REWIND: LaRUSSELL - What Is This Egg Sandwich Worth To You?

Welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke. I'm your host Coleen Wits, and today we have in the building music artists, philosopher entrepreneur Larussell, and I am truly excited. Nothing made my day more than like what two days ago when your crew I think his crew confirmed like two or three days ago, and it literally they were like, holy why are you so silent? You're supposed to be happy.

Were broke man. Today I'm going to be making an egg sandwich. This was a classic. My mama taught me how to make eggs when I was like five, and I used to wake up every morning and make eggs, and that was the only thing I knew how to make. So we taking it back to the basics. We got some eggs, we got some salt and pepper. Today we're gonna be doing it on garlic bread. Yeah, because I usually use regular bread, we just throw it in a toaster.

Yeah, we had a whole discussion about the whole garlic bread, you and I because I've actually never even thought of garlic bread. Actually, the first time I ever had garlic bread for real, for real was the Texas toast in the box. And now if you go into a store, it is sold out, like you can't get it.

It's a miracle if you find.

One, maybe on eBay, but I don't know the pandemic. Just like said, take away the best bread on earth. But I'm excited to eat with you, so let's get it cracking. Oh my gosh, an egg fun.

Let's get it cracked all right?

Oh. I listened to rap music so much that my girlfriend and I shout out to a lap behind the mirror over there. I listened to rap soap music so much that I actually speak in metaphors, and sometimes people have to stop me and say, coly, we get it. You know, you don't have to, you don't have to rebreak it down in puzzle terms.

You know, I'm a metaphor speakers. Can I move this so I can crack some eggs?

Here? Slide over to my side the greatest?

Are you eating one too? So I should make all.

Oh, you have to cook for both of us, because if it's trash, we can both discover that garlic bread egg sandwiches is.

Just not I'm finna drop some butter up in here because my mama would be like, use some pam so you don't leave eggs stained all over there.

Now, are you one of those people that are really gonna use metal on a.

Yes, yeah, yeah, I do. We're not supposed to do that.

Even every listener is hearing that scratching is like, what is he doing?

That's crazy?

What is he doing? His mama couldn't have ever let him do that.

Man, she did.

You wouldn't believe how much stuff my mom let me do. Let I don't mean we had taflon back then. Maybe I don't remember.

You're right, it was like a luxury. I'm sure. Yeah, yeah, back then I think it was.

You're right.

You just had to butter everything down otherwise it's stuck.

Or you get that good old pam spray and you in it. Oh, I'm getting it all over there.

Yeah, I'm not a I'm not a you know, So tell me a little bit about what was going on. I know this is like the first dish that you ever cooked, But tell me what was going on during the time.

Of Also, I usually add bacon, beet bacon bits, and chaddar cheese.

But I heard y'all broke, so it wasn't a here. So we're gonna go pepper. I don't see salt over here. There's lorryes, y'all struggling.

Hey, Yo, so much fun of us over here. Yeah, you're not even gonna use Lorries because you don't.

Now, I'm not gonna use Larry I've never done that. I'm trying to keep it authentic.

Wow. Okay, okay, I respect it to be honest. I don't use Lowry's. Well, I just started to recently, but it's only because I married a black man from Detroit who believes.

Lowry's is everything seasoning. Yeah, yes, yes, beautiful.

So what was going on growing up? Like around when you were making egg sandwiches? I know you started at five, you know, making these, but like kind of tell me a little bit of your background growing up, Like were you middle class?

I thought I was middle class until I got older and realized we're definitely lower middle class. But my pops was a hustler, so we were like we had enough money to be like the richest niggas in a broke neighborhood type shit you feel me, but definitely, uh, lower class, just regular neighborhood. Hard to describe when people ask that question because you got to kind of grow up in it to be familiar.

Did you grow up in a two parent household?

Yeah?

Definitely.

Wow Okay, okay, a lot of people on the show, they haven't.

I'm going in.

That's good. So when did you transition to music.

I've been writing since I was like seven, whether through like writing poems or just journaling, drawing, just I've just always used kind of writing an art as like an artistic expression and form. So yeah, since I was seven, and it's kind of just cultivated. Me and my sister had this boombox and we used to download instrumentals from LimeWire and burn them on the CD, the instrumentals on

Your sister was rapping too.

Yeah, my sister was rapping too.

So does she still rap?

No, she doesn't.

So you surpassed her in the rap skills. And then she was like, I'm good. Is that what happened? I don't.

I don't think she ever had a passion for it. It was just something we like to play around and do, and I just kind of stuck with it.

Okay, okay, okay, that's pretty cool. So you is it that you like Drake because it like from what I've researched on you, is that you from other articles and you could correct me if I'm wrong, But your goal was to be on the level I want to say, and on the I don't know, like numbers level, because obviously talent wise, you're on the same level as Drake, but I'm saying numbers wise, you want to be on the same level. But independently, Yeah, is that correct?

Not necessarily numbers wise, but impacting notoriety wise. You know, I want people to respect me as such, and partially the way to do that is to put up the numbers.

Right.

If you're not scoring as well as Jordan, people don't expect you respect you like a Jordan, right, And yeah, to do that independently and just show people that it's possible to be the greatest at something without having to utilize someone else's infrastructure that they tell you you got to go through and you got to use these methods and you got to sell away your ownership, you know, like everyone knows early on Drake didn't have his masters

Right when you say, just want to rewind, you said it was important for you to have impact and notoriety, Like why what does that even mean to me?

It just it enables you to to It enables you to make change, Like right now, feed the whole hood where I'm from. You know, from now to the end of the year, I've been feeding the hood out of my own pocket. And I've only been able to do that because of my impact and my notoriety. I've become so great that I make enough money to where I could take care of the place that birth me right, and a lot of people don't get to do that because they don't have either the talent level or the

It's already it's already done, already toasted it.

And oh that's crazy.

Yeah, I try to cheat it because I wanted to get all up in your kool aid. Wow, so I put the temple because you can't find.

That anywhere intriguing.

Let's try it. Let's be a team here. Dang, why do we have to break from your story though, right? Is this not the hardest interview process?

This is great, this is great. I'm a multitasker.

I'm gonna try this too. All right, So we get the bread everyone, we're getting the garlic bread situation together and we're putting eggs in it.

Yeah, this is new. I've never had this. Shout out all.

Star for you have to turn off the store.

Yep, let me get right on there.

Berthie was talking is mess about us being broke?

Now, well, I was going to put garlic bread on there, but you know, you guys did it, so okay, I completely forgot you were.

Going to actually make it. You don't even know how to make garlic bread, do you.

I mean I use Texas toes, so I was just going to throw it up on that joint and then it does what it does and you're.

Good after.

I's trying. Okay, let's go back to notoriety and impact and you feeding your community. Yes, okay, stealing all your eggs, buddy, All right, here we go. Do you want to sample it first before we get into the nuts and bolts.

Sure, all right, let's try and see here we good?

It did. It's a lot of bread.

I think Texas garlic.

It Texas.

At least we now know we actually I now know how to do it in the future. But there's way too much bread.

On this one, way too much bread. It's like a bread with a side of eggs. It's actually garlic, a garlic bread sandwich.

Would you ever serve the almost mm hmmm. That could be an idea, but with dinner bread, right, yeah, look at me? Do I Can we call it the eating while Brooks? No, that would probably be horrible. Hunts to name it the eating wall broke sandwich while you're at a pay pay as you go? Is it pay as you go or pay what you.

Want, pay what you want? Proud to pay?

Well, come sit sit with me so I can get all up in your I know he jumped off camera on that one. Right, fine, it's fine, real life, real life. So let's go into Momos cafe for a second. What inspired all of that? Mm hmmm, or at least a partner.

Just seeing the need.

There's a lot of homeless in Valoe and just people who don't get to eat. And I'm always outside so I always see it. I'm always giving someone money or taking care of someone, whether my mom would drop off boxes of merch to the homeless community out there, to different encampments, and I'm just always trying to help, right, And this is the way that we can help now that I'm in a grander position.

I've done a.

Few of these prior this year, but just for a day. And when you do it today, it's like, everybody don't get a chance to eat. So this time it was like, let's make sure everybody gets a chance to eat.

Yeah, So I think what you're doing is great. I'm gonna circle back to your music again. So you're a talented artist. Again, for anyone that hasn't heard your music, I definitely would say you're in the same lay as jay Z and Drake, which, by the way, I'm a hardcore jay Z fan. Everyone that listens to this show knows this. I have a huge five foot painting that's literally the only one in the world that was custom made of jay Z like hanging out in projects. I'm from Brooklyn.

There it goes.

But I will say this in all truest form. Currently, over the last couple of years, I listen to Drake more and I feel guilty.

I feel like I'm cheating.

Like for real, Like I don't let nobody know that, Like nobody knows that. This is the first time I've said it out loud, but in my heart, I'm like, yo, just.

Listen to jay Z today. Don't and you don't have to always pick Drake, but.

I listened to your lyrics. I'm just wondering, like, what did? Have you ever been signed?

Not in the capacity that artists get signed, like I've never been signed to a major deal.

All of my deals have been partnerships, like distribution deals.

No, I've done like record deals, but in partnership for them, like fifty to fifty profit shares, like I don't belong to anyone. I'm my own entity and we just split profit versus when a record label usually signs to you, you're in like a royalty deal and they own your shit. And if they don't own your shit, they license it for twenty years and they have power and rule over when you release and how you release any of that. So I've never been in a major deal. All of my deals have been partnerships.

Currently, are you in a partnership deal or are you independent?

I've been independent the entire time, So all of these partnerships are completely like me and my team do everything.

You see, you're controlling all the marketing everything. So and they're controlling because nowadays it's a little confusing a record label is really bringing to the table at this point. It depends now I mean with I mean if oh my gosh, why am I spacing when it comes to who is Draked in Lil Wayne? And what's their name

Cash money, cash money.

So if cash Money calls you up right now, I'm just playing it. It was advocate with.

No to see there's a cash Money had the best deal in terms of their deal with Republic, not in terms of the deals that they gave artists.

Really, you don't think they gave artists really.

Good deals, No, because they Drake didn't have his masters. He just got him.

He was in the royalty deal. Lil Wayne had to take him to court to get his money. How could they be in a great deal? O tig has been complaining for years, How could they be in a great deal that doesn't make any sense?

Yeah I didn't know that.

Yeah, but yeah cash Money had a substantial deal, you know. Wen dy Day was a part of helping put that together with Republic. They really broke the bank.

When did you So you're a music artist. What is intriguing about you is, for instance, today we gave you a release, Clarence, and you sat there quietly.

And read it.

You're a businessman all the way through. So were do you think you're an entrepreneur before you were an artist?

Definitely? Definitely.

Before I was releasing art, I was selling beats, I was making album covers for people and selling I've been I used to sell swishers one of your parents basketball team. Yeah, my pops was a hustler. He sold everything under the sun except drugs, like everything.

It was going to be my next question because when I hear hustler, I'm like, what was he saying? There?

No, man, everything exactly.

So you got your entrepreneur spirit from him, and then your talent gross kind of came from you and your sister like in this.

Boombox kind of my pops as well.

He's very creatively inclined, right, and he's a problem solver, right. And I feel like a part of my talent and just my skill, my business acumen is because I'm a problem solver. My favorite thing to say is I'll figure it out, and I will.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, spoken like a true entrepreneur. You know how to pivot, right, Yeah, that's whenever I see a problem, I'm always like, it's not a problem, it's a challenge, right, what to do?

I was I was walking to get my daughter the other day and I was talking with my brother and I was like, man, are you looking for problems or are you looking for You usually find whatever you're looking for.

I like that, you know what you say, how I think. I think that's why I like you so much. I genuinely, I genuinely fuck with you hard do I say fuck on the show ever? Really, I genuinely mess with you. I was just like, yo, is he as dope? So what I've learned being a Christian and just living in the world is like, there's so many dope people that are doing great things externally. But now that I'm old, older, I've grown enough. Wasn't the to ask myself, well, if

I think, if you are a fly on the wall in my house, you'd see a human and supreme form right in every aspect, on their roller coaster and on their journey. I think there's everyone around me could speak to my heart and my greatness and my moral and my character. But I also have issues as a human as well that I have to develop from and that

Right when I hear your lyrics, you're I feel like you're vulnerable, You're you're honest with yourself, and I think for a lot of men, I don't want to say a lot of men, for humans, I think we we tend to either tell ourselves the truth or we tell ourselves a lie, and it's the battle of you know, but the only way to grow is to tell yourself the truth. So there's a lot of vulnerability in your lyrics, and I love it like I love it well the same reason why I love a lot of y'all. You know,

Life?

That's always been the process, you know, Like I've watched my dad hustle, and everyone who bought product from him pulled up on him or he pulled up on them. If you want something from Larussell, you have to go communicate with Larussell. When you start adding third parties, you could either miss opportunity or something get misplaced. Like I used to do booking for a theater and I was trying to book certain artists and I'd have to go through their agents and It'll be like a caaw whatever.

Sometimes they shut you down, get.

To it, and then when I meet them later, I'm like, bro, I was trying to get you for it would have been dope because I was building this thing. And they're like, man, I didn't even know right, And that's because and they ain't hollering at you. And then as the more middleman you have, the more pie that's getting dipped into. And I'm a firm believer in if I'm splitting pie, it needs to be with people who help me bake them pie, not someone who's just there. Because the end of this

Now, you do have a team, because to get to you, I tried emailing, Okay, I was like, this is the email, this is how I gets hel But you do have a team. Do you have a role amongst your team that they don't get to say no, that you have to at least they have to at least present the opportunity to you. Because that's a valid point that happens in the industry.

Just about everything comes to me. And I may have seen this. I was telling Austin. No, I'm for sure. I was telling Austin when it first came I had seen the show similar and I was like, I don't know because I seen the time the eating while broke thing, and I feel like a lot of people play on like poor people and shit, and I didn't I didn't like it. So I was just like, ah, I'm not gonna deal with that right now, let me see as

So with the eating when I broke, that was one of the reasons.

I was like, ah, the title.

I don't like when people play on the on poverty.

And like, it's just like when I created Eating While Broke, I I was like, I just I have so many dope successful friends that are like millionaires, influence celebrities, entrepreneurs, and they always have these crazy stories like they were in jail, or they were male escorts or just crazy ass stories, and I love them. I lived for them. We go on to hiking, like tell me more, what else did you do? You're a hugger? Okay, let's here,

That's why, like certain things would get to me through email, but since it doesn't have full context, it's like I can't tend to it right because it doesn't resonate. But that's why I'm always somebody. I'm so open. If you see me anywhere, you can come to me and address me. And once I meet you and feel your energy, it's like, oh, okay, that makes sense, right, But emails have no context, like that's just you got to take it for whatever you want to.

I I'm uh. Pippole told me this once. He said, if they locked the door, you're climbing through the window. I was like, oh, he didn't respond. He Nicole better used.

That heart email.

Dropping Charlottemgne you know it's running this show, and uh, you know, get his attention. Love And not only did I do that, but I liked you so much. I literally was like, ear your Leisure should have him, Charlemagne should have him, all these people should have him, and she was like, I think they already did. Like I was like the last ones at the table, like these

And like.

Also, like, why did you name your company the good Copenny?

Right?

Well, I mean good company just because there's a quote that's say your mama say you just by the company you keep, right, So I feel like good company is encompassing them. Just I like to have good people around me, and we build great energy when we go into places. We're a good company to have, right, Just that name is welcoming. And then I use pennies because I feel like pennies are undervalued and overlooked. Right, If you see a penny on the ground, you usually don't stop and

I sometimes think pennies exist to go in my daughter's mouth. That's a terrible joke. I'm a new mom. I'm a brand new mom. I spend most of my days trying to convince my daughter not to try a new way to commit suicide. Right right now, you see why our parents are like tired by eight o'clock because they spent the entire day like what do you have to do next? But what can people expect from you in the future? Music wise?

A ton of it, A whole lot of it. You know.

I'm someone I live by this theory of like leaving empty. I don't want to leave with nothing on my plate and all the music I have I intend to release and get out. I want to sit on things for years. I'm currently building crazy infrastructure at home. I keep saying I'm building Disneyland because we're building something like that completely laterally. But really, I don't know. I don't have any expectation of myself. So I think people shouldn't. They should just

Of my house.

My mom is dropping them, dropping them off, like I'm showing the entire process, and we're sharing the gyms along. So I think people should just stay tuned and this. We got enough sequels to beat the Fast and Furious series, you know, like coming.

Like that when you do your pop YouTube pop up shows.

Right, we're doing one tonight.

I just I just got off a plane and I was like, man, I want to do a show. So we announced it and now the show tickets have been selling tonight.

It's going to be at going to be.

This is This one's gonna be special because it's an unplugged version and it's like live Q and A.

Like people, I'm not gonna lie, like I would love to go. Please is hearing this?

What's dope about our shows is like this one is a bit different. But generally with our shows, like I use the second half of my set to just let the fans choose the songs they want to hear and I rap whatever they say they want to hear, right, So it's like a really interactive show. We did one in New York and Brooklyn. When we went out there, it sold out in six hours, five hundred tickets.

So now I'm just kind of of been in.

This wave where it's like I just be like, I feel like doing it, and we do it and it usually goes well.

And then who kind of does the logistics?

So myself for Nadi, he's a member of my team. He helps with booking, Tiata helps with logistics. Millie is on my team so anytime we go to a tour route and she kind of plans and.

Give a Guyan girl team, you've bounce.

Yeah, yeah, okay.

I like that because sometimes you work with people and they like Slayholder, Like Charlemagne's company is pretty much ran by women, Black women, which is amazing by the way he treats man.

I wouldn't be where I am without women. I have a team of like the most incredible creative intuit in women when it comes to just business and everything.

Now, one of the things I did see, and I could be wrong, maybe lack of research, but I feel like on one of the things you have posted was like, if people buy your records, they have like some kind of ownership in it.

Yeah, so not necessarily if you buy it some people.

So on.

Usually on projects, I'll sell my album before it comes to streaming, and anyone who buys that project is up for selection to receive a royalty. So I usually go through the list of buyers and I'll pick like fifty to one hundred people, sometimes one hundred and fifty if I'm feeling good, sometimes two hundred, and I'll give them a percentage of royalty in different songs from that album. You can also buy royalties, like you could make an offer to purchase a share.

So if you have a favorite.

Song you like I love this song, I know it's gonna be big, or just I love this song, I just want to have a stake in it, you can make an offer to me and say I want five percent of the revenue from this song.

I'm willing to.

Give you a thousand dollars five hundred dollars, and I'll hit you and negotiate and say I'm willing to take this or I'm not, and then I send you a percentage to the distro you collect every month into perpetuity for the rest of your life.

Yeah, I've never heard of someone do that, bro, never I've never heard a song.

I was like, did he do what I.

Think he did?

Yeah?

How do you? How do you? How did you come up with that? Though?

Like how it was just a late night thought of Like I've always been split in revenue with my team. Everyone who helped, producers, engineers, they all get a percent. So one day it was just like, we should give the fans some They listened to this shit every day. Imagine if your favorite jay Z song, imagine you listen to it every day, but you don't want to percent it. My fans, like bagas Claim blew up. Some of my fans had equity in that song when it first dropped, a year before it even took off.

So they for the rest.

Of their life, they're going to be getting money off bagas Claim because they just made the right call.

They enjoyed this song so and then but.

They reached out to you, or how did you even announce that?

I made this big announcement and Tieta on my team. She created this form for people to go fill out and you put all your information, you put your offer amount how much you want. It comes to a database. I look at all the offers. I'll email you and say, I send your offer, I liked it, I accept you email me.

I go through every offered.

Personal badass even through email, Like when we do bookings and shit like, people are always surprised that they're talking to me.

It's like, it's my business. Of course you're talking to me.

It makes sense, right. Most of my companies, for some reason cannot get them past a certain threshold. I don't know if it's like my whatever, but so most of my companies are smaller. So I'll email, but I email under an alias. It'll be like Samantha and it'll be like Samantha.

John was so crazy.

When I used to send out emails to get booked, to go to venues and try to book them. I used to act like I was my own manager, and then eventually it's like, bro, it's me, I am the Russell. I'm going to the venue. This is what I want to do right. And I've gotten so much more rapport and response because it's like, of course people want to talk to you, like I'm doing it right.

You didn't feel at some point it hinders, how much more you can yet, because like I'll give it pretty v uh. I emailed her and I'm like, okay, you know, she responded and then like it was her, and then she got on the phone with me. She like just called me, and then I hear the Jamaican accent. I'm like, wait a minute, I said, and we ended up vibing

Up, what's up?

Let's do it. She was like, what do you want me to cook? I got beans and that I was like, what are you doing? You're dope. I was just like you know, you know, and it was past, no team, no nothing, And you know, I didn't even know it was her until she called me, and I was like, oh, it's you. You know, that's like if jay Z calls me after an email and be like.

Right, people usually get that same shock, but it just builds a different relationship right big. You respect what someone is building a lot more when you know they're working it right. It's hard to fuck someone over when it's like, oh it's you, Yeah.

Yeah, they're right. There's a different rapport you have to.

Do.

You have an internal rule about letting new people into your camp because it seems like you have a very large camp.

It is kind kind of yeah, even my immediate group is pretty large. There's not really a rule, just an energy, right, if I know who I like and who I don't like, and who fits and who doesn't. Sometimes we'll try people out and it's like ah, that didn't really work, and we kind of maneuver forward. But it's not really any rule, just your energy, how you feel, how everyone feels about you, how you feel about everyone, and we could usually get

Get up.

Have you experienced failure or let me just rephrase that, have you experienced perceived failure?

I hate the word, of course, yeah, of course me.

About like perceived failure and like what the experience was.

Man, I've had shows where there was five people in the crowd and I had to pay for a venue. I rented a sprinter van to get my team there. We brought the equipment, We brought a ton of merch that we didn't sell because there wasn't no one to sell it to.

And that was a tough ride home. You know, I was silent.

I'm usually the allowing and talking and talking, but I was silent, right, And I've had several of those moments of perceived failure even beyond that, just sometimes releasing merch and putting all your money into it and it doesn't go the people don't react. Early on, I had a lot of albums. I dropped twenty two albums. I've had a lot of albums early on where I was like, this is gonna be Yeah, we've been, we've been, We didn't blow nothing. Howels is a lot Yeah, way more coming.

Twenty two owls, not even twenty two singles.

No, And that's just my catalog.

I've written other EP single albums for a bunch of other people. So, but just in my own album, it's twenty two.

When you experience perceived failure, can you walk me through your thoughts?

Usually is negative first, right, It's all like I look for all the problems, what I didn't do, how I didn't do it while I could have done it better. And then eventually it just becomes like analytical solution based, like I always want to I always want to prove me wrong or anybody wrong. I'm like, well, I'm I'm finna next time. I'm gonna do it triple besides, and

I'm surprised that you didn't just say, well, maybe this is a question. But in that negative space, have you questioned your worth? Like whether you know, like, oh, well five people. I get the logistics because I as an entrepreneur, I get like what did we do? What could we have done differently? But in that negative space can you say, and you are prolific for sure, But have you questioned your own.

Not in music?

Like anytime I failed in music, it wasn't a question of my own worth. It was just like they don't see it, right, I knew, I knew I was it. I'm just like they don't see it. I haven't done enough work for them to see it. They don't see it. So I've never questioned my worth in that aspect. If I'm questioning my worth, it's usually through some life shit, like me doing something against my own morals or against my own code, or just I let somebody down that's

Things like that, but not music. And I put my.

Hours career wise.

No, yeah, no, not career wise at all. I know what I'm worth in my career. I know what I deliver, I know what I bring forth, and even even through life, like I'm getting to a point where I know my impact and how significant I am to you know, the life around me and the world.

I'm feeding a community community.

So there's a book I just recently checked out. I don't know if you ever heard of it. It's I'm called male versus Man, dere Whitfield shout outs to him. I picked up the book. I thought it was for men, but so I got it for my my friend, and but I ended up reading it because I like to read.

I got to get to a book.

I'm literally in a book head. I am obsessed with books. But I read the book and one of the things he pointed out in the book, which I will gift you the book now that I have, I think I have your address on it.

I'll get to information.

Yes, But anyways, one of the things he talked about was like the male versus man. You know, the male is self seeking and the man is of service, which is different problem. I never thought of that, Like, so when a guy takes me on a date, I'm like, are you trying to give me? Are you trying to

I don't think anyone's responsible, but I think everyone is accountable. I hear the same music coming from females as well.

I agree.

I went into an ail salon I saw nothing but strippers right all the.

I don't think there's a responsibility, but there's an accountability. And I think that's one of those things that it's hard to ever be what you never see, right. A lot of these men that make it in hip hop and music, they haven't had great examples of leadership or of men that have that in them to not fall to desire, or that are disciplined or impeccable in their soul or fulfilled to where they don't need to seek

Build a house with us.

I feel like jay Z kind of touched on that in I want to say four for four or one of the altists like where he was the first one to be.

Where we've seen that, Oh wow, you've upgraded your toolbox, right, But a lot of artists don't have that. We're coming out of environments that don't nurture that type of behavior or system. Like when I was coming up, the older men around me was like players too, Like, bro, what you feel me? So you grow up embracing that and wanting to.

Be like that. That's what you replicate.

That's what you know, you don't see anyone I've I don't think I've ever seen a man that was just so in love and revered their family so much and treated they women so well, like they meant the world to me. For me to be like man, that's what I want, right, Very seldom do you witness that and experience that. But yet you expect someone to conduct themselves in that manner. That's what's not gonna happen.

That's interesting. So when it comes to accountability in your personal life, who holds you accountable? Is it? I don't want to answer the question.

Everyone around me in a sense holds me accountable in some way, but ultimately me like I have to be. I have to be the one that wants to get up every day and put in work and be better and want to drop my daughter off and pick her up and do work and things like that. But everyone around me, from myself, my mom, my dad, my daughter, her mother, tiera Millie testing everyone are Fannie. Just all

Oh? I like that? I like that, Okay, is there anything that your fans are me don't know about you?

I mean everything. I mean I guess you only know the music.

Well because you kind of signed a camera on your entrepreneurship. You also do all these little I don't want to say little, but these gems on social media. So when I say is there anything we don't know about you? I feel like you're it's like you learn a lesson. You're like, let's put it out there, learn that put social battle that I be, like, I don't know if I want to get personal, man, real.

No such thing. I've had the really reals and I shared there's no such thing. Because there's a billion people in the world and someone's been through exactly what you've been through, and they may need your help, right, but you're refusing to hell, you have all the tools and all the means to help them, but you're refusing to do it because of your own fear, right, And like, I don't want to deny nobody of that tool.

Like I want people to be able to grow.

If that's going to be through me just sharing what I felt or experienced, that's an easy call, right.

Do you do? And the the world is always a sensitive around this top, but I'm gonna go ahead and throw it out there. But like, do you believe in therapy? Do you do therapy?

So I recently started therapy, probably a few months back, and I had a few sessions and it's cool. I'm not consistent with it because I don't feel like I'm gaining much from it. But I also had like an expectation of what I was supposed to get from it, like I'm supposed to be here, like I have a new sessions. It's like, man, I'm an old new man, right, And that's not how it happens. And for me, I just realized that it was worth that I need to do right. I don't need anyone's help to be a

As a man, right. I don't need anyone's assistant to do that. But I chose.

I've chosen not to, right, I've chosen not to allocate my energy towards that which is the only reason I haven't grown in any way that I wish to.

It's funny you say that because I recently full vulnerability here. I recently did try therapy and I kind of felt like, oh man, this is gonna sound really shitty for all those people that give it to them. But I felt like, yeah, I wasn't getting the response in that I needed, in the record speed that I needed, And it was like I knew the answers, but I just wasn't choosing to

Definitely, Definitely, that's where I get to get all of that from.

And someone gets you, man, and like, because I feel like Drake, every time.

Writing and talking really helps.

And that's the thing about the past, like you're saying, and that shows you how much you're how deep your trauma is because you think like speaking about it is reliving it. You can't relive the past, right, It's already been lived, it's gone. It only exists in your memory. You can't relive it. But we when trauma hits in a certain way, it makes you feel like you're going

Yeah, or you can try. I don't. I tried my hardest to I believe. I tell myself this. Every storm. At the end of every storm is a rainbow. So the faster I don't cope through it, or the more I do not cope and numb, the faster I get through the storm. So like if I were to numb some and drink, get high, have sex, or do whatever it is, go go to the mall, look pretty, whatever I gotta do, go to the clubs. If I cope through it, then it's gonna take me longer to heal.

So definitely, you definitely prolong the healing process as you as you act right. Every every twinkie you eat just makes you closer to the opposite end of where you want to be, right, like exactly, And that's how it is with everything. Every time you do another act that goes against what you want to be, you're just adding it. Because the thing with with how the human system work is the more you do something, the better you get at it. Right, So the more you live fout, the

Right.

Yeah, that's that's deep. That's deep, but I think at the end of the day, I mean, I personally give people a lot of grace. I'm one of those people that you could literally push me off my seat and be like I was just angry. My bag clams, so I'd be like, oh no, it's okay. But now I'm at the place where it's like, I get it, you're angry. I just don't want to sit next to you anymore. Like take your anger out on the flowers over there, you know, But it's a pleasure to have you. I know,

This is going to be special.

I'm definitely gonna come. I am a true fan. I have so much admiration for the way you run your businesses, how everyone gets a buy and how everyone gets an option to invest in, how you partner and do this restaurant where it's like pay what you what you want which is brilliant and it's just something that a lot of artists aren't doing right, you know. And I love the vulnerability and your lyrics. So I'm truly thankful that

I'm at Larussell on everything.

L A.

R us has EOL.

You can find me on social media on DSPs, at home in Valleo, walking around.

So oh you stay in the Bay.

I stay home. I live where I'm from and I'm there every day. I'm taking my daughter to school. I'm baking it up, man mamos, checking in on people. I'm around, I'm at home.

They when they told me that I got you, it was like I had like two days notice, like you know or whatever. And I was like negotiating with the team everyone's schedule. There's like four people that have to all Onligne schedules, and uh, there was a hiccup and I'm like going back and forth, like, yo, do you think we can push back and we're all like, no, it's not worth it, and we got an hour, let's take it. But thank you and thanks for feeding me.

Yeah, beautiful