All right, So look, this is a.
Incredibly busy and wild like news week that I'm living right now that you're obviously living right now. If right now is you hearing this as I'm recording it, you know, but you know, since time is relative, my right now was your right now, but now it's not now, dude, bars anyway, it's the week of four to twenty.
Hey, oh my gosh, dude, don't be so on the nose, you freaking nerds. Oh my god, it's shut up. Anyway.
I don't know what's wrong with me, but this week between the two justins, the lit twenty one year old on freaking discord, no less breaking into heavily protected Pentagon secrets. You have said, because you all dudes don't understand the internet.
So when you've got like.
An it dude putting stuff on Discord, now, I'm nervous that we're going to see some sort of congressional hearing where somebody's gonna try to explain what the hell discord is. We really need to think about these requirements to be in Congress. Between that Sudan shooting, it's just a crazy, crazy, crazy week. But I, however, had two pretty dope hip hop things I got to be a part of. There's event called ryan Fest out in La festival hip hop, but it's during the same week as Coachella, which is
like pretty dope. One is to show how large freaking the market is for music is in Los Angeles.
But yeah, a lot of the ogs so like Souls.
And Mischief, Dilated People's, the Homie Blue and Exile Project, Load Master Ace, you know, dead Press, just real like some underground indie hip hop stuff. And then also we did a reunion we as in me and the crew. I came up with this crew called Tunno Rats. If you're interested in my other lives, yeah, go check us out. Who's called Tono Rats. Anyway, we did a reunion show. We hadn't been on stage together in the last like maybe fifteen years. I'm the like the Cruise multi generational.
I'm the youngest of the collective. I'm like the third generation. Anyway, a lot of indie hip hop this weekend, which got me to thinking, you know, maybe this would be a cool time to bring.
That into the politics, to be like.
I think that there's as an independent artist, specifically an independent hip hop artist, I think there are a lot of things that politicians can learn from having to navigate the music industry as an indie artist. So I think today, as the twenty twenty four election cycle is starting, maybe let's do some lessons that indie artists can teach you politicians. You ready The Independent Artist's Guide to Running for Office Politicians, y'all?
All right, y'all, there's just so much to cover in the news, and like I mean, for my own mental health, sometimes I do got to like pull back.
You've heard me say this before.
And since I'm not really like a journalist, you know what I'm saying, Like, I'm more like this is analysis, This is like the people helping you understand what the hell the journalist is saying, you know what I mean. And using my antenna is to you know, kind of like train you to use your antennas you feel me and hopefully onboard some of y'all into you know, maybe
running for office here and there you feel me. I feel like, man, if I could inspire some of y'all you know, who got some good sense and maybe want to see, you know, can imagine a better future that if I could, you know, install some confidence in you that like yo, you know, you might actually be able to pull this off. You feel me, then, like, man, then we've done good work. You feel me, and of course sell a couple of ads. You understand I'm saying,
let me be real with you. I'm saying, you boy got to eat anyway.
Yeah.
So, Independent Artist's Guide to running for office. Why I feel pretty qualified to do this is because I've been an independent artist for a pretty long time. I've been on a major label. I've been released from a major label. I got a major label holding on to some masters. Like I feel like I've had all of the experiences.
I've had great experiences, I've had bad experiences. But I have noticed that no matter what institution you're a part of, there are a few things that continue to rain true because at the end of the day, if the people don't mess with you, it ain't nothing no machine can do for you. People don't rock with you, it just
don't matter. Oh and one more disclaimer. If we're talking about somebody that's just interested in power and really don't and it's completely devoid of like any sort of like north Star or some sort of thing that's guiding that a guiding principle, then none of this stuff matters, then what we're what I'm saying don't matter. You just want to be a star. You just want to be a star. Just go ahead, ignore everything I'm saying. So that's the caveat for these rules I'm about to lay out for you.
This is gonna be fun because god, I don't need to say because it's gonna be fun, all right. Rule number one write this down. Don't write this down, but you understand what I'm saying. Rule number one is you have to ask yourself this question. Does your own scene mess with you? Now? If you're a artists, you know, probably you're going to start off local at any open mics, whatever gigs you can get. You can build enough as much of a fan base as you can via like
the Internet, whether it's you know, YouTube, social media. You have a million, million, million followers, right, a million streams, everybody loves it.
But if you can't get one hundred people.
In the room, it's not sustainable. Does that make sense if you're an artist? Now, obviously like influencers, of course there's there's exceptions to this, but like how you're measured, I think I said this before, is your hard ticket sales if you can't sell one hundred tickets in a major city. If you're an artist, you kind of don't have a career. Does your city mess with you? Because before you can go national, if you if you're not popping in the hood, you not popping in your own neighborhood,
you have no foundation. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, which I'll get to after this, or ways to make it work in your favor either way, but specifically I cite to you as an example, the two Justins in Tennessee. They was able to jump into the national scene because they local scene really rocked with them and even when they went to that state legislature and the state legislature who, to be honest, I cannot believe
how dumb that move. I'm just saying just from a strategic standpoint, you know what I'm saying, like that was just a dumb move, like y'all, y'all overplayed y'all hands to try to, like, you know, expel these brothers because let me tell you why they wasn't paying attention to rule number one, which is do they city mess with them? Because you thinking just because you don't know who they are, just because they I never heard of your music.
That don't mean they not popping, y'all.
I don't know what these boys are, you know how, I know they popping and they own hood messed with him because they was back in the day. They city sent them right back, like, I don't care if they're not. You are, dude, this is our champion. Do your city mess with you? And that's what happened to Justice. They city mess with them. They district's metal. Memphis and Nashville mess with the two Justice all just because you think
you the state legislation. Will you know the rest of the city, rest of the state, don't mess with it.
Don't matter. I got a fan base. My fan base gonna keep me popping.
I live in a city like Los Angeles where you can have an entire, humongous, great career without ever leaving Los Angeles. I can name a ton of artists like that who out here no matter where they go. I mean, they fill in rooms everywhere they go, and everybody know every lyrics to every song.
And it could work if you cool with just being here.
Now here's the flip side of them.
Now here go rule number two.
Okay, just because your city mess with you that don't mean the nation mess with you. This could work to your advantage if you down to just be like, no, I'm just gonna lock down this area and you know, set my set my crown in my throne in this region and we good. This is all I like, this is where I want to be. I'm comfortable here and I'm on top of the world. You think of like a uh, I think Kawhi Leonard like, I don't know why that food left Toronto.
Like you, the Ran Cat ain't no other NBA teams up there. If you was cool with it, he wasn't cool with it. He want to stay.
But again, just because you're city mess with you, that don't mean the nation mess with you. Let me give you an example. I was on tour with some homies in twenty twelve. It was a big, one of the biggest tours I've ever been on. It's called the Unashamed Tour, and it was I mean like, yeah, two tour buses, you know, Arenas.
It was pretty crazy.
I had never played Arenas and we would be on the bus and most of the brothers on the tour were from the South, you know, whether it was Dallas, Houston, Memphis, Cashville, Murphyville. I say Cashville because there's a black part of Nashville that y'all don't recognize, even some one of the brothers from Florida, you know what I'm saying, Like, let's not forget that Florida is still the South, right, So me
and two other artists were not from there. One brother was from New York or two brothers were from New York, and then it was me from Cali, right.
And sometimes at night, you know what.
I'm saying, after the tour, after a good show, you know, when you get back on the bus, you know, you just kind of have you know, a little little you know, before everybody go to bed, like we might turn up a little bit, you know, you just plug in the ox and just start playing music from y'all's from y'all's area. You know what I'm saying, Like if you still got energy,
you know, like we're not old mentoring no more. This was when we was you know, we was, we was young bucks you feel me and ten years ago, but uh, you you just you start putting on music, you know what I'm saying, And it's like and it's a lot of times if you if you've heard my music. It's very positive, very spiritual, very uplifting, you know, very political, like it's a lot of all these things. My music is deep, but my taste is ratchet, yo saying, just
like all the homies, our taste is very ratchet. You feel me now When I say ratchet, I'm talking like Calie, West Coast underground, grimy dirty you feel me or East Coast backpack rap. You feel me like I'm not into the U or I wasn't at the time, really like I didn't appreciate nothing coming out unless you was outcasts or t I. You know what I'm saying. A scarface, but scarface sounded like Oakland of me.
You know what I mean.
So anyway, I was into that these this word they I mean, it looked like a Chief Key video, Like they just pulled their shirts off and was just like flinging their head around everybody.
Jumping hey hey hey, and me and the other.
And the two New Yorkers was looking at each other like, boy, what is how do I've never heard any of these songs? Been listening to hip hop my whole life. I've never heard any of these songs. These fools is singing along, bouncing around. Even one of the brothers from the Midwest, from Saint Louis, he played he knew all the same music. I was like, what are these songs? And they were like, oh this song, We're crazy in the club. I was like who look little trigger Finger, like like who are
these people? What are these songs? And since again they Texans, they had a way that they would freestyle, and since they was all from it, it was such a vibe.
They would be like I'd have.
Came dawn, I Ida came through, ay Itta drink Hey, Ita, drink bro sitting at the table, heya da hey the mic hey and I was like, you're as a that's coach MC.
I'm like, y'all cheating.
We didn't get to rap like that when we freestyl I mean, you had to have styles for miles kickback, dip back like God Revivals, who stepped, I wrapped the West, flipper track, crack your back of tunnel like you had to like style it out.
They could just Ida came down. I came through.
Y'all was like, oh my gosh, what is this. I didn't know who none of these artists were. They was kings where they were to me, I was like, these are the most obscure.
Names.
So just because you pop it at home, don't mean you gonna pop across the nation. It takes very special people to pop across the nation. There's a million gangster rappers. But like, there's something that I would name out here that y'all would be like, I don't know it is. But if I say Drake, Snoop and Pock, y'all would be like, yeah, is it was? It? The machine that's a part of it, right, that's absolutely a part of it.
Don't get me wrong, But there was machines behind plenty of artists, y'all don't know who they are, you know, above the lawyers. That's what I thought, had a great machine behind him. Now when you look at the South, it's like, you know, why did the screwed? Why did DJ screw stuff work? Why did the screw tapes work? Why did it start a freaking movement? That whole lean and chopped and screwed movement?
Like that was? Why did it make it out?
I just don't get, you know what, Just because it some people just got it. Some people ready for the national scene. Now when you look at like look at top dog in them like Kendrick. Now this might be again some like oh man stuff, right, But when you look at Kendrick, I'll do the young fools to like the young Dolphs in them, you know, and Dirk's and all them.
But like when you.
Look at the tde roster, the black hippie thing, really, any one of them could have popped. Any one of them could have been Kendrick is if we're just talking talent, and if you ask among them, they all kind of feel like abs. The lyricists abs so out they're like, no, he's He's the one barring off. Kendrick could write songs, his ear was unmatched. He was ready for the national scene. So why is he on the list as like the one, two three artists of a decade and not school boy Hugh?
I don't know.
It's not talent, it's just listen, just because you popping at home don't mean you gonna pop across the world. Who do I say this about in politics? Ron DeSantis? Oh, he popping at home. He got a little bit of buzz across the nation. But just because you popping at home don't mean you gonna pop across the nation. I don't know if he got it, because in my mind it's like one of the other rules you have to ask, which I think can may fit into number two, But I think this is number three.
But you can call it whatever you want. Two point five is why me and not them? If you're an artist.
Now, granted, people can download whateverever re meanings song as they don't buyer earny albums they want. But the point is when you start putting on lists, when it comes to like when they step into they whip, you know, step into they whip, when they whenever it is, they open the app and they fina press play? Why are you gonna press play for me and not them? When you see tickets fly up, when you see merch you know,
sales go on, why me not them? If you just a clone to somebody else, which is what the music industry does all the time, you're just trying to catch the crumbs of and maybe siphon off fans from an already established brand. Oh if that don't sound like DeSantis and Trump, then I mean, is that?
And now what's happening?
Like?
Remember I told you how fifty did ja like you trying to siphon off The difference between fifty and Ja and Trump and DeSantis, like I said, is because fifty can rap. Fifty was an amazing artist. I don't know if DeSantis is proven yet. Oh he could guard, he can govern locally, he could govern when it comes to the culture war stuff. You know, he got that like smiling your face, stab you in the back type energy that politicians do need, or you could say with a
straight face some stuff that you know is ferdulent. You kind of need that ability. But does that play in stadiums?
Are you?
I mean, it's dope. Regional you popping in Florida. You got that Miami based down you know what I mean? You got that getting stirty y'all getting stirty real.
Good down there.
You know what I'm saying. That's for the young folk they do. You know, you get stirty with the best of them. Won't get thirty everywhere. That's not what's happening everywhere. Now, you're gonna take that regional sound out outside. It may not pop. I experienced that myself, you know what I'm saying. Like I said, on this same tour with these uh with these Southern brothers, you know, I was one of the openness. I went out there with my California you know, backpack rapper.
You know what I'm saying, lyrical miracle. They was looking at me like.
Uh, what's he talking about?
Bro By show too.
I we went back and flipped that setup and was like, Okay, I need to give y'all some riding music, some with some more choruses. Boy, I was one of the greatest lessons I learned in my life. Was like, listen, bro just because it worked down here, you know, don't worry, don't mean it's gonna work everywhere else.
You better learn how to learn from other people. And that's what I did.
I learned how to learn from other people make music a little more palatable for the rest of the world, while at the same time repping your city because you can't lose your brand. You feel me. But you gotta like, just because you popping at home, don't mean you popping anywhere else. Now, how do you make that work for you? If you're not popping at home, there's plenty of people
like that. I mean, if you're Sometimes if you're not popping at home, that's probably because maybe you just forward thinking, maybe you just different, Maybe you just think about the world differently.
Think about that.
If you're like, you know, you're a left leaning politician in a red state or you're a right leaning popeltitician in a blue state, you probably not popping at home. But when you hit the road, you might find like, dang, I got a gang of fans out here. I can use this for my advantage. And then you get the rest of the country riding for you. And then you could turn back at home and you come home a superstar.
You can do that, and then the rest of the hood they come back and they're like dang, they start acting like they mess with you, or they come out the woodworks to being like, no, I've always liked y'all, always like you.
Know who could do?
You know who did that was Merse This again, this is underground wrap stuff, y'all go look up. Mercy had legend that's funny from a group called Living Legends. Merce would just like he would just move. He's like, all right, I'll go on tour with Atmosphere and do the rhyme
Sayers thing. He did this the Felt albums would slug from Atmosphere like he did the the projects with Ninth Wonder You know, like I'm naming all these people because if you know, you know, if not google, So the Merse and Ninth Wonder records, like they're I mean, these are like so he came back home triumphant, and it was like all city merse, you know what I'm saying. He's like, Okay, well yeah, you know, sure put on the paid dues and the rock the Bell festivals. Like
he's just he's a household name now. But sometimes it's like when the city don't get it, sometimes you got to hit the road.
So there's a way to do that too.
Like if let's say your city don't mess with you, there's a way to go. Get go, get the fans somewhere else, bring them back home. Marthie Taylor Green doing that, they don't really don't really mess with her down there. She went and got them. She wouldn't got the national fans. Now she got the national fans. She came back home a star. You feel me, because why the hell else would she be at Trump's arraignment if you, I mean, if you really worry about your hood, you should be at your hood.
Nah, go get them national numbers.
So to recap before we go to the next two steps, and take a break before we go to those next two steps. Number one, does your own scene mess with you? Do you have a loyal fan base at home that'll be able to carry you when everybody else starts tripping? Because if you got a loyal scene at home, you'll
always be all right. And the flip side of this might also be true where maybe you don't have a loyal scene at home, but you can go nationally, find yo, find your tribe, and bring them back home, and then that'll make your start at home. So number one, ask yourself this question, does your local scene mess with you? Number two, just because you popping at home, don't mean you're gonna pop nationally. Okay, just because you might be able, you might be the king of your little part of
the pond, queen of your little region. But listen, just because it works here don't mean it's gonna work everywhere. Number three, ask yourself, why me and not them? There needs to be something so unique, so special about what you offer, right that distinguishes you from everybody else. You can't just be like the less dramatic version of somebody else, right. You can't just be a scrub clean version of something else, and there's gotta be a reason why you're the one.
And sometimes it has to do with the machine, but that's only a part of it, because the machine can only do so much. You gotta have that thing, whatever that thing is, you gotta have it now. Rules four and five, Questions four and five, ever you want to do it?
After this break? All right, we're back.
Number four, which I personally feel is the most important okay for artists, for politicians, for anybody who's trying to do something publicly, but specifically as we're going into this, uh, this election cycle, and I want y'all to know this as voters, to know and to understand the game that's being presented to you. Here's the truth, Number four. Perception is reality until it's not. Say it again for you, Perception is reality until it's not. All right, let me
unpack it. Maclamore pop and Tags that guy. Now, I've seen Maclamore's meteoric up, you know rise, especially because he was just a part of the Pacific Northwest hip hop scene.
He's a great guy.
He's an incredible rapper, incredible, you know, And popping tags is a it's a pop song, it's a it is a brilliant pops song.
You can call.
Whatever you want. You know what I'm saying, I don't know how old y'all are. Like, there's a level of corny to it, but of course it's a pop song. It's supposed to be. But was he styling on that that he's styling on it? You know what I'm saying. I'm not gonna hop in the car and blast it. You feel me? But I don't hate the band. Like
The Heist was a great record. The problem is it wasn't even his fault because it was the same year as Good Kid, Mad City, which is a perfect record, and for some reason, the Grammy Association decided to give the Grammy for Best Rap Album to The Heist rather than Good Kid, Mad City. And at that moment, hip hop culture, who was probably was gonna, like, you know, at least recognize game. At that moment, there was nothing
Maclamore could do. His brand was burnt. There was no follow up he could do that in the eyes of hip hop culture because he just became the symbol of what we felt was wrong with music industry. It is not his fault because the boy could rap, and like I said, he's a good guy to the point of where he knew it shouldn't have went to him and sent the text like in the text got screenshot it sent out like, man, you should have won this. This is really yours. He sent it to Kendrick y'all, that's
the right thing to do. Doesn't matter. Perception's reality now ten years later, eleven years later, it just there's nothing he could do. Man, Like, you're just perception's reality. We see you that way, Tory Lanez. I I'm not a.
Tory Lanez fan. Now.
I say this as someone that's just a consumer of music. I don't know the guy, right, this is just me. This is not my taste. A lot of people like him, you know. Please please hear me when I'm saying this, This isn't no disk tract or nothing.
I'm not trying to throw them shade. I'm just saying it's not my thing.
Now, as a commentator of culture, he's kind of in.
He's in the corny box.
Now.
A lot of people disagree.
He's kind of in the there's not really much you could do about it, Like, you're just you're kind of in that. Then the Meghan situation kind of pushed it more into like, now, this is just weird. There's so much like massage and war in there, Like it's just at perception's reality. Man, I don't I don't know.
On the other hand, NBA young boy who again not my thing. It is what it is.
The industry tried to like blacklist the boy he liked the second most streaming artist. Perception is reality. It's what we perceive him as, right, y'all know ice Cube? I mean, of course he oh oh man now, but like you know, Nwa ice Cube, you know what man went to like USC for cinematography, Like he's a fully educated perceptions reality.
Trump is the perfect example perceptions reality. We perceived him as this mogul, as this boss, despite mountains of evidence that this man been broke way longer than he been wealthy, and this whole time, this was a character that NBC created. This man ain't no damn mogul, that man in debt, This nigga is not the boss that everyone said, that these fools say is that he makes. But perception is reality,
and this is what he continues to bank off. If you could perceive him as this particular person, if you could perceive him as this like martyr for the call, which is what he's banking on. For the fact that this man is facing plentiful of charges, is the perception that he's school and that becomes reality even though that's not.
That's clearly not the key.
So this stuff can work for you or against you, but perception is reality until it's not. Now, as an artist, what happens is this. You go out, you do a couple of shows. You hire yourself a really good like you know, performance videographer or photographer who shoots the dopest dopest like live concert footage, you know, and does the little thirty second recaps of tour nights, shoots it at an angle that looks like, dang them shows is popping dog,
like this food really got it man? It shows is dope. Man, it looks like it's you know, a whole ocean of people. You take a photo. Maybe you have one show that was like during a festival, and you take a good angle of that, so like now you got the one huge crowd photo and shot in there. But those weren't your actual shows, your actual shows. You know, they still looked amazing, but that room only held fifty people. So the perception was first all this fool out here killing it.
Then a promoter pull up your hard ticket sale history, or someone actually buys a ticket, they say, dang, I can't miss this show. When you come into the town they come and it's like, oh it ain't but eighty two people here. Man, this food had me believing these were stadiums.
He was rocking. First.
Usually the fan is like, dang, I got lucky, I got to catch this dude at this small thing, or sometimes you like dang, am I am I tripping? Like or maybe I'm tripping, like maybe I just went on the off night. But eventually you start realizing, like, you know what, actually that food just got really good photographer, and now reality's reality. You really not popping like that.
You know when you see footage from somebody's like campaign rally and the crowd is behind them, you know when you look at the thing, because you got to think that's that's made for TV, right, because like what a horrible seat to have, Like why would you go to something where you're all the speakers are facing the opposite way and you only see this person's back, Because that's for perception. Nobody really, you don't sit like that. Have
you've actually been to a campaign rally. There's really not that many people there. It's like a row maybe unless you wanted them, like you know, exceptional national, next person up type candidate. It's really not that many people there. They just make it look like it is. The point is to make it look like it's popping. You know when politicians like are waving when they walk in and they clap their hands and then they point at somebody like,
oh hey, what's up. Like they're waving at somebody that they knew that was there. They're just doing that. There's no one there. You're just supposed to do that because it's perception.
It's not real.
You heard of the phrase astroturfing. You should have because I've talked about it on this pot. But let me remind you again. Astroturfing is this is how you get if there is a million people at that show, How you get people there or that rally, how you get people there is like a Craigslist ad or like a group on when you pay come and feel this this thing to make it look all grassroots, They give you signs.
That's not real. That's not real power.
Real power is what you and I have where you could text somebody right now, set it many times and been like, hey, we're finna do a barbecue, you know, a little backpack giveaway at the park this weekend. And a hundred people show up. That's real power. Oh what in a thousand people? That's okay, because a thousand people's not real power, that's not really they're not really there for you. But the hundred people that are really there,
they really there. Now use that for your advantage. If you're the artist and you can get eighty five people.
In a room, that's dope.
You can get eighty five people in a room, doc get their email addresses. See if you could get down yourself a little like text messaging service app where you can like start sending them discount coupons, like do coffee meetups, like like get involved now. Sometimes you know, of course you should, you should have some sort of like safety precautions. I've been in a situation where i found myself a little too open and warm, warm, and I've had to
put some boundaries around some folks. But the point is, you don't bemoan it, you don't fake it. Perception is reality until it's not. And once that bubble is burst. Hopefully you learn. Man, don't fake it till you make it fam because sometimes you don't get to make it. Just look at it truthfully, where it is, where you are, and what you need to do. Because you can fake streams, you can fake photos, but you can't fake ticket sales.
And you can't fake votes.
They make because they want you to think they can, but you can't fake votes. These people gonna vote for you or not. You need to give them a reason to all right. Number five two more. Number five is be very picky about who you around.
Now.
I feel like there's a rule for everybody, you know, But when it comes to artists sometimes, like you know, you're going on tour, you're doing features, popping up at parties, just all these different things. And some of those things can be transactional, like in the sense of you know, you pay a artist, you know whatever, thousand dollars to hop on a song, or they pay you up you know.
Sometimes like you know, when money get tight, you're like, yeah, man, let me do this features like twelve hundred dollars.
You don't jump on this thing.
But like, because sense perception is reality, if you do this song with this artist turns out that fool's a pedophile, Yo'm saying, or the album ends up being trash. You are now forever connected to that album and that artists. So you gotta be real picky as to who you willing to shake hands with, you know what I'm saying, because that stuff sometimes can come back and bite you. Every I don't know. I don't know no politician that ain't never been in that position. I mean, that's the
entirety of the GOP. Like y'all stuck you' said, like I don't I don't know what y'all gonna do. You know what I'm saying. That man that turned you into a pretzel. As a side note, I'd say about that man if I was a GOP, you know how happy I would be about these Trump charges right now, because look, I would be the snitch. If I was a GOP, I'd be the snitch. I'd be the one feeding in papers because like that man got a death grip on
your y'all can't do nothing you will do. You can do nothing, your party can't go any direction.
That man don't want y'all to go.
He got a death grip on thirty four percent of your constituents. So to me, I'm like, y'all got a gift because y'all I can somehow finally shake loose at this man.
And you don't have to do it.
You should be sliding brag all kinds of documents you feel me to be like, and you can get on the camera and tell everybody like, no, listen, whoa we don't know. This is just a woke mob trying to destroy you. You could tell that you could play the game as much as you won't. You feel me, but like, because that man, a career killer like Trump, destroy your life. You don't like you, You feel me letting nothing y'all can do? You can You thought you could wait it out.
You 'm saying, y'all can't wait it out. You feel me?
So if I was, Look, if I was I was, I'd be like yo or just.
This is just this is a hoax. It shouldn't happen anyway, brag holler at me. You have to work, man, Let me slide you something right quick. That's what I would be doing anyway. You gotta be careful who you do, who you do these features with, who you do these songs with. You know what I'm saying, who you put your name next to, and then who you hire? You feel me, I think a lot of times, like as an artist, you want to come off like you got more going on than you do, so then you hire you.
You know, you think it's growth, but like all growth and good growth, you know, it's a it's a horrible way to say it, but like you know, some growth is cancer.
You feel me, that's a tumor. That's not growth.
You know, you got to really think about like every move you make and is it really going to be Is this a growth? That's a good growth? You know, So don't hire people you don't need. Don't get in a situation you don't spend money you ain't got. Food's be spending all kind of stuff on on on ads
and on on on. You know, campaigns when it's like fam, it's not even you ain't gonna you can't win this one, dog like this ain't gonna work, man, Like, put your dough into this campaign because like you have more better chance of winning this one than that one. You feel me, right, And then you and you build your brand. You understand
what I'm saying. I remember, I mean I'm gonna go back to the santis, Like, you know, I hate to go back to that dude, but I think really for real, for real, like a thing that he got to think about, Like and it sucks because it's a Republican talking point, but it's it's actually like it's a good point. What if what if he waited until twenty twenty eight? What if he did? I mean, then you ain't got this monkey on your shoulder. You feel me, You're not running
against the guy that you're basically competing to be. You feel me like you don't have that l under your belt of losing to him. I mean, I mean it's a gamble because he I mean, maybe he could win, but I don't know. Just because you popping at home don't mean you poping nationally, you know, like or you're presenting yourself as like the Whole Foods version of the thing everybody love, Like I don't know how good that. I don't know how good that's gonna play. You know
what I'm saying. What if you position yourself not as the Whole Foods version but the next generation of I don't know, like you, and maybe he's not even gonna run, Like we don't even know yet it just seems like he is, at least as of the week that I'm recording this. You know, you never know, but yeah, be careful who you keep around, who you shake your hands with. And then the last one is the one that my manager always says, your plant where you want to grow.
You can't just go for where you think the crowds are, because that might not be your crowd. You invest in the scene that you believe in, and you build a career that you want to build. If not, you're going to be sitting in that corner office overlooking this the DC skyline, miserable, having to vote for stuff that you don't even want to, you don't even believe in. You're
being swayed by the crowd, you know, leading from behind. No, you gotta you gotta be the person you trying to be so you can do the things that you're trying to do.
Now. Granted, I'm assuming you.
The type of politician that has some sort of moral standard, that has some sort of conviction. Now, if you just in it for the power, ignore everything I'm saying, y up, set go get go, get your back, go get your power. Be as devoid of any of these things that you
want to be. But if you really actually believe in the stuff you're trying to believe, and you really think you could make this country better, you got a plant where you want to grow, invest in things that you think will lead towards the things, And I understand the nature of the game is just like in music. The nature of the game forces you to carry yourself in a certain way that if you're going to reach a certain type of success, you have to play the game
in a certain way. Or you could be like, forget that, I'm gonna play this game the way I want to play it, and it's gonna work the way I want to work, and I'm gonna bend it to my will. Maybe shoot your shot. Hopefully it works. So in conclusion, the six things that any politician can learn from independent artists. Number one, ask yourself, does your own hood mess with you? Number two, just because you popping at home, don't mean you poping national. Number three ask yourself, why me and not them?
Perception is reality until it's not.
Number five, the very picky who you connect with, keep that circle nice and tight.
And number six, plant where you want to grow.
If you hip to these rules, not only one, I think you might find yourself a very successful politician, but two, as an informed voter, you might be able to understand and choose wisely the people that you want to mess with.
Happy election season, y'all.
Hood politics, You know, I don't know why I ain't thought of this before, but you know you could use promo code hood for fifteen percent off on terraform coolbrew dot com. Like I forgot I own that company and this is my pod. Y'all, go ahead and punch it. Promo cod hood if you in the cold Brew gets you some cold brew, gonna get you some coffee. Yeah, Like, I can't believe I ain't think of this till right now.
Yo Yo.
This thing right here was recorded by Me Propaganda and East Lows, boil Heights, Los Angeles, California. This thing was mixed, edited, mastered, and scored by the one and the only Matt Awsowski. Y'all check out this fool's music. I mean it's incredible. Executive produced by Sophie Lichterman for Cool Zone Media. Man, and thank you for everybody who continue to tap in
with us. Make sure you leaving reviews and five star ratings and sharing it with the homies so we could get this thing pushed up in the algorithm and listen. I just want to remind you these people is not smarter than you. If you understand city living, you understand politics, We'll see you next week.