Rich Paul, Druski, Cordae & Steve Stoute

- Lisa, tell them about our new show. - We have a new podcast. It's called Don't Lie to Me. I'm Lexi Juanu, where two best friends, 22 years apart, but so close at heart. - And I'm Lisa de Julio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions, and at this point in my 50s, I've lived it all. - Now in my 30s, being the founder of new shoes, good taste is my business. - Listen on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. - Didn't catch the latest Roland Martin unfiltered podcast? - Here's what you missed. - There should not be a single law enforcement agency, and it's not have body cameras. - It's real. - Black farmers have been under attack. This is just the latest example of them just slapping DEI on anything. - It's raw. - And I'm sitting here going, they are playing y'all for fools. - Catch Roland Martin's daily commentary on the Black Information Network. - And download Roland Martin unfiltered on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast. - Oh, wherever you get your podcasts. - You broke me. You do not deserve happiness. - I'm Andrea Gunning. On this season of betrayal, Carl thought he was living a normal drama-free life until the messages started. - Someone's not gonna make it out of this alive. - Every piece of evidence pointed to the wrong guy. - He was not going to stop unless we stopped him. - Listen to betrayal season six on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. - What up, this Jay Valentine co-host of the R&B Money Podcast alongside my brother, R&B legend, tank. Together we've built a space for artists, executives, and fans of R&B music to reminisce and tell the real stories behind the music. - I have no money. I was hood famous. - They think you're gonna get everybody out. - We lived in a project and real love came out. They hear them music and we had nothing. - From Smokey Robinson to Mary J. Blige, B2K to Jill Scott. If you're a super dedicated R&B fan, this is where you belong. Listen to R&B Money from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. - I mean, I said he's exact words to the brunt. We can take this risk because you make more money off the court. annually, do you do on the court. So the worst scenario for you, you have to lose both arms and both legs, not to get your money, right? So we're able to structure in a way to where we protect him, just kept going up the whole thing. - On this episode of The Shop Uninterrupted, Maverick Carter and Paul Rivera are joined by four days. - You can only guess how much Drew Ski made versus all the actually, y'all information is public. And I'm like, oh, thank God, maybe you don't know how much money you have made, like Lord. - Drew Ski. - I had to sit back and look at my man. I gotta figure out what my purpose is. Once I figured out what my purpose was, that's what I do. - Okay, that's why I'm a pride pressure doing that. - I'm being a system door. - Rich Paul. - Well, that's the worst part about our business. Comparisons are the thief with Joey. You cannot do that because it's all situational. - And Steve Stout. - People ask me, what's the secret? - I don't sleep much and I don't see my family in church. That's the secret. You like that? 'Cause you can do that too. - Check it out. - By the way, Corda, when you first came out, you was in a group, right? - Yeah. - Why being? - Yes, sir. - How was that being a group and then how's it being solo? What's the difference? - It was dope because we was just, oh, I mean, I'm still young now, but we were just all like super young and just dumb. You just doing dumb shit, you know what I'm saying? But we all kind of just had different things of what we wanted out of this. You know, none of us grew up together in the same city. - So what in the normal group were you like? - Yeah, it wasn't like, we came up together. Like Namiro's from Alabama, Jail's from Texas. I'm from Maryland. And Namiro just really showed me a lot of love off the strength of my bro, Simba. So he rocked with Simba music so much who got locked up and me and Simba did music together. So he seen me and was like, yo, you try and do it. And we just built the relationship then. But we kind of just all had a different work ethic and things we seen and things that we wanted to do out of it. And it kind of just had all different pathways. So that's why I kind of end up going solo. But it was cool like being in a group. I tell you what, the advantage of being in a group is, and that's why I kind of started my own thing where high level is like, it can be, 'cause I recorded so much, it can be a song that may not fit my album like systematically or like concept wise or sonically, but I know it's still a great song. You can just throw it on a group mixtape. Throw it on a group album, you know. - Damn you don't fit the concept of your album, but it's still a good record. - Yeah, it's still a good record. So when we gonna throw it to the group thing, you know? - I wanted to ask, like, your peers put out music. - Non-stop. - Yeah. - You ever feel the pressure of that? Am I missing something? Am I skipping like, your process is your process? - 'Cause what I've just learned is about how you come back. Like, if you take like a year or two off, and it's not like you take it off, you chillin' but like, just in between albums, you come back with that fire, then it's like, it makes it bigger than ever. Because, your favorite cousin, I use this analogy, it's not the cousin you always see, like, grown up. It's the cousin, like, you only see him at like, the family reunion and once or three times a year, Christmas Thanksgiving, it's not the cousin that live across the street from you. That didn't even get on your nerves, that's his point. You know, y'all fightin' and shit all the time. But the one you see, like, only every now and then. So, I'm just tryin' to find the balance for that, but you're just puttin' thought and care into everything. Like, even like my stage show, like, I'll sacrifice on making a bunch of money for a show. Like, I might get paid like, 200 a show, but I don't invest it so much 'cause I got a full band. You know, you got lights. And I'm not sayin' 200 is the number of them. - Of course, yeah. - Well, you said it. - I couldn't believe we got paid 200 for a show. How much did we get to take? - Man, like, I designed up a lot of artists on the '99 one. - Oh shit. - Say, I can't imagine if you had that cut for you. - It was a prop. - Got it. - But got it. - You know, and I feel like that's showin' love. I feel like that's, I don't see a problem with it. I feel like that's showin' love, but you know, yeah. - '99 one? - '99 one. - So, one year away, '99. - No, '99 my way. - You get to retain the one. - You retain that. - You retain that. - I ain't supposed to live on that, dude. - Hey, man, you know, we make sure we take care of everybody. - And I was drew you, but the headline your first tour, how many cities you're doing? - 36. - 36. - What's the seven cut on that? (laughing) - Why you seven? Why you seven? Why you seven? - Why you seven? - Why you seven? (laughing) - Come on, pop. - Listen, listen. - But you said, yeah. - Well, let me actually say, you button headline your tour. I was really, that your mom was disappointed and felt like he was wasting your time and life doing comedy. Now that you had it, did she still, I think she still put it in. - Not necessarily, she wasn't disappointed in wasting my time. I think, and it was, I think it was my grandma that, that really didn't mean to do it. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - 'Cause you know, it sounds so good. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, very, very much, yeah. My dad was a pilot, my mom worked for the CDC. So, you know, you gotta understand what it sound like, talking about being a clown, you know what I'm saying? She's like, yo, it sounds like you're a clown. - We know all these academics and you're trying to do this? Like, come on. But yeah, nah, I think she, she always recorded me when I was a kid, so she supported it too, and she didn't even know she was supporting it. But it just, when I said I was gonna drop out of college, it was more like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - How did that conversation go by the way? - I remember, the day I told her she cried, then I showed up back at the house and my grandma was like, you know, don't call us for stuff. I know you about to be calling for money and all that. - Call us, you don't call us. - I'm like, damn, I just got in shit. I ain't call you all, yeah, like, I'm good, I'm good, you know, but it took time and, you know, I think they just had to understand what the dream was and like, that I was really attached to it, and I really wanted to pursue it. And I think she thought it was gonna be like something, 'cause you know, even, same with rapping, you tell your parents, you're gonna be a rapper. It's the most-look-down-up-up-offession. - Yeah, this is horrible. - What's worse, if y'all got, y'all, do you have children? - Yes, of course. - Okay, so if one of your kids come to you like, y'all pops, I'm trying to rap, what's worse? Them like, with no credentials, right? Like, this, I always say this, it's nothing worse than being an up-and-coming artist with nothing to show for it. That or a comedian, like, what's like, what's like, what's like, most-look-down-up-up-up? - It sounds goofy. - I hope of them, I hope of them. - I love both of them. - I would tell the truth for me. - I love both, like, comedy and-- - Might be your two favorite things. - Two, yeah. - Right, right, right, right, yeah. Like, sports is right there, but if my son or my daughter came to me and said they wanted to be a rapper, you know, you're supposed to, the right answer to support your kids and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I can't say I would love that 'cause it's not that I don't love rappers, it's like, that's a very, that's the thin needle of the slice to actually be, 'cause what is a successful rapper? If my child wanted to be a rapper, I'm not gonna lie, I'm definitely not gonna, unless they're like dead, like, nice at making records, like, if I hear a hit or just, like, or just good music or real talent, unless I don't hear, in my opinion, if I don't hear a talent, I'm gonna, I could be a hit the crime, like, no. I'm gonna heavily advise against it. - Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. - What about the rappers that you don't like, that's out streaming you? - Absolutely, I've been running so many times. - You've been running so many times, you may be running a bike. - Yeah, listen, all right, me and Maverick is at this conversation about when you actually realize you were smarter than your parents. - Oh, yeah, that's uncomfortable. - That's uncomfortable. - It's super uncomfortable. So while you're telling your son, - Son, I don't know if you should rap. He's like, "Dad, I ain't gonna lie to you." You were kicking way too many bars. So much to be one minute and a half. So much for four minutes, right? That's a love love when your kid does that to you. I'm like, well, you just lost your first investiture. You just lost it, but so good to hear it. For me, what I think our kids don't understand is, we work in the business to where we understand how hard it is to be successful. That's the only thing. It's not a discouragement of their talent level, but it's how hard it is to be successful. So like, oh, you want to be a rapper? Or you want to be a comedian? Well, are you willing to commit to the years and years and years of not being successful? That's all one anything. I don't think that's my investment. I'm about to say it, and I feel like ready. I'm not supporting you when you're 45. I'm giving you a budget. You've got a $10,000,000 man to what you run out of. I give you two years. I was just going to make it. I'm going to say my mom, my mom, we had gotten to the peak of it because I was in the house, and you know, I'm back from college. So I'm in like 23, 24, 28, you get it out. So I had the two-year break, and I love my mom for that because she really let me use the house as like a movie set. So you was making videos at her, and I'm flipping the sofas. I'm flipping the set. I'm not going to do that, I'm not going to do that, I'm sorry. I was flipping back before she got on from work. But sometimes she would notice like, "Where the hell is my stuff?" She was looking for random stuff, but I'm thankful because she did give me that grace period and let me pursue my dreams and what's taking care of the piece. She gave the piece of everything. You have to support her. Because she's involved in the team now. Is there a cutoff? Is there, okay, you're 30 and not signed, do you? Yeah, I mean, at some point it's getting me done. I just got to get a job. Yeah, but also you have to do something while doing that. It can't just be just that. Like, you have to do something else while at least because really a lot of successful people work somewhere while trying to pursue their dream. And then once they got on in that part. He was just a whole rear-ranger furniture. Yeah, I was just going to go. No, no, I was working. I worked at Red Lobster for a little bit, but then I quit. What I quit? Let me tell you about the day I quit. You must've been there. You must've got a lot of tips, man. I actually wasn't making too much. Really? Yeah, now I was dropping drinks wrong. All right, man. Yeah, it was still stupid. But I remember one day I knew I had to get about it. And the manager yelled at me. I was, you know, you prepping the stuff, you prepping the food. And he was like, what the, what the, you put that down? He grabbed my hand and like threw it. And it knocked over some soup and some-- And it was a whole big scene. And everybody was staring at me. I said, man, you know what? I'm better than this. I'm getting a cry of shit. And that was my last day. That was my last day. I never went back. I started doing skits. You know, I started everything, man. How long before you get your first check out for that? Two years, for the first check. And what was your first check out? I think the first big check was the Drake Lath, now cry later video. Oh, god. And what broke you? What made you like, was it one video on Instagram? No, I wasn't one. It was just-- It was just-- It was-- Consistency. Consistency. Consistency. And what did you know was the most successful, as a rapper? What is the moment a rapper knows they're success-- like you've made it? Like I'm good. And are you a success? Do you feel successful now as a rapper? You know, it's funny because I have multiple platinum records. I might have like five records that's like platinum and gold, but I don't have like a quote unquote like hit. That makes sense, but you can-- But I have multiple platinum records. And I can tour all across the globe, 3,000 capacity venues, et cetera, the way it is. But I didn't really feel successful. Probably when I got nominated for a Grammy for best rap album off my first album, that's what the moment I felt like. I can tell you when you broke, when you spit that verse, I think you were in a barbershop. Yeah, yeah, yeah, literally. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He spit that verse in that barbershop and you started talking about the older rappers and the generational thing. Yeah. That's when we knew he could spit it. That's when I knew the hits. That's when I knew you could spit. And it was like, it was just a matter of time, because it wasn't just the fact that you could freestyle, because it was anybody-- not anybody could do that. It's a lot of people. But it was the depth of the freestyle that it was like, you knew, oh, he's super talented. And that you were going to have-- you were going to get a check. Somebody was going to pick you up and put you on. You-- your consistency level was just-- No, stop. I was watching-- And I watched the other guys. There was a lot of people around your-- There's a bunch. Here in Tessie, and I've seen them just run out of steam. They couldn't-- they ran out of moves when they couldn't find any more dance challenges. That was a bad trend right there. I was like, 20, 20, man. That was bad. Take that. I'm sure this shot was really-- Yeah, listen. I'm sure Vlad, I did participate in that. I'm smart. Because even I've only been in the game. It'll be five years really this year. But I'm already-- I was even a rapper that started doing-- I've seen so many artists just come and go. Like, one person be the hottest thing. Then they just come and go. Am I drunk? Just be like, bloke up, bloke up, bloke up, bloke up. And I'm happy it's been this way. I'm just keeping up. This is my brother's, man. And they've heard me talk about this. And we had the conversation with Two Chains. And I started talking about independent artists. And he says, style, you don't know what the dream is. $1 million is the dream. Because you know for five. That's not the dream. And the same way we are executives, right? That's not even executives. It's just our age. It was a fair to say for the first time when we thought, we thought for five. If I can get $100 million, we good. And then it changed to a billion dollars. It changed to a lot more money. And it just really changed. But it now reminds me of when we were kids, a million dollars is a big deal. So I can't. So we're putting a million dollars the same million dollars on the 18 year old. They don't give a fuck about a million dollars. If somebody can't come to him and give a million dollars and buy him out of his dreams, it's not even close. The fact that a million dollars is good money. But you know what you're worth. Totally. Speaking of worth. Because we have a guy here who deals with people's worth all the time. Rich, when you negotiate and deals for athletes all the time, that's what you do. And obviously you represent Brown, who did short-term deals long. How do you think about the length of a deal? Like should athletes have really long? Would you rather athletes sign 10-year deals to your deals? How do you think about that? It's based upon the athlete, right? You know, when you're talking about a guy whose value consistently is going to be at the max level, then it gives you more options, right? You can not necessarily take more risk, but you can be a little bit more-- Meaning flexible with your approach. Do you know the guy going to be there? Yeah, because he's going to be there. And then there's some guys like, when I was negotiating, Eric blesses those contract or Tristan's contract. It's a difference because everyone thinks like, OK, if I average 30 and 10, I'm a max player. Or if I average 20 and-- no, families think that. Oh, well, he had 25 tonight. He's a max player. There's so many components that go into being a max player. And a lot of it is way more than what shows up in the stat sheet. What's his approach? What's his professionalism? Timing, too. Timing, you know, the value to the team. Where the team is at. If your team is playing meaningless basketball, how many guys are going to put on max deals? Maybe one, right? And so in a guy like Eric's case, his kid was from Birmingham, Alabama. Was the 18 picking a draft. And he was further-- he was closer to being out the league after year one. Then he was being to $70 million. You get them saying? And so I have to evaluate that. And you just never know how long someone's going to play. How old is the conversation with a player? I'm just going to ask the player where-- A player or a family like, if I come to you when you represent Lil Mavie, I'm like Rich, you've got to get my son a max deal. And you've got to tell me, he's not a max player. It's very difficult because very few people actually value your expertise, because it's their son that's the talent. So now it's like, well, if my son, the number one pick coming in, how much do we really need you? And so what I say to him is this. OK. Now, if you go to Apple, Nike, Coca-Cola, all the major corporations ask them how much money they spend annually on protecting their business. They don't cut corners. And if you needed heart surgery, are you going to urgent care? Or are you going to get the best-- You need for a discount for a doctor. But this is what I'm saying. But because it's a sport, you want to take a discount on your infrastructure. Silly. Right? Because you're more worried about what you're paying somebody. And so I say, OK, well, OK, you're saving $300,000 annually to miss out on $40 million. And most players get full off of ego. But you need to be full off of education, because that's the real nourishment, right? You have to value expertise. Well, how about players who got max deals that the player is looking at the kid going, why do he get a max deal? He didn't even know about that. Well, that's the worst part about our business. Comparisons are the thief of joy. The whole point of life is in business. It's continuing to get bad attempts, right? You cannot hit a whole run without an attempt. So I try to explain the guys. This may be a single for you, or you make it hit a double. But we get back up to play. In that business, there's transparency. Everybody knows the deal, in your business as an artist. Do you look at what other deals people sign and go, "Shit, I'm way harder than this kid. How can he get XYZ?" Absolutely. But a beautiful thing that I love about making music, and I know Juski can say the same thing. Like, you can only guess how much your artist makes. You can only guess how much Juski makes versus all the athletes. You know. The information is public. And I'm like, "Oh, thank God, niggas don't know how much money I'll make, like Lord." You like that idea? Yeah, I like that. So do you like the fact that when somebody who's not that with a pen or whatever, and you see this, "Yo, this kid got a $20 million blah, blah, blah, blah." Yeah. A label deal. Well, I think one of my greatest asses is I try to look at all things with no ego. Like from an outside perspective, I can be like, "Okay, they might sell more records than me," or like they might, you know, just try to think of it. But when I look at it, "Okay, well, actually, I've sold more records than this person. They had to spend less money on me for me to sell these amount of records." I sell way more hard tickets, which is like, "I value that way, and I know you can attest to the same thing. I value my hard ticket sales way over, like, a first week number." The fact that you look at your hard ticket sales, he knows for a fact with his fandoms. Yeah. You're the version of that too. Yeah. For sure. In your business, there's an interesting statistic that 45% of Gen Z, that demographic, they want to be their own business owners using social media platforms to create businesses, like you did. So then, they're looking at you. You're the new PDD. Right. Okay. So these kids are looking up to you. What advice do you have for all of these creators out there who think they're going to get in the game and do they think, "Please give them your best piece of advice." You gotta be consistent in everybody in my generation, thinks it's like, because you see it. You see people posting cards, sororities. You see houses, the Airbnb, you see all this, and you're like, "Oh, my God, or you just feel like you're a failure." And I used to do that. I was dumbing myself down and watching. I would catch myself looking at social media and I'm like, "Yo, I got to put this down. I got to put the phone down. I got to step away. Everybody's getting drunk. Everybody's smoking weed. Everybody's chilling." And I was looking at this stuff and I'm like, "Damn, how are these people that look like they're doing it?" Maybe they really even weren't. Or how are they doing this stuff? And I had to sit back and look at them like, "Man, I got to figure out what my purpose is." So once I figured out what my purpose was, that's when I knew, "Okay, that's why I'm applying pressure doing that. Be consistent." And how did you figure it out? I would see other creators that I would look up to like before I even started like a Fabo S.S.C. Or like shiggy business thing. And I watched, I tried to learn from the mistakes of them as well. Like I was watching how it had like it's peak and then I watched how it's downfall of all that, you know? And I never thought anybody's name under the bus. I think they all, great people and they all are doing what they're supposed to be doing in life. But I think the biggest thing I noticed that you have to be consistent, like I would see other dudes that I would maybe do like a collab video with and I'll be like, "What do you do?" Like honestly, like how did you get to this point and I was like, "Man, you know, I failed at this and I tried this out and I tried this." I ain't going like, "You don't miss, bro." You don't miss like straight up. I want to say that if I, he don't miss, bro, I'm not seeing a shiggy video that don't have me laughing. Like straight up. I appreciate that. Don't miss. But let me ask you, are you getting now that you become more, you know, people recognize you on the streets or people pulling up on you like, "Be funny, do that thing." Yeah. I get that a lot. That's probably the worst. I think all comedians get there. You like, if you tell them you're a comedian, they'll be like, "All right, tell me a joke." And it's like, "Come on, man." You know? You got to pay for that. Right? You got to come through and show them something. When you're trying to get on, how important is it to the juxtaposition of being original or like following the trend that you know that's hot and it's popping? Just trying to be original. I'll try like small things, like just wrapping over, I remember the Migos flow. This is like 2015, 2016, that's when that was. When the hip does so for such a year. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But just the Migos flow in general, like dominating the sound of music. I was like, just experimenting, but I kept that shit in the vault. You know? Yeah. Never did. Yeah, yeah, I made it. But I just kept it in the vault because I'm like, grown, I grew up in a certain area, you know, like, and it wasn't the best neighborhood, but I never killed nobody. I never shot at nobody. So I can't wrap about that because I've never done that. But they didn't do that either, but going back to another era, that's what Bone Thugs and Harmony did. Yeah. They were like Migos. Yeah. They were the original type of person. Nah, I was wrapped like that. Jay-Z wrapped like Biggie. Biggie wrapped like Biggie did it. Everybody, because it worked so crazy, it was like, I got to do it. But it was honestly, not from a trend perspective, it was just a mod. It was a mod. Yeah, for sure. Dale Dinkoo. You don't know how it was. We're gonna get you in a mod. I just see you in a mod. Different, sports is a lot like in the streets, if me and you got the same, if I feel like you and I are in the same wavelength in terms of finances, we the same guy. In sports, especially in basketball, if I'm a max player and you a max player, in my opinion, we're the same guy. A lot of times how you pop it, oh, I got a signature shoe. But really, because you can have a signature shoe in no business. So it's no point in you having a signature shoe if you don't have a business that doesn't make sense. Those two things on the line, but going back to the ego, to feed the ego of the athlete, you do what? Put their name on it. And so now, when you talk about a sport and when you talk about infrastructure, if everybody around that person can't really understand the value of this and what it actually is, then they're going along with it too. And before you know it, now your career is going like this, when you finally realize and you look back and it's just like giving your publishing away. Have you had an athlete retire yet? I had an athlete stop playing basketball and now the officially retire, but I haven't had an athlete retire yet. And how does that go, they just say, well, you just, you know, a contract, you know, because the reason I was asking the question, because to me, the thing that athlete, the hardest part for me, being if I was a professional athlete, which I used to dream about being, I still dream about it, I got a lot, I still air dribbled and shouldn't be in the, but it's like your career earnings wise goes like, if you're good, goes like this, like this, like this, and I'm telling you, and then fucking falls off a cliff, but all the way up, you build a lifestyle that is here, mortgages, cars, travel, that would be so, but like entrepreneurs and executives, we don't, our life isn't like that. My question to you is, as an entrepreneur, the year on year uncertainty, you have no idea what's going to happen. When the clip's going to fall. You have to walk with certainty all the time, when it's constant uncertainty. So I read a quote, I was reading about, I was reading about Sheldon Adams this morning, he had a quote where he said, the year in 2008 when the world crashed, his stock went way down, and he told ABC News, I lost $25 billion, but so what, I started with nothing. He said, as an entrepreneur, you don't have fear. There is no such thing as fear. There is concern, but no fear. By the way, that's, I'm always, by the way, I wake up every day concerned, and sometimes I have to try and find why am I, because I'm always thinking, the next phone call, somebody is going to say something, but you also come from that, but my phone reason, my fuck, here, this is the one. This shit is going too good. I'm concerned. You've got that feeling, my son's trying to have a, that's the, that's the, that's the, well trained experienced entrepreneur, what I'm really want to get to is, most entrepreneurs don't understand that line. When they're getting it's good, everybody wants to be an entrepreneur, you don't rap, you don't, you're not an entertainment, you're not in sports. People won't run towards being an entrepreneur, I hear it all the time, they have no idea. I remember when I went to an event last night, I wanted to leave immediately, because it reminded me of I would fly to a room, five hours, not know anybody in the room, and hopefully meet one person. Always. I mean, hopefully, leaving my family, hopefully, leaving my family, flying five hours, staying in whatever shit accommodations I could find, would lead me to one meeting, one person that would lead me to a follow-up, and that's how I started my career. That's a bar. That's the ugly truth. People ask me, what's the secret? I don't sleep much, and I don't see my family much. That's the secret. You like that? As you can do that to yourself. You know, you know the crazy bar that you just said, let's say, I was doing that like before got on I would always go to these like panty speaking panties. You know of different it'll be like an exact that's like the radio guy at like a certain label I was just trying to get all the information and let's say we have like a drusky right? Let's say if I wanted drusky As a star of an artist to like you know post one of my music. Okay. I go to I know I'm not going to DM drusky and get the hint So I go to who does drusky follow? Okay, you only follow 93 people. Okay, so this person he posts off and so I'm all right I'm gonna link with this person if that makes sense So like you said just making that connection at least to another connection if that makes sense and just always trying to be open receiving I wish I wish it was just a DM man. You know what I mean, it's just brutal, bro I've seen you in those rough. It's just brutal and I know what you come behind me and all the same It's very fucking brutal. Yeah, and then you speak to these young entrepreneurs and they try to fast forward in short cut the process Yeah, so stout you so to that point, right? You obviously have United Masters What do you say to young artists that are watching this right now? You know you always talk about like having the information what information what questions should they be asking when they're trying to get on when they're talking to that label? I just believe today that creators the momentum is behind you brands are moving from 30-second spots on network television. There's nothing on network television sports It's only if it's not NFL NBA or sports the money's going to you guys So creators right specifically creators How do you now Put yourself in position because now you're replacing Turner You're replacing cable channels they're taking billions of dollars and saying we know it's not working there We're putting it here And you're going to get some percentage of that money. What are you doing to be prepared for that opportunity? How are you managing your fan base? How are you preparing your page and the assets that you manage to be able to deal with that also that would be my Conversation with artists creators At all stages also that's what the money sleeve, but also all that money comes but it also comes with some strings Say it like this Do it like this now you've blown up you work with brands. How do you work on that creative process of being yourself But also delivering for the brand because you're getting paid for it obviously. I got Chauncey Who is one of my good friends that I grew up with he's on my team And he honestly like helps me out with everything creative that I do anything comedy all that and I like to include him in The brand stuff that I have going on because he helps and he comes in with the creative directing and like make sure nothing's corny Make sure we can do what we want you know not go too far with it But at least know like this is us you know, I'm saying we don't need nobody else to Show us what we can do like we already know we could do so I try to keep it in inside and organic and yeah And make sure he can get paid as well, you know, I'm saying like yeah, I don't need to bring creative director I got that I need to look at it. You can't wait to laugh at it. You can get that from the label. Consulting right? Yeah You're the label pushing on you to make a certain style no, and it's like the same with brands like what you was saying just make it authentic It's possible because the Engine that drives everything that make the brands possible that make things like this possible is the music You know, so I try to keep that as authentic to me as possible and I only play the label record It's kind of something I kind of learn. I only play them the music that I already done heard 10,000 times that I already know I'm in love with these songs really so the label don't be in the studio Nobody from the label understood you Dallas a pull up on me, you know, yeah, Dallas a pull up on me But you know that family shout out Dallas. Did they try to be like force you to make certain sound of certain music and stuff? No, they know better than try It's just not gonna happen. Not all money is good money, man If you don't really give a fuck about me, you just want to borrow my audience. I don't want to do business Do you do you do you? You guys gonna put everything through that funnel. I'll be trying to find that balance because I say no to probably 95 But you stay real chillin low. Yeah, but it's also trying to find that balance like you always still got to get to the bread But also like I just say no to 95% of things now cuz I just try to make everything like on brand to who I am Just as a human being. I know it sounds like cliche, but I know I can't ever let me show the foundation Then I'll lose the people. Have you ever regret it saying no? Have you ever said no one? So something's like fuck Maybe I should have said yesterday. Yeah, it was just moron five song. It's all called memories It was exactly It was my after my it's probably like two or three months after my first album and again I thought about it like I cut the right. I did the my initial feeling was I'm gonna cut this motherfucker I did it, but then I thought about I'm like is it too early in my career to do a pop record this big Yes, and the manager was talking my manager about how many like you know He was like the song is called memory. So they had it plugged in before the song came out like yeah when you open up The photos app on your phone and memories this song is gonna play on every iPhone and this and this so we knew it was gonna Be a smash, but I'm like, yeah, it might be too early on in my career to do a pop I ain't gonna lie to you. So at what point did you go like fuck? Maybe I should have did it um when why yeah When I just heard it when I got in the over one time and I just heard it But I still don't regret it because I have no regrets whatsoever, right? But I was just like I just wonder what would be different if I did do that But like just looking back now I'm happy that I that I didn't do it But actually I can't even say I'm happy. I'm like 50 50 on it. What what do you think? Of course, no room five a pop back wants them. All these fucking pop acts want rappers on songs. That's that's cold That's all that's been around forever, right? So now they want them on the joint Whether you deserve it or not is a different conversation. Yeah, they need you Than they do they need you. Okay, they're not doing you a favor. You're doing never But early on in your career, you don't feel that way He said no, this is what I'm trying to tell you all about these young dudes He said no to the money and the exposure Why I believe it was the right thing to do Is because you don't need that impression You're developing and credibility. Yeah, like when you develop enough credibility when you build enough for that base Then you could do stuff like that. Remember Jay told me one time Developing quit having credibility is great because you got a chance to use it and use it He could do records like show me what you got. Yeah, right. He could do Hollywood and it shit don't work But yet nobody says oh fucking Jay is not credibility. Yeah, you develop a bank of credibility where you could actually apply it You were too early there. Yeah, suppose the shit didn't work to go for it The risk is not worth it. Yeah, absolutely. You've risking your whole career on a pop song that you really don't even understand yet So you made a great decision. Thank you. So speak speaking of knowing when it's the right time I've always been intrigued by when someone's successful, right? We always talk about keeping the main thing the main thing You made a monumental decision like you know recently clutch athletics Why clutch athletics? Why now? I'm a I think it's because I'm a I'm a creator at heart And that's it's the exact same reason I didn't call the company rich Paul sports You know, and I think These are two separate entities clutch sports group is one clutch athletics Is a separate entity that doesn't even intertwine with clutch sports group outside of the name So if I'm an athlete signed the representation doesn't mean I'm affiliated to clutch got no entitlement to clutch athletics Retreatness the same way as Anika under armor adidas or whomever but it's it's very It's laser focus on performance training Apparel with functionality and style and I'm you know, I'm going back into the community. This is green Because it's for community a clutch athletics anything clutch athletics co-branded with new balance It has a green tag that new balance only does with clutch athletics because it's For the community that we live and play So we found what we thought what we feel is a white space of an opportunity To really focus there on the athlete being athlete tested but also athlete trusted And so for me you can't put me in a box and you can't possibly think oh because This has been great that I don't want to do that and I'm definitely not going to be 70 years old At high school tournaments Like Our kids the four of us are fathers I know I know Um if yours the little rich community said he want to be an agent. What would you say? I would say Richie if you want to be an agent great But before you be an agent I want you to go work at McDonald's Subway Or restaurant because we're in a service business and then I would say to him What type of agent do you want to be because a lot of times and the reason why I wanted to start clutch sports group in the beginning was because They were making it about the money everything was about the money and I felt like that was a quarter zone shot To the detriment of the individual because when you're advising someone on life decisions And you're only making it about the money then that means for every mistake that you made or for every You know step-of-preparation that you didn't take You bring the money back up to mass that to mass the shame away. This is so you're the only other person I've ever heard say that I managed nas and I mean Managed track masses, Mary J. Blis. I never had a contract. That was my version of that. You could find me any given time. Let me show you. I didn't have an album cycle. All these managing contracts around album cycles and no lack of this shit, I never took any of that. And I had never commissioned a publishing check. Why not, Steve? You wrote the song, man. Why should I get 20% of it? 10% of it? I knew for a fact, to Rich's point, that me representing you had intrinsic value to me, that you weren't going to be a part of. Absolutely. So why would I take every single fucking nickel I could get from you in a publishing check as a manager or even a contract? You should find me whenever you want. But I believe in myself. And I believe in myself. That was actually the weird leverage. Because you don't think for one second I'm doing it for the check. You can find me whenever you want. And so most agents walk on eggshells and they tell you, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And they have a business card and a big office who gives a shit about any of that, right? And people say, well, we're not going to how much time you're going to be able to have. I'm going to be there 100% of the time that you need me to be there. What do you hope that your accomplishments and what you've done with Clutch changes for the next Rich Paul, whoever he or she is? I would hope that you can look like me, come from any walk of life, and still be given an opportunity to be who you ultimately can grow and become. Give it up to that, Rich Paul. I do want to get to Juski. What your goals were. When you first got on, it's like you want followers, you want likes, you want to be verified. You've kept going. You got on, you hosted a tour, you have your own, you have a movie coming out, talk to us a little bit about that, what the goals have been. Because Mav always says, all success by years an opportunity to do it on a bigger platform, right? So have you felt that? I wasn't my first movie this year with Chloe Bailey and with Tina Gordon directing it and Will Packer producing it. Yeah, man, you're going to see praises. But I think honestly, the goal for me was was not all the little social media shit. I didn't really care about that. I was big on looking at the Will Smiths of the world or the Jamie Foxx is like, I was big on Chris Farley. You know what I'm saying? I was watching all that growing up. So I think the main goal for me was just trying to be number one, like the biggest comedian, like the biggest actor in the world. So I didn't really care. But I know this is my generation of things with the whole social media thing. But I always just wanted to be the best. I didn't really care. Are you taking it really seriously, taking acting classes and shit? Yeah, yeah, hell yeah. I remember when I first DM Juski in like 2020, I'm like, yo, I can't wait to see you in movies. This is like early on, I don't know if you remember it. I don't remember that. Well, I appreciate it, bro. We'll go back and check that DM. You said I appreciate it. Yeah, if I want to see that in 2020, then we would've been like, look, look. You didn't, he was like, appreciate it, big bro. Oh, OK, yeah, I see that. Juski, for young unsigned artists watching this, what's your could have been records pitched to them? For young unsigned artists, man, I influenced everybody to come fuck with us. What you offering? I'm offering 99.1. 99% me. They retain one, retain. You know, that means they hold on to that 1%. Juski, hold up. There's a camera. There's someone here I want you to talk to. Record into the camera. You're a pitch to an artist. Come on down the could have been records, man. If we don't do anything, we don't fuck you out that deal. Appreciate you. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm a part of Disney. Oh, good, good, good, good. Yeah, oh, good, good. You know, he's at the same agency. Yeah, he's at UTM. Yeah, he's at UTM. I don't know. He's a part of it. Yeah, man. Oh, you got your hand in a little bit more than me though. I ain't talk to you about that. You got your hand in a little bit more than me. Thanks for listening to The Shop Uninterrupted. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review wherever you're listening to the show. For full video episodes, check out Uninterrupted's YouTube channel. For weekly show updates, follow The Shop Uninterrupted on social media. Lisa, tell them about our new show. We have a new podcast. I'm Lexi Yuanio, we're two best friends, 22 years apart, but so close at heart. And I'm Lisa Di Giulio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions, and at this point in my footies, I've lived it all. Now in my 30s, being the founder of New Shoes, good taste is my business. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You didn't catch the latest Roland Martin unfiltered podcast? Here's what you missed, It's real, it's a wholesale attack, it is targeting black people in every federal agency. It's wrong. The white folks have never allowed that reckoning to last more than a decade. Catch Roland Martin's daily commentary on the black information network. And download Roland Martin unfiltered on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. You broke me, you do not deserve happiness. I'm Andrea Gunning, on this season of betrayal, Carl thought he was living a normal drama free life, until the messages started. Someone's not going to make it out of this alive. Every piece of evidence pointed to the wrong guy. He was not going to stop unless we stopped him. Listen to betrayal season six on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What up? This Jay Valentine co-host of the R&B Money Podcast alongside my brother, R&B legend, tank, together we've built a space for artists, executives, and fans of R&B music to reminisce and tell the real stories behind the music. I have no money. I was hood famous. They think you're going to get everybody out. We lived in a project and real love came out. From Smokey Robinson to Mary J. To R&B Money from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.