WEBVTT - Theron Thomas 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:18.160 Money. We are say take we are a party. Think Hey, 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:23.480 what's going on? My name is tank U and DC 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:29.320 is the Army Money Podcast. You know nothing about writing songs. 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:35.400 You know nothing about writing hits. You're not from the 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:42.319 car being either you are? I am not either. I 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:47.279 have been there. We have today on the pod. One 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:52.320 of the most electrifying talents that we got a scene. 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:57.320 He writes it, he sings it, he feels it deeply 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:05.440 in the building on that No, I love it. I 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:16.040 love yeah you guys, I feel it. You got nicer, don't? Yes? Yes, 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:21.600 encourage me? Yes. Virgin Islands right yeah. St. Thomas Virgin Islands. St. 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:25.160 Thomas Virgin Island home with Tim Duncan. Yeah, Tim Duncan 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:26.880 from St. Croix. But a good friend. Big up to 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:30.840 Tim Duncan. That's why. Um, his team was the Spurs 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:33.000 is my favorite team until he left. We didn't we 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:34.759 don't have a team. We had one player, Tim Duncan. 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:37.560 So I was a Spurs fans. One player. Yeah, yeah, 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:40.560 we had one superstar player, which is Tim Duncan from St. Croix. 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:43.400 And I was a Spurs fan until he retired. Wow, 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:45.840 and now I'm just like, you know, basketball was on 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:48.600 the TV. Give me, give me, give me. That was 0:01:48.720 --> 0:02:03.960 very coming to America town. Yes, I know. Okay, come down, 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:13.440 bow that's good, that's good. Give me give me because 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:15.440 we have so much to unpack. Bro, you've done so 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:20.640 much marvelous work in this in this music industry than 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:25.359 you are. You are well respected and and and very 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:29.679 much called upon, oh Man to deliver. Yeah, like you're 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:32.600 one of the guys. It's like you know, for for 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:36.760 for record companies are sing we need it. Yeah. No, 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:42.080 he's a designated hitter. Designated No what ain't ain't a 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:46.000 sports sports whatever whatever. So a designated hitter is somebody 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:47.960 that they put in baseball. They put in the game 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:51.480 to get hits. They're like, okay, this guy, we need 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:53.480 a hit right now. That's it. It's the d H. 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:55.360 They only have it on one side of for some 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:57.639 weird reason. It's only in the American League. I don't 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:00.240 think it's in the in the National League. But yep, 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:03.560 this is what this guy is paid to do. Listen, 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:07.120 we need a hit right now. You've been sitting on 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:10.280 the bench the entire game, and when I put you in, 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:12.520 I believe you're going to hit the ball. They've been 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:16.480 working with other people. Yeah, for a year and a half. Yeah, 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:18.680 and then they called we got the body of work 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:30.480 we need hear my accent you this is school. We 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:37.720 need to designated hitter. What was give me growing up 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:42.080 in the Virgin You're Timothy? Give me and my shout 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:44.240 out to Timothy. Shout out to my brother, Timothy, one 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:45.839 of my favorite human beings in the world. I love 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:49.000 you if you're watching this. Um growing up in St. Thomas. 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:52.440 So we we started out, me and my brother started 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:54.360 out living in a in a shock, which was the 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:57.400 place that my mom was raised with her nine sisters 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:00.160 and one brother. And then my mom, my mom, and 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:02.680 my dad end up staying there. So we lived there 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:06.080 and my mom got really really mad at my dad 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:07.560 because she was mad like why am I still in 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:11.680 the place my childhood place? You ever seen the Sorry 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:17.120 ms Jackson video by outcasts that house, so you know, 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:19.520 our door couldn't close. We had a tied close. The 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:22.560 bathroom was outside with no lights. We had to take 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:25.880 bats before six pm because it would go dark. Um. 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:27.839 There was holes in the floor, so we had straight 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:31.480 dogs or straight cats or animals just crawl inside the house. 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:34.120 And you know, my dad was a trash man, so 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:36.120 he would get our beds from the trash came. But 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:40.679 we never had, uh, the bed spring or the head boarder, 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:42.080 We never had none of that. We just had the 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:44.000 Master Masters, you know what I'm saying. But it had 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:45.400 the little things in it, so it would poke you 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:47.520 when you sleep, you know what I'm saying. So me 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:51.240 and my brother would argue on which side somebody would sleep, 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:54.280 you know, and um, you know me. You know, I'm 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:57.839 forty now, and you know, and my brother and I 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:01.279 shared a bed until I was about years old, you 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:03.080 know what I mean. And that's a funny that's a 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:05.600 funny story because I'm gonna jump back. But we share 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:07.760 the bed because we got an apartment in Atlanta when 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:11.280 we finally got our own place, two bedroom and we're 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:14.720 in our bedrooms yelling at each other, like yo, what 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:16.719 are you doing? And I also watched that movie what 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:21.360 are you doing? I texting some girl my boy this 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:24.200 folk feed wear dog. Yeah, and I just went in 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:26.560 my brother room and we we share the bed to 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:28.960 the point that our best friend lost his apartment and 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:31.960 we let him stay in the other room. Were using 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:34.600 that Yeah, like yo, bro, you could yo you can 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:36.960 come and you can help pay bills to ship bring 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:40.240 groceries in this mouth. Yeah. So you know, so we 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:42.960 started in a shack. My mom was mad, you know, 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:45.680 somewhat broke up with my My dad was like, you 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:47.520 gotta get it together. You you know what I'm saying. 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:50.640 We can't be living like this with our kids. And um. 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:53.520 They used to be a project in St. Time. It's 0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:56.440 called Do New or do New cut right, and it's 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:58.760 my aunt. My mom's sister Natalie lived up there with 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:01.360 my cousin or Shanna Kelly and Kelly, So they lived 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:03.159 in do So we went to stin Done with my 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:05.880 aunt and I remember my dad coming to surprise us 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:08.200 because you know, him and my mom wasn't really messing 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:11.360 with each other. Well they you know, they got back 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:14.880 and then, um, oh my god, I'm so sorry I'm 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:22.600 being here. Yeah, so um they both Um, My my 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:24.320 dad went to my mom was like, YEO, I got 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:26.680 a surprise for you, and I'm like, hey, everybody, come on, 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:28.719 and you know, so we got in the car and 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:31.359 he drove us to where we grew up. It's a 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:34.320 project in ST Time. It's called housing. The politically correct 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:37.200 name is Oswald Harris Court. So you drove us to housing, 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:40.000 brought us in there in St. Thomas apartments. Don't coming 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:41.760 nothing in it? You know. Like when we moved to 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:44.640 the States and we had a c we was like, y'ah, 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:47.240 nigg is rich. What do you mean, I don't come 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:51.680 with nothing. It just comes with walls, concrete walls. There's 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:56.440 no fridge or stove or washer or no, it don't 0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:59.680 come with nothing in it. It's walls. You gotta buy 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:03.440 every thing. So when we any anywhere you move, you 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:06.240 have to have I mean all the appliances with you, 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:11.920 I want to say, other places. So when we moved 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:14.960 in and Bro, so we're coming from the shock, ain't 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:17.560 no holes in the floor, ain't no straight you know 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:22.680 to us, Bro moving on up? Hey, we me and 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:24.800 my you know, we little too. We gotta be like 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:29.720 six or seven, seven and eight, just like whoa look 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:33.560 at these walls. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know what I mean. 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:36.040 And and and we grew up there, so you know, 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:39.160 so growing up in the projects. But it's different. Man, 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:40.920 how important it is to have a dad because we 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:43.840 had our mom and our dad. So we're in the 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:48.600 hood now and all our friends, you know, whose mom 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:51.560 go to work and their dad ain't there. They they 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:53.920 street niggas, and they you know that my walking with them, 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:55.720 my little knife for you know what I'm saying. They're 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:58.120 selling their little weed and ship. And we're talking about 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:01.200 ten eleven, twelve years old type sure, right, you know. 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:04.840 And m me and my brother is just like our 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:07.960 dad got us into music, you know, nine years old. 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:10.600 I remember watching I remember seeing Criss Cross on TV 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:13.600 because we started out as backup dancers for a local 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:16.880 hip hop group called uh Rock Sand and Katie or Cody, 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:18.440 I was messed up the name, but it's Rock Sand 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:21.920 and something. And we would be dancing because you know, 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:24.880 back then, everybody in the eighties, everybody was dancing and ship, 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:27.520 you know. And we're dancing and then next thing, you know, 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:30.880 criss Cross comes out and I'm screaming to the top 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:36.000 of my lungs. Mommy, they run in. I want to 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:39.120 do that. That right there, that's what I want to do. 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:42.160 My Dad's like, okay, my dad is like, this is 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:44.119 how I'm gonna get my son's out of the projects. 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:47.440 They're gonna get out the projects doing that. And he 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:51.840 would just take us through the island performing doing stuff 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:54.880 and and you know, and so I end up writing 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:58.680 because this dude used to write for us, this high 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:01.240 school kid, right, and then he just was like, man, 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:02.400 I don't want to do that no more. I want 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:04.840 to be a solo artist and focus on myself. So 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:06.640 my dad is like, y'all gotta write your own songs. 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:09.000 And nobody could ever write a song for you ever. Again, 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:12.520 it was like because he put you on a weird spot. 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:16.040 And so I started to get into it because I 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:19.920 had an English teacher that introduced me to poetry and 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:23.360 I just had a fascination with words rhyming. Man, I 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:25.480 thought that was the coolest thing in the world. And 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:27.480 so you know, I started writing songs. I brought a 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:29.440 song to my dad. He's like, man, I'm telling you 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:30.920 that well, it's like a poem, but I tried to 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:33.199 add melody. He was like, this is crazy. He's like, 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:36.280 I'm telling you're amazing. And I remember writing my first song, right, 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:38.800 my first song ever. I was twelve years old. I 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:42.400 still remember it. So it's like, um, fresh shot done, 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:45.760 fresh hot, depressed on their their boy for test, put 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:49.800 them to the test. Test. A lyric called test Lyrics 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:52.560 from memot may not give your less Alis sexy or 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:55.840 my Nie for fiel up mit chest because it's me again, Yes, 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:58.040 smithcome fresh. And then I just thought I was the 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:05.640 greatest thing that ever happened to me. Just I don't 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:11.160 even know that. I don't know great to me. So 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:18.800 so yeah, you know with me and my brother, we're 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:21.040 a group. We're going around with doing shows. Is the 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:25.040 biggest fan, he's your he's your first super fan. He's 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:27.079 he's the first super fan. He the greatest man that 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:29.040 ever lived on this plant off. Yeah, he's the great 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:31.400 human being I've ever met in my life. And and 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:35.720 he's like, this is what you're gonna do. And he 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:37.079 was like, yo, when you grow up, you're gonna be 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:39.520 writing songs with baby Face. You know that's crazy. I 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:41.800 had a crazy emotional moment because my dad had passed. 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:43.240 And then I wrote a song with baby Face and 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:46.040 I called my brother crying and I was like, I said, Timothy, 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:50.160 I'm not sad. I'm not sad, I'm just so happy. 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:53.440 How did he know? Yeah, because he told me this 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:56.320 when I was a little boy, Like, hey, baby Face 0:10:56.400 --> 0:10:59.120 on you know, singing and out. He's like, oh, you're 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:02.079 gonna see you're gonna be writing songs and singing with them. 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:04.480 And he refused to let us compete with people from 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:06.200 the Virgin Islands. You know, my dad used to be 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:10.440 like yo. My dad would be like he was a gangster. 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:14.120 You're like yo, Now, these fucking people they never make it. 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:17.640 You can't compete with somebody that never do. Your competition 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:21.439 is the jay Zy and THEMN people on TV. If 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:23.800 you ain't boy on them, we ain't or never leave 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:26.880 this place. He used to make us rehearse two hours 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:28.880 a day, you know what I'm saying every day, so 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:30.960 we couldn't go outside of play unless we make him 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:33.320 stand up. So my dad would sit there, me and 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:35.920 my brother start saying and he would be like, terrible, 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:38.040 I'm your father and I love you. You can't make 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:39.400 me move. How are you gonna make a stranger move? 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:44.440 I'm like, So he's like, I need to see the 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:49.120 show every time. So we keep getting intenser and intensor, 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:51.640 and then he will stand up. Yes, this is why 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:54.120 need This is the only way you're gonna do it. 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:56.480 And so you know, so if you ever had the 0:11:56.480 --> 0:11:58.280 opportunity to see me and my brother live, we're like 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:01.480 you know, we're like jumping exactly and just do that. 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:04.800 That's why. So, you know, not knowing that songwriting as 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:08.679 a job, you know. So we became the biggest group 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:12.320 in the Virgin Islands. But again, my dad is like, 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:14.560 I've never seen nothing like this. People would ask us 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:17.440 for autographs. Yo. We live in the projects. We're poor. 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:20.360 I had my first job at twelve. I worked at 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:22.959 a grocery store with bad groceries and get tips and 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:25.160 bring home bread and cheese to help my mom, help 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:27.440 my mom with a light bill. Like we was. We 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:31.400 didn't have nothing. So yeah, but bro, I remember I 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:33.400 got my first job, like real job where I could 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:36.320 get a paycheck at foot locker and girl and I 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:39.120 got fired at foot locker because girls would come to 0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:44.000 foot locker and be like perform yeah, and be like, 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:47.360 oh my god, can you give me an autograph? You know? 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:50.079 Or back then they didn't have camera phones, bro, they'd 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:54.600 have the little um disposable cameras and be like, yo, 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:56.760 let me take a picture with you in the in 0:12:56.800 --> 0:12:59.560 the uniform. Yeah you got the referee. Yeah. And I'd 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:02.880 be like and my dad would be like, bro, y'all 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:05.400 are special. I've never seen nothing like that, Yeah, y'all 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:09.800 ain't on TV day day was. They thought we were somebody, 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:12.960 and we did that until so when we graduated out 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:16.040 of high school, our parents give us the choice. They said, 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:18.880 if y'all go to college. As parents, we have to 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:20.760 try to help y'all. We don't we don't know how, 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:23.160 but we're gonna help y'all. But if y'all don't want 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:24.840 to go to college and y'all want to go pursue 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:28.480 your dream, y'all a man, and then you gotta figure 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:32.640 it out. It was like, I'm like, I hated school. 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:36.680 I was like, I could do what everybody wants. Oh. Man, 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:39.640 I got on the first thing smoking. I told my brother, hey, 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:41.720 bet we moved to Miami. Baby. It was the cheapest 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:45.360 plane ticket. So that was the closest It's the closest place. 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:47.000 So we got on a plane and we went to 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:50.600 Miami and m my my dad's half brother lived there, 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:54.000 my uncle Trent, who passed, and um, he was in 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:59.160 Florida and he had like a one bedroom condo. So 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:01.360 he was like, man, I don't really have room for y'all. 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:02.760 Y'all can stay as long as y'all want, but I 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:05.240 know this ain't comfortable, and my cousin O'shanna, that's the 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:07.320 closest thing I have to assist him. My aunt Natalie 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:10.880 from Donal, her daughter, She was like, I would love 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:12.280 for y'all to stay with me, but I got like 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:17.439 female roommates. But her boyfriend at the time, his name 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:22.000 was Jason Roberts. Jason was trying to start a record 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:24.560 label and he was the biggest, biggest fan of me 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:26.760 and my brother musically, so he's like, oh, they can 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:28.640 stay with us. But he had five roommates, so we 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:30.960 used to so we used to sleep in his dining 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:33.040 room on a blanket. But again, me and my brother, 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:35.640 we like, come from that, bro. We came listen, bro, 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:38.280 Like you know what I'm saying. We come from nothing. Brother, 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:41.120 this is this is as long as we got somewhere 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:45.080 to sleep and we stay there. And we was like, yo, man. 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:47.240 Ten months later, Miami wasn't working out. It was like 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:49.800 nothing ain't moving. He was like, yo, we can move 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:57.600 to Atlanta or New York, Like all right, while saying that. 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:00.200 A promoter from St. Thomas that lived in Atlanta, one 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:02.720 of my dad's closest friends, name is Perella, calls us 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:04.720 on the phone and said, hey, Yo, there's a big 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:06.320 show in Atlanta that I'm trying to do. Them pay 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:07.920 you and your brother two hundred fifty dollars and give 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:10.200 you a hotel. It was like okay, hung up the 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:17.280 phone and I said, to be moving to Atlanta. Um, 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:19.840 this is too, this is oh one, We're moving to 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:23.320 Atlantic yeah for this two fifty because because you know, 0:15:23.720 --> 0:15:26.640 you know, my my my high school sweetheart with my 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:30.480 girlfriend at the time, was there, and so we go there. 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:32.200 You know, she had a job and credit and ship, 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:33.840 so she was a person that could like get an 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:36.680 apartment and you know, and we we had one night 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:40.080 in the hotel and two d and fifty dollars and 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:41.680 we was like, yo, we gotta figure out how to 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:44.760 make money. But we was like, we're not gonna get jobs, 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:46.640 are you crazy? Bro? We came here to do music. 0:15:46.760 --> 0:15:48.920 So we found out in Atlanta they'll be doing talent 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:51.000 shows and you can win. So we started to do 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:53.720 talent shows and then we want no life. We want 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:57.000 every single talent show except for this one talent show, 0:15:57.200 --> 0:15:59.000 which to this day, I really feel like we got cheated. 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:07.800 But it's all good, you know what. I'm saying, but 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:11.800 it's all good and um. What happened was we won 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:14.040 so much that it was like, hey guys, you guys 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:17.320 can only be special guests. You can't compete no more. 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:20.520 And we was like, bro, were only here for the money, 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:23.760 like we you know, none of these people don't practice 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:26.040 like we practice. We practice every day like me, my 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:28.800 brother and I DJ Benny, one of my best friend, Benny, 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:32.720 we rehearsed every day, like what, no, Bro, what you 0:16:32.800 --> 0:16:34.760 were hurting for? What do you mean for a show? 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:38.920 What show? Whenever one come, we just would rehearse. So Bro, 0:16:39.040 --> 0:16:40.920 we got on stage, we woul whoop everybody asked, and 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:43.080 we would win, and we would win. No, we knew 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:45.480 we was gonna win. We were so confident, call it arrogance, 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:46.960 whatever you want to call it. Before the show, we 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:49.800 would be like, okay, so tonight we're gonna win two fifty. 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:52.720 Benny's light bill is one, so we're gonna let him 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:54.880 get that, and Benny, you're gonna let me and Timothy 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:56.680 get the rest because we gotta put some groceries in 0:16:56.720 --> 0:16:58.920 our refrigerator and we're gonna bust it down like that. 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:02.840 We're good with that. Oh yeah, we were going there. Yeah, 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:06.199 we we just you know, that's and then they literally 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:08.960 just like, oh man, we love y'all, man, but y'all 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:11.280 y'all can't compete. People don't want to sign up no 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:13.520 more because they like, anytime they see your name, they're like, 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:18.760 come on, bro, we're not we're not being them. Yeah, 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:21.920 And so you know, we're going through the motions and 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:24.960 what's not so lifestart, you know, you know when real 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:28.040 life happens. Bro, My my my, my high school sweet 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:30.600 at the time time gets pregnant. My brother went back 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:33.040 to St. Timas like this music ain't really gonna work. 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:34.600 I gotta grow up, you know what I mean? And 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:37.359 this is after how long in Atlanta? How you know? 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:39.280 Just how long have you been in America at this point? 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:41.840 A couple of years. It's about four years, four years, 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:44.840 about four years in or something like that. Um I 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:48.640 want to say, is about four years because um no, 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:52.280 no, no no, no, I'm lying yeah, yeah, because it's like, um, 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:55.960 two thousand one to my daughters born in two thousand three, 0:17:56.600 --> 0:17:58.840 my brother back in St. Thomas, you know, and I 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:02.160 want to quit music at this point. I'm like everybody 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:04.879 keeps telling me how good I am they lying? And 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:07.000 I don't like that. I wish they would tell me 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:09.119 what I was doing wrong, because if they did, I 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:13.120 would change it. But oh, man, is so awesome. I'm 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:15.920 not awesome. I ain't making no money. People who are 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:19.520 awesome are making money. So I need to know what's 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:22.800 the problem is so I could fix it. And my 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:27.480 manager Ray, you know, y'all know Ray right. Let me 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:29.119 tell you how I met Ray. Ray. Ray and I 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:30.760 have been friends for nineteen years. This is the first 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:33.120 time I ever met him. My daughter's mother is pregnant 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:34.960 with my daughter. She ain't born yet. We got the 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:37.679 two bedroom apartment in the East side of Atlanta in 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:40.199 a place called Polo Club, and this dude named Mike 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:43.840 cal who wants I was broke, couldn't buy nothing for 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:46.600 my daughter's mom, so I used to write her love songs. 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:49.600 I still got a backpack full of songs that I 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:51.880 just I used to write love songs. And she'll come 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:54.520 home from work and I'll be singing, and she'd be like, 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:56.080 I don't want no song. I want you to get 0:18:56.119 --> 0:19:00.879 a job. You know what I'm saying. No, no, no, no, no, 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:02.800 no no no no no. I mean, you know at 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:06.679 the time, keeping it all the way from she was right, 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:10.080 But I'm just but you know, you know, sometimes sometimes 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:11.679 you gotta be stupid for your dream in order for 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:14.400 it to work, you know what I'm saying. So I'm 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:18.640 in there writing love songs or whatever, and Ray comes 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:22.359 in and Michael says, Yo, this the dude I was 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:25.080 telling you about in the group with his brother. Remember, 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:28.720 artists need us to be too equipped, he said to equip. 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:30.879 Ray said, oh yeah, man, I heard about your niggas. Man, 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:35.879 that's what you're doing, whacking fuck in my house the 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:38.040 first time I've ever met him. Within the first five minutes, 0:19:38.320 --> 0:19:41.760 I said. Michael says, you know what, then you're doing? Bro? 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:43.840 I said, hold on, why do you think it's whack? 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:46.080 He said, come on, Bro, he saw breaking it down 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:48.639 to me. I said, Bro, can you tell me more 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:53.879 about that? He's like yeah. Michael was like, Bro, I 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:55.399 need you to bring him in the city tomorrow. Man, 0:19:55.400 --> 0:19:57.920 I want him to write with me. Bro. He's like, hey, man, 0:19:58.200 --> 0:19:59.720 he wants me to drive it, but I ain't really gotta. 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.600 That's like to be riding around Ray broke two. I said, hey, 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:04.560 now I got an extra room. You can stay he said, 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:06.640 you just met me. I said, you the first person 0:20:06.720 --> 0:20:10.320 I ever met that I feel honest. Wow, that mean 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:11.960 that that man stayed at my house. He's been my 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:16.440 friend for nineteen years since that day. Wow, no ship, 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:18.399 that's how he became I would have never thought that's 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:20.480 how he became my friend because he told me what 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:23.520 I needed to hear at the time, and I took 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:35.480 it and it changed my life, changed my mind. Look, 0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:44.160 just came wrong. We're back, baby, We're back, lady, We're back. 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:46.280 You know what I'm saying. The lights ain't going on. 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:49.399 Everybody good. And now from this point on, we're like, okay, 0:20:49.400 --> 0:20:54.440 now that space ourselves. Yeah, you know, let pace ourselves. 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:57.560 You know, we plan on being here for a long time. 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:01.359 We've been there for a long time. We was like, yo, relax, 0:21:01.480 --> 0:21:03.639 were played them being there for a long time, you 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:06.400 know what I mean. And after that, I want to say. 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:08.359 Ray comes to me and he said, yo, man, I 0:21:08.400 --> 0:21:10.119 think y'all should I think y'all should stop trying to 0:21:10.119 --> 0:21:12.639 be artists. Like, damn, what do you mean? He's like, 0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:17.040 if we get hot at songwriting, they're gonna want to 0:21:17.040 --> 0:21:20.280 give us whatever we want. But we gotta be hot 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:26.200