14 Feb 2024 · 42 min
Yo and Ty talk with a music industry veteran about artist development: diversifying income through touring, merch, and brand deals, building teams, and mastering social media. He walks through how Lil Russell built a following with DIY backyard shows and discusses his upcoming book Culture Playbook, releasing Aug 24.
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February 14, 2024.
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August 15 (preorders).
August 24 (official release).
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Experian and we are live for another episode of you Money with yo and Ty. This is yo. I'm here with Ty.
What's happening?
What's going on, man? Talk to me.
That ain't cooler. Where we at? We in San Fran.
San Fran. Tell people where we were at before we got here, before this episode. What were we doing?
Oh, we was at. We was at Dinnerland.
We was at Disneyland.
So we was at Dinnerland, AKA la Russell backyard watching his pay what you pay what you want live show in his backyard, which, I don't know, probably about 150 people that he called it didn't last.
Now, if you've never heard of the Russell, I feel like you should definitely look up little Russell, one of the most talented young artists coming up right now. He's not just a good musician, a great rapper, but his business mind is something that seems to be exceptional in the music business right now. To have a show in your backyard, the house you grew up in trapped it out. And this is his third show and they've been sold like they've been selling out every time. 150, 200 people. When you see artists movement like that, does that inspire you?
Oh, 1,000%. 1,000%. I first spoke with little Russell on Instagram. I want to think, I want to say, like June 2018, he reached out just to get information. You know, I mean, he just reached out to get information. And then I was like multitasking a lot of. I would answer certain questions, but he just stayed tapping in, asking questions and was able to utilize what he was learning in real time. Information. People was giving them other support from people like, you know, Hovain, Charlemagne Wallow supporting the freestyles. Obviously he got a really, really system how he do content. And I haven't really seen a lot of rappers take that type of pride in the way that they put together their content strategy. So he's definitely calling plays.
Calling plays. Talk about this episode titled calling Plays.
I think that if you want to be successful with getting you some fucking money, you definitely got to learn how to call plays. Like, if you. Well, first of all, unless your partner owned a company or something and you got some really great, like, stock benefits that you about to get, you're not gonna get too much money. You know, takes a very important process in life to understand how to like, move money around and when to invest and like getting information from other people who are kind of making more money than you. So that, you know, if y' all investing in the same things, even if they making more money than you and you're investing less than they are, you're still positioning yourself to be in a better place, which is in essence, like, you know, you either you calling the plays or you really listening to the coach. A lot of these niggas don't listen to a coach, especially artists.
Now you say the first person to really invest in you, that tends to be a person that's in a position where they can give advice, something you should listen to. But what makes a good coach in terms of business?
Knowing what the product is that a person is trying to sell, right? Knowing what their weaknesses are by listening to them describe themselves. And most people talk, lean towards their strengths. So if you're coaching somebody, you, you gotta be able to look at their business, eyeball their business, and be like, oh, okay, I see. Like, you know, you're making a lot of money with this particular product, but 70, 80% of the money that comes to your business comes through this one product. That's a very, very volatile business. I want to invest into that. You know, you got to learn how to diversify. And that's a weakness that a person will have that they probably think is a strength because they just look at it like, I'm making money. And so a great coach will be able to tell you, like, yeah, making money is great, but making money across the diverse products is way more stable and has long term effectiveness by that way. But just having one product that all is. That's making you all your money, you know, it makes it a different type of ball game. That's why artists that are signed to major labels are like really great investments. Because once the music is making a certain amount of money, the record label is gonna be able to idolize that and make money off of that. But the artist's not really seeing none of that money, so they're forced to go and make their touring business are driving revenue for them. So their touring business is their cash Cow. The music sales is the record label's cash cow. And then from the touring and the record label business doing well now by default, and by indirectly, your merchandise business start growing. Then all of a sudden you get brand opportunities. So you start to see like this 25. This 20, 20, 15, 10 5. Like this really scaled out and balanced ecosystem. And so like with independent artists, they don't really have that because they're too privileged. So when you making all your money off music and you don't have to leave your house, you're not thinking about diversifying. You just like, I ain't got to leave my house. You know what I'm saying? But in actuality, you should be leaving your house because your business actually isn't healthy, because it's volatile, because it's only one screen. It's only one product that's bringing in the lion's share of the money. If anything happens with that product, your entire sinks. It's almost like pandemic again.
Yeah, we saw that with COVID Right. With the live music streams. When that revenue stream stopped, that revenue screen up.
Stopped.
Well, no, I won't say stop, but live performance, yes. When it was altered, you couldn't just hit the road the way you wanted to. Venues were closed. We were adjusting to the pandemic. Artists had to scramble to figure out how they were gonna make money.
Oh, yeah, 1,000%.
But that wasn't something that you guys went through with culture.
Yeah.
Because you guys had built revenue around streaming. Now tell me about making that play. Right. Deciding that, okay, let's build streaming as a major revenue for us so we don't have to rely just strictly on forming.
Well, that wasn't on purpose. You know, like, that was. I mean, it wasn't something where I'm like, I don't want to lie on touring. It's like I just knew I dealt with a nigga that didn't like the tour. So why am I going to build a business around? That's just me knowing how to build a business around a person's strengths and weaknesses. Like, I'm not going to build a business touring business around a nigga that don't like to tour. Because then when they don't want to tour, the business sinks.
But as a coach, though, that's the. I wouldn't say it's common sense. Because if you perceive that touring is how you make money, I don't care if you don't like doing it, that's how we going to get paid.
No, not necessarily. Like if you see, if a person is creating a pair of shoes and you put the shoes on you like, you know what, these shoes are comfortable until I have to run, then I'm not going to promote the shoe. Like it's a fucking running shoe.
That makes sense.
So if a motherfucker, it don't matter. It don't matter if we know that, that you can make money touring, you, you need to do it. That's why I specifically say independent artists. Independent artists, niggas is too fucking free. Major labels make you diversify your business. So when people are like, oh, I need to go sign to a major label because I'm gonna be a big artist. No, they make you diversify your business because they take something away from you. You gotta take something away from these dumb ass niggas for them to realize, let me diversify my business. But when you're independent, that ain't the case. Nothing is taken away from you. You know what I'm saying? In a sense of like your screens of income. So when you see one thing working, instead of you being like, let me get another business to match this, you say, oh, well, I can be lazy. Rather you're not. Rather you're rather. You don't mean to be lazy. You just say, oh, the thing that I care the most about is the music and it's making me money. But when a motherfucker is independent and they identify, I need my music sales, my touring revenue and my merchandise sales to almost be 3rd, 3rd, 3rd or 25, 25, 25. That last 25% is broken down between brand deals, you know, features, like just shit that you can just, you know, influencer checks you may get, whatever the case may be. But like a good coach will say, yo, like, you're independent. You have to diversify all your business. That I don't want to do this, I don't want to do that. Now, how you go about diversifying them is a different way. But you need to make sure you're touring, your music sales, your merchandise, that they're like, like this. You know what I'm saying? They don't need to be. 70% of all the money you bring in is from fucking music sales only because that means that anything can happen. Nobody ever thought the pandemic would happen. Nobody would ever be able to tour. That's never happened in history. But you can be on the cusp of creating the first company in your family's entire existence that can be foundational seed money for wealth building. And then some shit happens. And next thing you know, this shit crashed because you only got one primary stream of income. It's stupid as fuck when you know business.
So to me, about. When did you realize that you had to be a coach?
I mean, playing sports, you, you're always like, coaching. If you are a leader. If you're a leader, you're gonna have to coach. If you don't want to coach, then you, you know, you might not be the best leader. Even if the. Even because sometimes people gravitate towards leadership because of what it, what it personifies, you know what I'm saying? Like, but will be being a leader. You have to coach because if you're not coaching and a leader, you're gonna like, muff your shit's not gonna be successful, whatever it is. In my opinion.
In your opinion?
Yeah.
But as a coach though, in business, when do you realize, okay, I'm in this position, I'm a leader, I'm a coach. Delegation. How do you know what roles need to be filled and what to outsource for people to do versus what you feel like as a coach you need to do to keep the business going?
I think it's really more so based around, you know, your core team members, right? Once you identify your core team members, you know, the core team members are the people that like, are dedicated towards the mission of the company being bigger, right? And if you got two people that are like super creative and they got a little bit of business sense, then you got other two more people that are strictly like super business. And then you got a person that's a hybrid that's really sharp on business and they're really sharp on creative, right? They could lean either way based on the team. Then you identify what your weaknesses are. But you gotta be honest with your team members about like, what is actually their weakness and their strengths. You know, most people don't like talking about their weaknesses, you know what I'm saying? But you're able to figure out hiring based on the performance of your current team. So if your current team is like knocking everything out of the ballpark, you know, you may be hiring to support them, but you may not be hiring to fill a role more. So if they're hitting out of the ballpark stuff of this one division, like right now, in our business, our merchandise business is not doing well. So I'm telling my business partner, y', all, I need to hire somebody full time to deal with the merchandise business. Because that's a multi million dollar business if it's built right, you know, What I'm saying, like, there ain't no if, ands or buts about it. That's just what it is. That's not a passive hire, like a assistant assistant. You can hire assistant somebody that's not good when you first hire them. It can kind of grow into it. But if you had to hire that same person who was assistant and you want to put them in over overseeing like your merch business, that's like hiring somebody that with no experience to run a Foot Locker. That's a fact, you know what I'm saying? So it's like, it's a real thing. So now I'm like, no, fuck that. We need to hire somebody. We need to find an experienced person. This ain't nobody I gotta fucking. I don't wanna be coaching them. This is not a role for that. There are roles that you got to groom and groom assistants or groom, you know, young, like young talent. You taking a risk and you're taking a bet on them. But then there's some roles that are full departments that needs to be held in, hemmed by somebody that is, that's an expert. Simple as that.
That makes absolute sense. So when you hired or when you were seeking Jane Andrews out, what role were you trying to fill in culture early?
Yeah, I was just trying to find somebody that can resemble me. That was a woman.
That was a woman. Right.
I wasn't thinking about a particular role. I just knew that it had to be somebody that wore multiple hats. Sometimes that's beneficial and sometimes, you know, those type of hires are not where it needs to be at, you know what I'm saying? But for that specific time, for that specific need, I knew that in the ground level you wouldn't have a lot of money to hire a bunch of people. So you gotta have multiple people that can wear multiple hats.
Right. And usually early on that's very important to find somebody not like you, but can wear multiple hats, can do multiple things, can help carry the business.
Yeah, any business is going to have to have people that can multitask in the early stage.
Assistant coach. Yeah, essentially, right.
1000.
So you get your assistant coach, got players, right? People that's definitely out there making plays. And we talk about making plays. What does a play to you?
Position yourself by action to be successful. You know what I'm saying? Like if you say I want to be, I want to have a better jump shot, that means that making a play is getting with a shooting coach to get a better form or getting up a thousand shots a day. You know what I'm saying? People think making plays solely deals with money, you know, hiring somebody that's exceptional is a play, you know, that indirectly affects the growth of your business. You know, I mean, so you want to make plays that's going to help elevate and grow your business. And creating art is a business period. You don't matter if it's a song, if it's a painting, it's a graphic design. If it's photography, it's a business. And if you're not operating it as if you are a provider of that product to a market, then that shit just a hobby. And hobbies are cool. You're making real money. They're cool.
We were talking about Jordan earlier, and I asked you, why did you think the Jordan shoe had the longevity that it has had? What did you say?
I said that, you know, the Jordan brand has the longevity that it has because fans get to wear a legacy on their feet. Like, legacy always gonna sell. That's why people still like sampling Aaliyah or, you know, you know, trying to impersonate Michael Jackson or, you know, wearing Kobe Bryant, like, like if you have a legacy brand, that is like lottery.
And that's pretty much the long term play, right? To build a legacy that can stand the test of time, but also that people want to imitate, people want to remember, people want to wear. And I think that you talked about artists not seeing themselves as shoes earlier. I really like that metaphor.
Yeah. See, the reason why I'm like one foot in and one foot out on working with artists is because I look at the landscape of the music business today and breaking through in the landscape of the music business today. Rather you sign with a major label or you're doing it in a boutique style, it's work. It's way more work than it than it took in the early 90s and the 80s, because there was really real gatekeepers that people was plucked and a lot of resources were put into them to develop to get these different aspects of things today. I mean, you can put a song out tomorrow, tonight. Tonight. You know what I'm saying? And so with that type of change, it created a lot of more. A lot more opportunities for people of different walks of life to be able to. To be in a music business. But it also made it so competitive. So now I'm getting to the point in my age, with whatever career that I want to build is that I'm not spending no more time on motherfuckers that don't understand that they fucking Content providers. If you're not producing content every day on your social medias to drive people to your product, then what we doing, everybody is not going to get a TikTok viral moment. It's not going to happen. There's going to be more artists that's going to see success, that's doing what little Russell is doing versus waiting for their Lil Nas X moment on TikTok. You know what I'm saying? You just have a, you have more control. You have more control when you're saying, I got a song out, I got a phone, I got social media, I got wi fi, I got friends, I live a life every day, whatever. If, even if it's the same thing over and over again and I'm going to create content 3, 4, 5 times a day across all of the platforms that I have fans on and it's going to drive them to the product that I have that's for sale, rather, that's merchandise, rather, that's a tour, rather, that's a song, rather, that's a, you know, you just did a brand deal with a, with a, with a, with a spirit company and they're paying you money because they think that you can drive, you know what I'm saying? To a thing. I saw this article pop up about this influencer that started a, that started a, a brand and they had 2 million followers and they couldn't sell 36 t shirts. Right? That's crazy to me. Yeah, that's crazy. But it's a very loud example about. This ain't about how many followers you have. It's about how engaged people are, what story you're telling through your content development. You know, I've had my clients tell me like, yo, you need to post on Tick Tock. I don't know how to Tick Tock. You know how to IG story. The same thing, the same thing. TikTok. I'm like, man, I'm starting answering y' all phone calls. That's what's going to happen. Because we're not in the 80s and the 90s anymore. We're not in the 2000s. This is a new way of how artists are breaking. So when you start looking at the artists and how they are impacting the market, they're going about it in different ways. The ones that are winning, that are seeing things go in their favor, you know what I'm saying? Like, they're being very, very creative. They're being very like forward thinking and how they see their overall business and the ones that just want to go to studio and make music and think that they management is just going to like make them a star, made them some money. I don't even want them around me because, because it's changing. Like the business has changed foundationally from. To a more technology driven business, you know what I'm saying? So if you're not waking up every day being like, all right, boom, I got product in the market, I'm marketing it, promoting it. I got product in the market, I'm marketing, I'm promoting it. I got a year, I got to get some product in the market this year, you know, and, and I'm not, I'm not, I'm not belittling anybody who is struggling to make art because of whatever their reasons are, you know what I'm saying? But I'm just speaking the facts about being successful.
Yeah. Like not even just successful to play in the game.
Right.
We're talking about coaching and playing almost like two leagues, right?
Yeah.
You got your jv, you got your varsity, then you got the Nationals. You know, you're trying to go to the NBA, you don't just walk into the gym and be on the Bulls or be on the Lakers. You got to kind of work your way up. And I think that even though TikTok is not a, the Lil Nas X route isn't for everybody. That's still a space where you can cultivate a fan base. Thanks. An audience.
Yes. If you run, if you start doing ads, you start creating content. Day in the life content, photography, short form content between YouTube, Facebook, IG, TikTok, like that stuff makes money. Like it's, you know, like you talking about your favorite Crocs or you talking about, you know, you know, one thing I think Crook's doing like how to, how to, how to rap, like all of these content. There's so much education people are trying to pull from the Internet that you know, ad revenues will pay you money for that. That stuff grows over time, just like putting out songs, you know what I'm saying? So it's a scream of income that a lot of artists, a lot of artists are not taking full advantage of, you know what I mean? Because of whatever their reasoning is.
Well, probably because you don't really know when it's going to actually be successful.
You don't know when nothing gonna actually be successful.
That's absolutely true. But again, when you're producing things on a day by day basis or a week by week basis and you don't really see the light at the end of the Tunnel. What are you believing in?
Well, that means you need to go get a fucking job. Because if you're doing something you love, you'll do it for free. So if I'm telling you, you passionate about this, right? Yeah, yeah, I'm passionate about it. And you're hearing people being like, okay, cool. If you're passionate about writing as a journalist, find something to write about every day and put it out. Anything. It can be a paragraph long, whatever. The media, find somebody to put them out. Remember, I did the. And I'm not even a. I don't consider myself a journalist or author. I don't give a how many books I write. I don't consider myself that because I respect the people that really, truly embody that and work on it every single day. I don't do that. Every now and then I have some shit I want to say and I'll say it right.
Yeah.
And so, like, with the platform mirrors on the blockchain platform, I think I got like three collectors on the article that I wrote about why Wellness.
Yeah, I remember that.
Like, I'm like, oh, I look back up, I'm like, oh, I didn't even know three people have collected it. Because it turns into an nft, right? Turns your writing into nft. But, like, these are just things that I'm like, I'm passionate about wellness. That's something that I work on every day. And so that article more so was speaking about wellness, not me being a journalist.
Absolutely.
Or author. It was somebody speaking about, well, why this wellness club is so important to you, why you want to do this, why you want to do that. So a lot of these different concepts for what we're trying, what I'm thinking about when it comes to, like, what artists and what people I want to work with. Like, you passionate about something, working on it every day. And don't be bullshit and talking about, oh, I write every day or I think about it. No. What is the action every day? Are you writing notes? And you're. Because you can even create content about. These are the goals that I had today. I'm gonna actually showcase it. Because when you put it out there, it's almost like you're speaking it and people are reliving it. People are speaking it for you. So if you're just like, I'm just gonna post my goals daily on social media. That's one content. Then I got a song out. I'm gonna post about my song that I got out once a day. That's two pieces of content. Then the song got lyrics. I'm gonna actually sing my favorite lyric from the song Once a day. That's three pieces of content. That's just. That's a. It's. It's not hard. So when people don't want to do something that isn't hard, they not that passionate about it. We're not talking about things that are hard. It's not.
I hear you. I hear you. I think what is hard is getting out your own way.
No, people too consumed with being cool. Being broke is not cool.
No, it's not.
Working a job you don't give a fuck about or you don't care about is not cool. People think if they post too much on their own platforms that they're spamming people. No, I'm not saying go and spam people. I'm saying it's your platform. Post on your platform. These are. These are your. These are. What we're called is like calling plays. You know, when you are calling plays, these plays have to be called over and over and over again to actually be successful. You don't call one play and win the game.
No, you don't.
No, sport. You have to call plays over and over and over again. And then when you see that this one play is working, you focus on that one play and you develop multiple plays off of that. The dynamic of how that play is put together. Different formations. Same play, but different formations. So motherfuckers be thinking that they just put out some music and talk about it once, and then, boom, magic happened. It don't matter who you the. You signed to. That shit not happening like that.
Right.
You know, so that's why major label artists are more successful today than independent artists, because major labels take something away from you, and it makes you diversify your business. Being independent doesn't make you diversify your business. It actually makes you fucking lazy if you don't have a motor on your own. The nigga that we watched today. Yeah, he got a motor.
He got a motor. He probably got two motors, probably three horsepower.
We want this. Got a bouncy house. They got a buffet. They cooking food.
His dad was cooking chicken. They had, like, cheese.
Yes. You walk around the corner, they got the sound guy in the booth. They got the bleachers.
And DJ guy came out with the violin. Had a keyboardist.
They had the balloons.
And I mean, that's the thing. You remember everything.
They was passing out weed and.
Yeah. Had multiple businesses working.
And everybody had on Crocs.
Everybody had on Crocs.
So I'm like, oh, these motherfuckers, they operate some different shit over here.
They knew the uniform.
What.
And I like the fact that they had multiple camera people on stage, around, walking around.
Nigga, the circuit.
I couldn't even shoot. I had too many heads in my way. So again, I'm seeing this operation, and it's so interesting because it's in his backyard. It's not like he went to the Staples center or he went, you know what I'm saying, To some big venue where they got the line wrapped around the building. Like, we saw people walking up, coming into his home, and it's so. It's so comfortable.
Yes.
I'm talking about he came out there and he's performing.
Yeah, I ain't never seen no shit like that.
It was a first for me.
I ain't never seen no shit like that.
We spoke to Lil Russell for a little bit before the show, and he was talking about how he didn't really have a set list. Oh, it's like the DJ gonna play some records, then I'm gonna ask people to give suggestions. And some lady called out a song from 2018. He was like, oh, you deep in the catalog.
The fact of the matter, he even remember the lyrics from a song from 2018. I mean, the thought process is when you talking to an artist and they're like, you see this shit? I'm building Disneyland, got kids cooking food. Ain't no set list. He said, last time, I performed for an hour and 30 minutes, then I let the fans pick the songs. You want to know why that's dangerous? Because don't be knowing all their lyrics. So the. Like, I'm gonna let the fans pick the song for these next four songs. He's very confident that he's gonna know what the they're talking about, what song they're talking about. Can you talk about a hundred songs that they may call out?
Anything.
Anything.
I remember a couple years ago when Tyler did his carnival, he would bring Kanye out, and he would ask him to perform, like, late. From late registration. Kanye doesn't know the words. Tyler knows the words, and that's just not being ready. But LaRussell seemed like he born ready.
When you rehearse, you rehearse your show. Said, it's dangerous as a motherfucker walking out there to me talking about, boy, it ain't no St. Louis, man.
People think because you wrote the song, you record the song, you put the song out there that sticks with you for the rest of your life.
I ain't no say List. I'm like. And that lady definitely called out a song that he dropped in 2018.
Also. No, no back vocals. He's not playing the track.
No, he's not. Karaoke.
No, didn't. That's.
That nigga ain't not having no karaoke.
And it makes you want to invest in Russell.
Let me say this.
Seeing all of that today was about as inspiring as he could.
Artists can be business owners, bro. The fact of the matter is these lazy. There's a large percentage of artists that just don't want to get a real job.
I mean, making music is a fun way of making money.
Yeah, it's a fun way. A fun ass excuse to be like, I want to get a job. And people are so successful at it. Nobody's going to question you. But there's a large number of that. Be like, man, this music seem way more easier than getting a real job. In actuality, the work ethic that you had to have. Because when you sign with anybody yourself, Def Jam, Interscope, you gotta work. The work does not escape nobody. It doesn't escape nobody, bro. That is the issue. Niggas think just because they go sign with somebody, they got some money, they don't got to work no more. It's the wildest shit to me.
And the idea is that this machine is just gonna make it happen for you, bro.
No. Fuck no. Labels sign 100 to 200 artists a year.
How many work?
How many work? You know how many work? Less than 5%. Yes. And I'm not talking about all major labels. I'm talking about between Universal Music group gonna sign 100, Sony gonna sign 100. Warner Music gonna sign 100 minimum. That's not counting the niggas they signed.
The year before who was still working.
Bro, you gotta work, man. No motherfuckers is signing. But every year a new budget opens. So every year they trying. They got another shot at trying to find somebody that's gonna work. Cause they want somebody that's gonna work. Them motherfuckers is that. It was about two A and R's at the show today. Yeah, them niggas. Them niggas want a nigga like that. Cause they know, oh, this nigga gonna work. He's not not gonna work. I'm coming to this house, got all these. These are fans. These are not innocent, Boston.
Oh, those are fans.
Yes, those are fans.
One moment. That's gonna stick with me. Is the little girl that he gave the microphone.
Yes, 1,000%.
Who was at the LA show?
Yep.
Who Came. I don't know where them people were from.
No, bro, no, no.
And it felt like. It felt like it could have been the neighborhood folks, but it was much deeper than that. You know what I'm saying, man?
Listen, man, I'm a fan of any artist that's like innovative in how they approach doing their music. You know what I'm saying? I'm a fan of artists who haven't figured it out in Web2. And then next thing you know, they start moving around in web 3. Now they start selling merchandise, they start selling the shit in crypto and blockchain and all those different things. Next they know they making their money that way. I'm just a fan of any creative person that's willing to work hard. And being in the studio recording songs is not working hard.
It's work.
It's work. You can work hard in that aspect of it. But it's like I can be the hardest working shoemaker. It is. If I'm not willing to go out and market the same shoes that I'm making. Like, that's what has to happen when nobody gives a fuck about the shoe when it's working. Everybody want to help you. You're not going to have no shortage of people trying to help you when it's working. But when that shit is not working, you got to work. And if you can get into the behavior and the habit of working even when it's working, then you'll be fine. But muffins don't want to work. I remember one of my partners that worked with Luda, he was. He was telling me a story about how he was doing the A r. And by 8 o' clock in the morning, Luda is sending him an email telling him the things that he's already did. And the day just started, made him feel like, I need to get on my job. Like this is already on. He already checked out five things on his to do list that, that you like. Oh, and then it makes everybody around the artist work harder. Because traditionally artists are lazy that be on drugs. When you run across an artist that want to work hard, that's not lazy, that don't do drugs. Everybody around them wants to be like, Beyonce's not Beyonce just by chance, you know what I'm saying? This is not by chance. This is this. She's a different type of same with Kanye West. Like these niggas are not who they became by chance. These worked differently. And it. And if you, and if you talk to enough people around them, they're like, yeah, they should be different. That's a different type of person. Obviously, everybody gonna be Beyonce, but everybody has the ability to work hard for something that they said that they passionate and they believe in something is very. This very thing that can potentially change your entire bloodline forever. I don't get it. You can think I got my five kids where I work.
I would think you had, like, six kids.
Definitely got no kids. I need all the checks.
I need all the checks.
You're not gonna show me a world in a life that I can have and then I'm gonna get lazy. No, I was just telling Jane I was like, niggas would have an anxiety attack trying to keep up my travel schedule. I've been like, six cities the last, like, eight. I travel way more than anybody I work with.
I never know where you are. Never.
So I'm like, I don't even let Vanessa book my flights. I'm like, yo, just book everybody else flights, because I don't know where the I'd be coming from. And it's like, I'm. I'm on a mission. Like, I'm not trying to be. I'm not trying to be presented with opportunity and then get complacent or get lazy just because one thing is working. I can't stand with people like, Brent, Fire ass manager. Yo, y', all. I don't manage that. That's why people be like, I don't talk to him about features. I don't talk to him about nothing. He. Whatever he want to talk, he'll call me. I don't talk to him about no features or none of that. Don't hit me about that. I have business partners. He's one of them. Because it gets lost on people. Like, yo, bro, I move around more than everybody because I am on a mission to build multiple things. I'm not just worried about one thing being successful and being happy with that shit. That's never gonna work for me.
Is there a play that you currently will, like, if I could be. Can be remembered for one play that I made. What's that play?
Really? The culture playbook, bro. That's my biggest play. My biggest play, like, I was talking with Wallow, and I was. When we. He was talking about the book, and he pulled up everything we need to know about the music business. He said, I read that book, and it was too complex for me. He said, as I'm reading this, the first page, I'm like, oh, shit, I can't wait to try to apply this. You know what I'M saying, so my biggest play is to culture. Playbook.
You call it that too. You say you wanted the book to be simple enough for an eighth grader to read it.
Yes.
I didn't understand that at first.
Yes.
Because I think about, when I think about business, when I think about those business books, I always felt like they were, I wouldn't call them complex, but I feel like they were for people who wanted to apply. But that's the same reason why people wouldn't read them.
Yeah.
Because it feels like you're trying to go over my head.
Yeah.
From the jump, you're trying to go.
Over my head 1,000% versus, you know.
And that's why I'm excited for people to read the book, because I, I believe it's a book you can read.
Yeah.
It's not something that you're not going to be able to get. It's not something that you're not going to be able to understand. And then it's a book definitely, you know what I'm saying? Like we got what, 12 chapters? 10 chapters.
12.
12 chapters. Then you got. I'm not going to spoil the book for people, but the book will be on sale. You want to announce that?
Yeah, it's going on sale on August 24. The pre orders for everything, the book, the merchandise, Everything is on the 15th of August. We'll be sending it out to like the community app, you know, everybody, they got the numbers and the social medias and all those different type of things once it's live. But the book is officially dropping on August 24th.
And with that said, what is the takeaway you want people to get from the book?
Is that if you have a roadmap, you can be successful, you know, and the roadmap don't cost you a lot of money, but it definitely costs you a lot of blood equity, you know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? It causes a lot of sweat equity. It don't cost a lot of money, but it definitely costs you a lot of time and a lot of equity and a lot of like sweat because there's no escaping the work. This book is meant to give people the most, easiest way, the less, the least harsh way to say you're not going to be successful unless you work. That's why it starts off talking about discipline, you know what I'm saying? So when you start, when you first open it, the most important thing on the journey, no matter who you do business with, is your discipline. Because discipline directly correlates to how hard you're working.
Yeah.
You know what I'm saying? And so that's the biggest thing about this for me when it comes to, like, what's my biggest play? Like, it's this playbook. I hear that.
Now, outside of yourself, is there someone who has made a play in the music business? You're like, that's the play I'm trying to top.
Hov, nigga. Hov And Rich Paul definitely trying to top both of them plays.
I feel that. I feel like Jay. I was thinking about Jay and Steve Stout, and Stout came in and he secured that Reebok deal for Jay. Not only was that a play for Jay, it was a play for Reebok, 1000%. I also think that that makes a great playmaker. You're not just gonna affect one person. You can affect an entire industry to make the right play.
Exactly. Yeah. That's the thing. Like, one of the biggest things that this playbook is the beginning of. Is nobody better than me with this independent? Not today. Maybe when it was no limit and cash. But when it. When it comes to, like, being independent today, ain't nobody better than me. Niggas gonna have to come see, then the book is going to show them. Like, it ain't even going to be nothing. I'm a brag about. Like, the book is going to show niggas, like, okay, I get what this book is saying because it's simple, but I gotta go hear it out of bro mouth because it's gonna feel like it's too easy. It's like, it's gonna feel like it's too good to be true. You know what I'm saying?
Kinda. Kinda. I feel you. I think the opposite. I do think they still gotta come see you, but it's gonna be. Because it's not as easy as they think it is.
Yeah, I mean, the, the. The. The level of work and information, and I'm not. I'm not lost upon the favor that I've been. That hit my life, you know what I'm saying? Those are things that I can't write in the book. Like, you gotta have some level of, like, good karma, bad karma, and those different things. Those things I believe in, but I believe in. If you're out here trying to help service one another, the. The information in this particular book will help you on top of your natural favor and the grace that you have over your life and the journey that you're walking on. You know what I'm saying? And if you're walking in your. In your. In your, you know, passion and in your purpose, then shit will unfold for you. And it will unfold at a alarming rate when you're working really hard at.
Absolutely.
Appreciate everybody for tuning in for this episode of you Money. Speak to you next week.