 Black episode 25 black at it again. You feel me like we never left. You feel me two days in a row today That's that's black history. Yeah, this is also some history. I think this is the first time we had just patroned and not Some form of Hennessy or Hennessy and Patron put together, you know, I would have got the Trying to stay away from sugar to stay away from sugar. So I've been doing really good my meal preps Trying to stay on that it gets hating but you know, I ain't hatein bruh the world be hating Episode 25 Bro, that's crazy, bro. Like I really never thought we would do 25 episodes of hell black podcast I never thought people would actually just want with us listen us to a fuck talk We I know we say that right and people don't take it that serious like nigga Even now to this day. I was talking to Kate my home girl. I might have said that on the episode yesterday. Did I? Yeah, but like on the podcast I have a sort of disconnect to this shit as a means to keep me humble So and I think I've always had that intention from the beginning is not to get too caught up in this podcast life type shit So if somebody would have asked us if we was gonna be doing You know 25 episodes in I wouldn't have believed it but yeah, I cast like bro. What is it? What is a podcast like we podcasters? Like I know some lit-ass niggas from podcast you be telling me about all the niggas will be making hella money for this shit Yeah, you'll get niggas be lit. That's true. We might we might be on our way there to the most far-grows sponsorships By you know, Jay-Z rock. We might just be a few podcasts away from that sponsorship But here we are this is a this is also a dump episode 25 because we got somebody here with us who I've been trying to get on the podcast Forever now and now this niggas here and it's the first place we recorded like this is where hella black originated, bruh Oh Shit, that's crazy. So yeah, we got my nigga Raj and here I say something for the people What's up, man? I appreciate y'all having me a hella black. Let's get it We got for those that don't know for those that don't know Raj It's probably the second greatest person to graduate from bullet middle school behind myself Probably the second greatest person to graduate from Berkeley High School behind myself talking has already started It's not shit talking. I'm admiring him. I'm also building myself up My mind, you know, I'm admiring him by building myself up But also this is nuts. I've known Raj since I was 11 years old And if you if I would have thought okay Fucking what's that? 15 years later, I would be in this nigga studio recording a podcast when I probably didn't know the studio was at that time Or the podcast shit is lit bruh Raj. How you doing? I'm good, man. I'm happy to be on your shit is seeing y'all grow and shit has been crazy I forgot that y'all did the first episode over here, but I do kind of remember that that's wild So it's dope seeing y'all flourish. I was selling rollows on my boy the other day How he hella randomly brought up y'all podcasts and I talk about podcasts He's like you listen to hella black So that's hella clean bro y'all doing your shit right now You know, we got a good episode in store today, you feel me You know what I'm gonna say if you were listening like us on Soundcloud subscribe on iTunes give us a five star review If ain't five stars don't give us a review at all. You don't like what we saying, you know We ain't forcing you to listen, but it's hella black use a hashtag. Hella black podcast We got a good episode store. So we go to press to prescribe to the Patriot Yeah, we in here sipping on Patron. You feel me so subscribe to our patreon I think I want to make you know how there's different levels on the patreon I think the next one is gonna be like $40 and like you could sponsor a bottle of Patron for the episode I think that's the next my folks tap in. Hello. If you white any listening to shit pay up Don't listen to black shit for free. Don't be taking this black game You know these black experiences is just soaking it all up and you probably using it for your DEI Workshops at work and shit probably using them You know to implement little strategies and shit at your nonprofit or whatever, you know Putting little quotes on your board if you a white teacher or some shit site us and pay us right now Patreon.com such hell by pot rise. Do you want to use this as opportunity? I don't know. Do you want to pub your podcast? I think you should My shit ain't not Yeah, but say to him when it do drop I got a podcast coming out I don't know when it's dropping, but we figured it out. You feel me? That's a little bit of pub You know just be aware it's coming soon Also, you can tell for those that don't know Raj is Rex life Raj The dopest nigga your favorite rappers favorite rapper. That's that's the fact if you look at do you know Do you what's that like though like when niggas say? You feel me like your favorite rapper favorite rapper like it ain't they're like kind of like well, whatever nigga We're that bag it Feel like that. That's why I'm like fuck fuck respect. We're the bag How do you feel about what a nigga call cuz I know niggas I know cuz I've said it about you before like oh, this my favorite artist This I know you hear that you know how to sneak in the bag over and over again. I know you hear that I know you see it, right? I Think it's cool. It's tight. I'm with you I'm about the bag for show but it's dope. It's humbling though to see people really fuck with me Especially like when I be sitting here really trying to like hone in on my own kind of sound You know I'm saying and not always trusting in myself and then putting it out and people fuck with it Receptive of it. It's a good feeling. So I appreciate all the love. But yeah, I'm with the bag shit too. I need that Facts fast We all three guys something here in common, you know, I think me me and B was talking about this besides It's all being black you two niggas being big and black The other thing we all have in comments We were all division one college athletes and Raj has sent me some shit Well, he was on a podcast with his podcast He was talking about like that this his experience as an athlete and I'm like That's something I would definitely like to cover if We ever get a chance to get him on our shit and it's wild because although we were like I feel like we all have some Like similar experiences, but also hella different, right? Yeah, especially in this moment right now where you have Athletes, you know, like Kaepernick Was a great tool, you know jobless Yeah, me like where black athletes are starting to speak up and I think the topic of black athletes being exploited Is really coming to the forefront like it's never been before, you know I mean people always been talking about it But I think now it's important to like actually listen to people's experiences You feel me of being a black student athlete in you know, it's a multi-billion dollar industry college football Right the experience of a black student athlete as well, especially like I went to the University of Idaho Raj went to Boise State, which are both in Idaho both super fucking white But I was like out of losing ass program So I think my shit was even worse like when you getting your ass beat and getting extorted. It's like a double fuck Like I think like when you had a school like Boise State was winning like when you had a school like Boise like Bama type shit like when y'all getting you know, I mean just the system of college football is an exploitative system Bro, like right like niggas not getting paid and Rod You would know better as to far as like you went to a big program a big It was well What's it getting bigger like when you when you first got there was it big or it got bigger as you were there? I Think they were always kind of good I think the year before I got there maybe two years before is when they won that first festival when they did the trick play So that's when like shit was getting really big. I think the year before I got there is when coach Pete Took over and he first started coaching But yeah, it got bigger, you know every year now I go back and the city is so big They don't even look the same shit. It's different the stadiums bigger. You know, they built different facilities even like when I was flying in Last time I went I flew in and I was looking down because I thought the plan was about to land and I was like, damn I don't remember all this being here, but they're just building outward, you know Like places like meridian and eagle and all these other places is huge rescue. It's way It's really big. So it's pretty much like as a football team has Gone better and better and more and produce more and more the economy in the city is also gone bigger Yeah, yeah, that's why it it's like when you out there and he could speak to it too when you in small town I'm pretty sure like any state not just Idaho That school is the everything. It's no professional football teams out there You feel me boysy state in the vandals damn there was the professional teams out there That's why the rivalry was so big. That's why it was sell out all the time Like that's really like it's a real college town everywhere is boysy orange and blue everywhere you go So, yeah It's nuts. It's nuts to me to think at because if you look at it I think the football programs of every school most of them are like the highest accumulating sport At the college right like football for some schools paid the scholarships for other sports like sports for like field hockey I think we talked about that before on the podcast on an expectation of black athletes, right? But you got to think about it Roger's out of school where niggas was winning Bowl after Bowl winning 11 games winning 10 games Contracts you had niggas who was still starving on the squad we had It was It was interesting. I feel like At boysy at least they treated us pretty well as niggas wasn't really in need for nothing But I'm speaking for myself to also being a guy who had a scholarship It was for sure walk-ons and stuff and and I feel like they had a hard time You know I'm saying like if the fast food or fast So however you say it wasn't kicking in like it was supposed to or they didn't have parents or somebody Who could provide for them because even though I had a scholarship But it was still times for show where I had to hit moms or I had to hit pops like I need some cheese because it was like And it was always a thing for me Like I never knew at other colleges what they made because I feel like other colleges It was niggas like I heard people was getting 15 1600 a month where like what our scholarly checks We could pay the rent give food maybe have a little bit You know to fuck around but we didn't really had that much, but I heard other schools was like, you know I don't know but from my experience. We was pretty solid. I Know most scholarships are like determined by like the amount of the scholarship is determined off cost of living Right so like in Idaho in Moscow our cost of living was hella low I think my scholarly check was 720 a month, but niggas rent was like 350 would build so like I think for bills and everything I probably had like four hundred dollars went to shit, right? But I was getting a seven hundred twenty dollar check So asking a nigga live off like three hundred dollars for an entire month is sick And even if I could make it stretch It's like why are we making a stretch when the coaches and shit and the deans and everybody else is living good That was my whole thing like of course There are situations I fight the niggas I watched in state which was nothing but five minutes away I never heard those niggas complaining, but just because they wasn't complaining doesn't mean I'm niggas wasn't getting exploited Right, but that's that's that's where I look at it especially for us Like most of us come in from like fucking poor families and shit like I couldn't Sometimes I can hear miles for sometimes niggas. She was hitting me like he was sending someone like for the most part Like when I used to get at the beginning at the beginning your first scholarship checks Like that one the fall the first scholarship check in the fall is the fattest because you get faffs or two So you gonna get your fucking Pell Grant and then you gonna get yours cuz you gonna get your two fucking scholarship Chests cuz in fall camp you don't get your check in August You don't get a check so you gonna get those two checks back to back You don't get the August check in the September check plus your your Pell Grant shit So you're gonna be fat nigga Almost for sure sending cheese home off them first ones right right But I'm thinking like to wear in the summer that fucking summer when I had to do an early summer school session And I didn't know I couldn't even get a job because I was taking so many classes nigga I couldn't even and I was still training right the football was a full-time job. Yeah, I Shouldn't that like my coach won't got two jobs, right? And I'm putting in just as much hours as that nigga ain't going to school Right, so I'm thinking about how that first summer session, but I remember like being dirt poor and my coach was like, uh Fill me just we got protein shakes and protein bars in the in the fucking in the pantry You know in the way room my nigga you not eating fucking three peanut butter and jelly sandwiches a day to survive Why do I got to eat that shit? That would be my whole thing is like I Feel like college app not feel like I know for a fact college athletes are not seeing any quality in the game and of course Even on a pro level right, but when the the checks is like millions in the pros It's like it makes its word are you here people all the time say oh you should just be grateful type shit Right because all you are making millions of dollars What is a million to the nigga that's making billions who ain't doing nearly as much as I'm doing or putting a body on the line Right ain't gonna have CTE Right like Jerry Jones like Jerry Jones. I got probably better brain health than all his players in the nigga 50 years older than everybody facts Should be sick, bro, but it's all just about exploitation like it's a whole nother industry You feel me that is making billions and billions of dollars and the players aren't seeing that You know, so it's like even though you're getting a small check it ain't nothing compared to what your coaches is making You know, so it's like I see it as a whole nother form of slavery my opinion I mean you hear that comparison all the time just as far as like Niggas putting their bodies on the line for very little to no wages and niggas couldn't even play football until like the 50s I believe like USC was one of the first integrated football teams for real they beat Bama the coach at Alabama was hella happy that they got beat So they can start having a lot of players between that where did Jim Brown go for college? I think Syracuse was it Jim Brown or who was who was the nigga before no Ernie Banks. Mm-hmm That is name. You know, they make that movie Bob, bro. Is it the train or whatever? You know what I'm talking about. What's the nigga named the running back? Is it Ernie Banks? Nah, look at what Bro, you don't remember that movie bro the train or whatever I don't Y'all y'all got to be serious y'all can't be serious But basically like Alabama, you know, it was white only and then they got beat by USC Which had an integrated team, you know, so then the coaches like all right for show Now we can get some black players and after that like after they've been having black players album has been the most successful football team You know making billions of dollars By the way, y'all don't remember Ernie Davis that movie they made a bottle. He was like one of the first black football players You just said Earl Thomas that niggas still plays That niggas still plays but Ernie Davis was one of the first niggas Okay, yes, that's all nigga, but even then he played in the 80s Oh Ernie Davis was like one of the niggas. I think one of the first niggas like kind of integrate college football But yeah, bro, it's it's wild and then I had a conversation with one of my homeboys. I was We played high school together and then we went to college like in the same area and he was just talking We had like talked about how all we knew was football, right? Like yeah, that's just not I think that nigga plays as he was like seven So from seven years old and he was also raw So from seven years out of you just raw raw raw every league you to every every year The best parallel team you get to you on like a pencil vision one You just all you know is all you associate your life with is football, right? You begin to associate like yourself worth with it, too. Yeah, the worst part is when that shit is over, bro Like I remember I did a feature on Raj and we talked about like that transition to fucking Like being a living eating sleeping and breathing football and then literally like after like one moment That shit is over like imagine your last game as a senior Maybe you do pro day then the drafts come you don't get that call Fucking the free agent period comes. You don't get the call It's like damn this shit is over and like everything that you've ever known is just done And I see so many for like most college athletes for when that happens, bro You're definitely sliding. I know I was depressed. Can y'all say the same? Yeah 100% I was like that too when I first got out and especially like and it's not even just so much It's football for sure, but it's also a lot of the camaraderie in shit that comes with it because she's like for me I Was with like a group of dudes that I was with every single day stayed in a house with five or six dudes And I saw them every single day and it's like you come home and when I came home Everybody was gone. It was still at college or niggas was traveling or have moved So when I got home from college, I went through a year So where I had never felt more alone in my life, you know, I'm saying like everybody was gone And it's a it's a transition period that I know a lot of my homies went through I've talked to a lot of other people about it. We're just like You don't really mentally prepare yourself for it They kind of try to prepare you for it They did at Boise a little bit, but it wasn't like I don't think it was as big as it needed to be like yo Real life is about to hit for real like football and it should be something like they tell you early like they say it like Oh, not too many people gonna make it to the league will be like I get that That's a fact, but like what are we doing to prepare to prepare niggas for that like really so yes, it's a thing for show Yeah, I can remember like at the beginning of every fall camp like some like Like maybe the Dean of students will come in and like it's a new Recruiting class or whatever it's a bunch of transfers and everybody's in the room Whatever first day of fall camp who wants to go to NFL raise your hand About like everybody raised their hand right and she's like Probably two y'all in here will actually make a team and ask them telling us like that's why we need to take grade series Like even you ain't trying to hear that though Yeah, you know I'm trying to hear that but like all of us graduated from college niggas took took grade serious That didn't stop us from having that down that that that feeling of like loneliness and despair and feeling lost like what are what in your mind be like What are some things we can do to prepare? College athletes for life after college sports, especially like when you do, you know You do everything right you graduate you play hard all this shit I don't know if that's right But like you know you do everything they tell you do like most times they like really preach that No getting your degree shit, but even in you know, I had a degree and I was still a little lost I think College sports D1 sports by general they're not you're an athlete like they're not looking at you as a student in my opinion You're not doing things to build you as a student I don't when I came in at Cal like first day they give you a list of classes to take Like they have classes already like selected out, you know, I don't think they do that no more I know like stand for God in trouble for doing something like that, but I think it's really Developing students you feel me or like athletes student athletes from day one like you're more than an athlete You know Michael Brown says like I'm more than an athlete, right? He has so many different avenues now, but a lot of people don't aren't thinking like that you feel me They just think straighter like art football football basketball basketball whatever sport you're playing. That's all you're thinking about You're so caught up in it, you know I'm saying but for me It's like you got to have people you gotta have Like support staff that's encouraging people like I get an internship this summer, you know I'm saying And I agree with that a hundred percent I think that that's really the head coach's responsibility to me that personally that's what separates a good coach from a great coach to me And we talked about this on my podcast which are well. No one is coming out, but it's like Some coaches are more than just football coaches their life coaches, you know, I'm saying they're teaching discipline or teaching sacrifice They're teaching you how to basically be a better person to integrate into society and be productive Luckily, I think I had one of those coaches in coach Pete, you know, I'm saying but I talked to a lot of the homies And they didn't have that like it was more ran. It was like it was ran like a football program Like you said, it's less about being a student more about football, but I think that's on the coaches to be like, yo We have to build these Build these kids and make them men not just make them great football players And I think if like colleges incentivize that in the contracts that coaches sign as well It's like alright if you don't go You know to the NFL if you have like a 80% rate of code of your players getting full-time jobs Within a few months like you get an incentive just like you get an incentive for winning You should have an incentive for you know, your players graduating your players getting full-time jobs, you know, but I think Yeah, that's like a big thing. I feel like but I think overall it's just like Exploitation to some coaches. You're just a number, you know, it's like some of these coaches don't even know their names of all the players That's unless you're good. Yeah, that's the definition of like Exploitation is like using a person or thing for For only you're a game right like what are college athletes? Like what good is the degree if you don't know how to use it? Like if you have no guidance of like, you know, like no one's told me like so like I'm right I majored in journalism and Communication so I knew you know, and that's also from having like I was lucky enough to have a mom that went To college and have like, you know Had always been into writing and shit, so I kind of I'm like an anomaly though So I knew if okay leading work out I'm gonna go home and I'm more than likely gonna try to get a job as a writer I know how hard it would be to be a writer I'm like, okay I know like what I'm gonna do if this shit don't work out and that's not the case for most people So you have these young kids no matter what the sport is whether it's fucking I don't want to say women like women's field hockey because that sport in college is probably dominated by women By white women, right? So we know that they get an internship since you know that they get impressed You know for life after sports for the most part you look at sports like hoop track and football where these are mostly black athletes who's Helping who's like who's really helping guide them for life after sports. No one bro. Like you talked about internships Really like that's a privilege in itself to be able to work to be able to pay You know like like what the fuck does a black student athlete? Who's all barely like what incentives do they have to work it to work a motherfucking internship as opposed to a job in the field They probably ain't even gonna do like I don't think it's who was working on like grocery store clerks Who is doing security and shit in the summer? No, I'm saying why we had I had one of my white teammates Who's like parents own some like some type of business? I don't know what the fuck they did They were super rich though because it's like grandparents or boosters for our teams and like he was doing an internship in the field Like he was doing a real internship like a Accounting firm or some shit and what he got done with football the next semester that nigga had a job up there Like a high paying job. He had been interned for like four years at that motherfucker But like where are black students supposed to intern and he's predominantly white? Institutions like we're like I don't know where I would intern that at fucking the universe the universe in Moscow And I know I mean I'm speaking from my perspective going to Berkeley You know I'm saying is like you have this tech industry out here. You have San Francisco You have hell of a job so it's like a lot of like my students over the summer You know I work in there now like they're doing all these internships like Tech internships paid you feel me students going to work at like golden Goldman Sachs and shit like that while offices getting paid But as an athlete, you don't have the time to do that, you know I'm saying so it's like especially if you're Athlete you're gonna flourish so you're supposed to you know You can't get a job at Facebook as a you know I'm saying like as a student athlete You know while you're in college like that's impossible You know, but you have a lot of these students now in college doing that And I think that's asking a lot after the student athletes but to excel in the classroom on the field on the field of court And then to have another to have a job or like that's just asking a lot, bro. Yeah, I think for me I was lucky because I had two two shoulder surgeries and a knee surgery So I being injured I was held with a press breath like that was like my self-worth was playing you feel me and then being injured having surgery Playing for a couple weeks to have another injury having surgery again It actually like it was for me was like a blessing in disguise because I was forced to think bigger than rugby Think like this you had to actually deal with it in real time. Okay. I can't play rugby right now What am I gonna do to keep my you feel me my mental sanity? You know, so I was like doing rehab and I got a job in the summer working at a law office And I was also working in the city bouncing, you know So like that for me was like a blessing in disguise. I didn't see it then but now I'm like all right I'm a lot more prepared than like a lot of people I play with I work on looking where I'm at now And it's because I had to face that like adversity when I was 1820, you know, I'm saying but Overall, it's like these programs are based off of making money, you know It's like multi-billion-dollar industry like the NCAA is a 10.8 billion dollar Contract for CBS or for like the TV and shit just from Marge Madness and the players is getting zero $1300 After they had he was a playing guard for like the championship team of Yukon like six seven years ago And after the post game they had just won the national championship and it was like, how does it feel? He was like shit. It's a lot better if my lights wasn't off at home Niggas got a piece up on an E and J bottle after the fucking championship like Niggas won the natty niggas won the natty this nigga like I mean I would be juice But like I'm going back to Connecticut with my lights off. That's so burnt Yeah, man, we got I want better for student athletes, especially the black ones Shit is foul. Hell of foul. Hella black. So it was still not the way listening to this, you know, like Don't just be like, all right. You know what I mean? It's about all right Yeah, these niggas saying what they're saying, but I'm still just gonna go to the week You know, like I was one of the Ross niggas in my district in my city on my team nigga Trust me, I know and I know a bunch of niggas who are way rarer than me nigga who are at home You got you got to have a plan B And I think it's often I think when I was when I was playing I was afraid that if I did think about other things It would distract me from my goal or something But you can work hard and flourish while also Thinking at least starting to think about other things. I think that's fair So how was it for you graduating? College not going to the league and then getting into this like professional quote unquote professional life and journalism Man, I know nigga the first I knew I wasn't going to the league after I did the CFL trial in Seattle At that point I had like a shitty like my mind was just my mind was just out of it I'm okay. Yeah, like nigga. This don't even feel the same like something just emmy was like, yeah, nigga This shit ain't this ain't it pimp. Um, so I just kind of do it. What's it happening the war? and then the draft came And you know them first within those first couple hours, you know, if you about to get signed it's a free agency, right? And I was over going to the CFL tryouts CF. Oh, you want to talk about exploitation? Yo, I'm pretty sure I've never been to a CFL tryout And nigga them shit's cost a hundred dollars And it'd be like it'd be like a hundred niggas there. It's hella hard to get raps. They don't to get reps They're only like two hours Nigga I did one of those I'm like, okay, I can't I don't even have an opportunity to showcase my talent Like I'm not doing these anymore. So yeah, that's just but that's just playing that's just uh Me speaking on when I kind of knew it was over like oh after experiences like that, but I would say from june 2015 I graduated may 2015 june 2015 to about nigga July 2016 that was like I had so many breakdowns during that 13 months Like I'm so when I'm talking like actual like breakdowns like moments where I would just like be in my shower like boo-hooing, bro Like feeling so worthless, bro like Oh my god, it was sick, bro. I had no sense of identity I had nothing that I was known for and then you come home and niggas like Oh, just go play for the Raiders Like yeah, I'm supposed to just walk on That and that's the biggest thing that a lot of niggas don't touch on like when you come home For whatever reason you don't go to the next level if you didn't want to or you just didn't make it You gotta hear whatever you come home and people act like it was just the easiest Why you didn't go to the league? I thought you was in the league and everybody's asking you that And it's like, bro, if I could go to the league I probably wouldn't went to the league, bro If it was that easy, I would be there right now But yeah, that's a that's a big thing because you're constantly reminded of it when you go out you can't shake it Yeah That shit fucking sucked, bro Oh, that was like nigga, I'm living in the neighborhoods that I grew up in So I'm like seeing niggas that I've known since I was a kid You know, everyone when you get that scholarly everyone knows Everyone knows you get that you sign D1 in the town. You're automatically a Like niggas think you're on league like niggas automatically associate you with at the time It was like Sean and Josh was the only niggas in the league you from Sam and Marshawn Lynch and And uh Josh Johnson were like the only niggas in the league I think from the town at that time and then we had like other niggas, um Deshaun Gomes he played for the skins Who else from the town Was in the league? That might have been like the only three niggas from Oakland. I want to say Rassan Vaughan, he was in the league for a little bit It was like when you know, like when you were Football is like a fraternity like when niggas is from the Bay Area going to the league You kind of just know, um Humpty was in the league at the time And like I was working out with them niggas and shit when I was coming home for for spring break and winter break and shit So you got like all the niggas who are already in the league like oh nigga, you're a boy Like you're gonna be straight type shit. So, you know not making it and coming home That shit was rough, bro It was rough as fucking like like rods was saying like that's one of the hardest parts is running into people People asking you what's up, you know at the time the Raiders and the Niners were both ass So niggas just like oh you can go play for the Niners niggas Just play for the Raiders niggas not knowing like, okay, I can't just walk into the facility like and sign up I'm just walking from car to see him real quick at the Berkeley fucking Cougars Cougars up serious. So I'm like that that shit sucked and then like I said, I had always Knew about journalism and shit and I was at the time, you know that that year that I just stated I was riding a lot, but nigga. I was making like 75 dollars of stories Like 75. I'm talking about nigga. It was like times I was like and then you we're going through a process right now where a story that was written on us Has been getting worked for like two or three months niggas So imagine writing some shit and just having hella stories like in limbo And not knowing like literally like that's how I eat. You feel what I'm saying? So it was it was really days where like I wasn't eating, bro I'm like walking from Berkeley to North Oakland to my granny house to get some food You feel what I'm saying like that's the only I'm telling you it was sick for me, bro. It was it was hard Um but I don't know somehow I persevere I like to I think that time period was such a traumatic time in my life that I like Pushed it into my subconscious because like I'm trying to like bring up. I'm trying to remember Parts of those that year or whatever. I cannot remember Anything from I just remember like some of the feelings that I felt but I can't remember like the fucking events that took place That made me feel so low, but I can remember breaking down. I can remember feeling really lost. Yeah about you For me was because it was my it was my senior year. It was my last semester And um, this is also the time of like mike brown I went mike brown was murder and Ferguson So for me, I started to speak up about social justice things that was going on in the community And uh, like I was always doing a lot of work like with like, you know, student athletes giving back like I was You know, they did like a little future story of me doing, you know Like community service work in west Oakland at the boys and girls club As soon as I started speaking out about oppression of black people michael brown and shit I had the athletic director call me like what are you doing protesting? type shit You feel me? It's like we shut down like one of the biggest like campus eateries I'm on campus. You feel me and I'm like the next, you know, that's same night they calling This isn't athletic directors calling like what are you doing? So for me? I'm like, all right These motherfuckers not fucking with me. I'm on rock. I'm playing rugby too So it's like for those I think we talked about this before I don't know if niggas don't know but cal's rugby team is Hella fucking wrong like the niggas have one hella national championship and shit, right? Yeah I'm one of two black people on the team at that time as well too. So it's like My team isn't really feeling what I'm feeling like I'm protesting. I'm being involved with like the black student union I have the athletic department on my self. So I'm like, fuck this shit. I'm done So I quit but it was a sport that I loved Also in the sense you were damn near pushed out at the same time. Yeah, like isolated No, and you know people wasn't fucking with it, you know So like feeling pushed out and shit. So for me it was just like this is a sport that I loved and then having to like Quit just because I knew that wasn't fucking with me type shit I'm like, if you're gonna use my image on this community service, but you didn't get a stand behind me when I'm like speaking my truth Look at Cal, then they go on the Walter Payton Man of the Year award For the same thing he's being black ball from the league for you know what I'm saying? It's like niggas love selling this Niggas love a revolutionary till it's time to love a revolutionary But for me it was like I I feel like a identity crisis Because all I knew was the athlete, bro Like that's all I knew about myself and you went to some storied ass programs, bro Yeah, they were south football and then Cal rugby and like I was playing for the usa team when I was 18 and rugby like I was like, oh if you keep doing this, you know, you're gonna play You know being the Olympics all this shit coaches telling me this shit You know I'm saying and then to have all that should end and just on the way it did is like, bro I'm done because I know y'all not fucking with me type shit You know I'm saying So that was definitely tough just like and then graduating And then knocking the job like going through job searches and shit, bro I'm like literally not getting jobs, bro I mean, yeah me and you were definitely at the same We were both at a very low point at the same time and I was like You could think of a nigga like rods who got into Being an independent artist nigga. I know that shit had to be you went from Being that a story program like Boise to being an independent artist in a in a market like the Bay Area where we're constantly known from musicians getting The shitting of the stick. What was that like like trying to transition from A division a tackle at a division one program going to fucking bcs bowl games and shit to come home trying to pursue a career As a fucking independent artist in a market that Never gets any love Um for me It was interesting because I was a guy like when I went to Boise I played but I never I I never had goals to go into the NFL I knew better. That's not what I wanted to do. I knew in my heart was always music even me So in the dorm room, I was a nigga with the mic set up when I when I got to the house I had the mic in my closet But she used to come over and rap and all the shit niggas on the team would come over and rap like when we did the little Talent shows and shit. I'll be up there rapping like everybody knew like even we had like after we won One of the fiesta balls They had like a little rally and I wrapped at the rally like so I was always that guy pushing that wine So for me like coming out of college Luckily, and that's why like my experience is kind of different because luckily my passion wasn't the sport Like I like the sport I knew what it was in terms of it being like a great opportunity for me to go Get this experience with this great team get my college degree and Do it more so for me when I did it was more so for my parents than it was for me I didn't really give a fuck about going to college But I knew my dad did and my mom did But for me transitioning out into making music Like I just knew that's what I was going to do Anyway, so my mind was kind of already set on that I never planned on getting a job like I was like, I'm not going to work Even me if anything I worked to help my parents because they got their own business So like still to this day I helped them when they need to be helped But like coming out of college I always knew like I was going to be doing music That's a fucking blessing That has to be a blessing, but I think um That nigga Ryan had went through something similar. I talked to him about that shit all the time Especially that when I was trying to figure find my way as a writer and shit, but he was telling me I remember that nigga He had like chose to go I think it was like go to some like writing clinic Don't quote me on this it was like an option between like going to do some writing shit or going to like fucking Like a tryout for somebody and he was like, no, I'm fucking with this film shit So like that I like I admire nigga I envy niggas who like knew what they was doing while they were fucking in the midst of the college football Shit, that's such a fucking blessing bro. I recognize it like that's rare You know, it's an anomaly. Yeah, like we're not the norm nigga Like nine most niggas don't know anything else but ball, bro And I look at for me I don't stay in contact with too too many of my teammates from college Definitely high school and some juco niggas with the d1. I don't really talk to me niggas from my from my university But um, I can see niggas is out there Struggling especially my niggas from from the south bro. Oh my god them niggas man Niggas it's it's wild, bro so I definitely do want to see some systems in place to Set athletes up for success with life after college and after fucking After after sports just you know Cause so many like some of most of the regular students they are working internships They are really getting to to develop themselves outside of they sport They're getting to find other passions. They're getting to trial and error from 18 to fucking 25, you know We spend five years 23 years old just finishing college. You have no work experience 20 niggas was 23 at the niggas. I be trying to tell niggas. I ain't had my first job till I was 23 Because don't be believe me and even then I was a fucking after school program supervisor making $10 an hour working three hours a day My niggas in the bank niggas sound crazy. They gotta fucking post the vibe off 36 dollars a day. Yeah, man. That's shit I'm dinner niggas getting uh PTSD flashbacks from this shit. They're gonna wake up at the coast. So I think I'm not gonna be a fucking Moscow Bro, I was working fucking four jobs after I graduated, bro Like four different part-time jobs just trying to make that shit shake Just to fucking pay rent out here, bro one year. I was a PE teacher A camera man and working at a tech company. I remember he's working for a cal sports Bay Area cal high all that all that all that one time I was working nigga. What's that man? I don't even want to say. I don't know if it's gonna be problematic or not But I didn't you know Definitely not saying it. Yeah, man. Shout out to all them student athletes man. Shout out to govandals I hope the niggas get scraped this weekend I hate it my coach. I'll be so envious arrives This nigga like he never has anything bad to say about boys. I'm like nigga. I wish bro Like I wish nigga Like I wish I had that experience at school, bro Like he never has I'm like and I but I know niggas like that I know niggas who don't have anything bad to say about the college program I'm like see you went to a real program and you didn't just play for a school Like you obviously your coaching staff and the culture of that team Was bigger than just you know winning games sports. Yeah, it was bigger So I'll always envy niggas like that. Yeah, but like looking at Berkeley like Berkeley such a Renowned institution before out of 10 black athletes was fucking graduating black athletes Yeah, so like what do we in the the the makeup is for sure like probably 80 percent of the student athletes at Berkeley or black I would say something that's because if you think about the track team the football team the basketball team Then you got a few people on soccer Yeah To one rugby 40 percent is graduate 40 percent of your 80 percent is graduate I would love to see the statistics on like At like PWIs how much of the student athletes in in its entirety are made up of black students Yeah And of course you have like of like the major sports. Don't try to sprinkle in with fucking Field hockey and shit sports that we ain't playing right like the major sports And I'm sure you make up at least at definitely 80 percent Right, but the fact that like millions and millions of dollars are being made for these institutions And then the graduation rates are so slow They're so bad like people ain't graduating like that's an issue in itself It's like at least if you go and do it and they're making money off you you should be graduating, you know I'm saying And I feel what you're saying too and I agree with your point of it needing to be incentivized because the whole thing is It's like coaches focus more on winning than graduating because winning is what keeps their job and gets them paid Like it's like if they were to focus on graduating 100 percent of their kids They might graduate 100 percent of their kids, but they'll get fired You can't graduate 100 percent of your kids and lose 100 percent of your games Then what you feel me because then that goes back to the whole argument of or the whole point of like It's only here to boost the economy for real. That's what it does It brings money to the city and only the wins are bringing money to the city So it's like it's a balance that head coaches have to find and how do you graduate versus how do you win? All right, so it's like it's a system issue It's about it's about the game. It's about winning. It's system. You feel me? So Hello black episode 25, you know, we definitely um Let me and Blake were like trying to come up with an outline for this yesterday um One thing that crossed our mind when thinking about shit that we could talk to raj about was definitely like black Prenorship and it's wild because essentially like that's kind of what we're doing with the podcast rather. We're trying to monetize our creativity um and then also with The breakfast program we just got that LL we just like started LLC like we would make an LLC. We are LLC now people's break people's programs Uh, we're LLC now. I'm like trying to navigate that. It was why I remember Blake was like Trying to do all the paperwork for the LLC like doing hella research on google and shit. Uh, so yeah, it's uh, if you could I don't even know exactly You would want to say about Black entrepreneurship, but it's definitely like something that comes up a lot in your music raj And it's and I know you talked about it a little bit earlier when you talked about your parents like having a business and shit But if there's just I'm like, how would how have you found how like how have you How is the experience being for you trying to navigate? This white capitalistic society as a black entrepreneur and someone that owns a black business Do you have anything to add to that be or is that straight? All right It's been a process for sure. But like you said, I had a little bit of Knowledge coming in because my parents owned a business. So Um, I kind of got to see how they really, you know Random business did invoice his paperwork and counting all that kind of stuff But it's like you get to a point where for me it was like when it got to the LLC I was just like, what is that? You know, I'm saying like it was complete I was completely blindsided about why I even needed it. What is it? What does it do like how to keep it up and still to this day? It's a continuous learning process. Like I feel like I'm always googling shit looking up different paperwork and all that kind of stuff. It's a process for sure, but luckily You know niggas got google niggas got youtube where if you really want to figure it out You can figure it out. That's what I'll be telling all the young niggas is like, bro If you want it that bad at this point, you can figure it out on the internet You for me, you don't have to wait around for nobody to help you or hold your hand or nothing It's ways for you to figure shit out if you if you got the time and the dedication to sit down and really figure it out You can figure it out. It's gonna be rough, but you for me the shit that's worth it is always rough So you feel me just figure it out What was your inspiration? I know you talk about your parents being business owners Like I know you your dad was in the party too. Has that inspired you about like, you know Just being a young black entrepreneur 100% like coming up my pops is His the main thing he would always say it was like It's better to own your own because then nobody could take it from you, you know He was always in the Owning everything, you know, so it's kind of been instilled in me to own shit like even when I deal with You know different women or girlfriends or whatever. It's like I'm trying to tell them like are you working? But how can you turn this into work for yourself? Even with the homies I'll be trying to tell them that because it's like With black people period in any field It's always a middleman Before you touch the real back you from you always have to go through something to touch the back, you know, whether it be like With my sports my niggas who play sports is an agent with with rappers It's a manager with niggas who work is it's your manager or your boss or something But it's always somebody with a bigger check than you the only way to get there It's a own your own shit and figure out how to do it yourself And I feel like that's why you have to respect the shit like title You got to respect the shit like revolt even if you don't agree with them as man or whatever It's like yo, it's black on shit at the end of the day and it's trying it It's just even nipsey shit. It's trying to set a precedent like yo brah put it in your own hands and do it yourself And as much as I fucking hate capitalism um, and I understand like so for me I where I be having problems or something like that is like people equate like ownership to freedom Right like in a in a white capitalist society that can never happen. Right. If you just buy black all of a sudden You know police killings are gonna stop But I would you know like that's where I have a problem people like say she like that, right? But I would rather keep my money coming into me and my niggas did to some white folks Like period point blank like although I don't believe the capitalistic society will free us. I would rather support Black people excuse me the white people any day And it's like it's impossible to be in a sea of capitalism and not get your feet wet Like niggas try to act like they fucking super. Well, you know, I'm saying Unless you walk around this motherfucker butt-naked and poor In homes like you cannot escape capitalism, bro You cannot like we talk about this all the time right like there's no ethical consumption under capitalism Like there it's impossible to live in a capitalistic society and not participating it unless you're just and you'll die You will die not participating in the capitalistic society Even you get even you look at the breakfast program even the people we feed is from capitalism like that's People who fund in our shit is making their money from capitalism the clothes that we give them our result of sweatshops and shit across the country Right. I'm saying across the nation. So it's like literally there's no way To escape this capitalistic society. Um But if we're gonna be here making money we might as well make our own anything that's Taking white folks out of the equation. I'm with it. Yeah 100 percent That speaks to why we made people's programs. You feel me in the LLC and not a nonprofit Because the LLC it's like we own everything when you own everything you can send you can say whatever you want A lot of times when you have a nonprofit You get these grants from these white foundations like the ford foundation or these big these big foundations that control what you say They definitely not gonna be funded this shit we be saying on here So it's like if we saying fuck capitalism fuck white supremacy fuck all you know, I'm saying free palestine You know I'm saying we're saying shit like that Money's gonna disappear from the foundation. So like we made an LLC So for one we don't get you know, we're getting donations in right We don't want to you know the IRS coming for for us, you know, I'm saying like running from the past, you know, so like Having that LLC allows us to say what we want and we are the owners of it, right instead of a 501c3 It's like you're constantly relying on white people to fund you You know Even with the podcast like we found a way to monetize the podcast Even then I'm pretty sure a lot of our money is coming from white people You can't escape them digging that sort of yeah, but it's like it's we're still getting our money We still say what are the fuck we want to say we're not worried about no sponsor You know like if we had let's say well as Fargo Let's say well as Fargo was a sponsor held by podcast You know, they listened to a few of our podcasts like oh y'all talking about this anti-capitalist shit We we take your sponsorship away the prison system like that's what you make all our money yet, right? fuck these niggas So it's wild trying to navigate Like a white supremacist society while trying to be like unapologetically black Is that shit as wild as fuck? And I yeah like we were talking about code switching yesterday and I'm a nigga who like I I didn't like I'm I'm very familiar with code switching and I didn't thought I did it until yesterday and even like the way I did it yesterday was It wasn't a way it was like I wasn't like I was policing the way I speak In efforts to not You know, I wouldn't I'm not gonna say not a fin, but definitely not to scare My colleagues Just because like if I talk to one of my if I if I address white supremacist, we were doing a white supremacy um workshop Am I at my job? And if I was to talk about the way I feel about white supremacy to my colleagues the way that I'll talk to The way I'll talk about it. It's like roge or blake They're gonna be spooked Period, bro, right? You They love listening to it, but you breathe that shit to the workplace. That's a whole another That's all that like, you know, I'm saying I there are some they definitely are so we got some white fans On hella black for sure that fuck with the revolutionary politics that we have, but I didn't believe like I didn't realize that was fucking code switching, bro Like I any police and policing your emotions and police in the way that you speak is code switching I thought always recognize code switching is like, oh changing my tone, which is a result of yeah, I didn't really like See how all those things were interconnected. I'm trying to stop saying fucking um What's the word that everybody loves to use these days? That when they can just say interconnected Intersectionality intersectionality. Yeah, I'm not even trying to roast me because I was using that word wrong for a long time too Like intersectionality is not a word that you can just use when you're trying to connect things Yeah, like interconnect. It's a it's a word Different intersectionality strictly for the struggle nigger not like we just can't be like Like, you know, it's like a strictly for the struggle and you know addressing from what what I was explained It was like it's a way to address the ways in which you're many for your many ways of oppression and marginalization and you know, you know Are connected not just for like you can't just be using it to connect things like oh, you know, like You know my fucking I learned that my different forms of code switching just intersect Like I guess you can't just be saying that. Yeah, I think that's why it's important to have like Entrepreneurship coming from us and ownership because then you don't have to code switch Yeah, if I was if you if you have all money in you control and everything you don't have to do that. You feel me But we're at the point where it's like you trying to survive on the capitalism. You need your job You got to know how to code switch as a black person. You feel me. It's like I had to talk to a white person At my job. I was like I haven't had to do that for a minute So I'm like I have to explain Black issues to a white person in a way that they'll in a way that they'll understand. I'm like, bro Why am I talking like this? I was mad at myself for talking how I was talking like speaking a little proper and shit Like I should feel awkward as fuck So, I don't know. I feel like our guests are going to be hot when we put Rex light rise in the in the Description and we haven't really centered him but also We we just I don't want to hear you and Dolensi talk again. I'm trying to hear this nigga rise We were we were talking Yeah, we try to like keep it authentic and shit But one of the things we were all kind of talking about before we got live here was um the idea of like Basic universal income and I don't know that much about it. I've seen like articles on it and from my understanding it's just like A way to come I want to say come back because the shit that's going on with AI Um artificial intelligence is planned. It's like intentional, right, but it's a way to I guess fucking Make the transition to AI easier on the people that are going to lose all their jobs What's your thoughts on the rush? Yeah I'm with rulla. I don't know too much about it but I fuck with the idea of if you're going to take jobs from people you need to find a way to get in money Period, you know, I'm saying at least find a way for them to live comfortably if you take their job You feel me? I don't know the I'm I can't go in depth about different theories about it But to me it makes sense because like how you going to displace that many people and then what you feel me What do you expect them to do you feel me especially if it's no other job markets For them to get into with technology increasing and artificial intelligence spreading to other places Like what do you expect people to do? They got they have to live somehow, you know, so Yeah, I definitely think about that a lot especially with the work that we do with the breakfast program It's like there's billions and billions of dollars in the bay area billions and billions of dollars in oakland You think like port of oakland is like one of the biggest ports. You feel me silicon valley all this technology But you have people living in the streets Yeah, you have hella empty houses in alameda county enough to house every every person living on the streets You know, so I was like from y'all think about basic income is like, yeah If you're on the streets like why aren't we giving people 3,000 $2,000 stipends, you know guaranteed housing, you know, I'm sending them like a job training program Isn't that what like MLK was fighting for like in his like the The last few years of his life. I've heard shit like that. I don't let me see. What's the fault? It's what we got I heard like that's like some shit that MLK was fighting I mean he got popped because he was essentially being anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist Right meaning like he was wasn't fucking what capitalism It wasn't fucking with the military, you know, it became critical of vietnam, you know, and then like all right, we can't You know, and then him and Malcolm started to become More aligned in their politics, right Malcolm, you know Traveled and you know branched off from the nation of Islam. I was like, you know, we need unity But we also talking self-defense and king was like, bro. I think I've integrated my people into a burning house Shit in 2018. I think the house is burning Donald trump, you know all these Rise of quote-unquote racism. I mean, I think it's always been happening But now everybody got a smartphone. So I was like, all right, I'm gonna record your ass, you know So you have permanent patty and all the shit that's been happening But now you have a cell phone and it's And social media is really kind of highlighting a lot of it, you know, yeah and um In king's last book, where do we go from here chaos or community? He addressed Guarantee income which is universal income what we call in universal income now. Yeah, so it's That's just Is that a result of like would that be tied into socialism? Yeah, that's that's that's some socialist shit. Hey like and I think Yeah, it's wow, I think they're doing it in Stockton that black man. They got yeah It's like they're like a lot of people you've seen a lot of conservatives pissed off about like them having basic income in Stockton I think that's fucking common sense They're like, that's we just give people what they need This is the thing right with the with the with the competitive society like America like people think that Equity will replace competition, right? Like you're like so like even with football when I think about like equity, right? Like if I'm better than this nigga, he should not be able to play just because it's We're trying to be fair, right? So it's like but he's um The equity the thing is like he's good enough to get a scholarship, right? Like all human beings are worthy of living and having their basic needs met But you think about like, you know, there are some things where I do think yes Like if I practice a skill More if I if I put more time in learning something more than you because you choose not to Right, like your basic needs are taken care of but you're choosing not to do something else And I choose to go above and beyond and it then I should have some type of um reward for it, I guess is what I'm saying. Well, most people they fear that like Basic income is going to take away that fucking or like equity will remove I guess that this idea of hard work Yeah, or like this idea of like if I do something more than you are better than you for that You know, I don't get a reward for that Yeah, I'm nothing every Every human being is deserving of housing Like every human being is deserving of fucking water So if I run faster you or jump higher than you or like I can cold fashion you I can right fast you that determines that you I deserve a house when we don't seek Right, even if you get the bay area like how she's segregated like west oakland and shit You feel me like all the smog and environmental racism You feel me like from the freeway in the bay bridge being right there and who who was who has to deal with that You know, like why people have asthma and shit like that You feel me like it's a product of segregation and racism. Yeah, but equity You know I'm saying but I think everybody deserves it everybody deserves a house spray Food because these are natural resources That have been commodified like why the fuck like water is like the fucking biggest Resource on this fucking planet So you pay for fucking wall. Well, is that only with Justin Timberlake when niggas was paying for like life like actual time What Timeless or some shit It was some shit where they just like like some matrix type shit where Niggas essentially could buy more time and if yo shit ran out you died Oh, is it with that pill or some shit in time? Yeah, that shit was nuts I can't believe I watched the Justin Timberlake movie The fuck was I think I think he had cornrows Oh, we ran nigga JT had cornrows He was rolled up Braids and shit And some bees at the end Hella black man kicking it It's kind of off topic, but you know what started this whole we was talking about six nine earlier How crazy shit is you know what started all this shit niggas don't want to talk about it Riff Raff Riff Raff was the first nigga doing all that nutty shit We should make this the extended part so yeah go on and let them know this is the extended part So you now tuned into the extended extended episode We're gonna talk about that crazy shit