Harness the Hustle with 2 Chainz

I don't remember things that don't mean a lot to me anymore. Like, if I'm out, I mean, hey, how you doing? I'm whatever. Okay, I don't really need to remember this name. I don't have to, like, waste room in my mind to try to remember. You know what I mean? Like, hey, nice to meet you. But then it was like, that sounds like getting old. Nah, it's getting wise. That's it. It's getting wise. It is getting wise. You don't need to remember nothing that don't mean nothing to you. How's somebody get you, Craig? You remember, man. I don't remember that, but I remember important stuff. If it's important, I know my daughter got a prom this weekend. And I need to make sure she got everything she needs. I don't need to remember. You left them with all the resources. Yeah, I left them with everything they needed. The car, the driver, everything. This episode of IMO is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Hey, how you doing today? I am doing great. I am so excited. Our guest today, I mean, a bunch of people just, their minds will be blown. Yeah, yeah, let me tell you. On a whole different level. We've got two chains here today. We've got two chains. And I know a couple of brothers living in my house who are going to think I'm, like, the coolest dude. Yeah, because I have no credibility in my own house, so my nephews don't think that I'm cool. No, your nephews think you're cool. They don't think I'm cool. Oh, but you're with me. Don't they think you're cool? No, that doesn't count. See, this is what I'm saying. That doesn't count. This is what I'm saying. Well, why don't we just. Just get right to it? Let's just get right to it. So, our guest today is 2 Chainz, who is a Grammy Award-winning rapper, songwriter, actor, and entrepreneur. He is known for his platinum-selling music that has garnered more than 11 billion streams, as well as his business portfolio that spans restaurants. restaurants. hospitality, tech, and beyond. His New York Times best-selling memoir, which is sitting right here next to me, is called The Voice in My Head is God. Everybody should go out and grab one of these. It is a great read. It's a truth-teller. A truth-teller, but it's a fun read. And without further ado, let's bring out our new pal, 2 Chainz. 2 Chainz! How are you doing? How you doing, man? I'm blessed, man. Thank you. This is an honor. You a busy dude. A little bit. Very busy. You got a tour going on. You got a prom going on. Yeah. You got a college graduate getting ready to go to college. No, not college. High school graduate getting ready to go to college. You juggling a lot of stuff. So, this is my daughter. I got it. I don't need your help until I need your help. When really, we could have fixed this in the first place. So, my daughter now is on her second prom dress. Made no sense. The first one came. I never even knew this. The first one, she ordered from overseas. The man at the door said he need money for tears before he can even give. I didn't even know you paid a tear at the door. At the door. I didn't even know that. You probably don't. I just so fixed it. I never heard of that. He said, or I can just take the box with me. So, now this is my daughter's dress from, Lord, I don't know, Russia. I don't know where she ordered this. I don't know where she ordered this dress from. You get the dress. You don't even like the dress. But you really getting the dress based on a picture, which I understand. Cool. And then you get another dress that you love. So, I'm happy about that. And then today, you go get some lashes. And I've never heard of this. You get all your lashes done, but then you don't like them. So, then you got to do, you know. So, I'm just really going through that. But I'm not there going through it. Well, hold up. Let's back up for a minute. When did you start? When did you start getting prom dresses without going to the store and trying it on? Oh, wake up, Rip Van Winkle. Come on, man. Where you at? Yeah, they tapping and zapping and stuff. It's different, man. You know how they'll be using, you know, AI in a minute to put. They probably already are to put different dresses on with the different house style. So, you know, kids. We all have them. We all love them. And, you know, that's that. Here's the thing about that, though. The fact that she's a self-starter. Right? Yeah. That she does want to do stuff on her own. That's true. You know, that. Can't be mad at that. That's a good sign. You know, that's a sign that mom and dad did something right. Well, 2 Chainz, we want to get into all your history. And we really want to talk about your best-selling novel. And congratulations. You told me you didn't even know you were on the best-sellers list. I mean, I knew when I knew. But you weren't looking for it. But I didn't know when other people knew, maybe, you know. Because I just really had my head. I had my head down. And a very hectic schedule. Maybe a little bit more ramped up than when I'm promoting a project. Definitely, if it wasn't more ramped up, it was on different platforms that I normally went to. And, I mean, it just paid off. I guess my transparency, my honesty, of course, my debonair, you know, intellect, other things. It just came shining through. Your vulnerability does. It means a lot for you to embrace your story and to be able to tell it. It's such a clear, you know, it's just you bring clarity to stuff in a very special way. What was the process of writing your first book like? So, I came up with the idea to talk about intuition and how it's like my gut feeling and this divine guidance that I've been using for a very long time. And really hadn't talked about it or shared it in any music, any platform, any interview. It was almost like this secret sauce that I had, right? For example, when I started working on the book, I found my father was incarcerated. A good part of my life, which we talk about in here. And so, I found a stack of his letters. I don't know how I found this, but they were from 2003. And they were around the holidays. My father's birthday is on Christmas. So, these letters were from like Thanksgiving to Christmas. Now, when I read them, now they're over 20 years old. But now when I read them now, I have a way different understanding for some of the things we were talking about. From the things that they were eating. From the language that he was using. Comparing, you know, the things that he was saying as far as like, he wasn't calling himself an inmate. It was another term he was using. What they ate on Thanksgiving. What football game was going on. I'm reading all this. But it was something that I noticed on the back. And I've always noticed this. On the back of every letter, it was God is love. On the envelope. I ripped the envelope. I read what's inside. But it was on the envelope. The whole time. It would say, God is love. And it really hit me one day that maybe that's just what it is. It's that simple. God is love. If it got love in it, it has God in it. And so, I started. That's when the title came. The voice in my head. It's got to be God. You know, you hear God. You're made in the image of God. God is inside of you. God is. So, I'm thinking. You know. It just felt like it hit me. So, then I got really excited. Started using a bunch of my, like, musical resources to put the book together. Even with the audio part. Of course, I read my own book. I love reading. I added, like, production. So, on some of the scenes that I described, you'll hear tires screeching. Or you'll hear sirens. And it's just. It just. I just made it really fun to do. Put together. A little bit of that comes from somewhere. Can you tell us about your mom? Who I got to meet on FaceTime. Yeah. Just now. She was gardening. Yeah. She was. She was out in the yard. She didn't know how to flip a foam around and show me her garden. You know you're not supposed to. You're not supposed to FaceTime women without telling them. But I was like, you know. She didn't seem like she minded. But she. Look. When you left the room, she was like, you got to see my yard. I got black mulch. We on that tour. I'm like, mom, you know you're going to need some more of that black mulch. You know. It's cool to have yard talks with your mom. Like, you know, that black mulch ain't going to last all summer. You better get some. Because we had. I did this for you already. I crawled for you. Well, you know what? I got hay now. So, anyway, we just had that conversation. But my mom is. She'll be 76 in July. Her and my oldest are born on the same day. It's insane. And growing up with my mom. She's always been there for me. She's always been a supporter of anything that I've done. But a lot of my growth came from the nature aspect of just being outside. Playing sports. Mm-hmm. Riding the bus. Meeting friends. It just, you know, like my life, my elementary was different from my junior high. It was different from my high school. I played on all these teams. I even went to college. So, all of these are like chapters in my, in the book of life. Yeah. And you, and all of those situations, I assume, gave me this resilience and stuff like that. Gave me a perspective. You got coaches. That if. If they are a good coach, they could act as father figures sometimes. They have, you know what I mean? So, just like those things, when I look back, teachers. It's some teachers that know how to be impactful, you know? So, in my upbringing, there was a lot of that, too. It wasn't just my mom. My mom was there. Mm-hmm. She didn't abandon me or anything like that. But a lot of the, my teachings really came from, like, people outside my family. Mm-hmm. Well, we are definitely going to talk about hoops at some point here. But I am. pretending to be my sister now and I want to know know, what was little 2 Chainz like? Like your first memories and what that was like, what the smells were, what you ate, how you grew up when you were little. Yeah. When I grew up, my mom, my mother and father were together, I want to say to maybe six or seven. So I can actually remember some of those times. My daddy had a yellow Cadillac with a yellow leather and he had a black Cadillac. He had two Cadillacs. He wore cowboy hats. He was a hustler. My mom, ever since I can remember, dabbled in real estate, like property, loan management, loan officer, whatever. Me, always the only child. And my mom, my mother tell you that she didn't, she don't tell you this with a smile on her face, that she didn't want to have me. Like this is my dad's idea. She didn't want to have kids. Yeah. And she said, I hurt really, really bad. And my dad didn't want to help a girl. So she say, he like push and she like, you come, she turned to the ex, you come push. And she says, so, you know, I've been asked for like a brother or whatever. So she says, you know, she went on and told me when I, you know, like, baby, you hurt me so bad that I had my tubes tied, clipped and burnt. How do I know this exact phrase? That day I had you and burnt. Ain't no, there's no way. I'm like, man, you didn't think she was like that day. I didn't want to see you. I was mad at your dad. But obviously, you know, when it became just me and her, we became best friends. We became locked in and, and, um, those memories, are just like, you have those survival stories, but it's not like any other, nothing that you can't, a hurdle that you can't come across, man. We had encounters with, um, the law. We had encounters with, um, you know, maybe the neighborhood that we were staying in. And what age were you, is just, was it just the two of you? From probably eight, nine on, you know, and my mom, we stayed in, um, so when I explain certain things that are, you know, I'm not going to say, I'm not going to say, I'm not going to say, are urban. On this show, I will talk about like the word trap, right? It's something that you hear. And don't feel like you have to, you know, uh, just, you know. Just be me, right? Yeah. It always works. Yeah. Exactly. You know, we know what you're talking about. You're talking to us. Yes. You're not talking to the audience. Okay. So a trap, that's good. There's not a lot of audience in here. That's right. Yeah. So the trap, um, the trap. The trap is a place where, uh, people come and they solicit, they buy things from this place. It's normally an apartment complex. They come and buy, most notably drugs or whatever. They come from that place. What I would like people to understand is that my mother lived in the trap, like in paid rent or section eight or whatever the heck we had in the place where people would come in, college students get whatever they needed, leave. So I lived in a neighborhood. And so I say that to say that the neighborhood, it just automatically influenced you like any other neighborhood. And my examples are that if I was born in Hawaii, I would be like a surfer. Yeah. I promise you, like, I think the whole neighborhood was like, let's go. You'd be the best surfer. Yeah, I'd be fine. You know? And if I was from Colorado, we'd be like, Craig, let's go skiing this weekend. But I'm from a place where this is all they did. And when I try to explain, like, you know, who I am and what I am, it's actually knowing that I'm staying at a place and my mother is paying rent at a place where people come and they solicit and they buy drugs and they want stuff. And now normally in a neighborhood like this, if the older people in the neighborhood, if they notice something, if they notice like a bright light in a kid, they'll tell them, you stay away from this. They didn't notice that with me. So they told me you need to come on out. You're here and you need to do this to help take care of your family. So for a long time, what I was doing didn't feel like it was wrong at all. Yeah. You know, it didn't feel like it was wrong. I did it. I did it in my neighborhood. I did it in school. I just hustled. I trapped. I did that. And that will put, that will grow you up faster than a lot of things. You know what I'm saying? Just period. The loss of innocence at an early age really helped develop who I was. Because when you're at 14, 15, you're learning how to do money orders at the time to pay this Georgia Power bill, whatever it is. And you got, you're responsible for this. And also, I'm someone who just enjoys school. So I wasn't going to drop out to try to, which was like a trend when I was coming up. A lot of kids were like, I ain't going to school. I enjoy dressing. I enjoy the women. I enjoy learning. I enjoy literally learning. I didn't make a seat at college. I talk about that a lot, too. Like, on purpose. Just like, let me see how I feel. Be normal. Just be like an average student. This is what y'all be doing? This is what you mean? You couldn't do better than this? Yeah, like, I don't feel average like y'all. But for the most part, I enjoy school. I'm like, loving school. But still, like, got this dark side where I'm up all night. I'm outside. I'm sitting on an abandoned car. But I'm reading my book for tomorrow. You could do it with your eyes closed. Yeah, I'm still reading. It's the most weird. I can see it right now. I'm sitting on the back of a car. Street light. I'm reading. Somebody's like, let me get this. I'm doing this. It's still like. And then people the next day, like the teacher, they asked a question. I'm like, ooh. And they're like, man, you ain't reading. I know the answer. I can't wait to tell y'all. Music to my ears. Yeah. But you know, I hear you talk about this and who you were. See, this was the part about me. Like, you said no adult. Saw the special in you. Enough to tell you not to be in the trap. But you had to have known that they were wrong. Now, you had to go out there and do it because that was the way of life. And you could do it because you could pretty much do anything. If you put your mind to it, you know, you could ski, surf, whatever, whatever was before you. Didn't the instinct tell you I'm better than they think I am? One of my favorite parts of traveling is seeing how locals actually live. You can hit all the famous touristy spots, but I always remember the little neighborhood coffee shops or restaurants or parks even more. That's the stuff that sticks with me long after you get home. I was back in one of my old neighborhoods for a visit. I was able to take my family to some of my favorite spots. We went by a couple of restaurants. The restaurants I love and the bookstore I frequented. And that's why I want to tell you about listing your space on Airbnb. If you're traveling at all this year, listing your home on Airbnb is not just a practical option for your space. It can also be a fun opportunity to show off your neighborhood. You can earn a bit of extra income all while providing an authentic local experience for travelers from all over the world. And on top of that, listing with Airbnb means your home won't be sitting empty. It's a totally unused while you're away. Trip will win. Every time I travel and opt for booking a space on Airbnb, I always end up discovering parts of a city I would have never found otherwise. It's the little unique touches that really add up and make a trip truly memorable. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.com slash host. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance, a company committed to helping people move. Move forward and live fully. Mish, I've been thinking about how overwhelming big life decisions can feel these days between the endless stream of information, social media, and that constant FOMO the kids talk about. Do you feel like people are overthinking things more than they used to? Or is it just harder to make a choice when we have so many options? No, I think it's a little bit of both. You know, I think with so much information coming in, we just have so. There's so much more to process. And, you know, there's only so much the human brain can take in. And then, yeah, we feel inundated with choices. We feel like there are too many options. But most importantly is having a strong team. You know, learning to let go that I can't make every big decision, you know, by myself and I shouldn't. So I surround myself with really smart people that I can count on. I let go of a lot of things. I let go of a lot and trust that they're going to, you know, do their job and bring me the information that I need to do my job. So I've just learned that it's, you know, it's no victory for me to do these things alone, making these big decisions alone. As the kids say, facts. For me, knowing I have a solid circle to talk things through is usually what helps me get clarity. Progressive knows that big decisions at any stage of life can feel daunting. why having the right support and resources makes all the difference. Progressive's up payment program falls under their broader Open the House initiative, a multi-year effort focused on helping more people achieve home ownership. Right now, they're expanding the up payment program, offering up to $13,500 each in down payment assistance to at least 200 eligible first-time buyers. They've already committed more than $16 million since 2024 to help make home ownership more accessible. At the end of the day, Progressive wants people to feel seen and as individuals whose needs matter. Because this is your life, and it should be taken seriously. Learn more about the up payment program and Progressive's commitment to first-time home buyers at progressive.com slash homebuyers. slash open the house, where homebuyers can access more housing resources and support to empower them in their housing journey. This episode is brought to you by Duluth Trading Company. I've realized there are two kinds of clothes in my closet. There are the ones that feel good until you actually have to do something with your hands, and the clothes you end up reaching for over and over because they can handle whatever the day throws at you. Duluth Trading Company makes gear that's built to last. Whether it's their durable work pants, moisture-wicking shirts, comfortable everyday layers, or even their famous underwear, every detail is thoughtfully engineered for the way people actually work and live. Because you work your butt off, you deserve a brand that does the same. I'm wearing one of their shirts right now. I always reach for it when I've got to get some yard work done, but I still might need to pop inside and get it done. Every now and again to do some recording, like today. They're here for the people who work their butts off just like they do. Duluth Trading Company. Shop online or visit one of their 60-plus stores nationwide today. What happens is when you're immature and young, sometimes people doubt it can seep into you. Yes, yeah. You know, I can't sit here and say that my self-confidence has been at a high level my whole entire life. I have felt like I had something different apart from for sure because I attracted people. Like I could sit at a lunch table by myself and everybody want to come eat around me. This is eighth grade. So I saw that part. But someone can project some doubt on you. Yeah. And you can feel that sometimes, you know, you may listen to it sometimes. But when I came up, because I'm around people, you know, my upbringing, I used to hang around older people too. Like I didn't even feel, you know, when I was 15, like hanging around a 15-year-old would have been, there's no way I could have hung around a 15-year-old when I was 15. I'd already went to juvenile. I was already like, I was already. You a grown man. No, I'm a grown. I couldn't even hang with no, but I remember telling the kid that I went to somebody's house. We like grown kids, whatever that means. And I said something about Santa Claus. These people don't kick me out there. I was like, I didn't know this man is like, he might be 12 or 13, still big. So this lady, I'll never forget it. Jonathan, if you're watching, I hadn't even been over. I go over there and we talk about this. Mama looked at me so mad. My daddy been done told me. My daddy one time sent me to the trunk to get some honored gifts in the trunk. And then we stand in an apartment complex. So I say, I don't even have a chimney. I'm like, this doesn't make sense. You know, it just hit me. I'm like. And you thinking everybody should be able to figure this out. Yes. I'm like, I mean, we can, you know, if you want to play along with it, cool. But like, you serious? You really, you really believe? So I'm like, I say this. No folks sent me home, you know? So when I'm coming up, I'm hanging with people two or three years older than me, just because I feel like if I'm in the 10th grade, hanging with seniors or someone out of school, it's more of my speed or whatever. So when you graduate and you just out of school, not doing it, it's easier for you to project something on me as a sophomore or junior, because you ain't really doing nothing with your life or whatever. Or you working at a warehouse or whatever you're doing, you know what I'm saying? Let's go back to when you said, you're talking about how in most communities, people would see somebody like you and say, hey, you don't need to be going over there. You got too much going for you. That was me. You and I are not that different. I just had the folks in the neighborhood, because we, me shall tell you, we grew up in the same type of a neighborhood. It was, I'm older than you are, honestly, but I want our listeners and viewers to know that, because people might think we're close to the same age. He's old. He's 60, 100 years old. That was supposed to be a joke. No, I get what he's saying. So they steered me away. They were like, Craig, the same for you. You come up to the courts, gang guy's playing, everybody's playing, you be on this team, stuff's about to pop off, Craig, you better go home. Let's get you out of here. You somehow didn't have that. And- Dealt with all the stuff you dealt with, but you circled back around on your own or with the help of some other people. How did you circle back around? Because you circled back around and was a good enough student, straight A, you know, A and B, like you said, good enough ball player to be recruited, which I want to talk, what AAU team did you play for? I played for Team Georgia. Yeah, I played for Team Georgia. I'm sure I saw you play. Yeah, Coach, I- Outlaw. Yeah, yeah. I've done a bunch of recipes to coach outlaw, but yeah. And then, like, team sports help kids, y'all. Like, team sports, I've been seeing stuff go viral. Like, don't put your kid on the AAU team, all that stuff. Like, man, with social development, with, man, you, man, some kids, you know, some parents got more groceries at their house. It's just, it's just like, it's a part of like, for me, it was, it was definitely a part of my upbringing. And then another thing, I, when I was playing basketball, I was playing basketball, I was playing basketball, it was a God-given talent. Like, how my son has God-given talent, and I'm taking him to train three, four times a week. It wasn't like that with me. I just came out, I started playing when I was seven years old for MLK in Atlanta. They had an eight and under team. I started playing when I was seven. By the time I was nine, 10, I remember when I, by the time I was 12, I was like, I could hoop. But what happened was, when I got in high school, I was doing the one foot out, one foot in thing. So I was still playing ball, but I was still playing basketball. And I was still playing basketball. And I was still trying to like hustle for me and my mom, whatever, whatever the excuse is, you know what I mean? Or, and I did that. I did one foot in, one foot out all the way until I started doing music, literally. And it took me that long to realize that you can't do both. You have to let something go. You have to share it all. You can't have one foot in, one foot out and do this. And like, it's just not going to pay off. So with basketball, even though I got 11th grade, I had boxes of letters from D1, you know what I mean? It was like me and my other guy, DC, we would get letters. You know, it'd be so cool. Coach would come out. And I remember Lavender Northwestern letters. I remember Tennessee, that Tennessee orange. I remember Memphis. I remember the Tiger. I remember these schools. I'm getting these different letters. South Carolina, South Carolina State, Maryland, Maryland Eastern Shore. But I'm still one foot out. I'm still like, I'm literally having days where I have a friend and I say, hey, you go to the court today. I'm going to stay here and I'm going to sell drugs all day. And did you have your one foot in, one foot out because you weren't sure if you could make it or was it a survival thing? It was absolutely survival. So you had to have one. I had to do this. I had to do this. And then like, when you, it becomes like a brotherhood thing. This may be too much information, but you start- No, it's never too much information. You start going in. On packages with your friends. You're like, man, give me, you know, we going on a package and now this is ours. And you know what, Craig, man, you know, I hope yesterday, man, you go. I'll stay here and handle this spot. And you know, you go now. Now, Craig is not better than me and I'm supposed to be the basketball star of the crew, but I got to give him like a day off to go do something. And then the next day, it's crazy how organized it is. Next day, crazy. You know what? You know what, man? I hope, man, you go on out there with the boys. I stay here and I'll sell the stuff that we went in on. And this happened. And to me, I'm talking about all the way through college, all the way through college, all the way through. I start rapping. I'm still one foot in, one foot out. And it was this one thing that happened. One thing that happened. And it was, I went on tour with Lil Wayne. And after two months of being on tour with Wayne, when I came back to Atlanta, I went cold turkey. People thought I was, man, stop playing. Anyway, let me- And man, they did that for like a week. And I was just like, I don't do that. I don't do that. I don't do that. You can't be, it hit me. I had to actually see like, oh, this is how you become a super, I had a studio at the time. I had a Porsche. I had that. But I was still like doing it, kind of having the same concept, going on the road, leaving this with somebody. And just same concept. And I'm like, this ain't, literally. What did you see? What was Lil Wayne? What did you see with Lil Wayne? Structure, discipline, very habitual. Same thing over and over. Show, So, food, work all night, work, work, get some good news, thank you, work, show, work, make sure the family good, do this, work. Again, no extra, no, and it's just like. A level of professionalism. Man, and I hadn't, I'm great at observing, too. Like, I learned a lot of stuff from just watching, too. I learned how to drive a five-speeder stick from watching my cousin. I used to just be like, watching. Now, granted, the first time I took the trash out, I couldn't get over the speed bump. But I learned a lot from observing. So, when I'm with him and I'm just seeing how he move, I'm talking about from having a shelf so you don't have to eat bad, right? You don't have to eat, right? So, you got a shelf. You got somebody that, like, can drive you somewhere so you don't have to. Because a lot of times with creators, we write a lot of stuff in our head or think of stuff. So, just driving could be a problem. You just be like, I don't miss my exit. I don't miss the time. I'm on the one way. So, just having those things. When I got back, man, I got all that stuff. I mean, I got me a shelf. This is what I'm eating. Because you got to put the right stuff in you, put the right stuff to come at you. I started just making things more convenient. And I started being able to focus just on this. And my whole life changed. At what age did music sort of, you start thinking, and I know it's one foot in, one foot out, but you were thinking music might be a way for me. That's a good question. Oh, another good question. He's racking up good questions. The reason that's a good question is because most artists you see, they started very young. And I had a childhood, actually. Like, I had a childhood. A lot of rappers can't say they was on age. So, I had a childhood. So, on one of these podcasts, I can't remember, they made me call, like, a teacher. Like, I had to call a teacher on the spot, right? It was very informative. It was one of the most sweetest things that I ever heard about myself. Because she's never heard of me. She's never told me that her name is Miss Love. And when I got kicked out of school in my 12th grade year for selling cannabis. So, six teachers wrote letters to get me back in school. I remember Miss Love's letter. Clear. About not letting a child go to waste and how much I mean or whatever. So, I called Miss Love. And she remembered the letter. And she remembered what the other teachers said at the time. And she said that, I made her teach differently after I left. And she threw up a scenario that I don't even remember. When, you know, they used to ask us what we want to be when we grow up. You know, fireman, police, whatever. And she said that I said, I'm going to work for myself. And she said, I don't think, you know, I basically said entrepreneur. But I'm not even sure if I had this word at the time. But I knew for a fact that the thing that I was hearing, and I didn't want to do that. So. You know, we would say basketball player just to get them off our tail. Like, yeah, basketball. But deep down inside, I didn't feel like I was going to the NBA. Like, you feel. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Like, you know inside. Like, if you're around here, like, you up age and you lollygag. Like, I think I'm going to run. Yeah. So, I'm not going to the NBA. But I know I'm not going to, like, be in traffic at 7 in the morning on the way to work with, like, a coffee thing. I've never seen that. I never. I never saw that in my mind. I'm not going to be, like, running late, grabbing a briefcase, like, being in traffic or coming home. Like, I never. With a coffee? Yeah, you know. I never. I never. I just never saw that in me. Yeah. Right. So, it's older. I'm hanging with older guys once again. They rap. I'm just around and interested. Like, this is so cool. Watch it again. Yeah, watch it again. They rapping. They rap. They taking photos. Mm-hmm. You know. I don't. Just selling stuff at this car wash. But I'm watching these guys, and they say, um. So, then sometimes I would, like, play around, like, kind of try to, like, freestyle. And they're like, man, you ought to come to the studio and, you know, lay some of that stuff down. I'm like, okay. So, I'm learning again. I see how you do it. Mm-hmm. And, like, the second time I ever recorded, I got so much great feedback that I told myself, huh, you might be able to do this for a living. So, who gave you the feedback? It was just, like, so we put a compilation that was called Player Circle. We put a project out in a neighborhood, and then I also took it down to college. I went to school at Alabama State University. And this is CDs. CDs. Oh, yeah. We were just talking about CDs, y'all. This is CDs, y'all. Remember this? The young people. Yeah, CDs. You know, we would try to sell CDs out the trunk. Five dollars. Just try to make, you know what I mean? And I swear to you, people would say, you on here rapping? Man, I got this. I got this. It was almost like, bro, I did this. Like, I know I'm finna die later. Man, what? You on here? Boy, come on. Come on, boy. I can't wait. I ain't gonna lie. They started coming back. That was, though. That was, I started being like, yeah. Here we go. Here we go. You know, so I started hearing it. And so, I got other friends that's been rapping before me. And then, you know, they would talk to me like, oh, man, what made you say this? What made you come that way? And I was just like, you really just kind of like, talk about your life, right? By this time, I ain't been through so much. You're like, well, I can do this. I can do this. I can do this one now, you know? Had you ever kept a journal? Had you ever, did you, you know? I don't even write rhymes. Yeah, yeah. I work every night, so I don't. Yeah, I write every night. I mean, I work every night, try to record every night. So, I go on, I go through my whole day. This is how I'm thinking about it. This is how I think my mind works. I go through all day, and it just takes these little secret screenshots. And then, I hear a beat. And then, it'll just make me say something about Michelle Obama for some reason. Okay, put me in your next rap. Just remember this screenshot. It'll just be something. And so, a lot of my creativity comes from just being literally outside my house. Moving around. Going places. Going out. Seeing stuff. And, but I saw something where somebody had a journal. And although my handwriting sucks, I was like, it would be cool to like. Just be able to jot it down. Jot stuff down. But right now. That's not your process. I use. Okay, so, we go to the gym. We work out on our muscles. We do this right here. What's a brain exercise? Besides like a crossword puzzle, right? So, for me, my brain exercise or my brain push-up or pull-up is that I remember this stuff that I'm putting in my head. Yeah. It's like I still try to remember, use my mind. Like, you know what I'm saying? And I talk about my brain a lot, like gigabytes and how I don't have as much room left. Yeah. So, I don't remember things that don't mean a lot to me anymore. Like, if I'm out. I mean, hey, how you doing? I'm. Whatever. I don't have to like waste room in my mind to try to remember. But then if it's like. That sounds like getting old. That's it. It's getting wise. It is. It's getting wise. You don't need to remember nothing that don't mean nothing to her. Really. Can you, Craig? You remember, man. You're like, well, what the heck? I don't remember that. But I remember important stuff. If it's important. I know my daughter got a prom this weekend. I don't need to remember. But I'm not wasting my storage. Yeah. on something that just don't mean nothing to me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. So you rely on the storage in your head. Yeah, I try to work my. I try to use my brain. And do you still do stuff every night? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. I mean, I do stuff. It may come out. It may not. But I feel like creators, we're so delusional. We go to the studio, know nothing. Just a speaker and a news. And we go in there and we tell ourselves, we're going to make a hit. We're going to make a song. We're going to change our life, people's life. And we go in there and we swing hard every night. And sometimes it's a foul. Sometimes it goes. But we're musicians. Like myself, people don't write for me. So I have to go in there and create. But most people, if they write for you, you just come in and I just say this over. But if you're in there doing your own work, you're one of the most delusional people on the face of this earth. You're just like, okay, buddy. You're like. All right. All right. Press record. And then you hope an hour or two from late. Like, this guy might be okay. So that's very delusional for real. That's a delusional job to have. Kids, they keep wanting to be a rapper. Think about that. Going to work every night. Like, okay. We need one. All right. Well, you've done pretty good with your delusions. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This episode is brought to you by Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Again. If you haven't checked out the series Why Did I Get Married, now's the time. The first two are on Netflix right now. And this next one is going to be so much more than just a movie. It's an event. Because finally, after 15 years, Tyler Perry is bringing everyone back together for Why Did I Get Married Again. This time, the crew reunites in Italy as the next generation prepares for a wedding. What makes these movies stick with people is that they're honest. Nobody's pretending marriage is perfect. 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I wanted to feel it out and see what it felt like. But these hot flashes were happening every 15 minutes. And it's this rush of a feeling. I think it's really important that women are talking about it, because we're helping each other navigate the many, many challenges that come. And that's really why I helped found MITI, and why we treat all these women at MITI Health. So you can go to our website, which is joinmidi.com. That's joinmidi.com. And really, the website helps you navigate. You can book an appointment right there. We have availability in all 50 states. And you start your journey there. You can come with a book. You can book an appointment. You can book an appointment with one question, one issue. Or some women come and just say, what should I do? This back-to-school season, spend less on your kids with Amazon. You know, one thing nobody prepares you for when you have kids is how quickly they go through school supplies. 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Alabama State. I was riding with my boy, Twan. And she was sitting up there on the hill. Was she in school? She was in school. Little pretty, little bow-legged thing, Miss Obama. I said, man. He told me, he said, man, her name's Keisha. She from Atlanta, too. I said, for real? And she just had this complexion. It looked like she would have on makeup, but she never wore makeup. And then? We started dating, and then she would go to church. How'd you approach her? Like I'm him. Like, hey, you ready for this ride? I'm not sure what the words were, but I approached her. And she went. She bit me. And at this time, I'm in school. I'm still obviously hustling. I'm in Alabama, but I'm well-known in Atlanta. And her mom at the time, me and her mom are very. Cool and close now, but at the time, she like, I don't know if this is the guy for you, you know? So then I like, I bought Keisha a car, you know, did something like that, a little get-around, a little pay, a little cell phone bill. So the mom like, I'm not going to pay your stuff. I'm like, cool. I got it. So I had my own place, and she had her own. And then eventually, it didn't make sense. I'm like, I could pay him two bills. So we moved in together against like older people, you know, like shacking up and all of that. How old were you all? We were in college. So while you were at school, you moved in together. We were in college. And then she would go to church. This was really sealed the deal. She would go to church and take notes and then like highlight the notes and then like look at them later on, like it was a class, like later on during the week. I have a spiritual background as well. You know, I very much believe in God, you know, and going to church all the time is something I don't normally do. And especially now, I can't. Last time I went to church was, Mother's Day, maybe a year or two ago and lower before the church was over. It was a photo line down. I'm like, and then I didn't tell my mom. She just saw me in there and did that same look when we FaceTimed. Oh my God. I just snuck in there in the back. But with Keisha, we met then, you know, great friends. We laugh every day. People ask me to see like we laugh every single day. It's something that we just gonna laugh about every day. Became close. Built this union. Just love family. They all look like her. So that's a good thing. You know, that's a good thing. And man, you know, really ain't skipped a beat. I want to say that everything has been perfect, obviously, because nothing can be perfect, but I'll never leave. Like you did, right? Like you say, you pick a good partner. And I say this all the time to young men, you know, it's like, don't pick easy, you know, pick somebody that's going to help you win, right? Because if you were, picking your pickup basketball team, you would get somebody that could do everything. You're not going to pick somebody that just shoots and doesn't dribble. You know, everybody's got to be able to shoot, dribble, score, defend, right? And some, I think some men, you know, you cute. And it's like, well, you know what? Cute ain't gonna help you when you, you know, trying to raise good kids, you know, she got to have sense, you know, she's got to have her own hustle. She's got to have her own confidence. That means she has a voice and it may not be easy. She might not just, yes, you to death, you know? So, you know, excellence is hard on both ends. And some guys want easy and easy doesn't help sometimes, you know? And it sounds like Keisha is a all around player. And 2 Chainz, thank you very much. You got my sister to use a basketball analogy. It was really good. I mean, it just, she said, when you're picking a team, you want to win. It was a good, it was really good. And if you watch, if you watch this show, anytime I do that, it's like, why are you always talking about basketball? Yeah, you done rubbed off on it. That was a good one. That was a really good analogy too. Like, you got to pick the right team you want to win. And, and, and I'll wear her on that, even from a family aspect. So, so now I'm going to be my sister. So talk about your fashion because, I'm, you know, I'm trying to. You can, you know, tall, tall, you got the, you know, we already, that's, that's already a W in the column. You tall. Yes. You tall. You should be able to look good in everything. Yeah. So you tall. Now it's about finding out as we age and body does different little proportions and stuff. It's about you finding out what, what kind of lay on you the right way and make you feel comfortable. And is it tight bag? Is it sweats? Is it t-shirt? Is it jeans? You know what it is. And for me, I'm tall, dark, handsome, smart, all those things. And I have just always been into fashion ever since I was a kid. I've just always been in, I've always cared. Like a lot of people like don't, you know, care what it, but I've always just cared. Today I went, you know, a little green, a little pop. That little brown too? I mean, that was a creative, that's a creative color choice right there. To put that together right there. I gave myself a high five. I went in the mirror. I was like, this is good because I know what's coming on your show. So I didn't want to be, I didn't want to be, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, I know. I know. But they said something out to me, don't be wearing jewelry to make noise. I said, who's jewelry that is? Because my jewelry don't make noise. That stuff come out the bubble gum machine. If it's making our kind of noise, my stuff don't. I said, they must be sending that to some other rapper. I mean, I'm going to separate myself early on. My stuff don't make that kind of noise. But, uh, you know, it was just a day. It's a beautiful day out here in the sun. In California. So, you know, I did, I did about 40 pushups this morning. Say it's like, we're going to let the, we're going to let the guns out. It's light. It's light. I ain't going too much. You can do this, you can do this at the foot of your bed. And, um, and, uh, but I, I, the voice, it's crazy because I listen to the voice in my head when I'm putting clothes on. I, I, I listen to it for everything. It probably could be annoying to an average friend, but I listen to it for everything. I'm like, man, listen, it's telling me to do this. I can see my closet in my head. It's just like, it's the wildest thing. So with this, I guess, circling back to the book, I use, or this voice is just a part of most decisions that I make. So the voice literally, literally told me to put this on today. And I guess it worked out. Right again. Summer may be close to ending, but I'm still spending quite a bit of time on my feet, walking around, traveling, trying to squeeze every last bit out of this nice weather. So I appreciate anything that makes all of that a little more comfortable. Bombas is my go-to for socks. They're soft and cushioned where you need it, but still airy and sweat wicking. So your feet aren't begging you to call it a day before you are. I also think it's really cool how they make socks for a whole range of sports too. I grabbed a four pack of the all sport ankle socks, which are perfect for every day puttering around and maybe squeezing in the gym if need be. Bombas has the basics covered too, with super soft, breathable underwear and t-shirts. Plus for every item you purchase, an essential clothing item is donated to someone facing housing insecurity. One purchased equals one donated with over 200 million donations and counting. Head over to bombas.com/imo and use code IMO for 20% off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S.com/IMO. Code IMO at checkout. For adults with obesity or with excess weight and weight related medical problems, it's time to find out about Foundeo or for Glipron. 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Taking Foundeo with an insulin or sulfonylurea may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and may cause kidney problems. Once daily, Foundeo is available by prescription only in 0.8 milligram, 2.5 milligram, 5.5 milligram, 9 milligram, 14.5 milligram, and 17.2 milligram tablets. Learn more at foundeo.lily.com or call 1-800-LILY-RX. Now is perfect. It's perfect to talk to your doctor about Foundeo. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance, a company committed to helping people move forward and live fully. When I first became a homeowner, I was just absolutely racked with nerves. We waited until we saved up every single penny for that down payment. We weren't taking any chances. And today's homebuyers are dealing with even bigger challenges than we had back in the day. 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Head on over to Shopify.com/IMO and do something that millions of people wish they could have done. - Well, I know you brought a song for us to listen to, but before we get to the song, we have a listener question. - Okay. - That we tend to. - We try to offer some help. - We try and give some advice, some help. - Some opinions. That's the. Oh, and IMO. - And this question's from Leo. - "I've been interviewing for jobs for the past few months, and the last opportunity I got pretty far in the interview process before being told I didn't get the job. My self-confidence has definitely taken a hit, and now I either overthink everything or avoid trying altogether because I don't want to fail again. I keep wondering if this says something about my abilities or if I'm just not cut out for what I'm aiming for. Even though I know logically that failure is a normal part of growth, I can't seem to shake the feeling that I've fallen behind or let myself down. How do you reframe failure in a way that actually helps you grow instead of letting it chip away at your confidence, and how can you get back to taking risks when failure starts to feel more discouraging than motivating?" From Leo, who's in his 20s in Ohio. - First of all, I would tell Leo that that is normal to feel, to have some type of feeling if you don't get something that you wanted. I can also tell you that, you know, if you don't get something that you wanted, I can also tell Leo that he was qualified enough to be on their radar, but may not be what they needed at the time. I can also tell him that a company should not let him know what his value is. You know, they didn't define his full potential. They literally could have been looking for something else. And also, the confidence comes when you show up for yourself. It's not about the wins. You got to like, when you make these promises to yourself and you really like follow up on your promises, I think that's how you build confidence. And yeah, you will qualify. So you got to, that's me by the silver lining. You got to take optimism, even though you're not qualified. Even from the nose. So even with that, you will qualify. You are on the radar. So it's not a complete, like, loss. It's a lesson. And it's something that's also, it's some experience that you can take with you. It's something that you can look back on and say, you know, I don't know if it's like how you came to the, where your own time, where you, the small things. I think you start looking at the smaller things when you don't get, something that you want, like, you know what I'm saying? You take that and you just add to it. Like really, the failure part is something that just don't be on resumes. Like everybody that you see up here has failed before. Everybody that you look up to has failed before. We just don't like, life is about highlights. That's how social media has. So you're looking at, even the people that you look up to fail more than you. Man, you, me, I fail more than I can even count. And so you know that the people that you look up to fail too, but they didn't let that, you know, be permanent and they didn't let that define them at that moment. At 20 something years old, are you serious? You know how much stuff and how much growth and how much opportunity, and the way you don't get that opportunity is by being down on yourself, feeling sorry for yourself and just staying in the house. Long as you get out, long as you mingle, meet and greet, man, God just might have something else that's better for you. So, but you can't quit and give up right now. Like this is a part of life. It like, it has to have little moments that discourage you it's like it's called life i know like People don't get it, but that's a legit part of life. This little discouraging part, the let me down feeling, that's so much part of life. But you come out of this way stronger than you come in, and you learn. The fact that you were considered lets you know that you have a place in trying to do whatever you're trying to do. Well said. That's my opinion, y'all. That is a beautiful opinion. It is. It's good when it was Leo. Leo, you're 20-something years old. I'm about to quit. Don't do that. Boy, for real, what? Don't. Don't do it. No, man. You'd be excited. I read your book, man. I pray it didn't work. Don't do that. It's something in there. Even the whole experience of going through that, you got to take that and add it to everything moving forward. The whole experience, the whole process. Yeah. Honestly, it's character building. That's what it is. The failure is good for character building. That's how I got here, I think. Losses. Losses helps build character. It sure does. Life is like a big muscle, and you got to build it up, and every failure is like a push-up. Okay. It's a rep. It's a rep. And the more reps you get, the stronger you get at life. And you don't get the strength without the reps. You don't use another basketball analogy. You got to practice your shot. Yeah. You know? And for every shot you take, you're going to miss something. If you consider that a fail, then you stop practicing. You know? So a lot of us get through because we build up the muscle for life, and then we have a muscle for failure, too. Because you got to learn. What's your process for getting through failure? We all figure it out the older we get, you know? And some of it is, like you said, is disappointment. It is. You know? Okay. That's the first step in your process is to be disappointment. That's normal. Maybe to play in quitting. You know, maybe you tell yourself that because you're mad. That's normal. All that's completely normal. It's like, that's good. And that's part of your process. But you can't stay in that phase. You better be moving on to the, okay, now let me get myself together. I pouted for a day, you know? And I was ridiculous in thinking that it was just me. You did that. You know, what was you? Now you move into, what's your plan? You know, now start thinking about what you're going to do. You know? First of all, I got to start thinking a different way. I got to turn that around. So I think we at this table, we've just been old enough. We failed enough. Yeah. That we know. We know that it's going to take a second. Yeah. But we will, we will come out of it. And then you, you know, now you know how to do it. You know how to fail. Yeah. You've done that. You're good at it. You've done it. And everybody's got to get good at it. And the more you do it, the better you get at it. And then the fear goes away. You know? Because it's the fear that keeps you from the opportunity. The fear and doubt. You know? Then when that gets involved, it's hard to shake that. Because you, we can't hear that either. Only you can hear that. Yeah. And Leo's so young, I'll say one thing. And this is for the parents out there. Don't protect your kids from having failures all the way up until they're 20 so that their first failure feels like a catastrophe. That's better than being hurt. That's it. We protect them from that. Oh, my God. Man, when they get it, it's just such a traumatic experience. They told me no. Yes. Yeah. Never heard that before. Tell them no, Earl. You hear that, Keisha? That's why they don't ask me. They don't ask me now. I'm going to make sure they know what no feels like. I'm going to strike a dare with you, Keisha. This is what no feels like. Ask your daddy. Nope. I used to say that the girls tell me that, you know, Mom, you used to tell us no. And we'd be like, why? Because you need to know what no feels like. Yeah, you need to feel that. Especially for kids like ours who, you know, there's no natural no. Nepo babies, man. We grew up with a lot of no's. It was just no, we can't afford it. No, you can't have that. That was the true answer, no. It was the craziest thing. I have an aunt. I have an aunt, and she used to say, y'all can't go outside. It's too hot out there. Y'all can't go outside. It's too cold out there. I used to be like, yo, when is a good time to go outside over here? Because, you know, if it's weather, period, I can't go out in the rain. I can't go out if it's too hot. I can't go out if it's too cold. But it's like, man, they just had to tell us no. Well, you can't go out there too hot. They're preparing you for life. These kids run up and down the street. Yeah, they're preparing you. So, yeah, it's the little things. It's the little things. But you brought us a treat. You're going to make me cry. Nah, so this next song, I wrote this next song for my dad. So this song that I'm going to play for y'all, I'm going to play a piece of this song for y'all. It's the hardest and easiest song that I've ever recorded in my whole entire life. In my whole entire life. It was the hardest and the easiest. It's a song, it's called Pops. It has the. It has the Luther Vandross, Dance With My Father sample. And I talk about, you know, what I didn't really get to finish telling him before. My father passed in front of me in 2012 in the hospital. And I put the song out because after opening up this portal and doing this book, I realized that even in his absence, how much he meant. To me, and how much he's still a part of everyday activities in my way of thinking. And so I put this song out. It's been out maybe a week. And I've been getting some very long text messages from men. I didn't know men very, very long. But I've read them. And it's been some good feedback. And it's just like a song for the fathers. I know we have so many songs about our mothers. Because that's just like black boy joy at its peak. But like, you know, I had to do something for my father. Like, I just had to, you know, for real. All right, well, let's listen to it. To dance with my father again. I know a lot of men out there don't express themselves. I miss my pops because to me, he was a hell of a man. He taught me how to box, cook, and shoot out a can. Don't know if I can drive the little grange again. I went to my father's father's house, popped up. I asked my granddaddy. Well, my dad locked up. He say he went to court. They kept him and let him go home. Now I'm out here all alone. It wasn't the first time. Ain't crying over spilled milk. Holler at me when you sell to what you need, pimp. I'm getting older now. I'm just trying to build with you. I can't wait till I can chill with you. You gave me your release date. I'm coming to get you. Like Expedition Me, my mama and Keisha. Told pop she stand with me and he thought about it. Got him a suit sale. Conan got him a whip. That's when I was a child. So from this point on. I'm ready for the whole thing. Yeah, man. Yeah, so my dad, he's been going to prison. It really sucks. So I'm going to tell you these two little instances. And I'm just tell you, it just makes me feel a certain way. So my dad, the last time he went to prison, he was like in his 60s. Legit. So I was. I just went and popped up on my granddad. He was like, your dad, you know, your dad went to court and they killed him. I'm like, really? I'm like, this man too old to keep getting in trouble. So my dad go to prison. Like, I don't know, maybe two or three years. So I'm like. By this time, I got a house. I got my own house. And I'm doing the rap. And I've been writing him, telling him I'm doing this rap thing. But he's not really getting it. And I'm really not probably explaining it well because I'm not a superstar. But you know what I'm saying? But I'm still I'm still hustling to a little bit. And I'm doing my rap thing. So when he get out, me and Keisha, my mom, we go pick him up in prison. And he got like stuff he want to do as soon as he get out. He need a cell phone. He need a suit. He just need, you know, he need a bank account because he got some money for all this stuff. So he gets out. You know, I'm moving in with me. Like, so the first seven years we stayed together. And like the last seven years of his life, we stayed together. So he's, you know, he's staying at the house. And my pop started. They hanging with my friends at the studio. I'm telling you about when we hustling and all this. I would literally get there. My pop car already be there. When my friends put him to the side, you know, your daddy's he back hustling again. I'm like, this is just this is crazy to me. Like he taking it, getting his little package, driving out of town with it. And so when my daddy got out, I bought him like this. It was like $3,500. It was like a Ford Taurus, like a whatever. I go on the road and I come back. And it's this Cadillac in my driveway with a red bow. I'm so naive. I don't know who car this is. It can't be. So I walk in the house. Keisha, who car that is? She said, I still don't get it. Of course, she mad because pop ain't paying no bills. And he in here come coming back with new Cadillac CTSs. I come up. Man, who car is he? Like it's mine. What a car I bought you. He snaps on. Well, Simmons on me. I'm like. around the fourth door, bro. think this is but i've been in jail i'm trying you know he gets on me like i'm trying to live i ain't gonna be living too much longer i was like hey brother congratulations on your car you know i'm saying he gets his car he doing his hustling you know he gets a black one he trades that didn't get a white one pop doing good got his own he's doing very very good and then he go through i don't know what he went to like alabama for like two weeks did not tell me why just said i'm straight don't come looking for me when he gets back my dad always kept his shirt off like he so he has this long um heart on this side he has this long incision from like on his chest he's laying down so i'm looking i'm like where you get that from he's like i had a little procedure done oh my goodness i'm like it was weird but so he had this red pillow heart pillow that had um signatures on it i'm looking at the pillow they like you better not come reading it has nurses saying all this little stuff about him on his pillow so fast forward that i have a friend that's a doctor and for some reason this little red pillow came up and she says basically that's not a good sign like he in order to get that pillow you have to go through a real procedure like this is like you don't just get this from going in and usually people who get that don't live that much longer i lose this friend not friends with him i don't think we talk what are you talking about you know get mad get back pop start going through whatever you're going through you end up being in the hospital so i talked to him i say i'm in there with him for like i don't know a week or two and uh maybe a week it was a week and i had a show in savannah georgia which is a couple of hours from atlanta georgia i sent my whole team and i said i've been living staying in the hospital with my dad i said if he says cool i'll be down there later i'm in the hospital with him i say hey pops i got a showdown in savannah he said oh man you know he says i ain't about to die no time soon this is what it came out his mouth he says i ain't about to die no time soon so i said oh okay and then the next thing he says is because he's sarcastic he says the dope man is my role model because i had a song that said the dope man was my role so when he say that i'm like oh man i give him a fist pound when i give him the fist pound he says do it big epps that's our last night i never i can see the fist in my head i remember fishing him down he said do it big epps i go do the show in savannah when i come back the man on a a breathe i never talked to him again he breathed on some so i come in i was having they said around two o'clock he started losing oxygen it was just weird as hell because he just told me yeah at 10 11 that right i come back and so this where it got really hard for me to say really hard for me he's trying to take the tubes out his mouth and if you take the the nurse is saying if you take him out you could die this way so they want to do what handcuff him to the bed i know this man don't want to be handcuffed because i just know he don't right to this day and i can't really even put myself there i can see him looking at me saying don't do that if you don't have them take the he can't say he just but i see him looking at my i'm reading his so i say take them off man take it off and they say you should take them take them handcuffs you know literally real i've never seen it for real handcuffs in like he doesn't you know take them off and it's a natural reaction i guess because some in his throat to go back and try to get man mr obama i do this like four or five times put the handcuffs back on take the handcuffs off just don't even know what to do i'm like you know i tell y'all listen to the boys my head at this time i don't have no i'm looking i'm trying to look and he i'm like i don't know what to do and it was just that emotion yeah yeah something i never just want to recreate but that emotion eventually you know he started losing ice and the nurse came in and did everything they did and you know she comes out and she says you know um you know if we keep doing that he's not going to be uh with a vegetable you know uh he won't be able to you know cognitive this and and uh we already broke a couple of his ribs and i don't care and you know she come out the next time she said listen i lost my father too i don't want to hear you know i knew where she was going yeah and it's just me i don't have my mom you know so i'm mad at my mom like why you didn't come up here keisha is asleep and i had to just like deal with that whole thing alone uh just so him going from yeah making that call instead of going from zero to 60 is like breaking going from 60 down to zero yeah you know i'm saying just being a part of that and so that's why i felt like it was appropriate to align that song with this book because i i use a lot of his lessons and some experiences that we shared together in there and so i mean i come up with this idea i'm like man i really like that luta song and it makes it feel like you know me and my dad never danced together anything like that but we smoked together we hung out together we laughed together and so i did that song and uh my mom was like my mom what you trying to do you know that that that was my husband now you trying to make me cry over here and stuff like that so it's been like uh you know a little yeah little joke in the house and then i played it for my kids having met my dad the other two kids did not meet my dad so like my 10 year old son like oh man you that's the whole story right there you know i mean so it's just something that i feel like i feel like it'll do well because it's relatable but i didn't necessarily do the song for it to like be a club banger or nothing like that yeah that wasn't this is your fourth therapy yeah it was i mean it just flowed it just flows straight through it flowed the second verse it flows the same way it just it just flows straight through and uh yeah so it's the song is you know i i would say consider it my well it's another thing that you know it's like even normalizing how you you found out about your i mean that's crazy way to find out that your father was dying you know yeah that he never ever fully told you that he was having heart failure and you know um and so you didn't have time to process you know so of course you're gonna be like he was just alive yeah he just told me we just fine it's like how how could this happen um what y'all you know how it is y'all killed you know how black folks i'm gonna sue this off y'all just everything man when it really just be their time going in like a lot of time like i i've lost so it's it's you lose you lose you i've lost people um with that situation my dad was like the boys don't cry type of dude yeah uh you know what you crying just holding back tears but about to pass out holding back tears around him and then just like when that happened man that just was everything that was back i need a windshield wipe i need a windshield wipe i literally could not see i just remember sitting in the car just be like being like because he's really like my best friend i'll ask my dad questions that i want i ask him something because i know he won't judge me that i won't even like say to a friend of mine you know i'm saying so anyway that's been missing that happened and i buried he well he got cremated but we had his funeral on july 4th 2012 so it's been july 4th is my oldest daughter's birthday really i was in i was in some church just booing away i don't even remember how but they say people was and that this is the thing i learned this man dead they talking about yeah man he played football like he played football you know you just be hearing stuff coming in and i'm hearing them people talking i heard because he never he's one of them people that you know how the daddies were so hard back then they couldn't really say they couldn't tell you they was proud he just bragging to all these other folks yeah i'm like this man ain't never told me this stuff like boy your dad used to come to the house and boy and i'm like oh my god i'm like oh my god i'm like oh my god i'm just sitting there just like so that was just like you know it was it was an experience that i never i wouldn't wish that on nobody but it's inevitable you know saying it was inevitable it had to happen and uh it made it definitely made me stronger and we appreciate you sharing it man it's uh man you are i think i got something for y'all though because it's it's a thing i got this book that deals with art and i got the song that i just played and where is this earnest around i might have something for y'all because i wanted to leave y'all with something like this before i go oh my god yeah so this is art too and i think i wanted to share this with you guys because father day is a piss oh oh dude yeah so oh man yeah man so you trying to make me cry hey bro they say it's therapeutic to get one out here and there so i think this is dope how'd you get that she's one of our favorite mommy that's one of our favorite favorite photographs i mean he he looks like um the guy that did centers a little bit with his mustache uh ryan coogler that's what he was yeah he kind of looks but at the end of the day i wanted to give you guys something because honestly i never thought i would be on a platform like this for my book i never it never crossed my mind oh man well that's you're too kind you are you are one of one thank you you really are i mean this is one of our favorite pictures with this is one of our favorite pictures you can see why though he got everything in it that everything in there oh my gosh well i'm gonna be teared up thank you for that you're welcome man it's it's it's been a gift to spend this time with you thank you yeah you know this was a gift gift to us it's gonna be a gift to everybody who's gonna see this you are a special man um congratulations on everything you know and just keep being you thank you you know keep sharing your wisdom uh you're gonna help a lot of people you know in another format you already do that through your music um and uh it's just been a real pleasure thank you thank you i'm emma greed host of aspire with emma greed the podcast where i sit down with people who don't just dream big they build big if you love michelle and craig on imo just wait until you hear their episode on my show michelle told me about the moment at 26 when she told me that she was going lost her father and her best friend in the same year it made her walk away from her corporate law career to figure out her why that's the kind of conversation you get on aspire we talk about mindset ambition and doing the work that actually moves the needle so if you're ready to raise your standards and take charge of the life you're building aspire is where you start follow and listen to aspire with me emma greed available wherever you get your podcasts