 Check it check it check it. It's a unique house. It's your boy e ceo, and I'm here with the lovely official Mr.. Mako what's going on? Hey, man, hey, man, we over here in Los Angeles man with the best You know what I mean? I love when we rock with the best man. It's going down man Hey, man, stop playing man. Mr. Farmer Melvin Farmers here with us today. I can't believe it Thank you, man. Thank you for coming in man That's what I'm talking about man. So, um, you know, uh, when we when we think about You I went and I start looking researching and I looked on play at first didn't Because that's what y'all something to look on play at you'll see him on the hill now And I looked and it said that you were the original like one of the main guys that started the Crips, wasn't it? Well, I've been around since the West Side Crips started with Turkey Monkey man Jamel, it's just when it was the West Side. That's when it started well on the West Side Raymond Machu then 69 70 on the east side of town. That's the other side of the 110 freeway They were called Crips with two beads back then then Tookie and Raymond watch them merged and James Compton and others and they formed the east side Crips Westside Crips And it start crystallizing from there Till they broke into what they have today known as sets okay a trade gangster now at 19 at 15 and a half I Was a co-founder the a trade gangster Crips at 15 and a half, which is the a trades today. So that's I've been in the game since I was 14. That's I'm 64 now I've been out here in 35 years in prison numerous arrests 35 years in prison. Yeah, how for your life? Yes, wow And that seems to be the pattern in the staple of what we was doing in so As I witnessed it is a survival This violent world because it's very violent. You see the sugarcoated this When you can image and act and talked over the internet and it'll be over in a couple hours That ain't how this go this ain't over with in a couple hours It don't he ain't cut and we just try to bring awareness to senseless gun violence other Things that are affecting our community and try to build up our community. I love that. I love that because I've always Asked for unity. I've always every time when people come on our show whether they rappers or just people who try to make a change and I always say how are you planning to do this because you have some of these young kids out here who feel like they're on top of the World and No matter who you are or what you've been through or what you've done They're not listening. It's like who are you to tell me your time? You owe your time is done Now it's my time. I do what I want to do So like how can you get through to people like that? Well, first of all when you're on the streets Your age doesn't cuz a lot of them don't need to get old in this game That's the first thing and it's a different Standards if you hold yourself up as a man You know, you start a day don't know nothing about the struggle civil rights They don't look up to Jesse Jackson Al Sharpton. They never heard of them But I got guys me and women and children. They call me from all over the world Asking me About their life and their decisions in life and what they should do where they want to hear change So a lot of times these youths are Being listening to older ones that live that life Because they know that they come and they stand in for the truth But what happens is we don't have the resources to give them and help them Uplift themselves So if they look at it and see somebody like me or I told them are and we out here in this struggle because we strictly Grasp roots. We don't get a dime They gonna say well, what can you do for me and they not paying me, right? But you give us the resources where we can be ambassadors because I don't believe nobody in the United States carry more weight when it comes to Knowing the players in this game from all factions audio video print There's nobody that we can't reach out and touch and talk to and create dialogue that otherwise wouldn't even occur Right because we've said that because even in Dallas you said that where When you have people who still go out here to try to make changes You have to also be careful because some people go out here to try to make changes But just to look good on social media they go in different cities and say, okay, I won't change I want to violence to stop but they have all these cameras up and you know just to make it seem like they're doing something good, but they're not Really investing the time and being there when the cameras are not on yeah They boots not around to the ground when the cameras not around and that's the difference a lot of times People are doing the real the work the boots the grunt work, but they don't have a platform To express and give out the information or the things that they're doing to get a community. I've won numerous awards Was involved in the FC hustle LA gangs unite biggie smile a whole lot of civil rights Marguerite Laverne Mitchell amadou Diablo the death row 10 The Howard University student kill Prince Jones. I can name a litany of things. I'm an author but I Try to not talk about me. I don't want to talk to me I like doing and telling my experience where it's not braggadocious It is what it is And give back to the community because of the things that I've done So do you believe that if some excuse me? If you believe do you believe that if there was someone back then who was doing what you're trying to do now and They did that for you. Do you think your outcome would have been different than it? It is now. Well, they did but it created a gap yet the black panthers. I've witnessed them us Organizations to Muslims. They were pro-black. They were standing up for civil rights And they ever the 60s to 50s It's a different era like 50 years now my ever the 70s to 80s But the thing of it is we got our ear to the payment where we right there With everybody where we can relate to what's going on because we're feeling I get shot at just like everybody else I'm still going to jail. I'm already three years poor old I'm still being unfairly treated in the justice system. So I'm a gamut all of them So all of it is painted to me with a brush and we just have to let like we did if we take away Instagram and all that and Let us start telling the stories of how we come up and the things that our parents did and Struggle because the number one deterrent for crime is age As you get older Mellow out I wanted to just ask what just kind of I guess add on or ask about the What you said earlier about I don't know you do you you like you really don't get on You know getting on social media is one thing but without your story, you know I think the younger generation don't get to see what really Caused the thing that because a lot of times your history is what helps you to understand where you're going And you are history when it comes to what happened in LA, right? So in order for us to see that then you have to be on platforms like this The Vlaads all the stuff what these young kids are going because what it does is it injects something some purity in it To show that people do change and that there is a sense of direction in what? transpired in our history Yes, sir, and make it a short into a nutshell falsehood Cannot coexist permanently with the truth on social media a lot of times people tell stories or Tales and there's nobody there to validate it them or challenge them to where they're tell a tale That's all it is. It's a tale and therefore they're being influenced By guys that aren't real representations of the communities or the gangs that they're represent And people get confused When that and we believe that those that are closest to the problem are more likely and not Closer to the solution. Okay, and now you most of the influence on there A lot of them are that people really look up to as these rappers a lot of the music in the stuff That's flowing through those avenues is what's influencing our children. So We have to have platforms to wear some real essence of what really going down That's why I love podcasting because it cuts through and say this is this is it, too This is something that that that can can can you know Music is one thing because these kids are listening to that But then then they jump on listening at our channel and they see in all these different rappers and then boom We hit them with a person like Mr. Melvin former and then they able to they gonna watch it because we know over time But that's a habit forming thing correct. Yeah, but also Every generation has had music R&B to 60s to 40s to do box So we just can't look in hindsight Their music it's no more different than we was talking earlier about in WA It's every 10 years you're gonna get a different genre of music and it comes down to drugs mental health homelessness Being tough these are the images that have been cultivated over the years through the generations of music So we have to let them know that it's a better way that we can make it a different way and also hold people Accountable for the things that they say on social media You have to have an oversight and it have to be some firm rules to where they all apply agree 100% So When in your life did you make this change from the person that you were to the person you are now? Well, and uh, and what happened like what brought that awareness to you? Well a couple of incidents I never read the bible first of all and jail as these this place you can Get a bible they're gonna give you that they're not as a care package but uh in 1994 March 7th that came out with the california three strikes law automatic life sentence And I was targeted to V frame which I wrote a book and I brought it the new slave ship or ship that does not sell And I was arrested with less than Two one point Gram or less or whatever, but at the end of the day I got 25 of life in a 10-year consecutive sentence Although the dope was planted on me So, uh, I was the first one to be released after serving three years in eight months I got a reversal first in the state of california historically and uh Everybody there we on a level four yard and everybody there are lifers Not going home. We in a stand-up casket where we walking into the graveyard And all of them to a man Said uh, homie bring you leave. Don't forget about us And I didn't forget that but I also kept faith because man had tried to take my life But I also had enough sense to know that god had gave me a new life. Right. Well, so I got out and wrote a book I've been doing civil rights 25 years now mentor youths prison ministry coordinator and I still Get in the things because I never worked a day in my life till maybe two years ago I've always been a hustler from ice cream trucks to armored trucks getting mine and One more important thing after I escaped getting a death penalty in georgia that I'm on 83 years This time for once in my life. My mother said uh Don't go to jail And I've been arrested 50 60 times the first time she said She's ever said when I tell my mama. I got a problem. She tells me be careful She don't say don't do nothing and that's from eight and zero But this time she said i'm getting old You got two younger sisters I came forward you to go back to jail and I quit cold turkey. I've been out seven years now So i'm trying to make my mama proud see That's so touching to me because it's like And I love the fact that she didn't say it before because if she said it before and kept saying it You would have took it to heart as much. Well, let me tell you this about my mama She witnessed the crypts And she knew what they were doing My mama read on the wall when I was 15 and a half where somebody wrote Melvin former must die That's when she wouldn't got insurance on me She still got that insurance and the policy haven't been kept to this day So my mother her card on been shot Most guys I did most of them have got three things in common a conviction and murder Some years in prison over 50 60 arrests I don't show my friends because I get inboxes where they hey that man killed my husband. Hey He killed my son. She did this they did that So I don't put them up. This is a whole different ball game This is the things that you don't hear about If a big ol g get hit they ain't coming to look for them. They come to look for Melvin See how this game go So, you know, I have to know how to avoid these traps And stay in your lane. I don't look at social media. I don't look at nobody podcast So whenever I hear whatever going on in social media whack 106 9 Charleston white in this mob James and that I can go and just call or they call me and tell me about it and then now but nobody called me for money But they'll call me when it's a problem. Wow See and that's guilt by association And that's what happens a lot to me and I know I don't know if you did you just mentioned you mob James and Charleston was just in Dallas on on his podcast and I know you got a phone call It was because of two different agreements, I mean two different ways that two different people done things so When I look at it, I know that both of them had good intentions But out of shadow of a doubt But both live two different lifestyles in two different parts of the world And so when I look at it, I hear all the things and I do I am on social media So I do see the comments, you know what I mean? So how do how do you bridge those gaps when two people are trying to do the right thing and you know both of them? Well, let me put it like this once again I don't look at social media. So when you say what they said I don't know. I don't know what was said I only can go by what's that? No, no, no, no not what I heard It's how somebody treats you And therefore that makes me an unbiased urban analyst. I got it Because if I don't know nothing, I can't speak on it if if nobody brought up none of them. I wouldn't know nothing I don't surf so I don't even look at my show whatever I do. I don't go and look twice Never have I don't look at nothing twice have never looked at no Minutes to society have not read toky books have not read Cody's book I'll stay in my lane because usually what they're talking about I've lived But I know the rules to this game So if I don't know nothing unless somebody tell me I might get a call from Ray Sean That's Raymond Washington, which I did Pretty boy got a call. I told him I got a call Mob James got a call Stag got a call My big got a call I can name them on and on about stuff on social media Where now is the problem So if I don't know nothing that's guilt by association with me everybody gets That I look and wanna I ain't got time for that every day I'm trying to get a hustle and get something to do to make my mama proud Just stay safe and I just stay out the way So I want that to be known. So when you ask me about them I really can't speak on it because I ain't look to listen to it I'm only going by exactly what whoever told me And that's it. Wow I know you say each um you're working to make your mama proud And I I know a lot of people a lot of men are usually mommas boys so um That's what you're doing now But back then when your mom car was being shut up And the reason why I'm asking all of these type of questions because you have young kids out here Who are not thinking about mom who's not thinking about a sister who's not thinking about the dangers of the life Back then you weren't thinking about that Why why not? Oh, I was thinking about that, but it's a big difference My parents didn't know what we were doing They didn't catch on they didn't know That was by the end by the end It was too late They didn't know nothing about us sneaking out the back window It was a revolving door. We was 14 15 16 17 Hey, it it was better Going to jail where you got your own bed sometimes it crowded But everything I always did see I wasn't just a gangbanger I've always We didn't have the things to do identity theft sale dope credit cards All a whole fluctuation of things that you can do to hustle You had to basically go and take it and get it So everything I did I did in the sense that I'm taking this To give my mama better life. See a lot of people I don't rob jewelry stores gave everybody fur Rings and watches fur coats all this But I didn't think of it as hurting my mama because I'm only thinking it's hurting me At that age. So you're right at that aspect 14 15 16 year old I knew I was a basketball player Ranked number one, but it was the choices I made at that time. So in hindsight I feel that the time that I did going to jail It should have been more worth it to be with my mom But see the look in her eyes To her that's her only son and a lot of men mark mom passing every day He's talking and he's reminded it up and he keep her legacy going on So it's a something that you know, it's hurtful and we just try to make our parents proud At least I do I know because that's that's what I always ask because even like in Texas you heard about the shooting with a mode three when mode three god Did you hear that one? Yeah, somebody came to make sure you heard that no because um A lot of times when things happen were beef even with celebrities or just anybody have beef I always wonder You keep pushing this beef keep pushing this beef with this other person But you're not thinking about you have a wife or a baby mom or a mother that If they don't come get you they go and come get them and you're putting them in danger too So here you have been an argument whether for clout because that's what a lot of people are doing nowadays Just for the ratings the views the all of that Why don't you think about them because after you're dead and gone you're leaving them in a situation because I guarantee you Not like your mom your mom put insurance on you Not everybody think ahead like that put insurance on a person when they're doing something like that You know what I mean to make sure that I'm safe. I'm secure. I I can take care of these kids Why don't they think about that? Well Uh the streets the only thing stronger than a man's pride is some others love A man to swallow Every type of pill it is to stay alive But they won't swallow they pride Well, so many men Have lost their pride or lost their life uh to where All they had to do was step back But they chose to go through a Conflict resolution at its most disdain which usually ends up in a death And I I hate that because in my The older I get and this is what I always say on this platform because you you don't ever know who is listening It's always how you perceive something because a lot of these arguments is always caused by You say something and you may not even mean it in a bad way But I perceive it in a bad way. So I'm reacting and it caused and you don't like the way how I reacted You're not saying to me. Well How did you mean it by you know and resolve it in a decent way? That's how miscommunication happens every day even in relationships or friendships or whatever where and we've had somebody on our show who He he he was good friends with um another gentleman and did one got shot And because the other one never reached out to him But he didn't even know that he had gotten shot So he was mad at him because he didn't reach out to him But he didn't even know that he had gotten shot and he wasn't talking to him just because of that Till one day eventually he reached out and he's like, but I didn't know You know, but something simple like that and you're mad at somebody pick up the phone and call just because somebody don't call you Pick up the phone and call and say, hey, did you hear about xyz or you know? And that's how it should be on the internet a lot of guys add a personal disputes on the internet When if you really about that business you can call them up Inbox them and keep that going on But I understand social media and the things that that do because you know Michael conception told me this once and let me say something about mike. He's the most powerful in hip hop Okay, I promise I've been around him since he started in that one of the top you have them those that are faces uh certain Rappers and things now because of technology, but nobody has survived more than michael conception starting with uh We all in the same game teddy ride Lee Russell Simmons That's a whole game and I can name him but you know, he he should be getting this props in a lot of times His name is not mentioned. So uh back to the At the end of the day of it's a man's pride And uh, when you young You don't be thinking about who you hurt and you really don't you're more Allegiance to the group that you went because a lot of times they're showing more love To you as a group as opposed to where a lot of time men Are women they're shot from the love of a parent of ah, that's corny And they think this is what's really happening and when reality is the flip strip Yeah so Going back to when you was in prison in and out 35 years of your life There had to be some people that you were You influenced as you your change came about For as the guys that are still some of them, especially what you're doing prison ministry as well Because I know they've seen you come back into the prison. No, I'm not eligible to go uh in the prison So how did you affect the prison ministry? Well, I got my friend has a church and I do prison ministry There and other places around when I speak Biblically or about uh a witness because you have to have you just can't go in And preach to somebody on the streets Because they don't appreciate the lord So that message ain't gonna get to them Especially when you're talking about an inner city youth to where most churches Want you to come in on your feet, but they won't let you in on your back In other words when these kids Don't have insurance or nothing and they need a place to be buried in los angeles They want to charge them a arm in the leg to be five seventeen thousand But let magic johnson or a celebrity get killed somebody with money to pay for it. They do it for free So, you know These are the type of things that we try to address and bring awareness to and these youths You just can't think that they're gonna turn their guns in For no concert ticket Or why would they turn their guns in? When everybody else's arm see we got the only race to where We we attack our own where every other race They kill us because of the color of our skin. We only get at each other because of the areas we stay in Well, I when I as I As when you speak What I what I really Think about is the influence and the impact and the people that I feel like in the on the west coast They influenced a lot of people a lot of a lot of young people The the the the kids The the kids pretty much were red and blue Because of what they've seen up here This this thing just happened here and it hit a few towns. This hit the whole some other countries. I'm pretty sure It's on uh Bloods and Crips red and blue are on all seven continents. Yeah, you're gonna have either or and uh You don't have the same dynamics the uh Streets california sets the example for the united states it changed the game But uh back to uh, I didn't answer that about the influence. That's right In uh jail as opposed to the streets well My influence as far as uh influence and those in prison. It wasn't no influence But I did bring awareness to the three strikes law Brought to uh awareness to them being uh incarcerated behind the wall and uh addressing uh Restorative justice and trying to bring these young man home. So by that you need the prison system So if they start getting too far out of line and it jeopardizes these men's in prison freedom They're able to Check them real close and give them a hug. So you need the prisons and something that will make them stand up The punish that now is for us on the streets I'm Florence Or bring awareness to the life that you're joining up for And signed up for and usually at the end of the day You're gonna either get killed off in the criminal justice system Or you're gonna end up in the grave every few people are very successful Uh in this game out here running these streets, you know, because you pay Your taxes by either getting killed Going to jail because usually your money you're getting you're not paying taxes on that you're hustling for it So when you go to jail, we call that paying taxes. So a lot of yous Like to hear their history their stories. They might be a blood and call me. Hey, man We like to hear the history How we started this and this and that and I always tell them I I can't influence what you do In your town community state or whatever You just make your own personal decision because for over 50 60 years It's very embedded here in california. This is a culture that is it's it's It's nothing like it I have to ask you this question. I go back to charston because he said something that was dear to me he said that the gang members Would shoot up the kid shoot up the houses and and and then the kid a woman or a child would may get hit and Then that the gangs would pretty much Hide the guy that did this And basically pretty much try to keep him from having to deal with uh being uh You know pretty much protect him from being being Arrested or whatever else he would have to go through because of it Is this something that was a practice or is that just talk now? I'm just that's allegedly now What I can stay on that is once again, you got 60 50 years or this so People like for instance, you hear about people tell stories about crips killing crips Yeah, but when I tell a story you won't hear that So I'm predating that so what is acceptable now they brag about their error That's their error But that's not a reflection of how this started So they need to hear this about how it was to where regardless to what it was it was honorable And it stayed within those it wasn't no drive-bys Shooting up with no oozies. We damn near using bow and arrows zip guns Walk-ups, and it wasn't no innocent people Really getting hurt to where we knew what we were signing up for whereas now it's more blatant to where once again, I'll say They kill Within the areas that you stay in because if you have all you have to do is google The hundred days the hundred nights that was in 2015 arguably the most Human disregard of life I ever seen when it came to killing I survived that are quite a lot of us did and It ain't I don't know where somebody would know that somebody did that And hide them out and like, oh man, you killed a kid What they're going to do is stay in their lane in mind their business That's just how it is out here. See in these streets The rules are as of now there are no rules But even starting out when um The organization started you would think and I know that it's spread in all of these different continents But you would think that um Like if I started a group And you wanted to start one over here you had to get like a pass a pass like permission like this is the rules and I would also make send someone over there to make sure that they're abiding by The rules of this organization And not does anybody can start over here and do their own thing and let's wreck the brand because this is the name of the bloods or crepes Isn't that how it should be or isn't that how it was Well, I'm only can speak for the crepes And and the group and my and my personal experience right once again You got evolution. You got every 10 years. So you got grandfathers Grandmothers nieces nephews grandkids. So you got a long list to where That's just fashionable now, but that's not how it was started. It wasn't a lot of people It was no internet. It wasn't a group It wasn't nothing fashionable about it and it wasn't nothing to be talked about It was understood what need to be done What we were doing and what we was about Simple as that right in your area, but once it starts spreading everywhere else You couldn't really control. Well, the difference between the street gang and a prison gang is there's no structure. See crepes There is no one body No one person So there's never been a structure When it come to crepes other than when we were east side west side and company Though then it splintered And now you got them all over The continent the united states So there's not no one supreme ruler Whereas you might have the latin kings. You might have king tongue You might have a John stevens and black felly mob. So those Jeff fort larry hoover they have structure no more different than the arming law enforcement But when it come to a street game There is no structure no chain of command So that could not apply in these rules of war. Let me ask you this just flipping back into my childhood Coming up in the streets, you know, I mean we wore blue Don't know why we just wore it. We was in texas and uh, but my school color was blue So we we wore blue it was not I did not know and my cousin was from quenchall. So we wore blue, you know, but Didn't really understand it But then we look up and right down the street from us in shreveport in the 90s They just start flying out of california coming to shreveport Then then we see this and we see them And now we're riding with them Certain ones that were blue the ones were red. We we're not rocking with them Even though there are some of them that's flying in too. So they came in from california to shreveport Which was 30 miles away from where I was raised up Now I was in the drug game at that time And I only rocked with the guys who was messing with blue And this is how this is how it happened But we saw a lot of killings and a lot of different things on the news and arclatex during that time And it was it got pretty rough and I think I think kuba road right now is one of the places where still stand true to the blue This happened And I don't know what made them start coming down there in the 90s. Do you remember that era? Were you around during that time? I was in mom rowing West Monroe you was in Monroe I was on the run for murder that had happened at a school campus in 76 And my mama sent me to west Monroe. So I know about West Monroe When they had a jukebox where you had to kick at the start And my girl at that time was the only girl in the club and everybody wanted to dance with us I got out of there two weeks Yes, but anyway, uh From my personal experience and I knew some people that were going down there With the transformation of the drug game coming out and then in flux of cocaine And the price was so high because I had a friend named Michael Jardane that married two degrees equivalent of nicky barns or somebody When cocaine was 55,000 the key at that time he married ronda reese And so I got to witness 78 79 eat the basin and uh, they started Shipping out alone with the gang members And they started catching on that was one of the reasons as for its crypts expansion Particularly in Colorado because in the inner cities of Los Angeles Colorado University was getting a lot of use letting them Come out there on a scholarship and they started transporting back the end to ron sherry Now they also a little bit earlier in the 60s Marv can speak to that one day when you interview him It was heron But as far as the cocaine and the gang activity it went hand in hand when they started Flux is waiting from out here because as of the day Everybody wants a plug in california. Yeah, same thing. It's california florida savannah Houston everybody always want a plug from cali and that's always existed And so now that's for us. I'm concerned. It just uh had expanded and uh, that changed landscape of a lot of cities Okay. Yeah, um, I definitely um, I definitely when I look at us coming up at being young and and and we Did not have a clue of why we was doing what we was doing We was I mean a lot of people say yeah, we did I mean, but But it still brought prison and everything else people going to change and flock up with different groups No matter what I believe, you know even so before cripping before you even had associated with crip Where there are section groups of people that hung out and hung together and pretty much that's what they done Well, really before that, uh, it's on the west side. You had cliques groups of men Uh that ran together turkey Uh warlock steve goods Buddha that got killed jesson baycott egg wins ricardo sims bud bud breast and peas melvin hardy monk Uh, uh, uh, joe ransom. You had a lot of guys to where on the west side. We were Into integration 69 70 You could see turkey standing at one end of st. Andrews park and the white folks bowling on the bowling green at the other end So we didn't have no history of uh, like the slogsons the businessmen's the farmers or guys or gangs on the west side There wasn't a lot of older guys at the oldest might be 20 other than that There wasn't a lot of blacks over there because of the uh, integration that was going on. So the west side is uh, unique in that so as they started The juveniles and they started mixing up, uh, henry clay horseman the smacks uh, uh, the cafe boys Those at john me and the junior highs it started to expand and crystallize On the west side then they went and ended up being formed as the west side krips kukes mouths rusty chucky tide uh, uh, uh, oldy shawl oldy gill crest uh elmer jones spy uh, trey ball melvin hardy james miller. I could just name a lot of them that just Was in here early in the game and don't need uh, lost their life where they resting in peace or they resting in pain, you know Yeah, yeah, that's hard man, you know because of all of the stuff that transpired Throughout all those years though And a lot of young people grew up in that and even when I would come out here I wouldn't even I wear black and white or something just to stay, you know what I mean out the way I knew that much, you know, I'm gonna stay out the way I'm gonna go out there. I'm gonna put my black and white on them stay out the way But when I go home, I'm creeping because that's my neighborhood. I'm being that's the way it was I didn't come out here to meet nobody to hang out with them. You know what I'm saying? That wasn't my agenda I mean, but my cousins was doing it hard. They don't cringe out. They were creeping, you know far decent 60 I did not know what that was. I just knew crypt today came and brought it to my attention You know, I was like, what is that? They like the five dudes. I'm like, oh really? But you my cousin so I'm arrived, which we already we're we arrived in the country. We just didn't know, you know I mean and then I'll say this rappers Rappers made it made it fun to wear colors. You know what? I mean they they made a day still to this day have a little In you hidden in you and though about wearing different colors and saying they were different clicks just for for clout That's real. But I'm but When I hear you say all those names I didn't hear a rapper name Mm-hmm. You should I'm just being real. You know, once again, I told you I don't look at social media This is my crew of people who I grew up with that played they do which Basically paid the way for a lot of them or give them the subject and the contents that they even talk about And that's what and then that's what I hear. That's what I hear. I know in If you sitting up on top of a hill Do you think you know what's going on down here where the rats need no, but no somebody telling you correct And then you have the capabilities of putting it in the story. Wow. So once again falsehoods and truth cannot coexist Agreed. Yeah, they're simple as that. Yeah, that that was a That was the one thing and it still stands true today that there is rappers And I know that because I interview them and that's the thing they want they this is not something that They they was jumped in. I don't think they was jumped in. Ain't nobody been jumped in and even during your time I don't know if they were jumped in. They might be just a movie. I don't know Well, I'm gonna put it like this a teller the tape is this If you've got more graduation pictures than mug shots, you need to not even be talking man I'm serious man How you gonna have more graduation pictures than mug shots? But you know that guy. Wow. Yeah, it's a big difference man and once again It's nothing to glamorize A lot of parents Have been hurt Yeah, and it's always two sides on a police report You're gonna have a name that's gonna say suspect Somebody name going there on that police report and then on that other side. It's gonna save victim Wow Now I've been arrested 60 times Wow, I don't want my name on that victim side And that's by any means necessary. Wow, let me let me You know what happened years ago? I go back again, you know when I was in houston, texas I went to the movie theater It was in the 80s And I watched this movie called colors And back then I really this was really the first I seen of it. That was a really the first We didn't see it before that I'm telling you and I ain't seen it yet They wrote a movie When I left out that movie theater Them boys start fighting right after that. I'm not playing. This is influence. I'm telling you people say rap music But the movie that movie that night in houston texas Colors. Oh, it's very it's a huge movie. I I have to sit down with you much as you watch movie We got to watch that one together. You got to see this. I think I was sitting there I see was the one I thought he wrote it. I thought it was his movie. I'm being honest because that's the only one that I remember I knew a song was on there I I remember the song colors. I am a nightmare walking a cycle path all this we promoting this now How much do how much? The impact of that movie. Do you think influence what happened with the movement of the crypts and the bloods? Well, I ain't never seen it and and and it's for in a creative Yeah, I wasn't kid 80s and 70s or whatever you come out. I ain't seen it yet and I ain't gonna see it I'm still living in living colors So I don't need to look at no TV to know what's happening about Minutes to society friday all they go on it's in living colors though So I think it played a role as far as creating a culture to where what's acceptable Exotic, but uh my friend Al Sean Martin Who was a running around with six nine there wrote a song this ain't fashion. Wow So it could influence those to where you know, just like the record you see it audio visually And it influenced you want to mimic that you want to act that Like when I grew up my my heroes who I looked up to and run around was turkey And it was they cared to risk this They swagger They style they grace These are the things that I picked up. They didn't teach me how to pull a no trigger They didn't teach me Ever a conversation uh go do this It was known what to be done So as far as the movie colors, I think it was great. It was no more different than monster. Cody Wrote his book. It was something new innovative for that area and of that time period But never have I looked at it like it influenced nothing when you up in prison fighting the bgf the mexican mafia And brotherhoods the muslims Nation of Islam and all these other groups you be in Police and you coming in talking about you hurting blacks and you got black panthers. George Jackson. I don't need to see no movie I'm in a survival mode. I don't need to see nothing that that resembles comedy to me. Wow That's what it looks like comedy. Have you ever thought about Telling your story in a movie I get offers, but I don't like talking about me I don't sometimes you can stick a turtle keep his head tucked what in? for protection Yeah, but like I said earlier you Your story has to be told in order for it to project the way out. You've changed So that change has to be seen too. I tell a lot of my partner they had a drink of smoke in 20 some years and They always want to bring up the part about being In the drugs and and being one hell of all the people filing doing what I was doing I get it But what about these 25 some years that I ain't done nothing But just you know try to do the right thing y'all gonna publicize that too So I said that to say your story and the impact that you've had on the culture Um to me it has to be told you see because people glamorize the negativity the negative stuff Because even like say example you tell your story and you go back to what you used to be and what you are now Some kids will look at that the people who want to still be in the street would look at what you did and be like Man, that's what I want to do the they're not looking at how you change and what you're trying to do They're just looking at that part of it and that's all they're going to take from that. You see what I mean, but Somebody else would look at it and be like man. I've been wanting to get out of this game If he got out I can get out too. So let me tell you a story Young man out in New York. It was New Year's Eve And I'm just looking And uh, I see where he wrote mighty new year's resolution. I'm quit gangbanging And I look I've seen it generate a lot of conversation and a lot of them was telling him Kind of down talking him about doing that. So I put a little word in there and said take more of a man To sit up and fall back than it does to join this and some other words and more importantly He has the right to make that choice It's choices that you make and I commended him for what he's doing and that changed the dialogue So a lot of times The use of the day they just nobody showed that they care for To give them to their direction a lot of us do the work that needs to be done, but we can't Help everybody When you said that I was wondering how easy is it to quit a gang? Is it possible because I only know from you know movies, which you don't watch But I know I know the movies because they don't told me something about it, but I ain't watched them You know movies make you feel like There's no walking out if you want to get out you get out in a casket. That's right Let me tell you what no walking out is to me as far as just on a gangster tip You can always walk away From your environment or your circumstances you have that choice because if you really solid about your conviction You will die for your conviction It's simple as that now what can happen is What can happen is A lot of times Economic and social pressure dictate that they stay around because of the environment That they are subjected to I call it isis ic ss acronym inner city stress syndrome The conditions that a youth It's brought up under where it's like ptsd or something because they've been in the same type of situation homelessness Gunfire murders mental health drug abuse all these things contribute to inner city stress syndrome So I just think that Something need to be done to where we really can make a change with these youths But also you have to give them something To where they can feed they sell right because a person will Follow you and listen to you More so if you can feed them But if you hungry and they hungry it's gonna be kind of hard to change that man mind without showing them how to eat That's exactly what I would always say because um, I remember we interviewed a gentleman from Haiti who was um He had ran for Prime minister before and he had lost but he was planning to run again So we virtually interviewed him and he was talking about because Haiti have very Bad gun gun violence, right? And so I was trying to figure out from him. So what are you planning to do that's different to You know help the country and so forth. He's like take the guns off the street. I said, how are you going to do that? the difference that I saw in him he was Willing to go to the inner city to the areas that have these guns and say, okay I'm gonna get y'all jobs because we know that you have to feed your family That's the reason why you're doing what you're doing because you're trying to make money to feed your multiple families and so forth So you give me the guns and I give you jobs for your families and stuff like that. So you can't provide so But what I knew about Caribbean islands just because I'm from Jamaica is the fact that yes, you're willing to go down to this one inner city and say that But there are multiple inner cities that are going through the same situation because You have where you have two inner cities that they're Warring against each other. So to say just that buzz and Chris was just a certain Had to y'all say of course democrats republicans. No, well All of them the same big thing. They are Politicking and they have their own agenda. That's right. That's what all this is about politics Yeah, exactly. So and he was I I was saying to him I said, okay fine You went over here to this one city But are you willing to go to each and every one and say the same thing and do the same thing? And he didn't really say anything about that because he said he only went down one I said, well, you can't just go to one because this won't put down a gun But that one still have the gun They have to protect themselves So you have to look at just not just one area but everywhere because even in Jamaica where you have one area You have like a dawn A person who's over everybody in that area And I used to always find it Good and bad because that person will keep the peace in their area There would be no crime. There's nothing in that area They might fight against somebody else in another area Where they kept the peace in that area mean like if somebody stole from somebody in that area That person fingers might be lost the next day They held accountable Exactly and I would always say that people need to have more of that in all of these different areas Then you'll have more structure But you don't Right because there's no chain of command and it's the same thing over I imagine in Haiti As if you have too many factions and next this go back to gun control and gun laws It's when you got a community where everybody has guns illegally Mm-hmm a lot of times men are carrying weapons To protect themselves, right? I mean, it's it's like you going out into this world To where you everybody else carrying a pistol and you carrying a bow and arrow or you just out there And we really need to I'm not one that believe in Turning your weapons in Because you have other races That that have weapons that have weapons and they're not Training them on they self That's artistically that I see And so they you know, they had a gains and most of them are are bred it and breed it to Be aggressors to war blacks in every race So why would we do that? And if we would come together that doesn't mean none because we still have other races Well, we don't get along with wow, so we need to clean up our own backyard before we even go wearing about something What is your ratio of success with Helping the young folks Well Right depends on What are you talking about when they come to helping I didn't like change your mind because I always say it's lack of education While all of them still do what they do and not, you know what I mean, but um Really have them change their mindset about just being on the streets and this I'm going to out here in prison type of mentality Well, I can say that a lot of people usually when they Inbox me or ask me for a guidance or ask me questions It's usually uh for the better because i'm not going to give out nothing or tell somebody else child Uh to go break no laws I'm not going to do that because I wouldn't want No child No person to tell my daughter or my sons to go break the law if i'm going to do something and I want them I'm going to tell them so I think we have a pretty high successful rate in it and it uh, we work with a group called credible messengers me and I told them arvin along with uh king tone Sean stevens and stocked the violence Charleston worked with a lot of people all across at fair con Uh Peace increased the peace a colleague shalt dany bake well maxine waters What was her name uh camilla hares at one time So we work with a lot of them to try to To put this together man. Do you think we'll ever get to a place where um You can see the violence decrease Well, actually the violence had decreased the lowest In about 2019 or 2018 then it had been in since 1966 and uh, a lot of times we have to look to our local elected officials and government and hold them accountable for not sustaining it You don't want these grassroots and you can look it up statistically Violence had went down quite a bit with a lot of effort of grassroots But we didn't get the support From the local elected officials to come on and to further that they've had plenty of opportunities So we have to look toward leadership and change within the community those that are not actually served in the community We got one more question What um, okay, because I didn't I don't think I asked you this yet, but um, what um when when nipsey huck hustle was uh, was uh murdered in front of his store what Impact did that have on california because from the outside looking in from texas it seemed as if it brought people together for a second you heard small things that went on but After that for a second then after that it was just over or did we or it's just the the the The people stopped talking about it on tv and it made us the press stop, you know holding press on it What what what was up with that? I mean, how did the people affect do you think it affected in a positive way to where it made people change? yeah, you had uh, mostly uh A positive effect or brought awareness uh to whatever uh, uh, it could be uh awareness to unviolence It could be awareness to economical empowerment. It could be uh, awareness to how you can uh Come from out the gutter and change your life There's a lot of things that uh, and like I say, I'd like to speak and and we really need to Quit speaking ill of the dead, okay A lot of times on this social media We're speaking up and and if you don't have something to say positive It's best to let that go So when it comes to nipsey he did have an impact because of his culture and regardless Uh guys that were from a friend family or four of war infractions. They still he had that respect And it was attracted to what it had but it also created the opportunity for us and those that were on the west side Uh, los angeles because you got bomb in Compton watch los angeles west side east side not south central I'm off the west side. He's off the west side. I grew up over there I know quite a lot of his family members So he had an impact but particularly When uh incident occurred for 30 days Pretty much across the la county. That's what I and at the west side. There was no gunplay There was a morning. They had a la gang's united where a lot of the guys came But once again local elected officials the newspapers They didn't write nothing in there might have been on TMZ and the white folks But when it came to the local black newspaper and we have to remember the Propaganda and if it's not used and it's proper white and we have yellow journalism to where they are not reporting Real news hit the control of the jews by this So the same thing can occur. We didn't get the airplay. We didn't get what we did it But a lot of people went and they sent it to another level behind that with fake prophecies where it was profit over Property as far as helping the community and they went on and they came back. So once again We have to go to our elected officials and those that are held accountable that could create it a safe haven And an avenue for this dialogue to continue and they're still having uh Uh events for him and and thanks, but we also have an events for other Organizations and other groups of men that are also doing it. So that's just part of the gang because I believe the store We it closed down and and and that was something we went before we I'm a clothing store owner myself So we went to the store frequent into store when we were coming to LA because we black business only I met him at Magic me and him talked and it was without anybody around just me and him, you know and about business, you know, and uh You know, it was dear to us and we right we went over there beforehand because we we're family that we're like that Our kids work in the store and it's the same vibe, you know, and um Just was a horrible thing when I seen that happen the way they broadcast it across the social media waves You just don't see things broadcast like that. Um Back in the days when we first came up, you know what I mean Well, they didn't have the social media now or the advent of the phone But even on the news you didn't you didn't see it you they would show you maybe the yellow tape Or maybe a you know some some they never even show you they would they were very Very precise to not showing you certain things on that that television Which tells you a vision, but that's a difference between the television they Monitor and they you know decide what you need to see social media First come first serve whoever can get a video first. That's what you're going to see and what's amazing is Uh, you use an artist's record and in five seconds they be don't took your video down For uh using the artist's right, but we don't had uh Indian red boy get uh Killed on on instagram or facebook live They didn't take that down. We we was in 2015. They was posting dead bodies Man down here. So a lot of times we have to hold Social media and those that are running that and stand up for us. You will you will chest ties us Uh, you know, we we as a race We we look we hear magin's law Hamburg or lured three strikes every time a white person Or somebody other than our race have a problem. They make a law and name it and here we is We we have to really stand up and be proud of ourselves first and come to love ourselves first That's the message I preach Go ahead. Well, I was we're just I mean, what did you I'm going to let you get you one more one more Then we're gonna say that I can't I know we got a time. We got to say true No, but the social media have is pros and cons because if it wasn't for people taking up those videos Yes, it's gruesome and you know, it's bad, but and if it wasn't for that We wouldn't have a lot of things Coming to awareness, you know what I mean even like with the vaccine When you talk about the vaccine and everybody is so scared to take the vaccine and so forth When I think about back in the day it's grown up in school and you had vaccines for everything But we had to take it But we didn't know how many people actually died from the vaccines that we were taking as kids because It didn't broadcast it didn't broadcast it But because of all this awareness is bringing up to everybody through social media It put fear in us because now we have the choice to say Okay, this is what happens. Do I do I want to take it or do I not want to take it? You see what I mean? So there are pros and cons from you know social media and everybody having Their phones up because even with police brutality People being stopped illegally and you have a you know the phone you have somewhat proof compared to their body cam which Can go missing. Let me say something about The difference than maybe you and and and people that's really about this I've seen a lot of people with George Floyd where they had cameras up If I'd have been there they'd had to kill me with George Floyd Wow Mark that's what's our mentality I wouldn't have been there taking no picture I'd have had to take that ass whooping or whatever and I got video weapon I've done it before and told him you're gonna have to kill me or take me to jail Behind violating my rights. So when you go to talking about Video and standing there and that no sometime you got to intervene Wow Instead of sitting there. It's no way I could have sat there And watch no man die and they'd have to whoop my ass because I would have knew They ain't gonna kill me. I might get my ass whooped But I ain't gonna let him sit up here and do that brother like that. Wow Hey, man, thank you so much man. We we definitely man. We love you brother. Thank you for coming on our show Thank you, man. And I appreciate it and I hope I did you. Oh, man. You did come on You always do also just come off the top of the Man, thank you so much, man. We love you man. And it's been another great segment of boss talk 101. Oh, yeah