EP: 713- Nav Interview (uncensored)

Oh my god, is that Nico Blitz. Tough, tough, tough, tough, give ahead, tap tat tat tat. They said that they will wear it. Bud, it's CAP's got cat, hey man, not your fit there pushing back back back, flo you on my homies on the twenty per Le's go. I can put it in my rotation that you'll never get upset. I make sure when I turned down and I go straight into them, I'm read if I'll go yard bag old it.

Thank you.

Put the mortgag jet in my seat. Woke up feeling like a million bucks. Took a shower after I'm done getting sucked too much.

Drop.

I think we can put it visising, even know it's Lemmy might just pull the enemy to be Ain't falling for that talk that helpings in the discussion. You don't want these redcause I just bout little shorty tweeny Berkis. Then they skeed up for off.

Now then, ain't I was rmage having.

Any east let the shop. I shoul keep the receipts. Don't you tell him you got it for me? After this, I'm gonna neath therapy I've been doing in my legacy is a heady so far I been so were it stuck at the top.

It is a where to go.

That's a reason I'm away too much. Mo Ley moneyfucker had to I still left with three holes and stuff. I mean, like Tam, may you be long, shout out the bar, uncle, funk around, go deep boy. It's just like the Cruise Show on Real ninety two three is.

Back on the Cruise Show. Let's get it well? You sup with it?

Bro?

You felt intro by DJ Nico, Right, I.

Me locked in. Jump to the studio again.

Right, I know right, We're about to record a song. You ready, Let's do this.

Now?

You stay ready?

Right?

I mean that's how it all started, recording music.

In your bedroom. I mean yeah, here we are, yeah, bro, it.

Was non stop making beads, selling a little weed. You feel me?

You know, just getting I don't know, yeah, I mean right, yeah, it's legal now, right, so we're good, I mean selling it it.

I guess you're right. Let me shut the fuck up. Nah Ma, congratulations Rexdeale joints sounds crazy. I appreciate it, yes, sir. And it's uh it's an homage to back home right right where it all started, right, What kind of place is Rexdale?

Man? Rextel could be whatever you wanted to be. Man could be a cool, calm place, or it could be crazy, or you know, it could be very multicultural and fun. You know what I mean? You good food.

There's people there that have been there their whole lives, right, There's people that migrated there, people that have been in and out of Rexdale. Some say it's dangerous, some say it's not dangerous. So it all depends on how you roll, I guess in Rexdale, right.

Right, It depends what you're born to. Some people get born in a type of neighborhood. Whrey got no choice, you know, yeah, for me, I had, I had choices. What kind of food? Everything? Any food? Jamaican food happy? You get a lot of places shut down though a lot of cool places shut down during quarantine. Yeah they lost. We still got something all good.

What do y'all got, like like chicken spots or what.

Do we got? Honestly? Everything you got Jamaica House at the Western Jamaica House on.

Jamaican food, I apologize Jamaican food is.

I haven't lived there a long time, so I don't even know what the new spots are family still out there or yeah, I got some families and cousins and my mom and them. That's right.

I saw you went back to your mom's crib in Rextall and went back to your room and kind of reflected on everything that happened there, right right, Yo. And I also saw that, you know, you were raised on manners, having manners, and how Americans don't necessarily.

Have the manners that they should. Right, I'm not not all of them, but something. Yeah, Paris is worse though, Paris.

Sure, no manners in Paris.

What you staying?

People are polite, but the manner ship is different, you know what I mean? Like, Nah, dude reaching his old arm pit over your plate. I'm not saying excuse me, like the waiter.

That's crazy, like harsh hair falls into my soup, I'm sick.

I'm just saying, like you say, excuse me.

You know what people don't understand, like yeah, like yo, please thank you?

Excuse me?

No, thank you goes a long way.

Man.

I feel like they don't like Americas that much over there. No, Yeah, and I fall under that, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, what did you say?

I didn't have that experience but there are way too many tank tops and way too little socks.

Both of those bring the funk, you know what I mean, It's crazy. I noticed that shopping is great though. Over there. I can't complain shopping shopping.

It's big shopper, good prices, good prices, different taxes.

We'll get your tax money back on the way in. Oh wow, Oh that's good.

That's what duty free stands for. God bless. I had no idea what that stake.

I didn't know. I didn't got to pay your duties. Man, I don't fucking travel. I'm here and I'm at home.

What do you want from me?

Nothing?

I'm nobody.

Man.

I'm a father of two.

I come to work and I go home, you know, and I try to figure it out.

At least your father, I'm a father.

Man's fire.

Yeah.

No, I'm great, it's great. I mean, yeah, I hope to be a great father. I guess I don't know. You're not a father, right?

No?

No, no kids for you.

I was at them from before.

Yeah. Nice, we'll see Now you want kids down the line, hell, yeah, of course, yeah, hell yeah right. You want to teach them and give them everything you didn't have, not.

Too much though.

It's gonna be a strict dad.

Yeah, I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna give them handouts, no spoil I'm making I let them figure out the ship by themselves.

Well okay, you say that now, you've.

Never seen that video on the internet with the Asian dad and then his son is trying to Like they're walking and there's like a rope in the sidewalk and he's like crying, he wants to be picked up over and he just waits, and sooner or later the kid figured it out.

Yeah, you gotta let them find it out. Yeah, you find that vine of them of that experience.

You got to let them figure out.

Let them figure out Garcia's son.

I listen, they're gonna leave the country soon, and his sixteen year old son is going to hang back and be with family. I'm like, let him stay by himself. He's sixteen. I think he can handle it.

I don't know, it depends how he's raising, how much he is. You know, he's a sixteen year old boy with a girlfriend, bro, and they're getting so I don't want to come home and be your grandpa. How's the time for Garcia?

Right?

And his wife Sarah, beautiful wife Sarah, to like to really see the job that they've done with him.

That's the opportunity. I mean, I mean, you know, like especially dads, I know they want their kids to be like them, right, It's like me, if I want my kid to be like me, he got to kind of grow up like me. It was like my parents just at work all day, were just figuring out.

Yeah, and that's what.

But you was also that had you in the streets naff.

But nah, I was smart enough to know, like you know what I mean. I was bumping Nas on the way here, and Nas is like my encyclopedia, you know what I'm saying. I was listening to him. I go outside and see what's going on. It's exactly matching up to the music. Yes, I knew it. I had to stay away.

From Nah, that's right, that's right. Yeah, growing up I was left alone too, But like TV and radio help raise me right, and music and hip hop in the dark and jay Z was like.

Dark and was going on. TV was crazy dark and the news was dark for sure.

You feel me, Like now they'll they'll pull away from a shot like a dangerous shot.

Back then, bro, you we was watching heads roll on the freeway. Right ship was wild, bro.

Even YouTube back in the day was crazy.

Yeah yeah yeah, my era was before YouTube but all good, so YouTube was crazy crazy, yo, bro, I really like real me, Like I like real me. I think that that song I don't know, does that song when you recorded that song? You wrote that song obviously, right, Like you go in there with with with an intent, like, yo, I gotta speak my truth here.

I really I'm like a notation musical kind of like you know, piano type person. Like I just go based off like how the chords is and how the vibe is of just that and I'll just like the lyrics just come out depending on, you know, how I'm feeling. And that day it was like Metro pulled up and every beat he pretty much played, I was just recording to every single one. Of course it's central booming, yeah, but not just because of that, just like I don't know,

But you're a producer, so you have that.

Yeah. But we he knows what I want to like, he knows what kind of be something looking for.

I feel like you know, yeah, be instant Unlimited was a really good choice too to go with. I'm glad that made the album too unlimited. It's crazy. I love that with Cardi right, getting the Cardi verse that's is that tough to get?

Is that?

Communication wise? Does he disappear? I don't know. I think I feel like like we have an even relationship. I remember just being like I always remember this one memory where I was starting a perfect time and then play by Cardi was in the studio with us, just kicking it, and I'll never forget like we was talking about like yo, I had supreme stuff and was talking about trading it. Like we was at that level where like got some money but not really and like got some success but

I'm sure you've seen people switch up, oh for sure. Not sure for the shape, but I'm just saying, like, in this business, it's going to run into it.

Absolutely. You drop a number one album, they said, job. You don't drop a number one album, they say, job, So didn't it break your heart?

No?

No, I knew what to expect. I knew what to expect. I know, I know all these relationships just based off a lot of them is just based off of the fact of who I am now, you know what I mean, not like my friends from like back home. That's just the you know, the real me. Yeah, for sure.

What's up Jack?

You know you've said before that you've had that your personal life has almost made you quick music and stop it. Have you found that balance between personal and music?

Yeah? I feel like I have to sort a couple of things out of my personal life, like remove a couple things people, And once I did that, if I'm like, you know, I just got this space to think about myself kind of be selfish in a healthy way.

M hm.

And then also like not paying attention to social media towards I feel like social media is messing up everybody right now, just stay off that shit. When I stay off that shit in my life is great. I'm on it.

Not to now you can o d on social media.

You're gonna dig I always find myself looking past they could be fifty fire emojis, and I look past those fifty fire emojis and just look for that one back, and that one holds so much more weight than.

All them, you know, I feel I can't give too much power to that, right, That's what I've learned.

Like you pay attention to it gets crazy. It's crazy. I stay off that shit.

Can you read into it?

Like you go through, like you respond, you stop responding to those type of comments, the ones that like are the negative ones.

I mean I've responded one of the past ones that needed yeah, yeah, always that one. Fuck yeah.

But it's crazy because now you're in their page, and if they're public, you're you're scrolling, You're looking for anything, right, You're like you're going hard, and if they're private, you fucking report them.

That's crazy. Just the other day, the other day, there was this clip of me and Neon on stream, and I'm talking about how like sometimes least in a car could be financially better, like with taxis smart and whatever. But I didn't go into detail about like how you know what I mean, how it worked. I see the clip and I see a bunch of people comment, They're like, oh, bro, if you can't afford the car. Just say that, or they're like, they're like, no, what does he know about interest?

Now, But you've also called a fan on FaceTime to tell him it's okay to be a fan of you.

Yeah, for sure, right for sure. But even that, like people might hate on you and make you feel like shit for being a fan of a certain artist. Now it's crazy. You got one artist fans beefing other artists fans. Shit, it's crazy. Social media shit is wild.

You gotta be careful. Run it, don't let it run you, I guess.

Exactly for sure. Unplugged from the matrix, you know that shit.

Yeah, you have to yo how long rextell how long did it take to make the album. Were you in between stuff or were you solely focused on the project, because for me, it sounds like a focused project.

The songs, most of the songs that are on the album, they were made in the final year, But it took about three years and a lot of those years where I was like stepping away from music. I wasn't even in the studio for like months at a time. It's because like I want to give my mind right. All my friends all worried about me, like what's going on with him? And da da da. I got to go through something to get through it, like let me just stay away from the shit for a second, and that

You know.

Yeah. Is that from like having immigrant parents? That and also just the pace that I've always been used to, which is the studio, students, studio, hotels, travels, travel. Like I'm like slowing down and saying now, I just feel like you feel like you're not popping or something anymore, you know. M You get in your head a lot and mix the social media drive you crazy.

Yeah, then it's just like, oh shit, I'm done, I'm finished.

Yeah, it's a bad combination.

No, yeah, give yourself grace, give yourself time, right right? What's up, nik yo?

You know, just being like the megaproducer that you are, bro, Like, what's one big piece of advice that you would give to producers who are like just starting out.

A lot of people ask me the same thing at my meet and greets. I just save music theory, like learn how to play an instrument. Learn that, like you have to if you want to be a really good beat maker, you got to learn a little bit of everything, like, because a beat is just a band. At the end of the day. There's a drummer, there's a guy playing the piano, there's a guy playing guitar, the guy doing against vocal layers or whatever, somebody playing synth. There's only

Do you ever get fearful of like how AI is like slowly taking over the producer space.

No, because AI will never have taste, Like it'll do what you tell it to do for sure, but you got to have the taste. You gotta know what the pick. Still, at end of the day, you can't just tell AI make me a corp progression and just put that corporression on the song without men thinking about it.

It takes a sauce, Yeah, human sauce.

You need that. Yeah, and sauce sauce is crazy. But if AI ever learns the sauce, they we're in trouble.

But people ask us that as well with radio and AI give a fuck like AI can never dog could never.

Don't underestimate it of course, kind of like how like Blockbuster do with Netflix?

Right?

Be Blockbuster? Very true with it?

Yeah, exactly, stay with it.

I'd all day. I love I love it, man, The grocery trips will never be the same, dude.

I use it for grocery list to Cruz uses it for emails and comments on Instagram.

Yeah, because I don't want to leave the same comment as everybody, so GPT helps me out?

Yo you with Don Tolliver?

Was that?

Was that a session together or did that just come about together? He was at the studio at my manager just crib. We're just chilling. Then he played some songs and I started playing songs and he just started recording to them. He actually did two that night, and and that one was the stronger record.

Yeah, where's the other one?

The other one is the song that was on an album. I don't want to say it because fans are gonna start asking for it, but there was a song on album where he he was on it too, but we just talked his verse off. I mean, we have to pick which one because we don't want to put damn, you gonna make me? You make the same, tell me too many.

The mics are off? Tell me dog no, no, the mics are sucking. You're gonna hate me. Nah.

Yeah, that's that crazy though.

Like yeah, like fans, they they want to know more, right, they want to know more, and sometimes it's best that they don't know everything.

Yeah, they want to know what kind of underway you wear? They want to that's crazy and.

They want in man, DJ Leslie, what's going on?

Less? Congrats on the new album. What's like your ideal studio session set up? Like, is there are there any necessities that you have to have in the studio. It always changes, Like I feel like the last few years it would just be me and just my engineer and then you know, sometimes we'll do the sessions where like you know, some girls come by and we test the songs.

So your schedule is like a two you have the six am.

Yeah pretty much, Yeah, pretty much.

Not bad. Great benefits in one sense, and look look at the spoils that comes with you know that.

Schedule, right, Yeah, but it's cool. But the sacrifice to the sacrifice.

There is sacrifice, of course, Yeah, now you got I mean, I think it's you can't skip the sacrifice. That's crazy, you know, you can't skip the sacrifice.

There's no story. You still have a bad day in a Rolls voice. Man, Yeah, Man, I want a bad day in a voice. It's better than a bad day in the Honda show. But still it could be bad. It can be bad, although a bad day in the Toyota's not bad. Dog. That ship I used to ava Toyota. This was those baddings are rough. Car punch the car, the car Corolla like I want to see, like a two thousand oh dog. And it was like that, the ugliest beige, like Grandma color.

I don't care.

I bet you that color. That car is still running to this day.

No, it's not the worst one I had was a Chevrolet Alumina. You gotta look that ship up. That car was just embarrassing. It's like a couch in the back back seat. It just feels like a couch.

Speaking of cars, you said once that Birkins and Ultimus don't match. What else doesn't match?

Ship? Ah? Uh? Fake designer clothes with U supposedly real jury. It's all fake.

I mean, Nico doesn't mind wearing like you know, some some duke nikes.

Hey.

No, look, I went to the Philippines once and I got some some knockoff Travis Scott's full like under sixty bucks.

I was past though, past pants. Who's who's rocking them? I want? One day? The other day my boy Bucks needed a plain T shirt, so we went to with a Tsarro right like fuck it, I'm gonna walking Zarrow, which we were in Thailand and I'm in t sorrow and I'm looking at ship like damn, I put these boots on. People don't think they put this. I don't

I should have won my fake shit today.

I should have did it.

Yo.

The album cover, I love it man, thank you. Yeah, that's back home.

Yeah we actually went there. Yeah, with the worst photoshop.

Where you're standing right there right is that is that where you lived?

I ain't lived there. I live like there's a north side of Rexidenta and that's the south side. Okay, I live right in the middle. You know what I'm saying. We lived in like a bungalow where it was three bedrooms for five people, and we rented out the basement so we could have extra money. Like my parents want extra money, so be me and my sister sharing in the room growing up, and my other is across the other way. And then my parents paper thin walls.

Man, you had to sacrifice your room so they could rent it out.

No, they were running out the basement, basement, they rent that out. Yeah, we didn't have enough for all of us, that's right. But it's cool though, Like that, I was. I felt spoiled and so like at an advantage compared to other kids in my neighborhood. Like I go to like some of my friend's house and open the fridge there was nothing in there. Yeah, I felt rich compared

Yeah, yeah, but you had family. You had family, right, you were never hungry.

We were never like I felt like my dad is a sacrificer, you know what I mean? He he pretty much like he's the type to wear like one pair of jeans for the whole year and we had five six you know. Immigrant ship like ship.

Yeah, bro, that's the kind of ship that like we're built on. So we saw that growing up and we're like, no, like we can't be lazy. We we gotta get to it.

Your Mexican right, yeah, yeah, for sure you've seen it.

Yeah, I've seen it, you know what I mean. And it's like, what was that Mexican tweet that?

Yeah, you tweeted out once that you didn't grow up with a lot of Mexicans, but you realized we're.

Dope as full. They always got my shows and they be taught. They be treating me like on one of them, oh yeah brown hell yeah, it's around Indians. But ship. Yeah, they could always showing love. They're so cool.

Nah, Like we're.

Mexicans, is like, yo, fuck it, Like they're not Mexican or they're not, but they're brown.

They're down.

Don't you feel me? Same color out here? Yo, you got your mom's attention. The way I want my dad's attention. Once you got into the Toronto Star, like your mom.

Knew you made it. Yeah, the newspaper. For me, it's lopping you on out here in l A.

Like once I make it in there, my dad's going to realize all the hard work I did the game here was worth it.

Yeah, they don't understand. Grammy's enough Number one.

I'm ok radio on every day.

My name's on the wall, not lopping you on.

My You think knows who your dad is?

Yah? You you probably know my dad George Lopez.

Get out of here, actual dad? Now you lying?

No?

I mean no, no, no, my dad is George Lopez.

But like yo and listen, no he's not. Is he serious?

Can I let me let me, let me let me tell you what happened? Right, We've I found out way late in life, right, but like yeah, man.

That's my father.

Man, and like that dude, that dude's a legend, right and like he doesn't he asked me not to bring it up, right because he thinks like culture forgot about him.

I'm like, dad, people love you. He's really my dad. Man.

That's crazy, that's crazy. What do he say? What you said? He feels like What was that? What did you say?

He feels like he feels like the culture forgot about him.

Really, is that what's going on? Yeah?

You know, he's getting older.

You know, he's getting older, and he's he's he's he had a past, you know, and my my my half sister Mayan Rach who I just met as well recently.

You know, it's just an interesting, dynamic man.

And my mom was an.

Immigrant and things, you know, just growing he grew up out here in the valley.

My mom.

It was just it was it was tough.

It was tough.

But to me, like not being I'm not really really hip in that world, but to me, he's like one of the biggest that ever did it. Yeah, sometimes you get when you look at all the like like I'm saying, look at the comments, get the nitty gritty, like the critics don't really matter. Bro, you guys, he still got a legacy.

Yeah, that's what I tried telling him, but you can't. You know, Bro, he's o g dog. You're just like it's hard to tell him anything.

And I still almost don't believe it's a farm. I still don't believe he's like, yeah.

I know, I don't believe it sometimes either, O, my god, because you be doing funny stuff.

I'm like checking the date. I'm like April Fools already a couple of weeks ago. I knew it. Now, your face was so great. You shouldn't be an actor.

Who was googling?

Who was googling? Ship in the corner. I swear he started turning up the accent.

To yah, I I love you, Dog, you feel me?

I kind of looked like him, which is crazy, but WED how to figure that out? Dog, we were born in the same hospital. That's not a joke.

That's real.

Ship.

You know what I'm saying.

Now, You're not gonna trust anything I say.

Dog, get a dog for you right now? You got me?

You got interviews over guys. I'm sorry, Nicole. I was sure I was gonna go there yet, but you took it there, you know, So we went there. You feel me?

Yeah, so many people have Nelly. Dog couldn't believe it, But then he believed it. And then I told him I was working around. He was like, fuck you, that's crazy. Believes it's a girl thinks my dad is George Love. I never told her I was playing. Yeah, we didn't.

We forgot to tell her that we were sucking around you what?

Then he's my dad. I call him dad on the show a lot. So I called her and he's like, what the fuck is like you?

Yeah, me answering his questions all sentimentally ship, I'm sorry, bro, sorry, bro, Like, don't worry, George Man, you.

Got this, you got this. But I do know that he he does feel like personally, he does feel like, you know a way about.

Why you're rich. We'll figure it out. You're rich, figure it out. You got money, ben, go buy something?

Be happy?

Is that like you know you mentioned shopping earlier?

Right?

Is that like a.

Cure? Like like money the retail therapy and money can buy happiness?

No, no, it can buy you peace, a little bit of peace, freedom, not buy you happiness. You got happiness, governments. Man. I went to India and the kids living on the street and they were smiling and playing, and the kids out here to be pissed that they don't got something, you know, right right?

It's different, Yeah, and they're and they have everything. We have everything right here right all right?

No?

I know, but I heard that if you know money buys happiness, right, that be when you give it away.

I mean, you give it away. It feels good unless you like cheap. Yeah, definitely doing stuff for people. It brought me way more joy than just buying myself something, because it's like, how how do I feel going around my friends back home and then don't got much whatever? And I'm the only one with the change. I'm the only one to watch. I'm the only one design on you look at my friends. All of them got to roll, all of them got to bust down, all of them

I'm sure you have financial people in your life saying, now what are we doing?

We'll stop? Yeah, for sure, But thank god we bounced back a lot of times.

You know, we don't run it back up.

Bro Jo, Yeah, you define have a speaking of giving away money.

We've actually had this topic on the show for the past couple of days. What are your thoughts about, Like, here's the question. Should the servers tips solely be based on their service?

Mm hmm It depends what a wrestaurant you talking about. Some of them be adding gratuity to the bill. That's crazy, right, Like yo, yeah, obviously, like they rude and ship, you know what I mean, Like why would I want to give a tip? But me in general, like I feel like every waiter don't really be knowing who I am, and they judge a book by its cover and they might think like I'm like the way I'm dressing someone like a ghetto. Some I don't know. I don't really

We get Mexican or the Mexican five, no matter how much to build with Brown Boys, tell you Brown Boys Doggie my real dad, not George Lowan's my real dad used to tip fifty sads dog like Yo, no matter how much the bill was, I'm like, yo, God, sometimes people take it back.

It's crazy.

Yeah, but I out here, the restaurants that I go to, the service is generally really good, so it's easy to like, give me too.

That's right, Yo. Why decide to put pain away at the end of the album.

I don't know, probably one of my least favorite songs. Really, yeah, I gotta have a least favorite. But like everybody was, if you asked me, what's the least faverite long album, I'm gonna say one. Remember, it's like my album, the track is question, the track is ain't all just me. A lot of it is like you know the team, what they think when we play for everybody, because you know, my team loves me, they really care about me, so

You trust, Yeah, you trust their word obviously, right.

But all those songs when I know when I recorded them, I felt I like them. So I just try to hold onto that feeling because over time you keep listening to it, you're not gonna like it.

Yeah, of course. Of course, then it just starts to sound all the same, and then you find certain things in it that you want or that are going to drive you crazy. But I thought pain Away was it because it was a slower song, and it was kind of like the curtain Call, you know what I mean.

I mean, they're supposed to be at least one more song on them, but we didn't make the cut because clearance issues. You know, Oh ship a sample something like that? Yeah, damn it? Who was it?

Tell me who? We'll have more? Now we've we had a shower conversation here a few years ago.

Pause pause, I.

Don't know we didn't take a shower. We had a conversation shower. Let me ask you this, after how many years should you throw out your pillow?

Your whole entire pillow? Yeah?

Man, before you answer, I have a seventeen year old pillow.

Damn, that's nasty. It's like a good luck fillo or something good dreams on it.

That's my baby dog.

I got so many pillows in the crib that I don't know where they are at. And I'm like really like a trend person with like buying stuff for the crib. So like, there's this new pillow, you know, the one that has a dip in it, So I have that. So I was like, it's like Brandon, you don't have like a pillow from home. No, yes, you do from home. Those pillows are stiff pillows, got bad. Look, I still have stiff pillow money, right, ship. I think I think the healthy as I don't know the life span. I

But new pillowcase.

It's not like I like a raw dog and the pillow doggy like there's a pillowcase on it.

Then I guess it's all right. As long as the pillow like young pillowcases.

You know what I'm saying.

From Macy's dog holding onto that thing?

Can you feel the passion?

I don't have to get you for Christmas?

At least I appreciate that man on my way to Rexdale. Congratulations, my guy, Cruise show Real ninety two three. Let's go