Drink Champs - Episode 399 w/ DJ VLAD (of VladTV)

Episode Date: March 1, 2024

N.O.R.E. & DJ EFN are the Drink Champs in this episode the champs chop it up with the one and only, DJ VLAD! DJ VLAD sits down to share his journey. Vlad shares stories of Suge Knight, 2Pac, Mike Tyson and much more. Vlad talks the creation of the hip-hop website VladTV.com and much much more!  Lots of great stories that you don’t want to miss! Make some noise for DJ VLAD!!! 💐💐💐🏆🏆🏆 🎉🎉🎉   *Subscribe to Patreon NOW for exclusive content, discount codes, M&G’s + more:  🏆* https://www.patreon.com/drinkchamps *Listen and subscribe at https://www.drinkchamps.com Follow Drink Champs: https://www.instagram.com/drinkchamps https://www.twitter.com/drinkchamps https://www.facebook.com/drinkchamps https://www.youtube.com/drinkchamps DJ EFN https://www.crazyhood.com https://www.instagram.com/whoscrazy https://www.twitter.com/djefn https://www.facebook.com/crazyhoodproductions N.O.R.E. https://www.instagram.com/therealnoreaga https://www.twitter.com/noreagaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It's time for Drink Champs. Drink up, motherfuckers. What it good be? Hope it is what it should be. It's your boy N-O-R-E. What up, it's DJ E-F-N. And this is military crazy war. Drink Champs.

Yappy Hour. Make some noise! And today, I'm excited to introduce a hip-hop king when it comes to all of this. The man started out as a DJ. A lot of people don't understand that he was DJ Vlad the Butcher

at one point. He was heavy on the mixtapes. He's a media mogul. He has changed the way hip-hop has been looked at. He single-handedly solved Tupac's murder. He did what the

Las Vegas PD couldn't do and the LAPD couldn't do. He brung it to the forefront. He made hip-hop interviews change. To this day, there's people who still ask me, did you go through the door? Because I did it on his interview. You went through the door on his interview?

No, I talked about it. Talked about it. Listen to me. What I tell you, if you need to get hot, you need to be on the streets, you stand in front of his cameras, he's going to ask you the questions that you need to be asked,

and he's going to get you to the forefront of where you need to be. In case you don't know who the fuck we talking about, hip-hop mogul. One, only, Black TV, motherfucking TV! where you need to be. In case you don't know who the fuck we talking about, hip-hop mogul, one, only, Vlad TV, follow Vlad TV! Now for people who's just tuning in, DJ Vlad is one thing,

but then Vlad TV is a separate entity, correct? Right. Would you describe it like that? Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So tell us. I mean, Vlad TV is something I started in 2008. I couldn't think of a better name.

Right. So I just went with my name and put a TV on the end of it. Right. And yeah, man, 16 years later, still doing it daily. Now, when you say you started Vlad TV at that point, was that where the blogs kind of like? Yeah. A blogging era. Yes, early blog era, like the Now Right era.

Now Right, yeah. That kind of like replaced the mixtape culture. On Smash? Yeah, On Smash was around. Worldstar was definitely around. We modeled the news site kind of after Worldstar. Okay. You know what I'm saying?

Was there ever any problem with Worldstar? Nah, I mean, me and Q kind of had a weird relationship, I guess. You know, before Vlad TV, when I was a DJ, he actually booked me for shows. He even went with me to, I think, Bahrain. You know what I'm saying? So we were real cool. But then when I started Vlad TV, the website, I think he saw it as a little bit of competition. So things were a little tense between us.

But then, you know, I went out to Arizona, spent the night at his house, you know, his guest room. Oh, wow. You know what I'm saying? Oh, wow. You know, met his family, everything else like that. And then, you know, we became kind of cool afterwards. And, you know, room. Oh, wow. You know what I'm saying? Oh, wow. Met his family, everything else like that. And then we became kind of cool afterwards. Then he passed away, unfortunately. Yeah.

Rest in peace, Q. Very, very humble guy. Very humble guy. Or did you not see that side of him? Q? I saw both sides. We were rolling around in the Aston Martin. Okay, okay, okay.

He always had his sunglasses on, his big chain on, even at a restaurant at night. So, you know, I mean, he had his humble, but he also had his braggadocious side. A little of both. Okay, so let's take it back from the beginning. Yeah. Bay Area? Yeah, I grew up in the Bay Area. I was born in the Ukraine, what used to be the USSR at the time.

Wow, the Soviet Union. Yeah, the Soviet Union. So a lot of times I'll say I'm Russian because at the time it was Russia. Now it's Ukraine. Well, that's why the USSR at the time. Wow. The Soviet Union. Yeah, the Soviet Union. So a lot of times I'll say I'm Russian because at the time it was Russia. Right. Now it's Ukraine. Well, that's why the war is happening now because they feel it's still Russia.

Russia wants it back. Right. Exactly. But yeah, I was about four years old when I moved. Originally moved to Massachusetts, Springfield, Massachusetts. Oh, wow. We lived in the projects,

poor immigrant family. Did you know Benzino? No, I'm just playing. I'm just playing. I know enough. Yeah, I know. And then, you know, by around third grade,

my family moved to the Bay Area and that's where I grew up. From Boston? That's crazy. Well, Springfield. Okay, okay. Springfield.

From one side all the way to the other side. Ooh, that's extreme to extreme. Yeah, but I was a little kid. Oh, so you didn't get to... Yeah, third grade is when I got to the Bay Area. Okay.

So what was I? Nine years old, something like that. And what artist is got to the Bay Area so what was I nine years old something like that and what artist is out on Bay Area at this time what what artist is out it's too short

are you into hip hop yet well I mean at the time yeah but there was no Bay Area hip hop at that time that I knew about it was New York hip hop

it was I was buying Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five I was buying Run DMC's first album wow you know Too Short probably was around,

but that was Oakland. I was living in San Mateo, which is kind of the other side of the Bay. You know what I'm saying? So hip hop, there really were no hip hop artists. I mean, in LA, there were some. Like I was buying Egyptian Lover Records and Uncle Jam's Army.

You know what I mean? Back then, hip hop wasn't on the radio. So you would just go to Warehouse Records and you'd go to the little hip-hop section. You'd just buy whatever's available. You couldn't listen to it. You'd come home and hope it was cool. Right, right.

That was the hero for sure. God damn it. So when did you fall in love with hip-hop? I mean, at that point, when breakdancing became a national phenomenon. Hold on. Was Vlad TV a breakdancer? Vlad was a breakdancer.

Vlad was a breakdancer. I can't see it. I can't see it. I was definitely a breakdancer. That's a breakdancer. Vlad was a breakdancer. I can't see it. I can't see it. I was definitely a breakdancer. That's how I got into hip-hop culture. I was a breaker. But the thing is, though, you got to understand, like, thank you. You got to understand the time frame.

This was the mid-'80s, and the U.S US and Russia had a cold war going on. What? A lot worse than now because it was potentially a nuclear war. Yeah, you felt like it was going to happen.

You know what I mean? Like, there were shows like the day after that people thought that there might be a nuclear war. But you don't think that they're thinking that now?

Putin's a little loose. Not like it was back then. No, that cold war was heavy. Yeah, ever since Putin. Yeah, the whole Bay of Pigs. They're moving nuclear missiles to Cuba. And people thought that nuclear weapons might start flying. I'm going to tell you when I got unscared of Putin,

when I seen him on the horse with the shirt off, I was like, ah, he ain't that scary no more. You think that's what made you not be scared? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know. It seemed like you should be even more scared. Nah, nah, nah, nah. He was shaving his chest hairs. He was out in, nah, nah. He was shaving his chest hairs.

He was out in the winter like that. He shaves his chest hairs. He can't be that tough. But you got to understand, I'm kind of trying to set the stage for you. At the time, I'm a Russian kid named Vlad. With an accent? Did you have an accent? Didn't have an accent because I was so young when I came out.

I was four. My parents did, but I didn't. I'm Vlad in San Mateo the only Russian kid in the school wow while with no other Russian community at the time San Francisco had one but when my parents settled down we did it and there was just a lot of hatred towards me oh yeah because the cold war going on the cold war like the U.S. like Americans hated Russia and I was the only outlet the only person from Russia that people knew. So it was just, like, a lot of, like, people, you know, the kids just, a lot of fights, a lot of, you know, if something would happen, like, if the teacher would say something about Russia, the whole classroom would turn around and stare at me.

Oh, God damn it. You know what I mean? Which, as a third grader, you know, you don't really know how to deal with that. So the only other kids I could really relate to were the black kids, the Spanish kids, the Filipino kids. Thank you. And so I'm not a minority. Right. But at the time, I was one of the people that would kind of, you know, we all related to each other to a certain thing. And I was drawn to hip hop along with the other black kids and the Spanish kids in my school.

And I fell in love. love you know the New York City breakers were starting to be shown on TV and I just started falling in love with break dancing and hip hop and graffiti and you know everything else like that and I just would go home watch Yom TV raps and

practice break dance moves in my living room and that's kind of the start of my hip hophop career. I didn't think that it would get me here at one point. I just thought it was just a hobby and something I loved. Because at that time, hip-hop was a fad. You didn't know. They thought it was going to be bad.

You didn't know. You didn't know. And people were saying, like, oh, it won't be around in three years. Right. But as a kid, you don't care about that. You don't care. You're just doing, that's what every kid was doing. Yeah. Yeah, I truly believe that. Yeah, I agree with you. Jamie, I'll take a drink when you don't care about that. You don't care. You're just doing, that's what was, every kid was doing. Yeah.

Yeah, I truly believe, I truly believe that. Yeah, I agree with you. Jamie, I'll take a drink when you get a chance. Yeah, I truly believe that. I truly believe, listen, all of us, if we didn't get money doing what we love doing right now, we'll be doing a version of it. I don't think it'll be our main job. But we'll be doing a version of it because, it because I can't see life without you going,

without being a DJ. I see how much you... So how did you get into mixtapes? All right, so the mixtapes. It was... Let me think. So I went to school at UC Berkeley, right? Which is right next to Oakland. And for the first time, I went to school at UC Berkeley, right?

Which is right next to Oakland. And for the first time, I was seeing actual real rappers walking around the street, like the Hieroglyphics. A-plus and OPO would just be on Telegraph Ave. And other underground rappers were sitting there having cyphers on the corner, freestyling

and beatboxing. And I'm like, oh shit, like here's real hip hop in front of me. Because where I was growing up, you know, in high school, yeah, a couple of kids tried to rap, but no one was really taking it seriously. But here I am. And you know, these, these kids are signed to major labels and we're listening to their CDs. So I started producing, you know, I played a little bit of band in high school.

I played saxophone and stuff like that. So, you know, I had a little bit of band in high school. I played saxophone and stuff like that. So I had a little bit of musical kind of training. So I started making beats. I started producing. I had like MPC 60. I was making beats, making little local demos. My man, Jimmy XL, who I just connected with recently, me and him put a demo together. And I kept making beats. I kept making beats. And one day I had a house party, and the DJ who DJed there ended up leaving his equipment overnight, he was going to pick it up the next morning. So I jumped on the turntables,

and I just made a mixtape that first night. It just naturally came. It was just, you know, because I had been practicing structuring beats, so it kind of came natural. And I just recorded you know, cause I had been practicing, you know, structuring beats. So it, it, it kind of came natural and I just recorded it live and I'm like, wow, I just made a mixtape. Right. You know what I'm saying? Right. And so I started DJing and kind of, you know, I started doing house parties and everything else like that. And I was like, yo, like I love this feeling. Right. I love it. And I realized that if I really wanted to take it seriously,

I'd have to move to New York where the mixtape epicenter was. Okay, you're going too fast. Hold on. Calm me down. That was my next question. So look, because this is what me and you always debate about. At this time,

New York was the epic center, right? For the longest, of course. But you being close to the bay, did you not think, let me try L.A. first? L.A. didn't have the mixtape scene. They had dope DJs. Who's ruling the mixtape scene? DJ Clue?

It's probably before Clue. Clue, K Slade. Tony Touch, S&S, Tony Touch, SNS. Tony Touch, yeah, you know, those type of dudes were like the known,

Green Lantern, these were like the known, Dirty Harry, the known guys, because I was doing blends, because I was like, I started, because honestly,

Yeah, your style was more leaning towards Dirty Harry style. Because I was, I started putting together, I started using the production shit, I was, you know what I mean,

like the production shit, I was combining with the mixtape shit. And I was actually the first DJ to release a mixtape on the internet. What? Yeah. The Refnona series? Way before that. It was actually a Cypress Hill mixtape called Soul Assassination. Wait, wait, wait.

Be real about this. He knows about this. You're knocking two birds out with one stone You're saying You're the first DJ That put up mixtape online Yeah And then you're also saying

It was for B-Real and Cypress Hill So you're also saying I was a big Cypress Hill fan A big Soul Assassination fan Oh, so you wasn't down with them You just Not at all

Dedicated it to them Never Oh, okay, okay No, no, no I didn't meet them until way later Okay But no, I was such a fan Of Cypress Hill

and Funk Dubious, House of Pain, that whole movement. I put together a mix of just my favorite Cypress Hill songs and blended one into the other, everything else like that. Since I didn't have an outlet to put out mixtapes,

I uploaded the whole thing as mp3 files. What platform did you upload? Napster. And then before I knew it... What platform did you upload? Do you remember? Napster. Okay. And my own website. DJ Vlad, I made my own website, djvlad.com and like, yo, download my mixtape. One long 60-minute file. You know what I'm saying?

And before I knew it, people in Sweden and Czech Republic and Australia were hitting me. I'm like, yo, we bump this thing in our youth center all the time. And I'm like, I think I'm on to something here. Like, you know, for the first time, I'm like, yo, my shit's actually kind of being recognized outside of my bedroom. What year is that? Like early 2000?

2001. I mean, you can look. Let me ask you. So how hard was it? You said you didn't think of Los Angeles. Yeah. Let me ask you, so how hard was it, you said you didn't think of Los Angeles, but how hard was it to transition from that West Coast to New York and then to get your music into New York stores?

Shout out to Justo. Because, these kids nowadays, they press one button, and that shit is everywhere. They don't know that you have to physically bring it, so I would like you to explain that. I mean, shout out to my man Justo. Yeah, rest in peace, Justo. Rest in peace, rest in peace that. I mean, shout out to my man, Justo. Oh, Justo. Rest in peace, Rest in peace.

Justo helped out the whole Mixtape DJ community. The Mixtape Awards, right? I got the award. I'm sure you probably got one. I got a couple awards. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so Justo, of Justo's Mixtape Awards, I reached out to him, and I'm like, yo, I do mixtapes.

He was like, okay, let me check it out. Okay, you know, I like your stuff, whatever, whatever. And I'm like, I'm thinking about moving out to New York. He's like, okay, when you come out, hit me up. So when I got out there, I hit him up, and he took me Canal Street, Jamaica, Queens, Brooklyn. That's big for him to do. I can smell everywhere he's talking about. You know, meet up with these Africans, leave the shit on consignment, go to Canal Street.

That's ill. Because I did that cold call. I did it on myignment. Go to Canal Street. That's L. Because I did that cold call. I did it on my own. Not knowing anybody. Not having any guidance? No. Me and my crew, we just went out there, and nobody barely wanted to talk to us. So to have someone like that take you around is L.

Yeah, I was lucky, man. He was a good dude. Right. He was a good dude, man. And from there, it was like, I got to start from the very bottom. I'm essentially homeless at this point because I was broke. Sleeping on my man's couch, DJing at the China Club. China Club?

Yeah, and then that ended. And then I'm having to DJ strip clubs. And then at the strip club. Scores? No, I wish. I wish. It was just a dead-ass strip club that was dying on Coney Island Boulevard. Oh, okay.

And Dirty Harry came in. Wow. And me and him chopped it up, and that's when we formulated the idea of doing the first Biggie Rap Phenomenon mixtape. Wow. From that strip club. Yeah, from, you know.

And then that mixtape got on MTV. Right. And was getting bumped. That mixtape's crazy. Right. And it was like, oh, okay, now I'm actually doing something that hip-hop is reacting to for the first time ever.

Because I had a few blend tapes, and yeah, people bought them and liked them, whatever. But that was the first one that actually people paid attention to. And then that was so successful, me and Harry were like, yo, we should do a part two, but do a Tupac one. We should do it with, who's another huge DJ?

Oh, Eminem's DJ, Green Lantern. So I think at a Dipset listening event, we just kind of cornered him. We were like, yo, why don't you work on this? Because he was one of the blend kings of that era. And I'm like, yo, why don't you work on it with us, and we'll do a Tupac mixtape. But instead of just doing blends, we'll get features from other artists. Busta Rhymes Bounty Killer Wyclef

Alicia Keys exhibit on and on and on we just had these acapellas with beats and guest features and yeah and that project won mixtape of the year at Justo's yeah that was like wow

like out of all these guys that are super super talented they they picked this tape as as the mixtape of the year so it was just for me it was it was a highlight how did you approach artists to do the features for that we all had our relationships man i mean because because uh green lantern was eminem's's DJ and he was working on his album at the time. This was before, you know, he called Jadakiss and Jada put him on speakerphone and he lost his shady records. So at that time,

everyone wanted to work with him because he had a shady records project. I don't think Green Lantern gets on the phone since. Yeah, right. You can't get Green on the phone. I don't think Green Lantern gets on the phone. Yeah, so everyone was flocking with him. And then, of course, Dirty Harry, he was Alicia Keys' DJ.

I didn't know that. Yeah, at the time. I mean, he put her on one of his early joints, so they formed a relationship. Damn, I didn't know that. I'm hustling. I'm networking. You know, I get introduced to Bun B.

I get on the phone with him and he, boom, gives me a verse super quick. Because I imagine it would have been, sorry to cut you, but I imagine it would have been

hard for them to envision what you guys were actually doing. Well, not exactly because a lot of them were fans of the Biggie mixtape. Oh, okay. So you already had that. We had that, yeah.

So the second one was the one that had the features first. Yeah, the first one didn't have any features. Okay, got it, got it. The second one had the real features, almost like a mini album. Right. But, yeah, no, people. Yeah, the first one didn't have any features. Okay, got it, got it. The second one had the real features, almost like a mini album.

Right. But yeah, no, people were fans of the first one so they were willing to jump on the second one. Makes sense. And yeah, man,

it was great at the time. But I also realized that this is cool but it's not exactly a career because it's bootleg. Right. You only go so far with it. You know,

you can't legally license it. You can't put it in a real store. It was just mom and pop stores. The mom and pop stores were going away. You know what's crazy? When you guys

were putting mixtapes in the stores, I thought it was official. Nah. I didn't know there was nothing wrong with it. I was getting cease and desist letters

from every label that was actually feeding me leaks. Yeah, but you didn't have a MySpace back then where you were saying that and blowing that up. So I'm thinking this is legal.

Yeah. When drama actually got raided, I was like, what for? That was when I stopped doing mixtapes. Okay. When I was watching... That was like the first week

going hip-hop. When I was seeing... First time in DJ drama. You fucked it up, DJ drama, I understand. When I was seeing his BMW get put on the tow truck and his bank accounts were seized

and the warehouse was raided I said I am done I am done this is real enough for me because I was already

having to put shit in other people's names worried that there might be a fed raid and stuff like that because real money was being made with these mixtapes

nah I mean for young kids yeah not for an adult not for an adult for young kids. Yeah. Not for an adult. Not for an adult. No, no. For young kids at that time. I don't know if I'm blowing it up,

but if I, is, the one person that I saw getting real money off of the mixtape shit was DJ Clue. Clue was getting it. I remember Clue

used to come pick me up and the MPV, just like that, in two weeks, the MPV turned into a purple BMW, and then the cars just kept going, and I saw it. I never felt like he owed me for me being, participating in it. I think the mixtapes helped us a lot.

Yeah, it was a part of the culture. Right. I'm bouncing around a little bit, right? But I was at a bar one night, right? Dude is drunk. He's talking to me. He knows he knows me from somewhere. He doesn't know where he knows me from, right?

Two other people come up, take a picture. Maybe three people come. They take a picture of me. Guy is just sitting there. He's like, oh shit, I know where I know you from now. And then he gives me a five and he says, I'm a Navy SEAL. Off top, I don't, who the fuck, how the fuck can you prove you're a Navy SEAL or not, right? This guy's telling me all type of dramatic, crazy shit.

One, I'm thinking thinking it can be true then on the other side i'm like this gotta be like this guy throwing me off i just met him in a bar but then i thought about it if you are a navy seal you went through all of this shit now you're retired sometimes you want to talk about these war stories that you've been through. That you survived. Because, I'm going to be honest. I'm going to make it make sense now. The face that that guy had is the only face I've ever

seen until I've seen Keefie D. Am I making sense? Yeah. I knew where you were going with this. To a certain extent, if you do something that's so heroic like you see this something on Netflix where this guy kidnapped this girl

and then they give somebody else the credit for it and the guy is so pissed he's like no it was me and I kind of trying to make it all make sense, I kind of felt like that's what happened with KBD. It's like he kind of wanted to tell his story. Even he wrote a book, and no one even paid attention to it.

But on your platform, which is huge, you don't force people on your platform. There's clearly cameras there. I can attest to that. There's clearly cameras there. Like, thereest to that. There's clearly cameras there. You're wearing a wire, actually. You're wearing a wire. You put it down your own shirt. Okay, so let's clarify for people

that don't know the story, right? You're into content. So are you reaching out to Kifidi? Did you read his book? How did this work? Well, before the Kifidi interview, Greg Kading, who was the LAPD officer got you know basically gave Kifidi a proffer agreement a what a proffer okay so Kifidi and that's the one who retired who said right he quit okay yeah so so so Kifidi

word was already out there that he was in the car that killed Tupac. Yeah, I even knew that. So Greg Kading, who was on, I believe, the Biggie task force, but was kind of researching the whole Biggie, Tupac, whether there's some connection or not, he was following, he started investigating Kifidi, and he found that Kifidi had a whole PCP operation going. And considering the priors and the amount of PCP, Keefie would have probably done 25 years to life.

So what they did was they went to Keefie's house and they said, look, we know about your operation. We have all our ducks in a row, but come in to talk with us and we'll offer you some sort of deal. And this is after the Tupac murder, correct? This is years after the Tupac murder. Okay, continue.

So Keefe met up with them and they secretly recorded them and they basically said, listen, a proffer agreement is also called queen for a day. It means that you tell me about all these crimes I'm asking you about and if you answer me truthfully, you don't lie, and I know some of the answers already, everything you say, we can't turn around and use it against you.

In that moment. In that moment, on that day. Right. And in exchange, all these other charges you're facing, we'll throw them out the window. Right. So in exchange for him telling the whole story about the Tupac murder, they threw out his PCP case. Okay. So

essentially they had all this information and they tried to use him as an informant. They tried to send him to New York to set up Eric Bonsignor. This is prior to your... This is way prior, right? Okay, continue. All this happened. They weren't able to implicate other people in it or whatever else, but since they had the proffer deal

and Keefe did what he was supposed to do, they dropped the PCP case and it was over. Ultimately, the Biggie investigation, the lawsuit that Valetta filed ended up getting dropped. Las Vegas didn't pick up the evidence from Greg

Kading to try to implicate Keefe in the murder at that time. Everything got dropped. Everything got dismant evidence from Greg Kading to try to implicate Keefe in the murder at that time. Everything got dropped. Everything got dismantled. Greg Kading retired, and after he retired, he had some of that audio footage, and he told Keefe,

I'm going to put this out, and I'm going to write a book and put out a documentary or whatever else. So the audio of Keefe confessing to his role in the Tupac murder and implicating his nephew, Orlando Anderson, got released. Okay. And it was floating around.

I knew someone who knew Keefie D. Okay. They connected me with them, and he had just written that book. Okay. So I had a copy of the book, and I was talking to the writer. Because you got two interviews with him, right? Yeah, two. But I was talking about the first. Because you got two interviews with him, right? Yeah, two. But I was talking about the first one.

Okay, the first one. So, essentially I got a copy of the book as it was being released. He agreed to do the interview. You know, I paid him a little bit of money for it. And the interview essentially follows the book from beginning to end. But also since I know the whole story. And you read the book, right?

I read the book. Absolutely. I read the book and I also had interviews from other people that were sort of in the know and related. You know, the outlaws, you know, Edie, I mean, who was the car behind Tupac. Chris Carroll, who was the first responder. And, of course, Greg Kading. And then, you know, the Compton PD cops that were also investigating it. So I basically pieced together the whole story. And he basically said the whole thing. He basically reiterated

what he said in the book. But you're not thinking nothing of it. You're thinking like, all right, this is the book. Yeah. You do the first interview. Yeah. It's viral.

Everyone is like, wow. Yeah. It's the first time we kind of see like a murderer, kind of, not admit, but a murderer on camera, kind of like, and this is a national, excuse me, a worldwide murder.

No one thinks nothing of it, the first interview. Yeah. Well, people thought a lot of it. I mean, you know what I mean. You know what I mean. What I meant was. But nothing happens to it. Like, yeah, yeah.

Like, there's no authorities alerted. There's no nothing. Everyone goes under the cover. So how does the second interview come about? Well, between that first interview and the second interview, he does a bunch of other interviews. He does like Cam Capone News, and he does this other platform. He does this platform. So he's basically telling the story over and over again and putting in more details.

He's like making it more graphic. He was saying Tupac was breakdancing when he got shot trying to get in the back seat. And it got more graphic. It got a little more morbid. You know what I mean? So he's doing, he did probably. I think even one time, pardon me, remember what you're saying. He said that Mike Tyson said something.

He was like, yeah, man, tell Mike Tyson. Well, yeah. I brought that up in the Mike Tyson interview. You know what I'm saying? And Mike Tyson was like, yeah, that story sounds right. I wish I had five minutes with this guy in a room. And he was like, yeah, Mike Tyson, you need to be careful. I'm a gangster.

He's a boxer. You know what I mean? But Keef, he's living his life. He's living in Vegas, which is where the murder occurred. Which is weird. Yeah, that's a bit weird. Because was he living in Vegas? I don't know if you noticed or not.

Was he living in Vegas prior to that? I believe he was living in Vegas for a while. I mean, at the time the murder occurred, he was from L.A., from Compton. Okay. Because I remember them saying they drove back together with the murder. Yeah, he was a Southside Crip, so they went back to Compton. But yeah, I don't know how long he's been living in Vegas, but yeah, he's been living in Vegas for a while. Okay, so all right.

Boom. So the second interview comes up. Yeah. How do you approach this different from the first interview? I mean, that's always challenging. Did you know he was going to give you more? I mean, there really wasn't that much more. It was kind of a fill in the blanks on certain stories. It was kind of a reaction

to this person saying things about him. I mean, really, the first interview was the real storyline. The second one just had a few pieces here and there. Not really a lot. Of course, people reacted to it because it's me and Keefy D. But really, it's that first interview that told the story from essentially when he was born to his relationship with Suge, him being a Southside Crip, his drug dealing days, his relationship with his nephew Orlando, his interactions with Puffy and Biggie, what led up to them going to Vegas,

what happened after Orlando got jumped to the actual, his role in the car and the shooting and then going back, and then the bloodbath that happened in Compton because of the murder and all that. So it kind of told the whole story from beginning to end in a visual format. Was you shocked when you heard Suge say, I don't want him to go to jail? No, but that's Suge. Suge doesn't cooperate. Ever.

Yeah. So that's Suge is Suge. No, but he did sue Kanye. He did? Yeah, he sued. He did. Well, he also sued Akon's bodyguard. That's true.

And he was going to press charges. But I think Suge picks and chooses. Yeah. You know what I mean? I don't, you know. Yep. He didn't cooperate with the police. Right.

You know, and like, for example, like the Greg Katings of the world feel that, because Suge is really like the only witness. Right. That actually saw, you know, because Keeeefy said that him and Suge locked eyes. They'd known each other since school. Yeah, yeah, yeah, football. They played football together. They locked eyes. So Suge could have been like, here's who

did it. Everyone's still alive in the car at the time. He could have cooperated and everyone would have went to prison, but he didn't. He didn't. And he still is not. Right. So it is what it is. You had a relationship with Suge? Never met him. Never met him.

Been in the same room with him, but the thing with Suge is that everyone I know that's dealt with Suge has always had a negative story. It's always ended badly. So I'm like, why would I bother? I'm going to be honest with you. I'm 50-50. There's a lot of people who swear by her.

Yeah. I've heard a lot of positive. Like I kid you not. I don't know. Reputable, real people that say, I don't know a single human being that said that they have dealt with Suge and it's worked out at the end.

Scott Storch. Okay. Cat Williams. The medal of honor is the highest military decoration in the United States. Recipients have done the improbable, showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of something much bigger than themselves. This medal is for the men who went down that day. It's for the families of those who didn't make it.

I'm J.R. Martinez. I'm a U.S. Army veteran myself. And I'm honored to tell you the stories of these heroes on the new season of Medal of Honor Stories of Courage from Pushkin Industries and iHeart Podcast. From Robert Blake, the first black sailor to be awarded the medal, to Daniel Daly, one of only 19 people to have received the Medal of Honor twice. These are stories about people who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor going above and beyond the call of duty. You'll hear about what they did, what it meant, and what their stories tell us about the nature of courage and sacrifice. Listen to Medal of Honor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding.

But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action, and that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters, and how it shows up in our everyday lives. But guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull will take you inside the boardrooms,

the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to everybody's business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the Meat Eater Podcast Network, hosted by me, writer and historian Dan Flores, and brought to you by Velvet Buck. This podcast looks at a West available nowhere else. Each episode, I'll be diving into some of the lesser known histories of the West. I'll then be joined in conversation by guests such as Western historian Dr. Randall Williams and bestselling author and meat eater founder, Stephen Rinella.

I'll correct my kids now and then where they'll say when cave people were here. And I'll say, it seems like the Ice Age people that were here didn't have a real affinity for caves. So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th, where we'll delve into stories of the West and come to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today. Listen to The American West with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Daru, TK Kirkland. No, him and TK got into it. Okay.

Okay. Him and TK got into it. Okay, but. The other ones I don't know. Okay, so yeah, you're right. I swear to God. Every time I see him, he's been a gentleman. But The other ones I don't know Okay so Yeah you're right I swear to God Like I And On my

Every time I see him He's been a gentleman I mean Maybe I'm lucky Maybe I'm being overly cautious Right But you know Sometimes it pays to be overly cautious

Is there somebody that you I know I'm bouncing around But is there somebody that You wanted to meet in this industry And you met him And you was like Fuck them I'm sure there's a lot of people

Yeah I got a lot of people. Yeah, I got a lot too. Not really so much of a fuck them. You know, you don't vibe with certain people. You know what I mean? For whatever reason, the interview doesn't go, you know, when I interviewed Lil Wayne, we didn't, it wasn't a good interview. This was early on.

This was during my DVD days. It was just like, he just wasn't feeling me. No matter what I asked him, I got a one word answer. I walked away feeling like, you know, you know what it's like when you don't get the interview

you were hoping to get over someone you admire, you just walk away feeling kind of a little off. Right. So, you know, yeah, me and Wayne

didn't vibe and that's life. It's not like, fuck him. I don't feel that way. It's So, you know, yeah, me and Wayne didn't vibe, and that's life. It's not like, fuck him. I don't feel that way. It's just, you know, he wasn't feeling me, and it is what it is. So let me ask you, what's the method of your interviews, right?

See, one thing I want to give, I want to give this method somewhat to our interviews is Leo Cohn used to, when I used to go see Leo Cohn, he wouldn't take a meeting nowhere else unless you came to him. He wanted to be the man when you walked in the room.

So the thing about it is one thing that we learned early on, I believe it was our French Montana TI in the studio in LA. We went to their studio and we realized We couldn't tell people To shut up

We couldn't tell people To like move this way Get out the camera Because we're actually In someone else's studio Right We had no control You understand

Environment Yeah so One of our tricks is like Yo you know what No matter what They have to come to us now Like they got to come to us Be in our environment

Whether it's It's their comfortability They have with us Or the uncomfortability. What is one of the things that you have to do if this is a Vlad interview? I have to prepare. Okay. I have to spend a long time researching.

Like if I get a last-minute call, I mean, of course, you're going to make exceptions. If Eminem calls me right now and says, I want to meet right now, this is your only opportunity, of course I'm going to do whatever to make that happen. How about R. Kelly? I've interviewed R. Kelly. Yeah. Over the phone in jail. Okay, but right now, R. Kelly got free. You going to Chicago to see him?

Yeah, I'll go to Chicago. I'll go to Chicago. Get the make-believe. Yeah, I'll go to Chicago. Okay, I's the research. You know, and a lot of times, you know, Vlad is the feds. It's because there's so much research that goes into what we do. Like, for example, there's that famous little baby interview where he was like, how do you know that?

And it's like, well, I've watched all your other interviews. Right. So, and there's bits and pieces I pick out of it. You know how it is. You've done so many interviews, you don't remember everything you said.

Right, of course. And then someone brings something up and you're like, did I say that? How do you know that? Right. But it's the research.

Right. And I felt like, when I got into hip hop media, I just felt that all the interviewers at the time, I'm not talking about right now, I'm just talking about at the time,

like they all sucked. It was all like promo. It was like a PR run. It was like, hey, let me tell them how great you are, here's a new album, bye, and you walk away with nothing. But my thing was like, yo, I'm going to research, I'm going to, you know,

like when people talk in the barbershop, I'm asking those type of questions, the questions people really want to ask, the uncomfortable questions, the hard questions. So I research, I research, I research. I watch every other interview they've done. If they have a book, I'll read the book. If we know some people in common, I'll call those people up

and I'll have conversations with them. And then plus, you know, like I'm 50 now. I've been around since hip-hop was born. You know what I mean? Hip hop is 50. Yeah. So it's kind of like, I know as being a lifetime hip hop fan, I know everything that happened in hip hop. Every Source magazine, every XXL magazine, I read every one cover to cover.

So I know a lot of stuff just in my memory banks I could pull out. So that's the answer to your question is research. I have to have a lot of stuff just in my memory banks I could pull out. So that's the answer to your question is research. I have to have a lot of research. And that's what I think makes my interviews a little different than other people's. And one thing about you, I would say 75% of your guests, if they make an appearance and it's a success, you have them back on. Right. You have them as repeated guests. It's the core of our business, man.

Right. It's the core. And people like to, oh, this person again. But, you know, when it comes to interviews, and, you know, we don't have deals with other companies. We don't have sponsorship deals. We don't have TV deals where it's like we get some huge check and we just push it and whatever happens, it's not. Like, our stuff is based on the views. You know how people say, oh, I'm going to clip up? where it's like we get some huge check and we just push it and whatever happens, it's not. Our stuff is based on the views.

You know how people say, oh, I'm going to clip up? I'm going to do a clip on this interview? We were doing clips in 2008. Wow. The idea in the beginning was like, if I have an hour and a half interview, I'm going to do five, ten minute clips every day, every day. And if someone else is going to do it,

I might as well do it. A lot of really incredible parts of an interview gets buried in an hour and a half and no one will ever see it my thing was like every important part

we're going to put it out so that's the whole premise of it and this is kind of how we put the whole thing together but a lot of it like I said

is just based on the research of it one point me and you speak all the time right yeah and i remember you you saying man that's just rappers and i like like like someone like we was talking and it's personal it's personal yeah and someone's saying Yeah, yeah. And someone's saying, like, oh, and I'm like, nah, Vlad, me explaining to you. It's not really rappers. Well, tell me the premise of it. Well, the premise is we were talking about somebody that we both had in common, like a friend.

Okay. I believe he was on 36th Street or what office was he at? On 30th? Yeah, we were at a WeWork at one point. I think, like, yeah. Okay, and we were speaking, and he was just like, hey, man, your boy didn't show up, man. These goddamn rappers. And I remember me saying to you,

no, man, don't label it all rappers. It's just certain times, it's certain individuals who are fucked up individuals who like, if a DJ, if one DJ don't show up, I can't say, fuck all DJs, all these DJs.

Yeah. Is that something that you've learned to work with? You learn to accept it. Okay. You know what I'm saying? I guess because I wasn't always in hip-hop. I came in the tech world. I have a computer science degree from UC Berkeley,

and I've worked for Intel and Autodesk and big companies and everything else like that and in those type of businesses, people are on time. Yes, yes. People are professional and so forth. Coming to hip hop,

being a half hour, an hour late. Yeah, it's normal. That's the new normal and it, you know, it's something

that I've never really gotten comfortable with. Appreciate it. Because, I mean, look at me today. I got here early. Yes, yes, yes. Right? I was rushing through here. No, but my whole thing is like, I guess that I value other people's time.

Yeah, me too. And they don't always value my time. Right. And in hip hop, it's just a little more commonplace. Unfortunately. You know what I'm saying? But you could always...

Thank you. Like, I could always tell a rapper that's a business rapper because... Oh, we make bets on who's on time. Okay. Who's on time.

I clearly lost to G Herbo yesterday on Monday. I bet that he was going to be on time. Lost. Who? G Herbo. Okay. He came late he was going to be on time. Lost. Who? G Herbo.

Okay. He came late and he had to hit a couple excuses while he was late. He was cool. But you know what's crazy? I was the late guy. Yeah.

Until I waited. Oh, I can't stand it. Oh, me waiting on somebody. Oh, I can't stand it It blows It blows the energy Because we sitting there like I'm ready to turn up And this guy comes

It's been a couple of times man They come late I don't want to give them a five I don't want to hug them I don't want to make eye contact Cause I'm like yo bro you know me And um I don't want to give them a five. I don't want to hug them. I don't want to make eye contact. Because I'm like, yo, bro, you know me. And yeah, this shit is crazy.

But I mean, I just want to say this. What's the most valuable thing in this world? It's time. Time. You can't get it back. I can lose some money and I can make it back. Why? But that time I lost waiting for someone.

Why? Or worse, even worse, a cancellation. When you've spent money and time. And there's, you know, we have 20 people in our company. There's a lot of people that are working to make this happen. And then the person doesn't show up. Who's someone who canceled on you? Dude, 24 hours.

Just decided not to show up. That's his name, 24 hours? Yeah, he used to be called something else. Just didn't show up. Asian doll, just didn't show up. Oh, wow. Trying to think who else. I can't.

Those are the two that kind of just, you know what I mean? And they just, Tom Hanks' son, Chet Hanks. Chet Hanks running on you? Just didn't show up. Hanks' son didn't show up. Was he Bob McClodden? Yeah, that dude. He was in Jamaica?

Yeah. Just didn't feel like it. Right. Wow. And it's kind of a slap in the face because you're losing thousands of dollars and time that you can never get back. And, you know, me, I've sometimes spent a few days just researching and preparing and poof, out the window. Terrible. So, you know, yeah, man, it's time. The most valuable thing.

I can never get it back. Now, that's real shit, man, it's time. The most valuable thing. I can never get it back. No, that's real shit, man. Well, Vlad, we were so, I'm going to be honest. I'm so happy you came to see us because, one, you a legend. And what you did, like I want to tell you face-to-face, man to man, I've been a part of it. You changed the way hip-hop has been, you know, covered. You changed it all. You interviewed them. There was nobody else doing that,

it was behind the scenes, that's the only difference, you know what I mean, that people don't call you the hip hop pod god, it's because you didn't actually put yourself on camera, but I love the fact that you put yourself on camera, I love the fact, man, you know what, you deserve every accolades, our show is about giving people their flowers, and I wanted to give you your flowers.

I've been wanting to do this. I've been wanting to do this. Listen, I've been wanting to do this since the beginning of the Drink Champs eight years ago. You know what I mean? I've always wanted to sit down with you

because what you do for hip hop, a lot of people don't understand that. You put people in the forefront. You don't ask people, you ask people to go to these places that they want to go, but if they do it, you do it. But you deserve all that. You are motherfucking hip hop pillar, and we motherfucking love and respect you.

And I just want to apologize to you for not being on here sooner because a few years ago, you had asked me to be on the show. Yes, I did. And because I had a big ego and you had an ego, it turned into...

No, I didn't have an ego. It was your ego. It's your apology. It's your apology. Let's keep it on you. Let's keep it on you. I got mine later. It's your ego. It's your apology. It's your apology. Let's keep it on you. Let's keep it on you. I got mine later. Because of my ego, you know, because I remember I was explaining this.

Like, Sam Snead called me up, and he was like, we were talking about doing an interview. And he was like, yeah, I want to do your show, and I want to do Drink Champs. Do you know where you're cool? And I'm like, not really. Right. For the time we weren't. Right. He goes, why?

And I explained it to him. And at the end of the explanation, I felt so stupid. Come on up. I was like, that was just the dumbest reason that me and Nori, who were actually friends up until that point. Like, this is why we're not cool? And I'm like, this is dumb. Like, this is not like're not cool. I'm like, this is dumb. Like, this is not like a real beef. Like, I've had real beef in my life.

This is not that. It was just an ego thing. And that's when I reached out to you not too long afterwards. I love that. It took us about a year for us to kind of go back and forth. I love that.

Let's make some noise for Black. By the way, you know, I mean, that's what men is about. Like, sometimes, you know what? Someone told me this the other day. They said, you can't make a misunderstanding out of the misunderstanding. The misunderstanding is just a misunderstanding. That shit made no sense and all of a sense to me in the world.

You can't make a misunderstanding out of the misunderstanding already. It's just a misunderstanding. Leave the shit alone. You know what I mean? Leave this shit alone. And I appreciate, respect you, man. So we gave him his flowers. We're going to play Quick Time.

Before we play Quick Time with Slam, how the fuck did you build this chemistry with Boosie? Yeah, okay. how the fuck did you build this chemistry with Boosie? I don't... Yeah, okay. So, before Vlad TV was the hot in here DVDs, which came around the time of the smack DVDs. As I was transitioning out of mixtapes, because CDs were going away,

the mama pop stars were going away, the mama pop stores were going away. I was like doing, I started doing DVDs, like street DVDs, where I would get freestyles, do interviews, everything else like that, and I would go to labels, and I went to Atlantic Records.

He was on Atlantic at the time. Boosie and Webby had just gotten signed to Atlantic. That's right, Wipe Me Down. Yeah. Before Wipe Me Down. But before White Me Down. Before White Me Down. Before, yeah.

You should see how, like I have videos of this on my YouTube channel. Like Boosie looks like a little kid. He looks like he's about 17. And I interviewed Boosie and Webby

holding the camera, you know what I mean? The whole thing. And me and Boosie kind of formed, you know what I mean? Kind of formed that early, early relationship.

And then later on, when Vlad TV started to get legs, we did an interview and that was the Hypnotize with Hatred interview. And that just went super viral. People still say that to this day. And then we do one interview and it reacts. And we do another interview and it reacts.

And the numbers just keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. We've had interviews that are like 20 million views combined and anything else like that. And after a while, it just became a mutual respecting. It became a business relationship. He bigged you up on our show too.

Yeah, I'm bigging him up right now. That's my man. I've been to his house. It was like we, and it just turned into something like for whatever reason the chemistry between us people just react to it more so than any of my other regular guests right and you know we just kept doing it and doing it now it's like we almost try to have busi running

all the time one you know we do one interview it's like whatever 30 40 parts at the time it ends we'll go do another one and then that'll keep running and then you know i'm saying and everyone just benefits from it right nah i ain't gonna lie you got me tuned in and i like i love the fact that it's never repetitive it's always something new you always come with something fresh and new right and i'm sitting there like how much more boosty can i have right and then you manage to say oh no you need more Boosie and I'm sitting there and I'm like

I did need more Boosie like I did it's so entertaining is that your favorite guest you ever had? my favorite guest? yeah who's your favorite

don't tell me Aaron Hall Aaron Hall was wild like shit. I mean, that's a hard question to answer. Okay. Right? Because me and Boosie consistently get the biggest reaction. Okay. But it's not like I grew up listening to Boosie.

Right. You know what I mean? And there's something that's to be said about when you fall in love with music before it becomes your career. Right. And when you interview someone, before it's for the money and you're doing it for the views and the money and the clout or whatever else,

it's pure love. You're sitting there with your headphones in your bedroom listening to a song over and over again. You're sitting there with your headphones in your bedroom, listening to a song over and over again. You know what I mean? So interviewing Smokey Robinson was a moment. Sitting in when Lou Dell interviewed Chaka Khan was a moment. Interviewing Mike Tyson was a moment.

You were scared? Well, he got mad at me at one point. So, yeah, I was scared. Oh, he interviewed you? No, I interviewed him. Okay. And I asked the wrong question. What happened?

Yeah, okay. So, it was actually a Zab Judah interview. Okay. Right? So, we go to Mike Tyson's gym in L.A. And Zab Judah was the one that was doing the interview. But I'm there. Even when other people do interviews for us,

I work with them on the questions. So he goes to the whole interview. He does his thing. And then I'm like, hey, do you mind if I jump in and ask a few questions? And Mike's like, yeah, cool. Because Mike knew who I was. And he knew some of the people I interviewed,

whatever else. And, you know, you know me, I'm going to push the envelope a little bit, right? So we're in, you got to understand that the setting, we're doing the interview inside of his actual boxing ring.

Okay. So I'm in the ring with Mike Tyson. You already have gloves on? No, no. Oh, shit. But we're, you know, about as far as, you know, me and AFN.

We're this close to each other in chairs doing the interview. And I started getting into a little bit of the harder questions. And one of my questions was, well, Mike, here you are. You're worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Why are you attracted to these sweet guys like Eric Von Zip? And he said, what do you mean by attracted? And I wish so bad at a time machine to go back and change my words. And, you know, you see that like pissed off Mike Tyson.

And I'm like, and I got to talk my way out of this situation because my security's way over there. He's not going to get to me in time. If Mike lunges at me... And your security might dig twice. Might not even do it. I'm being honest. That's Mike.

Everybody dig it twice. Like, man, if it works... You're not paying me enough to do that. Fuck that. Yeah, so I got to dance my way out of this question and explain to him I didn't really mean it that way. And then at one point he got it, and then we went on with the interview. But it was a moment. It was a tense moment.

It made for good television, you know what I mean? But it was Mike Tyson is still Mike Tyson. And he knows when he can turn it on. This man never got high in his life. Mike Tyson gave him a mushroom and a gummy and he took it. He said, eat that shit. He said, you damn right I'm going to eat that shit. He was like, holy shit.

That's what I'm saying. That's Mike Tyson. But that was a moment as well. It's like, yo, Mike Tyson. For people of my era, that's the Muhammad Ali of our era. I'll tell you some funny shit. I'm going through Saudi. No, not Saudi Arabia.

I'm going through Dubai. I see Mike. Everybody's like, Mike Tyson. He's just looking. He's just looking. Just intimidated walking through the airport. And I'm like, it was no worries. He's like, oh, shit.

So he turns around. he takes a picture. Very next day, I see him in the Holyfield. I just interviewed him about a month ago, yeah. That's why I brought him up. Give me your, give me your, how are you? Yeah. You know what I'm saying? How was you interviewing him in the Holyfield?

It was dope, man. It was dope. Like, he's such a class act. Did he talk about his mom? Absolutely. Oh, listen. Yeah. He's a big fan of his mama's.

Yeah, but my mama was definitely a phrase. I think one of the interesting points that he made in that interview was when he was in the Olympics, he kind of got robbed. He got a bad call. Okay, because we heard this story. He ended up winning.

Hold on. Tell the story. During one of the fights, he had a bad call and he ended up winning the bronze instead of the gold, which he ultimately deserved. And I said, well, did you think to act out whatever else?

He goes, nah. The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States. Recipients have done the improbable, showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of something much bigger than themselves. This medal is for the man who went down that day. It's for the families of those who didn't make it. I'm J.R. Martinez. I'm a U.S. Army veteran myself. And I'm honored to tell you the stories of these heroes on the new season of

Medal of Honor, Stories of Courage from Pushkin Industries and iHeart Podcast. From Robert Blake, the first black sailor to be awarded the medal, to Daniel Daly, one of only 19 people to have received the Medal of Honor twice. These are stories about people who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor, going above and beyond the call of duty. You'll hear about what they did, what it meant, and what their stories tell us about the nature of courage and sacrifice. Listen to Medal of Honor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news

show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek. I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what's going on, why it matters,

and how it shows up in our everyday lives. With guests like Businessweek editor Brad Stone, sports reporter Randall Williams, and consumer spending expert Amanda Mull, we'll take you inside the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

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comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there

and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Because if I would have,

my mom was right there. Right there, yep. If I would have acted out, she would have jumped into the ring and slapped me in front of the whole world. Right. And she would always tell me, you're not the only one

that's going through this. Don't think you're special and you're the only one that goes through trials and tribulations. Take it like a man. And that was sort of the theme. He had losses. He wasn't mad at Mike Tyson for biting off part of his ear. He forgave him.

That's a lot. They got an ear company together. Yeah, like a gummy ear. Yeah, man. I had him. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. I mean, it a gummy. Yeah, man. I had him. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.

Yeah, I mean, it was just so, you know, like that mansion, you know, that he used to own. The reason why he lost that mansion was because his sister took a second mortgage

behind his back on that mansion. And then by the time he found out he was millions and millions in debt and he never pressed charges. He just let that go. You know what I'm saying? To lose the house that you think

you're going to pass on to your grandkids from your own family member and to not feel angry about it, bitter about it, not to retaliate on any level, yeah, man, it's a... We all strive to that level of elevation.

He's a bigger man than most. I see him all the time. He lives out here. I don't always speak to him because he's just an intimidated guy. But he's not really intimidating. Not at all. Not at all. But if he doesn't open his mouth, he's not really intimidating not at all once he opens his mouth but if he doesn't open his mouth

he's very intimidated trust me he walks around like this and you like most of most of people get the fuck out of his way

yeah by the way who wouldn't right yeah but great guy met him you were there Ross

right I can't even I can't even reveal nothing. Let's change the subject. Holy moly guacamole. Boom. Quick time. Quick time of slime.

Let me go to the bathroom. Yeah. The bathroom break real quick. Yeah, because the quick time of slime, I don't think it's going to be quick. So how does it work with rules one more time? Okay, okay. Explain it one more time, EFN. You're going to get two choices.

Yeah. So this or this. Yeah. So how does it work with rules one more time? Okay, explain it one more time to your friend. You're going to get two choices. So it's this or this. Yeah. And you could say you pick one and nobody drinks, or you say both or neither. If you say the politically correct one, which is you basically don't want to pick one. Everybody drinks.

And if somebody we're talking about inspires you, you have a story with them, please elaborate, tell us a story, you know. Got it, got it. You ready? Yep. Joe Button or Fat Joe? Fat Joe.

Oh, that was hard. Tupac or DMX? Tupac. Clue or Funk Flex? Funk Flex. Tony Touch or Doo-Wop? Doo-Wop. Yeah, this is easy.

Yeah. Dirty Harry or SNS? Dirty Harry. Soul Assassins or Hieroglyphics? Soul Assassins wait wait wait that's a tough one both I had to think about that for a second

yeah we told him that shout out to Be Real Man well I mean I've interviewed both of those dudes and I didn't know your love for Cypress Hills

until just now but go ahead yeah yeah no I mean it's funny because there's a there's a photo

that was a super huge Soul Assassins fan I think I smoke weed because of Cypress Hill wow I mean give him a weed because of Cypress Hill. Wow. You know what I mean? Give him a joint, man.

The Cypress Hill made smoking cool. Why? You know, at least in my eyes. Them and Redman, I feel like. That era was them and Redman.

But for me, Cypress kind of connected a little bit. Cypress came before Redman though, right? Yes. Yeah, but it's like

for a first album. Yeah, for a first album. But getting to meet Be Real and hanging out backstage like we both got

high backstage and there's a picture of us and we looked like twins what my head was shaved both of our heads were shaved

at that time and we both like high as hell in this photo you look like you were part of the Soul Assassins I looked like

I was part of we looked like twins you know what I mean? But I got to interview Hieroglyphics as well, man. And those dudes really, like I said, seeing them in Berklee kind of really got me to thinking that hip-hop is attainable on some level. I could actually see them right in front of me. I could give them a pound and anything else like that. So both of them have a significant role in front of me. I could give them a pound and anything else like that. So both of them

have a significant role in my life. So I got to say both. I respect that. Wu-Tang or NWA? I'm getting my shot. NWA. NWA?

NWA. Holy shit. NWA, 100%. Because in fact, I'm going to tell you, there's this one point. Because I was a hip-hop head from elementary school

through junior high. But then in junior high, I got into some trouble. Like I got into, you know, me and this one kid started getting into it. And then the vice principal got involved. And the vice principal started threatening me. Started saying he'll like bash my head in the wall. Like that type of, you know. So like a little kid was kind of fucked up.

Harsh. And my parents were like, we're taking you out of this, this public school and we're going to put you in this private school because we're not going to deal with this, this fuck shit. So I got put in a school, a private school where nobody listened to hip hop. Wow. And you know, if, if none of your friends are listening to hip hop, you were slow, you slowly start to, you know to get into more of the music

they're listening to and so forth. So I started to kind of lose interest a little bit in hip-hop and not listen to it quite as much. And then I heard Eazy-E's first album. And it was like, oh my God, what is this? What was the name of the album? Eazy-Does-It? Eazy-Does-It.

Boys in the Hood. Just that whole album. You know, hearing Dre for the first time. Is that when he said, I want to fuck you. I want to fuck you too. Yeah. Yeah.

We love you, Eazy. Yeah, we love you, Eazy. I want to fuck you, Eazy. I want to fuck you too. That was that one. That's the line that stuck out for you. Let me tell you about fucking who we fucking with. That shit.

And so N.W.A. held such an important role in my development. And Wu-Tang is dope. No, come on. Like, Wu-Tang is Wu-Tang. Thank you. Lighter?

Yeah. Asher? Yes. But, you know, and of course, this is an East Coast, West Coast thing to a certain degree. I understand living in New York like you, Wu-Tang has a different. No, I'm going to be honest with you. Okay. That's why I got my shot ready. I can never choose between NWA and Wu-Tang. a different no I'm honest with you okay uh that's why I got my shot ready I can

never choose between NWA and Wu-Tang oh you can't to me they had the same impact on me because of NWA I didn't I didn't see their videos I don't know maybe I was poor or something like I didn't get to identify with all of their videos but then Wu-Tang I got to see their videos so I got to appreciate it more because I got to hear it. But I got to appreciate NWA a little more because I didn't have access to everything.

You know what I mean? I didn't. Man, I always say this on the show. I thought Compton was a jail. I didn't know that was a place because it was like how Coogee Rap described Rikers Island.

It's like, why Kills Island? I don't want to go there. I didn't want to go to Compton. I was just like, wait a minute, Compton? Trader to Compton.

Crazy motherfucker laying ice cubes. I said, that jail cell, that's crazy. Like, I don't want that. I don't want to go to there.

Come to find out that's a real neighborhood. Holy moly guacamole. All right, cool. We moving on? Yeah, let's do it.

Kid Capri or Red Alert? Red Alert. Cam'ron or Mace? Cam'ron. Napster or LimeWire? Napster. Now Right or On Smash? Now Right.

This is very easy. Yeah. Okay. New York City Breakers or Rocksteady ahead. New York City Breakers or Rock City Crew? New York City Breakers because that was the ones that I got. Not living in New York, those are the ones who I saw on TV, and that's who inspired me to break dance. On David Letterman, right?

I don't know where it was. You know what I mean? It was television. There was no On Demand. Something's on. You don't even know where it's from. But yeah I mean? Like, you, you, it was television. There was no On Demand. You don't, something's on. You don't even know where it's from. Right. But, yeah, New York City Breakers got me to break dance.

So, yeah, absolutely, New York City Breakers. Wild Style or Beat Street? Mmm. Beat Street. I saw that in the theaters. I did not. Great, great movie. MTV Raps or Rap great movie MTV Raps

or Rap City MTV Raps Yo MTV Raps had such an important role in my life you know I watch almost every episode you know

and the fact they got to interview Fab Five Freddy and Andre oh yeah you know what I'm saying um yeah that was a lot that was a lot

because you know at the time that was the only you know living in the west coast you didn't have Ralph McDanielsiels you know i mean so you didn't get to see that your own tv raps was the only visuals that you saw of hip-hop right you know you and i would watch kids break dancing the music videos i would sit there and try to do it myself well on your own tv raps on your own tv raps is that because There was no other place to watch hip hop videos but Yo MTV Raps. That was the only game in town.

Too Short or E-40? Let's take the shots. Both. Yeah, let's take the shots. I got to advise you on that one. Both. Please, take the shots. I'm from the Bay.

I'll be honest. I was a Too Short fan before I was an E-40 and The Click fan. And me and both those dudes have relationships now. But Dope Fiend Beat, I think, was one of the greatest Bay Area hip-hop songs of all time. Just the energy of that song and the uniqueness of it. Freaky Tales, The the whole life is too short and Born to Mack, it was just epic album. But you can't downplay what E-40 has pulled off, man.

E-40 created so much slang. Tell them where they go. I don't know, I'm just, that's the point. All that, man. You know? But both them dudes, I still keep in contact with. You know, being Bay Area, yeah, I'm not going to divide the Bay.

Nah, you can't, you can't. I'm a drink. When's the last time you've been in the Bay? Last year. Okay. Last year. I tried to go there

once a year or so. I went to the Bay last year. They told me, don't leave your charger in the car. I was like, my charger? No, they, for the first time ever in life,

a fucking In-N-Out burger got shut down in Oakland. Oh, that's where it was? In Oakland? In Oakland because of the crime. Because I guess it's by the airport. People were literally robbing people in their cars and popping their trunks and taking their suitcases,

and it became so unsafe that In-N-Out has announced they're shutting down that In-N-Out. I've never heard of an In-N-Out shutting down. No, In-N-Out don't close. No, they don't. They don't close. Yeah, because everybody's In-N-Out. Who the hell is staying?

Yo, leave it to Oakland to fuck up in and out. Didn't our court system shut down as well? Only place in America that a court didn't open because there was so much drugs and so much shit outside that they didn't want to open a courthouse was in Oakland. I'm not sure. I don't want to quote on that. You might be right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't necessarily hear that the courthouse. I'm not sure. I don't want to quote on that. You might be right. I didn't necessarily hear that story. But, you know, I mean,

a lot of fucked up shit that happens. Unfortunately. But the In-N-Out thing was just like, God damn. Here's this bulletproof company that literally shut down. But you're going to skip over the fact that my friend told me

don't leave a charger in the car? A charger. I mean, it wasn't leave a charger in the car. A charger. I mean, it wasn't even a plug-in charger. It was just a USB port. He's like, no, don't leave that shit in there. Gossy. Pick up Gossy from Empire Records. I'm sorry.

He yelled. I've never heard Gossy yell. He was like, take everything out of the car. I was like, what? He's like, everything. I was like, it's a wire. He's like, they're all busting your car for a wire. I'm like, no.

I remember, what is it, Lil Pete? I interviewed this mayor artist, and he was describing how they break windows using spark plugs. Yeah. Boop. And then the whole window just shattered. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then it just. I ain't going to lie.

As a Puerto Rican, I used to do that, too. That's an old technique. In Shea Stadium, I used to do that. But I was so shocked they still doing it. I'm like, what? Like, holy moly, guacamole.

But. Next. Huh? Next, let's go. Podcast or radio? Podcast. Yeah, you can do that one. Kiss or fab?

Fabulous. yeah you can do that one KISS or FAB FABless Jay-Z or Nas Jay-Z MPC60 or MPC2000 MPC60 that was actually the machine that I spent a lot of my time making beats on not to say I was great at it. I was okay.

But the MPC-60. And I tried the MPC-2000, I think even the 3000. But the MPC-60, something about that, the feel of that. That machine? Is just unequivocal. Beastie Boys or Fat Boys? Definitely Beastie Boys. Beastie Boys was like...

That first album, License to Ill... I'll tell you this. I was a huge Beastie Boys fan. But when I got my first car, a Nissan truck, the first car I ever owned, the first cassette that I played in that car was Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique. Paul's Boutique. And I played the shit out of that album.

That was such an underrated. Is that still Sleep To Brooklyn? No, no, no. That's the first album. Second album. Great album. The Dust Brothers, the production level was on a completely different level. And that was an album that was kind of slept on.

Probably one of their worst-selling albums. But the brilliance behind that, the way the beats were layered, the way they would finish off each other's raps, the structuring of the three of them working together. You know what I mean? Because we live in a world of people make music, and then they send someone an MP3,

and then they do the verse, and the person who did the verse doesn't even hear the song until later on no like they were literally in there writing together later in the shit yeah that type of shit definitely Beastie Boys shout out to the fat boys you know I interviewed

um Cool Rock the Diesel nigga now Cool Rock Steve the other two passed away Prince Marky D and Buzzard passed away so I got to interview Cool Rock. Yeah. The Dizu nigga now. Cool Rock's here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool Rock. Because the other two passed away. Prince Marky D and Buffer passed away.

So I got to interview him. And I have a lot of respect for the Fat Boys. But easy, the Beastie Boys. Right. Easy. Analog or digital? Digital. I didn't expect that.

Digital. Suge Knight or Puff? Oh, man. You can tell stories if you want or anything. Okay. You picking one, though? All right, yeah. Well, I don't really have a connection to either one, so I'm going to say neither.

So you're taking a shot. All right, cool. Hold on. You just salute, motherfucker. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I'm going to tell you a puffy story I haven't told before. Okay, cool.

Y'all go and get the exclusive on this. No problem. So, you know, listen, when you don't have a lot of money, you don't have a lot of money, you don't have a lot of money to buy clothes, you rely on these clothing companies giving you clothes. Right? And I hooked up with this really dope one called Stalindine. You know who they are?

Yeah, yeah. They do like the throwback jackets, like the old teams, like the Negro League teams, and everything else like that. And I remember my man Rikers from Staladine. I haven't seen him in a while. My shout out to Rikers. His name is Rikers?

His name is Rikers. Well, his nickname. I don't know what his real name is. Hold on, hold on. His mama ain't named Rikers. No, no, no. But that was what everyone knew about. I was about to say, let me get a picture of his mom. So Rikers used to always give me this dope, dope, dope gear.

I remember he gave me like the the USSR hockey jerseys, the knit hockey jerseys. And I remember I came in once and he gave me this brown Bombers jacket. Right? With like the matching hat. Right? And I was feeling fresh to death.

Right? So we're in this club, and Puffy's in the club. And Puffy sends his man to go talk to me. He's like, yo, man, I work for Puffy. I'm like, okay, cool, cool. Yeah, man.

Puffy really loves that jacket you're wearing. He wants to know if you want to sell it to him. I'm not going to sell my fucking jacket I'm not taking off my fucking jacket what kind of question is that like I was going to take off my jacket

and give it to another man like what the fuck what kind of jacket is this though it was a brown bombers jacket it was a brown you know no name brand to it

well it was Stalindine but it said brown bombers on the back and it was like the actual logo of I believe it was a brown jacket. It was a brown, you know, kind of. No name brand to it? Well, Stalindine. Okay, Stalindine. But it said Brown Bombers on the back. Okay, okay. And it was like the actual logo of, I believe it was a Negro team. You know, like a Negro football team of that era. Okay. And it was a dope jacket.

Okay. I get it, but I'm not just going to sell another man my clothes. Especially in a club. Especially in a club. Yeah, yeah. Walk home, it might have been winter at the time. I don't know, man. That was just, sort of rubbed me the wrong way. I was just like,

it's just a weird, you know, it's one thing to say, hey, old man, like, Puffley likes that jacket. Where did you get it? Why? You know, so he could go, it's not like he can't afford it. I would have told him where I got it, but he wanted to buy my actual jacket. That's ill. So I'm like, nah. Can't relate. I'm good, man. I'm good. So I'm like, nah. Can't relate. I'm good, man. I'm good.

So I'm just going to say neither. Okay. Green Latin or DJ Who Kid? Green Latin because me and Green have a relationship. We did an epic project together. DJ Who Kid I know, but I just know him. You know what I mean? Right. Beyonce or Alicia Keys?

I think Beyonce. Okay. Beyonce or Alicia Keys? I think Beyonce. Okay. Beyonce. I mean, you know, Alicia Keys is dope. Okay. And I remember the first time I saw them, I saw them perform together. Wow. First time you see Beyonce and Alicia Keys.

It was an Alicia Keys concert, and Beyonce came through and did a little guest. On an Alicia Keys set? Yeah. Holy moly guacamole. Just describe this. Yeah. Yeah. And moly guacamole. Just grab this. Yeah. And watching it and then like Beyonce got off the stage because we were backstage not backstage but side stage and she walked

out and she's next to me. I'm like damn that's Beyonce. Like right here on this link. Like you know Beyonce definitely has the energy that's mega star and so forth. And Alicia Keys is dope shout out to Swiss you know me and him have always had a good relationship um you know but I would say Beyonce to be honest

yes that's at least he's my sister too and Swiss my brother UGK or Outkast this no I ain't gonna lie I'm gonna take a shot for this one uh UGK UGK and I think Outkast is dope but but UGK. UGK. And I think Outkast is dope, but UGK, like, one of my early mixtapes that I did, it was like a Dirty South mixtape and it was like UGK all through it. Like,

Pocket Full of Stones. Me and Bun B have a dope relationship. In fact, I'm going to tell you this. You had a chill burger? I have not. I'm planning on it.

Well, I haven't been down to Texas in a while. It's not like they have them in LA. They're avoiding it. They're not that like... Yeah,

you got to have a chill burger. They're very addictive. Even the vegan version is fucking... Well, they're in Texas and I haven't been to Texas in a while. It's not like they have them in LA. They're avoiding it. They're not that like. Yeah, you got to have a chill version. They're very addictive. Even the vegan version is fucking. Well, they're in Texas and I haven't been to Texas in whatever, 15 years.

But I'm going to tell you this. The first time I met Pimp C, my man, Tony Martin, was managing him and he said, yo, yo, yo, we in the studio, Pimp C, you want to come down? I said, cool. Let's, he said, yo, yo, yo, we in the studio, Pimp C, you want to come down?

I said, cool. Let's go. Yeah, Pimp C. And you produced at the time? No, no, no, no, no. I was a DJ. I was a mixtape DJ. In fact, I just did a UGK mixtape at the time.

Okay. Dedication like how you did with the five? No, no, no. A label actually gave me some tracks and had me put together a UGK mixtape and so forth. Exclusive. Yeah, with exclusives on it and stuff like that. So, I go down to the studio and Pimp C is there

and I have never seen someone that's just so much energy and it's like story to story and each story gets crazier and crazier and crazier and crazier.

And I remember he told me there's this one story. I'm not going to name names because we all know these people. No problem. And I remember he was like, yeah. And I was at the bar. And this very famous R&B singer was at the bar. He's like, yeah, she was looking at me up and down. And she's like, who this motherfucker think he is? E40 or something?

And I said, bitch, if you don't know who I am, you must be living under a rock. And I threw a bag of money in her face. And we all know who this is. I'll tell you afterwards. But it's like this caliber of story. And then the next story is even crazier. Right. And then two weeks later, he died.

Yeah. I'm going to be honest. Prim C was like, not from this world. Well, he was special. Yeah, he was special. He was special. And Bun B is dope. Right.

But really like, and he'll even tell you. Yeah, he'll say that. Pimp C is what really made UGK. Like, you know, because he would sing all the hooks and everything like that. You know what I mean? Bun B is dope. Yeah. Dope rapper.

Super dope. But, you know, when it came to the hooks and everything, as well as the verses, Pimp C was the glue that held it all together. And yeah, man, getting the honor to hang out with Pimp C for just a short period of time was important. I'll tell you a story of Pimp C, real fast. I had a group, and they wanted to do a song with UGK.

UGK asked me for a certain amount of money. I went and I got it. You know the story? Yeah. And I gave it to them, and Pimp C gave me back my money. He was like, I just wanted to see if you was going to come play, boy. And I was just like, what? It was the first time ever. He gave me back the check. He was like, I just wanted to see if you was going to come on time. I wanted to see if he was going to come on time I wanted to see if he was going to

I wanted to see do New York people respect us the same way and I was just like oh shit same thing with Three Six Mafia I did a record with Project Pat Project Pat wasn't known at the time I did a record with Project Pat and

Three Six Mafia had the hottest turn the club up and I had a record for Project Pat And And Three Six Mafia had the Hottest Tear the club up And I had a record with Three Six Mafia Just because of that So how important Is relationships for you?

No no no no no We're not done We ain't done I'm sorry Remind me to say How important relationships Drama or Khaled? DJ Drama

DJ Drama We addressed them both With DJ in front of their names Drama Any explanation why? I don't have a relationship With Khaled at all Really?

Yeah At all And you also went at him About the Palestine shit Well but that That doesn't have anything To do with Okay

That It's not that I'm You know Mad at him Or I somehow try to reach out. We just don't, you know, I have interviewed them in my DVD days and so forth. But, yeah, we just don't, we don't have any level of relationship.

But if you was to go to the store right now to pick up one album, DJ Khaled or DJ. We're just talking about my opinion of. Okay, your opinion. Yeah, my opinion. Me and Drama do have a relationship. Me and Drama, we're like, we're in the same freshman class. In fact, there's this famous Vibe cover where they got all the, not the cover, but it was on the inside of Vibe, where they had this kind of DJ issue where they had the legends, and then they had the next generation.

And me and Drama were part of that next generation photo shoot. So we're in the same freshman class. And I think that me and him, if you look at that picture, me and him became the most successful dudes from that freshman class. I think I've always going to have respect for him because we came up together. I had a rap phenomenon at the time and then he was Gangsta Grill at the time. We both chose different paths and he became more of a producer, label and so forth. I became a media outlet. I think both of us became,

I think both of us exceeded our expectations. So, yeah. Feared or loved? Loved. I'm not trying to be feared. Me too. Yeah, I don't want anyone to be scared of me

on any level. Because I'm not a scary person. Yeah, I respect that. I don't need anyone to have that type of feeling towards me on any level. I'd rather be loved or not cared about. You know what I'm saying?

But I don't choose fear on any level. So, EFN's favorite argument. Your guess, Tony. Yeah, yo. The fragrance. Ice Cube or Biggie? I mean, I would say Ice Cube because that ties into my whole NWA thing. You know what I'm saying? Biggie came later.

And, you know, Biggie's dope. And I love both albums. But Ice Cube... Ice Cube is just Ice Cube, man. I think that was like the soul of NWA. After Ice Cube left NWA, you know, the 4 Life album was cool, but it wasn't like straight out of Compton.

You know what I'm saying? And America's Most Wanted, I like better than both of Biggie's albums. And Death Certificate. Yeah, I mean, a lot of people say Death Certificate, but for me, it's America's Most Wanted. Both of them to me are... Yeah, America's most wanted and you know i talked to chuck d about this because the bomb squad produced that i thought was just an absolute perfect piece of work just

absolutely like ice cube melded with the the east coast bomb squad beats was just such a perfect union and i think people just don't appreciate how great that album is because that next album was more of a west coast album right you know i mean i think people just don't appreciate how great that album is because that next album was more of a West Coast album. Right, right. You know what I mean? I think people more leaned into that. East Coast people weren't really bumping West Coast music like that. You know what I mean? To a certain extent.

But yeah, I would say Ice Cube. And Kill That Will, that EP is amazing. You know, Kill That Will was another great one for me because that came right after. That was between America's Most Wanted Death Certificate. And it was really almost like a Death Certificate 1.5. Right, right, right. In a way. But yeah, Ice Cube is brilliant, man.

And Ice Cube's flow is incredible. And unfortunately, I've never gotten to interview him. You will. Maybe one day. But I have so much love and respect for Ice Cube's craft. I mean, because I've interviewed DJ Yella, DLC, Arabian Prince.

Wow. Those are the NWA members. I've never done Dre. I've never done Q. And of course, Eazy passed away. Wow. But yeah, Ice Cube, I almost feel like the last piece

that I would like to get one day before, you know, before it's all said and done. Scarface or Ice-T? I'll say Scarface. And Ice-T is dope. And, you know, Power was incredible. And, you know,

but Scarface, like that first Ghetto Boys album with the mug shots. You know, Mr. Mr. Scarface was walking down the block. Like, it's like, yo, what the fuck is this? And then, like, that solo album

where everyone's pulling out the guns and the key of coke on the table. It's like, the level of creativity with this shit is just, like, through the fucking roof, you know? And I think ultimately, you know, Ice-T, I think he got into his bag with the acting thing. You know, I mean, I think once he did New Jack City, which I recently saw again, it's like, yo, Ice is dope. Like, you know, on the acting side of things. And I think he realized that there's way more money in it.

But I think Scarface, that's like a rapper's rapper. You know, and this is why I think his Tiny Desk concert got the the reaction that it did because you just forget how dope of a storyteller and you know and people people always like what i don't like is everyone says scar face they forget about willie d right because willie d this is my friend who i i talked to last night like he played such a huge role like you, you know, I used to start off our interviews like, it's time to step on some motherfucking toes. Now fuck them hoes.

East Coast ain't playing our song. Want to hear what the hell going on? Like, he was so aggressive. And once you get to know him, you realize that he's really like that. Like, this is not an act. No, yeah, no. He really will beat you up in person. You know what I mean?

Like, he'll really put hands on you. Like, like this, like that persona that you saw, plus he was writing for, for Bushwick Bill. Right.

Most of Bushwick's raps was Scarface's. What was that? It was Willie D's pen. Okay. Yeah. Willie D? Yeah, Willie D wrote a lot of that.

Most of it, actually. You know, so yeah, man, Willie D's pen? Okay. Willie D? Yeah, Willie D wrote a lot of that. Most of it, actually. You know, so yeah, man. Willie D. Yeah, Willie D. And shout out to Ice-T. You know, I interviewed Ice-T at your movie set. That's right. Remember in the barbershop?

That's right. You was in my movie. Yeah. I still got it. I still got it. It never came out. I got my third grade lunch money. Right.

Well, I remember they were were filming and I'm like, y'all don't want to put a mic a little closer to me. You're like, where that bar is right now. We didn't know what the fuck we were doing. Don't worry about it. We got great footage. It's still going to be you. Melly Mel or Cass? Melly Mel.

Melly Mel. And I got to interview Mel. And we talked about how if it wasn't for the message, hip hop may have faded away. Because up until

that point, in his words, it was rappers talk about rapping. The message was the first serious hip hop song. The first one with the social message. The ones that the critics serious hip hop song. The first one with the social message. The ones that the critics, the New York Times, and you know, the Time magazines were like,

oh okay, this is, there's something here. Like there's actual. Reality rap they were calling it. Reality rap. Like this is actually painting a picture of life in this particular region. And it was such a dope song and such a dope beat. And the way it was all put together,

one of my early 12-inch singles. You know what I'm saying? I had that on 12-inch. And it was like, it was such a monumental thing. And it sucks that Mel doesn't get mentioned with the greats because he is one of the greats. For sure. The voice, the presence, the structure. Before there was anything to base it off of was Melly Mel.

Right. And people always, and I think just because it's Grandmaster Flash in the Furious Five, his name is not in there, you sometimes forget. And you put all the focus on Flash which you know Flash is a legend but Mel was the vocalist of that group everyone else was just back of vocal 100%

like I said people would always assume that hip hop would have blown up no matter what but no life doesn't work that way there's crossroads that if certain things don't happen, and I like to compare it to Go-Go. In D.C., Go-Go is the biggest thing ever. And outside of D.C., nobody knows anything about Go-Go.

It's huge in one region. It's a regional music. And hip-hop could have stayed that way if it wasn't for these records that broke through that barrier like the message you see what i'm saying and you as a real hip hop head like you can't deny what i'm saying right now right no for sure it was it was those records because up until that point it was you know busy bee and you know transcendent jump in my limousine with a hundred dollar bill and you know bill and go play basketball.

It was fun. It was a party. It was cool. But it wasn't the message raised the bar. It showed the potential. It showed the potential of what it could be

and what it is today. I've interviewed Kaz. I understand. I understand the importance of Kaz. When I make these choices, don't think it's because I don't know who he is. No, and I've interviewed, you know, Kaz. I understand. I understand the importance of Kaz. Like, when I make these choices, don't think it's because I don't know. No,

Kaz is immensely important. Yeah. No, he's very important. You know, I mean, in fact, the first hit record

in hip hop, which was what? Oh, it's Rapper's Delight. Rapper's Delight. Taking his verse. It was his. You know,

I'm the C-A-S-A and O-V-A and the rest is fly like no your name is big bang hank like why are you saying you're casanova fly because he literally word for word he took took the kaz's lyrics and re-wrapped them and it became a hit song and no one knows about publishing or writing credits. These are just kids recording for cassette debts. So I understand the importance of cats, but once again, rappers talking about rapping. Of that, you know, flying, money, limousines, basketball, pools, TV screens.

Like Mel, Mel is Mel. Yeah. Let's make some noise for Mel E. Mel. Yeah. Mel is Mel. Let's make some noise for Melly Mel. Tony Yeo or Lord Jamal? Tony Yeo. Andy, you want to elaborate? Nope.

Shout out to Tony Yeo, man. That's my man. And we've really formed a good relationship and this is something that he said because you got to understand that for a good 10 years, Tony was very quiet. I don't remember Tony being quiet. For 10 years, Tony was 50s man

and he was 100% solid and did whatever 50, you know what I mean, has his friend required him to do and he played his position. Tony's a definition of loyalty, but Tony was not out there doing interviews, putting his face out,

giving his opinion out until we did the first Vlad TV interview. And now Tony is like a media sensation. Yeah, he is. He did great champs. That's right sensation. Yeah, he is. He did great champs. That's right. After that, he did. Yeah.

Am I right? Am I right? But I got to defend Yayo because maybe he wasn't quite on the media scene, but he's. No, I know behind the scenes who Tony Yayo is. I'm not what I'm saying is is that the way his visibility of where he is now

in the same way that you found your second career he's finding his second career and now he's doing more tours and doing more features and everything else like that these are his words and I feel that me bringing him on and you gotta remember that first interview was tense I know Tony's reputation what did he say to you And I feel that me bringing him on, and you got to remember that first interview was tense. Right.

You know, I know Tony's reputation. What did he say to you? And he said to you, he was like, Lloyd Banks don't like you or something like that. He doesn't. Why doesn't Lloyd Banks like you? Dumb shit. I mean, like,

the annoying part about this is that the first time anyone has said Vlad TV on a video was Lloyd Banks and Tony Ayo. No fucking way. 2008, I go to G Unit offices to interview the both of them and they, I do an interview with both of them and I ask them for a shout out. I'm like,

yo, it's Lloyd, talking New York. Oh, this is, you know, Lloyd Banks. You know, check out Vlad, you know, you tune into vladtv.com, like, this is Lloyd Banks and Tony Ayo, I used to go to G-Unit, interview both of them, I know both of them, anything else like that, so, so, this is so dumb, like, Tony, like, like, Banks doesn't really do a lot of interviews, right, so, you know, we continue to cover him on the news site, anything else like that. I DM'd him a few times,

hey, do you want to do an interview? He would just never answer. Right. Right? And then, you know, if you know Vlad TV, every day we do flashbacks. Okay. Right?

So if something's happening, like, I don't know, Nicki Minaj is beefing with Megan Thee Stallion, so we'll bring up an old Nicki Minaj interview where she's talking about other female rappers from that time. It's a flashback, whatever else, right?

And it's always labeled flashback. Right. Right, in parentheses. But it makes it look like you're, what do they call it, trolling?

Not really trolling. It's just bringing in, you know, listen, like, your catalog is important. Your intellectual property and your ability to monetize it and use it again and continue. Repurpose it. Repurpose it is important.

Right. The film companies have always known this. Right. But smaller guys are just learning this now. So if I have a 16 year catalog and there's a video from 10 years ago that I could put up that gets another half million views, that I don't have to do any editing, I don't have to just throw it back up there, throw

the word flashback on it, which happens all the time now. You know, we literally every month millions of views comes from just flashbacks. I'm going to use that. So in this particular case, we put up a Lloyd Banks flashback and the writer forgot to put flashback in it made it seem like it was new

whatever, honest mistake so he writes me kind of like a nasty DM and I'm like this is when you choose to respond to me? after all these ignored DMs you choose to respond to me now that was it that was the exchange we never talked again and then like i oh yeah yeah uh lloyd banks hates you because of that from fucking seven years ago or some shit like you know what i mean yeah you're telling you

you're telling me this yeah yeah you know and i'm like all right fuck it then who cares right you know i mean like he mad at you okay he mad at me like who cares life Right. You know what I mean? Like, he mad at you. Okay, he mad at me. Like, who cares? Life goes on. You know? It is what it is. Do you think you dealt unfair cards because... Because I'm white? All right, let's say that. You think that's the only reason?

What else? You tell me. Okay. Okay. You think that's the only reason? What else? You tell me. Okay. Some of my closest friends, some of my neighbors, they're white. And sometimes they ask me inappropriate questions

yeah it's just a part of their character they'll be like alright for instance this white guy lives right next to me

and we're all outside doing yoga and he goes well I wasn't doing yoga but he goes this is exactly how he described it. He said, hey, don't go over there. You're going to get high.

Because, you know, we smoke weed before we work out. But I don't like the terminology getting high. I get medicated. My shit is actually, I actually buy my shit from a dispensary. I actually have a receipt. Right. I don't look at it as getting hired at all. So I was so...

Offended? Offended. I went upstairs. I got my receipt. I got my medical marijuana card. I got my regular. And I wanted to show him. Right.

Listen. You're in the 90s talking about getting high. I get medicated. No disrespect. So you think that is that sometimes? Like sometimes

it's a question that maybe I... I'm not racially sensitive? Is that what you're saying? Sometimes I ask questions that are racially insensitive? No, I'm asking. Do you think that?

I think being white, you're not going to relate completely to someone who's black. Let's just be honest. I respect that. And you're not going to relate to someone completely who's white. That's just the reality now during the course of my adult life from you know my my my sophomore year in college to you know throughout my whole adult life 95 of my long-term relationships have been with black women so you know in my home i i'm being told you know i mean on an intimate level when i'm doing that and i try to correct myself

especially because i'm speaking publicly right you know i'm saying but even with that of course i'm not going to relate to what it is to be a black person. Right. Because when I walk down the street, unless they know I'm DJ Vlad, I'm a white guy. Right. You know, even though I'm Jewish, you can't necessarily tell I'm Jewish unless you know what to look for. Right. You know what I'm saying? Right. You know, so I don't know what it's like to be a black person and live in America.

And I remember when it really dawned on me was when I went to Africa for the first time. When I went to Africa, I went to Senegal, where Akon is from. But this was before. They have Dior out there? That what? Dior.

Dior. Like the Dior you wore? Oh, yeah. On your show? Drio, Drio, my bad. Drio, my bad, my bad, my bad. Yeah, man. I remember I lived with a family

in Senegal because the people I was with had friends. I was in a hotel. I was actually living with a Senegalese family for like two weeks. I was walking around in Dakar in the village, small village we were at and everything else like that. I would interact with the Senegalese. And I just remember how different our interactions would be than with black people in America

when I would see them when I don't know them. Like a level of apprehension that was in America was not there in Africa. And it started to dawn on me that like, oh. Like meaning they didn't look at you the same? Yeah, it was a level of, yo, this is our shit. We here, we comfortable. We're not tripping off you. We're not worried that you're not a threat.

You're not, I don't look down on you. I don't look up at you. You just are what you are because, yo, this is our country and you're a guest. You know what I'm saying? You're a guest in our country and we're friendly. We're happy you what you are because this is our country and you're a guest. You know what I'm saying? You're a guest in our country and we're friendly. We're happy you be here, but this is our shit. This is our shit.

President's black. The whole government's black. The postman is black. The milkman is black. You're the outsider here, but you're welcome or anything else like that. You start to realize that in America, there's not the history of slavery and the Jim Crow laws and the white-only bathrooms

and the bullshit and anything else like that in that country. You realize, okay, a lot of the tension that happens because of the history in America. And you have to go somewhere else to realize it because you're just in it 24-7. You live next to a waterfall. you don't hear the waterfall. You're next to the waterfall. You go away from the waterfall, you realize, oh, it's not so loud over here for the first time ever in life. And that's what I realized.

It was like, okay, that's why it's so important for people to travel out of the country and see other shit because America is not, yes, the best country on earth, whatever. It's not the only country on earth. You have to see other places and see the similarities and the differences because there is differences. Yeah.

You know what I'm saying? And it just made me realize, okay, I remember Richard Pryor, talk about the first time he went to Africa. He never used the N word after that. You know what I mean? It changes you seeing shit like that yeah it changes you on different levels depending on who you are man so like i said of course i'm

going to be racially insensitive to certain things you know i mean and i think to a certain degree people tune in for that because i do have a large white you know white fan base of hip-hop kids who are thinking the same things that I'm thinking, and they're relating to me as a white kid who loves hip-hop talking to someone who isn't white about these very serious topics, something that they'll never get to do. They'll just watch it on the internet.

You know what I'm saying? So it is what it is. So yeah, I'm absolutely guilty of it, and I try to work on it on a daily basis. I'll tell you this. Dingo right there. This is my friend. When we go out jogging, he jumps in front of cars because he loses his white privilege to the folks.

By the way, I enjoy it. I enjoy it. He jumps right in front of the car and starts. They ain't hitting no white person. It's a fact. It's just a fact. And Diego walks over there and he don't give a fuck. He's swinging his arms. He'll jump in front of any car. He doesn't care. Only time I disagreed with him was a child who had a hat came off and he was going to run. Fuck that child. Fuck that hat too.

He's about to die. He thought he was going to run in front of the fucking highway to get a hat. And the parents didn't even move. We said, Diego, you will move your ass. But we were in Amsterdam and I look at,

I was smoking cigarettes at the time and I look, they're only watching me. I'm supposed to be the privileged person. You know, fuck that. I am the privileged person. You know, fuck that. I am the privileged person, I guess, right? Diego, you there? So I'm like, yo,

I'm going to go outside and smoke a cigarette. I smoke cigarettes all the time. I'm going outside and smoke a cigarette. Every single time I walk through the door, they stop me and say, you can't bring your drink out. My friend right there, I just went like this.

Gave it to him, and he walked right out the front door. Huh? Oh, he had his. He was double-fisted. And then we go outside, and I'm just looking at the security, you bitch-ass motherfucker. Drinking, I'm double looking at the security, you bitch ass motherfucker. Drinking, I'm double fisting too.

Like, ugh. Smoking a cigarette. And then I did it 12 times. But did they stop me every 12 times? They said, you can't drink. And I was just like, all right, cool. I got good white people that was with me. And I was just like, all right, cool. I got good white people that was with me. And I was just, but that's fucking, and you know where we was at?

Where we was at? I said where we was at? Amsterdam. Amsterdam. Yeah. And one of the most liberous, free countries to smoke marijuana. Yeah, I've been there multiple times. So it does exist. Racism is everywhere, bro. Of course it is. Yes. Yeah, you can been there multiple times. So it does exist.

Racism is everywhere, bro. Of course it is. You can't pretend like it doesn't. And you can't deny the effects of that history because there's I interviewed Bill Duke who had grandparents that were coming out of slavery.

Like, you know, like really I believe was he alive when the Emmett Till grandparents that were coming out of slavery. Like, you know, like really, I believe, was he alive when the Emmett Till news broke? I think it did. I think he was. Yeah, he remembers the Emmett Till story. You know?

So you got people alive right now that dealt with that shit. This is not ancient. This is not Jesus time. People are just arguing over some shit that nobody technically that shit. This is not ancient. This is not Jesus' time. People are just arguing over some shit that nobody technically knows about. No, this is some real shit, man. Can't just pretend it doesn't exist.

You got to accept it. You got to accept your role in it. You know you're not going to be a perfect person. You know you're going to fuck up. You know that you need good people around you that are going to check you on it. Be like, hey man, what you said here was fucked up. And some of my guests do that. You know, the Aries Spears of the world

will sit there and check me on camera. Michael Jai White will check me on camera. And I'll run it. You know, I'll let, yo, yeah, I fucked up. My bad. Yeah. Yeah, so only one last question. This is the one last question we say isn't a trick question.

Okay. Oh, no, no, no. I got it. We said Boosie. Oh, okay. Boosie or Aaron Hall. This is before. Boosie.

Okay. Yeah, Boosie. All right. Then now this is the one last question that we say is not a trick. Okay. Loyalty or respect? Respect. Respect? Respect. Respect.

I mean, a person will be loyal to you to an extent. You can't expect... You get what you earn. You know what I mean? You get what you pay for. You get... You can't expect a person to be loyal to you when you're disrespectful to that person.

You know what I'm saying? You can't expect loyalty to last past like a level of comprehension that no one really could understand. You know, like, I have a staff of people, and I understand they're going to be loyal to me as long as I pay them. But at the point that I can't pay them anymore,

I don't expect them to keep working for me for free. You know what I mean? And I don't expect that they understand that I'm not going to keep paying them if they stop working. And you do have friendships, and you do have principles and everything else like that, Expect that they understand that I'm not going to keep paying them if they stop working. Right. You know? And you do have friendships.

And you do have principles and everything else like that. But we're all humans. Mm-hmm. You know? But the respect, that's an ongoing thing. It's an active thing. It's happening right now. Like, me and you are respecting each other right now. Right.

Me being here. Right. You know, because of the respect I have for you and us having that conversation, and you allowing me to come on this platform with all the wars that you won and everything else like that, this is respect that you're seeing in action. It's not about loyalty. You know what I mean?

The loyalty is whatever, you know what I mean? And we have been loyal to each other and everything else like that, but the respect is something you have to keep working on. It's not just something that you, you know. And, you know, listen, I've interviewed so many people, so many mafia guys. Right. That went through the pricking of the finger and gave and told their mafia boss that if my kids are dying and you call me, I will drop them

and go see you. Cosa Nostra. Cosa Nostra. And they've killed people because they were told what to do. And they've killed their own family members. You know, Sammy the Bull killed his brother-in-law. Killed his brother-in-law

because he was told to do that shit. Because he took the oath. And at some point, that loyalty expired. And all of them that I've interviewed have said, and I was going to do 100 years, and I was going to jump out the window.

But then this happened. But then I heard this tape of him saying this. Oh, then they threatened my family. There's always a good excuse to be disloyal. There's always a good excuse to be disloyal. There's always a great excuse to be disloyal. Yes. Am I right?

Are you disagreeing with me? No, no, that's ill. That's ill. I'm saying that's ill. A person will always find an excuse to be disloyal to you. Wow. Will always find an excuse.

And you may not agree with that excuse. And you, yo, I just interviewed Trick Daddy today. This interview's not out yet. This interview's not out. But this story, my man Jake,

he knows, he was sitting right there. Like this, you got to understand, Trick Daddy was in tears when he was telling me this story. So Trick Daddy's a multi-platinum artist at this point. All his big records, he's like, album number five, number two on Billboard, Take It to the House, Let's Go is out, he's touring, whatever else, right? And he said when he got his first million dollars,

he told Ted Lucas, don't give me that money. Break it up in 20, $30,000 chunks so all the people that are there for me, I'm going to give them this, I'm going to break them all off. I'm going to give this person this money, this person. You know, take care of everyone who took care of me when I was homeless and in the street, where it's like that.

You know what I mean? And he went back to Liberty City to go hang out on this basketball court, and he sees one of his friends that he paid off back then, but felt that he didn't do enough. And he said... The trick felt like he didn't do enough?

No, the person felt... The person felt that the trick didn't do enough for him. He said, man, you're not allowed on this fucking court anymore. Yeah. I know this is, you think this is your city, you can't come back here again. I'm still here, you can't come back here again. I'm still here. You can't come to this fucking court anymore.

Trick was so hurt when he heard that. And he's holding back tears as he's telling me this story. You don't know where interviews are going to go, right? You know, I'm asking a question and I'm getting this reaction. He said, he said,

I went in my car and I got my pistol. And I pulled my pistol out of that motherfucker. And I said, your daddy got killed from someone that came back and killed him. Your brother got killed because someone that came back and killed him. Your brother got killed because someone came back and killed him. Motherfucker, I'm coming back and I'm going to kill you for telling me I can't come here after everything I've done for you. And I'm going to call your grandmother

and tell her what the fuck I just did. And he's holding back tears telling me this story. And that motherfucker pressed charges on him and sued him. And he said, I did so much for this motherfucker. You know what I mean? I did so much and I hooked him up with my sister.

He probably could have killed him at that moment and he did. He did it, luckily. But there was repercussions to that action. That's how upset he was. And you would think that a motherfucker would be loyal to you after you've done so much for him and he hasn't done something for you. But he'll find a reason to let you know

that you're not welcome. It's spit in your face. So I don't want to hear about that loyalty shit, that that was disrespectful. It's about respect, because that's an ongoing process that we keep building with each other. I can't expect you to be loyal to me for something I did yesterday

if I continue to be disrespectful to you today and tomorrow? Damn. So yeah, that's the easy answer for me. I ain't gonna lie. You ain't supposed to take a shot, but I'm about to take a shot for your answer. That was mad deep. Holy shit. I'm gonna take a pee-pee. Oh, damn. I gotta take a pee-pee too.

We insane. Hurry up. Hold on. Quick time of slime. We did everything. What is going on with you and Joe Biden? Why y'all can't get along? Well, he can't get along with me. I'm fine with him.

Yeah? We can't do like a panel together? We can't do a panel together? We can't do a panel together. He said, he told academics he's willing to do an interview with me on academics platform, but my thing is that there's so much baggage between him that we have to have a conversation.

I was going to go on Drink Champs, so I'm talking to you first. You know what I'm saying? We don't have a 1% thing compared to what me and Joe had. Okay, but what happened? All right, so what happened was this. Okay.

This story. So I did an interview with Joe. Joe lived down the street from me when I lived in Jersey. That was Jersey boys. Yeah, 2008. I'm watching flat TV. Hit him up. Hey, you want to do an interview?

Cool. Show up to where he lives. Do an interview. Hey, you want to do an interview? Cool. Show up to where he lives, do an interview, puts it out, whatever, life goes on. Is this the Harry days? Is this the Harry days? When he was dating to Harry? Yes. 100%. You'll see why.

I do the interview with Joe. Interview comes out. Life goes on. We're life goes on we're doing interviews and you know Joe was kind of like the early put his life out on the internet him and Tahiri he was a vlogger

he was one of the early hip hop vloggers so he's putting out his stuff and I'm following his stuff I'm following his YouTube channel and I go and watch a video and he's dissing his stuff, blah, blah, blah. And I'm following his stuff. I'm following his YouTube channel, whatever. And I go and watch a video and he's dissing this rapper named Ransom. Right? He was like, oh yeah, Ransom is like a Honda

and I'm a Lamborghini or something, something, something. He's dissing. I'm like, I didn't know who Ransom was. I looked him up. I'm like, oh, he's a dope rapper out of Jersey. You know, so we reached out to Ransom. He was like, hey, you know, we've seen-

Okay, let me stop you right there. I gotta be this guy today. You have a relationship with Joe. I did an interview with Joe. That doesn't make a relationship. One interview. That's true. One interview. But most of us, I've got to be devil's advocate, once I do an interview for you,

I kind of feel like I have a relationship with you. To a certain extent. So, do you think that Joe automatically thought that, damn, how the hell I just did an interview with him and now he's going to interview my enemy? You think that's – could that be where it started? Sure. Okay. Absolutely. I take responsibility for that.

Okay. I understand that. You also got to understand that in today's climate, you just go on Instagram and you make a response video and then everyone picks it up and then boom. Let me represent for you. Let me represent for you.

This is before YouTube. No, I mean, it's before Instagram, before even Twitter. Twitter wasn't even there. Let me represent for you. There's been times I've done black interviews

and I regretted what I said. I called you. Yeah. And you honored me. Yes, sir. So, okay, continue. I just want to be clear of that. Yeah.

There's been times, plenty of times I called you and said, you know what? I might have not been in the right frame of mind. I remember we did the interview in your hotel room. Yep, yep. You called me up and you had me cut out like 90% of it. Yeah. My bad. Yeah, my bad. Right? My bad.

I think the Kevin Gates part was the only part that you were okay with leaving, and then that's the only thing. Kevin Gates? Yeah. I like Kevin Gates. Exactly. No, no, no. The part about his cousin. Oh, him fucking his cousin?

Yeah. Oh, yeah. That was cool. It was sort of a funny moment. I said, hey, can I keep this one? You're okay, fine. I'll keep this one. But everything else I took out.

Okay. Right? You asked me to take it. And you know something? This is like a professional courtesy in the business because I do interviews on other platforms and call them up and say, hey, can you take this part out?

Like I did Breakfast Club, just one part where I felt like if I respond to this guy, it's going to turn into a big fucking thing. So please take it out. They took it out. Life goes on. You know what I'm saying?

And usually before it comes out, that's the time to ask not to put it out. And I do that for you. People do it for me. Whatever. So, Joe talks about Ransom, and we hit up Ransom and say, hey, do you want to respond?

Ransom's like, absolutely. Hell yeah, I want to respond. So, I send one of my camera people to go interview Ransom. Ransom responds, and then he raises it up a notch. Ransom starts Ransom responds and then he raises it up a notch. Ransom starts talking about how Fabulous

was messing with Tahiri. Which I guess is the truth because they used to date before Joe or whatever else. Joe went ballistic after seeing this interview and decided to get a crew together and then take it from a war of words

to actually a physical situation, and he goes on Ransom's block, and some sort of altercation happens. But why do you have anything to do with that? Because I, well, and I'll explain to you. Okay. I'll explain to you, right? An altercation happens with ransom.

I guess like a gunshot was involved and stuff like that. It was serious. But you don't really know any of this yet until Joe puts out his response video bragging about what just happened and threatening ransom that if he says anything, he's going to put out the video of the altercation. So we put that up.

I mean, we put that on the site, and we're covering the back and forth, because VladTV.com is a news site. So then we get a call from Ransom. And he was like, yo, I got a video I want to give you that I want y'all to post. Ransom, mistakenly, on Math Hoffa said that I was filming it or something, I wasn't even there. I wasn't there for either of the filmings. Wait, so Ransom said that on Math Hoffa?

On Math Hoffa, I was like, oh, Vlad was not there when we interviewed him about the Joe situation. Vlad was definitely not there when he handed me this video that he shot by himself. And when we watched the video, it's Ransom and his crew walking up to one of Joe Bunn's people. Not Joe. Not Joe.

One of Joe Bunn's people confronting him about what had just happened and Ransom's man slapping Joe Bunn's dude in the video. And we put that out. And then Joe Button basically makes a video and response is like, fine, ransom. You win, Vlad, you win. Y'all are stupider than me. You know, y'all are fucking ridiculous. Nah, fuck this.

I ain't doing this dumb shit anymore. Whatever, whatever. And then. The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States. Recipients have done the improbable, showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of something much bigger than themselves. This medal is for the men who went down that day. It's for the families of those who didn't make it. I'm J.R. Martinez. I'm a U.S. Army veteran myself, and I'm honored to tell you the families of those who didn't make it. I'm J.R. Martinez. I'm a U.S. Army veteran myself.

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The video that he gave me to put out. The video that he provided for me. This is the reason why people think you work with the police. That's the reason why, right there. Which is? Yeah, because of that. You know, shit like that. The video is

one of his mans slapping somebody. He didn't go to jail for slapping. You posted this. He asked me to post it. But you don't have to post it. Of course I don't. You know there's repercussions to those videos. He asked me to post it. It's a slapping video. I didn't even know about any

of the gunshot shit or whatever else. It's a slapping video. Like, what is that, a misdemeshot shit or whatever else. It's a slapping video. What is that, a misdemeanor? If that? Seriously. But it could snowball. I guess that's what people will say. Would you do that today?

Would I do that today? Would you continue back and forth knowing that it could spiral out of control? No. But this is me at 50. Right. We were, but I also- This is you at 50 you know we were but I also I'm 50 at 50 years old

he got it at 34 which was my age back as a 34 year old you know what I mean but you also realize that okay I'm going to pass on it but someone else is going to put it out you know what I mean so me pass on it, but someone else is going to put it out. You know what I mean?

So me not putting it out really makes no difference at this point. Right. But that's also the excuse. No, I understand, but there's lots of stuff I don't put out to you. Right, right. There's lots of stuff that crosses my desk, and I'll actually call the person up. Right. And I'll say, listen, I just got this video, or I just got this paperwork, and it's about you, and it's legitimate, and I'm not going to put it out, but I'm letting this paperwork and it's about you and it's legitimate and I'm not going to put it out,

but I'm letting you know that it's out there. That's somebody else. Someone else might. And I'm going to give you an early warning on this. But I don't need to be the guy at the edge of all the drama anymore. But this was a very different Hungry Vlad back then. You know what I mean?

This was very early in the internet and this was very, it's normal now. It wasn't normal back then. And because what I mean? And this was very early in the internet and this was very, it's normal now. It wasn't normal back then. And because of that chain of events, and you know, and it just turned into a fuck you

from both ends for the next however many years. It'd be fuck Vlad and it'd be like fuck Joe. He would say some shit and I was in. He would do an interview

and I would be brought up and I would do an interview about him and he'd be brought up and it just went back and forth and went back and forth. You know, but in my eyes, be brought up and I would do an interview about him and he'd be brought up and it just went back and forth, went back and forth. In my eyes,

him and Ransom are cool now. That's who we really got into again. That's who really the altercation happened. I'm just covering it. Him and Ransom are cool. He's still mad at me. I'm always like, I'm not tripping. If Joe wants to get on the phone with me later today, I'll have a conversation with him. I'll take responsibility for the mistakes that I made.

I don't know if he will, but it doesn't matter. You know what I mean? Can we do business at one point? Of course we can. That's really more on him, but we can't just... Think about it when me and you had our tension. I'm not just going to come do drink champs not knowing what I'm walking into.

You know what I mean? Could be an ambush. Who the fuck knows? No, no, no. No ambush at drinks. No, but I'm saying into. You know what I mean? Could be an ambush. Who the fuck knows? No, no ambush that drinks you. No, but I'm saying, you don't know. If your past is a past, your past is a past. What I'm saying is,

that's really the me and Joe story. Neither one of us are scared of each other. We all have money. We all have security. We all have guns. We all men. We all have money. We all have security. We all have guns. We all men. We all have gotten to this point by standing up on our principles and ideals.

We both have big fan bases. It is what it is. That's me and Joe in a nutshell. I've always said it's not that serious. I've been in way more serious shit than what me and Joe have gone through. That shit is light as far as I'm concerned. So if he ever

wants to have a conversation with me, but you know, he just had Dr. Umar Johnson on and when Umar brought up my name, he was like, fuck Vlad. So clearly he's so mad. Umar said fuck Vlad? Well, no. Umar brought my name up when talking about some other shit. What did Umar say? Oh, Umar just was like,

I'm out here building schools. DJ Vlad ain't building schools. DJ Vlad is also not taking money for the schools that haven't been launched yet. But that's another story. But when he said that, Joe was like, fuck Vlad. Oh, fuck. But whatever. It's fuck Vlad.

It's just words. You know what I mean? But it's like, all right, fuck Joe too. And this is how we keep rocking. This may be past our lifetimes. Who knows? But I'm not tripping. I really have no animosity towards him at all.

I am happy for his success. He's really carved out a lane. I feel that he is also one of the few popular podcasts that do well without external guests. The rest of us really revolves around the quality of our guests. He's able to pull it together with his own crew of people. And sometimes he has guests, sometimes he doesn't. But you know what I mean? So you have to give him props for that. And he helped pioneer the space for everybody, at least in hip-hop. Yeah, absolutely, man. And he

deserves all the money and the accolades that he's been getting. I've never hated on Joe and his business on any level. But, you know, it's fuck me, fuck you, too. That's basically what it is. Can we take a shot? Sure. Solo, solo, solo.

Ah, shit. That's the Mama Wanda now? Mama Wanda's coming out? Solo, solo. I heard Elliot Wilson say recently. He was like, journalism and being media used to be corny.

Used to be like, people used to stab you for having an opinion, and now everybody wants to be media. Have you ever saw this day coming? I mean, I'm not surprised. Meaning? Meaning that, well, I mean, let's just keep it 100. Keep it 100. Like, there's just keep it 100 keep it 100 like there's just a lot more money in it now

people have realized that so you could paint it how you want to paint it but there's just a lot more money in it and social media has emboldened everybody and it's easier to build up a following and you know what I'm saying and especially if you're already a celebrity and have

like Kiki Palmer has a fucking podcast. Pharrell. Pharrell has a podcast. Who could Pharrell not get? Right. Like, I'm supposed to, like, I compete with Pharrell. Do you know how hard that is? It's not fair.

It's not fucking fair. It's not fucking fair. Not old easy Pharrell, the mega producer, but now he's the head of fucking Louis Vuitton. Louis Vuitton. Who's going to tell him no? You know what I mean? Yeah, I got his number. You might get some exclusive Louis sneakers at some point for saying yes.

I ain't going to lie. It took me so long. I had a whole Louis outfit, and I was like, damn, fuck, if I wear this, I'm going to fuck up. And I said, you know what? I'm meeting with Fat Joe. Fat Joe bought me this sweater. He bought me this sweater like, who was there?

No, not three hours ago, you asshole. Like six months ago, I couldn't fit it. So I had to have a meeting with Fat Joe, kind of meeting, and I was like, I got to wear this. And I was like, it just worked perfect.

But I'm proud of Pharrell. Taking over Louis for the fucking time. Yeah, he the super thug. Amen. What, what, what, what? Amen. Damn. That was the record I was playing

when I moved to New York. Homeboy. I came to party. Good I moved to New York. Homeboy. I came to party. Good girl was looking at me. That beat. That beat. Goddamn. One of the greatest beats in hip hop.

Yes. Goddamn. I'm supposed to compete with this motherfucker when it comes to guests. He got fucking SZA on his show. Yes. Yes. I'm supposed to compete with that. I'm supposed to compete with that.

DJ Vlad. I'm not going to lie. How do you feel about Zane Lowe? I haven't watched any of his interviews. I don't see nobody watch his interviews. You work for Apple, you're going to get Apple. You know what I mean? You're going to get people, one of the big platforms, like working for Spotify.

You're going to get special treatment and special favors and everything else like that. I haven't watched enough of his stuff to say it's good or bad. I'm not just going to... It's not like I'm hating or jealous of it. I'm not hating or jealous of it. No, no, no. He has his role, but he doesn't own his own content and everything else like that. He has his own role

in what he does, and he gets a lot of big guests and everything else like that, but I don't know. Him and I do differently, but to answer your question, there's just a lot more money in it right now. Yes. And when you're already a celebrity,

it's much easier. When people come to me and say, hey, I want to start a podcast, what do you think I should do? I always tell them the same thing. All the big podcasts, when you look at the landscape, they're only big because

of the guests that they can get consistently. Right? Kodak Black, Kanye. You know what I'm saying? The level of guests that you guys have gotten. Nas. Back when you and I were talking, I congratulated you for that. the level of guests that you guys have gotten. Right. Nas. Right.

Like, you know, back when you and I were talking, I congratulated you for that. Like, you are where you are, yes, because of Nori and EFN. I get it. Right. But you take away all those big guests, and Drink Champs is a very different Drink Champs.

Right. You know what I'm saying? For sure. It's just, we're just keeping it 100. You take Vlad's guests away, and if it's just me, like, it's a very different Vlad TV. You take away Boosie take away yale you you take would take away you know the mike tyson's in the world like whatever like you know so you're already a celebrity you already have

relationships right what's the story you tell okay yeah no but you know and yeah i mean listen there is a skill set but you know you you get the right guests and you figure out how to do this you know it's not like sh figure out how to do this. It's not like Shannon Sharp had to do a whole lot with Cat Williams. Right, right. Cat Williams let go. Right? Cat Williams came with his Uzi loaded.

Loaded. And he had an extra clip in his two ears. Yes. He had the shit in his socks. You know what I mean? You're like, where did he pull out that? We're not taking that from Shannon Sharp. Two ears. Yes. He was right there. He had the shit in his socks. You know what I mean? Yes, yes. You're like, where did he pull out that? We're not taking that from Shannon Shaw.

We're not. But Shannon essentially just had to press the record button and sit back. If Shannon did not talk during that whole interview and just let Cat be Cat, it would be just as impactful. Yes. You know what I'm saying? Yes, very true. But my only pushback to that is that it's consistency, too. Because those are anomalies when you have those big,

you know, episodes or whatever guests. Cause when we started drink champs, not even CBS who distributors believed in it really that much. They were like, let's see, do some demos. And we did a couple episodes and,

and it just, it took off because I think at that time we caught lightning in a bottle. It was, it was also the environment that we were getting people that people kind of had forgotten about a little bit. And we're bringing back these stories and rehashing this stuff. And I think that that's a big component for a lot of podcasts, finding your own lane, being consistent. And yeah, of course, you get big guests on a certain consistent basis. Big guests, the consistency and everything else like that.

You want another shot I just poured him a shot this is so great you know but now now the space is a lot more crowded ever since COVID

everyone saw our podcast now you have actors, athletes. Everybody. You know, wives of CEOs. You know, everything. Rock stars, rap stars. He just got finger popped. He just got a podcast.

Yeah, everything. Everyone got podcasts. You know, it was much easier to get interviews in 2008 when I launched Vlad TV than it is now. You know, I mean,

it's easier to a certain degree because we have the relationships and we have the track record and we have budgets and everything else like that. But, you know, listen,

I mean, I'm competing against Pharrell. Right. I am. Like, when I see Pharrell interviews, like, I got to outdo that.

You really feel you're competing with him? I know what he means. I know what he means, but I just don't see the comparison to compete. He's one million percent correct. There is a pair of eyeballs that I want to go to my channel as opposed to his. All right. Let me just say. Those same eyeballs will go to yours just as much.

Not necessarily. Not necessarily. I'm just saying they could. I'm saying there's no difference. What's the most important thing you got? It's time. And time is limited. You see what I'm saying? So you could say that, but a person only has a certain amount of time to watch it. You got to remember, you're one of

the most loyalist people ever. When we had Kendrick Lamar at Rock the Bells or where you... We didn't have Kendrick Lamar at Rock the Bells or we didn't have Kendrick Lamar. No, we never had him. Oh, he was supposed to come through. Right, right, right. The label set that up.

And I tweeted that shit. Right. Once I tweeted it, I tweeted, you got questions for Kendrick Lamar and then It was rolling loud

that he was coming to Miami. Rolling loud. Then all of a sudden people called us loud that he was coming to Miami then all of a sudden people called us and was like this interview is not happening no longer and then Zane Lowe had it and let me just say something because I'm not going at Zane Lowe at all

I'm never like actually diss Zane Lowe I diss the politics that come along with Zane Lowe it's not him using him as an example I love Larry Jackson I love everybody but they didn't understand come along with Zane Lowe. It's not him personally. Using him as an example. I love Larry Jackson. I love everybody.

But they didn't understand what was going on. I did because that interview was gone very fast. That's why I don't announce shit until it's already done. Unless it's a regular guest that I know that no one could throw a monkey wrench in. I'll say, hey, what do y'all want me, like I have a community section,

like a paid member section of Vlad TV. So I'll go to the members and be like, hey, wish I had Boosie in my next interview. Because I know that no one could stop an interview between me and Boosie.

It's just impossible. But, if I had a Kendrick interview in the bag, I wouldn't tell myself about it. That was my learning. And it was me who tweeted it. And just in defense, to explain that situation, it was the label setting it up, and then he got in late,

and he was headlining Rolling Loud, and he had to get straight to the stage. Yes, very true. So we were cutting it close with that one. Yeah, but you still can make shit happen. No, for sure. But the thing is, you don't know how the communication is with his team and when the label's setting it up.

You know that. We haven't had a TDE interview since 2010. It was Interscope that was actually the... Me and Top know each other. He called me last year. We weren't neighbors, I think, actually. So it is what it is, man. It is what it is.

Are you satisfied with what hip-hop has presented to you? It surpassed my expectation. It's passed. It surpassed. Like, I started later. That's my expectation. It's past. It's a past. It was, man. Like I started later. Like I moved, like I became, I was doing hip hop full time when I was about 28, 29. I wasn't like you that started as a teen.

That just grew up into it and always has been part of it and grew up in a section surrounded by rappers. You know what I mean? Like you grew up around the Nas surrounded by rappers. You know what I mean? You grew up around the Nas's and the Mobb Deep's. That came later to me in life and then I just thought it would be a hobby.

You know? To realize one day I'm actually part of this. I'm legitimately part of this. Hip'm legitimately part of this yes hip-hop fans are fans of dj vlad of vlad labovny oh no vladislav labovny the name i was born with a kid from ukraine that didn't speak English when he was born, that now I'm actually a real

that's worth more than me than any check or any award or trophy or car or house or piece of clothing. It's like I'm actually part of the hip-hop story in my own way. I'm not a rapper.

I'm not a producer. I don't sign artists, but I do what I do and I do it at the highest level. Right. And I have millions of people tuning in every day. Right. To hear what the fuck I got to say in this genre that I love, that I've devoted a large chunk of my life to. Really, at this point, yeah, there you go. From about 20, yeah, I'm almost half my life to. Really, at this point, yeah. There you go. From about 20, yeah,

I'm almost half my life to at this point. Like, I didn't think this was realistically going to happen. Was I watching your own TV rap saying, yeah, I'm going to be the next head lover? Did I read XXL saying, and the source and say, yeah, one day I'm going to have a media outlet that's bigger than both of these motherfucking media outlets, which today is true. Wow.

Right? Vlad TV is, you combine XXL and the source, and you don't have a Vlad TV daily impact on any level. It is what it is. Shout out to the freshman issue, and that's where it ends for XXL. It's like the fact that I know that I'm part of this legitimately, and yeah, you're going to have your detractors. That's fine. Everyone does. Not

everyone is a Jay-Z fan. Not everyone is a Nas fan. Not everyone is a Biggie and a Pac fan. But to know that I'm legitimately part of it has so exceeded my expectations, because I didn't think this was realistically ever possible when I was listening to of it has so exceeded my expectations. I didn't think this was realistically ever possible when I was listening to the first Easy Key album. You came from a different mind state. Because early on, it was clear that you were going to be part of this.

How old when the CNN album came out? 19... How old were you? I was 17. You were a teenager. Yeah. My junior year in high school, you going to tell me that I'm going to be part of hip-hop? San Mateo, California,

white kid named Vlad Lvovny, fuck out of here. Come on. It's a joke. So what do you want with it? What would you want your legacy to be known as in hip-hop? Ultimately, to take my ego out of it,

because my ego is going to go away when I go away. But when you look at the Vlad TV catalog, the type of interviews that we do are life story pieces. That's fine. Right? That's what I do. When I met up with Trick Daddy today,

we started at birth in Liberty City. And we talked about his mom, who had 11 kids by 10 different men. And... I thought it was his pops, his moms. His mom had 11 kids by 10 different men, and then his dad had about 10 kids as well, so there's, you know, whatever.

There you go. Three, you know, two dozen kids. And we take it piece by piece through these set of events leading up to how he first started rapping. You know what I mean? The trials and tribulations and all the albums and all the big songs to where we are right now. My collection of life pieces on important people of this era is probably the biggest collection in the hip hop space.

And the hip hop space includes people like John Witherspoon, who did his only life story piece with me. Wow. You know, Top Space includes people like John Witherspoon, who did his only life story piece with me. Wow. It includes people that passed away that never got to tell their life story outside of Vlad TV. We have that collection, that catalog, that unless someone manages to destroy it somehow, will be around for thousands of years. Way past my family will be able to benefit from this. But that's cool, but when people write reports, like when you watch a movie like Boomerang

and you're like, yo, the Mushroom Belt guy, this guy's, you watch Friday, yo, Pops, like yo, who is this guy? There's only one place to find out who he really is. Yes, there's pieces, there's interviews that you could piece together and somehow mush it together. But to hear about how he became who he is, we're the only ones that actually bothered to do the research and put our resources into that. And that's what I want the legacy to be, to leave behind these stories for people later on that were important to me and were important to millions of other people and made an impact. the Hall of Fame because of the gambling, but he has more hits than any other person probably ever for the rest of baseball.

To the great producers like Rodney Jerkins or Teddy Riley. To the great singers like Chaka Khan or Smokey Robinson. To people's first interviews like the Migos. You know what I'm saying? First Migos interview? Yeah, it was with me. Get the fuck out. Yeah, in Atlanta. First ever Migos. You know what I'm saying? First Migos interview? Yeah, it was with me. Get the fuck out. Yeah, in Atlanta.

First ever Migos. First ever. Who called you, QC? No, I was in Atlanta, and Coach K was like, I was trying to get a Gucci interview, a Gucci man interview. Gucci man?

Gucci was being managed. Was he a clone or regular Gucci? Regular Gucci. Okay. Before he got cloned. Okay. And Coach K was managing him, and I was like,

yo, how can I get a Gucci interview? Oh, I got you, I got you, but can you first interview this new group that we're pushing right now called the Beatles? With no information, and you a research-driven person. I just had to make it work.

How did you make it work? And Offset, well, you know, I just asked a few kind of general questions, got a little information from him. Generic. You know, it was relatively generic. Offset was locked up at the time, so it was really just Quavo

and Takeoff. That was their first ever interview. What the fuck? These pieces can be upscaled through AI. You create 4K versions of it even though they're low quality,

which we've been doing with some of our older catalog pieces. These are important pieces, man. The Keefie D interview is an important piece. That's an important piece because Keefie only told his story completely for the first time ever on Vlad TV,

and you saw what happened with all that. That's the real legacy that I want to leave behind. And I think that's an important thing. And yes, I do. Me and Boosie, we rock out. We talk about current events and everything else like that.

And that gets 10, 15, 20 million views sometimes. And that's dope. But the underlying that's almost the engine that dope. But the underlying, that's almost the engine that kind of drives the underlying purpose. You always got to do different stuff to get what it is that you really want to accomplish.

And it's a good way to accomplish it. This is my man. These are fun interviews. But these stories that a lot of times are being told for the first time ever. Not everyone's going to get a documentary about them. But a lot of times are being told for the first time ever. Not everyone's going to get a documentary about them. But a lot of people have Vlad TV pieces of them telling their own story. When is Vlad TV documentary coming out?

I don't know. Worldstar asked me if I wanted to do one. I'm like, I'm good. You're saying Worldstar offered Vlad to do a documentary on me? That's kind of fine. Yeah, but it wasn't any sort of real, there wasn't a budget or anything. You know what I mean? If I do it, I feel like. That's kind of fun. Yeah, but it was, you know, it wasn't any sort of real, you know, there wasn't a budget or anything. You know what I mean? If I do it, I feel like.

You got your own budget. You own. Yeah, no, I mean, listen. You own your own material, correct? Right, yeah, I own everything. Yes. I mean, look, if someone, you know, it's not like, I mean, if a director that I really admired. Like if Hype Williams wanted to do a Vlad TV documentary

Yeah, let's let's rock out do it. You know, I mean cuz I ran now. I'm sorry. Yeah, Brett Ratner Like, you know someone who I admire You know visually in terms of how they put pieces What's that Paul Hunter? Who's that? You know, I know the name but remind me who he is. Yeah, that was like another director director of hip hop yeah yeah yeah Fab Five Freddy if he wanted to

start with me yeah I've interviewed Fab someone like that if they wanted to come do some shit you know what I mean I'm sure Worldstar meant well but what I'm saying is yeah if they want to come do some shit and you know I think there's more I'm sure Worldstar meant well. But what I'm saying is, yeah, if they want to come do some shit, and I think there's more.

I don't think I've reached my peak yet. You know what I mean? I feel I have to reach more of a peak in order to think about something like that. I still have years left. Because when we look at your website, it's similar to Netflix. The only difference is you don't give us the number one, two, three interview or whatever.

But you give us the numbers. Netflix does not. Do you think that's a mistake? The website is the website. That's always been a secondary part of the business. The YouTube channel is the YouTube channel. That's your main business. Yeah, absolutely. That's like 90% of the business.

Alright, so explain that. What happens to you if YouTube changes in the way you can monetize? Do you have a plan for that? Well, I'll put it like this. Number one, there's always going to be a place to put great content right you create dope content and there will always be a way for people to find it and you to put it somewhere whether you find it now whether you it's youtube or snapchat that we use these days or it was facebook that's a constant fucking nightmare for us or if it's netflix or, or with Facebook, that's a constant fucking nightmare for us,

or if it's Netflix or Amazon or something else like that, there will always be a place, and it may not be the way we do interviews, do 10 clips a day, it may just be one powerful piece a year. But you also don't know what the future holds. You would like to say that, but you also don't know what the future holds. You would like to say that, but you also don't know where there might be a day that let's just say YouTube totally,

let's just say YouTube shuts down. You know, YouTube shuts down. There's no other place for independent content like mine. I've lived my life financially pretty conservatively. I've invested. I've always pushed the whole stock investment stuff like that. You know what I mean? I own my house outright.

I don't buy shit I can't afford. I could always, if I need to cut shit off and live, I could technically live out the rest of my days with what I've accumulated right now. I mean, I'd technically live out the rest of my days with what I've accumulated right now. I'd have to tone down my lifestyle. I wouldn't go shopping as much as I do now. But whatever. Who cares? Shopping.

I could live out the rest of my life comfortably based on how I've lived my life up to this point. I've never lived on the edge because I've lost it all at one point. You know what I mean? When I moved to New York, I was homeless because I've fucked off all my money before.

So I knew, you know, when you lose it all, that's the best teacher ever of how not to lose it all because in the back of your mind, you always remember how you lost it all. You always remember it. It's always possible. So, hey man, if it all ends, it was a great

fucking run. Our YouTube channel has like 3 billion views all together. That's like the whole country of China. You know what I mean? I have... I walk around. I get love. People want to take photos with me.

They tell me how much... They'll talk about certain interviews that connected with them. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, I've helped people out. I've put people on. You know, I think really like, I remember Birdman, you know, the first time we spoke, he was like, you're the first one that really kind of mixed business with interviews. Interviews have always been a free thing in the media world and you started paying some of your guests and you've turned it to real businesses.

You know what I mean? Lunell talked about recently, because she put this out publicly. I never said anything. The comedian was like, she publicly said how I was one of the few people when the pandemic hit

and she was fucked up because she couldn't tour. I was one of the few people that helped her out financially to make sure she was okay. You know what I'm saying? I've easily put millions of dollars in people's pockets. You know, for just the Tony Yeos of the world found

new careers of just doing interviews. You know what I mean? Actually supporting part of their lifestyle through just meeting up and talking shit with people. You know what I'm saying? Man, I'm good with that. It's been a 16-year run at this point. Goddamn, make some noise for that. If it all ends after Drink Champs, it was a hell of a fucking run, man.

I've done a lot. I've done more than I ever thought I would do. Let's talk about Dame Dash. Okay. Here we go. It felt like you guys had a relationship. Yes. It felt like, and then it just went all downhill.

All downhill. I can't understand. I swear to God, like you it just went all downhill. All downhill. I can't understand. I swear to God, like you say, you do research. I literally tried to understand where this started at and not find it. I mean, maybe because you guys are two honorable guys, and I don't know. You tell me where this went wrong. So, let me just start out

with this. All of us admired Dame Dash. All of us. What he pulled off as one third of Rockefeller and the epic heights of this. And Dame, I know you're going to watch this,

so listen to what I'm saying right now. Everyone loved Dame and what he represented, his bravado and the way he approached things and everything else like that. We all loved it. So when I had a chance to interview Dame, I was excited, and I did an interview with Dame. It went well. He was in LA. Hey, can you come down and do an interview on my platform? He had this rental

house in Malibu. Cool. Went down, did an interview. Cool. So you went to his house? Went to his house. Okay. Then I invited him to my personal house in Calabasas at the time. He came over. He chopped it up. He invited me to his house. So this is two interviews or this is three? No, these aren't interviews anymore.

We're just hanging out. There was two interviews and then he comes to hang out and just hang out and talk. Cool. Smoke at my house. We're building a relationship. You know, then I go to his house

and we're talking and he was like, yeah, I want you to be president of my company. I'll give you 20% or so. I'm like, I'm good, Dame. I'm hoeing shit. And Dame at that time is kind of like sort of sneak dissing. He's like saying my sneakers are fake and kind of like a little sideways shit. I'm running a sneaker site.

Come on. I'm not wearing fake sneakers. He just doesn't know sneakers. You know what I mean? He just didn't know what he was talking about in that case, but he's, you know, he's, he's making little snide comments about my content and stuff like that. Cool. Whatever. Um, he was like, I was like, yo, uh, why don't we, and me and you actually did this at one point. I'm like, yo, why don't we, and me and you actually did this at one point. I'm like, hey, some of the content you're creating, why don't you let us run it on our channel and we'll split the profits with you.

I mean, you did that for a short time, I remember, at one point. You know, because we already have the followers, whatever. You know what I mean? We have the deal with Complexity. He was like, well, now, why would I do that? Why don't you just send me, introduce me to Complex so I can get a deal over there.

Cool, introduce him to the president of Complex. You know what I'm saying? Noah, at the time? Mm-mm, nah, nah, I don't want to say his name. Okay, no problem. Complex, you know, I don't want to put him on blast. So then, we kind of the relationship was kind of

going whatever. I asked him, hey, Jay did something and I said, hey, do you want to comment on this? Do you want to interview to comment on this thing with Jay? Because we all know that he talks about Jay a lot.

It just is what it is to this day. He's like, yo, why would I comment on what another man does? I'm like, all right, cool. Then like three days later, he does the interview commenting about Jay. You know, and I hit him. I'm like, yo, I thought. Same exact subject? Exact same thing that I said he wanted to do.

But whatever. I hit him. I'm like, hey, why would you? I thought you said you didn't want to comment on it. And then it started sort of like a bad exchange. Because he felt like you thought that he was obligated to you? Well, he wasn't obligated to me, but it's like, why would you tell me you don't want to talk about it,

just talk about it himself? It doesn't make sense to me. You know what I mean? Just as someone who I'm building a relationship, just explain it to me. Okay. Either you don't want to talk about it, or you say, no, I just want to talk about it on my own platform.

All right, cool, no problem. But saying I don't want to talk about it, then you're no, I just want to talk about it on my own platform. All right, cool, no problem. But saying I don't want to talk about it, then you're talking about it. So it was just a weird, weird exchange. And it got to the point where the exchange started to kind of go bad. Like, you know, now we're kind of starting to talk shit to each other. And I'm like, all right, cool. This is to each other.

Well, we're texting back and forth. And the conversation is getting a little aggressive on both sides, right? But I'm like, all right, whatever. It is what it is. Dame likes to call everyone chatty patty. Or culture vulture. Or culture vulture. Okay, so he started with chatty patty with you. No, no, no, I'm just saying in general, right?

I'm not saying he's calling me a chatty patty in the text. Not yet. I'm just saying, as a whole, he calls people chatty patties, he calls people culture vultures. Okay. Right? Yes. Me and him had this private exchange.

Dame decides to make a video about our conversation. No, time out. What? Dissing me in the video and talking shit about me. But this is a private conversation? Yeah, but he made a video talking about our conversation and our falling out but but i but i'm the chatty patty but he's he's the one that made this whole thing public when i felt like it just could have been worked out privately between the two of us i'm

not saying anything publicly about it like this isn't you've been in my house i've been to your house like why are you suddenly making videos about me when I thought we had a private relationship? You know? And then, on top of that, remember I told you I set them up with Complex? Yes. Dame doesn't understand how video business works. You know, he puts these videos out,

they're getting, whatever, 500,000 views. He gets a check from Complex. That's not very big. So he starts dissing the president that I introduced him to. The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States. Recipients have done the improbable, showing immense bravery and sacrifice

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Publicly. Okay. This is the man that I made most of my wealth with. All right. So at that point, I was done. I said, I'm done. And you walked away. Yeah, and it was like, fuck Dame after that.

He's like, fuck me, fuck you too. And it's been the back and forth ever since. Once again, not that deep. Not that deep. We don't even work with Complex anymore. It's whatever. But the reality is that what I saw

with him character-wise just didn't rub me the right way. You know what I mean? I just was like, this ain't the type of person I could do business with. That's that. Dame is someone that I really look forward to doing

business with and having on my show because his personality is he has a dope personality. He says a lot of interesting things. I mean, I think he could really have a real strong fan base and things like that. But based on our interactions, business-wise, it just didn't work. And when you get to a certain level of business, you work with the people you like to work with. So let me ask you, right? He critiqued me.

And he said that I had Leo Cohns on here. Yeah, I have Leo Cohns on my show. And I didn't ask Leo Cohns about him. I didn't either. I didn't either. Yeah. Why would I? I feel like,

and me and Lior talked about this afterwards, I'm like, and I asked Lior this, I said, are you the most powerful person in music right now? And of course he's going to deny it, but he's the global head of YouTube music. YouTube, which is? YouTube music.

Which is one of the most? Global. Not the American head, not the North American head, not the Northern Hemisphere head. The global head of YouTube music. And YouTube is the biggest music platform

on the planet. It's bigger than Spotify, TikTok, Amazon, Apple, whatever the fuck else new platform comes on. You put them all together, they're not going to add up to YouTube. And my thing was like, you know, when I told you about the life story pieces,

I have this very important person. I'm going to talk about Dame Dash dissing him? Like, I'm not going to spend my time asking that. There's more important shit to talk about. You know, like how he became the first hip hop president of a major label. The first. Before him, it's never been done before.

Lior. You know that. Once Def Jam became that conglomerate, he was head of that conglomerate. People down plays. But you do say you like to push the envelope, so would you afford that same respect to somebody else? Like, what you did to Tyson would have been the same thing if you would have asked Lior about Dane.

Well, I mean, I had a limited amount of time with Dane. You know what I'm saying? I had a very limited amount of time with Dane. You know what I'm saying? I had a very limited amount of time. I'm sorry, my bad. Leo. Yeah, I had a very limited time with Lior. You know, if you watch that interview, it's very short.

It's not my usual two hour. So, you know, Sorry. There was, I didn't really get to get into the Rockefeller story. Okay. And quite honestly, you know, he actually gave Lior props in that interview. Lior gave Dame props?

Lior gave Dame props in that interview. I was like, what was it like to help create under Def Jam these megastars like Rockefeller and the DMA, the Rough Riders and so forth. He was like, hey, they would have been

superstars regardless. You know, these guys were ultra talented and I was just there. You know what I'm saying? And you know, had I had more time, I would have gotten into it. Maybe I would have touched on it somewhat, but you know, I was focusing on the important shit in that piece and I just felt like Lior dissing him

wasn't that important. And you know, you, I guess, made a similar choice. Yeah, I did. Yes, I did. You know? I know I got shots right here. I understand I pick and choose sometimes, man. None of us are perfect.

Yeah, yeah. The principles are always going to have a little bit of sliding room. I understand I pick and choose sometimes, man. None of us are perfect. And that won't. Let me tell you something. The principles are always going to have a little bit of sliding room, you know what I mean, to a certain degree about certain things. Not everything, you know what I mean? Like there's certain inexcusables, but like, you know, you're going to, in your job, you're going to shift a little bit here and there. That's just life. That's just business. That's just motherfucking life.

Yeah. So now let me ask you the million dollar question. I always see you with mice on. Why I don't see you with mice on no more? Life goes on, man. Life goes on. And, you know, people drift apart. Yeah.

And it just is what it is. I have no animosity towards him. And I haven't seen him or talked to him in about three years. And, you know, life goes on, man. Sometimes people are in your life for a certain amount of time. If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to talk about it. What was the NILU on, what is it called? I'm just going to skip this.

The Astrologer Program. I'm just going to skip this. The Australia program. I'm just going to skip this. But I can tell you that, um, that neither one of us are, you know, most of us are happy with the decision. Neither one of us are trying to connect with the other. We're all living our lives. And it's not a, it's not like a one-way or, you know, anything else like that, man. It's all good.

Man, hell yes. Hell yeah. What's with the drum set behind the interview? It's not... It's really not a significance of it. It's just that the studio that we started using in L.A. just happened to have a drum set there already. Like, that broke backwards.

And you just feel like you don't want to ever change it? I mean, you know, it's the same studio. It's the same drum set. But then when we built our studio in New York, it's like, oh, okay, people know us for the drum set, so we actually create our own drum set in New York. So when you see the academics interviews or the, I'm trying to think, just the New York-centric interviews,

like the 1090 Jake interviews and so forth, the Matt Hoffa interviews. You'll see a different drum set, but that's our New York studio. But you feel people are just visually used to it. Yeah, so just keep the drum set, man. It's one of these happy accidents. Right, right. If it's working, why change it?

Yeah, exactly. Okay, so one of the very first times, by the way, you're my friend, I know you. I've done 15 million, thousand live interviews. But one of the first times I feel like people like zeroed in on you was like, it's because of AR app. Okay.

Okay. Why do you feel like people zero in on you, it's like, it's because of AR app. Okay. Why do you feel like people zero in on you for that? Even though you... I mean, when something terrible happens to a person, like they get,

what, 30 years in prison? That's what you got?'s some it's some hideous number wow it's a hit like a 30 or 40 years it's a hideous number when something catastrophic happens to somebody people look at everything that's out there and they jump to the conclusions. Okay, well, that was because of this. You know, like, you know, I interviewed Deion Dawkins yesterday, the captain of the Buffalo Bills. And we talked about the Tamar Hamlin cardiac arrest that happened last year. Remember, he had a heart attack right there on the field. Everyone thought he was going to die. What did social media say?

It's because he was vaccinated. Right, right. That's all I saw. Vaccinated was trending, number one. Who the fuck knows if he was vaccinated or not? Right? Who knows this? this is not public information this man had a one in a billion situation where i heard a doctor explain it if your heartbeat as it's going up and you get a really strong impact as it's going in a certain direction you could have a cardiac arrest and he just just so

happened that out of the thousands and thousands and thousands of games with the tens of hundreds of thousands of players, this just happened. He had a cardiac arrest. But people will be like, he got vaccinated and that's why he had a heart attack. And he's, look, he's 26 years old and he's healthy. There's no other explanation for this.

And this is what we're going to run with. And this is just what social media does. This is the nature of the beast. So when you see A.R. Abbot get 30 years, and you see an interview with DJ Vlad where he's talking about his past criminal activities, what he used to do, you start to try to put the pieces together

and say, well, obviously, this is why he got the 30 years. You're not reading the transcripts. You're not talking to him. You're not talking to his lawyer. You're not watching the news. You're not reading articles about the case. You got this Vlad TV interview with a million views, and you're like, well, this is the connection, obviously.

Reality is, A.R. Ab had a snitch who testified against, who took the stand against everybody about a bunch of shit that had nothing to do with my interview. He took the stand and testified against every fucking person and put everyone in prison

over some really serious charges but people are going to jump to conclusions you know and then and then you get fake articles and then you get this this unknown media outlet um who you've never heard of before writes an article that says judge thanks dj vlad for helping to convict arab and it shows like this white judge who's not even the judge on the case it's not the new york times it's an outlet no one's ever heard of and suddenly i'm trending and motherfuckers like quest love is like retweeting it and commenting about the shit. And he's got 10 million fucking subscribers. And he doesn't, you know,

and then when I tell him the shit is fake and show him talking about it, he blocks me. Like, you know what I'm saying? Instead of taking responsibility for what he just fucking did. And then this just builds. And then people will just jump to their conclusions

and this is what you got to hold. Has A.R. Abb ever said that something I did with Vlad has something to do with his situation? No. What does he have to lose at this point? He's doing his time. That was my man. Like I really like

Swizz Beatz called me one day and said, yo, I got this Philly artist named A.R. Abb that I'm fucking with. Can you interview him? Swizz Beatz. Swizz Beatz called me. Ask him. You know Swizz.

Swizz called me out of the blue and said, yo, I got this guy. He's really dope. Can you interview him? I got you, Swizz. I interviewed him. The music is dope. I'm fucking with it.

He's talking his shit. Then he gets into his shit with Meek Mill and he comes to Vlad TV. Then he becomes cool with Meek Mill and he comes back to talk about that. I'm fucking with him. That's my man. I respect him.

I respect his music. This is someone I fuck with. Then he gets to 30 years and then people blame me for it. Why do you think people blame you for it? Because they see interviews about these types of situations. I go deep into people's stories. You know, like the life story includes all the lumps and the warts and the scabs and the scars, you know, and the gunshot wounds, the knife shot, knife wounds and all that shit, man.

Like it's some real shit that we talk about. I'll ask the questions that other people won't ask. So, you know, and we'll, we'll talk about that shit, but, but this is, you know, but this is shit that i'm careful about about statute of limitations and shit that you're not actively doing like i'm not asking what you're doing right now right i bought a kilo of cocaine you know back in the 90s i've talked about that shit it's past the statute of limitations 2024 yeah 24 years you know longer than that. Yeah, exactly. Longer than that. It's like 27, 28 years. Listen, I know I can talk.

I've earned the right to talk about the dude that ripped me off for the kilo of cocaine and I spent the $17,000. I'm allowed to monetize that and put that out there and let people know that's part of my story. And everyone who sits down is allowed to do in the same manner. Someone who did their prison time is allowed to talk about why they did their prison time.

They've earned that right with the most valuable thing in their life, which is their time. So let me ask you, what was the first time where you got scrutinized because of that? Was it A.R. Ab? Was it, like, because I watched Adam 22, right? And I'm looking at Adam 22, and they're like, oh, you on some Vlad TV shit. That's what they tell Adam. And I'm sitting back like, goddamn. Cat Williams told that to Willie D when they just did the interview.

Like, okay, Vlad. He said that to Willie, yeah. Get out of here. So, because you've been scrutinized with this, like, if you go to Vlad, you're going to Willie. Get out of here. Because you've been scrutinized with this. If you go to Vlad, you're going to jail. Right. At some point. Or you're telling on yourself.

Or you're telling on yourself. I mean, apart from the Keefie situation, I've never heard of that actually happening. Right. Just to keep it 100. Right. happening. Just to keep it 100. I've never heard of our stuff actually being used, an interview being used, against someone in a case that they actually talked about.

And my rationale for the Keefie D interview was that he wrote a fucking book. You wrote a book. I didn't find you living in Iowa somewhere and put you on, run up on you as you're going to your job and have you blurt out a bunch of shit. No, but you just solved the crime.

Let's just eat some. It is what it is. Eat some fucking crime. You know, outside the Keef universe, I've never heard of that happening because I've always been very careful. And I've always, you know, like, I've never asked the person what type of crimes, anything illegal they're doing right now. Or within a certain amount of time that it can actually come back and bite them. I'll never talk to someone about a murder, unless, of course, they wrote a book about the murder. You know what I mean?

But an unsolved murder? Yeah. Do I know murderers? But an unsolved murder? Do I know murderers? I'm sure I do. I'm sure I do. But not on camera or off camera would I ever ask them about it. Because there's no sexual limitations behind that. As you could see with Keefy D.

30 years later. You know? So it's just one of those things, man. But I was the only one that would ask these type of questions to begin with. Everyone else, like XXL wasn't doing that. Funkmaster Flex wasn't doing that. Sway was not doing that. Angie Martinez was not doing that. Big Boy was not doing that.

That's my man. That's my neighbor. I love him. But he wasn't doing these type of interviews, and he knows it. Ralph McDaniels wasn't doing it. Ed Lover wasn't doing it. Fab Five Freddy wasn't doing it. Big Von wasn't doing it from the Bay.

Like, I can go on and on and on and on and on and on and on. I was the one that said, yo, I'm going to do these type of interviews, and I'm going to do it in the hip-hop space, and I'm going to do it in the sports space. I'm going to do it in the crime space. I'm going to do it in the crime space. I'm going to do it in the movie space if it's, if it's applicable. Now, if I'm talking to John B, I can't really ask him about the grimy shit he did because he's never really done any grimy shit. He grew up in a middle class background and he started singing. He hooked up with Babyface and you know, he has to hit records.

The end. Like I can't ask someone about some shit that don't have nothing to do with them. But I was the one that I felt had the guts to ask those uncomfortable questions. Because you don't know what the fuck will happen. A person can walk out. A person can get angry. You know, you. And that comes with the art of an interview.

Like, I heard someone say, like, yo, you don't do shit. All you do is talk to people. Anybody could do that. It's not true. You take, you go sit down in front of a stranger for two hours and create a

exciting piece of content in real time with no do-overs, with no B-roll, with no cut, let's try it again. You do that. I've seen people do that and 15 minutes later, they don't know what to do. The interview's over, they don't know. To be able to maneuver, you could ask anyone anything. The most uncomfortable private question, you could ask them if you know the craft of how to ease into that question. It's a craft. You can't learn it in school. You can't have someone pull you aside and tell you

how to do it. It's practice. This is me roughly 18 years of doing this for a living, like figuring out how to ease into a question and actually getting an answer. And getting an honest answer and getting a sincere answer. And sometimes having the person cry. Like earlier today with Trig Daddy. You know what I'm saying? To have a person burst into tears that you've hit them so hard. Almost like a therapy session in a way. You know i'm saying and nobody else was doing that yeah and and now you see a lot of people doing that

no there's a lot of people that looked at what i was doing said okay well i guess you can this isn't a taboo subject maybe i could do this to a certain degree i see a lot of people that have you you know, used bits and pieces of what I do and created dope shit out of it. And that's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to, there's supposed to be like a baby drink champ somewhere. Or someone, hey, yeah, you know,

we're going to get some liquor. Plenty of those. You know, yeah, like, you know what I'm saying? I'm not aware of those. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I'm sure of it. I'm sure. There's baby Vlad's out. Vlad TV's out. There's plenty of Vlad's. There's plenty of them. And that's what I'm saying. I'm sure of it. I'm sure. There's baby Vlad's out.

Vlad TV's out. There's plenty of Vlad's. There's plenty of them. And that's cool. That's what we're supposed to do. As long as... You're not tricking people to watch this shit.

Like, you know, it's by stealing... Ever regret putting the numbers up? Like, you know how, like, Netflix don't put the numbers up? They just show you this is the number one interview. Because...

They're complete piece. By you putting the numbers up, somebody thought they owed you or you owe them. I mean, that's always going to be the case. Right. Meaning? Meaning that. whether there's money changing hands or not, when you sit down and do something like this, it's a business deal.

Yes. Right? I understand that I'm going to come here and give you the most valuable thing that I own, my time, for as long as you want. Thank you. And you could ask me, you know, there are a few stipulations that we talked about, but in general you could ask me whatever you want, and you're going to

take this, and you're going to monetize it, and you're going to make money off that, and I understand that. And I'm doing it for my own personal reasons. You know what I'm saying? And whatever our arrangement is, is our arrangement. Maybe I'm doing it for my own personal reasons. You know what I'm saying? And whatever our arrangement is, is our arrangement. Maybe I'm getting a million dollars to do this interview. Maybe I'm doing it because I want the publicity. Maybe I'm doing it because of our relationship. You know what I mean?

Maybe at one point I might call you and ask to do my platform. It's a deal on some sort, whether spoken or unspoken. But coming into it, everyone pretty much understands. You know what I'm saying? I understand, like, whatever you make, you make. But what happens sometimes, especially if a person isn't

where they want to be, they'll be like, well, this video really made a lot for you. Why don't you break me off? Two more. Other artists took it to you. Whoever.

I've had this conversation with people. You know what I mean? I'll bring one up. Like Riff Raff. Right? Riff Raff. I gave Riff Raff one of his early interviews. Diplo called me up. You know how we get these phone calls you know i mean diplo vlad you know me i was rocking with diplo at the

time and you know whatever else he's like yo i just signed this artist i just signed this artist named riffraff can you get him on your show okay checked him Okay, this dude's entertaining. You know what I mean? Called him up. You know. Did you get his number you called? Yeah, he connected us. I hit him up. He's in New York. We do the interview. It's actually kind of dope. He has this crazy personality. We take him shopping. I take him

to Gucci store and buy him some shit on camera. And you know, it does well. It gets a whole bunch of views. I think we do another interview and then for like i don't know like seven eight years we don't do anything you know i mean we reached out with a couple times we're supposed to do some shit he cancels last minute whatever life goes on whatever we do this interview and he hits me up after the fact it was like yo I've been hearing that you pay for you know you know like oh people like Boosie you know I heard they'd be getting a bag or whatever else

uh you know you need to pay me five grand for that interview like I'm not gonna give you five grand for that, it didn't even do well you know what I mean, the energy was all the interview was out it didn't do well it did relatively low numbers because he was just like really kind of, it wasn't the same riff raff he was sort of like a little depressed and kind of

more guarded and you know, life had happened and whatever happened, whatever happened, it wasn't a very interesting interview and the numbers showed it. He's like, yo, I want like five grand. I'm like, well, man, if we had had a conversation about this ahead of time, there might have been a compensation, but we never had that conversation.

All right, we'll take my shit down then. I'm not taking shit down. You're right. Fuck that. You're right. Came in, you signed release forms, we spent our money, I did my fucking job you got your promotion whatever else and it's like

that type of shit happens people start counting your money and people start to feel like they're entitled to certain type of things and stuff like that but that's not the agreement you know if this interview got 50 million views if this became the new Cat Williams interview I know it won't but I'm saying if it did I'm not if it did,

I'm not going to call you and ask you for a check. I can guarantee you that, 100%. No, but when was it at that moment where you realized that holy shit, I have to kind of monetize this whole situation? Meaning what? Like meaning like... From the beginning, he was...

Like from the beginning, you knew once you interviewed somebody, you needed... All right, look. Okay. Before Vlad TV was DVDs, right? Like I told you. Yeah, you said it earlier. I would interview people. I'd get unreleased music videos.

I'd do other wild shit, you know, and try to compete with smacks of the world and the Fendi's of the world. And so far that I'd be putting out the DVDs, but DVDs are going away and, and I'd have to put out more DVDs every, the next month to try to make the money that the same money that I did the previous month. And it is, you know,

I just gone through this shit with mixtapes. So it's really fucking frustrating. And, you know, I'm struggling financially through this shit with mixtapes, so it's really fucking frustrating. And, you know, I'm struggling financially. And then YouTube came around. And I'm like, yo, you mean to tell me that I could put out, I could shoot the same content that I'm doing on DVDs. I could put it out on YouTube. and when other sites, and if the content is intriguing enough, you have the blogs, the now rights, and the onsites, and the complexes,

and the world stars, and anything else like that, you mean to tell me that if they then embed this video and do an article about it, then I will get their views. I will monetize through their fan base. Like the light bulb went off. I stopped DJing. I love DJing clubs.

I did tours in Australia, in Europe, in the Middle East, in Japan. I'm not going to say I was Kid Capri or anything else like that, but I was touring around and doing my thing. You know, I love you. Do you DJ at all? No. Not at all?

You, of course, DJ. So you understand the thrill of DJing. It's like a drug. It's a drug, right? I had to go cold turkey and put that drug aside.

No more DJing. No more mixtapes. Whatever hustling shit I was doing on the side had to be put aside. It was like, yo, this is it. To start the blog? What's that? To start the blog?

To start the YouTube channel. The YouTube? The YouTube channel. The YouTube channel. Who the fuck tells you that? Well, YouTube introduced this partner program in 2008. Before then, it was just like TikTok

where you just, free for all, you put up shit and you get some views, whatever. You said a partner program? Partner program, which was monetized, yeah. So in 2008, it turned into a real business. Okay. And you get some views, whatever. You said a partner program? Partner program, which was monetized, yeah. So in 2008, it turned into a real business. And you get paid off the views. Meaning you run ads through the YouTube channel. And the more views, the more ads, the more revenue.

You're paying with your eyeballs, like Lior likes to say. Your complex thing had nothing to do with your YouTuber, did it? Long story. I don't want to comment on that right now. But I saw the vision of it. I'm like, this is what I've been trying to do with the DVD shit, but this is what I've been waiting for technologically, to be able to put it out and monetize it forever. Right.

And be able to grow it. And you understand the snowball effect of, okay, and every day I'm going to drop a new clip. And then the old clip. It's like compound interest. It's compound interest. Exactly.

Exactly. Compound interest or a snowball. Right. As Warren Buffett liked to say. I just saw the vision of it all. I'm like, okay, and this is how I'm going to build a catalog and so forth.

And then, and then over time, okay. And then I can have, as opposed to finding a new person to interview every week, I can have the regular guests to come in. Basically what the news stations do, the pundits, to come in and talk about

current events. Which is what all the big dogs do. These personalities got to be real personalities. Got to be real personalities. This is why Boosie's a real personality. He's a real personality. Tony Ayo's a real personality. TK Kirkland is a real personalities. This is why Boosie's a real personality. He's a real personality. Tony Ayo's a real personality. TK Kirkland is a real personality.

Well, let me give all three of those people they're real people. Yeah. Boosie, Tony Ayo, and TK Kirkland, they're real people. Yes. So, alright, continue. And then, you know, you build the business

from there, man. You build it out. You build it out. You realize it can't just be you. You've got to reinvest the money and so forth. But it was always like, you know, all the years have been building up to what YouTube the opportunity

that I saw on YouTube up to that point. You know, kind of like how Ray Kroc like found McDonald's later in life? Oh, yeah, yeah. He knew, okay, he had been trying to sell milkshake machines, and he knew the overall business, but when he saw McDonald's, he knew, like, okay, this is what I've been waiting for,

and this is what I'm going to utilize all my skill sets. You know what I mean? Because all the years of being a DJ and forming the relationship with people, and me and you kind of ran in. We didn't know each other, but we had run into each other during my DVD days. I think you were on some of my DVDs. Yes, yes.

Yeah, exactly. You know what I'm saying? So it's like it's easier to talk to you because I've already met you before. And you know me probably from my mixtapes and everything I've been doing for all those years. So from 2002 to 2008, for six years, I was trying to find my way. Right.

Full time. Right. And that's, it was always, it was like, all right, like, I was 34 at the time.

Like, yo, like, it's time to be serious. Like, I'm not going to be the 50-year-old DJ still trying to get gigs. And depending on that shit, because it's a hard fucking life.

Shout out to all the DJs that are going through this right now because it's hard. I've been there. You know what I mean? There's no loyalty in this shit. They'll get a new DJ for a third of the price to do the same shit you're doing

and not give a fuck. They'll get a fucking model, an Instagram model, to go DJ, pay her 10 times the amount. Is that why you don't DJ no more? Huh? Because the Instagram model... I was the transition to digital. I didn't adapt too well to it.

I was heavy on the vinyl, and that to me was like a culture on its own. I used to take all my records to the club, which was bad on my back and my friends' backs. That's a chiropractic bill all over there. So yeah, I didn't. I'm back. I want to give you the opportunity

because you said something that I feel like you might rephrase it. Okay. You said that you feel that your impact is bigger than the Source magazine and XXL. How do you say that? You said something like that. No, no, no, no.

What I said, listen. Because I know what you mean. You mean in terms of the technology today. I'm saying my impact right now. Right, right. My reach. That's what I'm saying. And my impact right now in 2024, which is undeniable.

Right. Now, did the Source make a massive impact? And what they meant culturally. And what they meant culturally at the time. And what five mics meant. Right. And what unsigned hype meant. And them just really being the only, you know, the Bible of hip hop and anything else like that.

Would I ever deny the importance of that? Of course not. That's stupid. XXL and XXL, they took the torch. They really kind of eclipsed the source. As the source really kind of went down the tubes,

XXL became the important voice, media voice in hip-hop. That's where Jay-Z, I think the first Double XL cover was Jay-Z. I'm not sure. I bought it at Barnes & Noble. I'd buy every issue. Right.

I'm not just speaking out my ass, just saying, oh, who are those guys? I've never heard of them. No, no, no. I know exactly who they are. But what I'm saying is is that in 2024 if you ask 100,000 people who are hip-hop fans on any level

have you seen something recently from Vlad TV, The Source, or XXL? No, 100%. I know what you mean and you know what you mean. 90% of the people would say Vlad TV in 2024. the source or XXL. No, 100%. I know what you mean and you know what you mean. I would say that 90% of the people would say Vlad TV in 2024. But someone else

might not understand exactly what you mean and think of it as blasphemous the way you said it. So I just wanted to give them... No, it's cool. They all came before me. Ralph McDaniels came before me.

Ed and Dre came before me. Fab Five Freddy came before me. They're all legends. They're all people I brought to my platform. Because without a lot of... But they didn't. We wouldn't be here today. They're all legends. They're all people I brought to my platform. We wouldn't be here today. I'm supposed to interview Elliot Wilson.

I've interviewed Dave Mays and Benzino. I've shown homage to all these guys. Like I said, me and Elliot spoke recently. We just haven't gotten around to it yet. All these guys I'm talking about, I have brought on my platform and gave them their flowers and anything else like that. You know what I'm saying?

So I'm not downplaying their contribution, but it's not their time right now. Right, right. Right? It's not their time right now. Their time has passed. For sure. And, you know, can they bring something out of the ashes? Who knows?

But it hasn't happened in the last 10, 15 years. Right. Is all I'm saying. Right. And they should, you know, Ozone Magazine, another one. Yes, in the South. South Julia Beverly. In the South, they were innovators.

And they could be bigger than Vlad TV and Drink Champs right now, easy. But they didn't. She fumbled the ball. Dang. Your whole thoughts, I ain't going to lie, your whole shit is in your face. Yeah. Everybody, you off thinking about mad shit. To me, and this is an example of that right here as we're speaking.

I've always felt like we will win by fucking with each other, by all of us in this space, in this hip-hop media space, sports media space, everything else like that. If we all fuck with each other- You mean that in a positive way, not a negative fucking with each other. We fuck with each other. Like, yo, we share resources. I can call you up when I have a question. You know, I put you on when there's an opportunity.

There's someone I want to talk to, someone you want to talk to. I've been doing this longer than on the YouTube space, longer than anybody. So there are certain insights I have. Willie called me and asked me a few YouTube questions. I'm like, yo, it's on the weekend. Let's work on it and let me see what I can figure out based on what I see. You know what I mean? We should all work together and fuck with each other.

And I've seen time and time again how everyone wins. And when the new media guys show up, like the academics, like the Adam 22, like the Sean Cotton, you know, like all these guys I reach out to and i embrace like the math hafas when he started doing media and i go on their show my brother math yeah yeah man i go on their show when they ask me and i ask them to come on my show and they you know and then if there's deals in the works we all fuck with each other. And it really is disappointing

when I see people in my space just try to beef with me. And I think about all the opportunities that we're both losing by being that way. Right. And us not speaking with each other, I'm like, it's disappointing.

I know that I could benefit from just having an open line of communication with Nori. He could benefit from having open communication with me. You know what I mean? Just the other day, they hit me up. Stephen A. Smith's people hit me up. Like, yo, we want to use part of your John Sally interview on our show. You mean first take?

No, no, no, not first take. Our YouTube channel, which is not very big. The clips are getting a few thousand views. I'm like, all right, well, have Steven call me. I would like to have him on my show, but I'm not saying I'm demanding it, but have him call me. We'll set up a line of communication,

and you can use my footage. I'm cool with that. That'll be our barter, and let's talk, and there's certain things you're trying to push or I'm cool with that. That'll be our barter. Let's talk and there's certain things you're trying to push or I'm trying to push, whatever. If it makes sense for us to do shit with each other, cool. They chose not to do that. So I chose not to let them use my footage.

And these are the disappointing moments for me in my space because it's like we're all doing this and we miss opportunities so when i see other media outlets that hate on me whatever it's just like it it hurts me and i know and it's hurting them at the same time and it's just overall just like a disappointment which is why i've always felt like let me just find the opportunity to reach back out to nori and and open up the line of communication.

It took about a year for us to get to this point. You know what I mean? You gave me one of my best compliments ever, man. I'm going to be honest. Me and you were really, really, really, really close.

And by the way, I still feel like we were really close. I feel like we didn't miss nothing. Right. Like me, me personally. Me personally. Because we weren't actually beefing with each other.

We didn't. We didn't got nothing to beef about. Yeah, you said a few things. But you said to me, you said to me, you said to me one day, you said to me, yo, what y'all doing? You did more than a magazine did in five years in

one year. And that was one of the most best compliments I ever had. I don't want to say who because I don't know if you have a relationship, but I was like, oh shit. And then when, what happened was, this is what I think happened. And you correct me if I'm wrong. Me and you had CBS and then Vlad said, yo, hook me up with CBS. Right.

And I said, yo, EFN has a relationship because, and I said this because I didn't want to have a relationship with anybody at CBS because I wanted to. He didn't even want to sign the contract.

They're looking at me. So I was like, but Vlad, but in my opinion, just hear me out in my opinion he's looking like you're my friend why are you sending me to efn hey me out here no why are you sending me the efn and what i'm trying to tell you is vlad i'm on a robbery mission but i can't say i can't say it because i'm like yo just let just let EFN, because EFN is dealing, right, with CBS.

Yeah, we did that deal through crazy hood. Yeah, through crazy hood. I got nothing kind of to deal with it. But Vlad is my friend. So he's like. Well, but just to be clear, not because I wanted to, because you didn't want to get involved. Yes, and I had tax problems, sir. I'm just saying.

So you're going to be like, yeah. So I couldn't technically be on paper. I had to let, you know. I mean, you didn't have to explain it. Yeah, yeah. So when Vlad hit me and I was like, damn, can you go through EFN? He's like, yo, you my friend. Right?

I could tell. I could tell. And he's like, yo, you my friend. Why would I go through EFN? And I was just like, I couldn't explain to you at the time, like, I'm going through tax problems. I'm going through all this. And EFN is running the ship. So you probably thought, well, man, who?

Yeah, I remember this whole incident. Yeah. And I have OCD. So I get overly focused on shit that I need to just let go sometimes. Right. So I, I get overly focused on one particular thing, thinking this might potentially be a business opportunity.

And I sometimes overdo it with people and come on too heavy. And he followed up with me, but that kind of came and went really. It was the argument over me drinking on Drink Champs that escalated. Yeah, that was the last part. That was the last part. Yeah, that was the last part. Because me and you talked, became cool after that.

We got over that. And then I asked you, I was like, yo, Vlad, come on. He was like, but do we really got to drink? And I was like, Vlad, come on, man. You're okay. Right. Like, just so you know, Vlad, man, I'm going to be honest. And we'll address everything else.

But we appreciate what you bring to the game, what you brung to the game, how you add it on to the game. And I understand that there's a lot of people who, okay, you addressed it earlier, because you're white, so people think, oh, you didn't add on to the culture. No, that's a certain sector of people. Dream Champs is not there. I know that. I'm only going to...

Dream Champs! Look, I don't know if you know, we didn't set this up, but there's every nationality here. We are the United Nations. And let me tell you something, Vlad. As a person that I miss, as a person that I friend, my family, I missed you, bro. And I want you to know that the same way you gave me your platform, I want you to know that this is your platform, brother.

You understand? Hey, man, listen. I've always wanted to do this. You know, and our back and forth was dumb. You know what I mean? Because it was like, I'll do it, but I'm not

going to drink. That's the aesthetic. Well, if you got more money than you, to drink. And he's like, well, that's the aesthetic. I was like, well, I ain't going to do it. He's like, well, Puffy got more money than you. He drank. And I'm like, well, I was talking about money. He's like, oh, you rich now. You don't feel like you got to give back.

And the conversation is getting dumber and dumber. And it's like, ah, fuck this. You know? And it's just like two five-year-olds. You know what I mean? It's immaturity. Yeah, it's immaturity. It's immaturity. And as I'm explaining this to someone else,

and I'm saying this out loud, and I'm realizing how stupid I sound, as I'm explaining this as a grown man to another grown man, I say, I ain't ignoring your fucking call. I got to reach out, reach out and apologize. And you know, if he's ready to talk, then he'll be ready. You got to sip. You got to sip.

It doesn't count if you don't sip. It doesn't count. Okay, cool. Yes, yes, come on. Let me apologize for my part because he's just, man, he's asked me to be on the show. You know what I'm saying? And by the way, you. And you've been on my show.

So the answer's always been yes. But you know, it's like, let me apologize on my behalf. And it took about a year to get to this point. You know what I'm saying? Because I don't think you're ready to get on the phone at that point. I'm like, get to this point. You know what I'm saying? Because I don't think you're ready to get on the phone at that point. I'm like, all right, cool. I congratulated you again recently,

and then we got on FaceTime, and boom, we posted the picture publicly, and yeah, I said, next time, Miami. Goddamn it. I'm going to be here. I'm going to be here. But honestly, our show is really about giving people their flowers,

and I'm going to be honest. You're one of the very first people I wanted to give flowers. Really? Because I always talk about this. When I was in hip hop, purgatory. Purgatory. A lot of people don't know what purgatory is. Purgatory is in between heaven and hell.

Yeah. purgatory a lot of people don't know what purgatory is purgatory is in between heavens and hell yeah and in between that time i did vlad tv repeatedly yeah the facts and he did numbers and one of the biggest let's let's address this motherfucker one of the biggest for me not i don't know for your platform is when i talked about walking through those doors. Illuminati, here. Oh, my God. I can't open up my phone without somebody saying, no one made a walk through the doors again. Do people ask you, do you walk through those doors?

Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes. People think I'm paid to push certain agendas. I got a booster shot recently, like a vaccine booster shot, you know, and I felt it was important, you know, because I was seeing people around me get COVID and get really sick. So I'm like, all right, let me get a booster. And I posted kind of my, you know, for three days how I was feeling because, you know, there's a little bit of soreness and stuff like that. And people think I'm being paid by Pfizer to do this shit. Dr. Fauci?

Yeah, or Fauci's paying me, or Moderna, or whatever else, man. I'm being paid by Israel for my views, or somehow there's someone in my pocket. I'm an agent of chaos. You know, that type of thing. I'm a cop, I'm a fed. Yeah, man.

It comes to the territory. It's always interesting to me when I bring on a new guest, an opinionated one, and seeing the hate that they get. Right. Because everyone has their own version of hate. You know, like when I brought up Jason from Hollywood I liked he was on my show I got to see all the gay hate I'm like oh shit there's really some homophobic people

out here that are willing to call him the F word and really hate this dude you know or D.L. Hughley has his army of haters I thought everyone loves D.L. Hughley but everyone has their army of haters. It's like, I thought everyone loves D.L. Hughley. But everyone has their army of haters. And it just comes when you're affecting millions of people,

it just comes, that's part of the package. It's the army of haters that come with your fans, right? You got your haters. Regardless of what people think, there's never been a single time in life that someone said I've recorded them without them knowing. I've had my phone calls recorded with people

and put out on some fuck shit. But I've never, you know what I mean? If I record, let's say I interview R. Kelly in jail, I'll be like, I'll press the button, beep. It'll say this phone call will be recorded. I'll say, okay, so we're recording this phone call. They're like, all right, cool. So if anyone ever says anything, you'll be like say this phone call will be recorded. I'll say, okay, so we're recording this phone call. They're like, ah, cool. So if anyone ever says anything, you'll be like, alright, here you go.

Like, we're recording it. You're wearing a mic. This is all in the up and up. You know exactly what's going to happen once the cameras turn on. And that's important in this business. Not to think that you're sneaking people or whatever else.

You have to have a certain level of integrity. You know, when Las Vegas PD, they called me like a dozen times asking me for the raw footage for that Keefie interview. I always said no. Okay, calm down. Okay. After the

first interview or the second interview? They wanted all the footage. He got arrested after the second interview. Not after. Months after the first interview or the second interview? They wanted all the footage. Okay. He got arrested after the second interview. Not after. Second interview. Yeah, well, I mean like months after the second interview. So, how does your phone ring? Does it say 7-3, what is it, what is it, Las Vegas, Erica?

It's Las Vegas. 7-3-2? No, that's Jersey. Could they subpoena the footage for her? I don't think so. So, they're calling it's Las Vegas they're leaving voicemails

hey this is detective so and so from Las Vegas PD please give me a call not saying what it's for I'm like I know what it's for they're kind of mad at you because you solved their case you know so they're calling and then they start leaving

the voicemail saying what they want which is the raw footage. They start sending me emails. And I'm like I'm not cooperating with this shit. Okay, let me ask you. Are you obligated to give them the raw footage? No. Are you not?

No. They could try to get a subpoena, but then... It's not even a jurisdiction thing. Well, it's not even a jurisdiction thing. It's just you have a freedom of the press situation. There's been cases like the feds have tried to... The feds have tried to get my footage in the past and have failed.

Wow. Yeah. Wow. Legally. Legally. Legally. Legally. This is fire. Didn't it come out?

I've talked about this, the Jimmy Henchman situation. Jimmy Henchman did an interview with me and we talked and a lot of times when I do interviews, I zone out. I'm thinking about the next question. I'm not carefully paying attention to every detail because I'm thinking about what I'm going to ask next because it's all real time.

What's happening? Especially someone over a jail phone, which you have a limited situation with. So we talk about, he briefly touches on his case. We talk about the Tupac allegations, whatever, whatever, whatever. And he explains to me how he's about to have an appeal trial, you know, because he's, what, triple lifer or something like that. Next day, you know, so we put it out. Next day, he calls me. He's like, hey, my lawyer asked me to take it down.

I'm like, all right, cool. I got you. Because his lawyer has seen the actual interview? Okay. He's seen the interview. He listened to it because it's audio, right? Okay. He says to take it down. So I take it down. So it's over. Or so I think. Oh, shit.

So then like six months later or something, I get a call from the Justice Department. It was like, yo, we need this footage. I'm like, nah, you can't have this footage. Well, you'd already put it out, so we have the right to have it. Like, well, I'm not giving it to you.

Well, we're going to put you on the stand. Well, then you'll have to speak to my lawyer then. Then this conversation's now over. If you pulled it off, they didn't have no evidence of that footage? Well, when it comes to evidence, you kind of have to get the originals. Right, you have to get it from the source.

Because you could tamper shit. You could play partial shit. You know what I mean? You have to have... She could be edited, she could be cut, you could play a small part of something and make it look a certain type of way but you have to

submit the whole thing as evidence so when it gets played to the jury they can hear the whole thing. You know? But didn't the Twitter files expose that the feds had a deal with Facebook to get access to stuff? I don't know about all that.

All I can speak about is what I know. This is what I know. This is what I know. This is my story. This is the only thing I can really tell. So I lawyered up. And then they're like, well, we're going to subpoena him. I was like, well, no, because this is whatever.

Well, he put it up, blah, blah. We found out that there was a copy floating around on Instagram, a small copy, a small, low-quality copy floating around on Instagram that they had. But they were trying to get the original shit, and ultimately they weren't able to get it.

They wouldn't get the... Who's the head of the government? The head district attorney in the federal government has to sign off on shit like this. And he wouldn't sign off on it. So I spent like

10 days. State attorney? No, no, but it's a federal. The federal, the chief attorney, whatever his name was. Mitchell, I think, was at the time. And this was a very important situation because this would have set a legal precedent of how things are moving forward. Because then it's like if people push it up and take it down, they can legally, oh, well, look at this Vlad TV case. Now we can, whatever you ever put up, even for one second, we can seize it. Right, right.

Because if you keep it to yourself, you're allowed to protect your sources as a media outlet. This is very important. This is some of the what American society is built on in terms of freedom of the press. You know, you've been to places like Dubai. Yeah. You can't say fuck the government in Dubai. No, you cannot. They'll lock you the fuck up for five years. On your

Instagram. On your Instagram? Yeah. No, seriously. Yeah, yeah, serious. You will get five years. I'm putting this number out there, but I'm sure it's somewhere near there., yeah, serious. You will get five years. I'm putting this number out there, but I'm sure it's somewhere near there. It might be more. It might be 10 years. My friend, he got sentenced to life. For what?

Cocaine. Right, well. I mean, I didn't want to go there. Yeah. Go ahead. But what's his name? Fredo, the UK rapper, just got five years for marijuana even though he had a marijuana card

in the UK or whatever else Dubai said we don't give a fuck about that marijuana card there ain't no marijuana here that's right you can't get a card

for that shit here five years let's take a shot you know what I'm saying so damn why my shot is way more bigger than him

that has to be your ice the ice the ice yeah that's the ice now it's the ice, man. You want to eat that. Yeah, yeah, that's the ice. Now it's the ice. You got to relax. Look, look, now.

Yeah, man. So ultimately, they weren't able. They didn't get the sign-off on the footage. Jimmy goes to court, and he loses his appeal. And he didn't know about what I did until years later. Now, do me and Jimmy have a relationship? No, not really. But, you know, do me and Keefy have a relationship?

Somewhat, but not really. But I'm going to always try to protect. If you come on my show, I will try to legally protect you to the best of my ability. You know what I'm saying? Keefy interview's out. I can't do nothing about that shit. Me taking it down is not going to change nothing. You know what I mean?? Keefie interviews out. I can't do nothing about that shit. Me taking it down is not going to change nothing. You know what I mean?

That's already out there. But if there's anything on my raw footage, which I don't think so, but let's just say there is, I'm not cooperating. But at any point when Keefie interviews on Keefie, he was like, damn, I just. Oh, I just. It wasn't really that. It was like once you put that book out there, it just is what it is at this point. I wasn't trying to put Keefe in prison. I wasn't trying to help Las Vegas PD solve their case. I was trying to tell the story because I remember hearing about Orlando

Anderson around 2007. You know, one of my friends who happened to be a crip in L.A. said, yeah, Orlando Anderson was the shooter and we know him. And then I've always, you know, Tupac is, if not my favorite rapper. No, it's my favorite rapper. Let me just not even. Let's throw that out there. Yeah, Tupac is my favorite. So you wanted to solve the murder. Tupac is my favorite. So you wanted to solve the murder.

Tupac is my favorite rapper, and I wanted to put the real story out there. Tupac is not living in Cuba. You know, he didn't. He's not, you know, this rapper that kind of looks like him. He's not in India somewhere. You know, he's not on Mars. Like, he passed away, and it was very sad. Tragic, yeah.

And the most obvious thing is what actually happened go and beat up someone who killed two people recently i just interviewed robert ladd compton pd gang unit who was trying to you know had tried to indict orlando anderson on two different murders wow two people died and orlando was right there in the mix on both of those murders. This guy was willing to pull out a gun and shoot you. That's what he did. I don't care. No matter how much I talk to the mob Jameses of the world and all the dudes who love Tupac, who hate Orlando, and nobody said Orlando was a punk, or he was a fake gangster,

or he wasn't about that shit. Orlando was a hitter. That's the fuck he did. He shot people. He killed people. And that's how he died in the middle of a fucking shootout and a triple murder.

In a gas station. At a gas station over a drug deal. You know, over someone owning him some money. And this is what happened. Tupac went and stomped out somebody who was extremely dangerous. So that's what you believe Tupac's demise is? Yeah, 100%. One million percent, because you solved Tupac's murder.

So now you're going to say to Tupac, how did it happen? You're saying that one million percent he should not have touched Orlando. Absolutely not. Okay. Absolutely not. So what's the story that you know leading up to him

even approaching Orlando that you know? It was a chain snatch. Right. A chain snatch at the mall. Not necessarily. At the mall. Yeah.

With, I'm drawing a blank right now. I'm smoking and drinking. What the fuck was his name? Can I just look this up real quick? Just because I feel stupid. And my phone's dead? Can I slip this up real quick? Just because I feel stupid. And my phone's dead. Can someone look it up?

The Lakewood Mall. It was Lakewood Mall fight death row chain. Lakewood Mall death row chain. There was a guy who got jumped for his death row chain he was the one that told Pop that Orlando was one of the people involved and that's where Vegas is Trayvon Lane boom okay so

the medal of honor is the highest military decoration in the United States recipients have done the improbable showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of. Recipients have done the improbable, showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of something much bigger than themselves. This medal is for the men who went down that day. It's for the families of those who didn't make it. I'm J.R. Martinez. I'm a U.S. Army veteran myself, and I'm honored to tell you the stories of these heroes on the new season of Medal of Honor, Stories of Courage from Pushkin Industries and iHeart Podcast. From Robert Blake, the first black sailor to be awarded the medal, to Daniel Daly, one of only 19 people to have received the Medal of Honor twice. These are stories about people who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor, going above and beyond the call of duty.

You'll hear about what they did, what it meant, and what their stories tell us about the nature of courage and sacrifice. Listen to Medal of Honor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A lot of times the big economic forces we hear about on the news show up in our lives in small ways. Three or four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. The demand curve in action. And that's just one of the things we'll be covering on Everybody's Business from Bloomberg Businessweek.

I'm Max Chavkin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. Every Friday, we will be diving into the biggest stories in business, taking a look at what the boardrooms, the backrooms, even the signal chats that make our economy tick. Hey, I want to learn about VeChain. I want to buy some blockchain or whatever it is that they're doing. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the Meat Eater Podcast Network, hosted by me, writer and historian Dan Flores, and brought to you by Velvet Buck. This podcast looks at a West available nowhere else. Each episode, I'll

be diving into some of the lesser known histories of the West. I'll then be joined in conversation by guests such as Western historian Dr. Randall Williams and best-selling author and meat-eater founder Stephen Ranella. I'll correct my kids now and then where they'll say when cave people were here. And I'll say it seems like the Ice Age people that were here didn't have a real affinity for caves. So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th, where we'll delve into stories of the West and come to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today. Listen to the American West with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So during the whole, you know, bad boy, death row beef, bunch of Southside guys who were somewhat affiliated with bad boy saw Trayvon Lane at the mall wearing a death row chain and try to, they jumped him and tried to take his chain. Whether they took the chain or not, it doesn't matter. Okay.

So we're saying these are Crips. Crips. Southside Crips. Southside Crips. A bunch of Southside Crips jump on Trayvon Lane, who's a mob pyro, who's down with death row. It's part of the death row. This is the one million percent. This is what happens.

I know Trayvon. Okay. We'll eventually do an interview. Okay. Me and him have been talking for like five years. You know, eventually he'll do it. Continue. Probably.

He got, you know, he claimed the chain was a snatch. Doesn't matter, he got jumped. Bunch of dudes tried to jump on him and take his death row chain. So, after the Mike Tyson fight, Trayvon, Tupac, Suge, Buntree, rest in peace, and some other bloods like Neckbone and so forth are all in the MGM lobby. And Trayvon looks over and says, that's one of the dudes that jumped me. And Tupac instantly makes a beeline by himself to him. That's right.

You see him walking by himself. Punches, yeah. With the Versace shirt on. Yeah. Makes a beeline right to Orlando. What's a beeline? I don't know what that means. He walks straight at him.

Okay. By himself. Okay. Even though he got a group of big monsters with him he ran straight at Trayvon he went straight Tupac went straight at

Orlando Anderson, punched him and then everyone else followed him and then they started to kick him while he was down and this footage is publicly released we've all seen this a million times and then started the retaliation process. Right. So you see this footage. You know this footage. We all know this footage. What the fuck makes you say

QPD? We covered that earlier. What the fuck makes you say, I want to revisit this? He's the only living person in the car. After you read the book? Yeah. Well, after the audio, the Greg Kading audio footage comes out, he's talking

about it. The other three people are dead. Okay. Orlando gets killed in the parking lot, triple murder shootout. Big Dre, the fat dude, has health complications and just dies of being in bad health.

There's one other guy. He gets killed in a random shootout in Chief Keef's Weechuk in L.A. Did you say what? Chief Keef what? Chief Keef had a dispensary in L.A. Chief Keef from Chicago who's living in L.A. Chief Keef doesn't go Keef had a dispensary in L.A. From Chicago?

Chief Keef from Chicago who's living in L.A. Chief Keef doesn't go to Chicago anymore, if you notice. He left Chicago and never came back. He's been living in Calabasas in the L.A. area ever since. So he starts a dispensary. Now that he's working there at the counter, it just happens to be a dispensary that he partially owns or owns completely. Or they license it like this. Who the fuck knows? But it's a dispensary

associated with Chief Keef. A shootout happens and the third person dies. Nothing to do with Tupac or Orlando or anything like that. Just a random wrong place, wrong time situation. So Keef

is the last person that's actually alive that could tell the story from a first person point of view. Okay. Hello. Oh, no. Yeah. Doing an interview is fantastic. I'll see you later. Yeah.

Continue. So this is the only person. But you knew that this, you knew that Keefie Deaver, this is it. Yep, this is it. All right. There's really no disputing this part. This is the uncle. Orlando's gone.

Orlando's gone. He has the audio of confessing it. He is the actual uncle of Orlando. He wrote a book. It ties it all together. You'd be very hard pressed to try to say

But I got to be a devil advocate because the book was out and then he gave a fuck. What made you say, I want to interview you again? Oh, you mean the second interview? Second interview, exactly. Well, at that point, he had done a bunch of interviews. It wasn't Vlad.

Right. But at that point, it was just sort of a fill-in-the-blank situation. Everything had essentially been discussed. Like I said, I don't think anyone really cares about the second interview. It's just really about the first interview. But it was like, all right, well, this dude's still doing interviews. And people have commented on him. Boosie's commented on him.

Mike Tyson's commented on him. You know what I mean? Let's see what he got to say. He's letting his nuts hang. Alright, let's have a conversation about it. I didn't think that law enforcement cared.

Because between my first interview and the arrest, it was four years. Okay, so let me ask you, where was you at when they said they arrested KPT? And did you feel...

It's two part questions. One, where you was at, and then two, did you feel like, oh, I'm a family? No. Okay. Nah. I didn't even, like... You got to understand, he got arrested. I'm like...

I didn't really think much of it. I almost thought, okay, well, this is just a horse and pony show. They're going to get him to sign a plea deal and give him a time served. And they can say that, you know, say that he was part of it. They solve the case. He's going to go on. And he's an old man.

He's 62 years old. They just want to close the case on the books and call it a day. And it didn't, because the point wasn't for him to be arrested. It wasn't my point to, I didn't talk to Las Vegas PD or LAPD. Like, you know what I mean? I'm still not talking to them, so I wouldn't be talking to them then.

And I didn't realize how big it is until like, people like Pierce Morgan started reaching out to me and wanted me to do interviews on their plane. He's like the biggest interviewer of Europe. And then NBC News. It was just like all these people wanted to speak to me about that

when I started understanding the gravity of what was happening. But it's just one of those. I mean, I interviewed Tupac's rape accuser, Ayanna Jackson. of what was happening. It's just one of those. I interviewed Tupac's rape accuser, Ayanna Jackson. That was the first time she's ever been on video.

It's not like I'm just going to I'm a Tupac super fan and I'm just going to advocate, advocate, advocate and bury everything else. Nah. He was like all of us, man. He had his shiny moments and he had his embarrassments.

And he had his wrong decisions. He was... How much dumb shit have we done at 23? The world didn't get to see. How many bad decisions when it came to women have we made that, you know, ultimately just wasn't being a big deal that could have been, you know, like Darryl Strawberry. He told me yesterday, he said, you can pick your sins, but you can't pick your consequences.

That's a good one. You can choose to do what you want to do. You can do all the fucked up, you can do the drugs, and you can do the crimes, and you can do the lies and the stealing. You choose what you do,

but you don't know what's going to happen after you do them. That's not up to you anymore. It's not your choice. That will be up to other people to decide how they're going to deal with what you've done. Right. You know what I'm saying? And that's the reality of it, man. That's the reality.

See, you're pissed. Come on back. That's the reality of it, man. That's the reality. So what do you think the next iteration or is there for you moving like 10 years ahead of now? Do you see yourself changing formats, changing styles? It's already changing. The biggest clip of last year was the boosie house

tour right did you see that at all no no i didn't it was a tour of his 88 acre estate like bringing back like mtv crib style like that yeah okay i didn't we did that was the that was it was three and a half million views so just that one 20 minute piece you know i'm saying not not you could add up the pieces you guys even more than that right just that one single piece that's the biggest single piece of the year it was that but with that came uh levar ball house tour it came dj envy's car collection um you know uh we just did Deion Dawkins' house and his yacht. You know what I'm saying? So you discovered a whole new lane.

We did. I just did one of my favorite barbecue spots. You know, Blood Souls Barbecue. You know, where I got to go and actually get on camera and, you know, I'm like a lifetime foodie, so I actually get to like... And it seems like you can't do no wrong in this lane that

you're describing right now well i mean you know you you could always have shit that doesn't react you know i mean in terms of people criticizing the concept but it's not about the criticism man it's not it's not about i got i don't do it for that like i i know for example you know i do a lot of you know i've always been a big proponent of stock investing I don't do it for that. I know, for example, I do a lot of, I've always been a big proponent of stock investing, right? So when I put out clips, I have like a Vlad stock series, like a nine, nine or 10 part series where I break down stock investing

and I talk about different, just the different things that I've used in terms of what I've found to be successful and so forth, and all through the comments, yo, man, we love you, yo, more content like this, you're the best, you know, oh, yo, this is Transformer. Like, I can create videos that all they have is positive comments.

It's so easy to do. But that's not what the business is about. It's not about trying to give myself a pat on the shoulder. Like, fuck that. I know what it is. If a video has 90% negative comments, that's fine, as long as what we're doing is important. You know what I mean?

In terms of the strength of the content. You know, I mean, you think people want to hear, you think all the Tupac fans, and there's a lot of them, you think they want to hear about Ayanna Jackson talking about how she came to see Tupac and ended up having sex with two other dudes and she was never with that.

You know what I mean? And things went very left and Tupac was like, get this bitch out my face. You know what I'm saying? Tupac fans don't want to hear this shit. I know it's going to be a bunch of negative shit, but this is an important story. That's why we are

changing. I was saying about how the biggest clip was the Boosie house tour. That was the biggest clip of last year. We're doing house shit. We're doing car shit. We're doing restaurant shit. I was actually supposed to trick Daddy's restaurant, but then he didn't show up at the restaurant, and we're doing house shit, we're doing car shit, we're doing restaurant shit, you know, I was actually supposed to trick daddy's restaurant, but then

he didn't show up at the restaurant, so we just didn't want to do the restaurant without him, so I mean, what we're doing is Sundays, yeah, Sundays, exactly, we ate there with the fried ribs, you know, but like, I would love to do, I would love to be like

the Robert Leach, you know, of, you know, of 2000. You got the good Audemars on. Oh my God. Boy,

a little cough show. You're a watch guy, see? You know, you got the Richard Mille. I mean, I got a couple. You got a few Audemars.

You know, you got the AP. You got the Patek. You got the Patek on. I got everything. You know, we got nice, you know, watch collection. And we take in the picture. You build them up.

Build them up. I had to wear something nice. Yes, yes, yes. You know, for Drink Champs. I'd show up. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's talk a little motherfucking. I had a little chance.

Black motherfucking TV. Make some motherfucking noise. Hold on, hold on. No more shots, Jamie. Drink Champs is a Drink Champs LLC production, hosts and executive producers, NORE and DJ EFN. Listen to Drink Champs on Apple Podcasts,

Amazon Music, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for joining us for another episode of Drink Champs, hosted by yours truly, DJ EFN and NORE. Please make sure to follow us on all our socials. That's at Drink Champs across all platforms. At TheRealNoriega on IG. At Noriega on Twitter.

Mine is at Who's Crazy on IG. At DJ EFN on Twitter. And most importantly, stay up to date with the latest releases, news, and merch by going to drinkchamps.com the medal of honor is the highest military decoration in the united states recipients have done the improbable the unexpected showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of something much bigger than themselves. This medal is for the men who went down that day. On Medal of Honor, Stories of Courage, you'll hear about these heroes

and what their stories tell us about the nature of bravery. Listen to Medal of Honor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A lot of times, big economic forces show up in our lives in small ways. Four days a week, I would buy two cups of banana pudding. But the price has gone up, so now I only buy one. Small but important ways. From tech billionaires to the bond market to, yeah, banana pudding. If it's happening in business, our new podcast is on it.

I'm Max Chastin. And I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith. So listen to Everybody's Business on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Why is a soap opera Western like Yellowstone so wildly successful? The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the Meat Eater Podcast Network. So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th, where we'll delve into stories of the West and come to understand how it helps inform

the ways in which we experience the region today. Listen to the American West with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.