 Wow, what's up everybody once again is brand man Sean and today I got a really special interview for you guys from a man named Tuko now Tuko has been an artist and he's seen all of the ups and downs I'm talking about some creative ways to prevent promoters to start reaching out to you They have promoters and big artists reaching out to them to open up shows and then having big names attached to them Getting signed releasing the first project the story goes on But then also there's a lot of downs when it comes to hard lessons that him and his group had to learn and even coming To a point where a lot of artists get to when they reach a certain level and realize is this something that I really want And I left it in the full-length interview instead of chopping it up because I believe it's best for you to see the whole Story to really understand the lessons in the gyms in this interview And there's a lot of them because he went from being an artist to also helping other artists out and having a multi-media Company that's working with artists that are working with people and writing for people like Chris Brown Todd Dalla sign you name it now for now for the do I want to go ahead and get y'all to this value So let's get it What's up to go? What's going on brand man? Yo, I'm super excited to be on the channel first and foremost That's because I saw you grow this channel and it's been an awesome thing to kind of see so I'm glad you're back Yeah, man, I appreciate that so for those of you guys who don't know before I get into the story He is over music ID TV. I know you guys have heard me shout that channel out here or there Well, some of you have but let's go go way back To go I know you're a singer, right? Right. Yeah, so you toured with some pretty interesting people You've been in a group all these things How did you Get into music in the first place from when we talk about the serious point Not when you start to dream about it and I wanted to be on my grind when you got When you went on tour, how did that process start that work out? Well, I would have to start a little bit before then I kind of grew up in the music industry My sister was signed to Snoop Dogg back in like 1999. So since then I got it I got a chance to really see somebody have it a dream and that it actually come to life You could come to fruition. So I kind of watched it first hand to see my sister writing songs in a room So by being on rap city and being on MTV, you know what I mean? So yeah in 99s when she signed a Snoop Dogg and ever since then I kind of really witnessed that and I wanted to do music Probably like when I was nine. So Wait, wait, wait. So who's your who's your sister is that a name? We can look up Okay, you guys can look it up. It's a cognac from doggy's angels. They released that please believe it album in 2000 on TBT records Around it was but I think they might have been distributed through somebody's TVT, but um, yeah, so that's Believe it album cognac from doggy's angels. He had the feather Coney was it the fair falsetto the click they were like, okay When I was 15 I saw that but a little bit before then My niece and I actually had started writing songs and then my mom always took it seriously I was been in her entertainment. They've always given like shows around the city and stuff like that So we were interested in music. She kind of really jumped on board. So she started taking us to studio sessions After that, I found a couple of people who end up being like my cousin and my godbrother Who wanted to do music as well. So we all this time to do music together Uh, it was kind of like a broad band. We started producing ourselves. We started writing everything ourselves We learned how to record everything ourselves. We learned how to mix we learned how to do everything because nobody would teach us nothing All right, um know that story Yeah, you know what I mean, so Long behold it ended up being about three of us in the end, which was my godbrother and my cousin I do music together And we was really ambitious. So we started to place Black history month like festivals and like Show that we could find in the local areas. Um, and this was in the inland empire in california So if anything, we could find local areas We started printing up flyers passing out flyers talking to promoters anything that we could really pretty much do We had got a custom of recording already. So at that time we had to put like several albums in our minds But we had one project we were really really proud of and uh one day I randomly hit up Raphael Siddiqui on my space of all things and for For some of you may not know we is um producer Grammy award-winning producer like has had a career over 30 years um Geary got to release a new project. I've heard some stuff. That's pretty awesome. But beyond that just somebody you should I should definitely look up. So I've always admired him. He's huge For those who don't know Yes, huge. R&B primarily Yeah, like the godfather of neil so some people call so always a huge fan. So I just decided to Reach out not to ask for anything But literally to say I'm a huge fan. We'd love to work with you You know at this time it's us three. We're already doing shows. We have our little project We got a couple songs on my space we got photos All this shit, you know that means that we're trying to get it popping um And he just responds with his phone number and says give me a call All right, hold up. Hold up. Hold up. You said I would like to work with you. Well, you know admire you blah blah blah. I would like to work with you one day it stopped there or Actually said we got this band and gave them that information They stopped there. I said I would like to work with you. We would like to work with you someday in the future huge fans That was it. Okay. I live I want to stop there just for one second because Like hearing how it played out or having an idea how it played out for you One thing that I know is when you reach out to certain people You don't have to push and beg a lot of people you listen to your music if they're going to Or just check you out if you've been doing what you were supposed to be doing Like it's already going to be there on your social profile and they can go check it out for you for themselves and people are more inclined to Like listen to your stuff and maybe do something for you if they check go check it out and they say all this person's dope They'll either keep tabs on you or try to do something with you Person if you just ask them and now they're like I get asked all the time Like but if you have your shit together and you've been doing it and it's already there You put yourself in a way better position Just had to make that note but uh continue Yes, definitely put yourself in a better position. So there was no ass there He took it upon himself to listen to the music um Gave me his phone number. I freaked out I didn't think it was him. I think it was real. I called my you know my mom like, uh, Rafael's thinking he's getting his phone number. Uh, I called my band man It's like hey Rafael's thinking he's getting his phone number. My mom's like problem I'm like really? You know, I'm kind of dripping out because it just it just seems so it seems like somebody so unreachable To just give you their Cell phone number, you know, I mean like not like to my people like you call. I answer and what's up, you know I'm riding my skateboard right now. What's going on? You know, and that's how the conversation started and I had the funny thing is I had Verizon wireless and it was terrible by my house. And so all my calls would drop All the time 8% of my calls would drop and I'm talking to Rafael Siddique and I'm praying that my calls do not drop He do not have to take another call nothing. So as I'm talking to him, um He's like letting me know that he really likes our music Um, you know, what are we involved in what are we doing? He's just really curious about what's going on And um, he said You know, I'm not signing anybody at the moment But you know, I would love to kind of help you guys do whatever you're trying to do And that's kind of where it ended and and then um And then it was like you guys can come out of the studio one day or whatnot And then I couldn't get back in touch with him for about a week, right? So I'm like shit. Ah shit. It's gone. He's he's Opportunity gone, right? Um But then we did a performance one day and I hit him up and he finally hit us back And we set up a meeting date We met with him And he let us know actually that tigra moses was the one who really told him to follow back up with us Because he went back and listened to the music and let her hear it and she was like You should really you know follow up with these these kids at the time Uh, so that was just an awesome fact and I actually thanked her Um later on years later because I didn't get a chance to meet her around on times Um, so that time we met raffia. We played him her album And he turns around to us and says I want to sign y'all Which was Kind of blew my mind because he said he wasn't signing anybody So I had no expectations of nothing literally nothing Step away No expectations of anything Yeah, you know None at all. Um, so Of course, we kind of freaked out geek out or whatever and so that was a process that took about Several months, but at that time, um, he was gearing up to release a new album And he decided to let us open up for a couple of shows for him locally So we got a chance to do like, uh, the house of blues and San Diego and house of blues and la Um, we went up to san francisco and did the field morning san francisco. Okay, so Like you're you're touring with him and did you just tour with him or How did it work? Did he said get in the studio now or start working on a project or was it just touring and was it touring with basically only him? Well, see see mind you we had already been like we had home still we had been recording. That's all we ever did So he before we started touring with him He was opened up the studio to us in which we were reluctant to use because we got accustomed to our I mean, it sounds crazy. Say your relation to you is right. Yeah, it's the studio But we were so used to what we did, you know I'm saying so we had a lot of music already and um When he decided to take us on tour. It was just us and him. He took us as his opening act Okay on his run. So he took us as opening act there and then um He said if you guys this I mean when you're independent, this is something that that people should pay attention to Okay, so when we signed we didn't necessarily get Money per se or a lot of money at the time um And can you say how much? I don't even remember to be honest because we had two options. He went to sign us as writers and he went to sign as artists Okay, yeah, I get it. Um, there was an advance in place for the writers I don't think there was an advance in place for the artist At the time where were you where we were? I mean, we were pretty much nowhere, you know what I mean? um, he just saw potential with us so uh That that kind of took a while and then we We went when we did the film or in San Francisco He decided to take us to the east coast that you guys can fund yourself on the east coast That's why I brought that part up. He said if y'all can fund because I can't necessarily afford that right now based off of I guess He taught us a lot about touring And overhead Okay, so just what exactly did you learn about touring? That the overhead for artists to go on tour can almost max out what your profits can be um depending on what you he takes a full fledged band on tour like he's not taking the dj and You know a track or nothing like that. It's a full fledged band. So those are expensive tours to really do You know, you got to put everybody up You got to get everybody their outfits. You got to make sure everybody eat You got to you know travel with everybody. So it's a lot to accommodate That would have been pretty tough on the books to have us be part of that accommodation So luckily like I said earlier you and my mom had already hopped on Supporting us. He was part of the management team at the time, you know Um, and she's been in business for over 30 years. So she had A successful business and when she was helping us a bit not towards she can just you know, hey 50k 100k there you go. But yeah here $200 y'all need that for the show. Okay $500 you need that. All right, you know, so she helps us get to the east coast You got a chance to tour with him on the east coast and this is probably in 2009 Um mind you we met him in 2008. So a year later when we finally went on tour with them Um, we did the east coast west coast then when we came back we couldn't get a show Why not? Because we hadn't built enough of a buzz locally We had the opportunity based off of who we met when we met them right and they were going on tour But even just that notion was enough for us to just get in anybody's Things so we've literally hidden up we get back and we're like, okay. We gotta find it. Yeah, this is good They so you know you got out there You have this big name and now you're like, oh we in front of all these people We're gonna be a little following just out of association And you get that call and realize I can't even get a show where I'm from Right by yourself. So We all we are able um to ever overcome that. Huh like what did y'all do? Definitely did we started hitting up Um venues and promoters online. Yeah, they're going to websites hitting them up like, you know, we like played like played them We finally got a show. Um No, being a carmel she is actually the daughter of slide from sliding family stones Which we kind of found out later But she gave us our first show because this place is a little temple and we played that place like almost every week So I don't know how Okay, so We almost have residency like you were like a house game a house band. They're almost you weren't really Bringing in a fan base. Y'all just say we're gonna build a fan base by being in a spot We kind of we kind of did that. Yeah, we kind of did that But we were very energetic on stage like we had a Really good stage performance I would say that because we were able to attract people even without a following at the time And people saw our performance. They would want us to perform So that's how we began to build our name. We began to build names through like promoters So then we started to that started to involve into more shows And then we started to be able to do the rock scene and then we were able to do the VIP room And then we were getting requests from the VIP room. We did the back room like almost six Six times in a row six weeks in a row. You know what I mean? So the biggest audience that y'all are in at the time You said the biggest audience we got the biggest audience y'all y'all are in the biggest Um audience y'all brought out as you said you elevated these areas um, you know, it was difficult to keep track of the way we were doing it Because we were always trying to put ourselves in front of another audience In a sense so We Our draw wasn't part of our focus. Which is which isn't a good thing Honestly, you live and you learn because it wasn't part of our focus So we didn't have an idea of what our draw was. We knew we got up to probably A hundred plus two hundred and maybe you know what I mean? We could pull that Later on We figure that later. I like oh, okay, but you were in a bigger venue then You might have had some people coming for you But you were also a part of other shows right other people were there Yeah, so the way they were doing out here was they always tried to it was kind of like the pay-for-play Model, we did one pay-for-play gig and we never did it again Um towards they wanted to get a number of acts. So it's always a number of blind ups It's always a number of independent acts that they have it'll be a band I'll be a rapper it'll be a this sometimes it's a comedian sometimes It's just a couple of performances So we were just Taking everything because one thing that Raphael told us he said take every show you can go He said take everything that you can get because You're learning And you're going to get better. So when you're ready for that big show You'll be ready for a lot of times people get a big show and they're not ready for it. Right. So you got that pregnancy So two questions and one From your perspective you said y'all did pay-for-play, but y'all never did it again. Why didn't y'all do Pay-for-play after y'all did it the first time Well, first of all it was a terrible experience um Just the way the venue operated just within itself. It was like it was a terrible association the pay-for-play was just um You go of course you buy you pay like 200 bucks or something like that 300 400 you get some tickets You're trying to sell those tickets. We were able to sell in a number of tickets. Whatever you don't sell You got to pay back. We had to pay back a little bit Um And then go work for me basically y'all were the marketing team. Yeah, I know that mile and that's what we learned We we learned that it was a whole new um industry promoter so mind you like This is probably around 2009 maybe My sister got signed in 2000 Right 1999 release your project in 2000. So as I'm learning the business I'm learning references for like reference points from the industry that had completely changed So when I hear my sister talking about a promoter who actually goes out and promotes the show Yeah, exactly get people in there that was obsolete in 2010 and 2009. It was literally Get these acts to try and pull people in and have them go promote You know what I mean? So I had two different reference points So we're learning a new a new industry at the time. So that was part of us doing the pay-for-play Play got you. Um You know and then after that not only did we realize that it wasn't a great idea We also realized that we didn't have to anymore You know after a while we were being requested to Got it for shows. This is a great point right here because There's multiple routes and multiple models and I know I've done videos. No, I might not have done a video I'll probably send an email newsletter out talking about how there are artists who get shows that have Very small followings and especially on social media. You might not even see they might even have a social media page Uh to be honest, you but these days they might have one But there's different ways to go about business and one of the ways is Like what tucco and his band did and what was the name of the band the boogie the boogie Was it to go in the boogie or just the boogie it was the boogie The boogie what they did was there is a model and I'm known people to build a relationship with a promoter And go from the standpoint of it might be a promoter who has many venues and they have like this entire vertical A small venue the big venue or it's just different levels and many different venues and they'll say hey We let us perform in your smallest venue and then they perform in that smallest venue and they try to pack it out They might try to market for themselves bring people to come in Now they can pack out this venue. They show the promoter that we can pack this out and they keep leveling up until Because now to promoter trust them they say hey you can pack this out Then I'll give you a shot at this next one and you continue to do that Then you actually continue to level up and give bigger venues if you're also being requested That's also well other promoters hear about it. They might start making those requests now with that being said depending on your city um, like you know, The boston's the new york's the lana's those are getting a little bit more tied up by a lot of the venues are starting to be owned by A live nation stuff like that these days. I'm not sure if it's like that out in that lake. Um, oh, yeah, okay Yes, it'll be a little bit rougher. You got to you really have to find those promoters But if you do those ones who aren't tied up by those type of contracts they and they have their own Like uh boutique venues It'll be easier because they're looking for work in a different way these days since live nation is coming with that heavy competition um Had to definitely make that note because it's something clear that you guys definitely did and I know I never talked about it on the channel before But what are you guys so now? Y'all before me y'all are built y'all y'all's following um to an extent y'all built y'all's following or credibility with the promoters So y'all are getting requested for shows. You don't have to look for shows anymore But we got signed so did y'all get a project that had to be released. Did the project ever come out? What was that? We did release a project. We had a um product called love the boogie still this shit that we released through bellman records Which was Raphael's late wife time. Okay? um, we released the project because Mind you really I felt like we were young and you know naive in some ways and we saw a certain way to do um where I saw my sister get a record deal before releasing music She did a compilation back in the day, but she had a record deal before releasing it. It wasn't that to the streets And then bill like that. It was like it signed You know what I mean? So we were trying to get signed at the time, you know So we hadn't even released the music that we felt with our best music And funny thing Raphael actually said to us one day. He said Where's this stuff at? I think it's down on him to ask like where's the stuff up? He's like it's not out. It was like wait y'all are performing something or not out We were performing something that wasn't out and then that's when we had more of the conversation like, okay Let's release this project, you know, we were really I mean mind you when I hit him up. It wasn't an ass. I wasn't asked for anything So it was no expectation So we got enthralled into a lot of things that were new territory that we were learning Yeah And the industry had changed so we did release the bell Level we still the shit on bummer records and then we did a couple videos for some of those um But I would definitely say a couple of things that I really learned from Being signed to artists with the name and Not having a name was it wasn't until we started to build on our own whether we were even able to leverage his name You know what I mean so It's like impressions that people I feel kind of had to have at the time so maybe if your Friend saw us somewhere and made a mention or said, oh, I know they are that those references start to have to occur before we can Be like, okay. You're rafiel. We're signing rafiel's label or you know, he might come out to the show or We can put him on the fly like rafiel said he presents the boogie and cement is whatever so whenever we did a Maybe an event ourselves Then he was like, yeah, you guys can kind of use my name, but Well, he didn't let he said don't use my name. No, he said you can't he said you can use my name When I'm saying at first did he say don't use my name until y'all start to build the name or he doesn't use it right out the gate No, we just understood how we can maybe leverage that a little bit better You know, and we had the conversation You know, and then he's like, yeah, you can go ahead and do that Um, but we weren't getting any room. Nobody was doing anything for us because we were signed Yeah, it happened after people liked to what we were doing And they liked the music and they liked performance and they liked and you guys are signing rafiel's It wasn't nothing you're signing rafiel's to be. Okay. Come on. Let's go. Wasn't any of that. You know, so later on we started to do like, um It was the ucla jazz fest which rafiel performed. I think nausea performed It was a huge huge line of quadrant like so we were on filled with like A lot of known acts, you know what I mean? So we're getting that and then below had Uh requested us to perform with him when he had options. He chose us out of his choices Nika costa requested us to perform with their after a while. So we started to get You know a bigger name for ourselves after that, but one thing was definitely we had to work Before the association even matter Right. Yeah, because for one people here I mean they meet people all the time that are related to someone in some form of fashion And then on top of that like you said your music's not good and we don't like like you yourself Just is what it is. This is why a lot of artists There are a lot of artists out there who are signed to some kind of name And oh, yeah, you just think oh, what's long it's gonna blow up. No, not necessarily Like what happened to them? I'm not gonna name any Ha ha groups or anything like that since this is a recording, you know, I'm saying but um What um, okay That gives me a good idea and I think that's pretty helpful when we talk when an artist watch this as far as your story But what about the contest because I know you said you guys were about to be on Rolling Stones cover Give me a little bit insight into that story. What that whirlwind process was like, you know, just you can summarize it real quick um So this is the thing about just kind of working and not being conscious so We had a little behind sight. We did a show at the House of Blues Whatever it has like smaller part of the house blue. So we used to perform there pretty often too. We played everywhere in LA Just play. That's what I think And then we got an inquiry one time Specifically asking us from a random Random email specifically asking us who what time we were going on You know, this came to management and so management found a little like odd and like What time are they going up, you know to the management email? It's not like a It's not like somebody texting you. It's just right. Okay. Let me take a look at this. Um Whoever that was apparently showed up We don't even know and then uh One day randomly we got an email from Rolling Stone magazine. This is like so we're working. We're playing shows We're doing bigger shows. You know lies requesting us and we're doing shows in Nica Costa. We're doing shows Just all just all over the place. We're All over the place So we get an email from Rolling Stone magazine It was very vague, you know, and my mom at the time was probably the management team was just like What if they want you to be okay? Like that's that's ridiculous. It's craziness Like we are anybody to be on the cover She just randomly said and then we did a conference call with them and they were doing this competition in which They were selecting 16 acts from across the country. This is Rolling Stone magazines. I didn't even sound real, right? So I think 16 acts from across the country and um We're one of them Oh We're like, how did you hear of us? We we we still don't really know how they heard of us. Um, I think one person said that they heard, uh A compilation that we was a part of called the Red Hot and Rio. It's a compilation that they've they've done. It's a couple of them They've done a couple of them and two songs been big out there. It's like vex been on there John Legend was on the same compilation So I think one reference was there and then we potentially think it was the person who inquired about When time we went on because after we were in the competition They sent another email kind of alluding to having some involvement But I think that somebody who was at Atlantic Records Who was doing the competition with Rolling Stone? Got it. Okay. So with this competition they chose 16 people you win the opportunity to You know win a record deal with Atlantic Records and be on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine After that they chopped it down to eight um And the eight were chosen forward chosen from fans and the four were chosen from Rolling Stone staff. We were part of the four chosen from the Rolling Stone staff, you know um, so when you're chosen as a top eight they fly you to new york you get to perform for executives at Rolling Stone magazine and executives at atlantic we were Got to do an interview with uh, Torrey um So we went to different events out there and we toured the Rolling Stone magazine Facilities did a whole photo shoot for Rolling Stone magazine like Garnier Fructi sponsored it So we got a whole bunch of shit from them and then um So We did um So after that we did that whole ordeal and then Now it's just about the fans. So now we're like having to hit the streets crazy trying to build up this like Fanfare in a sense because we had an interesting journey towards we were People within entertainment have always been a fan of what we did. So we were able I was able to leverage that You know, um our focus hadn't been Fanfare because we didn't understand There's things to understand about fans in a fan base and the target demographic That artists aren't aren't always in tune with sometimes you innately get it But if you don't know it, you don't know it. Um, and we were very experimental at the time So we didn't know exactly where our fan base was we were kind of looking for them to find us Because our music was weird and different and shit, you know what I mean? Um So then we had to go back to LA and then try and get a lot of people to vote for us at that time But they ended up, you know releasing Magazine issues with the contestants of it. So we got a chance to be in Rolling Stone I think like three issues, um that here This means I mean Any form of that and then three of them it's like crazy um, but a band from canada Supposed to be all across the country actually won the competition when you have a whole country behind you It's kind of easy to Man, you know, I mean we're trying to get regions and I got a whole country I remember So I remember You mentioned some stuff. I mean if you care to talk about it like When when you were about to win that competition I remember you say you were kind of having some doubt of you whether you even wanted to win the competition right, so As we've been doing this interview I Kind of shed light on our missteps on our not knowing things and are not understanding things and a lot of artists Don't understand a lot of stuff. Right in mind you I got and I skipped of this part But after 15 my dad said you have to go to college, which I didn't want to I want to do music But say you're going so I went to college and got my degree in music business Okay, I remember degree in music business and still was ignorant to so many things that I had to understand. Yeah um And my sister was in like Right, this is so many things you don't know I Especially what I what I find a lot of music business schools man. It just seems like a lot of them focused very much so on Just business more so as if you worked at a record label, you know, or you were in a Situation but none of them really hone in on how you build something That's wound up and that's the most important part because You lose sight and you see what's already been built You're looking at artists who bid built and trying to do what they've done and you don't know how it was built No, you know, and so we didn't even are you not trying to do what they've done. You're trying to do what they're doing Not really how they got there Exactly, you know, and I feel like 90% of artists who fall subject to that and you know, we were much of an exception So when we were in the competition It was a lot of work actually because we had to try and promote more than we've ever promoted ever I mean, this is a chance to be on brother store magazine like running the ground running um but I knew that we had a lot of things that we weren't prepared This is based off of you Having to be a human as a person Deal all that's going to come with what we're doing We I'm just shedding light on some of the missteps that we had along the way But we had started doing music when we were 17 and 15 at this time. We're probably in our early 20s and We had to grow up doing this as humans and people and get past our issues and our You know missteps and that's trying to figure out who we are as human beings So you got those issues already internally swirling As as much as we're family and we still our family is still like this, but we are no longer group at the same time You know what I mean? um But in that instance, I had really realized that okay This could be really dope to be on rolling stone magazine. It's Get signed with atlantic records even though I knew that Deal was a shitty deal because they generally are we have to sign the deal before we even Got in the competition. That was part of it American Idol or something like that. Yeah, American Idol either Exactly. So we Letting records. I never was the deal But It seemed like everything I I would have wanted and I didn't want it Partly okay because It doesn't shake how hard I worked for it. I just knew we weren't ready And if we were to get it The way the things were at the time I felt like I would have had so much pressure And it would have a lot of pressure would have falled on me You were like the leader of the group You could kind of say that I would never say that back then but I understand that I was the initiator I was the let's do this. I was this is the name. I was yeah, let's get the you know I'm saying let's get in studio. I'm like we could do this y'all would that you know I'm saying so when you end up and you end up pushing like that and you get this huge or deal that's thrown over you It's something you got to really consider So you're not carrying the weight of just your burdens. You're carrying the weight of two other people's burdens with you and you're also having to navigate something that could be just Unpredictable the thing is you want music you want these dreams You want these goals and you get close enough to and then you start to see what it's really like And you had to see how you exist How you how you currently exist in that situation? It may not be a healthy thing And we know that's a huge thing You know, so you have to take that in so when I was taking those and I was just like wow we have You know this opportunity, but We're not ready for this. Yep. Hey. Well, all right. I gotta start real quick Because that's that having that level of self-awareness to be able to project and say this is what it's going to take And this is what it's like and be able to say I'm not ready for this. We're not ready for this It's it's smart. It's going to be helpful anywhere in business life in general Especially in this business especially in this business But because you said Like you you spoke with so much passion and I get what what you meant by what it's seeing what it's really like But can you go into more detail of what you were thinking and seeing it was more? It was like because I know some of these people who watch might start to think Some of that more mystical like, you know, create all these oh That kind of stuff and I know that's not what you're talking about. So go ahead and Talk about when you when you go on youtube and Literally write music industry and all that pops up is like Yeah, like Isn't it has nothing that's so crazy I knew I know where some people could think Thank you for that. Um It had nothing to do with that it had to you one thing That you have to understand is that you can't do it alone and when you're doing it you meet a lot of people on your journey And the way I am as a person is that I'm going to try and make sure that you're involved with with me. It's not a waste of your time You know what I'm saying? So You have all these individuals who you're ideally trying desperately not to let down You know, so you put the pressures of the manager and you put in the pressures of, you know, Raphael's dick you put in the pressure of everybody even rolled In like this idea even the group members on you put the pressures of you know, all these different elements That it takes so any misstep Is it let down because you got to realize that people were selling people putting their name In association with you know what I'm saying if there's something they say you need to get behind this sector I'm associated with the sector. I'm out here rooting for you. Your fuckup is everybody's fuckup You know and we had certain fuckups You know that we had to get past And I just felt like we weren't at a place towards um We were past our fuckups, you know, and that's that's being honest. That's just being honest We weren't past our fuckups and we weren't going to be able to Be healthy human beings and win that competition to be signed or at length probably been shelled We probably wouldn't went into a deep, you know depression and all that stuff uh You know, so those things you just got to consider didn't scare me But I was realistic about What it took and that's how I understood what it took because it's closer to so now, you don't just have the idea You got the factual actual what it's kind of like. You got the factual actual what meetings are like You got all players involved. You got a PR person. You got somebody trying to book you for shows, you know I'm saying you got all these players involved and it's on you and Thankfully, yeah, the group we had certain fuckups and things that we need to get past But thankfully we were able to figure that out together You know I'm saying even though I felt like a lot of it was on me I still had them too At the same time if you're somebody by yourself Just just consider how some of these artists have to deal with these pressures. It's not Yeah, it's a real thing, you know, and you see them crack. You see them break. It's real. Well, you've seen it. Everybody's not built for this Yeah, I definitely thought that that's a super important thing for people to hear just because I mean some of these artists people who watch this haven't either been through it Already or it might be going through it But there's just so many cases of people having to wait on the world of their shoulders Especially feeling like they're in it alone because that is a point That it gets to Even as an artist As an entrepreneur, I know some of y'all are just entrepreneurial or managers or whatever Like it just it gets to points where you feel like you're in it alone, but Gotta be able to have that self-awareness to know what's for you or what's going to be the healthy option for you And then at the end of the day Realize that other other people are going through that too And then make the best option for you going forward, you know So it's good that you obviously you didn't win anyway. Canada had it on Canada one, but at least you had that perspective without without it having to happen to you Um right on that level Because you were already starting to have having to you. Well, cool, man. Um, I want to go ahead and Before we get out of here, I definitely got to fast forward to some of the artists work you're doing right now Um the back end. What what are some of the things that you do a little bit more? We don't have to go deep into it, but just give a summary of what you're working on now Well, right now, I'm working with my niece I mentioned early on the journey like we literally started counting bars in the room together People are more so into songwriting actually, so she's been writing for all types of artists Kanye Chris Brown all types of people, you know, so I'm working with her and getting Her artists stuff together, but it's more so we're pushing from an entrepreneurial standpoint Me having taken a break from music after the new situation Uh, I went back to the family business to roll the family business Um, and I took a lot of lessons from that And added it to music because music's the only thing I've ever known so I'm like, damn You know, I need to apply this to music or why not? This music And my niece being the position to where she's ready to do her music as an artist I'm like, well, there's ways that we can kind of do it and make this a business, you know Let's approach just like an actual business. Let's get incorporated. Let's look at the accounting You know, I'm saying let's build the marketing plans. Let's build the strategy. So Right now I'm really focused on working with her and other artists As well that, you know, rule the company that we're doing Simply basically or management It's it's a multimedia company. There's some label services that are there. Um I wouldn't say management All right management just to touch on management is like babysitting and being a messenger at some time It takes a type of individual to manage. Yes, you've got a line managers and I respect the hell out of them, man Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I definitely respect a lot of people Ask me to be a manager. I say I can't do it, but the one I know I'll point them to people I think are dope managers, so Some people are great. Some people are great with it. So we're uh, we're doing that. Um more so through a company company type of dynamic rather than a management dynamic with Some artists working with a new artist right now and on his rollout for his project Okay um Just also why popped in my head one big lesson I hear from your story, which I probably haven't even mentioned enough. Um Or maybe even at all in any of the videos on this channel. There's a lot of people who are industry popular Like they have industry fans and That's different than having real fans and you guys were industry popular y'all Industry fans. There's so many groups or like duos or just people I've seen that You know, they've been in the industry Passed around since they've been 15 years old 11 years old now They're 26 and still haven't actually got pushed out to have real fans and somehow they just Going back and forth and living in artists maybe before like Vanessa may be performing for people or maybe outright here and there But it's a completely different thing Than actually getting your own fan base to sustain and become and build as artists yourself It is and to add to that that's the most important thing The last one who has definitely made a lot of relationships on the industry level the most important thing that you could have is a fan base And it wasn't that we didn't have fans is that we didn't understand how to nervous that relationship And we didn't understand community building. Y'all didn't appreciate it You know exactly and we didn't even know how to appreciate it enough because we got our eyes on the stars You know I'm saying one or two three four or five people don't look like a stadium So when you don't have that mindset you don't always know how to really Take care of those relationships properly because you don't understand the value in them And when you don't understand the value in them you you lose that value And it's the most valuable thing that you you have especially as a new hat, you know that means so industry's name is Don't really mean shit to be honest with you. It don't It does not you may be able to get in and get some money But you're not Your your fan base is your leverage or your following they're gonna be the people on your instagram numbers They're gonna be the people on your twitter numbers and youtube numbers all that stuff is That's that's it. That's what you leverage against everybody in the industry You know what I'm saying, but you can't leverage the industry against the people because that's how they'll get there The people do That's why I tell people oh industry plan or or Super organic artists or just somebody in the subway people really don't care for the most part Like whichever way you come they either like you or you don't like you can get it It doesn't matter how you got in front of them once you're in front of them Do they like you or do you not do or do you not like you can name who signed you or who you got relationships with Most people they won't care in the same way. You don't know You know all the agents in the nba Or all the gms and all these people you just know the players And you got your favorite players. You might not even know everybody on the bench on the team That's the same thing it goes for artists Like at the end of the day it's your production and what do they and do they like who you um who you are What you rock with as a brand that's it Yeah, that's that's that's all the way because you can only leverage that against other industry people who know what you're talking about And then exactly that's the only time it works and it works there But Yeah, I'll find that office. It's you you just a regular person again Yeah All right. Well, hey man, I think that's a great part to leave off Um, if you guys do not recognize tucco, he is tucco from music id tv Um, he does a lot of great business to business videos on that channel. Um when I say b2b I'm talking about a you artists are a business in yourself So his information is valuable, but he's giving you industry knowledge Updated industry news through that channel also going, you know, have him on this channel back again You guys will definitely see more of them Other than that man. I think you've done great. I really appreciate this story. It's one of my lengthier interviews I'm sure it might be the longest, you know, congratulations But the stuff you said man is so valuable And I hope they watch all the way through I only I might break this thing to more than one part but like there's Some really valuable pieces in here that you can only get in the context of the story instead of just giving some random advice so I appreciate that for real for real. Thank you man Thank you for having me on the channel Once again, I I truly do appreciate. I'm glad you are back doing, you know, what you do I definitely just a touch on I think You know, I started music id tv because it wasn't a lot of resources online that I found at the time so Having you do your channel was very important to me for artists, you know I'm saying the reason why I do music id tv is to try and keep Artists informed about the news because there was a lot of stuff I learned that I didn't know You know what I mean? A lot of news that was happening that I couldn't take advantage of because I was ignorant to it. You know what I mean? Um, just really take advantage of these resources that everybody's really trying to put out there Because everybody's trying to pull back the bail of music industry. It's one of the biggest bails out there You know and entrepreneurship people tell you what what we're wrong, but yeah, this is different. You know what I mean? So Once again, thanks for having me Don't don't I appreciate that man. Hey everybody follow to go check out music id tv I'll put that information in the description below Give me the comments of what you think about this interview And ask questions man to go you need to come back check this interview out and see ag answer questions in the comment section If you can I'm gonna get out. All right. I appreciate it and other than that if you like this video Hit that like button if you like you might as well share it and if you're not subscribed You know what to do Hit that subscribe button