Cold Open And Guest Intro

SPEAKER_02 1:45

Go, go, talk, go, my, cat.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Early beginnings and influences. We always like to start by introducing you to our audience. We want you to tell them a little bit about you growing up as a kid and who are the artists or people in your life that pushed you to experiment with so many different sides of music so early on. Facts, yeah.

Church Rules And Early Influences

SPEAKER_04 2:05

So early on, uh, it was definitely a mixture, you know, growing up in church and everything. Okay. And my mother was very strict about like what I could and could not listen to. Okay. So essentially, it was gospel only and the temptations. And then Michael Jackson, obviously. Everybody can listen to Michael Jackson. Of course, you can't go by a mic. So um, that's really how it started. But when I would be with my dad, like when we would hang out or go skating or, you know, being in school and everything, too, that's where I would get introduced to like the hits at the time, the early 2000s, like the radio hits and everything. Um, and I used to love Sonic the Hedgehog and Dragon Ball Z. Yeah. So on YouTube, they used to put like these little music videos together with different scenes. I would listen to like Lincoln Park and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 2:46

Oh, niche.

SPEAKER_04 2:47

Um, and then I would also have to say the black eyed piece, specifically monkey business. I think that dropped in 05. That was a good album. Man, that was actually a solid album. Very solid.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Forget what PSA.

SPEAKER_04 2:59

All that just played apart for sure.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Awesome.

Growing Up With An Older Sister

SPEAKER_04 3:02

Do you have any uh siblings? Yeah. So I actually have one sister, we're 20 years apart. She's my senior.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Shut up.

SPEAKER_03 3:09

I don't know what my parents were. So the stay two parents. So they had her, and then like 20 years later, they had you. Well, my mom gave her life to the Lord.

SPEAKER_04 3:18

I came along, I think, like six months after that.

SPEAKER_03 3:21

The way you said it.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

We won't ask that question. Not on our podcast. Um, this has been a very fake-oriented day. Wow, the way you said that, though, I feel you on that, man. So, like, how what's the relationship like between you and your your my sister?

SPEAKER_04 3:41

Yeah. It's interesting. Now, as I'm getting older and you know, we're both maturing, I'll say. Yeah, you both. It's getting better because you know, we're adults. But when I was a kid, like all the way up until my early 20s, she was like a second mother. Figured that. Very like, you need to be doing this, you need to on top of my head about everything. So yeah, two moments.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

Yeah, pretty much.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Dang.

SPEAKER_04 4:03

Essentially. You can't do nothing wrong.

SPEAKER_03 4:05

What? Dang.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

It's a gift and a curse. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 4:08

Yeah, that's like our dad. That's like our dad and his oldest sister. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

Tina. Yeah, she's yeah, because I mean you gotta look like at the eight, because he was the the youngest, she's the oldest. And there's a separation of how many years? Like 18? Yeah. Okay, yeah, literally. Yeah, about the same.

SPEAKER_04 4:24

Yeah, it's interesting to navigate, you know, because even now it's like we're still trying to find that space of like, how do we really operate? Like, we're close, we're cool, but I think sometimes she looks at me and she's like, You're not that little boy anymore. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:41

So does she have kids?

SPEAKER_04 4:42

Yes, yes, three. Oh man, so how do you get along with the kids? You like the cool old old. Pretty much. Yeah. Me and my oldest nephew, we almost kind of like grew up like brothers. We're only nine years apart.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

That's what I was about to say.

SPEAKER_04 4:54

Again, we know we know what that looks like, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's a cool dynamic for sure.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Yeah, so all right. Oh man, I know Thanksgiving stuff gotta be fun. All right, so music-wise, obviously, I gotta ask you this. Were

Self-Taught Drums And Band Underdog

SPEAKER_00 5:13

you classically trained at all, or was everything learned?

SPEAKER_04 5:18

Yeah, uh, as a musician, so I started out teaching myself like uh drums percussion was my first instrument. Okay. So I started out just kind of naturally knowing how to play. I don't know how, but it like a kid? Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 5:31

Oh work.

SPEAKER_04 5:32

Yeah. Yeah, that's that's strange. Okay. It's very strange. Like music's just always been there. Yeah, in the vein. Yeah. You feel me? So uh it started like that, and then of course I wanted to be on the band. So my sixth or eight year, the first semester I couldn't get in. So I came in like second semester, and you know, it was an underdog story. Like all the other kids on the snare, they were like, Oh, you're not gonna be this, you're not gonna be that. And then I had everybody had like the Pearl uh percussion kit with the cool silver snare drum, it sounded good. I got mine from the pawn shop for $40. It just it had a completely different sound. Tone off. It looked different. I used to carry it in like this light blue satchel. Satchel was fired though. But uh, yeah, they used to get on me, and then by the end of that year, I was first chair. With that same drum? Wow. And the gap never closed. It just got lost.

SPEAKER_02 6:21

How did you beat?

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Wait, all right, now here's the thing. I can understand you just being fired good. How did you beat them based on the tone? Did you buy a new top or like did you change out?

SPEAKER_04 6:30

I just made it do what it do, made it sound good. And then learning how to tune and everything. That's what I was about to say. You had to learn how to use the instrument with all you're bad. You're bad. And then from there, uh, that branched out to me wanting to learn different instruments and everything.

SPEAKER_03 6:44

So what did you learn next?

SPEAKER_04 6:45

What did you learn for drums? Uh at the drums, I went to tuba. Eighth grade, I found a mouthpiece in my math class, and my teacher was like, everybody knew I was a band nerd. So my teacher was like, Yeah, take that to your director. And I took it. I said, Mr. Mayo, what is this for? He was like, it's for a tuba. I was like, Can I play it? He was like, sure, kid, go ahead. Made a sound on the tuba, and he told the director at the high school, uh, Mr. Hopkins, yeah, I got a kid that plays drums, but he sounds good on tuba too. Came to do his little recruitment tour. Yeah. He looked at me, he said, You're gonna do two years on the drumline, and then you go on the tuba. I did one year on drumline, and he put me on tuba in my sophomore, sophomore year, excuse me. Wow. Yep, and I just opened up the door for everything else.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

So did you learn, obviously, you learn how to read music. Mm-hmm. Okay. Yep. Uh compose and everything. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:37

Wow. Wait, alright, I gotta ask you. This makes so much sense.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

This makes so much sense. It adds up. It adds up.

Old-School Artists And Music Literacy

SPEAKER_00 7:45

Yeah. I gotta ask you this. Um, gosh. All right. Do you do you have any attachment or understanding of like old school music, like stuff from the 70s, 80s?

SPEAKER_04 7:59

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

What kind of what kind of musicians do you like from that period? Rick James. That makes so much sense.

SPEAKER_03 8:08

Rick James, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 8:09

Wow, okay. All right, all right.

SPEAKER_03 8:11

So yeah, we definitely Michael Jackson, obviously. Because you know what, man, people don't get like people think about Rick James just for the Chappelle show. Yeah, right. He was an artist. Because he was an artist. He was crazy. You know, like people think about it for the Chappelle show, but people don't understand like how skilled he was as a producer, as a composer, how he how he put his pieces together, yeah, and how he arranged everything.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

He's from the old school. He had to know how to do it.

SPEAKER_05 8:33

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

They didn't, there was there used to be a time where there wasn't Pro Tools or Fruity Loops. Once upon a time. You had to really know how to play an instrument and write music. Facts. And so that's why it's interesting you're saying what you're saying. It's like you really, like you said, man, you you were a nerd for this. You wanted to learn how to do it. That's awesome, man, because um it's one of the it's almost like you knowing how to speak a dead language. Yeah, because there's not most musicians nowadays, you don't need to have that knowledge. The machine will do it for you. They have um tools and technology. I know we're gonna speak about that, that will write the music, it will compose it for you. You can just go and sing it into it, and it has it, got it, make it

Choosing Love When The Industry Drains

SPEAKER_00 9:15

for you.

SPEAKER_03 9:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Um, now, what kind of um pushbacks or hardships have you encountered working in working in the music industry? And um, and I know a lot of our audience would like to know this because we had somebody who's actually on our show. They actually shared some information about this on social media this week. How do you keep your love alive for this? Yeah, you know it's hard. Excuse me.

SPEAKER_04 9:40

Um, because it's love, you know, and I think in the same way that in relationships, love is a choice. Yeah, it's not always just a feeling. Yeah, you gotta Man, how old are you? I'm 29.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

I'm right there, bro. That's a growth.

unknown 9:57

You ain't there.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

It is a choice. You got to realize every morning you get up, you choose to be in love.

SPEAKER_04 10:02

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you got a chance and a choice. That's it. That's it. And then uh as far as like the hardships and the pushback, it's just people's opinions. Okay. Like early on, that was the biggest thing. Like, you want to do what now? Yeah. You know where you who who do you think you are? And it's like, if you have a favorite artist or you like to listen to music, yeah, obviously there are people who have come before me and will come after me that make music and make a career out of it. Yeah. You know, so it was that, and then just the business acumen. Like, it's not about talent, unfortunately. Thank you for saying that. You can say that again. Say that that camera over there. It's not about the talent. It's not. Uh, I got a song called Admit It, where one of the lines is like the talent don't mean anything to the world if they never knew you put the work in.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

So gotta do the business side to that business acumen is a very good point to push. I know I was we were speaking to the young lady before, and we're just talking about the fact that a lot of our our audience, we do have a excuse this place, maybe a younger audience because who's listening to certain kind of content, right? And so they like to listen and say, all right, so what are what are people doing to be successful? And when they hear you say business acumen, what is it that you mean by business acumen?

Business Acumen And Packaging Your Brand

SPEAKER_04 11:17

Uh just knowing how to package yourself as a product, you know, which it's a thin line because if you're not careful, that can kind of bleed over into your creative space. You know, but just knowing, like, okay, I have the product, but I can't just pour water out on the floor and be like, hey, drink it. It has no other bottle.

SPEAKER_05 11:37

You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_04 11:38

And then it's like, well, okay, there are different bottles out here. Everybody has water, everybody has a bottle. What's gonna make your bottle different? Is it the shape? Is it the size? Is it, you know, the the uh label that you got wrapped around? And then what's the story behind it? You know, because that's the marketing aspect. People have to connect. It can't just be, I have this bottle of water. You should have that. Give me money. Like, no, like if I tell you something cool, like I went to a cave in Malaysia with the finest crystals and minerals, and I I mined for this water. I spent three days on excavation, you know. You know, man. That's part, you know. Yes, part of it. It's that same thing uh I feel with the music and the funding. Yeah. It takes money to make money.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

So you gotta see. Someone did say that earlier. The funding, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:27

So when you so when you record, um where do you um so do you just record out of the house?

Recording At Home With Studio One

SPEAKER_03 12:31

Or do you okay you do okay? You do everything out of the house. So when you start like, so I guess this is because he I know he's gonna ask if he doesn't ask it, I know I'll ask. So what kind of so what do you use as far as like use like what kind of doll do you use? Uh Studio One. Oh, word. Okay, cool, cool. How long do you use Studio One?

SPEAKER_04 12:46

Since that had to be like 2018. Okay. I used to work at Guitar Center. Oh, so you know. You know, okay. And uh I worked with this dude. Um, his name, I don't know if I should say people's names on uh I'll take my chances. Go ahead. His name is Vince, but he used to be like an artist and a big producer here in the city. Uh-huh. And he went by Venom Vendetta. And once he found out I made music, he could be kind of became a mentor to me uh at that time. And he'd be like, bro, bro, you use an FL? That's that's cool. But bro, bro, you gotta get Studio One, bro. You gotta get Studio One. I'm like, what? So he invited me to his home studio, uh, just showed me all the ins and outs, you know, the user interface, the functionality of it. And I was able to get it for free because I worked at Guitar Center. Can't beat Free99. You can.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

I jumped on that and I have not looked back since. Now, question um with you saying that, because you're able to use that on PC, correct? Mm-hmm. And Mac too. This is what's dope about it. Okay. Because this is something I was looking at. Because I was Logic, you were Mac, right? Yeah. This is very much the same, if not better. It's on its on PC. He told me that. He said it's the Windows version of Logic. Yeah, it is. It is. Easy work, easy workflow, bro. Very useful. Very smooth. You can get everything. Oh. You better stop playing with me.

SPEAKER_03 14:05

You know, you're not the first, you're not the first person I heard talk um about Studio One in a positive way, manner.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

And it's made by a reputable music company. It's not like you, it's not like just I gotta say it like this, but it's not like some just some tech guys with with with algorithms making a product. It's actually musicians who made a studio doll product. So it'd be like Prince back in the day with his doll that he was, it was made by musicians because back in the day, that's the only people that would make or use that stuff, right? That's true. But the market became crowded because you started just having people who could produce applications making product. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? So that's awesome, man. Um it's good looking product too, man. Good-looking product.

90s R&B Chords And Michael Jackson

SPEAKER_00 14:48

Another thing I was gonna ask you, you listen to a lot of 90s music.

SPEAKER_03 14:52

Give or take. Give or take. You listen to a lot of R you listen to a lot of 90s RB.

SPEAKER_04 14:58

I don't really know what time period it's from. Oh, okay. So, like right now, my biggest older RB songs are uh I Miss You by Aaron Hall, uh Nobody's Supposed to Be Here by Deborah Cox.

SPEAKER_02 15:09

Yeah, he was listening to it.

SPEAKER_04 15:10

Don't know he listened to it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:12

And the reason why I say that is, because of course, um, the reason like how I first discovered learned learned about you and your music, of course, when we were doing the playlist. And I and it's just not that, you know, people, not that, you know, because you know, people are influenced by different styles and things, not that you necessarily imitate things, but you can tell by the way people structure songs and like the chord progressions. And I knew it was like it kind of had, like when I listened to a lot of your music and your sounds, of course, it was it wasn't it wasn't aided, because people always think, oh, so that's like a particular date. Right, yeah. But you could tell from the way the chor progressions put together. I was like, he listens to a lot of like one church, because that's people don't get a lot of your 90s RB. It comes from church, right? So it comes from church. Um but like with the progressions, like, yeah, he looks a lot of 90s RB. Facts. With his music. You can just tell just by the way you put the stuff together, even with like your latest project, too. Like with the first song up there, like with triggered. I was like, trigger reminds me, I was like, man, triggers remind me of it reminds me of somebody. I don't want to necessarily say this person's name right now, because this person has a lot of negative about them, the connotations about them. I'm gonna blow stuff away. I mean, I'll just say, I'm just saying this. It's a certain letter in the alphabet that comes up a person by the way of the Wendy City, and I was like, he it has those vibes. And I was just like, man, the music is the music is a music. You separate the music from person. Yeah, it separates the music from person. But it was like when I heard it, I was like, oh, that's dope. I was like, because I could hear like those you could tell he listens to stuff like this. And I was like, when it being younger, I'm like, how I was like, he has to have older parents or has older siblings.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

Somebody now makes sense. Yeah. It makes sense. Because I'll I'll tell people, and it's not a bad thing, because I know sometimes what people they'll get so caught up in trying to be a unique creative that they act as if they exist on an island by themselves.

SPEAKER_04 17:03

Like they weren't inspired by anything, you know. And that's never the case. Because even Mike, if you what's unique about Mike, granted, he revolutionized all his inspirations. True. But you can see his clear inspirations in his predecessors. You look at James Brown, you look at Sammy Davis Jr., Jackie Wilson, Jackie Wilson, Charlie Chaplin, you literally see, okay, Mike, I see what you did. But he took it, and instead of just being a cheap imitation or just a direct copy, yeah, he implemented himself into it. He said, Okay, now what would I do different? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

And yeah. Took it to the max. Literally. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:42

And I think that's dope that you mentioned that about Mike. Because one of the things people don't realize about Mike either, man, Mike is such a Mike Michael Jackson was such a bridge. Yeah. He was such a bridge. Like he was a bridge between like the old school and like in modern music. Right? Because you think about it, like anybody that's a mod, like an artist that wants to be known globally, or like talent-wise, whatever, right? Doesn't matter what you compare them to. Like I said, you can have a Beyonce, you can have Usher James, you can have a Usher, you can have Chris Brown, you can even have somebody like a Taylor Swift, right? And ironically, for some reason, you could even have somebody like a Drake, which I don't understand. I didn't know where this came from. I'm still trying to figure out this that one. But it's like they all, like you say, they all trace those roots back to that reference back to Memjoy. Yeah. Which is really dope.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

Um, and that leads really good into this smooth into this next

Building A Team That Believes

SPEAKER_00 18:38

question. No I and team. Obviously, that's what I'm saying. Like it takes, it takes a group and it takes a village and a community to create magic, right? And um one of the common misconceptions about being an independent artist uh means you have to be completely isolated. One man army. However, we know that's not true. Um, what specific qualities do you look for when building a creative team to handle your promotion and visuals? And how do you find people who are just as passionate about your overarching message as you are? Powerful question.

SPEAKER_04 19:11

Yeah, so what I look for in the number one thing, you gotta be like crazy. And not crazy like psychiatric, but crazy like delusional. You know, you have to have a large amount of faith. You have to be a dreamer, you know. Yeah because my biggest thing is I have crazy ideas. But when you really think about it, this is my mindset now. Everything is crazy until it becomes a reality. Like whoever thought we would be able to control light, whoever thought we would have phones that are computers in our pocket, laptops, technology. So when I come to a team with an idea and I'm saying, hey, I want to do this, I I think I don't want to hear what? No, that's crazy, bro. You can't do that. Even if it is outlandish or unorthodox or something that hasn't been done, don't tell me it can't be done. Let's talk about what it would take to make it happen. And then let's determine do we have the resources right now or can we like access this in a timely fashion to execute, you know? Yeah. So that's the biggest thing. Uh the other thing, whatever you want to come on the team to do, it has to be what you love to do. Like, not something that you're trying to do because, hey, well, this is gonna make money. I see you're gonna take off. Like, I want to be a part of that, and that's okay, not knocking that. Yeah, but I do believe if the motive isn't right, if the foundation isn't pure, you will get to a point to where it feels like work. Once it starts to feel like work, it's game over. You're the thing.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

That's a that's a that's a string of thought today. Yeah, no one wants to be in a position where they feel like it's not what they're doing is not from passion. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you don't want to make it feel like it's work, it's not fun anymore. Yeah, we got plenty nine to fives out here. Say it again. You can do that all day, right? You can do that all day. Come on. Well, um, we're to a

Community Division And Algorithm Bubbles

SPEAKER_00 21:01

good part. We can start going through these. So obviously, we started doing this this season. We have these cards here, they look like Uno cards. Um, I want you to choose, we could get probably be able to get through two or three of them, but I want you to choose a card. I want you to re-wiss on a card and answer the question. Start in the middle.

SPEAKER_04 21:20

Let's see what we got. The community card. What problem in our community do you wish more people were paying attention to?

SPEAKER_00 21:29

That's a good question. Yeah, that's a great question.

SPEAKER_04 21:31

That was a tangible question. Um the largest thing that comes to my mind is that whether we realize it or not, we're overly separated by like the most minuscule things. Like there are so many different subcategories of individuals. And naturally, we're all different. Yeah. You know, like we all got different beliefs, but I think something that's really hindering us as a community, as a people, and even on a larger scale as a nation, is the fact that I feel we're getting to a place where you're not allowed to have an opinion. You're not allowed to have different perspectives and still be able to coexist. It's like if you like pineapples on your pizza and I don't want pineapples on my pizza, it's just beef forever. Like we can't. Somebody gotta go. Somebody gotta die.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

Like, either him or me.

SPEAKER_04 22:32

Excuse me. It's like at that point, we can't even agree that the sky is blue anymore. Yeah, nah, no, you're right. And I just think that's a huge problem because we're not gonna agree about everything. And I think social media, the fact that the algorithm creates a dimension where you can just be around your people. Like people who like what you like, people who think what you like, I think that's kind of seeping into the real world, and people are kind of having that mindset, and it's just it's debilitating because it's slowly like just dividing us.

SPEAKER_03 23:00

Yeah, I can see that because back in the day, I remember like you didn't, you had to, there were certain like you had to be in community with people because you couldn't, because they were just around. I think there was nobody else there. Like, I think about it like this, like with kids, right? Growing up, we had to play with everybody in the neighborhood we were in, right? It didn't matter.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

Smell bad. Right. Roaches in their house.

SPEAKER_03 23:23

Right, like and our and like me and him, and me and my brother tell you this. Like, so we were pretty smart kids when we were in school. Yeah, right. Okay. So when we got to school, we even though we were we were on the same bus as all the kids were on the bus, the kids we rode on the bus will then go to the same classes. They did not. Right? They did it. We were in very different classrooms once we got to school. However, we knew we got. Home, we were all gonna have to hang out with each other. Yeah. Right? And I think nowadays you got so like you that doesn't even exist. No. Like I think now, hey, these are the kids I'm in this playgroup with, these are the kids I'm in the class class with, those are the only kids I'm gonna hang out with. Like, if if these are the kids I play basketball with or I'm on the football team with, these are all the kids I'm hanging out with. I'm not interacting with nobody else. I'm not getting any other perspective or opinion. And I think that's the thing that's hurting us now, and you just see it now, especially with social media, just made it so much worse. Yeah. Made it so much worse.

SPEAKER_00 24:19

I like that you said that part. And I like that you had a rag to wipe the sweat off your head. Oh, yeah. That's some gangster stuff right there. So um the the reason why, because like what he's what he was telling, this is crazy. There was a um, there was this gentleman that we used to play with, his name was Taekwond. Uh huh. Taekwon was a 13-year-old Baptist minister.

SPEAKER_03 24:40

Yeah. Like, no joke. Like, I know.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

He was like, you can preach too. Right? We played with him. Facts, yeah. In this day and age, he wouldn't play with nobody. He would have only been around old elders. Literally. And that's it, right? But like you said, because there was no social media, nothing like that. When he got out of school, he was a child. He was still coming and play with the kids. So we were playing with, and what was cool about that is he would get to see what the kids were going through and et cetera, that stuff seeped into his ministry. You see what I'm saying? It made a difference. We had kids that we play play with white black Puerto Rican Asian, didn't matter who it was, they were in our community, right? Like I said, we may not even been in class with these kids. When we got home, they know we're going over to these projects to play football today. Common ground. Come on, right? And so we were hanging out with these folks, so we never thought of them as less than or had a judgment on them. We just knew that in school, they couldn't do certain work that we did, but it didn't make them beneath us. It was just, matter of fact, we didn't want to do it either. They just forced us to go to this class. So we're gonna be in this class, right? So I think what you're saying is paramount. I think it's something people need to understand is an issue in our society. And I know everybody wants to put themselves in silos and try to elite, make everything elite and elite and elite. This is the reason why I don't like um what's the basketball, the travel ball that's. Oh yeah. Horrible. Matter of fact, you don't even learn nothing, they don't even get skills from it. It's just like you ready? Hate, you ready? Hate it. I'm gonna tell you why. I'm gonna tell you why. You ready? I'm gonna tell you why I hate it. I'm gonna tell you, I might I got a reason. Because what's what's occurring, it used to be okay. What's happening is all of the rich and elite blackity black folk are only letting their rich, elite blackity black children play with each other. And so the poor child who can't afford it, who's actually really skillful and good at it, can't even get so he won't be seen, he won't go to the ABCD camp, he won't be at the Nike Elite camp. None of that. Why? Because he don't got the money and everybody has priced him out. My brother and I talked about this on one of our arbitrary conversations when it comes to soccer in the U.S. The reason why you don't see a lot of black um individuals playing soccer, women, men, don't matter, is because we get priced out. So instead you're gonna see, oh, look at the new, because they got a new now, new found, new young soccer player man. Obviously, he's white, young 19-year-old guy. Why? Because his parents could afford to pay 30 grand a year to have him play soccer in these highly elite areas. And even what's so funny about it is the gentleman, Landon Donovan, he talked about how horrible it was because the era he grew up in, he couldn't afford it. His parents were broke. So if it if that world existed back then, we would have never known who Landon Donovan is. And he's one of the most elite, greatest American white soccer players to ever play the game. Yeah. So I think that's some bull stuff. That's why I was talking trash about it. Yeah, who mad as I think. I was looking up. Y'all need to go check out the arbitrary conversation.

SPEAKER_04 27:31

But pick another card, pick another car. Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm calling in the conversation. We just five.

Hooping Later In Life And Skill Work

SPEAKER_04 27:38

Wild card. Uh, what I think this is for y'all. What questions should we have asked you today that nobody ever asks?

SPEAKER_00 27:46

That's for you to tell us. What questions have we not asked you today? Yeah, try to flip it on us. That's right. So, what questions should we have asked you today? Something that you would have been looked forward to to speak about? Something that's on your mind.

SPEAKER_04 28:01

Yeah. I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

Uh what's something that you you want to talk about that's on your mind to speak about this week that you haven't spoken to anybody about? Just randomly? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:14

What's my my progression with basketball look like as someone who didn't start hooping until 18? Oh man, for real?

SPEAKER_03 28:19

You trying to play ball now?

SPEAKER_00 28:21

Well, not now on like a professional level. Okay, but you trying to You want to go outside and play ball? Yeah, we can. Yeah. See, I want to go hoop. I like hooping. Matter of fact, we got a new basketball club. Last night, oh, actually, she would probably she would probably hoop over all of us. Yeah, yeah. And that's probably like we gotta go get get hoop gone. But yeah, man, I want to go play hoop. I wanna hoop, man. I was outside last night shooting some uh free basketball at our town park. And my wife was like, you really, because I have a basketball girl I ain't put together yet because I've been waiting for us to have our our little our little party. So you can put it together for the housewarmers? No, no, no. I'm gonna do it afterwards.

SPEAKER_01 28:56

Why you gotta do it like that? I'm gonna wait until after the housewarmers. I'm gonna put it up afterwards. I'm waiting for the work today. I'm gonna be out there with the ball and getting it. You know what you're doing afterwards.

SPEAKER_00 29:08

No, seriously, I'm gonna put it up afterwards because um I've been I've been wanting to go back because it's my favorite mode of exercise. Definitely. Outside of like running lifting weights type stuff. I love it. Because I always tease football's not exercise. That's something you go to execute. But I love football. But you don't exercise. What do you know? I'm going out to go play some pickup football. Now that's no grown man, you ain't doing that, right? Too risky.

SPEAKER_03 29:29

Have y'all seen the 30 and under videos? Have y'all seen the 30 and under videos? Okay. What football? Yeah, football. It's on the league. You can go on, it's on Facebook and Instagram. You'll see the reels. And it's these guys like these different leagues. There's 30 and under leagues. I already know. And these guys.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

There's so many high school legends out there. People getting their ACLs revoked. Let me revoke that ACL. No, you gotta go work in the warehouse the next time.

SPEAKER_02 30:00

Let me come look.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

Those are the people that show up into the doctor's office. They're like, what happened? I was outside playing football. You look at the person, you playing football. Yeah, what you play for a team. Uh no, semi-pro, semi-pro, semi-pro. And they be really ripping their bodies up. Ripping their bodies up. But yeah, man, um, I'm gonna tell you this, man. Good thing about hooping at your age, right? Is you can actually understand why you're doing what you're doing. What you mean? This is how I use hooping. So I actually get training videos, right? And I go out and I do the training video stuff. So like I practice like I practice um fadeaways off the right side. So you be doing skill work. Yeah, yeah. That's what I do, right? So I'll go out and I'll just do that all day, right? All day. Just work on it, right? To the point now, now like fadeaway, that back down is just nasty, right? I get anybody in the pose, right? I'm little. I get anybody in the pose. Goop, how you do that, right? So when you play against the youngins, you can like like them old folks at the rec center. When they used to whoop our behinds, I'm not gonna lie, they used to kick our.

SPEAKER_01 30:58

We used to try to figure out how they up here putting this ball on the dime.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

They take that pass like this, whoop, and throw that thing, that ball bounce and go right into the man's hand, and he just laid off easy. Right. They've been practicing, no jumping. No jumping. You don't have to if you practice. See, that's what they do. You see them, they'll go in there and they'll shoot the ball off of one spot for a half hour, right? First of all, they're getting their workout in, they're getting their workout in, but then when them young boys come out, they just stay in that same spot. Literally, and keep shooting it. And as boys ain't got enough IQ. They got enough IQ to realize what's happening. And that's what the pros do. So, like, for instance, uh, a Kobe or Stephen Curry, if you pay attention to them and they do their workouts, they will tell you that they work spots. Yeah. And I thought this was crazy. I was watching a breakdown that Kobe did back in the day of LeBron James, and he was trying to explain. He was like, LeBron, he's he's so gifted physically that he's missing easy points. And he was showing where basically he was running by people, like forcing his way by people. When he could have just stopped the guy with a blue body, he could have just hit the point and walked down. But that's what happened when you get older, you figure that out. So that's what I'm saying. You can actually go out there and play ball better. That's true. Next card, next card.

Advice For Your 18-Year-Old Self

SPEAKER_04 32:04

The advice card. If you could sit down with your 18-year-old self, what's the first thing you tell them? That's a deep one. Uh 18, 18. Did I turn 18 before I left? Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Trust yourself. This is exactly what I would have told my 18-year-old self. Trust yourself. You know what you want to do. You've always known what you want to do. Do it. If you do decide to go to PV, please go to class. Do not leave, no matter what happens. What's P V V? Yeah, uh prayer view. A prayer view AM University. Oh, shut up. Shut it out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

All right, all right.

SPEAKER_04 32:39

Yeah. So you weren't way out there. Yeah, because my high school director, um, my senior year. Dan. Yep. Yeah. He uh got a job out there as like the assistant director, chief arranger, and everything. Called me in his office one day and was like, I need to talk to you. This is my senior year. Yeah. I'm like, okay. He was like, I'm not coming back to Kenan next year. I said, okay, well, I'm graduating, so something good for me, yeah. Ooh, you feel it'd be like He was like, I'm going to Prairie View. Uh I took a job out there. I was like, I don't know what that is. He's like, he's in Texas. Okay, congratulations, bro. That's that's big. Like, why are you telling me this? Literally. Yeah. He was like, I want you to come with me. I said, uh I was like, Texas. He treated like you were like an NIL deal.

SPEAKER_00 33:21

Like, together. You make this money. You know we like. He's like, we got to eat together.

SPEAKER_04 33:28

And at first, I was hesitant because I didn't even know if I wanted to go straight to school uh after graduating. Yeah. And then I got accepted into Berkeley College of Music. Yeah. So I was trying to figure that out. Which choice? Yeah. And then he put that money on the table.

SPEAKER_00 33:41

Told you. And I N I L. N-I-L. Coach Prime.

SPEAKER_04 33:46

Coach Prime. You feel me? Yeah. I packed up my bags and went out. They was told.

SPEAKER_02 33:53

He gave us some of them chains, Ken. Those gold chains. See the wise. Alright, my fucking. Go ahead. Go ahead. You good?

SPEAKER_04 34:01

You good? And so yeah, uh, went out there and the whole conversation, he was like, you know, I could see you having an impact on the tuba section down there and everything. And uh I was like the Devin Miles that played tuba, but I knew how to read music.

SPEAKER_00 34:14

What? Can you tell I you gotta explain, especially because I'm happy you said that with the band. HBCU Black Band, March band. Tell them the importance of the tuba. Oh, because people think it's a joke with the tuba band. Say it again.

SPEAKER_04 34:28

Say it again. Say it for real. With bass line, so like right next to the drumline, it's our job to keep the funk alive, to keep the feeling, and dry the band as far as I think. That thing that makes the booty move.

SPEAKER_00 34:39

Literally. Foundation. I know y'all are like, why are you saying? Because I know what I'm talking about. Yes. Real talk. Yeah. Yeah. Y'all go to go to the HBCU game, see that halftime. And I'm telling you, especially anybody needs to go because we got like, it's the most entertaining spectacle in sport. I know you got other leagues they play sports, and believe me, I watch other ones, they're cool. But with HBCU football, the the environment, the pageantry of being at those stadiums when they have their games is bar none, bar none. It's nothing better than. Um, especially with the fact that when halftime comes, everybody doesn't run to the concession stand to tell you something. Okay, they stay to see what's coming out on that field. I got, I will go to Sling for free just to watch they got the get a channel that has all the HPC so I can watch the halftime show. Because I figured I found this. I didn't know this. Because when you watch a regular ABC football and stuff, they didn't halftime, they go to the guys and mm-mm, I turn, I'm gonna watch AC and watch them do they do their thing on the on the field, right? And there's such a community behind it. The way that it looks, the way that they perform, the way that they show our culture and how we style things, awesome. Amazing. So I'm happy you said that. Yeah, and you start talking about them tubers. Yeah, because the tubers make the booty move. All right, all right, all right. So um, matter of fact, we're gonna um get into this the to the to the

Managing Time Without Burning Out

SPEAKER_00 35:58

boring question. I like the boring question after this, and we're gonna let you do your shameless plugs. Okay, but um obviously we're life balance, and this is one of our our original questions. Yeah. Um, it always says up there, if we can get to this question, that means we did a good job, we were good on time. That means we're professional. We did a good job, even though we had fun. Um with so many hats to wear, how do you manage your time wisely so you can create at a high level without burning out?

SPEAKER_04 36:24

It's uh in these later years, it's getting better. But initially, oh, I was sacrificing everything. To be honest, I like that. I was sacrificing everything. Like from I'll say 2017 really to like 2022, I would go to work. If I wasn't at the gym or hooping or something like that, I come home, I'm in the lab. Okay. Day in, day out. Like, literally nothing else. I'm not on the phone. Like sad to say, I wasn't even talking to my mother like that. I would call my mom maybe once a month, maybe once every two months. I'm alive. Literally, like I wasn't going out, uh no social life. Well, not no social life, but priority to go to work, come home getting a laugh. Okay. And and part of it was passion. A huge part of it was passion, because it's just what I love to do. Like, I was the same way with my instruments. Nobody ever had to force me to go practice. I didn't want to do anything else. Yeah, good point. So it was that same thing. But then you start to realize like I'm neglecting all these other things I care about, you know, family, friendships, relationships. Uh, and now I have a little girl, etc. How old is she? How old? Oh well, okay, cool, cool. Yeah, I got a six-year-old right over there. You feel me? Yeah, man. So now it's like, you know, just um everything is a balance. It's about balance and the things outside of the music directly pour back into the music. So and you figured out the importance of it.

SPEAKER_00 37:50

Absolutely. I think that's that's I like that you said that because um the ability to have a character a character arc in your life, just like in movie, television, comic books, yeah, I think it's important because we're always gonna we're all not gonna do things perfectly. Exactly. Right? And being able to figure out how to get that corrected and then come back and to hopefully not have a um not to have a a bad character arc and become a villain. Always, always a good thing. I love to hear people have the good character art and they come back and they're not a villain because everybody got that villain. So yeah, villain origin story. Um now, um how can you, and I'll say this.

New Drops And The Story Behind Anawetha

SPEAKER_00 38:34

Um obviously, I want you to tell our listeners about what they can expect from you in the near future, um, whether it's new visuals, an upcoming project, or live shows. Um, make sure you look right into that camera there and let them know what you got popping.

SPEAKER_04 38:48

All right, uh, so as far as what you can expect, ultimately just continual growth, uh, it's only gonna get better. As far as like music and everything, I plan to drop throughout the rest of the year. Okay. Um probably gonna do a compilation of like more rap-centric songs next month. You know, Summer Fleeing 2 is real, like Mills, real RB, like it's just love, it's heartbreak, like you know, but uh about to get back to popping it for a little bit. So yeah, just stay tuned for that. Awesome, awesome.

SPEAKER_00 39:17

And then also, um, where can folks find you, your your music, and how to keep in touch with you?

SPEAKER_04 39:25

Yeah, yeah. I like to make it easy. Uh you can find me everywhere with these same letters. If you put it in your GPS, it might magically bring you wherever I'm at. Whatever. That was smooth as hell. That was smooth as hell.

SPEAKER_02 39:39

That's smooth as hell, right there. Y'all, y'all, I'm for real.

SPEAKER_01 39:44

Y'all, young fellas out there, y'all, y'all pick that. That's a good one. Nope. Go ahead, my fault. Go ahead. No, you good.

SPEAKER_04 39:51

Whatever you use, just type in A-N-A W E T H A. One more time. That's A-N-A-W-E-T-H-A. And author. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05 40:02

I was about to say it again.

SPEAKER_04 40:06

And author. So, like an author. And author. Just not so well enunciated, you feel me? Oh, that's awesome. That's that's so fly.

SPEAKER_01 40:16

Sorry, we already know y'all don't know. I was messing up his name.

SPEAKER_02 40:20

What were you saying?

SPEAKER_04 40:21

That's a great story. Uh, but I'll be concise, guys. So I used to, I went through a lot of aliases, but the one I settled on was like Aaron J. And that's why I was rocking with. That was like my introduction to the local scene and just the industry in general. Aaron J was very ambitious. That was the character that was like, I'm sacrificing everything. Got it. I'm just, I'm in the lab. And he was a rapper. Yeah. I believe it.

SPEAKER_00 40:49

Aaron J sounds like he go ham.

SPEAKER_04 40:51

A rolling whisketol. You feel me? Like, let's take it there. Like, I don't, I don't care about nothing else except you knowing I will bar you up. That was Aaron J. Yeah. Well, the personal development and then the artistic development led me to like ask myself certain questions. Like, you know who your inspirations are, you know the level you want your career to get to. Do you really just want to like be known for bars? Not there's anything wrong with that. I love rap. I'm always rap. Bars. But I didn't want to be known just for rapping. I wanted the true creative ability to just create freely. Like if I want to give you pop music, I want to be able to do that without people being like, what are you doing? Yeah. And then also on top of that, from the business side, Aaron is just common. Aaron J is very common.

SPEAKER_00 41:39

I was about to ask you, was it A Ron Aaron? Yeah. Alright.

SPEAKER_02 41:43

That's all I was saying. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:45

You know. So it's like you type that in, millions of people come out. That's it. Including a Japanese man. Exactly. Oh, wow. For real. Yeah. Oh wow. He's a smart business, smart man. Come on, you're talking about business acumen. He knows what he's talking about.

SPEAKER_04 41:57

And I wanted to be a one-on-one. Like I wanted to stand alone. And so, not to take it to church, but I did pray about it. I was like, all right, God, you know what I'm on, you know what I want. Left it alone. Two days later, sitting down, watching TV, and then poof, an author. I was like, huh. Grab my notepad, started going through the spellings. And then I came to A-N-A-W-E-T-H-A because the first part of that is and off. And that's ultimately what I want to be. Like, because that's what music is for me. Like, it's and all for me. Like what it's done for me, uh, the safe space that's provided the escapism and everything. And then when you think of an actual author, you don't put a limitation on your on your favorite author. Never do. They can write whatever they want, make whatever they want. They might have their specialties and they, you know, they strengths that they play to. Ultimately, you're not gonna judge an author for being an author and creating worlds. And I just want to do that same thing musically. So good job. Yo, he thought this out.

SPEAKER_00 42:58

Go ahead. He thought this out. Just for y'all to realize, yo, young folks out. Y'all think it out. Think it out. Now, um, man, gosh, we probably could, but I know we gotta wrap

Gratitude Plus A Reminder To Vote

SPEAKER_00 43:11

up. Um, we appreciate you being here. Appreciate y'all. This is DJ and what? Skip.

SPEAKER_01 43:15

Tamaya, Janae.

SPEAKER_00 43:17

Yeah, because she's been with us all day long. And our esteemed guests. And Arthur. Thank you so much. We appreciate having you here. Appreciate you. Um, make sure that you tell those out there that are sitting beside you, that are with you, that you love and you appreciate them. Here at the Hill Talk Glove Podcast, we love to give people their flowers while they're alive. Now, until the next time, make sure, make sure that you check on folks without because right now they're cutting all the benefits, they're cutting all the monies. It's ratchet out here. Our government losing its mind. Make sure y'all go and vote this midterm and every time you have a chance. Be active in your communities. Peace. Peace.