Street Promotions | Wendy Day Interviews Kingpin

Hi guys, Wendy Day here. I finally have a person that I've been talking about for months that I've wanted to interview. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Kingpin, and he's amazing. I've known him forever. Okay, maybe not forever. And Kingpin, maybe you can speak to that, like how we met, because it's really a funny story.

It is.

In fact, let me just do that. Let me just let you take it away, um, and you can talk about how we met and how you got started in the music industry.

Well, one of the— the way that I met Wendy was I attended my first event in the music industry, which was the Southern Entertainment Awards. And I've always been of the model that in order— you'll never— if you hang around a barbershop long enough, you're going to get a haircut. So if you want to get in the music industry, you have to go to where music industry people congregate, right? You have to go and network and do those things. So That was always something that I had in my mind from the very beginning. So me and a couple artists that I was working with out of Tampa, Florida, we got all of our pennies together and got us a vendor table because I was green to the industry. I thought you had to have a vendor table to be able to promote music and all this stuff. And, um, I met some amazing people at that conference. Uh, one of those people was Pimp Fresh. I met the Hip Hop Friends. And then during one of the panels This lady walks in and she's got this hoodie on and she's got these jogging pants on and she walks through the door and she's screaming and yelling and cussing at the top of her lungs. And from that moment on, I knew that I had to make friends with that woman because that's an alpha woman. So my first experience with Wendy was her walking into a conference and screaming from the back all the way up to the front. Chuck T was on there. He was making a whole scene. It was an amazing first experience into the industry. So my first experience with Wendy Day was in Tunica, Mississippi.

Yes.

At some random conference doing some random networking, if you will.

Exactly. Exactly. Wow. Amazing. How long ago was that?

2003, 2004. The second or the third SEA Award. It's been a while. A long time.

Yeah. The early 2000s. And you've built an amazing career. Amazing.

Well, you know, I give thanks to that because of the people that I've been blessed to be surrounded with, you know, again, networking with you, knowing, meeting you, networking with you, networking with Tony Neal, networking with Bigger Rankin, networking with Casper, networking with Vertikal, aka DJ Big Daddy, like all these guys, they play an important role in hip-hop as far as servicing music and things of that nature. So when I, when they brought me under the wing, it kind of gave me, a certain amount of access that I wouldn't have had to the music industry had it not been for them. So yes, I put a lot of hard work in. Yes, I've done a lot to get myself to where I am. Um, but I'm also of the mindset that had I not been surrounded by the pillars of hip-hop, if you will, I wouldn't be able to call myself the Rap Juggernaut.

Right. That's awesome. Um, so what is it that you do exactly?

Um, mainly the— my main, main focus is, uh, now it's shifted to DJ liaison and marketing and promotions, which is always going to be my strong suit. So I take records from independent artists, I service them on different platforms, whether they're record pools, whether they're websites, blog sites, and we help artists establish their infrastructure, and then we put together marketing plans to help them service their singles, their videos, mixtapes, EPs. And then, you know, ultimately finish off with market visits, which is one of the things that we've been blessed with. I've been on the road for 10 years of the 10 years that I've known you, it seems like.

It's so important.

Going into those markets is paramount because out of sight, out of mind, you know, and it just gives me a leg up because I'm able to hear what's popular in certain markets. I'm able to see different genres of music unfold and develop. The whole Zedeko movement in Texas is insane.

Yes.

So, you know, I've been able, I've been able to really experience and taste different genres of music and different artists and different experiences traveling the country. So a little bit of this, a little bit of that, anything for a check, right?

I think, I think building a fan base is so key. And I think that you're one of the only people out here, other than myself, that believes in the value of promo tour. And for us, it's not just going through a market once, it's really honing in on that market and building a presence in that marketplace, you know?

Yes, ma'am. Well, you know, one of the things I tell artists is it's okay to release a record, but release a record, put it on the platforms, and then once the DJs start chiming in, because they're going to chime in.

Yes, they will.

Once the DJs chime in, you segregate the ones that are giving you positive support, and that's where you focus. Right. Me and DJ Wynn were having a conversation today that, um, it's not my job to support your dream until it becomes a career. It's not my job to drop you off at the park, pick you up from practice, get you the physical, the cleats. You can't walk on the field with shoulder pads and say, I want to play the game, put me in, coach. You're missing a helmet, you're missing the jersey, you're missing thigh pads, you're missing everything. You just can't get into it. And market visits, they not only give you the game plan but they give you those key team members that are so important for you to be able to build at the next level. Because once you do get a hit record, the ones that you built with in those markets are going to be the ones that are going to hit the gas on it. And if they hit the gas on it and you have a fan base in those markets, it translates into success.

Beautiful, beautiful. So how does someone market and promote their music? Let's say that they have good music, they've tested it with the DJs, they found their circle of DJs that are supporting them, then what do they do?

Well, there are so many different places to start at. One of the things that you're going to have to figure out once you got a single that's working for you, or that's getting buzz, or that's getting traction, is trying to figure out how to take it to the next level. And one of the things that I picked up from you and from the Chuck T's and a lot of the guys at the early conferences was go that 1 to 2 hour window in all surrounding parts of your market. And that's important because in 2017, if your record isn't shazaming locally, then nobody is going to offer you distribution. Nobody is going to give you the money that you're trying to get in the music business to get to continue to make music. So that means that you're gonna have to now focus on building your fan base locally, getting the record supported locally by your DJs and tastemakers, and then letting technology combine with all of those to put you in a better position, or to give you leverage, if you will, when it comes to working a record. So you got a hot song, the DJs are supporting you, what's the first thing that you do? Is you're gonna have to figure out what market you're gonna wanna go into and start touching the people. Because on the side of the music business that I'm on, I take artists and we help them implement infrastructure, we give them the different outlets for them to be able to promote and market their music. And then we help them amass a marketing plan or an action plan, if you will, so that we can execute that and then give ourselves small checklists down the line. We want to go into these markets and do meet and greets. Why? This is a market where I'm getting support in. So I guess you have a hot record and you have the support of the DJs. The next thing you do is plan. It's sit down, it's open up a couple web browsers, pull up Google, pull up your calendar, and then start filling, start filling in the blanks. One of the things that I tell a lot of my clients and that I've even gotten a lot of the people that I work with, Bigger and DJ Wynn, even to really buy into is scheduling. As hip-hop artists, we have to be mindful of when we release music. So we know Saturday and Sundays nobody's working because they're all doing their music stuff. So that means Monday is gonna be dedicated to recapping the weekend. So as independent artists, we only have Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We have a 3-day work week out of 7 possible days. To where we can release content digitally, and then have that merge, right, the DJ support come the weekend. So 18 months ago, or a year, 2 years, 3 years ago, it took you 18 months to drop a record in Atlanta, and have DJ Charisma, hypothetically speaking, in Los Angeles support the record. Now, if you have the right resources and contacts, that can happen in a matter of hours, you could drop a record on the East Coast, and it can be getting support on the West Coast.

Right, right.

So planning, planning, planning, planning.

I love that. Um, if— well, let me ask you this. If you only have a small budget, like say $10 grand, but you have great music, what should you do?

$10 grand is not a small budget. $10 grand is a huge budget. A small budget is $50, and you can even make waves with 50 bucks if you know what you're doing. I mean, you know, uh, uh, I Am The Connect is one of the most amazing people that I work with because he's able to take a lot of the efforts that we put on as far as distributing our product, and he merges it with the search engine optimization and a lot of the different things that he's doing that really are, are the most important steps to not only releasing your content but being able to track your content once it's released, seeing what websites it goes on, using those keywords for traction or whatever. So one of the things that I'm gonna do, I got a $10,000 budget. I'm definitely gonna allocate some resources for search engine optimization because I need online to kill. Um, I'm gonna invest some money in Facebook ads, in Twitter ads, and Instagram ads based off of zip codes for markets where I'm getting support. And I'm gonna elaborate on that a little bit. Say I have a DJ that's a resident DJ at Club Mansion in Atlanta. He DJs there 3 days out the week. I'm gonna get the address to the mansion and I'm gonna buy Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter ads for within 20 miles of that club because the people that go to that club live around that club.

Right.

And we want to make sure that the digital— they see the Facebook ads, they see the Instagram ads, they see the Snapchat filters, and then when they go to their favorite websites to consume music or consume urban content, whether it's Hot New Hip Hop, Hip Hop Early, WorldStar, TrillHD, all of those guys, to have a presence on those websites is paramount as well, because at the end of the day, what we want to do is we want to make the customers and the fans exactly that. We don't want to make them employees. We don't want them to have to work for our support. We want them to be able to find it easily.

Absolutely. And I think that the truth is they won't work for— to support you when they don't know who you are. You've got to make it easy for them. You've got to reach them on the platform where they are and in real life.

Yep. Amen. That's— I mean, I get $10 grand, I'm spending, I'm spending $8 of it on marketing, and then I'm taking $2 grand. I'm gonna get me a rental car for the month, it's gonna run me about $450, $460, get you a little Prius, something that's easy on gas that you can load your bag in, your laptop, your phone, your phone charger, because you don't need a camera anymore. If you have a Canon or a Nikon, cool. But if not, you got you an iPhone, these things, they have apps that record 4K. They have so many different outlets that you could use now to really be a one-man band. So I'm putting $7,000 to $8,000 in more— in advertisement and marketing. And then I'm taking $2,000 to $3,000 and I'm hitting the road and I'm gonna go see 5 DJs that have given me feedback on my record. And that's where I'm planning the seed. $10,000 goes to that, planning the seed.

Beautiful, beautiful. Okay, so if, if somebody has an unlimited budget, what should they do?

That word unlimited is, is crazy because I, I've seen labels— hip-hop is the only genre of music that uses artists to brand the label. And I say that to say, uh, Bad Boy and things of that nature, they use Biggie to brand the label. They use Snoop to brand Death Row. They use, you know, so forth and so on. Um, so if you have an unlimited budget, um, I'm definitely going to allocate resources again to marketing, uh, advertisements, um, quality videos. I mean, you really don't need a full-fledged, a Juicy style video with the cigarette boat and the helicopter and all that shit. I think T-Wayne The first, Let Me Hop Off the Porch Kid, he had his video was filmed on a roof behind a building next to a dumpster and on a wall with a creek and the video got like 50 million views or something. So that's a testament to say, if the music, if the song is hot, people are going to seek it out. If it's a hot visual, people are going to seek the song out. So I believe that for independent artists, the eye sells more than the ear ever can. Because we have to rely on packaging, we have to rely on over-the-top promo, we have to rely on different marketing schemes to be able to arise or spark the entrance of the consumer. That's— they're cattle. The consumer's gonna— they're gonna go wherever you take them. And that's why websites like WorldStar are so powerful, because I think the average time that a person may spend on a website is like, what, 25 or 30 seconds? WorldStar gives you 50 different variations of whether it's videos, news, fights, music video, throwback, flashbacks, whatever it is, they're gonna find a way to keep you engaged. And I think as independent artists, we don't do that enough. So if I have an unlimited budget, aside from hiring Wendy Day, hiring Kingpin, hiring I Am The Connect, putting DJ Wynn's ass on the road, getting a mixtape from Bigga, aside from the usuals, um, I'm definitely gonna say investing in my infrastructure. I'm going to California, I'm going to Facebook, I'm going to Pandora, I'm going to Spotify. I'm trying to allocate some money for the proper release of my records so that I can get distribution à la Empire or CD Baby or DistroKid or whoever it is, so that once I release my music, I'm able to adhere and stick to my timetable. Because timetable is the most important thing for independent artists because you have more time than you do money. So that said, if we allocate our time accordingly, it'll translate to money for us. We just have to be able to avoid some of the pitfalls. And I mean, I've seen labels, like I said, squander up to $1 million in clubs, 4 and 5 nights a week, and VIPing and 20-bottling, and it's never— it hasn't translated to success.

Ever.

No shot at Floyd Mayweather, but he's one of the richest athletes, one of the most recognizable figures in the world. And we were pushing a record for one of his artists for like 6 weeks before we realized it wasn't even encoded. For sound detection. And I got the song on Mix Show, we're getting all types of support on it, but there's no way for me to continue to justify it because now it's just a blank space on the board, you know what I mean? And when you have PDs and music directors and people that are using the content that you play to push advertisements so the station can generate revenue, it's hard to explain to them like, oh, well, we're gonna get this together, man, this little 4-minute window of air. Never happened. You know, that's how a lot of these artists, they lose as soon as they get that support. They'll get Holiday to throw the record on the radio, but the record isn't ready for radio, right? So Holiday's got to go back where this PD comes in and says, hey man, I noticed at 8 o'clock on prime time we had a 3-minute blank window where no music played according to this report. Is that right? And, and that's where the snowball effect comes in. So when people say, oh, it's about the politics, I think it's more about common sense.

I agree.

Common sense is the greatest superpower because sense isn't that common.

Right. I think it's also about relationships, you know, and, and, um, can you speak to that? Like, how important are relationships in the music business?

Well, I joke around all the time. I say, I say, um, Chill found me, Bigger cosigned me, and Tony Neal snatched me up and put me in the music business, right? So I say that to say this: You're going to have to invest money in this business. You're going to have to invest in yourself, whether it's building your brand, whether it's establishing your brand, whether it's building a buzz, whether it's recording, mixing, mastering, whatever. Relationships determine how much you pay. Relationships determine how fast you're gonna get the results that you seek. Relationships in this business are not king, they are the kingdom. Because without relationships, I can't call Wendy Day when I need to, I can't call Blogzilla, I can't call Brittany Lewis, I can't call any of these people if I don't have an intimate relationship with them. I can't call them and ask them anything related to music. And that puts me at a far greater advantage than anybody else does because I've been able to build the relationships with these people. You know, I would go to conferences and wouldn't have passes, but I'd get there with 6-man street team and we'd volunteer to set everything up and tear everything down to make sure that we can get in the music conference. You know, I finessed my way into the Diamond Awards 3 years straight before Bigger even noticed that I was doing it. I would wait for him to come, fire my camera, and walk with his ass right on through the red carpet, right through the front door. Wouldn't nobody say nothing to me because I had the light on Bigger Rankin. As soon as I got inside, I went and did my thing. So there's always— there's more than one way to skin a cat, but relationships, in one word, paramount. Paramount.

Wonderful. And how does someone hire you or someone like you? To work with them? What should they look for in a you?

Um, transparency. Um, somebody that has a consistent track record of being— um, it's the right word I'm trying to find here. You got to be able to see this person's track record. You have to be able to check on it. You have to be able it's, it's social media world. So you could only tell me so much what you're doing before you have to show me.

Exactly.

And I think that's one of the things that, that we've established with the Promo Vatican, which is a Team Bigger ranking company, which is a company that is branched off from all the other companies that we've had. We just wanted to make the Promo Vatican kind of like the promoter's union, if you will. We wanted the best of the best to be members of the Promo Vatican. We started with DJs and it's helped us excel.

Okay.

You know, we're bringing in the DJ Aces and the Teflons and the Cubes and the DJ Wins and the DJ Mooks and all these guys. Those guys being a part of the Promo Vatican is important because I've taken some of the most prominent DJ figures in the South and in the country in some respects and have added them to an allegiance of marketing and promoting professionals to help these artists get to the next level. So if somebody's looking for a kingpin to hire on the team, I'm gonna look for their work ethic. You know, I need to, I need to be able to not only pull up their information online and find them, their social profiles and see what it is that they're doing. But I need to be able to engage with my peers and ask them, hey, have you heard of these people? Have you not heard of these people? Because word of mouth is always going to be the best promo. Um, and I thank you because I've had a ton of people in the last couple weeks like, man, we heard about Wendy talking about you on her show, man, we just need to come network with you. I'm one of the most humble people in the world. Um, I'm very open. I had the same—

I'm sorry, you're very accessible.

Yes, ma'am.

Like, they can reach out to you and have a conversation.

Yes, ma'am. Um, and that's rare, you know. Any, any of the contact, um, any of the social media, um, outlets, they all have my contact information. My phone number's been the same, my email address is the same. You know, the only thing that I ask is if you're submitting me music that you follow the protocol. I post the protocol once a week. Send the song in 320 kbps, clean, dirty, cover, contact info. And I'm gonna say this. The reason I asked for all of that is because a hit record doesn't come from an artist. A hit record comes from another DJ. So when we've taken artists, just like we got back in town from New Orleans, we get in town, we turn on V103. 2 of the records in the top 88 are records that we've serviced. So that means that we're on to something. That means that we have an ear that the DJs are picking up. They're opening these emails, they're listening to it, and they agree that we're able to give these guys some hit records. And then when you have, you know, champions under your belt, you know, the Troubles, the Dolphs, the Luchis, the Kool Americas, when you've done everything you can to help these guys get to that next level, it kind of helps solidifies you when these guys go out of their way and co-sign you and say, hey, these are the guys that are responsible for some of the noise that we've been making.

Right.

And I'll say this, the greatest motivation that I ever had in this business was after I had met you, I had befriended a person named Pimp Fresh. And he wanted me, we formed a business alliance, if you will, and he wanted me to interview someone and that someone was you. And doing research and you sleeping in the car and walking away from the corporate world and working for your favorite rapper for free, like everything that your story was and embodied is what I tried to implement in what I have going on.

Right.

I'm an ask, so I get that from Tony Neal. I'm a realist, I get that from Bigger Rankin. Um, but I'm also a forward thinker, and I thank you for that because you gave me enough tools and enough information and enough literature, if you will, so that I can make my own way in this music industry. And people that were here before I've come in have fallen off to the wayside. People that came in the game with me have fallen off to the wayside. I don't, I don't, and nothing against anybody that does this, but I don't Uber, I don't Lyft, I don't finesse, I don't swipe credit cards, I don't write bad checks. I do music. This is what I do for a living. Every day I'm able to take care of my 3 children, my wife, my team, and, you know, our clients. And it's just an amazing thing. And I thank you for that because without you, without the Generals and without the people really giving me the platform and the access, I wouldn't be who I am today. So I'm very appreciative of everyone that I have around me because the bigger you guys get, the bigger my DJs get, the bigger I am, right? And, and that's going to translate into revenue for everybody— for my artists, my DJs, and ultimately myself.

Absolutely. Thank you. That's a, that's a huge compliment. You know, I, I—

you're amazing. You're amazing. You're an amazing person. This right here, what you're doing, and the book, everything— you're amazing.

Thank you. You know, I, I, I salute you because because so many people have come into the music industry and haven't really worked. Worked, you know, they come into the music industry thinking that it's easy and they can just kind of coast and hang around with famous people. And that was never you. Every time I saw you, you were working. Even if we were having a conversation, like we'd be standing outside of a club and we're talking about like life, you know, how are your kids You're asking me how Tony is. You're handing out flyers to people walking by, and that work ethic is irreplaceable. It's, it's something that's in you. You can't teach someone that, you know, and I salute you for the amount of work that you've put in. Like, you've grown exponentially, and you are absolutely one of my favorite people in the music industry, and you're great at what you do. And how amazing is that?

Thank you, thank you. I was— my mother taught me before she passed away, no deposit, no return. So if you don't put it— if you don't put your all into it, you're not gonna get anything out of it. And, you know, like this past weekend, we went to New Orleans for a client, and just with all of our collective efforts, I think we distributed 5,000 CDs, took over 1,800 pictures, had like 3.7 million views on our Snapchat filters. You know, we really went out there and kicked ass, and not only because we did the work, but We were the only ones doing it.

Seriously?

The only ones.

At All-Star, you were the only ones really out there?

The only ones. There wasn't another. The only other label that had any type of promo or anything up was Floyd Weatherly, The Money Team. They had a couple billboards and a couple white and black posters in front of their hotel. But as far as having a physical presence, the NBA and the chief of police of New Orleans walked up on us on Bourbon Street and told us to shut up shop and get the fuck on out of Dodge because we were just causing too much commotion. We had beautiful— we had big-ass 4-foot mixtape covers, picket signs. We had the whole team out there, hand-to-hand, video, pictures. It was an amazing experience. The artists got to see something that they would have never experienced had they not been there themselves, right? And that's us building at a grassroots level. It's, it's, uh, I think me and DJ Wynn mentioned it today, it's score the winning touchdown, make me a fan, you know, get an interception when we're down by 5 and run that bitch back for a touchdown and over, like, do that for me. Then I will support you to the end. So I think that legwork is what people like yourself, people like DJ Tone, people like DJ Mark B, people like DJ Nasty or DJ Meat, all of these guys, they want to see that work put in before they start putting any work in. And they have a right to feel that way because DJs and industry professionals get shitted on and lied to from the very first time they meet an artist. 'til after the artist gets a Grammy. They pull their pants down and they give you their ass to kiss every step of the way.

It's true.

So when you guys are like, you know what, I don't believe the hype, show me first and then I'll let you know how I feel about it. I think that's the way this business should be run because it's the only business in the world where you can tell a motherfucker what it is that you have going on and not have to show them. And if you could tell them good enough, they'll believe you, right? The problem is there's a lot of snakes and, and, and, and just shysters in the business, but You know, that's with every field, whether it's medical or whatever. There's always going to be somebody that's going to try to exploit the system for what it is. I got an email the other day, somebody was selling title, you know, streams. Like, come on, bro, what, what's the point?

What the fuck?

Yeah, what is the point? You're gonna pay more than you'll ever get back on. If they catch you, you're gonna get blocked. Like, what's the point, man? You're lying to yourself. If you feel comfortable lying to yourself, then by all means, bro, just buy views and fans across the board and tell— you know, you do it as a hobby, you're really not serious about this because If you're, if you're buying, if you're buying support, it's like paying for an interview, you know. That's biased. It's not journalism if I have to pay for you to expose me. That's not— that's propaganda. That's not— that's not— that's not buzz. That's not demand.

I agree. And if you have to pay for that interview, then that blog is already looked at like it's some bullshit because they've interviewed great artists, they've interviewed bullshit artists, so they've already, they've already framed their existence. And why would you want to be interviewed by somebody that's looked at with an eyebrow up, you know?

You know, because most of these guys, they just wanted— they want to buck the struggle.

I wish there was a way to do that, you know. I, I'd like to think that you and I are very intelligent people, and if there was a way to get over we would have figured it out by now. So I'm guessing that there's not a way to get over, and it's just easier to do the work.

It's so much easier to do the work. It's so much more rewarding long term.

I agree.

So rewarding long term.

I don't know about you, but I don't have shit else to do, so I might as well do the work.

Yeah, this is— I mean, this is— as I said, you know, every day music, this is like— this is— I love this. It's giving me all this gray hair. It's You know, I'll be 40 this year. You know, I'm bald, I'm going bald. I wake up and I have to limp. I gotta walk for like 10 minutes before my body gets all situated.

Same here.

But I will outwork your best worker twice on Sunday, any given day of the week. I will outwork your entire team. I will outwork everybody you have because that's my mentality. Because my goal when I came into the music business was I wanna be the prescription. I wanna be prescribed. I want my service to be prescribed. You want success? Let me give you the prescription. You have to go see Kingpin. You have to go see the Vatican. And I implement that in everything that I do. I take pride in that. I take pride in the fact that we're one of the only promotional companies that can release a mixtape on all the major platforms simultaneously. Not many, very many people can do that, if any at all, can release a mixtape, a live mixtape, DatPip, Spinrilla, all of them same time countdowns. And that's because we built those relationships with those guys, you know. Bigger Rankin brought live mixtapes out of Cleveland, brought them down to Jacksonville. My Mixtapes, we, uh, you know, they tapped on us to do their first, uh, hoorah into the world here in Atlanta. Um, we brought A-Loks everywhere we go and conferences with Coast to Coast and everything. So it's building those relationships with those people that is, is amazing.

I love that you said that. I think, you know, relationships are so important, and that's one of the areas where I feel that I have faltered in my career because I just don't take the time to reach out to people and see how they're doing. And you've been so great at that. Like, you'll text me out of the blue and be like, hey Wendy, how are you? And I love that. Like, you're just— you're so relationship-oriented, and I think that's so important and so crucial.

Well, friends are family that we choose for ourselves. So if, if I love you enough to call you a friend, then I have to treat you like family, right?

Right. Awesome. Is there anything that I've left out? Is there anything that I should have asked you that is obviously missing?

Uh, #Promovatican, promovatican.com, vaticanmixtapes.com, vaticanvip.com, djwin.com, biggestbetter.com. I mean, Cool Runnin' DJs, Core DJs, Industry Heights, you know, the number one booking agency in the country. These are all people that I used to build with, and these are all guys— Ricardo Hunter, Slavon Marshall, Troy Marshall, you know, damn, South Promo, Vertical. These are all juggernauts in the business. And without people like them, without people like Adam Favors, without people like Dorian Washington, without all of these people that have played an amazing role in my life, not just my career, because these are people that have helped me feed my family. Like, AMG pulled up on me on Christmas because my son was born on the 23rd, and they brought me gifts for all of my kids. Like, you don't have to go shopping. You know, listen, bro, just take care of your son. Like, that could never be replaced. That could never be purchased.

You're right.

Um, so, you know, it's AMG forever till the casket drops. Uh, Kool America, new music on the way soon. Uh, what else? You know, mixtapes dropping. If you need promo, holler at us, uh, djwin.com, uh, Team Watch Me Work. Download the app. The Promo Vatican app is available on all platforms— BlackBerry, um, iPhone, Android, all of that good stuff. You know, we want to stay ahead of the curve on everything, man. Follow me on Snapchat, Rap Juggernaut, all that good stuff. Any social media platform, Rap Juggernaut, pull me up, follow me, reach out, let's network. If you're an artist and you have independent music, my contact info is on my profile, follow the protocol, send me the music, I'll let you know how I feel about it. If it's something we can work, I'll shoot you that information back. If it's something that needs to go back in the oven, then we'll shoot you that information back as well.

You know, I love that. Because as somebody who spends money on music, I love when somebody tells me it's not ready yet and they give me the opportunity to go back and get that second chance and get that shot at tightening it. You know, that's really valuable. And there's too many people out here that don't do that. They will just say, okay, I'll work it.

5% of the industry do that, cuz to, to do that, Wendy, would be to take food off of their plate. There— nobody is going to purposely make themselves uncomfortable, so God bless the ones that do.

Yes, it's important. It's important. If I'm going to put a shit ton of money behind a project, I want to know that it's ready. And I'm not the market, so I don't always know.

I tell people all the time, I, I'm still trying to get my head around Lil Yachty, but you know, Sprite commercials and $30,000 a show, Target, I need to hurry up and get with the curve real fucking fast, right? Um, and then you have kids like Extensión and all these other guys that are coming up that It's our job to stay young enough to grow the industry. Yes, it's not all about hip-hop is dead and all that other hillbilly shit.

And to surround ourselves with people that know. I'm not the market anymore. When I get into my car, I very rarely listen to rap. I listen to NPR. That's my demographic. You know, that's what pleases me. So I surround myself with people that are 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22. Because I got in, that's the only way I know what's hot.

Yep.

I'm not hanging out in the clubs anymore. I don't want to.

Yeah. Well, I mean, and that, and also, you know, making sure that for any, uh, people that are on the industry side, not so on the artist side of this, um, you know, make sure you're checking your, your websites respectively. Make sure you're on Hip Hop Early every day, um, because you're gonna miss something, right? And as a DJ, you don't want to miss anything. As a tastemaker, you don't want to miss anything. So, you know, knowing the certain platforms where you can go take that bucket and get you a fresh helping of that new water is as important as having that water with you. Just disciplining yourself to check your email, starting your day off. If this is what you do, then you find a regimen and you stick to it. You adhere to it the same way you wake up, you go to the bathroom, you brush your teeth. After you do that, you should get right to the money. You should jump in your inbox, reply to any emails. Should go in there and see what needs to be updated. If there's any new music and you feel it needs to go out, blast it. It's your job as a journeyman, or if you will, or career music people, to take the culture and keep it alive. It's your job to put out the hot music. It's your job to put out the hot video. You don't get paid for that. You get paid when you have to work. I'm not telling anybody to work for free. Work, charge for your services. But Social service is the space that you pay for your space on Earth. And if you're not doing anything to better the community, whether it's the hip-hop community, the PR community, the management community, the graphic design community, then I think you're in the way. And I think you're a hindrance to the growth of not only us as a culture, but as a society, because we have to move beyond that, "Oh man, I don't get paid for all that shit." You don't get— you don't do the shit you get paid for now. You go to work, you start work an hour late, you take 5 20-minute bathrooms, breaks, take an hour lunch, you go to sleep on a pad of the toilet paper in the back room because you were out partying, getting molly'd up all night. You don't do the shit you're getting paid for now, but you want somebody else to pay you for some shit that you should be doing already? Fuck all that, bro. If it's a hot record, it don't need no money. If I gotta make it, then you gotta cut a check.

You're right. I love you.

Thank you. This is amazing, man. I love this experience, man. I never thought that when Pam Fresh asked me to interview you, that I never in my mind, in eons of lifetimes, I never played this in my head that you one day would want to interview me for something that I do relative to the music business. And it's just, it's amazing. It really is, man. We've come a long way. And I say we as in Team Bigger Rankin, as in the Kore, as in Coast to Coast, Cool Running. Like, I've been a part of a lot of these movements that have been special and have sprung off and have really become huge and larger than hip-hop themselves. Um, and it's just been a blessing to really be a part of it all, man. I soak it up every day. I love what I do, Wendy Day. There's not a lot I can trade. That's the worst job in the world because I deal with every asshole, every attitude, every snake. But it's the best job. I wouldn't trade this shit for nothing in the world. This is what I am. I am music.

Yes, and you're great at it. You're the best out here. I love you so much. Thank you so much for doing this. It's been so beneficial. Give my love to DJ Wynn. I know he's behind you somewhere, so tell him, tell him I said what's up and much love.

I will. We'll talk soon. You're gonna see DJ Wynn on the road here pretty soon. He's getting ready to go on the road with us, uh, in April. We got the Diamond Awards coming up first week of April, uh, so everybody stay tuned for that, man. Follow us on social media or #PromoVatican. We got like 96,000 posts on social media. You can find whatever it is you're looking for, I promise.

Absolutely. Thank you so much, love. Take care. Bye.