Locked In with Ian Bick - Gorilla Nems: Selling Drugs, Rikers Island & Going Viral

Episode Date: July 1, 2025

Gorilla Nems grew up in the heart of Coney Island’s projects, surrounded by violence, addiction, and survival. In this raw interview, he opens up about battling drug addiction, selling E across Coney Island, and getting locked up after going on the run. He shares what life was really like inside Rikers Island, how the streets almost killed his dreams, and the moment everything changed. From getting sober and signing a record deal to becoming a viral sensation with “Bing Bong,” this is the unfiltered journey of a true New York legend who turned pain into purpose. #GorillaNems #BingBong #ConeyIsland #RikersIsland #FromTheProjects #AddictionRecovery #ViralSensation #hiphopinterview Thank you to RIDGE for sponsoring today's episode: Upgrade your wallet today! Get 10% Off @Ridge with code LOCKEDIN at https://www.Ridge.com/LOCKEDIN #Ridgepod #sponsored Connect with Gorilla Nems: IG: https://www.instagram.com/nems_fyl/?hl=en YT: https://www.youtube.com/@GorillaNEMS Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ Presented by Tyson 2.0 & Wooooo Energy: https://tyson20.com/ https://woooooenergy.com/ Buy Merch: https://convictclothing.net/collections/convict-clothing-x-ian-bick Timestamps: 00:00:00 The Streets of Coney Island: Gorilla Nems' Early Life 00:04:37 Growing Up in Staten Island: A Journey Through High School and Hardships 00:09:39 Wallet Upgrade: The Ridge Experience 00:14:36 Early Rap Career and Dr*gs 00:19:43 Overcoming Struggles in Staten Island 00:24:46 Life After Dropping Out 00:29:45 Rap Battles 00:34:53 The Impact of Addiction on Life Choices 00:40:23 Journey to Sobriety: From Detox to Change 00:45:31 From Rejection to Record Deal with Shady Records 00:50:52 Reflections on Riker's Island Experience 00:55:13 Finding Purpose Through Adversity 01:00:20 Transition from Substance Ab*se to Counselor 01:05:20 Viral Sensation: The Birth of "Bing Bong" 01:11:00 The Origins of Success: From Viral Moments to Cult Following 01:15:35 Making Amends and Taking Responsibility 01:20:54 Celebrating Achievements with Dinner Powered by: Just Media House : https://www.justmediahouse.com/ Creative direction, design, assets, support by FWRD: https://www.fwrd.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th, the powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th, and the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric Church on July 19th. Tickets on sale now at Yamavat Theater.com, only at Yamava Resort and Casino, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You in? Must be 21 to enter. What's the difference between Butter?

And butter made from real California dairy? It's the real California farm families behind it. Real people. Real care. Real intention. Why? Because real matters. So whether you're pouring milk, melting of cheese, or just grabbing one more spoonful of yogurt. Keep it real. Look for the seal. Real California milk by Real California Farm Families. Kayak gets my flight, hotel, and rental car right,

so I can tune out travel advice that's just plain wrong. Bro, Skycoin, way better than points. Never fly during a Scorpio full moon. Just tell the manager you'll sue. Instant room upgrade. Stop taking bad travel advice. Start comparing hundreds of sites with kayak and get your trip right. Bad advice.

You talking to me? Kayak, got that right. So I used to hop in a dollar cab and tell the cab, go to 35th and surf avenue. Don't pick nobody up. I'll give you $10 when we get over there. They would get there and I would just, if I had a weapon, I would use it. If I didn't have a weapon, I would just beat them until they gave me the money. Some people would just give it.

Rapper Gorilla Nems grew up in the heart of Coney Island. Violence, addiction and survival were just part of life. From selling E across the borough and going on the run to getting locked up in Rikers Island, NEMS lived it all. In this raw interview, he shares how the streets nearly killed his dreams until he got sober, signed a record deal, and went viral with Bing Bong. This is the unfiltered rise of a New York legend who turned the hustle into a movement. NEMS, the mayor of Coney Island.

Welcome to Locked in, bro. Pleasure to be here, man. Thank you for having me. Yeah, it's an honor, man. If you would have told me, you know, when I saw that viral clip of you years ago, that I'd be sitting in front of you years later, I would have been your freaking crazy. Yo, it's funny how life works.

You know what's funny is that I was looking through my TikTok, but I don't follow nobody, and I've been following you. Really? Yeah, yeah, your TikTok, absolutely. That's awesome. We were just talking about the butt-ass guy. Yeah. That was the clip that just totally blew everything up last year,

and that went viral. That went crazy. And you can tell he's a dirt bag. You can tell by just the shit he's wearing. the fucking rings, the fucking cross-eyed. You could tell he was a scumbag CEO. Do you remember him at all from Rikers? No, I never seen him.

I never saw him. Definitely not. You know what? I don't remember a lot of my time in Rikers, in jail. It's been long. I came home in 07. Bro, it's fucking almost 20 years at this point. Yeah.

You know, I'm not a big, like, I'm not a big thinker of past times. Like, I'm always trying to move forward. and get on with shit. Like, I'm not a, I don't dwell on shit. You know what I'm saying? I just be focused on what's next. Yeah, I don't even think most people even realize you went to jail. Like when you do a search on you, barely anything comes out.

Yo, you know, it's funny. So I work sanitation for the city of New York. When I came out of jail, my mother, I was paroled to her house. I was, I think it was, no, I spent my whole 23 locked up, so 24. She was like, yo, you got this. I signed you up for the city test to be a garbage man I was like I'm not trying to be a fucking garbage man

I was like I don't want to take that shit She was like listen you're paroled in my house If you don't take this test You can't stay here I was like I alright I was on mad drugs I took that shit I got a hundred Right

They call me later They call me six years later Right I already stopped doing drugs For like four years And I got this city job and I had a felon, felony. So through the years working that job, you know, we talked with other guys, there's other guys that was in jail and stuff like that.

And I told him, yeah, you know, I did a bid for robbery. And they looked it up. And it was like, oh, you're lying. I'm like, what do you mean? It was like, oh, we looked up your name. I remember my den number and all that, 06 R2495. And they looked it up and it wasn't there. So I'm like, how was that pocket?

possible. But then I realized I did the shock program. So, you know, that's like for first time felons. And I'm not sure, but I think it's a stipulation that if you do the program and you stay out of, you know, you finish parole, that it get, and I had to get it expunged from my record when I got the sanitation job. So maybe that's the reason, but I don't know. Yeah, you got lucky. You search my name and it's hit. I never really searched my name. That's the only time it came up. It was like, yeah, you was, lying. I was like, bro, I don't got a fucking lie, you know what I'm saying? Why would I lie about being in jail? I'm a grown man now. You know what I'm saying? So, did you grow up on Coney Island?

So I grew up in Coney Island my whole life. I grew up in Odwaya Gardens, projects, which is on West 33rd Street. Coney Island is like three avenues, 21 blocks. There's Mermaid, which is the main avenue. There's Surf Avenue,

which is the Beach Avenue, where the beaches. And then there's Neptune Avenue, which is kind of like the way out of Coney Island. And then there's 21 blocks. There's Stirlwell Avenue, the train station, up to Seagate. That's like the really the hood part. So I'm all the way deep at the end of the hood. And I lived there until I was about 12 or 13. And then my mother bought a house in Staten Island. And she bought the house. So I went to and started going to high school in Staten Island. Then I got kicked out of high school for setting a fire. I got a superintendent suspension.

Couldn't go to any New York public high school. So I had to go to the Poconos to stay with my grandparents. And that's where I started writing raps because I didn't have nothing to do. Then I stayed there for like a year after the suspension was up, went back to high school there. And then about 17, my mother, who was a drug addict, relapsed, because she was clean my whole life. And then she relapsed, lost the house. And then we had to move back to Coney Island. So, you know, I've been, and then I was in Coney Island to probably a couple years ago when I bought my house.

Were you always passionate about music as a kid? Always. My father died at 4. So my father passed. Both of my parents were drug addicts. My father died when I was 4 years old from aplastic anemia, which was his body didn't make enough white blood cells. But that was through complications of having HIV from shooting drugs. Luckily, me and my mother didn't have it.

So when my father died at 4, it's just me and my mother in the projects. My mother has to work. You know what I'm saying? so I'm home a lot alone and I'm in the hood this is like the late 80s early 90s

so hip hop is not new but it's like coming into the golden age I just always was into hip hop as much as I like renting fat boys DVD I mean not DVDs because videotapes and I always used to just rap

as much as I can remember I always used to freestyle and then it took when I went to the Pennsylvania where I started actually like writing my raps and then just found the studio. My boy had a studio. And I just, so as long as I can remember,

I always was rapping, writing graffiti. I was just all, like all elements of hip-hop. Was music like an escape from your life? What do you say? See, now looking back, now that I'm a,

you know, a grown man, and looking back, and 100% was. Because at four years old, or growing up, you know, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 18, you don't think, you don't think of it as an exception.

You don't know what you're doing mentally. But of course, my father passed away at 4. I was running around with a single mother who was, you know, not home a lot. A father who passed away. And, you know, in the hood is like, you got to be a fucking gladiator. You got to put on your fucking, you know, your gladiator vest when you come outside to cope with shit. So, you know, a kid don't know how to cope with death, especially of a parent. So I'm sure that music was definitely a coping mechanism.

Now, everyone knows your personality now, but back then, was it the same? Was it like how it is now? I think it wasn't as it is now. Now it's like everything combined made me this way, all my life experiences. But I would, you know, growing up in Brooklyn, especially before the internet, made me this way. because I remember before there was cell phones, before there was the internet, what we used to do to hang out is go outside.

You know, like, if you call my house and I'm not there, you can't get in touch with me or anybody, any of my friends. So it would be like, yo, we meet outside the building. Or, yo, we meet by the corner store at 8 o'clock. Everybody's meeting there. And then we're going to find out what we're doing for the night. Some nights we didn't do nothing. We just hung out by the store, drinking 40s, smoking blunts,

and just joking on each other. That's what we do, you know, to have fun. So you got a picture, a group of 10 guys, high, drunk, nothing to do. We're joking on each other. So if you don't have jokes to come back to reply to people, then you're just going to get fucking roasted every single night. And then you become the herb of the group of the group. group and then you become the herb of the block

and then you become just a herb your whole life. So you just got to, you know, you develop a tough skin, you develop a sharp wit and then also I feel like drug usage warped my brain, you know, there's negative effects of drugs, you don't really think of any positive effects, but I think

that's a positive effect of years of drug use in my adolescence. Is it warped my brain to be a fucking a jokester where I could watch something once on TV and remember the information. And then when I see somebody, fucking equate that with a commercial. Like, don't ever disrespect me looking like fucking the thing that came out of fucking Arnold Schwarzenegger's fucking stomach in total recall. Like, I don't even know where to fuck that shit comes from.

You know what I'm saying? But that's just how my brain works. I don't know who needs to hear this. But if your wallet looks like it survived a natural disaster, it's time for an upgrade. mine was a mess, bulging with old receipts, cards I didn't even use, and it was so bulky, it felt like I was sitting on a brick. Then I switched to Ridge, game over.

It's slim, sleek, and holds exactly what I need, up to 12 cards and cash. I went with the matte black aluminum because it just looks clean. But if you want to flex a little harder, they've got over 50 designs, carbon fiber, titanium, you name it, and it's not just about looks. Ridge blocks RFID so nobody's skimming your info at the airport or the coffee shop. Plus, if you lose stuff like I do, they even have an air tag version so you'll always know where your wallet is. Every Ridge product comes with a lifetime warranty, free shipping, and a 99-day risk-free trial. Don't like it, send it back, but you will, I promise you that.

Right now, Ridge is hooking up my listeners with 10% off. Just go to ridge.com and use code locked in. that's ridge.com code locked in and let them know locked in sent you it helped support the show if your wallet's still stuck in 2008 this is your sign now let's get back to it share with us the first time you took drugs and what that drug was shit well it was weed I started smoking weed at 11 so like again my mother wasn't um home I came out of school I'm hanging out on the block. One of the older guys had to be probably 16, 7s, because I was always bigger for my my eight, like I was bigger. And I had a late birthday in December. So I was always hanging out

with the older kids. So if I was 12, I was hanging out with the 15, 16 year olds. So they're already smoking weed. They passed me some weed. I smoked. I went home and I fucking went to sleep. I fell asleep. But that, you know, developed, hanging out with the older kids always got me in trouble. Um, heavier drugs. My earlier years was ecstasy Because this is the years that I lived in Staten Island So when I lived in Staten Island When I was in the hood

It was crack, dope cocaine and weed There wasn't ecstasy Zanix When I moved to Staten Island Now all these high school kids are doing Fucking ecstasy Now they're doing fucking Xanax

What the fuck is Zanx? Oh my mom got Xanax sticks It's a muscle relaxer Start falling in love with Xanax Now I start fighting when I'm on fucking Xanax. Wake up the next morning. Can't remember nothing.

But it also makes you cool. You smoke a blunt with the Xanax. You're fucking chilling. I fell in love. It took all my anxiety away. The ecstasy shit would hang out with the white guys in Staten Island, some girls. You know, the girls talk me into it one night. For a couple of the first couple times that, you know, we're doing ecstasy.

Nah, I don't do that. I'm good, I'm good. And hanging out, girls was like, oh, I'm only going to take half. Hey, and them, you want half? I was like, nah, I don't do it. Come on. We're all doing it. I took it.

I ended up being in the back of a car, a fucking Nissan fucking Maxima, with this girl that I fucking liked, but I was scared to talk to. Now I'm pouring my heart out to her. She's pouring her heart out to me. Now we're fucking best friends. And I'm like, yo, I fucking love this shit.

And before you knew it, now I'm taking ecstasy every weekend. Now my mother relapses. We move back to Coney Allen. I got a whole ecstasy connect in Staten Island. So now I'm like, yo, give me 100 pills. Take it back to Coney Island. Nobody in Coney Island is doing ecstasy at this time.

So my daily routine from 17, 18 years old is wake up in the morning, pop a half of ecstasy, hop on my bike in the summertime, just ride through Coney Island. Yeah, yeah, yo, got ecstasy. We don't take that. Here's my beeper number. If you change your mind, boom. Then people started taking it in the hood. I was like the first kid, first person in the,

hood with ecstasy at this time started getting mad customers now I got a nice little flow going on but they while I'm selling it I'm also taking it half in the morning when I wake up half when that wears off by every now now I got a true ecstasy pill habit a day

but I'm making mad money as a teenager my mother's in the streets going to fucking rehabs it so I'm all alone um and then my whole family is hustlers so they're giving me pointers Do this, do this way, this way. And before I know it, I'm fucking chilling. Not a fucking kingpin,

but I'm making good money for a 17, 18 year old. But I'm also having a habit. I would keep five ecstasy pills in my sock. Sell, when they sell, go back upstairs, grab another five, so I wouldn't get caught. If I got caught, I wouldn't have that many on me. And I remember one day the D's rolling up on us, and I had maybe like four in my sock.

I was already on like, fuck. in three, and before they could find that I just popped all of them. And this is also when I first started getting into rapping. And as soon as I started rapping, I started having deals with Def Jam. So I remember going to Def Jam. Once I took those seven ecstasy pills in one night, I didn't know it, but I was dehydrated. Every time I would stand up, I would be dizzy. I would fucking be out of it.

And I remember I had a meeting with Def Jam. And we went up there and they was like, yo, Nem's you all right? I'm like, yeah, it just had a long night and I was fucking, I couldn't even stand up. I don't know what the, I don't, I don't know how the fuck I survived. But yeah, shit like that was like my first experiences of drugs. But then I got into heroin when I was 18 and that shit changed my life.

You know what I'm saying? When you bring drugs into a new market like that, how do you even figure out the price point? Like what to sell it for? I already knew from Staten Island how much the prices was. So they were $20 a pill. I would get them for $6 a pill in Staten Island. I would get 100 pills, $600,

sell them for $20. So I sell fucking 15 of them or 30 of them out of this 100. I sell 30 pills out of this 100. That's what I got to give back to my man. And now I got 70 pills to fucking do what I will. So I would wind up probably taking 20 out of that batch. So now I got 50 pills that I'm making my money. money off of 50 times 20 is fucking

I don't fucking know well 100 pills would be a $1,400 profit so I'll make a $1,000 profit off every 100 Now do you feel like you You did drugs in order to be liked early on To fit in?

That one instance that I told you about with the girl Was like A one-time thing I wasn't easily Peer Pressured but once I took these drugs, it made me a person that I liked. You know what I'm saying? And plus, you got to understand.

I come from a mother that's a drug addict, a father that's a drug addict. So that shit is already in my DNA. You know what I'm saying? And then once I take these things, I'm like, I like who I am. I like who, it took my inhibitions away. It took my insecurities away.

Because you also got to not growing up with a father. so I don't have a strong male father figure in my life. Then moving from Coney Island to Staten Island, I was like a fish out of water because the hood is Coney Island. That's a whole different set of rules. Staten Island now is upper middle class. So I'm coming through with Ava Rex jackets

and fucking Timberlands in a place that wears Ava Cromby and fucking Jordans. You know what I'm saying? And I was just, I stood out like a short thumb. I have fucking big trav in the back of my head when I'm an eighth grade. Like, you know, I wasn't NEMS at that point. And I just stuck out.

And that cost me dearly because being out there 16, I called a gang, assault charge. We jumped some kid, put them in a coma. And all the kids from Staten Island, I jumped them with all ratting on me. You know what I'm saying? Luckily, I was facing like 15 years, but I went to the Grand Jury and I fucking, I put on the performance of my lifetime, bro. I cried and everything.

Like, I was just trying to help this kid because I remember, I remember specifically, the Yankee parade was two days before we jumped this kid. We got into a fight. We were punks. Got into a fight on the Staten Island ferry. Beat, you know, it was like a fuck, the whole ferry was fighting.

Me, my crew versus, I don't know who, we were fighting, but I was beating people up. And I don't know what happened, but I twisted my leg, jumping off of fucking one of the seats of the ferry or something. The next day, I went to the hospital. I was like, yo, something's wrong with my shit. It was just sprained, but they gave me a leg brace and an arm sling because my fist had swollen up. The next day, after that, when I went home, I was like, I'm not wearing this shit. The next day, we jumped this kid, put him in a coma.

So when I went to the grand jury, it said, that I have medical records proof that I was in an arm sling and a leg brace. So I said, how could I jump off a car onto this fucking kid's head and crack his skull open? If I'm in a leg brace and an arm sling, which I wasn't in, but medically it said I was supposed to wear that for three weeks. And then I cry, I was trying to help this kid. So the grand jury didn't indict. And I think back to that moment, like, yo, my life would have been fucked right there at that point.

16 years old, 15 years. I would have been fucked, but it wasn't in the cars for me. You know what I'm saying? But it also made me realize none of these kids out here in Staten Island have your best interest at heart because all of them snitched on me. Were you in an actual gang that was the owner?

It was just a group of young fucking punks. It wasn't a gang. I was in Staten Island. There was no gangs out there in that part of Staten Island I was in. It was all fucking white, Italian kids. Italian, mostly. Why do you think you getting often deter you from getting into future trouble?

Because I was going through a lot myself, you know, internally, that I didn't realize. At that point, when you're a kid, 16 years old, you don't know that you're going through grief. You don't know that you're going through fucking embarrassment, that your mother that grew up your whole life taking care of you. Now you've got to provide for her because now she's a drug addict running the streets. I never realized. I never saw that. I always had a strong, supportive mother.

And at this point, now my mother's a fucking dope fiend. How the fuck did this just happen? You know what I'm saying? What do I do? My father's dead. Where do I go from here? As long as, and also my security blanket, this house that she bought in Staten Island, now we're back to square one in a fucking project apartment,

but living with my uncle. So now we're in this one. room, me and my mother and a cat that we had from the house. And she's all fucked up. I'm fucking telling her every day. Just stop because I don't understand addiction. So, you know, I was hurt. I was a hurt kid and hurt people, hurt people.

You know what I'm saying? So I just wanted to get the anger out. So I'm fighting all the time. I'm fucking doing anything I could to make money because I don't have any money. I'm not going to be a bum. And then also I'm back now in the hood. where now is life of death. Staten Island is not life of death where I was living.

There was suburbs you might get jumped, but they don't play with guns out there. They might stab you, but that's very rare. Back in the hood, now they're playing with guns. Now they fucking, you know, it's not a game. So that didn't determine me. You know, it actually made me worse. Was college ever in the cards for you?

Nah. I dropped out of school. I dropped out in fucking 10th grade. Not because I was great at school. When I did that one year in the Poconos, I was an honor roll student because I had nothing to do. I didn't interact with the kids in the Poconos because every weekend I came home. So I would just go to school out there, come home, do my homework, study for tests,

and then write raps. So school wasn't that it was an issue. I was good. Even in elementary school, I was fucking on a roll. But once I got the chance to be, you know, I had a lot of other things going on in life. So I just didn't go. I just would go to lunch periods, smoke weed all day, and fucking, you know, dropped out in 10th grade. How big of a factor did an environment play on your life?

Huge, huge. Again, so that's why a lot of people think, I'm Puerto Rican and Irish. A lot of people think I'm Italian because the way I talk. But it's from the upbringing growing up in a poverty environment, which is Coney Island in Brooklyn. But then a lot of people's formative years are high school. So then you take me out that poverty-stricken hood environment. And now you put me in the upper middle class, mostly white suburban environment. Now it's like a clash.

Who am I as a person? am I fucking and then my family still lives in Coney Island runs things in Coney Island so now it's like am I a hoodbugger or I'm a fucking suburbanite

I don't even fucking know right and then I go back then right when I'm getting acquainted like you know accustomed to being a fucking suburban kid now I'm thrown back into Coney Island so that environment

and then besides the point that's when I started rapping when I went back to Coney Island besides that point no rapper ever came out of Coney Island like there was no rapper with a major record deal that ever made it from Coney Island you got parts of Brooklyn

Marcy that's Bedside that's Jay Z Biggie East New York fucking Uncle Murder fucking mad other rappers every part had a rapper nobody from Coney Allen made it ever

so now I got this chip on my shoulder I got a rep. Nobody's ever come out of Coney Island. I'm going to make it big out of... This episode is brought to you by Redfin. You're listening to a podcast, which means you're probably multitasking.

Maybe even scrolling home listings on Redfin, saving homes without expecting to get them. But Redfin isn't just built for endless browsing. It's built to help you find and own a home. With agents who close twice as many deals, when you find the one, you've got a real shot at getting it. Get started at Redfin.com.

Own the dream. Ryan Reynolds here for MintMobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same premium wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities, so do like I did and have one of your assistants assistants

to switch you to MintMobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do at midmobile.com slash switch. Up front payment of $45 for three-month plan equivalent to $15 per month required. Intro rate first three months only, full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra.

See full terms at mintmobile.com. Coney Island. And fast forward 20 years later, and that's what we're doing. What happens after you drop out of high school? I know you got that charge that you beat with the grand jury. So what happens is I turn into now a full-fledged drug addict, everyone at it. So right at the time, my mother starts getting clean. I'm living with my uncle.

it's just me and him. My mother's in rehab. She's getting better. And she stayed clean from that point. She got like 20, 30 years clean now. Probably like 25 years clean. She stayed clean from that point. But right when she was getting clean,

I was living with my uncle. I already had done the ecstasy. I already had done the Xanax smoking weed all the time. Drinking wasn't really my thing. Because when I first got drunk, I threw up. So I didn't do it. I didn't like it. I'm living with my uncle

He's hustling He's selling bundles of dope And I don't know what that is though Because I'm from now My upbringing Where I'm growing up is in Staten Island They got ecstasy and fucking Xanax

And shit like that and weed I know what crack looks like I know what cocaine looks like But I always thought heroin was something You fucking shot in your fucking arms I'm naive move back to Coney Island living with my uncle

I'm seeing people come to the door him serving them I know where his stash spot is and one day I'm going to hang out with a girl and I'm like let me dip up in this little stash let me take some of this thinking it's cocaine

I do a bag cool take another one my uncle always had garbage he always cut his shit you know what I'm saying So most people say when they do a bag of dope, they throw up. My uncle always cuts this shit. It's always trash. So I didn't throw up.

Maybe if I would have threw up, like when I drank, I threw up. I didn't like it. She was always trash. So I do another bag. Do it. Go hang out with this girl. I start stealing from his stash. One bag out the bundle here and there.

Not every day. Boom, boom. Then I got this other girl I'm dealing with who winds up being my girlfriend later on. She tells me, yo, Nams, you do more than weed? I'm like, yeah, I do a little Coke here and there. Matter of fact, I got some on me. She said, let me see. Pulled it out.

She was like, yo, that's not coke. That's dope. And I was like, by that time, I was already turned out. If somebody would have came to me and said, yo, this is heroin. Try it. I would have never in a million years did that shit, knowing that it killed my father,

knowing my mother fucking did it and got strung out, I would have never did that shit in a million years. Once I found out what it was, it was already too late. I was already hooked. Not getting sick, but mentally,

hooked. And then for the next eight years, I was a heroin addict. You know what I'm saying? Homeless. Sleeping on the lifeguard chairs in Coney Island in the wintertime, sleeping in the project staircases.

Because as soon as my... mother got clean and came home my mother was a drug counselor my aunt or my aunts were drug counselors so as soon as they found out what I was doing they were shipping me to rehab I've been over 40 detoxes like fucking 10 rehabs like therapeutic communities like fucking Phoenix house have been a bunch of those never got clean

and none of them shits why didn't those work for you I wasn't ready I didn't have enough I wasn't at the bottom yet it wasn't painful enough I didn't go through enough. And it took me eight years. Now, when I went, the robbery I did was to get more drugs. And I wound up doing a wonderful for a strong-arm robbery.

And they tried to put me in drug programs first. I had to hook up my aunt, her friend. They put me in fucking drug programs. I left. And then I went on the run for four years. and while I was on the run I did the fight club where I started battling and I started beating everybody

and that's why I started getting my buzz up from the rap shit but I always knew I had to do this time because the judge told me yo I'm going to give you one more I left like two different drug programs she said y'all I'm going to give you one more chance if you leave this drug program I'm make sure you do the full amount of time

that is available for me to give you so when I left that drug program after the first day being there, I knew. I was like, I'm not turning myself in. I got to do this time. Fuck it. Catch me when you can, bitch.

You know what I'm saying? And I went on the run for four years. I didn't hide out. Just lived life. They would go to my mother's house, the born and squad, I would be at my girl's house. They would come to my girl's house.

I would be at my mother's house. It was just the luck of the draw. And I was just living life, getting high, being an addict, but also rapping, and trying to live my dreams, battling. And I had nothing to do with life, but get high and rap. So I started honing my craft and becoming good at it and battling and winning.

All these fucking battles, I would win. The fight club shit that wound up coming out on MTV, I was like 25 wins and like three losses. Like I'm the all-time champ up there. I didn't know it was going to be an MTV show. Wind up, after these four years, I got caught. the judge she must have had it written down

she remembered what she told me but because I stayed out of trouble for four years she says I'm going to drop this down to non-violent and then I went to Rikers but while I go into Rikers and then go up north I'm fucking on MTV every day

so the one and a half to four and a half I got they offered me this shock program I stay in Rikers for like eight months they lost my paperwork. I'm saying? And then they go,

yo, since your charge now is nonviolent, you got this thing, anybody that has less than nine years on the back end, like a three to nine,

anything with, if it's your first time felon, you're eligible for this program called shock, which is like a boot camp for first time felons. And if you do it, if you complete it,

you can get out in six months. It's a no-brainer. Six months. One and a half to four and a half. So I go into this fucking program. First of all, you're in a month. First you go to Ulster County. Then you go to Lakeview, which is a month.

They're trying to find out where they're going to put you. And then I go to Summit. Summit is a minimum. A minimum. So in the jail, my uncle's coming down that's in jail. He's in the jail part. I already have my GED at this point. So now I'm in the, in the county.

kitchen so then I get to talk now my uncle comes you know I'm serving him yeah he tells me what's going on and a her because shock is a different animal man there's the only commissary you could buy is shaving products and deodoring and soaps there's no food no snacks from the commissary um you only get a visit one visit every two weeks or one phone call every two weeks my mother came every fucking visit my mother came every visit that I had when I was shot. In the beginning, it was miserable. So you start your day at 5 a.m.

Like you're in the fucking military. Whatever. Fucking, no, no, no. Then, then, then, then, that shit is horrible. You're in a fucking platoon is what it's called. Wake up, you got to go

immediately and shave your whole face. Then, you go, you go, you go, you work out. You got to stretch, do fucking calisthenics, and then run five miles every day. Come back, eat, go to program or work, eat lunch, come back, do school if you need to,

or whatever the case. And you're going to sleep by fucking 8 o'clock and do it. Same thing every day for six months. And now this is a separate building at Rikers? No, this is in Summit, New York. Oh, so they send you separately. Summit Correctional facility.

Okay. which also has a jail, though. They have a minimum security prison for people coming down or for low charges. So my uncle was coming down from Clinton. He was on the end of his fucking eight-year bid or something like that. How old were you when the robbery happened? I was 19. And what exactly happened?

So my daily thing to make money to feed my habit, my heroin addiction, was I would wake up every day, wherever I would wake up, staircase, some people's sometimes I'm staying in people's houses and walk to Stirlwell Avenue at the end of, you know, the beginning of Coney Island. They always had dollar cabs there. That's where the train station is. So they would have

dollar cabs. A dollar cab is an illegal cab that just waits, charges people a dollar to take them anywhere in Coney Island. Like dropped them off on Mermaid Avenue. So I used to hop in a dollar cab and tell the cab, go to 35th and surf avenue.

Don't pick nobody. up, I'll give you $10 when we get over there. They would get there, and I would just, if I had a weapon, I would use it. If I didn't have a weapon, I would just beat them until they gave me the money. Some people would just give it. This particular instance, this was an everyday thing for months. My thing was like, yo, they're illegal. They're not supposed to be giving these rides anyway, so they're not going to tell police.

This one shit I think I robbed the cab for like This one day I beat the guy up Took his money I might have took like $30 You know what I'm saying Embarrassing now that I look at it

He told the cops As soon as I ran off He went got the police And after I ran off I went somewhere I didn't change my clothes That was my fucking main thing that I fucked up. They caught me later on in the day.

The cops fucking caught up with me. And they charged me fucking felony, fucking strong on robbery. Wow, over $30. Ridiculous. Embarrassing now. $30 is like, like, fucking $0.30 to me now. It's embarrassed. But $30 was everything when I was getting hired.

That's three bags. To start the day, I'm waking up sick. So it's not like I wanted to do these things. I had a fucking habit and this habit made me a fucking monster that anybody, anytime, anywhere could get it. In the beginning of this habit, I did a lot of gangster shit.

I stuck people up. I fucking had a cold, y'all. I'm not doing this. By the end of my habit, man, I was robbing fucking family. I was stealing fucking PlayStation's when somebody would let me in their house. I was doing fucking coward shit.

And that's the animalistic level that this drug had brought me to. So I came home from this, I'm going to fast forward. Came home, I'm thinking I'm good, I was in this shock program. I fucking, I'm good. I didn't use for like 10 months, but I didn't work on myself. I come home, do parole, I start getting high again. You know what I'm saying?

Because I didn't work on myself. Like after like two weeks of being home, I started getting high again. It's like, I ain't do it in Madloin. I can just do one. Nah, that shit brought me right back. And even worse this time. And now people are like, yo, you're good. You came home.

You got your weight up. You're looking good. And then they was like, damn, you back to it. Whatever people in my corner I had ceased to exist. Because it was like, damn, you back on this bullshit after all this time. Now you got your buzz up. You got hope. You got your MTV every day.

Now you back. Homeland, you back a fiend? What the fuck? Everybody gave up hope on me. My mother that visited me every time it became so bad. She just had told me, yo, my son, I love you. But I wish you would just die already. You know what I'm saying?

Like, I'm worried about you every day, man. I think I'm just waiting for the call for you to die. Like, you can't stay at my house. You can't, don't call me. Like, I wish you would just die already so I could stop worrying about you. The one person I had in my corner that came to every visit, every rehab would give me socks or, you know, had told me, you know, I wish you would just die.

And that's when it really got bad, bad. For like the final couple months of my using. And I remember the last couple months. I remember the last month of my using. Because at this point, it wasn't fun anymore. In the beginning, it was fun. I was high. At the end, I didn't get high anymore.

I just got off of E. I just wasn't doapsick no more. And I remember I went to a doctor and stole his prescription pad. He had stamped every one already, so they were valid, empty. So I was selling them for, I think, $75 or $100 each. But I also was writing myself scripts, Zanx, fucking Suboxin, all types of shit. This pad was keeping my addiction going. But at this point, I didn't want to get high no more, man.

I just couldn't stop. I couldn't fucking stop. And I remember I sold the last page, $75. And I had been up for like three, four weeks, didn't sleep. Because at the end of my using, my addiction had brought me to two bundles of dope a day, 520s of Coke, and five Xanax sticks every single day. I don't know where the fuck I was making the money, but I was getting it. So the habit was bad.

So I didn't sleep for like fucking three weeks. Probably hadn't showered for a fucking a week. maybe it was psychosis going on but I saw myself from the outside looking in and uh this one moment of clarity that I had man I saw myself like I'm looking at you but it was me looking at myself

I was 26 I told myself yo if you keep going how you're going you're going to be dead by the time you're 30 guaranteed or you're going to be in jail for the rest of your life

for doing some dumb shit, some shit that is super avoidable. Or you can stop everything right now, you're 26, and live your fucking dreams. Like I said, I've been to fucking 40 detoxes, 10 rehabs, fucking like three or four long-term programs. I've been to church with people playing over me. I've been to jail, could never stop. That night I went home.

I went to my mother's house, knocked on her door, because she wasn't talking to me, answering cause nothing. I said, Mom, I want to change. Like, I want, I want this. Got I just stay on your couch? She let me stay on her couch. From that date, November 3rd, 2009,

to this date right now, I have not had a drink or drug anything in my system since that point. I didn't go nowhere. I did it all. I just stopped. And ever since then, my life had just fucking elevated. And it's a whole life change. America's first pledge was freedom.

Jeep still carries that fighting spirit. With the Jeep declaration of deals, we're pledging our allegiance to the American people with great deals on the luxurious Grand Cherokee. With available three-row seating premium craftsmanship and tech that turns every drive into an event. venture or Jeep Wrangler with legendary 4x4 capability and open-air freedom. Because freedom deserves the vehicle built to carry it.

Jeep, there's only one. Hurry into your local dealer for the Jeep declaration of deals. Jeep is won more awards over its lifetime than any other SUV branch. Even the Jeep Grill or registered trademarks of FCAUS LLC. Fucking fucking thing from that one moment. When you got out of prison, were you still on the rise? You said before prison you were doing MTV and stuff. Yeah, but I got out of prison.

My buzz was crazy. So how does someone with that much buzz still feel so embo? and wanting to use drugs and be at rock bottom. I didn't know. Those, those, that year and change in jail didn't fucking, I didn't work on myself. I didn't work on what the issues were. I didn't work on anything. I just stayed abstinent from drugs because there wasn't any drugs in that fucking

shock program. But I didn't work on what made me do this. What, what are the reasons? What is so fucked up about me That I can't function without a drug in my body I didn't understand that And then the parole shit I got the Wizzinator

My man had just got off of Fed parole I said yo, you know Because when I first came home Like I said I was good for like two, three weeks So I had a friend Nikki Fly He died, rest in peace, my man fly But he got me a job As an electrician's assistant

So him and his his crew, one guy just got off a federal parole. Just finished. It was like perfect time. I was like, yo, I'm getting high. Like, you know, I got high or whatever I need. I don't know what I'm going to do to take this. Oh, no, I got the Wizzinator.

I just finished parole too. Here, take this. The shit was like, it wasn't my skin color. It was darker. Do you know what the Wizzanator is? It's like the fake. The fake penis. Yeah.

So a Wizzenator is basically a fucking dildo with a fucking truer. tube in it that you strap under your balls and around your shit and you got to get somebody's pitch and put it in with a syringe and you keep it on your waist and it keeps it body temperature and then when you go to

parole and they're behind you and the mirrors there you press the button and the clean piss comes out. So it looks like a real dick. So you press this but the only thing is this guy's fucking whizzinator that he gave me was a different color. It wasn't black black but it wasn't

my skin color. It was a little dark I don't know how I got away with it, but I got away with it. One time, they didn't take my piss for a couple weeks in the summertime, like weather like this. I had the piss in the pouch. I didn't know you were supposed to change it, the piss. So I would wear this to parole every week thinking he's going to take my piss. He didn't take it for like two months.

So I didn't change the piss. Bro, when he finally asked me for the piss, I was like, yeah, no problem. I got it. I pressed the button. For the piss to come out, I had the cup here, press the button on the dick. But that shit came out like Apple sauce. I was like,

shit, I'm caught. The parole officer said, yo, he checked it? Because it was like liquidy, but apple saucy a little. Put the check. He was like, you're good. I said, but I need you to go right now to the hospital. There's something wrong with you. I was like, yo, I'm going right now.

See you later. Peace. And I was out of there. But yeah, I had the Wizzinator That shit was crazy But the buzz was up The buzz was up I got signed with this guy

Necro He took me on tour with him To the West Coast I guess And then they seen I was a real junkie You know He was like, damn This guy's fucked up

We might have heard People say it But we didn't believe it But then that fucked up that Def Jam I fucked that up Shady Records I was dealing with them

Fucked that up And what's crazy is with the Shady Records shit I was dealing with Riggs Morales he's a big A&R as Shady Records When I came out of jail I was already dealing with him before jail

I started fucking with him again when I came home and they got to a point where he was like Yo NEMS We love your music We love who you are But like you're going in and out of jail

You're robbing people You want drugs You're more of a liability than ass And they just stopped returning my calls and that's when the addiction got real bad too because I was like, yo, I had my shot and I fucking blew it. But what I didn't realize is at some point

I must have wrote NEMS Fuck Your Life on their door of Shady Records and Paul Rosenberg Eminem's manager, attorney that's on his albums that Paul banned me from Shady Records like I could never go there after this, right?

After I did that. And fast forward, fucking 10, 15 years later, he just signed me. to Goliath Records, Virgin Records, fucking three-album deal. And now that's my guy. I talk to them almost every day. That's incredible. You know what I'm saying?

Wait, so you were using the fuck your life term all the way back then? Back then. Fuck your life is, I've had fuck your life since the late 90s. I've been yelling out fuck your life. People just catching up with it now. Wow. So I bet you if there was social media back in the 90s, it probably would have popped. 100%.

100%. Listen. I always knew I got something. When it comes to rapping, I might not be the best, but I know for sure I'm not whack. I can rap. You know what I'm saying? And I know that just who I am as a person, like I'm a personable person. When I meet people, I'm not an asshole, especially now.

I'm a stand-up individual. I'm a man in my word. I have more of those principles. But even back then, even if I didn't have more, I might have been a grimy motherfucker. But I still was a personable person. And I knew that I had something with the shit. That's why I kept going. I knew fuck your life was popping

because when I was saying, people would yell it out. You know what I'm saying? I would perform and people love that shit. I knew I've been, I knew that. I got other shit. Bing Bong was just one of my words that fucking, that I make shit up all the time.

People are just catching up with that shit now. You know what I'm saying? But I've been doing this. Been doing this. It's just some people are late to the party. And I don't do a lot of sucker shit that a lot of these artists do. A lot of these artists fucking meet them.

They just want a picture. They just want to clout. Chase. Nah, man. If I fucking meet Jay Z today, I'm not even going to ask him for a picture. I got it right here. Yo, what up? Pleasure meeting you. You know what I'm saying? If somebody take, yo, Nems J. Get in a picture. I take one. But it's not about that, man. I'm living life experiences, man. Whatever's supposed to happen is supposed to happen, man. I'm not into doing corny shit. Um, and that's why I feel like the shit takes longer as well. But I do it on my own terms. And I'm saying? And when you do shit on your own terms, it's way better. Like, I've been

I've been trying to do the rap shit forever, you know what I'm saying? Record labels turned down, you know, fucked around. It took me saying fucking Bing Bong that takes me to the fucking next level. And the best part about it is all these rappers, I'm a rapper. Like anybody sees me on social media. Oh, he's a fucking don't ever disrespect me guy, the Bing Bong guy. Yeah, that's cool. But I'm a rapper.

That's what got me into this game. That's what put me into the position to say Bing Bong, that I was on side talk. And I said Bing Bong because I'm a rapper. So the best part about it is these rappers got to put on an image and be somebody they're not. The best part about Bing Bong and don't ever disrespect me is it brought me into the game being myself. It's not an act. When you meet me, I'm the same guy you see on the internet. It's not an act that I put on for the cameras to fucking say fuck your life or Bing Bong or Don't Ever Disrespect me.

Like, that's not an act. That's who I am. You see me in real life. I laugh. I joke. I have a great time at life. And that's who I am in real life as well. The best part about that shit is I came into the game on my own terms.

These motherfuckers got to wake up and put on an image every day. I don't have to do that. When I walk into a room, it brings happiness to people. You know what I'm saying? We joke and we laugh. I just met you. We fucking joke. We laugh.

I met your people out there. We fucking joke. We laugh. I've done so much dirt And been through so much shit in my life Negativity That at this point of life Man

I just want to have fun And enjoy life I'm not a thug no more I'm a fucking adult You know what I'm saying Like I'm a fucking Decent Taxpaying citizen

That just wants to live life right And have a fucking great time While doing it And that's what we're doing And I'm saying I've been to the bottom to the bottom to the bottom to the bottom where a lot of people don't make it out of so at this point i'm on fucking i'm on house i'm on house money right now you know what i'm saying like i'm

chilling now i love that i got a house bought my mother a house i'm looking to get another house fucking fucking fucking fucking 170 000 car got jewelry got everything i fucking want got good people in my corner i'm already up if if i never fucking go viral again so be it I'm happy. And the people around me that matter are taken care of. That's what this shit is about. That's why we do this. That's why we do fucking podcast.

That's why I drive out here to fucking do this with you. You know what I'm saying? That's what... What else is there, man? Fuck your life. Bing bong. Bing bong. Share with us your experience,

what you thought of Rikers Island. I'm sure a lot of the audience is going to be curious of your perspective. She was miserable. She was fucked. fucking miserable. When I went, when I did Rikers Island, the first time when I was 19, when I got caught for the robbery, you can still smoke cigarettes in there. You know what I'm saying?

Like you could buy new parts from commissary or cools. You could buy cools from commissary. So when I first got there, I was scared to death. I didn't know what to expect. You know, as a 19-year-old going into fucking Rikers Island, your whole life, you just fucking hear about Rikers Island. And you hear about jail movies, rape, you don't know what the fuck to expect.

But I learned quickly early on in prison, or in jail, in Rikers, that if you keep to yourself and you don't fuck with nobody, I already knew from my uncles. Don't gamble, don't do drugs, don't fuck with homos. You know what I'm saying? That's all my uncles are jailbirds. All my own. I have a huge fan.

family. They all been to jail. All of them told me that same thing. Don't do drugs. Don't gamble. And don't fuck with homos. And you'll be all right. So in the beginning when I first went, commissary was good, you know, had cigarettes, had all my little commissary in my little bucket. I stayed to myself, my first little bit. Even the old times came to me and was like, yo, yo, yo, shoddy, you like your style. You don't fuck with nobody. You stay to yourself. staying your little shit we fuck with that you know what I'm saying because I had everything I needed

I didn't have to juggle or none of that now when I came back after the four years cigarettes are banned now fucking is up now I'm a drug super drug addict so I come in I'm on methadone now they're taking me off so I'm on 100 milligrams of methadone when I'm coming and when you go up north they don't have methadone

maintenance up north so now they got to they're taking me off 100 milligrams of methadone in a fucking four-month period. So now I'm, because of my classification was high, I was in the dorms when I first went in, then they put me in the one-man cells. So now I'm with fucking murderers,

fucking all types of fucking crazy motherfuckers. And I'm mad, I'm going through it. I'm mad sick. Going from 100 milligrams to nothing. So the majority of the time, time I spent on the that that bid was in my cell locked in not because I was scared none of that because I just stayed in fucking bed sick as a fucking dog and luckily luckily

like looking at the moment they lost my paper they whatever I was horrible I had to stay eight months but looking back you know seeing the whole picture hindsight is 20 20 I was I had to go to shop if I was dope sick then had to do so I would a Never did that. I would have had to do my whole bid. That losing my paperwork, what it did was get me taking off of the methadone. I was fucking sicking myself for like the first six months then I started getting my shit back and being okay. You know what I'm saying? It's starting to feel and be able to move and act regularly and think properly. So by the time they sent me up to shock, I was ready. I was ready. But at the time, it's like, damn, I'm getting fucked over here.

and you don't know why when you look back, there's been something looking over me my whole fucking life. But Prism, you know, Rikers was scary at first. But also, you know,

a lot of people knew who I was the second one because of the rapping shit. When I went up north to Rikers, I mean, to Ulster, and when I was doing shock, they knew who I was from rapping. It was like,

yo, we just was watching you on fucking fight club on MTV. Yo, battle me. I was battling people in the yard. I was, We was chilling. It wasn't a bad thing. Do you think going to prison derailed your career at all?

Oh. Nah. Nah. I think it gave it some fucking validity. And also, listen, I needed that at that point. Everything happens for a reason. That shit built up my buzz. Had fucking mad people screaming free NEMS while I'm on MTV every day.

And at that point in life, Who knows? Maybe that year that I was in jail, the year and the change, who knows what I would have been doing on the streets? Could have got killed. Could have overdosed. Could have done a million other things that,

maybe there was a reason that I was in there for that, for that time period. Maybe it was something that I needed to be locked up in there for. See, people don't think of shit like that. You know what I'm saying? Like, people don't think of situations like that because they don't have the hindsight at the moment. But now me at this, right now at this moment, looking back at that, it was like, thank God all that shit happened.

Because I see a lot of people now get addicted in their older age. I would have much rather be addicted to something to 18 to 26 when your body is fresh, when your body can recover easily. Being in that situation now, bro, it would be fucking insane. You can't get off of shit like that. And you're fucking, the older you get, the harder it is to recover from anything. Mentally and then, and at that young age, I had more, I knew what I wanted out of life. And that wasn't that. So jail was necessary at the moment.

Tell us about your journey after getting sober. Everything, everything went up. Everything got better. Within the first 10 months of me being clean, I was in fucking tour. I was on tour. I dropped, no. No, the first 10 months, on the 10th month, I had put out my first album under an independent record label. Within the first two years of me being clean, I was on tour in Europe, Belgium, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, all over France, Scotland.

And I knew that I couldn't just go to people about, yo, I'm good now, I'm clean, I'm afresh, I'm out of jail, I'm not a, burden to you. I just knew to keep my head down and just keep putting in the work. And eventually, it'll show and people will see. And that's exactly what happened. And then it wasn't quick.

But I enjoyed it. Because when I got clean, everything was brand new to me again. Everything. Feelings were brand new to me. Because I had masks for eight years, almost a decade. And I say eight years,

that was my heroin addict shit. But even before then, I was an ecstasy addict. I was on fucking Xanax. I was on, you know what I'm saying? So it was longer. It was probably like a good 12, 15 year period where I massed all of my feelings every day. I was happy. I got high.

I was sad. I got high. I was down. I got high. So when I got clean, all my feelings came back, bro. That shit was crazy. I would be fucking sitting in the house watching the TV. And the fucking dog commercial would come.

the arms of an angel. I would start fucking tearing. I'm like, what the fuck is going on? What the fuck is this? Why am I crying at a dog commercial? I started getting all along feelings back, man. I would wake up at 6 in the morning and just go on for this. Now the internet's out, now I'm going on YouTube,

listening to fucking music, fucking loving it, fucking just getting everything back. And just now I start fucking, And I just started hustling again. I just got on my grind. The fourth year, me being clean, I started hustling for somebody where I had a cocaine and fucking percocet route,

just do that from the sunup to sundown. And then I became a drug addict, I mean, a drug counselor. I became a drug counselor right after that. And I started seeing the fiends I was serving in the rehab that I was their counselor. And I'm like, yeah, I can't be doing this no more. And then sanitation calls.

me and I did that for fucking eight years and then bing bong happened and fucking I quit sanitation and I've been living off a fucking living off the land for the last fucking couple years

So you went back to selling drugs even after getting clean Yeah And you were able to do that without having any temptation Yo once I stop Once I put some time between me And getting high, I knew Because at the end of my using, at the end of me getting high

I knew that I didn't want to get high no more I just couldn't stop I don't know you know it was a burden everywhere I went people looked at me like a piece of shit I was a piece of shit everything they said about me was true he's a thief he's a fucking liar he'll rob you and he'll fucking scheme on you he's grimy all of that shit was true he's a dirt bagger all of that shit was true um so

I knew that I didn't want to get hired no more, I just couldn't stop. Once I got clean, I was like, I'm never doing that shit again. I know they say never, you know, one day at a time, shit like that. I knew I wasn't going back to that shit. And once I got strong enough where I was doing it, I knew somebody that had a little, you know, successful hustling business. Money needed to come in, you know what I'm saying? So they was like, yo, Nims, here, take this route from Sundays to Wednesdays.

Here's the phone. Here's the product. You make fucking $10 off every 50 a Coke, $2 off every perk. You know, and then they had the clientele. People would be buying fucking 10, 1050s at a time, fucking 100 perks at a time. So I was making good money. And then I became the drug counselor. And then I was like, what am I going to do?

I started, like I said, I started seeing the people I was serving. Now I'm there fucking counseling. I just bought Coke and perks and fucking Miley off of you fucking two weeks ago. Now you're my drug counselor? What the fuck is going on? It was mad weird. It was a weird predicament. But luckily I was only a drug counselor for like 90 days.

They fired me because I was fucking, I didn't like, I thought because I was a drug addict before that I could do it. But man, that shit wasn't for me. You stay stuck in the hospital fucking. floor for fucking eight hours. People telling you their problems. I already got enough problems, bro. I don't want to solve your problems, man. I don't want to, if I could have to catch you smoking cigarettes in your room and report

you. It just wasn't for me. And then, you know, I was like, I'm out. And then the letter from sanitation six years before that I got a hundred on when I was getting high, I was like, yo, we're finally calling you, 100,000 a year. I was like, hey, fuck this counseling shit. And I just fucking threw out garbage. for fucking six years, for eight years.

Working as a drug counselor, was that the first time in your life, you got to see the actual effects of drugs and what it could do to be? I had my mother. A lot of people in my family are drug addicts too, that all recovered.

So I saw the effects from early. I'm saying? That basically my whole life has been seeing that. And then when my mother got clean, see, like I said, my mother was clean from when I was a baby to when she relapsed.

So all that time, she was going to N.A. meetings. So she would be watching. for me and bring me. So I was a baby seeing that shit growing up around drug addicts that would clean and that lifestyle. So, you know, I was around that shit my whole life.

Except this time you were sober yourself. Yes. And older. 100%. Um, nah, it wasn't the first time. It's just I don't know. That shit just wasn't for me that drug counselor shit. Now, tell us about Bing Bong.

Bing. Bong. So fuck your life, always on T-shirts. since I started rapping. When I was working sanitation, I was like, yo, this ain't, this money is good, but it ain't enough to support my lifestyle. Like, I live by myself, I got an apartment. I fucking got a nice little car, but, like,

I don't got money to do shit. I need another hustle. So what am I going to do? I got a good city job with a pension, benefits. So I can't go back to hustling drugs. Can't do that. I don't want to do nothing illegal to jeopardize this job. So what am I going to do?

I'm going to start making merchandise. So I bought 50 hats from China with my G logo. That shit sold out. I bought another 50. And I would just, on the days I wasn't working, I knew in my mind like, Fuck a website, just DM me. If I got to ship it, I'll ship it to you.

If you're in New York, I'll pull up on you. 50 hats, turning the 50, and then 50. Then I was just doing hats. And I was like, yo, I should make the matching T with the same logo. And I started flipping logos. That takes off. So now, every Saturday I'm dropping unlimited amount of merch, buy it now, it ain't coming back,

and I had a nice little business going. six figures just off the DMs for the first two, three years. So every weekend when I get the merch in, I put it all along my couch in my house now. Now I bought a house between the sanitation and the merchandise I was able to buy a house. So I'm showing it every Saturday. Y'all, this is what's available this weekend. I'm pulling up on you and this. Check this.

Bang, bang, bang, check this. Bang, bang, new shit. Bong, bang, bang, showing it with my camera on Instagram. One day I just, maybe I got some pussy the night before. Maybe I was just feeling good. I don't fucking know. But one day I was just like, check this shit. Bing bong, bing bong, bong, bong, bong, bong, bong, bong, bong.

People was deeming bong, bong. So I was like, I got something here. And I just kept doing it. Bing bong, bong. Then we started, you know, I was be on the block in Coney Island hanging out. The whole block started saying it. Bing bong, bing bong, bong. fucking around, having a good time.

Then the guys from side talk just hit me and was like, yo, we want to do one of our episodes with you. I was like, yeah, come through. Come on my block in Coney Island. Had the bum, the Byron guy. I did all it. I was like, yo, come here, you do this, you do this, da-da-da-da.

And then we said it in the side talk video. And that shit just took off from there. And I was like, everybody started saying, It started going viral. It's been used over a billion times on TikTok alone. That's not even counting fucking Instagram. There's fucking 8 billion people in the world.

A billion times it's been used. So that's an eighth of the fucking world has done a video to that shit or said it or used it or heard it. And I was still working sanitation. Slowly, slowly. Because it didn't go viral immediately. We did the video in like April,

that video where I said, the first time. Probably then the Knicks was in the playoffs. The Knicks started saying it everywhere. And then in November, it just started going

super viral on TikTok. And then one day I'm on my day's office sanitation, I got a fucking whole house full of merch that I'm trying to ship out. And I stopped to eat something and I look at on the gram and I see the fucking president

and the Jonas brothers doing it, doing the voiceover shit. Yo, bang-bang. Hey, yo. You know what I'm saying? And I was like, I'm never going to work again. I'm not never going back to this. I'm not throwing out garbage no more.

It's over. Because now I'm starting, now I'm going to a strip club for an hour fucking making twice as what I make in the month in sanitation. And it's like every single night. And I'm fucking, now I'm hosting in the crew league and LA,

now I'm doing this and that, now I'm in movies. You know what I'm saying? So it just became, I just called out sick until they fired me. Wow, you never went back after you. I never went back from that point.

At last of it, I was still getting checked for like a good six, seven months or for sanitation. I was trying to hit the 10-year mark so I could keep my benefits. Because after five years, you're vested, so you'll get a pension.

So I was eight and a half. So I was trying to, once you make 10 years, though, get the pension and the benefits. I was trying to make the 10-year mark so I can fucking keep the benefits, but they brought me into the office. It was like, yo, bro, you're hanging out with

Kanye West, Post Malone. What do you think the other fucking workers are thinking? I said, yo, I really don't care what they're thinking. My job is not to make them happy. I'm living life. I'm sick, bro. The fuck. Can you just let me rock? You know what I'm saying? They wasn't. Crack a Cayman Jack Margarita

and taste your escape. It's America's number one for a reason. Cayman Jack is a premium malt beverage with flavors. Please drink responsibly. Cayman Jack beverage company, Chicago, Illinois. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day, like superheroes and side dicks or auto and home insurance. With USAA, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%.

Tap the banner to learn more and get a quote at usa.com slash bundle. Restrictions apply. Choice hotels get you more of what you value. Here's a little tune to help you remember. Same drive, different. Don't you wish you were getting away Pack your bags and come on through Texas, Ohio, Alaska, we're up there too.

Comfort in, it's calling your name. Save on the stay. Oh, and free waffles are yours to claim. Well, I hope you like my little songbook direct at StoriesHilletells.com. Hearing that and they fucking made me retire. But whatever, it is what it is. You know, I'm sure a lot of people look at you.

as like some overnight success or quick hit, but they don't see all the struggle that happened before that went viral. This overnight success took 20 years. Yeah. It's crazy. I love it though because it brings people, new people into the, like I say this all the time, man.

My whole rapping career, they always told me. By they, I mean family at Christmas parties and people on the outside giving advice, you're never going to make it saying fuck your life. You're never going to be on the radio saying fuck your life. It's impossible for you to make it big saying fuck your life. You can't do that with cursing. I told that in my mind, I'm like, fuck you, I'm going to make it.

Fuck you, I'm doing it. You're cool. Shut up. You know what I'm saying? I just didn't take nobody's advice. Because when people give you advice, they're giving you their fears and their life experience. You didn't come from where I came from.

You might have, but you don't live the life I live. Like, I know this shit is dope. I got this, homie. Sit the fuck back. And it became something like, I told you guys, so now this fucking 80-year-old grandmas in fucking Liverpool saying fuck your life

and this fucking two-year-old saying Bing Bong, fuck your life. You know what I'm saying? Like, my demo, there's no rapper touching my demographic. My demographic is all races to fucking 85. You know what I'm saying? And it makes me, it revigorates me.

You're going to get burnt out at some point. Doing something for 20 years, you're going to get burnt out. But this shit was like a fucking refresher. You know what I'm saying? So if you're just joining at this point, welcome to the show. You know what I'm saying? But this is, and even at this point, man, this is still like ground level to me. Because where I see myself going is way more, you know, there ain't no stopping.

So this is just like just the introduction point to NEMS with everybody. If you hear, if you fucking watching, stay tuned. Strap in, motherfucker. Do you think that if that didn't go viral, you'd be just as successful today? Maybe not as successful. But even before the Bing Bangs shit, like there was shit that, There's a reason side talk hit me up to do an episode Because I already had a buzz going

That just put it into hyperdrive You know, before Bing Bong, before don't ever disrespect me There's people in Australia with my name tattered on them There's people in fucking Nebraska with my face tatted on them You know what I'm saying? Like I had a nice little cult following just from rapping The Bing Bong and all of that shit just took it into Hyperdrive and took it to the next level

where the masses knew who I was, but I would have still been successful, just maybe not at, and who knows, there might have been something else that wasn't being on it. I always knew there was going to be something to take me to the next level. I just didn't know what it was.

All I could do is just keep putting in work, and something's going to stick. What does fuck your life mean? It means like, yo, listen, if you're not with me, you're against me. And if you're against me, stay over there I couldn't care what happens to you

fuck your life you know just fuck your life man stay over there with your shit I don't care about you I don't give a fuck about nothing you got going on your fucking family

your kid fuck your life it's not like fuck your life kill yourself it's just like nah man stay over there fuck you

you know I'm saying you either with me or against me and if you're against me fuck your life do you try to use your platform at all to get people to stay away from drugs and from prison and that side of the way? Absolutely.

Absolutely. I just spoke in Rikers last month or two months ago. I speak in rehabs on a regular basis. My music talks about what I went through and the proof is right there. Like there's fans that have been with me since I was using drugs that see the come up. And every interview or podcast I do,

I don't hold back. I don't, I don't, I don't, shy away from what I am, what I was, and how I've made it out of that. There's a reason I didn't die. There's a reason I'm here saying with you. Somebody watching this is probably going through the same shit. You know what I'm saying? And maybe this motivates them to get clean as well and change their life.

Or maybe somebody is thinking that, yo, I've been rapping 20 years. Ain't nothing going to happen. And I got the talent. And maybe this is their fucking motivation to keep going. So everything happens for a reason But I never shy away from what I am And I never shy away from anything, man This is what makes me who I am

There's a strength of vulnerability You know what I'm saying There's a reason I made it out of that Just to help the next person What do you think your purpose is? Your life's purpose? I don't know yet, man

But it's definitely to help people out I believe that wholeheartedly because I get messages from my Instagram all the time and all the people DM me out. Your song Go Fish got me out of this or your song Keep On got me out of this, you know, or just your journey

or your interview with this guy with this, you know, has helped me out in life. This is a song I got about my mother called I Got You that one fan told me his mother was dying of cancer and that was like the song that they listened to all the time and bonded over it. and she passed away.

Or she beat, I don't know, if she passed away or beat cancer, but they bonded over that. And so it's definitely the public platform, like you put your life out there. It's very personal, but then you give it away. And that's how it's about how people interpret it.

How do you make amends with the past, with the mistakes you've made? You know, it's funny, the cab driver I robbed and did the time for. I seen him when I came home, or when I got clean already, and I remembered him, and he remembered me. And I spoke with him,

I gave him $30. I apologized. And he sees me now, beeps the horn and says, what up? You know what I'm saying? A lot of people, some amends,

isn't always monetary. You know what I'm saying? Like my mother, I put through a lot of shit. I bought her a house. She retired from work. She don't got to work. I pay all her bills. She don't pay rent.

She don't pay a mortgage. I pay all of that shit. Those are my amends to her. You know what I'm saying? I put you through a fucking almost two decades of fucking hardship. Now your last two decades has been fucking good ship. You know what I'm saying? And there's a lot of other people in my life that.

And just people in just people in general. general that I may have robbed and I take I make sure I make amends even if they don't know I'm making amends I make amends my cousins that that that used to fucking uh let me stay at his house I'm the godfather to his fucking to his child you know what I'm saying I buy her fucking make sure I buy her fucking gifts and you know even if I don't talk to my cousin even if we're not talking I make sure she's I and any time they need. You know, as small things,

just some people just want you to be available for them, especially at this point. When everybody wants your attention, some people just want to know that they can call you and you'll pick up or hit them back. And that's nothing to be able to do that for a person. But I definitely am aware of a men's app, and by this point, I'm already clean for like 16 years.

The majority of the amends have been paid forward or, yeah, taken care of. You were mentioning earlier about how you would abide by certain principles on the street when you were growing up in that lifestyle. How have those principles changed now that you are who you are now? Before I didn't have any, like I said, by the end of my drug uses, I was doing coward shit. and by the end of my addiction I had no morals no principles I stood for nothing I would rob anything from anyone

at any time men, woman, child, old person you know what I'm saying and I'm the complete opposite of that now I stand for shit I have morals if I tell you I'm gonna be somewhere I'm there

if I tell you I'm gonna do something even after I tell you my mind changes my word is my bond if I tell you you know y'all I'm gonna give you this that's my bond

you know what I'm saying like I stick to it because that's mean something to me at least and because I lived that life where I had none of that now I hold these standards to a higher standard of myself

now you said that you got to do it and even me saying it now that's like you know this time where I'm in business with people and I tell them you all right I'm going to give you this amount then we make it happen and I feel like that they didn't warrant that amount

you didn't live up to your part but because I told them that I got to live by that and it feels good as well because I've been on that side where I had no morals or standards or principles so it feels good to be able to live like that if you could sit across from your teenage self

what would you tell them? Don't worry. You're going to be all right, man. Your dreams are going to come true. You're going to be that person that you want to be. That's crazy. That shit just got me fake emotional right now. I look at you like meet my oldest son now.

But I really, you know, everything you're worried about, don't worry about it, man. Make the mistakes. Fucking be the person that you're destined to be. All the hardships are for a reason. They're not for nothing. So go through them and live life. Do you have kids now?

No, not yet. You want kids? Hell yeah. How will you sit down with them to have that conversation about your past? I don't know. I don't know. But I know when I have kids, I'm going to be the best father there is because I didn't have one. So I know what it is to not have one.

So when I do have kids, they're going to have a father that's there for them. no matter what so I'm looking forward to that I love that about to nutting everything well Nems thank you so much for coming on the show today nah thank you bro this is a lot of fun I'm glad we got to do this yeah absolutely yeah I love your energy man likewise you're a fucking good guy man

you're good people man like I said like I said before man I'm stingy with my followers and I didn't even know you so I followed you and you put out dope shit and even behind the scenes you telling me your stories and shit like that That shit is super dope. And you got a nice little compound here. Thank you. And you're doing it.

And you're living your dreams too, man. So congratulations to you. Thank you, brother. And let's go have a good dinner. Let's go eat. Let's go.