#476 - Dee-1

Whoa, what's good everybody, It's your boy at D one And you could check me out on the Bootleg cav podcast.

Yo, Bootleg cap podcast. Man special guests in here. My got D one is in the building, Yes, sir, welcome, Welcome, welcome man. Twelve years later, for sure, Bro, we first linked up in twenty twelve. I was on tour with Macklemore. We stopped through Tucson or Phoenix, Phoenix. It was like ten p yep, somehow, some way, some then you called the clubhouse, yeah yep, and I ended up at the three. That was like right when like the rip shop thrift Shop started to pop. It was kind of like it

It's like by the time that tour ended, Maclamore was a superstar. Bro. That tour was crazy.

We were doing like fifteen hundred and two thousand CAP venues at the beginning of the tour. By the end of the tour they were like, Hey, we about to run this tour back and this time we're doing full arenas.

You know, it's crazy.

Yeah, So that's when we met, Bro. So thank you even back then for rocking with me.

I don't know.

I was independent, so maybe you just saw me open up for him and you were like, oh this do same.

Do I think you were doing your thing too, Like I think I remember just seeing you on Like back then it was like the blog game was still now right to yeah, shot to Shake and making those guys two Door Boys was my site. Man, I'll go there, Sam Hill. I was like, yeah, I got similar taste to these guys. So it was crazy too because we

They had taste. Now it's just mind control. Yeah, playlists ain't nothing but mind control.

But back then it was literally people who love music who are like, if it moves me, if I like it, it's getting posted it no matter how big it is, and you go, it don't matter what label is pushing it to me.

Sure you know, I mean there was integrity. There was integrity back then.

And It's crazy too, because there were more gatekeepers than per se during the blog era, but those dudes at the very least have like, in my opinion, like great taste, you know what I mean. Like I found so many artists on those sites that were like ground level artists here, bro, Like.

I am who I am today because of blog era hip hop. So the all hip hop dot coms of the world, shout to my man, Chuck Shaking Meccas from Two Dope Boys, the uh Tumabasa from MTV jams.

You heard oh Man music now right? Yeah?

John Gotti from the Smoking Section.

Yo, I love the speaking of guys. The Smoking Section was one of my fucking favorite sites. Yeah, Bro, I found like rits on there was a lot of like that was a good time, man.

That was a good time.

Bro. So we're like like now that there's because we're talking about gatekeepers, because you've been through kind of like I would say a lot of iterations of like what it means to be an artist in terms of like your experiences with the industry, right, because you've been on a major label as well, and now you're back to kind of are you you're fully independent independent?

What would you say, is the.

Being a part of so many eras of the music industry, What would you say is the most like fruitful way for an artist to kind of pop from, Because like now you see guys like L Russell kind of re envisioning what it means to be independent. You know, there's offer based shows and there's a website called even people are just selling music.

Sanul price for the music correct right.

And so it just seems like there's like this like quiet revolution happening, like against the machine. But like it is it better than when it was, like when you got in.

Yes, because there's middle class rap.

Now.

Back then they didn't have middle class rap.

You either a mega superstar or you a starving artist trying to make it. Now there's all these artists who are making six figures a year, even a cool seven figures a year, you heard me, and half the game might not even know who they are, but they just super serve their fan base. They know what their niche is, you feel me, and they super serve them. There's people like me and like L Russell who will go direct to consumer with our music. I don't I don't ever

Yeah, on iTunes, right behind.

Eminem number two in the world independent right, that album had been out for three months on your fullhand yeow.

So it's like your fans got it first. Yeah, my diehards got it first.

People paying up to one thousand dollars for the album cam right, literally multiple people thousand here, a thousand and there, five hundred here, two fifty there, ten dollars here, twenty dollars there.

But you add that up now when I put it on streaming.

To still do those type of numbers and make that type of impact on streaming, it's powerful.

Well you know what I mean.

And the album consists of let me see, I had Fredo Bang featured on the album. You know FREDI I think you have Frederick that's my former middle school student.

I used to be his teacher.

What yeah, bagging band ruge Yeah, right, so crazy. Like Fredo is on the album That's Love. That's a relationship. Project Patters on the album you Hear Me That's Love. That's a relationship. My brother star Ledo is on the album you hear Me That's Love.

Try to start Leado very slept on due Mat shot out to Nashville.

Yeah, bro, So this feels like the best ever ever to where if you are willing to work hard. Before it was working hard but still having to go through gatekeepers. Now with social media, you can go directly to the people. And when you form a connection with the people, they don't care who you signed to.

They don't care what other artists are co signing you.

You know, there was an ever where you had to have a big co sign to really get in.

You know what I'm saying. It's not like that anymore.

So, if you're willing to work hard and if you got a product that the fans could tell, man, I love your art, but I love your heart, They're gonna lock.

In with you, bro, and that's the key to my longevity. Yeah.

I was gonna say, like, it feels like, you know, there's almost artists are so ignorant. I feel like there's dope, independent artists, or even ignorant to the possibility of like doing that. As opposed, they're chasing playlists. They're chasing the wrong shit where it's like, Yo, if you even got like one hundred people racking with you, one hundred people, that's some enough to pay the.

Bills straight up, I mean straight up, straight up.

If you got a hundred people spending one hundred dollars a year with you, that's ten rags.

Yeah, off of just one hundred people.

Yeah.

If you get a thousand people to spend one hundred dollars a year with you, that's a hundred rags.

Bro.

People don't want to think about it like that because the playlist is what it has been glamorized. Just for everybody watching this, I've been on the big playlist. I'm on them right now as we speak. I'm sure some of my singles are on some of these big playlists as we speak.

That stuff don't change your life.

Man.

That's somebody working out in the gym or just with their music playing at the crib.

They're not engaged, they're not even on, but it comes on.

Yeah, it's like, oh, it's on, and then like you're making minimum money off of I think it's thirty eight hundred semi dollars off of a million streams.

Yeah, so you're making one third of a penny for every individual stream. So then you do the math, and I believe, like you said, on a million streams, that might come out to like thirty eight hundred dollars. Bro, if somebody listened to my music a million times, Bro, I better be making more than that.

No, it's it's it's actually crazy.

It's like I feel like there has to be And then there are major labels who have ownership stake in.

Some of the playlists or in pees that you go in Spotify.

Yeah, and so it's like, at what point in time is this whole thing like rigged against like an artist that isn't on in that system. I wouldn't say rigged, but it's very, very almost damn near impossible, Yeah, to make a career off of music if you're just depending on like the conventional.

Streaming income, yesps DSP, you're cooked.

Let you win the lottery.

Cap I think I got.

I think I counted about thirteen income streams that I have just off of music.

I'm gonna try to recall them right now.

So we got streaming royalties, we got publishing, we got direct to consumer, name your own price money, we got concerts, we got merch we got speaking engagements. Currently, I'm a college professor. I me at Harvard University and a professor at Toughs University in Boston. I teach a course called the Intersection of Hip Hop and Social Change, so teaching.

You know what I mean?

You got features, collabs, you feel me. You got brand partnerships and endorsements.

When you can get those, that's nine right there.

You got.

I know I'm forgetting some more because I always think about them. That's easy off the top of my head. Quick nine right there.

You know what I mean.

You got sink licensing.

Yeah, when you get your song sinth in movies and then commercials and all that and this type of stuff. I don't know if I say it speaking engagements. Maybe did. Yeah, But this is just a quick litt ten piece that I named.

You know what I mean.

Some artists are just super focused on just one one, one stream of income.

It ain't supposed to be like that. No more.

Man, You got podcasting. I just launched my first episode of my podcast today. Congress it's called flipping tables with D one. You heard me, because so much has been happening over the past year. I don't know how much you've been keeping up, man, but I've been in some pretty high profile back.

And forth back and forth.

I think and Rick Ross, right, Yeah, Jim Jones meet meil Rick Ross, and Joe Buden chimed in, and it didn't feel fair to me that a brother like Joe Budden, who I.

Never met before, I heard you call him out on the new Yeah, on a new song.

Yeah, because he had three full podcast episodes where I'm a topic of discussion of his, you know, and he gets to in long form content, gets to speak his piece about who he thinks D one is and how he thinks D one is just a cloud chaser and not legit and da.

Da da da da, and speaking down on even my faith.

You heard me, the fact that I'm Christian and all this type of stuff. And I was, like day based on the way I put content out, all I got is songs and maybe ninety second reels.

So I love the fact of it.

Salute to you, even for with podcasting when you're really a thinker. You heard me, like you're really a thinker and a listener, so it allows you to have these longer conversations to where you can understand someone's hard and their thought process behind what they're doing.

Yeah, it's almost like when you watch like the news and people like form opinions based on like four people on TV trying to each get in their forty five second point as opposed to like listening to like a politician or somebody speak on like a long form conversation where you can get like for the understanding.

It's the same shit.

It's like like like you said, like now you can articulate your points in a greater way if you have your own podcast.

And then Kendrick Lamug just threw me the alley oop of all alley oops last week. You hear me sh Now the Kendrick shit's crazy, Like where were you when when you I was on Instagram Live. Yeah, on Instagram Live because my city in New Orleans was very mad with me. I was like public aneman number one last week to New Orleans because when the announcement came out that Kendrick was performing at the Super Bowl, so many people in New Orleans were mad, super upset that it wasn't Lil Wayne.

I noticed, Yeah, And I'm from New Orleans. You know, it's my hometown.

Man.

For me to say like, yo, like, let's keep it a buck. You heard me, Like, where's this sense of entitlement coming from? Like the artist has to be somebody from New Orleans just because the super Bowl is here, number one and number two.

I was keeping it a hundred.

I'm a former middle school teacher, I'm a college professor. I'm a dude who's hip hop music is clearly message driven, you know what I'm saying. It got message mixed in with dope beats and dope flow and all that. So when we talk about the message, I was like, let's keep it a hundred. About the message that Wayne has often glorified in his music.

You know what I'm saying, is that something that is necessarily conducive to one hundred million plus audience who's gonna be watching the super Bowl have to and just me saying that, Bro, it's the same stuff I was saying with Rick Ross and and you know back then almost a year ago, and the city had my back then, but now because it applied to somebody from the city, I just.

Said, like obviously Wayne's a legend, but I think like if you just if you're the super Bowl and you're the NFL, Like he just did WrestleMania.

And forgot a lot of his lyrics and it was it was a less.

Than best performance, and like he's just had like interesting on stage situations over the last few years.

He's like walked off and like, I.

Just don't know if I'm like yo, Like Kendrick also happens to be like the number. I mean, like having a crazy year and he's Kendrick Lamar, Like what are we talking about? Like over the last decade, Like that's the move.

He's been a glitch in the matrix in that he clearly has a message in his music that's about pushing things forward in life, right progression, but has become a mainstream as you could get you know what I'm saying, Like that's and.

He's always here and he's always been that. That's rare, bro, It's never He's never not done what he is doing. So what message do we want to send to the kids at home?

Do we want to send a message that it's possible to stand for something, you know, to have some morals, values and principles.

And make it and make it right. That's a fire message to send you, hear me. So when I got the announcement that Kendrick shouted me out in his new song, I was on Instagram live explaining this to a lot of people in my city who were mad at my commentary on the super Bowl, and all of a sudden, the comments got flooded with a wave of new people saying, Kendrick Lamach just shout.

At you out, yo, Kendrick just mentioned you.

So I didn't know if it was real or not, but I was like, whether or not that's real.

They say he's giving you your flowers. This is amazing.

I said, the thing about flowers, y'all, is that flowers eventually die. I said, So, if it's true what y'all are saying, salute to Kendrick.

I love you, my brother, thank you. But I want everybody watching his live to.

Know that I do this for the approval of somebody that ain't They ain't even here, and that's God.

You feel me, because for.

Me, I've had the approval from the bootleg caves, now the Kendrick Lamar's, the fans.

But I see how quick them same fans will turn on you.

So when they talk about like you get these flowers and you're supposed to be just almost like Mama made it type of moment. I just know how to not get too high on the highest and not get too low on the lows.

You know, people should do that in life. In life, bro.

So I was like, Yo, it's amazing that in the same week I'm experiencing condemnation from my city, everything from people making debt threads to saying you can't come back to the city and you canceled in New Orleans and all this stuff, to elevation and validation from Kendrick saying I want to be empathetic heart like d one, you know what, I.

Want to know what he was What the end of that line was, because he stopped. What you think it was, I don't know, but it was well he said, but I will, he said, I want to be empathetic.

I will.

I will exactly, So you could imagine that for sure.

No, Yeah, I thought that was super dope though.

So for you, like like you said, man like, I feel like you've always been pushing positivity, always been very very like ahead of the curve in terms of like I mean not even ahead of the curve. You've always been like integrity first as a person and you know as an artist and as everything else comes after that, Right, But I wonder for you, like, does that just feel

But what's that feel like though? Man? Like, it's just.

It's validation that even when people try to tell me that I'm crazy or that I could go further faster if I switched my message up.

It's just like it's proof that the.

People who y'all look up to and the people who y'all might feel like can do no wrong in y'all eyes. Those people are actually saluting a brother that's just been consistent the whole time. And it it's like, hey, he's gonna get a where he's destined to be in the time he was destined to be there because I've always put impact over income, you know what I mean.

You get into this game and if you're seeking out. Man.

Just today, bro, So, Kevin Lows stepped down as from three hundred Entertainment or as the as the head guy Diddy. They said Diddy is arrested as of yesterday trying to get out on fifty million. I heard on TMZ they say he offered fifty million dollars on buying to get out. I think they denied it, you know, Bro, Like the empire is crumbling, the empire as we knew it in hip hop, to where all of this stuff that glorifies

People who have made.

It cool to love, to be in love with the jewelry, the money, the music that's glorifying drug use and glorifying the disrespect of women. But now we're seeing these people go to jail.

Now we're seeing people that's passing away in front of our face, and everybody is saying that was way too soon.

So it's like, now what it can't just be entertainment. All the people in the culture who try to tell me all these years, call man, it's just entertainment, bro.

You just always got something to complain about. Won't you just let people get their money. That's what Rick Ross was saying. It's like, Yo, I do this music, but I feed my hood turkeys during Thanksgiving, you know, and literally, in his mind, that justifies making the soundtrack to selling dope and rapping about the glorification of murder and disrespecting women and all that. And it's like, are you serious, bro? In your mind it makes sense because this is just

Right now, Well, let me ask you this, right because obviously hip hop is built on kind of like you know, if we go back to like, you know, even like early Biggie ten Crack commandments or you know, not. I was kind of talking about like what it was like to witness growing up in Queensbridge and a lot of the you know, it's always been built on street imagery. And you know, there's an argument to be made that if like that's Rick Ross's truth, that's how that's his life.

And I'm not saying it is or not.

I don't want to speculate on Rick Ross's criminal history or what is true or not. But let's say, hypothetically speaking, Rick Ross is just speaking his truth his life experience, right, and if that life experience equals drug use or selling drugs or committing crime or being wrapped up in the streets, that is his outlet. And we're just saying Rick Ross's name because you could probably apply that to a hundred other artists, right. But there's the argument would be that

Come from is the music. So their music is where they're going to talk about that kind of shit.

Well, there's a difference between now race and glorification.

Listen, that's a fair argument, would But my thing is is, I think, like those conversations just need to be had, and I think that, you know, there's a way to, like for you to I mean, i'd be dope if you, like you have a podcast right now, which is dope. I think it'd be just dope for you to like even have some off camera conversations with some of these guys where you guys can kind of just come to like a certain understanding and like it's like, you know,

If I'm wrong, am I wrong?

And like, look, there is a truth that like young girls are influenced by Sexy Red, right, and if it's Sexy Red or it's you know, latter, whoever it is, right, Like the totality of all of that music and what's being pushed it does have some sort of effect on

Yeah?

You know what the difference is hip hop has gotten older.

So because hip hop has gotten older, you have OG's in hip hop now. So for every Sexy Red that's in her twenties, you got somebody that's in their forties or maybe their fifties who's been there, done that. And the role of OG's in the culture should be the role of OG's in life, which is, we're here to mentor you and make it to where your learning curve can be even quicker than ours was because we can pour into you. The problem with hip hop is you have OG's who are actually DG's.

I call them disappointing grown ups, you know what I mean.

Hey, that's some real shit right there.

Straight up though, Sure, these OG's are really DG's, and the reason why is because they want to be relevant with the younger generation so much so that they'll sacrifice their knowledge that they've attained by living life for thirty plus years more than these younger artists, and they're sacrificight that are they sacrifice their integrity and they will employ something called willful ignorance, meaning these older people in the culture,

And like like I'm not like it's like this, like you said, like there's at the end of the day, we're in the music business, and what's good for business isn't always good for the people.

There you go, keep going, keep going, all right, So impact.

What's good for business isn't always good for the people. And people got to pay their bills. Stop, people got to pay their bills. keV.

My thing is when I talk about these executives, you heard me Kevin Lyle say how far are we are we going?

Because a lot of these guys are worth hundreds of millions of dollars? So there you go.

So when we talk, so when the excuse becomes people got to pay their bills. When I'm speaking to artists who aren't starving artists, struggling artists, artists who have made it and have become moguls and they've become multi millionaires as well as these executives. At what point is it like they can't use their excuse I'm just trying to pay my bills.

No, no, no, because I'm talking about like on a lower level, Like let's say somebody has a production company and they find Sexy Red and they look, I got this artist who's bubbling in Saint Louis.

I'm gonna and then.

From there it goes into the bigger you know, totality of the system or whatever. I think that, Like I said, I think there has to be some sort of balance. And I feel like for whatever reason, man, this beef with Drake and the and the way Kendrick kind of just pulled the mask off and the onion, each layer of the onion on the on Drake's like this whole shit, I feel.

Like has kind of like sparked like a ripple of like consciousness.

Yeah, and and and it's been and you know, I just I just met Common and Pete Rock uh for I met him before, but I just had a conversation with them and I just think calm, and like I almost cried thinking them because I was like, bro, when I was a kid, Bro, like you don't understand, like you know. And then I was talking about like when I was a kid, we had whatever you were looking for there was in music, right, But what we did have that I don't see at least being pushed in

If you master the art of cooking up and concocting delicious poison, and you know how to cook it up, then how to serve it to the people and serve it to the fan base that exists all around this country. What happens is they develop a taste for what actually contains a poisonous message, but because it's been force fared to them and it's cooked so carefully with the flow, with the beat, with the hook, with.

The marketing machine behind it.

Now, when you offer the people something different, they look at that like, h that's nasty. So that's where artists who are truth tellers, such as myself, people that are on a bigger mission making purpose driven music. You know what I'm saying, that right there becomes something where we have to master the art of still giving people what's delicious to them, which is the beat, which is the flow, which is the catchiness of the hook, which is the charisma.

There you go.

But along with the message and that part right there is something that I don't think a lot of artists are up for that challenge because they just feel like, man, I'm trying to do something to make this world a better place.

Shouldn't my job be easy? No, it's never been that way.

Anybody that has a heavy calling on their life that's meant to be a voice for the people, you might not be well liked down here. You might have your people turn it back on you down here, and you still have to keep going because you know that this movement is bigger than you.

The mission is bigger than your motion.

Let me ask you this though. So there are artists. We'll bring up.

Fredo Bang right, you talked right in middle school. Yeah, Fredo's a good friend of the show, good friend. I just was talking to him last week. Somebody who has been dope to watch him kind of mature as like a grown man over the last like three or four years, but without music, right, without the music that made him like initially successful, which was a lot of like negative violent street music. Right, he has public beasts with people and you know, neither hearing her there.

But without that music, right, are we sure he'd be around? Are we sure.

He'd have made it out of Baton rouge? Are we sure he'd have a future?

You know what I'm saying.

So I do feel like with some of these artists, it's like the music that is negative is what's keeping them alive and what's giving them an opportunity to like maybe grow up, get money in their pocket, change, you know. I think of a guy like Ge Herbot, who I've also seen just become like one of the sharpest dudes in the music industry. If you have a conversation with ge Herbalt, you'll be like, damn, this dude is fucking on it. Like he started off as a kid like

So the reality is at a certain point, those artists are going to come to where they're un in their twenties anymore for sure, you know, and they are fathers now and they have kids they're raising. So what happens is they have to have people who are pouring into them, which is why I have a relationship with Fredle and I literally love that dude, Like he no.

He's great, He's one of the best dudes in it. Like he's such a nice dude, man, and like he gets it for real.

So when you know that someone has such a great heart, right and it's so artistically talented and so giving and so selfless. Right when you know that, and you also know that there's an industry that does not care about his forward progression. They don't care about his evolution as a man, correct, They just care about even fans. So much pressure comes from fans because the fans don't be wanting.

The artists he They don't want them to grow, They want them for what they know them for.

There you go.

So that puts all of these artists in a very precarious position in cav to where at a certain point they feel like, man, I've grown out of that season of my life, but there's so much pressure from the fans and from the industry to keep me held down there. That's where they have to have other people, and hopefully I can be one of them to show them that it's possible to grow. Peace is profitable, Positivity is profitable.

Right?

You know how many people got caught up in the beef to the point where they couldn't come back from it, you know. So I look at it like these brothers and sisters need to realize how much of an opportunity they have to grow and evolve. And there's so many artists who they end up not having the ingenuity or the courage that it takes, or the grit that it takes to say, I'm going to evolve even if I

Bro.

So for like a lot of these younger kids, there's kids getting signed seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty years old, right, would you say that it's on because it's I don't think you're ever going to see a point in time where execs give a fuck enough about the artists to try to pull them inside and say, I don't think we should release this dis record. That's never gonna happen. So is it like on the you know, it's shit gets weird. Artists gets signed, they get new management, there's

But if it's also good for business.

Okay, I just had the idea care this is Accountability is the word, right?

We need some level of accountability.

For sure here, Like if you do some stupid shit, right, if you if you write a check, someone's gonna cash that motherfucker that you go.

So let's talk let's be solution based right now and figure out what would accountability look like from each end of the industry. So in my college course, I teach about the three c's, creators, consumers, and commissioners. Right in the game, you got artists, you got fans, and you got label people and media people. So what does accountability

You know, what does that accountability look like?

For me?

What it looks like is now that we have ogs and hip hop, it looks like artists being able to come together and say, you know what, Yes, the overt glorification of I'm gonna walk my op down, I'm spinning the being, I'm sliding, I'm knocking your head off, DA, the glorification of murder music needs to stop, Like we need to say that that's going too far. The glorification of using drugs, you know what I'm saying, Like drug addic culture inside of music needs to be something that

This is what I would say.

I would say that there are there is a certain aspect of being naive and being somebody who is trying to do more of what works. And if they see what works for ABC or d YO, beef sells, right, It's always been like that. Go back to fifty, go back to fucking L cool J cannabis, whatever, beef is always sold. It's always been good for business. So if you're like a young artist and you understand, well, maybe when I put out a normal record, I don't see the numbers that this record does.

I don't think.

I don't think a lot of these kids are mature enough to like take a step back and realize, like, well, but what comes with the extra million streams or whatever. I do think, like you said, man, there has to be somebody to kind.

Of step in and be like, Yo, we shouldn't put this out.

Should that be their manager? I don't know, right, Should that be an older artist?

For me?

We talk you a white man, Yeah, we talk so much about the black community this and the black community that that we need people in the black community to step in and say, Man, that little seventeen year old that's making that murder music that reminds me of who I was twenty years ago. But by the grace of God, I lived to be in my thirties. Now I'm gonna feel and I'm a successful artist. I'm gonna take it upon myself to pour into that young brother to play

Yeah, and they just want to Yo, let's go get an advance because I'm gonna get paid even if you never recoup.

It's child abuse. Bro.

A lot of these older managers that hurry up and find.

An artist artists into a label deal. Hey, it's a bullshit because guess what for people who don't know when you get it, you get pushed into a shitty record deal by a manager, it's because that manager's just gonna take his piece of that advance and he's never got to recoup it. He's not signed to the shitty record label, thank you, what the shitty terms. It's the kid that's

I see that shit.

I told that shit to artists where I've been in the studio with them and been like, yo, I'll use it.

I don't want to say.

If this is somebody who's not a kid, but somebody who's buzzing real hard, like three years ago, and they all of a sudden signed to like a bigger management company, and I sadone I'm close with, you know, and they were pushing them to sign to Atlantic. And this artist was very I mean millionaire off of independent music sheesh. And I was like, I was like, yo, they're only pushing you to sign that deal because it's it was

Ended up still ended up.

It wasn't Atlantic that they ended up signing with, but they did end up signing with a major label and ship's hit a wall since then. But I bet you that management got their.

Piece and that's all they care about.

Yeah, it's crazy. So many people are in these artists pockets. It's fucking crazy. It's so crazy. There's like four or five hands in these from every direction. And that's before you even look at a lawyer. Yeah, bro, because you got your lawyer, you got your your booking agent, you got your your day to day.

You got the motherfuckers. You got the big manager, the small manager.

The production company, you got a production company, like so many.

Like and like look, you know, like I said, man, like a lot of these artists, if they're smart, they grow. Like I just had a conversation with an artist who is finally understanding.

That he's getting.

Fucked okay, and it's like like now that he can now that he sees it, he can't unseee it. So he's he's adjusting figure out now that like you know, but most artists are just like they're really gonna trust whoever they signed to to just guide them through the industry. And a lot of times those motherfuckers give them their own lawyer.

Yeah. So if you're a young, up and coming.

Artist, Yeah, your lawyer represents the people who are fucking you.

Absolutely.

If you're signed to somebody, don't hire the lawyer. They suggest who's best interest is that lawyers? Like come on, Like, so.

Here's another catch twenty two is you got fans. What level of accountability should fans have in this industry? Because, bro, one of the worst, most toxic places in hip hop is the comment section. Oh it's the worst, especially after somebody dies for sure if they had an.

Opp Oh it's bad. Oh it's bad.

It's gruesome.

Bro.

It's like it makes me cringe to be like, this person really just passed away, and y'all are in this person's comment section.

Just going in would almost bring tears to my eyes.

Bro.

Yeah, I mean the fans and they have some accountability, I think. Unfortunately, like the consumer base is so numbed to thinking that artists are like video game characters, and I think a lot of that it gets wrapped up in like the streaming culture, and like you go on YouTube and watch any documentary about some of these YouTube pages be having the most in depth documentaries about beef, beef or and like crazy shit.

So these have millions of views.

So these artists are like, it's almost like they're watching their favorite TV show play out live the way you would watch power. A lot of people are watching these fucking documentaries, right, so they're invested in the storyline of let's say Young and A's and Julio Fulio's beef because there's thirty eight documentaries with millions of views on YouTube about it. So when somebody dies, they don't look at these motherfuckers like people, they're looking at them like people

At the door and do crazy whole ship for a million views.

They'll get punched like like I'll be seeing some of this ship and I'm like, damn, bro. Like when I was a kid, we had Jackass and we had Tom Green and all kind of you know, interesting and stuff. But nowadays, bro, the amount of wild, disrespectful shit that goes viral is like I think it's like the boot Gang kid who I think has gotten saved.

Yeah he got saved. Yeah he sober shoutut to. I think his name is John Cabanney Jackobanda.

That's my dude, A good guy, right, But like when he was going viral, I think people were seeing how he was going viral and they're like, oh, I gotta do I gotta one up that, and he was doing some crazy shit. And this is just kind of the world we live in now, where like social media and like just like I'm like Aiden Ross, I'm at Dre's right with fifty cent. This was Saturday Friday, and Aiden Ross walks up trying to get into VIP but he's

I think he's hilarious.

But like they're they're the streaming culture. And I'm not talking about streaming in front of a computer playing music, reacting.

I'm talking about like when you're walking.

Down the street and people are on kicks streaming their life live seeing how many times it can go viral in a day. There's like hundreds of thousands of smaller versions of that that are trying to be the next that that are trying to one up and do stupid shit on the Internet to try to get attention. And like I said, dude, I do think the Internet has desensitized us all to like just this is like real life shit. People lose their life, people die, and we

Was like double xl oh, world Star, Fight Works or Yeah or world Star.

But even before that, it was like you would hear somebody get dissed on a CD that you had to buy, and then you would read about it.

Obviously we've lost people Tupac, Biggie, etc.

But it was never like dis documented. For every time something happens, there's one hundred reaction videos and this internet YouTube reaction like crime documentary culture that we live in. Fans don't they don't give a fuck about the music, and they don't even fuck about the artists. They give a fuck about the drama, the storyline that they're engaged in. They know more about the storyline of Somebody's Beep than they do about the album that dropped a lot of these artists.

Like obviously there's artists people.

Are engaged with, like you know, young boy guys like that, but like, I just feel like the culture of like content has really like dehumanized not just rappers, but just the fucking world.

So here's my theory.

My solution is, we need to take what we know as hip hop culture and at this stage we need to throw it away. Just like I'm from New Orleans and when we had Hurricane Katrina come through, what we knew New Orleans to be we had to throw that away because it got swept away, right, And once it got swept away, it didn't take away the identity of New Orleans, but what we knew New Orleans to be

And just like we had to do in New after Katrina, we had to rebuild. We need to rebuild hip hop and keep the positive aspects, keep the stuff that feels like it's progressive and saying yeah, we want that to be a part of the culture. But all the stuff that is clearly overtly toxic and negative, we need to throw it away and keep it out, man, because at this point we want to make this inclusive room for everything and say, yeah, that's hip hop, and that's hip

But then when somebody doing some positive week, gonna be all right, that's hip hop. But then this is like, we don't have any standards. So that's my vote is as long as people are truly wanting to preserve their idea what hip hop culture is, we're gonna be doomed because we didn't do a good enough job being gatekeepers of the culture to allow it to still exist in its purest form. Things can grow, but when you see things growing in the wrong direction, that's when you're supposed

You know what I'm saying, Man, we're seeing this stuff.

We're seeing it's too normal for rappers to be doing jail time and getting killed. This doesn't happen in other genres of music at the rate that is happening in hip hop, for sure.

I do think though, the overdosing aspect, I do think that is a an overall issue just.

In music all in the world. In a way, Okay, I would.

Agree, because defetanol shit has hit the world, like it's crazy. You know, I have no personal people in my life that have overdose and die that aren't rappers, that just have jobs.

So I think that.

But but again, there's obviously music that pushes drug use and all that. But I gotta ask you this, Like, so there is an aspect of like, Okay, if you think of like Sexy red right, Like I genuinely enjoy Sexy Reds music, Like I'm a club DJ, so like I see like how much people enjoy her shit. They dance to it. I mean, women love her music. Where is there like, like for you in the world that you're you know, proposing, is there a space for like just fun music that is not necessarily content heavy.

Yes, indeed, Bro, Bro, Bro, you don't think it's possible to make fun music that doesn't have to I just like be super ratchet and super.

Raunch, But I think that the ratchetness of some of this music is like, like I was just talking to Hurricane Chris right, and he's from Treeport, and he was saying, like he's got a problem of fifty. He said, because early on before fifty brought his studio there, he said, when he brought it, he's gonna get rid of the ratchetness, like ratchet and they call Shreeport ratchet City. It's a part of the culture of Streetport, like that music is a part of the culture of Streetport, even in the

What has made it important though, is that whenever you offer something to people, there's always going to be an appetite and a desire for people to have a soundtrack to justify what it is that they're already doing or what they want to do. So, when you think about it, music is not supposed to be on the back end, you know, no pun intended, but on the back end of what's going on. Musicians are supposed to be the cultural savance and the leaders to say where do we want to take our people?

You feel me?

And that's the problem is musicians have fallen into well, what do the people want? Whatever the people want, that's what I'm going to give them. That's the problem.

I think that as a leader is about giving people what they need, and giving them what they need is going to change what it is that they have a taste and a desire for.

So do you think I'm going to ask you about that one song being from where you're from. If what you're proposing is the truth that song doesn't exist, you think that's a good thing?

Back that ass up. If that song didn't exist.

Now, this is me having a relationship with juvenile Legend with his Yeah, like literally.

One of the goo Like four hundred degree is one of my favorite alms of all time. I'm cool with Bro.

That was the soundtrack to our lifeild growing up in New Orleans.

You know.

I mean, I think that there's a different version of back that thing up that could have come out that could have been just as powerful. Literally same beat, Sam Hook, Sam Cayden should heard me, that.

Could have been just as powerful.

And I think that our world doesn't normalize that that's even a possibility, and we just say, well, it just had to be this one song because we can't even imagine something being that powerful if it wasn't that. But Bro, thankfully as artists who have come along, myself being one of them, that's showing like, wait, this can be a hit.

I think what's also very like.

Summertime by Will Smith? Not to cut you off Summertime? Summertime by Will Smith? Ain't that a classic?

So I don't know if you could throw ass the summertime though.

Okay, is there a song that you could throw Buddha too? That is not uh all the way in the Jewelvie back that thing up lane.

Is there a song you could throw boot not not that you could throw because I'm not trying to say at all. Yeah, is there think that Let's go through the catalog. Let's see Yay Cole, Kendrick, jay z Nis.

I mean those aren't even club artists. I'm thinking like the Big Club Records of all time.

Okay, big club brotherers Bro, there's several keV Nelly he I.

But it's getting hot in here right right, I mean the am getting naked.

I mean right, I'm gonna have to make the son. Then I'm gonna have to make I'm have to make it, bro.

But so so so so listen.

I think the other answer to this is one it's not realistic to think that like like that's even like a real possibility. I think what is realistic is guys like yourself, guys like Kendrick inspiring people to be like, oh, we ain't got to do it this way. And I think that this is the highest version of people paying attention and being like hmm, That's why I said, like this, somehow this beef with Drake has turned like opened up a lot of fans' odds to being like oh shit.

Was easier on it is you could dance to a club. Oh I thought of a record by the way that people throw booted too. They got a different vibe nice for what by Drake?

Fair enough? Yeah?

Great record by the way. Yeah, and it's got and it's the New Orleans sound.

New Orleans bounce You feel me?

But I'm just curious, like, like I think that would to me be the The answer is like whatever's happening right now with this moment of music is hoping that it can help inspire artists to change and or artists who are doing that type of music. Kenny Mason from Atlanta. I mean, there's so many dope artists who are just crazy dope, like maybe now like people might give them a real change, even like a guy like Denzel Curry,

And I say this because those are the two.

Guys who are a part of the Big Three and have kind of been a part of Like it's them two and Drake, and you know, listen, Drake also is an alien. Let's be clear it. Drake is one of the greatest artists I've ever lived, you know. I think that with Kendrick and Cole being so prominent throughout the culture throughout all these years, like what's common the commonality about both of them is that they are conscious of what they're putting into the world. And they're two of the biggest three that.

You go, two thirds of the Big three is super conscious.

Super conscious and super super purpose with their intent on everything they do, whether it's an artist they sign, whether it's a verse that they drop.

Even I think back to the J.

Cole conversation where he tried to sit down with a little pump, you know, and try to explain a little pump, but it was probably gonna happen with his career, and it ended up happening. I think that, you know, again, like I hope that this sparks more artists who are inspired by Kendrick than maybe inspired by op killing music.

Mm there you go, then you go. But I don't know, we we probably.

Won't see that for a few three, four, five years, but then we're seeing it right now. I think we're seeing it right now, bro. Like I said, I just put my song.

Out yesterday called call It Like it Is, and it's me responding to Kendrick and showing him love for a d one.

I want to make sure that more people know who you are.

You know what I'm saying by saying that in the song, so that it's up to me saying bet the shift is happening right now. I'm clearly a part of this shift. So when I get the baton, I gotta do what I do. So I hit them with what's the point of writing all of these lyrics? If I'm rapping to an audience that ain't trying to hear it. They'd rather me blow a bag than rap about building wealth. They'd rather me get some brain and rap about mental health.

If you're still promoting garbage, you're just a healthy dummy. My city don't even love me. I'm calling it, how it is.

I'm a threat to the power structure, brain washing our kids, fracturing all the egos of illegitimate.

He rolls, I only look up to one man because he died. Then he rolls. I keep it too real because life don't last too long. If everybody likes me, I'm doing something too wrong.

Maybe in time they'll appreciate my words like nipsey Till then I'm gonna see how fuck keeping it real gives me. So call it like it is, call it what it ain't, call it what you want.

No, I ain't knowing that drink. I'm speaking from the soul, and I don't care who feel it. Yeah, hip hop is dead, and y'all the ones who killed it. No, I'm not impressed, and I say that with my chest.

Man.

Come on, man, come on man, what are your thoughts on the whole Diddy situation? Crazy situation by the way, And also also a lot of people knew that shit was going on, So.

All the people who knew that it was going on, they scared right now, a lot of people.

Who enabled it. There you go, they're probably going to jail. You think they'll go to jail if he gets convicted? Now, I don't. I don't know.

I'm not super educated to what was in the indictment because I didn't read it. And I'd like to point out that there are the definition I think of sex trafficking is having someone travel over state lines for the purpose of sexual activities. Think and a lot of rappers are guilty of that, flying girls.

But I know they said that they got tons of video, a lot of parent He was taping all of this. He was taping everything on some Epstein type shit. They called it freakoffs.

Freakoffs had one hundred bottles of loop all kind of craziness. But he had a team, he had security, he had people around him, He had assistants who certainly, if there was serious crimes being committed, people being raped, I don't know, that are a part of that. So those people are freaking out.

Well, if all of this happened, made justice prevail, let the empire crumble, you know what I mean, they'll be all right.

God is still.

It's like we're like like Diddy was kind of the epitome of like hip hop entrepreneurship.

Are hole.

Absolutely, he was the epitome of black excellence and in our community. You know this is Black Excellence the rock? Yeah, so we need to get rid of this old idea we had of what Black Excellence looked like. We need to get rid of this old idea we had of what, Oh, this is what a mogul looks like, and this is somebody to a spy in Rusby.

Russell Simmons has some pretty crazy allegations, right, and whatever happened with that?

Did he?

I just watched that documentary on HBO and then I know he went to Bali, Yeah, and the speculation is again I don't know all. I just know that the speculation is he went there because they don't have extradition laws really, but that's okay. I don't know if that's why he went there, right, But.

So all the people we look up, we grew up looking up to Diddy.

You see what's going on with him fighting for his life right now, Russell Simmons, They stay home and it went to Bali.

You hear me, maybe trying to jump ships so they can't get him. Damn Dash. You hear me.

They talking about Dame going through it right now?

Broke.

Dame said he's broke. You know whether you know what?

One thing though, I do respect about what Dame said. He said, when you chase your dream Because I've been around Damon, I feel like he truly is like a Like he really is like a he got big dreams, bro. And he said, when you chase your dreams to the point when that I chase my dreams, when they don't work out, you can end up broke. So you know, I wouldn't put I haven't heard anything crazy about Dame in terms of, like, you know, anything legally wrong he

Sugar Knight was a mogul, sug Knight is in prison, in prison. There are so many different people that at this point, y'all.

But then there's jay Z, who's the other side of that, who's obviously you know, he's jay Z.

You know.

I think the whole point, though, is that the idea that we had in our mind of what a mogul had to look like and what you had to do to become a mogul, let's throw all that out and let's just say you definitely got to work hard to become a mogul.

But hopefully for somebody watching this. You the next mogul, and you can come up with your own blueprint of what it looks like.

Because everything that we were taught in our generation, Man, we seeing that that stuff is not working out in the loan run for a lot of these people.

And the same thing with artists.

Man, we should have more artists who can make it normal to age gracefully and to evolve gracefully.

You know.

I love when I see ogs like styles P.

You're right, who man, opening juice bars, sharing game, come man, sure shout out.

To styles P. I love when I see that, Bro.

I love when I see people who like boldly embraced. I love my man Murders out here.

In the Lady Immersed Man. Yeah, bros put it album out together. Yeah, we put an album together. Yeah.

Like that's that's my brother right there. I love what I love when I see my brother Loope Fiat school.

You hear me?

Who, By the way, when it comes to just rapping, might be the goat for real goat status man, Jesus.

Yeah, I don't know if lu got real Jedi, real alien.

I don't know if Lupe even got like the energy to dedicate to.

Bro imagine if he applied himself to come B album Samurai Crazy.

I didn't seen it with my own twice Loope teaches at M I T and I teach at Toughs University.

They're five minutes apart. Yeah, fucking loop dude. Yeah, listen to mirrors. It's like nine minutes to just come on, man excellence.

Hey, and these is my real friends that I all three of them, not just name.

These is my real friends. Man, even even back home in New Orleans.

My man currency, you know what I'm saying, Yeah, like my man currency.

Just to see that this man has.

Succeeded on such a level on his own terms, but it's still somebody who just be hanging out amidst the people, you.

Know what I mean.

There are examples in our culture to where you don't have to crash out as you get older, or you don't have to prostitute your integrity to try to stay relevant with the teenagers. And we need more of that, man, because we're starting to have it to where we're gonna have just as many rappers in their thirties, forties, and fifties as we got in their twenties and their teen.

What's happening damn near now.

Exactly, and who you think is supposed to be setting the tone for the culture, the older rappers.

I think that's why it's important that Kendrick's having this moment because I also feel like, you know, my main gripe about Drake forever has been, like I just I don't feel like he's ever expressed a real opinion on many social issues in his entire career, Like we don't know how he feels about certain shit, you know, And I feel like he's never really taken a content risk.

A risk.

I can't associate anything in Drake's catalog with his say life that was risky, very safe, right, even this is what he's rapping about girls. It is business is money is.

So when you put business over impact, you will never take a risk because risks aren't good for business when business.

Michael Jordan said he's never come out about politics because both sides by his shoes, correct, And Okay, that's fine, and I feel like Drake's kind of similar.

That's why you gotta respect Steph Curry and Lebron James.

Or Jalen Brown because they Kyrie Irving. Yeah, yeah, all of the above Kyriver standing on shit cast him a Nike deal.

Bro.

Yeah yeah, straight up, straight up. So salutes all them brothers in athletics. So I'm gonna tell you something I came up with, keV. I started this January first of d It's a solution to the problems that I see in the culture.

It's called the Platinum Pledge.

Right, we got platinum records on the wall in this studio and everything platinum. I turned it into an acronym that stands for people leading a transformation involving newly unified mindsets. The Platinum Pledge simply says, this is to unify the artists, the fans, and the execs in the industry who agreed that we no longer need to glorify keyword, glorify murder, drug dealing, drug use, disrespecting women, and sexual irresponsibility in our music.

Right.

In doing that and putting that out there, bro, I got so many thousands of people who have signed this. I put it on my website. It takes two seconds for people to sign it.

That right there is showing me how many people are ready to be a part of this shift.

Right.

So now what I'm about to do is take it into phase two to where all these massive amounts of people.

Charlamagne then said, I agree with that. I salute that, I pledge allegiance to that. D I'm rocking with that.

Da da da.

So many tastes, makers, artists and everybody are ready for this shift that now we have to know what can hip hop look like? And let's confront some of these uncomfortable truths about the reality of our culture and figure out what it can look like with the extermination of

So that's yeah, you know what. I just thought of something too.

I think one of the biggest problems we have it's gonna end up if Diddy gets convicted. A lot of people who were just trying to keep their job are going to go to jail too. But you know, this music industry is filled with people just trying to keep their job.

That's a fact. That's a fact.

If you're an r's, if you're a ev P, you just trying to keep your job.

So they put their integrity in the background and they produce results.

Yeah, they just try just want to put numbers on the best.

I'm saying teprety is in the background and in the income.

They can get another year in the building, another year in the building.

So that's the problem. So bro, we gotta how do.

We fix that. I don't know, Man, I don't know. Listen, I'm gonna tell you this, and I'm gonna tell you this.

Elliott Grange running in Atlantic is not helping. It's not gonna help.

Because his daddy run Universal. Yeah, it's a problem, dog, it's a problem. Dog. Well listen, that's the same guy who signed six ' nine dog.

Listen, brother, Ever since I've been knowing you, you've been.

In the media.

You have a platform.

I would just say, I would say and pray you know what I'm saying that, like, man, God, like bless my brother Bootleg keV to where all this knowledge that he has that he knows that there has to be a level of integrity that comes along with manager in this platform because people for clicks and likes will get up here and say and do well.

That's what I'll say about my ship, bro is I will, I will. I've never you know, anytime I've had an artist on that it's controversial for whatever, you know.

Especially I saw the young Boy interviews.

Yeah, shots a young boy.

But like, you know, in terms of that, like I you know, like I've interviewed Texi Ray and we had fun and it was funny and it was you know, but in terms of like the street ship, the violent ship, like I try to make sure that whatever I do here is is not adding on to any of that, or at least trying to present the idea of solutions, you know. Like so that's kind of like my you know, in the world in which our media is adding on

View, the extra little clicks. Thank you, dog got goosebumps under my jacket.

Because this is a man in media who with that lit that seems small what you just said, but that right there, wouldn't give an open platform to people who want to come on here basically announce.

That they're about to kill they out.

So like I just had X Rated on the show, who is a legendary independent rapper sign of Tech nine now, but his.

Hood and Mazzie's hood they beef.

And I had a conversation about Mazzie with X Rated on camera and he said, look, I got goosebumps. He's like, we're both from Sacramento. This man got nominated for a Grammy, Like we need to like be happy about that, and like Mazzi reposted it. So it's like, I don't know if that's like going to change their neighborhood's problems, but if it means those two guys talk who haven't talked and they don't have direct beef with each other, let's

Who knows, No, definitely, bro, feel good about that.

Bro. It's not even about feeling good about it. It's just like, yo, like, let's not add to this shit like yo.

Like the content like you said, Like I said, Bro, the content culture we're in, it's we are content addicted, Bro.

Whether it's Instagram or YouTube.

I can't work out with a YouTube without a YouTube or a podcast playing. I always have to have something playing. We're all addicted to it. For me, it's fantasy football talk or political shit or whatever. We're The content culture we live in is not good for humanity on all fronts, not just hip hop, but on all fronts.

Dog, I had a Christian rapper hit me up before and suggest that we fake having a rap.

Beef, which is crazy.

A Christian rapper dog hit me up and fake that we have a rap beef and propose that to me, and I was like, brother, I said, the problem with that is your fans they gonna pray for me. My

That's not how That's not how the real world works. Not everything's meant for content.

Man, I knew I wasn't crazy though, No, no, no, for sure.

I mean I see it all the time where I'm just like, it's just like dog, like it's exhausting. Everybody's got a camera guy, and it's just like yo, like not everything's got to be documented like this is but this is the world we're in, bro. It's like it's it's unfortunate, it is what it is for you would you say that you've I just interviewed a a dude named Miles Minute who's a Christian brother.

You know, he on my my my album Oh No, that came out of Yego.

Would you say I wouldn't consider you a Christian rapper. I consider you a rapper that happens to be Christian?

Is that? Yeah?

Bro? All them titles and and the subtitles and all that. Brother, I'm like, hey, I got into this game, just do you and whatever?

They're just trying to make him pay. So you know what I call it. I call it purpose driven rap. That's what I mean. Yeah, I make purpose driven.

I was gonna say, for you, do you feel like there's I mean you're seeing it.

You know.

We talked about like there's people who are putting on amazing content that is positive, like like Larussell to me is a shining beaming light of amazingness in our music industry. And that's why I try to shot him out whenever I can.

Yeah, yeah, we about to drive a son again.

Yeah, dude, we might look back five years from now and be like, Yo, that a little motherfucker from Vallejo really might have changed the rap game.

The business model at least come on, man, Yes, but who are.

Some of the other artists that you feel like are kind of, you know, in in a line with kind of what you're saying.

Like the purpose driven rare. Yeah, bro, there's so many artists.

Some are Christians and some are just people that are out here trying to make progress in this world and humanity.

Right.

So one you talked about you you got a relationship with freda Well, one of Freddo's best friends is named Joe Scott. That's my other former student from br from Baker exactly, you know, representing the Baton Rouge area. Brother, he's a beast. I guarantee you about he about to take off. You hear me about to really take off? Like, that's a dude who I've been rooting for for the longest. And I'm like, I you almost there, you almost there? You almost there?

Another brother? Who Man, we just got kindred spirits.

So me and this dude, you know, behind the scenes, we got a real good relationship.

Dizzey Right, I love Disney Man. Man.

So I've known that kid since he was going by Dizzy d. You know, it's crazy. I judged the Talent Show when I lived in Vegas. I used to do radio in Vegas. He won the challenge show at Sheic Shoes. It was like twenty ten real and he was doing talent. He was going by Dizzy d Flashy.

Really. Yeah, that's my brother for real. I love Disney Man really.

Okay, So Dizzy Dizzey is a dude who I see him from afar and I see him welcoming the evolution as he grows and mature. Sure like he putting out more music than ever, as he's growing wiser than ever, you know what I'm saying. So I see that and I'm like, oh, that's that's what we need more of in this game.

You feel I do Price too, Shot the Price tag formerly an Auto Push. Price is doing this thing man. Price is pushing you know, he's pushing good ship man Shot the Price for real. Yeah, Price is dope. Yeah he he You remember Audio Push, yes, of course. Yeah, so Price is from Audio Push. But he's been a solo artist for like four years now. But he's hard. Yeah.

And we got another brother. He from my he from my state name carrying the Light you hear me. He' a Christian artist carrying the Light man. Same thing He's featured on my album that I put out recently. I love that to dude, you know what I'm saying, Just somebody who is unapologetic about knowing his purpose in this game. You heard me and him saying, come on man, like I'm I'm I'm doing it. Whether y'all not like me

I mean, he been in the game forever, but Brother Ali shout out.

To him, I'm about to go on tour with him. Brother. He's a fucking legend, bro.

But the thing about being a legend nowadays is you could be a legend and still be unknown by other people. That's the beautiful part they don't know about now.

White Van Music Man shot to Jake One that that that what was that song The Truth with Freeway? That shit was crazy. So shot to Brother Ali man, Yeah, that's dope.

My brother, my brother Mac from New Orleans who used to be with No Limit.

Yeah, like I had his album Shocked you did, we all did? Yeah?

I had all the No Limit albums. My whole fucking CD rack in my room. I felt like for it was all the colorful as jewel cases.

He was more of a no limit or cash money one hundred percent of no limit Okay, not even close.

Really, I had no limit chain and everything.

Really, Ghetto Dope was like the first the first master PC I owned was the ice cream and Ship with the white cover, and then uh, because No Limit was first they were. Ghetto Dope was like Ghetto D's like dog I know that pretty much the whole album by like by heart, Like that's one of my favorite albums ever. I kind of because they had like their little conflict, I kind of shun cash money low key, but it was just so good that you had to be like.

That's how powerful rap.

Four hundred degrees was just so good that you were like, you couldn't deny it.

I mean, but for people who try to tell me on these podcasts all around the country, it's just entertainment. Rap music had a white dude growing up where it in Phoenix saying, man, I ain't rocking with cash money.

Just on the strength of how much I am rocking with no limit. That's the power. I ain't never met.

None of them, but I had to fucking Nolan. I had the no Limit Jersey. I saved so much money to buy that bitch. It was like one hundred dollars. Yeah, I thought self. The Shaker was like so hard as a kid, bro like charge it to the game and the farther four boys, And of course Mystical unpredictable. And what was the album with I Smelled Smoke? The second yo, Mystical was so tough that missed the album with I Smell Smoke? I think it was called unpredictable.

Actually, yeah, unpredictable.

Fucking that was that was with the with the puzzle pieces.

No, that was unpredictable was the one after that? Okay, but nah, Mysticol was crazy? Yeah, Bro turned out he you know, probably not the best guy.

But you know these are heroes.

Hey man, man shout out to Diddy anyway, Look man, uh, people are able to buy and support what you're doing on d one music dot com.

Dee the number one music dot com. Not only do I have oh you know what, it's over there. I got a children's book I wrote. It's a hip hop children's book.

You hear me.

It's called David Found his Sling Shot so that's on the on the website. It ain't gonna take number five.

Man, go grab it. Show off the book, man, I want to Yeah, that's hard. Grab it. I got a ten year old and a nineteen year old.

Okay word, So this is the book right here. David found his slang shot. The whole book rhymes. It's a hip hop book, but it's an anti bully in children's book because I used to get bullet when I was in kindergarten in New Orleans, and you know, in this age of ops, this era of everybody being beefed out. Ironically, me and my former bully are best friends to this day, really, and it talks about how hip hop. I don't want to get a whole book away, but hip hop actually

Did you get like, when you write a book like this, obviously you're selling it and you're copying it, like you're printing these out yourself. Yes, sir, do people reach out to try to do like a because for people wh don't know.

The author game is like the rectal game.

But if you get an advance to write a book, like, yo, take this this, yo, you take.

This to the fucking Barnes and Nobles.

Man that part, that part, yeah, right now, I'm the dude that's been saying Barnes and Nobles, y'all taking too big of a cut.

I don't doubt they are.

I'm very ignorant to that, except for I know that authors get advances the way rappers get advanced.

Yeah, and I chose to take no advance. Better on myself and h but this is a dope. I said that I don't wear underground platinum with this in the past year. Car brother. I'm not no materialistic dude. I'm not no flashy dude. But just so y'all know, by the grace of God, I'm not hurting at all. So I don't want people to think that like d one got a good heart.

But does it really like pay off?

Yes?

Yes, it pays to be independent, It pays to keep your integrity, it pays to keep God first, and it pays to be dope at what you do. So I got underground Platinum children's book. I got the number two album in the world on iTunes, loaded as our right now, about to.

Go on tour. Professor at Toughs University, fellow at Harvard University, and all this came from rapping.

Man, that's crazy that you started as.

A teacher, as a middle school teacher.

And now you're a professor.

Full circle, my g And ask Fredo next time you talk to him.

I was missed.

Augustine Cradle just put a country song out. Fredo is one of the most talented artists in the world. For sure, he'd be sending me these songs, bro, And I just be like, how does your brain work like this to be able to come up with these type of things?

Bro? Like sure, it's crazy. Man.

Man, I'm gonna give you this yeah, thank you autograph for you even if yeah.

Brother.

So I do book readings all over the country. I go to schools, and because I'm a rapper, I wrote the book like I was writing a song.

So I'm able to not.

Only read the book, but like perform the book while I'm reading it to the kids.

Man, that's dope. It's amazing, bro, congrats on everything.

Thank you brother, And what else can I say yet? A new single is out call it like it is. Shout out to Kendrick Lamar.

Have you talked to Kendrick since the shout out?

I haven't talked to him. I just hit him on social media. It's like, brother, you just changed my life?

Want you? Yeah? I mean, obviously you guys are part of the same era.

We met at paid Dues in twenty eleven.

Yeah, you guys are the same literally blog era. Literally, Bro, you guys are products is a blog era literally, So it's kind of crazy all these years later.

For life is great.

Brother, salute to that man for what it is that he's doing and trying to do in hip hop.

And I just I want Kendrick to know that I'm praying for him.

I saw what you said about Joe Budden on the song, and obviously you said that he's you know, would you ever go on his show and talk to him?

I would love to go on Joe Budden's show.

Where they would you even think? I feel like it's one thing to like they should open it. Like I feel like, if you're going to be very critical of somebody, give him the opportunity to come and have a civil discussion.

Yeah, maybe Joe Budden will listen to this and be like, all right, cool, But I would love to have that because communication in this culture would lead to unification.

It's okay to have a difference of opinion.

And there's a lot of nuance left out when it comes to tweets and online back and forth. Like I'm sure you and Rick Ross would have an amazing conversation if there weren't cameras rolling, it was just you and him in a room.

That part, man, you know, I pray to guard that that could happen if it's meant to.

I don't want to force it either.

I don't want to force it, but it could be off camera, Like off camera is totally fine with any of these guys, because.

I think that's when the egos get dropped. And that's not a Rick Ross specific critique. That's just everybody. When you're not on camera, your ego isn't necessarily on full display.

You know what, there's enough mutual people in the industry who know me and Joe Budden and who know me and Rick Ross.

I already been talking to Jim Jones. Yeah, Jim's good guy.

Yeah, we had you know, back and forth publicly, but we Fromed a really cool relationship.

So what about Mek.

Haven't talked to Meek, and I know a lot of people who know Meek.

I think Meek's got to I feel like he's got good intention. I feel like he wants to to do good. I know he has a good heart. And you know who I want shout out.

This is the most random shot out ever, but one of Meek's artists, young brother.

Now, kur you heard him?

K you. That dude is talented. Bro, that dude is talented.

And I hit him up recently just on some like oh like just ran across your content, brother, and like I'm moved by that, and then found out after he's signed to me.

But it's like, bro, we all connected one way, right man? For sure? That's it there it is, man. I appreciate you thanking. Do you want much love