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Speaker 1: It was kind of a really beautiful mess. And you know,

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Speaker 1: it's like thinking back into that little square foot apartment

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Speaker 1: that was broke out of my mind. DJing two hundred

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Speaker 1: dollars a gig, sometimes a hundred dollars a gig every

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Speaker 1: day than it possibly could. Honestly, got those little one

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Speaker 1: hundred to two hundred dollars gigs saved me, saved me,

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Speaker 1: saved me.

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Speaker 2: What if I told you there was more to the

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Speaker 2: story behind game changing events?

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Speaker 3: Get ready for my new.

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Speaker 2: Podcast, That Moment with Damon John will jump into the

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Speaker 2: personal stories of some of the most influential people on

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Speaker 2: the planet, from business mobiles and celebrities to athletes and artists.

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Speaker 3: What's up, everybody, It is Damon Johnn here now.

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Speaker 2: I'm actually traveling and creating a lot of those that

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Speaker 2: Moment special times of my family because one of the

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Speaker 2: things I do with Red is that earlier in my career,

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Speaker 2: I never traveled with my family. I never took that

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Speaker 2: time out. And the biggest question of the his challenge.

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Speaker 2: You're always going to ask yourself or have his work

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Speaker 2: life balance, and if you don't have both of those,

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Speaker 2: you're in trouble. But I don't want to forget about you,

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Speaker 2: because I'm going to play for you something that I

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Speaker 2: pulled out of the vault, something that I actually use

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Speaker 2: often and listen to myself, probably every three or four months.

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Speaker 2: It is an interview with my buddy Steve Aoki. Steve

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Speaker 2: is the cake throwing superstar DJ that performs all around

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Speaker 2: the world for hundreds of thousands of people at a time.

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Speaker 2: And maybe you've gotten hit by him with the cake,

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Speaker 2: or maybe you've seen him on social media, or maybe

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Speaker 2: you've seen.

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Speaker 3: Him in person. But let me tell you something about

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Speaker 3: this man.

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Speaker 2: He is no joke. He's a global phenomenon. But here's

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Speaker 2: the challenge Steve had. Steve grew up with money, his

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Speaker 2: parents had money, and that actually hindered him. Now, if

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Speaker 2: you would talk about yourself, you would say to yourself,

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Speaker 2: right now, you know what if I had.

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Speaker 3: Unlimited money, what would I do? Well?

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Speaker 2: Sometimes that can be your biggest problem. And people don't

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Speaker 2: want to do anything for you. They want you to

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Speaker 2: pay for everything. And even when you pay for everything,

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Speaker 2: they want to take it from you and say you.

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Speaker 3: Didn't deserve it. And Steve had to activate the power broke.

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Speaker 3: So here you go.

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Speaker 2: Check out my interview of that moment with Steve Aoki

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Speaker 2: that I still reflect on and I go and listen

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Speaker 2: to from time to time to energize me, and I'm

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Speaker 2: sure it will energize you. And by the way, some

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Speaker 2: of these pieces in this interview I've never put out

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Speaker 2: at all to anybody, but the pieces that I did

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Speaker 2: put in the Power Broke ended up becoming a chapter

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Speaker 2: and the book became a New York Times best selling books.

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Speaker 2: So trustfully, they are going to be nuggets in there

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Speaker 2: that you are going to absolutely love. Thank you for

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Speaker 2: listening to that moment with David John piece. What's uf

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Speaker 2: I'm Damon John, and I'm sitting here on my buddy,

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Speaker 2: Steve Aoki, the world famous EDM DJ and producer and

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Speaker 2: everything else and an amazing individual that I've gotten to know,

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Speaker 2: and one I want to highlight individuals in my Power

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Speaker 2: Broke book. I wanted to really talk to individuals from

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Speaker 2: all walks of life. And the beautiful thing about Steve

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Speaker 2: is that Steve made it on his own exercise of

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Speaker 2: power broke from day one to even now when he

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Speaker 2: decides to go into new ventures. But I want to

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Speaker 2: just ask him a couple of questions and let you

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Speaker 2: get to know him and see how he exercised the

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Speaker 2: power broth. So thanks Steve, thanks for thanks for being

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Speaker 2: here at grant Meme dated View. Now, you know, tell

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Speaker 2: me a little story. I don't know if everybody knows,

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Speaker 2: but you know, you have a pretty rich background, and

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Speaker 2: I know that your parents, you know your dad especially

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Speaker 2: I create a business. And can you just talk to

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Speaker 2: us a little bit about the business that he had. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: uh so I followed you found at Benning.

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Speaker 3: At a restaurant and done my bravest spot.

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Speaker 1: And his story is incredible. So he let's give a

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Speaker 1: brief that really quick because that that his story really

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Speaker 1: ends up becoming a big, big like play into my life.

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Speaker 1: So he came to Japan to New York to wrestle

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Speaker 1: for Japan, I think for the Olympics, and he I'm

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Speaker 1: not sure if he defected, but he ended up staying

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Speaker 1: in New York I think illegally. So for some point,

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Speaker 1: he's young, he's in his twenties, and he wanted to

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Speaker 1: be he wanted to live in America. So I mean,

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Speaker 1: he was an ice cream man. He was living in

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Speaker 1: Harlem for a couple of years of ice cream out there,

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Speaker 1: and he went through a lot of hardship. This is

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Speaker 1: like in the forties or I don't know what what

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Speaker 1: years like long years and years ago or maybe I'm

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Speaker 1: not sure that the year, uh it was. It was definitely

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Speaker 1: at a time when World War two passed and and

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Speaker 1: there was like a lot of discrimination as Japanese obviously

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Speaker 1: during that time of the Bobbies. So he was out

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Speaker 1: there on his own, and he was broke, and he

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Speaker 1: he would find tools, whatever way he could make money.

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Speaker 1: And eventually he raised enough money, he made enough money,

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Speaker 1: got some help from his father to come and and

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Speaker 1: open up Beni Hannas in New York and and his

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Speaker 1: father came out, brought the chefs out and they they

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Speaker 1: actually created that concept tep on yaki in America for

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Speaker 1: the very first time, the idea of cooking, entertaining guests

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Speaker 1: Japanese food to you know, to like a republic. It

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Speaker 1: became a success, and you know the rest of sister

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Speaker 1: firm eventually to a public. So when I I grew up,

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Speaker 1: I was born in seventy seven. At that time, my

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Speaker 1: dad was he was he was like he was hip hop.

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Speaker 3: He was already established. He was already Yeah, the mazing

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Speaker 3: he was.

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Speaker 1: Like you, I think you were in public he was

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Speaker 1: buying cars, he had chains, I mean yeah, like club

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Speaker 1: it was like single, but he was married. You know.

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Speaker 1: My mom eventually realized that and divorced and fled to

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Speaker 1: the other side of the country and raised me in

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Speaker 1: Newport Beach, California. So I grew up on the other

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Speaker 1: side of America. And uh, but you know, I grew

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Speaker 1: up under the shadow of a successful fodder, you know,

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Speaker 1: who wrote like books on making in America things like that.

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Speaker 1: And as I grew up, my mom raised me in

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Speaker 1: a very did a completely different lifestyle. You know, I

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Speaker 1: didn't I didn't see I didn't get raised in the

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Speaker 1: New Jersey mansion.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 1: I was raised in a very comfortable, upper class neighborhood

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Speaker 1: Newport Beach, in the suburbs. So don't worry. It's not

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Speaker 1: like I was like saying I'm broke, but like it's

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Speaker 1: definitely comfortable and definitely living in in a very upper

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Speaker 1: class neighborhood. And I grew up and you know, I,

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Speaker 1: you know, I faced my whole level of dealing with

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Speaker 1: discrimination and racism, and you know, at that at an

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Speaker 1: early age, but that that level, that feeling of being

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Speaker 1: of not being part of the status quo or like

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Speaker 1: the normal kids whatever. The normal kids were pushed me

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Speaker 1: to eventually find other marginalized kids that that all kind

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Speaker 1: of came together like, we don't care if those kids

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Speaker 1: don't like us, We're gonna like find our We're gonna

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Speaker 1: do our own thing.

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Speaker 3: And was this a newport and yeah, this was a

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Speaker 3: newport of it.

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Speaker 1: And and then that's where I found this, Like we're

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Speaker 1: talking about this or this this hardcore punk lifestyle. So

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Speaker 1: like whatever we became, I became vegetarian. I like started

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Speaker 1: like educating myself in that world. I was going to

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Speaker 1: shows and pump shows and.

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Speaker 3: These are punk shows.

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Speaker 2: Now I know that, and you know, listen, there's no

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Speaker 2: there's no no way should have a prown again. So

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Speaker 2: what a child is born into, whether it's you know,

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Speaker 2: it's family of wealth or as of a family that

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Speaker 2: at the.

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Speaker 3: Moment doesn't have any money.

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Speaker 2: I know that the people that are generally wealthy, there's

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Speaker 2: two forms of how they may raise their children.

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Speaker 3: There is either I work for it very.

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Speaker 2: Hard and I want you to to follow the same

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Speaker 2: disciplines I'm not going to give you anything, or there

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Speaker 2: is Hey, I had to work so or it's so

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Speaker 2: hard that I don't ever want you to do that,

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Speaker 2: and I want to give you the education right going

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Speaker 2: into that punk world is a very rebellious world. It

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Speaker 2: it's its own version of hip hop, it's its own

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Speaker 2: version of you know, you know whatever it is. They

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Speaker 2: generally frowned upon the kids that you know that had it.

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Speaker 2: Yea had resource access and how did you manage to

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Speaker 2: navigate that and gain respect?

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Speaker 3: And you know why did they value you in the world?

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Speaker 1: And in that world, it's all about like how much

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Speaker 1: you give back to the community. So the people that

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Speaker 1: don't give back to the community are just not really respected.

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Speaker 1: So whether you are created, whether you're in a band,

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Speaker 1: you make music, whether you write a fancy whether you

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Speaker 1: organize events so that bands can come play, it was

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Speaker 1: all based around kind of promoting the lifestyle of that community.

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Speaker 1: So I was doing whatever I could without having to

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Speaker 1: actually say, oh yeah, I want to get my rich

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Speaker 1: dad to pay for it, because like that's that's the

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Speaker 1: wrong approach. It's like, you know what we're going to do.

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Speaker 1: We're going to go to Kinko's, which is a copy center,

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Speaker 1: and we would steal all the copies and make our

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Speaker 1: own zines and be creative. We'd always find different tools

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Speaker 1: what was in front of us to create music, to

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Speaker 1: be part of the community. And the more you did

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Speaker 1: that and the more you were showed that, that's that's

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Speaker 1: where the respect came in.

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Speaker 2: Did you ever did you ever take or ask or

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Speaker 2: was offered, uh, you know, some of the money or

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Speaker 2: some resources from your parents or these things.

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Speaker 1: Well, my father he.

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Speaker 3: Would never He never invested it.

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Speaker 1: And actually not in any of this, in any of

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Speaker 1: these kids. And that's where like, there's there's two. I

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Speaker 1: think there's two big, like two big mental moments that

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Speaker 1: that helped shape me to where I'm where I am now,

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Speaker 1: where I'm utilizing the tools in front of me and

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Speaker 1: figuring out how to get from point to point. B

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Speaker 1: One was my father's struggle on on how he made

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Speaker 1: it from really nothing to you know, to his empire

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Speaker 1: and and translating that to his kids. I mean I remember, like,

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Speaker 1: you know, when I started my label, and this is

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Speaker 1: years later, I was like in my mid early twice

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Speaker 1: and I was going to his house and he would

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Speaker 1: never pay for a flight, Like, Dad, can you pay

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Speaker 1: for a flag on a DJ? Giggs? Like paying me

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Speaker 1: five hundred dollars.

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Speaker 3: That really was the truth.

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Speaker 1: It's like, why do you want being paid? You need

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Speaker 1: to work, you know. So like I would always pay

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Speaker 1: for the flights and I was like, oh Dad, I

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Speaker 1: need I need this uh FedEx?

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Speaker 3: But how much needs a flight?

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Speaker 1: How much?

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Speaker 3: Would the fight five hundred dollars and the and the

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Speaker 3: gig was five hunre hours?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so I would traveled from California to New York

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Speaker 2: to New York and then then he had to pay

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Speaker 2: for the hotel. You probably stayed some days and I

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Speaker 2: hated my dad's so it would be just it'll be

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Speaker 2: it'll be a washer about something, right.

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Speaker 1: But like he you know, he never actually ever invested

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Speaker 1: in Denmark. He never gave me any money. He never

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Speaker 1: really yeah, I got me even presents. I've heard that.

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Speaker 1: It was like he was very much like.

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Speaker 3: You know, he really.

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Speaker 1: Taught me the hard way with and I never asked

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Speaker 1: him because you just don't ask him because he just

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Speaker 1: doesn't do that.

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Speaker 2: So did he value that you were doing it or

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Speaker 2: did he just not understand you were doing it? I mean,

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Speaker 2: what was his outlook on what you were doing? Because

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Speaker 2: you know, everybody knows you now from you know, you know,

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Speaker 2: being one of the one of the world's most recognized

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Speaker 2: EDM DJs, and we all hear about the you know, rockings,

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Speaker 2: thirty thousand people and all this money, but I don't.

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Speaker 3: I don't think people may understand.

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Speaker 2: You know that, how long did it take where you

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Speaker 2: didn't have anything and you never knew that you were

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Speaker 2: going to make anything.

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Speaker 1: I'll tell you that from okay to give like a

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Speaker 1: like a ten year period really as brief as possible. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I started my label in nineteen I was in college.

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Speaker 1: I started with four hundred dollars and right will for

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Speaker 1: do four hundred dollars. It's all the money that I

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Speaker 1: made in my summer, like my summer night.

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Speaker 3: How much it costs us to go three days to

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Speaker 3: see you at a coachwum.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And so I started the label with four dollars.

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Speaker 1: I parted with two of my friends that put four

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Speaker 1: hour dollars and we put out a seven inch and

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Speaker 1: the idea, it was all about the ideas, like we

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Speaker 1: don't ere money, but we're just gonna go Kinkos. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna steal all the copies. We're gonna find this. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna get a friend to help us here. We're gonna

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Speaker 1: sell ourselves literally like from the trunk of our cars

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Speaker 1: to the shows, and we're gonna make seventy five cents

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Speaker 1: per every single sevench we sell, and we're gonna literally

256
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Speaker 1: piggy bake this money to have that money to put

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Speaker 1: out all the record until we get to the point

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Speaker 1: where we can get a distributor to pay for it.

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Speaker 1: And so from that point on ninety six to two

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Speaker 1: thousand and four, when the Denmark became a business, I

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Speaker 1: was I finally founded a way of using other people

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Speaker 1: to help me out without ever having to reach out

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Speaker 1: a handout for my father. So that was not really

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Speaker 1: important for me Zach to know that I could do

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Speaker 1: that and show him I could actually, So.

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Speaker 3: I would say that that was a very exercise that

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Speaker 3: I broke. It was eight years.

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Speaker 2: You did not have resources to have a label, marketing,

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Speaker 2: distributing and selling your goods. But you exercise that. That's

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Speaker 2: a good exercise, and the power broke. You took a

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Speaker 2: small army and you incrementally rule over the course of

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Speaker 2: eight years. But you also understood the genre very well.

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Speaker 2: So it was people buying into you, or they were

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Speaker 2: buying into the music, which one was it both, So you.

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Speaker 1: Know how that goes. It's like, oh, it's like you

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Speaker 1: really are Like I was literally giving block Party CDs

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Speaker 1: to like every one that I saw. I mean it

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Speaker 1: was I was that guy. I was literally that guy.

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Speaker 1: And this was even before I was even into DJ

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Speaker 1: really and so see I got a DJing in two

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Speaker 1: thousand and three, So a lot like two thousand and three,

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Speaker 1: two thousand and four was a really kind of like

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Speaker 1: a robust time for me to like all these things

284
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Speaker 1: were taken off. Dimlock was turning into a business. The

285
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Speaker 1: same time, I was knocked out in ten credit cards,

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Speaker 1: over ninety thousand dollars in debt, and I had no

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Speaker 1: idea how her figure out of pay that off. There's

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Speaker 1: no way to figure out.

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Speaker 2: But then, what kept you? What kept you going when okay,

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Speaker 2: you were selling these records. We weren't making money, but

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Speaker 2: you was selling these records. It was six eight years in,

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Speaker 2: you had ninety thousand dollars in debt, you were borrowing

293
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Speaker 2: Robin Peter to paypole right, you have a bunch of

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Speaker 2: friends believe in you. What kept you going to this

295
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Speaker 2: day because now twenty and fourteen, well, by some time, there's.

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Speaker 1: A lot of things, like in two thousand and four,

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Speaker 1: you know, you have to keep a perception that you're

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Speaker 1: you're doing great, you know, like so so like people

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Speaker 1: believe the brand is powerful, right, So the brand had

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Speaker 1: this idea it was this big company.

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Speaker 3: So I was seeing a movement.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like we we sold over eighty thousand units

303
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Speaker 1: of block Party. We just did a deal with Advice

304
00:16:07,960 --> 00:16:10,480
Speaker 1: ended up so like three or fifty thousand albums through

305
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Speaker 1: a BCE that like access to a block Party's album.

306
00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:17,080
Speaker 1: Same time, I actually was still only hiring interns at

307
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Speaker 1: thirteen interns in my apartment nine iver square foot apartment,

308
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Speaker 1: I was spending five hundred dollars a lenth share it

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Speaker 1: with my girlfriend.

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Speaker 3: Of the tib and your girl was living there. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: did you keep her? Did she stay with you?

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Speaker 1: And she stay with me for a long period of time.

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Speaker 1: I eventually we broke up, but I mean the amount

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Speaker 1: of money I was expending was minimal, like five hundred

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Speaker 1: dollars for rent, car, insurance, and.

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Speaker 3: And an office at the same time. Yeah, yeah, I

317
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Speaker 3: went all right.

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Speaker 1: And at thirteen in terms from around the world, like

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Speaker 1: I had no idea what some of these people were doing.

320
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Speaker 1: Like you're like, yo, can you cook something? Because I

321
00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:52,280
Speaker 1: don't know what wise, you know, and records piled up everywhere. Mean,

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Speaker 1: it was like it was kind of a really beautiful mess.

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Speaker 1: And you know, it's like thinking back into that little

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Speaker 1: square foot apartment that was broke out of my mind.

325
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Speaker 1: And I would dare never to even show this my

326
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Speaker 1: father because he would immediately say, run away from that.

327
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Speaker 1: You need to get a real job. I'll help you

328
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Speaker 1: by introducing you to people to work for, not at

329
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Speaker 1: Benny Hannas, all right, because he didn't want me to

330
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Speaker 1: work if he wanted me to like learn at other companies.

331
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Speaker 1: And I was like, no, I'm gonna do this. I

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Speaker 1: like to I'm just gonna keep the perception up that

333
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Speaker 1: things are all good. And the thing that saved me

334
00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:32,440
Speaker 1: was DJing two hundred dollars a gig, sometimes one hundred

335
00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:37,840
Speaker 1: dollars a gig every day than it possibly could and honestly,

336
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Speaker 1: got those little one hundred to two hundred dollars gigs

337
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Speaker 1: saved me.

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Speaker 3: Well, how but how easy was it to get a

339
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Speaker 3: hundred dollars gig? A turn? If theyd doors get slammed

340
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Speaker 3: on you, ever, did they? Did?

341
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Speaker 2: You just people started following you. What normal days of

342
00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:53,480
Speaker 2: getting a thousand, you would accept two hundred. What was

343
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Speaker 2: the reason why they would give you a hundred two hundred?

344
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Speaker 1: The only way I could even DJ, because that was

345
00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:02,800
Speaker 1: really bad. I was this pretra or pre digital, playing

346
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Speaker 1: final and fairly learning how to beat match. Okay, the

347
00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:08,919
Speaker 1: only way I could even get into a bar is

348
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Speaker 1: if I threw the party myself. So I have to

349
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Speaker 1: actually be the promoter, the DJ, the organizer, everything. And

350
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Speaker 1: then I'm on the streets handing out flyers. I mean,

351
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Speaker 1: imagine Steve Aoki, Gord oh Man come to the show.

352
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Speaker 3: I was saying the same me.

353
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Speaker 1: It's just like we're all there were Like that's what

354
00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:36,280
Speaker 1: people don't realize, see Davy Jo like all this. You know,

355
00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:38,520
Speaker 1: it's the same kind of thing. Like I was there

356
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Speaker 1: making the flyers at Kinko's, stealing them. You know, I

357
00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:45,400
Speaker 1: keep saying that, sorry Kikos, but you know.

358
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Speaker 3: It's okay, but you know that's the truth.

359
00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:50,840
Speaker 1: And then and literally just handing out flyers like okay,

360
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Speaker 1: So I got like my friends to come DJ, but

361
00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:56,320
Speaker 1: they were all in these famous bands. Because I already

362
00:18:56,359 --> 00:18:59,280
Speaker 1: had the experience of throwing bads in my living room

363
00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:01,400
Speaker 1: and Santa Barbara four and or fifty bass playing.

364
00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:04,800
Speaker 2: My literary Wow in the nine on the squarefoot no

365
00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:07,520
Speaker 2: in my apartment in Santa Barbara.

366
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Speaker 3: Out of guy again.

367
00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:11,159
Speaker 1: So when I started throwing these these these parties and

368
00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:16,240
Speaker 1: these small eighty capacity bars, it would be like these

369
00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:19,320
Speaker 1: famous bands are coming through, like yeah, yeahs or Airpule

370
00:19:19,480 --> 00:19:22,879
Speaker 1: or you know, the Killers, and they would DJ for

371
00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:26,600
Speaker 1: one hundred dollars because we literally were only making like

372
00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:30,240
Speaker 1: three hundred dollars. So sometimes I'll be like, we just

373
00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:35,040
Speaker 1: beat two water doors. Oh man, I'm like, you know,

374
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Speaker 1: then I do that three times a week. I'm like,

375
00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:40,040
Speaker 1: I just be six hundred dollars. I just paid rent,

376
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Speaker 1: like and I just was like, okay, I need to

377
00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:46,159
Speaker 1: saw another party. And all of a sudden, like I was,

378
00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:52,000
Speaker 1: I became like Denmark became the hipster like at the

379
00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:54,840
Speaker 1: Times in two thousand and four, we became the hipster

380
00:19:55,080 --> 00:20:02,159
Speaker 1: like that that party, that that that spoke about this music.

381
00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:05,959
Speaker 1: There's no one else that could do what we did.

382
00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:24,200
Speaker 2: And let me ask you something on the flip side

383
00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:27,480
Speaker 2: of that, I'm looking back now of what it took

384
00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:31,720
Speaker 2: to get here. If your father would have gave you

385
00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:36,840
Speaker 2: a million dollars and said, please spend it on this label.

386
00:20:38,119 --> 00:20:41,000
Speaker 2: Do you think you could have accomplished the same movement

387
00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:44,720
Speaker 2: or the same energy and belief with it at the

388
00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:47,960
Speaker 2: same following at that time if you just bought a

389
00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:50,000
Speaker 2: bigger venue, paid all the bands.

390
00:20:51,119 --> 00:20:54,840
Speaker 1: Absolutely not right. I would have squattered it. I would

391
00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:56,639
Speaker 1: have lost it all. I mean, I would have been like,

392
00:20:56,840 --> 00:21:00,840
Speaker 1: what a failure. But when you have well, you really

393
00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:05,240
Speaker 1: are in a place where you have to figure out how.

394
00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:06,040
Speaker 3: To ma add how to perform.

395
00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:10,280
Speaker 1: You have to perform, and it's it's that's about the

396
00:21:10,359 --> 00:21:13,520
Speaker 1: mighty you're losing. It's about the reputation and consistency that

397
00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:15,760
Speaker 1: you want to continue to do. It's like, more about

398
00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:18,760
Speaker 1: your reputation on the line, then you're gonna you're going

399
00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:22,840
Speaker 1: to really do your best. And I realized it's also consistency.

400
00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:26,800
Speaker 1: You know, you have to be consistent and showing that like, Okay,

401
00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:29,399
Speaker 1: we're out doing this one time, we're out here like

402
00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:32,000
Speaker 1: flushed the pen. Yeah, I'm going to represent this culture.

403
00:21:32,359 --> 00:21:36,560
Speaker 1: I don't represent it every single week and yeah, and

404
00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:38,480
Speaker 1: to the point where people are like, Okay, now I

405
00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:41,840
Speaker 1: want to go to Aoki's party or Demock Dimmock's party,

406
00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:47,800
Speaker 1: and then eventually then I went from throwing parties to

407
00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:52,919
Speaker 1: learning how to produce, and I started with doing remixes

408
00:21:53,119 --> 00:21:54,480
Speaker 1: and that was baby stuffs as well.

409
00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:56,880
Speaker 2: You know what I and I think that and I'll

410
00:21:56,880 --> 00:21:58,960
Speaker 2: give you you know, I had a record label or

411
00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:01,320
Speaker 2: Google Records and Fatty Girl on a couple other things.

412
00:22:01,359 --> 00:22:03,320
Speaker 2: But I think that you brought up something that's very

413
00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:06,000
Speaker 2: very valid point in regards to the power broke.

414
00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:07,240
Speaker 3: Consistency.

415
00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:10,760
Speaker 2: You see when when people have money and things, they say, well,

416
00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:12,080
Speaker 2: I liked it this time, but you know what, I

417
00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:14,480
Speaker 2: gotta fly someplace. I'm gonna have somebody else throw the

418
00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:17,480
Speaker 2: party from me while I'm gone, and or I don't

419
00:22:17,520 --> 00:22:19,840
Speaker 2: know if the creatives good. I'm the hired of an agency,

420
00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:25,600
Speaker 2: and that translation gets diluted and the customer sees right

421
00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:27,800
Speaker 2: through it. So I mean you're a perfect example of

422
00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:30,919
Speaker 2: the power broke, which is of course you saw it

423
00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:33,639
Speaker 2: with you know nothing. You had to gain your respect

424
00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:36,840
Speaker 2: from a community. Then the business you had to do

425
00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:39,240
Speaker 2: what we call proof of concept. You had to sell

426
00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:42,160
Speaker 2: one record and then sell another one and sell another

427
00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:45,360
Speaker 2: one and fix each one, and then you basically got

428
00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:48,480
Speaker 2: this level of confidence in you to then start throwing

429
00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:51,520
Speaker 2: parties and then seeing where else you can contribute. And

430
00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:56,760
Speaker 2: you know, everybody always says, you know, every overnight success

431
00:22:56,800 --> 00:22:59,440
Speaker 2: has taken fifteen years. And you know when people look

432
00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:02,200
Speaker 2: at you now, I want them to know that you

433
00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:05,080
Speaker 2: put in your work and that you exercise the power broke.

434
00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:07,560
Speaker 1: So you know, it's it's like you said this too.

435
00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:11,399
Speaker 1: You have to eat ship. You have to eat it.

436
00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:13,639
Speaker 1: But like the most important thing is getting up and

437
00:23:13,680 --> 00:23:16,720
Speaker 1: brushing the dirt off and figuring out how to get

438
00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:17,880
Speaker 1: back on the market.

439
00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:19,159
Speaker 3: And then and then.

440
00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:21,320
Speaker 1: You're gonna eat it again. And then you just gotta

441
00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:23,520
Speaker 1: get it back up and learn from that, because then

442
00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:25,880
Speaker 1: you'll learn from that. Then you're just gonna I mean,

443
00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:29,160
Speaker 1: you know, you're gonna always fumble. Yeah, it's just human

444
00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:30,000
Speaker 1: errors happened.

445
00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:32,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think you said something that I

446
00:23:32,119 --> 00:23:32,600
Speaker 3: think that.

447
00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:37,159
Speaker 2: All entrepreneurs and uh you know people go through. I

448
00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:39,679
Speaker 2: think that you you hit something that's so real it

449
00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:41,760
Speaker 2: was cool. You basically said it was a beautiful mess.

450
00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:45,600
Speaker 3: Yeah. How do you how do you describe a beautiful mess?

451
00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:47,920
Speaker 3: You know, it's wasn't beautiful at the time?

452
00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:52,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, no, no, because it's it's uh, well see

453
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:55,720
Speaker 1: that there's something it's there's something about it where yeah,

454
00:23:55,760 --> 00:24:01,840
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. It it's absolutely beautiful because you're driven by

455
00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:08,000
Speaker 1: passion and you don't care how much money that you've

456
00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:11,520
Speaker 1: that you've sunk into it or that you're investing into

457
00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:14,320
Speaker 1: it because you love it so much and you'll do

458
00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:18,560
Speaker 1: absolutely anything to make it succeed. Yeah, and and there's

459
00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:22,359
Speaker 1: so many times, oh my god, sobody tells when everyone

460
00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:26,720
Speaker 1: around me is like, stop doing that, what are you doing?

461
00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:28,800
Speaker 1: You just mas up with the mill the card. And

462
00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:31,520
Speaker 1: I didn't have business managers, I didn't have lawyers. I

463
00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:33,840
Speaker 1: was like, I didn't have anything. I have a manager.

464
00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:34,919
Speaker 1: It was just me.

465
00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:39,080
Speaker 3: And it's those small milestone So you just maxed that

466
00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:39,640
Speaker 3: in the part.

467
00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:44,600
Speaker 2: Yes, but it's those small milestone that do we have

468
00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:46,840
Speaker 2: as those beautiful message right right?

469
00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:48,800
Speaker 3: Two hundred dollars and then you do it three times

470
00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:52,880
Speaker 3: and those six hundred dollars right. Yeah. Yeah, it's a mess.

471
00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:56,440
Speaker 1: It's a mess, and it's chaotic, and you don't know,

472
00:24:56,880 --> 00:24:59,080
Speaker 1: you really, you really truly don't know if you're gonna

473
00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:01,520
Speaker 1: get you do make it out alive, you know what

474
00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:04,880
Speaker 1: you mean? She's driving you're like, I can't let this go,

475
00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:07,679
Speaker 1: and you know, like I guess there is there is

476
00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:10,879
Speaker 1: that moment where okay, all right, right, you need let

477
00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:13,199
Speaker 1: go back. You know there is that vote like you

478
00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:14,320
Speaker 1: can't say that to everyone.

479
00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:16,679
Speaker 2: Yeah, but well, you know what, I think, there's somewhat

480
00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:18,560
Speaker 2: other ways to describe it. It's almost like being in

481
00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:21,399
Speaker 2: love with somebody and it's just a mad love, like

482
00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,120
Speaker 2: it's it's ups and downs.

483
00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:25,479
Speaker 3: Or even have having children.

484
00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:27,840
Speaker 2: You know, you come home, the houses is a mess,

485
00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:30,000
Speaker 2: but it's so beautiful and you know, you know what

486
00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:33,480
Speaker 2: I mean, the special rewards. So I like that saying

487
00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:35,640
Speaker 2: a beautiful mess. And now now I want to close

488
00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:37,879
Speaker 2: it out with when you say a beautiful message. It

489
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:40,960
Speaker 2: immediately makes me think of when I when I roll

490
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:43,920
Speaker 2: with you concerts, the pretty girl in front who has

491
00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:47,720
Speaker 2: a sign saying cake me and you you hit her

492
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:51,600
Speaker 2: with a three pound cake that she's wearing the rest

493
00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:55,440
Speaker 2: of the night. That's a beautiful message the star. Where

494
00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:56,800
Speaker 2: did the cake concept come up?

495
00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:01,160
Speaker 1: But I know, oh oh absolutely, Okay, Uh, the most

496
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:04,719
Speaker 1: important thing beyond the k concept is is uh just

497
00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:08,199
Speaker 1: the level of entertainment that I Because I was DJing

498
00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:11,720
Speaker 1: for a while you know, and I remember I played Coachella.

499
00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:14,000
Speaker 1: This is the second time I played Coachello two thousand

500
00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:17,639
Speaker 1: and nine, and that's the first time that I thought

501
00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:21,280
Speaker 1: of bringing entertainment to my show. And I brought out

502
00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:24,159
Speaker 1: these rafts and I had like I was jumping in

503
00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:26,720
Speaker 1: them and people were jumping in them. And I remember, like,

504
00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:30,000
Speaker 1: you know, the next issue of Rolling Stone magazine, it

505
00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:33,040
Speaker 1: shows up like this coachelle is spread and it was

506
00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:35,600
Speaker 1: a small DJ, right, So I'm like, there's no way

507
00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:37,400
Speaker 1: I'm going to being roy Stone. But all of a sudden,

508
00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:40,600
Speaker 1: there's Paul McCartney, there's like, you know, some other big star.

509
00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:44,040
Speaker 1: Then there's me in a raft. I'm like, I made

510
00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:48,720
Speaker 1: the Rolling Stone spread, Like wow, small DJ hiking the

511
00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:51,480
Speaker 1: spread and and I was like, you know, people love

512
00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:55,280
Speaker 1: like seeing this. It's a spectacle and it it brings

513
00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:59,240
Speaker 1: this level of energy and entertainment to the show. So

514
00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:02,239
Speaker 1: I started doing raft every show and I did that

515
00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:04,679
Speaker 1: for years, and in twenty eleven, I was like, I

516
00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:08,200
Speaker 1: need to bring a new element to the show. And

517
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:13,000
Speaker 1: I saw this music video of these cakes exploding in

518
00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:18,040
Speaker 1: people's spaces and super solw motion cinematic amazingness because it's

519
00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:20,600
Speaker 1: just like you know when people bowing up the candles out.

520
00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:23,440
Speaker 1: I'm like, I am going to cake someone at a

521
00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:26,359
Speaker 1: show while playing that music video, Like that song in

522
00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:28,800
Speaker 1: a music video, it'll be a great like tie it

523
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:32,280
Speaker 1: all right. The thing is that no one really got

524
00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:35,200
Speaker 1: that like they they like when I played the song,

525
00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:36,480
Speaker 1: I was promoting one of my artists, and.

526
00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:38,639
Speaker 2: I'm thinking, who was the first person to see you

527
00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:41,800
Speaker 2: up there with a cake and go right hit me

528
00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:42,119
Speaker 2: with it?

529
00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:45,320
Speaker 1: Well, the good thing is is that I wanted to

530
00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:48,200
Speaker 1: make it viral, so I remember, I think this might

531
00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:50,479
Speaker 1: not be the first time, but there is, like there

532
00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:53,119
Speaker 1: is a video back in twenty eleven, I think it

533
00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:56,919
Speaker 1: was May, and I like showed the video to my

534
00:27:57,080 --> 00:28:02,320
Speaker 1: videographer and I walked around and people at this time

535
00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:05,240
Speaker 1: in twenty eleven, they did not know what I was

536
00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:08,640
Speaker 1: doing with the cake. But you walk around enough and

537
00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:13,320
Speaker 1: you show people the cake, there's gonna be one crazy

538
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:15,840
Speaker 1: wants it. And there he was right there, and no,

539
00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:19,239
Speaker 1: it was like, all right, let's make this special. So

540
00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:21,240
Speaker 1: I got my video guys there and I was just like,

541
00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:25,920
Speaker 1: and everyone's just like watching what's going to happen? Everyone

542
00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:31,200
Speaker 1: stops to stop conversation to see like this, like what's

543
00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:31,760
Speaker 1: going to happen?

544
00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:32,160
Speaker 3: Right?

545
00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:35,640
Speaker 1: So I cake him. He's going wild and then that's

546
00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:38,960
Speaker 1: like the ultimate. The ultimate is like you want to

547
00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:40,320
Speaker 1: see what he looks like afterwards?

548
00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:42,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly asks what you want to see?

549
00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:45,320
Speaker 1: Like the act is cool, but it's like the aftermath

550
00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:48,120
Speaker 1: is what's the best part. So and then we posted

551
00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:48,920
Speaker 1: that video up.

552
00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:54,360
Speaker 2: What viral and then it just started, you know, becoming

553
00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:56,080
Speaker 2: you know, por the show man. You know what in

554
00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:59,120
Speaker 2: the show you excide the power broke all the time. Listen,

555
00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:02,400
Speaker 2: either I have to spend ninety thousand dollars to get

556
00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:05,560
Speaker 2: a page in Rolling Stone, or I have to sell

557
00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:07,920
Speaker 2: five million records and you know as you did you

558
00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:11,040
Speaker 2: bought a rafts right? Uh? Why? And Wayne not as

559
00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:13,080
Speaker 2: many people knew you now they feel like you are

560
00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:15,640
Speaker 2: broke and the KPE people, I love it all right, man.

561
00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:16,719
Speaker 3: Good, thanks very far.

562
00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:22,760
Speaker 2: That Moment with Damon John is a production of the

563
00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:26,720
Speaker 2: Black Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from the Black

564
00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:31,840
Speaker 2: Effect Podcast Network, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

565
00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:35,600
Speaker 2: wherever you listen to your favorite show and don't forget

566
00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:39,880
Speaker 2: to subscribe to and rate the show and of course

567
00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:41,320
Speaker 2: you didn't all connect with me on any of my

568
00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:46,520
Speaker 2: social media platforms. At the Shark, Damon spelled like Raymond,

569
00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:47,120
Speaker 2: But what a d