Joe and Jada - Rod Wave talks ‘Don’t Look Down’ dropping 8/28 + breaks down business moves & record-setting concerts

Episode Date: August 27, 2026

Fat Joe and Jadakiss sit down with Rod Wave to discuss his evolution from a rising artist to a savvy entrepreneur. The trio delves into the harsh realities of "survivor's guilt" and the necessity of outgrowing certain relationships to achieve long-term success. Wave breaks down his entrepreneurial philosophy built on the pillars of finances, structure, and influence, which has driven him to launch his own touring company, co-promote Kanye West's record-breaking SoFi Stadium concert, and venture into film production and real estate. He also gives a sneak peek of his upcoming album 'Don't Look Down,' which drops everywhere this Friday. Check out the Sprite Living Tracklist and join the debate today! Joe and Jada is now STREAMING ON NETFLIX Merch is here: https://joeandjadashow.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Get Bell Pure Fiber Internet with Crave Netflix and Disney Plus from $94 a month. Price guaranteed for two years on internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.ca for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. On the new podcast Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I chose option B. I'm Julie Pinero, and I try.

travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita, trading the pity for possibility. Listen to Solita on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Hayes-Davenport. And Sean Clements. We host the podcast, Hollywood Handbook. Each week, we talk to someone in show business and try to help them with their careers and see what they have to offer us.

Everyone has a good time and no one gets mad at their publicist. for letting them do our show. We've had a lot of great guests like Sarah Sherman, Adam Scott, Danny McBride, Ben Stillard, and a lot of other big shots that wouldn't be where they are without us. Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Munga Chitigula and I'm back with a new season of my podcast, Skyline Drive. This time I talked to scientists, biopunks, curmudgins, blues owners, super seniors, and Goa's top cryotherapy lab to try to understand this obsession with living forever.

and what it means for all of us. And I get into a bit of trouble along the way. 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 podcast. You got to check yourself, you know what I'm saying? Like, we every man for themselves. Like, that's where we work. Talk slow to. You know what I'm saying? You got to have your swore at.

So it's my job to wake up and understand business. And let me sit down and let me learn what going on before. not just getting caught up in the lights and the fame and people, everybody happy to see me. Talking that shit! Yo, what up, y'all? I'm Joe Crack at Dawn.

You know who it is, your boy, Jada. You know what it is. The Joe and Jada show every show legendary, every show iconic. And we're just doing what we do the way we do it. And there's nothing they can do about it.

You feel? When you think of today's guests, Before we even read off this iPad, you think of somebody that Grand Slam is an understatement. Talk to him. Yeah I mean. Selling out of arena is a understaping. Talk to him. The connection with the people is an understatement.

Talk to him. The pain and his music is an understatement. The bitch in the show needs to tell me. Undistakment. Mm-hmm. Today's guest When you think of today's guess You think of those artists

Who really make people feel something Every time they press play When you think of today's guess You know what I mean Somebody whose music comes from a real place Whose records carry pain Honesty Truth

And who built a connection With the people by never sounding manufactured You know what I mean? It's a point. Now he's stepping into a new chapter. So this is the right time to talk about the music, the growth, the pressure. Everything that comes with that. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for the incredible rideway.

I'm so surprised we never met. It's weird because, you know, fat niggins, they got a connection no matter what. They somehow They know each other I'm glad you started it off that y'all never met Because he's out of the whole industry I think I could pretty much

Maybe like 97% Out of the whole music industry The only people I think I can't get a feature with Rodway You're so full of shit, man Get out of you Beyonce

Yeah, can't get Rihanna's there too Who else? No, no Rihanna actually told me at the brunch just get with me, kiss I do and she just gave me a nice hug when we've seen her at the Jayzy So I think I saw that one, huh?

Rod wave You don't even see So, Rob wave, you don't even see. Hello? Yo, Ron Wave, where you be at? Man, like, I see everybody. Like, Fat Joe got a story with every I'm waiting for you to tell me this story.

Yo, Joe, I walked in the motherfucking Golden Corral. you was in there killing that shit. I gotta be restaurant with me. Because I never, you wouldn't understand. You ain't been fat in a long time. The fat niggas, we eat in common, man.

But where you be at? Just on the road on tour? I mean, my business, you know what I'm saying? I feel like, I'm one of them people like, you know what I'm saying? Once at the year, I'm gonna be a rapper. I'm gonna go on for a drop an album. I'm going to her. I'm going to her.

I do a press around. I'm going back to handle my business, you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't just be 25, 8 rapping all year long, you know what I'm saying? Like, I mean, of course, I'm going to make music all year. Like, just whatever going on, just talking about my life throughout the year. But I feel like once a year I'll be a rap. You know what I'm saying? I also think you don't like interviews, right?

Even though you're doing great. I don't want to fuck this one up. But, yeah. No, no, no, no. I might have fucked it up ahead of time, but you don't like doing interviews, right? Yeah, I'll be, yeah. It's a bunch of fuck niggas doing interviews and all that. They want to ask all this bullshit this, this, that.

I honestly feel like rapists, certain artists don't even have to. It's bad for you because you're a publicist, but Calla taught me that when he was like, yo, man, fuck these niggas, I ain't doing the interview. I said, but what are you mean? Because I was taught. I used to be, I went on an 11 promo tours. We had to go everywhere now. I was going to every radio station in the middle of Scandalo TV.

Like, I mean, in the middle, breaking news, fat Joe is doing this and this and that. And I got to answer that shit in Chicago, live on the air, Philly this. It was like, this happened. Imagine in real time. So they're now viral? Yeah. Them niggins just catching me. Week of the album.

Boom, Fat Joe, this. And I'm a scandal old TV. I'm like, oh shit. Joe, but what happened? Did you really fight the guy? Did you do? And you all up on break? Like I feel like artists now, especially if your stature, got that leverage a situation to where you just like, you ain't got to do it.

Facts. It helps. Makes it more mystique. It makes you want to see him in here more. It don't work for anybody, but people like him work for. I mean, I feel like when I was younger coming up in the game, when I was just full-time rapper, like,

and this is how my brain worked at one point of my life. You know, I feel like lately, you know, they say, like, you don't really, like your front lobe don't really develop to you, like a certain age. Like, I feel like I was so young and just, like you said, mystique or a rapper, just didn't really mess with people. But I feel like, like, this chapter of my life,

like I'm climbing from up under my rock. Like, I'm getting more in touch with the business and I'm actually building stuff and the understanding just like how networking work, you know? Like I want to, you know what I'm saying? I want to meet the people who, you know what I'm saying, who think how I think are on the same type of time and I'm on.

So it's more of like a coming from up under the rock, like just, you know, networking and just shaking hands and shit. I love that. I love that. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I love that because I made a lot of relationships and a lot of relationships that can't be broken.

and when I get jammed up in the way of like something, like if I need for an artist to get cleared, you know what I mean? I know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody and I get to the hairstylist just doing her hair. Be like, yo, you know I sampled you. Like I harassed my last album, who I sampled, Johnny Iko, she did not want to clear that fucking threshold.

Like, I mean, for nothing. I went down to the... hair stylist. Like, Danny, you know, Fad Joe's looking for you. My cousin's friend, like,

there was so much harassment that she said, all, fuck it, man, just give me the bag. We'll do it. But that's the thing of collecting relationships.

You know what I'm saying? To where you, you network with them and you know, somebody knows somebody, and you get to, to what you want to do. The thing I'm most impressed

about you, if I got it right, is your business sense. So if you're as smart as I think you are now, you're going to be brilliant when you're my age. So it's like

with time comes wisdom, you fall, you get up, you this, you learn, you know, certain people you thought was your peoples like that, they find a way to get rid of themselves. You know, one day, somebody I fell out with one of my friends

and my wife was like, you know what, Joe, you never get rid of people. That happened too many times, kids. I don't even know who. I'm telling you in general. You know, like I said earlier, we used to, I used to see him with 40 guys.

He used to see me with 40 guys every day. Now we dole up. So it's like people, they find a way to, if they're meant to not be with you, they'll find a way to fuck up. And then they're out of here. You know, people don't even got to ask them.

People know your character. They're like, all right, They don't even got to ask why such and such ain't with you no more. He fucked up. Right. They know. I feel like I got this, I got this like stigma. Like something in my head will always try to make sure I'm keeping it as real as possible with people.

You know what I'm saying, holding on and serving people. But when life, I mean, you go two different ways, like my home, but like you might got to go build your shit, go do your shit. Like maybe what I'm on or what I'm doing might not be. But like my brother talks say like, man, it's time to, you got to, sometime you have to clean house, man. You know what I'm saying? About a lot of times. What you're trying to go, like, it might be harder or take longer, trying to just let people, you know what I'm saying?

I did it the wrong way. I did it to keep the real way. So I tell you right now, that ain't the way. You know what I'm saying? You got to create the right team. And keep it moving. And what people don't understand is it stage, you don't want to hear that story again.

I was going to tell them the story. This is when you're supposed to tell them. keeping the real goes wrong. I'd be around with 45 guys. What you were explaining, there's a terminology for it. It's called survivor's guilt, right? And so we feel bad because when we grew up and the lady, you know, we hungry,

the lady give you chicken wings, and she take care of you and everybody take care of you and then you feel like you baited, you feel like they all could go with you. Everybody ain't got the same plan as you. We got some friends. We grew up, the stray killers, that had killed his whole room for no reason,

but they're thinking they're looking out for you. Those guys can't go with you. And so me, I made the mistake of, you know, I got an amount of money, right? So my first big check I ever got in my life was $10 million, right? The first I thought I could touch the moon. They got like, that's it. They gave it to me.

You're fucked now. If you ain't like me, oh, my God, we come and like this shit is different. Now, he got it. Now, now he ain't just. saying shit, empty threats. We got it. I take 40 niggas. I buy him 40 Cadillac trucks, cash.

We every night, yo, who the fuck? Use the back for you got to go. James is died. Bota loki no bonbon, James. Niggas. You know what nigga used to be in the movie theater? Nigger in the Hamlet.

The Spanish niggas is a scream. Bota loke in no bonbon. That shit ain't. Nigger spit it out. She's to get the fuck to the other sections My shit is Bortelo can no bonbon You're a foul, nigga, y'all.

Who? You, nigga. You foul. But my point is, I took the whole hood with me everywhere. Niggas did not deserve to go. We're spending money like you couldn't believe. And at one point I said to myself, I couldn't sleep. I was in Puerto Rico. And I had 40 guys with me at the

four seasons. I said, you know what, God ain't let me sleep. So I grabbed everybody. I said, yo, check this out. I ain't got it no more. And it actually wasn't true. I was like, yo, I ain't got it no more. I ran out of money, this, this, that. Out of the 40

niggas, 35 niggas was like, yo, fuck that, son. I'm back on the, I don't give a fuck. This, only five of them kept it a buck with me. It was like, yo, I'm with you no matter what. You ain't got no money, nigga. I love you, this, this, that. The other 35 niggas. I've been buying

lobster paying their rent, buying them clothes, buying them cars, buying them chains, buying them. All the mits turned into pieces of shits and once a... And then they go back to the hood. Then God, it ain't no internet right now. That ming just go back to the hood. He ain't shit.

He don't give a fuck about nobody. He by himself. That shit was viral in the hood. It's called survivors' guilt. And, you know, unfortunately, like I said, people, gonna, they're gonna play themselves out your life. You know what I mean?

Because I'm a type of guy, I give you a bunch of chances. But when I finally hit rock bottom where I'm like, nah, this nigga foul, he just, there's nothing I can do for him. Do you know what I'm saying? Then he got to go. And so that's how life does it.

You know what I've learned, the things that really matter, you can't rush you. Facts. You can't rush the source. You can't rush the music. You can't rush relationships. And you definitely.

can't rush great tequila. That's why 1800 tequila stands out. The name goes all the way back to the 1800s. When the Beckman family started making tequila, and that patience, that attention to the craft, has been passed down through more than 11 generations. That's legacy. Sometimes you just got to let something cook.

Juan Beckman Vidal aged 1800 and Neo longer than he even had to because he knew it wasn't ready yet. I respect that. Don't put it out just because you can put it out. Put it out when it's right. That applies to a record, a conversation, the move, you're making, and clearly a bottle of tequila. Once you get it right, you share it with your people.

That's always been part of the story. Good tequila, good conversation, and the people around you really appreciate both. Passion, hard work, honesty. Those words are written on every bottle of 1800. And honestly, that's the foundation. for anything built to last. So take your time with what you're creating, and when the moment is right, share it with your people.

1800 tequila, good stuff takes time. And the best stuff's meant to be shared with your people. But you, I'm just so impressed with your business, with the business aspect of the game, that you promote your own concerts. You know, I heard, like, tell me some of the things you thought of, you know, the guys our age, we still ain't thinking.

of. Like, you're doing different business ventures and doing business in a different way that, you know, it's impressive to me. Tell us about us. Some of them. I mean, yeah, like, being a rapper, like, and just being up on stage, I feel like, as I got older, I started realizing, like, it's kind of like one of the, like, the worst position.

Like, it's a blessing, right? But in the business, it's kind of like the worst position because people putting up the money, the people who, you know what I'm saying, who probably got six, seven, eight artists. or eight show tours to do. Like, these people get to go home and catch Uber's and live regular life. So that was always one thing where I was like,

I got to find something outside of this, but still using my edge or my advantage being an artist. Right? So just understanding the influence that I had, like, I don't even like watch sports. Like the number one drive picker walking in. I'm not going to know who he is, you feel me?

He might know who I am. But since he fucked with me, I fuck with him. So, like, just understanding that when people was building businesses around me. You know what I'm saying? So once I, like, started learning the business or got the game ran on me six, seven, eight times.

Like, I just didn't like, like, you and took it advantage. Like, I just don't like that. So now I want to learn it, and now I want to be the one controlling them all the thing. You know what I'm saying? Like, there's no way that three, four companies can come together, start a company, and then hire me as the influence, why they got the structure and the money,

and they take home more money than me. You see what I'm saying? When we was up late nights, three, four, five, six, something eight in the morning, you know what I'm saying, for months at a time building and shit. So, like, just the businesses and stuff that I'm doing right now, just me understanding, like, the influence and trying to just build something bigger than rap, you know what I'm saying?

What's some of the things you doing, though, business-wise besides... So, like, sports thing I was telling, like, getting into, like, sports management, you know what I'm saying? And being an agent, you know what I'm saying, to a company, just because I feel like I wrap my head around the touring space, like, just understanding. Like, I don't book

arenas. I don't book ampute fields. I don't book stadiums. I just understand how it go. Like, it ain't as hard

as people make it seem. You feel what I'm saying? But I had to go through it to learn it. Like, right? So people had to run the game on me and I had to peep it.

You know what I'm saying? To learn it. So the touring business, of course, like distribute music and publishing, you know what I'm saying? Developing real estate. Just all the stuff that I learned

like from the beginning of my career. Like when I first got money just all the mistakes I made coming back and saying, okay, I'm going to build from these mistakes. I'm going to learn from them. I'm going to build something around me, you know what I'm saying? How old are you now?

I'm going to say, I'm going to say, who all you are this watching this shit, if you even get to the level of where you can make some kind of moves, this is a very educational episode. I'm saying? Because a man talking about shit I never did. and I think I'm pretty smart. And so that's what really bugs me out

when I look into you. You know, I'm really close friends with Juliet. You know what I'm saying? Got to throw out the house. But she's my sister, and she always brag about how smart you are and how, you know, you do business. And I've just always been impressed with that

from far away I sat down. This guy's smart. So like, you get my age, you might be an Elon Musk motherfucker. That's what they think. They try to tell people like us that we're not Elon Moss. Now, we don't want to go as far as Kanye, but, you know, we are pretty brilliant. We are pretty smart.

And people do build careers and lives off of the back of our shit. No, for real. And we always, but you saw that. And that's crazy. I picked up on that as such a young age. I mean, just understanding, like, if you could just break it down, I feel like, one thing my uncle told me. I'm like, if you could take that same hustle, that same discipline, and you can make it.

You can make $6,000, $8 million in the street. You can go anywhere in the world and run a successful business, just understanding all the components. Three different components to a successful business, I feel like, finances, structure, and influence, right? So a company will come in, a company will put together a plan. First of all, they're going to go raise money, right? So they go to finances. They're going to put together a plan. They're going to hire COOs, and people are going to put together a plan.

and people at their companies and now they got construction and then they would pay me to be the influence right? So now I'm just a pun in the game even though I'm on the stage and everybody's screaming my name. You're the face of the old shit

you get the smallest piece. I get the smallest piece, right? And these guys get the buss up the money and go home and then do it again. While I'm even when on my offseason they're doing, you see what I'm saying? So I just just understanding like the way business work or the way the gang work

and it's simple. It's simple math. Even if you look at it from a street You said influence, you said finances, what was the other one? Instruction. So just because I don't know. Just because I don't know how to do something, though, man, I can't get it done. So me just understand, I got, okay, I got my own money, right?

And then I understand. So I got the finances and I got the influence because I'm right. Roy, he's going to do whatever we tell them to do, right? And then we're the structure. So if I can't do it, but then I'm a higher. So like the network I'm working on, right? Burgo, the network that I'm launching. I might not understand how to build it out.

But I can go get my technical engineer. I can go get my COO to run it, and I'm going to go hire a bunch of producers and production team put it together. I might not know it, but it's just like mainstay film, like the company that I'm doing, building scripts and just understanding the way the film work.

Like, you can sell a film before you can lift a camera, like just understanding it. You know what I'm saying? We got the paper, right? And my partner Brett, who'd been in Hollywood for 10 years, and where he was trying to go, he probably was going to go.

But me and him together probably can go. We're going the same way. We're going fast. Probably can get that faster. Probably can go further. Because the thing with Hollywood is that it's like really slow. Right. And everybody's starving unless you knock it out the park.

So it's like no middle class. It's like you're even the biggest, you even Will Smith or you look like you're doing something, but you can't buy chicken nuggets. So it's like. I mean, I feel like it's a business. Like everything, you just look at it, like, who putting the money up? Who's structuring it? All right.

And how are we going to be the influence? How are we going to market it? And if you just look at everything like that, like, for example, like a movie, okay, if my partner, Brett, who's been in Hollywood for 10 years, he might not got the kind of money I got. He might can't get everybody on the phone. But he understands how to set, how to put a movie from A to Z, right? He understand how to put together a production from A to Z. So he got the structure.

I got the money. And we can get anybody on the phone. it's like we don't need. So now he understand that, okay, you got the money, right? Put this, okay, we want to shoot a movie. You got an idea for a movie? We get the producer, the producer going to say,

man, this movie going to probably cause this much to produce, right? Now, Brett, understand, okay, hire the writer. Okay, now attach the talent to the script. And now we're selling the script all out the country. Other companies that we, I mean, countries that we're not even going to sell it in, going to be buying it. But here go amen for this country, from this country, you're selling the rights to it. Before we even shot at the budget for the movie or 12 men,

a movie, we don't already raise it. You see what I'm saying? So it's just understanding the way business works. Like, you don't even got to, like now I'm understanding how to raise money, how to just put together a plan, put together the team, and go get the money for it. And long as I got the plan and their team people can't wait to put their money

in the pot. Or even for like touring, same thing, like understanding like, okay, we got the influence, we got Rod, right? You got his own fans. We'll put together the team, rent the building. We got the marketing. We got Rod and then the money. Same thing.

Rent the building with the money. We're all going to do the marketing and sell the tickets and the team behind it going to structure it and do the closing statement every night and make sure the numbers right and make sure everything right. It's just you take that same formula or whatever business you're doing. I only got to know nothing about that lane.

Like AI and tech, I might didn't know anything about it when I first got into it, but I can go hire people because somebody in their mama basement who knows everything about it. But they don't got the tools. They might not got the money or the influence.

And I don't got to understand it. So now we can come together, put that formula together, and the equal success. It's just no, it's like a mathematic formula. It's never going to change. If I got the money and the influence and you understand it, you got destruction, how can we lose? You're going to tell me, you got them out.

I got the car. And he got the gas. He got the gas. He knows where to get the gas from. Who was stopping him? I love that song that you flipped. Alexander O'Neil. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's that phone.

That video crazy, too. Yeah. With the soprano nigga. Yeah. A little soft launch to Mainstay films, man. Just getting into films. It's really showing, like, level of production that, you know what I'm saying? It's like a little soft launch.

But using this moment, like, while I'm in this moment, to build other shit. Like, okay, y'all want, I know y'all want the rock. Hey, y'all want the music. But I'm going to use this and I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm gonna grow in the music, but I'm also launched my film company, show y'all the level of production, you know what I'm saying, the shit that just using this moment by building more than just rap. Yo, you know what's crazy, man, that hip-hop fans will argue about anything.

I'm talking best rapper live, best era, best album, but nobody gets started on best verse. Don't even get me started on best verse. That's a fact. And now Sprite got y'all. debating something new. It's called the Sprite, Living Track List, 50 records that really shaped the culture.

That's crazy. We're talking legends, we're talking icons, and yeah, new artists, carrying the torch right now, present day. But it ain't just songs, though. It's the stories behind them, the lyrics, the moments, what those records meant when they hit. Yo, go check out the full Sprite Living Track List and get into the stories behind your favorite bars.

I like that. at livingtracklist.genius.com. This is the Sprite Living Tracklist. Obey your thirst. Get Bell Pure Fiber Internet with Crave, Netflix, and Disney Plus from $94 a month. Price guaranteed for two years on Internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.com for details and to check availability. Bell, Connection is everything.

Hey, this is Hayes Davenport. And Sean Clements. We host the podcast, Hollywood Handbook on the Big Money Players Network. Our show is extremely accessible to first-time listeners. Each week, we talk to someone in show business, aka The Biz, and try to help them with their careers and see what they have to offer us. Everyone has a good time, and no one gets mad at their publicists for letting them do our show. We've had a lot of great guests like Sarah Sherman, not that great.

Actually, can you help me shape this? How about we flip it on his head, right? How about we flip the script? What is the surprise woman? who actually you think is the straight man is actually the one who's acting weird. Adam Scott, this entire time you've been expecting Adam Sandler to come to visit the show. I would never expect. I would never set expectations for something like that to happen.

If the universe allows for something like that to happen, I'm open to it. I'm always going to accept. You know, Danny McBride, fine. Yeah, it's all this fragile masculinity exuding. I could smell it walking down the hallway, to be honest with you. I was like, I was like, is that weed? Nope, it's fragile masculinity. Ben Stiller, no.

Because a lot of times out of context, people don't get it or even know what a circle is. You know what I mean? They're like, oh, it's so stupid. Everyone's so dumb. And fake. Right, fake and also not interested or just like, oh, I've got my life. I don't care about your life. a lot of other big shots that wouldn't be where they are without us.

Oh, and by the way, Will Ferrell told us personally he loves the show and he wants to be a guest on every episode, but he's just so busy. Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the new podcast Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I chose option B. I'm Julie Pinero, and I travel by my... because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word solita, trading the pity for possibility.

Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people and they were like, you smiled at us. Not a lot of people smile around here. It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is and not the lies you're sold about it. It can be a time where you push your limits, change your mind, or wake up. to a new version of yourself. So whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous to book your first trip, I hope you listen to Solita

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Our town is small taters by most standards, right? But to the people who grew up here, it's everything. What happens when a quiet Tennessee town becomes the front line in a battle over the future of America? Developers with right-wing ties

have purchased hundreds of acres of land in the area. The first thing you see when it pops up is pioneers in Appalachia. But they weren't just planning houses. We need cities on a shining hill that exemplify and embody the Christian way of life.

Stop right there. Is that normal? A podcast about what happens when a small town becomes the site of a social experiment. God need men to rule. Great. And decides to fight back.

Do not use my hard work to sell your bull. They're not just opposing what's being planned for here. Our hometown is not a test to. They feel like they're standing in opposition to an entire administration. Guess you didn't move in

on a bunch of dumb hillbillies now, did you? Listen to Our Town on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Is we ever going to see a skinny rod wave because Fat Joe, they're going to be like not so fat Joe. Callet, that nigga looking like he got a six-back.

Are you ever going to go on that shit? You think in the future you're going to Because, you know, we're the fattest niggins on earth, but we don't lost this shit. I'm just wondering if Rye Way going to be skinny Ryev one day. Yeah, I'm working on it. You're working on that shit? You're trying to better myself all the way around, like, mentally, physically, you know what I'm saying?

Every day I try to get better and better at, you know what I'm saying, just being a person, like, you know what I'm saying, mentally physically, you know what I'm saying, business-wise. I feel like with this whole change, this chat, like, because I didn't feel like this, like, two years ago. I wasn't thinking nothing like this. I went trying to change. I didn't think none of the wrong.

I didn't think nothing I was doing it wrong until I really analyzed. You know, you got them time out. And that's what I go back to what I was saying in the beginning about, like, your brain don't fully develop until you get a certain age.

I just feel like I woke up one day and I just rewire. I just saw the world different. I don't, I just, I can't even explain it. Just looking at, just, you know, just how I was handling my business, shit I was buying, and shit I was doing.

And I'm blessed because it didn't, it wasn't too late. It didn't take a long time for you. I studied patterns, right? So, like, just watching the game, I always been a music counselor. I had to study patterns. Since I was younger, I always been a music connoisseur,

so I'm like, okay, this rapper did this. I thought this shit is cool. I ain't like it. He did this lane shit ain't like that. So I'm not going to do that. I'm going to do all this shit right here, and I'm going to take this same blueprint and I'm going and it got me to where I was at

in the music shit. So just understanding, like, patterns and how the way this shit works. I feel like you're doing the same thing with the business side. And one of them patterns as a rapper, like, it's going in. Like, the end is inevitable. It's coming. And you don't want to wait until it's too late.

So I'm just blessed that I was able to get to a time where it's played out. I'm blessed that I was able to risk life, like, and understand risk reality. You know what I'm saying? Before you, because people like to cling on and catch on when you're falling down. So you know what they do is these people crooks, right? So these record labels are crooks. They've been crooks since James Brown and shit like that. So they take some young black kids that's talented,

and they act like they can change their life, and they do. But, you know, they give them a couple of dollars, and they take them, and these motherfuckers make some records to sell 10 million records. And then they go the same guy who don't even know your first name. We just know you rod something. Come stand on stage with you and take credit. for fucking making the album and then

they give you like 10 cents on the album so imagine if we sold this shit we went on the corner and sold this shit all day for 10 cents you said 10 of these

you make a dollar and so you're like we not even get money so what they do is what's so good about what you said just now is once a guy or girl figures it out

two albums in three albums in they throw them on the old school at noon circuit and get a new young kid to rob for the next two, three albums. And they've been doing this shit since the 50s and the 60s and the 70s and the 80s.

And the only thing that never change throughout the industry is the contracts and the math. This shit is the same shit they was giving James Browns in 1950. Matter of fact, even worse now with 360 deals. No, because before they didn't get your,

you'd be like, all right, they robbing me. At least I can go do my shows. Yeah, I mean, they're rob me that. Now they want everything. Yeah. So it's like, I'm so happy that you figured out the business structure so early because once you figure it out, you ain't got that influence or you ain't popping as much.

You know, we usually figure it out if we did a tally to rappers and we really, if they said the truth, they'll tell you that they figured the business out once they was like, you know, over their prime. You know what I'm saying? And this is always been a young man's game. Yeah. But I feel like it's a business, like the way I always look at the world,

like we've grown, like nobody care about you crying, nobody coming to save you. So I feel like in the beginning, them deals, you're talking about that scene crazy or slavery. Like, I was thankful for that shit in the beginning. You know what I'm saying? You all was. I didn't really get too uncomfortable until I,

you know what I'm saying, got to a point of my life or understood, the math or understood. But I'm still thankful because I probably wouldn't even be where I'm at, you know what I'm saying? But it's like, your ignorance ain't an excuse. Like, I understand an excuse. Like, is it really

they fault because it's like, we're jumping in this water. We don't want to sign it. Like, nobody put no gun tire yet. It's supposed to be the older cats who supposed to teach us. Hey, look, this is how this goal. Are this supposed to be the cause of the hand we dealt? Like, you know what I'm saying?

So we're walking in them, just signing them papers and not understanding. Like, it ain't they fault. Because they built a business. They got, it's a business. Like, it's all it is. It's really a partnership. Like, you sign to a label,

you sign a deal. It's really a partnership. In the partnership, they're telling you, we're going to, it's right there in black and white. We're going to loan you this money, little, brother. And we're going to get our money. When you start selling,

we're going to build you out of business stuff. When the money start coming in, we're going to get ours first. We're going to count every penny. As your job, to negotiate that and say, no, I want to like that. I want to like that.

but we don't understand because it's a cycle. You know what I'm saying? Somebody got to get in and break your cycle, but that's the problem. The people are supposed to be teaching us trying to run it on us. You know what I'm saying? Because they feel like, shit,

I'm older now or, you know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? It's right on me. So I'm not going to ask a wild west. You know, I never understood that, right? So I've always treated everybody fair. I've signed artists. I can honestly say I made at least about 10,

you see, and it's different for me, right? Because for some reason, I guess kids feel like that, you feel like that. A lot of shit I do, even goes unnoticed, the niggas try to act like it's regular, or they try to act like everybody doing that or whatever the kid.

I don't know. I know I was born in Bronx, Lebanon hospital, broke as fuck to family that been broke for 100 years before me. And I got on, and I helped at least 10. different people I know that had shit, didn't even have a fucking glizzy to become

millionaires. I'm just telling you the truth. Nah, not a glist. Nicker, I was the leader. You can get a glizzy even when you're at your lowest. I was the leader of the free lunch bunch, okay? It's not that hard to get a glizzy,

bud. I used to go summertime, I used to go to every school. They get glissies in wet. Not at free lunch I used to go You might can't get the steak But anybody

With a grill Walk up, blizzy free Yeah Might can't get a burger He might can't get a shrimp And the glissies are coming quick Anything done? Yeah, glizzy

Get out of people With an orange soda And the glissies and free My point is There's a lot of guys Who made a lot of money pumping gas. No, I'm not saying that.

I'm saying I got an opportunity. I got myself like a miracle into an opportunity where I could have kept it to myself or I could have helped others. And I found a way to say, you know what, man,

let me help this person because I've always been about of course God first but my second religion is hip-hop, the culture. So I always felt like if I heard an artist that everybody got it here.

I'm like, yo, I'm gonna put them on. Even if they don't want to sign to me, I'll help them because hip hop needs this. Right. So I helped a lot of people become millionaires and all that. And I feel like, you know, I didn't have to. I could have just gave a fuck about myself. I could sit here and tell you about artists

I looked up to my whole career that they never put a nigga on. No, real. Not one. Like they never put a guy in position. So when I look at it like that And I see the opportunity But a lot of these guys Ain't educated

I wasn't educated But somebody sat down on me It said sign here I didn't even have a lawyer You understand I was just like y'all I'm gonna get up out the streets This is legit money

My mom's gonna be proud of me I'm gonna put it on for the hood You know and then when I made that You turn and noticed that niggas Was making crazy bread off of me And I wasn't making no bread I'm like yo this shit crazy.

Yeah, that epiphany, like, damn, like, you start understanding what's going on around you. I definitely understand it. I think I signed my deal with a, I went to a damn injury lawyer, got them to read my contract for me. I was 100. I was 17.

I didn't even understand it. I just saw the number. That's all I saw. And that number was a number. I ain't even never, like, I wasn't going to never get in the first deal I signed. I just saw the numbers I knew. I wouldn't even really like taking this story.

I know these artists is very hard to do, but I know this one particular group, and I'm not saying who, and they sold too many records. I'm not even going to say the number because the people will know, because not too many people sold the fucking numbers. Right?

That's how big they are. And if I said the number, you wouldn't have to go, who you would know who I'm talking about. And to this day, I never heard him talk bad about the person who signed them. And they got raped and pillaged, like beyond. The type of shit they sold, they should be owning that building across the street.

That sky's scraper. And they still, I see them in interviews and all you. You all want to thank, you know, Mr. Suchy Suchy Put Me On. Yeah. You know, and you know, you got people like that. You got people who feel like, thanks for the opportunity. Yeah, because I feel like at the end of the day that, that same formula, right? Because y'all could be most talented people in the world or in your region or whatever.

but you might don't got the money to finance or understand the way business work. And maybe they never would be able to understand how business worked, but they got all the talent in the world. So maybe they're looking at it like with the hand they was dealt. Shit, maybe we weren't even supposed to get this far because we don't understand business or we don't understand structure. We don't know how to save money or invest money or raise money.

So they're looking at it like, and that's how I always looked at it like. But it's my job to understand business. because I'm a grown man, right? I don't want to be looking back 10 years from now. I'm talking about, oh, this guy got old me that and he got over on me because, no, you got to, like, you got to check yourself, you know what I'm saying? Like, we all, we got every man for themselves.

Like, that's where they're going to work. Talk slow to, you know what I'm saying? Like, you got to have your swore. So it's my job to wake up and understand business and let me sit down and let me learn what going on. Not just getting caught up in the lights and the fame and people, everybody happy to see me. Talking that shit!

Let me learn what's going on. let me put my money up, save my money and I don't got to believe in my idea. I got my own paper. You see what I'm saying? Now they know this.

So now I can invest my own money. I put my money up and I can hire this guy because, you know what I'm saying? So like that's one way that I always looked at it. Like I don't got no problem with nobody I sign.

I don't care what kind of deal I signed because I signed it. And my name, nobody put no gun in my head. I was eager to sign. I couldn't wait out ready for the world. Because all I know is I don't know the business.

I don't know game, but why sign this paper? You got to let me in. This one is for the OGs. Let's keep it 18-100. Who influenced you before you came out that you was just like, as an artist for you was like, yo, if I could be big like that, or I can make music like that, who influenced you? So I'm one of them people that I can see as far as I can go. And I feel like at the time, all I could see was rap. Like, I need to get on first, right? I need to get on. I need the bill of fan base. I need the bill of following. So at the time, I could see.

like artists my age, like the Kodat Blacks who had, I'm from Florida. So I'm from Florida, so I was real younger and I had dreams to be a rapper, 106 and Park and shit like that, I didn't even think it was really possible until I saw people like Kodat Black, my age or younger than me doing their thing. And I went like, damn, it's getting easier, it's getting possible, a Chief Keefe. Niggas is just getting on YouTube and getting their partner from across the street to shoot video and put it up on YouTube and now you're out of here. So

once like the algorithm changed or once the structure of the business changed where it was more accessible, that's when I started believing in it. But I saw people like Chief Key, Kota at Young Boy, I saw the young cats like getting crazy attention, getting crazy

following. Like, it wasn't set up. Like, okay, I got to get this manager and get this, you got to know somebody who knows somebody to get on. It wasn't like that. You know what I'm saying? So watching them guys, get on and just go for it and made me say, shit, I'm out of a way to take my shot at that. I can do a little something too.

That's what he's doing? I can do that. See what I'm saying? So I made my move. And then now once I got in it, now I'm here. Now I'm looking at people who was here and went and took it further.

Now I'm looking at the drakes of the world of people. We've got making albums and real music. Now I'm watching them. Now when I get to this point, selling out aren't big, money, bigs. Now I'm looking at the J's and Jay Z. I'm an OD boys started.

Business, D boy, I want to do that. So now I take that. Like I said, it's the formula. It's not going to change the blueprint. These guys walked in so that me could fly. Like, you know what I'm saying? It's innovation. You know what I'm saying?

I'm going to do something and somebody going to be watching me and say, I can do that. You know what I'm saying? They might be bigger than me better than me, you know what I'm saying? But people who laid the ground work down, you know what I'm saying? So I always just study what's going on. Like, he did it. I down.

And that's, and that's, I can do that. Somebody from your area, then, before your time, he put the foot in the ass of the game,

it's T-Pain. T-Pain, we're from, T-Pain from, from, T-Pain from, he's from Tallahassee. He's from Tallahassee.

That's a long fucking drive from Miami. Hell-Y-Lah-A-Sty. That's shit. I might take the propeller back to something like. That shit? That motherfucker drive

I'd have been all over through Florida Every inch of that motherfucker Trying to get the route shot off the ground I'd have been every It ain't one city Man it ain't two, three cities I ain't been in boy I'd have been every inch of that motherfucker

All up and through Because I just saw like Okay I'm gonna get my city first Now once I got the city All right now I'm gonna get my area first My county my surrounding areas And okay now I'm gonna get my state

Now I'm going to get the South Now I'm saying Now I'm feeling And it just That's how I built it But I started small Small my small Small goals

Like I'm going to lock this area Right here down Now I got these four They're with me Now now I'm going to move on For a lot of this For lock the state down now You know what I'm saying

Now I'm for lock the whole south down And before you knew it Like You know what I'm saying It was what it was You know what I'm saying Yeah we do the same thing here You start New York

You got branch out Connecticut get Jersey, then you go up to Boston, and it's like from Boston, Rhode Island, all the way down to, like, Virginia. That's the first locking down you could do as like a New York artist. So you got that bitch locked down. I lived off of that shit, like $500 a show.

I tell them all the time, three shows in one day. I mean, Philly, VA, and fucking Baltimore the same night. Now, come back to Bronx, West Cheston, Connecticut, And so once you lock that down, and then you expand. You know, we had a real, I don't know what it was coming from the South, but I know from New York, we had a lot of guys that were flaming hot in them states, I'll tell you, but couldn't get to North Carolina. Just was so regional.

They could be the hottest nigg in the world up here. You as a publicist, you got the map. It was hard to get them niggins to. Popping North Carolina, South Carolina. This is like basketball. Like, y'all might be that in y'all city. But now you're going to get in this state. All right, y'all might be that in the state,

but now these reasons now. Now we're feeling to see who the best in the nation. You see what I'm saying? So it's like, I feel like on every one of them, on every one of them levels, like even when I, even when I was in my city, I might not have been the most hardest or the biggest. I waited my turn.

I stayed down. I grinded. I ain't, matter of fact, I ain't wait nothing. I just kept going. I might have won't the hottest at the time. But sometimes he's about who last the home. I definitely wasn't the hottest.

This guy wanted the best rapists ever. Me? Not me, nigga. I just knew I was a hustler. And I'm like, you, I had to see it to believe it. So when I saw, you know,

Lord Finesse from my hood, when he became a rapper. Like, I knew the nigga before he was a rap. And the next thing I know I'm listening to Red Alert and they playing three, four songs. I'm like, oh, no.

This is possible. I've been hostile. Possible. Yeah. So I looked at it. At that, I said, all right, this is possible. But I remember when I used to come down to, let's say, the S-O-Bs and all that, like, I grew up at a time with, they go live they want. J-Z, Naz, all the Miggas was like freestyle in front of clubs.

Like, they ain't have deals yet. They was trying to come up. Yeah. And so I was outside at that time going to all those events, lyrics is lounge, S-O-Bs, this and this and that. The niggas in my hood was 100 times better than me, but they wouldn't make the trip downtown to where it was at and connect. And, you know, I was out at a time like that, but I knew guys was way better than me,

but they never made the effort. Then the niggas were dumbtight when I popped off. They was like, we better than this nigger. We taught them, we just. But you niggas ain't make that effort. Y'all wanted to stay on the block. Yeah, I feel like it's like 40% of talent. and the rest of it was like discipline and strategy.

You know what I'm saying? My uncle came home. He did 14 in the feds. I feel like that kind of, like, I grew up with him like when I was younger, but I was too young to understand what going on. But when he came home, like, he was like militant, real discipline. He up at 445 in the morning getting his day started. So I feel like I had a talent and I dreamed like a kid.

And he had the discipline, right? There was a lot of people who was harder, better than me. And as I was going, I used to get discouraged. like and didn't really used to be like real self-spoken and didn't want to really be because I knew it was cats that were foul or had the look or had the talent

had the buzz right but we was young we was 18 and 19 and 20 and you know at that time young cats be wild with money with attention so I feel like my uncle was always there like with the discipline

and I feel like that's the that's the formula like you could be as talented I'm gonna tell you one thing about me that's only 40% of us I don't know about it true I was delusional. Yeah. Oh, we didn't tell me.

Tell me, don't work, but. Yo, delusion. I started Apollo theater. I remember walking in that shit. They had about 150 rappers about to go on. And I was saying to myself, what the fuck are these guys doing here? Don't they know the champ walked in?

Like, I was that delusional, my dick. And I wasn't four weeks in a row. I can't even tell you how. But I remember me delusional. because I wasn't that good. And I just knew I was going to win. I walked in that shit. I said, what the fuck these people doing here?

Like, this is my shit. Like, you got to be fucking kidding me. And I always been like, so even when I was making music, I wasn't as good as Nah, as Eminem, JZ. But I used to have posters of them. When I made my album, I'd be like, yo, I got to be as good as them or better. Like, I don't know.

gas myself to step my game up because niggas was just so much better than me. I remember I used to hear rappers rap and be like, oh my God. Can I ever be that good? Can I ever, like, I used to really be like listening to guys like amazed to be like, yo, these things are just too good.

I ain't like not. I knew I was hard though. I knew I. Oh yeah, you wouldn't be here if you wasn't. I knew I knew I was hard. I just like, I don't know if it was just like, I don't know if it was like a, I don't know. I don't really. I don't know, but I just used to be real shy.

I didn't think I had would take to push myself out there or push myself in front of people. Like, one of them people like, I remember opening up for Kevin Gates on tour, like the first night. Because you got to think about it. I had already locked down the state. And I was getting like 10, 15,000 show. But Marci was the one who signed me to Alamo was telling me like, bro, I did this and I've been here. Like, you got to stop doing the clubs because you want to be able to tour. like you're getting ready to be like a nationwide type of artist. And you don't want to not be able to tour when you get older.

But I remember going on tour at Gates and after the first show. Like the people didn't know who the hell it was in Chicago, right? Mind you, I could go to Chicago right now and do two days at the United Center. But at the time, I remember telling my uncle like, man, I'm going home. I'm going, I want to go where people know me at. I want to be in front of the crowd. People want to see me. I don't care of 300 people.

I want to be in front of my people. So I knew I was hard. I just didn't have, like, the courage or, like, the, you know what I'm saying? The confidence to just put myself out there in front of people. Like, I'm like, man, I'd rather go form at 300-capped venue with my folks in the middle of the trenches, in the club somewhere in South Carolina, than to be on the bitch stage with Kevin Gates because I just didn't like that feeling, you know what I'm saying? So I knew I, I knew I was hard.

I just used to get discouraged because I'm like, I ain't win. I don't want to, I don't want to be the, I can't, I don't know to try hard. I just don't know. We all guilty of that. I had the number one song in America and I was hanging out in the fever. While I could have been everywhere, get money,

I'm in the middle of the Bronx. Like, fuck, yeah, you want to go where everybody know you. Him too. The niggas was in the fucking gas station of that yonkers. Every time I went around there, they'd be like the locks

is at the gas station. Joe and Jada's show.com. We got new merch. Fresh off the pressers. Go get it. Ben. Out of big Joe and Jaydon's show.com.

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Visit bell.com for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. Hey, this is Hayes Davenport. And Sean Clements. We host the podcast, Hollywood Handbook on the Big Money Players Network. Our show is extremely accessible to first-time listeners. Each week, we talk to someone in show business, aka The Biz, and try to help them with their careers and see what they have to offer us.

Everyone has a good time, and no one gets mad at their publicists for letting them do our show. We've had a lot of great guests like Sarah Sherman. Not that great. Actually, can you help me shape this? How about we flip it on his head? How about we flip the script? What is the surprise woman? Actually, you think is the straight man is actually the one who's acting weird.

Adam Scott, this entire time you've been expecting Adam Sandler to come to visit the show. I would never expect. I would never set expectations for something like that to happen. If the universe allows for something like that to happen, I'm open to it. I'm always going to accept. You know, Danny McBride, fine. Yeah, it's all this fragile masculinity exuding. I could smell it walking down the hallway, to be honest with you.

I was like, is that weed? Nope, it's fragile masculinity. Ben Stiller, no. Because a lot of times out of context, people don't get it or even know what a circle is. You know what I mean? They're like, they're so stupid. Everyone's so dumb. And fake.

Right, fake. And also not interesting. or just like, oh, I've got my life, I don't care about your life. And a lot of other big shots that wouldn't be where they are without us. Oh, and by the way, Will Ferrell told us personally he loves the show and he wants to be a guest on every episode, but he's just so busy. Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the new podcast Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on a

motorcycle. I chose option B. I'm Julie Pinheiro, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word solita, trading the pity for possibility. Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people and they were like, you smiled at us. Not a lot of people smile around here. It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is and not the lies you're sold about it. It can a time where you push your limits, change your mind, or wake up to a new version of yourself. So whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous to book your first trip, I hope you listen to Solita on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Our town is small taters by most standards, right? But to the people who grew up here, it's everything. What happens when a quiet Tennessee town becomes the front line in a battle over the future of America? Developers with right-wing ties have purchased hundreds of acres of land in the area. The first thing you see when it pops up is pioneers in Appalachia. But they weren't just planning houses. We need cities on a shining hill that exemplify and embody the Christian way of life. Stop right there. Is that normal? A podcast about what happens when a small town becomes the site of a social experiment.

God need men to rule. Great. And decides to fight back. Do not use my hard work to sell your bull. They're not just opposing what's being planned for here. Our hometown is not a test to. They feel like they're standing in opposition to an entire administration. Guess you didn't move in on a bunch of dumb hillbillies now, did you? Listen to Our Town on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

At that time, for me, and probably a lot of people to understand, you know, like today time, like people who want to be rappers to get on that, like, oh, this ain't no rap money. I ain't no rapper. This ain't, it's all rap. And I feel like I had that kind of mentality when I was younger. Like, rappers was like, lames to me. Like, watching them on TV,

like the street, niggas in the neighborhood. Like, I wanted to do it. Like, I liked the music. I felt like I were hard. But, like, the street, niggas were more, you know what I'm saying? Like, cooler than me. Niggers, I know who, like,

low-key getting money, got the whole shit on lock, got the whole state on smash, making three, four million dollars. And I was making three, four million dollars. Nobody knows how he moved, quiet, chill. Them guys was more like,

damn, this nigga, roared boy, this is a raw, nigga, you know what I'm saying? And when I saw other rappers, like, they were cool or whatever, but I just didn't like, so when it was time for me to get up

and be a rapper, I was like, damn, I'm like, I ain't want to do too much. Like, I just was like, man, I'm gonna fuck with who fuck with me. But at the time, it was like, that's what it took. Nobody's coming to,

you gotta get out there and, like, everybody's trying to rap. It's a raw wave. I was a serious street, nigga, man. And when I told niggas, I rap. Like, I was like, you know, like a militant street nigga.

When I went to the other drug dealers and started telling him, yo, I'm rapping now. Going to the Apollo on Tuesday, why don't the niggis looked at me and was laughing. Like, we're falling on the floor. Oh, he's a rapper. Ah!

You know, how much courage it took for me to go to the Apollo theater where they throw apples at you? and dance and shit, and diggers just like, yo, and I was just like, y'all, I'm gonna rap.

And all the niggas went to jail for 30 years. Yeah. Every last one of them that laughed at me and this and I don't wish him jail. Yeah. And I'm not happy for them to be going to jail,

but all the miggins that laughed at me. They all did 20 and 30-year bids. You're all going to laugh at you. You know, so, I mean, I feel like that's two ways to look at because even with you being like in the streets,

you cut on the teeth. they raping my street shit like streets on TV like how do you got want to be the biggest street guy in the rapes so like it was it was to a point when I was younger like even the street even the street guys was like I was watching people on TV and then looking at my neighborhood like he got looked like he got like but I just always looked at it like let me tell you something I bet I met a lot of rappers that were very influential and um like big time that say hello cool jes my I Wait. Huh?

You waiting for a name? L.L. Kooljay's my idea. And then, you know, one time I had asked him about something he did that was so influential. The man used to wear this sweatpants, and he wear one leg up. And the whole world started wearing these sweatpants like that. And one day I asked him, he told me, I don't want to say who he said because he's a knickers a rat. No, a drug diggily niggas a rat. He was like, yo, I got that from such and such.

Yeah. Seen him in Harlem. We already know. Huh? We already know. I don't know who, but what I'm trying to tell you is that me as a kid, I looked up to L.L. so much, I wanted to be like him so much. And then when I finally get to tell him like, yo, nigger, when you had the leg up,

he's like, I got it from homey in Harlem. When I seen him on the motorcycle, I'm like, oh, God. Like, niggas been, rap has been taking the drug dealer's shit since the beginning of time. Yeah, but that's one thing, though, like, you can take this way. But my uncle had that hustle, though. That's one thing. So a lot of you guys get in the rap. You take a little piece of a lot of shit in material and the own way.

No, that's what we do. Look at the street names, look at the songwriters, the rappers, this, that. Like a little bit of what they all do. You just put it in your own source. You can get on there in fake street, a fake hustler. It's going to come out. These guys, he's going to come out. I know how to, like, these guys real school

you're teaching me how to hustle, how to hustle go, how to business go. So, like, once that's my whole approach to this, like, I didn't just get the glorify to rap or the art part, you know what I'm saying? You don't want to just be the biggest rapper. The way you're leveling up, taking the whole of your business,

how is that going to, you know, how are we going to hear that in the new album? Don't look damn. Tell us about it. I mean, don't look. down the album title just meaning like don't look down like

can't even believe I got this far right but like we hustle hard we deserve to be in so like don't even look down you know you'd be so high up in the sky like just don't think about it don't even think about it because I can get so in my head sometime

I don't want to blow this or bomb here but I can't you know what I mean that keep me on my toes but it don't look down you know what I'm saying just keep going like keep dreaming keep building keep doing what you're doing because it's working right but this album It's just, like I said, like, it's a new chapter for me, like, as a man.

Like, you know what I'm saying? Just building businesses, the way I look at the world, the way I break it down, the way I can look at the past, look at the future. It's just like a new chapter, like, you know what I'm saying? Fire. Got some new music for us? Yeah. Instore soon, 1800.

So the song, I am, like, the intro, is setting the tone for the album, like, you know what I'm saying? Just like basically like, that's who I was. This is who I am. This is what I'm trying to be. That's right. So just explaining like why I came from what made me me, you know what I'm saying? My DNA, all this stuff.

The reason why I am who I am in this space right now. This is my transition. Like rock starter to the business, man, you know what I'm saying? And then who I'm trying to be, like what my future, what I see my future being. You know what I'm saying? All right. Play it loud, please. brother.

shit from you run the streets like the Monfeo go home chicken with the shit cut your dream I sung it best believe I done it If your trap ain't jumping You should let us run it O'Nealty to the dawn is strong Why never that he courts

And they got a very course He was the best guy around What about the people he murdered? What murder What murder? Love the intro to the album I'm an album I'm joint, you know

Yeah, I love that I love an intro to it now Let me just like, you just let them know what's coming on. Yeah, you feel me. Check a bar. Yeah, that's how I feel. That's how I do it. You too, you, you, you big on the intro or the album.

Sometimes. All my albums don't got an intro. Some of them. Yeah, I wouldn't even, like, say, like, it's an intro. It's just a first song. It's the first song. Yeah, but it's great. It's great.

It's great. And the, you know, I'm mixing some music now. That fucking mix, somebody mixed, because this is a wax speaker. That's just like, that's just sound incredible. That shit, hitting like, boom. Like, this shit ain't really popping like that, you know what I'm saying? What was the dynamic with, you know, it's crazy?

Because I want to ask you some crazy shit, but it's too crazy. But I know you did some business with Kanye. what was that like and what made you go there and say, y'all, I want to do that? Just getting into my own touring space and just doing it at a level of like to be able to do it for a way

was like a big level of handling the touring space so once I felt like I was comfortable and I wrapped my head around, I felt like I could do it for anybody like a simple mouth. So I really just tested myself and I just tried it. I knew I had the good team.

I had the team for it, right? And I had the relationship, you know what I'm saying? With the venue already, you know what I'm saying? By just doing my own touring thing, I had built relationships. So by handling my own touring business, I was able to build my own relationships with certain arenas or certain companies. So I had that relationship. So once I got comfortable with it, I just felt like I can do this shit for the biggest

So the biggest or up-and-coming artist. So I just tried it. So, I mean, we just put the venue. Break it down. Where was the venue? He was in L.A. So-Far Stadium. So-Far Stadium.

The biggest, the fucking biggest hip-hop. What was it? The highest gross in hip-hop show. Ever. Ever. Ever. Ever. Never.

Never. Never. Ever. And you just knew that shit was going to be crazy. Yeah. I mean, he's Kanye, man. Yeah, Kanye, the motherfucking man, you know. I mean, I just feel like, you know what I'm saying?

Certain artists, certain people got that following that fan base that, like, no matter what they get into, what kind of mistakes they made, or, you know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? Yeah. But he just, he got that he got that fan base, bro. And that's what I was building my touring. That's what I'm building my touring company around,

like having that connection with your fans, like building something with your fans, something that, you know what I'm saying? Like, people who got them kind of, like, relationships with their fans, like that core fan base, like, can't do no wrong. I know you like Ed Schering, but you like our assuring. You know what I'm saying? And hip-hop, so just know, just no.

You know, sometimes we might even get bigger than who we aspire to be. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Hey, yo, this ain't that? That ain't this. It's cracking kiss. God damn it. Make some noise for Rob Wave, you heard.

On the new podcast Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I chose option B. I'm Julie Pinero and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita, trading the pity for possibility. Listen to Solita on the IHeart radio app. Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Hayes Davenport.

And Sean Clements. We host the podcast, Hollywood Handbook. Each week, we talk to someone in show business and try to help them with their careers and see what they have to offer us. Everyone has a good time and no one gets mad at their publicists for letting them do our show. We've had a lot of great guests like Sarah Sherman, Adam Scott, Danny McBride, Ben Stillard, and a lot of other big shots that wouldn't be where they are without us. Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcast. I'm Munga Chitigula and I'm back with a new season of my podcast, Skyline Drive. This time I talked to scientists, biopunks, kermudgens, blues owners, super seniors, and Goa's top cryotherapy lab to try to understand this obsession with living forever and what it means for all of us. And I get into a bit of trouble along the way. 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 Podcast. or wherever you get your podcast. Our hometown is not a test tube. 90 miles northeast of Nashville, a battle for the future of America,

plays out in one small town. Developers with right-wing ties have purchased hundreds of acres of land. We need cities on a shining hill. This is Our Town, a podcast about what happens when a small town becomes the site of a social experiment and fights back.

Guess you didn't move in on a bunch of dumb hillbillies now, did you? Listen to Our Town on the, IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.