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Speaker 1: The podcast play Gown.

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Speaker 2: I'm Buzzsnight, the host of Taking a Walk, Music History

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Speaker 2: on Foot, and today our guest is a musician rising

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Speaker 2: up the alternative charts. Singer songwriter Chad Tepper as our guest.

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Speaker 2: Chad's songs they catch you and they just grab you

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Speaker 2: with their intensity and their honesty. Songs like I Want

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Speaker 2: to Be Your High, I Hate Everybody, Moonlit, and so

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Speaker 2: many more are part of Chad's work, and he's coming

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Speaker 2: up next.

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Speaker 1: I'm taking a Walk. Well, Chad, thanks for being on

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Speaker 1: Taking a Walk. I only regret here is that we

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Speaker 1: couldn't do it in person, but thanks for being on virtually.

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Speaker 3: Man, Hey, we're taking a walk the way people take

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Speaker 3: walks in twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 1: You know, So, where did you get the go big

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Speaker 1: or go home philosophy?

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Speaker 4: It's my only option. It's I have no option.

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Speaker 3: You know, my my mom and dad weren't very rich.

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Speaker 3: I grew up homeless for seven years, lived in cars

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Speaker 3: and tents out of the road. Eventually, you know, moving

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Speaker 3: into a trailer in a trailer park, and I have

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Speaker 3: no option. So it's like, if this is what I

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Speaker 3: want to do, it's like it's always been balls to

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Speaker 3: the wall. You know, It's like I moved out to

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Speaker 3: Los Angeles with three hundred dollars to my name, with

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Speaker 3: nowhere to live, no friends, and then ended up staying

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Speaker 3: on a couch and thank god I did that.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 4: It's it.

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Speaker 3: I feel like in life, if you really want to,

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Speaker 3: you know, do your dreams, you kind of just have

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Speaker 3: to say, you know what, there is no other option.

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Speaker 3: This is gonna work or I'm gonna you know, this

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Speaker 3: is it, this is what I'm gonna do.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, So did you bring your skateboard out to

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Speaker 1: LA when you made that move?

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Speaker 3: Well, when I moved to LA, I literally had a

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Speaker 3: backpack okay, full of clothes, maybe a camera and my

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Speaker 3: skateboard and one pair of shoes, you know, a couple

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Speaker 3: of shirts.

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Speaker 4: And it was so bad because I bought my flight.

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Speaker 3: And then I had, I think six hundred dollars to

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Speaker 3: my name.

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Speaker 4: So I got my flight and then I gave the

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Speaker 4: person I.

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Speaker 3: Was living with three hundred dollars for the first month

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Speaker 3: of rent on the couch. This was a two bedroom,

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Speaker 3: small apartment, Okay, two people living in each bedroom and

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Speaker 3: I'm sleeping on the couch, So.

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Speaker 4: It was do or die. The whole world was against me.

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Speaker 3: My whole family was like, yeah, you go to LA

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Speaker 3: you'll be back in like a month or two.

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Speaker 4: And it's going on ten years strong.

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Speaker 5: Baby, So what's with the skateboard and community being so

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Speaker 5: impeccably in tune with fashion and look.

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Speaker 3: It's just I don't know what it is about skateboarding.

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Speaker 3: I fell in love with skateboarding at a very young age.

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Speaker 3: At twelve years old. My first Christmas that I wasn't homeless,

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Speaker 3: my mom bought me a twelve dollars you know, van

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Speaker 3: Flex Walmart skateboard and from there I kind of fell

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Speaker 3: in love with it. And all the cool kids skateboarding

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Speaker 3: in my school, so they all dressed good, they all

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Speaker 3: listened to the coolest music. The way they talked. The

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Speaker 3: whole culture of skateboarding was just so cool. And I

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Speaker 3: have no idea where that comes from, but I love it.

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Speaker 3: I think it's the whole mentality of skateboarding is just

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Speaker 3: really not giving a shit about anything.

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Speaker 5: You know.

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Speaker 3: It's like, when you skateboard, you're gonna get hurt no

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Speaker 3: matter what you do, you're gonna fall. And I think

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Speaker 3: with skateboarding it really taught me a lot of valuable

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Speaker 3: lessons in life where you're gonna fall, it's gonna suck,

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Speaker 3: you're gonna get hurt.

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Speaker 4: What it is if you love it this much, is

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Speaker 4: what you have to do.

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Speaker 3: And it kind of taught me very valuable lessons in

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Speaker 3: life to just keep going and to be strong.

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Speaker 1: You know, have you ever got to meet Tony Hawk?

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Speaker 3: Tony Hawk follows me on Instagram And I have met

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Speaker 3: Tony Hawk.

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Speaker 4: Yes, it was.

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Speaker 3: It was one of those moments I go on my

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Speaker 3: phone and I'm like, Tony Hawk follows me on Instagram?

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Speaker 3: What because he was one of my biggest idols when

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Speaker 3: I was a little kid.

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Speaker 4: So yeah, crazy.

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Speaker 1: So at what point did you know that you were

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Speaker 1: gonna be an artist?

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Speaker 4: I've been an artist my whole life. Unfortunately.

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Speaker 3: I've always been that weird kid writing poetry, you know, singing,

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Speaker 3: making up melodies and songs. And I was that kid

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Speaker 3: where you know, I would hear jingle on the radio

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Speaker 3: and then I would rewrite it to make it funny,

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Speaker 3: or I would rewrite it.

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Speaker 4: To make it something you know.

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Speaker 3: That's going on in my life, and from there I

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Speaker 3: would I started drawing when I was a little kid,

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Speaker 3: and painting and just all these things that I shouldn't

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Speaker 3: be doing, especially as a homeless kid.

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Speaker 4: Like there was times.

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Speaker 3: Where my mom, my dad, and my two brothers the

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Speaker 3: only time, so we didn't have TVs. Sometimes we had

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Speaker 3: a little black and white TV that we got like

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Speaker 3: a thrift store. But a lot of times the entertainment

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Speaker 3: that I would process through would be my dad would

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Speaker 3: turn on the radio in the morning, when we'd wake

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Speaker 3: up in the car or.

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Speaker 4: Before we'd go to sleep, he turn the radio on

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Speaker 4: for me.

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Speaker 3: I've always been an artist because it's been a way

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Speaker 3: for me to distract myself for a little bit, to

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Speaker 3: take myself out of a horrible life and a hell

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Speaker 3: of a world that I was living in, and I

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Speaker 3: could escape by being an artist or taking in art.

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Speaker 3: So it's kind of been this thing that saved my

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Speaker 3: whole life.

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Speaker 1: And when we say artists, we not only say musician,

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Speaker 1: but we certainly say you're writing poetry, read you as

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Speaker 1: an artist, you know, drawing and creating, I mean a

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Speaker 1: multifaceted artist, right, thank.

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Speaker 4: You, Matte.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I am pretty much the only thing I like

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Speaker 3: to do in this world besides hanging out with my

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Speaker 3: fiance and my dog, is creating art. If that I

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Speaker 3: like to write scripts, I'm writing a kid's book. I'm

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Speaker 3: writing another book right now. I paint every day. I

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Speaker 3: design clothes, you know. I'll go to Goodwill and I'll

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Speaker 3: you know, put cuts in my clothes and add patches

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Speaker 3: and paint it. And I think that all comes from

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Speaker 3: never having anything but being able to create something that

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Speaker 3: I want.

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Speaker 4: That that's kind of what's been So I just love art.

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Speaker 4: I think art is one of the most beautiful things

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Speaker 4: in the world. You know.

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Speaker 1: So you've had some pretty amazing collaborations with folks. Maybe

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Speaker 1: you could talk about some of those collaborations and talk

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Speaker 1: about how they came together more importantly.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I've had some of the craziest collabs that are

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Speaker 3: kind of impossible to have. I've got to work with

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Speaker 3: a lot of my idols that I grew up listening to,

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Speaker 3: and I mean, like people that like it's weird, bro,

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Speaker 3: Like I'm talking to Tommy Lee like every day, Like

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Speaker 3: that shouldn't a little homeless lose a kid from Florida

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Speaker 3: shouldn't be friends with Tommy Lee. You know, a little

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Speaker 3: homeless kid from Florida who got picked on every day

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Speaker 3: and ate lunch by himself and bully for being the

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Speaker 3: poor kid he shouldn't be best friends with Pierre Booby

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Speaker 3: at the lead singer of Simple Plan.

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Speaker 4: Very weird stuff.

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Speaker 3: So I've been very blessed and very lucky and fortunate.

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Speaker 3: But I have I have a song with Bowling for Soup,

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Speaker 3: which is crazy. I love that band I used to

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Speaker 3: listen to when I was a kid. I have a

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Speaker 3: song with Traviy McCoy from Gym Class Heroes, one of

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Speaker 3: the multi platinum artists, like I don't even know how

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Speaker 3: that happened.

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Speaker 4: And then I have a song with Simple Plan, who

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Speaker 4: I used to listen to.

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Speaker 3: I got the CDs from the library when I was

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Speaker 3: a kid because we couldn't afford to buy CDs, and

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Speaker 3: a little kid singing these songs. And then fast forward,

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Speaker 3: I see the lead singer follows me on Instagram, when

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Speaker 3: we start talking and we're friends, and then I go

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Speaker 3: over to his house to make music for the first

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Speaker 3: time and he's singing my songs to me, and it

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Speaker 3: was just one of those moments I was like, whoa,

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Speaker 3: you're singing my songs right now?

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Speaker 4: How do you know those songs? It's like, Oh, you

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Speaker 4: make great music.

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Speaker 3: Man of course, I've listening to your songs and I'm like, so,

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Speaker 3: life is very weird, and I think for me, what's

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Speaker 3: really helped me a lot is being very loving and

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Speaker 3: caring and zero ego. A lot of artists nowadays they

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Speaker 3: think they're iconic and they're gods, and they're just assholes

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Speaker 3: to everybody. And I think what the world needs to

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Speaker 3: understand is that for me, as an artist, I have

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Speaker 3: one goal. I want to make everybody smile and be happy.

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Speaker 3: Life is hard enough, you know. I want to be

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Speaker 3: that escape when you're having a hard day, you put

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Speaker 3: on my music and you can smile, or you.

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Speaker 4: Can scream or yell out the pain and just feel better.

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Speaker 4: That's my goal as an artist.

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Speaker 3: Where other artists per se that, you know, they might

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Speaker 3: want to be famous, or they might want to be rich,

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Speaker 3: or they want to be rock stars. And for me,

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Speaker 3: it's always been I want to help people the way

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Speaker 3: people helped me with their music. So I've been I've

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Speaker 3: been very, very fortunate to make friends with a lot

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Speaker 3: of people that I grew up listening to and and

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Speaker 3: having mentors like that. It's it's crazy because I'll be

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Speaker 3: in the studio and they're like Okay, this is how

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Speaker 3: you hit this note, or you should write this way,

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Speaker 3: or you should sing this way.

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Speaker 4: And when you go on big tours, don't do this

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Speaker 4: and don't do that.

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Speaker 3: And they're telling me all of their mistakes, so I

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Speaker 3: don't make them.

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Speaker 4: So it's I've been very, very lucky.

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Speaker 1: How do you keep it all in check?

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Speaker 3: Though?

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Speaker 1: As your star is rising? How do you keep it

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Speaker 1: all in check?

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Speaker 3: I it's I'll be real with you. Sometimes you slip

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Speaker 3: a little bit, you know, boy, come on, sorry, my dog,

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Speaker 3: my dog, I got on a toy. Sometimes you slip

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Speaker 3: a little bit in life, you know, And and it's

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Speaker 3: okay to slip as long as you're aware of your

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Speaker 3: surroundings and what you come from. And for me, I

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Speaker 3: wake up and I just smile because I get to

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Speaker 3: live in a nice house and I have a car,

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Speaker 3: and I have money and food and a beautiful fiance

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Speaker 3: and a beautiful dog. And she really humbles me a

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Speaker 3: lot too, you know, Like I'll be acting sometimes sometimes

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Speaker 3: it's hard.

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Speaker 4: You know.

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Speaker 3: You you go somewhere and everybody gasses you up, and

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Speaker 3: you feel so high and you feel so great, but

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Speaker 3: then you need to realize that we're all We're all humans,

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Speaker 3: and we all we all just want to be loved

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Speaker 3: and be good to each other. So I feel like

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Speaker 3: that really brings me down to earth, just just trying

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Speaker 3: to be a good person.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 3: And sometimes when I would watch like podcast of me

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Speaker 3: or I would watch different videos and I would be like, Wow,

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Speaker 3: who is this guy?

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Speaker 4: I don't want to be like that, you know.

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Speaker 3: So I think just wanting to be loved brings me

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Speaker 3: back to earth because nobody likes an arrogant, cocky douche,

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Speaker 3: you know, So being a nice being a nice soul

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Speaker 3: is what I really want.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So what is you writing? Discipline? Are you writing

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Speaker 1: every day in terms of poetry or songs or all

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Speaker 1: of the above?

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Speaker 3: Writing for me is so beautiful because I'm chasing I'm

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Speaker 3: chasing moments, And it's so cool for me because I

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Speaker 3: write every single day and I'm always wondering, what is

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Speaker 3: the song that I write that's going to be the

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Speaker 3: biggest song in the world, you know? Is I know

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Speaker 3: I'm going to get a big one very soon. And

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Speaker 3: when that happens, like, what what is it going to

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Speaker 3: be about?

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Speaker 4: You know what? Journey? For me, writing is very pure.

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Speaker 4: It's about everything that I've been through in my life

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Speaker 4: or the things that are going on right right now.

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Speaker 3: And my writing process is I'll write songs in my sleep,

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Speaker 3: like I'll have dreams of me, Like I had a

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Speaker 3: dream a couple of weeks ago where I was performing

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Speaker 3: at the Grammys and I was singing a song and

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Speaker 3: the whole crowd was going crazy.

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Speaker 4: And I wake up and I'm like, oh my god,

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Speaker 4: what was that song? It was so good? What was

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Speaker 4: that song?

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Speaker 3: And then I'll remember a little bit, so I'll write

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Speaker 3: it down, or I'll wake up in the middle of

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Speaker 3: the night and I'll tap.

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Speaker 4: Of my fiance shoulder. I'm like, baby, baby, can you

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Speaker 4: text me this right now? Can you write this down?

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Speaker 3: She's like yeah yeah, and she'll like or I'll be

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Speaker 3: driving in the car. For me, you never know the

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Speaker 3: moment where you're gonna make the greatest song ever. So

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Speaker 3: there's no sleep for me. I'm writing every single day

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Speaker 3: all day.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 3: If I watch a TV show and someone says a word,

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Speaker 3: I'm like.

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Speaker 4: Oh, that's a cool word. Let me see what rhymes

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Speaker 4: with that, let me see what goes with that.

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Speaker 3: So it's kind of a lot, and I think it's

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Speaker 3: really bad for my mental health that I work so much.

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Speaker 4: But this is what I'm meant to do, this is

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Speaker 4: what I'm made to do.

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Speaker 3: So it's like, you know, you can't tell a clock

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Speaker 3: to stop taking It's just gonna keep ticking. So that's

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Speaker 3: kind of like what I am. You know, there's no

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Speaker 3: stopping until the battery runs out.

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Speaker 1: So we'll see who are the writers, whether they be

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Speaker 1: musical or literary, that inspire you.

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Speaker 3: Oh man, there's so many. I love Freddy Mercury. I

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Speaker 3: think he's one of the greatest. I love Elton John,

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Speaker 3: I love Steven Tyler from Aerosmith, I love I love

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Speaker 3: the Doors, I love the Beatles. I'm a very old

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Speaker 3: soul and I feel like a lot of new artists

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Speaker 3: we all have to realize where we came from and

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Speaker 3: where the music came from, you know. But I feel

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Speaker 3: like everybody is a great artist and a great writer.

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Speaker 3: You know, there's beauty in every song that you listen to.

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Speaker 3: You just have to find it. And I feel like

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Speaker 3: a lot of people are super judgmental where they'll they'll

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Speaker 3: change the song in ten seconds, where the best part

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Speaker 3: of this song doesn't happen for the bridge, you know,

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Speaker 3: or maybe even the hook, and they'll miss that moment

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Speaker 3: of beauty and just feel good energy because they skipped

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Speaker 3: it too quick. So for me, I always take in

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Speaker 3: a bunch of different writers and different types of art. Well.

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Speaker 5: Lastly, if you were to talk to somebody who's a

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Speaker 5: musician that is struggling to get that breakthrough, what would

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Speaker 5: you tell them to keep them inspired and focused on

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Speaker 5: the prize?

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Speaker 3: I think my thing when I started to get recognitioned

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Speaker 3: by big management and labels and stuff, because I've had

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Speaker 3: so many people interested in me, and I ended up

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Speaker 3: saying no to a bunch of them, and I ended

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Speaker 3: up signing the epitaph. And for me, everybody wanted to

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Speaker 3: change me. This is what you need to be doing,

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Speaker 3: This is what I want you to sing about, This

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Speaker 3: is how I want you to look. And I would say,

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Speaker 3: be authentic, be you. Don't ever listen to anyone. No

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Speaker 3: one knows, oh, no one knows how to do it.

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Speaker 3: Even some of the biggest artists in the world that

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Speaker 3: I'm friends with, relevant or old or whatever, they always

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Speaker 3: tell me the same thing. Nobody believed in us until

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Speaker 3: we made it. Everyone said that we were wrong, that

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Speaker 3: it wasn't gonna happen until we made it, and then

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Speaker 3: when we made it, we were right. So I would say,

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Speaker 3: stick to your guns. If it feels right, if you

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Speaker 3: love it, just keep going and don't listen to anybody.

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Speaker 4: People are gonna tell you to stop. People are going

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Speaker 4: to tell you it's impossible.

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Speaker 3: I am that living proof, Okay, So don't ever stop

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Speaker 3: with your dreams ever, because everyone's going to tell you

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Speaker 3: to stop. And you never know how close you are

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Speaker 3: to your dreams. Right now, you are the closest you'll

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Speaker 3: ever be to your dreams. Right now, you're the closest.

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Speaker 3: Right But let's say you stop believing in your dreams,

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Speaker 3: or you stop focusing on what you want to do,

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Speaker 3: and you just stop. You don't know, tomorrow could have

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Speaker 3: been the biggest moment of your life and you gave up.

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Speaker 3: See from me when I started making music, a lot

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Speaker 3: of my friends that were making music with me.

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Speaker 4: You know, this has been a long, long, hard journey man.

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Speaker 3: I've been doing this for a lot of years and

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Speaker 3: it's a very hard life to do, you know, especially

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Speaker 3: when all your friends. When you're not making money, people

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Speaker 3: are like, you need to get a real job. How

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Speaker 3: old are you now? You think You're gonna make it

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Speaker 3: at twenty five. There is no way people make it

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Speaker 3: at ten and twelve and fifteen, and you're just too old.

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Speaker 3: And don't listen to anybody. Never listen to anybody except

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Speaker 3: for your heart and soul. Bro, And you're gonna make it.

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Speaker 3: If you believe it, you can do it.

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Speaker 1: Brother. I'm looking over the horizon and I see that

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Speaker 1: Grammy performance.

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Speaker 3: I'm telling you, man, look, I have some crazy dreams

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Speaker 3: right now and goals that make no sense. You know,

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Speaker 3: I want a platinum plaque on my wall. You know,

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Speaker 3: I want a number one song on the radio.

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Speaker 4: I want to Grammy. I want a vm A.

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Speaker 3: You know, I want sold out arenas and all that

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Speaker 3: sounds so crazy. But if you go back to when

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Speaker 3: I was a homeless kid and you tell.

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Speaker 4: Me that I would have you two Mercedes.

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Speaker 3: And live in a big house in LA and have

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Speaker 3: the number thirty song on alternative radio right now and

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Speaker 3: a song with ten million streams and all these big

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Speaker 3: features and doing all these big shows and festivals, and

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Speaker 3: I would say, there's no way in hell. So right

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Speaker 3: now where I'm at, the dreams that I want are

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Speaker 3: so crazy, But it's all possible, Bro, anything's possible.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for being on Taking a Walk, Brother.

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Speaker 4: Hey it was a good walk, bro.

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Speaker 2: Thanks to Chad Tepper for being on this episode of

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Speaker 2: Taking a Walk. Taking a Walk is produced by Bob Malantesta.

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Speaker 2: Taking a Walk is available wherever you get your podcast Spotify,

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Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, tune in, iHeart, and make sure when you

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Speaker 2: find us on all those platforms leave us a review,

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Speaker 2: Share it with a friend,