 It's so stupid, it's positively brilliant. It's brilliant, it's positive, positive. It's positive, positive, positive. It's positive, positive, positive. Yep, shawlaming the guy. Andrew Shelds. We are the brilliant idiots and uh, we got some church announcements? Andrew? Yes, we do have church announcements. Talk to me. Um, fourth show for the special, April 12th, Easter Sunday, LA, still some tickets left, going very fast, few left on the balcony. Go get them, TheAndrewShows.com. Tempe this weekend, sold out, thank you. After I'm in Hawaii, two shows, Blue Note, Honolulu. Some tickets left, go get them, Hawaii. There's a radio personality out there that is a huge fan of yours. In Hawaii? Yeah, huge fan of yours. Well, you should be. Alright. Thank you. What's the name? Uh, her name, her name. Her name, what's her name? Yeah, I don't know, I forgot. But she uh, she listened to you. Damn, what was her name? I could shout her out. She asked me to, she asked me to say hello and shout you out. If I Google Hawaii radio personalities, you think you might come up? Yeah, I think it's Moana. Well, let me see. Let me see, let me see. Hawaii, you know the name of the station? Um, I don't know, 101, 101, 101. How'd you meet her? She DM me. Look at the DM, Andrew. He got a lot of DMs. Who, who, who did your girlfriend know about this? Sam, man, we're starting to learn names. She's quite infuriated by it. Okay, like sometimes she's like, why are you looking at the DMs that don't even show up? Well, listen, uh, Hawaiian radio. You know that the secret DMs, the ones that like Instagram try to keep away from you? Yeah. I'd be a notice. Listen, the Hawaiian radio personality, whoever you are, I appreciate you and uh, hit Andrew or hit me so I can shout you out on the next podcast. Yo, we're going to get that. Uh, TheAndrewShows.com. For more cities, uh, we're coming back. We got, I mean, just, just a bunch. Jersey, Pittsburgh, Orlando, Miami, um, Virginia, Charlotte, uh, more shows at TheAndrewShows.com. Get those tickets and again, get them early because what always happens is we come to the market and then you guys are buying these tickets. It's insane, the resale. Yes. People are buying $700 resale tickets in Atlanta. So your friend owes me $1,400. Okay. We put them, we put them down. We gave, we gave, um, so just get them early. Just this, we're telling you right now. I'm warning you right now. They're going to sell out to you. Hezzi is hot out here, son. Things are good. Hezzi, hot out here. Things are good. Now fuck all that things are good shit. You hot out here. I'm the greatest. That's right. I'm the greatest of all time. I just realized it. I'm the greatest of all time. I'm the greatest of all time. Come on, man. Mama mentality, goddammit. Let's fucking go. Okay. Holy shit. Now listen, am I playing around? I don't want, I don't, I, it's two things. Fix up, look sharp. That's right. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's two things I definitely want to address. We're definitely going to talk about, uh, Kobe, jellybean, Brian, but I want to talk about, and yo, this, this shit seems so old now. And this is how I know, this is how I know nobody really gives a fuck about anything. Go. Like nobody really gives a fuck about anything. Like this shit comes and goes so quickly. What is it? Last week it was hysteria over Joe Rogan saying he would vote for Bernie Sanders. I was in, uh, when was I at? I was in Charleston, South Carolina. On Friday morning, I believe. And it was the number two trending topic. It was like 60,000 tweets. You know when something like that happens, when you wake up in the morning and you see somebody trending, you're like, what the fuck happened to Joe Rogan? I click on it and I'm like, people are upset because Bernie reposted Joe. Saying that he would vote for him. In the primary. In the primary. My first thought, I was like, okay, I have to, first of all, I already knew it was some political bullshit. But break it down how it works. Cause people don't know how the political system works. It's political bullshit. It is, it could be, by the way, it could be Elizabeth Warren's team. It could be Mayor Pete's team. It could be Joe Biden's team. We don't know whose team it could be. It's Biden or Warren. It's Warren or Biden. It could be either of these people, right? And they're all stirring up shit. They start digging up old shit that Joe Rogan said, oh, Joe Rogan said something transphobic. Oh, Joe Rogan said something racist. Do you know what they said that he said was transphobic? Can we get into that? Yes. Okay. He said there was a Fallon Fox was a UFC or a MMA fighter who was a man who transitioned into a woman and didn't tell anyone and is going into the ring, breaking women's skulls because men are stronger than women. Sorry to break it to you ladies. I did hear she lost one fight though. Huh? I did hear she lost one fight. Who's that bitch? I don't call women bitches. Well, I call that one. I don't know. Cause that could fucking throw down. I could be just making that up. Huh? But I do know she was fucking women up. That I know. Fucking women up. Yes. Like literally fracturing their skulls. Yes. Okay. And he's like, I don't think that's fair. You know why? Duh. Cause it's not fair. I'm sure we've had that conversation here on Brewery and Nitty. It may not have made it, may have stayed on the cutting room floor. What did you think of that? It made it to the full episode. I'm not sure. I don't know anymore. I don't leave it up to me and you anymore. Bro. Okay. So I don't know if it did or not. But I remember us having that conversation and I'm like, look, everybody can identify with whatever you want to identify. Yes. But come on guys. Yeah. Come on, man. Let's pump the brakes a little bit. Let's pump the brakes. Men that are transitioning into women, that have transitioned into women, should not be doing physical fighting activities. No. With naturally born women. We find it wrong for people that have, the advantages men have to beat up women. I will say that and feel confident. I don't want women to get beat up by people born as men. I just don't think a trans woman should be fighting a cisgendered woman. Yes. Simple as that. Simple as that. And when you see women getting, cisgendered women getting their skulls cracked. Yes. Then that tells you there's an unfair advantage somewhere. Yes. So that's what Joe Rogan was being called transphobic for. Now I don't know if he was using the right verbage and right language because I can't even keep up anymore. I spoke to him. He was. The clip I saw, I saw him talking about that one specific human. Fallen Fox. That was her name? Fallen Fox. Fallen Fox. Yeah. And he said, he was upset about her. Yes. He was like, she is a man. And she's beaten women up and yada, yada, yada. Yes. Okay. I don't, I think that's worth a discussion. Yes. I don't think that's enough to label somebody transphobic. Yes. Now the plan of the day of shit, Joe you on your own with that one. All right. Right. I'm going to do it with the ape thing. He calls himself an ape all the time. Yeah, but he's not black. No, no. But what I'm saying is if you refer to people as that, who are just huge and strong. No, that's not what he was doing. And you know why? I'm going to tell you why I shoot Joe Rogan a bell on that, even though I'm not, I can't defend that. He said in the moment, in real time. No, that's wrong. That's racist. He said. Oh, he corrected in real time. In real time. What are we talking about? On that clip from years ago, he goes, look, they dropped me off in this black neighborhood. He said, I didn't know the black neighborhood. I thought I was going to see Planet Apes. I ended up going to watch it with the Planet Apes and some shit like that. I forgot. But in real time, real time, he corrected himself. He was like, y'all, I'm not going to say that. That's racist. He's going for a joke. He realizes it's not as funny as it needs to be for how fucked up it is. And then he corrects it. That's it. Yes. Okay. Now, boom. Those are the two things I saw people going at him at. Right. Him using the N word. And we're talking 10 years ago with that, right? We're talking about. Yeah. The Planet Apes. That should have to be like a decade ago. Yes. You don't even do the Rogan podcast for 10 years. Yeah. But even with the, you know, his use of the N word. Look, I've been said it. I don't think white people should use the N word. Yes. But we have to acknowledge that there was a period where there was a lot of white comics using the N word. Right. Whether it was Lucy K. Whether it was Neil Brennan. Whether it was Joe Rogan. Like it was a thing. Like you can go, I don't know why it was a thing. And it wasn't like they were saying my N word, my N word. No, they were talking about the word. Yes. It's jokes revolving around the word. I don't know why Joe Rogan was saying it because all I saw was the compilation where they were just like nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga. And that's just sounding like YG song. So I don't know why. I don't know why he was saying it. But I do know this. This is what I do know. I've listened to enough Joe Rogan to know that Joe Rogan don't sway either way. I've seen Joe Rogan, you know, get upset because people call him alt-right. And he don't know where that shit is coming from. He is a liberal guy. I don't even know if he's liberal. I do. 2016. I do because I speak to him and this is what he tells me. I know for a fact he's never voted conservative. Right. But in 2016 he endorsed Gary Johnson, who was a fucking libertarian. So I don't know where Joe Rogan falls on the political spectrum. I can tell you where. I don't know where he leads. He tells you where. Every single episode. When I hear him, I just hear a guy who's curious about life. It's me. He has everybody on. Everybody. He has conservatives. He has liberals. He has pro-Israel, anti-Israel. CNN would never have that on, by the way. So he has every part of the spectrum on that show. It is the most intellectually, racially, politically diverse show on the planet. Hands down. This has nothing to do with who he is. What this has to do is elites have politicians and they have PR engines. And by PR engine I mean CNN or one of these television shows. Now we've said it for years about the conservatives with Fox News. They don't even masquerade like they're not. Fox News like, yeah, we're the right wing channel. CNN lies and acts like they're just. Moderate, middle ground. No, you're not. You are the left wing outlet of the political or actually of the elites that use politicians to get their shit through. So Bernie Sanders, say what you want about him, is uncorruptible. Bernie Sanders is going to do what the fuck he wants to do and that's it. The people that are the elites that like to use the politicians as puppets, they don't like that. What do you mean you're not going to do what we tell you? We need somebody who is willing to do whatever it takes to win, which means whatever we tell you to do, i.e. Elizabeth Warren. Her whole career has been doing whatever it takes to win. I used to be a Republican. Now I'm a Democrat. I used to be Native American. Now I'm a white girl. I used to be this. Now that's what she does. She just flip flops. I used to be young. Now I'm old. Yeah. You know what I mean? I guess that's how that works. I mean, one thing she didn't flip flop. Not a choice. Let's be old now. And Biden, of course, same exact part of a long political system. He'll do whatever it takes to win. He'll do what they tell him to do. CNN realizes and those political elites and those elites realize that Joe Rogan has the most influential platform on the planet. And some of these states. Those hypothetical swing voters who probably voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012, but then turned around and voted for Trump. Those are the people, even somebody like Joe, endorsed Gary Johnson in 2016, but this year he's feeling Bernie. That's those are the hypothetical swing voters that can swing elections that those two to three million people and Nancy Pelosi wasn't trying to upset when she didn't want to impute Trump initially. Those are the people Joe Rogan is talking to. And there are plenty of states we could talk about right now. I'm sure that we're decided by a few thousand votes. Okay. Now when you have a podcast like Rogan's, it's getting hundreds of millions of downloads, right? Hundreds around the world. But here and the podcast is centrist in nature because you have all these people from different walks of life coming in. If you listen to Joe Rogan's podcast, you cannot say they lean one way. That's it. So now you have influence over those voters. If he says, I like Bernie, those people are going to potentially like Bernie and they can sway an election. Now the elites in this country do not want any one person that is not bought by a system to sway voters in a certain direction. They don't like independent thinkers having power. They don't like you having power. They do not like you having power. Matter of fact, they're probably infuriated by it. I'm sure. Yeah. So it's like when that happens, they go, we have to take away his power. Now how can we take away his power? We can't shut down his platform, but we can discredit him. We can't make him radioactive so that him supporting a candidate would make the candidate go, I actually shun that support. I'm going to tell you why that will never work. It'll never work because the people who like Joe Rogan, all that shit y'all was rehashing, they heard it already. We know how bullshit CNN is. We know how bullshit Fox News. We know how bullshit all these news organizations are. We know that they're fake, right? Like we know that they are here with a political objective to keep the status quo for the people that were on the map. All they're used for. It was all political. None of that shit had anything to do with Joe Rogan, ladies and gentlemen. That shit had everything to do with somebody not liking Bernie Sanders. By the way, again. Again. They're about to set Bernie up again. The same way that DNC did him in 2016, they're going to try to do that shit to him again in 2020. Because he's incorruptible. If he picks up steam and he looks like he's about to be the nominee. I'm telling you it's going to happen. They'll find a way to cheat him out. They'll use the super delicates like the Democrats do to literally strip our votes away. I am a registered Democrat. You are going to strip my fucking vote away with these stupid super delegates. And why would you cannibalize yourself if you're a liberal? If you're a liberal, right? And you know how powerful Joe Rogan's platform is. And you know Joe Rogan can probably, you know, not only sway those hypothetical swing voters, but sway maybe some conservatives too to say, you know what? Maybe I will look into this Bernie guy. If you know that, why would you get in the way of that? Why would you cannibalize that momentum for Bernie Sanders? Because those people don't care about party. They care about policy, right? All these like elites that are Democrat, they're not real Democrats. They don't really care about trans rights or gay rights or women's rights. They're just rich people that are on that side of the party. And they use these different hot button topics to manipulate people in voting, right? You think the rich white people that run the Democratic Party give a fuck about poor black people? They haven't done anything for poor black people for fucking the entire time the party's existed. So why would they start giving a fuck now? They just manipulate you to continue getting them elected so they can push the policies through that help them save money and resources. That's the whole fucking game. Conservatives are so weird that they're starting to promote like they give a fuck about black people. Because they, I think on some level they're starting they're going, oh shit, black people are getting privy to the fact that Democrats actually don't really give a fuck about them. Yeah, because if you look like even with Donald Trump's messaging of the African American unemployment is super low and we've created more jobs for black and brown people and the First Step Act, when you see that and even the fact that at one point Donald Trump was running ads on breakfast club videos because you can't, on YouTube you can't do anything about that. It's free, what do you call it? Free market? I don't know what the fuck they call it. Donald Trump was running an ad on my video where as a joke I talk about him grabbing pussy. There were Trump ads being run on the video. How do you? I can't believe it. What you said? Think about that, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And when I was with Mayor Pete in South Carolina last week and Mayor Pete said something to the effect of Republicans and Donald Trump will do anything that they have to do to stay in power. And it was in reference to me asking him about closed door campaign fundraisers and taking money from billionaires and Pete doesn't have a problem with that. Pete was like, just because somebody gives me their money don't mean I'm going to be beholden to them. If they're going to give me their money and think that I'm going to be beholden to them, then they shouldn't give me their money. I like that. I like that. So he said that talking about Trump and he was saying basically how Trump then will do whatever it is to stay in power. Now with that said, Trump will put that video on your grabbing by the pussy video. Why? Because he knows people is watching. He'll put the videos on breakfast club videos. Because he knows people. If it's Democrats, it's usually on the presidential candidate interviews. If he knows Democrats on they're talking shit about them because he knows people is watching. Bernie Sanders knows Joe Rogan has an audience. Why not let people know Joe Rogan said he would vote for Bernie Sanders. Joe Rogan, this guy that endorsed the libertarian in 2016, he likes to hunt, he likes all the conservative shit, but he said he would endorse Bernie Sanders. Why wouldn't you promote that? And why would you be mad at Bernie for promoting that? Who are these perfect people that y'all are out here seeking in America? Who are these people that say the right thing all the time, have never offended anyone, have never... Don't exist. No! That's not America. Don't exist, but they use as a tool to get you to obey them. They go, hey, you've got some fucked up shit in your past. We're going to talk about that unless you push this bill through, unless you take this policy, unless you, whatever. I used to say I'll talk about it first, but that means nothing. Trust me, I know. We've learned the hard part. No, you can talk about it first, but they don't give a fuck until they put theysauce on it. That shit works in eight miles. Your season, it means nothing. All right. Okay, watch this season and I'll put on it. This is the dish everybody is going to eat. God damn it. It is bullshit. It is. I mean, it's just annoying. I think Joe handled it the best way, which is just, you keep on going, you keep on enjoying, you keep on doing your shows, and he's in this rare air where he actually has more influence than the companies that are shitting on him. So no matter what they say, he still is in their, he still is in the people's ears four days a week, and they're hearing his side of it, and they have way more trust in him than they do these traditional news sources because these news sources have lied so much it has been exposed. So they're like, all right, well, I'm gonna ride with my guy. Yeah, I don't like when I see headlines like Joe Rogan has a history of making transphobic and racist comments. No. They should say Joe Rogan has made what can be perceived as transphobic in racist comments. Even that's debatable. The trans one is. He said himself that the Planet of the Apes was racist. So yes, you can say that, but don't say it's a history. Yes. History means that you do this constantly over and over and over and over. I don't like that shit at all, but it goes into our next thing I want to talk about people really don't care. I was on the phone debating with Van about this Joe Rogan who's my guy Van Lathan about the Joe Rogan stuff. Sunday morning. Yeah. Sunday morning. It was morning in L.A. It was that afternoon I was in Atlantic City at my daughter Chilly in competition. I was in the hotel. I'm debating with Van about this. Get a text from Devi Dev. Devi Dev texts me and she goes, no, not Kobe. In my mind, I'm like, well Kobe, I know you didn't get caught cheating again and she sent me the link and I clicked on it and I go, yo, in the middle of the conversation we was debating. I go, yo, he probably think I'm about to yell about some more Joe Rogan shit. I'm like, yo, they seeing Kobe Bryant dead. Everything shifts. Yeah. Gone. What happened? What happened to the Joe Rogan brand shit? Gone. Bye. Everything. Energy. Everybody energy shifted. Nobody really cares. Just distraction. Just distraction. And it makes me so sad because everybody, I want you all to remember these moments because you can, you don't even have to go back that far. You can go back to Nipsey 10 months ago. Think about how everybody cares and everybody's like, oh, we love each other and you know, make sure you hug your people and tell them that you love them and this and that. What's going to, what's going to distract us from this? Something. It's, it's only a matter of time. Something. After the funeral happens, it's only a matter of time. People really don't care like they say they care. And I'm not saying they don't care about Kobe. I'm just saying that we can be so easily distracted. I know y'all don't really give a fuck about the Joe Rogan shit. That was just something for y'all to tweet about. Yeah. This is something that you actually truly do care about. But even this. You will move on. You will move on. That's why I love when Duvall would always go, what's y'all fake caring about today? Oof. Because he, he realized it's fake care. Well, even if you really care, because by the way, fake caring is the Joe Rogan shit. Yeah. Really caring is the Kobe shit. Yeah. But people will move on. You see it on Facebook and Instagram. I used to time people. I used to see them change their profile picture to someone who passed. And then I'd count how many weeks until they changed it back. Yeah. Or how many days. And you're basically saying at that point like, all right, we don't need to care that much that this person's dead anymore. Yeah. It's more important that there's a picture of me on a beach. You think they'll make it to the Super Bowl? You think the Super Bowl will shift the energy? I think the Super Bowl will probably give some sort of homage to him. Because this is the biggest thing since JFK. Michael Jackson. No. Michael Jackson was like weird and dead already. Michael Jackson. And he was on drugs. And he like looked. Michael Jackson, bro. He looked odd. Michael Jackson. I'm with you. Michael Jackson. My initial thing was Michael Jackson, but like Michael Jackson was just in such a state. He just put out like a bunch of like albums no one cared about. And while he was way more iconic than Kobe, he just Kobe was still in his prime and beloved. Right. He was more beloved in his retirement than he was while he was playing. Yeah. But still Michael, but Michael stopped the world. Like literally Michael, like I want, you know, if you and I saw on Sunday, things stopped for Kobe. But it was also a Sunday. Yeah. So what would have happened on CNN if it was Monday coverage of the impeachment? You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. On a Sunday. Yeah. We just talking about all the old shit that happened the last week so we can break in with the Kobe stuff. Yada, yada, yada. Right. Sports Network stayed on it. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And I think music, I was trying to debate what's more universal music or sports? Music. By far, right? By itself, nothing compares to music. Michael Jackson sold 75 million records with Thriller, man. There's no question. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's no question. I just, he was past, he was past the stage of Michael Jackson. I don't know. I thought that too until he died. Really? The world, June 25, 2009. Okay. The world stopped. I won't debate that one. I think it's close. But it was one of those deaths where it was like, he was such a profound part of everybody that was alive's life. Second big, and listen, I don't even want to talk like that because it sounds stupid. I was going to say second most impactful I've seen. But yeah, man, I've never seen anything like that in sports because if there's one set of humans on the planet that seem indestructible, that seem like mystical, mythical creatures. Right? Like that just seemed larger than life. You don't think things like this would happen to? Spanish women. It's athletes. Oh, athletes. Especially somebody who's in the rare air that Kobe Bryant was in. This is God level basketball talent. Like you're talking about in the history of the NBA. Now you're right. You're only putting like, you're only really discussing three or four people with Kobe. Yeah. Magic. Jordan. Michael. I'll talk around now. I'll talk around now. But Kobe was always my number three behind magic. And Michael, very rare air and the tragic, the tragedy of it, bro. I've never seen something that tragic. Now that's, because you know, and I hate to say it like this man, but when you see somebody get shot, we've seen that. Yeah. You understand what I'm saying? And it's easier to wrap our head around. Yeah. Why somebody got shot. You know what I mean? Like, okay, somebody got shot. But when you see and and you feel like you can avoid that, right? You get security, you know, you get, whatever it is, like you don't go to the hood, whatever it is, you feel like it, but whatever it is. But when you see something like that, a helicopter crash with your daughter when you're just doing your regular every day Sunday routine as a father, like I was literally out on Sunday doing extracurricular activities with my daughter. I was in Atlanta. Did I say extracurricular activities? No, set activities. Okay. Because I would be horrified if you said it. What the fuck? I was at my daughter's cheerleading competition in Atlantic City. Yeah. When I got that news, I had to sit down because I was having a panic attack. Yeah. What did you go through as a father with young girls? Well, I didn't know that his daughter died at first. I thought it was just him. So, immediately as a man, just me as a man, I'm like, that is my worst nightmare. Something like that happening to me for my family. Yeah. Like, that's immediately what my mind went, like, man, he's not going to be able to watch his kids grow up. I was thinking about his daughter that played basketball. I didn't know she died yet. Then, these fucking dumb ass, by the way, we've really got it. I've been telling y'all this for years. Some Orson Welles War of the World shit is going to happen because of social media. How the fuck did y'all go from Rick Fox being dead to his four kids being dead? How did all of this happen in a matter of 30, 40 minutes? So, the kids, I can understand your speculation about that. Why the fuck would Rick Fox be with Kobe Bryant on a random Sunday morning? I don't understand. Does anybody wonder why Rick Fox died on Sunday? Yeah. So, as a father, at first, I was just like, damn, that's fucked up, he no longer here. But then when I found out his daughter died, I'm like, that's the two worst nightmares, right? The two worst nightmares is you not here for your kids or something happening to your kids. Right. And then I started yoyoyoy. What do you do? What do you say? Your job is to protect and provide as a father. What do you do in that moment? So, apparently, I was at this Patrice O'Neill benefit, rest in peace, the goat man that they do every year. And Bill Burr was performing and Bill Burr does a lot of helicopter flying himself. And you're a familiar comedian, Bill Burr. So, I asked him about it and he actually knew the air traffic control guy thing and he basically broke down how they flew and he said the pilot should have never taken them in there. Taken off. Not even taken off, never taken them into that basin because it was all this fog in this valley. So, you come right over a mountain and then the hole underneath the mountain is this valley all covered in fog. They say you couldn't see. So, they could see it. They couldn't see anything. They say he was too low that the air traffic controllers didn't have him on the radar to tell them the direction. So, they were going 185 miles per hour and they just went right into the side of the mountain. So, it wasn't like propellers are out. You know you're going to die and you're holding your baby girl and your arm is trying to keep her calm while she's on her way to her death. It was instant. I hope so, man. Which is the best case scenario of the worst case, right? Yes, man. Because I was sitting there and I was like, I hope they didn't burn up in the hell. You know what I'm saying? Like, God damn, you know. And when I heard that they recovered all the bodies, that made me feel better too. Because that let me know that, you know, maybe it was instant. Maybe they did just crash and die. Thank you, Gushin. What is our fascination with the body? Like, I've seen this a lot. Like, you know, these people were lost and they were never found or something like that. And then the bodies were never recovered. Closure. So, we don't believe that someone's dead until the body is dead. I think it's closure. I think it's closure and I don't want to just think that, you know, you love this person, right? Yeah. Like, we're spirits. We're all spirits, right? Yeah. In a human existence, but there's somebody out there that loves your human existence. Yeah. There's somebody out there that loves your nose. Yeah. Like, I'm serious. Like, I'm just saying. I'm going to find her. No. I'm going to find her, bro. Like, my wife loves. There's a lot to love. My wife loves me and my discoloration. She loves me when I scrape the toast. You know what I'm saying? So. When you scrape the toast, when you got rid of yours. So. So. So. Yo, you are stupid, bro. So you don't want to think that this body is just out there. You know what I mean? Getting eaten, eaten on by animals, whatever. Like, that's still this mean, this vessel. Right. Even though it's nothing but a vessel. It means something to someone. That's why you want to take this vessel, put it in a box. Yeah. Have the ceremony. They want, we got to do this for this vessel. Even though it's a total waste of money, by the way. What, the idea? That everything, the funeral, that everything, it's a total waste of money. But. You have this vessel that you still want to celebrate. You want to make sure this vessel is in a good place. You know what I mean? And I think it might give people some, some, some. What's the word I'm looking for? So. He's a mind. He's a mind. When they can go to a gravesite. Why do you think this. Put, get, put your, get on the microphone. Hmm. So Taylor asked, why do you think it's a waste of money for a funeral? Oh, why don't we have funeral for deers that are on the side of the road? Just sitting there decaying. You don't know the deers. That's not true. We have funeral. I'm just saying with a funeral, like you just said, like going to the grave, it gives you like a peace of mind or whatever. Same thing with funeral. They have talks. I think I would rather be cremated. Really? Yeah. Think about it. Think about it, right? Yes. As arrogant as we want to be as human beings. Right. This, this version of us is not always going to exist. Right. Like humans are going to evolve. Right. Do you know how many gravesites these buildings are built on? I've been thinking about that. How many graves, you know how many people had these funerals back in the day and they cried and they teared up and they buried people in the south and in California, where else. And now it's a Starbucks on top of that shit. Well, some of these, I think we could admit that some of these, what are they called? Where the dead people are. Grave sites? Graveyard? No, it's called a graveyard. Cemetery. Cemetery. Yeah. I think some of these cemeteries, I think are occupying good real estate and they could be, where are the things? Eventually they will. It's going to be something. I don't know, it could be a flood. It could be an earthquake. It's going to be something that knocks those headstones off and we're going to be gone and the next generation of people are not even going to know they're walking on the remains of Shalemaine the God and Andrew Schott's. How long? Until they just randomly hear, DICTOS in the middle of the night. What the fuck? It isn't odd thing though to have a cemetery. It isn't odd thing. It's a take up all that space. A lot of space. I'm telling you, go to South Carolina and let them take you on a ghost tour of Charleston and have them describe to you all the buildings that were built on top of old cemeteries. Life moves on. We just get rid of the cemetery. That's what I'm wondering. Get out the way. Some people don't even have headstones. And also, you have to take a trip to the cemetery when you could just have the ashes in your house. It's way more convenient. You know? I don't know. My dad used to always say he would like to be cremated and then use him as fertilizer. That's what my dad used to always say. So that he can be part of the trees or whatever in the background. My dad wants to be sprinkled in the ocean. I've heard that too. Go in the ocean. Yeah. Why? Can he swim? Yes. Asshole. We had a pool too, by the way. I know. You grew up with Kobe. You know she grew up with Kobe, right? Electrically. See, stop. Can I say on a serious tip? On a serious tip. On a serious tip. She posted the photo of her and Kobe. Oh my God. Instagram has that new shit that they can detect Photoshop. They flagged the picture. That's all I'm saying. No, they did not. That's all I'm saying. They flagged the picture. They flagged the picture. No, they did not. But on a serious tip, I just want to say like this Kobe thing hit very hard, especially in Little Marion because he did, he contributed a lot to Little Marion. Yeah. And then when I would say- That's the high school Kobe went to in Philly. And that's the high school when I would say Little Marion. They're like, Oh, Kobe school. Like, is this a lot? A lot. It's really heavy. Yeah, man. I mean, listen, it's definitely the worst. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong. It's the worst sports death I've ever seen in my life. I can't remember the last time of sporting. Shaq hit that shit on the head when he was talking about like, yo, I've met Bill Russell. Bill Russell was older. You know, Dr. J. He was just naming all of these basketball icons that are still around. He's like, you're Kobe, like, they're not going to be able to get old and they'll talk shit to each other. He's not going to be able to give his hall of fame speech next year. By the way, you motherfuckers are so stupid and y'all pissed me off so bad. When y'all, when they announced that Kobe was getting inducted into the 20s when you're Hall of Fame, people was like, why somebody got to die? Why do you got to wait till somebody died inducting the Hall of Fame? Like Kobe wasn't getting in. First ballot. This is just the first year he was eligible for nomination. They already had announced that he was a nominee. Him, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, he was going to be a unanimous first ballot Hall of Famer. Undeniable. Undeniable. That's it. I heard a good, I heard a good Kobe joke though. I don't want to hear it from you. No, no, this is good. Yo, I did a good Kobe joke. No, this is good. I got to shout out Tony Hinchcliffe with this joke. It was a good joke. He goes, he goes, Kobe passing? Never. I get it. You have to understand, you have to understand for the situation. Right? And how? I like it. It's a good joke. Tasteless. Because, because the joke is about legacy, right? If the joke is about what we remember about Kobe, it's not making light of his death. It's going, I, this is, we're all feeling in the moment. This is unbelievable. I can't believe this happened. And he took the feeling of, I can't believe this happened and he gave it purpose. It's, I thought, Tony Hinchcliffe, great comedian. That's a good joke, Tony. And I thought it was just double entendre. There it is. Double entendre. So double entendre. I like it. I like it. I just thought like, not every joke about a tragedy has to take advantage of the tragedy. Right? Yeah. There are jokes about the tragedy that you can speak to how we all feel about it and can still offer a chuckle or a smile in a really fucking dark time. I thought it was great. Your man is lame though. Who's that? What's his name? Oh, Ari. You know why he's lame? Yeah. That was not a joke. It wasn't a fucking joke! Yes. You can't hide behind the guise of a comedian when it wasn't a joke. It was no joke. There's no joke. There was no setup. There's no joke. You got on motherfucking Instagram and you was like, a fucking rapist died today or some shit like that. The world is a beautiful place. Whatever the fuck you say. There was no joke. There's no joke. You made a statement. Right? So being that you made a statement, you had an opinion on the situation, you called a brother a rapist and that was it. Don't hide behind, oh, it was a comedian. I'm trying to be funny. Like, no! Yeah. And the thing that is... Y'all should banish him from the comedy community for that. No. Because you can't misuse the type of comedian that has to be with a joke. Here's... Okay, I completely agree and I won't defend non-jokes. I defend jokes. Yes. And I defend the attempts at jokes. So even if you made an attempt at a joke, I would defend you, but there wasn't even an attempt at a joke. No attempt. You just said things that are true or something like that. You turned into a white feminist. That's what you did, Harvey. Like, Harvey, you got on... That's the most offensive part of it. You turned into one of these white women. You're crying about... Yes, you turned into a white feminist. To jemimel.com. Yes. Like, go write a fucking blog. Yo, you turned into a white feminist blogger. That's hilarious. That's the most offensive thing he did. But what I'll say is this is what Ari does is when anybody dies and he does this with close friends of his that died, he does one of these kind of rants about it, one of tweets about it. He did it about Tom Petty. He did it about Ralphie Mayak, a comedian that was a good buddy of his, right? So there is like... If you're a really devout Ari fan and he has tons of fans, I think they understood the context of what was going on. Then he said he didn't know at the time, like, you didn't know at the time that his daughter was in there, that there were other innocent people there. I don't give a fuck. Listen, I'm not defending it. What I'm saying is the context of which it was said. There's still no joke. And furthermore, he took it down. He took the video down. He said he got hacked. And he, no, no, he did that as a... He did that as sarcasm. He leaned in with the hacking. He was like, he always act like making fun of people go, I was hacked. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he leaned in and then he took it down. Now, if you take it down, I don't gotta defend you because you're not defending you. You know what I'm saying? Like, if a comedian is out there going, I'm standing by my joke. Like, when we had that whole shit with Nicki Minaj or whatever and they were like, apologize, apologize. I'm not apologizing because I'm gonna stand by what I said. Right? So it's like, then we defend that. But if you're not gonna stand by what you said, you can't expect the community to stand by what you said. Does that make sense? Yeah. So it's like... And it wasn't a joke. There's no joke. There's no comic that should stand by that because he did not make a joke. He turned into a white feminist blogger. Yeah. And he... I really think... That's funny. Yo, I really think he thought he was gonna get a bunch of praise. I really think he thought that all of those feminists were gonna be like, yes, Ari! He don't want that much. Yes! I don't know. I think he was just trying to troll all the people and he was just trying to... I don't think... Maybe he was a little detached to how beloved Kobe was. Clearly. Yeah. So you should know, but every interaction I've had with Ari has been a good interaction that he's a sweet dude and a kind dude and a very funny guy. Very funny on stage. And it really sucks that this situation happened because obviously as comics, people come to us. How do you feel about this? And all of us feel the same way. Where's the joke? There's nothing funny there. And that's why I said the Tony joke because the Tony joke is a joke. That's funny. The Tony joke is perfect because if you're a comedian and somebody says, how do you feel about Kobe dying? You'd be like, yo, my first reaction was Kobe passing? No. And you let it sit. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. If people get it, they get it. And the reason I asked if it was too soon because I saw somebody, I don't know who posted it. Somebody posted, yo, if you got 80 good... I don't know if it was any good Kobe jokes. It was something to that, if you got any good Kobe jokes, let us know the light and the mood, right? And then I saw Just hilarious post the meme of Kobe and Jesus playing one-on-one. Jesus crossing them over. And then there was this whole debate in the comments like, Kobe will wash Jesus, right? Jesus got on sandals. Which is... Because now we're living his legacy. Yeah, man. We're supporting his life. There's no rule that says you can't make jokes. But there should be a joke. Not about him, though. Yeah, or anything. No, no, no. It's just gotta be funny. Not about the death. Exactly. Even the Tony joke is about the death, but it's funny. It's not about the tragedy of it. Exactly. It's not like back in the day when the dude was playing the airplane stuff after Lea died. No. That's just tasteless. You know what I mean? But it's just like... Because what's the joke there? There's no joke, bro. That's the thing. It's like, just because you say something that's shocking doesn't mean it's a joke. A joke involves something clever and some misdirection. Tony one was clever. Look, you need bare minimum misdirection for a joke to work. So if we're just breaking down the science of a joke and I hate doing that but I think jokes would come from your fucking soul. But if we're doing the science of it, there needs to be some bait and switch. Yeah, man. There's some misdirect, some double entendre, some illiteration, play on words, something, not just a shocking description of something. That's not a joke. And I think that's why he got crucified and he's got to know that. And if he wants to continue doing the death thing, you better come with some funny. Man, y'all... Because I'll defend funny to the end. I'm different. I'm from the South, man. I don't play with death, y'all. I believe in spirits and I believe in energy and all of that. Like, there's no reason to be playing with the death of somebody. Like what Tony did is funny. That makes a lot of sense. But just to be... Because you're remembering the life. The joke is about his life. Yes. It's a double entendre on his words. Like, you know what I mean? On his life, they always say Kobe never would pass in games. Like, that makes perfect sense. I get that. But just to be making jokes about somebody tragically dying, nah, bro. And you better... Boy, I hope you know how to fight. I hope you got guns. Because somebody's going to see you about this shit, especially when it comes to somebody like Kobe. That was the thing, man. It's like... Because sports may not be as universal as music, but there's nothing that brings people together like sports. That is a great point. There's a race... A racist and a black person could be Lakers fans. A blood and a grip could be Lakers fans. That is a great point. It unites groups that... Sports unites groups that never interact together way better than music because music might happen once a year with a concert. But basketball's happened three times a week. Yes, sir. That... Wow, that's a really great observation. You could be in a bar high five. Listen, if I walk down the street... Yeah. Come June... Yeah. And not even... I don't even got to say that. If I go to Miami this weekend... Yeah. With Kansas City Gairon... Aura... Who the fuck they playing? 49ers Gairon. 49ers, yeah, yeah, yeah. I got so many friends. There's millions of 49ers fans down there right now. Millions of cheese fans. And guess what? I got a bunch of enemies too. Because they don't give a fuck. They don't give a fuck what my race is, they're looking at that jacket. Like fuck you, you 49er fan. Yeah. Fuck you, you fucking cheese fan. Like there's nothing that brings people together like sports. Yeah, it is religious in that way. Oh, come on, man. 100% It is religious. And the second you walk in that church, you can look around going, all right, I know I got some shit in common with these people. Absolutely. And that is interesting. It doesn't maybe... Nah, it does. It's different. It's different. But when something happens to someone in sports, you're dealing with the smoke of all the people who fuck with them. You're dealing with like legacy. You're doing 20 years of fan smoke. And it's not even the people that fuck with them. It's the people that hate him. Because they didn't hate him personally. They hated him because he used to bust their team's ass. Yeah. Not that he's retired. Not that he's passed away. I can give it up for him. Yo, but you know what? And that's something that caught me about specifically the Kobe thing is that we, especially with sports, right? We spend so much time and energy hating people that we don't know only because they're playing for a city that's not ours. Right? And I did this with Jordan, right? I hated Jordan because he was on a different team. He would bust my team's ass. And thank God I matured a little bit and he looked a little vulnerable when he came back that I actually started rooting for him. Right? So I got to experience some of the greatness from the side of rooting for it. And that shit right there flipped a switch for me about not only sports but like creatives and all these other people. I'm not going to fucking hate on great work and miss out on greatness. Like if you are great. Absolutely. I'm going to enjoy your fucking greatness. Absolutely. I don't care how I feel about you personally. Absolutely. If you got some greatness I'm going to enjoy it because that's just stupid. I'm not a patriot's fan at all but I love seeing Tom Brady go against time. I'm not going to lie. I love to see it. You know what I mean? I love it. I love even when I don't like a team. I like when I see legacy players leave with a championship. Even if that's not my squad. You know what I mean? I just feel like that's how you supposed to go out when you were a champ. And you know, I guess the final thing I say about Kobe man to me this is just a Is this another You never spoke about your daughter thing. I'm curious about that before you wrap that up. Well I said no. I said that's just my When you found out that he lost his daughter what was the reaction there because the initial reaction was you thought it was just him. It was a little shock at first. And I immediately went into protection mode as if I can protect something like that from happening because it just seemed like such a freak accident like on some final destination shit. You know what I mean? So I just kind of like went automatically into protection mode and I had to just like and I was like that the whole day and then even you know driving back from Atlantic City. What was it like driving back? Were you extra safe? 65 miles per hour. You're not even playing games, right? Speed limit. Isn't that interesting? I drive like that anyway. I hate it. My wife is 90 miles out. I'm like what are you doing? Yeah. Like what are you in a rush to do? Yeah. Die? Yeah. Get pulled over? Die? Get shot by police? Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Why? We don't need none of these problems. Officer she was driving. That's immediately how I felt. I just felt like I felt very protective. Yeah. But it's like you can't certain things you just can't You have no control. You have no fucking control over. And to argue against the reality of that is crazy. You know what I'm saying? Just think about that. You got to submit to life. You got to submit to life. I don't even think we're living, bro. I just think we're existing. And what I mean by that is right now we're just existing. Right? Yeah. Like anybody could be alive. You could live. But the reason I say existing is because your existence is after this is gone too. Yeah. I don't exist in the physical form anymore. So I don't even like to just say I just like to say, yo, we're just existing. That's it. And that's just how I feel you're existing physically for a while and then you're not. Now you're just existing spiritually. But truthfully you always exist spiritually because it's your spirit that people talk about. You know what I'm saying? Unless you fucking Chris Helmsworth or Denzel or somebody. You know what I mean? But other than that it's your spirit. People constantly talk about it's what you put inside of people. You know what I mean? It's like I was listening to you on Whitney Cummings talking about how she goes to you all the time for advice. You know what I'm saying? I think about my home girls who come to me for advice all the time. That's a spirit. That's something that's going to live on way after you're gone. So you're always going to exist within these people. So I don't even like to say we live in. We're existing. And we're going to hopefully we just keep existing. We're not going to exist physically. That's going to go away and just hopefully stay around existing spiritually. And then that's it. You know? My final thought is like your death doesn't discriminate. And I feel like that's all this situation told us. And our ego sometimes makes it makes us think it does, right? Our ego thinks successful people they don't get in freak accidents. Rich. Rich people. Famous. Status. You know, like I said, he's just like a mythical creature. Things like that don't. This guy has been the most blessed person his whole life. His whole physical existence. And something that tragic, that unlucky happens to him? Yeah. Nah. Man. He wasn't what? Talking to the mic, honey. He wasn't troubled though. Like everyone knows I passed away. Like the juice world maybe and like, like you could, they already had drug problems. So it's not necessarily, I want to say it was surprising. I understand what you're trying to say. You're saying that like this is not. You didn't see it coming. Yeah. What is it called? Hollywood story. Remember those true Hollywood stories where like an actor or something ends up dying, but he went through this really dark path and then he ends up overdosing, et cetera. This is somebody whose life seems to be getting even better after sports, which we never thought would happen to Kobe. He talks about his dog period though. Yeah. Yeah. He did. He did. He talked about his dog period. He was on a my man. Drama. Drama show. Was it drama? Drama? Yeah. He talked about his dog side on there. Yeah. But he attacked retirement in the same way that he attacked basketball, right? He's like, I gained weight. I started to do this and I realized, no, this is not the life. And he really invested in family and business and all these other things. I think, yeah, that's one of the reasons why it was it was so tragic for us as fans because we saw someone and it's very rare who was so obsessed with their sport and the success in their sport and usually those people aren't in retirement. They get alcohol problems or they're smoking cigars all the time. They're just trying to replace their gambling. They're just trying to replace that edge that they got, that high they got from competing. And he seemed to transition into fatherhood like so seamlessly. Yeah, man. And then to have that shut down like that, man. Yeah, like that, like that's not, you know, does it make you question life or anything? I felt like that was Nipsey though. I felt like that. Like I don't even know if I believe in karma no more. Talk to me. And I'm sure I've said that on the podcast before because I don't, I think karma is just an action. Like you should do good because you want to do good. I don't think that you should do good and expect that good things are going to happen to you in return. Because how many times are we going to say things like the good die young? You know what I'm saying? How many times are we going to ask the question why do, you know, things about Kobe's past, you know, because if that is the karma for being accused of rape and getting acquitted in court, why did it have to affect everybody else in that helicopter? Because to me, if karma, if that's the case, karma has karma coming back to it. Because karma didn't have to take those young girls. What do those young girls do? You understand what I'm saying? Like what did that mom do that she got taken away from her parents? What did that father and that other wife and his daughter, what did they do? I don't even know if I believe in karma, bro. I'm gonna be honest with you. I just think that you should do good because you genuinely want to do good. I think karma is just an action. That's it. What if we live within our karma, meaning by doing good things, we actually feel good doing them. So it's not like I helped a homeless person and then two months later, I get a little help from someone, but the actual action of doing makes me feel good. That's why I say karma is an action. Yeah, you hit it. That's exactly it. That's exactly why I say karma is an action. Because we're not waiting for a payback. The payback's built into us. It's like every time you help somebody and you get to feel you get to feel that high you get from helping, that's the karma. That's why they say your true purpose in life is service others. I did something for somebody it made me feel good. I don't care what that person does for you. Isn't it crazy how all these religions really say the same shit about humanity and the human condition. They just got different words. Absolutely. So I was like, what is that faith? I always forget these words. Faith without work is dead. And then what was the doing service to others? What was the line of service to others? When I talk to Wayne W. Dyer, your true purpose in life is service to others. Right. Maybe that's Russell Simmons. I'm going to give it to Wayne W. Dyer. Yeah, it might be. Talking about karma. I don't know if I believe in karma. And if you're a shitty person, I think you also live in that karma. I think people who are shitty tend to be less happy unless they're sociopaths. Of course. So it's like you are living in the anxiety of your actions. Look at what you would always say, right? Like how much freer you are now that you're not cheating, right? That is positive karma. Is it not? You living a good life and then you feeling good because you're living it opposed to sneaking around and doing all this other fuck shit and you're having these, like, negative emotions constantly surround you? That's why you had that skin discoloration, bro. Man, shut up. It was. You know it wasn't. Yeah, if black men don't cheat, you were changing different colors to avoid it. Man, shut up, man. Right? For real. This shit is fucked up. It makes you think about... Look how good your skin is now that you're faithful, bro. I'm going to see Dr. Sandy right now, you're right though. Your skin is great because you're faithful. No, you're right. Listen, it's all about energy. But that's a true thing though, right? Because when I used to cheat, I used to feel bad, right? Because I know I was doing something I had no business doing. There you go. So I was wallowing in my own guilt and that shit will kill you. Yes. You know what I mean? Because then you start... You were living in your karma, bro. You were living in your karma. You're thinking she doing something wrong so you're looking at her funny and now you don't know... You know what I'm saying? It's not that funny when you ain't shit. You assume everyone around you ain't shit. That's the weirdest thing, isn't it? I'm going to think about Dev too. I think that you... I think Taylor might have asked me this other day. Like, you know, I don't know if I believe in hell. I think that you... I told you that. I think you leave as pure as you got here. Who's going that? I think you leave as pure as you came. I think when you die and all of this... You know, your physical existence is gone. I think you return back to wherever you came from as pure as the day you came. You know why I subscribed to that? Because... Excuse me. A lot of the people that end up being serial killers or mass murderers and all this kind of stuff came in pure and then had horrific things happen to them throughout their childhood and their life that warped them into these people. Right? Like, I think Jeffrey Dahmer, one of those serial killer guys, I think he was like raped a bunch and like assaulted all this kind of shit in his life. So his psyche as an innocent little child was abused into becoming this person. So with low key, it would only be fair to bring him back to his purity when he died because he didn't ask for that shit. A lot of circumstances are out of their control. You know, so being that they became these people because of their circumstances, you think God is that cruel? And I think we got to stop giving God credit for some of this stuff, man. Some of this stuff is just human error. You know what I'm saying? Like, that pilot made a choice. Yeah. And that choice cost everybody in that helicopter. Helicopter. Their life. God gives us free will. God gives us the ability to make choices. We hope God is there to protect us and, you know, cover us. But if I take a gun and put it in my head, my brains are probably going to get blown out. Yeah. I can't ask God. It doesn't work that way. You understand what I'm saying? Like, I can't simultaneously pray for God to protect me but then put a gun in my mouth and pull the trigger. Like, now you're just being ridiculous. Like, you know what I mean? Yeah. It's the same thing. Like, yo, they say Kobe went to church that morning. He would pray it up. He had faith but that pilot made a decision. There was some human error involved. Couldn't see. Ran into a mound doing 186 miles of power. God didn't make these indescriptible, baby. You understand what I'm saying? Like, he didn't make these bodies indescriptible, is all I'm saying. So, I don't know, man. And we wouldn't want them to be. No, I would. I don't think you would because I don't think you would value life. We value life. What happens in these moments? They teach us the value of life. When we see someone that we care about die or when we see someone care about not only die but lose their family members, we hug our family members, right? These are constant reminders on a universal scale of how valuable life is and how not, what's it called, promised it is. And how quick it can go. Say what? How quick it can go. It's a 41, yo, man. I'm 41. I'm born in 1970. You done did all of this life. You've played 20 years of basketball. You got all these championships, everything. And your life is literally gone in, what, 15 minutes, whatever long it took for them to be in that plane? Like, I mean, helicopters are like, Jesus Christ. Amen. What about the logo? The logo, what logo? Oh, I love this idea. So they said they were considering, or there was a million petitions sign. I don't know if it happens, but would be really interesting. They would have to pay the family. Say what? They'd have to pay the family. They'd have to pay the Brian's. That's Kobe's likeness. You know that NBA has never acknowledged that's Jerry West's likeness? Is that right? Yes, because they'd have to pay the fuck out of Jerry West. You know what? You know what? I bet you the Brian's would sign it off. And I bet you Vanessa and Brian would sign it off because in a weird way, Kobe was always in the shadow of Michael Jordan, right? He never maybe, he never was as great as Michael Jordan in many people's eyes, but he did something that Michael couldn't do, which was transition to life without basketball. Way better than Jordan did. You think? Yeah, 100%. Jordan became an owner, and the owner of Jordan, not only the owner of the horn, it's Jordan Brand. Jordan lives a great life. No, no, he's successful financially, but if you look at him, he doesn't look great. You're just judging that off his jeans. Yeah. That's the holy reason. By the way, give Kobe a fee. You're gonna get Kobe by nine more years. You don't know what Kobe would have looked like at 50, bro. By reports, Jordan is not like the happiest of guys, you know, and that was during his playing career, and it continued to afterwards. I mean, every time you see Jordan in an interview, he's drinking, right? I've yet to see him in an interview where he doesn't have like a glass of scotch or tequila or something. He's fucking retired. Wait till you see me when I'm retired, guys. You're gonna be drinking a lot. Who are you gonna think? I'm gonna fuck him like, I'm not gonna be doing good shit. I'll say the same thing. He's drinking all the time. He's drinking all the time. You never see someone drinking all the time and be like, oh, they're happy. Man, that man spent, yo, he spent decades literally giving his life to basketball. Well, now he used to drink when he played sports, too. So, he started him drinking whole 18 packs of beer and then going to fucking school at 50 points. Yeah, and not happy. Maybe he's just an alcoholic. Maybe he likes to drink. Yeah. And that's not good, right? Like, who's a positive, happy person that's also happy and alcoholic? Yeah, I don't like to judge whether people are happy or not. I don't know. Look, his jeans do look sad if that's what you want me to say. His jeans. Look, it is what it is. Yes. I just, I forgot why I even brought it up to be honest with you. What was I saying? You're talking about the logo. Oh, the logo. It would be an interesting one-up on Michael Jordan, posthumously. All of a sudden, he becomes synonymous with basketball from now for forever. And he gets that thing that he always wanted to be the most incredible basketball player in history. Like, history can be fair. I would, I... You're immortalized. I don't know if that's what Kobe... I mean, listen, I can't speak for Kobe. I don't think that's what Kobe wanted at 41 years old. No, at 41 it changed. He was like, it's the legacy and how you affect people. And your kids, man. Like, and I don't... There's no... I refuse to believe that if Kobe Bryant had the opportunity, this is how he would want to be immortalized. Yeah. Well, you got to lose seven people that are close to you. One being your... Or eight people that are close to you. One being your 13-year-old daughter. Yeah. And your life. Nah. Yeah. It ain't worth it. It ain't, by the way, it ain't worth it. Everything we're chasing, all that professional stuff we're chasing, the rings for whatever we do, whether it's radio, comedy, whatever, whatever. None of it's worth it. At the end of the day, what's worth it? That family you got at home. You know what I'm saying? What if you don't have a family at home? Take your condom off. Start doing it? That's it. What if I don't wear them? Then you might want to go get checked and see what's wrong with your little skeet-skeeter. You know what I'm saying? Bro, come on, dawg. You might not have that stupid friend. Bro, come on, dawg. You might not be po- You never had no scares, dawg. Come on, dawg. You never had no scares. You never had no scares? Say what? You never had no scares? I'm always scared. You ain't got no scares. You never made a girl miss her period? Even if she didn't get pregnant, she just thought, like, I don't know. It's a little late. It's always late. Girls never know when their period is. Really? Once a month, my girls, I don't pay for no abortions in here. Say what? You don't pay for no abortions? Yo, Bernie Sanders got to handle abortions from now on, bro. If you're going to handle Medicare, bro, Bernie, you got healthcare for all. That's the platform. I never paid for it. I never paid for it. Really? Yeah, yeah. Or I never had to. To my knowledge. I mean, Charlemagne out here keeping Planned Parenthood alive. I'm just telling you, I'll give my firm work. They hang it in Jersey from the fucking Raptors. I'm just telling you, I'll give my firm work, baby. I got three and three possible. All right? All right? Okay. Got a half-court basketball game just in heaven waiting for you. I got three exactly. I got three hands three waiting on pops. You wanted that boy? We all up here. I'm just saying. Let's pay these bills. Let's pay these bills and then we're going to have our guests come in the building. Yes. Go ahead, Shoti. All right, guys. Today's episode brought to you by Postmates. Other than your absolute best friends, who could you ask to bring you red wine at 4 p.m., sushi at 9 p.m. and a breakfast burrito at 8 a.m.? Nobody except Postmates. Now, if you guys don't know who Postmates are, I don't know how you have a cell phone or I don't know how you're listening to this podcast, it's clear that you're not living in 2020 like the rest of us. This is how you get your stuff delivered to you. Food, sushi, alcohol, whatever the hell you want, get it delivered directly to you. All right? No more trips to the store. You don't have to know where the store is. Postmates will do anything you need. Download the app, iOS or Android for free. Browse local restaurant and businesses and track your delivery. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. That's how many days there are in the year and that's how many hours there are in the day that you can use this in order. Simple as that. 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A massive inspiration and incredibly successful young gentleman who has a lot of very interesting things to say about his business but also about life and legacy. So it's great that we get to sit down with Russ, everybody. Charlamagne the God here. Andrew Schultz. We are the brilliant idiots and we got a special guest in the building, man. He's got a new album dropping. Today's Thursday. Tomorrow. Today, midnight. Technically, yeah, tomorrow, but yeah, midnight. You know that voice. Russ is here. Yes. What's happening, Russ? Can't complain. Living the dream. Now, I'm glad that you're here because Andrew Schultz had, did you tell him already? I'm sure you did. Of course. Yeah, we've been talking. I couldn't wait. Let's act like that conversation never happened. You've been, I owe a lot of my success to you when I was telling you this before and yeah, you really inspired me to put out the content. Thank you. And it's weird how it happens because I get a lot of credit in the comedy world, you know, like taking comedy from TV to the internet and I always say I just took it from musicians. Yeah. Whatever musicians were doing they're 20 years ahead of comics. Right? Interesting. You specifically with releasing a song. I thought you did it for a year. I know you did it for two years. Yeah, two and a half. It was a long time. And a song a week. Yeah. So I did a song a week roughly for like two and a half years on SoundCloud. Yeah. Yeah. And this is before like, you know, the reason why I was doing it on SoundCloud was because that was the platform. You understand, this is before Apple Music was even out. Right. And it was when Spotify was still new, like Rap Caviar was not a thing. I remember having my first song that really went big was like What They Want. It was in Rap Caviar and I didn't know no one knew around me, no one cared just because like what was that at the time. So it was really just about SoundCloud because it was the quickest way to get just direct to consumer and people just, I just wanted people to hear my song. So I was doing, yeah, a song a week and I ended up doing 96 songs. Well, got your attention about Russ though. Cause I mean, that's not, artists do that. But what about Russ Pacific? I don't know if artists do that. Artists don't do that. They don't put out songs all the time? Every week. Not a week. No one's ever done that for 96 weeks in a row. It was like a mixtape model like we'll play a mixtape and maybe an album or something like that. But what someone told me that you were doing it once a week I was like, okay, that's hard work. I hate, I will never complain if I'm working harder than everyone. Yeah. Fuck complaining even in general but I was like, okay, I'm not working hard enough. Yeah. And I was like, okay, boom, if I put this out once a week, I'll be good. At least I know I'm doing something to further my career. Yeah. And then once I started having all the things out, I remember when something hit, do you remember when your first joint hit? I remember, like, you know what, for me, because when you're putting out so much content, it's all this kind of like a simulation of a site. Oh, so it wasn't one song? No, it wasn't like you wake up and it's oh my God, it's going crazy. It's just that this song hits 10,000 plays and this one hits 12,000 and 15, and before you know it, it just compounds. But that's why putting out so much content is great because it all ends up compounding. Yeah. You know? So, because my song I put out this week will get promoted by the song I put out next week and so on and so on. So Taylor, what are you doing? I think you got a girl today. What's up with you, man? What's up? What's up? How are you? You never seen me do that for anybody. Am I still being heard? You still don't want to give me your grapefruit juice? Whoa, is that a slang for something? This is me too, Aaron, you got to push it up a little bit. You're literally drinking grapefruit juice for those who can't see it. Yeah, man. So basically, I looked at it and for me, it wasn't like really that gradual thing. I think what happened for me was, I had one clip go viral. It was on Super Bowl Sunday like a few years ago. And, but this is what happened that was interesting. It went viral, but I had all these other clips out there. Which is why that's, see, that's the key. That's why I tell people like, you know, people go for one moment, but it's like, if you have tons of work out there and then one hits, it becomes the champagne glass at the top of the tower. You know, you just pour in that one and it starts spilling out. And then everybody started checking the other stuff. And then the algorithm got hit. And it was like, Oh, okay. I like this song to now. I like this guy. And that's the key. That's the key. And that's what we learned. And literally, I credit this to you. I say this on any podcast that they ask me about. But it's, but I was like, I basically look at like this and I start to look at like funnels, right? And I was like, okay, how do we find someone on the internet? Like how do you find a musician? You don't listen to a whole album? That's stupid. Like why are comedians who are strangers to most people putting out an hour of saying, sit down, take an hour of your content to listen to a stranger? I would never listen to any stranger for an hour. I don't care how funny you're there. A stranger. So I'm like, I'm a stranger. Even if it was recommended? Even if it was recommended, I'm like nobody. An hour, no chance. You better tell me one funny joke right now. So I'm going to give you one funny. I'm going to give you singles. I hit you a single, hit you a single. And then I put out the longer project. And that's what we did. And shit just exploded and then other comments were on it, man. So yeah. You have influenced the comedy world. If you look at your phone right now, you look at your explore page, you will see comics posted on clips on Instagram. That did not happen before you did. That's crazy. The wake of music was a song every week. That's amazing. Wow. The ecosystem is affected, man. For real. That's beautiful. But I think it's like, I think that every artist should implement a more consistent, simplified method of content. Yes. Because like he's saying, content consumption or just content approach. Okay. Because it's like, that's why I did the singles for the same reason. No one's trying to hear an album from somewhere they don't know. So I was like, I just need to get y'all's attention. I know y'all can listen to one song. So I'll do a song a week, same type of thing. And then when you have the catalog, whatever that one song is that makes the pop boil over, when you then go on the internet and type in, let me see if there's anything else. And you find 200 songs, you're like, oh, you were prepared for this moment. And now I'm a hardcore fan. I'm gonna be a hardcore fan of someone that has two things. We were talking about this. It's like, if you're smart about it, and sometimes it happens organically, you have like a funnel to being a super fan, right? And let's say, for example, they listen to what they want, right? And then all of a sudden, they're like, oh, he's kind of nice. And they listen to another one. And then a third song, they're like, I fuck with him. Right. I'm a fan. So my whole strategy was three pieces. Imagine 30 songs deep. Now forget it. It's over. I'm gonna be a fan too. Now it's not over. I get the tattoo. I gotta go to the show. I gotta go to the show. I gotta buy the merch. And that's what it is. It's like, is my merch? Now I think everything I do is better than everyone. Just because it's like, I have to think like that. I say you have to move. And that's why people don't like you. But that's the mentality you're supposed to have. You're supposed to have. The fuck is wrong with you? You should go out there and be like, yo, what? Better than this. Is my show technically better than this? Is this song better? It's all subjective. But what it is, is that I have people bought into me. There's a lot of artists out here who have people bought into their songs. But I have people bought into me to the point that, yeah, you know what? All you're doing is selling a fucking hoodie. Bro. But I'm buying it. Because I like you. My boy Mark said this shit to us. Run a road. And he goes, because we're talking about the importance of like, the person in front of the brand. Yeah. And he goes, you go to any WWE show to wrestling shit. They sell John Cena's outfit after the show. That is the worst outfit. It's literally jeans shorts and a t-shirt. That's amazing. And they sell it so you could dress like John Cena. That has nothing to do with how cool the clothing is. No. That has to do with the person. Yeah, it's awesome. It's because how cool he is, the perception. Boom. Yeah. That's what, you know, it's like you shake the snow globe. That's the new album that's coming up. Yes. The way I got on the rust, because it was the hate campaign people had against you. Yeah. And I'm always drawing to people like that. I need to know why somebody has hated so much. Right, what it is. Sure. So I go and I check it out. I'm like, you can wrap his ass off. Thank you. So I don't people like him. Yeah. You know, and then I started seeing videos of you getting people fucked up. And I appreciated that too. No, he's not with you. He's not with you. I appreciated that too. So even I'm like, I think I fucked with this guy. Yeah. You know what I mean? I never, never heard you have a conversation, nothing. I just saw that. And then even when I saw the things you were saying about people in drug use, I'm like, how can somebody be mad at what he's saying in regards to the artist using drugs? I understand it though. Why? I'll tell you what it is. It's, it's, and I forgive, I was talking with someone yesterday. I forgive myself and I forgive people who have an issue because I also understand the perspective of when you see a rookie come into the league in the NFL, the NBA, and they have a good rookie season, you're like, who cares? Do it again next year. And when you're a rookie talking crazy, like imagine if like John Moran right now was just in every post game interview, like I'm going to be better than and I'm the best player in the league. It's like, yo, I feel you in the numbers back it, but like, hold on a little second, like do it again. So I understand that you're talking a lot too early. I get that perspective. I don't think I am, but I understand if you feel like that. And so I realized that in order to combat that, the only way to solve that is for me to be this dope for a long time. Like it's consistency. It's at the end of the day, like you're only a legend. If you do it for a long time, like Drake has been so ill for so long, you have to give it up cold Kendrick, even Nikki, whatever you want to say about Nikki. It's like, yeah, but she was and is really successful for mad long. Like you can't last a summer out here. So I just know that I get it. If y'all don't want to give me the credit right now, that's cool. But check back in five years when it's like, yo Russ has been here for 10 years, been saying the same shit, still putting up numbers, doing arenas, da, da, da, da. Now he's got this singer practice, correct? Yeah, but the ill thing about that is, the ill thing about that is, all they're going to do is go back and give you your props for saying it from the beginning. I know, I know. It's like the same thing with Kobe now. It's like, he thought he was arrogant back then, but now it's like, yo, he was telling us he was going to be that guy. You know the resolution for that is fans. Fans are the ones who just tell the world from day one, no, Charlemagne is great. Shultz is great, Russ is great. And that's what you bank on. That's what you feed. You pay attention to those people and you let the rest of the people catch on when they catch on. And that's what it is. And I like, I used to fight it a lot. And I still, a lot of times I fight like, trying to prove yourself like, no, I am great. I'm better than like, look at my numbers. I'm better than him. I'm better than, but it's like, man, people are just going to catch on when they catch on. And that's just what it is. And like, you can spend so much time and waste so much energy and almost be ungrateful because you're so focused on who doesn't fuck with you and trying to get them to fuck with you that you forget that all these people fuck with you. Why don't you just fuck with them and maybe, you know what, the five people in their friend group who didn't like you, maybe they'll now like you in a year from now, whatever, like just focus on this. So why can't you ignore people when it comes to like punching people? I'll tell you why because... Because I like punching people. No, because I'm never, I'll say this. I'm really never even trying to operate from that frequency. I'm really not. But I will say I take it offensive because if you're Joe Schmo from middle of nowhere and you have 10 followers and you say Russ is an L or whatever the hell, it doesn't matter because you're not influencing anyone. So it's not offensive because you have no pull. Now, if you as a stranger and a grown-ass man who I've never met, never talked to, we're not cool, we don't have any, we have no issue, and you decide to round up your army of fans, whether or not you realize that's what you're doing, but if you decide to round up your army of fans to influence them to have a negative opinion of another grown-ass man who's just trying to be successful and do his thing, I take it as offensive as it is. Because you're crossing the line now. You're now trying to, because you don't understand that by you getting your army of fans to feel some type of way about me, you influence them because you got to understand when we have fans, you could tell them to jump off a cliff and they might jump off the cliff. So if you say, now we all don't like Russ now, I take it offensive because you saying that might fuck up my streams because maybe more people are going to be peer-pressed to be like, now I'm not listening to Russ, which means you fuck up my family's money. You fuck up a lot of things. So I take it as offensive as it is. So especially because we're not cool like that. We don't know each other. So if we do see each other, you should know what time it is. And if you, like, I'm also just, I don't understand this. If you talk shit about somebody and you end up getting punched in the mouth, what is the confusion? What's the confusion? That's a wild shit to say to somebody after you punch them in the face. What is the confusion? Every time this happens, it's like, I can't believe. It's like, where y'all from? They turn into the victim. But it's like, if you break it down like that, like, yeah, I mean, Russ never said anything to me ever. I talked shit about him and then I got punched in the face. I can't believe it. They thought you was going to give them the same energy. They thought you would come on the internet. No, it's just disrespect is what it is. It's that you're not saying that to 21 Savage. You're not saying that to Gucci. Oh, they thought they could get away with it. You think it's just sweet. You are not, however you feel about Gucci or Kevin Gates or 21 or people that you think are going to come see you about it, you're not even going to tweet it. You're tweeting it because you think there is no repercussions for your actions. So it's like, cool. I'm here to let you know that there is. And so if you guys want to keep doing it, you're going to keep getting punched in the mouth. Is that why you wear your head down? Do you have like cauliflower on your ear? Like you secretly have MMA? So he got a heart for people. My brother is a real deal. You know the MMA? Yeah, he does jujitsu in the whole nine. Wow. What's the, what's the, what's the shake the snow globe? What does that mean? Um, so shake the snow globe was about resetting and reflecting because I got very stagnant and jaded to the pros and the cons. I got jaded to having money and walking around my house. Like this is regular that I have my logo in my pool and I have a multimillion dollar fucking thing going on. And my studio in my house is crazy. I got a gym. I got a sauna. I got my mom. I bought her a house, all these beautiful pros and I'm torn around the world. I got fans. I got everything I ever wanted. And then the cons like, you know, I got too caught up in that the negativity and then my family's personal life going on. And I realized that I got so stuck like energy wise and so stagnant that I was like, man, I was walking around my house one night by myself. And you know, I live like, I live by myself in this 12,000 square foot house just in the cut, you know, the north side of Atlanta just tucked away. And I was walking around my house one day and I'm just like, man, I look around and I'm looking at like my pool table with my logo and like just all these, I don't know. When you have a house, you start really realizing like, man, like, nah, my rap paid for these curtains. Like the curtains. You know what I'm saying? Like the glass of the plates. You feel me? Like it starts really settling in and I'd never had stability like that. The fuck with you? Because I know for me, man, I be feeling, I run through stages, right? Like I have like guilt. Sure. Because I feel like, yo, damn, it's people, you know, that came up with me that don't have this. You know what I mean? And I start having like survivors remote. Like, you know what I mean? Survivors guilt, yeah. I start thinking about my mom making $30 a year. It fucks me. But then I also just feel like the chosen one. I really do. I just feel like, you know what? It's been bestowed upon me to do this. So that's what it is. But so I was walking around my house and I was looking around just, not just at the physical house, but then my life mentally. And I'm like, and I said to myself organically, just like, if not now, then when? And that was the statement that changed like my life. Because I was like, man, at the time I was 26. I'm 27 now by the time I was 26. I'm like 26. I got all these things. I got everything I ever asked for. I'm not happy now. Then like, then I should just give this up. You weren't happy? No, like. You didn't feel worthy. I thought I wasn't happy or something. Like, because I wasn't focused on what mattered, you know? Yeah, yeah. You're outside in, not inside out. Exactly. I was so focused on like the next thing or the what can I do better? Like, bro, take a second. Like you're walking around your fucking house. Yeah, enjoy the moment. Yeah. So I was like, if not now, when? I don't want to be 35 and look back and be like, what the fuck? Like, that was so lit back then. I didn't enjoy that. Like I'm tripping. So it's a scary thing. I would imagine to achieve all of your dreams and then be sitting there like, wait a minute, why am I not as happy as I thought? Because it's a personal, it's a personal problem. Yeah. It's a personal problem. And that's something that I've been working on. But I realized it that night, which is why then I called it shake the snow globe because when you look at the snow globe and it's just all stagnant and still and you look at it for too long. It's just still. And then you got to just shake it up and just reset and let it all fall back into place because the dust had settled for a little bit too long. So I was just like, nah, man, I got to like shake it off. I got like the Tin Man. But like I haven't been, you know. You need the oil. And I'll be feeling like that too sometime because it's like, it almost feels like if you don't appreciate what you have, God will take it from you. That's what I started getting scared about too. Like I started catching myself mentally and it's still like an ongoing battle, but at least I'm aware now. But I started getting like that too. Like, oh shit. I'm like, please don't think that I don't want this, you know, because I want this. I like it. I'm just trying to work on it. But like, don't go anywhere. Is that what the book was about? It's all in your head. Get out of your way. Yeah. Well, what's funny about that is like, I need to read that. I need that book more than a lot of people. I have all the game because of what I've applied to my life and I could put it in a book. But I almost got so good at preaching what to do. And I stopped practicing it. So that's what I've been trying to work on now. But that's what the album is. What was it? Was it like, was this like, was this you going to therapy? No, I never, I call the studio my therapy sessions because I feel like when I'm down, no, this is the first time that I've had a studio in my house. Like that's the other thing with this album. This whole album is recorded in my basement by myself, you know. Don't talk like you got an ordinary basement, sir. No. You sure you got a full deck studio down there? No. That's what's amazing about it is that I get to go down there and just lock in and zone out. So this whole thing like, you know, the other two albums I'm recording on the road in this hotel room in this hotel room and it's chaotic. This was the first time I had stability even from a creative place. So I got to really explore my own creative potential and reservoir. And that was therapy for me because I got to really just be super vulnerable, you know. And it was really important for me and writing that book was important on paper and writing it made me feel like, yeah, you know what? Okay, I forgot that I even feel like this. Because it was all coming out so easy. All the chapters in the book, they were so easy to write that you would think that I followed them religiously. But I was like, nah, man, I'm bugging because it can't be this easy for me to say but I'm slipping up on following what I'm even trying to preach to you. Yeah, I saw the handwritten letter you wrote and you talked about not being proud of the headspace you were in in 2018. Like, what exactly weren't you proud of? I wasn't proud that I was operating at a lower frequency than I wanted to. I was too caught up in the negativity. But it's hard. It's hard to like, there's no rubric for it. You got to understand. The negativity is the criticism. The media negativity because at the end of the day, there's no way to prepare for it. So naturally, like when you're going through it, you think that, man, if all this hate is online, I'm seeing all this shit. Like, I'm thinking I'm about to go to my next show and get rockstone at me. You know, or like whatever, like you just like, I remember going to do Coachella and being super concerned. Like, people really hate me. Cause like, yeah, cause like it wasn't my show. It was a festival. So I'm like, I'm going to Coachella and I'm like, man, I'm just hoping that this go, I'm hoping that this goes okay. This is the most insane show ever. Yeah, but cause what happens? Cause it doesn't, cause it's not real. That I learned it's not real. Hate is real life. The hate might be fake. The hate might be fake or it might be on the internet, but it multiplies the love. It's like, it's the same shit that happens with Trump, to be honest. It's like, the more people trash Trump, the more his supporters. They're like, oh no, we're wearing a hat. We're doing it all. We're doubling down. So of course the show is going to be that much better because they're there like, nah, that's our guy. But that's why I always give it up to the fans because they could easily. And I know I've lost fans to peer pressure. Like, you know, if I got a 16 year old fan, it's really easy to be like, well, all my friends said that you suck. So I can keep listening to you. But then they're not the real ones. No, they're not. But at the same time, the ones who stick around, to be a 17 year old, 18 year old, whatever. And your friends say, yo, he's wack. I'm not going to the show with you. And you still pull up and you still go hard. Like, it's just so real to me. So yeah, I just wasn't proud of sinking into the negativity. And I wasn't proud that I wasn't taking care of myself. As far as like, I got burnt out. I got very burnt out. As far as like, I didn't have, I bought my house December, 2017, all 2018. I was on the road and it was getting worked on. I didn't sleep in my house till January, 2019. So I was just running around. Like I was just on go. And I had no stability. There was no routine. It was just, you know, you're getting tugged this way and tugged that way. And before, you know, your center is all off balance. And you just feel burnt out. You feel like a fucking mess. And you feel like, you know what? Fuck all y'all. Well, you got nothing else to give. I'm about to sit in my house for six months, which is what I did in 2019. I didn't do anything for the first half of the year. Cause I was like, nah, you know what? I'm going to take some time for me. And actually enjoy my life, enjoy my pool, have girls over, record in my studio, enjoy my life. Maybe you need a family, man. Stop wearing condoms. Like maybe you need, I'm not that serious. So am I. Maybe you need a family. This is a real conversation that I've had. This is a real, like I used, seven months ago I was, I'm not having kids, so I'm 35. Then I had a conversation with a girl and I had a conversation with Swiss Beats where it was like life doesn't start until you start a life. Absolutely. Cause you're talking about having a center. Like I don't know for me, my stability, my center is my family. Like you said you're coming home, but you know, you're coming to a house. Yeah. And it's a handy house. It's not a home. It's a hotel. Yeah. It's not a home until you got a queen and you got a child. Like it'll give you a real purpose. Yeah. No, I agree. That's a real thought that I've had cause I've also been like, man, the only thing left for me to do is everything I've already done. Like everything I wanted to do, I've already done. The only thing left is to get a Grammy. Outside of that, I haven't. You really want one? Why should I fuck? Yeah. You strike me as the person that would not give a fuck about that kind of validation. Because I want to prove to myself that I was right when I was fucking 15. You already did. No, about that too. No, I know. About that too, though. Oh, you mean that was something you had on your vision board? That was always something I had on my thing. So I just, I want one and then I'm fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's fake. Trust me. It's bullshit. I know, but it's like. It's just to reinforce the people that they want to win. I want it. Why? I want it. Cause my ego, I want it. That's real. But why does it define you? It doesn't. My ego needs it. No, it's my ego. You know what? That's what's crazy. It's literally, it's, it's my ego needs it. And then be gone. Die. So you want to get it and then do the whole JZ. It's almost like I have one debt left to pay to my ego and it's to get it. That's what you think. And then you're going to be like, I need someone else though. That's real though. Yeah, I owe my ego that. He's like, yo, listen, you still owe me. Here's a question. Do you think that the hate comes from people resisting change? I just think at the end of the day, bro. I'm in hip hop. I'm a white guy and I'm talking a whole lot. Are you white? I didn't know you was white, bro. Yeah, well, I'm sorry. I thought I said white at the end of 2019. Sicilian. Yeah, that's what I am. You're the blackest white. I agree. What's Sicilian? I mean, Sicilians are off-white though. But this is the off-white of off-whites. A tiny woman like to be called white. Bro, but the Sicilians, they got a little black in them. Well, if you go back to the Moors and... The Moors were out there. Not asking permission. Yeah. That's a real, like, when you do the ancestry on it, it's like the Moors came to Sicily. That's why Italians went from blonde hair, blue eyes to dark hair, dark eyes. But the perception, I get what you're saying. White guy, long hair. Yeah, and that's what it is. And so I understand it's like, yo, let's just call it what it is. Culture is a euphemism for black. Urban is a euphemism for black. So when you have a white guy coming into the culture, a black space trying to speak on black things, it's like, bro, shut up. You might be right, but we don't want to hear from you. Which I absolutely understand and I get. So that's why... I've seen you post that I've commented on. Like, yeah, I'm glad Russ... I can't remember the exact post what it was. It was something about... Everybody should say the N word or something? No, shut up. It was about white artists. Yeah, Nigerian, that's what it was. White artists in culture. It was something. I can't remember exactly what it was. Everybody gave you props for that, though. Probably about how I was talking about just label owners are these white guys. Boom. That's what it was. Who sign black kids that they wouldn't even want their kids hanging out with, but they just do it to make the money. Which is true. And that's why it's like, you know, white people historically steal from black culture. That's a fact. So America was founded off of terrorism and thief. So it's like... I mean, that's all cultures, right? I don't think there's any culture that was... Well, no, but you got to look at... Look at the Roman Empire, right? They didn't do that. But you got to look at... Kindly. You got to look at even how what the 2020 white girl wants to look like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She wants to look cool. No, she wants to look black. Well, blacks define cool. That's what I'm saying. We're attracted to cool. No, but the problem is that the same thing that black women will get hindered from, which are just natural, beautiful black features. It won't be accepted as those. It's the same thing white people will use to sprinkle onto their whiteness to just look cooler. 100%. And that's the problem. I guess what I think, we get lost in the idea that black people are monolith, right? Because not all black people are going to dress the same or look the same, et cetera. No. But cool is cool, regardless, right? Sure. So like if you go to Korea, you can see a bunch of Korean kids. Dress like black kids. Dress like black kids, doing fucking. What is it, breakdancing? Sure. You know what I mean? Got cornrows. So it's like, oh, that's the cool culture that's what we're drawn to. I think now I'm probably speaking a little better at a term, but I don't think black people have a problem with y'all doing that. I think it's more about they have a problem with, if y'all are doing that and being accepted, then why when we do that, we get chastised for that. I think that's part of it. Also, not wanting people to revise history. You know what I'm saying? Like, yo, this was the genesis of this culture. This was the genesis of this music. It was rooted in blackness. And a lot of times we all know they like to rewrite history. And that's what it is. And that's why it's like, I understand that, you know, and that when I said like historically white people steal from black culture, like when you look at hip hop, hip hop was, you know, for us bias. It was black created and black owned and it was created for black people. So when you have somebody white coming into it, it's kind of like, here we go again, you know? And so I understand that it's delicate and it's, and until, and if you're white in hip hop, you have to contribute to black culture in some sort of fashion. Otherwise you are simply repeating history by coming into black culture, using that as a medium to steal and profit for self. Yeah, I think it's like anything else. You've got a point where the originators, point where your inspiration came from. Like your inspiration came from this black artist, that black artist. That's just, to me, it's just like by paying homage to be honest. No, that's cool. But you also, I think it's also about the music. You can't come into this from the vessel of hip hop and use the clothes and the language and the music and then go off and start doing something white. Are you talking about Post Malone? I mean, I think... Sounds very posty. No, but I think that's like, I think that's a fair example because I do think that that's, it's an interesting thing to look at from that lens of where you come in with braids and golds to the point people are thinking you're mixed and now you drink Bud Light and wear cowboy boots which is like your music's phenomenal. I think Post Malone's music is phenomenal but I think the character of how it came in compared to where it is now seems a little, it's a little uninteresting. One interview with this guy. It was White Iverson Light again. You know what I'm saying? White Iverson was his first song. But he got out of there. But he makes smart for him to be out of there. The thing is, he makes great music. He makes great music and he's super talented. But yeah, I just think certain things like that, you know, those are fair critiques as far as like, yo, it feels like you came in and used hip hop because it's the coolest genre and the coolest look and aesthetic. You used it to propel yourself to the forefront and then you reverted back to who you really were, you know, which I, And shit on hip hop in the process. Yeah. So I think that's a fair critique. But that's why I feel like for me, I just think it's going to be time as far as like, man, Russ has been putting out quality hip hop. Like I feel like I do hip hop justice. I don't make a mockery of it. I don't portray any negative stereotypes. I don't feed into it. Like I could go and post myself in the Gucci store spending 30K because even though Gucci's racist, I'm white, they're not racist to me. So I could do it. But at the same time, if I'm in hip hop culture, which is black culture and Gucci's being racist, I can't be in the Gucci store blowing 30K. So you feel responsibility to the black culture. Because otherwise it's just like, oh, so you get to eat off of hip hop culture, but when someone is being disrespectful towards it, you're like, no, they're not being just respectful towards me. I'm white. Yeah. So even when you see other black artists still wearing Gucci and stuff, you'll still say, nope, I'm not going to do it. I can't because then it just looks like it looks like it's all pros and no cons for you. You know? So I just think you got to just be aware of what's going on. I just feel like I do hip hop justice by speaking about the ownership of what needs to happen. Because I also think that the solution to young disadvantaged black kids getting taken advantage of by white label owners is lack of information and the solution is ownership. The solution is owning your music, putting it out, the internet, having your fans, shooting the videos, going on tour. You don't have to deal with them, but the solution is ownership. So I just think that I do do hip hop justice. I have a message like, and I've said it before, like y'all talk about, you know, which is fine. Spending $13,000 in the Gucci store, I brag about 13,000 hard tickets. And I feel like if that makes me arrogant, then I suggest you move the goalposts. Because why is $13,000 in a Gucci store towards a company who doesn't like black people? Why is that received so much better than somebody saying you should be bragging about selling 13,000 tickets? Do you guys think in the future, rap music will just become so synonymous with American culture that someone like you won't feel like an outsider in it in the same way that basketball is so synonymous with American culture? I don't think it's a bad thing to feel like an outsider. I think that's white people's problem. Here's the problem with white people. Everything about everything, white people are included in everything. Hip hop is the one thing. And saying the N-word is the thing that they're not included in, and they feel just like disgusted and offended. Stupid hill to dial. And it's like, yo, for once, you know what? Yeah, this isn't for you. It's not by you. And that's what it is. And it's okay to feel like an outsider. Minorities have been the outsider to everything forever. So you know what? If hip hop is the one thing where white people are the outsiders in, I don't know if that balance should shift. I'm fine with being the outsider. I just want to contribute in a positive way. And I do want my credit for contributing in a positive way. Now, I would understand, right? If I came into this face tatted, like wearing the hip hop costume, face tatted, and I'm talking about this type of shit, and I'm doing this just, you know, if I was on that type of aesthetic, but I'm not a gimmick. I'm not making a mockery of hip hop or black culture. I'm trying to do it justice by, you know, staying true to the message of hip hop, which I think is underdog and freedom and ownership. And I just think that, you know, I'm cool with being an outsider as long as it's acknowledged that I am trying to help. If you want to, Grammy, say it was in the best, what is it, hip hop rap category, whatever. Yeah. If you wanted the one Tyler one, would you be upset? No, because I feel like the music that I make is hip hop music. Did you see what Tyler said? I do, but Tyler's spot on. Okay, talk to me. I've always said too that, I just said this interview too, that culture and urban is a euphemism, so that, like, white corporate people, when you go to the label meetings and it's all these white guys who play softball on Sundays and they're like, you know, our urban department, it's like, say what you really mean, you know? Urban is just another word. I think they used to, and then people were like, stop saying that. So like, we got to say something, started with that word, and they're like, whoa, chill the fuck out. Is there another word that would have ended it? Make the end of the end. I don't like the word urban because it sounds biographical. What does that have to do with music? Geographical. Geographical, yeah. Yeah, so I wouldn't feel away, but I will say on my first album, there's really a wolf. You know, you submit it to the Grammys and then they listen to it and choose to put it somewhere. So, like, that's the other thing people don't understand too. When you submit your music for the Grammys, you have to, first of all, you have to pick what you're submitting. Then you submit, then it's all these industry voters and whatever, they're in a hotel in LA and they have rooms designated for this room. Y'all are just listening to the pop submissions and whatever. So Tyler could have not submitted to hip hop if he wanted to. No, he could have submitted to whatever he wanted and they could have decided that, no, it's hip hop. So they could still move it. Yes, so when I submitted my There's Really a Wolf album to hip hop, they moved it to Urban Contemporary. What? Yeah, because I said it was too much singing to be rap. But now with the Tyler situation, Tyler's album was majority singing. So then it's like, well, so what do you really mean? What it really means is like, I don't know if we can call the black kid pop and I don't know if we can call the white kid rap. Yeah, that's been going on at Radio for the longest. Radio is still race-related. Urban Radio is black-dominated and rhythm is where we all hang out together and pop is top 40 is white. I mean, that's why at the end of the day, I'm fully aware why my song Best on Earth is now top 10 at Urban Radio. There's an urban artist on my song. I'm not surprised that when you look at even, I always use this example, Machine Gun Kelly who raps, right? He's a rapper. Yeah. Raps super well, technically raps great. He had songs with Camilla Cabello or whatever that were number one at top 40. Nothing on Urban. So how do you have a rapper, a rapper on pop radio but not on Urban and then vice versa, you have Post Malone who doesn't rap but gets quave on 21, which is the urban play. And that's why it shoots up the urban charts. You feel me? It's just playing the game, which I understand. I get it, but it is bizarre that it's still so separated at Radio. People like to see themselves reflected, right? It's just audience. You remember Jeremy Lin played basketball for the Knicks? Yeah, of course. And you remember how crazy it was with Insanity and like, I would go to games and that shit felt like 50% Asian. It was crazy. And they just felt represented there, right? Sure. It wasn't like they hated watching black basketball players or white basketball players. No, yes, they just felt spoken for. They felt spoken for. So maybe there's some white people that, you know, when they watched Eminem, they were like, well, this is the first time I feel comfortable rapping along with it. Well, that's why I've had the conversation of, you know, when people like... Maybe with you too. Well, when people are like, being white, does it make it easier? And it's like 100%, it makes it easier to be global because the reality is that the white kids in Belgium are going to relate to me more than maybe a quavo of rip because like when they see me, they see themselves. So that makes sense now. So it makes it easier to be global, which is probably why I can go to Portugal for my first time and do the arena and sell it out. Humble break. But at the same time, yeah, but at the same time, can I, but there's the hip hop media who still says who's Russ because why? The same thing working for me globally is the same thing working against me. Hip hop wise, which makes sense because hip hop is its black culture. So if it's easier for me to reach the global masses, which are the white kids in Belgium and Germany, but harder for me to reach the real essence of hip hop, which is black culture, that makes sense. And I can't be mad at that. And the hip hop media probably thinks all your success comes from you being white. Which that is a fair critique. I can't sit here and stomp my feet. That is a fair, fair critique, which is why I just always resort it back to though. But look what I'm talking about. Look at my messages, which is ownership, self-belief, and ownership is the key. And I'm not talking about blowing money at designers that don't like you and all these things. You know, it's like, you know, resort it back to what I'm talking about. I'm not coming in. Why is it a fair critique? Well, because it's a fair critique because if I was black, would I be selling out the same shows in Portugal or would I need this? I'll tell you why. Because a big reason why my first huge fan base in the Middle East was huge because they thought I was Middle Eastern. Oh, let me take that back. So if I was black, would they have thought I was Middle Eastern? You might not be selling out those shows in Portugal, but you might be selling out those shows in black and brown spaces. 100%. Well, that's when you give it and take. It's just like, if I was black, everything is actually a really big benefit. It's kind of like obvious because it's like, if I was black, I would be bigger in black spaces, but because I'm white, I'm bigger in white spaces. And that's why I can't sit here and be like, but why am I not bigger in black? Because you're not black. Like, it's just that simple. Or maybe black people just don't know yet. You know what I'm saying? What I'm saying, I can't get frustrated about that because that is a fair thing. That's like, that's fair. It goes back to white people thinking that everything is owed to them and like, how dare you exclude me from your conversation of it's like, but you gotta appreciate your audience regardless of who they are. No, for sure. Which is why like, I focus on my audience, but you can't stomp your feet and be like, but like, why don't you all fuck with me? Why don't y'all know? It's like, bro, like give it time and also cut the entitlement out. You know, you're not entitled to a certain demographic just because you think you're dope. It's such an interesting conversation for me though because I see black artists who want more white fans. And then I see black artists who have a bunch of white fans who want more black fans. Interesting. You know what I'm saying? And then like, even at radio, when you talk about, I remember when Rihanna would never get played on hip hop and R&B station because she made pop music. So the pop stations used to just play Rihanna, hip hop wouldn't, which I used to didn't like because the pop stations would play Katy Perry and if she put Juicy J on the record, the hip hop stations would play her too. So I didn't like that. But that's the obvious. That's what people do though. That's why like, you see, you know, when, and I love like, I also wish that there was a more, because before I'm about to say what I'm about to say, I wish there was a more accepting space for artists to speak openly about other artists in certain moves without it always getting taken as hate. And I can't fuck with you. Like there should be more Shacks and Charles Barclays in music where, you know, we're playing the game too. Like I'm speaking from a place of experience. Can I just speak openly though? Go ahead, let's speak openly. So like same thing with Katy Perry and Juicy J. It's the same reason why you see Sia put Kendrick on the song. Same reason why Maroon 5 goes and gets Cardi B. It's because it's mutually beneficial. So Cardi B gets all the white fans from Maroon 5. Maroon 5 gets to go and get all the black fans from Cardi B. And it's a win-win. But is it mutual? I mean like... It is mutual. Dude, hold on. Do you really think that all of Cardi B's fans are going, I gotta check out that Maroon 5 concert coming up. I can tell you that Maroon 5 has a better chance of getting Cardi B's fans by doing a song with Cardi B. Who's getting more? I feel like that way benefits Cardi B. Maybe, sure. But at the end of the day, it also makes, yeah, that's what it is though. It's not a give and take. That's what I'm saying. I was about to say the same thing. No, it's not the exact same thing. It's Cardi is cool. It's not that black and white, but what it is is that pop artists, this is traditional. Pop artists have always used hip hop artists, black artists to look cool. Yes. Because pop was never the cool thing. Pop was always the kind of like, I love Maroon 5 though, and I love Top 40 music, but Top 40 was always, it's not cool. Hip hop is cool. So cool. Let's take a not cool thing, mix it with the cool thing, and maybe we'll end up somewhere in the middle. It can't be mainstream and cool. Those things don't go together. But dude, I'm about to say, what does hip hop do now that it's pop music? Hip hop is up to you. Not because of the sound, but just because it's the most popular genre. Hip hop is so cool that it is the most popular thing now. Yeah, but if you call it pop, it loses all the cool. That's why you can't call it pop though. You can't be cool unless you're different. You can't be cool like you said, unless you're the underdog, right? Sure. You can't be cool if you're doing something that nobody else is doing. Well, that's what makes something cool. Well, that's why you have to be careful with your creative and artistic decisions because before you know it, you've done too many mainstream looks and you are no longer that cool. Right. You're not cool to your core. Right. That's when your core flips on you. No, you're not cool to all the people you don't want to know about you. No, I'm going to tell you why. Because when your core flips on you, then all those people that weren't your core, they're like, Oh, you're not cool no more. Yeah, they say you're not cool. Exactly. Because the world revolves, the world of music revolves around hip hop. As far as what's cool, like what do we say now? Hey, everyone, what do we say? How are we dressing now? What do we do? Like they look to hip hop for what to do, what to wear, what to say, the whole thing. But the second you become not cool to hip hop, is the second you're just not cool in general. And you better just go over there, sit with the guitar and sing some pop songs and try and make some shit shake. How do you forgive yourself for us for your past unhealthy mindset? How do you forgive yourself? Because I'm still here and I'm alive and my family's healthy and I still have everything I want. I realize that the worst moment in life that happens, like the sun comes up tomorrow. You know what I'm saying? Like you still end up having to go through it. So it's just always a little bullet point. It's like, yeah, that was really fucked up. But you know what? I did make it through. I'm standing here today and I can't let that like define me. You just kind of, you got to grow from it and just forgive yourself. I look back at certain interviews or certain things I said and I'm like, no, you know what? I get it. I understand that that guy was, he was head hunting. That's why I say in the flute song, I've been on my Kobe number eight shit because it's like, when Kobe was number eight, he was head hunting trying to prove himself in the league. And you know, when I first came into this, I was very much so like in survival mode. Like, no, I got to prove to everyone that like, you guys are only doing a thousand tickets. I'm doing a thousand and one tickets and did it like all these things just to try and prove that I belong and like solidify my spot. But then time passes and you realize your spot isn't going anywhere. You're in your own lane. And you're like, man, I was kind of like going pretty hard. And but I forgive myself because I should have been going that hard. I should have been, but now it's just about growing and kind of settling in and just taking your coat off. You know, what about the people you had to beat up? I don't, I don't forgive. How many people? I think I've seen two videos. How many people got beat up? I've seen two. I don't know. I saw the most recent one. I can't remember what year that was. What was the most recent one? When the guy was standing outside the trailer. Was that smoke perp? That wasn't smoke perp, was it? No. That was, um, that was Guapda. I don't see the mode. I don't know. Well, I mean, my whole thing is like, I just know that's Russ. I'm like, look at Russ. I forgive. My guy. What's going on? Who's glove are you shaking? No. So, so what happened? They're talking shit. You never saw that one? No, I didn't. I'm like. The guy was standing outside the trailer. Yeah, yeah. Russ approached him like the finder. I thought I had a good inspiration. A sweet guy. Made nice music. Russ wanted to have a conversation with him. Right. Um, and I don't know what the guy said to you, but clearly you didn't like what he said. No, it was more. It just comes down to this, right? Like, I feel like we're all, I hate when people are like, I'm a grown-ass man. I hate that. Cause it's like, what are you trying to overcompensate for? But we're all grown-ass men. And it's like, you know, if I don't know you and you don't know me, we don't have mutual friends. We've never talked before. And you diss me in a song. Now, granted, is it this like, fuck you and your mom forever? No, but it's like, it wasn't a positive thing. It was a diss. So if you just did some random rapper, some random man that you don't know in a song. And then your trailer is across from mine. And you see me walking up to you with 20 people. You know that like, I have no interaction with you prior to any of this. All you know is that here comes a guy that I dissed in a song. Y'all never met before that or anything? Ever. So it's like, what do you think this is about to be? Yeah. A prayer circle. Clearly all these guys are here for prayer. No, yeah. I was asking for the feature. Yeah. You loved it? No, but it's like, you know, even with Smoke Prep, I never really intended it to go there. I perped with him. I approached them face to face. And I just asked like, yo, what's up? What was that about? What was this about? Same thing with Glopta. I just asked him, what was it about? What's the confusion? And yeah, and I just said, what would like why I mentioned my name in the song. And like, you know, he puts his phone down and pulls his pants up and starts turning his head. And like, if somebody that you dissed that you don't know from anywhere is in your face talking to you and you're turning your head and doing this, pulling up your pants. I'm thinking, oh, you're about to swing on me. Yeah. So I'm just like, fuck, I wasn't even trying to go there, but I'm definitely not getting hit in my mouth. I'm not gonna hit you and yours. Right. I thought it was, but like, it didn't have to go there. You could have been like, yo, my fault. Like that was some dumb shit. My fault. I shouldn't even mention you. Why am I a grown-ass man thinking about another grown-ass man while I'm writing a verse? That's a little weird. And it could have just been that. In this era of the internet, it is always better to swing first. Now I'm not encouraging violence. I'm just telling you that when the cameras are out, right? Like if Russ would have hesitated just a little bit and this guy swings, then people come to break it up. Now the headline says, yo, Glopta swings on Russ. Put it like this, if I got swung on, the same hate would have happened except worse. They would have just been like, you got beat up. Russ got stomped out. It's like, well, shit. At least you could say whatever. And the whole narrative, like you're getting people jumped. It's like, bro, what are you talking about? Getting people jumped? Like if, first of all, if I swing and then my friends and your friends start fighting, I don't know if that, is that getting somebody jumped? Do you have a lot of friends with him too? He had people with him. And the craziest thing, and I don't want to say on this too long, but the craziest thing is when I swung on him, he ran, which you can see in the video, he ran. He saw it, right. And his skinny ass white friend photographer stayed back and was fucking with it. Which like, we were all like, yo, we should hire him. He's fire. Like he stayed behind and took your ass beating. Like how you let this skinny ass white kid take your ass beating, you ran off. Are you saying white people are more brave than black people? Is that what you're trying to say on this podcast right now? No. I just, I just thought that. You must not see who's backing Russ. I just thought that, dude. You better look at Russ's black up. Okay. White people do steal shit from black people. They steal ass beans. They steal all the things, man. It's a fucked up situation. I thought that was pretty telling. Do you think that y'all could ever be cool? Do you think you could be cool with any of these guys moving forward? I'm not a hater. So like, I always say, like if smoke perv drives a hard ass on today, I'm bumping. I thought Guapdad wearing a 10 foot durag was sick. I commented on the Instagram post. I was like, this is amazing. You said that? Yeah. What people say, I didn't even see that. What people say when you said that. I don't know. This is amazing. It was amazing. That's fire. I don't like, I'm not a hater like, but you disrespect me and you diss me. And then when I walk up to you, you start acting weird. So I'm just going to handle it accordingly. And if that means what up, then it means whatever. And if I'm Guapdad, I'm probably like, fuck you for life too. Which I get. But at least you know now, like at the end of the day, bro, all these people, I never started with them. I didn't say shit to y'all. Y'all diss somebody, call me out my name. And you got punched in the face for it. Move on. Question. How long does a jumping last? It wasn't a jumping. It wasn't a jumping. Or just like a squabble like that. Like at what point do you like? I don't think we're done punching. What? You see the video? No, but he, he, no, but he ran away. Oh, he was, he was a good, he was running. You guys aren't quick. What's going on guys? No. No, I'm saying he like, you could watch this. They turned their head like, y'all bro, what are you talking about, bro? No, but I'm saying like, you can get them some cardio, bro. No, I'm saying like, you can watch the video. Like he ran away. His friend stayed back to fight. Oh yeah. He ran away. Which like, I get, I guess, but it's like, it wasn't that serious. Like I only swung because I thought you were going to swing. I should wait for you to swing. Yeah, no, never wait. Yeah, so. Yeah, I don't want to encourage violence. But you know what, I always, here's what I always, Here's what I just want to end it. And then let's move on. But the reality is a lot of people because I'm me It's easy to be like, fuck Ross, L Ross, da, da, da, da. That's nice. Go to chapter one. Just ask this person, this grown ass man, Guactad or smoke perp or Adam 22 or whoever, just ask them. Yo, why did you randomly just start talking shit about another grown ass man who you've never met? Right. Just ask them that because if not for that. If not for that. What do you think it is? If not for that. No, I'm being serious. Why do you think? I have, because it's easy because I'm telling you because it's easy. Oh, you think they're taking advantage? They think it's just you. It's easy, bro. Like I'm white. I'm short. I sing love songs sometimes. It's easy, bro. Like I get it. They think it's an easy lick. They think it's an easy. I'm going to say this. People won't think I'm real. I'm going to get a retweet. People can say whatever they want to say at the end of the day. At least you know that if you diss Ross in a song, there is a high chance you're going to get punched in the mouth for it. Can you jump no jumper? Yeah. What? No jumper? Is that a trick question? Jumping up Adam? Oh, I don't know. Did you? No, I'm just saying that's what he... Yeah, yeah, yeah. But like... Have y'all ever had a conversation? Yeah, me and Adam talked and it was like, and we squashed everything and we're cool. Was this after he saw what you was working with as far as your crew? Yeah, like, no, me and Adam are cool as far as I know. But it's just like, I just think it's just, it is unfortunate for it to ever go to a violent place. But unfortunately for a lot of people, that is the only language they understand. Why is it violence? Because it's like, it's not real enough till it's on your doorstep. Yeah. So it's like, who, you could tweet back at me all day. I'm not going to, I've never once like, I don't know, I'm not doing the Twitter shit with y'all. So... I want to talk to you about a couple more things. You know, you have discussed openly, you know, your problem with artists promoting drug use. Yeah. So, when you see a Mac Miller pass away, Rest in Peace Mac Miller, when you see a juice world. And Lexi... Yeah, from Minnesota, yeah. When you see these people pass away, I don't want to say, I don't think fighting the football is the right word. You know what I'm saying? But is there a reason to come back and say, look, this is what I was trying to explain to y'all? No, like I told you some moment? Yeah. No, because I don't think, I think that's distasteful. But I think that it is, you know, it's sad that that happened. And I think, I think unfortunately a lot of times with them, I don't know if it was, if it was so much of a crazy addiction problem with like a Mac Miller or a Lexi. Or now, I don't know, I'm just like, hypothetically, I don't know. But, or if it was just one night, you took one too many things and you're partying and just fuck, it's a lumbar situation. You take Coke one time in your life and then it just fucks up. But I will say that I did find it sad that it took that and then a juice world situation for a lot of artists who have tried to, you know, reprimand me publicly. It took that for them to come out and say, man, I've been fucking up talking about drugs and this is why I can I'm going to go to rehab now. And it's like, oh, so that's what it took. Yeah. Sometimes you got to remind people though, right? You got to remind people that this is what I was trying to tell y'all. The reality is like, unfortunately for a lot of artists who had a problem with me saying what I said about rappers glorifying drug abuse as if it's a game, it took three overdoses for y'all to finally hold yourselves accountable. Which I think is pathetic. But it's like what you said about being on your doorstep. Them people realize it. Yeah, because then it's like your friend died. So now you're like, oh shit, I should stop posting pictures smiling next to lean. Like it's cool. And you know what? I'm tripping. I got kids looking up to me. It's like, damn bro, it took you three overdoses for you to realize that you have kids looking up to you. Do you not look at your followers? I don't get it. Do you get caught up in it though when you listen to like a future song and it's great music. It makes you sound cool. Yeah. And it sounds. I don't have the things he's saying in the song. It just sounds fun. Yeah. No, it sounded fun. That's why when I was 19, me and my friend, we wanted to go try lean because it sounded fun and then we just didn't do it. But and people got on me for that when that clip went kind of around the internet. Like how you 19, like you're a grown-ass man 19 talking about you were influenced to do something. I'm like, I'm like, wait a second. Is there an age limit on when you can be influenced to do something? So you can't like, if you're 35 and you listen to a rap song that makes you want to go do something positive, you're whack. You shouldn't be impressionable at 35. It's like, bro, like there's no age limit on when you can be influenced by like 19. And you're acting like I was 39 talking about, yeah, you maybe want to try lean. Like I was 19 and y'all are 35 tempted to scan because you heard it. So shut up. How do you counter that in your music? How do you counter the celebration of the drug coach in your music? Because I feel like it's got to be record that encourage people not to do it, right? Yeah. But then that comes off a little too. I do have a song called that's not out. It's over a boy when to be called the kids. That kind of speaks on it a lot. But you don't want to come off too like wagging the finger and preachy. But you just kind of want to provide an alternative, like a different song that, you know, isn't talking about that. But I do think artists need to hold themselves accountable. And I love futures music too. I think future making it and grinding and doing all that is great. But I do think at the end of the day, if we're just being real, you have to hold yourself accountable as a 36 year old man or whatever he is. And someone who's come on an interview and said that you don't even do the drugs you were talking about. Which is, which all that says is that you're literally just doing it to poison and entertain. And I, you know, I don't know if that's great because... No, it's not great. At that point, at that point, the culture is hyena driven. It's we eat our own because you have come on an interview and said, no, I'm not even doing the drugs. I'm rapping, but I just know y'all want to hear that. Which really says to me, I'm not getting high. I'm not overdosing. Y'all are. That's great. I'm going to keep giving you the background music for it. Because it makes me money. That's a part of the problem. We've seen this movie before though. I mean, you had rappers back in the day who would rap about all of this gangster shit that they was doing. Yeah. And they weren't. But they got people locked up in the process. Exactly. And they were doing it all for just entertainment. Look, I have no problem with so-called negative... Can I cut you off real quick? Okay, good. Because when people, because I know what people are going to say to that, which is, well, if someone makes you want to go do something fucked up because of a rap song that you're weak-minded, it's like, okay, but hold on a second. Does someone make you want to go do something positive in a rap song? Does that mean you're weak-minded? Because influence is influence. Influence has no negativity or positivity. If you listen to a song and it makes you want to go do something, if you listen to changes by Tupac, and it makes you want to go be positive, does that mean you're weak-minded? No. So just on the flip side, it doesn't, you know... Humans are impressionable. That's what it is. I don't fuck what aid you are. And music is supposed to inspire artists because people are inspiring people. Music is inspiring. So you have to be careful with your platform because you have to understand that it might inspire you to do something negative or bad. If I make a song called Go Get Money and then I make a song called Go Do Lean, I can't be like, you're weak-minded if you only listen to the Go Do Lean version. Like, no, bro. People are impressionable. People are influenced. I mean, that's why we have advertisements. That's it? That's what commercials are every day. That's what I'm saying. Song car commercial McDonald's... And low key, maybe we should look at athletes like that too because every time I see LeBron in a McDonald's commercial, I'm like, you don't eat this shit. Right. So it's like you are the pinnacle of health. Right, right. And you out here telling kids to eat shit that's giving them heart attacks. So it's... I was talking about that shit last night when I got off the plane. McDonald's is the only thing open. And I was like, I said, go get some fucking fries and a quarter pound of LeBron eats that shit. LeBron eats that shit. I don't even know what that shit is. And LeBron is in the McDonald's? All of them, yeah. I was like, not hearing that shit. I think, especially in hip-hop, songs are commercials for the lifestyle. And so I think that if your song, which is the commercial for the lifestyle you're selling, if your song is talking about using drugs or whatever, you cannot be surprised that people watch your commercial, a.k.a. your song. It was like, wow, that sounds like a great idea. And then you turn around and be like, y'all shouldn't do it though. I always say you can't live this do as I say, not as I do. You can't live like that. This is what my dad used to tell me when I was selling crack. Don't do what I do, do as I say. You sell crack too? Am I gonna want to hear that shit? Right, right. But it's like my dad used to tell me too. You can't tell, I couldn't tell my little sister do as I say, not as I do, like my actions speak. So, you know, like, you could be on the gram all day telling people, you know, don't give money to these designers. They don't fuck with you and don't buy jewelry. Don't waste your money on it. But if your selfie video is coming from a place of you're wearing Gucci and 10 chains on your neck, I don't know if it really resonates. It just seems a little fake. You feel me? It's entertainment. It's sad because when you're young, not even when you're young, but just humans are impressionable and it's hard to discern what you should and shouldn't do. And if you don't want to be looked up to and if you don't want to be a place and a source of inspiration, then stop rapping. You feel me? Then stop rapping, but you cannot get on a song, promote something in your music, and then be surprised when people turn around and do it. You are part of the problem. It's that simple. That's why you can't say you're not a role model, because you are. It comes with the dinner. You have millions of people looking at you. That's a role model. Deal with it. Look at Wiz. Wiz had the whole fucking world with the blonde streak in their hair wearing Chuck Taylor's. You know what I'm saying? Which is fire. I thought that was a birth defect. I didn't know he was actually... I didn't know he was dying it. I thought, you know how some people have patches that have no pigment in their hair? Like a vitiligo. Yeah, I thought it was like a hair vitiligo. And then someone was like, no, it's a choice. I don't know. I don't think that type of thing, that's influence. Of course. When Tyler the Creator has people who dress like him, all these things are influencing people. So if you think that, I know for me when I put out music in the times where it's these inspirational songs and I do it myself in the manifest, and it's all in your head, that's going to inspire someone to go and do something positive. But as easy as I can make you want to go, fuck the world up and be great and just seize the day, is as easy as you could go, I could inspire you to go do some fuck shit. And artists trying to like shy away from like, I just rap about it, but like don't do it. It's like. No. Your music has more influence on you than you do. Yes. Doesn't make any sense. It's funny, it's like. And I'm not like, I'm never once again, that is not going to go everywhere. I'm letting y'all know now when y'all watch this, I'm aware you're going to have an issue. But the reality is that it's the truth. And when 20 years pass, I'm on the right side of the fence. Because I don't need to wait for overdoses to happen to be like, wow, maybe we should be careful about what we're talking about. Like y'all like get with the program. That's the funniest part when like rappers start supporting politicians and like you see all these rappers coming out and talking about different people. How could Trump speak this way? It's like, do you listen to you? He talks about women that's like, listen to one song that you have. After what happened with Joe Rogan last week, I'm shocked at more. Bro fucks you man in these fakes. We'll talk about that. I'm shocked more people who haven't gotten on people for their rapper endorsements. Well, you know what it is? It's actually, you know what that feels like? It feels like almost like a disassociation. Like rappers are not aware of the power that they have. Yes. It feels. They're not a painter. It just feels like, bro, are you aware of who you are? Yes. Maybe not. I think that it comes off like they're not, it's either you're absolutely unaware or you're in denial that you have that much power. You know what it is? You probably have experienced this. If you're the Migos and you grew up in a certain part of Atlanta, around a bunch of brothers and sisters that look like you, they talk like you, you don't realize your influence that you go off to some far off country. And there's some white dude and they with tattoos on his face and this double cut, whatever it is, it dreads. Then you're like, whoa. You know what I mean? Now you realize how powerful your voice is because you expect the people where you're from to gravitate towards it and you influence them. But when you go somewhere else and you see the power of your influence. I feel like this. I feel like music since the day it started, and this is like the message I really want to give. Music since the day it started has raised kids. Of course. It has helped raising kids. So I think what is going to happen, start happening, what's going to be the turning point is a lot of these rappers are having kids. And I think a lot of these rappers, maybe not in an interview they would say, but I think a lot of these rappers would agree that they don't even want their kids living the lifestyle they're rapping about. Absolutely. So the truth is that, but you're raising kids all around the world. Now that you have one of your own, you're like, wait, maybe, like if you got to tell your kid, don't listen to my music or if you do, just understand it's all rapping. It's all entertainment. How convenient that your kid gets to have you in his ear, but the kids around the world don't. So when kids all over the world are getting fucked up because they don't have you in your ear telling them it's not real, it's just wrestling then. A lot of... What about movies though? Real quick though, to his point, a lot of artists don't get there. And what I mean by that is they don't get those 10-year runs to grow up and evolve like Jay-Z. Jay-Z can give you 444. That's why I love Jay-Z because he may kill Jay-Z. You know what I'm saying? But he can do that. A lot of guys don't last that long to give you that. Yeah, not sure. But the movie thing, I'll tell you the thing with movies, the context of movies is it's acting. Entertainment. Hip hop, the context of hip hop is that it's supposed to be the truth. 100% and they're different. I do think they're different. Hip hop is not supposed to be acting. That's what makes hip hop, hip hop. It's supposed to be real. So if you're now saying, well, everyone should know hip hop is not real, then now we're changing the essence of what hip hop is. Right. So... Listen, do me a favor, Russ. When Shake the Snow goes number one, right? Yeah. I want you to put on a white terry cloth. Sure. And just do like this on Instagram and say, I am Jesus. I'm not mad at that. That's how it's gonna come out of my next show. That's how it's gonna come out of my next show. I'm serious. I'm serious. That'll be crazy. We'll just fog at my feet. Yeah. Yo, good to see you, man. Good to see you. Glad you could pull up. I want to ask you about Kobe though, because I know, you know... Yeah. I think people like... We talk about this a lot. When I say we are, I just mean like my friends and my like... I always call them just like my counsel. Like we just talk about everything group chat, but people like Kobe and people like Nipsey are legendary because of the legacy they leave behind, which is a mentality. A lot of people, a lot of artists who have passed away, will pass away, whatever, it's hard to honor them. If you look at a lot of artists right now, how would you honor a lot of these artists, right? And if you look at the landscape of hip hop, what would you do to honor some of these people? And there's nothing to do. Are you gonna buy chains out of them? Like, yo, in your honor, I'm buying a Patek today. It's like, okay. I guess. But, you know, when you look at Nipsey, Nipsey had the marathon continues. Like it's a real mentality. Like some of you can apply to your life. Everyone can apply in a county and fucking Rancho Cucamonga can apply it. And, you know, everything, Kobe, Mamba mentality locked in, focus lays it in like mentality. So I think for me, that's why like people like Kobe and Nipsey are the ones. Those are the people that do change the world because they impacted by leaving behind a mentality. Like, you know, I listen to Nipsey every day, but what I do more than listen to Nipsey songs, I listen to the mentality left behind. I live it. I honor him by like living it. I can hit you talking about ownership. Yeah, same with Kobe. Like it's like, I'm gonna try and do my best to be the best version of myself and stay going to the gym, which for me is my studio and stay locked in. But that's why I am like, I'm proud of myself that even the little amount of time that I've had the space to speak from, I've left behind a mentality. I've put out a book. I've given people tools to its self-belief. It's manifesting its ownership. And so I know I've left a real mark. If I die today, I know there's a mentality left behind. I mean, I'm a perfect example of it. And you don't even know it existed. Thank you so much. There's all these comments out here. No, I mean, like, you didn't know that you influenced me like that. And there's all these comments out here that they think I've influenced them, but that really came from you. That's a trickle effect. That's a domino effect. Well, you talk about mentality or religion or, you know, ideology. Yeah. It's so true. That's something that really does live on forever. I never thought about it in terms of... We often think about legacy in terms of numbers, but it's not about numbers. No, it's how you... Because stats can be broken. No, it's how you... Faith is in the works or something. What does that say? Faith without works is dead. Faith without works is dead. So it's really the work. It's like, if you can pass on work, if you can pass on the action... Yeah, the mentality. Yeah, not the end result. No. That really lives for as long as it's effective. Yeah, because COVID stats can be broken. Fuck this. You know what I'm saying? I'm going to the gym at 4.30. Yeah. Press the mentality. I'm not afraid of you. I'm going at you. And I'm going to own the gym. And I'm going to... But it's the mentality you leave behind. And I encourage artists and just people in general to leave behind a mentality. Have you thought about what your mentality would be called? My mentality is do it yourself. And self-belief. That's what it really is. And that's why it's all in your head is... That book to me... You know, I'm sorry to the fans of the music, but that book is more important than any song I've ever dropped. Because that book is my mentality in book format. Yeah. And so when I die, before you listen to any song of mine, read my belief system. Yeah. Because if you apply this to your life... That's the religious text. As opposed to just the songs, that's going to help you. Yeah. And that's what I'm leaving behind. That's why I feel like I can pat myself on the back because I did give back. I did contribute to the world. I left the world a better place than how I found it. And I feel like Nipsey left the world a better place than how he found it. And Kobe did. And a lot of these people, like I said, it's just, you know, yeah, you bring joy to people with your music and that's cool. But you know, when you're gone, how do we honor you? We're going to go to the Gucci store. We're going to go buy a watch. And then like half of us can't do that. So then what do we do? We're just going to listen to your songs. It's like smoke perp. It's true. No. Shake the snow globe out at midnight. My man, motherfucking Russ, man. Yo, thank you so much for coming, man. It's been a lot to me. I'm glad we got to meet. Yeah, me too. I appreciate you. Thank you.