EP: 733- Ray Vaughn Interview (uncensored)

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Yeah that was hard.

Yeah man, Nico blitz right there and that was all yeah yeah, yeah, yeah.

That over crazy, I say that.

Yeah, yeah, you come with the hits, bro, So you know, yeah, Nico, you interviewed ravon Win like five years years ago.

Five years ago, Its like before t It was like right before you.

Link up, you know, I think I just reached out on I G or something quick. It was like a I was you literally signed like a month later or something.

It was like a month to two months later.

It's crazy.

It was literally right right in in the pocket. It was like a lot of momentum and the city building up, and I was just like, Okay.

Something's gonna happen.

Somebody gonna pick me, somebody gonna sign me top I didn't think it's gonna be top line, Is that right?

I didn't.

I didn't think it was gonna be top Dog, not gonna get in these universal interscope and.

Something something like that. Yeah, yeah, def jam something like.

That right like that, you ain't even gonna sign to the Lakers.

Crazy, you got a coffer, Phil Jackson.

Get a car and Phil like come down to what was that?

Like, what was that day?

Like that was crazy? I shipped livers that day. Yeah, for sure. He called me.

He like, yeah, come down to the office. Boy, came down here, like, bring me five sons. You think gonna change your life? I got to play twenty So that means he sucked with it.

Yeah, yeah, how.

You feel about TV. I'm like, man, that's my dream, like dead right, I need him right there. He was like, he was like, welcome to your dream label.

Nah.

By the time I walked out, I had a check, though, you give me. I just had the stamp.

Okay, okay, I still broke. I went back to the car. I was signed, but I was nah.

Yeah. Some people think, right, especially a lot of artists, right, they think, are you get signed to TD, you get handed a million dollar check, you get handed a house or change cars. It's not like that.

It don't work like that.

You don't work.

It's like the NBA.

You signed to the NBA, unless you like one of the ball brothers they had a good father figure.

Yeah, Like other than that, you don't have that.

It's like you go to the NBA, you still gotta work to even get off the bench. You're still rookie, right, He's still rookie, So I'm still I'm still in my rookie here for real. It's like my first year really really popping out and being consistent and trying to like create near it is about myself so people can see what type of artists I am.

There's that rookie hazing going on by schoolboy Q who fucking plays too much?

No no, no, no, no no no, I.

Mean they man, they Joe, they joke the clown b clown school Boy Like what up?

I'm like, yo, bro yo bro.

Today saved and school boy c phone cup I fucked up.

So you've seen what I called. It's crazy. Yeah no, but yeah, like yo, you join the crew and you gotta work your way up. You gotta work your way up.

You got why, you got to prove your I thought I was finna get every TD feature in the book when.

I got over here.

Yeah saying this, and then we're gonna have Kingshick doing the background vocals. He's gonna stack it. In my head, I had it all plan. That's what I like that it don't work like that. It don't work like that. You get over here and it's like you think you ring you all the program. You just got to figure out where you fit in the lineage because it's a crazy lineage to be a part of. And given me, how do I stand out versus like, uh, just guinea gimmy guine me from everybody.

You know what I'm saying.

It's like, how do I create my own ship to where people respect me enough to be like, you know what, the little homie tight, let's put them on this.

That's where like that now consistency came from you where you're just like.

Okay, well now I'm now because I'm being consistent, this might come.

Yeah for sure, because it's like it's a it makes sense and it don't look like here. Yeah, you know what I'm saying that now we got what's that industry plans they're calling people?

Yeah, that narrative was going around with you me plant me right right whatever?

Whatever plant soil is the plant me and that like I don't even about that.

I hate that ship.

I hate a plant water.

I don't I hate that.

I'll be like, you know, just because you didn't see me grow doesn't mean you know what I'm saying, It wasn't the work wasn't put in.

It works like that, but I don't care.

Like if you call in somebody industry plant, that means something working, because some niggas not getting caught.

Nothing means you on fire, right, It means you're on fire. That means everybody noticed.

It means you're growing.

It means you're growing. You're growing too fast. Yeah, you know what I'm saying, you're growing too fast. So they don't, they don't, they don't appreciate it. I don't give a fuck. Frankly, I'll be like for show whatever that is, whatever. But what I'm saying is like, once you start creating that momentum. And I thought I had momentum because I have a lot of viral moments, people think like I've just got I've been viral.

For for years and years and years and years viral crazy.

But now it turns into from virality to momentum where you're.

Like, oh I can you can.

It keeps going to where everything I do people tuning in, We're like, oh what is this?

What is this? What is this? So it's kind of like that, Yeah, man, Yo, the Good, the Bad, and the dollar Menu. Yeah, it's a story. It's a brutal story, man. It's honestly real life is sharing the six piece chicken nugget with the kids. It's crazy. It's real life. You know, dying must be easy because living is hard. That's fucked up. Now. That had sleep for dinner. Yeah, that was the most real.

Shit telling you you ever had?

That?

Yeah, I mean I feel like that's That's like human music. It's like we got a lot of music that people put out and they talk about what they got and what they could do. Don't get me wrong, once I get up there, I probably have a couple of songs

I'm feeling them.

When I had a conversation about you, I was talking, I didn't have music like that. I didn't have music to be like, damn, who can I live to? Who I'm dealing with this? I gotta go listen to old songs that was made previously because the sounds and the topics of music was changing directions, just like right when the SoundCloud rappers and all that shit everything took off. Not no disrepect to them, but it just changed it sounds sonically and what people wanted to hear. Everybody, drug addicts,

So it just changed into like.

A tool to help other people navigate where I'm like, I'm gonna just talk about what I went through rap and other people going to be able to relate because I'm sure I'm not the only person going through this.

So figured out trauma though into a masterpiece.

Yeah I bottled it up and so did its Coca colas.

Yeah, now you really did. But walking around with all of that and then be able to translate it so vividly into music later on in life, that's a lot to hold. That's a lot to carry.

I think. I'm like, like, what is that?

Well, just let's shit come up fall off me though, I'm not like the person who's like, I take it. What's I hate that saying? I take it a day at a time, because you can't take it a week at a time. You can't take it a month.

I gotta be a dad.

How else are you supposed to take it?

Yeah? I take it about five minutes at a time. I can crash out at any second. I don't crash out at any moment. Bro. I'm barely hanging on my bro. But I'm I got my friends here.

Bro, and we're just waiting for my thirteen threes.

And to be honest, I don't talk like that.

Jesus said, Yeah, like my that was dark. But I with it no, but like for like, I don't, uh, I don't. I don't carry that like I carry it. But it's like like package somewhere deep.

It's very deep.

You know what I'm saying that y'all probably never get to see people. Some people never know that because I was walking the room. But it's not because I'm asking anything. It's just like I know where to I used to say a compartment compartmentalize that word too. Compartmentalize it until into until its own into its own thing because I don't. I don't really walk around you walk around me. I'm like jokes, laughs all the time, and it's not to

I don't.

I don't have a guard up. I just feel like it's not you don't. It don't bother me as much as like it was normal to me. Then when you get out of it's like when you're a kid, when you're going through like rough shit, you eating peanut butter.

Sandwiches and then it turn the syrup sandwiches and then you know what I'm saying.

Noodles, lights off, all that type of shit. Sleeping on the floor. To you, that's normal.

You know what I'm saying.

That's a normal thing. Until you get older and you'd be like help realizing the moment au traumatic it is, so you're like, oh, then you unpack it later on. But it's like it was normal to me. So I ain't complaining about it because I'm here. If I wasn't here, then I would have something to complain about. But I'm here, and I'll be like, damn, I'm not even worried about how much gas costs. And I got cousins who still worry about how much gas costs, and they picking, Okay,

No? No, no, you got to put your mindset too. Yo. I get to make this album. I get to be doing an interviews.

It's part of the story.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, anything that traumatic happened, anybody disrespect me, You're going in a fucking song and like, no, no, for real, anybody anybody like any type of bad ship that happened to me.

I just put it in music for you. It's part of it. It's part of the do it.

That's the way to do it. That's the way to do it. Good for you, man, Flockers. I love the way you open the album.

I love that skit too, where you call an album, well not with a song, right, but you call the project and album though?

Was that you called the project and album?

I did.

It's a mixtape.

It's an album.

It's a mixtape. We don't how this debate? Oh yeah, debate?

Yeah. The album The way you did that, bro, and those skits took me.

That's like high quality. What do you think my album is going to shout?

Like? This is an album?

What do you think sound like?

Bro?

This is crazy.

It's an album to me, bro, because it's got these skits in it, right, and it's not this truth in it. And it kicks off with flockers and it's like, Yo, you're thinking about robbing the burger spot and Yo, like the way the homie says, dummy, dog, I couldn't get that ship, Bro, that's damn down.

Heel me, yo, he was just like dummy, hey, free b Why he's in jail right now?

He's incarcerated?

Is he right?

Huh?

Is he right? Yeah?

He did he he uh he he up there he up there with toy.

Huh he up there with Toy and was oh yeah but Tory moved, but he did.

He's safe though, yeah yeah, no, no, he's good though.

No, no for man blessing him.

He's coming home soon. Who your boy?

Oh yeah, he come out time, dog.

He was saying to is going on, I don't know boy, You're not not my boy, my boy. Come out next month, man, Yeah, come on next month.

That's right, that's right. Yeah, sure, no man, And these skits that you got throughout the project, right throughout the mixtape album, right throughout his masterpiece. Right, it's brutally on his piece. No. I love that, right, Like YO, Like creating those skits for a project to kind of narrate the project is very important.

I think I feel like it's a mything art piece because I think some people O d on it. They like put like two minute skits. Me like, bro, turn this off. Can we get to the song already?

That's not a song, that's a skit, like it don't make it two minutes.

Yeah, it's like, yeah, we don't want to hear that.

But minds, I feel like the first one is like the longest one where you kind of like it just sets the tone so you understand like every other piece, and then everything else is.

Like ten fifteen seconds.

I tried to keep it very short and succinct so that you can get to the next song, but you still understand where it's navigating, like.

Good Kid in My City.

Even then, though they had like some skits on that that shit, it's not like a movie. But that was at a time where people were able to digest that long of skits. I feel like now people are so over like they don't want to hear It's like everything is quick. I don't want to have an album that's like six songs because people don't want to sit down and listen to a full body of work. So I'm trying to get my fans conditioned to understand that, like a full body of work for me is like ten

I mean it is, I mean, you know you're you're dropping off a lot of that trauma, but it's created a story and it's created this victory.

I feel like if you're watch a movie or somebody writes a movie and they write a movie where it's like precious, is that a trauma dump? No, that's just a good fucking movie where side ship going on with a story. It's a good story going on. Yeah it is, but it's to follow the trauma. I'm like, come on, bro, like it's art. This is this is this is how we create art. If I make it like this and I made this in a movie, you'd be.

Like, that's a good fucking movie. I love that movie.

That's right.

Yeah, but they gotta make it. I don't even know what trauma dumb. But I didn't know what that was. I didn't know what love. Somebody said, what say love vomit? I was like, what is that?

A lot?

I was like, when you come to somebody and you give them gifts and you chat them, I'm like.

Like, I thought that was just being a good ma Oh my god, that's men like.

This really strong. And then you're like, but what if short he changed?

Do you listen? That's your guess? Yeah.

Yeah, I'm trying to go to Amsterdam.

Amsterdamn Bro, I'm trying to go to Amsterdam and I'm over here. I'm important now if you listen, Now, what if I fucked with you for for a minute and then you start doing it down like you start talking crazy, your little attitude because females do that.

You hide your little attitude, and then.

You start liking a person, and then the attitude start coming out more.

And I was like, I'm not buying you that.

Because there's no consistency with it.

It's just is like and then done, it didn't do it didn't happen because it was love moming. It happened.

Maybe it could have been something you've done, you just didn't recognize it. I'm usually the person that does and talking.

I'm gonna do this.

I'm gonna be like this, and if I love bomb somebody, I'm gonna be like it's because it's like, okay. The way she responds is nasty. The way she gets when she's upset about something that has nothing to do with me is nasty. So I'm gonna be all right for show. I don't even want too much. I'm a cutting voice off. I don't want to talk about it no more.

You got it?

And then I'm I'm gonna just slow ease up. I'm really trying to ghost you, but I'm just not gonna just you know what I'm saying.

I'm trying to like ghost you like and like.

Get increments.

Is like because I might still want to pull out micro you know what I'm saying.

Now, Now we just.

Boom micro he Hey Patty, yeah, just said you and see her own that Michael microhost.

Let's get it.

Hey, triple x T as well crazy. I love that song when they sell T yeah, it's always the little homies with the big ass shirts.

Back in the I for sure had a big ass T shirt and the Nico Yeah make sir wow with a bro soldier boy, Soldier boy, sir, No, I didn't have. I didn't didn't even have. I had the Snowman like the little you know it has sponge Vibe with a gun on it.

Yeah yeah Wanner.

Rather than see at least like it was them type of ours, I was on that feel me So that was kind of like me joints. Yeah that was me, but I was so I mean, I was still my mama foodstep cart and take the cachede off and then go buy from crushing sheet.

Oh okay, so my mom was. My mam was. She was many things. So she's the drug that she worked at the oil with Friery.

And an artists at some point as well.

Mama used to rap. Yeah, she was a rapper, she just was.

But her music, child, child, your music is her music.

Well, she used to play everybody.

We used to like, stop.

You didn't even I love my mama.

We gotta be honest, I love Mama, but they don't that on me.

Your fucking music, don't sun.

That ship suck.

Like if I was like back in there and I was hanging on, I would have like I would have else, I would have turned it off.

So what does she thinking of your music?

Now?

My mom liked my music. She like fuck with my music. So my mom had like a good rap voice. It's just it's just the she was just too gangster for me.

My mom she was on that ship.

My mama music was gagster, like robbing niggas and killing niggas.

I'm like, it's my mom, No, it's my mom, mom, my mom. Bro, I don't want no talking about she running up on niggas. I'm like, man, you just cook chicken.

He was not doing all that. He just was cooking when you have the time to be this fucking villain, to make yourself how to be you know what I mean.

Just signed my permissions, right, you just signed me shooting nobody but my mom ma, my own got it was a rapper too, right. All my uncles was rappers, all of them. That's that's kind of like pushed me to rap. They all used to wrap. They had like this group called Bitter Child. Okay, so it was happening.

It was happening.

It was yeah.

When I was like nine, your way, it was yeah, it was it was bound to hit me and I would rap, and all my other brothers would rap, and all my cousins and ship and all the little homies around the neighborhood.

But when I rapped, everybody be like wait, go again.

So like one of those things where it's like you kind of like it's like when you dance as a kid and they like make you dance and do the same dance you kind of you kind of think you could dance, and you know what I'm saying. I was like all right for show, and I just never let go of that. Then when I became like thirteen twelve, I was like fuck it I'm gonna just rap because everybody's saying I could rap. So I was like, I'm a rapping okay, and I never wanted to here, but my uncle's music was fire.

Yeah, I'll be stilling. I'll be stilling some of their like quotes and shit.

OK.

Like good, it's like a hell of years ago, so I can you know what I'm saying?

All yours, They're all yours?

Tesus who no pub, no pub, no pub, no pub, pub no pub, no pub. I throw a little line or two in there the niggas, Hey.

I didn't use your.

Yeah, happy for you. You know I'm about to get thirty thousand off the song you Can't get Ship.

Garcia and I were outside a few weeks ago. Bro and Top walked in and looked at us and was like, yo, Ravon been out, Bro, and I haven't heard him on your radio stations.

Mind pressing the issue on side mine pressing.

We was like all right, cool. I was like, Yo, let's change that, not knowing how we're gonna do that, right, because this is radio, right heart radio, there's channels, right of course. She was like, yo, you better talk to Doc. You know what I mean? Doc winter a program director, you feel me?

But he said that to the top. Yeah, oh oh, He's like he's still here.

We don't call the player.

So you just was like you said it like that, like you better.

Go no like that. No, no, no, it wasn't that tone. It wasn't that tone. It was like, Yo, you should call called Doc Winter. You know, he's a really good guy. You know, I'm sure he'll help you.

Out right after I and here we are, No, we're right here right.

Yeah. But also that was happening like during all the Joey shit, you know what I mean. So we're just kind of being very careful. Yeah with everything.

It's good.

I'm you know, it seems like that Joey shit is done. Yeah. I don't know, it's over. It's over for me. I paid attention for a little bit. But I'm like, nah, why because you know, dude can obviously wrap. We've interviewed him before, right, It seemed like a good guy. We don't know him personally, right, and I'm sure we'll interview him again. Maybe not. I don't know, but I don't know.

I unpacked that. What do you mean by that?

Well? Do we have time?

Yeah?

Okay, the concert was going on. GNX was in town, right obviously, you know we had the fires too. When when all that was happening? Yeah, sure, But you.

Know, I think that's when we kicked it off. That's when I kicked off. Yeah, That's when I was like.

Paying attention then, right, But I don't know. I think at a certain point it's like, all right, what else do we got to say? Like, we can only mention top and and and and dot so much. Let's move on. We got a project out. I call it an album. It's got it's got some crazy ship on it. Let's pay attention to that. Yeah, so that's where I was. Yeah, I decided to pay attention to the music. That was a music though, so and listen, we got bars out

I fuck with it. I feel like it was I know, you fucked with it.

Yeah you had a good time.

Yeah, I'm bound wick you know, so I feel like I was like it was fun, it was good for hip hop.

Yeah, it really was, But I think it's I think that's it. I think we had a good run. And what's what's left?

What now for who?

For anyone, for any one of us in that situation far as fans, like what now? Oh no, we just we just keep rapping, just keep wrapping, keep it moving, rappers, we both. It's like it's this good for the coachure.

Yeah, it almost felt like a rap Olympics.

Yeah you feel me, Yeah, because you had like two hundred other people jumping in.

Yeah, it was that too. Yeah, you know, I.

Feel like but I for all, it made everybody focus on rap. I feel like that's one time this year like where everybody focused on rap.

It wasn't about like who's clouded up?

Because you see people who not even who don't even have clout, who didn't even have numbers or no type of label behind them. They just rapping, just jumping down the wheel words and everybody getting reacted to by people with millions of subscribers. You get what I'm saying, to give them those looks, And I feel like that's what hip hop was built on, Like rap battling, you know what I'm saying, So formula. Yeah, so it's like four yeah,

Somebody.

If you got a comment full of like, oh my god, that show is fired, then somebody comment that shit, fuck it sucked, you're gonna respond. You're gonna feel more prone to respond to that person who said that sucked because you're like, who is you talking to?

There?

I go there, type down the time out of your shd like you're gonna.

Turn it like fabricated drama, like that.

Fabricated is crazy because it was fabricated. It's fabricate. Fabricated. Fabricated drama is movies.

Hm hmmm.

I feel like all drama gonna get attention because it's like we just as humans, what's going on over there? Don't let you be a nosey nancy. You're gonna be paying attention to every fucking thing moving. So I feel like for hip hop, though, everything everything centered around you see like Shade Room posting it. You see people who who most of their ship is about drama, this, this, this, and it doesn't have anything to do with rap now, but it was built off rap.

It doesn't.

We don't get those type of looks from those channels or platforms. You don't get those looks for everybody. But at that very moment, I feel like everybody was like tuned in to hip hop, like, oh, these niggas is rapping, what's going on?

And we did We didn't. We didn't need it. It's not because it's very disposable at time, and it's not it's not as big as like Drake and Kendrick.

Where tears like nah, you know what I'm saying, the tears that it's like its own.

It's like, no, this is like, this is just fun hip.

Hop, you know what. I was grateful for it too, because pop music is on such a run. So when there's when there's a rap battle going on or some tension or some fun going on, right some some like you know, a friendly fade if you have you right, like, it brings the attention back to hip hop. Yeah, and I like that.

I do too. That's what That's what the whole moment for me in pop.

Music is having a moment dog and I need it back or what it was.

I feel like we ain't gonna get it back until people start rapping. Okay, Like we don't got music. That's like moo the love of startists. You heard that you can hold on to their music.

I can't.

It's like and my project you just said you can you take you can take a lot home. What you have to listen to that where you're like, damn, I went through this. I could play this. I can still play this because I relate to it so much.

And it also, yeah, relate, that's the word. It also reminds you of what you went through, right and all right, some of it wasn't that bad. Maybe I thought it was. And you relate to that ship.

Have my chirp.

Hold on, what you're doing is that your phone? Where are your phone? At? Man? Fell on the floor, my man, you saw fall on the floor, just giving them laughing. Earlier you just giving them.

He was just trying to give me to step out of the chair so I could be the same height sevent salar.

Fuck it though, yo, Let's try something. What are we calling this, Christia? FaceTime roulette? All right, open up your phone, go through your contact scroll up once and then FaceTime the first person put your finger on scroll up and then stop it. Don't try to fix it.

Let's go and who I'm picking on you?

Just scroll and stop it, like and just look at me and then just point.

Out out a name.

All right, FaceTime roulette, FaceTime for us to answer, well, we'll see who is it.

That's my sister.

Is your sister? Yep? Family don't ever answer. Never, women don't answer. H. She'd be on D and D though, Hey, no excuses.

Bro, Let's see if she has streets of voicemail though it wouldn't even nah she.

Be D D.

You'd be going, oh, she loves you.

Hey, somebody love you. Stop playing with me. Somebody love Stop playing with me. It's my sister.

Next time, I'm at the radio station doing this interview and we're playing FaceTime roulette. Basically I had to pay somebody, call somebody and see if they answered the phone. I said, I I just picked on you accidentally, and I was like, he gonna pick out the fucking phone, nigga.

Actually that's right, God bless you.

Hey, I'm gonna call you after we getting Starbucks.

All right, that's right, getting the cake pop cake cookies and creams is crazy.

They got a good coffee cake too. I'm not mad at it, but the croissanser trash though the lemmon case, the lemon cake never had it. Coffee cake is good. Yeah, she's Danish, is good.

One got a Danning type of god. No, stop it, No, I feel like sassy. Yeah, Hey, that's like too much. Ain't like that like a nigga going to be like imagine you go to start us and give me a cheese dating?

What I order? You don't order that? Word of god. You're a liar.

You just said they have good coffee, k have good coffee. But I'm like, babe, give you sound you sound real? Guys, go give me a coffee cake.

No, I need to cheese. Danish cheese dating if they have one.

Of course, isn't even worse.

To be warmed up, warm warming.

See he's too boozy.

Youn't got boozy? After all that, After all that is greaty You're good the bast the men you yo. Ray Vaughn, appreciate your time and energy. Dog music, No prouble on dog all day.

Hey check get rich from the Cruise Show. Thanks for listening to the Cruise Show podcast. Make sure to subscribe and hey auto download so you don't miss an episode of SO