WEBVTT - "The NFL Chris Paul" | Next Man Up Podcast | Washington Commanders 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:01.480 What's Good Commands Family. 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:03.800 Brian Copra Junior here, and this is the Next Man 0:00:03.880 --> 0:00:06.120 Up Podcast where we talk to your favorite Commanders players. 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:08.000 But it's not so much X and O's. We get 0:00:08.039 --> 0:00:09.960 to know the man behind the helmet. 0:00:09.960 --> 0:00:12.639 And our next man up is no other than Chris Paul, 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:16.599 our second year offensive lineman. Chris talks about his family 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:20.400 being immigrants from Nigeria, playing at Tulsa, being a part 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:24.160 of mental health advocacy, and wanting to meet the NBA. 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:25.280 Chris Paul. 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:28.240 This brother is definitely a renaissance man. You're gonna want 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:30.520 to tune in. One of the best conversations I've ever 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:33.640 had with an individual, and it all starts right now. 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:36.000 What's Good, Commanders Family? 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:38.640 I'm Brian Coper and this is the Next Man Up 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:41.400 Podcast where we talk to your favorite Commandis players. 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:42.560 Not so much about X and O's. 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:45.400 We want to get to know the man behind the helmet, 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:48.640 and our next man up is no other than Chris Paul, 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:49.560 the real Chris Paul. 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:52.040 Chris, how you doing today? Brother? Ah Man, I'm blessed man. 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:52.879 Thank you so much for being here. 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:55.200 I know you're busy, man, I know we're pass halfway 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:56.720 through the season, So you got a lot going on. 0:00:57.200 --> 0:00:58.680 We're gonna talk a little bit about football, but I 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:00.840 mostly want to talk about you, where you're from and 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:02.520 what makes you? You cool with that? Let's do it 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:03.760 all right, let's do it man. First thing is for 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:06.080 you from Houston. Yes, what is being like? There's a 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:07.800 lot of pride in Houston, right, there's a lot of 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:09.720 Houston pride. What's being from Houston mean to you? 0:01:10.000 --> 0:01:12.480 I mean it means everything. I mean I feel like 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:14.119 we kind of have a one side of a wife 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:17.520 when we were Dallas. Yeah, anybody from Houston is gonna 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:20.000 make sure you know that. You know, like, I'm from Houston, 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:24.039 no nowhere else, no confusion. So that's definitely where I'm 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:27.760 from and definitely a lot of culture down there. So 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:28.800 I really do love it. 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:31.440 Yeah, man, And you talk about Dallas real quick, So 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:33.000 where you hype when you found out, like, Yo, I'm 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:34.600 gonna get to play Dallas twice a year and beat 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:35.640 up on them with your little height. 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:39.720 I was very high, very hard like. So that's definitely 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:40.560 an honor for sure. 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:43.200 Yeah, man, being from Houston, Man, there's a lot of 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:45.679 things that can you know, distract a young man trying 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:48.640 to come up. How did you avoid, you know, those 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:50.400 type of distractions, stay on the path that you've been 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:52.560 on because you're very focused and driven individual. 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:55.800 Yeah, I would say it really all depends. 0:01:55.880 --> 0:02:01.200 Like Houston, it has a lot of neighbor different pockets 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:04.720 and stuff like that. So thankfully, my parents made it 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:07.320 a priority to kind of like put myself and my 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:12.200 brothers in a great area, like a great, great school system, 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:14.960 all of those kind of things. So I really didn't 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:17.240 run into that many distractions, and I was able to 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:20.320 like kind of capitalize on every opportunity I was given. 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:23.200 Yeah, you talk about your brothers, man, you have two brothers, right, 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:24.680 there's three of you guys. Right, you have a older 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:28.240 you're the middle, and then it's younger Yes, all yaller athletes. Yes, 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:30.799 younger brother is a very very good colleague of athlete 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:33.040 as well. What is that like growing up in a 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:36.359 house like that with three athletes, three very big, very athletes. 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:37.280 What was that like? 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:39.560 Very large humans? What was that like growing up with 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:40.800 three brothers in environment like that? 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:41.480 It was? 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:44.160 It was so much fun, so much fun. I just 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:46.480 I mean, I don't know how my parents did it. 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:49.000 I don't know how my mom did it, like I 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:53.359 mean three three big boys, I mean, summers was just crazy, 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:57.400 Like we go grocery shopping, fill up the fridge, it's empty. 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:00.680 The next day, I gotta do it again. So it 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:02.600 was it was a lot of fun. And so it's 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:04.560 kind of also been cool to watch kind of like 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:06.520 watch all of us come into. 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:09.840 Our own Yeah. Yeah, is there any competitive spirit there? Right? 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:10.720 Like where there were you. 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:13.280 Guys constantly baling like I gotta get the last turkey 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:14.519 leg like things like that. 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:18.120 Always baling whether we're playing the video game or you 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:20.840 know anything like always a competition. 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:22.000 So like it was, it was fun. 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:24.880 How has that healthy competition helped you be where you 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:25.520 are today? 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:28.520 It's helped in a way because like it's kind of 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:33.360 molded me into who I am today. It's added to 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:37.160 that like competitive spirit that we naturally all have. 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:39.320 Yeah, so I would say it was it was more 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:40.480 beneficial if anything. 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:42.560 That's fire man, that's really really cool. And then you know, 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:44.320 like I said, we got your younger brothers still in college, 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:47.080 you're here at the NFL levels, what conversations do you 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:49.000 guys have? Like I know, he probably picked your brain 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:51.480 and ask you with things like what conversations are those like, 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:53.080 and like what kind of game do you give him 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:54.360 to get him ready for the next level. 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:57.960 Yes, he's always asking me questions and shot he's given 0:03:58.000 --> 0:03:58.560 me pointing us. 0:03:58.560 --> 0:03:59.480 He watches the games. 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:03.400 I watch his game, and it's been really cool, especially 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:07.960 since he'll be pretty much coming out this year, and 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:12.480 so I mean I'm walking him through every aspect of 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:16.120 the process. So we'll probably be in the same area 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:18.120 during the off season as well, so I'll get to 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:20.800 kind of like be hands on and I just I look, 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:22.800 I'm so proud of him, and I look forward to 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:23.400 this journey. 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:27.080 Like, yeah, man, how would it be you know, he 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:29.120 gets drafted to a place like that, so he goes 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:31.360 somewhere that you got to play against him. Of course 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:33.479 you guys are both lineman. What would that be like? 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:35.840 Man, that would be the world because if you think 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:37.040 about it, I went to Tulsa. 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:37.440 Yep. 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:39.080 He is currently at. 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:42.080 Houston and now Houston is in the Big twelve, but 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:44.280 they used to be in the American so we had 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:46.680 we got to have two games where we played against 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:49.440 each other. And it's the coolest thing on earth. And 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:52.240 I mean, you should have seen pictures pictures. 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:52.440 Of my mom. 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:55.279 She kind of like had this, I think my senior 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:58.200 year she had this like split dress for like blue 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:02.719 or I mean it was it so much fun and 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:04.640 just like a full circle moment. 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:07.479 That's really really cool man. And clearly, man, your parents 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:09.359 mean a lot to you. Man, So talk about them 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:12.320 a little bit. They both came here from Nigeria, they 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:16.479 both met going to college in Houston. Yes, that's a 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:19.159 very very interesting past man, And I'm sure you've talked 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:21.400 a lot about them, and like that's not easy to do, right, 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:23.320 It's not easy to come here into a new country's 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:27.040 and really settle and let alone have three amazingly talented 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:27.480 young men. 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:29.760 How inspiring are your parents to you? 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:34.159 I mean, they are the most inspiring people to me 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:35.760 on this earth, you know, just. 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:39.279 Knowing their journey. My mom really came here the youngest. 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:42.320 She came here when she was seventeen to go to college, 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:43.560 you know, all by herself. 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:49.480 And just to kind of see them take on that journey, 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:50.880 what they made. 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:56.320 Of their lives, how they built their family and prioritize 0:05:56.360 --> 0:06:00.000 their children, and the sacrifices, many many sacrifices they made. 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:03.200 The most inspirational people yeah. 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:06.440 And you being a Nigerian man, what does Nigeria that 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:08.720 being from there and having that pride Nagia. Yes, you're 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:11.640 from Houston, put your roots in Nigeria. Exactly what kind 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:12.839 of love do you have for Nigeria? 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:14.440 I have? I have so much love. 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:18.560 And really, when you talk about like my background and upbringing, 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:23.520 my parents they really found it important to have us 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:26.640 live in Nigeria for like a portion of our lives. 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:29.560 So I lived in Nigeria for about three to four years, 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:31.919 went to school and everything. I think that would have 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:34.719 been right around like second to fifth grade. 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:35.360 Wow. 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:38.159 And so those are like, you know, pivotal moments of 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:42.560 your upbringing. So being able to like take that experience 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:45.200 and all the lessons I learned over there and then 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:48.640 bring it back here like it made a world of difference. 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:53.440 It made me like well rounded, multi dimensional, Like I 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:56.480 just knew how to navigate life in a much better way. 0:06:56.720 --> 0:06:57.000 Wow. 0:06:57.120 --> 0:06:59.760 Man, I mean that's very young, right to being in 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:02.040 another the country come back to this country. 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:04.960 What are the challenges you faced going through that? 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:06.640 Which is cool as it it's just really cool and 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:08.520 it's amazing that your parents did that. 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:09.600 It was very very smart. 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:11.600 You gotta be attached to your roots. But what are 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:12.400 the challenges today? 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:20.160 I mean there's challenges. Luckily, I'll say culturally there's challenges 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:24.520 because like culturally between like Nigeria and here, a lot 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:26.960 of things are different. I would say, like in terms 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:35.240 of students versus authority figures, Nigeria definitely has like an 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:40.800 emphasis on respect and like those type of values, and 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:47.160 so it was it was a little bit difficult, like 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:49.840 adjusting to what we were used to the point. But 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:53.680 I mean once you get around like younger kids your age, 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:57.160 and you start like getting submerged into it, you start 0:07:57.160 --> 0:07:59.520 to realize that it's it's pretty easy to adjust. And 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:03.320 I mean's official languages English, so that there wasn't any 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:05.960 type of language barriers or anything. And we picked up 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:08.720 a very very thick accent that was like it took 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:12.840 two years to lose while I came back. But yeah, 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:14.800 all of it was just I would say it was 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:16.480 more beneficial if anything. 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:19.560 How now, because you know, you're grown man, now you've 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:21.280 been in America a really long time, how do you 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:24.160 keep that attachment in those tides in Nigeria and stay 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:26.360 connected to you know, basically, what's the mother man? 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:26.640 For you. 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:30.560 I would say, we got to go back for Christmas 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:32.360 in twenty sixteen. 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:34.960 Wow, so that was that was pretty cool. 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:37.920 So it's still been a while since I've been back, 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:41.000 but I mean majority of my extended family I would 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:43.440 say currently lives in Nigeria, so I would say just 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:48.400 keeping up with them. You know, older people use Facebook 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:50.480 a lot, so I mean I'm all connected through there, 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:52.480 so i'd say I'm pretty pretty stuck. 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:54.280 Man. That is so cool to hear. Man. 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:56.360 And if you haven't peeped already by talking to this brother, 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:59.320 it's very versatile. Yes, we know you're versatile on the field, 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:02.080 but life you're extremely versable. 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:02.240 Man. 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:03.800 You have a lot of passions, you have a lot 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:05.720 of things you care about. So let's get into that 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:08.200 a little bit. You end up going back to America 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:11.040 after in Nigeria and you start playing football. You didn't 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:13.800 start playing football right away right once you start playing. 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:16.760 I started playing sixth grade, so middle school. 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:17.640 Yeah, middle school. 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:19.360 And I think I was telling you off air that, 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:21.160 you know, Kawan Martin was saying he played at five 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:24.080 years old. So you know, you're clearly a big dude. 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:26.920 You have stature. What sports war you playing? Leading up 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:27.680 until sixth grade. 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:31.280 The first sport I ever played was soccer, So I 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:34.800 think pee wee. That was probably what five years old, Yeah, 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:38.040 pre k kindergarten. That was the first sport I ever played. 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:42.520 Then when I got you know, I say, living in 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:45.480 Nigeria for those years, like the main sport over there 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:49.040 is soccer, yeah right right, they you know, dabbling basketball 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:50.800 and stuff like that, but the main sport is soccer, 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:56.200 which they called football. So and then middle school, I 0:09:56.240 --> 0:10:00.280 mean genetically, myself and my brothers were just being so 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:02.560 like it was real kind of like you know, people 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:05.880 seeing always like, yeah, you're gonna play for me? No 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:08.040 you really, I didn't have a choice in the battle, 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:10.440 right right right, And so got into it and then 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:12.280 just really started having fun with it. 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:13.800 Yeah how long did it take? 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:15.440 Because I mean middle school that's you know a lot 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:17.040 of people play the whole lives what we talked about. 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:20.720 When did you start realizing like, oh nah, this. 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:22.160 This me right here, I'm gonna be good at this. 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:27.160 This was It was probably you know, high school, but 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:30.400 especially junior year. That's around where like you know, offers 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:32.480 for college starts to come in. And that's really when 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:34.800 I knew like, yeah, this is this, this is what 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:35.360 I'm wanna do. 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:37.760 Yeah, yeah, and then you chose to go to Tulsa. 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:40.000 And then during your time at Tulsa, Man, I should 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:41.400 have just wrote a list of it, because there's so 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:43.520 many different things you were involved in, so many different 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:45.400 things you did. Like one thing you really big on 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:48.720 is mental health advocacy. Why was that so important to 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:51.080 be involved in that? Because I think you were representative 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:53.120 of the whole ac If I'm not mistaken right, it's 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:56.400 like seven thousand plus student athletes that you had to represent. 0:10:57.160 --> 0:11:00.480 Why was mental health advocacy the main you wanted to 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:01.600 focus on the thing you wanted to. 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:06.840 Push Because I think it's so so huge in sports, 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:10.680 Like even if you and that's all sports, like that's 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:16.920 male sports, women's sports, that's all of it. And because 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:22.480 think about it, we're in very competitive environments where you 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:24.720 have to be tough to be in thisment, you have 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:27.160 to be mentally, physically all of it. You've got to 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:30.120 be tough, and so a lot of times in those 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:34.439 very serious, very competitive environments, you kind of like can 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:38.400 lose sight of the holistic aspect of like being an athlete. 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:43.079 There's somebody under the helmet, right exactly. Yeah, there's somebody 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:48.320 beyond the entertainer, you know. And so that's why for 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:52.280 me it's so so so important, and I can only 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:56.480 speak from the standpoint of being a man like I 0:11:56.480 --> 0:11:59.800 also think it's very important from that aspect as well, 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:03.040 because think about our whole lives. 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:07.200 We've been told, you know, man up, you know, deal. 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:09.360 With it, shake it off, walking off, whatever. 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:13.520 But everybody goes through something like no matter how like 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:16.640 tough you go about it, no matter how tough you 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:20.000 try to act about it too. And so for me, 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:24.040 it was just really important to let people know that 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:28.120 there are others, even if it's somebody right next to you, 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:31.640 others you might not know that could be going through 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:35.520 similar things as you are speaking up about those things 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:36.520 like change his lives. 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:38.560 I mean, how do you get to this point though, right, 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:40.120 Because like you said, man, you're not only a man, 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:40.880 you're a black man. 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:44.080 You're a big man. A lot of us don't get sympathy, right, 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:45.480 A lot of black men aren't getting you know that. 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:47.280 We're the ones that are told the age, especially out 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:49.079 the way raised like we gotta be tough because this 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:50.040 world's hard on us. 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:51.839 How do you get to this point, you're still a 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:52.520 very young man. 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:54.080 How did you get to that point into where you 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:57.080 understood how important was to take care of your mental Yeah. 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:05.360 I would say one everybody's like upbringing is different. 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:05.680 For me. 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:08.720 I'm very grateful that I have parents that were like 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:14.160 that really cared about me, or care about me holistically. 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:15.720 Like and how I'm doing. 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:19.200 But I think to your point, like being a very 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:22.080 large man, being a black man, and we don't usually 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:24.760 get sympathy for me because of that. That's why it's 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:29.160 that much more like I wanted to come from me. 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:35.040 I want I want my black brothers to like know 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:39.200 that somebody goes through similar things, that somebody cares like 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:43.680 you can talk to somebody doing that can change the 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:45.080 trajectory of your life. 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:47.599 We talked to I believe it was Jeremie Reeves and 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:50.000 he was mentioning he went through some things in life 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:53.520 and he was saying how it was so hard as 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:56.880 him to realize he needed to release, he needed to 0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:58.520 let things go. And then he had a moment where 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:02.080 just everything came out. What are your ways you deal 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:04.080 with things and make yourself feel better and do these 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:05.880 self checks to where you check on your mental health 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:07.720 power ways you do that for people that are watching 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:09.600 that are trying to figure out like their own mental 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:10.079 health journey. 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:13.520 Absolutely like what you just referenced, Like I call that 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:15.480 the bottlenecking effect. 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:18.000 That's like that's well known. 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:23.120 If you just like keep it inside, you know, shake 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:26.400 it off whatever, just ignore it, like will it's gonna 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:29.320 come out in a healthy ways. Like and I've had 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:33.720 experiences with that as well, And so for me, healthy 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:37.440 outlets are really really important to me. And I know 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:39.400 we'll get into it a little bit later, but like 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:41.840 whether it's video games for. 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:46.960 Me, it's music, Like that's how I like channel. 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:51.200 That's kind of how I unplug and like channels my 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:57.160 mind somewhere else into like creative things. So like any 0:14:57.200 --> 0:14:59.640 type of healthy outlet that you can get into out 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:03.840 extremely extremely advised you to do so. And then just 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:08.480 like taking advantage of resources, like talking to somebody is okay. 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:13.840 And there's this like stigma of like talking to people 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:17.200 or going to counseling or going to therapy because you 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:21.440 think that like that means something is like seriously wrong 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:27.840 with you or like no, take advantage of like all 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:30.880 the resources that you have around you. I think doctor 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:35.360 Robertson really around the league. The NFL has taken a 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:38.640 great step by making sure that there's a doctor roberts 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:43.120 on every team and providing those type of mental health 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:46.320 resources for players that really have to go through a 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:50.400 lot behind, like beyond what you see at base level. 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:52.040 You mentioned music man. 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:55.120 Yeah, you know to the casual fan that might not 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:58.040 know Chris Paul, you know, you might just say about say, oh, 0:15:58.040 --> 0:15:59.960 he likes listening to music all that where you actually 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:01.960 make music man? I actually was, you know, because we 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:03.800 do a lot of research on this man. So I 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:06.080 found a music video, you know what I mean, Like 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:08.200 and this isn't like it's ain't hip hop or like 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:10.640 this is like R and B, Like you really like 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:11.960 are into this music thing? 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:13.160 How did you get into it? 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:20.640 You know, as as crazy as it sounds, this really 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:22.360 started like out the. 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:26.640 Worm I heard a start. I heard that you used 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:27.640 to home as a babe. 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:34.360 That's your're talking like humming, humming, and like you know, 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:37.320 as a baby you go to all like the pediatrician 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:40.800 check up. Yeah, and so my mom and dad always asks, 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:42.440 you know, he likes to hum like he was just 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:44.720 like create his own tune. Who be in the car, 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:47.040 he was just created some he was just humming, Like 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:48.880 why is that? Why is he always humming? It's like 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:53.400 that baby's probably musically inclined. Probably, So like growing up, 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:57.120 I think right around like middle school I started getting 0:16:57.120 --> 0:17:00.840 in the choir on through up high school and stuff 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:03.280 like that, and then that's when like I really knew 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:05.000 like I was musically gifted. 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:07.000 Wow. So music been in your life longer than football 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:07.360 for real? 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:08.080 Yeah? Really? 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:08.800 Wow? 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:09.080 Man? 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:13.040 So what if you describe your style of music, your 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:13.960 genre of music? 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:17.080 Would you call yourself a singer? What would you describe 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:18.520 yourself when it comes to music. 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:25.800 I would say predominantly singer. And then when like you 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:28.359 think of genres, like I want you to think of 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:33.240 number one, I would say alternative, R and B. But 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:39.640 like lately the past three years, like we've been kind 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:42.399 of like changing what all of that means. So I 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:46.000 would say you could get some popping there. Production wise, 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:49.080 you could get something that sounds more hip hop, but 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:51.840 that I would like end up, you know, creating something 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:55.280 different to it. So I would say very well rounded 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:57.720 when it comes to like genre, but like in terms 0:17:57.760 --> 0:18:01.280 of like inspirations, like the Lucky Days of the world. 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:03.520 Wow, that type of like. 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:08.000 Sound, the gibons, which is like the more of the 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:12.040 R and B, the scissors and the solanges that give 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:13.560 you that more like alternative. 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:16.439 Yeah, man, I like that. You gotta throw me some tracks. Man, 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:18.639 I gotta hear what you work with. So you know, 0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:20.400 you're a football player now, you know, man, you Nike 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:22.920 it to the NFL. You get to this point, you're 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:28.200 clearly into a lot of things. Yeah, activism, music, athlete, family. 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:30.679 How have you managed to juggle all the things now 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:32.280 that you're at this point, I mean your career is 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:34.760