Welcome And Meet Phase God

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Welcome to another episode of the Hilltop Glove Podcast. Today we have the pleasure of speaking with Charlotte, born and bred music artist, producer, event curator, and creative entrepreneur Tony P. Better known as Phase God. I don't know, yes sir. Appreciate it. Awesome. Phase God has built a reputation not only for his music, but also for his commitment to creating community through music and culture. A two-time Queen City Nerf Best in the Nest winner for Best Rapper in Charlotte. He has shared stages and collaborated with artists including Lil B, The Bass God, Keith Murray, Rascast, Kasky, and more. Beyond the music, FaZe God is the founder for of for artists by artists, or F-A-Bi-A. A creative platform focused on creating spaces where artists can connect, collaborate, and build together. Through his music and entrepreneurial work, he continues to contribute to the growth and evolution of Charlotte's creative community. Stay tuned as we dive into the music, creativity, entrepreneurship, and vision of FaZe God on this episode of the Hilltop Club Podcast. How are you doing today, my brother?

SPEAKER_05 2:57

Man, I'm living life lovely. Sir, it's a nice rainy day, you know, like the like the vibes for the evening and the morning. So yeah, yeah, it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Yeah, man. Yeah, absolutely. Came through pretty smooth on us today. At least I'll say this. It's going north and not east. Amen. Listen. Come on now. Yeah, we missed everything this year. We didn't hit any of them, and I don't want to hit any of them. Yeah, at all. Knock on wood. Hopefully, this is made of wood or something like that.

unknown 3:24

Come on now.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

Yeah, boy. Can't play with that. Come on, man.

SPEAKER_05 3:28

Yeah, you gotta be safe. Got to, got to. But no, it's lovely, man. It's definitely, it's definitely a great day, a beautiful day, especially if you're gonna get to have a conversation with some incredible people like y'all. So, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Awesome.

Growing Up In A Jazz House

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Well, I want to start off being boring as most um interviews should be, and like they would on NPR. I love myself myself some NPR, of course. Um we just wanna want you to give our audience a little bit of your backstory, your background, your early beginning and influence. Um I know we did discuss in your bio that you were raised here in Charlotte. Um obviously you were really from Charlotte. Born and bred, did all your work, printing your own CDs, working everything in middle school, doing it from here, passing around music from friends, all that good stuff. Looking back at those early years, could you tell us a little bit about what influenced you to do what you're doing? Absolutely. And how did you get here?

SPEAKER_05 4:19

Absolutely. Well, uh again, first off, I appreciate y'all for uh having me. I'm super grateful just being here with y'all. Um, again, um, I go by Tony Peter Faye's guy, uh, best rapper in Charlotte, Argue with Yama. I'm not here to do that. I'm here to talk with y'all for the day. But nah, um it nah, it's um it and it really it all stems from just having a love of um the arts, especially when it comes to writing, right? So um just being born and raised from Charlotte, it's not a already not like a music scene, particularly, right? There has always been like a jazz scene, which is a very big point in my life because my dad's a jazz player. So I I owe a lot of my creative uh juices and starts to my my father. So shout out Gary uh Potts, aka Saxy G. Um, I just I just had him um I just for our first time we actually did our first collaborative situation on one of my recent projects. But um he's mainly he's mainly a saxophone player, but um uh can play really any instrument. Um, live performances throughout my childhood of just growing up and seeing him hit the stage. Um that always um gripped me early, just growing up, being in a house that was just full of music. He was always practicing at the house. He um actually had a studio set up at the house at the time, just growing up, seeing him in there on a regular basis, just putting in his his thousand, ten thousand hours, just working, doing his doing, yeah. So then come on, I absolutely have to. Um just watch him do it and then watching him do it on his own. Like I had never seen that. I had never seen a home studio at that time, and just having that so close and then seeing that grow from there. Um, it just it just clarified a lot of stuff, and I think it opened up a lot of doors that I think a lot of people wouldn't have seen uh at that time growing up. I don't think a lot of people would be privy to seeing that. And I'm super grateful for my dad just having us uh being having that access and having that wherewithal to have that in the house. Um, a lot of that does come from again his performing, his wanting to be out there um and then his studies. He went to school for music, he went to uh uh the Madison, he went to um college in Madison, Wisconsin uh for music.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

So wait, wait, wait, come on now.

SPEAKER_05 6:14

Wait, come on now.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Hey, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What's he doing in Wisconsin?

SPEAKER_05 6:18

Uh you uh listen, be uh getting. I mean, you look like you got color. No, no, we for sure no, my dad black is black and the bear. Listen, as this table, baby. Come on now. We we we no, but that's what I'm saying. But you know what? I'm glad you brought that up 100%. But no, my dad was um genuinely um um intelligent growing up. So he actually was able to get a scholarship where he lived with a family. My grandfather, actually, my grandfather who is a white man, shout out uh Dennis Eigner. Um that's um he um he literally took took him took them from Charlotte, brought them up to Madison, Wisconsin, so that he can go to high school and go to college and just flourish there in a whole nother side of the situation. My dad's born and raised in Charlotte, so he's a Charlottean. Wow. Uh yeah, so Pop's west side of Charlotte came up off the Amy James area, um, and then had the again the intelligence and the work ethic to be recognized and have the ability to be moved outside of the city to a whole nother state and just experience that. And he brought all that back to the back home, you know. That's right. Brought the music back to the house. And, you know, I'm super, super grateful for that. And then just on top of that, him just having music in the house in general, whether it be having his own um RB tapes, his own RB mixtapes or jazz mixtapes and things like that, to where one of my coolest things is, and he just reminded me of this um not too long ago. Um, y'all remember back in those old magazine days, we can get like a hundred CDs for a penny. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so yeah, exactly. The club out. So yeah, no Pops did it. So he did it. So we we had everything in the house from you know InSync Baxtery Boys to Um, let's, if you can think about it, Nas to some of the more obscure jazz players and even some alt music. So we just had a bunch of stuff. We were listening to it all, you know. So um, I just just having that um experience and again that access to just listen to everything. I think a lot of that flowed into just my ability to want to, well, not even my ability, my openness to just try new sounds, hear new sounds, appreciate new sounds, yeah, and just different perspectives, just not even beyond music, just by people. So um, yeah, man, I I in tune all that into the music that I create, just being able to have that ability to just be able to change and see that change and be able to put that out there sonically. So, yeah, a lot of that stuff just comes from pops. A lot of that stuff just comes from being able to have access to just different sounds at a young age. So, absolutely, absolutely. It's definitely been a big influence.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Now, speaking on jazz. I'm sorry. Let's do it. Right, right time, right play. Come on now. I gotta ask you all. So your dad's a saxophone player. Who's your favorite saxophonist?

SPEAKER_05 8:41

My favorite saxophonist, uh, my dad. There you go. That was a great answer. That was a great answer. He's the only one I can get on my song, so yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

Oh, no sample query.

SPEAKER_05 8:52

No sample clearing. Exactly, exactly. But no, I mean, but the cool thing is you do the paperwork right, everybody gets paid, right? Yep. There you go. But um, nah, Pops for sure is is my like I grew up with a man, so that's gotta be my sax favorite saxophone player. But of course, he has obviously uh given me access to other saxophone players. Um, some of the folks I've really fought uh fallen for is definitely like folks like Boney James, things like that. So just um it's it's honestly it's honestly too many. And I and full and you know, full disclosure, I wasn't big on jazz. I'm not even gonna lie to you and say that I was just like.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

No, you don't even have to. The reason why I asked that is because since he plays the instrument, right? I know that obviously you're gonna know other people that play the instrument. Of course, absolutely um, and it matters because I know listening to your music and seeing how you do your music, right? You can tell folks that that do music or that participate within a musical genre that do it because they do it for the love of it. And then you got people that understand music. It's a different sense, yeah. It's a different sense of it.

SPEAKER_03 9:52

And so gosh, I wish I was people. Right, listen, I just wish it just clicked in my brain and it just almost like, oh but to you, but but to your point, it's still like that for me.

SPEAKER_05 10:01

There are a lot of a lot of this stuff is a lot of grassroots, just learning on the fly. Yeah. Um, learning, of course, getting my own 10,000 hours, but a lot of times I'm just watching people and observing and then to internalizing that and seeing how that works, but I'm still asking the same question. Like, how does that work? How does how does it work? And of course, I do the research, go back, check it out, and then you put it all together. So I'm I'm in the same mode as you still to this day. So nah, it's you're it's you're not alone for

First Stages And Finding Peers

SPEAKER_05 10:24

sure.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

Now, being um being in Charlotte growing up here, what what were the like who are the local artists that that that sparked you, um, if any, to to do what you want to do in any way, shape, or form? You're like, you know, I see this person over here grinding, I see them getting in this work. I wanna, I know I like music, I know I like the industry, I don't work in it. These people are influencing me. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 10:50

Um, well, again, it does go out, and I'm gonna I'm gonna give you the same, I'm not gonna give you the same answer every time, but it really does start off with my dad. And it starts off with Pops. Yeah, I mean, and I'm going to because I I mean, but that's what it res what it really is. Like Pops really set the set set it up for me to just want to go ahead and take it further. Um, he was doing live shows, live performances. That's where it was like, like you can.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Like where was live? What kind of what kind of locations was he?

SPEAKER_05 11:15

So he, for example, he was doing things like Westfest. He was doing like local situations like that to even just uh club situations, you know, pool houses, like wait, where he can get in the door, he was in there, you know, uh business events, um, little clubs and things like that that I could get into. Um Pops was performing. Matter of fact, he was in a um he was in a award-winning boy, uh not boy band, an award-winning uh surf band uh not too long ago, yeah, absolutely. Wow. Yeah, so if you could think the folks that do like surf music, like Beach Boys, things like that. No, he was in um he was in the band, the uh uh The Entertainers. Uh Award win. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Shut up.

SPEAKER_05 11:47

Absolutely. Come on now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now mind you, this he's he's retired since then. So he was But um he was but he was busy and even even before that, man, he was out on the road on a regular basis. There will always be a situation where it's just like, hey, where's dad? Oh, he's on the road practicing, performing, doing something like that. So that was again a a consistent thing in my life. But it also triggered me. It's like, Pops is always, you know, on the stage doing something. I kind of want to see what that's about. Because I've seen him on stage. And I'm like, everybody's looking at dad. Everybody wants to wants to is partying dance. Like I'm dancing, I'm right along with him. I was like, I I kind of see myself doing that. And it just, it just it just really went from there. Uh doing my own shows um before even doing my shows, doing talent shows, things like that, being on that stage. What age are we talking about with your talent shows? Man, we're talking fifth grade at the very earliest. Um shout out, shout out, shout out uh Dilworth Elementary. That was one of my first times really hitting the stage. Yeah, um, yeah, another one of the first times hitting the stage. Uh, first by uh they were doing, I don't even remember the name of the play. Um I did a play where some of the pictures ended up on the school brochure. So I was like, okay, I'm famous. I obviously made it. It's time to go to Hollywood. And then um that was one of the first times I did a talent show um on stage as well. So I still remember. I forgot. Um I did a freestyle to pump it up that I wrote, I think, 20 minutes before I actually had to do the um the uh actual open mic situation. Um I'm it's it's fifth grade, so I obviously I don't know what I'm doing, but I got to hit the stage. I listen, I gotta be honest because it it just it just went from there and it was amazing because I I I did that. I did, I will I did well enough to not feel embarrassed, but I felt that rush, that energy, just like, uh, this is what it is. And then just from there, I wanted to refine that, do it a lot better. And uh to go along with your question, some of the other um artists and uh people that I've been able to see, um just in general, my peers, as I've been coming up and making music, I've been able to meet a lot of people in the city, a lot of artists, um mainly the folks that I started uh my music group with. Well, you're not even my music group, I was a leader of a multi multimedia music group called Phaser Gang. Uh, not too long after I graduated high school. Me and some of my high school friends got together afterwards, putting music together. Um, we were like, hey, well, listen, we gotta, we can't do this thing on our own. We gotta put this thing together. So um we brought different people in, you know, folks like uh my homie Fields. As a matter of fact, you got my dog one uh Josh Henderson in here. So yeah, shout out Jay Henney in the building. He was one of the original members that we had. He's actually one of the first people that I met when I got into the music scene. So um we were we met by a mutual friend who's no longer here. Shout out Francesco, the artist. Um, he was able to get me involved with a lot of these art artists and acts in the city, not just visual artists, but music artists and things like that. So I was able to be introduced to a whole bunch of other artists, rapper, singer, songwriter, who I was just able to again observe and learn from and be like, listen, this is how you do it, this is how you don't do it, and then just mix and mingle and see what works and see what doesn't. So a lot of my peers, shout out to, you know, just shout out all the Charlotte artists. If we've ever crossed paths at any point in time, just shout out you because it's always been a matter of just watching, observing, and looking. So yeah, that's what absolutely.

Getting Serious About Writing

SPEAKER_01 14:44

All right, so I I this is a question that's it's pretty pretty generic, but I I just have to understand. Let's do it. Um writing. When did you when did you start writing in a serious manner where you were focusing on your your lyrical input, what the content, how you're gonna spit it, etc. Were you really trying to make a song? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 15:08

So technically I've been recording myself since again, early middle school, maybe even late elementary. But um, when I really started taking it seriously was around high school time. So um is actually my senior year, probably even a little bit before my senior year, my dad once again um put me in uh the orbit of some of his old producer friends that he knows. Uh shout out EJ and Edison of uh Peace, Life, and Music Worldwide. Um they were running their own uh record label, studio situation over there on Charlotte off of Independence. So um one of the first opportunities he's uh was saying at that point in time I'm still recording my own music, but it's janky. You know, it's it's it's rough around the edges. So, you know, but it's honest. Yes, it did, yeah. But um, I started there, and but you know, Pop saw that, you know, we were working on it. Me and my brother Mike, uh, you know, just putting the effort into making the music. So he was like, well, listen, um, I have some friends that have a studio. If you want to keep doing your thing, I'll get you a little studio time, get you to kind of you know situated with them. Let's see where it goes. I'm like, listen, I'm ready, just let me know. Um, I think that was one of the biggest things that he saw was that I was just ready, just prepared a lot of times. Um, a lot of artists seem to go in there without a plan. I at least wanted to make sure that, you know, going back to what you're saying, writing, I want to have my lyrics ready to go. I want to have my lyrics at least memorized somewhat. So once I hit the uh once I hit the studio, you're ready to go. Think of the day. Come on, preparation is that's what it is. And again, something that I learned from Pops and my fellow, you know, artists, even in high school, uh, when we were doing shows back in high school, um, just being prepared, being ready, because I've had situations. Matter of fact, um to a quick side story, I've had situations where even if you're prepared, things can still happen.

The Burned CD Show Disaster

SPEAKER_02 16:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:51

Uh I had one of my first shows at the Evening Muse again in high school. I really say that was junior year, uh, because I remember some of my uh school teachers were able to show up. So I'm selling tickets. I'm trying to, you know, I'm trying to, you know, I'm doing the, I'm doing the rap thing, selling tickets to friends, families, things like that. And I sold out my my stack of tickets like I'm supposed to. Um they come through. The show was at Evening Muse. Um, and I wouldn't do this again, I'm not big on tickets and things like that, but um, I gave them the money. I made like, I don't know, it's like 80 to 100 bucks. And I was like, hey, this is the tickets I sold. I saw everything that was supposed to. It's like, oh, that's great. Cut that shit in half, gave me my other half, and then I was like, oh, okay, that's that's cool, you know, getting paid. I was like, I feel like that's not right. But we'll come back to that in a second. But um when it came time to, and this shows how green I was with performing, when it came down to the performance aspect, I'm ready to go. I burned a CD. I burned the CD, how I usually burn CDs that had my track list on it. It was like a I think like a 10-minute set, so I was at least gonna do three or four songs. Um, have my CD, thinks everything's ready to go, give it to the uh sound guy. Sound guy puts us in. He's like, hey man, there's nothing on the CD.

SPEAKER_03 17:57

Burn error.

SPEAKER_05 17:58

Uh-huh. What do you Yeah, man? There's there's nothing on the CD. There you look, he showed me the computer, there's nothing on it. And I was like, well, no. I mean, I did the whole thing, tried to explain the best way I could. Uh he's like, and you know, the thing was he showed me, and this is where it blows my mind with technology. He's like, well, you know what? I can see on the CD there's something written because he showed me like some kind of you can see the little edges on the exact. He's like, Yeah, no, something was on here, but whatever it is, either my computer can't read it or you know, it's just you know, it's just not on there. Exactly. So I was like, I don't know what you're talking about, sir. I got a rap. So what are we gonna do about this? So basically, I don't know what to tell you, man. You gonna what so I was like, well, what do we do in this situation? We freestyle. We go up, we go up there, we do the verses that we can remember, we get the crowd involved, we get the crowd clapping, you know. Yeah, we you know, be quiet. The show must go on. Um, and that 10 that supposed 15-minute set that I made $80 to $100 on was like a seven-minute freestyle, if that. And then I was like, hey y'all, that's that's that's what I got. So then, and then just you know, went off. And it might not have been seven minutes. I think I was able to get at least like two songs worth of verses out. So I gave them something, but at the time I was just I don't have music. So I can't, I can't give them what I really wanted to give them. So um I gave them what I could and then just left. And not didn't just leave, but I I got off the stage, you know, at the time feeling like that's what happened? What really, what really happened? I did what I was supposed to do. I had this stuff prepared, yeah, ready to go, and I still got screwed over. And, you know, it's just like, man, that that kind of s and one of the interesting things that happened literally right after that set, um, I went outside, kind of stood there for a minute, kind of down on myself. Um, prior to that, some other guys had performed for me. Um they got their music going, they weren't very good, right? They they were the loud kind of loud trap sounds, but it wasn't good trap music. It was just like really bad, terrible trap music. And it's just it's just it was just wild and loud, and I was like, So um I went out there, uh, I was got done with my set, went outside. Uh, I was talking to this one guy. He's like, hey man, you know, you you you you was up there spitting some man. I was like, oh man, I appreciate it. He's like, yeah, man, my my sons within the were was in the group that you went before you, those guys are ass, man. So I'm gonna just be I'm gonna just I'ma just be honest with you, man. So, you know, it was it was it was good to hear what you had going on. I was like, oh, well, yeah, man, you know, I wish I wish I had my music. It's like, man, you ain't need no music. You you did what you were supposed to do. And I was like, oh, okay, yeah, yeah. So um, but I I went ahead and I took, I, I internalized a lot of that as, you know, you can be as prepared as you want to be. Something's something's gonna happen. Yeah, that's a good life. And and and the thing is, how do you respond to that? Yes. Do you hide or do you do you do you do it? Yeah, do you just face it? Um, and I'm not saying I face it every time, but I I like to think I've faced it and come to terms with what happens more often than not. So um, and then on top of that, sometimes it works out better. You know, it's sometimes it works out for you uh in the long run because I did feel more confident. I did have the idea, not just that, you know, I'm talented as an artist, but to kind of go back to how that um the whole situation um worked out. Um selling those tickets was something that I had never really done before, sold all the tickets, and then just seeing them, you know, give me half of it. And I was like, I did all that work, made you all that money, sold these tickets, and then you gave me half of the stuff, half of the money. That's that math's not that not adding up. I think I think I think I wanna I think I want to do this on my own and see how that works, just putting that together. And then not too long after that, that's when I actually when I did my um my first rare event. Actually, a couple years after that, that's when I did my first rare event at the first common market over there in the South End area, not where it's currently at now off a tree mob, but a little further up before you get to Uptown, um, where they just demolish a bunch of that stuff. But um, yeah, no, um, that's where it all started. That's where it all started. And I guess I try to learn a lot of life lessons from just things that happen like that because you can always learn something. And I think that was one of the biggest things just growing up and just being more prepared. So uh yeah, man. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

That is a good story. I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna tell you why it's a good story too. It showed like it's a good learning lesson. It showed that you were resilient. This is something that a lot of folks growing up or that are that have the the want to be in an industry. It doesn't matter what you mean. You can make you can you can make um oil for cars or cogs for something. It doesn't matter what industry is, um, you're going to hit rough patches, and there are gonna be times where you have to be resilient. But also, I'm gonna tell you, man, you actually was doing hip hop. Come on, man. Yeah, yeah. You was rocking the crowd, you was controlling the people, and you were giving them a show. There's a whole song called the show where the guy just beatboxing and rapping. Come on now, they don't understand it. So that was that's awesome, and that was cool. It was weird that you had to experience it that way, but it showed you that you had the chops to do to do the job. Um, and I know this is this is cool because you actually you took us right into the next phase of the question because obviously you're a musician, you you do art, etc.

Building For Artists By Artists

SPEAKER_01 22:58

But there's something that's that's really important that you do, and I think this is important everywhere, is building platforms for artists. Um and you you champion the idea, and I think this is very important that being real and being in the community and being hands-on with projects to create abil um chances for for people to come out, show their skills, get a chance to market themselves to the community and the crowd, to build um a place for them to actually make money off of the art that they build. Can you explain us why that's important specifically here in Charlotte and explain the platforms that you build?

SPEAKER_05 23:32

100%. So the platform in itself is called for artists by artists. It is just uh uh all around in general open platform to invite artists, creators, and entrepreneurs just to come out and just create that community together. So, my big thing, of course, BMW. Born and raised in Charlotte. I said earlier, Charlotte hasn't always been a music scene. It's not, it's not a music town now. You know, it's not it's not Atlanta. It's not they'll always tell you it's not Atlanta, it's not New York, it's not California, it's not even like Houston, Chicago. These are cities and places that have um they have naturally involved the music into their ecosystem. Some way, somehow, they've been able to um push their music artists to be able to be representatives of their town, the city, and ultimately the state, right? Um, I've always been under the thought that that's what Charlotte itself has always needed in particular, just an infrastructure and ecosystem that allows artists to just be to be seen, to be heard, and to be experienced at a low to no cost. You know, like it shouldn't, it should you shouldn't have to pay to perform, i.e. what I was talking about.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

Boy, come on now, say you're talking some game right now.

SPEAKER_05 24:41

I mean that's what that's and that's what it's all about. You shouldn't have to pay to perform. Now, don't get me wrong, some of these places and venues, you you you I get the idea that some of these folks need to be reimbursed or they need to make sure they get their money on the back end, whether it be a venue, the promoter, things like that. I get the idea, I get the idea of that, but I think the current music industry and honestly the current music business has heavily skewed and heavily inflated a lot of numbers to where artists are getting taken advantage of. And a a music artist or the a music artist, especially a rapper, will be the last person on a totem pole to get paid realistically if it comes to once it comes to recording, making money, things like that. And but they're also expected to front a large amount of money just to get it going, right? And and and let alone they'll they'll tell you the listening whether you take them seriously or not, you can listen to uh a lot of these music gurus and they'll tell you straight up it's like a hundred thousand to a hundred fifty thousand dollars to make any kind of real wave or motion in the music industry business, right? So there's a number on it, there's a cap to it, but is that the right amount? Is that is that because the people that you need to get involved with cost that much, or what is the real ticket? My thing is I don't think it costs that much to really create a music standard, to really create a music ecosystem. People just have to be paid for their time, they gotta be paid for the effort. And a lot of these folks will work with you. A lot of artists and creators, I'm so grateful that I'm in a scene where I'm surrounded by talented people that will give me the opportunity to not only be able to work with them, but to be able to use my talent to bring in money, to be able to bring in some type of business. For example, um what we do at um what we do at Common Market South End every Thursday, real artist, real entertainment. It's just an open, it's a free open mic. It's a free open mic where we invite all create all um all musicians, all talents. If basically you got a talent, we want to see it here every Thursday at Common Market South End. We just just come. Yeah. Just come as you are. Um, you don't have to be perfect, you don't have to be the greatest singer in the world, greatest rapper. You don't have to do music. We just want to see you. We just want to see you outside in the community and see and and you have this stage. You know, you didn't have to pay to get in. You don't have to buy a drink, you don't have to bring 10 friends, you don't have to sell 20 minutes. Say it, say it. Well, you know what? Listen, with that, still uh support the venue. Go ahead. You have to support the venue. So again, shout out Common Market South and shout out the whole common market just business because they've been a big supporter of the stuff.

SPEAKER_01 27:05

I bet you these places, their businesses are good enough that you would support. You aren't gonna bring them to a rundown place.

SPEAKER_05 27:10

I wouldn't 100%. And the thing is, that's why I'm grateful for places like Common Market because they understand what a creative needs. You know, shout out Walt and the whole team uh at the Comic Market South End because he opened up that opportunity. Walt and my dog Um Terrell, um they invited me, they gave me the opportunity to say, hey, we're doing more stuff here. We want you to perform here, uh perform there. And I was like, well, listen, this is a great spot. Are you guys open to doing something regular? It's like, yeah, we got, you know, Thursdays if you're open. I've had I uh listen, it's a great day. It it it it definitely works. It's it's it's been it's been a growing situation, but everything grows, right? But Thursday is looking like it really is a good day. No, well, funny enough, I used to do come on, man. Listen we take it back. Um I used to, I used to, I used to host um another open mic years before that, uh tapping Tuesday at Bar Smart. Shout out to all my people at Bar Smart. So um and that was really my beginning of hosting. And again, that that world building, that uh platform providing, because it was basically almost the same idea. Listen, just come out, show love, get you a drink, hit this open mic, show us what you can do. And I and I I don't always want to just beyond it being an open mic, it's also vetting the talent to see who else can hit the stage, right? I'm big on performances. I'm grateful to be able, as a matter of fact, I just did a show at the milestone a couple weeks ago, uh, be there. Shout out Mary Mitch and everybody at the milestone, love the milestone. Um I love performance, so I'm very tight with uh with a lot of the um general managers and a lot of the the um talent buyers as places at places like you know, milestone, Snug Harbor. Um, so I'm grateful to be able to set up events and shows. Yeah. And I'm me personally, I'm looking for people to kind of rock with. You know, they give me the ability to bring people on that can either open with me or perform with me on these stages. Um so it does give you, it do I do take these opportunities to look at what the talent's looking like. What does the landscape look like for these musicians and creators? And then not just how can I work with them on a on a on a on a creative business, but how can I help them? What are they in need? And then honestly, how can they help me if they can? You know, it has to be reciprocal. It has to be a situation where we are working together because that's the community that we need. That's why New York is New York. Right. That's why uh that's why uh Atlanta is Atlanta. You know, they'll always tell you, listen, the money stays in the scene. It stays in the scene, and that's the thing with the Charlotte scene is that a lot of the money gets dispersed out. It's it has to be.

SPEAKER_03 29:29

But it's not an entertainment, it's not an entertainment.

SPEAKER_05 29:31

Come on now.

SPEAKER_03 29:32

All of those, it's it's just like if you put a factory in the middle of nowhere, right? You gotta have all the supply chains. Well, no, you gotta have all them parks gotta come from somewhere. You gotta have a dozen factories out around there. It's the same thing with the music in there.

SPEAKER_05 29:42

And you gotta have some, you gotta have the demand for it. You have to have a demand for it. And the demand in the city of Charlotte is is limited. It's limited. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

They don't want entertainment.

SPEAKER_05 29:55

They they they want a certain kind of entertainment. Whoever, whoever they want, depending on who you're talking about, again, it's uh the city's a banging city. Yeah, yeah. We're talking

Why Charlotte Struggles To Support

SPEAKER_05 30:05

business, we're talking a lot of a lot of high, high-income folks. Um, I was talking, again, I was talking with Taryl of uh Common Markets. Like a lot of these folks are are are are tech bros. You know, they're they're they're tech bros. They're not out here to experience the nightlife outside of, you know, maybe going to a club, getting some drinks, talking business with some of their folks. And at first I was like, no, they gotta want some kind of entertainment, especially if they're in the city. But I've seen it with my own eyes. Just people come in and sit down and then get to talk and shop. And I mean like heavy shop. I'm talking like, you know, that that legitimate tech talk, you know, all the, you know, we need graphs, we need grams, we need this, we need that, I need, I need this filed by Monday, or it's your or just your accent and everything like that. I'm like, shit. Let's just came into the bar to do that. It's it's it came to the bar to do that. And I'm like, I'm like, that is so energy, that's so interesting. So, and and and and he told me that. He he was very honest. He's like, you know, they'll come in and they'll check some stuff out, but you want people to come in and stay. And that's my always been my thing is why can't we get people to stay? A lot of that does does come from the big stat that a lot of people aren't from Charlotte, right? Yeah, 100 to about, I think it said 130 to 150 people are moving in Charlotte on a daily basis, right? How do you, how do you, how do you how do you provide a consistent representation of the city if first off nobody's from the city, and secondly, it's changing. It's changing so much that they won't even save, they won't even, they won't, they won't save their own history. They'll they'll they'll knock down a uh opportunity to show people what Charlotte was about years ago. They'll knock that down. They might put a placard if it's big enough, but not they'll put a they'll put an apartment building, you know? They'll and that's really going, you got an apartment building. You may lie, you may lie. It's in a and I'm and I'm all for it, but it don't make sense. You got all these apartment built buildings, but everybody's still homeless. So how does how does that work? Right? You know, so a lot where where is our direction going within the city?

SPEAKER_01 31:59

And I mean, I'm not trying to be super critical, but I think a lot of that is But critique it allows you to To see what the problems are.

SPEAKER_05 32:05

Yes, and I think a lot of these problems that we sustain that we're seeing in the city of Charlotte, um, is is just a matter of just overlooking a lot of simple things, where they just be, you know, for example, just keeping creativity in school, you know, just simple things like that, keeping keeping something creative to keep the kids out of the streets. Come on, do some instruments, learn a saxophone, you know, having that, having that ready for people. And, you know, the city doesn't, it's very, it's very, I'm not saying they're not doing that, but it's definitely only geared towards uh certain demographic, certain aspect, and for the folks that are representing that other side of the demographic that doesn't get represented by the city, it's a fight, it's a battle.

SPEAKER_01 32:43

It truly isn't that so crazy because the m amount of money that flows through here from um look your large Duke Energy Dominion, you got Blumenthal, you got all these different wells I'm not even banging. I mean, whatever you want to say, like monetary capital is here. The money's here. Absolutely. But the the will, I don't know if it's a political thing, was the political will to make sure that capital is being invested back into the arts and the creatives, because that stuff keeps your communities thriving and healthy. Absolutely. Right? Like you said, um, you want people to want to come out to commu um congregate with each other, to network, to talk, to collaborate, and build business um and make sure that you don't have dead brown zones in your city that you don't just have to put up apartment buildings no one can live in. Um, as my wife and I call them, we call them dorm rooms for adults. You don't have to make a bunch of those. Come on now, you know, so I think that's important. So that's why I I love what you're doing with creating platforms.

Mixing Dance Art And Open Mic

SPEAKER_01 33:45

Um now, with these platforms, do you ever involve or intertwine other types of arts into absolutely no, most definitely.

SPEAKER_05 33:52

We have um uh with speaking with rare in particular, um, we have we have dancers out there, shout out Agile Angela. She's she she's regularly out there as a dancer, just a freeform dancer. She just did ballet this week, you know, she'll do crump another week, and then she'll just do all-around hip-hop dance, you know, and that's and that's a and she's always there almost every week to do that, you know. And and and I'm so grateful that she feels comfortable and confident to do that because a lot of other places are not doing that. Like I've never I don't I don't think I've been at another open mic where a dancers dance, right? And had that feeling of dancing, right? We had a uh live painter that comes out that comes uh to rare um pretty regularly. Shout out uh Jeff Morris to do more studios. He actually did our logo uh for the four artists by artists. He did our um, he did our character logo, uh Starco. He he helped with that. So we were able to do business. He came in and said, Hey man, listen, I like what you're doing. I would love to do some art for you guys. You know, I'm willing to donate my time, donate some supplies, and you know, just be here taking, you know, you know, drawing the experience. And I was like, absolutely. And my whole thing is I don't just want you to, you know, be there just doing that. I want you to be a part of the experience. We are partners. Hey, listen, bro, you have to talk to do more studios. Everybody work with do more studios. I spent bread with my dog Jeff, you know. You know, he was doing it, he has a comic book series. So I have to buy the comic book series, have to uh uh, you know, put money in his pocket, and then on top of that, circle back and we were able to work on that logo. So um that's exactly what rare is all about, formulating that connection to somebody that you might not have been able to. Because that's something that when I was coming into the when I was coming into the scene before I met the homie Francesco, I had no idea what to do. I had no idea where to go. There's no there was no place for a young hip hop artist when I was coming up to to find anything, you know, even unless you were super tapped in with people who were doing music, which at the time, you know, social media wasn't as big as it was, you know. And I'm and even if you're on my space, I was on my space at the time, I'm still not sure how to navigate it to where I gotta find the people within the city to get what I need at that point in time. So, you know, you just kind of stuck with the folks that you that you can get. But once I did have that ability, it just opened it just opened, it just opened it up for me to just work, just work with people and then not just work with people, but connect those to other folks that need that. Because I would always be, I will always run in people. Let's say I do a show, like, hey man, that song is hard. You know, who did the beat? On me over there. He's right over here in the building. Yeah, right. He's in the building. Let me it let me introduce you to him. Let me let like that. That's what it is. That's what it takes, and that's what's needed in the city, and it's just the sheer fact that no, and it's not it's it's nobody has put a real emphasis on that um outside of some of the folks that like Charlotte's Creative. Shout out to the folks at Charlotte's Creative. Um, they've definitely done their due diligence with um having the ability to to um to uh again be seen, uh put the money in their pockets, stuff like that. But again, that's a a a small sector and uh uh a situation that needs more support in itself, but just not just them. It's not it shouldn't just be them doing it. Of course, you guys, fat folks like Hilltop, you guys are amazing at you know, promoting, showcasing, and showing people that who are who might not get shine like that.

SPEAKER_02 36:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 36:55

Um, just giving them the chance to be on camera. That's super important because we don't have that. We don't have our own media outlets. So again, that's another reason why Charlotte is can succumb to outside entities, right? That's why people from you know New York, Atlanta could come in here and really get it back. They'll tell you, man, these folks will go to Charlotte to get some money. These folks will, it's so it's so crazy. I was living in Durham um a few years ago before uh around COVID

Money Barriers And Triangle Lessons

SPEAKER_05 37:19

time. I was living in Durham, I was staying on Durham for work, so I actually had the opportunity to see how Durham's music scene kind of works and kind of really compare it to the Charlotte scene. Um, first and foremost, Durham has way more appreciation for their rap scene than Charlotte does.

SPEAKER_01 37:32

Yeah, I know I can I can see it.

SPEAKER_05 37:35

And and it's just wild. It's it's it's wild and Raleigh too. The whole triangle has it has a has a big support. They definitely support their artists. And when I mean support, I mean like the radio DJs are in the same building as the the people that are coming up and they're actively speaking with them and saying, hey, listen, if you if you're if you're if if you're hitting the marks that you need to, you have the opportunity to hit this radio station. The radio station in the city, you know, it would it would be the equivalent to trying to get on Power 98, right? Right. Yeah. Um that's but that but that's the direct access that they have, you know. That's not the same in the city of Charlotte. There's that, there's the there's there's this thing, right? There's a thing in the middle. And you know, if you're smart, you can overcome it. Yeah, it's it's called too much money.

SPEAKER_01 38:16

Is that what's wrong with Charlotte? Too much money. Too much money.

SPEAKER_05 38:18

It's too much emphasis on money. And what again, it's not the it's money is only a part of the problem, and it's not about not making money, it's about having money keep you from put from doing things. You know, money will keep you from being able to being able to work with somebody. Money will keep you from, oh well, I don't, I don't like, I don't like what's going on. It doesn't pay enough. You you miss out on the opportunity to really work just at the jump. You know, hey, what's your budget? What's this? Don't get me wrong. I am not saying by all means people should not have their business in order. People should be able to you have to have a button.

SPEAKER_01 38:52

But but should you have to pay $50,000 to get your record on the rating?

SPEAKER_05 38:56

No, I don't think I don't think it should take that. I think that's only done to, of course, appease the the labels. Of course, they'll say, well, you know, the business has to run, we've got to keep the lights on. I agree with that. Um I I I do think a lot of that stuff is overinflated. And I don't think everybody, I think I think some of these folks are doing what their their due diligence, but a lot of times it's so concentrated. That's why you only have a minute uh you only have a minute visual of the certain people. Like, for example, you only know of a few artists in the city of Charlotte. But Charlotte has so, so, so many artists. There's too many people. Way too many. Hell, I was just at, I literally was at Petra's last night. Yeah. Uh uh, they were doing the Confluence Festival. I saw that. We had one artist here today. Absolutely. So, you know, and it was dope. They had um Jamante, of course, Jamante being from the city, um, and seeing him being able to grow. Um, the homie Brio was life, was the guy that I was able to see um come up from the city as well. So, you know, it's it's it's the people that are recognized. They've had some other folks that I'm not super familiar with, but that's again a point that's supposed to be had. But at the same time, it's like, man, it's like we could do that more. Because it was a great turnout, it was an amazing turnout. Um, they did their thing. Matter of fact, uh, shout out my other OG, OG Blues was out there. Blues Rogers was out there. That's my OG. Um we were we were we were talking, we had a nice little quick conversation just about what we're seeing and what we would like to see more of. And just seeing that, like, you see this response to to hip hop. And of course, I'm talking about hip hop in in my capacity. Yeah. But um, you see this response. This is the response that we can have. It was a great show, went basically flawlessly. Um, we why are we not doing this for the whole weekend? Why is there not a rap? Why is there not another rap show? Why is this only for Friday? There should be. And it is. It's different. It's an in and however they set it up, is how they set it up. But it's the the idea that hip hop is only relegated to a night.

Hip Hop Stigma Safety And Venues

SPEAKER_01 40:39

Oh, I got a question.

SPEAKER_05 40:40

I got a question, and a question. Come on, now we'll be doing it.

SPEAKER_01 40:44

We gotta speak on this. Do you think it's because of what hip hop brings to an environment? The ills that come with it. It's this is something that's a social issue. And I think, especially when you're dealing with in a place that is a big banking town and they're moving lots of money, and you talk you talked about certain tech bros and people like that, there's certain types of things they don't want to deal with, certain issues.

SPEAKER_05 41:09

And and that's and honestly, that's what it is. As a matter of fact, there is I I feel like there is an actual moment in time in Charlotte history where it got it it did get it did become too much, and then it and then and then I feel like the the look at hip hop changed for the city. Um there was a there was like a there was a fight at one of the venues and um I forgot like it was a neighborhood theater. I think somebody went to a window. So yeah, if I remember correctly, there was a show. Yeah, and and and it was, but it's it, but the the I I really remember the the feed, the the backlash being so quick. It was you could it was it was palpable, man. You could feel like that happened. I think they had a quick explanation to just what went down. It was a it was a hip hop show. So um, but once that happened, you could just feel like they were not really trying to have a lot of hip hop in the city of Charlotte just in general. When and this is back when, you know, they had Tremont, they had Chop Shop, they had all the older spots, you know, all the older venues were there, but they're not, they're not, and they're not they're bringing in the big acts that are gonna make money, but they're not gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 42:10

Where do they go to?

SPEAKER_05 42:12

It doesn't matter where the big acts are going. It's more so who is going to who's who's going to open the doors for the artists in the city.

SPEAKER_01 42:19

That's my point. Because the big artists, the big acts that they bring in, they're going to these large large-scale events where security is really well. So you see what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_05 42:30

It's like I I feel comfortable with these people because honestly, yeah, I see what you I see 100% where you're coming from. And that and to your point, that's my point, is that if unless you are almost guaranteed safe, we can't, we we don't really even want to deal with that. And I think that kind of bled into a lot of these other venues. Because again, it it's just and I and I that's just coming from my my experience. We're talking what, 2000.

SPEAKER_01 42:54

We ready. The reason why I'm telling you is because we dealt with it. Oh yeah. So you so you're ready, I worked, I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna give you a quick story. So that quick story I used to um we used to do these little DJ when I was in college, we used to do these DJ nights. And um we were working at this place, and um, it was like I was playing Tupac and stuff, it was like some old school hip hop, and this guy decided um he was gonna throw this other guy through the door and they start stabbing people outside. Um, I think a fork may have been involved, fork and a knife. It was crazy, right? That was happening. They were fighting outside. And this was like in this is in Charleston.

SPEAKER_03 43:26

Show got forks. Yeah, force. Yeah, that's what I was doing. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 43:31

So this is in Charleston. After that, they said no more hip-hop here. Wow, wow, yeah. You can play reggae, you can play whatever you want to play, but you could not play hip-hop. Absolutely because it was on a main street, right? And for a a time after a while after that, because you also had different fights between local folks there who worked there, uh, who worked and lived there, and students there because it's in College Town. It literally took hip hop away from the main strip until probably like four years later, we started doing really small shows at another location to try to bring hip hop back in. We couldn't tell nobody about it.

SPEAKER_03 44:06

It's hard, yeah. It takes it takes like a person, yeah because we talked about this before in the communities. Like it takes you're the one that they're comfortable with.

SPEAKER_01 44:15

That's it. Yes.

Gatekeeping Professionalism And Responsibility

SPEAKER_03 44:15

And then you become the gatekeeper to bring in other people. And so it takes people like y'all to make it.

SPEAKER_01 44:21

And I literally have people come to me to try to get into these spots. Hey, so how did you get in?

SPEAKER_05 44:25

That part, that part. And and and and I've been to that point, I'm not big on gatekeeping because I've been gatekeep from you know, just you know, it it happens, but I also, in my in my age growing up, and seeing how when you give access to those who are ready for it, oh, say that's it. It tears the whole thing down. No, those who are not ready for it. Yeah, it can be a blessing and a curse if you give it to the wrong person. So I've seen that. So I definitely, and maybe gatekeeping isn't the best word, but I've been selective. And I'm not, and I'm and I'm not saying I'm keeping information from anybody because it's open to all, but you really have to be selective of the people that really have something. You have to choose your advice, and you have to just be you have to just be aware of folks because a lot of times with with opening up the your your your platform to anybody, um, you you open it up to anybody.

SPEAKER_01 45:09

Because you own it, you have to take the responsibility for that part, absolutely platform creator, and I think especially for folks in hip hop or or emburgeoning art scenes, the responsibility that comes to your desk.

SPEAKER_05 45:21

Yes, absolutely. And I'm big on being professional. I I uh and I think a lot of people that I work with, I I get I get I've gotten this compliment, you know, over time pretty frequently. It's like, you know, you're you're a professional guy, you know, you you're on time, I'm not saying on time, every time, but you're on time more often than not. You you communicate well. Oh, you come in, you're directly to work, you know, you speak to people professionally. Um it it makes everything run so much more smoothly. You know, you come in, you and you're organized, like you said, prepared, like we were talking about earlier. Everything works well. Everything is so uh streamlined, and everybody has a so much of a better experience because of that, from the artist to the venue to you as a host, like just professionalism. And I think another thing that's what we're missing in the city. And I think that's why hip hop has a hard time is because I mean, it's we have professional artists. We yeah, I've I've learned from pretty a lot of professional artists, but at the same time, um a lot of artists cannot be professional. And and like you say, like you said, it takes one person to get in that door and make it happen. All it takes is one person to f it up for everybody. That's true. I've seen it happen before, I've almost had to deal with it before. So it's one of those things where it's like, how far are you willing to go and how to protect what you need to do and do it the right way. My whole thing is we have to do it the right way because I think we've done it the wrong way for so long that that everybody thinks that's the right way to do it. And I want to change that. So yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:40

So that's a good point. Um, I know we're getting to the to the end of our our our little hour, but we do have these cards in front. Well, I said it's about 45 minutes. For real. But we have these cards in front of you, right? Absolutely. What we're gonna do is we're gonna have you pick a card and I want you to random question. I want you to read the the card and then um answer. Let's see what we got. Uh feeling this way. And these are no gotcha questions. They no gotcha. Okay. See you not, see you not.

SPEAKER_05 47:06

These are all good questions. Yeah, these are all good questions. And you said I gotta read it? Yeah. Okay, I got you. So this is the community card.

Community Identity And Real Support

SPEAKER_05 47:11

It says, What problem in our community do you wish more people were paying attention to? Ooh, how much time y'all got? I know you say you only got 10, 50. No, um, I got you. Let's see. So um there's there's a few, there, there are a few things that that are in the city that I do wish a lot more people would pay attention to. Um, namely, the the biggest thing is just it really is just simply support. It really is just understanding. And honestly, you know what? I'll even I'll even go back to that. I'll go into truly understanding the dynamics of a community uh made of people that are not necessarily of the community. If that makes sense. And I and just give a little bit more thought process to how that really does create a city, you know. I I I I say that to kind of go back to what we're talking about, you know, just people coming in, 130 to 150 people coming in and out of the city. It's hard to establish an identity like that. That's why Charlotte has been struggling to do that. So um a lot of people, a lot of a lot of people will hear that and see that, and because at the end of the day, those folks wherever they're coming from, chances are they come from New York. Yeah, they're coming from Atlanta, they're coming from DC, they're coming from these places that have history with the art. So they can always go back and say, Well, I'm from DC, I'm from New York. You can say that. You it we should be able to say the same thing in Charlotte. But the thing is, it's that people don't understand that we can't. It's it's uh it's not that we can't, it's that it's it's a lot harder for us to do that because that same that that we don't we don't have that backing yet. That's the whole point of what we're doing right now. We're we're creating those media outlets, we're creating our own situation where you don't have to leave to L and a lot of artists feel like they gotta leave for Charlotte. That's what uh artists will tell you one of the first things, I gotta leave. I gotta go to I gotta go. I have to leave. And by all means go.

SPEAKER_02 48:56

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_05 48:57

Explore, do that, but you don't do it under the guise that you have to. You should be you should want to leave because you want to. You want to go and experience. And it's it shouldn't be I can't do it in Charlotte. I have to go somewhere else. Because if you're with that mentality, you're not gonna do it anywhere. Because you're blaming it, you'cause you're blaming it on the surroundings and not on your talent. Because I mean, I I find my I feel I'm successful in the city. I do, and and don't get me wrong, I'm I'm not uh a huge, huge artist, but I'm realistic and uh I I'm I'm paid for shows, I do shows on a regular basis, I create my own events, I'm able to to to pay bills and really do my thing with the music that I that I want to, that I want to. Gotcha. And that's the real deal freedom. And then I have the ability to to put on these events, put on these shows, work with people that can do that. I don't, I don't, a lot of people feel like they need a label. You don't need a label, you don't need anything like that. You just need the community and you need people to understand where you're coming from. And that also comes back to what I'm just saying about the city is that once you have that support, that real deal, homegrown support, you will see the difference. You will feel the difference. You will see a lot more quality artists come from the city because the city supports it. The city wants to see better rappers, right? New York was the raps was the rap mecca for a while because they didn't let it slide. If you were a bad rapper, you can't come out here because we for for all my New York folks, they slap bad rappers. You know, we don't deal with the rappers. No, the I'm not saying we should be putting our hands on folks, but you know, the filter. Yes, filter, you know, you know, cream is gonna rhyme to cream is gonna rise to the top, but there's a lot of cream in the city. And we all can rise. There's enough space, there's enough place, there's enough money for us all, but we gotta just we got we have to direct it right. We have to be professional, we have to do this shit the right way. So again, that's what rare is all about is being that that blueprint. Even if we're not the ones to do it, somebody's gonna see that and be like, well, listen, I know a bad open mic when I see one, and it's not rare. And anytime I see something that runs like rare, I know that's a good open mic. I know it's there to help. And that's just what I want to be, is be that representation of not just um not just an artist, but just an artist from Charlotte, but just a good artist, you know. So that's what it's all about. And I do want people to kind of be more aware of that, just be like, hey, listen, like this city is growing, it's bubbling, the money is here, we have the opportunities here, but there's a deeper side that's not being told, and it's that there's no infrastructure within the city, just in general. Like just the knowledge isn't there, the history isn't there, the community isn't there yet. Yeah, and it's growing, it's bubbling. But um I think the more people understand that, the more they'll be out there, the more they'll support, and they'll see that change. So 100%.

SPEAKER_01 51:28

Uh before we get to the next car, I did have to say this because I'm I love what you said. Um, there's uh this is a big notion about um like how many people does it take to support an artist. And I know I think um I think you might remember this. We had this conversation about this, but I believe um, I think it was uh Jada Kiss and I forget who else was talking about this, but they were like, nah, we only need like a thousand good fans. Yeah, what a thousand? It's like, yeah, a thousand good fans by my buy my art at ten dollars a month. And then they come and then they show it to my shows. Charlotte has a population as of the 2020 census of eight hundred thousand, eight hundred and seventy four thousand. Yeah, absolutely. So what I what you're saying is like if ten percent It's all it takes.

SPEAKER_05 52:15

It's just ten percent that just recognizes and sees that, and I'm it's gonna flip. Like Charlotte can be such a uh a music city in no time. They just gotta understand that and recognize that and then sit behind it. Listen, buy that ticket, go to that show, record them, share it to a friend, you'll see it. I'm telling you, absolutely, absolutely. You said I had to pick another card? Yeah, pick another card. I'm gonna pick this first one. So

Mentorship And Knowing Your Worth

SPEAKER_05 52:34

I like that. I like the logo. Shout out to the logo for sure. So um, this is the mentor card. It says, Who gave you an opportunity when they didn't have to, and how did it impact your life? Big, big, big shout out to my OG, my dog, the one and only blues Rogers, man. Blues, big dog blues, it's been a staple in the city for years. Uh, one of the coolest things was, and I was again still green at putting together events, but I was trying to put together like a Mother's Day event where it would have had Blues Rogers doing poetry, and I would have had my dad doing saxophone. The logistics did, it would have been cool if I knew what I was doing. I had no idea how to put that thing together. I just I was just I just didn't know. So it ended up didn't go through, but I did reach out to blues, and blues was like, yeah, nope, no problem. I got you. It was just like that. And I'm like, this is an Emmy Award-winning poet, just at hand's reach and saying, yeah, no, no problem, I got you. I'm like, what the hell are we talking about, man? You you were an award-winning man, just just just just being down for that. So um, that was just my first instance with blues, but um, one of the major opportunities he gave me, um, he put my name in the, he he he spoke up for me. Um, they were doing a show, uh, shout out Duppin Swat, our people over at Dupa Swat. Uh, they were doing their uh Fresh Fest at um the neighborhood theater um and they were looking for artists, things of that nature. And um he was one of the curators that was putting helping put that together. And I do believe he kind of put my name in the in the in the running for that, and then of course Duppaswat came through and and put it together. But the real thing is, you know, we're putting, we're we're we're putting that together, and um he definitely looked out for me. I really kind of want to I want to tell the story when he's here, but um, he definitely looked out for me in a way that was like, man, I don't know, I don't I don't know if anybody else would have looked out for me like that. He definitely, it definitely was a matter of making sure I was I was paid properly, you know, making sure that I was I was within the right the right aspect of the budget. And he didn't have to do that. He he he he saw what was going on and he was like, ah, I don't like that for phase. And and we had he pulled me to the side. Yeah, absolutely. He's like, I don't like that for phase. He put me to the side, like, hey man, listen, like, we like I um this is this is what's happening. I saw I kind of saw what was going on. I saw that myself. Um, I you gotta you gotta boost that up. You know, you gotta yeah, you it I didn't like I didn't like the number that you were at. So I talked to them to make sure that we put that up. But you have to make sure that that you that that's up next time. So I looked out for you this time, but you gotta make sure you do that. And I was like, that's crazy. And and and and I was like, he didn't have to do that. He he could have just let me get paid when I was gonna get paid, is what I is what is what I would have expected. Yeah, but he was like, nah, like you're you're worth more than that, and you know you're worth more than that. Don't do that shit again. So I was like, you know, I can't.

SPEAKER_03 55:13

We need people to tell us that.

SPEAKER_05 55:15

But that's and that's what I'm saying. Like only a only a real OG would do that, not just tell you that, but go out of his way. Help me fix it.

SPEAKER_01 55:23

Because the first time.

SPEAKER_00 55:24

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 55:25

And and then tell me, and then be honest with me. It's like listen, man, I came through, I saw something that was messed up. I'm not going for that because I appreciate you and I love what you do. So I talk with him and make sure that you straight, but you can't do that again. You need to, you need to look more into yourself, like like everybody else. So I took that to heart and I was like, I won't do that again. So um blues has definitely been again, and and there's so many other uh great people in the city, but blues has definitely been one of the the bigger folks in my life and just for the the years. Again, I just saw him yesterday and we had the opportunity just to speak. So and that's what I mean. Like we're here, we're we're just here in that community, and that's what's needed. So uh yeah, shout out blues, shout out all the mentors. Um, he's done that for I know he's done that for other people. So I know I'm not super special, but that moment has always been special special for me because again, he didn't have to do that. So shout out blues, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 56:11

Awesome. Yes,

RARE Thursdays New Music And Vision

SPEAKER_00 56:11

sir.

SPEAKER_03 56:12

Well, what you got coming up? We gotta we gotta do a little shameless plug.

SPEAKER_05 56:15

Absolutely, nah, for sure. This is your camera. This is my camera. Listen, of course, shout out Hill Talk Love. I appreciate y'all so much. What I got coming up next, of course, y'all gotta come see us every Thursday at the rare open mic, real artist, real entertainment every Thursday at Common Market South End, 6 to 10. You guys are definitely invited. Uh, I gotta see y'all on stage or something. I'm gonna have y'all rapping, so Mike, you definitely gonna hit that stage show. But um, but no, um, I just I will uh again personally invite invite you guys. But um um I'm there every Thursday. We're doing that thing every Thursday. Shout out Trel Mix, my DJ, he holds it down every Thursday with me. Um, as far as music, we got more music on the way. I'm actually dropping a brand new project uh next Friday. Next Friday. I do I got a I did a pre-project. I did a pre-drop that I did. So four songs out. That's the God Before Gang EP that I dropped uh earlier last month. So that was just to get everybody warmed up, had some uh distribution issues with the actual initial release, but we back at it. So the 16th, we end there Friday, G-A-N-G gang, uh Grateful Always, Never Greedy. Um that's um that's that's big. I'll just give you a quick story. Um I was in a I was in a car accident uh around this time last year. So um it balled my car up. Uh um it was one of my first real accidents where I was like, well, could have could have lost my life. You know, lost I was with my girlfriend. So um we both could have not been in the best situation after that, but we made it. She unfortunately uh got a bit more brunt of it than I did, but still, like it was a situation where we could have been a lot more worse than worse for the wear, but we made it and it just gave me the idea of like, man, life is so fleeting. Um I could not be here sitting right now. You know, I couldn't be here every Thursday for my people. Um I gotta go. I gotta put this. It made me love her more. Uh so shout out to the babe, um, Johnny. Um, it made me love her more, made me appreciate her more. And then it just made me appreciate what I'm doing here because again, I'm able to, I can't I went back to doing music, got my car situation situated, and um now we're right back at it. And that's what inspired Gang, because again, I'm grateful. I always have to be grateful. I can't be greedy because it can just be gone like that. So I gotta be grateful for what we're having what we have here. So um gang's dropping next Friday. Um after that, I'm dropping singles. I'm really about to drop a lot. I ain't gonna hold you. I've just I thought it was coming.

SPEAKER_01 58:18

Yeah, I'm a little bit of a gap at the top of the before.

SPEAKER_05 58:21

And it's it's been more so I've just been working in different situations. And I've been doing music. Absolutely, but at the same time, I've been doing music too, and I got some shit. So I think that's really I just been I just been uh compiling. Been compiling so that once I drop, I don't have to stop. So um definitely got a few more projects that I'm dropping um with uh the homie feels. I got a uh nice little project with the homie feels, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I got um some things that include some of the local artists, like um I was uh my OG Dia D'Angelo. He's a poet out here in the city, so that's my OG. We got some things on on the works as well. So um more shows, more events um for artist by artists. We'll be expanding. So again, we'll be doing our own um uh media, more media creation with them, content creation, as well as I've been working heavily with um my dog, the one-only Nick Will, who is an incredible documentarian and video producer here in the city. We do a talk show um called the Creative Crowns uh talk show. So that's what we've been doing uh earlier this year. The the response has been incredible, it's been amazing, and it should put a battery in our back to just kind of do what you guys do and just get some folks that need that shine and speak with them and have that good conversation because I enjoy talking with you guys. I enjoy talking with people, so we want to keep that going and not just that. We want to archive a lot of this stuff and just let people know that listen, we're here. This is you're here with us. So um, that's gonna be on an even bigger, bigger scale as well. So we work and it's gonna be a busy, busy 2027. Of course, we got more work with uh Hilltop as always. So, you know, we we locked in for sure.

SPEAKER_00 59:43

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 59:44

Maybe not day, but you better know. It made me feel special. Um I know we're wrapping

Closing Advice And Voting Reminder

SPEAKER_01 59:49

up. Um, as I always like to tell people, um this is DJ and what? Like in the back. Only in the back. Only in the She got a headphones on my and then our esteemed guest.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:03

Face guy, you already know. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:04

Make sure you tell somebody next to them that you love them and you appreciate them. You don't know when you have another time to do that. Always take chances. And finally, make sure you go vote. That part is midterm. Yes. Um, if if if you are in uh most states now to do early voting, make sure you do early vote and get out to early voting. Do you know when an early voting is for North Carolina when they start? I know we start in South Carolina 19th.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:24

Is it 19th?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:26

I think y'all may be next week.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:27

Yeah, I got you, I got you, gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:28

Um I know we start on the 19th, but make sure that you get out there, check your voter registration, go out there and vote early. Don't even worry about going today, because there'll be a bunch of out there. Come on out, just to be honest. So make sure you go out there early and get it done. Um, outside of that, man, y'all be pleased about it, man. Keep it full. Peace.