Drink Champs - Episode 506 w/ Dee-1

Episode Date: July 3, 2026

N.O.R.E. & DJ EFN are the Drink Champs. In this episode we chop it up with the legendary, Dee-1!Hip hop with purpose — Dee-1 joins the Champs for an inspiring, unfiltered conversation about music, faith, integrity, and staying true to yourself in an ever-changing industry. Known for balancing lyrical excellence with a positive message, Dee-1 opens up about his journey from teaching middle school to becoming one of hip hop's most respected independent voices.Throughout the episode, Dee-1 reflects on his Louisiana roots, navigating the music business without compromising his values, and using his platform to encourage financial responsibility, personal growth, and accountability. He also shares stories about working alongside some of the biggest names in hip hop, the challenges of speaking uncomfortable truths, and why authenticity continues to be his greatest strength.As always, N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN keep the drinks flowing while diving into everything from rap culture and social media to the evolution of independent artists and the responsibility that comes with influence. Filled with laughter, honest debate, and memorable moments, this episode showcases why Dee-1 has earned respect across generations of hip hop fans.Raise a glass and tune in for another unforgettable episode of Drink Champs—where real conversations, legendary stories, and hip hop culture always take center stage.Make some noise for Dee-1!!! 💐💐💐🏆🏆🏆Listen and subscribe at https://www.drinkchamps.comFollow:Drink Champshttps://www.drinkchamps.comhttps://www.instagram.com/drinkchampshttps://www.twitter.com/drinkchampshttps://www.facebook.com/drinkchampsDJ EFNhttps://www.crazyhood.comhttps://www.instagram.com/whoscrazyhttps://www.twitter.com/djefnhttps://www.facebook.com/crazyhoodproductionsN.O.R.E.https://www.instagram.com/therealnoreagahttps://www.twitter.com/noreagaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I'm going to get straight into it. I'm going to get straight into it. Those brothers, I don't want to say controversy because I believe that's the wrong word. Mm-hmm. I want to say that you're standing on something, right? I'm going to be honest. Mm-hmm.

I've been down with hip-hop, like professionally, me making hip-hop for 20 years. And I've never seen nobody take the stance. You should stand. I've never seen that. I've seen you believe it was rolling loud. And you got on stage, you was like, who want to see the next hip hop act murdered?

And I was like, oh, shit. I was like, crazy. Holy shit. But it's a legitimate question because sometimes when you're supporting the music, you're supporting that lifestyle, you're supporting that act. There you go.

And I never really looked at it like that. Like when you said that, I never really looked at it like that. You know what I'm saying? And like there's things that, that I will agree with you to totality and then there's other things of how you approach I'm not saying what you're doing this wrong but how you're approaching I would like to discuss it

you know what I mean go through it but what made you take this approach because right now you're standing on the island by yourself right not saying this not people who visit you on the island you know what I'm saying you ain't with the golf ball like what's my man named Tom Hanks you ain't with Tom Hanks you got people who visit

you have people like me who support you but what makes you because this is a bold statement. So what makes you feel so comfortable because it's like you're going against the system? Yeah, if the system is broken, we need people brave enough to go against it. Right.

And I serve God. I don't serve the system. Right, right, right. So since I serve God, God is directing me into the system to fix who's broken. Right. So that's why I stand on what I stand on.

And the only people that's opposed to it are the ones who are profiting off of a broken system. Right. You hear of me? Okay, so I want to get into Pacific incidents. Yes, like with you. J.D. Who?

J.D. J.D. J. J.M.J. Let's help. Not WWJD, but W.W.J.D. Right. But I believe. I believe you had a legitimate argument with him, right? A legitimate argument of your stance.

But it's kind of hard, right, to say to a person, like, I want you to denounce everything that you did because that's what makes a person who they are. We got a less than the 5%. It says it's love hell or right. Which means sometimes, sometimes,

you got to love hell to actually come out right. And in order to reach heaven. You understand what I'm saying? So like, so like, it's like, it's like so many people like they can't, they, I don't want to say, I think when you say denounce, I think it's a better word that you can use because it's like, yo, I don't, I'm not in that lifestyle no more. But you can, I feel like this is me and you know, like you have a bottle. I feel like every individual who's been through things, they've been through it for a reason. And some people who don't want to say, man, like, I used to, I used to smoke crap. Mm-hmm.

Right? Mm-hmm. But not me, not me. Right. Okay. Okay. Hey, hey, hey. We're not doing.

We're not done. We're not done. We're not doing. Speak your truth, though. Speak your truth, brother. But let's suppose, I'm talking about a brother. Examples. Example.

Exactly. We know some. We know some crack. Exactly. We know some crack here. But a guy went through crack, right? And because he went through crack, he might have cleaned himself up with the jail. And he'd be, he.

He really benefited itself. And if you say, man, denounce that life, I'd rather see him say, man, I'm not denouncing that life. But look, me doing this, even though it's bad, it led me into the better man that I am now. Do you agree with that? I do agree with that. Okay. The problem in hip hop is people still haven't evolved from that old life that they were living. Okay.

They're still promoting it. And they're senior citizens at this point. Okay, yeah. Yeah, I understand. We got senior citizens making nursing home music. You know what I'm saying? they're still trying to push negativity and murder music and vagina music, you know what I'm saying, and then sell dope to your own people music.

That's my problem. When you evolve, I'm going to be the first one there to applaud you at the finish line. Okay. Now, I've got to be devil's advocate. Yeah. God's advocate. God's advocate. Thank you for that.

God's advocate. I try to advocate for the devil. You know what? But when, okay, sometimes I hear you, I hear you call it, you call it, Hypocrical hot, right? Right? I believe it's a deeper of a deeper meaning, right? Because now I look at, I look at, I look at, I look at Nause, right?

And Nause is one of my favorite first albums. But if you, if he wants to the terrier and go through Nause's, that first album, I wouldn't say he was glorifying, but he was putting a magnet on street life. He was doing it so, such a poetic manner, like how rock Kim was doing it, that it might have came across like he was glorifying it. But really, for me, he was describing the neighborhood that I was very familiar with. So me being away, I was away at the time. And when this album came out, like, I couldn't critique it and be like, oh, I'm saying I wasn't on that anyway.

But I couldn't be like, man, this is bad. Like, he's describing the hood. He's describing the hood. He's making it sound good. But for a person who's, for a person when I was locked away with people, For a person from Brooklyn, they were like, man, they felt like they was in Queensbridge. Like me, I felt like I was revisiting the neighborhood that I already knew. But it was, it was, but I don't think that was glorifying it.

Right. But it did have a magnifying glass to it. Is it possible to be both? It's definitely possible to narrate with a magnifying glass without glorifying. Right. Right. Some people glorify stuff and they make it sound like, no, no, no, I'm just painting a picture. I'm painting a picture.

But if you're making that picture sound extra cool and extra appealing to people, and you glorifying and you got to stand up for it. That's just like people love to commit crimes, but they hate to get sentenced when they get arrested. You feel me? Yes. So you want the spoils from glorifying something, glorifying poison to our people,

but then you don't want the consequences that come from it. That's the problem with our culture. Narration, we need that. We need to rap about murder, rape, we need to rap about drugs. We need to rap about crack for the crackheads, you know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, all that.

We need to rap about vagina. You need to rap about sex, all that stuff. But narrate those things. Narrate stories you've seen. Don't glorify the negativity and the evil and the stuff that's going to get us dead or in jail and then say, oh, man, what's wrong? It's the system that's against us.

No, at some point, we're against us. Right, right. That's my point. Is that hard to understand? No, no, like, go ahead. I was with it because that was a great example. Can I say one thing? Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Listen, because we didn't win about five minutes. Listen, bro. Yeah, yeah, let's go. This is, for me. a former middle school teacher from New Orleans and never compromised. This is an I made it moment being on here, brother. You know what I mean? That's the I made it moment, bro.

Like, for real. And the only reason it feels good, Norrie, is because I elevated it without compromise. Right, right, right. If I would have had to compromise to get to drink champs, this wouldn't mean nothing. That means I'm a sell out just like half the other people that's selling their soul for elevation.

Yeah. Elevation without compromise. That's what makes this feel so good. That's why I got so much passion. Right. So I don't know if you know my brother, my brother right here, but he's like, to me, a perfect form of balance of positivity.

You understand what I'm saying? So I invited him without knowing the EFN was going to be here. I just felt like, do y'all know each other or no? We just met for us. Okay. But there's a lot. Y'all just threw out so much that I want to touch on. One is I got put on to him in 2010.

Okay. By some brothers from nation to Islam. They was like, you know about D1 from Louisiana? Yeah, you just, I'm telling you, he's walking in your footststant. I'm telling you. Right. Right. So, they put it.

I've been waiting since 2010 to meet you. Wow. So to see his movement grow, expand. And I told him earlier, standing on principle, not wavering, speaking your truth, pushing, like, because it's a lot about you that I relate to in a way of, you know, I come with the consciousness. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes. I'm talking.

Oh, don't want to hear that. That's that bullshit. Right. Kids don't want to hear that. You're going to go over people's heads. You're like, nah, you got to stick to your principles. but there's been times when I felt like, I got to do something different, all right?

That's a whole other conversation. The point you made about Illmatic, I feel the same way about Ready to Die. I'm Biggie. Biggie Die, Ready to Die. I just hit my knee to die. I always felt that Ready to Die was a conscious album. Wow.

Because Big was talking about what he was conscious of. Right, and then Big actually said he wasn't a street guy. Like, he saw the street. He saw the street, right? That's ill. I didn't even look at it either. And just when you look at the path of Radio to die from the top of the album to the end of the album, there's a story of a person.

If you just take the rapper as the individual in the story with his consequences, he's dealing with mental health, he's dealing with suicide, he's dealing with how he did his wife for, but he's dealing with all these things that come with living this negative life. I call it in econometry. Right. The upside down world where the right is wrong and wrong is right. And then we're doing wrong in order to survive, but then the wrong becomes our identity. Right.

Right. One of the most detrimental terms, I think, to hip hop culture is keep it real. Because we're entertainers and we're acting a character and a lot of it is inspired by real situations. But we're kind of more than the characters we create and be trapped by it. You know, so, yeah. Man, you got a lot of rappers who get into the game. And the problem is they don't know their purpose. Right.

And when I say their purpose, they think their purpose is just make money by any means necessary. Okay, right. Right. So here's my thing. When it comes to purpose and invent. invention cannot know its purpose without being in touch with its inventor. Right. So the cup doesn't know its purpose, but the person that invented the cup knows the purpose, right?

The creation can't know his purpose without being in touch with its creator. So for us as people to really know our purpose, we got to be in touch without creator, and that's God, right? And it's very simple. When you have a relationship with God, you realize, oh, God created me for his glory. So any gifts that I have is meant to be used to make my creator proud. Then it becomes very easy to say, is my creator proud of me making murder music where I make it sound cool to murder my own people? It's my creator proud of me making music where I'm glorifying disrespecting women and how much I sold cocaine for.

And then the answer becomes no, my creator ain't proud of that. So if people were in touch with their purpose, this would all be way more simple. We've been tricked. How do we get that same message across, right? Who, for a brother who is, he's cautious, right? But he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not, he's not a, he's not a, he's not a religious person. Okay. You know what I'm saying?

He, he wants to do right. But he also feels like he's going to be critiqued because out of all these years, he's been doing this a certain way. And now, but he's, but he has to feed this family. Like, what do you say to that, to that brother? First of all, bro, the dope game is dead. So everybody that's really into to tell you that. Right.

Right. Right. So at this point, if you feed in your family, but you are poisoning. Right. A million other families. Right. You just went platinum. off of poison.

Right. That's not fair. That's selfish. Right. I agree. Yeah. I agree. And that's what we have a lot of in hip hop.

People justify the negativity and the evil that they're pushing because they're saying, well, I'm making money off of it. Like somebody like, man, I look at somebody like Rick Ross. Right. Right. A few years ago, I got frustrated because I'm like, man, Rick Ross, you are such a boss. You are such a mogul at this point. Now you're practicing willful ignorance. You're pushing negativity.

but you know better. I have an issue with that. If you're just a young dude fresh out the streets and you don't know no better, like you said, okay, we're supposed to get around that person and try to pour into them. But when I see this type of stuff, I'm like, okay, you're pushing negativity

knowing that you're not living that lifestyle anymore, right? And then you get mad when people hold you accountable for it. But if you weren't pushing it publicly, I wouldn't have to oppose it publicly. Right. But when you're pushing something publicly, we have to have a counteracting viewpoint or else people are going to say,

well, that must be cool. No, that's not cool. That ain't hip-hop. That's hip-a-critical high. And I respect that, right? I respect that. But, like, everyone still has their personal life, right? Now, just think about it.

Let's think about it. What I just said about Nas. Like, Nas had this perfect album, I believe it was. It was a couple of perfect albums. But I'm talking about this one. Now, when Nas goes back to the hood, right? He has the responsibility. To me, he kind of took his care of his responsibility.

by being that example of like, I made it out of here and I came back. But now there's gangsters on the block who might not, that Illmatic is too old for them. And they're looking at him like, we don't care about your message. Like, we might listen to the YNs that ain't claiming no type of message. But this is what they see. I don't feel that they're because we all need to know, right?

We all need to know. Like, when you following a, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, You follow in a trend and that trend is bad. Sometimes you don't know it because you're in it. You understand what I'm saying? You're in it, you know what I mean? And then if a brother like you comes and critiques me, I automatically get defensive because that's what we have as people.

We're a defense. We're defensive people. So you could come to me and tell me the best message ever, right? But the fact that I feel like you're criticizing me, I might throw your message away because this is all I know. And you like you said, like you said, you're going above certain. people have. Like certain people, you can't feed them steak when they still on baby food. Exactly. That's a great analogy. It's two things. This story changed my life. I was a middle

school teacher in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. And you could put the gun to your head? Before that. Yeah, it's different. Okay. I'm teaching middle school. One of my students come in class one day with a tattoo on his arm that said M-O-B. I put him to the front of the class. I said, Lebrother, what made you get that tattoo? Man, you know what M-O-B stands for, right? He looked at me. He said, no, sir, I don't know what it means. I said, then why did you get it? He said, because his favorite rapper, Lil Wayne, has that same tattoo on his chest.

Right. Right. So when I noticed this, I said, man, these rappers are more influential than they realize. Right. So what we need is to get to the artist and for the artists to understand their influence. Right. But then once they understand their influence, do they care at that point? You know what's crazy about what you're saying?

And I just wanted to have a quick little bottlewood crook. Little Wayne might have a tattoo of his favorite artist. You understand? It probably does. Probably does. I'm sure he was inspired by pot. He was inspired by Ty. Or Missy or something like that.

Oh, baby and slim. You got baby and slim? Yeah, please. I told Wayne the name is Alamna Carter. Wow. Yeah, selling him weed. Wow. Wow.

So in terms of who inspires who, like me coming from my background, former school teacher, conscious hip-hop, you would never think I would have that type of connection to Little Wayne. Wow. I told him the name is out of Carter. serving him The madism He's like

He's like the Carter Water Carter I'm like you ever see New Jack City Right Like yeah I said well he's cash money Was his last name at that time You knew that he was his last name

I said They sold the cash money Brothers Sold all their work Out of Carter He was explaining to me How he's responsible For a lot of the creativity

Right Of the other members of cash money So I'm like Well you're responsible for the work work. We should name your album to Carter. Yo, Keem, why are you the Carter? That's my last name. But because I said, yeah, he sold all the work out of Carter. You know,

King. Yeah. Kim, I think you wanted something in six six albums later. You would never think that come from somebody. Yeah, conscious didn't occur. That's the perfect example. I want to cut you up. Because that's a perfect example, right? I've seen Ludle Wayne grow,

right? I've seen him actually grow from the kid that was just saying, you know, bling, bling to all that to become a skateboarder. Now, now that is, that is growth right there. Like he, when he, when he became a person to be who he wanted to be, he became something that was totally, didn't represent the streets. But his music still represented the streets.

You know, I will give you that. I will give you that. But his image didn't. So to me, I felt like that was a part of being positivity because, like, you had Farrell, you had, I don't want to say Lupe, I think Lupe came a little bit later, but other than that, you had people who wasn't dressing like the hood no more.

It started pulling up their pants. They started like, and maybe that's a little part that the Little Wayne gave the game that was like positive and they went over our head. But I've seen the image changed and I've seen how people started to dress. They started to dress like when. Yeah.

And then all this cheetah print came out. and different colors. Take a chance. It's rock and roll. Rock and roll. Rock star kind of kind of to image tools. Yes, the rock star. And what I'm saying is it wasn't gangster. It was still hip hop, but it wasn't gangster.

And if you looked at his partners at the time, you got me saying partners. You got his partners at the time. You got BG still dressing the same. You got movie still dressing the same. What's the same message. You know what I'm saying? So it was like, to me, I've seen the growth in Wayne

but like a lot of people wouldn't see that. So like... Yeah, I saw it as well. I used to memorize Lil Wayne's lyrics and go spit them to my little sister in our house. She didn't know who Wayne was, and she would think that this was her big brother, David, D-1, that is making these lyrics up and I would blow her mind.

But it was really Lil Wayne's lyrics, right? That's how much I looked up to him, right? Then it got to a point in my maturation and in my manhood when I was in college to where I realized like, wait, Wayne, you and I went to the best story, schools in New Orleans. You went to McMahon. I went to Ben Franklin.

We know better than to glorify the streets. Even if we grew up around that, you know what I'm saying? We are smart. So at a certain point, we need to take that genius that we have and use it to improve our hoods instead of glorifying what's going on in our hoods. And I never saw that level of growth. And it made me

be like, dang, bro, I want that level of freedom for Wayne. I want him to be able to say, you know what? I don't have to still rap about lean and killing people. Lil Wayne never killed nobody in his life. He said it in his music. I didn't say he said, right? With that being said, like, let's make that cool. Yeah. Let's make that cool to be, bro. I just did rolling loud. The day after my rolling loud show, they had an 18-year-old brother at the radio station,

right, when I walked out of my radio interview. And his daddy said, D-1, I need to talk to my son. We're from Philly. He's 18 years old. He's making all that murder music, talking about killing his ops and all this stuff. I looked at him. I said, bro, how many people you killed in your life? To the child. How many people you killed in your life, Lebrother? Nobody. Silence. He didn't say nothing, right?

Silent as a mouse. Lebrada, how many people you killed in your life? Come on. Nothing. Nothing. I realized that this dude was afraid to admit that he has never killed somebody. Right. Because the standard for his generation of what's real is you got to catch a body to be real.

That's keeping it real. So that's how paralyzed we all mentally in our community. Hip hop, hypocritical hop Got us thinking, man, I look lame if I say I ain't never killed nobody. Right. So then D1 coming along like, hey, let's make a new trend to be like, I ain't never killed nobody, and I'm proud of it.

Which is crazy, but you know, you know who actually made, and this is a part of it, I'm not blaming the whole city, not blaming everybody. You know what's a big part of that. I know what you're about to say. It's like, let's take something. Here you go. I had never really seen people like claim murder.

Like, when my first time I went through the North, just seeing my first time, I went through the North. just seeing mausoleums. Right. Messed me up. Like, it's like, you know, when you're in New York, you know, you got to kind of like go to the cemeteries, like to see it. Like, you can see mausoleums.

Like, like, yeah. Like, yeah, like, that shit was scary to me. Like, you know what I'm saying? And then not only that, it's like, y'all celebrate death. Yeah, they have a different relationship with it. So, like, when that was the murder capital or when y'all was the murder capital, I was number one in New Orleans, bro. Gotcha, got you.

I was out there all the time. Yeah. I knew I had to be careful, bro. I knew I had to, it was certain things, but I had people out there, but still, and I had never seen people a city, a whole city, like glorify murder. Like, I went to CC murder in the projects, bro. I went to see them, like. An IR Radio Experience, weekend gold tickets to Ilson Ig. One, two, three.

Montreal, with Dom Dalla, Chris Lakin Friends, Woolly, Deadmouse, Above and Beyond, Subfocus, and More, with flights from Porter Airlines, three nights at Resonairns. in downtown Montreal and $1,000 cash. Enter for your chance to win at iHeartRadio.ca. Ilsonique in Montreal, every day you enter is another chance to win. I'm Munges shit together and I'm back with a new season of the podcast Skyline Drive. This time I'm diving into a rabbit hole of peptides, organoids, blood boys, blue zones and brain replacement to try to understand what this longevity obsession is all about and what it really means to live forever.

for all of us. I learned about some rad science. I can make a brain for you, and then we can test what draw is the best for your brain, as opposed to his brain. Here are some hard truths. I would expect Indians to age faster, but I did not expect it to be almost a four-to-five-year acceleration.

And get myself into a world of trouble. I'd say probably start bone smashing, That doesn't work. To make it look more defined. They say it works. I don't know. Listen to Skyline Drive, How to Live Forever on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Keith Gianmanca seemed like a mild-mannered suburban dad. But secretly, he became someone else, a master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy. But I felt so desperate. that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out.

Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong on what that might look like? No, I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man.

This is gonna change my life and my family dynamic forever, because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Mainstream media is full of cruel depictions of The Un-Housed, stories that shame and blame and paint the Un-Housed as a monolith. We The In-House is the podcast that's changing that. I'm Theo Henderson, creator and host, and for years I've created a space where the unhoused and their advocates can tell their own stories. In the last few months alone, I've interviewed unhoused parents, immigrants, mutual aid organizers, veterans, the LGBTQTIA plus community, and the policymakers who make the laws that impact the unhoused existence. Weedian Hous is a two-time webby and Signal Award-winning show

with many exciting guests on the horizon. Tune in this week for my interview with Dr. Jill Wichler. A street doctor turned influencer whose work with the unhoused community has made a huge impact online and in her community. Listen to Weythian House on the IHard Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. I was like, he's bugging.

Yes. Like, you, because you got to feel like, God bless me for saying this, and I love New Orleans because they've embraced me. And there's a lot of Latinos in the New Orleans. Like, when I was going there, I got to fill up those spirits. Like, those spirits are the dead souls, like still linking around. And in the projects, too. It wasn't just the mausoleums in the cemeteries. Correct.

Like, when I walked in the Calioteo, when I walked in a magnolia. You feel a death amongst the living. Oh, damn, man. Thank you for me. Come on, man. That's what New Orleans is. That shit, that shit fucked me up. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The death amongst the living is Louisiana culture having that relationship to death. Yeah. Let me tell you all something, man. The first time I ever felt like a hypocrite in my life, my best friend got murked. He got killed. You know what I mean? We grew up wanting to be just like the hot boys, just like them, right? So when I saw my best friend turning into a gangster in real life, really jumping off the poach, really committing these crimes, really living that, and then eventually he got murdered, right?

I'm at his funeral. I'm a pallbearer. I'm crying at the funeral. But when I get in the car after the funeral, the music that I already had on in rotation was music glorifying murder. And for the first time with tears in my eyes, I felt like a hypocrite. I froze. I respect that. And I said, I'm mourning the death of my friend, but I have an appetite for music that glorifies death.

Lord have mercy. Something has to change. Then how old were you when I was? I was 23 years old. I had just graduated college. I was a middle school teacher. And I was trying to figure out, do I want to be a rapper? because my student just got a tattoo

that say M-O-B, money over because his favorite rapper, Lil Wayne, got it. So I'm like, if I really want to be influential, maybe I need to become a rapper. But then if I'm going to be a rapper, am I going to make it? Nobody ever made it from New Orleans with a positive message, putting God first, talking about being educated.

So in my head, I'm at an intersection. What am I going to do? And then when that happened, that feeling of hypocrisy made me say, nah, man, I want to elevate without compromising. The rewards of, fame and fortune ain't worth it. If I'm just putting a message out there that's

poisoning my people, bro. And that's how I felt. Why do we cry when the rappers die, but we love when they glorify murder when they're alive? Why do we say that we love one another? Then turn around and backstab our brother. Why do we claim that we cherish our sisters? Then disrespect

them and call them all bitches. You feel me? Yeah, I do. Absolutely. I thought I had to wrestle with them type of thoughts, bro. Like, I'm going to be honest. I live in Miami now, 17 years. Okay, hold let's be Miami 17 years. And I

can't, I can't smell a strip club right now. Yeah. I can't go to a strip club. Like, it's just, I outgrew that shit. But thank you. But, I'm no, no, no, because I stop you here. I'm trying to recruit you.

I'm recruited. I'm recruited. It's, I, I, I, I'm recruited. You know what I'm saying? But now, I'm hot asking me, yo, man, I'm going to have a birthday party and I'm going to have a birthday party and I'm going to have at the strip club. Am I wrong for going to see him at the strip club? I'm asking. And I haven't been in one now, I believe, like seven years. For sure, because you could be like, Hock, I love you,

but that environment right there, that environment isn't reflective of my current value system. And that's okay. I'm speaking this because I live through this. I never told this story before. Okay. Bro, I was fresh out of being a middle school teacher trying to get on. I had somebody who was really, really, really popping in the business world who I wanted to be my manager. He said, come out to Atlanta. We're going to have a business meeting. Me and my partner drive from New Orleans, drive my 1998 Honda Accord to Atlanta, Georgia. We're going to have a business meeting with this big manager.

When we get out there, he said, hop in the car with me. We're getting to Bentley. You heard me? He said, yeah, we're going to have a meeting at this strip club. Magic City? No. I don't remember which one, right? So watch this.

I'm like, oh, shoot, I ain't never been to the strip club before, right? And I'm not necessarily trying to go to the strip club, but at that time, I'm trying to be successful and I'm trying to get on. So in my head, I'm conflicted. do I go to an environment that's not reflective of my value system or do I ignore the environment and say, I'm trying to have this meeting. So I go to the strip club for the first time in life. When I'm in there, I'm like this.

You know what I'm saying? I'm like, yo, I really ain't trying to partake in what's going on, right? But it's all around me. So the first stripper that come over, but I wasn't really covering my eyes, by the way, but I was just like, I was like, yeah, I'm going to kind of. There you go. So one of the strippers come over to me,

and I turn it to the dude that's like, hey, baby, what you're doing in here? What's your doing here? You got so much more potential, you're right? Tell me your story. So next thing I know, she's telling me her story. I just had a newborn. I really don't want to be in here,

but I come from a broken family, and this is fast money, you know what I'm like, wow. I'm like, they got the ones all around. I'm thinking I actually need these ones, not to throw at her booty. I need these ones. for gas money to get back to me. That's what I need these ones for.

So I'm thinking, I'm like, all, cool. I'm not going through these ones at her. That's going in the gas tank. But what I am going to do is form of friendship with her. I'm proud to say the years later, man, she hit me up on Instagram, D1, I'm not stripping no more. I remember that conversation we had. Nice.

Okay, but hold on. Yeah. That's a round of a close, man. Why did it take so long? I had a rebuttal because now, like I said, I'm born and raised in New York City, right? I used to come visit out here, but I wouldn't, I wasn't, I wouldn't visit out here. I would just be doing everything they're doing. I never really lived out here.

But when I started to live out here, I realized that this is a part of their culture. Like some people, I'm not taking up for the strip club people, but some people, they don't look at the girls, they go, they smoke some bud. they probably throw a little thing, but this is their environment. Like, I had never seen that in New York. Like, if you went to the strip club, you were corny in New York at one point. And if you threw money, you were even corny. If you ate at the strip club, you were super corny. You used the bathroom there?

Oh, my God. It was all that shit was taboo to me. Weird. Then I came out here for the first week. I broke every fucking rule. I did every, because I became my environment was out here. Because remember, I wasn't living out here. You know what I'm saying?

So, like, what do you say to the guy that, you know, his father's father brought him to the strip club? You know what I mean? It's a generational thing out here. And Atlanta, that's why you're going against Atlanta. Right, right, right. As I said, you're on the island by yourself. But you see people visit it.

But what you say to the people that say Miami, like, their father's father's father was at the strip club. They don't look at it like how you look. They don't look at the derogatory woman because I got another part to that. But what do you say to that guy? I say, if I have a white friend and he's like, my father's father's father used to lynch slaves, do you want? But that was my father's father's father.

That wasn't me. That's great. So you're going to say that they were wrong for that. And you say, I ain't going to lynch none of my black friends. Are you? And I would expect him to be like, man, heck yeah, I ain't fin to do none of that. You feel?

Yes. I agree with you. I agree with you. What about that? Now, now, listen, because there's not all negative stories that's attached to the strip club. What about this one girl that has nothing? She has absolutely nothing. She, her father, she has no father.

She has no father. She has no fathers. And then she goes to the strip. And she's, you know, I see you've been in the strip clubs, but there's always that one girl that really is paying college tuition. They're saying that, and they're really paying college tuition. They really, like, you know what I mean? They're really about their life.

They're not boned in nobody on the side. But this is what they feel like. This is the only lifestyle. What do you say? to that, and then she makes it. And she goes, and she, like that girl that you're talking about, she makes it, but she's not denouncing what she did or how she got there. Like, what, there's no first grader in this world right now who says, mommy, I want to grow up and be a stripper.

Right. So eventually, financial hardship gets the best of people, and they resort to stripping. Okay. So what I would say is that as men, we got to step up to the plate and be like, yo, we need to stop taking advantage of women who are in a financial hard situation. to say, oh, yeah, I can help you financially, but in return, you got to get naked on that pole and bust it open for me. Right.

I feel like that's out for all these rappers who brags so much on how much money they blow in the strip club, if you really respect the women, you'll be willing to spend that same amount of money to give her another means of employment. Yeah. Okay. I have a push back a little bit. All right, yeah, so it's balance. Balance.

I don't do the strip club. I've been to strip clubs, yeah. I don't really enjoy the environment. Right. However, I do understand that when you go to different places, not to be a balance, just here, but around the world, culture is different. I had to be educated,

coming out of South Florida, where it's hot all the time, and that people are scantily dressed. Women are scantily dressed because that's just what the weather calls for. If you knew that, you might be like, oh shit, shorty got a fat ass. But with people who grew up around this, it's like, Miami people is nothing.

It's just not the same thing. Unfortunately, because of the world, we live in the sexuality, there are one-year-olds who's goal is to be strippers. Yeah. One year old, I'm excuse me. First graders.

I disagree, brother. I mean, it's right. Yeah. Come on. Of course, it might be rare occasions. It might be exceptions to the rule. But I've seen stories of first graders, second grader, third graders, looking up to their mommy. The mommy's on the pole.

And they, mommy, mommy, I want to get up on the pole. I saw Snoop not too long ago. He had a strip on stage. He had a strip on the stage. And the kid, the baby's on the stage. Everybody was cussing them out. Homegirl was like the stripper. was like, that's my child.

Unfortunately, where... Wait, what, timeout? Yeah, I was her child. I didn't see this, because I don't know. I see everything on that way. Snoop did the show, you know, he bring the strippers out, and the home girl was on the pole. Yeah.

And the baby might have been like, I don't know, seven, eight, five, six, seven, eight. You did. That's not right. And the baby was on the stage. Not stripping. Just on the stage, watch your mommy. All right. So everybody was criticizing Snoop for having that go down and criticizing the young lady for stripping.

Homegirl was like, that's my child. child. Right. That said, unfortunately, American capitalism breeds exploitation in all of its forms. The sex industry is American capitalism exploiting the sexual nature for human beings. It just is what it is. There's a market for it. There's money to be made.

It's the American culture that breeds that. Not so much hip-hop culture. It's just that whatever you do to American culture, black people going to put it on 10. You know what I read on the comments with Big Bank? And I believe Big Bang said this to you. That's his name, right?

Big Bang. Yeah, yeah. All right, cool. Why does it feel like you just critiquing your people? I know, I want you to answer this. Yeah. Yeah. I was about to respond to this.

And it gets to you. Okay, okay. Go ahead. Listen, brother. Nobody is bigger than the program. Right. American culture is not the end-all, be-all of this. world. No, it's not. Nor is black culture, nor is white culture, nor is hip hop culture. It's

God. Right. That's the start and that's the end. You heard me? That's the alpha. That's the Omega. So with that being said, I don't care what any culture is doing. I'm not loyal to it if it's going against what the word of God says. Right. So that is why it's easy for me to say, oh, D1, why are you bucking the system? Are you just trying to be different? No, the problem is that being different is looked at as a bad thing, but sometimes being different just means, that you're more courageous than the people who are just following what's been wrong the whole time. Right.

You feel me? Yeah. So I don't have a problem being different as long as I know that that different is right in God's eyes. Right. Okay. So there's two things. And I agree with everything you just said is just understanding.

Right. If we really want to help people come to a different place, right? It's understanding where they're at. Like understanding the mindset of the person you're trying to uplift. In order to pick the baby. You got to bend down to the baby's level. Our problem is we be on the floor with the baby rolling around. We forget to stand up.

I like that. Strength, there's no question that you're a strong brother. People confuse what real strength is. And the fact that you're pushing back against the system and you're staying true to the principle. Speak to the strength of what you do. All right. Let me tell you something, man. This is what I struggle with.

every day I struggle with balancing how can I love you while effectively opposing what you're promoting? I got to love you the whole time. That's the strength part. I want to be in community with you but I got to oppose what you're promoting

tired babies. You feel me? And that's the tough part is people want you to be one or the other. Either you're a hater or you love everything. And it's like, no, there's nuance to it. You can love people. So for me, D1, if you got a problem with the system, Why you got songs with BG, with juvenile, with boozy, with all these people.

It's because I love these people. And I love them so much that I want to help pull out the best of them. Right. You feel me? Yeah, I notice when I hear those songs, their approach to the music is different. I noticed that, yes. I noticed that. You feel me?

So that's what's going on right now that people have an issue with, bro. You asked me a question about with bank. He said something. What was it? It was that people have been continued. He said it to you, but then I looked at the comments. And it was like, how come it seems like if you want the world to be better, how come it seems like you're just attacking your people? So first and foremost, I'm a rapper.

Right. Right. So I'm immersed in the rap game and hip hop culture all day, every day. Beautiful. Therefore, I have a special love for us. So some people say, hey, I'm going to fix the problem from outside. And some people say, I'm going to fix the problem from inside. We need both type of people.

I'm the type of person that's like, yo, let me deconstruct what's wrong on the inside of this. because I'm in community with us every day. So let me not be around us, but be like, I'm just going to talk to the corporate system. No, I'm around y'all. I got your phone number. I can hit you up and really be in community. So that's why.

So we want to be able to celebrate the foolishness, the ratchiness, the wretchedness, the evil, but we don't want to hear any level of accountability or consequences that come from it. That's a wag, bro. Listen, bro, I'm not crazy, right? I'm just bold and I love God. Oh, we're tired yet, bro.

When you get up in the morning and you look on Instagram, what's the headlines in hip hop from yesterday? Drake sleeping with Sauce Walker's baby mama or something like that. Jay-Z getting on stage at the Roots picnic and dissing nine or ten people, right? If he didn't diss those people, nobody would probably be talking about his freestyle. That's not Jay-Z's fault because that was bars. But it shows you what we have an appetite for. Low-level, low-vibrational content.

Absolutely. Who are you dissing? Who died? Who got killed? Young Doff's killer got paid $500 to kill this man? Come on. And that man said, I didn't even know Young Doff. I feel stupid.

You know what I mean? In hindsight. This is the norm for us. The hair on anybody's arm don't go up. We don't get goosebumps when we read these headlines because we're desensitized to stupid foolishness. Are we tired yet or no? And how old are you? I'm timeless, brother.

I don't have a way. I'm time. I'm going to give you something, right? there was a time where F-O-I for our people, the F-O-I was like one of the most positive things that we could have in our community. But you had to like, you had to like drop the drugs. You had to like, like, you had to like work out every day.

You had to like, you know what I'm saying? Like you had to be a strict, skrick Muslim, right? By that, they would recruit like 40, 50 people and they would be losing like 25. of them because everyone felt they couldn't keep up with the righteousness so because of that there's a brother named clarence 13 x and clarence 13 x is this leader uh he's one one of the people who discovered the five percent what he what he what he discovered was i can't talk to my people sometimes from up here yeah because that's what the church was losing the church was holier than thou at that time

you know what i'm saying and the church was losing people like man you got to be there every Sunday you got to have that that plate and they weren't going to the streets. So with Clarence going for church and then an FOI, then he said, you know what, I'm going to go to the babies. I'm going to go to the people in the community. But I'm going to talk to them and I'm going to be amongst them like that. You understand what I'm saying? Because like I said, FOI, to be down to FOI, you had to have a bowtie on.

You had to be clean cut. You had to wake up at 6 o'clock in the morning or whatever. You had to, I believe they was praying five times a day. Don't quote me on it if I'm wrong. I'm sorry. But then it was that happy medium where a brother said, you know what? We losing the people in the projects. People in the projects want to be righteous, but they don't want to wear it all the time.

They want the messes you got. Right. They just don't want it that way. They don't want to be critiqued. But he felt that healthy medium. And at one point, New York City was 5% out. And it was like the least amount of crime there was because people wanted, people want to information you got. Yes, sir. People who want

this, like, like you said, there's no one that, uh, or wakes up wanting to be a stripper. In real actual, there's no one who wants to be a killer, neither. Unless they was taught that. Like, how we just broke down that example, they had to be taught that by some way. But in my in my approach with you, and we still going to do

quick time of slime just with no drinks. So you, yeah, we're still, okay. I have never listen, I have never had a drink in my life, but I would be willing to drink today. Okay, shit, I wasn't going to drink. Listen, listen, listen, I wasn't. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. If you could do like Jesus and turn my water into wine.

You can turn it. We could. But let me get back to my. So that's what I think like is what for you is, um, I believe your message to JD. And I want to speak about Zeno too. Um, I love how you, you were bottled with I love you. You know what I mean? Um, but, but, but you, it's kind of hard for a man that, I believe he's 56 years old or something like that. He's dated. at Jackson, he's got all these Grammys, he's got all these, he's made child stars into real moguls repeatedly, and here goes this guy from New Orleans, critiquing him, where it's like,

that's why I wanted to use the Clarence X thing. It's like, yo, Clarence didn't come and critique him. Like, if the brothers was smoking weed, Clarence would say, man, you know, you ain't got to put the weed out, you know what I'm saying? Clarence, if they were drinking 40s, Clarence would be like, man, you ain't got to put that shit out, but I'm going to teach you

I'm going to teach you this way. You know what I'm saying? And he gravitated to a lot more of the hood. And that was needed at the time. And I'm going to say that to you. I say like when you have these are rebuttals with some of these rappers, that's the reason why. I don't think they outright saying, fuck your message, D1.

I think they said, man, D1, man. You're D1 and this is Jermaine DeBre. So? No, no, no. But I believe there's a happy middle. Happy middle. Yeah, I believe. I believe there's a happy middle because, you know why?

We are the most easiest people to negotiate once we're on the same level. Once we're on the same level, when we were on the same accord, it's not hard to negotiate with your brother. It's not. It's just, I feel like if they feel like they're being attacked, that's exactly what. You could, like I said earlier, you could attack somebody with a correct message. And the fact is, they used to eating porridge. Right. You just gave them lobster and you, and they can't even finish that meal.

Brother, we're talking about people that's 56 years old. Yeah. People that 60 years old, bro. But guess what? He might have not never got this message. And you got to give it to him. Well, you're going to learn today. Yeah. You're going to learn today.

You're going to learn today. You're going to learn today. In the most loving way, though, bro. And the only reason I'm going public with stuff is because you're pushing this stuff publicly. So now I care about how you. When did he push? He went on a whole media run, a whole press run to promote a man. Magic City documentary that he was a big part of.

Freakness. No, it was Magic City. Oh, I thought it's Freakness. There's a Magic City. No, I'm bucking out. That's Uncle Luke. There you go. And then he was putting out an album after, like, I want to restore the feeling of that

culture in Atlanta when the strip clubs was popping and all this stuff. So I'm watching this take place. And I'm watching him brag on, hey, I spent $10 million in Magic City. I spent $20,000 a week every year for 10 years or 20 years, whatever the numbers was. First of all, he was lying. It's cap. But second of all, even if he was. if it's not capped, it's stupid.

You know what I'm saying? Right. And my thing is just like, bro, I'm saying this only, not because you did it, but because you're bragging on it. Right. When you're almost 60 years old. And that is the part where if everybody's like, I'm going to look like a hater. I'm going to look like a hater.

Guess what? I got something for y'all. I see your hater shirts. I got. Hold on 12. I am a hater. I hate anything the devil love. I hate anything the devil love.

What size you were? I'm a large or extra lot. Yeah, yeah. But I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I wanted to ask you that I actually got that written down on my notes. You said you hate everything the devil loves. That's all I hate. Do you think the devil loves strip club?

I think the devil love God. You think the devil love God? Yep. But I think that if the devil love God. I think the devil is from God. If the devil love God, okay, okay. If the devil love God. Oh, we're going there.

We're going in. Then what about the devil? What does the devil love more than God? I don't know, but I know that. I know that what I mean by the devil love God is he's doing the exact opposite of God. He loves God so. He loves God so much. Then he got jealous of.

Then he got jealous of. It was like, dang, I actually want to be you. You know what I'm saying? So that's the problem with a culture where we build this culture on hip hop, ego, competition. Rap is a blood sport. Stop. Wait, wait, wait. Hold on.

Hold on a second. Go ahead, bro. That's America. Right. Yeah, that's not just hip-part. I like that. American capitalism is the culture that we live in, period. That begins with slavery where old.

old white men would sit back and make black bucks fight each other in battle to the death that's been in bred in us

that's why can't nobody else have nothing but me I'm the best only how Ice Cube say it MTV have a new nigga next year

it can only be one motherfucker so we don't grow up thinking community we don't come up thinking community empowerment self-empowerment we look

we come up how am I going to tear you down. It only be one black man in the room. And that hip hop with rap, that's just the artistic form of that form of thinking. That's not hip hop culture. That's hypocritical hop. Let me tell you all something, bro. And I love you,

bro. I disagree, though, right? Because in New Orleans, I grew up in a war zone. Yeah. But in my house, it went from a war zone to a love factory. Right. Because of my parents, and because of how they raised us. Right. So I know that you could be around something and immerse in something, but you can call

out your own little piece of paradise. So that being said, all the problems that we have with America, as black people, let's stop making excuses when we don't want to be accountable for what we're doing. At this point, bro, we are the ones who are choosing to make murder music cool and normal. We are making

strip club culture cool and normal. And there's people who are saying, yo, this ain't right and it don't have to be this way. But we label them the outcast. And we just need a small minority of people that's like, yep, I don't mind being an outcast. Because at the end of the day, y'all are going to wake up when death come knocking at your front door.

When your best friend get killed. When your son die, you feel me? So that's the problem, bro, is we want to protect this culture. It's called black protectionism. Right. It means anything that's black, if it's black owned, oh, it can't never be wrong. No, no, that's not the case, bro. But I want to give you a case.

Like, one of the, another positive brother I speak to, like I speak to, like I speak to Haq, I speak to Talib. And I speak to David Banner. Oh, I got a story about Banner. I speak to David Banner. And David Banner. Power. David Banner is one of the more. I love building with him.

I love speaking to him. But he also has strip club records. He has records that have catered to the strip club. Now, when they hire David Banner, I can guarantee you. He's going to do one of those strip club records. Now, does he mean it? Does he stand on it? Or is he supposed to say, hey, guys, I'm not on this no more.

He can. He can. Oh, he can just say, I just did the record and go on. I feel like, I feel like, I feel like he's a great teacher, so he doesn't have this excuse. But everybody can't, everybody is not as articulated as you, but David Banner is. But what if he's like, man, you know, listen, man, I did this record with Pimsy. I did this record with, you know what I mean, little flip. I did this record.

It's a, it's a hit. It represents this. I don't represent that no more. But by him. even performing it. Is he wrong for that? There's life and death in the power of the tongue. That's Proverbs 18 and 21. So even if we say,

yo, this is my past. I ain't doing this no more, but I'm still going to push this out there. I'm going to put this energy in the atmosphere, right? Doing these type of songs, there's glorifying murder, glorifying strip club culture, whatever. There's still power in that

because there's spirits that exist in these words that we're saying. Right. Like me recently, I recently just said, I told you I don't know this is off camera I had a show

on Brooklyn I had a show in Brooklyn and me I looked it was Spanish it was black but then it was

a couple of white people and I consciously did not say the word nigger like I consciously was like I consciously like and like you know what I'm saying

like I didn't want to be like y'all niggas want to fuck with me but that's in my lyrics and these are these are the these are the shit but that's not what I would like I'm sorry

so you censored yourself you censored yourself on purpose yes you're against you're against you're against I mean, I tried as much as I said because I used to say, you should say a nigger a lot. Yeah.

So, like, but I'm constantly, it's like when I hang out with my rap friends and we're sitting around and we're in an explicit restaurant and they're saying, hey, man, and I'm like, yo, man, just look at us. We look crazy. Like, we're successful men and we're saying, Nick. So I've been starting this movement. There has not been one rapper who said, you know what he's right. I went online. Yeah. I went online and say, yo, I'm going to stop saying the word, nigger.

Yeah. Have I completely stopped? Nah, I haven't. But I'm trying. Your intention is. pure and they write. But I'm on the island by myself. Come on, no, you're not by yourself. I'm your teammate. I'm your teammate. I got two things

to say. I got two things to say. One about David Banner. Okay. I just signed my record deal. I'm with RCA records. I'm fresh out of being a middle school teacher. Just signed a big record deal. Man, feeling like my life changing. So I'm about to put my first single out. It's called Against Us. I'm like, man, I need a big feature on this thing. I just did a speaking

engagement with David Banner at Southern University a couple weeks before. I said, man, I could get Banner. You heard me? He's from right there in Mississippi. I'm from New Orleans. I'm going to get Banner to on this song. I send a song to Banner. Oh, little bro, I love this song. I got you, right? I'm laced this. So I'm in New York. I'm at a Starbucks and Banner hits me back. I just sent you the verse. So I press play. I listen to the verse from David Banner. As I'm listening, I'm like, oh, you serious? I'm listening. Bro, the stuff Banner's saying in the verse,

I'm like, bro, this don't go with the theme of the song at all, my brother, at all, right? But this is David Banner. How am I going to tell him? Describe that a little better. So he's saying, like, he's saying negative shit or something like that. Oh, man, he's going off, bro. He didn't know you as a car. He knew exactly what I was going.

He said to the record. I sent him to the record. He knew it was up. And, you know, David Banner is pro-black. Yes, yes. And this record was very, uh, the most, it's like, it's like he took out his anger towards every slave master in history and said, I'm going to put it on this song. And white people, y'all are going to get y'all issue on.

this song, right? And I'm listening to it. I'm listening to the words he used. And I'm like, hey, I love it, brother. It just don't fit for his record. But how am I going to tell him that, right? I don't have nothing at the time. So I'm like, do I just say, okay, and we're going to put the record out? Or do I make this call to a dude that's like a mentor to me and be like, big bro, man, I can't go with this verse, bro, this message that you put on here, right? One of the most uncomfortable things I ever had to do, being a young artist in the game. He wasn't speaking negative towards black people. He was speaking negative towards you, like you said.

Correct. Towards white people. Towards the era. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which I'm like, I respect your mindset towards that. Just for this song, like that's not our messages on, right? Right, right. So having that combo with him, you know, Banner, man, big personality, strong will.

He wasn't just happy to hear what I was saying. So it turned into a back and forth conversation. And I'm walking around the block in Manhattan, just walking in circles while I'm on the phone with Banner, right? That's crazy. And by the time we got to. off that phone, we were closer than we had ever been because two grown black men that are passionate figured out how to disagree but still love one another. And it made it to where he was like, I respect you. Even if I don't always agree with you, I respect you because when you stand for

something, you're not going to move off that square. And it's because of your love for God. Right. And ever since that day, our relationship been on another level. So a lot of artists in the game, they want to go one way with their talent and with their creativity, but they just find themselves in a space where it's like, well, this is what the people want from me, right? And I got to give people what they want. No, you don't. Yeah. We got to have a mindset.

I got to get the people what they need because they had 100 rappers in Queens Bridge. They had 1,000 rappers in New Orleans trying to get on. God shows us. So we got to be different than just saying, I'm a yes, man, and I'm going to give y'all whatever y'all want. No, I have to pray, meditate, and think, what do my people need so that now my environment can become a product of me instead of me being a product of my environment? You heard me?

that's that strength I was talking about earlier. Like, that's real strength. You know, when you look, talking to somebody, you look up to a mentor, you know, a successful recording artist going, hey, listen, this is not the goal of this particular project, and I need you to change your message around. That takes a lot of strength, right? Also takes a lot of strength to not waver and stand on principle. Right.

So that's true. I'm going to tell you something, bro. I've been wondering this for a long time, man. when we talk about the message in our lyrics and the things we say, words live forever. There's life and death in the power of the tongue, right? Do you still have that cock of span? No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

You know what I'm talking about? What made you tell the Neptune's that you had a cock and spaniard? I got a teacup yoke. Listen, I just know. I remember being a little kid listening to, Hey, yo, we light a candle. Run laps around the English channel. Neptunes, I got a cockuspaniel.

Break it down for you. You say that. Bro. We bring it down for you. In Queens, in Queens, when a person passed away, we light the candle.

So if ever we've been to a Bronx in New York City, I said Queens, but it's really, it's really New York City. Like, and it's really like a Latin or Spanish culture.

Yeah. So when someone passes away, we light a candle. I'm so mad, I light a candle. I run laps around the English Channel. You know the English Channel is the biggest body of water.

So that's what I'm saying, I'm super dubs. Biggest body of war. I'm running laps around the English channel, which years later, I started to be a fucking jogger. Oh, a run channel.

Yeah, yeah. It makes sense. That's the answer to that for me. We've got you in the running. Yeah, yeah. One last around the English channel, and Neptunes, I got a cock and span you. Back then, we were calling guns a dog.

So a 9mmet was a rock while up. 22 was a cockat spaniard. Oh, that was a gun. Four or five, yeah. So, yeah. I thought he was talking about a pit at all these years. It was my version of a pet back there. Shee.

Okay. Okay. I'm like, man, love the coppers manual, man. I'm in New Orleans, like, what the heck is going? God, no, okay. Even that, even that, even that, even I'm glad you brought that up. Listen. And you're there for heart-wrenching knockouts.

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2026 FIFA World Cup. Stream it all live on TSN Radio. Available on IHeard Radio. I'm Munges shit together and I'm back with a new season of the podcast Skyline Drive. This time I'm diving into a rabbit hole of peptides, organoids, blood boys, blue zones and brain replacement to try to understand what this longevity obsession is all about. and what it really means to live forever, for all of us. I learned about some rad science. I can make a brain for you,

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To make it look more defined. They say it works. I don't know. Listen to Skyline Drive, How to Live Forever, on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Keith Gianmanca seemed like a mild-mannered suburban dad. But secretly, he became someone else,

a master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy. but I felt so desperate that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong on what that might look like? No, I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success. Every family has its secrets.

But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Mainstream media is full of cruel depictions of the unhoused, stories that shame and blame and paint the unhoused as a monolith. We The Enhouse is the Unhoused. a podcast that's changing that. I'm Theo Henderson, creator, and host.

And for years, I've created a space where the unhoused and their advocates can tell their own stories. In the last few months alone, I've interviewed unhoused parents, immigrants, mutual aid organizers, veterans, the LGBTQTIA plus community, and the policymakers who make the laws that impact the unhoused existence. Withian Houses a two-time Webby and Signal Award-winning show with many excited. and guests on the horizon. Tune in this week for my interview with Dr. Jill Wichler,

a street doctor turned influencer whose work with the unhoused community has made a huge impact online and in her community. Listen to Wey and Housed on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. To me, Ferrell was always a conscious rapper. To me, Ferrell was always not, I don't want to say conscious,

I want to say he was always the opposite of gangster. he was always the opposite of gangster and even that right even that I remember at one point his manager Rob Walker his Bob Walker stepped to me and was like can I can I can I because we had we had so many records together

and a lot of the records that didn't come out were like real gangster record but this was these were records that he was gearing me towards like I'm not saying I wasn't would it but what I'm saying is after we had so much success of us working together,

he would pre-work sometime and be like, yo, let's do this. Like, he got a record. I got a record. It's on the, it's on the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the other shit that they had. And if you listen. No, but I have a record on, on, on his, his, his, his, his, his group album. Forget what it was.

I think it was with the other dude. And I think it's called put him up. And I didn't even know he was talking about gang shit. It's him. He's told me. Pull the shit up. He's like, yo, he's like, throw your cake, stuff. Put them up.

Whatever he was saying. And I'm just sitting there because I'm not listening to him. I'm just rapping to the beat. And Rod Walker had to tell me. Like, this was me not being cautious. I'm just, I'm sitting back trying to make a club record. Like another one, we had so much success. I'm just following, I'm not saying, for real,

it influenced me in the bad way. But what I'm saying is, like, I don't want to say I had no choice. I wasn't even paying attention. I was just like, I wasn't attention to his words. His part of the record was gangsta. Gang. You know what I'm saying?

Like, so, like, this is what I'm saying. Like, it was the Neptunes? Clones. Okay, what's the name of the record called? Put them up. I didn't know he was talking, put, because you know, y'all out of the South. Yeah, of course, yeah, yeah.

Y'all can say it was something where it would go off my head. I didn't know. He was literally talking about gangs, put it in up. Wow. Like, like, when I came to, to record the record, his, his, his verse, And his hook was already there. Now, me and him have this, we have this chemistry where I didn't really listen to what he said.

But if you listen to it, if you listen to it now, I bet most of the people think that that was Norrie's idea. Wow. I totally, wow. I bet you. Like, I bet you like, he's talking about, okay. Understanding. Yes, I kid you not. It wasn't me.

Understanding, him understanding who you were or who your character was. Right. Right. And then being in a creative space to say, okay, this is what he needs and to connect it to like the conversation. So like what you do, you have to keep doing. Yes. Right.

We need your message. Yeah. Undoubtedly. Right. I agree. But there's a thing with not but. And there's a thing with understanding, right? Where people aren't put off by the jewel.

Right. Right. Unfortunately, there's some else I want to dress with you because I agree with you. Like we could talk shit about each other and go in on each other and talk about who don't got this and who don't got that and it's all good everybody's with it somebody's spiritual goal you spiritually banked well oh who the fuck is you to be saying who who the fuck is you you ain't know that how come we can accept critique and challenge right when it's on some bullshit right but when it's about elevation and doing what's best for us and our people it's like

oh you know who the fuck is you if you if you i'm gonna tell you something if you in this game more than three years, you are out of the streets. Ooh. I don't give a fuck. Unless you wanted them dumb, dumb dudes. So what I'm trying to say is, it's a way to deliver that message. You know what I'm saying?

It's a way to deliver that message. Like, all of, like, I love that Jay Z line where, like, he was like, yo, lyrically, I wanted to rhyme like Todd Lipopoly. All of us did. Once we all got out the hood, all of us wanted to, all of us wanted to say, y'all relate to us black power. We all did. Like it's none of us, but it's like the thing with the Farrell.

It's like I was, I swear to God, I'm not overselling this story. I really didn't know. I really didn't listen to what he was saying. I was just hearing the flow. And then you know how good producers do. Good producers sometimes might give you the, say the flow, and they're not even, they'll go and fill in the words later. Yeah, yeah.

And I don't remember if it that happened at that time, but I know that whatever it was, I didn't want to. Had he not blaming him, for real. Had he said to me, you're Norrie, we're going to talk about the autobiography of Malcolm X. No, no, no. I would have did that. You would have did it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

One of my favorite songs of all time, hands down, period, point blank. I love my life. Oh, thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I love my life, yeah, yeah, yeah. I love my life back then. Carl Thomas. So how'd that come about?

Okay, uh... Because that's a different, that's a, honestly. Different message. Uh, yeah, that was my little conscious rap. Oh, dear. That was going on. Yeah, yeah, sir. Yes, sir.

Well, that was something, and that's a great question. But that was something that I tried to tell the hood without trying to be conscious. Like, because, like, you got, I love my life. And I said, sold drugs, my life. Not sell drugs. I sold drugs. It's in the past tense, yes. Well, we called Tomas said that.

But you know who wrote that? Who? Nause. That was right. That was, that was, that was Nause, and we were ODN. We had Nause. on, we had nods on body to the Trump, we had nods on

Norris story, and we had Nye's on I love my life. And they were like, yo, listen, we're going to clear one of these motherfuckers. And when I realized Nause singing was the same thing that Carl Thomas. So we had reached out to Carl Thomas, Carl Thomas laced it up

and yes, that was a record that I felt like, I didn't know the hood was going like that because it was soft and it was just saying, yo, I love my life. I love my life. I sold drugs my life. Live my whole. life, I sacrifice. These games we play, we live and play,

happy or sad, just live your life. You know what I'm saying? Let's go. Let's go. Yes, sir. So, I didn't think the Asper the Guard, I only performed that record when I know where the people was at because it's so much down. Like, I don't perform sometimes. You know, my record about

my father passing away. I don't perform that. But, yeah, that was my version. I was there when Carl recorded his death. Yes, yes, yes. So, I know. You see, you see what's beautiful about this moment is which side of us are we choosing to celebrate? Right. When we choose to celebrate the side of us

that's putting thought in and meaning entire music, that's amazing. Nobody's saying let's cancel this whole person or their whole catalog. It's just saying, bro, that's what I feel like your message is missing. Because the part me for cutting you up, but I just want you to say, I just want you to know it's going to be a lot harder

for you to convince a whole generation that, you know, what we did back was wrong. Yeah, even if our message was wrong, it was. It got us to a certain degree, but we can't change the past. We could denounce it like you said, or we could say, you know what, that's not me no more, and that's cool too. But what we

do forward is which you should be judging. That's what I feel like, you know what I'm saying? What we do forward because, you know, how Jermaine the pre-say, you know, listen. That's deep. Like, like, listen, bro, I'm sorry, but that was a strip club culture then. Right. And when now, if he would explain this to use it like this, and I don't mean the strip club culture,

I mean the nonviolence. Because one thing about strip clubs, for the most part, that's the most nonviolent place in the world. And I know how Atlanta was at one point. And when players club, I believe it was Players Club, well, Ice Cube. Yeah. And, huh?

That's what it was. Right? That was the first one where people started to really hang out in the strip clubs. And some people really wasn't participating in that lifestyle. They were just there because that's the actual club to hang out at. You understand what I'm saying? So that's why I want you to like, like, to take

he did, I don't think Jemaine Dupree would have said no, young brother, I think he would have been like, yo, you know what? You write, let me see that now. Yes. But again, what are you pushing currently? Is my that? Yeah. That's what I said, now if he would have said, and I'm currently

going to say, fuck that, and I'm going to do some more. Like, yeah. Like, even Benzino, right, I wanted to touch on that. Even with Benzino, I felt like Benzino was defending him. And then you went, you went, you went back at him. And then that's why I heard Big Bay. He's like, sometimes you be, you, you, you, be going at people too.

I'm going to respond. I'm going to just say this. If you're old and you pushing poison, it's time to get out. Yes. Because we got brothers in the hood still trying to get out. And we got brothers in prison still trying to get out. Since y'all are some senior citizens, I'm going to make this discount. Y'all been around for a while so we know y'all names.

But y'all ain't never evolved. That's how we know y'all name. Y'all think it's cool to still come around and show y'all change. And your money funny, because y'all dumb is blow y'all change. Don't mess it up for these little ones. Gotta point out the fake ones because we know who's the real ones. People don't want to be humble,

so they got to be humble. You ain't kicking no game. You're causing people to stumble. Stop thanking God for stuff God ain't blessed. The devil elevated you. That's not real success. But you still got time if you start to get the picture. It's best to do it now.

If not, death's going to deal with you. Yeah. I just want you to know I believe you said this on a different interview you said oh oh oh New Orleans is not just my stomping grounds

Right The earth is my turf And your turf And your message is so important That I want you to be aware Like you know what Don't stop But let's let's get everybody

Because everybody deserves to hear your message You know what I'm saying? Everybody deserves it Like I said I know for a fact once you kind of make once you make it once you make it in hip hop you're done with the hood especially if you had

you got a hip record you got you know lifestyle you got friends like you can always get money in hip pop you can always like I've seen Jay Ruther Damage the other day his passport is in Europe

you know what I'm saying he's in Europe killing him he don't care about being over here so you can get money and hip hop for the rest of your life and I believe this is me talking to you

I believe your message is so powerful that it shouldn't be alienated. It shouldn't be just for the people who want to change. It should be the people who don't want to change. But if you approach them like,

yo, brother, I just want you to know, this, this and that. But when you're saying like, yo, you know, go back and denounce everything that you did. And it's like, that's good.

That's the hard of mission. You could say, you know what? I pointed it out to you and they could be like, yo, yo, and you know, moving forward, this is what we're doing.

Like, because that's what I thought, I'm not going to lie. I know Benzino, right? So when I see, y'all with the back and forth. Like, I knew his message to you. He's

kind of aggressive guys, so you probably don't know. Right, right. You probably don't know. When he's talking like this and I know the guy. You're D1. You, man. What do you think you are, man? And I'm like, damn, brother, I'm right. I think one, I think it's that Boston accent. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. It's one of it's at Boston. And it's like, he's

actually done things in hip-hop. He's done things. And I don't think he was coming at you. I think that was his, his base and his voice. Like, you never hang out with a Brooklyn person? A Brooklyn person will offend you and you don't even you know they're like you're like yo brookin you're like wait a minute my boy slow that I hate you I'm from Queens bro like like like you know what I'm saying like that's how it is and so that's what I want you to understand like I want you to know everybody ain't against you

and especially the people who disagree with you they just might need that common ground or they need they need to be taught that you know what I'm sad like me like me like I've been righteous I know this I know your message I know I know I know it's It's needed, you know what I'm saying? I know it's needed, and I know it's, so that's the reason why I'm saying, I want you to be careful, not like you ain't doing the right thing, but be careful because I don't want you to be alienating people, you know what I mean? Like the church is for everybody.

Like, you know what I'm saying? If you go to the church, you know what I'm saying? They're not supposed to turn down the crackhead. They ain't supposed to turn down the prostitute. They ain't supposed to turn down the drug dealer. They ain't supposed to turn down, even the murderer. They ain't supposed to turn down these certain people. You know what I'm saying?

They're supposed to sit there because God's going to hear. know everything. So it has to be that. It has to be that with you because you have the chance to do something that's never been done. Like you actually had a strip club song play in the strip club. That's a plus.

A negative strip club. A negative strip club. A anti-strip club. So you got to understand all right. There's something in life where you just need those little wins. And those little wins will add up. Like you get those little wins and I know it's going to sound like a little crazy but like sometimes

you know respecting your elders is like a good thing that's not nothing bad bad too you know what I mean like I do I respect my elders I came up you said you had a place in paradise in the hood well I grew up with my mother and father I know how to open the doors I know how to say please and thank you

I know how to eat you to fork you know what I mean I'm not to say motherfuckers don't know I'm trying to say like I've never I've never I've never, my father and my mother been together my whole life, right? My father passed away in 98, but

my father had green eyes. He was in shape. He was running every day. And, you know, females will come at him. I've never seen my father flirt. Wow. I've never seen that. Like, I've never physically seen my father flirt

or, like, go with another baby. And the other day, both of my kids looked at me that, both of my kids that was with me at that time. They said, Dad, we never seen you flirt. I said, oh shit. Yeah. It fucked me up.

I was like, oh shit. I was like, I almost cry. So I had to change the subject. I was like, get the fuck out of there. But that's what I'm trying to tell you is like, so I'm getting back to your point. Like, I had that same like type of paradise in my neighborhood, but I couldn't show it.

Because I couldn't go outside and brag about having a mother to a dude that got nothing that live with his aunt that don't want him there because his mother of them passed away and his grandmother of them passed away. Dad to the hood It seemed like you bragging When you're saying Just what you got

I got a mother and the father I come home at 8 o'clock at night Right I come home to eat Like I had to come With the street light But guess what Lee Worry from the Panama building

They ain't had that You know what I'm saying Staff from Canada building Didn't have that So this is not something I grew up Not knowing How to promote something

That was positive in my life Right But I did learn how to promote, hey man, if homeboy got beat up down the block, yeah, yeah, let's go over there and ride. That was more popular. So like,

that's why I say that to say to you, like, I understand and I relate to you so much, but your message is too powerful to say it's just for this kind. It's just for the people who want to change. It's for the people who want to change who don't, who ain't saying there publicly as well. Yeah, you know what I mean? It's hard to teach a man who's

rich and has a big ego, though. So here's the thing. I find myself in a tough position because in hip hop, I want to teach the younger generation and I'm able to reach them with no problem, you know what I'm saying? Fredo Bang, y'all know Fredo Bang? That was my middle school student, you know what I'm saying? And now I see he's grown to be a hugely successful rapper. Let me tell you something.

I didn't think that I was signing up to be in a game where I would also be having to teach people that are supposed to be my OGs. No, this is your call in. That's the tough part, but you don't get to pick your calling. Right. So when I'm having to realize that, oh, I got a, teach my generation. I got to teach and reach the younger generation, but I'm supposed to teach

my OGs. The tough part about OGs is some of them are DGs. Right. Disappointing grown-ups. Right? So they're not really OGs who you could really have a good conversation with and man to man. Y'all just keep it a hundred and y'all are transparent and it's love at the center. You got people that feel like I'm too rich

to even talk to you, D-1. I'm too known to even talk to you. And I know this because I went through it with Rick Ross. I went through this three years ago. when Rick Ross was like, man, who is this little baskethead dude from New Orleans trying to talk about the boss? I give out turkey. You know what I'm saying?

I give out turkeys that Thanksgiving. Yeah, me no Brown. Guess what? You give out turkeys that Thanksgiving, but you feed people poison the rest of the year. You feel me? And it wasn't until I got on sway in the morning, and then they hear, oh, this young brother got a platform,

and now he's speaking is that now you listen to me. Me and Jim Jones, we pieced it up since then, and we good now, but Jim Jones had an issue. You know what I'm saying? Like, who are you? Who is this dude to even speak my name? You know what I'm saying? Man, I'm a child of God just like you are.

We all know. So I'm not, so I'm not fint to tiptoe around people's egos and around people's network. Because that is what we blinding ourselves by. And we got people saying, as long as you found a way to get paid off of it, then it must be right. No, but you got to remember, like, like, they say Jesus hung around the poor. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So, so you got to.

to hang around the poor. Now, in that sense, that's poor minds to think it. You know what I'm saying? They got nothing to do with finances. They got nothing to do with finances. And I could do that. So you're rich.

You're rich right here. Don't tell me about another rapper being rich, and then they can't. Because if they're rich, then they can relate to that mind power. And they can relate to that message. I don't know a lot of stupid rich people. I don't know a lot of stupid rich people.

So they know right for wrong. And we all know right from wrong. And we all got that guard in us. We're born with it. If it's not, then there's no more. We took it out ourselves. Oh, you know what I'm saying? So you got to know that.

You got to know that. Like, there's a brother. I'm just giving him. Let's suppose there's a brother right there. And he wanted, but he's like, man, D1 ain't going to fuck with me. I'm drinking. You know what? And maybe he's like, man, you know what?

It's going to take time to get through to him. You know what I'm saying? But we all want positivity. Don't nobody. Because you know what? The example you said earlier, you was like, you know, no one wants to, when one grows up wanting to be a. A stripper.

And we also said no one goes up wanting to be a killer. But we should have said, all of us, no one wants our children to be that neither. But everybody, but we're supposed to be a children. What we call God's children. You know what I'm saying? So, like, that's why that message to me is a little bit like, I literally, I listen to me. I literally listened to you in Big Bang. And I was like, I like, the damn, D1, right.

And then Bank is like, yo, because Bank is like, And to a certain extent, I really, really, it's really because, like, you know, when he said, like, we can't prove, we can't prove certain things that's not facts, right? Like, like, like, like, we, I think y'all was speaking about Jesus. And you were like, well, Jesus.

Well, he's like, but, but Jesus, I think he said to you, but Jesus was betrayed as white. And then you said, but you know that's pitch ain't right. So he said, if they would change the picture to be wrong, why wouldn't they change the story? You understand what I'm saying? So that's the reason why I'm telling you. It's like your story is too strong for them to try to change it.

Yeah. You know what I'm saying? If they change it, then it's still your story, but it's his story. It's a day story now. Right. And like for me, I've seen it. I've seen it with you. Like I see it with you and I see it that you know what?

You're right. You don't have to speak to everybody in a way. But then why is it? Because like I said, like I've never seen the church turn down somebody. I've never seen the church say, yo, you know what? You stink. Yeah, correct. You stink.

Like how a person who could come there didn't shower in five days. And if the church is a church, they're supposed to say, hey, brother, you ain't smelling right? Yep. You know what I mean? We got to shower in the back. Come here. Let us love on you. Let us help.

Let us. Let us give you the bird bath. Let us do you. Let's get you. Yep. And let's do that. So that's the reason why I wanted to say that to you. Man.

Yeah. When I met the game for the first time, right? This was a few months ago, I was like weekend. The game told me, he said, brother, he said, your mission is so important to this world. He said, just don't resort to their tactics. Right. Don't let people pull you off of the path that you're on, right? He said, because when all of our great leaders resorted to the tactics of their enemies, that's when they fell.

Right. So for me, I'm always trying to lead with love. But the thing is, I love you so much that I know you have better in you. Right. You know what I mean? I love you so much that I'm holding you accountable. Like, let me show you what my relationship is like with hip hop. So I just performed that at Rolling Loud.

Yep. After I did some press and some media, right? So I went in the media tent and they gave me this backpack, right? Nice. So fire backpack. Most dope backpack I've had in my whole life is big. It got all kind of different zippers and pockets. But the brand name is not something that I represent, right?

The brand, y'all see, I got, I got dump tape on there. I thought that was a design. You could have. I got duct tape on it, right? Yeah, yeah. And I realized that, man, sometimes we can love the product itself

but we can disagree with what it's representing. You know what I'm saying? So I acknowledge your talent. I love that you are an amazing artist. You're a genius. You're a lyricist. You are a mogul.

You're worth hundreds of millions of dollars. I respect all our hip-hop moguls. But I hate what you representing. So it's like, how do I co-execis? I still use this bag, but I just cover off the brand name. You know what I'm like? I just cover off the brand name. And that's what we got going on in hip hop, bro.

So when I think about stuff like, Norri, you turned me up when I met you, bro. That's right. I met you like six months ago. You really turned me up because you said, young brother, you said you think you're excited to meet me. But you said, D1, I'm more excited to meet you. Yeah. You said, because what you represent on a daily basis. I need positivity in my life at all time.

You turned me up, bro. Yeah, at all time. This is the crazy thing. while Norrie was telling me this and speaking life into me, right? Why this is happening? Birdman, for the first time in my life, calls my phone.

Birdman had been having my number, but he never called me, right? Calls me at the same time Norrie is talking to me. I answer the phone. Guess what Birdman? He says the same thing Norrie is saying. Right.

Hey, young brother, I just wanted to tell you, man, keep going, bro. What you're doing is going to change the world. You know what I mean? That moment right there, turn me up. Nice. you might not always see in yourself

with others seeing you. Right. Because I go through tough times, man. Yeah. I get a post every day on the internet. Yeah. We're trying to help us. Yeah.

It ain't easy. I've been suicidal before, bro. But they critique Jesus. Yeah, they critique Jesus. You're right. And that's a good reminder. I've been that dude to where I got signed to RCA. I made it to the BET Hip Hopal Wars Cypah, right?

And I'm like, man, these 16 bars I'm about to spit, going to change the world, right? Right. So I'm putting all this pressure. showing myself, D, this show opportunity to make it, right? I'm having to let the label hear my verse ahead of time so they could approve of my message. And they're saying, nah, don't say that. Nah, you shouldn't say that.

And I'm sitting here having to revise stuff. And by the time he got- The label was about the BET-C cipher? The label that I was signed to said they had to approve of my verse that I was going to spit on the BET-T site. He had to approve it. No, that my label had to approve of it because they were saying I was representing them. Understood.

Okay, okay, okay. Okay. So by the time we go through these revisions and these little quirks and change this and adjust this bar, I'm feeling like this ain't even really me. You know what I'm saying? That I'm about to get up here and represent with this verse. I get up there. I wrap the verse and my life didn't change. The next day, I had a few thousand more followers online, but it was business as usual.

And bro, I felt like I missed my big shot to make it, right? And the worst part of- Get your message across? To give my message across. At that point. Because the worst part about it was I felt like what I put out there wasn't even my message. It was a watered down version with other people giving their input and saying, don't say this. Say this.

You got to change this. And the worst feeling is to not succeed for being somebody that you're not even really proud of. You feel me? If I'm proud of who I am and I fail, then all good. I'm at peace with that. But to not succeed and be a person. version of yourself that you wasn't even proud of, man, that stuff sent me down a spiral mentally, bro.

So I was in depression for like 18 months, feeling like God. I prayed for that opportunity to be on the BET cycle. And you gave it to me, and I went up there with, oh, watered down version of D1, and I let other people get in my ear who don't know my mission and my vision. And man, that right there, that was a turning point, bro.

I literally contemplated ending my whole life. So I know what it's like to be like, I know who I was called to be, but I'm not living up to that. Well, that's an uncomfortable feeling, bro. Well, yes. You're doing a great job, man. You're doing a great job, man. Like, you know, as an outside looking and it's an inside of looking out, like, I followed your message.

I followed you. I know that you need it. That's why when I seen you, I was like, yo, this is a great thing. I thought of him once we fully booked you because we had a runner. And I was like, you know what? I need Hakein Green to meet. I knew y'all didn't meet for some reason. For some reason, I knew y'all didn't meet because, because, like, you were

version of him. Like, you're a version of him. Like, this is, this is a positive brother. You know what I'm saying? This is a good brother. You know what I mean? No, salute to you. Go ahead. You know how I feel about family over here. Yeah. Like, Tray Champs, especially.

Yes. Especially because you bridge cultures. You bridge generations. Yes. Thanks. You bring different ideas. Thanks. Yes. There's that. The BET Awards,

that was probably the first time thousands of people ever heard of you. Right. A lot of the hours you put, include myself, especially myself, put expectations on things. If you don't have expectations, you can't be disappointed.

That was a moment in your whole career. So that was a building block more so than it was a change the world moment, but then it was a change the world moment for some people who that was the first time I see you, yeah, that's true. I agree with that. That's a fact.

I agree with that. bro, at this point, I got so much freedom because I know that I'm just here to make God proud. And at some point, God's going to be like, bet, job well done, my good and faithful servant. Now, come on home. And I'm going to be at peace with that. I don't care about having a unanimous approval rating. I'm not a politician. So my message is going to rub some people the wrong way, even if I deliver it with love.

You know what I mean? It's going to do that. And that's okay. But in hip hop, we act like you're wrong if you're going. against the grain, right? We have to shift our culture. Our culture has glorified too much negativity for too long.

I agree with him, though. I believe that's more of America's problem than hip-hop. But hip-hop does take a place in that, and I agree with you. So shout out to my brother Papoos. I watch Papuze and my other brother Saigon, right? Okay, I sent you with Saigon. And New Yorkie. I was hanging out of the Harlem.

Yeah, yeah. And I just featured on a record for Saigon, right? A dope record. That being said, I watched Papoos and Saigon on the show, and I saw my name came up. And Papo said, I love D1, I rocked with him, I met him, but I think that he blames hip hop too much for our problems that we have.

He said something along those lines, right, about me blaming hip hop. My thing is this, hip hop is the most powerful voice that the black and brown community have. It's the most powerful voice. So what are we choosing to say with it? In hip hop, if you are rapping something positive or something righteous, you're considered a minority.

That's a problem, bro. If hip hop was doing this, job it would use all this power all this wealth that we've accumulated to actually help change the conditions of our community i want to i want to point out i want to point out there has been groups that represented like you had native tongue where they're at you had tribe called crest uh you had channel live you have uh talib kali you got conier west out loud i don't can see uh peril and and the neptunes uh what black thought black thought uh uh uh uh Saigon, Pat Pooke's.

Loaded Lux. Loaded Lux. I could sit. Yeah, loaded Lux. I don't think murder mook of fish in that category. But like I see that

that culture trying. It's more of Lincoln. And like I said, it's like all of us know better. All of us want to be positive. Some of us just don't know how to get to that red,

that red, serious. I'm just telling you. I'm just, listen, listen. Some of us don't. Like, listen. We got to break this down. Some of us, some of us, some of us know how to get to the movie dinner block and

don't know how to buy the tickets to the movies. And something, you know what I'm saying? Like, so sometimes you got to say, look, look, man, you're waiting outside. I got your ticket. Come in the movie theater with me. You know what I'm saying? And buy the ticket. Some, some, some know right from wrong, but some don't know how to apply right from wrong. You understand what I'm saying? Like, you feel it. You feel it when you're doing something wrong. You feel it when you're doing something right. Yeah. But also, also we are, we are not perfect. Some people need to be like, yo, look, man, you know, I love how you did this part. But yo, look, look, when you do, when you do this, man, you know what I mean? Like me, I'm trying to work on not saying the N-WRWR.

I'm trying my best. But it's still like, and it's a natural response. It's like, what, nigga? Oh, shit, my bad. And so we started doing 10 push-ups. Nice. Right? Yeah, right. Everybody, everybody know that. So we started doing 10 to 15 push-ups. And then, and then, and And then the person who catch you now says, now we give them the right. Like if I got, you know, DeWan,

this question you saying, I get to tell you, like under 50 pushups, but I get to tell you, I want 49. Ooh. You know what I'm saying? Like,

so like, what I'm trying to say is, I didn't know how to get there. I didn't know how to stop saying, but I know that I don't like doing pushups in fucking Times Square. Right, right, right. Okay.

So when the person looking at me and saying, hey, hey, hey, you owe me 40. See, like, I'm sitting back. And then I'm sitting back. And then I'm,

I consciously, like if I'm doing an interview, that's what I'm doing an interview. And a couple of my boys be sitting there and I say, nigga, twice, they're putting up, 40. Nice. Automatically, I go, oh, okay, I didn't know how to stop it.

So automatically I'm at home. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm like, oh, my God. So I'll stop. I'll stop and it's conscious, but to tell you the truth, I didn't know how to get there. I needed something.

Consequence. Yes, I needed something. And now... Accountability. Yes, I needed something, but it was, but I needed it. Like, I couldn't come up with it on my own. So some of us, we need to be talked to.

Nora, you're saying it. We need accountability in our culture, bro. Absolutely. And people resist accountability because they've been rewarded for ratchiness. Right. You feel me? Like, you never really, people have been rewarded for pushing negative messages. So now when somebody's coming along, like, hey, man, you think that's a good message to

send to our kids and our youth? And they're like, oh, he's a hater. Oh, he's getting on my nerves. brother, it's accountability, brother. That's what we need. So I'm asking y'all, because it's a three-step process. I teach a college course on this, right? I heard you say that.

Yeah, yeah. So in my college course, it talks about how do you create a new norm in society, right? It's three steps. The first step is motivation. The second step is deliberation. The third step is normalization. Let me break that down. Motivation means you just need a few loud, committed voices who are saying,

And hey, this system is broken. And y'all are not going to make me think I'm crazy. We can do better. You need a few people. I'm one of them people that's going to keep saying it, bro. It's broken. This ain't hip-hop. This is hypocritical hype right now, right?

Right. You need that. Then you need people who can say, okay, now we're going to have some accountability that we're looking to restore and bring to the forefront, right? That's the motivation stage. Hey, the system is broken. Let's bring some accountability. And you got to keep saying it, right?

The second stage is deliberation. It's when people start to say, you know what? He might be right. He might have a point. Now he got me thinking. You know what I mean? When people start to deliberate, now you've got to have a new reward system. Now people got to see D1 made it to drink champs without compromising.

Oh, that's fine. That gives me hope. Yeah. Like, right? So people got to say, wait, the reward system is showing that being righteous and standing true to your morals and your convictions could actually. actually help you elevate, right? Elevation without compromising.

We got to show people that there's a new reward system. So people deliberate about it and they'd be like, dang, maybe we could do better. Dan, another rapper got murdered. Right. Dang, another rapper catching a Rico charge. Dang, another female just making vagina music. You heard me?

Like, what is we doing? And it starts to click and people deliberating. The third step is normalization. That's when we all the way start doing something different and people stop resisting and hanging on to the past. Yeah. What's happening right now is you got rappers, no disrespect. You got rappers.

You're a rapper too. Yeah. But listen, you got rappers who are massively successful by the world standards. Man, I'm platinum. Man, I'm a multi-millionaire, right? They're in their late 40s, they're 50s, they're in their 60s. And now they feel like the last thing I'm going to do is change for some younger dude that's coming along or a new movement that's trying to say that what I got rich and famous off of was wrong. But the devil can elevate you too.

Lord, that's a hard thing to comprehend. I know as I say that, nor are cringing. I understand. But listen, bro. Listen, bro. There are a lot of people who have been elevated, bro. Adolf Hitler was elevated. But he was demonic.

You feel me? Jeffrey Epstein, elevated. Got you. Demonic. So we can't look at it. Platformed and magnified. There you go. Just because something, thank you, brother.

Just because something has been platformed and magnified, we got to come along and find a way to say, Listen, brother, you're a legend, but you're a legend at what? Are you a legend at making murder music? Right. Are you a legend at making music that make it cool to sell cocaine to your community? Are you a legend at talking about how many women you ran through and how many dudes baby mamas you slept with?

And that's a humbling thought when people be like, man, it's very comfortable to just sit here and be celebrated all my life. And what's going on right now is we're in step one, which is the motivation phase, bro. people like Norris said, people know that something ain't right. Why all these rappers keep getting killed? Why all these rappers keep catching charges?

Why are the street code? The people move the gold post. What's a snitch? Did he snitch? Wait, did he snitch wait? And this is what we're talking about on a daily basis in hip-hop? Who slept with what rapper baby mama and da-da, what sex tape leaked?

And this is our car. Is this the best that we got to offer to the world? People know that there's more than this, but they don't know what the difference looks like. Right. Right. They don't know what the new normal

is going to have to look like. And that's what I'm here to say. Bro, you can still be celebrated. We just got to celebrate a different side of you. Let's celebrate the side of Lil Wayne that got the whole hood on the skateboard. Right. Let's celebrate the side of Lil Wayne

that's a lyrical genius that's talking about God bless the dead, losing his daddy rabbit, or talking about coming up from Holly Grove, now being a multi-millionaire and being a world smith. Let's celebrate that side, but let's not celebrate the side that

as a man in his 40s is still glorifying murder in his music, still glorifying doing drugs or selling drugs. Like, let's be selective as to what we choose to magnify and elevate. Well, I agree with that in its totality. Like, I remember when Jay-Z said, let's not win throwback. And everybody did it. And everybody did it. I felt like that was a plus and hip-hop.

I felt like when he did 4-4-4, it was a plus and hip-hop. But you got to realize, Jay is at that level where he don't have to answer to nobody. I'm not to say these other artists have to answer to somebody, but it's just like you said. If they did that to you on a lower level, and they ask you, yo, let me hear your vocals before you go to BET. I can't tell you definitively that they're doing things like that now.

I can't say it because I'm not on a record label, like no more. Like this is what I'm doing. But I could definitively tell you, like, at one point, when we would go to Paris, like we would have to have security we would have to have because of insurance purposes so I didn't even know I had an insurance policy on me so this is what I'm trying to tell you is like

certain of these record labels you might present them with two and say this is my two singles and one might say pop that coochie and one might say pop your collar because we and one might be a positive message and one might be a negative message but it's crazy because as much power as we

have, like how you're saying, hip hop is, you know, the most influential culture. As much as if we have, I can't lie to you, a motherfucker will be scared to not know that that normal dollar is there. And I know that this is not about the dollar. This is about unpoisoning our people and moving forward. I know this is about, but, you know, it's going, it's like, that part is hard because there's a lot of people who will present these records. and these records not work

and the record label would say, I told you so, right? And we shouldn't cater to them, I agree with that too. I told you so, but what are they saying today, wives, today, today, today, when they say, man, this is not the same for you no more. Like, you ain't, you ain't, you ain't bringing home the money no more. You ain't bringing home this or you're not, you're not even,

you're not even in the algorithms of what's going on. Like, I can see your point, but I also want to be God's advocate and say, you know what? I don't want to say like I can see certain people folding when certain things don't work and a person is going to them and say

well it ain't work because you ain't do this like for me I'm sorry I'm not trying to make this example for me but for me and I know this is going to sound a little crazy LA Reed had took over

Dev Jam in between mine I had had a record called what Little John and Ashanti on it. And I forget what it was called. It was like I was following the Little John movement.

You know, Little John was like, so whatever it was called. You could look it up as I had Little John, Norrie featuring Little John and Ashanti. So I went, I love this record, right? L.A. Reed had beef with Ur-Ga. Gotti at the time. Like they was having a misunderstanding. They was having something. And Ashanti was signed to Irv Gotti at the time. Of course, yeah.

So L.A. Reed is telling me, hey, man, I'd rather you use this record. This is called Amagie. This is a totally different record from this. I had this like, what's it called? No, like, only one. See, one, hang in a young girl. Yeah, there it go. Yeah.

So, um, young boy, young girl. Look at that. Look at the difference between it too. And L.A. Reid picked Amagie. Right? Now, I had had the choice. Like, you know, I pick Amagia. Amagis also produced by Farrell, ironically.

Okay. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. Right, right, right, right. Amma Gia, a young boy, young girl, right. So, um, we, hey, young girl, a home boy, young girl. We told him him to pick up that. Obviously, that was kind of like positive, too.

I didn't even peep that. Yeah. But L.A. Reed picked Amagee. But L.A. we didn't pick Amage. I don't think he picked Amagie because that was the right record. He picked it because he didn't want to have to deal with Irv Gardy at that time. Right. and what her and Ashanti was doing.

But I had a choice. I had a choice. I could have easily said, yo, I wanted to go with a young boy or a young girl. But I'm sitting there like, this is my first time. Me and L.A. Reed, this is my first time? And is it the first time I meet this man? I'm going to tell him no.

That's a business decision. You know what I'm saying? It was kind of like, and I knew Amundee was not the right record. I look at that record to this day. And I'm like, damn, bro, I got tricked. You know what I'm saying? I don't want to say I got tricked. I had a choice.

An IHard Radio experience, weekend gold tickets to Ilsoniq. One, two, three. With Dom Dalla, Chris Lakin friends, Wully, Deadmouse, above and beyond, subfocus, and more. With flights from Porter Airlines, three nights at Residence in downtown Montreal, and $1,000 cash. Enter for your chance to win at iHeartRadio.ca. Ilsonique in Montreal, every day you enter is another chance to win. I'm Mungesha Chitkeh, and I'm back with a new season of the podcast Skyline Drive. This time I'm diving into a rabbit hole of peptides, organoids, blood boys, blue zones, and brain replacement to try to understand what this longevity obsession is all about and what it really means to live forever for all of us.

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but secretly, he became someone else, a master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy, but I felt so desperate that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong and what that might look like? No. I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success.

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You ever have somebody give you an alternative, but you know it's not really an alternative. Right. Because you know if you go against them, then it's going to be like that. So, like, I'm telling you I dealt with that. But imagine, imagine these people who right now, D1, they don't even need them for videos. I've seen a video of me. And I was like, is that me? I'm seeing

body in the truck with us These dudes in a whole video They need a whole video of me I had to Did I ever do this? You know what I'm saying? So just think about that record label right now Who got a young man

Likeness, they own it They can do what they want Yeah, they got a young man image They signed 360 They could get everything And then the record label gives them This choice, this alternative And says, yo, look man,

you'll go with Rewin or you'll go with cannabis And what is yours? And that young man says the wrong thing, whether they like it or not, they could probably still use that image. This is what's best up. There's good things about AI,

but then there's bad things about AI. Correct. And these record labels, they're not going to play with these young people. They look at, they say that as soon as you get signed, they're looking to sign someone else. Because you have a life. You have a shelf life on, on this. And it's gotten worse and worse because the music has became disposable.

Yeah, more microwavable. You know what I'm saying? So, like, what do you feel about that? Yeah. So I feel like we have to understand. Our purpose in life is not to make money by any means necessary. Our purpose in life is to make God proud. Right.

You can't know what your purpose is without being connected to your creator. Right. So if you know your purpose, before you get signed or before you start making music, then no matter what's going to pop off in the world's eyes, you're knowing why you were giving this gift and this platform. Right. Right. So that right there makes it to where

If I'm not supposed to make it Then I'd rather God say D1 You're not supposed to be a rapper no more Because I can use you more effectively in a different profession You get some people who feel like Their only purpose on earth is to rap So that means I got to say whatever the people want In order for me to make it

That's the problem bro We should never be a slave to a profession And you got so many people that's like bro I got a rap by any means necessary No you don't go get a 9 to 5 But hear me out That's not about to say yo But let me just say this.

Hit me out. So in this game, Chris Lighty, my manager who passed away. Rest of peace. That was your manager. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Violator records.

When I was in college, not to cut you off. I had no problem. I used to intern for Zah Entertainment. Jim, Jim, Jim, Jim, Hinchman. Right across the street. That's crazy.

Okay, so look, so let me tell you what he used to tell me. And this is a famous thing in the industry. He just always say, you do one for them and then you do one for us. You do one for, like, you do one for them, like, and then you do one for me. Yeah.

And they do that even with movies. Like, like, I believe Ryan Cougla said that he had to do one movie that the studio approved and then he did the other movies. And that's how this industry is sometimes. Sometimes it's like, yo, you know what? Got a story for you. Okay, you do one for them. And then, because let's suppose, let's suppose that example,

did. You do one for them. It works. And now I would say, well, now I want to drop my, my positive thing. And, no, but what happened? I mean, at times, like, I've been, I've been able to do that. I've been able to get away with that. Because you gave them one. Yeah, because, like, like, my first single was supposed to be banned from TV. Then, they didn't want that single single. Then when I played Super Thug, which you said with, uh, Cocker Spaniel, you know what they said to me? This record is too dark. The DJ, so if you look at that video, I did that video in Bright. I did it in daytime on purpose

because they said my record is too dark. And they actually went with N-O-R-E, which was the darkest record on the album. Right, right. They was like, because track masters reduced it, and at the time, track messers were still hot. You know what I'm saying?

So I had to give them one, but guess what? Had I went with my one, which is a Super Thug, which you talked about, I would have went platinum off top. So I had to go a slow platinum because N-R-E was like a,

it was against the record. It was against, not the album, but it was against the record. So I've been able to be successful like that. I've been able to say, all, cool. I gave you T O&Y. Now give me bloody money. You know what I'm saying?

Like, I gave you this. So what do you say to, like, people like that? I'm going to say that. Is that a fair compromise or if you should never compromise? No, it should never be a compromise. Okay. You know what I'm saying? Like, I know you know that.

I'm going to tell you. Now, follow me on it. I used to be a middle school math teacher. Yes. What is two minus two? Zero. What's four minus four? Yeah.

zero what's 10 minus 10 zero so my thing is this whenever we're saying hey man I gave them that negativity so I could do some positivity I gave them they reckon I think they're negative they usually could be yes yes I agree so here's my thing

we talk about balance we need balance in the game no we don't need balance in the game we don't need any negativity glorified period if you serve the industry they're going to say we do need balance We need five drill rappers, so we need one positive rapper. That'll help, you know, balance it off a little bit.

In God's eyes, he's like, no, there's no such thing as I want a whole bunch of negativity, and then I want the positivity to come balance it off. That's the issue. You got people that serving the industry, and you got people that serving God. And it makes you make different decisions based on what the industry told me this. The industry said, if I put this type of single out, then I get to put a more positive single out after. God says, man, use your gifts to serve me 24-7, 365. That don't mean you can't be creative and talk about negative things,

but you won't glorify those negative things. That's my outlook. So we got all these industry compromises that make sense from logical terms. Like, yeah, that makes sense. But bro, why we got so many rappers that are dead and in the graveyard now, but you can say, but they had a positive song on their album, they had a positive song, wasn't that cool? But it's like, at the end of the day,

there's life and death and the power of the tongue. So why do we want to give any power to evil and negativity? Okay, so because I'm with you, not against you at all. And I know the struggle

of being a conscious, positive rapper who had a major label deal, right? But we stuck to our guns. We didn't waver. We didn't... And then we was ghosts.

So our first single, Madism, That was the biggest record we had, right? It's about weed. Still to this day, it's one of the weeks. Being tough, because I was a school teacher. I didn't want to put out a record about weed. We had a record called Cause.

It was called What? Cause and effect. Wow. About not saying the word, nigga and bitch. Wow. That's what we wanted the first single to be. We fought, held our ground. It was like, listen, we're going to send out this test press,

and we're going to let the DJs to die. And the DJ's over. overwhelmingly said Madism was the first single. Or was that the algorithm started from back then. That was the algorithm. But it's also about, like, there's the ideal, and it's where we want to bring people, and there's a reality about where people actually are. And there's five, there's ten, and there's 85.

And even within the five percent, there's five, ten, and 85. That said, 85 is always going to be 85ers. We have to create a culture, right, that brings the 85 is over to where we at without them even realizing that happened to us in 86, 87, 88. Rakim, KRLS1, Big Daddy Kane, other artists, they wasn't all positive. They had a balance where they could reach certain people, and then that turned into a trend where more people came over to positivity. But there's five, this 10, and this 85. When that trend ended, the 5% remained kept steady doing the work. I personally feel like not that you're the result of that work, but you're a growth.

You're another progression of that growth. I want you to realize, though, there's always going to be really five, 10, and 85. Even when everybody's doing it, there's really only 5, 10, and 85. Man, that sounds cool. We got a change. I just feel like them numbers is like made up though, you know what? Because at the end of the day, I serve a guard that's like, look, if they got a hundred sheep, you heard me? And if 99 of them is going in the right direction, but one is veering off, the guard I serve is like, I'm going to do everything in my power to go get that one.

You know what I? Right. Even though the other 99 is good. So that 5, 10, 85, that's cool math, but there's some different arithmetic, you heard me? So then it's like, wait, now we got to use our power and energy to go get that one. And that one matters so much. So it makes it to where I can't be satisfied if I know that the devil is still getting the glory from a art form that God could ultimately be using to save our community. And that was therapies right now, unfortunately.

Isn't there a scripture? I believe, I've got where it is. Or what is the Bible or the Quran, I forget. where they actually looked down on music because it was... The devil was the minister of music in heaven. The devil was the minister of music in heaven. He was the mother going like this.

Literally. And you make music, right? Yeah, right. So he knew the power of it. He knew the power of it. So the thing is, if the devil knew the power of music, who the heck are we to sit here act like it's just entertainment? Right, right.

Boy, you sound crazy. When the culture is telling me it's just entertainment. It's life and death in the power of the tongue, brother. That's Proverbs 18 and 21. So my thing is like, we are programming ourselves. Oh, absolutely. To literally make murder music sound cool and normal. We programming ourselves to make being a drug addict or a drug dealer sound admirable.

But it's not just us, man. Like, when you look and you go to the movie dealers, there's R-rated movies everywhere. I got a rebuttal. Okay. There's R-rated movies. Okay. But when the last time you seen it, actors getting murdered in real life behind a role they play.

That's the cultural norm of keeping it real. We got to be the thing that we project. In hip-hop. Because keep it real is one of our main phrases. Absolutely. And guess what? He's only who he is because people felt like, oh, and-o, he's authentic. Right.

He's real. D-1, all these years later, 15 albums deep in the game. That man ain't never fold, and that's why we respect him. You, it's like, yo, you show me videos of you and KRS-1. from back then and you're the same dude now. So we respect authenticity and hip hop. We can't compare it to movies where we know that's playing a character.

My favorite analogy is their Shrek movie. I love Shrek. Eddie Murphy does a phenomenal job. That's Shrek. He's hilarious. Watch the whole series. I love Shrek.

It's not the Godfather, though. Like the Godfather in terms of the themes, the concepts, what's being told, the actual history that's in the movie Godfather. When you watch the Godfather, when you watch the Godfather, it'll help you understand a lot of things that's going on right now

in the political world, actually. The Godfather's just one of part one and part two. Not glorifying the gangsterism. Just talking about the story, the acting, the acting, the cinema of it. Shrek doesn't compare. And we got to do that. The Godfather part three, he became a priest.

He became a, he became part of the church. Just gangster. So that's what I'm saying. It ain't never too late, yeah. Never too late, my bad, my bad, my bad. Yeah. Well, no, no, that was just it. It's the, how we look at, you know, there's public enemy.

Right. And then there's other things. Right. There's cane. There's other things. Like, like, this. Brother. Hey, hey, can we be honest?

Because I'm going to maximize this time here, bro. Can we just keep it real about the fact that some people just don't want to see the world change? Absolutely. Can we admit to that? Some people just don't want to see things change. Absolutely. Because they've figured out a way to make money off of the way. way things are currently, right?

So that's an individualistic mindset as opposed to a collective mindset. Absolutely. Sometimes what's best for the community ain't best for you individually. Absolutely. And if you're really matured, then you'll be like, dang, I could sacrifice what I might want in the short term

for what's better for all of us in the long term. That's how I was brought up. But you don't think it's a world for both. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, the think about it is this, right? There's a lot of people with music. that I was listening to that glorified the drugs to do that. They don't even do that shit in real life.

Most of them don't. Doesn't that make it worse, though? I'm asking. This is, because you know it's wrong for you and yours. But you push it on. And you know the music industry, the target market is 13-year-olds. Right. Let me tell you about the audacity of a phony.

The audacity of a phony is that when you simply call them out on, hey, brother, I was listening to your music and you murdered 80 people on this song, according to this song, but in real life, you ain't never killed nothing. But isn't that art, though? And they'll get mad at you. Isn't it art? Yeah, isn't it art? Then put an F on the front of your album that says fiction.

I need rappers if it's just art. And if they're like, bro, all this is kept, put an F on the front of your album. Ain't that what parental arises is? No, parental advice means I got curse words. Right. And you try to have it both ways too Because, on one, you're keeping it real You really about this life

But the next second But the next second, oh no, it's just entertainment Exactly Which one is it? Exactly. A judge, a judge, I know I'm in court right now But that was just entertainment That wasn't nothing.

Man, listen, brother, a victim mentality Will prevent you from ever becoming a victor. If you want to be a victim your whole life, you can never be a victor because the victim mentality is comfortable because it's like, dang, I got an excuse to never grow. Literally, man, I grew up without a daddy. Man, I grew up in the hood. Man, they hate black people.

The white man always trying to hold us down. That mentality, when we just keep saying it over and over, it makes it to where we can never overcome it. But if you're going to speak about your tough circumstances that you grew up in, how about you start speaking about how you plan to overcome them? That's what we don't get to. We have glorified the hood. so much in hip hop for the way it is

that we don't talk about what we want the hood to evolve into. I don't think it's the hood. I think it's the lifestyle. It's like he was saying like a lot of us, like you said, you said actors. You said, these are actors. A lot of people who didn't know when Scarface came out

that that was acting. That was fate? A lot of people didn't know that. Al Pacino wasn't, wasn't, you can't use back. Al Pacino wasn't well known at that time. People who thought that was the first time you saw him. I'm telling you from the hood.

I'm telling you. People didn't know. New Jack City was fake, they didn't realize it. Like, they went there, and so it's not just hip hop. Like, I'm telling you to this day, if Scarface come on television, people are going to watch that shit. And there's still people that's going to look at that and say, you know what, that's my childhood.

And even though you look at it now, you're like, wait a minute, this motherfucker was sniffing cocaine the whole time. That's hilarious. This motherfucker was killing people the whole time. Taking dudes girls. Not only saying dudes' girls, shooting his own man. for even trying to marry his because he tried to marry his sister.

He didn't try to smash. He tried to marry him. And you realize that we praise this guy. There's even a rapper called Scarface. What do you think he got that for him, sir? You know what I mean? There's even people who have scars on their face who they face and all this crazy shit.

This is all from that movie. And I'm trying to tell you, our people couldn't differentiate that this was acting. We got fucked up when we seen Appalachino on Carlita. those ways. He was like, wait a minute man, that's akin to be the same guy. Because like, that's how ill he acted. Like, so what I'm trying to tell you is, some of these

artists, we are, they are in the movie. They are in the movie. They, you know, there's, there's images that they come in with. And then there's images that the record label portrayed of them. And I'm going to be honest with you. Sometimes they become that actor. Sometimes they do what's called

method acting. Method acting where they're so numb to who they're playing. They forget that that's not them. A lot of people say that happened to Tupac. I believe that. I believe that. I believe that Tupac,

I don't think he was fake. But I believe that he was all of that. Jimonize, sometimes Jimonauts can be all that. He was pro-black. I believed him. I believed him when he was pro-bac, but guess what? I also believed him when he said, hit him up.

Yeah, I also believed him when he said, and this is real shit. I also believed him when he said, dear mama. Definitely. But I also believe him. believed him when he said Brenda's got a baby. And I also believed him when he said, so like, what I'm trying to say is like,

like sometimes you can be that and you'd be caught up. Now, I'm not, I don't, because I don't want to, this to come out like, oh, Tupac was an actor, and Tupac was method acting, but I'm saying that's a possibility in that case because he was, he was, he was, he knew too much of black pride to ever participate

in negativity. But guess what? I can't, I can't tell him how he felt when he got hit up that night in the studio. I can't tell them. So that's why, you know, every action is going to deserve a reaction. So I can't tell. So, but that's a great example. Like, some of us get caught in that character. They're playing so much that they become that character.

Like, Nause, for instance. Like, when he did Belly, those weeks up until, like, he was him, bro. Yeah. Like, he was, he was, he was, he was, that was a positive character in the movie. And this is a positive way to do it. Right. But, you know what I mean? Like some of us, imagine, Nas is smart.

Yeah. He shook it out, but, you know, and then he became back who he was. But some of us, some of us do get caught in, and it's not, I can't tell you it's right or wrong, but I can say, I can see where you fell because I can see where a person says, man, I'm going to go to the strip club and, you know, I'm going to perform my record. And then, you know, they feel like king. like I say this a lot, man. It's hard to be the man on Monday

and not be the man on Wednesday. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's really hard. It's really hard. And it's hard to transition from who you were on Monday, even though you're both. Like, that's why I embrace you.

So I embrace this culture is because I know I'm that positive guy. I know I might not, I might not portray it or not because guess what? I don't know how to portray it. Like when Angie Martinez interviewed me, and she was like,

yo, you've been with your girl for a long time. Like, why don't you'll never promote that. Go look at the interview. I'm not trying to get the views. But I literally looked at her and said, I don't know how. Like, I just kind of don't know how to be like, yo, I'm a loyal man. I come home to my wife every night.

I just, I don't know how. What's crowd am I talking to? You know what I mean? It's not that I'm stupid. It's just that I don't know how, but back to the point. Like, yeah, some of us was watching Scarface, and we didn't know we was watching a movie. Some of these artists, you got to give them the benefit of their

doubt. They're playing a role and they don't they're playing the role. They just so caught up in it that that method acted without knowing it. Yeah. Hey, bro. Some rappers, the only thing they've ever been celebrated for is making a good song. Their whole life, the only thing people ever applauded them

for that made them feel good on the inside was the music they made. So now they become a prisoner to their persona. And they're like, dang, whatever type of song they celebrated me for, I feel pressure to have to try to reincarnate that and try to do another version of that so I could continue to get celebrated.

We all want to be celebrated. We all want attention. I wouldn't be in front this microphone if I didn't want attention. Well, Arkshow was about giving people with a flowers. Hold on, if we remember what you're saying you want to give your flowers right now?

Why? You remember what you were saying that the Snoop Dog is better than the Grammy because of the guy. Oh, man. Yeah, how good. Thank you, brother. Thank you, brother.

But, but, yeah. Okay, finish what you're saying? So, yeah, bro. Because I'm telling you, man, like I'm sorry to reiterate, but what I'm saying is like, it's not, it's, it's a lot harder. Like, um, I was, I was watching an argument the other day. And someone said to us someone, the man, it's a lot harder for you to critique me for you being you and not know what my life is like.

And I was just like, this is too strange to argue. Okay, okay. I was air hustling. Okay. I was like, oh, that's, because sometimes you don't know what a person is. life is. That's why when I said to you, you know, sometimes you might have to talk to a person, you know what I mean? And I'm just letting you know, like, some artist, and I'm talking about it got bad, but from when I was coming up, like, I'm sure, I'm sure it would be hard to tell.

Boot can click, hey, man, you know, I know your guys are conscious, I know you guys, but we need a positive record out of your guys. And then it not work, and then you'd respect them to afforded them to keep it going. It's like, you've got to have that balance of life. Like, You said no balance in life. I respect that because, yes, we've been dealing with negativity way too long. Correct. Way too long. And we need more.

But it's going to take a time. And, but not to say that they're naive, do know that some of them are playing in the movie that they don't know they're playing in. Damn. Yeah, some of them are. So that means they're being used. Yes. When I look at the Y-Ns, but you know, like, you said something, you said rappers are only praised for being, like, you know who's one of the ones. most positive people that I know

and that never gets raised for it. Kodak Black. Kodak Black goes to pay his people rents. He just paid eight years. He's philanthropy. He does certain things like and we only focus on him when he's on the floor eating some food.

So the thing about that is when he's on the floor eating food, guess what? That works for his algorithms too. It's hard to tell him. You tell him, you know, you got to. start protecting you, you can't be going outside of doing this. And he's like, man, I just got two million fucking views.

And there's 13 shows. And this man is 25 years old. That 25 year old is hard to talk to. Hey, so in my college course, I teach about the three parts of the industry. Just the three Cs, right? So you got creators. We're talking a lot about artists. That's creators.

We ain't talking about the CEOs. Right. The CEOs, that's commissioners, right? That's the other C. But the third C is the most powerful. Creators, commissioners, and who's the third C? Confing us. Consumers. Consumers. Consumers. The fans, right? That is who actually has the most power.

Because when we are an artist and we're looking online to see, well, what am I getting attention for? Am I getting attention for showing the most negative side of who I am? Or am I getting attention for showing the most positive side of who I am? The fans need to have accountability as well. Because if you applaud people for showing the most evil, sinful side of them, then you're going to applaud them right into the jail cell, right? Absolutely. You're right. That's also this.

Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. The other day, someone sent me someone fighting. Okay. I clicked the link. I hated it. But I had already clicked the link.

So more fights came from... You know what happened. More fights came. I was literally having, like... I literally had to take a shower. I felt dirty. I was like, why am I watching? Like, why am I?

But then, like, certain things is, like, I don't get it twisted. I didn't just... just strode through. I watched it for 15 seconds. Like, damn, oh, damn. And then I realized I'm caught into the algorithm. Yeah, that happens.

I'm saying. It's harder, like, what I'm saying? It's harder, like, it's harder for a person to go dry turkey. It's harder for a person to say, man, you know what I mean? But in due time, that's why I feel like you got to, you got to work with it. Yeah, I'm in this thing for the long haul. Right. I'm in this for the long haul.

This ain't no quick method to try to go viral and then feel like, okay, I did what I needed to do. Now I'm gone. 2010. Thank you, brother. My whole adult life has been dedicated to doing God's work and making this world better by using my gifts. I spent two years in the classroom as a middle school teacher. I thought I could be most useful there. When I started my students were memorizing their favorite rap lyrics to Lil Busy, Lil Wang, Kevin Gates. Before they could memorize the math that I was trying to teach them, I said maybe if I'm a rapper, I could have the heart of a teacher, but the platform of a rapper. And that platform would allow me to reach more people, right? So now in the rap game, people think I'm some new dude that just came out two years ago. Brother, I've been doing this since 2010. I'm on my 15th album, bro. I'm a fellow at Harvard University, a professor at Tuft University of hip-hop. You know what I'm saying?

United States hip-hop cultural ambassador went to Zimbabwe in Africa, teaching the African hip-hop artists what we do over here and how to improve what they got going on. Bro, my life is dedicated to serving God. And God said, I don't want you to be Noriega. I don't want you to be Hakeem. I want you to be D1. So do you, but do you in the way that glorifies me. And I figured that formula out as easy as 1 plus 1 equals 2.

So that's all I've been doing, bro. Absolutely. And now in the game, it's the tough part, bro. You end up hell with weekend gold tickets to Lassau, Montreal. Thomas Rett. Mufford and sons. Well, here's my pride and here's my shame. John Party.

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I'm Munga Shat Together, and I'm back with a new season of the podcast, Skyline Drive. This time I'm diving into a rabbit hole of peptides, organoids, blood boys, blue zones, and brain replacement to try to understand what this longevity obsession is all about, and what it really means to live forever, for all of us. I learned about some rad science. I can make a brain for you, and then we can test what draw is the best for your brain, as opposed to his brain.

Here are some hard truths. I would expect Indians to age faster, but I did not expect it to be almost a four-to-five-year acceleration. and get myself into a world of trouble. I'd say probably start bone smashing. That doesn't work. Make it look more defined. They say it works.

I don't know. Listen to Skyland Drive How to Live Forever on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Keith Gianmanca seemed like a mild-mannered suburban dad, but secretly, he became someone else, a master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea?

It seemed very crazy, but I felt so desperate that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong and what that might look like? No, I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Mainstream media is full of cruel depictions of the unhoused, stories that shame and blame and paint the unhoused. housed as a monolith. We the N-House is the podcast that's changing that. I'm Theo Henderson, creator, and host, and for years I've created a space where the un-housed and their advocates can tell their own stories. In the last few months alone, I've interviewed un-house parents, immigrants, mutual aid organizers, veterans, the LGBTQTIA plus community, and the policymakers who make the laws that impact the unhoused existence. We'd in-house is a two-tenth, Webby and Signal Award-winning show with many exciting guests on the horizon.

Tune in this week for my interview with Dr. Gio Wichor. A street doctor turned influencer whose work with the unhoused community has made a huge impact online and in her community. Listen to Weylandhoused on the IHard Radio app, Apple

podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. I got people who let me see. There's people there's people who are praying that I don't succeed because the most successful that I become the more of a threat it is

to their pockets and to their power, right? So I'm at war on a daily basis, right? Even though I'm at war with people, I don't look at the people as my enemy because Ephesians 6 and 12 says we don't even wrestle against flesh and blood. We wrestle against evil spirits

and principalities and dark rules of us. The underworld, you heard me? So with that being said, I could look at a man that's cursing me out. I could look at a man that's dissing me. I could look at a man that's threatening to kill me. And I can still be like, I love you, brother. I love you.

Because I know that that's not the best version of you speaking right now. That's that evil speaking through you. And unfortunately, I see this every day from our people. So we can talk about the enemies that hate us in the White House and don't vote for this person. Don't vote for that person. But, bro, on a daily basis, we are looking around and we act. like it's all love, but the truth is

the biggest threat is the enemy that's working through each one of our peers that we see close to us. So that's what, I'm like, no, I can't just be a rapper and God was like, no, you're a soldier, you're a soldier, you're hearing me? So being a soldier, I mean, you got to rap at an extremely high level, but you also got to be able to relate

to people and communicate in a way that challenges them, but in a way that also loves them. And man, that's why I'd be thankful to people like, Norrit turned me up when I first met him. Great man. I wasn't expecting this. Listen, This is a public service announcement. D1 got flowers.

But some little kid at home need to know, Mama, show this to your kid at home. Daddy, show this to your kid at home. D1 made it here to drink champs and got flowers for being a man of God, for being educated, for being proud to be black, you heard of me? And for fighting the devil. The devil is the only enemy I got.

And even if people threaten my life and hate who I am, it's okay. I still love them, you hear me? and that right there is being celebrated on one of the biggest platforms in the world. You know, you said that a couple of times. I just wonder, we had today. People have threatened your life before? Bro, it happens more than it should.

I know you're talking about having a gun to your head. Oh, yeah, I'll tell you that story. But that has, that's nothing to do with you being positive now. Yeah, bro. Yeah, threatening my life. When I made a stance against the strip clubs, right? Oh, yeah, Magic City, I forgot. Yeah, I was like, wait, y'all trying to have a Magic City night at an NBA game

where kids are going to be at. That's a problem. And I spoke up about it, and I made a song about it. So people in Atlanta start threatening my life. Oh, we're going to kill you without Dracos, and we're going to do this to you, we're going to do that to you, right? Really threatening my life, right? I didn't have people constantly try to knock me off my rock

about thinking you could kill me. You can't kill a man to God, bro. Right. Because this truth that I'm putting out here, this is eternal. Right. Y'all are trying to go viral on a daily basis. I'm trying to go eternal. And going eternal means that every day that I'm living, bro, I'm maximizing my time here.

I'm not afraid of death because I know that it's inevitable one day. Everybody got to die. So when some people threaten you with death, like I get threatened, you know what I'm saying? People unfortunately want to threaten my life. The problem is, bro, the joke is really on them because it just makes me get bolder as I get older. You feel? me, I was listening to DMX on the way here, right? And I, and I, I just think about a brother, the first time I met DMX, it felt like we

were kindred spirits. And he swore that we had met before. He said, oh, you know, dog. Hey, oh, dog, North Carolina. I'm like, ex. I never been in North Carolina. He ain't, you know. He's turning X.

Right, yeah. So we're talking. And I was like, X, we never met in the physical. I say, but brother, spiritually. Everybody saw you online. We're kind of spirit, right? So backstage in New Orleans, right, in the Howling Wolf, that's the name of the venue, we prayed. And for me to be able to pray with a man who I know was a man of God, that man was touched by God personally.

But I know he openly wrestled with demons, right? Openly did. But his humanity made him more relatable. I truly feel like that moment sparked something in me. To where I was like, man, I wasn't even that known at the time. But I was like, man, if I ever get known, I want to be the dude that they know, they see. the guard in me, but they also understand that I'm not claiming to be perfect by any

means, you feel me? So on a daily basis yeah, bro, people threaten me, people try to make fun of me, people try to discredit me, but for what you said, they did the same thing to Jesus. So I continue to walk around with a smile on my face

and with joy in my heart. Because man, this right here, Norwich just touched on a story, brother. I was a... People don't know my story. And a lot of times I do these interviews and we end up talking about the rap game and stuff. When I really open up and tell my story, bro. Like, dog, I was a college student, bro.

I was about to graduate. I'm playing basketball. You're talking about when you got the gun on the game? Yeah. Let me tell you how crazy when you tell that story is. Obviously, I know you survived, but every time I hear you tell that story, I get shocked.

Because it seemed like the way you tell it sometimes, it doesn't seem like you're here. It seems like you're speaking from a whole spirit. outside of your body because the way you describe it is like you were supposed to die. Yeah. Like you were supposed to die. Like what happened? Like tell people, and this was because someone thought you broke into a car?

Yeah. Okay. God bless. Man, I felt I felt the whole sky get dark. I was playing basketball one-on-one against my homie as a college student. All of a sudden these three dudes walk up to us on the basketball court. And they say, hey, y'all know who broke in such and such as call because they had a real popular person in Baton Rouge who lived back there right or their baby

mama live back there so we're like nah man we don't know who broke in there we just playing basketball so two of the dudes was like all good they went to walk away one little short dude dark skin dude in the middle he was like nah y'all niggas lying y'all know who did it it probably was y'all so he pulled a gun from his waistband right so pull a gun out and i'm like all right I got my hand up like this. Once the gun is right here on my temple, the only things I thought was, damn, I'm about to die

like one of my best friends just got killed in New Orleans. I never thought I would get killed, and that's how my life was going to end. And number two, I thought, dang, I wasted my life trying to fit in so much that I was lukewarm. I didn't even stand for nothing. I can't even be proud of myself right now.

I'm about to get killed, and I didn't even stand for nothing that I could be proud of. Go ahead and pull a trigger. And that's what I'm thinking in my head. This white girl was walking to her second floor apartment. She looked down on the basketball court and said, oh, my God. And they scared everybody.

So they all looked up. And once they saw her, it's like, that's a witness now. So if he killed me, somebody saw it. So he got spooked. He put the gun up and they ran off. The part of that story I don't tell is I went to a party that night because I was paranoid to stay in that same apartment complex. Went to the party that night.

Saw the same dudes at the party. Wait, the dudes that tried to get old. The same dudes they almost killed me. I saw them at a party that night. And we was in the club, and they're pointing from across the club tapping each other. Like, man, I go to that dude right there. So then there was a race to get to the front door. I tapped my boy.

I said, we got to go right now. We got to go. And they're trying to run through the crowd to get to the back door. Right. We got out before them. We ran. Man, I jumped across like 10 steps. You heard me to get to the bottom of this ramp

and bam, we ran, got in his car, peeled out. Basically, they try to get you twice. Try to get me twice in the same day. Wow. And the real crazy part, I don't even have peace about saying whose friends it was. But it's somebody who I know at this point.

Personally, you feel me? Personally, somebody who's huge. Somebody that's huge. And that's how I know the power that we have as celebrities because it's somebody who, The only reason them dudes was doing that that day is because they wanted to earn a stripe with their friend. Right, he might not necessarily send him, but they might.

He ain't sent him. No, no, no, no. That ain't no implication on him. He ain't sent him. Yeah, they were just trying to do something to get in this good grace. Yeah, but not me and his personal friends. You feel me? And that's what made me say like, man, like,

bro, the power we have, if we are chosen to rise above the crowd and become one of them ones that made it, like, oh, you made it to a high level. There is so much responsibility that come with that platform in that power. So that's why I take platforms and power seriously, because I almost got killed over some people trying to earn a strike with somebody that was famous. Yeah. That was their friend.

So after that, bro, after that, that feeling of like, dang, I'm about to die and I ain't even stand for nothing. Like, I haven't wasted 20 years of my life. That right there, I got turned up after that. And you got, you know why you're super lucky to? You know, they had to change the laws in New Orleans because I believe people were getting like six years for bodies. Yeah, you wouldn't even, yeah, people weren't even worried about it. It was almost like misdemeanor. Like, I'm not saying it was, but it was almost like

the laws in New Orleans and then I believe it's changed after C murder. I'm not sure. I could be, um, I could be a bugging, um, but I remember at one point it was like, what? Yeah. Like six years, he got six years for a homicide? Like, that shit is crazy. Like, who,

and especially if you're a young boy, let's suppose you're 14 years old. You're right now. Do six years, five years, you come home, you're still 20. And you get celebrated when you come home. They throw you a party when you get out of jail. Wow. But when your cousin graduated from college, he don't get celebrated the same way. Not at all.

That ain't hip-hop. That's hypocritical high. They're hip-hop. Yeah, that's definitely not hip-hop. This is the conversation about what hip-hop is because I think... Let's do that. Yeah. There's rap music.

Yep. The business, the music industry, selling records, commercialism. And then there's the culture, right? Because you talked about a lot of things that you did outside of just being a rapper. But all of it had something to do with being hip hop, right? I do 24 hours a piece in New Jersey as an organizing, activist and educator. I always embody hip-hop, do-it-all-Kelly, West War Councilman of the city of New York, New Jersey, former laws of the underground.

Yeah, former laws of it. Hip-hop. Ross Baraka, the mayor. What? Performed on Lauren Hills album. Right. Hip-hop. Not rapping.

hip hop the energy that we carry the way we relate to one another how we do things hip hop journalism podcasting so it's just dripping in hip hop nobody rapping nobody's spit no bars so how we carry ourselves is hip hop i think we as a people how we carry ourselves and all the many things that hip hop is involved in gets a bad rap because of a part of rap music so yeah i got you i i tell you this bro i was exposed early on a lot of stuff that it let me see the industry side and how dark it was, right?

I had an executive who I was trying to get him to be my manager at the time. He was a gay dude, right? And he definitely told me, like, if I had sex with him, that he'll start working with me, right? I went to a video shoot. I had to drive out of town.

You definitely told me, like, look, if you do something for me, I could do something for you. All right, damn. And if you're real, then you could read between lines. I had no leverage. I had no leverage at the time because I was a young dude trying to get on.

right? So if I had no leverage and no morals, I would have got my booty to it. Right? But because I had no leverage, but big morals, don't sell your ass. You feel me? That's right. I didn't sell my booty, right? That's right. So this is something that people got to know it. That's why I said, this conversation is about purpose. Yeah. When you know your purpose, it don't matter what room you're stepping in. You know, God, you got a purpose for me being in that room. Anything I do in that room has to be something that when I love. leave that room, I could look up and say, oh, you're proud of how I conducted myself. That's right. Too many people get in the rap gang without knowing their purpose. They just think their purpose is to get famous or get some money, right? I did an interview with Memphis Bleak, right?

Memphis Bleak was like, Dee, I promise you, bro. We was just trying to feed moms. We was in the project. You heard me back then, we wasn't even thinking that deep about it. And I understand that. That's why I don't never have smoke for the 17-year-olds, the 21-year-olds, the 25-year-olds inside of hip-hop. But when you 45 and 55, at that point, it's like, brother, you're not an OG, you're a DG. You're a disappointing grown-up.

And we have to be able to call it out and say, I'm calling for what it is, but it's still love. And the real respect me, that's why Kendrick Lamar shouted me out. I don't know if y'all know that, but he did a song called Watch the Party Die. When he was beefing with Drake, Kendrick, the hottest rapper in the world at the time, and did the song Watch the Party Die. He said, I want to be empathetic. my heart like D1 but I will

and then he got silent for a whole ball because he basically was saying I'm so frustrated I want y'all is to die at this point. The party need to die because that's what y'all got us thinking is that all this negativity and sin is cold and he

was so frustrated so the real going to always recognize the real bro and that's why I don't be you know I don't be tripping mad like people are not supposed to agree with what I do if what I'm saying is a threat to what they represent. At some point, we got a clash, and it's a spiritual

war, so I know how to clash with you and still love you in the end, and still put my arm around you and still wash your feet if I need to. You feel me? So, we got a game that we play is called Quick Time with Slime and Start a drinking game, but obviously we're not drinking, so that's okay. But I'm still ask you the questions, and you pick

either all. I did tell you, I will drink for the first time in life. But you got to do like Jesus. You got to turn that water to wine. I can't do what Jesus do right now. If you can't do that, I ain't drinking. Oh, you want to drink for them? I mean, you can. Okay. We're good.

Come on, man. You don't have to have it. Yeah, no, we're good, brother. Stay sober, brother. Stay sober, brother. You don't have to drink. You can smoke. You can smoke.

All right, so it's one or the other. And if you pick both, then we drink, but obviously we ain't drinking, so it's okay. But we're still going to play the game as if we were drinking. Let's go. So when the people see it. the clips, they probably thinking you were drinking. All right. Play and playing the drink. Yeah, all right.

And then you'll keep using that wine. Hey, man, I did not turn water in the wine. Right. DMX or Tupac. Hey, yo, Doug. I got to go with X. You know why? DMX and Tupac both transcendent figures in hip hop.

Right. But I had a spiritual connection with DMX. Right. I met that man. I prayed with that man. Right. And I felt that man's spirit. Right.

And that in-person interaction, nothing could replace that, bro. I truly believe that there are some people that are going to heaven because of DMX's life. Right. No, I believe that. I believe that. KRS1 or Raqq. Me personally? Yeah.

I'm going to go with KRS1. Okay. Now, I got to tell you why. Let's go. Because KRS1, what's his nickname? Teacher. The teacher? And when you think of D1, who was D1 before he was a rapper?

A teacher. You heard me? So anybody that's using hip-hop to educate? people. There you go. To educate and entertain people, you're a friend of mine. So shout out to KRS1. You already know it. And you haven't been to KRS1 show? Oh, I saw him rock a show in Virginia Beach. I was on

the bill. I opened up for him. Oh, okay. A year ago for June T. He's the only one that I see besides DMX, um, that can like, like, have a full-fledged speech in the middle of his performance. And no one kind of was like, he's not even performing. He's just

talking. This is a speaking of it now. Come to the teacher, come to the teacher. Yes, nobody gets bored, nobody gets mad. This is a TED talk. Malice or Mace? Oh, man, dog. I got to go boat. Okay.

And I'm going to tell you why. This is the time we would drink, but I'm going to drink. All right, drink that water. Let's take our water shots, yeah, right? Ooh, that was strong. All right. So, let me tell you why. I met Madlis when he was early into his journey

right after he left the clips. When you say journey, his spiritual journey, his Christian walk, right? I met him early. I went to Virginia, had a real, real good sit down with him and some OGs from his neighborhood.

I think we filmed a podcast. This was at the beginning of podcasting, right? And I just saw a brother who was totally comfortable walking away from everything the devil could offer you and saying, I just want whatever God got for me. And that peace that I saw that he had, I said, God, please bless me

so that I can have that level of peace about doing your will for the rest of my life, right? So, Malice truly impacted me that day that I met him in person. Mace is a spiritual advisor to me. Oh, I didn't know that. In real life. Like, I've been to Mace's church.

I go to Mace's church. I get fed. You hear of me? Like, Mace is a spiritual mentor to me. My anti-srip club song that I got, called Shut Em Down. I recorded that with Mace in the room, standing right next to me.

Crazy. Yeah. Like, that's something to where we have real deep talks. That's like, that's a spiritual mentor of mine, bro. We have serious talks about spiritual matters. We talk about sports. We talk about regular things, but that's a brother. Okay.

Now, I'm going to gear this to you. Oh. Dead Prez or Black Star? Damn. That's hard. Damn. Drink. Drink.

All right. You too? You too? Dead prayers or black star? Uh-huh. Oh, man. It's tough when you got relationships with both sides. You heard me?

It's tough, bro. So I'm going to say, for one reason only, I'm going to say dead prayers. Nope, I'm not saying. I'm just saying both. Okay, say both. Okay, say both. Can I say why, though? Okay, go ahead.

prayers, let's get free. Bro, I was in college starting to rap, right? When I heard that, just starting to rap, just trying to find my voice. Hearing that you could be revolutionary, but gangsters at the same time, right? I got goosebumps, just the intro on the album. Just the intro, I got goosebumps talking about it right now,

you heard me? Then I met them brothers, did music with them brothers. We did, bro, we got real memories together, right? Black Star? Man. Me and Most Deft got a song together. Most Deaf used to live in New Orleans. So when he moved to New Orleans... Most Def used to live everywhere. Everywhere. He's in all over... He's always the church as well.

He's all over there. He's a man in the planet. Earth is his turf. Earth is his turf. So, man, most definitely more than New Orleans, him and Man and Fresh were working on the album together, right? Okay, I do remember that. Yeah. So one night after an event, they used to have something in New Orleans called The Beat Summit.

This was versus before versus. Okay. It was Mani Fresh and KLC playing their best beats. Right? Baden. You had juvenile on one side. You had Mr. going the other side, right?

Yeah. And I'm in there. I'm witnessing this. I'm like, yo, this is crazy. So afterwards, Mani Fresh is going to the studio. So I'm like, Bet, I'm going to pull up at the studio with Fresh, right? Most death ends up coming through, right? So at the time, Manifresh's beats are so dope that any beat he plays.

I just be like, yep, that one right there. I'm about to start writing to it, right? So I'm there recording. We and my boy Trumbone's Shortest Studio. I'm recording to a man in fresh beat. Most deaf comes and he just kicking it during the session. When he's about to leave, he comes over to the booth where I'm recording that to dab me off to say bye. So I was like, man, I got to shoot my shot.

So when he dabbed me off, I said, Most, could you hop on this song right quick? And I took the headphones off and just put him on Moses's head. And I was like, brother, can you just say something on the track and bless me? Right. So Most heard the beat. and that brother, the next thing I know he got into his groove and Moe started spitting some type of stuff

next thing I know, Moost freestiled a whole bridge and a hook for me for his song. He just did it in one take, he finished dapping me off. He said, peace, young king, and he walked out. Yeah. And I was like, I got a most deaf feature, yeah. Just like that, yeah. So I can never,

yeah. So poor righteous teachers or a public enemy? Public enemy. Okay. All day. I'm on public. Enemy's new album. Literally.

Like, I co-wrote two songs on Public Enemy's new album, and... It's crazy. It's crazy. It's crazy. Oh, yeah, people don't know this, because they just want to talk to me about what rappers don't like D-Wan or whatever. No, bro. I co-wrote two songs on Public Enemy's New album. Flavreflav is my brother.

Of course. Like, my real life... No, no, no. Like, we FaceTime once a week at least, right? He came to Harvard where I was doing a fellowship at, and I met him at Harvard University. We hopped in the studio a day later, did some music, and we've been good ever since, right? That being said, one of our songs got licensed by the NBA.

So it's been the theme song for the NBA on Amazon Prime for this whole season, right? And Chuck D is literally who I have patterned myself after as an artist. Like, who's someone who's educated, who's someone who just have a voice and lyrics that make you say, this dude loves our people, and this dude wants us to get better, right? So I'm literally like Lil Wayne and Chuck D put together. Balance. Balance. That's valid.

That's valid. Yeah. I love this one always. NWA or Wu-Tang Clan? I'm not going with NWA. Because I feel like the murder rate went up after they really came out. You got to be careful. We had special ad come in here and say that.

They messed up the West Coast music by bringing the gangsters to it. And when I tell you the West Coast people, man, they were going crazy. Just because you get mad doesn't mean that it's not true. You know what I mean? The glorification of gangster life of violence started to become more and more cool when W.A. came out. There's people in New Orleans who have told me. huge rappers who I won't say their name who have told me, well, when that NWA came out,

that's what helped me jump off the porch. Well, y'all, y'all was wearing Dickies. Y'all was wearing Reeboks stuff and that was kind of like a West Coast thing. So the influence was real, right? And we could try to pull as much, extract as much positivity as we want out of that stuff. But at the end of the day, man, like, the glorification of violence inside the hip-hop, anybody that helped contribute to that and make it sound like cool,

I'm not cool with that. the glorification of pimping, the glorification of disrespecting women, I ain't cool with that. So NWA, unfortunately, while as individuals, I love all them brothers, right? I love them as individuals, but I don't think that that was a positive contribution to our culture. Strength, brother. Strength. You feel me?

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At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy. But I felt so desperate that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong and what that might look like? No. I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success.

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Mainstream media is full of cruel depictions of the unhoused. Stories that shame. and blame and paint the unhoused as a monolith. We the Un-House is the podcast that's changing that. I'm Theo Henderson, creator and host, and for years I've created a space where the un-housed and their advocates can tell their own stories. In the last few months alone, I've interviewed unhoused parents, immigrants, mutual aid organizers, veterans, the LGBTQTIA plus community, and the policymakers who make the laws

that impact the unhoused existence. Whedian Houses a two-time Webby and Signal Award-winning show with many exciting guests on the horizon. Tune in this week for my interview with Dr. Gio Wichor. A street doctor turned influencer whose work with the unhoused community

has made a huge impact online and in her community. Listen to Weythian Housed on the IHard Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Jay Cole or Kendrick Lamar. You can't have one without the other. We needed both of them for this generation.

You needed cold to be level-headed, to not be materialistic, to dress like, man, I just woke up and threw something on, but I got more money than all of y'all. Wait, but, but he wasn't like that at first. Remember, he had songs called Mr. Nice Watch. You're right, you're right, you're right. But he did what we talked about. He developed. He developed, right?

And he grew. There you go, and he grew. We needed that, right? We needed that. But we needed Kendrick to come out and be like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I grew up influenced by NWA, influenced by all the violence, all the hood right there in Compton. I grew up in a mad city, but it didn't prevent me from being a good kid. And we needed that so that people could see what art looks like.

When hip-hop can win a pull-it surprise. You feel me? I believe Nas won two. Them Nas won a football. I think Kendra was the first rapper to win. A totally surprise. Nasden won so much, Jared. Shout out to Knows.

One of those joints. Yeah, Nasden won so much. We needed both of those, though, because sometimes you can have two sides of the same coin. And if people don't see both sides of the coin, they might be like, well, Jay Cole is cool, but it's something about him I don't all the way connect with. But then it's like, we got Kendrick Lamont.

And a person will be like, connect with that. Or a person that connect with Kendrick. Like, yeah, he's dope, but I don't know. It's just a little too deep for me. And then they'll hear Jay Cole rapping about the first time he ever had sex with somebody. And they're like, dang, that's relatable. You know what I'm saying? Or they're here first thing, first recipe, Uncle Phil. And they'd be like, yeah, that really speak to me. So I think we needed both of them for this generation. And by the grace of God, I got relationships with both of them brothers. Yeah, well, you know what I think we needed all three. Well said. Well said. I'm going to say Drake as well. We needed that. We needed a Drake.

Explain. We needed all sides of the coin. You know what? For lack of a better term, him making girl music, it calm you down. Like, actually, I got to give it to Drake. Like, if you were in the club and Drake comes on, you do get calmed down. If he's talking to them girls out, you should have called me on my cell phone and all that. Like, hey, you don't want to be violent at that time, man.

You got to realize if you're listening to. punch him in the face and then some nice shit come on hey man you know what I'm saying yeah because I mean shit we got it we got we got we got to perform right

we got to be outside so bro that's a good point we needed Drake this generation needed Drake yeah of course because I don't think after doing this in the club that you just want to kill somebody no I don't think so much

in fact you're looking around making sure nobody looking at you you're like hey you're like hey yeah but yeah and drink is still a work in progress I think Drake showed growth on this latest album, Iceman, did he release? I'll tell you this, not only that, not only that.

Like, you're going against an establishment that has a name but doesn't have a name. He's going out of the establishment and naming the names of the people that's in the establishment. This is crazy. Like, I know we live in the times, so we're not understanding like, this is musical freedom standing up. Like him doing three albums wasn't because he wanted to do three albums, in my opinion, I have no inside information. Okay. It was because he wanted to show them, like, I believe he owed two and I believe he, or maybe he did owe three. He owed three.

I said, okay, he's three. I'm out. Yeah, I'm out. But it's so crazy because they're going to find a way to try to keep her. So private equity stepped up with a $2 billion deal. Okay, now that you know that part. But still, but still, they'll, they'll try something like. Like where his next two or three albums,

they'll still be getting paid off of him. It's something like that. It's because what he did, in my opinion, is Michael Jackson's shit. All right. Thank you. That is Michael Jackson's shit. Like, the fact that he stepped up,

and I sincerely believe I have no inside information. I sincerely believe Drake paid for all his promotion. I believe that he... It don't seem like the label did anything. Yeah. I believe that he paid for all his promotion, not because the label didn't. want to, I believe he didn't want to take

no more money from them. And was like, you know what? I don't know what. You can't. There's no recoup. No, see, you don't know about no recoup. Yeah, you don't know about like the recruiter. Like, yo, listen, back in the, back in the, sorry, I just sounded like the old guy. Like, back in the day. But I remember they used to charge me for billboards in Japan. And I used to be like, I never asked for no billboard in Japan. And I'm paying for shit that I did in Australia. And I've never been to Australia at the time.

Wow. But that's how they used to break down. Now we can see that. We can see that. So, like, the fact that Drake stepped up and was like, he did that Ice Man's here on itself. I don't know this is for a fact. This is me visualizing and me having an experience that I have in hip hop. I believe that he did all that on itself.

And if that is possible, what you said, he had the Ventric Capitals just came up with Too Billy. You know, Universal was a very rich company. That might not be enough or might be enough. But they still have something because he did something that nobody has done since. Michael Jackson. And he attacked them straight up. He did something even more than Michael Jackson because Michael Jackson never named names. Gotcha.

Drake named names. Like, I'm so scared. I don't want to name the names that he named. For real? Like, yeah, I'm talking with you. But, no, not. But, yeah, like, this is, it's so crazy. I've never seen this before.

Okay. Like, and obviously, I wasn't around and I wasn't privy to the Michael Jackson situation when you heard that he bought so. and he owned the Beatles publishing. And, yeah, like, you know, like, all that, like, that's, that's some, yeah, that's some, that's gangster. That's, that's gangster. That's, that's,

that's gangster, you know what I'm saying? Like, he did a, when he did off the wall, right, which did good. Right. But at the time, like, if you wasn't in the crossover, white mainstream market, they weren't checking for you at all. So it was a time when Michael Jackson was just for a black audience, but him knowing

how great a talent he is that I, Watch this. He did the song with Paul McCartney, the girl of his mind. To bring the white audience to him. That was the first single. All right. Was it beat it. We beat it was second or Billy Jean was second.

It was the girl of his mind. Got the jewels about publishing for Paul McCartney and then went and bought his shit. Yep. Dang. That's hard. Not only his shit, the Beatles, the whole Beatles. Yeah. That's hard.

Wow. That's hard. Wow. So what Drake is doing right now is. To me. To me, this is my opinion. I don't want to, and I don't have facts. I'm just saying this is an outsider looking at it and the inside of looking out.

Don't have no inside affirmation, but the fact that he delivered three albums, the fact that he paid for his own promotion, this is something going against, and then the fact that he named like the executives, yo, you guys are doing this. And regardless of if he was right or not, the fact that he could even make those allegations, that's going against the biggest establishment at the top of the top form. No one has never did this. No one. Like I said, even with Michael, Michael.

It wasn't naming. He was like, I got Paul McCartney's some publishing motherfuckers. Like, he wasn't, he wasn't naming motherfuckers. He was like, yo, Mike did it quiet.

Yeah. Like, no one knew until afterwards, like, really, but what Drake is doing, he's doing it in public. And for artists, you know, because this is what we say as artists.

And you know this. Y'all both already know this. Ah, man, our first deal, we're going to sign, and we were going to take anything. Yeah. Because our next deal,

our next deal, we're going to make it up. Drake has been dealing with that first deal from the beginning with that first deal because he became worth more and more and more where there's more people who say

you got this people saying that they're involved with him you got this people saying it involved with him you got these people staying there in the beginning of him and there's so many but he kept making more money that his artistry

just became bigger and bigger but you don't actually sign that of that first deal dang that's why like when Hove said that he said perpetuity you know what perpetuity means

for life that's the real gang shit yeah so yeah so hey they them deals bro you know when I signed my first deal when Drake get out of that this would be the first this would be the first time like a major artist

did it on a major way now now what happens is this sorry I want you to finish what you said what happens is this now he gets out of this deal he gives them the two bills you know, whatever. Are this establishment fighting for him

not to be who he was when they was there? Of course. Because the one thing for short, two things for certain about being on a record label is you can't give back your fame. True. You can't give back your fame, no matter what they did for you. True. They could probably try to take your riches.

They could probably try to take your cause. They probably try to take what they own you. They can't take back the fame that they paid on you. So if they spend $2 billion on him being that faith, you don't stop being famous. No, the investments are already. Now, do you stop selling records? That's a, that's a difference.

Right. Because there's no way you sell the same amount of records independently that you can major. I'm not saying it's impossible. But for the vast majority, you are always the biggest star when you're on the majors. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely. They have the budgets to put you in the four seasons. They have the budgets to fly you out to, you know what I'm saying?

BET Award. They have the budget. So ironically, this is, in my opinion of a performance. person who my first album, I got jerked. So then I started to learn the business. And I started to learn, I wanted to learn everything about it, right? I have never seen anybody do what Drake is doing right now. Like, I'm just being honest.

He went against the establishment in a way where it's like, some of some people, that's why they called him a snitch. They're like, man, you're blowing it up. Yeah. They're like, man, he's like, there's bots here and there's this shit that, you know, might have worked with him when he was, when he, I thought to say he's not on. on top. Right, right. Right. It's work for him. And it's like, it's almost like, it's almost like being with somebody and then it doesn't work. And then you blowing it up.

Like, man, this is what they did when we were together. Like, it's almost like that. But it's for himself. So who wants to be signed? Yeah, who wants to be signed to something if you can get out of it? So like I said, to reiterate that, um, I've never really seen what Drake is doing. And I'm sitting around close. Everyone is like kind of like mad at him and judging him. They're like, oh, you know, we don't do that in the industry. And it's like, yeah, fuck them that balance when it comes to this. Yeah, yeah. Go get your family.

Go get, you know what I mean? Go get, go get that money. And go show that. We ain't property. Thank you. Like, we ain't property. Like, like, nobody's contracts and say perpetuity on you. Man, no.

Like, that means, like, certain contracts, that means that you can die and still not get your publishing back. Certain contracts, you could die and still not get your royalties back. You know what I'm saying? Because they could say you didn't recoup. Right. And let's suppose, let's suppose, like, something happens, and you don't have a good team, you don't have a good squad that can say, yo, let me, let me audit them.

So they can prove that I didn't, I didn't pay. A lot of people don't know how to do that. You know what I mean? Jay Cole did that. Coming from our era. Coming from our era. Come on, bro. Just like, not to name names, but how many artists got royalties.

Yep. Like people living off a show money, you live off of, you live off, you know, sponsorship. deals, whatever, but you're not living off of royalty. You always get paid off your money. Let me tell you how I got out my record deal. Okay. All right, I was with RCA. I signed, I got $60,000.

That was my advance. I used to make $39,000 a year as a teacher. So I was like, man, I'm bawling, you're? I got $60,000. In one shot. Yeah, I didn't realize, though, this is a full album deal. Wow.

You know what I mean? So, dang. So, exactly. So, so, so, So halfway through me recording my first album, I was like, bro, I want to get out this deal so bad. This felt like slavery. This is the first album.

You knew you knew it. Before your album came out. Before the album came out, man, it's like slavery, right? Dang. So now they had a new general manager who came over to the label, right? So he was over my division of RCA, and dude didn't like me from day one. I could just feel the energy, the tension. He ain't liked me.

So I'm like, dang, I'm trying to get out this deal. And I didn't have a good squad, but I had a good guard. Let me explain. Okay. So I'm like, man, I got to go on tour, right? I come out of pocket. I got tour support money built into my deal, but they take so long to get you your bread

that I was like, I'm just going to front the money for the tour, right? I was telling that to my business. I'm going to front the money for the tour. Keep me back, you heard me, just a step, but it hit me back with my bread, right? So the tour ends, I still ain't get my money back, right? I meet a dude out of New York. Shout out to my man, Rob Love, right? Rob Love.

Y' got to right? God, God, God, God. You know right? So Rob just randomly met me on the internet and wanted to start managing me. Right. So I remember meeting with him. I'm like, good dude, cool dude. Like, I like his vibe.

I said, brother, I said, this the only issue, though. I'm signed in a deal right now with RCA and the division I'm signed to it. And the dude that's over that division? Man, this is trash, bro. Like, I'm in a horrible situation. You heard me? Like, I'm not even excited about being an artist no more, right? So he was like, oh, who's over the division?

So I told him the dude's name, who was the general manager. Rob bust out laughing on the phone. He said, man, that's my little, homie. He used to intern for me when he was in college. He said, if you want to get out your deal, that's a phone call. So I said, well, look, I said, they owe me a lot of money, too, from my tour. You could get the money back. He said, let me see.

So he called dude up. They had a talk. Rob called me right back. Hey, if you want to get out the deal, I could get you out in 24. hours, just say the word. Let's go. But if you want the money, they're not going to let you go. If you want your recoup from your tour that you came out of, out of pocket for, they're not going to let's get you go. I say, man, forget that money. Let's get out that deal. Rob said, done deal. You out? And they sent me the paperwork over the next day. You hear me? So that right there, bro,

then let me know, like, what's the odds that I would meet a dude who got the power to say, man, I could get you out your deal. Like, this is easy in 24 hours because the head of your label used to intern for me. That's crazy. That's how I know God had his hand on my journey, bro. Yeah, I know Roth like 35 years ago. Let's finish quick time with line. Let's go. Goody Mob or ghetto boys?

I got to go boat, bro. Okay. I got to go boat. Yeah, please take it. Yeah, let's take out of the shot. Goody Maher brought that soul to Atlanta, you heard of him? Yeah. In a real way.

That's soul food. That soul music. Like, Goody Maher definitely brought that. And you can't discredit. the impact, the domino effect that had on the rest of the hip hop scene, right? Ghetto boys for Houston, specifically Willie D, that's my brother.

You know what I'm saying? Man, them brothers, they brought soul to Houston to where it was gritty, but at the same time it was like, yo, this got a message in it. This got us reflecting. And then you listen to Scarface and Scarface and Howe you're in your feelings

because it's like his lyrics right there got you thinking about your life. Like, hold on, man, I got to get it together. You know what I mean? So they did something for Houston, and for Atlanta that I didn't feel like we had in New Orleans. You know what I mean? Because I feel like in New Orleans, yeah, thank you, baby.

In New Orleans, we had a lot of lyricists. We had a lot of aggressive music. You know what I'm saying? But in terms of that soul music that was mixed in with hip-hop. I feel like, dang, we got like a gap right there. You know what I mean? And I wanted to fill that gap when I became an artist. Okay.

Kanye West or Nas? Nyes the goat. Right. So I'm going Niz. Okay. Niz is the goat, bro. Yeah. Radio or podcast?

In 2026? I'm listening to a podcast. I didn't listen to and watch so many drink champs episodes. You know what I'm saying? It makes this extra special, man. Okay. And I don't like peola. And with the radio, you know, payola.

Paola is a real thing. I believe it's gotten better because of the bots. Like, you can know where the bots is now. You can know. And I believe, and I'm going to go back into this. But I believe cities are starting to listen to their local artists. Like, I believe that I haven't been in New Orleans in a long time. But I believe there was one point where people were saying, man, we need to,

New Orleans need to sound more. more like New Orleans. And I believe the PDs actually listen to that. You know what I'm saying? I can't tell. But Miami, Miami has listened to that. Like, I don't know if Miami, you're proud of your own city. But when I listen to Miami radio now, I hear my, it sounds like Miami Radio. So I'm proud.

I'm proud of, I'm proud of Miami. New York, we need a little work. We need a little. It's been sounding better for Flex. respect you. I respect you stepping up. I respect him stepping up and saying, hey, man, you know what? Artists got other places that they can go. But right now, we need to take care of our own city. And I love that.

Yeah. And I love that. I think Philadelphia is doing it. It's crazy. I believe Philadelphia, I stepped it up even more after seeing the whole state property damn there and come out with Jay Z. You know what I'm saying? Including PD crack. I was like, oh, shit.

Got to see PD crack. And we got to see beans and Jay Z together. and freeway and like you know that young chris yeah yeah young chris and the young girl is and like and i believe like when i see cities like starting to do that i kind of i kind of i kind of love that like and so so when you said um the peyola thing that that that that the reason why i'm answering that question is because if they're supporting their same cities that peyola can't exist because they got to support what's popping in that actual city so if you listen to new york and you hear french montana and max b and then you hear uh

Mar Deep, and you hear DMX, that means that payola is not there. But now, if you hear, you hear fucking, you know. It sounds like another city. Yeah, yeah. I'm going to say Kenji Glamar. It's so much global. If you hear YK.

Nice. Yeah, you hear, you hear, you hear, ashtray face. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's from New York. And it's like, wow, that's not the same thing because you ain't going to hear a New York artist on Astray.

face thing. So it's been got as a person who knows this it's gotten much better. And I'm talking about not just my city. I've seen it in New Orleans. I've seen it step up where it's like and you know what? I'm sorry to be long-winded it. But there was

a list that came out. I don't know if you remember. There was a list that came out of all DJs that was on that payota list. Really? That shit has changed. Really? Motherfuckers was kind of embarrassed. Wow. Because I mean, it was list from like all 14 major cities. It was New York first.

I looked at the New York one. I was like, wait a minute. Holy shit. He was taking money. I could have gave money. I was not going to. But I was like, business. Yeah.

So to reiterate what I was trying to say, cities have stepped up because cities are starting to have integrity. They're starting to have integrity and saying, I'm not just going to play, you know, ashtray face. I'm going to make sure we got, We got Brooklyn Ray playing in Brooklyn, Red.

You know what I mean? We got Calio, Mo. He's playing on New Orleans radio. So I will give him that. I'm a little bit proud of that. Big Daddy Kane or Jay-Z? For my era and what I grew up listening to, Jay-Z, bro. Jay-Z, I mean, and then just to see where he's taking it beyond just music.

It's like we continue to watch him evolve. And I'm enjoying the journey, you know, because I feel like, what he's doing, and he knows it too. He knows he's chosen. So he's very intentional about saying, I can't stay still. You know, I got to at least set the bar for other people to be able to come behind me and then. How you say that?

Pause. There you go. I don't be saying. This is interesting, right? I think Jay-Z's, if not the greatest, definitely one of the greatest rappers, MC's lyrics, to ever do it, hands down, right? Interesting. He calls himself Jehovah, though.

You have a problem with it? I don't call him Hove. Yeah, I acknowledge him as Jay-Z. I understand that he's Sean Carter. I also understand that there's a lot of people who, their persona became something that in their latter years, they're probably like, dang, I wish I wasn't that anymore. The same as Norris said, you know what?

When I get on stage, certain audiences, I don't want to perform and say, every word that's inside of these songs in front of this type of people. I don't want to say the N word in front of white people. Right. I truly believe that... I don't want to say it in front of black people neither, but I feel more out of place saying it for the white people. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So with that being said, maybe I'm just unrealistically optimistic. You know, I see the best in people, right? Maybe I see the problems with the world, but I see the solutions in people. And I feel like Jay-Z is somebody who... Absolutely. I feel like

Jay-Z is somebody who doesn't think that He is the personification of God. There you go. I believe he got that frame from Raq Kim, who called himself the God MC, not the God. Oh, he didn't call himself the God, but that's what he meant. And I believe he wanted to take something like that. Okay. Yeah, hold on.

Okay. M.F. Doom or Axon Broston? Oh, I'm going to let you answer to this one. Yeah. MF Doom. M.F. Doom? Oh, yeah. Come on. I didn't realize how mysterious M.F. Doom was.

No, it's crazy. L lyricist, like, par excellence, rest in peace. Right. Yeah, and he's KMD. And we still, though, like, this is the real and shit. And I never want to know this answer. Never want to know this answer. I want this to be a mystery for the rest of my life.

People usually say MFU do music do five shows at one time. I heard that He all He's got the bad stuff So just thinking about it Like And back then And back then

You could I don't want to say Manip the mics But there wasn't no Auto Tune So it was just like If you master this man Voice

Or if you had it As a TV track Right Where his actual vocals Are on there Just a little bit Right Because the Emma of Doom

Coming from the real hip hop Where we perform On our live Yeah And I always So One night I'm in Germany. Dude opens up the hotel.

I don't know how we got this. He gave us the whole hotel. And we were like, what? Like, I had never had this before. But it was catching there, though. So it was weird. So awesome. And then he was like, yo, M.F. Doom just left here.

And I was like, all, cool. And then I go out. And then they say, M.F. Doom just left here. And then I'm like, Well, by the way, I'm like, holy shit, you know, didn't, I made a phone call or go on Twitter, whatever it was, it might have been my space back then. And they're like, oh, M.F. Dooz just performed.

And I'm like, yo, how dope is this? If the rap game cheated you, how dope was it for you to cheat the rap game back? And they not even know it, though. Just thinking about it, so when I heard this, I never want to confirm or deny. I just want to ride with this movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just want to ride with this movie.

I got five bags tonight. Yeah. That seems the most genius. And you got to remember, other than my space, like I said back then, there was no, like right now, like right now, if you do a show, they will ask you, you can't do a show in the next town for two weeks or whatever, whatever. It's 90 days. Think about it. That wasn't existed back then. They didn't even know that because they wouldn't even know if you left Dusseldorf, Germany, and you went to Hamburg or Frankfurt.

There's no way for them to know, because the word of mouth didn't travel that fast. Right. You know what I'm saying? So I'm looking like this is the most genius shit I've ever heard of and I never want to know the truth. Wow. I want this move on. And even if one of his friends or his family member hit me and was like, oh, Noory, that's a room. I'm going to be like, I'm still right.

This is dope. Okay, by that. Okay. This is, this is, these, y'all got deep. Okay. X-Klan and or brand new being? I'm going brand new being. Okay.

Okay, okay. We need brand new being on here. We had Lord Jamal and Saddak. We need our grandpuba. Alamo. Alamo. What's up? So you were brand new?

Yes, sir. Okay. I like this too. Malcolm or Martin? Both. Yeah. Both. Yeah.

Both. Two sides of the same coin. Like when I said we needed both. You said you needed both when I threw it another thing. I think we needed Malcolm and Martin. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I heard somebody else say this.

But I believe, and they latter years, Malcolm was becoming more Martin and Marry was becoming more about. I have no, like, real proof to believe that. No, you're absolutely right. But I believe Marlon became tired of switching his job. He became disillusioned with the whole, I have a dream. And he was like, where's our reparations? Yeah. Where's our check?

Right. Yeah. And remember, after, I love this part of the movie. because I feel like whoever you prays, I feel like it has no religion if you're down with God and when Malcolm seen white Muslims and Asian

Muslims and the Holy City of Mecca and he changed his ideology and I don't believe he got Salfa. I believe he got brought a light. He was dangerous. You know who's one of the worst people in the hood that will probably

never change is that one dude that never left the hood. But all you need to take him is to break down a block and let him see somewhere somewhere or something else. It's not his fault. This is all he knows. He knows this one block radius. And that guy is always miserable. He's the guy that goes to the beach with Timberlands on.

You know what I'm saying? Like, yo, bro, you can take the Tim's off, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, so I believe that when Malcolm Trout. Yeah. He is. I love the rape, but not done. I believe his mind became like so much

And I had read the autobiography of Malcolm X Alex Ali Sally and And when I was locked up But it means so much more to me now Because I realized like how smart he was And how much he was leaning towards You know The victory of our people

And then like I said Malcolm Martin Martin felt like he was done turning the other cheek at the end, like the end towards it. For sure. And so, yeah, we need both. Now, iron sharp as iron, bro. Yeah.

Iron sharp as iron. So when you're around people that can broaden your perspective but can still, I'm not trying to change you from the core of who you are. I'm just trying to help you be a better version of that, you know?

And sometimes when you observe greatness and other people, they don't even have to tell you nothing. You can just look at them and be like, oh, I want to incorporate some of that into what I do. You ever seen that documentary where I believe it was,

what's the boxer, Hallie Bavampete. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, in Miami. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Malcolm and Mama and Ali. I don't know if that hotel exists still. I think it's still there. I think it's still there.

I'm not sure. I think it's something totally different. Okay, that's what it is now? It's always as the Hampton Inn. Okay, was Hampton and the back then? Okay, but all of us at some point got to go to that hotel to pay homage. Because that was the only hotel. accepting black people.

And then what's his name, Frank Sinatra? Yeah, he integrated the beach. Yes, Frank Sinatra. Oh, you didn't know this? No. Frank Sinatra invited them to his show. And they were like, we can't go. And it was like, wow, he's like, black people not allowed.

So Frank Sinatra, I'm not, you know, I'm not quoting word for work. He was like, yo, if my black friends can't come, then I'm not doing the show. And not only that, I want y'all to lift this shit. So whatever it is, whatever club that was, they lifted that black people can go to it. Because it was just standard. I don't think this club was particularly racist. I believe it was just standard of Miami Beach. And then Frank went to their hotel, hung with them.

Like, this is like some dope shit. I didn't even realize how much Frank was down with us. Like Frank was really down. Yeah, I liked his music, but I didn't know. Him and Quincy Jones is real tight. Real tight. Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's fine.

Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. All right. Yeah, y'all bugged out with this one. Bob Molly or John Lennon? Oh, man, give me Bob Molly, man. All day.

Bob Morley. You know what? You know what? You know what? I was going to say this to you earlier. There's one lyric about Bob that he says, and it bugs me out how bad he was. He said, how long are we going to sit around and kill our legends, our prophets? Excuse me.

He said, how long are we going to sit around and kill our prophets while we do nothing? Oh, yo, what year did he say that? Yo, I was like, you know, because I don't know, we're bugged out. We listen to soft music when we work out. We don't listen to no hip-hop. Very seldomly, we listen to hip-hop. We listen to Bob Bar-Bali. Okay.

We listen to, like, Aligh of Richie, we listen to Chardin. You know, we, we, we do, ah, shit, and shit like that. Beast Boys, yeah. And that lyric always hits me. He's like, yo, he told us when back then we wasn't stepping up and holding our, what did he say, not legends, what he said? Profits, our prophet. He said, while we stand around and look, and that lyric has never dumbed down to me.

Like, it has never, like, gave me chills because how can his message back then still apply to now? I'm talking, this got to be 36 years. This got to be, like, 40 years. Way more than that. Yeah. 50, 60 years ago. 50 years, 70 years. Yeah.

Yeah. You know what you said? But most of his shit is relevant. It's just timeless music, bro. Okay, ready to die or Elmatic? Elmatic. Okay, yeah. Elmatic.

Damn. Listen. And you're there for heart-wrenching knockouts. The world's biggest stage. And breathtaking triumph. 2026 FIFA World Cup. The knockout stage. Every match.

Every moment. Listen on TSN radio. Join the global. On the road to the July 19th final. 2026 FIFA World Cup. Stream it all live on TSN Radio. Available on IHeart Radio. I'm Mungishya Together, and I'm back with a new season of the podcast, Skyline Drive.

This time I'm diving into a rabbit hole of peptides, organoids, blood boys, blue zones, and brain replacement to try to understand what this longevity obsession is all about. And what it really means to live forever for all of us. I learned about some rad science. I can make a brain for you, and then we can test what draw is the best for your brain, as opposed to his brain. Here's some hard truths. I would expect Indians to age faster, but I did not expect it to be almost a four to five-year acceleration. And get myself into a world of trouble. I'd say probably start bone smashing.

That doesn't work. to make it look more defined. They say it works. I don't know. Listen to Skyline Drive How to Live Forever on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Keith Gianmanca seemed like a mild-mannered suburban dad,

but secretly, he became someone else, a master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy, but I felt so desperate that, I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong on what that might look like?

No, I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever

because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Mainstream media is full of cruel depictions of The Un-Housed, stories that shame and blame and paint the Un-Housed as a monolith. We The In-House is the podcast that's changing that. I'm Theo Henderson, creator. and host, and for years I've created a space where the unhoused and their advocates can tell their own stories. In the last few months alone, I've interviewed unhoused parents, immigrants, mutual aid organizers, veterans, the LGBTQTIA plus community, and the policymakers who make the laws

that impact the unhoused existence. William Howes is a two-time Webby and Signal Award-winning show with many exciting guests on the horizon. Tune in this week for my interview with Dr. Jill Whitcher. A street doctor turned influencer whose work with the unhoused community has made a huge impact online and in her community. Listen to Weylandhoused on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Okay. Self-destruction or all in the same game? Self-destruction. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I like something.

Yeah. Okay, this is a good one. Comment or Black Thorland? And you got stories of either one? I got stories with both of them, man. Common is somebody who, I've just seen him in passing. We've never had like a serious hard-to-heart talk, but I don't always need a hard-to-hard talk

to still admire somebody's work. You know what I mean? And I've seen Comyn be consistent throughout the years since I was a little kid, man, and just always being a dude that's lyrical, but a dude that seemed comfortable in his own skin. You know, like it don't ever see. seemed like he was, he definitely wasn't a punk

because he wasn't afraid to go at Ice Cube when he had to. I want to say that. I want to say he has, he has, you have a lot of, pause, you have it, how did it say. You have a lot of common in you because you're known for being a cautious rapper but you know him for not back at that. Right. So I respect that about common.

And then Black Thought, man, I mean, literally on one hand, you know, he he's up there when it comes to greatest lyricists on this planet right now. You know, Black Thought is there. And I met him before and when I met him, it's just, man, you'd just be surprised, bro, at who's watching you from a distance. And I was totally shocked when Black Thought is telling

me he, he, he rocked with me and he supported me and he a fan. I'm not shocked. I'll be shocked, brother, you know. All right, this is a good one. Marcus Garvey or Halie Salasi? Oh, give me Marcus Garvey. Okay. Yeah, give me Marcus Garvey. Yeah. I feel like Marcus Garvey, I just relate to him and I learn more about him as a kid. You know what I mean? So as a kid, he was on that list with Nat Turner. He was on that list with Harriet Tubman. Yeah. You feel me?

Didn't he make the black, red and green flag? Yeah. That was Garvey. You and I. So for me, Holly Selassi, it became something where, as I'm learning about Bob Marley more, I was more interested in Buy Marley first, you know what I'm saying? And then you, okay, this will buy Marley get this from or was into. So that was my introduction.

I never did a deep dive with Hollis Selassie. Plus, you know, at the end of the day, I'm proud, you know, I'm a Christian. Right. So at the end of the day, I respect all other faiths and all other religions, but I'm Jesus. You know that they say, I'm team Jesus. Helly-Silathe was the only person that they, now, I don't know if they, there still exists in the algorithms, but they said that Heli-Selazia was the only person they could prove a bloodline to Jesus. You said?

No, Solomon. Well, you believe. Solomon? Solomon. It was Solomon. It was not Jesus. It's not Jesus. My bad. I don't know it's tough.

You're sure it's like Jesus? Solomon? Okay, all right. Yeah, but they actually trace it. Whatever they said, I mean. Which Jesus is supposed to be in the bloodline of David. Okay. Who's the son of Solomon.

So then you know it all is. So it's right. Yeah, it's right. All right, cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's why Helix the last years were weird. But they traced their lineage back to Queen, Queen Sheba, who was married.

Minilic was her son. and that was the offspring of... Yeah, I love these stories, bro. I love these stories. I never heard that one, bro. Because you would, Big Babe was arguing, like, we know Jesus was black,

but he was like, but they, they show the pictures of him being white. So that's why I was like, do you know this? Like... Yeah, man, no, I mean, that's propaganda to say that Jesus was white. By the way, Solomon was David's son.

Okay. Solomon was David's son. Not the other way. Yeah, there you go. Salomon was David's son. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, bro.

I wish black people would stop getting caught up with, man, because I've seen a wild picture of white Jesus with blue eyes, that means Christianity is just fake. It's like, no, bro, in history, we see time and time again, people will try to distort something for their own selfish purposes, right? So what we see in hip hop today, we know that that ain't what the forefathers of hip hop meant for it to be when it was in the Bronx and when they was coming up with it. We see that, but we don't say, man, I'm done with hip hop.

all together. We just say that's not the best representation of hip hop. Thank you. Well, I'll tell you this. I'll tell you this. This is the reason why we adapt to Christianity, but it's like we're on the fence too. And I explain

to you why it's a movie called Roots, and I don't know how true Roots is. I know that it's based on, yes. Alex Taylor Root, too. I know it's based on the truth, but there's a part in Roots where they're coming on a boat. and they're calling each other the Muslim names or their

just their native Yeah, they native names and then and you could tell like how they were talking that they were like saying and there was Muslim and then in that movie

the first time you actually see Christianity introduced as a white man you know what I'm saying so that's the reason why like you know us again us we just was touching on this earlier we can't look at a movie

and say that's just a movie especially if it's a movie especially if it resonate to you? And you can relate to it. So a lot of people, they automatically, they don't know that Christians was in Africa.

And they don't know that bro. Show me in the Bible where Jesus ever went to Europe. Right. Now, one time did it talk about Jesus going to Europe? Right. And that's where the white people was. All right. So it's my talk about that, right?

I didn't know what you was going with it. You made that part. You landed that punch in line. Good. All right, cool. Okay, this is good one. Farrak Carr or Clare 13 next? I've personally spent time building with Minister Farrakhan and have a lot of respect for that brother. I appreciate how he's poured into me and other hip-hop artists.

You know what I mean? And I was shocked, honestly, to see and to understand the last time I heard him speak, I believe he was 89 years old. And he spoke for three hours with no paper, no pad, no cell phone in front of him. Didn't stutter now one time. And I'm just looking around. Amazing. Like, is this really happening right now? Articulate, passionate, bold, you know what I'm saying?

And, yeah, that brother has told me how much of a supporter of my journey he is, because he's seen it from people that are close to him, and I guess he took a personal interest in, like, wow, this is one of those shining lights in an industry where it's needed. And people try to divide us. They try to divide Muslims and Christians. They try to divide nation of Islam, right? Yeah. They even try to say, oh, Hebrew Israelites. And they want us, black people, they want us to be going against each other.

And like, oh, five percent of the, oh, so y'all just, we want to see y'all argue and debate rather than the 80 or 90 percent of stuff that we agree on. Yeah, stand on that. And saying, like, there's so much commonalities we have. Let's build on those. Let me exude the love of Jesus, you hear of me. Let you exude the love of who it is that you worship and look up to. But as a follower of Christ, I got to love you regardless of what you are.

You know what I'm saying? but as a community, we could be so much better if we chose to build on our commonalities. So when I say, man, Minister Farrakhan and my relationship with him and other Muslims and people in the N-O-I, it's like, brother, that's something that I'm proud to say that I'm a person that's trying to build bridges

instead of just putting walls up. And I can still build that bridge while standing on what I stand on. Nobody in this world don't doubt if D-1 is a follower of Christ, you know what I'm saying? But I could build with people that's not like me, and I just think that's something that our community needs.

Absolutely. A little more of. Absolutely. Let's get free or a fear of a black planet? Give me, I mean, I'm only going to say this because I feel like one helped paved the way for the other. So we're going to go fear of a black planet. Okay. Yeah, because shout out to let's get free, but I feel like one paved the way for the other.

Absolutely. T.I. or Rick Ross? T.I. Okay. I love you, Rick Ross. Okay. You blacked me on Instagram. Jeremy.

I don't know why. Why did you block D1 on Instagram? You're right. Rick Ross, bro. We overdue for a conversation. And I'm real cool with one of Rick Ross's OGs. My brother, Papa Zoh. Okay.

Down here in Miami, you feel me? Rick Ross, brother, I love you, bro. I don't want you to become a prisoner to your own persona. Feel me? The boss. The biggest. Da-da-da. We get it.

But at the same time, it's a lot of growth that you're missing. out on because you feel a need to have to be in character all the time. You feel me? I know you have hard times. I know that there's things that you struggle with, but you just exude this aura of you got it all together. And people be catching you in your lives, like in your interviews. They be catching you in your lives.

I just watched the interview. Oh, did you get your name from freeway Ricky Ross? He don't want to answer that question. Bro, of course you got your name from Freeway, Ricky Rose. It's just like, brother, let's just, life is just easier when we could be like, The truth is the truth is set you free. None of us is perfect. You know what I'm saying?

We all have made mistakes. But I love Rick Ross. With all that being said, man, I love him. We got to have a conversation eventually. T.I. I got to give T.I. The Nide in that one. My first deal was with Grand Hustle Management.

I was signed to Grand Hustle Management, Jason Jeter. You know what I mean? That was my manager. I went on my first tour with Young Droo. Killer Mike and a group called Pag D. So I was the opener on that tour. We was all sharing a tour bus. D-1 Young Drill, Killer Mike and Pac-Dia.

Crazy. Crazy. Great conversations, huh? Me and Killer Mike, every day, I would just go sit in the front next to him because I knew he would just tell me stories. And I just wanted to soak this knowledge up. I'm fresh off of being a middle school teacher. You know what I mean? T.I. was in jail at the time, right?

So I never met T.I. during that period. But recently, man, T. T.I. started following me on Instagram. and we started building in the DMs and everything. And once again, I was like, dang, it means a lot that somebody who I have been influenced by thinks highly of me and I didn't even know it. You know what I mean?

So a lot of this, bro, I'm still that kid in New Orleans who got stolen cable, you know what I'm saying? So we got cable, we got BT, because we got stolen cable, MTV, the box, you know what I'm saying? And I'm still that dude that's like, man, that's juvenile from off the box. Man, that's BG from Uptown, from VL. Man, that's TI. And now that I'm in circles with these people and not having to compromise who I am,

but able to build constructively with them, I'm grateful. It's a beautiful thing. I'm going to get back at it. One more then we'll get back into the interview. It's my favorite question that asks, loyalty or respect? Neither one. Purpose. Before loyalty or respect, you need purpose.

because when you know your God-given purpose, it makes you want to make sure that people respect you for being the best version of who you are. People in this world will respect you for being a version of you that the devil is proud of. You don't want to be respected for being a clown. You don't want to be respected for being a crash-out, right? And loyalty, when you know your purpose,

then you know the difference between loyalty, because loyalty is cool, but blind loyalty makes you a fool. Yeah. We got too many people to hear that word loyalty, and they're like, bet, I'm just loyal. By any means necessary, just whatever, I'm just loyal to the death of me. And that blind loyalty has literally made you into a fool. But loyalty when it's underneath the umbrella of purpose is something to where you're like, hey, I only want you to be loyal to me if I'm exuding the best version of who I am.

If I'm leading y'all down the wrong path, don't be loyal to me. Let me crash out on my own. You know what I mean? and sometimes being loyal to me is stepping away from me temporarily until I get my mind right and then loving me from a distance. So I say purpose before loyalty

or respect. I respect that. So in the perfect world, what would you hope hip-hop improves on? Like from here on out? I don't want us to glorify a murder anymore and make it sound cool to go around. Can we at least

start off with not glorifying murder, right? Not sliding on your ops, not bragging about all the people you killed, even though a lot of y'all lying. You know what I'm saying? Yep. Not doing that. Number two, making it sound cool to either be a drug addict or a drug dealer. We're to the point where we got people who brag on how much they were selling cocaine

to their own community for, right? How much the Coke prices was and they brag on this stuff. We got interviewers who'd be like, Hey man, give me your top five cocaine rappers of all time. The joke is on us. That sounds extremely deplorable. That makes us sound horrible when we're talking about this stuff in a way like it's cool. You know what I mean?

Y'all must have never had an uncle that was on dope like me. Y'all must have never had the neighbor live across the street. And my mama is like, oh yeah, you know, Mr. Lloyd from across the street. That's him on cops right now, on the TV show, Cops. You know what I'm saying? And I'm seeing he tweaked out on cops, you know what I mean? Man, it's my neighbor, man. this man. So that stuff ain't cool

to hear that glorifying rap. Let's stop glorifying murder. Stop glorifying drug usage and drug dealing. Let's stop the glorification of disrespecting women. Like disrespecting women, blatantly disrespecting women, right? I'd like to see that stop.

And then fourth, I would like to see slut rap cease to exist. Slutty rap is when you are glorifying, going out here and, oh, I'm only smashing if you're paying, you hear of me. Oh, I got all these different dudes

on my roster. Oh, just talking about your Wop, you know what I'm saying? And you think about the people who made the song Wap. Who that was? Cardi B. And Meg the Steyer. You see how that turned out for her

with that Wap? Oh, no. Yeah, I mean, look. Did it allow her to keep a man? Oh, okay. You feel me? Okay. Thompson.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Meg D' Stallion. You know what I'm saying? Like, like, yeah. So it's like, like, I would just like to see that cease to exist as far as glorifying that stuff. And I'll tell you this, don't get mad at me because I've been saying it, but Jay-Z just said it too. We need to stop battling each other in hip-hop. Battle rap is a sub-genre.

That's his own thing. But battling each other in hip-hop and making it seem like it's a blood sport and it's meant to be competitive. No, art is not meant to be competitive. Art is meant to be as creative as you can be. Now, inevitably, the people are going to compare and be like, oh, whose verse is better? Norwich verse or De1's verse, even though they're on the same song. But as the creators, we got to have the fortitude to say, we're not going to let them people divide us. Because unfortunately, comparison is the thief of joy.

And now you got people who do songs together. who is like, dang, how do they end up beefing? They just did a song. They did an album. They were in a group together. But it's because that spirit of competition got ingrained in the creativity. And next thing you know, that company,

we men at the end of the day. Man, if everybody on the song who listened to it talking about, man, Norrie killed D1 on there. It's inevitable that I'm going to be like, I feel away. You know what I'm saying? And we're supposed to actively fight against that, bro.

That's our ego talking. You feel me? So I would like to see that spirit of battling each other in hip hop cease to exist. So that's the top five. Stop glorifying murder, stop glorifying drug dealing and drug use.

Stop glorifying the disrespect of women. Stop glorifying slutty rap and stop with the competitive beefed out nature of hip hop. I love that. Yeah. If that, I love it. Serious question.

Do you feel like that's asking too much? I feel like it's not asking for too much. I feel like it's a work in progress. It's like something like, you know, it takes a person like you to put it out there for people to even know that that's a problem. You know what I mean? Like some people live in certain parts of the world

where they live in their own world. You know what I mean? Like I sometimes, like I sometimes don't even touch my phone. Like how I told you I've seen a fight and I could, I sometimes so because I don't want to live in this. I don't want to be a slave to Instagram. Like I go to use the bathroom on purpose without my, phone sometimes and I gave

a whole bunch of, yeah, because it's just like you know you go to the bathroom, you look at one thing and you stayed and you wound up being there and you're dune scrolling. Yeah, and you wind up being there and you really was in the bathroom just on your gram. You really wasn't even there. It's handling your business. So like a lot of people say to me, and I say to I'm fasting. A lot of people don't know what I mean is I'm fasting from this.

You know what I'm saying? Like it's like because this shit just fucks me up. So yeah, man. I respect everything you said, man. I respect this conversation. I didn't. I mean, I could have smoked, but I didn't want to smoke. I didn't want to drink.

I wanted to do this shit. Like, because I want this shit that comes in my heart because this is the person that I am. You know what I mean? But I don't know how to fully be that person, but I'm a work in progress as well. You know what I'm saying? But I know this message has to be,

it has to be come across. It can't. And so if I share my platform, I know you thanked me, but I thank you. You know what I'm saying? and you for you doing your job, you being in the algorithms

and you're not being scared to go against the grain because that's what you're going against. Even for the people that's with you, it's just like, this is so unpopular and you're the first one. So it's never really like, the first one never really gets

the accolades and the props and all this. So, but it's something that's necessary. You know what I'm saying? It's something that's necessary. And it's something that you're doing, you're doing a great job. And I'll let you know. know, like, you know, most of these people support you.

Are they supporting you up front? Some are scared to. Some are. I don't know it. And some, like, by liking the picture to a certain degree that, to certain, to a person, like, they think that support. Like, I remember that I don't live in this world, live in this world. But a person was like, man, you know, you didn't like my picture.

I'm like, for real? I thought I did. And it's like, that means certain things to certain people. Like, and that might be that a simple way of people trying to support you by just simply liking your picture. And again, I think that you're one of the first. You're one of the first to do it like this, and then one of the first to do it as a performer

and do it as like an artist and do it as an activist, a teacher, I don't know the award you won and all that. You're one of the first. So like, I'm not saying you are frustrated, but don't get frustrated when you give your message and you know your message is right, but people ain't gravitating towards it the way you want it

because we got to realize the same way we deal with smart people, there is people who exist who don't want to change, right? But they're usually not around the people who do want to change, but sometimes they are. And trust me, trust me, it is way more easier to flood a person's mind with negativity

than it because it's more attractive. Like I said, like I watched one little fight on Instagram. My whole shit changed the Instagram. If you go watch one little thing about a stripper, all the strippers is just going to come up on your shit. Like it's, and then it's like what I'm saying is it's hard. You know what I'm saying? So like I had to do, like this is funny the other day.

I don't like posting me running. I don't like saying that I'm running. I don't like telling them it. But in order to change my algorithms, I had to post it. It was so bad. Like, it was so bad that I had to go in and say, I did this amount of running in, a different, this amount of running.

I don't want everybody to know that. Well, I didn't, but for me to control my space, literally, my space. Like, I had to, like, I had to post, I had to post positivity for that positivity to come back. So sometimes you got to put that shit out in the air. You know what I'm saying? But, like, my dumb ass, somebody sent me one fucking post. And my whole shit was,

like, ah, hood fights. How the hell hood fights keep popping up on my shit? I don't want to watch no goddamn hood fights. And then I did watch one or two, though. And it changed my whole show. I regretted that shit, so I regretted that 15 seconds. But, like, yeah, for real.

So, like, my point is, man, keep throwing that positivity out in the world. And this will come back, man. This will come back. It will resonate with people, even if it's taking a little, a little longer than expected, it will eventually work because don't, none of, no, first of all, if you're in a rap game,

I know we're starting with the rap game. If you're in a rap game and you signed the contract or you are part of it, it's, it's, you know, you know, you know, a lot of these things that we are part of, it's a part of the algorithms that was a part of, that was out before us, right? Now, now, whether we participate in it or not, that's on us.

So I just want you to know, man, you're doing the right thing, man. If you ever needed to hear that, that's why I wanted to give your flowers. I wanted you to know how important you are and how not to just this show and this culture, but how important you are to life. You know what I'm saying? We can't gatekeep you and be like, yo, you just hip-hop. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, shit, man, motherfucker.

Alicia Keys and Tiana Teller needs you in R&M. be shit you have to be for everybody you know what I'm saying you got to be for everybody you got to be and shit shit people might need you in other coaches people might need you in F1 you know what I'm saying like she got nothing to do with us it's fucking fast cause but if they need that word then you got you got to be able to commit it and that's why I said like I love um you addressing JD and I love you addressing um the certain things and saying I mean I still love them, you know what I'm saying? It's just certain things. And I just, that's my only advice, like, you know, because I think you're doing everything good. It's like, um, certain times

when you critique somebody, like a person, I believe this is the old school saying, I would rather you speak to me than speak at me. You know what I'm saying? And some people, some people can't take it like that. Just think about it. I ain't been challenged in 15 years. And then we got a young brother saying, hey man, you could do better. You could do better. I love you, yeah, I love you. They're just hearing, yo, man, this guy's that, this, this and that. So I wanted to give you your flowers. So is anything else you wanted to say before we get up out here? Man, if I could just let people know how they can support me.

Yes, let's go. That'll be powerful. All right. All right. So, number one, I'm on my 15th album right now, bro. Yeah, thank you, thank you, thank you. It's called The Shift. Okay.

Because the shift is here. Okay. It's happening. It's in front of us. A shift is happening right now. I'm doing this album. Oh, it's 100% independent. It's so independent that I'm doing it like this.

I'm allowing my fans to go name their own price for the album, right? I like that. Yeah, so I've done this before, but on this album, we got a goal. We want 10,000 people to get the pre-order for the album. And you can name your own price from a dollar on up to a million dollars, whatever level you want to support on, right? What other artists did that? Le Russell.

Yeah, yeah. So I've been doing this since 2022, but now I've got more eyes on me than ever. So I'm letting people know the shift is out. The goal is to get 10,000 artists. Like you said, people feel like they're supporting you if they like your picture or if they follow you online, right? But soon as you tell them, hey, go support my album. Name your own price. Commerce.

Oh, man. And it's harder. Right now, at the time of this recording, we have sold 1,189 pre-orders. But we're trying to get to 10,000. Right. So we got a long ways to go. I want to hit that goal because I want to prove to the young artists coming up that there's a demand for realness. You know what I mean?

Just like it meant to allow for me to be on drink champs and get my flowers today. Right. When an artist sees, they're like, dang, you could not compromise your morals and you could sell 10,000 units. Pre-order? Right. That's big. So the shift. That's the new album.

People could go on band camp, you know what I mean? And it's out now? No, it's available for pre-order. Okay. So when you pre-order it, you get five tracks instantly off the album. Okay. And then you get the rest of the album when it drops. Okay.

Nice. I want to get to 10,000 before I dropped the full album. So please, if you're listening to this and you like anything we said today, man, go whatever level you want to support on. I made it easy. You know what I mean? From a dial on up. Support. Get the shift, right?

That's the soundtrack to this movement, right? So we got that. I got my podcast. By the time this drops, my podcast will be out. We already filmed 10 episodes for the podcast. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The podcast is called the shift as well. It's called the shift.

Yep, got amazing, amazing people on there. I got to get you on there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's easy. And matter of fact, shoot, I got to get a song with you. Oh, man. You're in? I'm in there.

Yeah. Yeah. Because you are part of the shift. Yes. You turned me up when you met me, bro. Like that day at Art Basel, you turned me up when you met me, bro, because of how you pour it into a younger brother. Thank you for that.

Yeah, I appreciate that. From the bottom of my heart. So I got the album to shift. I got the podcast to shift. I got the platinum pledge, which is simply asking people to go to my website, d1music.com, DEEE, the number one music.com. The platinum pledge is just people taking two seconds to sign. The pledge that I made that says, hey, I no longer want to create, consume, or promote hip hop music that's glorifying murder, drug dealing, drug use, and disrespecting women.

You heard me? We got almost 100,000 people signed the platinum pledge so far. Wow. So I need people to go to my website, sign a platinum pledge. That's fine. And other than that, bro, oh, two last things. One is I had to expand my territory from just rapping. And, let me see.

Oh, I must have forgot it. Oh, there you go. I wrote a hip-hop children's book. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's an anti-bullying hip-hop children's book. You know, my real name is David. So it's called David found his slingshot. When I was in kindergarten in New Orleans, true story, I used to get bullied every day.

But it's big, huge dude, right? Turns out, me and my bully has something in common. And it was hip hop, our love for hip hop. After we realized that, I can't give the whole book away, but once we realized that we did something, and we went from bullies to he is my best friend to this day, 30 years later. So I wrote a book about it to teach our next generation how to build bridges with one another, even though you might have some differences.

David found his slingshot because your slingshot is a metaphor for the gift that God gave you. When you find your slings shot, you're supposed to use your slingshot to defeat the Goliaths in your life. Nice. You know what I mean? Love it. So that's on my website as well, dwantmusic.com. Yeah, yeah. So I got that.

And the last thing, bro, that's the most important thing that anybody could do to support me, man. Just keep me in your prayers. Literally, keep me in your prayers. And honestly, pray for me that I'm the best version of who God called me to be, but then the real best way that you can support me is to challenge yourself to be the best version

of who you were called to be. You know what I mean? And that being said, bro, none of this is scripted or planned. It's cool if I said, a little prayer right now. Go ahead. Please. Please.

Believe that. Father God, we come before you right now knowing that we were all meant to be here. We are all your children, God. And your children all have a task that you've assigned to us. We can't find our purpose as the creation if we disconnected from the creator. You invented us. So we got to tap in with the inventor. That's you.

Lord, bless us to self-reflect and look within and ask, what gifts have I been given? What passions do I have? What can I do to make this world a better place? Lord, when we self-reflect and we block out the money, we block out the attention, we block out the dopamine, Lord, I feel like you could really speak to our hearts and humble us, allow us to realize we're all on the same level, the same plateau. Lord, you've called us to be each other's teammates in this thing called life. we don't wrestle against flesh and blood ain't no other rap our ops ain't no other podcast host our ops

you hear me all the smoke now we don't want all the smoke with nobody we want all the smoke with the devil because it's evil spirits and principalities that work through people it ain't the people themselves that we at war with so Lord humble us Lord allow us to cherish this time

we don't know how long we got here on earth Lord but I thank you for this exact moment. Thank you for Norrie because Norriega changed my life. And I mean that, God. You know, I'm standing on that. And bless everybody that's going to ever watch this so that they could strive to be just a little better because of what they experienced on this podcast.

And I asked this profusely and profoundly and passionately in your son, Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You're going to take a picture? And then I'm going to do drops. Let's get it. Drink Champs is a Drink Champs LLC production, hosts and executive producers,

N-O-R-E, 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 N-O-R-E. Please make sure to follow us on all our socials. That's at Drink Champs across all platforms, at the real Noriegaon IG, at Noriegaon. IG at Noriega on Twitter. Mine is at Who's Crazy on IG, at DJEFN on Twitter. And most importantly, stay up to date with the latest releases, news, and merch by going

to drinkchamps.com. This is Michael Rappaport, and my podcast, the I Am Rappaport Stereo podcast, is unlike anyone you've ever heard. If you're looking for strong opinions about sports, entertainment, politics, pop culture, and whatever else catches my attention, then subscribe. This kid Jafar Jackson should absolutely positively get nominated for his portrayal as Michael Jackson. Listen to IMRAP report on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Every family has its secrets.

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