27.960 really a priority. But I ran into Dave somewhere in Miami, 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:30.680 and I mean shout out to Dave. He you know, 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:32.080 I respect what he did with the. 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:35.600 Source, And yeah, and he's got a. 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:36.880 He's got a break or break. 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:40.960 Yeah, he bounced back him for sure. 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:43.600 Yeah. I mean I always have respect for for David 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:45.680 what he accomplished with the Source. But I do think, 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:48.120 you know, there was like some missteps in the in 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:50.680 the later years. But on this particular occasion, like I 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:53.920 had run into him somewhere in Miami, and I think 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:56.240 I was feeling myself a little bit because they let 0:14:56.280 --> 0:14:58.240 me in the club before him, like we both. 0:14:58.600 --> 0:14:59.280 You're in Miami. 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:01.320 Well I was at the time like that was like 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:04.360 my Like everybody knew me. The doorman was always like 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:07.360 her in, you know, and so they let me in. 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:09.640 They let us both in, but they let me. 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:12.160 In first, and I was like, okay, check us out. 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:15.920 Yeah, but and I was trying to be respectful. I 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:18.560 was like, you know, hey, is there somebody I can 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:20.680 contact corporate? Like I've been trying to get this invoice 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:23.600 paid And got back and he was like he was 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:25.840 like maybe smoking weed or something. He kind of he 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:27.760 just kind of blew me off, like, you know, just 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:30.920 didn't really answer me, went inside, and so I kind 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:32.360 of I was like feeling some kind of way. And 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:35.160 so we did this year end issue that was like 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:37.680 the year end awards. I mean, I mean we might 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:39.720 have even took that idea from the source. I don't know, 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:42.160 but it was supposed to be like humorous awards we 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:44.440 were given to people. So the time, the talk around 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:49.120 the industry is about how Benzeno is extorting Dave. You know, 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:53.160 Iyane's book and and you know heard I think I 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:54.760 don't know if Kim's book was out yet, but you 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:56.560 know this, this has been out for a while, Like 0:15:56.560 --> 0:15:58.320 people who work there have been talking about this. So 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:01.520 I've said something about Ben's you know, extorting Dave, and 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:03.960 then trying to be like a proper journalist, I said, 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:06.800 you know, disclaimer here. They owe me money. That's why 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:10.800 I'm talking shit and send it to print. And when 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:13.520 you do a magazine, I mean, you write something and 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:17.000 by the time it actually reaches the public, it's six 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:20.720 weeks later at least. So six weeks later, I'm just 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:23.240 sitting at home at like midnight, and this number I 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:26.400 don't know calls me and is like fuck you hangs up, 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:32.000 and I'm like, okay, somebody calls back. So's Dave called 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:35.880 me the first time. Second call is Benzino and you know, 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:38.160 it took me like a minute honestly to even remember. 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:40.560 I'm like what did I like, what is this about? 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:42.760 And then I'm like, oh, yeah, I forgot about that 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:46.640 thing I wrote, And so Benzino cussed me out for 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:48.320 like it was like a ninety minute call. 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:51.600 Like he just he seems like, yeah, he seems like 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:53.040 the kind of guy. He has a short time pow 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:55.000 to scream a lot for sure. Yeah, because I've seen 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:58.000 seen the way just unravels online rather quickly with people. 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:00.760 So I'm like scrambling running around the house like I'm like, 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:02.800 I know, I have a recorder here somewhere, like I 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:03.920 got to record this, you know. 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:06.160 He's just yeah, going off. Well. 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:08.920 It was kind of funny because it was like very 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:12.160 like if you're going to insult somebody and hurt them, 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:14.200