Hey, before we start the episode, we're gonna remind everybody, man, we got one of the biggest radio shows in the country, syndicated in almost one hundred cities all over. Shout out to iHeartRadio. All right, some of the latest cities that we've been able to add. Man, We want to give a shout out to ninety three point nine to Beat in Honolulu. That's right, Hawaii, We over there going crazy. I also want to give a shout out Hot ninety eight three and Tucson. Shout out to Tucson going crazy.
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That's right, Let's get into the interview. Brulet cav podcast special guests in here my guy Rapper personality, entrepreneur, father and all of a sudden an act.
In Butlegs Kivs Boulet Kivs friend simbas.
Man. Everything is good. I'm not gonna lie. I haven't watched the movie yet.
It's fine. It just hit stream. You could check it out.
So my boy Cook is from Pittsburgh obviously Newark, oh my bad. I know, were from a place that had the name of a city from the East coast that's near Newark, California. By and he hated the movie.
Really, you said it wasn't good? Really? What what didn't you like about?
He said he didn't think there was any real acting until Pedro Pascal came on the screen.
Wow, that definitely sound like a buleg kiv t.
No, I didn't see it, he just said this. I appreciate him lying though, but look, when you decide like obviously playing too shorts gotta be fucking an honor of all honors. And you also like, I never saw the resemblance. Yeah, yeah, until and I was like, oh ship, like y'all.
Really yeah, well they kind of made it that way too, with the teeth and the makeup and the hat to close everything. Oh yeah, I mean yeah, So you know we all know Short grew up with him. My whole life been around him. So I knew his mannerisms, how he walk out, you talk, everything, so that plays a big part in it.
Is they have to get permission from him on who was going to play him Yeah, and he was like, yeah, of course.
But I think the thing was because the way I got the call, I had just got off the Jordan Lucas tour. This was back when I was dropping music.
Yes, I don't know, but yeah, that was when you're opening up for Join. Yeah.
So I had got the call when I was on the tour and they was like, yo, it's this movie. It's a barrier based film. They're looking for somebody to play Too Short. So I'm like, okay, I'm like send it.
Send it.
Through the lyrics that they wanted me to audition with fight the feeling, I guess it was like people was having songs yeah yeah, yeah, I see you walking down the street. So I had to stop and I knew that song like top to bottom. So I literally just did my best too Short impression and rapped the song to the camera, and like four days later they called me, wow, and I got the row.
That's big yeah yeah. And then do you call too Short and say hey, yeah?
So I hit him up and I was like, I got the role.
He was like I know.
And I was like, how you want me to represent this? Like how you want me to do it? And he sent me four videos, like four of his early music videos and an interview. He was like, just embody this energy, that's what they want on camera. And I just you know, watched the videos and.
Yeah, because like eighties, early nineties two short, it's a whole different.
It's so different, even like rapping some of those lyrics, like on stage it was kind of comfortable.
Bit yeah, no, some of them. I mean I told him, I'm like, dude, like, you're the first rapper that my dad liked. And I think it was because my dad was like a low key purv and like like to hear like a dude talking about fucking bitches and getting blow jobs and shit. But he's the first guy that really was popping that like freaky shit on records. You know.
He said that, like what made him want to get into raping was just talking shit, right. He was like he loved music, he loved the funk, he loved the parliaments and different elements of what music was to him in those days. But when he started making his music, he wanted to have that sound but just talking everyday life shit, like shit that's going on in real life around the neighborhood.
So I gotta watch it. I'll give you my own review. Cooks reviews.
I think it's a great film.
I think I can't wait to watch it. Your cat.
I think it's a great film. It's very It's like one of those like kill Bill Tarantino style things where it's like it's four different scenarios that kind of all tie in the one. So in the beginning it can be a bit confusing because you're like, what's going on, But then as things start unfolding, you're like, oh, that goes to the first half.
Well. I also feel like too, like just in general, the representation of the Bay Area shit is like underserved. Yes, definitely, definitely, Like San Francisco has been the setting of a lot of big movies, but it's never been about San Francisco, and.
San Francisco gets movies like they the shoes. Oakland is different. We shot this in Oakland.
Got it, But I just mean the Bay in general, Like you'll see like rush Hour will be in San Francisco some ship, but there's never any sort of movie that like really represents like the street culture that comes out of the Bay Area. I known uh Berner's working on a movie called.
Fuck It's called bib City, Bip City.
I was gonna say Glass City, Yeah City, bip City.
Yes, But even even that, right, Like, if we take that, that's one pocket of the Bay. Right, Freaky Tales covers like four different pockets, from like the hippies to the skinheads, to the punk rock kids, to the hip hop kids, to the police right to the hired hitmen in the Bay to the warriors with Sleepy Floyd sleep right, So it covers all these different timelines of culture in the Bay.
There's a lot of hired hitmen in the Bay. Yeah, y'all known for that.
No, we're not known for it, but there's a few people that get I.
Didn't know that. I didn't know if that was like up there with the.
I don't know, but I've heard stories.
Yeah, God, think of the Bay I think when I think I think of obviously fillmore pimping.
Yeah, well that's for sure. Players is what.
We players where we really know for sure.
I've learned to say player because pimping just sounds so crazy and dated.
It rupts people the wrong way. Definitely the player ship for sure.
Definitely definitely players out there.
Man. So you said a little bit ago, you said back when you were dropping music. Yeah, So what is going on with your career right now? Are you still on Atlantic Records? No, so you're off. Was this because of the new regime that came in, because we all saw the new regime, the Range came in, the ten K guy came in.
That played a big part, but it was kind of it was going away before that even wasn'tnounced.
Well, I feel like I've been telling you to get off Atlantic Records for like four years, Like, buddy, what do you like? Get the fuck off this label. They're forcing you to do these fucking songs.
It's not that this is what it is, right, I'm always kicking from both sides. I hate when artists like come up on certain platforms and just bashed their label because at the end of the day, like Atlantic did a lot for me, Right, I got a lot of fans that will be fans due to Atlantic Records introducing them to me, certain people Dallas introducing me to or Jason Davis, whatever it may be. So those fans will always be there because of them, and I salute them
for that. But it could be a thing of like you know, sometimes visions don't aligne they could see something and that what they see could have possibly worked, and it may not have been what I seen for myself, and that could class So two things could be good and it just may not work, you know what I mean, Like the time it may not been there it was COVID.
It's a lot going on. Of course, we had a lot of misunderstandings with certain moments that was missing, things like that, But we had a lot of sample issues when it came to certain records that I feel could have defined certain things. So it's a lot of things behind the scenes that it's no one person's fault or no.
You didn't drop an actual album, never dropped.
I never dropped it out. That's why I'd be like kind of laughing when everybody.
Just those are just mixtapes.
It's mixtapes and like my first offering at being in the industry. So it's so much I've learned, and then it's just like shit, being honest with you, keV you my brother, I made a ship ton of money.
Off of things that weren't that wasn't music.
So it's like, when it got to that point, I'm not really feeling like the struggling artist that has to just show up and prove myself to the label anymore. It was just like, Yo, this is what I want to do. And because my trajectory wasn't at a certain point, they felt I should maybe listen or I should go a different route. And I felt like, nah, I want to go this way with it, and things did in the line and shit, me and you was together at the PopOut show last year. He was like, when the
album coming in, what I say? I'm an influencer now.
So you're still trying to make music, bro, I got music right now. I know. Look, I know you have an insane preposterous amount of underlease music.
Put it like this, I just had four label meetings last week.
Do you think that is your best thing outside of obviously getting a bag and advance all that stuff, But like in terms of like do you think the major is it a major label thing? Because I could see you just I feel like you just gotta here's.
A thing I don't believe in the independent way for me, for me right and what I mean by that is I'm someone that I feel I work best with a partner.
Right.
I work best with infrastructure and team around me because I had a hard time developing that amongst my friends or whatever that may be. So instead of trying to make my homeboard a manager or the A and R, now, I'll just pay you to be the A and R that wants to be the A and R. Right, I'd rather give up a piece of something to have that and try to force what never worked for me. So I think I work better in a system. The system I was in I didn't work in because I felt
like the system was outdated a bit. And from what I'm lining up now and partners that I'm talking to, this is a better thing for me to not only just do music, produce films. Right, I do a lot of these podcasts y'all watch that. I'll be behind the scenes doing Kim Street owned and producing and certain things. So it's a lot of other things I'm into that I feel things I'm into outside of music that I feel my partner has to understand. It's not just the music.
And Yeah, so that's why I feel I work best with a partner for someone like a Larussell. He got his team infrastructure that works for him. You know what I'm saying that you.
Kind of like a quasi, like a like a you know something with one of these Distroy companies that gives you label services. Big ex. The Plug is independent, but he's with United Masters.
But he's also with Steve stout.
Right United Masters, so he has like the label services, but he still owns all his masters. He's got creative control.
Like you know what I'm saying, for sure, no percent, and I agree with you.
I just feel like you have so much great music that you're sitting there and it's like it's just gonna always sit there.
No, it's gonna come. I promise you it's coming. I promise you it's coming. It's just the thing is and I'm gonna be all the way real because you're my brother, and fuck it, we on the Bootleg kV podcast. Will give me a shot, let me get another. I hate when artists get off the label and it just looks it doesn't look the same, right right, You know what I mean by that?
Like, yeah, but you have so much high I mean look obviously talking about like aesthetically music.
Videos, but I feel like, you know, I'm not talking about the music video. I'm saying the presentation of things. I'm somebody that really cares about how I'm presented my music everything. So when it comes to distribution companies, cool, yes, But what are the other services that can help advance me outside of you just distributing my music? No, for sure, And I feel sometimes those distribution companies don't really.
You gotta have like a you really got to be a priority at some of those places, for sure.
Or it's like and you have to be a priority enough to where the higher ups can use their relationships to help you.
Right, or they got to give you a big enough bag on the district side where you're like, yeah, we'll figure it out with this money, you know.
And that's for me what it is. It ain't really about the money, no, more like the money is there is the right partnership for me to be able to just put the music out and be consistent and run it how I want to run it.
You essentially just want to worry about the music and being that's it and let everybody else do the heavy lifting.
And that's another thing I had to go through too.
Bro.
It is like shit, you get all this motherfucking money, don't nobody tell you how to deal with it. So it's like taxes right, setting your LLC up and your s corpse right, and all these different things.
Like if you weren't making money off of music because you had like a prize picks deal, what was all your like? Because a lot of artists probably are like raking their skull against the pavement trying to figure out how to make money outside of streams and shit.
So because of that, they literally get stuck to rap.
For me, I don't look at it like that, right.
I look at myself as an overall a creative. Rap is something that I do, and I'm very good at it, and that's what people met me for. But that's not all that I can do. I can do other things. I've curated a good commercial, right, I've done movies. I've done Jimmy Kimmel, I've I've done all kind of the NBA. I'm literally just left for meeting on the way here with the NBA with some stuff we're doing for Summer League. You know, like they call me a lot. My god,
Dan shout out to Dan. He calls me a lot, And you.
Know you're doing a lot of stuff Gil with Arenas too. I seen that's my brother shout out to Gil.
Gil's another one that's like made me realize I wasn't properly managing my business.
I mean, it's good to say when he's one of the most uh you know, historically high paid players of all time at time, he's also like he got a stupid bad.
But Gil is like an execution genius.
Oh for sure. His podcast is amazing.
So it's like he does all the research and checks every corner before he steps into a space. And that's what I've been doing the past year with me was Okay, I'm off the label. What is my new situation look like?
Right?
I want it to look like this? What does every corner of this look like? Who needs to be there? What lawyer do I need? Not just an entertainment lawyer. I might need a litigations with it, right? You need all these kind of things to really properly shut your shit up for you to get out here and really get to it.
And I learned that from Gil. Do you feel like you're because I think at the end of the day, Atlantic records when you get there by the time you leave, it's a whole different cast of people. Is that something you always will hear that when artists signed somewhere and there's a a regime change, it's almost like in sports. Yeah, if there's a new GM, the new GM doesn't want the coaches there. They want to go get their guy.
So you have a whole new cast of people who probably you know, philosophically don't line up with the old crew that was there, and also probably don't give a fuck about you. They to bring in their own folks. You know what I mean? Is that essentially what kind of well, because they released a bunch of artists.
Three hundred people got fired in the day.
Right, I mean, the radio department got gutted liked.
But these are things the public don't know, and they'll just be like, oh, he's not putting out music. In order for you to put out music, and it for me personally, when I put out music, I want my music to have the best shot at getting as many eyes on it as possible. Right, So in order for me to release a record through my label, I need every department to line up. I need the marketing department
to be on point with my publishers. I need my publishers to be on point with my A and R. I need my A and R to be on point with the production company. It's very hard to get all of those things to connect at one time for one release when you're a new artist, right, so you're fighting for these things. It wasn't a thing of a new regime coming in and saying we don't believe in him, or we don't want to do this.
I want to do that.
The team I had was already gone two years before that even happened. The people who you know what I'm saying it was, they was already out the building prior to that.
So yeah, I mean Dallas had been gone for Dallas was going for two years.
He was just really a consultant that was there for like me, Roddy, Cordy, certain people like that. But outside of that, he was just there is It wasn't like you know what I mean. So it was very difficult with having seven product managers in four years. It's like having a new head coach every every four years. It's like, how do you even get in a rhythm with this? Like they don't even know me. So you're making music and you like this is what I want to do. This is how I see the visuals.
They like, well, we.
Think you should put on ten chains and let girls shake their ass with flamethrowers. And I'm like, this don't make sense. And then I'll go talk to the higher ups and they're like, why would they say that? And I'm like, I don't know. Can we have men?
I think all of that's going on. I think that there's a certain aspect of your career where it was just I think y'all overthought it so much. Dog.
No, it wasn't that, I'm telling you what it was. It was COVID and sample issues.
Yeah, I mean, I know there was a lot of big records you had that didn't drop because of the sample issues. I just think of like, you have this like almost like the ball's been passed to you, as like the new like the new fucking has it been? Though? I think, so when was the ball passed to me?
I think you I think I think there was a big I think when I would talk to people who weren't from the West Coast, anybody from New York, Tampa where I used to live, you know, people be like, yo, I dude, symbols cold out there, like because they'd be a fan of your freestyles and all that shit, and and I think that you would the albums would have a piece like never end up broke. Oh my god, if you could just put together fucking twelve of those,
it'd be a fucking class. But I feel like there was always like a lot of like overly an ard, overly thought out songs. You guys would overthink records as a post And I used to always tell you this, like, ooll just drop a class, like focus on dropping a critical album. Fuck the singles, fuck the bitches, fucking just drop.
I love this conversation about it. No, because it's gonna be great for artists, because we're gonna really get into it.
No, because like I just feel like people people came to the table because they would see you rapping and they'd be like, Yo, what the fuck this shit is crazy? And I just felt like you never put together like a whole body of work that would quench the thirst of those fans. Like there might be a few on there, but I felt like at times you're over A and rd V, at times you were over shit was just overthought out, Like it was just like dude, like.
That's why brother, and that's why you somebody I loved to death and always value you.
Change. Taking that fucking flat T song fucking was crazy too. That was your song, great fucking song. No, I love.
I love what you're saying, because essentially what you're saying is I signed a deal too early. I signed a deal before I was able to develop. Yeah, and what happened was because of that, I wasn't able to properly present what people came to me for due to too much business being involved.
It was a lot of hands in the it was too.
Many people involved. So it was we need a hit record for this, we need this for this show, we need this. And for me, it's my first time being accepted in the industry. So I'm trying to be everything to everybody.
And you're like the first time you got guys like two chains embracing, it's the first time you're like, motherfucker's I idolized. I want something to go play at Magic City when I go to Atlanta, like cour and I'm hanging in Atlanta at this time. This is like you're also like low key, like people don't know, but like you're also like you can waiting to be accepted by the industry, sure, because that was forever. That was part
of the problems. Like at a certain point in time, you're like, yo, I'm just gonna do what I think they want because.
At I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, So if that's what y'all want, and I'm wondering people, it's crazy. Because I was just talking to one of our mutual homies about this this morning. He was like, bro, i'b be envying you sometimes. I said, why, He said, because I gotta go do all this research to be half as good as you at you not doing no research at things you don't even care about. He was like, you just naturally gifted in spaces that other people ain't and you don't take advantage.
And I was like, damn, I never.
Looked at it that way, right, But for me, it was a situation where.
It was like, Doug, I'm in New York.
I'm in New York and foreign cars with a million dollars, hanging with Melissa Ford, going to eat and weak. I'm having fun, like I'm enjoying it, right, But when I'm really locking in to it and like really like, okay, let's do this, all this business stuff starts happening, right,
sample can't get cleared. This producer won one hundred grand, this, this person crazy, this person, and it'd be the same producer who say they want hip hop to thrive and flourished, But you're trying to bang me across the head because I got a deal that you can take advantage of, because I got a budget. Right, So when all this is going on, I'm like, you know what, I'm gonna
just enjoy this shit. I'm gonna just enjoy it and live in it because it's obviously a bunch of chaos and it's too much business going on around me for me to even understand what the fuck is going on. So I had to draw back and look at it from every angle. Okay, what's this person job, what's this person getting, what's that person getting? When I figured what was going on, I said, oh, shut all this shit.
Down, because what was the name of the song that got you signed to Atlantic that never came out? Loco, No, no, no, it was a song you play.
Glad Jesus, Black Jesus, Blad Jesus.
It's like, that's what got you signed.
But imagine, imagine if loco comes out because you heard logo. That was the original me or Roddy Rich song. That was the original thing of how people found me, and it was that it couldn't get cleared. Sample couldn't get cleared.
That's crazy.
So three years later me and Roddy make a whole nother song. When I started getting money, he rich. We no longer than saying people we was three years ago when we was fighting trying to get out of that hole.
It is different. It's different. I think that you have like a I know you and again I don't know the specifics of who made what beats, but I know you got a lot of crazy music you're sitting on.
Oh wait till you hear what I'm gonna play when we get off.
The problem is is like if you're independent, it's a lot more different of a conversation to try to clear or if you're independent, fuck clear the sample or trot that shit, or you structure your team in a way that fits what you want to do to be consistent rather the simple is there or not static. Selected used to always say I've never cleared a sample. If my song gets big enough.
It's a wing.
They'll send me a fucking season de sistem.
But the Marvin Gay estate made that difficult, right with blurred lines. Right, I'm at a label that got sued by blurred lines.
Yeah, they're like, when you're fucking.
We're not doing that ship. We just had to pay a hundred million dollars behind not clearing the simple Like, no, it's business, and.
You can't blame them. No, for sure, that's state business.
They gotta protect. So we gotta go back in the studio and cook something else up. And then we're trying to take those lyrics and put them over new beats, and it just don't feel the same, right, It just don't feel the same. So it's like half of what y'all.
Heard got the opposite of demo itis. You're like, I know what it sounded like on the old yet.
Half of results take time with new beats. I didn't wrap those songs to those beats, but samples couldn't get cleared, so we had to make them new things.
Are you still with your production company?
Yeah, we got a new situation we're working out as well. Yeah, but we're in a great space as well too. Like like I said, it was, it was so much going on. I think a lot of things happened fast for all of us. And I think because everything was so New York, Philly, La Debay, it was so fragmented, it kind of made it hard for everybody to kind of like get to know each other a little bit. You're dealing with personalities from all over the fucking world. But we're in a
great space. And shut out to Atlantic and everything they did for me. Shut out to Dallas, you know, shut out to Jamilla, shout out to everybody. I got love from the people for sure.
Yeah. Do you feel like because I feel like you're thriving as a personality now, does it make you like less motivated to No? Try still in the music game.
No, Like I got some I know what I'm doing now. I'm not shooting in the dark.
No more so.
When you're not shooting in the dark, you know how to make your playing bulletproof. And that's what I'm doing right now, is making what I want to do bulletproof. I can't present it until it's fully there for me to be consistent enough to do this for the rest of my life. Once I start again, there's no stopping. I'm never gonna start and stop again once I start it's up.
You had that. I saw you recently. You said that you had a taken on a new position helping some some sports stuff out. Yeah, can you talk about that?
Which position? Because it's me You're an employee. Now, we can't talk about that one yet.
You're like, Hey, it's I'm just that I'm an employee. Now, I'm like, what do you mean? Do you tell me? I was like, God, damn, that's crazy. I can't talk about that.
Yeah, we can't talk about it will be announced soon, but we can't talk about it yet.
Got it.
You could say it without saying the name though.
I think you said you were helping, like had the music department of a major league Yeah, not the major league, yeah, but a major league sports league. Yeah.
Nice, like directing the music, like making sure. I feel like it's this dynamic of like when rappers make sports music, it gets looked at it like corny.
Well you have like my kid has used your song so much? Put me in the game. Yeah on talk. Yeah, it's fucking but it was just you just threw it out.
But that was that was something I connected to space Gym right, which came out with Space Gym so kind of what I'm working on, what the partner is finding creative ways for songs to live in their platform and to help other people. Right, So if we look at radio or we look at streaming, what are other ways we can get our music out for sure versus just
radio and streaming. So if I can be on TV in this commercial or licensing, you know what I'm saying, whatever it may be, and I got a song that fits this, why not place it there because it might get me the same spins I can get on radio or something like that. So approaching it from that angle.
I wonder, do you ever was it hard? Because when you're somebody like yourself, and I know you have an ego, Every rapper has an ego, do you ever fall victim? And I feel like all of us at a certain point in time fall victim? To pocket watching? Pocket watching, I would say, where maybe you feel like, fuck, I'm doing all this, but you'll see other artists like who maybe not might not be as talented as you, or might not be as you know.
I don't pocket what. I don't pocket watch rappers. They don't make enough money, Okay, rappers don't make enough money? Like when I go to basketball games. Now, I be thinking about who made the rim I like that. I don't even think about what the players probably China, Like who made the netding?
You know what I'm saying?
Where did the paint come from that painted the hard wood, and what chemicals went into that and who owns the chemical company?
Like m That's where my mind goes. It sounds like you talk a lot of tariff talk.
I seen too much. I've seen too much. I seen too much, and I've seen how it works. And I'm like, oh, I was worried about the room shit, Like I was focused on things that's like, really ain't gonna change shit. I gotta integrate knee spaces to really affect the change.
But you also are very like you're a very h You're a very confident artist.
I'm just a confident person, right.
But I mean in the hip hop space, you've obviously like you've popped your ship.
You know, you've something like cause if I wrap, like, let's be real, who fucking with me? Besides my man's, besides my man's who you know my.
Man's it's Kenny.
Besides my man's, that's my nigga, Like besides my nigga, who fucking with me?
I just.
I haven't had the platform that some of you have had to be able to shot. But it's goodman, and just prepare yourself.
Are you at all conscientious of like the next thing I do? Is it going to be singles? Or are you going to deliver a body of work?
Body of work? For sure, but I think the main thing immediately is just getting back to what putting music feels like.
Out when's the last time you dropped in? Two years?
Three years?
Three years?
Three years?
What the fuck?
Three years? My last record was top G in May of twenty twenty two, twenty three, so that's two years.
Ye say, I don't think it's been three years, full years, twenty twenty three. That was the one that you shot over and uh was the top Africa Africa.
That was the story I told on Sway about once again. I went to the label with a plan, but there was a new product manager at the time, so she didn't understand.
You said you shot that out of your own pocket, right.
Yeah, paid to go to Africa myself, my own people, took my son, f went out there, did everything on my own, had a good time, had a great time, it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. But yeah, it is.
Damn that's crazy. It's been that long. It's been two years.
And you know what's even crazier. The last time we did an interview, you asked me, how long is it going to be before you drop again? Because I'm not trying to wait two three years. It was right after results take time we did an interview. You said that, And it's crazy because I told y'all, was like, it's not gonna be long. I said, I'm coming top of the year.
Well, you've played me so much shit that's like amazing. The music, this the ship we need, like this, the shit like.
Watch I'm gonna play you when we get off camera. The music I'm creating right now with my dog, Rob Knox shut out to no Id as well. He's been giving us a lot of pointers. But the music I'm creating right now, it's me. It's what y'all see. It's what you see on those freestyles and song format. It's literally that. But I had to get better as an artist, right I fell in love with rap, I never fell in love with being an artist, so I had to learn what that looked like. For me aesthetically, what am
I going to talk about? Who am I speaking to? What's my concepts, what's my colors? You know what I mean? How does my visuals touch the people that's paying attention to me. I have to learn all of that and learn how to put that within the music. And you know, back in the day, that would be called artists development. Today, artists developed in real time, right, because you might find somebody that popped off from something that they randomly did
on the internet. Now the world is watching them, but they have to develop how to be an artist in real time while y'all watching them. Sure, that's a hard thing to do, and the only way to kind of master that is to take time and like zone out all the chatter of oh there's no hit record, Oh I don't know the music, I don't know. It's cool, it's cool, it's coming, it's coming. You know.
There was a version that never ended up Broke, that had doctor dre on it, right, Yeah, it just never came out.
Yeah, yeah, Drake Drake killed that verse.
Actually, I think it's on my phone somewhere.
Yeah, I think you definitely got I think it was one of those things where the rollout has started and the project was getting ready to drop before Dre wanted that verse to come out. I believe so it was, you know, just a little miscommunication with things.
Were you ever able to uh work with Dre? Outside of that? Bro? Me and Dre got some ship. Mmm.
He's probably gonna get mad at me for saying this. And I haven't talked to him in a minute. But we got this song called god Speed.
Is he rapping on it?
It's me and him like back to back, like on some ship like the It's it's incredible. It's probably like one of my our best versus.
Is that the type of record where you wouldn't like, Hey, Dre, can I get that?
Those are the record other no one's gonna ever hear it. Those are the records that if they ever see the light of day, changes hip hop? Mmmm, they change him?
Do you push for them to see the light of day? Or since it's doctor Dre, you just kind of you know.
When it when it comes to Dre is like fucking you say, like it's you on his time?
Can you ask for it? You could ask Hey, that song we did? I think it sounded really good on my album.
You can ask but you also have to know when to asks right. Right, there's a certain time and a certain point.
You can't just record to put this out as a one. You got to burst on the exhibit album, you know.
But look how X album is packaged. Great album, great album. Spent this time on it for shot visuals over the last year. Right playing this promo, run knew he wanted to talk to and ligned himself with the proper brands. Went to speak to people that appreciate what he does, not people that takes away from it. Right, So it was properly presented. I think when you're dealing with people of an ex A Dre, certain things you have to be able to properly present these things. And at that
time I wasn't able to properly present that verse. But still a great verse that makes sense. Shut out to Dre. Shut out there, everybody. I just seen Focus the other night that exhibits release party, so shut out the Focus as well.
What are your thoughts on the Joey badass oh man versus every other pardon.
My brash ass feeling Joey badass because I was unique in another life, my bad you know, I just be rapping in my heads.
But I'm curious, Like I've enjoyed the back and forth, and I was hoping that this cipher with Sean and Absol was like the ending. Yeah, and then it's just kept going and I'm like, all right, guys, we get it. Like everyone's taking advantage of the moment.
Like I'm starting to realize, Like.
But it feels very friendly.
March through June is like rad beef season.
I mean, I think fucking last year it kind of made that a thing.
I think the beef is great. I think it's great for the.
Beef though, it's just friendly, Like I feel, right, Joey badasses, Like I've got a lot of respect for TD just by buying tdast dot com for sure, for sure, but I feel like, you know, you saw that with like Joey and Absol doing that back and forth. It was so dope. I was like, this is what the fuck I want to see because they're friends, they used to be on tour together, their buddies, and you know, Joey's
one of them ones. You know what I'm saying. They got to stop backing, Like Joey ain't got plaques too. By the way, Joey got a couple of plas, but they hanging out of my hallway right now.
They forget about devastated.
It's platinum. It's hanging in my studio. He used to be on my old set behind me.
They forget Joey got They forget Joey wrote rock Star.
Joey is a prolific MC who again. You know, I feel like at certain times he dibbles and dabbles, like where he's like, Yo, this acting shit's going crazy, and he dives into the acting and then he's back outside, and you know, I just think Joey's and I think it's been dope because I feel like this whole beef's at least shine a light on a guy like Rayvon who's and reason and obviously Daylight's a fucking alien.
He just dropped today, didn't he.
Yeah, I haven't listened, but I'm like when like, it's cool. I just thought that the perfect like you know, icing on the cake would have been that cipher and then it dies there. Yeah nah, it turned back up. Man.
I think it's great right now, especially right now like rap is in a I'm not gonna say music. Rap is in like a weird space right now where I feel like even the fans don't really know what they want.
Yeah, I feel like commercially it's definitely like the last year has been. I mean, Jesus, just Kendrick and Sissen. Yeah, Kendrick and.
But those are people that understand it at a high level.
No, for sure, And it's but it's like almost like this weird space where it's like, Okay, then Drake drops Nokia and everyone loves the song, but it's not like it's a great song. But I feel like I feel like in La at least or any of my rap buddies, they don't want to like it too much because it's so good.
Well, I think the beef between Drake and Kendrick kind of caused a divide between a lot of things. Like even in the songwriter community, it's certain like songwriters that fuck with one artist that makes sense won't work with the other one because they know that person likes it's a heavy thing.
There is a real there is a real still divide. Like there was a situation recently that I won't say the names of, but let's say person A who had a beef with Drake.
I think I know what you're talking about.
They had a VIP room reserved at a.
Strip club and couldn't get in there.
No, they reserved it. They're there all the time. By the way, person a that I'm talking about is a fucking superstar level human in the music industry. Person by maybe not a superstar level person, but very close to a main guy in the big beef. Comes in and says, hey, we want to take the VIP room. The strip club says it's already for.
So and so that's why I said he couldn't get in there.
Right and so yeah, it's so it's like this weird thing where it's like, okay, and I happen to go that night and I didn't know how because I've been pretty critical of Drake on Twitter. Yeah, you know, was no, no, no, I didn't know how. You know. I ran into his people and I wasn't sure until I saw them and they were cool, and I was like, oh, okay. I was like, I know I've been dogging out Drake on Twitter. Guy, just being bluntly honest about the whole year.
No real talk, man.
I think that it has changed music though. I think I think it's almost like I think Drake catching Oki is great. And if as long as he just keeps on putting records, it'll he'll I just don't think it the same.
He's Drake, Doug, He's Drake, but it'll never be the same for a certain aspect and portion of hip hop fans. Here's a thing, right, And I said this once before, it's culture verse commerce, for sure. I think I think Kendrick's problem well, and I'm speaking for myself, I'm not speaking for Kendricks, right. I think Kendrick's problem was some people of commerce come into our culture and turn it to commerce, right, and this is a thing that that's ours.
It's is something we should be able to have control over, and at no any given moment should we be looking at each other asking how did this happen for somebody we didn't agree with to be here, not saying that was Drake or whatever it may be. For sure, right, I think when culture will comes commerce, the person of culture at that time stood on it and he said, man, this is our thing, this is what what we're standing on.
And also pointed out a lot of like obvious things that people just overlooked the whole time because they were like the commerce part will make people overlook a lot of shit.
A lot of things, and I think Dot took it back to culture and just back to ay Man.
We just rapping.
It's the essence of the bars, the sports. It's not about the hits, it's not about none of this. It's a friendly like he said, it's a friendly fade. Let's keep it that way. He did say that, right, and then let's keep it that way. And then it went somewhere else. And then when it goes somewhere else, now you're allowing something to happen, to go further. And the thing about West Coast niggas is we professional crash out artists. So the minute that you invite the crash out, it's
gonna happen. It's gonna happen.
Yeah, and then the super Bowl happens.
Come on, now, the greatest Super Bowl performance of all time.
I agree, I agree, and I know that it's a polarizing performance, but I think it was very much like it was what it was art, yeah, which is what.
Deeper than art. It was the story of the black experience in America.
And compensated in a fifteen minute.
Every bar I write, like my verse on the Exhibit album is about the Black experience in America. For sure identify when I write with the Black experience in America. I'm always trying to make people think about the Black experience in America. So if you're gonna glorify killing a nigga, the nigga, you gotta go glorify doing them thirty years. You gotta glorify doing that life, because that's what come with it. Don't just tell one side of the story,
tell the whole experience. And what Kendrick did at the Super Bowl right for the NFL national televisis viewers, Eagles chiefs, right, he told our story from the Black experience. Man, if you hate no Net, you hate yourself.
Yeah. It was funny because it was like there was either people who were Drake fans who said it was overrated in trash, so that's like one bucket of people. Then there was people who just didn't get it because they're like not so I talked generic music fans, but the hip hop heads are the people who were really like culturally astute. They were like, yo, this is fucking brilliant.
I talked to a friend of mine who actually works at the NFL, and she's a white lady, Yeah, not of the same ethnicity. And she said she didn't understand. She went to the rehearsals and she's seen the whole thing, and she just thought it was incredible. She didn't even know what storyline and everything. And then when it happened and she seen the storyline hit the internet and all.
These different things, God, she was.
Like, wow, I didn't notice, but it brought awadness to things she didn't know to where she went and looked into certain things, and she was texting me like, Yo, I never knew this happened. I never knew Samuel Jackson was bringing this up because of such and such and such as this was an educational moment for the world. It wasn't just for us, it was for the world. And our salute bro for standing on that stage in lending his platform.
Just all of the like trends that came out of but not like us dance at the Super Bowl.
Everybody was wearing jeans for too much, had a Canadian tuxio doing tiktoksess crazy crazy, but that's culture.
Has uh did you ever? Because you've been in the studio with so many artists, what's been the one artist you were able to be in the lab with with the music didn't come out on the other side, but you were just like, was it, Kendrick, Was it? I mean, I know you've been in with a lot.
Of people a song I did with being in the.
Studio with somebody helping out or just flying flying the wall in the room like m and I would say Dre. Yeah, probably the one.
I would say Dre, even though there's more probably names that would be entertaining for the Internet if I said it, but to be honest, it would be Dre because Dre has this attention to detail.
I heard it, I heard it's damn near annoying for me because it's such a perfections For me.
It wasn't annoying because I was trying to understand the idea of where he was going with it, and it was a certain thing he was hearing to where what I figured out was he was hearing the music as an engineer how the listener is going to hear it, and I'm thinking how I want to wrap it, So he gave me a way to say it. So Yeah, and he gave me a way to say it based off how the listener will receive it, and when I seen it, I was like, damn, Like he pays attention.
To any different way, like one of one detail, detail, very detailed, and it'll inspire you, like it'll have you like, Damn, I'm not taking my music serious enough.
I'm not thinking about certain things. Like You'll be in the studio with Dre and it'll be like these speakers, these big ass speakers on the wall, and it's just like you're like, man, well all these speakers in here, and he like, man, every pocket or that speaker got a reason.
That's fire. You know what I'm saying.
That's the base, that's the trouble, that's this with So when you're mixing, like how does it sound it's coming out that top part of the speaker, how does it sound to come out the bottom part? Or like he's he's intricate with it, like all the way.
What are your Obviously somebody who you mentioned earlier who doesn't have an issue putting out music as our friend of Russell.
Yeah, shout out to the Russell.
I don't know how many albums he has now, but.
I think he's on forty something like that.
But he's also somebody who's like, you know, fuck man, the Russell's special guy. Man, he's kind of.
I literally was just watching a video of him talking to this lady who was I guess she was a business owner at the theater he was booked at, and she was complaining about the noise and he just went over there like so humbly trying to talk to her, and the lady was just being a complete asshole, like entitled to having a business next door. Like, lady, you're next door to a fucking concert.
What do you think was gonna hap?
What do you think is gonna happen?
Ye?
But I just, man, I salute dude, Bro, just for being a good person, you know, like a lot of people. Notice I said it before. My mom lives by l Russell.
Like I got.
Family that's in that same neighborhood. It's so many times that my aunt called me and be like, yeah, I just ate at Momos. The Russell paid for everybody that's fire, you know what I mean. Or he took care of breakfast for everybody today, or whatever it may be. So I just salute Bro, like he just a good person at home, or make great music, great rapper, and I love what he got going on.
You guys should do a joint album. Man, him and Pilo did a whole fucking album for fos sake. You're independent, Now get one off. Let let let one off of. I'm with it.
I don't think the Russell would like my process.
Because it's too uh. I feel like Russell's very We're feeling it.
It sounds good and I'm gonna be like, uhh, this hook ain't good enough. This, this drums ain't hitting. This ship ain't mixed right like this. We gotta change it. It's not just that it's i have a different level of taste now. I've developed a different level of things. I've seen more ship. I've seen why things are the way they are. I've seen why things work, not what makes them work, why they work. I've seen the quality
in the work ethic that goes into it. I spent time with Kanye Was for two weeks in Atlanta.
What was that like?
Incredible?
Don two Dona Donda the first first so at the at the Falcons School.
I'm there in the stadium for two weeks watching this whole production.
So I'm seeing this.
And I'm like, this is what I want for myself. I'm just not at a level to get it.
Yet Kanye wants you to get on the hail Hitler remix you jumping on it?
No, No, I love Kanye, but he's on some bullshit.
I didn't lie though. That beat is crazy. I love Kanye like he's one of our great The beat of that song, if you just play the instrumental, it's so crazy, for sure.
But it's he's a fucking He's Kanye. He's one of the most incredible artists that we've ever had.
Do you think this whole thing is like a giant think piece being being fleshed out to us live? Like he has an end game and a point he's trying to make. It's it's it's the way he's trying to make. It's rather ignorant. No, you don't think so. You don't think there's any he means to the madness.
I think the man is hurt.
I think he's definitely hurt.
I think the man is hurt, and I don't I think he don't have people around him to vent to, to give him honest enough advice to stay off the internet. That's my opinion. I can be completely wrong. He might make a tweet about me tomorrow and be like, simple, you came here and wrote a hook, don't say shit
about me whatever. But I'm saying, at the end of the day, I don't think the right structure for where he's at in life, as far as a father wanting to see his kids, dealing with divorce, being the biggest star in the world, right, Adidas, dealing with stuff with your designs, right, And he's been through things that we haven't seen, right, A lot of things we haven't seen, things with lawyers, right, trying to get his master's back, or things with his children in court. We don't know
these things. That's probably driving him to this point to say these type of things.
I think he's also probably to the point that if you're not a yes man, you're gonna be excommunicated rather quickly. It feels like anybody who's semi critical of what he's doing.
And I think that's unhealthy.
Now I do. I do. I did say this because I was like, Yo, there's there are people who have criticized him publicly who are supposed to be his quote unquote friends, who I hope would have had that conversation with him personally first, or attempted to before publicly doing that.
You know, I just think as a man, Bro, you represent more than you.
And even him like as a as a as a man, but also as a I mean, he's he can't, you know, be ignorant to the fact that he's the most influential artist of all times.
But that's kind of way, that's kind of what I'm saying. Is not only a man as as you just said, one of the most influential artists of all times, you have a responsible.
I think he's the most implant artist.
Might be, might be right, whatever it is, you still have a responsibility as the titles that you are. Outside of being that right, outside of being the greatest artist of all time, You're still a father for sure. You're still a son, You're still somebody husband, You're still a friend. I'm still your friend, keV. If somebody call me right now and tell me a bootleg keV says such and such and such and such about you, I'm gonna call you, even if they tell me and say, don't tell him.
I told you.
I'm gonna call you as your friend because we have a vow to each other that we friends, and I'm gonna say, hey, Bro, did you say such and such and such and such because this person said that. And if you tell me no, I'm gonna believe you because that person told me not to tell you, and we gonna keep that amongst us. I think he's missing that, and I think he goes to Twitter and he lets it all out and he needs a friend and to.
Talk to him, because then he's like with all these streamers.
And it's wild because you got people that take advantage of it. You got people that literally pull up and act like they fuck with him as a person just to get a moment podcast to be able to blow up. And it's like, bro, you making this man look crazy as a father when he.
Go to court. Yeah, we're in a weird place where like there's like people who aren't even hip hop fans who are somehow like dictating conversations. Like I like the Aiden Ross dude talking about DOCI, was like, like, who the fuck is this?
Fuck Aiden Ross.
He's a bitch.
Fuck Aiden Ross, and I mean that with everything. Listen to me. I'm not saying this on no threatening shit, but I'm saying fuck Aiden Ross for disrespecting that black woman. Doci was at a met gala, probably had a moment of being irritated and things going on. You don't know what it's like in that moment dealing with all of that. Who the fuck is you to speak to that woman like that? Fuck you and fuck everything you got going
on for speaking of that black woman like that. We salute DOCI, We support DOCI, and we stand by DOCI in her moments of being frustrated and her greatest moments of winning a Grammy Nigga. We culture and this is what we stand on. Fuck you, you're a guest here. You have no right to talk to that woman like that because you ain't good enough to even say nothing to her.
I don't even think.
I don't even know what makes him a guest because he's not a hip hop The internet makes them.
It's just crazy because I remember seeing him and Kyle from the Nelkboys, and I'm cool with Kyle, but I remember hearing them talk about euphoria. Yeah, and I was. I put a comment under the video and I said, this is like watching two blind people discuss what a Picasso painting looks like because they have no fucking.
No, you're not even from this, You're not from this. You don't know the frustrations of being a black woman at the Met gala.
It's like, Drake fans aren't always hip hop fans. Fact to me, Like those guys are like they're Drake fans, they're not fucking hip hop fans, bro, Like, like these guys.
Saw that shit pissed me off because what it showed me is, y'all, motherfuckers is getting too entitled. Fact, y'all getting too entitled to speak up on things that ain't got nothing to do with y'all. That woman is dealing with something at the Met gallon that ain't got shit to do with you, and you calling her a piece of shit. How she spoke to her team, Bro, you don't know what was going on that day, and so shut the fuck up.
And anybody who can listen to her project and say, you know that she.
Ain't no mean as the industry playing ship she is.
Like I said, it was the Alum of the Year last year, way early. I'm like, yo, this is by far incredible, by far, body of work, by far, artistically, she's insane. And anybody who doesn't, let's just.
Be real, that girl, that girl was vlogging five years ago trying to get herself know who what fuck is you for sure as an industry plant to call her an industry plant she worked for that shit.
It's crazy. I think these streamer dudes make so much money and that's fine because they develop a card and all that money. I'm not even talking about like I like, I like high, but I'm talking about like, there's all these gambling deals people are getting there, getting all this fucking money, and it almost feels like people can equate the fact that they have fuck you money to being like just shitty h Like, bro, you not on me.
I can't speak for other rappers and other entertainers when they come to me. Ain't no way in the fuck if I ran across aiden Ross right now, I'm not gonna say nothing to them right I'm gonna say something, bro, because you got to be accountable for what you said to that black woman. And I'm a black man. So if I let you say that shit and I don't check you, I'm just allowing you to think this shit is cool.
The thing that sucks is there's still gonna be countless artists that that's cool.
Y'all can do what trouble, But I'm like, yo, go on to stream at least check y'all could do what y'all gonna do. Y'all can go to his stream, y'all can do all of that. That stream ain't that important to me.
And it's also how you disrespect. It's not translating the fucking you selling records.
Man, It ain't that stream. Ain't that important to me for what you did to that black woman and how you spoke on her. So until you apologize or until you got something to fix that, nigga is fuck you. And if I see you, it's fuck you, mister Ross period. Shout out the doc Alligator Bites don't healed in stores now?
All right? So music coming to and you're just working out a deal.
Essentially, we're working out home, We're working out some monuments, taking.
Meetings, figuring it out, figuring out everything. The meetings have been great.
But I know where I'm going and the person who I've been talking to know where I'm going. And it's not a traditional record label theme. No, it's not real, but it is something untraditional. And this is a a great friend of mine that I met a few years ago, and we just kind of see things the same way.
You about to sign the Gilbert Arenas. No, I kind of ask. He's got stupid money. I don't know. You gotta spend gil.
So gil created a show called battle Mode that started from our group chat. We were all playing video games, so he went and created this show. So we all are that was in the group chat.
I saw you're just bowling with him. I didn't know you're a good bowler because we.
Battle every day. Okay, so it's a competitive Nature's Nick Young.
If I send you over, I have an og Wizards jersey? Were you going to sign for me? Yess?
Matter of fact, what are you doing next Friday? What are you doing May thirtieth?
I don't know. Probably be here.
May thirty if we're doing the championship of our basketball game, you should come and bring your Wizards jersey and he'll sign it.
Right there for you. Gilbert Arenas, man, let's make that happen. An Arizona Wildcat.
Great, let's make that happen. No, it's a it's a it's a big thing that we're working on. It's just taking a little time. It's very un unconventional. It's something that's new in this space. And these are great people and they have great vision. For fox sake. Put some music out for fox sake. It's coming, I promise you, but like, don't overthink it. I'm not you are I promise you.
I'm not a fucking great overthinker. I promise you.
I'm not all right.
I promise you. I'm not.
It's coming. Well, that and beyond a lot of stuff I feel like rapping.