Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The craziest part of my life.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I can go from performing in front of forty thousand
people to either being in a dressing room, being.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
In a plane, or being back in the bed all
by myself. He is a multiplatum selling recording artist, minima
and an actress. What's a mother one? The only.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Did you feel like a big break was coming?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I didn't know what that big break looked or felt like,
but I knew that what I was doing was working.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
The gang banging and the drug selling. That's not really
for me.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
But they looking cool to having girls and making music.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I'm like, I like that part of it.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
What's it like to get a record deal and then
music record deal?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Oh, there's no bouncing back from that?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
How unsafe was it where you were in Pittsburgh?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
The streets is crazy out there.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I remember like one of my first friends getting shot
and killed in seventh grade.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Wow, when was your sibling who posted away?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
She passed away? I think maybe seven years ago.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
I was that experience for you, losing someone's so close
to you that you love.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I am grateful that I was able to have like
the last moments that I had to be able to
prepare for it and It's something that I'm still dealing with.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
What's a misconception you think people have about you?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
The number one health and wellness podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Jay Sheety Jay, Sheddy Sez Jay Sheet. Hey everyone, welcome
back to On Purpose, the number one health and wellness
podcast in the world. Thanks to each and every one
of you that come back every week to listen, learn
and grow. Today's guest is the one and only Wiz Khalifa,
(01:39):
multi platinum artist and Grammy nominee who rose to fame
with his twenty eleven debut album Rolling Papers, featuring the
hit Black and Yellow. Wiz one Best New Artist at
the twenty eleven BET Awards and Top New Artist at
the twenty twelve Billboard Music Awards. His song see You
Again from the Furious seven top charts in ninety five
(02:02):
countries and earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song.
Today we're talking about Wi his newest album, Cush plus
Orange Juice to Please. Welcome to the show. Wiz Khalifa, what, Wiz,
I'm good. I'm good. It's great to have you here,
good to be here. You walked in with this real
(02:22):
chill energy today. I was like it was it was
very calmy.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, I'm a super chill dude.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
I love that man.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
What's the first thing you do in the morning? Smoke
wheed every day?
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah? First thing, Well, I take my dog out outside.
I have a dover man. He's a puppy, but he's
a big puppy.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
He's like he's ten months now, and he wakes up
pretty early, so I take him out and then.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
I smoke wheed.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Do you ever remember a day before that was the case?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah, I remember the days before that was
the case.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
What were those days?
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Like?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I was in school, get up and earing my clothes
and you know, go after school.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yeah. Was there ever a time in your life where
you tried to stop smoking or has that ever been
a goal?
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Nah?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I never. I never really never really fell back off
of it. I never had a reason to.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yeah. Yeah, what does it do for you that you
feel it needs to be your first habit of the day.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
For me, it just kind of gets me in a
relaxing mood.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I have a lot of things on my mind, like
as soon as I wake up, so it's like here,
I'm there, I'm everywhere. But if I smoke, I kind
of chill, relax, put everything into his place. I write
my goals down, I start to you know, make some
text messages or phone calls or whatever, depending on what
the situation is. So everything just starts to come into place.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
You write your goal goes down regularly. Is that like
a regular habit or consistent habit?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely through what that looks like?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
It's really like me kind of like just spitball and
stuff whatever it is, like short term goals of mine,
whether it be about clothing, music, family, visuals, content, just
kind of like just writing the first ideas, like really short,
really just.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
To the point, nothing really crazy.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
I have a blackboard, so I sit in front of
the blackboard and physically write it, or if I'm in
my car or something like that, I'll write it down
in my notes, you know what I'm saying, just to
like little reminders and things like that.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Yeah, I love that. Man, How long have you had
that habit for?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
It goes on and off just due to necessity, Like
how crazy my life is. So I just I feel
like I don't know how long it's been because I
do it like so regularly, and then I look back
and I see how much I've done it. And I'm like, Wow,
I've been doing this for a long ass freaking time,
So I think it's kind of like a like a
(04:50):
second nature type of thing for me.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
What do you find is the craziest part of your life.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
The craziest part of my life? I think the entertainment
part is there easiest part.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
And I think it's because I can go from performing
in front of thirty thousand and forty thousand people to
either being in a dressing room, being in a plane,
or being back in a bed all by myself. And
it's like to go from that much energy to just
be it all by like, back by yourself.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
I think that's pretty crazy.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Walk us through what that feels like mentally, Like you
just described two polar opposites, and the majority of people
on the planet will never really experience those extremes. They
might experience the loneliness in a room, but they won't
experience the thirty thousand people screaming your name right, wearing
your merch right, you know whatever, it may be, singing
along to your music. What are you feeling in the
(05:49):
in betweens in the transition of that to that.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
You have to have this thing where you kind of
wind down and you know what is forwear, Like you
can't bring the stage home because eventually you have to
you know, wind down and go to sleep and wake
up and do it again. And you can't be you know,
too turned off when you're on the stage, because you
have to bring enough energy to where somebody is way
(06:14):
in the back and they can feel you. So it's
really just like a projection of like, you know your
energy and how you feel, and the majority of the
times I'm in a great mood, I have great interactions
with my fans and the people around stage and things
like that, so it goes good.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
I'm in a great mood.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
But it's just a lot of this goes from really
really intense and then it could just all just be
shut off at one second. And I think that that's
like the craziest part to me.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yeah, I can relate, you know, I'd heard that before,
and I can relate in a small, very small way comparatively.
But I remember doing my first have a live show
in twenty nineteen. It was at the Ace Theater or
maybe twenty eighteen something like that, in the Ace Hotel,
and what it's like, I don't know. Fifteen hundred people,
two thousand people. Maybe it was my first of a show,
(07:04):
and I remember walking off stage, jumping into the car
to get driven back home, and it was just the
strangest feeling, like it's so hard to explain it, and
I wasn't you know, It wasn't like I don't do music,
I haven't got even with that experience, but I'm feeling
connected with my audience. Then you get into the back
of a black you know, a black car, you barely
know it. I didn't know anyone in the car with me.
(07:26):
I was alone, and I'm driving home and I just
felt I was like, wow, I don't even know how
to describe the juxtaposition. And then I went on my
world tour last year. We did roughly forty cities around
the world, and that was like you're in a new
place every day and now you're feeling that same thing
every day, and so I know it's much smaller compared
to what you've done, but to me, just getting that experience,
(07:49):
and I remember that night, I was lucky. I came
home and my wife had planned a surprise party, so
my closest friends were back in my house and that
kind of like it was a relief, but it is
a weird feeling.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I don't think the feeling is smaller due to the
crowd or whatever. I think the feeling is the feeling.
It's like when you're on a roller coaster and like
you get back and like you're in your bed and
you still feel like you're on a roller coaster.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Yeah, it's like you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
So I feel like we still have that in common,
even though it might be at different levels, and it's
it's not even always thirty thousand people. Sometimes it could
be a private event or sometimes they could be an
event with some kids or something like that, to where
it's like you just get really two totally different, you know,
(08:36):
parts of life, and they're both great. I love my
normal life and I love my work life too. It's
just the difference between them is crazy.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Yeah, what's helped you continue to love them and deal
with that paradox with that ease and comfort. What's really
sued your relationship with those you know, challenging or crazy
experiences that you mentioned.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
I think it has a lot to do with my
relationship with my fans, because I love the people that
I do music for and they give me a really
really great response and reaction not only to my performance
but to my music and just the appreciation that they
have for it. So I appreciate them as well, and
it makes it easier because I enjoy it and I
(09:22):
love to create.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I love to be on stage. I love to be
in front of people.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Yeah, So it doesn't feel like I'm like doing anything
out of oh I just want the money, or this
is just for this certain reason.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
It's really really enjoyable for me.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
So it's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
It's a great experience.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
That's such a beautiful place to be.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yeah, yeah for sure.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Yeah. Yeah. That gratitude to your community for being there
for you, Yeah, for being present with you.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Yeah. What's what's been What's been like your craziest fin
experience or fan interaction a memory that you have with
one of the audience members That I.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Think stuff is when people like come up and get
me to like sign my name on them so they
can get it tatted. Wow, or they showed me like
tattoos in my face on them. I think those are
the craziest interactions because I have tattoos, I'm covered in them,
so I know how important that is and to be
you know, just me as an artist and doing what
I'm doing, and to want to have people to want
(10:21):
to like tattoo me on them.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
It's pretty Uh, it's pretty tight.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Have people ever done a lyric as well? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Yeah, they do lyrics, they do song titles, they do pictures,
they do autographs, they do all types of stuff.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Well, what's your most meaningful tattoo or one that really
speaks to you?
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Probably I got a couple.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
I got, you know, my mom's name, I got my
brother's name, my siblings who passed away. I got my
little sister. Yeah, probably like my family tattoos mean the
most to me. The rest of them are just like
stuff about life that I've learned throughout the way, or
things that I've called myself throughout life.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Yeah, when was your sibling who passed away?
Speaker 2 (11:07):
She passed away. I think maybe seven years ago. I
remember exactly how many years it could be, like, could be.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
More or less.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Yeah, and how old was she then?
Speaker 2 (11:18):
She would have been forty now, so she was probably
thirty three when.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
You had some life together?
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, we grew up together. Yeah, same mom,
same dad.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Yeah, how was that experience for you? Losing someone so
close to you that you love.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
I wouldn't say like rough, because you know, you get
through that type of stuff you learn how to deal
with it. But it's definitely a situation that I never
would have expected. Like like we weren't sick growing up
or anything like that. We were always the same. So
it's like when you get to a certain age, you
(11:56):
don't plan on losing a sibling. And it was just
something that we had to deal with. And you know,
I asked her health decline. It was something that we
knew was going to happen. So it was like, all right, cool,
let's get ready for it, you know what I mean.
And I am grateful that I was able to have
like the last moments that I had and to be
(12:17):
able to prepare for it. And you know, my son
has memories of my sibling and things like that, and
her birthday was actually on Halloween, so we.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Celebrate every year annually. We throw a party.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
So yeah, it was definitely an experience, but you know,
it's something that I'm still dealing with.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Like, you know, like a lot of the times I'm.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Doing like really really well, and then sometimes it might,
you know, it might hit me to a point where
it's like, all right, you know, let me just slow
down and kind of deal with this or just think
about it or talk about it, or just whatever it
is that gets me through it. But yeah, it's just
like a continuous thing, for sure.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
How did you prepare for it the time you said
you kind of knew it was, you know, her health
was diminishing over time. How did you prepare at the time,
Like whether the specific rituals or things you did, or
memories you made together that stayed with you.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
No, I wasn't really too many rituals or memories or
anything like that. I was traveling a lot at the time,
so I did make sure that I went home and
spent some time with her before she passed away.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
And then my mom was really the one who.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Was like right by her side the whole time, So
she was giving me kind of like blow by blow
of everything and just how the situation was going to go.
And I just did my best to try to make
her as comfortable as possible, you know, for those last
couple of moments.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
And yeah, yeah, that I mean, it sounds like you said,
you're still dealing with it, even though it sounds like
you made the most of that time. Yeah, and now
you're saying you reach out to people and talk about it.
Who would you reach out to when you want to
talk about something like that.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
I would talk to like my aunt Rachel.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
We had like you know, we all just laughed and
joked and just had a real good time together. Talked
to my mom, talk to my dad, talk to my
baby sister about it. I most recently talked to like
just one of my other aunties about it, just randomly,
because I feel like we all feel the same and
we all have losses and you know, can relate in
(14:20):
certain ways, even though it's not the best thing to
be relatable about, but you know, we feel similar about it.
So it's cool to have those conversations and you know,
feel good about it afterwards.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Yeah. I love that you still celebrate her bethab Yeah, Yeah,
for sure. That's that's a beautiful way to think about it.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Yeah. It's such a hard balance I find in terms
of morning or grieving someone's death and then celebrating the
life you had with them. Yeah, And it's such a
fine line and often you're pulled in either direction. But
I think it's so important that we do celebrate life,
the memories we had with someone and celebrate their life
as well.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Absolutely, I just look I look at it as like,
if she still here, we'd be partying, So let's not
start the party.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Yeah, that's beautiful. I was diving into your career with
and I feel like when someone like you becomes as
successful as you've become, and you know it is dropping
successful hits here and there, you almost forget the journey
that they've been on and the graph that they've been on.
And I was really fascinated by that because it hasn't
just been like a smooth, easy, linear journey. I think
(15:26):
people think of success as like you tried something out,
it worked, and now you're this, you know, this big phenomenon,
and yours had lots of twists and turns. When like,
what was your life like before Black and Yellow compared
to what it is now? What was it like before that?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
I would say it was pretty normal, Like it was
pretty regular. I was just, you know, like any other
twenty something year old. I think just the way that
we were working and traveling and like going on the road,
and kind of the money that we were dealing with,
a lot of it was getting reinvested back into the business.
(16:03):
So I was making money, but I was spending money
on myself, and like not even in a big way,
but it would just be you know, hotels, travel things
like that. So I was putting myself through like courses
in business and how to like you know, make money,
spend money, reinvest, blah blah blah. It was doing all
this stuff naturally, but it wasn't on that level yet
(16:25):
because we hadn't met, you know, anybody who was in
the game. We hadn't had business managers or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
So it was just you know, me and my friends.
We were kind of just really really.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Hustling and making the best out out of what we
knew how to do.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
Yeah, I mean, did you feel like a big break
was coming or did it feel like, God, we don't
know how this is gonna go.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Well, being that I already had a record deal and
then essentially lost that record deal, I didn't feel like
a big break was coming.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
I didn't know what that big break looked or felt like.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
But I knew that what I was doing was working,
and I knew that the people who were into me
and the movement that I had created, I knew that
that was more popular than you know, the mainstream and
like what was really really popular at the time. So
I was really confident in that. Yeah, but I didn't
(17:25):
know like a big moment was coming.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
What's it like to get a record deal and then
lose a record deal?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
It sucked for me, like just because in those days,
like if you had a record deal, like that was it.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
And then if you didn't have a record deal, like
you were done.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
So to have one and then lose it, it's like, oh,
there's no bouncing back from that. Like I never knew
anybody but who bounced back from that? But in my mind,
it was never over. I never counted myself out. I
just never knew what the next situation was going to
look like, or how long or what that timeframe was
going to be.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Like where did that confidence come from? I love how
self assured you were that like what you were doing
in the community, you were building was resonating with what
you were doing. Yeah, where does that come from? Because
I think, like you said, so many people today who
might be listening and they maybe they just you know,
got kicked out of a job, maybe they got rejected
(18:19):
from their record deal. I remember when I when I
was first coming up with the idea for this podcast
six years ago. I had a production company and a
partner that was going to launch the show with me.
I went away for the holidays, Christmas, holidays, came back,
and then I was told that it wasn't on anymore.
So I remember that feeling and having to launch the
(18:39):
show on my own. If someone's going through that right now,
how did you maintain that composure and that confidence, like, no,
we're doing something here. Yeah, we may not know when
that break's coming, but we're going to keep moving.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
I think it was just by like standing on the
things that I believed in and the stuff that made
me most comfortable, And if I wanted to show it,
I was going to show it. If I wanted to
talk about I was going to talk about it. It
might not have been where everybody else would would have
considered what's going to take somebody to the top, But
it made me feel free and I enjoyed myself by
(19:15):
doing it, and I think just in turn, a lot
of people have fun enjoying watching me do it.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
If you could give your younger self any advice before
Black and Yellow came out, what would it be?
Speaker 1 (19:28):
I was good. Keep doing what you're doing. You got
you gotta figure it out.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Is there anything you would have liked to have known
for how to deal with it afterwards?
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Nah? Nah.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Everything that I that I learned and that I figured
out along my way, I think happened in its time
and how it was supposed to and it's position in
me for even greater points in my life as well.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Yeah, where where does that come from? Because that's such
a peaceful thing. And like I said, from the moment
you walked in this, there's such a piece and ease
about you in an industry where people can get jaded. Yeah,
people can get ruffled, they get flustered. Yeah, how have
you kept that piece and composure for yourself?
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Like?
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Where where's that coming from?
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Really?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Like just my goals and this shit. I have my
own personal goals and I've reached a lot of my
old goals that I was trying to do, and I
reached them by being myself and doing exactly what I
wanted to do and how I wanted to do it. So,
you know, knowing that that's possible and seeing that it
doesn't make me want to rush to the next point
(20:34):
or the next situation I'm comfortable waiting for what's mine
and you know, just seeing how everything plays out as
opposed to, you know, trying to make it be somebody
else's story. Like I feel like my whole story and
everything as far as my life, if I see it,
I wanted it, It's just a matter of time until
(20:56):
I get it. So you know, I'll just wait that
on a time and you know, just keep just stay
down and just you know, just be very very like
have a lot of gratitude for where I'm at and
what I've done so far. And even when I was
coming up, I was really really happy with what I had.
So the more and more that I started to get,
(21:17):
it wasn't because I wasn't happy where I was at
and I had to get more. It was just because
I was so happy. It just, you know, just kept
turning into more and more. So I just keep it
like that.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Yeah, there's a beautiful quote that says when you're grateful
for what you have, you'll receive more to be grateful for.
And I think it's true that gratitude expands. But it's
beautiful hearing you said that. Did you learn that from anyone?
Did anyone teach you mental you guide you or is
this an internal thing that's kind of evolved over time.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
This is definitely some internal that's evolved over time, and
it's like gotten me really really far dealing with people
in business, or dealing with the law, or dealing with
just different personalities in general, as far as like just
getting what I want creatively and not you know, freaking
losing my mind, and you know, just being able to
(22:06):
talk to people and have clear conversations with an understanding
of you know, what works, what's real and what's not
and what we can make real.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
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Speaker 2 (24:05):
The hardest conversation I've ever had to have with someone.
I think the toughest conversations that I have to have
are when I.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Have to explain my ideas.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Because because I'm so hyped up about it, like before
it starts before I verbalize it, and then as soon
as I start to say it, I just feel like
the level of intensity of it just comes down. I'd
rather just do shit sometimes and like just show you
and like what I learned, you know, by working with
(24:39):
so many other people, how valuable it is to like
have a team. So I learned how to be able
to express, you know, what I'm thinking and have that
go through a whole process and then we make it real.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
That's so true, man. I feel like that sometimes that
you can see it in your head. Yeah, but then
you're like, you can't press play on the projector and
then it comes out, and so when you explain it,
everyone's looking at you.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yeah, you're crazy, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
And you are right. Sometimes I do feel we live
in a time in an industry where people have heard
so many ideas that until you see something, you don't
even understand it, right. And I feel like when you
look at music or you look at movies or film,
more TV or whatever it is when you watch something like,
oh that was amazing, but like someone when they talked
about it, no one wanted to buy it. Right, did
(25:23):
you find that record labels and people that you've worked
to the music always understood you immediately or no, you
kind of had to go prove and shows.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Oh man, they didn't know what to do with me.
There was no clue what to do with me early on.
That's why I lost my first record deal because when
I came in, the song was really good and it
was a sample from a popular song that people, you know,
was really recognizable. But after that it was like, well,
(25:50):
what do you do? Do you make like five more
of these songs or like what are we going to do?
And they really didn't understand like me being from Pittsburgh,
me smoking, me being lyrical, me, you know, being a
cross between like you know, really really hard hip hop
culture but then like really cool, trippy hippie skating you
(26:12):
know what I'm saying, earth them up too, Like there
was no cross between that at the time, Like you
really have to be like big white tea like chain,
you know what I'm saying, So like a lot of
labels didn't understand what to do with me. And it
wasn't until you know, I built my fan base of
people who believe the same thing that I believe in,
(26:32):
and I was able to you know, travel and do
shows and then they would come and see the show
and they'd be like, these mothers are going.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Crazy over this dude.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Like it doesn't matter what we say or what we
think is dope, it's obviously you know there. And I
feel like that whole format, you know, has been done
a lot, like especially in rock and roll and pop music,
where the act will be bigger in real life than
they are, you know what I mean to other people,
Like they're bigger in real life than they are like
(27:02):
to hype, like as far as the hype goes. Once
they started to see that, that was my situation and
that's when people started to pick up on me.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Was that the way you built this audience that understood you?
Was it performing live? Do you feel like that was
the significant part for you in creating this amazing connection
you have with your audience.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Yeah, absolutely, performing live, going to a lot of different
colleges and festivals before they were as big as they
are now, Like stuff like south By Southwest and the
really like grassroots underground stuff is like what built you know, us?
And we packed into a van and just went on
our own tours, just up and down and just drove ourselves.
(27:43):
And then on top of that, YouTube had just came around,
so you know, I was recording myself and putting my
vlogs on YouTube. I call it a day to day
and I still do these to this day. They're like
a compilation vlog of like a week in my life.
I just started doing it because I was like, my
life is so crazy, nobody sees it, and it's so
(28:04):
much fun, and there's so much like stuff that goes on.
I was like, so I might as well turn it
into like you know what I mean, a little ten
minutes short.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
And it worked. It worked a lot.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
It helped sell a lot of merch, it helped sell
a lot of tickets, and helped build a really consistent
fan base of people who are still here to this day.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
Do you remember any of those trips some places you
went to where something crazy happened that you call on camera.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Man, it's all on camera, so you can see that
stands out to you.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Yeah, I mean I think like there's really classic episodes.
There's like an Australian tour with me and Asap Rocky.
You see like me and j Cole in his early days.
You see me in Currency in our early days. You
see a lot of artists. You see me and Kendrick
in his early days. You see me with Nipsey Hustle. Yeah,
(28:56):
you see like the whole community of people who we
really came up with, who were like OG's in the
game now. But this really classic footage of us when
we all just started out.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Mac Miller, a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Everybody, man, everybody who you listen to now was was
in those day to days.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Like originally, how did you guys will meet each other
back then? Like how did you connect? Yeah, guess there
was no Instagram m maybe there was, maybe there was.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
No We would connect through Twitter. Yeah, Twitter was the
vibe back then. There was no IG. We weren't like
DM and each other on there, but we would connect
through Twitter and clothing if anybody needed clothes or weed,
Like we would all hit up the same people's for clothes,
weed and you know, just vibes and stuff like that,
and we just all clicked and as we started to
(29:46):
like take off on different levels. We would just bring
each other with us based off of who we you know,
not really like the most, but were who we were
closest knit with at the time or who had made
the most sense with.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Like watching Kendrick then and Kendrick now.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
It's really dope watching Kendrick then and then now because
we all came up together, so we were all doing
the same things, we were all speaking to the same crowd,
and we were at different levels in our career. And
I just remember performance wise, Kendrick will kind of like
scream on stage, like he didn't sound like he did
on the record, But now he's like one of the
(30:25):
best performers and he's like one of the you know
what I'm saying, the guys really carrying it for our generation.
So to see him like just jump up levels and
levels and levels through like.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Hard work and branding and you know.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Just being around the right people at the right times,
bringing people along with him like Baby.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
King and all of them.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Like you know what I'm saying, He's just really doing
every move to the t of how you're supposed to
do it.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
And how's j Cole evolved as well.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Cole is the same thing.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
It's like, you know, we all started out just the homies,
like trying to get a verse on each other's tapes,
and now dudes are like elite rappers up there, you
know what I'm saying. And it's like, it's cool to
see him have his own festival. It's cool to see
like he doesn't have to do as much work throughout
(31:17):
the year, but when he does drop, people pay attention
how they're supposed to. He does great tours and like
as a as a performance artist and as a substance artist,
I feel like he has a type of career like
that's all you can ask for.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Yeah, that's powerful. What does it feel like you were
saying there? Like in some ways things have changed, Like
what's changed for up and coming artists today? And what
are they doing right? What they're doing wrong? How would
you advise someone if you were starting out from scratch?
Yeah today again, how would you approach your career differently
or in the same way.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
I think that there's levels to it.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
I think that a lot of people aim for, like
the surface level where it's like you get one or
two things and you're good, and that's what takes you
to the top, but usually that works against you because
you'll have that spike, but then you'll go back down
and you'll have to go back up again. It's really
difficult to have that spike and to have that feeling
(32:17):
of validation and like oh yeah, everybody's doing me and
blah blah blah and then boom y'or not with you,
and then you got to try to do something to
get them back on your team. So, you know, a
lot of people are gonna want to go that route,
but it has a lot of negatives that come with
it on the back end. And it's a really good
time for artists to, you know, cultivate a real fan base,
(32:41):
whether it be in front of people's eyes or whether
it be behind the scenes. It's a really great time
to cultivate a fan base of people that understand you,
understand your slanging and how you dress and what your
lifestyle is about, and really push that to the forefront.
Let that slowly build and eventually, whether it's a year,
two years, three years, or five years, you know, you're
(33:03):
always making a little bit of progress here here or there,
and wherever you land at, you're gonna permanently be there.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Yeah, Yeah, there's a lot of people today who get
told you've only got twelve months. You had your hit,
You've got twelve months to make as much money off
of you as possible. Like a lot of people hear that, like, hey, look,
your career is not going to be that long. Let's
make the most we can. What would you say to
someone who feels that fear themselves or gets told that, like, hey, look,
you had one hit. Let's just you know, crush this peak.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
If somebody tells you that.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
You better get some drugs and start selling them, use
that money, flip it, nah, get some real estate, because
I mean, like somebody who only has a year planning
in you and they're like, yo, you're only gonna be
here for this amount of time.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
They're gonna move on.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
They're gonna to find other artists or you know, different
people to represent, and you're going to be asked out.
Like so, any artist or any personality who somebody is
already talking about like the limit of the lifespan of
their career, they should definitely be worried and not try
(34:22):
to race to you know, do the most in that
amount of time, but to try to figure out how
to extend that lifespan. So let's take what that person
just told you and let's try to figure out, you know,
what the next five years looks like instead of the
you know, next twelve months.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
Yeah, that's good advice.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
How far into the future do you look when you're
planning music, work, life.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
I always try to look at least five or ten
years in event.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Yeah, how different is where you are today from where
you looked at where you'd be five to ten years ago.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
I'm doing way better business wise than I've ever done,
not just making money but managing money, and I feel
like I'm getting better and better at that, and you know,
that's what's gonna take me, you know, into the future
as well. It's not only just you know, the making
(35:17):
of the money, but the money management.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
What have been your best moves in money management or
business that you think people could learn from.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
My best moves in business is just being accountable for everything.
I think in rap music we get so caught up
on the lifestyle and we're like I have to have this,
or if it's a new truck, I'm buying that, or
but me, I'm more like.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
I'm only going to spend this much on clothes this month.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
You know, if I want a new car, I'm gonna
wait a year and a half until I get it,
you know what I mean. Or I'm going to move
money from this account to spend on this, so this
is here and that there, and you know, we could
still pay for tour, and you know, how much are
we spinning on tour, how much are we making off
of tour? How much comes in off of merch on
(36:09):
top of the other businesses and things like that. But
really the money management, like the everyday type of spending
where it's like, you know, you could get carried away
buying too many clothes or you know, getting too many
nice rooms or you know what I mean. And I
have a lot of luxuries that come in my life,
(36:30):
but I could also do without a lot of that
stuff too, So the unnecessary stuff and knowing what the
stuff that is not really needed, paying attention to that,
not letting just those things just slim through the cracks
because they all add up and shit. So I think
just being way more conscious of that type of stuff.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
Yeah, did you learn that the hard way because you
were overspending or did you learn that because you saw
other people before you were overspending.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Luckily, I didn't get to a point where I overspun
or overspent. I just receive large ass amounts of money
and with that comes advice, and you know, so it's
like yearly or quarterly. You know, we need to have
these conversations where it's like, this is what the money
looks like. We had to spend for this because of that,
(37:24):
or you know, you had a little bit of fun
spending this, so let's just bring it back on this, this,
that and the other thing. And just throughout time of
having those conversations, you start to figure out where the
unnecessary spending and the problems come from. Or even if
you start to create little different issues, you'd be like, Okay,
(37:44):
this isn't really working in our favor, so we need
to wiggle out of this. And you know, even if
it's spending this big chunk over here, that's going to
take away from the continuous spending, that's kind of like
bleeding and taking away. So just to learn that and
have that visual in my head, you know, while I'm
(38:05):
making decisions.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
A lot of people don't.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
They feel like they're being controlled if somebody's telling them that.
But for me, it's a choice it's like, do you
want to be broke twenty years from now or do
you want to be having more money.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Twenty years from now? All right, well this is how
you do it.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
So yeah, good advice, man, it makes sense, and it's
hard to do in the moment because you just you
want to get that thing or you want to buy
that thing, and it applies across the board. What's the
dumbest thing you ever bought? Now you look back, I
thought that.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
Was dumb, man. I don't think it was ever like
one dumb thing.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
I just used to be dumb how I bought stuff
Like I would see anything and just like it and
buy it. It didn't matter how much it cause if
it was a car I wanted it, I would buy.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
It like right then and there.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
Sometimes it be a watch or something like that. And
like a lot of these watches I don't even have
no more.
Speaker 3 (38:57):
So it's like gave them away or sold.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Them, sold, gave away lost.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
Yeah, and what was the best investment you've ever made?
Speaker 2 (39:10):
It'd probably be like some stocks or it's like some
you know, like a percentage of a business that I've
invested in. Yeah, I've had multiple, but there's some really
good ones that you know, I put some money into that,
it's going to come back and in some really good ways.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Yeah, I hope people get inspired by hearing you talk
about how sometimes you got to put off those big purchases,
wait a year for that car, because I think when
when we're young, especially and you come into even a
little bit of money, which feels like a lot of money,
it's so easy to spend and just get carried away.
And especially now, I feel like with all of us
(39:49):
just ordering things off of Amazon and everything else all day,
it's like you have no idea how much money you spent.
Oh for sure, it's so easy.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
It's just super easy to look up and you know,
however much just be gone. And when it's gone, is gone.
And to me, like I feel like you have to
go through that. You have to really feel that and
understand it. And whatever you know you believe in, I
believe in God. So it's like that's God telling me like, Okay,
(40:17):
you spent this much, it's gone. You're gonna get more,
but you need to deal with the feeling of you
having it and it being gone, and then now we'll
see what getting more feels like. But some people when
they have it and it's over with, they don't even
know what that bounce back feels like or it looks like.
So you know, unfortunately the best way to learn is
(40:39):
to go through it. Yeah, but yeah, yeah, but afterwards,
like you know, it's on you after that, like you're
gonna keep doing the same thing over and over or
you're gonna learn from you know what happened?
Speaker 3 (40:51):
Is what does your relationship with God look like?
Speaker 2 (40:53):
My relationship with God is the shit I pray all
the time. I thank God all the time. Yeah, a
lot of people, there's certain people who don't feel like
God is like a higher power or anything like that.
But I like to just imagine that my God is
just like chilling up in the sky, like with a big,
deep voice. The sun could be going down and I
(41:14):
could be driving and the Hotel California could be on
I'd be like, thank you God, like you know what
I mean, because like the situation just feels right.
Speaker 3 (41:23):
Yeah. Yeah, And what does God say to you in
God's deep voice.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
You're welcome, You're supposed to have this?
Speaker 3 (41:31):
Has that always been there since you were young? Or
that it's come with time as well?
Speaker 2 (41:35):
Yeah, definitely since I was a teenager, definitely, since I
was like I can remember, you know, being in like ninth.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
Tenth, no, probably even like eighth grade.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
Just praying every night, thanking God for a wonderful day,
asking him to bless everybody that I care for. Yeah,
just like really cool stuff, like just normal, normal ass
shit that I want the world to feel.
Speaker 3 (41:59):
What would you pray for? What else apart from other people.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
To be safe? I was.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
I was in a crazy ass place when I lived
in Pittsburgh. So I definitely asked for like that that safety.
The older I get, you know, I asked for like
patience and understanding and things like that.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (42:18):
So just really shit, that's not regular, that's that's pretty Yeah. Yeah,
how unsafe was it where you were in Pittsburgh?
Speaker 2 (42:25):
It's super unsafe in Pittsburgh, man, Like the streets is
crazy out there. Friends of mine started getting murdered when
I was in like seventh grade, Like I remember like
one of my first friends getting shot and killed in
seventh grade.
Speaker 3 (42:39):
Wow, And then when did you leave Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
I came to Pittsburgh permanently when I was in middle school,
and I stayed throughout high school. I probably didn't dip
until I was like twenty three years old.
Speaker 3 (42:52):
Right, because you moved around a lot growing up, right,
at least as far as I swab.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
Yeah, every two years, as I would bounce around, and
my mom was always in Pittsburgh. So I would go
live with my dad for two years, and then I
will come back to Pittsburgh. Then I will go live
with my dad, and then I will come back to Pittsburgh.
So I was in Pittsburgh in third grade, and I
was also there for middle school, and then I came
back from high school. And then other than that, I
(43:19):
live like in Oklahoma, South Carolina, Japan. Yeah, those were
a couple of what was your favorite place? I think
Japan was my favorite place.
Speaker 3 (43:27):
How old were you when you're in Japan?
Speaker 1 (43:29):
I was in like fifth and sixth grade, Okay, yeah.
Speaker 3 (43:31):
What was that like? I mean Japan at that time,
but now I feel like everyone's like, Japan's the place
to go.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
Yeah, it's cool when you're like exploring Japanese culture.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
But I just realized, like as an adult that that
shit was kind of fucked up because it was like
I'm living on an American base in Japan, right, And
like just the concept of like Americans occupying Japan. It
was like, you never find a Japanese base in America,
but like we have the audacity to like go over
there and just be like here here our base. We're
(44:00):
going to operate as Americans. We're gonna send our kids
to school here, don't teach them your language. Nothing is
just going to act like America in Japan.
Speaker 1 (44:10):
So that's that's you.
Speaker 3 (44:12):
Never learned Japanese.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
I learned a little bit of Japanese, but it was
like basic. It wasn't like really any like diving into
the culture or anything like that. Like it's just you
live on post and you travel from one base to
another base, and that's pretty much what it was.
Speaker 3 (44:28):
How do you think that experience impacted you now? Like
how is that childhood experience of moving around, darting around
every two years to find who you are today?
Speaker 2 (44:37):
It was cool because I was able to just be
a regular kid, and I was able to like meet
friends and different groups of friends and run around and
play and knock on doors and ride bikes and climb
hills and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
So it was super chill. Man.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
It was fun just being normal and not really worrying
about too much. I think the older that I got
and the more settled that I got in Pittsburgh, that's
when I started to like figure out, you know, who
I wanted to be later in life. But in those
early years, it was just all about like being a
kid and just playing with my friends.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
When you saw all of that around you, how did
you have? What gave you that feeling to dream and
to want something more? When you're seeing like the violence
around you, you're saying, it's a rough neighborhood. What's given
you the ability to go there's more to life than this.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
I think it was just like knowing that I had
talent with music. I always did music since I was younger.
My uncles and my cousins were older than me. They
were like, you know, fifteen, sixteen all the way up
to almost like twenty years old, and I was like
the baby.
Speaker 1 (45:44):
I'm thirteen years old.
Speaker 2 (45:45):
So I'm really kind of trying to do what they're doing,
but I'm picking the parts that make the most sense
for me. So it's like the gang banging and the
drug selling and the guns and all that.
Speaker 1 (45:56):
Shit, like that's not really for me.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
But the looking cool they having girls, the getting money,
the making music.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
I'm like, I like that part of it.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
So that's what I always really stuck to, like just
even as a kid, like I was just like I'm
gonna just do what I know is cool for me,
which is just making music.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
And you know that's kind of like what led me
on my path.
Speaker 3 (46:19):
Yeah, how could you? How did you stay away from
all of the other things, because sometimes those can look
cool when you're young, they can they can be attractive
when you're.
Speaker 1 (46:26):
Yeah, I didn't really stay away from it.
Speaker 2 (46:30):
I definitely like, you know, the older that I got
and the you know, the more fun I started to have,
I kind of was in and out of that stuff.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
But it wasn't for me.
Speaker 2 (46:41):
You know, like just there's it's a lifestyle for some
people and for a lot of those people, like they're
still doing it now, and for me, it was just
kind of like you know, being a kid or like
a right right a passage type thing, or it's like
product of my environment type stuff, you know, like the
little stuff that I would get into. It's like I'm here,
(47:01):
so you know, I'm getting down, Like I'm not gonna
be the only one who's not down, you know, you
grow out of that stuff too, and you learn from
that stuff as well. So I learned from the things
that I did do and I learned from the things
I didn't do as well.
Speaker 3 (47:16):
Yeah, I mean now you're a father yourself. Yeah, how
do you feel looking now from the perspective of being
a dad. You've been a father to Sebastian for a
while now, right, and then you just had a do
a cadence I believed. Congratulations, thank you, and like what's
it been like to be a father to Sebastian And
then how is your views of fatherhood changing now that
(47:38):
you've had a door.
Speaker 2 (47:39):
Yeah, it's been really good having Sebastian and having a boy,
especially at his age.
Speaker 1 (47:46):
He's eleven now, and.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
There's just certain instincts that are starting to kick in,
you know, where it's like he was a young boy.
Now he's like, you know, a young man, and he's
growing into a more of a young man. And every
day really and just that programming of you know, life
and discipline and being polite and you know, on top
(48:12):
of you know, just every day stuff of like handling
his emotions with his friends and things like that. It's
a really like fun experience. Going through all of that
with him because I'm able to remember what it was
like for me as a kid. So instead of just
like telling him the rules and what you should and
shouldn't do, it's more like guiding him of you know,
(48:34):
how to you know, navigate through these situations, which is
really really fun.
Speaker 1 (48:38):
And I had that with my dad as well.
Speaker 2 (48:40):
He was always you know, there for me and talk
to me about a lot and he was way more
disciplinary than lenient. And I'm a super lenient parent with
my son, but I'm also like really real with him,
and he's able to be real with me and he's
able to talk to me about, you know, real life things.
And when I think about the stuff that I did
when I was you know, coming up, no, by the
(49:02):
time I was his age, I was doing a lot
more stuff because, like I said, my uncles and my
cousins were older. And I'm just thankful that I was
able to have those experiences and know what's appropriate and
what's right and what's not so I'm able to monitor
what goes on with him and what will affect his
behavior later. And then just having a baby girl, I
(49:23):
think it just adds to it now because I'm able
to just give all types of love, Like I got
the tough love with my boy, and then I got
like just the sweetness of having a daughter, which you
know helps helps out a lot.
Speaker 3 (49:36):
Yeah, how do you think you're gonna shift your strategy
as she grows up?
Speaker 2 (49:39):
I think I'm gonna do it pretty much the same,
just like cater to her needs, like whatever she needs.
If she's like super girly girl, then we're doing you know, ballet,
and we're doing dance, and we're doing drama and we're
doing all the girly stuff. And if she's a tough girl,
then we're doing boxing and we're doing whatever else to
(50:03):
rough her up.
Speaker 1 (50:04):
We do horseback riding, we do whatever we want to do.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
Like you know what I'm saying, there's no the sky's
the limit, but you know, keep her active, keep her entertained,
and just cater to her needs.
Speaker 3 (50:14):
What's Sebastian into right now? Like eleven year old, what's
what's like his obsession?
Speaker 1 (50:18):
He loves basketball? Okay, yeah, he loves to play basketball.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
He's really just now learning like the fundamentals of it,
but he's good at it. He's an athletic kid, and
he's like it's good to see him like roughing around
with the boys, like being one of the boys. They
talk shit to each other, they get in each other's faces,
and like they really get after it. So he's he's
like gravitating towards basketball more than anything, just that and
(50:45):
just being with the friend, being with his friends, like
just being a kid.
Speaker 3 (50:48):
Were you any good at basketballs?
Speaker 1 (50:50):
Yeah? Hell yeah.
Speaker 2 (50:50):
I never had like like official training like what he's
going through.
Speaker 1 (50:56):
But if I did, bro, I'd be so.
Speaker 2 (50:57):
Much better than I actually am, and I'm really really good,
so I would be like, I'll be deadly if I.
Speaker 1 (51:04):
Knew how to do it. Well, he's learning right now, so.
Speaker 3 (51:06):
You could give him some points along the way, just.
Speaker 1 (51:08):
Like naturally you know what I'm saying. Hell yeah, yeah, yeah,
I love that.
Speaker 3 (51:12):
And you never did ballet or anything or anything?
Speaker 1 (51:14):
Nah noa, I never did that. I did like acting
classes and shit like that.
Speaker 2 (51:17):
I was in like speech and drama and all of
that shit, but never know dance though.
Speaker 3 (51:21):
Did that help speech and drama classes? How did that?
Speaker 1 (51:23):
I think that helped?
Speaker 3 (51:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (51:25):
Yeah, I think it helped a lot because it was like,
you know, you learn how to project your voice and
all of that stuff and you learn how to like.
Speaker 1 (51:33):
Hit qes on stage and you know, just kind.
Speaker 2 (51:37):
Of like get outside of yourself in front of people
where you're still yourself, but then you're like outside of yourself.
Speaker 1 (51:43):
I definitely think that helped for my performance.
Speaker 3 (51:46):
If Sebastian came up to him, was like, I want
to be a rapper. Two Yeah, what would you say
to him, Let's go studios downstairs? What advice would you
have for him to find his voice.
Speaker 2 (51:58):
Studios downstairs, just get it then get in there and
start wrapping.
Speaker 1 (52:02):
Yeah, yeah, would.
Speaker 3 (52:04):
You want that or you're kind of open to whatever.
Speaker 2 (52:07):
Yeah, I wouldn't mind, especially the way that I'm implemented
in the game, Like I do what I want to do.
I'm not like nobody controls me, nobody tells nobody is
like working me harder than I need to be worked
or anything. So I see the same vision for him,
especially in the age that we're in. So it's like,
(52:28):
if you're going to be an artist, you're gonna be
in complete control of everything.
Speaker 1 (52:32):
So it starts now. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (52:34):
The team was saying that you plan a lot of
your life around him. Yeah, And they were saying that
like sports games, and things like that, Like you've really
taken that idea of an art should be in control
of their own life. Yeah, like walk us through that mentality,
that mindset.
Speaker 2 (52:48):
A lot of people focus so much on their work
and they think like that the work is going to
come to an end at some point or they have
to sacrifice things that are important for work, and I
believe the opposite. I think I should sacrifice work for
my family and it should just be the other way
(53:10):
around because of how much that work and how fortunate
I am to be in a situation where I put
in a lot of work. I've done a lot of things,
so I don't have to, you know, feel this sense
of urgency that things aren't going to go my way
if I miss out on something, or if I you know,
(53:30):
speak up and just try to make sure that everything
works out hard.
Speaker 1 (53:33):
I would rather at work.
Speaker 2 (53:35):
And you know, I had the point in my life
where I would be in a studio every day, or
I would be you know, a different country every day,
or I would be you know, a show fitting assigning
TV appearance, blah blah blah. I would do all of
these things back to back to back to back to back,
(53:56):
so I've done that already, but now it's more important
for me to just wake up, work out, spend time
with my family, make sure that he is at his
best because he needs to go to practice. He needs
to train every day for him to be successful later
on in life. And if I'm not there to like
motivate that, either he's going to get it from somebody
(54:18):
else I don't know who, or it's just not going
to happen at all. And that's my job right now
is to make sure that he's successful. So, you know,
if I miss this or if that doesn't, you know,
go the way that it's supposed to. I'm cool with
that because in the end, he's going to get to
be as successful as he needs to be.
Speaker 3 (54:39):
Yeah, that's beautiful, man, because I feel like there's such
a it's wonderful to hear, because I feel like we're
living at a time where there's such a pressure to
constantly be relevant, to constantly keep up with, you know,
what everyone's doing. And now you've got a million platforms
to stay relevant on and everyone's doing this and that,
and so it sounds like you've created like a healthy
detachment between who you are at your work and who
(55:02):
you are at home. Yeah, and that's that's quite a
beautiful thing.
Speaker 1 (55:05):
Yeah, I see that better working out long term.
Speaker 2 (55:07):
Like I said, I look like five ten years into
the future and me chilling and me and my family
seems way more realistic than me like ripping and running
around still, so I might as well get used to it.
Speaker 3 (55:20):
Did you feel your dad was super involved in that
way as well, you were saying earlier.
Speaker 2 (55:24):
Yeah, Yeah, absolutely, my dad was super involved with me,
especially like through my teenage years. A lot of my
time that I spent like early in the studios with
my dad because he built a studio and was running it.
He didn't know about music and he didn't know about
any of that stuff, but I told him I was
into it, and he built a studio and was like,
all right, learn how to use the equipment, start writing songs,
(55:46):
put an album out, do this, do that, And I
did it all and he was like damn, I know.
Speaker 1 (55:51):
He was really going to do it. I'm like, yeah,
this is what I want to do.
Speaker 2 (55:55):
So like just through you know, seeing how important him
being involved with what I was passionate about took me
to the level that I'm at. It lets me know,
like whatever my son and my daughter are passionate about.
I have to experience those things with him. I can't
just give them money and provide it for them. I
(56:16):
have to actually do it with them. And that's gonna
make a hell of a difference.
Speaker 3 (56:20):
Yeah, how does your dad feel about seeing you out?
Speaker 2 (56:22):
My dad loves it, man, He's like in awe like
all the time, and I think out of everything. He
understands like how hard I work too, and he's really
proud of it. Sometimes he gets a little bit worried,
like he's like, is this too much? Like you know
what I mean, Like, I know you do a lot.
I'm like, no, it's cool on Bill for this, Like
this is what I do. So he sees how much
(56:45):
I work, and he sees how much effort I put in,
like constantly.
Speaker 1 (56:48):
But he's really proud of me.
Speaker 3 (56:50):
And what's someone you learned from your mom?
Speaker 1 (56:52):
The value of family? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (56:54):
My mom taught me the value of family. She always
kept me around my family members. She came me around
my cousins, my aunts, my granddad. She even keeps me
around my dad's side of the family. And they got
divorced when I was two years old, but she still
hangs out with my dad's sisters, my aunts, my cousins
and all that on their side. So she keeps me
(57:16):
in touch with them, she keeps my kids in touch
with them. She does the whole genealogy of.
Speaker 1 (57:22):
The whole family.
Speaker 2 (57:23):
Like my mother is so family oriented, and that like
rubbed off on me as well.
Speaker 3 (57:28):
That's beautiful. Well, what's a misconception you think people have
about you? If they have one or two?
Speaker 2 (57:33):
I don't think at this point there is any misconceptions.
I think there's just like learning more about me. I
think that the more people learn about me, the more
they see like how chill, how educated, how well spoken,
and like thought out a lot of things that I
do are and they start to really understand why the
(57:55):
people who love me, you know, whether it's my music
or I change your life in whatever way, they start
to understand like where that comes from.
Speaker 3 (58:02):
Yeah, what's something about you that people may not know
that you'd like them to understand?
Speaker 2 (58:07):
Along those lines, I think right now, I just want
people to know, like how you said, like how detached
I am from the whole success world. Like I'm cool
with it, but like that's not the goal and it's
not a lot of people say like, oh, well, you
have money, so it's easy for you to say that.
But I think you just reach certain points in your
(58:30):
life where different things are important no matter how much
money you have. And you know, some people, I'm thirty
seven years old. Some people reach my age and this
is the time that they start their business and they're like,
I'm gonna go hard and I'm gonna build my empire. Now,
I was just lucky to have got a head started
my twenties build my empire. And now I really understand, like,
(58:52):
you know, how to sustain it and maintain it and
keep it going for the next ten twenty years. And
those are the things is that I'm really really working on,
along with the music, you know, which is super duper important.
But it's really just about like making this thing last.
Speaker 3 (59:09):
Yeah, And I think you're right. I don't think it's
about how much money you do or during have. I
think anything can become a drug and you can get
addicted to me.
Speaker 1 (59:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (59:18):
And I remember, you know, Kevin Hart was sitting in
that chair and he was talking about how success became
a drug for him. He was just addicted to more
and more of it. And so it's easy for you
to get addicted and obsessed just and you're actually saying, well, actually,
I don't want to get addicted.
Speaker 1 (59:33):
No, yeah, No, it's my work. It's my job.
Speaker 2 (59:35):
It's what I'm really really good at, and I don't
never want to give that up for you know, the
normal life or anything like that. But I do value
my normal life as much as I value you know,
the I value the thirty thousand people on stage, But
I also value being in my bed alone at night
(59:56):
when the lights are off.
Speaker 1 (59:57):
But I love it.
Speaker 3 (59:58):
Yeah, I I appreciate that, And I think we need
more of that healthy thinking because I think if you
only like one or the other, yeah, or if you
start to detest one or the other, that's when it
starts to get scary. Like a lot of people love
being in the audience, they don't like being alone. For
a lot of people like, oh god, I hate being
with the fans now and I love being alone. And
I think both of those can lead to a lot
(01:00:19):
of like pain into it.
Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
Yeah, you have to work on both, and when you
know what you're here for, you know which time is
to do which one. I spend a lot of time
working on the other side of it. To where I
love my job and I love what I do, and
I'm very grateful to be able to make the amounts
of money doing what I do. But that's not everything
to me. I work as hard on my personal life
(01:00:44):
as I do on that side of it. I'm in
the you know, if I'm in the studio twelve hours,
or if I'm on a plane, you know, sixteen hours,
and I barely get any sleep, and I don't eat,
and I do promo and I do a great show,
and I do a meet and greet and I smile
and I take everybody's picture.
Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
That's all part of the game.
Speaker 2 (01:01:02):
That's me going hard to make sure that that part
of it lasts. When I'm by myself, I'm waking up,
you know, at a good at a decent time. I'm
going to sleep at a decent time. I'm working out,
I'm spending these certain hours. I do yoga, you know,
there's just certain things that go with the process. And then,
like you said, planning things around my kids. So it's
(01:01:23):
like I'm making sure that I'm spending this family time
where it's not they're getting the short end of the
stick off of anything. So I'm working passionately and hard
on my normal life the same way that I do
and you know, my professional life, and sometimes it takes
more energy in the normal life than it does in
a professional life.
Speaker 3 (01:01:43):
I agree with you. Yeah, sometimes it's easy to be
disciplined at what right it's actually shot up for your family,
and being disciplined at our right right wwise a whole
other thing.
Speaker 2 (01:01:51):
And a lot of people they run from that because
it's easier to you know, just put all the put
all the guilt and responsibility.
Speaker 1 (01:01:57):
Oh, I gotta work, it's my job. It's this.
Speaker 2 (01:02:00):
It's easy for you to do that. It takes some time,
you know what I'm saying. You know, be a little
bit nervous, be a little bit uncomfortable, be a little
bit bored, but you're not going to be bored if
you're around people you love, Like I'm never bored around
my kids. But you know, take be passionate about your
normal life as well.
Speaker 3 (01:02:16):
Yeah, it sounds like you have so much older and
discipline in your life. And when I'm hearing that, I'm like,
sounds like everything's very structured and organized and intentional. Yeah,
it's not like this random light.
Speaker 1 (01:02:27):
Yeah, it's not random at all.
Speaker 3 (01:02:28):
Every day is very regiment Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:02:30):
It's definitely regimented. You know.
Speaker 2 (01:02:32):
I look at my schedule regularly. I'm updating the schedule regularly,
and it just really built to make me happy. Like
I'm cool with everything that I have to do as
long as I'm happy, Like you know what I'm saying,
And if we talk about it and we arrange it
and we put it in all the times that it's
supposed to be, I'll be really really happy and I
(01:02:53):
would love to do it. But when things start coming
out of left field and you have your idea of
what an appropriate time is, he didn't run that by
each other. Like, that's not going to make me happy
to do this. And I'm doing this because I love it.
Speaker 3 (01:03:07):
Yeah, I saw your Men's health video with the MMA. Ye,
it has become your fascination and I guess you workout
routine for a couple of years now. I feel where
did that start and how did that come about?
Speaker 2 (01:03:19):
A lot of my my big homies were getting and
when I say big homies, I mean security. They were
getting into MMA and doing jiu jitsu and just martial
arts and just meeting all types of people. And this
was like almost ten years ago, and they were just
telling me like, bro, this is the next wave, like
everybody's about to be doing this, blah blah blah, this's
that and the other thing.
Speaker 1 (01:03:38):
You got to get into it. You got to get
into it.
Speaker 2 (01:03:41):
I'm like, yeah, it's cool, but you know, I'd rather, like,
you know, smoke weed and be in the studio, like
you know what I'm saying. But as soon as I
started working out, I just developed like a passion for it,
like out of nowhere. And it didn't make me slow
down smoking any like I was able to like still
get stoned. But I love training and I love working out,
(01:04:01):
and I love like learning new things. So it just
just kept building on top of each other, just building
and building, and then I just you know, started to
develop some skills that you know, we're still sharpening to
this day.
Speaker 3 (01:04:14):
Do you go to watch as well or you just
like training?
Speaker 1 (01:04:16):
Oh? Yeah, I watched the shows as well.
Speaker 3 (01:04:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:04:18):
I got a company called PFL that I'm involved with.
I go to their shows all the I mean I
go to their fights all the time. I go to
boxing matches, just wrestling matches, there's jiu jitsu matches, there's
all types of stuff. Combat sports is like, as you've seen,
it's grown so much and so many influencers want to
(01:04:39):
do it, and it's just a really good lifelong thing too,
Like it's gotten popular for how much money it makes
people and things like that, but as a lifelong practice,
like I would suggest that for any and everybody.
Speaker 3 (01:04:53):
Yeah, if there are men who are watching who want
to get into helping fitness, what would be your best
advice to them to motivate them, inspire and let them
know how important it's been for you and it could
be for them.
Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
I would just try to paint the scenario of you
being about late thirties out with your kid. Somebody like
is just in your face and your kid is standing
right there, and you only got thirty seconds to prove
(01:05:23):
to your child that you're their protector or somebody who's
finna get what start working out now.
Speaker 3 (01:05:37):
Hilarious. It's funny because my next question is going to
be about, like, you know, I feel like masculinity is
such a big talking point right now, and you know
a lot of men feeling like they've inherited the mistakes
made by men in the past, and so men carrying
around a lot of judgment men, feeling left behind in
the conversation, the different things you've talked about today and
(01:06:00):
the way you're organizing your life. Like, masculinity is a
very broad spectrum. It's not just one way, right, And
so have you ever thought about that raising a sun
for yourself the message you prout. I feel like rapping
hip hop has a version of masculinity before that's right,
What are your thoughts on that.
Speaker 2 (01:06:18):
I think I've always like approached masculinity just off of
my vision of it and the most masculine in people
that I respect, and just the situations that I look
at as what you know a man should model themselves
as are usually the most like moderate and mild tempered
(01:06:42):
and just chill and kind of you know, observant and
just guiding the situation in any way that you can
position yourself to be that type of person. I've always
felt like that was the more, you know, respectable thing.
And we all have feelings and we all have emotions,
and that's where like training in combat sports, it helps
(01:07:03):
you like to put all of that stuff in the
right place, because when you get a chance to get
that stuff out, you realize where it has a place
at where it doesn't, and a lot of people they
don't have a place to get that stuff out, so
they think that they're being masculine by like shouting or
yelling or being rude to somebody, But really that should
(01:07:24):
be like the last case scenario, you know what I'm saying, Like,
that's why I say protecting your child, because I would
never use what I know to hurt anybody unless it
was to protect my family or myself. It wouldn't be
in any other situation because to me, like, that's not cool,
(01:07:48):
that's not tough, that's not even what it's for. So
I think the idea of masculinity, it just comes from
whoever is putting it out at the moment, what they've
learned from it. And you know, the world judges the
way that it does based off of their experiences because
(01:08:09):
they think, you know, the most mean or the most scarier,
or this, that and the other thing, but they haven't
they show that. But there's not a lot of real
situations that people are in that prove that that that
that's the right thing. And from my experience, what's proven
the most is the most mild, chilled, moderate people are
the ones that you should probably be like the most
(01:08:30):
worried about. So the more that you can position yourself
in life to have an understanding of your own emotions
and be in control of your reactions to things, I
think that just makes you more looked at as what
people would consider masculine or a leader or a provider
(01:08:52):
or something like that, rather than like an emotional, you
know person.
Speaker 3 (01:08:55):
Yeah, that's a really powerful one. Man. I feel like
you kind of feel the world going through two extremes
where it's like masculinity. He used to be this bravado, chauvinistic, arrogant, yeah,
you know, alpha male type, and then it swung to
like being vulnerable and soft and this, and now I
can't feel like it's kind of swinging back the other way. Yeah,
And it's almost like I like how you described it,
(01:09:18):
because it's not really hard or soft. It's kind of
like the person who can like calm it down, move
it along, knows what to do.
Speaker 1 (01:09:26):
With everything exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (01:09:28):
Because I've seen both, you know, and I've been around,
like growing up in Pittsburgh, you see a lot of
dudes where it's like the street nigga type is like
the hyper masculine, but a lot of those dudes end
up like going to jail getting shot, or when they
come home from their jail, they're not who they used
to be, and all of that masculinity kind of goes
(01:09:50):
away when you see like the perception of this person
go away. You see who they really are. So it's like,
deep down, who really are you? Inside out this whole
thing that you're like putting off on people.
Speaker 1 (01:10:04):
And men have a lot.
Speaker 2 (01:10:07):
Of pressure, especially like growing up because we're more we're
like really competitive. So it's like I could see it
with my son, like being in sports with him and
his friends, you know what I mean, they just off rip,
just go to this certain type of personality, and I'm like, bro,
you know, you're like a better teammate if you tell
dudes like yo, good shot, Like you know what I'm saying,
(01:10:28):
good job, I see you, blah blah blah.
Speaker 1 (01:10:29):
But they don't understand that.
Speaker 2 (01:10:31):
Now as kids, they're so competitive and they're so at
each other's throats and sometimes that carries on in life.
But I think you just have to have an example
of somebody to like let you know, like yo, it's
cool to just be like chill and you know what
I mean, Like the homie. It's cool to talk shit
sometimes too, because that shit is fun. But like, at
the root of it, y'all still gotta be friends and
(01:10:53):
care about each other and take care of each other.
And that's the more you know what I mean, brotherly
dope part about it, other than going at each other's next.
Speaker 3 (01:11:02):
Yeah, and we need to see that modeled more. It's hard.
You don't see it that much. Yeah, So it's hard
to know as a man how to write how to
do that. But you're right. If you look at the
best athletes in the world, they're the ones who kept
the calm when things were tough, right, they weren't the
ones viewing anger. And it's interesting because MMA. I think
people who haven't been trained in martial arts or don't
know people who have often can think of it as
(01:11:23):
like combat sports are like angry. But have you learned
any practices from MMA that you feel applied really well
to what we're talking about right now.
Speaker 1 (01:11:31):
I think just getting punched in the face.
Speaker 2 (01:11:35):
You learn how to be calm and like not get
emotional when somebody hits you in the face and you
still got three rounds to do work, or you still
got three minutes in around or five minutes in around
and do work like you can't let your emotion.
Speaker 1 (01:11:49):
You have to be calm, you have to think.
Speaker 2 (01:11:50):
You have to remember your footwork, you have to remember
your breathing, you have to remember defense so you don't
get hit again. There's way more of the story then
just I got punched in the face, and a lot
of people will never really get that lesson or get
that feeling of I got hit and I gotta keep
it moving. You know, most people want something to happen
(01:12:13):
as soon as they get hit. But you know, I
think just through martial arts, and it sounds extreme and
it sounds crazy, but I think everybody should get punched
in the face.
Speaker 3 (01:12:25):
I know what you're saying that, I get what you're saying.
It's only at that point do you know how tolerant
and still you are, Because up until then you can
be like, I'm super cheer. Yeah, I'm calm, but it's
responding to that.
Speaker 2 (01:12:37):
Yeah, And there's a lot of duce, just like if
somebody punches me in the face, I'll kill them, But like, no,
you won't.
Speaker 1 (01:12:44):
You gotta fight back.
Speaker 2 (01:12:45):
You got three minutes or you're gonna keep getting punched
in the face. So it's like it's fun when you
just remove everything and hit somebody in the face.
Speaker 3 (01:12:54):
How often do you get punched in the face when you're.
Speaker 2 (01:12:58):
We do sparring off and on, especially because I got
to do like appearances and like that, because anything can happen,
like my nose rings could come out, I get black eye,
Like my forehead could get split.
Speaker 3 (01:13:11):
You're gonna protect the face.
Speaker 1 (01:13:12):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (01:13:13):
So when I know I'm not having to do too much,
that's when we usually do do some sparring. Yeah, or
we'll do light sparring where it's not like, you know,
nobody's in too much danger.
Speaker 3 (01:13:25):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that makes that makes sense. Yeah, it's
trying to figure out how you Yeah, how you doing that? Yeah. No,
I'm really glad we dove into the masculine anything because
I just feel like it's it's such a need right now,
and I want, you know, men and women to both
feel like, you know, that we're kind of having these
conversations that I think sometimes on the on the biggest screens,
(01:13:46):
you don't see them.
Speaker 1 (01:13:47):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (01:13:48):
Yeah, And I think it's like the word masculinity has
gotten so abused in to where people think it's a
bad thing. And it's like, there are good examples of masculinity,
Like I have a daughter, so she has to see
what a masculine man is like. She has to see
what a provider is like. She has to see with
(01:14:08):
somebody who is going to make her feel protected as
well as cared for, and you know, all of the
things that describe what real masculinity is beyond you know,
what you can do physically to somebody or even financially,
you know what I'm saying, emotionally being there for her.
(01:14:29):
There's a lot of things that me having the right
types of masculinity are gonna be you know, positive for
her to see.
Speaker 3 (01:14:40):
And with this new album, what was the energy that
you put into it? Like it's a sequel, so there's
was there something you're trying to revisit bring back?
Speaker 2 (01:14:49):
Yeah, I think I'm just revisiting. Like when I did
Cushion Orange Juice, the style of it was like, you know,
stoner kid, everybody just smoke weed, be chill, and this
is the soundtrack to the lifestyle. And I've done a
lot with my music to where I've you know, had
(01:15:09):
my take on what I think music's sound like at
certain points I've had, you know, my take on what
I think are like really big, huge records and what
those should sound like. And then I've also just experimented with,
you know, what street culture is at the time and
just what's popular to the kids. And I think with
(01:15:30):
Cushion Orange Juice, it really resonated with people because of
the lifestyle that it created and the things that I
talked about in that lifestyle and the way that the
music sounded and grooved with that lifestyle. So just being
aware of that and knowing what type of chaotic state
that we're in right now, I just felt like it
(01:15:52):
was the perfect time to just reintroduce people to more
laid back, chill just smoke some weed and vibe out,
you know, and create a whole crowd of people.
Speaker 1 (01:16:04):
Who want to do the same thing. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:16:06):
Yeah, and it's interesting, right like you it's like you're
chilled out, but then you're super productive.
Speaker 1 (01:16:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:16:12):
How how do you hope that your audience kind of
feels both for those as well?
Speaker 2 (01:16:16):
Because it's it's been good because I think just through experience,
I've learned that the majority of people who listen to
my music end up bossing up.
Speaker 3 (01:16:25):
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1 (01:16:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:16:26):
Like there's a lot of artists now, you know, who
were in like middle school, high school when Kushion Norris
Ju just came out, or they watched My Day to
Days and they're like, man, this is what really you know,
let me know, this is what I needed to do
to be an artist. Or I studied you every day
blah blah blah. Or I dropped out of college and
(01:16:46):
I got my friends and you know, we started our
label and now we're Big, Sean and Low.
Speaker 1 (01:16:52):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (01:16:53):
So like, I've seen a lot of people who have
taken my blueprint and turned it into you know, exactly
what I've done with it. So I think the message
gets across really really well, that you know, you'd be
a pothead, but you be productive and you boss up
and put all the homies on.
Speaker 1 (01:17:11):
I think they get that message really well.
Speaker 3 (01:17:14):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (01:17:15):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:17:15):
Does How does it feel that see you again as
the second most viewed video on YouTube via a video
of all time? Yes, insane, Yeah, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (01:17:26):
It feels good.
Speaker 2 (01:17:27):
I think it feels better that I'm able to like
walk around because most people they would think that if
your video is that popular or if you have that
much success that you're just like not even real. But like,
to me, I can still go to my son's games.
I could still you know, go pick records out. I
could still go to the gym without a fleet of
(01:17:49):
security with me. So like, I didn't sacrifice my sanity
to be the second most viewed person in the world.
Speaker 1 (01:17:58):
So I'm happy about that.
Speaker 3 (01:18:00):
And such a great song too, to be known for.
Speaker 1 (01:18:02):
I feel it's a really good song.
Speaker 2 (01:18:03):
And shout out to Charlie too, man, Like Charlie did
his thing, and the whole process of like making that
song was like a dream come true because it was
for a soundtrack, so you never know how that's gonna go.
There was like ten other people who were supposed to
be on the song, so you know, me writing a verse,
I was just like writing a verse. I wasn't like,
this is this song's gonna change my life? I need
(01:18:25):
to sit down. I was just like, yoah, yeah, you go,
like it's dope verse, Like I love the verse and shit.
But they were like, you know, they it really connected
with the people who were doing the movie at the time,
and you know, shout out the weave and constance and
Will and everybody, but we just kind of like just
shaved it down and it just ended up making sense
(01:18:46):
with it just being me and Charlie on there, and
that song has taken us like super duper far.
Speaker 3 (01:18:52):
Do amazing. What was your motivation to go sober from alcohol.
Speaker 2 (01:18:57):
My motivation to be sober from alcohol was just I
had dams for so long since I was able to drink,
I've been drinking and I've never seen a reason to
really stop because like, I just love partying, I love
being around people.
Speaker 1 (01:19:12):
I love, you know, just being a vibe.
Speaker 2 (01:19:16):
After one, I think it was one show, I just
got like completely wasted, which was normal.
Speaker 1 (01:19:21):
I was like, man, I don't really have too many
like memories.
Speaker 2 (01:19:27):
Of places, Like I was like, I mean I love
doing these shows, and shit was like I don't be
remembering like you know what I mean anything. I was like,
I want to kind of like experience this stuff, remember
where I'm at, remember the people who I'm dealing with,
actually enjoy it and not just be like turned up,
you know. So, Yeah, it was just a time of
like just gathering information and I'm real happy for that.
Speaker 3 (01:19:50):
Yeah, was it hard to break away?
Speaker 1 (01:19:53):
It wasn't difficult at all.
Speaker 2 (01:19:55):
I think when I want to do something, I'm good
at it, Like if it means something to me, I
have my own reasons for doing it. Nobody's making me
do it, or even I feel like even if somebody
made me do it, if it was like a challenge
or something like that, or if like I had to
for legal reasons or something like that, I wouldn't have
a problem doing a lot of things. But you know,
(01:20:15):
for me, it's just my lifestyle is so free and
it's so fun. So half of the time it's like,
why would I stop? But if I make up a
reason for myself, I usually end up sticking to it.
Speaker 3 (01:20:26):
Yeah. Yeah, Yeah, where's at the start of the interview
as to you, what's the first thing you do when
you wake up?
Speaker 1 (01:20:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:20:31):
What's what's the last thing you do before you go
to bed?
Speaker 1 (01:20:34):
Last thing I do before I go to bed kiss
my son and my daughter.
Speaker 3 (01:20:38):
Yeah I love that. Yeah, beautiful whiz I end every episode.
You've been amazing, so generous with your time, great just
great energy. I've really enjoyed spending this time with you. Man. Yeah,
I appreciate you. I feel like I've learned so much
about you. Today that I didn't know for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:20:52):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:20:53):
We end every episode with a final five. These have
to be honested in one word to one sentence maximum, okay,
and so these are your fast five Final five. The
first question is what's the best advice you've ever heard
or received?
Speaker 1 (01:21:06):
Just beu. That's from Snoop Dogg.
Speaker 3 (01:21:09):
Nice. Question number two, what's the worst advice you've ever
heard or received?
Speaker 1 (01:21:13):
Change your name from Wis Khalifa two. I don't know.
They just told me that that name wasn't gonna work.
Speaker 3 (01:21:20):
Why didn't they like the name because it's just too.
Speaker 2 (01:21:22):
Different, you know what I'm saying. Like, it didn't sound
like nothing, It didn't give off. You didn't get any
visual from that back in the day when I told
you that that was my name. So a lot of
people close people to me was like, I like you
can wrap, You're really cool, but you need to change
your name.
Speaker 1 (01:21:40):
And it ended up working.
Speaker 2 (01:21:41):
Out for me because in the years that I was
being discovered, it's a brand new name. So when you
google that name, I'm the only thing that comes up.
So it's like one of the most google names, like
you know, for that year. So the thing that people
told me, wasn't gonna work, ended up working.
Speaker 3 (01:21:56):
I loved it. Where did it come from?
Speaker 1 (01:21:58):
Wisdoms short for wisdom and Leifa as leader or successor?
Speaker 3 (01:22:01):
Yeah, yeah, How did you come across the word khalifa?
Speaker 2 (01:22:03):
Because that's my parents are, well, my grandparents, my granddad
is a Muslim, right right?
Speaker 3 (01:22:11):
Very cool man, Thank you man, it's cool. It's cool.
I love this hot too.
Speaker 1 (01:22:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:22:15):
Good look, I saw this on your March.
Speaker 1 (01:22:19):
Merch walking billboard.
Speaker 3 (01:22:20):
Baby.
Speaker 1 (01:22:21):
Where is me?
Speaker 3 (01:22:22):
Yeah? Question number three, what's something that you used to
value that you no longer value.
Speaker 2 (01:22:28):
I used to really enjoy going to night clubs. I
don't enjoy it anymore because I feel like the music
isn't the same. I feel like people don't really dance anymore,
Like they're just in like sections, just kind of chilling,
and it just kind of defeats the purpose of going out.
Like I never went out just to look cool. I
will go out to get girls. And I really don't
(01:22:48):
like chase women all like that no more. And I
think it's just a polite thing to do like normally,
Like like I said, anymore, because like normally, even being
in a relationship, I would just be like yo, it's
a part of my life. Like you know what I'm saying,
I'm going to be around hell of chicks. Get used
to it.
Speaker 1 (01:23:05):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (01:23:05):
That's what I would do before, but now I don't
really like I don't really care for that shit.
Speaker 3 (01:23:11):
No more question before how would you define your current purpose?
Speaker 2 (01:23:15):
I would define my current purpose as a leader and
as a provider and as somebody who a lot of
people look up to. So it doesn't matter what I
get personally, It's more about what I do for others.
Speaker 3 (01:23:34):
And fifth and final question, we asked this to every
guest who's ever been on the show. If you could
create one law that everyone in the world had to follow,
what would it be?
Speaker 1 (01:23:42):
Smoke weed every day?
Speaker 3 (01:23:49):
I love it Christian Orgies too. Thank you so much.
This is so much fun.
Speaker 1 (01:23:59):
I like a jeans too. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:24:01):
If this is the year that you're trying to get creative,
you're trying to build more, I need you to listen
to this episode with Rick Rubin on how to break
into your most creative self, how to use unconventional methods
that lead to success, and the secret to genuinely loving
what you do. If you're trying to find your passion
and your lane. Rick Rubin's episode is the one for you.
Speaker 1 (01:24:24):
Just because I like it, that doesn't give it any value,
Like as an artist, if you like it, that's all
of the value.
Speaker 3 (01:24:30):
That's the success comes when you say I like this
enough for other people to see it.