2 Chainz on the Decisions That Changed His Life

Today, I'm sitting down with the one and only 2 Chainz. You know him as the Grammy Award-winning rapper behind some of hip-hop's biggest records. Right now, he's on tour with Lil Wayne, getting ready for a new album this fall. And over the years, he's become so much more than that. An entrepreneur, investor, filmmaker, husband, father, and now a New York Times best-selling author. In his memoir, The Voice in My Head is God, Amen, he reflects on the people, beliefs, moments, and decisions that shape the man he is today. We're talking about the decisions that make us. The ones that don't always make sense in the moment, but somehow end up becoming the reason our lives look the way they do. So, let's get into it with my boy. Baby, this is Geeky Palmer. And baby, this is Titty Boy. No, it's like 2 Chainz. Y'all know. If you know, you know. No matter what we're doing in the car, just chilling. Pop on Amazon Music, sit back and listen. Hey! Life, love, sex, science, covering it all. Especially the bad, cause money always involved. No matter what it is, we gon' make it make sense. Nothing else to do but kick it with the homies and kids. So grab you a drink and a snack you enjoy. Get into the vibe that only one gets to know. You know it's your girl. Baby, this is, this is Geeky. Baby, this is Geeky Palmer, yeah. Ha ha! You look great. You too. It's so good to see you. That's good. It's so good to see you, man. So good. What's up? What's up, Virgo? Virgo? Virgo's in the house. Man, Virgo all day. I feel like we both get very Virgo. Yeah. Too. I mean, it's that energy. Mm-hmm. How you been? How's that lake treat you? I can't complain, you know. Gotta get mad at me. Okay. You been here, you gonna be here for a while, or it's a quick in and out trip? I came here for you. Man, I'm so glad that you came to the show, man. It's a long overdue, man. I agree. We sat down in a minute. I agree. I agree. It's good to see you, though. It's good to see you, too. Well, I'm gonna get into these pre-show pull-up questions first. I already know that you a Zodiac. Your Zodiac is a Virgo. But do you know your big three? Like, you know your sun, but do you know your moon and your rising? Uh-uh. That's that new stuff. I mean, it's not new, but that's the new conversation that I'm hearing nowadays. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? People start talking about, you know, I'm this, but I'm really a this. So, damn, when they started doing that, I kind of got lost. What's your name? I know mine. Mine? Mine is, uh, I'm a Cancer rising, and then I'm a Sagittarius moon. Make it make sense. Exactly. So, pretty much, they be saying that the moon is, like, how people feel you, how you show up. And then the rising is kind of like, you know, that's like your internal, like, that's how you feel about stuff. But then the sun sign, the Virgo, that's like who you grow to be. That's how you operate into the world and how you, you know, activate yourself. How do they get the mathematics? How do you get this equation? Like, is it based on your birthday? Oh, my gosh. I love how you're talking. It's so system-driven and patterned. You know what time you were born, and you know what city you were born in. That's how they do it. They do the mathematics of the time you were born, added that to what the moon and the sun and stars were doing at that actual time in that actual city. And then that's how they say, according to what was happening in the stars, these are the kinds of things that you might naturally be like. Isn't that crazy? It's too much. Just bored. People just out here bored. Just out here bored. Literally. Yeah, literally. Okay, what is your love language? Do you know your love language? Are you into that kind of thing? I love love. That's all. I don't know. So, love languages, they say, like, um. You just laughing at me? This is old. I don't mean. No. You are not old. What is it? What's love language? So, love language, what they say, basically, is there's one on how you receive love, like the things that you identify most as loving. So, you might really identify it as loving when somebody do stuff for you. That's like acts of service. Oh, yeah. Or if somebody spend a lot of quality time with you or physical touch. But then it's also like what feels most loving to. Or how do you show love? You might show love differently than how you receive love. That's facts. I guess my love language is time. You like spending time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, time and, obviously, affection and different. You know, time and different experiences. Yes. Yeah. I want to. Because when you become somebody that people admire or look up to, like us, then the money is everything, but it's not the only thing. And so, experience just kind of fills in the void of what. I love what you're saying with that, because sometimes when people have money, when you get money, you haven't had money, you assume that the money is for you. It's going to make the experience. But actually, it doesn't. It's like what you decide. It can add to it, but sometimes you might do something more unique when you don't have a ton of cash, because you're being more creative. Absolutely. You know? Absolutely. But also, when you got money, you can get the villa. You can get the jet skis. You can get the chef. But when you do that, that adds to the experience, though. Yeah. It fluffs the experience. So, it's all about. I think that's love for me. Like, even sharing the experience with anybody. I know a lot of times. When I traveled around the world, I would see something, and I would want to bring somebody, like a friend or a partner or someone. Like, man, I want somebody else to experience this. So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes it is. You know, like they say, it ain't nothing if you ain't got nobody to share it with. Thanks. This, I can't. I don't even know what you would say, because it doesn't seem like something you'd have an answer to. But who would you. I hope I get this one right. I've been. Let me get this one right. Who would you want to switch lives with, and why? I just can't imagine. You wouldn't want to switch lives with anybody. That's why I felt like. It's so cool, you know? Like, God really took his time with me. I think about the conveyor belt. Yes! It's this conveyor belt. And he made me. Mm-hmm. And then it broke. Okay! And then, like, they fixed it, but they couldn't make no more me's. That's how I really see God. And, like, he was just. He was kind of taking his time with me. Yeah. Yeah. And then, like, broke. And then, you know. But he was finished. Or maybe. Maybe he wasn't finished. Yeah, yeah. But it's just, like, I'm very comfortable in my skin. I feel like somebody shoved him when he had a little bit of crazy in his hand. He was like, oh! He had a little bit. You overdid it, man. He put a little bit more sprinkle on you. I can see that, too. Last one is, what is your secret talent? Is there something that you can do that we would be just like, whoa? I mean, it's not whoa. I think I can cook. I can. I got a garden. What? Yeah. Not a green thumb. Yeah. I'm thinking about my garden now because it's been raining in Atlanta. And that rainwater different from that. You said, I'm thinking about my garden right now. Yeah, that rainwater different from that hose water. What you got growing over there? Right now, I just got some banana peppers, some bell peppers, cement. I have some Swiss chard. Mmm! I have. Some sweet potato. The fancy greens. Yeah, I do have some fancy greens. I got kale, too. Yes! I got kale, too. I love that. It takes a lot of patience. My dad has a garden. It takes a lot of patience to get out there and make something grow. But it's so cool to know that that's really all it takes. It's really, you know what I mean? It's really once you. It's not as hard as people think, but once you take a seed and plant it and it grows, and fruits or vegetables or whatever comes from it, and for a long time, I hadn't been doing it this year, but for a long time, the first thing I would do would go to my garden and take something off of it and eat something from my yard. What do you think the key would be to gardening? What are some of the maybe underrated kind of three things that you'd need to do to make sure that it grows? It has to stay watered, obviously. You have to have good soil, too. The guy that comes over with my composite is like, he probably makes his own soil out of cow manure and a few other things. Sure, sure. Things like that, what you feed the plant and all that, but it's really not that hard. It's not interesting, but it's sad that so many people don't have anything to eat. That we are here. Yeah, I grew up in a food desert. We only had liquor stores and. But you can take one. Anything. You can take one potato and make multiple potatoes, or one apple and make multiple apples, if you really think about it like that. Yeah. Like okra. I mean, like during the fall. I love okra. Me, too. See, that's how I know you're a Virgo, because when I say okra, people look at me like I'm crazy, but my okra be busting. I love okra. I mean, I go get mine, saute it on top with my little olive oil, and I hit it with a. Come on, hit it. On the way out, I just hit it. It's light, though. I hit it with some. Like a. Teriyaki type of sauce on the way out, though, when I'm finna put them on a plate. Yeah, I do the saute. But then I got them cut. I got the okra in there with the banana peppers and a couple other greens out my yard. So I got this little healthy dish I do. So you could cook down, like now, when you. I heard you mention all the vegetables. Are you vegetable four? Are you big on fish? What are your kind of, like, kind of. If you made a plate of something, what would it be? What's the flavors? What is it going to be like? My next thing is I'm getting a lake built in my yard. It's probably going to cost me about $30,000, $40,000. But let me get a lake. And then my plan is to obviously stock the lake. And then when. day only have a meal that's from my yard that's my that's my dream so the fish and i don't eat beef or pork anyway so i'm not missing anything i don't either yeah so my my dream is to you know stock the fish i mean stock the lake go fishing one day do the whole you know it takes it back in a day you know what i mean get into that agriculture i mean i got i got a hundred acres and that's my way of popping my a hundred okay we're gonna get into all of this we're gonna just go at the top um because everybody knows you as two chains right you know we all know you love you but i don't know that everybody knows everybody know i love me is that what you just said oh everybody love you okay i do love me too though but they said no everybody love you you know okay um but i don't know that everybody knows tahid yeah you know that's your first name and i feel like that maybe that's close i ain't do it with the accent i said it wrong it's there though but you've been introducing us to that person i think for the last you know what some odd years we starting to really get to know you um in your world so who is tahid i'm a virgo i enjoy long walks in the come on hedge profile i enjoy long i enjoy i enjoy sports i enjoy family i enjoy entertaining yeah i enjoy being on stage i enjoy dressing i enjoy having a bunch of fragrances that i can't choose from on the day-to-day i enjoy having vehicles that i can't decide on which one i'm gonna drive i heard you contacted the ceo of porsche to get your porsche yeah that was back in the days but it worked out for me that's crazy because what is the deal with porsche or porsche how are you doing is it like it's very private so the process of getting one is it very like no so this was like uh this was let me let me rewind this this is a few years ago it's about it's about it was about 2010 okay and they were introducing a four-door porsche which you see them all you see them everywhere so this is before the four-door porsche came out they were like we're about to bring out a four-door porsche it was like this and so i had already i was on like my third or fourth um you know type of car like yeah yeah yeah and um so i went down they told me they got this four-door porsche they gave me the book and they said that uh i was a little concerned because i'm six five and i'm like you know i couldn't actually get in they like no they did the porsche and they however they explained he said that they that a six five person could actually sit in the back seat of this porsche so when i heard i'm like i've never been in the back seat i know i can i know i can drive it so man i don't call i don't order this porsche i don't know i don't know i don't i don't put this porsche on my american express yeah and and i'm like i don't so i don't i don't bought this car you know black black car i don't bought it took all that power yeah and i bought this car but you know american express they want their money like they want their money like 30 days but i i needed a little time to get it and then but my car never never came wait a minute my car never came out and bought this car i keep asking about this car they told me it's on a ship from germany to over here so some lady gives me a number or not email and said you can try to call i mean email this person you probably won't respond i emailed this person this man this man responded he's like i'm sorry that you haven't received your car yet like he gave me like a cayenne truck no it was like he sent me somewhere like i didn't even know it was crazy he sent me to it was like a place i get there they got this truck they like they just gave it to me i leave with a car and i'm like i don't know what's going on i don't know what's going on i don't know what's going on i don't know what's going on i don't know what's going on i don't know what's going on the porsche truck that's fabulous yeah so i had this porsche truck for like two months i think it's mine i'm doing everything in my car they call one night at night well your car here some rest in peace my pop he with me he on some swindle he on the same thing i'm on i let my car there like bet i'm like pop i need you to take me up here to get the porsche we're gonna leave this because we don't know i got this porsche from the guy i've been emailing not from this lot and so i don't want to confuse y'all i'm gonna keep this porsche yeah yeah we go up here and get this car we go up and get the car they like what a what a truck at i played crazy i'm like damn oh y'all want me to bring the truck up here because i'm thinking i need to take it back to where i got it from like well we need that truck boy you know what i mean and anyway i end up getting a car giving them their truck getting some free luggage or something like that but that's when i started learning what just not even started but just how important communication and business was because it was business and it was about like just taking a chance reaching out and i end up getting a little favoritism out of doing that come on it's the follow-through of it all for me yeah she should have known she said mentioned that to a virgo i'm gonna email who you're getting gave me i'm gonna i'm gonna have to email the person that gave me this car i don't know if i should just drop it out of my way well stop the cap bring that car bring that truck up here so yeah so i mean let's look at your life today i mean you you're touring with little wayne you got new music coming out i can't wait for that you wrote a memoir called the voice in my head is god incredible title i'm actually low-key jealous because it's like very very that's very that um you're raising a family you're doing your podcast i love the podcast with you and halo you know i got me a son yes that's not just live for you yes man it just lit you up too it's so cool right it's a little piece of you and it's just your little homie your little road dog you get to see and support this person on who they're becoming you know i'm saying and they give you so much you know what i'm saying it's it's halo was uh not was but is like someone that i just used to brag about all the time probably used to make it awkward because i just knew he was ahead of his time halo basically he basically potty trained himself bro he never he has never this is something that i think it might look at like it's small halo has never peed in the bed wore a pull-up he went from a diaper to some paw patrol drawers they love it that he i tell him don't pee on papa i ain't gonna pee on paw patrol that was all i had to tell dog don't i ain't gonna what i'm like bro you can't mess that up he like and he just he's been talking since he was like talk saying four sentences since he was like 18 months like he used to walk around the house be like two chains with the ponytail or just be messing with me i just been like boy get out my face boy and then i said man i gotta do something so i can like highlight how intelligent he is and then how like our relationship like as a in this space like black father with his family period you know i'm saying and uh we've been doing it for about five years we're going on our we're going on our 50th episode so i can't say that it's been overly consistent but every time we're starting to do them every week now but of course he's a child he's 10 years old that's a lot for kids i mean as a kid entertainer it's best to break it up yeah but you know he plays au you know he's on he's out for for summer school but school and all of that so but we have so many people that want to be on the show like like lebron just said he's gonna come but just so many people that want to sit down with me and him chop it up about life fatherhood sports or whatever so i'm happy that god blessed me with like halo because he's like really my best friend right now like i'd be i mean i miss not hanging around before we came here i told him i'm like i'm about to do this with kiki pump like kiki pump i'm like you know a killer to be you know he's like oh yeah i had to go back and he's like oh yeah i remember i like she know all y'all i knew he's gonna ask about him yeah he was on the way to practice so yeah oh man you gotta tell him say hey say me and your pop we've been uh family forever forever forever forever forever forever forever forever forever forever forever forever back when i lived in atlanta yeah no forever i always appreciate the person you've been to me man you was always just straight up and cool was never no weirdness you always just been a one person i was explaining just the they was trying to like explain like she may actually just i'm like this it's like my my sister for real i mean sometimes that sister you have to watch it sometimes that sister mean it's some other stuff going on but this this is like yeah no that's why it's true it's true because everybody ain't what ain't really straight up like that but i really with you when we see each other out it's like we just be smiling like burgo you know i mean so i think it's just that genuine love you know i mean yeah when we see each other it's always it's always about always always what do you think makes this aside from obviously the incredible halo what would you say makes this chapter of your life different from the ones before i think i just found our next family trip and it's ashville north carolina yes september is when the leaves start turning and i am building this entire trip around a porch i need to find a home on airbnb with the real porch because i can already picture mornings out there with coffee and evenings watching the mountains change color while my parents pretend they're not getting emotional about it i'm putting the river arts district on the list too because watching glass blowers work is like the kind of thing that my sister will talk about for years. My dad's already asking if Asheville has good boys barbecue, which yes, obviously that's so locked in. We're also doing the Biltmore one afternoon. It's this gorgeous Gilded Age mansion right outside of the city that makes you feel like you've been transported to Versailles. I want to watch my parents walk those gardens like kids again. So what I'm saying is find a place to stay on Airbnb in Asheville this fall. I'm building the whole trip around that porch so we can get that magical home away from home feel, and I'm not even sorry about it. I put out a book. I talked about intuition in the book. Yeah. It's like I got approached about doing a book, and I didn't want to be like a cliche or stereotypical. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Do an autobiography and then just tell like my dark side and like my struggles and what I've been through and like try to get that trauma porn or like that pity party going. And I have had my share of that, but I wanted to like teach and like, I don't know, my whole, my object, my objective for putting this literature together was to have something to, that lives past me, you know, as a part of like a legacy play. And so with me putting out the book recently and it being a New York Times bestseller. Yeah, congratulations on that. Thank you. It's not like, I'm using where you can get box to buy your stuff or box to this is so this, this connection about this inner navigational tool that I'm using to every day on what I eat, dress, which direction I go, that is really overwhelming. When you, when you get a voice in your head, I don't know about a negative one, but when you get a voice in your, in your head that I think is as powerful as mine, it could be loud sometime. I mean, not disturbing, but my voice is like, if I don't do what it says, I get like, it bothers me, you know what I'm saying? Because when I do, do, do, do what this voice says, it leads me to like a high success rate. Yeah. And so I tried to articulate that in a book, which I think I did a good job, but I, I articulated it with telling some stories on how I either listened to the story in my head. Come on, embedded narrative. Yeah. Or if I didn't, and it got great feedback, and so this is all just like layers to me building out like the, the legacy play for me. You know, I still really enjoy doing music. I'm on tour, Wayne. I love being on stage. I love when they got the camera phone on me, you know what I'm saying? And I'm like, I'm tall, but it's like, I ain't like the goofy tall, you know what I'm saying? I'm like a player. I'm like, you know what I mean? And just sitting up there and just looking at them, you know what I mean? I'm loving it. 12. 18,000, 9,000. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Two chains. So I love that. I'm about to put out a project. Like you said, it's called players only live once because. Yeah, man. Great title. Yeah. What do we mean by that? Players only live once. I mean, it's the title pretty much says it all. You know, I don't feel like everybody's a player cause it's some, it is some weirdos and stuff. When I say player, it's like, I consider you a player. It's like a vibe. It's a certain energy. It's like, I don't feel like everybody's a player. It's like, I consider you a player. And when that's gone, it's like, damn, it's like, you know, when a player gone, you know, when a player ain't around no more, the experience, the hanging, all that stuff. Cause there's so many people like that. Don't get, don't get it. Don't get life. And so this project is a little bit more laid back, a little bit more storytelling. I always, always enjoyed samples. Um, a lot of features, man. I got so many people that came in to be a part of my project from Macy Gray to Leon Thomas to someone wants to hold me. We love that. My album is by my album. It's like, I describe it as like a white party that serves red wine. Oh, and your objective is to try to get out without a stain. Come on. Gamified album. I love what you said too about you. You have. This is what I always loved about your music. I think people love about you is that you so smart, you fly, but you funny too. And you find a way to keep that personality and that character in the music, which I just love so much and everything that you do. So it's a, it's approachable and people can lean in cause like, man, he crazy. Even when we go back to titty boy days, you know, I mean, one of the things that has helped my career is the, the transparency aspect is the, whether it's family, whether it's, you know, not to say I won't stand on business, but it's hard to get me out of my body. Yeah. If my mom and my wife ain't around or my kids, like, I ain't trying to, like, I don't have to impress a bunch of and throw up. Listen, I've been out. I've been around so long that I remember this is fact. I remember when you up by stepping on their shoes, like go to go to jail. It's in jail and that unkilled somebody. I remember I'm to my taking their hats, taking their jackets. So I went through all these errors of when I look back how petty it was, but it was all like these survival, different, different survival tactics. So you mean to tell me I'm going to go through all these different survival tactics. Then I'm going to get some millions, get in the music industry and then that up. I can't see me doing it. So yeah, I'm a smile. Yeah. Even when I'm going through stuff, cause I do go through stuff. My, my smile is like my biggest defense mechanism. You'll never know when I'm going. Cause I kind of, I'm a, I've been here long enough to know that like, I don't have like a shoulder to link, you know, like, so me trying to, that's adaptive intelligence, even if it is through performance or dialect coach, whatever it is, all that stuff. 1000%. It's the way you stay above it all. Especially the more you go into institutions and you are challenged in a different way. Somebody might not be, might not be stepping on your toe, but they might be disrespecting you, you know? So that's the thing. Like ain't no disrespect. And if it was, I probably could like, not throw my life away because of the pride thing, but like, let my mama be like my mom or my wife or my kid. They never see me like go for any of it. Now that's when I go do time, crash out, do stuff that, you know, my oldest daughter be like, Oh dad, it's not that serious. Or whatever. But yeah, that's when my mama know I'm jumping. I'm going, I'm I'm she's, she's never seen me like be less than like the man of the house from an early age all the way up. So I can't see me. And my, my wife know what it is too. So basically I think that's what it is for me. It's more or less like the audience and stuff like that. Like no one, I don't want any, I don't want to deal with disrespect, but if you disrespect me, I can, I can get on that too. What is your relationship with your history in the music game and how you see the younger cats going up this not to knock nobody or to judge somebody. But I'm just curious. Cause even for me, I, you know, I'm still a kid. I'm still a kid. I'm still a kid. I'm not, you know, I'm still in my thirties or whatever, but it's like, uh, I've been doing it for 20 plus years. And so my relationship to, okay, well how can I hand this off or how can I steward or support the next generation only in these ways? How do you, um, how, how are you doing that? Or how do you approach that when approached? Well, honestly, it's hard enough because once they get the money or trying to get the money, it's like, it's hard for them to like, listen, you know what I'm saying? And nobody wants to like preachy preachy type of guidance. Right. So it's cool to try to, you know, lead by example, but at the same time, I'm not sure where we are with death people. So into there being a part of it, want to be a part of, I'm not sure what's going on with the, um, want you to know that I did something bad. Like, I don't know who I was telling this to. Um, Oh no. Somebody was asking me. It was, it was like, it was obviously back in the day we was talking about hustling and how we, it was like supposed to be a, it was kind of like a secret, you know what I mean? It's like selling drugs back in the days, you had to be one of the biggest like hustlers in the world. Cause you couldn't like, you ain't have no billboard. You couldn't just go around. You couldn't go around like you can now. Like, Lord knows if I had access, let me stop. But I think with the younger, with the younger generation, with the younger guys, sometimes they don't see themselves getting to their thirties or their forties. I'm in my forties now. Which is crazy. It's unfortunate. Yeah. They might not see it. And then they might not have a kind of a father figure in their life. And then it is like, man, you got to kind of show that you ain't no punk for some reason. Like you got to show your, your, your fire. You got to show that you got a tool. You got to show that you got money. Got to show that you got certain things. So a lot of people blame. I'm social media, but I'm just, I'm not, I'm not sure why someone could go to prison at least so many millions. And I know it's like not anyone, nobody, you know, woke up this morning. Like I'm going to prison today. I mean, I think it gets to a point where it's like, we've been, we know there's systematic pressures. There's things that, you know, that systemically hold you back. Then before you know it, now you chose a side. Now you guys arguing. Now we there. Now we, once you get into this institution. I ain't no punk. I got these hoes and these n****s. I can't, you know what I'm saying? So I might can get, dang, if I don't do it, I might can pay a n**** to do it. Then you pay a n**** to do it. Then the n**** go do it. And he tell him. you man i don't want no pause of what's going on with that no man and it was so funny my sister and i we were talking about you remember that old movie with martin lawrence and uh eddie murphy called life life yeah remember life yeah we was talking about it and my sister's so into everything that's going on in chicago she'd be talking about drill murder music all this she's always is she's a professor so she is always thinking about these things within the system and stuff make a long story short she was talking to me about how she thinks about that movie now from when we were younger and she was like it was sad when i was younger but as i got older i looked at and said man maybe they felt safer in jail than being out in the world at that time and then it made me just think about everything that's going on in today like even though the time differences like there was like years and years that movie was in the 30s or something i think it might be just as scary for young black men and and worrisome and hard to find the way and if you find a way it being the right way that not saying i understand but that i wonder if that's how it ends up being where i'm just be able to gel at least my is in here at least my people is in here at least i understand how it works in here i got any an example so when i was trapping or hustling we had i we call them jays but um i guess you would say junkie or a fiend or a user yes yeah trying to be used someone that is addicted yeah user the username was black black could do everything he was ripped up he could do push-ups he could our lights got cut off he could cut them back on he could just lit he could do everything but one day black came to our studio he said y'all boys need anything because man it's cold i think i'm gonna go to jail tonight and we say what you mean black black said i'm gonna go somewhere and bust a window i'm gonna wait till the police come so i don't have to be cold and homeless and we said no blaze i see y'all in about a week or two and he we didn't see him but his whole thinking was he gonna go somewhere where he can get a a place to stay a shower and three meals a day and you know he did something that was uh probably obviously a misdemeanor of a crime but uh yeah so some people do choose that because i mean i know for a fact i heard someone say they wanted they were going into that direction to survive so that could be like i'm not sure what the young kids are going through but yeah i'm sorry i'd be just concerned for our folks man that bothers me yeah man it bothers me because i really don't you know there really ain't no answer to it you know what i'm saying we'd be looking everywhere that we worried about so much that's going on everywhere else what's going on in america no no no no it's it's it's but it's been tough out here it's just now boy out there missing yeah yeah no it's been tough out here that it's just been tough out here it's just been tough out here it's just yeah no it's been tough out here that it's it's it's now with all the you know social platforms that you're starting to get like a magnifying glass on it but honestly kiki it's been tough like this in our neighborhoods and in the trenches and that's why i wanted some of the young black men come out of that it seemed like it's we celebrating that yeah but like you people don't know what it's like to come outside a house a door that your mom your mama bought a property you have nothing to do with it as a child you have nothing to do with where you live or come up as a child you come out a door and everybody next door around you they do the same thing and so you could say you your own individual but how if i come out this door and everybody on this block is doing the same thing yeah it's like it's a miracle yes when you make it out of that and they're expecting everybody to be i talk about this all the time why should people be roses that grow from concrete why wouldn't you have some grass i'm telling you if you're expecting everybody to be lebron james two chains you know all the people that you're looking at kiki palmer where come where i come from if you're expecting everybody to work at these levels and to be doing it maybe it's just not it's not reasonable it's not reasonable and that's why you and i hate it i've always hated um when people have used me as an example of you see things can be good no no no no no just because you can point to certain people that you assume are accession you don't know what i'm dealing with when i go at home and i close the lights yeah you don't know what i've what what has cost me yeah you know what i mean absolutely so um yeah you can do a good job of not because i do feel like it's it's some people that go around and then they want you to say are you okay what's wrong with you and i have made it my business to not say yeah to you i do my best not to be that person yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah because i it's only because i don't like it you know what i'm saying so i do my best to like like i go through some stuff i try to keep my chin up my chest out and i just try to you know white might say someone you good everything good like today um i found out that a friend of mine that ended like a dj bigger rank and passed away i'm sorry to hear that i was so hurt i was like man this is my man we talked he was one of the people that helped me um early on with my mixtape just the older guy that had a lot of wisdom you know and he had been dealing with i think kidneys he was doing dialysis and stuff but i got the text before i woke up so i wanted to just you know send my condolences to him i mean to his family and just rest in peace to his soul because he was a good he was a good man from my experience with him and people are just yeah it's just just happening man life is just it's just life and people are passing away so so much so often now you know what i mean and then i'm i'm at the age like i said i'm in my 40s so i'm at the age where i got friends that got cancer i got friends they got newborn babies i got friends that got grand babies i got friends that kids going to college yeah my kid going to college i got friends man i got it's like when you get around this age i got a little bit of everything going on um i do know it's important family is important also and health you know what i'm saying food water i mean it may sound simple but like things are like things like that could you know i think add value to life is there something that the younger you would look at you now and say oh man that's crazy i can't believe you on that or you know i'm surprised about this or do you do you feel that you look like who you thought you'd be at this age yeah i i was a smart i was a smart trapper i was a smart hustler though period okay i was i was a smart i was a smart even like i got locked up in high school and then when the teachers because it's like when i got locked up in high school the teachers didn't know that i was hustling but i got caught with drugs in high school but the teachers wrote letters for me to get back in like six of them i know you know enough to get but they were all six teachers six teachers and i i talked to one of them recently i had to do like a show like this and i had to like they got on the phone what in their names miss love yes miss love come on out girl i couldn't wait to do that to you though yo i couldn't wait to do that to you i was like he gonna fall out oh i said well y'all done flew up this lord have mercy but i owe you one boy i know my face look crazy you were like i don't know what's wrong with you i don't know what's wrong with you you were like i don't know what's wrong with you i don't know what's wrong with you i don't know what's wrong with you you were like i'm like that was crazy yeah but miss love and a whole gang of them yeah wrote letters anyway got me back in but but what i was trying to say like i don't even know what i was trying to say that was just that you were smart and they didn't know but you they kind of probably was like yo you should you should use it for this or something like that they were saying that why did i take it to dangerous minds in a nutshell give this give this child a second chance so to speak that's kind of like what it was because i i like to i'd like to also share that i i only i the only time i made a c was intent it was on purpose i made a c i went to college i hadn't had a c before you know and i'm riding this a b type of thing and i just wanted to know what it felt like to be average you know like a normal like so i it was a class that i didn't you are ridiculously funny tell myself i just want to know what it's like to be average or i've never like df i don't even know like i ain't never been down there but just just like but how i got to see was just not going to class yeah it was just like that's all it was what were your favorite subjects in school what were the things that you really liked i know you play basketball yeah obviously that's my thing but as far as like learning i think what i did not enjoy a lot of was i remember not enjoying world history a lot and it's crazy now yeah because i'll follow history channels or whatever pop up now but i don't know the way they used to teach some of that stuff i guess at my school i just i wasn't i'm just just was not interested in a lot of that i like language arts which i don't even know if that's a real thing i realized a lot of the schools i went to whoa they were crazy yeah um but i loved always loved language that's still true to me today um but i didn't like math but now Because I didn't like the concept of showing my work. Like, I could understand something, but I hated the idea that I had to show it the way that you wanted me to show it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But now I'm obsessed with, I attach that now to, like, how I distill methods. Like, when I want to teach somebody something or share something with somebody, now I understand, like, the structure of math differently. Of, like, showing your work is not even necessarily to prove anything other than that it's a path of how to get somewhere. Yeah, absolutely. Very on that Underground Railroad. So now, now I'm like, I need the proof. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, math, I was probably a B student in math, but, like, my daughter, she got to pre-cal, whatever she got to, I told her, boy, I never got up there. So don't even come asking me. I told her, I like, you know, I like to let them know I'm smart. Give me a, give me a, give me an equation. Man, that thing look like a paragraph when she wrote it. Oh, that's it. Boy, I am not ready for this. What is she going to school for? Medicaid, like a pre-med? Criminal justice. Criminal justice. Woo. Yeah, criminal justice. But also, I put a bug in her ear to keep in mind as she's going to college that how fluent and how much is going on with AI. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And to definitely not go to school for nothing. Don't go to school and then you realize that what you're going to school for. Or whatever you're doing. Now, I went to college, so I think it's a great experience. I still have some friends that I communicate with from time to time from college. It's a great experience. I went to a black school, too, so I went to HBCU. Yeah, so that was, so I encouraged my kids. And she's going to an HBCU, isn't she? Yeah, she's going to Howard, so. That is awesome. Y'all look out for my baby down there. My sister went to FAMU. We visited FAMU. Yeah, she loved it. Yeah. FAMU, it was, it was, it was between those, kind of between those two. We went to FAMU, too. Same thing with my sister. Yeah. FAMU and Howard. FAMU and Howard. So, I want to go back to that moment you were talking about with the teachers and how they, you know, wanted to help you get out of trouble. At that time in your life, did you see a future for yourself in music? Did you know where you were going to be going? No, I wasn't doing music at all in high school. I wasn't doing music at all in high school. It was crazy. Yeah. I just was really good at selling weed and I was good at being on top of myself. Top of my studies. I just was like, man, because it was me and my mom and just making sure, like, back then everything was just simpler. No baby mamas or kids or anything. It was just yourself. So, it's like, I've been very self-sufficient. I'm the only child. So, I've been, like, very, very self-sufficient a very long time. You spent, what I was doing getting ready for this, you spent a lot of time solo from what I, from what I realized, you know, doing things on your own, kind of, you know, in that time of solitude. And those moments, how much, you know, when you think about your character and how it was built in that, what are some of the main things that you take from it? Because a lot of people don't know how to be alone. You know, it can be a tough thing. It's discipline, but I'm alone really, like, I'm alone a lot of times. But I also enjoy quiet time. It enables me to think. I do get ramped up and want people around. You know, energy, men, women, both. But a lot of times, I'm riding. I mean, if I do have a driver, I'm riding by myself. And if I'm driving, I'm driving by myself. And I've been moving like that for a long time. I don't know what it is. It's a, I think I'm a little bit, I have a little introvert thing going on. Yeah. But also, I can be the life of the party, you know. So, I don't know how they really expect me to be the life of the party. A lot of people will be thinking that about, like, when I talk to people, they're like, oh, what's something that people would be surprised. But I love being alone, too. I love being time to myself, time to think. Because I feel like I'm absorbing everything all the time. Everybody I'm around with energy, you know, saying, you know, even if it don't have anything to do with me, I'm constantly being, you know, I'm engaging with it energetically. So, I like being alone, too, because it allows me opportunity just to, just, you know, only sit with myself. Yeah. You know. I'm alone a lot, though. I'm just sitting here thinking, I might need some help. I be tripping, but I don't know. So, you played college in Alabama State before your music and everything like that. How much of that mindset really has enabled your success? And I ask because I've always felt like athletes and musicians have things in common. Like, I don't know if it's, like, the discipline or just the fact that people look to those spaces for culture and influence. But. I'm curious of what you learned, you know, in your career playing basketball that you feel like also matches what, you know, what's allowed you to have success in music. Yeah. I started playing basketball at the age of seven at the MLK Recreation Center in Atlanta. At MLK? Yeah. And for 8U. And it teaches you, obviously, teamwork, but structure, discipline. And I tell people now, because my kid is in youth sports, that if you are playing sports, which I suggest every kid that tries sports. If you get around the right coach, I think that it could be an extension of a father figure that could actually help you grow. And that's what a lot of kids, I feel like, need. Just another person outside of the father that could be a mentor, teach them stuff. I think I'm into that, you know, like. Yeah. Obviously, that. That helped me, too, because when my father, my father was around, I want to say my first seven years. My first seven years of my life, my father was around. And then the last seven years of his life, I picked him up from prison. So in that in-between, was he in prison that whole time? On and off and just doing his own, you know. Yeah. But it was interesting, in your book, you talk about how your dad had a phrase where he said, God is love, which I love. I have that tattoo. Really? Mm-hmm. God is love. Mm-hmm. It's one of my favorites. Baby, this is Kiki Poma, yeah. Discover Pandora Talisman, a new collection designed to help you express every side of who you are, because the most powerful statement you can make is being yourself. I'm a Virgo, capital V, which means I notice everything. I remember everything. And I have opinions about everything. But I keep most of them in a very organized mental file. That's the sign. 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When I was writing the book, I was like trying to get all my little artifacts together. And I found this, I found like a stack of letters from 2003 that he wrote me. It was around Thanksgiving. So I'm just reading like what he was eating in prison and it was, you know, obviously football season. And just who was playing football. And the game that day. But on the outside of every envelope was God is love. God is love. God is love. I mean, but I'm just ripping the envelope open, reading the letter. And the letters look like I've never read them before. You know, like you just mature so much over time. So I'm reading these letters. But then I look at it and to go back to math, I substituted the is for an equal sign. And I said, duh. God is love. God is love. God equals love. Like, if it ain't love, then it ain't God. There's literally a type of math that does that, that mixes language like that with the equations. It's called social something. I forget the name of it, but it's literally that vibe. For real? Yes, yes. But it was like this equation that I felt like was right in my face the whole time. And so when I talk about the voice in my head is God, and people say, well, how you know this voice is God? Because it's love. Because it's love. It ain't going to tear me down. It's love. It's not the voice that's telling me I ain't got it. I ain't going to be. It's the one that I know I can do it. Absolutely. Yes. Absolutely. And I got a story to go along with it. I say, okay, you got a boyfriend. You love him. Yeah, yeah. You love your boyfriend. But your girlfriend sees your boyfriend out with another girl. Okay? Damn, it's already bad. Okay. Now, if the voice tells you to go, bless his windows on the car, that ain't God. That ain't God. Now, you should feel a certain way. Sorry, Jasmine Sullivan. You might be in your feelings, but God ain't going to tell you to crash out. Right. He ain't going to tell you to crash out. So I'm just going to be like, he just ain't going to tell you to crash out. It's true. And you know, and you know, they go back to that, oh, gee, what would Jesus do? It's like, you know, we know at the end of the day what would be in alignment. What would be in alignment would be what would be best for you. If the outcome end and you having something terrible happen, I love that equal. I love that. I love that. And I love that story as a way to also, because I think that's the thing, too, is like a lot of times people are trying to figure out how to differentiate what they thought. You need a connection to, like, even with, like, say, like, the Bible and all of that stuff. It's like you needed ways on Shakespeare, all this stuff. You need, like, I need layman terms. Like, how can I can, you know, strip it all down? What does this mean? You know, that's what I love what you were saying with even the design of your book. Like one of my favorite styles of literature is embedded narrative, which is the same thing as a lot of the parables in the Bible, where it's a bunch of different people's relationship with the same version of coherence, same relationship with God. With that love. So no matter who it is from any different direction, it points in all these different ways, the same, same meaning. And it's interesting. We were saying with your book that it's this idea where you're using many different stories to point to the same truth. You know, it's a beautiful way to learn. Embedded narrative. Embedded narrative. I love it so much. I love it so much. I always think this is cool because you had an interesting journey with music where it's like you was signed with Ludacris, Disturbing the Peace in 2007, and then you kind of bought yourself out the contract. What made you realize that you needed to switch directions and how to really pick the lane you felt was best for yourself in music? The voice in my head told me it was time to. And was it multiple moments or was it one specific defining moment where you were like, oh, s***? It was probably a couple moments where you just be pump faking, you know, you know, you don't be ready, but you be acting like you ready. But for me around that time, I had. I had already. One, I had been around other successful people who look like me, dress like me, talk like me, act like me. So why not me? And then two, I look in my contact list on my phone and I. Not that I'm counting anybody's bank account, but I know like 10, 12 people that look like me, dress like me, whatever. And I know they having millions. So why not me? So the voice just told me. To make a way, like I can. This just told me I can do it on my. I can do this. It's just. Because I'm actually smart, but you have. I mean, with anything, you have to learn any and everything, you know what I'm saying? And I'm somebody that just bet it on myself at the end of the day. If we're using the same logic from what we're talking about with the plants and, you know, it's the soil and it's, you know, the water and it's all these things. What are some of those three things would you say about. Success? And not even just in music, but I think essentially you're really an entrepreneur. You do many things. What would you say are those kind of same type of line things to ensure growth? You need soil, you need sun, and you need water. But I think for me, I treat my ideas and even projects, everything like a seed. And I like to plant seeds. Not literal, but figuratively, I like to plant seeds and then see when they grow. Yeah. With everything, like with every little thing, I plant these little seeds and just see when they cultivate, if they do. Every seed, you know, cultivates. But I like to plant certain seeds here, there, you know. I think our relationship, seeds was planted so long ago that we can get here. Have a real organic conversation with not even realizing cameras are around, you know. And another thing I'm hearing with that is time. Sometimes we expect things to happen so quick. We want to, but. But you got to let it cook. So that was me. Like everybody's talking about my late start and all that. I was feeling like I had it earlier, but like I'm so happy that it happened when it did. Yeah. So I can't attend. It's just like being patient, learning patience. I feel that same way. I feel that exact same way. Okay. Obviously, not long after that, everything really changed. It was, you know, 2012, you had No Lie, Birthday Song, I'm Different. I mean, everything went off. 2017, you got that Grammy. At that moment, what was your thought? Was it like, you know, did you feel like, okay, so now y'all get it? Or did you feel like vindicated? Like, what were the feelings that you had seeing that moment of self-realization where the world is also seeing you how you see yourself? I had prayed for it. Everything I prayed for, I get. Amen. Same. So I literally had prayed for it. I asked for a Grammy. So I didn't know how it was going to come, but I had been praying. The whole thing, the music, everything. Everything I got. So I had already kind of prayed for it. So I ain't going to sit here and be like. I knew it, but I wasn't like. And I was happy. I was happy, but I. He ain't let me. Everything I kind of like. I just got to pray for it. I don't know how many of them I got left, so I don't try to like. Just be using them up. Like, you might be like, bro, that was the last one. So. Yeah. I mean, you've built businesses. You know, you're investing in companies. And, I mean, you've expanded so much beyond music. Is there, like, an idea that you have of what you want your legacy to be? When I laid down last night, I started thinking, like, what I want my next five years to be. And then I just went to sleep. That put me to sleep, just thinking. Just laying there thinking. I don't know where I left off at, but. Yeah. I know I'm going to be. Because I got a short film called Red Clay that really did good in the festival run. Congrats. And so, thank you. And so, I've been taking some meetings and having internal meetings about turning this short film into something larger than life. And so, I could see myself on the other side of these lenses. For sure. Because that Virgo detail coming from what I was trying. Like, I really describe my upbringing, like, as being coming from, like, the belly of the beast. Or, like, the zoo. Like, people go to the zoo, and then they leave. Like, don't go. Like, don't nobody know what happened when y'all leave. Like, that was my apartment complex. It was like a zoo. People would come, buy their little drugs, leave. But then, like, I live here. And so, just articulating. Wow. Like, I didn't even realize how many things are normalized or just brushed off as, like. Y'all ain't never had to cut y'all water back on. Y'all ain't never not had bar of lights. Y'all ain't never. You know, I normalized so many things in my upbringing that. You never seen a roach motel? Roach bomb? Yeah, yeah. Like, you never seen a roach in the clock, and then you can't tell what time it is because this. Like, you know what I'm saying? Oh, my gosh. This is like. You don't know if it's like a. A seven or a one. This is like. In there. In there. I'm talking about in it. In the microwave. But, yeah. It was funny. I did another podcast. They were talking about boric acid. I'm like, my mama used to put boric acid for roach. Yeah, they was talking about women. I don't know. I guess women use it for some kind of cleaning. I've heard about it. It's new. I've seen it. I don't know enough. They just doing. They saying too much now. Yeah, they cleaning their stuff out with some boric. I said, Lord. I said, "My mama, that is a white person." powder and we stayed in apartments because when you're in apartments everybody got everything my mama put that board acid down i don't know if you should put it in your stuff but that's what's going on but anyway i don't i just don't i don't normalize this stuff yeah yeah you know normalize because it's relative so it's like i was telling i'm gonna tell you this too like i was telling me and my wife we laugh every day that's why it's like just a wonderful relationship right years and i told her i said uh back in the like in the day right like so i didn't have like i used to have to take cold showers so i used to have this little i used to have like little songs i would play in my head to like be able to take a cold shower get in and out right i done shared it with her hair right what she gonna throw it up my face that's what they talk about like that's why men can't be vulnerable because you tell me i say i had to i'm probably when i got it she's like i'm gonna throw it up my face i said that's what they talk about that's why men can't be vulnerable because you tell me i say i had to i'm probably when i got it when i call her back she's talking like damn you must have did uh one of them little she's gonna set my little tune i'll be doing i say man that hurt you know what i'm saying but that hurt but i told you why i used to code but you can't you know what i'm saying that's why it is me and these day you know what i'm saying we can't we can't cry we can't be vulnerable right now i just thought about you on a sitcom show about you and your family i would watch that everybody would but i just saw you on the couch but this is the thing like virgo let me talk to you let me talk to you virgo i enjoy my side of privacy too though yeah like when you see my family when you see my when you see my family yeah i never thought about the script thing but when you see my my family like see it it really is like i say this i'll tell y'all won't y'all can't believe what's going on from the from the dogs to the chicken well we got chickens and the dog they sleep in the same them to the same house we got eggs all like an easter man you won't believe what the hell going on at my house bro we got all kind of atv riding and all of that but i do have that little like privacy thing because it's like i just want to be family i don't want to sit back and be judged on what i say how i say it when i say it where i say it i don't want to be messy i think my family i do i do i do do think my family is beautiful though i mean i think i know they're like a beautiful family yeah but i think i'll just do these little because people have approached her because they know i ain't going for it and uh but maybe i don't know i never thought about the scripted thing where it's just like in the in the essence of but you know they do the scripted ones where they like they'll find like another keisha and some more kids or it needs to be them it needs to be it needs to be the i mean people would definitely want you if you still play your father role and then you can tell the writer stories of your family and they kind of do it like in a bernie mack way where he's like he was like okay hey y'all i'm listening i'm listening to you okay for sure you're gonna be in the meeting i'm gonna be there okay so you know i play a game with all my guests when we get ready to wrap it up so i gotta play a game with you lord i like these shoes too i see you keep putting your little little leg up but i'll be like you need to see that red girl i ain't gonna lie oh daylight did what he put them on but you need to know don't play you need to know what these for real for real these are adidas jellyfish um these are you know he for real i have a question about you atlantians what do y'all call atlantans with lenny's what what what do y'all call georgians why y'all so fresh like what's going on over there what this y'all style i'm just this is just so cool this is uncomfortable this is this is air what y'all call air one y'all mocha mocha i absolutely love this mature whatever this mature cashmere the t-shirt the the hat this i just went full cashmere today wow there's just like like maybe this is very blessed to get this yeah cashmere um i'm going to get me a marcha matcha what y'all got out here la - Air one, yet again, I don't know who's on your team. - Well did I say it's air one, why didn't I say air one? - I need a two-chains shake, smoothie. Two-chains smoothie and air one, we would eat it up. Real quick, what do you think would be in there? If you had a smoothie? - My smoothie, you know, real quick, I know what I do with my smoothie. I go banana, I like the peanut, I like protein. I like protein. - Come on, protein. - I go peanut butter, you know what I'm saying? I go-- - I hear the fiber. - Oh, no fiber, you see-- - You got the bananas. - Okay. - You know, natural. - Banana is a natural fiber? - I think, am I right? If I'm wrong, don't tear me up in the comments. - Yeah, see, that's why I can't do no show. - 'Cause every around to say something, man, them folk, then look, they look it up, then they try to get on your ass. Boy, you don't know what the hell you talking about either. - Actually, everybody actually online, actually, actually on your ass. - But go to bed. But you ain't gonna be able to lay that at your mama's house. So, but anyway, I say bananas, peanut butter, plant-based protein. - Love it. - What good would that, um. - We need one or two more ingredients. - One or two more? - And we got it, we got-- - Do we do oats? - We love oats, fiber, yet again. - Oh, you had running to the, trying to hurry up getting that damn dough. Why wouldn't, hey, you gotta use the bathroom when you get, when you get there all of a sudden. - Honestly, it's good for you. A lot of, not enough people having bowel movements, that's why they up there. - Really? - Yes, people aren't going to the bathroom. - Why? - Epidemic. - Really? - Yes. - I'm so sorry to hear that. - Yo! - I'm a whole dog. - I'm here for this two chains, air one drink. We're running to the restaurant. We're running to the grocery store. - But that's what I like, air one. - Yeah. - Yeah, I want bananas, peanut butter. I want it to have that little, that little look on it. That little look on it. And uh, yeah. That's, that's, that's about what I get. - Not too much, not, it's just like, not overly too much with the ingredients. Something simple that tastes very good. I love peanut butter. - It's healthy and has a purpose. Like mine would be, my purpose would be protein. You need protein, little bit of energy. That's what I want. - Yeah, what I love about what you did there though, with the banana, if I'm correct, and the oats, I know I'm correct, you got the protein coupled with the fiber, and that's what you need, guys. We went too far on the protein. We left the fiber out and that was the problem. - Yes. - Going back to the game, um, okay, so I learned today that, I mean I've always known this about you, but you're not afraid to take chances. I mean whether it's, you know, buying yourself out a record deal, or emailing the CEO of Porsche, you, you know, you always know how to get it done. So I'm gonna throw out different situations to see if you think it's worth the risk. Or if we're just leaving it alone. Okay, you ready? - All right. - Investing in a friend's business. Is it worth it or are we leaving it alone? - I ain't doing it. - Quitting your job without another one lined up. - Let me, let me explain. The family, the friend, I mean, investing in their business. Let's get into it. - It depends. - Right. - It depends. I don't wanna say no. 'Cause it depends. - Mm-hmm. - But everything that I've invested in, outside of private equity and all of that, if I just talk about, if I just talk about business-wise that I've invested in, a couple of the people that I've invested in, I just, or invested with, I just met them people. But they had characteristics that stood out to me. Passion being one of them. Passion about the space that I was doing business in was two of them. So when people think I'm just so successful, I wanna tell them that one, I'm good at identifying like talent or identifying, like success in people, you know? And then I also can identify like a passion, like each one of my businesses from Esco to restaurant chain, or even Candyland, my adult entertainment club, my partners are, if they, you know, they are very passionate about that business. And then I come in with marketing, relationships, references, you know, ideas and things like that. And it just makes a kind of great combination. Now, if a friend comes in, I need some money to do this right here, you need to be invested. And you can't wanna start a restaurant because you like know how to cook. - Yeah. - I ain't with you, but I know how to cook good. We need a restaurant. Like, that's not the way of thinking. Like my partner that I have the restaurant, she went to school, Vanderbilt actually, and got a degree in hospitality. So she like, "Okay, I'm okay." - 'Cause hospitality is really the business of restaurants. - Yes, it's not about like how good your chicken is. - Unfortunately. - Yeah, you know. So, anyway, next question. - So real. Okay, quitting your job without having another one lined up. - Without having a moment, just quitting your job. - Yeah. - It depends on what that voice tell you. That voice might tell you something and you have to trust it 'cause he might have something that you don't see yet. And that job might be holding you down and preventing you from getting to the next one. So, sometimes if the voice really tells you, "Man, let this go, I got you." Sometimes you gotta let go and let God. - Amen. feel you and i agree um telling someone you love them first uh i don't think i have a problem have you done it have i done this and this don't even have to be inclusive of your relationship because people don't need to know that but just thinking about before you were married was you the kind of person that would or were you no but i can show it i can show you that i love you though it's a scary thing you know what i mean i can show you i can i can show you i love you though yeah you know i'm saying yeah yeah yeah friends family men women i can show you well that's an interesting thing in general even even uh to family and friends do is that as you say i love you a lot in your family my family we say i love you after anything oh no my mom all my kids why we said i said that that's them they're saying like that's how we get off the phone that's how we say bye i got my sister and i we live together when i'm in her room just talking to her real quick when i leave and shut the door i love you yeah yeah yeah why would i need to do that for yeah i don't know why we like that um relocating for love getting up and moving somewhere that's crazy why are virgos like that why are we like that we're so imagine i'm about to move to your city so we can be together i would never do that now do you want to do it for me it's different um okay walking away from a deal at the last minute if that voice tell you the deal is not worth doing yeah i don't care if it's the last minute or the first minute get out i had that happen to me this year you was at that he was about to do the deal interesting and what made you what made you pull back that voice it said i'm not going to be happy the money's not enough and even if it was enough it wouldn't be like the enough would be an astronomical amount because that's how much i would know it would make it no so it was like nothing about it and i'm not moved by money i'm moved by inspiration and that's how i'm able to do my work to my best ability is i'm feeling excited and good and i just as we started getting closer and closer to the day and i made sure in the back of my throat every time we were talking about like the deal things i was just like i'm not i'm not gonna sign i'm a vibe and i'm gonna say i'm a vibe and it got to that point and i just pulled out in the back of your throat in the back of my throat maybe use another analogy kiki let's just i don't know what the what are you talking about in the back of my throat kiki i love you yo why was this in the back of your throat because it could have been the back of my mind anywhere else you're just boy anywhere else boy you don't put this in the back of my throat i'm like i'm like kiki i ain't hearing nothing else you have to i don't know what else you said after that i said big girl here okay this is the last one you are so funny bro okay the last one is oh i gotta do a good one because it's the last one let me see you got my hat it's cashmere too um oh this is good this is good because this is gonna tell us a lot okay giving someone a second chance i'm really interested in that from you give me somebody a second chance give me somebody a second chance to like hold me disrespect me like what's what they done they they did something where they lost the first chance whatever your whatever was like a guarantee of losing the first chance with you but they're but they're they're showing contrition and they just contrition they're showing contrition i love you vocabulary your macbook be be putting the depth the little definitions on on the oh yeah i'm but also as a virgo you know if somebody say a word i don't understand look it up and lock it in lock somebody told me the other day i was perspicacious perspicacious don't play with me sure yes looked it up the word lily was like you know quick on your feet you know i mean you be looking at things from a bigger you know point of view perspicacious perspicacious i said you know we we had like we been through that you know we've been through that Right here in the packet. Yes. Perspicacious. Literally. Very perspicacious. How are you doing today? Perspicaciously. Oh, wow. What'd you say the word? Contrition. They showed a lot of contrition. Yes, they did. What's contrition? Contrition is they showed a deep understanding for what went wrong, and you believe. They show contrition. They're really deeply sorry. All right, so how are you doing today, ma'am? I'm perspicacious, you know. Oh, that's so contritious. 2 Chainz, I love you, man. You the bomb. Thank you so much for coming on the show. This is the best, honestly. Thank you for having me. Today, 2 Chainz reminded us that the biggest decisions in our lives don't happen by accident. They're shaped by the voice we choose to listen to. The voice built by our character, by our conviction, by our faith, by the values that keep showing up long before anyone else believes in us. Because success isn't just about what you build. It's about who you're becoming. It's about who you're becoming while you build it. Ugh, yes. And maybe, maybe that's the real lesson. The decisions may shape your life, but it's your character that shapes every decision. Baby, this is Kiki Palmer. Baby, this is, this is Kiki. Baby, this is Kiki Palmer, yeah.