Making The Right Deals

For me, it's not only just me controlling my time, but me actually giving people information so that they can figure out how to control their time.

Control their time. And I think that that just creates generational information, generational wealth.

Yep.

And I think that's what we're here to do. We're back with another episode of fuck you, Money with Tan. Yo. Yep, I'm. Yo, it's my man Ty. We in Atlanta today.

Atm, baby.

Yeah.

I gotta go get my car.

Yeah.

It's about to be summertime. The old schools come out.

Ty, you always ready for summer.

Oh, yeah, baby. Summer.

I feel great. Yeah.

I try to make summer year round.

Yeah, That's a good mentality to have.

Yeah, man. I've been trying to make summer year round. I actually be appalled when it's cold. It'd be October, it'd be November. I'd be like, why?

It's so cold? Why? Where's this? Where's the summer now? When I think of summer, I think about the movie do the Right Thing, probably one of my favorite films of all time. I think Spike Lee is one of my favorite directors of all time.

And is that number one? I don't know about number one. What's number one?

I don't. I don't think I have one. I can't rank my favorites. They like kids, man.

Oh, so you can. So you can't rank your favorite movies?

Not up top. Not right now. You put me on the spot. I haven't had.

I got to consider my favorite top three movies.

You got them off top. You could just say this at any time. Yes.

My favorite top three movies is Harlem Knights.

Okay.

Rain Man.

Okay.

And Jeremy Maguire.

Okay. I think all those make sense. But where does do the Right Thing rank in your favorite?

I don't have it ranked in my favorite. Really?

Okay. It's not one in the film, so.

I need to look at it again to get back into it. Right.

Okay.

Because the rest of, like, probably after I get through my first top three.

Yeah.

Four, five, six, seven, eight is probably a dizzel Washington movie.

Really?

1,000%.

Okay. So Malcolm X might be one of those.

1,000%.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You remember when you first saw it?

No, no, I actually remember.

You don't recall it. Well, dang, I gotta get my top three ready. Cause you just ready to go like you just got it off top.

The first. The first movie. I remember vividly watching. Denzel Washington with American Gangster.

For real.

And I'm gonna tell you. Wow. Right? I'm Laughing because this shit is hilarious. So my brother, I always had the bootlegs.

Oh, he was that guy.

My brother had the bootlegs, right? So we had American Gangster on bootleg. So this is when I think I had him. Came back from California. It's like 2007, staying with my mom. So I had invited this girl over, right? So, yeah, we gonna watch American Gangster. So boom, we upstairs in my room watching American Gangster. She was like, oh, I need to go to the bathroom. I said, oh, yeah. So you walk out the door. It's there to the left, right? So she walks out of the door, and the door is, like, closed. So as anybody and somebody guess, you know, the door closed, you're gonna knock on the door. So she knocks on the door. Nobody says anything, right? So she proceeds to open the door, right? And I have an uncle who he's, you know, he's what they say, handicap, right?

Yeah. Okay.

But I think the nigga fake it.

You don't even believe him.

I don't think that nigga really handicapped. I think the n really just be faking.

Yeah.

That nigga standing there, he the type of nigga when he pee, he pee with his standing up with his pants on, his thing. This nigga is standing there holding his thing, you know, holding his joint, just looking at her. She freaked out. I just heard somebody screaming. I'm like, yo, I'm looking, Dexter. I put it on pause. No, I can't even remember if I put it on pause because I was just so into it. I just heard her. I'm like, I run in there. I said, man, I don't lock the door when you in here using the bathroom, man. Girl was freaking out. She said, oh, my God. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. So I walked in that man that holding that boy out there, boy looking at her. I said, yo, this crazy, man. So that's why I remember my first time.

She never came over again, did she? Of course.

I can't even remember her name. I don't think she ever, like, preferred, like, she probably was really trouble time.

That's. That's tr.

That nigga crazy.

I hope she sees this and reach out.

I know, right?

But yeah, that is not what today's episode's about. But I love a good tie story that would only happen to you, but.

It does relate to Denzel movies.

Movies.

And we're going to talk about by.

Any, by any means necessary to get that. You what I was telling Ty earlier, Spike Lee Has a master class, which is pretty much where a director sits down and they tell you about how to make movies. But he has a master class for independent filmmakers and things they should know, things they should look out for. He used Malcolm X, the movie, to talk about financing and how he and Warner agreed to finance this movie about Malcolm X's Life at about $28 million for the budget. Now Warner brings in a bond company that's supposed to help support the film. And now contractually, if the film goes over budget, over length, or isn't delivered on time, that Warner relieves himself from the project and the bond company comes over and takes over the film. Spike knew all of this. He says, well, I knew the film's gonna cost more than $28 million, but, you know, I'm like, I'm not gonna keep waiting to start shooting. Let's get to it and figure out what happens. Now, after a long process, they get in toward the end of the. Of the shooting period, but they're already $5 million over budget. They haven't even gotten to post production yet, but they're already over budget. Him and Warner going back and forth. They're not trying to give one or lets the bond company know, like, look, we gonna take our hands off of this. So they come in and they pretty much pink slipped all of Spike Lee's post production crew. So Spike's like, I can't move forward with the movie because now I can't hire my guys to get the editing done. So what he does is. Cause they're trying to take him off the movie and everything. They're just trying to take. They're trying to take control over this film.

And what's the name of this company?

They're called.

Not like the title.

Yeah, it's like a bond company. That's what they call. They're called a bond company.

Bond. Like Bond.

Yeah, literally. Yeah, 100%. It's like an insurance. It's the bond company. And I think they're like, completion company was the name. It's completely about completing the movie and getting it delivered.

They trying to get it. They trying to handle it.

So they like, yo, you know, and company's white. Spike's like, I'm not letting you take Malcolm X. Malcolm X. Y' all crazy.

I could have many black.

So Spike comes up with a list of wealthy black people that he can reach out to and ask for money. He said he comes up with the list, and then it takes him two weeks to get the courage to ask for the Money. So he says, call the first person. You get your first check. You get a little bit more confident. He said by the time he get to Magic Johnson, he asking for even more money. He said he asked Magic. And then he goes to Michael Jordan. He says, I know, Michael's so competitive. I tell Michael, yo, Magic just gave me all this money. Yo, Michael. Like, oh, I got you, Spike. So then this is what I thought was so playing Spike wakes until Malcolm X's birthday because they took. They stopped funding the film in March. Malcolm's birthday is May 19th. So May 19th, he does a press conference about the movie and says, the Warner stopped funding me. This Bond company stopped funding me. So I went to all my wealthy black friends to get the rest of the money for the movie. Warner hit him up the next day, saying, we'll open the budget back.

Yes, they will.

You know, so the original budget was $28 million. I think they end up finishing the film over 38 million. And it was no longer 2 hours and 15 minutes like he promised, but it was 3 hours and 22 minutes. End up grossing $78 million globally. Now, I thought that was such a fuck you money move. Yes, it is. To understand that. All right, this company's telling me that based on their stipulations, I can't continue working on the film the way I want to. I can't continue to raise money. So I'll go out and get my own money. I'll build it around the community of people that I trust, people that are like me. And then I'm going to, like, the press conference to let everybody know what's going on and, like, kind of put them on Front Street. And he kind of. He worked his hand in such a way that by the end of it, he got everything he wanted.

You know, so funny, like, over these things, you know, I've been playing my Ray Bans.

Yeah, no Ray Bans.

We going. They're going to get us. Right. You know what I'm saying? But I've been playing with this term fuck you money hobbies. And as you speaking, I'm thinking about fuck you money friends. Right? Cause that's when Spot Lee. Spot Lee said, you know what, man? Cause, you know, like you say, like we say when we're thinking about fuck you money, it's not just about making money.

Right.

It's about having a community that, you know, represents the same things you represent. That can be a resource.

Yep.

To different. To fuel different things. Right. Because of the work you are. Cause I don't think you can have fuck your money if you got a bad rep or if you don't have a certain level of integrity. Right. I think what I don't think you can have fuck you money friends. I think you have those relationships of relationships to be able to. And you have to treat people right. So it's not something that. It's not something that you're gonna just be able to do that you can just treat people bad and then be like, yeah, I got some fucking money.

And they respect you. You know, he did a commercial with Michael Jordan and obviously he knew Oprah. He knew Jan Prince was one of the investors. Also, Spike had to let them know this is not an investment and this is not a tax write off. Like, you have to believe to give me this money. And to me, that's another big ask. It's like, man, you got.

So did they make their money back? No. Oh, so nobody ain't making money.

I don't believe so. That's not how the story was told at all. No, this was like, to help support the film. This money was 100% supported. You know, this is before like a GoFundMe or Kickstarter, so I'm guessing it's more like a Kickstarter today where you give money, but like, you don't get your money back. Maybe you get there's something that incentivizes you.

It's a donation, but it ain't no tax write off. You know what I'm saying?

So, like, that's an ask.

Yeah, that's an ask.

So, you know, I think for me, what I really to your point about the relationships you build, but also Spike's idea about self determination, self reliance. He had to be determined to make this move the way he thought was proper, and then had to rely on his resources to make that happen.

Right, right, right, right, right.

And you don't get that without having some type of, like I said, integrity, respect. And you know, he Spike Glee. At this point, you already got to do the right thing. She got to have it the. The classics. So people come in and be like, man, I'm not gonna let Spike Lee in the Malcolm X movie down. Come on.

No, they're not gonna be on that side of history.

No, sir. But I guess when I was thinking about it, I also thought about when you guys were going to Dr. For Saunderson and you were raising money for that trip and you were looking for cash and you were looking for ways of funding it, and you had reached out to the pro that you got the fund at the time, right. And asked them for some money because. And I love the story because you're like, hey, they're about to send cruder radio.

Right, right, right.

This music video's about to drop and I need $10,000.

Right, right, right.

And you go like, man, they gave me this cookie cutter answer. And you were like, if y' all don't give me what I asked for when I hang this phone up, I'm taking Brent off your pro.

Uh huh.

Because y' all contract was set up where you could have removed Brent by a certain time by March 26. Yes, sir.

I had to put in the paperwork by March 26th. And then that kicks in. You know what's so funny about that story is that it was the foundation of me understanding that if you black and you work into these buildings, I'm not saying that you got to do whatever another black person says do, but you have to give them the information. You can't give them a cookie cutter answer. Right. When you know, when somebody comes. Because everybody is not gonna have a thing that's working. Everybody's not gonna have, you know, a big artist already, but everybody's gonna come and they can benefit off of real information. That conversation, I don't even remember who that person is. And the thing about it is, I know they was black and I know it was a man. Cause a woman would have gave me what I wanted or she would have figured out, or she would have been. She would have gave me no cookie cutter.

Right.

She would have been like, ty, you know, they be giving me a hard time in here.

It would have been more transparency. Yeah. You made it seem like this person didn't even, like, hear you.

No, they gave me the whole cookie cutter thing. Right. And you know that raising and trying to figure that out is, you know, the part of by any means necessary.

Right.

Because in my brain I'm like, man, if I could just fund this album, which was about 30. The album ended up costing about 37,000 to get done. And that include everybody's travel to Dr. It was like 10 people. Right. Not counting me and British. But you didn't have to pay all of that up front.

Right.

So what ends up happening? It was budgeted out and I was on payment plans with Airbnb. I was booking flights in sections so everybody couldn't get there around the same time. Thing like Pablo and them came a little later and they stayed shorter. So I booked their flights last. But everybody that was gonna be there the longest, I Booked their flights first. Everybody that was gonna be the foundation of the sound, I made them priority in that first. So through that process I learned. I was like, man, I gotta figure out how to get money from somewhere. The label wouldn't give me a license deal. Cause they wanted a long term deal, but I just wanted a deal for one album. That wouldn't happen. And then somebody told me that you can get some money from pro, which at the time it was ascap. I was like, shit, let me call them. See, can I get an advance from them then? You know what I'm saying? Because the advance from a Pro is interest free. You just can't leave until they get the money back.

Right?

You know what I'm saying?

And so now hold on, you said that the album cost around like 37,000. Did you already had that number in mind as you were kind of booking things or did that kind of be the end total?

That ended up being the end total when I was booking things. It was. So we were going to doctor. So it ended up being like maybe like $12,000 to pay for everybody. And it might have ended up being more like 17. I might be $5,000 off here and there, but it was definitely under 20 grand. Right. And I didn't have to pay it all at one time. I was able to pay it off. So when I looked at the numbers at the end, I was like, okay, you know, the flights for everybody, back and forth. We had like three villas, the rental car. Everything was cheap there though. Even though we stayed on the resort, like we stayed in. Not a resort, like a villa style. They were still trying to charge us prices, but yeah, US prices still was like cheap. Yeah, and all of those different aspects of things, bro. And now that I think about it, that was 2017. I think they had Uber Eats and food delivery. I don't remember Uber Eats and Postmates in. In LA in 2017, you know what I'm saying? But. But yeah, so it was. It was figuring it out, financing something and really figuring it out, you know what I'm saying?

I feel like that's what Spike Lee.

Was kind of going through.

Obviously millions is a little bit more than thousands, but you still wanted to start booking things and get that into motion. Cause you didn't want to wait and delay recording this album. Especially with now at the time, with crew coming out and making these calls. Did you forecast that the single would be doing so well that in a year later that 10,000 you would. You'd be asking for would be able to make it a hundred thousand.

Nah, see, I was capping. See, I was capping to the nigga because, you know, there's a certain level of capping that is like, you know, being a, like, telling, like, dream, you know what I'm saying? Like dreaming, you know what I'm saying? There's a certain level when you capping people down, you know you're lying, right? But there is a level of, like, belief, and I think. So when I'm talking to ask him, like, yo, this record about to go. You know, I was being one of them industry niggas like, yo, this record about to go. I'm telling you that you better jump on. Because that was the sales pitch, right? You know, a good salesman do some capping within their picks 100%.

You got to.

You know what I'm saying? So I was definitely capping. Cause I didn't really know shit, you know what I'm saying? Like, I didn't. I didn't know. I didn't know that record was gonna be that. I didn't know that that record was gonna be in the season premiere of season two or Insecure, and that Insecure was gonna go on and be a huge show for hbo. I didn't know that that sync was gonna propel that record like that be one of the propelling elements of it. I didn't know that Gucci Mane was gonna be on the remix. And Gucci Mane had a very specific history with DC that was like a certain alliance. And we end up being out of our pros deal when all of that shit hit 100%. All because I was capping off faith. Like, yo, I'm telling you, you better. God dang. Or I'm leaving. Right? That was my first time. Cause you know, if you say it, you better be willing to do it.

So you had never did that before?

No, I had never been like, well, you better give me this. I ain't signed the contract. You know what I'm saying? It was a whole bunch of new shit, you know what I mean? But that is the. You know, by any means, when you, like, really, truly trying to get to the next level, you know what you got. You know what you're trying to get. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, I mean, I was always impressed by that part of it. I mean, I think when you talk about, like, hall of Fame, fuck your money moves. That was one for me when you did that. Because I always wonder when you. Because you weren't necessarily back into a corner, but you Needed something, and you knew you needed it and they weren't gonna give it to you. So imagine if you would just re sign with ascap, right? You know, or if you didn't pull.

It automatically, it renews, right?

You would not have been in position. Like I said, it happened to be almost like a year later, because Crew came out in December 2016. You end up working with BMI 2017, December, and got paid January 2018, if I remember correctly.

Shout out to Wardell. Yeah, Wardell gave that information. He put me on game. He told me to keep my catalog at ascap, just give him the new catalog. And he got us.

Yeah.

I'm like, man, I fuck with that. Cause you know me, I really get nigga the whole game. Like, fuck that.

I'll move everything right now.

You know what I'm saying? But he was like, nah, don't do that. You gonna fuck up the money. I was like, for real?

How?

Then he started breaking it down to me. I was like, oh. So to this day, we get a check from ASCAP and we get a check for BMI, because I never moved whatever that catalog was, 100%.

And you know that one relationship gave you an opportunity to make some fuck you money.

Oh, yeah, man. Because that money was able to help us fund the tour. It was able to propel us, you know, step by step, man. We made. We was able to make some really great alliances by just focusing on going deep with the relationships. We didn't do a bunch of jumping around, you know what I'm saying? The ASCAP thing was the only time that I'm like, I am leaving to get it together, right? And they didn't come back with something that was compelling enough to stay right. But every other kind of relationship we have, long term, there was some level of mutual understanding that we had that kept us in business long term, you know what I'm saying? And that just was something that was. I wasn't taught that. It just was an instinct to, like, know, like, man. And it started to be where we start. I started protecting the relationships of these individuals by any means necessary, you know what I'm saying? I remember a manager, you know, Dave Free. I remember Dave Free hitting me about meeting with Brent Smith at the time. I think he was at William and Morris. Very, very, very. I know this now. I didn't know this at the time. Very, very intelligent and experienced booking agent, right? And what Dave Free was trying to do for me at the time was make sure that I had all the information right. Me I'm so, so loyal to the soil. Like, I don't wanna talk to that motherfucker, man. We got a booking agent already, man. I don't wanna talk to nobody else. And like, Dave Free was kinda like, nah, man. Like, it's just the information. And I was like, I understand what you mean and I appreciate it, but I don't wanna talk to that man. So it's funny because today Callender and Brent Smith kind of work together. Cause all of them say, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I told the story when I asked him to sit down, when I asked him that Kalenda wanted me to meet with him. And we sat down with him. Time we were laughing about it. Because I'm just like, you know, I'm always going to be honest. I try. I'm working on not being as honest at the time that it comes to my face or my brain or whatever. But for those type of things, I be thinking they funny. I'm like, man, it's crazy because I was like, fuck you. You know what I'm saying? I want to talk. I want to talk to you, motherfucker. But everybody appreciate that in this business because people jump ship when things not working. They look to blame somebody when things not working. You know what I'm saying? And we never did that to people.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but the person that even told you about BMI was your lawyer.

Yep. Karen.

Karen, right. How'd you end up meeting Karen?

I met Karen through. If I'm not mistaken, I met Karen through homie Natalie. I think Natalie Prosper introduced me to Karen. But it's interesting because Jordan Ware, ABC's David Muir, the most trusted anchor in America. The most watched anchor in America.

Thank you for making World News Tonight.

With David Muir the number one newscast in America. Most trusted, most watched David Muir on abc. So I've known Fade the longest. And I know Jordan Warray the second. Like, the second longest. Cause he used to work with Milo Smith when I was working with Milo Smith. So Jordan had did some work with Milo Smith when he was living in New York. But I didn't know at the time that Karen was his client who would look after his work. Cause I think Karen was. I don't know if she had passed the bar by then, you know what I'm saying? But I met Karen through Natalie. And I met Natalie when I was working with Cersei at Crown World. We was over working with Harmony. Finale was over working with Harmony a lot. And that's how we Kind of connected. Cause Cersei connected us.

How do you manage all these people in your brain?

Cause I still talk to them to this day. Yeah, if I still talk to you to this day, I kind of can trace the origin of how we got connected, you know what I'm saying? If I don't talk to you, then it's kind of like I don't really store that information.

It gets distorted a little bit.

Yeah. You know what I mean? But Karen, the one that put me on game that you can get that much money. Cause I was like. She was like, how much money are you trying to get? If you said, man, I just need like, $10,000. She was like, $10,000? Crew was like, top 10 on urban radio at this time. Now, I think I said something like 25. Cause I had already. I said, I need you. Like, if I get like, 25,000, I'd be good. She said, I just got somebody 50,000, and they don't got nowhere near the type of movement that crew having right now. I was like, for real? Well, she had 50,000 then. And so the number end up being 100k and 100k at that time. For us, that was the biggest check that we had got collectively at one time, you know what I'm saying? And that was early 2018, you know what I mean?

Now you get this big check. How did all the little checks prior in being able to budget help you handle that money properly?

You develop a certain habit, right? The habit I developed because I just was so determined not to fail. Like, so I would just not spend money doing certain things. I would just stay in the house. Like, I do believe in this concept where if you can't afford certain things, you should stay in the house. Like, if you can't afford, you know, a girlfriend, you should not be in a relationship. You know what I'm saying? Like, I do believe that, you know, you should not be having sex and doing all this extra if you can't afford the experience. Like, you need to be in the house and work. You know what I'm saying? Figure out your life. Figure out this. Because then the biggest thing that's happening is that you're not tormenting somebody else's life by your shortcomings or whatever the case may be. And everybody's not like that. Everybody can, like, be fucked up and still have a healthy relationship, and it can come up together, right?

But majority, they just stay up and.

Figure it out, right? So I stayed in the house so much that it developed this sense of like, importance and cadence and behavior and a pattern of, like, trying to do the best thing with the money that was coming in. You know what I'm saying?

I get that. Was it. I mean, obviously, it gets uncomfortable, but did you find it uncomfortable making that decision for yourself? Because I know you know why you're doing it, but did you ever feel like, man, I hate this part of it?

Well, I never. I never. It was. It was never uncomfortable. Right. I can't sit here and tell you that. I remember being uncomfortable. What I can tell you and I can remember you and telling you and say, boy, we barely could afford this. We could barely afford that. But I never felt uncomfortable in those lacking of resources. Right. Only time I ever felt uncomfortable through the experience is when I lacked information. When I lacked information, and I would see other people growing and me lacking information. When I had the information, I didn't care what other people was doing. I only cared about what other people was doing when I felt like I wasn't getting the information. Cause it wasn't about the money. It wasn't about people wanting to meet me. It was about, like, what's the information? And that's when the bot. By any means necessary for me, I started to just do everything to learn the information. You know what I'm saying? Everything. Do you.

Can you pinpoint when that switch kind of hit for you? When you were like, I need to be informed?

Oh, yeah, that switch hit. That switch hit. 2007, my first internship in music business was with ASCAP.

Really?

It was an ASCAP party. I was working with Capriccio and Patrice, and they was running the ASCAP office. It was right down off of Marietta, and they had, like, a launch party where they had, like, Land Range Rover sponsoring it. And I was just there to be hands to help. That was my first internship. And then after that, I left and went. Started playing football. Cause I was training to try to get to the league. Ah, so.

So you did that during, like, your downtime.

Yeah.

But how'd you end up getting wrapped up in it?

How did I get introduced to. I think I got introduced to. I got introduced to Patrice. I think I'm saying the name right.

Yeah.

Mac Chin takes Patrice.

Yeah.

And black woman who. I can't remember how I met her, but she the one that was like, okay, you can come intern for this event.

Right.

And this. How important this event was? This event in 2007 was the event that I met this guy named Chaz, who was the first person that really taught me about Screaming.

That's where you met Chaz.

At my first internship in the music business. And that was my efforts to learn about publishing. Cause at that time, people said, oh, the music ain't selling, but you need to get into publishing. Publishing is. Where's the money at? So I was like, okay, well, these people deal with publishing. It's a pro, so I'm gonna try to learn here. So that's when it started for me is 2007. When it was like, information pertaining to music and shit like that.

Right, okay. And also, how did you guys end up as ASCAP for your pro years later?

It was just the easiest to get. You just sign up.

Yeah, right.

It was like. You know what I'm saying? It was no rhyme, no reason.

Okay. But you didn't connect the fact that ASCAP was where you kind of got started.

I'm a mis. I'mma correct myself. Sesac.

Csac.

Sec. Where I first got started. I know I said ascap. Cause it's just the first.

Oh, okay, okay, okay. So, csac, I was like, all right.

Was the first internship csac.

Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. All right. I was just trying to make sure that wasn't like no full circle type of thing that happened. But I mean. I mean, Ty, it seems like for you, getting the information was more valuable than just trying to get some money.

Yeah.

But I don't. I don't know if it's always perceived as like, information equals value in that same kind of way. Because the idea is how. How can I fund this dream?

Right?

Right. It's not always how can I learn the most information? That way I know what to do when I get funding versus, like, okay, where's the money?

Yeah. So it should be the same. Right? If you are just trying to make money, live a lavish life and burn out and not have longevity with your resources, then none of this shit I'm talking about matters. But if you trying to really build, you know, financial infrastructure that can protect you and your family, AKA you, money, information. Access to information and access to money is the same value. And information might be more important, is more important actually, because money, access to resources and access to information, it's like, that's. That is how you. That's how you get there. Like me. And I told this story to a venture capitalist who asked the question. It just always takes me back. I'm better at screaming than everybody in my generation when it comes to understanding it, marketing it, seeing how it moved an artist's career. Because I started studying in 2010 and not passively. I started studying it because I was working with a startup company that was. That hadn't launched yet. That we was trying to figure out funding. So I had to figure out how was streaming better than satellite radio. Digital downloads, physical downloads, sound exchange, you know, Panda. All of these different things. I had to. Radio plays. I had to sit down and do the work because I had to present this data on behalf of the company. And this company was called Kazoom Music. Spam spelled backwards. Right. Wow.

Okay.

And I had to be knowledgeable about it that we had formulas. Cause this is how you get paid. This amount of screens. Like the same shit. This is before I knew Spotify was even a thing.

Right.

So today's 2024. Right.

Damn.

That's 14 years. That's almost 15 years of screaming information that. So nobody's gonna. I beat the history far as in our generation. So that's why staying independent was so important to me because I had did the research in 2011and the biggest thing that I found through all of the data diving was over time streaming will win compared to all of these other components over time. CDs gonna scratch digital downloads. You're not gonna. You're not gonna wanna. You know, like. Like everything formats technology is gonna happen. All these different things. Things that I didn't even account for.

Right.

That was gonna happen like how where's.

The music gonna be hosted at Pretty much that it's not gonna just like vanish.

Yeah.

Cause your MP3, let's say it's on a hard drive and the hard drive crashes all your music libraries.

It's a route.

You know.

It was the most efficient and smart asset vehicle wise for music to be a format of music. And so that's like I learned that shit late 2010, early 2011.

And your belief in it just never wavered.

Nah. Because I believed in the fucking company. I was like this shit who I said you figured this out. You're gonna be the most impactful person in music. And now Daniel Elk is that. You know what I'm saying? He's one of the most impactful people in music because of that tool that they figured out.

Right.

So for me that is why. And Brit don't know this story either. This is the first time that I'm actually vocalizing it. The only person that's known this story longer than anybody else is wealthy because she was the one that was crunching the numbers with it.

Really. And she believed in it too. I mean I see today how People are now valuing like the super fan and there's like all these startups trying to figure out how can we get music artists and their fans closer together. Right. But that's based off of how streaming changed the way we even perceived data in music. Do you see a future like the next step technology wise?

Oh yeah, buddy, 1,000%. It's definitely transitioning. Fans are gonna. Artists are gonna turn into different vehicles. Fan. The super fan is gonna be the most valuable product on the store. In the store. Having a super fan is going to be like, you know, having a Rolex collection, you know what I'm saying? Like having super fans going to have such a high value price and the super fan is going to start to know it. Right? The super fan is going to start to like, they're going to start to wear that. They're not gonna, they're not gonna be like, we're in the beehive. Right. They're gonna start attaching their assets of like their super fans. It's gonna be a thing where they wear it around like a Rolex. They're gonna be able to prove it and there's gonna only be certain people that's gonna have access to the things that they have access to.

Right, Right. It's gonna be that exclusive. I mean, that's so interesting you put it that way because it's like wearing merch. Right? Obviously like a merchandise shirt tells you like, oh, you like that band. But imagine having something that said, oh, you, you support this 1000, you're driving this, you're supporting this in that kind of way. Yeah, that's going to change the way people. I mean we already value so much as far as like brands, our brand relationships has not wavered. I thought there was gonna be a point in time where maybe people kind of fell back on that, but there has been like almost like a double down now on like what you wear, what represents you. So imagine your music taste.

Well, you know what you're experiencing now in the forefront of like influencers and like affiliate programs. From a marketing perspective, bro, that's just OG multilevel marketing, where everybody called pyramid scheme.

Yeah.

Oh, it's just multilevel marketing. Multilevel marketing was basically like, we're not going to spend money on advertisers, right. We're just going to spend money in rewarding the people to tell another person about it and we're going to let them participate in the upside.

Right?

So through that multiple companies was built and nobody really knew about these companies because they didn't have to advertise because they didn't put no money into advertisement.

Right?

And so now what's happening is that brands are being like, I can go and put money into this human experience and they're going to run their mouth and that is more valuable at times they're running an ad on radio or running an ad on Instagram, running the ad on the commercial, right? Because this influencer is going to be, you know, you could pay them $2,000 to post something who might have a large following in that aspect of it, right?

And their, and their following believes and trust them, right? Like if they say something then we're on it, right? Like that's the value of having them post it. And I think that's what's really interesting right now is the identity of the influencer can be based off your follower count, right? But it's really based on how many people can you get to move on something because that's what they'll support you with. Like if you have a bunch of followers but they don't listen to anything you tell them, are you really an influencer? Are you influencing anything? You're not necessarily in that same class of people. You got some followers, you got some impressions, but it's really about can you influence them. And I think that's going to be even more valuable over time because like you said, how do I place this, this ad money somewhere where it's actually going to be received, Right? Because you can run it on radio and you know, we see companies run ads all the time that doesn't necessarily like bear fruit, but you give it to the right person. I think Uber just did a commercial with Michelle from Destiny's Child. Yeah, yeah, you seen that one?

Yeah, that was a good one.

That's a good one, right?

Good commercial. Talking about her not being noticed.

Yeah, right. Man, I thought that was so good.

I didn't even. This is the thing why I know that commercial was really good. I had no clue it was Uber.

Oh, right.

Had no clue that was a Uber commercial.

It barely felt like a commercial.

Yeah, it felt like she was blown.

Yeah.

Felt like it was some content.

She, she sold it. But I loved it because she's not someone I think is like very forward facing and not someone that I would think like can sell something but they made it proper for her.

That's a great storyline for advertisement. Like when I saw it, it automatically. I think Uber did a great job and I gotta look at it again to see the nuance. I think they did a great job of telling that story really quickly. But I don't know if I seen a lot of Uber branding in there.

It's just at the end. Yeah, yeah, it just says, like, Uber at the end. So, like. Yeah, there's nothing about it prior and it's like 59 seconds. It's really short, and it makes sense. Like, if you're scrolling online and you see it, it doesn't feel like somebody's selling you something.

Right, right, right.

So, you know, and I think in Spike Lee's Masterclass, he talks about storytelling and how important the odd parody is. Like, you can. If you can tell a story, you can sell a product.

Yeah, bro. That's how I'm gonna make my money. Yeah, I'm gonna make my money long term. Because I not only value telling stories, I really understand how to hear a person's story and be like, oh, we should do it this way then. Oh, we should think about it like this. Oh, no. If that's where you grew up at, we should do this. You know what I'm saying? And it's like, it comes to me naturally. I don't have to, like, think about it. You know what I'm saying?

Like a light bulb, 1,000%. But I think that's the value of, like, knowing how to raise funding, knowing how to remain economically independent. Because if you know what to do with a story and you can raise funding around something, you can execute, and.

If you got taste, one of the things that you know is important is what are the. I want to. I want our viewers to be able to take away certain things, but I want everybody to really ask themselves, what, by any means, what are the three things that you want to accomplish by any means? Right? And write that down. Put that on your screensaver, put it on your whiteboard, you know what I'm saying? And every day that you wake up, that should be your focus. I don't think that people understand being consumed by a goal is healthy, right? Because only if the goal is healthy. If your goal is to be the biggest dope dealer, you know what I'm saying, on the south side, I can't really say that. That's the thing. But if your goal is to, you know, I want to retire my mom and I want to go to this college, right?

Yeah.

If I wanted to, like, if I.

Want to build this company, if I'm.

Doing a masterclass about changing your life, right. The number one thing that I would talk about in that masterclass, I would have a by Any means, like, segment, right? And by any means, mean that. Let's say if I wanted to go to Yale, right? And I meet a kid, they're like, I would love to go to Yale. I would be like, I don't see. You got on no Yale merchandise. You know, you got a picture of Yale, what it looks like on your phone. What's the address to Yale?

Yeah.

Like, how do you really want to go to Yale? You know what I'm saying? Cause if you. Like, I was consumed with trying to figure out the partnership with artists. Like, I was consumed, consumed. I was like. I tried to do it with so many artists that would just, like, wouldn't get it or somebody would block it out. I was just consumed with this concept of partnering with an artist and helping them build a business and treating them like a startup company. I was just consumed by it. I get. I always wrote about it. I always thought about it. Then when I got somebody to agree to it, right. Kind of blindly at that, you know, kind of blind verified, right? I was like, oh, shit, okay, Boom. Somebody agreed to it. So now all I'm thinking about. Did it surprise you? Yeah, it surprised me because, you know, you don't never know, like, when I just had this conversation about lawyers. Right, Right. And, you know, I have a good amount of friends that are lawyers, but lawyers make things a little bit more difficult than they should be, Especially when black people are really trying to do business with one another and everybody's on the same page. They just need the lawyers to do what they say do. It gets a little tricky, but one of the biggest things for our business, and it's. It's. It's documented that if you work with us, nigga, you gonna get paid. It's documented. It ain't. At this point, like, my goal is to be like, how Snoop used to talk about Master P. Yeah. Like, yo, nigga, making money. But when I wanted to repeat, really start making, that's my. That's one of my goals for, like, this community that we're building, that when people come in, they're like, I ain't never had this. I ain't never made this type of money, or I never had this type of experience or I never had this type of opportunities to invest into things or to go places. I want people to very feel like the experience and the revenue that they can make is, like, not nowhere else they could have gotten done. Right. Very singular, 1000%. And so I was just sitting down and I was like, you know, thinking about all of These moving pieces and being consumed around that.

Right.

And being like, nah, man, I have to break these different barriers. And lawyers are a pain in my ass because these are deals that are more fair than any other historical deals that any artist has ever signed. The reason they're fair is because if a startup, If Jeff Bezos owns 50% of Amazon and everything Amazon owns, he's the richest. One of the richest people in the world.

Easy.

But a lawyer would tell an artist that the being 50, 50 partners with somebody that really believes in you and really like, y' all gonna go out and build this together.

Yeah.

Is not a good deal. But they will go and sign your masters over to a major label. You see what I'm saying? So you'll sell my masters at 100%. True story. And by any means. Means that. Read the contracts, learn that information, let a lawyer guide you. Don't let a lawyer dictate you.

Right, Right.

Let them draw the paperwork up like how you said.

Right?

So.

But you still gotta read it.

But you still gotta read it.

You know what the jargon means?

So, like, there was a situation and you know, trying to make sure that. Cause this. I blame this completely on the lawyer. Right? That was a situation where a lawyer owned. Fuck it. Brent was signing this artist named Tommy. Right. Brent offered Tommy a better deal to just sign directly with Brent. The lawyer didn't trust that Brent company could do the job. So the lawyer positioned the deal to go to the company that Brent end up partnering with. But that deal wasn't the better deal. Brent offered him the better deal, but.

The lawyer didn't think it was better.

No, no, no. It's not what a lawyer think. Deals are deals. Numbers are numbers. It was a better deal. Anybody can look at it and say it was a better deal. Right? It was. It was. It wasn't what a lawyer thought. Yeah. It was so blatant that it was like this. This gotta be ethically not. Right. That your lawyer can see that this is a better deal materially. But they decide to go to push you to somewhere else. Brent still was involved.

Right.

And he still does way more for the artist than what the contract says. Right. Cause that's literally just what we know. Or what he knows.

Right.

So he still is treating the artist.

Like he signs to him.

No, no, no. He is. They are in a partnership. But the material terms that he offered is better than the material terms that the lawyer accepted. Because the lawyer wouldn't do the deal unless there was another partner.

Right.

And through that partnership, you Know, the deals don't always look the same when you just. If me and you just talking, I'm like, boom, let's do this, I bet. But if I bring two other people to the table, those two other people have ways that they have to do their business. Cause they may have funding, they may have all these different things, right?

And that affects what we.

That affects if we. We can't do what we want to do anymore because now they're involved.

Right, Right.

So the other partner, they're just doing what their policies and their procedures allows them to do. But the truth of the matter is he offered a better deal with just him and Tommy talking, but the lawyer pointed him to somewhere else. I can go down. I can go down the rabbit hole of when a lawyer has pointed an artist into another direction, when there was another deal that was better for them long term. Right. So when you want to be in this business, you want to get your financial literacy on, you want to do all these different things, it's really, really important that you, by any means necessary, you get educated. And learning how to read contract is education that gets you information that not a lot of people get. Think about it. Everybody use Instagram every day. None of us have ever read the terms and services of Instagram.

Never.

But if we read the terms of services for Instagram all the way through, every time they change, right? We're going to have way more information about Instagram because those servers, they change all the time.

All the time. Right?

Because they have to, to keep up with laws, consumer ftc, all of this shit. You know what I'm saying?

And they just ask you to approve of it. Like, yeah, we update our terms and services. And you don't have to read it.

No, you don't have to read it. You don't have to read it. Oh, but you read it by being on it, by accepting, by opening yourself. So, but just doing that, there are content creators that have hundreds and thousands of followers because there are lawyers that say, just tell them that you learned about it from this particular person. I can't remember the name of these, but I've seen a bunch of women where all they do is they read the fine print. So they go to Delta and say, no, you owe me this. Because in your terms of services, it says that you're supposed to be able to do this. Like, how did you know that? Yeah, but see, but that's what I mean by the information. It's not always hidden.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying? It's not always hidden. Now there is some level, some high level shit you'd be like, but I would have never found out about this. And somebody didn't tell me about it. But when you're dealing with publicly traded companies and these apps and everything, you can learn all of the things by just sitting down, taking 30, 40 minutes out of your day, and just reading the terms and services. Right. And these are real things. Like with the Culture Media Network where we launched, we got terms of services.

That shit.

So long. I read all of it. Yeah, because, because you got to be able to stand and know, like, oh, okay, this, that, if you download this. But that shit's long.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

And so the, the thing about. Fuck you, money. The thing about, you know, getting to a place where you can have success, sustainable success, and you can plot and plan what your exit strategy is if you need one.

Yeah.

But if you're not looking at it by any means necessarily, then you're gonna.

Be, you know, it's so passive. Yes, it's so passive.

Nothing passive about getting fucking money. Now once you, if you can create some revenue screens, that's passive. The, the breakthrough to get on the other side, nothing about it is passive. If it is, good luck.

And that's another episode of you money with tan. Yo, man, like, subscribe, comment, share with somebody that needs to hear the message.

Yes, indeed.

We out, we out. Break.