Club Shay Shay - Akon

Episode Date: November 14, 2022

Grammy nominated singer, actor and entrepreneur Akon joins Shannon in Club Shay Shay this week. The two discuss everything in the world of pop culture, sports and everything in-between. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Wow. He just needed the direction. Hello, welcome to another edition of Club Shayshae. I've been grinding all my life. I've been grinding all my life. Hello. Welcome to another edition of Club Shea Shea. I am your host, also the proprietor of Club Shea Shea, and the guy that's stopping by for a drink and conversation today is a diamond and platinum-selling singer, songwriter, producer, Grammy-nominated recording label owner, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, Akon.

What's up, baby? How you doing from the crib all the way from the A? How you doing? I'm amazing, man way from the A? How you doing? I'm amazing man. Hold up, let me get this. Pronounce your full name for me. Ali Ndamalabukatai Mputunaka Lululubadur Akon. I need you to slow it down.

The only thing I heard was Akon. Everything else ran together. Everything else ran together. Okay, so. Everything else ran together for sure. Okay, so. How you say the first part? Alun. Alun. Alun.

Da. Mala. Alun Damala. Damala. Right. Mala. Time. Puru.

Naka. Lu Lu Lu. Badra. Oh, so all. So what they wrote on my card, all that's not. You got more names than that. You got like Lu, Badra. Oh, so also what they wrote on my card, all that's not, you got more names than that. You got like seven, eight names. I mean.

So let me ask you a question. Who actually called you your government name? Or they just called you Akon? Yeah, my family's called me Ali. They just called you Ali? Ali, it's short for Aliyun. So if somebody were to like, if you walking down the street and they were to say,

Ali, you would assume they family? I would, I would assume 100%. It's either family or somebody that knew me since I was a kid. Oh, okay. You got new music coming out. What made you decide to get back into the music game at this point? Well, actually, you know, it's like after you done achieved everything, you kind of go back to what you love.

Go back to the root of what makes you happy. And music was just that thing because I realized my first go around in the music business, everything was so based around the business. Everything was like, okay, cool, I need to make money. I need to get rich, I need to invest. I need to make sure that my family, my kids, and they kids are straight, right?

So once you got your investments all in order, then my legacy was built out. Philanthropy was really, you know, was based and balanced in Africa. I was like, man, I wanted, I wasn't enjoying myself after a while. I wanted to just go back to having fun again. So you wanted to go back and make music that you like,

not so much that it might not have the commercial appeal because you've already satisfied that side. Now let me do what I like. Right. But you want a commercial appeal still. No, but this is the thing. Even when I was doing music, I only did what I liked anyway. Okay.

That's the only part of it that I enjoy. Okay. But it's the, everything that's attached to music, all the opportunities that you can actually run into that, you know, that the business side came from what music attracted. Right. So the music opened the doors that normal doors wouldn't open for me. What is it that you don't like about the music business? I don't like the politics about it.

When you say politics. I think the politics about it is what really drove me away from it. And then it's also the aspect of just the originality of it. Like I felt like if one thing worked, the whole industry would ride towards that one thing that worked and everybody would try to duplicate that. It became more of a copy and paste industry. Originality didn't matter anymore. And then if you

tried to be original, you got shunned or blocked because it wasn't nothing close to what everybody else was doing. Everything became a niche. Yeah, I couldn't get with that. So, you, I mean, when you talk about locked up, I couldn't get with that. So, you, I mean, when you talk about Locked Up,

I'm looking at your career. Before Locked Up took off, you were going around to prisons and actually performing. Right. That's how we broke the record. Yeah, it was interesting. What? I heard a small gymnasium, YMCAs. I really heard people kicking it off at the prison system.

So what made you decide to go that route? Well, it was about being creative. And they got a whole lot of money to pay for top price for tickets. At all. It was free, actually. I had to actually pay to get it done. Exactly. No, but what it was, when we first did Locked Up, it was tough to get it played on the radio.

Right. Tough to get it marketed and promoted. And my whole concept about it, I was like, wait, this is a street record. Obviously, street to the core. The best place for this record to actually get any kind of marketing promotion is the place where the concept came from, which was in jail, right? So I ran into this warden over at Rockers Island at the time. Okay. They had this new program that they was exercising, and he reached out to Steve Rifkin, one of, you know, at the time was the CEO of SRC Records, who I was assigned to.

And he said, yo, listen, man, we got this concept where we want to be able to bring artists to come perform for inmates, you know, and just kind of get these kids, you know, thinking more about- Positive, okay. Yeah, positive. So I was like, man, listen, I'll do it. Let's go locked up. It's the perfect record. Right. So we went in and did it. The I was like, man, listen, I'll do it. Let's go locked up. It's the perfect record.

So we went in and did it. The program was so successful, he invited us to all his other areas that he controlled. And we ended up doing a penitentiary tour. And then how the record popped off was that the inmates would call their parents and have their parents call the radio station on three-way to request the record. And that's how the record broke on the radio.

Wow. Yeah. Did you think at the time that you was making this record that it was gonna do what it did? No, I had no idea. At the time, it was a passion project. I was just going through the process and wrote about it, because I had a habit of writing things that I went through, so when I got locked up,

that habit followed me in jail, and ultimately just became what it was. So that would be so locked up is real life for you. Yeah, real experiences. Speaking of that, we see now in Atlanta what's going on in Atlanta. We see Gunna, we see, I think, Young Thug, the YSL, and they're using their actual lyrics in the statue. Right.

You wrote, this is real life to me. How much should they be allowed? Because in California, Governor Newsom said, no, we're not going to use lyrics against people. Right. And you know what? I agree with not use lyrics against people. Right, and you know what? I agree with not using lyrics against people because a lot of times, most of the stuff

that a lot of rappers are talking about ain't true. Right. It's this fantasy world of being a gangster or this fantasy world of being the OG. The studio gangsters. Studio gangsters, right? So which is cool because movies do the same thing they can do in real life, right?

Exactly, yeah, yeah. You kill somebody in a movie don't mean they can go and say, oh, you killed somebody, I'm charging you for murder. Right. But the difference in a lot of these cases is that a lot of the information that's being released on these songs are information that's never been put to the public in an investigation. Right.

So how do you justify lyrics in an investigation that match a case almost to the T that is information that's never been released to the public right it's kind of hard to fight that so to kind of confess your own crimes on a record is right it's a little ridiculous is it really is ridiculous I mean look I love your stuff I mean you from the crib so I got a special liking to artists that's in Atlanta like Tip and Luda yourself, Goody Mob, OutKast, those guys so I'm biased. I love Locked Up but my favorite song you on the hook with the Soul Survival. Yeah. How did that project come about? Yeah that's actually one of my favorite records as well too. At the time BMF was a group out of Atlanta that was just like, they was killing it. In every aspect, right?

Literally and figuratively, they were killing it. I'm like, okay. And Misha was a really, really good friend of mine. And he said, listen, Con, I got this artist, man. I need your help on it. I promise you, man, I'm gonna look out for you however you need me, I got you. I said, man, just bring him to.

He brought him by the studio, and Jeezy at time, was so raw. I was like, bro, this kid, I don't know where you found him, but he's out of here. Like, he's out of here. So Jeezy played me his mixtape at that time. And I said, OK, cool. So when I left the studio, I reached back to Meej,

and I said, I got him. Trust me. So I did a record, which was so survival. Sent it to Jeezy. Soon as he heard it, he's like, oh, bro, this is it. This is it. Yeah, this is it. He knew like he knew. I mean, literally an hour didn't pass. He sent me back the song always with his lyrics already on it. I was like, oh, yeah, this is a monster record.

But it was it was as simple as Meech Connectedness. Right. Yeah. Is that how is that is as simple as Mitch connected us. Right. Yeah. Is that how, is it as simple as that? Somebody brings you an article? Because it happens all the time. I've seen people passing you mixtapes on the street. Hey, hey, hey, hey, bro. Hey, I got that heat on me, bro.

I need you to take a listen. What made you so sure that Jeezy was it? I just knew. Like, I think that's always been a gift of mine that God just gave me that pulse to know a star when I see it. Like, I just knew it. Like, I just automatically knew it. But me, a lot of my collaborations come from me just passionately liking it personally. Right.

Like, if I like it personally, I'm going to do it regardless of what. Because I just like it. Right. And I see it's going to go somewhere. But oftentimes, it was never politics involved in my decisions when it came to music. You got the Guinness World Record number one selling artist at ringtone. Right. How did that happen?

Well, at the time, like, music was always like a vehicle to me to get to the money. Okay. Like, imagine a hustler seeing an opportunity where you can be famous and use that to open up doors for other opportunities to make money, right? So when I was doing records, I looked at the concept and the stats of how people were rushing and beating themselves up to sell singles, which was like four minutes long and for $1.99. And then you had ringtones, which was just new in the market,

you know, a digital concept, where the ringtone was like 15 seconds long, but it was $4.99. I said, well, hell no. I think I'm on the wrong side of the sales. We need to be selling ringtones. If all I need is 15 seconds of it for $5, come on. It was that simple.

It was that simple. And that's when I started creating my whole revenue model around selling ringtones. So every single was based on a ringtone. Obviously, the Atlanta scene, I mean, everybody knows everybody. You know Killer Mike. You know Gunna. You know Young Thug. You know, Tip, you know, Luda. Right. So what makes the Atlanta scene so special?

Oh, I think what made Atlanta so special was the fact that it was something brand new to hip hop at the time. You know, they had a different perspective when it came to rap music. We used to be R&B, we had Babyface. Oh yeah. We had L.A. Reid, we had TLC, we had, we had. But I think LaFace don't get enough credit for. They started it all. They started it all, man.

L.A. Reid and Babyface, if it wasn't for them, there wouldn't be no Atlanta scene. Right. Like they took it to the South where they saw the, I mean it was just brewing talent that nobody was actually cooking. Right. Like how do you, like O'Day's like, was just brewing talent that nobody was actually cooking. Right. Like, how do you, like,

they was like, man, we need to set up shop right here. Right. And sure enough, when the Olympics came and the world came to Atlanta, it also created this international vibe as well too. So you got a lot of, like myself, I came because of the Olympics. So, but when you created that,

and then people were asking, was able to hear the sounds of the South and feel the energy of it. I think it really transformed the business because everybody was so inspired that even people from New York was trying to sound like they were from the South. And it just changed the game. You mentioned we were talking about the YSL and their situation and BMF, Black Mafia Family. How did that, because it seems like the BMF and what they had, they glamorized it.

They had a thing on, I think it was Netflix, and they showed the rise and the fall of the BMF, and they showed the big lavish cars, and they showed the strip clubs and all that stuff. Is that, tell me Atlanta's more than that. No, Atlanta's definitely more than that. I mean, you gotta think New York had it

too in Brooklyn. Right. You can, in pretty much any city. Right. You know, L.A. had it with Rick Ross. Like anywhere you go, they're going to have that. Rap music was based around the lifestyle of the struggle, like the rags to riches story. Right. Rap music. Right. So when you in any major, you know, challenged neighborhood or hood hood you can kind of say okay There's always been that one person that everybody looked up to which was the neighborhood drug dealer, right? He made the money fast He looked amazing all the girls were his car. He's right. He's the guy that all the kids want to be like, yeah But see coming up the OGs would tell you nabra that ain't touching I go to school right today It ain't same there ain't no old. Go to school. Right. Today, it ain't the same.

There ain't no OGs that are going to give you that game. Right. All the OGs that gave us the game are all dead or locked up. Yeah. And so now what it is is social media. It's all social media. Everything on social media, everybody doing well. Because social media got me thinking I'm pouring mug.

Oh, okay. Because they got Roll Royce. They got business. They're flying private jet. I'm like, how are you flying private jet? I'm flying commercial. got me thinking i'm pouring the mug oh they got roll roy they got business what am i what am i doing wrong but people are starting rapping and selling something i mean but the social media is just like a rap song now okay you can become whoever you want to become right so the rap song we idolize those that group and that's we're telling their stories right like when you look at rappers they tell them the bmf stories they tell a no story like that it wasn't them living it but they living

through them but through the music you can become that right so social media is no different the only difference is now now you can curate your background you know produce your whole environment and make it look like you're this billionaire you know and then right when you jump off that private jet that you just took a picture next to that you didn't even rent. Yeah. You go back to the front of the, you know, the signature place and ask for and call you Uber. Right. So it's like, you know, but at the end of the day, when you look at the I mean, man, your feed look like, oh, man, this boy getting it. Yes. Yes. You know, do? Has social media skewed reality? 100%.

Because social media took reality, well, artificial reality to the next level. Right. So before, everyone believed what you saw on television. Like TV was the truth because you can visually see it. Right, right. Now social media has become and took the place of television. now television everyone can curate their own program, right? Like they can create what they want the world to see or envision when it comes to them like you can create your own personality through

Just you just got to be good at tech You know be very creative at the end of the day Do you I mean these charges that Atlanta on Young Thug and the YSL, they seem very serious. No, they're very serious. And they won't get bond. They tried to get bond and they've been denied, I think, three or four times, Thug and Gunna.

You think they're going away for a while? Man, I pray that they never have to deal with that kind of experience. But the worst part of me I pray that they never have to deal with that kind of experience. But the worst part of me is saying that they're probably going to utilize them and use them as an example. That's what scares

me because I'm sure they probably did. I mean, ain't nobody angels. Everybody going to go through what they go through. I think a lot of the issues that they're dealing with are more issues that might have stemmed from their past that's being presentized. Right.

And, of course, when you come from a past environment of that kind of life, as you get more successful, if you're smart, you will kind of detach yourself from it. You try to move farther away from it. But, unfortunately, these kids kind of try to keep that environment close to them to justify and make real what they're saying on records. Like, everything is about, okay, is he real? Okay, what's the question and what's the, like, what is the definition of real? Is it that, okay, what you're saying on your record is something that you're actually doing in your real life

or who you co-sign or co-sign by on record is actually around you when you've seen in public. Right. So now when you got these credible street guys that's out there standing next to somebody like a young thug or a gunner. And these guys are still active. And, you know, obviously, if you active in the streets, I mean, you're still out there committing crimes. But yet, you know, you're with someone who might have been attached or involved in a life in the past, but they're still currently with you. You could easily be caught up in any kind of conspiracy because, you know, that person person if there's a case on that person and they pull up a rico just you knowing the person you tied in because of conspiracy so you got to be a lot smarter than you know the average person and understand how much you have to lose by being attached to that environment you got to be able

to let that go what happened to like man laying in bed at night and the situation not because i come from a very impoverished situation but when i laid in my bed at night i was situation, not because I come from a very impoverished situation, but when I laid in my bed at night, I was like, God, just give me an opportunity to get away from this. Yes. Yes. I can tell you about my story, but I didn't want to, I didn't want to relive it. Okay. If you're trying to get out of these streets, why do you care to go back once you made it

to try to relive that and try to impress people? Man, I'm still hood. Well, the problem is most of them never was. Okay. But when you got money, you can become what you never was. You can become what you always wanted to be. Yeah. Because there ain't no reason.

Believe me. You know because our generation was different. Yeah. We did it to get the hell up out of there. For sure. I ain't look back since. Right. I don't plan to and don't give a.

Right. You follow? Yeah. I mean, Pete, they tell me all the time, oh, you had this. You had money all your life. No, I don't. No. I ain't finna slum it.

To prove to you. Right. I'm not finna slum it again. Again. to prove to you that I came up, came up. Why? Damn you. You're right. People try to relive a situation to try to prove to someone else, no, I really came from the streets.

I really sold drugs. I really did this. Like, why? Like, why? Like, why would you even want to put that on your back? Yeah. You actually proud of that. There ain't something to be proud of. You didn't know any better.

You was trying to make ends meet. You was trying to get out of a situation and things happened. But once you know better and you made it, it shouldn't be a situation where you try to impress somebody and go back to that. Thank you. Thank you. When you got locked up, when you were in there, the actual inside the facility,

they said there's one thing between your physical body being in prison and your mind being in prison. He said that's when you're lost is when your mind is there. Your body was there. Clearly your mind wasn't there because you were thinking about something else. How did you pass the time? How did you get past that moment in your life? I was thinking about how I was going to over, like,

what I plan on doing when I get out. And it was in jail that I made my 10-year plan. I literally had a 10-year plan of where I want to be in the next 10 years. Okay. And at the top of my plan was I want to be able to work with Michael Jackson. That was the top of my plan. And that was in 10 years. That was a hell of a plan. Now you were incarcerated. I would work

with Mike. He the biggest mole. If I work with Mike, I done made it. I'm good. God bless me. And sure enough, within five years of that plan, I had already reached it. And I think that's what drove me to philanthropy quicker. Because once I reached that goal in five years, I was like, man, God gave me everything I ever wanted to do.

Like, what do I do now? I don't want to just be known for singing and dancing. I want to be able to be an impact. I want to be able to, you know, when I rub or I'm attached to anybody, their name or their situation is upgraded better. Like, I want to be able to make lives better. Just God give me the position to be in a position to help other people, you know? What made you decide to move to Atlanta? What's, what, I mean, you got there and then you lived there that's home now I met you we saw each other a couple is funny how you meet somebody we fly fly Why did you move to Atlanta or did you move with family or you moved on your own and what's Atlanta? What's the Atlantic Atlanta experience been like for you? Well in in the beginning, my dad actually was a jazz musician.

But he also was a professor. OK. He taught a lot of, he did a lot of cultural exchange programs with universities. He did it with Miami. He did it in Atlanta, Clark. So he moved to Atlanta early. At the time, I was hustling in New Jersey.

So when Pops decided to move to Atlanta, I decided to stay in Jersey for reasons only I knew. Then Pops was like, listen, you got to come to Atlanta. Atlanta's a beautiful place. It's fresh. And I'm like, wow, that's a new territory for me. You didn't come for the reason Pops thought. Then I heard the Olympics was coming there.

I said, oh, yeah, I'm gone. So I moved to Atlanta. But when I got to Atlanta, I was honestly surprised of how amazing it was there. Yes. I never turned back and went back to Jersey. I didn't even have until this day. I left my furniture, everything in that apartment, never came back for it.

Right. You know, but then when I realized the opportunities in Jersey, I mean Atlanta, and then the people and how nice they were, the food and the beautiful women, and it was just, it was like it was a no-brainer. It was a no-brainer. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL daily with Greg Rosenthal five days a week.

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And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So you came in what year, 95? I came in 94. 94. Oh, so you came to Freaknik. You know about Freaknik? Yes. You you came in what year? 95? I came in 94. 94. Oh, so you came to Freaknik. You know about Freaknik? Yes. You know about Freaknik? Freaknik is where I stayed. Freaknik is where I stayed.

I said this would never happen in New Jersey. Ever. I don't care. I mean, we had Freaknik, we had Jack the Rapper. Right. We had everything. Freaknik is Woodstock. Man, foot on steroids. Freaknik is Woodstock. Man, foot on steroids. Freak Nick is Woodstock for black people. That's what it is.

It's Woodstock. I mean, all of a sudden, now everybody goes to Coachella. But Freak Nick ain't nothing like Freak Nick. Ain't nothing like it, man. You had a student before blowing up, you went to jail for armed robbery, stealing cars. Bro. I know.

You know, stealing cars is dangerous because the owner run out there up on you and then what but see that's the thing in jersey we we kind of perfected the art of stealing cars i know it sounds crazy i know but that's what we was known for jersey like this is what we do so when i came to atlanta and you brought that to atlanta because they didn't know anything about it when you were the head you were the head of your time They didn't know anything about it. They knew nothing about it. You was ahead of your time. They knew nothing about it.

So it was like the perfect, oh, it was so perfect. You had a studio. Who were some of the famous artists that came through your studio? Oh, man, everybody worked. I mean, practically almost everybody from Atlanta. If you name them, they done worked through our studio. Like literally everybody. You still got?

Usher, TLC. I mean, everybody. Everybody. Everybody. Everybody came through our studio. You're sitting on your cot, and you said, I want to work with Michael Jackson. Did you always know what you wanted to do from that moment on?

You're like, you know what, Lord, if you get me out of this situation, I promise you, I will never, ever come back. I will never, ever ask you to do me another favor again. That was my exact words, too. I said, Lord, I want to steal a piece of bubble gum. Just get me out of this situation, and I promise you, and I kept my word, and my life has

been amazing ever since. When we see what happened with PNB, Rob, and we see what Dolph, we see what Pop Smoke, what's going on? It goes back to this generation again, trying to prove to people. Right. So you get to the position where. OK. It's one thing to acknowledge the fact that there's people out there starving. Yes. Struggling. Yes.

But it's another thing to know it and flash it in their face and make them feel as if they're less than what they should be, right? So if you're utilizing someone else's environment to profit, the people that's being profited from is gonna feel some kind of way. And they're gonna feel like not only that you owe them something, but it's disrespectful. That's just being poor and knowing this, right? So when you get to a situation like that,

you got to also respect the idea of knowing that the environment in which you came from, that you don't plan to go back, or if you did, or if you haven't done anything for those people that feel that you should, there's going to be some repercussions in you opening up the treasure trunk of your blessing. Cause unfortunately our people as black people,

we just believe. We owe something. We owe something. You made it from here, you gotta bring it back. But even, look at Nipsey. Nipsey was giving back to his community. He's still giving back and it still happens because that jealousy, man, we have this envy that it's just.

Why we don't the community that's like that? It's not like that in other communities. It really isn't. They not feel like they're owed something. I mean, because now I got to, man, I got to drive a beat up truck. Or I got to dress down because I'm afraid somebody going to see something and be mad at me

because I bust my ass to make it out. And now you jealous because I got on some designer or I got a little chain or I drive a nice car. You're like, bro, you owe me, break me off. No, get up and go to work. I'm not saying everybody's not going to make millions of dollars. Right. But you can do something.

You shouldn't feel like, well, you got it, I'm going to take it from you. It's just unfortunate because we've created this scenario that we have to value ourselves with material things. Right. And the material things. That's how we measure ourselves. Right, that's how we measure ourselves. So when somebody's coming up,

the first thing they do is buy a car, buy a house, buy some jewelry, right? So, and then it's the same, okay, you gotta look like money to make money. Right. Half the time we faking it till we make it. And that's just being real. No, I ain't going in debt till I make it. I'm just saying, as a culture. As a culture, faking it until we make it. And that's just being real. Nah, I ain't going in debt until I make it.

I'm just saying, as a culture. As a culture, we fake it until we make it. Because me, and it's like a radar, because if I walk into a business meeting, and somebody's all trinketed up with all these ornaments on them, I already know he ain't got no money.

I already know you broke. You ain't fooling me, bro. That used to be me. Yeah. I'm top. Now I'm tuned out already. Right. Because, like, why do you have to do all that?

Right. If you're successful, just come show me, you know, present what you got to present and sell it. Yeah. But all action is to try to jet off my drink. All that stuff you got on there. The Jedi mind trick. They got to do with what's on that paper. You said you believe labels are making money off rappers dying. Oh, yeah, for sure.

I mean, because believe me, there's a lot of things that can be put in place to prevent it, believe it or not. But at the end of the day, we can't always blame the establishment for mistakes that we make. Right, right. Because it ain't like we don't know better either. Like, it goes back to people used to always get on Jay on why he don't go back to Marcy Projects. I'm like, why should he?

Yeah, and do what? Because somebody's jealous? And do what? But why are we like that? I mean, look at Justin Timberlake ain't trying to beat up Robin Thicke. You know what I'm saying? I mean, Adele ain't trying to fight. So why is it the rap culture, why is it us that feel that even if there's nothing there,

we'll create a situation. And it's about, you know, all of a sudden now you've got to be disrespectful about somebody's girl. You've got to be disrespectful about, you know, how I snatched your chain and you snatched this. Or I ran up on your boy. What's so big about that? Honestly, I could never understand that. To this day, I don't know how to answer a question like that. It's just our mentality has been so twisted and distorted.

And just history of just being manipulated by each other. And then we don't have trust amongst each other. So it's hard for us to come together and create anything great. Because there's always gonna be this, you know, he got more than I did, or why should he be in that position when I created, or, you know, established this.

It's never a say, look, let's just put all that aside, and figure out how we can come together, put our source together and create something great. Without actually wanting it for each other, than to be jealous of each other. It just, I mean, it's tough. I mean, you can always blame it on history because we always been separated according to classes.

We always been, you know, but at the end day, there has to be a time in life where we can say, you know what, yes, it happened, but we can do something about it. But when do you get tired enough to say, let's just stop talking and protesting and just let actions actually allow us to come together and create something great it says fat joe says he believes rappers are an endangered species you believe that one thousand percent i mean it's a new rapper dying every week it's the most dangerous occupation in the world

right now did this start with the biggie and tupac beef? Because I don't remember. Look, I remember when LL and Kool Moe D had it right back. Man, I use that as an example all the time. It was all on whack. That's all it was. LL wasn't trying to roll up on Moe. Right. Kool Moe D wasn't trying to roll up on him. Right.

It was just lip sparring at his finest. It was rap. Rap was built on battling. And then somehow Tupac and Biggie, it escalated to that level, and we hadn't looked back since. Yeah. It's unfortunate because a lot of the gangsters are very emotional. They're the most emotional people on the planet.

And most of them was raised by their mother or their grandmothers. Their father figures weren't a part of their lives. So the man side of them that would take a joke ain't there. Because the father wasn't there to show, okay, as a man, your skin should be as tough as leather. Little words should never affect you. To the point now, I mean, because of me being raised more

from my African side of my family, it's like, okay, you get it. Because it's just a different level of responsibility that the man owns. Today, the man of the house will easily tell you, well, that ain't my responsibility. Or matter of fact, he's not a role model. You got famous people that says, I'm not a role model. You got famous people that says, I'm not a role model. That ain't my, that's not my, you know, responsibility.

Right. Okay, then whose responsibility is it if the kids are looking up to you? Right. It's not a choice. This comes with the territory. Once you become successful and you're in a position where you actually influence people,

that's your role towards God to say, man, he put me in this position for a reason. It ain't just for me to focus on myself and tell everybody or show everybody how hot I am. I got to actually be some kind of use to the environment and to the population to say, OK, cool. I have to lead by example, because what I do, kids are watching this and going to want to do the same thing. And you got to keep that in mind. Right. Kanye West, you've defended Kanye West in the past. And I believe in freedom of speech, but I believe you can take it too far also. Right.

What are your thoughts on Kanye right now? Well, yeah, I always, I'm always defending the people that nobody wants to defend. I'm always defending Kanye West because I always believe in life. An opinion is just an opinion. If they say something that I don't agree with, I just don't agree with it. Right. But I'm not going to go jumping all over,

mad and letting it affect my energy. But you do realize, but he's a person of influence. But it goes right back to that, right? Now, the last comments he made in these last days, I definitely don't agree. Right. Because there was a reason why the phrase Black Lives Matter was even created. Right. It wasn't just a concept for marketing again. Right. It was a

history of behavior and hurt and pain and racism. 400 years. That led to that to the point where the world was like wait a minute something. Our lives got to matter too. It has to. Right. Right. Right. So I see what maybe what he was trying to say or what he was trying to do. Clearly, everybody, we all believe that all lives matter. Correct. We do. Right. I mean, it has to matter for us to survive. Yeah. It's supposed to be all lives matter. But we've seen situations and all lives don't matter. It hasn't mattered. All lives hadn't mattered, right? So you can't use your emphasis or that phrase into a situation like this. Right. Because it don't fit here. Right.

This has to be resolved first before that happens. Right. You understand? Yes. In order for all lives to matter, these lives have to matter. Correct. Because we're the lives that's driving economy, sports, entertainment, fashion. I mean, multi-billion dollar corporations are benefiting from our sweat, tears, work, influence, everything.

Right. So if our life don't matter, nothing really actually matters in America. He said about, you know, he's going to go DEFCON 1, 2, 3, said something about the Jewish communities. He was supposed to be on the shop, his interview on the shop. They canceled that. Candace Owens showed something from JPMorgan Chase where they said, we're ending our relationship.

Mm-hmm. When a bank says, I'm gonna end my relationship with an individual, and that individual is worth billions... Right. ...I think that speaks volumes. That says a lot. That says a lot. Because one thing we know about banks, they like money. Oh. I mean... And what they like more than money is worth billions. Right. I think that speaks volumes. That says a lot. That says a lot. Because one thing we know about banks, they like money.

Oh. And what they like more than money is your money. They don't leave you none of theirs. They don't leave you none of theirs. They give you a little bit of interest on the money you put in there. Absolutely. But, I mean, someone like Kanye, I think sometimes in certain areas he honestly forgets that his opinion doesn't always matter.

Right. It doesn't. He thinks his opinion is law, though. He thinks his opinion always matters. His opinion is just his opinion. But as us listening to it, we got to also know that, too. But then to your point, there's kids that don't know the difference between how powerful his opinion is when they themselves are trying to find themselves.

But you know what? Sometimes Kanye forget that you and I cover him, and then they got to do things to remind him. No, they got to remind him. They have to remind him. And you see what happened? Honestly, I think he knows. No, he don't know.

He forget. I think, no, I think, no. Sometimes you get a little money. No, I think Kanye's smarter than y'all think. This is the brilliant side of him. What is his next plan? To run for office, right? I mean, you're saying?

Yeah. From our knowledge, his next plan is to run for office, right? Mm-hmm. Who is his main endorser? Trump. Trump. Okay. Now, in order for Kanye to even have a shot, he need a piece of that base.

Yes. This is how he's getting it. Right. He knows base. Yes. This is how he's getting it. Right. He knows this. Yes. He knows that it's going, okay, he gonna make a lot of black people angry.

Right. But guess what? We're forgiving people. That's, yes. We are. He knows that too. Right. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, he said something fucked up. But guess what? Tomorrow he gonna do something great. We gonna be like, you know what? That nigga crazy, but he all right. Yeah, he all right. He make good music. So he's kind of playing the seesaw, but he gotta be careful, because if it's too much

weight on one side, or not enough weight on the other side, he's gonna go down. You're originally from St. Louis. Yeah, St. Louis, Missouri. Did you know Nelly? Man, you know me and Nelly like brothers. Like, we went to the same middle school. Okay. That's like my heart right there.

So did you want to do music when you were little? What did you want to do when you were growing up, when you were like in middle school, say you're like 9, 10, 11. What did Akon want to be? I wanted to be a brain surgeon. And then I wanted to be an FBI agent. I know it's crazy, right?

You go from FBI agent to a comic. You go from neurosurgeon to FBI to a comic. To making music. And then the music part came when I was locked up, when I realized, okay, cool, when I get out of here, I need to find something that's going to keep me out of here, something that's going to also allow me to be wealthy. And then all this time, music has always been there as a hobby. So you always had an ear for music?

Always had the love for music. Right, you had a love for music. But it wasn't nothing that I ever wanted to pursue, well, thought that I would be pursuing as a career. Okay. It was always a hobby. And then you get locked up and you said, okay, I got to find something I can do that's going to keep me

not to get locked up again. Right. And then, so when you got out, so how did you find this, you had this gift for music? Well, the gift of music came from my father My father was a jazz musician right and he always was well He was a jazz musician before you got locked up. He just didn't realize he was a magician when you live there No, I knew then but the thing is you didn't play any instruments. Yeah, I played all instruments as well

But he's the parent listen I used to go to all his shows and everything but it was jazz and I was a kid No kid loves jazz. So that's what threw me off. I'm like, man, I don't want to be listening to this all my life. Man, you used to like to hear the horn, the sax, the trumpet, the trombone. Yeah. That was, ooh. Yeah, but when you're playing with groups like the World Saxophone Quartet, where every

player that's playing brass plays their own thing, all you hear is... Like, you know, the stuff that's just all over the place. I couldn't get a sense of just a real melody with real rhythm. The jazz was always so diverse. Everywhere I went, it was a different type of jazz. I used to like the real soft jazz with the high hat. Soft hat with you know like soft listening music yeah that's the kind of jazz i used to like but i never really heard that much so as i got older and i was into the streets i couldn't really talk to people about situations i was going through so i wouldn't write songs about them right that was my way of kind of venting and then when i started making money

and i had to justify where the money was coming from that's when i started investing it into recording studios okay and at that time, recording studios was a cash business. So I would allow any and everybody to use my studios for free just to keep it busy to justify where the money was coming from. But whenever there was time available- That ain't what they called it. They called it when you were in the cast. I know what they called it, but that ain't what it was.

That ain't what I thought it was. I never knew that word even existed then. That was Laundromat. You had Laundromat. I didn't know what I was doing. You was watching. I just knew it. That ain't what I thought it was. I never knew that word even existed. No, larger man. You had a larger man. I didn't know what I was doing.

You was watching. I just knew it. So, that's what happened to me, just writing about my experiences. So, when I got locked up, that habit followed me in jail, and I wrote about being locked up. Wow. Yeah, you know, it just happened naturally. St. Louis,

you know Nelly. Nelly is a hell of an athlete. Oh, no, he's a beast. I am surprised. I mean, he can run, he can catch, he can shoot the basketball. He was unbelievable. Football skills and baseball. Baseball, he was a monster.

Yes, yes. I was surprised. Honestly, I'm surprised that Nelly ain't go pro. Like, he really had the potential to go pro. Did you think Nelly would be on the side that you are? Did you think? I mean, you thought he was going to go pro in baseball, and here he turns out to the side that you are? Did you think, I mean, you thought he was going

to go pro in baseball and here he turns out to be one of the biggest, you know, rappers from the Midwest. Are you surprised that he went that route? Honestly,

I'm not, because Nelly was always the cool kid in high school. I mean, in middle school and high school. Right. Because he was a great athlete.

Nigga's handsome. I mean, he was going to be somebody. But I Because he was a great athlete. Nigga's handsome. I mean, he was going to be somebody. Right. But I didn't know. Rap was the last thing on my mind at the time. Yeah.

You mentioned your African background, your heritage, your roots. Was it a culture shock coming from Africa and being here and the way you did things over there opposed to...

No, complete. Complete. It was like... I don't know how to explain. Imagine being this kid living in the jungle. Or we'll say rural Africa. Okay, yeah. Tarzan lives in the jungle. You...

It was a little better than Tarzan. Tarzan. So imagine no electricity, no running water, right? And I was like, I just picked, I was the barefooted kid playing soccer in the sand. There was no cars in that area of Africa where I was at. Like you had to go all the way into the city and we never went to the city. So we was there where the horses, where you had to jump on the back of the horseback. So I went from that to getting on an airplane. Now looking in the sky, I always think those are birds. I never knew they were actual, I never knew what they was. When I get to the airport, I see this big old bird. And I'm like, this is a bird.

So now we're going inside. I'm scared. I'm like, we're going inside the bird. I'm like, yo, what is going on? I go inside and there's seats and chairs and stuff. And I'm like, I don't know what I'm looking at. But then I want to sit by the window because I want to see. So now as the plane is taking off, I'm crying thinking it's going to fall to the ground.

I'm boohoo tears. Then I fall to the ground. I'm boo-hoo tears. Then I fall asleep, wake up into New York City. As we're waking up, we're flying over New York City. I see these high-rise buildings. A whole bunch of yellow bugs going down the street. I'm not knowing any cabs at the time. When I finally get in the city, I'm looking around. I've never seen anything like this in my life.

Buildings, the tallest heaven. Cars faster than the speed of light. This was like the Jetsons for me. Right. Then my mom brings us to this apartment that's so beautiful, so luxurious. I look at it there like a normal apartment. But for me, it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life. When you had no running water, no electricity, and you had dirt floors,

and all of a sudden it might have been a small apartment, but you had running water, you had heat, seen in my life. When you had no running water, no electricity, you had dirt floors. And all of a sudden, it might have been a small apartment. But you had running water, you had heat, and you had life. Man, listen, I turn the knob, and clean drinking water comes out. Then I hit a switch, and lights are everywhere. And then she fed me Corn Flakes, the most delicious shit I've ever tasted in my life. In my life.

Corn Flakes. That white box with that roost on there is terrible. But at the time. But Tony, Tiger, though, the frosted, and I can relate to the tiger because I just came from the jungle. Right, right. So can you imagine my experience? The culture shock was on a different level. Obviously, kids, they see you, you talk different,

you sound different, you look different. You know, we got some dark-skinned brothers in Jersey. Right. You know, they ain't seen, you know... Right, they ain't seen nobody like me at that time. You came to first place when they go to school. I was a champ. So what was it like for you? How was it, you know, did they pick on you?

We call it picking, but they call it bullying or making fun, whatever they want to call it. At the time, I mean, I think bullying is a little too strong of a word for it. Well, for us, our culture, we're just joining each other. Yeah, that's what we're doing. But that's what helped give you that thick skin again. Thick skin, correct. So when I first came, I was super nappy-headed. Okay.

I mean, black is tall. Right. And black was not in style. No, no, no. And you know. No, no, no. The light-skinned, curly-haired kids got all the girls. Elder Bar, Cheeky Bar, the light-skinned brother. Right. It was light-skinned was in style then No, you know, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, model. Then every girl wanted a dark-skinned guy with black eyes. That changed the game for all of us.

Then Tyrese came with that smile in the Coca-Cola commercial. Then we started like, oh, okay, okay. Then it started, then when I came, it was more like, okay, he's really black. Right. But why? Then he's like, well, wait a minute, he's African. But because me, I was coming up in a different

environment, I didn't need everything to impress the girls. Okay, yeah. So we spent a lot of money in the clubs in Atlanta. Why? You're dropping it like that? Man, I had to overdo it because I was dark. Right.

But I also had to, you know, and I was African. So being black and African. You dropping that money at 112 like that? No, Magic City. Magic City. Oh, you was at the city. I was at the city, Gentleman's Club. Like, I was there. Oh, so you was at the city. I was at the city, gentlemen's club. Like, I was there.

Oh! So you was at gentlemen's on Ellis. Man! Yeah! He put me on it for real, boy. You know I know all of them. What? You was at all of them.

Come on. Man, what? So now, so now you're like, OK. OK, I kind of like being on this side. So this is what you became once you got out, you started making a little money, you got some money, and you're like, okay, I kind of like this, okay. This can work. I'm going to straighten out.

And you haven't looked back? Never looked back, ever since. I mean, but when you arrived in the States, could you speak English? No, I didn't speak not a lick of English. And then when I started learning, I started speaking with this heavy African accent, which made them laugh even harder. Right. Right, so then I vowed to myself that,

listen, I'ma learn English, but once I know how to speak, unless I tell you I'm African, you will never know, because I wanted to learn with no accent, so I would literally pay so attention to how they spoke, the cadence, the way they said it, how they... So how did you learn? I mean, I hear a lot of people say,

well, I watch TV. I watch American TV shows. I listen to them, and so that's how I learned. Because now, I mean, most people now, if you wanna learn a second language, you take classes, you get eBooks or Rosetta, whatever the case may be, and you learn that way. But just looking at American television,

a lot of people that says, well, I love Lucy, I'm learning watching American TV shows. Right. It actually works, but I think it's all of the above. Because I learned the majority just by hanging with friends. Okay. You know, just hanging with my friends and being outside all the time. Man, how do you get rid of it?

I mean, just being around them. Well, I was around people that I've been speaking English all my life, and I still talk with a heavy colloquial dialect. But yeah, but yours is more. Southern drawl. I was about to say, it's more southern. Southern is hard to take off.

Even in Atlanta, even in Atlanta, I kind of try to find a way to kind of talk like them. You know what I'm saying? Like for real, Sean. Like for real, Sean. you know what I mean? Like I can go there too. So I had to master the art of accents. Blending.

Like for real, you know what I'm saying? Like for real, Charlotte. I mean, obviously the Fugees are from Jersey. You're close with Wyclef. Yeah, the whole family, man. Clef, Lauren, Price, Spider, like all those guys kind of brought me into the music world. They introduced me into the music side of it.

OK. Because when Clef met me, I actually met him because he sat in my chair. I was cutting his hair as a barber. What the heck? Yeah, I was a barber. I don't even want to say that because they say y'all do a lot of jobs.

So I didn't want to go there. I didn't want to go there. I didn't want to go there. I'm going to leave that alone. You go ahead. So you flew to Barber. You know, so I was cutting his hair. Barber worked at a laundromat. Detailing calls.

And it's funny because Clef knew. Like, I'm literally cutting his hair. But then when he saw what was parked outside, he was like, he knew. So he's like, yo, listen, I got a studio out here. My uncle can provide for us. You should come out there. You into music? I'm like, yeah, I'd love to.

So he had me come to the studio. We used to write there, produce there, come up with records and songs. And that's how I became a part of the refugee camp. And then before you know it, they just introduced me to a whole other opportunity of what the world could be if I embraced music. Man, I'm looking at some of the artists that you worked with. Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Madonna, Quincy Jones, Lana Richards, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre. You remixed Want to Be Starting Something with Michael for the 25th anniversary of the thriller. Right.

When you, I mean, When you talk to producers, it doesn't get any better than Quincy Jones and Dr. Dre. That's the gold standard. I think I was talking to Snoop, and I was like, Snoop, if it was a versus battle, who would you put against Dr. Dre?

He's like, hell, the only person you could put would be Quincy Jones. Right. First of all, I don't believe anybody can beat Quincy. Not with all his hits because he's touched too many. Too many. In every genre. Frank Sinatra. Yeah, yeah.

In every genre. So he's unbeatable in a versus battle. He's unbeatable. Like, you can't even compare him. What was Michael like? Man, Mike, it hurts me every day to think about it because he was the coolest dude you probably would ever met. And he was, like the biggest misconception was Mike was just this Hollywood character.

But he wasn't. He was the simplest guy. And he knew when to turn it on, obviously, because his generation, he knew what a superstar supposed to look and feel like in public. So come public, oh he'd turn it on, obviously, because his generation, he knew what a superstar was supposed to look and feel like in public. So come public, oh, he'd turn it on. He knew. Mike was a G. He'd get it. But behind closed doors as a person, man, he used to have me crying.

So funny, super cool, just a great, great heart, man. Pure soul, man. So you remix, I Want to Be Starting Something. How did that project come about? Actually the project came about because I received a call one day. Me and Mike actually had the same attorney but I didn't know at the time that we shared attorneys.

And then my attorney called me. He was like, Mike wants you to come on board and produce on his new re-release for the Thriller. I was like, man, stop playing. Michael Jackson? He said, yes, Michael Jackson.

So, but he started laughing after he said it, so I thought he was joking. And at that time, I ain't got time for this, so I hung up the phone. He calls me back, he calls me back, with Mike on the phone on three-way. He said, remember what I told you? Mike is on the phone.

Hi Mike, talk to Con. And he's like, hey, Con, how are you? With a voice. I said, oh, these niggas is bullshit. Let me hang on the phone again. I ain't got time for this. So he calls back. You don't say it on the phone.

Right, he calls back. He said, no, it's me. Seriously, it's me. I said, no, it's not. He said, yes, it's me. He started telling me everything about myself that I forgot about. It was so interesting, because when I flew out to Vegas to meet him,

I didn't understand. It made me realize how and why he was so big. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here. Just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media.

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Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. First of all, he was a music guy. Like, he was a fan of the art and the people involved in it. Because even how he explained and kind of narrated his story about me from his point of view, he made me look at myself different. But then more than anything, I started to realize how even how easy it was to work with him.

Cause out of every artist I ever worked with, Mike was probably the easiest person to work with. If I would've asked him to bark on the record, he would've barked on the record. Only because he believed in what I did. And he wanted me to be able to be to coach him right to do So if the collaboration felt like a real collaboration, you know, I mean, so it was just amazing He had no ego about nothing. He was willing to try any and everything to make the best product he could

if You were the last I mean Michael Jackson last song hold my hand Yeah, you work with him Whitney like, Like I Never Left. You worked. I was the last to work on her as well, too, before she passed, which is crazy. When you look, and look, I understand because, look, you've worked with a lot of guys from G's and all these guys, but you understand what Whitney represents.

You understand what Mike represents. You're talking about the upper, upper, upper. There's levels to this music thing now. 100%. And you're talking about Michael, he's at the top of the food chain. You're talking about Witness, he's at the top of the food chain. Right. And the last to work, you were the last to work with them.

Yeah, that was, the only one that I was right in motion of working with before he left was Prince. He's the only one I missed. That would have sealed my legacy for that. I'm trying to think. I think he had a concert in Atlanta. And the way he did his concerts, you could only buy,

you could only get two tickets, but you had to show up at the box office with the credit card in hand. Okay, obviously I'm not going to wait no line. And the tickets that were like a hundred bucks, people were selling them for like $2,000, $3,000. And I'm like, nah, hell nah. It was really the last concert he ever did, did it at the box.

And he's one of the only guys that I didn't get an opportunity to see, and he's one of my favorite artists. And so I understand, obviously I wasn't gonna get, but just to hear him. You get an opportunity to work with Michael, work with some of the people, work with Whitney, and to say, I work with Prince, because now again, we're talking about the upper effort.

See, Prince was a little bit different, and the reason why it was harder to block it, get into him, was because he himself was a writer and a producer. Correct. He created his own music. Right. That's why I was such, would have been such an honor for him to go outside that space of himself and experiment with someone else.

Yes. You know what I mean? So it was a matter of just getting close enough to him to just let him hear. Hear some of the things that you told me. I promise you, if he would have heard it, he would have been in. He would have been locked. Right. But one thing about Prince, he always had that mystique.

That's one thing I actually admired about that generation. Superstars wasn't easy to get to. Right. And they made it hard. So if you finally did get to them, you had to make it count. Right. Today, you go to the mall, you see everybody. You go to the club, you see everybody. Everybody, there's somebody. Right. Today, you go to the mall, you see everybody. You go to the club, you see everybody.

Everybody, there's somebody. Right. The access to these guys now is a lot different than what it was. What it was. You probably, you weren't bumping into Michael at the club. No. Unless it was Studio 54. You weren't bumping into Prince.

You weren't bumping into those guys. Right. Unless it was a very, very special occasion. Absolutely. Now, hey. Oh, no, yeah. You go out and let, you probably bump into little baby, little dirt. You go bump, you know, you go bump into all of them. You go bump into all special occasion. Absolutely. Now, hey. Oh no, yeah. You go out and let, you probably bump into a little baby, a little dirt, you go bump, you know, you go bump into

all of them. You go bump into all of them. I'm looking at, what was it like to work with Mike in the studio? Oh man, that was the best experience ever. Like Mike, Mike, Mike was the first artist that I worked with of, at that time that didn't need no auto-tune. He didn't need no auto-tune.

He didn't need no auto-tune. But I had to do it because I just wanted to see auto-tune on him. I had to fix a little bit. But... So when you hear people say, well, I don't know how to, I hear people say, talent and singing. Right.

Okay, if you wanna say talent, I think Prince is obviously because he can play. Oh, no, talent, hands down. Hands down. He does everything. Right. His eyes closed. But when they, see, people miss when they talk about Chris Brown and Michael. Right.

See, now y'all got to miss me. I don't even want to talk to y'all no more. I ain't got nothing to say. Let me give you another perspective on that. I ain't got nothing to say. Let me give you another perspective on that. In this day and age, the only person, in my opinion, that could have achieved just as great as a legacy as Mike,

to me, would have been Chris Brown. I just believe that Chris Brown wasn't surrounded by the circle of creative people that Mike was surrounded by. Wow. Because Chris got the talent. Wow. He just needed the direction. Wow. Because Chris got the talent. Wow. He just needed the direction. Right.

Right? So imagine if Chris had Mike's team. Right. Just imagine that. It would be something different. And that's big, Con. Chris is healthy. Like, he got bloods around him.

He got little gang bangers around him. He don't have the guidance. He's smart, but he's smart according to what this generation's smart attracts. Right. Okay?

For me to survive in this era, I gotta keep certain things around me, certain people around me, just so I can keep getting it going. Right.

But if he was able to delete all that and say, look, I'm gonna focus on being the greatest entertainer ever, Chris has the opportunity. It's too late now.

It's too late now. Yeah! Yeah, I know. Yeah. It's too late now. It's too late now. Yeah! No, no. No, I ain't done. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yo, that's why everybody love you though, because you're, boy, you so, boy. Yeah, you did too late. Ain't nobody selling no hundred million albums. Ain't nobody doing that again.

No, no, no. That's over. That's over. But you could, but, but. But now you got the streaming. So now you do. I'm about to say that. I don't know really how streaming work.

Do you get a quarter? Do you get 50 cents? Do you get a dime for how many streams you get. I don't know really how streaming works. Do you get a quarter? You get 50 cents? You get a dime for how many streams you get? I don't really know how that works. Right, right. But, I mean, he seems to be doing unbelievable in that. Oh, yeah, he's killing it.

He's killing it. I've also, you signed Lady Gaga, T-Pain, French Montana, Weird Kid. You mentioned something, Auto Tunes. Has Auto Tunes ruined the industry? No, it helped. It honestly helped. Because a lot of these generations... So I can't sing, so I can't do Auto Tunes. Has auto-tunes ruined the industry? No, it helped. It honestly helped. Because a lot of these generations... So I get on auto-tunes, I would sound like...

I would rather you get on auto-tunes, please. You know, the most amazing part about working with the older generation artists, like the Michael Jacksons and the Whitney Hustons and the Lionel Richies... They didn't need an auto-tune. They didn't need it. I never used any of them. I mean, he scared the pentagrams and I never used any of it. I mean, everybody

from the 90s moving back towards the 70s and 80s, I mean, 80s and 70s, they didn't use any of that. They were impeccable. Impeccable. And guess what? Those recordings that you heard, those are one takes.

Because every time they messed up, they had to start again from the top. Whereas us, if we mess up, we can just start from where I messed up at and re-punch it. So it was a different time then. Now Adele don't use no autotunes now. I heard Adele,

whoo, Lord have mercy. That's something about, that voice, the heard. You signed Lady Gaga, T-Pain, French Montana, Where's the Kids. How did you meet these artists? Oh, man, just in the travels and moving around. With

Pain, my little brother Boo brought me Pain. Okay. I give Boo the credit for finding and discovering Pain. I was just a platform that we can toss him on and get him to where he needed to be. Right. Gaga, she was actually already on Interscope when I signed my label deal there.

And I saw her and I was like, yo, Jimmy, I need that for my label. And Jimmy tossed me that ball, gave me that. Like, greatest gift he's ever given me. Lady Gaga can really sing. I mean, I think sometimes people look at the makeup and see the outfits. That girl is not human. No, she can sing. She's not human, bro.

She is amazing. Like, creatively, mentally, like she's, I mean, she thinks beyond the average artist. Like, just to come up with the things that you guys seen, we had to dump certain things down just to get it across so people

can understand it. But she's on a different level. What is your um your artist development process how do you like okay i got this person this is where i think they can go right here's the process that i'm going to use in order to get them him or her there how do you go about that like all the artists that i take full responsibility for they all go through the same system they start with me we figure figure out what they wanna do, how they wanna see their years in 10 years.

Where you want your life to be in 10 years. Then we have a real conversation about the industry. Learn the business. Once they got that part right, then we take them straight to Art of Development. Take them right there to Marvelous Studios in Atlanta. The best that ever did it. All the artists that we ever loved,

from New Edition to Boys and Men to TLC you name it he's shaped them up into superstars they all go through that process okay then they come out of there we go into the studio okay we make the biggest hit record according to our conversations your passion and what you want to be now we got a body of work you've been through artist development so you can speak well you can perform well you are prepared for what you're about to get. Then we're going through the right distribution partner. Who do we decide is the perfect partner for distribution for this record, depending on the size and territories that we want to go.

Then we pick the labels that we want to partner with. Once we got them, come release dates, come release. Once we release, it's almost like raising a chick into a chicken and just letting it go. Put it in the oven, and it's almost like raising a chick into a chicken and just letting it go. Put it in the oven and it's a great meal. Well, see, you're talking about letting it go. That ain't what you did. You're talking about putting it in the oven.

Nah. But you're willing to let your artists out of contracts. You don't believe in keeping a large-time contract. We see what Meg Thee Stallion is going through. So many, even Mike ended up having a problem with his label. Prince had a problem with his label. You're like, okay, y'all. You're not happy? You don't want to leave? Okay. Right. I mean, all

my contracts are built to create superstars, entrepreneurs, and give them the freedom to give that opportunity to somebody else. Right. So, I never hold them to the fullest extent of the contract, ever. Right. At the moment, they feel like, okay, they've grown and they want to grow on their own. And I feel like we didn't give them everything they need to do that.

Then we just let them walk. We don't ask for no recoupion. We don't ask for anything. We just allow them to be who they are. T-Pain originally wrote, I'm sprung for you, but you didn't like it. Why you made you go, man, that was a hit! No, it was a hit. But I believe the record would be bigger on him

because that was a hit record. I could have took it, and he right. The reason why I didn't want it, because I wanted it for him. Because I knew that record was going to make somebody's career. My career was already made. He didn't see how big that record was, but I knew. I knew how big that record was, and I knew that record would make him the biggest urban artist that can line up with what I need going on

to take him to the next level. So I refused to take the record because I believed that that record was supposed him the biggest urban artist that can line up with what I need going on to take him to the next level. Right. So I refused to take the record because I believed that that record was supposed to be for him. Is there any other songs you've turned down you wish you hadn't? I mean, you don't wish you had turned that down, but are there any songs that you turned down and you're like, damn, I should have took that one? One record that I gave away that I felt, damn, I should have kept was Soul Survivor.

After I gave it, I said, man, I should have kept this record, man. Yeah. I needed that for myself. Right. What happened with the fan that you threw back at the fan in the crowd? Oh, man.

That was an interesting time because that was around the time when I just got out. Oh, you was old. I was fresh. A lot of money. Super arrogant and confident. Right.

But I had the same, you know, the street mentality. I will never be disrespected. Especially in front of a lot of people. Right. But I had the same, you know, the street mentality. I will never be disrespected, especially in front of a lot of people. Right. So I'm on stage and I'm performing. And the next thing you notice, I see something coming at me. At first I thought I was seeing something.

But then when it got really close, I was like, oh, whoa. That almost, like, hit me in the face. And I said, yo, wait a minute, who threw that? So the crowd, everybody just pointed to him. You asked him, okay, he did it. Now at that point, it's like, okay, shoot, what do I do now? I can't be out here, I can't just be like, okay, bro, don't do that no more.

I couldn't let it slide because, especially in the industry we was in around that time, if one person tries you, everybody feel like they can try you. Right. So it's almost like you had to set an example, which is a wrong analogy. So at the point when all the fingers was in, I said, come on up here. Bring them up. So now the crowd is bringing them to me.

As he's coming, I'm deciding, what am I going to do to show this dude and the audience that I'm not to be played with, right? I said, man, should I just hit him with one? Boom. Just knock him out? And I said, no, that would be too much. And then I said, you know what? Don't worry about it.

When it come, I'll just play it by ear. And as soon as he came on stage, he just came to hug me. And at that moment, I felt bad. I was like, damn, I can't do nothing to him. He actually, he probably just trying to get my attention. Right. So I said, nah, OK, I got to figure something out. Then it hit me.

I said, cool, I'm just going to throw him in the crowd in a soft spot. Right. So as he come to hug me, I just picked him up, found a soft spot, and threw him. Right? But then, of course, it got thrown out of proportion. But at the same time, it did give me the respect that I needed to move forward. But at the same time, I felt so bad because I said, you know what, I could have

handled that a little bit better. You provided electricity for over 16 countries in Africa. You have a utility company, worked with the Biden administration. Because you grew up with no electricity, was that one of the reasons you wanted to give back in

that way to your homeland? Like me knowing the impact of just growing up without electricity made me say, okay, the moment I make it and I'm in position to do that, I want to be able to provide electricity for people that didn't have. Absolutely.

I see China gave you a billion dollars, loaned you a billion dollars. I see you have awarded a $6 billion contract to build a city. Yes, the Akon City in Senegal. I'm super excited. I can't wait to host y'all when that happens. How close is that upon completion?

Or, I mean, how much of the build-out have you completed? Wow. So I learned so much dealing with this project, right? I realized that it was so much prep leading into even construction right so for the last two years We've been doing environmental studies We've been doing soil studies all the studies leading up into it and getting all the licenses and everything else so now 2023 in January we actually start the construction process and the first phase is gonna take three years right but then after that phase it's gonna Be done in three three three phases and three years per phase

But after the first phase we can start inviting people in right yeah I read that you try to start a diamond business in Africa but said it's worse than the drug game no I actually had I had purchased a diamond mine and realized yeah it was way worse than the drug game so I sold it man I had it for five years I said boy it was no You gave the diamonds out of it? Oh, yeah. It was a great profit of business. Around the time when I was in the music business,

I was actually supplying a lot of the jewelers in Diamond District with my diamonds. Wow. And you gave it up. I had to. Then it was around the time we also had the Blood Diamond conflict. There was other mines. Sierra Leone, yeah. It was a lot going on, and I didn't want my name getting tied into that stuff

because I know how the media works sometimes. I got to get you out of here on this one. You're a big sports fan. Who's your favorite team? Basketball or the Lakers? Lakers. Who's your favorite player? LeBron.

Honestly, whatever team LeBron went, that was my favorite team. Before LeBron, it was Shaq. Right. I'm reading that you almost got a scholarship. Would you have a scholarship to Georgia Tech? But you messed your knee up? Yeah. You had hoops like that?

I can play. I can play now. One thing about St. Louis, sports was the thing. That was our way out. Somebody had, I mean, if you weren't going to make it through music, you're going to definitely make it through sports. Right. My man.

I appreciate that, bro. Absolutely. I appreciate your time today. I really appreciate it. No, I had a good time. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee.

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