WEBVTT - EYL #69 American Dreamin’ feat. Ani Sanyal 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:04.280 You just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday. 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:09.520 How can you find amazing candidates fast? Easy? Just use Indeed. 0:00:09.960 --> 0:00:12.680 Stop struggling to get your job posts seen on other 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:16.439 job sites. With Indeed sponsored jobs, your post jumps to 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:19.000 the top of the page for your relevant candidates, so 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:22.119 you can reach the people you want faster. According to 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:26.120 Indeed data, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed have forty 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:30.040 five percent more applications than non sponsored jobs. Don't wait 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:33.519 any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed, 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:36.200 and listeners of this show will get a seventy five 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:39.440 dollars sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:45.320 at indeed dot com slash pod Katz thirteen. Just go 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:50.160 to Indeed dot com slash pod Katz thirteen right now 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:53.040 and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:57.400 on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is 0:00:57.440 --> 0:00:58.040 all you need. 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:02.040 All right, guys, welcome back, Earn your Lisha. This is 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:04.559 an episode that could have happened five times. 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:05.800 Let's start this. 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:09.679 Yeah, but we finally got it done. But before we start, 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:13.240 by the time you guys hear this, three days four 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:16.280 days before the Big, the Big, the Big one. We 0:01:16.360 --> 0:01:20.120 come into Philadelphia March fourteenth. March fifteenth, we have a 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:23.440 live podcast on the fourteenth and that's gonna be with 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:27.839 our brother Wallow two six seven legend himself, Greg Parker, 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:32.560 a big business Neil Maya Davis amazing and just added 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:35.119 to the bill. Just added to the bill, John hen 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:40.120 reach out brother got John. Yes, and our guest today. 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:41.480 Somebody familiar to that flyer. 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:45.000 Yes, Yes, we're gonna we're gonna give him a full introduction. 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:45.679 Let's do it right. 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:49.120 We're gonna do it right. So Sunday, Sunday we have 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:51.920 our workshop and the workshop is going to be vending 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:57.120 Biza Edwards, Alex good Energy, Yeah, the King of Trucking 0:01:58.200 --> 0:01:59.600 and the tar Bla and I used to shell the 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:02.040 They're gonna with a tag team real Estate and you're 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:03.560 gonna talk about how to build a million dollar real 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:08.160 estate portfolio starting with nothing. So it's crazy. The live 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:12.919 podcast open bar caters, it's a networking event. After it's 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:13.359 a whole. 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:16.240 Yea e y L rules man, drink responsibly, act accordingly. 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:21.800 Yeah, yeah, yeah, So all the information is on e 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:24.960 y L Experience dot com. Like I said, you got 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:27.080 a couple of days to get tickets, don't play yourself, 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:30.320 don't miss out on this. Can't wait to touch the town. 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:35.880 So all right, Philadelphia, We'll see you. So without further ado, 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:38.360 we got that. We gotta announce the young legend that 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:43.280 we got in the building today. Annie sanal s y'all 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:50.440 get it. I get nervous because people mess up my 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:53.280 name so much that I've become very sensitive to that. 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:57.320 But yes, so this is actually a while in the making. 0:02:57.400 --> 0:02:59.640 As I said, we we had a schedule for a 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:01.920 few different times and we had to go out of 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:06.280 town and a lot of stuff came up. I think weeks. Yeah, 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:10.079 but we here, we here, So I'll give the bad story. 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:13.680 So did everything from Music started a record label when 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:16.200 he was in high school, inspired by jay Z, which 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:18.919 fits right in the podcast. As we mentioned, we mentioned 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:22.440 Jay all the time. He's currently a real estate investor 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:26.520 real estate in Jersey and Philly. Then he also has 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:30.400 a digital marketing agency where he's worked with Hillary Clinton 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:34.000 g r C. That's pretty big, extremely big. He has 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:37.120 one of the hottest tea is it is it okay 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:41.560 to call it the tea Yeah Chai Tea Shops in Manhattan, 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:45.560 which is blowing up anything I'm missing. 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:49.640 We got the idea exchange idea exchane. 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:52.120 People come together with ideas and find out how to 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:53.680 make them turn turn them into businesses. 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:56.920 Yeah, so he's a syal serial entrepreneurs. The term gets 0:03:56.960 --> 0:03:59.400 thrown around. And he's only thirty one years old, so. 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:04.800 The take it put out at high sixteen, right, so. 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:06.760 The term the term gets thrown around, very likely, But 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:08.920 he's a serial entrepreneur. So we got a lot of 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:10.720 things that we need to talk about in this So 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:13.160 first and foremo, so thank you for joining us. 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:16.440 Appreciate it, Appreciate you for real. This is this is exciting, 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:18.120 and we talked about this for so long. 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:21.120 Yeah for sure, for sure. So all right, so let's 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:24.480 jump right into it. So you start your first business 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:28.520 in the music business as a record label when you're 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:31.000 in high school. But so your parents are from India, right, 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:35.320 You're of Indian descent and they moved to this country 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:38.680 like right when you're born. Right, Yeah, So okay, so 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:42.880 you are an Indian kid growing up in Boston. Yeah, 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:45.279 but you fell in love with hip hop music and 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:47.440 then you decided to start a record label because you're 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:49.960 inspired by Jay Z and Rockefeller's that correct. 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:52.240 Yeah, a little bit. It's so the funny thing about 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:55.360 entrepreneurship now, it's like the sexiest thing. You know, everybody's 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:57.479 trying to get into it, and for me, like my 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:01.120 origins with entrepreneurship, we're not sexy at all. And what 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:03.719 it was growing up as an immigrant kid, you know, 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:07.320 watching your parents always get laid off or always be 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:10.080 at the victim of the job market, never being in 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:13.400 control of their own scenario. I'm talking about like eight, ten, 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:16.760 twelve years old. I knew that whatever I was gonna do, 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:20.400 I was always gonna be owning that or creating a 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:23.200 future for myself where I would never have to think 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:25.840 about how do I put food on my family's plate. 0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:29.800 Yeah, I think you mentionined that there's a few Christmases where, yeah, 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:31.560 your dad came home like job's done. 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:33.880 Yeah. I talk about it a lot because it's important 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:37.240 for me to contextualize my story, you know, like now, 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:40.120 you know, I'm on tour with my artist or you know, 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:42.440 doing a podcast with people like y'all, and it's all 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:45.480 fun and games. But you know, this started from like 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:48.560 a very not I want to say, out of desperation, 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:51.159 but it started out of like that hopelessness that you 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:53.960 feel when you can't take care of your family. And 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:56.760 so growing up, you know, as a brown kid, you're 0:05:56.760 --> 0:05:59.760 already feeling like an outsider because growing up in the nineties, 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:02.400 we had no reference point. It was I pull on 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:08.520 the Simpsons. We could laugh about it, but you know, 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:10.480 on the other side of it, I was like, damn, 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:16.159 this can't be life. This is literally and you know, 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:19.120 I think hip hop music and hip hop culture for 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:22.279 the first time I was able to see a person 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:25.840 of color in a position of ownership, you know, and 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:28.800 watching Jay how he ran up the score, you know, 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:31.040 in the nineties and the two thousands, like that MTV 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:36.960 diary that he did, if you remember that, and just 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:40.960 watching somebody like they controlling culture and they're controlling the 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:44.560 narrative and they own what they do. I was like, yeah, 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:45.000 that's it. 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:47.440 So at that point in high school, you're looking at 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:49.000 that like I can do that. 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:50.800 I don't know if I was looking at it like 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:52.320 I can do that. I think I was looking at 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:54.719 it like I have a story to tell, and I 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:56.840 wanted to tell that story in a real way. And 0:06:57.720 --> 0:06:59.680 you know, I knew from early on I wasn't that 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:02.520 school A kid like my parents, you know, respect to 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:05.039 them because they let me cook, but when they saw 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:07.839 me coming home with jeans, you know, sagging below my 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:10.160 waist and four fake chains on, they must. 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:12.640 Have been wet. 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:16.520 Let's see if I got one. But you know, they 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:19.200 I just I was never like I could never be 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:21.400 a doctor or a lawyer or a banker because to me, 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:24.360 I just always thought outside the box, you know, and 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:27.240 being a creative kid and always just having that spirit 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:29.640 like how do we figure it out? And I think 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:31.280 that comes from not having things, you know, like you're 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:33.200 always going to figure out how to get to it. 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:36.840 And so in high school, I teamed up, you know, 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:38.679 with a friend of mine, and I was like, look, 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:42.040 there's a lot of stuff happening on digital at this time. 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:44.960 So this is my Space era. So you at the 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:48.600 three clicks, you could a amplify your music to everybody 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:51.320 in the world, and or you could discover something you've 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:55.120 never heard before. And it just changed the way you know, 0:07:55.200 --> 0:08:00.120 we like digested and consume music. So I'm looking at 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:03.360 that like, Okay, if I have these tools at my disposal, 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:05.559 you know, how do I tell my story through music? 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:08.040 How do I create a world that I want to 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:12.400 live in and create financial you know, independence out of that. 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:15.960 So give you all some ideas of how I think. 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:19.440 Like even in high school, we used to during the lunchtime, 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:22.000 we used to like hand out little flyers in the morning, Like, yo, 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:24.880 we having a live show in this staircase in this 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:27.960 hallway at twelve thirty pm. Pull up and we'd have 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:30.360 a boombox and like I'd have a bunch of my 0:08:30.400 --> 0:08:33.160 friends just come through. We'd like freestyle or you know, 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:36.160 perform songs or battle or whatever it was. And these 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:38.559 these stairways used to be packed. 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:40.600 Out what I mean. 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:44.640 And then I remember we printed up an album, so 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:47.280 like I sold whatever PlayStation games I had. I think 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:49.960 I was like working ten thousan an hour boxing like 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:52.760 packing boxes or something, put all that money together and 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:56.040 printed up like three hundred album copies of an album 0:08:56.080 --> 0:08:58.840 that we put out, and them joints sold out in 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:03.120 like four days. Wow you Yeah, I was. I was 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:05.880 executive producing, I was, I was rapping, I was managing 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:09.160 the whole process. I was, you know, using digital to 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:11.600 like distribute all the stuff. So he had an album 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:15.040 on iTunes when I was like seventeen years old because 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:18.000 I had figured out how to crack that code super early. 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:23.199 And I we're selling physical CDs and I'm turning, was 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:25.920 it two dollars to print the CD into seven dollars 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:26.640 when you sell it? 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:29.079 So you know, on iTunes and the music is moving 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:30.800 for seven dollars an album, that's what you're. 0:09:30.679 --> 0:09:31.280 Getting off of it. 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:35.559 I'm selling seven dollars c This is like back when. 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:37.520 You know you you still play in your car. 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:40.400 You know, I had my pop's purple Corolla, but that's 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:43.400 you know, I would play my play my joint. And 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:46.200 but I'm just watching people like consume it. 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:47.880 Yeah, And I was like, oh nah. 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:49.240 And that's the first time I ever had like a 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:52.400 stack in my pocket, like a not and being like, oh, 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:53.360 it's a whole different thing. 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:55.440 I just made. 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.400 I made money off of an idea. Yeah, that's so empowering. 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:01.560 And then and then we're like, yo, let's try doing 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:05.199 some merchandise. Sold out thirty T shirts now that Knot's 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:08.520 getting bigger, and I'm like, oh, okay, you know what 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:12.440 I mean. So that was the origin and I took 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:14.640 that too. I will skip a couple steps, but I 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:17.880 took that from starting at sixteen, developing it all through 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:20.560 my early twenties, and when I was twenty two years old, 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:22.960 I got offered to go live and tour in Japan 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:27.200 for six weeks off of music, and that was a 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:29.920 moment of crystallization as an artist. As an artist, I 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:33.880 did a brand deal with Marlborough, the cigarette company. Never 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:36.400 smoked in my life, doesn't matter, but they were like, yeah, 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:38.080 we'll pay you X, Y, and Z for these three 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:40.640 tracks and I was like, yeah, run that bag. All 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:43.000 my best friends and my label partners at the time, 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:45.080 and we all twenty two years old black and brown 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:48.800 kids living in Japan in Tokyo, running up the score. 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:51.959 Out spiking of football. 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:52.920 It's crazy. 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:54.720 Now. With that moment, I was like, oh, I could 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:57.360 do whatever it is I want in my life because 0:10:57.360 --> 0:10:59.640 I turned my ideas into I'm. 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:01.360 Thinking even as a six year old kid, to be 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:03.960 an artist is one thing, right, but you're thinking Ceo 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:06.840 Min like I'm going to create a record label, and 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:10.200 so how how does this go from being an artist 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:12.640 and record label to now getting a deal like Marvel? 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:14.400 Like are you in front of them pitching this? How 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:14.960 does this work? 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:19.040 Yeah? I was I was always talking to like the 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:22.320 decision makers at some level, right, So like the Japan 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:24.640 thing happened through somebody that saw us at the showcase, 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:27.840 and I remember I had just quit the only day 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:30.559 job I've ever worked. I worked for two weeks and 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:32.320 I had just graduated or worked the day job for 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:34.400 two weeks. I was like, no, it's not me. And 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:36.319 somebody came up to me to showcase and was like, yo, 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:38.360 you want to live in Japan and go on tour and. 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:40.200 I was like, let me think about this. 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:44.000 But it was just having the wherewithal to like I 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:47.000 have a press kit ready, I have you know, an ePK, 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:49.600 I got you know videos, I have content that you 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:51.760 can consume. I got a story, and I got a 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:54.520 website and it's all packaged in a way that a 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:57.520 decision maker can be like, Okay, these guys are moving, 0:11:57.600 --> 0:12:00.280 something's happened. I could give you analytics on my last 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:03.120 you know, for releases and things like that. I always 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:06.120 thought that way because I knew that I couldn't monetize 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:08.880 my craft. I wasn't about to be a broke artist 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:09.960 like struggling artist. 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:11.640 Wasn't it still not. 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:16.160 There's no glory in that, And so that's just how 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:18.360 my mentality was. And obviously you know when you coached 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:22.000 by Jay, Like, I joked that Rockefeller was my NBA 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:26.240 because I just studied how to make certain moves, you know, 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:29.520 from that position and yeah, turn it into turned like 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:33.200 you gotta think about it. A brown kid, you know, 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:36.480 with no context in the music game being able to 0:12:36.480 --> 0:12:36.800 do that. 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:38.560 To me, it was just like, all right, so what 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:42.640 made you just before job and T Man? 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:49.080 This is right around after. 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:49.800 Yeah, the music that I was making, it wasn't South 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:50.440 Asian influence. 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:51.480 It was just regular rap. 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:54.240 It was like boom back, you know, Golden Age stuff. 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:58.679 So what what? How did you transition from? All right, 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:00.679 so you're a rapper, but then at some point you 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:03.840 conditioned to be on the business side because you did 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:07.920 some stuff with Wiz Khalifa. I saw, yeah and Lupe Fiasco, 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:09.880 So how did that come about? 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:12.680 I was always on both sides, and I think that 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:14.839 is one reason why I was never as good of 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:16.800 an artist as I could have been, is because I 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:20.200 was always doing both sides. And you know, like the 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:22.480 best artists are the ones that are one hundred percent 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:24.840 deep in their art. I could never go there because 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:27.959 I had to do the business too. But the Wiz 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:32.400 story is funny. It's while my handle Annie Hustles, I 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:34.560 guess makes sense. I had a mutual friend and he 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:37.480 was like, yo, Wis Khalifa is trying to come to 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:40.120 New York. He needs someone to book a show, Like 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:42.160 do you know anybody. I was like, oh, yeah, I 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:44.520 got it. I was twenty years old, couldn't get into 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:47.120 the club, had no idea what to do, and I 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:48.880 was like, no, no, I got it, Like you know, connect 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:53.080 me with his manager. Long story long. I organized Wiz's 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:55.440 first show in New York City at Webster Hall, and 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:58.320 I put my group as the opening the headline, the opening. 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:01.040 App So how did you? I we gotta break that down. 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:04.120 So web Webster Hall is a is a yeah, it's 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:06.040 a big venue in New York just got reopened. So 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:09.760 you're twenty years old and so somebody that you have 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:11.960 a relationship. This is before whisk Cleif was big. 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:13.240 This is flight school Wiz. 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:16.240 This is like early how do you how do you? 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:20.560 How do you book something without knowing what to do? 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:23.440 So I had a randomly I had a friend who 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:25.560 I went to school with who was like doing something 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:27.840 at Webster Like he was working there part time, and 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:29.760 I knew that he was in that game, and I 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:32.880 was like, bro, give me a chance. He was like 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:37.160 Wizard Khalif and this dude now owns one of the 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:39.880 biggest venues in Brooklyn shout out to Romy like, gave 0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:41.920 me my first shot. But I was like, no, I 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:44.760 got it. Like here's a social analytics. This is the 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:46.960 type of chatter that's happening on Twitter about him coming 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:49.320 to New York, Like, I guarantee that we're gonna be 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:51.480 able to do this. And I was like, worst case, 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:53.120 I'm going to bring out one hundred and fifty people 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:55.720 for myself for you, right, And he was like all right. 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:58.760 I think we ended up bringing out like two hundred people. 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:00.880 I had a line outside of you know, joint, just 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:03.160 everybody from n y U and that I have been 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:05.440 building my community with. They were like, oh, now we're 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:05.920 showing up. 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:07.880 How much you ba Whiz? 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:11.840 I got no NDA so I can say it fifteen 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:15.000 hundred dollars. That was Whizz's first performance at Webster Hall, 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:18.360 and I remember that night like we made a little 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:20.280 bit of bread, you know, And I was like, oh. 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:22.640 Nah, crazy, you know you made you made a profit. 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:24.800 Barely. Yeah, we blameed one that. 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:29.480 Blow at the hotel didn't lose money. 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:31.320 Yeah, but me and my boys had a you know, 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:34.360 like a life changing moment. And the craziest thing is 0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:36.960 a couple of weeks after, Whizz's team calls me when 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:38.800 I'm in like my eight a m. Accounting class and 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:42.040 they're like, yo, my phone's ringing, you know. I'm like, 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:44.120 I'm already failing this class. And I pick up the 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:47.200 phone and it's Peter Schwartz, who's one of the biggest 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:51.080 agents right now who does everybody And Peter Shorts is 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:53.360 calling my phone like, Yo, Wiz, I just talked to Wiz. 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:55.520 He wants you to come on tour with him. I 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:58.560 don't know who you are. You let me know if 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:00.920 you want to make this happen. And I'm like, oh, 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:05.760 I might even drop out. But we ended up doing 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:07.560 like a little you know, standing with Whiz on the 0:16:07.600 --> 0:16:08.280 road and. 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:12.920 Like performing, yeah, like open it up for yeah and artists. 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:12.920 You know. 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:15.600 And that to me again is just like Okay, I 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:18.400 think I know how to take a take a little 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:21.120 thing and leverage into something bigger and then flip it. 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:24.359 And that's been like a constant you know, my whole life. 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:25.640 I mean, we breached over that. 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:28.160 But the n YU player is dough too, because a 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:31.680 kid from Boston having to tell your parents like listen, 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:34.120 I need to go to New York City but using 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:36.880 education as the reason, Yeah, change your. 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:39.760 Life, man, hundred percent. And I give my parents credit 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:42.280 to be able to trust their kid with that, because 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:44.160 a lot of South Asian parents are a lot of 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:46.200 parents in general immigrant parents would be like, now you're 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:48.760 going to screw it up, you know. And and I 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:51.920 lived like the I was the brokest NYU kid anyone's 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:55.680 ever seen. I lived off campus. I had an apartment 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:58.160 where you sat down, your knees touched the wall when 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:01.200 you were sitting on a toilet, Like I paid, you know, 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:03.240 my way through how much of it I could, Like, 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:05.400 you know, my parents were supportive, but like I didn't 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:08.320 go to NYU and trick off, you know, like the 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:11.400 rich New York City kid like that. That wasn't my reality. 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:14.600 Like I scrapped through the whole time. But every day 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:16.560 I would show up on campus and I would be like, yo, 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:18.800 I got new music out, or like, yo, check this out. 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:20.359 I got a new CD, I got a new t shirt, 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:23.359 you know, and I built that community and that and 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:25.679 that really was like the first point you know of 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:28.720 crystallization of like, yo, this is how this is how 0:17:28.720 --> 0:17:30.760 you get it popping, you know, when it comes to 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:36.640 like building a brand and interfacing across digital physical, you know, content, 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:38.639 culture and putting all that together. 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:42.080 So he was always like, I guess the end, kid, 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:44.320 because in high school you had a buzz. In college 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:47.000 you had a buzz, and but then you throw on 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:49.960 some hard times. You had some kidney issues. 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:56.040 Right, yeah, the sow five twenty four. Okay, So I 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:58.520 was born with a kidney condition. But the way I 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:00.400 lived my life, I was like, if I go out, 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:02.440 I'm going to go out the way I want to. Like, 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:04.399 I'm wanna go out the way every day I lived, 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:08.520 you know, the way I wanted to. And after the 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:11.760 Japan Tokyo thing, I came back and my phone, I 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:13.520 kid you not, I never told a story. I was 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:17.080 on a plane walking off the plane, like I was 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:20.360 still exiting. I had my backpack on getting home from 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:22.680 Tokyo and my phone rings and I was like hello, 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:24.879 and it was one of my mentors. He was like, Yo, 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:26.960 can you go to India next week? Like, I want 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:30.359 you to come and score a film with me, Bollywood film. 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:34.520 I was like, oh nah, like again when you were 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:37.200 a brown kid growing up like this validation. Yeah, that's 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:40.600 that circle, that that loop. So we go over there 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:42.119 and then we come back and he's like, yo, we 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:44.480 gotta go again. I was like, cool, I'm just gonna 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:46.600 make a little routine doctor's appointment, you know, make sure 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:48.960 I'm good. We're about to go out for like six weeks. 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:54.320 And I remember that appointment. My doctor was typical movie thing. 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:57.280 He was like coming real slow out of the room, 0:18:57.520 --> 0:18:59.399 you know, shaking his head, and I was like, oh, no, what. 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:03.000 And it turns out that I had end stage kidney 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:07.280 failure at twenty four, which means my kidneys had shrunk, 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:10.399 like the function in them had almost been like at zero. 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:14.040 And it was like three months until they stopped working completely, 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:16.840