Vic Mensa Is the Energy We Needed

Even at your lowest lows, you know what I mean? And a jail cell, a baloney sandwich, dirty drawers. They didn't took the strings out your hoodie and your shoelaces is gone. Even in that moment, you got breath in your lungs, man. - Message. - Message. (upbeat music) - What is up neighbors? We've got Vic Mensa pulling up to the house today. He is a Grammy-nominated rapper, actor, and entrepreneur. And he's using his platform to speak on things that most people wouldn't even touch. And now he's creating on his own terms, having conversations that really dig into things that matter. And I bet he's the kind of house guest that calls it like he sees it. And I don't know, maybe he'd even teach us something new. Let's get him. It's so good to have you at the house, man. - Oh, thank you so much for having me at the house. - It's so good to have you at the house. - You ain't far from me, neither. This was like 10 minutes. - Sam's in, down the street. - You know I just saw Dale at the gym. - You know what else I saw at the gym? This was crazy. So I'm on the stair master and I'm looking at each TV. Fox news, Fox news, Fox news. So it's about 16Vs of Fox. - And a hundred gym? - Yeah, nigga, I'm like, damn, wait, what's going on, you know what I'm saying? But I got past it, you know what I mean? 'Cause I'm on the stair master. I'm focused on what I'm doing. I find myself doing my kettlebell swings. I'm looking in the mirror in front of me. It's a dude who's got a Trump 2028 hat on. And I'm like, 2028, what does that even mean? - What does that mean? - Like what are you trying to say with that, you know what I mean? And then the shirt, the shirt says liberal tears. You know, in a Starbucks logo, it was actually kind of hard. - You're in the design was kind of hard. - The design was kind of hard. I personally felt racially attacked. But my artist brain was kind of like that off. You kind of did that, whoever made that idea. I'm looking, obviously his presence is an egregious affront on my humanity is how I feel. - Of course. - But maybe even more concernedingly, this 5am, I work at a 5am. - We got Fox News on at 5am, that's a lot. And it's only eight people in a gym. And five of them is his best goddamn friend. He dappin' a nigga up when I notice him. - He's lookin' you in the eye while they dappin'. - Dappin' a nigga up when I notice him. Then it's another dude who walks up to the stairs. And he like, my man, you know, it's like he everybody best friend. - He everybody best friend. And I'm dead confused 'cause I'm like, yo, how did I end up in this predicament? - I need backup. - I'm like, man, I'm a busist nigga here in a kettlebell. I'm like, this is not 5am thoughts. It's not the way I like to feel at 5am. It's like, you know, judging his physical prowess. - He's like, he's out of shape, for sure. But I'm like, he kinda big though. He's only doin' bicep, so. - That gym, I will tell you, is kind of a nutty place. - I didn't know. - It's a nutty place. - I just love the steam room. - Yeah, I don't freak. - Can I tell you about the steam room? - Well, could I tell you about the steam room? - Steam room changed my life. - Okay, you have to say more words, Vic. - Okay, so I do this thing called Wim Hof Breathing. It's a breathing exercise. - That's true. - I join, and I mean, 30 breaths, you already know. I do the breathing exercise in the steam room, and it's like no negativity can survive in my body. - 'Cause you're that. - 'Cause your body is struggling to just stay upright. - And so now I'm weighing how important is my physiological, transcendent experience. - 'Cause you can't go to bed, I am anymore. - I could go wherever the fuck I wanna go, but I'm just saying it could get weasier. - He's here, he's here. - I don't know why. - Could you imagine? - Okay, so I know you are Ghanan. - Yeah. - Your father is Ghanan, right? - Yeah. - And so we made a little sobelo. - Oh my God, you got the sobelo? - You know what I'm saying? - It's our take on sobelo. - I gotta get on, y'all, love it. This shit, this shit, y'all got the sobelo. - But I'm gonna tell you though, it's very similar to like sorrow. - Oh, it is. - That's what it is. - Yeah, sobelo is sorrow. I got a little kick to it, I put the chillies in it. - The sobelo has a little, has a little couple different, but let's think about African people across this globe, you know? Which is why I'm always pushing back against diaspora wars and otherizing amongst black people is that you go to Ghanan - We in this together. - You get the same drink that they have in Trinidad and Tobago, you know what I mean? You go to Nigeria, you find the same stew. Like the way they do the okra stew is so similar to Louisiana, it's like ain't no way. - Right, come on now. - Bam. - You went straight for the lip, you skipped the straw. Tell me, tell me what's wrong with the straw. - Ain't no wrong with the straw. I mean, I don't know that I necessarily defer to straws. I feel a little bit like, like I'm at the counting fair. - So we got a little get to know you situation going, all right? So you might agree, you might disagree, you might be somewhere in the middle, but either way you don't have to. - I have to do it with the microphone. - Speak on it. - Like Rachel Dolezal, let me see. - Like who? - Rachel Dolezal. - Oh, no, not like Rachel Dolezal. - Let me see, let me see. - Okay, as a president and NAV L.A.C. too. (laughing) - As the right as president and NAV L.A.C. too. (laughing) I'm ready for the game. - So we go sweet on it. - All right, all right. - You ready? - Yeah. - Okay, guess first. - You can't have popularity and privacy. - So like, you know, you're beloved. Folks everywhere, screaming your name. - Right. - But then you also want to be, you know, private. You go out, don't want nobody by than you. Can you have both? - Oh, no, I don't think you can have both. - You don't? - Of course, you could engineer privacy for yourself. - Correct. - And you could go live in a remote corner of Hawaii. I mean, there's places in LA. You could go like deep into Malibu. - Yeah, I do think about this one a lot though, because I'll run into people who will tell me like, they met me at a different time. And oftentimes it'd be like, I saw you on a plane. I wanted to say, what up? And like, you put your hoodie on, and we all over you in the flood. - I do not talk to you. - And, you know, my mental health was often quite fraught. - Probably doing everybody a favor by being like, not right now. - Oh, you know, I'm banned from multiple airlines. - What? - I would like to get unbaned from American Airlines though. - You maybe keep the American. - Get Delta back. - No, no, no, that's the only one I'm currently banned from, so I'd like to get unbaned from American Airlines. - You're not even gonna fly on American Airlines. - But I'm just saying, I want to get unbaned. 'Cause some places-- - He's like, I don't want-- - American Airlines only goes-- - Ah, yes. - The only one that goes. - You might have to find some other places to go to, 'cause that-- - No, unbaned me, American Airlines. Please unbanely, I have learned my lesson. - You might ban American Airlines. If it was the last time you wrote American Airlines, it's different. - I'm banned, they go like-- - I can't say. - But he talked about American Airlines, please unbanely. I've grown a lot, you know what I mean? That whole thing that happened. You know what I mean? The employee, he was wilding, he wasn't right, but I wasn't right either. - So, you think go that you got banned? - No, I don't wanna take too much time, but I'll tell you why the fuck I'm banned from American Airlines. - I have to know. - So, the flight was five hours late. Just imagine an entire lobby full of disgruntled customers. Sounds like American Airlines. - Everyone's pissed. We're in line, finally, to get on the plane. I get up there and, you know, I think maybe it wasn't my group, yeah, or something, but he was just, he was barking at everybody, you know, and he's just kinda like, it's not your turn, yeah. - Oh, that gave you the joke. - And I was just like, okay, okay, okay. I mean, we the ones been waiting for five hours, but like, okay, I didn't say none to 'em. I just kept it moving. Next, this nice white woman, okay? And she wanted to get on the plane too. And he was like, all in her face. And he was like, and you could go to the back of the, you know what I mean? He was on that with a yelling at a point in her face. And so at this point, I'm like, yo. We the ones waiting five hours, like, why you on that? What else? And he like, and you could go to the back of the line too. - Oh no, no, no, no. - And so then I said, you fat fuck, you know what I mean? And I took my ticket, and I scanned myself, man. And I got on the fucking plane. Shortly afterwards, the FBI also got on the plane. And they took me off the plane, you know? But people knew there was a whole crowd of people that saw that I was not necessarily in the right, but I had some righteous intentions. So they were like, they were actually like, yo, you know what I mean? We know dude was wild, and you know, we don't like just let everybody else board, and then we'll put you on the plane. - I'm guessing that's not how it went. - That's not how it went. So when that didn't happen, then I kind of went scorched earth, and I took like the stanchions, and I like flipped a bunch of shit, and you know, stormed away, and then I found myself with more FBI agents. - So Medea once said, you might have to act a fool to get results. - But how bad results. - But how that sentence ends is, the result may not always be the one you're looking for. - It is, it's a dream. - But the woman, she was a corporate, sure microphones. And here's how I know that I wasn't 100% bogus, because she reached out, and she was like, yo, thank you. - I bet. - Thank you for standing up for me. - At least there's been a lot of, you know, CEO changeover, you know, a lot of executives. - They probably won't even remember. - What's up with this lifetime? - You know what I mean, what is a ban? - It's when you can't use the-- - Okay, here we go. The internet is home to outrage over honesty. Yes, I'm gonna speak on that. That's it, that's it, absolutely. People are outraged on social media about things they don't actually give a fuck about. And meanwhile, haven't reacted or responded to any of the things that you would think people should be modestly aware of. - I'm just learning about black Twitter. - What? - And my girl, my girl been telling me about black Twitter for me. I've never been a big Twitter user. - It's now Threats. - It's now Threats. Black Twitter is like the incubator for so many cultural movements and it's the place where a lot of things come from. I mean, a lot of things are grown. - Yep. - So she's always been telling me, you better just pray it's not your day, you know? She was like, Black Twitter chooses one person a day, pretty much. - And they go. - And they go to kind of barbecued, to skewer. - And so I didn't really know about that, but you know, recently Threats, I've seen it that I'm like, oh wow. Like you wasn't lying. Like it is kind of almost like a hot one person a day. If you own there multiple days and they don't ever come back around to the love. - They didn't ever go to nobody else, bruh. - This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. So you've heard me talk about BetterHelp for a while now, but we haven't really talked about how much people really love this service. And you don't have to take my word for it. You can check it out for yourself at betterhelp.com/reviews to see the customer reviews in real time. They're updated every day with hundreds of people saying how much they love BetterHelp and how helpful it's been to them. More than six million people around the world had used BetterHelp and the consistent feedback from real users makes it easy to see why so many people continue to choose the platform. Their therapists have at least three years and a thousand hours of hands-on experience. And they also hold all the required education, training, and certifications across a range of mental health specialties. So see the reviews. See what stands out and see if BetterHelp is right for you. Visit BetterHelp.com/houseguest that's betterhelp.com/houseguest. - This one is tough. You can't separate the art from the artist. Ooh, y'all pickin' to choose an arm, be real. - We are separating the art from the artist all day long. We pickin' to choose an arm. - Yeah, when it's the most convenient. - Yeah, if the music means that much to us, then we're 100% separating the art from the artist. - Yes, I think publicly how people comment, how people engage with content, that kind of thing. They're willing to separate. But I think ultimately people will listen to whatever they want to listen to. - Regardless of the verdict of a person is. - My mind's telling me no, it's just me. - Right? In the cut, listen to that. - But not money, you know what I'm saying? For a lot of people, I think it's tough to decide. And then you get to artists like Michael Jackson? - That's what I'm saying. I don't even want to go into the Michael Jackson thing, but that's why I say we pickin' to choose. - Yeah. - 'Cause it's like, we all separate in that, you know what I mean? At times, I try to like not support things that I just like firmly ideologically disagree with. If you only watched things by artists who had no controversy or had no wrongdoing, what would we be able to see? - It's not humanity either though. And that's the thing about where we are today in culture is the idea that there is a perfect person. It just so happens that as people who are in the public, those that make the art that we consume were much more intimately familiar with their lives. But ultimately, there is no perfect person. - And there's levels to the shit, of course. - Absolutely. - And there's harm done. And there is also be accounted for. - Like countability is an illegality. - Yeah, all less shit is real. But this whole idea that I think really exists primarily within like the left of the spectrum. I don't even call it the left 'cause I don't really think liberalism is being left. This is really like, centrism to me, but right. But amongst the liberal community, and otherwise, it's like this idea of a permanent discard of human beings. We already know them over there. They're like, man, we don't give a fuck. What do you niggas do? - Yeah, I mean, they really could shoot a motherfucker in the middle, like, 'cause we just don't give a fuck. You know what I'm saying? We hate all y'all. - And don't have to. - Nobody's getting canceled over here. You know, so then the liberal community feels like people are to be discarded and thrown away. And we all fall into it. I fall into it for sure. I've fallen so much into that so many times to be like this person did that. You know, there was so fucking egregious. - Yeah. - And ultimately, you know, it's hypocritical because I got so many things that I've done wrong. And I try to stand on the fact that like, the grace that I ask for myself, I'm working on extending it. That though. - If I'm trying to grow, you know what I mean? And if I'm showing growth, you know what I mean? - Demonstrated success in that world. - She says something to me. She was like, don't freeze me in time. Don't freeze me in time at the time of when I did said wrong thing. - Interesting. - That allowed me to be a human being. - Right, right, right, right. - And now if I keep doing it again, I'm like, goddamn thing, you know what I mean? Like, but don't freeze me in time. Don't freeze people in time. - Celebrities have a responsibility to speak out. - I'm gonna say, no. - No, I'm not. - 'Cause it's a lot of celebrities that are not smart people. - Yeah, if you don't know shit about shit, don't say shit. - Please don't say shit. - If you don't have the information, I don't think you have the responsibility to speak on some shit. - I think more people should take the responsibility of learning about some shit, but I don't think it's the responsibility of celebrities to speak on things. I think it's interesting sometimes when you get to like, the Oscars, for example, and the speeches with the Oscars all start to signal what their perspective is and how more people should be signaling the same. I think that's what gets people like, okay, why are you even? Just take the award and say that. - Seems like the Oscars speech is they be kind of tame, though, don't they? They be very muted. And like, I don't respect a lot of that shit 'cause I know them niggas know better. There's a different level of literacy and different facets of culture, right? I mean, just generally. And I know that they know damn better, but they are rightfully so afraid of the consequences. Also, I don't think celebrities are not exceptional people in every regard. Like, now that being a celebrity itself is a full-time profession that doesn't necessarily have to do with like, greatness, talents or, you know, the democratization of attention doesn't necessarily mean that those who receive that attention are exceptional - In any way. - That you need to hear their perspective. - It's hard to be informed in today's world too, man. - It would drive you crazy. - It would drive you crazy, undoubtedly. - Like paying attention to that shit will drive you back shit crazy. And also the amount of misinformation and disinformation. I'd be thinking, I know, you know what I mean? I'm like, I'm like, I know. My girl brought me some shit where I was like Poo Shistee holds Gucci-Man at gunpoint. And it was AI, but I couldn't tell. So I'm looking and I'm like, and she's like, you're so dumb. You can't tell this is. (laughing) So you can't tell this is AI. And then the nigga really hailed him at gunpoint a week later. What do I do with this information? Like, what's real? What's fake? I can't tell the AI video is fake. And then the nigga really do it in real life. - This is fun, man. - See? - This game, not every mistake needs a public apology. - Agreed. - Agreed. I think the apology matches the offense. - What about private apologies? - I think. - I think if your mistakes are interpersonal. - Yeah, I think if it happened in private, it's the apology matches that. - Yeah. - If it happened in public, the apology matches that. I think if we're at work and you pop off at me in front of everybody, and then you try to shoot me an email later and be like, "Yo, I know that was a little crazy." - No, no, no, no, no, no. - No, no, no, no. - No, no, no, no, no, no. - I'll order my room at lunch. - Yep, I want everybody come back into lunch. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or next meeting, you know what I said? It's a really foul shit to Scott the last time we were in this room. Yes you did. - Okay, I like that. - That matched the intensity. So below here, right, ain't it? - So good. - Okay, here we go. - Being secretly recorded is only a problem if you're behaving badly. - Hey, oh no, but especially, 'cause these little meta glasses, this shit here? - This is outrageous. - The meta glasses are single-handedly going to be one of the downfalls of the. - Oh man, it's outrageous. I got a friend, one of my best friends. He like has a whole stick that he does with the meta glasses. You know, he goes around on the elevator, asking white people like, "Do you live here?" - Yeah, me and a beer locker. - I've actually seen it. - Me and a beer and foot locker. And they'll be like, "Yo, I just wanted to make sure that you're not loitering because are you buying something?" You know what I'm saying? And the white people are out of their minds about depression. So he's doing that. He was like touching the hair. He's like, "Can I touch your hair?" It's so stringy. (laughing) So I've seen this video. - It's really funny, it's really, really funny. And he's a pure troll, like, he's not at all a hateful guy, you know what I mean? Like, it's usually white people with him, Loki, while he's doing it. But I say all that to say that you had a meta glasses thing. Recording people without their knowledge. - 'Cause the low tally light, it's mostly had the low light. - It's a signal to someone that it's a recording, but you know, you need to turn that off. - No, it's crazy. It's crazy. - Imitation is flattering, even when credit is missing. Hmm, you got a credit for you. You got to create a people for the shit and there's so much inspiration growing around. Obviously, we can't all cite sources with everything we do. Sure. But you know, it's lines that you ain't got across. It's times when you could just be like, "Yo, shout out to someone so I fucked with what they did and that was my inspiration for this." We in a weird place because God damn it, Niggas make whole lives out of just repurposing shit other than Niggas did recently. We are still doing it. That's what I'm saying. We are doing right now. Yeah. Niggas got pages with millions of followers making money off of social media, just reposting shit that somebody else just did. Yes. Now, my design style, my art style is highly sampling. I'm always ripping shit off, but I also feel like you should be trying to rip shit off from different errors. Okay. No new to shit. I just released last week. Right. And don't quote me on that because I might have said this. I might have said for somebody shit, there's just carried my anger alive. I shouldn't even be talking about this. Okay. So, I think you should be thanking people or attributing people in their work. It should be easy for you to say, I was inspired by this, and here I am. It takes nothing but what's stranger is to be very clearly inspired by something very specific and put it off as it's your own, it was your own idea. No. In the comment section, go say what it is, like recently it was like, like, Kith did a thing and ad where they did something very similar to shit, I do, I mean, with fruit trees and all of shit and fall in the comment section, they was like, yo, y'all could have just hired a nigga or something or credit him or something like that. I really don't even blame individuals for the realities of the systems we live in. You know, try not to because it's like, yo, we live in a time when all attention is incentivized so heavily that it makes sense for a lot of people to create entire internet businesses off of just regurgitating other people shit. Absolutely. And many times as you hear platforms say, we are no longer going to prioritize profiles that simply just repost. You know how many times they get me with the Instagram ads of, like, some crafty new product and I go buy the shit for 80 bucks and then I realize halfway through or once I already press purchase that it's cost 20 bucks on Amazon and a nigga just had the idea to resell that shit with a cooler advertisement with a cooler advertisement. Now you know, I don't be fucking with these politicians and shit. You know, I just don't fuck with them. Most of them spineless, lily-livered amphibians, you know what I mean? They just hop from position to position depending on the lily-livered, because frogs jump on lilies. That's how I got there. No, I'm with you. But the real problem is that we have a political system in which you can purchase everything. So if you can just send a lobbyist to influence the policy, why wouldn't you? Coca-Cola relies on to make profit, then why not? Why not? I mean, that's why I like, I don't know so much about China's political system, but I do know that when you try to purchase political power, they kill you. Huh. And they put you in jail forever. I mean, you can amass extreme wealth. People think China is just like nobody's wealth. It's more like a market socialism, where you can amass tremendous wealth. But if you think you just fit in a body presidency, i.e. Elon Musk, it's like, it's out one. They can. Yeah. Like it's done so. And that's what I'm saying. This society, never ever going to work as long as it's that easy. You can just purchase all political power, as long as lobbying in government and big business corporate packs have that much influence and ability. That's right. Because human beings are human beings. It's like, you might have one exceptional fucking guy that's like, oh yeah, I'm too moral to take the fucking hundred million, but that's not the nature of man. Maybe you aren't, but somebody in your office is what I'm saying, they're people at the end of the day, they're people. And they wouldn't, do you want to fucking poison right? Right. I'll take that shit. Right. I'm listening. You know, you be right. And the poison dad system, like, you know, everybody's not going to be exceptional. If you're going viral for the wrong reason, it's better to join the joke and fight it. Ooh. Joining that joke is tough. It's tough. I don't know. I might say it's better to let it alone, but fighting it sometime. No, don't fight it. Fight it. You really don't. I don't think you post a say shit. I think about my good friend, the good brother, Kevin on stage. Kevin is on stage right now. I mean, and probably on stage and on stage, Kevin. I love Kevin's stage. Kevin's stage is so fire, bro. The day you become a firm, you know what he was doing. You know what he was doing? Yeah, but I don't know if he knew what he was doing. Was that on his podcast or something? He's on his podcast. What I mean is people who are like, now they're writing. Really? Oh, they're making it into dissertations. Okay. And this is why he go on the ahead. He was in charge. Did we see? To do it. Yeah, because niggas can't write fucking a paragraph. Have you seen that social media profile that's just people out reading? He's got an index card. He's like, read this. Have you seen it? No. It's like, then people really can't read. It's like the perpendicular assignment was too close to the circumference of the moon. You got people who are like, oh no, the purple, the purple, the purple paralysis was later. It is a very scary time. First of all, they don't want niggas to be able to read so they can keep robbing us. That's exactly it. That's why they pushed that anti-intellectual shit. They're like, yo, a president. Yeah, he's a guy you can drink a beer with. Bitch, I don't give a fuck if my president can drink a beer with me. That's not my, I know he's not my barometer is my president being an alcoholic. The more likely you are to drink a beer with me is probably the less likely I want you to be my president. I want you to be my president. To have the organizational. That's their measure. Like, oh, he's the Evergrande. He's the Evergrande. Why the fuck should the president be the Evergrande? He should be able to goddamn. That's one thing about Obama. I got my own feelings, but the niggas could just drop that goddamn three, walk off with his entourage. Every niggas can't do that. You should be able to do that to be the president. Exactly! Drinking a beer with me is not a fucking high bar. It's not it. But, you know, I got dressed, but goddamn it. I don't know. I feel like that was right on target, by the way. Yeah, Mom, but Kevin on stage. What I love about Kevin on stage is that Kevin on stage shows what it can be to be a religious person, a god-fearing man, that is not so bound by the dogmas of Christianity. Like, as a non-Christian and just a person who is anti-religious for a lot of my life, I look at so many religious people, see so many contradictions, that it doesn't seem like they hold space for. Right. But what I love about Kevin on stage is that he'll be so forthright and so honest, so honest about the contradictions of humanity and be like, "Yo, I'm a person." And I also know that I'm not alone in this. Yeah, I believe it's religious. And it's not pretend like your public stance on this is your actual thought on this. Niggas is Kevin on stage, let's be real. But if Niggas is going to hell for Kevin, they should have it going to be sparse. You know who body is fucking making it. No, let's go to D there. He posted something online that said something to the effect on paraphrasing. Something to the effect of. One day I will talk about the toll on your mental health. It is to be a trending topic on social media. Whew. I would like to talk to him about that. What would you say? Man, it takes a tremendous toll on your mental health. I think the best thing one can do is to, you know, be rooted in faith and to stay in a moment, not to read it. You mean, don't read it? No, don't read it. You got to know who you are. My God, turn the notifications off. Be connected to God, trust and believe that God sees you. I mean, whatever you believe, the divine presence sees you in the ways you treat people in the ways that you truly are. Because if you adopt what the internet says about you as your own view of self, you're doomed. It's a wrap. You're a part of him. And it's also going to change day to day hour by hour. Not at all possible. You can't do that. I love Kevin. Nick is Kevin and I say, but you know what I mean? I'm not just Kevin. Kevin is shit. Boy, I actually don't fuck with masturbation. I'm sorry. What? For me. Got it. I'm not a Kevin. I'm a Kevin. Okay. But like, I stopped Kevin, I should because year in a year out, I would see that as I dropped so many vices, yeah, I stopped drinking five years ago. And drugs. Same time. Stop smoking cigarettes. Yeah. I mean, changed the way I eat, changed my diet. Year in a year out, I would still be Kevin, I should. And I would be like, why is it not coming together for me? You know? And I really felt like. Sex has always been intertwined with a lot of shame for me and just like a lot of secrecy and guilt and all that shit. So in those moments when I'll be Kevin my own stage, I'll be like, shameful. You know, I will feel the hell ashamed. I'll be like, really? I'm like, what am I doing? Like, I'm not elevating myself as I'm doing this and I feel bad about me. I feel especially with porn. porn is corrosive. So many of those girls are like sex slaves. So porn to begin with is in a dark place. It's a super dark place. But if you don't use porn, you got a very vivid memory. Even that, I would feel like I'm objectifying and I'm not saying any of this from like a fucking heavenly place I've calved my own stage more times than one can count, right? But I'm just talking about it more recently in my life. Actually, my buddy who I was talking about, he had this weird fucking thing in his like, that little bubble on Instagram. Yeah. And it was like day 67, no beat me. You know, he's just a fucking nut. But he like, fucking inspired me. And so I started to-- Oh, words. And I was like, I was like, you're my accountability partner. So I quit and I was like, I'm on a week. I'm on two weeks. Don't. I'm on three weeks. The thing that you were noticing was away from you did you notice that it was becoming closer to you? I think that when I stopped calving my own stage, that blessing started to come to me differently. My vessel was like more clear. You exit that shame. It's the shame thing. You exit that. So maybe if you feel real good about calving your shit, then cal on. Cal on. It's not cal less. I studied with Sad Guru and Sad Guru, amazing yogi. And so the science of karma is not just what we believe it to be of like cyclical give and take. But karma is something you accumulate throughout lifetimes. And within this lifetime, the feeling of fear is an incredible karma accumulator. You're loading yourself with karma. So staying somewhere where you're always afraid. The feeling of shame, just feeling bad about oneself. A lot of Eastern philosophy, they believe that the divine is within you. So like, of course, you're polluting in me. You're polluting the God in you when you feel bad about you. Yeah. So to continue doing something that gives you shame, you're accumulating karma. And you are separating yourself from that source. From the divine. I don't feel divine when I'm calving my shit. Yeah. I, on the other hand, sometimes I've had the most divinity in my life. And I've heard that. While calving my stays. I have heard that. And so none of this is like my moral authority. But just for me, I did stop. But I hope that if this gets clipped, take the part where I'm saying. [LAUGHTER] Take the part where I'm saying, how much I love Kevon Stage, because he's a real nigger. Absolutely. And I just love what he does. You ready? Yeah. Let's do it. [MUSIC PLAYING] How does it feel? How does it feel? I feel like the valley in the summertime, man. Yes, it does. When you go out to eat, do you feel like it's mostly of just a bunch of sides that you order? Yeah, like that you order. I mean, Kevon, you're probably one of the easier places to eat. Sure. It's definitely sides. Like the first nigger I knew who was vegetarian. I would call him a professional side, nigger. Like literally, though. But oftentimes, yeah, you're just eating sides. And I'm also-- I'm going to set this off from preface this by saying, uh-oh. I don't have no goddamn table manners etiquette. So before you all try to point out the way that I'm eating like a caveman, it means that sometimes when I'm first entering a relationship, you've got to warn people. If I go to my lady's family, to meet her family, I'll try to use the utensil in the way that people do. You hold it like a pencil, right? Yeah. How do you hold it? Caveman. So you eat like this? Yes. I mean, right now, I ain't got no knife, so let's see how I do it. But yeah, that-- OK. [LAUGHTER] We were off to a good start. We were off to a good start. It was like-- It came in. Yeah, you got it. No, you can use chopsticks? I can use chopsticks. I think I ended up here. But you just be stabbing the shit you just be like. I think I ended up here, yeah, similarly, to that. But I think I ended up here because my father is African. OK. And so in my culture, they mainly eat with their right hand. You stop up with stuff, right? Yeah, like foo foo was stewed and shit like that. Yeah, man. So the utensil using is not so deep in my blood. That my first language. And nobody called me. I didn't know I was doing the wrong until I was 18. That girl friend was like, you eat like a caveman. Like, what's wrong with you, you know what I mean? So it's too late now. So many of y'all remember when I had a head full of long, luxurious locks, right, before I transitioned to my natural blonde. The products that I use for my locks, though, just don't cut it for my current situation. So I had to learn all over again how to take the best care of my hair. And Baskin' Lather has me covered. These little coils of mine, they scream for hydration, but I don't want heavy products weighing them down, you know, and don't even get me started on that dreaded crunch. So every morning, I reached for their hydrating hair mist to keep my hair soft with a beautiful shine. And it's got ingredients my hair actually loves, like aloe vera and avocado oil that treat dryness, detangle and redefine them curls. Y'all, I do not start my hair routine without it. You can explore viral bestsellers and products for healthier hair of all types. And Baskin' Lather, go to baskinlathercode.com and use code houseguest for 20% off. That's 20% off at baskinlathercode.com code houseguest. I have been real worried for the vegans and the vegetarians out there. Well, you know, now let's have the food and can't eat because of the crazy parasite. The shitty virus. Yeah. I don't fuck with lettuce. No hat on, hang on. I don't eat lettuce. Shit. I don't. I didn't fuck with lettuce before this shit. Ever since they said lettuce had zero nutritional value. I don't get lettuce in salads. Iceberg lettuce has zero, it's just water. I know, but they did that though. They said lettuce wasn't shit. So I don't even fuck with lettuce anyway. Find it out lettuce is shit. How do we, how have we become these people that's the lettuce ain't shit? Fuck lettuce. That's the clip. That's the clip. That's the clip. Oh, that's why you got to put kale in your shit, man. Living it up. Because kale had a crazy come up. So, first it was cauliflower. Cauliflower wouldn't pop in like that like 10, 15 years ago. Oh, thanks. Vegan's? No, I don't know. Like cauliflower lobbyists, out in the comments and capitalists, somewhere, they made cauliflower so sought after. But kale too. Cause kale. Had a moment. It's still going. It's having a. It's having a. Kale is the nigga now. And totally unrelated. It's the nigga now, is wild. But I'm thinking about you in this way unrelated but similarly in that you are finding new ways, other ways to bring art to life. I appreciate that man. I see myself very similarly to kale. I see myself so parallel track with kale. Through kale? Always been valuable. Yeah. You always had a lot to offer. I always had a lot of nutrients to give. Yes, but now getting it to do. You know, and now finding myself in more silence, but shout out to Lena Weith, shout out to the shy. I mean, the shy is also, in a lot of ways, a love letter to those who have not only survived Chicago, but who have made Chicago this incredibly beautiful place, hard place to come up, but has created some of the most epic individuals. Chicago's an amazing place. Amazing place. What did it feel like to get that call? Were you ready to do more acting? I was, man. I was in, I was in Cannes in 2018, and I was on South France, across his beach strip, and I saw Yassine Bay in common. You couldn't miss him because it's nigga. Yassine was like Rick Owen's head to toe. He looked like a ringwraith from the Lord of the Rings fly a ringwraith. Super fly. You know, and so the homie was like, is that most deaf, you know, I'm like, gotta be the way the pants is parachuting out into the boot. Yeah, for sure. I'm like, must be. You know? So I'm kicking it with them. I was asking, coming about, how he made that move, he was like, you got to immerse yourself in the craft. So I started taking acting classes with Diana Kassel. She has this acting school called The Imagined Like Shoutout to Diana Kassel. That's my dog. And she gave me just like, ill shit, gave me, um, really saw me to be doing with you. You mean like not whatever exterior assumptions one might gather, she like saw me as a person gave me August Wilson, two trains running, and like James Baldwin, I'm in corner. Yep. And like had me working on that shit. I just fell in love with it. You know, I started studying it. So ultimately, when I linked up with Lena Weith, I was actually bringing her a script that I was writing at the time, like getting, looking for some help and input on that. She's also so good at that. Yeah. She answers the phone, she's like, come to the house. - Yeah, yeah. And really offers her time to that. And so you go over there with a script and what happened? - Ultimately, I ended up acting on a shot. - Really? - Yeah, for sure. - She was like, "Actually, hold up, matter of fact." - It was early in the shot. I think that was like right after the first season. - Yeah, you know what I mean? So in some time, I ended up acting on a shot. I mean, I'm still very new to this art form. Like I've been doing, I've been doing music so long. And I understand the complexities of the craft. But it does strike a lot of the same emotional chords. And like when you're doing something great, it brings you to tears or it makes you laugh. Music is the same way. Like Scarface once said, if you're not crying when you're finished writing the song you didn't write the right record. - I don't know, that's right. - But working on something for so long, you're acting in this case. When I did get the first actual role, it definitely made me mad emotional. - Really, I was like, man, I've been pushing at this. - Yeah. 'Cause like in other things that you push that hard, you saw the fruit of that labor. Like when you work hard at something and then you experience that success, when you have to work hard at something else to experience a little bit of that success again, you can be like, what is taking so long? That you forget it took a while for the first one to hit too. - That's the crazy thing about TV too though, it's like when you own the motherfucker. - Baby. - You know, damn, but when that season over, - Yeah. - I kind of feel like you just back to square one. - Yes. - I kind of feel like you back to square one. Like it wasn't literally just on a set with your name on a dressing room and like people's entire jobs being to facilitate you doing your thing here. I mean, like that's a very empowering thing. And so many people go into a show. It's a tremendous amount of work on all of it. And one thing I learned from the shy, one thing I learned from Luke James actually. - Who I love. - I mean, Luke James is just one of the best human beings. - Best human beings. - And when I first came on set on the shy, I was just astounded by like his, his resounding radiant humanity. I mean, just breaking the song got a fucking drop of a dime. So kind to everybody got individual tailored relationships with each personal set. And I mean, takes his clothes from the goddamn dressing room to wardrobe. - When that's someone else's job. - Yeah. - Yeah, he just goes above and beyond to be a wonderful human being. - Yeah. - That's something I've really learned from him and tried to take with me. Just through life. - The intention that one moves through life with comes back to them. And you see it in the roles that he gets in the way. And I still think that the love is still building momentum. - Oh, I gotta be. - Because he's so talented. - Looks so cold, though. That's like, look at being fucking, you know, 50, 60 years old getting an Academy Award. I mean, or maybe tomorrow. But I just mean like, I feel like Luke will be doing this for good. He'll be, this is really him. - Well, so now it's a funny that you say that because I ask him a similar question as a person, as an artist who has come out as a musician first. Is it weird sometimes to be referred to as an actor instead of a rapper or a musician? Is it weird sometimes I would imagine for you? It gets a little weird, we were like activists. - I've come to realize that people will identify you with whatever you've been doing for the last year. - Interesting. - And you're not the center of nobody else's universe. - Come on now. - I wake up as me every day, you wake up as you every day. But the reality is that like, people are gonna see you and they're gonna think to the last time they saw you. And that's gonna be how they categorize you. For me, the bigger pursuit is to not allow the world's categories to define me. I mean, the world will have labels. I mean, it'll say you're an activist today, you're an actor tomorrow, you're a rapper on this day. You're a criminal on that day. - Absolutely. - You're undeserving of love on this day. - You're our favorite, this day. - Yeah, for sure. We love you today, you're prophetic. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - And then the next day it's like, - Who are you? - Did you ever think when you pulled that orange off that tree? Did you be pulling more oranges off that tree? - First time that I did that, what I was talking about was actually a moment when I had seen a friend of mine that had recently purchased a race. I think it was. You know, it's a very nice car. - Some super fire car. And I was looking at the video of him in this new car. And I was just like caught up in my head. I was like, "Damn, why the fuck I don't get it?" (laughing) He was like, "Fuck his wrong with me." You know what I'm saying? I'm like, "Shit." And I was commenting in that first orange tree video on how futile it is to compare oneself to the things that you see outwardly and to look past your own blessings. 'Cause I'm thinking that way. Well, I'm surrounded by plenty, you know? It's plentiful in my life. Like I have a woman I love and a child and a backyard with fucking fresh fruit that I could just eat off the tree. And I could go diving a pool and do my meditation. But because I was comparing myself to somebody who I fuck with. - Right. - Covering success that he deserves at his dope. I was looking completely past everything that I have to be blessed for myself. So I wasn't even thinking about the future because it was like, in that moment I was just like, "Yo, it's all about being in the present." And I mean, to be grateful for what's happening in the present. You never run out. - Message. - Message. - Even at your lowest lows. In a jail cell, baloney sandwich, dirty drawers, they took the strings out your hoodie and your shoelaces is gone. - Right. - If somebody doesn't have that, they probably wish they had one more chance to care of on stage. - One more chance. Just in one moment. At some point it's coming. At some point you might get mad. And I want to keep saying, "Get one stage just to shit." I love that, nigga. I want to reiterate. - I want to always reiterate that. But to say, man, look, there's always something to be grateful for. - And that focusing on that presence in your own life draws more-- - It brings a lot to you. - Yeah, that's the big part. It brings a lot to you because-- - Covering jealousy. - It does not bring more to you. - It never has envy. - It never has. - It will never supply you. - But gratitude. - My God. - Express gratitude. First thing in your day, for all the things you're grateful for, is a signal to the rest of your day to provide you with more things to be grateful for. Because, you know, we resonate like those times. - Yeah. - Like the things we say, the words we think. - That makes me think of the video you posted. I believe it was on your four year anniversary of sober. - So yeah, not drinking. - Not drinking. - Yeah, yeah. - And sober is a little questionable, you know? Sometimes I think, I do a little sum when it kind of like, some mushrooms and-- - You know what I'm saying? - I get out there. - Also. - I want to talk to you about my question there. - I get out there. - I get out there, boy. - This is the same. - I'll be gone all the goddamn. - Don't end here at the same time. - For sure. - Gone inside myself. - Hello. - I was watching this video of you marking your four year anniversary of not drinking. And you were talking about a moment that you almost cost you that progress. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - And this technique that you used to pull you back into gratitude-- - I wonder which one it was. - Where you were talking about making a list of the things you were grateful for. Someone had ordered a drink on a plane. And instead of you, a drink would be really good right now. I could have a drink in there. - Because I was sad. - Yeah. - We've been talking about my experiences on planes a lot today. - We have. But planes, for some reason, they often-- - They bring up a lot of them. - And bring it out of me, man. - I don't know what it is. - Not just you. - You traveling brings the real out of people. - No, for real. 'Cause I remember being very sad that day. I don't know what was going on. But I found myself just in that seat. And I'm just crying. I'm just like emotional sad. And I see somebody get the drink. And I'm like, fuck, the escapism that is alcohol would be a welcome respite from these emotions I'm feeling. And why the fuck I'm crying, all in public, on this got to play. - Right. - And a technique called the grateful flow, where you just get into a flow of saying things you're grateful for. I mean, I'm grateful for breath in my lungs today. I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak to Scott and for people to care what I have to say. I'm grateful for every person that put together this massive production. I'm grateful for this food. I'm grateful to Emily for making some alone. You just keep going. You keep step after step expressing your gratitude. I have a different story using this where I pulled up and I was hella like maybe NVS and just like in a dark mood instantly missed the flight. I missed the flight just like that. And I caught myself. I was like, oh shit, I'm tripping. You know, when did a meditation? Did the gratitude thing? Got on that next flight about the time my meditation was done and got upgraded to first class. You know, it's just like that. - And I know that there are people who are like, okay, but that shit is real. - You know, I do that shit every day. - It is real. - I literally do that shit every day. - And it's real. It shows up. - When you interrupt that lower frequency that is pulling your attention or your energy or your activity, away from your purest self, which is closer to the divinity in you and that's around you. - For sure. - When you interrupt that with something more and alignment with that divinity, things in your life, I'd promise you, they do just seem to get a little, even for a little bit easier. - Things start to come together. - They come together, especially with this show, what's beautiful is that what we're creating has such a resonant power that more people are wanting to tap into that and share that same kind of energy, that same kind of vibe. And so if there's more opportunities to create more of that versus some of the other more negative, lower for what I would describe as lower shape, - For sure. - I would describe as lower shape. - For sure. - And that's just the paradigm shift, that's the perspective shift. - Yeah. - To be like away from a scarcity mindset, to be away from a space where you're like, oh man, well, if niggas start doing my thing, and it's my thing going to be like poisoning your way. - It's not worth your time. - Not worth your time because you can't ruin it. - I think about that shit a lot, because you can't choose what sentence enters your mind, but you can choose what a period lands. - Hello. - So if you say something to yourself that's big, I'm saying you say something negative to yourself. You always can put a comma there and be like, actually, no, I believe in my path and the plan that God has ordained for me. You can't put the period there. - Can't stop yourself from thinking negative shit. That's just being a fucking human being. - Especially in 2026. - But you can play ping pong with it. - Hello. - You can counteract. - I saw Marty's the priest. - That's me with my ego. I begot damn, just, I'm ping pong with this negative. - You coming at me all the time, you know what I'm saying? - Right. - Right. - With my ego from the time I opened up my eyes, man, that's when my big homie in the joint told me, he was somebody that's always finding a way to be positive. He was serving 29 years. When he just got out, shout out to Suavelle, sorry, 29 years. Wrongfully accused. Didn't even kill him. Somebody else shot the person that didn't like Suavelle. And so they put it on Suavelle. And in that time, no. Something that America has stolen from him, but still many men will be absolutely broken. - Absolutely. - But some will take that immense trauma and pressure and use it to fashion themselves into a diamond. You know me, and like, not that they're perfect, but use it to make them mentally, spiritually, emotionally strong. - Yes. - And more useful. - To other people. - 'Cause then he-- - For sure, because then he gave a lot of game to my homie who was his celly, who then interacted with him, changed me, so then I ended up speaking to Suavelle and becoming close to him. 'Cause the way he had fashioned his human instrument was like beautiful like those times. I mean, yeah. And it just spread. I gotta tell myself there's a lot that there's no fucking need to try to course correct anybody else. I'll never run out of things to work on about me. Hello. I battle with that because I know that so much of what I see in this world is dead as wrong and so corrosive, so hateful. And so I find myself like, you know, fighting against it, but I always do have to know in the back of my mind like man, criticism and judgment is for an entity far greater than me. And I'll never run out of Vic shit to work on, like to fix me. - Right. And we can get back to that. Now that doesn't mean that there should not be a lack of accountability. And you may need to, you may need to fry these niggas, man. 'Cause-- - The reality is they're gonna get. - Yeah, I mean, they're gonna get it one way or another, they're gonna get it. - My boy Chance got a rap where he was like, either God got some loving or a oven for you. He was just saying like, damn. You might need to fry these niggas. I was talking to some like, I was talking to Butch Ware, man, is Butch Ware is a brilliant scholar of African history and Islamic studies ran for California governor recently. I was talking to him about this. And he was like, yo, one must defend truth and justice. And that may mean, frying these niggas, but also never forget the you in it. - I feel like the times have been going heavy today 'cause I feel like it's been a lot of those moments that are just real talk. And so I wanna talk to you more about your own show. I wanna talk to you more about-- - 'Cause I imagine these are gonna be the kinds of things you're talking about in your own show. - Yeah, for sure. - And I love that for you, but I also wanna play this game. - But mom, you ready? - Yeah, how'd it go? - Let's do it. - Let's go outside. - Yeah, this is how to deal. - I knew some more show, that show is good as hell. (upbeat music) - Okay, so we're inside now, it was how to tell outside, but it's game time. We're calling this one square up. - Oh, okay. - Oh, good. - Fuck you, baby. - Square up, baby. - Have you seen the videos on social media? - It's with the kids. - Square up, and they're like, turn it to a square. - Yes, so the little boy who turned it to a square. - I love it. - I love that for our generation, for sure. For our kids to, you know, not have that experience. - Trauma in the same way, I like that, that's a cool one. - So in that vibe, we're playing a game called Square Up. Because you also have a way with words. You know, as a performer and a rapper, you're gonna choose a square with your marker and you'll get a corresponding word puzzle. - Okay, okay. - You have a couple words that have something in common. You gotta guess that word. - Okay. - The idea is to connect three in a row, either up, down, or diagonal. The guess goes first. - All right. - To make your choice. Are you going eight? - What are you doing? - Star, and nap. These have one word in common. - Oh. - Kidnap, bearin' up, catnap, star, cat, cat, star, starboard. - Bored, nap, star, fire, star, player, player, nap. Take a play in nap. (laughing) (laughing) - Neighbors, I spent half my life sitting in this vehicle, driving the studio, sitting in traffic, getting the car washed, sitting in traffic, driving the events or dinner, sitting in traffic. But thank God I can listen to audiobooks on Amazon Music Unlimited to get me through it. And right now I'm listening to Becoming by Michelle Obama. And let me tell you, her voice is so soothing too, 'cause like imagine me getting ready to go off on the car that just cut me off. And then suddenly you hear in surround sound mind you, when they go low, we go high. Michelle, we are becoming who we're meant to be, but I'm not there yet. But it just lifts you up. And that's what I love about audiobooks. You can be driving, working out, even cleaning your house. And suddenly all that time that's passing feels like it's giving you something back. And with an Amazon Music Unlimited subscription, now you get access to audiobooks too. So that's music, podcasts, audio books, all in the one app. Amazon Music, get into it. I'm gonna go to. Head high, high bar. Head, head overboard. Head, head, head over bar. Head high, high bar was valid though. All right, let me go five. Playing Jane, Jane, I'm seeing, playing. (laughing) Playing bagel. Playing, what's his show called? Parts unknown. Oh man, I should be better at this. Okay, give me 15. Open C, C weapon. Open, open door weapon. Open, weapon. Fire weapon, new, used weapon. Open weapon. (laughing) This game is hot already. Open, hey, this game is hard. Wapen. Let me get, open, weapon, let me get 10. Final thought, throat, goat. Final throat. (laughing) Last one you ever get. (laughing) Slice, slit. Final slit, slit throat. Final cut, cut throat. Ah, that was good. So what's one was that? Number 10, cut throat. Number six. Street, home. Street, sign, sign home. Home, sweet, home. Home, street, street, street. I don't get it, no, no. Street, think, street head, head home. What? Street nigga, nigga home. (laughing) Each time it's just like an expletive that comes down and then in the world they can combine these things. Let me go with nine. Natural nigga. (laughing) Oh, that should have been negative. They've used that nigga by the way. Oils is shit. (laughing) Bias, inherent bias. Natural, natural, yeah, I don't know. I don't know again. 17. (bubble popping) Block, foul, block, block party, party, foul. (bell rings) - Shoot. - Fourteen. - Free, what kind of therapy? - Talk therapy, free talk. - Free speech, speech therapy. - There you go. - I don't know, okay. - Would have not got that. - Okay, okay, okay. So I'm going 18, I'm going for a block. - Damn, you're gonna fuck my shit up though if you get 18. - Cold play, play pad. - Don't give it to him. - Hello? - Cold play. - So many in my seconds, man. - That was messed up my friend. - Cold, cold war, war pad. Cold, no, no, no, no, no, uh. - Give me 18. - No, not on that one, 'cause she-- - No! - But then you would-- - Yes, the game would continue. - No, I wouldn't be able to string three together, if I don't want to. - No, you'd string another three. - Start from square one? - Hey! That's where I'm at! (laughs) Give me that AT, let it go, show the shoulder pay. Let it come on. (bell rings) All right. (laughs) Well, it came together, but it took time. That was a hard game for somebody. - For me, shit. - Yeah. Yes, for you. - I was supposed to trounce you more resoundingly. - One might say you had a little hint. - So did you, Niggas! (laughs) You wanted a hint on the last one. - Yes, yes, yes, I did. - But wait, so we didn't talk about the fact that you've got this talk show. It's cool to see you at the tree, right? But what brought on the talk show? - You know, I really always saw what I've been doing as conversations, but they were purely conversations with the public, which has grown into a quite consistent group of people. - Yeah, absolutely. - They engage with what I'm doing and hold discourse in the comments, you know what I mean? - Yeah. - So to build it into a conversation of format where I'm talking to other people, seem like a natural evolution of it. - Yeah. - And just a new avenue, you know, something that's exciting and it brings together multiple mediums that I love, exploration of ideas with film and cinema and, you know what I mean? The creative aesthetic visual aspect of it. - So you're taking it somewhere. - Yeah, for sure. - It's not like podcast situation, like bring it up a notch. - I do, I mean, I wanted to be creatively fulfilling for me. - Yeah, exactly. - And even in building a set, like I built this set. - You built a set? - Me and my boy Roberto from Home Depot. We built the set, you didn't say it, but I mapped it out. I tried to hire some people to do it, but they tried to tax me and then the shit didn't even pan out. You know, the materials they ordered didn't show up. So I was like, "Fuck it, I'll just do it." You know, so I found myself in like the flooring store, getting like some special orange tile of linoleum. - Yeah. - And like got certain furniture that expressed something I wanted to express and had that re-apholstered in a certain way, like really designed and built the motherfucker. - And I'm having a lot of fun with it. I don't know, I just love projects like that. - Yeah, yeah. - I've filmed like six episodes. - Oh, where now? - Give me an example of the kind of people, like the kinds of conversations and the kind of people that you're inviting over. - Yeah, the first one is me and Chance. You know, we grew up together. - Yeah. - And so we're kind of like going through our relationship from children in a time when we fell out kind of publicly. - Yeah. - And you know, we're at odds for some years and ultimately came back together and like strengthened our friendship to a dimension that it had never been before. - Yeah. - From age 14 and kind of breaking down the ways that conflict resolution can look, you know what I mean? Especially between black men. - Yeah. - It was an amazing conversation. - Through some healing processes. - For sure, for healing. Like there were things we talked about that we had never actually really addressed. - You know, like shit that we forgot about. - In the, just like the intimacy of having people as you obviously know, like having people in your home and having conversations with people in that way, it's like very human. I say all the time that the internet and social media and ideas of things like content are new, but human beings conversing in a public sphere is old. - Yeah. - I mean, Socrates and Plato, we're having a fucking conversation. - You see, we like Socrates and Plato. - I mean, you know, but not on that 18. - What was it like? - Mega therapy, nigga house, nigga freak. - That nigga therapy. - I philosophized about glocks and keys. Niggas called me young black Socrates. West Indies bitch dropped to knees quick. (laughing) So what I'm getting at, human beings have been doing this. We've been understanding the world we live in through conversation. To think about Socrates, he didn't write nothing down. - Crazy. - It was all in conversation. His wisdom was all through community and through discourse and dialogue, right? And so even though the forums are new, the idea is old. - True. - And necessary. - It's old and it's just, it's at our core. - At our core. - It's at our core about humans. And I think so much about like the conversations that I'll have with the people I love, like just people in my life, you know what I mean? And how much value is in them, but they're never recorded. Also the house has become really intrinsically connected with a lot of what I'm doing already. It is such a like just plentiful place. And to do these conversations either right at the ornstery or in view of it or in the studio right next to it. It's like my big home, he told me this. He said if you fire yourself alive at the end of days, plant a tree. And so oftentimes this feels like the end of days. In so many ways, it's the end of days for a lot of people. If you're in Gaza right now, this is like literally. Like likely the end of days for you. - Right. - This is true for many people on this planet. Right now, many people in this country. And I do think that sharing insight and humanity and growth and mistakes and victories and losses and, you know, a human being at home is planting a tree. Because so oftentimes people will tell me that they saw something I said at the ornstery when you were talking about the sober thing or when I stopped drinking. A friend of mine showed that to somebody in her life it's having a lot of trouble with like substance abuse, you know, serious substance abuse. And it was like, yo, that was valuable for him because he was like in ways that somebody I may resonate with, you know what I mean? - Or doesn't seem so far removed from my experience. - For sure. As somebody that has been like a deep drug addict, like very publicly. So then going through this process where I'm at a place where I've been able to transmute a lot of that, then I can share it. And then that's planting a tree because it's finding it's branches into somebody else's life to be like, yo, that maybe that's like realistic for me. - Yeah. - And so I do think that having conversations like these, you know, real conversations and not just those that are rooted in outrage, seeking, engagement, and attention that at this time, perhaps especially, there's like trees we got a plant, you know. Let's get to plant some trees, bro. - You already got a lot, man. - Yeah, yeah. You can always plant a little more. - For sure. - One more game. - We're gonna do another one. - Come on. - One. - Cancel culture. - You heard me. (laughing) - Finally, Jesus Christ. - I heard me. I should have never said that I was loud. - I heard you go. (laughing) - Let me go. - Seven. (laughing) - Seven. - Seven. - Deep shit. - Shit, Tao. (laughing) - Bumbarov's clots. - Bumbar clots. - That's the meaning of Bumbar clots. If anyone didn't know. - I did not know that. - Yeah, it took me some time to learn. Beach towel, deep beach towel, washed towel, dirty towel. Deep, dirty, and dirty. - Deep towel, what the? - How many different kind of towel, hand towel? - Four. - Sound call. - Sound. - Sound. - Bird call. - Sound. - Sound effect. - Effect call. - Sound bar. - Bar call. - Sound. - Whoo. What is a hog game, boy? (laughing) - Let me get 13. Let me see if I did it 13. - Oh, there you go. - Honeywalk. - Honeypack. - Pack walk. - Plug walk. Honey plug. - That sound kind of great. - It does. - What other kind of walk? 'Cause it's an orde walk. Honey board, board walk. Crypt walk. Honey crib. (laughing) Honey crib. - Crypt walk. - And B walk. And I was like, actually that works. Honey bee and-- - And B walk. - And B walk. You know, bloods, they like to do special walking and stuff, too. - What is that one? - It's a B walk and how to see walk. - Honeymoon. - Oh, look. - Oh. - Honeymoon and moonwalk. Just tell us all of them at this minute. - 'Cause that was gonna be mad. - Oh, we should've hit it. We tried all of 'em. - Go to five again, go to five again. - Can we work together? - Plain. - Plain. - Sight, sight unseen. - Oh, wow. - That was good. I guess, I guess 15. - Open sesame, sesame. - Open field, field weapons. - Oven weapon, silent weapon. - Open air, air weapon. - Open water, water weapon. - Open AI, AI weapon. - Ah! - Secret weapon, open secret. - Open secret. - Yeah, that makes sense. - That's silly. - When are you launching the show? - We're gonna launch it at the end of August. - Word. - Are you excited about that? Are you nervous about it? What's the feel? - I'm excited, man. I spoke to a psychic earlier this year. - I'm sorry, what? - Yeah, he was like a numerologist. It's like Iranian dude with this really cool house and Beverly Hills or something. - Yeah, a lot of answers. - He's just new shit. He was like, this person's gonna be going through that. You got this venture coming up, huh? This seems like it's gonna be a big thing in your life, right? And so this meeting with the numerologist. - That was so far has been on? - Yeah, it's been on. And that meeting helped me to make sense of the many different projects that I'm working on. And numerologist said it was gonna work. - That was it? - That's what we did. - I was like, if the psychic said shit, it'll work. We going up. - I'm gonna run with that. - That's what it is. - Yeah, but it's great. - Brian, I'm so excited for you, man. - Sure, man. - Sure, man. - I'm so excited for you, man. - Of course. - Give it up one time for Vic Nincol! (upbeat music) - Good job. - This game is too hard. You need an easier game. It's just harder.