Wiz Khalifa: How to Build Your Schedule to Make You Happy & Strategize Your Life 5 Years in Advance AI transcript and summary - episode of podcast On Purpose with Jay Shetty
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Episode: Wiz Khalifa: How to Build Your Schedule to Make You Happy & Strategize Your Life 5 Years in Advance
Author: iHeartPodcasts
Duration: 01:24:36
Episode Shownotes
What in your day makes you happiest? Where do you see yourself in five years? Today, Jay sits down with the iconic rapper, multi-platinum artist, and entrepreneur Wiz Khalifa. The episode explores Wiz’s journey from navigating the challenges of his youth in Pittsburgh to becoming one of the most recognizable
names in the music industry. Throughout their conversation, Wiz shares profound insights into his personal growth, family values, and the discipline behind his success. Wiz reflects on his early days, including the loss of a record deal and the resilience it took to rebuild his career. He discusses his evolution as an artist and individual, emphasizing the importance of gratitude, patience, and staying true to oneself. The conversation also dives into the balance between his professional life and personal responsibilities, particularly as a father. Wiz talks about raising his 11-year-old son, Sebastian, and his new daughter, Cadence, shedding light on how fatherhood has deepened his perspective on life and masculinity. Jay and Wiz also explore deeper topics like handling grief, cultivating self-discipline, and the nuanced concept of masculinity in today’s world. Wiz’s candid anecdotes, whether about quitting alcohol, building financial literacy, or practicing MMA for mental clarity, inspire listeners to live authentically, embrace personal growth, and focus on what truly matters. In this interview, you'll learn: How to Rebuild Confidence After a Setback How to Balance Personal Life and Career Successfully How to Find Gratitude in Everyday Moments How to Stay Calm Under Pressure How to Teach Discipline and Politeness to Kids How to Manage Money as a Creative Professional How to Stay Authentic in the Spotlight Every setback is an opportunity to rebuild stronger, and every triumph is a chance to inspire others. Prioritize what matters, whether it’s your personal growth, the relationships you cherish, or the values you stand for. With Love and Gratitude, Jay Shetty 100% of Proceeds are donated to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. NAMI is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. Visit https://jayshettyshop.com re(NEW) You Free Workshop Do you feel like you’re tolerating a mediocre life? I’ve created a workshop that shares 5 keys for creating a life you truly love. Access at no charge at www.renewyouworkshop.com What We Discuss: 00:00 Intro 04:15 Navigating Fame As A Star 09:18 The Craziest Fan Interactions 10:07 Family Matters The Most 11:49 Dealing With Grief 13:04 Seeking Family Support 13:54 Finding Balance In Grief 14:50 Life Before Fame And Success 16:47 What's It Like To Lose A Record Deal? 17:15 Confidence In The Face Adversity 18:37 Advice To Younger Self 19:22 Driven Goals And Compulsion 20:50 Being Contented With What You Have 21:30 What's The Hardest Conversation You Have Ever Had? 24:40 Building Connections With Your Audience 25:50 Ever Caught Anything Crazy On Camera? 26:45 Then VS Now Journey With Other Stars 29:13 Advice For Up And Coming Artists 32:11 How Far Do You Plan Your Goals? 32:49 Best Moves In Money Management 35:58 Dumbest Thing I Have Ever Bought 36:35 Best Investment I Have Ever Made 38:20 Relationship With God 40:30 Moving Around In My Childhood 41:58 How My Childhood Experiences Has Impacted Me 44:48 How My Views On Fatherhood Has Changed 50:17 How I Take Control Of My Career As An Artist 54:17 What I Learnt From My Mom 55:31 Something People Should Know About Me 1:00 How Working Out Helped Me 1:02 My Advice For Men Who Want To Get Into Health And Fitness 1:03 My Perspective On Masculinity 1:08 My Take On MMA And Martial Arts 1:12:09 How I View My New Album And Most Viewed Video 1:16:22 My Motivation To Go Sober From Alcohol 1:18:01 First Thing I Do Before I Go To Bed 1:18:32 Wiz on Final Five Episode Resources: Wiz Khalifa | Website Wiz Khalifa | Instagram Wiz Khalifa | TikTok Wiz Khalifa | YouTube Wiz Khalifa | FacebookSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Summary
In this episode of 'On Purpose with Jay Shetty,' Wiz Khalifa shares his journey from overcoming challenges in Pittsburgh to succeeding in the music industry. He discusses the importance of discipline, gratitude, and resilience, particularly in handling grief and setbacks, such as losing a record deal. The conversation also emphasizes maintaining a balance between personal life and professional success, prioritizing family, and developing a strategic long-term vision. Key takeaways include strategies for financial planning, the significance of authenticity, and the value of nurturing a genuine fan base, all while staying true to oneself.
Go to PodExtra AI's episode page (Wiz Khalifa: How to Build Your Schedule to Make You Happy & Strategize Your Life 5 Years in Advance ) to play and view complete AI-processed content: summary, mindmap, topics, takeaways, transcript, keywords and highlights.
Full Transcript
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00:01:52 Speaker_06
The craziest part of my life, I can go from performing in front of 40,000 people to either being in a dressing room, being in a plane, or being back in a bed all by myself. He is a multi-platinum selling recording artist, mini-mogul, and an actor.
00:02:11 Speaker_06
Did you feel like a big break was coming? I didn't know what that big break looked or felt like, but I knew that what I was doing was working. The gangbanging and the drug selling, that's not really for me.
00:02:23 Speaker_06
But the looking cool, the having girls, the making music, I'm like, I like that part of it.
00:02:29 Speaker_07
What's it like to get a record deal and then lose a record deal?
00:02:32 Speaker_06
Oh, there's no bouncing back from that.
00:02:34 Speaker_07
How unsafe was it where you were in Pittsburgh?
00:02:36 Speaker_06
The streets is crazy out there. I remember one of my first friends getting shot and killed in seventh grade.
00:02:44 Speaker_07
Wow. When was your sibling who passed away?
00:02:47 Speaker_06
She passed away, I think maybe seven years ago.
00:02:50 Speaker_07
How was that experience for you? Losing someone so close to you that you love?
00:02:54 Speaker_06
I am grateful that I was able to have, like, the last moments that I had, and to be able to prepare for it, and it's something that I'm still dealing with.
00:03:02 Speaker_07
What's a misconception you think people have about you? Hey everyone, welcome back to On Purpose, the number one health and wellness podcast in the world. Thanks to each and every one of you that come back every week to listen, learn, and grow.
00:03:28 Speaker_07
Today's guest is the one and only Wiz Khalifa, multi-platinum artist and Grammy nominee who rose to fame with his 2011 debut
00:03:37 Speaker_07
album Rolling Papers, featuring the hit Black & Yellow, Wiz won Best New Artist at the 2011 BET Awards and Top New Artist at the 2012 Billboard Music Awards.
00:03:49 Speaker_07
His song See You Again from the Furious 7 topped charts in 95 countries and earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song. Today we're talking about Wiz's newest album, Kush Plus Orange Juice 2. Please welcome to the show, Wiz Khalifa.
00:04:08 Speaker_06
What's up, man?
00:04:09 Speaker_07
What's up, Wiz?
00:04:10 Speaker_06
I'm chillin', how are you?
00:04:11 Speaker_07
I'm good, I'm good. It's great to have you here.
00:04:13 Speaker_06
Yeah, good to be here.
00:04:13 Speaker_07
You walked in with this real chill energy today. I was like, it was very calming.
00:04:18 Speaker_06
Yeah, I'm a super chill dude.
00:04:19 Speaker_07
I love that, man. Yeah, yeah. What's the first thing you do in the morning?
00:04:23 Speaker_06
Smoke weed. Every day? Yeah, yeah. First thing? Well, I take my dog outside. I have a Doberman, he's a puppy, but he's a big puppy. He's like, he's 10 months now and he wakes up pretty early, so I take him out.
00:04:37 Speaker_07
and then I smoked weed. Do you ever remember a day before that was the case?
00:04:41 Speaker_06
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember the days before that was the case.
00:04:44 Speaker_07
What were those days like?
00:04:45 Speaker_06
I was in school, so I would just get up and iron my clothes and, you know, go off to school.
00:04:52 Speaker_07
Yeah. Was there ever a time in your life where you tried to stop smoking or has that ever been a goal?
00:04:59 Speaker_06
Nah, nah. I never really fell back off of it. I never had a reason to.
00:05:04 Speaker_07
Yeah.
00:05:05 Speaker_06
Yeah.
00:05:05 Speaker_07
What does it do for you that you feel it needs to be your first habit of the day?
00:05:09 Speaker_06
For me, it just kind of gets me in a relaxing mood. I have a lot of things on my mind, like as soon as I wake up, so it's like... I'm here, I'm there, I'm everywhere. But if I smoke, I kind of chill, relax, put everything into its place.
00:05:24 Speaker_06
I write my goals down. I start to, you know, make some text messages or phone calls or whatever, depending on what the situation is. So everything just starts to come into place.
00:05:37 Speaker_07
You write your goals down regularly. Is that like a regular habit, a consistent habit?
00:05:42 Speaker_06
Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.
00:05:43 Speaker_07
Walk us through what that looks like.
00:05:45 Speaker_06
It's really like me kind of like just spitballing stuff, whatever it is, like short-term goals of mine, whether it be about clothing, music, family, visuals, content, just kind of like just writing the first ideas, like really short, really just to the point, nothing really crazy.
00:06:05 Speaker_06
I have a blackboard, so I'll sit in front of the blackboard and physically write it. Or if I'm in my car or something like that, I'll write it down in my notes. You know what I'm saying? Just to like little reminders and things like that.
00:06:17 Speaker_07
Yeah, I love that. How long have you had that habit for?
00:06:20 Speaker_06
It goes on and off just due to necessity, like how crazy my life is.
00:06:26 Speaker_06
So I just, I feel like, I don't know how long it's been because I do it so regularly and then I look back and I see how much I've done and I'm like, wow, I've been doing this for a long ass freaking time.
00:06:40 Speaker_06
So I think it's kind of like a second nature type of thing for me. Yeah.
00:06:45 Speaker_07
What do you find is the craziest part of your life?
00:06:48 Speaker_06
The craziest part of my life, I think the entertainment part is the craziest part.
00:06:54 Speaker_06
And I think it's because I can go from performing in front of 30,000, 40,000 people to either being in a dressing room, being in a plane or being back in a bed all by myself.
00:07:09 Speaker_06
And it's like to go from that much energy to just be at all by like back by yourself. I think that's pretty crazy.
00:07:17 Speaker_07
Walk us through what that feels like mentally. You just described two polar opposites, and the majority of people on the planet will never really experience those extremes.
00:07:27 Speaker_07
They might experience the loneliness in a room, but they won't experience the 30,000 people screaming your name, wearing your merch, whatever it may be, singing along to your music.
00:07:38 Speaker_07
What are you feeling in the in-betweens, in the transition of that to that?
00:07:44 Speaker_06
You have to have this thing where you kind of wind down and you know what is for where. You can't bring the stage home because eventually you have to wind down and go to sleep and wake up and do it again.
00:07:58 Speaker_06
And you can't be too turned off when you're on the stage because you have to bring enough energy. to where somebody is way in the back and they can feel you. So it's really just like a projection of like, you know, your energy and how you feel.
00:08:13 Speaker_06
And the majority of the times I'm in a great mood. I have great interactions with my fans and the people around stage and things like that. So it goes good. I'm in a great mood. But it's just a lot of this goes from really, really intense.
00:08:30 Speaker_06
And then it could just all just be shut off at one second. And I think that that's like the craziest part to me.
00:08:36 Speaker_07
Yeah, I can relate. You know, I'd heard that before. I can relate in a small, very small way comparatively, but I remember doing my first ever live show in 2019. It was at the Ace Theater or maybe 2018, something like that in the Ace Hotel.
00:08:51 Speaker_07
And it was like, I don't know, 1500 people, 2000 people maybe. It was my first ever show, and I remember walking off stage, jumping into the car to get driven back home, and it was just the strangest feeling. Like, it's so hard to explain it.
00:09:06 Speaker_07
And I wasn't, you know, it wasn't like, I don't do music, so I haven't got even that experience, but I'm feeling connected with my audience. Then you get into the back of a black, you know, a black car. You barely know it.
00:09:17 Speaker_07
I didn't know anyone in the car with me. I was alone, and I'm driving home, and I just felt, I was like, wow, I don't even know how to describe the juxtaposition. And then I went on my world tour last year. We did roughly 40 cities around the world.
00:09:31 Speaker_07
And that was like, you're in a new place every day. And now you're feeling that same thing every day. And so I know it's much smaller compared to what you've done, but to me, just getting that experience. And I remember that night I was lucky.
00:09:43 Speaker_07
I came home and my wife had planned a surprise party. So all my closest friends were back in my house. And that kind of like, it was a relief. But it is a really weird feeling.
00:09:53 Speaker_06
Yeah, I don't think the feeling is smaller due to the crowd or whatever. I think the feeling is the feeling. It's like when you're on a rollercoaster and you get back and you're in your bed and you still feel like you're on the rollercoaster.
00:10:06 Speaker_06
It's like, you know what I mean? So I feel like we still have that in common, even though it might be at different levels. And it's not even always 30,000 people.
00:10:17 Speaker_06
Sometimes it could be a private event or sometimes it could be an event with some kids or something like that to where it's like you just get really two totally different parts of life. And they're both great.
00:10:31 Speaker_06
I love my normal life and I love my work life too. It's just the difference between them is crazy.
00:10:38 Speaker_07
Yeah, what's helped you continue to love them and deal with that paradox, with that ease and comfort? What's really soothed your relationship with those challenging or crazy experiences that you mentioned?
00:10:52 Speaker_06
I think it has a lot to do with my relationship with my fans because I love the people that I do music for and they give me a really, really great response and reaction, not only to my performance, but
00:11:06 Speaker_06
to my music and just the appreciation that they have for it. So I appreciate them as well. And it makes it easier because I enjoy it and I love to create. I love to be on stage. I love to be in front of people.
00:11:18 Speaker_06
Yeah, so it doesn't feel like I'm, like, doing anything out of, oh, I just want the money or this is just for this certain reason. It's really, really enjoyable for me. So, yeah. That's beautiful. Yeah, it's a great experience.
00:11:34 Speaker_07
That's such a beautiful place to be. Yeah, yeah, for sure. That gratitude to your community for being there for you, for being present with you. Yeah, definitely.
00:11:44 Speaker_07
What's been your craziest fan experience or fan interaction, a memory that you have with one of the audience members that stays with you?
00:11:52 Speaker_06
I think the craziest stuff is when people come up and get me to sign my name on them so they can get a tatted. Wow. Or they show me tattoos of my face on them. I think those are the craziest interactions. Cause I have tattoos, I'm covered in them.
00:12:06 Speaker_06
So I know how important that is. And to be, you know, just me as an artist and doing what I'm doing and to want, to have people to want to like tattoo me on them. It's pretty, it's pretty tight.
00:12:18 Speaker_07
Yeah. Have people ever done a lyric as well? Yeah.
00:12:20 Speaker_06
Yeah. They do lyrics. They do song titles. They do pictures. They do autographs. They do all types of stuff. Wow.
00:12:28 Speaker_07
What's your most meaningful tattoo or one that really speaks to you?
00:12:33 Speaker_06
Probably, I got a couple. I got, you know, my mom's name. I got my brother's name, my sibling who passed away. I got my little sister. Yeah, probably like my family tattoos mean the most to me.
00:12:47 Speaker_06
The rest of them are just like stuff about life that I've learned throughout the way or things that I've called myself throughout life. Yeah, yeah.
00:12:57 Speaker_07
When was your sibling who passed away?
00:12:59 Speaker_06
She passed away, I think maybe seven years ago. I don't, I remember exactly how many years ago. It could be like, could be more or less.
00:13:07 Speaker_07
Yeah. And how old was she then?
00:13:11 Speaker_06
She would have been 40 now. So she was probably 33 when she passed away.
00:13:16 Speaker_07
So you had some life together.
00:13:18 Speaker_06
Oh yeah. Hell yeah. We grew up together. Yeah. Same mom, same dad. Yeah.
00:13:22 Speaker_07
How was that experience for you? Losing someone so close to you that you love?
00:13:27 Speaker_06
I wouldn't say rough because you get through that type of stuff and you learn how to deal with it. But it's definitely a situation that I never would have expected. We weren't sick growing up or anything like that. We were always the same.
00:13:45 Speaker_06
So it's like when you get to a certain age, you don't plan on losing a sibling. And it was just something that we had to deal with. And, you know, as her health declined, it was something that we knew was going to happen.
00:14:00 Speaker_06
So it was like, all right, cool. Let's get ready for it. You know what I mean? And I am grateful that I was able to have like the last moments that I had. to be able to prepare for it. And you know, my son has memories of my sibling and things like that.
00:14:16 Speaker_06
And her birthday was actually on Halloween. So we celebrate every year, annually we throw a party. So yeah, it was definitely an experience, but you know, it's something that I'm still dealing with.
00:14:29 Speaker_06
Like, you know, like a lot of the times I'm doing like really, really well. And then sometimes it might, you know, it might hit me to a point where it's like, all right, you know,
00:14:38 Speaker_06
let me just slow down and kind of deal with this and or just think about it or talk about it or just Whatever it is that gets me through it.
00:14:47 Speaker_07
But um, it's just like a continuous thing for sure Yeah, how did you prepare for at the time you said you kind of knew? Yeah, it was you know, I health was diminishing over time. How did you prepare at the time?
00:15:01 Speaker_07
Were there specific rituals or things you did or memories you made together that stayed with you?
00:15:06 Speaker_06
No, it wasn't really too many rituals or memories or anything like that. I was traveling a lot at the time, so I did make sure that I went home and spent some time with her before she passed away.
00:15:17 Speaker_06
And then my mom was really the one who was right by her side the whole time. She was giving me kind of like blow by blow of everything and just how the situation was going to go.
00:15:27 Speaker_06
And I just did my best to try to make her as comfortable as possible, you know, for those last couple of moments. And yeah. Yeah.
00:15:35 Speaker_07
I mean, it sounds like you said you're still dealing with it, even though it sounds like you made the most of that time.
00:15:41 Speaker_06
Yeah.
00:15:42 Speaker_07
And now you're saying you reach out to people and talk about it. Who would you reach out to when you want to talk about something like that?
00:15:47 Speaker_06
I would talk to my aunt Rachel. We all just laughed and joked and just had a real good time together. Talked to my mom, talked to my dad, talked to my baby sister about it. I most recently talked to just one of my other aunties about it just randomly.
00:16:06 Speaker_06
Because I feel like we all feel the same and we all have losses and can relate in certain ways, even though it's not the best thing to be relatable about.
00:16:16 Speaker_06
But we feel similar about it, so it's cool to have those conversations and feel good about it afterwards.
00:16:24 Speaker_07
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that you still celebrate her birthday.
00:16:27 Speaker_06
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
00:16:28 Speaker_07
That's a beautiful way to think about it.
00:16:30 Speaker_06
Yeah, definitely, definitely.
00:16:31 Speaker_07
It's such a hard balance, I find, in terms of mourning or grieving someone's death and then celebrating the life you had with them. And it's such a fine line.
00:16:41 Speaker_07
And often you're pulled in either direction, but I think it's so important that we do celebrate life and memories we had with someone and celebrate their life as well.
00:16:49 Speaker_06
Yeah, absolutely. I just look, I look at it as like, if she was still here, we'd be partying. So let's not stop the party.
00:16:56 Speaker_07
Yeah, that's beautiful. I was, I was diving into career whiz and I feel like,
00:17:01 Speaker_07
When someone like you becomes as successful as you've become and is dropping successful hits here and there, you almost forget the journey that they've been on and the graph that they've been on.
00:17:13 Speaker_07
And I was really fascinated by that because it hasn't just been like a smooth, easy, linear journey. I think people think of success as like, you tried something out, it worked.
00:17:23 Speaker_07
And now you're this, you know, this big phenomenon and yours had lots of twists and turns. When, like, what was your life like before black and yellow compared to what it is now? What was it like before that?
00:17:35 Speaker_06
I would say it was pretty normal. Like it was pretty regular. I was just, you know, like any other 20 something year old.
00:17:44 Speaker_06
I think just the way that we were working and traveling and like going on the road and kind of the money that we were dealing with, a lot of it was getting reinvested back into the business.
00:17:55 Speaker_06
So I was making money, but I was spending money on myself and like, not even in a big way, but it would just be, you know, hotels, travel, things like that.
00:18:05 Speaker_06
So I was putting myself through like courses in business and how to like, you know, make money, spend money. reinvest, blah, blah, blah.
00:18:12 Speaker_06
I was doing all this stuff naturally, but it wasn't on that level yet because we hadn't met, you know, anybody who was in the game. We hadn't had business managers or anything like that.
00:18:24 Speaker_06
So it was just, you know, me and my friends, we were kind of just really, really hustling and making the best out of what we knew how to do. Yeah.
00:18:35 Speaker_07
I mean, did you feel like a big break was coming or did it feel like
00:18:40 Speaker_06
God we don't know how this is gonna go well being that I already had a record deal and then essentially lost that record deal, I didn't feel like a big break was coming.
00:18:53 Speaker_06
I didn't know what that big break looked or felt like, but I knew that what I was doing was working. And I knew that the people who were into me and the movement that I had created, I knew that that was more popular than
00:19:10 Speaker_06
the mainstream and what was really, really popular at the time. So I was really confident in that, but I didn't know a big moment was coming.
00:19:19 Speaker_07
What's it like to get a record deal and then lose a record deal?
00:19:23 Speaker_06
It sucked for me. Just because in those days, if you had a record deal, that was it. Then if you didn't have a record deal, you were done. So to have one and then lose it is like, oh, no bouncing back from that.
00:19:38 Speaker_06
Like I never knew anybody who bounced back from that. But in my mind, it was never over. I never counted myself out. I just never knew what the next situation was going to look like or how long or what that timeframe was going to be like.
00:19:52 Speaker_07
Where did that confidence come from? I love how self-assured you were that like what you were doing in the community you were building was resonating with what you were doing.
00:20:01 Speaker_06
Yeah.
00:20:02 Speaker_07
Where does that come from? Because I think like you said, so many people today who might be listening and they, maybe they just, you know, got kicked out of a job. Maybe they got rejected from their record deal.
00:20:12 Speaker_07
I remember when I, when I was first coming up with the idea for this podcast six years ago, I had a production company and a partner that was going to launch the show with me.
00:20:23 Speaker_07
I went away for the holidays, Christmas holidays, came back, and then I was told that it wasn't on anymore. So I remember that feeling and having to launch the show on my own.
00:20:34 Speaker_07
If someone's going through that right now, how did you maintain that composure and that confidence? Like, no, we're doing something here. We may not know when that break's coming, but we're going to keep moving.
00:20:43 Speaker_06
Yeah, I think it was just by standing on the things that I believed in and the stuff that made me most comfortable. And if I wanted to show it, I was going to show it. If I wanted to talk about it, I was going to talk about it.
00:20:57 Speaker_06
It might not have been what everybody else would have considered was going to take somebody to the top. but it made me feel free. And I enjoy myself by doing it. And I think just in turn, a lot of people have fun enjoying watching me do it. Yeah.
00:21:16 Speaker_07
If you could give your younger self any advice before Black and Yellow came out, what would it be?
00:21:20 Speaker_06
I was good, keep doing what you're doing. You got it, you got it figured out fool.
00:21:27 Speaker_07
Is there anything you would have liked to have known for how to deal with it afterwards?
00:21:31 Speaker_06
No, no. Everything that I've, that I learned and that I figured out along my way, I think happened in its time and how it was supposed to and it's positioned in me for even greater points in my life as well.
00:21:45 Speaker_07
Yeah. Where does that come from? Because that's such a peaceful thing. And like I said, from the moment you walked in, there's such a peace and ease about you. In an industry where people can get jaded, people can get ruffled, they get flustered.
00:22:02 Speaker_07
How have you kept that peace and composure for yourself? Where's that coming from?
00:22:06 Speaker_06
really like just my goals in this shit. I have my own personal goals and I've reached a lot of my old goals that I was trying to do and I reached them by being myself and doing exactly what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it.
00:22:19 Speaker_06
So, you know, knowing that that's possible and seeing that It doesn't make me want to rush to the next point or the next situation.
00:22:28 Speaker_06
I'm comfortable waiting for what's mine and just seeing how everything plays out as opposed to trying to make it be somebody else's story.
00:22:40 Speaker_06
I feel like my whole story and everything as far as my life, if I see it, I wanted it, it's just a matter of time until I get it.
00:22:49 Speaker_06
So, you know, I'll just wait that amount of time and, you know, just keep to stay down and just, you know, just be very, very like have a lot of gratitude for where I'm at and what I've done so far.
00:23:03 Speaker_06
And even when I was coming up, I was really, really happy with what I had. So the more and more that I started to get, it wasn't because I wasn't happy where I was at and I had to get more. It was just because I was so happy.
00:23:15 Speaker_06
It just, you know, just kept turning into more and more. So I just keep it like that.
00:23:19 Speaker_07
Yeah, there's a beautiful quote that says, when you're grateful for what you have, you'll receive more to be grateful for. And I think it's true that gratitude expands, but it's beautiful hearing you say that. Did you learn that from anyone?
00:23:31 Speaker_07
Did anyone teach you, mentor you, guide you? Or is this an internal thing that's kind of evolved over time?
00:23:36 Speaker_06
This is definitely some internal that's evolved over time and it's gotten me really, really far dealing with people in business or dealing with the law or dealing with just different personalities in general as far as just getting what I want creatively and not freaking losing my mind and just being able to talk to people and have clear conversations.
00:24:02 Speaker_06
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Go to www.RenewYouWorkshop.com to access this at no charge and start building a life that's not just lived, but truly loved. See you there. What's been the hardest conversation you've ever had to have with someone?
00:25:57 Speaker_06
The hardest conversation I've ever had to have with someone. I think the toughest conversations that I have to have are when I have to explain my ideas. Yeah. Because?
00:26:12 Speaker_06
Because I'm so hyped up about it, like before I verbalize it, and then as soon as I start to say it, I just feel like the level of intensity of it just comes down.
00:26:25 Speaker_06
I'd rather just do shit sometimes and like just show you and like, but I learned, you know, by working with so many other people how valuable it is to like have a team.
00:26:35 Speaker_06
So I learned how to be able to express, you know, what I'm thinking and have that go through a whole process. And then, and then we, uh, we make it real.
00:26:43 Speaker_07
That's so true, man. I feel like that sometimes, like you can see it in your head, but then you're like, you can't press play on the projector and then it comes out. And so when you're explaining it, everyone's like looking at you like you're crazy.
00:26:54 Speaker_07
Yeah, exactly. And you are right. Sometimes I do feel we live in a time in an industry where people have heard so many ideas that until you see something, you don't even understand it.
00:27:06 Speaker_07
And I feel like when you look at music, or you look at movies, or film, or TV, or whatever it is, when you watch something, you're like, oh, that was amazing. But like, someone, when they talked about it, no one wanted to buy it.
00:27:15 Speaker_07
Did you find that record labels and people that you've worked with in music always understood you immediately, or no, you kind of had to go prove and show?
00:27:23 Speaker_06
Oh, man, they didn't know what to do with me. Like, there was no clue what to do with me early on. That's why I lost my first record deal, because when I came in,
00:27:34 Speaker_06
The song was really good and it was a sample from a popular song that people, you know, was really recognizable. But after that, it was like, well, what do you do? Do you make like five more of these songs or like, what are we going to do?
00:27:48 Speaker_06
And they really didn't understand like me being from Pittsburgh, me smoking weed, me being lyrical, me, you know, being a cross between like,
00:27:57 Speaker_06
you know, really, really hard hip hop culture, but then like really cool, trippy, hippie, skating, you know what I'm saying? Earthy mother-
00:28:08 Speaker_07
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00:31:34 Speaker_06
There was no cross between that at the time. Like you really had to be like big white T, like chain, you know what I'm saying? So like a lot of labels didn't understand what to do with me.
00:31:46 Speaker_06
And it wasn't until, you know, I built my, my fan base of people who believe the same thing that I believe in. And I was able to, you know, travel and do shows.
00:31:55 Speaker_06
And then they would come and see the show and they'd be like, these motherfuckers are going crazy over this dude. Like, it doesn't matter what we say or what we think is dope. It's obviously, you know, there.
00:32:07 Speaker_06
And I feel like that whole format, you know, has been done a lot, like, especially in rock and roll and pop music where, you know, the act will be bigger in real life than they are, you know what I mean?
00:32:20 Speaker_06
To other people, like, they're bigger in real life than they are, like, to hype, like, as far as the hype goes. Once they started to see that that was my situation, then that's when people started to pick up on me.
00:32:30 Speaker_07
Was that the way you built this audience that understood you? Was it performing live? Do you feel like that was the significant part for you in creating this amazing connection you have with your audience?
00:32:40 Speaker_06
Yeah, absolutely. Performing live, going to a lot of different colleges and festivals before they were as big as they are now. Stuff like South by Southwest and the really grassroots underground stuff is what built us.
00:32:57 Speaker_06
And we packed into a van and just went on our own tours, just up and down and just drove ourselves. And then on top of that, YouTube had just came around. So, you know, I was recording myself and putting my vlogs on YouTube.
00:33:11 Speaker_06
I call it a day-to-day and I still do these to this day. They're like a compilation vlog of like a week in my life. And I just started doing it because I was like, my life is so crazy. Nobody sees it. And it's so much fun.
00:33:25 Speaker_06
And there's so much like stuff that goes on. I was like, so I might as well turn it into like, you know what I mean? A little 10 minutes short. And it worked. It worked a lot. It helped sell a lot of merch. It helps sell a lot of tickets.
00:33:37 Speaker_06
It helped build a really consistent fan base of people who are still here to this day.
00:33:42 Speaker_07
Yeah. Do you remember any of those trips, certain places you went to where something crazy happened that you caught on camera?
00:33:48 Speaker_06
Man, it's all on camera so you can see it. Anyone that stands out to you? Yeah, I mean, I think there's really classic episodes. There's an Australian tour with me and ASAP Rocky. You see me and J. Cole in his early days.
00:34:05 Speaker_06
You see me and Currency in our early days. You see a lot of artists. You see me and Kendrick in his early days. You see me with Nipsey Hussle.
00:34:16 Speaker_06
Yeah, you see the whole community of people who we really came up with, who are like OGs in the game now, but there's really classic footage of us when we all just started out. Mac Miller, a lot of people, everybody, man.
00:34:31 Speaker_06
Everybody who you listen to now was in those day-to-days originally.
00:34:36 Speaker_07
How did you guys all meet each other back then? Like, how did you connect? Because I guess there was no Instagram DM. Maybe there was, maybe there wasn't.
00:34:43 Speaker_06
Nah, we would connect through Twitter. Yeah, Twitter was the vibe back then. There was no IG, we weren't like DMing each other on there. But we would connect through Twitter and clothing.
00:34:54 Speaker_06
If anybody needed clothes or weed, like we would all hit up the same people's for clothes, weed, and you know, just vibes and stuff like that. And we just all clicked and
00:35:05 Speaker_06
As we started to like take off on different levels, we would just bring each other with us based off of who we, you know, not really liked the most, but who we were closest knit with at the time, or who it made the most sense with.
00:35:19 Speaker_07
Yeah, what's it like watching Kendrick then and Kendrick now?
00:35:24 Speaker_06
It's really dope watching Kendrick then and then now because we all came up together. So we were all doing the same things. We were all speaking to the same crowd and we were at different levels in our career.
00:35:36 Speaker_06
And I just remember performance wise, Kendrick will kind of like scream on stage. Like he didn't sound like he did on the record, But now he's like one of the best performers and he's like one of the, you know what I'm saying?
00:35:50 Speaker_06
The guy's really carrying it for our generation.
00:35:54 Speaker_06
So to see him like just jump up levels and levels and levels through like hard work and branding and, you know, just being around the right people at the right times, bringing people along with him, like Baby King and all of them, like, you know what I'm saying?
00:36:10 Speaker_06
He's just really doing every move to the T of how you're supposed to do it.
00:36:14 Speaker_07
And how's J. Cole evolved as well?
00:36:16 Speaker_06
Cole is the same thing. It's like, you know, we all started out just the homies, like trying to get a verse on each other's tapes. And now dudes are like elite rappers up there. You know what I'm saying?
00:36:28 Speaker_06
And it's like, it's cool to see him have his own festival. It's cool to see, like, he doesn't have to do as much work throughout the year, but when he does drop, people pay attention how they're supposed to. He does great tours.
00:36:45 Speaker_06
And as a performance artist and as a substance artist, I feel like he has the type of career, that's all you can ask for. Yeah.
00:36:54 Speaker_07
That's powerful. What does it feel like? You were saying there, In some ways, things have changed. Like, what's changed for up-and-coming artists today? Like, what are they doing right? What are they doing wrong? How would you advise someone?
00:37:05 Speaker_07
If you were starting out from scratch today again, how would you approach your career differently or in the same way?
00:37:12 Speaker_06
I think that there's levels to it. I think that a lot of people aim for like the surface level where it's like you get one or two things and you're good and that's what takes you to the top.
00:37:26 Speaker_06
But usually that works against you because you'll have that spike, but then you'll go back down and you'll have to go back up again.
00:37:34 Speaker_06
It's really difficult to have that spike and have that feeling of validation and like, oh yeah, everybody's with me, blah, blah, blah. And then boom, they're not with you. And then you got to try to do something to get them back on your team.
00:37:47 Speaker_06
So, you know, a lot of people are going to want to go that route, but it has a lot of negatives that come with it on the back end.
00:37:55 Speaker_06
And it's a really good time for artists to cultivate a real fan base, whether it be in front of people's eyes or whether it be behind the scenes.
00:38:06 Speaker_06
It's a really great time to cultivate a fan base of people that understand you, understand your slang and how you dress. what your lifestyle is about and really push that to the forefront, let that slowly build.
00:38:19 Speaker_06
And eventually, whether it's a year, two years, three years or five years, you know, you're always making a little bit of progress here, here, there, and wherever you land at, you're going to permanently be there. Yeah.
00:38:32 Speaker_07
There's a lot of people today who get told you've only got 12 months, you had your hit, you've got 12 months to make as much money off of you as possible. Like a lot of people hear that like, hey, look, your career is not going to be that long.
00:38:45 Speaker_07
Let's make the most we can. What would you say to someone who feels that fear themselves or gets told that like, hey, look, you had one hit. Let's just, you know, crush this peak.
00:38:54 Speaker_06
If somebody tells you that, You better get some drugs and start selling them. Use that money. Flip it. Nah. Get some real estate.
00:39:11 Speaker_06
Cause if, I mean like somebody who only has a year plan in you and they're like, yo, you're only going to be here for this amount of time. They're going to move on. They're going to find other artists or, you know, different people to represent.
00:39:24 Speaker_06
And you're going to be asked out. Like, so any artists or any,
00:39:30 Speaker_06
personality who somebody is already talking about, like, the limit of the lifespan of their career, they should definitely be worried and not try to race to, you know, do the most in that amount of time, but to try to figure out how to extend that lifespan.
00:39:51 Speaker_06
So let's take what that person just told you and let's try to figure out you know, what the next five years looks like instead of the, you know, next 12 months. Yeah, that's good advice. Yeah, definitely.
00:40:03 Speaker_07
How far into the future do you look when you're planning music, work, life?
00:40:08 Speaker_06
I always try to look at least five or ten years in advance. Wow. Yeah.
00:40:11 Speaker_07
How different is where you are today from where you looked at where you'd be five to ten years ago?
00:40:17 Speaker_06
I'm doing way better business-wise than I've ever done. Not just making money, but managing money. And I feel like I'm getting better and better at that.
00:40:30 Speaker_06
And that's what's gonna take me into the future as well, is not only just the making of the money, but the money management.
00:40:40 Speaker_07
Yeah. What have been your best moves in money management or business that you think people could learn from?
00:40:46 Speaker_06
My best moves in business is just being accountable for everything. I think in rap music, we get so caught up on the lifestyle. And we're like, I have to have this. Or if it's a new truck, I'm buying that.
00:41:03 Speaker_06
But me, I'm more like, I'm only going to spend this much on clothes this month. You know, if I want a new car, I'm going to wait a year and a half until I get it. You know what I mean? Or I'm going to move money from this account to spend on this.
00:41:19 Speaker_06
So this is here and that's there. You know, we could still pay for tour and you know, how much are we spending on tour? How much are we making off a tour? How much comes in off of merch on top of the other businesses and things like that.
00:41:33 Speaker_06
But really the money management, like the everyday type of spending where it's like, you know, you could get carried away buying too many clothes or, you know, getting too many nice rooms or, You know what I mean?
00:41:46 Speaker_06
And I have a lot of luxuries that come with my life, but I could also do without a lot of that stuff too.
00:41:55 Speaker_06
So the unnecessary stuff and knowing what the stuff that is not really needed, paying attention to that, not letting just those things just slip through the cracks, because they all add up and shit.
00:42:08 Speaker_06
So I think just being way more conscious of that type of stuff.
00:42:13 Speaker_07
Yeah. Did you learn that the hard way because you were overspending or did you learn that because you saw other people before you were overspending?
00:42:20 Speaker_06
Luckily, I didn't get to a point where I overspent or overspent. I just received large ass amounts of money. And with that comes advice.
00:42:33 Speaker_06
And, you know, so it's like yearly or quarterly, you know, we need to have these conversations where it's like, this is what the money looks like. We had to spend for this because of that. Or, you know, you had a little bit of fun spending this.
00:42:48 Speaker_06
So let's just bring it back on this, this, that, and the other thing. And just throughout time of having those conversations, you start to figure out where the unnecessary spending and the problems come from.
00:43:00 Speaker_06
Or even if you start to create little different issues, you'd be like, okay, this isn't really working in our favor, so we need to wiggle out of this. And even if it's spending this big chunk over here,
00:43:12 Speaker_06
that's going to take away from the continuous spending that's kind of like bleeding and taken away.
00:43:19 Speaker_06
So just to learn that and have that visual in my head, you know, while I'm making decisions, a lot of people, they feel like they're being controlled if somebody's telling them that. But for me, it's a choice.
00:43:32 Speaker_06
It's like, do you want to be broke 20 years from now? Or do you want to be having more money? 20 years from now. All right. Well, this is how you do it.
00:43:40 Speaker_07
So yeah, it's good advice, man It makes sense And it's it's hard to do in the moment because you just you want to get that thing or you want to buy that thing And it applies across the board. What what's the dumbest thing you ever bought?
00:43:51 Speaker_07
And now you look back go.
00:43:52 Speaker_06
I thought that was dumb Man I don't think it was ever like one dumb thing. I just used to be dumb how I how I bought stuff like I I would see anything and just like it and buy it. It didn't matter how much it cost.
00:44:08 Speaker_06
If it was a car, I wanted it, I would buy it like right then and there. Sometimes it'd be a watch or something like that. And like a lot of these watches I don't even have no more. So it's like- You gave them away or sold them? Sold, gave away, lost.
00:44:26 Speaker_06
Yeah.
00:44:27 Speaker_07
And what was the best investment you've ever made?
00:44:30 Speaker_06
It'd probably be some stocks or some percentage of a business that I've invested in. I've had multiple, but there's some really good ones that I put some money into that is gonna come back in some really good ways.
00:44:48 Speaker_07
I hope people get inspired by hearing you talk about how sometimes you gotta put off those big purchases, wait a year for that car, because I think when we're young especially,
00:44:59 Speaker_07
And you come into even a little bit of money, which feels like a lot of money. It's so easy to spend and just get carried away.
00:45:07 Speaker_07
And especially now, I feel like with all of us just ordering things off of Amazon and everything else, it's like you have no idea how much money you spend.
00:45:14 Speaker_06
Oh, for sure. It's so easy. It's super easy to look up and, you know, however much just be gone. And when it's gone, it's gone.
00:45:24 Speaker_08
Yeah.
00:45:25 Speaker_06
And to me, I feel like you have to go through that. You have to really feel that and understand it. And whatever, you know, you believe in, I believe in God. So it's like. That's God telling me like, okay, you spent this much, it's gone.
00:45:40 Speaker_06
You're going to get more, but you need to deal with the feeling of you having it and it being gone. And then now we'll see what getting more feels like.
00:45:48 Speaker_06
But some people, when they have it and it's over with, they don't even know what that bounce back feels like or looks like. So, you know, unfortunately, the best way to learn is to go through it. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, yeah.
00:46:04 Speaker_06
But afterwards, like, you know, it's only you after that. Like, you're gonna keep doing the same thing over and over, or you're gonna learn from, you know, what happened.
00:46:12 Speaker_07
What does your relationship with God look like?
00:46:14 Speaker_06
My relationship with God is the shit. I pray all the time. I thank God all the time. Yeah, a lot of people, there's certain people who don't feel like God is like a higher power or anything like that.
00:46:26 Speaker_06
But I like to just imagine that my God is just like chilling up in the sky, like with a big deep voice. The sun could be going down and I could be driving and the Hotel California could be on. I'd be like, thank you, God. Like, you know what I mean?
00:46:41 Speaker_06
Cause like the situation just feels right.
00:46:43 Speaker_07
Yeah.
00:46:44 Speaker_06
Yeah.
00:46:44 Speaker_07
And what does God say to you in God's deep voice?
00:46:47 Speaker_06
You're welcome. You're supposed to have this.
00:46:51 Speaker_07
That's awesome. Has that always been there since you were young or has that come with time as well?
00:46:56 Speaker_06
Yeah, definitely since I was a teenager. Definitely since I was like, I could remember, you know, being in like ninth, 10th, no, probably even like eighth, eighth grade.
00:47:07 Speaker_06
Just praying every night, thanking God for a wonderful day, asking Him to bless everybody that I care for. Yeah, just like really cool stuff, like just normal, normal-ass shit that I want the world to feel.
00:47:19 Speaker_07
What would you pray for? What else apart from other people?
00:47:22 Speaker_06
To be safe, I was in a crazy-ass place when I lived in Pittsburgh, so I definitely asked for that safety. The older I get, I ask for patience and understanding and things like that, you know what I'm saying? So, just regular shit.
00:47:40 Speaker_07
Wow, that's not regular, that's pretty deep. Yeah. How unsafe was it where you were in Pittsburgh?
00:47:45 Speaker_06
It was super unsafe in Pittsburgh, man. The streets is crazy out there. friends of mine started getting murdered when I was in like seventh grade. Like I remember like one of my first friends getting shot and killed in seventh grade.
00:47:59 Speaker_07
Wow. And then when did you leave Pittsburgh?
00:48:02 Speaker_06
I came to Pittsburgh permanently when I was in middle school and I stayed throughout high school and I probably didn't dip until I was like 23 years old.
00:48:13 Speaker_07
Right. Because you moved around a lot growing up, right? At least as far as I saw.
00:48:18 Speaker_06
Yeah, probably like every Japan. Yeah. Every two years I would bounce around and my mom was always in Pittsburgh. So I would go live with my dad for two years and then I will come back to Pittsburgh.
00:48:27 Speaker_06
Then I will go live with my dad and then I will come back to Pittsburgh. So I was in Pittsburgh in third grade, and I was also there for middle school, and then I came back for high school.
00:48:38 Speaker_06
And then other than that, I lived like in Oklahoma, South Carolina, Japan. Yeah, those were a couple of other places.
00:48:45 Speaker_07
What was your favorite place?
00:48:46 Speaker_06
I think Japan was my favorite place.
00:48:48 Speaker_07
How old were you when you were in Japan?
00:48:49 Speaker_06
I was in like fifth or sixth grade.
00:48:51 Speaker_07
Okay.
00:48:52 Speaker_06
Yeah.
00:48:52 Speaker_07
What was that like? I mean, Japan at that time, but now I feel like everyone's like, Japan's the place to go.
00:48:57 Speaker_06
Yeah. It's cool when you're like exploring Japanese culture, but I just realized like as an adult that that shit was kind of fucked up. Cause it was like, I'm living on an American base in Japan.
00:49:08 Speaker_08
Right.
00:49:08 Speaker_06
And like just the concept of like Americans occupying Japan was like, you'd never find a Japanese base in America. But like, we have the audacity to like go over there and just be like, here, here's our base. We're going to operate as Americans.
00:49:23 Speaker_06
We're going to send our kids to school here. Don't teach them your language, nothing. It's just going to act like America in Japan. So that's, that's, yeah.
00:49:33 Speaker_07
So you never learn Japanese.
00:49:34 Speaker_06
I learned a little bit of Japanese, but it was like basic. It wasn't like really any like diving into the culture or anything like that. Like it's just, you live on post and you travel from one base to another base. And that's pretty much what it was.
00:49:49 Speaker_07
How do you think that experience impacted you now? Like how is that childhood experience of moving around, darting around every two years defined who you are today?
00:49:57 Speaker_06
It was cool because I was able to just be a regular kid and I was able to meet friends and different groups of friends and run around and play and knock on doors and ride bikes and climb hills and stuff like that. So it was super chill, man.
00:50:13 Speaker_06
It was fun just being normal and not really worrying about too much. I think the older that I got and the more settled that I got in Pittsburgh, that's when I started to figure out who I wanted to be later in life.
00:50:28 Speaker_06
But in those early years, it was just all about being a kid and just playing with my friends.
00:50:33 Speaker_07
When you saw all of that around you, what gave you that feeling to dream and to want something more? When you're seeing the violence around you, you're seeing it's a rough neighborhood.
00:50:43 Speaker_07
What's given you the ability to go, there's more to life than this?
00:50:48 Speaker_06
I think it was just like knowing that I had talent with music. I always did music since I was younger. My uncles and my cousins were older than me. They were like, you know, 15, 16, all the way up to almost like 20 years old.
00:51:04 Speaker_06
And I was like the baby, I'm 13 years old. So I'm really kind of trying to do what they're doing. but I'm picking the parts that make the most sense for me.
00:51:12 Speaker_06
So it's like the gang banging and the drug selling and the guns and all that shit, I'm like, that's not really for me. But the looking cool, the having girls, the getting money, the making music, I'm like, I like that part of it.
00:51:26 Speaker_06
So that's what I always really stuck to. Just even as a kid, I was just like, I'm going to just do what I know is cool for me, which is just making music. And that's kind of what led me on my path.
00:51:40 Speaker_07
How did you stay away from all of the other things? Because sometimes those can look cool when you're young. They can They can be attractive when you're young and powerful.
00:51:48 Speaker_06
Yeah, I didn't really stay away from it.
00:51:50 Speaker_06
I definitely like, you know, the older that I got and the, you know, the more fun I started to have, I kind of was in and out of that stuff, but it wasn't for me, you know, like just, there's, it's a lifestyle for some people and for a lot of those people, like they're still doing it now.
00:52:09 Speaker_06
And for me, it was just kind of like, you know, being a kid or like a rite of passage type thing, or it's like product of my environment type stuff.
00:52:18 Speaker_06
You know, like the little stuff that I would get into is like, I'm here, so, you know, I'm getting down. Like, I'm not going to be the only one who's not down. You know, you grow out of that stuff too. And you learn from that stuff as well.
00:52:31 Speaker_06
So I learned from the things that I did do, and I learned from the things I didn't do as well.
00:52:37 Speaker_07
Yeah, I mean, now you're a father yourself.
00:52:39 Speaker_06
Yeah.
00:52:39 Speaker_07
How do you feel looking now from the perspective of being a dad? You've been a father to Sebastian for a while now. Right. And then you just had a daughter, Cadence, I believe. Congratulations.
00:52:51 Speaker_08
Thank you.
00:52:52 Speaker_07
And like, what's it been like to be a father to Sebastian? And then how is your views of fatherhood changing now that you've had a daughter?
00:52:59 Speaker_06
Yeah, it's been really good having Sebastian and having a boy, especially at his age. He's 11 now. And there's just certain instincts that are starting to kick in, you know, where it's like, he was a young boy.
00:53:15 Speaker_06
Now he's like, you know, a young man and he's growing into a more of a young man. um every day really and just that programming of you know life and discipline and uh being polite and you know on top of
00:53:34 Speaker_06
you know, just everyday stuff of, like, handling his emotions with his friends and things like that. It's a really, like, fun experience going through all of that with him because I'm able to remember what it was like for me as a kid.
00:53:48 Speaker_06
So instead of just, like, telling him the rules and what you should and shouldn't do, It's more like guiding him of, you know, how to, you know, navigate through these situations, which is really, really fun. And I had that with my dad as well.
00:54:01 Speaker_06
He was always, you know, there for me and talked to me about a lot. And he was way more disciplinary than lenient. And I'm a super lenient parent with my son, but I'm also like really real with him.
00:54:13 Speaker_06
And he's able to be real with me and he's able to talk to me about, you know, real life things. And when I think about the stuff that I did when I was, you know, coming up,
00:54:22 Speaker_06
By the time I was his age, I was doing a lot more stuff because like I said, my uncles and my cousins were older. And I'm just thankful that I was able to have those experiences and know what's appropriate and what's right and what's not.
00:54:36 Speaker_06
So I'm able to monitor what goes on with him and what will affect his behavior later. And then just having a baby girl, I think it just adds to it now because I'm able to just give all types of love.
00:54:49 Speaker_06
Like I got the tough love with my boy and then I got like just the sweetness of having a daughter, which, you know, helps out a lot.
00:54:57 Speaker_07
How do you think you're gonna shift your strategy as she grows up?
00:55:00 Speaker_06
I think I'm gonna do it pretty much the same. Just cater to her needs, whatever she needs. If she's a super girly girl, then we doing ballet and we doing dance and we doing drama and we doing all the girly stuff.
00:55:17 Speaker_06
And if she's a tough girl, then we doing kickboxing and we doing whatever else to rough her up. We do horseback riding, we do whatever we want to do, like, you know what I'm saying?
00:55:28 Speaker_06
There's no, the sky's the limit, but, you know, keep her active, keep her entertained, and just cater to her needs.
00:55:34 Speaker_07
Yeah, what's Sebastian into right now, like, 11-year-old? What's like his obsession?
00:55:39 Speaker_06
Um, he loves basketball. Okay. Yeah, he loves to play basketball. He's really just now learning like the fundamentals of it, but he's good at it.
00:55:47 Speaker_06
He's an athletic kid and he's like, it's good to see him like roughing around with the boys, like being one of the boys. They talk shit to each other. They give each other's faces and like, they really get after it.
00:56:00 Speaker_06
So he's, he's like gravitating towards basketball more than anything. Just that and just being with the friend, being with his friends, like just being a kid.
00:56:09 Speaker_07
Were you ever any good at basketball?
00:56:10 Speaker_06
Yeah, hell yeah I could. I never had like official training like what he's going through. But if I did, bro, I'd be so much better than I actually am. And I'm really, really good.
00:56:21 Speaker_06
So I would be like, I'd be deadly if I knew how to do what he's learning right now.
00:56:26 Speaker_07
So you could give him some pointers along the way.
00:56:29 Speaker_06
just like naturally, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah.
00:56:32 Speaker_07
I love that. And you never did ballet or anything or anything?
00:56:34 Speaker_06
Nah, nah, I never did that. I did like acting classes and shit like that. I was in like speech and drama and all of that shit, but never no dance though.
00:56:42 Speaker_07
Did that help? Speech and drama classes? Like how did that? I think that helped. Yeah.
00:56:45 Speaker_06
Yeah. I think it helped a lot because it was like, you know, you learn how to project your voice and all of that stuff and you learn how to like
00:56:54 Speaker_06
hit cues on stage and, you know, just kind of like get outside of yourself in front of people where you're still yourself, but then you're like outside of yourself. I definitely think that helped for my performance.
00:57:06 Speaker_07
Yeah. If Sebastian came up to you and was like, I want to be a rapper too, what would you say to him?
00:57:11 Speaker_06
I'd be like, let's go. The studio's downstairs.
00:57:16 Speaker_07
What advice would you have for him to find his voice?
00:57:18 Speaker_06
studios downstairs, get in there and start rapping. Yeah. Hell yeah.
00:57:24 Speaker_07
Would you want that or you're kind of open to whatever?
00:57:27 Speaker_06
Yeah, I wouldn't mind, especially the way that I'm implemented in the game. Like I do what I want to do. I'm not like, nobody controls me. Nobody tells, nobody's like working me harder than I need to be worked or anything.
00:57:42 Speaker_06
So I see the same vision for him, especially in the age that we're in. So it's like, if you're going to be an artist, you're going to be in complete control of everything. So it starts now.
00:57:54 Speaker_07
Yeah.
00:57:54 Speaker_06
Yeah.
00:57:55 Speaker_07
The team was saying that you plan a lot of your life around him.
00:57:58 Speaker_06
Yeah.
00:57:59 Speaker_07
They were saying that, like sports games and things like that. You've really taken that idea of an artist should be in control of their own life. Yeah. Walk us through that mentality, that mindset.
00:58:09 Speaker_06
A lot of people focus so much on their work and they think like that the work is going to come to an end at some point or they have to sacrifice things that are important for work. And I believe the opposite.
00:58:24 Speaker_06
I think I should sacrifice work for my family. And it should just be the other way around because of how much that work and how fortunate I am to be in the situation where I put in a lot of work. I've done a lot of things.
00:58:41 Speaker_06
So I don't have to, you know, feel this sense of urgency that things aren't going to go my way if I miss out on something or if I, you know, speak up and just try to make sure that everything works out how I would rather it work.
00:58:56 Speaker_06
And, you know, I had the point in my life where I would be in a studio every day, or I would be, you know, a different country every day, or I would be, you know, a show, a fitting, a signing, a TV appearance, blah, blah, blah.
00:59:14 Speaker_06
I would do all of these things back to back to back to back to back. So I've done that already.
00:59:19 Speaker_06
But now it's more important for me to just wake up, work out, spend time with my family, make sure that he is at his best because he needs to go to practice. He needs to train every day for him to be successful later on in life.
00:59:34 Speaker_06
And if I'm not there to like motivate that, either he's going to get it from somebody else, I don't know who, or it's just not going to happen at all. And that's my job right now is to make sure that he's successful.
00:59:47 Speaker_06
So, you know, if I miss this or if that doesn't, you know, go the way that it's supposed to, I'm cool with that. Because in the end, he's going to get to be as successful as he needs to be.
00:59:59 Speaker_07
Yeah, that's beautiful, man. Because I feel like there's such a, it's wonderful to hear because I feel like we're living at a time where there's such a pressure to constantly be relevant. to constantly keep up with what everyone's doing.
01:00:12 Speaker_07
And now you've got a million platforms to stay relevant on and everyone's doing this and that. And so it sounds like you've created a healthy detachment between who you are at your work and who you are at home. And that's quite a beautiful thing.
01:00:25 Speaker_06
Yeah, I see that better working out long term. Like I said, I look like five, 10 years into the future and me chilling and me and my family seems way more realistic than me like ripping and running around still. So I might as well get used to it.
01:00:41 Speaker_07
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01:03:44 Speaker_06
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. My dad was super involved with me, especially like through my teenage years. A lot of my time that I spent like early in the studio was with my dad because he built a studio and was running it.
01:03:58 Speaker_06
He didn't know about music and he didn't know about any of that stuff, but I told him I was into it and he built a studio and was like, all right, learn how to use the equipment. start writing songs, put an album out, do this, do that.
01:04:08 Speaker_06
And I did it all. And he was like, damn, I didn't know you was really going to do it. I'm like, yeah, this is what I want to do.
01:04:15 Speaker_06
So just through seeing how important him being involved with what I was passionate about took me to the level that I'm at, it lets me know whatever my son and my daughter are passionate about, I have to experience those things with them.
01:04:33 Speaker_06
I can't just give them money and provide it for them. I have to actually do it with them. And that's going to make a hell of a difference.
01:04:40 Speaker_07
Yeah. How does your dad feel about seeing you now?
01:04:43 Speaker_06
My dad loves it, man. He's like in awe, like all the time. And I think out of everything, he understands like how hard I work too. And he's really proud of it. Sometimes he gets a little bit worried. Like he's like, is this too much?
01:04:57 Speaker_06
Like, you know what I mean? Like, I know you do a lot. I'm like, nah, it's cool. I'm built for this. Like this is what I do. So he sees how much I work and he sees how much effort I put in like constantly, but he's really proud of me.
01:05:10 Speaker_07
What's something you learned from your mom?
01:05:12 Speaker_06
The value of family. Yeah, my mom taught me the value of family. She always kept me around my family members. She kept me around my cousins, my aunts, my granddad. She even keeps me around my dad's side of the family.
01:05:28 Speaker_06
And they got divorced when I was two years old, but she still hangs out with my dad's sisters, my aunts, my cousins and all that on their side. So she keeps me in touch with them. She keeps my kids in touch with them.
01:05:40 Speaker_06
She does the whole genealogy of the whole family. Like my mother is so family oriented and that like rubbed off on me as well.
01:05:49 Speaker_07
That's beautiful. What's a misconception you think people have about you, if they have one at all?
01:05:54 Speaker_06
I don't think at this point there is any misconceptions. I think there's just learning more about me.
01:05:59 Speaker_06
I think that the more people learn about me, the more they see how chill, how educated, how well-spoken and thought out a lot of things that I do are.
01:06:13 Speaker_06
And they start to really understand why the people who love me, whether it's my music or I changed their life in whatever way, they start to understand where that comes from.
01:06:23 Speaker_07
Yeah, what's something about you that people may not know that you'd like them to understand along those lines?
01:06:29 Speaker_06
I think right now I just want people to know, like how you said, like how detached I am from the whole success world. Like I'm cool with it. But that's not the goal. And a lot of people say, oh, well, you have money, so it's easy for you to say that.
01:06:48 Speaker_06
But I think you just reach certain points in your life where different things are important, no matter how much money you have. And some people, I'm 37 years old, some people reach my age. And this is the time that they start their business.
01:07:01 Speaker_06
And they're like, I'm going to go hard and I'm going to build my empire now. I was just lucky to have got a head start in my twenties, build my empire.
01:07:10 Speaker_06
And now I really understand like, you know, how to sustain it and maintain it and keep it going for the next 10, 20 years.
01:07:19 Speaker_06
And those are the things that I'm really, really working on along with the music, which is super duper important, but it's really just about making this thing last.
01:07:30 Speaker_07
Yeah, and I think you're right. I don't think it's about how much money you do or don't have. I think anything can become a drug and you can get addicted to it.
01:07:39 Speaker_07
And I remember, you know, Kevin Hart was sitting in that chair and he was talking about how success became a drug for him. He was just addicted to more and more of it.
01:07:46 Speaker_07
And so it's easy for you to get addicted and obsessed and just, and you're actually saying, well, actually I'm, I don't want to get addicted to it.
01:07:53 Speaker_06
Nah, yeah. No, it's my work. It's my job. Yeah. It's what I'm really, really good at. And I don't never want to give that up for a normal life or anything like that. But I do value my normal life as much as I value the 30,000 people on stage.
01:08:13 Speaker_06
but I also value being in my bed alone at night when the lights are off, but I love it.
01:08:19 Speaker_07
Yeah, I appreciate that. And I think we need more of that healthy thinking, because I think if you only like one or the other, or if you start to detest one or the other, that's when it starts to get scary.
01:08:31 Speaker_07
Like a lot of people love being in the audience, they don't like being alone. Or a lot of people are like, oh God, I hate being with the fans now. I love being alone. And I think both of those can lead to a lot of pain intern.
01:08:42 Speaker_06
Yeah, you have to work on both. And when you know what you're here for, you know which time is to do which one. I spent a lot of time working on the other side of it to where I love my job and I love what I do.
01:08:55 Speaker_06
And I'm very grateful to be able to make the amounts of money doing what I do. But that's not everything to me. I work as hard on my personal life as I do on that side of it.
01:09:07 Speaker_06
If I'm in the studio 12 hours, or if I'm on a plane 16 hours, and I barely get any sleep, and I don't eat, and I do promo, and I do a great show, and I do a meet and greet, and I smile, and I take everybody's picture, that's all part of the game.
01:09:23 Speaker_06
That's me going hard to make sure that that part of it lasts. When I'm by myself, I'm waking up, you know, at a good, at a decent time. I'm going to sleep at a decent time. I'm working out. I'm spending these certain hours. I do yoga.
01:09:37 Speaker_06
You know, there's just certain things that go with the process. And then, like you said, planning things around my kids.
01:09:43 Speaker_06
So it's like, I'm making sure that I'm spending this family time where it's not, they're getting the short end of the stick off of anything.
01:09:51 Speaker_06
So I'm working passionately and hard on my normal life, the same way that I do in, you know, my professional life. And sometimes it takes more energy in normal life than it does in a professional life. I agree with you.
01:10:04 Speaker_07
Yeah, it's easy to be disciplined at work, but to actually show up for your family and be disciplined at home, it requires a whole nother thing.
01:10:11 Speaker_06
And a lot of people, they run from that because it's easier to, you know, just put all the, put all the guilt and responsibility. Oh, I got to work. It's my job. It's this. It's easy for you to do that. Take some time, you know what I'm saying?
01:10:25 Speaker_06
You know, be a little bit nervous, be a little bit uncomfortable, be a little bit bored. But you're not gonna be bored if you're around people you love. Like, I'm never bored around my kids. But, you know, be passionate about your normal life as well.
01:10:37 Speaker_07
It sounds like you have so much order and discipline in your life. Like when I'm hearing that, I'm like, it sounds like everything's very structured and organized and intentional. It's not like this random like... Yeah, it's not random at all.
01:10:49 Speaker_07
Every day is very regimen.
01:10:50 Speaker_06
Yeah, it's definitely regimen. You know, I look at my schedule regularly, I'm updating the schedule regularly. And it just really built to make me happy. Like, I'm cool with everything that I have to do as long as I'm happy.
01:11:06 Speaker_06
Like, you know what I'm saying? And if we talk about it and we arrange it and we put it in all the times that it's supposed to be, I'd be really, really happy and I'd love to do it.
01:11:14 Speaker_06
But when things start coming out of left field and you have your idea of what an appropriate time is, and we didn't run that by each other, that's not gonna make me happy to do this. And I'm doing this because I love it.
01:11:27 Speaker_07
Yeah, I saw your men's health video with the MMA, which has become your fascination and I guess workout routine for a couple of years now, I feel. Where did that start and how did that come about?
01:11:39 Speaker_06
A lot of my big homies were getting, and when I say big homies, I mean security. They were getting into MMA and doing jujitsu and just martial arts and just meeting all types of people. And this was like almost 10 years ago.
01:11:53 Speaker_06
And they were just telling me like, bro, this is the next wave. Like, everybody's about to be doing this, blah, blah, blah. It's that and other thing. You got to get into it. You got to get into it.
01:12:01 Speaker_06
I'm like, yeah, it's cool, but I'd rather smoke weed and be in the studio. You know what I'm saying? But as soon as I started working out, I just developed a passion for it out of nowhere. And it didn't make me slow down smoking any.
01:12:17 Speaker_06
I was able to still get stoned. But I love training and I love working out and I love like learning new things. So it just kept building on top of each other and just building and building.
01:12:29 Speaker_06
And then I just, you know, started to develop some skills that, you know, we're still sharpening to this day.
01:12:35 Speaker_07
Do you go to watch as well or you just like training? Oh yeah, I watch the shows as well.
01:12:38 Speaker_06
Yeah, I got a company called PFL that I'm involved with. I go to their shows all the, I mean, I go to their fights all the time. I go to boxing matches, there's wrestling matches, there's jujitsu matches. There's all types of stuff.
01:12:52 Speaker_06
Combat sports is like, as you've seen, it's grown so much and so many influencers wanna do it. It's just a really good lifelong thing too. It's gotten popular for how much money it makes people and things like that.
01:13:08 Speaker_06
But as a lifelong practice, like I would suggest that for any and everybody.
01:13:13 Speaker_07
Yeah. If there are men who are watching who want to get into health and fitness, what would be your best advice for them to motivate them, inspire them, let them know how important it's been for you and it could be for them?
01:13:24 Speaker_06
I would just try to paint the scenario of you being about late thirties out with your kid.
01:13:33 Speaker_06
Somebody like is just in your face and your kid is standing right there and you only got 30 seconds to prove to your child that you're their protector or somebody who's finna get whooped. Start working out now. That's hilarious.
01:13:59 Speaker_07
It's funny because my next question was going to be about like, you know, I feel like masculinity is such a big talking point right now. And you know, a lot of men feeling like they've inherited the mistakes made by men in the past.
01:14:13 Speaker_07
And so men carrying around a lot of judgment, men feeling left behind in the conversation. The different things you've talked about today and the way you're organizing your life, like masculinity is a very broad spectrum. It's not just one way.
01:14:27 Speaker_07
And so have you ever thought about that? Raising a son for yourself? The message you put out, I feel like rap and hip hop had a version of masculinity before. What are your thoughts on that?
01:14:38 Speaker_06
I think I've always approached masculinity just off of my vision of it. And the most masculine in people that I respect and just the situations that I look at as what a man should model themselves as.
01:14:59 Speaker_06
are usually the most like moderate and mild-tempered and just chill and kind of, you know, observant and just guiding the situation.
01:15:08 Speaker_06
And any way that you can position yourself to be that type of person, I've always felt like that was the more, you know, respectable thing. And we all have feelings and we all have emotions.
01:15:20 Speaker_06
And that's where like training in combat sports, it helps you like to put all of that stuff in the right place. Because when you get a chance to get that stuff out, you realize where it has a place at, where it doesn't.
01:15:35 Speaker_06
And a lot of people, they don't have a place to get that stuff out. So they think that they're being masculine by like shouting or yelling or being rude to somebody. But really that should be like the last case scenario. Like, you know what I'm saying?
01:15:48 Speaker_06
Like, that's why I say protecting your child, because I would never use what I know to hurt anybody unless it was to protect my family or myself. It wouldn't be in any other situation because to me, that's not cool. That's not tough.
01:16:09 Speaker_06
That's not even what it's for. So I think the idea of masculinity, it just comes from whoever is putting it out at the moment and what they've learned from it.
01:16:22 Speaker_06
And, you know, the world judges the way that it does based off of their experiences because they think, you know, the most mean or the most scary or this, that, and the other thing, but they haven't, they show that, but there's not a lot of real situations that people are in that prove that that's the right thing.
01:16:43 Speaker_06
And from my experience, what's proven the most is the most mild, chilled, moderate people are the ones that you should probably be like the most worried about.
01:16:52 Speaker_06
So the more that you can position yourself in life to have an understanding of your own emotions and be in control of your reactions to things,
01:17:03 Speaker_06
I think that just makes you more looked at as what people would consider masculine or a leader or a provider or something like that, rather than like an emotional, you know, person.
01:17:16 Speaker_07
Yeah, that's a really powerful answer, man. I feel like you kind of feel the world going through two extremes where it's like masculinity used to be this bravado, chauvinistic, arrogant, you know, alpha male type.
01:17:30 Speaker_07
And then it swung to like being vulnerable and soft and this. And now I kind of feel like it's kind of swinging back the other way. And it's almost like, I like how you described it because it's not really hard or soft.
01:17:41 Speaker_07
It's kind of like the person who can like, calm it down, guide it, move it along, knows what to do with everything.
01:17:47 Speaker_06
Exactly. Exactly.
01:17:49 Speaker_06
Cause I've seen both, you know, and I've been around like growing up in Pittsburgh, you see a lot of dudes where it's like the street nigga type is like the hyper-masculine, but a lot of those dudes end up like going to jail, getting shot, or when they come home from their jail, they're not who they used to be.
01:18:08 Speaker_06
And all of that masculinity kind of goes away when you see, like, the perception of this person go away. You see who they really are. So it's like, deep down, who really are you inside without this whole thing that you're like putting off on people?
01:18:25 Speaker_06
And men have... a lot of pressure, especially like growing up, because we're more competitive, we're like really competitive. So it's like, I could see it with my son, like being in sports with him and his friends, you know what I mean?
01:18:37 Speaker_06
They just off rip, just go to this certain type of personality. And I'm like, bro, you know, you're like a better teammate if you tell dudes like, yo, good shot, like, you know what I'm saying? Good job, I see you, blah, blah, blah.
01:18:50 Speaker_06
But they don't understand that now as kids, they're so competitive and they're so at each other's throats.
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01:21:48 Speaker_06
And sometimes that carries on in life, but I think you just have to have an example of somebody to like, let you know like, yo, it's cool to just be like chill and you know what I mean?
01:21:58 Speaker_06
Like the homie, it's cool to talk shit sometimes too, cause that shit is fun. But like at the root of it, y'all still gotta be friends and care about each other and take care of each other. And that's the more, you know what I mean?
01:22:11 Speaker_06
Brotherly dope part about it. Other than going at each other's necks.
01:22:15 Speaker_07
Yeah, and we need to see that modeled more. It's hard because you don't see it that much. So it's hard to know as a man how to do that.
01:22:21 Speaker_07
But you're right, if you look at the best athletes in the world, they're the ones who kept their calm when things were tough. They weren't the ones spewing anger.
01:22:29 Speaker_07
And it's interesting because MMA, I think people who haven't been trained in martial arts or don't know people who have often can think of it as like combat sports, like angry.
01:22:38 Speaker_07
But have you learned any practices from MMA that you feel apply really well to what we're talking about right now?
01:22:44 Speaker_06
I think just getting punched in the face.
01:22:48 Speaker_06
You learn how to be calm and like not get emotional when somebody hits you in the face and you still got three rounds to do work or you still got three minutes in a round or five minutes in a round to do work.
01:22:59 Speaker_06
Like you can't let your emotion, you have to be calm. You have to think, you have to remember your footwork. You have to remember your breathing. You have to remember defense so you don't get hit again. There's way more,
01:23:13 Speaker_06
to the story than just, I got punched in the face. And a lot of people will never really get that lesson or get that feeling of, I got hit and I got to keep it moving. You know, most people want something to happen as soon as they get hit.
01:23:28 Speaker_06
But, you know, I think just through martial arts, and it sounds extreme and it sounds crazy, but I think everybody should get punched in the face. I know what you're saying, though. I get what you're saying.
01:23:40 Speaker_07
It's like, it's only at that point do you know how tolerant and still you are. Because up until then, you can be like, oh, I'm super chill. I'm calm. But it's responding to that.
01:23:50 Speaker_06
Yeah. And there's a lot of dudes who's like, if somebody punches me in the face, I'll kill them. But like, no, you won't. You got to fight back. You got three minutes or you're going to keep getting punched in the face. So it's like, it's fun.
01:24:04 Speaker_06
It's when you just remove everything and hit somebody in the face. How often do you get punched in the face when you're... We do sparring off and on, especially because I got to do, like, appearances and shows and shit like that.
01:24:17 Speaker_06
Because anything can happen, like, my nose rings could come out, I could get black eye, like, my forehead could get split.
01:24:24 Speaker_07
You got to protect the face.
01:24:26 Speaker_06
Yeah, for sure. So, when I know I'm not having to do too much, that's when we usually do some sparring. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, or we'll do light sparring where it's not like, you know, nobody's in too much danger.
01:24:38 Speaker_07
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That makes sense. I was trying to figure out how you're doing that. Yeah, no, I'm really glad we dove into the masculinity thing because I just feel like it's such a need right now and I want, you know, men and women to both feel like
01:24:53 Speaker_07
you know, that we're kind of having these conversations that I think sometimes on the, on the bigger screens, you don't see them.
01:25:00 Speaker_06
Yeah. You know? Yeah. And I think it's like the word masculinity has gotten like so abused to where people like think it's a bad thing. And it's like, There are good examples of masculinity.
01:25:13 Speaker_06
Like I have a daughter, so she has to see what a masculine man is like. She has to see what a provider is like. She has to see what somebody who is gonna make her feel protected as well as cared for.
01:25:28 Speaker_06
And all of the things that describe what real masculinity is, Beyond you know what you can do physically to somebody or even Financially, you know I'm saying emotionally being there for her. There's a lot of things that
01:25:45 Speaker_06
me having the right types of masculinity are gonna be, you know, positive for her to see.
01:25:51 Speaker_07
Yeah, 100%. 100%, man. And with this new album, what was the energy that you put into it? Like, it's a sequel, so there's that. Was there something you were trying to revisit?
01:26:00 Speaker_06
Yeah.
01:26:00 Speaker_07
Bring back?
01:26:02 Speaker_06
Yeah, I think I'm just revisiting, like, when I did Cushion Orange Juice, the style of it was like, you know, stoner kid, everybody just smoke weed, be cool, be chill. And this is the soundtrack to the lifestyle.
01:26:17 Speaker_06
And I've done a lot with my music to where I've, you know, had my take on what I think music should sound like at certain points. I've had, you know, my take on what I think are like really big, huge records and what those should sound like.
01:26:34 Speaker_06
And then I've also just experimented with, you know, what street culture is at the time and just what's popular to the kids.
01:26:42 Speaker_06
And I think with Cushioned Orange Juice, it really resonated with people because of the lifestyle that it created and the things that I talked about in that lifestyle and the way that the music sounded and grooved with that lifestyle.
01:26:57 Speaker_06
So just being aware of that and knowing what type of chaotic state that we're in right now,
01:27:04 Speaker_06
I just felt like it was the perfect time to just reintroduce people to more laid back, chill, just smoke some weed and vibe out, you know, and create a whole crowd of people who want to do the same thing.
01:27:18 Speaker_07
Yeah. And it's interesting, right? Like you, it's like you're chilled out, but then you're super productive.
01:27:24 Speaker_06
Yeah.
01:27:25 Speaker_07
How do you hope that your audience kind of feels both of those as well?
01:27:30 Speaker_06
It's been good because I think just through experience, I've learned that the majority of people who listen to my music end up bossing up.
01:27:38 Speaker_07
Yeah, I love that.
01:27:38 Speaker_06
Yeah, like there's a lot of artists now
01:27:42 Speaker_06
you know, who were in like middle school, high school when Cushioned Orange Juice came out, or they watch my day-to-days and they're like, man, this is what really, you know, let me know, this is what I needed to do to be an artist, or I studied you every day, blah, blah, blah.
01:27:57 Speaker_06
Or I dropped out of college and I got my friends and, you know, we started our label and now we're Big Sean and, you know what I'm saying? So,
01:28:07 Speaker_06
Like, I've seen a lot of people who have taken my blueprint and turned it into, you know, exactly what I've done with it.
01:28:14 Speaker_06
So, I think the message gets across really, really well that, you know, you be a pothead, but you be productive and you boss up and put all the homies on. I think they get that message really well.
01:28:27 Speaker_07
I love that.
01:28:27 Speaker_06
Yeah, thank you.
01:28:28 Speaker_07
How does it feel that See You Again is the second most viewed video on YouTube, music video of all time? I mean, that's insane.
01:28:37 Speaker_06
Yeah, it's pretty cool. How does that feel? It feels good. I think it feels better that I'm able to walk around.
01:28:44 Speaker_06
Because most people, they would think that if your video is that popular, or if you have that much success, that you're just like, not even real. But like, to me, I could still go to my son's games. I could still, you know, go pick records out.
01:28:59 Speaker_06
I could still go to the gym without a fleet of security with me. So like, I didn't sacrifice my sanity to be the second most viewed person in the world. So I'm happy about that. Yeah.
01:29:13 Speaker_07
And it's such a great song too, to be known for, I feel like.
01:29:16 Speaker_06
It's a really good song. And shout out to Charlie too, man. Like Charlie did his thing. And the whole process of like making that song was like a dream come true because it was for a soundtrack. So you never know how that's going to go.
01:29:29 Speaker_06
There was like 10 other people who were supposed to be on the song. So, you know, me writing a verse, I was just like writing a verse. I wasn't like, this is, this song is going to change my life. I need to sit down. I was just like, yo, here you go.
01:29:42 Speaker_06
It's a dope verse, like I love the verse and shit, but they were like, you know, it really connected with the people who were doing the movie at the time.
01:29:50 Speaker_06
And, you know, shout out to Weave and Constance and Will and everybody, but we just kind of like just shaved it down and it just ended up making sense with it just being me and Charli on there. And that song has taken us like super duper far.
01:30:04 Speaker_07
Yeah, it's dope, man. It's amazing. What was your motivation to go sober from alcohol?
01:30:10 Speaker_06
My motivation to be sober from alcohol was just, I had drank for so long. Since I was able to drink, I've been drinking. And I never seen a reason to really stop. Cause like, I just love partying. I love being around people.
01:30:25 Speaker_06
I love, you know, just being a vibe. After one, I think it was one show, I just got like completely wasted, which was normal. I was like, man, I don't really have too many memories of places.
01:30:41 Speaker_06
I mean, I love doing these shows and shit, but I don't be remembering anything. I was like, I want to kind of experience this stuff, remember where I'm at, remember the people who I'm dealing with, actually enjoy it and not just be turned up.
01:30:57 Speaker_06
So yeah, it was just a time of like just gathering information. And I'm real happy for that.
01:31:03 Speaker_07
Yeah. Was it hard to break away?
01:31:05 Speaker_06
Nah, it wasn't difficult at all. I think when I want to do something, I'm good at it. Like if it means something to me, I have my own reasons for doing it. Nobody's making me do it.
01:31:17 Speaker_06
Or I feel like even if somebody made me do it, if it was like a challenge or something like that, or if like I had to for legal reasons or something like that, I wouldn't have a problem doing a lot of things.
01:31:27 Speaker_06
But, you know, for me, it's just my lifestyle is so free and it's so fun. So half of the time, it's like, why would I stop? But if I make up a reason for myself, I usually end up sticking to it. Yeah.
01:31:40 Speaker_07
Wiz, at the start of the interview, I asked you, what's the first thing you do when you wake up? Yeah. What's the last thing you do before you go to bed?
01:31:47 Speaker_06
Last thing I do before I go to bed, kiss my son and my daughter. Nice. Yeah. I love that. Yeah.
01:31:53 Speaker_07
It's beautiful. Wiz, I end every episode. You've been amazing. So generous with your time. Great, just great energy. I've really enjoyed spending this time with you, man.
01:32:01 Speaker_00
Thank you.
01:32:01 Speaker_07
Yeah, I appreciate you. I feel like I've learned so much about you today that I didn't know for sure. Thank you. We end every episode with a final five. These have to be answered in one word to one sentence maximum.
01:32:12 Speaker_06
Okay.
01:32:12 Speaker_07
And so Wiz Khalifa, these are your fast five, final five. The first question is, what's the best advice you've ever heard or received?
01:32:19 Speaker_06
Just Be You, that's from Snoop Dogg.
01:32:22 Speaker_07
Nice. Question number two, what's the worst advice you've ever heard or received?
01:32:26 Speaker_06
Change your name from Wiz Khalifa. To? I don't know, they just told me that that name wasn't gonna work. Why didn't they like the name? Cause it's just too different. You know what I'm saying? Like it didn't sound like nothing.
01:32:39 Speaker_06
It didn't give off, you didn't get any visual from that back in the day when I told you that that was my name. So a lot of people, close people to me was like, I like you, you can rap, you're really cool, but you need to change your name.
01:32:53 Speaker_06
And it ended up working out for me because in the years that I was being discovered, It's a brand new name, so when you Google that name, I'm the only thing that comes up. So it was like one of the most Googled names, like, you know, for that year.
01:33:06 Speaker_06
So the thing that people told me wasn't gonna work, ended up working.
01:33:09 Speaker_07
I love that. Where did it come from?
01:33:11 Speaker_06
Wiz is short for wisdom, and Khalifa is leader or successor.
01:33:14 Speaker_07
Yeah, yeah, yeah. How did you come across the word Khalifa?
01:33:16 Speaker_06
Because that's... Khalifa, my parents are, well, my grandparents, my granddad is Muslim.
01:33:21 Speaker_07
Right, right, right. Yeah, that's one joke. Very cool, man. Exactly. I didn't say don't name. Thank you, man. Yeah, it's cool. It's cool, I love this hat too.
01:33:28 Speaker_06
Yeah, good look.
01:33:29 Speaker_07
I saw this on your merch yesterday.
01:33:31 Speaker_06
Yeah, new merch, new merch. I'm a walking billboard, baby. All I wear is me.
01:33:35 Speaker_07
Yeah, I love it. Question number three, what's something that you used to value that you no longer value?
01:33:41 Speaker_06
I used to really enjoy going to nightclubs. I don't enjoy it anymore. Because? I feel like the music isn't the same. I feel like people don't really dance anymore. They're just in sections, just kind of chilling.
01:33:54 Speaker_06
And it just kind of defeats the purpose of going out. I never went out just to look cool. I would go out to get girls. And I really don't chase women all like that no more. And I think it's just the polite thing to do.
01:34:07 Speaker_06
Normally, like I said, anymore, because normally even being in a relationship, I would just be like, yo, this is a part of my life. You know what I'm saying? I'm going to be around hella chicks. Get used to it. You know what I'm saying?
01:34:18 Speaker_06
That's what I would do before. But now I don't really care for that shit no more.
01:34:24 Speaker_07
Question number four, how would you define your current purpose?
01:34:28 Speaker_06
I would define my current purpose as a leader and as a provider and as somebody who a lot of people look up to. So it doesn't matter what I get personally, it's more about what I do for others.
01:34:47 Speaker_07
And fifth and final question, we ask this to every guest who's ever been on the show. If you could create one law that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be?
01:34:56 Speaker_06
Smoke weed every day. I love it.
01:35:03 Speaker_07
Wiz Khalifa, Christian Orange Juice too. Yep. Thank you so much, man.
01:35:07 Speaker_06
Thank you too. This is so much fun. Thank you, man. I had a good time too. Yeah, I hope you did, man. I like your jeans too, man. Thank you, man. I appreciate it. Yeah, it's cool.
01:35:14 Speaker_07
If this is the year that you're trying to get creative, you're trying to build more, I need you to listen to this episode with Rick Rubin on how to break into your most creative self, how to use unconventional methods that lead to success, and the secret to genuinely loving what you do.
01:35:32 Speaker_07
If you're trying to find your passion and your lane, Rick Rubin's episode is the one for you.
01:35:37 Speaker_03
Just because I like it, that doesn't give it any value. Like, as an artist, if you like it, that's all of the value. That's the success comes when you say, I like this enough for other people to see it.
01:35:51 Speaker_07
Sometimes life can seem hard and tough to navigate, but what may seem like the smallest tasks such as getting out of bed or even brushing your teeth should be celebrated as a win. And State Farm is here to help you celebrate all your wins.
01:36:03 Speaker_07
The State Farm Personal Price Plan helps you create an affordable price just for you. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can bundle and save with the Personal Price Plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.
01:36:15 Speaker_07
Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options is selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state.
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01:36:56 Speaker_04
This podcast is supported by BetterHelp, offering licensed therapists you can connect with via video, phone, or chat. Here's BetterHelp head of clinical operations, Hsu Zhou, discussing who can benefit from therapy.
01:37:11 Speaker_09
I think a lot of people think that you're supposed to be going to therapy once you're like having panic attacks every day.
01:37:18 Speaker_09
But before you get to that point, I think once you start even noticing that you feel a little bit off and you can't maintain this harmony that you once had in relationships, that could be a sign that maybe you want to go talk to somebody.
01:37:31 Speaker_09
There's always a benefit in talking to someone because we can all benefit from improved insight about ourselves and who we are and how we behave with other people.
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So if you're human, that's like a good indicator that you could benefit from talking to somebody.
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Find out if therapy is right for you. Visit betterhelp.com today. That's betterhelp.com.