Oh my god, is that Nico Bliz trying to treat that? Tell me hear me? When you up, I gotta dash. There are things told the twitter and moving fast. Take the price and want the guy? What do I did it up to the gas? Put it up and get it jump and winter blow to bring me. They gather gonna ask tin up real fasts to real. You can't blame me, She can't blame me. This is the black and brown bird mine ride. This is exactly what it should I could put that on. Mom's in the piece
hood knowing how to bring it. She gotta take up.
Uh huh show does he?
How on? Let's get it.
How you feel, man?
I feel good. I'm glad to be here today.
And there you go.
It's good to finally meet you in person. Big fan of work. And yeah, thank you guys for having me.
No man. Shout out to Nico Blitz for the intro.
Right there, my guy, right here, man, go back here, we go way back, and it's it's good to you know. Uh, it's like a reunion when I see him.
Union.
I met like a lot of great people through Nico and he's always being in my corner. Man. So shout out to Nico Blitz.
Yeah, he brought you up and was like, yo, like we should get him in here. So let's do it, man, let's go man.
You know, does he make me feel like I'm promotion side sometimes?
That's right man, you know, it's it's it's the unity and the fun of the funk that the genre that I make.
You know, you mentioned reunion right Like, every video and every session sounds like there's a reunion going on.
It looks like this.
It's like almost like it's like barbecue. Like you know what I'm saying. It's a barbecue. You invite, you invite every all your loved ones, you know, and everybody shows out and they have a good time. You know. That's that's what it's all about, is the unity.
Ocean Side is available everywhere all streaming platforms like Graduate.
Yes, sir, yes, thank you. Yes. Right now, I'm on a tour and I was just talking to Nico about the tour and and and how you know, I put it together because I'm an independent artist, you know, I do. I do the bookings for the for the for the tour, and right now we're about to be in Vegas on Friday, but that was This is the show that I'm doing in Vegas with Keep the Sneak, and I took on
a couple of shows with Keik. They're doing like a the proceeds are going to like a special study that's possibly going to be able to make him walk again.
Wow.
Yeah, For people that don't know, Keik has been paralygic for a little while now and there's.
Just through like stem cell research.
Yes, yes, I don't know the details behind it, but I do know that the it's called the King of Hyphi Tour and it's a set of dates that are raising money for the research for him to possibly walk. So, you know, I'm glad to be that. I'm glad to be able to be a part of things like that and and just being the loop with great artists like Keep the Sneak. You know, we grew up on Keek. You know, he's a big staple to California and Northern California. So it's great being able to be around these arts.
It was great to see him in the video. Yeah he's in the wheelchair man and yeah, it's all good. Like he's showing it, he's not hiding from it, right, and some of that can hurt your pride maybe or make you insecure, really just hurt you in a way where you don't want to be seen.
But he's being seen. He got that camera on him. Bro.
You really have to realize that. You know, at one point he had one of the biggest songs out, you know, and to go from that to to you know, having to depend on people to get you around is it's you know, it's a it's a mind thing. And I have a lot of love and respect for Keik for just still being very positive, you know, and very eager to work still under the conditions. You know.
Yeah, but from.
What I understand, like, respect is obviously a big thing for you, right, and it's probably because of the way you grew up and the people around you, with your elders, right and the big homies.
Right.
You got a song on Ocean Side called Sae, right, who is obviously you know the football player that we lost right from.
Ocean Side, correct.
Yeah, Yeah, and like that's like you know for the dead homie, right, Like, and you you know, you have his his his voice and the music as well.
Yeah, So Junior Sale is a big stable to the Ocean Side. Community. He's he's done things and left the legacy to to where it'll live for generations. You know, he's they have they have the Junior Sale Foundation, they have the Junior Sale Community Center, and they have programs
that have made a big impact in the community. So for for him, for for people like us, you know, uh, people that are up and coming, he's kind of like somebody that we really look up to the Junior Sale, you know, and his impact and on the city of Ocean Side.
Yeah, man, swap Meat took me back to a time where, like because I grew up in the swap meet, right, like back to school shop and all that was done at the swap meet.
Yeah, you know, vibe shirts for twenty bucks.
Before you know, getting ready to go back to school. You know, during the summers, like we would go there to get all of our everything out feel its brand new shoes were purchased there, and it was a hustle. That was the beautiful thing. It was people that are making a hustle, they're making a living, you know, and it's like you would see even people I would be out there sometimes selling CDs back in the day. I've
been doing this. I've been doing this since the days of CDs and pressing CDs and being out there and doing the footwork of hey, you know, this is my record, you know, and you get a lot of turndowns, you know. And and right now we're in the era of the Internet where a lot of things are given to you. You don't even have to walk up to somebody and introduce yourself. You just put the music out there and it finds the people. It's a different era. It's a
different era. And to be able to adapt and see the evolution of how music has come, it's it's crazy as a longevity thing, you know.
And some of the CDs were you did you have a stand or was it in the parking?
No, it was just you know, my act she worked at a junior college, so I would go there to shrink wrap my CDs. I would purchase my CDs at you know, like a supply store, put it together, burn the CD and then I would go shrink wrap it at my my AST's job, and then I would hit the streets with the Duffel bag and you know, hey, hey, c you know. And it was crazy because back in the day you see people with like the headphones and the CD players, you know, like go to Venice. That
was crazy. It was a thing. Yeah, yeah, so you know I seen I seen it all. You know, I've seen it all. I've seen it all.
I mean, yo, that's like, that's how nip got started pushing the CD in.
The street, right, A lot of the greatest artists had come from out the truck.
So Hope did that master p did that fifty did that.
CDs dog pushing them, you know what I mean, trying to get anyone to buy one copy.
Right right, And it's a lot of it's a lot of how would you say, it's intimidating, you know, it's intimidating and that feeling, Yeah, that feeling like you don't really get that with with how music is put out today, especially with the streaming and all that, it's it's a different game. Music's not sold really no more. It's all streamed, so.
Noa for sure.
It's like, yeah, hard tickets, hard copies, Like it's just it's tough, man. I'm sure it's like that with books as well. Right, everybody's you know, getting digital books. I fucking listened to book on tape, you know what I'm saying.
I'll get a book.
Yeah, I'll stream a book all day. Run up the numbers man, Yo. Soul Food project was in twenty fifteen.
Yes, that that was. That was like one of the first projects that kind of like broke like the local local scene for me, you know. It made a name for myself. I had a song on there called Oe and that was like one of the first songs that kind of like shook my area.
It was.
It was released at a time where like YouTube was just on the rise. I put that video out on YouTube and then me, my whole thing was like consistency. So after that project, I put on another project, another project, but I kept shooting videos. It was most importantly very important to be in people's faces, you know. So I was like on a routine where I would release like two to three videos a month, and that was like
my whole get up, the whole consistency thing. You've seen some great artists come up out of that, releasing constantly, like you know, initially it was like Russ and then now we have like, you know, who's a good artist, one of the homie g pre coos doing that, and it's all like a streaming, you know, like consistently putting out music back.
In the day. I remember on YouTube it was like big Sean mac Miller. They were just dropping.
Video yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It was like who are these dudes? Right? And then now look at it, right, I mean it took off right.
But in twenty fifteen, were you in the mindset were like, I'm just gonna drop this album, maybe one more, make a million dollars in I'm.
Out at that time, and I just really wanted to make a name for myself at the time. You know, I didn't really know what I was gonna what to expect, or I didn't know that it would take that long to get to where I'm at now. I don't think anybody knows that, and luckily I didn't because I didn't. Went through a lot to just be able to sit right here with you. You know, it's it's a good feeling.
But I learned a lot, though, from then till now at a lot about the industry, about how important it is to have the relationships with people and to keep those relationships, you know, and recognize the people that are initially in your corner, because they'll be there, you know, when you really need them. For sure.
What was the toughest show you've had coming up.
The toughest show. I still have tough shows. It just depends. You know. When I first started off, I think I was doing like small little hole in the wall bars, you know, where it was just the family showing up. And now it's like I'm able to do these these big like arenas and you know, concert venues. But I still have times where I'll do like private events and it's just a couple of people there. You know. It's
really what you make of it. I like to have fun wherever I'm at, whatever I'm doing, we're gonna have fun. For sure.
What year was that, I think it was in like twenty nineteen when you had like a DJ like one of your shows in like a like behind a barber shop.
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. It was like a pop up. It was like a pop up show that we had. I had to come out for it, and yeah, it was like a backyard boogie, you know.
It felt very homey, bro.
Yeah yeah yeah.
Yeah, but you're competing with like what's outside, and you know, the the buzzing of the machines, like yo, it's a lot, right.
Yeah yeah yeah, yeah, man, it's no there's No, there's no like things things like you can't let like certain things get in your way of what you know is to come, you know, like small things that like kind of like come up out of nowhere, or even like for instance, like smaller shows, like you can't really be like, oh man, like this is not what I expected. It's like what what's gonna come to you is gonna come?
You just gotta like make the best out of whatever is like presently happening, you know, because at the end of the day, you still got ship to do m and you got to keep on going right. And then also, you know, some people are there that have traveled far to see you, so it's like you never know what they went through to get there to meet you or to have a conversation with you. So you really can't
take nothing for granted. You know, no matter what the turnout is, you just gotta just roll with it and make the best out of it.
Yeah, man, it was Black and Brown with Jail Felony and Lil Robber. Was that a song where you're like that's it, Like yeah, like almost like I made a moment.
You know, Jail Felony and Little rob they've never done a song together. They're both from San Diego County, and I would say I would say just off of like I would have said that they're like the two most established artists, you know that to come out of San Diego. But they're very they've they've done, they left the legacy
for themselves, you know. So to put put them too on the same record and have the meaning and concept behind it to be the unity of black and brown, it meant it meant the world to me for them both to get on the record. They're definitely big influences and almost heroes in the community. So I want to
shoot that record with both of them in it. I think the only issues would be like making sure that the people come are on the same same vibe, you know, the the unity is there, you know, but for the most part, yeah, right right, But for the most part though, you know, the song, yeah, the song is respectful, you know,
it's it's just it's a unity song. So for me, when I made the record, I thought of it as like a as like an anthem, you know, for for the for the community of Oceanside all the way down to San Diego, you know, all the way up here, you know, it's really it's really uh, it was really a big thing to put them, have them both agreeth of.
Them had to be on the national right. I mean, jale Felly was signed to death Jam at one.
Point he had the record with DMX. I could give it to.
You it bro, remember that Garcie remember that?
Yeah, that's that. You know, he's on deaf Jam and Lil Rob was was was doing this thing as well. Again, both records hit the charts. Both records were on MTV at the time when MTV meant something to videos, right, videos meant something to the world like that, and when like you know, there's like video countdowns and all that shit.
Right.
But yeah, both of them, you know, established their mark.
Yeah yeah, and you know I still talk to them all the time, you know, a little. Bob and Jail good friends of mine, you know, set aside for the music, very solid individuals. When I met Jail and when I met Rob were under different circumstances, but they're like there are people that that will be there if I hit them up, you know, so I can really appreciate that with their busy schedules and the way that I met Jail was pretty crazy, Like I was on an airplane.
I was catching their plane one time, and I seen some dude at the airport was like a mask on, but he had all the same tattoos as Jail, you know. So finally I went up and I walked up to the guy and I'm like, yo, what's up man, you know, and he takes his masks out. I was like, oh, this is Jail feeling. And I didn't want to, you know, tell him. I wanted to do a song with him right then and there, but I just told him who I was, and then, you know, down the line, we
ended up working together. It was the same with like Corrupt. When I worked with Corrupt, I had met him backstage several times. But I don't like to force, you know, relationships or things like that. You know they'll come to you, but it's all about like that initial first impression on them. You know, let them know that you know you're you're a heartfelt person, that that is really about the craft,
and you know the work will speak for yourself. You know, a lot of the artists that I've been able to get on the song on songs, even like dub C, they've seen in the work before before I even asked him to be on a record, you know, so the work really speaks for itself. You know, you can't really rush relationships, you know.
Yeah, you can't force it. You know, it's got to be organic, gotta be a vibe, right, but it's got to be crazy. You gotta be going crazy inside.
When you work.
It's crazy how you you like run into artists or like you don't know who's seen your music, you know.
I think one of the.
Craziest started, one of the craziest features I had that came out of the blue was the song that I did with Pelo. I was shooting I was shooting a video in Hollywood, and I went to the liquor store to just grab like some wraps and Pilo. I seen some dude walk in and it was Pelo, and we just had a conversation. We exchange change Instagrams, and then we ended up working on music. You know. I came to Hollywood to work with him, and it's just crazy
how things work, you know, It's just it's natural. It's supernatural for sure.
Up Jack.
So you you said, like you know that you put a lot of your own stuff together because you are in the and then what's the best thing would you say about being independent?
The freedom? The freedom and also like you can do what you want, you know you can. You can more so do things that is in your best interests interest because like you could. It's it's a little risky when you have somebody like talking for you in my opinion, because I've worked with companies before and sometimes like they don't see what you see. And right now I'm in a position where I have like ultimate freedom in everything, Like everything is like I get to make the decision.
So it feels really good and more so, it feels very empowering for me to have.
Control, you know, your own music.
It feels good. It right, it feels good, you know. And right now I'm in a fully independent so like I don't really have to worry about like, uh, it is the budget really going to the right thing, because I'm the one that is bending the budget, so I know what's going where.
Yeah.
So it's it's a great feeling.
But you know, there's there's a lot of work that people don't see that you have on your own.
Yeah, you have to play all positions, all positions.
You got to be your own street team, your own company, your own promoter, your own booker, everything, right, I mean you are.
Your team, content creator, you know, merchandise sales and and like you said, the marketing is like you know, it's it's it's definitely it's a lot. Once you have to shoot the video and edit the video, put the video out, and then figure out how you're going to market it. Break the video down into like small short content, because that's what it is today. You know, it's all short content. People just want to see ten seconds of something that sparks their interest, you know, on on online. So it's
not impossible. With what the Internet has, has the accessibility of the Internet, you know, anything's possible. So I see a lot of people going to the independent route now you know it's possible. You know, you don't really have to have to say so of like big big labels anymore.
Yeah, that's that. That's a positive. I think with the Internet right, helped cut off the middle man.
Yeah, for sure, for sure.
Yo, what happened with Quick? With DJ Quick?
You know, Quick is a I'll put it this way, Quick as a genius genius. D He's a genius and sometimes when you meet people that are at his caliber,
you don't know what headspace they're in. So like when I make Quick a big fan of him, you know, my expectations were really high, and I just it didn't really meet my expectations, you know, the conversations that we had and the way that we met, And you can't really hold people accountable for that because you never know, you know, you never know what they're going through, right right, right, So for me, it was just like down. It was
a letdown for me. But at the same time, I don't know the other side of the story, but he he is definitely somebody that has has put me really like in this position because one of the first rap songs I had heard was Tonight by DJ Quick and that really inspired me to, uh really go go that route of the whole West Coast funk, you know, and I got nothing but love for DJ Quick.
Man.
I'm still a really big fan of DJ Quick.
Yeah, I think we've all met a celebrity or two that we thought.
Right right, right right. It's just the fact of like being somebody that's so in love with that sound and being a student of that sound. Your your expectations are so high, you know, but sometimes you gotta dumb that down. A little bit. You know, you can't be too excited.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're gonna let yourself down sometimes. Yeah, yeah, it's going to be you think it's gonna be one way, and it does and it's not. And then and sometimes you think you're you're speaking to the person you're listening to, right, Like as far as music or someone you've watched on on screen, and it you know, at the end of the day, there you know, they have their own behaviors in their own.
Ways, right And music is so power. I feel like that, you know, you can fall in love with somebody from their music and then be like, damn, I feel like I know this person, but you guys have never met before.
You know, yeah it you know, I want to bring it back to home because that's obviously just one of my favorite records.
Bro.
You got everybody from California on that track. But I started to really feel it hit home when you went to the Bay Area. You did a whole bunch of visuals would keep the Sneak, and I was like, man, I feel so fucking proud of you, bro, Like, so what was it like for you shooting all that content in the Bay Area, working with Keik working with the turf dancers and everything.
Uh. You know what's crazy about that is that that song was so I feel like it would take a minute for me to explain like how that song came about. But initially that song was just me by myself on Lisa Lisa Flip the Home record. Uh, it was just me by myself on the record. And I did it. I was shooting all in Cali and my idea was like, oh, I want to make it about California home. So I shot an oak side shot in l A. And then
I went to the baby shoot. But when I was up there, I was like, man, it would be crazy to get a legend, like keep this sneak on here. So I did some calls and then boom, I got a kick. So we shoot our verses and then I shoot again in l A. And I'm at the gas station and a car pulls up and they're like hey, hey, hey, you know, and I'm in the neighborhood. So I'm like, oh,
I don't know who this is. I don't know who this is, and it's like a Mercedes and then Gprico pops out of it, you know, and he's like, what's up on me. You know, this this my you know, He's like, because we just stopped to get gas. He was my neighborhood. You know, I'm like, oh shit, okay, yeah yeah. So then after I linked with with Gprico
that day, he got on the song. He got on the song, and then and then I reached out to Joe Moses and then he also got on a strong and it made it this whole like my things unity, you know, and it really connected you know, southern California with northern California and it became home, you know. And my whole idea behind it was to make a California record that represents Zen it home and it sounds. It was crazy, you know because the production. The production was
was nuts. Like I took so many flights from here to the Bay to shoot different pieces. You know, it wasn't all it wasn't all just okay, one day, we're gonna shoot the whole thing. It probably took me like three to four months to shoot that whole video. Wow, there's a lot of footage in there, you know, It's a lot of footage and its Yeah, and that was a big project for me and I'm just glad that it came out the way that Envision did.
That's right, that's right, does he hollow.
We appreciate the time, Bro, congratulates, Thank you, thanks, God is out. The tour is going run up the streams as you appreciate the time.
Brother, Thank you, Bro, Thank you all day.
Cruise Show Real nety three.
Hey Jack and Rich for the Cruise Show.
Thanks for listening to the Cruise Show podcast.
Make sure to subscribe, and hey auto download so you don't missing up.
South South South South South South