JORDAN OMLEY - Don’t Clean Your Pan!

don't have a big budget, which is breakfast burritos. Because when I moved to Seattle, they turned me out out here and let so I've got hash Brown's going right now, which kind of take the longest to make, so I've had those cooking for a minute. I've got my spicy refried beans going right here, which actually I'm gonna add some cheese because cheese and beans is, you know, two of the best words in the English language, So we're gonna get that going. I've got um jalapeno. I've got

some red onion going over here. That's a flavor combination that I use and I don't know most most of what I cook unless it's specific to like a region. I'm always cooking with peppers and onions, So I've got that going. Uh. And then we've got some Colleen didn't know what this was, which is hilarious to me. So if you live in l A and you don't know what dys so is, you just ain't doing it. I heard the word guy. We had it was off camera. She looked at this thing like a like a cow

at a new gate. I didn't know what to expect. Um. So this is beet theresa, which is a must um for breakfast burritos in my opinion. Although you can make them with whatever chicken. You could do a vegetarian, you could do a soada, whatever you like. But for me is the way to go. Um. And then we got cheese, salsa, we've got eggs, we've got avocado. Um. You know, it's

not one of those dishes that's super complicated. I think it really is just about getting ingredients that you think work well the other and all this stuff is it's good together. And I'm not I'm I'm completely not shocked that your dish would come with all these ingredients because I've eaten at your house and You're a real You're the real deal. I like to cook. I grew up around like Dad is an incredible cook, so I just grew up around it. I've always loved to cook and

I love to eat. So now that we kind of have the basis of your meal, I'm gonna saw this. I just want to get to know you more. Um. And uh, it's a little smoky in here, guys. So if I choked up, no one judged me because I'm one of those people that every burner and if they had another burner, I'd have that one going too. So we're working in here today. We are definitely working in here. So um, Jordan's has worked, like I said, with the best. But one of the most amazing things about Jordan's story

is how you got your start. Tell us about it. I know I had something to what your day job actually right, Well, yeah it did eventually it did. Yeah. Like I said, I was, I was rapping at a

young age and I was Um. I was signed when I was fourteen years old to Sony form a development deal and I got in the studio actually in Seattle with Sir mix a lot when I was really young and Sir mix a lot kind of took me under his wing, introduced me to a lot of people, and I ended up on tour with Snoop and Mystical and Digital Underground, and I was like, you know, live in a high school life, um, singing in choir, and then I was on the road, like rapping with these legends.

But how did you in the crossing paths with them if you're in Seattle? Mix a lot knew these dudes, so they would come to they would come to Seattle to do shows, and then Mix would take me to the shows. He'd introduced me to him with my boy the Dog, who was someone like a local kind of a local legend up in Seattle, and the Dog kind of put me in touch with all these dudes. And then I started doing show was with them, and um, that let me know that I at least had the

talent to do what I wanted to do. But at the time I was one of the funniest things that people don't know is I've never drank in my life. I've never even tasted alcohol. I've never had a drug, a cigarette, nothing. So when I was doing shows with these dudes, like the after parties were like every cliche you could think of for these crazy after parties was

super real and I was uncomfortable. So I would go like back to my hotel room or wherever we were staying, and I would be writing pop songs secretly, like I love to sing and I was inquired. So I started writing pop songs at a young age and fell in love with that too, so I kind of I was doing a little bit of everything. Um, when I've decided I wanted to move out of Seattle because I didn't see a musical future there at the time, I got a job selling over the phone for Direct TV. They

had an office in Orange County. And the whole time this is going on, your parents are saying what exactly? They my dad and my bonus mom, Nina, his wife, we're really supportive. My mom was a little apprehensive about me doing rapper music at first, but she eventually came around when I worked with one of her favorite singers. We could talk about that later, but yeah, it was it was cool. They were supportive, you know, they knew that I was going to do it anyway. At a

young age. I told him, Look, school is not my thing. I'm not going to college. I'm not gonna get good grades in high school, but I'm definitely gonna make it as a as a rapper or a songwriter. And they were like, okay, so thank god it works because there was no plan b um, but yeah, they were cool. So I made the move and I was in uh Irvine, UM selling direct TV day job nine to five type stuff for UM yeah for about three months. UM. Early here in my life, I had been in different cities.

The Bay Area was one of them, and I had made some connections that I saved like business cards in my phone type stuff. And one of the connections that I made was to a big producer up in the Bay Area. His name was Nardam Michael Walden. He said, legend in the world of pop music, and UM. I started calling everybody and everybody turned me down. Everybody said no to wanting to meet me now that I was in l A. But he was one of the only people that said yes. So I took a trip up

to the Bay Area. I drove my like old broke Honda cord that had two d fourteen thousand miles on it, but it worked and it got me up to the Bay and I met with him and he had me sing like my three best songs he wanted me to sing, and he hated all didn't like one song, and so I was like really deflated walking out of the studio because I was like, damn, like I really thought these were good songs and I thought this was like a

big break for me. And as I was leaving, this dude came out of the control room and he was like, hey, he doesn't like anything, so I don't sweat it, like I thought your songs were great. And I was like, thank you, man, but like I'm feeling pretty down, and he was like no, Like, I'm a producer, my name's Mike Monty, and I want to give you this beat

c D of my tracks. So I was like okay, bet So Mike gave me this beat t D and I drove back six hours back to my place where I was living in Orange County from the Bay Area, and I wrote to all of them, every track and I just fell in love with his music. And I called him when I got back to Orange County and I was like, bro, your tracks are amazing, Like I don't say I love him, and I wrote like crazy to him. He was like, which one did you write to?

I said all of them. So he was like, okay, Well, he said, the next time you're in the bay, uh, come by and show me the songs. I was like, okay, bet, hung up, got in the car, drove six hours. UM showed up at his house. Because my dad always told me when I was young, this is there was no like this was like a long time ago, keep in mind, so I map quested this. There was no like GPS, like I printed out my directions up map quest. If you don't know what map quest is, I don't know

what to tell you. You're too young, but that's okay. So after Um, after I made that drive, I just showed up at his place because because the addresses on his business card. So when I showed up at his house, he opened the door and he was like, I thought you were back in Orange County and I was like, yeah, but you said the next time I'm in the Bay, I could come and show you my songs, and I'm here,

so what's up. So it was just one of those moments where like I took a chance and I just went for it, and thank god it worked because Mike and I have been writing together for eighteen years since that day, so I went back to the Bay area. Um, and he loved those songs. He loved Yeah, he loved the songs. We had a great chemistry. So I went back to Orange County where I was working still my nine to five job, and Mike was in the Bay. So I was like, I have to figure out a

way to make this work somehow. So by a Fluke, the boss of the Direct TV location, who was super rich and super cool, but he was also like very about his business. He had his assistant come over my desk. She was like, hey, Tom wants to talk to you in his office about you leaving for these back to back days. I'm like okay, So I go. And by the way, I had like a crush on this girl, like I was. I knew I was about to get scolded in front of this girl who like the cool.

So we go to Tom's office. Tom's like, look, man, you left two days. You didn't give me any notice, and you know the policy here. Unfortunately, like that's just not okay, um, but um, I need you to sign this paperwork before you leave. And now I'm pleading for my job. I'm like, I'm like begging in front of Tom in front of his assistant, looking like a fool, and he said, it just is what it is. I've

made my decision. He like slid this envelope over to me, and it was like a Manila full there was paperwork in it. But I opened it up and on the top there was a cashier's check on top of the envelope and it was made out to me UM, and it was in the amount of thirty dollars. And I looked up at him and I'm like, I don't know what this is. And he goes, look, I heard what you made up in the bay, Um. You need to take this money and get as far away from here and go back to there and do as much of

that as you can. And I just instantly started crying, ugly, crying, like you know what I mean like that, And it's in front of this girl. No, it couldn't. It couldn't have been worse. Do you think she knew about it? I don't know. She was shocked too. But he had heard the music because I played it, you know, for people around the office, um at a party, and he believed in it. And he was just like, look, man, life is about paying it forward. I'm like, I will

pay you back this money. And he was like, no, this is a gift. The way you can pay me act is by doing good for other people. And anytime you get the chance, just do good for people. So he gave me this check. I left the building with this check, went to the bank and put this check in my account, which was overdrawn by like eighty two bucks. And I went up to the teller and she was like, uh, this is nice. I'm like, yeah, this is crazy. What's

my balance? And she's like, you're overdrawn eighty two. So I had to wait for this check to clear, and then I called Mike and I'm like, bro, I'm moving, Like I got money, I'm moving. That the biggest amount of money you had seen at that time. Oh yeah, of course, And none of that money was for me. I gave that money to Mike to book him out pretty much for six months. We like, I've moved. I used that money to move, got a place, booked out Mike's work for many months, and we just got to work.

And since that day we've never stopped. It's just been it's just been amazing. So really, that guy Tom Martindale Direct TV. Everybody that man, right, there. I gotta put my hash Browns in here with this. You kind of want when you're cooking a breakfast burrito, you really want the flavors of everything to start working together as soon as possible. So when you feel like you've got your Theresa done, which I do, and you feel like you've got your hash Browns done, you want to like let

them get happy together. Okay. And I saw you dump the onions and I dumped onions. Yeah, you like you really want this thing to be like like beach front property in Flavortown. You know what I'm saying. When you buy into it, you really want that. So I get this going all together because we're pretty much good now. I haven't even got the burner off. Like we're at the point with this stuff where now it's eggs clatillas and we start putting it together, so we're good. This

looks so it's gonna be it's gonna be good. Um, so we're doing eggs nice. So yeah, that's um. That's kind of how I got my break, honestly. And then Mike and I started working like crazy. We signed a publishing deal um with Sony through Big John Platt shout out to Big John for changing my life, and we found our first artist. We signed a girl that was twelve years old. We believed in her. Her name is

Tory Kelly. She's a pretty amazing singer. If you guys don't know who Tory Kelly is, she's one of the best singers in the world and she's gone on to do really well. And that signing Tori and developing Tori was a big break for us UM And then we got lucky. We got in with the Backstreet Boys, we got in with Pussycat Dolls, Brandy And at this point, what when do you personally feel like you arrived? Like when was it? Like, I'm sure that the thirty dollar

check was confirmation that you were on the right path. Yeah, that did make because you know, the whole time, you're like, I think I'm good. What if I'm awful? Like do you ever watch American Idol or The Voice and you see, well, the voices talent, But when you see American Idols some of these people auditioning, you're like, someone know you're not good, man, Like, you have to know you're not good. But with this,

it was like, I think I'm good enough. People have told me that I have talent and I really hope so, but yeah, that was confirmation for sure. So I did feel like then when we started getting in rooms with people that I was like big, Like when I was in the room with Brandy writing songs for Brandy's album and I'm a massive Brandy fan, I'm like, yea, this is like I'm on, yeah, yeah, this is crazy. So

it wasn't the checks. It was like, it's almost like my favorite rappers, jay Z, of course, So like if I ever first of all people who know me, no, I can't even But if I think that, if I ever got an opportunity to interview jay Z, that's it. I'm like, I've arrived. You can't. I'm almost Beyonce level at this point. You know what I'm saying. I'm not mad, I get it. So yeah, it was more than people than the checks. Honestly, anybody in music, I don't care how big you are, if you want to use that

term or successful. Everybody knows that money comes and goes in this business. Sometimes you got it, sometimes you don't. Like if I got songs on the radio that are doing well or songs that are streaming well, business is popping but there's times where you don't and then you're you know, you've got to live a little tighter, and that's just the way it is. So I've never really

defined success in music by money. It was more about like the opportunities, because once you get into the business, you realize how hard it is to get in rooms with people. Anybody could write songs, and today there's so many people writing songs off their laptops sending them in from their bedroom, which is amazing because they didn't have

that when I started out. But it's really hard to get in a room with people, you know what I mean, Like, like you're a fan of jay Z. I was a big fan of Tech nine and I got to fly to Kansas City and work with Tech nine, you know, and that was like that's hard. That those kind of things made it more like believable for me. So was there ever a point where you made money and you kinda blew it and then all the time, are you

kidding me? I've rented this house that was five bedrooms and it was me living in it because I was I was like, this is amazing and I want to feel like a baller. And I built a shoe room, and I got four hundred pairs of sneakers, and I was just an idiot, and I blew money like crazy all the time. And then you hit a point where you're like, I don't know, you realize what's more important, like stability and paying taxes and other things like that that I didn't want to do for a long time.

So yeah, I mean, of course there's plenty of that stuff. So since your career has taken off, this particular meal, this signature dish, I'm guessing you still eat every once in a while for luxury or has there been a point in the last five years where you had to eat it out of survival. Well, survival is so dramatic, you know what I mean. If you're living in in l a you're all right no matter how broke you are. There's people that around this world that are doing a

lot worse. So survival is tough to say. But I will say that is just really hard, because that's what I'm saying. But if you can afford to pay rent in l A, h, you know you're surviving. Yeah, that's true. But I will say this, this is a meal that my wife loves. I like to cook breakfast every weekend if I can for us, and this is just one that like, she absolutely loves it. So I make this meal a lot at the house, so yeah, we do

eat this one. I'm just looking at this meal. I feel like this is going to be drafted into first of all, probably take ownership with my husband and be like I came up with this dish. You know it's going to see an episode of this, like stop that line probably when I serviced when he's like, where'd you get this? Eating well broke but um, but yeah, this

dish looks smells with all the ingredients. I'm like completely shocked that you can have such a real rest around almost all dish for so cheap, and it's not even unhealthy because most of the meals we see that com on this show are just you know they're unhealthy because I get it. Let me give you a tip to for people out there when you're about to do yours. Uh you want to put I like to cook it in the pant overhead shot, overhead camp. Don't clean your pan.

That's that's flavor. That's flavor. Just put that thing right on there and let it get happy. Just look the outside get dirty, or something. You're assuming that the part I just put it on the outside. See what you do is once this is ready, just is once it's warm. Now you take this thing off and the bottom part is the inside, and now I start filling it. So I'll show you this part is a little bit of like a a multi layered process because I like to I like to load it up a certain kind of way.

But but I think it's interesting about George too. Was like, while I was watching and Cook, I'm like, oh, he needs He's clearly going to need like way more pots and pants. But no, you're just like swapping flavors the entire exactly. You let everything get happy together. Look at that. Now we do this. So who so far in your career would you say, uh, probably left the most I guess impact. Mm hmm. That's a good question. Who left the most impact creatively? Or like, like, who did I

like the most? Those are different questions. You can answer both because I'll use both of us. So I think that somebody that left like a really big impact on me personally that I went in with was Mariah. So this was one of those moments where it's like, this is a legend okay. But the reason why it left such an impact was she was not like how you might think in your head of how you know someone

so big would be in the studio. She was very like when she would listen down to her vocals that we were going through, she would say, oh, like, oh no, don't play that one, like that's not it. And I'm like, you're like anything you sing is amazing, Like this take that you don't think is good is so good. And I think that like it showed me a level of like, even when you get to the top, you still have to be so vigilant and you still have to be so selective about what you put out there and what

people here. And I kind of thought that was amazing because you could at that level, you could just ride the easy train from there on out if you want to. But she also shows her level of passion and commitment right completely. That's what I'm saying, Like, it was very cool. That was Yeah, that was just cool for a different reason because it was it just kind of showed me like, Okay, whatever level you're at in this business, keep going. Yeah, So that was big to me. Not at all. She

was great. Really, I thought she was awesome. I mean, I know, I know people say things about her, but you know, I mean she was she was super cool. She showed up at the studio. This was her and Nick Cannon walked in. Wait, you didn't put the cheese on that one girl. I understand. Oh, I just been't watching to get my my little because I was gonna say who was wearing the apron, but we're both wearing apron, so I can't. I can't. So here's the thing. She

showed up at the studio looking like Catwoman. She had it. She all leather jacket, black leather, black leather pants, black leather patent shoes. I was like, okay, this woman is a deep but like she's a star. But she was so cool. She was cool as the other side of the pillow the whole time. So I don't know, you know, um, So that was big. Somebody that like made a big impact on my life in another way, and and they know this now because I've told them, is Michael Bolton.

I don't know if you know who that is, but he was a really big singer in the eighties, huge, like well, he was the biggest pop vocalist in the eighties. This guy has unbelievable voice, you know ten number one songs. He's been a writer on you know, Double that. So anyway, I grew up in the house hearing Michael Bolton all the time because this is what my mom loved, Michael Bolton. So I eventually got a call from someone saying, Michael Bolton wants to get in with you guys and work

on his new album. And I was like, oh, that's cool, because like that was kind of nostalgic. But what really happened was that when Bolton was in with us, I was like, man, my mom like she hasn't always got like how I'm going to make it in music, but she does believe in me big time. But it would be amazing if I called my mom and put you on the phone with her. She's the biggest Michael Bolton. He was like, let's go. So like I called my mom.

I'm like, hey, I got Michael Bolton here. She's like uh huh, So like not for real, Like I'm in with Michael boll This is crazy. So he gets on the phone and he's like singing my praises and saying, how you know, great of a writer I am, And all this stuff, and I'm like, yeah, Milk keep saying, tell her I'm even better. So he's milking it. And honestly,

from that day, like my mom got it. She was like, Okay, I might not have got all the rap stuff he was doing, but like this is crazy, like my son's writing with Michael freaking Bolton, and like, I'm a huge fan. So since that day, she's been such a big supporter, like hangs my plaques in her house like she's like, you know what I'm saying. And also Michael Bolton gives my mom tickets to every show he does in California. She goes backstage like v I P to Michael Bolton.

I'm like, you better cut that out. So, yeah, it's that's pretty cool. So I don't know, There's there's ways that you get touched in this business that I think you can't even anticipate. Sometimes, Yeah, what advice would you give to someone that's coming up in the game. You got a baby in there. Don't act like you're excited about this. Trust me, I'm beyond excited. Okay, Um, what was your question? Um? Sorry you distracted me. I know I was food, I was chef is a little bit cocky. Unfortunately,

we're probably gonna wrap soon. So but I wanted to know, like, what advice would you give to someone that is trying to make it because you have kind of all these blessing milestones, But what advice would you give? Um? I think the best advice I can give, honestly, in the simplest form, is just every time you have a chance to get in the room, just kick as much ass as you can every time. Mhmm. Don't ever think that

you're better than anyone in that room. Just try like you're auditioning for the team every single time you get a chance, no matter what stage you're at. Because some of the best that I've the legends that I've got a chance to work with, their legends because they do that every time when they're on the mic or they're in the room, they are working as hard as they can three time. So even after you've made it, don't slack on. What if something's a smaller budget, do you

say give it your all? Or every time you get the chance, because you never know what's a small you never know what is going to go on to make it. I stopped trying to predict what's a hit a long time ago. People are like, oh, I just wrote a smash. I just wrote a smash. I'm like, bro, you don't. First of all, nobody can predict what a hit is going to be until it happens, so you don't know. Um, can I just tell you this right here? I'm not trying to shout out while jack, but this Jack del

Fuego sauce. This changed my life. If you can get a close up of this right here. If you don't know what this is, you might as well just go figure that one out. We're technically not supposed to do that, but it's okay. Say what you want to say. So is there a flavor of that sauce? This one right here? How a narrow carrot? Look? Okay, have a narrow carrot. I'm glad you actually did that because I'm gonna try and make this disht I'm trying to tell you this,

how a narrow carrot? Girl? How you pray twice in the day. So that's the advice I would give. Yeah, And I noticed with your everything that happened in your career, I feel like you moved urgently, like you didn't waste time, you didn't care about you know, is this person I'm too eager. That's a great point, you know, honestly, the reason behind that is because you learn early on that you can't predict what success is going to be in

this business. You don't know what song is gonna work, you don't know what projects going to sell, So you can't you can't like bask in your own glory for too long. You have to just do your best work weight before you fall. That dude overhead. Can you got to see that that is crazy right there? This looks beautiful just like this. So I think, like you just you never know what's gonna work. So you don't spend

a lot of time thinking you're the ship. Because that project that you think might be so successful might not be. And even if it was super successful, the next one that you get on might flop. So just appreciate your success and be happy about it, but then keep it moving. Okay, Now what about and I and I hate to I still go through this to this day, Like you know, you're working on a project, even like with eating while broke, do you think that there's a level of like negative

energy that could affect the outcome? Because I feel like no matter how far or how many little milestones not as big as yours um that I've accomplished. I still get back in my mind think, oh it could fail, or maybe I'm just in my head thinking it's not big enough. But do you think that energy affects you know, like the laws of attraction. Do you think that affects it. I think that negative energy is it's like complaining about the size of the moon. It's not gonna do any good.

You can't change it. So I don't spend a lot of time being negative. Even when I'm working on projects, I might not be excited about I'm working on the same because you just don't. I don't know, Like I don't put it out there honestly, but I'm saying, like that internal self doubt that you battle it. I always have internal self doubt every single day. Every day I have it. Is the song good enough is, you know,

is what I'm am I working hard enough is? You know, Like I'm always thinking like that, But that is just what pushes you to keep being great. You know. So that's a normal you'd say that's like normal. I think it's completely normal. I think it's part of what makes people successful is that drive to never think like you've made it or that everything you do is so good. Have you ever worked with someone where you know their album did extremely well, but the whole time they the

artist whatever, was questioning it. Oh my god. Almost every artist does that, really. Yeah, I mean I think the great ones always do. They'll know when they've made something that feels really good to them, but they're always questioning if the pupp is gonna love it. Yeah, you know, it doesn't matter. Like I've worked a lot with the Backstreet Boys, I've had a lot of success with them. Every time their album drops, they are the most excited people to go look and see how it does. They're reading,

they're looking through it. Like these guys don't need to do anything for the rest of their lives. If they don't want to, that's amazing. But they love it, they live for it. Yes, So I think that's important to know to keep in mind. Oh well, this interview has gone really well, except for the fact that we haven't actually tasted it yet. What's happening right now? You can't rush hosting a burrito. I don't know. Somebody lied to you if they tell you the overhead the whole shoot

should be just on you. You should have a cooking show. Let's go um oh, the third one if you want, you could do that after. Yeah, that's fine, let's do that one after. Yes, we'll keep that for a time. Everybody, I just hold up. We gotta cut this thing because if you got to show the inside. Okay, you feel me? Get this little knife cooking show. You've got this tiny little knife. Can we get a knife endorsement? Let's get a knife endorsement of it here, that's all right. Oh

my gosh, it has a crispy shell. That's why you were trying to rush me. But no, I don't but I don't cave. Look at that. Let's get it over. Oh my god, let's get that thing right there. That looks amazing. My hands burning. So then you just played it a little bit like this. Okay, so you just do that, and now what you really want to do to have a little fun with it every time? A Yeah, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna blooded like that. I'm

not gonna do you call blooded like that. You get tell he's a real chef because he's he's turned the island upside down completely. Okay, Now what you want to do. Give people a little chance to fall in love with that taste with the sauce, because they might not choose to do it themselves. You've gotta urge them. So here you go. Awesome. Thank you, and that's that awesome, and thank you so much for coming out. But before we even close out, I gotta take a bite. You gotta

take a bite. Okay, we gotta judge this meal. We gotta see if it's actually going to go into my personal arsenal of meals I make it. I can't have my man over here, the camera guy try it. I can't make all this stuff and then have these people. They'll try it, they'll try it. Okay, all right, let's go just we just gotta let's do it first. It's a little hot. Oh my mm hmm. I mean best meal. I'm just saying best meal. You taught. I'll make sure you guys all through best meal. Thank you for having

me on this show called Thank you so much. I love this. By the way, this is so cool. People are gonna dig this. Thank you and people people. I hope everyone can really draw a lot. I know I've always been impressed with your story and the fact that you're so humble, and the best part is the fact that you can cook. So I'm always looking for an invite oversee your house. Who ever, all right, we'll make

it happen again. But best best dish, hands down, best dish on Eating While Broke, Yeah, so far, thank you so yeah. I hope someone could top it so then I can try it and then everybody can get your recipe in the Eating While Broke cook click and make it at home. But by far, the best, most amazing dish ever. Fee, thank you for coming out awesome, Thanks for having for more Eating Will Broke from I Heart

Radio and The Black Effect. Visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.