WEBVTT - Blxst 0:00:01.990 --> 0:00:08.090 R & B money. We are. 0:00:09.450 --> 0:00:09.629 Thanks. 0:00:09.690 --> 0:00:10.360 Jake Valentine. 0:00:11.070 --> 0:00:15.260 We are the authorities on all things. 0:00:15.060 --> 0:00:15.420 R & B. 0:00:17.100 --> 0:00:21.520 Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Jay Valentine and this is the 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:25.210 R & B Money Podcast. And if you see me 0:00:25.250 --> 0:00:27.330 doing like this, you're going to try to figure out 0:00:27.390 --> 0:00:30.430 what the X is about. And if you hear me yelling, 0:00:31.490 --> 0:00:36.089 you might know who is in the building. Man, I 0:00:36.130 --> 0:00:39.540 got a brother in the building today that has built 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:44.600 his own empire independently in this R & B thing. 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:47.760 It is not easy to do that. and that is 0:00:47.860 --> 0:00:49.040 to be respected. 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:51.960 I ain't going to talk too much because this young 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:54.550 brother is the truth, and we about to get into it. 0:00:54.740 --> 0:00:57.540 When you see us now, you might say blixed, but 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:01.850 it's blast. Man, welcome to the R & B Money Podcast, brother. 0:01:01.910 --> 0:01:03.930 I appreciate you pulling up on me, man. 0:01:04.690 --> 0:01:07.490 Man, this is dope. This is dope, man. How you doing? 0:01:07.830 --> 0:01:09.550 I'm good, man. Shout out to the R & B 0:01:09.790 --> 0:01:12.790 money community out there. Big fan of the show, so 0:01:12.870 --> 0:01:13.729 I'm glad to be here. 0:01:14.069 --> 0:01:15.690 I'm going to ask you a question that, you know, 0:01:16.260 --> 0:01:18.800 I don't think I've asked anyone as the first question. 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:21.940 What kind of artist do you consider yourself to be? 0:01:22.730 --> 0:01:26.890 Man, I say I'm right on the fence of hip-hop 0:01:27.110 --> 0:01:31.050 and R & B. Okay. Because I look at myself 0:01:31.110 --> 0:01:34.449 as a rapper first. You do? Yeah. Okay. In terms 0:01:34.510 --> 0:01:38.850 of cadence and delivery and bars, punchlines that I use. Yeah. 0:01:39.150 --> 0:01:42.100 But obviously I'm being melodic with it too. Absolutely. And 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:45.720 then my subject matter is always about... Love, relationship, even 0:01:45.740 --> 0:01:48.670 if it's just with self, with God, with my partner, 0:01:48.690 --> 0:01:51.810 with my kids. So, you know, the love is the 0:01:51.850 --> 0:01:54.870 key word that I attribute to R & B as well. 0:01:54.910 --> 0:01:55.130 Yeah. 0:01:55.510 --> 0:01:58.290 It's right in between both of those. And that's why 0:01:58.310 --> 0:01:58.770 I asked that. 0:01:59.130 --> 0:01:59.330 Yeah. 0:01:59.570 --> 0:02:03.420 Because I think some people get confused. I'm like, well, 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:07.360 and your name, right? It's kind of how like with Tank. 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:08.100 Yeah. 0:02:08.300 --> 0:02:10.740 They didn't know when he first came out, if he 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:12.000 was an R & B singer or not, when they 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:14.450 just saw his name on things. Cause it's like, yeah, Hank, 0:02:15.010 --> 0:02:16.990 you gotta be a rapper. He looked like 50 cents. 0:02:17.030 --> 0:02:18.669 Right. 0:02:18.710 --> 0:02:22.590 So for you, when they see blast, what they may 0:02:22.669 --> 0:02:25.730 consider to be bliss or blix star, I'm sure you've 0:02:25.770 --> 0:02:26.669 heard every. 0:02:27.190 --> 0:02:30.440 Heard everything in a dictionary when they, they butchered my 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:33.030 name for so long. I just let him run with 0:02:33.070 --> 0:02:35.050 it at this. It's just a talking point at this point. 0:02:35.169 --> 0:02:38.160 How did you get to Blast? So it's funny because 0:02:38.190 --> 0:02:40.800 I just made it up when I was 16. I 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:44.919 wasn't thinking of anything that had to do with me 0:02:45.700 --> 0:02:47.380 in terms of like the artist that I wanted to. 0:02:47.460 --> 0:02:49.600 I was just trying to create a cool name. OK. 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:53.560 I was a part of a like a group called 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:56.180 Members Only. It was like a hip hop group. It 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:59.669 was also jerking. Like the dance? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, 0:02:59.710 --> 0:03:02.190 we was all like 15, 16. Yeah, man, take me 0:03:02.210 --> 0:03:05.160 back to South Central, man. Take, come on. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, man. 0:03:05.220 --> 0:03:08.600 This actually started in Carson. Okay. My nephews, they stayed 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:12.179 in Carson, and I would go out there, and they 0:03:12.220 --> 0:03:15.680 had like the group. It was called Members Only. And 0:03:16.260 --> 0:03:18.480 some rappers, some people was jerking, but we would throw 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:22.050 parties and stuff, too. So everybody had nicknames and stuff. 0:03:22.570 --> 0:03:24.030 And I was late to the party. I'm like, I 0:03:24.050 --> 0:03:26.620 need a name. I had to come with it on 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:30.640 the spot. I'm like, blast. It had no meaning before. 0:03:31.060 --> 0:03:33.700 So as I got older, I'm like, let me change 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:36.090 the name because this ain't got nothing to do with me. 0:03:36.730 --> 0:03:40.310 Started seeing artists like Kendrick Lamar coming out. And I'm like, 0:03:40.350 --> 0:03:43.290 my name is Matthew. Like, that don't sound cool. At 0:03:43.330 --> 0:03:45.890 least to me, it didn't sound cool. So I was like, 0:03:46.150 --> 0:03:49.180 you know, let me figure it out. What'd you say? 0:03:49.300 --> 0:03:51.440 It could be the book of Matthew or something. You 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:53.340 know what I mean? Take it to the Bible, man. 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:57.180 But no, later down the line, I had kids and 0:03:57.240 --> 0:04:00.220 I'm like, you know, blast sound like a superhero name. 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:01.400 So I'm going to just run with it. I'm a 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:04.500 superhero now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:05.490 So you said your nephews. 0:04:05.750 --> 0:04:05.940 Mm-hmm. 0:04:06.430 --> 0:04:08.370 Is it the hood where it's like you and your 0:04:08.410 --> 0:04:11.310 nephews are the same age? Yeah, we're the same age. Yeah, 0:04:11.330 --> 0:04:13.050 because you're like, I'm going to see my nephews. They 0:04:13.110 --> 0:04:13.790 already got a group. 0:04:13.850 --> 0:04:14.790 I'm like, hold on. 0:04:15.190 --> 0:04:16.830 Yeah, that's why I ain't even had to explain because 0:04:16.850 --> 0:04:19.870 if you know, you know. If you come from that cloth, 0:04:19.910 --> 0:04:21.570 your nephews is the same age. 0:04:21.670 --> 0:04:25.110 Listen, what we call them in our family, we got 0:04:25.130 --> 0:04:31.430 little uncles. Because my brother definitely got kids. That's younger 0:04:31.770 --> 0:04:32.890 than his grandkids. 0:04:32.950 --> 0:04:36.170 I'm like, hey, man. Yeah, that's me. I'm for sure 0:04:36.190 --> 0:04:39.330 a little uncle. You're a little uncle? 0:04:40.690 --> 0:04:44.640 Hey, man, everywhere you go, this is the Bay, the LA, 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:45.700 New York, it don't matter. 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:48.100 The hood is the hood. Man, that's the realest shit. 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:48.800 That's funny. 0:04:49.220 --> 0:04:51.320 So you in the group with your nephews. 0:04:52.170 --> 0:04:54.330 Y'all got members only y'all got a more of a 0:04:54.330 --> 0:04:57.290 jerking crew or y'all making records too yeah we doing 0:04:57.350 --> 0:05:00.450 both okay it's like a party crew so it's y'all 0:05:00.490 --> 0:05:03.969 going around we going around throwing parties everybody got different 0:05:04.010 --> 0:05:07.010 talents and gifts and we just all came together and 0:05:07.050 --> 0:05:10.789 just called ourselves members only you know and um i 0:05:10.810 --> 0:05:12.770 was one of the the few that was an artist 0:05:12.810 --> 0:05:15.369 as well so that's that's how i got my starting 0:05:15.570 --> 0:05:19.090 into making music so was there a plan like get 0:05:19.110 --> 0:05:25.260 a deal y'all obviously from L.A., really one of the 0:05:25.380 --> 0:05:28.580 meccas of the music business. Did you know anybody in 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:30.920 the music business? Did you know anybody that labels any 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:31.600 of those things? 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:34.390 Not at all. I had no family in the industry. 0:05:35.270 --> 0:05:38.529 The people that we was looking up to was YG 0:05:38.570 --> 0:05:39.250 and the Pushas. 0:05:40.110 --> 0:05:42.190 So that's when all the clicks was going around. 0:05:42.390 --> 0:05:45.470 And we was like a, you know, a mimic of that. 0:05:45.630 --> 0:05:47.790 We was the little homies. Yeah. You know, they had 0:05:47.810 --> 0:05:49.950 the Pushas. Those was like the big homies and stuff. 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:52.409 And they would throw parties and they would be artists 0:05:52.470 --> 0:05:54.310 and stuff like that. So we was trying to mimic them. 0:05:54.990 --> 0:05:59.050 It had no intention of being bigger than what it was. 0:05:59.089 --> 0:06:01.870 We was just having fun being kids. We wasn't thinking 0:06:01.910 --> 0:06:04.010 about the future, being signed to a label or nothing 0:06:04.050 --> 0:06:06.430 like that. It was just having fun in the moment. 0:06:06.890 --> 0:06:10.080 Did you have those same aspirations before you got in 0:06:10.100 --> 0:06:14.000 Members Only? Like at a younger age in music at all? 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:18.660 Not at all. Not until I seen my nephews make 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:21.210 a song. I'm like, I can do that. It felt 0:06:21.230 --> 0:06:24.130 like it was effortless. Yeah. You know, when I was younger, 0:06:24.170 --> 0:06:27.850 I remember like making songs with my mom and my sisters, 0:06:27.930 --> 0:06:31.210 just like little nursery rhymes and stuff like that. We 0:06:31.230 --> 0:06:35.800 would write lyrics and remix songs, but it never felt 0:06:35.830 --> 0:06:37.960 like something I wanted to pursue until I saw my 0:06:38.020 --> 0:06:41.500 nephews actually make a song and they made it on 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:44.100 a laptop. I'm like, I feel like I can do that. Yeah. 0:06:44.620 --> 0:06:48.500 And then once I recorded and heard myself on the mic, 0:06:48.620 --> 0:06:50.260 it just felt like This was it. 0:06:50.420 --> 0:06:51.140 It was natural to you? 0:06:51.180 --> 0:06:54.440 It felt natural. Are you the youngest? Yeah, I'm the 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:57.000 youngest sibling. I got three older sisters. Okay. 0:06:57.300 --> 0:06:57.580 Yeah. 0:06:58.000 --> 0:06:58.220 Yeah. 0:06:58.900 --> 0:07:02.790 So, what was it like for young Blash, young Matthew? 0:07:03.750 --> 0:07:06.310 Were you into sports? Were you into other things? Like, 0:07:06.490 --> 0:07:09.469 what was your childhood like before you jumped into music? 0:07:10.350 --> 0:07:13.390 I played basketball, of course. One thing I was heavy 0:07:13.450 --> 0:07:19.190 into was skateboarding. Okay. Yeah. So, that was like the heavy.... 0:07:20.290 --> 0:07:21.870 On some Terry Kennedy? 0:07:21.930 --> 0:07:25.430 Exactly. Terry Kennedy. He sparked everything. The whole era with 0:07:25.450 --> 0:07:30.320 Pharrell and the Ice Cream Team, Terry Kennedy, Antoine Dixon. 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:34.480 It was like me first seeing black skaters. Right. So 0:07:34.620 --> 0:07:36.840 that piqued my interest because they was into fashion. 0:07:36.900 --> 0:07:38.480 Music, skateboarding. 0:07:38.540 --> 0:07:41.770 Yeah, heavy. If you know about Long Beach, that's like 0:07:41.810 --> 0:07:44.030 a heavy influence as far as the skate community and 0:07:44.110 --> 0:07:47.490 stuff like that. So that was my thing, skateboarding and 0:07:47.510 --> 0:07:49.310 stuff before the music came about. 0:07:50.010 --> 0:07:51.730 You thought about being like a pro skateboarder? 0:07:51.970 --> 0:07:54.210 For sure. How do you even go about that? 0:07:54.550 --> 0:07:54.650 Yeah. 0:07:54.670 --> 0:07:56.050 Turning pro as a skateboarder though. 0:07:56.270 --> 0:07:58.239 Well, you try to get, they got a thing, it's 0:07:58.260 --> 0:08:01.520 called amateur first and then it's pro, but you try 0:08:01.540 --> 0:08:04.520 to get sponsored first. So like the companies like Baker 0:08:04.540 --> 0:08:08.900 or Nike SB or Chocolate, it's different companies that sponsor 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:12.290 you or just, you know, give you free skateboards and clothes. 0:08:12.810 --> 0:08:15.930 And then a level up is being professional where they 0:08:15.990 --> 0:08:18.970 actually pay you. To make skate videos and do campaigns 0:08:19.030 --> 0:08:20.990 and stuff like that. Oh, you was in it. Yeah, 0:08:21.030 --> 0:08:24.300 I was knee deep in it, man. I was jumping downstairs, 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:25.920 hitting rails, all kind of stuff. 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:26.280 Shit. 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:28.740 Do you still skate? Nah, man. I broke my ankle. 0:08:28.820 --> 0:08:29.800 It was a wrap after that. 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:31.160 It was like, I'm cool. 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:35.300 Yeah, it was over with. Off one injury? Because usually, like, Catsby. 0:08:35.330 --> 0:08:35.970 Yeah. 0:08:36.570 --> 0:08:40.290 I kept skating a little bit after. But it just wasn't, 0:08:40.550 --> 0:08:42.430 my ankles just wasn't the same. Yeah. 0:08:42.710 --> 0:08:42.950 Yeah. 0:08:43.550 --> 0:08:45.890 It was God telling you. Yeah. It had to go 0:08:45.910 --> 0:08:48.010 to the next chapter. Something else was, yes. Yeah. And 0:08:48.070 --> 0:08:51.709 it was simultaneously as like I was, you know, falling 0:08:51.770 --> 0:08:53.530 in love with music at the same time. So it 0:08:53.550 --> 0:08:55.050 was like pick a side, you know. 0:08:55.170 --> 0:08:58.589 And are you singing at first? Or on his first record, 0:08:58.610 --> 0:09:01.770 are you just purely rapping? Was the melody always there? 0:09:01.910 --> 0:09:05.250 The melody was always there. It was heavy rapping as well. 0:09:05.470 --> 0:09:07.410 And the subject matter was probably different. 0:09:07.470 --> 0:09:10.650 Yeah. Because you're younger. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So it was 0:09:10.700 --> 0:09:13.189 a lot of, you know. Thinking I'm tough and stuff 0:09:13.230 --> 0:09:14.510 like that. I get it. 0:09:15.450 --> 0:09:17.209 Had to find my way in the process. 0:09:17.610 --> 0:09:20.090 I've always been a lover boy too. So it was 0:09:20.170 --> 0:09:23.670 always like me speaking about relationships, even if I didn't 0:09:23.710 --> 0:09:26.100 know what I was talking about. Yeah. I was just, 0:09:26.130 --> 0:09:29.160 you know, always speaking, you know, upon love and stuff 0:09:29.179 --> 0:09:31.980 like that. So naturally I just found my way in 0:09:32.020 --> 0:09:34.740 my pocket, in my lane as I grew as an artist. 0:09:35.179 --> 0:09:36.460 What was the breakthrough for you? 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:40.160 The breakthrough that you felt like was the breakthrough where 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:44.699 it's like, okay, I can really do this at a 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:45.400 high level. 0:09:46.140 --> 0:09:49.420 Like I can have some success in music. 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:50.540 Hmm. 0:09:50.620 --> 0:09:53.470 I would say the next chapter right after members only 0:09:53.830 --> 0:09:58.180 is when I start locking in with a group called T.I.U. 0:09:59.420 --> 0:10:01.200 And it was like 10 different artists. 0:10:01.220 --> 0:10:02.420 Is that Turn It Up or what is that? 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:04.400 Yeah, Turn It Up Music. I don't know how I 0:10:04.420 --> 0:10:04.720 know that. 0:10:04.740 --> 0:10:07.080 Just off the rip, I'm just like, that sounds like 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:07.950 that's probably Turn It Up. 0:10:08.260 --> 0:10:11.700 Okay, okay. So T.I.U. Yeah, one of my best friends 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:14.870 from high school, his sister was like the CEO of 0:10:15.010 --> 0:10:18.780 the whole T.I.U. thing. So she brought us all in. 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:20.819 We was all kids and we all would stay at 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:26.200 this house and just record music and produce ourselves, engineer ourselves. 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:28.910 I look at it now. It's like, you know, my 0:10:28.970 --> 0:10:32.470 college days of becoming who I am today. Absolutely. We 0:10:32.490 --> 0:10:35.630 would go out and sell CDs and print merch up, 0:10:36.230 --> 0:10:38.210 you know, and it just taught me how to be 0:10:38.250 --> 0:10:42.010 an independent artist way before I knew what it actually 0:10:42.070 --> 0:10:44.670 took to be an independent artist. So I would say, 0:10:45.170 --> 0:10:47.670 Then is when I started taking it serious and seeing 0:10:48.220 --> 0:10:52.579 it was actually, like, obtainable to make it a career. 0:10:52.780 --> 0:10:53.160 You feel me? 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:57.400 Yeah. How long does it take to make any money 0:10:58.320 --> 0:10:58.719 doing it? 0:10:59.220 --> 0:11:00.540 Money, money or money, money? 0:11:00.620 --> 0:11:03.559 I mean, obviously, you're an adult now, so money is different. 0:11:03.660 --> 0:11:03.880 Yeah. 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:04.200 Right? 0:11:04.220 --> 0:11:05.709 You got more responsibilities. You got kids. 0:11:05.750 --> 0:11:08.610 You got, you know, you got real bills to take 0:11:08.650 --> 0:11:10.450 care of. So, obviously, money is different now. But I'm 0:11:10.470 --> 0:11:14.079 talking about money to the point of just being, like, Oh, 0:11:14.260 --> 0:11:15.660 I made a couple dollars doing this. 0:11:16.580 --> 0:11:18.340 Yeah, I would say when I dropped the sixth tape 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:23.540 with Bino. So that was, what, 2019? Me and Bino Rodeau, 0:11:24.410 --> 0:11:26.510 another artist from LA. Yeah, of course I know Bino Rodeau. 0:11:26.530 --> 0:11:28.050 He just dropped the tape with Nipsey as well. Yeah, 0:11:28.070 --> 0:11:31.470 he's prolific. Exactly. Absolutely. So we had dropped the collab 0:11:31.490 --> 0:11:36.270 tape of six songs, and I remember uploading it on DistroKid, just, 0:11:36.290 --> 0:11:38.950 you know, time going. And I stayed in an apartment 0:11:38.990 --> 0:11:42.790 with my sister at this time. So my sister, she was... 0:11:43.580 --> 0:11:46.500 She had got pregnant and, you know, she had moved 0:11:46.540 --> 0:11:48.700 out the apartment. So now I got to take care 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:50.300 of this apartment on my own. I'm like, I don't 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:53.569 know what I'm finna do. That last month that I 0:11:53.610 --> 0:11:56.250 had to stay at the apartment, the distro kid check 0:11:56.290 --> 0:12:00.680 had came in for ten thousand dollars. I'm like, oh, yeah, 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:04.100 this is it. This little kid saved my life. Yeah, yeah. 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:07.680 That was the moment where I knew that's the first money, 0:12:07.740 --> 0:12:09.540 money I had. So you didn't do nothing crazy. You 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:11.380 had to pay rent. I had to pay rent, yeah. 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:12.870 You had some leftover bread. 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:15.550 Did you do anything that was just like, no? 0:12:16.390 --> 0:12:17.430 I had to get an apartment. 0:12:17.490 --> 0:12:18.190 Responsibility. 0:12:18.210 --> 0:12:21.430 I had my first son around this time. Okay. And 0:12:21.470 --> 0:12:24.710 I've never been the type to really like splurge. You 0:12:24.750 --> 0:12:25.150 ain't on that. 0:12:25.290 --> 0:12:25.550 Yeah. 0:12:25.570 --> 0:12:27.850 You ain't never bought nothing crazy. 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:31.459 You got a couple things crazy later down the line, 0:12:31.500 --> 0:12:34.579 but you know, but it's not crazy, crazy. Like I 0:12:34.900 --> 0:12:38.140 bought a house. It was, it was a crazy spin, 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:40.620 but it was like, in hindsight, it's like something I'm 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:43.400 proud of. Absolutely. As you should be proud of for sure. Yeah. 0:12:43.940 --> 0:12:44.660 That's dope, bro. 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:46.260 And congratulations on that. 0:12:46.710 --> 0:12:50.670 Because sometimes these are the things that, even if the 0:12:50.710 --> 0:12:53.990 necessities of them, right. Of, I think we get caught 0:12:54.050 --> 0:12:57.890 up in the floss. Everybody gets caught up in that, but, 0:12:58.429 --> 0:13:01.929 Nobody has the real conversations about this thing. 0:13:02.010 --> 0:13:05.670 Don't buy people houses, man. It don't bro. 0:13:05.929 --> 0:13:11.910 Yeah. Sometimes this thing that we do doesn't buy groceries, man. 0:13:12.550 --> 0:13:15.070 Like niggas is really out here trying to figure out 0:13:15.110 --> 0:13:18.410 how to make a living doing music. So that's why 0:13:18.450 --> 0:13:21.170 the people that I talk to and the people that 0:13:21.220 --> 0:13:24.240 sit down with us, I always say, man, congratulations, bro. 0:13:24.500 --> 0:13:25.960 And be proud of that. Yeah. 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:30.359 Because it's not, just a given that it's, you know, 0:13:30.780 --> 0:13:34.620 no matter how talented you are, very talented people. 0:13:34.900 --> 0:13:37.000 That have worked. 0:13:38.420 --> 0:13:42.260 Their whole life and whatever career it was, come home, 0:13:42.950 --> 0:13:48.130 turn their computer on, make beats, sing demos, make songs, 0:13:49.070 --> 0:13:50.730 and have never made a dollar off music. 0:13:51.490 --> 0:13:54.010 Just purely off the love they just doing this thing 0:13:54.030 --> 0:13:54.590 that we love. 0:13:54.610 --> 0:13:55.370 Man. 0:13:56.370 --> 0:13:58.500 You got to think about that. It's a fact, bro. 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:01.980 That's why I thank God every day because the fact 0:14:02.100 --> 0:14:06.579 that I'm able to provide for my family off something 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:10.360 that I love, as simple as that may sound, it's 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:13.680 like I already won. Everything else from here on is 0:14:13.750 --> 0:14:14.500 a cherry on top. 0:14:14.660 --> 0:14:15.420 Yeah. 0:14:15.660 --> 0:14:18.630 And I've had experiences where it was like, okay, I 0:14:18.670 --> 0:14:20.489 got the house, but I still got to maintain it. 0:14:20.610 --> 0:14:23.010 And I had them ups and downs with that as well. 0:14:23.070 --> 0:14:25.810 Property tax, mortgage, you know. 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:27.340 It get real. 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:30.640 Man, you be out there mowing your own lawn. 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:34.400 Exactly. And especially when you own your house, you got 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:37.320 to take care of everything that goes wrong. Can't call nobody. 0:14:37.620 --> 0:14:39.840 Can't call nobody. Sometimes I be like, I want to 0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:42.970 go back to renting, man. Yeah. But yeah, it come 0:14:42.990 --> 0:14:44.570 with it, I guess. That's dope, bro. 0:14:44.830 --> 0:14:45.900 That's super, super dope. 0:14:46.380 --> 0:14:46.780 So, okay. 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:50.530 So you get your first distro kid. Got 10 bands. 0:14:51.030 --> 0:14:57.810 Get your apartment. It sets you up. Are you immediately... thinking, oh, 0:14:57.850 --> 0:14:58.190 I got. 0:14:58.110 --> 0:14:58.890 To do more of this? 0:14:59.270 --> 0:15:01.430 Or are you thinking, I just got to promote this 0:15:01.470 --> 0:15:03.790 and I kind of got to do some shows, you know? 0:15:04.570 --> 0:15:06.470 Do you have a plan at all? Or you just 0:15:06.510 --> 0:15:07.150 had this tape out? 0:15:07.470 --> 0:15:09.570 As soon as I dropped the tape, I mean, I 0:15:09.610 --> 0:15:11.890 was on the radar of a lot of labels. Okay. 0:15:12.210 --> 0:15:15.480 I was taking meetings back to back. You know, when 0:15:15.510 --> 0:15:18.150 you're fresh on the scene, you got something successful. It 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:21.340 was culturally successful. It was big on the West Coast. 0:15:22.130 --> 0:15:25.170 but a lot of labels was paying attention. So I 0:15:25.190 --> 0:15:28.830 was having meetings immediately after the six tape. And I think, uh, 0:15:28.950 --> 0:15:31.980 at the time I felt the sense of confidence because 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:34.600 I already had money coming in monthly off this tape 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:37.380 and it was growing as the months was going by. 0:15:38.260 --> 0:15:41.340 So the plan was always to, you know, take it 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:44.359 to the highest level, which I felt was cool to 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:48.090 have a partner, but already had a system in place 0:15:48.230 --> 0:15:53.400 in terms of management and attorney and road management creative 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:55.360 direction maybe for a label you. 0:15:55.300 --> 0:15:57.360 Start really putting together a team fast. 0:15:57.180 --> 0:15:59.780 Yeah that was the plan to build a team yeah 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:03.790 internally because just doing my research in terms of like 0:16:04.390 --> 0:16:08.490 other artists downfalls and stuff like that one thing that 0:16:08.510 --> 0:16:11.550 stood out was having a team no matter what building 0:16:11.590 --> 0:16:14.840 you enter in the importance of having a circle around 0:16:14.860 --> 0:16:18.900 you that believe in protects the vision before anything you 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:21.760 know so that was the plan building a team internally. 0:16:30.380 --> 0:16:35.110 I'll use this term lightly, randomly. How do you get 0:16:35.130 --> 0:16:36.150 to Red Bull? 0:16:36.810 --> 0:16:41.090 Man, my dog CB. So the A & R that 0:16:41.150 --> 0:16:46.210 signed me at Red Bull actually was a close friend. 0:16:46.310 --> 0:16:49.430 We had a mutual friend in common. But yeah, I 0:16:49.450 --> 0:16:51.330 was just I was on the radar. I think that's 0:16:51.370 --> 0:16:56.380 how our relationship initially started. But they was just talking 0:16:56.420 --> 0:16:59.750 the language that I that I. appreciate it as far 0:16:59.810 --> 0:17:04.469 as like long-term partnership yeah anybody that i want to 0:17:04.590 --> 0:17:07.810 enter into a relationship and with i think about it 0:17:07.869 --> 0:17:10.570 long term not just how i can and i don't 0:17:10.590 --> 0:17:14.250 know where i got this mindset from but red bull 0:17:14.550 --> 0:17:16.410 you know they just made an offer just like everybody 0:17:16.540 --> 0:17:18.650 else i don't know how they came about i never 0:17:18.690 --> 0:17:20.420 heard of red bull before they you know i've been 0:17:20.460 --> 0:17:22.900 in music business a long time bro yeah i knew 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:25.980 they had the studios we had red bull studios because 0:17:26.020 --> 0:17:28.800 i had I went there for, they were having events 0:17:28.859 --> 0:17:29.340 at one point. 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:31.679 They used to have like, you know, listening things. And 0:17:31.700 --> 0:17:34.119 they'd be like, oh, go to Red Bull. I'm like, nigga, 0:17:34.900 --> 0:17:35.760 they give you wings? 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:36.600 Red Bull? 0:17:36.660 --> 0:17:39.760 Like, what are you talking about? No, no, Red Bull Music. 0:17:39.780 --> 0:17:42.480 They got some shit going on. But they didn't have 0:17:42.550 --> 0:17:44.729 any artists that I knew of at the time. This 0:17:44.770 --> 0:17:47.169 was years back. You might have still probably, you might 0:17:47.190 --> 0:17:48.889 have been in like, I'm an old nigga, bro. You 0:17:48.910 --> 0:17:51.270 might have been in like middle school, elementary school without 0:17:51.290 --> 0:17:52.050 pulling up over there. 0:17:52.150 --> 0:17:54.690 But, I think they might've had like a couple of 0:17:54.750 --> 0:17:55.810 rock groups or something. 0:17:56.330 --> 0:17:58.210 I think they were doing maybe some X game stuff 0:17:58.250 --> 0:18:00.770 or something they were doing in that space, but they 0:18:00.790 --> 0:18:02.290 had this really nice studio. 0:18:02.510 --> 0:18:03.389 Was it in Santa Monica? 0:18:03.470 --> 0:18:05.629 Yeah. Yeah. And still got it. 0:18:06.430 --> 0:18:07.810 I used to, you know, I went to a couple 0:18:07.850 --> 0:18:10.990 of events there, but I had never heard of like 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:13.970 artists that I knew about or artists that were in 0:18:13.990 --> 0:18:15.119 the space that. 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:17.720 I was locked into. 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:22.540 And I remember having a conversation with someone early on 0:18:22.580 --> 0:18:25.500 about you, Cause I was like, yo, I really, I 0:18:25.869 --> 0:18:28.370 really fuck with this blast dude, man. And his music 0:18:28.430 --> 0:18:30.510 and the six tape and the shit y'all was on. 0:18:30.570 --> 0:18:32.670 I'm like, this shit is hard. 0:18:32.970 --> 0:18:33.210 Yeah. 0:18:33.990 --> 0:18:37.510 And they're like, yeah, he did this like dope deal. 0:18:37.790 --> 0:18:38.790 That's how it was presented. 0:18:38.970 --> 0:18:39.190 Yeah. 0:18:39.530 --> 0:18:41.810 He did this really dope deal with Red Bull. 0:18:42.109 --> 0:18:42.810