Meet Max Goods And His Roots

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Welcome back to the Hilltop Glove Podcast. Today we had the pleasure of speaking with the talented Max Good, an artist, producer, and self-taught engineer based in upstate South Carolina. Originally, Halen. Go ahead. Max Goods with a ass good. Why why did I say that? No, you're so very right. Welcome back to the Hilltop Globe podcast. Today we had the pleasure of speaking with the talented Max Goods, an artist, producer, and self-taught engineer based in upstate South Carolina. Originally hailing from Brooklyn, New York, Max relocated to Greenwood, South Carolina at the age of 10. Max's journey in music began with five five years of classical music training, which laid the foundation for his creative endeavors. In 2016, he took a significant step by publishing his first song, marking the beginning of his professional music career. Stay tuned as we delve into the musical mind of Max Goods, exploring his inspirations, creative process, and experiences in the industry. How are you doing today, my brother?

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Wow. I'm doing great after that. That was crazy.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

You sound amazing, don't you?

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Wow. I didn't know I did that. Hey, right? That's amazing. Yeah, you did it. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:18

We just reading it back. We always like to say thank you to Maya for writing such a good Thank you. Um as you met her, her little creepy self, got to dig in a little bit on you and figuring out what's going on with you here. And I guess we'll start we'll start with this first. I always like to say, um, I guess it's a little misnomer that uh no, not misnomer. So Mr. Goods has been uh featured on our playlist back when the playlist is being done properly. I apologize to y'all for it not being done. Y'all give a shout out if you want the playlist to come back.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Yeah, y'all make some noise. I want that to come back.

SPEAKER_03 1:52

Yeah, so it's good to actually have we like to have people who have been on our playlist on the podcast because now we can get a little bit into more of who you are. And apparently people like to know who their artists are.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_03 2:05

This is a good thing for us to do, and it's nice to have you on here today. I know the one thing we always start off with, and we talked about this when we were um in the green room, as they would call it. We start off each episode by asking about your upbringing. Who where do you where are you coming from? How did you get there? And you could and could you tell us a little bit about your early influences?

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Um, ooh, you know what's crazy? I was thinking about, I think about this a lot. Um it's kind of it's kind of a mixed bag, really. Because I didn't start off with I didn't even get into like rapping and hip-hop until like junior, uh not junior, freshman in high school. Wow. You know what I'm saying? Like, but my influences, a lot of my influence started like me and my mom would hang out a lot. Yeah. And um, I'm always been a sponge, so I say that to say that walking around those Brooklyn streets, she would always take me, she would make sure once a week we go to the library, we would go to the natural history museum, she took me to plays, time anything like we would go on like adventures, like she made sure. And um thinking and thinking back at it, I feel like that influenced um my approach to music. And I realized that like music is my vehicle, but what I'm really in love with is the the process of just being able to transmute my feelings into something, and it might just happens to be music, you know. But if it was anything, but my approach starts from being able to see like oh, I live in an apartment, but then if I walk down a block, there's like architecture, and I didn't know that, I didn't have the language, but I knew I'm like that's different, you know what I'm saying? So a lot of like just the inspiration, and I kind of like something's crystallized, and I just still have that to this day of like that's how like my my artistic journey started. Any siblings? Um, yes, but I was I was maybe 12 when my little brothers were born, so I spent a good time being the only child. Wow, so you get 12. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_03 4:08

All right, all right, how how's you how's your relationship with your siblings since there's such a large scale?

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Oh well, okay. I have more I have um step brothers and sisters too. Well, I love them though. Um everybody's they you know what's crazy? I'm the oldest. I figure. So the pressure, yeah, it was like a new, it was introduced, you know what I'm saying? It wasn't like I grew up with the pressure, it was like, oh, like lock in. You know what I'm saying? Like, I thank my little brother every day um when he was born because it did, he he came around in a time where um I could have gone left or right in terms of like just decision making. And his presence allowed me to like, hey, don't do that. You know what I'm saying? Cause I'm like, because my cause my mother will always sit me down, because that's one thing we had, it was like a uh interpersonal relationship. So she was like, hey, he's watching you, you know what I'm saying? He's coming into this world, you got somebody looking up to you every so at 15, 16, it was like, oh, you want to come hang with us? It's like I probably shouldn't do that. Cause I want to, but his what what I feel like I want it, I need to be that for him. So that kind of influenced a lot of decisions that I made in my life to just try to make sure that I'm always because I ain't gonna lie, I'm crazy. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_04 5:16

Like I'm crazy.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

I come from my family's crazy, like we do, like we're just nuts. But at the same time, like, yeah, that just kept me in line, like bumpers on our on the alleyway, long story short. So I I always and all my siblings, honestly, like they're all just yeah, it's just I just feel like the weight of making sure that I'm always doing something, something.

SPEAKER_03 5:35

You know, you have eyes watching, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Uh-huh. Responsibility. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:41

Man with many men with children. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

I ain't got there yet, but yeah, I understand, yeah, I get it.

SPEAKER_03 5:50

And I know uh I know that especially in the realm of music and in the genre of music that you're in, there are a lot of eyes on you, um, specifically with what type of content you produce and etc. And I know we were talking about this, and I thought this was hilarious. And I just want to speak. The kids love the jams. Hey, man.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

They love the tongue. I can't. Like I it's the ultimate compliment. You know, I never, you know, like I make a lot of my stuff in my bedroom, bedroom producer. Uh hopefully I I love that about myself. Yeah, I know that's like a thing. But anyway, I said this and say, like, I'd be surprised if anybody listened to it. But the fact that kids like enjoyment music, I was like, oh, okay, maybe I'm tapped into something. Like, yeah, because they don't have a lot of the judgments of the world and all this stuff, they just like it on their own. Yeah, so I was like, wow, that's the ultimate compliment. Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

We we were just talking earlier today about uh the the loss of being real in hip hop and how especially in the younger generation, like there's a vacuum of that. So I feel like you kind of are are are answering that.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Oh, I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_03 6:59

Wow, yeah. Wow. That's real talk. No, seriously. Yeah, yeah. This is real talk. Like your music, it doesn't seem contrived. Oh, but like when we're when I'm listening to it, and then when I met you today, especially in person, because obviously I can look at your social media, I can look at the pictures and stuff, the representation you have yourself to the outside world. Uh, and I'm like, okay, I could try to get an idea of who this person is, but then when I actually got to meet you in person and see your energy and see how you present yourself, I'm like, yeah, that's a real dude. Like, he's a real person, he's flesh and blood, he looked like a regular person like me. Like, he's not gonna, I don't have to worry about you tripping out on me.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

No, never that. Um, yeah, like I take pride in like I don't know where I got that from, but I do like take pride in like being quote unquote normal, I guess. Yeah, like but and because here's the thing, not to get too dead, but you know, when you I've been around artists my whole life, and artists are wacky, like they they can be, you know, as a creative, I know that I'm like nuts sometimes. So like I do have the ability to tame it, you know what I'm saying? I don't know, I feel like I feel blessed knowing that I can like okay, and they mean you put on normal face, and yeah, but yeah, when I get into the studio, I do tap into like a very like made.

SPEAKER_03 8:15

You better so we can get something good.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Freedom, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:18

We were we were we were discussing this uh as as well earlier, and I'm happy that we're talking about this now, like how artists are kind of strange, kind of kooky. Yeah, we were talking about fashion and we were talking about Pharrell. Oh, we about how strange Pharrell is. But the fact that that strangeness has some kind of end goal to it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? It has an end goal to it. Now, this is gonna lead us right into watching us right into this question. So, in order to become good at something, you have to spend hours, practice, training, approach to get to something, right? And so one of one of your favorite non-traditional artists, Virgil. Absolutely. Absolutely, yes. Could you speak about your your like and your and your your care for that that artist?

SPEAKER_00 9:06

For Virgil, um, yes. Virgil just he opened my mind to being able to be, okay, okay, I'll say it like this. I never felt like I was particularly the best at anything. You know what I'm saying? So I never felt like I'm the best producer, I'm the best rapper, da da da da. So once I once I learned who Virgil was, yeah, which was like way after he already started was in the industry, I realized that he had a similar kind of like, hey, like, I'm um uh a jack of all trades, but I do it well. And then with the the deeper I got into it, the more I'm like his philosophy on his work ethic and all that. And I was like, oh, I can I can I wasn't born Whitney Houston, you know what I'm saying, with that level of talent, but I can work my ass off to become my black ass off. There you go. To um to be great, you know what I'm saying? So like I'm just that's kind of like my relationship with Virgil, like everything he does is inspiring. He he has this very infamous quote about how like um art is where you place it. Cause like if you have like a a you have like a crumpled up soda can next to a trash can, it's like that's trash. But if you put that in a gallery, now it's art. So it's like there's just a lot of philosophies that he has that I'm like, okay. My my goal, I feel like what makes me different from a lot of well, most uh rappers specifically is that my all

Virgil, Discipline, And Outside Influences

SPEAKER_00 10:31

my inspirations come from outside of the culture.

SPEAKER_03 10:33

That's what yeah. When we were discussing things out there, I thought that was odd. We didn't talk about a single rapper, because I brought one up, but we didn't talk about a single rapper.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Yeah, yeah, like you know what I'm saying, because I I came, I started producing first. Um but the rap, yeah, the rapping part, like I find rappers that I liked and I loved, but when that comes to me and what I make, it's all about how can I okay, I'm gonna watch, I'm gonna go down a rabbit hole about architecture, I'm gonna go down a rabbit hole about film and directors. And sometimes when I'm in the studio making beats, I'll throw on the latest runway of whoever. Because I'm trying to just take my art and take it to a different place, and I feel like I can't do that if I'm just listening to rappers all day, you know. That's true.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

You get locked into the same kind of vibe, yeah, yeah, yeah. Isn't that what you're talking about earlier?

SPEAKER_03 11:22

Yeah, you're you're doing the right thing.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

I'm doing hip hop. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, because that's why I love it at the end of the day. I love the hip-hop. Um, but I was just I was just listening to like, you know, an interview with Fat Fire Freddy, yeah, and I just kind of confirmed, like, yeah, like D, like, this is an art, and I respect hip-hop as an art, and I wanted to live in a space where like you can go to a Juilliard and you could study a ballet. I want to be able to have that level of esteem with hip-hop. But in order for it to get there, or even it's probably is there, but I want to be a part of that conversation of like, no, this is serious, but that requires real discipline. And the thing about art history and all these other the way that people talk about their mediums is like, oh, it's it's a discipline, it's a practice. It's more than just like, I'm just going to the studio and telling my story, which is good, but that's not how I make my stuff, you know.

SPEAKER_03 12:09

You want to level it up like we were discussing earlier, couture. You want it to be something that you take and you can uh you can train you can transfer the skills and understanding to other high-level experiences.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

I love the way I love the way that fashion people talk about fashion.

SPEAKER_03 12:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

I love the way, same thing with architects, the same thing with RB, specifically R B rhythm and blue, the way that people who are who do RB, uh-huh, the way that they talk about music, I'm like, okay, I don't need to figure it out.

SPEAKER_03 12:40

Especially RB artists from the UK. They love they study us more than we study. I know.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

They know us better than ourselves. So, yeah, so I always wanted to. Same thing with like when with food. Like, when you see people who love food, the way that they talk about it and how it's like it's more than just eating, it's like the how it makes them feel. That's how I want to transmute that into my music the best as I can. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 13:02

And so, like, just building more on this um this practice and approach, so obviously you had early training. Could you talk about your early training and how it shaped the way you approach music to this? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

So um when it when I moved to South Carolina, that was around the same year that Drumline came out, right? Oh that's a good so between that that transition from like fifth grade to sixth grade is when a lot of people joined the band. So I was like, I'm gonna be Nick Cannon, like I'm going to play the snake, you know? Yeah, so that's kind of that's how that started. I'm like, I'm gonna play the drums. Yes, which is crazy to say in 2026. Yeah, it is, it is. But I was there, you know what I'm saying? We was there, yeah. So, but unfortunately, day one, so did everybody else. Everybody wanted to be Nick Cannon, and so my band director was like, What about the trumpet? And I said, sure, whatever, I'm here, you know what I'm saying? And for this this goes into my work ethic because for the first three years, I was bad.

SPEAKER_03 14:05

Oh, you suck.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Last chair, me and my friend, me and my friend Mike Michael Smith, I never forget. Shout out to you, Mike. We would always go into band class and compete for last year. It was like an inside joke. It was something that we just but then uh I I trained, I changed my instrument to something that nobody ever heard of called the euphonium, and I would just happen to be good at it.

SPEAKER_03 14:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

Yeah, I have. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:32

And why were you, how did you, why and how?

SPEAKER_00 14:34

It's an interesting story. I don't know if I should tell it or not. You got it. All right. So I'm not gonna say his name, but an older gentleman, he pulled me in and a friend aside and he said, I know you play the trumpet, but you got some big lips.

SPEAKER_03 14:48

I was about to say, this seems like you're about to go down the dirt fast.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

You need to fast. You need to use a bigger mouthpiece. So I said, hmm. Pause. Okay. So he gave me the mouthpiece, and I enough, and it was comfortable. And I was like, at that time, I'm talking about I'm like a plastic man. I'm like, sure, let's do it. Yeah, and it turns out I was actually really good at it. And then for some reason, it just like it clicked. And from then on, I just was just good. I don't know. I couldn't even, I I mean, like, look at that. That guy was like a scout.

SPEAKER_03 15:16

Yeah, he knew he knew he was like, he kept it real, long arms, yeah, shoulders with that. But what are you gonna be good power forward?

SPEAKER_00 15:22

Yeah, and then that was the that was kind of, but I feel like I'm I'm um going off on a tangent. I say that to say that practicing classical music, learning how to um sight read and being on traveling and all of this stuff, yeah. What introduced me to like making music was I would be playing songs and then I would hear melodies that wasn't in the music. And for a long time I didn't know that that was like a super empower. That is, you know what I'm saying? I was like, I thought I was just like, I don't know. Cold training them, that's how they did it. Yeah, so yeah, as the like this, exactly, like exactly. And this was prior to um like Fruity Loops and all that stuff, so I didn't know that it existed, but I didn't know any of that stuff. So with that saying, I'm like, okay, what am I supposed to learn how to compose? So like for a while I wanted to be a composer. Um so but yeah, that's how that kind of started of like me figuring out that I could make music, but I always I always gotta get his tidbit out. Before I actually made music classically, there was this website called Cartoon Network. Yo, had video games, yeah, and Andre 3000 had a video game on the Cartoon Networks where I don't know if you remember, he had a TV show. Remember, he had a cartoon, he did, he did, and in the game, what you would do is you would take all the students and they all had um instruments, and when you put them in the classroom, they would play the sounds and you can mix the basses with the and that's how I was producing, and I didn't know this. I didn't know that. That's what it is, so then it all kind of like came together, you know, saying at some point I'm like, oh, I low key been training for this for a while.

SPEAKER_03 17:01

So once I got my hands on music programming, it was like, oh, you've been easy work, easy work, and you were doing it as a as a as a game, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

It was yeah, literally.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

Shout out to Andre 2000 for for making the kids' version of free loops.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

Literally, literally, literally, and that's that also goes to if I don't know if he's gonna get to it, but my love for sampling.

SPEAKER_03 17:21

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

I have a passion for sampling, not because it's like I'm not a snob about it.

SPEAKER_03 17:26

Good samples.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Thank you. I try, I know it's really hard.

SPEAKER_03 17:29

Good samples.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

It's really hard, but I try, I do my best to like, you know, just dig up that stuff because to me it's like pop art, but with music, and I really that's just what I love. I'm passionate about it.

SPEAKER_03 17:41

Yeah, you know, so I like what you said earlier too about what Virgil said, about what art is, like what you take and where you put it. Like a sample, it's about how you chop it, what pieces you use, and how they're lined up. Yeah, it can either be trash, yep, yeah, or you can turn it into treasure.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

I can't tell you how many times I've heard a beat and I'm like, oh yeah, and then the drums, then it drops, and I'm like, oh you had you, I was there. Threw them all over this beautiful thing that you're trying to do. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 18:11

So, all right. Next question, and uh I saw this a lot in like this happening in the in the socials, right? The young folks are doing this. So we gotta answer this young folks. Um you know how they're doing those things where they show like the folks with their younger selves. I yeah, I just saw that so what would you what would you give your younger self advice or what would your younger self tell you now that you would think would be good for you, like your younger self looking at you, seeing what you've been through, et cetera. What would they tell you?

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Um, I'm gonna be honest with you, like my younger self would be pretty ecstatic, you know. That's dope. Um in living in the moment, it's like, no, I'm not exactly where I want to be. But when I think about some of the things that I've done, because you have a tendency to forget that.

SPEAKER_03 19:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Um, some of the places I performed and uh literally awards that I've won and stuff like that. Young of me would be like, Wow, you're a rapper? You know what I'm saying? Like, that's crazy. I wanted to be so many things when I was a kid, and that goes to my not to if anybody, my undead knows ADHD, um, that I wanted to be so many things, you know what I'm saying? I want it to be so many things, and but I remember I feel like I've told this story before, but my cousin who works in the media was like, What do you want to be? And I ran to be like a rapper. And he was like, What? And I was like, I don't know, I guess. And he was like, Well, rap something. And I was like, No, he was like, All right, then. So you don't want to be a rapper. And then fast forward, here I am, you know what I'm saying? And people recognize me for my art and stuff. So young of me would be very proud. And I would tell, I would tell young of me, you're fine, you know. Like, um, I would say invest in Bitcoin.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Um,

Advice To Younger Self And The Journey

SPEAKER_01 20:04

buy it early.

SPEAKER_04 20:06

I can't afford it.

SPEAKER_03 20:07

Yes, you can. Five dollars would have bought you a million shares.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

I look at that price all the time. I'm like, you mean to tell me in 2011 it was uh a 10 cent? Yeah, no, no, that was it. Uh-oh. Yeah. Lord Jesus. I'm just fine. Like, you're doing you're doing good. It's all part of the journey, all everything, you know what I'm saying? Like, because it's been a journey, nonetheless.

SPEAKER_03 20:28

I believe it. Yeah. Now trends. And we were having this discussion. We talk about trends all the time. That's what we're here to do. Podcast, we gotta talk about trends. We gotta discuss these. Now, you as a creative, and especially with music, their content that you discuss. And we were talking about this with your track Hot Sauce, right? We were talking about the fact that yo, you gotta know what who hot sauce was. Yes, they said ESPN2 after school, I'm watching it, I'm following them going through, and I'm gonna I know who hot sauce is. So you drop certain lines. Do you ever run into an issue or situation where you're like, eh, am I producing the content, do you ever worry about am I producing content that people are gonna be able to understand based on trends? Like, do I need to say certain catchwords? Are there certain uh pieces of content I need to talk about in order to make sure people are following?

SPEAKER_00 21:16

Yeah, yes and no. So, yes, I consider it, but no, I don't make it my um priority. So for a good minute, especially like after COVID, when TikTok was going crazy, I was like, oh, I need to start making like T, I need to make something that people are relevant, blah blah. Yeah, but in recent years I've noticed that, and I've had this conversation a lot, that music lives in the real world. You know?

SPEAKER_03 21:46

That's a thread.

SPEAKER_00 21:47

And I've recently, you know, saying because my my I'm gonna step up my musicality, and I'm just going going back to the same part of it is like it it if in for it for to manifest in the real world, you gotta make something. That's tangible, it is good, and it doesn't matter what's going on. But the win the reason why I say yes is because I'm a rapper. So it's part of my responsibility to do as current as possible. So I take it into consideration. If it's fly, I'll put it in there. But I'm

Trends, Timeless Music, And Responsibility

SPEAKER_00 22:16

not like I'm not pressed about it. Because at the end of the day, if it's good and if it's classic, when it doesn't matter when it's gonna come out, it's gonna be relevant. Um, one of my favorite, one of my GOATs is J. Cole.

SPEAKER_03 22:28

Yeah, I can't argue on that.

SPEAKER_00 22:29

Obviously, and um, but early on, like he would say things that I never heard a rapper say, like he would rap about news, yes, and very direct, very direct, you know what I'm saying? Something that happened, and he were his perspective on it, and then um, yeah, that just that trained me to say, like, it doesn't matter what it's about the message. Why is why is this important? Yeah, and as a rapper, you we are orators of the times, you know what I'm saying? Like, yo, bro, you got a point.

SPEAKER_01 22:56

It's like yeah, you having that conversation with somebody in the future, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

Essentially, yes, because you're not gonna go. Well, some people will. I mean, if you're smart, you're gonna go back and listen to a news article. But why do that when you could like go back and listen to a rapper, you know what I'm saying? And just get a sense of like I'm injected into this world.

SPEAKER_03 23:12

So, yeah, I do have a sense of responsibility, I feel there to stay current, but yeah, I mean But you don't it doesn't force you to rewrite a song because you didn't talk about the latest TikTok craze of cooking salmon and sticking it up. Because I'm just saying, it was wild stuff up there, bro. It was a wild stuff.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

I couldn't say else, but you know the reason why I don't do it is because I tried it and it was bad. Oh, what am I you know saying? Well, I'm not gonna say bad because that's objective, but it didn't translate. Oh so that's not my skill set. Okay, so I'm yeah, I'm not afraid to say that. Like I put something out and it's like, oh, people didn't really gravitate towards that. That's because I wasn't doing what I was supposed to be doing. My responsibility, I can't be upset because somebody doesn't listen to my art. I have to make something that people connect to, and that's my only goal ever is to make stuff that this is me, and this is something I like to do, but if it doesn't connect, I take that responsibility. Not everybody else.

SPEAKER_03 24:09

Gotcha. So is that that and and what are you hoping that your listeners take away from your music?

SPEAKER_00 24:14

Um, just something that they could either relate to, something that um they can cherish with a memory, you know, the kind of things that you know their music is for, it's just like the soundtrack to your life. Yeah, I remember this is when hip hop became important to me because I when I discovered Wayne and Drake at the same time, and like I was like, oh, this is hard. Then when I heard Cole, Wale, Big Sean, those were like my rappers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Those are your tribe. Like you can feel those. It made sense. I'm like, okay, like he's talking about college when I'm getting ready to go to college. They're talking about fashion when I'm learning how to dress. Like it all became relevant then, and that's when I realized the power, and I'm like, I want to be able to do that for somebody. Maybe because I'm a very uh I tend to be more introspective than I am, like descriptive.

SPEAKER_04 25:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:01

So I feel like maybe I can be the inner voice for a lot of people. Um, whether it be just expressing like uh an emotion and realizing that it's just an emotion and we're gonna live in it in this moment and get it out, or whether it be like, hey, like sit down, calm, think what's going on. This is it's okay. I'm going through it too. But mentally, it's not just the outside part of it. I'm getting your head with it too. Like so I that's that's my goal.

SPEAKER_03 25:26

You do have a stream of consciousness flow, like it would be like if I'm listening to it while I'm doing something, yeah. It'd be like I'm thinking in my head, as opposed to because you're not because they'll they'll narrate a story or yeah, there's a lot of rappers that it's it's like you're talking to a crowd.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

Yeah, like it's set up like there's a group of people around you, and you're talking to a crowd, yeah, that you're more uh talking to yourself almost.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

Because I'm constantly am. Yeah, it makes sense. That's part of having iterate on ADHD,

What Fans Should Feel In The Music

SPEAKER_00 25:55

too. Yeah, see, that's part of it. Like that the part of the what I love about I'm glad you said that part of what I love about my music is the fact that I can see myself in it and it translates. And if you understand, then you see it, but if you don't, then like you just hear it. I also want that person to be like, oh, it just sounds good, yeah. But ear candy, like we were talking about the curation. I do want people to understand, because even on the new project, like the intro is from us a movie. I don't I don't know. But I'm gonna say to say like it all just makes sense. It all like I want to take the extra step to find the things that way it's intricate. So the person that wants to dive deep, yeah, yeah, they got that too. Yeah, but if you want to sit on the surface, you like, oh, it just sounds good, too. And that's what I'm always just working on. Like, I don't feel like I've I don't feel like there's a the there's a place to be. I feel like it's something to strive for because I never want to get complacent. I don't ever, no matter how big it goes, I don't ever want to feel like, oh yeah, I'm I'm I did it.

SPEAKER_03 26:49

Yeah. No, I can see that you keep you keep working despite having a lot of content and work, you're still yes and pushing. Now I do have this is a little side side ring I do have to ask you about. Um something that came up in our discussion of your music and et cetera. I have to ask this is in your content, you did talk about Kanye. Kanye West and uh Kanye West is an interesting character going on in the world right now. And with all the things that are happening, I gotta ask you, especially with your love for Virgo, where where did you where did when did you decide, yo, Kanye is my I like Kanye, and I'm really into Kanye. And and where do you feel he sits in your mind space now?

SPEAKER_00 27:40

Oh man, yay.

SPEAKER_03 27:43

And mind you, this guy off camera, this is a gay stand right here. And he had to grow with it and see all the good and the bad and the ugly. Yes, this is why this question is here.

SPEAKER_00 27:53

That's so many. It's like you could like really teach a class on this guy. Like, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

I mean he's disappointed in himself, though. No, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

No, he's not well, but actually, it depends on his last apology.

SPEAKER_04 28:08

Maybe, yeah, maybe, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

But I got, I mean, I got introduced like through the wire, like everybody else, but I guess when it started to hit me was when the good music freestyle started to come out, and he was wearing the suits and he was Hawaiian, all that stuff. I'm like, oh, this is I get that. Yeah, there was a lot of raps thrown up. I'm like, I like the songs, but then I understood that. Um, and then that was around that time where uh Renaway. Remember when Renaway came out on MTV? Yeah, he was heard that and I was like, when he was on the with the MPC, and I it was over with. So I'm like, yeah, but then also for some reason I turned into a philosopher when I was like 16, 17, but I didn't know that. I didn't know that's what I was doing. Yeah, yeah. But

Kanye, Art, And Mental Health

SPEAKER_00 28:50

my pers my perception of Kanye when he was doing like controversial stuff is that he's a mirror of society. Anytime you look at Kanye and he's doing something ugly and nasty, that's a moment for you to reflect on what's happening in society. Not to say that he's doing that intentionally, but that's I look at what he does as performance art. Not to say that he's he's not done things that hurt people, but I'm saying it's from the outside looking in. How he lives his life is just something to um you see it and you have to like really ask yourself questions about yourself, like what's going on with me, and how how how do I fit into this puzzle? Because that's because if you dive too deep into it, you can be like he's a nut, blah blah blah. But I'm like I chew because I'm like that man is too talented and his work is too important, I feel like. And um, yeah, when you are artists that are that influential, and I try to have a little bit of empathy because like plus he ain't touch no chairing, so you know you know what I'm saying?

unknown 29:46

We haven't heard about it, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:48

Yeah, he's just a little, you know. So we're good. He can play his music.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

I love Ye, man. And he's done things where it's like for a while it was easy to be like, it's okay, but then he has some things I'm like, oh, like I don't know if I could defend that.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

Now I do got a question for you. What's up? Oh, since you because like I said, since you're a Ye fan, such as myself. So do you feel, and like, and this is and I've always felt this. Do you feel like there's two sets of fans based off the time frame? Do you think there's fans before Dark Twisted Fantasy? And you think there's fans, not even Dark, I don't I don't even count it. 808 and Heartbreak.

SPEAKER_00 30:33

For sure. Even though what's crazy is now that we're where we're at, it's it's more of the 808 era than it is the what was before.

SPEAKER_04 30:40

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

But that's that 808 was the split of like, no, we're taking it somewhere else. That's what I fell in love with. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:53

No, start talking about what he was going through. I was like, oh, here we go. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 30:57

And like it, and like I said, I was more the producer side of it. So it took a while for me to even get into the lyrics. I was just like, dang, I ain't never heard nothing. Yeah, it was sick.

SPEAKER_03 31:07

And you know what I mean? So he got with the gentleman. Um him and his brother, they do um arrangements, orchestral arrangements, and this is what was wild. So he had gone from doing the orchestral arrangements on his previous music to then jumping in with Mike Dean and them and focusing on a lot of the electronic and the you see what I'm saying? Yes, yes, and you can see the change because I'm not gonna lie, the guy he was working for was amazing, he was great at what he was doing, the music was beautiful, um, and that was your graduation type stuff, etc. But when they flipped over and went into that other direction, he was like, How far can I push the envelope?

SPEAKER_00 31:44

That's how it should be. But I will say this though. Um, like my younger siblings and some just looking out into the world, they do tend to gravitate towards pre-808s.

SPEAKER_03 31:55

Isn't that crazy? Is it there's another switch.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

So there is a different, yeah. But that once again, see like he's the archetype for me. Like, because if you look at Tyler the Creator, they all have errors. That was Kanye was the first time I ever seen a rapper with errors that I that I was aware of. So it's like that was him and Jay-ZL, like in my mind, like, oh, if you want to be a rapper, like you need to understand how this works. Then you can do whatever you want from there.

SPEAKER_03 32:20

Yeah, so you can actually have a career, you know, you know, developing into a career instead of just blowing up and then disappearing. Yep, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

And now, Cole, with the whole like trunk sale thing, I'm like, please, like, I like how you split with that.

SPEAKER_03 32:32

He did that. I like that. That was actually actually really good, though. Now, I have to ask this hip hop. We always do this collaborations. Do you how do you approach collaborate collaborating with other musicians? And do you look to collaborate with other musicians when you're making like a project or you're putting a project? Oh, I need to have a collaboration. I need to get up with this person so I can help move the music.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

I am terrible at collaborations.

SPEAKER_03 33:00

You're honest. He's an honest man.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

I'm so bad at it. I become so spoiled with being able to produce in my crib, you know what I'm saying? Like just I gotta get up and go. You know what I'm saying? I could just roll out of bed, not even brush my teeth, and start working on the beat I was working on last night. Nasty, I know. But I mean, it's your favorite song. Your favorite song? My breast's thinking. Seven days to seven days. But no, like, and I always shout out my brother Days, Days on 85 Rome, um, prolific songwriter, singer songwriter, producer, super producer. He introduced me to like literally before I met him, I wasn't even going to studios. Oh, really? I was in the crib. I'm not going to your studio. There's not a reason. No, I could do it, but it's money.

SPEAKER_01 33:44

I got a mic. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:45

I got I can't afford that. You know what I'm saying? Like, this stuff is expensive. I luckily got a mic in. I had to, yeah, I had to pirate, you know what I'm saying? A lot of stuff.

SPEAKER_03 33:55

It was an error. It was an error.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

It was an error, it was the time. It's all paid for now.

SPEAKER_03 33:59

Yep, there it is. Y'all heard that.

SPEAKER_00 34:00

But um, yeah, so that would that introduced me to collaboration because what I noticed that there's a value in just being in the studio.

SPEAKER_04 34:08

Yep. Being there to purchase.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

Just see, yeah, even if it's not your session and they're just we're just talking, and it's just that energy. So I have like with the last project that I put out um this year, um, the song Born or Fly was um different for me because I had to like, you know, work with the homies,

Collaboration, Studios, And Creative Growth

SPEAKER_00 34:24

play, and look to like get the future done. And I realized in collaboration, especially when you're doing your own music, it's like, okay, you gotta like, this is you're putting it together. You know what I'm saying? I gotta go to a here, I gotta, oh, what's your time? And da-da-da. So then, so I kind of actually, this is a new love for me. I'm now trying to figure out how to like, because I'm like, okay, when it comes to like collaborating with other people, like I tell people all the time, like, I'm not the friend that's gonna like, hey, how you doing?

SPEAKER_03 34:49

Pick up the phone now. I ain't gonna do that.

SPEAKER_00 34:51

I'm now becoming that person through the art of like learning how to collab. Growing. So and I love the that's what one thing I love about music is that I keep learning new things. And it's like sometimes it affects my real life, and sometimes my real life is, you know. So yeah, collaboration is one million percent the only way this gets done. Yeah, because like I didn't make the the systems, I didn't sometimes these samples that I find, these are things that people dug, and I found it through them, you know. So it all comes from somewhere, you know what I'm saying? Like, and um, I'm at the we at the part the point where it's like people ain't making stuff from scratch, we're repurposing a lot of this stuff, and I feel like it's important to do that. That's just where we're at. I'm doing a lot of repurposing and reimagining of things that already exist. So, yeah, that's collaboration is that literally how this works.

SPEAKER_03 35:44

Dang, that's I'm happy you said it because um obviously uh no one man exists by themselves. You are not on an island. Yeah, I think a lot of us have gotten into a situation where we think, oh, I am the man. I make this happen. Yeah, I'm the reason why this exists. Oh, Kanye mentality. Yeah, it's so funny about that, and I had to say this. And you know what's so hilarious about that, especially with Kanye? Yeah is that he was the number one person that told everybody that you need a team and that you need to collaborate. Because that's what made him different when he decided to delve and go into the other way, is that he would say, Hey, I'm gonna get a group of 15 or 20 people together, we're gonna make the best album. Why? Yeah, I got 15 or 20 of the best people in here working on this at the same time. I don't have to be the person that programs the drums, I don't have to be the person that plays the French horn, but I need the best that can do it in here together and we'll make something. That's why I thought it was so crazy. Yeah, yeah. We know artists are. When he started saying, like, I am the best, I am, it's just me. I'm like, no, but you just told us that's not how it's supposed to work.

SPEAKER_00 36:47

You know, because that's the thing about and that's the thing about mental health. You know what I'm saying? It's it's it's real. And I know it's kind of like cliche to say mental health is real, but it is like it's a it's an altered state, yeah. You know, so I do believe that Kanye is in there. You know how like when you watch a TV show and it's like the little kid is like deep in there, like he's so when when I hear those things, I'm like, that's not, but the I don't expect the whole masses to understand that kind of stuff, you know what I'm saying? Like these are things because even when it comes to me, like my personal emotions, like uh I read uh The Mountain Is You. Yeah, I think it's called The Mountain Is You.

SPEAKER_03 37:28

Was that the last book you read?

SPEAKER_00 37:29

No, but that's the that's the book that helped me realize like my how I've dealt with emotions.

SPEAKER_03 37:35

Oh you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 37:37

Because I I used to do this thing where like I was a quiet kid growing up. Um but quiet doesn't mean that you don't feel anything. So as an adult that transferred, I'm like, dang, like I'm in a situation where I'm upset, but I don't know how to express it um outside of making art. And being an adult means you have to stand up for yourself in corporate situations. Yes. So anyway, I think in corporate, you know what I'm saying? You gotta be able to, you can't just crash out, you know what I'm saying? And sometimes, so that's part of the reason why I learned that. And seeing him going through what he's going through publicly, yeah, it's kind of like wow, because I I've I've met people who have bipolar syndrome, and they are two different people when they are in that manic state, but it's but you're also not Kanye West. So you could do that in your private, but so but the whole world gets to judge. So it's like I'm I'm empathetic of that, but at the same time, I'm not. I mean, it's crazy. I mean, yeah, I know you're not supposed to do that word, but it ain't yeah, yeah, it is, it's it's off kilter.

SPEAKER_03 38:34

Yeah, it's different. We're all crazy. Yeah, we all are all crazy. I don't think inclusive we're saying I think it's inclusive. We're all crazy. That's how when people say that they're normal, I look at them and go, hmm.

SPEAKER_00 38:44

Yeah, being normal isn't, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:47

That's not normal. Yeah, especially anything.

SPEAKER_00 38:51

Yeah, yeah, the fade, the mask, quote unquote.

SPEAKER_03 38:54

Especially if you're what it uh especially if you're able to be normal under the current circumstances of the world, you really got profits.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

You know how weird it feels to like work on music and go to work and like the you know what's going on in the world.

SPEAKER_03 39:07

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:08

So it's see, but I was reminded that we not so we're this is new. We we in early, I'm not even talking about maybe a hundred years ago, people didn't know what was going on on the other side of the world in real time. No, no, you had to wait a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 39:23

Then you would have to buy a newspaper sitting there before you even knew that there was a war going on somewhere. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:32

So it is it's a we're in new territory.

SPEAKER_03 39:35

Our mind is not made to handle all this information at once, which is why you need an AI chatbot. And to get you my chatbot, we are sponsored by you now. You know how they do that podcast. Y'all, shout out to Claude. Yeah, shout out to Claude. You know, if you want to sponsor, please sponsor the Hill Total Glove podcast. Yeah, interesting. Yeah, it's it's good to have one of those things to help you manage all of this craziness that go on that goes on in the world. But final question for you today. Um we're starting these little, these, these little trying out these little new segments, and I think you're gonna like this question. Fame or respect?

SPEAKER_00 40:14

Oh my gosh. I'm a Leo. So of course I want to be famous, but respect is something you gotta walk with. Or like, I'm not you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_03 40:26

Like, you gotta, yeah, that's everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 40:29

So I yeah, I'm I've guess the real answer is I've chosen respect.

SPEAKER_03 40:33

You've chosen respect. Yeah, okay. Now now why why why do why do you choose respect? Um so they have some understanding.

SPEAKER_00 40:41

Because I'm a mama's son.

SPEAKER_03 40:43

Preach.

SPEAKER_00 40:44

And she ain't never taken none of that. Preach. So yeah, I want you know what I'm saying, respect over respect, not fear, love. You know what I'm saying? I don't want to be feared. I don't like bullies. No, even though he's an interesting person.

SPEAKER_03 41:04

I know you with the philosophy.

SPEAKER_00 41:06

I I try to dip and dab, you know what I'm saying? I if I could find a rabbit hole that could connect me, I'm a I'm hooked. But yeah, no, definitely respect because respect is like a legacy thing. You know what I'm saying? I'm the older I get, I realize I'm like, yo, when you hear a story about like a grandfather or whoever, you'd be like, you realize the family respects this patriarchism. You know what I'm saying? Your family or whatever. So it's like, okay.

SPEAKER_03 41:28

Because the ones that they don't, that legacy, the way they talk about them, oh my lord.

SPEAKER_00 41:32

You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_03 41:32

Oh my lord.

SPEAKER_00 41:33

Regardless of the when I'm not here, at least they'll be able to say they'll talk about the content of my character. Even if they're not talking about my music, Max was da-da-da, whatever that is. Because at the end of the day, that's what I care about the most. I'm like, when it's when I think about making certain decisions of

Fame Or Respect Plus Producer Picks

SPEAKER_00 41:49

what I want to be on, I'm like, okay, at my funeral, will they love me? Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Will they say good things? What will will it bring people together knowing that I was here and will they celebrate my life?

SPEAKER_03 41:58

Will they try to jump into that grave with you? That's that's that's the that's the that you want. Yeah, when they do that, then you know they love you. Or somebody paid somebody some money, but yeah, yeah. But family members, yeah. Final final thing. I know I was supposed to be final question, but I gotta ask you this final because obviously. That's okay, because I could talk about it.

SPEAKER_00 42:21

Yeah, I'm a yapper.

SPEAKER_03 42:22

Top three producers of all time, no particular. Yeah, can I okay?

SPEAKER_00 42:28

Can we preface this by saying my personal?

SPEAKER_03 42:29

Yeah, absolutely. Okay, because I'm like, there's a there's a political coming in angry, right?

SPEAKER_00 42:34

Because I could say Quincy Jones, but I didn't grow up with that Quincy Jones, yeah. Personally, but I get it. Yeah, so person, personally, Kanye West.

SPEAKER_03 42:46

Yep, I knew that was coming.

SPEAKER_00 42:47

Because one of these is gonna shock you, probably. Okay, so Kanye West. Let's see, who's the second? Oh, that's tough. Um, give me a second. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Okay, my my next obvious answer because it's my personal favorite is Cardo Got Wings. Hey, if you know, you know. Anyway.

SPEAKER_03 43:10

Uh I like that you chose him. Uh yeah, I like that. I like that choice.

SPEAKER_00 43:17

That's my guy, dog. He don't make it. Because he's one of those producers where it's like you be like, oh, he made that? Yeah. And then he made that.

SPEAKER_03 43:26

Yeah, you don't know.

SPEAKER_00 43:28

Oh, he produced for Playboy Cardi and Larry Jewel.

SPEAKER_03 43:30

And I know I like some Playboy Cardi.

SPEAKER_00 43:32

Come on now.

SPEAKER_03 43:32

That's alright. You know, okay, I already knew what he said. That's a woo, that caught me off guard.

SPEAKER_00 43:36

Hey, come on now. Um, the last one. Ooh. Ooh, okay. Cause this is this is I don't know if this counts, but 40. 40 counts. Yeah, okay. Does that count?

SPEAKER_03 43:55

I use that on every single one. Because of 40.

SPEAKER_00 43:58

40 reason why, yeah. I say it because it's like it's so many. I feel like it's an umbrella of like that whole like how you saying. So it's like when it comes when I say 40, I'm also saying like the T minus, all the all the people, whoever. Yeah. So yeah, 40, Carl Gowins, and Kaye. That's probably my three, my top three.

SPEAKER_03 44:17

I can't, I'm good choices. All right. So before we get out, obviously, we used to do like little shameless plugs. You gotta do shameless plugs. You gotta tell people where they can find you. Yeah, yeah. You got some projects you're working on, right?

SPEAKER_00 44:27

Oh, yeah. I'm working on preach. I okay, okay, okay, okay. I don't jump down. I don't jump down. I'm always working on something because I can do something in a week or two. So I just say this. Come follow me everywhere. I'm telling you, like that's a problem with creative stuff, man.

SPEAKER_01 44:42

That's the problem with art, is that the supply and demand curves are fucked. I have to make it. Yeah. Whether anybody buys it or not.

SPEAKER_00 44:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 44:50

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 44:51

Exactly. And we didn't get to it, but I do think about my music as a product sometimes. So I'm like, okay, how do you okay? But anyway, I'm always working on we get to that. But I'm always working on something. So you just gotta follow my socials. I'm not max goods. That was not uh I I said it right on everything. TikTok, Instagram, or you type in Max Goods with a dollar sign on Google, it should pop up. Um just scroll past one TJ Maxx link. I'm right under it. I'm right there. Um, yeah, and and always just look out because I'm always trying to, you know, I'm always creating, I'm always looking out for something and um to to bring into the world. So yeah, just follow me on my socials and um yeah, reach out, talk to me. You know what I'm saying? Like uh I like to have conversations, you know.

SPEAKER_03 45:38

Plus, if they listen to this episode, they might get a nice little um treat.

SPEAKER_00 45:45

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I got something. Oh yeah, go listen to my mixtape. I'm the dude on the corner. No scan. But yes, literally, go listen to my old projects. I got music everywhere. Um, my last latest release, the Seer, is out now on all platforms. Um, and I do feel like I'm growing, I'm getting better as an artist. So just look forward to like how I'm gonna change the

Where To Find Max And Closing Thanks

SPEAKER_00 46:06

There we go.

unknown 46:06

There we go.

SPEAKER_03 46:08

Well, for the Hilltop Globe podcast, we go we got a shout out, and I'm gonna make sure I do this the right way. So we are filming today. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 46:17

This is Asylum Studios in beautiful Charlotte, North Carolina. And this is one of my favorite locations to record just because there's all these instruments around us, it makes me feel like we're it has the best sound, best light.

SPEAKER_03 46:31

Yeah, it always does. Sitting on wood stuff, it's all nice. Yeah. And then if you're ever um in need of a good recording experience, please make sure you know at our our good friend Scott Slagle and the owners here at Asylum Digital, um, please call them at 704-492-9289 or visit their website at asylumdigital.com where you can actually view and see the different offerings they have in here from setups to recording spaces to mixing as well. They have a plethora of different dolls and analog equipment to use. There's a thick microphone. Yes. I want to expand.

SPEAKER_00 47:16

I've never seen one in real estate. I know it's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 47:19

It's dope. It's dope. Matter of fact, one at one episode, y'all, we were we were rushing to get here and we left our microphones. Guess what they got? Microphones.

SPEAKER_01 47:29

Microphones.

SPEAKER_03 47:30

They look out for us real good. They looked out for us, so we always appreciate it. Um, it's a very cool, calm space, no um rigor morore, it's not rowdy or anything like that. Um, so if you want to come in here and actually focus on doing a good job, you can do that here. But for the Hilltop Club Podcast, this is DJ and what? Mike. That was Skip who just left out. Tamai is outside with a little one and our steamed guest.

SPEAKER_00 47:54

I am Max Goods.

SPEAKER_03 47:55

Excellent. Until the next time, tell someone next to him that you love them and you appreciate them. You don't always get a chance to do so. Peace.