Let me call my mom. Man, this is gonna be deep. Now.
You know she ain't busy, she'd be ready.
What's up, mom? Look you know him? Yes, ma'am. How you doing. I'm doing amazing. How are you? How you suit your sexy voice? So? I told you when I'll be calling you. You did that with Dion. Don't do that. Don't do that. You did that for Prime.
So you tell me, Hey, shinning all my life, grinding all my life, sacrifights, hustle, p price, one slice, got the broncap all my life, Poppy grinding all my life, all my life, grinding all my life, sacrifights, hustle, peg Price, one slice, got the broncs swap all my life, Poppy grinding all my life.
Hello, Welcome to another episode of Club Shaha. I am your host, Shannon Shark. Got to stop me by for conversation on the drink today. New York Times bestselling author, A highly sought after motivational speaker, a revered cultural advisor for YouTube, a role model, a mentor community.
Leader for millions.
One of the most influential, successful, passionate media personalities on the Internet, A global inspiration, a multi hyphenated marketer, activist, thought leader, humanitarian, orator, entrepreneur and entertainer, a natural phenomenon, a gift to the world. Top rated podcaster. He was named on the Hollywood Reporters Most Powerful People in Podcasting.
Co host of the wildly popular million dollars worth of Game, the Son of Philadelphia, he lives by the model no one can stop you, but you here he is.
Wallow, How you mean, my brother, I'm good brow of introduction. Damn that an induction. I'm like, we talking about.
That that thing? Are you talking about somebody else in down here? Yeah?
Wallow, thanks for pulling up the club sha shape. Man.
You know you have your own thing, and I know you're busy, so you're taking time out of your data to sit down and chop it up with me.
So I greatly appreciate it. Man.
How you doing, bro, I'm doing great, man, I'm doing outstanding.
Better than better than good, great, better than outstanding, outstanding, outstanding.
Yeah wow Yeah. Oh No, I don't drink. You don't drink. No, I don't drink and smoke none of that. You can drink. Take a drink of that. I don't. I don't drink. I don't drink one topical.
I don't want to have to go to the bathroom and take a break.
But you're gonna You're gonna take that drinks him. But this is a company. You're gonna drink some of that. But that's another story.
First of all, congratulations on being on the New York Times bestseller list memoir Armed with Good Intentions.
What made you decide to write a book?
You know, everybody feel as though when you get there in life or you you have a moment whereas those success come, everybody's saying, oh man, you just perfect your life better than mine.
My life ain't better than yours.
The only thing I wanted to show in the book was that On with Good Intentions is filled with a bunch of losses.
A loss, loss, loss, loss, loss, loss, lost law. That's the average life.
But I think a lot of times people don't understand the only thing difference between me and you is I ain't stopped. That's it. I just ain't stopped. Even in the darkest moments, I said, I gotta get back up. I gotta figure out when I'm say than to sell, I'm like when I get out, I gotta do better. You know what, I mean, and that was my whole thing, like I didn't I one of the main reasons I
didn't stop. I wanted to get out of jail and show my Grandmam that I could do right before she leaders earth, because she always see me do wrong, and she always believed in me.
She always said, you gonna get it, You're gonna figure it out, You're gonna.
Figure and she, you know, her whole thing was like, you can't do wrong right, you need to start doing right right.
Wow.
And so later on in life it catch you because all she would tell me was that Nanny would tell me lowest people. She would tell me boy. I came to Philadelphia with two kids and ten dollars. I got my house in nineteen sixty three. I worked every day. I couldn't even afford she said, I couldn't afford refrigerator. But I got my other stuff, so father washing them from the church. He signed, so I give me afrigerator.
I worked every day, I never I never took a day off, and by nineteen seventy eight, I own my house. Like you come from some you come from some hole beginning, you come from you come from a good This genies of minds and I always seen her grind, you know, to today, even though I take care of things. But it's like she said, baby, she didn't tell me from jail, ain't nothing. Never get cut off in this house. You know better, you know right. But everything that she's telling me,
she's out numbered with the street culture. So you know, Nanny boy, she's seeing me. Boy, you could do better. And I remember I used to live to her when I was in prison. I used to tell her all the time. She's be like, listen, I ain't gonna be here when you get back, baby, because I would never tell her how much time I was doing. I would tell her I'm coming home every year, and she'd be like, I ain't gonna be here when you get back, baby,
And I was like, Nanny, I'm gonna be there. I'm like, Nanny, I'll be there. I'll be there next year, next year. She said, you told me next year three years ago. Because I'm sitting here thinking, I'm sitting here thinking that Nanny wasn't as swift as she is.
But I learned later she was swift.
But I just wanted to get out and show her that I could do good in life before she expired, Before she leave because everything she told me, she was right about it, and I wanted her to know that she ninety years old. Man, Wow, when you're.
Writing this memoir, did you have any idea that it would end up on the New York Times Bestselling This?
I never had a doubt. I never had a doubt. And the reason I never had a doubt was because you don't have a lot of transparency in things in this days. You have somebody write, have a book out, or whatever, but it don't be the raw of them.
It don't be. It don't be coming from.
An aspect of I'm gonna just tell the truth about what I got going on, whether you like it or not. Because everything is perfect. My life ain't person. Your life ain't perfect. Life ain't perfect.
Correct.
So I was like, you know, I always felt that it wasn't just about the book. Is the work that come after the book come out is to go in to all the shout out to all all listen, shout out to all the black bookstores out there. It was a man, let me tell you something, Shannon, When I tell you they had my back, you know, rever it was a ball Win and Co. In New Orleans where it was an uncle, Bobby's and philadelf your Malik Books in La Mahogany Books in DC. The list goes on
and on Kendrickson down in Houston. I think we forgot about that. A lot of times, we forget about reading. But it's a lot of strong black bookstores out there that really helped it.
So I want to shout out to them.
Support your local black bookstores because they supported me in a major way.
You mentioned earlier.
It says a lot of our life is lost loss, loss, and only in the song all we do is win, win win.
Is that true?
Only in a song that's fake?
Yeah, but you have to and so is that what you wanted your story to? You think that's why your story resonates because of what you've gone through. And a lot of other people have gone through similar things. Maybe they didn't go to prison, but they've suffered a lot of losses, but somehow found a way to turn it around and get some wins.
And is that and it's the connection of that everything everything, Like you might ain't see the small the upbringing of the losses, But since I came on from prison, I showed you thirty seven years old, every thirty seven year old man get out of prison in my grandma middle room. I make videos out nanny middle room. You know what I'm saying. So it was like and the only reason I could. I could make parole in nanny middle room. Rest in peace to my aunt Ruby. That was my baby.
She she had a heart attaxt.
She died in that room.
So I was able to make parole there. And and I showed you my videos. I wasn't perfect. I showed you living in the nanny house. I showed you running down the streets. I showed you on the subway to bus. You've seen me just most of it wasn't all perfect.
But it was me.
There were a lot of rappers that gone serve time. Why do you think that's such a common thing in the rap industry?
In our community, rap has always been an expression of the environment. It a lot of time. Rat was escape for us growing up. You know, it changed a lot growing up. It was a you know, personal expression. It was a documenting of the environment that we come from. A lot of people were storytellers of what they seen. We didn't we we didn't really do this. You know, Nis never did what he's taught. But he talked about a lot of people ain't do this, and you could
see I was Cube was smart, was smart. These dudes were smart, but they just talked about I think a rap. It became a challenging sport, a violent, challenging sports to the point of whereas dope, if I say something, oh yeah, you really that I'm a Challenge'm gonna see if you really can be I'm gonna see, Oh man, we gotta die about this shit. So that's what came about. And I think a lot of times it's a lot of
aggression that come with it. And sometimes we speak our own we speak our own fate, and you know, and some people talk about dying like it's cool, like on an aspect of like when I die, you know, to make sure you're so you know, power the tonguees powering the tongue and we got to live out the rap sometime.
Do you feel like rap glorifies prison?
You know what's crazy? It don't glorify a prison.
I'm not gonna say it all the way because it definitely it definitely could teach you how to get the prison.
It's definitely a directory, you.
Know what I mean.
It's definitely a directory.
It's a math, it's a how to guys, it's a map, right, But it don't glorify it because most people that rap about it never been to prison. These dudes never been to prison, So it's like, I ain't gonna say glory, but it definitely direct you to itself.
But why do you think that guys have learned?
Because you've seen guys that have gone there learn from their mistakes and not try to go back. But you see these young guys as you mentioned, they try to be like and they talk about things they don't know anything about, and they feel like they need to do something in order to get that for real that cachet, Like, I'm really about this life.
You know what it is. I believe that when you young, you was young, I was young. You don't believe nothing at anybody older tell you because you think they disconnected from the reality of life as it is now, not knowing it was once a reality of life that they was living in themselves when they was younger.
So they're just trying to share. You know.
If you tell me, man, don't go down that block as a hole right there in the ground, Like, man, I get around that hole. So it's hard sometimes when you're young because we did the same thing. Yes, we just didn't do it to the level of maybe violence or stupidity that some people do it today. But I just think it's hard for people to hear it and they think it's not going to be me. Yeah, Wallow you did twenty but oh gee, that ain't gonna be me. I'm smarter than that.
What you're gonna do? Right, you know what I mean?
So until they get there, and then I'm now I'm talking to them on their phone because the uncle called me, yo, carwallow Man, you was right. Oh so it took you to get thirty years for you to be right. You still you still got it. You still got you.
Could Why you couldn't learn from wallow experience? Why did you have to go experience it for yourself? He already did it. He already told you the path that you was traveling down, where was gonna land you?
But you ain't want to hear that. M And you got to think about this. The street game is a game. It's a game.
Okay. If you play Monopoly, how many people can win? Probably one?
If you if you become an athlete of a game, how many y'all really gonna go to the NFL. How many y'all really gonna go to the NBA? How many y'all? Do you know how many people play basketball America? And how many people is in the league. It's not a lot. How many people's in football, it's not a lot. How many people? So you gotta think about this. It's a game that majority of the people lose. And the reality is, like I always tell people, this is me from ys
being in prison. You show me ten dudes in a gang, or you show me ten dudes that's from a corner. You show me ten dudes, I'm gonna ShW you seven dudes is gonna tell on them anyway. So the mask don't mean nothing, None of this. All this stuff is cat. Everything that we thought it was was cat because we live in a world where everybody is so they choosing them first. Do you think little Bobby is gonna go to jail when they raised to give him fifteen twenty whatever and he never been to jail before?
You think he leave me Keisha with that nice little sexy, the beautiful body.
You think he's leaving her and his mind gonna come in at interrogation room, Bobby, you better tell what they've done. We see it all the time, but we think my homies ain't gonna tell you. Your homi's gonna tell on you. They gonna tell.
Do you think like what about you know these to have this show? I think it was called Scared Straight.
Yeah, that was my show. You know what I'm saying.
It's like, Okay, we're gonna take you because we see where you guys arehead.
And I mean a lot of you guys are in.
Alternative schools or you in juvie, and so we're gonna show you where you're headed. This is the this is the recipe that you're cooking up right now. It's gonna lead to this perfect dish right here. So we're gonna give you an opportunity to see where you don't want to be. Do you think they think it's cool to be in prison? You said a lot of these guys that rap ubi it ain't ever been there.
No, you know what's crazy.
I'm not even gonna hold you, and and I'm gonna just talk about me growing up. Me, growing up, I seen some vicious Do you remember Blood and Blood Out? You remember the Penitentiary movie? I've seen some vicious movies. I seen it on on a TV's and all that stuff. But I thought I was smart enough. I don't think a lot of people think they're gonna make it there, right,
So until you make it there, you're like me. I get there and I'm like, I get to prison, and you know that when that big gate closed behind me and I'm on that bus, I'm praying that every guy that I could think of, like, please help me. Please, please don't let these people take me. They don't take my innosce.
Please.
I'm scared to death because you know I seen, you know when I walked through the hallway. First after they tell me, as I get out the shower, dudell them, wash it up. Shower like a minute, get about it and wash them balls, get their crabs and lights up off of you, get up, throw your stuff or you get your little box a ladies say in case of emergency, where you want your body sent.
I'm like, what type of shit? I didn't know? Whoa whoa whoa. I thought I just had to do some time. I ain't no die.
I'm a juvenile that just committed adult crime and they certifined me as adult.
Well, why we gotta die, Like, what's going on? Why?
Why I gotta die? Please don't let like, could you call my mom and let me get out? She peeped my she peeped the fear in my eyes, and she said she reworded the no baby like in case of it, she said baby to me too, so she let she she's peeped, And I'm really a keyp. She like, in case of anything happened, who do you want us to call? Like emerging you help them up? And then I grabbed that box. I went in that hallway, greatest for a prison. I seen the biggest black man I ever seen it.
He'll make you look like a midget.
You're so big.
It was like he was lifting weights in places I didn't know you could lift weights. He was so big coming out the joint with the taints I want And when I seen him, it's like he coming. I look down at the ground, like, oh my god, he's gonna get me.
Cause I'm not.
I'm not one of these dudes out here that's talking like I thought my ass was on the line. When I went to prison, I was scared. I'm not. I'm not telling you like I was tough all that tough shit that I threw. I knew and I thought I was on the street. That shit went out the way when I got to the penitentiary because I'm like, somebody gonna get I always thought that somebody was gonna get me.
And then now you start, you realize that you're not doing days, You're doing years, you doing decades, or it get real.
Ooh that shit get real? Mm mm hmm.
But is it the llure that got you into it? Was it the allure of fast money quick money? Was it a lifestyle that you wanted to have that you weren't willing to go save work a fast food job, or it worked your way up?
What was it about that life that attracted Wallow to it?
Because when I grew up, I realized quick that America respect the successful criminal. So when I'm sitting on the steps Sharton, and I see Mike pull up with the bench, the gold chain on, the music blasting, and when he come up to get the most beautiful he pulling up in his bench to get the most beautifulest girl in the neighborhood. She's the most beautifulest girl in the neighborhood. When he pulled up, I noticed that I ain't just noticing.
I ain't watching him. I'm watching miss jacksonis Brown is green? You know what they saying to him, Hey baby, I'm like, oh shit. And then as the girl get in the car, they all speaking to hey man. But when I see mister James come home from work and he walking down the street, he's a plumber, he all dirty. Don't nobody speak to him, Miss Brown is Jackson, they don't speak to him. This in the eighties. It's showtime, baby, I'm talking about. This is I'm talking about. I didn't see
mister James name on the Marquie. I seen the dude with the Ben's name on the marque the lights and shining, I'm talking about. This is prime time baby. He got the chain on the Piggy ring, the Rolex, watch on the music blasting ice team, howld Roller coming out of the bench. This shit is movie shit. I'm like, I got to be him. He's a superhero now, mister James.
Yeah, they speak to him. They look down on me.
They look down on mister James.
Mister James, he's a hard working man in the ghettos of America.
Black man, I said, I got to be him. I got to be him.
You went viral when you broke in the tears. Tell a little Dirk not to retaliate in King Bard's death.
You know, it was so emotional because Dirk, he said, I need you to come here, right, he said, we could do it in Miami, whatever, but I need you to come in because I need you to talk to these That's what he told me. He said, I need you to.
Talk to him.
While Lord, I need you to talk to him. I said, all right, I got him. And when I get there, I didn't know what was gonna be that many. It was like a hundred of them were in the basement in Chicago. It's a hundred of them and the nigga they ready to ride.
Yeah. No, they just was there for you know, okay, they want to hear what you want. No, they wasn't. It wasn't even that. They didn't even know why they was there.
Dirk.
It's like, we're gonna do it in the hood. I want you to higher at them. So I'm like, I got you. When I got there, I'm like, he like, man, listen, I need you to holler at him. It just so happened that when I'm talking to him. I understand because I'm talking to a couple. I'm on the side, and I understand that nothing is more important than the ghetto than Revenge's revenge is king it yes closest thing to God because the black man is willing to die about his ego.
The ego killed more.
Black men than any other disease, and nothing killed black men more than the ego. That ego of you hit me shaying and people saw it. I can't let you go. You got to die about this shit. And my mama raised me, so I grew up soft. I ain't had no structure of no father there, so I'm just emotional. So when I'm in there, I'm telling them I had to. It was emotional for me because I'm letting them know the man that killed my brother, I forgave him.
Am i Ma calvit, Amma pump.
I don't know what that shit mean, but I knew that forgiving him mean, and I was willing to live for my brother. In an environment where we celebrate dying for somebody, I said, no, I'm gonna live for my brother, my grandma, my brother, kids, my mama. I'm gonna live for them because don't nobody talk about that. But I know that I'm gonna just be straight up. I know that I'm not built to die right now because I know it's more things that they gotta do.
And I know I got a responsibility that was my older brother. You the know what I'm saying. So it's like I gotta step up.
I gotta be a man, So I gotta think as a man would think, not as a street would think.
That would die about his.
Ego and leave his babies, leave his mama, you know, tear down the community about the ego. My ego wasn't built like that. I wasn't that strong to have that type of ego. I wasn't cut like that.
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You mentioned that you had to forgive your brother's killer. How long did it take you? Because they say forgiveness is not for the person that wronged an individual. The forgiveness is for the person that's been wrong.
Maybe came to see me. So my niece, she come to see me the weekend that dad get killed.
This the first time I meet this little I'm telling her she was like.
Five four five. She was like probably four or five, but she was like fifty. So when she came in, she went around and visited. When she jumped on my lap, she said, oh, will you come home. You're not leaving, You're not coming back. I'm like, no, I'm not coming back. She said, I need you to take me here. She telling me all this stuff, and my nephew there too. I'm just talking to him, and I'm like, damn, somebody finally count on me. Somebody looking at me in the
way I never had. Nobody looked at me. You see what I'm saying? In that way? My little brother. I was always in the penitentiary. So my little brother July, we really didn't have had the time. So I'm like, damn, this little person looking at me like that. She putting a lot of power with a lot of energy on me. And so I already had it in my mind because I'm gonna just tell you. I'm gonna just tell you something, Shannon. I'm not built like that to go kill no black man.
I'm not built like that. I'm not designed like that. I'm not tough like that. I'm not ruthless like that. I'm not heartless like that.
That's just not me.
I and my worst fearing the history of life. I don't give a how I die. I don't care what happened. But if a black man killed me, you gonna hear my screen into life, and for everybody, you wanna hear my pain, You gonna hear me, You gonna you wanna my tears is gonna flood the ghettos of America.
I don't care about nothing else, but don't let me go out like that. So I said to myself, I ain't built like that.
Why I want you there? Because I don't know. Listen, I don't know what happened that night, why it happened. Only thing I know is my brother got shot. He ran to my grandma house.
She opened the door. He died of the arms.
I ain't built like that, to see nobody else crawled like that. I ain't built like that. I ain't got like that, Shannon. I'm just now, I ain't designed like that. Just because you're hurting Andy, I don't want to hurt your grandma. For what if I hurt your grandma? I want this shit won't stop.
It's a continuous cycle.
You said that by not retaliating, it gave you the freedom to spend time with your family.
When I got out of jail, right, I ain't have a lot, but I had everything because I remember something back in the day in the ghetto, we ain't had nothing.
But we had each other, so we had everything. So I'm like, damn. She I told her I was gonna take it to these places that I ain't even know.
I ain't even know. I ain't even know I had to. I ain't even know I had to take it to him because I ain't know these places. I just was telling her, I'm in jail, you gonna take me here.
Yeah, I know that. I'm just listening to on the phone. I got you.
I'm gonna take you there. So when I get there, I'm like, you ain't telling me this shit costs all this money?
You know? You know I don't wanna bunch. I ain't know we it said five below. I go in out. I spent fifty dollars. Goddamn, they said five below.
I'm thinking I'm gonna get a bunch of stuff for five dollars, right, So she got me in there, Mom, don't be buying all. I'm like, I got to I gotta. I just wanted to show up, and not just finance that. I want to show up mentally, emotions. I want to show up for them. And that was my whole thing.
So it was like, dang, that was all it was about, was living for them and and and being able to see them, them to see me, for me to be an example to my niece and nephew and them, and even for my grandma, like, boy, you you could do something with yourself, cause I wanted to prove nain'ty right. She always said you special? But I'm like special?
What you mean? Why why would I be special?
I'm thinking she crazy telling me I'm special. I live in the ghetto. I didn't know you could be special coming from the ghetto.
Dirk said, this mofo really dropping tears for this issue. Do you feel like you heard what you were saying? Do you feel like the guy not only did they listen, because a lot of times people listened to.
Respond, but did they listen to understand what you would say?
I hollered at a lot of the math was someone would call me. It's not about them listening. It's about conditioning. It's about environmental You could listen to everything that I say, but a lot of time, as I'm still growing, I don't have the res is to remove you from the danger that you're up against every day. A lot of things these young brothers they do here. They smart, A lot of them are smart. But environment, their environment don't allow them to grow because I can't move out of
this environment right here. And I know them dudes down them block, they want to kill me. I gotta protect myself. I want to kill So it's deep. We tell these kids a lot of things, and all we do is criticize young black male every way possible. We criticize them as much as possible, but we don't. We don't bring no resources.
You know what I mean?
People make money off of just criticizing us and talking down on not just us as black people, but they don't got no Okay, you criticize us. You got all these these gigantic platforms. Were we doing this cool shann it? But they got huge media platforms where they just want to tear the people down in the black community. But they ain't coming up with no solution and they ain't bringing no funding. So I could tell these young brothers this, that and the third, but they still got to take care.
They they got to figure out the only way that they know.
And in order to really take somebody to another level, you gotta have time, energy, and resources to deprogram them so you can reprogram them. The programming was hit. The dehumanization of black people by black people were strong.
This is some shit that we've done.
It started from when a little boy is young and he playing on the swing and he fall he started crying.
Boy deep tough, don't cry.
We're taught to ignore and bury our emotions and our feelings and our vulnerability.
That's not cool, that's not tough.
So that all that stuff right there. It's a real big programming that took place by us alone. So how do we come up out of that? It's gonna be deep, It's gonna take a lot.
How does one outgrow the environmental aspects to constraints in which he or she is brought up in if they're not removed from that environment because of fish is only gonna get so big if the tank is not conducive for it to grow. A tree is only gonna get so big if their environment is not conducive. So if you just put it, if you put a tree in a tough it's only gonna get as big as the to allow. Now, if you take that tree out of a tub and let it grow in a fifty acre field.
It can grow, it can flourish. How difficult is it to reprogram?
You say, reprogram so I can program in the right aspect?
How difficult is it to do that?
In the history of our community, the people that was able to do that, it was multiple, It was multiple, It was it was a few, a few. Educational relocation is the greatest thing that happened to college.
See a lot of people talk, oh.
You need college, We understand that you might come out have bills, but college expose you to other cultures. See the hood lack exposure to the world, and a lot of times you don't. You don't never think about everybody that left, every mostly everybody that left. You never really see them come back because they see, they meet other towns to go there, they get relationships with people, and it's just and they go. They go and they see the world. They the ones that come back most of
the time. Them people that go and get the education. They're the strongholds of the family, the ones that the family count on. Call your uncle, call your aunt.
She down there. She's a doctor, she's a lawyer. She didn't.
We gotta start educating ourselves, making sure the kids is educated, putting books in the hand over tablets. We got to start there, because I'm not gonna say we had to point in over return. But some people are just stuck and they're using that as a badge of hoarmor. Sometimes in our hood, ignorance is a badge of honor. Is a cool thing nobody wanted to You know, we can't say that about because anytime black people say things about black people, they ain't supposed to say that out loud
or whatever. I don't know how that chicken, but sometimes it's a badger outer O. I'm this think about it. We put on a pedestal the criminals, American way, the American way. At the end of the day, we love the successful criminal. We love Tony Soprano, We love Scarface.
We love Michael Cooleione.
Just as proof, the judge, the lord of the district attorney, the president, all them people.
They love the movies. They're gonna so the programming is deep.
How difficult is it to really break a cycle? When you know you see father that goes to jail, he had brothers that go to jail. And now you see a kid that only thing that he knows is disruption corruption.
How difficult does that wank?
I'm I'm a product of generational incarceration. My stepfather Hip, he was in Dallas Penitentiary in the eighties. Me and him were sell mats in Dallas Penitentiary by nineteen ninety eight. By two thousand and five, me and my brother Steve was sell mats in Dallas Penitentiary.
And there's a picture of me. It's the side of the book.
Me Hip and Steve on a visit when I was a kid, and I want we all wound up being in that same prison. Wow, it's a cycle, because prison is prison is a You gotta think about this. There's the ghettos of America build communities. And when I say the ghettos of America build communities, this is what happened. As we do so much crime and the inner cities of America. There are small towns in America, middle of Pennsylvania, middle of Ohio, middle of California, where oh population is up.
Then one day you just see this landfill. You see some construction workers come and then a truck, these these eighteen wheelers come a bunch of them, and they started putting these new prisons together like legos. Then the gas station, they build a gas station. Then the Walmart park up. Then a hotel pop up. We building communities. And I'm gonna tell you a story deep one. It was his
guard named Skiv. I used to go back and forth with him on the tier because he just I used to always speak up because he had go on people sales when they in the yard and checking it. You ain't post to be nobody. I used to say little stuff. So we used to battle. One day he set me down. I go to the to the bubble to get some legal mail. Cause when you get the legal mail, you gotta sign for it. And he said something strong to me, and I never forgot this. He said, come here, people's
that's my last name. I said, what man?
What you want? Man, I'm just signing for my mail. He said. Look. He opened up his shirt and and between his shirt and.
His vests cause they had a stab poof vest. He pulled out an envelope. The envelope was fold He opened the envelope. It was a picture. He put the picture down, says, I'm signing for my whist name. He open legal mail.
I stopped. When it before I leave, I stopped.
He said, you in the Homies, man, you in the Homies, being sarcast and gives him the word homie. You in the Homies took ken in thanks to you and the Homies.
I'm like. I looked at the picture.
It was his son standing in front of a big house with a pickup truck and a big boat. There say, you and the homies got me that m Usually I have a verbal little verbal spar winning, but he sh he stuck me that day.
I couldn't. I was wounded.
So I just walked back to the cell and set on the bed. I said, damn, ain't mean. None of the homies never bought our mom no house. We never sent our kids to college. But you know how many kids you not many homes and kids is going to college that me and the homies is taking. Me and homies doing that, But it ain't going to our community. We send we taking care of families, We takeing care of generational because in prisons you have with neplicism. You
got the Wharton. The Wharton brother is a security captain. His other brother is the lieutenant. His sister is the head of the medical. The other cousin is the head of the gymnasium. The other cousin is the activity director. The other cousin is the head of the workforce. And you walk inside of prison, you see fifteen family members that go home every day and fifteen family members that don't. That's the prison system in America. So it's deep, is deep, and it's gonna take a lot to break that.
Why is it that a lot of times that you see rappers and they rap about that they made.
Money millions and they still go back to that culture. Why can't they let that go? Why can't they escape that one? Because in the ghetto, everything is about ego. You got to prove to the dudes, the ops or whoever they everybody want to prove to the people that they are doing better than that, they're still real.
Give mean you really it's about your mama house. That's real enough.
But it gotta be it got you know, people want to prove that. I ain't no chump, I ain't no listen. Let me tell you something, man. You just raped some songs, right, I'm telling you went in the studio rap some songs. You got to publishing money. You got the you know, a bunch of money. It depends on how your deal structure. You got all that tour money, you got ten to fifteen million in the bank. I think it's about time to start being a pussy man. I think it's about
time to start being a pussy. I'm just being real because you know, I'm not the one designed and I'm not built like that to tell you some bullshit sharing it to say be tough. No everybody else telling you to be tough. I'm not gonna tell you that. I think because all the rich people. I don't think they trying to worry about what somebody's saying about them from a neighborhood that's still trying to figure out life.
So I think it's cool to be not be that tough no more.
Man Masterpiece said something last night on our live show. He said, sometimes, man, people be trying to get trying to get you to trick off your position.
Like you're in a great position and they you know, no, a lot of people file out get you to crash.
Out cause you said, you told them that, look, you're gonna finesh yourselves out of this position, your family, Like you got your family in a great situation and you're gonna let somebody fineesh.
You out of it.
But but what did I tell you early in the interview. The ego is the number one killer black man. It's the number one finessa out of the position. Like Shannon, how many people say some crazy stuff about you. Just imagine if you just you know, if you if you just reacted to everything a lot of times, it don't even be a lot of times it don't even be that people don't like you. It be that people can't get around you and utilize your resources and utilize you. It don't a lot of people you see him. You
might see somebody say something on a joint. I know you got a memory. You be like, they'll see you, Shannon, what's up? You'd be like, why you say that stuff about me?
Man?
No?
Man, I was just no man.
A lot of people just be wanting to hug Shannon. They just be wanting some love. They just be wanting to get embraced, and they don't know how to go about that. You utilize the proper channels to say, damn, Shannon, I'm trying to do something with you. Man, the time right at the time, right? Can I get on your show or whatever it may be? People don't know how to do that.
You know what you reached with the sat down with Kodak back and you had a conversation with him about his drug youth.
Well, let me ask you a question. How do you determine who? I mean?
If they reach out? You willing to sit down and talk to anybody? Chop it up, have convo with anybody that reaches out? How do you go about who you sit down and talk to? And in part wisdom on oh.
No, you can feel that shit. You could feel it because when you're doing it, you can just feel it. You can you know, I still know what's going on. You're moving around, you know what's going on. And everybody with these artists is sad. Most of the most of their teams and managements and pussies. They got a bunch of yes men around them. A person's not They care more about getting the check off of them than this
person living. These people don't be giving up about these young bloods because they don't come from it, so they don't understand it.
Now, the ones that don't come from it and they're afraid of it, cool.
But if you come from it, it's your duty to put the check in on them. Like, come on, man, somebody gotta be aligned to your everybody scot they came to some joints.
I'm like, damn, everybody's scared of this. Yo. Ma, man, what you doing nothing? Oh?
What's up?
But is you doing man type of drugs? You using?
Man out of walk the rooms on people like that, Like, damn, you bigger than this man. You know what you They've got the baby you got and that's a lot of them. But you know, you just feel the energy and with the tell you know.
How, sir, you talk, You kind of touched on this circle of friends. And I'm a firm believer that you have people in your corner that tell you what you need to know, not what you want to hear. Now, you said something very interesting, because see, if I tell you what you need to know, You're gonna stop the bus Wallow and ask me to get off. Bro, I need that respentctive shine because when you walk up in
the club I'm with Wallow, they see Wallow popping bottles. Hey, I ain't Wallow, but I went Wallow, so I know what comes along with that.
I can't ask you that. I can't tell you what's real it said Wallow.
Man you hey, youffing up because you're gonna stop the bus and ask me to get off.
And now, don't reflect Wallow is only popping pure a few. I'm not gonna pop. I'm just saying, make sure you gonna get that official hydration drinking the fill up your sister in the Chicago sky.
I'm owner, but listen to the tropical punts. He's drinking the watermelon. But I don't drink.
I don't smoke.
But I'm saying, but you understand what I'm saying that if I tell you the truth, you're gonna stop the bus. You're gonna ask me to get off. And now I can't go with you. You're not gonna say you're always in time.
But but you know what, they gotta double back because sometimes that don't always happen, but it needed to be done because they'd come back when they in prison or whatever happened, or somebody sit, they gonna come back. But somebody gotta do it. Somebody got to do it.
It's a leb.
You've been you've been to prison. Yeah, and you a you not you weren't famous, so you in G pop? Yeah, you got Diddy and you got ur Keill.
I was in GP.
I was in GP right right, But I wanted to be in PC some days because it got a little brutal when I kept imagine we wanted to slide up in PC like it's a little this day, too many stabbings. Man, let me just y'all need y'all got some space back that y'all need somebody to move, y'all need myself.
I was some days I wanted to be in PC.
How difficult, how much how different is it for clem being in a situation than a regulously.
I think it's different. It depends on where where, what environment you in federal state, it depends. I just think I never seen nobody coming here and there and then have any problems that were celebrity When I was in prison, you had.
You know, some celeb that came in there when you did that.
Uh yeah, some came through, but it wasn't like they was on a narrow level. Right, that's a that's a megastar. People will be in there just fanning out. Sometime you be shocked. Man, dudes be in jail, man, anybody.
It ain't all with the.
Movies play out, especially if you ain't got no problem with nobody, you know what I mean. But I ain't saying somebody won't press you like yo, man, I need his money, send it to me.
You know. I don't know that you know, but but that happened. Did that really happen? Yeah, it happened. It happened. To get protection, you gotta get protection to them.
No, I ain't saying you gotta get a protection. But somebody might press you, man, somebody might be doing life. You might come in there. You might have something you might have had to get money, not even on that level, and you might got to send somebody and people might got to get some people some money.
That's all. Yeah, damn.
Let me ask you a question. If the true Gilly started the million Dog with a game podcast, how do you I mean you get out? So how do you, guys? How did he have the foresight and the forethought to come up with a million dog with the game and say, you know what, my homie just did a bed cousin.
No, this what happens. I'm gonna tell you what happened.
When I was in the joint, he was doing million dollars worth a game on Instagram twenty twelve.
Let me give y'all million dollars worth a game. Boy, he was. He was popping it.
So when I get home, see one thing about this is like this the great thing about me. And because we know our rules, I'm more of the researcher, I'm more of that person. I'm more I'm gonna get with you because when when these people start talking and we gotta get legal involved, we gotta go sit down. Then I'm gonna call you, but I'm gonna go do that. You sit down, you do what you're gonna do. You did enough, you build a you build a whole following before I came home. I'm gonna add value to it
because I'm one of these type of players. I'm a player like this. If your name is on the Marquee Channing and I'm really about you.
I'm going to get your water. I'm making sure you're right. Then what you need. Man.
You see how your brother came over here. I don't know who that brother was. Made sure you was right. It was no ego, but it be no duke boy.
I ain't doing all that wall. I'm just saying. See, that's the problem.
That's why you gotta go back down the way. Come on, you ain't going on the road, baby, go home. See that's why you gotta go home. But that's the problem. I knew we had different parts of play. That's why we work so good.
You know what I'm saying. So one day he already doing it on Instagram. We're doing other things.
We had already had content on Instagram, just the every day content, Rydan and call all that type of stuff.
I'm up four o'clock in the morning. I like to read articles.
I think it was on Apple and I love reading articles to get information. So it said Spotify allocate four hundred million to podcasts in the first quarter of twenty nineteen. I called him early in the morning. I said, Yo, he a man, what the fuck? Yo, get up?
Read that article. I just text you that article.
Read that shit. Read it please, cuz he read it. So when he read it, he called me back. He said, Yo, we gotta get this shit rolled. We gotta crack out the mics. Talk about podcast at that time. Maurice correct, that's my homeboy brother from another He used to always call me, be like, Wow, you and Gil gotta start the pockets. He had called me a Gil, you all, y'all gott to start the pocket whatever. This is the first time that this dude woke up and I'm like this.
He called me back and I'm like, hey, I'm gonna talk to him later. He called me back.
He was like, Cuz we gotta do it. Crack the mic.
He gave it all the money. That day, I called my homeboy Nika Rich Graphic Design. I said, I need a logo. That afternoon he had the logo. I called my attorney, Shayam lost I says shay I need this trademark. We get the LLCA all got anything done, got the LLC do all that shit.
Boom.
April seventeenth, we dropped the first episode, a million dollars worth worth of Game. It went number two in comedy on Podcasts on Apple and number four in all.
Categories in like seven hours. I said, we got something, baby, we got something, and we just we just we just started knocking. I said, Cuz, this what I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna go I'm gonna get a deck created, and I'm gonna take all our social media and this is the business of podcasts. I'm gonna take our social media following. Because he had a million, I had a half a million. I said, I'm gonna take our social media following. I'm gonna put that on the deck, and I'm gonna tell sponsors, people that want to be sponsors. I'm gonna tell him this,
if you sponsor on this show. Every time we put a clip up on our page, because million hours worth of game, that is gonna be a millioniars worth of game page on Gilly and Wallow page. We're gonna tag sponsored by Shannon Sharp show, whatever whoever you is. He said, all right, do you think, I said, I got you. One of the first places I went was to a funeral home. I go to a funeral home because I went to this funeral right, a boy's funeral home.
Right.
An Asia was like she was like she was at the funeral on license and nice legal systm. But my homie, that nigga looked like he was still living in a casket. I said, you bat So I go there. I said, listen, I got a package for you, my sister from another mother marror. She hooked up the decks for me in the different entries of sponsorship. Right, So I go to her, I said, listen. She said, yeah, I want to do something like this. I want you to market this joint.
And this is when I'm just learning and creating my personal business of podcasts.
So I said, alright, I got you. She paid me.
I think probably gave me like twenty thousand for four minutes, right a minute.
This is how I was selling it.
I was selling minutes by you get on each show, you get a minute work for advertisement, your logo gonna pop up, your number, gonna pop up, everything gonna pop up, and I'm gonna run it down. So she said, all right, cool, pay me the money. I said, all right, let me go. I went and done the ad. By the time I got to the second air read because we only do four shows a month, one a week. By the time I got to the second area, she called me while I stop.
I said, what's up? She said, I ain't got enough work.
I'm getting too many bodies, Baby, I'm getting too many bodies cause the episode come on. This episode of me and dollars worth of game is brought to you by Boys Funeral Home.
One thing about life.
You gonna die one day, and when you die, you wanna be laying in the casket looking like you living, even though you did. You want to be looking like you're gonna get up out of the casket. You want to be looking like, wow, I want to look like that even by the living while you laying in the I'm breaking it down.
She was like, it was that.
Next thing Springfield, Hondai. I go to them bank. They say, listen, we don't get y'all twenty five thousand a.
Month, four minutes back. Let's do a baby.
I'm coming back Gil like, I said, yeah, Baby, I wasn't going off of CPMs and all that other stuff baby doing it. I'm creating my own industry and business. You gotta you gotta know your value. Will you bring value to value it increase your value. I knew that we was valuable.
I knew people. I knew people wanted I knew they wanted brand visibility because.
We was cultural right. But I also I'm also a good partner. Whereas though I wanted to be mutually beneficial, were doing business. I need to make sure you're getting take care of. Forget what you're giving me. I'm not gonna feel right if I know. Damn Shannon gave us all this money man, and we didn't do it even do that's not business right, So we popping it. It just kept popping, popping, popping. One day, I get the most scariest call in my life. I'm in the crib
the phone. We're intwo answer number. Just before when I was answering numbers and I ain't know where it. I mean, I ain't money then, so I said, how you doing? This is Wallow right? I said, yeah, this is wallow is Gilly around? I said yeah, He said this is about the podcast. I said, all right, called gil Yo man, got somebody on the phone, he said, Hi, Gil, how you doing?
He said, Yo, what's up?
Man?
Gil? Like? Who this man?
Now?
Gil Be?
He said, Hi, I'm Courtney Hoped so me. I'm a vicious research. I'm like this one on the phone. I sent it to girl screen. I said, oh shit, this this dude that ran it. He's the head of Spotify at the time. I'm like, I'm saying to myself, how you get my number?
And culture?
You don't got to ask nobody to do nothing for you when you pop into you hot. The people that need to find you gonna find you. It ain't not about nobody repost you. They gonna find you. I don't know how you got my number. So now I'm on the phone and I'm like, I said, he said, Uh, what are you guys want? I said, I said, what you're talking about? I said, no, what do you want?
He said?
No?
How much money do you guys want? Now I'm stuck because I don't even know what to telling.
I'm stuck.
But it's like I said, we want owner ship, we want all our i P. We want to keep owning our IP. Yes, he said, we want your i P. So how much money do you want? I'm going to join textas Gill this shit again, spooky Gil, because I think there's like some movies, some ship that you know what they tell you go into the other room.
I'm like, oh this is I'm.
Like, oh shit right. So I'm like, all right, can I have my lawyer k you see, I'm going to text you the email. Let's get on the email chain and are legal will get involved when they start talking about legal, you know, this ship.
Is real game.
I'm like, bet Gil was like, who is that? I said, I don't know, man, that all this shit. I'm like, that shit was scary. I was sweating on the call because I mean, you know, I ain't never had because I mean, I'm still trying to come up. That's what we got in the game. We had them to be negotiating with them, we negotiating with Barstewl. It was and it turned us up. But at the same time, I'm already getting the money from our own sponsorship. I'm already
doing it. I'm getting a bunch of money doing it. Be killing I'm doing all the all the brand deal with all that stuff. He was killing it.
Normally people say don't do anything with family, but you and Gilly seem to work. Why how did you know that it was gonna work? And you guys go fifty to fifty on everything?
How did you know?
Because family man? Sometimes while little man, you know, family, do.
You bad one thing about cous cousin me and cousin ain't got no ego. I could check him and it's done right there. He could check me, and it's done right there. Because if we're wrong, we wrong to be right re right, we don't and then we not in competition with each other. Like I'm so like, you gotta stand this, you gott understand this. I'm so excited for him right now in this moment because simply because the
Eagles is winning. And this dude, when I say he loved the Eagles, oh yeah, listen, when I say he loved the Eagles, he told me, he said, because we was on a bustle with the boys. Guy he said, I woun't had sex with my wife for a year. If the Eagles could win the Super Bowl.
They got ten super Bowl.
But just what he said, So I be so happy that. Listen, Eagles is my team. Now, you know what I mean?
I don't really you know, I bounce around people know I got different teams a year. I'm just saying, I'm just being real.
This the first time in the history of my life that I've been faithful to a team for a whole season. I've never done this shit in my life. I usually bounce around, especially in the playoffs. Bro, they got dropped out your new jersey. I pulled my jersey out, you know what I mean. I don't even know where my jersey's at. But i'mna just say that, like, we so excited for each other. We always championed each other when
we win. That's different, Bro, you don't see that. Everybody want to compete with each other when we post to eat with each other. We just not doing that shit.
We ain't built like that. We just not built like that.
What made you guys sign with Barstool Because talk to Portnoy and he's like, hey, yeah, we signed them with We didn't really know because I mean culturally and fan base wise, I mean, that's not where they are. That's not where we are, and their culture and their fan base is kind of not where we are.
But it's a match that.
Works, you know.
You know why because we was going back and forth with Spotify they was cool. Spotify wanted the box us in because Spotify they take you off of YouTube and say you over here now the visuals, you can't put the whole show.
It was like that, and I'm like, no, what about our people?
Anybody ain't got no money for no subscription for that right, bar Stool was like, not only was it gonna give you the paper, not only do we don't want to own your IP, but we gonna make sure y'all still stay over there.
Y'all do what that, y'all do what they y'all want to do.
Dave and when we signed, Dave and Erica and Nardini were so real when they met up with us, it was like they didn't play.
They asked us for a number.
I said it, but I I have said the number two early.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's little load number. You should have went looked high because.
You know when I'm just thinking about because I was broke at the time. I wasn't broke, but I was JDM just barely making it. So I'm like, damn. So I'm like, so I told him, I said this this is the first deal. I say, listen. We in Devon's side, the Philadelia they come down and get on the train. Come see me and Gil.
We go there.
Gil said, you got it, go ahead, go ahead, cuz I'm at the table. They said, we just thirty six months, you know, distribution deal, you know, the whole thing.
Say how much I'm thinking I'm popping my ship. I said, three Million's cool? She said, all right, man, you hey, you know you screwed up. You know you screwed up the ding you said three year.
I didn't even get the three million out because I'm like, damn. Now I'm sitting there, I'm like. Gil kicked me, Like, but he said, you I told you to say something. I said, Dad, nigga, what you want me to say?
You know what I mean?
We shook our hands, signed it, you know, I mean, Lloyd got the information, you know, all that shit, right, But but it was like it was like.
Now I ain't gonna hold you. Well we did.
In two and a half years into that contract man, the first offer that came through, and then renegotiating because now we've ready to start a bid war because we raised.
Or gotta leave, we gotta leave or John coming up.
The first joint that came through, twenty five million, thirty six months licensing deal. That was the first deal Dave told me. He said it on the pop. I got a blank check for y'all. He meant that ship.
Because David is a little different.
He definitely different, have it talking different.
And one thing I said about Dave that.
I Dave don't respect money.
Expect lord, he don't care about money, don't like it.
It is different when you got somebody that better you. Yeah, I could have went the Amazon year. We could have went to Spotify year. We could have went to anybody else that who who the numbers was there. I'm talking about it in the same day. They's coming through the different deals, right, But I said, these people better on his bus the name. We went in a room for five minutes, shook hands, walked out. We stayed with bar
stew a bunch of money. And I'm like, yeah, because I said, you pull it up with a new part, a part dawn there every.
Week I might go get one after this show just the I got you know what I mean?
Just because But but but this is this is this is the thing about it is we put the work in. Man. Every day we getting up putting the work in Shannon. You put the work and you're gonna get what you needed.
You know what I mean. You could have been out here doing some money. You work. It was about putting the work in. So it was like damn, and it's just the business game.
One thing I'm gonna say about bar stew when I went when we went to bar Stool, I stayed in the hotel for about a week in New York, and I went to the bar Stool office a day. And that one week of me staying in bars Stool, I I'm going to the office talking to different people in the office. That one week, I learned the whole podcast game, the whole business side of it. Move I'm talking about. They in Rikanardini. That's why I messed with him.
They took us to their plug there, took us today investors. As we got to they said, listen, these guys are getting too big man. We want we want you to introduce you to we go and have a meeting with the people that gave them money. They was like, where they do that at Wow? Where they do that at you know what I mean? This our last year in bar Stool, new deal coming, this our last year Wow.
Turning down deals Obviously you know, sometimes you have to walk away. Yeah, it's not an easy thing because that money, you like, the hell, that's a lot of money.
But at the end of the day, it has to does it have to feel right?
Does it have to represent you and Gilly in order for you to like, Okay, this is what million dollars worth a game, We'll rock with it.
You know what it is.
We need partners that understand what we're doing and understand that we're trying to grow and got the infrastructure of it to support that. That's the first thing that we're looking for. You're gonna have differences no matter where you go any big company in America or in the world, there's gonna be things there that they're gonna people gonna do shit, say things that you might not like.
But it don't matter where you go.
At you But our thing is we need the infrastructure for growth. We need to make sure that these people believe and they see the vision of what we're gonna do right, and they're gonna get to get out of our way. They've never been in our way.
So moving forward, you want you and Gil want to keep creative control of what million.
Dollars, but we own our own stuff. We own million dollars worth a game. We got our own we got our own facilities, we got all our own equipment. Everything is all like, we're not the people that say, oh, this is a problem with people. People want other people to say, I want to use this facility, I want to use your equipment, I want to use your people.
I want to do all that, and I want all this. We don't do that.
We got our own equipment, we got our own cameras, we got our own team, we got all our own shit. We just created dishoulbute that this should bet that dishoulbute that you know what I'm saying.
So you know, wow, partnerships.
I mean you got rebods, you got hand pull in the NFL Network, Global Citizen foot Lock or Philly Union, I had.
A lot of them.
How did you know well, how did you know how to do this?
Because I mean, had you had any hormable training or informal trade or so, so how did you know how to like, Okay, you know what, I'm gonna cut this up. You know ad I'm gonna do this for I'm gonna do this for a minute. You get one minute per week we shoot four shows a month, you get everything, and I'm ay boomboo boom.
It first started in the streets Philadelphia. I used to write on walls.
I remember I went to this event and it was like a block party or something, and I told somebody my name. It was like, yo, you the guy to be writing on walls.
You wild up?
Okay, So when I got to jail, this is what I did, Shannon, I'm in in jail. When I'm in jail, we had TVs in the State Penitentiary in Pennsylvania. Marcelli said one day, why every time all you do is just keep clicking watching commercials. I was fascinated with commercials because I always just wondered every time I went to McDonald's. My big maca never looked like that. Man, you did what I'm saying. Yeah, So I'm studying that. Then I realized,
hold up. I started reading books. This was an advertising agency that did this. McDonald's ain't make that.
Yes.
Then I started studying advertise eighties. Then I read a book called Damn Good Advice by George Lowis.
George Lewis is the.
One they made the TV show Mad Madman about. He's one of the greatest ad men in the world. At the same time, the only show that I'm watching religiously. The only person I wanted to meet when I got was Anthony Bourdain. Parts of Knowing no reservations to layover. He was one of the greatest. He was one of the greatest explorers to me, because that and the Travel Channel was taking me around the world. But I'm looking at that. But the advertising thing, I knew one thing.
You got God, then you got marketing.
In that order. Can't nobody tell me nothing different. You got God and then you got marketing. Because your market to who your God should be, what church you should go to, what car you should drive, what fool you should eat, what you should wear, what restaurant, what school you should go to?
Market market everything is marketing to you. That's the most powerful thing on the planet. You don't make the decision. The marketers make the decision for you. They force your decision. I said, I want to be a marketer. Nobody want to do that. Nobody wanted because it's not shiny. That's why if you see my stuff. When I came home with the prison, I went to businesses in the community and said, listen, I want to promote your rib shack, even dough.
I don't eat ribs.
I want to promote your rib shack because I know it's people in the city of Philadelphia that's fifteen blocks away. They don't know what's here. Hey, everybody do in Willow two to seven. Welcome to Shannon rib Shot. One thing about these ribs, they fall off the bone. The sauce is the sauce that you never taste before. One thing about the sauce when it hits your tongue and grab your tongue and then slap your tongue.
The sauce is so juicy. You never tasted this.
Nobody wanted to do that. I said, I'm a step into a field. Well, I don't have nobody in my way. I gotta worry about ad agencies and all. I ain't worried about them. They disconnected from the reality of culture of now. And I ain't talking about black coach. I'm talking about the culture of what's going on now. A lot of them is disconnected. That's why I got a
company called We Control Cool. Is that it is a company that connect businesses that need that next level thing, that need to be connected with cool, that need to be connected with everything that's next level.
That's what we control. Cool doing your culture either for Google and YouTube. What does that role entail?
So I'm on the phone with Leo Kahn and I was talking to a Road to Equality. It was like a couple hundred Google employees on this call, and I'm telling him my story and lio' korn said, wow, Lo, what is this that you want to do? I said, Man, I want to come to YouTube and start my own program. I don't like these dudes on YouTube because every time it's a tentorial, they too worthy. Nobody want to hear that shit, and the average person don't know what they're
talking about. So we need to teach people how to start their YouTube, how to scale on YouTube, how to monetize their YouTube. You serious, Yes, let's get on another call. I started a program called YouTube Avenues. YouTube Avenues, we went over to ten cities and what we do is this. We go into a city, we put four or five hundred creators whatever you want to do inside of a room and my team come. When I tell you my team, I got a mean team. I'm talking about tumor. About
something right. One thing about tumor is this He's one of the most beautifulest people, one of the most honest people you ever were running too in the history of the music business. This dude is this brother is real. He's the head of Black music for YouTube. We go there, he put a team together him shout out, Vivian and Lillard,
liwid Raichie Mahale, Adam Brittany. My whole time, I'm telling is a team of us, right, And we went from city to city and we put four hundred finding people in the cities inside of a room and teach him how to start their YouTube, how to scale on YouTube, how to monetize YouTube. Philadelphia, DC, Baltimore, Detroit, Miami, Houston, Oakland, London, and the list goes on. But we went to all
these cities and we left something special there. And it's all because I had an idea and I said, yeah, I could come over there and just talk about me, but no, let's do something for the community. And that was the first program they ever had on that level to give back out of all these platforms.
You mentioned that how Dave introduced you to the people that gave him money in order to do what he wanted to do, And they introduced introduced. He introduced them to you and now, and Dave had like I said, I talked to Dave and he's like, hey, people.
Get big and they leave. Hey, bless him. Dave ain't no hater, He's not.
Listen.
Everybody that been on bar Stoo Barstow has been incubated room. They went to the next level and they got shitload of money. Called her daddy example, Path McAfee example, he back yep, like every busting with the boys, Caleb example. Dave is the type of dude you go to day and be like, listen, man, they'd be like, all right, cool. And then the thing about David, I respect it was some people that didn't even own the IP there.
He gave them the IP and said, go ahead, do your thing where they do that at Wow.
What have you learned most about business?
Waller?
I learned that today personal and I also learned that business is ninety percent about relationships. Relationships is worth more than money. And the thing I like about businesses you got to understand the power of partnership. Partnership is this, Shannon, you got a bunch of resources. I'm gonna say, Damn, Shannon, I'm gonna bring this idea I got over here to you. In return, I'm gonna give you some equity, so in return, you're gonna open up your resources to me.
That's all business is.
Business is about equity, is about fair treatment, is about understanding that it's not personal.
Sometimes things not might not go your way. Sometimes you might get out bent. But this shit is really about who you can get on that phone. I got a strong phone.
I tell people all the time being on this side, it's about relationships because you never know somebody might have been on a starter role three years ago in a bigger role five years ago, and the relation. You know what I met Wallo. I met this gentleman about four years ago, and I think he's doing something. Let's give him a call.
And Herember, how you treated him, how you respected him. That's why I respect everybody in the room. At the end of the day, Shannon is like this. They don't understand. It's a difference between you getting to deal for fifty million and you getting to deal for sixty five million, and that and that one that listen, that fifteen percent, fifteen percent more, That fifteen million more was solely based
off of I was doing it by myself. As Shannon, you knew somebody over there at that platform or that betting site or that what's name, And they said, Shanny, you're a part of this.
Let me see the numbers.
Oh yeah, we can do this. I'm talking about this. This shit is filed in the phone call business man. Yes, tens of millions is traded for firing filing the phone calls. People don't understand that. Oh yeah, this episode is a seapier. But you know what people don't.
And I tell people, look, the toes you stepped on the day might be on the foot connected to the leg that lead to the foot. You gotta kiss tomorrow. Yeah, you gotta be careful how you treat people. Because you treat somebody bad, one day he's gonna be he or she might be.
In a our row up. And you know what, it always happened like that though, that.
Guy was a jerk to me.
And now somebody that might not be as qualified, maybe not as deserving or earned the opportunity. But because you are jerk three years ago, five years ago, maybe even ten years ago, now they get that opportunity that you passed by only because you look down on that person.
And the funny thing about this thing for everybody up there that's coming out, the most powerful people, the most biggest dealmiggers.
They looked like some dude that's stressed out.
Put some beat up here with a beat up here hookah sneakers on, some skinny jeans and a Pentagonia little vest On and you're not even gonna pay attention to them.
And they the most powerful shot. Call in the room. Man, I'm telling you, man out. And that's how it go.
You and Gilla, y'all put together a pay per view boxing advanced concert, your own drink company sale March.
What if you but from each endeavor that you embark upon, what have you learned?
Well them, I learned that relationships is worth more than money. It always go back to relationships because one relationship, one call I got. That's what I'll tell you in this game is about having a strong phone. And the way you get a strong phone gets through relationships and not giving nobody number out and calling people for what you need to call them for, not the bs, because you could lose somebody in the process of just calling people to call them. You can text people, check up, but
just all that. So when I was, for instance, clothing. Everything I've done, I always knew somebody that I could call. They could give me a better They could give me a better GPS. They give me a better directions to get here quicker or safer. Sometimes it might be longer. No while, don't do that, damn. But I got listen to me. That's how it's gonna play. You move here, then you move here, then you move here. Then you'll be here in thirty six months. With what you're doing.
I'm telling you, this is a bigger play, all right.
Cool.
Sometimes I gotta slow it down sometimes it you know, And that's what it's good to having good advisors and good people in the game. That's that really been here, That the showing g's, the the Troy Carter's, you know, the different people that I have that I could call on, you know what I mean, that could really like give me some you know, Tony Draper's.
Right, since securing these big deals, how does your life change?
Man? It's lonely at the top. Man, They get crazy.
Man, I'm gonna tell you something, Man, once the success come, people find raised to fall out with you. Man, because you know, you start getting smart. Because it's hard man, Because man, I'm gonna tell you it's hard once you slow down and realize people just want to use you. And I'm not saying everybody, but when you know, sometimes family friends, they just see you as a dollar sign
and they don't see you as a friend. No more sharnon if I'm calling you all the time, but we laughing about shit on Instagram?
Yo, you see that post that shit was and then now I'm calling you. Damn? What's up?
Man?
Oh man, Man, you ain't gonna believe this man boy doing bad. They just they just took my call. Man, They told my call, well, what happened?
Man?
I hold these tickets? Man? How much you old?
Man?
They shit, I gotta pay forty five thousand? Man, your car costs five thousand? Man, what is it talking about? Bro?
Because it's hard, you know what the time it is, it's hard. It's hard for people to sit back and just enjoy and be happy for you. They want to also live exactly what you're doing. They want to come and fake work.
Man.
Man, I don't want to come work for you know you know, you know you ain't gonna work. You just want to come around and get you want me to sponsor this lifestyle because a lot of times from our culture, everybody wants somebody to finance a lifestyle that you might not be living. I don't party, I don't go to clubs, I don't smoke cooker, you know what I mean. But I didn't looked out for people, and they gonna do some dumb sit then they back at my door again.
This can lose the first half of my conversation. Part two is also posted and you can access it to whichever podcast platform you just listen to part one on. Just simply go back to club Shay profile and I'll see you there.