Forever We Love Atlanta

All right, what's our time?

How much time we at? Hold on, I ain't see it. It's on the thing.

What do you need?

How much time we been talking?

How long we been talking?

46 minutes.

46 minutes?

I've been recording for 56.

Tell me about the name.

Yo, you gotta relax.

Come on, tell me about the name. You picked the name.

Nice, little propped up.

Well, tell me.

I wanna know the name. Fuck you, money. So it was this joke I had, right? I was on Twitter and I was like, damn, niggas need fuck you money. And so I. So I. It's probably like two years ago, I purchased a website called fuckyoumoney4me, right? And I was like. I said, I'm gonna make this a whole class. It's going to be a class. It's going to be for like five weeks, six weeks, and motherfuckers don't come and learn how to get some fuck you money. So basically, it was going to be nothing but my Twitter rants, but more in a literary perspective. So I was going to, like, start this website. So I didn't have no idea for what the website was going to be, nor did I know how to design a website. So I paid, like, the graphic guy that I fuck with and he. I said, yo, I just need you to put. Get some of that with the middle finger. So that was the website. You click on the website and it was like this bird. It was like, get some of that. And it was just like that for, like, a running joke until, like, the shit expired. So the funk you money came from just like, this thought process that I don't think anybody should be doing anything that doesn't serve them. And a lot of times people are slaves to, like, the shiny prisons that they build. So in the essence of it, I'm like, yo, the fuck you money shit is really, truly freedom, you know, for most of people of color. Like, I don't really think about, like, white people in the same way just because of how the country was built. So that's really where fuck you money came from in my mind. Then when you brought the show up and I was like, oh, shit, we can just call it. That's the name of the show.

When you told me about the name, I thought it was a joke until we was in a text and he was like, yo, can we name it fuck you, money? No asterisks, no nothing. Just straight fuck you. He was like, what do you say? He was like, I think that'd be okay.

I Think that'd be okay?

I think that'd be okay. So now we here with Fuck youk Money, the radio show.

Yeah, I guess it's a radio show.

Yeah, it's a radio show now. It's not a tweet rant. Oh, yeah, no, it's not a Twitter rant. But do you feel different now today having the show versus having the website?

I guess you all going to feel different because you are progressing on something that is, I guess you would say, raunchy from a sense of like. Like why you say it like that.

Right.

But the. Yeah, the thought process of like, you know, attention that is caused by abrasion, like being very abrasive.

Right.

And so I like the concept that it's tied into multiple things. I like the concept that fuck you money is tied into, like a lifestyle way of how you can think if you truly understand it. I like the way that it's tied into the book. I like the way that it's tied into, like creating a show that's gonna be like a very unique live audio show. I like the fact that it makes people start questioning how they manage their overhead to be able to maneuver themself to have that fuck you money. And it's nothing but like a cushion, you know? You know what I'm saying? For you to be able to say, I want to pursue this. And I've saved up six months of like my, you know, overhead to quit my job and not do anything but pursue what I'm loving for six months. And that's a form of like, fuck your money, you know what I'm saying? Where you can actually not disrespectfully tell your boss fuck you and leave. But like, that behavior and that attitude and the amount, the bravery that you need to have in order to try to achieve something that's new, you know what I mean?

I feel like it's very irrelevant in music, right? When you are working as an artist making some noise, someone brings you a contract with some money on it, right?

Yeah.

The terms can be terrible, but you need this bread. You got some fuck you money. You can tell them where to put the contract at, take your money and keep running it up. But most people from like an artist standpoint are rarely in a position to say fuck you.

Yeah, you always in a position to say fuck you. In my mind, yeah.

Always. Now.

Yeah. Once you get to become an adult, you may, you know, you saying fuck you may come with repercussion consequences that you gotta struggle with.

Right.

Facts. But I Think if you had a mentality that you're always in a position because like, I remember running into a partner that was an A R. There was A and R at this record label and it was. They was kicking it with my homie and they had got a new job. It was something they were very excited about. And they had started working there. They had been working there for like two, three years. And then they wasn't that really happy. But in them not being happy, they still was getting like raises, Right. Every time they got a raise, I don't know their finances, but I'm pretty sure their lifestyle increased. Every raise, lifestyle increased. That is our curse as black people. We get a raise, we're gonna go buy some new shit. Right. We not thinking about the dream that we had before we got this job. We think about that when that raise comes, we just think about, ooh, we got a raise, I want a new.

Car, whatever it is, Right.

And that person was very unhappy with where they was at because the thing that they actually loved about the job that they got hired for end up dissolving over time. And they felt like. I always call it a shiny prison. So now you're in this nice, shiny prison, like being in the feds. The story I hear about the feds, you got a refrigerator, you got, you know what I'm saying, Like, you a big time drug, you get banged up like the feds is nice, you know what I'm saying? So I think that's what people do. And people end up having these dynamics of like this shiny ass job, nice job, but they really unhappy because they haven't set themselves up to be in a position to have that level of.

Like freedom and it's shiny because they don't want to leave.

Yeah, yeah, 1,000%. You can always downgrade, you know what I'm saying? You can always downgrade, but like downgrade looks like you're losing.

Yeah, yeah. You in a dirty prison.

Yeah.

You don't want to be in a dirty prison.

Yeah.

But you probably closer to escaping if it's not shiny.

1,000%.

So I feel you. Well, I guess that's my question is, do you remember the last time you felt like you was in a shiny prison? Uh.

Nah, I know I never had a real job. Like I had a bunch of part time jobs and everybody know part time jobs, you know, they don't really feel real.

Nah, right.

Yeah. Like, I had like jobs with places that had high turnaround rate. And then when I worked at, when I worked at Delta like, that's the freest that I felt working at any job, because that job allowed me to travel and I didn't have to travel for work. You know what I'm saying? Like, it was a clause in your fucking, like, terms and agreements with Delta that you couldn't travel for business on your benefits.

My best friend just got hired at Delta, so he's experiencing what you experienced as far as the freedom within a job. You got enough hours where you can travel when you're not working 1,000%. And that's the thing about Delta. You don't got to work all the time. They let you kind of set your hours 1000%. So what you do on your off time is what you do on your off time. You just can't travel for business.

I always travel for business.

Well, don't tell them that.

I would travel for business.

You remember your first business trip?

My first business trip. So when I first got hired at Delta, the. I went through orientation, right? Mm. So the fucking orientation, everybody passed. Like, the. It wasn't a background check? No, no, it was a background check. So everybody passed a background check except for me. I was in the system as a. I had that. I got fired before.

From Delta. From Delta.

So the reason that I was in the system, because I got fired before is because in 2007, right before I signed my contract to go play pro ball for, like, this Arena League, I got a job at Delta. For real? Yes. Okay. But I didn't take it. Like, I went to Orientate. I went to, like, the interview that you got to do everything, and that's what they base you. They hire you on.

They hired you.

So I hired. They hired me, but I never went to the job. I called them and told them, like, yo, I'm not gonna be at a certain job, okay? But that was. So I got terminated.

In the system.

In the system. So, you know, four years later, I come back, I got the job. I done. Went through all through orientation, through training, and then when it was time for people to get their clearance, they called it the cider badges. I couldn't get no clearance, so.

Hold on. Stop. You got hired the same job twice?

Yeah.

And because the first time, you didn't even work, it got flagged.

Yeah, I got terminated. But they. They. I don't know how they put it in the system, but I never worked.

But why did you reapply for Delta?

Cause I fly free. Okay.

All right?

The goal was just to fly free.

All right?

So they tell you. Not everything. Delta tell you not to do. I did it right. They tell you when you traveling, don't travel on days that you gotta work or whatever. Or they'll say like, you gotta wait a certain amount of time before you activate your benefits or whatever.

Right.

So I had a whole week off because they had to get the system shit corrected for me to like, for me to actually work. So I flew to Toronto. I flew to Toronto. That was summer of 2000. My first flight was to Toronto, summer 2011.

Before you guys started working, you already flying?

Yeah, I hadn't worked a day except for like the training. Like the training stuff they do.

That's funny.

But yeah.

Why Toronto?

Love Toronto. Yeah, Toronto. At the time I was working with this producer and then my partner, my partner Addie, who, who managed a producer name Rich, Rich Kid. Rich. Rich, you know, Rich Kid. It was working with Milo Smith. So I was just going over there to fuck with them, learn more about Toronto, you know what I mean?

So I guess if people are listening to this and they don't know you, while you're working at Delta, you're helping talent managing artists locally in Atlanta. What was that like in that timeframe? What was the music scene like for you?

What did you see? Man, during that time, Atlanta was starting to have like a. That was doing like run the. Like the Fadi was doing broken bougie. A3C really was starting to grow. It was really like the first time Atlanta had ever seen like an independent, like a indie, like backpack, like eclectic alternative scene, you know what I'm saying? Like from here. But he had like two, nine.

Yeah, it was a whole pocket, you.

Know what I'm saying? Earth Gang was there, shit was popping up. There's a lot of those different things. So like during that time frame, and then A3C brought all of the independent rappers or the local regional. A3C brought those individuals to Atlanta, you know what I'm saying? So like during 2011, 2012, that's really when you like the Trinidad James shit. Like all of that. All of those really like. I don't want to say that it's not serious art, you know what I'm saying? But it was like more. More like floaty. Everybody's like just doing what they wanted to do in the studio, you know what I'm saying?

Absolutely.

Almost very experimental. Experimental, to be honest.

You had all the producers of Popping Up, Sonny, Digital metro booming, bro.

When I first seen Makonan, the first time I seen Makona, he had this song, bro, this guy very freaky girl. And he used to have that fucking mannequin. He would travel around with that fucking mannequin and he would make all these YouTube videos, right? So the same kid that put me on the Forte, boy, same kid that put me onto, like, Big Sean, that put me onto Odd Future, put me on the.

Oh, wow.

Isaiah Rashad, okay, He put me on to. It was another white boy that rapped out of Detroit too. Now, it wasn't Eminem. He rapped and sing, like. And he produced everything too. He had an ill tape with Don Cannon back in, like, 2010.

From Detroit.

Yep.

I had to look it up. Law.

Nah, nah. So the. So his name was Keem. So Keem told me about all these different artists, right? And he called me one day. He was like, bro, you gotta look at this shit. This shit gonna be so big. I'm telling you. I'm like, what? And it was Makonic, bro. Fucking Makona. And he had the fucking. It was a song, bro. His songwriting was so dope. I was like, bro, if Bruno Mars was singing these songs, these shits would be out of here. And so, yeah, it was like doing that scene. Makone.

Were you surprised when Going up on a Tuesday went up? Like, obviously, Drake comes in, remixes this song, the Mannequin, man, because Mike Will saw that shit.

Mike Will signed him to a pub deal.

Okay?

So Mike Will saw bro early. And just, like, one thing about being from Atlanta, like, if you from Atlanta, you out in the scene. And being from Atlanta means that if you grew up in North Atlanta, niggas gonna treat you like you from Atlanta. If you grew up in College park.

Or you grew up in South Atlanta.

South Atlanta in a squat. So East Point niggas are gonna treat you like you're from Atlanta, you know what I'm saying? Like, so the Makonnen and, like, Mike Will and Metro, them, that crew of producers fucking with him. You know what I'm saying? Really? Like, thrive that. You know what I mean?

They popped him up.

Atlanta has always been uplifted by the producers. From Organized Noise, JD Producing and writing, to fucking Dallas Austin, to all of the shit with Toont was doing. What's my man with all the shit doing all the Gucci shit Early Zaytoven, Shawty Red. Shawty Red. Like, can't forget about Tricky, you know what I mean? Like, Atlanta has always been uplifted by the producers, you know what I'm saying? The producers really uplifted Makona.

Yeah, Early. Early. Before anyone was involved.

Cause the Nigga really could write good songs.

Yeah, he just.

The shit was just weird himself.

If someone else would've sung it, he would've been Neo. Like, obviously talented songwriter.

He wouldn't have been Neo.

You don't think so?

Neo had hits as an individual.

No, no, no. I feel like McConneson has a chance to have hits.

Yeah, yeah.

I just think he had that, like, that pen. Talent of a pen is one thing. I think it's underrated in music. Like the writers.

I think women wanna look at Neo before they wanna look at.

Yo, he lost that weight, though.

Hell, yeah, Child. Makona. I can't. I ain't got no slander for Makoni.

No, he's fired.

He had the. He did the Wintertime Through it all remakes.

Oh, for real? I need to hear that.

Yeah, yeah, he did the. He was the first one that did the Wintertime Through it all remix before Erykah Badu did.

Okay, hold on. Before we get into Wintertime. You're from Forest Park.

Yeah.

Well, you're from Austell, Georgia, right?

No, no, no. I grew up in Park.

But where were you born?

I was born in South Georgia.

South Georgia? Yeah.

Yeah. I was born in South Georgia in a city called America's Georgia. So it's like Southwest. So it's like two and a half hours outside of Atlanta.

Got you.

Yeah. So during the summers, I was traveling back and forth. Cause all my half my family lived in Atlanta. And then half my family stayed in the country. So, you know, there was obvious other reasons on why everybody was always trying to back and forth. But when we was in sixth grade, my mom, I think she was either. She was in the process of getting a divorce from her brother's dad. Then we just abruptly moved to Atlanta. And when we got here, I'm in sixth grade, we moved to a forest park. That's where my aunts was staying. So that's pretty much where I grew up at.

Which part of the Forest Park?

So on the road, like, right. It's right on the cusp. So I was about, you know, how you. When they zone everything out. Yeah. So if this was the line, you have South Atlanta High School. Yeah, Forest Park High School. Yeah. And I stayed right here. You know what I'm saying? Like, I stayed right here on that line.

So you went to Forest Park High?

So I went to Forest Park High. I went to Forest Park Middle and Forest Park High.

Gotcha.

I ain't go nowhere else.

Was it a culture shock, bro?

It was culture shock because when I First moved to Atlanta. I'm country as shit, by the way. Okay. So the lady, one of the ladies, she was like, where you from? Cause I was a new student. Where you from? And I was like, America's, but I was so country, she thought I was saying America like the country. And she thought I was gonna be a smart. She thought I was being a smart ass. So she was writing me up until it was a young lady named Kimberly. I was like, no, miss. I can't remember the lady's name. She's like, no, it's a real city. Like, my, My. You know, my family's from there too.

Right?

So, yeah, it was like one of those things where, like, being country didn't pay off.

Yeah, yeah. And people always say, people from Atlanta country, that they can't understand this. Yeah, but the further south you go, oh, it goes. It gets way more country.

Yeah, they used to say bat bike instead of back. Just say bike. That. What the you talking about?

That's. That's too country for me. Do you go back at all?

I ain't back in a minute.

Yeah, yeah. You think it's any different?

Oh, it's probably a little different. It's probably a little different, but I ain't back in a minute. My mom, my brother always go back. My mom love down there. That ain't got no reception, bro.

How different is Atlanta, though, from when you first moved?

Yeah, I realize I'm 37. I experienced Freaknik.

Yo, hold on, Stop. I don't think I ever met anyone that can say those words.

Yeah, I experienced freaknik. Yeah, I experienced freaknik twice.

Oh, yes.

The first time I experienced it, it was 96, but I was driving through the Olympic year. Yeah. I was with my aunt and they was driving through downtown. And it was the traffic. That's what I experienced. But when you in the traffic in Freaknik, you seeing titties, you seeing that shit.

Mardi Gras.

That shit was out of control. So I'm in the backseat trying to get. Now my aunt and them trying to get home. And then the second year, the 97th, which was like really the last year before they started shutting shit down was. That was like nuts. I like in seventh grade, eighth grade. And we're talking about at the time, my cousin, my cousin Tracy, and my cousin Marvin. Marvin wasn't really my cousin, but my cousin Mike. And Marvin was like this. And Marvin sister dated this drug dealer named Money. So Money, all them stayed on Jonesboro south, right? And so money had like four dunk dunks. Like Caprice Classics. Like one was all gold, triple gold Ds, one was all red, triple gold Ds, one WAS all black, triple goldies, right? And my cousin had the Regal with trues and bows, white walls, right? Bowling ball blue. This one pink was bowling ball. It wasn't like candy, it was like bowling ball, right? So mind you, I never had a curfew. Like I'm like in seventh grade with my cousin in the backseat. And so I understand why they got rid of Phoenix, bro. Like, I understand why they got rid of Phoenix. Like literally we was at. I had such a wild life. We was at a gas station on Cleveland because Cleveland was still. It wasn't Metropolitan until it was Stuart Ave, okay? And they were selling pussy on Stewart Ave for a very long time. That's what the rebrand of them trying to change Metropolitan. So like getting rid of Stuart Ave, getting rid of Freaknik, getting rid of Bankhead, it was cleaning up. They was trying to clean that shit up, get rid of all the projects and shit like that, right? So now you talking about we on Cleveland Ave. And I don't know how vivid you can imagine the Cleveland App, but when you're going down 75, I know Cleveland, you bust that right. When you get up going 75 north, you bust that right. And when you bust that right, you ride up towards Stewart. But before you get to Stewart, there's two gas stations. As soon as you bust that right, it's a gas station right there. And it's like a gas station, but it's in like a.

Is it a shell?

It's a shell, but it's in like a little like a. There's other stores over there.

Pavilion. It's like a pavilion.

Yeah, gotcha. That's what it is, right? So we had to the gas station across the street and Freaknik 97 getting gas. I'm in the backseat and I look across. I look across the street and there's this prostitute, the niggas just stripping her clothes off. And I guess the pimp came out, he just started letting off shots in the air. And my cousin is pumping gas. Nobody's seeing this. I'm watching it as like a seventh grader across the street. There's ain't no saying, oh shit, they shooting, they shooting and shooting. He'd fucking throw the gas and we'd fucking pull off and like, don't know where you leaving from, what you driving to, none of that type of shit. You know what I'm saying? And so that part of Atlanta, like is like nostalgic. Just like Kilo Ali. We talking Lil Big Oomph Records, Sammy Sam the Hitman, like drum, like all type of shit. You know what I mean?

Right?

In that. In that era. So.

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So you 37? I'm 30. I grew up Morrow, Georgia. Yep, Southside. My parents own a skating rink.

Yep.

So my parents have owned the rink since I was 12. So I watched how kids growing up in Atlanta is. I didn't get a chance to see the pimps stripping off prostitutes by seeing Nuck. If you buck drop and niggas drop at the same time.

Oh, they do it.

Come on now. That's the Atlanta I know. Those people grew up. Now they kids is like that because they still come to the ring and the energy is the same. And I feel like Atlanta has an energy that's like the TV show, right? It's a little eclectic, right. It gets a little funny. What's the most Atlanta thing you've ever seen?

Oh, shit. The most Atlanta thing I ever seen. I seen a nigga get jacked. Like they. You know how you see people when they cause me on bricks? I've literally watched a guy walk in the store and come back out and his shit is on bricks. As a kid, I saw that like they work fast.

So I seen it happen to my cousin. I didn't see it, but my cousin used to live in Stone Mountain. All right. We used to go to my Aunt Jackie's house on the weekend. I got a cousin Rodney. Rodney's older than me, right? Had the bbs, is on his whip. Proud of him, right? Telling us about the Rams. We wake up the next day, rams gone. Bricks, just on bricks. And I remember he was distraught because he went to sleep just happy as can be. And you wake up, you can't even drive to get new tires.

No, you can't do nothing.

You can't do anything.

Atlanta, another Atlanta. Running shoot, right? So run and Shoot basketball. Run and shoot was off Stewart. Everybody's running shoot is like a huge, huge, like gymnasium.

Hold on, let's stop. Running shoot was crazy.

Run and Shoot was crazy because they.

Just had basketball goals up and down. It was like a mega gym and everyone's playing at the same time.

My cousin Regal got stolen. He had a wood bearing steering wheel. He popped the steering wheel off and take the steering wheel with him and to run and shoot. And he had the stern collar lock on there and he had, I think he had alarm system too. That's crazy. Nigga broke in, popped the stern collar, hotwired it, and drove that off with a screwdriver. That's how you literally, that's how they start. The motherfucker drove with a screwdriver.

He did all that and it still got stolen.

Yeah, them like, motherfucker want your car. They want. Yeah, the. The only, like, my car never got stolen because I had a Cutlass. So I was driving at 15. So I had a car at. I had a car at.

Who gave you the car?

My grandfather. Yeah, so I was driving at 15, right?

So.

I had a Cutlass. I had a all blue Cutlass on like rims and shit. So my mom was dating this guy named Jim, and Jim was a mechanic. Jim said, I'm gonna show you how you not get your car stolen. So I was like, what, you gonna put like a kill switch on it? He like, fuck all that shit. They can get rid of all of that. He said, all you need to do is go under your hood and unplug one of your spark plugs. He knew it. Never get your car stolen. He said, what's going to happen is it's just going to be like, like it won't turn over. Like, almost like, you know how like old cars like it take a while, crank up. He said, you're gonna keep doing that.

Like the battery did.

No, no, no, no, no. It ain't like a better day. It's like, literally like it turns, like. But it just won't turn over. Yeah, it just won't turn over. He said by the time they do all that, they're gonna get panicky and be like, I just gotta get out. And they're not gonna even think that there's some type of mechanism why they can't do that. They're just gonna think that this old ass car don't work. And my shit never got stolen when it was with me. And it's definitely been broken into several times, but I would unplug that damn spark plug. I never had an alarm system on that bitch or nothing.

That's genius.

Yeah, that is pretty genius. That's genius.

I'm sorry. That's crazy.

Yeah.

So you 15 with a car?

Yeah.

What did that. What was that like? You didn't have a license, right? You didn't have a license.

I had a learning license.

You had a learner, right?

Yo, true facts. My mom took me to get my learner license. Cause you can't get a learner license at 15. Get at 16. No, you can't get a car at 15 for a reason.

You can't have it at 15.

So I go in, I get the learner license at 16. I take the test, pass the test. My mother drives me to my aunt house, my aunt Rita drops me off. I jump in my car and drove off with no supervision. It was nobody in the motherfucking car. Cause at 18, you get your learner's license, but you gotta have somebody that's 18 or older in the car with you.

Your mama must be cool.

My mom is cool. She funny as hell. We laughing today. My mama is out of control.

What you talking about?

My mom. Me and my mom had a better relationship now, but back then, I don't know, it was weird because, like, I never understood. I was sitting. I'm like, why? The moment she just let me just get in the car and just drive off.

Like I want to know.

Yeah, like I don't. I don't. I don't understand.

Does she remember that I didn't.

We haven't even really talked about it.

I bet you won't call her.

No.

I bet you won't call her.

No. Of course I'm gonna see what she gonna. I'm gonna see if she's gonna remember.

That's what I want to know. Cause you a cool mom. If you let your kid just jump in a cutlass at 15. I just want you to know, Ty, you remind me if a ti Song came to light. That's what talking to you is like. You like rubber band, man, as a person.

Oh, shit. That is fucking hilarious. Y' all got a funny ass TI story too. This one's gonna be funny. I gotta get that. I gotta see. The service is terrible. Hello, mama. So I got a question for you. See if you remember this. You remember when you took me to get my learner license, right?

Uh huh.

And you remember when you, you remember where you dropped me off at when I got my learner license?

What time, man, far as pop.

No, I'm talking about after I got a learner license. Do you remember when you took me after I got my learner license?

If I took you at home, I think.

Nah. You remember my car used to be parked over at Rita house. And when I, when did you. When I got my license, you had. Took me over there to get my car. And I was doing this interview with yo and he was like, why. He said, why would your mom take you to get your car at 16? And you needed, you needed a learner, you needed somebody. You know how you get your learner's permit? You need somebody 18 in the car with you. And I was like, I don't know. He said, I bet you won't call her. Answer.

You had your, you had your life. Yo, yo, you had your, your life. 16. Because at that time you didn't have to. I'm trying to say that you have to wait a year.

No, I think when you had to, you had to wait a year before you can get your, your full license, but you had to have somebody over 18 in the car. But I don't think nobody was doing that.

No, I don't remember. No, you. Well, you know how strict. You know how we gonna take you or to get your, to get the car? Uh, no, uh, they probably was 60.

Okay, I'll just double check it.

Yeah, he probably 16. Yeah, yeah, I bet you. No, because you didn't have that, you didn't have that car then.

It was always at Auntie Rita house. Remember? The whole time?

No, no, no, it was not always that Rita house. It was at, it was at, it was at the household up. What we were staying in.

We was on. We was only staying at one house. Cause you remember we stayed at Henrietta, then we moved to the apartment down the street.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, when you was at college, see, you was in college.

No, no, no, you don't, you don't fast forward so fast. When we first. I had to call way before we moved over there with. Ho. I think that was his name. What's his name? The landlord. Ho. Yeah.

Now, now, now we. Let me think.

Cause granddaddy drove it. Granddaddy drove it up and parted at Arita house.

You're right. You're right.

That's what. Yeah, that's what it was sitting there. It wasn't. It wasn't over there until you talking about, you talking about when, when we, when I actually went, when I went to college. And that's where it was being that with before. Before, before. I think punk had it or something like that.

No, no, no. You had your license. Yeah. Cause we had. Over there, in that thing over there. We stayed in that, that apartment.

Yeah, I think Waldo Creek from that. That was Waldo Creek. I can't remember.

No, he wasn't there. It was those apartments in Jonesboro. It used to be Hunter's Bay.

Oh, yeah, over there off of Old Dixie. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cause I know in 10th grade, you know, we didn't get to Hunters Bay. I don't know, did we get. I think we was in Hunters Bay when I was a junior. I can't. I can't remember. I can't remember the actual time frame was in Hunter's Bay, but I know what you're talking about because it used to be parked over there. Cause that's when Jim. That's when Jim taught me the, the. How to change the alternator and all that stuff on there.

Yeah, yeah. Then we boomed over there. I say. But you were 16, though. You had your license.

Yeah, I got my. I got my learner license at 16 and I got my real license at 17. Because you have to wait a year after your learner license.

You were saying you got 15. You got a learning license at 15.

You got your learners at 15.

Oh, that's what you were saying.

But he was saying he was driving at 15.

You had to license.

I, I didn't, I didn't. I didn't have my license at 15 because I was working at Crystals at 15 and I wasn't supposed to be able to work. I wasn't supposed to work at Crystal, so I didn't get my learner. Because you got to get your learner license first you got to take the test.

Yeah.

And then you get the. After a year, they let you drive, so you take the paper test to get your license. You gotta go actually do the drive. By the time I went and did.

The driving test, you already driving by yourself. Yes.

Well, you work with driving without me knowing.

Driving by Myself by the time, like 1,000%.

You were 16, because I know how, how far as far were you. You got your license at 16 and you had your learners at 15, so you had to wait that year. And then when you got. When dad gave you the car. See, dad gave you the car when you got your license.

Yeah, the car was already there, so the car was already mine. The car sat. You remember that car sat for about. That car sat over there for a while because the transmission wasn't even all the way working. So the car had been sitting for a while. So I been had the car. It wasn't like I had my license and then the car. It was just like the actual me being able to use the car.

Let me tell you, Let me tell you who, who, who took that car over Readers. Who took that call with Readers because, you know, when you was in college and it was. It was parked in the yard over there at that house. And I remember them boys, they came and they asked me, oh, how much I want food. I told him it's not for sale. And them joker came back and knocked. They knocked the. The back wonder out on a side window and they tried to start it, but it went. It wouldn't open. I mean, but it went start. But you had took something. You had took something out of it. Yeah, and then I called poo. They come and get it and then, you know, he's, you know, he fixed it up and not fixed it up, but he fixed that flow and everything else. And he fixed it where or it'll work, it'll run. And he fixed that glass back. And then somebody stole it. Somebody stole it from him. So more had to. Had to send him all the papers out of town.

Gotcha.

Yeah. Yeah. But you had been. Then after five, he went over there and put, you know, parked it over. Thank you. They think he parked it over Readers.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

He would have parked it over Rita, you know, got after that, after Rita's locked the house. Then. Yeah, you went over there. Yeah, but you had. When you, when you had your, when you, when you got that car, you had your license because dad wasn't gonna give you that car unless you had your license. Yeah, you had your. Yeah, you had your life.

All right.

When you started driving. You know me, I wasn't gonna let you drive without no, just learners by yourself because I know how far it's Paul is. Gotcha then. Yeah.

All right. I was just double checking if you had remembered it. I'm gonna call you back.

I remember that part I remember. You ain't driving until you got legit.

Yeah.

You know you used to work 24 hours a day, right? Well, 12 hour shifts.

Huh?

You remember you worked them 12 hour shifts at where and Toto? Six to six.

Now will you move a driver?

All right, I will call you back.

Okay then.

All right. It's hilarious. Yeah.

Like, I like how she took the longest way to agree with us.

But think about it.

But to her point, she, she stamped everything you said from Forrest part.

She hilarious because I'm. Like I said, I remember my first job was 15 at Crystal's. But the lady, she lighted me so much I wasn't supposed to work at 15 because you couldn't get a worker's permit unless you were 16. So she changed my age in the system, said that I was 16 and I was able to like work the job, but I couldn't. My cousin still was taking me to work and picking me up.

Right.

So that was 15. That's why I said, I know, I didn't have no learner's permit.

Right.

Or anything into that aspect of it. Then at 16, that's when you're in 10th grade.

Nah, 15, seventh grade, I think.

Well, when I was, when I was a Senior, I turned 18.

Got you.

I turned 18 in March. Okay.

Your birthday, what's your birthday?

March 26th. So when I was, when I was a sophomore, I remember when I was a junior, I was, I turned 17.

Right.

Then when I was a sophomore, I mean a sophomore, I turned 16.

Right, right.

So, so the beginning of my sophomore year, I was 15 and then I turned 16 that same year.

Right. That's when you started driving.

Yeah. And so, but the, but the reason that I didn't drive a lot, I used to drive to school and I used to drive wherever I needed to go because my car didn't go in reverse. Cause just because I'm driving, my grandfather gave me the car as is, the motherfucker didn't go in reverse. So me and my partner Devin, we used to purposely make sure we drove into a open parking spot that you can just drive out of. Because if we fucked around and got caught, we had to push the car to be able to get it. You know, we like 15, we 16 year old kids, you can't move the.

Car backwards at all.

No. So when I used to drive, when we used to park at my aunt house, that's why we parked at my aunt house, because she had a big ass backyard. You used to drive around and then park it and then do your thing. Leave. Screwed up.

You lived a funny life.

Yeah, it was hilarious. My mom used to work so much My mom used to work so much that everybody, all my friends just called her a truck driver.

She wasn't a truck driver.

No, she wasn't a truck driver. She just worked 12 hour shifts.

That's crazy.

So she worked 12 hour shifts. She worked six to six, 6pm To 6am Then it was shift over in 30 days. She'd be working 6pm To 6am Jesus. And it was six hour shifts. Then sometimes she, she had picked up job at like the post office, right? So like, my mom was too tired to be trying to goddamn monitor as long as nigga wasn't in prison.

Cause your mom, your mom didn't have no fuck you money though.

No, my mom was super strict on making sure that fucking house was clean and like making sure. You know what I'm saying? Like, she was super strict in that way. But I ain't have no CR for you. Like I was doing. I was out. Like I was at Freaknik, bruh. Yeah. Just because I With my cousins though, like, I still was out at a wild town.

This is a time before cell phones. She can't really call you and be like, where you at? She can't text you. Where you at? Use a page.

Model the page because. So there used to be a club called 559 in Atlanta, right? In the West End. Small ass club. In my ninth grade year, my cousin had graduated. I knew all the older kids in like Junior Senior because of my cousin.

Right, right.

So every Friday after the football game, my cousin used to come get me after the games and we used to go to West End. We used to ride around West End. This is my ninth grade year. So that's 99, 99, 2000. Yeah. So this 99. So in 99, this is when I first seen Cash money, Cash money van, cash money Tour bus at 559. But 559 was so small that everybody would just peel the block all night. And in 99, Buckhead was the after party. Yeah, Buckhead used to have club next to Club in 99. Buckhead would be up until 6:00 o' clock in the morning. So every Friday after the football game, we would drive to 559 West End, peel the block for like an hour or two, right? Just being niggas. And then after that, everybody would go to Buckhead. Buckhead was the afterpart now. But that ain't what Buckhead is now.

No, no, no, I mean, they still got a strip of bars, but it's not the same. That's not what you saw.

So Atlanta has changed a lot for the good.

I see that. I see that. Do you feel that you would ever live anywhere else temporarily? Yeah, but like move your life, pick up everything and not go back home to Atlanta?

Well, I can multitask, but I don't think. I ain't never gonna go back to the city. Yeah, that's crazy.

But I mean, is there something that keeps you coming back to Atlanta?

Home field advantage, you know what I'm saying? Like, when you from a place where it's starting to have like peaks in multiple industries, multiple places, politician relationships, like, you know what I mean? It's just like, it's a no brainer. Real estate is way cheaper. What you get for your money, you know, what you're able to seeing all the black people be successful. There's just a lot of different things that, like, is there's a lot of fuck you money in Atlanta. Some of it legal, some of it illegal, but there's a lot of fuck you money going around. And it's going around, it is going around. Some of the niggas don't go to prison for it, but. But it's still there. You can, you can always transition and figure it out. I think a lot of people have done a great job.

Yeah, you can find some fuck you money in Atlanta.

For sure.

For sure. For people who are listening to this that's not from Atlanta or they're from a city where there's not a lot of fuck you money, what are the things they should be looking for in their, in their cities to take advantage?

I think every city has like a void they can feel, Right. I remember when me and PK was in la, man, I gotta say, this shit had to be like, 2010, 2011. There was no fucking food trucks in Atlanta in 2010. 2011.

Yeah. I can't recall.

Food trucks, little food trucks. And I remember us being at Universal, taking some meetings and me and PK had walked to this food truck line. They used to have like these food trucks lined up so people can eat. And bro, like, bro, we need, but I ain't got no food trucks in Atlanta. He take food trucks to Atlanta. I said, you right, bro. I ain't never seen no food truck in Atlanta. Mm. But that's what I mean by, like, if you're in a smaller city and you're trying to figure out, like, how to make your city valuable for what you're doing. I'll say, take a trip. Least expensive way you can get to these major cities. And then pay attention. See what's there that you like, that you think is cool. Because if you like it and you think it's cool, it'll probably work in your city, you know what I'm saying? All people kind of like, just like, cool shit. So that's why I started, like, culturally. And you can find out. You don't even gotta travel. You can, like, you know, cruise the Internet, you know, ask people, friend, make friends, like, a lot of different things to figure out, like, what are the uniqueness that you can build within your own city to kind of help kickstart what you're trying to do. That's an essence, that's an episode.