Doctor Dre. I'm looking at you right now. I'm looking at all of this.
Four studio albums, five collaborative albums, three compilation albums, just elite on every level. You got twenty albums. I told you you forgot how many albums you had twenty it's twenty shit.
Two years old.
Yeah, I'll be fifty three Sunday, fifty nine.
I'll be sixty years old in February.
Can I say, Stephen A some sports shit. You and Doctor Drake gonna know what I'm talking about. But to me, doctor Dre is the NICKT. Saban of hip hop.
Nick Saban's seven time champions six championships at Alabama universally recognized the green sion college football coach in the history.
And I say that because look at all of the NFL stars that he put through the league at the Hall of Famers. Just think about his track record as far as and in the artist that he started. That's why I say he's the next same. He's got a great career for himself, no question.
But what about the people he put on That's where I'm going with you next. What about those folks when you reflect on who you've helped along the way. I'm sure you don't want to play favorites. I get that part.
But I know him as right, but but but.
But but speak but speak, but speak to it what you believe?
You know, when you hear and.
See the work of other folks, Snoop is somebody that obviously touches you in a very very positive way. Anybody else out there, I imagine them and them aybody else?
I mean, you know, everybody that I've worked with, you know, has touched me and touched.
My career in a certain way. You know what I mean.
It's like every artist that I put my body into has helped me and my family in a certain way, you know.
So does any one of them stick out?
Of course?
Snoop?
Does you know this is my brother Bet. You know We've got you know, Fi and Eminem and Kendrick and Anderson Pat you know. I just I just love getting in the studio with people that I love to get down with. That's all it is to it, as corny or as generic as that may sound, that's just what I do.
What would y'all tell an artist today that you know in inspiring artists, you want to make it, you want to get in the room and put that work in.
Be original, Be original because right now there's so much copycat mimicking sound and I like imitation. Be original. Find your voice, find your production sound, find your ear for who you are, and be original even if it ain't hitting.
Stay you find your collaborator. Just like I don't. I don't like the fact that there's like nine different producers on one album. I like the idea of one producer on one album. The continuity, the continuity is everything.
And where did that come from? Where did it come from? Where you got casts that.
Want to be with nine different producers on one album and stuff like that?
The hell at that start? I don't know. I don't know, but it's I don't like it.
You know, if you're an if you're a producer, you should be able to produce the entire album. That's what I thought it was supposed to be. That's what I was doing at the beginning.
There's a lot of beat makers, though, Doc. That's what the difference between your era and this era is that there aren't too many producers as much as there are beat makers. It's so lazy to make beats. They giving you all these computer package that has the drum loop. Has this has y'all had to make the loop.
I feel like it's a change that's happening right now, you know, from all this mumble wrap thing and everything that's happening right now, there's somebody in somebody's garage that's happening right now that's going to be the next Snoop or Dre or next Prince or Michael Jackson or whatever that's coming up with something that's going to change the game.
It's got to happen right now.
And it's wide open because everything that's happening right now when the music game is, especially hip hop, is weird as fun.
I was getting ready to go there. Why do you feel that it has to happen now?
What is it about now that it's happening that there's a level of urgency that makes you say change for the better?
Well, it's going to get back to the musicianship. That's all it is, you know, like real players. And I'm seeing it happen. I'm watching I'm you know, I'm on the Internet and I'm watching Instagram and things like that, and there's like these kids that are coming up that can really play, that can really play and can really write and sing and really doing some interesting rapping and shit like that.
So I'm waiting for that to come back. When did it go awrived from the stamp.
I'm just talking about the industry itself in terms of people doing things in a manner that you.
Might By the way, I'm not disrespecting anything that's happening right now. I'm just talking about some substance that's to getting ready to happen moving forward.
Okay, got you.
I think the fundamentals was taken out of it. Like you had to have skill, you had to have professionalism in order to be an artist. Now you just have to have a phone. So it's a big difference when you had to have certain things to be qualified as an artist. Now it's just a phone makes you're an artist. And something stupid or something crazy on the internet gets
you five minutes of fame. And take that and make a record, and you got a two and a half minute song that's saying the same thing that somebody else just said. Now you consider it hot as opposed to it used to be about creativity and understanding the musicianship. You know, harmony melodies that don't even matter no more. It's just autotune. I want to sound like him. I want to say what she said, but I want to, you know, do the same things, but just in my own way, as opposed to let me be original.
One of the things that I've always said is that when people get on artists, I've always come to the defensive artists, and I look at the industry itself, because if you're trying to make it and somebody's over and they're telling you this is what it's gonna take in order for your for your for your music to be played, for you to develop and cultivate whatever your brand is, somebody is over you saying this is the way to go.
And if you feel compelled you, if you really really want to make it, sometimes you got to listen to them.
Well, that's how I felt. We never made music for that reason. Doc.
We never made music for the radio, right. We never was like, let's make a radio version. We always made music that felt good to us. Then when it got out to the public, if we had a label that had ideas, do a radio version, do this, But we never won and tour with that intent.
Go ahead, you're say something about that, Yeah, I mean, I've always been a fan of shock hop. Just we just do what we feel in the moment, and that's what I've been doing from the beginning of my career from NWA, Fuck the Police and straight out of Confident and the whole nine. It's just like we're just doing what we feel.
Yeah.
Absolutely, we just put it out there, and you know, at the beginning, we're like fucking radio. If they don't play it, it doesn't matter because we know what the streets is gonna say, you know so, And that's still my mentality.
That's why you still win it.
Revisit your emotions for me when you learned A you were not going to be one of the twelve selected on Team USA and B despite the fact that three of your teammates was on the team, two of them who spent eighty two games a year deferring to you, and one obviously Jason Tatum, who was a year came he here a year later. But it's the three time first Team All NBA with the last three years.
What was that like for you the emotions?
Yeah, it was a lot, honestly, and a lot of the stuff that we just talked about, I feel like delineates into the same conversation.
But I'll say this.
In twenty twenty eight, if I have to sign to Nike to increase my likelihood to play USA basketball.
I'll pass. Why one.
I think that I think the essence, like you see it in our grassroots kids, instead of enjoying the essence of basketball, are forced to pick a side and look at our global game in Europe is closing the gap. I believe that we should focus more on our development of our youth in grassork and grassroots, and I think sports, I think shoe companies should have less control over the industry right now. And I was one of those kids.
You know, I was a top player number one. Actually you came to one of my high school games.
Yeah, I remember that.
I was a top player in high school, and you know, and it was so much to deal with, you know, Nike, Adidas, like going to Adida school, going to a Nike school, and the kids should just be focusing on development. And I think this has a direct correlation to what we see at the highest level, even in you know, an
Olympic play like politics is not synonymous with basketball. You know, it's my role as the vice president, I sit on sitting these conversations with now who is Andrew who's our executive director, and and Adam Silva, who is the commissioner for the NBA, who goes back and forth about what we need and what's best for our game. So I know what corporate sponsors with their pediment, with their pedigree, It's like, I know what the relationship is like, I
know how those conversations go on. Anybody who thinks sports politics are are.
Not cohesive. They operate in sick with one another.
Yeah, you're lying to yourself. So I'll say it again because I know it to be a quote in twenty twenty eight. If I have to sign the Nike to increase my likelihood of playing USA basketball.
Our past, why do you mention Nike.
Because they're the least sponsor for the USA Basketball.
But I'm also asking you that question is because because you were once with Nike.
Correct, No, you were never with Nike.
Nod you with a D It's all right, and people thought you should go with Nike, and that was not something that ended up working out.
What happened with them.
I mean, no need to get into the I don't want to. I don't have a problem with the industry I don't know what I do. You know, I'm you know, I do Okay, I say go ahead, jam. I think the industry definitely needs some new energy, some new creativity, and some new options. I think the way you know, the shoe companies go about issuing deals and illustrating people's value in terms of IP, in terms of creative control, in terms of like how involved you are in the process,
I think it needs to change. I listened to the voices of our older generation. I know players that I can name superstars that will tell you right now, man, they frustrated as hell. You know, they stuff can't come out when they wanted to come out. They have no input or control. It was forced to renegotiate certain percentages that they think they should have more value, and they wish it was other options. So, you know, people like to use the word disruptor for me, and I really don't like it.
You don't like the word disruptive for yourself.
It comes with the territory, okay, But known because everything that I've tried to be a part of, everything that I am, a part of my thought process has always been solution based, you know, listening and being a rep representing our four to fifty listening to what players are saying behind closing.
But some people would say solutions can be disruptive from time to time, depending on who you're dealing with.
Yes, no, you're correct. I just don't like to be called, just like singularly got it, a disruptor. I know it comes with it, but my thought process has always been solution based, trying to create a solution for what I feel like in society from an athlete perspective is viewed as a problem. And that doesn't just stop with the shoe industry, the agency model. We can go more in detail. Actually, I could talk to you all day about this stuff. We have a lot of meanings with the union, which
I am happy to be involved with. I've been since I was twenty one years old, so I've been seven years now that I've been participating.
In the development twenty eight in a couple of days.
Yeah, man, it's my last two years in my twenties. That sounds terrible, terrible, I know, but I've been a part of it for seven years and I've learned, you know, the ins and outs of the operational aspect of the league, the marketing approach, I learned about, you know, how the decision making process goes, who has responsibilities, who doesn't, and how you know things I looked at in view, So you know, I think.
Things need to change. I'm gonna read a quote that you gave.
But before I read the quote that you gave, you were responding to Nike founder Phil Knight. This is in twenty twenty two, who had criticized Kyrie Irvin for his quote unquote, slow motion non apology after sharing an antisemitic documentary on social media. That's for Kyrie to discuss. We don't have to revisit that at all, because there's a lot of hits that he took during COVID from myself included that he did not deserve. So I want to make sure I'm on the record stating that, and he
and I have a conversation at some point. But I remember when you were communicating about Nike in response to their reaction to Kyrie, and your exact words was, since when does Nike care about ethics? Now, you've never been under Nike, like you said you were under Adidas. Things did work out, but you didn't hesitate to say what you said about them, for sure, Ay and b do you not see how that can alien a lot of businesses from wanting to do business.
Absolutely, you and your willingness to speak at.
I think the ones who haven't been in behavior ethically for sure. I think the ones who do, I think it actually would attract them. But as a major corporation who's huge, has a lot of under their umbrella that always hasn't maintained an ethical approach to, you know, the decision making that they have, especially on the behalf of their signee. So being able to.
To see that because like a lot.
Of the things you stand for are public, A lot of the things you represent our public, and the messaging that you put out is public. You know, they don't take nothing but a little better a bit of time to see what the company represents. And I think that is the part where I challenge them to do better.
All right, y'all listen up.
Do you know that the NFL playoffs are right around the and that we are smacked in the middle of the NBA season, So with all that major action going on, The Steve N. A. Smith Show wants to make sure you turn all your sports knowledge into some big time cash. And that's why we've partnered with Prize Picks. You see, Prize pects is a daily fantasy app where you pick two or more of your favorite players and then you select more or less on their projected stats for the game.
And get this. You can choose from any other sports.
You love to watch, basketball, football, hockey, even MMA, so you can pick a football player's rushing yards, a basketball players rebounds, and a fighter's total strikes.
The list is endlest and get this.
Prize Picks invented the flex play, which means you can still cash out if your lineup isn't perfect. You can double your money even if one of your picks doesn't hit. So make your picks in less than sixty seconds and turn your sports opinions into real money all season long with Prize Picks.
Download the app today and use.
The code that says to get fifty dollars instantly after you play your first five dollars lineup Again, download the app and use the code I say yes to get fifty dollars instantly after your first five dollar lineup.
Prospects, run your game.
Let me transition from cde Lamb to your quarterback, and I'm going to be very delicate with what I'm asking because we all know what's going on with Dak Prescott, and there are things I'm smart enough to know that while a negotiation has taking place. You understand we're saying only a fool talks about their own negotiations while their negotiations are taking place.
I would know that from personal experience right now.
But I have to ask you, when you talk about looking ahead and looking to the future, how much of that thought process is applicable to your quarterback? Considering what the quarterback market has dictated with everybody from Trevor Lawrence to Joe Burrow to Jordan Love, the list goes on and on, how much does that factor into your thinking knowing what the market says it is about the most important position in football, which is the quarterback.
Say, well, I'll tell you this. You've nailed it with your question and the ground that you have to cover again, Dak is a long term decision for the Dallas Cowboys. I think Dak one of his unique things is that he's going to be able to his makeup what he is, his skill levels, what he is as a person, and a quarterback will age well. As you look at quarterback age and viability I think it will age well as he moves into the next five or ten years of his life. I think he's the kind of quarterback that
gets better and better. That we certainly know that time, oh father time, that it makes a big difference as we get older. But quarterback is a place that that experience can manifest itself and wins. Also the hard times, the mistakes that have been made, if you've got to ride kind of makeup, that's a plus. You need rewarded for having gone through that, because you not Steven A I'm pointing to, I'm talking about Dak Prescott. You know how to use a hard time and turn it into
an asset. He does that.
It's one of his qualities.
What so evidence is there of that, though, Jerry, Because I'm thinking about postseason, I know that he's been absolutely phenomenal in the regular season. He wins in September, October, November, the month of December, I think his record is like twenty one and eight, but then January comes the record is four and eight.
And last time I checked, when you started here thirty six years ago, it.
Didn't take you long to get a first ring, then a second ring, and then the third Ring inside of four years, and the Dallas Cowboys were loaded with a level.
Of success that we still reveals it this very day. At what point, wait, do you look.
At your quarterback and say, when you're gonna give it to me in January?
You're so good, You're so good.
No, I mean it, and I appreciate it because you literally have gone through the steps of thinking that I've evolved, not just over the last week's months, but over the years. There is a case where you have to think that something's gonna happen that hasn't happened yet, Otherwise you're sitting right there with everybody else having measured the experience. In that case, I look at his basic great qualities and
then I fundamentally see someone that is getting better. I think he got better with Mike with a coaching him directly as his offensive coordinator. I think he has improved since the day that he got here. If you really want to look at it.
So you think he was better last year with Mike McCarthy as both the head coach and the play call it than he was when Kellen.
Moore was he as the offensive coordinator.
Well, without diminishing our demeanion Kellen. He was definitely better last year. Definitely and by the way, room to get better, room to grow. I think that's a fact. The other thing is that he's got last year in his heart and in his framework of reference. He's got that and the disappointments that went with it, some of the positive that went with it. He's got that to use this year. Physically, Yes,
I think he's getting better. I do want to recognize though, that as you get older then some of that is diminished. This is a position, though, that that long term experience can really pay off for you. Now here's the way that I look at it completely is that when you look at what he brings to the table as opposed to the alternative, the alternative is not a one year
attorney alternative. It's a several year alternative. So when you look at the prospects of the likelihood of him over the next five years knocking on that door, I like those odds, and that to me is where you go you pull the trigger on it. Now, it's very important that we have a way to reconcile this with Dak because we've had the benefit of a lot of supporting cast with Dak over the last five, six, seven years.
Yes, would you give us that? Yes, I would in a heartbeat.
Okay, So we've had a lot of supporting cast. There's no question that with Dak having been very well paid over the last four or five.
Years, one hundred and fifty seven point four million dollars over the last four years.
Over the last four that's right. There's no question that I got some of that off my credit card. Okay, Now, wheres I spent some money that I didn't have very common in the NFL, matter of fact.
In common with you, because that's what you did when you first bought the cap.
Well, it is, it very much is.
But you have certainly I'd like to say I did then too, But I had a passion that I wanted to get involved that I scratched then that I'm not scratching that passion as much right now. I'm trying to be real practical at least in this explanation to you. But the facts are that not only have we had great supporting cast around Dak, we have also spunked some of the money that we've got to spend on Dak in the future that went in on his last contracts.
That's the way the cap works, and that's usually when you have a high priced quarterback, what you do. So we have the challenge of not only recouping what we have spent on him over the last four years, we've got to add that to what we're going to be
paying him for the future. Now that's not Dak's problem only in that it's the Dallas Cowboys problem because that money is not going to be there to spend on supporting cast and so we've got to ask ourselves, can we have the kind of success that Dak deserves, We deserve, his teammates deserve, our fans deserve. Can we do that and get in the range to afford Dak? I think we can.
Dallas winks forward saw to so believe.
She's spoke in the postgame press conference about the struggle of seeing their home arena packed with Clark jerseys. Here's what Sabele had to say. Listen to this quote. Obviously it's annoying because there were way too many Caitland fans in our arena, but kudos. I feel like our Dallas fans could have done better. I had mixed feelings seeing all the Caitland jerseys in our home but it's an amazing sign for women's basketball.
See, I have no problem with that, Nancy. That's perfectly fine.
And then Chicago Sky's Andrew Reese is also doing her thing, talk about her record setting her record.
Setting season of record setting rookie year as well.
I mean, I want you to comment about so I belief first, and you heard what she had to say. I had no problem with her quote because she's acknowledging and appreciating Caitland Clark, but in the same breath saying she wished their fans had better supported them. Well, maybe you gotta win more, and maybe they will. But I still don't have a problem with her quote.
What about you?
Well, first, let me just say this, thank you for bringing that up and reading the quote. Satu is a very very close friend of mine. I have been on the court practicing with her and Enrique in the off season. These are two of the most unbelievable, intelligent, hardworking players. She was first team All WNBA last year, played for Germany and the Olympics in Paris. And she's just telling the truth. She's saying, Man, this is amazing, what's happening. This is what I get from her, having known her
and saying we want this. You know, I'm a great player. A Rique is unstoppable. As you saw Natasha. You know Howard is one of those great veteran players. Okay, now you saw this. Now, Dallas Wings fans, we want you in the seats with our jerseys. And it's a communication. You know, communication is three sixty. You say something to your fans and hopefully your fans respond. Dallas Wings fans are amazing and they will respond and they will show
up and show out. And I applaud sought to for saying, look, I get it, but now I want it, and why shouldn't we want it in our own home arena? And that's just great communication. And that's why I love and admire her.
Indiana is outdrawing every other team by thirty five percent at home and thirty six percent on the road. Chicago's Andrew Reese is second in the WNBA.
Obviously, Angel reached. The Chicago Scott.
Team is second in the WNBA with an average road attendance of ten thousand, nine hundred and twenty nine.
That's once that the other is.
As of one week ago, twenty WNBA telecast is average.
One million viewers.
Shattering the previous record of fifteen for a season. Caitlyn Clark was featured in seventeen of those twenty televised games. That's an impact. I know for a fact the Rookie Year of the Year race is over. Caitlyn Clark is gonna win that. But what do you have to say about Adrew Reese and what she's meant to the w NBA game thus far this year as a rookie.
Well, I've watched Ada Reese at LSU. I mean, she she's a problem. This woman has just she just broke the record. She has a motor like I have not seen before. And I know a lot of people, well you know she's getting you know, her own rebounds. I mean, cut it out. Okay, She's not the biggest.
Player on the court.
She's not the fastest player on the court. She's tenacious. She is doing her job and as she gains more experience in the league, and she was working on her three point shot, and you know in her off season, she's going to just continue to explode, get bigger, better, even more greater than she is right now. And I think people need to leave her alone and just appreciate her for who she is and how she has played
this game. And just because somebody has a quiet position and somebody has a little bit more flair in their disposition doesn't make anybody wrong. I enjoy watching her. I love that she's being coached right now by Teresa Weatherspoon. I mean, Spoon was pounding her chest right in the garden with the liberty. You saw that for many many years when he hit the half court shot, you know against Houston, you know, to push it to a game five.
I believe it's okay to have personality, and she has personality. Plus she's gorgeous, she looks like a model. She just defies everything you want to say about her. So I think people again should stop put you know, pigeonholing. People just wake up happy. Just for all the new fans, just love this game. For the older fans that have been waiting for this, just say thank you.
This is what we've been waiting for.
Packed houses. We've been waiting for Steven A to have us on our show and talk about us on the regular. We've been waiting for the media to recognize that we are skilled and people do want to see us and how you push for us and thank you to all the men out there that every job I've ever had, I've been hired by a man. So thank you to stephen A for you know, caring so much in controversial and quite frankly in non controversial moments. I've known you forever.
You've always been there. You've never held anybody back. All you do is lift people up. Do we need that? By the way, We're not there yet, but we need that. So thank you.
Thank you so much, Nancy. I really appreciate you and I love you to death. Very last question, Patrick Bett, David steven A.
Smith.
People like us that have our platforms available to us, that reach millions of people, what can we do moving forward to assist in helping them make the world a better place?
Man, I think you're doing it. And it's not easy, right because everybody has their own selfish reasons why we vote or we do what we do.
Okay.
I used to look at everybody and I would give them a score, and I would give myself a score, and I would wonder what's the right place to be? And I wrote about it in my latest book, Choose Your Enemies Wisely, the selfish index. So what is a selfish index is.
By the way, your first two books, your next five modes, Master of the Art of Business Strategy twenty twenty one and Choose your Enemies Wisely. Business Planning for the Audacious Few just came out last year, So this is a therap books talking.
No, no, this is the one you're talking about, Okay. In that book.
When I would talk to my sales leaders sometime I sales like to kind of give this example that it makes sense. So one guy's like, I want to build a big agency and I want to do ten million yere. I'm like, brother, every lead you ever get, you only want to keep it to yourself. You're selfish, But guess what, you're still a closer, So you're a ninety ten leader. Ninety percent of all the decisions you make is about you. Then I had guys that every lead they ever got,
they would give it to everybody. And that guy's what. That guy's a ten percent selfish, ninety percent selfless, and he didn't set a good example because you have to be hungry to go compete, right. So then eventually I the more and more I looked at everybody on who did well and who didn't do well. The more selfish leaders. Sixty five percent always did better because that bigger goals that were pursuing, but they had a balance of being selfish and selfless. Right in this position, you get paid,
I get paid. There's money on the line. Everybody knows what's going on with where you're at right now with contracts. We all read about it. You know, there's a lot of money on the table for you've been busting your tail to get the pay day. It's being able to openly speak and willing to have the debate with opposition and given them the platform and let the audience think
for themselves. When you did your first two episodes, when you did your podcast and you had Cuomo and Bill O'Reilly would have Hannity Hannity and then.
Cuomo right yes, and I'm like freaking love it. What seriously?
Yeah, that's good. That's good because now I get to sit there and say, like, right now, watching your camera guys. Right, most of these guys are from New York. They probably don't agree with me politically. They're probably like the strip sitting here right now. I just look at his face, how read it is. There's no way in the world I agree with Pati I look at his face. Got ready.
That guy doesn't like me, right. But the fact that you're putting this conversation out there and they're going to have the conversation when they get in their uber and they leave and they say, f the sky, they're already texting each other. Look at this, right, they're communicating. I've been around the block. I freaking love it. The fact that that thought is in their minds for them to talk shit to me and debate. We're making progress. I'm
very calm, pfortable with that. And you're doing that right now. You got a lot of people that hate you when you say stuff.
How could you say what you said about Biden? How could you take a position like that? Why would you ever say something like this? And guess what, let the discussion begin. I'm in the business of making an appointment for the conversation, not in the business being right. I think you're doing that, and that's why I call you to.
Go, my man.
What a non and privilege to talk to you, my brother. I appreciate it, my man, one lonely Patrick bed David. It was beautiful. We'll talk against it.
I look forward to.
As a matter of fact, I'm quite sure you'll be cold several weeks.
That's it for the stephen A. Smith yoll, y'all, Talk to y'all next time. Later