Akeem Ali: Treat Me Like Your Best Friend Not Your Man

I actually tell women that I deal with, treat me like a friend. I don't wanna be treated like a significant other.

What's the difference?

You tell your friends everything. When you got problems, you confide in 'em. You trust 'em with stuff that you don't trust your partner with. If you cheated, you would tell your homegirl, you wouldn't tell your boyfriend.

It's so true.

You wanna go and have a girls' night with your girls. You wanna go out, you feel comfortable. Like y'all be naked around each other. Y'all, you know, sometimes y'all do sneaky stuff. Y'all hunch on each other sometimes, everything. Treat me like your homegirl. If you're a girl that I'm courting or dealing with, intimate space. I would rather you treat me like your friends. So I want to treat you like a friend. It's stuff that I would tell my homeboys or my partners that I wouldn't say to you. You know, it's stuff that we talk about behind y'all back that we don't tell y'all. We got group chats. Y'all got group chats. Show me what y'all talking about in that group chat about me.

I mean, that's what I said.

Like, if I— like, if I ain't hit it right this week or something, I want to know what the fuck's in the group chat. I'mma laugh at it and I'mma be like, damn.

There's something about us Leos that's—

I don't like Leos.

Why don't you like Leos? Women Leos or just in general Leos?

Just in general, I've heard women say all the time, I'm not gonna do this, don't think we about to, or I don't like Leo. And I just be like, okay.

And then she's all over you.

The thing is, I've learned how to not be a Leo by watching other Leos. And that's why women say, I don't want to talk to you because you're a Leo. And I'm just like, I get it, but hear me out. I feel the same way. I don't want to talk to him neither.

Do you see why girls be on you?

I just go for you just like how you was. That's exactly Let's do it. Let's hunch. Wow. All the laughing over. Come on, let's lay down.

You are a dangerous man to be around. You can seduce anybody.

Oh, it's working?

Talk less, do more. So how do you make money from it?

From touring?

Yeah.

Oh, that's a good question. So I guess you would assume that the artist has to go and rent the venue out.

—And you don't have to do that?

You don't have to do it. The venue pays you to come and play there.

And then you keep the ticket prices?

Well, there's like a split that you do. So I had to break it down from beginning. Let's just say like, um, you're starting out, you're doing music, right? Um, your first show, you'll probably sell maybe 150 tickets, depending on the type of artist you are. But just say if it's a slow grind for you. Yeah. You're gonna sell about 100, 150 tickets. And then your next show you may do, you know, 200 tickets. So what happens is all of that is logged into a database that says, okay, Les can sell this many tickets at such and such venues. And in each city they have, um, like Chartmetric is their website, or other things that shows you how many followers, um, per social media site you have in each city. So in Houston you have 20,000 followers on Instagram. This is how many monthly listeners you have on Spotify in that city. Okay. In Atlanta, you have X amount of followers on Instagram or TikTok or whatever, whatever. So they say, if we see that you have collectively 35,000 fans in Houston and you have 10,000 monthly listeners on Spotify here in Houston, we can project that you will probably sell, 1,500-cap room, right? 'Cause you can almost bank on just about 1% of the people that are following you to kind of like pull up to a show. So it's like, and it's like 35,000 people, we can probably get you to do 1,500.

I don't know if that's— That's not, but it's, yeah, it's about like—

Yeah, it's a little more than 1%. 35, it's what, 350? Yeah, 350. It's a little more than 1%, but it works different. Right. Because it's kind of like, some of the numbers that I've had. And so it's like, it's depending on like the promotion and how well your shows have grown and what you've grossed in the past and stuff like that. So they'll say, hey Liz, so we see that you are doing a 1,500-cap room depending on the ticket prices and depending on if you sell out, it's depending on how much money you get. So if you say, hey, I wanna sell my tickets for $50, so you got 1,500 tickets at $50 apiece. Um, so that's about like, what, $7,000? Huh? 7— no, no, no, 15. What's, uh, 1,000, 50,000?

How many? 150? How many? 50 times 1,000, that's what? That's, that's, that's 50. That's $75,000.

Okay, so $75,000, right? Yeah. Um, you would probably walk away with $45,000, $50,000 a day. Okay. If your tickets were—

But what about the production? Who's paying for the production and everything?

Yeah, that's where the rest of that goes. Okay.

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Yeah, so if you putting on it, so you're getting— you're walking away with $50,000, the other $75,000 goes to the venue, um, setup. They have to do stuff, they have to pay for security, they have to pay the workers. It's like, it costs a lot. And you may walk away with more, give or take, you know what I'm saying, depending on how it's set up. You may walk away like $55,000, $58,000, and they keep the rest of it. But the venue gets paid by having you come out and bringing people in. And so it's like after we pay all the workers, pay for X, Y, and Z, the venue may take $10,000 of it or $5,000. And it's like if we do that every night for like, you know, a year straight, 365 times, we making $5,000, $10,000. As a venue, we've hit for like $3, $4 million at the end of the year. So. So you do that by yourself without a team or you have a team? I facilitate it. I got a booking agent. Okay. But like a manager and stuff, no.

'Cause you're not signed to nobody, right?

Well, me and Lou have a joint venture.

Okay. Uh-huh. And so— 'Cause that's crazy. I mean, I'm the same way. I don't have a team. So I do everything on my own.

And it's not crazy. It's just like— I actually like it this way. Yeah, it is what it is. It's just like, it's not like a, you know, nobody's forcing you to do it that way.

But why are people so like, I don't understand why for people it's so bizarre that you can be like a poppin' artist who people wanna see and wanna listen to, without having a team?

I guess because people are so used to having help and not used to like having to do it by themselves. It's kind of like a, I don't know, it don't bother me though. And I like, just like you, I like it this way. It is not too many hands on deck.

So what does Lou do with that, with that whole joint venture? What's his part in all of it?

We just let each other groove. Like if it's something that I need, he's just like, call me, let me know. Okay. But if it's nothing I need, I just be like, hey, I'm finna do X, Y, Z. It's always about like just keeping him in the know. So it's not like any surprises, but—

So he's like a mentor basically?

In a lot of areas, I guess where he doesn't even know it, yes. 'Cause I guess the stuff that I would want to go to him for, or you think that I would go to him for, I don't. But it's other stuff that I look at him indirectly that he doesn't know about. And I be like, he just put me on, or I'm watching that, or I'm like learning a lot from that, you know? That's amazing. Yeah. How did you meet him? One of my best friends, we both, we, one of my best friends, we used to both cut hair. So he started cutting Lou's hair and then he would go to Lou's house and play music for Lou. And he let him hear a song one time and he liked it and he wanted to meet me.

Lou is so dope, man. Lou is just like a whole different level.

He is. I would say outta all of like the celebrities that I've met or people you would, going to meet as a celebrity, he's probably the most genuine person I've ever met. And it's not like a fake type of thing because I've seen him in so many elements around so many different people. And I can kind of tell if somebody is faking the funk and whether it's just like, I'm being nice because if I'm not nice, people would tell on me or they would say he's an asshole or like have opinions about it. He's just more so like, I'm just the way I am 'cause of the way I am. And he's like, I don't give a fuck.

That's like the thing that I'm like, I admire him for. 'Cause he's like, I am what I am. You either like it or not.

You don't like it, get the fuck out.

I'll walk out of the way.

And he's not ever mean or off-putting anybody. I would tell y'all, I know that it's genuine 'cause me and him have fallen out before. And it was still just like, we would be able to get back around to a point where we were having conversations and talked about it. And it wasn't like a, and it's never like a, he doesn't like me or I don't like him. We did something each other didn't like. And it was just like a, you know. Let it cool off. Yeah. And he was able to express what it was. And I expressed what it was. And it was just like, Oh well, okay.

See, this is what I'm telling— I always say, like, I feel like friendships or like whatever work relationships, they're more complicated than relationships because like you need to know how to navigate those things. No, no, you don't think so? They're not.

I actually tell women that I deal with, treat me like a friend. I don't want to be treated like a significant other.

What's the difference?

You tell your friends everything. When you got problems, you confide in them. You trust them with stuff that you don't trust your you're partnered with. Like, especially like, I don't know, if you cheated, you would tell your homegirl, you wouldn't tell your boyfriend. It's so true. You know what I'm saying? Don't treat me like I'm your significant other. I don't wanna be treated like a lover. Treat me like a best friend. Somebody that you wanna do everything with. You wanna go and have a girls' night with your girls. You wanna go out, you feel comfortable. Like, y'all be naked around each other. Y'all, you know, sometimes y'all do sneaky stuff. Y'all hunch on each other sometimes. Everything. Treat me like your homegirl.

Hold up. But like, do you have, best friends, like girl best friends? Yeah. So do you have sex with them?

No, no, no. Okay. No, I don't do it.

So it's just except the sexual part?

Yeah, because, you know, I'm saying if you're a girl that I'm courting or dealing with in an intimate space, I would rather you treat me like your friends. I love that. It works better for me.

Yeah, because then it's so complicated.

Yeah. And so I want to treat you like a friend. It's stuff that I would tell my homeboys or my partners that I wouldn't say to you. You know, the stuff that we talk about behind y'all back that we don't tell y'all. We got group chats. Y'all got group chats. I want you to treat me like your friend. Show me what y'all talking about in that group chat about me.

I mean, that's what I said.

Like, if I ain't hit it right this week or something, I wanna know what the fuck's in the group chat. I'm gonna laugh at it and I'm gonna be like, damn, you know y'all getting out on me like this here? Like, yeah, talk to me like that.

When did you figure that out, that that's like the best dynamic? This year.

Really? Yeah. What happened? What didn't?

I don't know, tell me what didn't happen.

I don't know, I just, I don't know. When you get in that intimate space with people, they tend to like, And you can break it down or you can simplify it. And I tell people, talk to me like I'm a toddler. Like, let's talk to each other like we're toddlers so we make sure we got an understanding. Um, simplify it. I don't like stuff overcomplicated. Do you like this or not? Okay, cool. If you don't like it, you probably don't want me doing it. Do you want this or not? If you want it, I'll keep doing it. What if she changes her mind? That's okay. You, you can do that. Damn, what are you—

are you 31? Is that true or no? 21? Yeah, 31. No, 31. Is that true? No, you're not 21. Yeah, 31. Oh, so you were 94? Yeah. Oh, me too, '94. All right, look at this. Okay, okay, see, what month? I'm July 25th. Oh man, okay. Where are you?

August 11th.

Oh, we both— yeah, listen, we definitely gotta do that.

We're both Leos. Yeah.

Oh, that's why. Ah. Now it makes total sense. My grandma is August 5th, so like I'm super, super connected to my grandma. There's something about us Leos that's—

I don't like Leos.

Why don't you like Leos? Women Leos or just in general Leos?

Just in general. Why? Maybe I'll grow older and we get along better. We just clash. If you— how many Leos do you know?

A few, a few. One Leo who's a man Me and him are very similar. Like, I'm just a woman, he's a man.

He's your friend though?

He's a friend, yeah.

Okay.

As far as dating, I don't think I've ever dated a Leo.

Oh yeah, I've dated a Leo and I've had a lot of Leo friends. We just, I don't know. What is it? Sensitive, messy, um, yeah, a lot of stuff.

Sensitive, yeah, we are sensitive. Yeah, but we don't, we don't show that though.

You don't show it, but it's like a— you got to get to that part where like Now it's like, damn, you triggered me now. Yeah, it's like, and you like hypersensitive about a lot of stuff or insecure, I'll say too. Insecure? Yeah, very insecure. And that taps into like the sensitivity part. But like— You're only so sensitive because you're insecure.

Okay. But like, how does that transpire though? 'Cause I feel like it's different for everybody. And also I feel like depends where you grow up and like where are you from and what's your background, what's your culture?

Maybe that's the thing too. And maybe that's like the end of the stick that I've gotten in my experience with it. And even for myself, sometimes I've caught myself like being messy or being sensitive or being like insecure or being— And so I watch other Leos and they just show me everything not to be. But I feel like it's just humans in general.

I don't think it's a Leo or a Leo.

That too, that too. But I would say I have known a lot of Leos and I've not liked the stuff that I've seen. And so I just be like, is this what people think about Leos when they see Leos? No, no, no, no, no. But on the other hand, like, we have great attributes. Like, I'm not saying that we're terrible people. Everybody has like the more and the lesser side of them.

But I think Leos, like, knowing me, I know my thing is I'm so ambitious that sometimes like I'm just not— I can— if somebody is just as ambitious, I can clash with them. Yeah, just because—

I think that's one of our like strengths. Yeah. A lot of times. But only if you use it. Right, right. You have to tap into it. Yeah. Some people have it and don't know that they have it. 'Cause people are naturally attracted to us or naturally wanna be around us. And our energy is just like, I don't know, we have to read books on how to not be so infectious or how to not steal the show or be the light of the party. Like, you know what I'm saying?

That is so true.

I have to read books on how to not be so cool.

But I don't think it's gonna work. Like, I feel like you walk in, the aura is there. Like, yeah. And I don't know why you wore the yellow color, but it's like, that's kind of like the color that comes off, like yellow. Like, you know, auras have colors. For you, it's yellow. So I don't know how like this is matching up.

That used to be my favorite color. Really? Yeah.

So why do you— why— what was the choice of the outfit?

I almost took this off before I left home, but I was just like, fuck it, I'm just gonna wear what I want. And it's like, yeah, I wanted to put this suave fair hair on. Shout out to Chris Classic for this hat. Okay, shout out to them.

Yeah, damn. But I don't know about like, do you believe in astrology? Does that matter to you at all? I don't really care. Do you read on it? Like, have you ever read any of the Human Design or like any of that stuff?

I don't really care. No, no, I don't. I just be vibing because it's all like situational and it changes based on like what's happening. And so it's like, are you ambitious in this state or are you like sensitive in this state. And sometimes you like, I guess, break the stereotype on some of that. Right. Depending on where you are, how you are, who you're around. It's like, I am a Leo per se, but then, so it's like at base level, all Leos are like these characteristics. But then when you do something different, they be like, well, you have this type of rising. Or you have, and it's like, what the fuck? Like, just, you were born at this date, this time, this millisecond. And I'm like, bro, like, yeah. And it all varies depending on if you're dealing with a Pisces or if you're dealing with a Cancer or a Sagittarius or like, so you just never know what version of you you're gonna be and in what season. And so that's why I don't think too deep into it. It is just like at base level, know who you are, strive to be that and better at all times. And so I just kind of, and if that is a part of all of that stuff that I just named, then so be it. But I'm not going to study it, research it, blah, blah, blah, and whatever.

Has it ever happened that a woman is like, oh, I'm not going to deal with you because you a Leo? Because you see how you just boxed—

yeah, and then she's just like, you know, taking that walk of shame the next morning. Oh yeah, damn.

See, that's the Leo in you.

You just confident like that. No, it's not that. It's— no, I've heard, I've heard women say all the time, I'm not going to do this, don't think we about to, or I don't like Leo, and I just be like, Okay.

And then she's all over you.

I ain't gonna say she all over me, but it's just like— She's in love. Because I'm not. And that's why— the thing is, I've learned how to not be a Leo by watching other Leos. And that's why women say, I don't want to talk to you because you're a Leo. And I'm just like, I get it, but hear me out. Not hear me out. Yeah, I'm like, but hear me out. I feel the same way. I don't want to talk to him neither. See, that's reverse psychology.

That's how you fuck them up. I think— I don't know. I don't know if it's a Leo thing or not. I think you're just insanely smart. And I think that's a different— and I also, there's something about Mississippi men. There's something about— because like you're, I think, like the third person who I know from Mississippi. Carlos Miller was one of them. That's like, it's just you can have conversations and conversations, they go so much deeper than average conversation, right? I don't know if it's the South part. I don't know if it's Mississippi. I don't know if it's that bringing, whatever that is. Something is about y'all that's different.

Just Wisdom and suave affair.

And maybe because you were like— I kind of feel like you guys are more humble people. Maybe that's a part of it too, because you're confident but you're also humble, and that's, that's a dangerous combination to have. People always—

I don't know, people give me shit about this sometimes. People think I'm just like too cocky or over, like, you know, you're not too sure of myself. You had to convince the rest of you. You had to look into your camera and tell the rest of the world that.

Okay, okay, let's, let's, let's start, and I'm gonna do the intro and then we'll talk about it. Because the way that I met you, I went to Louie's Underground Lounge filming, and I think you left and I got there late.

I actually was sitting beside you. We were sitting like one person, it was like one or two people in between us, but you were like, you know, close. Really? Right by, yeah.

Oh, because I had no idea. I just walked in and then he asked me what do I do, whatever. He's still supposed to come on the show, so Lou at some point he's gonna show up.

He gotta show up.

Louie will show up, we'll put him on the spot.

Come on, brother.

15 times at this point, he's going to show up. And then when I was walking out, his DJ was like, yo, I just watched your episode. And he said, like, because he passed out the night before that. And then he was like, I was just watching your episode. And he was like, I was having a bad day and I was watching your episode and my day just got so much brighter, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, man, thank you. Because, like, I feel so appreciated when people tell me those things. And then they go, oh my God, you need to get Akimale on. And I DM'd you. You responded, like, almost right away. Yeah, and mind you, like, this person has a million followers. He doesn't have to respond. He doesn't even know who I am. He's seen me maybe for like 2 seconds, and I didn't even see you.

So it's like, don't be meaning nothing. Followers don't make you.

But I'm just saying that like, that's a lot of times people would think that, you know, if somebody has this many followers, they would never respond, or like, oh yeah, because you don't have to come on. You don't have to do none of it. You could have been like, fuck, I don't know her, fuck it. Like, I'm not even gonna—

yeah, I'm just Not that person, though. Exactly.

That's what I'm saying. I'm going to break that down. All right, you guys. Well, welcome back to Talk Less Show, where conversations clearly go deeper than the surface. They keep asking, what's my name? My name is Les. I'm not an industry plant. I'm going to keep saying that until you stop calling me an industry plant. And today I'm sitting down with someone who's built a presence that you can't really ignore. He's an artist, he's a performer, and somebody who understands how to make people feel something, whether it's confidence, humor, or just straight honesty.. He came out of Mississippi and carved out his own lane, not just through music but through personality, creating a version of himself that people recognize instantly. And what makes him interesting isn't just the character, it's the fact that you can tell there's a little bit more behind it. So today we want to get into all of that. Akim Ali, welcome to Talk Less Show.

Thank you, I appreciate it. You said all that about me? Yeah, you thought that about me for real?

For real.

Who wrote that for you?

I, so I write a lot of stuff with ChatGPT and Claude, but But the crazy thing about you, the moment that you agreed to come on, I sometimes like, I share with some of my friends that like, hey, like, this person is coming on. Literally every single time I mentioned your name, at least 5 people told me that's one person I will go and pay to see perform.

Oh man, hold them to it. Give me the— give me that list of names. I—

yeah, I will make sure we can like, we can do like a FaceTime or something where like you can record a video for them.

You know what, you should tell people you're an industry Okay, why? Because it's about having like a— I was telling somebody the other day, it's about a hyper-polarity thing. Like, you want to have something that people hate and that people love. So like, give people something to believe in because people are so vested in believing that industry plants exist and nobody has ever admitted it. I'm— hello, it's your favorite industry plant. Water me, please. Water me. Just feed into it. Like, I'm here for the industry. I'm here for you guys.

It's a big compliment though.

Yeah, because it's like she's gotten so popular so fast that we don't want to believe it. But it's like, no, it's like it does happen. It's not like they only see— It's not fast to me. It's been so slow. Yeah, they don't see that. They don't know that.

All they know is this— The only person who knows is Rod. Like, trust me, if you ask him questions, he'd be like, this woman is crazy.

One day it was an empty lot. The next day we see a tree and it's like—

See, that's the fucking Leo in you. Yeah. Okay. First question that I ask every single guest. If there's one thing you can talk less about, what would it be? Oh yeah, we do mental games out here. Maybe do more of.

One thing that I could talk less about. Mm-hmm. I think I would just talk less. That's amazing. Yeah, and listen more. Listen more. Yeah, and observe. I think it would be everything. I would talk less about everything. Why? Because I don't know, I've gotten to the space where a lot of people don't want to like listen to what's right or what's wrong. We just kind of want to prove our point, and it's like there is no right or wrong. It's just like there isn't there isn't, or it's like preference, you know. So I just would talk less about everything and just listen to people's perspectives and just study. Just— what are you going to do with that information though? Study human behavior and how people act, react, interact.

I feel like that's something that you like to do though, because you're very observant, especially with your music. Whenever— because I listen to it and I'm like, damn, first of all, the way you rhyme is crazy. It's insane. Thank you. It's like, to me, it's so mesmerizing to watch when people can freestyle, when people can put words together, not just like, fuck bitches and, you know, have hoes and all of that money, but like actually meaningful and have a story. Yeah. Like even that song that's like, I don't know why, like it stuck in my mind, the one like, I'm gonna put you on hold. When that girl is like putting you on hold, like let's figure out what's going on. Oh yeah. And like just that whole thing is like, damn, like that's so realistic because it happens all the time. Yeah. And it's like, it's something that like you can relate to. Yeah. And it's not often you see that because people are just putting something out there just so they can put it out there. Because content now, like, you're just going to say anything and everything just so it's going to freaking stick there.

Be like that sometimes.

But that's what I'm saying. Like, I want to understand, how do you— like, why do you care so much about humanity and like human behavior?

I don't know. I'm just a caring person. That's one of my problems. I just care too much. I'm too in tune with like feelings. I used to be the type of person, I didn't like for people to be mad. Or mad at me per se. And so like, I was just more so like a people pleaser and just like, I want to make everybody happy. I want everybody to be okay until I realized that shit is impossible. And so I was just like, I can cuss on here.

You're such a Leo. Yeah, of course. Fuck 'em.

Fuck it. Fuck them. Like I had to learn in order for somebody to be truly happy, somebody has to be unhappy. And me trying to make everybody happy was making me unhappy, but they were okay and I wasn't. And so I flipped it. And now I'm happy. And sometimes people aren't always happy, but I'm okay with that.

I have the same trait, to be honest. Like, I used to be— I've wanted to be liked so bad, and I wanted to do right so bad. And when I started, like, when I started doing the show, I was like, well, shit, they're gonna hate me no matter what. I can just be born and I'm hated just because I'm born in this body, just because I'm born in a different country. Like, just— there's just reasons that Man, you breathe the wrong way.

They just, yeah. Funny how it works, but.

Did you think you were gonna be who you are now? Yeah. You did? How did that happen? Like, who were you as a kid? I don't know.

That was the thing. I had to grow into knowing myself. I was always happy and jolly as a, like, I was just a jolly fucking kid. Like, I was sometimes misguided and misled and like, you know, I was like, what does that mean? I guess just like trying to find my way and following what I thought was the right thing.

But that's a normal kid behavior though.

It is. But I'm a leader though, right?

So like, you had to figure it out.

I was a leader. I was a leader. I'm a gallon now.

But what does that mean? What's a gallon?

Bigger than I thought I was going to be. Really? Yeah. What's a gallon? You know what a leader is?

Yeah, I know what's a leader.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm a gallon.

Gallon is like the leader of the leaders or what the fuck does that mean?

You feel me? The leader of the leaders. I was born and raised in Russian English.

English is my second language.

Yeah, it's also like if somebody is a leader, they're like someone who has like exceptional traits or like they have the ability to like, you know what I'm saying? Stand in front of the pack or influence and, you know, impact people differently from regular people. Yeah. I was a leader when I was younger. I just didn't know it.

How was it like, how would it show up? In what way?

I was very, I remember one time I was in the 10th grade and one of my teachers called me eccentric and I thought she was calling me gay. Oh damn. Yeah. And she singled me out and she didn't say it to anybody else in the classroom. She was like, you are very eccentric. And I was like— In front of other people? Yeah. Oh, wow. Okay. And so where I'm from, it was like, it's like a very cut and dry line on, or it was a very cut and dry line on being gay or not being gay. And like, and so I was like, I didn't know what the word meant. And I'm like, what the fuck is that supposed to mean? And why ain't nobody else in here eccentric? Like, but now the older I get, I appreciate that so much. And it was like, when I was younger, it was like, I was always different and I did different things and people looked at me, it's like, it's weird. And where I'm from, if it's weird, it's like borderline gay. Yeah. Like if you can't describe it in like certain words or if you don't know the right words to describe it, it's like, it's gay. It's either like you weird in the sense of like, he's the weird kid that sits off and like, —He look like he kills cats at home weird, or he comes in here weird because he's like kind of mentally thrown off, or you're weird in like a—

'Cause you can't explain it.

Yeah. And so it's like, no, it's not that he's like, that guy's weird, or that he's like killing cats at home. He has autism and nobody knows how to pinpoint that. Yeah. Or he's on the spectrum and he's just like a fucking genius, but he doesn't— care to express that to you guys because nobody will get it. You know what I'm saying? And so it's just like, you got people who can— I saw a guy who had autism and they took him on a helicopter ride through New York and he could draw the whole thing out.

Oh my God, from memory, right?

And so people be like, bro, weird, but he can draw like a motherfucker, right? And there people like that in school and nobody knew that he was a genius in his head. And it's just like, because he's quiet, he's weird. Or it's like, he dresses so different He gay? No, he just has a keen fashion sense. And he's like, maybe sometimes like more outgoing or flamboyant, or he's like, you know what I'm saying? Just like super extroverted. But it's not that. Or, you know, some people may be more in tune with their feelings and their feminine side, and they know how to like mesh all of that together. It's like, you got to be super macho all the time. And it was just like, you know. Did you feel like you didn't belong there? Now I do.

Because like, because of now you've seen it from a different perspective or?

Yeah, now I feel like that. Now that you said that, I didn't, because I didn't have anybody when I was younger to see things in me and know how to nurture those gifts. Damn. Right? And so like having a kid now, it's like, if I'm seeing her doing something and I'm just like, okay, this is good. Don't try to stop your kid from doing that. Like see why they're doing it and see how you can like, you know what I'm saying? Lean them more into it. And don't make them feel bad about doing or trying or, you know what I'm saying? It's just like, see what that is for them and like encourage it.

I feel like I'm talking to myself right now 'cause that's exactly how I felt too. Like, 'cause I was always so different from so many people that like I was non-conventional. And to them, like, just given my height, like that was the first thing that people were like, what the fuck? Like, damn. Like, it's always like as if I wasn't a human because I was tall. Yeah. So, but to me, I'm like, the fuck am I gonna do about this? Like, I love my height, you know, it is what it is. And so like, The things that I would be doing, because I was one of the few people who was playing tennis. It was not even a thing back in Russia, like back in the day, because we only had 5 tennis courts for the whole city. And so I always felt like I'm a foreigner in my own country. But then my mom would always tell me, or my grandpa would always tell me, if you're a foreigner in a different country, nobody cares about you. Nobody wants you there because that's not your country. You are born where you belong. And it always sits so wrong with me because I'm like, I feel more at home here than there.

Yeah. It's like— Well, just by happenstance and out of your control, you were born there. But I just saw D1. He was on an interview. If you know who D1 is, he's a rapper. Okay. Right. Excellent at what he does with his messages and stuff like that. You know, but he said, the earth is my turf. Yeah. God put me here. I was born here. But that doesn't mean that I can't have dominion over this, this, that, and that, or I can't move. You know, or preach my word or, you know what I'm saying? Do what I'm gonna do. And I'm probably not saying it in the right context, but he was just saying the earth is my turf. Like, yes, I was born here, but yeah, I'm everywhere like the wind, my friend.

But why do you think people are so like, I guess like, why do people care so much about divide? Like people, why is it always like white versus Black, women versus men? What is it? What does it do? But why? Like you, I mean, you probably have a perspective on it. I get it, it's stupid, but why is it stupid?

I wanna say— Say it. That it started, I think it's like a human nature thing. Mm-hmm. And it's like a conquering thing, or it's like a, my belief has to be the right belief because I'm who I am. Like, you're confident in yourself. —right?— like until somebody convinces you otherwise or shows you otherwise. And so it's like a, you know, and then the white and Black thing came from like slavery. Nobody was thinking about what color you was until this was like, there was a divide in that sense. Or like now it puts other things up for like debate. Well, if white and Black people can't be together, maybe the Black people should only have this and say it's ours so they can't take it. Or as white people, we should have this and say it's ours so they can't take it. Now we start caring about what people have and don't have. Hey, we started that trend first. Well, can we borrow it? Hell no, 'cause y'all took so much from us. Or this is our trend. Well, can we borrow it? Hell no, because we think y'all are less. So it's just like a, and I don't really care. And I just kind of be in my own little bubble. And that's why I say I would say less about everything and just watch and just like look and just be like, oh, y'all are fucking stupid.

Do you think it's ever gonna change? I don't care. You don't care? I don't know.

To give you perspective, about some of this. I saw a clip on Instagram. People think the world is getting bad, and it's been bad. Think about this. I know exactly what you're about to say. Yeah, what I'm about to say, I, I—

because history repeats itself. Everything we've— it's the world has been the same. No, what am I about to say though?

No, come on, keep—

just, just say it. But I think I know where you're going.

There was Adam, there was Eve, there was Cain, there was Abel. It's 4 people in the world. Cain killed 25% of the people on earth. Mm-hmm. 25% of the population. So, and it said, it was like, it ain't no such thing as like, if it's 4 people, you're my mama and it's a daddy and I got a brother, right? I kill my brother. If we have the whole world to ourselves, I could have just moved away and went somewhere else. I could have just like, whatever, whatever. And so it's like, if that's happening, with the first 4 people on Earth, it's like, shit, what do you think is gonna happen with like billions of people?

Do you read philosophy? Do you like, are you into it?

'Cause you seem like— I read and listen to a lot of stuff.

Yeah, so I used to be, when I was in college, I used to be, I got so into philosophy. I really, really liked this whole like idea of causal determinism and free will and all of that. Like all those things were so amazing. But every time you would read any reading or, you know, any scripture that's like philosophy based, you would look at things that were 500, 600, 700 years ago, and people are going through the same shit.

And it repeats.

And it repeats all the time. It's just like we're on a different level because now it's more exposed. Yeah. Because we have access to it. We have, you know, social media now. So like information is traveling so much faster because before you had to read about it. Yeah. Now you don't have to read. Like now you can just open up your Instagram, it's going to be right there, and you create your own content. Yeah. So that's why I'm like, it's so bizarre to me that people think that this is a shit show. It's always been a shit show. There's always been wars.

It's just that we have access to see it now.

And if you look at the history, how many wars were happening in the 20th century? They were happening like every 10 to 20 years and they're still happening. And it's like, this is never going to change. This is just— it is what it is. It's just the way that we like to live life.

I think us being able to see it kind of fucks us up a lot. When we didn't know, the world was a better place. Quote unquote.

I mean, isn't ignorance a bliss?

You don't know? Yeah, ignorance is bliss and knowledge is this. Damn, we all fucked up.

So do you like what— do you like when people are smart, or you like when people are like a little bit more on the ignorance end?

Okay, smart. Why? Because I like to learn. You like to learn? I like being around smart people. I like— I don't like being the smartest person in the room.

Oh my God, I know you don't fuck with Leos, but I'm the same way. Like, I like to learn from people. I don't care what capacity it is, like friendship, relationship, even when I just have a conversation with somebody. If I'm sitting at the table, I want to get out of that conversation with something that I can take to the dumber people. Dumber people, or just to myself and be like, damn, oh, this just hit me. Like, there's a light that's just like just lit on in your head because of whatever you learned there.

That's why I like to be around people who make more money, people who have more, seen more, more experiences, know more. I just like that. Yeah. And I leave there and I'm like, damn, it either motivate. So you either learn something while you're there or it motivates you to want to do more or learn more. And so it's like when I get around people who've not done half of the things that I've done or just on that base level have done, we can talk about experiences and share stories, but I'm like, I'm not motivated though. That's true. I want you to have a better car. I want you to have like, you know what I'm saying? And so I wanna feel like, damn. Like if I pull up and you hop out of like a Benz truck or you hop out of like a fucking Bentley truck, I'm like, what did she do to get that truck? Suck dick. I'm like, how many dicks did you suck? Like what kind of dicks were they? Like talk to me. What would you do to Steve? No. I was gonna— I got— and a group of hop out on you, and I'm gonna be like, listen, this is what she do. Y'all let her get y'all right so I can give me one of these trips.

Mentorship program will pay her a little bit.

So she can like, look, I suck dicks. Do you have a manager? I can help you. You need somebody managing that for you. I can do that.

Does that bother you? Like, when, you know, because like, I guess like there's morals and there's right or wrong things, but like when you meet a woman, for example,. And then she just says something so unconventional that like before you'd be like, damn, that's morally wrong. But I'm with it because she's getting to it. Like she's getting money. Like for example, like she sucks dick.

I don't care. You don't care?

You're just like, now I'm curious. Because you know, a lot of men are gonna be like, oh damn, she's a hoe. I'm not about to be around that. Suck dick.

That's what you want to do, suck it.

Would you date somebody who does that?

No. Why not? I do want my dick sucked. Let me just clear the air about that. But I don't wanna date nobody who sucks dicks for a living.

Well, there has to be a reason for it, right?

Yeah, like I wanna date somebody who sucks my dick for a living.

So you're gonna pay her or what else is it?

No. Pay her an appearance fee. You been doing it for free. You just been sucking it all this time, shit.

No, if she does it for a living, she gets paid for it.

Oh, I ain't paying nobody to suck my, no, no, no, no.

That's crazy to be on TV. I wouldn't pay nobody to do that. Why? Where is this even coming from? Why is this even a thing? Somebody has to pay to get their dick sucked.

Yeah, like, if you're gonna suck it, suck it, but don't pay. I'm all right without it. I don't live without you sucking my dick. I live more years without you sucking it than I have with you sucking it. Like, just go away, you and your truck. Get in your truck and go away. I'm gonna fuck it.

Go back to where you came from, where all the money is at.

I don't even want to know how you got it.

Do you care about money? Yeah, like how much? What is it like? What, what does money do to you? To me or for me? To you, for you.

I don't know, I don't do nothing to me. Okay, for you. Shit, keeps me at ease mentally sometimes, you know, just it's a freedom. It's like, um, I don't know, it's a mental ease.

Do you take care of your family and stuff or no?

Yeah, I help provide where I me too, but I'm not like a, you know, you get a house, you get a house. I'm not there yet. No, not that type of take care of.

I don't think it's a good thing to do for your family because you put them in a position where now like they don't have to figure shit out. Like I get it when some shit hits the fan, yes. But when you just giving out things and you kind of put them in a position where—

I play broke and stay broke though. I don't tell my folks how much money I make. I don't tell.

Don't, I don't think you should because it's none of their business.

I give them money as needed. And sometimes even if I had the money, I play like I don't. Can you see me? I'm like, damn, I just spent it on these videos I was doing. You should have called me last week. Yeah, you have to though. You don't want them to think you got it all the time. And sometimes I may not have it, but even if I do have it, I just be like, no. I remember telling somebody no and I went and spent the money on some clothes and I was like, oh, I needed this.

Wait, do you remember what was like the first time you made the most amount of money? Like, whenever it felt like, oh my God, damn, I just, I just made so much money. Yeah, what was it? I don't, I don't need the number. 2021. 2021. Yeah, like $20,000. Okay, what'd you do with it?

Candles on a birthday cake. Blew it. Blew it.

Fucking blew it. On like random shit that you didn't need?

Clothes, like going out and like, yeah, y'all get what y'all want. Yeah, I spent that shit.

You know, I think I, I've made my first like 20— I remember it was $26,000. It was 2021 too. That shit too, it's so quick. Yeah, a bag, a trip, just shit that I didn't need.

Like, that's crazy because I don't even buy expensive shit.

I don't, not anymore. No, the more money I make, get expensive. Back then they were not, before Chanel raised the prices. $2,000 was still a lot back then.

$2,000, $3,000 on a Chanel is still a lot. Yeah, well, it is a lot now. In 2021, $3,000 was a good, good pinch of money.

It was good, but I'm just saying that like now, if you tell me a bag is $3,000, I said get the fuck out of my face. I can't even—

I don't buy designer at all. Why? I don't wear it because I ain't gonna say I wouldn't ever wear it, but I don't wear it in a sense like, because I'm— I want people to know and feel like good about themselves without having to do all of that. And it's like everywhere I go, not to be, you know, like that about it, people are like, oh, you're handsome. Oh, you dress nice. Oh, you're confident. And it's just like, what would a Gucci belt have done if I had that on? Like, would it have made you confident? And I love the Gucci belt and you got money.

It's like, no, I was— I heard this thing before that if you buy designer, it's kind of like It's when you have a very poor fashion taste, cuz it's something that anybody can have, and it's like, it's something that you're trying to like flash the money with, and like, it's something that, okay, the brand is recognizable. And so I feel like we're in the era where we shifting towards more like smaller designers so we can have more unique things, you know?

Yeah, I believe that.

So like you can have few pieces, but like they're going to be, you know, something that's like custom made. So like whenever you go online, you can't see somebody else wearing the same thing. Because that's like the most important part. I hate when I see somebody who's wearing the same shit as me.

Damn, that water good as motherfucker.

What is that, the— Sparkling. Oh, I love sparkling. And you like sparkling water?

I used to hate it. I used to think that shit tastes like fart in a bottle.

And then what happened? You tried it.

Just started drinking the farts.

And now you enjoyed it. Yeah, it's good. And it's like very refreshing.

I tell people all the time, the bubbles just kind of give you something to do.

Yeah, bubbles do something something different, especially when it's warm or hot outside. Sparkling water.

Yeah, because the regular water just be like, oh, like, it's— yeah, the sparkling water be like, it hits. Come on, y'all, let's do this.

That's something that I think especially Black people are like, well, we don't drink sparkling water. I'm like, you should try, man.

I fucked that shit up, I ain't gonna lie. And I think like my mind just started like gravitating towards it because I'd be thinking, I'm like, whatever you think is what you— I'd be thinking I'm fancy, like I'm— you don't think you're fancy?

I do. I think you're fancy. I think I'm fancy.

That's why I drink sparkling water. Yeah, I go to restaurants ordering shit I ain't never had before. Like what? I mean, I was in LA one time, ordered some caviar cheesecake. Caviar cheesecake? Yeah, I was just like, just— then I was at this restaurant one— not recently, recently. I was like, we have caviar and chicken nuggets, and I was like, give it to me. That is bizarre. I'll be drinking wine and shit for no reason.

You don't like it? You don't like the wine?

Pour up a glass of wine with a McDouble. And then you just— Just drink it just to feel good about myself. This motherfucker eating ice cream. I got to drink some red wine to eat ice cream. I'm just like—

That's wrong. That is just wrong.

I'm talking, I'm talking, I'm talking. It's just wrong. But no, I used to didn't like care for wine. I was like, give me some hard liquor. But now I just be like—

It's like a whole new world.

Yeah, I be hanging around people who do. Shit. Like, you know, you go out and order some bruschetta, you get you some wine, and you just smell it. Yeah, the wine tasting thing. Taste it. Yeah.

You know what's so crazy? Like, if you go to Italy or somewhere where it's a big wine culture to them, or Spain, it's like the most normal thing to do. Everybody knows how to, like, you know, how to properly drink wine, how to, like, you know, shake it in the glass, then smell it, and then taste it and not get fucked up on it, just like, just so you can get that little taste. Like it's a normal thing in that culture. And then you come here, it's like, oh damn.

I don't think there's no per se, no, I think they just have grown immunity to getting fucked. Like you can go out and drink the wine and not be drunk. We drink to get drunk.

Yeah, we drink to get drunk.

I'm not drinking this wine just to be like, I had a glass of wine. The goal is to drink that first one and to want another one. Why? What?

You just said it. No, but like, no, but for what? Why are you trying to get fucked up for? What? See, it's a human behavior.

I don't know, I was gonna say maybe you want to go suck some. We want to get drunk to go hunch and like, you know, why can't you hunch without— I can, but it's like if we both wine drunk and we fucking, what happens? You know what happens. You've been wine drunk before, maybe. Yeah. I ain't gonna push the maybe, baby.

It's, it's not even maybe, that shit is good.

Yeah, you feel me? Yeah, it's like normal sex is cool, but drunk sex or like tipsy sex be like, you're like, shit, we did that last night, what the fuck? Yeah, we're gonna do it again today too. Now you know what's the limit and how far you can push it. Yeah, the only thing is you don't want to wake up hungover. That's, yeah, 'cause you sleep good after that shit and everything.

But that's why you got to be very careful and tread lightly, like, especially if you drink tequila. Yeah. Have you ever fucked on tequila? I done fucked on everything.

Yeah.

And wine is your favorite?

I don't know. I feel like all that shit take you to the same place. It's just you got to drink more wine than you would have to regular liquor. You give me two shots, I can blast your ass.

Do you see why girls be on you?

I just go from you just like how you was. That's exactly— let's do it, let's hunch. Wow, all the laughing over.

Come on, let's lay down. You are a dangerous man to be around. You can seduce anybody.

Oh, it's working, it's working.

I don't know what it is for me. Like, man, just gotta be— maybe, I don't know, maybe I've been single for too long at this point. I don't know, just all I need to do is laugh. That's it. That's it.

Don't laugh too hard now. Drawers off me. Y'all see my panties up there?

I see. This is why you went on intrusive thoughts. Yeah, you did well there. You did really well there. You used to do both of them. Thanks. The next thing you know, like, her legs are on you and all that.

Be like that sometimes. Not sometimes.

I feel like you close the deal every time. If you want it, you definitely gonna close the deal.

Nah, I be chilling. I really be chilling. It's like in my nature to just, like, talk shit and just Whatever, whatever. I can't tell people to like wanna give me some pussy. I can't like just be like, give me some. You know, that's actually like sexual harassment. Yeah. I can't just be like, give me some pussy. I can elaborate on what you were talking about if we were talking about it. But you'd be like, oh, I don't wanna talk about that no more. And then I have to be like, okay, that's fine. I let people quote unquote harass me and I can elaborate. But yeah. You like to be harassed?

I don't think— I don't think it's harassment. I think it's like, you like to speak your mind. Yeah, speak your mind and what you want.

Yeah, say what you want to say and we'll operate from there. But I can't be like, no, because if I came on here, it was like, Liz, I ain't gonna lie, boy, if you gave me some— you know what I'm saying? I can't do that because I don't think you should. Yeah, no, in any moment you could be like, I'm uncomfortable, he made me uncomfortable. Now if you laughing and we joking about the subject, I could just like, you know chime in on it, but I—

have you ever had that scenario when you were like talking to a girl and you think that you guys are friends and then shit just go south, like down the road, like months down the road, or just like, oh damn, she wants me, there's something more than that? Yeah. Isn't that like a great feeling?

It is what it is. It just be like a— you kind of be knowing, but I play slow.

I don't know if I play slow, if I am slow. I can't really tell anymore.

If guys want you or not? I can't tell. Oh yeah, we always want you. We always want to fuck, or we always want like you to want that. We just don't say nothing out of respect for you. You don't have guy friends who don't want to fuck you. It's either they've made their mind up that they won't ever do it, or they're just waiting on you to say something.

And then when it gets to that point, it's like, at this point, bro, say something, because I ain't gonna bring it up first.

All of my best friend girls that I have, they've either like talked to like a friend of mine that I've had, or they talk to somebody I know, or it's been like I'd had to meet their significant other and I don't like want to go behind nobody back. And so it'd be shit like that. But if I meet you and you don't know nobody I know, of course I thought about fucking you. Damn. Yeah, it's just—

what is it with men? Why are men like that?

It's women too. Women too? Yeah, y'all make it— you meet your intentions before you person. Hold the fuck up. Okay, what?

You do. Say it again.

You meet your intentions before you meet the person.

So are you trying to say that something like you basically manifested and then it comes out?

No, like, so Wale said— that's a Wale line from a song. He was like, um, you ever scroll on Instagram and see somebody? Damn, he fine. I would fuck the shit out of him. Damn, he looks so good. You don't even know him, but you've met intentions on what you would do. Damn, he's handsome. And your mind may say, I would fuck him. You don't react to it though. You've made an intention again, right? Like you may have guests on the show and they pull up and you like, damn, he looks even better in person. Ooh. But you've been so used to thinking it and blocking it out that you never act on it. It's like, be fucking professional or just, you know? And so, yeah. But you know whether you wanna fuck somebody or whether you would fuck somebody. As soon as you meet them. It's just that they lean you more towards doing it, or they talk themselves away from it, or they talk themselves out of it.

I think the way that it happened with me, this is like literally my entire life, especially with like some, some people that— some celebrities that I've seen somewhere. Every time I would look at them, or like, you know, if I would go to like an NBA game, I'd see some athlete on, you know, on the court running around and be like, damn, he's hot. I've met all of them. I don't know how it works. Like, and I remember the first boyfriend that I had You say you met all of them? I met all of them. All of them. Like, literally everybody who I said or thought was, like, good-looking or whatever it— like, shit, I was like, man, I don't even know how it works. But, like, and somebody who I thought of, like, 10, 15 years ago, met them. Like, it's, it's just, it's so weird how, like, my brain just, like, maybe I manifest. I don't know what it is. And I, I didn't even think that this is what I was going to do. I never even imagined this. This is like It wasn't even a dream. It just kind of— I knew something was going to happen. I didn't know what it was. And I knew that I had to make a change because I was in corporate world for so long and I had to change that in order for my life to change, you know? So like, that was the most important thing. But then like the first boyfriend that I had, I remember I was walking up the stairs, didn't even know the person. I looked up and I was like, damn, what if I dated that man? We started dating like 3 weeks later. It was like that. I didn't even speak a word to him. It was the first, the first time I saw him. Like, we just like crossed paths. And like somehow my brain works like that. Like, I don't know what it is. Either I convince myself and then I go into it, or it's just subconscious working for you.

Crazy. Do you believe in intuition?

Yes. Why do you have to think about it?

Because it's like a, um, it's your subconscious like coming out and trying to like tell you or show you something, or it's like speaking to you.

You're just basically like God.

Basically, to simplify it, yes.

You know some shit. Tell me.

This is basically— yeah, it's kind of what it is. Okay. It's not that you have like— hmm, let me see. I'll give you this theory that I came up with. Okay. All right. Um, and I came up with this in case anybody tries to steal it. It's not that you have like great intuition or you have bad gut feelings or that you have good discernment. It's just that you speak and talk about things so much, right? That you bring them to fruition. And so are you per se right or are you just really like attracting and manifesting really hard? So if you be like, I think my boyfriend is cheating, You're really just manifesting that he will cheat on you. And so it's like, I knew it, my discernment never leads me wrong. No, you just kind of like spoke the shit into existence. Anything else that you're doing, if it's something good, you'd be like, I manifested that. You also manifested him fucking your homegirl. And so it's not that you have good discernment, you have like powerful manifestation or attraction powers. So whatever you speak, the universe or your subconscious does not know the difference between the good or bad. It just, makes happen whatever you say should happen. Well, that's the theory.

Do you know the book Secret? So it's— that's where the theory is coming from.

You probably heard of it before, but I've never heard of that book. I just came up with that.

Well, then I think it's just a universal thing, right? Like, it's something that when you have those conversations that are not just, you know, about the physical things that you see, that you can touch, but basically like the way that you can manifest— you can manifest that I don't want that job because the universe only hears I want that job, because don't really doesn't apply. So you can say, um, you, you, you have to rephrase the way that you think and the way that you speak, because don't is— it doesn't do anything. But if you say that, I would, I want, you know, I want, you know, I want this job, then that's going to happen. Like, you got to basically rephrase. Instead of saying don't, you have to say something that's very positive. Yeah, because don't, like, it don't really it doesn't change anything. So you're changing your perspective or changing it, like, yeah, you know, especially with the whole thing with like, I don't know, do you think everything is going to end at some point? Like relationships and like career ends, like shit ends all the time.

Yeah, when you die. When you die.

Yeah. So you think that it's just gonna be forever?

If that's the way you want it to be. It's all about who you are and how you make shit work. Like, you can You can do it. Ain't no such thing as you can't. It's just like, you know. I know.

I mean, I know. But do you think like if you were to get married— do you want to get married? Yeah. If you were to get married, it's going to be once and for all?

Yeah.

And then you're just going to be locked in? Yeah. So what is it, this thing that people say that, oh, men can't be loyal, men cannot just keep one woman?

That's just them saying it.

But that's not how you think it's going to be?

Whatever I say is going to be, it's going to be. It's gonna be that. Okay. Like it's my life. I write, I'm literally writing the story. I'm writing a narrative. Things may change, but it's like, let that change. But my perspective and my actions should not change on things. And that's how you control it. Right. Like the world is on fire, it's burning. I can still be comfortable and at peace in my mind. You know, like. How did you come up with that?

Like, how did you, 'cause like, I don't think it's a, It's a beautiful perspective to have, but you're still human, right? Like, and you, you are still sensitive.

You're still emotional. My body would react if I was on fire. Okay. But my mind, I'm like, and my mind wants to save my body, but like deep down I'm like, I'm okay. Mm-hmm. It's fine. Like, you know? So you resilient? Yeah. All of that. Hmm. You have to be.

You have to. I think you have to be. I think that's a, but I don't think a lot of people understand that.

It's just not even for you to understand if you don't understand it though. You like hurt yourself trying to make somebody understand it or see it that way.

Yeah, because I feel like that's something that I do, that's why people think I'm an industry plant because I just keep going and going and going. Like, I don't stop. I might get upset, you know, I might cry, I might like say, fuck it, I don't want to do this anymore because it hurts my feelings when things don't do well. Like, you know, you put so much work into it and then like the episode does like 200 views and you're like, god, fuck.

Fucking damn. I mean, yeah.

And then you just—

That's the beauty in it. Those are the absolute fun parts. That's what we don't realize. Why? Because when you get the video that's a million views, you'd be like, I remember a time where I didn't have it. Or I remember a time where I was like, you know what I'm saying? You only appreciate yourself the way you are now because you felt weird as a kid. Like if you were always happy, you'd be like, I was always happy. I don't know what it feels like to be sad. You know, it rains every day and then one day the sun come out. You're like, oh, fuck, thank God. Like, you know, the sun is out today. We've never seen this. And so it's like, yeah, the fulfillment isn't in like the— the reward is in the journey, not in the fulfillment.

Yeah. Yeah. Because sometimes even now, like when people tell me like, oh, I see you blowing up, I see you. I was like, wait, blowing up? I have not hit a million views on an episode just yet. Yeah, just yet. So like to me, I guess like there is marks, but also I always question what is enough?

You know what's crazy? At one point you were just like, man, if I could just get somebody to give me 1,000 views. And then it's like when you get the 1,000, you'd be like, but I ain't got a million yet. But when you got that 1,000, you was like, if I get to 20,000, we're gonna be good. And then you get 20,000, you'll never be satisfied. You have to kind of set a goal. And it's like, am I not who I said I was going to be or doing what I said I was going to do? You know what I'm saying? Like I said that I was going to do it and I am doing it. Now it takes time and it's going to grow, but I just have to know that that's going to happen. But you are doing exactly what you said you were going to do. You have the views that you said you wanted. The more you talk about getting more views, you will get those views. But it's just like, is that how you approach music? Yeah.

Because, you know, a lot of people strive to like, I guess like the numbers that you're pulling, they strive to get that and they don't know how. Because I think it's a problem with creatives where they understand like they can create, but they don't know the business aspect of it. It sounds like you a person who knows the business aspect of it too.

I'm learning every day.

So what do you do to learn that?

Shut the fuck up. I say less.

You talk less?

Talk less. And you do more? And do more, yeah.

But you have to find those people.

Like, how do you do that? There's this thing, like, you come up on a lot of stuff serendipitously. The words. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Serendipity. Is when you start something and you have a thought or an action from starting something. It's just like when you decided you were gonna have a show or a podcast and that sparked another idea, but you wouldn't have thought of that idea unless you said, I'm gonna start a show. You know what I'm saying? What am I gonna call it? I'm gonna call it Talk Less. Oh, I can also do boom, boom, boom, boom. You thought of all of those things serendipitously because you started. One single action, right? And so that's me. Like, I don't know how a lot of stuff is going to happen. I know it's going to happen, but I just start somewhere. And when I start, it yields XYZ, XYZ, XYZ.

So yeah. So when you started, like, what was— when was— when you just dropped the first music, right? Like, if your first song out, did you— like, how many views did you get? Did you— like, what was it like going on through your mind that, like, okay, I'm going to do this? Because you clearly had a job, right? You were doing something.

Yeah, I remember at one point in time having like— I screenshotted it, I think— having like 50,000 streams on all of my music collectively. And 50,000 streams ain't a lot.

It ain't shit now, but it's a lot when you start.

Yeah, but it was like I had been doing it for a long time, and I was just like, oh man, I hit 50,000. I feel like that's—

I don't know, like, see, because I know, I know I come from, from nothing too.

So like, to me it's like, damn, like, that's one time I want to get like 1,000 views on a video on YouTube, and I was like, if I could just get 1,000 views, I feel like I got it.

It's a, it's, it's a hard work to get 1,000 views on YouTube. I don't think people understand how hard it is. Yeah, I had to start a whole new YouTube channel so I can get 1,000 views on a video. Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's rough, but it's just like, you know, because imagine if you had 1,000 people in front of you, that's a lot of fucking people, and you get 1,000 views. Like, that's how many people— if you were to get out of the screen and of the digital world, if you see all of that, that's a lot of energy students interact with and like a lot of, you know, people to touch. And again, like, when that's, that's what's so mesmerizing about you, that when people were telling me that like, hey damn, like that's like one guy I like, I fuck with, like that's somebody who like I truly like. He's like, if you go on my Instagram, you will see like on all the way to the bottom, you will see him. Like I post about him, I post his music and stuff. I'm like, damn, like they, they like ride for you. Those are loyal fans. That's tough. And it's probably coming from that time when you had that 50,000.

Yeah. All of this stuff that it's like stemming from wanting it so bad then. Or like, you know, and it takes time. You just have to see it in your head. You know, you see yourself in places that you aren't yet. You see yourself talking to people that you haven't met yet.

I just speak into it.

It's not a funny thing and it's not like a crazy thing. And I tell people all the time, I'm not seeing some of the shit that I'm seeing in my head for now. Do nothing. The goal is to like walk towards it, move towards it and do things. If you do nothing, nothing happens. But it's just like, you didn't know me. You didn't know you were gonna meet me, that we would be sitting here having this conversation. But having these conversations spark other things. And it's like, I can know somebody that you were trying to get on the show and it's like, I'll call him. But it's like, if you never do anything, you get nothing. Call Lou. Right? Get this motherfucker on. I can call him right now. Let me see. Call Lou. Yeah, let's call Lou.

'Cause Lou got me, And Wade, we're gonna call him right now.

Let's go, let's see if you pick up. That would be hilarious.

He's, he's gonna, man, he's gonna block me at some point.

We're gonna get him up here.

This is how we do it, okay? Yeah. No answer so far. Maybe it's not meant to be. I'm calling him.

It's a great picture. I hope he pick up. There it is. He called me back. Okay, if he calls you back, you got to pick up. Yeah, going to have you on three-way. Quick, we got him! What you doing?

I have his number, just he just never responds to me. That's the —That's all right.

And then it's sometimes it just takes people you know that know other people that can like do it. I've had people do that to me before though. —Really? —Yeah, you get their number, but you can't move buttons with them. And then you call another person like, you hit them up for me? They call and they be like, yeah, I get it done.

You be like— —Mm-hmm. Especially like when I started, it would be like, oh, talk to my manager. And the managers don't respond. I'm like, what the fuck am I talking to?

—Oh no, somebody tell you talk to their manager, that's a wait. That is the quickest cop-out to not do it. They don't want to do it. Instead of saying, not right now, they'd be like, talk to my manager. That is the, I don't want to do this button.

Yeah, that's the— yeah. One person who said that, he's still— I kind of said, well, fuck your manager. I literally just started texting him and then he did come on the show. And so like we got an episode in.

So it was a good one too. If you— don't ever take any of this shit personal though. I don't. Don't do it because a lot of people will say things and like agree to stuff and then they won't do it or don't want to do it and it hurts your feelings. And I had to learn that the hard way. And I was just like, because I was always expecting people to be like genuine and like tell the truth and, you know, and you realize sometimes the busier you get, you're not going to want to do some of those things and you kind of understand it then.

I know I come from a sales world, so like I'm so that that's the thing about me. I'm so used to hearing no, like when people say yes, it surprises me. So like You know, it's kind of like a reverse psychology that I'm so used to that, like, to me, I'm used to bad things happening. I'm not used to good things happening. And so, like, now when everything is happening good, it's like, you know, when you talk—

there's no good and bad though. And bad things don't happen to you.

I guess, like, pleasant things, they're not happening to me.

Things happen to motivate you. Yeah, they do. The quote-unquote bad things make you work harder.

It's not a rejection, it's a redirection. That's what I always say. Come on now. Because that's the most important thing, that like sometimes things don't work out. And maybe it's not working out with Lou for a reason. Maybe it's gonna be a horrible fucking episode nobody would care for.

I have— me and Lou are close. I haven't been on his podcast. What?

Yeah, it's, you know, you were sitting in that room.

Yeah, but I haven't been on the show. Why not? It's just, you know, do you not—

do you like doing podcasts or no? Yeah, they're okay. Okay. Yeah, you've been on 85 South a couple times. Yeah, how was that?

They're my dogs. Oh yeah, it's fun. Like, it's just, you know, and I think people are kind of like, you know how Bow Wow was Mr. 106 and Park? I think I'm gonna end up being Mr. 85.

Mr. 85, okay. Yeah, you like going there, huh?

Yeah, but you guys have good conversations with the 195 South. Them some funny motherfuckers. Funny. And have you ever— you gotta sit down with them and talk to them. I know it's like watching it on the screen is different.

And it's kind of like, you know, I said with all of them, like almost all of them sit across from me.

There's a couple more that are coming. If you sit down with them on their show, I want to go, I want to go. You gonna fucking laugh your eyeballs out.

I'm gonna ask Carlos. I'll be like, you know what, I want to come on.

If you ask him, he'll let you go.

No, I know he'll let me go. I just need to ask. I just haven't asked yet.

Carlos is the right person to ask. I— because I don't think I've ever heard Carlos tell nobody no. Carlos, the reason I was on there, somebody who didn't know Carlos asked, could I come on the show? They was like, you should get Akim Ali. He was like, tell him to come on. And I was like, damn. He didn't know the person who was DMing him and they just did it like blindly. He's so cool.

Yeah, he is. I'm mesmerized by that man.

He one of the coolest niggas I know, man. He's so genuine to the point where it's like he be wanting to help people. If you ask him, you should do such and such, or, 'Hey man, I think such and such would be a good girl.' He'd be like, 'Well yeah, tell him, come on.' Or, 'Yeah, set it up.' And he'd just be like genuine about it.

Yeah, is that a Mississippi thing or? Yeah, I'm gonna say it is. I'm telling you, I don't trust men, especially in this industry. It's terrifying. You don't know what the fuck they want. I don't think you should trust nobody. Right, like, so I'm very skeptical. But then like, there's just something different about, especially that whole 85 South crew, like, For the fact that they've been able to keep that friendship and work relationship for so long and not fall apart, because, you know, shit falls apart all the time, but they're like still so locked in and they're touring together. It's like—

They were their own separate entities before then. And so it's not like a we're competing thing. Right. And then when people start together, it's like we compete to like be better than each other. And then it looks funny. It's like, no, I was Carlos before I met you. I was Chico before I met you. I was— DC, or I was Clay, you know, I was myself before I met you. So I don't— we don't need each other. We're just happy to be here and exist together in this space. I feel like that's how people should be.

I just, I hate this whole jealousy thing. I hate when people are like trying to— just because you got this going on, or like, I'm jealous of this, I don't fuck with you. Like, this, this thing is— yeah, this is why I decided to do my show by myself, just because I know that I can trust me. I don't know, especially relying on people people coming on time, you know, people doing the work. There's a lot of lazy people. They want the final product, but they don't want the work that goes behind it.

It gets tough. It gets tough. How did you get this show? And how do you get like, were you like semi-famous before this? No, I was never famous.

I'm still not famous. I'm just still— What did you do? Played tennis. I played tennis. That's how I started doing content. I started playing tennis. And so I've been playing tennis since I was 4. And I went to school in California, so I played tennis there. I actually stayed in the country because of tennis. So I was not supposed to stay. I wanted to go to Monaco to school. And then they recruited me to be on the team. And so I played, and then I started coaching. So that's how I started. My first money I made with coaching tennis, I remember, was $40 that I made. And I was like, this is the best. I mean, I remember holding those $40. Like, even $10,000 right now is not compared to that $40 that I remember. Number. And $200— I remember I saved $500 to buy my grandma an iPhone.

That shit was like special. So it started with $40.

$40. $40. Yeah, I remember. But I don't think, like, I don't think people understand how much it meant. Like, it's my own money that I made with like my own skills. And I'm not even from here. I'm not even from here.

I don't even go to this school.

Shit. And then, you know, because I kind of like treat it as a business, so I was just like coaching local parks and stuff. And so that's how I was making money. Like, that's how I was able to pay my rent and sustain my lifestyle here. So then I stopped playing. I retired like 3 times in my life. And then when I moved to Atlanta, somebody asked me, they were like, hey, do you want to play tennis? I was like, yeah, sure, let's do it. I just put the phone behind me and then I recorded it. And then people were like, wait, you can play tennis? I'm like, yeah, I've been doing this. I don't talk about this. It's not going to be like, hey, my name is Lesya, I play tennis. It's like, you're not gonna say, hi, I'm Akim Ali, I make music.

Do you? Yeah, I don't. How is this world supposed to know if I don't tell them? Um, every once in a while I do it.

Every once in a while you can, but like, I still wanna— you would know that some shit is going on.

I don't want people to treat me like a celebrity.

That's why I don't, I don't really speak on— there's like, it's like, it's you kind of like a chameleon sometimes. They're like, oh yeah, I'm in corporate world. Oh yeah, I'm in media. Oh yeah, I do this, I do that. I play tennis, you know, like, just like, kind of. So I started playing tennis, and I started— my, my video had 20 million views, and I started blowing up on, like, Instagram. And then somebody told me you need to do long-form content. So at first I was doing vlogs, and I'm like, this shit is so boring.

You still play tennis to make content? I still— I play every week. Yeah, nice. And you do content? I have, like, brand deals with tennis now. So you're the best industry plan I've ever met. Really?

Yeah. Damn, I appreciate that. Why? Because it's like— but also like, I'm just— I am what I am. I don't try to pretend to be somebody. Like, just whatever is happening in my life, I always talk about in the show. It's cool. I just don't name no names. That's the only thing.

You hung around a lot of Black people when you got here? I've only been around Black people, so I can tell. It's like I feel at home. I feel like I could tell by your demeanor.

Yeah, like, it's like, yeah, this is my people. And I remember when I moved here, I felt so terrified by white people in the South. Like, they're actually like— I don't know what it is. Their attitude is like different.

It's different. You can feel it.

Like, you can feel it. The energy is off. And it's like— and I can— sometimes people would treat me as if like I'm a white girl. And I like— it bothers me. Like, this morning that shit bothered me.

It's not— you know what's crazy is not even like— it's like an instinct thing. To like protect. If you're Black, it's an instinct thing to protect yourself or to just kind of stay away from it. Yeah. And some people—

I don't, um, I'm not the person that's gonna like go off on somebody or like say something. I'll never say like, oh, you have an attitude, but I'm not gonna call HR, are you?

Fuck no.

Okay, listen, I— security— I worked in corporate world before.

HR don't do shit. So, you know, and so now you can kind of understand why I don't like Leos. The same way you feel about white people.

Hmm. It's just the energy's off for you.

It's not that they're per se the worst people in the world or bad people. It's just when you see certain things, you're just like, and now I'm one of y'all. And so I get the same, you know, and people treat me like a Leo. I don't wanna talk to you 'cause you're a Leo. And so people treat you like a, White girl.

No, don't, don't call me white. I don't like when people call me white. It bothers me. I don't know what it is.

What are you saying, the people treat you like— Yeah, yeah. So it's like, it's not like— not— I don't hate white people. I don't dislike them. It's just like, I'll be around them. Yeah. And so for your own reasons too now, like, because I was terrified seeing X, Y, and Z, or I didn't like what I seen or experienced with, you know, my own people.

Well, they're not my own. My own is Russia. So that's my own, you know.

I get it, I get it. And even like when I—

when I meet Russian people too, sometimes I'm like, I know why I moved out, right? Like I know why it's still, you know, it's so instilled into us that we need to be so fearful of what's next. And like, because the government is controlling you so much that sometimes I'm like, goddamn, you in the— you're in the land of freedom. You can do whatever the fuck you want in here. Like you literally can become whatever you want. Why don't you do that? No, they're doing everything by the book, like, because they're just so terrified of making moves that could be unconventional. Like, even for me to do what I do now, my grandma is still like, I'm worried for you. She's like, how are you going to support yourself? How are you going to get paid? Like, what is it that you do? What's your job? And I'm like, I work more now than I've ever worked before.

I bought you that phone, not the other way around, Grandma. That's how you got to be. Remember that shit.

No, I would never do that to my grandma.

You better than me. You would do that? She'd be like, what do you do for work? Get my phone back. You ungrateful.

No, I'm not like that. I would never be that person. I'm always like, I'm too nice to people. That's my fucking problem. Too nice.

No, that's not a problem. It is a problem because— No, don't let the world stop you from being who you are or truly meant to be.

But they take advantage.

No, people not taking advantage of you. Why? Because it's just not, you're not taking advantage of me. I wanted you to have that, or I meant to give that to you. You're not getting over on me. I was nice anyway. Like, what the fuck? You're not getting nothing from me that I didn't want you to have.

Oh no, that's fact.

So, if I may, like, you're too nice. Do you give every man some coochie that ask for some coochie? Fuck no. Okay then, I'm not giving nobody nothing that I don't want them to have. Right, right.

No, no, that's— Give me some pussy.

Oh no. I thought you said you was nice.

Well, you said— There's a limit to nice.

Right? And so like, when you feel like you're getting taken advantage of, you stop. Right. And so it's no such thing as I'm too nice. When I feel like I'm being, when I feel like y'all finna start fucking this shit up, I stop it.

Big time. And I go the other way.

Your body, your mind, your spirit has a kill switch on it. And you're just like, don't worry about it. I was nice to you and I don't feel taken advantage of. I just don't want to be nice in that capacity with you anymore. But that won't stop me from being who I need to be for the world.

Do you move on from people or do you still like—

I don't know, I let God and the universe decide that. I don't even cut people off. I just kind of like, let me stop lying, I cut one person off in my lifetime, maybe 2, 3, 7, a lot of people.

Every day?

I don't per se cut people off. I just fall back though. You just like remove yourself. Once I realize you, I let people stay around me even if I don't like some of the stuff that they're doing. I let people stay around me until it's a detriment to my physical, mental, and emotional health, or spiritual. Yeah. When I feel like you finna like start fucking some of that up, pulling me out of my element and out of character, or I gotta like— I'm just like, don't worry about it.

What if they're trying to use you for your connections or like who you know and all that?

Yeah, I'm okay with that. You're okay with that? Yeah, that's what we're here for.

But what if it's like, it's not for the right reasons, like to get to the girls that you're around or something that's like kind of like, let me use you so I can get to what you got. And it's not for— it's not like they got something going on, it's just they want to use you.

Yeah, you can use me.

Oh, you like to be used?

If they don't like you, they ain't gonna like you. Like, I can— you— I know you want— I know you want hoes. Like, come on, let's go over here where the hoes at. When you see the thing don't want you the way that they like, you know what I'm saying, the way you thinking it is, you'll learn. Like, I got homeboys who just like, where the hoes at? I'm like, okay, come on, let's go to the hoes at None of the hoes want you here. Then it's like, these hoes tripping. No, you just—

they don't want you. You use—

yeah, you're using me for the wrong things, or you looking at it the wrong way.

Like, you know, but it doesn't bother you? See, it bothers me. Like, I had a couple friends that I had to just like—

I don't— it bothered me when it's like every time we linking up, it's like, where the hoes at? Yeah. Or I'm like, I'm over here chilling with Lesya B, and I got a few other homegirls. I got one homegirl, he'd be like, what they look like? Send their Instagrams. And I'd be like calm your ass down.

What is this, a fucking LA and we're going out to a club? Like, what is this?

No, it just be like, it ain't always about hoes. It's just like, we just vibing or we just chilling, right? Like, I just— she bad, you hit her before. I'm like, no, this my partner now.

Like, we chilling. That's one thing about social media. They every— whoever I post with, they think that I fucked them.

Oh yeah, you going to have that all the time. Yeah.

And I'm just like, okay, keep— it'd be the same for me.

People be like, did you fuck such and such? I'd be like, No. If I did, the answer is no. If I didn't, the answer is no. It's just like, because why?

You don't kiss and tell, huh?

Tell what? Just in general. What am I telling you? I don't know. If we fucking, we know we fucking.

But if you know how men are, men are— men talk a lot, especially in Atlanta. Them motherfuckers be talking.

The reason why I can't Or why I don't have to? 'Cause people automatically assume that I'm fucking people. Oh. And it's just a, it's a plus for me sometimes because it's just like, I know that, but people be like, "Well, I know you gotta be that motherfucker." And I just be like, "No, we chilling. That's my partner." I'm just existing.

I don't need to do nothing.

Even if I tell people, it's so crazy because if I tell people I don't, they still think I do. Not gonna lie. Not gonna lie.

Why do you think people care so much about what other people got going on, especially in their personal life. Like, why does it matter so much to, you know, social media to, to do this? Oh, we're engaged. Is it vicariously through you?

You are a part of something that people want to be a part of and they are not like you. And so they like that. Yeah, they care.

But my logic is, if you want that, become that.

Well, everybody ain't that smart.

Why not? Like, to me it's such a simple thing. Like, it's, it's bizarre. Why wouldn't you want to become something that—

like, if I can't figure something out, the first thing you just say about your people— yeah, come on, man, it ain't too far-fetched. It's the same. We just controlled by certain stuff or held back by a lot of other stuff that's like unspoken or unseen, and we don't know. So it's like, yeah.

But I feel like you have to get to this point, like, to this mentality somehow, right? Like, at what point did you realize, okay, like, this is the way I think?

I don't know. I think in the last 2, 3 years. Did something shift?

Did something happen? Or what was it like? How do you—

A lot of stuff. A lot of stuff. Yeah. Like what? Uh, Having a child, uh, reading, praying, fasting, um, mushrooms.

Okay. Yeah. Okay. Did they open up your conscious?

Yeah, but reading, like reading and observing, seeing shit.

Like, what kind of books do you read?

Not going to say like self-help books, cuz people love say self-help I can't help my damn self. To a book, but like, what the fuck? To a book? Yeah. Just philosophy-based books or like stuff that shifts your perspective on things or like things that, you know, tell you more about human behaviors. I read a lot of Robert Greene. Okay. I love Robert Greene. Yeah. I like Robert Greene a lot and the way he thinks. Do you watch his— Eckhart Tolle. Like shit like that. And so it's like, yeah, those type of books.

So something that's more like tapped in and something that's more about subconscious too. Yeah.

'Cause I like, I'm like, know a little bit about a lot or know everything about everything if you can afford to, but learn something other than what we've been taught. So you know how to like move outside of some of those parameters. I feel like we so controlled by everything that's been put on us that we don't know how to think for ourselves. And it's like, You know?

So when you were growing up, what did your parents like? 'Cause you know, like sometimes parents would want us to be something.

I didn't have nobody. I had my godmama. She kind of helped raise me. But as far as parents and like actual family, I didn't have nobody to guide me in no type of way. Like it was just, yeah. Just there? I'm glad that for some reason, something in me wanted to do what I wanted to do. I had sort of a rebellious spirit. Because I didn't have some of the guidance. And so I was just like, I'm just gonna do what I want. And I'm glad that kind of stuck with me. It was for a reason. And at first when I was a kid, it was kind of like, he's wild, he's unruly, he's going to school, he's fighting, he's getting kicked outta school, like getting suspended. But like that was good for me to grow into who I am now. Because all the people who followed the rules, went to school, did what they were told, like, you know, they're probably at home like, damn, I wish I would've just, Well, I shouldn't have listened to my mom and them, or I should have did something different. But you following everything you're told. And I didn't have anybody to kind of like sit me down and kind of talk to me or nurture me the way I should have been. And so it made or forced me into this space of having to do everything for myself or having to like trust my own judgment on stuff. And so I fucked a lot of stuff up in the process or I did things wrong, but it was still like, those were the parts that were like vital to me for me to become who I am now. And it's like, still, even you can attest to like, I don't know what I'm doing all the time, but I just try really hard. I fuck it up. I navigate differently or re-navigate, you know what I'm saying? And I try again another way. And so that's— it's been like a bunch of trial and error.

But when you— so like when you were in school, did you— were you book smart? Did you have good grades?

I was smart. I was as smart as I wanted to be whenever I wanted to be. And when I decided I didn't want to, I didn't. Okay. That's when you were like in Fight Club. Literally was like a— Honorable student all the way up into like the 6th grade. 7th grade, I didn't care about school. I got kicked outta school, went to alternative school for 8th grade. I was in alternative school and I can remember being in there and they was like, oh, he's too smart to do like pre-algebra. We gotta put him in 9th grade algebra. And then it was like, made good grades, got out alternative school, went to 9th grade and I was like, I don't care. I'm not— 10th grade, I don't care. 11th grade, somebody, One of my cousins betted me $300 I couldn't make the honor roll. And I was like, this fucking easy. He just don't know. And I literally, the year before, like I remember making like a, I flunked Spanish like the year before and shit. Like I was just like, I was doing bad in school. My 11th grade year, somebody bet me that I couldn't make honor roll. And I made it for like 3 terms in a row. And I was just like, okay. Give me my money. In 12th grade, I almost had to redo 12th grade because I just didn't give a fuck. 'Cause I didn't care about school per se. I just cared about doing what I said I was gonna do. Like if I said I can do it, I didn't study. I didn't like do homework. I didn't like it. I didn't like it. 11th grade, when somebody bet me their $300, I studied it. I did all my homework. I went to school, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And I think I like that first term I made like 6 A's, 2 B's or 7 A's and a B. And it was just like, give my money. Did he give it to you? Yeah.

Yeah. Okay, good. "As long as you got your money." Yeah.

He was like, "You make honor roll, I'll give you $300." And I was like, "This shit finna be easy. He just don't know." But the year before that, I didn't make the honor roll for like 2 years before that.

But you never wanted to like go to school, like go to college and all that? No. So what'd you do instead?

When I was in high school, I wanted to go to the military and then I wanted to go, I always wanted to be a rapper or do music or something or be like famous. But I never knew to what capacity. And so I started writing music, like writing, writing music when I was in like— I was 15. Okay. Yeah, I was in the 9th grade, started just writing music.

Did you sell it to somebody or— No, I just wrote.

I still got the first notebook I wrote the rapping in. Yeah.

And I was just like, that should be like an album cover or something where you can like— it's like a retro vibe, you know.

I just started writing and, uh, that just became like a thing. Is it your therapy? Is it my therapy? Yeah, I can say what I want in these rhymes. I can say what I want when I'm rapping. Like, I just get my thumbs to working and I can say words. Do you write on the phone, not with your pen? Nah, the pen, it have your hand hurting sometimes you doing it too long. Like I used to back in the day because I didn't have the means to like, you know, this before like iPhones and stuff.

Yeah. Oh, I remember that.

It was during iPhone, but I didn't have an iPhone. But yeah, yeah, nobody was writing in their phone and it wasn't the cloud and stuff wasn't existent then. Down. And so it's just like, you lose this damn SIM card or your phone just like cut off or shut off one day, you ain't got none of this shit. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. This is when the iPhones had the yellow notepad.

I mean, listen, my first iPhone, I think it was like iPhone 4 or 5. So like, I wasn't even with the times, you know, because I still lived in Russia at the time. So, oh yeah, I was not even like—

I had an iPhone 3 that I stole one time. I think my homeboy stole it and sold it to me, but It's back when people were stealing phones.

Yeah, like back then. Now nobody cares about it because you can find it at this point. Like, it don't make sense.

You still get your ass robbed.

But, but for what?

What the fuck are you gonna do with it? I'll be happy when people find phones and turn it in. I'll be like, damn, we're turning into a better people. Yeah, because I don't be wanting nobody else's phone, for real.

I don't need that. I already got enough in here and I'm, I'm okay. It's more than enough for me to handle.

Pull up to my house, knock on the door, it's in the mailbox, just go away.

Damn. Okay, let's ask some love questions. Okay. Do you think people date for connection or validation? Do you believe love is even real?

They date to validate their connection. Oh damn. Goddamn. Okay.

They date to validate their connection.

Yeah.

But how do they even know that there is connection? How do you tell?

That's how you— that's why you date, to find out if it's real, or if you can tell. Like, that's what I do. Like, if I'm dating you, like, if I think you're cool, okay, so boom, right here, right? You're like, damn, he's cool, boom boom boom. Or like, you know, he's a smooth guy, he makes me laugh, I wonder if there's a connection. You date to see.

So, but like, I feel like men are so different when it comes down to dating. Versus women, because women, like, they want— like, they want— they want— I feel like it's so simple for us, honestly. Like, we just want to be loved. We want to be courted. We want to be, like, paid attention to.

Man, y'all think that's what y'all want?

What do we want? What do you think women want?

You really want to know what y'all want? Yeah. And I'm not speaking for every woman. Okay, tell me. But what kind of guys do you go for?

Now? Yeah. For people that I can talk to, people who I can be on the phone for hours with. Okay. Like, I need to— I want to get into his brain, and I want him to get into my brain. Like, that's how deep I want to connect with somebody. Okay. Before—

Is that what matters most to you?

Yeah. Before, it was like, man, he got to be 6'6", he got to be Black man, preferably an athlete with a body of a god, and, uh, have money and, you know, just be the superficial as fuck. But then like you come to find out that like, man, it's boring. Yeah, it's like there's nothing behind. Yeah, like, okay, he got the status, he might be an athlete, he might be somebody who got money, but there's nothing behind. Like, I don't even need to be there because like I'm not even— yeah, I'm just irrelevant to it. So that's the point.

Like, you get— you were given what you wanted and it meant nothing to you. You don't know what you want. Right? And it's just like, what's crazy is you were not being fed mentally or emotionally and you still were going after it, which shows. And those were the guys that you were like head over heels for. And it shows that like, you always gotta give a woman something to continue to want. Right. You get every, and even if you get a guy who's like, I can talk to him and we have an emotional connection, If he ain't got no money, still ain't gonna be satisfied. If he ain't tall, still ain't gonna be satisfied. So it's like, you kind of know what you want, but you still don't know what you want. And it's just about like taking what you get and being content with that. Like— Settling? No, you're not settling. You have to be happy or know how to make yourself happy with what you have. Or it starts like within you.

I honestly feel like this whole height thing might be a scam at this point.

The whole what? Height? Yeah, for me. Oh, yeah, it is.

It is. I ain't gonna hold you. The other day I was, um, I was at this like production studio, right? And like I was just watching people. There's like men who were brainstorming and the way that they were having conversations and like none of them were tall. None of them were over 6 feet, okay? And the way that they were talking, I found myself sitting just like with my mouth wide open. I was just like, like I didn't even look at my phone. Usually I'd be looking at my phone because like I got shit going on. I was just for 2 hours, I was just like locked in, mesmerized. And I was like, wow, there's so much more to this world.

And they do something to different parts of you too, huh? Crazy. Yeah, crazy.

I was like, and I, you know, then I was on the phone with one of them, actually with both two of them. I was on the phone I just had to call him and I said, you know what, you were literally changing the definition of men for me because I didn't see that before. Like, it got to the point where I wouldn't even notice men who are under 6 feet. Like, T.I. passed by me, no clue that was T.I. Kevin Hart, I didn't even fucking notice. Like, that's how crazy it is. Like, men of that stature and status, I didn't even notice them. And now I'm like, I think this is like, God is like literally talking to me now to like redefine this whole idea about the height.

Shallow. It is shallow. And I tell people, I don't control, I don't, I guess, hold stuff against people that they had no control over. Right. Like if it was up to women, all y'all would have hair to y'all knees, fat ass, big titties. Like, you know what I'm saying? Full lips, like, you know, the perfect size petite waist. If it was up to every man, we'd be tall, muscular, dick swinging to the ground. Like, it's just the ground. Come on. Yeah, like, that's extreme. That's, that's what y'all describe that y'all be wanting. And that's the stuff we describe we want, you know.

And so it's just like, but I, I feel like now it's kind of because maybe I'm getting older and I, and I kind of said like, oh, I don't want to be in a relationship. But when you find somebody who's like you can connect with on a mental level, like on an emotional level, I think that like everything else just It don't fucking matter. Yeah, because like now you just—

you take the mind and the body will follow. Yeah, or the emotion. It's— I got a 3— it's 3 things: physical, emotional, and mental. You only need 2 to have the other one come over, right? Yeah, somebody has you emotionally and mentally, you don't care about the physical. If they have you physically and emotional, the mental starts shifting. They have you mentally and physically. Your feelings get involved, you get emotional. So it's like, if you get 2 out of those 3, you're good.

I feel like physical is the least one. It's not.

You don't think so? They're kind of interchangeable. Why?

Like, do you have to like find, I don't know. I feel like when I like somebody, like I find them attractive. Okay. Like it's, I don't know what it is.

You ever had a guy you didn't like, but he fucks you so good? That you become attracted.

Yeah, like that, that was a—

yeah, because that fucking is physical. Now I've become— whether it be emotional about how you're fucking me, or it's a mental thing where I feel like I gotta have this, or you're the only one who can give it to me— yeah, he pulled something else out of you.

Okay, physically you mean like it could be like physical in that sense, not just like a physical appearance? Yeah, nah, because appearance-wise I'd be like, man, you so fucking ugly, but fuck so good. And then that's—

and you're so nice. You're a nice guy. You're an ugly— you're a nice fucking ugly guy.

Oh, asshole. Like, asshole. But it's just, that was the only aspect of it that was like, okay. But then I had to cut it off because I was like, this shit is just toxic.

And it's like— yeah, I get that.

It's like not feeding the soul or spirit. Yeah. But you have— so basically you have a baby mama, right?

Or she— no, I'm talking shit. Yeah, she your baby mama. Yeah.

How does that make you feel? Do you have a baby mama, not a wife, or—

I don't feel about it. You don't feel about it? How did it happen? We was fucking.

Well, I get that, but like, was it a relationship or was it, uh, planned, not planned?

It wasn't planned. Okay. Yeah.

And you just went with it? Yeah. And then what happened after?

She the baby mama.

You never planned to like turn her into—

Yeah, I wanted to work towards that, but as you know, some things don't work out sometimes, and so that's okay. But the co-parenting works well with you? Yeah. Okay. Mhm.

I don't like this whole baby mama thing. I don't know why it bothers me.

I don't either. Are you a baby mama?

No, I don't have any kids. Why is it bothering you then? I don't know, it's just like, I feel like it's So I think this whole narrative of baby mama, I don't like it, because I feel like, why, why don't we call them mother of our children?

Like, that's a different word, you know, because baby mama is an abbreviation of mother of my children.

Yeah, but mother of my children is like respectful. Baby mama is like, yeah, I just, you know, it's like basically saying what I hear is, well, I had sex with her and then we just happened to have a kid.

No, that's kind of not how that happened, but Okay, baby mama has just taken on a negative connotation, but it's not, you know, I don't look at it like that. I think women find it more, um, you know, belittling, or, you know.

Yeah, that's what it is to me. I feel like it's like belittling.

Yeah, no, it's not that at all.

And I have a belief of like, I don't, I don't want to have children outside of marriage. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I want to be married first and then I want to have children. All right. Yeah. Something traditional about me. Okay. Why are you laughing like that?

Like what? You don't think it's gonna happen? Oh, I can't tell you what's gonna happen with you. You got control over that.

Exactly. I have my mind.

It's just that the world is all—

I don't care about the world. In my mind, that's what I've created for myself.

You know what? That's beautiful.

So I think that's what's gonna happen. And what—

why do you want to get married first?

I just feel like it's— but not— I don't want it for the ring or for the paperwork. I want a marriage. I mean, like, I want to be so in tune with my husband that it's a product of love. Like, I want to be— that's why, like, I want to have that connection.

You can't have that, no, without the ring and the paperwork though.

Well, that's like, to me, marriage, that's what— that's what I mean. Like, marriage is more of a union versus like the physical stuff. I don't even care about the wedding. I don't give a fuck about that. I don't need no ring now.

I truly don't. But you need a ring and paperwork to get married.

No, no, no, like marriage. Well, paperwork, yeah, I do need paperwork. Okay, yeah, because it's like, it's like, it's a commitment, you know. It's a commitment that you gotta, you know, you gotta make.

I don't know. And so you want him to be committed to you in that way? I want—

yeah, I want that to be. And I want to be committed to him too. I wanted to be like Like, I don't know why, just like, you know that, that emoji where like the people are hugging, like that blue one that, that has like two people hugging?

It's a bunch of emojis, but like basically—

oh, oh, okay, like the one that like, like that's how I see—

yeah, I know what you're talking about. No face like that. Yeah, but I wanted to be like on a soul level.

That's how deep I wanted. Like, I think that's why it's hard for me to be in relationships because Like, if I don't have it on that level, I don't even care for it.

Because if I have it, then it's like— so what about when you don't have it no more?

If you don't have it no more, you still have that feeling.

You connected with somebody on that level before, right? I don't think so. Similar.

I feel like it's something that— I feel like, like yourself, you know, I'm just getting to know myself now, so I can, I can, I can get to that level because I know how I am and who I am. Versus before I was just trying to be something that I'm not. And so I feel like now I can get to that level versus before it was not really possible because it was more of a following to what is taught to you or told to you or what you see, what sounds good. And now it's like a different level. So now it's like, okay, I feel like it's possible. Okay. What? You skeptical? You sound skeptical about—

Oh, no, no, no. I just got my thoughts about stuff.

But I want to hear your thoughts. This is why I have you on.

I don't know. I think this whole I want to be married before I have a baby thing is just like, I get it and I love that for women that they have standards and they set boundaries in certain places. Do you have sex right now? Maybe. Okay, so if you fucking, you don't want that at all. There's a chance that you could get pregnant. Now when you do get pregnant, You already know what's going on out here in the world. If he ain't told you that he didn't pop the weasel in you, you end up pregnant before you know that like, oh, this is what it is. You know what I'm saying? Sometimes he don't know or he thought he pulled out soon enough and then boom, 4 or 6 weeks later you're pregnant. In a lot of states it's too late to get rid of the baby, right? Condoms. Okay. I'm just saying it may be that guy that you having one of those connections with or something similar. Connections with, yeah. Yeah. And so then it's like, Boom. You know what I'm saying? Now you got a baby in you. Now you got a decision to make.

But it's a choice, right?

It is a choice.

And you got to be— that's why you have to, you know, I think I've done pretty well up until this point in my life not to have children, right? So I think it's a conscious decision that you're making that, like, is that what you want or not? And it's my conscious decision. I don't want to have a kid just to have a kid. I want to make sure that the kid that I have is going to have a father, a present and active father. That's like another thing, because like seeing how— I guess like it's a trauma of mine from my dad, because my dad is— yeah, he was a good father up until I was 7, but like he doesn't— he's there, but he's just not there. I want that for my children, you know? I want my children to be— so whether it's a union like on the paper or whatever the fuck connection, whatever, I want to know that even if shit goes south, that you're still going to be there. Like, we're still going to be this, like, people who are just understanding each other.

You can have the same thing without marriage.

You absolutely can. Yeah, I just—

there's another reason why I want to get married, but I'm not going to talk about it. If shit goes south with my baby mama, I'm always there. Even when it's not south, I'm there.

But you know that that's not many men who are going to be there, or women for that matter. You said what happened? There's not many men or women who are going to be there.

That speaks to who the person is before you, you know. Take those steps with them. I just feel like a baby is more of a commitment than a marriage. Absolutely.

A baby is way more—

I can get the fuck out of here if I don't feel like being married to you no more. No, I agree. I agree. If I'm half of a decent man, when I have a baby with you, that is what kind of keeps us here, keeps us understanding each other, evolving. And like, you know, I'm watching you change physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally. Um, you're watching me change. And a lot of people take for granted the fact that you're actually just watching Everybody grow up and mature right in front of you. Yeah, but if you're with a man every day, you don't see it the way that somebody from 10 years ago who did used to know them, man, you changed so much. 5 years ago, damn, man, you've matured. 3 years ago, you're a better person. You're just like, this asshole. If it weren't for this baby, I would leave.

But see, that's another thing that I question then. If you're willing to have a commitment of a child, why wouldn't you have a commitment of a marriage? Because if it's you know, if it's less of a commitment than a child, then why wouldn't you just do it? You know, I think it's an interconnected thing. Because you want the paperwork. Well, why wouldn't you want the paperwork? I mean, if you love me to that level that you're gonna— you're willing to give a child to me, you can give me the paperwork.

I love you enough to give you a child, but not the paperwork. But not everything else that I have. No, because y'all want— you want to give it prenup? Okay, good. Then if you see it that way, Cool.

Yeah, no, I think it's a very good conversation that you have to have because, you know, you don't want to get married so you can take— the marriage should never be with malicious intent, and I'm not that person because like I would never, you know, I think it's gotten to the point where I don't ask men for shit. I don't care. Your money is your money. It's not my money. I care about what I got going on and how much I got.

I think I want to sign a contract with my wife that says you won't get half of everything I own, but I will at least make sure that you're taken care Exactly.

I think it's important to do that.

I don't even, I don't think I would want to leave a woman like without. Yeah. Unless it was under the circumstances of like certain things, it was set parameters. I want to create my own shit. Like, I would give you X amount of dollars a month for housing allowance or like, you know. Yeah. But to take everything that I got, half of it and like you own. I don't think so. No, I'm like, you don't need a ridiculous amount of money or nothing like that. It's like $5,000 a month maybe or $3,000 a month, and it's like, get out and get a job.

No, I'm, I'm, I agree with you on that level. Like, I just think it's very important for women to also know that, like, you got to have your own shit. You got to know how to make money, because if, like, what if something happens to him?

You know, you got to preach that to a lot of women that I've talked to before, but people just, I don't know, that shit just kind of fly over people's heads. Well, I guess, and I want you to be okay with me and without me. Exactly.

Like, you got to be okay.

It's not just me get you over here, put you on a lifestyle that you you can't sustain if you were by yourself, right? No, put you over, get you over here, teach you how to get it, how to sustain. If something ever happens to me, I could die or something just unfortunate. It ain't got to be me leaving you, but it's like now you're here and you're just like, oh my God, what am I gonna do? Hey, yeah, you crying because you love me, but you're also crying because now you fucking broke. You don't know how to do nothing because you just set up and depending on me for the last 10 years.

So yeah, no, I— that's, that's another thing. Like, see, that's another thing that I see it. Like, if I'm with that person, shit, the least thing I can do is help him multiply his assets, you know? That's the least I can do. For sure, yeah. And I know that I'm very able to do so. So that's why to me it's like, I'm not worried and I'm not worried. Like, you know, I know where I'm going. I know what I'm going to have. And like, you're going to have the same right to my money as I have to yours, you know? Yeah. So it is what it is. But I think it's a different case with me because it's like, I'm so like, I know I'm going places.

I'm not even gonna like, you know, they may get you for alimony.

Shit, give me alimony if that's what it comes down to. That's what it comes down to, you know. Like, it is how much money you got.

Maybe, maybe me and you can have a discussion after this.

Yeah, which one? How much money do you need?

How much do I need? Yeah, we definitely gonna have a discussion. You're asking the right questions, you know.

Well, this is why I'm in this position. Yeah. What is it important for? What's like the threshold?

I like that you say height doesn't matter anymore, you know. What's the threshold?

Yeah, what's the threshold financially? What's the minimum woman gotta make for you to date her?

Oh, I'm not shallow like that. I actually don't care about how much money you make.

Well, but you know, if we're talking money, then like you don't want like somebody who makes $2,000 a month.

You want somebody who can help you. I don't care.

You don't care? So why do you want to have conversation about money?

I just want to have it with you. With me? Yeah.

What you gonna do with me?

What? Oh, there we go. Okay, pick up. We got him. Pick up the phone, brother. Man, you on speaker right now.

Okay, what's happening?

My girl Liz, man, she trying to get you on the show. I'm over here now. Uh, I don't know why Liz going through the shit she going through. I just told her I'm gonna do it. When I'mma do it. She want me to do it. You the fourth person that done said that, and I told her directly I'mma do the show. I live in Los Angeles.

What does she want me to do?

Pull up on her immediately. That's what she want.

I didn't ask. He— you decided to call him, not me. I did.

You said you trying to get Lou on the show. I'm throwing her under— I'm throwing her under the bus. Shit. I told her, I told her I'mma knock it out. I'm just you know, I'm West Coast, so when I come home, you know, I be chilling for real. So I'mma do it for sure. All right, we got—

you know, that's what I said, I know he's gonna do it.

Yeah, I'm, I'm just throwing under the bus. Knock that out for— all right, we ain't want shit. We just— that's a bad shit. I just woke back up. All right, brother, I get up with you.

I'm telling you, that was your chance.

You supposed to say, man, fuck all that, get—

no, I already said that before. This is why I'm like, I feel like I ain't know 4 people called him, or 3 people, 3 other people. It's craziest thing, I never asked nobody to call. Oh, that's why they're like, oh, I'm gonna tell him, I'm gonna tell him.

It takes that, it takes that though sometimes.

I know, because that's why he was like— I know he said he's gonna come on, but it's like, he was like, I'm not really good with Man, fuck, we're not gonna talk about Lou, but he just said I'm not good with responding, and I'm like, I got it, you know.

Oh yeah, he's— he ain't lying.

He's not like— you just never get anything out of him, so it's like, it is what it is. Yeah, he's gonna come on, I know that.

He gonna be here. If he said he gonna do it, he'll do it.

And then Spank is gonna come on too.

Oh, that'll be nice. Yeah, my dumbass was gonna say, who is Spank? I was thinking about somebody else, but I'm— who? Spank, you think— I don't know, I was thinking about like a bald-headed dude. Bald-headed dude? Yeah, but who's that? That's the thing, it don't even matter. I know Spank, I know who you talking about though.

I love bald-headed men. Bald-headed men with beards.

I actually ain't got no hair under here. Really? Yeah, all of this is gone.

You trying to take me out on a date? What is it? See, this is what Carlos said.

Is it working? Is it working?

What? What, the date? Yeah, where are you gonna take me? Where you want to go? No, you tell me where we're going.

Um, shit, I don't know. I have to look up some places. Let's see.

I'm not complicated, it's simple.

Shit, say less then. Waffle House, I'm about to go to death.

I just went to Waffle House for the first time. Let's go for the second. See, there you go. Listen, if it wasn't— so the day that I came back to go to that underground lounge, that was the first day I tried Waffle House in my life because I went to, uh, I drove from Miami. Yeah, because the whole thing with flights was all messed up. And, um, the— my friend who I drove with, he was like, let's stop by Waffle House. I was like, bro, I've never been there before. Great experience.

Was it? I feel like you got to be raised in the South to really appreciate Waffle House for what it is. I feel like you can try it and just be like, oh, okay, I've tried it. When you were raised in the South though, it's like a staple. Yeah, that shit is like a—

I don't know. What's your favorite food?

What do you like to eat? My favorite food is dressing. Dressing? Yeah.

Okay, but like, what does it go with?

You know, like other foods, like soul food. My favorite genre is soul food. Of course. Yeah, but like, dressing is just like my favorite food. It's just good.

Yeah, so like, what do you like? Like meat, seafood? I don't know, fried food? There's like a specific thing that you put a dressing on.

You know what dressing is?

I don't know, it's like a thing that you like, a sauce kind of thing.

Oh no, I'm like, what the fuck is the dressing? You know, y'all call it stuffing. Oh, stuffing. What the fuck? Yeah, stuffing is different from dressing though. Okay, what's the difference? Stuffing is made with like bread or bread crumbs.

Cause I thought you were talking about dressing like the sauce. I'm like, what the hell?

Dressing is made with cornbread.

Oh, okay, okay.

So you got cornbread dressing or you got like stuffing that's made from like croutons and bread and you put it in the turkey. Dressing is like made from cornbread.

So it's like some carbs that you like.

It's like, it's cornbread casserole. Okay. Basically.

I think I've tried that before.

Shit good. My dressing is— So you cook?

Yeah. Damn, do you clean? You pay bills? What else do you do?

Whatever you need.

Do you care if a woman cooks and cleans and all of that? Yeah. Like, to what capacity you want her to do it, or no?

I don't even think I require people to do certain stuff. I just love it or care if you do it. Like, if you clean, I'm like, oh, I appreciate that so much. You cooked? Oh, that's so nice. You decide to pay my car note for me this month? That is so sweet. But I'm not like, she gotta pay all my bills.

Throw it in there. The car note. You can pay like, you know, couple one-on-one. Has that ever happened before that a girl paid your car note?

I had one of my exes, she was like, she would do that type shit.

You should call her back. Too late. Too late?

What happened? Had a baby mama.

Oh, she like, she was like, I'm not fucking with it? That was last string. Really? Yeah. What did you do before that? That was the last strain, so there had to be more.

We separated. I think the final straw was me having a baby.

So how are you in relationships? Like, what do you do?

Do you— I'm just not figuring out. I'm a terrible fucking romantic partner.

Because you don't do romantic things, or just—

I do, but it's like, I think it's a mixture of me having like a certain way of doing things and people not knowing what they want and accepting certain things.

But that's not on you.

That's on them. Yeah, it's like me. It's partially me too. Like, I'm not going to take me out of the equation.

Like, well, it takes two to tango. But still, you know, if you're asking the questions, if you're trying to like understand somebody and if they're not giving it to you, that's not on you.

That's on them. Yeah, I think I'm just— I think I just don't choose the right people to Mm.

Oh, I had that problem too.

Yeah, I'm not choosing people who are, um, kind of like fit for me. I'm just choosing stuff that's fun at the moment. If it feels good right then, I'm just like, come on. And yeah, your thing. Then if it don't feel good, I'm just like, uh. But those are kind of like the things that I need, you know.

Do you get attached to people?

Who you think I'm at? Uh, you think I'm Velcro or something? I don't know, maybe.

Are you? No. Are you like very lovey, touchy-feely?

Yeah, if we in that space. But you know, I don't get too attached to people. I leave my feelings at the door. Damn. And it's like a, you know, I do love you, I do fuck with you, but I have to leave my feelings at the door because it can go from sugar to shit real fast. Then when it get bad, I ain't trying to be down bad.

I'm like, I don't even go to the— whenever it's like Whenever I get the feeling that something is off, if we don't fix that, then I'm out. I'm not even trying to take it to the stuff where it's going to be.

Sometimes it gets too deep though. It gets more complicated than that, especially with me. You ain't— you gonna want to leave, but you ain't gonna be able to. Why? Because you're gonna want to keep coming back.

Because why? Why do they come back? Because for what?

Because just be like, where you going and for what? Where you going? It's just, it's a suave affair you gotta have.

Is that why they come back? I feel like that's why a lot of men come back too, because I'm just like, right, just get the fuck out of my face. And I'm not, I'm not saying I do that sometimes.

I got this thing where I genuinely don't be giving a fuck. Yeah. And I won't be trying to be funny, but I think the more you don't give a fuck, the more females are attracted to it.

And men too. I think it's just a universal thing. The more you don't give a fuck, the more men want you. The more they're like, oh, I think she's just playing a game. Oh, now it's like a chase me game. Like, no bitch, I don't want you. Just leave me the fuck alone. I genuinely do not like you. Like, just leave me alone.

I ain't gonna say I don't like you, but I'd be like, if you wanna get the fuck on, you can get the fuck on.

I ain't tripping. I just don't pick up the phone. Like, I don't respond. I ain't trying to hang out.

But I'm also the type, I'm the type that's like, I still wanna make sure you're doing all right too. So I don't wanna be dealing with you, but I call and be like, what's up, you good? Be happy. I want you to be happy. And I think that's why they like, damn, he don't want me, but he still cares about me. Oh no, no, I'll always care for your well-being.

Please be happy, please be healthy. I don't care how bad we fell out. When it comes down to happiness and health, I want to make sure those people are like— if something happens, just in general, if something actually happens, like, I will be there. Because I don't, I don't think— that's just a human thing to do.

Yeah, but I don't fake the phone and be like, I don't want to fuck with you, going leave, beat it, boom, boom, boom, and never talk to you again. And then when something happen, I'm like, oh my God, we were so close at one point. No, it's like, if you say you love somebody, call and check on them, but I don't want to deal with you in that space.

Yeah, no, I don't want to deal with you in the romantic space, but like on a human level, we good.

Yeah, I still call and check on you. I fuck with you. I ain't gonna fuck without you.

Yeah, I don't know about calling and checking in, but still, I do that.

And people think that's weird, but if I say I love you, or if we was like so into each other at some point, then all of a sudden like I don't want to deal with you at all, I— that's Like, no, I'm gonna call and check in. Like, I'm not trying to fuck you, I just want to make sure you're doing all right. If not—

How many people did you tell that you love them?

I love everybody.

So like every girl you meet, you're like, I love you? No. So how many times have you said I love you and meant it? A lot.

Really? But for different reasons.

Like in a romantic space? A lot. A lot? Yeah.

So your body count must Hi, I'm just fucking with you.

I don't care for that.

You want to know? Yeah.

No, it don't matter. I would be surprised if you actually have a real number, if you like truly know your number. I do. You do? Yeah. Do you write it down? Yeah, for real.

I know the exact number. Why? Why do you need to know that? Because I need to know what's going on. And at any time, like, I need to remember, like, what are you remembering?

Do you give reviews like 5 stars, 4 stars, 3 stars?

No, I know like who is in what place as far as like it goes. Like, I know if I had my shit rock, like, I had my— when I had my world rock, like, I'd be knowing.

Like, it's up there, but is it like closer to 3?

It's up there. Okay, I don't, I don't care.

I truly But I do think a man needs to have kind of a higher body count just because you need to experience things.

I think women need to have like a solid body count. What's a solid body count? Um, like 50? Fuck no. Hell no. 50, you on up in there, baby. But if I get with you and you didn't have 50, like, you got to be the type where like I could take you away and don't nobody know we together type shit. Yeah. But if you come to me, you got 50, I know you know what you're doing. Exactly. I want a motherfucker who didn't only fuck one nigga or two niggas all their life. Like, I want you to have like, I think, 10, 15, maybe 20 solid. That mean you had that motherfucker touched in every spot. You ain't like shy, you ain't scared. Out of these 20 people, somebody didn't try this, somebody didn't try that. You already know what to expect when you get to me. Like, I ain't putting you on nothing new. I don't want you to come here and I gotta teach you how to do shit. Like, yeah, I think teaching somebody, it's like we can talk about it, but throwing that shit like a football, slang that pussy like a fishing rod, you hear me?

Have you ever wrote music about women? All the time. Really? Yeah. If you were to write about me, would you write— I never had nobody write nothing about me. This shit is fucked.

What would I write about you?

Yeah, cuz you can freestyle, right? A little bit. Yeah, come on, give me something.

Like, tall Frenchman vanilla. French vanilla? Yeah, French vanilla with the froth. Froth on top, the little foam. Keep going. Is it good? Yeah.

Give me like 4 lines. Huh. You can sing too, cuz I know you can sing.

I'm all right. I just be doing what I be doing.

Just do it. Come on. I literally never had no—

What do you want me to say about you? I don't care what you—

whatever comes to your mind, you You can say good things, bad things, whatever, whatever is thing that comes to your mind.

You just a tall glass of water. If we lay down in the bed together, we can have a tall-ass daughter or a tall-ass son. Is your booty long, or is it short, or is it big? Do you got tall-ass buns? Did you find none of them clothes, or is you catfishing? I really got hair under my cap. I was catfishing. I was lying, I'm not bald. But you are really tall. And I noticed you don't wear heels. Do you even know how that feels? Do you not wear 'em 'cause you're already tall? Mm-hmm. And you don't want the niggas who smaller than you to feel more small? Mm-mm. Okay. You don't wanna tower over nobody? Maybe. We should go get in the tub together. But you don't wanna shower over nobody? Why not? Huh? Why not? Okay. You do look like a good French vanilla drink though. You just like, you know how you drink and then the foam be stuck on the top of your lips?

Yeah, yeah, the one that you want to lick. Yeah, why everything is so sexual about me? Is that the energy I give, like sexual energy?

No, you just said you don't care what I say. Oh, okay. That's not— you're beautiful. I think you're really pretty. Thank you. It's fine.

And I do wear heels. Okay. It's just like, it just— I wear things that match my outfit. Okay. I don't care if it's like—

they don't got a heel and they got like a stump on it. They got like a—

yeah, like I just, I just like the, the narrow pointy look on those shoes. Got you. And people think like I got, uh, they think that my foot is so big.

I don't know what size you wear.

I'm size 11 women's. Oh, we wear the same size shoe.

Oh, what are you, 9.5 men's? Yeah, 9.5, 10. Look at us, we're just twins.

Maybe. But you don't like Leo women, so, you know.

No, you know, I'm growing up and I'm realizing some things, you know. Yeah, really?

Yeah. So it took you like an hour and a half to convince you?

I was already convinced. I meant my intentions.

Damn. Do you think everything happens for a reason? Yeah. What reason?

That's for you to figure out, depending on who you are. Like, it's catered specifically to every person differently.

Yeah, yeah. I think that there is a— everything that happens, happens for a reason, and there's either a lesson in it or— I mean, there has to be less than everything, every person. Yeah, good or bad. Mm-hmm. That's why I don't fight with people. Like, if I don't like it, I'm just like, "Ah, I don't like it." That's it.

Oh, I think only good things happen to me.

That's amazing. I mean, I hope they continue to happen to you. They will. Yeah. So tell us more about the music, and we're gonna wrap it up. What you got going on with the music? We know you're going on tour.

Yeah, I'm going on tour this fall, the Texture Tour. Click the link in my bio on all social media platforms to get the tickets to that. The Texture Tape 3 will be dropping soon. It'll probably be out by the time this air. Really?

Yeah, because you just dropped a song like April 1st, right?

Yeah, Velvet. Yeah, it's a good song. Have you heard it?

Yeah, I listened to it.

You like it? A couple times. How'd it make you feel? Um, it—

you know what, it's like, it has like its retro vibe to it. I don't know what it is. You're— all of your music has this retro vibe to it, so it's different. And I can listen to it, like, and listen to it for a long time. It makes me think. I like when things make me think. I'm a very intellectual person, so like, to me it's not like looks, they don't do shit to me. It's got to be like stimulate my mind.

I look like I can make you think though, huh?

Yeah, you do. Just even by the fact that you like get quiet, I'm like, what the fuck is he thinking?

I'm listening.

I know, but still, like when you're quiet, what are you thinking?

About what you're saying. I'm processing it. And then do you spit it out back, or— No, I listen and like keep it in. Like, oh, you keep it so you remember stuff like that for later.

And what do you do with that?

If I'm out one day and somebody be like, man, Liz is so, so nice, bro, I don't think she like me though because I'm short. I'm like, oh no, she don't care about that type of stuff. Okay. Yeah, you store it in a, in a bag. I'm like, how much money you make? You intellectual? You know how to talk on a deep level? She gonna fuck with you. Go talk to her, bro.

Yeah, but the dude for real, not because you want to talk to me, because that's who you are.

Who, him? Yeah, yeah, I would think so.

Yeah, because you know people are gonna do things that are gonna fit into what you want, but there's not actually who they are. Oh yeah, that's like the biggest issue.

How many short guys have you ever dated?

One, two, one. You got rocked. Did I get rocked? Maybe one time, yeah, by a short dude. Yeah, it just— it was like, it was a great time.

He turned you every way but loose, huh? He turned you every way but loose.

It was like, I don't know, it was just like, I think it was more of a mental connection. That's why I was so good. Oh yeah, it was very like— I ain't gonna lie, I was like, how the fuck is this gonna work? Like, when I, when I thought about, I was like, hold up, let me do them, the geometry of things. Like, how's this—

how short was he?

Well, my ex-husband is 5'8", so— okay, yeah. So like, it's just like, it's, it's just like, what?

But it worked out for you?

Uh, that particular relationship did not work out for me.

Y'all got married in any capacity?

We got divorced in like, should have been 2 weeks, but you know, we couldn't annul the marriage quick enough. It turns— he was in the Marine Corps. Oh. Needed like medication for his, uh, anger issues and everything. Like, just, it was so much that I had no idea about. Damn.

And then when it happened, all of a sudden in 2 weeks you're like— so he said I do, he was like, ah, basically that's what happened.

He put his hands on me, that's why. Damn. So like, it just had to.

I, I don't— you didn't fight back?

No, I would never fight back. For what? Because if you fight back, it's like you, you spark more of that negative energy, and it's like, but But people don't stop, especially people who have issues. Like, it's not— me fighting back is not going to stop him.

I ain't never seen a nigga whip a bullet. Really? No. Have you?

No. I just like, I don't know. I'm not a— I don't really— I love that for you though. You're a sweetheart. I'm a sweetheart, yeah, but I just, you know, I'm a sweetheart, but like, don't cross me. If you cross me, you got me fucked up. Like, don't do that.

Call the police.

I don't call the police.

What did you do when your husband— just, they just walked away.

That's a good thing to do. I packed all my shit and I, and I walked away and I said, this is it.

This is— I don't believe in hitting women or putting your hands on women. You better—

I don't, I don't believe in putting hands on anybody for that matter.

Just left and never came back? Was it like an ongoing thing or just—

no, it was just, it happened one time. I packed all my shit and I left. I stayed at my friend's house, at my friend's dad's house, because I, I had nowhere else to go. So I stayed at the, at the house for 3 weeks and then we got a different apartment and So like, and I had to deal with a lot of shit that came with it. So it wasn't just like, because you know that there's a lot of paperwork that goes in with all of the marriage stuff. And it was so much like, and it cost me a lot of money. It cost me a lot of money. So yeah, still, I still wouldn't mind to get married again.

To get some of that money back?

I mean, you know, money is energy. Money comes and goes. It is what it is. Fuck it. Like, it's just If that's what was meant to be, meant to happen in that particular time of my life, that's what happened. It's just like I let it all go. I, you know, and I don't, you know, it's just we just split up and that's it.

You looking for a husband here in Atlanta? Yeah.

I'm not looking for him. If he's gonna find me, he's gonna find me. If it happens, it happens.

You want him to be Black?

Only. I can't imagine. Your first husband was Black?

He was like El Salvadorian.

So he kind of looked Black but wasn't really Black. So he— no, he's not. He's like, yeah, well, he— his parents are from there and then he lived in the Bay.

Or he want a Black husband only.

I just— I think that's the, the energy that I can be around forever. Like, I don't see that a white man— I know I'm gonna cheat on him. Why? I'm not attracted to them. I'm gonna lose respect for him. It's just like, it's I don't know. It's— there's like, to me, it's like I feel nothing towards the white men. I have, if anything, especially in America, maybe it's the trauma because I've been in corporate for so long, you know, you deal with so many white men who are in their 40s, 50s, and that shit is like terrifying because the moment you say something smart they don't like, they see that you are a competition, they're gonna get rid of you. And so it's like, you don't want that.

The sellouts, like, all right. Have you seen all of the hood movies? I've seen a few. Like what?

I don't remember movies, so I've seen—

I've seen Friday. I've seen Friday. All three Fridays? Um, no, I've seen the first one.

Seen the one with, um, oh my God, what's his name? Not 50 Cent, the other guy who was in the movies. The Ice Cube? Yeah, he was in the movies. I used to study film when I was in college.

So you seen Friday? Yes. Yes. Okay. Have you seen New Jack City? Set It Off, Training Day. Training Day, yes. Okay. Fresh. Love Jones. Love Jones, yes. The Wood.

Okay, you can ask me anything about movies. I don't remember shit that happens in the movies. It's so bad. It's like a thing of— so I don't remember music lyrics where I don't tell you.

Let me tell you something. When you're dating a cultured Black man, 50% of that marriage is quoting movie and cartoon lines. Yeah.

Memes and shit like that. The moment he tells me that's my love language, that's when I'm gonna give him— I'mma write cards and I'm gonna memorize.

And when you can go to the family functions and quote some of that shit, like you just walk in a family function and be like, you have to flow with it. You just be like, my neck and my back. You be like, I want $150,000. And everybody in the house gonna know what you're talking about.

Yeah. That's when it comes down to that, that's what we're gonna do. And then I'm willing to learn, you know, I'm not saying I'm not willing to learn.

Where my mama stay, you know, where your mama stay, You know where that came from?

No, I will, I will find out.

Listen, but you got to know this stuff beforehand. It's not that he has to tell you. If you come to a man, a Black culture man, and you already know, he gonna be like, she just gets it, she's funny as fuck. I'm telling you, that's gonna be a ticket. Just knowing half of the things that we culturally grew up on, you got a ticket, you got a pass. It's a cheat code.

What about, uh, him knowing stuff about me or like my culture?

You pushing it, huh? You're pushing it.

How am I pushing it if we're gonna—

we're gonna make it together? It's not a grocery cart. It's not a— what the fuck? Why wouldn't it be? You push grocery carts, you don't push this. What the hell?

So it's a one-way street?

No, but you teach him or you tell him. Exactly. But the thing is, he don't speak Russian, so he can't You speak English, so it's easier for you, right?

But my family doesn't speak English, so like now, you know, I want my man to be a part of my family too. So like we got to learn some things that could be mutually beneficial.

So like, yeah, so when you don't know, you just kind of like— if you bring him around your family, it's kind of like how Dominican people do. They just kind of smile and say, yes, yeah. When they don't know English, they just, yeah, see, no. And so he— you bring him around your family, he just Yeah, that baby's gonna have it. And then you just be like, yes, yes, yes. And that's it.

Yeah, see, I'm excited to have a child with a Black man. I think it's going to be such a beautiful experience. Like, I'm excited for that child to have an experience of two different cultures in the world brought into one and have like experience to speak the two languages and like actually experience what I guess like I could experience.

Do. It's very cool. So you speak Russian fluently?

Yeah, was born and raised there. That's my first language. This is my second. I learned English when I was 14. The first sentence I spoke was— I was 14 years old. So this is not native to me. This is like my second language.

Oh, that's crazy, because y'all come over here and learn our language, but it'd be hard as fuck to learn like other languages. For me at least. I ain't gonna talk—

but you know English language though. You know it better than many people because you can speak it and you can rhyme it, and you can— you have vocabulary to, to, to use it properly. I like how you said it.

I have what? Shut the fuck up!

Don't do that to me. I hate, I hate my accent. I don't hate it.

I have what? Vocabulary. Don't try to say it.

Don't do that. You have vocabulary. You have the— you have, um, the words in your— in your, um, what the fuck is the— what is it? You have the words in your arsenal, and you can Pull them from there and then you can use them.

Yeah. When do you speak Russian or talk in your accent?

When I talk to my mom or my grandma or my brother or my stepdad.

Do they say that you're losing your accent? You sound American.

Yeah. Yeah. My grandpa does not like it. He's like, you just, you speak like you singing right now. I don't like this. He's not really into it. It's hard for me to write now because I don't write so much in Russian. When I try to text in Russian, I'm like, goddamn, thank God for autocorrection because I cannot even It's so— it's such a hard language to spell because like there's so many rules to exception— exception to the rule. So many rules to exception. There's a lot of exceptions to the rule. So you need to know. So sometimes when I watch some like kids' school stuff, I'm like, damn, I forgot about this. Like, there'll be like those videos where can you pass the first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade? And I'll be like, damn, I'm like stuck on the eighth grade right now because it's hard.

It's not easy. Yeah. Unless you grew up native to it.

Yeah, English is hard too, but we learned Russian until the, the last year of high school. So you have Russian as a subject from the first grade till the last year.

Same thing in English.

Yeah, but it's like English, you kind of, you do like essays and stuff, but like there we have the grammar. We learn the grammar until the very last year of high school. Yeah, so it's English too, but English doesn't have as many grammatical things as Russian. No, not nearly. English is very straightforward when it comes down to grammar and all those things, and American people don't even use it properly. Like, because it's fucked up. It's like, like you can't say 'is you,' you have to say 'are you.' That's a grammatically correct way to say it. I say 'is you.' Yeah, I know, because it's— right, 'ain't bad.' You can't say 'ain't,' it's 'aren't,' right? You can't say 'ain't.' No, I'm just saying grammatically correct ways of English, right?

You got like yin, hin, shin. What the fuck is that?

That's Chinese.

He ain't finna do shit. Oh, he ain't on shit, right? We ain't going over there.

That's, that's in American English.

Yeah, that's like how it should be.

If you learn some British English, the words that they're using, you'd be like, what does that mean?

I can't talk that proper like someone No, why not? I don't know. You don't like it? Because I was texting something the other day and I was like, y'all think I'm playing? And the correct way would have been to say, y'all think I'm playing, don't you? But I was like, y'all think I'm playing, don't it? Like, don't it? Oh, you know I'm playing. You think I'm playing, ain't it? You think I'm playing, don't it?

Yeah, I learned English.

Don't it sound better, huh? Yeah, don't it sound— you think I'm playing, don't it?

Ain't it something like that? You think I'm playing?

You think I'm playing, don't you? Or aren't you? Or do you?

But even corporate world, like, they, they shorten all the words. No words are the same, you know. It'd be like RN, like right now, or like EOD, end of the day.

Yeah, like a lot of acronyms.

It's a lot of acronyms.

Acri-dacri.

But if, if somebody DMs me or hits me with 'WYD' or 'WYA,' don't— or 'you up,' don't— I would never fucking respond to that. Why not? Say, 'You have enough mental capacity to write, what are you doing?

Where are you?' I don't even like motherfuckers to do that to me. Stop asking me what I'm doing. That's another thing. Or 'how am I,' 'how was your day.' I hate that.

I would say, 'How are you feeling?' That's the thing that I would say.

If I wasn't feeling good, you would know. That's what I tell people.

Well, shit, okay, mister. I would tell you we can't do nothing. That's a Leo thing. Like, you like— you have your ways and you like your own ways. I'm the same way. So like, I don't— especially when I just meet somebody. Like, there's some— somebody was trying to do some like business stuff and it'd be like, 'WYD?' I'm like, 'Bro, don't fucking WYD me. I don't know you like that.' You were trying to do business.

Damn, so what, I gotta know you to WYD? None of your fucking business what I'm doing.

Not you. The fuck?

I can tell you grew up around a bunch of Black folks. In California?

Yeah. What part? I was in the Bay Area.

The Bay? Oh yeah, you just— hell yeah.

Hell yeah, dude. Dude. That's hell of a whatever, because you know they say this is hella cool. Hella. Hella, everything is hella. I can't stand that. Or when they say San Fran, stop fucking saying San Fran. It's San Francisco or SF or the city. You don't call it San Fran. Why would you say SF? Because it's like San Francisco, so it's SF, so it's abbreviation to San Francisco. So we say SF, like, do you want to go to SF or do you want to go— well, we usually say like San Francisco.

No, not San Fran. That shit— to truly know what it means to be Black, it's just like a— it's a finesse or like a feeling. Yeah, it's like a suave affair. How do you say it? Suave affair. Is that French? I think so. It's like knowing what to do in any situation. It's like a finesse, or like having like this— you just gotta knowing. Do you have a dictionary? I got a dictionary app on my phone.

App? So you like look up words there?

The word of the day. Really?

So what's the word of the day?

Today's word of the day is right here: impetrate. And it means— oh, shit— impetrate means to obtain by pleading or begging. Begging. Okay. Bitch was all in my face, impetrating me about some dick that I was supposed to get her 2 weeks ago. She's in my face begging. That's how you write your song, huh? Yeah, so you hear me use that. Damn, so you do it every day? Insinuating. I got bad bitches infiltrating.

Yeah, it's as easy as that, huh?

Ain't no hoe intimidating. So I think about other words: insinuating, infiltrating, intimidating, uh, renegade, eliminating. It's just— and I think of every word that has that sound or those syllables, and I write all of them down, and I go and make the words into punchlines. And like, you know, damn, that's talent. Sometimes I do it like that, but that is talent.

That's very unique. Thanks, thanks, thanks. All right, well, okay, so you got the tour September, you got your music coming out.

Yes, the Texture Tape 3 is The best one out of all three to me.

You not doing no TV shows, none of that stuff?

Not yet. You going to? Not yet. I don't know. I'm thinking about starting my own show, but I don't know.

You should. I think it would be a great time. Yeah.

You going to come sit on the— I will come. What fragrance you got on today? I smelled it before, but I can't think of the name of it.

Um, I got the Diptyque Rose, the black rose. Diptyque? Diptyque, yeah. Okay. And then, um, I got the Ombre Nomade from Louis Vuitton.

Oh, okay. I didn't smell Ombre Nomade on That's, that's what people don't know. That motherfucker is truth. And it stinks at first when you spray it, but it settles.

But when it settles, it's like you just want to—

it's one of those scents that'll overpower anything anybody else got on.

Yeah. And you can— you always know that that's Louis Vuitton. Yeah. Yeah. Like, that's— Louis Vuitton is one of my favorite perfumes. So if anybody wants to give me a gift, please buy me Louis Vuitton perfume.

Thank you.

Any one of them. Uh, Symphony. I want Symphony. I haven't— um, I like the, the black, the black bottle of Rose. Ombre Nomade is a favorite one. Um, which other ones? The Matière Noire, that's, that's a good one too. Um, and just the regular Rose too. I like Rose. I don't know what it is with Rose, but Rose, like Louis Vuitton Rose, that's the one that I'm like going crazy for.

Have you tried, uh, any other Rose scents?

Yeah, um, Diptyque. That's why I went with Diptyque. Okay, so that's a good one. And then, um, Mason Courcauld-John, they have the E-Rose. That's a good one too.

Oh yeah. Mason Courcauld-John, the À la Rose.

Yeah, À la Rose. Yeah. I like, like, weird perfumes. I'm not really into—

You should try Atomic Rose by Initio.

Okay. Yeah. Oh, I like when people put me on perfumes. There's another one that Desert Falcon. Somebody just told me about that one. Desert Falcon or some shit. It's like, it's like this Arab perfume. Okay, so I'm gonna order that one. It smells crazy. Nice. Because it's like, it's not, it's not feminine. It's very like unique. And I like when it's, I like when it's like neutral, like both men and women can wear it.

Yeah, me too.

Yeah, there's, there's one that's by Killian when Killian was a thing. It's called Intoxicating. That shit was so good.

Killian is still a thing. Oh, really? Yeah.

That like that. What's the black, the black one?

What's the name? They got bottles now. They look like kind of like wine, uh, whiskey glasses. Oh yeah, yeah, those bottles, it's just like $300, $400.

Yeah, but there's like this one that's like something called Black something. That thing was so good. Oh my God, that perfume was just crazy. Like, to this day I still have a little bit left of it, and I'm like, I can't— I'm— go get some more. I will.

I like to like switch it up eventually. Yeah.

All right, well, we got a little gift for you. Thank you.

What, for me? Yay! Some cologne.

Yeah, we got a gift for you.

Thanks, let me see.

Everybody gets some something from, from us.

Talk less, do more. You know what, you're gonna wear it. Wear this. Yeah, what size is it? That's a medium. That's a medium. You said you're small. Yeah, I said I was a small. Yeah, you think I was lying to you?

I don't know, I just, I just—

you think I'm a medium because you're looking at me and you're gonna say, oh, he's a medium, I'll just get him a medium.

I just— yeah. Yeah, it's a little oversized. I can get you— if you want a small, I'll get you a small. I'll take both. Okay, I'll take— okay, I'll get you a small. And then you can tell me what color you want so I can make you— yeah. Oh shit, okay, whichever color you want, I'll give it to you. I like it here. All right, so tour September, what is it? When is it in Atlanta?

It's, um, the first show starts September 28th, 29th. And it goes into December 4th. Okay, so yeah, 40 cities. Click the link. Yeah, click it to get your tickets. I'll see y'all there. I'm going to be doing a lot of songs, um, a lot of fun engagement. It's going to be an experience. You got to come to the Atlanta show. I will definitely be at— you're going to love it. I'm telling you, you're going to fucking love it.

I go to, like, whenever people come on my show or I go on their show and they do something live, I always show up. I'm like one of those people, I always support with you.

It's gonna be an experience. I, I cannot wait.

I'm excited.

Yeah, I'm gonna bug the shit out you about it. What? I'm gonna bug the shit out you about it.

Oh no, I'll promote you too, like don't worry about it.

Listen, I still want you to buy a ticket too.

I will buy a ticket. Thank you. And me and my friend will buy a ticket. I'll buy 2 tickets.

I appreciate that. So I'll bring— people be funny about stuff like that. He gonna charge me for a ticket? I'm like, yeah. No, I always ask if you want me to buy. They like $25 though. I paid for tickets before.

I pay for the Hawks tickets all the time, so like why wouldn't I support somebody who's doing it on their own? Right, so no, I always ask.

I said, do you want to make like a thousand, um, what, like $10,000 from this video? Exactly. You can have that money.

I— if it does— if it doesn't do a million views, I know if it doesn't get sold out, I'll just buy out the whole thing.

If it hits like that amount, if it hits $10,000, you're gonna buy all the tickets. Oh no, if you hit a million views, you're gonna buy all the tickets. Yeah, shit, come on, we're gonna make it happen.

Yeah, if it hits a million views I'll buy all the tickets for one of the venues.

For one of the venues, we'll choose the smallest venue. Yeah. If you buy all the tickets for Atlanta, you're gonna come out and lose money.

Yeah, no, Atlanta is too much. Something that's smaller.

Yeah, something that's like within 300, 400 capacity. Yeah, we can do that. Okay, we can do that. We got you a deal, Bill. Damn, look at me, I'm Oprah.

Then you offer, you get this, you get that, and you get the whole thing.

Yeah, yeah.

If it hits a million views, I will do I like them pants too.

You styling. Thank you. It's a whole little suit.

I see you. Yeah, popping it. All right, well, thank you so much for coming on. This was a very unconventional conversation for my show.

Did you even ask the questions you wanted to ask? No, I just fucked them with—

who cares? I asked whatever I want.

At least ask one question and then we, we could be done.

Um, okay. Oh, has becoming successful made life clearer, clearer or more confusing? Clearer. Clearer.

Yeah, it's made it very much so clear. It's showing me what I need versus what I thought I wanted. My comfort space, helping me set boundaries, stick up for myself more, like talk sternly, be more assertive. Like follow my gut, trust myself. You know, it's just showing me a lot of shit, you know? 'Cause if you know, like people like us, we're kind of like, you know, people pleasers and we was just like, we wouldn't speak up sometimes. We wouldn't say stuff if we didn't like it 'cause we want everybody to be happy. Now I'd be like, nah, fuck that. Yeah, you gotta know how to say no. I'm busy. And even somebody hit me the other day and was like, hey, I need you on this song. I was like, I don't want to 'cause I'm just burnt out. Like I don't feel like it, bro. Like. Yeah.

I'm trying to do a live show. And then I started looking at the venues and it's just— there's one venue that offered me to do the show there. And I'm just like, I went there and I'm like, the energy is not right. I felt like it was not. I had to say no. I was like, you know what? It's not going to work. But like, and I know that this is going to be given to me. So it's an opportunity for me. Like, technically I should be saying, yeah, let's do it. But it just didn't feel right. So I was like, I'm sorry, it's going to be a no. And it's hard to say because it's something that you want so much, but you've got to say no. Sometimes.

It'd be like that.

And what part of success do people not talk about enough? Uh, the hard parts.

Being broke, not having money, being delusional, um, struggling, having to eat fucking cup noodles, not having the money to put gas in your car, driving a regular car and people think you're supposed to have a fucking Bugatti. Yeah, like You drive a G-Wagon?

No, I was told that before, that you are content creator, you should be driving G-Wagon. I was like, who the fuck is gonna pay for that?

I'm like, well, bitch, give me the— give me the G-Wagon money. Like, what the fuck? But yeah, you got to be a regular person for so long and have fame and not have the bank account to match the fame or the notoriety that you have. And people don't get that. And so a lot of people spend above their means, live above their means, and just like— I don't know, that's why I base a lot of my shit off being just like a cool, nice, genuine person. And I think people attach themselves to that part of me instead of like what I have or don't have. And so, yeah, but, but do you think fame is more important than money? Fuck no, no, no, no, no, no. And it does depend on your mission. Yeah, as well. Like, fame is like a power. So if you know how to use that fame for power, power is more important than money for sure. Yeah, if you got power and you can control people, that's a great fucking currency. But people who are famous sometimes don't know how to use it for that reason.

So what about if a big management team would come and approach you, would you say yes or no?

For what?

For like to be on the label, or, you know, just they, they see—

if they're not giving me nothing I can't do on my own, yeah, I don't want to. Like, I can do it, so I don't need you to do it. I gotta figure a lot of this shit out. When I needed help, I didn't have access to it. And that'd be the thing too, And that's what the reason why I agreed to just come on. Like, you know what I'm saying? Of course I'm gonna look down your page and see who's there. But even if you would've just asked and been like, hey, I would've been like, if I thought it was a nice platform, I'd be like, yeah, I'll come sit down and talk to you. 'Cause you be needing people so bad in these spaces when you can't get access to 'em. And then when you finally get the million views that we gonna get, people gonna be like, hey, let me get on. I wanna come talk to you. It's like, no, bitch. I said no. And when I needed you, I couldn't find you nowhere. Get your bitch ass on over there. Go on, stand over there. Use that as a, uh, clip. Yeah, use that as a, um, I clip.

I'll clip it. Yeah, yeah, because people do that. Like, I have now people are like, well, I want to come on, I want to do this. And I'm like, well, where were you when, you know? And I'm not saying like they're not celebrities or anything, they're just regular people who think that they're above the fucking, you know, means to an end. And now I'm like, well, it's going to cost you this much to Come on, 'cause like I ain't got time to, you know, just, 'cause like I have to run up my money to do the production, to do the editing, do everything. Like there's so much work that goes behind it.

So if it's not equally beneficial or lucrative, and that's why I was telling you, like even with this now, not that I'm, you don't get bent outta shape. Like I know that I'm being used and it's not a bad thing.

Yeah.

Like I'm not charging, you're not paying me, but you get the benefits from this and I don't want anything from it.

But that's a part of— I get to come to your show.

Yeah, that too. But that's a part of the game we play and you just have to do it from a genuine space and knowing that you're like helping somebody or helping propel something forward. And like you see that in people when you choose to do it in that way, it's like, oh, this is a dope platform. I would just want to help her. I don't want nothing. I'll show up on time and I'll, you know, do whatever, whatever. And it's just like, you can kind of see the work that people put in. And I don't know, it's like a knowing that you have to just kind of like want to do that. Yeah. So it's like, and I don't even have a problem with it. With it.

It's just like, I think that it's different because at the end of the day, I feel like my platform is— it's kind of like moving in one direction, but I also want people to see the real conversations that could be had. Yeah, because a lot of it is just like fun and jokes about black and white and like, do you date white women? And like, all of that irrelevant. At the end of the day, all that shit is relevant. We know that that's done for clips, you know. That's— that's because at the end of the day, you're gonna date and love whoever you want to love. Yeah, whatever I tell you, it don't matter. You're gonna do whatever the fuck you want to do. And so when they hear conversations like this, I think it's different, and I think it's important to add that into the whole, you know, like environment of Talk Less Show that we— I don't think we've had before.

So is that why you only want Black men? No, it's just— I'm— how much do you love Black men on a scale from 1 to 10?

10. But, but, but don't look like that. Um, I love Black men. I, I, I love Black men.

I appreciate— do I fit the mold of a Black man that's like—

you do. You very like— you were— I think you were the definition of the Black men that I I love and appreciate, because you have so much stuff.

You love and appreciate me?

Yeah, you have so much stuff to you. Not on that, like, you know, let me go for it.

No, no, no, you ain't got to specify none of that. Just do you love and appreciate me?

Yeah, because like, you can see the conversation we can have. Yeah. You little cussing over, huh? I'm picking up what you're putting down, baby. But I'm just saying that like, if it's very rare when you're gonna sit across from a man and have conversations like that, because a lot of times a man would be like, 'Fuck, are you talking about?' Or like, you know, it's very shallow. And so I feel like it always takes me back to my childhood, like where I could sit down with my family and talk about things like that. Yeah. So it's just like something that's so like sacred.

You ever talk to a Black man in Russian while y'all were having relations?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I don't know why it drives men crazy, like they love it.

Well, how do you say daddy in Russian?

Daddy, like papi, papi, papi, like papi. Yeah, like it's kind of like poppy in Spanish. So it's papi. I don't, I don't say those things. Like, it would just be the most random things. I don't know, men love when I talk.

That's why it's talk less. And what do you say? Like, you say random shit that they think you'd be saying something sexy. You'd be like, get the green beans out the oven, and they think you're saying like the most craziest shit, like, oh, it's so good.

You'd be like Whatever I can come up with, that's what I say. I don't say green beans out of the oven. I don't know, I don't disrespect them or anything. No, I just, I just say whatever they ask me to say.

I want you to say what you want to say, but I want it to be something good.

Yeah, I mean, obviously I'm gonna put my own spiel on it. It's gonna be the way that I want to say it, not like— okay, because at the end of the day, I'm—

have you ever said some funny shit that they didn't know you were saying and it was just like—

I wouldn't do it because then I, I would get like, I would start laughing and then like, you know, the whole So now you got me like, you know, I, I can't do that. Okay, everybody got to be in the same mode until it's done.

You ever had sex with like a big black guy? A, a big guy? Like, like fat one?

Yeah, not like fat.

Like, what's the definition of that? Like somebody who's fucking— like if you're talking to them in Russian and they didn't know it, you'd be like, your stomach is in the way and it's killing me, get your stomach off my back.

Oh my God, I definitely did not say— no, I, I can't fuck somebody with a big stomach.

I'll say, so you've been having sex with somebody and you talk to them Russian, be like, it is so little, I cannot feel anything. Like, I'm just— I'm fucking—

I don't think I can say that. Like, it's gonna be so— their ego is gonna be shattered.

They don't know because you're saying it in Russian.

But they know. I mean, you know, it's, it's— I think a man knows.

No, he don't know if you say it in a sexy voice. You know if your dick is small. No, say it in a sexy voice in Russian. That shit sound good, I ain't gonna lie. She just told me my dick was small.

But again, it depends how I say it, right?

Okay, say it like, say it like super sexy. Super sexy? Yeah. I just said it. Was it nice? One more time. How you say it? What does uchi bear mean? You have— oh, so you want to do the uchi bear with me?

Why nobody wants to flirt with me?

Did I do it right?

Very, very good. The last part. Yeah. Why nobody wants to marry me? Everybody wants to flirt with me and fuck me. What is it? You want all three? Yeah. Okay, come on, we get married.

You want an Uchi Bear? Let's end it at this. Okay, so she say Uchi Bear money, just get up and leave the fucking room, man.

I'm very blessed I don't have to come across that. That's good. Yeah, very— I'm very blessed. I don't know God is looking after me that I don't have to come across that shit. One time I've seen it and then it was enough for me.

Seen what? Oh, a piska, a sanchicha, like a little like pickle thing, you know, like the little small pickle.

Gosh, it was so crazy. It's like it was full grown.

Yeah, like how do you do that?

I've seen it one time in my life.

Damn, how do you do it? I don't fucking know. I don't know. You start speaking a different language. That's what drives men crazy.

All you need to do is speak a different language.

That's it. Yeah, I think it's one of it. Somebody hitting it good, like, somebody you can't even— almost can't even say nothing bad. Imagine if he hitting that shit like right. No, I'm talking about you going crazy. You wouldn't be in there like, I can't say shit.

Like, nothing is going to come out of my mouth.

I'm not in the space of talking.

That's the time when I'm quiet. Yeah. Oh, quiet, like to an extent. But yeah, that's the time when I have nothing in my head. Like, I don't want anything in my head.

Damn, that girl that said you should be driving a G-Wagon, did she suck dick? No, it was a man.

It was not a— oh, why? Because I don't think every girl sucks dick like that. No, we was talking about earlier, like, that dick sucking has to be so fucking phenomenal for you to drive a G-Wagon. Out of it.

You should think that about— like, as a woman, you should think that about yourself.

Damn. Well, whenever you see me with the G-Wagon, you would know what type of time I'm on.

Yeah.

Okay, I'mma post it on my story, be like, you know what I drive now? G-Wagon. Yeah.

Oh, we got a neck. Need to drink a glass of peanut butter.

All right, well, thank you for coming on. We've been here for hours now, so that's okay. I love that. This is great. Thanks. All right, you guys, so we hope that this is going to hit a million views.

We're not hoping.

We know, we know it's gonna hit. We just promote it.

Yeah, we just promote, promote on— you're gonna hit a million on YouTube? Yeah. Okay.

Yeah, promote on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, everywhere. Yeah. Okay, we're gonna do that. And then, um, I need you to comment, like, share, subscribe, and tell us how much you love Akim Ali, because I don't think he knows is enough. Yeah, and you better go and buy the tickets to his live show in every city if you can.

If you want to travel, you know, don't worry, because once this hit a million, she gonna buy all the tickets for the whole tour. It's gonna hit 10 million, then you gotta—

oh yeah, if it's 10 million, shit, don't worry about it, I'll buy it for the next 2 years. Anyways, well, thank you for watching, and, um, we'll see you in the next one. Bye! Talk less, do more. There you go.