 That seems to be kind of your MO is let's not be politically correct because that Kind of only makes people feel good for a second, but it doesn't do anything Yeah, and I noticed that about programs that actually do work like yours is getting a lot of acclaim because Somebody's coming in and being hate overusing cliches like this. So pardon me, but it's like being real about it Organic. Yeah, that's a better way to say real Instead of just like the MTV Seconds real could be, you know, yeah, it'd be like real TV, whatever that is. Yeah a camera like down in a tree And I can appreciate that I think because a lot of folks don't really They they try to do things like I'm gonna be real for a second and then they just like okay I did my I checked my real box where I went and said stay in school go vote whatever And yeah, don't do drugs and it's like you grew up in the suburbs You talking about like what do you know checklist like you said? Yeah. Yeah, like a PR list I know I did of course I did my homework before you got here. So thanks for making it by the way You're my wife goes. Oh He wants to do the interview at 730. I'm like, well, all right I mean, I don't love that, but I don't think anyone's gonna be in the blood at 730. Yeah I'm like he could come over to where we're staying, but it might be a little awkward My underwear Could be a great episode. Yeah, actually probably great And I I actually think that well, you and I are both living we were both living in Michigan at one point But I grew up in Troy slightly different area than where you were. Yeah, but it's right there though Tell me about growing up in Chicago, I mean were you there for most of your childhood or when did you? Yeah, I think about five my mom moved to Detroit took a job With four motor company Dearborn the yeah, what they call that yet at world headquarters. That's where my parents work to my dad worked. Oh, yeah Yeah, my mom was in microfilm and So so started school pretty much, you know in Detroit But because my mom and this is weird people don't even believe me But my mom so loved Chicago that we literally Traveled every weekend for seven years. We went we went back to Chicago every weekend for seven years straight It's just she had my little sister and then of course she didn't travel as much So I spent a lot of summers in Chicago. So kind of like a Detroit, you know, Chicago kid great Experience the only thing I didn't like about Chicago is they had gangs. Yeah, that's a downer. Yeah, I didn't like that You know said so it made it where you could navigate and I funny thing is I came to LA I Don't know maybe I start coming about 15 20 years ago and I literally came here wearing red. I didn't know Oh, well, it depends where you're at. That's not something that I was in the wrong place And some guys came up to me and asked me where I was from I said Detroit Hey, I'm from Detroit and then pull out my license. It's like no no literally I'm from Detroit and it's okay for us to wear whatever color we like to wear in Detroit So I guess you're lucky they asked you for it. They did ask I know something about my Persona that it has so yeah, that's why I didn't like Chicago just because you know when you know course gangs There's territory and so you just can't go wherever you want where people don't realize Detroit didn't have Gangs now we did have you know neighborhoods, but it was safe to go wherever you wanted to go So that was the only thing I like about Chicago the pizza home run in six flags. I loved all of that Detroit definitely man. I love that blue collar mentality and when you listen to my work, you know You'll hear it infused in my work, but I'm really about just that grind get up, you know, go get it So um, that's why I said 730. I think it's the Midwest. Yeah, I hear you I it's so funny coming out here when you started traveling. Did you ever go wait a minute? Not everyone has a Midwest work ethic that hit you at one point. You're like, what the hell Okay, so so to be honest with you. This is what hit me Industries are different, you know, so when you come to the West Coast, you know entertainment Yeah, you know Silicon Valley. Yeah, so people make their money in a different way Yeah, and so when you make your money the way we make it in the Midwest you get up at 7 o'clock in the morning Yeah, if you're lucky, yeah, you go to the plant and you work you grind, you know There's three shifts, you know afternoon morning afternoon, and then there's that graveyard shift and I noticed that People make their money different on the West Coast down south and it doesn't really lend to getting up early Or having that grind, you know, it's different. Yeah, that's true I hadn't thought about it being industry specific But it definitely has something to do with that because my dad was always up at I don't know five probably got in the car If it's winter, you go out you start your car, then you take a shower. Yes Everybody did 15 minute let your car warm up. Yeah, and then you know when you get here, you know, you have to really slow down Because that pace so like you said, I'm thinking my wife wanted something this morning I'm thinking all right. I'm gonna get up go to a 7-eleven. Yeah I'm gonna go to 7-eleven at 6 o'clock in the morning and get her what she wants It's like no that doesn't work like that and there's a place. I've been getting a Vegan cuisine and they had the tempeh, you know, barbecue sandwich, whatever And my wife was like I'd love to have one and I looked them up and it was like they don't open until 11 Yeah, and they close at three. Sure. I was like, how do you make money? I was like, you're not at home Yeah, you're on the west coast. Nobody's probably even eating after four o'clock on the west coast. They're working out Exactly they're working out. They're going to work the way they're making money is they just go Hmm. We can work half as much but then we'd have to double the price and they're like, yeah, that's just double the price And everyone's like, oh, okay. It's a 12 dollar sandwich now. Right, right Why did you go back every weekend? That's to Chicago. That seems unbelievable. Did you take the train? I mean, how did you get my mom actually drove? My mom actually drove a long drive It is it was a three hour four hour drive. But what I love about it. We stopped every Weekend on our way up to mcdonald's and got the big breakfast You know, so I could always look forward to that. But my mom is very close. It was 14 siblings And my mom is one of the older ones and so her and her sister's had a very close relationship A lot of her best friends were from there. She only moved to Detroit because she married I wasn't my biological father, but he raised me. Uh, she moved there, you know for a marriage So her life was in Chicago her work and family, you know, were in Detroit But most of her siblings were back in Chicago. So that's kind of what we went back and forth But it was great. I didn't have any brothers my sister younger sister Well, my middle sister is seven years younger. The other one is 14 years younger So spending time with my cousins every weekend. They were like my brothers and sisters. So it was a great experience Man, it's like watching something on, you know, showtime or something. Sure. Yeah, this is like big sitcom Then you get to leave before things get too And go home, right? Yeah, like I'm sick of sharing I'll be done. I go, but you know, it was crazy because I was like the Open wind free color purple was like every time don't leave me silly And so I would leave and my little cousin would run behind me and we're crying and waving. I was like, don't worry about it I'll see you in another seven days. So yeah, seven five days Yeah, that's funny. That's funny. So you you ended up moving to Detroit It's almost like you guys just didn't get the memo moving one dangerous area to another Thanks. Thank you. Come on. Yeah, mom should have come to the west coast or the south where it was warmer But I will say this. I think a lot of people, you know in the world Not just in the u.s. Gravitate toward the message because at the end of the day I think there are more people like the midwest than it is Oh, yeah, this is a weird bubble I remember when Whenever I look at election results and people are just shocked and I'm thinking you just don't know anyone outside this area It's quite a few of them. Yeah, there's there are people that voted for depending on where you are Who voted for Obama? I'm like literally the majority of the country. That's right. Most people did Yeah, or most voters did and it's just like how did you not see that or how did Trump win? It's like, well Look at all the states in red. Some of them were really close, but some of them were not and that's how that happens Yeah, and uh, it is easy to get caught up in the bubble because And if you see it with businesses too Where someone's like, it's a juicer But it's really expensive and you can only juice our juices our packets. You can't put real things in there And it's like this is a terrible idea and they're like, I'll give you 48 million dollars Yeah, only in california. Yeah. Yeah, but the the bubble goes both ways. It does you're in the bubble of Kids and young people that think I can never do What's going on in the west? What's going on here right now is Something they see in movies music videos that they either aspire to or that they think is so far outside their reach They're never going to get there. So why try and I think that's why it's important You know grateful to be on the podcast today and it's great I'm grateful to have the opportunity to show kids But yo when you grew up in detroit, it is that bubble of You know for gem and chrysler and I just want to show kids that there is another world And it and it doesn't require a lot to get to the other side of you know, especially now with Um, the different airlines, you know, etc Like you can really get to the west coast and get an experience so that you can go down I was in miami and I never stay in miami. I always stay in fort lauderdale But those are two different worlds, believe it or not and they're only 30 40 minutes away from each other So I tell kids get your passport get out of your space and see another part of the world and you'll be shocked When you see another human do it It'll click and you'll be like, you know, I could do this because I never saw anybody when I was growing up anyway In detroit. I never saw anybody Like making money speaking professionally. No, you know, I didn't I didn't think I could do voiceovers, you know for different, you know, um, I've done dicks, of course and uh, just recently wing stop I didn't I nobody in my family made money doing what they love Everybody made money doing what they hated and that was going no disrespect to the big three But you know working for a plant wasn't necessarily their dream job. Nobody's dream job But I mean to make good money, but I'm looking now it's like yo e you're doing what you love And I think of my cousins or my uncles or my aunts that were all great orchards who never Actually did it professionally because they didn't think that it was an option And I just want kids to know there are way more options than you think and don't allow the options in your community To be the only options you explore That's a great point and I've mentioned this type of thing before on the show because when you're a kid you think doctor army Uh, I don't even know a police environment. Those are the jobs teacher. Yeah, because that's always on the radar But then you go to high school And then you realize Thank you Somebody who can read my mind Then you go to high school and you realize Okay, I have like two more options other than army teacher and doctor, but not really I mean I even in college for me. I thought At some point they're going to tell us what we can actually Do with all this stuff, right? Because I'm still thinking teacher police officer except now I'm like in a russian class. What am I gonna do with that? I don't have anything to do with anything Yeah, what's about to happen to my life and so if you grow up in that bubble Whatever bubble you're in There's probably kids that growing up in Palo Alto that are like, I'm gonna be a systems administrator on facebook You know, and they don't or if that's what that's what's in their reality. Absolutely. That's what they see every day And that's why I'm saying Like kids you have to get a passport which is doable It's probably the cost of a pair of gym shoes you're wearing. Yeah, yeah, sure get a get a passport Get a flight which is probably the cost of Two pair of shoes you have You know and get on the west coast, you know come to the beach, you know go to the valley go Golden gate bridge, you know, I was talking to somebody Recently at my church and I was like, you know, look, I'm going to take a group of kids to california this year DC Florida and it's like that's a lot. I was like, I know But it's what back to what you said. I just when you go to college or go to high school I just want to make the connection because who goes to school for 180 days You know and you're taking subjects that you don't have the slightest idea what they are and enjoys that But if you can make a connection, oh, this is why school is important again, I'm not an advocate of college I went to college. I'm not actually a guy that believes you got to go to college to be successful But I do tell people by going to college There are some things that I'm able to do like analyze be critical in my thinking and use it in my profession So it's not like I'm using critical thinking to do some massive research or something But as a You know, I'd like to call myself, you know a leader in this generation, especially with the millennials I can critically think in a way that I couldn't when I had a GED You know, so I'm not a guy that believes that everybody needs to go to college But I am saying if you don't do certain things, you're going to be stuck in that bubble And there's so many bubbles and so many big bubbles that I'm so grateful somebody told me get out of Detroit They sent me to alabama before I went to michigan state to go to college And that was the thing that changed my life because I was literally around a group of people who didn't have the same You know background didn't think the way I thought and really made me analyze myself or my gift in a way I had never done before and then now I look at myself and I'm like wow It all started by 18 years old just getting outside of michigan for a couple years Yeah, I think that's a problem that a lot of people have is they there's no reason for them to leave that they can see And they also you don't know until you leave that you're going to have a different set of eyes on you giving you a different perspective Because naturally as humans, we all just think the way that I view the world is totally real This is the only way that you could see things that it's flat. It's flat. It's round. Whatever. Yeah, whatever Shaquille O'Neal But what did you think you were going to be when you were a kid? You probably weren't thinking I'm going to be an astronaut like what was going through your mind and your bubble at that time I'll just be honest, you know, you say you got two options I really thought For GM Christ, you know, I'm saying like if I could get a job at the plant You know making 20 some dollars an hour. Yeah, and then the other thing I thought in the 90s That was like 50 bucks right now incredible. Yeah, you know, unbelievable And I also thought I saw preachers like I didn't go to church much But I saw preachers and I was thinking yeah, maybe I can do that You know, that's they speak a lot and I like to speak So I was thinking and maybe I can do that but more like a Dr. Martin King type guy like not necessarily like this Like local, you know, pastor of you know, this like kind of stays and with that congregation I saw myself more like a Martin King like somebody that was using their their gifts to kind of change the world and I don't know why but I was You know drawn to Mother Teresa, even you know as a teenager I would look at somebody like Mother Teresa like, yo, I like that Like I don't know that I can do it, but I like what they're doing. They're doing good I don't know how much money you make doing that kind of stuff. Not a lot. Yeah, I don't know. I don't I don't know What kind of checks they get but I did admire So those were the two things that I kind of thought about and then when I start, you know Going to church with a friend the pastor mentored me and even as I see here now It's unbelievable. You know, he said to me at 17 when I was in a lot of, you know trouble and having, you know, a lot of problems He said to me like, yo, you have a phenomenal gift. You have this charisma. You're going to do great things And I sit here now saying like, yo, how was that how important was that to have somebody outside of my bubble? Sure Looking at me saying you're going to do great things and I would never tell anybody when I was a teenager But I would really walk away from that build and think into myself Yo, I'm going to be somebody this guy said I'm going to be somebody I don't have a lot positive going on in my life right now. So I'm definitely going to clean go on You know, I'm saying I'm a clean to these these positive words and I look at myself, you know 20 almost 30 years from the time he spoke that well actually is 30 years from the time he spoke that And I'm like, wow, this guy was absolutely right Which is why I do what I do because if somebody can do that for me I truly believe that I have the power to speak to some kid or even some adult, you know, if they Are still coachable and make them see things like you said in their bubble That's outside of their bubble that they would never see right through a fresh set of eyes It kind of reminds me of that There's a I think it's chris rock bit where he's like if you tell some kid in the suburbs You can be anything you want to be he's like, I fucking know that But if you tell somebody else that they're like, what are you even talking about right now? And so it is it is very important to make sure that you have that other set of eyes But how do you think kids especially kids from disadvantaged backgrounds can Can break the cycle because I think it's probably pretty hard For kids to take education seriously when they're like in a situation where you were where you were actually homeless for a while How do you then go no really stay in school and they're like, are you crazy? I'm abused at home I got drug dealer brothers and sisters. There's guns in my house. I'm not going to go to school. Are you crazy? What's we talking about? You know what you might this may sound like this might be a shock to you But I actually think it's easier to break the cycle now That it's ever been before and the reason why I say that is because You talked about it when I was growing up that was my bubble like I had an uncle who was a heroin addict You know, we didn't have like cable tv. So it wasn't like you saw Images of yourself You know on television like that, you know, it was good times Right, you know, jefferson's, you know, there were heroin addicts in the good times. You know it You know, so one on the show. Yeah, it's just not like you watch you you can watch cable now Hey, you can see anything you want to see you can see yourself in any light you want to you can create I you can get an app and they actually have you animated like so I really think it's easier because I couldn't see outside of detroit You know, like it was hard to see anything outside of motown just because that's where I am. We got local stations Yo, I'm studying in spanish now and it's crazy. I'm going to telomundo Like that's not something that I could have done 20 30 years ago I got an app that's showing me, you know that i'm working with every day that's teaching me the language and it's like Yo, I didn't have that 30 years ago. So these kids with technology really have a way of saying, yo, this is my uncle But wow, this is how they're living in cali. Like this is how they're living in miami I didn't have that I didn't see miami if you weren't in miami. You didn't see miami, you know So I think it's easier for kids to say, yo, I don't I have um bill gates. I've got warren buffett I've got uh lebron james. I've got coby brian You know, I just it's just so many different People that you can I was studying. I think I got john chambers yesterday. I didn't even know who this guy was I'm watching tv and he's talking about the five things you need to do to be great Incorporate america or hedge fund. I'm like, what I didn't even know what a hedge fund Like when I was a kid never even heard that term. So just being honest I think it's easier to break the cycle because you have way more Models role model call it what you want. I think when barack became president united states of america You know a lot of kids who like chris rock said you say hey, you could be whatever you want to be okay Whatever but when barack became president united states of america. It's like wow I even think with trump being president united states of america. I'm i'm probably more encouraged than I was With baracko bum. I'm like wow this guy didn't take the tradition. Oh anything can happen now All bets are up, bro. There's absolutely nothing I can't be or do so. I don't I think it's probably easier now Well, well, they have their aha moment is the question. Well, will they be in the environment or engage in the environment? And I think if you're just hanging around the environment, no, you don't see the obvious But if you get engaged Then whatever and I tell kids all the time, you know, I hate school. I got a phd I hate school There was nothing about the phd process that I enjoy But it gives me options and I love options doors that were closed to me 10 years ago are open to me now You know because of school because of the network my my my top clients dan gilbert Michigan state grad. Yeah, my my my my god who owns, uh, which was jeff jeff's michigan state. Oh, that's a michigan company I didn't know it. I he started in texas. I didn't know now. I'm working with um a group called united shores You know, uh, michigan state grad matt actually played on the, um, 2000 National championship team, you know, so I'm just saying college is not just about a degree. It's a it's a Fraternity if you will, you know, uh, it's it's networking if you will So I tell kids without college or without an education It's going to be hard to make your dreams become a reality. We already know what happens when you don't do school We already know what happens when you're in gang. We already know what happens when, you know, you're dysfunctional You know, it's jail dead dead in life. And so for me, I just tell these kids like, yo, don't look at school as Science social studies, you know, english whatever look at it as ching ching Look at it as a gateway a bridge to get from where you are to where you want to be It sounds like a tough job convincing someone of that So you have to become a role model that provides some sort of influence You grew up with your biological father not in the picture At what age did you get male role models aside, you know, aside from your mom At what age did you get male role models that were positive In your life, I'll be honest. They might have been there. I didn't see him I wasn't paying attention to it. Yeah, I turned it off. But in college When I went to college and saw guys that looked like me Everybody talks about barack obama. I saw barack obama In 1989 when I went to oakwood university. I saw barack obama and derrick green You know in the cane brothers, you know, I saw barack obama and my boys skip in an equate So I went to college and for the first time in my life I saw guys who looked like me who weren't gang bangers or who weren't, you know, trying to just play sports And there's nothing wrong with sports, but you know, I I didn't see myself You know going to the nba or to the nfl. I saw regular guys Who have phenomenal dreams and today Derrick green is is a lobbyist and he was a strategist for the governor in jersey So he was the lead strategist for this guy and the guy became governor and I'm watching d That's what he was doing. We were in college. Like that's what he was about I'm watching um pucky who now is a pastor in tennessee. That's what he said He wanted to do the cane brothers from bermuda This literally happened. They said they wanted to be in law They graduated went they're from bermuda. So they went to I guess a university in london and I remember going to court and he had a wig on his head a white wig Yo, okay. What are you doing? Yeah, not designed for what are you doing, right? And he said, you know, it was funny. I was just sitting in there and they was like all rise I'm like, I ain't rama noodles with this guy. What do you mean? Oh, all right. All rise Stand up for what? Yeah, it was like, you know, you're not that's not your friend anymore Yeah, I said judge you're in court. So I I was around these guys man for years And um, they became my role models and they pushed me they were reading a book a week You know, they were having think tanks. They were going to conferences We were going to communities and doing community You know activism So yeah, those were my first role models and then from them whoever they were reading Their fathers their brothers became my role models as well And then I was able to go back to my community and respect You know, my father who again wasn't my biological father But who raised me I could go back and respect that relationship Which at one point I was just like, yo, you're not my father. Yeah, this is being real Like you can't tell me what to do. I will I emotionally cut him off. I left home at 13 for the first time back and forth and at 16 I left for good You know, so but I was able to go back and realize that those guys that were getting up every day and going to Forge in Christ little the few women that were doing it was like, yo E These were actually role models. They showed you what consistency looked like They showed you what grind and hustle looked like and I was able to draw lessons from them and use it You know for these kids today So what was going on in your life when you left home because it sounds like your mom was around she took you to Chicago You had great cousins your stepdad seems to have cared about you and then suddenly it's like nope I'm I'm leaving and now I'm going to be homeless like what happened at that point And then how did you get your aha moment to snap out of it? Well, I think what happened my mom lied and then Tell me who my father was. Oh Okay, didn't know that that was not in the wikipedia I try to reserve moms, you know, wrap, you know, I'm saying with that one You know say that's not something we just you know, we don't wear it as a t-shirt But uh, and mom, you know, I'm an adult now. So I get it. I understand, you know, my biological father We started a relationship when I was 30 weird Grew up with him my whole life, you know, up until maybe 13 14 I didn't know who he was my grandma would say he's a friend of the family You know, so I knew my uncles and my aunts all my cousins my grandma I just didn't know who he was but it was weird. It's like, you know, he's got pictures with you guys This is a real close friend. Yeah, I'm saying, uh, but when I found out at 12, you know that Yo, this is in my real father like, you know, the the like loyalty thing like, oh, you weren't loyal My like you were a liar like and so the relationship at that point I can say emotionally You know everything I just cut them off It's like I'm living here, but you guys are liars. You guys, you know, you whatever and I'm getting in trouble because I'm lying All right, this is hypocrisy at its finest and so when I left home at um 16 for good I I didn't I had an Australian relationship with my mom Pretty much cut my family off hated to not be able to be there for my sisters But you know, I cut them off and um really got into a dark place I was around people selling drugs things of that nature. I never really got into that but started stealing from the mall and Just lifeless, man It just didn't have a whole lot of life in me But I could say a good friend of mine started taking me to church. It wasn't church like that wasn't the thing The pastor was a man. He was a military man Took care of his five children was loved on his wife I really looked up to this guy and he became my mentor And he really helped me to get my life on track sent me off to college Help me to get my gd. Wow sent me off to college and my girlfriend at the time at the church She went to the same university. I went to and you know, we started a real deep relationship got married after our soft After our freshman year. We've been married about a little bit over 27 years now. So, uh, it's crazy. You figured out what you wanted early Geez, that's Do that to you. Yeah when you're homeless in 16 by 19 you pretty you're pretty mature about that time Right, you're like, okay. Um, there's a better. There's two ways to do this. This way sucks I'm going the other one that way. Yeah Dang yikes that that is um That is such a crazy experience to have because I think a lot of people think That they're gonna leave school and do something else They don't think I'm gonna leave home and leave school and sleep on outside Or eat from I mean were you homeless like eat from dumpster homeless? Yeah, but I was smart So I that didn't last long. Yeah, I ended up getting a job at mcdonald's and I was smart So I wasn't School smart, but I was life smart, you know And what what I ended up doing was taking the job at a 24 hour mcdonald's And so I worked from 5 p.m. To 5 a.m. And you're in a safe place at night safe place That is easier to go to somebody's house and act like you just coming over for breakfast Yeah, and stay the day then it is to go at night and act like you're coming for dinner Right leaving so mcdonald's proved to be phenomenal and I say this my work ethic was so phenomenal mcdonald's Not because I love working, but I knew I could not lose that job. Oh, yeah, man Man, let me tell you I was so good I I could flip burgers where they would take three people to do I could do by myself And then there was a lot of guys that worked with us who were also high school kids So they were silly immature So I was like I got them beat all day like they're not going to come on time They're going to come and play because we were on finkel in wyoming, which was a very dangerous but playful It reminds me of krenshaw like it was the same thing like everybody friday night with cars would line up You know, we were people drinking smoking and that's where I would work, but I'm tell I would flip burgers I was great The manager we became very close. He'd take me to breakfast after we closed. He knew I was homeless You know, he would buy me things, you know try to help me, you know, I was like a kd I got drafted at mcdonald's, you know, I was one of the best of the best, you know, so definitely Dark placement not really knowing where I was headed. It's not like from homelessness Like that's not really a track to anywhere. No, no, that's the end of the track You know, so it wasn't like I was homeless with a six-year plan, you know I was just kind of like out there But I tell you as crazy as it sounds my mother used to say this all the time My mother got pregnant with me at 17 years old, you know finish high school But couldn't go to college because she had to get a job and my mother always says when we travel together I didn't know what I wanted to be But I knew what I didn't want to be oh interesting, you know, yeah And so that's what mom passed to us. It's like, hey, I can't say I'm gonna be a doctor, a lawyer, whatever But I know what I don't want to be and I don't want to be homeless anymore I don't want to eat out of trash because I don't want to work for 12 hours at mcdonald's. This check is terrible I don't, you know, I don't want to do this. And so I didn't know what I wanted to do But I definitely knew I didn't want to do that. So there were certain choices I didn't make that other people my age was making because through I didn't want to go to prison I didn't want to die. I just I didn't want that life forever So you were playing a few moves ahead even back then but but it seems like All right, so when you dropped out of high school, did you think Now I'm going to be homeless or what were you thinking at that time? You don't think well, you don't think about that, right? I just didn't say you I don't want to put you there. I'm sorry. No, but I mean people generally don't think Yeah, I didn't once I leave this place. I'm going to go sleep in that alley and eat out of a dump No, when I cussed my mom out, you know, I felt so Liberated for like five minutes. I was feeling good. Like I cussed her out You know all the neighbors having to be out. It was a great story. Everybody having to be out I got to show out for the neighbors, you know, I was Man feeling good walk to one of the local stores got me a little something to eat and then the sunset Right, you know, and if you've ever been homeless Like when I said that you knew exactly like you were feeling me right there Just like the world stopped and you it was funny I was walking the other day was five degrees in michigan and I just stopped and I was so reflective We're going to get my haircut and my my videographer was like, yo, you good. I'm like, yeah, he's like, okay Well, what's like you just had a moment what happened? And I was like, yo, I remember being homeless in his weather He was like, really? Yeah. Yeah. He's like, yo, I can't walk from the car to the barbershop Like what do you mean you were home? I was like literally I was homeless and in this whatever and and and for me it was E you got to do something to get out of here So left home acting a fool went to the grocery store and afterwards the sunset and I was like, yo E You didn't think this all the way through. Yeah, like where do you go from here? What, you know, what where do you stay and I end up going back home? not Physically going back home, but I went back to my home property Because I knew I would be safe and something happened. I could knock on the door and my next door neighbor had these great You know, like the summer When you call those patio set and like it yeah, like a lounge chair I took the Padding off of that put it on the ground. There were these bushes that were close to my My my family's home the wall and the bushes and so I slept there for about two or three nights And um, you know, I'm from there man found a friend who let me sleep in the car And then from a car to an abandoned building, you know, so um, yeah, it was um, it was interesting times A great I mean if you could make it through it. It's a great book You know, it's a great story But but the when I was actually going through it at 16 17 18 man. It was um, it was scared Yeah, you're so vulnerable during that period of time and you're so and not you people are so dumb You'll meet yeah, we were all dumb as hell at that age. Yeah. Yeah, you couldn't say square that Yeah by by two. I mean, you know, I it was I wasn't thinking man I was full of anger, you know, whatever I'm just telling young people who might be listening to the podcast or adults who might be listening like sometimes for real you Man, you get so angry that you know, your ability to think, you know, to be rational goes down anger 10, you know, ability to be rational zero and just really think through, you know, my new thing is then what, you know I think that came out of my experience like okay, you do this Then what happens after that and I think if we can do the then what with the same intensity We do the anger. I think we put ourselves in a much better place How do you get people to do that because anger is by nature really strong emotion Getting people to go I'm gonna make a plan and stick to it not quite the same level of intensity all the way through that Yeah, you know for me, it's At some point, you you know, what I love about sports is that they do the stats They do numbers, you know, I'm saying like right now, you know, everybody's Cleveland's whatever I don't really know what that means come, you know, the finals, you know come to playoffs But right now it's like yo Cleveland you lost whatever whatever, you know, it's Boston you whatever whatever You know go to state you right where you're supposed to be like it's numbers And I think one of the mistakes that we make as humans is we don't measure And when I start measuring when I start saying, okay, Eric, you make this decision And this was the outcome like you got pissed And you eat not trash cans. Yeah, you might want to stop doing that. Like that's not working for you You know, so for me it's it's measuring like okay You can't just say it's cool because you're doing it Like it just can't be a great idea because it came from your head. You got to measure it, you know A mile is a mile. You know what I'm saying? Like you either ran a mile or you didn't you either walked a mile Or you didn't like the marathon is what it is. What is that 26? Yeah, you're asking to run that Yeah, something like that, right So you can't do 25 miles and say or 23 miles or 18 and say I ran a marathon like you didn't run a marathon Right, you try. Yeah, you try right and so for me, it's like, okay, Eric You did that with your children And it worked, you know, you did you study and you got a good grade You know, you didn't study you probably all weekend You failed so I would just say to people until you get tired Sick and tired of coming up short sick and tired of losing you'll keep doing the same thing But once you get to a point where you're like, I want to win you'll start measuring And what I love about measurement is, you know, the numbers don't lie. They don't lie. Yeah But what you're talking about involves Some level of personal responsibility first because you can measure something go Yeah, but that was that was his fault because I I was there and then he just came and screwed it all up So how do you get people especially young people because I know I wasn't about to try to take personal responsibility for everything How do you get them to go? All right, this measurement didn't work And it's my fault and I have the power to change it instead of just saying well, my mom, you know She lied to me about this five years ago. So I'm a victim Yeah, you know what? I man Okay, guys and y'all gotta hear me right This is not gonna be deep. I didn't really need you to pay attention. Okay So when I first started doing like voice over work and you know that kind of stuff when people start using my voice I was so excited that I know you think about rights Right, you're like, you can do whatever you want with it. Whatever you want. I didn't even know they were making money I'm just happy to be here. I'm super excited. Yeah, you know, and I started real out. Oh, that man come talk dollars Yeah, oh he made a couple and I watched the movie ray And it was a aha moment. Like yo, you need to own the rights. Yeah to your gift, right? Is that the ray charles? Yeah, he got taken for a ride. Yeah, he did and I and I saw that and was like Yo, the this whole thing about the american dream is about not only liberty But owning your own freedom your own rights and and that's why I was upset when I left home It was like, you're my you made all these decisions for me That affect my life and we never got to sit down and talk about it Like you made all of these decisions like you lied. You did put me in this school. You sent me here Like we didn't sit down and say son. What do you think about? Yeah, and so for me That's what I discovered the only true way to have to own your own rights is to take responsibility Because once you give the responsibility to somebody else, they have all the power They have all the rights and I was like yo, I want to own my own rights to my voice I want to own the right to my bank account I want to own like I want to be able to make decisions for Eric and I want to be able to look I don't care. I was never the guy people say you grew up in Detroit. You know, there's this teacher never so dope I never so dope because I didn't I didn't want to sell dope like and so I wasn't going to get in trouble For you like I wasn't going to stand on the block and give somebody else money And they don't have to be on the block and they don't have to get in trouble But if I get caught I gotta do 20 years But nobody even know I'm like, yo, I'm not into that like so why did I steal from the mall? I had look this might sound crazy But I was in control. I was the fastest guy I knew so they could never catch me I would steal some since I was maybe 10. I would go in stores still some I got I like the high I'm running and somebody's like well, Eric, you're stealing. Yeah, but I like the fact that I was bad knowing me all I didn't have to wait for five other people, you know And so for me literally just to break it down The reason why I take responsibility is because I own the power when I take responsibility I choose if this thing changes or if it stays the same I choose if it gets better or if it gets worse and I'm gonna tell you Hey, if I was on that's what I love about Kyrie Irvin You say whatever you want to say I like what Kyrie is saying Kyrie is saying Yo, if I'm gonna make the last minute shot I want I want to get full credit for making the last minute shot like no disrespect to LeBron James But I don't want to share if I make the last minute shot the last defensive play and we won a championship I want to be able to share Fully in the moment. I don't know. But when you look at Jordan and Pippin, it was almost like they were one Right never really said Jordan without saying Pippin. So for me, I'm like, yo, I feel I feel Kyrie in that I just want to own the rights if I work hard. I want credit for it if I make a mistake I want to take full responsibility for it. So that's just how I think so that young person out there Once you give away They did it and they did it you give away power You give away how much money you can make how much happiness you can have and I just don't want to do that I want to own my rights and get all the rewards. So if you're going to own the glory You got to own the consequences too. And so that's That seems like it makes a lot of sense because I think for a lot of people that they want to own the glory But that immaturity comes into play when then there's consequences and they go Yeah, okay. I don't want that. I just want to look good when it makes sense I don't want to look bad when it's also my fault. Yeah, you ain't got to take them. Yeah So so what made you go into education? Did you just have a desire to teach other people what you were or were not taught? What was that about good at it? You know, that's what I tell people people kill me with you know doing what they want to do, you know To me, you know do what works not what you want to work I got up on the microphone and I spoke and guess what happened when I spoke on the mic people who hate doing Motivational speeches like they would just be like, yo, can you keep going when I was going to classroom? I would shut the classroom down. You know, I would teach and kids were just like mom My son never wanted to read he wants to read now. So it just it was the only thing I was good at I wasn't good at writing You know, I wasn't good at spelling these I wasn't good at standardized tests You know, I wasn't good at a lot of stuff But the one thing that when I did it it was magical was speaking and teaching so I figure hey That's what you're good at. You need to stick with this Yeah, okay, so you found a natural talent and you lean into it. That makes sense Speaking of leaning into something you're known as the hip hop preacher But a lot of hip hop values don't really mesh with religion They don't even mesh with positivity at all sometimes So why lean into that branding because a lot of people associate hip hop with like misogyny Materialism violence why lean into that? I'm taking it back. Yeah, okay. That's that's new hip hop. That's not That's you know, that's not the origin of hip hop, you know, and where it was just You know parents just don't understand right. Yeah, you know my radio, you know, that that had nothing to do with You know, uh, the violence and you know, the some of the egotistic stuff that we see in this generation No disrespect to this generation of hip hop is theirs. They own it, you know, they they do whatever they want But the generation I come up with queen Latifah you and it y You know unity don't call me a b or whole, you know, that that's where so for me It's like, yo, you some some of these artists give Hip hop a bad name. And so I'm like, yo, I'm taking it back. I'm taking a hostage, you know And I do believe that pure hip hop Is consistent with You know the positive stuff that I talk about and there is a lot of positivity in it And I don't want the legacy to be that it's what it is today. Like I want us to look at The body of work in hip hop and like I said in my generation friends How many of us have you know that that that was positive That was that was positive stuff. So yeah, I relate more to The original hip hop in the you know late 70s early 80s more than I do, you know, the hip hop of 2018 Now there are some great artists some very positive artists and hip hop So let's make sure that we you know, give them their credit But to your point, there there is absolutely way more negative hip hop than there ever was So you got to fight those influences in the kids that you talk to as well because there it's How do you counter something like that? I mean if kids see I don't know anybody riff raff or other guys on tv He's like the literal world's example. It is acting like thugs How do you come back and say something like actually it's cool to keep your promises and work hard and take responsibility for your actions and consequences Because it's like well, what what track is that in? I don't know who's saying that right and you know for me. Um, I was featured on meat meals Yeah, you know wins and losses and so the thing I love is that you know meat Say yo yo eve represents This generation of hip hop, you know, I'm saying like he is a part of this culture So I'm gonna put eon in his raw state of me being positive, you know, and then As he's rapping or other rappers rap I just extrapolate the stuff that is congruent with what I'm talking about So I don't choose to talk about the murder and the son of drugs I talk about oh meat meals is right wins and losses Like if you if you are going to be successful in this light, you're gonna take some losses You you can't let that get you down. You're gonna get some wins It's just a part of I think the year brady went 16 and 0 They lost a superbowl The next year they had a decent, you know schedule and they won a superbowl So wins and losses are a part of life. So I just tend not to focus on the negative I pull out all the positive and I make kids focus now. I also say to kids Let's be honest Look at the people that you look up to let's measure how many years of success of these guys happen You know, I'm saying like let's measure it, you know one hit wonders that they last for three years five years, right? So do you want your success to be three years five years? Look at the people you look up to look at their life outside of social media What's going on in their life? Look at some of the decisions they make is that where you want to end up and if not while I'm nowhere near perfect Let me be a modern day example to view of what happens when you live positive. You still Whatever these kids call it have some celebrity Status if you will I've been married over 27 years went from gd to phd. My son just graduated from michigan state My daughter's at michigan state You see the people that I run with in terms of athletes, you know, just everyday people you see the success that i'm having So i'm giving you an option you could you could get with this or you could get with that I'm giving you an option of mom 17 years old pregnant south side of chicago grew up without my biological father I'm where you're from. These are the choices that I made. This is where I am at 47 Now, let's just be honest for those kids who watch me the people who watch me every year is getting like I'm not a one hit wonder every year The depth of the work, you know the the the reach of the work Is is I mean global so kids are seeing you know my stories with me and my wife and join ourselves You know Not divorced and it's nothing against people who are divorced life happens But kids are getting to see yo et is doing it this way man. I like the results et is getting this guy I like the results. He's getting but man seemed like it only lasts three years or right four years Again, you could get with this or you can get with that. I'm not telling you what to do I'm just providing a viable option To kids all over the world and saying you have choices If I were you I would choose the path that's going to take you to sustain success Sure So if you zoom out far enough on the timeline, you can see who's making good choices And who's not because nobody's like my role model is dmx right like that that faded At some point after he went to jail for 20 years or whatever And so the message of like drugs guns and money Sounds great when you're zoomed in on the music right on wax And then you zoom out far enough and it's like, oh, yeah, he's broke now Oh, remember he got shot and then he went to jail and then they caught him with drugs And then they caught him with drugs again like you even look at oj Who was a huge role model for kids in the 90s? And then you just think oh, yeah, but nobody's nobody's trying to be oj right now I mean, it's it's just sad right now the story's not over right now right now Not right now not at this point and you can look at the choices that were made like Absolutely. Oh, I didn't mean to kidnap those guys and steal from that. It's like, oh man You just look at that and you go Damn. Yeah. Ouch. Just you just fell so hard And I think the I think the challenge though you talked about that bubble We have to give kids You know, whatever bubble they're in Options and say, hey, yes, this is the this is this might be the path Most traveled and this might be the path least traveled But let's let's measure it and let's just see in the long run Who has the most success? I look at Martin Luther King and I'm like, wow, you know I mean you just celebrated his birthday a couple days ago. This guy's no longer with us in his legacy I look at Mother Teresa every time I'm like the hundred. Okay, this is amazing. All right, forgive me guys We're going on this this this soap bottle. This is unbelievable though They have like people the top hundred people in the world I'm like, how does Mother Teresa keep making it? There are people who are live that are not making this list Right, like I'm not trying to be funny, but there are people who are alive And even in her death, she's still her her numbers Her stats are still better than people who are alive and active and well and doing what they're doing So it's like a Walter Peyton. She's like a Walter Peyton. You know, uh, in her own right in terms of humanitarian So, um, so again, you some of the people that you mentioned Yep, three or four years, but a mother Teresa or Martin Luther King, you know, we look at these people and we still go Wow What a what humans they were and we're still trying to be like them So I just think in our era and again, I would I do not compare myself to those people at all But in this era, I think kids need to have a couple You know Out outliers that they can look to and say, yo, it is possible to come from where I come from and still make it to where You know, I hope to be how do you tell people who in a disadvantaged situation That they can become successful point to these outliers or these role models and then actually get them to believe you Right because it would it's really easy to Watch tv when you're young and think I'm gonna do that. But then you get older and you you kind of At least I kind of go, I'm not gonna be on Beverly Hills 90210 or whatever That's not not that that was ever my dream But like if it were a good dream if it was yeah, I would have like I would have wised up at some point But how do you get kids who are in that disadvantaged background to go? Okay, so you mean to tell me that even though i'm 15 and I have a kid and my mom had me when she was 15 And I don't know where my Boyfriend is who and nobody's helping me with this. You're saying that I can not only get out of this But I could go to college and get a career going like who what are you talking about? Yeah, and here's here's I think that most people Who don't think about what they can become their own cruise control I mean, I was on cruise control my grandfather dropped out My father dropped out. I was on cruise control, you know And then one day I said to myself like yo this losing doesn't feel good I want to win You know like for real. I want to win and so I think those individuals who don't do well It's not that they can't do well. It's just they never reflect. They never think it's just like Yo, this is the life that was given to me and I woke up one day. I was like, yo Why why are you taking what was given to you? You don't take what's given to you anything else if my cousin came to me like, oh He got these shoes I wore for three years had ease I wouldn't take them So why am I taking the academic legacy that my father gave me No disrespect to my biological father. We have a relationship now But he had multiple women kids by multiple women my grandfather. I never met but here he had multiple kids by multiple women I was just like yo, you don't have to you don't have to you know how it felt not having your dad in your life Like as an adult i'm 47 years old It's still painful looking back as a father who was there for everything my son ever did Not having my father in my life. So it's like yo, you know what it feels like to lose Why are you why why are you accepting it? At least try to win and I just don't think kids who are disadvantaged ever wake up and say I can live in Beverly Hills Like I can be a lawyer or a doc They don't think and the day I woke up and realized yo e Stop giving what they take you and go out here and make your own like even if you fail Do it on your own terms. So I Reluctantly study for the g ed and took the g ed because my girl was leaving and said I'm not going to college and dating you if you don't come like I'm breaking up with you So I got the g ed and then I got the four-year degree took 12 years And then I got the masters and didn't think I could read or write You know enough to get it and then somebody was like, okay Well, you got the master go get the phd try if you fail you try and I got the phd It was like yo, I could do all this if I tried but but I think those who are disadvantaged You are not disadvantaged actually And no disrespect, but I talk about you know in my presentation sometimes people like tiger woods Who won his whole life? Yeah, and so when he when he experienced his first defeat He just hit the wall which I thought was his father's death. Yeah to me that was like this guy You know his father been there his whole life and when he lost his father, man It was like devastating and I just thought him winning his whole life You know, I'm saying I'm winning early like that that I just thought like yo tiger woods is a great dude He just doesn't necessarily have the tools to get back on his feet because he's never really been like down And so I tell people my homelessness is the greatest thing ever happened to me I'm studying for phd and guys are stressed out And they're coming to me like yo e we got to take these exams. We got stats. We got these uh, uh, We got to take these tests. I'm like, okay, and yeah, and what it's a test if you don't pass you still get to go home Yeah, yeah, you feel good to go to the movies to get to eat like what are you stressed out about? But I realized that they have been so successful that they didn't know how to take a loss and for me I hit rock bottom at 16 So everything has been up for me like I remember doing voiceovers It would take me an hour to do one line and I was like, all right, e you could get through this You had a trash can so to make this happen now. I'm doing commercials multiple commercials regularly So I really think the disadvantage don't understand you're not disadvantaged Like you have made it through so much and if you could just get up and start trying And stop making excuses and stop giving Stop taking what has been given to you and say look, I'm about to write my own story Like I'm about I'm literally about to take control of my own life and to those young people who were listening That's what the phd was about. It was like Yo with this phd, I can control my destiny a little bit more as a speaker You know what I'm saying? Because it's not like multiple motivational speakers have phd's So I was like, yo, this is going to put me in a category Where I can ask for the big bucks where I can ask for the first class Where I can ask to stay in the ritz where I can get a car servant You know what I'm saying? Like, yo, this is go so I'm willing to go through whatever little pain I got to go through for four or six years. I'm sorry for six years So for the next 40 years, I can live on my on my terms, you know, I'm saying so that's what I would say to kids Get to a place where you're not a victim anymore. You point your finger and get get live life on your own terms It's funny. You should mention the car service thing because what your assistant, I guess had told my wife my wife assistant Hey, are we gonna get a car service for him? And we were like How do we explain this without looking like super ghetto that we are we're like, we'll call him an uber, but it might be easier if he does it Yeah, that's right himself. Yeah, absolutely I'm like, well, he's from where I'm from. So he might understand that this is not happening Yeah, I was laughing because I went to the car dealership and they kept telling me I was at um, what was that um A national they kept saying well, we've got the q 55 and I'm like, oh, I'm good on that one They said we're not having any towels. I won't give me an impala. Yeah, but we have a cute 40 I said no, no, no, no. I'm sorry. I'm from Detroit. Yeah, I'd like an impala, please Yeah, I don't need it's like I just need to get there. I don't think fancy I'm not trying to figure out how to use this like european system. I'm not in the car Not in the car. No, I'm just trying to get from point A to point B Like you still remember how to drive right growing up in Detroit. I hope you still remember how to drive Uh, it's it's yeah We just felt a little bit like most people don't ask for that We should probably have something in our back pocket for people who are like Well, let us know when the car will arrive and I'm like, I don't know uber will tell you when your car gets there It's an app and it will show you exactly when you can watch the little car drive around on your own phone screen Yeah, yeah, that was for us. We're like, all right, and then Jen's like, do you think he's gonna be a diva? I'm like, no, no, no He's just used to being treated in a certain way because he's from Detroit You'll be fine. Yeah, I was like he went to michigan state He grew up in Detroit like he's gonna be fine But they have to ask so that there's no miscommunication. No disrespect at another school But I went I went to michigan state. It's just like real normal people Yeah, it's I went to michigan and I wish sometimes I'm like, you know, I didn't go to school with a lot of normal people That's the that's the next that's the next level in michigan. That's the highest level you could go to Yeah, it was it was funny being there because I remember there were a lot of normal folks from where you and I grew up and there were a lot of a lot of uh Well, first of all when I went to high school everybody was white. There was like one Black kid and we were like, oh hi. Hi. How are you? Uh, all right. Well, see you later. Like, I don't know how to handle the situation I'm in a class with there's multiple races in this class We're talking about issues today Yeah, and I just felt now retrospect. I just felt so bad for her because I'm like, how awkward is all this You're probably doing well now Yeah, yeah But like growing up in that environment that go into michigan and there's like the black law students association I'm black students in the indian and all this and I remember thinking I've I literally never thought about the fact that these other groups exist and have different views and have issues at all But what was really strange for me? And I don't know how it was at michigan state I had a lot of friends who went to state and they they seemed a lot more integrated at michigan I can definitely say I had a few friends outside of the norm and I definitely had classes with like A girl from ganna and we were pretty tight, but I don't feel like I got more Diversity experience really outside of that I feel like I actually got almost more isolated because I felt like I was Outside their their world and I know they felt like they were outside my world because we grew up so differently Yeah, yeah, I think you know man all of our schools in michigan, you know, I'm sure Have that makeup you know what I'm saying? I'm sure And just being from the african-american community, of course my lens would be totally different but I would say in terms of You know just being diverse Like state did it for me, you know state did it for me And again, I was a part of the basketball program part of the football program You know coach is allowed me to come in and do some work coach d'antonio You know always opens the door and so you know when you're dealing with sports, it's a different beast Yeah, you know, it's more of a camaraderie. It's like the military. It is man way different, but I will say I'll never forget man. I was in one class I don't I still to this day Don't know how I didn't get kicked out of the university But I had a guy a white male young lady had brought some cookies And and and he said, you know, I confronted him afterwards. He said he didn't mean any harm But I'll never forget he said to me Give me some cookies cookie boy And and bro when you talk about like yo, I almost choked my man out I I can see wow, I can see myself saying something like that and not having any clue that that's effective And that's what he said. He was like, you know, I didn't mean anything by yeah He's just like I was you know, he was going to get some cookies I was just teasing like yeah, good boy And we actually afterwards built somewhat of a relationship because we had to confront each other and you know, it was a great Um dialogue where he got to understand my background and what boy meant and here's the craziest thing I went to australia and in australia everybody's like Hey boy, that's my boy. Yeah, I was like, whoa, how's my boy doing twitter? Like, yo, he's like, yo mate We don't need me thinking about that mate. Yeah, like that's just the word, you know, you know In our history boy that wasn't you know, it was a derogatory term It wasn't you know, it stripped you of your manhood and my man was like, you I just asked for some cookies Like I wasn't he was like, I wasn't really you know going there And so, um, you know, again, like you said your land sometimes you can be sensitive You know for real there are times and I heard a lady say it on I think it was on Seeing in or I think it was seeing in but she was just saying, you know, that we do have to be cautious because You know, sometimes based on your experience, you could think something is You know, racism may not be race and then she was like, you know, in some instances, you know, it's it's blatant racism But that's what michigan state taught me is you have to And I didn't learn this just being honest from my my grandparents or whatever You know, but I learned you have to judge people for For who they are in their character Like you can't lump people together and say yeah that everybody in this ethnic background is this way and you could trust everybody You know that grew up on the west side of detroit, which you like that's not it and in michigan state I believe prepared me to be a global phenom You know prior to that just growing up in detroit varies that I was told detroit was the most segregated city In the between the 70s and the 2000s in the world really so when I came to somewhere like cali and just see the diversity in cap I'm like what in the world like when I went to michigan state They were saying the latino population from detroit. I was like, where are you from from detroit? I'm like, what detroit? What where yeah, I'm from detroit. I'm like, we're at detroit. It was like southwest side Yeah, mexico down travel to any other part other than your part like you don't go outside of your You know area so when I came to michigan state, man, it was just like, yo, I never I skated before I never went skiing before I never went up north of michigan. I didn't know what Traverse city was. I didn't know what yeah, you know, uh, uh, what is it? Mackinac island no, man, if you go to mackinac island, it looks better than beaches in california I never knew it existed poor here. I whatever that's because you're not a 70 year old white woman That's why But I'm just saying like, yo going to michigan state man changed my life changed my world And um, I believe i'm sitting here, you know, because prior to going to michigan state I I didn't my worldview was a lot smaller, you know, and so but michigan state was great Like I said, I time is oh, you know, dan tonio holless We've got a chance to be around these guys and you know other individuals and it's been a great experience This episode sponsored in part by michigan state university Hey They had to pay me extra because normally I only read michigan. Yeah, who wheels spartans will right? And this is a great thing. We're not at war right now. We're If we were back at home, we you know, you'd have to put up your flag and show It'd be like those restaurants in detroit where you got to pay but there's glass So they gotta put your money up under there. They put the food in that thing and they have to turn it around I thought they did that everywhere. It's I start trying to realize everybody doesn't do that No, I remember when I saw that for the first time I used to work down in detroit And I was the only white guy at work and we would go out all night Work in security or something like that. I obviously searched people. I was not the knuckle the knuckles And we would go out. No, right We would go out for breakfast at the end Somewhere like like meyers and finkel or something like that And I remember sitting there and there was just a whole huge plexiglass Wall and like you said the food in the little plexiglass like bank container and they turn it around and give it to you Money first off. Yes always And then the food comes last and I just thought like what a weird place where Everything is bulletproof because that's just the neighborhood you're in I never had seen that before and that goes back to your earlier point about getting your passport because it goes both ways If you're from a disadvantaged background, you have to see how other people live in order to see what's possible for everyone But if you come from an advantage background, you also have to get your passport and go see Not just be a tourist in but really go and try to see some of this other stuff because otherwise you end up in that Again, putting yourself in that bubble where you think well if these people just worked harder You know, they wouldn't have to worry about food stamps. They're just lazy and you're like, well, wait a minute When you grow up in a place where you're sleeping on a stolen lawn chair cushion In five degree or negative five degree weather You got other stuff to worry about other than Well, I've got to make sure I study for my bio test tomorrow. You're like, no, what am I gonna eat? Yeah, no question. Yeah, I wasn't thinking about bio. Yeah Yeah, you get you you're not even gonna go to school on two hours of frozen sleep. You're just hungry You're tired. You're trying to go to the bathroom or something So I love that idea about getting your passport. How do you recommend people Who are in it from any background start that experience of like you said getting the getting your passport Do you mean that literally like literally go out and get that if you don't have parents that have traveled and all of that This is what I love about the educational system. Like your teachers have experienced it all That's what I love about teachers. Like they're great people. They could have been lawyers, doctors, engineers, whatever And they come back and I always tell kids Between a counselor between a teacher Administrator principal, whatever you have access to the entire world You you know how many colleges are represented in one high school or one middle school? You have teachers have gone. I mean to a plethora of schools So so you talk about touring they could take you you talk about going out of the country. I'm sure Doing one of their spring breaks You know they traveled outside of uh, florida, you know, or california So they know the process they can help you get the paper work done So I look anything you need there's not an excuse. There's a teacher There is a counselor. There's an administrator that can walk you through it. There's the parent association as a coach You know coaches travel all over the world, you know, so there are absolutely no excuse and let's just be honest With technology if you have a smartphone, you can probably fill out an application passport application Or at least get started, you know right there on your phone. So no excuses guys again You know You are not in fear when it comes to the basketball court. You willing to take anybody on I don't care how tall you are how short you are, you know, football. You're willing to do it Baseball golf So whatever soccer when it comes to getting on that court or that field You will take on anybody at any time. I'm not saying anything wrong with that. I admire you for doing it But don't back down in the classroom Like don't get don't let a mad test scare you, you know, don't let an application scare you Don't let a standardized test. Okay. Don't let, you know, a Harvard or Yale or Princeton or USC or UCLA, you know Don't don't let don't let that scare you, right? Those of you who are in martial arts, whatever like you are not afraid And there's a lot of you kids just not afraid to fight somebody else So if you're not afraid to fight another human, don't be afraid to fight biology Don't be afraid to fight writing Even if you're not good at it like don't run from it You you you take your head on and I grew up in a community where I didn't like to fight I didn't want to fight and I had to fight and this is what I learned You cannot I just grew up in a community where fighting is a part of the culture You make it worse when you run You make it worse when you run you just face the you face it and you let bullies know Like yo, you might you might fight me But this is going to be and you might win but you're going to put up so much effort You don't want to go deal with somebody else. I had to fight the phd. I'm not Look, I just found out the difference between two and two to to all right just found it out a couple months ago All right, really just found it out. So, you know, I love it because I told somebody but I never got t.w. Oh wrong. I always knew that's the easy one I always got my money right never got my money wrong, you know, and I tell people, you know That I'm not perfect I still have my struggles But the one thing I will not do I will not back down To the phd. I didn't back down to the masses. I didn't back down took me 12 years to get a 40 degree I never back down and I'm one of the top motivational speakers in the world not because I'm the most talented I don't have average. I don't I don't have phenomenal skill But I have phenomenal will and if you learn to fight it you can get through anything in anything in this world There's a blueprint somebody has written about it somebody has left it in the book or some video you can watch on youtube But just do me a favor stop fighting in sports Stop fighting physically and start fighting mentally and emotionally And don't back down and math will get easier writing will get easier I helped my daughter my daughter's in college and she had some Essay she had to do and I helped her out. My wife was like, yo, how did you do that so easy? Like when I met you you were a high school dropout Like, you know, you just broke down to her a topic and the body body body to support and in the conclusion Like how did you do that? I said, listen to me when you've been writing for a year iteration after iteration after edit you get good after a while just being in that You know in the presence of that thing. So do me a favor God fight Well, that's a this is a great place to wrap So I don't want to screw that one up But is there anything I haven't asked you that you are like, oh, we got to talk about this real quick No, no, no, no, no, no, no The only thing is I've been married 27 years going on 28 this year If you can find love guys, you know, find it. I have two beautiful children that I adore Money is good. Travel is good. Cars is good. All that stuff is good. Whatever jewelry, whatever you like All that stuff, whatever But there's nothing like Healthy wholesome relationships. So if you got a buddy you guys are close with like stay loyal You know if you got a girl whatever I'm just saying relationships your parents go back show homage to your parents You know, but just don't think that it's just about the house the car the stuff If you have to do it alone I don't think it's as sweet me going home and my daughter treated me like I was Michael Jackson when she was five Six years old I meant the world to me my son being at Michigan state and being a part of the basketball program and You know and enjoying that experience with my son. He's got an elite eight ring a final four You know the letterman jacket like doing it with him You know, it's just it was so much better than when I just went to Michigan state by myself. So Look relationships are key Listen to me relationships are key money has its place stuff has its place But there's nothing like being in healthy wholesome relationships. So make sure on your journey to success You don't disrespect destroy relationships because you're trying to get rich Take the people with you is not lonely at the top if you take people with you Thank you so much, man. This has been amazing. Thank you By the way, do you still talk to the preacher who is your mentor? Is he still around? Yes, he called me. I'm hurt. He called me Three four months ago. He and his wife were celebrating their 50th anniversary. He invited me But I happened to be out of the country at the time But his daughter used to travel with me. She was she's a great singer. She traveled with me for years So we do stay in contact. He's in uh, Chicago. Dr. Phillip willing. So thank you for saying that and shout out to you Dr. Phillips, I love you man