The Hilltop Glove Podcast | Kil Ripkin

[00:00:00] Ta-Myia: Hey everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hilltop Glove Podcast. Today we have the pleasure of speaking with Kill Ripkin. Yes. A native of Coney Island Kill is a Charlotte based mc. Over 20 years in the underground hip hop scene, kill music, and a creative expression is heavily influenced by his spirituality.

[00:00:20] Ta-Myia: He's a member of the Moore Science Temple and his most recent project, self-Medicate Volume One, was released in July, 2022, and he has features from artists such as Toray Sky Zoo, Ayo, and Ji. kill is also a high school basketball coach in South Charlotte, and his homeschool And, um, is dedicated husband and father. How are you today? Doing well. Doing well. Nice to finally meet you in person. Same here. 

[00:00:48] Kil Ripkin: Peace to everybody. Peace. Peace 

[00:00:49] Ta-Myia: and blessings. Yes. Yes. Thank you, uh, for our time schedule. Sorry about that. It's all good. It's all good. Yeah, we're happy to have you indeed. but could you give us a little bit of background about your experience and, um, tell [00:01:00] us about yourself, man.

[00:01:01] Ta-Myia: Who influenced you and what influenced you growing up musically? 

[00:01:04] Kil Ripkin: Both 

[00:01:05] Ta-Myia: Wow, musically, spiritually, physically. Financially. Yeah. Days, whatever you die. But 

[00:01:10] Kil Ripkin: yeah. I mean, um, I'm like, I, I was like anybody else growing up in New York, hip hop caught me early and I was influenced, you know, heavily by hip hop, you know, the way I dress, speak, uh, the way I moved around in the street, everything was hip hop.

[00:01:25] Kil Ripkin: And, uh, when I realized that I can be a part of that, You know, I was one of the first ones in my neighborhood with like a drum machine, so I was like the go-to guy. I actually started off as a producer. Okay. But I always wrote, I was always a mc, but like, uh, I think I cut my name as a producer. I went under the name of, of Storm Killer Storm at the time.

[00:01:46] Kil Ripkin: Hey. So a lot of my early production was from, you know, under that name. Okay. And then I, you know, gradually worked my way back up into mcn. But influence wise, I would just say hip hop man. I mean, you know, obviously the, the Staples, [00:02:00] Rakim, slick Rick. Mm-hmm. Run dmc, you know, I'm from that era. Mm-hmm. Um, what, what we call the Golden era.

[00:02:07] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. And so, uh, the Golden Age, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. So I was just influenced by just everything hip hop came with, and here we are. Who 

[00:02:16] Ta-Myia: was your favorite or top five or something 

[00:02:18] Kil Ripkin: I need? Oh, that top five question. Definitely Rakim Slick Rick. KRS One. Notorious b i G. Yep. man, musically, I'm, I'm eclectic.

[00:02:28] Kil Ripkin: Okay. I like all music, literally. Okay. I, I listen to everything. Um, as a producer, as a music lover, um, I listen to everything. So I can say J Felony from the West coast. He's one of my favorites. You know what I mean? Yeah. I have, I have several top fives, but my hall of fame is, you know, Rakim Slick Rick.

[00:02:48] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. B i g I would say KRS One and. Who else I could throw Ice Cube. I like Ice Cube, dope call. If I go out to the West, I would say, yeah, dope Call 

[00:02:57] DJ And?: is the one. I mean, he came over here to the east and got that [00:03:00] bomb squad production 

[00:03:01] Kil Ripkin: and it, and it worked. Yeah, it did. It worked well. Worked. You know. But, um, yeah, people influenced me, you know, people just, just observing and, you know, Virgos, right?

[00:03:10] Kil Ripkin: So we observe and 

[00:03:12] DJ And?: Virgo Strong in the episode. 

[00:03:14] Kil Ripkin: We hit them strong. We, we listen before we speak. Mm-hmm. You know, that's what shaped me. That's what nurtured me throughout the game, you know what I'm saying? And, and made kill Ripkin, so to speak. Understand. Started. 

[00:03:25] DJ And?: Okay. Go ahead. That's, I ask this real quick before we jump mm-hmm.

[00:03:28] DJ And?: Production wise. Yes. Who, who influenced you production wise. Wow. So, because we don't 

[00:03:32] Kil Ripkin: get to ask this question. That's a good question. So, production wise, when I realized that I was producing, like, yeah. You know, it was a thing. Yeah. Mm-hmm. That's a good question. I, I would have to say, Because you can 

[00:03:44] DJ And?: go anywhere.

[00:03:44] DJ And?: You could say Quincy Jones, you say Chuck Mangione. You could jump around. It's production's different 

[00:03:49] Kil Ripkin: than for production wise. That's a good question, man. I mean, I would have to really think hard, but if I say hip hop, if we just take hip hop, yeah, that's fine. I would say Pete Rock [00:04:00] Primo was the first two that really was like, even before them, I would say large professor.

[00:04:04] Kil Ripkin: Oh, the sound or the technique? The sound. Got you. Okay. I wasn't really a technique person. I'm more of a sound, so like, you know. I would do all of the programming, but I wasn't into the engineering part. Okay. You know? Gotcha. You know what I mean? Yeah. Where a lot of producers are. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I would go to, you know, that's how I develop relationships with a lot of engineers throughout, ah, you know, like Don New Kirk Radius, people like that who's been in the game for years.

[00:04:28] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. And I watch the engineering part from them, but I'm more sound like I can go to a keyboard and play out what I hear. You know? Okay. But I'm not a keyboard player. Right. You know what I mean? So I'm more sound guy like that. Got you. So, but how I, you gonna have me thinking about that question? Like Yeah.

[00:04:42] Kil Ripkin: Cause we never get to ask that. Yeah. Course spectrum, you know, production. Like, you just have one producer on like, the Soul, soul brothers that Yeah, exactly. You know? Exactly. They were dope. Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? You're talking about production teams. Mm-hmm. Hank Shockley and The Bomb Squad. Yeah.

[00:04:56] Kil Ripkin: You know what I mean? Can't make Yeah. You know, if you like Ice Cube, you gotta, you [00:05:00] gotta like that, you gotta love that production. They were ahead of their time. Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? So, Yeah, I would say, uh, them, but I'm gonna give that some, some thorough thought. 

[00:05:08] Skip: So now my question now is this, cuz you know, this whole time I've known you, I didn't know you were, I didn't know you'd 

[00:05:12] Kil Ripkin: started out in production.

[00:05:13] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. So I, you know, I started off, like I said, producing locally. Right. Okay. And then, uh, I was fortunate that somebody from the neighborhood brought me tore at a young age, right. Oh. And so I started producing Tore First. And those that don't know Tore, he's a recording artist. Mm-hmm. He's, uh, works for, uh, what do you call it?

[00:05:35] Kil Ripkin: rock the BE'S Radio. Mm-hmm. Yep. Mm-hmm. He's the head of the New York Chap chapter for the Grammy Awards. Like he's an actor, you know, and so that's my little brother, we have a relationship beyond music. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And, uh, I started off as like his producer, mentor, and we grew into a brotherhood and just, you know, here we are.

[00:05:54] Kil Ripkin: Dope. You know what I mean? So I started off producing myself first and foremost. And then when I started branching [00:06:00] off, it was guys like him. You know, I had guys like NIMS in my neighborhood. Oh wow. You know, a lot of local guys that you know, but tho those are the two names from Coney Island that people recognize the most.

[00:06:10] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I've been around all of those dudes in the studio and, but me and Tore, you know, we had a group called the Coalescence in New York. We were like underground, probably one of the dopest underground groups at that time. Yeah. And, uh, then we went our ways, not me and him, so to speak.

[00:06:26] Kil Ripkin: We had two other members with us and it was some, you know, but, uh, yeah, it's playing production wise. Yeah. I, I cut my teeth first. Production wise, but everyone knew I could run. Yeah. That's how I know you. I've listening to your music. But in, in, in the midst of all of that, I was still a, a big, big sports head.

[00:06:43] Kil Ripkin: So I'm a basketball coach, but I'm really a football guy. I played eight years semi-pro. Yo. You be 

[00:06:51] DJ And?: having five 

[00:06:52] Kil Ripkin: know the most interesting man in the, the world. Yeah. Yeah. Football is my heart. You know what position? Quarterback played? [00:07:00] Quarterback. Oh wow. Yeah. Not a running quarterback either. So you were 

[00:07:03] DJ And?: thinking quarter, 

[00:07:04] Kil Ripkin: you sat in that pocket.

[00:07:05] Kil Ripkin: Me and my son, we have this. I hope he knows it's a joke, but Okay. I have an issue. I don't have an issue. I do, I have an issue. Yeah. There you go. I have an issue with the way black quarterbacks play today. Like they always want us to run first. Yeah. Which is why I have a running back. Right? Yeah. So when I'm teaching kids, I'm teaching them the aspect, the true aspect of quarterbacking reading the defense.

[00:07:26] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. It's other things that go with it than just running. Yeah. And so we, yeah. We get the accolades from running around, but I'm, I'm old school, you know? Yeah. If he could do it, you know, the wv I could do it. You know what I mean? Yeah. Command the field. So I got into basketball cause my son, he transitioned into basketball maybe about four or five years ago.

[00:07:44] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. Yep. And, I know the sport. I know the sport. I know the game. You're from New York. Come on. How you not No. Basketball. So, exactly. I mean, I went to Abraham Lincoln, so I grew up Wow. With Stephan Marbury, Sebastian Tel, Lance Stevenson. Those are all my little brothers. You know what I mean? Oh, cool. I grew up with all those dudes.

[00:07:59] Kil Ripkin: Lord, [00:08:00] I'm a sports head. You a legend. Basically. That's how I'm a sports fanatic. Autographic. Yeah. Get an autograph.

[00:08:06] Kil Ripkin: I'm the big brother, brother. I'm the big brother to, to a lot. I'm the, to a lot of, um, You know, I welcome that. You know, cause I, I had those Yeah. You can't do it without it. I realize that is important. Yes. Which is why I circled back to the youth. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You know, I mean, which I'm sure we we'll touch on that too.

[00:08:21] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. So I'm, I'm a football head who's coaching basketball now. So when people be like, like I called my boy yesterday, he's in the hospital. So I went to, you know, call and check on him. Mm-hmm. And I was like, yo, I gotta just wanted to hit you early cuz I got a game later tonight. He was like a game.

[00:08:34] Kil Ripkin: He thought I was still playing. I'm like, no. I told you I was coaching, you know, in ba in basketball season, I'm, I'm kill Jackson and in football season I'm, I'm killed Belichick. You know what I'm saying? So, but people are shocked that I'm into basketball cuz I breathe, eat football. Football. Yeah. Not as much as I used to.

[00:08:52] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. You know, I've kind of outgrown the fandom and the fanatic part of it. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like. I'm a cowboy fan, and, uh, [00:09:00] dang. I ask you, I'm not say that press got, so, you know, back in the day, I would tear my mom house up if we lost, you know what I mean? Dang. I was one of those fans, and then when I went out on my own, I would tear my own up.

[00:09:09] Kil Ripkin: But I started realizing that it's bigger than the game. Yeah, yeah. And I'm like, I can't control what they do on the, on the field. So I, this is like, started curbing my enthusiasm a little bit. Yeah. You know what I mean? Not, not as, uh, you know, cause I'm not out there throwing tackling, especially as a former player, you think.

[00:09:25] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. It took a while for it to hit me like that. You know, I'm not controlling it. You're a fan. You caught up in it. Mm-hmm. The, the, the, the, uh, paraphernalia, you know mm-hmm. The team spirit, all that stuff. You caught up in it. Yeah. Energy and everything. So now I'm just learning, you know, my family's like, wait a minute, the Cowboys just lost you all right?

[00:09:42] Kil Ripkin: Yeah, I'm good. Fine. Yeah. And I really am where it's like, 10, 15 years ago, it was like, it wouldn't be okay. Yeah. We lost on Sunday. Don't call me till Wednesday. Yes. I was one of those guys. Yeah. You know what I mean? So 

[00:09:53] Ta-Myia: as a coach, I'm still learning that now. Uh, like, you know, you wanna be on the field with them playing, teaching them, but you [00:10:00] can't, so it's like you just gotta hold your composure.

[00:10:02] Ta-Myia: You can't take it out on them either. That's right. So it's just all a learning experience. It's 

[00:10:06] Kil Ripkin: everything is a learning experience. Yeah. Did 

[00:10:07] DJ And?: you see that one coach, the sister lady that 

[00:10:09] Kil Ripkin: went out there and was playing with? Yeah, I was just telling somebody she was white. She was 

[00:10:12] DJ And?: throwing shots and everything.

[00:10:13] DJ And?: She's like 20 I 

[00:10:14] Ta-Myia: five news. Yeah. I was like that. That's something I would do, but I, you know, can't do that. Your 

[00:10:19] Kil Ripkin: team 

[00:10:20] DJ And?: needs that. 

[00:10:21] Kil Ripkin: They need you on the court. I remember when I was, uh, you know, last year, last year high school. Yeah. You know, the, it's over senior year. Senior year. And I was like, man, I wonder if I could come back one more year.

[00:10:31] Kil Ripkin: One just, just one last ride you, you know, one chance out. And I, I, I played a little bit of, um, well I went to college to play ball, but that didn't work out and that's what led me to Semipro, semipro, you know what I mean? So, And I had a pretty good semi-pro career. It had to 

[00:10:45] DJ And?: be fun to still be able to get to play.

[00:10:47] DJ And?: It was travel 

[00:10:48] Kil Ripkin: still. Yeah. You know, make a little bit of money. Yeah. You know, and it was an experience. Everything is an experience. Mm-hmm. And you learned from it. I learned from it. Good. You know what I mean? And even if I'm wrong, I'm not the type that'd be like, no, listen, I learned from [00:11:00] the good, just as well as the back.

[00:11:01] Kil Ripkin: Good, good. 

[00:11:02] DJ And?: That's something. 

[00:11:03] Ta-Myia: So that goes into our next question about creativity and spirituality. Mm-hmm. So, creativity and spirituality are often intertwined in many ways. creativity gives you a way to express your innermost thoughts and beliefs, but spirituality can help you find deeper meaning and purpose in your life and others' lives.

[00:11:20] Ta-Myia: Right. So, if possible, could you share with us how you developed your spirituality and what influenced you? 

[00:11:26] Kil Ripkin: Cool. That's a dope question because, you know, like everyone, well not everyone, but mostly everyone from my neighborhood that started off in hip hop. We went through the thug school. Mm-hmm. You know what I mean?

[00:11:38] Kil Ripkin: And, uh, so it was no spirituality. It was like, but as a young kid growing up, I always knew something was different. So I always knew I was spiritual. Yeah. Just didn't know it was called spirituality. Right. But I, I, I wasn't a follower and I wasn't like, you know, one of those guys that would see you doing something and do it.

[00:11:55] Kil Ripkin: I, if I did it, it's cuz I wanted to. Mm-hmm. it wasn't until I linked up with, a couple of [00:12:00] brothers from my neighborhood, rebel X and Mighty Real, they were part of, the bootcamp CL camp. Yeah. And they were real, Kenyata or Buckshot. Yeah. Uh, he grew up in Coney Island with us also before he moved to Franklin Avenue. Yeah, somewhere in that area. And, uh, so those guys were heavy, heavily influenced. By the bootcamp camp click and things of that nature. So these two individuals I were producing for, yeah. And they was speaking a whole other language. They was talking stuff I never heard before outside of probably Rakim.

[00:12:30] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Maybe Ks one, you know, but at the time we're looking at them as something different. Yeah. Something we can't touch, something we can't like rock him and Car one they way beyond me. Right. Yeah. So these were brothers that I could relate to and they looked like me and they were from the same building, same block language.

[00:12:47] Kil Ripkin: I'm like, wait a minute, but they, they don't sound like me. Right. Yeah. And these were over my beats. So I kind of fell in love with that. And then it led me to, uh, long Island. I lived in Amityville for two years. I was fortunate to live in Amityville [00:13:00] for two years cuz I developed strong relationships out there with.

[00:13:03] Kil Ripkin: Really great brothers, right? And these brothers were recording artists. They actually, um, worked with Prince Paul at the time. They were working on Prince Among Thieves. I don't know if you familiar with that album. So pretty much all of those brothers on the album are my brothers, right? And so they invited me to a session at Don Newkirk's house and they was like, yeah, we got a studio you can come through.

[00:13:24] Kil Ripkin: Woo. And so I met Don, and when I met Don, he was already into the science and law and Cultism and things like that. He introduced me to a sister, a sister, sister Myel, who passed on. Um, she was heavily into spirituality, into law, into things that ne I never experienced in school or just in the neighborhood.

[00:13:46] Kil Ripkin: Right. And she was friends with people like Bobby Hett and Phil Valentine. Shut the front door. Shut the front door. He's talking my length. So I was fortunate enough, like I'm great friends with Bobby Hemtt. I was fortunate enough to be in rooms with Phil Valentine and [00:14:00] Wow. Uh, c Freeman l set up. So that's, this is what led me into the science, you know, so when I realized, you know, every, everyone grew up with Public Enemy, right?

[00:14:08] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. And we was fighting the power. And, you know, I'm from Brooklyn, but I, I just thought it was something beyond me. Yeah. And the people around me, they wasn't on it like that. They were street dudes, you know what I mean? So it wasn't until, and I mean, My resume is so crazy. I don't really write a, it's hard to remember a lot of this stuff.

[00:14:25] Kil Ripkin: Like my relationship with 40 acres and the Mule Spike Lee's assistants, those were my best friends. Right. Wow. Yeah. The way you're talking. So I was, 

[00:14:31] DJ And?: this was like normal names 

[00:14:32] Kil Ripkin: to Yeah. Was able, I was able to be fortunate enough to be in certain situations around certain people where I can develop certain relationships.

[00:14:40] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. Where I could connect people. Mm-hmm. Gotcha. You know, so spiritually, I realized after Public Enemy, the gangster rap thing came in. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And so everybody totally went dark. Right, right, right. Mm-hmm. It wasn't until Dead Preez came back out or Dead Press came out where I was like, wait a minute, we could still rap like this.

[00:14:58] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. Cause it was in me. Mm-hmm. [00:15:00] And so then I just took what I was learning spiritually and everything else and had stick in one and influenced me that, oh, we can say this on record again. Cuz after Public Enemy, no one was really doing that. Basically. No. Right. Yeah. So Dead Preez showed me we could do it.

[00:15:16] Kil Ripkin: So I joined. It wasn't necessarily be because of them, but because they were part of Impeded on and hoo the ulu movement. I joined cuz I was very active in my, my community, like after the police and mm-hmm. You know, I was, this was around the time of the 

[00:15:32] Kil Ripkin: sean Bell incident, one of my best friends, his cousin was, the Howard Beach incident. What's his name? Oh my God. Uh uh, um, um, forgive me, rash. I know, I know the name. Forgive me brother. But, uh, all of this stuff, it'll come back to me. Mm-hmm. All of this stuff influenced me spiritually to like, oh, cuz I, you know, Virgos too, right?

[00:15:51] Kil Ripkin: We're shy to an extent, right? Mm-hmm. I'm not gonna go on the corner and be like, get on her soapbox. I, that's, that's just not me. Yeah. But I felt, I found [00:16:00] that I can go behind this mic and still be heard and seen. Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? So that's, that's, I just took all of my experiences. I'm from the era of 12, 14 hour lectures.

[00:16:11] Kil Ripkin: This is, we, we, we, we would sit in front of Bobby and just, you know what I mean? Just absorb it all up. You know, all of these great teachers, are you familiar with our Sierra? All of them. That's my brother. We work together. Stop you messing with me right now. Yeah. This is a lot people, when he comes to Charlotte, he stays at my home.

[00:16:29] Kil Ripkin: Stop. 

[00:16:30] DJ And?: Yeah. And my man can give you 

[00:16:31] Kil Ripkin: great readings. Yeah. You gotta get a reading. Look this, like, you know, shout out to uss, you know, the whole salt in it, you know, that is crazy. But, um, yeah, so I just been, I, I hate lucky. Yeah. Fortunate. You know what I mean? Fortunate, I've been fortunate to be around really great people, you know, and then, you know, they look at me in the same way, in the same light where, you know, Virgos, we, we really humble.

[00:16:53] Kil Ripkin: We don't. We like to give it. We don't like to like, no, you ain't lying. Hey, you're the greatest. You're the greatest. Yeah. We know we are. Yeah. We just don't want you all to [00:17:00] say it all. The ac. Ac, 

[00:17:01] Ta-Myia: oh, accolades. Accolades. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:17:03] Kil Ripkin: So I've just been really fortunate, man. Then, you know, through job that people like Kev and mm-hmm.

[00:17:07] Kil Ripkin: It just keeps growing, right? Mm-hmm. When you have good energy and good energy follow you. Yeah. It's the same way. If you have that energy that'll follow you speak. So here we are, 

[00:17:15] DJ And?: man. Right? All right. I gotta ask. Okay. So darn it. All right. I didn't know I was gonna get here like this. All right. So I with, with the knowledge that you have.

[00:17:26] DJ And?: Mm-hmm. And understanding, so cuz you're talking to Colt, et cetera. Mm-hmm. You probably know, brother Panic. Oh, 

[00:17:32] Kil Ripkin: that's another good friend of mine's. When, when go to Georgia, brother, , I'm at his crib. Dope. We're actually in talks of doing the album together. I keep post cause I know he 

[00:17:39] DJ And?: said he was gonna start back 

[00:17:40] Kil Ripkin: doing Oh, he he started back already?

[00:17:42] Kil Ripkin: Yeah, he's, he's, so I keep you posted on that. Please do shout out the brother Panic man. The information. 

[00:17:48] DJ And?: Yeah. But just from, because my, uncle Ronnie, this is a big thing. This is how I got into that whole understanding cuz he used to have the VHS tapes. Yeah, man. And I would try to sneak in there with my dad and be listening, getting them [00:18:00] downloads and getting the information.

[00:18:01] DJ And?: So getting download from a young age. Yes sir. My mind was not where everybody else's mind. I had no fear of certain things. That's why I was talking about I ain't had three of them little dolls. That's right. Because I ain't got no problems with energies. That's like, I didn't know what it is. Like, you know how to, I know how to speak to 'em.

[00:18:14] DJ And?: I know how it's supposed to go. You can manipulate 'em, how to say it. Yeah. I know how to set up an altar, sir. I how to pray to it, et cetera. Yes, sir. I know about my, my, my, my water and my glass. My had know all this stuff, right? Yes, sir. Absolutely. And I'm wondering with that knowledge, how do you move, how are you, how do you move so seamlessly through this, through this world?

[00:18:33] DJ And?: Because you've had experiences, you've been around other people, and I'm telling you, from watching Kevin talking to me, I didn't put two and two together that that's who you were. Mm-hmm. You know what I'm saying? I didn't come in here with that 

[00:18:41] Kil Ripkin: knowledge. Right. Well, that's the answer to your question. I, I, I try to remain anonymous.

[00:18:45] Kil Ripkin: Ah, I really do. I try to remain behind the scenes mm-hmm. And come out only when I'm called to, you know, dope. you know, that I feel that's the definition of duty. Well, soldier don't fight wars all the time. He only fight when he's called to. Alright. True front line. You [00:19:00] ain't always in the front you.

[00:19:01] Kil Ripkin: Exactly. So, you know, I'm a very private person. I love my home. I love to be at home. Mm-hmm. I think that's my haven. I'm safe there. Mm-hmm. For the most part. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Good points. And I, I just, I love my privacy. I love that. You know, in, in the, um, in the conscious community, they call it the mythos, right?

[00:19:19] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. So I'm constantly working on my mythos. Mm-hmm. So that when my story's told 50 years from now, it's truly that. Yeah. You know, I'm, we're all superheroes. It's just a matter of how you writing that out. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. So I think that's, for me to answer that question. I just, I try to remain anonymous.

[00:19:36] Kil Ripkin: I don't try to be out front all the time and like, oh, look who I know and look what I've done. Mm-hmm. And look who I am and how good my albums are, whatever. I don't try to do that. I just try to stays steady with who I am. Mm-hmm. And the rest take care of itself. 

[00:19:50] DJ And?: And how do you also manage. Existent and the reality mm-hmm.

[00:19:56] DJ And?: With knowledge of the actual existence. Mm-hmm. Do [00:20:00] you, because look, this is what I like when you said this, because I'm, I, this is what I deal with. This is what I deal all the time. Mm-hmm. I'm a sports head. Yeah. I know. Ain't all 

[00:20:09] Kil Ripkin: real. It ain't real. Yeah. 

[00:20:10] DJ And?: That's what, 

[00:20:11] Kil Ripkin: ain't that 

[00:20:12] Ta-Myia: that what I said, that's why I 

[00:20:13] Kil Ripkin: don't be watching.

[00:20:14] Kil Ripkin: That has per my enthusiasm, right? Mm-hmm. But I work around youth, so I don't wanna shatter their dreams. Right. Dreams. Yeah. They think it is too. Right? Yeah. So, you know, then I come to understand too, right? The players, for the most part, they're playing the game. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. It's the referees. Mm-hmm.

[00:20:29] Kil Ripkin: And the powers that be around them that's controlling and manipulating the outcome of the game. Right. They necessarily don't have anything to do with it. Mm-hmm. Right, right. They just play actors, you know? So, um, it's, it that's a, that's a, that's a tough question to answer, right. Because we know we're not living in.

[00:20:46] Kil Ripkin: The realest times right now. Mm-hmm. But it's also the greatest time to be alive. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. If that makes sense, right? Mm-hmm. So we gotta learn to sift through. So it's more of, it's less of us, meaning light bodies, [00:21:00] conscious light minds. It's less of us than them. So the scale is tipped a little bit, and we just gotta find a way to, to maneuver around that, right?

[00:21:07] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. Now I have another brother that I can call possibly and build with. Mm-hmm. Yep. Exactly. Because we can't just keep throwing things off at the same people. Right. Gotta build. So now I get excited. Yeah. I didn't show it, but when you, when you show me, you knew who I was talking about. Yeah. Oh yeah.

[00:21:22] Kil Ripkin: That did something to me. Because a lot of people, a lot of our people don't know who our Sierra is. And I've be thinking about myself. A lot of people don't know who Bobby, him is. No. These are great, great individuals who have laid out the doctrine for us. Mm-hmm. To move into this new. Eon mm-hmm. This new energy mm-hmm.

[00:21:40] Kil Ripkin: That we, that's, I mean, this new nature. Mm-hmm. Right? Everything is, everything we're going through is, uh, led by nature. Mm-hmm. True. You know what I mean? True. Your nature. Your nature, your nature, my nature, we all have, but we all under the guise of the great mother nature, right? Mm-hmm. So we get winter, spring, summer, [00:22:00] fall, and we gotta adjust to each season, right.

[00:22:01] Kil Ripkin: Every time. Mm-hmm. That's what I do. Got you. That's a good way to put it. It's, it's that simple. It seems hard, right? Yeah. Because it's so much evil. It's so much discord. It's so much fakeness. Yeah. Yeah. I got, you know, I work with this, uh, I'm a program advisor for this, uh, Nonprofit organizations called Youth, youth Development Initiative, Y d I.

[00:22:22] Kil Ripkin: Right? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Today they had a graduation earlier this morning, so I went from there to here and I was supposed to go to the next one. Mm-hmm. I'm like the brother that was here before me. Right. Yeah. When you, when you and some people think, cuz you got a million things going on that you got, you know, you just, you got a million jobs.

[00:22:38] Kil Ripkin: No, it's just today I just had a lot to do. Today, tomorrow I don't plan on doing anything Balance. That's, that's the balance. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? But I brought up the youth to say in another group, I have like five young men, they got ankle bracelet, song. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. And their energy when they walk in the room reflects that.

[00:22:58] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. So, [00:23:00] you know, as an adult, as a man, as a light body, right? Mm-hmm. As someone who has knowledge, self and all those things. Mm-hmm. I gotta find a way to. Adjust that and put that in them. Like, yo, if not, why you come out the house with your hair like that? Yeah. Yeah. I had an uncle, he couldn't stay outta jail, but he was always fresh and he taught me how to be clean, you know?

[00:23:21] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. Clean. Yeah. Yeah. Don't even if I gotta go to a store, cross the street, put on your best. You never know who gonna see you. Mm-hmm. True. So I carry that with me. I, I raise my children like that. Mm-hmm. And when I'm talking to you, I'm like, pull up your pants, bro. Yeah. You might run into somebody that wanna sign you or give you a job or, you know what I mean?

[00:23:38] Kil Ripkin: Anything you never know. Yeah. But the energy even with all I know that their energy is hard for me to, it's not crazy get due to, because it's so heavy and dark and it's just me. Mm-hmm. 

[00:23:51] DJ And?: Mm-hmm. You don't have any other bodies or like minds with you, 

[00:23:54] Kil Ripkin: especially on the job, right?

[00:23:55] Kil Ripkin: Like, you know, I'm definitely outta the only you want. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I [00:24:00] mean? So I try to communicate with them Yeah. On a different level, you know? Yeah. no disrespect to any other religion. I don't, I don't call myself a religious person. Yeah. I call myself a spiritual person. Right?

[00:24:11] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. Mm-hmm. But when you say you're a spiritual person, people think that you're saying you're religious. Yeah. Well, you know. Mm-hmm. And I know spirit means breath. Yes. Holy breath. Right? Yes. The more we in tune with our breath, the more at peace we are always right. The more we can connect with beautiful people.

[00:24:25] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. But like, when you're angry or you anxious or you, you know, depression, your breathing is off. Right. That's, can it literally, I teach yoga. I teach yoga, you know, that dictates your spirit. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So when we talk about spirit and spirituality, we talking about the holy breath. Yeah. Yeah. And how we deal with certain, how we breathe out certain situations.

[00:24:43] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. You feel me? So it's hard, but I'm up for the challenge and I know I got. Like-minded people that's Yeah. Of course. Out here because it and ready to support. Yeah. One of the first things Bobby used to tell us when we were first learning is that this is a lonely [00:25:00] journey. Yeah, yeah. Spirituality. Yeah.

[00:25:02] Kil Ripkin: It is. Mm-hmm. Being, being conscious, being a good person. Mm-hmm. It's a lonely journey because outta every good, out of every one good person, there's 10 bad. Yeah. You know, probably 20 now, right? Oh, yeah. Now the numbers are different. Yeah. Because people actually think they're doing good out here. Yeah. And they're not.

[00:25:20] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. So that's another thing that we are up against that. You know what I mean? So, I just been fortunate, man. I, I, you know, I, I'm grateful. I'm thankful, you know what I mean? And man, I just keep building. I just keep building speak, speak with you for hours. Always ain brother. 

[00:25:36] DJ And?: I tell people I speak with myself for hours 

[00:25:37] Kil Ripkin: about this.

[00:25:38] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. Listen, I mean, that's, it's a lonely. Lonely journey. Mm-hmm. It really is. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's hard to find people that you can have this conversation with. Mm-hmm. We can have a mundane on the surface conversation. Right. But when you start to get deep Yep. You know how that rabbit hole is.

[00:25:53] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. Never 

[00:25:54] DJ And?: ending. It's endless. It's infinite. Yeah. And then for some folks it, it drives them away. It's like [00:26:00] ice. It's 

[00:26:00] Kil Ripkin: scary. Yeah. It's scary for some, right? Mm-hmm. You know, I used to be scared of the dark growing up. Yeah. But as you get into this, you realize I am 

[00:26:09] Ta-Myia: darkness and I You could be the light in any dark.

[00:26:11] DJ And?: Yeah. The darkness is actually not bad. It's comforting. Yeah. It's comforting. 

[00:26:15] Kil Ripkin: It's all about how you see light. I can't meditate. Mm-hmm. If it's not dark enough. Yeah. Yes. Right. 

[00:26:21] Ta-Myia: Yes. So I was just about to ask you about your spiritual practice. Mm-hmm. 

[00:26:25] Kil Ripkin: You know, like, what do you do? I saw, I, I, I'm not heavy into yoga, which I love.

[00:26:30] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. But I counted that with, Tai Chi. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I do meditation, I do guided meditations. Mm-hmm. Whereas, you know, I hear the affirmations in my ear. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, I, well, whatever we can do to keep building our light, I'm doing it. Yeah. I have altars. Yeah, I do, I do spirit work, you know.

[00:26:49] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. My team, I call it, you know, my squad, we call team spirit. Yeah. Team spirit. And we get it in. Yeah. You know, whatever you, whatever you heard Bobby and them doing or talking [00:27:00] about, we do doing it. You know what I mean? That's helpful. I do graveyard work. I get it. If I have to, I go, I get it in, you know, cause I'm not afraid of all of that.

[00:27:07] Kil Ripkin: Could you speak to 

[00:27:08] DJ And?: that just so our listeners can understand it? Cause they're gonna be going there. Like what are they talking about? Can you speak to the point? It's of doing the 

[00:27:13] Kil Ripkin: work. Doing the work. So yeah, we call it shadow work, right? Yep. The unseen work, right? Mm-hmm. So, you know, I've had a difficult year 22, 20 22 was a difficult year for me as far as loss.

[00:27:24] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. Okay. I haven't lost anybody close to me since I was maybe 20. My grandmother, right? Mm-hmm. And back then I was young and angry. Yeah. So when she passed, I was more angry than mourning. Yeah. You know what I mean? Angry at my uncle, angry at this one. That one. Cuz I lost her. All of that time passed.

[00:27:41] Kil Ripkin: You know, all my day. One friends, thank God they're still here. My parents, my younger brother, you know, everyone is still here. Yeah. So I, I haven't experienced loss to 2022. I lost two good friends to, to the prison system One, murder one, I'm never gonna see him again. Mm-hmm. Another one on some conspiracy crap.

[00:27:59] Kil Ripkin: These are good [00:28:00] brothers too, don't get me wrong. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. The brother with the murder, it got to him. Yeah. Mm-hmm. You feel me? Yeah. And we could put up this upfront, upfront, noble image to people. Right. But inside you are hurting. Yeah. Yeah. And this brother was hurting enough where he took a life. Mm.

[00:28:16] Kil Ripkin: And I checked on him the day before that. Some people was telling me his spirit ain't right. You know, so, yeah. You see, I wanted to lay eyes on him. Yeah. Yeah. But he was him like a lot of brothers. Yeah. And this is, I don't know, I gotta do the knowledge on this. A lot of people around me, they, when you're around.

[00:28:32] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. So you good? Yeah, I'm good. And they'll tell me exactly what my spirit wants to hear. And sometimes you can, you can get caught out there. And I got caught out there. Yeah. You know, he told me Thursday night he was good. Friday he committed murder. But you felt something wasn't right. When I saw him Thursday, I felt he was good.

[00:28:49] Kil Ripkin: I just felt that he, he said he was going back to Virginia with his mom and his brother. Get himself together. That's what I felt like he needed to do that. Not that he was about to snap. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know, and so I [00:29:00] lost brothers to the prison system and then I lost two good brothers, you know, to the other side.

[00:29:05] Kil Ripkin: mainly my, my big bro and my mentor Don Newkirk. Mm-hmm. Who we just lost this past. Yeah. Thanksgiving, rest in peace to Don and the whole family. so. It was been, it has been a rough year for me, to really understand what it is to lose somebody process. You know what I mean? Process. Yeah. And the process of that, while you're aware, you're aware.

[00:29:25] Kil Ripkin: Right. You aware. Right. Because all the spiritual training and all the things you can know, you, it never still prepares you for death. Nope. Mm-hmm. Right. So I'm like, okay, I gotta get into the death chamber now, just to, just to overstand it more, because we all know we gotta go. Yeah. But none of us want to go, especially before accomplishing what we here to do.

[00:29:44] Kil Ripkin: Right. And we never really know what that is. Right. That's the fear. And that's the fear. Yeah. It's like a level 

[00:29:49] Ta-Myia: of understanding you gotta tap into. So 

[00:29:51] DJ And?: mean it's not dying. It's 

[00:29:52] Kil Ripkin: not the dying. So I kind of lost the question again. I I was trying to bring it full circle. No, you're answering it. But last year was heavy on me and [00:30:00] so I had to really fall back and analyze myself and thank God for brothers.

[00:30:05] Kil Ripkin: Like Ja Freedom. Mm-hmm. Who you know musically. Really lit the fire under me. Mm-hmm. To like, we need to hear you. Let's do this. Mm-hmm. For me, it ha it's all about team and family for me, right? Mm-hmm. So I wasn't gonna do it if I didn't had a, have a video guy. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So that was Kev. Yep. A lot of, you know, I put you the task.

[00:30:25] Kil Ripkin: If you say you are a real brother, then I need to see, if you say you're a real sister, then that's true. Cause I, I tell people I'm the realest brother, you gonna meet. Yes. I mean that. Mm-hmm. You can count on me. Yeah. Mm-hmm. You can count on me if I can't do it. I know someone who can. Yes, sir. Exactly. You.

[00:30:40] Kil Ripkin: And that's all we can do as people. Right. If you call me kill I, if I got it, you got it. But if I don't, I'm gonna make that call to make sure somebody else can answer your question to help you out. So, you know, I'm big on that and, and, uh, Yeah. It just, it's, it just, I'm just now starting to get my feet back and like Yeah.

[00:30:59] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? [00:31:00] Like Okay. Feel like yourself. Yeah. Feel like myself again, cuz last year was pretty tough and on top of that, you know, my queen, she been dealing with vertigo mm-hmm. For the last three years. Mm-hmm. And she's a Virgo. Oh wow. Yeah. You know what I mean? So it's like, that's so crazy.

[00:31:13] Kil Ripkin: Ver got don play yo man down chicken. So it's been a, a lifestyle adjustment, you know? Cause you know what it's like when you one with some money and then y'all here. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Because one or the other gotta deal with Yeah. You know what I mean? But, um, again, Kev Ja Scott. Mm-hmm. You know, my whole team, you know, they've been supportive beyond supportive.

[00:31:35] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? There's one thing to support, but it's. I can't even think of the word, but they just been there. Mm-hmm. There that, you know, that you can get, you can get back on your feet and move forward. You know what I mean? Like, I'm not, uh, I don't get down on myself too easy. Mm-hmm. But, uh, if I need a moment, I take a moment.

[00:31:51] Kil Ripkin: And that's what I tell people. It's okay to take a moment. You know what, I, it's okay to take a moment. You, you not the strength and vulnerability. Yeah. You, you, your head ain't Right. Take a moment. [00:32:00] Yeah. You know what I mean? And come, come back at it. But, um, spirituality is definitely everything to me. Right.

[00:32:06] Kil Ripkin: Because it, it keeps everything lined up in a righteous manner and, uh, you know, everything I did wasn't always righteous coming up. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So, you know, I'm fortunate enough to still be here and still correct those wrongs and. Give back. And like I said, even when I was doing those wrongs, I knew I was a good person.

[00:32:25] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. I To ask heart if those wrongs help lead you in the Right, yeah. I mean I, I've been around some serious people, you know what I mean? And, um, and so I learned, you know, I learned how to move in these streets. I can go to any neighborhood, any hood, good and be good. Yep. You know, because I know how to relate to, even if I don't know them, I know how to relate.

[00:32:42] Kil Ripkin: I know the language. Mm-hmm. I, I I'm not coming here to step on toes. True. Take your money. True. Any of that stuff. Right. True. It's just we building. Yep. Everything is building God, you know, generator, operator, destroyer. That's what we do. We thought about that. Yeah. Mm-hmm. 

[00:32:57] DJ And?: Man, you speak language probably.

[00:32:58] DJ And?: I'll try to tell you man, [00:33:00] that made my day, but 

[00:33:01] Kil Ripkin: I had a feeling 

[00:33:01] Skip: man, but I had a feeling this was gonna be a very awesome interview. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Because like I said, cuz of course I talk me and you talk all the time. Yeah. We talk all the time. 

[00:33:09] Kil Ripkin: Stuff that's my older brother didn't cut you, but. Me and Kev, we never really got to go that deep.

[00:33:13] Kil Ripkin: So I didn't even know. So when you said you knew who I was talking about? Yeah. I was like, that's race brother. Yeah. 

[00:33:20] Skip: We've always had, and I always tell people this and we always talk about this to other people, it's like we have a code about ourselves. Mm-hmm. When we work with like-minded people.

[00:33:29] Skip: Yeah. Like, I know, like with discussions we had about some things, like with things you had going on, that's why it was so easy. Mm-hmm. When you told me what was up that time. Mm-hmm. I was like, all right, you see, I ain't say nothing about it. Cause it's just way we brought this to code 

[00:33:41] Kil Ripkin: about things. But again, that's what I needed.

[00:33:43] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. You didn't know that. Mm-hmm. But I needed you to be. Understanding. Yeah. Even though you didn't really, we didn't really know each other like that at the time. Right? Mm-hmm. But I just, that's what I needed. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And you were built like that. Mm-hmm. So to me, that leaves That's a good point.

[00:33:57] Kil Ripkin: That's a To the brotherhood. Yeah. Yeah. I'm big on, I'm [00:34:00] big on brotherhood. Mm-hmm. You know what I'm saying? I'm, I'm really, really big on that because I was raised in a team environment, right? Mm-hmm. I was always on a team. Yep. Football raised me, so I was able to, Learn how to relate to brothers and Yeah.

[00:34:11] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. How we did things together and if it wasn't together, we took a l Yep. Literally. So I took that into the streets. Mm-hmm. Took that into the studio and I took that into my home. That goes 

[00:34:20] Ta-Myia: right into our next, topic, bridging the gap. Mm-hmm. So in the black community, we often hear about integration gaps and their impact on open communication, mutual respect, and especially when discussing the hip hop culture.

[00:34:33] Ta-Myia: Mm-hmm. So, as a coach, you have the opportunity to work with the younger generation in both athletic and personal setting That's right. On problem solving and things like that. How has your experience being a coach, especially coaching your own son, affected the way you connect with the young, younger generation 

[00:34:49] Kil Ripkin: man?

[00:34:49] Kil Ripkin: Um, everything, because these kids are hungry mm-hmm. For knowledge direction, even, even the ones with parents, right? Mm-hmm. Because we're in a generation now where. [00:35:00] The youth don't talk to their parents. Right. So, right. I would just lay in my mother bed and we would talk for hours. Mm-hmm.

[00:35:06] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. And I, I would tell her everything up to the dirt. Right. Yep. But she would get a lot. Yeah. She, and she would get me a lot, you know what I mean? That era is gone. Yeah. You know, that era is gone, so it means a lot. Right. So when I'm connecting with the youth, I'm always trying to project my experience on them without exposing them to the negativity.

[00:35:26] Kil Ripkin: Right. Yeah. So as far as like, you know, I always let them know I care and I really do. Mm-hmm. Because, and I don't know what my affection to the youth is. Right. Because I'm, I'm a dad. I have my own children to raised. Right. Yeah. Yeah. But me, I, I pretty much, you know, my mom was present. My, my dad wasn't, right.

[00:35:45] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. We, my dad is alive and we're, well now. He, he was, I could be candid. My dad went away for 20 years, so I didn't know him growing up. Yeah. So it was just me, my mom, and my brother, right? Mm-hmm. And so I was forced pretty much to raise myself and learn things on my [00:36:00] own. Mm-hmm. And then at some point, you know, mom, she had her own issue.

[00:36:04] Kil Ripkin: She cut the lights out, so to speak. So it was like I really had to ante up on that, you know what I mean? Mm-hmm. So for me, it's all about the experience. I can actually sit a young man down and tell him, look, like I had a young dude tell me the other day, he had a ankle bracelet on, and this is where the youth is at.

[00:36:21] Kil Ripkin: He said, I would rather go to jail and have this ankle bracelet on. What? 

[00:36:25] DJ And?: Yeah. They'd rather be in a cage than be 

[00:36:27] Kil Ripkin: out, bro. How do, how do we answer that? 

[00:36:29] Ta-Myia: Yeah. How did you answer 

[00:36:31] Kil Ripkin: that? I said, are you crazy? Yeah. And then I said, have you ever been to jail? Right, right. There's one thing to say that, but have you ever been experience I don't care if it's for a day.

[00:36:39] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. I don't wish my worst enemy on Yeah. To go in that place. Right. Okay. Yeah. My worst enemy. Yeah. I'd rather us get it on right then. Yeah. Hands, hands, you know, whatever. Mm-hmm. But none of us go in there. Yep. You feel me? So, I just try to guide them through experience and let them know I care. Cuz I see a lot of people in these, nonprofit, organizations, they just want the money.

[00:36:59] Kil Ripkin: [00:37:00] Right? Mm-hmm. They really not making the impact. Mm-hmm. Taking the grant money on. I, when I first moved to Charlotte, I was actually teaching in the schools Right. As a substitute. Mm-hmm. Wanted to get my feet wet cuz it was damn near impossible to become a teacher in New York. Mm-hmm. Ah, just like everything else.

[00:37:12] Kil Ripkin: Right? Yeah. So when I came here, it was seamless, you know, through this back home, you Yeah. And I was in, and it was a beautiful experience, but it was a ugly experience. The, I found the young ladies were worse than the men. You know what I mean? Like their language, they'll mess you up. Their sexuality. It's like these girls are 10, 12, 11 years old.

[00:37:32] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. They talking about oral and out here, out here, everything. Right. So that was the reason why I pulled out and created a homeschool co-op and raised all my children in homeschool. How hard was it to do that? This, it was super easy. Anybody that interested in doing that, they could holler at me or just look it up.

[00:37:48] Kil Ripkin: It's really easy here in North Carolina and In South Carolina. Mm-hmm. do it now. Before that window closed. I was, it's really easy. And we were fortunate to find a homeschool basketball team that competed on a very high, high [00:38:00] school level. Like, actually I'm, missing a game today. They out in Oak Hill, they playing Oak Hill Academy, if you know any real talk.

[00:38:06] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. Oh, wow. Real talk. Where they playing them at? In Virginia. Oh wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's big time. You know, that. You know, I had to work this morning and I, you know, committed the cabin. Appreciate one man this, that, you know. But, um, nah, I appreciate y'all brother, cuz anytime I, like I said, I'm seldom seen.

[00:38:23] Kil Ripkin: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. Rarely heard, heard. So anytime, anytime I get to come out and do this, I really, really enjoy it because I do have a lot to say. Like my whole team is like, I'm not out enough. But I think that's what feels, I think that's what builds my, 

[00:38:38] DJ And?: my myths. Yeah. You know, mean stick to that.

[00:38:41] Ta-Myia: Like, who is this guy I'm stick know who he was Exactly. but now I'm like, alright. Right. I 

[00:38:45] Kil Ripkin: know I'm met him if you know, you know? Right. Yeah. He been beat me outta the head about it and then, then people take the name and it's like, you know, like, uh, a lot of, uh, I brought a lot of individuals to Charlotte mm-hmm.

[00:38:56] Kil Ripkin: That people love for events that just, I know through relationships. Mm-hmm. [00:39:00] We never did music together. Probably never made money together. Probably just to respect, oh, kill work. All right. Boom. Oh, come down, boom. You know? 

[00:39:08] DJ And?: So, and, and just to get back to what we were saying with connecting to the younger generations.

[00:39:13] DJ And?: I wanna bring this point up and I wanna you to tell me if this sounds valid. Mm-hmm. from research, um, and reading that I've been doing, it seems like a lot of the younger generation, both male and female mm-hmm. They have a very strong warrior energy. Mm-hmm. That is misguided.

[00:39:27] Kil Ripkin: Ah. So I was about to say that they have that strong warrior spirit, but they don't know how to, they don't know how to use it. That's why the boy would rather to go to jails than, that's why he'd rather go to jail. Mm-hmm. That's why my brother rather took a life, took a life, yeah. Dealt with his situation.

[00:39:42] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. When he had a strong team around him, right? Mm-hmm. But they say, they say in the, uh, circle seven, that man is truth and falsehood is strangely mixed. Ooh. Right. So, you know, I could look at you and you look well and you speak well, but inside you could be going through some crazy shit. Right. That I have no idea about unless you [00:40:00] be upfront and tell me.

[00:40:01] Kil Ripkin: Right. You know what I mean? And so, I started this, uh, I don't wanna call it a podcast, but I started just like, just this gathering of men. Mm-hmm. Right. Where I call it the check-in. Cuz you know, after I lost my brothers last year, you know, I found out that, you know, we wasn't checking on each other enough.

[00:40:16] Kil Ripkin: You know what I mean? Like Good point, Kev. What's good man? You good? I don't want, this ain't a video call. This ain't Bill Tower. Yeah. You good. How's the white? Yeah. No business. No business. How's children doing? Yep. Because what I've found out since the pandemic, men and women, our men, our brothers, they going through it.

[00:40:34] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. They going through it silently. And so it's important for me that. I love when brothers have a woman. Mm-hmm. I just do cuz I feel like ridiculous. You are as strong as the women in your life, a man, right? Mm-hmm. I was always told that, right? Mm-hmm. Your mama, your aunt, your girl, your children, your daughters rather, right?

[00:40:53] Kil Ripkin: If they good you, good, you 10 times that because they're nurturers. True. They're, they're, [00:41:00] they're, they're, you know, lovers by, it's in their nature to do what they do. And when they do it well, that makes us strong. You know what I mean? So, you know, I'm big on that. I'm big on that. You know, if I meet a brother and he, don't got a girl and he's our age.

[00:41:14] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. I'm looking at him like a little side-eye, like, what's going on? What's going on? You know what I mean? Because nobody wants to be alone today. Mm-hmm. I ain't buying that. No, because when you home alone, You know what I mean? What, what We all need some human connection right now, especially now. Right.

[00:41:30] Kil Ripkin: We living in a time It's not good for your psyche. Yeah. It's not good for your psyche. Cuz we living in a quickening time. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Quicken, the days are going by like this. Yes. Mm-hmm. So in that quickening, we have to have human experiences. Yeah. You know, conversation, touch, intimacy, whatever it is, right?

[00:41:45] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. We need that. Mm-hmm. And so if you're not doing that, you just going through work and video games and Yeah. 

[00:41:51] DJ And?: Your soul is slowly leaking away. It's, 

[00:41:54] Kil Ripkin: it's, becoming calcified. Mm-hmm. Right? So we dealing with a lot of calcified hearts, pineal glands, [00:42:00] a lot of calcified minds, souls. Do you think the youth is 

[00:42:03] DJ And?: having a, battle with that?

[00:42:05] Kil Ripkin: Well, like I said, right, this is the greatest time to be alive. Yeah. So the good thing about the youth today with that warrior spirit is that they, on the cusp of greatness, they unafraid, they on the cusp of greatness. They need you. They need more of you. They need more of me. They need more of you. Mm-hmm.

[00:42:20] Kil Ripkin: Kev. Mm-hmm. They need more of that brother that just left. Hey. Yeah. Right. Yeah. They need more of us to not just be about what we are about and really give back. Yeah. Like so I had OGs Right. But they taught me different. It wasn't until I got into conscious people where I learned, but the OGs taught me some.

[00:42:39] Kil Ripkin: I not moved in the street. Yeah. I knew how, you know, to speak with, spoken to, uh Yeah. Street smart, right? Yeah. That's what they call it, right? Yeah. Yeah. And like I said, my uncle, he was just, You know, as far as like the hygiene and the care that from him. You know what I mean? So people see me, they be like, you know, I love to look good.

[00:42:59] Kil Ripkin: I love to dress. [00:43:00] That's the Virgo in us, right? We just love to 

[00:43:02] Ta-Myia: present ourself in a positive 

[00:43:04] Kil Ripkin: way. No, don't, don't, I don't want all eyes on me. Right. But I'm gonna look, I know I look good, feel good, you know? Mm-hmm. Like Deon said, you gonna play good, right? So true. Yeah. De it's, it's simple but at same.

[00:43:16] Kil Ripkin: That's why 

[00:43:17] DJ And?: I think it's so difficult at Yeah. And that's why I think a lot with bridging this gap with the youth, what makes it complicated for them is that it's not complicated. Right. They expect it to have, have some kind of, extreme technicality to it. Right. And when I sit down with a lot of youth, they come and speak with me.

[00:43:32] DJ And?: Even the folk that I work with as I mentor 'em. Cause I'm moving into a management position now. Right. It's kind of interesting. Because I'm like, yo, I'm not like, I'm not like really grown yet. Right. I'm still like trying to learn. I'm trying to pick up stuff, facts. And remember my brother telling me this before, cause I asked him about this, like when he turned 35.

[00:43:46] DJ And?: I said, so people see you as a grown person. Cause it is me as a little brother. I'm older brother. People see as a grown person yet he's like, bro, nah, nah, nah, nah, I ain't grown yet. He said, I'm still working at it. That's right. So getting to this age and getting into this position, when I talk to a lot of youth, their thing [00:44:00] is, well, why isn't it more difficult?

[00:44:01] DJ And?: Why is it the simplicity of it is what they can't seem to grasp. Mm-hmm. It makes it hard. So I'm trying to find a way to explain to the youth that I deal with a lot of times that the thing is simple and that you can grasp it. It doesn't have to be, um, extremely complicated. And it's because like a lot of youth now, they grow with technology.

[00:44:23] DJ And?: It is here. And technology, unlike the old analog technology, we don't think about this a lot, but bridging the gap, the analog technology, it was technical, it was difficult, but. Because of that, it made it feel simple. Mm-hmm. I don't know how to explain it like that, but it made it feel simple. Mm-hmm. This, to me, this is simple, but it's also technical.

[00:44:44] DJ And?: It's very skill related in order to use technology, very distracted, 

[00:44:48] Kil Ripkin: very distraction. Yes. 

[00:44:49] Skip: think sometimes with technology, and this is just what I gather, just like with my background 

[00:44:54] Kil Ripkin: working with youth. Yes. 

[00:44:56] Skip: The issue a lot of times is this, people feel like, there's [00:45:00] always gonna be an exception to the rule.

[00:45:01] Skip: Mm-hmm. And technology helps to create that idea. Mm-hmm. So, but like years ago, if you couldn't do something with the resources that you had, you just, you knew it couldn't be done. You, it done accept. Yeah. Except that you, you had a defeatist mindset. You just accepted. That's just one of those laws.

[00:45:20] Skip: This is something that just can't be done. I to get the resources right. Mm-hmm. Nowadays, you gotta think about it. You're dealing with groups of people who, there's an app for that. Mm-hmm. If I don't, if I can't write, so guess what? There's an app that is microwave, right? Yeah. And do that. Right? there's also anything that someone from.

[00:45:39] Skip: That's coming from a wisdom standpoint, is gonna share with them. Mm-hmm. And disseminate them. Especially if it's things with life or things that they might have dealt with prior to their existence. They're always gonna look at themselves as an exception to the rule. That's right. That's the way they've been conditioned.

[00:45:53] Kil Ripkin: That's 

[00:45:53] DJ And?: right. So it feels complicated because it's not an app. You have to actually work through it. [00:46:00] Yeah. 

[00:46:00] Skip: It's simple. they don't want to apply the problem solving the problem solve, not just the 

[00:46:04] DJ And?: problem solve you solve. Don't have the ski, don't have the things there.

[00:46:06] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. They don't 

[00:46:07] Skip: want tools to be there. It's like having a book, how can I put it? it's like me going out here trying to build a bookshelf. Mm-hmm. Right. Normally if somebody wants to learn how to do something, they don't know how to do it. They'll either go and find a book or some type of resource on how to do it.

[00:46:22] Skip: Library. Right. Even with YouTube is a great example of that. Right. But for youth, even though those resources exist, Yeah. They're still gonna want to just wing it and just build 

[00:46:34] DJ And?: it just off of their influence. You ain't lying because it's not 

[00:46:36] Ta-Myia: Yeah. With no instructions 

[00:46:38] Kil Ripkin: or outsourced. They don't, they don't even need instructions.

[00:46:40] Kil Ripkin: Don't need it. No, because cuz today was such in the microwave era, right? Mm-hmm. Is that, you know, and I'm gonna be real, I'm gonna realist, right? Yeah. We, we didn't, we didn't have teachers growing up either, right? No. Mm-hmm. We didn't have, so, so, so it's like the youth today is like, who are you to tell me what to do?

[00:46:56] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? And then they don't understand that there was a group [00:47:00] of us that went through that spiritual training under these great master teachers, right? Mm-hmm. But they not aware of that. So for me to try to get to someone to sit down and, and, and watch a, a, a see, uh, video on YouTube.

[00:47:12] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. They're like, for what? They, like for what? I know it all. Mm-hmm. And what he gonna tell me Yes. What he doing. Yep. And this, that, and the third, you know what I mean? Where, you know, it's just different. We literally sat in a. Explain this. Look, this is another thing for 12, the ability to stay focused 14 hours and focus and retain.

[00:47:28] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. All of the knowledge that 10, 20 years later I could still you utilize in my life. And it's still in your, in your brain today. A lot of this ahead of time. It was ahead of time. Where's today if I'm trying to really have this type of conversation with a young man, your attention span is 

[00:47:42] Ta-Myia: just shots.

[00:47:43] Ta-Myia: Mm-hmm. I don't 

[00:47:43] Kil Ripkin: even know how to like, so we we're actually not basketball. Your is crazy. I don't even have a Jones. So we could have a whole other conversation on the youth and. The delusion of I'm D one or I'm really good. Yeah. And then the parents see cause [00:48:00] so, so what I find today, I don't wanna, I don't wanna put everything on the youth, right?

[00:48:03] Kil Ripkin: Yeah, of course. We are in, we are in the era of the indigo, or what they call in children, right? So these kids are coming here sharp and they, they're like, oh, y'all don't have things in order. Right? Yeah. Because everything is balance in order, right? Yeah. Yeah. We don't have things in order yet. Mm-hmm. The empire is not back yet cuz like, you know, this is, they're coming, their souls are coming back.

[00:48:22] Kil Ripkin: They're coming back and they want results now. Now like you mean to tell me y'all still doing slavery movies? Yeah. Say it. Yeah. You mean to tell me police are still shooting and and beating up and y'all ain't doing nothing about it and we not doing nothing about it? Yes. You mean to tell me that justice?

[00:48:38] Kil Ripkin: Y'all still going to McDonald's? Yes. Yes. Huh? Yes. So I agree to the youth's defense. It's not necessarily they angry at us, it's that yo we, cuz we all ch. And that's another, but you know what I'm talking about. Know what you chose. We chose, you chose that. That brother, you chose those Exactly. Chose this experience.

[00:48:57] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. To tell someone that now they're looking at [00:49:00] you like this nigga. I don't know what he talking about. He crazy. Yeah. Oh, he wanted 'em, spooked them, spook him. Dudes. Right. Exactly. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's the realest thing. Mm-hmm. Right. The realest thing is knowing, and then with that, no, you have the wisdom to carry out your life in a way that is gonna be peaceful and love loving instead of, disruptive and, you know, chaotic.

[00:49:20] Kil Ripkin: Chaotic. Right. Because we, us being melanated, carbonated beings. Mm-hmm. Melanin is chaos. Yes, it is. So nobody knows how to act Neish more than, more than we do than us. We really good at it. Oh, we can show you how to do this nigga. Right? Yes. So the youth seeing this. Yeah. They're like, look at these hypocrites.

[00:49:39] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. You feel me? Yeah. And so, you know, you'll see a spiritual guy and he rolling up Yep. How you spiritual you smoking because they don't get it. They don't get it. Yeah. They don't get what it is to judge someone. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Then to just let that person be that person. Right? Yes. Let them have no, 

[00:49:56] DJ And?: no experience the way they 

[00:49:57] Kil Ripkin: have an experience.

[00:49:58] Kil Ripkin: You know, I haven't eaten meat in [00:50:00] 20 years, 22 years. Mm-hmm. I haven't eaten no meat. Right. But I won't judge you guys if you, and matter of fact, I'm gonna enjoy the smell of those buffalo wings or Yeah. I'm gonna smell 'em, you know what I mean? Touch them. That's your reality. How, who am I mm-hmm. To trip up your reality.

[00:50:14] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. Right. Because I'm sure out of all of the differences we have, we're gonna meet on a common ground and that's gonna be the salvation Yeah. Of that relationship. The salvation of the soul. Same with a relationship with a man and a woman. What keeps y'all together is the, the, the. The acceptance of that man, that woman, they gonna constantly change.

[00:50:35] Kil Ripkin: Are you willing to accept that change and roll with it? Mm-hmm. Big talk. Sometimes, sometimes that man will change and the woman want him to be the same nigga, and like, he like, no, I'm changing it. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. We have to, you evolve and grow. And so back to the youth, it's that. Right.

[00:50:49] Kil Ripkin: That's number one. What I, what I just spoke about. And then it's the parents. Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? The parents are as ignorant as the children. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Right. [00:51:00] Oh no. Oh my Lord. You, they don't know 

[00:51:01] Ta-Myia: to adapt and 

[00:51:02] Kil Ripkin: adjust. My son was, my son is man, he's, he's he on his square big time. Right. And he used to always tell me five, six years old, he used to be like, I'm the daddy.

[00:51:11] Kil Ripkin: You the son. But in reality he's right. Yeah. He's teaching you. He's teaching me, yeah. How to teach him. Yep. This is what people don't get with they children. Yep. I'm the daddy, you the son. And I was like, oh. When he first said it, I was like, but then me being from the school of, you know, Bobby, Phil, and all these, these greats, right?

[00:51:29] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. I was like, yeah, he's right. Mm-hmm. Because, and this is the thing that, especially in my program that I see with the youth, they're like, my parents, you know, I was so happy today to see, uh, parents at the graduation. Mm-hmm. You know, two parents too. I was, I was happy about that. Mm-hmm. We had a little ceremony this morning Oh yeah.

[00:51:48] Kil Ripkin: For the graduate, you know, students that was leaving the program. Yeah. Awesome. It was like four of them. Mm-hmm. And they both, they all had mother and father there except one, the, the, the Latino girl. And I think she said her father was working or something, [00:52:00] something like that. But that made me feel good.

[00:52:01] Kil Ripkin: Right. But at the same time, that used to be something to hang your hat on back in the day or, I'm from a two family home. Yeah. Now that's almost worse because now everything is just so. In your face, right? Mm-hmm. You dealing with your daddy, shit. Your mama, then they together's not together. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

[00:52:19] Kil Ripkin: You know what I mean? Yeah. And then you in the house and you seeing them, they two d they in the house, but they two different lifestyles that all wears on the kids. So how do we as outside of that home and mentors reel them into like, yo, this is really about you. Yeah. So that's what I, that's what I tell them.

[00:52:34] Kil Ripkin: It's not about your parents. Yeah. Mm-hmm. This is really about you, right? Mm-hmm. Take your parents' struggles or you know, the good they do and make it about you and learn from it, you know? Yeah. So my dad, my uncle, my first OG did 30 years. I never, you know, I got arrested, but I never, I, I was never on some, I'm gonna be a jail nigga.

[00:52:55] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. I, I, you know, I was a street smart dude, for real, [00:53:00] like mm-hmm. I don't find it cool. You go to jail. The, the real, the real ones stay out. Yeah, that's what I was about to say. Yeah. If you go to jail, you messed up the real ones. Stay out of it. And trust me, there's a lot of criminals out here who never seen jail.

[00:53:10] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. I'm talking about big criminals. Mm-hmm. Cause they know, they know how to move. Mm-hmm. It's, it's the, the facade of you have to go to jail, make it known. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Come home and do it again. It's interesting. Yes. Yeah. Yes. So we're up against what we didn't have.

[00:53:25] Kil Ripkin: Right. Yeah. Because cuz I tell people, all right, you can't really get, you know, I embrace my dad. Right. Because I'm like, well, shit, man. He was, he was young too. You know what I mean? He, he, he had to learn as he was being a dad too, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's still, you know. Yes. Whoa. He shouldn't have, he shouldn't have did the act.

[00:53:43] Kil Ripkin: Right. Shouldn't have never got your mother pregnant. That's, that's, that's a higher. That's a higher calling, that's a higher, activity. Right? That's something that happened greater than us, that we can't even, that's outside us. Something outside of us, like, you know, I was supposed to get here September 20th.

[00:53:59] Kil Ripkin: That's what its all [00:54:00] about. The call. It could have been from a crack head, it could have been from the president of the United States. I had to get here. Yeah, you supposed to be here, wouldn't matter. And so this is what I'm trying to tell the youth. It's about you. Mm-hmm. Right? I I, I had a mother, you know, when I coached flag football, her, her son was my quarterback.

[00:54:15] Kil Ripkin: And the first game he threw five touchdown passes. I'm like, oh, I got one. My son was like, all worldwide receiver, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm. He chose to play basketball, but he's really good at wide receiver also, right? Mm-hmm. But, so I'm like, oh, I got one. So the next two, three games, this dude was throwing like four or five interceptions a game.

[00:54:32] Kil Ripkin: And, but every game he would come to me, coach, can I run the ball? I'm like, boy, you a running back. What you wanna run the ball for? Oh, I got, so one day his mother came to me and literally cursed me out. And so this, I, I peep the parents and the children and I weigh it. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And I'm like, a lot of what's wrong with our youth is these parents enabling them.

[00:54:53] Kil Ripkin: Yep. Yep. To get, an acceptance award. Like, you know, you got first place, second place, third place. And let's just get, give Kevin the award cuz he [00:55:00] participated. Yeah. Yeah. The minute they started doing that, it was a rap. Mm-hmm. Because now these parents could be like, oh, Billy, he participated, he's a champion too.

[00:55:08] Kil Ripkin: So what does, that do to the kid that actually won? And put the work in? And put the work in? Yeah. You feel me? So I blamed the parents and you know, I told that woman, calm is sun rising? I was like, miss you and your son, bye. Don't bring him back here. Don't bring him back to my practice. This was my starting quarterback.

[00:55:26] Kil Ripkin: I replaced him with like this four foot guy and let us all the way to the championship. You feel me? Because. They only know we on, even as adults, we only know what we're told. Mm-hmm. That's true. Yeah. Yeah. We only know what we're told. And then we do the knowledge. Yeah. Yeah. And then you know some things on your own too, right?

[00:55:44] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. But if I'm, putting you on to something, that's just what it is. If you putting me on to something, that's just what it is. Mm-hmm. And then I do the knowledge. Yeah. I, I'll be like, okay, that, that works for me. See what, or it might not work for me. Mm-hmm. You know what I'm saying? But it, I don't know.

[00:55:58] Kil Ripkin: it's the hardest task. It's harder than [00:56:00] raising my own. Mm-hmm. Because they're somebody else's and they come from somebody else's ideology. They come from somebody else's upbringing. Mm-hmm. And how they do things, you know what I mean? So it's like, and you have to work through that. But I love it when, like, I, when I was in the schools, I had the girls, it was funny, like they would write me love letters.

[00:56:17] Kil Ripkin: Oh, Mr. L I love you. Can you marry my mom? Oh. And things like that. Yeah. Because they yearning for that. Yeah. Yeah. So I didn't take it as some, oh, this is, this is an opportunity to get my dog on. I took that as an opportunity to like understand where these youth, they, first of all, they're hurting mindset.

[00:56:33] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. They're in pain and they're yearning, like you said. And they're yearning. They're yearning for what? Love, first and foremost attention and to be, and to know that they can love themselves. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. A lot of them don't, A lot of people today don't love themselves and appreciation. They want.

[00:56:48] Kil Ripkin: Right. And they aren't giving that. They aren't giving the, so they feel like taking a beating. Yeah. And is them showing love? Yep. Mm-hmm. Like if I let you, shit all over me. Yeah. I'm showing you love. I love you. No, that's not love. That's the opposite. [00:57:00] Yeah. That's not love. You know, so this is what, this is a lot, what the youth is going to going through.

[00:57:04] Kil Ripkin: And so I, you know, I take baby steps. I'm not one of those ah, teachers, like, oh, I'm over them because they don't want that either. Yeah. So I try to fit in, they, so they call me the hip one themselves. Yeah. Which I am. I still think I am. Right. Yeah. But, I also know how, just like with coaching right? You gotta individually coach your players each and then bring it together as a team.

[00:57:26] Kil Ripkin: As a team, yeah. Right. If you gotta play, we gotta play on our team. That's autistic. He's six foot eight, he's a pretty good player, but the coach don't know how to deal with his autism. Mm-hmm. You know what I'm saying? And the parents is trying to tell him how to, but he hasn't registered that. So because of that, this kid doesn't get a lot of playing time because that coach doesn't understand that player in essence of the whole team.

[00:57:48] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. So that's my strengths. That's how I'm able to coach basketball. I'm a football guy, but I'm able to coach basketball because I know how to relate to individuals. Mm-hmm. Oh, you can rebound and be the best damn rebound [00:58:00] that you can. Don't, don't, don't try to gimme 20 points. Right. Or you position yourself, get the ball.

[00:58:03] Kil Ripkin: You good on defense? I'm gonna need you the dog. Like how, how the brother said go guard him. Full court all the way up. Yeah. You gotta know who you're dealing with. You know what I mean? You gotta know who you're dealing with. Yeah. I'm, I'm gonna deal with you differently than your brother. Yeah. I can't treat y'all the same because you're brothers.

[00:58:17] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. Yeah. That's true. I gotta treat you differently than, Kev. That's true. You know what I'm saying? What, uh, current 

[00:58:22] Ta-Myia: projects do you have coming up? 

[00:58:23] Kil Ripkin: we're still riding a beautiful wave of Medicate One. Mm-hmm

[00:58:26] Kil Ripkin: but we are in the lab working on volume two, which will be incredible. and I say that because I'm more motivated. Yeah. Mm-hmm. You know, when I was doing one, I was going through it Yeah. Stuff. Yeah. And that was my salvation though. So I would have those moments where I can create and be happy, and I'm not a person that, will say I'm depressed.

[00:58:45] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. I deal with depression. Mm-hmm. I just have my moments where, you know, as a. Introvert and a loner. Anyway, it's easy for me to go in a shell. Yeah. And just chill. Chill. Yeah. You know what I mean? So we got self-Medicate volume two coming. I [00:59:00] have another project that I'm doing with a producer out of Atlanta who's a longtime collaborator of mine.

[00:59:05] Kil Ripkin: He was actually my engineer back in the nineties. Hey. And he's producing. And so we have a project out come, called the Artian Coup. We'll be dropping, hopefully by the summer. And then I have a lot of, you know, I, I love to work with all the local dope artists in Charlotte, right? Yeah. So I got DJ Wiz, I got Phil.

[00:59:22] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. I got, uh, dev Divine Universal. Yeah. Scott, whenever he gimme beats, you know, if he ever decide to, you know, slim me one, you know, but I, I definitely try to, I def I definitely try to, you know, cuz this is where I live, right? Yeah. So you want to, you want to build here and then take it further. You know, I'm, I'm New York, thick and thin, right.

[00:59:41] Kil Ripkin: I'm Coney Island to the end, but this has been my home for the last 15, 16 years. So I gotta pay homage, you know what I'm saying? I gotta let them know, like, I've grown here. Like actually the stuff that I've accomplished here in Charlotte, I would've never got done in New York. Gotcha. Me coming to Grand Sheet within the Moore [01:00:00] Science, temple America, I would've never done that in New York.

[01:00:02] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. Because I wouldn't have been in the mindset. Yeah. Charlotte has allowed me to slow it down. Yep. 

[01:00:07] DJ And?: We that earlier. 

[01:00:08] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. And slow it down and see my greatness. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. You know, see my greatness. See, alright, I can turn left, turn right. Mm-hmm. Do this and that, and then of course, Everything works smooth and better when you have good people around you.

[01:00:22] Kil Ripkin: Yeah, I wouldn't, there'd be no self-medicate one. There'd be no kill Ripken songs that y'all hear if it wasn't for Scott. Yeah, yeah. Or brothers like Divine, that allow me, now I have an in-home studio that I do pre-production. Yeah. When I want to put that finishing polish, I gotta come. It's different. I gotta come to the Masters, you know?

[01:00:38] Kil Ripkin: But without those relationships, I can't do that. I remember when I first moved to Charlotte and I'm running around looking for a studio, somebody told me about a studio, said, yeah, go ahead. Or Tryon, I was in the hood. I know you told me this story. Oh man. And I'm in the studio. I'm, I'm in these dudes house.

[01:00:52] Kil Ripkin: And it was, this is, you know, I'm from New York, so I'm not too on trap. That word Trap. Trap, yeah. I was [01:01:00] literally in a trap house. Yous was in there one door, in one door house just waiting for my, my session time. And then I'm like, wait a minute, bro. You've been in Don New Kirks with the Rock Wilders. Like, I, I've been in sessions with Karen Wheeler.

[01:01:11] Kil Ripkin: He know. I, I mean, you name it, I've been in, I was like, what the hell are you doing here? And I just got up and left. You know what I'm saying? But you know, that's just me. And I, it wasn't that I was scared, it's just like, Know, I don't, don't record in this environment. Environment now. They were having the time of their life tank top shirts was off.

[01:01:30] Kil Ripkin: You know how they do it, getting it. Yeah. And I'm like, nah. And I ain't know nobody, so, so, you know. Yeah, of course I'm new to Charlotte. Yeah. And then, uh, you know, I know people phone calls and that's how I got up with the brother superstition. Mm-hmm. Superstition Ali, me, the Charles Herron. Mm-hmm. And the rest is history here in Charlotte.

[01:01:48] Kil Ripkin: You know what I mean? Mm-hmm. And then shortly after that, I met Jare and this, in that same order. Then I met the brother, uh, dj, uh, the mighty Dr. Yeah. Great men, great people, you know what I'm saying? Which has [01:02:00] allowed me to still be the kill that I was in New York here, but, on a higher level, you know, New York man, you know, as much as I love it, the energy there is, uh, I tell people, get up outta there.

[01:02:10] Kil Ripkin: It's frantic. Yeah. Get up outta there. Frantic. Yeah. You know what I mean? But some people, you know, I used to be one of those people. I'm never leaving New York. Nah. I'm Brooklyn nigga. To the end leave. And we came down here for one of my friend's weddings. Yeah. A wedding that I grew up with. And she was like, we were pregnant with my son at the time.

[01:02:26] Kil Ripkin: She was like, yeah, we'll be here next August. I was like, yeah. Right. Never leaving New York. We was here next. It breaks everybody. You come out here, you safe and send time. Yeah. You know what I mean? 

[01:02:36] Ta-Myia: So where can people find you on social media? Stay in 

[01:02:39] Kil Ripkin: contact. Sure. kill Ripkin at, Instagram, Facebook.

[01:02:43] Kil Ripkin: Be on the lookout for my new YouTube page, uh, which will be featuring my installments of the check-in where I have these, uh, these bills with, you know, men. And we get mm-hmm. We get deep deeper than where we went today. Right. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so, and I feel like, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm [01:03:00] sure there's other platforms like that, but I'm not aware of one here.

[01:03:03] Kil Ripkin: Right. And here in, in Charlotte and the qc, we need to check as far as out to Columbia. Right. We need to check up on our brothers. Yeah, definitely. So, yeah. That, that'll be on YouTube. you know, find me where you can, you know. Yeah. I'm around some dark, I'm, I'm around some dark, some dark corner. I'm around there, I'm around some dark corner.

[01:03:21] Kil Ripkin: We gotta do a shout. Shout. But again, man, I want, I want to shout out you brothers and sisters, right? Sister? Yeah. This is dope. What y'all doing? We need as many platforms for us to land on Yeah. As possible, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm. So that now the youth can hear this. Yeah. True. Then we gotta figure out a way to get them to hear these mm-hmm.

[01:03:38] Kil Ripkin: Dope episodes. Yeah. They need to hear. The brother reasons Resin Brown. Right? Yeah. They need to hear that. They need to hear that. Yeah. Because a lot of people from Charlotte, they don't mess with Gastonia. I've heard Gastonia. Oh man, that's, I've heard. That's like the wasteland. That's That's what, that's what my wife said.

[01:03:53] Kil Ripkin: That's like, that's like Brooklyn. That's like Brooklyn. Manhattan and Queens and Staten Island. People say Go to the [01:04:00] Bronx. No disrespect to the Bronx, you know? Which I know what it is. They know what it is. It's real Bronx is the Bronx. It's the stand alone. You know what I mean? But it's a thorough barrel.

[01:04:09] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. And uh, but it's just, you know, just like gas house is thorough, right? Yeah. It's just, but people here don't see that, you know? So we need to bridge that gap. Close that gap a little bit. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Make it happen. Cuz this is a powerful platform. True, true. 

[01:04:21] Skip: Our movement, especially going into our next season is we're definitely starting to realize, at least recognize like the power that we're having with connecting different people.

[01:04:29] Skip: Yo, it's, it's amazing. And especially complete strangers and even just thinking about age. cause I, I definitely want us to move in a direction where we're bringing on some younger people too. Definitely. Yeah. And letting them talk and letting, you know, kind of really just bridging that gap.

[01:04:42] Skip: Definitely. So it's like, not only will we have someone like yourself here mm-hmm. But we have somebody that, you know, we have a 15 year old, we 

[01:04:48] Kil Ripkin: have six. You know what I mean? Lot, lot of them. My mentor, I can Yeah. Ally open to you. Yeah. You know what I mean? My next, uh, installment of the check-in is gonna be the Young Genes.

[01:04:56] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. I want to, I wanna see, you know, where they at mentally, [01:05:00] where the mind is, 

[01:05:00] DJ And?: where they at. Because if you don't, you 

[01:05:02] Kil Ripkin: don't know. If you don't ask. Yeah. They, you know, Where you at mentally? Yeah. Since, since 2020, since the pandemic. Mm-hmm. Everyone has shifted. Mm-hmm. Oh yeah. Polls 

[01:05:10] DJ And?: shift 

[01:05:11] Kil Ripkin: time. The polls have shifted.

[01:05:12] Kil Ripkin: Yep. People have shifted inside we have shifted. Right? Yeah. If they say, if you turn us inside out, we are universe what? The universe has shifted. So, you know, we have as above, so below we gotta keep, you know, we have everything about us have for the good or bad. Mm-hmm. Right. So if you were elevating prior to that, then you come on, you coming back down.

[01:05:32] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. Well no, you accelerate, you should moving, you 

[01:05:34] DJ And?: should accelerate 

[01:05:34] Kil Ripkin: the movement. If you were going on a down downward spiral before the pandemic, then you pretty much still going, going there. You know me, this 

[01:05:41] DJ And?: is, uh, this is off topic a little bit, but this man, uh, Shannon Sharp. Mm-hmm. He always says this, and this is funny.

[01:05:48] DJ And?: He is like, money. It's one of those things that only exacerbates who you are. Who 

[01:05:53] Kil Ripkin: are you really are. Yeah. And I know that from experience. Mm-hmm. You know, I'm, I'm sure we all do. Yeah. We meet somebody that win Lotto [01:06:00] Chamar, they gonna act the fool. Yep. Somebody we know. Yeah. That we thought was all, you know.

[01:06:04] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. Who mm-hmm. And you get that money. Right. Cuz we not, our people are not used to having what we call money. Yeah. And see what's gonna get scary is that money's gonna become something else and we're gonna have to adapt to that or change to it. Yeah. 

[01:06:17] DJ And?: The reason, that's the reason why I said that because we were talking about that energy change.

[01:06:20] DJ And?: One of those energy changes is the currency. Currency, 

[01:06:22] Kil Ripkin: right. Currency is energy. Right. When we exchange money, we exchanging energy. That's why I tell people, you know, Don't get it confused where if I call you for help mm-hmm. That you think I'm calling you for money. Yeah. It's a difference. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I need help bruh.

[01:06:36] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. I'm not asking you, yo, let me borrow some money cuz you know I'm just short. Yeah. Yeah. I need help. That's a big difference. Mm-hmm. Some people just need extra paper in their pockets so lemme get extra $20. I need gas money. Yeah. You know? Mm-hmm. That's not really, I'm talking about help. I need food, about to cut my lights off.

[01:06:53] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. Mm-hmm. My car just died. Mm-hmm. Help. Mm-hmm. And then different you be there for that person. So that's part [01:07:00] of the check in too. So maybe we can Cuba link all of this together True. And make an empire. Especially with the brother Rece. Yeah. I know you've been telling me to connect with him for the longest.

[01:07:09] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna reach out to him on, on the, on the ig Most definitely. And make something happen cuz me and Ja can, that's what I perform up there. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Most definitely. It all makes mean the whole crew. We can bring the whole Charlotte crew up there Yeah. And make something happen.

[01:07:21] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. You know what I'm saying? So, yeah man, it is. It's building time, right. Like I said, yeah, certainly it's, it is, it's a very dark time. Mm-hmm. Let's not, you know, underestimate that we're living in a very, very dark time, but it's also the greatest time to be alive. Mm-hmm. And what I mean by that is that anything you trying to do, any, anything you striving to be mm-hmm.

[01:07:43] Kil Ripkin: It can happen now. You know what I mean? Whatever you're trying to manifest, you can, you can manifest that quicker than ever now. Right. So for me, I had to remind myself that like, where you from? What's your train of thought? Get, you know what I mean? You a god tap back into that, [01:08:00] to that godlike 

[01:08:01] Kil Ripkin: experience that magic.

[01:08:02] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. I like to use the word magic. A lot of people don't, right? Yeah. But we're all magical beings. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. We all come from that spark. Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? So, I had to tap in back into that magic. I had to do my money magic. I had to, you know, talk to my Altima. Yeah. Mm-hmm. You know, feed it more Yep.

[01:08:19] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. All of that good stuff, growing, you know what I mean? Because that's the realm we are living in. We're not living a physical flipping experience. Right. So I tell people all the time, from the moment we wake up, we in spiritual warfare. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. From the moment we wake up, we are in spiritual warfare.

[01:08:33] Kil Ripkin: So what we do throughout that day to protect our spirit Yeah. And our loved ones and our nature is on you. You know, and that, that, that goes down to who we with music, we listen to food, we eat mm-hmm. Intentions, even what we saying out of our mouth. Right. Yeah. How, how we spelling. Mm-hmm. You know what I'm saying?

[01:08:52] Kil Ripkin: So I love it, man. I, I, I love it. I love the, the, the nation I come from. Mm-hmm. The people that I've [01:09:00] been surrounded by and, uh, I'm, again, I'm fortunate man. I'm grateful and I'm thankful. And I just, you know, I'm striving to continue and take it to another level. I feel like I've just now started hitting my stride and I've been doing this a long time, you know what I mean?

[01:09:15] Kil Ripkin: From the time I, you know, one major thing I, I forgot to leave out, and I find myself wanting to say this more because it makes me proud, but mm-hmm. You know, everyone knows who's Curtis, Curtis Blow is, right? Yeah. Yeah. Well, I was fortunate enough to write and produce two songs for him at the age of 19, 20 years old, somewhere around there.

[01:09:33] Kil Ripkin: You know, those songs never came out. Mm-hmm. But I still have the demos Wow. As my proof, you know what I mean? And I feel, and I, and in that studio, it was the same studio, run dmc. Wow. Yeah. And all of the greats Fat boys, they will all be in this studio. Wow. So I was just, you know, the flyest fly on the wall.

[01:09:52] Kil Ripkin: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Exactly. You know, Waldo type shit. Yeah. This dude is everywhere. But it was just the people I know. [01:10:00] And when you are a real person, you get to be around real genuine people. Genuine people. So yeah. That, that experience made me feel like, so I tell people, people might not see me on the mainstream level.

[01:10:10] Kil Ripkin: Right. But I tell people, man, I've been in limos, I've performed all over, I've written for this one. I've written songs, uh, with Don for Karen Wheeler, and it's coming through that house. That's a whole nother episode, right? Yeah. We're gonna have an episode of what took place in the smoking heads house in Queens.

[01:10:27] Kil Ripkin: Yeah. It was a house that was all boarded up. Yeah. Right. It was all boarded up. If you on a beautiful block in Queens on hundred 71st Street. Right. And it was all Bo 116th Street. It was all boarded up and it looked like a crack house. Yeah. But inside it looked like Scott's studio like that. Probably bigger, you know, just more equipment.

[01:10:46] Kil Ripkin: Cuz he had live room, same thing. And then he lived upstairs, which was like a flush, you know, home. But if you drove by it, he was like traffic trapped. Know what it was. Yeah. Cause it was all boarded up. But the people that went through that home, man, [01:11:00] you could. we, you see, we didn't, we wasn't living in those times of record everything.

[01:11:04] Kil Ripkin: That's the only regret we didn't document. Mm-hmm No, that was documented. It was just you had to be there. Yes. You weren't a moment in time, as I like to say, a moment in time. So salute to all of, you know, brothers and sisters that came through that house. There's so many to name. I grew up there. I was able to meet and maintain a lot of relationships from that.

[01:11:22] Kil Ripkin: Mm-hmm. You know, and, uh, again, man, I'm thankful man. It's a dope 

[01:11:26] DJ And?: interview, man. Yeah. Dope conversation. Not even an interview. Dope conversation. Yes, sir. man, we gonna wrap up, but I just wanna thank you for being here and sitting with us today. Kill. Yes sir. Taking time. I know we are pushing the day a little bit.

[01:11:38] DJ And?: So good, brother. We ain't gonna brother hold too long. DJing what? Tamaya, what's up, skip? Yep. Kill. Yes sir. We appreciate you for joining us on the Hilltop Glove Podcast.