But just had an aha moment of like, if you just put one foot in front of the other, the path will appear as you make steps, and the sun's gonna rise and it's gonna set with or without you, and you know that things come together.
You're listening to Money Moves powered by Greenwood, a finance podcast dedicated to dropping all the knowledge and gems from the world's leading celebrities, entrepreneurs and experts, and tech, business and more.
I'm your host, angel.
Investor, technology enthusiast, and media personality Tanya Sam. Each week, we talk with guests who are making significant strides in their fields and learn how they are making their money move. If you're someone who's looking to make your money move, you're in the right place. So open up your notes app and lock us in because this podcast will give you the keys to the kingdom of financial stability, wealth
and abundance you so rightly deserve. Before we start the episode, I'd like to remind you to check us out at gogreenwood dot com and follow us on social media at Greenwood and me on all Things social at It's Tanya Time to stay locked in to new episodes. Hey, Money Movers, This week on Money Moves, we are joined by an R and B and soul icon, whose voices grace our hearts and playlists for years. She's not only a powerhouse in the world at music, but also a savvy.
Financial thinker and entrepreneur.
From captivating audiences with her soulful melodies to navigating the ever changing landscape of the music industry, our guest today has truly made money Moves of our own. Get ready to be inspired as we delve into the financial journey and wisdom of this remarkable artist.
Money Movers.
Please join us and welcoming the talented Goopola to the show.
Hello, Hello, I just I love this subject of conversation and just the energy you're bringing with it. I feel like it's not really something that we're raised to know a lot about. Our feel like is a sexy thing to talk about and it's so important.
It's so important.
I kind of look at it now as like lifting up our skirts. I'm sure that's probably not a PC term right now.
But just like I want to see what's how this car.
Was built, how we did this, and if we don't share the ups and downs, the truisms, like I feel like we don't really have the advancements, and especially in our culture today where it's just like let me post a picture of how fly, how easy, how great it is, that's just not real life, you know, as we put decades of work into your artistry, building businesses, being able to like beed a family as musicians and entrepreneurs.
Especially in the entertainment world period where so much is placed on image and yes, you know, a beautiful desired life. Sometimes it's easy to get convinced to live beyond your means, you know, and then like Instagram life versus real life, and then just you know, as getting grown, you know, yes, have a future in generational wealth and all that.
That's like a whole nother mindset, and you know, it's so funny. It's like the getting grown thing.
You know. I, first of all, I want to make sure that we introduce you so that people really know who we're speaking to. But I feel like I have twenty plus years of listening to some of your songs. I feel like one Closer to Me was like a tragic breakup song for me, and I now look at it now and I was like, I don't actually know. I feel like the meeting has changed for me over time, for sure, as I've sort of like evolved in my
own personal evolution. But you know, it's so different when you look at musicians and artists like what you were doing twenty years ago, where how you look at life now where you're like, I'm saving for a retirement or what am I going to do when I'm eighty? How do I all these thoughts together? So I'm gonna absolutely money movers. We're gonna have a great conversation today. But let me be quiet, and let's start at the beginning.
Go apla.
Can you tell us introduce yourself to our audience for those who may not know you, and tell us a little bit about your journey into the music industry and entrepreneur. I allow you to just put it on the table for us, all right.
So my name is Guappole, my real name, my artist's name, And like you said, I've been doing this for twenty plus years. Closer just hit the twentieth the anniversary, which is its lowing my mind, and you know I could I always wanted to have longevity and make some less music, but you just never know what's gonna stick, you know, And I feel like the music business can be such
a gamble. But I'm a singer songwriter, and I feel like that's been a huge blessing that's sustained me in my life because, aside from performing, which is a big part of what I do as an artist, being a writer, you know, has given me some power and leverage and royalties and things like that that's really helpful. And I put out my music independently.
I have about I put it out independent from.
The beginning with sky Blaze, my family record label, and then we kind of have partnered with different distribution companies along the way, even Sony at one point and then went back to being it. But I'm just thankful that I've always felt like I could be empowered and do things in a way that felt right for me, you know, and consist alignment with my vision. And here I'm about to put out my.
Fixed project called Colors.
Oh I cannot, I have to dive right into this. Okay, So you're working on new music now. It's called Colors. Do we have a date release date? Are we just waiting with bated breath?
I have just put.
Out the first single called Time Heels, which is just like a really reflective song about you know, even in hardship, and you know, I wrote it through the pandemic. I'm of such uncertainty, but just had an AHA moment of like, if you just put one foot in front of the other, the path will appear as you make steps, and the sun's gonna rise and it's gonna set with or without you,
and you know that things come together. And then I'm putting out another single that I'm really excited about called Purple that's a little more in the sensual vibe and inspired by Prince. And we can talk about Prints even on a business level because it was a genius in more than just music, you know. But the album's coming out soon, but people are getting of new music.
At least. We love a teaser.
We love a teaser absolutely. I love this Things come together. What a beautiful concept. I'm gonna I'm gonna I wrote that down. I'm gonna just I love that. I really do. So you've had this long legacy and history. I'm want to go back to the early days of Goappola. Tell us a little bit about how you grow up, how you grew up, and how money and financial literacy factored
into that oftentimes. I find like in our community it was very stark ends of the spectrum, you know, whereas like we ever talked about it in our families, or we did.
Talk about it. Yeah.
Well, I come from a diverse background, and I mean that in the most extreme ways. My father, you know, grew up in South Africa, left the apartheid system, grew up in the first generation of being displaced apartheid first started, so that he has a financial impact, right and moving to a different zone, and you know, segregation in schools and jobs and all kinds of stuff, even though his
family believed in education and all of these things. And he went on to he met my mom, who's Jewish and first second generation immigrants, so they were both immigrants, and they met in Kenya of all places.
Wow, moved to CA. Yeah.
But my family, I'll just say, like race wise, class wise, resource wise, was very diverse in a lot of different levels. So I feel like I grew up with my immediate family not having a lot of money. But we talk about being broke and poor and stuff like that. It was more like we there just might be things we can't buy, you know what I mean. And I grew up with the feeling of especially my mom instilling in me like money shouldn't be barrier. You can do whatever
you want in your life. No, just like work hard, keep your integrity, have your honesty. And you know, our house was really small, but people would come over all the time and it was always like, there's enough to share, regardless of how much there is. And so I feel like in that mindset, you know, it was like humbling sometimes, but it felt like there are resources and we knew,
you know. On the other side, it's like, you know, one of my grandfathers was an investment banker but brought art into the banks as a way of investing into art, you know, like Andy Warhol and Bosquiot and all of these people. And I would move around the world with him sometimes.
Wow.
For me, I would say I grew up with a very wide perspective, even though my immediate family it was like financially humbling.
That's what I'm gonna say.
You know, that is probably one of the best explanations I've heard of that, you know, we might not have had a lot, but it's about the mindset.
So there wasn't a scarcity mindset. It was we had this home.
It might have been humble, but it was always open to other people and there was enough to go around. And it's funny because I was back home with my aunts and uncles the other day and they were telling stories about how back in the day they would have a party and they'd be like, we would have our rotisserie chicken and I love now and they'd be like, that was our that was our dinner for like two couples or something, you know, and it's.
Like, now, it's you make it work. They made it work.
They were like early day, same thing, first Generationian immigrants from England and Africa.
But that's what they did.
And now, I mean, if you have people over for dinner and you're not serving.
Like I don't know, philet mignon.
Twenty lobsters, like, it's you know, and so I appreciate it isn't.
The right house to have it or the right like it's I'll tell you it was not photographical moments back then, but a lot of amazing memories, a lot of community building, a lot of you know, there were artists that were coming from South Africa that were up and coming artists, and then like successful artists like Lettumboulu who who was
like an aunt to me. But I got to see how you can live as an artist, you know, and then and you know Hima Sekela and Mary and Makamba and these different folks and then like students and intellectual So there was just a way of like there's a common meeting ground even though people have all these different lifestyles. And it also just took all the smoke and mirrors away.
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