Built Different: T.I. & Wallo on Pressure, Prison & Power

This is Expeditioned, I Am Till T.I.A. Uh-huh, now the following experience is not a test, the conversations and stories expressed on this podcast are meant to be an expression of purpose and truth. This show, properly entitled Expeditioned, is a free exchange of ideas and opinions, no judgment, no preconceived beliefs, no fear. I encourage you to share your thoughts and ask any question as long as it's done with respect. And ask through true love and respect for others that we will change the world and speak truth to power, once you're at a time. Now without further ado, this is Expeditioned, I'm Till T.I.A.A. Hey, so what's happening, man? I'm Till Paris, the host of Expeditioned, welcome. On this particular episode, man, we have a very special guest, very important person. Um, a man of my own heart, real solid dude, man, that I, I mean, been the same way ever since I met a man, all the way motivation, I always uplifting, I always positive. Uh, he is a best-selling author, host of a very successful podcast called Million Dollar Welfare Gain and a Motivational Speaker. He turned 20 years of incarceration into a path to lead, motivate others. He didn't allow his surroundings to limit his growth. He told himself he wasn't in prison. He was in Princeton and took that to heart, reading and learning as much as he did. Now, when I was, when I did my little time, I did just, I did wine, no time compared to him, but I told myself, I can either do this time or let this time do me, and I made sure that I took every moment I could to motivate myself and others. So I was prepared for my release and he did the same thing. He's an author who writes from his life experiences and shares all he's learned from his hard lessons with others. He has lived experience, lived experience, not theory and entrepreneur who believes nothing can stop you but you and a motivational speaker who shares his hardest moments to motivate others. From the streets of Philadelphia to the biggest microphones in the culture, his voice carries weight because it carries truth. No short cuts, no excuses, just growth, consistency and elevation. Please welcome my partner, WALO, to expedition. I'm going to start off by thanking you, right? So for what? Years ago, I run in the tip and Boston. We in Boston, we connect for the first time, but he was already showing me love on social. I come on from prison. I'm doing my thing and socially showing me love. So he gave me his number. I don't really like to call people, but one day I think we was talking to the DM and he said, hit me up, man, he called me. He's like, what's going on? You might don't remember this, but I'm driving through North Philadelphia. I'm talking to you. And I'm like, he like damn. So what you doing? I said, man, I got to turn it up, man. I got to turn it up some more time. What you need? What you trying to do? I said, man, I got to get the camera crew. I got to get this in a third. You said, no, you cool. You said you just kept saying, you are. You don't need all that. I said, damn, tip. What you mean? I said, do you say man? He said, listen, man. I said, man, I'm just trying to build my media shit and trying to do this. This before I had a show called Whereas Walla. And so he said, listen, man, what you need all that equipment for? I said, man, because I got to turn it up. He said, you already turned it up. I said, how? He said, you on the phone with me off your phone. That's what you told me. You said, I'm on the phone with you. And then I met you from using my phone. He said, Walla, you was using your phone. That's how your message got out to the world. What you overthinking this shit? Just go ahead. So I said, damn, you right. So I hung out with you. I grabbed me a better tripod and I started a show called Whereas Walla while we're going to interview people with my phone. And he, he's one day I called him. I said, you know, man, I, he said, man, come down. You was doing. I think you was speaking at more house this day. As it more house, we went to it was a condo downtown Atlanta somewhere. We had to get on the elevator. Nice joint. We sat there and we just did the interview of the phone. I that day, I don't even know if I had my tripod. I think I was holding the phone. I'm holding the phone because I forgot it. And he's sitting on the couch and we kicking it. That's all I would be kicking it. Right. And you had like assisted something. I don't know who was there. But we kicking it. I usually just run around and interview people. You, Jay the kiss, Charlemagne, little baby, little dirt, all off this phone, build the whole channel off their phone. Right. And it was like, I was like, I always tell people the story when they come to me, be like, Yo, man, I need it. I'll be like. Man, tiptoe me some shit. You don't need all that shit. All you need is for real for all you need is your phone because the phone is like a whole production. Right. And so I just want to thank you for that. That was major. Man, thank you, bro. Thank you, man. You know, I want to thank you for showing me that it was real money and podcasting because you know, I left right when y'all got that in me. As soon as I got to hell on y'all got paid. So thank you for showing me that, man. Now talk to you one time about it. You know the phone. You was like, man, I said, no, it's money here, man. He was like, I don't know. I can't see it while I said, man, don't do it. Money and you was one of you was one of the dudes that was here. Now you sat down with some legendary people when you're showing like, yeah, tiptoe. I really got tired of doing it. I got tired of people, you know, like, like, I just feel like when we do this, we open that self up for other people's opinion so much. And I just got tired. I just wanted to get somewhere and get be quiet. You know what I'm saying? I just didn't want to be bothered no more. Over time, I've saw what you guys were able to do with your show and how much you contributed to the culture and it's great to see you with your cousin. Yeah, because because. You know, I mean, you with your cousin, real family and having real family moments and showing a bond that I feel like needs to be seen by the generation and by the culture. Y'all have been an excellent representation man of our community. So I appreciate y'all for that. Tell me what, what, what, what started million dollar worth of game? See, when I was in prison, if you go back, Gil, you saw always do these posts when Instagram first really turned into a video. He be like, let me give you many lives with a game. He just said, then he came up with an album called me and I was with a game independent album. So he used to always say. He had a little pill and it paid life. You would think so. He would think so. He'd be kicking that pill. You know, he got a mouthpiece on him. So he had that. So when I came home, he always still was doing this man. I was really getting dues of calling people call him here giving him the game 2012. So one day, it was in 19. I already had the show where swallow, but I said, I got to do something like me because I always together tell me I got to do something together. So I'm up early in the morning. I wanted them researchers. I'm to do that. Just be on the Macbook to a clock in the morning, looking at reading articles on Apple news, reading articles trying to catch was turning the corner. I'm looking for the future. So it said, it's like four o'clock in the morning. I run across the article, Spotify, allocate 400 million to podcasts in the first quarter of 2009. So I keep reading it over. No, I'm like, hold on. 2009, 2019. Okay, so I'm like, I'm reading it over. I'm like, hold the fuck up. I see what? So only people I knew when I thought the podcast was was Joe buns, tax stone, nori, like a couple people, right? But I was like, they got there. Everybody, all three of them is different. They had the own lanes. Tax was in jail. I researched Comeback Jack, but I said, there's nobody servicing is a space missing. Nobody talked to the young boys. It's like the young boys without cash. Like people don't talk to young people. Right. People wasn't going to be afraid. Yeah, they wasn't talking to young people. They wasn't going to communities. So I said, damn, we could, we could, we could lock this in because all the young is already, we already kick it with the athletes. A by, a by kicker with us. So we set it up. We do it. I call him but first I had to wake him up because he was sleep. He's a nigga. What you want? Listen, bro. Listen, check this out. Cause I sent him an article. And I knew he checked because he called me back in me. He's like, yo, what we got to do? I got the logo done that day. Got with my trademark attorney here in Atlanta, Shane M Lawson. I met in Atlanta. Got what her trademark. We started it from it was on from there. And we just started doing it. Right. We didn't know we was doing the first day we came out in seven hours. We was number two under comedy under Joe Rogan number four of all categories and like seven hours. So I was like, oh, yeah, I said is on. I didn't ever send that we went to me. We was number one on music like six months straight. I get a call one day. And I always try to tell young people like for some reason when you pop in. People find you get your number. So I get a call when they we jumping. I get a call. I knew shout out the shock of Zulu because I was at the what's name festival that summer. And I ran in the shock of Zulu at the roots picnic. Right. Shout out to the roots. You know me picnic. Live nation urban all showing. I run into him. He like, man, you know, gilly. Like my that's me. You know, he was staying in Atlanta one time. That's like my family too. So we had the roots pick. I'm like, yeah, he said, he said, you know, I'm over there Spotify. Because he went to Spotify. He was a Spotify. He said, you don't need it. I said, yeah. So I'm telling one day. I get a call. White man on other side of the line. No, because you know, it's spooky. You know how this shit. You hear all the stories. Somebody say, can I speak the wall? I said, yeah, this man. I'm like, Oh, shit, but I do. I'm going to throw it. I said, oh, shit, but I'm like, he ain't going to ask for a while. They're going to ask for my real name. So he like, this is a, I said, who is this? This is Courtney Hope. I'm a vicious Google boy. So I got my other phone. I'm like, Courtney, who the fuck is you, man? Like, sound like a cop. So I, he like, yeah, I'm from Spotify. So I type him up. Gold is linked. I see, damn, let's do ran this. He ran. And that Courtney, oh, he run Spotify, right? Just dude, the run Spotify got my number. So I don't know what shot. So he said, uh, I said, hold on. Let me call him, call him a part, I called Gil. Put him on a, I said, Gil, the man on the phone man, the man. This is the, he's someone who the fuck is your turn? I just, just listen. I put him in. This boy Courtney, hold, say, I want y'all to come to Spotify. He said, what do you want? I said, what do you want? He said, we want everything. We want to like own, I said, own, what do you mean? We're going to take you all for you too. He just started talking. I said, well, listen. I don't know. So I said, let me give him a turn. I'm like, this ain't my type of talk cause it scared the shit out of me. Cause I'm like, this like, is this some shit that you hear about in the movies? So I'm like, I'm like, oh, no, fuck that. Let me get off the phone cause I don't know. So I give the lawyers and then, and then once he said that, they hit the email, it's, that's when they start the conversation, jumping the email, the executive, the other, the people in Spotify, we going back and forth and then bars to jump in the game. As bars do jumping the game, they wasn't playing bars to day, point knowing them, Ericka and Ardeni, they wasn't playing the shot us a law for. We turned it down. And the next thing you know, we ain't here for weeks. They said, we got to come see you guys, because they seen a lot of times, it's going to be people that understand techno. See, see, when we got to understand, it's different ways of seeing the game wherever it was, music films, if you got people out here that know how to measure the future of technology, they know how to measure culture. They barstool was measured as early because they said, if you're all right here, with these plug-ins, y'all going to be right here, I know y'all going to go. They said, y'all, we got to get in this. We can't let y'all, so they came down to Philly. We went to, uh, went to a dinner. It took like five minutes. The deal was done, shook their hand, they cut us, cut us a nice check for the first deal for 36-months licensing deal, whereas though we don't, everything you ever seen, everything you ever seen in May and I was really getting 50%, really 50% while we don't, every, every episode, everything you ever seen, low, everything, so we did the deal, the doors opened up. By the time we two years into that deal, two and a half years into the deal, a bit more of a jump, because it's really inspired, shout out to Sean G from Labnickson, it's one of my old G's from a, Sean Tick is, Sean Tick is the, Labnickson Urban. He take us, Sean Tick, come on, he take us into Spotify, L.A., he take us into Amazon Music, Steve Boom in them over there, what's my, I can't forget my guy, what's my guy name, that be over there, they used to work at Amazon Music, um, give me the line, I ain't, I ain't been him, he'd be with Kendrick and all of them, damn, he'd kill me, but I'm gonna get his name, but like, he take us, they take us over there and they like, we got something for y'all. I'm like, all right, cool, so they say we guys, you know, we tell my eight figures, so I say, all right, we go back to bar studio, probably three minutes, I'm told, Erica Nardini at the time, she was a CEO, she said, oh, no, no, no, no, we won't give you five million more. We just, let's do it right here, while I shook our hand back, we done, we got to keep doing this because we already had a place that's familiar with us though, it ain't all these extra deliverables. It's like, y'all be y'all, we gonna go ahead and monetize it based off of the sales, and we gonna do it from there, man, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, I guess an example, I should say, I've had the experience to where I, it's been shown to me that when you have somewhere that knows you, you've been successful together, you grew together, they have a different level of appreciation for what your brand means, and sometimes it seems like leaving there will make you more successful and open up better doors for you, but sometimes most of the time it bested your cheer where you at, you know what I mean. And it's a loyalty place with me because I'm big on, I'm big on, me personally, like I know everybody do their thing differently, it was subdued to everybody, but I'm big on having good partners. I love great partners because, especially when it's mutually beneficial, when we both walk away good, because good partners what they do is they bring relationships that you might can't get yourself. Right. And sometimes, success itself don't always get the relationships, relationships get the relationships, and a lot of times inside of them partnerships is information, it's not about the money, is information that once sit down and one paragraph of information can change your whole outlook on this shit, it can open up a door and I think a lot of times people look at the money, people look at independence, people look at different things, and it's like, all right, like I see, I told his one, but he was like, man, I'm keeping an individual, I got 100%, I said you got 100%, but you don't know how to monetize it, you don't have no infrastructure. You don't have no team, why you ain't just going to give it a system, get the team, get you a nice term to where as though you have to walk away one day, but you was able to build the infrastructure with their resources, their relationships, and their audience, because this shit really a lot of times is about OPA, other people audiences. Right. So when you get with a machine, sometimes you have an attachment to all their relationship, all their audiences, and then one day you can walk away and have a real business, right? Not no hustle. That's it. Yes. But you know, I think it's a total of P-S-S, a lot of people just, I mean, man, now, you was in prison for 20 years, how were you when you went in? 17 to 37. 17 to 37. When a person go to prison, that young, especially doing that kind of time, you can go, you got two different paths you can go down. You can either get down, you can be a fucking a role warrior where you got down, you know, saying get with the Thundercats, you know what I mean, or you could be conscious, elevate your personal growth. What made you take the path of elevation and like evolution of consciousness? I was scared, Tip, so, no, I'm just being straight up, I'm just, man, that's the mind of shit. No, no, I listen, so Tip, when you go to prison, you scared the greatest way to make it through there is stay out of dumb shit and get your head in some books and educate it. That's real. You know, so it was like, I'm in there, I'm like, okay, one thing, you know, the myth of prison is like from seeing the TV that somebody is going magically fuck with you, the fuck with you. Right. You only ready to go fuck with you if you're in a wrong crew if you want some dumb shit of you. That's real. You still, you do some dumb shit. You carry yourself with a representation of what comes to you. So me, I'm like, man, I'm scared to definitely join you because I'm 17, he certify me as a doe. I see, in Pennsylvania, that's how they do you, and you got to do a day on the day. So it's like, I'm like, I'm scared to death, I'm like, shit, I got to stay away from all dumb shit in here. Right. My fuck is walking around with knives longer than an elephant's trump. I'm like, man, I don't want to get none of it. I see people get stabbed hitting the head. I'm like, I'm just going to be as good in my cell, read my books, mind them, I've been as going to all I bury, hollanda at the old hits because one thing about prison is like this. Prison got some of the greatest professors in the world. This is true. Because you got some OGs in prison that's never coming back. There's not going to let you sit in a face and not educate yourself and go out there and be some. And they can pass down that information, that's the knowledge that they have. Yes. And they ain't got nobody else to pass it to. Yes. So, you know what I'm saying? They have to give it to you. You know what I mean? They feel like that's their purpose in life to give you that game. And that was my thing. My thing was like this tip. My thing was like, man, I'm going to get all this knowledge because it's not just in prison on the streets for those who's watching. Some of the greatest teachers you're going to get is older people, especially successful ones. You sit down. You can be around them all day. They're going to tell you everything because they ain't got nobody to talk to a lot of times. I wasn't as ready to teach it with teachers. They go and teach. So, I was in there on that time and I was like, and I seen it, dumb shit was going on. I seen dudes getting high. I seen dudes are going crazy because they don't psychotrophic medications to try to escape the bit. And I was like, man, I ain't doing that shit. I never did a drug or drug so I'm like, I ain't doing no drugs. I wasn't trying to hustle. I wasn't a kitchen. So, I'm selling shit out of the kitchen. That was my hustle. But I wasn't getting into the drug game. I wasn't. Listen. You're ungambling, no shit. I think a lot of people play the tickets. No, I pay tickets. But that's different. They're different. I didn't play it. Listen. How many times have you hit? Probably like twice. 20 years worth of tickets. 20 years. I'm probably hit twice because I'm always an over and underdo it. So, I pay, you know, you got a big four over the numbers and I always like to pick all of it. They're doing it right now with pride. They've been doing that shit and doing it. 30 years ago, man. They're paying attention. They've been paying attention. They had the tickets. You get the ticket, you circle up. Oh, yeah. So, so the whole twist is, it's like, you know, I was one of them dudes that was like, I seen a dude get hit and his head about their speeds to this day. I don't know how to play speeds, man. What? I said, I ain't going, no, I don't never want to learn how to play speed. Fuck it. Hey, hitting it in the head with the, yeah, man, you did it in the head with the blade. No, you hit the head with a lock in the sock. Oh, yeah. It was like, oh, man, that game ain't that important to me. So, I never, I never learned. We were all late to see her about this shit. That's speed. She didn't know the joke. That's it. And that's why everybody be like, man, you wasn't jailed. You're not a play speed. I said, I never learned. It wasn't worth it. You didn't play nothing in jail. No, I play checkers. I play checkers. No, hold on. Let me explain some to you. The old here's got the big master board of checkers. What you mean? Where's the master board? It ain't the regular size. It's like bigger. And you got a bunch of pieces and you jump back. backwards and forward, like is it crazy? Once you get a double king, it's a crazy game. So I used to play with the old heads with that, 'cause they always, they're not young boys. - You ain't getting to the chair, you ain't getting to the chair. - No, I ain't even getting to that knee. You get rough about that too. - For real? - So I said, "Fuck all that, man, I'm not dealing with that." - I ran the poker table. - Poker, that's money. That's a gamb, you was gambling. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a big gambling table. - They have, they have had my time. - The gambling, that's gambling. - Yeah, I lost, I lost, man, I lost a whole bunch of days just sitting at the poker table. - Yeah, they made me do it from sundown, they popped it a lot. - Yeah. - They let me blank it on the table and get my go-yup. - You yup, you yup. (laughing) - They had it my time. Okay, so you go in there and you educate yourself, did you have in mind what you wanted to do when you got out? - No, see, I just knew I wasn't coming back to jail. I had a lot of stuff, but one thing that really, I got a lot of game from what's Anthony Bourdain. I was in jail watching parts unknown, no reservations in the layover. And I seen Anthony Bourdain, and that was the first time, the first time I ever got on a plane in my life was with Anthony Bourdain. I was watching, I was like, this dude, and I'm like, this dude used to shoot dope. I mean, he used to be on hand-run. He got his life together with the chef, New York time best seller. And he just went around the world. So I just sit there and watch his shows religiously and I was like, hold up. Like, is a big ass world out there? Because I go down before that phone. - Right. - So you gotta think about it. - When you went down, 1996. So you gotta think about it, you gotta think about it. Before the phone, everything was prehistoric. So when you go into prison, you only know from the day you went. So it was like, the fact that I'm looking at this, I'm like, what, this dude all over the world? Maybe we could go all over the world? - Yeah. - And then when dudes come into prison, and I'm getting new game because I used to have this thing called the Book of Life where I write anything down. Like when people come to jail, I will interrogate about the free world. Like what's going on? So when dudes telling me, yeah, man, I'm with the hair. I'll say, how you do that? How did you get on the plane? Man, credit card, man, I got the credit card. You got the credit card. So I'm, you know, I'm just writing anything now. So I can research and I'm like, get out. Because I'm like, I'm trying to learn about life. Yeah, I still got the Book of Life. They've seen an Instagram and they might know about the BOL. Yeah, everything is in there. I wrote anything down. So it was like, I would ask people questions and I used to be like, I used to be amazed 'cause it was like everybody coming in, but everybody coming in talking about the street shit. I was like, I know every street story already. I know where you street lie. I heard every tough-do story. I heard every money getting story. I know you had, all right, man. I know you had a purple Bentley helicopter out there, man, all right, cool. We had all the money. We had all the drugs, money, fuck it. I heard all them joints. - Did she got a public defender? - Yeah, you know them both. - I mean, yeah. - So the money got a public defender, okay, cool. So I knew that. So I'm just like, that information was every, the most important thing that I learned from Anthony Burden was that the hood lack exposure. We don't see outside of the hood so we don't see the possibilities of who we could become. So I'm looking at Anthony, I'm like, all right, making home is on. I said, I'm not going home. I'm going anywhere I could go, man. Bus, train, and one of the places that I wanted to come so bad was Atlanta, because I said, and I'm going to tell you why. Every show that I watched in jail after we went off, it was shot in Atlanta. It was shot in BC down Joker, the George Peach. Every credit. So I'm like, it's popping down there, man. I'm looking at the reality shows and all that shit. And I'm going to tell you, man, the first time I get shot out to my brother's safe from another mother, he was living down here. I've read the Georgia. So my good. Yeah, my home girl Nadia was from Philly, she was living down here too. So she came through up Philly one time, do some hair. She came through the block. She's like, wow, come down to Atlanta. I was selling these shirts called, as always, money in Philadelphia. She's like, get some done and say Atlanta. I said, all right, cool. So I said, I'm going to come down there two weeks later. We drive from Philly to Atlanta. And I was on Peter Street, right there next to, she had a store, like a Simon store, right next to P.B. Longway Studio on Peter Street. Peter Street, which jumped in 2017. That shit was jumping up. That shit was like Bill Street. Listen, it was, it was 18, they had the restaurants down there. This before two chains, he been having this restaurant. It was a cigar shop right next to our joint. It was here, it was popping, right? Tell me like, two, five, six, seven, eight. Pizza stores, colonized, it was jumping. So listen, I'm down there. I'm like this, and I'm like, I never forget. I was right, my old, my old celly, a letter on Peter Street, and I was just describing this shit. I was like, yo, man. And right across that hole up. So you was still right, your cellist. Yeah, yeah, yeah, my cellist. You still, you still keep? No, I deal with him through the woods. Now I paid his lawyer, he ready to come home. Okay. He's ready, he ready to get out of jail. I paid the lawyer nice. So he's, he's on his way home, as we speak. As we speak, he's on his way home. As he speak, I speak about like, like 45,000 for him and his brother. They sell me, they come home. Both of them in home. Both of them come home. They was on the same case. I mean, I, I, I, I, I, we got him out. This lawyer paying the, paying the lawyer. I said, so wait a minute. So you said they just been sitting there just because they didn't have enough money to pay the lawyer. It was already, they was already in the court system filing this shit, but they had a court appointed attorney. So I came and got the real, when he told me why I need, I came and got the real board. So is it some, is it some loophole shit? It's like loophole shit. Like, you know, they wasn't, they wasn't tried correctly. Right, right. I mean, I don't, you know, the crime, I ain't really getting it at, but it's like they wasn't tried correctly. But, but whatever the case may be, I'm on Peter Street. Sitting here is jumping. People went in and I'm just, I wrote him and I was describing as she, 'cause right across the street, it was like VH1 studio or something. I had to see a bunch of people from the reality show going in. So I'm telling me, yo, man, you never hold girl. I just took a picture of what I'm going to see you with. Because I'm like, you know, I'm like, I'm just, the thing that, the thing that was about me is that I never, I never lost my imagination and I never became cool in prison. I never, I never killed the fan in me. Meaning, I didn't think I was too big for the program as a fan. So when I seen somebody, I gave them their props and I saluted them and I'm, I need to take a pic. Like, come on, I gotta send his back up. So I'm standing there and one of the dudes that came by, my man, Carb and come through. Carb and one fire, he pulled up for me 'cause he knew Gil. He bought, and he bought it in the shirts for me. And it was crazy because he was the first one to buy a shirt and just give me conversation. He brought a couple of people through. He drove me around a couple of places. I'm like, damn man. And me and him became tight because that day that he supported me, he was like, damn his dude, and he just showed me different things in a lane. Like, you know, go here. And one time he took me to, he took me to Linux, right? And when he took me to Linux, I was like, I couldn't believe that shit. He said, man, come on, we out. I said, no, no, no, no, no. What was, what was someone believeable about Linux to you? Um, I, I never figured I had my tea. I still out front of Linux. 'Cause when I came out of Linux, I seen black people going to cars, but I'm like, is that my late, like, that's due, come on? This was the first time I seen black success on a whole nother level in my life, because I come from a city where it's poverty stricken. You know, the East Coast, you know, Philly, it's poverty. So I'm like, hold up. Another person get, what I'm like. So I'm standing in and I'm just like, I can't, I'm just so lost to see those, this much success. People coming out of the shop and they got, I'm like, what the fuck is all these cars coming from? These cars played it? I mean, is this shit hot? Listen, listen, listen. I'm sitting there and I'm standing myself like a land, and in 2017, Atlanta was different than what it is now. It was totally different. That was for the influx of people came out here. It was just, it was a beautiful place. People get money. I'm saying, people telling people down. That's something nice, sneaks you down there. I'm like, hold up. People talking, what the fuck is going on? I'm a little lost, 'cause the hospitality, the mannerism, the respect, just showing people love, that wasn't, so I'm just, - But you fell in the city and brotherly love. - That's the name, so it's like, that's the name. It's a good people there, but it's like shit happened. But it was like, so I'm sitting there and I'm like, this shit is unbelievable. It was so motivational and I needed to see that because what Atlanta did for me is what a lot of people need and they don't get a chance to see when they come on. - What's that? - Atlanta washed my eyes. - Wash your eyes. - When I came home and I was back in Philly, it was foggy, because poverty made it foggy. - Right. - But when I came here, it was a splash to say, look at this, all this is possible. Everything is possible, so I was like, it's on. So every time I came back, I used to be down in Atlanta, like, just soaking it up. - Listen to you talk, man. It just makes me realize certain shit like one. You pay $45,000 for somebody to have a lawyer and be able to free themselves from bondage after how long they've been in love. - Chip been locked up about like, probably like, he'd probably been down like, anywhere from 14 to 16 years. Tell me this brother. - Okay, so just imagine how many people who could come home if they just could afford the attorneys to do the work, file the papers and just get them in front of somebody who could see it and see that there's been a travesty of justice. There's been a mistake, man. That shit, yeah, that shit is mind-boggling. - Because I think, I think, me and his dude, me and his dude, he's a share of food. So it was like, and he used to be, what was so crazy about Chip, what I love about Chip is that Chip was, I never forget when he came to the cell, He was like 'cause we had the MP3 players. He was like, "Yo, you gotta hit his jaw, man, this boy." 'Cause I used to talk to people in the yard and be just talking to people. He the first dude that ever let me hear Les Brown. 'Cause Gigi came out with the album and he had the song, "When am I in it?" And he had Les Brown on it. He was like, "Wow, Lord, man, this how you be talking to me?" I was like, "Damn, so I didn't even know the possibilities that it was people like Les." So, once I heard that, I went on the tab and got anything that Les was talking to me. I was like, "Damn, you do be talking to people, "but you talking to Hood, you know, is more receptive from us?" So, that was why I really started on Instagram going in, speaking more, you know what I mean, when I first came on for prison. But Chip was the one that showed me them. So, and Chip was always like, "Man, you gonna go out there "and I used to tell him, I used to tell Chip all type "of crazy shit that I wanted to do." And he'd be like, "I know you're gonna do a homie." He was one of them dudes. - Now, what made you, 'cause I remember, that one, when I found, you know, or became aware, you was on Instagram, when you have you, you being the Hood, and you had a camera like Paul, and then you'd just walk up talking. - Yeah. - And, you know what I mean, about 30, 45 a second, give some game, then you say, "It's just like that." And then walk up. So, that is, that's a, like, that's a style of direction. What led to that? - I knew I needed a tagline and I knew I needed a battle with the attention, because a lot of times, you ain't just seeing me that, you see me running to it. - Right. - You might see me on the ground. - I see you doin' push 'em to the range. - You see all of this shit, because I did the Atlanta, because what happened was, I had the, this whole thing is about, when I was in jail, I studied commercials, and I studied marketing, and I realized that most of commercials is made for marketing agencies. 'Cause I used to love commercials, I said, "Why are you always watching commercials?" I'm like, "No, no, hold up." Why they got, why they got Mary J playing in this joint? I was like, "Oh, he's targeting the African American music, "because that same joint on the Spanish channel, "they got that same commercial, but it's somebody in Spanish." Oh, okay, so who done that? Why that big Mac look like that? My big Mac never looked like that in life. Oh, that's an ad agency that they paid to do this commercial. I read a book called "Damn Good and Vice" by George Lois. George Lois, one of the greatest admin in the history of life. They did this TV show, "Mad Men About Him." This dude, that Muhammad Ali asked, "When Muhammad Ali liked this, what the arrows on?" George Lois did, so I just started studying marketing and at that moment in jail, I realized, you got God, then you got marketing. Marketing come before family. The reason marketing come before family, because you got God, then you got marketing. Marketing is everything that somebody told you in your life, which you believe, how you eat, your religion, it was marketed to you by somebody. So I realized, "Oh, shit, I'm gonna be a marketer." I don't market, it's dictate everything. The marketer, like you gotta understand, more money is spent on marketing than anything. Like marketing is how you find out everything, is how you know anything. It was marketed to you based off of the community that you from. People don't even understand, that's why people get paid off streams. That's why people, that's what a part, that's what a part can't money come from. Mark that, you know, my fucker who doing the streaming, what is it, the shit don't kick you? Yeah, kicking it your heart off. Twitchin' all the time, all of you. Yeah, that shit is because of ads. Ad dollars. I mean, YouTube ad dollars. Yeah, commercials. Ad, and when I came in the game early in the pocket, I used to tell you 'cause dudes were like, "Why they got the ads on?" "Oh, like the ads on." I mean, that's the money. Bro, for the commercial, we watch ads our whole life, when we watch the Cosby's, when we watch days of our lives, with general hospital. And we didn't get none of the money. No, you had to watch the ads. Right. And so it was like, you learn that, and then, and then reading up at the same time, and understanding legendary people like Byron Island, and when he did, shout out to him, he just knocked McDonald's in the head. Yeah, 'cause they was playing with the advertising money when it was concerned in black content. And he went in there and handled his business, and shout out to Solomon. Solomon, he put me on the phone with Byron. And Byron told me this, he said, "Wall-O." He said, "You got everything that you need right now." He said, "There's trillions of dollars out there looking for a home." He said the content, 'cause, you know, Solomon called him one time. I was like, "I got to talk to Byron." He's like, "The content that you got, the team that you got, the lack of, you don't need a big overhead." He said, "Listen, I want you to take your content. You already own an IP, and I want you to place it. I want you to park your content everywhere with different companies like the NFL." He said, "Because that's going to do. That's going to make everybody else want to deal with you." Right. He said, "You notice how the NFL is everywhere. They got a bunch of logos, they parked." He said, and he said, "Longs you do that, and continue to grow your stuff. You're going to be cool. Don't worry about nothing. It's $20 a dollar looking for a home. You're going to be all right." So it was like understanding what Byron is doing, understanding ads is everything. This is not, you don't have a show if you don't have no advertising. Where's the money coming from? Right. Where's the brand deals? Well, that's a subscription. You get your strips in too? Yeah, Netflix. Yeah, Netflix. But still, you can be ads still. Because it's like this, this is how you go. It's like, you got your podcast, exponentially. You got that, but then you also got tip-harrows. So it was like, "Okay, we got brand deals for this." If I'm looking at your podcast, I'm saying, "Okay, you got a microphone deal. You got a condom deal or a men enhancement deal. You got a sports betting deal. You got a motor vehicle deal. You got, there's so many deals that you got within this podcast space. And then you got the activation. So you might do a deal with like, damn, you might advertise for a lot of nation urban, but like, listen, I'm going to do a deal with y'all going to be a official sponsor or a United Master might be the special sponsor because you might be doing, and you always say, all right, the deal going to be. It's very similar to my 25% lawyer, and that's how I actually got back in it because somebody just approached me. Wanted me to represent their personal injury, law firm, and that's what introduced me back into expedition. Law firms, all that type of stuff. So it's like, there's so many different ways to get this paper. I just think people just got to sit back and look at it. Everything that you could think of, everybody is looking for marketing. You just got to find the best partners that make sense for your direction. And that's how this should go. Now we've talked a lot about, you know, about your time away, but I ain't never asked you, what was your charge? Two robberies, two fire on violations. Two robberies and two fire on violations. I had two gun charges and two robberies. I mean, what do we, like in one weekend? No, no, two different cases. Okay, got it, got it, got it, got it, got it, got it, got it, got it, got it, got it, got it, got it. So I said, you're different case for one, didn't you? Yeah, two different cases. Went to jail for a little bit, did some time. They let me out. I went back because I couldn't see any case. And in Pennsylvania, they don't fuck around by no guns. Robberies and get robberies damn, they're worse than murder. Damn. How much time did they get you? 19 and a half, the 52 years. 19 and a half, 250 to have a fuck to get a gap like that. So, so what happened is, they, that was your first shot? No, that was like, I was getting locked up my whole juvenile life. So, so they, they, they charged, once they charged me the dealt, that shit don't matter. So they, like, you got felonies, use a dickhead, you gotta be a dog, man. You know right from wrong, you're a dickhead. Period. So I'm like, are you right? So, so, like, like, that's why I wasn't mad in jail because I didn't go to jail because of the system. The white man went to jail because I did some dumb shit. You know what I'm saying, decisions, period. So, I was accountability to take you farther than always. Man, I wasn't mad in jail, dude, some of the old geezers were like, you the happiest niggas in jail now. I used to be in Atlanta joking all the time, talking shit because I knew, I knew that I wasn't in the position to be mad or nobody, but me and plus, I was going home someday. One day in dosing, it got 40, 50 years in and ain't going home. So it was like, but, but what happened is, in Pennsylvania, is that you got a, you got a minimum and you got a maximum. And the minimum is you got to do 19 and a half years. First, they get home and then you got to walk the rest of it off, the 30. So it was like at the end of the day when I came home. So it really 50, it's really more like 52 years, do 19 and a half. Yeah, they get home, but you could do 52 if you don't know, they don't got to let you go. So parole is a privilege. It's not a guarantee. So I come home on parole. I do, I'm home for like seven, eight years. I go and see the party on board, they let me off because I was supposed to be on parole to 2048, October 29, 2048. But who's going to fucking do all that time? Damn, walk out here in the free world. That shit is a herd though. Yeah, but shout out to Governor Josh Shapiro. Let me all be gave me a party and so, you know. Damn. I mean, man, you said the scariest time of your life when you got out of prison. The day I had to leave prison, I was scared to death. Listen, now prison is a scary place. But for the first time in my life, walking out of prison, I had to fulfill promises that I made to my mom, my niece, my little brother, my grandma. Because I'm on the phone, do the bit telling them I changed, I'm this person, but I never been that person before. I never, it's cool. I never, I never been that person in my life. Right. So, so, so now, I'm, so now I'm going through, so, so now I'm, I'm walking out of prison and I got to be somebody that I'm never going to do. I've never been under tentations that I never dealt with. Right. So, how the fuck I got to go back down the hood, I got to go back down the way and how I'm going to be this person. So, I'm scared to death to it, but I'm being real. Damn. Because I never was that person before and I told nanny and my whole, my whole success to me, like one of my, one of my, one of my youngies asked me the other day, when did you know you was successful? I said, the day, and it wasn't long that I was home, but the day that I'm, I made it to the, newspaper and my grandma didn't even know what I was doing with the, the Instagram stuff. She didn't even know what I was doing. I was doing, but somebody told I was in the news, baby, she thought I'd done some shit and she found, and she got the paper and she was so happy 'cause I always thought that I wasn't gonna make it out. And then you used to always be like, "Boy, I'm gonna leave something for you. "I ain't gonna be here when you get back." 'Cause I never told Grandma how much time I got. I told I'd be home next year. - Damn. - But the whole time, I ain't know what I was home. See, time was up. So you thought I ain't know how much time you had. I said, "Nady, you ain't never saying that." That's why I said next year. - So she didn't really think she was gonna make it. So my only thing I ever wanted to do, I was like, "Damn, my whole life was based upon "Nady's seeing me do good one time." 'Cause Nanny was always the one I'd be like, still running around the boys, huh? She said, "Wilders, you don't understand why "you always wanted to be in jail." (laughing) You know you're not a criminal. You don't know what you're doing, right? - My mom would tell me the same thing. - She said, "You always calling me from jail. "Why are you calling them niggas?" I was like, "Nanny, anybody gonna do niggas?" And so, so Nanny, when that day, and she was seen, she seen I was doing, 'cause she used to see me leaving a house a morning. But I'm leaving a house a morning, 'cause I'm like, she was like, "Well, you just ain't going that far "but I'm going out there to do my videos to Jocene, "put my trial pile up, and get out the house." 'Cause I'm like, "I'm living with my grandma. "I just came home at 37." I can't be laying up in your house, Nanny. You know me, I'm used to doing something. I gotta make some moves. So I'm out there selling shirts, doing promos, and shit, you know, to get money, and I used to come in there with money. She wouldn't take that for me, still, like it was back in the day, like, "Yeah, I think we need you to get money for him. "We got a pocket for him, but she didn't even know." She didn't know nothing about Instagram. My grandma just got an iPhone last year. She did not want none of that shit. She was rocking a flip. So now you're on drugs. Now she's frontin' and now she's FaceTime. Now I'm like, "Oh, now you're FaceTime, am I?" Nanny, and Nanny 91. She 91 years old, and she just like, but I told him that I'm there, she proud. Just see, I said, "When I got, when she was proud of me, "that was more than anything, money, all this shit, "don't mean that was the most important thing "that ever happened to me, come home." And that was, that's what it was about. - Man, that shit, my mama said the same thing to me. She said, "Man, you be out without eating my fuzzies." All of a sudden shit go down, and you the one go to jail. - Yeah. - You always in jail, whatever you're doing, you obviously not good at it. - Yes. (laughing) - Yeah, I mean, that's a man, and she was right, bro. She was right. I was a terrible criminal. - A lot of us are. - I was terrible. - Oh, I was terrible. - I was terrible. - Hey, my done is. I mean, this shit here, it didn't work for me, bro. It didn't work for me. If you could talk to the version of you sitting in that seal, your teen at twin, halfway through your B, what would you say to 'em? Stop worrying about that girl, man, baby leg got her. (laughing) Yo, that was one of the worst times in my whole bit, man, surviving prison. Like when baby leg came, I'm listening, man. It was like, I was in the cell screaming, when baby leg, he asked me, and guess what, guess what? Guess what the fuck she was at? She was going to spell, man, right? And it was like, it was crazy, right? 'Cause this before year 10, this way before year 10. - Say baby leg. - Baby leg, listen, after the phone. - She was going to spell, man, right? And it was one of these niggas from fucking a bankhead, some fucking way, one of the places. - Baby leg, baby leg, right? - Because, man, I knew that from the wraps. That's it, I blamed the bank. I said that niggas from fucking bankhead somewhere. 'Cause listen, I call her, right? There's no bullshit tip. I call her, she going to spell, man, this was gross. She was always answering my phone call, 'cause she from Philly. So I'm like, I call one time, niggas answered the phone with a southern drawer, and that was like, he was like, yo, with some shit like that, I'm like, hello? Because, why did you answer the phone? He could have spared me, you didn't have to answer the phone if she wasn't in there. And it's a jail call. What the fuck is, like, I was so mad, like, why the fuck did you answer the call? 'Cause I'm like, I said to myself, so when he answered that, Joan, I'm like, my heart just was like, that's just started running out of my chest. I'm like, hello? He's like, yo, who this? I'm like, that's why I love. I said, I ain't gonna say a name, 'cause she married somewhere in Boston's way. I said, it's such a such a thing. Oh, no, she ain't here right now. She handling something, right? So I'm like, I'm saying to my mother, she handling something, is she really fucking she handling? (laughing) It's like, it's his hand, free with the fucking she handling. So I'm in there, I'm like, damn. All I'm thinking is some boy with Atlanta brave head with some gold in his mouth, man. I mean, the fucking crib, I swear. 'Cause you know, here's something. So I'm like, this is what I first get into. So I'm like, I'm like, all right, man, tell our call. Yeah, I took a click, and he gonna go, I'm way back to the cell through the towel up. And I just, I just, man, you remember my man, you remember Cuban goodin' on boys in the hood? - Yeah, yeah. - When he was swinging in the hood fighting the ass. I'm in there fighting the air, man. I'm sweatin', I'm tearing up. I mean, most of you though, I'm just like, damn. - Damn. - Like, I knew baby leg hat, I said she didn't, and then I'm like, did you tell it to again? - Yeah, I talked to again, but you know what was so, you know what was so crazy about it? - What? - I try to keep it so player like, I ain't gon' ask about it. - Yeah. - And she ain't sayin' about it, so I'm like, I was hoping she was like, yeah, that was my cousin and that's my friend, I was like, man. - She said that was your friend. - She ain't sayin' none of that shit now. - She just like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I miss your call, but yeah, I'm like, damn. I had to stay on this, she disappeared, not to me. - But you were 20 years, bruh, what the, what you thought? - You know, niggas itself is niggas don't begin about how much time, you got your girl. You think that's your girl? She pulled the catch a phone call. - You know, I mean, you think she gonna, you know, hold it, you can hold it down for me. - I'm not a girl, we're probably gonna get you far. - Yeah, but I, at the time, I'm young, so the old days ain't give me the game yet of understanding. No, you're just supposed to be a friend. - Yeah. - Write the letters, catch the call. She gon' vent out to you. She gon' go through multiple relationships a year, fall back eight times, she get hurt, she gon' come up and visit you. I didn't know that shit at the time, so I'm in there, I'm tryin' to be in love and be all, I'm writing these long, guys. You know, a Leah said four pays letter, I was writing 40 pays letter, a long legal, you know, the legal, the long joints, the legal, legal, I'm like, man, I was gon' quick, 'cause I had on top, move, the song, you know what I mean? - Move, song. - You used to write all that shit, yeah, chillin' it. I'm chillin' thinkin' about you, baby. (laughing) - Song, I'm back there. - You said in the move. - Yeah, I'm said in the move. - You said in the what time it is, and then I will write stories about like, I will write stories about how we went out to eight and all that shit in love, making all the stuff. - It's a shit, it really, shit, it really happened. - No, shit, it happened. The imagination is anything in prison. And then the old heads used to give me the tape. So, I got put up on my stepop back in the day. He used to always play the Delphine and Stylistics, but then I got the gel, blue man. The old heads used to have all the cassette tapes. Yeah, cassette tapes back there. So, man, I used to be, I put one of them Jones on. ♪ Didn't I blew your mind this time ♪ ♪ Didn't you know ♪ - Oh, man, man, man, man, man. And did the other Jones, what's my other Jones from Delphine's baby, why you break your promise? ♪ Baby, why you break your promise ♪ ♪ To me, I'm writing it. ♪ ♪ If I had a dime ♪ ♪ For every time I dreamed about you ♪ ♪ Dreamed about you ♪ - I'm writing my Jones, I tell you. - I'm writing my Jones, I think. I think I'm iceberg, man, I thought I had a lethal pin. Hold time, she wasn't even reading that shit. Baby Lay was in the house. (laughing) Baby Lay was big step. And he was stepping before dudes. It's time I'm big stepping now. He was stepping on, he had a big doom. I'm like, this nigga, kill him. She nasty, I know he killed him, I'm like, damn. - And you knew it before you went, you knew it before you went in. - I was, you don't think about it when you were in the streets, man? - Yeah. - You don't think about your girl getting slayed, man. - Shit, man. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Getting slayed and sprayed, slayed and sprayed. - I love him, I know that it is shit. - I was hurting, man. - Hey, man, but how long were y'all together before you went to prison, bro? - About like four months. - But you know, you don't know nobody, you young. You young, you don't know nobody. You trying to have a wife you from jail and shit, man. You trying to have a wife you from jail, you don't care about this shit. - Oh shit, man, you stupid, man. - Oh, he was the guy that was like, you know in the hood, man. I'm especially now. And my fucker being loved in three days, man. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - They being loved, you man, you man. - Yeah, it got a 10 to 10. - Man, they do that shit out here. - 10 to 10. - But back in the day, it was harder because we didn't get girls like they do these days. You know, it wasn't that sweet, man. You ain't have social media. - It wasn't that option. - You had to work hard. - You had to move my fucker, move my fucker, move my fucker. - You had to see him. - Yeah. - And you never see him again. So when you see him, damn, show me what's up. You know, the number you had your little pen on you when you go to the malls, your little beepers, shit. - But I have a bad full of numbers. See, I have a bad full of phone number, bro. - I call it a bomb of numbers. I had a bad full of numbers. - Are you just calling me a man? Like, you know, I had to keep like weed and shit in the back. I had a bad full of-- - But did you ever break it down, pieces of paper, but did you ever break it down because my brother, he was cold. He had a notebook and he had a name, light skin, dark skin, and we're part of the city they was from. He was cold. - I just put stars, like, you know, it's five stars, three stars, three, four, three, yeah. - Yeah, man, yeah, man. But, you know, the stars weren't really necessarily based on sexual performance and then like that. - It was just-- - It was based on what they would be willing to do. Like, one star, like, you know, I can call and we can talk, you know, I'm saying two stars is, you know, I might be able to call her. And so for a ride somewhere, you know what I'm saying? Three stars, your brain, me some shit, she'd come to the trap, drop off, you know, play the chick away or something, you know what I'm saying? Four stars is I might be able to go start and spin the night of her house, you feel the same? - You have stars. - Yeah, I have stars. That was my little system, you know what I mean? You and I, we have many things that come, man, but one of these things is we both have a passion for reading. - Yes. - You know, I admit, I don't read half as much as I should, but you know. It's still something that I, I, you know, I hold that high regard. I know how important it is. Was the desire to learn always in you? Is that something you discovered in prison? - Prisoners, prison, man, because books, you know, the OGs hit you with some books that have changed your life. - Yeah. - You read "Behold the Pale Horde"? - All that, yeah. - Spooked the set by the door. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - You know, the message to the black man, how to eat the lives. - What about from Superman the man? - I ain't read that. - Okay. - So many books in there, especially when you in there, you can sit back and the books take you out of prison. - Yeah. - Be especially, and then, and then, and then. - I remember the Alchemist, the Alchemist. - Alchemist. - I was there. - Listen, but dig this, though, I'm gonna tell me hit you with some that was like classics in the joint, the anthology of Donald Gorns and shit like that. - I was really, I ain't do those. - Donald was cold. I had to because. - I did one, you know what I'm saying? - I had to because. - I didn't want to peel. - Yeah, yeah. - No, that was iceberg, iceberg slim. But Donald Gorns was the greatest, like, I'm saying, on the aspect of like, you know. - I never did the ghetto kind of like novels and shit, man. - He was cold. - I did mostly, the only, the only, who at novels and shit, like, cold is one of the ever midnight, you know what I'm saying? All of the sister soldiers, cold, she was cold. - And then, motherfucking, you know, Alex Kraus, motherfucking Jane. - Yeah, they did, he's a piece. - He made Jane jail. Like, like, like, I think people don't understand her jail. You know what's funny about jail? They be shocked about what people is reading and what they're watching. When I first went to prison, right, what fucked me up was this. Number one, when I get into the day room and I seen all these gangsters watching the soap operas, - Oh shit, yeah, I was fucked up. - That shit, that shit was the truth. - I was like, these dudes watching the soap operas in this general house pillow. - And then, and then- - How my children, how this shit? - But what stuck with me the most out of all this shit is when I went to prison, and I seen dudes that was trying to kill each other on the streets, solid in prison, playing cards together, walking the yard, kicking it, working out. - Well, it doesn't have none but a community. - Yeah, it's just a community. - And see, like, a dude go through all that to get the prison to realize, damn, man, you ain't that bad, man, man, we ain't need. We could figure it out here, but it's like, and we figured it out on the street. We wouldn't even be here. - A lot of people in the community would be better, but you know, it was deep. - Right. - What are the top five books you recommend for people to read? - Number one, Iyana Vanzant, Acts of Faith. That was a heavy book. That book was like, because Acts of Faith, you could read that every day. It was a different message in there every day. You got Acts of Faith. That was major. Display of power by Jane Damon John. 'Cause he break down how they started Fubu. How they went out Vegas, didn't even, wasn't even in the magic show. - Right. - When out Vegas and the hotel went, that's a major joint. - I like that George Lowe is damn good advice. I forget my man Fri, his last name Fri. He got the book called Rework, Contagents by Jason, I think it's Jason Burke. Contagents, I forget who it is. That'll be the last one, Contagents, but them some good books. - Them books that you think people, you think people, like young people should read, or, yeah, read it, yeah, just get some game out of them, join you. They'll help you in different places. - Or when you were reading books like that. - Well, before I read that book, when I made me, I was in a U-study in the juvenile facility. I couldn't read that good. So it was a, it was a yo magazine came out, and Easy E was on there, and Easy was my favorite dude. I literally took that magazine, went to the school, built it in the juvenile facility, and told the teacher like, yo, I wanna learn how to read this. 'Cause I knew how to read, but I wasn't that good. - Right. - And that's where really had me, like-- - That motivated you. - And young. I was young then. - Yeah, I had it. - Yeah, like 13 is shit, like, I forget. But it was like, in jail, once I'll never have to read, reading is like flying mentally. It's like your mind, it got wings, and it take you to different places. - It's an escape. - And that's what changed my life. Like, being able to read and just connect. 'Cause that's what the culture, that's what society now lack. People don't read as much as possible. - No, they just-- - It's a microwave society. - Yeah, they look. They want to see the documentary. - Yeah. - Yeah, I mean, see the pictures, and all this shit. And they, and they, they, they, they, they dumb it down like that for you, because they can dilute the information that way. They don't have to give you all the-- - They're not like reading the file, the true file. - Yeah, yeah, that's for real. - You can see anything. - How many episodes, I mean, not over for game, y'all, then, dear. - Probably like 400. - 400. - You know what's crazy? - What's that? - This room is a major, this is a major, million dollars worth of a game room right here. - Oh, what you mean? - I sat right here, two times, and shot two episodes. This was a young thug interview, was that? - Okay, down show, whoa. - I was right here. You came in here. This is what we was all here. We was, we was, we was, we was turning up. All the brothers would have a good time. We had a good time. - And I, and I'm saying some shit in that interview. - Yeah. - And it was a message. - Before we went to prison, like it was a real message. - Yeah, it was a message. - It kind of seemed like he, he, he kind of felt it. - Yeah, he did. He sat there. The brothers was here, and I said what I needed to say. And this was a major room. Thug used to be able to put in some cranking, some hits over here. He made some hits in this joint. - Yeah. - This is a legendary studio. - This is, this, this, this, this, this, this day look at the headquarters. - Yeah. - I mean, I want to make sure, like, you know, for me, and it was the same thing for me, the same thing for me. Now, fun fact about this studio, first of all, it used to be owned by Darryl Simmons. Darryl Simmons, who was, you know, a partner with Babyface in LA, you know. So, you know, saying, "I oughta look face. Everybody never called it here." From, you know, Tony Brashton, Whitney Houston. Or should everybody, everybody, like this is a, it's a monumental institution of culture. And then, you know, he sold it to a gentleman, and the gentleman that he sold it to, when I was coming home from prison, I was in the halfway house. I had to find a studio, but, of course, you know, I wanted to find my studio and had a little bit room. So, I mean, that's fine. - All I see is you, you know, I get my old late over here, you know, and have a minute, you know what I'm saying. So, I turned that front room up there to a little bit room, you know what I'm saying? And, and this is where I made the, was that the trouble man album, the fine mistaken, the album, well, well, actually I came home twice. Okay, so the first time I came home, I made, what would go on, would later be known as no mercy. And then, the second time I came home, I made the songs that would become the trouble man project. And then, I actually had, I was blessed with the opportunity to purchase it. - Hmm. - He told me it was selling it, 'cause I used to try and buy it all the time. He wasn't selling it then, all of a sudden, one day, he just said, I'm ready if you still want it, I'm ready. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? I came, we agreed on a number, I came and bought it cash. I couldn't get no loan for it, 'cause, you know, believe it or not, studios are not, they're not bankable. - Okay. - Like, like, the bank won't, they can't loan against this fucking equipment, these speakers. They can only give you what the dirt is worth, what the building is worth. And Brian's gonna take that, you know what I'm saying? It's an order for me to get it, I had to come with the cash. So, so I acquired it, and when I did, I wasn't really doing the whole hell of a lot of music, you know what I'm saying? But I wanted, I wanted a place for the culture to still be able to exist, and had like a safe play where they could come and create, and not worry about no bullshit. - This is a trap, you know what I mean? - But you can see it, like, I have my fucking standing over there shoulder, you can't smoke in here. You can't, you know what I mean? You can see it when we was doing that interview, you came in here, and it's like, you was making sure, y'all gonna be some way of being here. - Yeah. - It was like, it was like, the big brother coming through to say, I'll rather y'all be here in the cylinder else where you gotta go all the restrictions. Y'all are safe here, keep your asses in here. - Yeah. - Stay the fuck in this building. - Right. - That was the vibe I got. - And keep them up from guns. - Yeah, I mean, you don't need this shit in here, right? You know what the fuck you need this shit, I tell you, I tell the youngsters all the time, 'cause now, you, like, back in our day, we had a, we had, you know, some, we had it for a reason. We were going somewhere to do something. We was, you know, doing something that required us to have it. You know what the fuck you put this shit on now? Like, you know, like a, like a past sunglass. You know what the fuck I had that shit, bro? Like, you know, like a fucking belt chain. You know what I'm saying, bro? Like, you know, I'm like, hey man. What the fuck you need that shit for? Why must you have it in here? It's safe. Look at me. I ain't got nothing else. It's beautiful. And most of the time, they'd be like, my bad, OG, I put it up. I put it up. And that's, I think that's the beauty of it, 'cause they don't even think about it until you bring it up to them. But the respect level that you got, that they have for you was everything. It's mutual. 'Cause I see, you know what I mean? It's a beautiful thing. I've seen them come, and I've seen them youngsters grow from, I'm talking about, man, going to, going to, all of them was in. I'm talking about, man, Spital, Peewee, Roscoe, man. And I had Peewee, Roscoe. I had Roscoe, so it was 10 years old, man. Roscoe ran up to me at the testicle on Chemical Road. I'm like, hey, you T.I. ain't it. I say, man, where's your mama? He's talking about, she, she riding up. And man, he hot in the car, man. We've been riding up and seeing, and the next time I seen it, it was standing outside the magic. city because he was with big niche. They was in Madness City. He couldn't get in. He said, "Hey, what's up? You remember me?" I'm like, "Why take your ass home, man." He was out there. He's like, "I'm getting in there." Yeah, man. You know, and to see him and spider and even gun him, you know what I'm saying? To see all of them, weezy, turbo. They all doing it. They all doing it. Man, they started it. Weezy started making beats and my mom was basing it. Weezy out of it. Weezy, my look, because it's my first cousin for short or short, the gun. He introduced, like he had weezy around him. He had turbo around. So they all used to be in my basement at the time, working on music. You know, you know, just trying to let me. Listen to it. Listen to it. Yeah, I, I, I am niggas went on to be some of the biggest producers, producing some of the greatest shit that generation could, could ever behold. And it's always for me, just I just always wanted to be a motherfucker. Well, I could, I could, I could offer a game of, you know, if a motherfucker looking at a contract, don't know what it's, don't know what it would say. I could be like, "No, no, I don't do that, man. Make sure you, you know what I'm saying? Go get your lawyer. Let me introduce you to a lawyer. Let me take you. I took, man, I took Spider and, and Dolph, me and Killer Mike to Yonthor and Dolph. Wres some piece of Dolph. Yeah. Recipe Lonely, Lonely and Dolph. Okay. So we took them to open up, they for a bank account. And let me tell you something. At a black bank, man, look, do you know, man, this nigga, this nigga spider broke a million dollars out of matches. To take to the walk in the bank, that nigga crazy. He said, "Hey, man, you sure my money gonna be a house, hey, man, get the folk, the money, man." But I always wanted to be that because that's something that I felt like we didn't have enough of an eye generation. Yeah, that's amazing. It wasn't nobody that could show me how to do what I'm doing. It wasn't nobody that I could really look to and ask those intimate, like, those really entrepreneurial financial questions. Like, "Hey, man, what did this shit mean by the interest rate? What did they mean by that?" You know what I mean? And I always wanted to be that motherfucker. So when I bought this shit, I just wanted to have all of the motherfuckers in here that. I didn't see anybody here. They couldn't go, they felt like they couldn't go nowhere else because they felt like they didn't belong. Yeah, I mean. Yeah. So I felt like that was, that was, it's a blessing to be able. This thing beautiful. And you've been here, man. As a matter of fact, I think y'all was on you and you and Gilly was on expeditiously before y'all decided to even. He was on we had a kid with a motherfucker was crazy. I said, "Man, I can't even put this shit in." It was crazy. He was right here. Oh, we was tripping. Man, Gilly was talking about getting this shit. I said, "Man, I can't put this shit out, man." I don't know if I can put this shit out. Why did you get your sense of humor from it? Growing up, looking at listening, my uncle had the A-tracks, he used to have all the comedy on there. Rear Fox, Richard Pryor, you know, in the hood, that's all we had. We had the laugh, we had the laugh, laugh, the pain away. Yeah. You know, you know, it was different. So the comedians was always the messengers. Right. They was the, they was, because if you can make them laugh, you can make them listen. That's right. That was everything. So just me growing up. You know, Philly? No Philly, yeah. You know, Philly. So growing up in North Philly with a sense of humor. Yeah. Like, high in the hill, did you maintain it with that, you know, saying, letting the two shit take over? Oh, no, because I grew up, I grew up understanding that and I had a stepop named hip. He always told me, man, you got to move through life in a different way. He said, you know, because he wasn't a tough dude. He was always, you know, he had charisma. He was funny to the motherfuckers. Right. And I remember when he told me, he said, man, don't get in the streets, man. He said, man, he told me, he said, man, it's a brain robbery, not a train robbery. The finesse game is the best game. He's like, don't never get physical, man. That physical shit, man. Say that physical shit, man. And I had to learn that, and together, we learn how to be physical first. And then once we get us and all this shit and fuck up our life, then we learn how to be mental. We learn the mental thing, but it'd be too late sometime. So he's always like, don't get physical. So I took that ass, don't be tough. Right. Because I used to be around him and he'd drive me around and it'd be a bunch of players around. Like, dudes was, dudes spoke, they had, they was getting money. And I ain't never seen no aggression. Yeah. The youngsters, man. I mean, even when all of us are young, we have, I guess, a misunderstanding in their thinking that tough, that's how you get ahead by being tough, being gangster. No, you go to jail to get killed. Yeah. Yeah. And violence runs, runs the money out. Violence is, violence, violence, you got violence. And then you got, now you got, you don't have to be violent, attitude, running the money off. Right. I meant one time I was talking to these one cats, they was trying to do something. And I said, you got to make sure your approach is different. And they was like, what you mean? I said, what you doing? First of all, you got to look at this whole, whatever you doing on a global level. How do it make sense globally? Number one, because when it makes sense globally, it can, it can connect in different fields and different markets. When you're just rocking on a local tip and you just, you know, especially if you local where your delivery is not there and you and your attitude and your disposition wrong, nobody want to spend money, but you want to add side of things or put, or whatever. That's how, that's how we used to say how the water was. Yeah. I mean, your approach is anything that, that, that, listen, everything is about the look, the look is the hook. Because first people first listen with their eyes and they listen with their ears. So when, when they see you, you're presentable, your energy, energy, love, energy and money, get money to money. Ever since you got on, you, they've been giving your money. The money will find you getting the money. Well, you got, listen, you only get money when you don't need it. The money. So it's like your energy, your energy and a lot of people don't know how to be a garnish. A garnish is just the peppery, the, the, the, the, the, the, the parsley the finishing touch. It's the look. It's the, it's the presentation. Right. And I think sometimes, I think sometimes we don't understand that. And I think, will we from that entitlement is sickening there? Will we from in the cities of America? Everybody filled in title, your family, friends, everybody is like, and we addicted to quick. Like a person looking at you and like, man, I'm, I got to be like, one T.I. level. Do you know what T.I. I had to go through? Do you know how many studio sessions? How many beats he had to want to do? How many, how many videos I heard? How many, how many videos he had to share? How many tours? How many shows? How many just like the, the, the tax problems if you had them? Like, like, like, do you know how much? Like going, like a person be like, I want your life without going through. Yeah. Like I want all this shit. So it's like, you know, we got to get away from too. I feel is talking about how much money a month for the half. Talk about how much money. When the month was, when I say he just did a deal for extra money. He just made this much money. He's working with, talk about these fucking bills. Tell them how many, tell me. I'm gonna say this. I'm gonna say this. Close for me to still get this money. I'm gonna say this. How many people I have to pay? Talk about that more. A person, a person, a person won't even say tip. Got kids. Tip got kids. He got a wife. He got multiple properties. He got it. He got a staff that he got to make sure they cool so they can keep making sure the money keep coming. Absolutely. He got to take care of infrastructure. Tip got taxes. Tip got insurance. Tip got medical insurance. I could just imagine how many people medical insurance you paying. Man, I pay your insurance alone. I'm probably at about six, four, that's four to six hundred thousand a year. Just insurance. Brothers, that's insurance. Yeah, just insurance. Just make sure shit don't just in case. Listen, that's insurance. Then you got the staff bill. Then you got you got maintenance of your properties. Then you got travel lodging. Then you got eaten. Then you got the kids. They don't understand. They don't understand that that and you know what's crazy. We all seeing the kids grow up major. It's just funny to shit to see a good kid like because he's like you didn't know what's crazy. It's like you know them like enough. Like you see him. You just I'd be like, no, it's just crazy to me. They've seen him but but they don't understand. But Charlie probably about a hundred fifty thousand dollars a year. No, no, listen chat. Listen chat. That depends on the year because you listen, your kids like for people that's out there. They don't go to tip and say they go to tip. They bet I need like 30,000 for what? That's it. They come. They're not coming to him for no five hundred dollars. Can't get for a hundred thousand dollars. You got it. Come on man. You got it. You got it. I'm saying. So it's like it depends where you at. Well, you might be like, I just got to hit me and take that. So it's like, but then the money don't want to die. He won't accept no money. He called. The money won't accept no money. Dazies. She won't accept no money. You say I'm saying. But but but but still as a five hundred. He don't know man. He's he's he's he's turn to 18 and it's having to get a-- car and I say, uh, you know, me and his mama talking to him like, "Hey man, so, you know, we got to get you a car man, 'cause now he got a drive, but like, you know, drive, I'm gonna take him to the commissioner. It's expensive. - It's really expensive. - It's really expensive, man. You need to learn how to drive. You need to get your car. You got your learn of life to this drive, the drive. You're like, I guess. I say, okay, so what kind of car, you know, you think you can finna get? 'Cause I finna break it to him like, you know, don't be thinking. He's saying, I mean, just something reliable they can get me from-- - Her real image is funny, man. - I said, I said, whoa, okay, you said, man, I don't want anything too much. I don't want them too much. 'Cause I don't think I can take care of that yet, you know, I want them to like and actually maintain-- - That's a blessing. You like. (laughing) - I like, man, I've got a show, got a curl to come in for you, man. - Yeah. - And then it's like, nobody, look at that. Nobody look at, and then just, they make you want to give them more though. - Yeah, they make you want to give them more, but nobody look at all the stuff you got to get. - And then just wife money. She shows you, they don't understand you live a life, the studio, the lights, the water, the electric, like, I don't think people look at that. People just quick to look at, man, that's my cousin, man. He said, he got this, man, he could buy me a Bentley, give me an AP and give me a condo down in Buckhead. - Why is that? - That shit ain't going to do that to him. That's only like 300,000. (laughing) - I'll take a use, I'll take a use watch in the court. (laughing) You like, bro, I had a conversation with somebody. And I was like, I think I've been blessed though, man. - Yes. - I think I've been blessed because people, I don't think it's as many people like that around me. You know, the thing here, man. I'm here, I'm here with them nose. I'm here with a nose. - You gotta be. - I give them, I give them, I give them, I give them a fast nose too, you know how? They know, let me think about it now. I ain't going to have it. Can't do it. Now, next question. So, you know, so now they get to where, you know, the kind of like, they kind of like tread around it. Because they know I ain't get throwing it out there like that. But it's a blessing to be able, and it made me feel good when somebody do need me. And I'm able to do it. - Do you really get helpin'? - You know what I'm saying? When I'm, it's a blessing to be able to be there for people to love when they really need it, you know. I mean, now it's a different between, you might want something. You might want something, but then when you really need something, and I'm there and able to be there, that's, you know, that's a true blessing. - Yeah. - And I will talk to you about your sense of humor, but I kind of triad out. The reason I ask you about your sense of humor, because I think I seen a clip, you got on stage and this and stand up. - I was back at stage in Philly two days ago. - Yeah. - And I was, uh, Desi. So Desi, Desi city was in the city coming up. And I'm real tight with Desi. I always call him over the years and mornings just share him for me, because I know when you're young and you're coming up, the fall all start to happen. As you get, people start, you say no. - They can't hang on. - They can't. - They can't live with, they can't breathe a air up there. - So in the morning, see you know I'm up here, call me man, damn it. So anytime he come through, I see him in the city. I go through, so I'm going through there. I'm just in there chillin'. - Helm, you know when it's open and acts, we back there talkin' shit live and I said, they're like, "Damn, why are you crazy at shit, man?" I said, "Yeah, I'ma go up there and fuck it. I'ma go up there and do a set." They tell 'em, bud. Desi's like, you not doing no fucking set. I said, "All right, fuck it. I'ma just go up there." I'm like, "What do I got to lose?" 'Cause I, you know what I mean? - Yeah, you went up there. - I just went up there and killed the game six minutes. - Taco. - I tore that shit up. This game six minutes, they went crazy. - Damn, so I didn't see the extra shit. - Yeah, I just saw you go grab the mic and you know, you're pretty. - I got busy. I was talkin' my crack in the '80s. And they went crazy, they went fuckin' crazy. Because I know that a lot of people don't like, my whole thing is like, my story is, and the way I look at it is like, a lot of people, there's no documentation. They're not like the internet. So people, they love the story. So I just, and they love this. - So what's the, what's the, what's the funniest joke you think you told, did they? They got you the biggest laugh. They showed you that you could come back and do it again. Oh, when I was talkin' about how I smoked crack in the '80s, right? - You used to smoke crack? - Fuck, no, I never smoked crack in my life. But that's the bit, that's the bit. So when I go up there and say, when I go up there and listen, when I go up there and say it, they like, they already fucked up like, damn. We didn't, because they don't know, 'cause I'm dead serious. - Yeah. - My sense of humor is dead serious, so I go up there. I come out to me so horny. (laughing) Watch. (cheering) - I was thinking about the '80s, right? Crack okay was jumping. When I first took my first hit, my length changed. And you know, the crack house was the original swagger club in the Black and Moodle. That's when I got my nickname, and I ran into one of the crackiest one back in the day. She reminded me of who I was. 'Cause once you get high, you strip the fuck out. So we stripped out, I'm stripping out. That was the first time I really realized that I wasn't who I thought I was. Just seeing every time she seems like, "Low dig, low dig, low dig, low dig." (laughing) - The fuck is she talking about? - I know she ain't talking about me. 'Cause you know men like to lie to the fucker stuff. - Yeah. - Dude, dude, I did something, yeah, I'm really old. I did something to you, didn't I girl? And a lot of y'all know what y'all doing now. Some of y'all seem with some low dig, low dig, low digs. (laughing) - I just did it, because it was like tip, it's like tip. - And you enjoyed it. - I enjoyed it, you know why? - So you were doing it again? - Probably, yeah. It was easy, it was easy for me. - What's the day? - What's the day? I think the day's Sunday. What is it Sunday? - It's Sunday. - You might be able to go find us. You might be able to go find us a stage tonight. - I'll rip it up. - Yeah. - So what happened is this tip, so it was just like, why not? 'Cause I look at life like this. Four quarters. From birth to 21, first quarter. From 21 to 40, second quarter. From 41 to 63, third quarter. From 61 to 80, is the fourth quarter. Most of the time. - 61 and two. - 61 and two. But most of the time, a lot of times, people lights it out. Some people could make, some people could go into overtime. - Right. - But the reality of it is, I'm one of them people that, I'm one of them people that's like, listen man, I ain't got time to be fucking around or worrying about how you feel because this is the reality of a tip. It's 8.2 billion people in this world. I don't need everybody to like me. I don't need you to support me in any type of way. - That's right. - To that, not saying I'm upset with you, you don't have a right to not like what I got. It is like this. I love, I get some fried fish. I love mayonnaise on that shit. - Fried fish with mayonnaise. - Manais and ketchup, some raw onions. Unfucking believable. That's what I like. I put mayonnaise some time on my pizza. That's what I like. I love mayonnaise, so it's like. - You a while, dude. - No, obviously, you know what I got, man. - But think about how many people in the world just don't like that. I like ketchup on my eggs. How many people just don't like that. But how many people do? Everybody have their own audience. - You probably got a handful. - Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So what I'm saying is, we live in the world where it's though, everybody got their own audience. And even like with hip hop back in the day, what I like that and I told these young boys, like he's like, man, he's like, 'cause I was sending him all this stuff. And I remember I sent Lil Yadi a long-ass playlist. He's like, you be all over the place. I said, I said, the difference between us and y'all, not in the comparison, but like, the whole hip hop was ours. It wasn't the, we didn't segregate hip hop and say, I only listened to Travis. I only listened to the Drew. I only listened. It was like, no, I could listen to him. - We had to hear everything that was coming out. - Yeah, and we had tapes. And everybody was our-- - How about everything? - Everything. - Everything. - So it wasn't. So it was like, I say to myself, it was like, but even the numpad, everybody had their own fan base. - Right. - So it wasn't trying to be like public enemy, public enemy wasn't trying to be like NWA. ICT wasn't trying to be like, and that was the difference. So when you think about music, it's like music, I look at music like, yo, this is the real, this is how you gotta look at your audience. Everybody got a different fan base. And it's like, you might go to a show and somebody could do a show at a state farm. Outcat show might be different in future show. - Absolutely. - Future show might, I mean, outcat show might be different in railway show. - Right. - So, but what is enough fan base is-- - It's different than Muffa Cup. - It's still feeling it up. And I think sometimes we want to be liked by everybody and that's humanly impossible. And there's no problem with yourself. - Yes, and there's no problem. See, one thing that I'm comfortable with, I'm fearless, and I understand, you have a right not to like me. - Yeah. - Not that I did anything wrong to you. - Your opinion of me and none of my didn't. - No, no, your opinion, what you say, none of that shit is none of my business. I need the mind of my business. Why the fuck I'm worried about what you're saying with your words and your outlook? That ain't none of my business. And I think, and I think, and a lot of times in our culture, we get so caught up in that to where it's done. - 'Cause we be seeking validation. A lot of us seek a validation from others. They think that if somebody agree with what I'm doing, then that means it's okay that I'm doing it. That means I'm good at doing it. They don't have the confidence. They don't have the confidence to stand on what they're doing with or without someone's approval. That's what I, you know what I mean? That just off top of my head, what I think you do. I think hip-hop back then, one thing that I feel like your head is authenticity, no matter who they were, bro. It wasn't nobody out there trying to be like nobody else. Like right now, if somebody, life and answer, you mentioned rural way, rural way, drop you some bunch of other more. and all the fuck is when he saw his success. Oh, he's a sin for that debt. Let me get on and try and start trying to do that. And I feel like that's what water's the game down, 'cause why are you chasing somebody else fans? You've running away from yours. - But you know what, it was different though. I'm gonna give you something that was different. And for me, I think I call myself self-programmed hip-hop historian. This was different, Tip. And this is why I give people leniency. Tip, you got to think about it. There wasn't nobody trying to be Tip, 'cause when Tip was doing this thing, we wasn't able to see ingredients and we wasn't clocking your numbers. We wasn't clocking your money. We wasn't clocking your numbers. All we knew was that Tip put a good project out and other rappers at the time and even expiring rappers, they couldn't see your formula. They wasn't worrying about your numbers. They couldn't see, they couldn't see, they didn't know your contract seeing your money. So now, by everything that's being put out there, artists are dropped in, you'll look up the next day, T.I. type B, what's the name, like your whole formula. Oh yeah, this is to do that. Like, we didn't know who shot your videos. We knew from the credits at the bottom of B.T., but still, I couldn't get to him. I couldn't get to Height Williams or all the different tools that shot. Now it was like, okay, he's gonna do the shot railway video. He's gonna do the do is merch. He's gonna do the do, it's like, so we didn't have that. So now people are like, I might as well go with the best. I might as well emulate the best, but because every all the material is put out there, when you was making all the fucking albums in the dark, you probably got footage. Nobody had no camera man back in the day. Oh no, if I got no footage. That's what I'm saying, T.I. It might be something. Like, like, I could sit there and go online and I could get some of my whole blueprint right now. We'll platform the user to the website, who's who set the shit up. I get the whole joint and like, damn, let me make my shitty, because the barrier entry was different back in the day. Your videos was only on BET and on TV. They wasn't on YouTube. So I could go on, anybody could go on YouTube right now and put the shit up. Wherever you place your shit when your music dropped right now, on Apple, my shit could be on Apple. The way your shelf is set up on Apple, I could shelf my shelf up like that on Apple. I could just really do this YouTube video. I could do that. I could book a student like everything is like, so I think that's what really, that's what really, the access in, we took away the mystery of the artists. That's why people don't respect the artists, like they used to, because it's like, bro, I ain't never seen, like, if you ain't come on a rap city or some shit, or I ain't catch you in, if I ain't catch you in the next six hours, so it's, I don't say to it. Only reason we know you, the only reason we know you could show to it. If you they had to show, we wouldn't know your life so much. You was, you was one of the first dudes that said, coming to my crib. And you allowed us in your home. So we grew up, we grew up in you. - You know the reason I did that? - I did that because all people were talking about at the time was me going back and forth to prison. - Yeah. - That was all I'm gonna talk about, you know what I'm saying? Like, fuck everything else that I've done in my career and like the thing that everybody said, well, yeah, you know, the guy that goes back to prison, you know, the guy from, you know, the guns and begging prison and shit. And so I just wanted to reset and recalibrate more fucker's opinion of me or more fucker's perception of me. And when I did that, we didn't even know what the show was. We just wanted to, you know, it was really about me and balance and family with all these different businesses and doing that. - Man, that shit humanized you, bro. - Hey, but the thing is though, I didn't count on the rest of the family being fucking stars. I didn't know. - I didn't know much. - They wouldn't like that. - They wouldn't. - They was crazy in that house, man. They was not like that before the show, bro. Before the camera got there, they was not like that. But what it did is show these guys like anybody else, man. - And it removed the fact that yeah, you make mistakes, you human. But sometimes when you're successful, you're not allowed to fuck up. That's the curse. When you're successful, you're not allowed to fuck up. - Yeah. - Just because you got money, just because you got success, you got plaques. You sold millions of records. You can't be human no more. Everybody else could be it, but sure, that's removed from you. You gotta be this thing. - You gotta be what I expect you to be. - And who is I, like what about me? I can't fucking, like you know what I, and that's what's so fucked up about the eye. It's like you can't even, you can't do shit. - Yeah, you know, your book is titled Yes to You Know To Them. - Yup. What made you choose that as a title for your book? - Yes, you know to them is because it's about, it's about time to say yes to you. People don't say yes to themself, 'cause what they do is they put everybody first. In order for TI to be really be on their next level, TI gotta be right first. He gotta be able to say yes to him, the decency making the time he giving them the peace. If you don't say yes to me, I gotta go on his vacation. Yes, I gotta do that. You can't do shit for nobody. For your wife, your kids, your kids, you can't do nothing for nobody. But I think we live in this world now where everybody, I think everybody is saying yes to everybody else in order to not have confrontation, but they saying no to themself. So now it's time to say yes to you, you know to them. - You know, you know, you know what I'm saying? Here you say that it makes me think that I have, you know, I'm blessed in such a way that I have a strong support system, like people has been around me, you know, some for all my life, some for half my life, some for most of my life. And I love all of them, and they love me too, but it's close as that circle here, and it's stronger than circle here. Do you know each and every last one of these people won't more from me? All of them, all of them feel like I should be spending more time with them, I should be doing more with them. I should be doing more all of them. And it's only one me, you know what I'm saying? Like my uncle probably feel like yeah, you talk to him, he might think I talked to my other uncle more than I talked to him. My aunt might feel like I talk, you know, my mama might feel like I might talk to my aunt more than I talk to her, my cousin might feel like I, I like my other cousin and spend more time with him more, and everybody feel like as much as I try to, you know, be whatever I can for whoever it is, everybody always feel like I should be doing more. - It's impossible, too. - It is. - It's impossible, 'cause Tip, you sleep for like eight hours a day. - No, I don't. - How long you sleep? - Probably about four to six. - So you sleep four to six because you got shit on your mind, you got a lot of responsibilities on your back, so you can't even get a good night's sleep, right? So after that, you got to eat breakfast, you got run business, you got a shit load of meetings, you got to deal with the kids, you got to deal with your wife, how much time do you really have left? - I mean, that's my drinking time. - But still, how much time do you have my drinking time? - How much time do you got left? - I get by, I mean, it depends, day to day, it depends. But to be out of reach, I ain't going to lie to you. If everybody else straight, I'm straight. - That's, yeah. - If everybody else straight, I'm straight, you know what I'm saying? That's just, that high mood, if everybody else around me, I'm to the point in my life right now. Nothing exceptionally good has to happen. As long as nothing bad happens, oh my God. That's the greatest thing. - I don't need it. - Has it been a time, I know it's been a time in your life. Where is though, when certain people call you be like, and you became, was it a time where you become, where you became pessimistic? - I am pessimistic. - Where you know something wrong is called. - I know, this phone, that's me, now, today. - Somebody, I'm set up here. - Something's going to happen. - Yeah, something's good, if you call me, I don't even, how long is your phone to go off you happy? - Man, you know what, and the thing is, I'll be trying to do something, and I get a call, and I deal with that call, put the phone down, get back to what I'm doing, the phone ringing, damn. Or I'll be on the phone, it might be me, you might be telling me a story or something. I'm like, okay, hold on, let me catch this call. Hello? Yeah, yeah, that's fine. Cool, no problem, all right, all right, cool. All right, what you was saying, well, oh, all right, goddamn it, yeah, yeah, what, all right, to me, no problem. All right, yes, absolutely, whatever you say, no problem, okay, cool. All right, all right, well, now, goddamn it, king, what's up, man? And me and you would have normally been probably a too many conversations, stretched out the 25 minute because I keep having to click over to his different phone call, but that's the life. That's the life of someone who is pushing for everyone else to have the life that I want everybody else to be able to live, it's close to I live. Yes, it's beautiful. And I mean, I'ma try, I'ma do the best I can, when I can, I'ma help you till it hurt me. But you know what's crazy? I had to realize like, when it comes to men, I say, man, men is just here to take care of everybody else, get the cologne in a tie on five of his day. (laughing) Listen, might get a kick or something, and then you gotta get a body here. (laughing) You know your life and it's that shit. Like we just here. Now you gotta think about it, man. They ain't got, we ain't got too much coming. - Nah, nah, nah. - Think it, just be, but, but, but, but it's, - We got that, we got that look at that millisecond worth of pleasure. - Yeah, that, that, that, that, that, we get that. - But, but, but, but what it is, more importantly is that we just happy to take pride that we can take care of people and be here to be, to be here to be something but sometimes some of us didn't have. - Right. - And we know that we gotta do that. And just one day we gotta, we gotta get about it. - Yeah, and then, but, but, you know, and the protection aspect and the, the, the providing aspect, we're always, like, our value is placed on our ability to do these things. - That's all we do. - That's our value. Women, children, and pets are the only things that are loved unconditionally. - Yeah, we know what they can provide. - And we care, listen, and, and that's where we take personal when you, when you will provide and to protect you take that shit personal and like, you get up and you know, wherever you get appreciated now, you like, I gotta do this shit. - That's right. - I got, I cannot, not do this shit 'cause when mama called nanny called, but woman, you gotta be ready. - That's right. - When your wife called, you like, oh, baby. You, so you gotta be ready for all this shit and you gotta go on and just do it. - Like Christmas. - Man, you know the shit man, like, a criminal is such a reminder of the place that me and sit in a house all this society. Hey, Lizard, man, Christmas, if you don't have nothing for people for criminal, if you just try it, just try it, man. I tried it, I tried it. If you, like, just have a Christmas and invite everybody to your house and y'all eat them. - And anybody don't get none of them for Christmas. Don't even do that. You should have did some of this. You should have went on vacation. You invited everybody and you ain't getting my envelope. Or they ain't get a real serious-- - It's barefoot walk out, man, man. I don't know what it was, huh? - I'm gonna stay home, fucking crazy. - Don't let 'em. - Don't let 'em move out of the way, I'm gonna set a gas. - You thought they thought they were getting checked, like they thought, no matter how you had the chef come over and make this unbelievable spray, the best Christmas man, but they don't look out there with an envelope. - I bake, bake, sweep, or take them out with that shit. - I ain't with that shit. - That's that shit. - I don't want that shit to. Get them with your ass past. - We was at Memelow back. (laughing) - Anybody expect a tick more, give us a Memelow. - Yeah, no, yeah, they got us over here, they got us over here, they got us over here. - Yeah, I'm gonna give a bill, stay for this man. - I'm gonna pay my January bill. - Oh man, but that's pretty though. It's funny, it's funny, it's a trip, it's a trip, but you know what? I rather be the one that people expect it from. - Yeah. - There's be the motherfucker that have to expect it. - They have to expect it, man. - I'm blessed with it. - Yeah. - Yeah, so you gotta look at life, man. - How do you balance being a father who wants to protect your kids from the streets when you were in the streets? Which is something that we, you know, that's what I have to do. - You know what? Me personally, I got so, it was crazy is, I got thousands of kids that listen to me, that I see. - Come on, but you don't have a, about that. - Yeah, yeah, I got a kid from my ex, I adopted the door to center the college. - Okay. - Pay for it on, she getting a master's right now. - That's what's up. - Yeah, I don't play that shit. - How old is she now? - 24, dating 24. Yeah, she doing that. And then I got my brother kids. He died. - I mean, your brother died when he was like, - You know what I mean? - I was in a prison. - So I got all here of your beard, it was there. - That was 2013, you know what I mean? So he was on the way home. - Yeah, I was on the way home. So I got his kids, but then I got all these other youngins who I talked to, who I mentor, who I see in cities, at the cities. And it's like, so with me, you already know it. I'm always on it, because it must be a criminal. I've been on him since I got out of prison, like listen, from laying in cascades laying on the ground, we catch up on my head, trying to show how this shit going in. - You laid in a casket? - Yeah, I laid in the casket. I laid in the casket, I was in the morgue with the dead bodies. - That's a shit. - Yeah, I go to the morgue. - Yeah, I was in it with the dead bodies, I laid in the casket. I laid in the casket, I did a video with that. I laid in the ground with my, catch up on my head, standing the way to it. So my whole thing was just trying to show, like this high it in, but the thing is like this, you can't teach what you don't know, you can't leave when you don't go. You're telling them not to beat it, 'cause you went there and it wasn't worth it, it was a loss. So at the end of the day, we're telling them, listen, that shit ain't even worth it. And right now, they're not going to play with you. They're going to lay you down, you go in that courtroom. So it's like, we're trying to educate them and we got to tell them, because we know better. It's our job to tell them and try to give them a different alternative route, because it's like, bro, what the fuck, you know how much money it costs to be a criminal? It costs more money, like, whatever you want on the street. Like, not just that, because I sit back and I tell people, I said, listen, I go to the pen and sentry. The highest paying job is 42 cents. That's if you could reach that level, 'cause you gotta, it started 19. So that shit, 42 cents might take two years. A promotion, a pay rate. No, it doesn't sound crazy, but I'm just being real. So think about this. You go to jail, you spend 10 years getting 19. You ain't going to make it, you save you get 42. Just say you spent 10 years getting 42 cents. You get a minimum of six hours and only get work four days a week. And then you got to spend that on commissary and all that. You ain't saving them. So at the end of the day, what about to do this home, get this credit right, traveling, stacking money, get promotions that work, he's going to make it off. 'Cause everybody, when I can, everybody, listen, when the dude do a bit four or five years, he come home, the dude that's really rolling in this dude that was working. He got his license to carry. He got his passport, he didn't travel the world. He didn't probably got his house. You know what I mean, got an unbelievable job, whatever. So it was like, and you went to the penitentiishment all that time because most dudes that do go to prison, they got somebody that's holding them down. That's a law buying citizen. One of the best friends, chowel friends, cousins, they go to work and they come up to see you and all that. They got to track home, they getting all that, you know what I mean? Yeah, everything you want. Yeah, everything you were hustling for. Everything you wanted, you know what I mean? They got it, they got it, getting up and going to work here. You know what was crazy when I came home from prison? I was shocked because I was like, damn, man. I thought people was in the streets, that wasn't in the streets because what happened was people took on the street uniform. You remember only certain people that was in the streets dressed in a certain way, and the dude that worked, dressed in a certain way. I come home and see dudes tearing up. They got the drip on, they driving the street, they got the, they got the jone on the hip. I'm like, I remember this one dude when I, when my gill was like, I'm like, man, let me get out of here. Man, his dude came up in this joint. It's shit, rakey, crazy. He's like, low dudes, a cop. I said, what? (laughing) I said, he a cop. No, that nigga ain't no cop, so that nigga ain't no cop. He said, yo, he's the police, man. That's what's the name, cousin. I said, that nigga like, he wants some dumb shit. I thought he was on some straight dumb shit. I'm like, man, I'm getting the fuck out of here. He's rakey. Cause I'm on parole. I'm like, I can't be up in this joint cause. We was like in a studio somewhere. He came in there and him and a couple of boys, but all of them was like cops. So I'm like, but they had their whole aura with some street niggas shit. So I'm like, I mean, you know, that's your part. Yeah, but I understand it, but it changed dramatically since I was like, oh, man, but yeah, so it's like, it's like, you do all this gel time. Come home. And the dude that did right, went in like a motherfucker. He made more money than the drug dealer. And a long run. That's all right. Yeah. Man, man, you mentioned the unfortunate past and your brother. Yeah, little Steve, why you was, why you was doing your time and you wrote that you forgave your brother's killer. I did a Ted talk about it right here in Atlanta. Yeah. Like, how, how did you come to the conclusion of that? Just you got to understand me personally, I'm going to say two things. Number one, I ain't built like that to kill nobody. And I ain't shooting in the mirror. You do what I'm saying? What that mean, man? Shooting in the mirror mean, that's what the young boys, that's what everybody do when they kill somebody that's black. They shoot like them, they shoot that somebody that look like they shoot at them. They shoot at themselves. Damn. Same struggle, mom with the struggle, poverty, trying to understand, section eight, welfare, you shooting at yourself, you yourself hurt people, hurt people, hurt people, hurt people. So, so I'm just not built like that, number one, number two. You can't move on holding on to yesterday. What happened? I don't know. I know my brother got killed. What it was about? I don't know. But to be there for his kids and be there for my family, I can't carry that shit. He's the revenge he's got in the ghetto, but I had to leave by example to understand, like, we so willing to die for our homies when we're going to start living for him. So I said, I got a live form and tip, look what happened when I came out of live for my brother. Look at the blessings that God said, I got you. I got you. I'm going to use you to be example of what the possibilities is when we look like you got to think about it. The only reason our communities are so fucked up is because nobody can let yesterday go. It ain't about, like, this shit is about some shit that you got young boys that's 9 to 10, that's going to harry. Somebody got beef right now. They going harry that shit in two years from now and be trying to shoot somebody from another neighborhood based off of nobody can let nothing go. So I think that was the greatest thing that I could do because I was like, I got to live and I can't carry this shit around like, do you ever notice how angry people age like crazy? Every time you see somebody that's somebody that's Professionally angry like you got professionally angry people are like that's they're agitated. That's they professional They profession is just to be angry anytime you see no matter what man. Why does cup there? The water who gave me some water? I don't like my water clear This might get my face every day. No, they professional Angry people man, so it's like that shit where you now you can't live How do you let go of the anger with that? Let me go of the lessons Because the anger going kill me is going to age me. You gotta let that shit go, bro And and you still go hold on to the lessons of everything Because like the most important thing you could do is understand that tomorrow's gonna be better than yesterday Like we be so you got to think about it. We be so caught up in We be so caught up in all this shit and we don't appreciate it like me. I'm just a person that wears though I wake up a day and I appreciate it that I'm here because I ain't had to be here. Right Like I ain't had to be here. I'm gonna show you something. I'm gonna show you this This is very important you might check this out here in here. Okay, but I want you to I want you to look at this Population that's real time. Yeah 8.2 billion Read them Burst today 263,000 oh 600 and they keep going nine to five nine six seven hundred. Yeah, okay Deaths today 124,000. We didn't we not on that list today not today. That's rich. No, they die right now people dying right now in the world You see that you see the ticker, right? So you why so you look at this every day the world world. Oh meter. Yeah. No, we're yeah world world. It doesn't add to me Yeah, no, it's a regular website. Just this little little little little little go to oh. Oh, here you go. Hold up close Yeah, man, let me go. No, no, no, no, no, no, hold up right here They usually have a rest down here. They got a race. I'll usually have a Cool wait the rest they just tell you all the shit that's going on in the world usually the historical facts You all in shit. Okay. Yeah, I'm I'm gonna start looking into that. Hey John like world meetings or something else Yeah, I'm gonna start looking into that man You know, I've heard you say the power of wanting to be down with a bunch of people that don't really care about you can destroy your life Yes, a bunch of my fuckers like we got this thing in the way is that we want to be down with everybody don't give a fuck about us We want to prove you know when you come up a lot of people is It's suffering from the vacancies that they upbringing right a lot of people was invisible a lot of people wasn't seen So when we come up or you do something your whole thing is approved on wrong or the shit on them When it's like and you want to shit on them. Do you want to shit on a bunch of people now? You want to press a bunch of people They really don't give a fuck about you right everything always revolt with us to back around the way right yeah, man, I'm flexible and I I got to make sure what they saying about me Bro you you they said they said you went hollywood But you actually little lean on sunset eating the hollywood shut up. It's cool You did go hollywood you put the work into That was the idea when yeah, the whole why you bought the ticket like like like the idea of what we got in the hood It being real real me real me keep struggling Real me keep jeopardize your freedom. You're like be broke as me So what the fuck would you go and do? Yeah, like sunset is a beautiful place. I like it. I love the one who tell a little sunset I love eating at the restaurants salty girl on sunset I love I'm cool. Thank you What the fuck I pose to do Like be straight up like them I come from a hardship. Yeah, I can't be happy Human beings having the night fear of being cast out of the group being part of the group is how we survived How can we shake that off and free our minds? I think we got to look at a different group sometime group I mean, I think the problem is trying to fit in to the wrong group. Yeah, well, you know what? I mean, I risk them with say uh Why try why data fit in when you were born to stand out? That's the whole thing they laugh at me because I'm different. I laugh at them because they all the same. I'm doing me That right. I'm doing me and I'm a connect. Do you ever notice this The way this world work Everybody that need to connect connect and usually when they connect they coming from different different outlooks Right, you know some of your favorite some of your best people and best people that you probably got brotherhoods with is from all over this country Right all over the world. Yeah, because y'all got some similarities and y'all stood out That's right y'all connect and I think that's how the groups really come but sometimes we try to group with people just because of close proximity And they're not and they don't want to be a part of the group They're trying to figure out ways of where they could pull from the group and they could do their own things So they could pop right and with sometimes we can't see that because it's We know them or some shit, you know what I mean? And we overlook it But a lot of people be trying to go to the group Just to take and keep they going for the group taking stuff and going back to the village putting Do you do you see that you know as you get older that that you could kind of see shit happening man I see that I stay away from dumb shit I stay away from the dumb shit. I remember that other day Gil called me here because what's up man? I'm like yo, what's up? Uh, he said what you doing? I said Ray go to sleep. He said man is eight ten. Yep I'm right here. Well, I need to be at you in the house at eight o'clock. I'm right here. Well, I need to be at so you don't hang out No, I don't hang out only time I do it is like it was like like a like a You know certain certain people like Friend of family member Worth there's something I go to that, but I ain't staying if you do what I gotta do. I'm trying to I'll be trying to get to that I'll be trying to get to the crib. So you don't you don't do no party. No, I don't really care for it Right because like never did it back in the day when I was a kid, but it's like You got to deal with a lot these days. I'll probably be in the it's like less It's like I never you know what's crazy. Wait a minute you but you got pardon, right? Yeah, I got pardon So that mean that now you ain't even feeling no more. No, I'm still I'm still a fellow and they got to go to another level to get my Jaggedy sponge and all that but I'm still a fella, but I didn't been around the world But it's like you know what you know, it's crazy though. I realized it and I came up with this this big discovery I have never yet ran into any trouble in the house And in the house I never got a no beef to argue miss. I never ran to know you you keep that phone Don't get that to get that to bring it to you. Yeah, that's what I'm saying phone to bring it to you Yeah, no, that's why you got to when you go in the crib you got to fortify your joy And you take that how that shower lead out yeah, read your blood play your music clean out whatever you just you Ain't got to worry about this shit. Yeah, and I don't be worrying about it. I mean, yeah, say spaces. That's you know That's definitely especially when we know places that we've been will that's how we wanted to do Yeah, that's how we wanted to do is you be able to get down go and open up A refrigerator get a cold drink. It was never quiet. Pick up a remote and change the channel think think about that you sitting in there She ever quiet you wishing damn man I wish I could have some fried fish right now with some hot sauce. Yeah, you think about the lady you think of the manage You think about the little is shit tip tip tip you say head thinking about the little is shit. Yeah That nobody in the world you were paying attention to like damn. I wish I could listen to him I wish I go to the bowling alley man get that burger that I usually get yeah So it's like you just you just learn to appreciate shit more and understand it like man You know when I came home that was the shit and I didn't I didn't do no kind of time close to what you do No time is time no fuck that yeah, and when you got to leave and your babe That's the effect that it had when your family your kids and them babies When you got a walk in there and they don't and they and they kids And they trying to understand what's going on. They got to go to school. We're here shift from teacher. Man That shit is fucks you up. Yeah, you know um so so on my I think it with my my second beat Uh, oh here, you know, I was going through it because I think on my second beat If I'm mistaken that went to me could decide it It might have been the first bit anyway. She was she was she was doing like reality show. She's on TV And that shit fuck with me because I'm doing my beat. I got to watch my fucking house on TV That was why I got to watch my woman. You know, so I got to why I got to look at every now just that Not just everybody asking me about no no you watching years family on TV and they watching you watch your family See looking at you when the deal for real. That's your car. They they they looking at you and the day. I'm like and you like man This shit is too much. Yeah, she didn't understand why I didn't want her to do is like you just don't want me to work No, you don't want to see that shit on TV. Oh, they I'm in jail. Look at my man. You're a jail. Look at that Which is shit like that. That's my crib. Look at the refrigerator. I wish I go up in that refrigerator. Look at my car I wish I could drive that you see it. Oh, it's shit. You like damn. That's a that's some crazy shit. I never thought about that. Yeah That's a wow. Yeah, that shit we're here. That's crazy. That shit we're here, man. Um, but so so That shit happened and I was like I was fucked up like, you know, just kind of jet down, you know what I mean? And uh, it was an old head that was there. He had them being there. I think he Yeah, I think he had 12 more to go. He'd been there for 17 some shit like that And he would ask me man. What's up with your man with wrong and the last thing I feel to do She told him to tell a nigga never this about my problem. I feel by my time. He said man, I can see it on your man. What's up? I say, man, I'm just man. I ain't feel the talk to you about, you know, how old my time is and what I'm going to tell you man He said, he listened to me y'all stop and tell you something. He said what you said town is town He said, "Get with it, I would no more ready to go just a day than I would when I first walked in." They're doing same now, I'm saying. So, just man, you go ahead to get through that shit, how you can get through it. And all of us in here to help each other do this motherfucking time. Yeah. I mean, I never really thought about it like that, you know, and to the end. But the shit that I learned, though, is that none of that shit matters. It none of it matter, when I came home, I didn't give a fuck about nothing. You don't care about it. I didn't care. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, you know, little shit, like, I remember my pun to do right there. You know, we were working with the next door at the studio, we were working on a project and I think somebody might have said that they would came to the South and you know, like, "Man, you hear that? You hear what they say? I don't give a fuck what this nigga saying." Yeah, I'm gone. I just came home. I'm happy. Yeah, I ain't give it that. When they get the making lists, you know, motherfucking be like, "Man, look, they left you off this list that I don't give a fuck about that goddamn list, nigga. I'm living, man." I know. Man, I remember we were walking the other one day, man. And I just remember in my head, I used to go off at the airport, if they didn't have my fit. They fucked up my first class flight and I had to sit in a coat seat or they didn't have the presidential suite available and I just didn't have the room. I was only young, like, "Man, you know how much I love you." You were a lot of middle seat. I take a middle motherfuckers seat. Especially when you get somebody that got the arms off of you, you got to be like this. Man, I take a middle seat and a double room, meaning you got to have a table, bro. I don't care. I don't care. Listen, when I'm trying to do this day, when I'm trying to get out of somewhere to get back to home or whatever, I take any flight they got. For real? You can't see your keys. Listen, I don't care. You only got this foot. All right, cool. I'm sitting right here. Because I'm trying to get what I'm trying to get to. I don't care about that. I did it. Put my earphones and listen to my music. Yeah. Have my little water right there. I'm cool. I don't know. Yeah. I'm going to tell you something, man. I will do it. I have done it. It's not that I'm, that it bothers me somewhat, but I don't like to see other people respond to me being in coach. I don't like people, I'm like, oh, what the hell, what are you doing back here? Obviously, I know that. That's tip. He get one. Amen. No, but hey, get with it, though. Get with it, though. So speaking of the tip, funny thing happened. My home girl, Deena, got married this year. Congratulations, Deena. We used to call her single Deena. And she got married. She finally got married about to welcome her first child with her husband being, building a family. So proud of her. The wedding was, it was in San Francisco. And I had some shit going on. I had already had a, so she, she been telling me about a wedding, about a wedding, saved the date, saved the date, saved the date. Cool. I'll be there. I got, I got, I got, I got to get, get some money came, I said, Deena, I'm going to get this money. I'm going to get this money, man. I'm forgetting. I'm going to get the money. I got to get for you. Do you know what I'm saying? So, but in order to make the gig happen, I had to get a jet, I can go, I think I'm flying in from fucking London to somewhere out the country, came straight into San Francisco, got to get up, go to the wedding and, you know, be there for the wedding, and, but, we're like somewhere in the, in the middle of the, at the beginning of the reception, I got to shoot to the jet. You feel what I'm saying? I got to shoot to the jet and go and take it so I can get my money, get the gig. And, all it is required for things to hit. I had to hit on time, yeah, the traffic from getting it from here to here, and it only had to be a black car. So, I had my wardrobe, my wardrobe, my, my pounded digital, he put me a tuxedo and, and shouted at that to me. And, he was like, could we have like, you know, suits and shit, there's already that, and I ain't, well, yeah, I said, man, just give me the, the cleaner tuxedo we got. So, he gave me, it's a white, it was a white veil. It, uh, tuxedo, it wasn't, well, the white veil, the jacket with the black pants, white shirt, white t- you know, Jane Bonshi. So, so that would, that would, I went with, and I go, and I put it on, and my wife say immediately when, when, when we, when I, when I'm getting drunk, we walk to the elevator, and my wife say, you've not posed the well, white, to nobody's wedding, it's bad luck. I said, man, it's bad luck. Oh, shit, they knock it off. I said, man, come on. Hey, you know that. Yeah, it's a, you not pulled the well, but that's for the, the groom and the, and the bride. And the only one that pulled the well, white, at the way, so she said, it's bad luck, man, that's bad. So, you ain't got no one to sue. You got that white shit. That's all I got. I got this white, you know what I mean? The, the month, and I'm thinking I'm clean, she, yeah, I'm going to appreciate me showing that I'm clean. That's the cleanest month I've got. This is clean as I could be. So I get the sit down, and I just immediately start seeing people looking at me, and she's like, I told you. She was bad luck, because you don't, she was pissed, she was pissed, so you know what I'm saying? So here we go. Uh, and every, and dinner didn't really kill, I don't think, uh, but everybody else was looking like, you know, the family was on that, I really do that, right? All right. So, she telling me, it's bad luck. I get a call after, you know, I do, we take a picture of shit, I get a, uh, a text, or a call, my partner who get my jet say, uh, man, uh, the, the, the, the plane, having the map, first and so we don't have the jet for you. We don't have, there's no jet. We can't get you out of here on the jet. I'm like, oh, hell now, what the fuck am I going to do? Yeah. So I was like, okay. So, man, I'm in here with a bunch of rich motherfuckers. I got guys in here. I got the dream. Oh, yeah, yeah. I got a bunch of motherfuckers with me. Hey, man. Come on, man. I need a jet. I need a jet. And you know, all these motherfuckers, you know, trying to call the people that get me a jet. So my partner, Neil, he say, uh, we got no jet, but I got the flight, I got the flight on Southwest, motherfuckling. Yeah. I took South, I took first class Southwest to first seat. I got it. I got this out with flight. We got it. Now we go. You got it. You got it. What did you get? And the family near it said, hey, man, you go take them. Got them. South. You got the one that Southwest flight. You got them that Southwest flight. Do you know how? I was a thousand pictures. Niggas, let me tell you something. Niggas, I was in TSA in a Tuxedo. They tell me, take your jacket off. Please. I said, you want me to take this off? You say, you want to make this flight? I'm like, man, God, now I'm taking my jacket off. I'm folding my got them, my white velvet got them, Jane, like Cito jacket putting it on the conveyor belt. You trying to make this time? Hey, look. Hey, man, I get to the gate, right? I get to the gate and I'm like, because I, when they say no for a claim, I'm like, oh, no, because I didn't know. They said, most of the guy's own, they had got them seat, what is it, the seat requests? I said, hey, I need, I need you to upgrade me the first claim. Oh, she laughed in my face. She like, did she know where it was? Yeah, man, I mean, that motherfucker, bad face. Niggas, I ever took Cito, man, I didn't see dope on a plane. How far was the flight from where to where? Man, it was from, it was from San Fran, the Phoenix. It was from San Fran, the Phoenix. It ain't that far. It ain't that far. But this shit felt like it. But look, okay, so get that. Let's you don't take, Zellin. Zellin, they call it, they call it, they call it, they call it, you know, how they get, so the motherfucker, fuck it with me, I'm first and I ain't, they say, well, surely, you're the most important person here, and let me say, well, you're going to give you the first scene. We're going to give you the first role, give you all that to yourself, because we're going to accommodate you as best we can, but they fucking with me and everybody walking by me, you know, who he the he is, you know what I mean, and we sit down, my old lady looking at me and say, I told you that damn Tuxedo was bad, man, so that's what you got, buddy. Yeah, yeah. That's what you got. I would never wear white Tuxedo. But the flight got you where you needed to go, yeah, you got that, you got that, you got that. Got that money, you got that. That's it. Amen. Let's end it with this man. We have conversations all the time and you always get kind of up with me on my comedy journey. You were like, man, fuck with the folks saying, man, fuck with the people saying, you know, and you gave me some gain and I truly appreciate it. You're always clear with your intentions and you're always positive and you always talk about energy and how energy is so important. How do you think energy and clear intentions are so important? Because energy, respect, energy, and I think that's more important than anything. You know how if you go somewhere and you just feeling good, if you're day good, when you encounter the wrong energy, if you don't know how to protect your energy, you could be driving. Somebody, come, man, what the fuck if you don't know like that? You know what? Was I not paying attention? Right. Like I always blame me. I blame me. I blame me as much as possible because when I go blame me, I can settle down more. If I'm driving somewhere and somebody, I'm trying to say, was I really on point, was I looking anywhere? Was I fucking on my phone? I got to try to blame me because that'll leave you and I can protect my energy in fortify because your energy dictates your day. That's right. It dictates, it dictates, am I going to come in here and do the show, am I going to make this music? You know, how I'm going to be with my family? Like you really got to protect it as much as possible because your energy is like the gas. If you low on gas, you got to pull over and keep stopping like, well, your gas is up in your car. You can move around. Your energy is your gas. So it was like, how do I protect this and make sure it's right and understand that Doing my day, I'm gonna run into some bad energy. - Yeah. - But how do I pivot from that shit? I'm like, all right, cool, I gotta get to where you gotta get to. And when your energy gets, 'cause some people energy get thrown out, they be fucked up for a week. Think about it, some people be fucked. Like it could be something to happen. They be fucked up for a week and didn't spill over to the next week because once your energy go off, it's like, once your energy go off, now you're receptive to dumb shit. - Right. - And bad energy, 'cause it's open, it's like your pores open now. - And hey, little thing, you can peep. - Oh, man, it shit happened now. - Oh, man, what the fuck? - That's where when it rains, it pours. - Yes, that was like, it just keeps connecting. You're like, damn, man, it's like that bad energy, connect with bad energy. And you just be stuck in it, you being a funk like that. Well, it's good, 'cause people don't understand no matter how successful it is, no matter how much money you got, your mindset is very important. - That's it, come before to me. - Because you, as a, I'm talking about you, where everybody know you. I know it been times in your career where you'd be like, you might get in that bad space and you might become doubtful, like, damn, what I'm gonna do next, what I'm gonna do, how I'm gonna pivot. And then if you're laying it too long, or if you don't get the right call, if you don't get, sometimes you need, listen, sometimes you need a reminder that you, him. And that's why you gotta keep people around you that can remind you and put it in your face, because a lot of times we get caught up in this world, because that's stuff that goes on in the comments, and inside of them social medias, and the internet. - You gotta get off of that shit. - It will fuck you up and in the head, because I remember I told one, when I record an artist a girl, and I was like, can I ask you a question? I was like, out of 10,000 comments, how do you see one? Like, I said, you looking for dumb shit, you worry about the wrong shit. You love dumb shit. She was like, no, I don't want you to say that. I said, I just went on your page, it's 10,000 comments. But you responded to somebody in there. I'm like, how the fuck did you even find that? Well, how you got time to even be looking on that? You big of shit. You're the real deal. - Not giving the fuck is the best thing. - Listen, being fearless and not giving the fuck is the fuck what they think is the greatest thing in the world. - You read that book, the subtle art of not giving the fuck? - No, I've seen it. I've seen it in the original. - The orange book. - Yeah, it's the orange book. But it's like, at the end of the day, it's like that's the greatest thing you could do because tip on everything I love. Once your energy is off, you open to any attack. - Right. - Anybody can attack you. I'm talking to you, see a fucking ant. Saying some shit ant, walking, saying some shit to you. You're like, damn, motherfucker, you want? All because it's open. You just really got to protect your energy and keep people around you that can remind you of who you are, what you done, and where you going. - That's real. Think about that. - That's real. - Well, man, I really do appreciate you. - I appreciate you, man. - Can't wait. - You know what I mean? I appreciate you coming down. I appreciate you taking the time out. And of course, it goes without saying, if you ever need me. - Always, that always been the case. - Yeah. So here, expeditiously, we have something called The Word of the Week. And the word is usually inspired by the conversation or the guest. So the word of the day to day, the word of the day to day for you, I know it's indefatigable. Indefatigable means persisting tirelessly. - No matter what, you don't stop. - That's right. I know it has been indefatigable about pushing peace, positivity, and evolution to our community. And I appreciate you for that, bro. - I appreciate you for having me. - This is the Expedition. I am too. - See how I am. (upbeat music) (singing in foreign language)