 It's a unique hustle, big shit, big shit, big shit, it's a unique hustle, nigga, big shit, big shit, big shit, name another podcast like this, we're gonna bring it to the table, boss talk. Check it, check it, check it, it's a unique hustle, it's your boy, E-CEO, and I'm here with the lovely, incredible Mr. Mako, what's going on? Nothing, nothing, my dad walk on. Say, man, hey, we, hey, God didn't drop the bomb on us. I know. Say, man, you hear a man, yeah, look here, man, you nigga been watching him, he work, he can't be denied, nigga, demand them put it, a, a, a, BMF? I know. Hey, man, this dude here, not only that, the nigga really, really created a whole another pop wave, to be honest with you, for me, I seen him, man, the boy, hey, man, I love this cab, man, Zayn in the middle, let's say what's up, baby? Hey, man, good to be here, man, how you feeling, for you, baby? No, man, hey, man, I feel real good, man, now that you're here. Hey, boss talk, man. Hey, one on one, what a boss is talking. One on one with a boss is talking, man, I like this whole setup too, man. Hey, thank you, man, hey, man, we've been going up, man, I never seen it coming. I'm like, dang, man, when we first got this place, when we first got the ball, you know, we've been there 15 years, but the whole little setup, I was just doing this, saying I'm going to bring some people in, but did my nigga D-Map from out of Atlanta, shout out D-Map, he designed for 8732 and the clothing brands back for Jewel House for Bootsy, he called me, he said, man, he thank you, man, you did, hey, man, I love what you're doing for the culture. I'm like, nigga, I didn't do it for no culture, the nigga called me because you see it. Nigga, this is, I'm not just doing it for me, nigga, but now the people loving it, so God has his own way of doing things, man. So what you think? You plan one thing and God has another plan in store. Man, he always on time, right? Check it, man. Oh, we want to know a little bit about you. Growing up, where you from, your household, your siblings, we want to get all in that business. Man, let's get into it, man, growing up, you know, born in Yonkers, New York. What? He been in Atlanta for a minute, though, but, you know, all my family from Yonkers, New York, though. How old were you when you left? I was young, like, probably like four or so, moved to Atlanta, moved to Atlanta like three or four, my mom and pops, my mom and pops been together for like, what's going on, I think this day, 40th anniversary, maybe like 35th or 40th. We trying to get there, girl. We trying to get there. We going to get there. All right, let's go. I'm riding with you. You know what I'm saying? Came from a household with both, you know, it's a weird story with me, you know what I'm saying? Like, it's a weird story. Well, listen, we got time to go. We got time to go. I got the book coming. I got the book coming. You know what I'm saying? I love you, man. You know, shout out, shout out, you know what I'm saying? To my pops, you know what I'm saying? My mom's like, I came from like, you know, a family where, you know, the pops was there, moms was there, you know what I'm saying? And I had siblings, you know. How many siblings? I got three other siblings. I'm the oldest of four. Wow. And so, always been like the person that just like... That everybody looked up to. Got everything first. Like, got the ass whooping furthest. Had to go through the B.S. first, you know. And always, that's what made me who I am, you know, because it's like, I always had to share, you know, some of my brothers. And so it made me like, not a hater. Like someone that's, I get to shut off my back. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, yeah. How much older are you then than your siblings? Like, two years older than my... Two years older than my... The one under me. The one under you. I got one. I'm like four years older than five years older than... And then I got a sister. I'm like six years old. And all of you raised in the same household? Yeah, yeah. Okay. You know what I mean? So, you know, we grew up in... They always, they always born in Atlanta though. In Atlanta. Okay. You know, so me, I was born in Yonkers, New York. Moved to Atlanta when I was like four. Did your parents ever tell you why moved to Atlanta? Out of anywhere else? Just why Atlanta? Yeah. We were actually, you know, my dad started like, you know, he was hustling out there. And I think it was a shootout or something. Like we was in a shootout or something. My brother, it was like a... I don't really remember it like that, but we was in a shootout in the park or something. Then they found me like laid over my brother. You know what I mean? So that, from that day, they was just like, it was time to pack up. I think like they told me, they moved like the next day. So boom, that happened. Shoot out, we moved to Atlanta. And then from like, you know, five until I was probably like 21, I lived in Atlanta doing music, went to school in Atlanta, raised in Atlanta, elementary, junior high, you know, high school. So Atlanta's like where, if someone asks me where I'm from, it's like Atlanta's where I'm from. How old were you when you found a love for music? Oh man, love for music. The first song I ever learned was Before I Let Go by Frankie Bevely. Yeah, before I Let Go. Yeah, Before I Let Go by Frankie Bevely and Maze, Whitney Houston. My mom, all those songs, those classic songs my mom used to play while she was cleaning up or something. That's how I grew up with music. So Frankie Bevely and Maze, Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown. So she had a love for music, not your dad as much. Yeah, my mom and my dad, like just really they, none of them did mute. My dad writes though. Oh, okay. I think I get my poetry from like, your dad. My dad, because he, my dad got over like 10,000 pounds, you know what I'm saying? So he was a writer for sure. I got my name from Zane Gray to write to Zane Gray. Okay. Yeah, so I think, I think names are important. Very important. Very important. My grandma named my dad after Zane Gray. I mean, after Zane, you know, the writer. He ended up being a writer, you know, not a professional writer, but like if it's funerals or anything, they're like, yo, big Zane writes something. And he's big Zane. Like that's not, that's not my stage name. Like Lil Zane is really like, if you had, if you was, if you had, if you was your, your dad's name Larry, you know what I mean? You Larry, you Larry Junior. So they call you Lil Larry. Yeah, Lil E. Lil E, I'm Lil E. Yeah. Is it like, no matter how your dad's still alive? I know, he passed away, but I'm still, I'm still Lil E. when it comes out of that. See, see, we can relate that. Yeah, no. But hold on, but you've told me. I'm still. When I tell him, I say you still, you Junior. He's like, no, I'm not Junior no more. I'm Senior now because he's passed away. I am Senior, but I'm still like that. I feel like that. A lot of people say, well, you know what I'm saying? Lil Zane, why you changing your name? Boom, boom. But I'm like, it ain't no stage name for me. Like in my house, you gotta say like big Zane, you gotta say one of those because both of us have come down to the stage name. That's it, that's it. And now I have a son named Zane, so. But he's the third? No, he's baby Z. So I change, he doesn't have the same exact, he's Zane Jeremiah Copeland. Okay. That's still dope. Yeah, I'm Zane Rudolph Copeland. I got, I got the fucked up. I wasn't trying to do that to him, you know what I'm saying? Did you ever get teased about that middle name? Did I? Oh my God. Every Christmas come around this month. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate that shit. Rude all the way. Give me the fuck out of here with that shit. Yeah, well, that's crazy. So, you know, I changed my son's name just so you have his own identity. You know, so. But growing up, people always say, well, I ain't changed your name, whatever. It's like, I feel like it was like big Zane is, till he passed, till if some Lord forbids him, I don't really feel comfortable saying, oh, big Zane, no matter how much money I got, how much shit I did. It's like, you always Lil E. I'm always Lil E. And I respected him to the day. And I would respect my dad to the fullest. I don't play with that. Like, I never, no cursing on none of that. I was respectful. I don't play like that. You're right, you're right. And he passed away, but still, I know that, you know, I deal with what I'm supposed to do. Man, like. I can sleep at night. You know what I mean? That's real, man. Like, and that's the funny you say that because me and my pops ain't really seen it out of our right now. Like, you know. I went there with mine, too, for years, but it ain't too late. But yeah, but lately I've been reaching out and stuff. Like, he just had a birthday on Thanksgiving. I've been reaching out because like life is so short, man. It is. You know what I'm saying? You don't want to get that call or you know what I'm saying? You just like, damn, I shoulda. Yeah. Boom, boom, boom. And like you said, I got so much respect for him. It's like, how can you say you got so much respect for him? And still. I had to. Even when they wrong, dog. They still right. I feel like, I feel like my dog wrong sometimes but I'd be like, just because I had so much respect, it's like, damn, I gotta. You gotta do what's right. You know how that is. They ain't gonna call us, bro. No. Because they got that. That's right. They know that what they're like. I broke my leg and my dad still didn't even come to the hospital. We hadn't spoken a year or something and I was hurt behind that. Wow. My stepdad was at the hospital. I was like, dude, where did my dad at? I was really pissed. Wow. But I knew we wasn't seeing our die when it had happened but at the end of the day he eventually came to see me. But they, you know, they got this thing that you do disrespect to the God. Yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying? And especially when they know they've been there for us. Exactly. It's like, no matter what I did, what I said. That's it. How was you now, nigga? I'm still there. I was there when you was born. Wow. That's the part where you forget because you can't remember that. Wow. But they was there. Wow. But I would think, too, because y'all are now fathers, you know, you're going to be that person down the line where you have to deal with your child and your child going to be thinking the same thing that you're thinking right now. Yeah, yeah. It's crazy. It's a, you know, yeah and no because, you know, it's a lot of things I would do different. You know what I'm saying with my kids, what I did with me, too. Not saying. Yeah. But to see that nigga right there, I thought the same way, but my son, yeah, he was mad at me on a couple of things. He didn't say it. Yeah. But then somebody else come back and be like, yeah, he don't like, he don't see how he's quiet, but yeah, he ain't too much feeling that such, such, such. So I think you don't get around those blows. You could try, but it's just something to where it's going to be those times, but those are the times that you grow in. Yeah. That relationship is growing when you go through those stages. Yeah. I mean, my father, too, it's like, you know now when we discipline our kids or whatever, it hurt us more. Yeah, yeah. So it's like, damn, like he was, I thought he was being the worst, but he's probably, he's probably, he's probably, it's probably hurt him more than he did. Yeah, that's right. So now having kids, I realized that, like, you know, I scream at my kids some time over there, put them in punishment. And two minutes later, I'm like, what y'all want from the store? Yeah. Let me give you an example of something that I went through with my mom. Like, you know, you know how, like for me personally, I used to always say that I'd wish that she would say I'm proud of you because I would never get that, but I'd get all the love, the hugs, I love you, all of that. But I just wanted to hear that. So as I got older, I'm like, why have, why you never told me that? Well, for her, her mom never told her. She loved her. So she overcompensated with that for me. So you didn't get something from your dad. You're going to overcompensate for your child with that. But there's always something that's lagging that that child's going to be like, but he didn't do this. Yeah. No matter what. No matter what. Yeah. No matter what. And that's the crazy. And then you learn that, you know, parents ain't perfect. No body is perfect. Nobody's perfect. But as a kid, you want to, you think, you know, you think it is. Yes. But then you just learn like growing up. It's like, sometime my son be doing some things. Yeah. So you see it. So you see it. That's your boy for sure. Yeah. So man, shout out to all the real dads out there. Ain't it so, man? Cause they don't, we don't get enough credit, man. Nah. We don't. And we get a gift for Father's Day. I get it, man. Come on. Yeah. They be hating on us. They love their mama more even though you do everything you can, you could tell. Now girls love their daddy. They don't rock. They don't rock what you like. They rock with momma. Girls are daddy's little girls. Yeah. They love me though. Thank you. I can't do it. No wrong eyes. No looking at me. I don't want to hear that. We got Zayn in here, man. Let's get to it. Yeah. Zayn. So how did you end up on BMF? How did you end up dealing with a 50 on that? Nah. It's just been a long journey, man. Just, you know, I went on a couple of auditions, you know, and Tasha called me. Well, my agent called me and was like, we got this audition for you. I didn't know what it was at the time. I went into it. Like I didn't really even think I was going to get it. I ain't going to be, I ain't even going to hold you. Like I was just like, I ain't going to get this shit. And I just went in there kind of did it like, you know, like I didn't care about it. But I guess the part called for that, the part called for like, the part, the part he went in here doing the part, the part called for somebody with an attitude. No, it's a lunch. Somebody knows the lunch. Whatever. So it's like, literally like usually when I do an audition, I might do it like three, four times and sit down and look at it, pick the best one. I did it that one time was just like, all right, sit in there. Like really like me and you talking, I'm like, Oh, so it's a video audition you had to do. It was in person. It wasn't in person. You know what I mean? It wasn't an in person taping. And that's another thing too, man. Sometimes, you know, I think when you go in the in person, you'd be nervous. Because it's somebody really just reading it to you like, you all into it. Like you're like, yeah, and they're just like this. So what did you do yesterday? But they, that's their job to just be straight playing. That's right. And you still got it. And that energy. Everything, right? And you're trying to read their emotion and they're not showing any. So when you do the self-tape, it's kind of like a little different because you're not expecting it. So you just, you know what I mean? Self-tape, you already mentally like, okay, it's just me. But when you, naturally, if you in a room and we're giving each other, we're feeding off each other, you want that feed on. So I don't think I was doing too good with and I don't do too good in person. Yeah, you like, you like the ones that say that. I think I do not, you know, I ain't going to take, I'm going to take that back because I booked before, but what I want to say is it's better to me to self-tape is like, because you got a chance to do it a couple of times. Do it over and over. Send the best one. I think that's the fairest, but when you get in, you might have a bad first, you might have a bad day right before you got to audition. So now that affects your in-person audition. But you don't know what they're looking for. Just like you said, you know, you went in with this don't care attitude and you didn't realize that that's what they were looking for. About two weeks later, I heard back, okay, you want, you want to stand by? I was like, all right, cool to stand by me. My agent's like, just stand by. Stand by. I'm like, all right. So you can't really plan nothing else. You shit coming in. You just like, okay, I can't really do nothing in another week went by. So about, for about three weeks, you know, it was just that, did he get it? Boom, boom. So finally they call was like, you shoot on this day, boom, boom. And it was just crazy. Like so, I did it for like, like a few years before I did BMF on a movie called When Love Kills. Okay. And I had a small part in it and I was a little DJ in it. And, but she said that one line, I was in the corner like practicing it. Like it was the last line them. The only line I've ever had in life. She's like, he over there practicing that one line. And basically, you know, the work ethic, she was just like, I knew I wanted to work with you on something else. So BMF came up, did my little, you know, my little one, just timing, timing. I like it, man. I think that's, that's dope. I really, I really like the way that you, you working, you working, you think of that, I don't understand, we here. Acting classes when nobody's looking after classes, watching a lot of movies, watching a lot of, I'm a movie kind of sword. Like I love watching films, but it's hard for me to just watch a movie because I'm, I'm looking at the moments. You're looking at the different things. You know, because I want to be the star of the movie. Do you imitate their accents and stuff like that? Um, you know, one thing about me, I can, I can imitate almost any accent. I think since a kid that been like my gift, like, if I hear something enough, like naturally. What's the best accent that you can imitate? I mean, I can't really say, oh, this is my such as his accent. I just know, like, I can get on the phone and do some, you want to, like, you want to give me, you want to give me, you want to give me, like, if I walk into Jamaica store, I'm talking to jimmy Breastlin. Breastlin, what's up Breastlin? You know, you know she Jamaica, right? My youth. My youth. You understand me? We go down yonder, down yard, we go to yard. You know what I'm saying? So, but, you know, it's just, with me, it's like, I love people, man. Me too. I love people. I love culture. You know what I'm saying? I love different Chinese people might say, like, you know, I'm going up watching Chinese flicks, you know what I'm saying? When I try to talk like them, I wasn't trying to be racist. I was trying to like, yo, this is cool to me. Like, I'm one of them kids that mad because I don't know how to speak a language. Some people look at it as you're mocking them. That's what they look at. Yeah, like I always tell people, I told my kids the other day, I was like, yo, y'all don't do nothing. Learn a language for me. Like, just learn a language for me. Just pick one and learn it. You know, my kids is Spanish. They mix with Spanish. I don't even know Spanish. I'm like, yo, y'all need to learn a language because really it's important. And I'm like, if that's something I could do all over again, I would have took a language in school because you go across the world and like people would be speaking these languages and you'd be like, damn, I really don't. You know what I'm saying? And I could understand Jamaican more. That's why certain places I go, like the Caribbean, it's Caribbean has that broken accent. Broken English. So it's easier for me to relate when I get around Caribbean people with Jamaicans. Like, you know, I feel like somewhere down in my line of my culture, I was a little Caribbean kid. I'm a little water. I love beach. Man, it's nice, it's nice, right? I love big ganja. I love, you know what I'm saying? I love to grow my hair out, you know what I'm saying? I just feel like somewhere down the line, I was a little island boy. So what I wanted to know is, okay, so two years before BMF, you did a small film. So did you audition for anything in between that and BMF coming up? Man, I auditioned for so many films. I got to the point where I got tired of auditioning. Because sometimes you keep hearing them, nose, nose, nose, nose, or not, you don't hear nothing at all. It don't really be you hear, no, you just don't. You don't hear back at all. So it's like, it gets discouraging, it gets to the point where you're like, yo, I need to start messing with your self-esteem. But you can't let it. So to counteract that, I just started working on my own projects. I was like, yo, they ain't gonna give me that next role. I got to create it. So I started really, I quit going on auditions for about a year. He was calling me to go on auditions. I'm like, he like, they didn't say I'm moving. I don't want to do it. I don't want to do it. Discourage. Discourage, but also just- Tired of hearing a no or not hearing nothing at all. Once I set my mind to like, okay, I'm not doing no more auditions for the next year because it's gonna force me to just go hard on me. So it was more like, I had already had my mindset, like, I'm gonna create my next move. You know, they not gonna give it to me. I'm gonna create my next move. So I went in, went in the hibernation. I wrote like 20 different scripts, movie scripts, TV scripts, game shows, reality shows. And I was just calling him every day, right? Calling him every day like, yo, I got this. He like, yo, that's crazy. I'm meeting with different producers and they're liking the ideas. And I'm like, I'm starting writing for artists. I'm like, you know what? I might not, I might not be on the main screen again. It might have, I might have to, God might be telling me be behind the scenes because I still got this passion to do music and film, but a lot of people would think, oh, you had your chance already. You was out there, boom, boom, boom. So I was just like, whatever you do, just stay creative, stay working, like stay writing. Like, if you, nobody's gonna give you a part, you gonna write your next part. So I wrote this film called, I wrote this TV show called Almost Out. And I got to the point where I was having the table meetings. I had the investors. I had the locations. I'm like, I'm finna shoot me a TV show. It's like my version of Power. It's like Power meets Denny Thies, you know what I'm saying? I'm like, so I got 50 people together, the actors, everything. He's there, you know what I'm saying? So, and then got to do it to you. Once God seen I was ready and I'm full fleshed about to go make all these hella mistakes. I know I'm about to make a bunch of mistakes. I'm playing with people money. I'm finna make a bunch of mistakes. But it was my way of, these are new mistakes though. So then right, I had scheduled to shoot January 15th and I got a call on January 1st that we were shooting on the 21st. So I had to push, that means I had to go back and tell 50 people like, look, we ain't shooting on the 15th. I don't know when we shooting, but by the time we shoot, we gonna be bigger than life. You know what I'm saying? By the time we shoot, this BMF thing should be so big that we could walk this in anywhere. You know what I'm saying? Right now, I'm just going off with just the old Lil Zane, what I did. Hey, I wrote this, I might get to the table and they be like, okay, we like it, but we wanna use such and such as this as a lead. So, and I'm open to all that. Cause at this point, I'm like, I'm not knowing if I'm finna be in the front or in the back, but I'm in the room. Long as I'm in the room, I'm in the, you feel what I'm saying? Yes sir. I always had that, that long as I'm in the room, if I ain't number one, I'm gonna be part of whoever's number one. Yeah, and then you can create an opportunity in the room too. Yeah, yeah. So you, as long as you're in the room. Exactly. It'll tell you what can go down. So that's what I was on. I was on some of that. But look at God though. What I was thinking about when you were saying all of that is that you had the money to do all of, to do your project, but this came up. So by you doing this, you learned a lot more about the business, correct? Yes. That you can now turn around and implement it into your own. Cause I was about to go make a lot of mistakes. I was about to make a lot of fun mistakes, but it was going to be a lot of mistakes cause I never did it. So now I'm writing a TV show and I get a call to be In a TV show. On a TV show. And not only is it on a TV show, it's a true story. It's, you know, kind of know it's going to be the biggest TV show in the world. I didn't know how much of it I was in. I thought I was only supposed to be in one episode. Yeah. How did they spend it off and put you in? I just kept from that one day I went in there, you know, that one episode might take seven days to shoot. So I guess just seeing us for seven days and the writers like, yo, these dudes are actually funny. Like, like, like on set it just became just organic. Like, okay, we're going to write them in the scene. We're going to write them in episode two, two. All right. Put them in episode three, three. You know what I'm saying? That's just, it wasn't planned. I wasn't supposed to be in number one. Is 50 Cent on the set or is he? At this point, I hadn't seen 50. You hadn't seen 50. I hadn't seen 50 to like episode seven. Oh, really? Yeah. I hadn't seen 50 to like episode seven. Seven. All right. Which is understandable. Hell, he busy. Because he was moving around and they had a lot of COVID protocols too. For sure. You know, 50 be turqued up, 50 be all over. So they was like, Hey, man, that dude, man, come on now. That's how I knew they meant business because even though it's his show, they was like, nigga, even you can't come on a set. You get COVID tested in. Oh, you just came from Houston. You need to sit out 10 days before you come around and do it. Yeah, yeah. So before he did his episode, he really had to stay away from everybody for 14 days. So, you know, it was crazy. How is it working with that? Did you ever think you'd be working with 50? I know you work with Puff and all these other different people. I called it in 2005, right? In 2005, when 50 came out, I looked at my man because me and my man be best friends for a while. Yeah. And I said, yo, 50 gonna be the one to bring me back. Wow. I told him that. 2005, I said, yo, 50 gonna be the one to bring me back, bro. And he said that because he was a cancer. I was a cancer. I didn't know how. I thought I was gonna meet him. We was gonna do some music. I didn't know. I had no idea it was gonna be a show. That's how God do it. He can just get up. I think it's music shit. And my cousin, my cousins was cool with 50. Like they parted like his little, like, you know, he got his real security, but then he got, you know, his street security too. Like, so my cousins is like his little, his little street niggas in. So every time they would do security for him, they would just see, he would see me just with them, kind of like in the background. So I know he like, look at those niggas with some niggas. Every time I come to Atlanta and these niggas come up, they got this nigga with them. But I never would be like, oh, 50 put me on for that. I'll just be chillin' as you chillin' with the gangsters in a cut, in a cut. So when all that play out, you know what I'm saying? The TV show, I don't know if it had anything to do with it, but it's like, I know how, I know how cancerous they can. We see you enough and we feel like, okay, he cool. It's like, yo, put my nigga in there. I seen him, my nigga around. Yeah, yeah. Because if he would've seen you and been like, I don't ride with that nigga. Let that shit have been jar rule or something. Nah, hell nah, that nigga's not playin' sucky. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, if it's someone he don't fuck with, it's like he would've, so just get in the go. I'm like, damn, okay. Yeah, yeah. Big dog. But in my heart, I always take my cousin because I'm like, I believe everything play a part. Every small thing play, I think him seeing me with you guys and, you know, Tasha seeing me put in the work on the set that it was like, okay, I know he outchir like that, so he could pull it off on some gangsta shit because it ain't fake for him. He be out with the gangsters, but then on other side is he a real actor too. He gon' put in that work too. He gon' be in the corner practicing. So boom. Now the streets and the talent meet. Preparation equals opportunity, meet success, right? Hey. You know what I'm saying? So when you said in 2005, so there was a time where you felt like I got to get back up on my good. Early on you had a deal, right? And it wasn't a good deal. It was a horrible deal. Horrible deal. I mean, I ain't gonna say it was a horrible deal. But it opened doors and people know you. I ain't gonna say it was a horrible deal. Like, you know, for me, it's just... You just signed the damn paper then you saying. I ain't gonna even say I just signed the paper, bro. That's what people do, right? I ain't gonna say I just signed the paper. It was just more like, I didn't understand the power I had. Okay, okay. I can dig it. You constantly had somebody over you that knew you were gonna have that power. Like, okay, QC in them, right? Yeah, yeah, for sure. Shout out QC. They tell a little baby, they tell a little baby, you that nigga, dawg, you got the power. You could co-change everything. I had a nigga over me that didn't want me to know I had that power. Yeah. Because he wanted that power. So if he seen me getting closer to that power, it's like, yo, shut them down. Shut them down. He doing too much. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So you gotta have, he's like, everybody around me had a real OG around him. You know what I'm saying? You had the, you know, even podcast sugar. You had the power, I had Jermaine. For sure. Nellie had Cuda. For sure. You know what I'm saying? I thought you would have worked with Jermaine. I don't know why my mind. But see, Jermaine is crazy because Jermaine and the nigga, I was working with hated each other. That's crazy. So it was like the niggas I wanted to fuck with, I couldn't even, cause the blessings was already blocked cause this nigga has so many problems already. You know what I'm saying? I get it. You roll with the people you roll with. So it's like, to me, I was young. I wasn't, at the time I wasn't on all that. But growing up, I learned like, yo, watch Jermaine and really fucking me like that. But, you know, we did the hard ball together, stuff like that. So, you know, shout out to Jermaine, to shout the ball, all of them like, you know, I felt like there was things that could have been done to make that happen even more. But, you know, you got two people that's from a whole different decade. Cause I think it's like the nigga I was with has stole some, a song or something from Jermaine back in the day or something. So it was going deeper and further than I was even, it was going deeper and further than I even had to do it. You don't understand, man. You know, we so in control, but so out of control at the same time. It's really God. I keep hearing it, but everything you do is already, it's already been set up. It's already written, bro. You know, anytime, anytime I move, I tell, nothing's about questioning. It's just like it's already written because I always wonder, why didn't you do this more? But then when you learn, then if you learn later, it's like, oh, they, they been had. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That would have never happened. You know what I'm saying? I hear the stories even with Jermaine, the pre talk about when Puff got into it with Suga and he was, he was in the, you know, they was at his place and all this, you heard all these stories. It puts you in the middle. It puts you in the middle. Exactly. So it make you like, damn, you know, like, what, you know, like, you don't never know what's going on behind the scene, right? You've seen that being that you've been, you've been around a long time. How hard, I mean, how was it a depressing thing? Cause I've had people on here and I won't say the name cause I'm going to let them live. But that used to have it going on. And then all of a sudden bam, they lose it everything. Like, like nobody's checking for them no more. You know what? And wait a minute. And when I see them, they, they, you could tell that it's a depressive state that put them in where they can't figure it out. You know, it's easy, it's easy to get stuck in that mode as an artist. You know, I just refuse to let myself get there. You know where I'm coming from, right? No, no, no. It's, I know exactly what you're saying. It's like, you be up for so long or you be in a great position, then things don't stop going the right, stop going the way you had it going. And it's like, you could see it in a dude. You could see it in their face. It's not the same. I think maybe for like, maybe like a year or two I might have had that. Maybe I remember feeling like that. I remember feeling like people could just look at you and feel like, damn, this nigga's not doing too well. You know what I'm saying? Mentally. Cause you just, but I don't feel like, I just was trying to figure it out. You know what I'm saying? I was just trying to figure it out. But one thing I was always honest with myself. I'm like, yo, I ain't got this shit figured out yet. If I knew all the answers, I'll be everywhere. I'll be up. You still giving yourself room to grow? Yeah. And I always say that. Some people think they already arrived and all this other crazy stuff, you know? And they lose it because they can't really figure it out. Cause you really were never where you needed to be no way. But in your mind, you thought you made it. Exactly. You know, it's so much more to it, man. It's a chemistry. I always tell people, the people that I've met in those rooms needed to be there. And you could tell they was supposed to be there. You see what I'm saying? Like the room don't operate the way that a lot of people would think from the outside looking in. Right. And that's how I feel like now it's like, I'm supposed to be in that room. Yeah. There it is. Like before if I had to question it, it's like y'all want to be in that room right now if I wasn't supposed to be in it. Yeah. I feel like, you know, it come a time where you know, okay, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. Do you, do you, when I look at, I heard that you had, was it Tyler the creator or somebody you had issues with or something? Not really issues. I never met this. What's up with that? Let's talk about that. No, I never met this guy. Yeah, let's break that down. Yo, listen, listen, listen. You know, I'm all into the beef. They already, you know, I would buy it. Buy it. Where did that come from? I can set up a meeting that you try to get to be in there with you. I'm gonna be honest. I'm gonna be honest. I'm gonna be honest. Look, look, I'm probably the only artist in the game that really ain't never had beef with a name. Like. Well then why, why, why do you say, what's that about? Like when people mention my name, like, it's just, You're running. Listen. From the question. You see running from the question. Nah, nah, nah, nah. You said beef. I ain't really never had beef with nobody. Like I think that it's just, I think it's just like I got one of them, I got one of them situations where, you know, people just know my situation. People know like, you know, Zayn bigger than life, bro. Like my personality, I always been bigger than my records, been bigger than any movie I could do. Like my soul, my spirit is just, when you walk in a room, it's just, you know what I'm saying? Like Jay-Z don't have to say nothing. When you walk in that room, you just feel it. And that's what I always, you know, pry myself on. Just like, I don't gotta say a word. When I walk in, you're gonna feel that God, you're gonna feel that energy. So sometimes when you, when you got that and you possess that, people just take shots. I get it. I get it. I'm gonna let you live. I'm gonna let you live. All these people that ever, listen, all these people that ever mentioned me, they never met me in their life. I get it. But I'm like a, I'm like a myth to them. Like, they been hearing me so long and they like, yo, why am I still hearing this nigga name 20 years later? Like, you know what I'm saying? For a minute, people was probably like, yo, how did the biggest name in the world just disappear? Like just go away for a minute. But you gotta remember, like nobody made me disappear. I stepped back. Yeah. I stepped back and started reading. It's important that you have, well, I'll ask you, how important is it to have self-awareness of who you are? Oh, that's what, that's why I stepped back. I've seen it. That's why I said that. I've seen it going in the direction where I'm like, sooner or later it's gonna crash. You know what I'm saying? Because the paperwork ain't right. Everything ain't right. Your spirit ain't right. You're going through a lot of, you got a lot of unnecessary people around you. So sometimes you gotta disappear from being laid low and clear and clear the air. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? It's important. But I was just gonna say, and sometimes when you taking a break or when you recouping, you know what I mean? You can't be in everybody's grill. People gonna start rumors. They're gonna be like, oh, I think it fell off. Oh, he doing this or hanging around. You just like, okay. Like you just know you learning. It's like when you start going to church, you've been thugging all your life and you start going to church. It's like people still gonna remember you as the thug. They not knowing the reform you're going through. They not knowing. They not seeing you go to Bible school. You know what I'm saying? Church every Sunday Bible. Like you trying to change, but sometimes you can't change overnight in front of people. That's true. You know, I just want to. You're not doing it for people, doing it for yourself. Yeah, I wanted something different. I just knew like, okay. People always try to say you sound like Tupac or try to say like everything. I sold me in records. They was trying to take the credit away. So I say, you know what? I'm gonna disappear for a minute. Get on my writing game. I'm gonna get better at writing. I'm gonna switch my style up. I'm gonna start singing on me. Cause I'm gonna start singing rapping. Like, you know what I'm saying? I'm a, I'm a, my acting roles. I'm gonna start, you know, get with the best acting coach. I got the same acting coach as Michael B. Jordan. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, that's dope. The same lawyers as Kanye. You know what I'm saying? Like, go get the best ones. Say that again. You know what I'm saying? Same lawyers, same lawyers. You know what I'm saying? That boy working. But that's what you do. Like I had to like just figure it out. You know what I'm saying? I want to have you learn being on the set of BMF compared to what you didn't know before. Like what we were talking about earlier. What is it that you learned? Just watch it 50, stay working. You know what I'm saying? Stay working. He got 16, 17 shows on right now. So it's like, I'm like, how does a man sleep? When do this man sleep? And I'm like that. Anybody that know me know I don't sleep. I don't sleep. Like I'm one artist that you know, I'm really a rock star. Like I'm being humble right now on this. I'm being humble in front of y'all. Like I'm a rock star, bro. Anybody that hang out with me know I'm a rock star. I sleep two, three hours a day cat naps. We don't sleep, we take cat naps. You know what I'm saying? You don't be, you ain't look how I look. I sleep two, three hours a day and I still look like I'm 22, 21, 22. I ain't playin' cause it's like I'm built different. You know what I'm saying? And my gang can tell you, and I ain't bragging. It's like I'm built different. Now he poses to talk, he'll talk. I'm built different, bro. That's what I'm playin'. I'm built different, bro. I feel the same way. I ain't built different, bro. So I get it. I'm built different, bro. I like that man. I like it because you gotta push yourself. Most people think he really, he being arrogant or something. No, I gotta push myself. Cause I'm trying to go to a whole another level with what I do. I think with me, people know it's not even arrogant. Like they see my struggle. They see my hustle. They see me go from duh, duh to duh. Yeah, yeah. So it's like I ain't gotta, I just look at niggas and say, you know me, dawg. Don't, don't, you know better than count me out, dawg. I pop up on something, number one. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? Who's been the most influential to you like, for you during this whole process? I think the most influential person through this whole process has been my kids, man. Okay. Because like I'm trying to lead this legacy and I can't, I gotta change the narrative. I had to take control of the narrative because my kids was getting to the point where they were going to school and you know, the internet is crazy. And I didn't want people to just say, yo, remember your dad? Your dad used to do whatever happened to him. Oh, whatever happened. Your dad, he's a nobody. So that drive was like knowing that, yo, these, my kids gonna grow up and people gonna know about their dad. Now, when they Google, when they go, two years ago it was like, oh, your dad fell off a boom, boom. Now they go to school and they like, niggas can't stay away from him. Like, yo, your dad don't be a man. So it's like, my thing was always leaving a legacy and changing that narrative. Like, no matter what I do, I'm gonna make sure that, you know, when they grow up and you know, when they say my name, like, my name is good out here. You know what I'm saying? So that was my whole drive. Did the pop comparison, did it help your career or did it hurt your career? I think it helped me. You know what I'm saying? Tony, compared to the greatest, you know what I mean? You compared to the greatest, it helped you. When did Kobe not wanna get compared to Jordan? I get it, I get it. You know what I'm saying? When your idols become your rivals, you know what I'm saying? If pop was alive, we would be battling. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm the type person, yeah, I'm gonna give you your props, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, you JZ, but when I get in the room, I'm trying to take your head off now. It's like, we competitive with it. You know what I mean? DMX, rest in peace. Like, when I met DMX, we battled for two hours in my room for two hours. Cause I told him, I said, bro, you, I'm the next one, I don't know what you talking about. You know what I'm saying? They kept telling me about DMX. So this guy's gonna, it's like 96, 97, like, but I'm in my hood, I'm rapping. I'm number one in my hood. So my man, Locke, bring DMX to my neighborhood cause he had always been talking about. I'm like, yo, whenever you bring him around here, just let him know I'm gonna eat his face. You know what I'm saying? What was the outcome? He went down like that. We battled for two, we had battled for two hours in my room. And he was like, yo, you nice kid. You know what I'm saying? Yo, you nice, son. Give you two years, you be ready. I said, two years. He crazy, nigga, ready now, nigga. Fuck you, me two years, or it is 97, 99, that anywhere shit dropped. Oh, dang, that was just it. He was right. He was right. He was right. He said, two years, you be ready. But imagine me. I'm like, nigga, I'm ready right now. What you mean? I just wrapped two hours with you back and forth. But he was just like, two years, you be ready. And resting piece of DMX. That boy told the truth. He was right. Man, and that ain't this something? But people don't know that, man. But those are things that make me who I am. The fact that I know I battled DMX for, and I wouldn't say battled like- He's still a big homie, right? Yeah, I wouldn't say battled like this in each other. It's more like you kick around, my kick around, you kick around, my kick around. All my neighborhood friends is there. They like, yo, like I'm telling this story. That's NP. I'm telling this story and this 13 people that are still alive that can say, yo, it's there. Y'all ain't even recorded, man. Nobody had no phone back then. Nobody had nothing back then. I was only like- They had the big phone. Bro, I was like 16. I know. I know. I heard the year you said it was. Yeah, I'm 16. It's like, 97. Yeah, 96, 97. Ain't nobody had, you barely had all this stuff that everybody- Y'all ain't had Get At Me Dog out. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? But he was bigger than life and you knew he was gonna be the next one. But here I go, I'm like, man. So what in a little while and all those guys, man? I know you dealt with them come up around the same time. Yeah. Same circles, man. So, I mean, you felt like, okay. When you see it, was it anybody? You was like, oh yeah, he doing, he running, making his run right now for to make my run or how did you, how did you, I'm talking about in the rap game. You know what I'm saying? You know what? I always, I always just like the way that they did, you know what I'm saying? Like, I just like the fact that, you know what I'm saying? How he had that Jermaine shit. Yeah, that was dope. That was dope. You know what I'm saying? That's one thing I always knew when I respected about them is how they just kept that whole thing. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And with me, it was never like that though, man. You just go for what you know. I'm a hater, bro. I'm so confident in what I do, bro. Nah, nah, nah, I get it. I just, you know, I just, you know, I would see them, congratulate them. You know what I'm saying? Maybe, maybe sometime I would seem standoffish because I'm so like a, I'm an introvert, bro. I'm like, I'm like, I'm the coolest person you walk up to me, but I like my space. So I might not come up to you like, yo, yo, let's get in the studio, boom, boom. Cause niggas do that shit to me all the time too. I like it, I like it to naturally happen. So a lot of these artists have felt like before, even they probably thought I was standoffish because, you know, I'm just, I'm letting you have your space, nigga. You know what I'm saying? Like, but now it's like, I'm a little bit more different. Now I see a nigga. I'm like, what's up, nigga? It's getting, it's getting to laugh, nigga. Cause just so I know, I said it. So I know I said it and it's like a nigga say, let's go right now. I'm like, let's go right now. But at least, you know, you said before I'm like, damn, I never know if it was going to be cool cause I didn't say nothing. Damn. So no, no, no one intimidates you. No one intimidates me. It's just more like, I'm so humbled. I'm like, yo, I'm not going to bother him while he's eating. I'm not going to bother him while he's eating. I'm not going to bother him while he's, but now I'm just like, yo, bro, what's good dog? You know what I mean? So now it's just, now this time around is just like, you know, not missing that opportunity and just, you know, and just knowing that, you know, closed mouth don't get fed, you know. So what's next for Lil Zane? Man, what's next? You're going to get some more music? You ain't mess with it. People don't know, man. I got, listen, man, the music shit is crazy. Listen, listen, man. So when you drop it? I got, I got two singles out right now. I got 325 out, 325 AM, new video out. I got a single car rollie out about to drop this new single car bad vibes. I've been dropping hell of videos at the back. Did you start working more when you seen the BMF thing? Like, all right, people don't be looking for it. I always kept doing music, like every day. After my dropping like videos and all that stuff. I was dropping music. He was already still doing that. Since like, you know, I feel like it's just, I always been dropping music since like 2017. I just really started dropping music crazy. But I knew the BMF was probably going to pick it up. Yes, people are going to put more eyes on you, right? Yeah, so, you know, but I got over, you know, 5,000 songs recorded, man. I've been recording songs every day since, you know, 2000, bro. You know what I mean? I never stopped recording. Like one thing I did, I never stopped recording like, no matter how many years I didn't put out no album, I went to the studio definitely every day, though. Man. So you can only imagine how much music I have. Last night, I performed at the spot. I seen the DFW pop ups. I did all new music. I did all new music. You did. I did a lot of acapella shit. And he left. I said, okay, you know what I'm saying? I didn't know he was going to be doing all that. I just showed up. But the question that she asked her, what's next for me? You know, I got a TV show that I'm executive producing and starring in. It's called Dead Serious. It's a zombie show. The show about zombies, like zombies that are self-aware. Self-aware zombies. They know they're dead. They talk shit. Slick talk itself as a zombie. So it's like a, you know, walking dead meets, zombie land meets, shine of the dead type shit. It's a horror comedy TV show, you know what I'm saying? Pitching it to like Showtime, HBO, shit like that. So, you know, I'm working on that right now. I'm really excited about that. We just shot the pilot for that. And that's me being on that 50 shit. You know what I'm saying? Shout out to 50 man, because I respect them so much. Like being on that BMF set, it just motivated me. Like I'm like, yo, this nigga running this whole shit. Or they could write my character off any day. You know what I'm saying? That's true. Thank God he not. Stop playing, man. Yo, 50 won't do that, cause sake that nigga, you know what I'm saying? But like, you know, but it just gave me that sense. Like, yo, even him, when he do his, when he do Kane, he write himself in a little bit, but he the EP, you know what I'm saying? So it just gave me that drive. Like, yo, I'm going to take this little thing and give me and I'm going to, I'm going to take this fish. They give me, how can I just create a whole, a whole my own empire, my own universe? You know what I'm saying? That power is a universe. He got power, he got this. So I'm just watching the blueprint. You know, I'm learning like everybody else, but I'm watching my nigga and I'm just like, yo, I want that. Man. So I need to know your top three artists of all time. All time. Dead or alive. Any genre. Number one. I would say 50, Pop, 50, Pop, and Ice Cube. That was quick. That was quick. He was quick with it. I know. You did Ice Cube because Ice Cube got the film in the television. He dope too. 50 got the film in the television. Yeah. And Pop had the film in the television. I stayed the best, bro. You did your thing on that pick. Quick, too. He quick with it. I always want Ice T. Like, I like people like that, LL. People that just do what I do. They took over the TV and the music. You know what I'm saying? If you could go back and talk to the younger you, man, and you went back and you had a conversation with yourself and you could give yourself some advice. What would it be? If I can go back to the younger me. I'm talking about 16. If I can go back to the younger me and give myself the advice, I would say, stay focused. Stay focused. You know what I'm saying? Stay focused. I'm more focused than ever now. Stay focused. Easy as a young artist to get unfocused, bro. You got the women. You got the money. You got the drugs. You got the crew. Stay focused, you know what I'm saying? And go for it. And stay focused and go for it. Like, that's one of the main things. I feel like artists, we end up in jail. We end up there. We end up, you know what I'm saying? Just stay focused, like, stay in that studio. Stay in that studio, stay, you know, stay focused. I got to ask you about young Dolph, but I want to do it in a way to where it really ain't about him indirectly, really. Just the way you move as an artist now. Now, for the program. Yeah, because of the way you see it. Not just him, but it's a cloud of smoke over all the, a lot of artists is dying. Whether it be gun violence or however it may happen. How does that affect you mentally for a CNN? And how does it affect the way you move? Definitely just make you think for the future, man. You know what I'm saying? I own my masters now. That's dope. I'm working on re-recording my first album over so I can remaster it and own those masters to my first album so the fans can start going to buy that. Just really thinking about owning my masters. Changing my everyday habits. You know what I'm saying? Like changing your everyday habits, you know? The things we used to love to do. Unfortunately, we're in a position now to where, you know, we're on TV, it's things going. People hate you for no reason. So you got to change your mood. You got to change your daily habits. You know what I'm saying? If I used to go to the same gym every day, I'd start changing. I'd go to another gym. I might draw 30 minutes out of the way to go to a gym now. Just to change the habit. You know what I'm saying? Like when I'm leaving the club, I'm watching, you know, of course, bought more pistols. You know what I'm saying? Like, I ain't going to catch what you bought more pistols. You know what I'm saying? But then, you know, just change your habits because you had a thing on you and still get it. Oh, you can still get it? You can still get it. You know what I'm saying? Change your habits. And like I said, man, standing at a studio, artists just get restless sometimes. You know what I'm saying? We want to just go out and I got to do something. Man, chill your ass at home, nigga. That's it. That's it. No, I'm so, I'm so busy, bro. I ain't got, like, I've been in the streets for the last 15 years. The reason why I'm here right now is because I've been in the streets. Even though I wasn't on TV, I stayed active. Like I was out here in the streets. I'm in the clubs. I'm in nigga's face. Like that's why I'm here now. Now it's like to a point where I'm just like, yo, get out the streets, stay at the studio. I try to stay so big. I'm on a set, I'm in the studio. Try to stay out the streets, bro, because ain't nothing in the streets. Man. You want to get back, bro, and you want to be all in the streets. I'm giving back. But it's like, stay out of the street, dawg. Man, it'd be right at your doorstep. You know, usually happen in your own city. Do you agree with the fact that it's tough to stay in your own city? I think I asked the Reds to show on that dinner. I mean. Should you move out of your city when you get to blowing and going or should you stay in your city? Man. What should you do? I mean, you know what? I'm from Atlanta, I still live in Atlanta, but I moved out of Atlanta. Okay. If you think about it, it might be true. Like, I was born and raised in Atlanta, but I lived in Cali for eight years. I lived in Miami for five years. So that helps. I did move around. So I gave my city time to miss me. That's it. Niggas, they know my moves every day. You know what I'm saying? So I might agree on that. Oh. I might agree on that, like, you know. Yeah, some boosies say, he say that. That's why I hear that coming from, like. Yeah. You know, it's like, well, Jesus, a prophet's not without honoring his own country. Like, you just, you're going to get that hate. People that you went to school with. You go to other cities. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're bigger than what you love. They're going to love you. You know what I mean? Like Atlanta, everybody used to seeing people. So. For sure. You know, you'll never get the money in Atlanta that you'll get in Alabama or you'll get in because we so used to seeing people. It's like, you know, we see future in the club all the time. Like in the club all the time. So, you know, but when you go to them different cities, they go crazy. You know what I'm saying? For sure. They go crazy because they're not used to it. Yeah. So, um, so. So, man, um, you got a deal from what? No, sir, that's it. Man, hey, man, look here, man. I didn't enjoy this. You done made my day, man. Thank you, bro. Man, you know, I'm getting old. I need all this. You know what I'm saying? Hey, we need it. I'm saying, man, look, when you in town or if I'm in ATL or if I'm in Cali, wherever I'm at, then we decide, hey, man, we're going to leak, we're going to leak. So, man, thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you for having me. This is like boss talk for real. Hey. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, Liz, I ain't been on Boss Talk 101, y'all. We having a good time. No, man. Check it, man. Appreciate y'all having me, too. Say, man, how can people get a hold of you? Which do we know? Social media, man, Lil Zane's world. You know what I'm saying? Facebook, Lil Zane, Twitter, Lil Zane, you know. Social media, Lil Zane's world, man. Look me up. Check it, man. Yeah. Hey, man, we love you, man. Thank you. Thank you. Boss Talk 101. And we have. Boss Talk.