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Sing a new song and then we love you Justin. The next episode of the commercial break starts now. The 30 in the morning! Yeah, cats and kittens welcome back to the commercial break. I'm Brian Green. This is my sister from another Mr. Kristen Joy. Totally best to you, Chris. Best to you Brian. Best to you out there on the podcast universe. Delay not because today is a very special day here at the commercial.
Best to you. We have an info commercial unlike any other or at least we hope it's going to be like any other Nikki Jam. International crossover regatone artist star star. The godfather of regatone some will call him me. I'll call him that. He is amazed like the amount of musical influence that he's had quite frankly all over the world. Since the 90s he's been doing this since he was like 13 14 years old. His story is amazing. I'm not going to step on the story.
I'll let him tell it hopefully we can talk about it. But Nikki Jam is really quite frankly a superstar like in the upper echelon of superstars. And how he ended up here on the commercial break. I have no idea. But we are grateful to have his time. He's I think he's being very gracious but. I think the commercial break. But we are very excited about this interview and so we do want to get to it relatively quickly.
But I'll just share how I understand the Nikki Jam or my in my I guess. The way that Nikki jam. How he came into my life. The story of our love. So the year is 2015. I think it is and Astrid and I have just started dating and I am going to Spain for the first time to see her outside of the United States. And so I fly into Spain and they let me in. I can't I don't know that they'll still let me in but they let me in that.
That was a good first. Well now I've got now I might have Nikki Jam on my. Yeah, that's right. Rolla Dex. So I think they have to let me in now. And so we go to stay with her uncle who lives there. Her uncle and her aunt who lived there. And unbeknownst to me they have planned this 10 or 11 day road trip around Spain. We are going to go all around Spain. We're going to drive the entirety of Spain. We're going to try like one big circle and get back to Madrid.
Right. And one of the places we're going to stay on all these castles that have been renovated into hotels like castles owned by the government then taken out then managed by a hotel company. It was an amazing trip. I'll never forget it. Best of my life. One of the best of my life. But one of the places we are going to stop outside of the whole castle thing is we're going to stop in the Pyrenees mountains one night.
I think I've told this story about how we were driving in the middle of the night to get to this hotel at the ski resort. Yeah. And we were like literally out of the movie on the side of a cliff. It's snowing. I'm driving in a new country. You know, it's just like it's craziness and right as it's one of those roads where you're driving. And if you miss that by two feet off the cliff, you are going 180 meters down. Right. It's very scary.
Yeah. I was like glued to the windshield just watching. Anyway, that's not the point of the story. Of course it isn't. We get to this hotel. It's beautiful. It's lovely. We're there on the 30th of December. And on the 31st, my uncle and Astrid have planned and my aunt have planned the night. And they have gotten tickets to this hotel New Year's Eve party in this beautiful hotel that we're staying at.
That this is the place where I played the piano for my aunt. And they quickly learned that I am not a Nikki Jam. I'm far from Nikki Jam. I don't you do. I'm not even the at no, I did. I did Motley crew home sweet home for 12 minutes. I'm all my way. And then some 14 year old kid got up and did like Beethoven's 9th all parts. He had five hands. I didn't know I couldn't even I was so embarrassed. But I was pressured into it because of course I told him I was a musician.
And that was a total not a total lie, but definitely a white line. So anyway, so we all get dressed up. I've brought Astrid told me to bring a suit for the occasion. I do. Everyone's just lovely. We get down to this hotel party. It's one of those things where you have dinner and then you go into the ballroom. That's overlooking the Pyrenees mountains. It's just it's like a scene out of a movie. It's unbelievable.
And then they have a DJ and then the champagne and the whole nine yards and you toast and each your grapes and you do the whole nine yards. So the DJ starts the night off pretty like what you would expect being very close to France. Right. You would expect like a lot of French pop music and American pop music and you know some oldies, but some goodies and Frank Sinatra in there for good measure just kind of starts off that way.
But as the clock ticks toward midnight, it gets more and more the music gets more and more like rowdy. And after midnight, it becomes almost exclusively regga tone, which at that time I don't have a lot, I know what it is, but I don't have a lot of experience with it. Right. It's not something I had on in the car. And so as if anybody puts radio on in the car. Oh, it's not like when your mom had what was the soundtrack of the movie.
She a fan to me the opera. Yeah, fan to me the opera. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's what I'm saying to my fan to me the opera. And so they start playing this regga tone and my soon to be brothers in law are freaking out and they're dancing. And I mean, they are good dancers because they are from Venezuela where your hips are born moving. Yeah. They just know how to do it. Exactly.
And everybody is going crazy. Like all ages, everybody loves this music and they're playing like 10, 15 songs in a row, regga tone. Were you dancing? I was trying to, but they were. It was not going well. It was just not going well for a white guy from Chicago. I was doing like the Newtles, like the white man noodle, you know, waving my hands around bouncing my butt up and down. My hips refused to move from side to side. You know how it goes.
Yes. So the guys are trying to, uh, Danny Gustav, but they're trying to teach me how to do some of these moves they got. They're trying to teach me these steps, right? And I'm kind of getting it, but not really. If there was a video and I'm sure there is, it's embarrassing for everybody involved. But I said, you have to, like, this is, you know, some of these songs are great. What is this? And they say the name Nikki Jam, right? Daddy Yankee, Nikki Jam, Nikki Jam.
And I'm like, oh, okay, I know Daddy Yankee, Nikki Jam. Oh, curious. And they're like, he's huge. He's a huge star. And you know, at the wedding, you got to play this song. I mean, I don't know if you're engaged to that point, but we're already talking about the wedding. And I say, listen, if we have a wedding, I'm paying you to DJ and I'm paying you to teach my, my white brethren how to dance, right?
And it was a joke. It was like a running joke in the family for a while. So first time I hear the name Nikki Jam, then we get to the wedding. You were there. And one of the things that I really felt almost that I feel sentimental about at this time is you have these two families from disparate sides. From disparate sides of the world, you have the Venezuelans and you have the like straight up Americans. And it's split down the middle. It's about 75, 75, right? 75 American 75 Venezuelans.
And everybody is just having a good time from the get. It's a really great vibe. But then we do something called Laura Loca, which is the crazy hour. That's what it's called. And the crazy hour is a tradition in some Latin communities and a lot of Latin communities where at a wedding or whatever, at a party, you do Laura Loca. Everybody gets crazy. You break out props like big hats and all this crazy shit. And it sounds corny and kooky, but it's not.
No, it's so fun. It was so much fun. You do the Kong Align. You know, everybody's dancing. And it doesn't matter who you are. Your butt needs to be on the dance floor. And my wife with help from Gustavo put together a playlist for the DJ because she felt it was really important to get this one right. And of course, please do right. I was all about it. And that or a locus started. And I'm telling you what there was not a butt in a seat.
Everybody was dancing. And if you were sitting down the Venezuelans were going to grab you and pull you up because that's not allowed. It doesn't matter if you know how to dance. Try. Move your shake your butt. It doesn't matter. You know, move your hands. Do the noodle. Whatever it is. We'll teach you how to dance or it'll be fine. At least for this hour, it's fine. We're not going to make fun of you. It's like a free pass. Do your noodle.
You don't have to move your hands. You'll be fine. And and Nikki Jam was on that playlist. Oh, yeah. Quite a bit. And when I talked to Gustavo a couple nights ago about this interview, he said there were probably five songs there. And the most beautiful part of that wedding to me was that or a loca because I really felt like everybody was just it didn't matter if you spoke English or Spanish or some mix there of whatever it was.
There was like a communication going on in the room on the dance floor. And that was these two are in love. Let's celebrate by just showing some love. Everybody was getting along and having a good time dancing no matter the age, the race, the color, the language. It didn't matter. And that really music is the international language love. Really. Every celebration. It doesn't matter. You can like a song and not know what they're saying. It doesn't matter.
Half the time I don't know. I'm singing the wrong. I'm singing the wrong words. I still don't know what Eddie Vetter is saying, but I like his music. I still don't know what he's saying. But I like the music. Cool, dude. Whatever you're saying. Oh, oh, oh, oh. But Nikki was a presence there during during that hour, which I really cherish in my heart and always will. And in the wedding video, you can see it like they're playing his music. It's there. Right.
And so when we got this opportunity to interview Nikki Jam, of course, I was going to jump at it because I just felt like he may have played a small part in the wedding, but he played a big part of the feeling that I took away from that. Yeah, bring the togetherness of that. And of course, all of this will give me Instagram with my family. They no longer will laugh in front of my face. Now they'll do it behind my back. So that is good news.
Yes, anything you can do on that front. Yes. So Nikki has a brand new album coming out. His album is on Somnia in English. And we're really excited that he's here. He's going to talk about the new album. And of course, you can find him on social media at Nikki Jam. I think is what it is on Insta. He's on TikTok. He's on YouTube everywhere.
This guy is a big presence in the music world. And we're so grateful to have him. So generous with this time. So let's do this. Let's take a break. And through the magic of telepodcasting, we will have on an amazing guest, Nikki Jam. Let's do it. Okay. Ready. We'll be back.
Oh my God, Christina, you're an icon and a legend. That's my impression of you when I tell you that you can officially get tickets to come see us in Florida. We'll be at Daniel Beach in Prague on September 24th and the Funny Bone Orlando on September 25th. And both of those links are already in the show notes. So come see us and giggle your way into our little hearts.
If you can't make it to Florida to win our love, don't worry. We're easy. All it takes is to follow us on Instagram at the Commercial Break and on TikTok at TCB Podcast. Or you can text us at 2124333TCV. And check out our website, TCBpodcast.com for all of our audio video content and any sneaky links we might share.
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It's not just about watching the game. It's about batting on it. I'm Mike Velenian. I catch the ticket, Jim Kasten. I break down every college football and NFL match up like it's the last game where we're going to watch from the best bets to the sneaky underdogs. And of course, as my co-host likes to say, the value and the one thing we're not going to do is pretend we're professionals. We have fun with it. It's an entertainment product and it makes watching games a hell of a lot of fun.
So cash the ticket, follow it in the free audacity app or wherever you get your podcasts. Have you ever covered a carpet stain with a rug, ignored a leaky faucet, pretended your half-painted living room is supposed to look that way. Well, you're not alone. We've all got unfinished home projects. Whether it's a door that sticks or a disorganized closet or an AC unit that only works half the time, it all matters.
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Pull out your phone and in just a few taps, say goodbye to all those unfinished home projects and say hello to caring for your home the easier way. Download thumbtack and start a project today. Thank you, Nikki for being here with us today. We really appreciate your time. We're doing good. I'm very grateful to have you here because I think I will now have instant respect in the family gatherings with the Venezuelan. My brothers and law are absolutely in love with everything.
I'm very excited that you're joining us and I can't either because I've done a lot of homework on you and I find you to be a very interesting and self-aware human being, which sometimes when you think of somebody that has a level of success and a level of fame, you might at least a stereotype might be that they're so disconnected from the audience or people, real people that you don't believe they might be that self-aware.
But I dug in, I listened, I read, I watched, you're a very humble and aware guy and I think that only comes from struggle and I know you've had some. Yeah, I mean, I'm very humble because of my dad. My dad was a very humble guy. He's always been and I've always saw that as something that I wanted to be just like my dad. He was only the type of guy that, you know, he would like stop doing anything to help anybody else or give a little, a little that he had to other people.
So I appreciate that from my dad and I learned that from my dad and it made me be a very humble human being, but that just part of me. You know what I'm saying? You can't really learn to be humble. It's just what you are. If you're humble, you're not your nut. But when somebody admires a humble person, that means that you're humble. That's what I think. If you admires somebody that's cocky and the jerk, I don't know what kind of, you can still use that word. Absolutely.
I mean, you use it all the time. If you admire people like that, well, that's what you are. So I admire humble people and that's what I am. And I just like to be that kid that everybody likes. I like to be the soul of the party. I like to be the guy that makes everybody laugh. I like to be that person that when people see me feels a good energy. So that's just me the way I am. And it didn't matter in any situation that I was.
When I was in drugs or I was in jail or I was in the World Cup, singing Will Smith doing a movie with these all that didn't matter in any of those situations. I was always the same guy. I would drink a Coca-Cola sitting down on the floor. And I also could eat lobster at the finest restaurant. I don't care about anything. I just enjoy life and life is too short to be an asshole.
Hey, man. I totally agree with you. And I tell my kids this all the time. There is plenty of, I mean, I don't say this word, but there is plenty of shit in this world. We need more shine.
And I think you're right about something. And I never thought about it this way is that like attracts like. So if you are a humble person, you admire humble people. I admire what I've heard from you specifically and read from you because I think you're also not afraid to share the struggle, which is also something that I think for men, for maybe the men in my family specifically, like it's hard to share the struggle because they see that as weakness.
Where I think when you when I hear it from you, it's a strength. That is a strength that you're able to share that struggle. Because you've learned from it. Yeah, I mean, I had a lot of my shoulders and I needed to get it off. And I'm still going to have all these problems from the past. And I think that I'm going to have a lot of problems. And I think that I'm going to have a lot of problems. And I think I'm going to have a lot of problems from the past.
And I think that I'm going to have a lot of problems from the past. And I think that I'm going to have a lot of problems from the past. This series shows the people that I'm not the superstar with the Lamborghini and the planes and all this stuff. I'm not only that. I have that. I'm grateful for it. I worked for it. But I came from nothing. I came from starving. I came from, you know, being waiting in the back of Dunkin' Donuts. They can throw away the donuts to hate.
I can take to my sister so she can eat. You know, came from packing groceries. So I can make $20 a day by cigarettes and milk and bread and ham and cheese. So we can eat at the house. I come from nothing. And I come from a house where my dad was a drug addict. My mom was a drug addict. And the whole environment where I was living in Lawrence, Massachusetts, everybody there was on drugs because it was a crack error. And crack error really messed up the city. Early 90s? Was this early 90s?
It was early 90s. Late 80s? Yeah. Yeah, and it was ugly. It was, I mean, it was like living in the street with a whole bunch of zombies. And in my house, I had two zombies. So imagine that. I can't. I can't. And I think that's part of, when you share your story, when I heard you share your story as I'm doing my research, I think that's the part like you just said. It's people think they know you, right? Even if you share your entire story, it's still your perspective. It's still unique to you.
And so the person you are is like a, I think, is like a fabric of all of those different experiences that you've had. And no one can ever do that again. It's not repeatable. Right? I mean, it's just one of those things that becomes you. And I think that I think it's so telling that you're so open about all of this. Your mom and dad were drug addicts. And then you moved to port. Like take it back a little bit. You moved to Puerto Rico when you were 10, 11 years old. Is that right?
Yeah, I moved to Puerto Rico when I was 10 because my dad, he called a case. They called him with a, I think it was like 20 kilos of cocaine. It was an undercover cop that there was with us like family. And you know, he was dealing and they caught him and then he, he was, he was, he posted bail and he was supposed to go back on trial.
So he knew that my mom wasn't in a good situation, you know, being in drugs and everything. And he said, if I, if I go to jail, who's going to take care of my kids? So my dad just, in those days, you know, the, you know, the TSA situation was so strict. So you could have like traveled to Puerto Rico with no problems. So my dad traveled to Puerto Rico with us, you know, to escape this situation that he had.
So he could be with us and you know, be, you know, be a father and take it. And I'm very grateful for that. He did stop doing drugs and he did become a, you know, the dad that I needed. Especially in that situation. So, you know, I, I, that's a hero move. Oh, that's a hero move. Yeah. And he stayed, he stayed, you know, he stayed with us and he did what he could, you could do. And, and that's how we live to Puerto Rico. And, you know, it's, it's, I'm very grateful.
And I was, thanks, thanks to living in Puerto Rico. You know, I, I learned about this, you know, reggae music and all these Caribbean sounds that maybe fall in love with it, you know. And, and that's my story with Puerto Rico. Yeah. You, for those that don't know in our audience, is it, you've described that you get found because you're bagging groceries at a grocery store. And you're wrapping and you're just kind of doing your thing, your freestyle. That's incredible. Yeah.
I used to freestyle with the groceries. Yeah. Or you're talking about the chicken and the tomatoes and the things. And I was just freestyle about the food. And I came like a small celebrity is like, yo, you heard this kid. He's, you know, wrapping about the food and everything. Packing and everybody would love to go to my aisle because they wanted to be wrapping. And those days wrap with something new in Puerto Rico, especially see your kid so young to wrap.
So this lady came to me and she was like, I, I wasn't feeling like wrapping that day. So I was just packing my groceries. She's like, so you're not going to wrap for me. And I'm like, me, if you give me the right tip, I'll probably do. So I just, I gave a, I wrapped. Yeah. And she like what I did. And then from that came to, to just like a series of coincidences that ended up with you and the studio.
And she said she wanted to sign me. And because she said she wanted to sign me, I, she told me she wanted me to get in the car with her. I'm like, hell no. I'm 12, weren't you 12 something? I even know how I was 12. I have street smart. Of course. Yeah. I know car with you off from the hood. I know not to get in the car. But she was like, no, you know, my husband, he's a, he's a producer from MP records in those days. I was like a big record label in Puerto Rico.
And I got in a car and I went and I wrapped her for her husband. And they, they went home that same day. They bring like a huge ass contract like this. My dad, you know, my dad's from the hood too. He's like, he don't know how to read none of that shit. He's like, and I, that you gotta read. I mean, she just signed that shit. I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready. Are they giving us money? Sign the contract. Right. My dad just signed that. So now they gave me no money in those days. Yeah.
When you sign in, today they'll give you money. If you already have a platform, you know what I'm saying? Sure. Like today you have Instagram and all that. And today you can make like people launch you already. So when you go to a label, you could be more like, like, yeah, I already have five. Yeah. Like what could you do that I can't do for myself? But those days you needed the record label like 100%.
No. There was no platform. So they didn't give me no money. But they, they, they, they fucked me in that contract. The anyways, I didn't do shit. I didn't make no money. But I'm sorry if I curse. No, you could curse. No, please. That's the show is cursing. Feel free. I'll fly. Yeah. They, they, they fucked me in that, in that contract. But, uh, I, uh, what helped me was that album did not sell.
Because how creative could you be when you're 12 years old when it comes to that album, you know, like you, you, you, you, you, you two, you have no minds for it. But the good thing that happened was the street DJs was listening to my music. And they liked it. And the street DJs was the one that was taking over. They was doing these things where there was like these mixed tapes where they put like 50 singers from Puerto Rico.
And everybody was like drop like a verse. Yeah. And they would become famous. So I was like the youngest kid on that, uh, on those mixed tapes. And I became famous. I became celebrity just because of the mixing. So that I want them to do good. But mixed tapes took me to this underground world where I became one of the architects of, um, regga told music.
You sure did. You're like the god, the one of the godfathers of regga tone. Okay. So fast forward. I'm not trying to date you man. I'm just saying. Uh, uh, you come to me on the commercial break. And you tell me your age. You come to my wedding. I see your Grammy. And I, I see you a bottle of Gatorade. You come to my way. That's actually pretty good. I know. We expect me. By the way, people ask me what my favorite Christmas movie is of all time. I say the godfather wanted to.
But all of a sudden they started showing it in the States. They show it. Yeah, like 24 hour marathon. So now, you know, my kids are watching whatever the Grinch. And I'm like, I'll be in here watching the godfather. I'm not asking you what's your favorite. This is what you're saying. Halloween wonder. So fast forward a little bit. So you have the kind of this like huge explosion of popularity when you're in Puerto Rico and it's like early part of your career.
But then you admittedly say at some point, and I'm quoting you here, I feel like an embarrassment of the regga tone industry at some point because I just kind of fall off the platform. Tell me about that like two two thousand seven two thousand eight. Well, that's very. Yeah, that's very fast forward. I mean, obviously I had a huge career. Yeah. And then of course, I mean, you know, I was a young kid. So I did a lot of bad things, you know, saying that I was a rebel.
I didn't have my mom. So the mom mentality, my mom, you know, she left me. So in that, and in those days, I didn't care about living like I didn't get fuck about living. I would do anything I was in the hood with the kids I would like run around like I was literally like doing anything in the streets that you shouldn't do. And you know, Daddy Yankee was in the part of that because I was with him. You know, we was like like this. Yeah, you guys were together. Yeah.
But he was like trying to, you know, like, you know, he's like he has kids. He has kids. He was with way more mature than me. And he had already had a focus. I like the whole street thing. And the reason why we got into the street thing is because I was raising the streets anyways, but it's because this guy wanted to kill us. And you can see that on the series, you know, saying this guy wanted to kill us and because this guy wanted to kill us, we had to run to New York.
And then we went to New York. And when they got tell Yankee, my yo Yankee, we've been, we've been having people trying to kill us our whole life in Puerto Rico. Like that's part of that's normal in Puerto Rico because we're from the hood. When you from the hood, that's not a new thing. You know, it's not normal in normal environment, but we're not from normal environment. We're from the hood. It's like you can say we're from the projects in Puerto Rico.
Look at that. So I'm telling him, bro, we've been through this shit and we're not going to hide in New York. Let's trap. Let's get to trash each other. Let's go to Puerto Rico and let's keep doing music. And if somebody comes through, we're ready. You know, and he's like, fuck it. Let's go. So we went to Puerto Rico. We got strapped in, for some reason this guy, obviously, if you mess around on the streets, you know what's going to happen.
You got two ways jail or dead. And this guy, you know, he had a lot of problems already and they killed him. Yeah. Just because they made our lives easier because we didn't have to like, you know, stress about it. That looks like a shoulder. Yeah. Just about it anymore. So Yankees like, yo, I'm giving, I don't want my gun anymore. I don't need it. And I said, I'll take it. I'm ready. I want to, I like the streets.
I want to keep going in the streets. So that's that's that's that was the beginning of my fuck up. Because instead of going that Yankees route, he was going to a route where he was like, you know, preparing himself, you know, psychologically, mentally, and physically for his new career. Where we was already successful to be bigger and bigger, I was, I was going to self destruction because I just wanted to be in the streets with the kids.
My boy's just for me, my family was the kids from the hood, you know, so I just wanted to be that. And when from that to doing drugs and doing more drugs and more drugs that came to a moment where I wasn't even in the street, doing it when I was just a junkie. Yeah. I'm a junkie. Obviously I caught my case. I went to jail for attempt the murder and all that.
And when I came out, it was even worse. In 2005 and 2006, it was like I was doing more drugs and more drugs and people will see me like, you know, like, you know, to be down on the street and yeah. Stuff like that and like they will get me in a car that I haven't paid like for seven months and they're like embarrassment. It was like a whole lot of embarrassment that you could only get when you were junkie. Sure. Can I ask you a question? Can I ask you a question?
When you were in that period of your life and you and Yankee were together, Yankee ever like try to get through like, hey, you know, we can grow, we can do this, but you got to settle down a little bit. Oh, Hunter, no, we was already successful. Sure. But he was looking for more. Yeah, he wanted to take it to the next level. He wanted to take it to the next level, but of course Yankee tried everything in his power to make me be a better person.
But when you were when you started and you're young and you're in your rebel and you don't care and you have that street mentality and you have a whole bunch of street kids next to you giving you the wrong message. There's no way you're going to listen to just one person, you know what I'm saying? And you know, it's sometimes you got sometimes you got to hit bottom, got a hit bottom. So you could learn, you know, and thank God. And it sounds weird for me to say thank God to hit and rock bottom.
I became the the human being that I am today and the superstar that I am today and everything that I am today. When you were like addicted to drugs, when you were on the perks and you were doing blow and all this, you at some point get called to Columbia. Right? You say I got to get to Columbia. I'm interested to know what drew you to Columbia because let's be honest. Right? When you think of getting clean off drugs, Columbia maybe isn't the first place you think about.
But that's a stereotype, but it's true, right? It's in a cocaine capital of the world and I'm sure that there's a lot of other stuff available there. And what it what draws you to Columbia? What makes you say, hey, I got to get there. Well, the reality of everything is it wasn't that I went to Columbia because it was something that I thought it was better for me. I did just call me for a show. And I was broke as fuck and I remember when they called me, they were like,
we're calling from Columbia, we want to do a show when they get jammed. Let me put my manager to it. I changed my voice. I was like, what the hell? No fucking way. You're saying you're your own manager? Yeah, I was trying to ask. I was important, you know what I'm saying? Because I was embarrassed that I was managing my own self. I just nobody wanted to manage me. So I got this show. I remember that the guy was like, so we need the 18th and I'm like,
well, let me check about how many. That's so funny. That's so funny. It's the only day we have free. Hey, Nikki, can I tell you when your management calls and says, we got the 10th. I go, tell them, give them, give a minute and we'll check and see if our calendars free. Of course we got the 10th free. Yes, we have to do that. Yeah, of course. So when I go to Colombia, I'm like, I'm weighing like, I think I'm weighing like almost 260 pounds. Wow. I look horrible.
Because the problem with perks is it's the only drug you take and it makes you fatter. So you're a junkie and you fat. Because I'd rather, I would have rather been a junkie and skinny. Yeah. But the weird thing is you're a junkie and you fat. It perks make you eat. You know what I mean? You make you like a little with you fork and lethargic and it makes you want to eat.
Yeah, I know that does not give you the exactly does not give you the typical syndromes of a drug addicts that normally drug addicts are skinny because the drugs they take like crack cocaine. Well, I did cocaine, but then perks for like the most that I would take. And all these other drugs will make you skinny. So I went to Colombia and there was this show. The show that they, the 18th show, they took me over there and I'm over here in Barrice.
I didn't even want to go out because I'm thinking shit man. I don't even have a head song right now. I haven't had a head song like in years and all these kids are like young and they look so good and they ready and they got hits. Yeah. I'm not going to go on the stage. Funny thing in the world is these kids come out. They do the show and I'm thinking over here. I'm like, yo, why are you guys saving me for last?
I mean, you know, like you should have put me like first because these kids are the one popping right there. They're up and coming. Yeah, they're new. They're fresh. Why are you putting me on? Yeah. But Mona is like, what are you talking about? Like you're the biggest start here. Like what do you mean the biggest start? This came out of jail a couple of years ago. The fuck you talking about. It's like, no bro, you're a legend here.
Like you, first of all, when you hit the songs that you hit, you didn't even come here so people didn't get a chance to see. So for them, I was like the biggest headline. So when I come out and I feel all that love and people screaming, there was 50,000 people on the stage and they're like, that came out and I was singing my songs and people, it was overwhelming of course. And then that same, that same week, I did like nine shows. Oh, wow.
You know, we can say, well, not stadiums though, but I did like small shows. Yeah, I needed the money. So this one trip to Columbia made me like come back and buy me a car and have a car and I bought and I paid rent for the whole year and then I had a couple of money inside. And I said, what? I went the fucking market. What do we got? Yeah. It's a Columbia. Yeah. So that's that's how it started for me to go to Columbia because it was working. I was just working and I still had the Perks problem.
And the problem is Columbia don't sell Perks. Oh, interesting. They don't sell Perks. How'd you get it? Columbia, I would have to buy a whole bunch. Oh, he's taking over the, you know, and it was like the worst thing in the world. So that's when it happens that I go over there to clean myself. Obviously, I did so much shrugs there in the moment in Columbia because I partied and I did every crazy thing that you would think that you would do in Columbia. Yeah. And I had a brain problem.
Like a motor skill problem. Yeah. I had a motor skill problem. I still deal with it sometimes, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Stuff like that doesn't cure. You know what I'm saying? When it comes to a brain thing, you're fucked. And then you buyers your brain a little bit, right? And I understand this struggle. Having done a lot of drugs in my own life and my young life. I understand this struggle and a couple times, high on LSD, Coke, whatever else I put in my body.
I started the, like my motor skills started to shut down and it was the scariest fucking thing in the world. The worst, the worst. When you can think, you can't move your hand when you're thinking about it. Like move your hand. You can't, you can't do it. It's the worst thing in the world. I'm telling you, it's the scariest thing in the world for sure. You know what I'm saying? You feel like it's like you're going to be in a coma. It's like being in a coma but alive, you know?
I mean, I don't know what I just said. That doesn't, it's like being in a coma but not in a bed. That's right. Yeah, it's a disconnection from your body. It's a disassociation that is really fucking weird and very scary. And obviously there are, you know, lots of people have worse problems than that. But it's still scary when you don't, when you've never experienced it before and start creeping up on you in these different weird ways when you're really fucked up.
And you can't think straight and you're having a hard time putting it all together. When you were traveling with the perks that you like get nervous, like was it nerves or just back then it didn't... It is always nervous, yeah. It's always nervous. I mean, I mean, you know, going through the airport, like I remember I used to buy like buyers, aspirin bottles. Oh, Bayer's aspirin, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Bayer's aspirin bottles and I would put them in there.
And because they look like like the, the 602 endome perks that I used to take, they look like aspirins. So I would put them there and then and just pass it like north like nothing and I didn't have a problem.
What was when you get to Columbia, what is the moment where you're like, first of all, it's got to be amazing to be in Puerto Rico and feel this level of, I don't know embarrassment and shame about all this shit you're going through and people seeing you on the corner and, you know, just kind of tweaking out with the, with street kids. And then all of the sudden you get to Columbia and you're like, like you say, a phoenix, right?
You're like, holy shit, there's this whole audience, these people appreciate and love and, and understand my music and they're holding it like the, I mean, I imagine they're holding it up like the Holy Grail. I mean, it's amazing to, 50,000 people are screaming your name. How much did you get paid for that show? For, I was like, like, 2,500? $2,500, 50,000 people screaming your name, that must have been like some switch must have flipped in your head. Like this, I got it.
There's, these people, there's something there I got to follow. The thing is, you know, to make the long story short, and this time that I'm in Columbia, you know, I, I'm not only like to, you know, I, I stayed, I stayed in Columbia, I moved to Columbia and I took a whole year to lose weight. And I think in a whole year I lost like, I don't know, probably like 70 pounds, something like that. I got skinny and skinny and, and people were looking at me different and they were like loving me more.
And everybody was like, even though like the approach of the promoters and fingers that would come from Puerto Rico and do shows or look at me different, like that changed almost 60% of my situation in a, in, that's discipline. Yeah. In Columbia and in my career. And I went to, I did a song called The Piencinger Me. Right? I did a song called The Piencinger Me. And I moved to this, this house in, in, in, in, in the country side of Medellin.
I was alone. Like it was, it was a farm. It was like a farmhouse. It was a very beautiful farmhouse. It was cheap, very cheap to live there. And I remember it was like probably like $500 a month. And, uh, and I just moved there alone. Yeah. I didn't want, I was, I wanted to distance myself from the people because of the situation that I had with the motor. Uh, motor skills. Yeah. Motor skills and all that. And I felt like I was getting anxiety, panic attacks with the people.
So I just, I hide myself there. And I lived there almost like for seven months. I think it was like, yeah, seven, eight months. And the song was a hit. And I didn't know because I was just hiding and that thing. That's a, that's a, that's a farm. I was hiding in that farm. So one of my, my manager, who's my manager, till he comes to me and is like, bro, you're fucking popping right now. I'm like, what the fuck are you talking about? I was like, bro, you killing the game.
Bro, you have the biggest song right now on the radio. Unbelievable. And I'm like, what do you mean? I'm like, yo, that song, pen time, remember? Like, yo, bro, drop that shit over the year. It goes like, nah, man. Check on YouTube. So I look at YouTube. And I saw all the views that had like millions of views already. And I'm like, yo, they called me.
And, uh, they called me in the show, a radio station show that, where there was like more than $60,000 on people, because those radio shows are like festivals. Yeah, yeah. And I go up there and I start performing. And, and, and when I finished performing, everybody was asking me for that song, being inside of me. And I'm like, bro, like, I look at the DJ. Like, do you have the DJs? Like, I don't have the beat, but I have the song. And you can just sing over it. I'm like, fuck it. Go ahead.
When the beat comes down, I start singing the song, the whole crowd. Crazy. I started singing the song and that was like the first time I felt that I did a hit after so many years. So I started crying, obviously on stage. I couldn't even sing. I had like, you know, teared like a, like a throat thing when you've cried. I was so gay. Yeah. It was, it was, it was, it was a beautiful and weird feeling.
And, uh, so to make the long story short after that, my mentality was this country has 60, more than 60 million people living here. I can make more than four or five number one hits in this country. I can make so much of views on YouTube where I could bounce all around the world and do a comeback. Yeah. And that's what happened. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I did five number one songs in Columbia and, uh, made millions of views. And from there, I jumped to the world and yeah, I have today.
What an incredible story. I mean, Nikki, you really do have an incredible story. I have one more question that I want to talk about the new album. Yeah. And we're going to, and I might argue with you for a second. So I might argue with you on behalf of my, I'm behalf of my family. It's okay. Uh, so one more question. So when you're, when you're at this level of fame and, and success, obviously, there's good and there's bad, right?
There's things that come with it that are fantastic and there's things that come with it that are irritating and sometimes, uh, scary. Do you enjoy the fame or is the fame just part of you expressing yourself and getting the message out there? Like, you're like, probably you were born to do. I mean, it's like everything at the beginning. When this fame pops up, you start enjoying it.
It comes to a moment where it catches up with you because the reality is, you know, there's nothing better than having like, you know, privacy and, you know, intimacy for yourself. And when you become that, the, the fame that I had accomplished, it comes to a moment where that goes away, you know, saying, and then you feel like it. Like, I don't know how you say it in English. You feel like in faith, like when you feel like people are like, yeah, they're in privacy.
They're like, it's, I feel like they were invading me too much, you know, and, and, and, and it became to a moment where, you know, it messed me up. But do I enjoy being famous? Of course. I mean, I'm famous, you know, I go out and I don't have a meek of line in the restaurant. You know, people give me love everywhere I go. And, you know, it's, it's good, but it has its bags too, you know? Sure. It's like, you're like, how do you feel having money?
Like, well, you know, it's a good thing, but it's a bad thing too, because everybody looks at you like a money. Yeah. And it's a cash register. Yeah. Yeah. So everybody wants money and everybody wants a loan. Mm-hmm. Cousins that you never had. Yeah. And, and get, and tell me if I'm wrong on this, tell me if I'm off based on this.
But I imagine you're the type of person because of the human being that you are and the way that you've grown up and the struggles that you've had and the empathy and self-awareness. You probably are one that says yes a lot, right? That probably says no. I don't, I don't say no. Yeah. Yeah. That's my problem. Mine too. And I can be honest with you. If I've lost, I can't say I lost money. If I, if I, how do you see that?
If I, if I spend it, okay, I could say 50% of the money that I spend it is helping people. Wow. You know what I'm saying? I'm talking about millions of dollars, millions of dollars that I've spend it helping people. And I have, like, I'm the type of guy that, if I have 20 friends, we all got motorcycles and we all go out and motorcycles. I'm not going to be, not on my friends with motorcycles.
Yes. I'm the type of guy that I would read DMs from Venezuela will tell me, Nikki, I don't have a fridge and I will send money to that person to get a fridge. I need a ticket because my man's, my man's whooping my ass in Texas and I live in Columbia. Please help me. I will send a ticket or send money to help him. I will stop living for me to live for the people because I didn't have anything.
And I, and I, and I'm the type of guy that I see a movie and I see people struggling in the movie and I'm crying. And I'm like, I wish I could help that person. I have the money now. I wish I could be in a situation where I can help people. I just love helping people. I just see you and me and I. Me too. Yeah, I think that, and I think that speaks volumes about the person that you are. You know, it's like when I saw the movie, I was sorry, I was sorry.
It's like when I saw the John Q movie with Danielle Washington when he needed money to operate. Yes. I was like, fuck, I got out of the money. I can help him. You know what I'm saying? Like, he didn't have to sell this truck. I was getting money. Yes. That's the way I think. Yeah. That's crazy. Okay. Let's get to the new album. Tell me about the writing. I want to argue for a second because you're saying that this might be, or you might be retiring. I mean, I think you said this.
You might be retiring. It might be your, your final script. Is there an impetus for that? Or you just feel like, hey, man, I've had a long career. Bro, you want me to be honest with you? Please. I went through a moment where I was, my past cashed up with me and I had like a, I got, I had like a bad alcohol moment in these last, this, this last year. Very honest. Yeah. And, and, and, and, and I was, I, you know, I, it made me, it took me to a dark spot.
Yes. You know, I'm saying, and you know, the problem with alcohol is it's so legal that you don't even think that you're doing drugs. You know, you do it so true. So, and it's everywhere you go. You know, like, you have a meeting. They're drinking wine. You have, you go to a restaurant. They're drinking. You go to anywhere. People are drinking. And it's like, it's normal for people, right? That's the problem with alcohol.
And I think it's one of the worst drugs that I've ever done is alcohol because yeah, you get all the giggles and shits, but then it can really take you, like you said, to a very dark place. So it took me to a dark place, so dark of a place that I even thought about retiring. And I got depressed and I did this last album called, I don't want to say the English, it's called Insomnia. Insomnia. It's the same shit, but do it the 8? Yeah. Yeah, we got it.
So the reason why this album was called Insomnia is because all of the songs talk about stuff that I went through this whole year. You know, if you listen to it, you will listen to everything that happens to me. Like, there's so many songs that will talk about my situation in this year with the alcohol with my relationships with my darkness and all that. And that's why I announced that I was retiring, but I'm not really tired. I'm be honest with you. I ain't retarded shit.
Good. But I didn't know that. Yeah. I'm going to make a lot of my family members after. Yeah. So I'm not retiring. That was just me. And if you see the post, the post that I put a post on, I edited that video myself, like my retirement and all that. And I erase that post. Because then I realized once I got better and mentally, mentally, I got better. I cleared up and I was like, what the fuck am I doing? What is this? I'm still young. I'm 43, but I look like I'm 30. You do? Why am I retired?
You know, really? Yeah. So, but it was me depressed and that's what alcohol does. And now I'm smoking weed. Hey, man. Hey, listen to me. You know what I mean? I'm excited. Yeah, listen. I think of any of the drugs that weed is the friendly. I do too. I'm your persona. Hey, I'm being honest. I'm being honest. I've always been honest with people. You know? No, we can fault you for that. There's been a lot of drama because of the weed thing. Because they see me.
And they think that I'm a real, real, real, real, real, real. I'm a real, real, real, real, real, real, real, real. And they think that they're like, oh my god, he went back to drugs. And like, bro, I've never had a problem with weed. It's just a little weed. Yeah. It's just a little weed. It's just a little weed. It's just a little weed. Yeah. No, no, no, no, no. My problem is with perks. You saw the series. Yeah. It was perks, Alex. I never said I had a problem with weed.
weed is not my problem. I couldn't smoke weed until I died. I'm good. But Molly did. It was still smoking weed. Nobody told him shit. No, he tried to quit for a while. And then he said, fuck it. I just like it. I just like it. That's part of your life. Yeah. 100%. 100%. So to be honest with you, the weed helped me a lot with alcohol. Yeah. And made me control my anxiety and all that. Why did I got to the situations? Oh, we all do. We're human beings. You know what I'm saying?
And if you saw my past, look, I tell people this. When people go to the war, they go to Iraq, right? Yeah. They come back with PTSD, right? Yeah. Okay. So I was in the hood and I saw friends get blown their head off, shot, a whole bunch of stuff. My best friend died in my face and I saw him died in his last minutes. My uncle died of AIDS in my face and I saw the worst things in the world. And a whole bunch of people that they killed in my hood because I'm from the hood. You see where I'm from.
You see where I'm from and you see where I'm from in Puerto Rico and the people that got shot in the situation that I live, you would say, oh, this guy's okay. He should have been worse. Yeah. So the reality is people don't think about PTSD when it comes to human beings that was born in the hood. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? They think, he didn't go to Iraq. So he don't need that shit. He had no problem. No, no, you wrong.
But you from the hood and you see people getting their face blown and stuff like that and your best friends and getting shot and people getting shot in their cars and their heads and you know stuff like that. All that can fuck up your head. Of course. Yeah. So yeah, I got strong-minded in a lot of situations but it catches up with you.
It catches up with you and sometimes you make money and you become, you know, you start up with a relationship and stuff like that where you don't even understand if people at which who are the money or which who cause they really love you, you'll sound like that. Yeah, that's got to be a fuck of mine. That's got to be a mine. It's got to be a mine. Yeah. And I also have to say that I think sometimes when people assume you came from the hood, oh, he's fine now. He's got money and he's got cloud.
Well, that doesn't work like that. No. I'm sorry. I struggle every day. I struggle every single day. I'm telling you, I smoke weed now because they're excited. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And I was going through alcohol a lot until the other day. You know what I'm saying? I ain't lying. I'm being 100% with you. So this album was called, the reason why I said I was retired was because I was on this alcohol, darkness, crazy, trip. I am not retiring. That's good.
And then this is the first place I'm saying this. I love it. Thank you. Number one. Number two. Number two. The reason why my album is calling for me is because it represents all these dark moments in me, but still the music is amazing, like amazing because the reality of everything is, you could be sometimes being in the worst situations comes the best music. Yes. Sometimes being in the best situation comes the best of music. I understand people happy make good music.
That was my situation and all these global hits that I made, I was in a happy place. These songs that I'm making, I was not in a happy place, but I was in a creative mold, you know? Yeah. I was being real to the people and I'm just talking to the people through my music. So that's what music is for. Exactly. You know, that's what music is for. It doesn't all has to be, I love you, you love me.
You gotta make music, you gotta make music, you know, like talk about yourself and you know, it feels good. That's why the album is calling for me and I think it's one of the best albums that I've done because I sat down with this album with so much passion because it made me, you could say it opened you up. Yeah, it opened up. Yeah, yeah. So it's Nikki Jam, 100%. It's not like a whole bunch of producers in the room, you know, doing music for you.
It's just me telling my stories and all these songs are really badass and the melodies are crazy. And even when I was drunk, I was going to studio and drop some crazy ass melodies because I'm not gonna lie. When you, when you, when you're doing shit and you're drunk or you're high, you'll be creative. Listen, you take the drugs and alcohol out of music at like all catalogs of music, all famous artists, you're gonna find a really boring set of music. No, we only like 20%. Yeah, 10% maybe.
Probably, probably. All right, Nikki, I know you have a tight timeline today. You got a lot of stuff to do, but I. God, what a great interview. Thank you so much. I would do two hours. I know, I just think you're such a fascinating human being and congratulations. The honesty is what makes you so relatable, so damn relatable. Thank you. You're so wonderful. Thank you so much. You were the soundtrack to my Laura Loka at my wedding.
You brought a bunch of green goes and Venice waylands together on the dance floor. That's better. That's better. I love you. My family loves you, man. Mad respect. You can come back anytime. Everyone get the new album. And he's not retiring breaking news here on the camera. Damn, fucking old. Never. I'm turning that Instagram, I'm turning that Instagram reel around tomorrow, buddy. I will. Thank you very much, Nick. We appreciate it. Talk to you soon. You already know who it is.
Christina here to keep you actually informed, unlike some people we know. Brian, I've got certified verified factual information about our Florida shows. So listen up. We are coming to Daniel Beach improv on Tuesday, September 24th and the funny bone in Orlando on Wednesday, September 25th. And links to those tickets are in the show notes. So go get them. In other completely new and interesting news, you should follow us on Instagram at the commercial break and on TikTok at TCB Podcast.
And of course, go to our website, TCBpodcast.com for all of our audio and video content. And finally, if you want to tell Brian and Christina that I am a pretty, pretty princess or that you hate me, just ask us or leave us a voicemail at 2124333TCB. That's 2124333822. Bye. Oh my gosh. Wow. Everything that I wanted in more. I mean, the guy could not have been nicer. Nick and Jam, what? What is the full of passion and energy and history? You need to go watch this on YouTube because he's kinetic.
Like you can tell that he's just full of energy and passion for life. And how honest could someone be? I mean, yeah, I was struggling with alcohol there for a minute. And out of it came this album and News Flash, which we never get breaking news first. News Flash, he's not retiring. Yes. It's amazing. I mean, when he said that, I'm telling you guys first, I in my head was like, oh my gosh. We never. We get to be first. We always get it last. He was an amazing guest for sure.
And you remember what he said that Venice, Wands will text him. I don't have a refrigerator. Yes. Can you please send me one and he'll send them a refrigerator? Sorry about my family, Nikki. They'll stop. I'll tell him the stuff. I can't, of course. All right. That one's for everyone. Wow. I mean, you may not be into reggaeton. Maybe you don't understand the language, but Nicky Jam is a fascinating human being.
And I think my personal opinion is that he is really changing the narrative of sharing his story because sometimes guys in our culture and certain culture, they don't like to share that kind of stuff because they see it as a shortcoming. And it's really not. No. And people need to connect with that and let them know that they're not alone and what they feel if they're going through dark times too. You're so right about that. And so, well, that's it. I'm speechless, actually.
Yeah. I had a really nice time with Nikki and I hope someday he will come back. But if he never comes back, I will have enjoyed the 45 minutes. It's a great moment in time. Mark your calendars. It's going to be a changing day in your life as Dr. Phil would say. Thanks, Nikki. Yeah, thank you, Nikki. We really appreciate it. Thanks, Nikki. And all the people who helped set that up, we really appreciated Azalea and Alain B. All the tricksy, astrid, and CTB, of course.
Thank you so much for making that happen. Okay. Here's the deal. Chrissy and I are going to go and we're going to do some dates live. And we would love to see you there. We'll share all the dates and the ticket information where it's going to be, when it's going to be. We're going to share that with you very soon. So keep an eye out, keep an ear out. We'll post it on social media and we'll put it on the website when that time comes. Also, we would love it if you would give us a ring. 2-1-2.
4-3-3-3-TCB. 2-1-2. 4-3-3-3-8-2-2. Please do text us. Your questions, comments, concerns, content ideas. We would love to hear from you if you want to go to one of the shows. We'd love to hear your feedback on the Nicki Jam interview. We love it all. Just keep it coming. You can also leave a voicemail there. If you dare, leave a voicemail. We've actually gotten some voicemails. So that's good. There you go. I think one or two of them might be errorful. So let's see how that goes.
Please do us, by the way, you came through at the commercial break on Instagram. A lot of you came through and started following us on Instagram. Thank you much. If you haven't done it, please do it. GCPpodcast.com is where you find everything else. Okay. That's a lot for one day, Chrissy. But I love you. I love you. Best of you. Best of you. And best of you out there on the podcast, Universe, including our new friend, Nicki Jam. Thank you very much. We appreciate it.
Until next time, Chrissy and I always say we do say and we must say goodbye. Bye. Oh, hell yeah.