Locked In with Ian Bick - I Was a Tango Blast for 10 Years in Federal Prison — Here's What That World Really Looks Like | Eli44

Episode Date: August 11, 2026

Eli44 grew up in Texas, took to the streets at a young age, did his first bid in the Texas Department of Corrections where he joined the Tango Blasts, and then caught a nearly 15 year federal sentence that sent him into federal medium security facilities and federal penitentiaries where he spent nearly a decade navigating the gang politics, the violence, and the disciplinary transfers that define life as a Tango Blast inside the federal system. In this episode of Locked In with Ian Bick, he shares what being a Tango Blast inside the federal system actually looks like — the rules, the politics, the violence, and the specific survival mindset that nearly 10 years inside some of the most brutal federal facilities in the country required of him — and what finally getting out and turning his life completely around actually took after everything those years produced. _____________________________________________  #crimestory #prison #truecrimestories _____________________________________________ Thank you to FACTOR & HIMS for sponsoring this episode: Factor: Head to https://factormeals.com/lockedin50off and use code lockedin50off to get 50 percent off and 1 free breakfast item per box for 1 year, while supplies last until! _____________________________________________ Hims: Visit https://hims.com/lockedin to get a personalized, affordable plan that gets you. _____________________________________________ Connect with Eli44: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thereal_eli44/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd1XjhE0mMb34j-FwQsez3A/feed TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thereal_eli44 _____________________________________________ Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ _____________________________________________ Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 00:20 Growing Up in Austin 01:47 Finding the Streets and Music 04:21 Early Hustle and First Arrests 05:59 The Katrina Clash and Carrying a Weapon 08:00 The Music Scene and Getting Deeper 10:10 Jack Boys and Robberies 13:29 Caught with Drugs and a Gun 15:31 Going to TDC and Getting Initiated 18:00 Life in the State Prison 20:00 The Music Blows Up 22:00 Returning to the Drug Game 24:04 The Setup and Getting Caught 34:00 The Arrest and Aftermath 36:48 The Feds Get Involved 40:35 Cartel Pressure and Family Threats 44:00 Federal Sentence and Time in County 47:59 Life in the Federal Pen 54:00 The Politics of the Yard 01:04:00 A Standoff and Stealing an Amp 01:09:00 The Theft and Its Consequences 01:13:00 A Show of Force and Diplomacy 01:20:00 A Fight and a Stabbing 01:29:00 Spiritual Awakening at Atwater 01:36:00 The SMU Program 01:44:00 Meeting Kodak Black 01:50:00 The Horrors of the SMU 01:55:00 Texas Syndicate Rivalry 02:00:00 Life After the SMU 02:00:04 The SMU Experience 02:02:30 Coming Home and New Beginnings 02:04:55 Current Life and Outreach _____________________________________________ To advertise on the show, contact [e-mail] or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/LockedInWithIanBicka

My guest today is Eli 4.4. He joined the Tango Blast in the Texas prison system before receiving a nearly 15-year federal sentence. He spent almost a decade navigating gang politics inside federal prisons. Today, he tells the full story. I was born and raised right here in Austin, Texas. Bracken Ridge, I just, you know, kind of, my early life was like it was just me and my mom. My father wasn't around. We moved all over, you know, every two years.

So it was all over the south side pretty much. You know, I believe I met my stepfather, you know, probably when I was like about four. And, you know, he married my mom. He was a good man and stuff. Had my little brother. I think a lot of my life, my pain comes from, even though I, I, I think a lot of my life, my pain comes from, Even though I did have a good mom, my stepfather was knowing that having a rejection for my father. You know, he rejected me when I was nine years old.

I tried to get to know him when my mom was having my little brother because I was like, you know, he gets to know his father. You know, I would like to know mine. And, you know, he didn't want to have nothing to do with me. I'm grateful for him. But, you know, later on in life, when I started coming a teenager, We had a house. He left, too, as well. So when he left, my mom was, she was jobless.

We lost the house, embarrassment. And I could say that's where the street life really took a hold of me. She was gone a lot. I helped raise my little brother for a couple years because she was gone. And just that pain, maybe from that rejection, And then even losing my stepdad, you know, that was hurtful too because I just felt like somebody else walked out on me. I just kind of just found that love in the streets, you know.

And when now that I'm older and I'm looking back at it, one thing that all my friends that we had in common was pretty much all of us didn't have no fathers. So we made our own family in the streets, you know. We had a camaraderie And, you know, they call me Eli Fofo Fofo. Out here in Austin, we go by the zip codes. I'm pretty sure you know by that.

You know by now. Have they told you that? No, no, I didn't know that. Okay, so in Austin, we break the neighborhoods up by the zip code. So it's like 78-monds 4-4, right? So that, the Springs area. And so, yeah, man, we just, me and I want to be a bother

to my mother because she was making minimum wage. I had my little brother, also my cousin lived with us. I'm like, man, I'm going to sell some weed, you know. I'm going to start doing this, you know, because I didn't want to ask for nothing. And around that same time, you know, I got into poetry, you know, Tupac. You know, that's my favorite artist. Tupac, he wrote the book that rose from concrete. And I kind of like mimic how he expressed his pain.

So I'm like, I was reading it. I started writing things I was going through. And ironically, like I used to tell my mom like Tupac was my dad, you know, because I felt like what he was speaking on, you know, I was learning how to be a man, how a man should conduct himself, you know, respect your mother, you know what I'm saying, we're making money, excuse my language, you know, fuck these bitches, you know, and that's what molded my young mind into what I became, you know. And so me just being that young

And even though my mother loved me She prayed for me But she didn't have the means to I mean other than you know We did have a roof over our heads Even at times where we might have had to live With another family You know God always provided a way

But it wasn't enough You know I didn't have the car when I was 16 Like some of my friends did or So I just went and got it myself that's when I started writing. I started getting into music. It was cool, like the music. I was making my name in school.

People knew me. I don't know if I would say, like, I was, like, popular, you know? I mean, everybody knew me, but I just always was me, you know. I was a presence. You know, I learned real early that a man demands respect. So that's all I wanted. You know, I was forcing situations where we had a fight. They were jumping on some of my home boys I was growing up, but that's like my family.

You ain't going to touch them. So we are, you know, going with each other. And that's just the type of mentality that we all had to be around each other, you know. And, you know, the drug thing was like, of course, my mom's wasn't with it. But I remember a time where she was struggling so bad and she seen me with like $1,500. in my pocket. I'm like 15, you know. And she's all like, well, you know, okay, I kind of see why you do what you do, you know. And me being the rebellious person I am, like, okay, she was cool with me selling weed. Now I want to sell crack cocaine, you know, and I just took it to a next

level, right? And amidst all that, you know, I end up going to juvenile. There's a little two weeks, went back, did a month. They put me on juvenile probation. I think. I think, oh, the people, when Katrina had first hit, you know, Katrina at first hit, so this was like 2005, a lot of dudes came from New Orleans down here. And, you know, we was fighting with him. We was fighting with him in school. I got into one of the dudes at school. He was like 19. I was 15.

I didn't even know he was from there. You know, we ended up getting into it. He got me pretty good. So from then on, I carried brass knuckles with me. I was like, I ain't going to let nobody do me like that because I had a big old black eye. I got my respect, though, because how big he was. You know, and it's crazy because even now that was important to me, having that respect, you know. I think maybe me being the oldest son in my family and knowing that it was my mom and my little

brother, I always felt like I had to protect him, you know, so I felt like I had to grow up fast with that type of mentality, you know, even until when my dad would try, my brother's dad would try to come back around and I know he was playing with my mom. And I'm like, nah, like get out. Like, hey, get out of here. This is my family now. You're not going to keep playing with us. You know, me having to stand up to somebody I really love, you know,

but it's like it's bigger than me. And it hurt, but it was part of my growth. I had to learn to shut my heart off, you know. And I was real entrenched into the hustling. You know, that's what we're about down here in Texas. Some states a little more into the gang banging. We was just all about the money. Like I said, once again, with Tupac, with the music,

we listened to Screw. And I got a screwhead, tatted on me, a DJ screw. And you know, that type of music promoted getting high, listening to music, getting money, you know, being a player, having a lot of women. You know, so that's, once again, that's what I was looking for on how to be a man. Okay, a man, a man acts like what they talk about in his music. That's all we had. You know, other than, like, mom's just telling me, you know, moms is telling me right and wrong the whole time. But I'm like, you're a woman.

You don't know how to be a man. That's soft. You know, I remember one time, matter of fact, when I got into what the dude from New Orleans, he hit me first, you know, and it took me a while to really react because my mom was always like, you know, you don't hit first, you know, you don't put your hands on nobody, you know, but if they put their hands on you, you know, and then you defend yourself, but man, the guy was so big and he is so hard, like after you hit me, you know, and I came back and I was mad at her. Like, I listened to you and I got a humidity.

I was like, no, we ain't doing that. We're not living life like that. This is a man's world. You don't understand that, you know? And so I was involved in a lot of these things, you know, from the beginning. I ran to everything that was evil, everything that was wicked. Selling drugs was the hardest thing for me to let go of when I eventually did, right? But as I got a little older, then I got around some other dudes.

know, at this time I was making music already with some local labels. It was more of a learning process, me getting familiar in the studio, finding my voice, continued writing. I've always had the gift for writing since I was a kid. I think I was like in sixth grade. I had a 12 grade reading and writing level, 11 grade math, but I was ADHD. I couldn't concentrate, you know. I couldn't really do the school, but I was always being real smart. And, you know, you know, I just took me a while for me to find my voice, you know, my presence when it came to the music. So I did get that from those labels, but it opened the doors to even being deeper in the drugs, you know, around here. Because, I mean, now anybody could rap.

You could get on this phone right here and make a rap song, right? But back then in 2006, 2007, the dudes that had the studios were drug dealers. You know, they had the extra money. They had the studios in the back. They had, you know, they had all this extra money to play with. So nine times out of ten, if you were in the studio, it was somebody that was already in the game that was older. So I had access to bigger things through the music, you know.

And I ended up meeting some dudes from New Orleans. And they were jack boys, you know. They went here to the University of Texas with two brothers. They were there on scholarships, but they loved that life so much of robbing people. that they destroyed their whole careers, you know. And they were stuck out here, they were older to me too. And I never forget, like, they were talking me and the robbing people.

You know, they wanted me to rob their people, though. You know, I can say like I never did, because I'm big on morals and principles, even when I was young, I'm not going to rob somebody that does right by me, you know. But all of his people, they don't know me, and he would send me in there. We kick in the door, tie their people up, take their money. You know, he always said, take the money in the guns, you know, because what else, what are they going to report stolen the drugs, you know? So we want to touch nothing else, you know.

And I just remember, like, I'm telling them, like, man, I'm a hustler, bro. Like, I don't do this. This ain't me. And he was like, man, there's going to be a time when you go to any OG in the game that he told you he had to hit a lick, he had to rob people to come up. It's just a part of the game. So when he kind of told me that, it was like, okay, you know, we started doing it. We was living that life, you know, and I was getting high.

I was like popping Xanax bars, smoking weed, doing coke, you know, stuff like that. But when I went on to do stuff like that, I always made sure I was sober because I knew how serious it was, you know. And so we was doing that for a while until an incident happened and we ended up, you know, I ended up, I ain't, like, it was just weird. It was like five of us. I found a stash. I didn't say nothing.

I tried to break bread with him. You know what I'm saying? He didn't know I had it all in my pocket. I asked him for something, you know, and he was like, you should have grabbed something. Not knowing I had way more in my pocket, but I was like, all right, you should have grabbed something too. So when that happened, somebody had ran their mouth that I had purchased some, stuff from later. And word got back to them and they came back and robbed me.

You know, but then they robbed me. They only got me for like a fraction of what I really had, you know. And I was kind of stuck. I was kind of stuck after that because they knew where my family lived. I couldn't really make a move. So, you know, I had to make a wise decision and just kind of tuck the L until I could get my people out the way. And, man, you know,

So later down the line, you know, I continued doing living that lifestyle. I didn't trust them. They wanted me to keep working with them after we resolved their differences, but the lines were already crossed. So I started, you know, dealing with females and doing the same thing, robbing their people, you know, and that's the type of lifestyle I lived. I was robbing people. I was selling drugs, you know.

I ended up getting caught with some crack, a gun, and ecstasy pills, you know. We used to be out here on Riverside. Riverside's way different now in Austin than it was 15 years ago, 20 years ago. You know, back then it was real drug infested. You know, that's what we did. Now they cleaned it up a lot. It's more college, stuff like that. So, like, I was really down there a lot just selling drugs.

I really love a lifestyle. Like, I know it sounds crazy, but I really, I don't know if it's just something about it. I just, I loved it. I think maybe I felt acceptance in the streets that I didn't feel for my own family, you know. And I ended up going to state prison. Now, before I went to state prison, there were these guys from my neighborhood about 10 years older than me. And I used to go to these house parties, right? They had these stars tatted on them, right?

And a star just like this. They were crazy, man. They were out there beating each other up. And, you know, I remember him like, man, run my cordial chick. Like, you know, run my heart check. And, you know, I'm 15. So I'm looking. I'm just like, man, these guys are gangster.

Like, these guys is crazy, you know. And once again, you know, I looked up to it. I looked up to violence. I looked up to that type of stuff. And I'm like, okay. And I remember one day one of the guys asked me, he's like, hey, man, if you go to the penitentiary, are you going to blast? You know?

And I remember the first thing I thought I was like, dang, I'm 15 years old Why are you asking me if I'm going to go to penitentiary? But I told him, I said, yeah, he's like, he's at real Mexicans from the hood. That's what we do. We blast, right? So I guess I could say like from that time,

I was one of them youngsters like I idolized that prison gang, tango blast, you know? I was like, I thought it was cool. I wanted to be a part of it. I'm not going to say that I want to go to prison, but I knew I had to go to prison. prison to do it, you know, but I guess it was into my mind, like, if I ever go to that place, I'm not coming back without a start. You know what I'm saying? Because I gave my word to somebody.

That's how I felt, right? So I was 19 years old. I went to TDC, gave me a six-year sentence. I did like two and a half years. Came home when I was 22. You know, I learned a lot in there, you know. It kind of feels like it was like this. You know, but I went in there. I had to get jumped two on one. Got my initiation, past my quarter check, you know, put it in work, did whatever they asked me to do. They was all about breaking people in there, you know, where I was at. They was all about, because there was so many of them.

They was trying to, you know, people getting their jaws broken, teeth knocked out their mouth. You know, we would do a thing like if this guy comes in and says that he want to, he want to blast, he wants to be put on for the city, we put them on a two-week probation, and during them two weeks, we're trying to break him, meaning, you know, like, he could have this soda right there on his thing. We'll be like, hey, let me get that soda, and he'll be like, like, no, that's my last. Man, give me a soda. So once you take it, if he don't fight for it, he'll hold.

You ain't no good. And we're going to beat you up. We're going to line you up and beat you. That's just the culture, right? And it's crazy because as soon as I got it. I got into it with my homeboy. I didn't, I went to go, I put my bag down, I went to go eat, I got into it with a homeboy from Houston, you know.

And I didn't even know, but I already knew what it was. So I was like, man, what's up? Like you, I caught him out of front of everybody and then we end up going to wreck. They were like, hey, you know, he wants to, he wants to, he wants to represent for his city. Oh, where you from? From ATS from Austin. It was predominantly Houston over there, you know? And, but they're like, all right.

And they were like, hey, well, you caught a homeboy out? Like, I ain't know he was a homeboy, but, you know, hey, well, man, a pill call, y'all got to, hey, they told her a pill car, you got to go over there looking at him. He called you out in front of everybody. He's like, all right, I didn't know what pill car was. I was like, pill car, what's that? You know, that's how fresh I was, right? You know, for those of y'all don't know, pill cars is where they do a move so you can go

get your meds or whatever, right? That's a chance for people to move around in the prison. So, yeah, we got, you know, we got our say, we got our fight or whatever. I learned some things. I learned what we stood for exactly. You know, they always said, if you're tango blast, you know, it was like nobody was going to tell you what to do. You do what's in your heart. You know, there's no shock caller.

You know, because there's one thing I do see on a lot on the Internet. You know, a lot of people try to, I feel like some people try to make it more than what it is. When in reality, we was here to make sure just that we can get home. You know, because before we came, you know, a lot of people weren't making their home. Like, you were falling out the city and some guy that thinks he's somebody is going to tell you, hey, you got to go stab this dude. You know what I'm saying? And you, hey, I just made parole.

Man, it don't matter. You got to do it. And so we put an end to all that. You know, we really made the prisons a better place, like in all honesty. And I see, you know, like I said, I'm on the internet. I see a lot of people say this and say that, you know, it's internet. But for what we stood for in the beginning, you know, it was just all about us making sure sure we get home.

Nothing more, nothing less. Now, of course, once you got the power, you know, and influence and stuff, some people get big in their heads or, you know, if you don't have the right person with the right influence, they're going to call, you know, the wrong shots. And not necessarily the shots, because like I said, everybody got to be in agreement. But, I mean, look at America. Look at the politics of America. You know, it's all about it.

influencing that White House, you know? They're going to say, oh, we're all equal, but they're not. They got speakers of the house. They got the president. They got the vice president, you know, and it's all about favors and things done behind, and then it all comes into a vote. It works the same way in prison, and I've seen it. You know what I'm saying?

And a lot of times, you got to learn what's right and what's wrong, you know? And that's why I feel like sometimes we do get a bad rap because people didn't stand up for what was right when they were. supposed to, you know? So my, my whole thing, my whole thing is like, because I know you got a perspective of the state, right? So, like, my whole thing, because it is different in the feds, you know, what we went through, what the, what the homeboys did. Everything was laid down in the state. That's where we was created, but it spilled, it spilled over, you know? So when I came home from the state, you know, I was 22, you know, I was still young, young-minded. I did grow a little

bit. While I was there, I got back into the music, you know. I got back into the music and I did a song called Tango, you know, and it went viral. It went viral while I was in the feds, though. It got close, like over a million and a half views right now, right? Which is crazy because hey, thank y'all. I got to go to the commissary, you know what I'm saying? It really, I'm And I'm still getting, getting, Che is helping me, right? Where was this on YouTube? Yeah, it's on YouTube. It's on YouTube.

Eli Fo Fo, Thango, you know. So, yeah, it definitely blew up while I was in the feds, you know. But that was one of many songs, but I was gaining a big wave out here. You know, in Texas, most of rappers are like from Houston and Dallas. We really ain't had nobody on a big platform that make it mainstream from Austin. So, you know, of course I had that dream of doing it, you know, me being a young man. And I'm like, okay, boom. And I'm rapping what I'm really living.

You know what I'm saying? Now I got the credentials of me going in there, getting my quota chick coming home and blasting. So I use that to my advantage. Like, you know, I always like, okay, this is something negative, but I'm going to make it a positive. You know what I'm saying? And even like right now, because, you know, I can't. Like in the state, like, yeah, we had some issues, but after everything I went through in the feds, I have the right to speak on what I want to speak on because I put my, I lay my life down for this

a lot of times, you know, in real life, life and death situations. And nobody was there with me other than the homeboys that was there with me. You understand what I'm saying? And it wasn't very many of us. So when I did this music, it's popping and it's like, okay, boom. And now I'm like, well, I want to do the music. I got the following. I got this potential.

But I'm not signed to nobody, you know. So I have my own, like, my own clothing line. I'm doing features, whatever. I get deep in the dope game, you know, like even deep than I ever been. But because of the potential I had, the streets came to me. Like, before I told you, I was going to rock for rock. You know, this time I had cartel dudes pulling up on me because they seen the vision. Here, whatever you want.

because they see I got the motion. Same thing came with women. Now I'm into prostitution. You know, I'm into because the women want to be a part of what I'm doing. You know, I have females, you know, they, they was already selling pussy doing whatever they was doing. And they're like, you know what? I make this much money a week. But dang, I see, you know what you're doing.

Look, I basically want you to manage me. I'm going to just give you the money and you put it into what you're doing. And I'd rather do that with you, you know, then, you know, then I see you know, Spending on whatever, just make sure I got my, you know, make sure I got my nails and my phone and, you know, whatever. I'm like, okay, and it was just giving to me because of the influence of the music, you know? And, you know, and I've always had a good name in the streets, like I said, because even when I was, robbing people, it wasn't nobody I knew, so it really never made it back to me, you know? So, I was out there, like, maybe, I was like 25.

And, man, the women. No, but I take accountability, man. As a man, I take accountability. But man, they had a lot to do with the women I was dealing with why I got caught up, bro. And dumb mistake I made, you know what I'm saying? And, yeah, man, like, I end up getting popped with like 50 ounces of methamphetamines. I'll be honest, over the past year, my fitness journey has been a little bit of a struggle. Sometimes I fell off the bandwagon, didn't eat right, ate fast food, didn't eat clean,

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So I got a lot of women I'm dealing with, right? I'm young. I'm 25. I got about three or four of them working for me, right? And I'm having sex with all of them. Right? I hear that. That's a rule in the street.

Never put your dig in a chick that make you money. And it's true, you know, because. You can't mix the business and a pleasure. The feelings get caught up, right? So one of the girls, you know, I had holding my stuff at her place, right? And she was moving. She was moving, you know, an undisclosed amount, you know, because they only got me with what they got me with, you know what I can't

incriminate myself. So she was moving an undisclosed amount, right? And the other females were doing the same, right? But they were all jealous of each other. You know, I remember one time, like, that one of the girls is, like, talking about the other girl said, she's going to be in the Ferrari and the Benz's because all the work we put in, you know? And I'm just laughing, but I'm like, but you're making money too.

Like, don't just act like, you know, I'm making sure everybody eating. So don't just act like you're just breaking your back for free. You know what I'm saying? So I always felt like as long as I made sure my people was eating, where nobody going to tell on me. You know, I figured that, you know. So, you know, basically, okay, I had this dude call me. He was from his name David Kintanilla. Last time I checked, like a year or two ago, he was actually a producer, ESPN, right?

He calls me out the blue and he's all like, hey, I want to do a reality TV show on you. Because at the time, like, I'm doing shows with Kevin Gates, a little boozy, webby, like, you know, the hottest artist at the time. You know, all the Texas dudes, I got the hottest features from all the, like, hot as Hispanic Texas dudes at the time. So he's like, I want to do a reality showing you, you know. He's like, look, I'm going to fly in from Hollywood. We're going to follow you around, you know, for a couple months or whatever.

And you ain't got to pay for nothing. I got a camera crew. We're going to get all of this together and shop it to a bigger network, right? So I'm like, okay, like, I'm all for it because we're all for it. because we're already going in the strip clubs, turning up, throwing money. We're making a big scene everywhere we're going. So I'm like,

what better to have a camera follow me around everywhere, right? So the next day I'm supposed to meet with this guy, right? And I had got into an arguable with my main girl, right? And, like, I messed with the meth a little bit, you know what I'm saying? I would swallow it, right? Because I was big on popping ecstasy pills, right? And when I went to TDC, I told you I was for ecstasy pills. Well, they actually charged me with methamphetamine.

So that's what was really in the ecstasy pill. It wasn't ecstasy, it was meth. So I'm like, well, why even pop these pills? And I don't know what's in it. But at least I got all these kilos in the closet. I know what I'm doing. So I was on that, right? So I had took, I had popped the shard, you know, and the night's coming.

And I'm like, dang, this guy is flying in tomorrow. I need to go to sleep. I don't want to go in this interview looking crazy, you know. So I take some Xanax pills. Like an idiot, man. Zanx ruined my life. I take some Xanax pills. And I ended up, what would I end up doing?

Oh, yeah, I end up going. I go to the studio because I was just finishing an album. So he's mixing and mastering everything. I'm just sitting there. When we come back, the girl that's holding all my dope, she's in there with another guy, which is actually my op, you know what I'm saying? Because of his affiliations, you know, I mean, we beefing in the prisons, you know, with Texas Seneca, you know what I'm saying?

So he's actually in there with her, you know? But, you know, I can't, like, every homeboy out here feels like if the stuff carries on out here. Me personally, it don't carry on out here for me. At prison, if I see you, I gotta pop you. That's just what it is. I'm, I gotta pop you, right? But I'm out here in the world, like, I'm trying to, even back then, like, I'm like, man, bro, like, I'm out here. Like, if you want to smoke, we're going to give you the smoke.

But at the end of the day, to be honest with you, I was, he was already doing something with that girl where she was going to make some money. She was like, she was going to break me off half. So I really didn't even have a problem. I'm like, that's cool. Like, they knew who I was. I knew who they was. But it just made this situation. that much more tense, right?

Because now when I go in there, you know, she's mad because a couple days later, I'm laid up with my main chick, who I told her I wasn't going to go over there with no more. And I'm like, man, she's trying to get some work from me. And I'm like, man, just hold on. And she's all like, no, I'm like, man, this is my stuff. Just hold on. So she sees that I'm in there with the girl.

So for her, she was spiteful. She's trying to get me jealous, right? Or whatever, right? So I got the key to her apartment, you know, but the top door is locked, like the top lot. So I'm trying to, what I'm trying to do because I'm so messed up is I'm trying to go in the house and go to sleep in the other room. I don't care what they got going on. I just need to go to sleep because I know I messed up and I shouldn't be driving because the Xanax already kicking my ass, right? So I once the top lock is like, I go to the window and I knock on the window.

She opens it. She's like, what do you? I said, man, open the door. So she opens the door and she's all like, man, I don't be doing that when you laid up with that bitch. I was like, look, bro, like, I ain't worried about what y'all got going on. I said, let me just lay down and go to sleep, you know? And she's not like, no, you can't stay here. So now, like I said, my main sick the whole time, she knows I got everything here.

So the whole time she's been in my head like, man, you need to move that stuff. She got too much control over you Because she doesn't see me She doesn't seen me and her Sending text to each other When I'm laid up with my girl And she's like, I miss you and I miss you too Oh, you said that you miss her

And you were laid up with me I'm like she got $50,000 and all these kilos In a house, of course I miss her like You know So it was just like real grinding, bro And so I end up going into Where she got Where she had everything

It was in a safe and I grab it and I'm like don't worry about it I grab it because I'm like I'm feeling moving

she stands in front of me she's like oh I can hit you and that guy's like standing and he ain't saying nothing right I know

I know how they roll you know I know I know they strapped at the time I ain't got nothing on me I'm just

you know and she's like oh I could just hit you I said man you touch me I'm gonna knock you out I told it like

you better you better not touch me I'm gonna knock you out man you know what I'm saying and then

that guy's like that guy grabs on his waist nothing but I got I got a bunch of money in my hand right here right so I just looking at him I'm like I oh my own you got that and I walk out I walk out with it you know I'm thinking in my mind like it's on like it's on because now we're threatening each other like we was like you know planning to make some money but now it's like okay it's on I was just worried about making sure I get out with with that without him you know what I'm saying he didn't do nothing

that so I'm like shoot I won I made it it out of here. I put it in my trunk. I drive. And this is how I know I wasn't in my right mind, bro. I stopped to get some cigarettes at the store, man. And I fell asleep. Dumb. Ruined my life, man. Ruin my life. And that's how I got caught up. The store people were like, they were worried about me. They did a welfare check. The police came, seen who I was, patted me down. I had a little Xanax pill in my pocket.

That was it. Put the drug down. That was it. It was over with it. Wait, so why did they search you because they searched you while you were passed out? Yeah.

Well, no, no. I was passed out, but they were hitting the window. You know what I'm saying? They were hitting the window, so. Well. Why does that give them calls to search you? I don't know.

Well, I gave them a wrong name. Oh, so you lied to them. Because I wasn't supposed to be driving anyway. Why couldn't you drive? Because I had just got, I had just did six-month state jail, right? And it was for a DUI. Oh, you went back to jail after getting out. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I did like six months in the state jail. So what was that like your third DUI? I thought you don't go to jail. No, no, that was my first one. Oh, but because you had criminal history, they, okay. Yeah, and because it was my first one, I wasn't supposed to drive. You know, I wasn't supposed to, I wasn't supposed to drive. So when they did that, it was just, it was just a dumb situation.

man. And that's why I like, them drugs is like, kids don't do drugs, man. I hurt myself doing that even selling drugs, of course. But man, like even then, like the way I got caught, like my chick was like, like, you were a mastermind. Like, ain't no way you were supposed to get caught like that because the way I was moving. Yeah. But I made a stupid mistake under the influence. Like I would have never, first of all, I would have never stopped at this store, you know? I would have I knew better than to stop at the store, but I stopped at the store. So, and then at the end of the day, you know, I believe in God, too, you know. And as much as it hurts me to say, because I went through so much, you know, I believe, like,

you probably intervened to save me, save my life, you know, because the route I was going, you know. To be honest with you, I don't know if that girl got me because when the feds opened it, they said, wasn't no money in there. You know what I'm saying? Or if the feds got me, feds might have got me or the APD because APD is the one that opened it first, really. You know what I'm saying?

And I've been had APD robbed me of money before, you know? So... Why did the feds get involved? Because of the amount of drugs. Oh, so they kicked it up to them? Mm-hmm. The feds picked it up.

And then I was already being investigated as far as me being a gang member and, you know, just, like, that's another thing. Like, if you're going to rap and be in a public eye, it's not smart to sell drugs when you do it. Because you already got everybody watching you, you know? So, like, my name was really hot out here, you know, like, really hot. Like, I remember I was walking with this, I was serving as this lady, you know, and she's like, man, you look real familiar. And I'm like, I don't know.

You know, I walk in and then her 13-year-old son's on the couch and he's not like, Eli, fo-fo, what are you doing in my house? And I'm like, oh, I just had to talk to your mom, Rook. And so it's like, bro, like, you know, they already knew who I was, what I was doing. They had been watching. So when they had the chance, let's get them, you know. And that was in hope to me, you know, spilling out more information for them. But, you know, I did what I had to do.

I was, man, I took minds and, you know, even though it hurt, because at that time it just felt like, you know, a bunch of messed up stuff is going on. You feel like people abandoning you when you're going through that. People that you just fed and gave money to or talking bad about you. You know, I crashed out. I did.

Crash them. I did something stupid, you know, and I realized that. But, you know, just me looking back because, like I said, once again, if that money was me, missing, like she took it, I would have had to get rid of her. You know what I'm saying? Like, for real, you know what I'm saying? Because I couldn't take that loss, you know what I'm saying? And the caliber of people that I was dealing with, you know, it wasn't, we could talk now. Like, I would

have had to got rid of her. So I do think about that. She's dead now. You know what I'm saying? The girl's dead. But, I mean, it ain't got nothing to do with me, though. But she just, she died while I was in prison. But, you know, and I still got love for it regardless, man. You know what I'm saying? Whatever it is, because she was, she wasn't in, she, she was staying up all night smoking and stuff, you know, so, and I know her since we were young. So, you know, but, man, drugs, drugs that have you hurt the people that you care about the most, you know, especially when you're addicted to it.

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I mean, yeah, they, like, because the way we were doing business was like, you know, It was like I was moving, but whatever I was getting, they were, you know, consignment back. So, like, yeah, there was an issue in the beginning, you know. It really, really was. And they were trying to, like, press up on my family, you know. And, that's a big part of why I said it was so, like, when it came down to, like, I'm not going to snitch, right? But I'm not going to snitch on people that are trying to extort my family.

Right? People that are trying to press on my 60-year-old mother, right? But I'm not going to snitch on them, right? And it just, it was like, but because that's not me. I'm not going to do it. I don't care what you did. You could be a whole. I'm going to be me.

Like, you're not going to break my character. But it was like, you know, like how can I get, you know, some vengeance here. But it was like, that wasn't a way. You know what? what I'm saying? And so, like, man, and I talk about it in here, you know what I'm saying, in the book, like in the beginning because I felt like I was protecting the people that really didn't care about me, you know? And it did get to a point where, like, somebody that wasn't even part of my gang, a whole other gang, but he knew, he knew what was going on,

and they rode up on them dudes and was like, hey, bro, like, don't think, don't think he don't got nobody out here, bro. You don't, you don't mess with people's families out, you know. And, you know, we didn't ever heard from them again after that, you know. I mean, I've been out here. I did have, I was able to have a conversation with him back in like 23, you know, but by then, you know, like I said, I worked on myself a lot, you know. And I ain't going to lie.

Like, yeah, we had some words. And yeah, he said, he said like, yeah, I crashed out. I understand that. Right? But, you know, he was still like, what's up? Like, when you get out, like, and I'm like, what? I'm like, nah, I'm straight. Like, you know what I'm saying?

Like, oh, I'm good. Like, you know, and he's like, you know, what would he say? Man, I'm the only one that ever gave you a chance. And, man, I just got so mad because I lost so much, you know? I had so much going for me. You know what I'm saying? Like, and because I wasn't patient. you know, because I wanted everything now.

You know, I chose this road and I lost so much behind it, you know, including family members and loved ones that died while I've been incarcerated. And I just got so mad and I was like, I was like, man, like I said, man, fuck your chance. I said, you could have kept that shit. All it was was a curse, you know? And I meant it like with every fiber of my body because I grew to hate it because that life took so much from me, you know. And, you know, that was just kind of like the end.

That's the last I heard, you know. Like I said, I had to learn to forgive me, you know what I'm saying? Because I believe that I'm forgiven for the ugliness that I've done. Like, to be honest, I just, you know, I told you about things I did in the street. But, you know, there's a lot more. And I spent 13 years in prison, man. I could have easily had a life sentence. So regardless, you know, I paid.

some of what I owe like I did a lot more you know and I deserved I deserved a lot more so I'm just grateful for it regardless you know I grew from me you know um so the feds uh take over the case yeah do you get bail at all or no I was on parole too so what are you in like county and then the feds pick you up or yeah I was in Del Valley or which is the the Travis County Jail here it's out here uh Del Valley correctional complex I was there like six months because I had misdemeanors. So then the misdemeanors, I kept going to court and they kept wanting me to plead out, but I had hired a lawyer, like 20,000 to get that lawyer. You know, he was like, no, we're not going to sign for nothing, which I'm glad because if I would have signed for it, it would have

ate up all their first six months. And I would have had to, like, start over. So I got all of that back time. We just kept going to court until they finally dropped it, you know. The misdemeanors. The misdemeanor. Yeah. And then what happens to parole? Do you have to go back to the state or? Nah, because I was just finishing my parole. Matter of fact, the day that I signed for my federal sentence at 2016, I discharged two weeks later from parole. Okay.

So they just waited it out and. Yeah. Yeah. And they gave me like discharge papers like we're handing you over to the feds basically, you know? How much time do the feds give you? 151 months. So what does that come out to? 12 years or seven months.

So didn't you just say you serve 13 years or something? Yeah, yeah. I was including the state time. Okay. The state time. You know what I'm saying? I did two and a half in the state and I pretty much did 10 and a half in the feds. Okay.

So, yeah, I ended up doing a hundred to twenty three months day for day before I got to the halfway house. Okay. So, um. So you take the plea deal for this Fed time. Yeah. Yeah, I went to a federal hold, which is Carwell. One of them is Carwell out here in Lockhart. And, yeah, I took a plea deal.

Because obviously I got a car. I, with the drugs in my trunk, and the car was in my name. So they give you like three points acceptance of responsibility. My criminal history was like six. So I think, you know, those know the timetables and stuff, like 32 with the three points off, it was 29 category six. So it was 151 to 188. 15 and a half years to 188.

That's 15 years and eight months. So that's where I landed in. And, you know, I had a lot of community. support though because regardless you know what I was doing I still like you know I would go to the kid schools Mendez middle school full more pool up give out CD T-shirts I'm gonna kids still remember from then you know uh be involved in in different things you know like I I try to clean my face up for the evil I was doing like a lot of people do I think uh like the robin hood effect you know I tried you know but uh in a program I took it called a sentimentality

You know, the Robin Hood effect. But so pretty much, yeah, the feds came to get me. And I did another six months, five months in the federal hold. And then they picked me up June 2016. I had been locked up 11 months. I got locked up July 2015. And where they send you? To Beaumont.

I was in Beaumont medium in 2016. That's in Texas. Yeah. Which is like an hour outside of Houston, maybe, hour and a half, something like that. Now, I've never talked to a Tongo blast that's in the feds. What was that like in the feds compared to the state? And are they active in the feds? Okay.

So before I got there, right, because, you know, I was already blasting, right? So I already had, I was like, you know, I'm going to go in here and I'm going super blast. You know, that was my mind. I'm 25, right? So that was just my mindset. I know what I got to do. I know what I signed up for, you know? So I get to Beaumont.

and I was only on the yard three months, man. You know what I'm saying? Like, I got there with some good homeboys. But it was a lot like that yard I could speak on that yard. It's our yard, you know, meaning our yard is like for the Hispanics. You know, we got all the tables. We got all the TVs. It's like a state.

It's almost like the state because even like with the blacks, like outside of Texas, they might have a, a Texas car or South car, but like, you know, they still divided by their cities in there because there's so many of them. So to me, it reminded me a lot of the state, you know, still. You know, I was there three months. I was angry. I was mad, man.

I just felt like I got the crap into the stick, you know? I was mad. I really felt like some of my homeboys messed me over from the world. So I kind of carried that attitude in there. Like, I don't owe y'all nothing, you know. I got in trouble though for something like it wouldn't even man they were doing I guess they got like suboxing in K2 I never heard of it in my life I mean K2

yeah like the the popereba they were having it like on papers and stuff it was it was yeah they were selling the 8 and a half by 11 and cutting it down and whatnot yeah like they were doing I never and the suboxing I had never even I was like what is that right like I that was a whole another new game to me right So I had a home boy that had actually, you know, hey, man, and he was from San Antonio, you know what I'm saying, from Lincoln courts, if you're familiar with that. So, you know, they're kind of big on the heroin out there, you know. And he was like, hey, hey, home boy, you know what I'm saying? Let's do some of this boxing, right?

And so that was my first time doing it. I remember I made me like dry heaving and throw up. Like, oh, it tastes nasty, right? And a little bitty piece, like you said, it out here they give you the whole show. but in there they're cutting into little bitty pieces. But, um, so one of those little bitty pieces, man, I'm gonna crash out, man, I got bad luck, man. I, uh, it was in my, in my locker, man.

I went to wreck, I used to go to wreck every morning and go play basketball. I was barely like getting my feet with, like getting to know the programs, getting my paperwork in, you know, because we checked paperwork and all that stuff. So I was barely going through all that. And the police checked myself and found that little bit of peace, man. Gave me a hundred series shot, which was like a severe shot. And I ended up going to the shoe. That was my first time ever.

I was like, the shoe, what is the shoe? Special housing unit in the state of Texas, we were called like SEG, you know. But you have a Selly in there. I was back there maybe for like two and a half months. And then they shipped me. right they put me on a plane never been on a plane

on my life Oklahoma yeah I went to Oklahoma you know and then we got our own okay we got so

in the feds it's way different like because in the state you're gonna you're gonna hide your affiliation you're not gonna but in the fed it's like

you know the culture is who you who do you run with like and they know but it's just it's just gonna save them time

like man I'm blessing whatever okay because everybody's got their own, their own, like, dorm, as far as for the Hispanics. So, like, the Paisas got their own dorm. The Souragnos got their own dorm. You know what I'm saying?

Then we got their own dorm. Back then it was on the fifth floor. I believe they changed it after COVID. I want to say he's on the third floor now. Man, I'm an Oklahoma veteran, man. I've been through there about seven times, man. You know what I'm saying? But I liked Oklahoma.

For one, I thought the food was cool. And to me, it was like everyday people. People were coming in and out the bus so I'd have all the, me and all the home boys be there, meeting all the home boys coming through the door. Hey, who are you running with looking for tattoos and let's go strip them down? I just, I liked that stuff. I love the politics. I love to be in the middle of everything.

I was just, that was driving my character, you know, just, I just thought it was cool. So, yeah, and pretty much we'll be in there until, you know, we get our flight or sometimes a bus to wherever we're going. Well, they end up giving, take, put it. putting me on a bus to Yazu, USP, which is in Mississippi. So I go from the medium to the pin off of this little, because I already had 24 points. If 23 and up is pinpoints, I think 15 to 23 is like medium.

12, I think it's 12 to it. Yeah, 12. Yeah. Or no, 12 to 20 is a low. So, nah. Yeah, because 11 and under's camp, 12 to 20 is low, 20 to something, unless you have a management variable on you. Yeah, they put the minimum variable.

keep you but yeah but but anyways i don't know i never made it to the low i wish i would so you go the pen i go to pen and then not just any pen like this is a brand new penitentiary so like they just opened this spot like two months before so it's like it's like you know we're still like this our tv these are our tables and and what made this place so different is because there wasn't no biceers there, you know? You know, like in a lot of our spots, there'll be bices and stuff, but there's only two spots where we walk. I could speak on the penit, on the pen part where, where there's no bises.

And that's because we actually walk with the Texas Emmett dudes, you know, because they're not, they're not the, as far as like the blast and West and Vayucos, they're not our, they're not our enemies, you know what I'm saying? So, so we're walk, we're there with them, you know, and it's a lot of them. And like I said, this is the difference between the state and the Fed, right? Because in the Fed, you know, we run it every, I mean, in the state, we run in everything. And the Fed, we're usually the smallest group when it comes to the penitentiaries. And even, you know, I mean, Florence, it was a lot of us, though, you know, but as far as opinions, they, they keep us like at a

20 cap. And I asked one of the gang intelligence dudes there, like, hey, man, like, like, what's up? You can, you can pull at least like 80, like 80 my homeboys up here, you know, because it's, you know, it's like, it's only like 20 of us. It's a thousand-some people got about a hundred and some bisoning up in, 150 Surreggios. Like, you know, and he told it straight up. He's like, look, everybody in the BOP, but Beaumont and B. Sandy know to keep your knuckleheads at a, at a, at a, at a, at a Kappa 20. And that's because they can't control us. You can't control us. You know what I'm saying? Because of our structure. You know, like once again, when we go back, when I said in the beginning, sometimes people try to make it seem more than what it is. Like I was a shock caller.

There is no shock caller. You know what I'm saying? You got influence. You got influential people. You know what I'm saying? You got people that know how to speak. You know, you got people that got respect and all that. And, you know, nine times out of 10, the majority is going to rule them. if that's what you want to call it, but there is no official title, like shot calling, you know? If anything, it's a speaker, right? And it's like, man, you're just going to go communicate to the other gangs where we decided here in a circle. That's what it's all about. But, you know, I've also, it's too Easter on, man.

Like, you make it what it is, you know? You implement whatever rules you want to implement. It's just on that yard, it's up to whoever's on that yard what you want to do. do, basically. You know, we got, we got our rules or whatever, you know, if it's up to them. If you want to uphold them, however you want to move, you know. So my thing was, I get to this spot and I've never, like, been around, like, then they had the Mexican Mafia dudes from California like there, like four of them, you know, because it wasn't, it was a big prison, but they were only housing like half, half of it, right? And with there being like no Paisers and there's

Texas Amid dudes, everybody was real militant. You know, it was a lot of people that was somebody on that, on that yard. Like, it wasn't, like, these guys, you know, they've been around there. They, you know, so me getting there, we got probably like 15 homeboys there, you know. We're just barely getting our stuff together. We're all young. We're like in our 20s, our mid-20s, you know. And, you know, once we want, once we're there, we're pretty much.

much, I see you, we get influenced. Okay. So what I mean by that is in the state, right, it's all about this. You got a problem in there, you go in there and you fight with your homeboy, right? Or you fight with another race, another, you know, but in the feds, they got a thing called hands-off policy. There ain't no fighting, you know, there ain't no fighting unless it's your own people. I don't fought my own homeboys.

I don't file homeboys from different cities, from my own city. Hey, you know, that's the only person you're going to fight in the feds when you're in them high security prisons. You're not going to fight a Sudanian. You're not going to do. The vices ain't going to let them fight one on one because they're like, oh, if one goal, we all go. That's their mentality.

That's not our mentality. That's their mentality. So we have to adapt to our surrounding to survive. So now we're in here with knives. We're in here with locks. We're in here. You know, because even though. We're bred with this.

You know, they're not playing by those rules, you know? And then now it comes down to respect on the yard, right? Because it's like, it's like this other group, this other group over here, one of their dudes messed up and they stabbed them and butchered them off the yard. You know what I'm saying? But one of our guys mess up nine times out of 10, you want respect on the yard.

So you're not just going to beat them up. You're going to go stab them too. I've seen it. I seen it and it's like, what are we doing? Like, you know, so like I had to even step in because eventually on the yard I was there two years, I ended up speaking on the yard, you know? And, you know, it was, I ain't going to lie to you, bro, it was by default. It was because, you know, the rest of the homeboys were so worried about getting high, you know.

And we was all young and I was smoking K2 at the time myself. But, you know, I do how to handle myself, you know, like I've, I wasn't on no days. I was, so I ended up, like, later on, you know, speaking. And it was like, I didn't really have no guidance. You know, I just, it was everything I had learned from the state and remember what we stood for, whatever little game I got. From Beaumont, it was like sink or swim.

And it was, it was very important because now people's lives were in my hands off of my words. So I did end up getting close to a Mexican mafia dude from California that was there, you know. He was an older dude. And what I mean by close is that, you know, he was respectful. He knew what we stood for, you know. But I felt like he gave me some knowledge on, you know, the way my mind frame should be when it came to governing my people, you know. He never overstepped his boundaries because he already understood. And that's the thing.

Like when it came to the homeboys to the blast coming in the feds, they came in like 2009, 2008, right? At that time, I was in state in 2009. So I wasn't there to witness it because before then, we were just called City Boys, you know? And so like, there really wasn't, the blast wasn't there until that time when, you know, it happened in Polack. In Polack, USP,

some of the homeboys from Ace Town went in there and got one of the main dudes, the TS dudes because everybody was together. But once that happened, they locked them, stabbing whatever they did. Once that happened, it was like

an effect all through the BOP. You know, they were sending out kites. You know, they were telling me the homeboys in Beaumont, That's why it's called Bloody Beaumont, but it was because it was so much work put in, you know, especially when they had opened it up. And they had actually, one of my homeboys delivered a letter to one of the T.S dudes, and the letter was telling him to kill him.

And so, like, they waited for the first move back to the rakeyard where they could still stay out. A lot of my homeboys went in. All of them stayed out, and they were the greater number, and they were able to. to get them a Beaumont. So when that happened, it just went all over the BOP, and that's why it is the way it is not. At the same time, ironically, the Paisers and the Texas Airmen were getting into a real bad.

So they divided the yards like that. You know, if you go see, we got the majority of the yards, but it's usually us with the Sudannuals and the Paisers. But then even then, you know, you got to realize, like, there's work. There was work being put in. You know, we, man, a lot of yards, we're getting into it with Paisas. You know, in the beginning, you know, we was getting into it with Souraniels and stuff.

And, you know, even to, I think the first two yards, the penitentiaries, where we first started walking, was Florence, Colorado, and Victorville, USP. You know, and I, and I, when I went to the smooth program, I actually had heard, there was a D.C. dude there. he was in the vent. And he told me, he was like, he was like, man, who are you running with? I was like, Thango Blast. He was like, man, I got a lot of respect for y'all. And I was like, yeah, he goes, man, you know,

when y'all at Victorville, it was like 100 and something to Sudan. And maybe like only 20 of y'all, they were trying to press y'all to check y'all's paperwork. You know what I'm saying? But your homeboy said, okay, well, we got to check y'all's paperwork. And he said it was a whole, a whole standoff at rec like that, but homeboys didn't budge, you know?

And they, they, they, they, they, tried, right? But at the end of the day, I believe that's something that's got to happen. It's all about respect once again. They got to, okay, y'all, y'all, it is. Let us see where you really at. You know what I'm saying? And now, like, you know, we got to understand it. And that's why I am proud to be a thonga blast, especially when I was locked up, because I've seen it like, when it came for the Hispanics, you know, the majority of the Hispanics, on the yards I was at, it was like, you were either like more like on a pro, the same program as a Sudanian, like there's Arizona, there's a New Mexico, you know what I'm saying? I got a good relationship

with them, but at the end of the day, where they're all locked me on a student, with the Sudanian program together. If one, you know, if, if one of us were to have a problem with them, they all would go together and I seen it, you know? Same thing with the with the Pisces, the majority or the other Hispanics were like on their program, but we had to stand alone, us being from Texas, you know, and even a small number. But so that's what I'm saying is like it was way different. It's not just, oh, yeah, I vote go smash them and y'all go beat the hell out of somebody.

And that's it. It's like, no, bro, like you got to learn to communicate right. You got to learn the problem solve. You know, if there's an issue, I have to go and talk to this other guy. Because if my guy's wrong, he's in the wrong, but we're going to take care of it, but we're not going to let you touch him. You know what I'm saying?

And I was real good. Like, you know, sometimes it'd be pettiness. And a lot of times what it is drugs, man. These guys cannot pay their drug bills. And that's why I got so burnt out. Like, especially towards the end, bro, like I was like, bro, like, I'm a grown man, bro, I'm not from the babysit you can't pay your bill.

But then you have all these standoffs with other gangs and races. So it's like, bro, when we keep talking to you and you can't pay you, we're going going to get rid of you. You know what I'm saying? We just going to get you out of here, bro, because at the end of the day, you don't care about us. You just worried you got that demon on your bag. You know what I'm saying? Same thing. That's what I'm saying. I see what drugs can do to people, you know, at first hand. So ruin their careers and everything. So that was like, that was like my introduction being there, you know? And like there was times like, Especially like, man, like, I think right at the beginning, somebody had like stole, they stole one of my amps off of a, I had an amp and it was plugged into the MP3, right?

Somebody had took it. And I'm like, man, so I'm messing. I'm making announcements. I ain't anybody saying nobody saying no. I had a home boy. I had his name Slim. I don't know where Slim at, man. Shout out Slim, man, from Dallas, man.

I had the home boy slim, he goes, you know, and he'd be moving. He'd be at everybody's cell, man. He's everywhere. So I'm like, hey, home boy, look, I'm looking for my thing. You know what it looks like. By the end of the night, he comes to my cell and he's all like, hey, home boy, this guy got it. It was a GD dude.

You know what I'm saying? This guy got, I said, well, and I knew him. So I just go tell like the other Hispanic dudes and the homeboys, I'm like, hey, look, bro, we're from, we're going to run down on this dude and go get my stuff back. You know what I'm saying? So we come out to say. cell and I walk I walk I walk in on him right I walk in on him and uh it's sitting right there

and I'm like hey man hey that's my that that's my uh my amp and he's all like what and he grab and he and he just dude like here he just gave it to me because that's a no no man you if you if you stealing if you stealing like that's a no no you know what I'm saying like you got to get crushed off the yard but like I said we was just getting everything established here right so so so uh you He's out like, like, where'd you get it from? Oh, I bought it from this, from this guy. You know, he's trying to dive. I bought it from this guy.

I'm like, all right. So that type of stuff is what happens in the feds, right? It's politics. So now I go out, we go outside the next day. I'm speaking up on a situation. They're trying to cover up for each other. You know what I'm saying? And I end up poking holes in the story.

They're like, and I told him, I said, look, bro, he stole from me with respect to y'all. I know y'all ain't going to harbor a thief, you know, and disrespect the whole compound, but let me, let me handle my business. You know, I was like, let me handle my business. Oh, man, you know, we can't, that's what it is. I was like, he was never like, look, just let us, let us highlight them real quick. So I walk around the thing one time, the lap, and I see they, they go by, they, they wave, the, I don't know how they, they waved the guard tower down.

They took a knife from them and they just walked them up like that. Like they check, it's called checking in. They checked them in like that. You know? So we were like in situations like that, bro. And, you know, I remember though that the black hand, he was, he was upset about the situation. And like I said, because we're setting rules. And he's all like, like he goes, he says, you robbed that man of his get back.

He's like, if somebody steals from one of mine, I want him dead. You know what I'm saying? And that's the mind frame. That's really what it is. Like if you're still in, you're going to get buzzed, not just with a, with your hands or whatever, whatever, right? So here's the thing. Now we had an agreement, right?

At this time, even though I spoke with my situation, I wasn't officially the speaker yet. I ended officially speaking after this guy that was speaking for us at the time was, right? But I was like, this is my situation I'm going to speak on. So now he's telling me, they have this whole meeting and, you know, they're just talking like, okay, if somebody's stealing, they got to go. Right. And this isn't just with your hands, right? My home boy agreed to it without talking to us.

You can't do that, right? Remember when I said we all roll as a vote. You don't have that wait to do that. So what happens next? One of the other Texas dudes, right, that's not with us. Now he says that, now he says that my homeboy had used some compound pictures. You know what compound pictures are? Like the photographer that comes around?

Yeah, but not like pictures of naked girls. Right? That he had let them use them and he turned around and sold him for a piece of dough. Right? Okay. And the homeboy he's talking about, he wasn't blasting. He's another thongo. But here's the thing in the feds.

We're all together. You know what I'm saying? Like all the tangles, we're all together. You know, like in the state because there's so many of us, we know, but like when it's only 20 of us, we're all rocking together. That's just what it is. You know, at the end of the day,

you're going to handle yours. I'm going to handle mine, but when it comes to get down, we're all riding with each other. So the dude that he was talking about, he wasn't blessed and he was another thongue. Well, you know, I just felt like it was so petty, man,

you know, but it's like, okay, and the guy was about to go home, you know? So my other homeboys, the other thongos, they sent, two guys on them because it was true he did do that two pictures two 25 cent pictures right he went in they went in there they went in there and um because we wore a cup we wore overalls you know

and um a homeboys went in there uh i went outside i went outside to wreck i could see i sent one of my own homeboys in there to make sure everything was straight They went in there and they beat the hell out of them and they locked them. They had a lot on the thing and they bust his head open with the lock. And they split everything on him, his face, everything. He came out and he was messed up. They had blood all over, right? That happened and still one of the other guys try to run in and stab him.

That wasn't part of our people. Right? So my home boy coming out. He's all like, hey, four, four. I'm like, what's up? He said, man, that dude ran, ran in on it. I said, what happened? He was like, man, he ran in on us, you know?

And the dude that did he, right, he was just going home and he killed somebody. So they gave him extra 40 years. So that's the type of time he was on, right? He was just trying. And I'm like, did they touch you? Because we were in there with him, right? We was in there with him. And he said, nah, he said, nah, they didn't.

Because even though they try to stab the, the other homeboy jumped on and to protect, like, still, like, not let him do what he had to do, right? So the speaker was in there with me that, hey, 4-4, look, like, I got, I'm going to talk to my guy. I don't know what went on. Like, look, he didn't touch him. Just let me figure this out. We're going to take care of it. Right?

I'm like, all right, man. Because, I mean, I'm just looking at it. Like, ain't nobody get touched. But it is a disrespectful thing that you try to come in and interrupt our business, even though he stole from you. but still that we're taking care of our business, right? So the next day, right, and this is what I mean, there's a group of Texas people, they had a whole alliance with all the other Texas gangs, right?

White, other Hispanic Texas gangs, they were all back, because Cali got their alliance, you know, Arizona, New Mexico, whatever, you know, So, so this is what it was at their yard, right? And we were just right there because we couldn't choose sides. I couldn't mind. Me, me, being the speaker at that yard is very important because if you make the wrong decisions, you make the wrong alliances and your name is on it, you're going to get it everywhere you go.

You know what I'm saying? I'm like, no. And it's like, like I said, like 15 of us, right? So I'm like, so the next day we come out. We come out, right? And I tell all the homeboys, man, strap up. We all go out there with knives. And we go inside the rakeyard.

And I put my back against the fence. I put my back and they got their back against the fence. That's probably like 20 from this group, 15 from this group, and 20 of them. It's probably like about 55 of them and like 15 of us. Right? And I just told the homeboy, little, bro. No matter what, do not take it back off their fence, bro. But just, you know, like, like.

So the hom is up there speaking, but they're not coming to no type of conclusion, right? And then the other speaker for the other tango was also up there. They called me up there. And pretty much because they lost this particular tango. It was only like three or four of them, right? Because it's only 15 of us, you know? And about like seven of us blasting. So it's only one of that tango left, right?

And the dude tells me, the dude tells him, we don't got no problem with the blast. But if there's other thongwes want to go, go to war, what's up? And it's only him by himself. And he's, and I'm like, hold up, bro. I tell them, I said, hold up. I'm like, look, because I know how they roll. I said, you saying what you're saying,

because it's only one of that particular group right here, right? I was like, but that ain't going to. happen because I know you're not going to go in there one-on-one with him. You're not about to do that. You know, because that was their main dude, too. You know, they weren't, they got all these, they got all these other youngsters with him making a name. They're not about to do that. I was like, nah, he's like, y'all ain't going to do that. And so then, you know, they try to divide, it's divide and conquering, you know. And then they're like, man, four, four, they always say they ain't your homeboys. They ain't your homeboys because they ain't blasted. Why, why are you

sticking up for them? I said, look, regardless of what they said at the end of the day, they're still, they still homebole to me. I'm not going to turn my back on them. because then I feel like, oh, it ain't going to go down like that, you know? And, man, they ain't touch them on account of the word spoken. And that's what I'm saying, like, I got it to some stuff, man. But I've really learned to be able to use my communication and my words because, you know, as a man, there shouldn't be nothing that you can't talk about. You know, every war that you win, if you had to lose, use violence, you still lose.

You know, but if you could prevent something, the black hand dude that I was saying that I talked to, he told me, and this is something that always stuck with me. He said, he said, your job and your leadership position is to make sure you keep the peace at all costs as long as it's honorable. And that's the big thing, as long as it's honorable, meaning you can't go out here losing respect.

Sometimes you got to do what you got to do, especially in prison. And in the world, it's like, man, forgive what people think, man, because they're always going to say things. But in prison, man, all you got is your name, you know? And they look at you like you're weak and it's like, it's like, bro, like you're not going to survive long. You know what I'm saying? So it even goes for the name of your group. You can't have a group look weak because of decisions that you're making.

And that was a big thing. That's why I say like, God really blessed me where I've been in a lot of situations like this. But I was able to stand on business and really, like, get to the bottom of the solution, whatever it was. And like I just said with these dudes, the whole situation, I'm just like, look, bro, at the end of the day, you know, they were like, we just had disagreement. And, you know, they wanted us to use the knife. Man, the dude used a lot. You know what I'm saying? Bust his head open, bro.

Oh, no, but at the end of the day, though, you can't tell us what we can or can't use. That's what this whole thing is about. And you know that because you're from Texas. But just, you know, we ain't going for that, bro. You know what we represent. This is the whole thing, why this was created, bro. So people like you couldn't tell us what we can and can't do, bro, because we're going to handle stuff the way we want to handle it,

but best believe it's going to get handled. Every single time it's going to get handled, you know? So, like, that was like just one of many, you know, and that was at that particular spot. But I did get to learn a lot. And I think, man, like, I lost myself for a minute in the middle of it, you know. My mom would come see me like when I was in Mississippi. She came to see me probably like three times out of the two years, right?

Two, three times. And, you know, she knows me. So she's like, man, don't let this place change you, you know? And I hate to, like, I hate to say it. But. And once again, I'm not. talking about these USPs, you know, because it's a whole other vibe in the medium. I was glad to be, when I finally made it my last two years to the medium.

Oh, you worked your way back down? Yeah, the last two years I went to Florence, Colorado Medium. But like I said, I spent this seven years in the USPs. And two of those were in the SMOO program, maximum security. Why did you go to the SMU? Well, okay. When this, when this happened, okay, a lot of it had to do because I have. violence in my background, right, when I did get in trouble, right?

So when I end up leaving Yazu, I got into it with my own homeboys that weren't blasting though, right? They stabbed one of my homeboys, right? And I felt like they okayed it, their leadership okayed the people, you know, because the way they moved about it, right? the way that they came and said, hey, when the GI, it's S-I-S-I-S in there,

but we call it G-I, when the gang officers come and ask you, what happened? Just tell them it's in-house. Why would you, why would they, you know, like, because at first, my homeboy had had an altercation

with their homeboy and they fought, right? You didn't say that last time. They got another fight again, but this time he got jumped on and stabbed. So, so when that happened, I already knew something was up. they locked everybody down.

I looked through the, I looked through the, I looked through the, I looked through the, uh, to the window. There was a native dude. There was a native dude there. And he,

and he was telling me a sign language that carrying your home boy out in a stretcher. Right. So, and then my dog, you know, he's from Dallas, you know what I'm saying? My boy and I had been telling him

come over here. He was a big dude, but he was just, you know, he had a big mouth. You know what I'm saying? He talked a lot. You know what I mean, he was about to head,

throw with you know you can only get so far with your side so they got them and so all I'm thinking about I just got a cellie that's from my neighborhood that used to live on the end of my my street he got a fresh 35 year sentence for a murder and a rico charge he just I just barely started putting them down you know so when they come the SIS come and tell me like hey this is what's happening I was like so what he's like the two little dudes jumped on a big dude I'm like okay all right everything's good yeah everything's good yeah everything's all right, they close the door. I start getting ready.

I ain't go like. I don't know, you know, we boofing. We was boofing stuff, you know what I'm saying, hiding stuff and to take stuff back there so we can make some money, right? And I'm telling the hombo, hey, bro, we gotta, we gotta blow this spot. We can't be here. Like, we're gonna have to,

because the dude that's speaking for them is four doors down from us, you know? But it's only us three on that block, because like I said, not a lot of us. So I try to, you know, my young homie, I'm like, look, bro, this dude There ain't nothing, go smash them. Because, you know, there was times where I smashed homeboys by myself.

You know what I'm saying? Because, like I said, like, it's not a lot of us. And, oh, you're going home, don't worry. I'm going to beat them up and get them out of here by myself. That's really what we're supposed to do. Go home homeboy, I got him. I go bang his head against the toilet. Whatever, right?

So I tell him, hey, bro, just handle me. You know, you got him. But don't let off of him, right? Don't let off of him. He's like, all right, all right. So we come out. And I'm like, I had a night, bro. And like I said, I was just so entangled in that, like, right before that it was crazy.

My mother told me on the phone, she's like, I heard a voice this morning. It said, you're going to be a lifer. She told me that, you know? And, you know, I wasn't thinking about it at the time, but it was kind of, I feel like it was a supernatural experience. And, like, the moment of choosing life or death, you know? And so I come out to sell. my homeboy runs at him and he hits him, boom.

And when he hits him, he just takes off running. He takes off running towards the police. Right? And I'm like, man, my homeboy don't even chase him. He's just like looking at him. I'm like, what are you doing? And he's just, so I end up like, no, that's not enough. So I end up chasing after him.

He's running from me, running. I'm picking up the chair. I'm going quit running, bitch. I'm throwing stuff at him. He pulled a knife out on me, right? He pulled a knife out on me, right? And I pulled mine's out too. But man, I just, I ain't gonna lie, man.

I just, it's like in that second, man, it's like, I just felt like I was gonna kill him. And I could just, I could just feel, I could just hear my mother's voice, you know? And it don't even make sense why I did this because he had a knife. But I threw the knife. I threw the knife and I charged him.

And he hit me, he stabbed me on my shoulder. He stabbed me on the side of my hip and he hit me in my finger. But I didn't really feel it. And I punched him. I punched him. I hit him like two, three times. Boom, boom.

And he hit the ground. He hit the ground. And I kept wetting on him. My homeboy next to me. I don't know what he's doing. But I didn't say me though. But he, because he thought he said, while I'm hitting him on the ground,

he says, tango blast. Tango Blas He's just yelling When I'm hitting Boom boom And I'm talking Because I know the dude Like the dude I'm beating up

Like I got a good relationship With this guy You know But it's like bro Like you just made a crappy A call And I got to do What I got to do

You know what I'm saying So I'm hitting him He's bawling up The police Come in and they're like free They start pepper spraying me But I told him Don't stop

Even their pepper spray So right If I don't tell To somebody do something You're not gonna do That's another rural leadership So I just kept hitting them.

They hit me with like, it even said, I got the shot, even said on a shot that they sprayed me, they administered O.C. Mace, but it was,

it was on, I forgot the word, but, like, it didn't work, basically, you know? And, and so, like, I remember, like,

my whole face just swell up, right? And I, I could kind of see a little bit. And when I see, he, he puts his whole,

hand back because we got ice pigs you know that's probably the most dangerous thing to hit

because if it's an order you're out of you know what I'm saying and he pulled all the way back like that

to to stab me right in my face right or my homeboy came from the side and he kicked him

boom like a soccer ball when he kicked him his eyes rode in the back of his head right

and then they came and tackled us but yeah he I owe him one man I matter matter of

I'm for the I got I got a look out for hell but he's saving for getting in the face. So that had happened and that's why they shipped me from Yazu and they shut down the whole place because a lot of other stuff was going on. They were like, man, y'all don't know how to

act. A hurricane had just hit Puerto Rico. This was 2018. I want to say 18 or 17. And yeah, it was 18. And so they had moved a bunch of those inmates over there. So they were trying to oh no, my bad. That was the first time. That time, a hurt. hurricane that hit Florida real hard and it had it had messed up mariana medium in Florida so they had moved the inmate population to the other half. Remember I said they only filled half of the prison? Well, those people were non-active over there. Matter of fact, one of my homeboys that went into protective custody was in that group of people. So we were like trying to get them smashed and stuff, but it was weird because they were like people over there claiming that they were active, that they were

homeboys and I'm like, hey, that dude checked in over here ain't no good. And they're like, Like, oh, man, he's a cool dude, though. All they all messed up over there. Like, you know, we was on there, bro. Like, we was, so, so, yeah, so they didn't feel safe with being on the same yard as us because of how active we were. You know what I'm saying? So because that happened, some happened with the, with the South Siders, something happened with the blood. Like, it was all back to back.

And they just like, you know what? Y'all don't know how to hang. And to this day, it's not even a pen. It's a medium. So they ship me to Atwater, USP. Central California. And man, there was, there was like, it was, it was ugly, bro. It was a lot of evil, like, witchcraft, like a lot of altars to that Santamueete and the devil.

Man, they were doing all the time. It was like, dudes was getting raped in there. You know, like, when I first got there, a dude that stole from one of his homies. They said it was in his ass. You know, they were like, went in there and beat. him down and raped him and he came out just bloody and shit everywhere. I just, you know, like I was like, man. And I, like, that was like, people were like slicing each other's faces in the child

hall. Like I was like, what's going on? Like, I didn't understand like, you know, but that, like, that's where I begin my personal journey as far as like, um, my relationship with God. Like it started kind of right there, you know, just the seeds were planted because I was still smoking K2. the K2 is real evil, right? I did a lot, I did some reading where I've actually seen, like ancient civilizations would

actually get induced and get high and they could see the gods, right? From like Native Americans, even not a way to like Greek culture, you know, when they were talking about what was in those buildings? Like they would have oracles in the buildings, but the fumes will come up and they would like tell the future but they were really like under an influence and stuff like that. So like it's, it's, I believe it is true. It will open your eyes. And K2 is one of them drugs that will, it's like you summon evilness, right?

So I started, I was smoking and I started seeing like demonic things. I know it sounds crazy like a succubist or a sexual demon. Like came and like suck my dick in a cell and I ejaculated. Like it was, it was weird, you know. But I always believed in God. And I've always, like my family, acting like my grandfather was a minister and stuff. So evangelism,

so my mother was actually part of it. So, like, you know, I've always, like, believed, but I just was doing what I wanted to do, you know? And so I started just seeing a lot of stuff like that, but I was still fighting my addiction. I couldn't stop. I knew it was evil. And I was feeling like I needed to stop.

And something happened with me in there where like I actually like made a deal with the devil and myself. You know, like I wasn't asleep or nothing. It came in my room. It was like a big shadow with horns. I signed this thing in fire ink. My flesh started burning. It was crazy.

The ceiling was all. It was crazy, man. But I feel like God, like I had to get to that point of my life because God wanted me to because now I'm like 29, you know. And I feel like he wanted me to make a decision. You know what I'm saying? and like some more things happened. I just stopped thugging on the yard.

I kept living how I was living, but it all led to that. But the funny thing is, like I said, like, okay, remember I said earlier, reputation is everything, how you run the yard, right? It reflects, especially your names on the yard. So this is the type of mind frame I got, right?

So now I'm leaving Oklahoma with another thongo homie in mine, right? And some of the homeboys over there in Oklahoma are like, oh, you're going to Atwater? Oh, man. Hey man, I hear the homeboys are paying taxes to the South Siders over there and they're on their program. So I'm like, what? Like, because, you know, that's a no-no, bro.

Like what? Like I said, once again, I got love for a lot of them. I got good relationships with them. But just, like, that type of stuff, like, nah, that don't fly. It won't fly for them either, you know what I'm saying? So I get there. I get there with my homeboy. We had to do like a whole week in Victorville, though, first.

It's like a transit spot. And I tell him, I said, look, bro, if we get to this spot and it was a home boy, shout out of my boy, Magic. Magic got, man, free magic, man. Magic got 3,000, like 3,000 something months in the feds. He's been locked up Cs. He was 17. He's almost 40 years old for bank robbery. You know what I'm saying?

So free year, man. But he was the one speaking for us at the spot. I heard about him, but I didn't know him personally. You know what I'm saying? So I tell the homeboy like, look, bro, if that's the type of time that the homeboys got them on, whoever this magic guy is, like, we're going to, we're going to bust them. We're going to bust them and we're going to blow the spot and we're going to another yard because there ain't no way I'm getting on this yard and paying no taxes or doing none of that.

You know what I'm saying? And we end up pulling up, man, and I ain't going to lie. Man, magic had it on lock, man. He, man, he was a good homeboy, man. He knew all his politics. Matter of fact, some something. Stuff had just happened, though, just like it happened between us and the other thongles. It happened there.

So he had our politics of blast. Like, we was completely by ourselves. We weren't even, when I got there, we weren't even dealing with the other thongles. It wasn't usually like, even like with the Sudanials or whatever, like, if anything, you know, in prison, a lot of stuff is racial, you know, so it'd be like, like, if it's racial, because that's how it's, you know, if you get into it with a black, a lot of other blacks are going to kind of stick up. You know, that's just how it is, especially in opinions. Everything's really racial, right? So it's like he had everything rolling right, first and foremost. You know what I'm saying?

And I told him. I told him, I was like, hey, bro, you know, you know, you know, I told a homeboy, man, if you had it like, they're like, we were going to smash you, bro, and get up out of here. Like, he was like, what? I go, but man, you're doing a good job, bro. Like, you know, but that's how important it is, you know, to have your face clean to make sure that if you're in position that you got things running accordingly, you know. But what happened there, because I got sent to the smooth from there, I was there like

six months. Half of the time, we was on lockdown. They had the white boys were killing each other over there. Man, I ain't a lot. White boys were killing each other in Yazoo, too, though. You know what I'm saying? Like, man, the white boys were going hard in the feds, man. Man, like, they had the sacks over there, you know, AC, A, A, B.

They, man, they was, I was like, bro, like, as soon as they opened the door, I'm like, man, I can't even use the phone. You know, it was, it was, it was, oh, man. So, yeah, man, it was, it was a lot of that stuff going down. And then, I end up getting into it with another gang member, you know, different race. And he owe me some money. Once again, it's supposed to be hands-off policies, but I'm hard-headed and I want like do things my way.

So I'm like, look, bro, you know, I'm a guy's real, bro. You know what I'm saying? I ain't trying to hear none of that. Like, like, I want my, and it was $50, bro. But it just felt like, I just felt like, I just. I just felt like he was just playing with me. You know what I'm saying? So I'm like, look, bro, like, you know what I'm saying?

We can just, we didn't got to tell nobody nothing. We didn't. We just went in the cell and start fighting. Now I ain't gonna lie, he got the best in me, man. You know, other people going to be me, but hey, you know what I'm saying? I fall. I fought harder. I could even pick the chair up and threw it at him.

You know what I'm saying? But nobody knew what was going on. But like, once again, like I said, I got good relationships. Like, you know, I hate that prison is so racial. But like me personally, man, like, I get along with everybody. Blacks, white, Chinese, man, I got good friends. Because that ain't, first and foremost, that ain't how we rock here in Austin, Texas. We're not on none of that.

It's just when I went to prison and I seen how it was, I was like, dang, but that's just how it is. You know, that's how things are. So with that being said, his GD homies ran in first. It was like three of them, and I'm fighting. Look, he busts me right here. I didn't get a scar right here. He busts me right here in my lip. And I had to get one right here.

He got me in two places. So I'm, I'm leaking, but I'm fighting with him. And his homies come in, and I'm like, I'm like, dang, they're going to get me. You know what I'm saying? But look, they knew that he was going to be as. Matter of fact, even before it happened, they already knew that me, I was having issues with him. And they had some of their big homies on the yard where they weren't supposed to be on nothing. So the main, the main homie on their block, love me.

And he's like, eight, four, four. You know what I'm saying? little bro, you ain't got to do nothing, bro. We'll handle him, bro. All you got to do is go like that. That's big. But I'm not like where I come from, that's pussy, bro. I'm going to another man to fix my problems.

Like that's what I was taught. You know, that's that. So I'm like, nah, you know, like, y'all, I appreciate it. But with that being said, so we went in there, got it, you know what I'm saying? And then when they ran in, they pulled him off of me. And they were like, what are you doing? They pulled them off of me. You know what I'm saying?

Like, and I was like, I just thank God, bro, because I could have really, really got hurt if they wanted to go home. You know what I'm saying? But after that, my homeboy finally came in. I was leaking and I tried to hide in this crypt dude's cell. He tried to clean me up. They locked everybody down. But then they ran the cameras back.

They ran the cameras back and they called my name. So they came and got me. And they made a big deal about it because it was racial. And there were some high-powered people in their yard. and, you know, they were like, I remember the SIS was like, man, what happened? But I was like, you know, magic was speaking. So I'm like, look, I don't speak for us.

Go hollad at my speaker. And he told me, he said, that man time stuff don't work over here, you know. And dude ain't said nothing either so they couldn't give us no shots. Because they, you know, you didn't see us fighting. Are you, you know, but they kept us locked in there. They just opened Thompson USP. They looked at my sheet, my jacket. Oh, you got violence, you got drug possession.

I got caught with a knife in like 2018, a seven inch knife. Oh, yeah, we're going to go ahead and send you to the smooth program. I just went to the shoe at the wrong time, man. And they sent me in there. And they had just changes to like a nine-month program. It used to be 18 months. It was brand new. You know, it was brand new.

And see, I was blessed, though, because the deadly part of the smooth, right, is that they'll put you in a cell with somebody. do not know and you're going to live with them for years. So what is it, just solitary all the time? Yeah, with somebody else in yourself. That's all it is, though. Yeah, it's 23 and 1. Monday through Friday, you get, you get wreck for one hour.

They put you in a big bird cage. Probably like six people, six day people, and they shower you Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Other than that, you got to take a bird bath in the sink. And you did nine months in there? I did 17 months. Oh, shit. And then from there, they bump you to a medium?

No, I went back to a pen. And I was there, I was in Victorville, USP for two years. I had to prove myself, I had to prove, you know, that I wasn't going to get in no trouble. They wanted me to do 18 months. So at that point, you turn it around? Yeah. And, well, when I had got to, when I got to the smooth, it was like, it was like, I got there with my homeboy. He's from West Texas.

Shout out voices. you know what I'm saying we got there together right and it was a blessing to have him man but I was sick of him you know what I'm really like that's my dog and I love my sister

but man just imagine just living with the same guy for almost two years you know and it's just like like we know so much about each other you know the way they fart and shit

and like it's like it's too too much you know but he was man I was really blessed to have him though because like I said the daily part was them putting you in a cell with somebody you don't know.

And there was a lot of crazy people. They were sticking a lot of mentally ill people in there, like, for real, you know? And people were like smearing feces on the wall. Every two weeks you had to rotate sales. You know, I made a whole thing all the way around and then something by the time I left, you know? And I ended up doing 17 months because COVID had hit in the middle. And when that happened, it just slowed everything down. We had to stay stuck in there.

We didn't, man. But like on the flip. side, I was probably in the best place I could have been there in COVID, locked away from the world. My food was brought to my, to my cell. You know what I'm saying? They still was bringing commissary where AC. Yeah, AC. Well, you didn't need AC over there.

It was cold, man. And you do get commissary. Yeah, yeah. They were like $50 spend. But, you know, it was cool, $50. You get a bag of coffee and, you know, they would give you these little radios. Well, it was an MP3, but it was just a radio. and you could try, but they had no rap station,

so I got really into, like, country and classic rock. And, you know, I listened a lot to the gospel and preaching and stuff like that. But it was, like, when I got there, you know, I remember because they lock us in the shower before they put us in the, because the shower's at the end of the run. So I'm like, hey, what's up, man? Hey, what my own boys are at?

What a blast that? Nothing. Not one, tango, nothing. I'm like, what? And it's just me and my homeboy, and I'm like, you know? And, like, so we get there, some Sudannios. They had some Nortennials there. You know, they're enemies with each other.

They had a lot of, like, they had a lot of, like, East Coast Bloods and Latin Kings and YGs and YGs. Like, a lot of dudes from New York was over there. I like the dude from, you know, the New York dudes, the way they talk. My son, yo, you know what I'm saying? You know what I hate me talking? Yeah, they're cool, man. They play, man. I like them dudes.

But yeah, so, like, it was, it was just, we're the only one. Like, I didn't see another homeboy of mine until I left that spot. I was like, so that's what I mean. It's a whole other culture. Like, you're blasting and you're going into the state, and this is 500 of y'all in the yard. And it's like, I'm in the feds. I got to hold it down by myself. I got to make it look good by myself.

But that's cool. That's cool because at the end of the day, I lived there, like, it was really less problems. You know what I'm saying? Because I know how to talk. I know how to maneuver. I'm not going to mess. nobody over. You know what I'm saying? I like to feel I'm an honest man, especially when it comes to Dillon, you know, like Dillon and business and stuff if I'm a man on my word. You know,

that's, so I've never really, I never had no problems on my end, my whole prison record, never been disciplined, never been smashed, never been, you know, none of that, because I know how to hold myself, you know what I'm saying? And then sometimes they come home boys as knuckleheads or they're just so far in their addiction that they don't care, you know, and they're just, and they put you and everybody. So that's where they're, the headache begins, you know? And not so much in the state because it's like you're running it, but when a homeboy comes in with that addiction and you're in a place where it's 20 y'all

and he owes a group of people that are like almost 200 people. It's like, bro, like, you know, it's not like, oh, well, it's whatever. It's like, man, hold on, man. Let me handle my own boy, man. Hey, man, bro, you're tripping, man. You better, you better out of your business, man. Because it ain't like we're just going to fight one-on-one. You know what I'm saying?

Like, we're fin to get some holes. They're going to get some holes in them. Like, you know, for what? So that was like, that's the difference. So when I, when I got to this spot, it was like, it was freezing. It was January. You know what I'm saying? It was January 2000, 2021?

No, 2020. It was January 2020 when we got there. No, my bad February. Because I had met Code A. Black on my way over there. He was in Oklahoma City. Oh, he was? Yeah, he was in Oklahoma City. So, because I remember that because we would go to the red cages, you know what I'm saying?

And we would go back there and he would be like, like, oh, when we heard he was on the room, my neighbors was like, hey, fo-fo. Because my homie from Nebraska, he would be rapping too. So he was like, you know, we rap, you know what I'm saying? We hit some thing because we knew cold ever was on the range. I was like, okay. So we went out the next day and he's all like, he's like, you fo-fo? I was like, yeah, he's like, I thought you was a nigga. Hey, he's funny though, but, you know, we was chapping it up, man, and he gave me some game.

You know, we were talking about the music and stuff, but yeah, he went to Big Sandy after that. Oh, they sent him to know a pen. Yeah, he had messed up Miami Media. I don't know what happened. I don't know what happened to him. At the end, he ended up going to the smooth program, but he got- He got pardoned, though. Yeah, he got pardoned right when he got there. So he got released from prison.

Yeah, from Thompson. But now he's back on bullshit again. Yeah. Yeah, he didn't. I would try to tell him about that tune. He wasn't trying to hear none of that, you know. But I just remember because it was Patrick Mahomes won that first Super Bowl.

We were still in Oklahoma because we left the next day. But we made it in Oklahoma. They gave us like 15 chicken wings and a big old bag of Christmas cookies. You know what I'm saying? Oh, for the Super Bowl? Yeah. Yeah, a big old bag of Christmas cookies.

And like, I remember he was like, hey, fo' fog. Because we was on a race. Like, let's do the halftime show. So that's memorable to me, man. and Kodak Black got to do the halftime show Super Bowl, uh, uh, uh, 2020, man. So that's great. Yeah, that was cool. I was all like, hey, hit that one song.

He was cool, man. But yeah, so we, we ended up, though, getting to the smooth, um, the day after the Super Bowl. And, uh, so, like I said, no, nobody was there, man, like as far as the home boys, but, you know, like, I ain't, like, I ain't, like, I ain't gonna lie. And I'm gonna keep it real, you know what I'm saying? because my boy voices, you know what I'm saying? He wrote the whole thing with me.

You know what I said? But it was so cold out there. I know he didn't want to go outside. You know what I can tell? I'm like, they're calling record 6th of the morning. I was like, bro, we're going to go to wreck. And usually, you know, you got to go with your homies going, but it was just us. So I could, he's not like, man.

But I'm like, bro, we everybody active is going to wreck, bro. Like, we're going to wreck, bro. Like, I can see this face. He didn't now want to go. You know what I'm saying? But he never, he never left me hanging. He always went with me, man. That's my homeboy right there.

Even though I can tell he just wanted to chill, but I'm like, bro, we're double pants. You know what I'm saying? We go out there. And they had the MS. Sometimes they'll put us with the MS dudes or the Sourangios. That's the first time they had went at it. You know what I'm saying?

Sometimes they would put us with the native gang members. So they'll put us in different cages too, you know, as well. But, you know, we was good, man. We was able to, you know, we was able to just. communicate with these dudes. And some of them knew us already from other spots. So we was good, but I was just more like, look, bro, we active. We're gonna go out here regardless.

You know, I don't wanna about, our fo'-fo and them ain't coming to wreck. Because a lot of stuff was happening in the wreckyard now. People were getting hurt out there. It was, man, every time we were going, somebody getting stabbed. And it was like, they didn't even have no steel. How, they was making stuff out of plastic, man. And they were stabbing people with melted plastic.

Man, they were doing all types of stuff. And then, like, they were, would come out and they were shooting shooting them with these with these propellers uh these pepper balls stop but you know sometimes we had jackets on so they they'll come out with the rubber bully he hit the dude like a big old shotgun bullet i remember all white man putting the work in he they shot him in the back he said ah it's like oh man he was working too but i remember the voice is like bro it's it's it's active out here like every time it went out there it was going but But sometimes they were putting people in the wrong cages.

People were getting killed like that. You know, they were putting people around people. They shouldn't be around people in the first place, you know, or putting them in the wrong sales, you know? That's crazy. But the biggest thing, have you ever read on, or are you familiar what happened with over there? With the way or at the smooth?

With the smooth? What I seen was like the four points, you know? And I was just on the officer's side, aside from the inmates killing each other and stuff, what they were doing is they were like tying. Like it would basically be like the concrete, a concrete, I'm not a bench. Slab.

Yeah, a slab from concrete slab with four rings. And they would basically have them stripped down, put like these paper clothes on them. And they would cuff their hands. and lay them back and they would put the chains through their, through their cuffs. And I actually seen them

to put their foot on the slab and tighten the chain. So you're just stuck like that. And I've seen them leave people there for like two or three days straight. You know, people like just leave them in there. You couldn't get up to use a restroom. So you're pissing and crapping all over yourself.

Just screaming, you know. Dude, ah, and stay strong. strong brother, you stay strong. People just trying to, you know, talk, talk, like, you know, we're here with you, like other inmates trying to coach them through it, you know. And I just remember seeing it. I was like, oh, I'm not going to give these laws a reason to do me like that, man. Like, for real, like, I wouldn't even talk to do those COs, nothing.

I didn't want to start nothing with them, you know. What would you have to do for that to happen to you? Man, it could just be like anything like a, If you're just disobeying a direct order, you're being disrespectful to him. You know, there was, in the feds, right? I mean, it happens in all prisons, but especially there, like, there was a lot of young, like, women CEOs working. This was in Illinois, but I think it was, like, close on the border, like, Idaho. It was Idaho, Iowa.

I think it was Idaho. And so, like, you could tell, like, some of these young, you know, white women, were like country girls. They looked like they were like fresh off the farm, right? And like they're just walking around and, you know, some of them inmates pulled their junk out and started masturbating on them. You know, he got a jacking. And like it was kind of like an epidemic, like a lot of inmates were doing that to them.

It got so ridiculous, though, man, that if they, one of those inmates had got caught doing that, they would put this big old red stop sign. It was like with a magnet on the back and they would slap it on the top of the door and it would say it had two hands like that and it said stop, make sure that it may show hands at all time. So sometimes you walk in and you see a whole road full of stop signs.

I was like, what? So it was, you know, I'm pretty sure like the inmates that were being disrespectful to but like the things that they were doing like for get back. It was all types of stuff. Like, if they weren't listening to them, they didn't want to move sales, whatever. If they were just being unruly, they were going to put them in this forepoint, you know, being disrespectful.

I've seen some of those guards just come up and just really try to antagonize, like, oh, I'm going to get this guy and go to their window and start, like, antagonizing them, trying to get a reaction out of him. It actually happened to me one time. One of the guards came to myself was like, I felt like he was being overly aggressive, you know, And I just didn't pay him no mind. I just didn't say nothing. He's, hey, you know, but I just,

like, kind of turn my back on them and put my headphones in because I was like, nah, you're not going to get me like that. Like, I already knew better, you know. And there was a lot of, a lot of that going on, you know.

And, but it got to the point, like I said, where, like, some of them SEALs were actually going in there and killing them, like breaking the dudes next, doing, like, beating them down into, you know, they were unconscious and dead. and it was just getting out of hand.

And that's why when I said while I was there, it was America's deadliest prison because of the body counts. And then, you know, they were purposely, like, putting other gang members, you know, in the wrong cage, you know? So, like, they did bring one T.S dude on the range, you know. That's Texas syndicate.

Yeah. They had brought him on the range. And, you know, that's only, because like I said, usually they keep a separated, but at this prison, everybody was there, it doesn't care of you, you were an enemy or whatever. So, but, you know, we're all behind the door.

It wasn't like I could get to him. So, you know, I'm not going to be, like, yelling. But it was, because I hit him, I was hitting him up through the window. And I was like, who do you run with? He was like, T.S. He spelled it out. And I was like, I just couldn't believe that, you know,

they put them over. So I was like, you, I was like, you active? He was like, yeah, I was like, all right. So, you know, we just like, you know, we ain't going to be yelling through the door. people like, hey, if we go to wreck and they put you in my cage, you know what time it is. And like I said, like, I think that's just the mind frame that we had to have because it's like being in those prisons, those type of prisons, you know, you got to have a mind from like

you're willing to die for this, you know, and you're willing to kill for it, you know. And like, I think about that sometime being out here, you know, with my family and like, dang, that was like real foolish. But it's like you got to have that mind frame. Like you got to have my frame. Like I'm going all the way with it. Because if you're not going to go all the way with it, you know what I'm saying? Like you're really putting yourself in danger.

And then it's a mental thing. And that's why like I believe like a lot of people, you know, a lot of people couldn't handle it. That's why a lot of people who are protective custody and stuff because, you know, like they let fear get into them. You know? And like I'm not going to say I was never scared. Like even some of the stuff I told you before being outnumbered. And I've been a lot of situations where I felt fear. But I'm like, you know what?

Like I'm willing to die for this. I'm not going to where. I'm not feeling going, hey, give me out of here because the odds are against me. Like, I'm going to stand on it. And I'm going to do what I had to do. And at the end of the day, like, I really give a lot of that glory to God. Because when I look back on it and see how many life and death situations I was in and I was able to come out of it, you know.

Like I said, I might have got. I poked a couple times or had to get some stitches. But at the end of the day, it's nothing that, you know, I didn't heal from and just move forward from. But that was just the type of mindset it was in there, you know, like, especially in the smooth, you know, and everybody's there for violence, you know, all types of stuff like that. Like I said, that T.S. dude, he already been down like 20 years. So you knew what it was, you know.

But, yeah, it was just like a torture house. And that's all I could remember, like I said, I read that Frederick Douglass, my bondage and my freedom. And there was a part in it where after he had came back from Baltimore, he had like learned how to like read. He was getting little educated. But the slaveholders in the South said that like he was unruly. You know, like he had like too much spirit in them. So they sent him, they would send him to this ranch and they called him the nigger breaker. You know what I'm saying?

And they would send like the unruly slave. there to break their spirit. And that's what I, that's the first thing I thought about. When I seen how they, how they did people in the four points, I was like, that's to break us. That was meant to break us down mentally, spiritually, you know. It was just, it's evil, man. And I'm, I'm glad I made out. Like I said, I was only supposed to do nine months.

I did 17 months in there. Now, I just interviewed a Texas syndicate guy, and he was saying that in Texas, they can't walk the yard, but in the feds they can in the Tongo Plast are one of their direct enemies. So what was that like? Well, that's what I'm saying. Like, in the feds, they can, but they keep us separated on the yards. All right.

So they make sure you don't encounter them. There's times where people slip through the cracks. But like, like, we got the majority of the yards because we're the bigger group. But I could say, to the last of my knowledge, because I just got out last year, they probably had like USP-wise. They had like three USPs, you know. and I think we have like seven or eight but you know that's that they don't house us together

because you know it's it's like it's like smashing on site with each other you know what I'm saying so like that's why I said when I said that's the only one I've ever seen but because I was in the smooth program but we were locked behind the door I could just see them through the door you know

so do you think the smooth program was good for you mindset wise I never I never I would never I would never say that because I'm betraying so many people, right? Yeah. But, like, back to, like, when I told you what just happened with me, like, at Water and, you know, my spiritual growth, like me, I, that time in this move, I needed it. You know what I'm saying?

I needed it because it took me away from everything I've ever known. You know, it wasn't the homeboys there. You know what I'm saying? I didn't see my fan. I didn't see my mom for like five years because I was so far. But, you know, like I didn't see nobody. You know, there were no rap music because, you know, how influenced I had been rap music so I was a kid.

I couldn't hear no rap music. Like, I would call home my mom would be like, it sounds like you're in college because I was just like reading books. I was writing another book. You know, I was in my Bible. I was studying. I was figuring things out. I gained a lot of knowledge.

You know, God talked to me a lot through my dreams. I was like the closest time that I've really had with them because I was just away from everything, you know, and I discipline myself, you know. I want to hear without, you know, without masturbate. I don't know what this too much. But for real, it was just like at that time of my life, I felt like the most spiritually in tune ever because I was just away from the world for real, you know, and just in tune with him. So like me personally, like I said, like I believe everything happens for a reason. And I believe like I was placed there for spiritual growth because I probably wouldn't be why I am spiritually or even mentally

if I didn't have that time to really just reflect on myself to really be able to read. I wanted to understand it. I wanted to know why things are the way they are. You know, prison system, government, history, and I've educated myself. So it was a good time. It was a good time for me, but it was a hard time.

It was a, it was, uh, It was in the inhumane time, you know. It was just, I just felt like an animal too, you know, like the way we were treated, you know. I couldn't come out to cell and if I did, I had to be cuffed behind my back. I never forget, like after 18 months when they finally, because everything is automatic, how they roll the doors because it's a max prison. So, you know, like the first time they opened that door and I didn't have handcuffs on, I was like, you know, like I was in.

shot. I didn't, I didn't know what to do with myself. I was like, no, they did, like, so it, it's, I don't wish that on nobody, you know, and I felt like my, this is my problem with it, is that, like, I was going to be there so long and I wanted to do like, okay, I'm going to be here so long, like, let me educate myself for real, like, let me get a, let me start a college degree, you know what I'm saying, let me, let me, and they were like, nah, you just got to do these packets, you know, like, the, you go through levels, right? You're like, level one, level two, level three. So for like the first three months you're on level one, you only get, um, two phone calls a month, you know? And then the mail is slow. There's no email, you know,

so you really like lose contact with everything because all your, all your mail is photocopied. So it takes like three weeks from the postage date to get to you, you know, and, and yeah, it was hard. Like, I'm not like, it's bittersweet because I just remember thinking like my whole life, I did what I wanted to do. I didn't care about the consequences, you know, whatever came with it, life or death, you know, and then I got in that situation and then all I could think was,

yeah, they got a place for a guy like you if that's who you want to be. You know, so like maybe I did need that, right? But, man, like, it's just, you got to think about how many dudes really went into that program, though, with the mind frame. I did, though.

You know, the majority of dudes went in there with, oh, I'm gonna make as much money as I can. I'm gonna smoke as much dope as I can. I'm gonna mess over as much people as I can. There were people because I was running a store, you know, like selling food. I'm shooting lines, you know, trying to get to the dude down there because I'm selling them my food.

And dude's trying to like steal my line. You know, like it's rough. You know, I think it was new. New York dude, man. It's always those New York dudes, you know. It was my boy, too, but he couldn't say that it was him. And I was, you know, he couldn't get me, but I was yelling out the range because these were all gang members, you know, these were like game members.

So I was trying to bait him into like, I was like, yeah, and he's like, like, you know, like trying to bait them into saying that they did it because if they said they did it, By law, there people had to get them, even if I couldn't get to him because that's the rules of the prison. We standing on business, you know what I'm saying? But he was at least smart enough not to do that. But I knew, you know, you feel it in your heart, you know. But yeah, man, it was just, it was just, you know, a lot of people, I feel like they went in that place that came out worse than they went in, you know. So it's like if you're going to go to a place like that, you just got to have the right mindset.

you got to want better for yourself. And that's for anything. Because a lot of people go to prison and come out worse too. So it's just whatever you go through in life, whatever you're going through, you've got to have a mindset that you want better and you've got to do it for yourself

and not just talk about it, you know? How much time did you end up doing in total? 1203 months. What does that come out to? 10 years and three months. How much good time did you lose most of it? Yeah, I lost 15 months good time. They were only giving me like 18 months, I think.

But what I did do at the end is I took the RDAP. That's why I made it to the medium. So I took the RDAP and it took like eight months off and then they gave me six months halfway house. So you got off last year you got out of here, out of prison? Yeah, I got to the halfway house in October. Yeah. They got me on, they got me.

I went viral and everything, man. The city is saluted me. Yeah, my mama was there. It was beautiful, man. Everybody showed me love. How are you doing today? What do you have going on? How's it been?

since coming home. Well, like, I was like three weeks in the halfway house. I did like five months home confinement, so I just got off in April. Man, like I continued doing my music. Like I said, I was doing the music before. I dropped like my first video, like three days out. You know what I'm saying? It's called First Day Out.

I did it in the halfway house. Yeah. I was there with his little brother in Florence too, baby Grizzly. Yeah, he's my friend right there. But yeah, so I dropped the first day out. It went viral at the halfway house. You know what I'm saying? So I actually, like I said, my other song

that went viral, the thongle song. So I had got some of that money when I came home and I was able to build my own studio. So I've been releasing music doing that. You know, as I said, I've actually wrote this book while I was in prison. So I've been pushing this book, 44 Ways of Expression. It's on Amazon.

You put Eli-Fa-Fo book. Yeah, I've been pushing that and it's just, it was writing my experience down as more lean towards the youth, you know, for them not to take the same path that I did, you know, let them know exactly everything I had going on and the wrong choices I did, you know, going through sentencing, stuff like that, you know, and then I wrote some poems I put it all together where I was a Yazoon, I was in the shoe for dropping somebody off the yard. So, yeah, but since I've been home, man, it's been like, A lot of opportunities been given to me.

I've been like working with mentoring people. Started 44 Ways Outreach, which is like a nonprofit organization. I just filed for some grants. I'm getting my, I start my core training next week as a peer recovery specialist. So just like really using my background and my whole platform to help people give out resources and stuff like that. So I just barely, like I said, because I barely got off the monitor like BOP custody like three months ago. So I got everything in motion and everything's looking good.

I've been getting a lot of love, man. And I think about it because it's like I know not everybody that does that long a stretch of prison comes home and gets the amount of support that I did. So I'm grateful for it. How are you at with the Tango Blast? Do you still wrap it or how does that work? I mean, I talk about it. I talk about it.

in my songs and stuff still because like some of my biggest supporters are my homeboys, you know? And, you know, I got love for them. I'm here for them. I pray with them. You know, I do my best to try to open doors for them, you know, just like right now, one of my homeboys open the door for me being here. That's how I was supposed to be. But it's like I can't help you if you don't want to help yourself. You know, one thing I feel like that caused me so much time is that like when I was younger, I was like, oh, you blasting. Oh, right home boy, boom, I'm right or wrong. I'm dealing with you.

And that ain't always the case. You know what I'm saying? Like, you have to surround yourself around people that are wanting to do better by themselves and wanting to change, you know? So I'm good with them, like I said. And, you know, I get a lot of love. But it's just something that I feel like it's something that I could relate to them because they feel my pain,

but it's not something that, like, I want to use in a negative. Like I told you, like we were speaking earlier, when I did come to God, I found God in the middle of my prison sentence, you know, and like most people's story is I found God and I backed away from the homeboys, you know, and with mine just different, it's like I found God,

but I got deeper into the politics, deeper into, because God showed us. me that anything in life that he's given us, especially influence with a certain group of people, you could use it for good or you could use it for bad. You could use it to hurt people and destroy people or you could use it to lift people up and help people. And that's what I chose to do. And like I said, when I left smooth, I went to Victorville, you know, that was another play. And it was another thing. Like when I got there with my homeboy, you know, we were both

going to quarantine and I said, hey, bro, I'm fin to go out there and tell the home boy's like, hey, I'm blasting, but I'm walking with Jesus now. And he's all like, you going to say that? I'm like, yeah, why not? You know, true, why not? And this is how God works. You know, big man, you know, man, free big man got 35 years. He's in Victorville right now. He's like, little home boy, I'm a rock with you. If anything, you know, they didn't feel like whatever happens. I'm with you. And I went out there and told him, hey, this is what I'm going. Like I'm not getting off count. I'm not trying to back away or nothing.

But I'm just saying that I'm on something different. Instead of destroying, I want to build up. All right. And I was still in the middle of everything. I had a great relationship with the black hand that got there with me at the same time. So, you know, that was their yard. We're in Southern California. So, you know, I was able to talk to him.

I even witnessed to him about God and everything. So I never once backed away. You know, and that's why, like, I know that I could come out here and still talk about it, you know, because I carried the blast on my shoulders all the way to the door. I never once backed away. When I went to Beaumont, when I went to Florence, every time there was an issue, I was there. I was in the middle of it, you know, I didn't just, oh, that ain't my problem. Because I love them.

I always loved my home, but I grew up with them, you know. But it's just like we got to want better for ourselves. It's what we make it. That's the beauty of it. You know, we can make it that. We can make it bad. We can make it good. And I'm just trying to make this like,

bro, this is about putting the family first, coming home and being successful. We ain't got to come home and answer to nobody. I ain't got to answer to you about none of the decisions I make. You ain't got to answer to me about none of the decisions. You ain't got to pay no taxes. Let's prosper. We got a beautiful thing going.

And we gangsters. Because at the end of the day, people try to say this, this and that. But think about it. You got to be a gangster to take down the gangsters. You got to. You got to be as vicious or even more vicious. You got to be willing to die behind it in that moment.

And we stood. And when I went to the state, the foundation was already laid. And we carried it. Same thing. When I went to the Fed, the Homeboys already laid the foundation. And everywhere I went, I carried it. Same. When I left Florence, I called a, you know, we had our monthly meeting or whatever.

I called all the homeboys. I said, hey, little homeboys, I've been down this long. I've been here. Y'all know my story. But for those of y'all who, you know, still got time to do, you know, hey, carry on the tradition. Make sure, you know, we're standing for what we're standing for. Stand on righteousness, bro.

Don't just go with the flow. Follow your heart, man, on what's right and what's wrong. You know, don't just go with the flow. Carry on this tradition. It's a beautiful thing because of us and the feds. All Texas is good wherever we go. That's just what it is. We made that statement.

We laid it down. That's what it is. Well, Eli, I appreciate you coming on the show today, man. This is a fantastic entertaining interview, and we appreciate you. Yes, sir. Thank you.