112. Vin Jay: A Musical Journey Filled With Courage, Growth & Personal Development

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Tim
It's the Bigger Than Me podcast with your host Aaron Pete

00;00;05;24 - 00;00;24;27
Aaron Pete
Music has been the topic we've been diving more and more into. I really enjoyed diving into music because I think it's where we all go to connect, reflect, and it's a safe place for us to vent out our feelings, to think about what our thoughts are, and to really connect with the ideas that inspire us to be better and be stronger during tough times.

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Aaron Pete
I find music impacts me when I'm on a run and I want to go a little bit farther. That song will push me farther than I thought I could go. Other songs will help me during dark times, during heavy times. The mood really impacts us and it pushes us to our brink. And helps us perform better. My guest today has done that for me several times.

00;00;44;14 - 00;01;05;17
Aaron Pete
Almost every one of his songs inspires me, makes me think differently, resonates with me in a special way. And I am so pleased to be sitting down with him again today to dove into his latest Project Karma EP. We dove into where the musical process comes from, what it means to be a rapper in comparison to other artistic endeavors.

00;01;05;21 - 00;01;27;24
Aaron Pete
I find him to be super inspiring. I find that his music pushes me and inspires me to do better and motivates me. I'm so pleased to announce my guest today when Jay then we are back round two. I'm so excited to be sitting down with you today. Would you mind just once again doing a brief introduction for those who might not be acquainted Yeah.

00;01;28;04 - 00;01;39;24
Vin Jay
And then Jay, I am a rapper from Arizona, originally from Long Island. Moved out here for opportunity. And I just make the best music I possibly can. To help people and express myself.

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Aaron Pete
I love it. Karma is out now. Apple Music, Spotify. How did this project come about for you?

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Vin Jay
Yeah, so I have two albums previously Prophecy and The Human Experience, and I was dropping singles for a long time after that, which does very well performance wise. But I come to lack this feeling of a cohesive piece of art that has real thought behind it. As a whole. So once that feeling kicks in, I'm like, All right, it's time to make a project again.

00;02;10;19 - 00;02;28;12
Vin Jay
But didn't want the full commitment of a 12 song album because I often feel like I put myself in a corner the second I decide that I'm like, Now all of these songs need to sound like this to make it make sense. So EP was a nice way to get into that vibe again without putting too much pressure on myself.

00;02;28;12 - 00;02;50;09
Vin Jay
And yeah, the songs just came out super organic because I actually did go about it in a way of like Let's just make great singles and make them an EP. And it just so happened to sound cohesive, thankfully. I guess it was just the wave I was on at the time. But yeah, a less stressful album is what I went into this EP with.

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Aaron Pete
Fantastic. I'm curious, where does this name come from? Karma. Where did that come from for you?

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Vin Jay
Yes, I'm a pretty spiritual dude underneath it all. And even if you listen to the names of my two albums, Prophecy and the Human Experience, they both got some depth to them. So it's on brand for that reason. But also I just think the sound I have now is just a culmination of all my past experiences and what I'm going through in the present, whether internally or externally.

00;03;20;02 - 00;03;44;08
Vin Jay
And I think karma is just all encompassing. You know, the Western definition is always like, you know, you reap what you sow, but that's a really surface level definition. It's more so I don't want to butcher it, but it's just your karma, like the life energy you've gathered thus far is the way I grasp it. And I figured what better way to define sound waves that are coming from who I am right now?

00;03;45;02 - 00;04;04;00
Aaron Pete
The first song is Braindead, and it reminded me personally of Sweet Dreams. It had like an underlying idea there, and it touches on this idea of Woke culture. Would you mind talking a little bit about where this kind of ties in for you? You don't do songs all the time about that. That's not your main gig, but you do touch on it.

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Aaron Pete
Every once in a while. How does that happen?

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Vin Jay
Yeah, so Braindead very slowly touches on it. I just think we're in a weird time and I think no one knows how to take a joke anymore and nothing could be satire anymore. And I actually wrote an entire song that I'm not sure is going to come out. I wrote it a while ago, but it's really poking fun at Woke culture, and it's all satire.

00;04;32;04 - 00;04;47;23
Vin Jay
Clearly, when you hear the song, it's like, if you think I'm being serious in a line to listen to the next line and you'll be like, Oh, he's completely joking around and just being an idiot. But I'm like, I don't even think I could release this song because the intention is not going to be received well, even if it's like, Oh, wow, he's joking.

00;04;47;23 - 00;05;11;18
Vin Jay
It's like, No, but he said this. And I just I think everyone needs to relax We were such a tightly wound society right now. And what better way to to ease that tension than kind of poke the sleeping bear and make light of a situation that may not be as serious as we're making it? So that's that's my stance on the Woke culture very briefly.

00;05;11;18 - 00;05;16;05
Vin Jay
So I just I just touched on it because I'm not trying to serve any shit storms.

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Aaron Pete
I can understand that in Sweet Dreams, you specifically talk about the idea of freedom of speech and this idea that you're not going to be censored. And I'm just curious, as an artist, what does freedom of speech mean to you?

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Vin Jay
Yeah, I saw a quote about it the other day, and I don't think I could say better than this, did I? I'm going to paraphrase, but it said, freedom of speech is your ability to say whatever you want and others to say whatever they want, even if it goes against what you believe in, pisses you off. Right. So would say everyone thinks they deserve freedom of speech and then try to censor everybody else.

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Vin Jay
But that's not freedom of speech. So I think it's. Speaking freely without this this intense fear of being harassed online or even your platform stripped away for the sake of even if you made a mistake right there. It's one thing to be intentional about saying the wrong thing, depending on who's deciding that. But people make mistakes nowadays and people are like, nope, they're done.

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Vin Jay
No one can listen to them anymore. Take their livelihood away. It's and mistakes is what it is to be human. So I think it's so such a bizarre space where maneuvering right now as humans and it is counter productive to evolving because the only way to learn is to fail to make mistakes.

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Aaron Pete
I couldn't agree more. Where does the song Braindead come from? What inspired it.

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Vin Jay
To be honest, I just found a really hard boom bap instrumental and it wasn't even that one. And I just I was like, let me just ride my ass. Off for 3 minutes and not make a hook. I just want to rap and. And then that beat I found later on, I say, Oh, that sounds way crazier on this beat.

00;06;58;15 - 00;07;14;17
Vin Jay
We're doing it on this one. But the words that come out of it are not up to me. If I give myself free rein to just rap for 33 minutes about whatever comes to mind, I kind of step back when it's done. I'm like, I guess that's what I was thinking about.

00;07;15;10 - 00;07;26;12
Aaron Pete
That's fascinating. I always enjoy that because we don't know where these ideas come from and that inspiration and where your mind is and what you're going through. It almost sounds like you're just participating in the process.

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Vin Jay
Absolutely. There is times where I'll sit down and say, You know, I want to make a song about this topic, my song, and we may speak about this later, but I'll touch on it right now. My song Breakdown, I was like, Oh, I need to talk about this specifically. And you could tell as you hear the song, it's very intentional, the topic.

00;07;46;10 - 00;08;08;16
Vin Jay
But with songs like Braindead Then and Any Beast on the show, things of that nature, I am just testing my pen, showing the intricacies of my writing and how they've evolved. I'm doing it for the audience because I love when I go off, but I also do it for me to see how much of our progress since the last time I've rapped just for the sake of rapping that.

00;08;08;16 - 00;08;22;02
Aaron Pete
That's so cool. So you're saying that you get to kind of go back in and see how far am I? How fast am I going? Where's my head? What are the lines and how do they connect with each other? You're just doing that and seeing and testing yourself, basically.

00;08;22;12 - 00;08;44;11
Vin Jay
Yeah, I'm like, Oh, my rhyme schemes better this time. Is there more substance in it? Even though it's just a song about rap, is there it can I find schemes and and voices and tones I haven't done before. Just naturally. Like what is going to come out of my skill set as a rapper. Because if you listen to my album Prophecy, there are some great songs on there, don't get me wrong.

00;08;44;20 - 00;09;10;08
Vin Jay
But if you fast forward to short, let's say Karma or some of the stuff I have unreleased right now, it's like the amount of weapons that I have in my writer's arsenal that I allow to go on the track is much more than just here are some good rhyme schemes on the record. There's new pockets, there's new tonalities, much more substance in the things I'm saying, as opposed to the surface level stuff about rap.

00;09;10;08 - 00;09;34;09
Vin Jay
So just really, uh, crafting my own style throughout all of this, because in the beginning we all start because we get inspired by somebody. So you're bound to sound like that, but over time you get more influences, including yourself, and the style you've stumbled upon, and you just delve deeper into that. So every time I make a record like that, it's kind of like, Who am I now with the pen?

00;09;35;08 - 00;09;40;08
Aaron Pete
Fair to say that through this process of evolution, you learn more about yourself?

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Vin Jay
Oh, my God. Absolutely. Yeah. Music is my my journal. And it just so happens that I share my journal with the world, but it's, it's my method of choice.

00;09;50;17 - 00;09;59;29
Aaron Pete
You mentioned Break Down in the very beginning of the song. You talk about being abandoned and being independent and the challenges you were going through. Can you elaborate?

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Vin Jay
Yeah. I don't want to like air anybody out, but long story short, without getting too deep. When I was young and this is all reflecting, right, I've coped with all this in my adult years, but I'd like to tap into a younger venom. Like maybe I could go through what he was feeling with a much broader perspective on the topic and speak on it.

00;10;23;29 - 00;10;48;06
Vin Jay
So yeah, when I was younger, I went through like a pretty rough breakup. At the same time, my parents got divorced, so my mom was out of the house. So when I said abandoned, it was a really intense word to describe, I guess, just what I perceived as loss one after the next and the term. So yeah, that term abandoned is kind of like I just lost two people that I cared about.

00;10;49;07 - 00;11;07;14
Aaron Pete
And a connection and sounds like just seeing two people on the same page about things that when you see that dissolve it shapes. I know my partner, Rebecca, she was impacted a lot. She obviously still has connections with both her parents, but seeing their relationship kind of disintegrate changed her understanding of what a relationship is.

00;11;07;23 - 00;11;31;17
Vin Jay
Yeah, it shifts the whole dynamic you're operating within, right? You're in the nuclear family unit and then it changes and it's kind of like we need to maneuver this new space now. And sure, I mean, you know, if you're taking it hard, you're going to feel abandoned and then put it on yourself and and not realize the real reasoning behind adults splitting up and things of that nature and how it could be for the best.

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Vin Jay
But yeah, like I said, I was writing it from the perspective of me when I was 17 years old, as opposed to a 27 year old adult who understands all of it very fully.

00;11;41;12 - 00;12;00;21
Aaron Pete
Absolutely. Rebecca talks about that as well. When we first met, she carried that with her, that somehow when her mom asked her, Is it okay if I move out of is it okay if I do these things, that if she had said no, she would have changed the whole landscape of the world. But that's not true. Like, obviously, she had already made her decision, was taking steps in that direction.

00;12;00;28 - 00;12;09;13
Aaron Pete
But we can put that weight on herself. And in those moments, we don't have the the long term understanding of how complex relationships are and all of that.

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Vin Jay
Yeah, it's tough to tough to see clear when you're going through the storm. Right. It's always hindsight that makes it a lot easier. I always say that's why it's so easy to give other people advice. You could be going through it yourself and someone has a problem like, Oh, man, what do you need to do? I'll tell you right now, you got to do this, that and a turn.

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Vin Jay
It's easy as hell for us because we're not emotionally affected by it.

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Aaron Pete
Speaking of that, in the song you talk about refusing help from your peers. In the song Breakdown, you talk about how people wanted the best for you. They wanted to help, and you couldn't receive that. And I think that that's so important because in the time where we're seeing increases in overdoses, in the time where we're saying, go get help, go do the things, go do all the things you need to do to go succeed, People aren't able to go do that for themselves.

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Aaron Pete
And I'm wondering if you can just talk a bit about that mindset.

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Vin Jay
Yeah, I think whether it's from the perspective of me, then or me now attempting to help people I care about, you can't want help for someone more than they want it for themselves. It just doesn't work like that. You can't love addiction out of somebody otherwise, and everyone with a family would be okay, right? So it's kind of like life.

00;13;25;22 - 00;13;48;06
Vin Jay
Life has got to be the teacher for a lot of people. There is not much that you can tell them unless you're like incredibly impactful with your speech. That is like renowned and astounding for them to hear. And it's like a change of heart immediately. And that you need a why. If you want a serious change in your life, you need a really strong why.

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Vin Jay
And maybe the best we can do is provide that wide for that person, make them recognize that why. But ultimately, it's up to them to have it.

00;13;59;25 - 00;14;12;12
Aaron Pete
That's the story. Right? Any any you buy can endure anyhow. Like, once you have your way, you can get through the how to go about doing it. But you need that initial motivation Absolutely.

00;14;12;12 - 00;14;33;25
Vin Jay
And that can go for something as small of a decision as like losing weight. People can comfortably be 15, £20 overweight, and they're not going to attempt to get in better shape unless they have a really good reason. So why should I work really hard and work out just to get a nice body? I don't care that much about a really nice body.

00;14;33;25 - 00;14;43;25
Vin Jay
So it's okay. Well, what do you care about? Like if your doctor said you're going to have heart problems in ten years? Is that a strong enough? Why now all of a sudden working out is the easiest thing in the world for them and don't even think twice about it.

00;14;44;24 - 00;15;01;13
Aaron Pete
I actually went through that. I was significantly overweight all through middle school and high school and really couldn't look at myself in the mirror working a Dairy Queen. They'd call me Chubby Chicken Man. Like I had all the brutal kind of bullying. And the thing that pushed me was somebody being willing to come forward and say, Hey, let me take you to the gym.

00;15;01;13 - 00;15;18;06
Aaron Pete
Let me show you how to work on this. Let me show you a healthy diet. I was raised by a single mother who didn't know how to kind of give me all of those tools of how to cook a salad and how to have a balanced diet. And the desire was to stop being bullied. And I think sometimes we get so afraid of bullying people.

00;15;18;06 - 00;15;33;16
Aaron Pete
We want anti-bullying and we want everybody to have peace. But at times, that can actually be a huge motivator as long as it's done with a bit of jabbing and not just purely out of like an evil, mean spirited but if you kind of like, hey, you could be better than you are, and why don't you give that a try?

00;15;33;21 - 00;15;36;00
Aaron Pete
That can be inspirational and certainly was for me.

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Vin Jay
Oh yeah. It really is like the presentation of it because you could say to like if you have a group of friends and, and four out of five of them are telling you, you know, you're fine the way you are, but let's say you're like massively overweight, Ben. It's, it's damaging your health. And then one person says, do you like, yo, bro, you got to make a change.

00;15;59;00 - 00;16;16;24
Vin Jay
Like, think about your how or think about your future. Do you want kids? Things of that nature. It's so easy to turn around and say, now that you're being an asshole, that guy's an asshole. But I argue that the other four people are assholes for a completely enabling you and and potentially allowing you to make poor decisions for yourself.

00;16;17;07 - 00;16;36;05
Aaron Pete
I couldn't agree more I actually learned a statistic that when you are overweight and you have a child or when you're trying to conceive, that actually impacts the child. And whether or not they start to develop overweight as a baby. And so it can have long lasting implications. And that's certainly not something somebody struggling with the weight wants to hear.

00;16;36;10 - 00;16;53;03
Aaron Pete
But it can be a motivator if you take it as such, if you take it as the information that it is. And then you can also just be proud of yourself. I think with individuals like yourself, you come across with genuine confidence and like other words, get use, like cocky and stuff. But there's a difference between being comfortable in your own skin.

00;16;53;03 - 00;17;11;14
Aaron Pete
And that's something I didn't have for like ten years of my life of worrying about what shirt I was going to wear, what sweater I was going to wear, how I was going to cover it up and never feeling at peace. And I think that that can be such a challenge for people. And on that note, in your song, you also talk about this idea that you never wanted to die.

00;17;11;24 - 00;17;16;23
Aaron Pete
All you wanted was a second of peace. And I think that that's so important. Can you talk a bit about that?

00;17;17;20 - 00;17;41;28
Vin Jay
Yeah. So I think when any of us are going through turmoil or rough times, we look for an escape and we don't always choose a positive path that could be that escape, like exercise or meditation or therapy. You fill in the blank and we go to things because they're easier, they're instant gratification. In like drugs. And yeah, sure, let's start there like drugs.

00;17;42;19 - 00;18;04;16
Vin Jay
But what happens is when we're taking those drugs to numb the pain, to feel a little less hurt inside, and when we realize after some time that those drugs don't work, what's left I mean, we're kind of past the point of thinking that maybe I should meditate, maybe I should work out. It's kind of we've we've run down a different road at that point.

00;18;05;00 - 00;18;26;00
Vin Jay
So I think that's where the thoughts of like well, like, nothing is helping. So what's the point of living? Which is a horrible thought process, but you can see how you would land there. It's all for the search of peace within or choices to get it, but all for that search.

00;18;27;14 - 00;18;37;02
Aaron Pete
Is it hard to talk about these topics? Was this sudden easy song that came together naturally? It's very heavy in the information, but I think incredibly important.

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Vin Jay
So for me personally, it's not hard to talk about my experience with these topics because I've come to terms with it and it was so long ago when I realized by the reasoning it's not I won't even like bash my reasoning for why I did what I did. I just think I've gotten through that time in my life and more so it made me who I am today.

00;19;04;08 - 00;19;32;03
Vin Jay
I see the silver lining in it big time yeah. And regarding this song, though, was it hard to write? So I actually sat down, I wrote the hook first and it's kind of just like that psychotic feel like battling the demons in my mind all day. So I was like, Oh, I could just talk about, Oh, I'm so crazy that did I write all those rapid bars about being psychotic and whatever, but nothing was coming out.

00;19;32;04 - 00;19;50;14
Vin Jay
So I said, What if I write about an experience that I had in my life? That was dark? And of course, that's the first one that came to mind. And one of the most pivotal, pivotal moments of my life was that and I've never written a song about it. So I was like, Let's try it. And I had I was attempting to write for hours before that.

00;19;50;14 - 00;19;55;28
Vin Jay
The second I decided to write about that topic, oh shit. Poured out in night, 2 hours. The whole song.

00;19;56;23 - 00;20;00;04
Aaron Pete
Wow. What does it mean to know that this is going to impact other people?

00;20;00;24 - 00;20;21;11
Vin Jay
Yeah, everything. So I showed my mom the song before it was released, and you could imagine that that was tough for her to hear. She didn't even know about that, that entire scenario. So it was her first time hearing it and I don't remember exactly what she said, but she was expressing concern, like, Do I want to put this out?

00;20;21;15 - 00;20;41;03
Vin Jay
Like, because it's dark and I said, You know, I would be lying if I said I didn't think the same thing or haven't thought the same thing after I made this record. But then I thought if I heard this song from someone that I looked up to when I was going through this, I would have felt a lot less alone.

00;20;41;03 - 00;20;43;05
Vin Jay
And that is reason enough for me to put this out.

00;20;44;06 - 00;21;02;10
Aaron Pete
That's really motivational. The music video is also incredible, and Anakin is in it. And I'm just curious It's very deep, and I'm just curious as to how that came about. Did you have this in your mind when you were putting the song together? Did that come afterwards? How did the music video come about?

00;21;02;19 - 00;21;22;10
Vin Jay
So that's an interesting story. So Cannon is insane what he does. So and I know he struggled with similar things, so I said, I give you full creative control on this entire video. You know, draft it up, do your fucking thing. I went to the Airbnb and like filmed with them, but I was like, everything is just you have fun with the two days.

00;21;22;10 - 00;21;37;14
Vin Jay
You rented out the Airbnb for two days. We do like an eight hour shoot. The first day we had a few more shots to do. The next day we were going to get some like pill popping in the bathroom that was expressed in the song the getting sick on the Floor that was expressed in the song. We were going to get that in the video.

00;21;39;03 - 00;21;53;17
Vin Jay
I'm standing on a bed that night after the first day of shooting at my house, not at their Airbnb. They were sleeping at the Airbnb. Still, I'm about to fall asleep and I sit up, boom out of like almost a dead sleep. And I just said the words, it's not going to work. And my girlfriend is like, What?

00;21;53;18 - 00;22;18;05
Vin Jay
I was like, The video is not going to work. She's like, Why? I was, I guess too dark. I was like, this is just I was like, it's not. It's not visually exactly what happened in my scenario. So that was stressing me out. And I was like, this is really dark. It was just kind of fear. So I call Canon right then, and there was like midnight, and I was like, Dude, we are going to be able to roll with this video.

00;22;18;05 - 00;22;40;05
Vin Jay
Just pack it up. Don't do tomorrow. Shoot. Don't waste any more time there. So I tell my daughter dies, like, all right, I hear you. We end up shooting an entirely new video a few weeks later with me as the main actor at his house. And we kind of just like PG 13 did a little bit. I got that video back and I was like, this doesn't hit nearly as hard.

00;22;40;05 - 00;22;56;27
Vin Jay
Does it? And doesn't pull on the same horror strings that the first video did with Canon. So we went back to the original one that is now the official video, but we're literally missing like a bunch of scenes for the second half. Wow. Because I second thought it.

00;22;57;26 - 00;23;00;25
Aaron Pete
Are you proud of how it turned out the final copy for sure.

00;23;00;26 - 00;23;12;20
Vin Jay
I can't have regrets now. I kept myself a little bit cannibal. I'll tell you, I do this, bro. Like that is a typical admin thing to do is like as I do, stop listening. To me, he's like, What do you want me to do when you call me? I said, Just hang up.

00;23;15;03 - 00;23;24;23
Aaron Pete
I appreciate it, though, because you're putting that thought and energy into every piece to make sure that it turns out and make sure that it hits and that it resonates. And then it's going to connect with people.

00;23;25;22 - 00;23;43;06
Vin Jay
Absolutely. What's a little unfortunate about that video is because it's so dark and the acts that take place in the video, YouTube squashed it, the algorithm. There's two warnings on it. You have to click through two things to get to it. You have to be signed into YouTube to watch it. You have to be 18 and older with a profile that signed into watches.

00;23;43;06 - 00;24;00;09
Vin Jay
So I think the video I dropped two days ago already surpassed it because there's no, you know, precautions on it. But luckily Spotify doesn't do anything like that. So the song was able to get to as many people as I wanted it to for the sake of benefiting people in that place.

00;24;01;01 - 00;24;16;07
Aaron Pete
Fantastic. These days is the next song on the album. And again, it ties into this idea that we're living in a weird time and you actually comment on it, calling it like a Twilight Zone. We're in the Twilight Zone right now, and I'm just wondering how this song came about.

00;24;17;08 - 00;24;38;17
Vin Jay
Yeah, I think we spoke a little bit about social media on the last podcast we did Together Now and it's just like I open my phone and marketing is in my face. 24, seven, and it's so annoying. It like it drains my brain like that. That screenshot you sent me earlier, it's like, it's, I feel like it is all so fake.

00;24;38;17 - 00;24;57;12
Vin Jay
No one can just and don't get me wrong, I have to play the game as well. I just wish I didn't have to. Yeah, but no one could just say like, Hey, here's my new music and here's the video. We worked really hard on the audio. We worked really hard on. It's like to get these social media platforms to even push it to all of your followers or 50% of your followers.

00;24;57;18 - 00;25;17;16
Vin Jay
It needs to be this immediately engaging skit where now you have to play the role of an actor and a funny guy to get them to even rock with your art. So you're becoming somewhat of a gimmick and going somewhat off character from who you are just so your music can get heard, which is the most genuine form of yourself.

00;25;18;12 - 00;25;35;11
Vin Jay
It's just it's it's an unfortunate truth, but that's like some trouble in paradise. Shit, right? I almost hesitate to complain about that shit because it's like, Oh, boo! The rapper has to make some some content to make sure his song gets out. So I see both sides of it.

00;25;36;07 - 00;25;56;23
Aaron Pete
I think it's a challenge, though, because you're kind of morphing yourself into something else in order to deliver the thing that you love. And I do. I do sympathize with that challenge because people are always seeming to be looking for the next thing that's going to take off the next weird thing. You can do that where you can stand no differently than that other person rather than just kind of embracing that.

00;25;56;23 - 00;26;13;15
Aaron Pete
And I actually interviewed a Canadian rapper, Quik Matthews, and he does food reviews and he's like, I like food. I go to eat, and I just get the opportunity to talk about something else that I enjoy. But I'm not putting on any act. I'm not being anything else. I'm just showing a different side of the person I already am.

00;26;13;21 - 00;26;17;08
Aaron Pete
And I think that that's the the landscape you have to kind of navigate.

00;26;17;19 - 00;26;38;07
Vin Jay
Yeah, it's a completely different job. It's I signed up to be an art. I didn't I didn't sign up. I am an artist. I'm not an influencer. But now all artists have to be influencers as well. And I'll be honest, I think the majority of artists are introverts. So then we have to get in front of a camera, put on this big whatever act for the sake of getting our art out.

00;26;38;07 - 00;26;40;08
Vin Jay
And it's just weird. It's a new space to maneuver.

00;26;40;25 - 00;27;08;11
Aaron Pete
One of the lines is instead of watching, try chasing your dream. You're a person who's done that against all odds. We know how challenging the rap industry is. We know that it's one of the most competitive industries you've chosen to chase your dreams. Despite tons of barriers, despite tons of challenges. And I'm just curious, what do you have to say to people who are just sitting by watching their life go by and kind of grabbing that thing they've always wanted to do and chasing it?

00;27;10;19 - 00;27;35;02
Vin Jay
That's a tough one. As I know, not everyone wants to do what I do or what you do, right? Chase something big some people are content, uh, having a family, working a decent job and doing their thing. So I hesitate to tell people what they should be doing, but I think you should be taking steps towards doing whatever it is that makes you happy.

00;27;35;02 - 00;27;49;21
Vin Jay
And it sure scrolling on your phone is not that regardless of what you want and dropping negative comments and and just losing yourself in this, this alternate realm that is cyberspace and not the physical plant.

00;27;50;24 - 00;27;56;28
Aaron Pete
These days is a really good articulation of kind of where we're at in the sweet time. Do you have hope that we're coming out of this.

00;27;57;18 - 00;28;02;04
Vin Jay
That's all I can have, man. It would be a miserable existence if I didn't have it. You know.

00;28;02;24 - 00;28;20;14
Aaron Pete
The song it actually reminded me of, which is it's like almost juxtaposition is just going back to the song Paradise. Because as much as these things are kind of wrecking our views and and making us think differently, paradise is kind of not perfect. You put down the phone, you go back inside, you remember that this is paradise.

00;28;21;10 - 00;28;47;11
Vin Jay
Yeah. Yeah. Paradise was written in a very unique time in my life. And yeah, I think going to speak on the, you know, juxtaposition of those two songs, I think that's one of the biggest challenges that I faced. And probably a lot of artists or anyone trying to be an entrepreneur is balancing gratitude and ambition. Yeah, because it's like, I want more, I want more, I want more.

00;28;47;11 - 00;28;54;08
Vin Jay
It's like, well, how about you be grateful, but it's like, oh, you're too grateful for too long, narrow, complacent. It's a kind of it's a balancing act.

00;28;54;17 - 00;29;15;19
Aaron Pete
Yeah. And you're almost always thinking of five steps ahead and not soaking in so when people are like, Oh, that was a great episode for me, it's like, I'm already thinking about like the next one where I'm like, I've got to get this person on, or I want to talk about this. I want to talk about that topic and it's a challenge to kind of stay in that moment and enjoy that experience at that time and not get kind of too ahead of yourself.

00;29;16;06 - 00;29;30;22
Vin Jay
Yeah, I think we need a perspective of shift that the rest is beneficial and not a hindrance on our goals and that it could potentially even make that path easier and deal to greater results if we take that risk.

00;29;31;14 - 00;29;41;03
Aaron Pete
Couldn't agree more. The song Killer is also a deeper song. The music videos also probably got some some rules around it. I wouldn't be surprised.

00;29;41;05 - 00;29;48;13
Vin Jay
It actually doesn't. Shockingly, really. I think you avoided the the like detail of the shots very well.

00;29;49;03 - 00;29;52;22
Aaron Pete
How did that song come about for you and the music video?

00;29;53;14 - 00;30;28;13
Vin Jay
Yeah, so once again, that's another song where the verse my verse was written two completely different beat and it is worked better on that one. So I think on that one, I got the hook first because it just felt so dark and, and the hook, it's, it's a weird song because the hook is about that other side of you the negative voice in you that we always have the urge to feed into, whether it's like, oh, don't, don't do the right thing or don't do what's best for you in this moment.

00;30;28;13 - 00;30;44;27
Vin Jay
Oh, you could just do this or that dark voice as opposed to the other one that we always try to feed. So as you know, I got this killer inside my soul and lately I've been feeling like the killer inside my soul. And I've been feeling more like the dark voice than the one that guides me in the right direction.

00;30;45;13 - 00;31;00;18
Vin Jay
And the reason I say this song is weird. I think the video is very on par with the hook, but I think this song is weird because me and Chris is kind of just we're such a lyricists that I just, like, thought out on my verse. And when he heard my verse, he's like, Oh, this is a competition now.

00;31;00;28 - 00;31;09;29
Vin Jay
So he bars out on his verse. So we have this whole hook about that. The killer in your soul thing, and then Usher's both borrowing out on the verses.

00;31;11;07 - 00;31;32;19
Aaron Pete
One of the things that made me think of philosophically was I don't know if you know who Jordan Peterson is but there's this say, Oh, yeah, there's this idea that he has that you need to make yourself a monster and you need to have the ability to be strong and powerful and she fit in. Like if you were a knight, you have your sword on you and you wouldn't pull it out all the time.

00;31;32;19 - 00;31;49;09
Aaron Pete
But you need to be capable of being that person. And I think right now we struggle with this idea that to be a man or to be strong means that you're timid and that you're not going to come after people. And that makes you a good person. But being a good person is I could be this other person and I choose not to be.

00;31;49;12 - 00;31;51;21
Aaron Pete
And that's sort of what I was thinking of when you made that song.

00;31;53;05 - 00;32;12;05
Vin Jay
A Man Bro. I think the other side of that coin, because I've been in that headspace as well after that muscle ship I was telling you about. It's just like, man, just like everyone needs love everybody. Right? But and it's like, yeah, you don't need to exert this masculine energy to, to be a man. You could just be loving and still be a man.

00;32;13;06 - 00;32;32;28
Vin Jay
I agree to an extent, but that strength, that ability to be a master is necessary because if you don't have that, it's very likely. Hopefully not, but is likely that sometime in your life you're going to become a victim of something of someone who is capable of that and using it for evil, for lack of a better term.

00;32;34;12 - 00;32;51;26
Vin Jay
And especially if you have people in your life that you care about that depend on you to protect them and you don't have that capability. Good luck. Like, that's reason enough for me to want to be capable of monstrous things just because if I need them to protect the people I care about. Cool. Okay. I'll save all the loving stuff.

00;32;52;10 - 00;32;59;05
Vin Jay
And, you know, for them and and even strangers until it's time to get real. And then I'm going to make sure I could protect the people I care about.

00;32;59;20 - 00;33;16;03
Aaron Pete
This actually happens to me. Not that long ago, I was at the gym with Rebecca, and we were working out, and there was one individual there who seemed a little bit off from the get go, and he started following around the girls in the gym and getting very close to them and started trying to have conversations with them.

00;33;16;10 - 00;33;37;10
Aaron Pete
And we got very uncomfortable. And I was getting there was a part of me that wanted to go approach him aggressively, but this person had, I would say like an underlying almost joker kind of mentality that he's been through this before. You can be a person like that and not have people come out of you with negative energy and start having a negative conversation, and then it escalates from there.

00;33;37;15 - 00;33;53;22
Aaron Pete
And so we ended up going, Okay, this isn't the place. So we went downstairs and we just told the staff, Hey, just so you're aware, this person is up there, and they're like, he actually has a brain injury. And this is a problem that we've been dealing with for a period of time now. And there is that like, what do you do when the rubber hits the road?

00;33;53;22 - 00;34;07;13
Aaron Pete
Who are you? Are you going to be the person who stands up or are you going to be the person who flees? And how do you make the best decision? And you want to be the person who doesn't cower away and go, I'm not going to pay attention to it. I'm going to ignore it. You want to be the person who stands up when it comes down to it?

00;34;08;00 - 00;34;24;28
Vin Jay
Absolutely. It's a balancing act, bro. This whole life is a balancing act. The more like realms you get into like, Oh, wow, it's this. But I also got to make sure about this too, and I think that's a unique yang of life, right? So yeah, so we we got to train to be animals in our spare time. That be nice when we're not training to be animals.

00;34;25;07 - 00;34;48;25
Aaron Pete
There you go. The Paul Wall reference. So I had to do some digging. He was originally close with Chamillionaire I might have gotten the name wrong, but Chamillionaire and in 2004, he goes in and kind of gets into a fight with Chamillionaire, his younger brother, and they get on different pages, and then 20, ten, they kind of reconnect and do music together.

00;34;48;25 - 00;34;50;19
Aaron Pete
How did this reference come about in your song?

00;34;51;03 - 00;35;12;20
Vin Jay
Yeah, so to be honest, it is going to be a very anticlimactic answer. No. Full disclosure. So in the beginning of the song, it's the boys to proven them all wrong. So and hip hop, right? You can rhyme with anything from one syllable words to each syllable words, right? So if you're rhyming like up, the next line will be pop drop, stop.

00;35;13;22 - 00;35;38;18
Vin Jay
You go in two syllables like speaker, then it's like sneaker or T-shirt research, but eventually you get into like five syllable words and there's only so many, so many rhymes that you can do for five syllable words. So I said, God damn, the boy been proven them all wrong. That's the whole way has proven them all wrong. Then fans are still type like the music of Paul Wall fucking the whole game and I'm doing it raw dog enemies jump badly, they shoot and it's all add up.

00;35;39;00 - 00;35;42;24
Vin Jay
So. So why did I use it is because it rhymed as flawlessly.

00;35;43;29 - 00;36;03;25
Aaron Pete
It did seem like the story behind it actually did link up even if it was unintentional. No, because Palwal went out on his own and did his own thing and that very much kind of like aligns with my understanding of you because you're not jumping on every tour. Now that the world's back open, you are very much like you willing to work with others, but you've got your own vision and you're willing to stick to that.

00;36;04;08 - 00;36;26;02
Vin Jay
Absolutely. I try to take it day by day and those, corny as it sounds, let my soul guide me as to what I want to do right now. Excuse me, I'm drinking. These seltzers killing me and for the longest time, I didn't want to tour. I just didn't see the need. I was like. I was like, I could just make music from my studio.

00;36;26;05 - 00;36;40;01
Vin Jay
At my house and live a super laid back life of my lady and I and do whatever I want. Every day I make a song when I want to make a song and I can't tell me it's like summer vacation every day so it's like, oh, no. Let's go on the road for 30 days and live in a van.

00;36;40;01 - 00;37;06;19
Vin Jay
And so how about no. And but as of recently, I went to a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert last night, actually. And just to see, like, these sold out stadiums, man. And these dudes just lost in the moment in the vibrations on stage is like at this stage of my life, that looks kind of fun. And not to be on some rock star shit, just like the physical connection with the people who have heard my music and that it resonates with.

00;37;07;09 - 00;37;27;18
Aaron Pete
I couldn't imagine what that would be like because I've spoken to a lady who's kind of an expert on music, and one of the things we talked about is the idea that it's a religious experience to go to a concert, that you'll see people there. Sometimes they're on drugs, but you'll see them almost like when you see photos of them, they're like eyes are closed and they've got their hand up and they're kind of entranced.

00;37;28;02 - 00;37;33;13
Aaron Pete
I can't imagine being the person putting people into a trance. That would be a surreal experience.

00;37;33;18 - 00;37;56;02
Vin Jay
Yeah, I've I haven't done many live performances in terms of hip hop. I think I've done the four shows total in my entire life, but I did one. The biggest one I've done was me futuristic, kind of. How else was there was one Benjamin Minnelli I think it was those four. Those are the four people on the show.

00;37;56;15 - 00;38;20;10
Vin Jay
And so we did a little local Arizona show, but the sold out the venue and it wasn't a huge venue, maybe like one 200 people, but it was it was a small venue. So I felt like a packed basement party on a fucking MTV music video. And so they were lit. And like you said, to get that energy from them and like the call and response and you jump in the crowd, make everybody get low, and on three, everyone's jumping up and down.

00;38;20;10 - 00;38;26;24
Vin Jay
There's something to it. Like, I went on stage nervous and hopped off stage with a fucking adrenaline rush.

00;38;27;21 - 00;38;39;12
Aaron Pete
Yeah, I can imagine because you also get to see people know your lyrics as well as, you know, your lyrics. And seeing them connect with certain parts like that just seems like an incomprehensible experience.

00;38;39;15 - 00;38;51;07
Vin Jay
Yeah, that, that was the first show that happened to me and I was thrown off. I was just having a go on stage. I'm a performer, so I was going to have a good time and then I'm rapping when I look up at the crowd and there's this kid mouthing the words and I was like, What the fuck.

00;38;54;10 - 00;39;05;01
Aaron Pete
So you've got a feature on this song, and I'm just curious as to how that came about because you don't always do feature. So I'm curious, was there any logic behind this one? Did you guys connect somehow?

00;39;06;03 - 00;39;31;16
Vin Jay
Yeah. So me and Chris connected before this song came out or even, you know, came to fruition. It's he's friends with futuristic, and that's how a lot of artists really go because futuristic is like the hub for independent artists. I don't know what it is to do. Just he's got it on luck. So we met at his house and that's how we got connected.

00;39;31;16 - 00;39;49;11
Vin Jay
Like contact exchanges and all that. And when I got this record, I was like, Oh, I am hitting up Chris because this this has strange music sound all over it. That chopper style, the gritty vocals. And I also know that he struggles with mental health and at least the hook is about that, so to speak. So he'll kill it.

00;39;49;11 - 00;39;52;03
Vin Jay
But like I said, we just went crazy okay?

00;39;52;03 - 00;40;01;12
Aaron Pete
This might be an Easter egg that I'm diving too much into, but in the beginning of the music video, the album Shock Treatment is held up. Is there any logic behind that?

00;40;01;25 - 00;40;30;20
Vin Jay
Yeah. So that was more so video treatment like idea. So we are doing clearly the entire American Psycho reenactment in the video. So we're like, how do we tie in credits to this scene? Because the scene is the scene. It doesn't make sense to have Chris in it, especially from another location because he's in a different state. So the concept we came up with because in American Psycho is nerding out on music is like, Oh, do you like these guys?

00;40;30;20 - 00;40;50;20
Vin Jay
And he always murder music before he kills people. So I was like, Aw, I think it kind of brought it up, actually. He's like, What if you introduce, like Chris's CD? So now he's like your inspiration. You listen to him and he's your inspiration to be a psychopath and go murder these people. And I was like, I like it perfect.

00;40;51;09 - 00;41;02;27
Aaron Pete
This album, What to Doubt is next. And you talk about this idea not to tour. Are we going to see a tour is this something that's off the table? I'm just curious as to as to whether or not we're going to see something coming soon.

00;41;03;07 - 00;41;25;20
Vin Jay
If you asked me six months ago if I was going to tour, it probably would have been a no, because of the answer I gave you before. I'm like, Why should I? But I've been in talks literally today and let's say this past week of setting that up, whether it be with other artists or what have you. Yeah, tour is definitely in the future and not in the distant, distant future either.

00;41;25;29 - 00;41;39;20
Aaron Pete
Is there something you're very thoughtful person? Is there something you'd want to do differently? You kind of talked about just kind of sitting in a van and doing that for a month straight doesn't excite you. Is there something you would want to do differently? Than perhaps the traditional approach?

00;41;40;09 - 00;42;02;13
Vin Jay
Yeah. So I've actually spoken about this. Zach Futuristic asks me why I don't tour and I always said, like, when I do tours, I am not getting on a stage holding a microphone and just rapping at people. The way I see it is it's a show. It's you are the entertain summit. If you think about like the example I always use is like Blue Man group, right?

00;42;02;26 - 00;42;27;26
Vin Jay
It is a show. You go there, you're enthralled and it's captivating and and they've been touring for decades and it's like, why do you think? Because they've turned the show into an experience. So that is something I want to make sure I curate before I even step on the road. Is things and moments that go along with the performance of each song, whether it be choreographed dancers with me or a light show or, or fans come up on stage.

00;42;27;26 - 00;42;41;21
Vin Jay
Just really creative shit that even if you weren't a fit, this is the kicker. Even if you weren't a fan of my music, you came to the show and didn't know me you see the show and it's just undeniable and you're like, Dad was fucking sick.

00;42;42;23 - 00;43;00;10
Aaron Pete
I love that. The other fear I have among people who have to tour is it seems like it sucks the life out of you. When you think about having to be on the road, go to the next place, do the same thing, get everybody excited, go to bed, at unreasonable hours, wake up at unreasonable hours and go do it all again.

00;43;00;18 - 00;43;14;22
Aaron Pete
It echoed, talked about eating too much pizza, and at the beginning it's like, Oh yeah, pizza every day. And then a weekend, you're like, If I have to eat another piece of pizza, I am going to attack somewhat. And so do you have any thoughts on how you would approach that in a healthier way?

00;43;15;25 - 00;43;48;28
Vin Jay
Yeah, I think I mean, if we're talking diet specifically, meal prep would probably be smart and cheaper at that. But I think curating I think tours can pay a lot of money. So it's easy to get lost in the fact of the more I do, the more I get paid. But if you can maybe dial back a little bit and curate your tour schedule to something that's more manageable for you and your body and you just give yourself proper rest, you might take a hit on the money, but it might be an overall more enjoyable experience.

00;43;49;14 - 00;44;05;20
Aaron Pete
I'm just going to quietly pray that you come to British Columbia. Your next song is what's dealt and like. I just want to talk about the song a little bit more because you have the song down in the human experience, and then you have the song What to Do. Was there any logic in how they kind of connect?

00;44;06;06 - 00;44;26;25
Vin Jay
So I typically get the names of my songs for what's repeated in the hook right So I was hesitant to make it what's down because I have the song in doubt, but it's kind of just like it was a braggadocious record of like, like look at what I'm doing, like what's out? Like, look, good idea. Look what I did.

00;44;26;25 - 00;44;57;21
Vin Jay
Look what I did was doubt. Like, why should I doubt? When I reflect on everything that I've achieved, when all these people told me I couldn't do this shit and continue to so insist these braggadocious records are so funny because I go in these peaks of valleys of my regular life of self crippling doubt to to light and to rise out of the ashes and made king of the jungle but it's only because I was feeling that crippling doubt for so long that it's like, no, fuck you.

00;44;57;21 - 00;45;02;04
Vin Jay
And it's like a fuck you to myself of the half of me that is so doubting.

00;45;02;21 - 00;45;03;09
Aaron Pete
So that's.

00;45;03;16 - 00;45;04;05
Vin Jay
His battle.

00;45;04;15 - 00;45;20;12
Aaron Pete
I loved the design of it because it may have not been intentional, but this feeling in the beginning of doubt, talking about how other people are going to make comments, they're going to question you. They're going to say, Are you on the wrong path? Should you be doing this? Does this make sense? Maybe keep your day job, don't go too quickly.

00;45;20;18 - 00;45;36;25
Aaron Pete
And then hitting this point where it's like, no, that's just crazy talk. Like there's a point in your life where you're going to hear and you're going to be like, oh, like I'm a little nervous. Hands are sweaty, but at a certain point, once you make it, once you start to see the the yields of your efforts, then you start to kill Lennon.

00;45;36;25 - 00;45;41;27
Aaron Pete
And then this was crazy the whole time. And to even consider listening to these people is just silliness.

00;45;42;09 - 00;45;57;22
Vin Jay
Yeah, that's a good point because in doubt the song Doubt, I touch on all those people who do act like that, and what's down is kind of more like the fruits of my labor from not listening to that. So I could see how there is some sort of connection between those two.

00;45;58;00 - 00;45;59;20
Aaron Pete
That's certainly what I got out of it.

00;45;59;21 - 00;46;00;26
Vin Jay
I wouldn't take credit for it.

00;46;01;03 - 00;46;13;07
Aaron Pete
Do I also have to ask I sat down with Enkay 47 not too long ago and we talked about Coward, and I'm just curious as to how that song impacted you, what it was like to collab.

00;46;13;26 - 00;46;33;22
Vin Jay
Yeah, that was a cool one. Me and Mike been trying to get a record in for sure. He got on a record for me in 20, 20 and I was like, Cool, I owe you one, right? And I just cashed it in for him. He said that to me is to me a few, but none of them were We just didn't vibe collectively with them.

00;46;34;18 - 00;46;52;04
Vin Jay
So this one I got on, I think I wrote the whole shit once. I actually sat down on the beat. I wrote it in like a day record as a bomb, and he was stoked about it. But it was really nice because the topic of the song is something I resonate with and it goes to what we were speaking about earlier, that being animal share, right?

00;46;52;04 - 00;47;21;14
Vin Jay
I think we all have, whether Younger Now, have dealt with that timid side of us and I think I'm in a place now that it's kind of like I've dealt with that part of me, and I have worked on crafting a more intense side of me as well. So I wanted to structure my verse like that where it starts in the timid aspect and ends on the other end of it because it starts like he says, I'm not afraid anymore of the hook.

00;47;21;14 - 00;47;35;25
Vin Jay
And I said, I used to be afraid, now I'm terrified. And then it's like, Oh, so I'm in this dark place, burn, you hear me? Climb out of the darkness. Throughout the entire verse. And then at the end, I kind of say, I don't know what to say, but I know it ends with bitch. So I probably said something awesome.

00;47;36;03 - 00;48;00;13
Aaron Pete
Because you have this line in there till I pass away. I play in the master pain. And I think that that just goes to that point of we spend so much trying to avoid bad things happening to us. But what you realize over time is all of the strongest, most resilient people. Some of the people you probably admire the most have overcome such challenge such adversity, that that's what makes them admirable.

00;48;00;13 - 00;48;11;00
Aaron Pete
It's not the fact that they didn't go through anything. All the people that we think of as big deals often went through the worst things in order to come out the other side. And that's what's admirable.

00;48;11;17 - 00;48;49;03
Vin Jay
Yeah. And I think like I said earlier, that's tough to see when you're going through it, but I think that's why I like implementing suffering, like intentional suffering into your day to day, like rigorous exercise or, or let's say old plunges, right? Things that are intentional suffering that, you know, have positive benefits are a really good method to help you maneuver those times that may be hard and and to cause actual suffering in you because it's not like every other day before that suffering here you are living some cushy, comfortable life.

00;48;49;03 - 00;48;55;21
Vin Jay
You kind of put yourself in the fire several times so your brain is cut out for and it helps you maneuver those times a little better when they do hit.

00;48;56;17 - 00;49;17;16
Aaron Pete
Absolutely. Showing everybody who's ridiculed what a kid will do when he's kind of making he's been abused is probably one of my favorite lines because I was doubted as a kid growing up and to be able to see the journey that I've been on. But it kind of goes to that same point of being willing to see what you're capable of, like beyond anybody else's recognition or comments.

00;49;17;19 - 00;49;31;09
Aaron Pete
It's worthwhile to see what you're capable of. And I love how you started this kind of conversation with you. Go into the studio and you start to make a song and start to see where you're at, what you're capabilities are, and I just think that's so motivational.

00;49;32;13 - 00;49;52;14
Vin Jay
Yeah, absolutely, man. I think I think the pain and the rough things we go through can be some of the best shit that ever happens to us if we have the ability to transmute it. But you got you got to really look at it from a third person perspective and say, how can I transmute this pain into something that can benefit me?

00;49;53;09 - 00;50;02;05
Aaron Pete
I have to ask what's coming next? I know you just dropped this project to probably a lot of work went into it, but I wouldn't be a good interviewer if I didn't ask what's coming soon.

00;50;02;08 - 00;50;24;06
Vin Jay
You sound like my comment section. I don't know if I keep it that I was an x r I like fan Yeah. What is next? So I will say this. I have a lot of music even though I just dropped what I was doing while it was dropping. These all these songs was just in here making more music.

00;50;24;06 - 00;50;50;01
Vin Jay
So I think I have like eight to ten unreleased songs right now. I'm not dropping another album right now. I'll probably drop singles every two weeks or so, but I got to let the EP breathe for like a month and a half. Two months maybe. And then I'm going to start unleashing these singles and potentially touring and what the hell else was I going to say?

00;50;52;17 - 00;50;54;28
Vin Jay
Yeah, we'll leave it at that because I remember what I was going to say.

00;50;55;07 - 00;51;05;20
Aaron Pete
Well, I'm super excited. I really appreciate this album. I appreciate the thought that you put into each song. Can you tell people how they can connect with you? Your website, Spotify, Apple Music.

00;51;06;10 - 00;51;28;16
Vin Jay
Yeah. So you can find me on Spotify and Apple Music. Just type in Vin J. V and Space J y. Instagram and Twitter are at Real then J. Same with Facebook. Tik Tok is the only one that's different. It's real change music. Uh, and my website is the youngest profit dot com. That's where you can get all my merch albums.

00;51;28;16 - 00;51;34;15
Vin Jay
The EP, you can get autographs on everything for free. If you like, and I think that's it.

00;51;35;04 - 00;51;51;27
Aaron Pete
I have one more important question. It's the most important question I'm going to ask today. Where do rap handles come from? Because my producer Tim has been asking me, he wants to know I don't have the answer. Do you know where rap handles come from? Why people don't just go by their name has.

00;51;52;09 - 00;52;18;12
Vin Jay
Or got you that's a good question. Maybe because it is rap, right? Hip hop. It's about being like it's about being like hip to what's going on in cool and just like I think it's just it's for a certain it's for a certain vibe about you. You create this and I don't want to say alias, but there's energy around the name and what it brings.

00;52;18;12 - 00;52;26;28
Vin Jay
It's kind of like, what energy do I bring to the music? And maybe that energy doesn't sound like your government name. Maybe it sounds like something a little cooler that you can cure.

00;52;26;28 - 00;52;41;25
Aaron Pete
Rate down you go. That makes sense. Vijay, I appreciate you so much for being willing to do this again. It's such an honor I admire you greatly. So the ability to ask you questions about your latest project, your last project. It's just such an honor for me.

00;52;42;07 - 00;52;44;01
Vin Jay
It's an honor to be here, bro. Every time.

00;52;44;21 - 00;52;46;14
Aaron Pete
So did we get an answer to the question?

00;52;47;20 - 00;52;49;04
Tim
Yeah, I'm pretty much what I thought.

00;52;49;17 - 00;52;50;14
Aaron Pete
Are you satisfied?

00;52;51;16 - 00;53;09;13
Tim
Um, well, what I was curious is, at what point does that rap handle name show up on your driver's license? No more or something like Jay-Z, for example. I'm thinking it's his legal name now, but I don't know that.

00;53;10;20 - 00;53;15;11
Aaron Pete
That's a good question. So, like Eminem, you think maybe he gave up the Marshall Mathers?

00;53;15;12 - 00;53;24;26
Tim
I think he probably still Marshall Mathers, because it is. But I don't I don't know Jay-Z's real name. I'd have to go to Wikipedia to find that out, I imagine.

00;53;25;13 - 00;53;26;12
Aaron Pete
Right beyond.

00;53;26;12 - 00;53;35;24
Tim
Beyoncé. Yeah, but Vinge, for example, is a real name, came up on the Zoom window in our podcast here. Yeah. So I thought that was interesting.

00;53;36;14 - 00;53;42;27
Aaron Pete
And so you see that there's like more of a connection where maybe some names, it's just kind of super far from.

00;53;43;17 - 00;53;44;27
Tim
I don't know. I'm just speculating.

00;53;45;11 - 00;53;49;18
Aaron Pete
I could use one. I could use one that kind of. Yeah, like an alter ego.

00;53;49;19 - 00;53;51;06
Tim
Let's name you right now.

00;53;51;10 - 00;54;01;02
Aaron Pete
I had a math teacher in high school and super inspirational guy, but he switched my name to Sweep, MC Treat. What do you think?

00;54;02;02 - 00;54;07;12
Tim
Done Yeah. So he ruled like Pete Sweep.

00;54;07;12 - 00;54;08;06
Aaron Pete
MC Treat. Yeah.

00;54;08;14 - 00;54;12;04
Tim
Sweet Pete MC Treat. Yeah, yeah. I like it.

00;54;12;28 - 00;54;15;24
Aaron Pete
It seems humble. Far for.

00;54;16;16 - 00;54;21;25
Tim
Yeah. And it I didn't know that you worked the Dairy Queen. It goes with the Dairy Queen job. Wow.

00;54;21;27 - 00;54;29;28
Aaron Pete
There you go. I didn't think of that either. Yeah. I mean, it's a McDonald's and the milk treat, right? Kind of a competition back.

00;54;30;08 - 00;54;34;20
Tim
So I did see a blank look on your face when when Jay mentioned blue and group.

00;54;35;14 - 00;54;38;01
Aaron Pete
Okay, so I understand that they're blue man.

00;54;38;12 - 00;54;42;11
Tim
What is was that the first time you heard of Blue Man Group?

00;54;42;24 - 00;54;54;14
Aaron Pete
No, I've heard them on the news, and they're like, the Blue Man group is presenting, but I've never watched them, and I have seen that they are, in fact, blue people. Yeah, I'm not 100% sure if they're all mad and.

00;54;55;29 - 00;55;26;09
Tim
They are and they do not speak. It started in Chicago and then it they do everyone's residency around different like in Vegas. They've been there for years. They're now in the Pyramid one, whatever that's called Luxor. They have a permanent theater in the Luxor Casino and it's amazing show and there's no vocals whatsoever. Or it's all musical. They play mainly PVC pipes.

00;55;26;27 - 00;55;36;00
Tim
They are Blue Man, and they are it's all wet paint on them. It's it's quite amazing. You need to YouTube that.

00;55;37;15 - 00;55;46;04
Aaron Pete
You're making it less appealing. Well, like I went from like, I don't know anything now. It just feels like there's these guys who stand on stage that are blue.

00;55;46;15 - 00;55;52;04
Tim
If it yeah. And for 2 hours plus. Wow.

00;55;52;10 - 00;55;55;00
Aaron Pete
But I think I'm busy that night.

00;55;55;23 - 00;56;01;17
Tim
We've got some homework to do. Before the next recording to come back and tell me what you think. A Blue Man group.

00;56;02;03 - 00;56;25;04
Aaron Pete
Can we can we make a new rule, though, when you are off camera like other people can't see you, but I can still see you are and you are going to like this. I'm very concerned that something has gone horribly wrong. And then I started getting a little bit distracted because you were like and I just got more and more nervous about something going horribly wrong.

00;56;25;21 - 00;56;29;04
Tim
Oh, okay. So you actually see me in camera 13. Their interest.

00;56;29;04 - 00;56;40;09
Aaron Pete
Correct? Yeah. So when you're, like, concerned, you look like you want to see something and you look a little like you're holding back but I'm in the middle of an interview, and it's wondering, no.

00;56;40;18 - 00;56;42;22
Tim
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to remove that little bit.

00;56;42;22 - 00;56;43;08
Vin Jay
No, no, no.

00;56;43;08 - 00;56;53;14
Aaron Pete
No, no, no. It actually helps to have like, an audience and to know what your reaction is. But when your reaction is like, it just seems like you're a little bit like a little bit frustrated or something.

00;56;53;28 - 00;56;56;29
Tim
Well, there was one. Did you get my message just below the timer?

00;56;57;07 - 00;57;01;20
Aaron Pete
I didn't. I was actually leading the other like I was planning. So what was the message?

00;57;01;20 - 00;57;02;02
Vin Jay
And then I.

00;57;02;02 - 00;57;05;25
Tim
Think that I moved it here. I'll put it on screen so you can read it.

00;57;06;07 - 00;57;07;26
Aaron Pete
Well, we're not going to tell the audience at home.

00;57;08;06 - 00;57;09;21
Tim
Well, you can read what it says.

00;57;10;09 - 00;57;15;06
Aaron Pete
On your knee bound is strong today. See if you can slow it down.

00;57;15;14 - 00;57;26;01
Tim
It was going psycho where your mike is starting to bop a bit. And I think it was leaning talking to a hero mode yes.

00;57;26;01 - 00;57;44;12
Aaron Pete
That is how I get what I'm talking to when I get nervous. I was worried that it was my stomach growling that was showing up. Know, and that's why you were sitting like that. Is this because you were like, did he not eat today? I don't like to eat prior to an interview because I feel like it slows me down a little bit.

00;57;44;17 - 00;57;56;24
Aaron Pete
And I get a little like not like sleepy, but I just kill a little bit like less sharp. And so I don't eat. And then we were all the way good. And then we started recording and then I started to hear grumblings.

00;57;57;07 - 00;58;05;00
Tim
I know this is a little long for the for the the post-game show here, but can we talk about you rolling in here with 8 minutes ago?

00;58;05;16 - 00;58;07;28
Aaron Pete
I mean, you know why.

00;58;08;02 - 00;58;10;02
Tim
That's fair and fair enough? I won't.

00;58;10;16 - 00;58;27;29
Aaron Pete
I felt like it was bold because this problem happened the last time and I felt fresh. I felt ready to go, but I could hear it on my drive over. I was like, I'm going to get it a second time. When then told Rebecca, I was like, this just seems to be like a theme and it seems like a risk taker.

00;58;28;06 - 00;58;30;24
Aaron Pete
I think it was like 10 minutes, but, you know, whatever.

00;58;31;20 - 00;58;33;19
Tim
Yeah. Yeah, that's I mean.

00;58;33;19 - 00;58;35;09
Aaron Pete
Even kind of trying to call me.

00;58;35;18 - 00;58;38;26
Tim
A little slim for my liking.

00;58;39;06 - 00;58;47;05
Aaron Pete
But you don't think we've built up, like, enough trust? I feel like in those early days, there was like a little bit of like, who is this guy to do? And here?

00;58;47;05 - 00;59;03;15
Tim
No, it's not that I don't trust you. It's that I need to check that your audio that the right level that you're in focus then and just the general things plus the setup of the studio was a completely different set up all weekend and it just means that I want to make sure everything is working.

00;59;04;22 - 00;59;14;11
Aaron Pete
Everything's working great. We got through it. I promise to be here earlier next time out of cokes coke see your woes perfect.

00;59;15;05 - 00;59;15;28
Tim
They'll know for days.

00;59;16;12 - 00;59;41;00
Aaron Pete
Till next time. Make sure that you go subscribe on Substack. Check out our website. We've got a sponsorship section we got in the section. We've got some photos of Tim. They all look fantastic. Make sure that you read the podcast. It always helps and make sure you go check over and Jay's music because I'm a huge fan and you will be to when you listen to some of his music because he's a mensch.