Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Mental Trillness With Juicy J

Episode Date: September 5, 2023

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay welcome hip-hop legend Juicy J to discuss mental wellness, producing classics, and wild stories after winning the Oscar for Best Original Song. Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Guest: Juicy J Producers: Donnie Beacham Jr. and Ashleigh Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We got Juicy Jay on the podcast today. Juicy Jay, pioneering hip hop producer, rapper, member of the 36 Mafia, Taylor Club Up Thugs, Hypidized Minds. Talk about his new book, Chronicles of the Juice Man, a memoir. We got Juicy J coming up. We talked about a lot of things. Logic. We talked about logic.

We talked about drugs and rap. Drug use. His past. What else? I mean, he doesn't hold back, which he also doesn't hold back in this book, which is great. We talked about how he feels about. about, you know, the group overall. We talked about how he feels about current rappers and Memphis

and even maybe some career aspirations that he may have in the future. He's got stuff he wants to do in his future. You know what's great, though, is that it takes you back to a certain, for us, right? We're from the South. We like Southern rap. Just talking to JuC.J and thinking about the music, takes you back to a certain time in your life. A simpler time.

I don't want to share this moment with you. Why? Because I don't, I don't know. I feel like I want this for myself. You want what for yourself? The Juicy J moment, the moment of Southern rap. I want, I want to exclude you. I'm not sure why.

You need to explain more. I want, I want, I'm, I'm the old nigger. The only person on this show. Why you got to be older to appreciate 3-6 Mafia? On this show that gets to reminisce is me. You're a young lass. You don't get to look back, okay? You're a young last.

You got to think about the future, Rachel. You're the same age. No, we're not. We wouldn't have even been in the same high school together. There's a range, though. You're a young lass. You will not take this away from me. You're a lassie. That's what you are.

Are you a lassie? True or false. No. I remember having to sneak to listen to the music. I remember being initially scared of the music. See what I'm saying? I remember. I remember, I remember, like, can I listen to this?

Can I not? It just takes me back. I loved, you know, like, I don't know it to the levels that you do, but I definitely love listening to 36 Mafia growing up. And it does. It reminds me of my youth. And I can have that, Van. Sorry, you don't get to keep that for yourself.

No, you're still in your youth. Juicy Jay. I didn't say I wasn't. There it is. I'm saying I'm not. But Juicy Jay and his music and 36 Mafia, it impacted us all. You like it. It impacted us all.

And so today was a real treat. you think the judge the Ten Commandments the Battle of Jericho was allowing me to listen to three six mafia Who is the judge's favorite rapper? He doesn't have one that I'm aware of.

The judge doesn't like one rap song. You know that's a really great question. I've never asked him that. He's more of a blues guy. Johnny Taylor, Big Face Hundreds. We love Johnny Taylor. We grew up listening like Hal and Wolf. My dad loved this guy from me.

New Orleans called Rooster that he met that he met when he on a corner of a street when he was working Louisiana. So the judge didn't hear like one rap song and be like I like I'm sure he did but I've literally ask him. Ask the judge right now. I want to I need to know what the judge's

favorite rap song of all time. I should be like fancy by Iggy Azalea or something like that. Can you imagine? That would be the type of shit that the judge would like. It's like I like that record. that young white lady It's like he can fill it within his soul Not to pick up the phone Roof top like bringing 88 back

Where's that? I heard that song on a commercial I'm the judge He doesn't talk like that That's what he's just a judge language He's not picking up the phone Because he knows there's Satan calling He knows ain't nobody calling but the devil He knows

He knows ain't nobody call him but the devil Send the devil the devil That could be a gospel song Call me back. Question I've never asked you before. What's your favorite rap song? Or do you even have a favorite rapper? Yeah.

Call me back in the next hour or so, so I can get it on the podcast. This is going to be a seminal moment in higher learning history with the judge and his rap. Goodbye. This is going to be a seminal moment. This is a very important moment.

My mom would really like the rap. She used to like the bone thugs in harmony. Love them. I can definitely tell you he didn't listen to them. Love them. My dad would hear a couple of things. songs too. I never told you the story before. So

Nelly had this song. I can't remember which track it was on. And it was called You remember that song, You Can Find Me and St. Louis. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some dirt down to some deal. Hey, others just smoke and fuck all day. Okay. So my mother My mother loved that song.

She was like, she would walk through the house, just singing it. Because she was listening to Nellyville. I had Nellieville. I can't remember which Nellie was on. But it's like, Mama would be like, You can find me in St. Louis.

Some do you from something. Hey, others just smoking fuck all day. And my dad is driving crazy. You hear that? That's your mama. That's your mama right there. And what is she in this house doing? This is a house of God.

Your mom in here talking about smoking and fucking. That's kind of example. she says for her children. Mama's like to have a good time. Ebony knows that story. Talk about some smoking fuck all day. What kind of shit is this? I love that she was saying it though.

She'd sing it. You can find me and sing me away. I do that with rap songs too. The playoffs are here and you can predict the action all the way to the final with Fandul Predict. Predict the spread, total points and even the game winner.

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Bonafide legend on the podcast now. Bonafide legend. You know what? When I say legend, I mean, a legend and y'all know he a legend, but I don't even think that he gets to credit for the amount of legendary shit that he has been a part of. One of the founding voices in not just hip hop, not just southern hip hop, but hip hop, period. You know the sound, you know the man.

His name is Juicy J. The book is Chronicles of the Juice Man, a memoir. Oh, my God. Mr. Jay joins us today on higher learning. My brother, what's up? Man, just chilling, man, having a great day, man. You know what I'm saying? Feeling good.

Drinking water. Drinking water. Being hydrated. Let me ask you a question. This is going to sound like a stupid question. But have you always drank water or did you get to a point in your life to you were like, it's more important to drink water now than it ever has been before? I got to a point in my life.

You know, when you smoke a lot of weed, you get that cut in mouth, man. So you ought to stay hydrated, man. You know. Juicy, let me ask you something. You, just real quick, you've done so much. We've seen you for so many times, so much over the years. Academy Awards, all of the time that you've spent on the screen.

Why was it important for you to write a book? At that time, man, you know, I was in that mode. I was in that vibe. I was going through a lot at the time, too. My mom was sick with cancer, and then she ended up passing away. Sorry, I mean, you know, I just did. I was going to do it like a few years back,

but, you know, I just started writing it and, you know, expressing myself, letting people know what was going on in my life. It's a good inspirational book, man. You know, it's not just for everybody in the music business, for people outside the music business. It's a real story about real life, you know, real life situations. It reads like a diary, JuC.J.

It really is. Like, once you start, once you pick it up, it's hard to put down. And also, Van and I are both from the South. So this is also. I'm Texas. He's Louisiana. So this is also a moment for us too. But one of the things that I appreciated in the book,

and there's a lot, a lot to appreciate, is that you really open up personally. You know, I know that you keep your personal life, private, your family life. But in this book, you decided to open up and even particularly talk about mental health. And I know that your latest project also addresses that. Why was that so important for you?

Because we don't see that a lot. I mean, now that's maybe a little bit becoming an old narrative because we're starting to talk more about it. but why was that so important for you to address that and on a personal level? Because we all go through mental health issues every day, you know, and I felt like, you know, I talk about strip clubs and this and that and people see me out, they see me smile and, you know, smoking, we have fun and trippy and all that stuff, but I live a real life, you know, and I want people understand that. I live a real, real life and I go through ups and downs.

I have great days and I have bad days. And, you know, I've been down the road. I understand, I get it, you know. Everything I say in that book, people can relate to. So it was just time for me to just share my truth, you know, my personal life, things like that. And I just felt like it's just that time, you know. I've been going through so much and it's hard to hide it.

You know, I talk about it on my album, mental trillness, about my mom, about this, that situations in life, not trusting people, being very paranoid all the time and, you know, growing up in Memphis. So, you know, this is just, you know, It's just the vibe I'm on right now. Let's talk about Memphis for a second. I've said on this podcast before

that I think Memphis is the most underrated city as far as hip-hop. Yeah. Tell you what happened. I'm in Baton Rouge. I'm doing my thing. My homeboy, Gino, he comes. Comes down from a place called Black Haven.

You always talking about Black Haven. That's where he's from. He brings his music back. I don't know, maybe it's like 93, 94. And we saw listening to this shit. And at first, you see, I'm not going to lie, bro. We had to hide it from my parents because they weren't feeling the whole triple six.

I want to talk about it. I had to hide it. You know what I mean? But the music comes through and he put this shit on. And it was some dude on the record, like, lick my butt, lick my butt, like my butt. The whole nine. And I'm like, what the fuck is this shit?

Like, bro, what you got us listening to? You're like, nah, niggas, you got to get into it. And that's what my journey with 3-6 with Memphis, that same time Ball and G are doing their thing, and it's a whole sound. And it really births a crook movement that kind of relocates to Atlanta after a time. And I feel like Memphis,

would all the acts that have come out of Memphis? Still has yet to get the credit that they deserve as one of the most fertile grounds for hip-hop that we currently have. Do you think that Memphis is an underrated and sometimes overlooked city in terms of hip hop? Yes, it's always been a dime in the rough. But now it's starting to open up. People are finding out and figuring out, you know, a lot of Memphis rappers are doing amazing jobs right now,

killing it in the game. So it's happening. You know, it just took a long time. You're right. A lot of people have taken little certain things here and there and, you know, styles and vibes of Memphis. But now we're getting our critic, you know, it's happening slowly but surely. I want to piggyback on that because in the book, and this is something I didn't know, you talk about, you talk about stealing sounds or maybe even a name here and there.

You talk about the relationship with bone thugs and harmony. You talk about the name, the notorious juicy J. Can you speak a little bit about that and talk about, because it is interesting how you talk about how other people were maybe still in the sound and stuff like that. But now your music has been sampled by so many artists. So it's almost like this full circle moment. Can you talk about what you talk about about Bone? Because I didn't know that history.

Yeah. Yeah, when we was coming up in Memphis, you know, making mixtapes. And so we didn't go nowhere outside of Memphis. Maybe Mississippi. That was it. So when you hear somebody, like when Bone was doing, the little triplet flow, whatever, the flow like Lord Influence was using, and, you know, a lot of gangstaboo, a lot of us was using.

We was like, oh, man, they're still in our style, you know, not even thinking that everybody be on the same page. Not even just really saying they stole it, but it's like, you know, when you coming up, you know, certain things sound the same, maybe sound the same in this city, may sound a little bit as similar in that in each other, you know, other cities. So we just, you know, we was young, man, you know, we was like in our early 20s.

I could have been probably 20, 21. Gangsta boo probably could have been 17. Paul could have been like 18. So we're thinking like, oh, man, they're still in our, you know, we're young niggas. So we're like, oh, they're still in our style. You know what I'm saying? And then, you know, I saw the notorious big. And I was like, back in the day, I used to call myself the notorious juicy jay.

So I was like, man, I wanted, did they hear my mixtapes, man? You know, he called itself notorious big. But not even saying that, you know, that happened, but because I don't know. You know, I'm in Mippins now. I'm a young Mippins nigga, you know what I'm saying? Small city, small town. And I'm just like, you know, on the inside looking out, like, oh, yo, these people still in our stuff.

So, you know. Did you, did you ever ask? Did you ever ask? Because I'm sure you've been in the same circles with some people that knew big. And did you ever ask, yo, man, the big kind of kind of pick up off the notorious thing from JuCJ. Have you ever asked anybody about it? No, no.

I didn't want to embarrass myself. You know, honestly, I really, I really, I'm just, in my book, I just tell you, that's how I actually felt when I was younger. Word. These people are, but then the older I got, I was like, nah, man, these people didn't steal our style. Bone didn't still out style. Folks are just rapping the same, man.

You know what I'm saying? It was just like that's just a wave. You know what I mean? I feel like that was just a wave because their music is still different from our music, you know. Biggie Small's stuff, his stuff is definitely different

from Three Six Mafia. So, you know, it's, when I was young, man, I thought those certain things. And I was, I was not so much as like, you know, pointing the finger like, oh, they did it? I was kind of like, I wonder, I wonder did they hear,

I wonder did they listen? I wondered. How would they hear? How would they, but I was thinking, like, how would they get our mixtapes? Because we only sold our mixtapes on the street, you know, like in the stereo stores and stuff like that, the car stores. So I was like, man, did somebody get one and FedEx one to, or a male one to their friend in Cleveland, a male one to New York? You know, I don't know. I was wondering, you know, when I was a young nigga.

But the older I got, I was like, man, you know, it's just music, man, you know what I'm saying? They ain't no big deal. I love bone thugs of harm me. I'm, you know, big ass fan of both them and biggie. You know what I'm saying? Much love to them dudes, rest of the deal. the legend, the greatest of all time rapper, Biggie Small. So, you know, man, you know, you live and you learn, you go through things, man.

Yeah. You know, brother, when I see some of the OGs, I look at y'all as not just pioneers, legends, success stories, but also as survivors. Yeah. Because so much and so many times in the game, rap, we lose brothers to ancestors, to violence. but we also lose them to different health concerns and I know that that has impacted

the 3-6 mafia family you know you guys have had a couple of members transition on including somebody who I knew who was friendly with Lola how hard has it been for you and the surviving remaining members to move on and keep those memories alive

and not get caught up in the depression of losing people so close to you? y'all while you've also had this success. Do you feel like you're having any PTSD? Are you dealing with your grief in the right ways? Like, what's your process in moving through things like that? Man, a lot of prayer, praying a lot. And, you know, I got a therapist as well, you know what I'm saying?

I talk to them. That's stuff like that, man. You know what I'm saying? And just taking time out for yourself, you know what I mean? Just trying to take a break and relaxing and just trying to, you know, keep your mind straight. man, because this stuff, you know, when you read my book, man, this shit was driving me crazy, man.

Yeah. I was to a point where I was just, like, you know, just getting high every day, taking Xanax and drinking alcohol, which you don't supposed to do. And it just, it was a lot on me, man, you know, trying to lose weight and all this old shit. It was just a lot of, and then riding around with guns every day looking over my shoulder, can't trust nobody around me, can't trust nobody outside my click, inside the click. I'm just like overly paranoid, you know what I'm saying? And a lot of things were just happening.

Everything just happened. People going to jail. People getting shot. People are there. So much going on, man. So it's been a real mental struggle, like just in here. Just been just like confusion and all kind of shit, man. You know what I'm saying?

It's been tough. It's still an everyday struggle. You know, I still think about boo and Coops and a nigga and Lord Emmer's every day, you know. And sometimes I shed a tear, man. Even my mom. I shed tears, man, because I missed them. And I know we had some little small differences, man. But, you know, the older I've got, man, you know,

That shit wasn't really shit, man. You know, when you think about it, we just had egos, man. We were some talented motherfuckers. Everybody was talented as fuck. And everybody was cold as fuck in the studio. You got six geniuses in the room and everybody thinking they did shit.

But, like, listen to that music. That shit came. It's just classic. They're sampling it. The sales don't went up. Everything is going crazy with it. So, man, like, we were just some cold motherfuckers, man. But, like, deep down in my heart, man,

I love each and every one of them. You know what I'm saying? Even right today, Paul, Lord. I mean, Paul and the Survivor I remember Paul and Crunchy Black. I love them dudes, man, regardless if we talk or not. It don't even matter because we did something together. We had a great time.

We built something together. I mean, we shared tears together, man. We fought together. We eat all kinds of shit together. So, you know, I think about everybody every day, man, the whole group and all the times we had and just the crazy times and the crazy parties and stuff like that in the studio. It was a run, man. Right.

I love the way that you said that. And I'm sure that as you were writing this book, there was so much reflection. as you were thinking about from the dream that you had so young, which I so appreciated hearing how business-minded you were at such a young age, to then making it into a reality and continuing to go from now. When you think back, like, what would you tell your younger self, sitting where you are today? If you could, what would you tell your younger self back then

when it was all a dream? You said before I became what I am, you know what I'm saying? You're saying like the only thing I take regrets, It's stuff like in my younger days It's like a couple of contracts Not all of them, but a couple of contracts I might could have waited. We was real anxious to, you know,

to sign a major deal. We was like in a rush. Nobody could tell us shit. We just want to be major so bad. We didn't even care. We weren't worried about the money or nothing. You know what I'm saying? Even though we got money and, you know,

they took care of us, but we were just so anxious to sign a contract and just blow up because we knew we knew he was the shit. Like we knew this. It was, you know, I don't even know where it came from, but it's just how we felt, man. We just felt like we were some cold motherfuckers

because we could. I mean, we could wrap our ass out, make beats. I mean, a lot of rappers couldn't do that. We did all our own taxes. We picked our own show. We would have a telephone. We ring. We'd be like, hello, this guy's in our voice.

You want to book three people's market? And we would write up the contracts ourselves. We would pick up the money. I mean, it was so in-house. Everything was in-house. We did everything in-house. We shot our own videos. You know, we paid the directors out of our own pocket.

I mean, we did everything, man. So, you know, that's the only thing I just have a little small regrets back when I'm my youngest self. Like, slow down, man. Don't be in such a rush to sign everything, you know, read that shit again and make sure that lawyer is telling you, you know, telling you the real on them contracts. Because in the beginning, we didn't have like a real good music attorney. In the beginning, we just had like a local guy. You know, he was cool.

He was from him if his local guy, you know, but he didn't really know too much about the music like that. But, you know, hey, it worked out. I'm not, you know, we wasn't tied in. We wasn't in a slave deal. But, you know, we own 85% of our masters and stuff like that. And we own all the publishing stuff like that. So, I mean, we made it out okay. This episode is brought to by WeatherTech.

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zero shortcuts, everything you love in one hand. Think green goddess chicken, garlic aoli, crumbled bacon, corn salsa, 40 grams of protein. Made to keep up with whatever comes next. New sweetgreen wraps hit different. Order now at order.com. You talked a little bit about some of your struggles with drug use and some of the things that you did to cope while the stress was getting heavy.

What do you think about the drug use that exists in hip hop today? what do you think about the culture that exists around some of the brothers and the pills and the sisters as well, the pills, all of that stuff that over the last five to ten years has become a real heavy part of it? What's your opinion on the drug culture and hip-hop today? Today I hate it because it's like they put that fentanyl and everything, man. One thing about me when I was taking drugs, and every now I end up, no bullshit. I may have to take a half a zam.

plane or something, but all my drugs are prescribed. All my drugs always been prescribed. I would never, I probably sit a little lean from off the street, but I would just be very precocious with just grabbing somebody out. I got some, some, some perkins sets. I'd be like, all right, cool, you know what I'm saying? I always really got my stuff from the pharmacy, from a doctor. I had a lot of it, too, and stuff like that. But, you know, today's coaches, I just feel like Everybody's buying stuff off the street. They putting fentanyl in it. And it's killing people on the spot, man.

You know what I'm saying? It's killing them on a spot. And it's so fucked up. Every time I hear about somebody dying of a fentanyl, man, it just, man, I cringe, man. It hurt me. It hurt my heart because, you know, members in my group, you know, have passed away. Allegedly all that type of shit. So it's just like, that shit is fucked up.

I mean, like, I tell everybody, man, like motherfuckers that do drugs. I understand your addiction. I get it. I've been there before. Don't get it from the motherfucking off the street, though. If you're going to get some shit, get some shit from a pharmacy. And then, like, if you can, try to just, you know, get some help with taking that medication so you can maybe help, you know, get yourself off or be able to, to be off a couple of days and get on, you know, just be able to get off when you want to. That's one thing I never let drugs just take me completely over. It had me fucked up and I was high a lot, but I wouldn't be like, oh, I got to have drugs

to go to the studio. Oh, I got to have drugs to make it to a show. I'm getting my money. Do you think nowadays that rappers are rapping too much about their drug use? Well, I can't really judge a person on what they rap about. I just feel like I think they should tell the real true stories of the drug use. If you're going to talk about drug use today, I feel like you should talk about the ups and downs. I get, man, I almost die. You know what I'm saying? I'm almost obese.

You know what I'm saying? I shouldn't have been taking too much drugs. I shouldn't have been taking too much Xanax. Like I told you, I was mixing Xanax with alcohol. I remember walking through the airport and I'm waking up. Like, what the fuck am I? You know what I'm saying? Like, shit like that's crazy, passing out and shit.

So, like, we should talk about the ups and downs. Like, I used to get on drugs and drink and then wake up, chick in my bed. I mean, like, what's your name? You know what I'm? You know what I mean? So I just feel like we should definitely, if we're going to talk about drugs, we got to say, oh, yeah, we're getting high today. But the day after day, I took some bad dope,

and I had an overdose. Like, let these people know. Let these folks know the real shit. So when they're hearing your reps, they'd be like, hey, maybe I might not take that drug because such and such said, he overdosed. They almost died. Blood, man.

So I just, that's why I met right now, man. That's what I call it mental trillness, man. You know, it's mental health and trillness just for the sauce of it. But it's like, like, you know, you got to be careful out here, man. It's dangerous. For sure.

Yeah. Yeah. Megan the Stallion just posted a video on TikTok. where she was dancing to your song, and then boom, you pop up at the end, had everybody talking. You know, in light of what's everything that's going on surrounding Megan the Stallion

and with the case with Tori Lanes, a few rappers, R&B artists, wrote letters and supported Tori Lanes. Some rappers took shots at Meg the Stallion in their songs, and it seems like they weren't supporting Megan's account of the situation. Where do you stand with everything on that?

And were you making a statement by being with her in that video. Man, I love Megan Stan. We was at a birthday party. We have great times, man. I don't even try to dwell on people's personal stuff. Like, that's our personal issues or whatever. You know, we've talked about certain things.

I love her. I support her to the fullest. That's my sister. But, you know, man, we move, you know, we're moving forward right now. You know, we're working on a new album. We're just moving forward. I don't too much try to engage in, you know, that situation with her. Yeah.

You know, that's our personal stuff, you know what I mean? That's our personal life. And I respect her, man. I love her, you know, saying. And I don't be trying to, you know, dwell or dive into that category too much because that's not my business. And, but hey, I'm going to tell you something, man. She's in good spirits.

Good. Man, she got some hard shit, man. She cold, man. You said album. She's working, y'all are working together on music? Is that what you're saying? Okay. Okay.

Okay, okay, I don't want to let that slide. I'm on time. I'm excited about that. I want to ask you a couple of music questions. And I got some stuff, bro, because I'm a huge, huge, huge, huge, but everybody that knows me knows I'm also a huge, huge, huge fan of that nigger project pack. That's my nigger. I don't want to go to county jail no more. Like, you know what I'm saying?

That's my nigger. And I have a question. A lot of people don't know this. And Rachel didn't notice. We talked about it yesterday. We were talking about this, yeah. One of the biggest songs in your production history. One of the biggest songs in hip-hop history is UGK featuring Outcasts.

Yeah. International Players Anthem. Yeah. And what I like to do when I like to fuck people's heads up, when they come to the crib, I did this to Rachel yesterday, is I like to play a different record called Choose You, that's a Project Pat record, same beat, same feel, and people go, what the fuck is this?

Yeah, right. I want to know, because that song is both songs, is heat. I'm not going to say which one I like better, because everybody's going to get on my ass if I say which one I like better. I just fuck with Project Pat in a real heavy way. All right?

I'm from Texas. How did Project Pat feel about that beat that was on his record, that crazy beat with the Willie Hutch sample, then being repurposed with UGK and Outcast and becoming one of the biggest songs in hip hop history when he had had it before. Was he good with that? I know Pimp wanted to beat,

but a lot of Project Pat fans feel like maybe choose you didn't get the push that it should have got or maybe that would have been the record. Like, clear up that story for it. us and tell people who don't know about these two records how that happened and how does Pat feel about that. Hey man, first of all, we love, rest and peace, Pim C. Rest and peace to Pim C.

Because that's another one of my top five groups. I was just with Bum B, man. Yep, shout out to Bond. Trial Burgers is going up. Going crazy. Going crazy, man. Pimsy, man, like, they, they, they, they, I could say it on family members, man. Like, you know, rest of peace to his mom.

She used to cook back and day we would go up when we went, did a couple of a video shoots or whatever she was cooking all that stuff man good good people man Bond beat people all real good people all on real good people so Pemsey I got out jail he was telling us he was like hey man I want that same beat man on that project Pat album man

I don't change nothing man just see me the instrumental man watch what I do with that motherfucker man and we did and you know Pat gave him Pimsy you know the blessing and we gave him the blessings like we both with Pempsi man and he look what they did

They made a fucking classic. Right. The song got nominated for the Grammy and everything, man. This is crazy. I was like, damn. And actually, we had, we had posted been on the song, which we did a verse on the song. But somebody in Columbia records didn't clear it, and we didn't even know this. We didn't even know.

They had caught us and like, oh, man, we can't get the record clear. I'm like, what the fuck? Who, what? And they put outcast on the song, which was cool. I didn't have a problem with it. You know what I'm saying? We did the production, so it's all good. A check is a check.

Check on check So I was like All right man That junk will be even bigger And that junk Got nominated for a Grammy I was like Damn

Is that your biggest record You ever produce You feel like Um I would say I would say a lot of records Stay flies Yeah

But slop on my knob It's been sample So many times Which you wrote in 11th grade Which is wild to me Yeah Crazy right You know

When I first wrote That song I thought that was, I thought it's the most stupid song I ever had my life. I was a little bit stupid. You know, I was at a club. I was playing it, and then I come back to the club next week. And that was the first time I played that. I played it at the end of the club.

I was DJing at this club called S. Calibah in South Memphis. So everybody's walking out. I play Slom Bar and I. Nothing, no reaction. I come back to next week, as I was putting my creative records, stacking my creative records, you know a crate of records, you know, of creates of records, I don't you? Of course.

Yeah. Yeah. People was walking in. They was like, man, hey, juicy. Man, play that song you played last week. I said, what song? It was like, they can remember this. Like, it went like slob on something.

I said, oh, that bullshit. I ain't playing that song, man. That's a stupid-ass-old. Nigger played that song. So I played it for the second time in the club. Second time, I played it. The whole club went crazy. I was like, damn.

Shit. Say it. You know what I'm saying? And that's why I got my first start. There's a household name around Memphis. One of the biggest, best DJs in Memphis. Yeah, yeah.

I would scratch it like jazz to Jeff behind my back with the whole nine the elbow one moment I never forget my life it's like 2006 I just got out to LA we had a little Oscar party right we had a little Oscar party and Hustler Flo had

been doing this thing shout out to my boy Anthony Anderson um Craig Brewer the whole it was just a movement Craig Brewer everybody right Terrence Howard Taraji everybody everyone fantastic film and

I mean if whether it's whooped that trick which now has its own life with the Memphis Grizzly, whether it's hard out there for a Pimp, the soundtrack of the movie is brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, stuff. And to the point to where the movie, the story can't be told

if the soundtrack for the film is any less hard. If it's not as penetrating and as classic, if the songs aren't as classic, hustle and flow doesn't exist. So you guys have a huge, huge part of that movie, and you know that. Y'all win the Academy Award. room full of white people, I go nuts.

They're like, what the hell is going on with this motherfucker? I'm going crazy, y'all going crazy, the whole cultural going crazy, the whole South just won the Super Bowl. That's how it feels. How did your life change after that? I'm sure you've been asked this before, but I want one story of something crazy that happened after you became an Academy Award winning. I have been partying.

We call it the longest Oscar party. That's how the book starts. with that, yeah. And I felt like the party was so crazy. People were walking around with flavored cocaine. And I had never seen flavored like this. I like this way to walk them to me. You know, I had to sleep back. He like, like,

like he tried to give me a drink. You want to go? And I'm like, fuck. I looked in the box. You had a like a light little wood grain box. Head on there like cherry, blueberry cold, watermelon coke. I'm like, I don't know you mixed flavors. What do y'all get the flavor cocaine in? Like, L.A. It's crazy, man. Right. I didn't take, I didn't do that there.

But I was just like, I couldn't. I had never seen no shit like that. I mean, like I said, bro, it's been so many crazy times, but I mean, the Playboy Mansion. I never seen Donald Trump in there and a bunch of actors and a lot of cool people. Juicy, what was Donald Trump doing in the Playboy Mansion? Juicy, what did you see?

Jucy, what did you see? Donald Trump doing inside the Playboy Mansion. Man. Man, man, was one hell of a place, bro. That playboy. We was the first rap group. ever performed there, man.

Rest the piece, he's, yeah. Really? I mean, it was just like, yeah, it was, keep in mind, after I wanted to ask, I was in the,

what they called the grotto or whatever? The grotto. Yeah, the grotto. I met this porn star. She's like, get in. She takes off all her clothes.

She jumps in the pool. I'm like, holy shit, I take up all my clothes. I jump in the pool. People having sex everywhere. And then I was like, I don't know,

something hit me in the head. It was like, hey, you know, you know, you don't have a rubber right? Something was telling me, You know you don't have a rubber right. Like, I would get these little voices in my head

that would tell me when I'm getting ready to do something I shouldn't be doing, it would tell me. Like, you know you don't have a rubber right, so I'm thinking like, damn. Like, you just want an academy at war. Why would you have sex with this porn star? She could have HIV. She could have shithless.

I mean, like, all this kind of shit started running through my head. So literally, I got kind of nervous and scared. I was like, man, you know what? She was fine as hell. She was like, come on, come on. I was like, nah, I'm going to. So I jumped out the joint, put my clothes back on. Everybody called me stupid.

Man, you crazy. I would have wronged. I'm like, no, no, no. I mean, you know, you would have a wrong dog dead. But I did. I said, you know, I probably saved my life. You know, who knows? I bet you could have got that chick pregnant.

Who knows? Like, what the hell? You know what I'm saying? So that was a great experience in the Playboy Mansion, man. Crazy. One of the crazy experiences. At the mansion. Yeah.

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Hang out with my kids. I got two beautiful kids, man, you know, my family. Stuff like that, you know, life, real life shit. How do you juggle being of being a family man father with being Juicy J? I just schedule everything. I go to studio like at 8 and I just be able to, you know, I take my daughter and my son to a little preschool in the morning and then when they come home and play and have fun and play games and, you know,

they like to, they want me to get them piggyback ride. and stuff like that. We might go to Chuckie Cheese. It's a place they like called a kitchen party. We might go there, go to a park or something like that, you know.

And we just spend a lot of great time, man. Like, that's what it's all about, man. Having family and good friends around you, man. Oh, yeah, another thing, too. I got an album coming out with Logic. Logic produced a whole album for me. Logic.

Whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. So you got a, Logic produced the album for Juicy Jess. And I'm rapping on there. I'm going on my New York shit. I'm on my boom. I'm going to say boom bap.

I'm on my boom bap. You're doing your boom bap. So you got a lyrical album coming out with Logic as a producer. Let me say something real quick. Logic is a controversial person in hip hop because some people don't know what to make of them. What's your thoughts on Logic as a rapper and as a producer? Yeah, cold motherfucker, man. You're a real nigger, man.

You know what I'm saying? He cold, man. So, wait, wait, wait, wait. You say Logic is a real nigger? Yeah, real nigga. You know what I'm saying? He's good people. You know what I'm saying?

He's black and white. He's good people, man. How was, Juicy, I got to let you. Hold on now. Hold on. Hold on, Juicy. Wait a second now. One of my heroes, I got to ask him,

what makes logic a real nigger? Because I've never, I've heard logic described in a lot of ways. Genius, talented, amazing, nice guy. I've never heard Logic described as a real nigger. What makes logic a real nigga? Man, he's an honest, cool guy, man. Down the earth, he would help anybody

they give you his last, bro. Like, he's that type of, he's a real nigga, you know what I'm saying? You went to jail, he'll bet you out. You know what I'm saying? He'll be cool as fuck, man, you know? You know, it was like real shit. That's a...

That's this... I'm gonna be honest with you. Logic didn't accomplish a lot. This might be the biggest moment of logic career right here. To have... To have Juicy J. call him a real nigga. I'm gonna spend that shit.

I'm gonna... I'm gonna go. go back and listen to more of that shit. I'm going to try to check. I'm going to do a little song with the, what do you do with the little numbers on there? You got the phone number in the joint? Yes. I listen to that shit. Before I let you get out of here, Ju-Saint, I want to ask you one thing. Last year, we lost

Dolph. It actually might have been two years ago now, but that we lost Dolph. Memphis is having this rise in terms of hip-hop, but also the streets of Memphis are hot right now. They hot.

They hot. Real shit. What's your thoughts on where the streets of Memphis are right now and kind of some of the things that's going on back where you're from? Man, Memphis has always been an evil violent city. You know what I said? I always had that dark cloud over it. I just pray every day, man, hopefully that, you know, some kind of way we can come together and stop the violence and try to just use our music. Because everybody in Memphis, a lot of people in Memphis, I'm going to say everybody. You go down there and see a nigga working at McDonald's. So you just say, man, he play instrument. He'd be like, yeah, I can

keyboard. I can rap. Lakers got crazy talent down there, you know what I'm saying? So I'm just praying every day, man. You know, hey, when I'm done with music, maybe I run for a senator or something in Tennessee. Maybe I can come down there and help the community, you know, which I help the community, but like really get out there and don't some political shit.

And just get everybody, you know, involved from the mayor to the different counties to get everybody involved as far as like it, having to stop the violence movement down there. You know what I'm saying? And like, let's uplift these kids. and maybe make some music museums and put these people in some programs and just keep their heads straight

offer better jobs for people that's another thing too they got some shitty jobs in Memphis man all you know niggas ain't making them money with them shitty jobs down there so but even still even right now I'm always trying to tell niggas hey man stop the violence stop the violence let's stop let's chill

let's sit down and see we could talk this out you know what I'm saying before it get too crazy and let's try to just make money with this music and helping one of of whatever, you know, instead of pulling their strap out, you know what I'm saying? Word. Word. All right, that's Juicy Jay.

The book is Chronicles of the Juice Man, a memoir. It is out in September through Harper Collins. A memoir of the Oscar-winning platinum-selling rapper and a producer for fans of Rick Ross's Hurricanes. Why they got to mention Rick Ross's book in there? Let's put the Rick Ross book in there. Well, Rick, I wrote that as Sean Baker. He wrote my book with me.

I gave my information. He just, you know, he put it out in words and, you know, made it make sense and put it together. That's a great, that's a good book, by the way. I'm messing with Ross. Ross, Ross, the homie. That's a good book.

Juice, we appreciate you coming, bro. This is actually a real big moment in my life. Been listening to your music, big inspiration for me for a long, long time. Appreciate you coming on higher learning today with this, brother. Hey, thank you, man. Appreciate you all, man.

Bless this.