“Andre Davis: Breaking Barriers Through Hip Hop and Poetry

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Welcome to the CJ Moneyway Johnson Show podcast. The podcast show where we unlock potential one dream at a time. Today we have another guest whose journey is truly worth hearing. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the Moneyway experience.

What's up, my good people? Welcome to the CJ Moneyway Show, the podcast that brings you stories behind the success. Today we have on the show hip-hop artist and Point in Motion, David Andre Davis. How you doing today, Andre, man?

I'm doing well, good brother. How you feeling?

I'm good, man. Thank you for taking some time out today, man, and joining me on the CJ Moneyway Johnson Show. Hey, so Andre, man, tell us a little bit about yourself and about your background.

Yeah, so, uh, I'm from St. Louis, Missouri. That's where I grew up. Um, pretty much spent most of my time you know what I'm saying, with the homies. Really big on family, really big on like finding other ways to navigate struggle. Because I think a lot of common ways that I was taught or seen was like drug dealing or gangbanging. And I always kind of had that motivation in me to be like, all right, I see where this leads me. I don't want that, but I still want the perks. Because all the people who I was around who at least had resources was still sharing with people. So I'm like, all right, I want to be somebody who's in a position where I can share with my family, share with my peoples, but I'm not trying to end up in prison. Because as much love as they showed while they was there, the moment they went to prison, they gone.

Yeah.

And then we was all left all bad. So That was really most of my background was me in that space trying to figure that out, trying to navigate that. Ended up moving out to Des Moines, Iowa after high school to go to college, went to Drake University. And then after graduating Drake University, ended up going back for law school and graduated law school in 2021. So now I work as a civil rights specialist for the state of Iowa. And I also do hip-hop as well and poetry and do a bunch of workshops and organize protests. Pretty much one of them guys who just do everything. Just be outside with the community trying to show love to the people and be of service.

Yeah, jack of all trades, huh? Yeah. Hey, that's cool from a brother from the hood, man, to go get your law degree. Now you a civil activist and everything, you know, working for the state. That's cool, man. I think that's a great accomplishment. Because young brothers out there need to hear that regardless of where you come from, man, you still can, you can make it out of that. Because like something that you said was one thing that I, you know, one thing that I, reason I didn't do certain things either is because two things I didn't want to do. One, I didn't want to go to the service, and two, I never wanted to go to jail. And so if I didn't want to go to jail, then that meant that I had to do not the thing that was sending me to jail, you know what I'm saying? So I— hey, I see some of the— some of the cats from the hood, they balling out, making money, doing whatever they got to do, and it was all good. I went, hey, 9 to 5, you know what I'm saying? I'm gonna go clock in this clock. I'll come back and kick it with y'all when I get off, you know what I'm saying? Because I had to get mine too, but I didn't want to get it by any means though, you know. Yeah, that's—

that's it. That's a snap effect. I would say one of my OGs, one of the lessons he gave me early on He said, uh, all money don't cost the same.

That was his joint.

All money don't cost the same. He said, you see your man over there, you know what I'm saying? He out here making his money. That's nice. He's like, listen, you can go over there, go rob him right now and probably get you like $250 right now, right? He's like, or you can go ahead and go down the street, McDonald's, go work at McDonald's, get you $250. It's probably gonna cost you some time. You know, probably gotta fill out your little job application, you probably gotta wear your little uniform or whatever, but get $250. You can rob your man right here, you know, it ain't gonna take you as much time off you, you know what I'm saying? You go work through, go take it off him, cool. But then you have to spend the rest of your days with your head on a swivel, so you don't want his money back.

Yeah.

And it might even cost you your life.

Yeah.

So in both scenarios, you get $250 but they don't cost the same. Like, anytime you go out there and you're trying to go make things happen, keep that in mind. Like, all money don't cost the same. So just be mindful of what you're willing to pay for what you're willing to gain. All right, so yeah, I feel you on that. I don't like the recognizing, like, all right, I can't do it this way, I gotta find another way to do it.

Yeah, I mean, it's all about the person too. Some people gonna take the risk to do whatever, you know, say by any means necessary, but You know, like, you being in the position that you in, you know, I know you hear a lot of complaints and a lot of things that goes on as far as, you know what I'm saying, with the race and, you know, we look at things politically and things of that nature. But hey, man, if they telling you, if they already told you and you already know that there's consequences to the actions that you take, bruh, and you go out there and do it anyway, and then the actions that you knew, the consequences that you knew was there, happened, why are we going in the uproar? You know what I'm saying? All of a sudden, when you knew that there was consequences to it but you did it anyway, so evidently you just said, "F the consequences," you know what I'm saying? "I'm gonna do what I wanna do anyway." Okay, cool, that's fine. That's our right to do. We get our own choice, our own free will. But when you get caught up in the game, bruh, you gotta take accountability for what you have done. And that's one thing that I wanna focus on that we was talking about earlier, and the other part, you gotta take accountability for what you've done, bro. And that's one thing that us as men especially, that's one thing we don't want to do. We don't want to take accountability for our own actions. I always want to blame somebody else for what we're going through.

But I think that also comes from like, who was your OGs, who was your peoples, who were the men that taught you? Because I'm about to say, at least the men I was around, even the ones who were doing wrong, they were very clear with me. Listen, I'm down bad out here, I'm doing bad. Whatever's coming for me, I deserve. That's just gonna be what it is because I know myself and because I know I'm not gonna change. I'm just gonna do that. But the best I can do is tell you, hey, don't do what I'm doing.

Yeah.

And for me, I'm like, I, I appreciated being around men who were that self-reflective.

Yeah.

Who aren't going to come up and pretend like, oh yeah, no, I'm Why they coming at me like this? Why they do— they like, no, this is what we on, this is what we doing. Yeah, my time gonna come, my day gonna come, and that's gonna be what it is. I'm not about to complain about it, I'm not about to blame somebody else. Like, no, this is what I'm on, this is the reason why I did it, this is what I gained from it, and that's it. I think a lot of the young guys who I see who kind of had that mentality like, oh, we want to blame everybody else, a lot of them didn't have that, that mentor, like those older folks above him be like, hey, listen, if you gonna be out here down bad, cool, but recognize that you gotta look at yourself in the mirror and be like, this is the type of person I am. So what comes to me as a result of me acting like this, that's just what it is.

And you know what it is, Dre, too, like, uh, a point what you said, and I'll move on from there. A point that you said, it's not A lot of times I don't think that these younger cats— not that they don't have OGs, uh, trying to say something to them, because, you know, I consider myself an OG, an older person that's still trying to talk to the young men. The thing that's different between them and what was different between us coming up is these little young cats, they don't want to listen to nobody. They don't want to listen. They know everything, you know what I'm saying? Like, I tell you that it's a ditch right there, bro, at the end of that road. Because I've been down that road every day of my life, you know what I'm saying? I know for a fact that there's a ditch right there. And so when you get to the end of that corner, watch yourself, man, because you'll fall in that ditch if you ain't careful. And they'll be walking right behind you like, oh man, you don't know what you talking about, and fall right in that ditch. I told you that it was a ditch right there, but they gotta learn for themselves, you know what I'm saying?

Because it's in the weeds, man, you know.

For some reason that's how it is now though.

But some of that is also them growing up in this internet era, because like, I can't sit here and pretend like I was the most like obedient young dude either. Like the OGs would tell me, hey, look man, I'm like, I'm about to go do that, you feel me? And I sit there, bump my head like, oh, that was stupid, the OGs told me not to whoop-de-whoop, blah blah blah. Or I sit there and watch other people, OG told him not to do blah blah blah, he went and did whoop-de-whoop and now he got hit with the fam. But these young guys, they grow up with the internet, so you know what I'm saying? They Googling everything. They think, you know what I'm saying, the internet got all the answers. So by the time you come to them and spit something real to them, they like, I already know, uh, ChatGPT already told me everything I need to know. And then they still go out there and look dumb. Like, see, if you would have— it's certain things they can't teach you on the internet, man.

Certain things you're gonna have to have life experiences with, you know what I'm saying? And don't get me wrong, like you say It ain't like I was like, I went and bumped my head plenty of times, you know what I'm saying, or whatever. But it's still certain situations that I try to tell my little boy, like, hey man, this and that. But like you said, this internet thing, like, you don't know what you're talking about. You don't know what you're talking about. Okay, you know, like I used to ball, my son ball. So I try to give him some pointers and tell him this and that, whatever, whatever.

But I don't know what I'm talking about.

He only 13, but he know more than me. Anyway, so yeah. Anyway, so Dre, you were the first hip-hop artist to become, to be named Artist of the Month by the DuBois Music Correlation. Tell me, man, what was that feeling like?

Um, it was big, man. I think it was one of them scenarios where I'm one of those people who's very much like a, I just put my head down and just focus on what I'm doing. And whether or not people notice me doesn't really matter. 'cause I'm more so focused on my short-term goals and how they lead to my long-term goals. So I'm more so like a day-by-day type of guy. So when they first sent me the email, I'm like, "How y'all get my email?" I'm more so focused like, you know, like, "How you get my information?" And then once we actually did the interview and they printed out the magazine and I'm seeing like the whole joint, I'm like, I was like, man, this is beautiful actually. Like, these people really see what I've been out here doing. So then it really made me want to be like, all right, well, since we already got this here, hey, some of my homies is outside too. You know what I'm saying? If y'all want to put the light on folks who are actually outside and doing something for the community and who, you know what I'm saying, are really purpose-driven, well then let me go ahead You know what I'm saying? Show us some of that light too. Because I definitely didn't expect it. It was definitely one of them situations where I'm just doing me, I'm just gonna be me, and then people for some reason are interested in me and what I'm doing.

Yeah, I mean, that's how it is, man. You know, your light gonna shine even in dark places. You know, a lot of times a lot of things happen when we least expect it. But one of the things that you said in that statement is it just shows how the selfishness, how unselfish you are, man. When you say, hey, you know, y'all putting the spotlight on me, I'm just one of many that's out here doing this, you know. So hey, y'all want to get me, I got my homies out there that's doing the same thing, that's out there putting in this footwork too, out here doing these concerts just like I'm doing, and they might be just as good as me. Or spit more, that's as good as I'm spitting, man. So why don't y'all go ahead and bring them into this light too? And I think that right there shows the character and integrity of a person when everything is not just about you.

Thanks. I mean, I grew up around, I grew up around like real kings, like, and not even just in like the colloquial kind of way, like, oh yeah, king, but like guys who actually were like, no, like this is how we move. And one of the attributes of a king is his ability to give blessing. Like, if you aren't able to bless the people around you, then like, how you call yourself king? Like, for real? Like, every king has a kingdom, so I mean, he got to be able to— when they come to the king with problems, he got to be able to make something happen. So like, if you can't make something happen, then like, don't be giving yourself that title yet. Work, build it first. So usually when I am granted an opportunity or I have something I have the ability to bless people, I do. Because I'm like, this is— I was raised by kings, so I'm gonna hold myself in a manner that I believe is king-like. So that way, like, this table big enough for all my people to eat. So like, bet they coming to me with this, hey, my man, come holla at these people too. Come let them know what you want. Go ahead, come get some of that too. Because I want to empower all my peoples who are really out here doing what is necessary. I want them to feel like validated and like, yo fam, what we doing is working. Yeah, because there's a lot of young guys who are seeing it and they like, I kind of want to go this route, the homie over there got a Maybach. I kind of want to go this route and speak real and be conscious and all of the other stuff, but homie over here got all the girls. Homie over here, you know what I'm saying, he got all the chains and everything. So I kind of want to do what he doing. So then you can take somebody like me, you know what I'm saying, who just out here putting his head down, knocking things out. I'm like, oh wait, hold up, time out. You get to be on the front of magazine?

Yeah.

Word. Oh, word, you get to be connected with these type of people and you get to make these type of moves?

Yeah.

You get to sit at these type of tables? Yeah. What?

Yeah.

And then I don't gotta go out and tap dance for everybody and all the other extra. I could just focus on what I'm doing and still get blessings and still be able to help out my people? Absolutely. Oh, then I'm— that might be a route for me. Yeah, come slide over here. Like, you ain't got to do all that shucking and jiving for them people, man.

Yeah, yeah. I like to talk about tap dancing, you know. We say that all the time, man. I got a partner I used to joke with all the time, though. Like, remember that commercial, the Planters, the peanut dude? They got the— it's the WB. You be at work doing that, man. I'm like, it's the W, B, let's sit down. You're embarrassing. You're embarrassing. So, man, uh, so speaking about rap and the direction and the way that you're going, I thought the way that you broke that down was good. Because here's one thing too, Dre, Everything that homie had over there, the Maybach, the women— once you get your head on straight and go in the right direction and do what your dreams are leading you to do, all them things gonna be there. The same thing that they got is gonna be on the other side too. As what we were talking about earlier, as you say, the OG told you something, you just got to work a little harder for it, you know.

But also, like, you also got to put yourself in a position, like, why do you want I want those things because that was something I had to like reconcile with myself early on. So I'm like, I know I want to take the more difficult path, okay? I know that this path is going to come with way more scrutiny. I know people not gonna like be as quick to try to join it, and I know I'm gonna have to spend a lot of time alone, cool. And I may not get the make back in chains and all of that. Do I want those things? Yeah, it's part of me that's like, a little bit. Why? Maybe to show that I'm successful. It's like, all right, word. Okay, how many lame-ass niggas do you know that got chains and all of that? I'm like, I know a bunch of them, right? So the chain and the Maybach don't really do nothing. It don't validate your success. What validates your success on a real level? And for me, it was always being able to look myself in the mirror and be like, you are exactly who you say you are. That always made me feel like, hell yeah, like I really can say that to myself. And then I go out to the world and people give me so much love just for being myself. So then that validates it even more. So then I've seen guys who come into the spot, you know what I'm saying, all of that, cool, but when they walk into the same rooms that I'm walking into, the people gravitate towards me because they like, yo, it's always great seeing you, brother. It's always great seeing you. I'm— more blessings to you, man. So homie came here with all the, all the diamonds, jewels, and all of that, but he don't get the same love. He don't get the same respect. You don't get to move the same type of way because he was too busy shucking and driving. So they like, oh, we don't really know who you are. So like, be cool on that. But we know Andre, we see him outside.

Yeah, I mean, like, I think it's something that we were talking about, that's the grace, you know what I'm saying? That's, that's the maneuvering part of, as we talked about earlier, about something. That's the maneuvering part of you got to know when to hold them and fold them. Sometimes you got to know when to pick your battles, you know what I'm saying? And so sometimes when you pick your battles, it's certain rooms that I can walk in, as you, as you allude to, that I can walk in Well, I'm gonna get love from, you know, because people just gravitate to me because you said something to the effect that people gravitate to me because I'm just, I'm authentic. I'm transparent. I am who I am. And I don't try to change up to try to be somebody that I'm not when I'm around this person or when I'm around that person. I am who I am every day. And people gravitate to people like that because you are gonna be who you are regardless of what the situation may be. You know, period. And I get that, man. I get exactly what you're saying.

Yeah, and it also inspires them to be themselves because like everybody walk around kind of with like almost like a filter of like, how much of myself can I be around certain people? Or like, you know, do I gotta code switch and all that? I'm one of them people who show up to law school every day with a bandana in my pocket for all the homies back in the hood.

Yeah, right.

So they sitting there, they like, wait, so you walk around with this bandana in your pocket everywhere? Yeah, but you, but you in the law school. I am in the law school. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, I don't, I don't gotta come in here and pretend for y'all. Like, no, I'm still smart. I'm still gonna come up here and answer all these questions. I'm still gonna come here and get my degree. Yeah, I'm still gonna do all of that, but I'm gonna do it as myself. Yeah, y'all coming up here faking and lying, so then by the time y'all get y'all success, y'all can't look in the mirror and recognize who looking back at you. I've been looking at myself the whole time.

Hey, I'm gonna be me. I'll tell you about my dad. I was a peanut planter, dude. You know, we get around people, and like, I was listening to the one thing about it, you know, it's when you get around certain people People want to change the way that they talk, you know. I talk the same way that I talk about it. And if I gotta change the way that I have to talk around people, then I don't need to talk to them. And that's just how I am, you know. I don't talk around everybody because everybody don't take what you say the same way. And so if I feel something about somebody, like, you know, I don't really want to talk around them. And so I would leave out of the conversation. And as you said, Sarnell, I've learned how to be by myself. I can cope by myself, bro, perfectly fine, you know what I'm saying? Because as a creative mind and a person doing what you're doing, I know that you know what I'm talking about. Because in that alone time, in that time, it gives me time to think. It gives me time to reset. It gives me a time to refresh myself. It gives me a time to come up with creative things that I haven't even done yet. I'm thinking down the road. And so when people think that, you got a lot of people that feel like they just can't be alone. I gotta be out in the hood every day with the homies. I gotta be riding. I gotta go to the club. If you don't never have a chance, a time for yourself, how can you get, okay, here go one, Dre. I want a million dollars.

Okay, cool.

We all want a million dollars. But what are you doing to try to get it? Period. What are you doing to try to get it? It ain't just gonna fall out the sky. Me and Dre, we trying to do something. Don't mean that we got a million, But I'm trying to strike, even if I don't get a million, I tried, I tried my best, you know what I'm saying? At least I tried to do something to get to that point. But I know if I don't do nothing, I'm not gonna get it.

I know that for a fact.

And that's how we get in the hood a lot of times, you know, like I said, I'm older, I'm 50. I don't go out to the hood as much as I used to because, excuse me, uh, MTC, but cats out there still talking about the same thing we was talking about in 1998, bruh. Yeah, since then I don't want to talk about the same stuff we was talking about 24 years ago, bro.

Especially if you got motion, especially if you got things going on. Like, that was one of the things that I had to give myself more grace on, because like, anytime I go back and I talk to the homies and I tell them about the things that I got in motion or the things that I'm building and things I'm moving towards they get to like all of a sudden being real quiet. Yeah, yeah. So like, it was real loud when we talking about like, you know what I'm saying, all the dumb stuff that we did. Like, yo, yeah, we beat up a whole dude, we did it. Oh, you remember when you slapped that boy? All that craziness. And then I'm over like, hey, this is what I'm on now though. Like, I'm out here sitting at tables with corporate attorneys, you know what I'm saying, talking business and XYZ. I done raised X amount of money for all the young people behind me, they gotta go to Drake, and now half of their tuition is paid because of some of the work that I've been doing. Like, you know what I'm saying? I'm coming in talking that, and you know what I'm saying, niggas kind of just—

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, oh, I already know.

I already— crickets, you know what I'm saying?

Like, like you said, you know, something that you said was very valuable.

When you start talking concrete stuff, they want to bring up your past, man. People always want to bring you back to who you used to be. You know, like, man, look, man, God done brought me out of that a long time ago. I got a renewed mind. I'm not thinking on that pettiness no more. You know, yeah, I made some mistakes in my life down the line, and I still make mistakes. I ain't perfect or whatever, but them things that I used to do, I ain't doing that no more, you know, because I've elevated past that level. You know, I'm trying to, I'm trying to do something, as you said, I'm trying to uplift brothers. I'm trying, I want to help you. I wanna do things to help you, bro, why you sitting around there hatin'? Low key, you know what I'm saying? The things I'm trying to do, trying to have an impact, not only myself or the young cats coming up, but anyway, man, let me get to the questions, baby. How did you develop your unique style of blending conscious music with spoken word, and what inspired you for this approach?

So it really was a combination of a bunch of things. So like my uncle was the one who really introduced me to like hip-hop in a real way. So like my uncle hated all the mainstream hip-hop. Like he hated it. And I'm like, you know, some middle school kid, you know what I'm saying? Just kind of listening to whatever's on the radio. And he like, "Bro, turn this trash off." Like, "I'm not trying to hear none of that." under that. Let me ask, what year was this?

What, what, what era was this?

So this would have been, would have been probably like early 2000s, 2003, 2004.

Okay, okay.

And, uh, he hated it. He hated it so much. So I'm like, well, who do you listen to? So he was big on like, uh, Cannabis, Diabolic, and Immortal Technique. So I'm sitting, I got this little, this little, got my little MP3 player. I'm like, uh, my mom bought me this MP3 player, can you just put a couple songs on it? You know what I'm saying? Don't take up all my memory, but just put like a couple songs on it, like things that I should check out. This man, this man took up my whole, all my memory and just put all of these old school hip-hop joints from there, all the underground joints.. And as a kid, I'm sitting there listening to it. And like, I'm listening to the messages Immortal Technique is talking about. I'm listening to the messages that Cannabis is talking about. And I'm like, these guys are super dope, like lyrically and metaphor-wise, but they also saying something. So it hit a little different. Like it's hitting me in a whole nother type of way than what it was when I was listening to like mainstream or like whatever was on the radio. So then that put me on like the path of like, all right, I think I can kind of do this. I can write down like things that have happened to me and make them rhyme. So then I kind of started off with that. Like I'm just going to say things that are happening to me. And I found in that experience, the more truthful I was in what I was writing, the better I felt about what I was writing. So then it was always chasing that feeling. Of like, yo, come out here and just be real. And it also created a, like, a distaste for any time I hear guys come up there and they spit something, I'm like, you lying, why you doing that? Yeah. So it pushed me in that space of like, all right, if you gonna talk, be honest. Cool. So then in me doing that, I reached a point where I was trying to find beats and trying to find like, you know what I'm saying, homies who could like, was really nice with making instrumentals. And that's also difficult. Like, I ain't know how hard that was to find guys who are actually talented in that. So it became me just writing a lot. It was just like, all right, well, I just got, I got 12 verses for, you know what I'm saying, for whenever somebody come to me with some fire beats. But then I kept getting so excited about writing these things and having so many things to say that I'm like, man, I'm just about to start, I'm about to just start saying it how I feel. I don't even need to be.

Yeah.

And people were responding like, yo, I think you saying like that, what you talking about, that's different, that's nice. And so then that's where the spoken word aspect kind of developed. It was like, all right, cool. Well, if a nice beat, if I got something nice around me, I'm gonna use that. But if I just want to talk and just give it straight to the people, I'm gonna use the spoken word, just give it straight to him like that too. Like, I'm not gonna limit myself. Either way you're gonna get this real. Either way you're gonna get this true. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible, financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds because Progressive Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home, and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it, so your dollar goes a long way. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations.

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Yeah, that's cool, man. I heard the one, you know, that you did at Juneteenth, man, and it drew my attention and, and just Like, I was reading an article, and for people that don't know you, you know what I'm saying, like I didn't, and I was reading this article about you and Big Rang too. They say, well, if you haven't seen him perform live, you need to see him perform live because you can listen to the music on YouTube or whatever, but to see the performance and the way that, you know what I'm saying, he goes with it and the live performance that he does It's amazing. And I can attest to that too, 'cause I'm reading the article, I'm like, they ain't lying. It's just the stage presence, you know what I'm saying, that elevates the spoken word and the conscious rap. I think all of you guys did an excellent job at that Juneteenth event, man. But yeah, that's one of the things that actually stood out, is the stage performance. Not just the words that was spoken, but just the stage performance as a whole and how you drew everybody's attention. The whole crowd was just into it. You know what I'm saying? Whether you like conscious rap or spoken word rap or not, it's just that, you know, it was commanding and it drew people's attention to it, man. So yeah, I agree with you on that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's— I'm glad you enjoyed it. That's honestly one of my goals when I come and I perform live is I try to give people a different experience than just listening to the album. Because if you wanted to just listen to the music, you could have just went on Spotify and did that.

Yeah.

So like, clearly you coming outside to see it live for a different experience.

Yeah.

So like, typically when I perform it live, I'm like, all right, cool. Well, what mindset was I in when I made this particular song? How do I get myself back into that space? And then how do I open up a window for y'all to see exactly where I was at, what I was feeling, what I was doing while I was putting this together? And I think that experience I think that experience for a lot of people was like, yo, this man is really up here. Like, I feel like he's saying things that I shouldn't even be in the room to hear. But I'm like, no, I give it to you. I give it to you right here, right now. And I think that experience usually pushes people to be like, I want to sit down and talk to this man, yo. Like, what's— like, yo.

It was that, but I just seen the way that you guys operated outside of that, performance was over, you know. Like, a lot of people would leave after they perform, you know what I'm saying? They'll leave after they get their paycheck, they out of there. But for you, and I think DK, and, you know, the few other groups that was there, just the interaction that you guys had, you know, supporting the other groups and, you know, talking to people in the crowd, that, you know what I'm saying, that's what it's all about, man. You know, people talk about networking and People talking about building relationships. That's how you build relationships, man, is supporting one another. If somebody can sit there and listen to you, if I can sit there and listen to you, why you can't sit there and listen to me? You know, I sat there and supported you. Why you can't support me?

But you know how we are, man.

That's one thing that I noticed about you guys, you know, you guys too. That was able for me to be able to approach you because I didn't approach you as soon as you got off the stage. I seen y'all. Over there in the corner chilling or whatever. And you know, God knows when the right time is. So you happen to be watching, man, you know, still I wanted to holla at you, you know what I'm saying? We got the right time, right place. And I'm glad we able to sit here a couple months later, you know what I'm saying? And chopping it up like real men, that is.

Yeah, that's the goal to always make myself accessible. 'Cause I also don't like that experience of like going to support somebody and they come up there and they spit their little joint and then they leave. I'm like, hey, like, all right, cool. Well, shit, if you were just only here to get whatever you wanted from us and then leave, then like, why we even have you come out there? Like, that feels weird to me. Like, in my mind, I'm like, yeah, you brought me here to perform, but you also brought me here to really be involved. So I'm not about to half-ass it. Like, no, I'm performing. I'm gonna come out here and I'm gonna be with the people. Like, we all here, we all gonna enjoy, we all gonna celebrate the greatness that is being alive today and being able to witness what's happening in front of us right now. Yeah. Don't miss out on CJ Moneyway's book, Both Eyes Open and Both Eyes Shut, and get ready to pre-order his upcoming release, The Issues of Life, coming soon. Moneyway, aiming to inspire.

You know how we are, you know what I'm saying? I hate to say this, but everybody, you know, this is the number one song, the hottest song it is out there right now, but they ain't like us.

They not like us.

Everybody not the same, you know, everybody.

Sometimes you gotta pop out and show niggas.

Hey, so Dre, you mentioned this earlier, man, about your education. You say you graduated from Drake Law School. So what was that experience like? I guess it's a twofold question. What was that experience like and how did that shape your journey on both being an artist and a professional?

So I think for me, it was similar to most of my experiences in life. So like I grew up as the skinny kid who like had to squabble a little bit more because I was skinny, right? Or like, oh, little light skin can't fight, you know what I'm saying? A little light skin, probably all of his feelings. So like, I was always like underestimated from the beginning. So like, I'd have that experience in college as well. Get to these certain rooms, people look at me certain type of way. Or like, we gotta bring our groups together for some group project, folks don't really wanna, you know what I mean? Yeah, so then for me, I'm like, all right, cool, that's fine. I want y'all to stay over there. Stay over there. I'm about to show you, you made the biggest mistake ever. Because the one, like, key part of my mindset, especially when I got to Drake, was these people may have more money than me they may have more resources, some of them may even be a little smarter than you, but none of them are going to outwork me. I'm working harder than everybody. I don't care who you— because that hard work is going to even that whole thing all the way out. And most times it put me ahead because they like, no, we want old boy because we know he for real.

Yeah, he gonna put in the work, you know. Bottom line. That's a good analogy. So, okay.

Yeah, so that was it for me. It was like, really, I got to Law School and was like, yo, same plan, same mindset. We about to outwork everybody. Like, we not playing with these people. So a lot of the times when things were happening for me as far as like getting awards in the community or like getting invited to certain big performances or getting signed to a record label, and doing the law school thing, a lot of people was like, yo, fam, how are you doing both things? How are you organizing protests on Sunday and then going to law school prepared on Monday and still getting good grades? It's like, bro, I'm going to work harder than all y'all. It's just going to be what it is. No, I'm going to stay up late. I'm going to get up early. I'm going to take care of my body by eating a certain type of way. I'm going to work out to make sure that, you know what I'm saying, I feel the difference on what it's like when I don't work out in the morning and when I do work out in the morning. I know when I work out in the morning, my mind is sharper. I know I'm faster. I know I am more productive. I bet that's what I'm doing. And you do that long enough, eventually folks is going to have to accept it. Like, all right, he just gonna work harder than everybody. He just gonna get it done. And then it becomes a space of, well, now I'm the reliable one. So now I built a space where the people in the law school know, hey, you can rely on him, so I can come to him and things will get done. And then even in the community now, hey, if you know you want certain things accomplished, you can come to him. So I think that experience really just solidified for me of like the mindset, like you had it right, you had it right, you didn't have to cut corners, you didn't have to do none of that. Work harder than everybody else, everything else is going to end up the way it's supposed to.

Work yourself out. Yeah, I like that analogy, you know what I'm saying? Just work harder than everybody. And I know that has to be a wonderful feeling when you, not just your work is being, uh, you know, noticed or whatever, but it has to be a great feeling with you have worked yourself to the point where people not only recognize what you're doing, but say, "He's reliable. If you want something done, go to Dre. He gonna get it done." You know, starting from humble beginnings until, you know, where you at now, when people say, "Hey, hey, my guy Andre, he can get it done for you. Hey, hit him up." You know what I'm saying? I know that gotta be a great feeling, man, in itself.

It's one of the best feelings I've ever had when I'm the "I know a guy" guy. Like when the homie's like, "Oh yeah, I know somebody," and they talk about— like, to be that person, like, for me was like, "Hell yeah." Like, yeah, I like being the person that's like, I'm accessible so you know you can get to me, but also like, I need help and I know this man is going to be willing to help me. So like, I know for a fact I don't have to be down bad by myself, or I don't have to go through this by myself. And having somebody like that removes that other thing that we were talking about earlier with guys making excuses. I'm like, oh, like, no, you don't get that excuse. You had Andre, you know Andre make it happen.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You ain't got no crutch, you know what I'm saying? You got a reliable outsourcer. So if you didn't do it then that means that you didn't put in the work because I gave you the map to do it. I was there with you. You just didn't put in the effort to finish it off or do your part or whatever you had to do. And if you go back and say Andre didn't do this, that people already gonna know that you're lying because my reputation speaks for itself. Yeah, that, that got to be a cool experience, man.

Very cool.

So let me ask you, Dre, how has your law degree helped you navigate the music industry from a business perspective?

So one of my favorite things, especially while I was in law school, was contracts. I love contracts because I already love language, I already love writing, like that part is already there, my creative end. But then there's even like a way in which you have to write contracts, or the way that certain things are phrased or put together that means something really important, and if people don't know those words or if they don't know those phrases, it completely go over their head. So for me, I was already like, all right, I love writing contracts, I love reading contracts, that's kind of where my focus is going to be. So in me doing that in law school and then getting my law degree, anytime I come into a scenario where like, all right, let's talk money, or let's talk opportunity, let's talk future stuff. I'm like, all right, word, I like that, yeah, let's get it in writing. And the experience of writing contracts with people before I had my law degree and then writing contracts with people after I had my law degree—

totally different, huh? Yeah.

Oh man, night and day. It's literally one of them situations where like people was like trying to get over on me in so many type of ways. And I'm just sitting there looking at folks like— and sometimes people don't need to do it on purpose. They so used to doing things in a certain type of way, or they're used to copying and pasting what other people have done. So they're like, oh yeah, no, this is just standard. I'm like, no, I know what this means. Yeah, I'm not signing this. Yeah, so we gonna have to switch something around or take that whole clause out. We got to do something, but I'm not signing this. Yeah, and I feel like it gave me the ability to really negotiate because I feel like in a lot of times, especially when it comes to the business end with artists, they don't really negotiate. They come to this space and they're asking these people for something, and then these people go, all right, if we're gonna give you that something, we want everything from you. And here go this piece of paper that says that we get everything from So then me having my education, I get to come to that space and go, listen, I'm offering you something, and in return I want this. I'm not giving you everything, but this is what I'm willing to give. What are you willing to give? Oh, that's not enough of me. All right, cool, I'm gonna tell you no. And a lot of times that first no They'd be like, all right, that's cool. Well, we wish you well. But then that hard work kick in, accomplishments start happening, opportunities start happening, and then they gotta double back.

Yeah.

Hey, I see what you've been doing, I love it, whatever. What about this opportunity? So then now we got to have a different conversation. Well, you know, yesterday's price ain't today's price.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You missed out on that, you know what I'm saying? Yeah.

So now the conversation is different. And then in me being able to do that, I'm able to put myself in a much better position as far as business goes. And then I can go do other things for the community. And I don't have to, like, be so money hungry with the community. Because some of that, I think, like, really hurts or hinders the message that people be trying to give when they like, yeah, I'm a conscious rapper. I'll come perform at your Juneteenth joint or your cookout joint, but also I need $1,500 to hit the stage. Why are you doing that to the people like that? Yeah, like, you don't know how to— if you want to go knock, go knock them white corporate people over the head. Yeah, why you don't do that to them? When you come to them, it's all, well, whatever y'all wanna. But then when you come over to us, you like, yeah, no, I don't get on the stage for less than $2,000.

Like, come on, bro.

So like, me having that education allowed me to go into those business areas, go get my money, go do X, Y, and Z, and then I can come back into the community and they'd be like, yeah, man, we'll pay you XY. And I could be like, no, you ain't got to do all that. Or I can even be like, don't even worry about it, I can do this off the love, don't even worry about it. And they like, word? Yes. Because of how I've been able to move and navigate this, I can now do this and show y'all love in a way that I want to instead of being in a position where like I need money so now I gotta go to the people and be like, hey, I can't— I gotta try to strong-arm y'all because I got other needs. Like, I don't like that. So yeah, that experience and gaining that knowledge definitely helped me navigate the world in a way that I wanted to navigate from the beginning.

Hey, I'm glad we met, and I'm glad I know that you like doing contracts and no contracts, because that's something that I have no clue of. And I've actually had a couple sponsorships that came my way. They pending, you know what I'm saying? You know, you get people to reach out to see if this is a good fit, if we're a good fit. They have you submit a form or whatever, but I've had some people you know, looking at the show and say, hey, you know, would you like to be a part of Rosetta Stone, or would you like to be a part of a Zip Recruiter? Of course, you know what I'm saying? They get— you get a sponsorship deal. But just for future references, man, if I happen to come across some contracts, you know what I'm saying, down the line, I got your number, man.

You know a guy?

I know a guy. Matter of fact, I don't know a guy that know a guy. I know a guy, you know what I'm saying? We gonna cut out the middleman on this. So yeah, so Dre, speaking about cutting out the middle, man, tell us about your most listened to track on Spotify, which is entitled "Fight On," and what inspired you to write that song?

So "Fight On" was really one of those scenarios where I had spent the whole summer either organizing protests or participating in protests. And it was one of those scenarios where I'm from St. Louis. I was there when the Michael Brown murder happened, and I was there with the people when that happened. And in coming to Des Moines, I was seeing people talk in certain type of ways, but the energy wasn't the same. I'm like, I know what it felt like when I was home and we knew it was about to get bad with the police, but like We not backing down, we not ducking no fades, we here. Some of that energy was in Des Moines, but a lot of that energy was missing. So I'm like, all right, I need to be outside with the people and really talk to them and see if I can motivate and inspire them because I think a lot of these people are out here because they feel pressured by social media and like, you know, all these other internet things instead of coming out here because this is how they genuinely feel. And they know what the cost is and they're willing to pay that price because they're standing on the actual values. So in being outside with the people, I was like, you know what, I should document this experience. So it was one night where I was outside, it was at a protest, and we knew it was about to be a bad night. We knew it was about to be rough. I think it was over in the Valley Junction area. And the white people in the group, they were like, "Hey, put all the white people on the ends and let all the people of color go on the inside as we march to try to protect them." And I'm like, "All right." Let's see. And as soon as we did that, the marching got slower. The chants weren't as loud, right? Like, I could feel me being surrounded by people who were like genuinely just afraid. And I'm like, no, okay, no, no, no. So I gotta break off. So now I'm next to the big crack, 'cause I'm like, no, no, no, no. Y'all not about to trap me inside this. And I'm caught up just 'cause y'all, like, no. So now I'm walking next to the big crowd, and I'm still here.

I'm still ready for it.

And then having that experience, luckily, like, you know what I'm saying, everybody turned out to be okay. It was a rough night, but we ended up being all right. Going back to the studio, I'm like, yo, I feel like I need to write something that reflects not only how I feel, but also how the people feel in these scenarios of like, even though I'm about to come into this spot afraid, I still gotta fight. Even though I'm coming into this spot and I am nervous, you know what I'm saying, I still gotta fight. I still gotta, I still gotta go make it happen. So for me, it was like, uh, I understand But I'm not one of those people who slows down his marching. I'm not one of those people who quiets his chants. I amplify it. I see what you on, what's up? Yeah, I'm— I already know how to squabble. I've done that my whole life. Yeah, what's up? Yeah, I'm down to fight too. What's up? Yeah, that's who I am. So I want to, to make a song for those people who are already like that, and the people who weren't like that, here's a song to hopefully inspire some of that in you.

So that's how you came up with this, a fight on. Go ahead, man, give us a little taste of it, man. I see you ready for it. Give us a little taste of it, man. Give the people what they want, man. Give the people what they want, man.

Oh man. Deep in the earth like cleats in dirt, seeking the reason that we've been hurt. In the street with teeth in the curb, the outer world is My inner demons are worse. So tell me, why not release them when I'm not receiving the perks of amendments you said I'm given? Have you seen that the first supposedly guarantees my freedom for speaking words? Hard to fathom when I can't imagine there be no hateful action by crooked ones in badges who try to slave the masses. Oh, it's okay to take a life if the person's average. Murder one of mine, I turn this place to ashes. I know you peep it, the people see it, the evil you keep to treat us as someone decent. I tell you, my life matters. How is there a disagreement? It doesn't take a genius to know that folks are owed a certain code of small respect. And if you don't, then let me know, what do y'all expect? Whenever y'all reject your main role, which is y'all protect, you kill a man, then that's a family that y'all affect. Sit still and be detained is what y'all suggest. You call that arrest? Well, I call it death. I like that, man.

I like that. Hey, y'all heard it. Fight on, my man. Say, uh, I say that my life matter.

How could that be a disagreement? Oh man, hey, yeah, thanks for that, man.

So yeah, I only got a couple more questions for you, Dre, man. Let you go, man. So, uh, tell us the record label that you work with, man. Tell us the influence that it has had on you as an artist?

So I was signed to Station One Records in 2018, I believe, and it was one of them situations where, again, similar to the magazine joint, I didn't even know people were paying attention. I'm just outside doing me, and one of the owners, Toby Parks, she's like, I want to sign you. I have a record label that's dedicated to developing artists. And I wanna sign you. And I'm like, what? Me?

You know what I'm saying?

I'm just being myself. I'm just, you know what I'm saying, doing my own thing. She's like, nah, what you're doing is something different. What you're doing is something way more powerful than what I've been seeing. I wanna lock you in 'cause I wanna help you push this out to way more people. So of course we ended up doing the contract situation, doing our little negotiation, and then having that experience of being with a machine was completely different because I'm so used to— I gotta sit here with myself, I gotta write my raps, I gotta come up with my plan, I gotta go do it, and boom. I'm so used to just doing that and finding opportunities wherever they pop up and being like, hey, I should go make this happen. And then by word of mouth, people be like, hey, we want to book you to come do this thing because I saw you at this one place. And I'm like, here, yeah, I come through. So I'm so used to just doing it that way. But then having the label and having people go out on my behalf, you know, hey, it's this kid who's like on a whole nother level, you need to come have him on the news. And the news people being like, why? Well, his manager at the label say he nice like that, we want to check him out, let's bring him on the news. All right, cool. So then I get to walk into these rooms with people who I otherwise wouldn't have even reached out to because I'm like, you know, y'all ain't in the community, y'all wouldn't have saw me. So like, you know, I would have been under your radar and you would have been under my radar as well. Yeah. But I get into these rooms now and I see the benefit of having people go out and advocate for your art because I'm so used to advocating for myself.

Yeah.

Because I'm not— I wasn't used to people going out and being like, no, You need to have this person on your show. You need to have this person for your festival. Like, no, this is— it's gonna be a whole— I'm telling you, it's gonna be something phenomenal. And then going out and performing, and then those folks being like, yo, you are not lying about this guy.

This guy is this.

So then it was a whole different experience of people really believing in me, and then me being able to show up for them. So like, I get to make You know what I'm saying? The label heads look like they know something when they come to these folks and be like, "Hey, this kid's about to come in here and he's about to blow your mind. He's about to make you feel something deep and it's going to be undeniable." And then I come up there and I do my thing and they like, "Yo, I've been." Yeah. That experience definitely helped me out as far as advocating for myself more and going into different spaces. And, and really trying to show people like what it is that we're doing outside.

That's cool, man. And I know that the lady that approached you and said that she wanted to sign you to her label, I know that she happy that she decided to do that. But then again, you know, sometimes there's a light over a person, and at the time she probably didn't know like what you shared with us today is that I'm gonna be the hardest working person Ain't nobody gonna outwork me, you know what I'm saying? And like you say, once you get some bag behind you, you don't have to do everything. Now you can just focus on what you do best, and it even open up more time. Now you're gonna even get more— or like, uh, uh, Anthony Hamilton say, the best of me, you know what I'm saying? And now we're gonna get out here and make it happen. And so I only got one more question for you, Drake, man. I appreciate you spending your time with me, man. We in here a few minutes before we we got on, so we've been on for a minute. So what is the inner feeling like when you get a call from a promoter asking you to be the headline of a show? I know people go on the show and you know, you get called, but what is it when somebody call you and say, you know what, I got a lot of artists today and you know, we got such, but I want you to be that main one. I want you to be the headline. How is that feeling?

Honestly, it's one of them situations where it makes me think of the first time I headlined the show. It was a show that I put on myself and I just put together with the homies, with the label. I'm like, hey, I want to put this show together, like me and the homies, and like we just want to see what happens. And there was a guy who was like, there was a bunch of people there, but one of the dudes in the crowd, I was sitting there just talking to him, he was like, yo man, I heard your album, I live out in Ames, 40 minutes away and I drove here because I saw that you were gonna be here and I had to make sure that I came out to see you live. And like, it really messed me up. I was like, yo, like this thing that I was like, that just came from my mind, it was just me sitting in a room, touched a person so deeply that they like, yo, I get an opportunity and it's only 40 minutes away, I'm gonna hop in my car, drive these 40 minutes, pay my money for this ticket and go see this, like, see this thing that just came from his head? Like, that hit me so hard to the point where I was like, yo, fam, I need to really make sure that I'm honoring my art with my best effort every single time. So when people come and promoters are like, yo, we want you to come headline, I'm like, hell yeah, let's do it. If it makes sense, because I definitely had to turn down a bunch of other opportunities when, like, there'd be people who just look at numbers, or they'll look at how people react to me in a space, and they'd be like, okay, so we know people like him, so let's just try to get him on our show, even though our show doesn't align with what he does. Um, so there'll definitely be times where I'm like, I gotta turn down those opportunities because I'm like, 'Nah, what I'm doing is not gonna fit with the trajectory that you trying to go in, so I'm just gonna let you do your thing.' Uh, but when everything lines up, when the promoter's like, 'We want you to headline our show, here go the other artists that we have or that we're looking at,' and it all makes sense, I'm mostly in there just feeling deep gratitude. It's really one of those spots where it's like, you really are touching people in a way that's undeniable. So undeniable that now a man or woman or whoever is like, yo, if we trying to feed our peoples, we gotta go out there, Andre, to headline the show so I can make sure I can take care of my family based off the work that he's doing. And he's so reliable. I trusted him so much that I'm like, I don't want you to be just one of the artists I need you to be the main attraction. Like, that's a, that's a whole nother level of gratitude that I just can't help but, like, express and feel, uh, once, once folks ask me those types of requests.

I mean, it got to be a great feeling because I'm thinking, since we was on the analogy of boxing, you know how you have your undercards and then you have the main event, you know, like TC just fought a couple of weeks ago, you know, you got your, your undercard, they pretty good, but then, you know, people coming because you're gonna draw the crowd because people coming to see the main event, you know what I'm saying? So you already gonna have a crowd, and you know, the undercard, maybe the crowd start filtering in, you know, and you get a little taste of the main event crowd. But they here actually for the main event, man. So, you know, I've never seen it myself, but I can just imagine, you know, a young kid from Gary, Indiana Like my man from St. Louis from the streets with his OG, we can just imagine. Yeah.

Oh man. Geez. But honestly, I'm not gonna lie to you, the feeling that is equal to or sometimes even sweeter is being on that undercard and being better than the main. I feel like I also rap battle as well. There's a battle league here called Get You Some Battle League. Um, so like a few years ago, the homie's like, yo man, like, I need you to come battle because like your energy is so real and like let's see what happened. I'm like, all right man, all right, slide through. And after the first battle, everybody's like, yeah, the main event, that main event was cool, but like you, you man, I'm coming back again, whatever card you on. I'm making sure I'm coming here and watching you because you were something different, man. And I thought I had like 6 or 7 other battles after that, and I think probably like by the third one I started being the main event or like headlining or co-headlining. And it was still nothing like being in those earlier stages of like, yeah, yeah, we gonna show up, but we really showing up for Andre because we want to see Let's see what he gonna do.

And I get it, 'cause it was something like what we was talking about earlier. First, you always gotta find your footing, you know what I'm saying? You always gotta get that launch pad. And so most of the time you gonna start from the bottom before you get to the top, you know what I'm saying? But it's the starting spot first. But once you get in there, you like, you know, I forgot who was that, the Joker, he say, wait till they get a load of me. You know what I'm saying?

That's what I'm saying.

Yeah.

And then it's also great seeing the transition of like, everybody knows what the hierarchy is when we talk about people who are talented or people who have the gift or like people who are great at things. Like people, they feel it. Like there are a bunch of like, hip-hop is one of those spaces where everybody's like, I'm the GOAT, I'm the GOAT. No, I'm the GOAT. You know what I'm saying? I'm the best ever to do it. I'm blah, blah, blah. It's part of like the hip-hop bravado. But like, we all know when we go into spaces, the groups of people is like, "Nah, like these people really are." Yeah. Everybody gonna say they the greatest, but these folks over here, like, for real. It's always great for me to go into those spaces unknown. Nobody's aware of what's about to happen. And then to watch them go from being unaware to being like, "Hey, we want you over here." over here.

Yeah, with us. Yeah, you on this team over here, man. What you doing over there? You know, you over here. Yeah, I can imagine how great feeling that is, man. Hey, Dre, man, like I said, I appreciate you coming on, man, spending some time with your boy CJ Moneyway today, man. Incredible story, man. Your journey, your stories, your, you know, just your life in general, man. I pray that God would continue strengthening you, man, giving you wisdom and understanding, and grant you the desires of your heart. Keep doing what you're doing, man.

Yeah, man, I appreciate you, man. I appreciate your time. I appreciate you lending me your platform, man. I appreciate you showing me love. Like, it's been nothing but genuine love, like, since the beginning. So like, I'm glad we were able to link up. And anything you need from me, big dog, I got you. So yeah, I'm good.

All right, I'm gonna give me some contracts. Hey, but before we leave, man, anything else you working on, man? Any projects you got coming up that we can look forward to? And what can people find you at, man? What's your social media handles?

Absolutely. So you can find me pretty much everywhere at Andre Davis Speaks, usually all one word. Andre Davis Speaks, A-N-D-R-E D-A-V-I-S S-P-E-A-K-S, Andre Davis Speaks. That's usually everywhere. Right now I'm working on my third project. I'm going back and forth on the title right now, so I don't wanna give y'all a title, but just know it's coming and it's gonna be, if y'all thought I was being vulnerable on the last one and I was being open on the last one, this one is definitely gonna be beyond that.

Hey, so you heard it from my boy Andre Davis. Check him out, Andre Davis Speak. You can find him on all the platforms. Hey, go check out his song that he dropped some verses on here for us with. Uh, fight on. And you heard it from the GOAT's mouth, he said that he got some heat coming out. And so be aware of this heat and this fire that my man bringing. Hey, thank you, Andre, for coming on. You have been listening to the CJ Moneyway Show with your boy CJ Moneyway and my new homeboy Andre Davis. We out of here.

Thank you for listening to the CJ Moneyway Show. The Corwin CJ Moneyway Johnson Show. Don't forget to share this episode with your friends, leave a comment, and drop a review. Be sure to tune in every Tuesday and Friday for more inspiring journeys. Who knows, your story might be next.

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