SPEAKER_02 1:45

Welcome back to the Hilltop Glove Podcast. Today we're speaking with Dominique Jett or Jett, a talented content creator from Hartsville, South Carolina, now thriving in Columbia since 2017. Jett combines graphic design, photography, videography, music, and modeling, establishing himself as a significant figure in the local art scene with over a thousand YouTube subscribers. His work showcases his detailed-oriented approach and commitment to quality, along with his collaborative spirit and supporting fellow artists. Today we'll learn about Jet's inspirations, challenges, and aspirations in his multifaceted artistic journey. How are you doing today, my brother? How are you feeling? Blessed to be here. Excellent. Well, we're really happy to have you on. We love to have on folks that are in the community that haven't gotten too big to the point where they don't want to see us no more. We like to try to talk to y'all early if we can. So one thing we always like to ask guests when they come on the show, and just to give you a quick understanding of if you haven't seen the episode, but we are focused around um it's a show for millennials with a hip-hop, hip-hop styling. And the reason is for the show is to help understand journeys to success um through entrepreneurship or other routes. Uh, because most of us don't have a guidebook and manual to say this is how you do what you need to do. We usually find out through, you know, trial and error. Yeah, man. And uh the more information we have, the better off we'll be. And so that's the main reason for this show is to explain to people, hey, you like this? There's a person we had on, they were talking about this. We picked their brain, listen to what they have to say. So, first question is always the most boring. I always like to tease about it. It's not boring, but it is the most boring question. Man, we just need to learn a little a little bit about your background. Where were you from? What was it like growing up? Do you have any siblings?

SPEAKER_00 3:43

So I'm from Hartsville, South Carolina, and I have two sisters by my mother. But from how I was raised, I really got like 10. Gosh! Yeah, my cousins. Wow, yeah, those are all raised together. Yep. And that's how I was. And she I say growing up, it ain't never been the easiest. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. We don't got it all. Nobody had it all coming up in our neighborhood. So you got to make the best of what you got for real. True. And I feel like that's what I that's what I succeeded at, making the best of what I had always. I ain't have everything, but I got two sisters and a bunch of cousins that's gonna help me figure it out and how we're gonna make it happen. Cool, cool. And are you where are you at in that in that lineup? Are you the oldest, middle, or the youngest? I'm really one of the youngest. Like growing up, shoot, I was the second the youngest. Wow. Everybody doorstep, and my little cousin, I call him my little brother. He's four years younger than me, and I'm the next one above him. And it's probably eight above me. Good lord, so there's some there's some gap. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

Stair step only. So your oldest sister, how like how what's the difference in age of you and your older sister?

SPEAKER_00 5:00

I want to say about I just turned 30. I'll be 31 this year, actually, in a couple weeks. My oldest sibling is about 34, 35 now. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

All right, so y'all actually had a chance to be, to like be around each other, actually grow with each other. Not like no 13, 15-year gap.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

Nah, we was all in school together. I'm saying it was, if I had a problem with a guy, I'm calling my older brother. If I had a calling with a girl, I'm calling all my sisters.

SPEAKER_02 5:29

I was about to say, I know they weren't playing no games. I knew they weren't playing any games. Yo, all right, so that's an interesting way to grow up because for a lot of folks, and I understand where you're coming from, like with a big family, actually having your cousins around, having multiple brothers and sisters. And I know with um Skip and I, we grew up in an interesting situation where we, it was us, we were six of us guys in a house, and then we had our cousins, and we were all in one area. So I know how that is. Like we go where we want, how we want, when we want. All the time. You can move like that, right? Because you have enough people with you, right? So it gives you um a sort of confidence, even if you're lacking financial that people may not understand. And I love talking to people from the south about this because this is something that we're really used to in the south. Yeah. We don't need finances. I just need people. Man, we're gonna make it happen. Yeah, that's it. That's all we need. If I have um, if I have a team with me, we're gonna make sure that we get what we want out of the idea that comes out of our head. It's a very uniquely southern idea. Obviously, people do it elsewhere, but it's something about the South. It's like we know we have to.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

And I don't know why. I don't know where that comes from. It's like a I don't have no other choice type feeling.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

It is a mix of the South, never being wealthy. Yeah. Yeah, and also this idea that you gotta bootstrap yourself and nobody's gonna help you, and that whole conservative idea. You gotta make it on your own.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

Yeah, you can do it off the land. And normally, especially you say from Hartsville, and I know uh you and Skip were talking about this before we were before we started, but we grew up in Marion County. And so Marion Mullins, um, between those two places we lived, went to school before we came up to the Midlands. And the one thing I will tell you about that area. Yeah, yo, you gotta get it. Hey, how you do it?

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Yeah, man. Hey, hey, Marion, right up the street from Hard School. It ain't no difference there.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

You know it. You know it. When people talked about the corridor shame like growing up, they'd be like the I95 Corridor Shane. All these scary schools, and they're talking about Dylan and selling all these places. And I've been looking at it, I'm like, what are y'all talking about?

SPEAKER_03 7:25

I thought it, I thought that was normal.

SPEAKER_04 7:27

I thought what was I thought what was going on? What's supposed to happen?

SPEAKER_02 7:32

Schools are supposed to be right now. It's supposed to be like this. I remember the Dylan, specifically Dillon High School, and you may know this because you're from the region. Dylan High School, that high school was built before, and this is what people don't get about. This is why I always root for them. I say, why are you rooting for this Dylan team to do well? That high school was built during the Civil War. See, I'm sure. Oh, they had to bring them out because it was like declining. They said, Well, what's wrong? I'm like, y'all got them in a building from the 1860s. Because they never we didn't get much, so we had to make things happen. So whether it be business, if you're doing arts, if you have um, what is it? Uh if you're serving servicing the community in any way with a grocery store, funeral home, or whatever it is, we knew all the people. It's true. Yeah. I knew um such and such as uncle. They got that as their funeral home. We used to get in trouble. We used to get we used to get into spats or disputes with the with one of the funeral home families, the the McGills, it was. Because they had on the funeral homes, right? And we would get into spats with their family members and stuff like that. But we're cool now, everybody's cool now. But um, back in the day, you used to knew every knew everybody, whether or not you wanted to or not, right? And there was something cool in that. There was some kind of um community in that.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

Believe it or not, I feel like you can make it in the small town more than the bigger town, better than the bigger town, because of that reason. Everybody knows each other, and once you get a little bit of popularity, it's gonna catch on to everybody fast. You're right. Skyrocket.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

Yeah, they'll take it and they'll run with it, and they'll really support you too. They'll hardcore support. And um just talking about that and knowing that you had all of those um family members around you growing up, what influenced you as a child outside of your family members?

SPEAKER_00 9:16

And honestly, I feel like if anything influenced me more than everything, I just say it was the grind. It was the grind. Because before I moved in with my aunt to where I had a lot of siblings, yeah, I was staying with my moms, and we really didn't have too much at all. That's when it was just me, my older sister, and my younger sister. And so I'm used to doing chores, not getting paid for it, getting good grades, not getting paid for. You know, everything you do it because you're supposed to do it. You're supposed to go to school and behave. Yep. Supposed to go to school and get good grades. You're supposed to do all that, so why get paid for it? And then so that attitude right there turning the well, stuff. I kind of want stuff, you know what I'm saying? I want clothes, I want games. I gotta go get the money myself. And then that's where the grind came from. I started figuring it out. At first, I started off selling candy. Selling candy. I know you from where we're from.

SPEAKER_04 10:15

I know, I know Lord True.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

I know you from where we're from. Yo, yes. I was one of the first things. You selling candy, you start figuring out how to do a lot. You start selling everything you can get your hands on. I started selling candy in sixth grade and carried that on till about ninth grade. And I was, you know, enhancing it every time. Start off with the small candy. But mind you, I ain't have no money at first. Yeah, and I ain't telling nobody to do this, no influence, nobody. But I used to go to the store, steal some of the candy, and then go sell all the candy. Oh, yeah. And then I felt bad for stealing it, so I take half of my profits, go buy some kabock, steal some more, and then we'll sell it all.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

And they'll steal it all. I understand that you're running a business too. Too, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

Hey, just a little bit. Just a little bit. I need a little help. What's it called? Nowadays they call them subsidies. That's the same. Yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

But I ain't gonna lie, that came to an end quick. After my last year selling candy, man, the store caught on to what I was doing. They didn't even call the police. They called my granddaddy.

SPEAKER_02 11:29

Oh, that's how you know where you live at. They don't need to call the police.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

Small town. Everybody knows each other. Yep. Called my granddaddy. I thought I was all good. I'm chilling on the street with all my homies. My granddaddy drove this big truck. I'm talking about, we heard him coming on the street before he turned. He done drifted the suburban on the block.

SPEAKER_03 11:49

We look like it was coming, something's coming down the street, yo.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

Hey, man, my granddaddy was probably 60 something, pushing 70 years old when this happened. And then he done hopped out, jacked me up so fast in front of everybody on the block. Yeah. In front of my mama, all her friends, and everybody. And, you know, he getting on me about stealing out the store and stuff like that. And then he asked about my reasoning. And I was just telling him, like, I needed some money. I ain't getting it. I need some. And so he ain't beat me or nothing. He just he understood. And that was when he realized I was growing up. Like, yeah. So every day he started taking me out to work with him, you know. He listened. Yeah. Instead of just discipline, discipline, discipline. Right. He actually noticed what was going on. Oh, here's the right way to do it. Yeah. But he old school at the same time. You can't get away from that now. Yeah. My granddaddy had farm animals on the yard. Oh, yeah. Garden everything. And that was my job now. Go tend to the animals, go tend to the chickens. The grind. Real work. The grind. Like he did the grind. He was a line. Cut grass, do everything. And then he telling me, like, this is how you make a way of living. Because he put in 60 years at the biggest factory in Hartsville and feel like work's job, save up your money, get your 401k. But me personally, I feel like that's the old way of thinking. It's good now. I ain't taking nothing away from it.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

At that time, that was a good option.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Exactly. Now it's got us as far as possible. But now it's like you can make money doing less work, you know? And so I feel like when I was in eighth grade, seventh and eighth grade, my sister was probably my biggest influence. My older sister, she was coming home with pictures of her and Lil Wayne, her and Drake on the stage, you know, her and Nicki Minads. And I'm looking like, well, I know you was at school. You ain't had time to no concert. You know what I'm saying? Man, she telling me she's doing all this in the graphics design class. I'm like, okay. Oh, photoshopping it in there. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_05 13:55

Wow. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Wow. And that was my first time ever seeing Photoshop anything. And I waited three years after she was doing that just to take this class. I couldn't take it until my junior year in high school. And it was stuck in there. You knew. You knew I'm gonna get do this. Man, once I got in that class, I started running. It was no more selling candy. Every project we had in that classroom, I was figuring out how to make money off of it. As far as photography, videography. Yeah. I'm charging for photo shoots. We got a studio in the classroom. I'm charging to record people music. Um, I'm making deca cards. That's what it's for. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I'm doing everything that I'm learning how to do in this class for people. They done, my school done paid me countless times to make the senior shirt, and I sell it to them. And then I also post it and sell the shirt custom way made to everybody else at campus to get double money.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

But that's what they were, that's what that the people don't realize. Um, and I know in education they don't always talk about this, but those classes, and the reason why they're so vital, and people talk about they're like cutting programs like that, which is stupid, is because they're there for that. They're supposed to be direct learn to application.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Exactly. Literally, Photoshop class is how I started my career. That's why it's so funny that you laugh about it.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

Commercial design. Yep, that's it. Man, I'm telling you, man, that class right there changed my life. I I really had no idea what I was about to do at all with school, with nothing. I had no mentors. Yeah. I had no father. My father was locked up. My father didn't graduate with me, didn't come home from prison until I was about to graduate from high school. Wow. I've been locked up the whole time. So I had nobody really just showing me this is how you do it, other than that moment with my granddaddy. Everything else is just, I thought about it. Let me try, see if it worked. If it don't work, I'm on to the next. Think about it, do it again. And shoot, I just been moving since then.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

Do you have any like um point that you can hammer down that you're like, you know what? It was at this point that I realized, because I know you we we talked about the issue what occurred with your grandfather, but and of course, you're learning to grind and to do the hard work. Because obviously everything's not, I always tell people everything's not appealing, it's not always sexy. You just gotta really sometimes just work. People ain't gonna pay you to do the fun jobs fancy kids at all times. Preach. Because like what you're talking about right now, and Mike can speak to this. Yeah, it's cool how to, but I'm not gonna lie, I don't know goddamn thing about no damn Photoshop. That's look hard as hell. I don't even know how the heck y'all do what you do on it.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

And then that's the thing with the fun jobs, is you can get a fun job, but it's gotta be something that other people can't do and they need done.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Yeah. Like how much time did it did you have to take to learn, first of all, to hone that skill?

SPEAKER_00 16:55

Honestly, I would say it would take the average person every year of high school because we only in that classroom for two hours a day. That's the point. Yeah. Now, but me, when I like some and I take an interest in it, I'm overtime on it. So those two years I took the class was all I needed. Because you crammed it. Yeah, I crammed it, was in the class every day, didn't miss a day. And then when I'm doing the projects, I'm taking it outside of school to figure out how I can sell it multiple ways. Okay. So it's like for me, I was teaching myself at the same time I'm learning it.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

Well, you learn that workflow too, then. Yeah, that's the big thing about it. It's like learning software is one thing. Learn software. But then, like, okay, now what do you do with it? How do you actually make that into a you gotta do it.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

You gotta do it. Like you, you, you know, around the time we learned Photoshop, especially you learn in Photoshop before me, that was a high commodity. Nobody knew how to do a photo job. Nobody was major in photography, videography. So when we learned it, it was a special skill. It could take you far. And then back then, we was told, oh, you learn this skill, you're gonna be well in the future. You know everybody's gonna need you for what they do. And then nowadays, everybody's a graphic designer. Everybody's a photography. You you can go buy you a camera and you feel like, oh, I can go get paid for taking photography now without studying the camera. You know what I'm saying? Or you can't graphic designers on Instagram are the worst people.

SPEAKER_05 18:35

Go ahead and tell them.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

I'm like, you think about it like, should I just throw it out there for you? You ain't even got to do a whole lot at all. You just type in some things and Campbell will throw it out there.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

I'm telling you, man, graphics designers are harassers on Instagram. They jump in your DM. Hey man, I like this picture of you. Um, I could see it painted like a 10 by 20. You should let me paint it for you. Yeah, go ahead, bro. You you you think of me like that. Yeah. Go ahead, do it. All right. Yeah, that'll be like 3,500, bro. Yeah. Wow. They're doing that? Man, graphics designers is ridiculous on Instagram. Yeah. Like he said, Kim will can do it all. So to get a good graphics designer now, you have to physically know somebody. Or you just gonna be dealing with them people who are trying to just get paid without using the without knowing the craft. They're just using a bunch of apps.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

Oh, that's interesting. And I mean, you jump right into this question basically, but like the reason why arts matter, right? Um, basically you're explaining right now, just right into the question, but you're explaining the importance of actually knowing the skill, the craft that you're doing, so you can deliver a service that is worth the money that's being paid. Now, as an artist, how has, and especially since you're you've been doing it long enough to understand the the real business of it and the real world implications, how has your creative creativity changed over time?

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Well, the photography, the graphics design and video side has definitely slowed down, but it's only slowed down because I'm trying to incorporate everything I do into one project now. I've spent majority of my 20s doing everything weddings, events, parties, graphics design, and and I noticed I got a lot of talents, but balancing them, it gets boring trying to focus on one. So, because I actually like to use them all. So I try to figure out how to put them all in one thing, and I'm a part of an organization. The organization is filled with a bunch of talented individuals from dancers, financial experts, artists, cameramen, videographers, and we go give back to the community by showing everybody it's different ways that you can blow up. There's different ways you can be an entrepreneur, different ways you can be successful. And I feel like my biggest thing is trying to incorporate that in the one just to give back to the community. That's my the only reason why I moved to Columbia.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

I was about to ask you about the move. Um, and before we ask before you get into the move, what's the name of the organization, if you don't mind?

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Well, my organization is called the Jet Life Foundation. Okay. I give back to the community with education and just community building and just motivation. Yeah. Just motivation as a whole.

SPEAKER_05 21:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

And the organization for the creatives is called the Poor Rich Collective.

SPEAKER_02 21:37

Oh, Poor Rich Collective.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

Okay. Both of them is based out of Columbia, South Carolina.

SPEAKER_02 21:42

Okay, okay. And then how did you and why did you move here from Hartsville?

SPEAKER_00 21:46

I just I found myself getting involved with kids. I was working for the YMCA for a couple of years in Hartsville. Good man. And man, the kids just changed my life. At the time, I had just had my son, and he was about to be one year old, and the stuff I was doing in life just wasn't adding up with me mentoring these kids. So it was just, I needed to go back to school, needed to get something so I can be able to bring back and show them. Yeah. And so everything I do is for kids. Like even now, I'm up here. Yeah, I coach a nine-year-old soccer team. I don't know much about soccer.

SPEAKER_02 22:25

I put in the work. You need to talk, you need to talk to that guy after. Yeah, that's what you need to talk to about soccer.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

Hey, okay. Now I don't know much, but I seen my son play a season and he likes it so much. It's I'm gonna do whatever for him. The team didn't have a coach up in the two days before their first game. So I signed up to be the coach. I did my study and did everything I needed to do so I can get out there for them kids. Yeah. Man, we just had a game this morning. We just had a game nine o'clock this morning. We lost, but hey, them kids playing their heart out. And I can care less if they win or lose as long as they're going hard and they're realizing like their mistakes and learning how to control their emotions and everything. And that's all we do it for for them. Like, we're gonna show the kids everything as far as our creative skills. So they just know a factory job ain't the only thing that's out there for you. You know what I'm saying? Man, you I like that you said that.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

This is that this is one of the little threads that's that's going through the um the interviews today. But knowing what your options are and knowing that you do have worth, because especially for children, I'm happy you're talking about kids. Um a lot of times with kids, some some of the stuff that they'll hear from adults or people in their lives who are supposed to be positive influences, and it's crazy to say this, but it's true. Like Some of the stuff they'll say will actually tear the child down. And take take the heart out of it. Like take the heart out of them so that they don't want to try, don't want to give effort. And just from you telling us your story about how you um learned to hone that skill to then use that skill to get you to another plateau because obviously you were you were you were hungering and had a thirst for more. And for it not being there, you found a way to make it exist. And I I will say this, and this is it shows how the how arts can change your life. And would you just speak on that for us just about the importance of the arts um and how you think it can be used, utilized to influence and change the lives of others?

SPEAKER_00 24:28

Oh, most definitely. I feel like the arts is the arts is crucial. Why? Because in school, what's our most important topics? Math and English. Yep. STEM. That's standard. That's what we need for everyday life. Now you can get through everything with math and English, but then you just gonna get into a routine, be so bored. So what was your most fun classes? Arts. Your curriculum. You know, that's how you get creative. That's how you keep that creativity so you start thinking outside of the box. So the Rs is the most important with me because I had nothing. When I tell you I had nothing as a child, I had a Sega, a Sega in a Nintendo 64 when everybody had PlayStation 2. Wow, bro. Bro, I ain't messing. Yo, he ain't lying.

SPEAKER_02 25:18

Y'all don't realize about that part of the state. If y'all ain't never been to if y'all ain't never been to the PD region. Specifically, don't go, I'm not in Myrtle Beach. Don't I ain't talking about Myrtle? It don't count. Don't count. That's Grand Strand. Don't count. But I'm talking about the PD region. You know what this man is talking about. He ain't lying. I'm telling you. It's a real thing. It's a real thing.

SPEAKER_00 25:37

When the kids don't even know about the Rs nowadays. Yeah. They don't. They're getting taken out of so many schools and so many programs. But I tell you, the graphics design changed my whole life. So that's what I fight for. Yeah. To keep the Rs in the thing, keep the Rs in all the programs and everything.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

You know, that's something that's something I've been doing a lot of talking about lately with people is like, you know, the the reasons arts is important. Because everybody's stuck on STEM stuff right now. It's gotta be STEM. It's gotta be technology and technology, man. Yeah, yeah. Exasperated breath in the back of the room. Yeah. But and and and it's true, everything is technology, and we use technology in the arts and all of that. But um art, music, literature, all all of the types of arts is really how we um talk about that other stuff. It's too complicated to just like even if you think about poetry, it's cause uh I can't just write it down in prose because it's not gonna do it. Yeah, how to make it. Right. Yeah. So I don't know, man. Uh I feel like the more we take that out, the more we're not really um helping the youth at all. And it's it's more than it just being a fun class. It's you gotta get your mind going in that direction, you know? It's problem solving.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

Yeah, it is thinking outside the problem. That's what you keep talking about. Like I keep hearing you saying this. I'm like, I didn't even think about it like that. It's the problem solving that comes along with arts is amazing. Oh, yeah. And it teaches you it in a fun way. And like, even for you, you're like, man, I gotta sell this. I don't gotta go to the store and take this kidney from them no more.

SPEAKER_04 27:14

It's not a I got a skill now. I know I can go out here.

SPEAKER_02 27:17

What do you need me? What do you need done? I got you right here. Come over here. I can get you that. And and then now you done you done solved the problem, you learned the skill, and you solved somebody else's problem. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

Even when you're talking about regular sports as an art, yeah, it teaches team building, problem solving, teamwork, sportsmanship. We need that because it gets you creative. It teaches kids how to handle adversity. And when you can't handle adversity, you end up in some situations you can't pull yourself out of. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 27:48

Great point. Great point. Man, that's solid, man. That's great, man. Great way to put it, bro. Great way to put it. Um, how's your art changed? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

My art, mm, now I'm more so on the business side of things. Like I think of ideas, how can I incorporate all my friends and their talents instead of just my own. I I went from a photographer, I sat the camera down for a second and tried acting and modeling for a while. And I've been real successful in all of these. I'm published model in magazines, fashion shows. I've been acting in movies that's gonna be on prime this month. Ooh, ooh. Yo, shout them out.

SPEAKER_03 28:31

Let us know. We'll make sure we make sure people check them out.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

It's actually called My Crazy Family. It's directed and produced by Lisa Kineski. Okay. She's a Lamar, South Carolina native at that. But she's in Columbia, South Carolina as well. And dealing with Miss Lisa, I'm not even gonna lie to you, she done gave me some major connections. I've connected with some people in Chicago that are famous now. Um I've filmed for Clifton Powell. You know.

SPEAKER_03 28:59

Shut up. Yeah, everybody knows Clifton King. Clifton Powell.

SPEAKER_00 29:02

Pinky Alfaday. Yeah, yeah. Um, who else? Clifton Powell was in the movie. Some people from The Baby, his camp was in the movie. Um, Miss Lisa Daughter, Monet Um Kineski, she's actually in that movie as well. And that was a couple years ago. That's actually out now. Okay. Um, it's I forget the name of it, honestly. We done did so much by now.

SPEAKER_02 29:27

But you can shoot this to us on the back channel and we'll make sure to promote it. Yeah, we'll promote it because then we'll we'll also make sure we check it out.

SPEAKER_00 29:34

Okay, okay. I got you. Yes, sir. Definitely get that to y'all. But man, we've been doing so much. I produced a web series called The Group Chat. We had that running for about a year. We started it in COVID and stopped it right after COVID. We tried to bring it back out for about two episodes, but we needed more hands on deck to finish the project. Uh so my my creative, my creative skills and my creative vision constantly changes with the times.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

And I like how you said this earlier, and you're honest about it. I was like, people say they are what they say they are. You said you wanted to make sure you could use all of your talents and skills at once, as opposed to just having to focus on one thing at a time. Yes. And by doing what you're doing, I see how you're doing it making it happen. Um, you're you're making sure that you're getting to use all of your skills in one single um production so that you can get the most out of it, maximum output.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

Like with our growth chat show, I filmed it, but I had all my guys with me to help direct it. And I had some guys appointed for community outreach. But as far as putting it together, I edit all the videos, do all the photo shoots and stuff like that. But like you guys are saying, it gets too time consuming to be doing that back to back to back to back without having a major team. And everybody's not good at Photoshop and video. You gotta know we are.

SPEAKER_02 31:01

The people that know how to do it, it's a it's a skill that you have to share. Yes. Yep, it has to be shared. Um, I know one thing I always like to ask artists, and I know we had a gentleman here earlier who's a musician, and he also does graphic arts. Um, well, not graphic arts, he does media, um, in the sense of pictures, painting, stuff like that. Do you feel that there is a such thing? I was gonna ask you this question, just gonna like ask you this question. You think there's a such thing as bad art?

SPEAKER_00 31:34

No, no. I feel like there's a such thing as simple art, but not bad art. Uh-huh. You know? And I just feel like the simpleness comes from somebody not taking as much time in it and just doing something. Like it's a real famous piece going around. It's been going around for a couple years. It was a banana duct tape to a wall. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel like that's very simple, but to some most people it could be art. To some people, now to me, it's not my cup of tea. I ain't gonna hang that in my house.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

But so my question with that, because I've seen it a couple times. Yeah. It's gotta be fiberglass, right? Like the banana would present that. That's what I was wondering. Is it a real banana? It can't be, unless it's just supposed to do that.

SPEAKER_00 32:21

And I actually heard the guy who bought that paint, and the first thing he did was take the banana down and eat it. Now, don't quote me, I don't know if it's true or not. That's just what I heard.

SPEAKER_02 32:31

Wow. I mean, but that goes to the point what you're talking about. And this is what we're um we were talking about this in this conversation earlier is the skill, like the the skill required to do art. Like, does it matter or not?

SPEAKER_00 32:43

And no, does it matter? I and I don't think so because it's an audience for everybody. You're right. You do photography, I do photography. Yeah, you got a hundred customers, I got a hundred customers. Yeah. And we don't have night one same customer. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

I think intention's a lot to do with it too. Uh-huh. Because I know that there are we're exposed to a lot more quote unquote art now. Yes. You can just you can just go and find pictures, and you know, the AI might be making something that looks cool. Um, but how much intention is there unless there's a person that's very intentionally selecting for what they get? You know what I'm saying? Because we've talked about AI art before, and I feel like it can be a tool to be used properly that will assist you in making good. Right, but the intention's still gotta be there. You still gotta go through a thousand versions of the thing. Yeah, and it asks you for prompt.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

Like your prompts have to be worth it. Yeah. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 33:40

The prompts definitely gotta matter. I'm telling you, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:43

Or you aren't getting what you're wanting out of it. And I'm happy you bought that up by AI because we gotta ask you, man, how do you think AI is gonna influence and affect the the industry that you're in?

SPEAKER_00 33:53

I use it a lot, honestly. Yeah, but not for not for nothing major, you know. Okay. I I might use it for simple stuff. I might be at work and type up an email real quick just to say what I want to say straightforward. Copy and paste it into the AI. Make this sound more personal, you know what I'm saying? Make it sound like a human could say this. Correct this. So it sounds like I'm being nice, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. I do stuff like that with the AI.

SPEAKER_02 34:22

But do you use it for any of your art? Nah. Not yet. You ain't to that point yet. Go ahead and tell little people on that camera that you ain't using it yet for the art. I gotta do my own art, man. AI can't do what I do. There you go. Because here's my thing the human aspect of art is one of the things that make that makes it attractive, that makes it worth being considered culture and consumable.

SPEAKER_00 34:42

Exactly. Like, how can you consume it from a computer and call it chore?

SPEAKER_02 34:47

And this is, and I like how you said, and and Tomai is agreeing with her head now, but I like that she said, you didn't call it bad art, but you said simple art and non-simple art. Like something that you actually have to put effort, work into, you got to show your skill. Um, because one of the things that got me last year, it was like threw me off, Tyler Perry was supposed to build a studio, an addition, add on to the studio, like eight million dollars. Yeah. That the AI technology that can make the movies and the in the video was coming out. He immediately scrapped that idea to wait for that to develop to buy more computers to just use that to make the art. And I was like, but I haven't seen any of the stuff that's come out yet because obviously that was in the works, right? Um, but I was just like, all right, that's a major move because that was eight million dollars he was getting ready to put in as an add-on. Well, what's eight million dollars in a studio though? That's my point. He was just gonna build another set, another soundstage.

SPEAKER_00 35:44

But does eight million dollars invested into a production mean that's a good movie, or that's just uh high budget? That's my point.

SPEAKER_01 35:52

Yeah, see what I'm saying? So Well, and when you but when you're talking about a studio, that's a capital good. You expect him to make that money back. That and that's what I was thinking.

SPEAKER_02 36:00

Was he not did he not have faith that it would pay out? And instead he's like, I'm gonna put my faith in this AI because I think the AI can make a comparable product.

SPEAKER_01 36:10

See, I'm I'm I'm interested to see like what what we're talking about because a little bit of how the sausage is made. We might use a little bit of AI for some editing. It is a thing. Uh-huh. But I couldn't imagine doing a movie like that. Yeah. Switching between camera one and camera two is a little different. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:31

Yeah. And you know, aspect ratio on the AI is a little bit different too, but Exactly. A whole movie?

SPEAKER_02 36:39

Yeah, they're looking to use it, especially for um any background fill-in people, um, to have certain uh camera, camera shots, especially ones like when you're coming in.

SPEAKER_03 36:50

Hey man, hey man.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

Hey, that's like when you're coming in from a um from a distance and instead of paying to actually have somebody flying a huge computer-generated budget or a drone. Because you remember, I'm gonna say this too. Growing up, we didn't have a lot of um, I remember when this was new and they moved away from a lot of stunts and they went to CGI. Yeah. And you remember how it took us time to catch it because at first you're like, hey, this does look weird. You can tell CGI can tell us fake. As long as you couldn't see nothing behind.

SPEAKER_01 37:22

Yeah, wow. I mean, think about it. Star Wars was doing this like in the the 70s. But they were still doing models. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 37:32

Yeah, lots of models because you had to do models and shoot. And so I remember watching that girl and I was like, man, we're gonna really be doing that. And I saw it get better. I was like, oh, okay, it's actually kind of good. Green screens kind of good. You know this. When they switch from blue to green, that was a good thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was like, yo, this is kind of dope. Oh, it's not fuzzy no more. Eventually, I'm expecting that it will catch up to the point where it can be used. But that human aspect is still very important. How you decide to shoot it, the motion in the camera, like the whole idea that Spike Lee has a shot named after him because he figured out how to put a card on and use it a certain way. AI's not gonna do that. Nah, you ain't gonna get a shot named after him. Nah, you ain't getting that shot like that. That's just a computerized shot. You see what I'm saying? So, like, I don't I don't think that that's something that we'll lose. But with that with that being said, especially as things are changing, do you think that you're gonna have to pivot or change the way in which you produce your work in order to stay relevant?

SPEAKER_00 38:27

And no, no, because I feel like the way I do things, I'm real creative. I'm good on thinking of ideas on the fly as far as keeping my day-to-day straight, so I can be creative. And I adapt with the times every day. I can use AI to help me out and assist me a little bit, yeah, but as far as in the future, unless everybody is relying on AI to do the thing, nah, I don't have to.

SPEAKER_01 38:57

Shoot, even if everybody's relying on AI, then all of a sudden you're a niche business.

SPEAKER_00 39:00

Yeah, you feel me? Yeah, you stay where you at, man. I don't feel like I ever have to just 100% rely on it. Not even 50% rely on AI.

SPEAKER_02 39:09

Because like right now you aren't using it to put anything together. Nah. Man, that's amazing, bro.

SPEAKER_00 39:14

I'm only using AI to put together emails because I I'm enjoying this too.

SPEAKER_02 39:19

We have a very candid uh AI user back here that likes to put together that AI for that for the words. The words, yeah. Yeah, your intro might have might have branched GPT a couple of times just to make sure it was nice and tight. Um But uh on that on that note, and I know you're talking about the your ability to be creative, part of that is you and how you balance the time to make sure you give yourself chances to to to um cultivate your creativity. Man, like what's your work life balance look like? Like, how do you um do that and raise your child and man?

SPEAKER_00 39:53

Believe it or not, I'm probably one of the most disorganized, organized people you know. As far as I can ask this, you ready? When were you born? April 5th. April 5th.

SPEAKER_04 40:07

Hey! Hey, Aries in the house! Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, all right.

SPEAKER_00 40:10

Yeah, and what I mean when I say that, I say everything, I have it down to a science as far as timing. Yeah, I have about three homeboys that I talk to on a day-based daily basis. I got a girl at home and my son at home, you know. So I have to make family time, time for my friends, school, and I gotta stay creative. So a day for me is I wake up probably six o'clock every morning, get my son ready to go to school. He got a short window, he gotta be there before he's tardy. Drop him off, and then I head to work. And I'm probably at work for about two, three hours, take an hour break, go to the gym, and get back to work. I work till about three o'clock every day, and then I go get my son. I give him about two hours on the game, and then we spend about two hours together, unless he got a sports practice or something like that. Gotcha. I say, he got a practice once a week. I got a flag football practice for myself once a week, and we both got a game that same week. And yeah, so I'm balancing the life.

SPEAKER_01 41:18

Dead life.

SPEAKER_00 41:19

Yeah, real talk. I got one homeboy, he worked from home. So he worked from home two days a week. So I make sure to kick it with him one of these two days, if not both. Yeah. I got another one, he's in college. So he pulled up on me through my lunch break at home every now and then, talk to him. And the other one, he works a night shift. So while I'm at work, and when I get off, I can go keep up with him. And then I'm keeping up with my family from like four o'clock all the way throughout the rest of the day. If we don't got practices and stuff. So it gives me time for the gym, family time, friends time, staying creative. Because I'm right now, my my professional life, I'm a quality improvement specialist for the state of South Carolina. Wow. Yeah. I'm in charge of every prison. You got the big boy job. Yeah, I'm in charge of every prison in South Carolina as far as quality improvement goes. We making sure health administration is going through safely and successfully, and I do everything to secure that process. And so that's my day-to-day life. And then I try to do something completely different. I see that. You know, just so I don't have to think about that when I come home and talk about all that stuff. So I play flag football every week. We got practice in the game. My son got a soccer game and practice that I'm the coach of every week. And then Jet Life. It's the foundation. You know, give back to the community. Got my son coming to me like, Dad, I want to give back to the homeless this week. Or, you know, stuff like that. So we we come together now and we do stuff like that.

SPEAKER_05 42:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:59

I done, in the year of 2022, I went and donated over a thousand tablets to Benedict College. Benedict College again. Yeah. That's my album modum, man.

SPEAKER_02 43:12

Benedict been up in every interview today. Yeah. Shout out Benedict College.

SPEAKER_00 43:16

Man, I donated over 500 tablets to a couple of different elementary schools and after-school programs. And that's what I get joy out of. Like I say, my foundation, we just push towards education and creativity. Yeah. And we do what we can to help with that. And so that's just a day in the life of me. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 43:37

Our life balance.

SPEAKER_02 43:38

Wow, yeah. And you figured it out. The one thing I like that you said too is that you make sure to check in with your people. Yeah. Everybody. Everybody. And you give them time so that they know that they're a part of your life. And I know for a lot of millennials might say that it's hard to do nowadays. There's a lot of distractions, all this stuff going on. But to hear somebody doing it, obviously you can make it happen.

SPEAKER_00 43:59

It's like, and that's why I said through my whole 20s, I've been doing a little bit of everything. But now I figured out how to put it all together so that I can just, instead of balancing the work, I balance the people so that I know what everybody else got going on. That's a good one. You know, when you see how you can help somebody, they're more inclined to help you with everything you're doing. Drop a jewel.

SPEAKER_02 44:23

Go ahead and look at them and tell you, yeah, you drop the jewel on them right there.

SPEAKER_00 44:25

Don't try to balance the work. Balance the people. Because when you see your people got a need and you're able to help them, they're more inclined to help you.

SPEAKER_02 44:35

Dope. Dope. I I man, you impressive brother. You impressive brother, man. I'm not even gonna lie.

SPEAKER_01 44:41

Um so how do you handle um like creative blocks and such questions? Sounds like you're doing a lot of I really just sit on it.

SPEAKER_00 44:50

I ain't even gonna lie, just wait on it. Hey, I just sit on it. Like, like I make music, but I don't make music all the time. I don't want to blow up as no rapper, no artist, or none of that. But I like making music, it makes me feel good, you know? But I can only make music when I'm in the mood to, you understand? I might go months without making a song and then go make it. But I'm not sitting here trying to force myself how to write it. No obsession. I'm going to do something else. You know, I might go to the gym, I might go shoot a video, I might go to work. And then I come back to it when I feel like it, because it's all in a list of priority. And my biggest priority is my nonprofit and what we can do to give back to the community. So my personal stuff always gets pushed to the back if I'm blocked on it.

SPEAKER_02 45:41

Man, good Lord. Yeah. It's like you ready? You're you're like you're like. a young guy with with with a with with with wisdom of grandfather right now. Hey man, that's who I was raised by my granddaddy. I can tell I can see granddaddy like it's like no like I understand when it's time to have fun, but I know when to put that stuff away and handle business. And you know what your business is. And like I said, you understand something I always tell people people are the best and most important resource. Most definitely. That's why I was happy when you said that. Because I don't get to hear that a lot from folks. They like nah it's money or it's my or is this food stuff I got or is this this building material. No, and none of that's moving without people. Nah at all. Without people.

SPEAKER_00 46:26

Man from the year of 2021 no 2020 to 2022 I probably made the most money I ever made in my life as far as I was working for the Affordable Connectivity Program. Okay. You know you see the guys outside with the tent doing the tablets for the low income neighborhoods. Yeah man I went all over the United States doing that from here to every state between here and New Mexico and I've been sitting out there every day I went out I was making no less than $1,000 and I was going out every day and the same $1,000 I was making that day I would get a check at the end of the week for each day for about double the $1,000. So if I made a thousand that day that's $2,000 on my check. If I made a thousand five days in a row that's $10,000 on my check. And so I was living on the road doing this and I would bring all my friends with me like one at a time. You want to come this trip you want to come this trip and around this time from 2020 to 2022 nobody really had a job.

SPEAKER_04 47:30

Everybody Yo you're right you're right this is weird you were actually out here working for some reason like why see I stopped working nobody got a job everybody was just really hustling for real.

SPEAKER_00 47:39

I don't know why what COVID everybody was just hustling the great uh the great resignation so man me and all my friends we made so much money we was just spending splurging we didn't have any major investments but we were still giving back to the community I was tight I take my friends on the road and they're leaving with like $2,000 and satisfied you know they're happy. Yeah we ain't getting paid hourly for whatever I made we splitting it in half and we putting some away for the car the hotel and doing what we gotta do. And it's like they appreciated that so all my friends they know when I need something they're coming and it's not even because of the money it's because of the time we spent doing it. You know that was the fact that I'm taking y'all to Indiana Indianapolis you know New Mexico and we just chilling for weeks at a time and making a lot of money doing the right thing. Yeah doing the right thing we don't even we don't have to sell nothing no we're selling tablets.

SPEAKER_02 48:42

And then at the end of the program I got enough tablets left over to be able to donate over a thousand to Benedict My you impressive as hell man we just gotta keep going man keep going man all right I I know we gotta wrap but before we wrap up um if you could make sure look at that camera there let people know what you got going on anything upcoming how to contact you and how to solicit you for services.

SPEAKER_00 49:13

Okay. So my name Dominique Jet owner of JetLife Media you can contact me through Instagram at it's just jetlife or jet life media and my website is justjetlife.com my upcoming projects is we have a movie dropping the prime called My Crazy Family. We're working on the part two to the movie now you should see it within the next year or two years to Prime and my projects right now is you gotta wait for that. I'm just focused on the foundation we got something big coming for the foundation and I guarantee you it's gonna turn the whole community around you just got to wait on it. That's what's up I can tell y'all about it a little bit off camera because I don't want to share too much camera.

SPEAKER_02 49:59

Man I'ma tell you like this man it's always nice to speak to people in the community that are doing things always love when people come from someplace else to the community and they don't just exploit the community but they give back to it. That's why I keep saying you're very impressive because for a lot of people that's not why you do it you go to somewhere else to exploit resources right but for what you're doing man amazing phenomenal work but um for the Hilltop Glove podcast this is DJ and what? A mic special guest in back back yeah Foxworth in the house yo he also has an awesome podcast y'all gotta check it out two yeah two four young multiply have babies all right and then obviously our esteemed guests we got Dominique Jet in the building it's just Jed Life. Excellent we greatly appreciate having you on here sharing some um experiences life stories wisdom um man and then just giving us motivation um go like and subscribe yeah please please go like and subscribe us um make sure that you check us out on all the yeah all the platforms are everywhere if you are uh listening to us on podcasts I want you to go and pull up your YouTube real quick yes and subscribe to us there and if you watch us on YouTube I want you to go and pull up your podcast and subscribe to us there.

SPEAKER_01 51:17

Yes because we want to make sure that you know everything is coming out here and uh we put a lot of work into this podcast and we want our our real fans to to get their episodes in and we we like to see them analytics too.

SPEAKER_02 51:29

Yep. Plus notification make sure you hit that notification bell so that way you'll know when stuff is popping off. We also have a Patreon. If you aren't aware of it we have a Patreon um I'm a member of my own Patreon. I think you should be too we have some great content up there all these things that we do that are documentary style work is on there as well so you're gonna want to check that out if you want some more long format stuff. We also have our arbitrary conversations I know Skip and I we're gonna be recording something this week because there's a lot of stuff going on right now that we need to discuss. We got to have a talk. So it will be up there so you can check that stuff out. But in the meantime in between times make sure you tell somebody next them that you love them and that you appreciate them. Make sure that people know this because sometimes I hate I hate to say this we got to give people flowers when they're going so let's not do that. But for the Hilltop Glove podcast we signing off. Y'all have a blessed one. Peace.