Locked In with Ian Bick - Dice The PRISON Barber | Timothy Miller

Episode Date: April 23, 2023

Growing up surrounded by crime, Timothy Miller finds himself sentenced to prison twice for gun offenses. Listen to Timothy evolve from a small time drug dealer to an entrepreneur and father.Connect wi...th Timothy "Dice" Miller:https://instagram.com/dice_da_barber?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=Connect with Ian Bick: https://www.ianbick.com/Subscribe to our membership program on YouTube to get early access to interviews, see behind the scenes photos & more:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRvVklIft6DMelVW18M0oBw/joinPowered by Q29 Productions, LLC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 You said this place was steps from the water. We just haven't found the steps yet. How much did we save? Enough. Enough to get lost! Or you could book a stay with Hilton. Welcome to your oceanfront room. Just steps from the water.
Starting point is 00:00:16 The Hilton sale is on now. Book on Hilton.com or the Hilton app and save up to 20% to get the stay you expected. When you want savings, not surprises. It matters where you stay. Hilton, for the stay. Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari.
Starting point is 00:00:34 In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly Big Board Buckslot machine by Aristocrat Gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package. The biggest prize in Yamava's history. Club Serrano members can earn daily instant prizes and secure a spot in the finale May 29th. Don't pass go and own it all. Only at Yamava, celebrating its 40th anniversary.
Starting point is 00:00:54 You win? Details at Yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. My name is Ian Bick, and you are locked in with Ian Bick. On today's episode, I interview Timothy Miller, who finds himself in prison, learns how to become a barber within the prison walls, and once released, becomes a barber and opens up
Starting point is 00:01:16 successful barbershops. Make sure you guys like, comment, subscribe, and share, and give us a review on the audio platforms. We all make mistakes, experience failure, and fall down in life. you decide to get back up and use it as fuel to your fire, you could choose to not let it define you. You can make it through to the other side and turn it into an opportunity. Join me, Ian Bick, as I interview people from all over the country who have experienced the rock bottom of the American justice system and find out what they did to overcome it.
Starting point is 00:01:52 These are the stories that will motivate you and inspire you to change your life. Timothy Miller, aka Dice. We got to drop your legal name, though, you know, in case that he cops out there watching. Welcome to Lockton with Ian Bick. Yeah, and when the SWAT come, don't say now. Awesome. So in all my interviews, I start at the guests' beginning of their story to kind of like see their journey along the way. So where are you from?
Starting point is 00:02:19 What was your childhood like growing up? All right. I'm from, I was born in New Jersey, and I was raised in Hartford, Connecticut, man. My childhood was, it was the average childhood in the street. Or in the ghetto, you get what I'm saying? Like, it was, I had my mother, my father and my mother was dead, but my father was out of state. So it was like just the regular childhood, you know,
Starting point is 00:02:43 growing up in urban areas, man, you know. Was it like wealthy, middle class? No, it was, it was, I don't want to say poor because we were straight, we had food and shit, but like it wasn't wealthy, you know what I mean? and it was basically in like middle class. How do you think like your childhood growing up played into effect of the, you know, the person you would become down the line?
Starting point is 00:03:06 Do you think it influenced like the direction you would go in? Yeah, yeah. My childhood definitely influenced a lot. Like, you know, my childhood influenced everything you see today because between seeing what my father was into, what my mother and stuff was into, and just the environment I grew up in. So like that basically formatted. everything you see today.
Starting point is 00:03:27 Now, high school, what's that like for you? Oh, high school. What are you getting involved in? Well, let's start with that. Yo, high school was fun, man. High school, honestly, high school was just all about, like, money and girls, man. That's how high school was. That's why I got six kids now.
Starting point is 00:03:48 When did you have your first kid? I was 19. You were 19. Yeah. What's going through your mind when you have a kid at 19 years old? Honestly, bro, at that age, what's going through your mind is just really like, I got to make something happen, make anything happen. And does that lead you to start committing crimes? Of course.
Starting point is 00:04:12 Now, so what's the first crime you commit? And how old are you? Is it before that or is it right around the same period of time when you're having a kid? Oh, man, the first crime you commit, especially growing up when we grew up at, man, the first crime is selling drugs. And what was the drug of choice? Oh, marijuana at that time. Now, do you think that had you never moved from New Jersey to Hartford, Connecticut, in, like, that urban ghetto type area, you never would have gotten to selling drugs?
Starting point is 00:04:40 Oh, no. It would have been the same in New Jersey. So do you think back then, like, I know it's easy to say that now in hindsight, in hindsight, but back then, were you aware to the point where you're thinking, I have the choice to sell drugs or I have the choice to go get, like, a good education or get a good job and avoid that life? At that moment, like, I knew what I was doing. Like, you give it or said, I knew exactly what I was doing,
Starting point is 00:05:04 so I ain't really cared. Like, I know I could probably go to school and all that school wasn't for me, so I know what I chose. I chose what I wanted. And what types of people are you hanging out with? At that moment, just the same type of people as me. Like, you get what I'm saying?
Starting point is 00:05:20 People that want to sell drugs and fuck bitches. Okay, very straight to the thing. the point. Do you graduate high school? Yeah, I did. So you finished high school. Yeah, very intelligent. It's just choices that you make. But you never make it to college or you go to college. No, I don't, I ain't go to college. I went to trade school. And what was your trade? I actually went to school for electricity, but that was just something to pick because my grandmother wanted me to go to school. So I'm curious because obviously you're intelligent where you want to, you know say i want to go to trade school and you have like not everyone's like that not at that
Starting point is 00:05:57 age is able to figure out what they want to do and make a decision like that you're able to decide you want to go to a trade school but you're still selling drugs and doing that what was like the cause of that what's going through your mind but at that moment to be perfectly honest with you i didn't really want to go to school it's just that my grandmother was on my ass about it you I really just did whatever I wanted to do. And I knew when I was younger there, I was either going to do three things, either play basketball or rap or sell drugs.
Starting point is 00:06:30 And that's what I end up happening. Okay, so you start selling the drugs early on. How does that evolve? What else are you getting into? That was really it. I had a job because I was always wise, so I kept the job as well, too, for paystubs. So you were just selling weed?
Starting point is 00:06:49 Yeah, that's it. You never got into any other hardcore drug. Wow. So how much money were you making from selling weed? I was making a lot. A lot. And were you living like a crazy life? No, I wasn't living no kingpin.
Starting point is 00:07:02 A lot back then is not a lot now. A lot at 19 is just enough to take care of what you've got to take care. So what year is this to put it into perspective? We're talking 0405? This is back then when weed is a lot more strict on a legal basis than it is now. Yeah, weed was a, like how it is now. Okay. So you're selling the drugs, the weed, you're making money, you're 19 years old, you have your first kid. Yeah. What happens next? What happens next?
Starting point is 00:07:31 I end up going to jail at the age of 20. Oh, so this weed enterprise that lasted for it. No, it wasn't a weed enterprise. It's not sitting here and they can seem like I was some damn Bob Marley and some shit, man. I sold enough weed to make some money to pay for the shit I got to take it. But you also, you sold enough weed to get. get you some serious prison time though no no no no I didn't go to I never caught any drug cases oh really interesting so you you were one of the few drug dealers that didn't get caught basically but you were caught for something else yeah I got caught for guns so you went to prison for a gun case yeah gun possession why did you have to have a gun because I lived in the hood
Starting point is 00:08:11 and people die all the time so you just felt like obligated that you needed to have a gun basically yeah in that in that time frame yet and you you think that was just because of like the surroundings that you were with? Yeah. And was everyone just normally carrying a gun at this point as like a 19 year old kid? People that was outside, yeah. How do you get a gun at that age? Shit, man.
Starting point is 00:08:37 You just buy one. What do you mean you just buy one? Just buy one. The way I grew up, I couldn't get access to a gun like that. See, that's because you grew up in a different area. But that's what we want to hear about, you know? Like, when you were in the streets, Everything is at your access as long as you tap in.
Starting point is 00:08:52 You get whatever the hell you want, if you tap down. At any age. At any age, yeah. Now, unless the person has respect and they say you too young, I'm not going to sell you that. But at the age of 19, everybody understands that you're outside and you're in an environment where shit can easily happen to you. You got people that actually like you and care about you. They sell you whatever you need to protect yourself. And did you feel ever put in like a dangerous situation because of you selling drugs and whatnot that you needed that protection?
Starting point is 00:09:19 Yeah, that shit was like that every day. So you buy the gun, you have it. How do you end up getting caught? I got set up. And how does that happen? Oh, man. Somebody called me for a situation, and I went to go handle a situation, and the police was there. It was just that simple.
Starting point is 00:09:39 There was a setup, yeah. An undercover type person. Basically, yeah. What they call a confidential informant. And are you given bond? What happens? No, my bond was $750,000. And so you were locked up?
Starting point is 00:09:53 Yeah, I was locked up. I ain't make bond off for that. Now, why was your bond so high? Was it just because of the type of crime or was there something more? Honestly, I do not know to be real with you. That was one thing that caught me completely off guard when they told me my bond. Yeah. Now, do you get like a public defender or do you have a paid attorney?
Starting point is 00:10:10 No, I end up having an attorney. A paid attorney. Yeah. What was it like to be your age navigating through that process? Yo, honestly, man, that shit was probably one of the scariest things of my life, to be real with you, because the charges were extreme charges. And it was like, that shit don't even make sense. You feel what was the exact charges? The first, they gave me three charges.
Starting point is 00:10:35 Possession of a shot, possession of assault off shotgun, a tent robbery on the first degree, and possession of a firearm in a motor vehicle. Those three charges alone, if I would have took it to trial, I would have. would have got basically, if I lost trial, it would have been 30 years. So I, when they told me that, that shit had me scared of shit. Like, out of hell, I'm about to get 30 years and I'm only 19, 20 years old, you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't like that shit. I was scared. Yeah. But I ended up getting, they dropped all the charges but the possession of the fire on. But I feel like they did that truthfully just to make a case stick, you know, just to get their conviction because they dropped all other charges. Do you, were you ever, like, put in the position
Starting point is 00:11:17 where you had to testify against anyone or anything like that? No. Did they ask you? There's no need to testify or nobody if it's just me on the case. It was just you on the case. Yeah. So you get arrested, you're held on bond, how long did it take you to reach a plea deal with the prosecution?
Starting point is 00:11:39 That took, that case took 10 months. 10 months to resolve? And what was the time they ended up sentencing you to? up getting 16 months 16 oh that's it yeah so they were just only the possession charge the possession of a fire on motor vehicle okay they dropped all the other charges and what's it like to hear that sentence that you're going away for 16 months shit I was happy as shit okay I ain't even going to lie I was already in for 10 months and the thing was my bond was so high that they had me with people that like they sent me off the McDougal like the high high pot that's basically 20 yeah 20
Starting point is 00:12:17 23 and 1. So we're in high bond. I'm with people that's not never coming home every day. Like, so that shit was like when they told me 16 months, I was happy as hell. Dude, my cellie just had 16 years. So it was like 16 months. I'm getting the hell away from these people, man. Yeah. And what's like, what's a thought process? Like, do you want to go back out and commit more crime like when you're in there? Is that like a scared straight type thing? It wasn't even a scared straight. My first. bed honestly was literally just learning how to navigate in jail. You know what I mean? My whole thing
Starting point is 00:12:53 was survival while I'm in there. Like I ain't even worried about when I get back home right now. I'm worried about my everyday in here because this is all new to me. When I got home, I learned how to cut hair in jail during that first bed. So when I got home, I was trying to cut hair. And that was it. But things didn't transpired the way I wanted to. How did you feel being a father in prison, at that you just had a son and now you're going away or a daughter and you're going to prison. I felt like shit, to be honest with you. Like, I can't see my son. I don't know what's going on with him.
Starting point is 00:13:26 Like, I don't talk to his mother like that. Like, I got to have my mother reach out to see what's going on. It just don't make you feel good, man. Who is taking care of the child? His mother. His mother. Okay. But you guys didn't have a relationship.
Starting point is 00:13:38 Not at that moment. We talked, while I was home, we would talk about my son and stuff like that, but we weren't together no more. So you do the 16 months, whatever you do on that, you come out, you're trying to get it together by becoming a barber, but you end up back into crime? Yeah. It was the easiest way, because I was trying to get different jobs. When you have a gun charge as your felony, they almost look at you like a murderer. Yeah, I want to hear about that. So they really treat you like, like, shit, like you go to job interviews.
Starting point is 00:14:14 I don't want to plenty of job interviews where they say. said that he wanted me to work there until they did the background check. And it was like, no, we ain't dealing with you no. And how does that make you feel? It makes you feel like you're back against the wall. And it make you feel like if I don't go back to what I know, how am I going to survive? So do you think the system's like designed to set up to fail in that sense? Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:14:35 I'm a firm believer in not. So you get out there, you're trying to do the barber thing, and then you get back involved into something. What is it that you get back involved in? that puts you back into prison? I actually got caught with another gun. So you're telling me you do it. You're very lucky.
Starting point is 00:14:56 You get only 16 months on a gun charge, which is very low for the average person that gets caught with a gun. Well, not really where we're from because there's so many gun cases will be from. Like guns are just like phones out there. But you do know that like as a felon, it's worse when you get caught with a gun again.
Starting point is 00:15:13 Yeah, yeah. So you're caught with a gun a second time. Why did you have that gun? gun because I was going out of town and we were we were going to a strip club and it was like these dudes don't really like us like that so we're going to go out here but we're going to have fun but just in case we need it it's very dumb I tell you that now it's very dumb because we got up there we didn't even get the party or nothing and we got caught so are you ever thinking maybe I need to change up who I'm associating with oh hell yeah but that last my last bit because the thing was
Starting point is 00:15:46 Again, at a younger age, you're not really paying attention. At this time now, I got three kids. So you have two more kids after you get out of that first bit. Yeah, so I got three kids at the time. And again, I was doing more cutting hair than anything at this time. So it's like, all right, but we only brought the gun for protection. We end up getting caught with it. At this time now, I'm on some, I don't even want to play with my life no more.
Starting point is 00:16:12 Like, when I went to jail, the first thing I did was buy my clippers. And I said, this was the second bit. Yeah, my first thing I did was bought my clippers. And now what I'm about to do is just cut here. I'm going to treat jail like this is my barbershop. Now, why didn't you think, like, the first time you came out of prison that maybe I want to pay attention to my kid? I want to, you know, get on the right track. Do you think it was because of those experiences not being able to find work that derailed you?
Starting point is 00:16:40 Like, is that solely the reason? No, it was honestly, man, when you went to urban. area, man, you get, you get glorified more for going to jail than you get glorified for going to college. So it was more like a, I was embraced more. Like, oh, you home? It was like a cool thing. Like, you get what I'm saying? So I got caught up into that and got caught up into doing just extra dumb shit. So it was like, it was more fun than anything. Like, yeah, of course I was taking care of my son and do what I got to do for my son, but I was more trying to make sure I make my money first.
Starting point is 00:17:18 Were there programs set up that you could have reached out to or like a probation officer or anyone that you could have reached out to for help to kind of steer you in that right direction? The only thing that we, that program that I got caught in, not caught in, but it was like a temp agency. They gave us jobs and stuff like that. And that was when I first got home while I was on a bracelet. That didn't last long. It was like a temporary job.
Starting point is 00:17:44 But it was like, again, if it wasn't warehouse work for pennies, you're not making no money. And this is all because you are a felon essentially? Basically a felon in also at the time, my mind state wasn't truthfully focused. So it's like you make excuses for a lot of shit. You know what I mean? Now the next go around now, when you start to grow and get older, that's when you start to tap into what you really want and what you really want to focus on. Where was like your mom in this when she, when you came home from that, you know, from that first bid?
Starting point is 00:18:17 Is she helping you get on track at all? Yeah. My mother was at home. I was living with my mother. So like I didn't really have too much pressure of having to go pay rent and all that. I live with my mother. So you think if you did, it would have been different? If I had to do that, then I probably would have leaned deeper into the streets.
Starting point is 00:18:36 So it was a list. So you were on the path regardless to get into some. something more. No, I still, I don't want to say it was a lose-lose. I'm actually, I'm actually grateful for having my mother still being there. You get what I'm saying? Yeah. Because it still helped me out because I didn't go that route completely to the streets to have to go straight and dig deeper into the streets. How much time do you end up getting the second case? You get caught with the second gun? Second case, it's two years. Two years. Yeah. You only got four months more for having a gun the second time? Yeah, because yeah, at the end of the day, it was more people in the car.
Starting point is 00:19:11 the gun wasn't on my person so okay but you just because you were a felon in that car it was because i claimed the gun as well because it was mine and it was my car and the gun was in the car so they put it on me now this second bid is is your last bid yeah so all together throughout like your whole life you've done basically three and a half three and a half four years yeah okay at this second bid what what's your realization like when you're when you're going into this prison what are you thinking what's your mind to this this this mind state was different again like I told you I had three kids so this mind state was more or less like I already know what jell is like and now I'm about to go in here take this time to fix myself I'm gonna get myself together mentally so that I could come home and
Starting point is 00:20:01 do everything that I need to do to win because again when I was in jail the first thing that's when I learned how to cut here I had a plan I just didn't put that plane in emotion my second bit I was forced to really like, you know what? Like, it's different when you go to jail, you get caught, you go to jail, and you stop. It's different when you go to jail, you bond out, and then you have to surrender yourself to walk into this motherfucking place. So my mind state was completely different.
Starting point is 00:20:27 Now I have to go here. Now this place is not even going to be jailed to me. This is going to be school to me, the school of me. You feel what I'm saying? Now I'm going to go in there and focus on me and that's it. So when I get home, I can do everything that I need to do. And that's how I treated that bit. And how old were you with this mindset?
Starting point is 00:20:44 27, I think. Yeah, 27. I had just turned 27. So there was a pretty good gap between the first. Yeah, between the two. Yeah. Because the first case was 07. I got home at 08.
Starting point is 00:20:56 And the second case was 2013. I got home 2015. So you had a period of time to really, like, experience that freedom and kind of like develop wars of man. Right, right, right. So this second case, you were given bond to be able to surrender them? Yeah, the first case, I got bond too. It just was too high. So the second case, that's interesting. Why do you think the first one was so high in the second?
Starting point is 00:21:18 Because I truthfully feel like the town I was in. I wasn't in my town. So they don't have any records of me in their town. They don't know nothing about me. They just know that we were down there with a gun in the car. And it was like, all right, we just put a bond on them. And they must have didn't think we were going to make the bond. So I bonded that out. What's it like to surrender to prison? Like, what's that feeling? Like, was there any feeling of, oh, I'm not going, I'm running? Man, it crossed my mind so many times. But then I thought about it, it's like you got to take accountability for what you did, bro. Like, don't run and make this shit worse.
Starting point is 00:21:55 You knew what you did. You had a gun. Again, by this time I was older, my mind state was different. So it was like, I got to go face the fire. And I went and go do it. I took it as more of a lesson than more of a, a thing that's going to bother me. You get what I'm saying?
Starting point is 00:22:10 You took it as a man. Yeah, I'm going to go in there. Yeah, I'm going to go in here, do what I got to do, learn what I got to learn. I'm going to read books. I'm going to get my mentor together, and I'm going to do. What type of people are you associating with in the prison? Truthfully, I still associated with some of the same people. I just limited how often I talk to them.
Starting point is 00:22:29 So you weren't involved with like any gang stuff? No, I don't do that gang shit. Does that stuff happen, though, in the prisons you were at in Connecticut? Yeah. That shit happens everywhere. And what are like the politics like of these state prisons in Connecticut? I honestly, I don't know like what you want to say politics. I don't know too much about a federal prison because I never bit me.
Starting point is 00:22:48 I just know what I heard. I just know it's basically like the same shit. But it's easier in state. And what's like the dormitory or like what's the sleeping arrangements like? It all depends on what level you would. I was in both for the last bit. like in the cell action and then I had
Starting point is 00:23:07 dorm action the dorm action is like probably like four six people a cube probably about eight cubes it's like 50 something
Starting point is 00:23:19 people in the dorm if not more and it's like it's shit small as head like the dorm is big but the cubes are small and you basically I could reach over
Starting point is 00:23:29 and top the next motherfucker that's right there like you know what I mean so you just better hope like hell that he cool with you because you got to sleep next to him every night Is there ever any like confrontation at all?
Starting point is 00:23:38 Oh, in the dorms, that's where most of the confrontation is at. Did you ever get into a prison fight? Mm-mm. So you just stayed completely out of the way, like you were so focused on what you wanted to accomplish. Yeah, I didn't do a lot. Y'all get the fuck away from me with that, man. I want my money. I was the barber, so.
Starting point is 00:23:52 Does your law firm bill by the hour, but never seems to have enough hours in the day? 8 a.m. is the trusted business platform designed for legal professionals that automates billing, payments, and case management. Want to put time on your side? Start at 8am.com. Feels like every product claims real protein these days. But real doesn't start on a label. It starts at the source. Like real California milk from California farm families,
Starting point is 00:24:21 it's real dairy delivering high-quality, complete protein, with all nine essential amino acids to help build muscle, give you energy, and keep you satisfied longer. So keep it real. Look for the seal. Real California Milk Everybody was cool with me All right so let's talk about being the barber
Starting point is 00:24:41 Does the prison pay you to be the barber? They do as You have to apply for that You have to go to the council and actually get that job I was cutting more hair than the person That was getting paid by the state You were doing as a hustle Yeah that's my hustle like I'm doing this on the side
Starting point is 00:25:00 That this is what I do But now there are inmates that could get the job Do it on a professional basis? and then also do a hustle on the side. Right. So I waited until he left and then I applied for the job. But me and him was in the bathroom together. I was probably cutting more hair than him.
Starting point is 00:25:14 So explain that. What's like the process of getting a prison haircut? How much are people paying? Where are they going to get the haircut? All right. The whole process with that is basically you go to whatever bar where you want. Well, I could care less about their process. This was my process.
Starting point is 00:25:31 I got a book, a composite notebook, and you put your name and your bunk in it. And that's how I set your appointment. I come in here from Monday to Saturday. I go in the bathroom with my clippers from the time in between, like, just the daytime where we're in the dorms, and I'll cut your hair then. And sometimes we go to wreck, come back, I do it again.
Starting point is 00:25:52 Like, while we're in the dorm, I go to job center, I go to lunch, and I go to wreck. In between them, I'm not cutting hair. And once I'm done cutting hair for the day, you're not getting me off my bunk. I'm not coming, leave me the fuck alone. You know what I mean? But again, you put your name in the book and your bunk and I'll come get you.
Starting point is 00:26:08 Now, my pricing back then, a dollar in jail was a lot. So, you know, you want your hair cut. I need a dollar ahead. And how are they paying what that? All commissary. All commissary. Yeah. And I don't want no bullshit.
Starting point is 00:26:21 I don't want no cosmetics. I want all food. You know how that shit goes. I want all food. Now, how do you convert that into physical money, though? You don't. So there was no selling it to people to put money on your books or anything like that? So you were just living off of that.
Starting point is 00:26:34 Yeah, that was my hustle. So I didn't care. Like my physical money, if it's getting sent to my books, now I could do what I want to do. If I wanted to, I could send that home. Now, a dollar of haircut's cheap. That's cheap as fuck. I was paying, you know, like you'd go to the barbershop and it was supposed to be free, like the legit.
Starting point is 00:26:50 Right. And this thing was legit. It's like looked like a street barbershop. They had the magazines and stuff. But you were expected to tip the guy like five or six bucks, which was like five or six macros. Yeah. And then, which is a dollar apiece.
Starting point is 00:27:02 And then if you're, If you were getting a unit haircut, that would be like $10 for a haircut, 10 macros. So for a dollar, that's the cheapest haircut. Yeah, that's because it was state. And because, like, truthfully, at that time, I got to get people to trust me anyway. Like, you don't know that I'm really a barber. You got to trust what I'm telling you. So I'm doing this shit for a dollar.
Starting point is 00:27:24 I don't care. Come on. Let's go. And I'm not even looking at it as I'm working. I'm looking at this more as me getting my practice for when I get home and really get to my own barbershop. Now, did you have rules? Like, you wouldn't cut certain people's hair,
Starting point is 00:27:36 like if they were a sex offender or rat or anything like that? Hell yeah. And how would you know? Are you checking paperwork? What do you do? No, see, in the States, people ain't really checking paperwork like that. Like, you get whispers now.
Starting point is 00:27:48 Somebody press you and you show the paperwork, then yeah, but it's nothing like the feds how you got to come with your paperwork shown and all the life. They ain't doing all that. But you're just basically, he says, she's say. Or, like me, if I really had a problem, I ask you, like, yo, bro,
Starting point is 00:28:02 you, you, What kind of case you got? But you had certain rules. Yeah, like, if you touched on any kids or you told, you can't get your hair cut with me. And where would those people go? Were they able to get a haircut by anyone? They better go to the next barber. You got so many people in the States is different.
Starting point is 00:28:17 Like, you got people that think they know what they're doing. So you might have six, seven barbers in the dorm. Interesting. You get what I'm saying? So, like, people can still get their hair cut. You're just not going to get your hair cut by me. Now, you spent every day just cutting hair. No, Sundays I ain't cut here.
Starting point is 00:28:35 So what do you do on Sundays? Sunday I relaxed. You read books and did what I do. What kind of books are you reading in prison? Let me see. I'm reading like investment books, different self-help books, just mental books, spiritual books. And this is all because of like your whole life experience, realizing you didn't want to continue down that path. Yeah, like it was over.
Starting point is 00:28:59 After that, I knew it was over. Like, I'm not doing that shit no more. How did you know books was the answer to, like, what you wanted to go to? Like, why did you go to books? I went to books because I watched how everybody that was watching TV was moving. Like, these motherfuckers lost. Like, I don't want to be lost. I didn't buy a TV.
Starting point is 00:29:20 I didn't buy a TV. I didn't buy a TV. I just want books. So I would talk to different people that I know was on the same type of time as me. Like, a lot of the older heads had books. And they wouldn't let just anybody read it. books. That's how you off rip. If you're going to read this book and you don't apply it to your life, you can't. I'm not giving you no more books. And there's a lot of guys in prison that do do their
Starting point is 00:29:40 time, their bid by watching TV and whatnot. Everyone does it a different way. Yeah, that's lazy as fuck. But I mean, just sitting here watching TV, bro. But if you think about it in hindsight, that first bid, you weren't on that type of time. Right. You know, you evolved as a man and learned from that. Yeah. So it's interesting to see how you grew in that period of time, because that's almost like 10 years apart. Right, right. That you grew into that. Now, your kids, are they coming to visit you in prison?
Starting point is 00:30:09 No, that's one thing I didn't allow. And how hard was that to be away from your children for, you know, almost three years? That shit was hard as hell, but I would call them every day, you know what I mean? They were still young. They were still young. Did they ever find out where you were at that time? At that time, no, because I told my kids I was at school. At school?
Starting point is 00:30:28 Yeah, like my two, I had two. At that time I had three. I had a, my son was what? Duke was seven. Yeah, Duke was six, seven, and Moriah and Nolan both were two. So the two-year-olds didn't really understand too much, so it was easier with them.
Starting point is 00:30:48 My oldest son, I just told him I was at school. And but now, I'm sure they know that you were in prison. Yeah, now I have an open book with my kids. I tell my kids everything. There's no, because I don't want them to go through the shit that I went through. I want them to know that I went through all that shit already. Like, you don't got to do nothing that I ever did. You don't got to do nothing that you don't need to do.
Starting point is 00:31:09 You get what I'm saying? Like, I already went through that. Like, my kids don't mind telling me whatever they got going on. Like, me and my kids have the best relationship. What was that conversation like with them when you told them that their father went to prison? They were like, for real, Daddy. I'm like, yeah. So what happened?
Starting point is 00:31:25 I'm like, look, we're not going to get that deep into it. But Daddy got this and I wasn't supposed to do. and I end up going to jail. Now, my oldest son, he's 16 now. He knows everything. Now, are you trying to raise them in a different environment than the environment that you were raised? Yeah, they all live in different environments. They live in Vernon and Manchester and stuff like that.
Starting point is 00:31:45 They don't live nowhere near Hartford. And you want them to go to college, or what's your plan? I honestly want them to do what they feel they need to do. Like, I'm not pressing college. I don't really believe college can make or break you, you feel what I'm saying? college really just another bill if you don't have the dream of what you're knowing what you're going to do with college you're going to end up going to college just to work for somebody else when you can actually not go to college know what you really want open the business and still
Starting point is 00:32:13 have somebody that went to college come work for you absolutely but you also want to make sure they stay on that right track too no yeah definitely it's definitely keeping their school and their grades up now you get the nickname dice in prison no i got that way before jail oh you got a way before jail but they started calling they were calling you dice in prison yeah how do you get the nickname from shooting dice okay what kind of dice were you shooting three dice silo sealo yes so can you tell the viewer what silo is how it's played of course now viewers if y'all don't know how to play silo something wrong but you take three dice right and you got to get two numbers and a number that odd number is yours so if i roll 4, 4, 5, my number is a 5.
Starting point is 00:33:00 So if I'm the bank, you have to beat my 5. So if you shake the dash and roll them and you roll a 3-3-6, you win, because that last number is bigger than mine. Now, if you roll a 4-5-6, which is the name of the game, that's C-Lo, you win automatically. If you roll 3 all the same, that's trips, you win automatically. Now, if you roll a 1, you lose. You roll a 1-2-3, you lose.
Starting point is 00:33:23 And then that's just that simple. Yeah, like when I first talked to you the first time on the phone, my friend connected me to you and said dice. And I never registered why your nickname was dice? And I asked you, I was like, why did they call you dice? Right. And when you said, Celo, that I was like, dude, I got to get this guy in the show because that was my game. I never knew what it was going into prison. Right.
Starting point is 00:33:43 And I was this white boy shooting dice, 21 years old shooting dice with these guys that were like down for years. And I was, you know, taking their money. We'd be in like this little hallway. and I was addicted to do it. We would play that shit all night long. Like the first like six months of my time, I was just shooting dice. We'd go in there with a laundry bag and like I had some game to it
Starting point is 00:34:04 because you're all sitting there. You know, picture this white kid, shoot a dice that looks like a little dirty kid. And he's hustling them. I would take the bank because we would play it like if the bank got wiped out, you had the option to put more money in or become the bank. Or if you got four, five, six,
Starting point is 00:34:21 I think you had an option to take over the bank. Take the bank. Yeah, but everyone had different house rules or whatever. Like a push would pay or it didn't pay. So once I got the bank, I was just taking all of them. And it got so bad I had to start hiring bouncers. Wanted to stay outside the door. Wanted to collect the money because dudes would stay up late and like scope you out in the hallway
Starting point is 00:34:40 to try to jump me or whatever because they wanted the money because we're, it's a lot books of staves, macros. But man, that game was the funniest shit. And then even when I got out of prison, I would put like, by, group of friends onto it who have never been to prison before, we're never about that life, and we would sit there playing dice in our apartment, and I'd be hustling them, you know, for a dollar that it got the $5. And then we were doing $100 games.
Starting point is 00:35:06 Yeah, yeah. It is such a fun game. That's the best game ever. That's how I got my name, bro. I promise you, that's the best game ever. Once I learned, I was addicted. Yeah, when I got to the prison camp, they were, like, playing craps. And I was like, I don't like this shit.
Starting point is 00:35:17 Like, I want to play Seelow. So I start showing everyone's Seelow. I don't know. I never got into craps. I think casino should run. Yo, they actually, Molygan, Foxwoods did it one year, like a Father's Day special. A Sealo thing. A Sealo game.
Starting point is 00:35:31 And I was pissed off because my brother got married that day and I was in the wedding. I was mad as hell because that was like free money up there. But now like in the hood or the ghetto or whatever, that's a common game. Yeah, that's the most common game. That's like a stoop game like you're on that. Yeah, we could do that any given time. Like my cousin, rest in peace, coolly. we just had a dice game at his funeral.
Starting point is 00:35:53 How intense does that get? Like, it's very heated. Yeah. It all depends on who you with. Like, me, I don't indulge in a game unless I really know who people are. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:36:03 Like, if I don't know you, I'm not about to play with you. Because it could go bad. It goes left all the time. All the time. That's really interesting. So you were playing, you learned dice at a young age.
Starting point is 00:36:13 Yeah, I learned how to play. That shit, like at a 12. And you guys were just playing for fun as a 12-year? Hell no. We was playing for money. I used to play for my lunch money. And so in prison, what are you guys gambling with? Oh, for commissary.
Starting point is 00:36:24 It's commissary and you guys would just roll the dice. Yeah, we're in the cut. You know how it is. And macros a dollar. Place your bet. What's in the bank? We got soups, three soups a dollar. Let's go.
Starting point is 00:36:35 We're about to make it happen. Are the guards giving you guys a hard time? Hell yeah. So you got to wait until you got the good ones working because you got something that's cool. Now, mind you, we're in state. So like a lot of these CEOs are all people from around the way anyway. So you got something that's coming to work and they're cool with you.
Starting point is 00:36:50 They're like, oh, go ahead. Y, y'all hurry up. They'll let you know, yo, the lieutenant bought to come around. Don't put the game away. That's how it looks for us. You got something that's cool, and then you got something that's like, what are you guys doing? You better not be doing that over here. It was some CEOs that used to give me a hard time about cutting hair.
Starting point is 00:37:07 If you're not the hired barber, you can't cut hair, man. Shut up. Now, back to the barber aspect, you were able to buy clippers. Yeah, you buy the beer trimmers off a commissary. Everyone is able to buy beer trimmers off the commissary, you could take care of yourself if you want to. So what I did was just I bought a pair for myself and I bought a pair that I could cut.
Starting point is 00:37:26 Now, how would you guys get a razor? Because I know in the feds, you would take the state-issued razors they'd give and you would pop it out so it's just the blade and you would use that to do like the fine part. Like I can't grow facial hair really so I don't have the nice lines or the edge of cut. In the state, you got the state razors or whatever that they hand out.
Starting point is 00:37:45 Are you guys popping those open? If you pop that blade out, your ass going to the box. they ain't having that in state that razor better come back looking the same way I gave it to you or your ass going to the box and you got to have a razor card like you have to either
Starting point is 00:38:00 I don't know if they hand them out for free or you buy a razor card I never really used the razors in jail so you were just using the clippers and that's it yeah and how like how advanced can you get like with with haircuts and stuff
Starting point is 00:38:13 with just using clippers yo you find a way man like you just find a way like different angles on how to hold it and actually not putting the guard all the way down just so you could get a certain wave with the wave cut. It's all type of shit. Then with me, I know how to adjust the blade.
Starting point is 00:38:27 You pop that shit open, take your little pen. You take a fingernail clipper, take the back part of the pen, put that shit right there to raise the blade. Like, I know I do all that shit. Interesting. Do you ever play spades at all in prison? Yes. That's what I used to.
Starting point is 00:38:39 Like, sometimes on Sundays, that's what I would do. If I ain't reading my books and stuff, I might go play cards. You know, I, like, all my friends will play poker. This and I learned poker a little bit. but like I want to play spades. Like you guys have a spades tournament. Yeah,
Starting point is 00:38:52 I pay, I paid spades a few times. Like my first bit, I remember I seen one of my boys, man. We joined the, um, we joined the spades tournament
Starting point is 00:39:02 and we was as bad. And we end up playing with these kids, these white boys, man. And like, we sitting at the table. He's talking. And I,
Starting point is 00:39:12 mind you, he never talked. So he's talking with his partner. So I'm like, yo, so what you did to come in here? And he'd start talking about. about how he killed his mother, his stepfather, his sister. I'm looking at home.
Starting point is 00:39:22 What the fuck? And I'm like, bro, we got all this fake-ass money on the table. We ain't got no comedy for this, motherfucker. We got it with this shit. Man, I cheated my ass off on that shit. I might have cut like three books with a four spade. I'm collecting the books and I'm scheming off the top. Every time I'm collecting the books, I was scared of this shit.
Starting point is 00:39:40 I said, man, he's going to kill us in here, man. I remember the first time I was taught spades in prison. I got hustled after. So they taught me spades. and then another person played against me, and I got hustled the shit out of. I put money up on it, and they got me good because they pretended like they sucked,
Starting point is 00:39:56 and then I got hustled because I was, you know, the white kid that just learned spades. And then I got good at it, and I started to do the hustling because the last person they expected to be good at spades was me. So I had a good partner. We'd go around. We'd just hustle the shit out of people,
Starting point is 00:40:13 and it was fun. It was a lot of fun. So you're familiar with the movie White Man Can't Jump? I've heard of it. I never watch it. Oh, you got to watch it. That's what you pour. That's what he pulled.
Starting point is 00:40:22 That's what he pulled. Everyone comes on the show, like, dropping movie names, and I don't know them. Someone's like, you got to sit down and start watching these movies. I got to have a collection. I just watched, like, casino for the first time in prison, like a few years ago. And everyone was like, dude, you got to see this movie. And I've watched it a few times since. But, like, all the oldies, I've never seen.
Starting point is 00:40:44 Dude, I was watching, like, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. And how old are you? I'm 27. Okay. How old are you now? I'm 30. I'm 36. 36.
Starting point is 00:40:53 So you got some years of. Yeah. It makes a lot of sense, man. Yeah. You're all right. You get a pass. So at what point in your prison sentence do you realize that you want to turn your skills of being a barber into a legit business? I knew that before I even went in because I was already cut here before I went back to jail.
Starting point is 00:41:10 You just didn't have the resources to make it happen? Like, yeah. I just didn't have the brains. do it. You know what I mean? But going to prison the second bid gave you that. That's what gave me all an insight that I need to actually sat down away from the world and really just made a plan. So you get out what happens? I get out. I go to the halfway house. What's a halfway house like in Connecticut? Because I was in that Waterbury one and that was the worst experience in my life. Like if I ever have to go back, God forbid, I'm not doing halfway house time. Yeah, I said the same shit. I said if I go back
Starting point is 00:41:43 to jail, I'm staying my whole sentence. Y'all can't send me back to no halfway house. House. The Haffir House is really supposed to be a work release program. And this motherfucking place piss me off. I'm sorry, excuse my French. I, at the, when I got home, I had, before I even went to jail, I finished here school, and I never applied for my license because I knew I had to go for, I had to go turn myself in. I passed the test and everything. Soon as I got home, that was the first thing I did was apply for my license. So now I got my barber license. I waited for everything to come. I'm in a work release program. I have a career. and I already have somewhere to cut hair.
Starting point is 00:42:20 They told me I can't work there because I don't have payst-ups. I said that makes no sense. This is a work release program. As long as I could do a 1099 or whatever to show you that I'm working, why can't I work here? They told me, no, you have to go find a job. I was supposed to be in a halfway house for 90 days. I ended up being in there for seven months.
Starting point is 00:42:41 I feel like it's designed to make you fail. Those halfway houses, like they only care about money. Like they're getting the money per bed and that's it. The staff are incompetent. They're like a lot of them are interns like that just got out of college. And I've seen so many guys that get sent back. Like the marshals are coming to pick them up or whatever. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:43:01 Yeah. They sent me one morning I told them to send me back. I've seen guys do that too. They literally say send me back. But she was like, just calm down. Ain't no fucking calm down. Send me back. I'm sick of this.
Starting point is 00:43:11 Y'all got me right here. I can't do what I worked hard to do. This is what I do. So what I would do is I would cut here while I'm in the halfway house. They told me I couldn't charge, man, go put my money on my bed. Well, I'm coming to see you for my money. I'm cutting here and here. And what I would do is they make you do what, like a job search.
Starting point is 00:43:31 So we have to fill out where we're going for our job search for the week. And I will put down a bunch of different places saying this is the places I'm going. And I will get out to halfway house and go to the barbershop. And you know what the frustration is? It's like you're trying to get your life together. You're trying to genuinely do good, not do that. And it just, that structure of the system pushes people into doing bullshit. Something wrong.
Starting point is 00:43:57 Yeah, something wrong. Because everything I did was wrong. I'm telling you I'm going one place, but I'm going somewhere else. And you were just ultimately trying to do the right thing. But you had to maneuver it. I did the same thing too to get my license back to be able to drive. There was all this paperwork, all these hoops. You know, and I found myself, like I came out of prison
Starting point is 00:44:16 saying like I'm not going to lie like because that's what got me into trouble I want to do this and that and I found out very quickly like I had to do things I didn't want to do just to set myself up to succeed right because the system is just like against you in that scenario it definitely is like I have my driver's license I had a car I couldn't drive I had to take the bus it was to the point one time where I was so I was so close to being late that I parked my car around the corner from the halfway house and ran to the halfway house that shit was crazy yeah because if you're late by a couple minutes and they schooled you and then the next time they let you out when you have work. They almost didn't let me go to a job interview and I said, listen, I will go back to prison
Starting point is 00:44:53 if I cannot go to this job interview. Right. Like it's just nuts. And the food is awful too. Small portions. It's literally worse than prison. Yeah. It was definitely worse than prison, especially with you being that close to home.
Starting point is 00:45:06 Like I was on Blue Hills Avenue. Like it's like home. It's like right there. Now you get out of the halfway house. You're finally free. I'm guessing you're on like probation or parole or whatever. I was on. I was on probation when I got out of the halfway health.
Starting point is 00:45:17 And are you, what kind of challenges are you facing now still as a felon? Are you looking for other work or are you able to- Man, once I got out to halfway house, it was murder she wrote. I ain't give a fuck about no jobs, no, none of that. It was, I already got my plan because I already had a spot in the barbershop. I went straight to going to work. I didn't want to talk to nobody. I went straight to work for two years straight.
Starting point is 00:45:38 I don't want to do nothing. I miss birthday parties. I missed everything. Are people from your old lifestyle trying to get back in touch with you? Yeah, we all cool. we all drinking and chilling, but I'm debbiners. I don't want to chill. I'm going to work and I'm going home.
Starting point is 00:45:50 My kids are then I'm going back to work in the morning. Is there any temptation to get back into that old lifestyle at that point? Or is it just like this was your wake-up call? It was too easy at this point now. Like everything, like honestly, I manifested it. You get what I'm saying? I used to, in jail, I used to meditate in the morning. I write down my plans.
Starting point is 00:46:11 All it took was for me to really just get the fuck out of jail and I already knew. Everything that you see today I already had playing when I was sitting on my bunk. But why do you think some people struggle with that and aren't able to accomplish that? Is it a mental thing? Is it a circumstance thing? A lot of time it is mental because your mind got to be stronger than your situation. You feel what I'm saying? But a lot of times it's circumstances and mental. If both of those are wrong, then you fuck because you're going to fall into what you got around you.
Starting point is 00:46:37 And it's hard to subject yourself away from what's really around you. So you've got to be strong mental. Like the same way I was in jail, I didn't want to chill and talk to someone. certain people. I'll be on my bunk or I'll be cutting hair. I did the same thing at home. I don't want to talk to y'all. And the ones I do talk to is because I really fuck with y'all. We buy the, we could get drunk and chill, but guess what I'm going in the house after that? I don't want to be outside with y'all. But you know, for certain people, that takes a lot of restraint to associate with people that you grew up with, you know, to like to say, hey, I'm
Starting point is 00:47:04 not on this type of time anymore. But it also, it also becomes easier too when you dealing with people that wasn't there for you while you was in jail. So if you wasn't there for me in my hardest times why the fuck I'm about to come fuck with you now leave me alone how hard was it to reintegrate back with your family after that second bid your kids your um your baby mamas your parents it was it was easy man they woke me with open arms they just was happy i was back and i told him i got a mission and they knew they knew what time it was i love that man he was going on his mission they know what time it is they they're my biggest supporters they know what time it is let's go we got a mission what about probation, how are they treating you? Probation was, honestly, probation was easy as hell.
Starting point is 00:47:48 Because I end up having one of my old P.O.s from my lawn. I had like four different P.O. ers because they were switched. But I ended up bumping into one of my old P.O.s. And she was like, oh, you back? I said, yeah, yeah. I said, I'm on a whole other type of time, lady. I said, look, come to the barbershop. You come see it. This is where I work at. Boom. I had her for a couple years and then I ended opening my own barbershop. They switched my P.R. I brought her in. Like, look, this is my barbershop. I own this shit. This is what I do. How often do you want to see me? She said, just come once a month. Herge him. And I just left it at that. What are some challenges opening up a business as a felon? There's no real challenges, bro. They don't, they don't do
Starting point is 00:48:25 background checks on you and shit like that. Like, I'm going straight. I'm going to rent this place out. I'm going to go to the town. The only thing I could see the challenge might have been is my image. And what was your image at the time? Like, the way I love. The way I now. So they look at me like this young black man, fancy black man. Who is he? You know what? He looks like a drug dealer. I don't want to deal with him. So you could deal with that type of shit, but that's it. And how does that make you feel when you're faced with that? No, I just laugh. Literally. Like, I got something for y'all. You don't want to fuck with me now. I'm going to show you. I'm make you want to fuck with me. I promise you. Then I'm not going to fuck with you.
Starting point is 00:48:57 Do you think a lot of people put you in that category? Not no more. Now, is it the people that look at you, is it, are they white guys? Or are they Yeah, that's what I was talking about, white people. So it's just white people that look at you like that. No, I'm quite sure black people look at me like that too, but they understand the story behind it. And do you think that's based solely on, like, racism or just stereotyping? Stereotypical shit.
Starting point is 00:49:20 It's not racism. That's just stereotypical shit. Interesting. And did you ever try to, like, be someone you weren't to try to fit? You just, you knew who you were on the inside and you wanted to keep rocking with that. I could care about all that. Like, like, no funny shit. If y'all treated me a certain way, I wouldn't care.
Starting point is 00:49:36 I'm not going to change nothing about none of this. If y'all would have tried to tell me you got to come on this show and you got a dress like this, I just wanted to do the show. No, well, we would never do that for you. No, I know. I know you would. I'm just giving an example like that. I don't need.
Starting point is 00:49:49 Now, back to the prison thing for a second, did guards look at you differently this second time around? Like, I know you were on a straight and arrow type of time, but were you treated like you were like a hudlam or a, you know, a gangster or anything like that in prison? Yeah, that's how they treat almost everybody in there. You know what I mean? Like, they still, they didn't get fuck that I was the barber unless they knew me.
Starting point is 00:50:12 Yeah. Like, and it was different for me because a lot of the CEOs and actually the one of the captains was my actual on the street client. So when he seen me, I'm going to lunch hall and he seen me, you're like, I'm like, what up, man? I said, look, man, make sure I'm good at him, man. Make sure these police don't be bothering me, man. He's like, what? I said, look, man, I need this. I need this and I need this, man.
Starting point is 00:50:37 Make sure they don't fuck with me when I go back in there. See, that's called a conflict of interest, and they throw you in the shoe for that. Yeah, see, look, but see, he was a captain, so it was different. Like, if it was just a CEO that I said that to him, quite sure the high ups would the fuck with him. But he already had Paul. He had been doing it for years. So he's like, look, that's my barber when he's home. Like, I ain't, like.
Starting point is 00:50:59 So you've been out of prison for, what, five, six years now, maybe longer? Nope. I got home 15. We've gone eight years. Eight years. and you've never had any run-ins with the law since? No, not no real run-ins. Not no what?
Starting point is 00:51:12 Not no real run-ins. So what do you want to, we're talking to speeding ticket? Yeah, I got pulled over a couple of times. Yeah, that's right. But you stayed away, like you never went back to the lifestyle. No. What about drug use? Did you ever have any issues with drug use?
Starting point is 00:51:24 No, I don't smoke weed. I drink liquor. You drink liquor. No other drugs either. No, fuck that. That's not for me. Even though you were exposed to that at that young age, you never got into it. I've seen it.
Starting point is 00:51:34 I've seen it growing up. growing up. I've seen uncles that used to get high and stuff like that. So that shit never really entice me. Like that shit was corny to me. So what's a typical day life for you like now managing, you know, between being a dad, managing your businesses as a barber, as a business owner? What's that like for you? You wake up in the morning, I call my kids and I'll go to work. I set up my schedule, do what I got to do and I'll go home. Do you have full custody of your kids? No, I do not. I have basically joint custody with all my kids' mothers. Okay.
Starting point is 00:52:07 And what are like some of the challenges of being like a, you know, a single dad? Like the challenges with that is really just trying to please everybody because I have, it's six kids with five different women. So it's really trying to please each and every person to make life easier for all of us. And it's just almost impossible. So when you got this one happy, this one. man this one happy this one man and it's just it's a roller coaster but again it's mind over matter i feel like you're in a very like good clear headspace now and you know definitely you're very
Starting point is 00:52:44 dedicated to what you want to do definitely what's like the long term plan do you want to open up more bar or how many barbershops do you own now right now only own one i had to sold the other one to my partner i owned one i do plan on opening another one but that's like later on it's just more right now the plane is really strictly investments okay i what type of investments? Like real estate and basically real estate what's that shit called? I'm going to brain for it right now because my brother just put me into the shit the stocks and shit. And this is all funded from the barbershop. Yeah. And the barbershop, how many hours are you putting a week into this? Oh shit. I'll go in a barbershop nine o'clock in the morning. I probably won't
Starting point is 00:53:28 leave until like eight, nine at night. And how does, I've always been curious, how does a barbershop work? Like does each person that's working there work for you or do they work for themselves and then they're paying for a chair? No, they work for themselves and they're paying me. And so they rent a chair for me. And you don't get a cut of anything. No, I get that boofer into that's it. That's my cut right there. So it's guaranteed.
Starting point is 00:53:48 Unless you say if you don't have the clientele, like me, my barbershop, I give out shots. I don't care who you are. If you dedicated with doing here or cutting here, I'll give you the opportunity to come work. If your clientele is not there yet, we're going to approach, we're going to promote, try to get you what you can get. And what I would do is work a percentage if you don't make chair into. Once you're able to consistently make chair into, then it's flat out you're paying chair real to from that point on. Are you trying to find, like, people that are like the younger version of yourself that you could steer them away from that, from that, you know, if they're in a bad area or whatever, whatever path they're going down that you can move them away from that lifestyle? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:54:31 I feel like you have the power right now to like do something. That's always been the goal, man. And I had one. I had one. I had one, man. You had one? What happened? He died in a car accident.
Starting point is 00:54:44 I'm sorry to hear that, man. That was, that was little me. He had everything, too, everything. Which, I'm looking for that again. Like, you know what I mean? But it's hard to find people to actually want to do it, man. Do you think that's what keeps you driven and motivated? like when things like that happen?
Starting point is 00:55:02 Definitely, definitely. Life's short, man. It is. It is. It's very short. You got to just, you know, you have to keep pushing. And if you can inspire just like one person, you know, to do that right thing, then it's a success. Inspiration lasts a lifetime, man. I swear, if you can inspire one person and he could inspire the next person, then that shit just keep going, then I do my job.
Starting point is 00:55:24 So what's your message to someone? Someone that's watching this, someone that's a single dad, someone that grew up. in a bad area because, you know, a lot of the people we've interviewed, they had decent family lives. Like they had all the opportunities in the world, and they went off on their own to screw it up. No, I could say I had a lot of opportunities and still fucked it up, you know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:55:45 But I would truthfully say my message to somebody that's a single father, bro, find your way and stick to the plan. It's just that simple. You're going to have, life is going to put everything in your way. way, like things don't happen to you, they happen for you. There's no accidents in this world. Like, I didn't go to jail by accident.
Starting point is 00:56:07 That was meant for me. I was supposed to go through that for me to be the person that I am today. So even with you, your situation, you probably wouldn't have a show car locked in if you never went to jail. Do you get what I'm saying? So that was your destiny. That's what was happening for you. Things happened for you.
Starting point is 00:56:22 So I truthfully say, don't get discouraged with nothing. It's nothing like, it sound like I'm preaching, but it's nothing on your plate that you can't eat. I mean, I look at it now. I think it's crazy. And we were talking about this earlier. You just don't know what life's going to throw at you. And what matters is what you do with what's thrown at you. Like you can either fold over and cower. Like you could have easily said, this is life of crime. This is my life. This is what was handed to me. I'm going to keep doing this. But you got in that mindset to get out there, read the books, put in the work, do the knowledge to turn it around. You know, that's what. what people need to hear about. There's not a lot of that out there knowing that there's another path that you could choose. It doesn't have to get extremely bad before it gets better. Right.
Starting point is 00:57:09 One thing I could say is another message for everybody, period, not just people going through shit. It's your perception. Your perception on life is everything. How you see shit is everything. And that's what can change. Like, every negative situation got the potential to be positive. So it's like jail, I don't look at that like a negative place. It's all about how you look at it.
Starting point is 00:57:35 Like I told you, when I was in jail, that was my barbershop. That was my place. That was my everything. I didn't care about who else was in there. That was my perception of it. Now, you got people next to me moping and shit, sad, stressing. They're on the phone yelling at their girl because she fucking somebody. Like, you feel what I'm saying?
Starting point is 00:57:56 Your perception of jail was all wrong because you're too busy focus on what's going on out there. You got a, your perception is just you in life, how you see shit. Like, you could see everything in this room completely different from how I see it. And that's the all perception. Like, you get what I'm saying? Like, I look at this place like this is probably the most professional podcast I've ever seen in my life. I get it. And I can think that it's not up to my standards.
Starting point is 00:58:20 Right. I just, you don't know. Right. And I think that, you know, it's important. You treat everyone as equals the same way. You give everyone a chance no matter what their upbringing is or, what their background is. Like, everyone deserves two chances, really. Like, you get your first chance at life. And then if you make a mistake, you get, like, that second chance. And it, you know, give them the benefit of the doubt.
Starting point is 00:58:42 Just because someone has a criminal record or, or anything, whatever happened to them, a trial, a tribulation, let them redeem themselves from that. So I'm glad you were able to, you know, do that. I don't even feel like that you need two chances. I feel like you could give somebody a million and one chances. It only take that one time to change, real. That's true. And hopefully it's on the second one, though, so you don't have to go to prison a few times. Right, right, right. You know, Dice, man, thank you for coming on the show. It was great talking with you today.
Starting point is 00:59:10 You know, continue to grow those barbershops and, like, being that inspiration, super glad you came to share your story today. All right. All right. Well, thank you, man. Before this shit is over, I want to shout out Big Steve, too, man. For any single parent, I'm in a single father show. That's actually coming soon, too. We're going to do all the casting
Starting point is 00:59:30 Well, not the casting, but the filming in June So that's a lot going on too That's a new TV show you're working on? Yeah, a new TV show that we're working on right now Yeah, with Prevental Vision And you're one of the guests on? Yeah, I'm one of the cast members on there So we got that coming up
Starting point is 00:59:46 And I think you Getting the little acting career going on. Yeah, I'm going to try to get that going to see what that's about Okay, Barbara actor, Renaissance win. It's really going to be just really my life though So it's not really acting like, you know what I mean? That's awesome.
Starting point is 00:59:59 man well i wish you the best of the luck of the show and you know we'll definitely get you on again when you're famous don't forget about us little guys no i won't when i actually when before i leave i might want to shoot dice with you i'm retired from gambling

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.