Catfishing Is The New Hustle

Ever feel like your brain just won't click? Onnit Alpha Brain is a daily supplement engineered to support memory, focus and mental speed. Made with science backed ingredients, Onnit Alpha Brain helps you lock in, tune out distractions and stay sharp. See what your brain can really do. Visit onnit.com and shop Alpha Brain to unlock your next level. That's O N N I t dot com.

All these patients complaining they can't get their medicines. Insurers and PBMs are often owned by the same giant company. So middlemen like me decide what medicines you can get and how much you pay. But don't worry if your prescription gets denied. We know another one that works for us.

I mean you, Washington should stop PBMs and insurers from driving up drug costs. Learn more@phRMA.org insurercosts paid for by pharma.

All right, we're ready when you are, Luke.

Oh, we've been recording.

I was waiting for the slap. Huh?

We need that.

How long you been shooting, fool? Man, I've been shooting, fool. I've been around a pool table since I was like nine. My grandfather, I had an uncle, right? He passed, We used to call him G. It's up. I can't remember G real name. Now you be black. You know they give you nicknames and that should be the nickname for forever, right? And so gig was, Gig was a. This was a pool shark, right? When I tell you the pool shark, really, really, really. Like that's how he made a living. But he ended up going to school, getting a computer information degree. Like associate's degree, right? But the nigga never used the degree. Cause he's one of them. I don't want the white man type of niggas, right? So he would not become a professional pool shooter because he don't want the white man to represent him. So he just hustled.

He just hustled the pool.

You know what I'm saying? He just hustled the pool. Shit. Just like even if he had a.

Degree, even though he had a chance.

To go straight, he didn't want a white man. He was very serious about it. White man not, not representing type. Yeah, right.

Yeah. I don't know what kind of black man that was.

Yeah, no, he was serious about that, bro. When I say he was serious about that, he was serious about that. So I've been shooting pool, I've been shooting pool since around it. I'm like, not like literally nine years old, bro. Now I don't. When I like Get a spot. Not on my own spot. I'm probably gonna, I'm gonna have like more pool table type energy. So I'll probably get better as I get older, okay? Because I'm gonna have this in my house. But now I rent Airbnbs and, and if I see a pool table in the Airbnb, it automatically, like, automatically make me want to like rent it. You know what I'm saying? And so a book it. But the thing so crazy because this, this, this Airbnb is cat. It's the out of us. You know what I'm saying? This pool table look way, this pool table way. We seen the pictures, put this for a month.

I mean everything, everything, all the pictures.

Of the Airbnb, literally, boy, nuclear family, you, me, nuclear family said, hey, hey, baby. We're gonna got these guys and they're gonna rent the house for home and we're gonna go stay at auntie's house. Got that Goddamn. They got a little baby trine in that. They got, they got all type of.

You know what I'm saying? But to the point about the pool table. Pool sharks. Catfishing is just a new hustle.

Oh, man. Catfishing is a new hustle.

And it's just another way to pretend, you know, I think high pool sharks, obviously it's like you play the table. Yeah, right. You want to pretend like you in a good shot to make your opponent comfortable. Then they can go. Then all of a sudden you're a pro. But now it's like you put up pro pictures. Like you got, you know, you got the knife pool table. You got the nice basketball court.

You know, the new, you know, bbls. New catfish.

BB Dallas is a new catfish.

Yeah, that's what catfish is. Now they got so deep with the catfish, they got damn one o' head to say, now it's real. BBL's new catfish. You never thought about like that?

I never thought about it like that.

That's what it is.

Bbl, new catfish, bro. It feel like BBL is just new in general. Like as far as I watched bbl.

Bro, listen, I watched BBL take over Script club. It took 10 years. It took 10 years. Yeah, I watched it. I watched the booty go from the booty in the hips and the backs go from natural booty backs to. Goddamn. I watched it, bro.

Yeah, like in 2010.

2020.

Yeah, that's that, bro.

I'm gonna tell you when it happened. Bbl, you know, they said always like, like that. Listen, that's what happened when the video Business started, got them getting popping and they started going down.

Yeah.

With the video business that was popping back in the day when Melissa Ford.

Yeah.

All the. And they get on the COVID of Goddamn. When that became not popular is because goddamn. That became. That's when the start of the BBL rise.

Watch. Go.

Go. Follow the trail.

Yeah, go follow the trail. There's a fall off the video Vixen, obviously.

Yeah.

In the rise of the Instagram.

Yep.

In that in between. Period. You're right. Something happened.

Yeah.

With bodies.

It's got another video bit since winning stink. And Kim Kardashian was born. That's what happened with the guy. That's how the BBL got them took her. And they was. They got there came alive crazy.

You said I seen it.

I seen that, bro. I watched it. You know, I didn't like Bob was got down the damn Internet. I watch boom.

Right?

Boom. I seen Tik Tok come the dot bbl. I watched the BBL happen. You know what I'm saying? And you in Atlanta. Yeah. And then when I did. When I wasn't in Atlanta, if I wasn't in the script club in Atlanta, I'm checking out the script clubs in Miami. You know what I'm saying? And bro.

And you see that too.

But it took over. So. So, so Catfish is a new bbl because guess what? They get in the face PBL and everything they got down chick that you. The way she looked when she was born. You don't see that again until she got kids. You don't see how she look no more. Your kids. Hold on, man. You ever heard about that case when the Chinese man sued? Oh, right. You remember this?

Yeah.

Cause the kid came out looking different.

I'm telling you, man, this shit's sad, man.

But why do you think we live in a time where people want to change their appearance?

I think it's a way. I think it's a shortcut. You know what I'm saying? Like we. We have as humans, we're intelligent enough to realize, oh, if I can shorten my. If I can create my distance to be short, I can kind of get somewhere. Listen, man, racism is the reason for bbl. If there were no racism, black women or white women wouldn't feel like they would have to change their. Their figures to get somewhere faster. You know what I'm saying? Like all of the. The self hate and all these, it's all it comes from like racism. So you never think that goddamn racism is the reason that Kim Kardashian Was born.

I mean, when you put it that way.

Crazy, bro. To the point.

The racism is probably the most influential event in American history.

Yeah.

Easily.

Easily.

They try to take these books at the schools that informs you about your history.

Yeah.

But it's. It's everywhere.

Them boys never was in no goddamn school, though. You don't think when I was in high school, okay. But I ain't read no book about.

But you wasn't in the library, though.

You're right. I wasn't in the library. Check got me there. I'm just talking about, like, what they teach us.

Yeah.

What's on the curriculum, you know what I'm saying? It was like in history class, we would talk about black history. Right. But I didn't learn about all them black inventors until I got out of college and I started researching because of curiosity.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying? Like, that was like, history does not, you know what I'm saying, Showcase black people in a light that makes them superior than other races at all. Even though the brain and the level of oppression. The reason we always been the best inventors, because we've always been the ones that's the most frustrating, you know what I'm saying?

Friction. It's friction. That's the only reason.

So we always had an uncomfortable ass life. So we invent all type of shit to try to make our life a lot more, you know, comfortable or trying to figure out some level of, like, you know, comfort to make some money. But all of this just come from, like, being uncomfortable in your own situation, you know what I'm saying?

So how does. Why is it so important to be genuine? Even though it seems like you can take shortcuts to change?

I don't think that's always the most truthful. I think it's important to be genuine because it. I think it procures good karma. I think when you see people that are genuine, you can feel it. I think you attract opportunities. I think being genuine kind of propels like bad energy, you know, racist thoughts, racist perspectives, you know what I'm saying? Or ill thoughts or evil perspectives. I personally think it when you're genuine, you know, it's something powerful in thinking. Every day is the sunshine, you know what I'm saying? People like, oh, every day the sunshine. You get mad at those people. That's always happening that. Always happy, man, that be. They see life differently, man. They probably be more healthy on the.

Inside, healthy on the outside.

Yeah.

But would you say you were one of those people every day in sunshine type of person.

Yeah, I'm in my, I'm in one of my homegirls, my homework. She used to tell me, I don't want to talk to this no more. Every time I talk to be happy, she's like, stop being so happy. Calling me, I'm sorry. Used to be the funniest. I just like, man, you gotta chill out, man.

But were you living like happy circumstances then?

Nah, man, I mean, you know, I was just, I was just. Man, it's just one of them things when you start making decisions about what you want to be in life, how you want life to hit you, you know what I'm saying? And like, I remember playing football, I remember my coach telling me, God damn, babes, you need to learn how to fall softer. You fall so goddamn hard. And I never understood this big N hitting me. Like, I'm not trying to fall hard. This N is all, these niggas are bigger than me, you know what I'm saying? But as life, as life went on, I started to realize that what he was speaking towards, what he was speaking towards was just being more in control of where you fall, you know what I'm saying? And there's a lot of lessons that I learned from black men, even white men that coach me in football, that made me take those same approaches to life. So when he was like, man, you gotta learn how to fall softer. You gotta learn how to be in control of how you fall. That translated to me today is that you got to be in control of how you feel. You know what I'm saying? So you, if you're going into something and you like calculated risk, you should be in control of how that might not turn over, right? And you can't control everything. But if you learn how to take those calculated risks to soften your blow or to soften your fail or your fall, I think that, you know, you'll live, your life will be a lot more. A lot more, you know, impactful in that way. You know what I'm saying? I like that. Yeah. So, you know, so a lot of these lessons that was learned was through like, you know, speaking and hearing and playing sports and getting, you know, getting taught by these younger, these older men. But at the time when you playing football in high school, these things really, they really don't know about life.

They're really not that old.

They don't really know about life. A lot of these was like. A lot of these was like in their late 20s, like we thought they were old man in the club we in our late 20s and 30s, like these really want, you know, what they know about life then. You coach high school football, man. Kind of fun to say that now. Bigger. They.

They bigger. So you feel like they should know more. And I think it. I know you got people looking up to you. It makes you want to be wise.

Yeah.

And say wise things. That one. That. Even though that's confusing, I would get mad confused by that one.

Yeah.

But it came full circle though, so good right now.

Definitely. I mean, you know what, how are you seeing like on your day to day life? How are you seeing your processes? Like, you know what I'm saying? Like when you're waking up, you know? You know I had called you because I'm trying to learn how to skate, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And so then I'm trying to learn how to skate. I was like, man, I'm trying to learn how to skate, man. I fucking around went to that Usher goddamn skate party. And then goddamn Mezzy tricked me talking about he can skate. I'm like, oh, you can't skate, I can't skate. Let's do it together. I get on that motherfucker, this thing. Like he's. I'm like. I'm like, hold on, Mezzy, you can really skate. I was lying. I can't skate. I never put skates on my feet. Think I'm around that. About to crash and burn. I'm sliding by punch tops.

They see me.

This about this. I need to laugh now.

Where's the video at, nigga?

The video. Somewhere. I gotta find this video. Jen sent me. She like, yo, I sent us a video on you. Seeing you. I had a coaster jacket on, embarrassing the couple.

She was terrible because Ty called me talking about trying to learn how to skate, but he made it seem like he was urgent.

It's definitely urgent.

Who trying to learn to skate in like two days. Send to the skater. The rink's too busy, Tyler. I ain't doing this. No, I ain't doing everything.

Too many eyes can be seen. Too many eyes, too many cameras.

So he leaves and I guess you went and went for it. When you hit me. I was in Santa Monica and we were doing a documentary on a producer. And this was interesting because I'm watching his process. They had us there for six days doing 2 to 2. 2pm to 2am Nah, like literally just sitting in the studio. It's an open door, so anyone can come in at any time. You don't know who's going to come in. They also got an area for producers.

To be cooking up.

All right, so they got a whole band there. And he was telling us about how this band is specifically pit together. Because when you have concentrated energy, you can get more work done far faster than you can if you just try to pull people together that you don't know. So they cooking up these beats and then you got a door. Anyone can come in hearing what you're making. And we were doing this 2pm to 2am every day for six days. And that just taught me so much about how, man, you can get a lot of work done in a week.

Yeah, you can.

You can get a three, four months worth of work done in a week if you got the right people, the right team and the right mindset. So it's been trying to find a way to concentrate the right energy in the right places at the right time. I feel like the trickiest part for me is when it's time to like get up and go, right? Like we might do money for four days. Got to go. So last year when we were doing Fuck youk Money was also shooting a documentary with this group called Little Brother. Yo, yo, yo. And we were doing that did 40 interviews for the Little Brook documentary. So if I wasn't with you, I was in Boston shooting for that. I was in North Carolina. So again, it just. I felt like I was always on the move. But one thing that could have changed is like the work, talking to people. You gotta have. You gotta know what you're talking to. You gotta know what you're talking about. I mean, we're talking about six, seven.

Hours a day in interviews.

Like six, seven hour interview, literally talking to you about convert to the pandemic. Trying to get your entire life story. So doing like, it was just. I feel like my work became far more extensive. I went from doing like again like 1200 word articles to 4 day shoots.

5 day shoots, 6 day shoots.

So it's been adjusting to so kind.

Of like a new.

A completely new process of working for me. Patience has been a big part of what I'm trying to understand more. Because nothing I'm doing right now is fast.

Oh yeah, everything is slow. So you know, patience is the fastest way to wealth.

I ain't gonna hurt that before.

Patience is the fastest way to wealth, man. Like everybody trying to get there so fast. Your patience is the fastest way to your money. True. Your money cuz you cuz you money don't happen without a plan. And a plan don't happen without patience. Cuz you got to have enough patience. Because the plan don't naturally just come to you. Most ain't that gifted with a plan. Just wake up in the morning, I got this plan. You know what I'm saying? Ideas come to you, but not a plan, that's a good one to me. Plan come to me, boy. Really, I come and I'd be like Dracula. But a plan, whole plan in my head, people be like, what?

I'm like, yeah, I'm doing this.

I'm doing this.

I'm doing this.

By the time you wake up, though, I'm already done. And I ain't even explaining to you, so I can't teach you. So then I have my business partner, they'd be like, what the are you even talking about?

But why, why are you like that? Why can't you see it so clear?

That's practice, though. That ain't nothing. That just like, like, that's a practice. That's a thing. You practice. Like, if you do that every day, what you're doing, do that every single day for an hour. Yeah. And you do it for 10 years. And you started doing that when you were 17. Now you're 27 years old, you've been doing that every single day for an hour, right? You're naturally going to be able to do things better than other people that don't have nothing to do with that. Got you. You see what I'm saying? So when you constantly putting in a certain level of critical thinking or physical muscle memory exercises, things just naturally happen. That is a direct or indirect effect of the things that you thought about. So talking about. So before, I just would have a bunch of ideas. Ideas. I got this idea, I got this idea. Then it became like, oh, I got an idea for you, right? Oh, I got an idea for you. Then it became, I got a plan for you, right? And then it became, I got a plan for not only you, for myself, for anything that I hear, you know. So somebody like, oh, what is it like? Literally, when I was in class for the program, for the, for the, for the Harvard program, right? The guy that was sitting beside me, behind me, he was the president for Mr. Beast. We started doing a case study. Three ideas hit me to help grow his brand. I wrote them down, passed to him on a piece of paper. I ain't put my name on the. Probably make $10 million out of my deal. But it wasn't even about me making no money. It was just about me. Like in that moment, it really just hit me that these ideas about this man brand and things that he can do that extend his brand bigger than what it's already. What it already is.

And this comes to you like intuition?

I would say it comes to intuition. I think it's more so that I'm just a kid, you know what I'm saying? I never lost. I never lost my. I never lost that, you know, I never grew up, you know what I'm saying? So, like, I never grew up. So like, when you start talking about like, like the kid things and like, even the dynamic, I never grew up. I got more responsible, but I never really grew up in that sense, you know. And sometimes growing up is a process of killing your imagination.

This is pro linebacker TJ Watt and I'm back with YPB by Abercrombie for another activewear drop. My second co design collection has new shorts and tanks that keep up with all my in season workouts. And their new Restore collection is a game changer off the field too, because even pro athletes like me need rest days. Shop YPB by Abercrombie in the app, online and in stores because your personal best is greater than anything.

This episode is brought to you by Indeed. Stop waiting around for the perfect candidate. Instead, use Indeed sponsors sponsored Jobs to find the right people with the right skills fast. It's a simple way to make sure your listing is the first candidate. C. According to Indeed data, sponsored jobs have four times more applicants than non sponsored jobs. So go build your dream team today with Indeed. Get a $75 sponsored job credit@ Indeed.com podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Rince knows that greatness takes time. But so does laundry. So Rince will take your laundry and hand deliver it to your door, expertly cleaned. And you can take the time pursuing your passions. Time once spent sorting and waiting, folding and queuing, now spent challenging and innovating and pushing your way to greatness. So pick up the Irish flute or those calligraphy pens or that daunting beef Wellington recipe card and leave the laundry to us. Rinse. It's time to be great.

I got a cousin that looked after me, kept me out of trouble. I asked him one day, I was like, hey man, you know, what's your passion like? You know what if. What's your. Like, what's your passion? I can't remember the exact question I asked. He told me that today he is extremely excited because his kids are getting things that they need and that's his passion. You know what I'm saying? And nothing is wrong with that. I think it was beautiful. You know What I'm saying, I just hang in that space to be thinking like that. Not that it's wrong, but like, to be a grown up society has told you that you gotta kill your imagination. You ever seen Drop Dead Friend? Nah. You never seen Drop Dead Friend? Nah. Then you gonna watch Drop Dead Friend. We're gonna do a you money episode.

All right?

And when you watch it, you gonna be like, this talk is crazy. I watched that movie very, very young, bro. Drop Dead Fred taught me so much about life. Literally, drop dead, friend. I was like, yo, in order to grow up, you gotta kill your imagination. Your imaginary friend got to. And if you know, if you grow, if you, if you want to grow.

Up, if you want to grow, if.

You want to grow. That's why people that are like now you gotta realize the most difficult thing for your brain to process is to stop something. That's a natural thing. It's a natural thing to grow up and be like, I'm gonna be an adult. I'm gonna get bills, I'm gonna have kids. I'm gonna get a wife. Like, so sort of stop your brain from doing that intentionally is another type of exercise that your brain and your body relaying used to. Right. And most people fail it.

Right.

So for you to be able to say, I'm not gonna grow up like that. Kanye west is a kid.

Yeah.

Nobody cannot tell me that Kanye west is not a kid. How he act and the temper tangent, all those different things, that does not excuse him for his actions as an adult. Right. What if a kid was doing those exact same things? What you would say? They're like, oh, you're just a kid as a kid. You know, he don't, you know, obviously you ain't gonna be married with kids and.

Right.

But like his actual outbreaks, you know what I'm saying? And so I think terrible right now. I think that it's a really, you know, important thing for people to know. Oh, the point I was making is if you can. If you can become an adult without killing your imaginary friend, because your life can change. But the moment you kill your imaginary friend, then you got a goddamn bring that back. I drop dead friend.

That's what happen.

Got bring back. If you don't bring him back, you know, you think Elon Musk is a. That man is a kid.

As a child.

That man. That man is grown. He bought Twitter $4 billion.

Would you ever, ever bought Twitter if.

I had that much money. It's a lot of, I'll be driving if I had Elon Musk money. I probably would have bought the Timberwolves, though. But I definitely brought The Timberwolves. Yeah. 1,000%.

How many engagements but better investment.

You want to know? What about the Timberwolves? About Ant Man. I bought Timberwolf because Ant man there, like, boy, that. That's starboard. Buying Timberwolook of Ant man there.

Still a better investment. Are you calling him Elon Musk?

Yeah. What is his name? Elon. Elon. Yeah. I want to go crazy. Yeah. They're like, Kavanar. Like Kavanar, baby. Elon Musk. Yeah. That name.

You. You on to something. You on to something. I like the idea of just the consistent practice of doing something and that. That one muscle is going to work other muscles.

Yeah.

Like, even if you don't recognize those.

Muscles, even if you're not successful, it's still about the action of doing the repetition, repetition, over and over and over again.

What was your most repetitious practice that you did constantly, that you feel like.

But I used to dig for music.

Yeah.

Like, bro, when I tell you I used to dig for music, I used to always find the hot. Yeah, I used to be on that. At that SoundCloud, that YouTube. I would sit down, I would be in that motherfucker for hours. Hours just finding. You know what I'm saying? I. I would. I'm an obsessive learner. If it's something new, something new that's happening in the world and I learn about it, I'm gonna sit down for the whole day and I'm not gonna move until I learn what it is.

As much as you can about it.

As much as I can about it. Especially if it's an action pattern that I need to be doing. If it's an action item that's going to cause me to do something, I'm gonna sit down. I'm learning as much as I can, bro. I guess you could say learn.

Yeah.

Always like, man, I gotta learn this, I gotta learn that.

I mean, I was like that with music. I mean, I remember Live Wire, of course, man. Sit on Live Wire. Download as many albums, songs, videos. Didn't matter what it was. Lil Wayne dropped a freestyle over it. I had it.

Gotta hit it, gotta get it.

You know? Then when the blogs popped up on the blogs, didn't matter if you was from Kansas, Wichita, or if you was from Athens, Georgia. I had to know if he was hot or not.

Yep. The blogs really, really made discovery of music a lot more easier. But it also opened up that port because Once you find out. Oh, this like, you know what I'm saying? Oh, what's the, what's, what's the, what's the, yo, Cooler than me. Mike poser. Oh yeah. Mike poser.

Damn.

Mike poser. Let me see who else from Detroit got some new kids that I ain't never really known about before, you know what I'm saying?

Because you want to know about the community of, of the art. You didn't want to just know what art is. But that wasn't enough. You had all this time. I mean, you feel like that's why that age group between like 15 to 25 are the most when it comes to consuming new music, like they're seeking it probably more than people between the ages of 30 and 45. He's got time. He was.

Mr.

Beast. Okay, one episode and I have found. This article released in September of 2022 by Adam Ryan is the creator economy. And they talk about Mr. Beast because he's a case study that the creative economy can thrive with a top creator. Oh, he is on the path to be the first billionaire YouTuber has created.

A blueprint of how big of an.

Ecosystem a single creator can become. Mr. Beast at this point in time, this is September 2022, has 104 million YouTube subscribers on his personal page. 157 now today, more than 180 million across 18 channels.

Now this is the thing, he was on pace to be YouTube creator first billionaire.

But Jake, Paul, Jake Paul passing, he.

Gonna pass him that new prime beverage he got. Yeah, man, they said that doing like a million dollars in sales a day.

For real?

Yeah, that prime is nuts. Cuz the margin on beverages is nuts.

Well, it say here that he has his own beef burgers now.

Yeah.

So that's something new. He has 500 plus ghost kitchens. You know.

So at the time I had something, he got chocolate, I had some his chocolate.

So he's doing all products.

He doing all products. He got the chocolate, he got the burgers, he got YouTube, they got real estate. And then I don't know, I don't know what else things that he's doing, but it's definitely the chocolate and the burgers is the thing that's outside of content.

So just seeing how he has been able to create a ecosystem.

Yeah, yeah. The burgers is kind of like his yeast. I mean the chocolate is kind of like. Yeah like how much money that, that you can potentially generate, you know what I'm saying? With a product like that, that's just 711 and everything that's what I got from.

So you should. So you would say if you are a creator, once you build your. Your content, where it's generating, your next thing is product.

Yeah, 1000.

Because it just seems like that's what I mean. Constant is generating so much money that he has the. I would say the space to explore. He can invest in whatever he wants. It doesn't have to be like. It doesn't have to be disclosed. He can do chocolate, he can hoop barbers all the time.

But just looking at the numbers on.

This kid that he's 25, but at the time, the article was 23.

Yeah. And he's young. He's young. But what's some of the stats?

I mean, that's just. That was just the numbers that they had.

As far as just the numbers. Well, is there any young. Young people that you came across that you've been super impressed about their business?

They're super impressed by their business.

That's creative people, rather. They're photographers, videographers, rappers, singers.

I've been. I've been running into a lot of, like, people that's coming up right now. Yeah, Abigail has this really cool thing. It's like dope shit on TikTok. TikTok, just one of the ones that jumped out at us as far as when we're doing rap portraits, trying to see I should be running into these kids, man.

Yeah.

Every time I run into these kids, I'm just talking to this kid Caleb right now. He's a young writer.

Yeah.

And he just sends me music, sends me articles. Just. They're so tapped in.

I met this kid I had with his book at ucla. I mean, usc, right?

Yeah, one of the homies.

They kind of work at American Express. I met this young kid named Daniel and he had a school project he was doing where he had to throw a concert, but he had his wrong. He had this jumpsuit, like, screen printed of Roman noodle noodles.

Ramen noodles.

Ramen noodles.

Ramen noodles. Yes, bro.

And it was like. He said it was some level of promotion for the concert.

Right.

So I remember the question on the ramen. It's interesting. But he was like, such one of them. You just can see, like, how home he was in his eyes, right? So I was like. I was like, well, listen, man, like, you know, he took my number or whatever the case may be. And what was so crazy is that he was like, yeah, man, I'm doing a party. You know, if you got an artist, they can go perform it. I'll put Them on the show right now, right? But I was looking for some young videographers. And I. And I hit him like, yo, I need some young videographers. Could you, you know, could you send me something? You got some young talent in usc. That man sent me. He gave me a day. He sent me 30, 30 videographers and film and like, photographers, you know, external spreadsheet. And so I was so confused. I was like, hey, bro, where you at, man? We gotta talk. Because I was just so impressed that he had that level of, like.

Reach.

Like, just like, collecting data is a skill set of like, specifically. Just think about if you can call a person. You say, yo, I need 10 people that know how to make custom furnitures.

Yeah.

In a day, they send it to you. I need 10 people that know how to paint houses. But that's the skills.

That's a.

Literally, that's the art of curation, right? So he did that for videographers. So I'm like, hey, man, can we go to lunch next week? So we go. We go to Soho. How much? He's like, super, like, like hungry for information. So I'm like. He's like, yeah, man, I know, man. It's a little thing, but I'm able.

To help you those.

But, you know, I said, hold on, hold on. The fact that you can get that many level of videographers with these are all solid, like, tasteful selections. That curation, that's not something. That's a little thing. That's why we sit here today.

Really? Yeah.

Because I can't how many I've been trying to get to see me on. I don't care. I got one or two of them. See, sent me 30.

I just got one. I was. This is to your point because I. I had some guy, Randall, that I know when we met, running around. He's a writer. He had told me at Dreaml Fest. He was like, yo, I got a filmographer. I need you to know how you got Black Woman. She dope. I want you to know it. And I was like, because she was supposed to be at the fest. I gotta go to a funeral in like 10 minutes. Keep me on email with her and we'll.

We'll go from there.

So I didn't hear another promo for like a week or two. And he texted me. He was like, yo, I'm gonna send it over. I'm gonna send it over. I just got it while we was in here over her page. She had just did her first film and it was executive produced by Beast By Drake.

Yeah.

Okay, I'm looking at it. High quality, super nice young woman. And I was like, hey, if you gonna be in Atlanta anytime soon, let me know. She was like, hey, I'll be there in July. She gave me some days. I said, okay, we'll look together. But like, it's cool to know that someone can just like, hey, I got somebody, right? Like, I got somebody. You look at that work, okay, this is good work. And then you might not have nothing for them, because I didn't have anything for at the moment as far as something we can work on together. But I want us to at least see your story. I want to hear your story. I want to know what you about, but 30.

30. I was highly impressed, man. 30, you just. You in the trenches. Yeah, but you know, those are the type of individuals that are that resourceful that end up being, you know, they end up founding. Being a founding founder of some very successful company, you know, five years from now because they. They come a spark or idea, and it was relentless for that idea, you know what I'm saying?

How do you. How do you go through what I consider like large masses of people? What you mean when you're getting so much information, like, how do you decipher.

Where you put your time at about me personally? Yeah, man, I be letting God deal it, but they gotta got. But they gotta have a relationship with God to get to me nowadays. But they better pray it be so much. It be so much information. You gotta pray, pray that somebody see it that know me or some. I'm praying that I find it. I can't. I don't have enough time to look through it, you know what I'm saying? Like, all the individuals that I have came across in this journey, it was curated somehow some way, you know what I'm saying? Like. Like I can't even. There's no way for me to describe it. To be able to be so early on certain people's radar or their journeys, to be able to say, man, that shit was crazy, my man. And it's a consistent thing. That's why I just always just take it as man, you got to stay. Gotta be praying for it. Gotta pray for those opportunities. You gotta pray for that insight to be able to know, like, okay, it's something that I should be paying attention to, you know what I'm saying? I hear that.

I hear that. As one kid I'm interested in, it was Barry had the so Bagel show in Atlanta. First one that they did. I want to say, 2021 while I wrapped around the building. This Rocky did the Lost and None.

Of that show because I think he performed on top of the car after.

The fact because it was too many kids. They were about to shut it down. I stand on the street corner and there's this kid standing next to me. I ain't never met this kid before in my life. And I look at him and I ask him, how you getting in there?

He said, how did she.

I was like, all right. So I see Barry. So I'm like, all right, come follow me. Follow me. Barry gets his in. And that kid hung out with me for like three days. He did whatever I asked him to. My phone died. Like, you get this charge?

He charged my phone.

He rolled me around like.

Them youngest. You need to be fighting.

And he makes clothes, you know what I'm saying? So I'm always. Someone's like, he picks me up about saying stuff. He's working on things of that nature. And it was just being at the right place at the right time, you.

Know, that's a part of it as well, though, you know, being in the right place at the right time, that's a real thing. That's all God. Even when we start talking about like your money and like this concept of, you know, I never ever, ever, you're never gonna hear me say anything about self made. I don't believe that. Not because I believe in God. I believe in alignment. I believe in a community. There's so many steps that had that, that, that happened before I even realized it was happening. That afforded me the opportunity to be able to think of the concept of doing something around, you know what I'm saying? And you know, it's like, I know we ain't really made no money off this like that for real, you know what I'm saying? It was a promotional tool to get the book out there. And then it just started being something that, oh like, you know, Amazon would give us an opportunity. But for the most part, all of this is just like these concepts and this favor that, that I believe comes because you're just a good human, you know what I'm saying?

And I would say ANT was new, the show was new, everything around it, the book was new. We were pretty much entering what I would consider uncharted territory. You never sold books before?

No.

You sold a lot of things, but you, you, you know, never put your name on a book. And so that, so there is what I would consider like learning that we had to kind of on the go.

Before we Even get to season two.

Just to get through season one. We had a lot to learn. Oh, yeah. We learning on our first shoot about needing WI Fi to do the show. You know what I'm saying? Because we got Airbnb at a spot. They ain't got no WI Fi. So, you know, I feel like the learning of fuck you, money, the show is, to me, as real as the learning of building any business or building any kind of idea. You gotta start from somewhere.

Yeah. You know, the interesting part about all of this is. I appreciate the amp situation and, like, the opportunity, but if I knew the amount of people that. That hit me, like, yo, I missed the show. What can I hear that? If I'd have, like, I was like, hey, you missed it. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, but it was like on some pirate radio shit. Yeah. But now this season, I want to make sure everybody really can go back and listen to it over and over again, because it might be some game that they was able to get that they'll be able to promote more and then overall help out, help the message get out more. You know what I'm saying?

I was just. Someone just text me while we've been here, and they got to reread the book.

Yeah.

You know, that's something that I've heard numerous times throughout the last year or so. Is that, like, I'm about to read it again, I'm about to go back to it again because people will read it, you gonna live your life, and then you feel like, I want to go back to that information and see if I'm learning or see how I can apply it. It's the same thing with the show, right? Yeah. I'm pretty sure this thing that people wish. I wish I can go back and hear that conversation that you always have. That shit just disappeared. It's just like an Instagram story. She's gone.

You wanna know what's so dope, though? What's so dope about this shit? And we would have never thought about it. This is what's so great about exploring ideas. Because the idea will come from the idea. Right. And what's so dope about it is that there's not gonna be too many audio shows, radio shows, podcasts, that's gonna be based around. Every season there's a book that's coming from the seat. Right, Right. So now we're working on volume two. This is season two, your money. And I think that the concept of this is going to be really, really, really game changing. And people are not going to understand the. The levels of it because it's like, oh, snap. Like it's easiest for somebody to be. Okay. I've been starting the podcast. We're going to set up at the sneaker shop. We're going to interview artists. But it's different when it's like, now this podcast is attached to a literature that you got to read to really understand the podcast more or to really understand the show more. Right. And I remember asking you, Vanessa, like a couple days ago, like, you know what, what makes show podcast, you know, and like, oh, the microphones and the headphones, like, I never want to wear none of that. That wasn't going to work for me anyway. With a big boom mic in front of my mouth and just talking. That was going to work.

Someone could look over the fence and probably not think we making a podcast. Oh, yeah, they probably just say. They just outside talking. You know, I think that is just part of the energy. Yeah, that's just.

I think that the, the. The ideas. And I can't say the ideas on this camera because, you know, yeah, we're gonna put it out and you'd be like, oh, snap. But as you. As I talk, more and more ideas come out. And what is really dangerous is black men and women that can execute ideas. But what's more dangerous than that is black men and women that can execute ideas and they got their own money to invest into ideas. Because now you don't have no barriers. You know, you don't have no barrier. Somebody stopping you or something stopping you because you didn't have the right funding in place, you know what I'm saying? Right. Or you had to wait on certain things and all those different aspects. When we get ready to start, like thinking about our. Our bundles. Yeah. Our bundle is going to be a ticket to see fuck you money live sponsored by Microsoft. Get the book from season one, season two, you know what I'm saying? And all of those different things, you know what I mean? Had to happen, you know what I mean? What's something that you think your parents can learn from you today?

Can learn from me today?

Yep. Research. Research. Yeah.

My dad told me recently that he did not like they didn't research escapism. Well, okay, so let me give you the backstory. My uncle was a part of a bunch of real estate. He had a bunch of real estate partners who wanted to rent to own this skating rink in Atlanta that was called. I don't know if you ever remember this. It's called the Cater County Skate center. It was in cater. And they pulled their money together and they wanted my father to manage the ring, so brought my mom and dad in, do the management of the rink. So they did that, man, maybe like four or five years, just manage the ring. So then the partners decided they wanted to opt out. Everybody was going to just we going to sell this thing. Everybody take their money. My parents took the money they got from that and got skates on outside. So this whole time didn't have that ring. Now going on 22 years, I think.

But that's so crazy. I don't stay around that place, that area for so long. I never knew that.

Did you ever been you went before?

That's my first time.

First time. First time, yeah. Skate zone on Mountain Zion is if you're on the south side of Clinton county at all, you know, skate zone because it's only the movie theater, the mall, that's pretty much all kids, young adults have in that area, 1,000%. So they've had that since I was middle school, going to high school, like 2005. But no prior research went into it?

No.

Kind of. Let me, let me seek out more information. I'm just doing what I have seen from managing Priory. So it became more instinctive, you know, I, I the business for this long, I can say that they know what they're doing, but it did not occur to them, let's find out new ways to maybe find some unconventional funding and find new ways to do things of that nature. So when, when I started doing more like journalism, more journalistic stuff, and how much time I would spend researching artists or research for interviews and things of that nature, to even go and talk to people. That's something that my dad specifically told me was like, I wish I had that. You know, I would say foresight to know knowing more allows you to make more money or to just have better, better experiences. One thing about skater rinks is they used to do these conventions in Vegas. So they would have all these skating rinks from all over the world come in and do like two or three days together. Man, you know how few people were black at this convention. They really saw a lot of. Yeah, like from all around the world in Atlanta, obviously is a little different. But you start to see people coming in from like, Kansas or coming in from like, outside of like the south, very white. And I just think that, you know, I would, I would hope that I can bring some more information to them about what they can do to just have the business longer and to continue to grow the business. Because again, you make it 20 years, you know how to keep your life soft.

About the same.

But to make it 40 years, you probably don't know how to expand or know. Know some ways to keep cash flowing in, saving.

Money.

But yeah, I think, I think I'm trying to still learn more from my parents as far as like running the.

Business, keeping it going, because they're 20 years in, so they know what they're.

Doing again, you know, you know what they're saying they're having. The biggest problem is right now.

What's that?

Finding employees.

Everybody having that brunch, especially because they paying with probably like $8,000 anyway.

Yeah, yeah, bro.

You got people that get paid more than that you can't keep.

Why you think that is?

Oh, I just think people like. It's a certain laziness that's happening when people just think they can just make money on social media here. Some people don't really want to work or they're looking on news and looking. Wait, no, get it later. But I think people just like, are looking for a certain element of things that really, truly probably. They probably don't even have the skill sets to be this whatever.

They're not.

They don't have the skill sets. I don't want to. I don't downplay a person development. Yes, but it's a work ethic that you got to have in order to be the type of. To make money outside of the traditional job. You know what I'm saying? It's a certain level of like commitment. You got to have thinking, you got to have all of those different things. Right. And I don't think that a lot of people understand that. And you know, then, you know, if you can just scan them for a living, that's another reason why.

Why would I go in, just be.

Scamming catfish for a living. Why would I go do a job?

Thing is like, it's like skating rink is not hard work. Right. You essentially going to be around people your age, sharing rap music, hip hop music. You chance to skate, but there is like an intentionality of when you got 400 people, you was in there on that Wednesday, how many people was in there? What's the best man? Depends how much money you got. But I don't know how busy was it that you went in there? But I thought Wednesday was getting to be a bit thick.

Yeah.

So when you have, I mean, man, 13, 14, 15. Wednesday you might have like 400 people in there. You run out of skates in the back you got people, the concession line right behind the building. You got 300 people on the skate floor.

Yeah.

You going to do some work in, in, in that kind of environment, it's not just going to be fun, but you find, you find the right people.

You find the right people.

You said we had a guy named J. Gilbert Fell in high school. He was our first employee. Came with us when he was 16 years old. My mom says the hardest, hardest worker she had ever had. Hardest work she ever. So look, we were doing you money. Oh no, we wanted to. We were doing the book. And I was in la, got a call that he got killed.

How old was it?

He was like 33, 34. Had a wife, two kids.

What the. Yeah, that's what scared me. 18 wheelers terrified me. Like if I'm driving the 18 wheeler is in the right side. I literally just stay behind it. Terrified. I just feel like I just thought.

They'Re gonna follow over them and it's.

Crazy for my brother, my cousins, a lot of them drove at 18 wheelers.

Really?

Yeah, our whole family had like CDL license. Terrifies me, bro.

So he passed through it. It was a big blow. And you saw his funeral, all the people that came out to him and just like he was a community person. So while I was particularly sad about his passing, obviously this is probably like a big brother. He was telling me how he had. Because he was a nurse that worked at the school. He was like, man, yo, I got these two kids, I think, I think they got something like rap wise. He was playing me. He was like these songs. He was like, man. I think, I think, I think, I think, I think they got something now.

I think I got a book for you.

Book's not done. When this book is finished. I feel like if you are thinking about potentially managing these kids, I think.

His book would be big.

He had passed for.

That's crazy.

So sometimes understanding that like good people not gonna be here, man.

This is very true.

You're just not gonna be here for a long time. But like when you find them, you want to hang on to them as long as possible because they hard to find.

Even.

Even in places that's fun. Like I think music is another place where this is a good time. Music can be so much fun, but is equally as hard to find people that wants it.

She crazy. Yeah, I guess. Yeah. That's a crazy story. Very crazy story. Yeah, it was crazy.

It was crazy what happened. I think, I think it's like, especially when you're running around traveling, you Think once that home is going to be there. You always saying was glass that's at home. That was my first like surprise. That was my first time having to get back home. And there was a little like boy something that was there. You ever experienced that before? Oh what Dr. Sir, you give me a time.

I was 19 years old. My best friend got murdered in Morrow.

In Mara.

Yeah. I think the road. I think that was Lake Harbor.

Lake Harbor.

I think I was off La Har. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So that's why everything CL Capital. Yeah.

So it's like one of them type of thing. But yeah, that was like when you do somebody being in your actual ecosystem for a long period of time, you know, I mean that and that's removed throws you off. Mind you, I was, I was young. I couldn't even imagine somebody being in my life for adulthood years.

Right.

It's already hard when you are young, you young, you 19 years old. You don't spend the last six years with this human best friends moving around together, playing sports together, together. But I couldn't imagine like spending 17 years with somebody that's happened to a bunch of my friends. Last year my boy tears, my boy day. They lost a lot of close, close homes that they've been friends with since high school.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

Best friend, he does something like.

Because you don't really imagine.

You want. Once someone's been with you for a long enough time, they just become a part of you, part of your life. You see them in your birthdays, you know what I'm saying? You want catch up with them when you, when you are in town, when you're out of town, hopefully you get a chance to see them have kids. So now you. You a part of their kids lives. And then to not have that is.

It's a shock, it's a shot. What's the this this year through a season we didn't do it for. We do it for all two episodes we shot every day. But I want to start doing takeaways. Like what is your takeaways? That's how we gonna wrap the show up. We're gonna start giving people some takeaways or some tips or a book to read or some things that can kind of like leave them with something to kind of leave with as they waiting for volume two, you know what I'm saying? I got you.

I think, I think falling soft.

Yeah.

I probably won't take that with me for a long time. I think I fall hard.

Yeah.

I think I have an issue with that as far as like I feel like I made a mistake or something. I might dwell on it a little longer than I have any right to do because I think I take it personally. That's not falling songs.

Yeah.

That's falling way too hard. And I think a lot of people can take that information and apply it to just the way you go to work every day and understand that, hey, if you want, if failing happens, do it as soft as possible.

Yeah, I think I'll give. I'll give the. I'll give everybody. The fastest way of wealth is through patience. That was a good one.

That was good.

I learned that, you know, just reading and thinking and talking with my team staff. Are we building it? Everything is around patience because once you master patience, you directly, indirectly master your, how level headed you are, your emotional iq, you master all of those different things and you masturbations. So you master patience. Then you start to work towards that long term game which is, you know, building generational wealth for your family. So that's a wrap right there, man. We should be hell out of here. So we got down. We wrap it up. How do we, how do we. Breaking.